#it's okay to like straight ships

[sorcave]

I am actually going to get crucified for this take, but here you go. I woke up and felt violence.

Okay, this has been bugging me for a while, and I feel like it’s time to address it: why does the Marauders fandom hate on straight ships so much, and why is there such a push to force ships into being gay for the sake of it? Let me start by saying I fully support LGBTQ+ representation in fandom and love the creativity and inclusivity it brings. But there’s a real issue when canonically straight characters are vilified or erased just because they don’t fit into fanon’s preferred headcanons. It’s honestly exhausting at this point.

The Marauders fandom is notorious for erasing or flat-out hating on canon straight ships. Let’s talk about Jily, for example. They’re literally one of the most significant relationships in the hp universe—their love story is at the heart of so much of what happens in the books. And yet, in so many fan spaces, their relationship is dismissed or treated as unimportant, all so people can focus on Wolfstar or even Jegulus. I mean, I’m all for queer headcanons, but when people start framing Lily as the “bad guy” or making her out to be the third wheel in her own relationship just to boost these ships, it gets a little ridiculous. And don't get me started on the sheer amount of disdain for Tonks and Remus. That pairing gets absolutely destroyed in favor of Wolfstar, and Tonks often gets reduced to an annoying side character or completely written out. It feels so dismissive of the canon relationships that actually matter in the story.

What’s worse is the way certain characters get forced into gay ships without any real basis. Look, I love seeing people explore dynamics between characters in ways the original text didn’t, but there are times when it feels forced, like people are just making characters gay for the sake of ticking a box. Take Pandora and Alice, for example. These two characters have literally never interacted in canon, but suddenly, they’re being shipped together in fanon just because they’re both women. It’s like, are we really doing this? Are we just pairing random women together because the fandom needs more f/f representation and these are the only female characters available? It feels lazy and, honestly, disrespectful to the characters themselves. Why not just develop queer ships that actually make sense or take the time to build a dynamic that works instead of forcing it?

It’s frustrating, too, because this constant push for queer shipping has led to a lot of straight characters being sidelined or vilified. And here’s the thing: canon-compliant straight ships aren’t homophobic. You can still love and create queer headcanons without tearing down the canon relationships that already exist. It’s possible to hold space for both. But right now, it feels like a huge chunk of the fandom is obsessed with making everything gay and aggressively rejecting anyone who dares to enjoy or defend a canon straight ship. And let’s be honest, there’s something to be said about this idea of turning every character queer without any depth—representation shouldn’t just be slapping a “gay” label on a character without any actual nuance or understanding of their personality or narrative role.

This trend of dismissing straight ships or forcing queer ones onto characters who have no canon basis for it is reductive. I’m all for fanon and creative freedom, but there needs to be a balance between that and respecting the canon relationships that have actual weight in the story. Not everything has to be a queer ship just for the sake of diversity, and hating on canon-compliant fans for enjoying straight relationships just feels counterproductive. There’s space for all kinds of ships in fandom—let’s stop acting like queer ships are inherently better or more progressive just because they’re queer.

Representation is about authenticity, not erasure.

[alltimefail]

As someone who lived in a home where it was not safe to be queer but their first love was their same-sex best friend, I really cannot emphasize the importance of characters like Charles Rowland enough. As someone who deals with shame from years of self-hate, repression, happy-masking, and being called a "Token ally" by even my queer friends while feeling wrong wrong wrong about it, and being the kind of person who just didn't "Look queer enough" or whatever the fuck arbitrary, exclusionist rhetoric people would casually hurl about, I just really can't believe we have a character like him.

He's complex and deeply scarred and I've never cared about a character like this before. I've never felt so "Seen." I can't wait to save this show because seeing him heal will be like a balm on my heart. His character arc is completely unique and handled with such care that it brings tears to my eyes.

That's all. I am just so deeply thankful for & emotional about Charles Rowland tonight.

[the-moon-ate-my-stardust]

Okay literally no one asked but as a former Hobbit movie hater who has since experienced character growth, I feel compelled to share my thoughts on the movies on my gay little blog.

