#like its canon. you can dislike that its canon but the angel is gay and specifically in love with that other guy

[lesbiten]

okay actually the worst part of getting back into supernatural in 2024 is learning how many people straight up deny the fact that castiel is canonically gay or just... forgot ??? that he *did* confess to dean and that its not just a meme made for tumblr

[bowtiepastabitch]

Heaven's Not Homophobic in Good Omens, and Why That's Important

I need to preface this with, I am not trying to start a fight or argument and won't tolerate any homophobic or bad faith arguments in response to this. Cool? Cool.

This is in large part inspired by this ask from Neil's blog, which sparked some discourse that I don't want to get involved in but that brought up some analytic questions for me.

He goes on to reblog a question asking about Uriel's taunt specifically, clarifying that "boyfriend in the dark glasses" can just as easily be read/translated from angelic as girlfriend or bosom buddy. The idea is that an angel and a demon "fraternizing" is seriously looked down upon, not that heaven is homophobic. And that's super important.

We see homophobia in both the book and show, of course. Aziraphale is very queer-coded, intentionally and explicitly so, and we see the reaction of other humans to that several times. Sergeant Shadwell, for example, and the kid in the book that calls him the f-slur when he's doing magic at Warlock's birthday party. These are, however, individual human reactions to his coding as a gay man.

I am, personally, not a fan of heaven redemption theories for the show; no hate for people who want that it's just not something I'm interested in. I don't believe that heaven is good with bad leadership, or that God Herself remains as a paragon of virtue. To me, that's not in line with the themes and messages of the show. It's important, however, that heaven doesn't reflect human vices. Heaven can be nasty and selfish and apathetic in its own right without ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or racism. This matters for two reasons.

Firstly, we don't need the -isms and -phobias to be evil or at least ethically impure. In a world where we spend so much time fighting against prejudice and bigotry, our impulse is to see that reflected in characters whose motivations we distrust or who we're intended to dislike. While it's true that that's often the big bad evil in our daily lives, it can really cheapen the malice in fictional evil from a storytelling standpoint. A villain motivated by racism or as an allegory for homophobia can be incredibly compelling, but not every bad guy can be the physical representation of an -ism. Art reflects the reality in which it's crafted, but the complexity of human nature and the evil it's capable of can't be simplified to a dni list.

Secondly, and I think more importantly, is that for Good Omens specifically, this places the responsibility for homophobia on humanity. If you're in this fandom, there's like a 98% chance you've been hurt by religion in some way. For a lot of us, that includes religious homophobia and hate, so it makes sense to want to project that onto the 'religious' structure of Good Omens. It's a story that is, in many ways, about religious trauma and abuse. However, if heaven itself held homophobic values, it would canonize in-universe the idea that heaven and religion itself are responsible for all humanity's -isms and -phobias and absolve humans of any responsibility. Much like Crowley emphasizes repeatedly that the wicked cruelty he takes responsibility for is entirely human-made, we have to accept that heaven can't take the blame for this. To make heaven, the religious authority, homophobic would simply justify religious bigotry from humans. By taking the blame for religious extremism and hatred away from heaven and the religious structure, Good Omens makes it clear that the nastiness of humanity is uniquely and specially human and forces the individual to take responsibility rather than the system. Hell isn't responsible for the Spanish Inquisition, which by the way was religiously motivated if you didn't know, and heaven isn't responsible for Ronald Reagan.

This idea is perhaps more strongly and explicitly expressed in the Good Omens novel, in the scene where Aziraphale briefly possesses a televangelist on live TV. It's comedic, yes, but also serves to demonstrate that human concepts of the apocalypse and religious fervor are deeply incorrect (in gomens universe canon) and condemn exploitation of faith practices. Pratchett and Gaiman weave a great deal of complexity into the way religion and religious values are portrayed in the book, especially in the emphasis on heaven and hell being essentially the same. They're interested in the concept of what it means to be uniquely and unabashedly human, the good and the bad, and part of that is forcing each individual person to bear the brunt of responsibility for their own actions rather than passing it off onto a greater religious authority.

Additionally, from a fan perspective, there's something refreshing about a very queer story where homophobia isn't the primary (or even a side) conflict. The primary narrative of Good Omens isn't that these two man-shaped-beings are gay, it's that they're an angel and a demon. The tension in their romantic arc arises entirely from the larger conflict of heaven and hell, and things like gender and sexuality don't really matter at all. Yes, homophobia and transphobia are very real, present issues in our everyday lives, but they don't have to be central to every story we tell. There's something really soothing about Crowley and Aziraphale being so queer-coded and so clearly enamored with each other without constantly being bombarded with homophobia and hate. It's incredible to see a disabled angel whose use of a mobility aid makes no difference in their role and to see angels and demons using they/them pronouns without being questioned or misgendered. It's all accepted and normalized, and that's the kind of representation that we as queer people deserve.

[night-dark-woods]

15, 21, 23, 24!!

THANK U ECHO this got so long oops.

15. that one thing you see in fanart all the time

hmmm not destiny-specific (i dont have any d2 specific gripes i dont think) & i mostly follow cool gay & trans ppl so this is much less of an issue than in the wider fandom (every so often some Main Fandom Art makes its way to me and i do a full double take) but like. i knowww they are almost all the same character model in-game but can we please get some characters who arent super skinny supermodels in here. please.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

not to sound like an edgelord but. the traveler. if we can acknowledge that the Darkness isnt ontologically Evil, i think we can (PLEASE) acknowledge that the Light isnt inherently good. and im not talking about the superpowers we get, they've (narrative team) made it quite clear that individuals choose to do what they will with based on their own morals. but the traveler is, imo, positioned as a Morally Good Agent Of The Light far more than the witness is Of The Darkness, and i think we need to talk more about the traveler's agenda!!! again, this complexity isnt completely absent from the narrative, but it doesnt feel like those interpretations are... metatextually supported igss? like zavala's frustration with the traveler leaving feels more like a very christian (as someone who was not raised religious) test of faith that zavala (and the canonical YW) have Passed and will be Rewarded.

where's tevis my best friend tevis. we need more characters with that pov. god is real god resurrected you god gave you a second chance at life with no memories of your past and a guardian angel (a "chattering oversoul," to quote toland) to tell you where to go and who deserves to die and raise you every time you fail just to throw you back into the divine crusade. like. lets talk about that a little more!!!

23. ship you've unwillingly come around to

this is hard bc i am in general very willing to "yes-and" ANYTHING with a hint of chemistry or a fun dynamic. it may not compell me but if you can point out a narrative similarity btwn characters i will almost always be down. unless its one i hate ("hate" being a strong word. really its just the strongest possible apathy) bc i contain multiudes :thumbsup:.

i can't think of a pairing i started out disliking and then changed my mind about due to fandom unfortunately. the closest would be igss that i hate crow/amanda as its written in the text BUT my perhaps controversial opinion is i think transitioning could fix crow specifically the version of crow i have in my head who did not get uldren's memories back. SotL was so good for the overarching plot of d2 but so so so bad for the type of awoken-enjoyer i am & imo the like... thesis statement of what a guardian is lol!

so unfortunately i dont have an answer for this one (i dont think "i like the pretend version i made up in my head" counts as coming around on a ship lmfao), bc you can pair any two destiny women and ill be like yeah for sure! and i have curated my online space well enough that i rarely see any other kind of ship, and when i do its gay men (o14, uldren/jolyon, someone i follow is cooking something with saladin/drifter which is inspired. i love whatever is happening there) which is like cheering absently for a sports team idc about but support on principle.

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

mara. its always fucking mara. literally spent an hour and a half last night rehashing d1 mara-course in a server with someone who has not read any lore. which is fine! thats a fine way to engage with the game! its a valuable perspective! but use i-statements and accept that you are coming to the table with 10% of the facts about the character.

honorable mention goes to anything about redemption arcs (and savathun specifically)- most recently that fuuucking saint killing sav repeatedly lore tab. and if you (general) cant be assed to care about evil women (skill issue, but whatever), thats also backsliding YEARS on saints characterization and i dont even care about saint!!!

so really the answer is misogyny lmfao.

[fireladybuckley]

here's the thing, girly pop

all buddie shippers have been silent and supportive of the toxicity in their fandom for years. including you. so you're all fucking complicit in what this fandom has begun

and stop pulling that both sides are the same bullshit. only buddie stans sent graphic child rape fics to my inbox. your evidence of "bucktommies just want to take Chris from Eddie and give him to buck" is a completely made up fucking LIE

this is why I don't ship buddie anymore. you can fucking DIE mad about your little clique finally encountering a group who won't back down to their childish bullying. this isn't sudden. this isn't a ship war. this is the environment YOU and YOURS fostered for fucking YEARS. and now you think some meek and mild little "let's all just get along" finger wagging is good enough? fuck that and fuck you. your fandom has run fans of color out of the fandom, has perpetrated homophobic attacks on actual queer men, has told queer men that lesbians and "bisexual" teenage white girls are more qualified to speak on GAY MEN AND THEIR CULTURE, have organized targeted harassment campaigns on every actress to play a love interest for their faves, erased actual queer characters for their straight fave, have declared the Black lesbians a "ship for heteros", have used those same Black lesbians as props for false racism allegations, on and on ad fucking nauseam

but yeah sure jan buddie stans are the real victims because bucktommies aren't sweet and nice and angelic about putting up with being called n*ggers and f*ggots and fetishizers and pedophiles and groomers and hags. we're not nice about fake accounts and lies and hacking attempts and violent, pustulent bigotry. we're the real problem, clearly

idgaf if y'all are suddenly uncomfortable sleeping in the bed you made. y'all should have been calling out this shit from the jump but y'all wanted to sit at the table with Regina george

well bitch here's the fucking bus

This is a pretty good example of what I’m talking about. I didn’t say or have any part in half the stuff in here that I’m being accused of. I’ve never been part of a clique as I’ve always hung out with anyone in the fandom regardless of who they ship. I didn’t say “Bucktommies just want to take Chris from Eddie”, I said people who don’t like Eddie often say shit like that. You read my post and wrote this entire thing so fast I’m not surprised you missed some of the context.

I am very happy to see Buck in a happy and fulfilling relationship with Tommy, even if he’s not my favourite person to ship Buck with. But all you needed to see was “I ship Buddie” to let loose this avalanche of vitriol. If you even glanced at my blog before upending this on me you’d have seen plenty of supportive bucktommy posts I’ve reblogged recently. As I’ve said, he might not be my favourite but I am plenty happy with their onscreen relationship.

