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[shipposttt]

the Ship of the Day: Dreamling

As always, spoiler warning for The Sandman!

Names: Dream/Morpheus and Hob Gadling

Ship Name(s): Dreamling 

Original Content: The series adaptation of The Sandman graphic novels (debut 1988), The Sandman (2022) on Netflix

Ship info:

The Sandman is a Netflix series based on Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel series, following Morpheus (Dream), who is one of the Endless (much like Desire, Despair, Death, Delerium, etc, etc.) as he escapes captivity, recovers his symbols of power, rebuilds his realm -the dreaming-, rounds up the missing dreams and nightmares, and ends what mortals referred to as the sleeping sickness (where many humans couldn’t sleep and others were stuck in a coma for the course of his imprisonment).

We meet Hob Gadling is an immortal human that we meet through a series of flashbacks within episode 6, alongside one present day scene. The first of these flashbacks depicts how Hob gained his immortality, as Dream and his sister Death go to a tavern in 1389 and overhearing Hob loudly proclaiming that he would never die because he chooses not to. Dream convinces his sister to grant him immortality, convinced that Hob would beg for death if he did so. So as to monitor his experiment, he told hob to meet him at the same pub in a centuries time, with no explanation or introduction. Low and behold, Hob meets him there in 1489, asking whether he made a deal with the devil and who Dream was- though Dream does not give him his name, instead asking him if he still wishes to live, Hob responds “I have so much to live for”. This continues every century thereafter, up until the 19th century:

In 1589 Hob once again responds that he has so much to live for, explaining he had been knighted by the queen, got a wife and had a son with her- Dream leaves him at his table as he hears local poet William Shakespeare talking about his works, instead going to make a deal with him as Hob is left surrounded by the banquet he laid out for his mysterious acquaintance.

In 1689, Hob is starving and eating any food he can as he sits opposite dream, telling the story of how he lost it all- his wife, his son, his home, his money, and had spent the century starving without being able to die following his town attempting to drown him as a witch for his lack of aging. Despite this all, when Dream asks if he still wishes to live, he replies as usual “I still have so much to live for”.

In 1789 Hob bounces back, having gotten involved in the shipping business and the slave trade. Dream advises against such actions, stating that is it a poor thing for one man to enslave another (foreshadowing anyone?). Though he clearly disagrees with Hob’s actions of that century, he restates that the choice is Hob’s, “but would you take that choice away from others”, resulting in Hob saying he will consider his advice. Moving on from this, Hob tries to steer the conversation away from that subject, asking after William Shakespeare and what deal Dream made with him- “What kind of deal? His soul?” “Nothing so crude”, following up by asking Dream for his name and who he is truly since he still knew very little of him despite knowing one another for 400 years. Unfortunately, their meeting is interrupted by Lady Johanna Constantine, who had heard of the meetings of the Devil and the Wandering Jew every century in the tavern, showing them pictures drawn of the pair’s meeting from the prior century and threatening that her mercenaries will slit their throats if they move. She invites Dream to share his gifts of immortality with her, though the pair decline, stating they are no devil and that Hob is not Jewish, and Hob swiftly protects Dream- taking out the two mercenaries with his extensive history of war and battles during his own mercenary life gone past. When Constantine then draws her blade on Hob in turn, Dream blows sand (one of his symbols of power) into her face, showing her her old ghosts, essentially sending her into a nightmare.  This is the first time Hob sees any of Dream’s powers (other than immortality of course). They smile at each other!! (Trust me that is very important because in all honesty Dream looks like a kicked puppy the rest of the time in this show and we see him smile most often with Hob. Though of course this could just be due to their long-term friendship.) Dream reiterates that Hob should remain cautious, even if he cannot die, he can still be harmed or captured (once again, foreshadowing anyone?).

In 1889 they meet once again, with Hob being shown another element of Dream’s powers as Dream is able to know Lushing Lou’s name and some of her traumatising past. Hob admits that he doesn’t believe they still meet up to see if Hob still seeks death, as he doesn’t think he ever will, he instead believes that they continue to do so because Dream is lonely and is there for friendship. Spoiler alert: Dream doesn’t take kindly to this. “You dare… you dare suggest one such as i might need your companionship” “yes, yes I do.” “Then I shall take my leave of you and prove you wrong” ”I’ll tell you what, I’ll be here in 100 years time, if you’re here then too then it’ll be because we’re friends, no other reason, right? … fuck.”. We love the drama, and by we I mean me, I love the drama.

1989… so things didn’t leave off too well the previous century huh… despite it all, Hob still went to their meeting spot, only for Dream to never show. Whilst there, he finds that the building is due to be sold so as to be torn down, with Hob leaving graffiti pointing to “The New Inn”, going back every day in case Dream showed up. Now how dare Dream not turn up!! I cannot believe he truly didn’t believe them friends after 5 centuries!! Yeah, so about that… Do you guys remember the foreshadowing?  And the description of the series following him as he escapes confinement? Between the 19th and 20th centuries’ meetings, Dream was captured and imprisoned by Roderick Burgess, physically unable to leave his fishbowl in the basement (from 1916 to 1988).

In the present day, when he finally breaks free, Dream tracks Hob down to the New Inn:

“You’re late”- Hob       “It seems I owe you an apology, I’ve always heard it impolite to keep one’s friends waiting”- Dream

The scene then cuts to Dream’s sibling, Desire, their statues heart thumping.

Type of Ship: Queer read

Now, though they do not label themselves friends for much of their association (only officially doing so in some of the final scenes of them) and definitely don’t refer to one another as romantic partners throughout the series, fans have consumed this media through a queer lens, shipping the two together. This could be for many reasons. For instance, as previously stated, Dream looks like a sad kicked puppy for the majority of the season, he lights up around Hob, showing more positive emotions, smiling, chuckling, making jokes and just all around acting more human instead of the endless being her truly is- this has been interpreted by fans as him feeling safe with showing the vulnerabilities associated with humanity and mortals when around Hob, which is an intensely intimate feeling to convey. Despite this he is also shown to feel safe showing that he is not human, comfortable in using his sand and showing off a bit in 1889 before the argument. Feelings of intense safety are usually reserved within media for shows of love: familial, platonic or romantic. Now of course it is not familial love that they have so it left fans choosing between the latter choices. Further reasons for fans viewing them as queer is due to them protecting one another, encouraging one another’s safety and literally waiting a whole century visiting a specific inn in hopes that the other would show up. Of course, we cannot forget about Desire, the timing of the scene cutting to them has left many fans seeking a connection between Dream seeing Hob again for the first time and then Desire immediately thereafter knowing that Dream had escaped his imprisonment. This has been interpreted to mean that Desire could feel Dream’s desire to see Hob or perhaps a burst of desire for him when he does see him. Though it is unknown whether this is true or not, and if so whether said desire was platonic or romantic in nature, it was left open ending enough for fans to jump to their own conclusions. Considering Neil Gaiman’s acts surrounding the Good Omens series (book and tv, which I have spoken about in a previous post), fans know he is not hung up on traditional portrayals of love, both in the sense that he is willing to visibly have queer characters and queer love stories prominent in his works and that he is willing to portray romance in a more in depth and complex way than outright confessions of love and kissing behind the bleachers. As such, they are able to confident read characters as queer without fearing it being turned into queer bait, allowing for portrayals such as Hob and Dreams relationship (platonic or otherwise, though im personally hoping it will one day be the otherwise). Of course, all relations between the two could be construed as platonic, with them using terms such as ‘friend’ quite clearly to refer to one another, but fans such as myself are completely free to interpret it romantically. Either way, we can all agree that Hob served spectacularly to humanise the Sandman, Dream of the Endless.

Thanks for reading!! I’ve watched the series a few times and have recently started reading the graphic novels/comics so im looking forward to exploring how the pair are explored within that in comparison to the show!

Admin🦇

[shipposttt]

Ship Of The Day: Steddie

Characters Names: Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson

Ship Name: Steddie

Original Content: Stranger Things (season 4 specifically)

Info about the ship:

Stranger things are happening.

Steddie came about after the 4th season of Stranger Things after the introduction of Eddie "The Freak" Munson who was the leader of the Hellfire Club (a DnD group at the school). This was a completely different vibe to Steve Harrington who was quite popular, played basketball and was loved by the ladies for his iconic hairstyle.

The two’s first encounter with each other was when Vencna’s curse first hit Hawkins and Eddie was wanted for the murder of Chrissy Van Dien (one of Vencna's victims). After Steve and few of the gang get to Rick’s place where Eddie is supposedly hiding, they call out for him. He suddenly jumps up from under a boat cover and tackles Steve while holding a broken bottle to his throat (angst). After Dustin explains they’re not here to hurt him and do not believe what the media and police are saying, he lets Steve go.  

After this, the pair start to hang out a little more, giving little waves when they meet up (in the episode dubbed The Monster and The Superhero) which some fans viewed as the pair just being shy around each other and this being them flirting.  

After the massacre at Hawkings Lab the two have a deeper conversation, and probably the longest they have in the series. Steve goes up to thank Eddie after he saved him from a few bats that started attacking him. After he said thanks, Eddie replied that it was him that saved himself by pulling a ‘real Ozzy’ and having to explain what this meant after Steve looked confused. After realizing he just wasn't getting it he refrases it to him being ‘pretty mental’. He goes to explain how Dustin always insisted Steve was pretty cool and badass and that he worshiped him, and how it was a little bit annoying to which he confesses how: 

“couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche? No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine.” 

After this he gets fairly close to Steve and admits (jokingly) that he was jealous. He then goes on to say all this was why he would not jump into the lake to save him and that it took the girls jumping for him to go in as well. He then says how Nancy (his ex-girlfriend) did not even hesitate to jump in and how Steve should get him back. Eddie then throws Steve his vest ‘For modesty’.  

The two’s main connection is Dustin (who is a younger student who the two both look after during season 4 of stranger things) which leads to fans viewing them as ‘co-parents’. And after Dustin accuses Steve of being jealous of the fact that Eddie is a new ‘older figure’ in his life that the two constantly fight over who the favorite parent is. This then lead to people shipping them just because the two share the same sort of parental protection over the boy. 

Many fans also argue that Eddie tries to get Steve back together with Nancy in order to protect his own feelings due to Eddie beliving the other male still harbours feelings for the female. And that his love was unrequited, so he pushes Steve away and makes it so that no matter what he can’t have him. Same fans also belive that Nancy jumping into the lake was due to the constant guilt she feels for letting her former best friend Bard die in season 1, who also died in a pool after she was transported into the upsdie down. Some more perspective fans also noticed Steve looking at Eddies lips during this scene, meaning that the male might have actually wanted to kiss Eddie before he uttered the words about Nancy, which them caused him to belive Eddie did not like him if he was trying to push him towards the female.  

