#we stan a concerned boyf

[theonlyfoolishquestions]

Bean: I have an amazing idea!

Kai:

[certified-soft-si-content]

💋 What are the kisses you share typically like? What kind of kisses do you prefer? (eg. ‘good morning’ kiss, ‘i missed you’ kiss, kisses in the rain, etc.), 📚 How do you spend your free time together? Do you usually go out or do you prefer to stay in? And! 🍯 Do you and your FO (s) use pet names for each other? For you, Eren and Jean!!

eeeeee thank you Buddu! I love and stan my titan-killing boyfs 💚🧡

Oh, and uh, language warning for this one, if that's something that bothers any of you 😅

💋 What are the kisses you share typically like? What kind of kisses do you prefer? (eg. ‘good morning’ kiss, ‘i missed you’ kiss, kisses in the rain, etc.)

We share a lot of teasing kisses 🥰 As, well, we spend a lot of time kissing each other 😅 My favourite kisses, though, are the sweet, short ones that don't necessarily need a reason - small thank you kisses, kisses in passing as one of us is heading out the kitchen door, little smooches as we cuddle on the sofa.

Also a special mention for the 'I'm glad you're alive' kisses in my canon verse. Those are often intense and emotional and... very good kisses.

📚 How do you spend your free time together? Do you usually go out or do you prefer to stay in?

We spend a lot of time just forming a cuddle pile (Armin & Marco too, obviously) and watching movies together, but occasionally we'll go out too! Eren has dragged us to all sorts of places (concerts, roller rinks, that weird clearing that had us all just a tiny bit concerned we were gonna be murdered in the woods) and we have a great time.

🍯 Do you and your FO (s) use pet names for each other?

Oh we have plenty. Our many pet names include:

Asshole

Jerk

Buttface

Fucker

Bitch

Cocksucker

Bastard

Shitface

Love of my life (code for "you didn't do the fucking dishes Eren")

Aside from those, all three of us are very fond of "babe" and "baby", and Eren and I often use "handsome" as a petname for Jean (because baby has self esteem issues and goddammit we're not having that on our watch).

[galaxygerm103]

An Unpopular Opinion + an Analysis

Hello Be More Chill fandom, today I'm gonna share a very unpopular opinion that's probably gonna get me killed, but it proves self awareness and that's good.

My opinion? Boyf Riends is low-key toxic.

Now you're probably gonna be like "no it's not? It's cute and soft and-" yeah, yeah, I know. Everybody and their mom seems to stan this ship so… this is gonna get me killed.

But hear me out. I'm gonna actually explain why I think this.

So, to show that their romantic relationship would be toxic, we gotta look at their friendship first.

So, we'll start with the first interaction they have in "More Than Survive". It starts out basic enough, Michael shows up listening to music, Jeremy predicts exactly what it is he's listening to, and then the song ends. Michael proceeds to tell Jeremy he "looks like ass" which is something friends do so that's not bad. Then Jeremy brings up the backpack thing. He's clearly upset about it, but instead of trying to cheer him up, Michael doesn't even seem to notice he's upset, and laughs off the whole thing. The topic changes and one of the most iconic lines in the musical shows up aka "there's never been a better time in history to be a loser". Now this line seems harmless but in one rehearsal video, Jeremy's response is a dry "thanks" because this isn't the mindset he has. He doesn't want to be a loser but Michael doesn't understand that. It's kind of the foundation of the problem. Michael isn't noticing his best friend's feelings, there is a lack of communication here. Also, he should be telling Jeremy he's not a loser, not that he should embrace being one, because what Jeremy needs isn't what Michael needs.

Okay, interaction 2, right before "I Love Play Rehearsal". This one's short but it boils down to Michael low-key(very low-key) manipulating Jeremy into continuing his effort to talk to Christine. By telling Jeremy that he'll make fun of him forever if he doesn't go into the auditorium, which I know sounds like playful teasing and maybe it is but that doesn't matter, by saying that, Michael gives Jeremy an ultimatum. And I doubt Jeremy wants to be teased about being a coward forever by his best friend. That just doesn't sound fun. So to avoid even more teasing in his life, he opens the auditorium door.