The entire point is I AM NOT ON ONE SIDE OR ANOTHER. There shouldn’t even BE sides like this. I do not paint myself solely as a “Buddie shipper” and that’s it because that’s ridiculous, this show is huge and there’s so many wonderful characters and me liking one ship more than another doesn’t mean shit because I am always respectful when it comes to other people’s ships, and shipping is just ONE part of fandom experience. I have never once spewed hate and toxicity at people for liking some of the ships I disliked, because, shockingly, people are allowed to like what they like. I also really fucking hate that this entire show with all its wonderful characters and storylines boils down to only Buck or only Buddie for SO many people.

And for the record I absolutely have spoken out about people being gross and taking Buddie or Buck worship too far. Also about the fetishization, and the sidelining of the amazing canon lesbian POC relationship that we have. I am queer myself and will always be against people tearing down actual queer storylines and characters in favour of their ships. I have posted and reblogged stuff about people being disgusting about Tommy and/or Lou and how they’re making homophobic accusations that are completely inappropriate.

Please in the future, whoever you are, when you read what someone has to say, try to keep in mind that not everyone is trying to attack you or argue with you. Not everyone is even on a “side”, like that’s literally what my post was about. 🤦🏻‍♀️

[thegeminisage]

Hmm. 20-22 inclusive …. making you be negative 😈 I’m assuming you’ll do zelda but as a scholar I’m also interested in your spn thoughts so you pick mwah

oooh dealer's choice this is so tough...what if i just answer for both LMAO im so sorry ok Lets Go

20. part of canon you found tedious or boring

for zelda: i really, really wish i liked wind waker. i wanna like wind waker so fucking bad. i love wind waker's story. i love wind waker's ganondorf. i love how bright and cheerful the graphics are contrasted with how solemn it is underground. i love the dungeons and the gameplay. but god i HATE the cartoony little balloon heads. it takes me right out of those serious moments. i don't mind stylization but if it could have been just a LITTLE BIT. less stylized. just a LITTLE LESS like animal crossing characters. it's beautiful to look at but for a game with such serious hidden elements WHICH I LOVE i find trouble taking it seriously.

for spn: god, all of crowley's little arcs. he was almost never interesting, and while you can excuse bad writing for cas because it's cas, you can't make crowley happen. fetch is never gonna happen! you can show me his fun hot mom and his dead son and it still isn't happening! he's just the walking talking embodiment of the "angels and demons are just like OFFICE WORKERS" trope which i hate so fucking deeply because it's the least sexy direction they ever took and the exact opposite of what i want from my angels and demons. all of the middle seasons suffered deeply from this. crowley COULD have been interesting, but tbh, i liked him best in the season they killed him off.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

for zelda: i could do wind waker again but actually i completely understand the hype, bc wind waker is a great game even if i can't deal with it like a normal person. same with botw - i found most of the joy thru exploration, so it just didnt Hit on replays the way other zeldas do, but its influence cannot be understated and the hype is deserved. what if everybody is right all the time to hype any and everything about zelda?? oh wait actually. sorry. twilight princess ilia. idk if people hype her but if they do theyre wrong. love and light to her, she's Fine, but it feels kind of like a knockoff of malon (superior) and i generally dislike when link has romantic interests besides zelda, even if the love interest gets amnesia (wistful sigh). this sin was especially egregious bc zelda barely has any screentime at all, but i forgive tp for this because what screentime she DOES have is spent being in lesbians with midna. so it works out just this once due to the power of gay people, but that's some thin fucking ice. anyway, sorry to ilia and ilia fans for being a misogynist

for spn: i hate canon claire. i can't get into it in depth but like...sorry, even without the issue of My Own Claire Ideas, i still don't know if i could do it. being gay does not save her from having the exact same "damaged but spunky teen girl" personality given to almost EVERY OTHER TEENAGE GIRL (or young woman) on the show. to some extent she, krissy, mary from the winchesters, charlie, jo, alex, etc etc all have the same personality with a few defining quirks tacked on as an afterthought. do i love some of these characters? yes, of course. are they well-written? absolutely not <3

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

for zelda: in general, i think skyward sword gets a bad rap despite lanayru desert's entire (waves hand vaguely) and zelda being a fucked up evil goddess who canonically manipulates link's love for her. AND GROOSE. never forget groose. more specifically i think not enough people have acknowledged 1. the champions corpses are definitely still in those cockpits 2. oot link essentially became a stalfos by walking into the lost woods without navi and never came back. hello?? generally those dark little implications that u have read between the lines to get <3

for spn: oh baby its michael!dean. i waited so long and i only really got what i wanted for one episode but it was so good. it was SO good. no one else is as hype about the fact that it took nine REAL LIFE YEARS to get there. a DECADE of my finite time on earth. but ohhh was it ever worth the wait. what else could i possibly write 100k+ about

[ASK MEME]

[ankiebitez]

i really wanted to participate in this since u mentioned it so thank uuuuuu also if you need more information then let me know bc im still trying to make a full post about my mc 😭 information under the cut

Name and pronouns: judith, he/him

Short bio: judith is a 25 year old fashion designer, he has his own small local store that he designs and sells clothing, jewelry and accessories for while also selling vintage or interesting pieces he finds. the store is mostly popular to local people within his city and he makes sure to remember most customers. he lives with minhyeok in a shared apartment and has been close with him since they were kids, often getting bullied or picked on in school for his looks and interests when he was younger by other kids. he came to hell like in canon, and more than anything he feels oddly comfortable in hell, even despite the war happening with angels he enjoys the directness and kindness from most devils. he does not like hades however.

Character: judith can be described as a kind and respectful person to people he meets unless he has reason to dislike them. he can be a bit stubborn at times, and can have issues controlling his emotions, but his heart is always in the right place. he handles most situations calmly, but doesn't do well under extreme stress. while he's obviously not a virgin, he's a bit unsure with romantic relationships and intimate affection, despite enjoying it its not something he's used to receiving or initiating, so it was definitely a bit interesting when he came to hell lmao.

Voice: energetic, playful and confident to people he knows well, calm and somewhat nervous to others he's not as comfortable with.

Important facts: he's a gay transman with adhd, depression and bpd. his parents split up when he was a child, he grew up really close with his father and was affected a lot by his death. he wasn't ever very close with his mother, never really seeing her and always having arguments with her when she was around, making him feel conflicted about her death. even after his father passed away, he's still close to his stepmom and stepsiblings, treating them like his actual family

Demons to include in the fic: Amon

Brief description of relationship with chosen demons: id say they have shared romantic feelings, amon is one of the demons judith feels most comfortable around and spends the most time being around or talking to besides the gehenna demons. judith feels a lot more comfortable exploring a more romantic type of relationship with amon without having to worry about being too shy or messing things up, partially due to his philia (lmao) but also because he seems the most understanding and can basically read judiths emotions without him even having to say them outloud.

The tone in which it should be written: maybe fluff and spicy 👀

Narrative type: either second person or 3rd whichever you feel most comfortable doing

The script you would like to see: i think itd be cute to do a little pillowfort date

Guys, we're doing it!

Do you remember this survey? I didn't expect such a great response. If that many of you really want to participate, I guess I'll have to do more than one batch of the draw to choose as much of your MC's as I can.

More info under the cut!

Time for some rules, so we won't get lost

The concept is simple. You give me your precious OCs/MCs, I adopt them for a while, write fanfic (related to WHB, of course) and hand them over to your loving hands.

For now, I plan to choose 3-5 people to write for. This may change if more people apply. If one applies, I will write for one. If 96 apply, I will choose more. We'll figure it out.

You can apply in two ways. One is to reblog this post and describe everything in reply, the second is to create your own post with the hashtag #whbmcshuffle Preferably both at once. I don't want to accidentally lose any application. I also recommend following this tag for the time being because I will post further information under it.

The people I will write for will be drawn randomly. I want it to be fair, and I guess this is the only way I won't be biased when I see mutuals I like or Andrea my favorite demons.

You can apply for one week. Since we may all be in different time zones, submissions will close when this survey ends.

Feed me information. Since I want to write something good, I would like to ask you for some information. Here's the list:

Name and pronouns: Quite obvious. Short bio: Who are they? Any difficult past or traumas? What were they doing on earth? Did they get to hell like in canon? How do they feel in hell? Where they live? Character: What are their main character traits? How do they usually behave? How do they behave in crisis situations? Voice: (Not mandatory, although, very helpful.) What would the narrative look like? More calm or energetic? Confident or not at all? Funny or serious? Calm or nervous? Laid back or distrustful? You can even paste here a song or a link to some story that you think reflect your oc's voice well. Important facts: Free space, you can put whatever you want here and whatever you think is important. Demons to include in the fic: (from 1 to 3) Brief description of relationship with chosen demons: I guess that's obvious. The tone in which it should be written: (i.e. spicy, angst, fluff, funny or other) Narrative type: Second person (addressing as 'you') or third person (addressing with selected pronouns) The script you would like to see: (Not mandatory, although, very helpful) For example, a date on Earth, cooking together, whatever you come up with.

I know it's a lot to ask. This is a minimal list, but the more information you give me, the better I will be able to empathize with your MCs and hopefully imitate their character. If you have already written about them, for example in your other posts, feel free to include links, so I can take a better look at them. Of course, you can add photos, or a song, or memes, anything you want!

I didn't mention the length of the fic, but it depends on how I will feel writing it. But I'll want it to be at least 800 words.

Most important. Have fun! It's mainly about getting to know each other's OCs/MCs. Who knows, if there's a lot of interest, maybe we'll do more draws. 👀

I tried to include everything, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

[eldritchtouched]

I just want to say I am so happy I’m not the only gay trans man who finds Miquella incredibly relatable (and by extension find the infantilization the fandom does with him especially infuriating). Also, I’d like to add that people seem to forget/not realize Mohg and Miquella have incredibly similar in many different ways, ideals particularly. You can’t really understand one without understanding the other so the constant demonization is just fundamentally wrong.

I know, right? It's just... it's weirdly close to home because of that. Like, just because you think someone looks young doesn't actually mean they are young and just because you think someone looks old doesn't mean they're actually old. (Sorry GILF-lovers, Morgott may look elderly, but his parents look younger than him lol. It's also a mood to feel like in a perpetual stasis when you've got to wait to do transition related care, so it feels like you're not actually growing up lol.

