#if the endgame ship is the one that was always canon

[urthefartmike]

anyone who says byler is portraying unrequited love has never written or read an actual unrequited love trope in their life because this is NOT how you do that!

it would not drag out for this long, it would not be made such a big point of, and mike wheeler would not be taking glances at will’s lips every interaction.

let’s be real now guys.

[themortaldraw]

梅に鶯

[ghostlycleric]

I’m pretty sure Mike and El are the only couple in the show that don’t have shared interests.

Lucas and Max: Arcade games

Dustin and Suzie: Science/Technology

Jonathan and Nancy: Documenting life (Through Photography/Journalism)

Joyce and Hopper: Investigation (Hop was a cop, Joyce is Joyce) +caring for their kids

Mike and El are never given any interest that they both have and do together. Their relationship isn’t even given much volume beyond their trauma bonding. They actually went out of their way to have El dismissing Mike’s interests and only have El gain her own when she’s away from Mike.

With every other couple we have scenes of their shared interests adding to their relationship. Scenes that prove that their dynamic is rooted in a real, not-purely-physical connection.

There is one other couple who didn’t have shared interests… (*cough* Steve and Nancy *cough* who are broken up *cough*).

Mike and Will by default have a lot of shared interests. They’d be the only best friends to lovers in the show (which is actually crazy in a show with so many couples and friendships). DnD, despite being the root of the party itself, is specifically tied to these two in an interesting way. They’ve used dnd a few times as text above a more romantic subtext, which I feel like deserves its own post.

(I feel like it’s worth noting that technically they have Art (writing and painting), but Mike’s interest in writing has never been specifically confirmed in the show, so I’m not counting that.)

I’d be really interested in seeing canon byler having an isolated interest in season 5 that goes beyond subtext. Even if it’s still dnd, just isolated.

[quarks-pussy]

Marinler wedding but when the priest says "you may now kiss the bride" Mariner dips him

[oh-meow-swirls]

haven't watched shadowside or played 4 but ngl it feels kinda pointless for summer and tate to be nate and katie's kids when nate can't even see yo-kai anymore in it and seemingly never brings that fact up-

[papenathys]

lesbians and bisexuals, always remember this: whenever you like a delicious, complex toxic yuri ship, especially a non-canon or non-endgame one, there will be people in fandom crying about how you have no taste. these people, self proclaimed champions of healthy lesbian fiction, will wonder why you condone abuse and ask you why you don't ship the better™ yuri ship. then they will point you to the aforementioned better™ yuri: it will be the blandest friends to lovers taylor swift cottagecore soft sapphic pairing the fandom can offer. you WILL be guilt tripped into shipping these mozzarella sticks instead of your toxic yuri.

remember: resist the urge. a truly good lesbian ship is one where they try to murder each other. thank you. have a nice night. subscribe to my channel for more inspirational speeches.

[ note: whomsoever brings up their personal traumas on a tumblr post about fictional women shall be blocked ]

[h3llh0undz]

i am under the very firm belief that destiel was NEVER supposed to happen. everything that ever pandered to destiel was just because of the fans. it was to make the shippers happy, not because of what the characters were supposed to be. (and NO, cas telling dean he loves him doesnt make it canon. one sided i can agree, but its not canon. “dean wanted to say it back!” NO HE DIDNT?) but samdean was always ALWAYS supposed to be endgame. platonically or otherwise, this is THEIR show. (i dont really like people calling cas the third main character too. he wasnt created with the intention of being important. BUT i do like him as a character. i AM glad he stuck around, but people really over-inflate it all. thats all a conversation for a different day though). since the very beginning, sam and dean have been insane for each other. and that never changed. theyre SOULMATES for fucks sake. there is infinitely more evidence for wincest than any other ship in the show could ever conceive. people calling sam a third wheel to destiel is so fucking delusional imo. salmondean is always the duo and everyone else is secondary to them. they always leave anyone they do get involved with for each other. ship destiel if you want, its cute, but understand it is NOT real. your perceptions of characters do not affect the show.