When Eddie threw his vest at Steve, many saw it as him being protective, not wanting anyone else to see Steve any longer than they had to with no shirt on. They also view it as very boyfriend behavior, exchanging clothes ect.  

In another scene we see Eddie hotwire a car, Steve questioning how he did this. After a brief mention of his dad he then ends the conversation about the topic quickly as he says he will never end up like him. When Eddie begins to start the car and Robin questions if they should be letting him, Eddie reassures the female and says ‘Harringtons got her’ finishing with a ‘Don’t ya big boy’ which many fans went wild for. Even the Netflix tiktok for South Africa page said how this quote was ‘burned into their soul’, which could be a hint of the possible couple.  

One of their final scenes together involves when they all go into the upside down when both of them enter parental mode and tell Dustin that if things go South, he needs to leave immediately. When Steve walks away, Eddie suddenly stops him and tells him to make Vecna pay. To many, this was his way of saying ‘come back safe’, suggesting he has feelings of some sort for him.

Type of Ship: Queer read and possible Queer baiting if you squint

The two sadly (for some fans) do not end together and there does not seem to be any sort of possibility for them getting together due to Eddie’s sudden death at the end of the season. Many people were upset over this and turned to AO3 and created alternative realities where he survived, ended up as a member of the official gang (the older group more) and many of the fanfics explored a possible relationship with Steve. Many people did headcanons of the two with Eddie being Gay and Steve being Bi, but none of this is confirmed in the show and is just showed through these fanfictions.Meaning it is just a Queer read in many instances 

But if you squint you might see a tad bit of Queer Baiting if we reference the tiktok account with interviews with Joeseph Quinn such as this one: 

Interviewer – “You’ve said in a previous interview that you think community is the most rewarding part of being an actor. For Stranger Things, a lot of your scenes were done in an ensemble especially toward the end of Volume One. Is there a scene that you think reflected your friendship with the cast the best, or one that was most enjoyable to film?” 

Joeseph Quinn – “There was a sequence we shot in an enormous water tank, which was brilliant. It was massive, with blue screens everywhere to make it look like Lovers Lake. I got to see Joe Keery with his kit off for a week – perks of the job.” 

Interviewer – “There was also a lot of love for Eddie and Steve's bromance. Some even wanted it to be a romance. I don't know if you saw any of that online. Did you?” 

Joseph Quinn – “Yeah, well, all I can say is... how did they know?” 

Interviewer – “It’s all subtext.” 

Joseph Quinn – “Yeah, yeah. Well, you know, just… people can dream, I guess. I dunno! I don't really know what to say to that.” 

Interviewer – “I guess in another world, maybe that would have played out in Stranger Things 5.” 

Joseph Quinn – “Maybe! Maybe, maybe, maybe? Yeah.” 

For those who had not seen season 4 yet, interviews like this might have made them believe in a possible romance between the two resulting in Queer baiting.  

Admin, 🦒

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Wenclair

Spoiler warning for Netflix’s Wednesday!

Names: Wednesday Addams and Enid Sinclair/ Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers

Ship Name(s): Wenclair

Original Content: Netflix original Wednesday (2022)

Ship info:

Wednesday is a Netflix original series which aired in 2022, based in Nevermore Academy (a school for outcasts), following Wednesday Addams as she investigates a string of violent murders linked to the school using her budding psychic abilities and how they’re connected to her family history (both the distant history and recent history of 25 years ago when her own parents attended the academy).

Wednesday first meets Enid Sinclair, a bubbly werewolf who has yet to have her first transformation, when she is shown to her dorm room, discovering that the two girls with possibly the most opposite aesthetics possible would be sharing a dorm room that year. At first, the pair don’t get along, with Wednesday’s mother claiming Wednesday is allergic to all the colour Enid has and dividing the room down the middle, removing the colourful vinyl tape that Enid had covered the window with from her half. Despite the antagonistic nature of their relationship at this time the two do bond. For instance, during the full moon  Wednesday is outside on the balcony practicing cello when Enid comes out, prompting the pair to open up to one another as they discuss Enid’s lack of a transformation and the last time Wednesday cried- when her pet scorpion was killed as a child. Following this, the two are with the rest of the academy at a fair and Enid is saying goodbye to Wednesday (as she plans to run away from the school), going in for a hug but stopping herself as she sees Wednesday’s reaction, stating “still not a hugger, got it” which is a call back to when they met and Enid went for a hug, stating the same thing. Though this action in and of itself is platonic in nature, some fans read it as the start of a budding relationship due to the way Enid (who is very tactile and shows love, platonic or otherwise, through physical touch) easily accepts Wednesday’s boundaries without pushing them.

The two bond further during the Poe Cup, a race between the different houses of the academy, wherein Enid is upset at the last minute due to her vampiric co-pilot, Yoko, being sabotaged using garlic bread- resulting in Wednesday offering to take her place and help win them the cup, even going as far as wearing the team costume as a little black cat. This is ironic as this ship definitely fits into the black cat/golden retriever trope. Following their win, they are pictured standing shoulder to shoulder, which many fans claim illustrates Wednesday’s growing care for Enid, as she wouldn’t ordinarily let people touch her.

Despite the fans excitement over the pair, within the very next episode Enid starts obsessing over gorgon Ajax, with Wednesday even using this crush to further her murder investigation. With that, Enid asks Ajax out on a date and is rather excited for it, with Wednesday stating that she would nail gun his heart if he breaks Enid’s heart. Unfortunately for him, Ajax accidentally stones himself by looking in a mirror, making him stand Enid up- luckily for him however, Wednesday is not given chance to hold true to her threat. By this point, her family member, Thing (the disembodied hand), sets Wednesday up on a date with ‘normie’ Tyler for the Rave’N dance, forcing Wednesday to attend. Throughout the series up until this point Tyler and Xavier (Wednesday’s classmate) had made it clear they were romantically interested in her. As a whole, the fandom ignore this odd love triangle (or is it technically a love more than/less than sign? < > im just saying..) as Wednesday largely shows a lack of feelings back to them, using them to further her investigation into the murders. During the dance, Enid comes over to compliment Wednesday, though she voices her dislike for W’s date as she does so, calling him “... interesting”. Some fans read this as jealousy instead of just friendly concern (guys im a wenclair shipper too, playing devils advocate here sucks). Can we just mention how right Enid is here? That dress was impeccable.

Within the next few episodes the pair bond further over family struggles as family visiting weekend occurs, further bonding over a séance for Goody Addams (Wednesday’s ancestor) and Wednesday’s surprise birthday party in a crypt. Unfortunately, everything does not sty this positive, with Wednesday lying to Enid about a girls night out and instead taking her and Tyler to a house to investigate the monster- when they get home Enid is angry and moves to her friend Yoko’s room. Enid is rightfully angry here, Wednesday’s actions almost got them killed by the monster, thought the fandom argues she’s also partially angry cause she wanted to be alone with Wednesday but Tyler had also been there, invited under the pretence of a date with Wednesday. After Enid moves out, Wednesday is show watching her side of the room, showing she missed her despite how she had treated her and her original distaste for them sharing the room. Eventually, Enid moves back in, claiming someone has to look after Thing and Wednesday after the room got broken into- this time round, Wednesday says to not bother with the tape  to divide the room, showing the improvement in their relationship over time.

Now for the big finale, taking place towards the end of the school year. Following a torture plan in reference to the string of murders done by the monster (now discovered to be a hyde), Wednesday is expelled from Nevermore Academy. As she’s packing, we see a scene between her and Enid, where she describes the mark Enid left on her as ‘indelible’ and they promise not to forget one another, resulting in another call back to “not into hugs, got it” as Enid goes for a hug only to claim that not hugging is kind of their thing. Wednesday gets kidnapped before she can leave, revealing Tyler to being the hyde, and leading to a series of events that cause Enid to transform for the first time to save Wednesday and Wednesday defeating the resurrected pilgrim Crackstone whose aim was to kill all outcasts. Many argue that Enid’s first transformation being to save Wednesday was very romantic and truly shows a change from platonic to romantic within their relationship, especially since Wednesday actually hugs Enid following the battles.

Actresses Jenna Ortega and Emma Myers have shown support with this ship, alluding to it multiple times during interviews and having each other as their lock screens, furthering the fans view of this ship and causing them to go beyond it to also ship the actresses irl.

Type of Ship: Queer read and possible queer bait

Now, we all love a good black cat/ golden retriever trope and this pair perfectly encompasses that, with a little bit of enemies to friends to lovers sprinkled in. However,  i would argue that currently, this ship is only queer read and not canonically queer. Though the relationships of Wednesday with Tyler and Xavier respectively were given a lot less work than Wednesday’s relationship with Enid leading to arguments that the pair are ‘endgame’, it is never out rightly confirmed that the pair of girls have anything more than strong platonic feelings for one another within the show. Furthermore, the actions of the actresses during press tours and interviews could be considered queer bait as they encouraged the shipping within the show, encouraging more queer viewers to watch it for that relationship despite it not being canon. Of course, this is just based on season one of Wednesday and the second season of this show may make it canon or further their relationship in unexpected ways, however we cant know at this time what the next season may look like..

Thank you for reading!! (psst any good Wenclair recs? I keep forgetting what is fanon and canon)

Admin🦇

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Buddie

Character names: Evan “Buck” Buckley x Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz

Ship name: Buddie 

Original Content:  9-1-1

Info about ship: 

Continuing with our firefighters theme from the previous post, 9-1-1 is a TV show following a fire house in Los Angeles as they go about their daily lives, saving people in daring rescues, dealing with funny accidents and being all around badasses. At the centre of the show is the 5 main firefighters, 118 Captain Robert “Bobby” Nash, paramedics Henrietta “Hen” Wilson and Howard “Chimney” Han, and finally, the topic of this post, special rescues duo Evan “Buck” Buckley and Edmundo “Eddie” Diaz. 

Yes, firefighters apparently really like their nicknames.

(Also, just look at Eddie's left hand placement in that gif, that's a strong grip on Buck's waist)

Buck and Eddie are the young, traditionally handsome members of the team, performing daring rescues with an ongoing repartee with one another. Best friends by their own descriptions, they were not always as close as they are in the later seasons. During Eddie’s introduction to the show, Buck was very against him joining, feeling as if he were invading and taking his role. It was only after pulling a grenade out of a man’s leg together that they learnt that they could get along and began their friendship. A true enemies to lovers story.

Buck helped Eddie find special needs childcare for Eddie’s young son, Christopher, and has stepped into the role of second parental figure for him. Buck is very good with Christopher and takes care of him often, even saving his life after they end up in the middle of a tsunami. Christopher absolutely adores Buck, going to him for help when Eddie is not available or is the reason for Christopher’s ire.