Miquella is very clearly not a child from his actions and effects on the world, like growing a tree to the size of a skyscraper with his own blood (trees are very slow-growing) and offering refuge like he does, and the description of Miquella's Lily acknowledge that they were beloved "in his youth," so the writers of the canon are going with the idea that he is not actually a child mentally and his experiences do affect him, instead of the "frozen psychology" thing some writers do, he's just physically unable to grow up.

As for their similarities, it just seems like people ignore that Miquella has ties to blood as well, too. He grew the Haligtree with his blood, his needles are stuck in the skin like a medical needle, and the sacramental buds are heavily implied to be grown from his blood. This last point is especially fascinating because you can find a bunch of sacramental buds at the Writheblood Ruins, with a Sanguine Noble and a Mohgwyn Dynasty weapon, the Bloody Helice.

They also tend to assume his dislike of the Greater Will and the Scarlet Rot are because he opposes all Outer Gods, but it could very easily be because of their actions- the Rot is essentially destroying his sister to make her a puppet and the Greater Will is tyrannical and subjugates a lot of beings to have its "perfect" order. Same can be said of how people treat Ranni's ending, ignoring that Ranni is okay with the Outer God associated with the moon.

Whether or not he is okay with the Formless Mother remains to be seen, but the interpretation I keep seeing is that the Crucible and the Formless Mother are separate beings, but I think the Crucible is an aspect of the Formless Mother. (After all, Morgott, whose Omen aspects are purely from being born blessed by the Crucible, include his ability to wield the bloodflame, which is only associated with the Formless Mother.) As such, I don't think he would necessarily oppose the Formless Mother or that she's malignant or corrupting, unless you believe the Omens are inherently corrupt and that the Golden Order and the Greater Will's tacit approval of the Golden Order are correct in their assessment. Regardless, you are correct that their goals are heavily aligned. They both want an end to the Golden Order and make it so that groups other than humans are treated well. Mohg has Albinurics, humans, and Omens in his chain of command, while Miquella similarly has a diverse group in his chain of command. Both have taken steps to gather their power and involving a shitload of blood sacrament magic to do so.

But because one looks youthful and angelic and the other looks like a demon, people lose their shit one way or the other. Either they go with their appearances and assume Mohg is this malevolent creature, or they think maybe it's a twist and assume Miquella is actually pure evil and Mohg is a dupe. Instead of them being more complicated than that.

[writcraft]

Hello! How would compare and contrast Snarry vs Drarry? Since you have (beautifully!) written both, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the dynamics of these two ships. Thank you!

Hello Anon, thank you for this lovely message and what a topic!

I have set out below the cut why I think the dynamics differ but also some of the similarities and it got very, very long. Yikes.

DRACO

Draco is privileged, from a wealthy, pureblood, old wizarding family and immersed in magic from childhood. He's the kind of popular where he has his crew and doesn't really care if the Gryffindors don't like him, he is athletic and bright and he is described in a way that suggests he is attractive. Up until the point things really start to go wrong for Draco, he leads a relatively charmed life. He is a product of his upbringing, of his upper class status, he experiences a childhood where he is spoiled, loved and doted on, albeit he appears to be subject to high expectations of academic excellence and sporting prowess. With his friends he appears to be something of the ringleader and generally liked. He gravitates towards Voldemort because it's really all he's known, he's born into it. At first it seems Draco's views are driven by his desire to protect the things he values (wealth, status, power) and the privilege he has become accustomed to and, in the end, he sticks around primarily out of fear and self preservation. Draco exhibits moments of cowardice.

SEVERUS

Severus has an entirely different upbringing. He is working class, has a tense relationship with his parents, he is disliked and bullied at school which leaves him isolated, he gravitates towards solitary intellectual pursuits and he is described in a way that suggests he is supposed to be unattractive (although this reader would argue he has a certain magnetic charge). Lily aside, his relationships as a child seem to be shaped by a fascination with the power that comes with wealth and elitism, something he has never experienced. Sirius describes him as Lucius Malfoy's 'lap dog' and it is telling that Lucius is much older, a Prefect when Severus starts Hogwarts. He is radicalised in a way and gravitates towards Voldemort through a greedy hunger for power, a desire for revenge and a desperate desire to change his lot in life. He stays because, well, we all know why he stays. Severus is brave but grudgingly, acerbically so. The deepest insult he confronts is being called a coward by Harry.

FIRST ENCOUNTERS

Aside from the differences in their characters, the way Harry encounters Severus and Draco is completely different. When we meet Severus in canon, he is bitter, angry, jealous, grieving and indebted to Dumbledore. He is also in a position of power as Harry's professor. When we meet Draco, he is Harry's peer but he is also full of himself, an arrogant little shit who thinks the world is his for the taking and he thinks very little of Dumbledore, because father says...

This shapes Harry's encounters with them both. Severus approaches Harry with animosity, venom and a legacy of hurt that Harry doesn't yet understand. Severus places no weight on Harry's celebrity, he actively resents and despises it. Draco, by contrast, values Harry's celebrity initially. He wants to be friends with the wizarding world's brightest star and the animosity that follows between them flows directly from the sting of Harry's initial rejection.

ONGOING RELATIONSHIP

Severus wilfully misunderstands Harry. He draws connections between Harry and James based solely on their striking physical similarities and (incorrectly) ascribes the characteristics of James to Harry. He is tasked with protecting Harry but he does so always through gritted teeth. The curse of Severus Snape is to spend his life protecting someone who represents everything he despised as a child and yet the only person who can give a dying man that last connection to his one true friend.

Draco sees Harry more clearly but his perspective is shaped by jealousy and the sting of that first encounter, which leads him to make fun of Harry's circumstances and the people he associates himself with. He doesn't misunderstand Harry in the way Severus does, but he also doesn't know him fully.

MAGICAL CONNECTIONS

The magic that connects Harry, Draco and Severus is fascinating. Harry famously uses Sectumsempra on Draco without knowing what impact it will have. He then intentionally uses the same spell on Severus (unsuccessfully) knowing exactly the damage it will do. Not only does the use of the spell in both instances show us a darker side to Harry, but the spell was also created by Severus and he is the one that helps Draco after the spell has been cast. I could write an essay on the links this spell creates between those three characters.

Expelliarmus is another one. Severus teaches Harry this spell and in doing so, equips him with his most powerful tool in the fight against Voldemort. Harry disarms Draco of his wand and the implications of that in terms of the final battle are intrinsically connected to the 'signature move' of Harry's in battle, which is all about gaining possession of the wand of the attacker as opposed to trying to target the attacker themselves.

Avada Kedavra is also something that binds the three of them. Harry witnesses Draco failing to cast the Killing Curse, and simultaneously witnesses Severus easily casting it. This also is part of the broader relationship Harry, Draco and Severus have to Dumbledore. Harry and Severus are willing pawns in the master plan but neither are fully equipped with all the information they need. Draco ends up unwittingly being part of the plan but he is never a soldier of Dumbledore's Army in the way Harry explicitly is and Severus, with a gnashing of his teeth, also is.

Finally, one of the important similarities between Severus and Draco is they are both skilled Occlumens, something Harry is notoriously rubbish at. This skill suggests both are better able to bury and compartmentalise their emotions whereas Harry is unable to do so with any success and this plays into the fact that in both ships, Harry is likely to be the more demonstrative, wearing his heart on his sleeve in a way both Draco and Severus can better disguise/suppress.

DIFFERENT DYNAMICS

With all of the above the dynamics between Drarry and Snarry will always have a different slant, even if Harry himself is essentially the same. By way of sweeping overstatement, Snarry tends to skew darker and heavier because there is much more to overcome, but by contrast Severus has also spent his 'canon' years protecting Harry which creates this bitter 'Guardian Angel' type dynamic that, if you ship it, can be intensely romantic when they encounter one another again as adults.

The age difference lends itself to different dynamics too. Harry and Draco have that potential for young, dumb and in love, working things out, exploring, eighth year and spin the bottle sort of stuff that Snarry doesn't really have in the same way. It feels more natural that Harry and Draco would encounter one another as peers from the same year group, so part of the battle with Snarry is working out how Harry and Severus end up in the same spaces together in adulthood (Snape's canon death being a pesky inconvenience). The age difference raises another important difference in dynamic too, when it comes to the experience of Severus and Draco as gay or bisexual men, if you apply Muggle attitudes to same-sex relationships that have shifted over time.

The age difference is also relevant because there is a capacity for Draco to change his ways as he grows up, but Severus has already long changed his political beliefs and we know Severus as an adult in canon. That's not to say adults can't change their beliefs of course, but because his adult character exhibits moments of real cruelty you have a challenge around how this irascible, often mean, sharp-tongued character can give Harry what he yearns for when it comes to affection, love, family, security and so on.

There are hurdles to overcome with both ships and although the core 'enemies to lovers' starting point may create a similar overarching dynamic, the roots of those hurdles, the scale of them and the ways and ease with which they get resolved will differ because ultimately Draco and Severus are very different characters with quite polarised life experiences. They have some similarities, Occlumency aside, such as fostering beliefs during childhood they reject around the same time in their lives, albeit for very different reasons. Both are Slytherins who, their magical skills would suggest, are capable of pushing their emotions down in a way Harry can't, when everything for him is raw, on the surface, now, even though they both also unleash their emotions at various points. They are both prone to dramatics, to anger, to pettiness, to humour and in many respects, Harry is prone to those things too. In general though, I believe Draco and Severus would approach a relationship with Harry quite differently.

I don't think there's any one easy way to pinpoint the different dynamics in general because there is a huge variety of ways these three can be presented in fanfic, with its own plot, worldbuilding, external factors and so on. There are so many different directions you could go in with Snarry and Drarry so I'm only speaking from some of the things that strike me not only about the Severus/Harry and Draco/Harry connections/potential hurdles but also about the links between the three of them. Ultimately I think there is opportunity for deep connection, discovery, levity, passion and of course, delicious angst and UST with both ships, but they tend to manifest a little differently for all the reasons outlines about.

There's so much more I can say, but I'll leave it there. Thank you, Anon!