[ladysqueakinpip]

☝️☝️☝️

It's definitely not my intention to start drama on a blog that is only posting fan submissions (so I apologize riseconfessions, keep doing your thing), but prev made great points and I want the rottmnt fans to start critically considering their pointed hatred at april/turtle ships.

MANY people consider their friends an extension of their family, myself included. No reasonable person would look down on their friends falling in love/getting married. At NO point in the show do April and the boys refer to each other as "brother" or "sister" and they don't even say "you're like a brother/sister to me." Only ever "family" in a general, loose sense. More often than not, they only ever call each other friends/best friends.

"But Karai said April was a Hamato!!"

Yes, she did. She's welcome into the Hamato family. That statement didn't magically change her last name. Don't even get me started on how if April married Donnie, she literally would be a Hamato.

In the most recent Twitter interviews with Ron Corcillo, he referred to the entire group as family, including Cass/Casey Jr./Draxum. But for whatever reason, exactly like prev said, people continue to ship Casey/Raph and Casey/April and receive little hate or harassment. Despite the fact that she would essentially be considered "their sister" in the same way April is.

And I'm absolutely NOT saying people who ship Casey/Raph or Casey/April should be getting hate, or that it's incest, bc it's NOT. I'm only hoping to point out some of the hypocrisy within the fandom.

We all know 2012 Apritello sucked, but Rise isn't 2012. They're two different versions of the characters that make a great team, and a great pair of friends. They have a healthy, safe dynamic. People need to stop using incest/tcest as an excuse to hate a perfectly fine pairing bc yall have 2012 apritello trauma.

"I LOVE the fact that they didn’t ship April with Donnie and made them siblings/besties. Because 2012 was not it, it was just creepy. People now ship them but to me, it’s just 😟. Like uhm, hey, April is their sister!! She’s their family!! Sure not blood-related but dude she’s their sister!!"

[narutouzumakiarchive]

How to deal with the homophobic and horrible ss, nh, sh etc. stans? Just reading their content makes me feel gaslighted and makes me want to quit my little sns blog, because I feel isolated.

First of all, I'm sorry you feel that way. The best thing to do is honestly to just ignore them. The canon ships, in particular, are horrid and are consequently routinely subjected to lots of criticism by people outside of the carefully constructed echo chambers of canon shippers. SS/NH fans cope with this by harassing SNS shippers who have been a particular source of insecurity for the entire run of the show. There's a reason why they routinely steal from the sns dynamic to prop up their ship and have to rely on fillers and novels and databooks, etc. instead of working with the manga.

This brings me to my next point. Part of the reason they are so emboldened is because the "victors" are the ones who write the story, and they've used this to control the narrative and recontextualize what actually happened during the original run of the story. So, something you should know is that SNS fans have always been right about the core of the manga.

While there were obviously endgame SS/NH believers, the idea that Sasuke/Sakura and Naruto/Hinata were mutually in love was not a unifying factor in those fandoms.

In the Naruto Collector Book 3, there was an interview in which Kishimoto himself acknowledged the fact that Sakura and Hinata's feelings of love were unrequited. This interview is practically lost media, and is conveniently never discussed but the book is still available. The collector series has other interviews with Kishimoto as well.

But the main point is that this interview was released in 2007, long after we were already into Part 2 of the manga. This firstly debunks the idea that there was a secret budding love story that was sabotaged by SP, though you don't need any interview to tell you that Sasuke literally only thinking of Team 7 during Sakura's love confession, or Naruto not reflecting on any special moments with Hinata was proof enough of the lack of romance. More importantly, however, this is connected to my point about belief in "true love all along" was not a unifying factor in the SS/NH fandoms. Many of them were aware of this interview (see the respective examples of a SS fan and a NH fan reacting to it below) and thus spent their time taking solace in databooks and writing longwinded posts about how mutual romantic development weren't required for endgame.

What DID unite solo/multshipping SS in particular was the belief that Sasuke considered Sakura special, and thus, she would be the one who helped heal his heart. And this belief is where the real "war" between SS/SNS lied. If you look at old SNS posts, you'll see that there was never a unifying belief that SNS would be canon either, for obvious reasons. You'll notice that many posts were prefaced with some variation of "regardless of the nature of their bond...." because it wasn't so much what they were to each other rather than how significant they were to each other. You'll see a lot of posts about them transcending traditional relationship categories.