Type of ship: Queer Bait 

The show is not scared of queer representation, it contains many characters who are part of the LGBTQ+ community including Hen being a married lesbian with a son and Bobby’s wife, Athena’s ex-husband being gay and after the divorce getting into a gay relationship. However, this seems to be the edge of where they go, they refuse to take this final step and instead insist on edging the fans on the will they, won’t they of Buck and Eddie. 

Firstly, there is a whole lot of longing staring at each other, like a lot.

Buck’s early behaviour towards Eddie is described by his sister Maddie as a “boy-crush”.

Additionally, both of them are incapable of keeping relationships with female characters. Most of these female characters are brought in simply and solely to act as possible vessels of relationships and so are incredibly one dimensional. The only female partner who is more than that is Eddie’s wife, who firstly disappears from Eddie and Christopher’s lives and then, once she is back, very quickly dies. Eddie describes dating, or more specifically dating women, as “putting on a performance”. 

Well, that’s a pretty queer-coded thought Edmundo. 

Most people headcanon Eddie as a gay man who was pressured into a straight relationship due to family and so married the first girl he could, before he then spent most of his married life deployd halfway across the world for the Army. Buck, on the other hand, is pretty often headcanoned as a bi-man who isn’t so much closeted as just doesn’t really talk about it. It's something about him, but it's just that his past few partners have been girls and so people assume he is straight. 

Going forward with more reasons Buddie is a queerbait, we return to Christopher Diaz. As mentioned earlier, Buck has taken up the role of a secondary parental figure for Christopher and this extends even into law. After Eddie is shot, something I’ll return to, and nearly dies, he ends up in the hospital for an extended period of time. Buck takes up the role of full time parent, firstly being the one to tell Chris that Eddie is hurt and then being the one to take care of him, getting him to school, bringing him to visit his dad. Altogether giving him full-time care. This is happening while Eddie has a girlfriend, a girlfriend who is a special needs teacher who knows how to take care of Christopher, and yet the job is still designated to Buck. As Eddie is healing he reveals to Buck that he changed his will and that, if he dies, Chris’ guardianship will pass to Buck. Not his girlfriend. Not his grandmother or aunt who he visits religiously, not even his parents. His best friend.

Baby trapping, anyone?

So, getting hurt. They both do it a lot. And I mean a lot. But it is not so much the injuries themselves that are important but the reactions of their other halves. When Eddie has a well collapse on top of him, Buck breaks down and starts trying to dig desperately with his bare hands, when Buck has a fire engine land on his leg and crush it, Eddie holds his hand and keeps him company while everyone else is working on getting the rig off of him. When Eddie is shot, Buck is the one to save him, facing one of his worst fears and going back under a fire engine for the first time since he got his leg crushed under one, to pull Eddie to safety. When Buck is struck by lightning, it is Eddie who screams for him, who lowers him from where he is hanging off the ladder and also the one performing CPR. When the medical professionals say they will do their best, Eddie tells them to “do more”. They both save each other's lives, they both are often fuelled by emotions when the other is hurt. It is very romance-coded. This is not to say platonic relationships can’t have this care, but it is almost always romantic relationships that have this care displayed on TV.

And the final part, the most damning evidence of the studio intentionally baiting fans. The Couch Theory. The Couch theory was created by fans and means the following: Buck’s couches are metaphors for his relationships. Every time he gets a new partner, a new couch happens, and every time he breaks from a relationship, the couch is gotten rid of. When he is questioned about this by other characters, he always says that it's because the couch is never right.

So where does he find the most comfortable couch, I hear you ask. Well, he often ends up on Eddie’s couch, even sometimes asleep there. So many of Buck and Eddie’s most important moments, their most queer-coded moments, occur on that couch. And in the most recent season, it seemed that fans were gonna get their way and the baiting was going to spawn into true queer. Throughout the season there were many inferences about the couches, Buck is unable to sleep on his couch so he goes to see Eddie and falls asleep on one side of the couch. Later in the season has Christopher falling asleep in the middle of the couch, and Eddie sits on the other side that wasn��t occupied by Buck earlier on. This creates an image of a family on that couch, two parents bookending their child. And what do the creators do with it? With the perfect set up they’ve built?

They give the two of them very hastily thrown in female love interests that have absolutely no background or connection to anything and then end the season before we can see any actual development. 

The creatives intentionally took the focus of a queer theory and set it up for an apparent result only to swipe it straight out from under the fans. It was a spit in the face to fans and the fans were not happy with it. Queerbaiting is one thing but queerbaiting with fans own queer metaphors is a new low. And yet Fox did it. 

Admin🦉

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Marina

Name: Maya x Carina 

Ship Name: Marina

Original content: Station 19 (2018) - a Greys Anatomy spin off 

Ship info: Station 19 is a Greys Anatomy spin off show about a group of firefighters at fire station 19. Maya Bishop is a firefighter at station 19 who later becomes Captain of station 19. Carina DeLuca is a doctor at Grey Sloan hospital, and they meet when they both go for drinks at Joe’s – a bar near the hospital. 

They begin their relationship, and it is quickly interrupted by the covid 19 pandemic. After being apart for so long they decide to move in together which is a big step in their relationship and leaves Maya, who before this relationship seemingly has commitment issues, quite frenzied. However, Maya accepts this change in their relationship just before another hurdle comes their way. Carina is going to be deported and so she is going back to Italy and going to have to work as a doctor there. However, when Carina is packing to leave Maya suggest the idea of marriage which Carina quickly turns down. They then get into a discussion about how they should’ve known by now that Maya wants to get married whereas Carina doesn’t and that Carina wants children whereas Maya doesn’t. This lead to what seems to be the end of their relationship and Carina leaves for the airport.

Although we see Carina have a change of heart on the way to the airport and she turns around and finds Maya where she proposes to her in front of their friends. They then have a beautiful small wedding which is somewhat ruined by Maya finding out she is getting demoted from captain. Their relationship seems to still remain strong and after discussing it thoroughly they decide to try for a baby. They search for a sperm doner and start the process. However, Maya’s mental health starts to quickly decline and their relationship hits a rough patch when Maya starts pushing herself too hard at work and not coming home and Carina does things such as taking pregnancy tests without Maya present. 

After Maya nearly dies by pushing herself too hard Carina decides to take a break from their relationship to give them both space and give Maya a chance to work on her problems. Maya who is hurt by the prospect of losing Carina starts to put work into getting better by doing therapy and taking a step back from work and even learning how to cook. She then starts to try and win Carina back by trying to ask her on a first date again. They go on the date and have a good time and then try to take things slow again. Although they both admit that they miss being together and start fixing their marriage and try to get back to a strong point. They even discuss the idea of them starting to try for children again.

Type of ship: Canon Queer

Whilst Maya and Carina have had their ups and downs – they took a break that nearly needed their marriage they still ended up back together and stronger. This is a testament to this show and the creators as none of the tropes usually associated with queer couples have been applied here. Both characters are still alive, and they are happily married to each other and trying for children. The same cannot be said for lots of other sapphic ships, canon or otherwise, in media. Again, they have had their downs but none of this is because or a result of them being in a same-sex relationship but rather due to mental health issues. 

The fact that the creators of this show have shown the downs of a relationship as happens with many real-life relationships queer or otherwise is important. This is because it allows fans to have a canon queer relationship with flawed, real, multifaceted characters who make mistakes but ultimately learn from their mistakes both apart and together. Again, this is important because in some instances it could be easier to have the two characters split up but the creators do not let this happen which is major for the portrayal of queer women in media and to fans. 

Admin 🦈

[shipposttt]

Ship of The Day: Drarry

Character Names: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter

Ship Name: Drarry

Original Content: Harry Potter

Ship Info:

Drarry. It's time.

Coming from the Harry Potter franchise we see the ship involving the ‘Chosen One’ Harry Potter and ‘Death Eater’ Draco Malfoy, an enemy to lover's favourite among the community. So why do fans ship these two? 

Many started shipping the two due to the rivalry (that some interpreted as flirtation), which made the enemies to lovers fans go wild.

For instance, when the two end up in punishment together and are heading into the forbidden forest. They both displayed feelings of fear and signs of being nervous, but due to being in company with each other, they both tried to hide their fear. As they go deeper into the forest and lose track of Fang, the two try to start up multiple conversations as a distraction to the fear they feel. Some read this as a sort of 'wanting to impress the other' sort of trope, however, it could just be argued to be toxic masculinity with the boys feeling like they should not display any type of fear or emotion that could make them seem weak to other males. Any 'feminine' feelings.

Tensions also during Hagrid's class are also a key factor in their flirtation with the constant back-and-forth arguments, that go on even in front of the class, giving off the vibe of being 'an old married couple'. And the fact they did it in front of others might display a sense of urgency to show others they have a connection.

And their rivalry on the Quidditch field, with both of them on opposite teams is also a key factor and main concept for many fanfictions. The two jostles around, push each other and hurl insults at each other giving more of a feel of friendly rivalry as they both try and win. But also a hint of admiration.

The two have also saved each other, showing to others that they do in fact view them as important enough to save fuelling the 'enemies-to-lovers' debate. For example, Harry saves Draco from the room of requirement. But this almost feels right since Harry is the hero. But when Draco did it, it really itched something in Drarry shipper's brains. The scene is when Draco lies and pretends not to know who Harry is when his face is distorted, saving his life and hinting he has some feelings for the boy who lived.

But the angst is also what had fans shipping the pair. For example when Harry nearly killed Draco in the bathroom while the two were having a dual, Harry using the Sectumsempera spell (which could have killed Draco) took their rivalry to another stage. But with these intense feelings, some fans also read it as them having a love so deep it boarders into hate. Love hurts Afterall.

The books are also quite an important contribution as to why many ship the pair, such as:

"Three boys entered, and Harry recognized the middle one at once: It was the pale boy from Madame Malkin's robe shop. He was looking at Harry with a lot more interest than he'd shown back in Diagon Alley." "Perhaps Harry had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing Professor Quirrell's turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Harry told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully- and there was Malfoy, laughing at him as he struggled with it" (Harry dreaming of Draco) "Bet you loved that, didn't you, Potter?" said a voice Harry had no trouble recognizing. He straightened, and came face-to-face with Draco Malfoy..."

"Now Harry, when Draco points his wand at you, you do this."

He raised his own wand, attempted a complicated sort of wiggling action, and dropped it...

"Whoops - my wand is a little overexcited-"

"Harry, however, had never been less interested in Quidditch; he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy. Still checking the Marauder's Map whenever he got the chance, he sometimes made detours to wherever Malfoy happen to be..."