[groves]

anyway i have. a variety of thoughts re: The Last of Us Part II, and i wanna get them out, so beware spoilers below the cut

i don’t wanna go the absolutist route of saying this game was incredible or this game was total bullshit - there were things i liked and things i very much did not

druck has been saying from the very beginning that this game was supposed to be about hate and cycles of violence and what trauma can do to a person and like. listen they achieved their goal with that - that being said, personally, i’m very over torture porn

let’s start with the good, shall we

i loved the gameplay! obviously very reminiscent of the first game, but i like the new add-ons of the ability tree, the new items you could craft, the variety of much bigger, more intricate, and interesting maps was hella fun

holy shit the standing/crouch/prone mechanic was smooth as shit and so much fun. i don’t think i’ve ever played a game where you could go prone like that, let alone with that much ease and versatility. it made a lot of the battles really fun and more versatile than they would have been with just boxes to hide behind

abby’s hair?? i don’t think i’ve ever played a character with hair animated past their shoulders/upper back?? she had a long braid that moved seamlessly as she moved - i’ve always assumed long hair on a player character was something that was deceptively difficult to animate (like characters taking off clothing, which ND were the first to achieve in Thief’s End), so idk if any other tech/animation people can confirm or deny that abby’s hair is kind of an animation breakthrough?

the similarities and differences between ellie and abby’s gameplay based on their strengths/weaknesses, materials, and training was a good touch

i know a lot of people didn’t like her, but abby grew on me a lot. do i love her as much as ellie? not by a long shot, but playing as abby for so long was very effective in driving the theme of cycles of violence home. As in, these are two girls who otherwise would have no reason to be enemies, neither of whom are inherently evil, but they keep doing things to hurt each other and brew this hatred in each other, neither of them feeling like they can stop

i loved a lot of our new cast of characters

i would die for dina, who could have seen that coming

i really liked jesse! i wasn’t sure how i was going to feel after the pregnancy reveal but he was just. super solid the whole time and i appreciated him

yara and lev. my children. “i’ve never heard a scar curse before” “that was my first time” an angel

increased diversity! (which is. a double-edged sword, see below) canonically lesbian ellie, bisexual and jewish dina, trans lev, many more characters of color, you love to see it

listen this is just me being a lesbian talking but despite all the bad it’s just nice to play a canon lesbian with a girlfriend in a mainstream, non-rpg game, okay

the genuine portrayal of trauma, PTSD, and triggers. it was, uh, very hard hitting

JJ. the entire domestic scene at the farm. we’re ignoring the rest of the game, that’s where it ends, happy farm gays and their beautiful baby boy

....and the bad

the obvious one - joel’s death. i went into this game fairly sure he was going to die, but it was just so SOON and abrupt and really didn’t do the character justice. i’m extremely grateful we got to see more of him and ellie through flashbacks, but the literal entire purpose of his death was to traumatize ellie and that’s shitty. he was fridged.

i realize this is a very violent and traumatic game/franchise, and the more minority characters you have, the more likely they are to be victims of that violence. HOWEVER, you can’t help but notice when most of the minority characters are killed, mutilated, or repeatedly traumatized.

killed: jesse, yara, manny, nora, isaac (along with owen, mel, and joel)

mutilated: yara, ellie

repeatedly traumatized: ellie, lev, dina

i love to see a young trans character played by a trans actor, but it would also be nice if his story wasn’t like. entirely about being shunned and targeted bc he’s trans y’know

all of this begs the question of bad/subpar representation vs no representation at all and quite honestly i don’t have an answer to that

i said before that i appreciate the narrative and gameplay risk they took with having you play as abby as almost a deuteragonist, but i missed ellie, who this game was supposed to be about. 

FIGHTING ELLIE?? i died like 5 times bc i was sitting there screaming “i don’t WANT to hurt her??”

again, i appreciate The Point, that neither of them are inherently evil, but have been caught up in this cycle that has made them enemies of each other. ellie has gone down a dark path and lost her way. it was very effective naughty dog i get it okay pls don’t make me hurt my child again

i’m not entirely sure what the point of the seraphites was besides the aesthetic™ tbh

not that anyone’s complaining about the aesthetic™ tho

the whole santa barbara sequence felt. unnecessary and tacked on. again, i get it, ellie choosing to continue the cycle when she could have let it go, but i feel like that also could have been driven home with a little extra time in seattle

finally, the ending:

liked: that ellie didn’t kill abby. by the time we got to the final fight on the beach i very much didn’t want to kill her. the game proved its point. i just wanted her to get to a firefly base with lev and be safe, and break the cycle.

disliked: the seeming hopelessness of ellie’s story? they gave us a crumb with the fact that she was going to try and reconcile her relationship with joel before he was killed, and honestly, i don’t blame dina for leaving, but even a HINT that ellie was going to go find dina and make it up to her and hopefully settle down and have a loving life with her girlfriend and son and recover would have made it so much better. and i guess it could be open to interpretation, but leaving her guitar and all her artwork of her family doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

overall, i had a fun time playing it for the most part, but it’s left me feeling sad and mournful and hurting. which, again, might be the point. but if it is, i don’t like that point very much.

[olderthannetfic]

Smallville is a show so gay that its Television Without Pity recapper popularized the term hoyay.*

Even in the sea of accidentally homoerotic superhero media, this show is a shining beacon of No, really, guys, what did you think you were filming?!

Look: this is not fandom’s fault. Check out this kinky shit they used for the season 1 poster:

With an ad campaign out of softcore bondage porn, it’s no surprise that Smallville instantly gained a huge and kinky slash fandom. Season 1 really was The Good Shit.

Early Smallville was also a classic example of the dangers of rule of cool plotting and of casting a guy who has chemistry with a wall as your villain.

Wouldn’t it be cool if Clark and Lex used to be best friends?

Of course it would! And look how sad Lex is and how hard he’s trying in season 1... And how much of a complete choad Jonathan Kent is being... And how much it makes no goddamn sense that this Lex would end up like normal Superman canon Lex. Would Clark really have a future “rift” with this Lex? Who even wants to see that? Boo!

Look, they cast the model with one facial expression as the hero and the super charismatic guy as the villain.

They have only themselves to blame.

Early in the show’s run, this led to an epic mountain of Clex fic. (Also the acceptance of a ship smooshname in a part of fandom that normally disliked them at the time!)

Later it led to the single greatest vid in the history of fanvidding...

Nay, the single greatest piece of video art ever produced by humanity!

As we said at Vividcon vid review: “I think I read that fic!”

Luckily, today, you can go hunting for your mpreg and Rift, What Rift fics on AO3 because the Smallville Slash Archive was imported in 2012.

Past Escapade panels include:

2002 - Smallville Episodes

2003 - Secrets and Superpowers (Metaphors for closeted homosexuality? Is X-ray vision a metaphor for gaydar? Is Roger Nixon of The Inquisitor really threatening to "out' Clark Kent? Is (he emergence of the heroic secret identity over the last century or two a barometer for public tolerance of gays? Secrets and power and superpowers: who's got what, who knows what, who's trying to figure it all out. Come chat about weaknesses and strengths and confidences: the ins and outs of the gayest little town in Kansas.)

2004 - Too Good to Be True: Meaning of Lies in Smallville (Clark's every gesture is a lie, yet he is the ideal of goodness. How much do we distrust our own ability to tell good from bad? The Christ symbolism of Superboy was introduced in episode one; are we convinced our saviors are doomed if they reveal themselves to us?)

2005 - Turning the Myth on Its Head (Are the writers turning the Superman Myth on its head? Is there a chance for Lex and Clark to retain their friendship and/or for Lex to be the hero?)

Smallville on Fanlore

Smallville on AO3 for Clex, Clex, and more Clex

Smallville on FFN for all your late-seasons Clark/Lois needs

* Yes, yes, I know it was first used in some Angel thread on TWOP. Those Smallville recaps are what made it infect the rest of the internet.

[featherquillpen]

Yuletide letter 2020

Dear Yuletide author,

I don't know about you, but Yuletide is exactly what I need to brighten my 2020. I can’t wait to see what you come up with. Hopefully this letter will help inspire you. I will start with some general likes and dislikes, then give you some fandom-specific prompts. 

Likes: Worldbuilding, cultures coming together in interesting new ways, fish out of water, flawed protagonists, power dynamics, witty banter, AUs, crossovers, goofy humor, taking a minor detail from canon and running with it.

Do not want: explicit non-con (it’s OK if it’s mentioned or discussed), Christmas-fic (please don’t mention Christmas at all), anything shippy in the foreground (flirting and background relationships are totally fine), death of a requested character.

On to the fandoms!

Bad Gays (podcast)

I love the way this podcast looks at queer people of the past and present in their full complicated and messy glory, while also dishing the hot gossip about them.

Prompt 1: crossover time! I would love to see a five things fic which sets the podcast in a set of different fictional universes and discusses bad gays of those universes. What would Ben and Huw have to say about Harrow Nonagesimus or Richard Vane or Montrose Freeman? Let your imagination run wild.

Prompt 2: Time travel! What if Ben and Huw travel back in time and actually met some of the bad gays they’ve talked about? Are the bad gays as bad as they thought they were? I'd love to see them podcasting about that experience.

Note that I listen to Bad Gays every week so you can assume I'm fully caught up with season four.

Pet - Akwaeke Emezi

I was totally fascinated by the strangeness of Pet the avenging angel. It's clear from its dialogue that it’s been to earth before on Hunts. I would love to read a story about other hunts that Pet has gone or will go on. Was it summoned before or during the revolution? Is it always summoned in the same way? Does it always look the same when it's in our dimension or does it change? What happened on those other hunts? I imagine it usually doesn't go the way it did in the book. In general I would love to learn more about the angels.

Friends at the Table: Partizan (Podcast)

I find Sovereign Immunity a very complex and fascinating character. He knows so much from his time as a revolutionary in the past, but he is so rarely listened to now. He has so much backstory we know almost nothing about. I would like to read a deep character study of Sovereign Immunity. I am interested in his backstory, but I'm also interested in his role within Millennium Break as a whole. How does he interact with other characters on a day-to-day basis? How does he feel about the way that his old name and his old title no longer apply?

Note that I listen to Friends at the Table every week as soon as it comes out, so you can assume I’m caught up with whatever is airing at the time you write.

[fan-dumb-trash]

REMILE PART TWOOOOOOOOO

Part One! Part Three! Part Four

*confetti canon* YASSSS FINALLYYYY I HAVE FINISHED THIS!

Sorry for the wait! And also sorry if this isn’t as good as the first one... but I needed to establish some things in order to make Remiles relationship make sense ya know? I’m planning on making at least one, maybe more of these so buckle up sis! Thank you guys for your reblogs and comments and stuff it’s really sweet XD I’m glad to provide some decent Remile content.

Now without further ado, lets get the gay going!

Warnings: Unhealthy Household mention, Kissing, Crying. Violence mention- or lack theorf. Some self deprecation in Remys part. If I missed anything let me know!

