#finally some canon queer content in this fandom

[s--strawberry]

the peter porn books are gonna be the death of me. im currently reading book 4. so heres yet another shit post

winnie pov:

tink:

winnie:

pan:

winnie:

roc and hook:

vane and pan:

red is bash. blue is pan.

kas would send this in their gc:

the lost boys tm everytime winnie breathes:

(even more shitposts)

[cosmickid-inmotion]

What: An event to highlight disability visibility in the Pedro Pascal and Oscar isaac fandom! Writings or art MUST include some disability. In the header, I have chosen 4 characters with canon disabilities, but you can write for anyone! For examples:

Marcus Acacius losing eyesight Llewyn with a reader with a reader with epilepsy Javier Pena x Steven Murphy and Steve has cancer

Fics and art can be NSFW, friends, romantic, canon characters only, x reader, solo fics, ETC. If you want to explore a bonus chapter within a series you already wrote, that works, but,

MUST BE NEW CONTENT!

Who: Anyone who wants to make art or write a fic!

Where: Tumblr, but if you want to post on ao3 and send a link that works!

When: Through the month of May!

Why: It's important for all of us to look at the beautiful diversity of this fandom! There have been many discussions around race and gender/sexuality biases especially in the PPCU recently, and I want to not derail, but rather add to this conversation.

Rules: I'll try to keep it simple

Not a dead dove event: While dark content can be discussed or shown and I am not a dark hater, please no dead dove, non con etc. Not for this event.

Minor characters are allowed, but obviously no NSFW minors. You want to have Marc and reader in their teens, thats fine! but not smut.

No minors!: I am aware I cannot stop nor do I wish to stop minors from reading, but interacting with this event is strictly 18+

Non-disabled people can write, and disabled folk can write for disabilities they do not have, but do research: Reach out to friends who have a disability you want to write about. Watch youtube videos. Read book and blog posts. I'll link some resources at the bottom!

TRY not to fall into trope or harmful traps. Again, I'll link tropes in the bottom, try our best!

Try to end light. This is about the beauty of diversity. Like with my pride event, I'm not naive to hardships the disability community faces and we can explore that, but lets not let that be the main focus.

Readmore: Use the READMORE option! I'll reblog all fics but ONLY if theres a readmore

Add alt text to any pictures. I have literally done this maybe twice and that's my fault. it takes a minute, I have no excuses, but its very important for people who use aids online.

And this isn't a rule but a few notes. try to avoid the inspiration porn shit. If you don't know what it is, look it up and if you're still not clear you can ask me! Also, I recognize major depressive disorder , PTSD, anxiety ETC can be disabilities, these are things that are depicted a fair amount in fics already. If you choose to write to draw with these disabilities, that is okay! I'm still more than happy to include your work! I just want to gently encourage people to think of other disabilites we can try to include so others feel welcomed!

And as always with my events, I want to encourage you to think beyond the standard x fem reader. It's all wonderful and beautiful, but if you wanted to write reflecting your experience as a black disabled woman or a trans disabled man or writing about Santi's experience being queer and disabled I WOULD LOVE TO SEE IT ALL!!

Events tend to not have a lot of art, so I'd really love to see artists participate too!

HOW: SEND ME THE LINK ASKS OR DMS! asks in preferred so I can keep track. Do to internet safety, I wont look at anonymous links. If you have to be on anon bc you use a sideblog (looking at you, Haru!) then tag me in your fic or post, I'll open up a dm with you on that blog and you can send it there. I''ve had issues in the past trying to keep things organized so this is best for me! Everything will be reblogged, and then put into a masterlist!

I will be posting the masterlist on my new blog, @cosmic-kid-in-motion. I wanted to start the event here where I actually have followers, but the final product will be on my new blog, transferring things over.

I am so excited to see what you all come up with!!!!

Disability Visibility Project: An online page talking about disability issues. The sight is ran by Ali Wong. She also has a book of essays from different people called Disability Visibility, I HIGHLY REC. We read this book and used this site heavility in my intro to disability class, its why I named the event this!

Ableist tropes in media

Youtuber who is a friend of mine, Andy

Deaf awareness by same youtuber

Another youtuber I like

Disabled palistinian comedian

If anyone has other links they recommend im all ears!

I also open for any questions, and if any other disabled tumblrinas wanna open up for questions, comment below! You totally dont have to, but a wider range is always great! I have a few physical and mental disabilites and like I mentioned, I took a class. Im also good friends with the tuber i linked above and he's done a lot of disability advocacy and I've learned a lot from him, So I feel confident but if theres another I dont know I'll open it up! Any input or ideas are welcome!!!

Im so excited to see what everyone comes up with!

[spopbigbang]

SPOP Appreciation Week 2025

This upcoming May will mark the 5 year anniversary of the finale of Dreamworks' She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. To celebrate, we're hosting a Big Bang with lots of fics and art, but we wanted everyone to be able to participate in some form.

Introducing SPOP Appreciation Week, a week of prompts to help us celebrate our fav and show the cast, crew and fandom itself there's still a lot of love for these characters out there.

SPOP Appreciation Week 2025 Prompts List 

Remember / Memory

Past, Present and Future

You aren't alone.

A Beautiful Wish

Imperfection Is Beautiful

Heart

We're Going to Win in the End

How to participate

What can we make? Anything! Text posts, edits, show meta, fanart, fanfic, or even love letters to the show, cast, crew, or fandom itself. The main point of this event is to celebrate the show and get more posts out there overall, so think outside the box.

Where do we share? Everywhere! Anywhere! AO3, Tumblr, Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter, Instagram, etc wherever there's SPOP fandom.

Prompts can be interpreted anyway you like or ignored entirely if you want to do your own thing. Go out of order if that's what the muse wants, the point is just to make stuff and celebrate the show!

When you make your post, no matter what platform you're sharing it on, tag it #weloveSPOP2018 along with all the usual SPOP fandom, ship or character tags. Why this tag specifically? So if we do happen to trend anywhere, we ensure that Crew-Ra / Mattel / Netflix / Dreamworks et al understands which version of She-Ra we are celebrating.

We'll be reblogging our favorite SPOP Celebration posts on our sister blog, SPOPBang to keep them separate from the Big Bang posts so you don't have to tag us so long as you're using the #weloveSPOP2018 tag.

Remember: you don't need to make something long or complicated to participate! Whether it's silly memes, heartfelt posts about what the show means to you, fanworks inspired by the prompts, or using the prompts as a jumping off point to talk about your favorite scenes or character, we'd love whatever you have to share.

And if you have multiple things you want to post for each day, by all means, please do! The more, the better!

In addition to new content, we'd encourage you to reblog/retweet/re…bluesky older SPOP content during the celebration week to add to the nostalgia.

Tip: If you've got an idea for a post now, schedule it to post in advance so you don't forget! Tumblr and Twitter (well, on desktop anyway) let you schedule posts in advance natively. The app Buffer even has a free plan that will let you schedule posts on places like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky.

Here are the prompts with some suggestions of how you could interpret each…

Remember / Memory

Past, Present and Future

You aren't alone.

A Beautiful Wish

Imperfection Is Beautiful

Heart

We're Going to Win in the End

Remember / Memory

Could be…

Nostalgia about the show or past fandom moments

Reviving a long dead AU (even if it's not yours!)

Updating a fic or other WIP you haven't touched in a while

Past, Present and Future (This year marks the 40th anniversary of the She-Ra franchise overall!)

Could be…

Celebrate the original She-Ra and how the legacy of the original inspired the reboot

Explore how the character have changed over the course of canon or might change in the future

Talk about SPOP's place in the wider context of children's television or queer media

You aren't alone.

Could be…

A collaboration with a fandom buddy

A tribute to your favorite supporting characters

Focusing on friendships and the characters leaning each other

A Beautiful Wish (This one's on the actual anniversary of the finale release!)