I'll leave it up to your imagination as to why these quotes might lead to people shipping the duo.

Type of Ship: Queer Read

The two are very much not written without the intention of the two becoming a couple, it is all just fan interpretation and fanfics made for fans who might have wanted to see Draco get a redemption arc.

Some might also ship the pair due to the lack of well-written female characters that could have ended up with Draco. The only female we actually see him written to be friends with is Pansey (who isn't really given much character development or just character in general). And the one who would best counterbalance him would be Harry Potter. Their personality, their colour palettes, their family status and their houses. Each contradicts each other in every way. However both did end up with different people and a whole family, but their son's did become best friends which makes them always in contact with eachother in one way or another.

Admin, 🦒

(i am so sorry if this is not the best post but i did not really have much info of this ship beforehand and could not find much :,))

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Phan

Name: Dan and Phil

Ship Name: Phan

Original Content: Youtube

Ship info:

Now we delve into the world of IRL shippers. And it would be wrong of us not to focus on two of the OG YouTubers.

The pair first interacted with each other in 2009, when Phil (going by AmazingPhil) was sent a message by Dan Howell asking for advice from the YouTuber (who for 2009 standards was quite popular). The two began talking and became quite good friends, eventually moving into an apartment in Manchester. This was the start of their collaborative career that would go on for years.

With their content becoming more and more popular the duo were eventually contacted by BBC and ended up with their own show known as the 'Dan and Phil show'. This show ran from January 2013 - August 2014 and became a massive success, allowing fans to feel more connected to the two and becoming more invested in a possible romance between the two. The show was such a success that they even won the Sony Golden Headphones Award, and with the money the duo gained they moved from Manchester to London.

After the show ended, the pair went on to create a new collaborative title DanAndPhilGAMES where the duo played competitively against each other, keeping track of the winner of each video game on a makeshift leader-board.

The pair continued to do more and more things as a duo, and rarely anything alone. They wrote a book, had two tours and even had cameos together in movies. However, after their second tour, the two of them took a step away from their collaborative channels, stepping away from the YouTube spotlight. The burnout and exhaustion had hit them both.

They briefly both came back onto YouTube in June 2019. Dan first on the 13th with a video entitled 'Basically I'm gay' where he covered his life, struggles with internal and external homophobia and the fear of being outed due to the 'Phan ship'. He also confirmed fans' speculations that they were previously romantically involved, yet did not cover if this was still the case. Then later on the 30th Phil released a video titles 'Coming out to you'. After these videos the two once again went on hiatus.

Although content between the two isn't what it used to be, we do know they are currently living together in their current 'forever home'. But, recently the DanAndPhilGAMES has been up and running, showing signs old content is coming back

Type of Ship: Queer, but no information if they're together

The two, understandably, have kept quiet regarding their relationship with one of the two stating how "I'm someone who wants to keep the details of my personal life private". When the ship was at it's most popular during the mid-2010's and was one of the most popular ships during this time (especially on AO3).

However, with this came trauma for both Dan and Phil. They were always constantly bombarded with questions about the ship and their sexuality which was a big factor in them starting their hiatus. Dan explains how during this time it was traumatising due to the intensity of the fans and said how even though he appreciated the effort fans put in, being constantly bombarded with questions regarding sexuality during a time when he was questioning it himself was not what he needed. Or what Phil needed.

It just seemed that fans could not disconnect fiction from real life, and treat them like they were just characters in a wattpad fanfic without thinking of personal boundaries. It's fortunate that fans have learnt from their mistakes and we can see that Dan and Phil are slowly remerging with their original content.

Admin, 🦒

[shipposttt]

Ship of the Day: Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr

Character Names: Charles Xavier x Erik Lehnsherr 

Ship name: Cherik 

Original Content: X-Men (also present in the comics but for the purpose of this post, focused on the movies)

Ship Info:

Before getting too far into it, what you must know is that Cherik is not mainly shipped as a fully happy together ship, these two have gone through a divorce and are only just coming back together after a whole bunch of stuff. Either that or fans are being delusional and  ignoring the canon “Beach Divorce” (will be explained later, don’t worry).

The X-Men franchise is an institution in the comics world, a product of some of the best minds at Marvel in the 60s. Homo Sapien Superior are the next stage of human development, dubbed mutants, these people are born with superhuman powers, from telekinesis to intangibility, super speed to power absorption. Standing as metaphors and representations for oppression, the othering of the non-majority, racism, genocide, government control and the fight for equality, the X-Men have stood the test of time and come out of it as a present-forward moving media.

And at the centre of this media is two figures, Charles Xavier, powerful telepath and creator and head of the X-Men and Erik Lensherr, metallokinetic and leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants (if going by comics). Two leaders on what would traditionally be thought of as opposing sides, but in the case of the X-Men sphere, they instead play as two sides of the same coin against the true enemy.

The Government.

(Yeah, the writers weren’t playing about with subtlety, were they?)

(And people complain that modern comics are too liberal. This shit has always been here, complainers have just been blind to it. Somehow. I really don’t know how. It is a very much integral part of understanding the world the X-Men live in.)

Charles and Erik meet when they are both in their 20s, Charles recently graduated from Oxford with his doctorate in Genetics and Erik continuing his path of Nazi hunting while searching for the man that killed his mother when they were taken to Auschwitz when Erik was a child. They meet, stuff happens and almost the entirety of X-Men: First Class is just a getting to know you, whirlwind romance summer with a couple of breaks between the flirting and longing stares to further the plot which includes working with the CIA, building a team and, at the culmination of the film, being at the centre of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Ah yes, because we needed more of a reminder that we’re in the mid 60s, it’s not like the USSR being a big deal, or the middle-aged Nazi officers or the young looking Holocaust survivors didn’t do a good job of illustrating this point. 

Thus we reach the height of the movie, the missiles are on their way to Cuba and are currently being held in the air by Erik. Erik views the shooting of these missiles as a betrayal as they have been working with those who just sent the missiles for the duration of the movie and wants retaliation so spins the rockets around and sends them back in the direction of the US and Soviet fleets. Charles is also feeling pretty betrayed but does not believe that the men on the ships should die for it. And in a moment of what is probably one of the stupidest moments of Charles Francis Xavier’s life, he tells a child survivor of the Holocaust that the soldiers who have just fired upon them with the intention to kill them are “simply following orders”.

Yikes, Charles.

They have a grapple across the floor, Erik loses concentration, he wins the fight, regains control of the missiles, continues them on their course for the ships before getting interrupted by one of the X-Men team shooting his metal helmet to break his concentration. He deflects the bullets, cause, ya know, metallokinetic. It just so happens that he deflects one of these bullets into Charles’ back. More specifically his spine. Instantly paralysing him. 

There’s a whole moment of Erik cradling Charles' body and apologising. A bunch of other things happen that ends with Erik leaving Charles on that beach with no way to go home and only a couple allies. 

Thus, the beach divorce. 

It is here that Charles and Erik’s stories can go two ways, because the X-Men movies have fully canon time travel that they used to end the old early 2000’s timeline and restart, allowing them to make more money. In both of these, Erik is arrested for the murder of JFK, in the original timeline he stays there until the mid-2000s and is often visited by Charles. On these visits they play chess and have civil conversations. As elder men, they greatly respect one another and in fact, Erik even comes to Charles’ defence against one of his own brotherhood members when they disparage Charles. Both see that the other is working towards the same goal, they simply have differing opinions on how mutants should get to the equality they are fighting for. Charles believes it can be fostered through education, defanging misinformation and working alongside the human governments. Erik believes that it is too systemic and instead mutants must take their place in the world and not fear or be afraid of humans. By the end of their timeline, they are back to being by each other's sides, any differences are put to the side due to the nature of their existence dwindling. Instead they work together and stay by each other, giving each other comfort in the others continued existence. 

In the alternate timeline, Erik is broken out of prison in the mid 70s by the combined effort of a time travelling Wolverine, Charles, Charles and Erik’s past teammate and Charles’ caretaker Hank and a very young Quicksilver, who is not yet aware that Erik is his father. Though to be fair, no one on that mission knows that. In these films, Erik attempts to build a life, getting a quickly fridge-ed wife and daughter and goes on to build the mutant nation safe haven island Genosha. Charles goes on to found his school for mutants, as he did in the original timeline. This timeline ends with Erik and Charles meeting at a cafe in Paris (romantic, huh) and sitting down to play some chess (yes, chess is almost definitely a flirting metaphor, the amount they do it).  

Type of ship: Queer Read

Despite the fact that all 4 actors who have portrayed Erik and Charles in these movies have shipped them, at the end of the day there was never an intentional move done by any of the creatives to intentionally mislead fans to the idea that a romantic relationship may develop between the two. 

Both characters have had female partners throughout the duration of the movies and yet, neither of them last. Erik’s wife dies simply to further the plot within 10 minutes of introducing her on screen and Charles has a kind of girlfriend who he ends up wiping the memory of and leaving alone. By the end of the timeline, they don’t have any partners and are instead with each other. 

Erik and Charles are so compelling as characters, both separately and in combination and one of the reasons for that is how they act as foils for one another. Differing values, same mission, the utmost respect for each other. They are lovers ripped from each other by tragedy, both in terms of the divorce and in terms of being on opposite sides. But they are not just on opposite sides, instead they lead them and that is one of the most tragic parts of their existence. They love each other, but not more than the fight they lead, the ideas they believe. 

At the end, in 1983, when they both finish their missions, passing them on to the next generation, they come together in the romance capital of the world and play chess together. They come back together after so long apart and simply begin to exist in each other's presence in a way they haven’t done since the 60s.

Admin🦉

[shipposttt]

Ship of the Day: Adashi and Shurtis

Names: Takashi Shirogane (AKA Shiro) and Adam W., and Shiro and Curtis, respectively.

Ship Name(s): Adashi and Shurtis

Original Content: Voltron: Legendary Defender (2016-2018), adapted from the original Voltron series (1984)

Ship info:

Voltron is a show on Netflix following the Paladins of Voltron- the ‘Defender of the Universe’. Fighting a losing battle against the Galra Empire (a volatile alien group who had plagued the universe for millennia, destroying planets and enslaving the races on them), 5 paladins stumble upon one of the sentient lion mecha ships. These 5 ships ‘choose’ their paladin and combine to become the giant robot warrior Voltron as a team- with Shiro (Takashi Shirogane), the paladin of the black lion as the head, the leader. The series follows this group as they try to save the world and defeat the Galran Empire, with varying successes throughout the series.

