#honestly I really hunted for common threads in both the like and the dislike

[absolutebl]

Hey. Need your help here in understanding something specific.

For a long time, I thought I hated the seme-uke dynamic. And in large part, I do. But I've started critically assessing the shows I watch more and as I try to parse through my emotions and feelings regarding them, I feel my thoughts on it to be way too...unclear.

For a long time, I thought the problem lied on the seme end of the dynamic. I seemed to UNIVERSALLY have a problem with seme characters through VARIOUS beloved shows like We Best Love, Semantic Error, Until We Meet Again, Love By Chance, etc.

I felt something about the semes in these shows were...frustrating for me to watch or enjoy to the fullest. As such, I always touted that I preferred shows with no seme/uke, or a lighter seme/uke dynamic, such as To My Star, Be Loved in House I Do, About Youth, Bad Buddy, etc.

Now, I've come to the conclusion my issues lie with the type of relationship dynamic between the seme and uke, rather than the seme or uke individually (tho they could also play a role in certain cases), or the seme-uke (trope) dynamic itself.

This has come from my recent revelation in my enjoyment of Moonlight Chicken, despite both its lead couples having (atleast) elements of a seme-uke trope dynamic.

I have also now reflected on my past watches and I now have to fight to understand why I really enjoy shows like Cherry Magic, the Kiss series, Theory of Love, Blueming, Tharntype (I hate this BL, but NOT because of Tharn or Type's dynamic once they are in a relationship [which is extreme seme-uke]), or FUCKIN History 2 Right or Wrong, WHICH IS LIKE QUINTESSENTIAL SEME/UKE TROPES. WITH AGE DIFFERENCE.

So yeah. I have NO IDEA why I cannot stand King and Uea's dynamic despite trying SO HARD to enjoy it. Yet I like Oxygen. FUCKIN OXYGEN.

Thus, here I am asking for your help. Do you see ANY through line in the type of relationship dynamic I enjoy? Or at least, what dynamic doesnt seem to click or jive with me? Cause I cannot tell some of these shows apart in terms of dynamics. Yet I still like one and hate the other.

PLEASE HELP. Thanks lmao. Long ass rant I know.

Hum, what a question. Hold on, data analyst, MUST list things

Doesn't like semes in

We Best Love

Semantic Error

Until We Meet Again

Love By Chance

Bed Friend

Likes weaker/absent S/u in

To My Star

Be Loved in House I Do

About Youth

Bad Buddy

BUT also likes

Moonlight Chicken

Cherry Magic

Kiss series

Theory of Love

Blueming

Tharntype

History 2 Right or Wrong

Oxygen

Runs through brain checklist of other elements in play/common: tsundere uke, domesticity, chemistry, cohesive narrative, harshness, slapstick, softness, enemies to lovers.

Nope, I got nothing. No idea what's going on in your BL heart.

Look, I think this is a grape situation.

By which I mean. You kinda get when someone doesn't like cilantro because it tastes like soap, or mango because they are allergic, or cucumber because it's slimy, or spicy food, or durian or what have you.

But when someone doesn't like grapes you're all... but why? Such an inoffensive fruit. And also... wine.

But sometimes, you just don't like grapes.

We like what we like.

We don't like what we don't like.

Sometimes there is no reason there's just taste.

[foureoreos]

The fandom doesn’t seem to like the female characters as much as the male ones. I think it’s because the males are part of everyone’s favorite ships and we tend to care more about those characters more idk. So many people even dread seeing new female characters because they’re scared of the canon heterosexual relationships that follow. I’m really uncomfortable with how the fans react to the female characters in favor of their gay ships... is that like weird?

This is a good ask!

But I don’t think “ships” are the reason that everyone tends to flip out about the female characters in this show.

I love female leads. But here’s for starters...

I can’t find any of them relatable because:

A) The handful of female characters we do get on the show hardly ever show up so it’s hard to get a grasp of what their personality is like. i.e. Skylor.

B) When they do show up they’re either: written very poorly, bland, aggressive, or just don’t last very long.

So far, my favorite ones have been Pixal, Faith, Mystake, and Harumi, and quite possibly Akita. Racer Seven was cool too but she only showed up for maybe 1 or 2 episodes? Akita? Only a season. Faith? A season and just a wee bit of MoTO. Mystake died in Hunted. Harumi? Two seasons actually, then died, but came back as an avatar in Prime Empire! Also, she’s a villain, and my analysis here is mostly around the protagonists.

Pixal’s actually gotten good development. She’s definitely grown on me. And I love that she can still be feminine and badass. She’s caring, shows human emotions, sassy, and smart. And although Pixal is a part of the group, the writers don’t write her as a main character. Unfortunately. Which I pointed out to show that she also doesn't get as much screen time as... drum roll please... Nya!