Could be…

A thank you to the cast and crew for this wonderful show

A love letter to the SPOP fandom

An exploration of what the characters want or where they might be in the future

Imperfection Is Beautiful

Could be…

Celebrating three dimensional, flawed characters

Sharing an unfinished fanwork

Giggling over funny screenshots or animation errors

Heart

Could be…

The Heart of Etheria (whatever that phrase means to you)

Focusing on the scenes, ships and characters you love most

Love in all it's many forms both in the show and out of it

We're Going to Win in the End

This last one is all about finding hope in these uncertain times. A reminder that we must be strong, we must be brave, we gotta find every bit of strength that we have and never let it go. It's ending the week with love and determination and looking forward to a better future together.

Please reblog to help us spread the word!

[nqueso-lies]

https://www.tumblr.com/nquesoxlies/783375080423129088/just-saw-the-funniest-tweet-tl-refreshed-so-lost?source=share (longest greatestslow burn ever.!!)

I need to share a fandom example to underscore how ridiculously naive this is, because this special snowflake slowburn lie they've told themselves is so stupid.

Law & Order SVU premiered in 1999. Since the pilot, people have heavily shipped the two leads-- Elliot and Olivia (Chris Meloni & Mariska Hargitay). And there was canonical evidence they had feelings for each other, including Elliot's wife suspecting it because he chose Olivia over her many times.

Chris Meloni left the show abruptly 12 seasons in. That was 2011. Elliot was never seen again and barely mentioned, for the next 10 years. Shipping only got more intense during that time, and when it was announced in 2021 that he was coming back for another L&O spinoff, the fandom went INSANE. It was so intense that big brands (I'm talking like Kellogg's level) started to actively engage with the fandom and tailor content to us, because they knew it would get engagement.

And you'd better believe Chris and Mariska played into it. I'm talking fake kissing photos, intimate photo shoots on the cover of People magazine, very pointed questions about their characters romantic feelings that was always answered with a wink and a nod. Then when Elliot finally returned, he confirmed once and for all that he did have feelings for Olivia and always had (oh and his wife died so that helped I guess).

Now it's 2025 and guess what. They still haven't kissed. They're not together. Why? Because we're all beholden to the great L&O overlord Dick Wolf, who doesn't want them to be a couple. And guess what. The ship fandom is still thriving even though everyone has accepted if they ever do get together it'll probably be the very last scene of the series.

So. No, Buddie doesn't get some magical slowburn special snowflake pass even if you've justified it to yourself by thinking "well it would be if it were a queer couple" which doesn't hold up when one character is canonically straight.

Honestly, BoB's need to realize how weak their fandom game is. I'm serious. Write Eddie off the show for a decade, bring him back, have RG do a bunch of sexy photoshoots with OS, and then wait another five years while nothing happens. Then let's talk.

L&O fans are the strongest warriors holy shit.

[lilvoidcreature13]

Why I enjoy the Ships I put Severus in / ships featuring Severus from fanfics that I've read and enjoyed.

Lily X Sev (Snilly): I absolutely adored it when it's done right. Especially when it's from Lily's point of view since she rarely gets expanded on in the canon as fell as in the fandom. I also really love it when it has some elements of queerness. I've read fics where 1. Sev is a girl who still loves Lily; 2. Lily or Sev has some queer feeling about their gender and/or sexuality (either are portrayed as gender-nonconforming/non binary and/or bisexual/ace spectrum) or 3. They genuinely having feeling for each other and just not working out. These elements that I can find in some Snilly Fanfics are absolutely divine, I feel like these fics aren't afraid to look at the reality of queerness in the 1970s, and the complexity of their relationship to one another.

Sirius X Severus (Snirius, Snack, HoundPrince?): there's fics tend to be toxic, sometimes even violent, which isnt everyones cup of tea and I myself have to be in the right mood for it, but I enjoy seeing how these two man mirror each other and also bring out the worst in each other. I, with all my heart, believe that Sirius sees his mom in Severus and Severus sees his dad in Sirius, and it drives them both crazy because neither of them wanted to end up like their parents but cant stop themselves from seeking out what is familiar to them. I also like how a lot of Snack fics explore their experiences with abuse, their lives seem so different yet also similar. There are also some fics where they actually grow to understand one another and start a healthy relationship too, but I don't think they're as prominent as the more toxic versions. I still very much ship them, though!

James X Severus (Jeverus, PrinceChaser): can be just as toxic as SevXSirius but there are more wholesome fics out there of them. I have a love /hate relationship with this particular ship. Like, I like fics where James unknowingly had a crush on Sev the whole time and tries to win him over, but I always end up rooting for Sev to reject him and make him realize his actions have consequences. I've also stopping shipping it as much because of Snape's Worst Memory. I only returned to the fandom this year, before that I was still a high schooler obsessed with shipping, and now that I've matured I see SWM in a new light and can't stand fics between James and Sev when they take place after SWM. There's still plenty of good fics of these two, but I'm not as into the pairing as I use to be. Also James Stan's are really annoying and if I look for content featuring James, I inevitably run into them, so that kind of hinders my enjoyment of the ship.

Remus X Severus (Snupin, MoonPrince? WolfPrince?): again, I have a love hate relationship with this ship. I love how theyre both considered quite, introverted, and nerdy. They also have similar social standing: Remus is a halfblood whose life in constantly in shambles, who finally finds a place where he feels excepted with people who don't hate him for his condition, who then has to sit back and be quite when his friends act up because he's too scared of loosing what he has. Severus was in a similar boat to Remus, except he probably didn't have genuine friendship with the people he spent time with. This is a pretty interesting dynamic to explore, but I can't always enjoy the ship,especially in fics where the impact of Remus' non-action is handwaved. I don't know about you guys, but having a partner who doesn't acknowledge the ways they may have hurt you, even if it's only through inaction, is not a green flag for a partner.

Licius X Narcissa X Severus

I'm just gonna combine the LuciusXSev, NarcissaXSev, & LuciusXNarcissaXSeverus ships into on section, I don't read enough of this ship to have any really strong opinions,but I absolutely adored it when it's platonic. I just love the idea of Narcissa & Lucius acting as Severus' big siblings / parental figures, lord knows he needs people like that in his life. I also don't mind when this ship is more romantic/sexual, but I'm really picky when it comes to those depictions because if Sev is gonna be their third, they gotta treat him right.

Mulciber X Sev:

I adore this ship, it wasn't around when I was first in the fandom but I like how much Bruce is portrayed as a guy who actually loves Severus from the beginning. They very rarely any animosity between the two, which make it easy to consume fluff fics with them because I can buy into the fluff very easily. (Ps. I love it when Bruce calls Sev 'Potions' it's such a jock thing to do, and is also a unique term of endearment.)

Xenophilius Lovegood X Sev:

This stems purely from TikTok and the handful of fics I could find of this pair. Idk where it came from but I love the idea of Luna's oddball dad having a strange relationship with Severus. We've all see that post where the HP characters are matched up with characters from the first war (Harry-James, Ron-Sirius, Remus-Hermione, Neville-Peter, Ginny-Lily, Luna-Severus) and I fully believe that Luna does partially mirror Sev, what with them both being outcasts. Xenophillius, as we saw, also had some strange ideas and had his head in the sky, which I think would clash with Severus personality at first, until Sev eventually learns to tolerate Xenophilius. This ship is pure Crack and I am an addicted for it.

Kingsley Shacklebolt X Severus:

I have no idea why I like this ship, I'm not even a big Kingsley enjoyed but the fanfics are so good. There's one where they get into an arranged marriage and Kingsley is such a good husband!!

Fic is called Come What May by ShadowAceSeverus https://archiveofourown.org/works/48388618

It's what got me addicted to this ship.