So this was the primary context in which SS and SNS fans argued. You can see below just some of the drivel that SS came up with. They have always been relentlessly insecure harassers who used to attack SNS fans for simply seeing the direction in which the manga would go.

They ignored Naruto making Sasuke's heart beat repeatedly, they ignored Naruto being tied to Sasuke's sharingan transformation — which later in the manga was explicitly called out for being the reflection of the heart that SNS fans postulated it was. They ignored the fact that Sakura was rendered fungible [a fact you can see reflected in the interview below when Kishimoto discusses what makes Team 7 special and completely evades mention of Sakura] and that Kishi usurped moments that could have been special for Sasuke and Sakura by including Naruto (eg. Sasuke bringing up not wanting Naruto to worry in the FOD, Sasuke thinking about Naruto to keep the curse mark at bay as well despite the fact that Sakura was the one who was explicitly worried about him, Sasuke including Naruto and talking about precious nakama in the fight against Gaara despite the fact that Sakura was the only one in mortal danger, etc.). They ignored the fact that Sasuke quite literally hierarchially ranked Naruto as a more intimate friend than Sakura. Harassed SNS fans for pointing out the basic setup in the manga that served to reinforce SNS fans' interpretations because they constructed a version of the manga that was wholly centered on the special and unique "bond" between Sakura/Sasuke.

All this lasted to the war arc. They twisted themselves in pretzels to argue about how Sasuke leaving Sakura to burn in lava and outright stating that her and Kakashi's lives didn't matter was him repressing his super secret feelings of care for her while attempting to downplay the mutual affection displayed in the SNS bond. Even the more "neutral" pro team 7 SS fans looked for ways to subtly denigrate SNS' bond. Sasuke makes no mentions of Sakura when the 10 tails is about to blow up the shinobi alliance? Who cares because at least Sakura's face doesn't have a cut across it (yes, they really did misinterpret pro SNS moments where Sasuke individuated Naruto as negative). And they did all this while making anti Sasunaru clubs and hiding in forums to complain about how SNS was getting too much focus in the manga (something older fans can attest to) because deep down many of them saw the writing on the wall.

Now SNS fans, on the other hand, displayed the critical reading skills that the SS fandom lacked — and I don't mean that facetiously. They picked up on the fact that it was significant that Sasuke lost control of himself when Naruto showed up. They understood the significance of Sasuke specifically asking about the status of the 9 tails given the prior context of Sasuke specifically needing to kill Naruto because he wanted to become stronger. They recognized that Naruto was specifically singled out with a cut precisely because he was special by picking up on the patterns peppered throughout the text. They also respected the Team 7 bonds established in Part 1 — they had no need to undermine it because there was a confidence in Naruto/Sasuke's relationship being special — while understanding the disadvantage in the fact that Sasuke and Sakura dynamic always included a "we" (see example from a 2008 analysis below). They knew there would be a reconciliation in which the tension between duty and desire would be resolved and would lead to Sasuke accepting his heart/inner child which would lead him to Naruto.

And lo and behold, 698 came and SNS fans were validated while SS fans were livid and angry. They complained and harassed SNS blogs and threw tantrums and cried about the manga being retconned. It's so easy for them to pretend they knew everything in hindsight, but the receipts don't lie. There has never been anyone more in denial about the core facts of the manga than SS/NH fans. Don't let them prevent you from supporting SNS. The SNS bond was validated.

Even to this day, they have never gotten over the fact that Sasuke confirmed their worst nightmares which is why they have to cope by literally cropping Naruto out of panels (Look at the 97 likes — and this is tame for them), spreading poor translations, and taking glee in the idea of Kishimoto not being the arbiter of canonicity, so they can take refuge in material not written by him, because they hate what he did write.

As I type this, they are getting made fun of in different languages and SS fans are coping by pretending that anyone who points out the dysfunction of their implied no kiss couple has has no literacy and is ignoring 700 chapters of development, the development in question being Sakura still acting infantile while Sasuke remains indifferent.