Interaction 3 is "Two Player Game" so this is gonna be a long one. Now, the first line of verse 1 is I think the nicest thing Michael really says to Jeremy, because he actually calls him cool, which is validating to our self hating protagonist. Then it falls downhill when Michael says "you're just a nothing in this highschool scheme" because that's only gonna make Jeremy feel worse. The rest of the first verse is just Michael tryna explain to Jeremy that they'll be fine if they stick together. The chorus is kind of once again ignoring Jeremy's feelings because he doesn't want to wait to be a loser anymore. He wants to be able to love himself and be liked by others in the present day. He's been waiting since he was little for the chance to be liked it seems. The next verse gives us Jeremy's insight on the whole situation, and he says he "wants to move on" which implies that he's sick of being a loser in the eyes of everybody, including both himself and Michael. Michael seems to completely ignore the fact that Jeremy is upset once again because when Jeremy points out they're not in college, Michael shrugs it off like "it doesn't make any difference". The only part of the song where we see any open communication between them is the third verse. Jeremy's pretty vulnerable here because, in context, he's worrying about his future if he doesn't stop being a loser. The "favorite person" part is probably the sweetest moment these two share through the entire musical, and it's the closest we ever see them, although I'm starting to think Michael means more to Jeremy than he realizes, which is why he asks Jeremy if he's really his favorite person. Jeremy has nobody else so of course Michael is the one person he tells everything but Michael doesn't really seem to get Jeremy's feelings so Jeremy stopped telling him all the things he feels(aka the things he talks about in "Loser Geek Whatever"). The rest of the song is just a reprise of the beginning of the song so it's not entirely important to this argument.

Interaction 4 is the mall scene and this has a pretty telling moment in it. Ignoring the Payless part, the food court scene has more to unpack than you'd think. So Jeremy takes the Squip and when it "doesn't work" he's upset. He needs comforting clearly, although he pretends he doesn't("leave me to mourn in my chili fries forever"). Michael, instead of providing comfort to his clearly distraught best friend, sees this as a chance to go grab some discontinued soda that he could get later. He could take five minutes to comfort his best friend but instead he goes off to do his own thing. He's ignoring his best friend's needs for his own wants. It's actually selfish.

The next interaction is short and one sided, in which Jeremy sees Michael twice during "Sync Up" and is saddened when he doesn't see him. He would've seen him by now, so he's confused when they haven't seen each other all day. This probably made Jeremy think Michael was avoiding him, which we find out isn't true.

Interaction 6, the beginning of the maybe end. The end of act 1. Jeremy and Michael are both confused by the fact they haven't talked all day. Michael is quick to blame it on Jeremy avoiding him, but Jeremy figures out that it was the Squip pretty quickly. Of course, during this interaction we get Jeremy's solo("Loser Geek Whatever") in which we see one of the most telling things about their relationship. "Michael thinks that weird is rad but feeling weird just makes me sad". This sums up their relationship pretty well, Michael is comfortable with himself but doesn't realize that Jeremy isn't comfortable. This interaction ends with Jeremy blocking out Michael. He's sick of having his feelings ignored by his only friend, and maybe he can have his feelings noticed and validated by other people. He's done being in Michael's shadow, because there's more to him than just being Michael's player 2.

Interaction 7, the bathroom intervention scene. This scene has a LOT to go through so let's get into it(using the new version here). Jeremy runs into the room panicking and when Michael reveals himself, the first thing he gets on about is how Jeremy left him. He stops when he sees Jeremy smiling because Jeremy missed him. He's happy to see him but then Michael gets on about the Squip and is talking about how there are consequences to it. Jeremy points out that Michael said technology isn't dangerous and the two of them get into their fight and Michael says he's looking out for Jeremy. Jeremy says for once in his life he can look out for himself, then the scene continues like the original and Jeremy calls Michael a loser. Jeremy isn't in the right state of mind in this scene, he was almost raped and he's scared. You'd think Michael would ask him what's wrong but he doesn't. He gets pissed at him without even being concerned about his emotions. Yet again we see that Michael is bad at recognizing Jeremy's feelings. I'm not saying he doesn't care about Jeremy, because he does(or else he wouldn't be here in the first place to warn him about the Squip), I'm saying that Michael is bad at recognizing Jeremy's emotions to a point where he ends up accidentally making the situation worse. Michael's actually the one who started the argument because he brought up the Squip without realizing how scared and upset Jeremy was. Not saying Jeremy's to blame, he could have handled the situation better but Michael started the whole argument. As for Jeremy calling Michael a loser, I think this may be Jeremy projecting. Because Michael is explaining every doubt Jeremy had about the Squip. Jeremy was even scared to take it("what if it's dangerous?"). Jeremy finally has more people to talk to, he finally isn't alone, he isn't in a healthy place and he's clearly not happy, but he's seemingly convinced himself that he is. He's convinced himself that the Squip is the only thing that can help him so when Michael warns him about it he lashes out, calling Michael the same thing that they'd both been called for years. Michael's reaction is probably due to shock and the realization that maybe he low-key drove his best friend away. Although he doesn't think he did anything wrong so who knows. We know Jeremy feels bad about this the next day though because he says this: "I didn't wanna hurt Brooke! I didn't wanna hurt ANYONE! Now Rich is in the hospital, my best friend thinks im a jerk, and Christine, you were supposed to make her like me!"

