#not an actors ship content btw

[windemere-wicklow]

same energy exhibit A and B:

I mean why would you not pick them?

[mieczyhale]

@gay-jewish-bucky IT REALLY FUCKING IS. No matter what if it’s a canon gay couple it’s just not going to be good enough for the exact same people who complain about wanting more gay rep. Part of getting gay rep is accepting that we’re going to get rep for all kinds of gays, all kinds of relationships, all levels of relevance - not just the kind that some people want or deem acceptable.

We finally have what is, in my opinion, a pretty well balanced canon queer ship that isn’t just ~hints and eye contact~, that isn’t squeaky clean, that have meaningful conversations and show love and affection like it’s not a big deal. It’s treated on equal levels to any straight ship on the show and I think that’s a breath of fresh goddamn air tbh.

I know people are always going to complain, but this topic has gotta be one of the most annoying and most exhausting ones. People should be happy we get any kind of lgbtqa+ rep, and that that rep is getting not just more diverse over the years but better too. There’s never going to be Perfect Queer Representation and to bitch and hold out for it?? To nitpick the fuck out of every ship?? Why would you, y’know??

[ghostlyplacetobe]

Why would y’all tag a voice actor in a ship roleplay post, why would anyone do that? Why would you do that like huh?

[mexashepot]

Tfw the local fandom of a musical is crazy about one ship, but the international fans are fans of a completely different ship

[olyollyoxenfree]

Debating whether to draft the A3! online exchange now or wait until summer..

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

Confession #148

"So I've seen people complain about the popularity of non-canon ships (Spirk, Garashir, Marinler, etc.), saying "why can't shippers accept that those two are just friends and will always be just friends?"

Well, let me tell you that if the two actors' characters share more chemistry with each other than with their canon love interest(s), then people are gonna ship it. If the two characters share lots of scenes together in the show (and also in tie-in media like games and comics) then people are also gonna ship it because it gives shippers more content for fanfics and fanart. Very few people are gonna be interested in one-episode canon crushes.

I think a lot of people complaining about the shipping of non-canon ships are completely missing the fact that the point of shipping is not to win a competition, but to just have fun (though being canon is always a nice bonus ngl). Also, and I'm not saying all detractors of these popular non-canon ships are like this, but I wonder if there'd be less demands for platonic relationships in popular ships (which also already exist in less popular ships too btw) if both members of said non-canon ships were both white and/or m/f pairings. Just my two cents.🖖"

[beezelarts]

Okay, I've had those thoughts for a while and I need to get this out of my system:

Sometimes (quite often, actually), I hope that the ship I'm rooting for doesn't become canon.

This especially applies to non-canon LGBT ships because, let's be honest, most of them are.

(I also hope that nothing happens that directly contradicts it, like one of the characters being in a romantic relationship with another character outside of the ship.)

The reason for that is that the best thing about being in a fandom is the fanfic culture. Especially the fanfics around the "getting together" and the characters' origins. It's such a nice empty space that can be filled by the fans and so many great ideas. Making a ship canon takes away so much empty space, so there's less opportunity to get creative. It's just my opinion because I love the stories in which the characters finally get their shit together and go on a date.

Making it canon, though, means that the dynamic and history of the relationship are already mostly discovered and determined.

It's nice to have Hollywood acknowledging that LGBT people exist, though.

But I'd be perfectly content if the actors/creators of the books/series/movies simply gave us enough material that heavily implies that there is something between the characters without explicitly confirming it. The actors/creators supporting it would be another bonus.

This is the inspiration for this post btw.

Also: Action movies need more women. I want more lesbians!!! And shipping non-canon in romantic books/movies/series is really fucking hard.

[dystopicjumpsuit]

It's so nice to see that other people ship Omera with Din! I didn't realize how small the ship is, but I loved them together. And I keep hoping we'll see her again (a nonsensical hope? probably). Anyway, I am curious, do you have any headcanons or general thoughts about them that you want to share? I've literally never seen people talk about them before

YES. The only other person I know is a Mandomera appreciator is @wings-and-beskar, and I literally screamed out loud when I found out. They would be so perfect together! With their little blended family, on a peaceful world where Grogu could chase frogs to his little heart's content and grow up with all the village kids who adored him. And Din wouldn't have to struggle for every single basic necessity; he could just chill and drink spotchka and be an excellent father to Grogu and Winta and all the other babies he'd inevitably make with Omera. God damn, Cara Dune knew what was up (not her actor, though).

