#still posting sheith in 2024

[andyzambie]

It's october which means I'm alive

[avidbeader]

So, I've been doing the Great Sheith Reblog for a while now, gradually reblogging almost everything I shared before that was tagged as Sheith. Lots of art, gifsets, fics and recs, old merch posts, and meta to go around with the occasional dash of salt because lord, dumbness about shipping brings out the salt sometimes. But most of the time it's a lovely nostalgia hit and a reminder of why I still love this ship with all my fandom heart. It's bittersweet sometimes, seeing the usernames that left with Tumblr's worst decision ever, the fellow fans who have moved on to other things, and yes, the hopes and dreams we had before Season 8.

Long blathering under the cut: musings about the persistence of anti-shippers and what queerbaiting actually means.

But occasionally what both amuses and frustrates me is how things line up because it's 2024 and we still have klantis/antis over on the former Twitter spreading the same lies about Shiro and Keith - about their ages, about how they met, about what their relationship is. Right now over there, arguing is happening again because someone put up a clout-chasing poll about which mlm ship was the most influential and included KL but not Sheith (KL beat Johnlock and then lost to Hualian, so I'm happy twice over). Side note - I think if we take "influence" as a completely neutral term, then yeah, KL has been a huge negative influence on fandoms as it was one of the places that allowed puriteen attitudes and anti behavior to grow unchecked for so long. That helped turn some ship fandoms into cults, in which you had to believe with utter certainty that your ship would be canon or you weren't a "true" fan of the ship. That put more emphasis on opposing a rival ship through wank and harassment instead of focusing on the joy and fun of creating for the ship you supposedly love.

And that poll prodded someone to create a Google Form for soliciting answers as to what the biggest examples of queerbaiting are in media. And of course people are saying KL and Adam/Shiro, among other things that are not at all queerbait. These are examples of people guessing wrong and getting mad about it. Queerbait requires that the producers/writers/etc. say outright that a ship is going to happen and then it doesn't, without any influences from the powers above them making changes. Not received fan "wisdom". Not marketing doing things without consulting the producers.

And I just reblogged someone's ask in which they said they felt queerbaited by Sheith solely because of the "brother" line in "The Black Paladins". The answer is excellent and worth a ready if you haven't seen it on my blog already.

Breaking it down:

KL is not queerbait. KL was never planned as a potential ship and LM/JDS said so multiple times. They said it never occurred to them as a possibility and by the time KL's popularity took off they were too far along in the writing to try and go back and make changes, because animators need time to draw. LM flat-out said she was surprised that it became a thing. If the producers are telling you over and over in no uncertain terms that a ship had never been on the table and couldn't be added to the table now, that's not a case of queerbait. And they spoke of Lance's love interests as female every single time. JDS/LM never said anything that would lead fans into thinking KL was a possibility without the deliberate and willful misinterpreting of their words.

Adam/Shiro is not queerbait. Adam is a minor character in a series with a large cast. He has two functions: to be evidence of Shiro's status as a queer man and to be a "face" for all the pilots that died in the first wave of Sendak's invasion. Some people try to claim that LM and JDS queerbaited with their answers at SDCC 2018, but they're wrong. The only thing LM said was that we would see more of Adam in S7. And we did. She did not promise we'd see more of him with Shiro. That was people inserting what they wanted to hear, just like them trying to elevate Adam's status to a fiancé when again, LM clearly stated that they were serious and considering getting engaged. Not engaged. Not married. Just a couple that was serious about each other but broke up.

I don't consider Sheith to be true queerbait. It might fall under the cryptoqueer situation explained at the end of the post linked above, but JDS and LM were mostly very careful to talk of Sheith in terms of deep friendship and devotion to one another, after the initial wave of support for fan content during S1, prior to the klanti movement taking off. The only thing that skirts the line for me is a quote, I think from JDS, saying that if Shiro had a new love interest it would be someone he has known a long time. Or maybe that was about the romances in general being developed over seasons and not Shiro-specific - I would need to research. (Yet more proof that the endcard "wedding" was not planned since we didn't see the unnamed groom until S7 and they never interacted.) And that was said before studio execs started meddling and caused the trainwreck of S8.

