#I still think ppl have a right to focus more on the fanon. cuz that’s just how weird FH was. but I wanna focus on the canon personally.

[the-somwthing]

Welcome to my little meta analysis essay called

Why do we misremember Flower Husbands as being “nicer” than it was?

Disclaimer: I’m not here to talk about whether or not FH is “toxic” or anything like that. It’s just a fact that many old fans rewatching FH POV and new fans who are watching it for the first time after seeing fan content tend to be surprised at how they actually behaved in the series compared to how everyone remembered them being back in the day. This will NOT go over whether or not I think FH is unhealthy or whatever and instead just discuss why I believe this phenomenon has happened.

So, if I try to make this a fancy well written essay, I’ll be here all day, so I’ll just get to the point. 3rd Life came out during the DSMP era of mcyt. MCRP has been around for ages, but the DSMP style of RP (which I’ll be calling “smp rp”) was pretty much popularized by DSMP, mostly towards the end of 2020. For reference, 3rd Life started early 2021, so there’s about a half a year between these two events, and DSMP kept going for years so 3rd Life was absolutely happening during the golden era of DSMP.

But what does DSMP have to do with this? Well, it sort of created this idea of “lore” and only specific things being “canon”. You can make fun of me for the way I worded that, but you know what I mean, DSMP was weird about that stuff. I don’t really blame them as it was kind of a new style of RP they accidentally spawned, but still, it was a confusing time for SMPs.

3rd Life was actually less like DSMP and more like the modern SMP RPs, where there’s no (known, lol) scripted events and the fandom itself deciphers what is or isn’t “canon” rather than it being told to them, with mostly everything being considered canon. HOWEVER, I do believe that DSMP’s style did still affect the fandom, specifically with the topic of this essay, Flower Husbands.

But why would it only really affect Flower Husbands? Now we get into a rough topic: shipping discourse. Back in those days, shipping in the mcyt fandom was heavily frowned upon. Moreso than it is today (I know it’s still around, but it was a lot worse the earlier we go lol). I’ve even seen old relics of ppl saying flower husbands should only be portrayed as platonic cuz it’s wrong to ship them, despite their team name literally being husbands. But more importantly, for A LOT of people, flower husbands was the One Ship people felt “allowed” to ship, BECAUSE it was canon. So they would allow FH and shun every other ship.

My point isn’t actually that, with it being the only “acceptable” ship everyone tried to make it more wholesome, though I suppose that could be a contributor. But my ACTUAL point is where all the things I laid out finally close in on each other:

Ships were a Dangerous territory in mcyt fandom, and ships being “canon” was something a lot of people weren’t prepared to deal with. People don’t want to get too close to RPF territory, but back in the day their ideas of c! vs cc! wasn’t as great, so they default to the DSMP Rule of “if it’s stated to be roleplay, then it’s canon to the characters, if not, it’s noncanon and just the CCs hanging out”.

You see where I’m going with this? When trying to follow this rule for a character relationship where they don’t explicitly state what is or isn’t RP, they hear “we’re married” and instantly mark that as canon to the characters since it clearly isn’t true to the CCs, and tend to block out anything else, otherwise you’re risking it not actually being true to the characters. Especially when it’s things like Scott saying something mean about Jimmy; that directly contradicts the “these characters are in love” thing, so it must not be canon, right?

But wouldn’t people still remember that these things happened, or did they actually straight up not process any of it? My answer to that is: of course everyone was paying attention, but with the context that it’s the CCs playing a video game, all of the teasing and other behavior seems WAY less serious. It just looks like average friends playing a hunger games smp together. And as I explained earlier, the fandom was ONLY processing this as a CC thing, so Scott’s treatment of Jimmy never stood out because that’s just how it is playing games.

Back to DSMP, I’m not active in that fandom anymore but I’ll see snippets sometimes, and I’ve seen the claim that beeduo was actually boring in canon and the fandom was the one that made it interesting. I feel like this is exactly what happened with FH. Nobody was actually expecting anyone to go hard into romantic roleplay, so the fans just take whichever pair says they’re getting married and fill in the blanks themselves. And that was normal back then, it wasn’t fans making stuff up for no reason, it was kind of expected of us.

So yeah, I personally believe that this whole confusion about FH is a result of its time. Whether you want to finally look at the actual substance of the relationship rather than following weird rules about what is or isn’t “canon”, or you believe that since FH was from a time where romantic RP was confusing and weird it would make the most sense to take into account the time period it came from and ignore the less appealing bits in favor of the fanon, I don’t really care honestly. But man isn’t this an interesting situation.