Listen. There are legit reasons to be critical of these movies. They were made on a rushed timeline, at time where CGI overuse was the thing and there are definitely unnecessary moments. But despite those issues, these movies still have a lot of heart and character and some really wonderful acting! To compare them to LOTR, is unfair I think because LOTR was such an unimaginable success and I truly believe no other movie franchise can do what those movies did. To expect the Hobbit movies to be the same caliber considering the behind the scenes drama and massive difference in timeline is just not it.

Truly I think that the Hobbit could have been much more than it was and it’s sad to see the amazing moments and realize that we could have had movies that were maybe closer to the level of LOTR, but that doesn’t take away from all of the great things that the movies gave us! Despite what he may be like irl, Martin Freeman was a great young Bilbo, Richard Armitage was insanely good as Thorin (despite the change in age) and the other dwarf actors brought a great sense of loyalty, brotherhood and shared loss to their roles. The music is still dope as hell and there are some beautiful shots despite all the CGI.

This is way too long and I’ve not said anything that hasn’t been said before but honestly, I’m so glad that I stopped hating on these movies and have seen the special things about them. Nothing will ever compare to LOTR, but that doesn’t make these movies bad. They’re fun, they’re emotional, they have great characterization and it’s super valid to enjoy them.

Final gay thoughts because I’m obligated, but I struggle with people who argue against Bagginshield with the whole “why does everyone have to make everything gay?” thing. Because Hollywood is so deeply homophobic that we see so little genuine queer representation, so forgive us for enjoying the chemistry we find and making it our own since our society gives us breadcrumbs. If you’re not into Bagginshield, totally legit and fine, but don’t hate on other people (especially queer people) trying to find some romantic love in media that we enjoy. Also no one can convince me that Richard Armitage wasn’t at least somewhat intentionally putting his queer energy into this role, I will die on this hill.

Anyway, TL;DR there’s no shame in liking or loving the Hobbit movies despite their faults and there are lots of things to appreciate and enjoy and I for one, am glad to leave my LOTR purist hater days behind me

[dustbunsinspace]

What if Leo and Usagi kiss under a mistletoe. Will they actually do it?

(For those who have not seen the Christmas Aliens episode; Raph’s operating a movable mistletoe to help Casey get a kiss from April and Mikey is missing for most of the Christmas night, getting chased around the city by some thieves).

Well… no. Not yet anyway and for quite some time.

It’s 2004, world wasn’t very kind to gay people back then, or helped much with figuring things out for young queers (I would know, I was one). He still needs some time to precess. He just found his first best friend and he’s cool and strong and makes him happy and that’s all he wants to think about rn.

On the other hand feudal Japan was surprisingly okay with two men being involved romantically (despite the problematic side of things… good place to remind everyone 03 Usagi is a teen as well), so he’s a little confused by Leo’s mixed messages.

It’s okay, they’r still kids figuring things out. And when they will, there’ll be time for kisses.

Comic that happens later that night (that I posteed before).

Part of 🟢 Leo gets Overwhelmed au🟢

[bread-is-my-life]

GUYS GUYS GUYS

IT'S AN ANNIVERSARY OF THE "SOMETHING STUPID" ANIMATIC BY @seagiri OMG GUYS LET'S GOOOOOOO!!!!!

(this animatic literally was the reason why I got into tf2 so GO WATCH IT IT'S BEAUTIFUL I PROMISE!!!)

[sunnydayaoe]

scene redraw... they did this... gwosh original under cut.

[butwhatifidothis]

I guess the ultimate thing that kills CF for me - or at least nudges it away from me saying I definitively like it - is just how much Edelgard is clearly written with the player in mind before she's written with her character in mind.

Because on all of the other routes, there's a power to Edelgard's presence. Even on BE, there's a sense that for as lonely as Edelgard might be, she still ultimately will do whatever it takes for her to get what she wants. Be that be killing her citizens (or otherwise letting them be killed), endangering her friends, assisting in kidnapping people, allowing Byleth to support her only when they have the Sword of the Creator, covering for TWS - no bar is too low for her to limbo under if doing so means she's even a step closer to her goals.

She's manipulative! She's deceitful! She doesn't care for the lives of her people! Even her friends are forfeit if they try to stand in her way! And this happens no matter how close you, the player, get to her, in the case of BE - C+ ain't stoppin' Remire, and going to the coronation ain't stopping the Holy Tomb.