[saveahorserideaneddie]

the “slow burn” issue:

something i’ve seen tossed around a lot by fans and by some of the journalists who cover the show is this notion that the buddie slowburn officially started in s7, and that we are still only at the starting phase of the slow burn because to ABC this is only s2 of the show, not s8.

i find the logic in that to be flawed in various aspects, and it frankly makes me a little angry to see people who call themselves buddie shippers perpetuating/supporting this narrative because it makes me wonder if they truly actually want to see buddie go canon.

my first gripe with this argument is the notion that the show “restarted” when abc took over:

if this were the case, then does that mean that we as fans are expected to completely disregard the previous six years of canon in order to watch the show go forward at abc? does this mean that all of the development the characters have gone through over the years, the traumas, hardships, and pains are just nullified because nothing that was intentionally set-up and written into the story counts anymore? the argument is that buddie scenes were not being intentionally written in former seasons the same way they have been in season 7 and 8… we know this is untrue based on multiple cast interviews on previous arcs, as well as tim minear himself stating that he has written them the same, and to his credit- he has; buddie secens in s7 and 8- with a few exceptions of course- ultimately to me have not felt any more subtextually romantic than they have in any other season. this difference lies in the fact that we have received a lot more buddie scenes since the shift to abc, but the intention behind them has not changed and you can tell in most of the writing (again, barring a few exceptions)

my second issue w this take, is that (in the tweet that inspired this post), the journalist and a few replies i also saw screenshots of made the argument that a buddie slowburn couldn’t have started until buck was canonically bisexual.

i have qualms with this for many reasons, namely that no one before s7 even thought to entertain the idea of anyone other than eddie being buck’s bisexual awakening- aside from the “he’s always known” route that wouldn’t have necessarily gone over well in the fandom. if that is the crux of thus argument, then technically the slow burn hasn’t started now either since eddie still isn’t canonically queer. the implication that characters have to be out or have things figured out before they can enter into a relationship to me feels antiquated and very much in line with a heteronormative view of relationships that should not be applied to queer meta.

my final issue, is that if this take holds true, and the writers are treating this as if it’s only the beginning of a slow burn, then how much longer do we have to wait?

those of us who have been here since the beginning and have been waiting for seven years- those of us who have gone through both high school and college being told constantly to “be patient.” how many more seasons of the same things we’ve gotten the past seven years (because let’s be for real- there’s not much more they can do in one-on-one scenes w them without stepping into explicitly romantic territory) are we going to have to sit through before the “slow-burn” that apparently hasn’t been happening since s2 (it has) can finally end? season 12? season 14 or 15 to give it another 7 or 8 years? why would anyone in the fandom be content with 14 seasons of stagnation just because a network decided to randomly decide a that pairing who were already a slowburn could officially start being considered a slowburn in the writer’s room?

i’m tired of being told to be patient. there is no reason why buddie should not be canon by midseason 9, especially with the trajectory they’ve been on. buck has literally been WAY beyond the realization zone since 8a ended, for some reason he just hasn’t noticed yet, and eddie’s about to be right there with him. it gets to a point where it’s no longer a “slowburn for the ga who haven’t noticed it until now” (an argument which is frankly bullshit considering the ga HAVE BEEN noticing this for a long time) and it’s just “stalling bc we don’t want to put effort into this anymore.”

idk why seeing a pic of that tweet really pissed me off the way it did, but i guess i’m just tired of being told the whole “it’s only a matter of when, not if” because that’s the same shit i’ve had to hear for 7 years

i’ve been watching this show since i was 15

i’d rather buddie go canon before i turn 30 with 14 years of waiting under my belt just because yall want to say that them going canon in s9 is “rushed” all because you think the slowburn didn’t start until s7.

i understand the appeal of slowburns, and i am not saying that buddie shouldn’t be a slowburn- my point is that it HAS been for years, and acting like it only just started being one is ridiculous

[italianpersonwithashippersheart]

Hey bestie, dropping by with a mea culpa. When Peaceful Property started, you expressed concern that GMMTV was inching toward a model of using bl pairs in shows that would avoid being explicitly gay but still draw on shipping fandom to be successful. Coming off The Trainee, which was not a bl but did have expIicitly queer characters and romance subplots, I wasn't sure the intentions were quite that dark for PP, but having now finished it and seen the way some in the production have interacted with shipper fans, I have to call it: you were right to be concerned. At no point was this show ever a bl and none of its principal characters are canonically queer, but they successfully leveraged the TayNew ship to have fans interacting with it as if it was in fact a gay love story, that idea and fan commentary was explicitly encouraged by the creators, and the show has been quite successful despite never actually delivering on all the TayNew bait. I'm definitely concerned that we might have somehow swung back around to queerbaiting being seen as acceptable and good, as long as it features popular branded pairs. I don't have any bigger thoughts to offer about how this should be addressed, but just wanted to come back and say you were valid for naming that!

Thank you. I didn't want to be correct. And I am still hoping to wrong about what this says about where GMMTV is going.

But I am not gonna lie, seeing the posts about the finale did regnite the massive fury I had at this project when it was first called a bromance. So I am going to use your ask as an opportunity to vent.

FOR THE RECORD: I am not mad at you, or at the people and mutual on my dash that have enjoyed the show and are claiming as gay out of spite. My anger is at GMMTV and at GMMTV alone.

THEY DID THIS SHIT TWICE ALREADY!!! Back to fucking back.

I know High Schoool Frenemy is being watched by like 5 people on tumblr. But it's doing well outside of tumblr. They are using bl style fanservice with the 2 main boys of that show. I have seen the shippy content and compilations along with the other bl couples. Not to mention people like Jojo saying those characters are the his new favorite ship on twitter.

AND I AM SO PISSED!!!!

I am glad you brought up TayNew because there is no doubt in my mind that they used TayNew for Peaceful Property as a test. They knew there could be backlash. They knew the bl fandom could have rioted. But they also knew that if it that rage would have been directed at TayNew not at the director, not the company but TAYNEW.

And I think TayNew knew this. Because they spend weeks on social media doing preintive damage control, I have seen the posts of them (or at least New) saying it wasn't going to be romantic. I don't think the two of them forgot how they were left to eat the shit alone over the bullshit backlash during the TayGun kiss situation with GMMTV doing fuck all for them.

And what pisses me off is that BL audience didn't even give a backlash. They eat that shit up like it was fucking icecream.

The BL audience is literally doing their job for them. They are taking a show with some gay subtext and running with it.

They are showing up for the fanservice (again broder audience outside of tumblr), and gleefully closing their eyes and ears and saying well I Think It's Gay.

What do you think Mega Corporation GMMTV is going to take from the success and no backlash? If the answear is anything but: We can produce half of the BLs as usual and make the rest Bromances, you have more faith in corporations then I do.

Because Bromances can be watched by non BL audiences as well. The BL niche is a big one, but it is still a niche.

And now they won't even have to bother inserting arguable quality gay commentary or struggles or homophobia. Or any gay kissing, no more workshops. No more worries about how effective these potential straight boys are going to be at playing gay. All they have to do is making them do fanservice, and they are great at training people for that. Or better yet, actually use one or two ships that have kissed before and done actual BLs.

Will they stop doing BL at all, obviously not, you gotta give the BL audience something to remind them they can still show boys kissing, and we have the Ex Morning and Jojo that will never actually stop making BLs and some gay shit. But if in the next line up we will more bromances, and eventually we get half BL and half bromances I wouldn't be surprised.

Of course maybe I am just pessimistic and cynical. Maybe the proto bdsm in the heart killers is enough to persuade people that I am totally wrong. I guess we will see about that.

Thanks again for the ask and the oppurtunity to vent a little. Again I don't fault anyone for enjoying this, it was design to get the BL audience watching.

I will personally be keeping with my own resolution and never watch another gmmtv show live ever again, maybe binge the few that sound interesting and that's it.

At least I can find comfort in the idea that that other companies do not have the same level of BIG cast of boys and big budget to do the same thing and follow in the bromance trend.