Why should you feel isolated because you want to support the main bond when SS fans even have to lie about the poorly written filler novels that were expressly created FOR them (eg. Sakura forcefully kissing Sasuke and then Sasuke immediately grabbing Naruto and leaving Sakura to fall off the motorcycle they were all riding on; A scene SS fans repeatedly lied about and repeatedly misrepresented).

Unfortunately I've nearly run out of images and I didn't even get to finish highlighting all of the lies of SS or discuss NH fans the way I wanted too but please, don't worry about the hate and the homophobia. A significant part of it is them lashing out because of insecurity.

Then and now, nothing has changed.

They hated the fact that Kishimoto wasn't concerned with Hinata's unrequited feelings and patiently waited for Sasuke to fade into oblivion so Naruto and Hinata could ride off into the sunset. When that didn't come, and Naruto prioritized Sasuke even after Hinata's confession, they took to harassing SNS fans. All they have is a retcon movie that Kishimoto wasn't even devoted to, which is why, in addition to lionizing scenes from the film, they even have to read panels incorrectly to achieve some satisfaction.

SNS is amazing and enough to keep me occupied, but another way of dealing with the hatred and homophobia (which is the main point of this post) is remembering why it's so rampant in the first place. The reason you feel gaslighted is because they are literally trying to rewrite history (these people have even lied about how much their novel sold and had to be corrected by a sale tracking account).

I haven't even scratched the surface, but you can see a few more examples here, here, here, and here. Giving in to their bullying is how the liars win. Don't let them!

[blitzwhore]

I've seen a few people over the past few days (and weeks, and months) discuss whether Stolitz is, or will be, "canon", and... I must admit, these conversations confuse me a bit.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but through the years and across various fandoms, I've always understood "canon" (with regards to a ship) to mean "are shown to be, or to have been, romantically or sexually involved in the source material".

I might be the only person who sees it this way, and if I am that's totally fair, but to me, Stolitz has always been canon. We have known that they fuck since the pilot. Episode 1 reinstates that Blitz and Stolas fuck. They have kissed on screen. Obviously, they have also pined to hell and back (ha) for one another. This is no different than, for example, Blitz x Verosika, a ship that is also canon, because the show has stated that they dated, fucked, and that Verosika loved Blitz. They are shown to have been involved romantically/sexually. An example of the opposite would be, say, Verosika x Barbie—a ship many people like, but that isn't canon (as of right now, anyway), because these characters aren't confirmed to have been involved romantically or sexually at any point.

I think a more accurate word to use in conversation to convey the "will they/won't they" arc between Stolas and Blitz is "endgame", which I understand to mean "are together by the end of the story told in the source material, and implied to stay that way indefinitely". Which, to be fair, I also see used a lot in conversations about the ship.

Again, correct me if I've understood this wrong, but as I see it, every ship that is endgame is canon, but not every ship that is canon is endgame. And once a ship is canon, you can't really de-canonise it. (I mean, you could, if you revealed it all to have been a fever dream, but you get what I mean). Stolitz has always been, and will always be canon.

More accurate words to describe what's happening between a ship such a Stolitz at different stages of their getting-together journey, I think, would be "together", "dating", "in love", "fucking", "having sex", "declaring their love to one another", "aware they love each other", or "on the same page", to name a few.

Questions like "Are Stolitz together now?" or "Does the latest song count as them declaring their love to one another?" are a lot more productive and interesting, in my humble opinion, than "Are they canon?"

[love-byers]

i had the misfortune of ending up on mileven tiktok by accident and found some gold

dude. how many times do we have to say its not the fact that they're standing next to each other. its the fact that they're standing next to each other when all the other characters are paired off with their significant other with significant space between them. they are SANDWICHED between two couples that they have numerous other parallels with. like you have to be playing dumb if you think we're just saying byler is endgame because they're in the same proximity. and WDYMMMM MIKE ISN'T EVEN LOOKING AT HIM why does that matter?? the whole point is that they're all looking forward at the fucking apocalypse beginning. nancy and jonathan weren't looking at each other, joyce and hopper weren't looking at each other. why does that matter?? and holy shit watching them try to analyze media is hilarious. the byler commenter was very concise an respectful and ofc the mlvn has to be backhanded. no, the 2 minute scene of mike saying i love you is not random, it's actually meticulously crafted so that we're able to tell mike is lying...