[edalynn]

i gotta admit that i have this habit of checking on ur blog every week or so just to read you+other anons expressing frustration w huntl0w. in a weird way it's like an outlet for me whenever i get annoyed by the constant ship content in the fandom. like vicarious venting. if that makes sense

i honestly don't mind it as a crack ship tbh. like if that was all it was, that would be fine, it's like ppl shipping camila/eda, or gus/mattholomule, or vee/masha, etc... like huntl0w, those are all totally normal pairings that (with the exception of camila/eda) have all gotten VERY brief moments that might *possibly* hint to it being a thing in the future. but that's the point, is that huntl0w falls into that category, but the sheer quantity of content that is/has been produced VASTLY outpaces all the other crack ships.

and that's what gets me about it i think . is that the fanon has elevated it to the point where if all you knew about TOH was what you saw in fandom spaces, any outsider would make the reasonable assumption that huntl0w is integral to the plot and has had several episodes worth of development in regards to their relationship

but it hasn't? ,... meaning there's this weird mismatch between universally accepted fanon-as-canon and what actually occurs in the show. and..... it's really, really weird, and i think the question should be asked: why huntl0w? why is this crack ship specifically getting this strange treatment, and having more attention placed on it than fuckin lumity, or raeda?

and let's be real. it's probably cuz it's straight.

there are prob other factors too, like hunter is the stereotypical attractive bad boy who switches sides, or in luz's words, 'i pretend i don't care but i secretly do' kinda guy. think zuko ,and the amount of ppl that simp for him lmao. so it's possible willow is being used as a sort of quasi-self insert (recall how in a lot of their ship art, the focus is always always always on hunter and his issues, with willow just sort of Being There to fluster him/make him happy). and obviously using willow like that is really weird! like seriously i've got no problem if ppl wanna do an oc x canon situation with hunter. that's fine. but actually use some brain power to make a self insert oc instead of using willow lol

anyway i hope that wasnt too much rambling for an ask i just had some Thoughts about huntl0w lol

YEAH, if it had stayed a crackship I could've just like. ignored it and let it be. I definitely still mocked it personally with my partner irl when we would see it because it just seemed so ridiculous to us, but I wouldn't be as vocally angry or have the trauma response it causes now. The content in the fandom for h/l vs. lumity and raeda combined is depressing to say the least. And yes, you're right. It's because it's straight or straight passing at the very least. It's really telling and really upsetting for a queer-based show's most popular ship to be a m/f ship that's not even canon and doesn't even affect the plot. Honestly, I'd go as far as saying it's disgusting and those artists that I see that ONLY draw hunt/low shouldn't even be watching toh in the first place because this piece of media is clearly not what you need.

And it's amazing actually, what you pointed out. It has literally the amount of implication that any other crackship in the show has aside from camila/eda. Like, I knew that but I'd never really thought too extensively on that point. There is seriously no supporting evidence more than for gustholomule that hunt//low will ever end up canon aside from a few blushes from only one side of the ship in the first place. In any other show it would be taken as just that, a little nod at a potential crackship. I don't know why hunt/low shippers are so aggressively convinced that it's already canon when it's barely past crackship level.

And it's definitely all those reasons you mentioned that it's far more popular even than canon queer ships- it being m/f, hunter being the typical attractive bad boy-secretly good character, and Willow being easy to morph into a type of self-insert made to coddle said bad-boy character because that's the type of relationship and validation they want. 🙄 But for real,, if that's the reason you think you like hunt//low,, you don't actually like hunt//low or even Willow's character specifically- you just want a pretty bad boy to like you and you're using hunter as your outlet lmao. Seriously, just make an OC at that point. It does less of a disservice to Willow's character and can be molded into canon however you'd like. I'd prefer to see everyone's canon insert OCs than constant out of character hunt//low in the tags constantly.

[violetrance]

Idk where this sudden burst of confidence came from but i am seeing people who were doubtful are now so sure of klance endgame. Yes Jeremy said something will happen but I am still doubtful and I could beat myself up for it but he could be talking about any one not just klance. Sorry but I have been in a fandom where people were so sure of this pairing becoming canon and it had so much evidence as well but it didnt happen. I was confused and heartbroken and Im scared to be diappointed again.

Lemme say this first, if Klance doesn’t become canon it’s not a big deal okay? I know a lot of ppl will be disappointed, but don’t let this rule over your life. And you can still ship them even if they aren’t canon, cuz tbh a lot of fanon has made this ship more enjoyable rather than canon :)

But on a side note, I’m going to summarize some really solid proof and evidence that Klance has a very good chance at becoming canon:

1. Jeremy emphasising that something might happen between two characters in terms of the LGBTQ rep in the show

(Let me also say that Keith and Lance will obvs not be the only LGBTQ rep in the show, but in terms of Jeremy’s wording they have a very good chance at being apart of this rep as a same sex couple)

- Lance will have an end game romance (his romance will bring him in a different place than where he first started in the series, they will be someone he needs instead of someone he wants, Jeremy also mentioning that eventually you’ll find that one person instead of kind of going all over the place) - In terms of this, when did we REALLY start to see Lance mature and branch off into his arc, s3 with Keith. Not to mention their last interaction was with Keith reassuring Lance about his position on the team, this obviously helped him bcuz look at him now

(- Also Lance needs someone who is self assured - Keith is off on his own arc too and he’s come across his mother. His mother is the main reason why Keith isn’t self assured and afraid of rejection. Him meeting her again will definitely help improve his character as a whole)