And I agree, I keep hoping beyond reason that we'll see more of Omera, because she's intriguing as hell. Clearly, she has some history, because she is a sharpshooting badass who is excellent in a crisis, while still being warm and kind. I have a mighty need to know her back story, and a sinking feeling that we'll never find out.

Not to mention that their chemistry is absolutely off the charts. To be fair, Din has chemistry with literally every character, but damn. This scene?

Just watching the gif is giving me butterflies. Like. I need a shower from the thots this is generating.

The hands. On the wrists. Oh, my god.

Please, Din. I am begging you. Retire to Sorgan and ride that gorgeous widow into the sunset.

BTW there exists an extraordinarily spicy fanart (caveat emptor: Reddit link; wildly NSFW; minors absolutely DNI) of these two that lives rent free in my head at all times. I think the artist may have deleted their account, but this epic bit of filth lives on in their memory. May their pillow be forever cool.

I would absolutely love to read any headcanons or thoughts you have as well, and if there are any other Mandomera shippers lurking out there, please consider this my official invitation to scream about them with me!

[smallishzine]

Just a small heads up, if you include shipping you may wanna make it clear that there are ships and what ships are there. A lot of people aren’t comfortable with shipping, especially since I’ve seen people say Joel thinks it’s a bit weird to be shipped with anyone other than Lizzie (needs to be fact checked, this is just what I’m seeing in boat boys comment sections). Maybe consider making the ship stuff a separate section or just telling people in advance (pinned post, bio, anywhere clear works) that it includes shipping so those who don’t like it can walk away.

important info about the zine plz read even if you didn’t send the ask:

thank you for the heads up! We’re about to get super rambly and vaguely off topic but we promise all your points get addressed. This is actually a great opportunity to clarify, because I realized I didn’t explain myself particularly clearly, if some one does choose to include shipping, its all going to have to be subtext (as always except for shadowbeans whose alternate ship name I still refuse to use), but that is for non-canon ships. Regardless of how people feel about it, c!Joel and c!Jimmy did in fact kiss in Real Life smp, and c!Joel and c!Sausage did in fact have a child together in esmp2, so we’re not gonna rewrite events. Basically when I say shipping in the context of this zine I mean taking relationships the c!Joel had with other people and creating moments that didn’t necessarily happen but feel plausible for the characters that are able to be interpreted as romantic as well as platonic. Also, everyone’s definition of ship art is different, so the level that I was thinking is pretty mild (and btw I’d like to interject here that this is not me dissing on shipping or ship art love shipping so much that I found a ship called the relation and I never left it, but I also know that people have all sorts of comfort levels with different things so this zine is going to be dry docked but I assure you that out there on my super secret personal blog we are very much lost at sea). Like, to give some examples of what would be okay versus not okay for the zine: kissing is pretty much off limits, honestly mostly because that’s a pretty boring zine piece, there’s nothing going on except the ship, but anything where any sort of romance is up to the interpretation, such as hugging, handholding, spending time with, these are all normal things, but also this can’t be the focus of the piece. Please no one just draw like Joel and someone hugging and call it a day. Implied shipping is allowed to feature in your piece, not be the main focus of it. That’s just not an interesting zine piece. Valid art/writing, still amazing stuff keep sharing it on the internet it’s very interesting, just not in the context of this zine. Anyway, you are correct about not everyone being comfortable with that stuff, so if any piece comes off as really shippy without violating the guidelines we’ll make sure to label it correctly, but also, I should make it clear, I’m really hoping that shipping doesn’t become the focus of this zine. It is a Joel zine, so Joel should remain the focus, and any shipping would be subtextual and not central to the zine. There are many great Joel ships out there with lovely content to consume, but that’s not really the focus of this zine. Also, that aside, if Joel doesn’t want his character (because we are talking about shipping cs here. Cc!Joel is a lovely person, but this zine is going to be in-character. Also while cc!Joel should absolutely be respected in what sort of fan content he wants people making about him, his character is, well, just that: a character. Its like saying you can’t ship two characters from an animated tv show because their irl voice actors aren’t comfortable being shipped. It’s just two different things) shipped with characters who don’t belong to his wife, he should probably stop making his c! kiss all those men. And have children with them. And send them love hearts in the mail. And call them babe. If he did it in canon it’s probably safe to say we’re good having them do it in fan content. But again shipping should be an extremely small part of the zine if it’s there at all and should be subtextual enough that even people who don’t ship can still positively engage with the zine!!! If it needs a warning, it’s probably too shippy.