uhh because WILL IS THE MAIN FUCKING CHARACTER OF SEASON 5 AND THE WUOLE POINT OF AN ENDING SHOT OF A SEASON IS TO FORESHADOW THE NEXT SEASON???

do they think we're making this up???

he is the center and lead of season 5 and his arc is going to tie the whole series together. but nah they just paired him with mike and left him in the background on the hill just because el needed to be in front. they could've done a million other set ups where it actually comes off that mike and el are a team and in love and want to work together. they could've had those couples together and then had will alone or behind them and done a close up like they did with el in the actual scene, but no, he had to be with mike. and not only is he with mike, he and mike are paired off together and CENTERED. the CENTER of season 5 is CENTERED in the final shot of the season and he is standing with his long time best friend who he is desperately in love with. and all of this is foreshadowing for season 5, which if you've forgotten, is all about connection and finding belonging with others.

"People talk about mythology and The Upside Down, and all that is huge, but the magic of S5 are the characters who find a sense of belonging with other and through that connection, become heroes."

"[Season 5] It's about a group of people who question their value, who find each other, and who find superpowers in connection."

remember when mike beat himself up and questioned his value as a person because he feels weak and powerless and stupid next to el and then will gave him a painting where mike is a literal knight in shining armor and and confessed his own feelings about how mike holds everything together and makes him feel like he's better for being different and gives him the courage to keep fighting and how he'll always need mike and that finally made mike feel reassured

yeah...

alright you guys have to be lying. you can't think of a single reason why people would ship byler?? not a one??? you know what actually, you're right. why on earth would people ship two characters where one is canonically in love with the other, they've been best friends since the first day of kindergarten, they are always a duo, they have a special friendship compared to the others, one said asking the other to be his friend is the best thing he's ever done, one thinks home isn't the same without the other, they hold hands, put their arms around each other, always look out for each other, etc etc ETC. no yeah i don't see it

was the person who confirmed this named mike wheeler...

no yeah we just say random things. those of us using the knowledge we gained in film school/creative writing school to analyze a form of media are just saying random things. i just love making shit up!

mlvns are so silly lol like they really think they know more about film/writing than people who STUDY IT AND DO IT FOR A LIVING

[fallenfrommars6277]

Okay, I've seen the cameo where George hints at Edwin's "first adult experience" with the Cat King and I wish to share my two cents about it.

First of all, disregarding which pair anyone ships, I believe we can safely say that Payneland will eventually be endgame: it is left as an option by Charles in Hell, it is hinted in the show and it is basically sustained by Jayden and George themselves.

I am, for one, a Payneland shipper. I admit that at first I wanted them to stay just friends because I am a sucker for great friendship stories, but rewatch after rewatch I started to see them as soulmates in a romantic kinda way.

Nevertheless, I think (and honestly have thought since the beginning, not just because they said that now) that it would be great to see how Catwin would evolve and in particular I think it's just right that Edwin has his first experiences with the Cat King, maybe not straight away sex, but in general intimate experiences.

Let me explain.

Yes, it would be nice to see Edwin and Charles getting together and awkwardly kissing and having together their first intimacies: it would be a first for both of them, because I believe that while Charles may have fooled around a bit, he didn't ever actually make love to anyone, let alone a boy. So it would be all romantic and gentle and blushing virgins and it absolutely would be great.

BUT.

Both Edwin and Charles are on a journey to self discovery, in general but especially in the love and sexuality area, but they are at different stages of it. While Edwin has been repressed for over a century, he has been now awakened (by Charles, by Monty and above all by the Cat King) to feelings and sensations and wants that he now needs and IS READY to fulfil.