Now, there were multiple queer ships within this fandom at the time such as Klance (paladins Keith and Lance of the red and blue lions), though the two canon ones were greatly controversial- Shiro and Adam and then Shiro and Curtis. Voltron ran across 7 seasons, with no mention of Shiro’s sexuality until the final season. It is in this season that Adam is briefly mentioned as his dead fiancé who had died in a battle against the Galran’s prior to the formation of Voltron. There is a lack of exploration into this, with a severe lack of character building for him- just getting introduced and killed off in a flashback and a visit to a memorial. Curtis was also introduced this season, as a background character,,, with about 2 lines total. His relationship to Shiro within this time is shown as purely ship captain/crew, with them being shown getting married within a postcard shown within the outro of the epilogue.

Type of Ship: Queer bait/ bury the gays trope

As previously mentioned, this was a very controversial move for Voltron, with fans being outraged, claiming they were queer baiting and feeding into the trope of ‘bury the gays’ and i am inclined to agree (yes, i was once one of these Voltron fans, no, i dont want to talk about that stain on my fandom history/j). By giving Adam no character development and instantly killing him off,  they bought into the bury the gays trope- wherein studios add gay characters to appease calls for representation and LGBTQ+ fans and then dont bother to flesh out the characters, making them one dimensional before killing them off so they dont have to actually display a queer relationship at all. Similarly, there was outrage over Shiro and Curtis, whose relationship was non existent and then just jumped to a singular image of their wedding day, yet again failing to actually explore any semblance of queer relationship within the show. I for one agree with the fans on this subject, feeling as though it was just included to tick boxes and to try to score points with the large amount of LGBTQ+  people within the fandom- which was clear based on their reactions to Pidge (Paladin of the green lion) and their exploration of gender.

Admin🦇

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Ballie

Name: Bea x Allie

Ship Name: Ballie

Original content: Wentworth (2013)

Ship info: Wentworth is a tv show set in an Australian woman’s prison. The first episode introduces us to Bea, a hairdresser who has been arrested for the attempted murder of her husband who has been mentally, physically, and sexually abusing her for years. The show follows her navigating her new home in prison and how she makes new friends and her now fractured relationship with her daughter. 

Allie is not introduced into the show until season 4. She is in prison for being a part of a vigilante group who brought justice upon people they thought had escaped justice in court. The vigilante group ‘Red right hand’ was led by Kaz who was somewhat of a surrogate mother to Allie. This complicated things after Bea and Allie meet as Bea and Kaz are seen as enemies at first. Despite this, Bea and Allie still start up a relationship. 

Moments of this relationship are the only times we have seen Bea truly happy since the death of her daughter Debbie at the end of season 1. They navigate what having a relationship in prison looks like as well as dealing with both of their past traumas regarding relationships and intimacy and quickly fall in love. They manage to sneak moments away from everyone else in closets and in their rooms and keep their relationship quiet for the most part until Bea steps down as Top Dog and then they fully embrace their relationship, and we get many moments of seeing them truly happy. 

This however all ends when ex-governor turned prisoner, Joan Ferguson, drugs Allie leading to an almost fatal overdose with Allie on the brink of death. After finding Allie unconscious in the showers where Ferguson leaves her Bea calls for help and Allie is rushed to the hospital. Bea then confronts Ferguson with a screwdriver which Ferguson then uses to stab Bea to death. Bea is unable to be resuscitated and we see Bea take her last breaths just as Allie wakes up from her coma. 

Later on in the show after Bea’s death Allie still refers to her often and even keeps a sketchbook of Bea’s old drawings.

Type of ship: Canon Queer

Bea and Allie’s relationship within this show is portrayed with a lot of love. These characters obviously care about each other a lot and it is one of the first times in the show where we see Bea truly happy and ready to let her walls down. Then when she does Allie almost and dies which ultimately leads to Bea getting stabbed to death. This comes no more than 10 minutes after they make love for the first time. 

The entirety of their relationship has been about building trust with the both of them respecting each other’s boundaries and taking things slow so as not to upset everything. Then once this trust culminates in the consummation of their relationship Allie has close call with death and Bea actually does die. This decision by creators to kill of Bea when she finally gets a true taste of happiness is not only confusing but also hurtful – both to characters and the audience. Whilst there are other queer ships within the show it is just heart breaking for creators to build up these characters and their genuine love and affection for each other only for it to end so drastically and sadly.

Previously I spoke about how Dani’s death in the Haunting of Bly Manor can somewhat be seen to make sense however the same cannot be said for Bea’s death in Wentworth. Bea’s death just seems unnecessary and ruthless and almost like a punch in the gut to true fans of the show. Here there is not hiding the hurtfulness of the bury the gays trope.

Admin 🦈

[shipposttt]

Ship of the Day: BlackBonnet

Names: Edward Teach and Stede Bonnet

Ship Name(s): BlackBonnet

Original Content: Our Flag Means Death

THIS COVERS SEASON 1 ONLY SO PLEASE (if you comment) DO NOT COMMENT SPOILERS PLEASE! THANK YOU!

Ship Info:

Now it's time for our most important topic (in my opinion). Gay pirates.

Our Flag Means Death first graced our TV screens in 2022 with a second season following shortly after in 2023 (this blog will only cover the 1st season so please don't spoil anything!). This series is rich with people who we would recognise in the time when pirates roamed the earth such as Israel "Izzy" Hands, Calico Jack, Jim (who is based on multiple real-life pirates) and so on. The actual title of the show could also be a reference to this time due to the dangers and risks associated with piracy, where engaging in pirate activities often led to a perilous fate depending on who you ran (or sailed) into. But the two main pirates of the show are the real reason I'm writing our blog, so let's get on with it!

'Gentleman Pirate', Stede Bonnet, is an inexperienced pirate who used to be an Englishman during the 18th century. He lacked experience yet somehow managed to find himself as the Captain of his own ship known as 'The Revenger'. 'Blackbeard', Edward Teach, is a notorious pirate who also sailed the seas during the 18th century. He was known for his fearsome appearance, long black beard, having multiple weapons strapped to his body as well as being in command of a fleet of ships. The odds of these two meetings seem pretty slim right? WRONG! The two do meet. And have a hell of an adventure that sends them both (and the audience) on an emotional rollercoaster.

Although I would love to dissect every single scene that could have led audiences shipping these two, I have limited it to several to save time for myself and for those of you who are reading.

The first scene I would like to introduce comes from the first season where Edward (Blackbeard) had been staying on the Revenge, teaching Stede how to become a more fearsome pirate while in return Stede taught him about higher society. Already the two represent being people the other person dreamt of being, already creating a connection of respect in some cases. After being insulted by the captain of a ship they had just raided, we are given a glimpse into Edward's backstory after he pulls out some red handkerchief his mother had given him. Attached to this handkerchief is a memory that has followed Edward for years of his mother telling him when he was a child that 'they were not the kinds of people that got to have fine things'. Additionally, on the captured ship an invitation to a high-society party is found, and we see Edward desperately wanting to attend. While at this party he takes on the identity of 'Jeff the Accountant' and entertains the aristocracy. But things turn sour when he fails to remember the correct utensils to use at dinner, causing the aristocracy to start laughing at him and no longer with him. Stede handles the situation by starting a brawl amongst the aristocrats, leading to the boat catching on fire. Now we get to the main bit of this section, as Edward removes the red handkerchief from his shirt and reminisces about what his mother had said to him we see Stede come up to him. He takes the red handkerchief, folds it into a rose and places it into Edward's breast pocket, telling him that 'he wore fine things well', leading to a moment of silence before the two walked away from each other (not without a glimpse back though). To some of the fanbase, the red handkerchief could be a personification of Edward's heart. He views it as a 'tatty old thing' that he should hide since he doesn't think it suits him to have a heart. He might think it's weak to have one since it could lead to him being hurt in a place he cannot heal. We first see him hiding the fabric, embarrassed to show Stede. This could also be because he views Stede as the 'fine thing' that he cannot have. That his heart will not suit Stede due to their different upbringings. But as the two grew closer that evening he shows his heart to Stede, who folds it into a beautiful rose showing him how beautiful his heart could be. This could also mean that Stede is the amplifier that Edward needs in order to see himself for who he truly is and to see how he can wear his heart well. This showed progress of their relationship for many fans due to how he was showing a part of him (that he normally kept hidden) to Stede. A desire he always wanted but did not think he deserved. And how Stede reassured him he did deserve it. This is only one of the scenes that proves how important the two are to not only each other for things such as teaching each other how to be a better pirate or teaching the other about the finer things in life, but also to each other's growth as individuals.

We again see their relationship change when Edward tries to kill Stede Bonnet (it sounds worse than it is, trust me). As we learn how the only time Edward felt fear was when his father was killed by the 'Kraken' and how he was there to witness it, he decided it was time to teach Stede about the 'art of fuckery' and how it could be used as a great way to install fear in their enemies. However, some of Edwards crew (Izzy,Ivan and Fang) had had enough of Edward acting like Stede's 'pet' (someone that Blackbeard would never let on his ship) and said it was time for Bonnet to die. Edward agreed. As he went on to do the deed ,unaware that Stede was planning to do an 'art of fuckery', the special effects resembling a Kraken attack cause Edward to go into a panic and hide in Stede's bathroom. Alarmed at this reaction, Stede follows and Edward reveals that he was the 'Kraken' who killed his abusive father. With this, he also tells Stede that he was planning to kill him but couldn't as he broke down in tears saying how he 'wasn't a good person' and that this was why he 'didn't have any friends'. Stede rebukes this claim and says how he views him as a friend and how he will forget about the planned killing, comforting Edward. This showed how much comfort Stede provides Edward. When Edward felt unsafe or needed somewhere he felt safe he went to STEDE'S bathroom. This showed that when he feels vulnerable, when all of the emotions he's kept hidden for so long come to surface his one confidant is Stede. And again, he shares something he has never shared with anyone else showing how much he trusts him. The way he can't kill Stede or keep his emotions in check around him could also highlight the fact that he cannot bring himself to be Blackbeard around Stede. He can only be Ed. The better self that Stede had helped him find. And how Stede straight away went after Edward, comforted him even when he revealed he was going to kill him and reminded him of his frienship showed that he could see the real Edward. And that was the version he wanted to see. Not the Blackbeard the others demanded came back to surface. The one that suited fine things. Edward. And with this interaction how could we not want a happy ending for these two?

Sadly, we do not get to see a happy end as of season one.

As soon as Edward learns that Calico Jack (his former crewmate) was sent by Izzy to make sure that he was away from the Revenge before the English arrived and captured Stede and his crew, he abandons the dinghy to return to the revenge. Once he arrives him, Stede and the rest of the crew are captured. But, as their hands are tied and they're thrown onto the floor, we see a moment between the two that had cemented for many fans that they did indeed have feelings for each other. They look at each other, content that they were together again. And as the camera slowly zooms out, we see Edwards boot reach for Stede's ankle, and in response Stede rubs his ankle against Edwards boot. Despite the chaos happening outside, their only concern is comforting the other. And if they have the means to do it, they will not hesitate. As long as they each have that little bit of comfort the world could burn and they would still be okay. Since they have the other as company. Nothing would hurt them more than being separated. If they could have even the tiniest bit of contact, nothing be bad. Even when death faces them and comes for their 'flags', they are just happy they would go through it together. There's no 'Mine' in 'Our Flag Means Death' after all.