[starrycloak]

Last night I saw a lighthearted post (sorry, I was doomscrolling and half-asleep so I missed it before I could think about it again. if you see this and you're the OP, please let me know!) that wondered how wild the reaction to the hypothetical scenario of willelmike becoming endgame as a poly relationship (unicorn polycule or angle??) would be like from both m11s and bylers, and that sent me back to think about people's reactions towards these ships (and fanon throuple) throughout the years. While I cannot 100% attest to this, (mostly bc I don't have the figures at hand, only anecdotal information from back when I ignored how twisted a-oh-3 is as an organization), it's quite telling how, from the very beginning, most fans kind of realized a polycule-to-solve-the-love-triangle for once wasn't really in the cards for these three characters in canon.

let's take a look at some of the st fandom's shipping preferences across the years ->

s1: "look at these sweet kids, surving the horrors and just being innocent. I hope mike and el reunite and one day they can date for realsies" <- that was the GA and most of the first wave of fans back in 2016. Not denying that some of the earliest fans did feel a bit concerned about the aforementioned traumatized kids (especially the little girl raised 'alone' in a lab) jumping into crushes and kisses in less than a week, but hey, it was the first season, why not wait and see where this is going? So yeah, that was the 'm11 majority era', as far as fan content and viewer investment is concerned.

@ that person from twitter who posted about miwi/byler fifteen days after s1 was released + earliest wheelclairs and miwis: all the love in the world <33

the post-s2 fandom landscape, however, largely transformed with the direction the text took with yk, pretty much everything related to how the writers handled m11 and placed much more focus on miwi going through hell together and how deeply their bond ran, recontextualizing the weight of the events and reactions during s1 even more. Externally, I'd argue a few adjacent 2017 pop culture moments, particularly the release of Muschietti's IT Chapter One, with finn playing a queer-coded boy from the 80s in a supernatural/horror setting, also played a part into the fandom looking at (or pondering about) one mike wheeler in a new light. A ST x IT crossover from back then that didn't feature the reddie + miwi combo was, for the most part, a rarity, especially when it came to that one staple moment (/aff) where the 'tozier-wheeler cousins' roasted each other about who was more whipped for their respective brunette besties. So yeah, while miwi couldn't have ever been considered a crackship (not even in the s1 era, also considering will's own 'ambiguous' -at the time- queercoding being an elephant in the room), its new popularity made it so it was less and less common to see an exclusive m11 majority in the fandom.

thus, from 2017 on, many multishippers (big fans and casuals alike) entertained the possibility that at least there could be something there hanging between mike and will, still unbeknownst to both of them. However, that lightheartedness probably came more from trying not to expect anything more than that in the show down the road, given that m11 seemed to have smooth sailing after the s2 finale and, possibly, the average viewer probably giving them the benefit of the doubt one more time (i.e "well, we haven't really seen el and mike interact in peacetime in a while, but we know they love care about each other surely -hopefully they'll be a cute power couple!")

a 2018 intermission is very interesting, considering it's the year that saw the most poly!willelmike works in a*0*3 (around a hundred in total in the tag by the time of posting) -majority with a "mike loves them both and they work it out ft. stoncy mentors" (and even some ocassional polyam-bi!will in a unicorn polycule -i.e. where all three of them date each other), but most of these take place in non-canon compliant aus. This period is also worth mentioning because, after the release of s3 in 2019 canonized -okay, "heavily implied"- gay!will and how m11's canon relationship is indeed meant to be written like that for a bigger narrative purpose (el's independence and autonomy and mike's journey towards honesty and embracing his own rules about growing up), a similar level of engagagement (and hype for that particular dynamic) hasn't been reached again in six years.

flashforward to 2022 and pretty much where we still are today: m11 as a failed (romantic) relationship being detrimental to both parties involved -one arm of the angle down-, will's feelings for mike and his gay identity (almost) confirmed (so his sexuality would be incompatible with el as a femme character anyway even if she weren't pretty much his adoptive sis now), and, besides him clearly not being in love with El in s4 -or ever? shall we also mark this arm of the angle as down now??-, mike's true feelings still up in the air (as far as official confirmation goes, that is -schodinger!mike being a well-written character or not depending on whether or not he's grappling with being true to himself and the one he loves.) The big waves of former-m11s-turned-bylers post s4, the level of vitriol and defensiveness hardcore m11 stans have adopted to protect their ship against 'slander' and 'delusion' in the last few years (and some particularly homophobic folks popping in from time to time), and the attitude of some casual fans towards byler, claiming it would be 'forced' if it turns out to be the endgame ship, all across this period are also noteworthy. So, taking all of this into consideration, imagining a last-minute ménage à trois being presented the final, rewarding, comforting resolution to this story so nobody ends the show "alone and sad, though"? That's gotta be, yep, impossible to sell narratively, in-universe AND for the audiences in a way that even makes sense.

So yeah, highly unlikely outcome: pretty much everyone would be getting clowned on that way, and not only because of their shipping preferences.

On a much more lighthearted note, I actually love how this little attempt at historical recollection reinforces how mike really has long and largely been percieved as the one who cannot stop seeking will and feelings a certain way about him, and yet he's "the straightest character in any media ever" lmao

[iwriteasfotini]

I'm writing a long somewhat canon-compliant Marauders era series. Lots of info to be had in this post.<3 Years 1-6 are complete on AO3! Next up is The War Years. ......Always...... ......What is this series?...... ......OLIWITS Reference Materials on AO3...... ......What OLIWITS characters look like...... ......OLIWITS One-Shots......and here...... >>>This is a very interactive post, click around!<<< >>>>>>Minors please DNI with EXPLICIT content<<<<<<<

A Rat's Tail

Peter POV | Ongoing timeline | WIP on AO3 This is my series/universe from Peter's POV. It's more canon-compliant than my main series even though they exist in tandem.

The Heir and The Spare

Sirius POV | first year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 108K | 25 chapters | Explicit | tumblr THATS master post

The Prince's Pact

Severus POV | second year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 117K | 24 chapters | Mature | tumblr TPP master post

The Bonds of Friendship

James POV | third year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 133K | 27 chapters | Mature | tumblr TBOF master post

The Heart of the Lion

Regulus POV | third/fourth year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 162K | 35 chapters | Explicit | tumblr THOTL master post

The Wolf and The Star

Remus POV | fifth year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 160K | 30 chapters | Explicit | tumblr TWATS master post

The Changing Times

Lily POV | sixth year at Hogwarts | COMPLETE ON AO3 180K | 37 chapters | Explicit | tumblr TCT master post

The War Years

Part I - The Battered Boy Barty POV | sixth/seventh year at Hogwarts Part II - The Ones Who Bore the Mark Regulus POV | sixth/seventh year at Hogwarts Part III - The Prince of Darkness Severus POV | seventh year at Hogwarts Part IV - TBA Part V - TBA Part VI - TBA Part VII - TBA

Main Ships

Jegulus | Wolfstar | Snily | Rosekiller | The Black Brothers

Music

This series has two main theme songs, then each book has one/two theme songs. Plus sometimes I have a song attached to a chapter, which means each installment has its own playlist.

>>>Master Playlist<<< (Theme songs only - very short playlist)

>>>Epic Playlist<<< (Every single song in order, really really epic)

The above will grow in length as I post each installment. I will be sharing all of my playlists from Spotify.

Other things to know:

*If you are a minor, please do not engage in content I rate Explicit. This if for my safety and yours. My Explicit content on AO3 is usually locked to registered users only.*

Author Notes

This story contains a large cast of queer characters who may or may not label themselves. There are also characters who identify as trans and nonbinary. And I'll say it until I'm blue in the face, I know this isn't realistic of the time period. Who cares!

Warning: People who have sensitivity to the following themes should approach this work with caution. It gets DARK.

Some tags which will be used at times: Underage drinking; underage recreational drug use; underage sex; profanity; domestic abuse; blood; animal harm/death; self harm including attempting suicide; death; violence; grief; psychological abuse; torture; nonconsensual sex/sexual abuse; animal sex; minor homophobia; sexual content; sexual themes

A final note:

If this sounds like an enticing series to you, you are welcome to follow me or subscribe to the series on AO3. This is a major passion project. I am writing 100% for me but I think some of you might also enjoy it, so I'm going to share.

Thanks for taking the time to read this introduction post. I hope to see you in the comments on AO3. Cheers!