Kay so we left off with the boys at the start of their sophomore year oh yeah boi.

I forgot to tell you everyone's ages so HERE WE GO

Patton and Roman are juniors now and Virgil Logan Emile and Remy are the same age. Sloane and Corbin are seniors and Kai and Elliot are freshmen.

Remy has accumulated a girlfriend named Clarimonde whos a badass and we love her she's really cool actually. Her and Roman have spanish together and they are both fluent so they chat to their teachers delight

Once her and Patton saw Elliot getting bullied and she scared the living heck out of those neanderthals without punching and Patton was impressed

Everyone likes her- so Emilie tells himself he has no reason to dislike her because he doesn't have feelings for Remy anymore. No sir.

Now it isn't difficult for Remy and Emile to pass each other in the halls. When Clarimonde chats with Roman, Emile can make small talk Remy without dying inside, but he's slightly more quiet.

Remy still doesn't understand the pang he gets in his chest whenever someone mentions cartoons.

Clarimonde starts to pay attention the Emile because “hey he seems like a sweetheart! how did you meet him Rem?”

Remy tells her that they were close in middle school and left it at that. She stayed suspicious but dropped it after two days.

As I mentioned before, Emilie is a total mom friend even to the seniors and juniors. He notices Logan perk up whent Patton makes a dad joke or laughs. He notices Patton stare a bit too much at Logan's subtle freckles or his electric blue eyes as he rants about biology and chemistry.

He notices Roman and Virgil warm up to each other finally (they didn’t get along much. Romans a bit of an airhead and said some not nice things to Virgil in middle school)

They find out they actually have common interests! They talk about music and writing amd smile because someone finally understands!!! Wow!!!

Emilie promises himself he's going to try to help his friends be happy together. because he feels a bit better when he sees his friends happy in love. And in good mental health (which leads into his counseling career!!! Wohooo!!!)

AND NOW- INTRODUCINGGGGG *drum roll* MR THOMAS SANDERS *confetti cannon* and his assistants Joan and Talyn who are lit college students trying to get degrees in the arts. they need to community service so (plus they love Thomas and the kids like aww their babies)

Thomas is the theater teacher/director of the arts department. Roman took all the theater classes available because he’s an extra boi. so he hung out in Mr Sanders class and soon it became the hangout spot for the gang!

Emile saw Roman and Patton in the school play last year. Most of the cast were seniors and now all the thespians are gone and nobody wants to do the shows and take the classes (minus the loot of kids who need their arts requirement to graduate) and it's a PROBLEM

Remy takes Mr Sanders drama class for the arts requirement in order to graduate! But he has a D… Honestly he thought the class would be easier than ceramics because he could just doze off as Thomas rambled about shakespeare but NOPE they have to do pair scenes and monologues and Remy IS NOT HAVING IT LET ME TELL YAH

He thinks acting is stupid (ironic because his personality at school is mostly to mask his pain so TEA) and that there's no point in trying.

this attitude carries over to a lot of his other classes because it's not like his family can afford sending him off to college anyways and it's not like he's smart or worth teaching anyways right?

And Thomas notices Remy walk home alone and take off his shades and stare at the sky a bit longer than usual. Thomas sees Remy's smile fade as people talk about their parents and siblings and he sees Remy's grades slip.

Thomas pulls Remy says something like “Sup Mr Sanders. Did somebody fail their test because they spent the class period staring at me instead of their answer sheet?” And Thomas would usually laugh at this but he's stern

“I'm going to give it to you straight. You're failing almost all your classes and i've talked to your teachers and they know you have potential but you don't try. I don't understand why, but i'm sure you have your reasons but i just wanted to tell you… You're enough, Remy. Just being you. Just because you dont think youll be perfect or good enough doesn't mean you have to turn you back on the world. There's people who will care if you let them in and-”

Remy begins to cry because nobody has told him that in a year and a half. And Thomas gives him tissues and pats him on the shoulder.

Remy agrees to participate in the after school show for extra credit to raise his grade. The credits will carry over to the monologue and pair scene he did poorly on and count for the history of plays unit test which he bombed.

Remy is grateful, but asks how all those assignments fit in on play if he's just gonna do tec??? Or say a shakespearean monologue and be done.

Thomas smiles and says “Well Remy, we are doing Rent- a musical. And Joan and Talyn handle the tec stuff just fine.”

AND BOOM THEY'RE DOING RENT NOW I LOVE THIS SO MUCH ACKKKKKKKKK SO THEY AUDITION! THE GANG AND REMY AND CLARIMONDE AND TOBY AND ITS WONDERFUL

Patton convinces Logan to do the show (puppy dog eyes owo) and it's all set. Clarimonde joins because why not. Emilie was hesitant at first- but Dot and Larry told him it would be a good way to break out of his shell because Emilie is a bit awkward around people he doesn’t know well…

Auditions go good! Virgil, Roman, Elliot, and Emilie are the best singers while Clarimonde,Remy, Logan, and Patton are dorky/sassy/and confident actors.

Thomas had them all sing Seasons Of Love and then he just puts them in scenes with each other as characters he wanted to see them as! After the first round he moved people around accordingly. It’s an unorthodox way of doing things but it’s such a smol group it wasn’t a hassle to do.

Remy and Emile weren’t really considered for any of the leads because Thomas wasn’t sure of their acting ability… so just to give them something to do, he had them do dialogue when Angel and Collins first meet! Remy is Angel and Emile is Collins cause why not!

For those of you who don’t know much about Rent, basically what happens in that scene is that Collins gets mugged and beat up and he’s bleeding in an alleyway and then Angel finds him and they talk a bit.

Of course it was awkward at first because why wouldn’t it be… but Remy said “You know Em, this is just a giant case of Deja Vu… remember when I found you in the field after you gots scraped up from climbing up that tree? Your glasses were broken and everythin’. And you wanted to act all tough but you were crying and I didn’t know what to do-“ and Emile laughed because yes, he remembers. They got ice cream after and it was one of the best days of his childhood.

And it gets better from there. And it’s like they get to meet again for the first time- but Emile is the broken one and Remy is lending a hand. They have really good chemistry and the scene is actually really genuine!

They do the scene for Thomas and he’s intrigued! He writes notes with a small smile on his face.

But the spell is broken after that for a while...

but when the cast list is posted there's some issues cause uhm

Mimi is Roman- Rodger is Virgil

Mark is Patton, and Benny is Logan

Joanne is Elliot and Maureen is Clarimonde!

BUT THE TEA IS THE CASTING CHOICE OF EMILIE PLAYING COLLINS AND REMY PLAYING ANGEL!!! Romans a little salty because he wanted to be a cool drag queen who played drums but he got over it.

BUT SWEET REMY DIDN'T GOOGLE THE SYNOPSIS BEFORE HE AUDITIONED! BUT WHEN HE DID HE THE NIGHT AFTER, HE REALIZED HE DIGS ANGEL LIKE HELL YEAH HE’LL DO THAT SHIT IN A HEARTBEAT BUT EMILIE IS HIS BOYFRIEND?????

Same issue for Roman and Virgil because I have to be in love with my crush/ex enemy? Oh nooooooooooo.

The whole situation is wild and I love it.

But yeah that’s how the fake dating and stage kids element come into play if you were here from the VERY VERY beginning when I was bored out of my mind and made some weird prompts for people to choose.

BUT YEAH ROMAN AND EMILE ARE FREAKING OUT BECAUSE.OLD FEELINGS ARE RESURFACING AND THEY ARE TEMPTED TO MARCH UP TO THOMAS AND DEMAND HE EXPLAIN WHY HE DID THIS BUT THEY DON'T AND POOR PATTON HAS TO CALM TWO ANXIOUS BOYS AND VIRGIL IS HAPPY BECAUSE HE WANTED RODGER BUT LIKE NOW SHITS GETTING GAY AND HE DOESN'T KNOW IF HIS CRUSH ON ROMAN IS GONNA START GETTING OBVIOUS OR NOT AND LOGAN DOESN'T KNOW WHAT TO DOOOOO

Patton and Logan start to talk even more to help their bffs Roman and Virgil get their shit together and then Patton and Logan start to get close in the process and it's amazing.

But rehearsal happens and Emile and Remy are really awkward at first. And Emilie wants to slap Remy because weren’t they They don't talk about the abrupt and unexplained ending of their friendship and Emile doesn't explain how Remy broke his heart. But the eyes are the window to the soul and they both know there's words that need to be said that aren't being said…

But communication? In my christian household? Neverrrrrrrrrr

So it continues. And life goes on.

Virgil and Roman start dating because when Virgil was over at Romans house “rehearsing lines”, Roman got a bit too close when he sang “oh won't you light my candle~” and whoops know they're making out

Oh well life happens i guess

But back to Remile. It's about 2 weeks into rehearsal and they're starting blocking of Act 1 and it's going as one expects. Smooth and Rocky and back and forth and SLOW.

Most people are fitting into their roles pretty normally except for two people- you can guess who.

For the life of them, Remy and Emile can't get it together. Remy can dance and sing like nobody's business and he's been practicing in heels and it literally is giving Emilie a heart attack cause HOT DAMN IM GAY AS FUCK BUT I GOTTA KEEP IT TOGETHER REEEEE

But the second Remy makes eye contact with Emile he drops character. Emile is chill and fun like Collins. His scenes with Patton and Virgil? Gold. The second Angel comes on stage he gets more tense.

And Thomas doesnt say anything because its not the end of the first month but he notes it.

Emile is obviously upset. It’s kinda draining him being dragged around emotionally by Remy and Patton Roman and Dot and Larry are starting to get worried… it’s like the mental state he had in the summer is coming back and he’s closing himself off.

Clarimonde notices these things too because she’s not stupid… she asks Roman about it during Spanish. He says it isn’t his place because he knows Emilie's Side of the story- but not Remy's. and he doesn’t want to say anything he isn’t supposed to.

His answer gives Clarimonde all the clarification she needs because obviously Roman knows something big and it has to be that Emilie had feelings for Remy at some point and Remy cut their friendship and broke his heart.

But she doesn’t know what to do so she keeps her relationship with Remy because it’s not like he likes Emilie back. Right?

But deep down she knows he’s just scared of commitment because he never wants to go to her house and meet her parents. She barely knows anything about Remy's family or hopes and dreams. But what can she do but wait for him to open up? But he never does. And it nags at her.

I realize that I haven’t really talked to much about Remy… So here we go.