On the other hand, Charles isn't there yet, he just now learns that his best mate is in love with him and he feels nothing but love and adoration towards him but he fundamentally doesn't know what actual love (as in being in love with someone and being the one someone is in love with) looks and feels like, also they're both guys and while he has been nothing but supportive of Edwin about him coming to terms with his homosexuality, considering the time and especially the household in which he lived in, I don't think he wouldn't have problems realizing and admitting to himself that he is bisexual (I know it's not canon, but come on) or at least that he fancies another boy. And even when this happens, I think that he would have a lot of holding back, being insecure about his "ability" to love and not wanting to hurt Edwin.

That said, I think that Edwin has always loved and will always love only Charles, but it is only fair for him now to start having his experiences and exploring his sexuality and, while Edwin and Charles have been a whole for over 30 years, doing everything together, I believe this is something he has to do by himself and the best person with whom to do this is the Cat King because they're both attracted to each other, because the CK is very experienced and I think this would be someway reassuring for Edwin (like he's doing this, he's experimenting with someone who knows very well what he's doing), because the CK would never be judgemental of his inexperience, and above all because the CK cares about him, but also knows that no matter how much he can care about him and be affectionate towards him and even love him, he will never actually have him because Edwin's heart belongs to Charles since that night in the attic.

I expect (yes, I'm talking like this is actually happening because maybe I'm delusional but I've not given up hope yet about a second season) that while Edwin does this and experiments and learns things about a part of himself that has always been hidden and repressed, Charles someway does the same, of course not realizing that he wants to have sexual experiences because he is, if not actually experienced, more acquainted with this "area", but that he has to explore his sexuality to understand how he can fit loving Edwin into it and then actually act upon this, but to do this he also needs to find a way to separate himself from his father, from his painful childhood, and control his anger and navigate and accept his own emotions, all the shades of them, to start appreciating himself and considering himself worth of loving and being loved.

In conclusion, as I said before, they both are going through a journey, but while Edwin's at the end of his and is ready for what comes next, Charles has just now started it, so it's just right that just this once they don't do this together, because they KNOW that even if they take metaphorically different roads, they eventually will find each other at the finish line.

[pigfartsviatardis]

Was discussing queerbaiting recently with a friend because we’re watching Once Upon A Time (trash, but shockingly well written trash in the first 3 seasons) and obs we both ship swan queen. I mean. Come on.

But we noticed that from the start of s3 onwards, there was noticeably less shippy stuff between these two. There’s still a bit here and there because a) lesbian mums and b) chemistryyyy… but it felt like the writers were intentionally backing off from that pairing and putting genuine effort into the male love interests for both characters.

You might think that becalming the swan queen ship would have annoyed or disappointed my friend and myself, the shippers. But tbh we both agreed that it was actually nice to see a writing team see a popular queer fandom ship, go ‘oh whoops that’s not endgame’, and actively NOT bait it.

Obviously everyone here is aware of the Golden Age Of Queerbaiting, the late 2000s/early 2010s; even if you’re too young to have actually battled through it, it’s deep tumblr lore. We all know the repeat and egregious offenders from that time - destiel, merthur, johnlock, whatever the main one was on teen wolf - and how gleefully these shows would dangle queer rep in front of our twitching little noses.

Recently, I’ve noticed a more insidious trend: the Male Friendship Scarcity Myth. The most glaring recent examples are nandermo (WWDITS) and jayvik (arcane), both of which were popular ships after the first season(s) of their shows aired and were subsequently given increased screen time and shippy scenes/storylines. In the case of nandermo, the romantic feelings (at least from Guillermo) were textual. Both pairings were given ambiguous endings where they were together, but not confirmed as, yknow, together.

And then both showrunners, after the shows ended, decided to step up to the mic and give a heartfelt little speech along the lines of ‘men are allowed to be friends without it being sexual, and it’s actually really important that we show this, because we need more representation of close platonic brotherly male friendship in media’.

Anyone who was around during the aforementioned Golden Age Of Queerbaiting, or in fact anyone who consumes popular media at all, knows that this is horseshit.

It’s only ever close platonic brotherly male friendship. Or at least, 95% of the time. Everywhere you look, from major fandom shows to mcu movies, platonic male relationships are often front and centre. That’s nearly always the canon. How often does a major mlm ship actually go canon??? Hardly ever. Even destiel didn’t; cas’s feelings were confirmed last minute, but the official canon dynamic between him and dean is still brotherly bffs.