also all this aside if I’m handling this wrong guys I’m sorry I’m only one person and it’s really stressful trying to please everybody I promise I’m trying my best but I just wanna get together with a bunch of other people who share this strange fascination with the bean man and make art and writing about it I don’t wanna get canceled or something I promise I’m trying my best. I’m really struggling to balance my love of creating shipping fan content and realizing that not everyone is comfortable with that and it’s really difficult and stressful I just can’t we all just draw and write what makes us happy I just want this to be a fun experience and being yelled at on the internet for drawing two characters who’s ccs aren’t in an irl relationship being something other than friends is not my definition of a good time. I’m not accusing you anon of doing anything like that the ask was very respectful but I’m worried this post will prompt less polite people to come and yell at me.

-mod Dinn

[thoughtsonkm]

What's even the point of taekookers anymore? They aren't fans at this point. I mean if you think everyone in the group are paid actors and you don't even like the show, then what are you watching for? Even if jimin and jungkook aren't anything more than friends, I still like both of them, still like watching them and all of bts' content.

I've seen a lot of taekookers leaving the ship since AYS, sadly they didn't leave the vitriol and instead just turned on jungkook and I guess are basically tae solos?

Idk, I just don't get it. Like imagine not being able to enjoy bts' authenticity because you're too swept up in delusions that everyone is a paid actor like a mentally ill patient in a psychiatric ward screaming at the walls to "protect" someone who would hate your fucking guts if they met you in person. I've just never seen a group so detached from reality outside of literal cults and so hateful and demeaning of the thing they're supposedly a "fan" of. I can't imagine how miserable that fan experience is, like I said, what's even the point?

Anyway, jikook are signing more signatures than when they were active, tae is becoming a hot thiccc bitch in his special unit, joon is putting in the work in his military band (you just know he carries that whole band) counting down the days, yoongi is hopefully resting and surrounded by friends, jin's preparing his album and fighting children, and jhope already has his bags packed. Life is good when you enjoy the people you're a fan of.

Yeah same old idea of not actually being a fan but being so jobless that all you're left with is engaging in fandom wars and bashing humans.

Jikook signing so many autographs and little dedications and the difference between what Jimin writes versus Jungkook is hilarious btw.

[pillowdrawz]

MASTERLIST OF ANYTHING 🎨🖌DRAWING

Commission Sheet

(Idk how a master list work)

Btw I did all of this for fun FOR FUN.

♤Turtles forever Au [just a bunch of Turtle gen. Interacting] (On hold)

° Meeting 1. (Old art)

• Meeting 2 (old art)

○ busted meeting 3 (old art)

● Cloaking broach? 1 (old art)

□ Cloaking Broach! 2 (old art)

■ Don's training (old art)

♤ Training

◇ Mutated Soldiers

♡ Mutated Soldiers Leo

◇ Mutated soldiers Donnie

♧ Raph meeting 2012 meme

☆ Meme a Ten is speaking. (Old art

▪︎ Into the leo verse. (Old art)

¤ Turtles and Their Krang

《 Leo's traumas

{ Think leon think

》Leo's and Rise raph

¡ 12 MIKEY CHEATZ. (Old art)

? Spider verse Meme leos

} Hopeful (old art)

[ Don't talk to me or Otherme (Oldart

☆ Playing (old art)

R adorable Rise raph. (NOT SHIPPING)

\ Pranks and Destruction.

◇ watching Leo get L.

♧ watching Donnies get guns

$ Bamf Leo in 2012 world.

1 Future Leo's,MiseryxCprxreesespuffs

% Energy and Stab-

$ Accidentally Mutated Vs Purposely Mutated

2 Raphs Slay

÷ Raphs Height (Not canon I just had fun)

E He likes to be tall

V Is For Valentine's L is for 2003 Mikey/j

Y- Yoshi!!??

A, B.E.A.S.T ACTOR AU

, :3

4 Mutant Mayhem ???

5 Tmnt Animatic Leo's "You'll play your part"

B B.e.a.s.t Leo Joins?

