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sterek-unhinged · 1 year ago

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Apparently I have many more thoughts about this lol:

(partly inspired by this post by @7thleveldown )

At first, this whole thing is so annoying because Stiles is very tactile and has no idea that he’s accidentally leaving his scent all over Derek. Derek himself is quite casually tactile around others, but he realizes that there’s no such thing as a casual touch when it comes to Stiles. He can’t be casual with Stiles because that’s just not how they are. Stiles pushes his buttons, riles him up, and challenges him on everything to the point that it pisses him off (read: he’s attracted to Stiles but refuses to admit it to himself). He makes it clear in 2x02 that he doesn’t want Stiles touching him on the shoulder, a boundary that he doesn’t seem to have with any of the other guys throughout the show. Derek thinks that if Stiles can just keep his hands to himself, his scent will finally just go away and Derek can stop thinking about him so damn often.

Stiles is just… always there, always willing to help, yet is never afraid to call Derek out when he’s being an asshole. His scent and heartbeat (which is always slightly erratic) stand out from everyone else, in the same way that Stiles himself does. Stiles isn't just annoying, he's smart, tenacious, and brave. He's funny and goofy in a way that Derek finds embarrassingly endearing. He's aggressively loyal to those he deems worthy. And it totally drives Derek up the wall, because it makes him care about Stiles way more than he thinks he should. He loosens on his boundary because Stiles never needed to actually leave his scent on Derek to make such a lasting impression anyways.

No matter what he does, he just can’t get Stiles’s scent out of his leather jacket. Once Derek moves into the loft, Stiles’s scent is all over the place- damn Stiles and his tendency to fiddle with literally everything in sight. Derek swears that it becomes permanently embedded onto his shoulder, a place that Stiles has touched multiple times. It should be physically impossible for it to linger so long. At a certain point, Derek wonders how much of the scent is conjured from his imagination alone. Think about it- all this horrible traumatic shit is happening around them, but at the very least, he knows that Stiles would never betray him. And if Stiles isn’t around, Derek’s imagination can at least use the memory of his scent to keep himself grounded. In a sense, Stiles’s scent make him feel like he’s not alone.

What’s more, they both seem to unanimously value telling the blunt truth above all else, no matter how hurtful it is. While completely infuriating, he can’t not listen to Stiles when he tells it how it is, especially because he’s almost always right. He always holds Derek accountable for his wrongdoings. But Stiles only does it because he really believes that Derek can do better. He has this way of looking at Derek like he sees everything- the insecurity, the loneliness, and the anguish hidden behind a callous facade. He sees the potential in Derek that Derek himself is unable to see over his mountain of self-esteem issues. Over time, he and Stiles both learn through their life-saving interactions that being a good person isn’t just who you are; you become a good person through the choices that you make. Stiles shows him compassion when so many people only want him for their own benefit. He teaches Derek that there are still trustworthy people out there and that being vulnerable with them is a sign of strength, not weakness.

He doesn’t make the connection about Stiles being his anchor until he dreams of Stiles at the end of 3b. Just think about it; Kate has come back from the dead and has just ambushed him, and he’s dissociating from reality as he fades in and out of consciousness. It wouldn’t be at all unreasonable to expect Derek to revert back to anger as an anchor, especially since Kate was the main source of it. But he doesn’t. His subconscious shows him Stiles instead; Stiles, whose influence has had a huge ripple effect on the trajectory of Derek’s life and relationships.

An anchor is something that keeps you grounded in your humanity. And, well. Stiles is the one that helped Derek feel like a human being when so many people (including Derek himself) saw him as a lost cause. And Stiles didn’t do it by coddling him or absolving him of any wrongdoing. He did it by appealing to his humanity, by daring him to become a better person. Stiles’s scent, at the end of the day, represents the unexpected and bizarre journey it took for Derek to anchor himself to his humanity again. All because Stiles was annoying (but not really) enough to show his love for Derek, time and time again.

How Stiles Became Derek's Anchor by Being Annoying:

Alright hear me out: they're forced to interact through circumstance and Derek finds Stiles so obnoxious that he just can’t ignore him or his scent. It gets to the point where he just… smells it all the fucking time, even when Stiles isn't there. He'll be running errands and suddenly he catches a whiff of Stiles off his leather jacket and he’s so fucking done with it all. Then, as he slowly begins to trust Stiles, he starts automatically seeking it out. He can smell Stiles approaching from miles away and it becomes his focal point, because as annoying as it is, it also makes him feel safe.

Then by the time 3B rolls around, Derek’s the only one who can track Stiles's scent from memory alone. And Derek is just too embarrassed to explain that he can only do it because he accidentally Pavlov'ed himself into having the world's most annoying anchor lol.