The next episode we see as they both try and defend each other over Stede's crime (killing Nigel Badminton) showing how they wanted to make sure the other one was safe, even if it meant death for themselves. They just wanted the other one to be safe. In the end they both get put on trial. It was decided that Edward would go with Izzy Hands while Stede would be sentenced to death by firing squad. Not wanting Stede to go to a place he wouldn't be able to follow him to, Edward declared Act of Grace to save 'The Gentleman Pirates' life. This was agreed to and Stede would be pardoned if the both of them signed a document which would mean they would need to give up their life of piracy and serve the king. They both signed. As they spend some time in the Royal Privateering Academy, Stede questions how Edward was able to handle the situation so well to which Edward says he wanted to do 'what makes Ed happy'. He confessed that it was Stede that made 'Ed' happy. To make a sweet moment so much sweeter, he ends the confession with a kiss. As Stede accepts Edwards feelings they both decide to run away together. However, Stede never turned up. Just before the two planned to meet, he was awoken up at gunpoint by Chauncey Badminton who told him that he 'defiles beautiful things'. He reminded him of his crime of killing Nigel, of his family and how he had brought 'histories greatest pirate to ruin'. Stede finds himself agreeing to this and makes the decision to go to back to his former home. Edward is left heartbroken as he finds his way back to the Revenge, alone. He reverts to his old ways as 'Blackbeard', throwing away his old red handkerchief. Throwing away his heart and everything that reminded him of Stede. While Blackbeard began getting rid of his old life as 'Edward', Stede realsied how much he really loved Edward. As his wife (Mary Bonnet) revealed what it was like to be in love with Doug, he started thinking about his time with Edward and how much it meant to him. This was love. The two then used the 'art of fuckery' to fake Stede's death (which worked), but it was too late. Edward and the Ship were gone from the location where it had been last. In this scene we might as well have seen the death of 'Ed' as without Stede, he was just Blackbeard. Afterall, the pair of them are only their best selves when they are together.

Type of ship: Queer Canon

The 'Our Flags Mean Death' franchise is one of the best series I have personally watched regarding representation and in the way it rejects toxic masculinity. The LGBTQ+ community have suffered at the hands of what is known as 'queer baiting' for so long. This is when through advertisements and interviews with casts ect the TV producers sort of lure the community into watching and promoting their show with a false promise that their will be non-heteronormative couples involved in their franchise. But they don't follow through with this and get our hopes up making us feel lead on (see shark emoji post on BeChloe). This is why Our Flags Means Death was such a breath of fresh air. Actually FOLLOWING THROUGH with what was promised just raised our hopes a little more and allowed more people (who do not get near enough representation through TV shows and movies ect) to feel a bit more seen and also helped people discover who they are when they see people going through the same issues they're going through.

Stede and Ed's relationship was a pleasure to watch. To see two men have such comfort in each other and to see characters talking about their feelings and having breakdowns without feeling any shame or embarrassment was needed in order to challenge the toxic masculinity we see too much in this world and in the media. And to have such positive representations of Queer relationships being healthy was also amazing.

The journey we followed with Stede and Ed (although it ended on a cliffhanger) showed us what love was all about. Trust. Being your true self with each other. Sacrifice. Loving each other when we're at our worst. Loving the parts of the other that they couldn't love themselves. And so much more. And to find out what we hoped would happen, did happen is such a win for the LGBTQ+ community. We can only hope that shows will take a few lessons from this show and that we don't need to fear queer baiting happening as frequently as it does.

Even the show director (David Jenkins) admitted 'that Stede and Blackbeard’s romance was always part of his initial pitch for the series — and one of the things he and the writers found most creatively fulfilling". The opposites attract troupe which lead to the both of them just finding out what each of them actually wanted, fixed with the slow burn and not just the both of them automatically liking each other and showing the development of their relationship felt like a reward and made it feel natural and not forced.

It's safe to say I cannot wait to watch season 2. The only complaint I have for this show is how lonely it makes me feel. We all deserve a relationship like Stede and Ed.

Admin, 🦒

[shipposttt]

The ship of the day: Victuuri

Names: Viktor Nikiforov and Yuuri Katsuki

Ship Name(s): Victuuri

Original Content: Yuri!!! On Ice series (2016)

Ship info:

Yuri!!! On Ice is a series which follows pro figure skater Yuuri Katsuki, who is on the verge of retirement, on his route back to pro skating and recovering his competitive abilities.

Yuuri K returns to his hometown after a string of losses within competitions, going back to his family’s hot springs. World renowned skater Viktor Nikiforov, Yuuri’s long time motivation for skating and childhood obsession (?), crush (?), wins his fifth consecutive World Championship, inspiring Yuuri to practice the routine he used to win. Unbeknownst to him, his performance is recorded and uploaded to the internet, going viral, and causing Viktor to travel to Japan to request to be Yuuri’s coach for the next Grand Prix series- baring in mind said conversation takes place in the hot spring, with Viktor as naked as the day he was born and Yuuri as red as a lobster. Yuuri accepts and so starts the series of Viktor training Yuuri, growing closer as he realises its Yuuri’s emotions, not his physical abilities which make him struggle in competitions.

Between this, Yuuri and Viktor grow close and, within episode 5 (following his win at the Japan Figure Skating Championships) Yuri announces his Grand Prix programme theme to be ‘Love’, inspired by his feelings for Viktor. Despite feeling the pressure of expectations following his good performance in the first Grand Prix assignment, Viktor is able to help reinstall Yuuri’s confidence as he promises to have faith in him and to not worry about his own reputation. During his skate, Yuuri changes his final jump to Viktor’s signature move, a quadruple flip. This surprises Viktor, who runs to Yuuri as he leaves the rink, tackling him onto the ice and kissing him in front of everyone ‘because it’s the only way to surprise him back’. Later on, at another competition destination, Yuuri gifts Viktor a gold ring which matches his own- later on, Viktor refers to them as engagement rings, though its unclear whether this was in jest or meant seriously. He also states that he and Yuuri would get married when Yuuri won gold at the Grand Prix Final.  After this, they invite the other skaters to a dinner, where it’s revealed that during the previous year’s GPF banquet Yuri got drunk and started a dance off, also begging Viktor to come to his family hot spring and be his coach- though Yuuri had no memory of this event.

In the end, Yuuri and Viktor agree that whilst Viktor would return to skating for the next season, he would remain as Yuuri’s coach. With hat, they perform a pair ice dance edition of Viktor’s routine in the GPF exhibition event. Following the event, Yuuri moves to Russia to train alongside Viktor, finishing off the series there.

Type of Ship: Queer

The fandom at large regards the kiss, rings, and marriage comments as confirming their relationship canonically and I am inclined to agree, kissing someone is a bit extreme as being purely for a surprise without any romantic involvement- especially considering Viktor is representing Russia, which is known for its anti-lgbt+ views. Hence, I believe this relation is canon queer due to the actions of the pair throughout the series, which could be argued to not be platonic from the get-go, as Yuuri ran to see Viktor in a hot bath, which are traditionally enjoyed naked.

Thanks for reading!

Admin🦇

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Damie

Name: Dani x Jamie

Ship name: Damie

Original Content: The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020)

Ship Info: The Haunting of Bly Manor is a show set in rural England where Dani (an American) goes to work as a nanny for two children – Flora and Miles. The children’s parents died and since then they have been in the custody of their uncle who works away from their home and leaves them in the care of the cook Owen, the housekeeper Hannah and the gardener Jamie. With their previous nanny Rebecca having been found dead, they needed a new nanny – enter Dani. 

Dani and Jamie meet at Bly Manor and start out a tentative relationship, with Dani still having trauma from the death of her ex-fiancé just moments after she called off their engagement. Dani sometimes sees his face and feels like he is haunting her and doesn’t want to taint her new relationship with this. Dani and Jamie have many cute moments together from Jamie calling Dani “Poppins” – after Mary Poppins – and calming her down from a panic attack to Jamie opening up about her childhood to Dani and shower her some of her favourite flowers.

Their relationship starts to blossom throughout the series and as soon as it starts to ger going seriously, as this is still is show about ghosts, it is interfered with by Dani nearly getting killed by a ghost and ultimately having to let the soul of the lady of the lake enter into her in order to save Flora’s life. Whilst in many shows that have sapphic characters this may have been the point in which Dani dies (typical bury the gays and lesbian’s trope), however Bly Manor does not do this. At least not right away. 

Following the last traumatic events at Bly Manor everyone moves away. The children’s uncle decides to take a more active part in their lives, Owen opens up a restaurant and Dani and Jamie move to America and open a flower shop. The following years of Dani and Jamie’s life are spent together happily, they move in together and cook for each other, and Dani proposes to Jamie. Although at this point in time (Bly Manor was set in 80s-90s) it was not legal for two women to marry so they enter into a civil union. At some point during these 10 years after the events at Bly, the lady of the lake (Viola) starts to make her presences more known within Dani. This starts to scare Dani as she does not want to do anything to harm Jamie and so she makes the decision to go back to Bly and walks into the middle of the lake and dies. 

We see Jamie wake up to Dani gone and realise that she has gone back to Bly. Jamie follows her but by the time she has gotten to the lake it is too late, Dani is already dead at the bottom of the lake. Jamie screams and tries to get to Dani but it is of no use, she’s already gone. The show ends with Dani having broken Viola’s curse, as now no one else at Bly Manor would ever be taken by the lady of the lake because she was different. “The lady in the lake was also Dani. And Dani wouldn’t. Dani would never.”. Even though Dani is dead, “dead doesn’t mean gone” and we see in the very last scene of the show - set many years later at Flora’s wedding – Dani’s arm on Jamie’s shoulder.

Type of ship: Canon Queer

The way the creators of this show chose to handle this relationship was beautiful. Even though it was set in the 80s/90s we do not see them experience any homophobia, we simply just see them living a life together. We get a montage of them being happy and settling down. We get to see them getting engaged and even though they’re not allowed to legally get married we still get to see them in a civil union instead of being completely disheartened. There are many period typical things the creators could have chosen to include in the show, however they didn’t they simply just let Dani and Jamie be happy. 