It’s complicated. Remy got scared. Of trusting one person so much that it could hurt him. Divorces can jack kids up especially if they go down ugly like it did for Remy's parents. He didn’t really believe in love. He didn’t believe in trust that didn’t come without a price.

But he forgot those worries when he was with Emile years before. He felt loved and cared for and he felt he could be himself.

But over the summer when Emile and Remy stopped hanging out… it’s because things got worse. Remy's mom started to blame the divorce on him. She said her father left because she couldn’t handle Remy and his lil brother Ethan who screamed and cried all the time. She started to go out for long points of time and come home with bloodshot eyes. She would scream at tell Remy that love never lasted and he needed to grow up and stop crying cause his dad never called.

And Remy was beside himself.Because seeing Emile just reminded him of all the stuff he couldn’t have. The carefree normal life he would never have.

So Remy threw up his walls and stopped talking to Emile. He shoved down his guilt and left him alone because Remy felt he didn’t need Emile or his warm light.

Remy wanted to grow up so he wouldn’t feel this pain and yearning for a childhood he’d never receive.

And that’s why he and Emile stopped being friends. That’s why Remy is fake.

Remy can’t pinpoint when it happened… but

as Angel he can be confident but it doesn’t feel like an act. He can dance around with a purpose. And when he sings his duet with Emile for the first time, and they hold hands, he feels a bit like the kid he was in elementary school again.

And he becomes thankful Thomas gave him the chance to do this show because it’s showing off. He’s coming out of his shell. And Emilie notices it and smiles more.

Because Emile feels happy when Remy can talk to him and not look like his walking on crackling ice.

Emile had time to mature and heal while Remy was out of his life but now he feels secure because he doesn’t have to be attached to his romantic feelings and they can just be friends. They do their scenes and it’s great. Remy can hold his hand on stage and dance and Emilie is accomplished because Remy looks so… free. Not holding anything back. Not being fake. He’s being his authentic self through Angel and he finds that beautiful.

Thomas smiles when the duo are onstage and realizes he made the right casting choice.

But one day Remy and Clarimonde walked out hand and hand after practice as Emilie waited for his parents to pick him up. Remy was smiling but then Remy was kissing her and there were hands and hair and Emile felt like he was on fire and ran. Because he can't handle this.

Remy has to pretend to be in love with him and it's going to destroy Emilie because ITS NOT REAL.

Clarimonde opens her eye for a split second and damn. She knows. She sees Emile run.

A part of her feels sad, because she has feelings for Remy, but she feels like she’s in the way of Emile and Remy. So she lets go. She breaks up with him because shes “not feeling the relationship anymore”, but she still wants to be friends. And yeah, Clarimonde hurts- but she smiles through it and knows its for the best. Even if it ain’t fair.

And Emile is calling Patton crying, curled up in a ball, wanting to rip his heart out. He can’t take it anymore and says so over and over. It’s Friday so Dot and Larry drive him over to Patton’s. Roman comes over and brings ice cream and they watch Adventure Time but then Marceline shows up and Emile starts crying because REMY BAGAHAHAHAS sO they switch to avatar.

And they all cuddle and are buried under tons of blankets and it’s great.

Roman offers to punch Remy and Patton whacks him upside the head. It’s funny.

And Emile still feels like crap but at least he knows he has good friends. He isn’t alone this time.

Taglist:

@mmd-ask-italy

@thestrangedino

@dreams-palette

@unring-this-bell

@nerdqueenkat

@iloveeverytjing123

@superwholocked-for-life

@ab-artist

@spaceless-void

@sevencrashing

@i-have-n0-idea-what-im-d0ing

@absolutesandersidestrash

@geronimo-scamander-spd

@romansleftshoulderpad

@prplzorua

@patchworkofstars

If you don’t want to be added- please let me know! If you DO want to be added- go ahead and leave a comment because that’s easiest for me!

[go-diane-winchester]

New question:  Why do I dislike Misha and his fans?

@super-who-loser asked the following question:

Hey, I’m not trying to come across as rude or anything I’m just wondering why you dislike Misha so much? I know Jared and Jensen have been there since the beginning and yes, there have been times where his character has been pretty useless but I don’t hate him and you’re being really mean to some Destiel shippers and like I know that it’s obviously never going to happen and Cockles is a big no no for me but I am confused about why you really don’t like him? I’m honestly just curious

Thank you for the question.  Let me point out before hand, that my irritation towards Misha has nothing to do with a ship.  I used to read destiel slash.  I used to like Cockles AU.  I don't ship wincest.  I ship AUs.  Its my favorite slash subgenre.  So no, this is not a ship argument.  Ship whatever you want, but mind your manners.  There are many things that I don't like about Misha.  However I am choosing to answer only from a SPN perspective because that is the primary way that we know him. 

MISHA AND SLASH FICTION

You may not realize this but Supernatural has been on the air for so long that it, plus its fan base, has experienced and initiated a few changes and trends.  In the space of fourteen years, filming became digitalized.  Social media, which was a fledgling thing back then, is the norm now [I have a disdain towards social media].  To put it into perspective, the child actors that played Asher, the Antichrist kid [I forget his name] and Little Lillith from the early seasons are likely in their 20s now.  Trends in entertainment changed.  Hollywood seems poised to implode upon itself, geographically, with major entertainers moving house to outlets like Netflix.  Netflix, not bound by geography, is likely to become the next Hollywood.  Slash, too, has undergone change.  And as far as SPN is concerned, that change has not been organic.  It has been by design and at the hands on Misha Collins. 

When Castiel came on board, there were already two prevalent pairings in Supernatural:  Wincest and Bobby/John.  There were other pairings.  But these were the most prevalent.   So Supernatural had slash fans already.  These fans were already aware of what slash fiction was, and they were a self-monitoring group.  They realized that the actors were aware of slash and didn't want it to be the focal point of their con appearances, because they didn't want the fans to think they were hinting at anything.  The fans understood and ever since, they have respected the actor's wishes.  When some fans liked Dean's interaction with Cas, they started shipping destiel. 

Destiel's old fans were just like all the other shippers.  They were treating destiel the way it should be treated.  Like a fantasy.  They did artwork and literature about it and kept it to themselves, as they should.  Misha never knew what slash fiction was, until he looked on Tumblr and found Destiel.  In his words, he used destiel to ''keep this gig for longer''.  He kept talking about destiel even though he was instructed not to, and pulling the LGBT into it, to make it look like destiel was about gay rights and queer art, when it isn't.  There are various kinds of destiel written by different people, from different perspectives, for different reasons.  That is true for all pairings everywhere.  By making destiel about the LGBT and waving the ''no shipping question'' rule in convention panels, he did two things. 

He turned destiel into a vehicle for LGBT activism.  Instead of being a pastime, now destiel is used to fight for LGBT representation, even though, many of the LGBT people within my own circle despise him for it.  Most of the people fighting for LGBT representation are actually quite homophobic and insulting in their thinking and logic.  And they are not even LGBT.  They are just a bunch of straight girls for whom, their fantasy has become a drug, and they wont stop until destiel becomes canon. 

He turned Jensen into the bad guy.  Misha spoke openly about slash.  Jensen chose not to.  He didn't want any part of it, and this is true about all the pairings he is a part of, not just destiel.  Because of his choice, Misha fans make negative comparisons between him and Misha, even saying that Jensen is a homophobe/biphobe because he doesn't want to talk about destiel or make it canon.  They ranted about it on social media and mass media picked up on it.  The University Of Sydney has an academic paper, under Celebrity Studies, dedicated to Jensen's supposed homophobia.  The destiel shippers are literally Jensen's reputation. 

Misha should have left slash alone.  Any fan of his will know that he overindulges the slash fans.  And the one thing that I noticed about slash fans, is that you don't give them excessive attention, or they will go completely crazy.  It doesn't matter what they slash.

Harry Styles and Liam Tomlinson learned that the hard way, because the Larry fans destroyed their friendships when they over-emphasized the fan servicing.  They did the fan servicing because Modest Management told them to, they  ended up hating their fans for what the fans became.  They have since severed ties with Modest.  Even on a day when one of them was mourning the loss of a parent, the fans who pushing the other guy so they could have a ship moment.  These two boys were very young when they entered the band.  Harry was 15 years old.  They had youthful ignorance to blame for making the decision to blindly follow the manager's instruction.  Misha cannot make any of those excuses. 

Misha got into the show at age 35.  He was already a grown man.  He was not a pivotal part of the show and therefore the only notes he was getting, was for his acting.  He wasn't being coached by anyone as to how he should engage his fans.  He was too small a fry for that.  In fact, no one was sure how long he would last on the show.  So these notes were only acting, including one telling him not to adlib his lines.  Whatever transpired between him and the destiel fans, happened because he orchestrated it. 

MISHA AND SUPERNATURAL

When Cas came on board, he was fun new character.  By the end of season 5, he had run his course on the show.  The show didn't need his character because [and as a writer I understand this] the presence of Castiel hampered the progress of the story.  Sera Gamble dealt with that frustration during her tenure as showrunner.  Cas was an angel.  If he was an ally to the boys, the boys should have a more powerful nemesis.  After all, they have an angel buddy to help them.  Unfortunately, they couldn't keep coming up with more and more powerful bad guys and negative elements, especially on a show where the biggest bad guy, the devil itself, and the worst case scenario [the apocalypse] has already been dealt with.  

During 6 and 7, they had Soulless Sam, Sam's wall, the leviathans, Metatron, the demons, Crowley, Dick Roman and even the Alphas, if I am not mistaken.  So many bad guys and bad situations, because the good guys had a powerful angel.  They could make him lose his power, so he wont be such a powerful ally.  And they did exactly that.  But Misha has very few skills to show off.  Imagine if Osric was Cas.  Even without power, he would still be able to taekwondo the stuffing out of bad guys.  He wouldn't be useless.  Cas, without his grace, didn't help the story along.  He didn't bring something extra to the story.  He was pointless.  So they made him a bad guy and for the first time in a long time, Cas was pivotal to the story.    

Eventually, she got fed up of shoehorning him into the script and just did away with the character.  But, rumor has it that Singer brought him back.  And he was welcome by the worst Q score measurement ever.  That would tell you that he was not appreciated as an actor by everyone, just his shipping and cult fans.  Since then, Cas has done nothing important in the script until recently where he made a deal for Jack.  Other than that, he has been an add on, and that is Misha's fault.  Every time Jensen and Misha did a scene, Misha would overemphasize the destiel aspect, either via social media or during his panels.  And eventually Jensen got fed up and cut the scenes short.  Basically, Misha shot himself in the foot.  The DeanCas fan service made for annoying television for people who didn't want to deal with shippy nonsense while they were watching their favorite show. 