And in the war phase, she is dominating the field. She has the Kingdom completely on the ropes, down to a few houses standing against Imperial rule, and the Alliance is stuck in neutrality - she may not be able to do much to it, but neither can they do anything to her (to say nothing of the Alliance houses who stand with her). She's far from the underdog in this race, and she shows off how threatening she can be.

CF? Her route?

She scweams at scawy rats. She gets embawwassed when you find her dwawings. She's just so wonewy, and she's just so gwad that you chose her. She somehow fails to capture Rhea, or frame Dimitri for regicide, and so now has to deal with that on the Kingdom's side of the war. But that doesn't stop Elly Welly-kins fwom twying to find her pwecious teacher, because you're just so important to her. She cwies and hugs you when you meet her in the Goddess Tower!! Because she missed you so much!!

It's like... Dimitri and Claude certainly show different sides of themselves on their respective routes. It's the whole point! You grow closer to them and thus see how they treat those close to them, as opposed to being the Kinda Neat Teacher they see run along every now and then. But, like... Claude doesn't become a blushing maiden whenever Byleth speaks with him on VW. Dimitri doesn't scream at scary rats and get called cute for it on AM. They don't get Basic Bitch Gap Moe Traits slapped onto them that are only ever shown to the player and only on their routes. Unlike Edelgard.

Dimitri's endearing trait is that he's this big huge dude who can bench-press forests and arm-wrestle god who still wants to learn to sew and who teaches kids to protect themselves and who buys candies for his friends. Claude's endearing trait is that he's this mastermind planner who has contingency and lie and obfuscation as three separate legal government names who still wants everyone to be safe and happy and hold hands and be friends.

Edelgard is strong, confident, and willing to do some of the shittiest things known to man for her goals. Her endearing trait is that her screams are cute. She's shy about her drawings of the player character. She blushes over the player potentially joking about having sex with her per her JPN version of her C support; you know, the one about how Byleth walks in on Edelgard muttering in her sleep from a nightmare about her tortured family? Perfect time to joke about fucking her! Dimitri and Claude's endearments are, well, endearing; Edelgard's are all straight up embarrassing for her.

Hell, even the smaller stuff is affected! Claude's passion for poisons and mushrooms are things he has no qualms about having others know about, despite how weird they are. Dimitri laughing at shitty jokes brings him no personal discomfort or embarrassment, despite just how loudly he laughs at them. They have traits to them that can easily be uwu worthy, and they don't care! Of the lords, only Edelgard does! Because, it feels like, the only way for a strong, resolute female character to come off as approachable is if she's knocked down a few pegs for specifically and only you, the player.

And that sucks ass! I'm sorry, but when I'm playing Edelgard's route I don't want to deal with her hiding herself away in her room for a month IN THE MIDDLE OF HER FUCKING WAR because she's just so embawwassed! It is so fucking insensitive that Edelgard is literally the only lord of the three who can have her trauma openly belittled at any point in the story by Byleth, all to have some cheap cutesy uwu moment about her fear of rats (calling her screaming in fear cute and INSISTING that it's really cute which is just. Fucking ew man)! Why can we fucking mock Edelgard's manner of speech during the MASSACRE OF REMIRE?

This shit doesn't happen to Claude or Dimitri! And saying "oh just don't pick those options then" is bullshit because no equivalent options exist for the male lords! It's piss-boilingly annoying that the second you choose to see things from the strong confident villainous ambitious female lord's perspective you can reduce her down to this bumbling moeblob just for you (sometimes unavoidably!) like!! Dude!

[epickiya722]

You folks hear that? That's the sound of me sighing heavily. See this? This is the type of shit some of you got to stop doing.

Nobody cares you don't like the ship, but don't tag it with the ship tag.

I promise you, I feel like people do this on purpose.

Going "I'm not homophobic" is not earning any brownie points with anybody because starting the post with calling people delusional already is some asshole tomfuckery.

Okay, so people ship SatoSugu??? Why does it bother you enough to call shippers "delusional"?

And then tagging the post with the ship name and "straight ships"? What does straight ships got to do with SatoSugu or the other ship?

I guess adding that tag is to draw in people who only like straight ships to look at this post and go "Yes, oh my gosh, yes! They are delusional, aren't they? Straight ships for the win!"

Yeah, some people hate straight ships... but I don't think turning around and bashing a M/M ship is the right way to make a point.