Are these friendships often the subject of intense fandom shipping? Yes, as literally any close relationship between any two characters of any gender always will be. People like shipping! But the official canon, and the gospel truth held up by poorly disguised homophobes in fandom, is nearly always strictly platonic bros.

Anyway. All this to say, I’ve been disillusioned recently seeing this myth pop up in every comments section on any jayvik-related content, that we have a lack of male friendship in media (we don’t, we have a lack of male friendship that isn’t queer coded to super turbo gay hell and back in media). I was even more disillusioned seeing the exact same rhetoric being spewed by those involved with WWDITS, which is ironically a show jam packed full of close male friendships THAT INVOLVE CASUAL SEX. The call was truly coming from inside the coffin on that one.

So, unexpectedly and somewhat depressingly, swan queen and OUAT have been a balm for the soul in the midst of all this. No queerbaiting (at least not where I’m up to), just good old fashioned straightwashing. At least it’s honest 🤷‍♀️

[buddiebeginz]

So many people who I used to follow for Buddie gifs/content have blocked me now because I don't like Lou or B/T. I've heard similar stories from other Buddie shippers who've been blocked left and right from people they used to follow. I don't get how a fandom could crumble so much over such a short amount of time all because of a ship that has had so little development. I mean the show didn't even bother to define whether or not they're boyfriends or what by the end of the season. Did so many of you really only care about seeing two men kiss? I don't get how you can claim to care about Buck's happiness when he's with a guy who doesn't seem to get him or care about his thoughts and feelings.

I get that we aren't all always going to like the same ships and I get that some people multi ship but a lot of Buddie shippers have totally dropped Buddie and now say either they don't care if it happens or they fully believe T*mmy is Buck's endgame. It's just so weird to me. I can't imagine loving a ship for years hoping it would go canon only to get this close to it actually happening and completely turn on that ship and it's fandom all because one guy showed up and had like 5 minutes of screen time.

[itssoinevitable]

No idea where to put this but I’ve been giving the Audrey x Siegfried progression more thought. And tbh I am now quite convinced that we are unlikely to see any actual evolution of their relationship in canon — until near or at the very end of the show.

Bc I think the story some / all of us thought the show writers were telling vs the story they’re actually telling is actually quite different. The story that I, at least, thought they were telling, was that Audrey and Siegfried were becoming progressively more ready and getting to the point to eventually admit their feelings to one another. It seemed intentional especially in S4, and appeared to be escalating toward a realisation or admission of some kind. The tension, the jealousy, the pining etc. It was all so palpable and truly delicious, and felt like it was simmering to a boiling point.

Come season 5 however, that all came to a weird and screeching halt with the introduction of Miss Grantley. (Though to be fair, most of season 5 felt weird and quite off kilter.) The heat had suddenly dialled back to a warmish camaraderie at best, and tepid at its lowest points of the season. But Siegfried pining over this random woman he met felt even more jarring compared to Miss Harbottle or Diana or anyone else before, mostly bc it didn’t seem to align with this progression we thought was building toward the AxS endgame. It seemed so clearly against his feelings (which we thought he’d already woken up to) for Audrey, and therefore felt completely wrong and out of place. (This is the same man who looked like he was about to die at the thought of her leaving to marry Gerald, correct? The same man who toasted her before Jesus in the S4 CS right??)

So anyway, after much deliberation and thought about these two fictional characters, and in light of the PBS version of the episodes having aired now, I have come to a new conclusion. I now believe that the writers are not actually intending to write the AxS in a linear fashion at all, nor are they slowly getting them together in a glacial manner in the way we thought. I suspect they will eventually get together, but unfortunately I don’t know how much of that will be developed on screen. More likely, it’s going to happen close to or at the end of the whole series. And until then, I think they’re using AxS essentially as a kind of straight-baiting, for lack of better word choice. Because the writers obviously know fans ship it, and they play into the romance, but I’m no longer convinced that they have any intention to do anything except dangle the carrot in front of us.