If they didn't add anything shipping related, the hellers screamed.  If they did, the hellers screamed canon and queer baiting.  Misha's interference did that.  All he had to do was stop talking, and he couldn't do that, because his fan base will lose interest in him.  In order to keep that one group of militants, Misha isolated all other fans and potential fans. 

MISHA AND THE DESTIEL FANS

Misha's fan have sent Jensen various death threats, the receipts of which are on my blog.  A few days back, a heller was setting Jensen's picture on fire because Misha tweeted a lie that there will be a turning point for Dean and Cas in the upcoming episode.  So even though Misha was the guilty party, this psycho is punishing Jensen.  These fans have also discussed kidnapping Jared's children.  When they bully Jensen and Jared, they tag Misha in many of the tweets.  Misha randomly does Q and A sessions based on his tweets, but he has never seen a single threat and bullying remark??.....in ten years??.....really??  Nah, I am not buying that.  Frankly, I think the man just doesn't care.  Acknowledging them will mean he will have to stop them which means he will eventually have to stop peddling destiel which means he will not have an audience which means SPN will kick him right out.  The funny thing is, I think he is wrong.  He might actually have more fans if he didn't alienate them with his special brand of shippy vulgarity.  I could fill a page with all the receipts of the death threats.  And Jensen doesn't deserve that. 

I also call out destiel shippers on Tumblr so that everyone else can block the problematic ones.  Have you noticed how many names there are for the destiel pairing?  DeanCas, CasDean, DeanxCastiel and recently I discovered Dastiel.  Have you ever wondered why?  It is because they don't want you to block them.  If you filter destiel, they will use another name.  Why is that?  That is not a ship.  That's a cult.  They want to indoctrinate.  They tag destiel in other fandom names.  They are trying to create more fans for a ship.  That is why I call out specific people.  Especially the ones that tag AKF in their destiel garbage.  I have no issues with the good shippers.  I have done posts about them.  The bad ones might do something criminal one day, which is why they bother me. 

This answer, only just scratches the surface.  I am not telling you everything.  I am not telling you about Jared, Robert Berens, Kim, Briana, Travis, Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund, Ty Olsson etc.  I am just telling you the brief basics.  I hope this answers your question.  Have a nice day.  Apologies for the inevitable typos.

[fireladybuckley]

5 show meme thing

I was tagged by my lovely @outside-the-government!  I’m like a week late doing this, but still.  Thanks babe! ^^

Pick 5 shows, then answer the following questions. don’t cheat. tag 10 (or however many) peeps.

Shadowhunters

Rizzoli & Isles

Wynonna Earp

Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries

Supergirl

1. who is your favorite character in 2?

(Rizzoli & Isles) Maura Isles <3

2. who is your least favorite character in 1?

(Shadowhunters) Heidi something or other.  Ugh.

3. what is your favorite episode of 4?

(Miss Fisher) Oh god there’s SO many good episodes.  I think 1x13 “King Memses’ Curse” and 2x13 “Murder Under the Mistletoe” are major favourites, but the whole series is just so damn good, there’s not even a bad episode.

4. what is your favorite season of 5?

(Supergirl) Season 2!!  Gay panic Alex is the best and the show was just so good, plus Lena.  But also season 1 was really good too, with much more dynamic characters (anti hero Max Lord and the amazing Cat Grant being the two that appear in my head first.  Also Astra was amazing).

5. who is your favorite couple in 3?

(Wynonna Earp) Wayhaught of course (Waverly/Nicole).

6. who is your favorite couple in 2?

(Rizzoli & Isles) There aren’t really many established couples in Rizzoli & Isles but of course I ship Maura/Jane.  8D

7. what is your favorite episode of 1?

(Shadowhunters) Ummm that’s a good question tbh.  Idk, not a lot of episodes really stand out on their own for me, but I did enjoy 2x06 “Iron Sisters” and 3x10 “Erchomai”.

8. what is your favorite episode of 5?

(Supergirl) Oh man, there’s so many specific moments I love in Supergirl but I’m not sure about whole episodes.  Anything with a lot of Alex or Lena is usually a good start lmao.   Hm okay a few that stand out:  2x19 “Alex”, 2x18 “Ace Reporter”, 1x16 “Falling” and 1x20 “Better Angels”.  Also many of the moments between Sam and Alex (and Ruby) in S3 are amazing and Alex and Lena in S4.

9. what is your favorite season of 2?

(Rizzoli & Isles) Well, I’m only up to 4 as of now, but the whole show is freaking amazing.  I think Season 3 is my favourite so far, but there hasn’t been a bad episode of that show yet either!!!

10. how long have you watched 1?

(Shadowhunters) Only since last year, I think?  Maybe 2 years?  Not super long.

11. how did you become interested in 3?

(Wynonna Earp) Honestly I saw a crapton of gifs and was in love with Nicole before I even watched the show lmao.  Red headed, badass lesbian?  Count me the fuck in.  Also the show seemed hilarious and action packed and I do not regret a single moment lmao

12. who is your favorite actor in 4?

(Miss Fisher) Ohh hmm good question, they’re all so good.  Essie Davis is incredible as Phryne, but Ashley Cummings is so good as Dot, and I adore Nathan Page (Jack).  Also the actors who play Mr. Butler, Bert, Cec, and Mac are all amazing too.  They’re just all so good, okay?!

13. which do you prefer, 1, 2, or 5?

(Shadowhunters, Rizzoli & Isles or Supergirl).  Goddamn, um... well they’re all SO different.  Shadowhunters is practically pure fantasy, Supergirl is a healthy dose of fantasy mixed with ‘reality’ and R&I is reality-based.  Supergirl has also seriously gone up and down in quality over its run, which makes me hesitate to pick it as an overall favourite.  Shadowhunters has some weak plots and some weak characters but also some good plots and some amazing characters, which balances it out a bit.  Rizzoli & Isles has very strong characters and some pretty enticing plot lines, with linear character arcs as well as the ‘crime of the week’ formula.  

I suppose if I HAD to choose I’d choose Rizzoli & Isles but I’m not 100% sure if that’s because I genuinely like the show more or if it’s because it’s my newest obsession and I’m kind of consumed by it right now 😂

14. which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3 ?

(Wynonna Earp / Shadowhunters) Um well they have the same amount of seasons so far but Shadowhunters has more episodes, so that one.

15. if you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

(Miss Fisher) Probably Dot.  Although maybe not because Hugh sucks.  Maybe Phryne?

16. would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

(Wynonna Earp / Miss Fisher) No, unless someone found a way to time travel haha

17. pair two characters in 1 who would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

(Shadowhunters) Ummm Clary/Izzy.  Unlikely because I don’t think either of them is canonically queer, but I think they would work well together <3

18. overall, which show has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

(Wynonna Earp / Supergirl) Oh wow, um... I don’t know, honestly.  They both have pretty solid and pretty bad storylines lmao.  As far as entertainment goes, I’d say Wynonna Earp.  Coherent-wise, I’d say Supergirl, but I’ve also disliked a lot of the writers’ choices over the last two seasons, so I still think Wynonna Earp wins.

19. which has the better theme music, 2 or 4

(Rizzoli & Isles / Miss Fisher) Well, both themes are just instrumental, so that makes them easier to compare.  As much as I enjoy the Rizzoli and Isles’ theme, I think Miss Fisher definitely deserves the win here.  The Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries theme is hella catchy!

Tagging: I have no idea who has and hasn’t done this by this point so please, if you want to do this, consider yourself tagged by me!  And tag me back so I can see your answers! <3

[askherbcookieandcompany]

Do you have any cookie run ocs?

I don't care if some of these exist in canon it's 1.30 am I don't wish to sleep so sue me

S'mores Cookie

He/They

~14

Asexual Panromantic

Likes to go camping

TODAY WE LEARN ABOUT FIRE SAFETY. LESSON ONE DON'T BRING FIRE SPIRIT ANYWHERE

Like he's pretty much a little scout and its adorable he has little badges

Soft and Squishy

Untall

Chocolate Chip Cookie

They/Them

19

Demisexual Biromantic

Has a twin who is not as sweet (srsly raisin cookies look too much like the chocolate chip ones and its not fun)

Long leggy

Long limbed in general tbh

Not a fan of kids

Acts like a badass but isn't

At all

Don't let them fool you

I realize they're kinda just me but whatever

Snickerdoodle Cookie

She/They

24

Gay

Is not/ is not related to/ an alterego of Cinnamon Cookie

SCIENCE

Biology specifically is an interest

Crushing big time on Cocoa and at one point Triple Fudge

Triple Fudge Cookie

He/Him

19

Pansexual

Lemme see what you have "A KNIFE"

*long sigh*

Has not slept

Thank god for caffeine

Oh god too much please stop

Meme Child

Teaches Angel how to say Fuck

For whatever reason he dislikes DJ

Keep Quiet and Calm

Angst and Anger are only two emotions

It gets better because I like this one

Pinwheel Cookie

She/Her

An actual child (don't even think it 🔫)

Who Cares she's like 7

A lil dancer

Twirls a lot

AND SHE DOES GREAT AT IT

Whipped Cream is her idol

~Spinning~

Quiet Voiced

But friendly and social

Treat with love and care

Fortune Cookie

Doesn't care

22

Asexual Heteromantic

Can see the future

But is vague

Eats paper

Round

Also Talln't

Likes to C R O N C H

"Triple Fudge I will fucking love and respect the hell out of you"

And she will

Not just to Triple Fudge but you as well you can't stop it

Mom Friend

Apple Cider Cookie

She/They

17

Bisexual

Just think of this but cookie:

You may think im joking but im not

Im dead serious

Peanut Butter Cookie

He/They

16

Asexual Aromantic

Dont ask about Jelly

Just dont be that guy

Loved their Spouse

Pinwheel's Uncle and Guardian

Don't touch their kid

Doesnt know how to cook

Trying their best

Has the entire Moana Soundtrack memorized

CONSIDER THE COCONUT

Tries to relate to Molasses but isn't doing top great but he's learning give it time

Molasses Cookie

Questioning

17

Questioning

Edgy Teen

Or tries to

Actually just sad

Or depressed idk its 2am

Little Burnt from oven

Puns

Also dark humor

Stop that you're making your father concerned

Gay for Triple Fudge

Needs to eat something

YouTube

Has walked into 3 stop signs

Has a traffic light hidden in the basement

All black clothing

[thehollowprince]

Hey, it’s the “coding” anon here and honestly that answer to my question was excellent and the exact reason I come to your blog. I would absolutely love to hear you go on about the fetishization of m/m relationships!