🃏 Joking about trauma be like

💥 Mutant Mayhem Donnie meets??

🐇⚔ Leosagi both 2003 and rise

🤚 DANGEROUS

🙂 ask someone else

-⏭⏸❗----------

◇ Hamatos Umarekawari Au.(On going)

* first post Explannation

+ Raph's death explained

× first meeting part 1

÷ Second meeting part 2

= Meeting (thanos meme)

€ Ryu took the wheel literally

£ Memes

^ more Memes twins

¥ Posture

₩ Bandana

# Rise Boys Looks

$ Random Art of the Au.

% Twins powers

& Float

- Another meeting but different

= Baby?

$ COUSINS??

# Origin???

8 The Kids cloaking brooch/Human form

9 Shelly take care of grandpa...NO DONT KILL HIM-

---⏸⏭---

Random things/ Headcanon)

Rottmnt recoil fanart

TAIL

Cloaking Broach Raph

Cloaking Broach leo Part 1 (bad art)

Cloaking Broach Leo part 2

Cloaking Broach Donnie

MY FAV HC ABOUT THE TWINS

MY FAV HC ABOUT HAMATO NINPO

Rise Leo new Hc???

RISE LEOS TWO POKEMON

He attacked the floor

Rise raph to Rise splinter

Rottmnt memes

Leo wants his sanity back

Disaster twins and Wildberry

Artist is on their Ao3 Author arc /j

=====⏭⏸❗📶===

💀♠️RISESAGA A ROTTMNT X UNDERTALE AU! <<<And for more content click the blog there is now a master list there!!!♠️💀(Rewritting)

---📶⏸💥------

✍Ninjago.✍

+Ninjago Kung fu panda part 1

# Ninjago Kung fu panda part 2

= Lloyd,Brad and Gene fanart

$$ Sensei Garmadon SCREENSHOT REDRAW

B What if Uno reverse card Harumi

--Zzzzzz⏸📶zzzzzzZ--

Rise piece Rottmnt X one piece

- Join His crew

Alabasta arc. Super what??

⚠️spoiler Marineford arc⚠️ Older brother

-------$⏯Monster Promx Monster High crossover comic⏸(On.hold)$----- A SPOOKY CROSSOVER

❌ Oz] Their mission

🧟‍♂️ Brian's And Zombies Part 1

---🗨HAMATOS EXORCISM AU 🗨---

✍ FIRST POST/PROLOGUE?

🖤 EXPLANATION? AND PIEBALD???(joke art only the pokemon one)

👌 Memes

🙌 real lore and Tmnt 2007

✨️Funfacts Mikeys Flaming heads yokais friends

👞clothes..

----- Loading-----

--🐢⛑Ninjago x Rottmnt "Turtles Aid Au"🐢⛑--(Ongoing)

⛑ Prologue/first

[brsb4hls]

So I've been following the 'devil's minion in show' speculations since the start and here's my take on it.

At first I was pissed the show seemed to have cut it and I stand by that.

The show did cut it.

They changed the dynamic by aging Daniel up and building the show on a 'recent' interview, putting the one chronologically closer to book canon in the past as a failed attempt.

And I still think nothing 'romantic' or whatever you want to call it in regards to the Daniel/Armand dynamic was intended.

They did the bottle episode with a different take on it and that was it.

The flashbacks were revealed to not have the context people expected, so I'm convinced the show did not plan for or hint at DM having happened in the past.

And Armand's 'fond' looks might as well be amused-condescending.

This also ties in with Eric referring to Armand as Daniel's 'nemesis'.

It started off with that cat and mouse play between them, which also makes for a great dynamic btw.

And Daniel being revealed to have been turned at the end is a classic horror story move and a nice extra. Especially when season 2 could have been the last.

So there's that.

Now we have a third season and an, albeit smallish, pretty dedicated fanbase.

DM content is all over social media and Rolin and the cast get asked frequently about it.

We also know Assad would be very open to that storyline, he read the books and dives deep into every aspect of Armand's personality.

Eric seems to also get on board, judging from recent interviews.

So I do think Rolin did not expect the fans to be that dedicated to an arguably pretty small part of a big book series and just planned on the bottle ep and Daniel's turning (which is left ambiguous enough for anything), but he might now actually reconsider.

So I do think there could be a switch in Daniel's and Armand's dynamic in the future.