To be clear, I’m not suggesting that AxS haven’t progressed throughout the series. They’ve definitely come a long way, both as individuals and as a partnership over the years. Their deep and special bond has been possibly the most integral part to all these other positive changes in their lives. They are one another’s life rings in every storm, no two ways about it. The parallels with the actual married couple in the show are not accidental, after all. But as for a tangible, said out-loud confirmation of mutual romantic feelings? An actual kiss under the mistletoe? Or even the use of first names?? I’m sad to say, it doesn’t seem likely any time soon. (And I’d never be happier than to be wrong).

However, going forward into season 6, I suspect that we may get a few intimate / romantic scenes like we did in S5, and if we’re lucky, another handhold. We may even get a few jealousy scenes if either of them have other short-term love interests, which of course will not last. And we will definitely have sweet co-parenting moments, and lots of framed shots where the average viewer will be convinced they’re married. But suffice to say, it feels like a stalemate, for the foreseeable future.

And it does actually explain a lot of things. It explains why there are always minor love interests introduced for Siegfried, every season. And it explains why Audrey and Siegfried have not hugged, (or danced or kissed) nor moved onto a first name basis. It explains why Audrey has not had her own realisation moment yet, about her own feelings toward Siegfried. It explains why even though they are both finally single and emotionally available, they have not wound up in each others’ arms. Because those things would be linear, and that’s apparently not the story the writers want to tell. And unless there’s a definite shift in Season 6, I think this will-they-won’t-they dynamic will remain for as long as they can stretch it out.

All that being said, the point of this post isn’t to be a negative naysayer, I promise. I will be very very relieved to be wrong in all these predictions, and will happily eat my words. It’s definitely disappointing of , because what felt so intentional and well developed and had been so beautifully delivered by the actors, now feels a bit like a trick. I admit I feel a little duped, though it may well be (at least partly) self-inflicted. But even if we may not love the route they’re taking to get there, I am still at least, 100% certain that Audrey and Siegfried are going to be the final destination.

[mari-lair]

Between TeruAoi, Terukane and Aoikane which one do u think has the most chance of becoming canon with the story rn? I saw a lot of people on twt saying that Terukane has the most chance right now with the new timeline but I don't fully get why

Aoikane was confirmed canon in the old timeline, and it still has the most chance of being canon in the new timeline.

Just look at these panel. These aren't small implications, these are loud "HEY, AOI AND AKANE STILL LIKE EACH OTHER!!" panels.

Terukane has no chance of being canon, at least, not in an endgame way, the most I can see it happening is Teru having a one-sided crush on Akane. And even that isn't as likely as the overall fandom want people to believe, cause we have gotten a lot of teruaoi hints.

HOWEVER, while unlikely I am not dismissing the possibility of one-sided terukane, cause aidairo has put a lot of effort into keeping Teru's crush ambiguous (like teru not telling his crush's gender when rejecting someone in chapter 1). So there is no way to disprove for sure that Teru doesn't like Akane.

The thing is that teruaoi also can't be disproven unless people go out of their way to have the most uncharitable view possible on the ship build ups. Teru has had so many vague build ups that tiptoe between 'platonic' and 'romantic' with both Aois, to the point even something as impossible as 'Teru like both aois' cannot be explicitly shut down. Not yet. So one-sided terukane wouldn't surprise me if it was canon or if it wasn't.

Now enjoying terukane is one thing, is a good ship with a really awesome and complex dynamic, but the people who genuinely believe they are being written to be canon and that making them canon was always the intention bother me, cause they aren't analyzing the manga, they just... see what they want to see.

I haven't been on twitter in a while but I don't have to be there to know that most terukane shippers there will see the newest chapter and zoom in on this scene to go "LOOK HOW MUCH AKANE CARES!! THIS IS ANOTHER PROOF TERUKANE RELATIONSHIP IS EVOLVING AND WILL BE CANON"

but they will pretend this part doesn't exist.

so at least to me, these 'analysis' read less like people that genuinely love the manga and enjoy analyzing every detail to try to foreshadow the relationships that will be explored, and more like people in denial trying to insert their headcanons and preferences into canon " I WANT terukane to be Endgame so I will ONLY see the terukane parts cause that's what matters, everything else in this manga is a mistake so it shouldn't be considered."