This has been sitting in my inbox for over a week, and I want to apologize. I'm sorry for taking so long to get to this one, but I'm overworked at the moment. I've been pulling 60+ hour work weeks, by myself and I haven't had off since the first of December, so I'm a little tired. But I'm here and I'm ready to murder this bitch of a subject.

For starters, and for context, in case anyone who sees this doesn't follow my blog or, if you do and don't really pay attention, I am a gay man, so a lot of this comes from my own personal experience.

Now, onward my fandom soldiers.

M|M Fetishization & Objectification

I've only been super active within fandom spaces for the last couple of years. Before that, I just scrolled through Tumblr and reblogged gifsets and fluffy headcanons and whatnot, but even then I noticed a trend in fandoms that made me uncomfortable. That trend was the overabundance of gay men (chatacters) in fandom works, especially when there either weren't any gay men in that show or book or whatever.

I'm not at all saying we need less of that. I want and need more gay characters in the things I watch and read. That's actually one of the criteria I look for before I start a new show, or a book series or comics. I want to see myself represented in the media I consume, even if it is only this one tiny piece of who I am. But the problem for me arose when I saw all these fan works and headcanons and gifsets and thesis length metas about gay or bi male characters that were neither of those things in their original source material.

The biggest examples of this occured in fairly popular shows that I loved at one point, but do to a combination of bad writing and then the horrible fandom, drove me to actively dislike and avoid them. And that's always a sad thing, when you end up losing the love you had for something because others just won't let you enjoy it as it is.

Those two examples are Teen Wolf and Supernatural.

For years I watched people go on and on and on and on about Stiles Stilinski and Dean Winchester and how they were bisexual and so on and so forth.

There's nothing wrong with headcanoning a character as gay or bisexual, especially when those characters are severely lacking on screen and on paper. The problem arose when the fandom at large started to ignore the ACTUAL gay or bisexual characters that are in these shows and focus solely on their headcanons as the only representation in the show.

To start with Teen Wolf, we had, in the first season, an openly gay character that everybody in the school loved, that being Danny Mahealani. This character was introduced as gay from the very start, but oddly enough, there is almost no large fandom meta or fics or anything about him. In fact, a lot of his traits and qualities ended up transferred to Stiles, such as his intelligence and overall popularity. Hell, even Danny's attraction to Derek was stolen and transferred to him. These aren't things that Stiles is overall known for in the actual canon. He's clumsy and socially awkward and on the outskirts of the school like Scott (the main character) and has been obsessed (to the point of being considered a stalker) with one girl since elementary school, but somehow, in fandom, Stiles is suddenly the genius polyglot queer with severe depression who has a crush on the broody muscular werewolf who just wants somebody to love him.

Fandom created this portrayal of the character that didn't exist anywhere in the fandom except for his appearance. The reason I saw behind this was twofold. 1: fangirls (fandom is mostly female) want to see two "hot" guys kiss and get it on because they get off to it, much in the same way that straight men get off to lesbian porn. 2: Stiles (or any of these headcanoned characters) becomes a sort of self insert.

What I mean by that second one is that women and girls find a male character that's not "too masculine", usually kind of gangly or skinny, somewhat on the effeminate side. Someone that they can project their ideas and insecurities and so forth onto so that they can that pursue that relationship with the hunky manly man that they want to bang.

You may be asking yourself, "Why don't they just use one of the female characters as a self insert?" and I'm here to tell you that I have neither the time nor the experience to go into detail about internalized misogyny and how effects the way women do almost everything, even watching and interpreting their media.

But the reason they chose the male character is that, years ago, during the dark days of FF.net there was a lot of self insert OCs that infiltrated almost every level of fanfiction. Which caused the fandom gatekeepers to rear out of their hibernation and just shame anyone who tried to introduce an Original Character to this already beautiful world and ruin it with their lusts. Thus the OCs slowly disappeared and identifying with the male sidekick was born. And this is generally where we get the whole "my smol gay son!" bullshit. (side note: please keep in mind that 75% of shows are male characters and their problems, which is another cause for female fans to identify solely with men.)

So, for years, I watched Danny, and then his boyfriend Ethan, being shoved aside in fandom spaces so that the fans could focus Sterek (Stiles and Derek) despite the fact that both characters were stared to be heterosexual and that, on screen, they expressed nothing but mutual dislike for one another, if not outright hatred. This got so bad that Sterek, the crack ship whose members had no romantic or sexual interactions whatsoever, managed to beat (by a very large margin) actual gay ships from both this show and others in a fan poll. It got even worse when the character of Danny was written off the show (with no explanation) and we were introduced to the character of Mason.

Mason Hewitt was everything that fandom!Stiles was. He was smart and funny and openly gay and crushing on a hot werewolf. He even did the research that the fandom loved to attribute to Stiles, literally everything that the fandom had Stiles doing in fanon, but somehow the love for him (Mason) wasn't that big of a note in the fandom. I mean, Mason was even a major plot point of season five and the pack's mission to stop the Beast, but i heard nothing but cricket chirps from the fandom.

You'd think that after Stiles was written out of the show for the last season that maybe Mason will get some love now, right?

Wrong!

I didn't think it was possible to get any worse, but the fandom proved me wrong. Because instead of focusing all their pent up energy on Mason and his boyfriend, Corey, who had a number of cute moments in that final season, these fans focused on another crack ship that had no basis anywhere except in their fantasies. That ship being Thiam, which is based, once again, around two characters who actively dislike, if not outright hate, each other and even physically assault one another. But no, that apparently is a display of affection by someone who is emotionally stunted and just needs love to blossom and be his true self.

You notice how often the fetishization of homosexuality (even if only imagined) intersects with woobification?

You'll notice, if you look at Danny and Mason, that they're both POC, with Danny being brown (Hawai'ian) and Mason being black. Now, as I've said before on this blog multiple times, I am the Whittest White Man to ever White, so I don't have any qualifications to talk about fandom racism, so I'm just going to leave that little nugget there for you to think about and interpret how you will.

Moving on to Supernatural...

Before we start with this one, understand that I have not watched this show outside of an episode here and there since season eight, because I realized that no, this show wasn't going to get any better, so if any of this is contradictory to what has happened over the past six seasons (god, this show needs to die!) I do apologize.

Dean Winchester... I never really liked this character, especially as the show went on and I started to actively dislike and then, hate him. So it was annoying not being able to go into any aspect of the Supernatural fandom without coming across a post about Dean and his issues or his Bi sexiness or how his brother was mean to him.

Also, people, understand that this wasn't a new revelation for me. My dislike for Dean and the fandom's obsession with making him bisexual just so they could hook him up with Cas wasn't an overnight decision. I was there...

I was there at the Beginning, when this show first aired, when the ONLY constant characters on this show were Sam and Dean. I endured the hellfire that was Wincest and its infection of almost the entire fandom. Like, that right there, that was one of the most extreme cases of m|m fetishization I've ever seen, because the fandom needed to get off to two guys being together so badly that they turned to actual brothers for want of any other male character.

That's why Destiel immediately became so popular, because here was another guy that we saw with semi regularity that wasn't rated to the Winchesters, obviously they were meant to ship them.

Now, you may be asking yourself, "I thought this bitch was going to talk about gay fetishization, not his dislike for one character?" to which I'll just say I very easily go off tangent. But all of that is relevant because, come one of these later seasons, there was a scene where Dean was at a bar and the (male) bartender hit on him, and he didn't react negatively or homophobic.

Oh, my God, I watched my dash and the tags explode in post after post, meta after meta, about how Bi Dean was canon confirmed! Now he and Cas will HAVE to be together, because its canon that Dean likes guys. and Cas is an angel, who doesn't follow human sexual limitations, and... blah, blah, blah.

Cut to a few years later, and we're introduced to a character named Max Banes, a witch and hunter, who is openly gay and flirts with Sam in his first appearance. Where were all of his metas and fanfics and headcanons? Granted, he only appeared in two episodes, but I have watched people in this and other fandoms build mountains our of molehills, going on and on about how two male characters weren't actually straight and how they were destined to be together because the once wore similar style shirts a couple of seasons apart, or because of a carnation in a jacket pocket that signified love via the Victorian flower code (or something like that), or how the wallpaper of that room they shared a scene in was a subtle clue to their true desire for each other, etc.

And I'm not exaggerating there, those are actual examples I've seen in fandoms over the years.

But back to Max, why is it that he was left along the wayside, despite fitting most of the criteria that fandoms love in their m|m ships while Dean had entire thesis level posts about that time he shared a glance with Castiel or he let a bartender hit on him and not get upset?

And its not just these two shows, not by a long shot. If you were to go into literally any fandom of a certain size or bigger, you will come across fans putting two straight characters together because of "the chemistry" they have. Even if those characters are confirmed to be straight - especially if those characters are confirmed to be straight. Because when these loud fans don't get their crack ship that they rub one out to, they scream queerbaiting and homophobia and oppression, harassing the actors and producers and directors and writers.

Here are some others that just pop to the front of my mind...

Asher Millstone from How To Get Away With Murder (saw him shipped with Connor a lot, despite Connor's actual boyfriend)

Sherlock Holmes and John Watson from BBC's Sherlock

Tony Stark from Marvel comics (all because of one panel where he said "ladies and gents" when he announced he was off the market

Literally any male character in the MCU, which is his we get the things like Stucky and Stony that permeate the fandom on almost every level (and some leeway is given here because of the MCU's lack of wueer characters)

Klaus Mikaelson and Stefan Salvatore from The Vampire Diaries/The Originals (honestly, I was surprised that people in the TVD fandom weren't immediately all over Josh and Lucas, because they're literally everything that fans want and use in their headcanon gays)

Kol Mikaelson and Jeremg Gilbert, also from TVD

Elia and Filippo from Skam Italia (despite there being, once again, actual gay characters on this show. Hell, the entire second season was dedicated to a character coming out of the closet and being with a guy)

Etc.

I could go on and on but then this post would seem infinite.

Closing thoughts, please keep in mind that I am just one guy and that my opinions don't represent everyone in fandom spaces. But also bear in mind, that my frustrations are well founded and valid from my own experiences in the fandom.

My sexuality and the fact that I'm attracted to men is not a toy for a bunch of sexually repressed fangirls who think two guys being together is hot.