- Lance parallels Blaytz, the original Blue paladin, like to the point where it’s not even a coincidence (Blaytz was shown flirting with a male) - adding onto this, the amount of bi flag symbolism portrayed around Lance and even some of his moments with Keith isn’t coincidental, but very purposeful. Lance making similar expressions towards Keith as he has Allura?? Allura and Keith paralleling each other?? These are also not coincidences. Lauren’s art with Lance holding the LGBTQ sign a long with Shiro, someone he’s looked up to and will most likely be an aid to him through this? Just like Hunk was to Keith for his Galra reveal, and Allura was to Pidge during her Gender reveal (Shiro is most likely LGBTQ too, just like how Allura is a female in terms of gender, and Hunk is Samoan in terms of race) 

- That being said since Keith literally fits the characteristics of Lance’s end game and he is NOT straight, but also Lance will most likely fit into the LGBTQ category as well based on that evidence, they both have an extremely good possibility of being an end game couple 

- Since s1 Keith has shown interest in Lance, ever since their romantically coded bonding moment (that moment parallels Hunk and Shay who are romantically coded, and A LOT of their other moments parallel Lotura who are ALSO romantically coded, this is not a coincidence) - But like I’ve emphasised, their romance is slow burn, once they start something between each other it NEVER finishes because they are dragging it out to a certain point

- Jeremy’s smile every time someone mentions Klance? How hyped he always is for them? And now revealing that something will happen between two characters? It’s not a coincidence. But if Keith and Lance just end this all off as an amazing team and good friends, I wouldn’t even be complaining, but all of this just fits too well for that. Jeremy has also said they become better friends in the future, so that’s also important to note too

- Also Lauren mentioning that the characters need to stand on their own before getting involved in romance? That is literally the main purpose of Keith and Lance’s separate arcs right now. I have no doubt in my mind that the heart grows fonder with distance trope is in play right now

2. Lauren and Joaquim deflecting Klance

- These two emphasised that Klance was never supposed to be intentional, meanwhile they literally BLATANTLY parallel two romantically coded pairs and they have offered up a ship name called Laith that literally means LION, Lance being Keith’s stability? Is someone really going to try and tell me that this was “accidental?”

- Also, they deflect so much huge plot points in the show just for the purpose that nothing will be spoiled, they did this with Pidge being a boy, they did this with Allura not being paladin material, they did this when saying romance won’t be a huge focus in the show and then literally romantically coding Lotura in the next season…

- So the fact that they’re doing it with Klance is rlly not a coincidence. Ppl always pull out that card with them saying they can’t go back and make Keith and Lance in love cuz they’re ahead of the storyline. Ever thought that’s because they’re already in love and that’s how the storyline’s already written out? Ever thought that it’s cuz they can’t make them in love right off the bat since their relationship is slow burn? You know, cuz they’re not trying to cater to shippers. Nowhere in that interview did they flat out say Keith and Lance have no possiblity of falling in love or that they weren’t canon. Cuz they CAN’T. Also I wouldn’t even be surprised if that was deflecting too, considering they’ve said that Korrasami were only gal pals and look where they are now…

3. Them saving Shiro

- A theory has already been written about this and I was thinking about it for a long time too, but Keith and Lance will most likely be the ones to save Shiro from the astral plane or whatever virtual mindscape he’s in LOOL

- I’m not going to go too deep into this bcuz it’ll be hella long, but think about what could happen between them considering this is a STRONG possibility:

- They will definitely grow closer bcuz of this (considering Keith has been the only one Lance has gone to about his issues in the first place, love is about being vulnerable after all, which is literally what HE wrote in his guide to falling in love)

- Considering the show is not yet over, this will give them very good development in their relationship (the bedroom scene and bonding moment parallel each other, where they both started to see each other in a different light, but before anything could become of it they were cut off from each other) - Lance rejected Keith claiming that they bonded and grew closer bcuz he wasn’t fond of him in s1 and also his character was not at the point where it is now. Please imagine the Lance from right now being told about their bonding moment, he’d be so much more open to it. Keith leaving the team (coincidentally right after he grew closer to Lance too) bcuz he was afraid of rejection so he broke apart from them first, now he’s come across his mother and she will help him improve himself. Once he returns from this, he will let his family in more and Lance too trust me. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both of these plot points in which they could have gotten closer and fallen in love could be easily fixed by the seperate arcs that are occuring right now

- Lance and Keith’s storylines are so interwined as well like (don’t follow in his footsteps? How their lions parallel their actual characters in terms of each other? We literally see Keith through Lance’s eyes the first moment they meet and they are set up as a pair immediately. And there is SO much more)

They actually have proper development between the other for it to build into a relationship in the future. Jeremy saying that there’s prob gonna be an end game between two same sex characters further proves that. And if it doesn’t happen, again, it isn’t the end of the world, but after writing all of this, it just makes the most sense rn.