*I do not agree with the original author's personal beliefs, obviously.*

*I DO NOT USE AI to write, ever. At all. Just no.*

Other things:

My Metas | #Writing lesson for the day | My Substack

My Fandom Related Rants and Exploration Series

Book Bind Projects | #fotini polls

[hazbinstohell]

Something that I found weird IS how much Charlastor content we got. Don't get me wrong as a shipper, I'm not upset. I was very happy in fact. However, the fact that this fanon ship. This ship that will never be canon unless Viv has a complete change of mind got all of these shippy esque moments while the actual canon ship, Chaggie got virtually nothing is wild. Chaggie isn't my ship, I don't dislike it, I just don't find it interesting, but if I was a shipper I'd be pissed. How the hell are they canon but got scraps basically. It felt like Viv wanted to make a queer ship just for the sake of representation and not because she actually cares about it. Maybe things will be different in season 2 but just off of season 1, she doesn't care about Chaggie and the writing showed. I might be a charlastor shipper but I can put my shipping goggles to the side and acknowledge it's fucked up how this lesbian ship hasn't gotten the proper care and attention it deserved. I can't help but imagine how disappointing it must be to bi and lesbian watchers to think they were finally getting representation and this is how it was handled. Hell, if anything from all the charlastor content we got, I'm inclined to believe that some of the writers are lowkey Charlastor shippers with the material we were getting. Again, I was very happy to see it but at the same time, why did a ship that'll never happen get a lot of content. That's a lot of time dedicated to a fanon ship instead of the canon one. I wonder what went on in that writers room.

Yeah, we all in the fandom felt this. I’m not against Chaggie. I like both characters…but together they brought nothing. Is it the writing or Viv? I don’t know, but I will say this—Amazon is already alluding to Alastor being the leading man, so who knows exactly?

[mrghostrat]

"He needed an internet connection so he could download an app to draw with, but the whole point of setting the thing up in London was because he knew Crowley understood all of this a whole lot better than he did."

Okayyyyy I just got violent flashbacks to the s2 finale this is evil 😭😭

But in all seriousness, I LOVED the new bnf au chapter, I mean the kiss??? I audibly gasped, it was soooo good

I was wondering if the witch and the witchfinder are a canon couple in the nice and accurate prophecies? Or are they just a very popular fanon ship? Or is it like good omens, where people saw the romantic subtext in the book and where it was made explicitly canon in the show?

I just think all options would be really interesting, given that Crowley and Aziraphale are both middle-aged queer people and the book came out thirty years ago. So they either would have had some representation back then, or they recognised themselves in the story and even though it wasn't canon, maybe those ideas would later explicitly be confirmed by Agnes Nutter nonetheless? Since all these options have really interesting implications for the way they both interacted with the source material, I'm really curious what your thoughts on the matter are.

Thank you so much for all the beautiful things you create for the fandom, both your fics and your art give me life and I'm so grateful for them ❤

omg you have no idea how excited i am about this question 😭 as i've written BNF, i've been quietly fleshing out more about their fictional fandom, and accidentally gotten reeeeally invested and am dying to talk about it 😭😭

i'm actually tempted to make some fanart of the witch & the witchfinder, using michael and david as facecasts to go full meta thphptftf. in b4 i write it as a fuckin book series for real

buttttt i'll put all my N&A thoughts under a cut so i dont ramble too long on your dashes 💛

The Nice and Accurate Prophecy: Agnes Nutter's book series (turned play, turned film, turned tv series); the fandom in my fic Big Name Feelings

the idea of using Agnes Nutter's "Nice and Accurate" book for the in-fic fandom was taken from @tawnyontumblr's fic New Messages (i just thought that would be a fun fanon consistency to follow), but all the details about the story and characters are me.

N&A takes inspiration from Good Omens (as a story, and as a fandom) but isn't intended to be a direct copy of it. the original paperback series is a few books long, and each adaptation of the books are considered good, accurate, canonical content. the tv show (a HBO series) is the most recent, highest quality, and most popular. The Witcher style, high fantasy quality.

agnes is loudly supportive of the lgbt community just like neil/david/michael are. but i imagine that for the series to be so "marketable" over the last 30 years, there isn't an explicit queer relationship between the witch & finder. there are canon queer side characters but the witch & finder are a little more nuanced.

the witch and the witchfinder aid each other through time, working together to defeat the evils in the story (like Aziraphale and Crowley from GO). there's tension between them, but boundless love, and plenty of flirtation, despite the running "we shouldn't, we're meant to be enemies" theme. they would canonically get together at some point in the story, probably towards the end after they've spent some time dancing around each other.

the thing that makes this vague is: the witch reincarnates through the story, almost doctor who style. they're a trans icon, much like how the GO fandom looks at Crowley and all his gender ambiguity.

when they finally tryst with the witchfinder, they're female. it's by pure happenstance that they're female presenting at that stage of the story, but still widely critiqued over the years. the thing that canonises the mlm relationship is that the witch is said to carry their consciousness through each reincarnation— they're not a new person like The Doctor is when he regenerates.

the start of the book series spends more time on "Crowley and Aziraphale's favourite male reincarnation", while the movie and tv show only briefly montages through some of the witch's faces. the mlm side of the fandom most definitely lost their minds over the brief few minutes of screentime that they got of the male witch, and has absolutely gifsetted it to death.

i've done it like this because so much of (every) fandom has always been seeking out representation and filling gaps where the original content lacks. there's something to be said about the solidarity of queer fans creating more queer content for themselves. except, in the case of N&A, they're getting to work from a source material that is genuinely queer supportive, unlike fandoms like SPN and BBC Sherlock that are fighting against the tide of queerbaiting and buried gays.

it also gives aziraphale and crowley a chance to band together in the next chapter when they talk to a dickhead at the party:

i haven't exactly decided what happens with the witchfinder, like if the story takes place over hundreds of years and he keeps reincarnating as the same lookin dude (like how jack whitehall plays both Thou Shall Not Commit Adultery and Newton Pulsifer) or if it's set over one lifetime and the witch just gets killed and regenerates a lot. i do like the idea of there being some "through the ages" shenanigans, and a canonical "modern day" setting like GO has.

but i gotta be careful bc i genuinely can't stop thinking about this fake story that's barely mentioned in my fan fic or i'll end up writing the damn thing myself

[vladdyissues]

It's so cute that you uploaded some puffy, you're so kind 😭💞

But I have a question, why did they even block his account? How does Tumblr block an account? He didn't upload anything bad [?]

To the best of my knowledge—and I say this because I did not see every single one of Puffy's posts—Puffy did everything that Tumblr requires when it comes to posting "mature" artwork. She tagged her posts, used Community Labels, cropped and/or censored thumbnails, and made use of the "Read More" option. She was bolder than me when it came to posting certain art styles and speaking unabashedly, but that's a difference in personality. Puffy is a free spirit, incredibly witty, and absolutely hilarious. I'm old and crotchety and try to avoid drama if I can help it—not to say that Puffy in any way invited or deserved termination. She did not.

But she was no match for a targeted mass-reporting campaign. And, unfortunately, there's no way to know just how many people were involved or how much harassment she's been receiving since she joined Tumblr. I know there were at least three asks, likely more, and one rude comment left on one of her artworks early on.

But Tumblr has a poor track record when it comes to making decisions and meting out justice. They don't typically perform thorough investigations, they panic when they see certain words, and they're also prone to outrageous hypocrisy—like the fact that gifs of graphic, live-action porn somehow still manage to survive on this site after 10 years and a purge that cost the company a billion dollars in value, and how they claim to be "the queerest place on the internet" while simultaneously alienating and fostering a hostile environment for the queer artists who are largely responsible for Tumblr's success. Porn and spam bots run amok, but the blogs of marginalized people and artists are first on the chopping block.

I myself have had blogs deleted for lesser reasons. A couple years ago I created a "ship week" event blog, which was deleted simply because at one point in the TV show, one of the characters in the ship was a minor. The blog posted G-rated prompts. It was text-based with completely worksafe header graphics. It didn't endorse any age ranges, but left that up to the discrimination of the participants. The participants complied with Tumblr's TOS if they posted 18+ content, cropping images, using Community Labels and such. Everything adhered strictly to Tumblr's guidelines.