Although, the show does ultimately end with Dani dying and this could be seen as yet another addition to the bury the gays trope I think the way in one done here makes me think about it differently. I understand how it can be very disheartening as a sapphic character that we have become attached too has been killed off and this has been done so many times before that it has somewhat become expected but also there’s a sense of hoping that it wouldn’t happen this time. However, the fact that Dani and Jamie got more than 10 years with each other after the events I think is a great way to look at this because creators could’ve chosen to kill her straight away, but they didn’t. The death of Dani also makes sense artistically as the person who becomes the lady of the lake is destined to die – it happened with Rebecca and she for all intents and purposes was straight and in a heterosexual relationship. 

Therefore, I completely understand why people are still mad at the death of Dani as of course people are attached to this character and this relationship and it feels so unfair but I also feel that for some reasons her death also makes a certain amount of sense. 

Thanks for feeling the feels we me!

Admin 🦈

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Swan Queen

Name: Emma x Regina

Ship name: Swan Queen

Original content: Once Upon a Time (OUAT)

Ship info: Once Upon a Time is a TV show where all of the fairy-tale characters that we know and have been told about all our lives have been cursed by the Evil Queen into our land – the land without magic – and have been frozen in time for 28 years in a small town called Storybrooke. The legend goes that the daughter on Snow White and Prince Charming (the saviour) will come to town and wake everyone up from the curse. Thus, the show starts with Henry, the adopted son of Regina (the evil queen) going to find his birth mother Emma (the saviour/Snow White and Charming’s daughter) and bringing her back to Storybrooke.

Henry (their son) who has found out about the curse through a gifted storybook, spends a long time trying to convince Emma that the curse is real not just a story and that she’s the one that needs to break it. However, Emma has a hard time believing that everyone living in town is a cursed storybook character and only participates in these discussions with Henry to keep him happy.

Emma and Regina’s relationship gets off to a rocky start as Regina immediately begins to feel threatened by Emma, her sons birth mother, and due to the fact that her relationship with Henry is a little fractured during that point in time. It looks like she has nothing to worry about however as Emma vows to leave town that night although on her way out of town she gets run off the road by a wolf ultimately leading to a chain of events that have Emma staying in town. 

During her stay in town Emma spends a lot of time at odds with Regina, they are constantly arguing over Henry (at first), and there is a lot of tension between them when they are making threats to each other and arguing. This arguing however comes to a stop after the fight they have over their son eating a poisoned apple turnover that Regina made for Emma. Emma wakes Henry up with true loves kiss and both mothers are happy their son is not dead. This is arguably the point where their relationship is worst, after this their relationship only gets better. 

After Emma breaks the curse by waking Henry up and true loves kiss magic comes back to Storybrooke. This leads to a lot of instances in which Emma and Regina have to fight together to save the town and their son a lot and even in some instances save each other. There are also many points in the show where people don’t believe that Regina is redeemed and still see her as a villain however Emma has always believed in Regina’s redemption, even going as far as protecting and defending her when Regina is accused of murder. We see moments later on in this show of Emma bringing Regina lunch and the both of them teasing each other which shows how much their relationship has evolved from what it used to be.

There is a lot of tension that can be felt in this teasing and in their ever-present need to save each other and even in simple moment such as Emma declaring that she always knows when Regina is lying and that she wants to help Regina find her happy ending. The move of their relationship from enemies to people who trust one another with their lives – as they have on many occasions – is very important in understanding why these characters are so beloved together. This is because they are both passionate fighters about/for the things that they love and once they get over their differences and realise who similar they actually are, they spend a lot of time fighting to save each other. Even going as far as Emma absorbing the darkness/curse of the dark one in order to save Regina and her goodness.

Additionally, there are also multiple parallels throughout the show both visually and audibly wherein Swan Queen are compared to Snowing (Snow White and Prince Charming) who are a canon heterosexual couple who share two children. Why are moments between Emma and Regina being parallel to a couple in a canon romantic relationship, a couple who are professed to be (canon) romantic True Loves in this show, if Emma and Regina themselves aren’t meant to be in a romantic relationship and/or true loves.

Type of Ship: Queer Bait

Putting aside all of the fairy tale elements and all of the magic in this show, seeing the trope of two people sharing a child implies that by the end of the series these two people will be in a romantic relationship. Instances in which this trope occurs, and the parents have been a man and woman result in a romantic relationship, some examples include: About a Boy (2002), The Switch (2010), Life as We Know It (2010), Love Comes Softly (2003).

In all of these examples the male and female characters who are seen parenting a child together end up in romantic relationships. Why then did the creators of OUAT choose to apply this trope to their show only to have these two parental characters not end up together just because they are both women. They have spent the majority of the show making parenting decisions for their son together, fighting together to save their son and even becoming something resembling a family only for them to not end up together even though if they were a man and a woman instead of both women, they would have ended in a romantic relationship together.

Additionally, there are also instances in the show of prolonged eye contact and wide screen shots of these characters looking at each other. In this same show there are heterosexual characters with examples of the same moment happening that are in or do end up in a romantic relationship. If this is so then why isn’t it the same for Swan Queen, the only difference being that they are both women. The shots of these two characters together are conscious choices made by writers, producers and directors and have been put into the show making people think that what is going to happen is that these characters are going to end up in a romantic relationship, yet they never do! There is no need for creators to tease something that is not going to happen, the only thing that this does is creates outrage from audiences who were invested in this relationship and led to believe that it was a possibility. There have also been instances in which creators have spoken on social media about this ship speculation and actively participating in keeping this audience tuned into the show. They have reeled this audience in only for them to be disappointed by the results. 

Thank you for coming to my ted talk!

Admin 🦈

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: The Ineffable Husbands

SPOILER WARNING for the Good Omens series, including season 2 :D

Names: Crowley and Aziraphale 

Ship name(s): The Ineffable husbands/ Aziraphale

Original Content: Good Omens book (1990) and the Good Omens series (2019 S1, 2023 S2)) and all subsequent world building done by our lord and saviour Neil Gaiman through Tumblr <3

Ship info: Firstly, while the book will be mentioned within this post, it is important to note that i myself have only ever watched the series- as such, if there is information from the books that is failed to be mentioned that you believe should’ve been, this is why; please feel free to add anything you would like in the notes! Secondly, I will be using multiple pronouns for both Aziraphale and Crowley within this post because, as stated by Neil himself in a Tumblr ask, we might as well see them as genderfluid because he does. Similarly, angels (and thus, demons) are defined as sexless beings within the book, who’s “size, and shape, and composition, are simply options”.

So, you may be wondering, “what’s with this bible fanfiction?”, well don’t you worry I will clear that right up!

Good Omens is a novel/book originally written as a collaboration between Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman in 1990, exploring the roles of angels, demons and mortals during the apocalypse – Armageddon. This has in recent years been adapted into a series for Amazon Prime Video with the help of Neil our beloved to ensure it stayed true to their vision for this story, especially since the series goes beyond the canon timeline of the book.

In particular, it follows demon Crowley and angel Aziraphale, who, as the only non-mortals residing within the mortal world long term, formed an alliance over the centuries, though this alliance slowly but surely turned into a friendship and then progressed into even more. Now, this might sound like an enemies-to-lovers 400k slow-burn but it’s NOT. You see, Crowley was once an angel prior to his fall, with the fandom theorising that they were a rather high-ranking angel due to his actions and clearance levels depicted within scenes of season 2, so technically they didn’t start off as enemies, nor would I argue that they ever truly became enemies following Crowley becoming a demon. Anyway, the first series follows these two immortal beings as they attempt to prevent the coming of the Antichrist, Adam Young, together. The majority of season one focusses on how Armageddon is coming to fruition and how mortals and immortals alike were attempting to stop it. Despite this, there is still a large focus on Crowley and Aziraphale’s personal relationship throughout time.

Within season 1 episode 3, we take a short break from the ‘current’ canon of stopping Armageddon to explore Crowley and Aziraphale’s relationship and how it grew throughout the centuries using flashbacks for the first portion of the episode, this past history between them before the canon of Armageddon is also explored further in season 2 through multiple extended flashbacks. In the canonical timeline of events, these flashbacks begin from before the beginning of the universe as we know it, with then-angel Crowley creating the universe (“let there be light” and all that) as Aziraphale watched him do so; then jumping to the Garden of Eden, where now-demon Crowley tempts Eve. These flashbacks are sporadic throughout time, gaining in frequency the closer to ‘now’ they get, showing the pairings meetings at: Noah’s Ark, during the testing of Job’s faith (where Crowley first tempts Aziraphale with food), at Jesus’ crucifixion, in a Roman tavern, in Arthurian Britain, and then much more frequently between 1793 in a Paris dungeon and 2019 at Armageddon. All of these flashbacks portray their relationship going from working against each other (in the garden 4004 BC) to working together (the Globe Theatre 1601 AD), though we don’t know the exact date “the arrangement” between the two beings began, it is alluded to within this scene in the Globe Theatre as they discuss the possibility of one of them doing both “the blessing and the tempting” (their respective jobs given to them by heaven and hell) in Edinburgh, as they had done so elsewhere previously, with Aziraphale showing fear for Crowley’s safety within this arrangement, saying “but if hell finds out, they wont just be angry, they’ll destroy you”, but eventually acquiescing, calling heads on the coin toss to decide who goes. These more frequent visits shown leading up to Armageddon show the change from just working together for ease to working together because they enjoyed their time together.

So now we are up to date with their relationship prior to Armageddon, from working together to working against one another all the way up to forming an alliance together and coming to care for one another. So, spoiler alert (I say as if the previous paragraph wasn’t full of spoilers); they stop Armageddon together (yay). Following them preventing Armageddon, hell and heaven attempted to fully discorporate the pair, using hellfire for Aziraphale and a holy water bath (sans rubber duck) for Crowley, the two predicted this move however and temporarily swapped bodies so as to ensure neither came to harm. They then nicely finished off the season with the pair dining in the Ritz, making a toast “to the world” as a nightingale sang in Berkeley Square (in reference to the popular love song published in 1940).  

So, all is well and good for the start of season 2, right? WRONG. Archangel Gabriel shows up at Aziraphale’s bookstore having lost all his memories, Crowley and Aziraphale perform a miracle together to hide Gabriel (now going by Jim) that is so strong heaven believes it could only be the will of an archangel, leading to them believing that Gabriel is hiding in Aziraphale’s bookshop. Now, this season evolves around hiding Gabriel and somehow restoring his memories but Aziraphale instead takes it upon himself to focus on trying to set up the owners of two nearby stores, drawing similarities between the two and himself and Crowley. So Aziraphale is trying to set these two up, Crowley is trying to keep Aziraphale safe and heaven and hell alike are both convinced they are hiding Gabriel. This all comes to a head as Gabriel’s memories get restored and it is revealed that he was demoted after refusing to support an attempt at a second Armageddon, conversations are had and offers are made and the elusive Metatron offers Aziraphale Gabriel’s old position, promising to restore Crowley’s status as an angel.