Now the next isn't an interaction but it's something Michael does that's extremely petty. Michael gives up on Jeremy completely. And he admits to it by the end of the musical("oh I was ready to watch you suffer"). It took Mr. Heere's convincing and low-key cheesy methodology to convince Michael to save Jeremy.

The next interaction is the fight during the play. In which Jeremy isn't in control of himself and is fighting the Squip internally while fighting Michael physically. The Squip seems to have been putting negative thoughts about Michael into Jeremy's mind but Jeremy knows it's not true. Also Michael was being extremely selfish during this scene by not letting Jeremy have the MDR when he knows the dangers of the Squip. (Like c'mon man Jeremy could be shocked so much he'll die. Stop being petty.) I mean yeah Michael is high but I'm pretty sure he's high during every scene except for the Halloween party(weed helps with anxiety and Michael's anxiety clearly got the best of him there, so-) and the other scene is coming up. This scene just shows Michael's pettiness.

Final interaction, right before "Voices in my Head". Jeremy asks Michael why he came back and Michael reveals that he was gonna let Jeremy suffer until Mr. Heere came by. Michael just admitted to his pettiness, and I think, maybe, he realizes that he was a shitty friend. Also I don't think he's high in this scene because his giggles are gone and, from what I've heard, he is a lot more awkward this scene.

So now, why do I see Boyf Riends as low-key toxic? Well, taking into consideration the conflicts between the boys' needs and wants, and the lack of communication, and the sheer amount of petty behavior Michael shows, plus his quick blame of Jeremy after "Upgrade", Michael wouldn't be the best partner for somebody like Jeremy, who needs validation and needs somebody to listen to and understand his problems, and help him through them. If time is given to them both, yes sure it could work(a good example of this is the Boyf Riends breakup comic by @Artistic.Hoarder on Instagram), but with the canon and nothing else, Boyf Riends couldn't work without some level of toxicity. (This is only referring to Broadway.)

Thank you for reading. Feel free to kindly express your opinions. This isn't ship hate, I don't hate Boyf Riends, I feel if done right it can be a good ship.

[ohallows]

aight i have like.... no clue what was said during rb blaze but i don’t really care bc i got to see tatara be concerned over mikoto and yata and fushimi be boyfs

anyway in this house we stan k and i can’t wait for the english sub ep to be dropped so i can buy it!!!

[annashipper]

JT Anon

A passing thought, wondering what others think. I think that the nans have been a bigger concern for BC & his team than we thought. At least than I thought. I think that BC & his team really rely on them, particularly the ones who have high traffic social media, to do a lot of promotion for him. Especially projects that don’t have big houses behind them.

I think they rely on the  social media ubers to hype his work and make it appear to be way, way more hotly anticipated than it actually is. Its why they have gone the sophomoric direction w their promotion of him imo. A little bit of beatlemania style promo is natural, especially w male celebs, but BC brand seemed to be ALL internet boyf ALL the time. As much as we talk about how talented he can sometimes me, I always got the feeling that every time they attempted to dip their toe into the “he is actually an artist worth watching who is quite good at his craft, you’ve all been missing his talent” pool, they would freak if he wasn’t immediately trending and go screaming back to “don’t you wanna know what the hype is about!? the internets boyfriend!!!"

All that is to say, i think w regards to the sham, this has been a big consideration. I think they are painfully aware that whatever they do, however they handle this, they do not want the ubers to turn on BC in anyway. We’ve spent so long mapping out potential ends to this. At this point, if this wraps up neatly w BC single, Sophie no longer his wife and out of the picture, and him childless (w all of those events having been timed for media pushes, then silent when no push is present), there WILL be a few nans who, whether they admit it or not, who will realise that at the very least, some deception on the part of their god was had, and it was towards them, the ones he was supposed to be honest w (you know, REAL fans). I think his PR is painfully aware of this. That SM and his other projects do NOT have Marvel/Disney to promote his work, that he is NOT that famous as far as the general public goes, and that they NEED these fans to make him and his work appear to have way more interest than he does. To lose them, in their mind I believe, is a huge risk. For them to even begin to think for a second that BC lied about his family, something they have been weirdly fantasising about for him for years, would be a big quite the tightrope. (Despite the fact that, as far as "things Harvey Weinstein has made actors do, this wouldn’t even break the top 10 worst and weirdest)

That leaves him and his team in a tight spot. Even a simple divorce w out a "not his”, while it won’t register w the gen pub, risks causing waves in nanny land. Then BC and his team lose their free hype machines. Do they have the money or talent to be able to build him up to look like an actual professional artist, and promote him on their own like he is an adult star? im starting to question whether thats a possibility.