But I was the target for a lot of hatred from the rest of the fandom. They hated my guts because I shipped "the wrong ship"—because it was a gay ship, because it upset the canon heterosexual ship that one of the characters was in, because I wasn't sniveling in fear whenever they sent me hateful asks, because I refused to be bullied or shamed. They went after us because we were a tiny group of fans, easy to target and eradicate. Disgusting behavior, really.

I tried to appeal the deletion, but I never heard back from Tumblr. Fine. I moved the event to another platform (and it looked much better there, too), and that was that.

In short, Tumblr would rather delete a hundred innocent blogs out of fear of offending their ad sponsors rather than 1) investigate the claims made against the blog, or 2) give the blog owner a chance to delete the offending content.

One final thing:

Last month, around 17 June 2024, several Pompep fans on Tumblr received anywhere between 1-3 anonymous asks telling us to kill ourselves or "get raped".

Over cartoon characters.

It's a sad state of things when there's more sympathy, respect and agency given to drawings of fictional lines than living, breathing people.

[outrunningthedark]

Question did you become dissatisfied with buddie due to toxicity of the toxic bobs or did you see something special with bucktommy

Truthfully, season six's trajectory took me out of the story real quick (before 6A was even over) and the fandom solidified my apathy 'til the end, lol.

The whole reason I became interested in 9-1-1 and Buddie as a ship (during s3, joined fandom at the start of s4) was because of Chris and the Buckley-Diaz family moments. So when Kristen and her writing staff established that *clear* divide between Buck and Eddie where it felt like they were existing in two different worlds at times - which, ftr, I can respect because she never pretended Buck and Eddie's relationship was supposed to be thought of as anything other than friendship and made decisions to discourage those kinds of questions - and the Buckley-Diaz content went waaay down compared to seasons prior....I couldn't find it in me to care the way I used to. Buck accepting his queerness wasn't gonna do it for me. Eddie working through his religious guilt wasn't gonna do it for me. I wanted the family unit more than anything because Chris was an integral part of the equation to me. The problem with losing interest in Buddie and accepting canon for what it was, ofc, was that you couldn't (and still can't) express such opinions without reading the words "long form storytelling" or "couch theory" or having Kristen and Oliver's words IN PRINT being completely ignored/rephrased to sound like something good was coming for Buddie. (Replace Kristen with Ryan and we're experiencing the same shit even now.) Someone trying to tell me I'm wrong and getting personal in doing so (the homophobic accusations because I said Eddie was being written as straight..whew) when I KNOW what I'm seeing and reading (because my instinct isn't to assume anyone's lying) only made me more sure of myself and more vocal about how I thought the story was going to play out. I've said multiple times that if the tone ever actually shifts in interviews then I'd have no problem entertaining the possibility that things are evolving, but nothing I've read or heard from Oliver, Ryan, and Tim regarding this season sounds any different to what I was told back in seasons six and seven (seven being the key because Ryan finally started speaking up) so I have no reason to expect any different on screen. (sorry for the tl;dr, but there might be some people out there who don't know what it was like even before Tommy reentered the picture 😉)

[unabashedly-so]

💙💜🩷 SDV Bachelor HC 🩷💜💙

How much has each bachelor explored their bisexuality?

Content warning: compulsive heteronormativity, loss of family, grief, risky sexual behavior mention, drinking mention. SFW.

✨The Bachelors✨

Elliott

look me in the eye and just try to tell me this man doesn't already know. i dare you i fuckin' dare you i WANT YOU TO

that line on the 10 heart boat scene about not knowing he could feel that way about another man is bullshit and that is a piece of canon I toss into the sea.

now please understand the majority of this is colored by my very vivid hc of Elliott's upbringing and young adult life, but you're literally reading a hc post that is labeled hc so you bought the ticket now board the train. choo choo mfs.

the low hanging fruit is that this is a man that canonically spends hours on hair care, dresses like that, talks like that, etc. etc.. Yes, you can be cishet etc. and do that, sure.

and don't get me wrong, it's valid that Elliott could just Be Like That. (I love and respect the hell out of that incorrect opinion)

but this man is penny-romance novel cover coded. just. think about that. think about this active CHOICE he is making.

ffs he lives on a BEACH and dresses in a THREE-PIECE SUIT with his PERFECTLY COIFFED hair that he has to spend HOURS on because that's what happens when you LIVE. ON. A. BEACH.

i am going to have an aneurysm about this man's life choices rn

he's arguably pretty self-secure*, which tracks because you don't get to be his age and not have some better understanding of yourself. As others have pointed out, there's no real ""growth"" in Elliott's arc because boy came whole because HE BEEN KNEW HE BEEN THROUGH THIS ALREADY. He's secure in his identity because he's worked it out already! He's moved on! focusing on his career and legacy now that he knows who is he and who he's not!!

*dont make me drag out the receipts his part is already long enough just trust me ok

now meet Elliott in his early 20's and wow, buddy, you are trying way too hard I promise you things are gonna be okay sweetheart

speaking of his early 20's, it's hc to me that he did, uhhhh, so much exploring. of everything. and everyone in the English and Theater department during university.

King Slut, long may he reign. 🙏

just. someone who's not as self-secure and self-aware would not be able to own the aesthetic PLUS the temperament we see with Elliott, who really only gets flustered with the intimate interpersonal stuff because he's a romantic and it's meaningful. He's confident in who he is and the kind of person he wants to be, and you don't get to that point in life without having done a lot of experimenting and soul-searching.

I could write a whole fucking meta on this boy, but for today: 9/10 he knows it, owns it, enjoys it, but he's got more interesting things going on in his opinion than to make one of his core personality traits just Gay/Queer/Bi/Pan, etc. He has an AESTHETIC and BI BY YOBA he's sticking to it.

also he can walk in heels better than you.

Harvey

Hmm, he's actually hard to get a read on for me. There's a few others in the fandom who might have a better take than me, but here's what I can offer.

first let's grant him that he's older. With age comes wisdom, experience, etc. the older bachelor/ettes are just going to be at an advantage vs the younger ones.

also... like 8 years in college. I cannot be swayed away from this as a crucial part of his journey.

twinkle TWINK-le little snack.

it just feels like one of those things he felt happening in high school and might have gotten bullied for it because everyone Knew but he couldn't/wouldn't just own it.

but then in college he finally realized that owning it would give him the power, so he did. kind of. very quietly.

he probably had a boyfriend or two in undergrad. They were definitely the kind to hold hands from the coffee shop to the library. you know the ones, we've all seen 'em. <3

and isn't he just so lucky that he can get butterflies from girls too?

a blessing and a burden for this man with anxiety because, oh no, now everyone's cute.

by the time he gets to Pelican town, his last relationship kind of ended on a sour note, so he's a little discouraged from pursuing romantic relationships, hence why he's a bit guarded and shy and nervous.

he gets a 8/10, he's just quiet about it because who's business is it but his own? also, like, he's literally the doctor for everyone. He's gotta keep some confidentiality in this small town.

Sebastian

while he doesn't show it, I'd say Sebastian is actually quite comfortable with being bi.

I mean like as comfortable as he can be around people in general.

He doesn't bring it up, and doesn't really let anyone know either, but again that's just kind of his MO, regardless of gender.

now when he's Together with someone, well that's a different story. we stan possessive Sebastian in this house 🫡

he probably wouldn't bring it up with the gang unless someone else brought it up first. 🤷‍♀️

would probably give some semi-defensive response of "yeah, what of it??" to his friends, but a low hearts farmer might get a coldly aggro "why are you asking? That's none of your business."

he and Maru Know about each other but keep those conversations private. hashtag just sibling things ig

has definitely kissed guys at concerts before. Lots of people can also provide a feeling of anonymity, letting him get lost in the crowd and not have to worry so much. 10/10

Shane

closeted sportsballer. As a former Closeted Sportsballer, I can see this going two ways.