And that, folks, is the reason why I had an entire Twitter thread with someone about why I care about how her character is written and represented. And why I diss on her so much. Because she’s the main “poster girl” that every little girl watching is supposed to look up to since, let’s face it, everyone else is waiting in the wings (lol, Tangled fans did you catch that reference?). But, let’s also acknowledge how most of the little girls who were watching are probably already grown up now. Like me :) And I could go deeper into why I pick apart Nya like that, but we won’t do that on this post.

Anyhoo, that’s still no excuse to write a female character poorly.

Now, when *she* arrives...

Everyone dreads when a new female character is introduced into the show because the show tends to have a reputation of writing them off first as a love interest to one of the ninja. Not even after getting to know them first, just the second they’re right there in the show.

Jay immediately went after Nya the second he heard Kai mention that they were saving his sister. So, a girl.

Zane instantly sparked some kind of romantic attraction with Pixal. However, I still kinda play around with the fact that they’re both just robots? So it was kind of the “robot love” scenario.

Kai instantly fell head over heels for Skylor the second she turned around.

Lloyd had his eyes on Harumi the second he laid eyes on her.

It’s not just bad writing, but it’s also very annoying. And it’s also almost always annoying because it’s a boy falling for a girl. Which is seen quite often. Repetitively. The reason we all shake our heads at it is because it feels like the ninja only like girls. We just want representation, that’s all.

And the writer’s can’t even write good relationships for the sake of the show. Then again, they can’t even write the female characters well on the show too. Maybe you’d think they’d need a female writer or two on board.

Now this part, I had a conversation on twitter several hours ago about this. About why the fandom excuses and likes the boys more than the girls.

I think it’s because:

A) They’re more interesting and the dynamic they have with one another is very fun.

B) There are the fans who see them as “pure innocent beans who could never do anything wrong” and when they do do something wrong, it’s simply excused. Of course, not everyone does that. But I’ve seen the people who do. I made a tweet acknowledging Jay in S6 today and the comments I got proved my point.

C) It’s so common for us to excuse the male characters in media when they do something wrong or out of bounds, but pick on the girls for doing something completely outrageous when maybe, it wasn’t so bad? It’s not right, but you can’t ignore it.

But for me in particular, I just think the gals in this show are poorly written.

And now about ships...

Number one: if the ship is all you care about, as in, the only thing that exists in the show for you, so you disregard the story and the other characters, okay. See you later.

I love my ships, like, absolutely adore bruiseshipping. But I also love the concept, and the characters, and the story. It’s why I began watching the show in the first place. And I care about how the show is treated and how the writing is.

Number two: the people who hate a character simply because it gets in the way of their ship can also beat it. That’s... absolutely no reason to dislike and/or put down a character.

I don’t like Nya, and I don’t like ja/ya, but neither have anything to do with me liking bruiseshipping. The reasons are completely separate. I don’t like Nya and ja/ya because they aren’t written well. Period.

And I hate that some people in this fandom assume that. I’ve interacted with some people on Twitter who automatically accused me of dissing on Nya just because I like bruiseshipping. And it made me... sad. Honestly.

So, nah, it’s not weird that you’re uncomfortable about it. It shouldn’t be like that in the first place.

[impalawanderlust]

14x10 Thoughts

LONG POST ALERT.

Honestly, up until Dean got re-possessed, I was running on another theory--that instead of "Rocky's bar" being the construct that Michael created to keep Dean placated in his own mind, everything that we've seen happen to Dean since 14x2 has been Michael's construct, and that he was never not possessed. I'm still not convinced that it wouldn't have made for a more interesting storyline. Generally speaking, I don't like retconning an entire half-season of television with an "it was all a dream" fakeout, but in this case, I think it would've worked.

Think about it. When Gadreel possessed Sam, he gave him a hunt to work on; business as usual meant Sam didn't start to suspect anything was amiss until it was brought to his attention. Michael's construct for Dean, in the other hand, is very clearly different from his usual life. None of his family is there at all, he's at least partially retired from hunting, and the only friend he has is a woman who died years ago. That doesn't sound to me like what Dean actually wants. That sounds more like an amateur guess at what Dean would want, similar to how the angels in DSotM showed Sam's "best" memories insomuch as they didn't involve Dean, specifically to drive a wedge between them. I would expect Michael, who has access to all of Dean's thoughts, feelings, and memories would have a better understanding of what Dean truly wants.

So let's look at some of the episodes in between 2 and 10.