I won’t mention how I personally believe that PR have boxed themselves in, and the only two ways I think they have to get out of this if they want to try and centre the uber nans reaction and access to their free labour in the future, but needless to say, if I am even kinda right, i think whatever out we see, whenever it happens, will be one of two outs.

Thats not entirely true though, there is ONE other way they could get out of this and be stronger going forward. Cut out the nanny middle man and developed his own, professional, adult artist social media. But that is scary, required hard work, talent, a belief in BC art and talent and its ability for his skill to carry the show, and maybe a bit of growing pains.

Or they can keep marketing him like a Nickelodeon performer who occasionally gets some decent bit parts

J can promote myself T anon

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

JT, the premise of your assumption is a very interesting one, but I have to say I disagree with all of your individual conclusions.

The only Ubers anyone takes seriously are CWeb (because she’s proven she actually has an in with Ben’s PR) and ATCB (because that account is probably run by UTA).

No one cares about the hysterics of the Nans or the apple fritters references on twitter; just like no one outside of the fandom cares about the Nans and the Skeptics and the Antis on Tumblr.  

The fact of the matter remains:  Ben’s clickability has taken a major hit since Harvey took over his image for The Imitation Game promo.  Unfortunately, it’s gone downhill ever since.  

Partly because he just can’t smile with his eyes anymore and partly because the projects he’s been involved in didn’t have the same payoff one would have hoped for.

Doctor Strange promo was a bust and the movie itself wasn’t great to be honest (a fact I wholeheartedly blame on Sccott Derrickson and his script).  The fact that The Abominable Bride and the fourth season of Sherlock weren’t as brilliant as the previous three seasons didn’t help either.

Anyway, I think the only way to showcase Ben’s clickability is through a Google Trends graph.  It references global Google searches from January 2010 to today:

You know how I don’t believe in coincidences because I’m a fan of Mycroft’s?  Well, I’ve marked the peaks on the above graph, so let’s try to decipher what makes Benedict Cumberbatch hot at certain points in time:

January 2012:  Sherlock season 2 airs

May 2013:  Star Trek Into Darkness is released in theatres

January 2014:  Sherlock season 3 airs

November 2014:  TIG promo kicks into high gear and the gag is announced

January 2015:  Oscar season is at its height and pap walks are almost daily

January 2016:  The Abominable Bride airs

November 2016:  Doctor Strange is released in theatres

January 2017:  Sherlock season 4 airs

I’m sure we’re not the only ones who’ve noticed that the peaks in clickability when it comes to Ben’s name are steadily dropping, while the casual interest in him is on the decline as well.  

Back to the premise you were discussing:  You make the assumption that the Nans are what’s driving clickability when it comes to Ben’s name.  If that were the case, Weirdo would have achieved fetch by now.  And yet... I don’t see any major studios signing her on for a project.  I don’t see any theatres begging her to direct (or operate) a play / opera / mandarin juggling marathon.  I don’t even see her grace London Fashion Week with her presence as the avant garde fashionista that she is.  

The fact of the matter is Ben’s die-hard fans (whether they’re Nans, Antis or Skeptics) comprise a very small subset of the general public, no one cares about.  Because no matter whether I’ll go to see Infinity Wars 1 time or 100 times, I’m just a drop in the ocean when compared to the Marvel target group.  That’s just the way it is.

Add to that the fact that the Nans haven’t been all that helpful to get Ben’s or Weirdo’s names trending on social media, and you have your answer as to where they rate on the scale.  In fact, the second hand embarrassment from the way some of his die hard Stans handle themselves on social media have forced a large part of his fandom to take a conscious step back from his more... avid defenders.

It’s a problem.

Let’s take Tumblr Fandometrics for example:  I don’t even know how many weeks Ben has actually been on the list this year, although I can guarantee he’s spent more weeks off the list than on it.  All it took for him to shoot straight to number 12 this week was an Intagram post by Robert Downey Jr (who didn’t even make the list himself).  Because people want to like Ben; all he has to do is smile with his eyes.

Anyway, as far as outs are concerned, I can see the writing on the wall already.  I’m simply waiting to see whether Ben will hold his ground and we’ll get a split announcement just as The Current War promo starts.  If not, I expect a third fake pregnancy to be announced to the world on the engagement announcement anniversary.  Because Ben’s brain doesn’t seem to function fully during November for some reason.