First option: you DO NOT explore that unless you want things to get real weird REAL FAST.

Like, I'm not even talking locker room nonsense, let's be mature here. Even if you do not like your teammates, you WILL still share a Sports Bond with them built on a shared passion, a common goal, and lots of comiseration.

So if you're already on iffy social standing, which I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say Shane might have had... you're gonna have a bad time.

Then after his gridball career ended, it may have already been baked in that that was Dangerous. OR he could have just been so far down the path of self-loathing that he stopped looking at people romantically.

OR OR--part of his self-loathing actually opened him up to exploring his sexuality......

......which is a very nice way of saying he took part in a lot of risky sexual encounters. 😮‍💨 (with all genders! One night stands do not discriminate!)

so if there were any feelings involved, it was... not good or conducive to self-understanding. Probably made things worse.

cue the drinking! the depression! all the risky behaviors!

ALTERNATIVELY... Option two: he does explore Feelings For Dudes and it could have played into his sportsball exit. 🤔

Hi. Let me just reiterate personal experience here: LEAVING A TEAM CAN REALLY FUCK YOU UP depending on your life outside the sport. Sports teams are a social support group, like, I really hate the phrase "like family"... but literally structurally so similar. If you already don't have a strong family life outside of the sport (like Shane has admitted to, let's fuckin goooooo), AND being on a team is an overall positive thing in your life??

Leaving your team (willingly or unwillingly) takes away that social support. And not just the social/emotional support, but the structure to your life, the routine, the feeling of belonging, the PURPOSE!!!

gee, wonder what kind of feelings those can bring about in a person. like a sad chicken man.

are we seeing a trend here???????

Ok this definitely got more into a sportsball psychological study, but what I'm saying is my money's on gridball heavily influencing his trajectory but since he DIDN'T have the family or social supports outside of it, he crashed and burned afterwards. Contrast with Alex below who DID have social supports and--

focus, bisexuality.

Personally, I like the idea that Shane's been with dudes, but it's never been anything emotionally healthy (except maybe one pre-gridball-exodus which could have prompted the leave......🤔👀) or fulfilling.

5/10, would be 6 but he got -1 because it was driven by self-loathing. >:(

somebody come show him some mlm love!!!

Sam

baby boy. sweet baby boy.

the younger bachelor/ettes are at a bit of a disadvantage because they're in the time of their life where they would be exploring their sexualities in a conducive environment. Not to say the valley isn't but there's, uh, only 11 other singletons there and they all know each other sooooo...

that said, due to Kent's military career, it's likely Sam has had time living outside of Pelican Town, so may be a bit farther ahead than, say, Sebastian who's lived there his whole life.

speaking of Kent, it's canon that Daddy has been in and out of his life and tbf I don't remember exactly how Sam feels about that but

I'm JUST SAYIN'. baby boy gets a whiff of attention from some buff dude who wants to make him his baby girl?? melting.

you know the trope of how girls with absent fathers sometimes overcorrect for that and seek out male attention like crazy? well, who says boys are any different??

what I'm getting at is this: you're trying to tell me Sam has NEVER had a raging crush on Alex?????

I mean fr it was probably like. Alex told him "good choice" on his ice cream flavor once and it was all downhill from there.

plus I'm hoping he's got a solid enough friendship with Sebastian (and Abigail) that they could talk about these things without it getting weird.

also, singer/lead guitarist in a band?? come on, too easy.

anyway 5/10, once again a bit oblivious until he gets smacked in the face. Definitely a flavor of "haha no homo bro! :):) ...... unless...?? 👀"

Alex

closeted sportsballer, round 2 EXCEPT

he canonically admits he crushes real easy. so just statistically speaking, there's an equal likelihood that he's crushed on the male singletons of the valley, too. Which totally doesn't even take into consideration his gridballer time, which I'll get to in a second.

he also admits his crushes don't usually last very long. part of that probably has to do with a lot with attachment issues (seriously he should be more messed up than he is), but if gridball is just SDV American Football, there's probably a good deal of internalized homophobia Alex has had to either work through or not work through. hence why his not het crushes might not last long.

but confusing and conflicting as they may be, THEY'RE STILL THERE. just. probably presenting more like a "wow I'm really noticing this person a lot lately huh. I mean I guess they look pretty good and seem kind of cool..." he's completely and utterly oblivious to so much, his own feelings included.

so what I'm saying is there was a brief window of time where Alex unknowingly had a crush on Sam and, listen, under the right circumstances Sam/Alex (Smalex?) could have been canonized--don'T BOO ME, I'm RIGHT

as for gridball, compulsive heteronormativity is absolutely rampant so there's no way he could have felt comfortable exploring his interest in other gender(s). ESPECIALLY in his case where he's still kind of on the outside, trying to model himself to fit a certain kind of mold. Just, no chance, absolutely none.

and really, Idk, between him and Haley I'm starting to get real compulsive heteronormativity vibes now... not that they're mad about it, but they were kinda forced into those roles and, well, the shoes KIND OF fit I GUESS...

you might say it was ... they're kind of sh... shoeho--shoehorn--*shot*

Anyway, boy's represso. 2/10, if you called him bi he'd say wait why are you leaving , what did you want to tell me???

[rtc-confessions]

Shout-out to @pennylambchops who actually made an argument against me, instead of just telling me I'm wrong! I appreciate it.

Anyway, let's get into it, shall we?

“he is explicitly SAID to be gay. yes, gay doesn’t only mean mlm/nwlnw in some cases but in noels IT DOES.” Yeah, that's fair. I've nothing to say in my defense on that one, it was one of my weaker points tbf.

“fanon very rarely affects canon” FINALLY someone who recognises that I don't think mspec Noel is canon! Thank you!

“i feel like we should still base what we do and what we say about characters a little bit off of canon.” Very fair. I mean, if we just start doing anything we want with characters, we might as well just write an original work. But in this hypothetical case, I'd only be changing his sexuality from gay/mlm to somewhere else on the queer spectrum, it's not like I would drastically change who he is as a person (or maybe I would; with Noel being a very stereotypical gay man, having him be some other label of queer might be detrimental to his character. But imo, that is a problem on Richmond and/or Maxwell's end for making him a walking stereotype and not mine for wanting to mess with it)

“but you choose to ship the gay character with woman.” No I don't! Nowhere in any confession I made did I say *I* ship Noel with any of the women in RTC. I am in fact a Nischa shipper 100%. I just said you could, if you wanted to and if you wrote it well enough that it could be explained (not that it necessarily has to fit in with canon if you don't want it to)

“if you like a dynamic so much between noel and a woman you could maybe idk, make platonic content for it since platonic love is just as important as romantic love” That is exactly what I'm doing. In fact, I think we need more platonic Noel and Constance stuff, because the few moments they share in the musical are actually so sweet and I feel like no one appreciates that enough.

“using sexuality is fluid is also a dumb excuse for making him not gay. because not everyones sexuality is fluid, some people are simply just attracted to gender and that doesn’t change ever.” You're correct, some people's sexualities don't change. And the same could apply for Noel, but it might not. His sexuality might be fluid, or it might not. It's up to the writer, really.

“dont start a hissy fit when people get upset over you taking away their representation.” I'm not taking away anyone's representation. Mostly because I don't actually ship what we are discussing, but even if I did, that hypothetical fanfic would be in my tiny corner of the internet, and if people think my singular, hypothetical work in about 3,000 fics across ao3 and fanfiction.net would affect anything, then I'm fucking honoured that I'm though of so highly in this fandom /s

- Lesboy

~~

[bluemagi]

Re. Jumping ship and multishipping

I've been thinking a lot about this these past few weeks, since a certain hot pilot swooped in and stole my heart. I've seen people giving other people shit for "giving up" and jumping ship, for multishipping or even just for liking and enjoying a character. And it's just weird to me how people are so obsessed with controlling other people's behaviors. Just the other day I saw a TikTok where the creator was saying that people who "jumped ship" to Bucktommy were just fetishising because they want to see two guys kissing. Which is just... a terrible take on so many levels.