#yes this sort of started out as shitposting but #i just couldnt get this out of my head lmao #im unhinged therefore my hcs are unhinged #eternal sterek #sterek #sterek hc #derek x stiles #Derek hale #stiles stilinski

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klanced · 2 years ago

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Here is my really boring and incredibly dry argument for #KLANCESWEEP:

There are countless examples of the Voltron showrunners queerbaiting when it comes to Klance. I will leave that argument and discussion to others. Instead, I would like to focus on why/how I believe Klance is the more significant instance of queerbaiting, despite Johnlock's queerbaiting being markedly more famous.

Queerbaiting is when a shows teases/hints at a character(s) being queer, but then never actually follows through on making the character LGBTQ+. Queerbaiting is, above all, a marketing technique; the show dangles the possibility of a queer romance in order to "bait" a queer/ally audience into watching, and then continues to dangle or drag out the possibility of a same-sex romance in order to keep their audience hooked and continuously profited off. Queerbaiting takes advantage of peoples' hope and optimism, and that's why the betrayal stings so deeply once the queerbaiting is realized.

I argue that one of the major components of queerbaiting is that the show/writers must never explicitly confirm that there will NOT be queer romance. Queerbaiting is only sustained so long as the illusion of possibility persists.

Now, there are plenty of nuances to this.

If a showrunner comes out and explicitly states that there will be no queer representation in the show, this statement alone does not absolve the show of any queerbaiting it previously did. But, it DOES blur the lines for what can reasonably be defined as "actual" versus "willful" queerbaiting and subtext in the show going forward.

okay let me drop the pseudo-academic tone and just put it bluntly. what i'm trying to say is that, if a showrunner explicitly says "NO GAY ROMANCE," but the show's audience continues to insist and read for gay subtext anyway, and then the audience feels betrayed when the show ends with no queer romance --- at a certain point, wouldn't you argue that it's the fans that are actually baiting themselves, and not the show itself? this is what i mean by "willful" subtext.

As early as 2010 (this article/interview was posted the day of the first episode), the Sherlock showrunners explicitly stated that there would be no romantic relationship between Sherlock and Watson. Between 2010 and 2016, the showrunners repeatedly stated in multiple interviews that Johnlock would never happen.

Now, the show Sherlock did have queer subtext; I remember the infamous "You're a couple," line from Irene Adler. I don't blame Johnlock shippers for feeling like they were being teased or cheated or mocked by the show. But the lines of what is/isn't queerbaiting in Sherlock were not clear-cut. Again, a major element of queerbaiting is that the show/writers are being willfully deceptive about what they will actually end up following through on. The show is purposefully preying on the hope of its audience, and so the writers are solely to blame for the audience feeling and being duped. But in Sherlock, you cannot argue that the show pulled a long-con bait and switch on its audience, because the fans knew from the very beginning that Johnlock would never be realized. To a very real extent, I argue Johnlock shippers baited themselves more than the Sherlock writers ever managed.

I don't mean to shit on Johnlock fans, or imply that Johnlock shippers were uniquely stupid or delusion. As a Klance shipper, I am 100% aware that I was drinking nothing but Kool-Aid while Voltron aired. I absolutely baited myself with desperate hope each season. But, in my weak defense, the flames of my Klance delusions were very much flamed by the promises made by the Voltron showrunners, who repeatedly floated the promise of queer representation in the show and spoke about Klance in the same breath. Klancers didn't bait themselves out of thin air; they desperately clung to the rope the Voltron writers threw us, and we were pulled in: hook, line, and sinker.

TLDR:

Queerbaiting involves willful deception and deliberate misinformation on the part of a showrunner/show.

If a showrunner encourages a queer ship, or makes vague promises of queer representation, then it reasonable for the show's audience to assume that a queer romance will happen. When a queer romance does not happen, this is clear-cut queerbaiting.

But if a showrunner explicitly states that a show will not have a major queer romance, then the show's audience should reasonably assume that the show will not have the queer ship they favor. If shippers continue to insist that their ship will come to fruition, and continue to pin their hopes on their ship, then the lines between who is actually baiting whom become very blurred.

Johnlock fans knew going into the show that John and Sherlock would never have an explicitly queer relationship. Fans continued to read for subtext, and maintained hope. The lines of queerbaiting become blurred, as it was not entirely clear if the show was actually baiting its shippers, or if fans were the ones baiting themselves.

In contrast, Klance fans were repeatedly encouraged by the showrunners, Netflix's marketing, and to some extent the VAs that Klance was possible (and that queer representation would firmly happen), and so Klance shippers were repeatedly strung along each season, up until the final season when Lance and Allura started dating and the Klance ship was torpedoed once and for all. (Do not talk to me about post-canon Klance, I am willfully defiant.) This is a firmly clear-cut case of queerbaiting.