Nobody probs expected people to thirst over 71 Eric Bogosian tbh and so they most likely thought an aged up Daniel would be 'safe' from shipping, well surprise, he's still hot and people have taste.

Just to be clear, I a) do not really believe in creatives changing their stories due to fan response and b) I do not support actors getting pestered about certain dynamics.

But in this special case DM already is part of book canon, so nothing that would have to be changed or added and it wouldn't take away from the next big plotline.

It can be squeezed in as a treat without affecting anything major.

And the fan support I've seen was mostly positive and respecting boundaries (nobody has yet told Assad to his face to 'fuck that old man already', and please let's keep it this way).

So it's mostly just enthusiastic DM shippers promoting the show in their own way.

Plus the actors have built great chemistry and are quite ship positive.

To conclude: I do have high hopes for DM to be part of a background story in season 3 and I would also be fine with a reversed chase/cat and mouse/resentment and fascination dynamic.

But I still don't think it was planned beforehand.

[arwenadreamer]

Since the discourse came up repeatedly in different ways and regarding different tags lately, let me say this:

I tag explicit J2 tinhat content as J2 tinhat and nothing else. I tag J2 shenanigans that could be seen tinhatty or not as J2 and J2 tinhat.

Alas, I tag explicit wincest as #wincest and wincest fic or wincest art or whatever applies but nothing else.

I do not tag general, non-explicit brother content as wincest. Especially not gifs from the show. And I appreciate everyone who doesn't either. Because otherwise people who have wincest blocked will never see most of the Sam and Dean posts. (My tag for canon brotherly love, btw.)

For years and years people have complained about hellers spamming the supernatural tag with destiel. Let's not do the same. Not only to not be annoying, but also to keep canon content visible for everyone.

Also, PLEASE, if you are not the creator of some fanwork, don't add a ship tag with your reblog that wasn't put there originally (when it's not explicit). That post is then forevermore hidden for people who have that tag blocked. You're literally diminishing the creators exposure.

Lastly, with rpf shipping, it's just as disrespectful to put tinhat content under an actors name as it is to put hate under an actors name, IMHO. Both to that actor and other fans.

Please don't clog tags. Thank you.

[chrswlls]

what ur fav nfb ship says about u

this isnt gonna be that deep and effortful like my other posts im bored and wanna start things ijbol

Jeremy x Jenny : you're like a majority of the fanbase. i mean they were never meant to be romantic apparently but it makes enough sense both romantically and platonically so no one jumps you for it! you also make REALLY good fan content inside and outside the ship

Jeremy x Megan : you like the potential girlboss x pathetic wet man dynamic that's honestly all i can say about you

Megan x Jenny : you can go on for hours and hours about their interactions past the heatwave and honestly who can blame you man they've got great intimate moments as friends already

Jeremy x Patrick : you want to see two pathetic men bicker and try to kill eachother and fail miserably

Julia x Peter : sorry your parents fell out of love trying to make the perfect future for you but they both had different views of that future that must've been tough

Alex x Sam : you have good taste this is the best ship TRUST 💯 the lack of fluffy content is killing you though like damn we get it they get angsty and toxic make them KISS GOT DAM IT

Alex x Boseman : You want Robert Boseman so bad IJBOOOOOOOLLLLLLLL or you just think its fun to explore a boss/employee relationship that's a lot more closer than it should be

Alex x Anyone Else : You're kind of a selfshipper there's nothing wrong with that btw

Alan x Katie : You love rivals to lovers or you found out Alan and Katie's actors are engaged and went with that. im ngl idk how to look at this ship as anything but questionnable but ik u can big brain it man

Alan x Jeremy : let me guess one-sided? not that i'd jump you for it lol you mustve killed jeremy on your first disrupt run to ship this ngl JSAKDAKDHAS

Geoff x Anyone : LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Graham x Any Woman : Hey So Are You Stupid On Purpose

Graham x Peter : you like when dominant men get dominated

Peter x Ivan : you love bits of your life and youre probably bisexual or whatever you call any man that likes men

Robyn x Francis : you're probably sapphic in a way you like when women fight and kiss right after

Wayne x Eamon : you like when someone in the ship says they can fix the other but has ultimately decided not to

Eamon x Eric : you wish someone looked out for you as much as eric does for eamon lol sad (................... real............)