Now for the divorce. Yeah, you read that right, the ineffable divorce. The day I cried, the fandom cried, I think even the official Amazon Prime Twitter *ahem*, sorry, ‘X’ account admin cried. Aziraphale accepts the Metatron’s offer because they believe he and Crowley working together can make a difference, “we can be together, angels, doing good. I need you”. Crowley confesses to Aziraphale, saying how they can do the same as Gabriel and Beelzebub and leave heaven and hell behind to just be them, they disagree on working for heaven and Crowley points out that they can’t hear any nightingales (in reference to the end of season one), “you idiot, we could’ve been us”, before kissing Aziraphale once, finishing off this glorious season with “I forgive you” (A), “Don’t bother”.

Now, this is where we are left off with their relationship, and while there are a lot more scenes I’ve missed out here which allude to their building romance and many, many posts by Neil Gaiman which explore it further, this has already gotten way too long to include them all.

Type of Ship: Queer

Now, even outside of their relationship, these two are unequivocally queer.  As previously stated, they both do not conform to societal stereotypes surrounding gender, with them being angelic beings who simply choose to take on the traditionally more masculine forms we most associate with them, whilst other times choosing more traditionally feminine forms- like Crowley did in scenes of the crucifixion of Jesus, or when they were a nanny. While this isn’t explicitly spoken about within the series (because their gender presentation simply is there, an unquestioned part of them, it’s not a focal point of the plot), co-author and series writer Neil Gaiman has clarified that angels and demons alike do not have gender or sex and do not perceive gender in the same way as humans do.

How, as such, within the ship they are also queer, with the pair not bending to societal norms surrounding gender, sex and relations. And though they do kiss in the final episode of season two, Neil Gaiman has confirmed that their kiss was “about a lot of things but   its not to show they’re in love” alluding to the love being shown in other ways as their relationship isn’t inherently sexual- neither is it inherently asexual as he explained “they are an angel and a demon, not as male humans”. This portrays romance and love in away that is inherently queer and different to that of heteronormative ideals as they are not strictly male or female and don’t explore sexuality in the same way as is the norm.

Thank you for reading this! Admin 🦇 out!

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: Bechloe

Name: Beca x Chloe

Ship name: Bechloe

Original content: Pitch Perfect Franchise first released in 2012

Ship Info: Pitch Perfect is a franchise consisting of three movies in which follows and acapella group – the Barden Bellas – from Barden University compete in acapella championships whilst navigating friendships and relationships. This ship consists of Beca and Chloe, two members of this acapella group and was sparked in the first Pitch perfect movie when we see Chloe barge into Beca’s shower, making her sing Titanium with her which Chloe labels as her “lady jam”. 

Chloe Beale is a kind-hearted redhead who is depicted somewhat as the embodiment of human sunshine. She is co-captain of the Barden Bellas – an all girls acapella group at Barden University. Our first glimpse of her is during the welcome fair for the university where she is trying to get people signed up to audition for the Bella’s. This is where she first meets Beca. 

Beca Mitchell is a grumpy brunette with an ‘I hate the world’ persona. She has dark hair and clothes and has a passion for mixing music. When we first meet her she is wearing chunky headphones blocking everyone else out. We learn that she is only at the university due to a deal she made with her dad. Early on we find that she is a sarcastic and dismissive character who wants to keep to herself, which we find out when she dismisses Chloe’s initial attempt to get her to join the Barden Bellas. 

Although their first meeting is at the welcome fair, the more important start to their relationship is when Chloe barges into Beca’s shower and sings ‘Titanium’ with her. Since then there were many moments in which there are underlying romantic tones. From Chloe invading Beca’s personal space – and Beca allowing it to happen when she is not so fast to accept contact from others – to Chloe purposefully failing her exams to stay at the university for longer. Whilst initially Beca had no intentions if staying at Barden University, after joining the Bella’s and becoming co-captain of the Bella’s later on she stays there and graduates with everyone else.

Chloe spends most of the first movie defending Beca against some of the other Bellas and Beca somewhat welcomes human contact from Chloe. This develops so much over the course of the three movies even though they are not in a romantic relationship with each other and at points have had flirtations and relationships with other people. Even so it was still acceptable for Chloe to pin Beca to a wall by holding and pushing on Beca’s breasts. This intimate contact is prevalent throughout the franchise and gives reason for why Bechloe is a popular ship from this franchise even though their relationship was only teased and never became canon. Not to mention that even though in the third movie they have left University, Chloe and Beca chose to still live together.

Type of ship: Queer bait 

They start this relationship off with both of them in a shower together and progress with romantic undertones such as Chloe admitting to Beca that she wished she has ‘experimented’ more in college – whilst they are sleeping next to each other. This is furthered when Beca allows Chloe to grab her breasts when she would welcome even a hug from many others. Yet we’re still to believe that by the end of the franchise they are only friends. 

Chloe and Beca are depicted throughout the franchise using the common ship trope grumpy x sunshine. If these characters were not supposed to end as a canon relationship, then it prompts the question as to why they were depicted by the creators of this franchise as this common ship trope that fans are obviously going to interpret as a romantic relationship. Also, I will raise the point as to why Beca who is the traditional grumpy character has been made to have a soft spot for Chloe if they were not to be in a romantic relationship, even going as far as to having Beca use pet names for Chloe such as “sweetie”. This insinuates a closer than usual bond between these characters and could not simply be unintentional moments on the part of the creators. 

Additionally, during the promotion of this franchise these two characters were heavily featured together, even having a near kiss moment in a promotional video for one of the movies. This begs the questions as to why you would promote your characters this way if you didn’t intend for them to have a canon romantic relationship which has been heavily insinuated at and fans were led to believe would happen. 

Whatever the reasons were fans felt like they were done a disservice after being led on and getting so emotionally invested in this ship when they did not end up together by the end of the franchise. At least Bechloe are together in their hearts. 

Admin 🦈

[shipposttt]

The Ship of the Day: SatoSugu

(SEASON 2 SPOILERS WILL BE INCLUDED SO PLEASE AVOID IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED)

Name: Satoru Gojo x Suguru Geto

Ship Name: SatoSugu (plus many others)

Original Content: Jujutsu Kaisen

Ship Info:

Moving on from the slash of Jim Kirk x Sprock, we tread into anime territory with a ship that destroyed the way fans viewed KFC… Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto.

Coming from one of the most highly recommended new generation of anime, Jujutsu Kaisen has smashed expectations and captured the hearts of fans from all over the world. But in capturing our hearts, a certain duo has also destroyed these hearts with the bittersweet ending the two shared.

Classmates. Best Friends. Enemies. And possible lovers for some fans, the two characters known as Satoru Gojo and Suguru Geto bring about a certain melancholy wherever they go. Although I would love to have a full ten page, single spaced essay on every interaction involving the two, I’ll spare you the pain and summarise a few of the key interactions between the two that really cemented themselves into peoples hearts.

At the start they were best friends. Going to the same Jujutsu High School in Tokyo and aiming to become Jujutsu Sorcerers. Sadly, we never got to see this. As a series of events lead to Geto spiralling into depression and changing his idea of how they (Jujutsu Sorcerers) should protect and fight for the weak, he completely breaks Jujutsu Regulations when he murders an entire village of non-sorcerers which lead to a ‘execute on sight’ command for all Jujutsu Sorcerers if they ever saw Geto. This lead to what fans dub as the KFC ‘breakup scene’.

Gojo desperately tries to get explanations as to why his best friend would possibly do such a thing and begs him to reconsider, which fails. When Geto turns away, telling Gojo to kill him if he wants, Gojo finds himself unable to do so. He aims, but can’t fire. After all it would mean killing the person who knew him best. His best friend. He is left realising that he can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

When we next see the pairing (in chronological order) it’s during the Cursed Child Arc when Geto Attacks Jujutsu High but is defeated by Yuta Okkotsu (a current Jujutsu High student) and forced into an Alley situated in the academy. When Gojo finds him they exchange a brief conversation, with Gojo saying how he trusted him not to hurt his students and Geto joking that “he didn’t think he had any of that left”. In their (thought to be) final moments, Gojo says three words the audience can’t hear, to which Geto laughs and responds “at least hit me with some curses at my end”. These unsaid words lead the fandom into a war in deciding what was actually said, many interpreting it as ‘I love you’ and other with ‘we’ll meet again’. And with that, Satoru Gojo was forced to end his best friends life. But he could not bring himself to discard the body which takes us to our next scene.

In the most current animated arc ,the Shibuya Incident Arc, Gojo arrives in Shibuya and kills one of the main cursed spirits involved in the attack and also 1000 of people who had been mutated. When he suddenly noticed a Prison Realm Cube, he found himself distracted when his name was called by a familiar voice. Suguru Geto. Gojo does not believe when this imposter claims to be Geto stating how “all the information provided by my six eyes are telling me you’re Suguru Geto, but both my heart and my soul know otherwise”. After it’s revealed it was in fact an ‘ancient entity’ that possessed a cursed technique which allowed it to switch bodies, ‘Geto’ blamed Gojo for not discarding Geto’s body, as that’s how he possessed his body. As he sends Gojo to be sealed away with a ‘goodnight’, Gojo lastly tells Geto that “it’s time to get up”. Once this is said, we see ‘Geto’s’ arm suddenly reach and grip his windpipe, suggesting that Geto’s body was rejecting its new brain. After the ordeal, it’s revealed this is the first time a body has ever rejected the entity. Which fans said was due to the bond the two had, one arguing it was a platonic bond while others claimed it was a romantic bond. Sort of like a ‘true loves kiss’ scenario.

Type of Ship: Queer Read

Despite all the fanfics, theories that fans have came up with and the endless amount of angst edits that make us believe there was a possible romance between the two (big up the JJK edit community), in terms of what’s canon they are just best friends. Platonic soulmates I’d love to add. So that is why it is a Queer read, due to fans interpretations of what they read.

Some see them as an old married couple sort of ship due to the comedic arguments we saw mostly during their early years. Some ship them due to this idea that Geto is Gojo’s Achilles Heel and his fatal flaw as it was due to his sudden appearance in the Shibuya Incident Arc that lead to the most powerful sorcerer in the franchise to be captured (very angst of you). Opposites attract as well due to their constantly contrasting beliefs, and heir overall colour pallet and personalities. And I could go on and on.

But despite how fans might interpret these interactions, the author (Gege) has confirmed them to be best friends and has in an interview said that he could not picture any romance possibly happening (except with Miwa).

But they did prove one thing that I think we can all agree on: there can be two pretty best friends.

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