In summary, Klance is the more textbook case of queerbaiting. It matches all the elements of queerbaiting: there was the willful deception by the showrunners, which encouraged Klance shippers specifically to hang onto the show, allowing Voltron to profit off its Klance audience. It's true that Klance shippers also continuously baited and deluded ourselves; but in our defense, we were following the example and promises set by the show itself.

Submission message: howdy, would like to submit keith and lance from voltron (lmao)

Submission message: BBC Sherlock and Moriarty / BBC Sherlock and John Watson

Additional propaganda: Now Keith and Lance on the other hand was a whole fucking mess that they then shoehorned in an hetero romance to try and "fix it" but by lord it was bad, everything about voltron is so fucking bad

Anyway this is my Klance propaganda : They were actually bait

Klance's queer baiting by the team was the worst!! We had to deal with NETFLIX ALSO GETTING IN ON THE QUEER BAITING!! If you searched up Kkance during the times for season 6-8, the SHOW WOULD POP UP. The directors would make jokes about it being canon, even Lance's VA got in the joke!

Their queer baiting was the worst for anyone who was even looking for an ounce of queer rep in that show. The only queer rep we got was a man who died after not even 5 minutes on screen, and shoehorned in the credit scene of a gay wedding of a character that was neither Keith nor Lance.

I do not know Agatha and Sophie, so I can't argue that klance was bigger bait or not, I just know voltron was mean lmao. the creators said stuff like "lance will be someone's first choice!" (meaning NOT ending up in a relationship with allura bc she very much chose another guy over him) and heavily implying he would be Keith's 1st choice (or a guy in general bc of point number 2). point number 2: they also released official art showing how super cool and diverse the main cast was! race! gender! LGBT - they had shiro (who was......canon gay but that's a whole other can of worms) and lance hold the sign with LGBT on it and then did absolutely nothing with that w lance at all (he hit on allura, so obvi he's not gay, but at least bi or smt) (UNLESS you count the scenes where he's flirty with keith). I just remember going into the last few seasons being like "klance probably won't be happen be honest with yourself there's like no queer kids shows!! but damn like it so could tho!!! because of how much it's been teased both in the show and by showrunners like I can't have no hope with the way the producers talk about it!" lmao I should have had no hope, but i genuinkey believed there was a possibility it could happen. and actually I discovered after the fact that i think one of the writers for the show who was the main advocate for klance (they had a lot of diff writers for eps, which led to lots of character butchering but ANYWAY) left not terribly long into the show I believe bc he didn't like the direction it was moving in and didn't want to be tied to the show anymore. so it's not like fans just made klance up either - it was written into earlier episodes with the hope and plan to continue developing later, and then just nothing ever happened with it besides INTENSE teasing it to keep queer fans around. esp after shiro's relationship was literally only a flashback and then his fiance thing or whatever got blown up before we even got to watch him interact w shiro as we knew him in present time in s7, so I think they kept being like hmmm klance and the stuff about lance being a first choice before s8 to keep ppl around. also esp bc klancers made up such a big portion of the fan base. then they made a horrible szn and ended it w a flashforward to shiro marrying some random background character who maybe had 1 line? I just remember hitting the flashforward and being like uhhhh who is this dude??? but they did that to hit those diversity points wow first gay marriage in a cartoon or smt idk it doesn't count to me really. so anyway voltron in general is queerbait lol but klance is because it started out as a legit possibility and then they said sike! but only maybe sike bc u guys are mad at us burying our guys in s7 so maybe klance could still happen haha okay now we're serious no it's not happening. anyway I think klance is p bad queerbait and a vote for them is a valid vote, not just u liking the ship.

#im sorry but johnlock is a household name in ther queerbait trenches

I don't know much about blaze runner, but this website made me endure Johnlock FOR YEARS, that ship makes me so fucking angry, and it's so much bait, the whole fucking show is just 4 kinds of bait in a trenchcoat trying to pass as something good, and Tumblr(and the rest of the goddamn world) ate it up like a five course meal. So anyway that's why I'm voting Johnlock

#i am so fucking tired. i hope this makes sense.#i should probably save this for tomorrow to proofread. but fuck it we ball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#apologies for the long post i just love talking to myself #shitpost #just for tagging purposes #i actually think sterek is the most egregious example of queerbaiting to ever exist #SPECIFICALLY because of the deliberate use of sterek in the show's marketing and to boost its ratings #i will never forgive them for the 'we're on a ship!' thing.#UGH. I COULD RANT. BUT THIS IS A VOLTRON BLOG.

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