Anything else : just ask i wont put it in the fandom tag tho lol

[lirarey]

Why I still miss Julie e os Fantasmas

It is very interesting to watch the fandom Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix). They're so desperately waiting for the second season four years after the release of the first one. I even came across YouTube Shorts where someone from the cast said that they'd like to return to the project. But do you know who else probably would be happy to return to their series? The actors of the original.

Firstly, in 2021 there were rumors that a full-length film with old actors would be released.

Secondly, I was struck by: a) the interest with which Bruno Sigrist (aka Daniel) watched the remake trailer. I'd also watch his reaction to the first episode, but the problem is that there're no subtitles; b) in 2015 and 2020 (online, respectively), Bruno and Mariana (Julie) had reunions on YouTube. I absolutely don’t understand their language, but shipper feels the content on an international level... Okay, these are all the people from the comments, they ship them too.

Thirdly, the two castes know each other personally, and that's nice.

But I'm still not going to watch the remake. Why? The difference is in the details. If you look at the main actors, some questions arise. Everything is too much in Netflix... smooth. Yes, these are still the words of a kdrama fan, but listen to the rest. When I look at Daniel, Felix and Martim, I believe they could have been a band sometime in the eighties. I believe that Felix, being a drummer, was always careful, and Martim (bassist), on the contrary, flirted with everyone... There was a headcanon that he was once interested in Julie, but quickly backed off out of respect for Daniel. I believe that Daniel was an ideological inspirer during his lifetime, who sought to promote their music. He sees Julie as the same single-minded girl (albeit with a primary stage fright).

Now let's take a look at the facts about the remake. Julie loved to play here before her mother died. She is played by a real sixteen-year-old girl. Her and Luke (alt!Daniel) chemistry is noticeable to everyone at performances.

Now Luke. He's a choleric. A sensitive songwriter, regrets that he never reconciled with his parents, is consistently encouraging and gentle towards his bandmates, and is the character who cries the most on screen. He's responsible for a decent part of the fanservice due to the musculature. A fairly open wardrobe.

Alex. Melancholic. He downplays his achievements compared to the rest of the band, and lacks confidence in unfamiliar situations.

Reggie. The bass player. In general, he is very similar to Martim, there is nothing to add.

From the good news, I note that they decided to write about the guys more. They added problems with their parents (Kenny Ortega brought Disney with him). The latter is a dubious plus, because although it reveals the past, it's a cliche. You may remember Casper or Melchior (Binny und der Geist)... Okay, it's similar to Casper, I'm being picky. But to Melchior's credit, I'll say that the search for the clock and the solution to the messages of his parents is his unfinished business.

And now specifically. They believes that it was a good idea to "skip" the dark part of Daniel's character and leave him Austin Moon at maximum. Why is there such an analogy? Btw, I really love Austin Moon. Austin wears closed clothes for most of the series, undressing either for gags or for beach episodes. Austin is also considered a "golden retriever." And the most obvious thing is that they are both vocalists and guitarists.

Somewhere around here, people may want to say, "But, Lira, we love good boys." They also love love/hate, btw, hello to Dramione. I'm sorry for the possible aggression, I just really don't understand two things.

1) The situation with dislike for Daniel's character makes me pat Bruno Sigrist on the head. The man, by the way, was very optimistic about the remake of the series, where he once starred, and was glad that this idea would be released on Netflix... And here it is, the backlash. You won't be nice by force, but I'm sincerely offended for him. Yes, he doesn't have the most typical beautiful appearance (unlike Charles Gillepsey, who played Luke), although I like it, but he has amazing charisma and a pleasant voice. In addition, it seems to refer to the situation with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors. Some seriously skip the first one in favor of a more comely and younger Tennant. I categorically condemn it.

2) Is it Julie and Daniel love/hate? Seriously? Yes, they have a primary natural rivalry for the position of leader, but it's never hatred. If Daniel had really hated Julie at least at first, he wouldn't have spied on Nick for the sake of returning the girl to the group and, moreover, lying so as not to hurt her feelings. Yes, he fidgets and often responds with sarcasm, but Julie isn't far behind. Moreover, the transition to the gentle side doesn't look abrupt — you believe in it.

Dramas with families. Well, I have nothing to hide here. It's a good background. Except that for some reason it's believed that adding the death of Julie's mother takes the series away from the "typical teen drama." No, it adds an extra resemblance to Casper. And no matter how much I love the appearance of Casper the human (Devon Sawa, my respects), this similarity doesn't make it better.