I do think we were supposed to have an open ending for Sheith. Klantis like to point out a storyboard artist claiming that "no one wins" this ship war as evidence that KL was supposed to happen and got changed, but that statement applies if Sheith is left open-ended and Allurance happens, even without the endcards.

When I have a chance, I'll try and dig up the links for the various quotes I mention above. Thank you for reading if you made it this far!

[ash-marauders-version]

I love how the Voltron/Klance fandom in 2024 is infinitely more normal than it used to be like i wasnt in the fandom for most of that time but there was a rumor someone sent cupcakes with GLASS in them to the cast and people where just like "yeah that seems true" like it was THAT bad also the fact people sent death threats over ships is crazy, and honestly i hate that people where getting death threats over silly internet posts but in MY OPINION l Sheith is just kinda weird an feels proshipish however that does not excuse sending threats to sheith shippers if you dilike a ship/somones otp just scroll/block/ignore whatever jus dont interact with it, and as much as i love Klance the fandom has been so toxic in th past which is sad that people were willing to be horrible because of a ship and gladly both sides of the fandom have calmed down. But i still i love this show and its absolute insane fandom XD

[phaltu]

Hiii, I'm so sorry to bother you but I was just wondering if you made the decision to archive all of your sheith fics? Myself and others noticed a number drop in the ship tag and it seems like your sheith fics were put in a locked collection.

We're just wondering if you did it or if somebody is tampering with your account.

I know this has already been run over a million times and Jojo's post explained a lot but based on some other anons I got I wanted to throw my 2 cents in and say that

a) we did not do it out of hate or harassment and it's kinda funny think that we'd hide it out of harassment in 2024 when we were in this fandom in 2017

b) the song was NOT a slight against people, I realize that not everyone was plugged in to just how I am as a person

c) since archiving it's been this: "she's dead" "stop telling everyone I'm dead""I can still hear her voice" most of who wants my fic has asked for access but there's still a couple stragglers esp on twitter asking if anyone has my fic...yes.... I have my fic.... feel free to message me...

[museaway]

I have penciled in nearly all of the events I'm running from now through the end of 2024! I love being able to see across the next year and know what I need to do.

In case anyone would be interested, here are the upcoming public events and the accounts where you can find more information!

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🌸 Sakurathon - a cherry-blossom themed rinharu fest the weekend of April 29 & 30. run via @sakurathon

✍️ the ficwip 5k - an all-fandoms, all-ships AU event! sign ups open in June, with open posting throughout August. run via @ficwip

🏝️ Sheith on Vacation! a super low-stress hashtag event from the BangSheith team, with open posting all July. run via @bangsheith

💦 Make a Splash! a rinharu prompt meme hosted on AO3. the meme opens on Haru's birthday (June 30th) and will stay open throughout July. run via @thenightpool

🐬🦈 Rinharu Mini & Reverse Bang, a hybrid event combining a traditional mini bang with a reverse bang! join one or both tracks. sign ups open in September, and posting will start on Rin's birthday (February 2nd). rules & schedule to be released soon! run via @thenightpool

🦇🌞 to-be-named aster x dante project, a lil nu: carnival fest that is still in the early planning stages. it will combine a prompt meme with a commemorative digital zine. since this ship is tiny, a group of us are planning this on discord and it will probably be later this year. if you ship it too please pleeeease reach out!

💕 Hey, Sweetheart. an all-fandoms, all-ships Valentine's Day event! posting will be mid-February 2024. run via @ficwip

✍️ The 5k 2024. June - August 2024. run via @ficwip

🥇 Go for Gold! a month-long rinharu event running across July 2024. details are still in the works, but you can warm up for the event with our monthly prompts. run via @thenightpool

🧐 Twists & Turns, a rinharu mystery fest & digital zine! we'll open sign-ups next March, with posting slated for November 2024. run via @thenightpool

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and while it's not on the official schedule yet, @thylabang will be returning in some form, and with a new mod at the helm (this one is very, very, very tired) 🖖