I was a Buddie shipper too. I enjoyed their on-screen relationship, I saw the signs that there might be more than friendship, and I hoped that something might happen. But I have also been in fandoms for at least 20 years by now. I've been through queerbaiting, I have been through shipbaiting, I have been through relationships I previously loved being destroyed by what happens on screen. I know that nothing is promised and that we have to have realistic expectations. Our interpretations of things are usually not what the writers/actors/directors/editors intend, and so we can always hope, but we have to know that we probably won't get what we want.

I think I grew a bit bored with the Buddie ship around season 5. I was watching queer representation in other shows, like Tarlos in Lone Star, and I couldn't see 911 ever go there, especially as time went on and nothing happened, there were no obvious signs. I didn't think they would ever make Buck or Eddie queer. I still enjoyed the show for what it was and would watch when I had the time, but I wasn't obsessing over it anymore. I would watch the show and hope that either one of them would get an interesting love interest (I actually sort of liked Natalia at the end of season 6), and until that happened, I would just enjoy Buddie outside of that, in fan fictions and Tumblr discourse.

So imagine my surprise when they finally did it, when they actually made Bi Buck canon. Since Tommy had been on the show before, we already knew a lot about him, and we could also read into the difference between s2 Tommy and s7 Tommy and see that there had been a lot of development there. So yeah, I was immediately interested. The more I saw, the more interested I became. So while I can still love and appreciate Buddie, it is far more interesting to me to have actual substance with an on-screen relationship, rather than having to try to interpret and read into every interaction to see if it can relate to Buddie.

But, back to jumping ship and multishipping. I've been thinking back through my fandom history, and I realized that this is something I have gone through several times before, in one way or another. I started out with soap operas, and in those, everyone cheats and nobody is ever happy for long, so jumping ship back and forth happens. Suddenly a character is killed, only to come back to life several years later. They completely change personalities, they change faces (new actors), so things change a lot. I suppose that might be why multishipping and jumping ship is not really an issue for me. It just make sense that you can change your mind about something when more content comes out. It's sort of like a relationship. You can be happy and in love for a while, or for a long time, but things change, people grow, and suddenly that relationship is not right for you anymore.

So I was thinking back on my previous experiences with jumping ship and multishipping, and I just scribbled down some thoughts on them. Starting with....

As The World Turns - Nuke vs. LuRe

I think one of the first times I jumped ship, was from Noah/Luke to Luke/Reid in As The World Turns. An American soap that ended in like 2011. Nuke were one of the first gay male couples on American day time TV, and if you have the time, please go read about them on Wikipedia, because their story is absolutely ridiculous and overdramatic, as most soap couples are. And since this was in the 00s / early 10s, they barely shared any kisses or intimacy. At certain points we were counting the days between their on-screen kisses, and I think we went 200 days without an on-screen kiss while they were in a romantic relationship on the show, and the first time they had sex, I think they just kissed and fucking jumped on the bed or something. It was just ridiculous. But it was representation, which there was not a lot of back in those days.

Then, my beloved Reid Oliver came into the picture. He was out and proud, he was confident, successful, unapologetic, he was just very interesting. Luke/Noah was young love, riddled with insecurity and drama. Luke/Reid was more confident, more adult. And also, it was an option! Back in those days, there were barely any queer characters on TV, and now there were three guys in one show. At the point when Reid came on to the show, I was already finding myself growing tired and annoyed with Nuke, and Noah specifically. So when he showed an interest in Luke and they began their relationship, I happily jumped over.

I was then punished by the show's cancellation and that fucking train, but that's beside the point.... Moving on!

Days of Our Lives - Will, Sonny and Paul

Now this was a fun one! I remember watching Days back when I was in elementary school. My friend and I would go home together from school and watch it before doing home work. I was better in English and in reading than her, so I would be reading the subtitles out loud to her so she could keep up with what was happening. I think Days actually helped me to learn English much better. So I remembered all the drama with Sami, Carrie, Lucas and Austin, and with baby Will. And it was a bit shocking to me when suddenly baby Will was an adult (or I guess in his late teens) and was coming out of the closet. This was around the same time as ATWT, I believe, around 2010, so again, there wasn't a lot of representation on TV.

Also, side note, this was before streaming was a thing, and I lived in Norway, so we didn't even have access to everything. I had to buy DVDs to watch stuff like Queer as Folk and The L Word.

Anyways, Will and Sonny became a couple, and with that, the first male same sex couple on the show. It was the only real option, so of course I shipped it. I am again reading the Wikipedia page for this couple, and their story is quite insane. They recast the role of Will at one point, and I didn't love how the character changed after the actor was changed. So when Paul came on the show, I was immediately drawn to him. His back story was interesting and the actor had amazing chemistry with everyone. So I shipped him with both Will and Sonny (and both versions of Will, tbh). And again, you simply must read the Wikipedia article about this. It was just pure insanity.

Supernatural – Dean, Cas, Benny

We cannot talk about shipping without talking about Destiel. It is simply not possible. I'm not even going to explain anything, because we're on Tumblr, everyone knows Destiel. So unsurprisingly, I am a Destiel shipper. I can't remember when I first started shipping them, but it must have been quite early. Probably not in season 4 when Cas first arrived, but probably in season 5.

So Destiel is an example where I haven't jumped ship, but instead, I have multishipped. Cas has unfortunately not really had any real love interest outside of Dean. I honestly can't even think of any, apart from that random woman he married when he had amnesia, which... just no, dude. But Dean however, he has had some options, and I haven't hated them.

Lisa, I loved her back in the early seasons. And when he went to live with her after season 5, I didn't hate it. I knew the chances of Destiel ever happening were slim to none, so I could enjoy Dean and Lisa together on screen while enjoying Dean and Cas in fan fictions.

Later, we met Benny. And I immediately loved him. He was so interesting, he had such an interesting relationship with Dean, and I was so mad when he died. Again, Dean was never shown to be anything but straight, so again, chances of anything happening here was also slim to none. But I could happily enjoy fan fictions and content on them, alongside with Destiel.

Other honorable mentions:

I was considering writing a whole section about Robron from Emmerdale, but I realized that I am still so pissed off about that whole thing, so I don't think I'd be able to articulate anything good from that. So instead I will just use this as an example of an on-screen couple that I absolutely loved, but that I ended up hating and abandoning due to what happened on screen. I jumped that ship straight into the ocean, and swam far far far away.

Klaine! The couple that got me into Tumblr in the first place! I loved Kurt from the first season, and I was so intrigued when Blaine came into the show (I was also a huge AVPM fan, so that just made it all the better). And I really enjoyed them together for the first couple of seasons. But thinking back, I think I fell out of love with them quite early on. Their stories didn't hit the same, it got boring. I was actually more interested in Karofsky by the time I stopped watching the show, which was probably part of the reason why I stopped watching. It was quite the unpopular opinion back then. Maybe still? I have no idea.

Gallavich! I loved Shameless back in the day, and Mickey and Ian were among my favorites. But at a certain point, I got fed up with it all and stopped watching. The on-and-off stuff got boring, important things got swept under the rug, and I didn't like the treatment of Mickey. Anyway, I gave up and stopped watching. It was only years later when the show was ending that I caught up and found out they actually ended up together. Which was amazing, but still left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth.

Anyways, my point is that there seems to be this opinion now that if you ship a couple, you are stuck with them for life. Jumping ship, or even multishipping, is seen as a betrayal, as something horrible. Shipping Buck and Tommy apparantly means that we hate Eddie, and that we don't care about the beautiful friendship and relationship Buck and Eddie have. But that is simply not the truth. At least not for me, or for most people I have seen discussing this.

At this point in time, I am going to enjoy the beautiful on-screen relationship that is Buck and Tommy, and I am excited to see where it goes. If that relationship ends, and somewhere down the line, Buck and Eddie finally end up together, I will probably be happy (as long as it is done right, like Oliver Stark himself has said).