[chaos0pikachu]

tldr: censorship fucking sucks and word of honor and xena are mlm/wlw solidarity 

okay this was a random thought that came to me during a combo of rewatching of Word of Honor and reading a post that declared Word of Honor “didn’t count” on their BL list of whatever the fuck and here’s the thought, here’s the vibe, Word Of Honor has a lot in common with Xena: Warrior Princess

Hear me out

Everyone kinda knows that Xena - and by extension Lucy Lawless - as a bisexual/queer woman icon, and that Xena/Gabrielle is probably still one of the most prominent wlw ships in western canon. That’s a huge part of the shows iconography in pop culture. But like, if you rewatch the show, things between Xena and Gabrielle are kept pretty ambiguous but in that ambiguously totally gay way (like WenZhou!). 

The network was actively against Xena and Gabrielle being more than, what fans would probably call nowadays, bait. An executive told producer Rob Tapert that by making Xena and Gabrielle explicit there would be a surge of interested followed by a sharp decline. 

It should be noted that Xena was already a controversial show for it’s era - not just for the gay subtext but under fire from religious groups, anti-feminist groups, and others. 

The showrunners and producers also didn’t intend for Xena and Gabrielle’s relationship to, eh, blossom the way it did. Fans ran with it. Ironically, the intention of the show was to push Xena’s men of color love interests which also made the network gun shy (remember folks racism exists alongside homophobia!). 

Xena and Gabrielle operated in a highly censored space (that still exists in American media btw!! Take it from someone who knows first hand) that was beholden to network hand-wringing, capitalism, and societal homophobia at large.  So their relationship could only live within an ambiguous space. Ironically enough, just like WenZhou, Xena and Gabrielle are also referred to as “soulmates” in the text of the show. But ya know, sometimes soulmates are platonic, sometimes romantic. Which are WenZhou and Xena/Gabrielle? Well that’s up for the viewer to decide b/c the production teams hands are tied. 

Even so, even with the censorship, we all still view Xena as legitimate queer representation within the pop culture space. Why? Why Xena and not Word of Honor?

For me, they both count, especially WoH because it’s source material IS queer. But the filter of censorship snipped and cut the text away so everything would be forced to live within that ambiguous “up to the audience aka gotta make the advertisers comfortable” space. 

I don’t think it’s fair to throw WoH out because the production couldn’t, like they were not allowed, to showcase text on screen. Similar to Xena queer fans knew that her and Gabrielle were in love, soulmates (romantic) by the end (where Xena dies, like literal for reals death she’s ashes carried on by Gabby at the end btw spoiler alert for a 20 year old show at least WK got silver hair and immortality out of his death experience). 

Queer fans appreciated and cultivated what Xena gave us because, no offense but what the fuck else was there? Not a lot, and even less in the fantasy space. Hell, there’s still not a lot of queer representation in the fantasy space we’re only just now going “hey maybe Tolkien’s ultra white British view of things is not the only way to do things?" And now House of Dragon has Black actors in terrible wigs (they’re so fucking bad rip) in 2022. Woooo~ most queer chars in western fantasy media are mainly found in kids cartoons - which, fucking aces there but also - probably why there’s so many adults in those spaces in fandom (not my bag personally) and why I think the popularity of danmei, c-dramas, and k-dramas is on the rise. People are hungry for epic fantasy content, epic romance content, and queer content. 

but like, I think about queer folks who live in China, who watched WoH (ya know, the intended audience, not Americans) who are probably feeling the same thing people felt when they watched Xena. Yeah, Mr. Advertiser Xena and Gabrielle are soulmates (platonic) wink wink, Yeah Mr. Network ZZS and WKX are soulmates (platonic) wink wink

and I think that’s still valuable. idk I just don’t think it’s right for foreigners to be like “no you’re queer media doesn’t count actually because I deem it so” when the reason for the relationship being subtextual is literal censorship. And yet the text is hella gay anyway!! like at the end of the day we’re all battling the crushing weight of homophobia but not everyone’s fight is exactly the same especially country-to-country and I think that should still be respected. given how damn gay WoH is anyway I imagine the producers fought really fucking hard to give audiences what they did. Just like the producers of Xena fought against the network to do what they could. 

anyway, thoughts and shit