Like, if you're going to talk about straight ships... then do that. Make a post about straight ships. Unless you deliberately tag the post with queer ships and be hateful, no one is going to care or attack you for liking straight ships.

And come on, SatoSugu shippers are delusional? SATOSUGU?! I have seen people who don't even ship them even go "Yeah, something going on there" because of the canon context between the two.

Come on, folks, can't we do better than this?

[storywestistrash]

watched mouthwashing finally. the fact that i saw people be more aggressive towards curly than jimmy is kinda strange. kinda real weird

[dekusleftsock]

I’m making a longer post about this chapter, but I thought these cheeky little parallels were silly. I know what you are Horikoshi.

Like ignore the togachako gay ass part of this… it’s the fact that Izuku is the one looking at her now and she isn’t looking back. Their friendship is so interesting y’all omg (not in a shipping way. Like in an unrequited love/unrequited friendship way. Like they do make me a little ill to think about bc wym by that this gayass can’t get it through his thick skull that this girl liked him for the longest time and doesn’t understand why she isn’t treating him in the not-platonic care way anymore. Like that’s crazy. Izuku bbg you are so interesting and so so silly)

[greensaplinggrace]

sorry but like, as someone who doesn't vibe with fem!sub stuff and always ends up dislking fandom obsession with the man in any relationship being a Dominant Daddy Top containing more macho tendencies than personality . . i do also think that framing people liking violence in their sexual fantasies as worrying is um. worrying in and of itself.

like yeah logan being Like That in 'x reader' Old Man Logan stuff seems very ooc to me, too. but i also like animalism and brutality and violence in sex as well, and these things are not inherently abusive or "near rapist" by themselves in fictional portrayals of kink.

i don't hc logan as the macho dom! a lot of fandom for some reason considers "common consensus fanon" lmfao, but i also think that the fine line of fighting and fucking and violence and animalism is something viscerally satisfying to explore in fiction and especially kink. and characters like logan - who do actually have some solid connections to such themes - are some of the best outlets for that.

[greenvillainredemption]

One thing I love about mutant mayhem is that Leo has a crush on an April who’s not conventionally attractive. It almost feels like, because of the turtles’ isolated upbringing* he hasn’t been influenced by the popular western beauty ideals and just thinks this ordinary human is beautiful! And I think that’s really cool! Because she is!

*though they’ve clearly been exposed to celebrities and other pop culture so ?? idk lol

[aitsuheart]

My favorite dynamic are probably friends who are dating because they get to be both

The best of both worlds, a cute friendship dynamic and a cute romantic relationship

And soriku

Yeah they're that.

They are best friends, gonna say it louder for the people in the back who say "oh no a gay pairing why can't they be friends"

But they're also dating

[boxdstars]

Only in the HL fandom would the take that “all the companions could be bisexual at the very least” would be a hot take but here we are

[funkbun]

It's hard for me to go into detail why snorplo wouldn't be as loved in the fandom if they were a wlw couple without going into "What if the world was made of pudding?" territory.

Like you could say that they're popular because their relationship development is more "on screen" throughout the game, and people get hooked on seeing where it'll go. But again, like that poll said, would people act the same way if they were two women instead? Would people who think Snorpy's obliviousness is cute n endearing still feel the same if he was a woman? Would people view Chandlo's protectiveness of Snorpy as "overbearing" or "controlling" if he was a woman? We don't live in that universe, so it's hard to get an exact answer on this.

I think it's easier to compare how people view them in compared to how people view lizegg. I think the overall view on lizegg has gotten better compared to 2021 (i swear ppl straight up called Lizbert "abusive" one time and just...dude...), but it does feel like people don't really view them as anything more than just "The lesbians!", when their relationship is one of, if not the driving forces to the events of the entire game. Both their characters and especially their relationship have so much impact on the story and it really feels as though it just gets brushed off and seen as "not as important" because of their lack of screen time in comparison to other characters

idk dude im just thinking out loud here

[royal-dragon7]

I wonder if straight people who don’t ship Lokius realize that it’s not because it’s a “gay” ship, considering Loki/Sylvie is also queer, because both Loki and Sylvie are gender-fluid and bisexual, and Sylvie is not just the “female” version of Loki, she’s her own character. Like I’m not desperately looking for a gay ship, I just like the chemistry in Lokius better.