In episode 4, Dean gets to fight his favorite slasher-movie villain on a hunt with his brother. He talks about how fun and cool it is throughout the episode. It's also notable that in this episode we finally get an explanation for Sam's dislike of Halloween and instead of something to do with hunting, it's an embarrassing childhood story that Dean's never heard before. I remember thinking it was odd that Dean had never heard the story before, despite the boys living in each other's pockets during the time period it took place. (Not to mention how fast drama and gossip spreads in a small town middle school-high school setting; even if Sam hasn't told him, it seems like he would've heard.)

In episode 5, the boys go up against a super-powered djinn--a creature that traps victims in a constructed reality in their own mind, and which Dean has personal experience with. And there are a lot of parallels between what a djinn does and what the angels have done--first to Sam, and now to Dean. Remember, when Dean was captured by a djinn in season 2, it gave him a life where his mother never died and he wasn't a hunter. With Sam's help, Dean eventually escaped that reality, and even commented that hunting was a part of their lives that he couldn't really concieve of living without. It's all he knows. Also in this episode, Dean helps a woman with through some of her issues with her father--something that Dean never truly got to do himself.

Episode 6 separates Sam and Dean on two different cases, so let's just focus for now on Dean's. He and Jack end up facing off with a zombie and the necromancer who created him. This gives them an opportunity to bond, father-son style, which is something we know Dean has always wanted--the opportunity to be a father. As for the monster, I found it interesting how similar the circumstances were to the first zombie the boys ever faced in, I believe season 3. In both cases, people brought back their loved ones rather than living without them (though Harper did kill Vance in the first place), which is a very common Supernatural theme, and would make sense as something Michael plucked out of Dean's memories and reused, which some modification.

The 7th and 8th episodes mainly center around Jack's deteriorating health, eventual death, and following resurrection. Along the way, there are TONS of scenes of Sam, Dean, and Cas worrying about him, trying to save him, and leaning on one another for support. They all three call him their "son" or their "kid" at least once, creating a very non-traditional, but still very loving and supportive portrait of a family. And what is the one thing we know Dean craves above all else, since the very inception of the show? A real family. Dean also takes Jack out for burgers, teaches him to drive (lets him ride Baby's brakes, ffs), and goes fishing with him. Jack mentions that Dean's favorite memory of his own father was a fishing trip they once took together, and Dean quickly points out that while he told him about the trip, he never said it was his favorite memory, but Jack dismisses this because it was just obvious to him. Also important to note that these episodes bring in characters we haven't seen in a while, like Rowena and Lily Sunder. Following the themes of the show, after Jack's (rather abrupt) death, we see some sacrifices made and some alliances formed in order to bring him back. Dean surprisingly calls it a "no strings attached win," despite Jack having to lose a sliver of his soul for it to happen.

In episodes 9 and 10 Michael seems to have anticipated the hunters' every move and begins a hostile takeover of Kansas City. He eventually repossesses Dean, talking about wanting to break his spirit. Disregarding the retcon of how angels can take over a vessel, it still strikes me as odd that Michael wouldn't have taken the opportunity to "break" Dean before possessing him by killing Sam rather than knocking him unconscious earlier in the episode. This whole thing comes across to me like Michael reading doubt in Dean that he did actually escape in 14x2 and responding with a convoluted plot where Sam and Cas help Dean escape once and for all--in the exact way that Dean and Crowley did for Sam back with Gadreel. It's another callback that seems directly plucked from Dean's memories. Besides all this, there is a very clear parallel in 14x10 to the movie Die Hard as Team Free Will rush into the tower with Ode to Joy blasting in the score--sounds exactly like a silly fantasy Dean might indulge in to feel more heroic in the crushing grind that is life as a hunter.

Basically, this whole theory is premised on Michael understanding that Dean would never be placated by a vision of a reality where he isn't a hunter--especially one where his family is AWOL. Instead he presents him with a much more realistic fantasy: Dean hunting, business as usual, but with little happinesses along the way (getting to play at slasher and/or action movie hero) and the absolute bedrock foundation of Dean's desires--a loving, supportive family that is safe and together, no matter what. Michael then ties it all together using Dean's memories of past hunts to create the story, which is why we're seeing so many callbacks to old plot threads and characters.

Obviously there is one major flaw in this reading, which is all the scenes that aren't told from Dean's point of view, but I would argue that presenting those scene as things that did really happen (e.g. Sam and Charlie hunting together, Nick's murderous rampage) would make the season more interesting bc it would mean only retconning Dean's memories between 14x2 and 14x10.

TL;DR My theory is that Dean never escaped from Michael and everything that's happened thus far is an elaborate construct the archangel put together to keep Dean from fighting him for control.

I would love to hear input on this, if you made it all the way through lol!