I am incredibly late with this weeks shipping news and I have absolutely
no excuse other than the fact that I am incredibly lazy (also Murphy’s Law) but
I have decided to take some time out of my Saturday morning to help you stay up
to date with all things shipping. This week a couple of epic shipping polls
(with more to come) including a replay of the Sterek vs. Faberry and Sterek vs.
Destiel battles. Also an epic romance set to make a triumphant return, Supernatural is shipping all the things
and I answer your most asked question – why exactly do I ship Sterek.
Right well we may as well jump right into the polls because March Madness
is living up to it’s name.
EOnline’s Fantasy
Couples Tournament took a couple of interesting turns. First up Sterek
managed to pull ahead of Faberry (who not only topped last years EOnline poll
but also beat Sterek in the AfterElton/AfterElton slash/femslash face-off). It
seems as though the Faberry fandom has lost its fire due to the lack of Quinn
and Rachel interaction on Glee this
season.
(Source)
After taking down Faberry – Sterek was faced with another challenge:
Destiel. Considering it was a pretty emotional week for Destiel shippers (I’ll
get to that in a minute) they were able to mobilize pretty well. Adding to that
the fact that Sterek has lost some of its momentum in recent months (don’t feel
bad Sterek shippers hiatus does it to the best ships) the battle was a lot
closer than last years After
Elton Slash Madness. It was nail biter but ultimately the alpha’s the Teen Wolf fandom achieved victory.
Sterek is currently
battling against Rizzoli and Isles if you want to go show your support for
either ship.
Not to be out done, EW’s
PopWatch is currently looking for the Greatest TV
Couple of All Time. To avoid a similar disaster to “the
great Sterek snub of 2012” EW have been very clear that this competition is
for official couples only. They are also carefully avoiding the word
shipping so they seem to have learnt something from last year’s kafuffle.
Also Zimbo’s second TV Couples
March Madness Challenge is currently underway. There are no restrictions in regards to canon
in this poll; it’s all in together with official couples (like Snow x Charming,
Klaine and Scallison) up against fan favourites (lik Faberry, Destiel and of
course Sterek). Votes are all over the place at the moment so it’s anyone’s
competition so if you want your favs to win you should probably get voting.
Moving on, I should hope you’re all aware of the Veronica
Mars Kickstarter campaign. It’s all super exciting and everything but
let’s face it what we really want to know is will Veronica and Logan ever get
their happy ending. I don’t know if you guys remember the show but happy
endings weren’t really on the table for anyone. Don’t believe me, here’s what
it says in the FAQ on the Kickstarter page.
(Source)
Rob Thomas is a cruel and vengeful god but you know what I’m just going
to sit here and ask him to hit me again… please. Anyone want to go halves on a
bulk buy of tissues?
Meanwhile on Supernatural every ship is canon…
you might think I’m exaggerating but I’m not. Meg called Cas her unicorn but
also shared a heartfelt moment with Sam (remember when you shipped them for a
moment in season 1). Cas’s love for Dean allowed him to overpower Naomi’s
brainwashing and Dean literally compared his relationship with Sam to Frodo and
Samwise from LOTR. Also something went down in Mesopotamia (I'm pretty sure it was Naomi). It was quite possibly the shippiest 40 minutes of television
ever. It was like Supernatural
shippers equivalent of Oprah’s gift episode.
You would think that this would make everyone happy, but alas that’s
not how shippers work. Before the episode even aired all kinds of wank began when
Misha said that Castiel and Meg share a tender moment. He wasn’t lying, it was
very tender and kind of sexy but some Destiel shippers did not take well to
this idea. I have long since given up on the Supernatural fandoms treatment of female characters, so I’m not
even going to touch that one. Don’t worry though, most shippers got over this
early wank because it’s okay to love her now that she’s no longer a threat (you
guys need to think about the implications this).
Then after the episode aired, Wincest shippers (and others) were
upset by the way that Destiel shippers were drawing parallels between the
latest episode and when Sam over powered Lucifer for Dean in “Swan Song”. While
I respect that what happened between Sam and Dean in “Swan Song” is so beyond
anything else, it was also pretty clear that TPTB meant to draw attention to
the similarities between the scenes. Visually the two scenes were rather
similar so I don’t think it’s crazy-town-banana-pants to compare the two
moments.
But let’s put shipping aside for a moment and raise a glass to the
only female character to make it all the way to Season 8…
To Meg. You we’re probably
the most well rounded secondary character ever to appear in this series and
despite the fact that you were a demon you died for love in the end and that’s something
worthy of our respect. If anyone can thrive in purgatory it’s you.
By request – there is one question I get asked more than any other
and that is: why do I ship Sterek? I guess it makes sense, I do talk about Sterek
an awful lot and it’s not entirely because they are the flavour
of the year month. Yes I ship Stiles and Derek – I’m
not ashamed to admit it – and here’s why:
Before I get into the particulars about Sterek I want to let you
know that I explained why I like slash here
and I tried to explain why slash is popular here.
Also I outlined my top ten Sterek moments here.
First off I need you to step outside of the heteronormative bubble
for a minute and imagine that not everyone is automatically either straight or
gay. Consider the idea that sexuality is fluid and there’s a whole mess of identities
that fall between the heterosexual – homosexual binary. You get that? Good.
When you ignore hetronormative assumptions the fact that Derek slept
with Kate and Stiles has an epic crush on Lydia doesn’t affect their ability to
be attracted to each other. It is possible to be attracted to both men and
women – who knew right? Also sexuality has the ability to shift and change so
just because they were attracted to a member of the opposite sex once doesn’t
mean they always will be. Once you get rid of the problem of sexuality only two
things matter: narrative and chemistry.
My favourite fictional romances are what I like to call “Taming of
the Shrew Romances”. I have trouble trusting the relationships that come out of
nowhere, the ones that are ‘love at first sight’ because it’s all too easy.
It’s highly unlikely, not to mention narratively boring that two characters
just know they are meant to be. I need to see them fight for it, and when I say
fight I mean literally fight because I love a good ‘slap, slap, kiss’.
All the best romances – or the ones I love anyway – are a fight. To
quote Logan Echols: “no one writes songs about the ones that come easy”. I love
it when they argue constantly and don’t even notice that they have fallen love
with each other until it’s almost too late. I love reluctant romances. Two
people that actively avoid each other being forced to work together – it’s
hilarity and angst packaged together. Especially when, even though they would
never admit it, they actually work really well together.
Sterek shows the makings of this kind of romance. On the surface it
looks as though Stiles and Derek only have one thing in common: Scott. But look
a little deeper and you will see that’s not the case. They both understand the
realities of losing a family member (especially a parent), they both have serious
trust issues and they’re both snarky bastards. That’s just scratching the surface
– then there’s the simple fact that when Dylan and Hoechlin interact magic
happens.
Chemistry cannot be manufactured on television. In books you can
create chemistry with words but on the screen it’s all down to a mix of casting
and luck. It doesn’t matter how well you plan it sometimes chemistry happens
even when it wasn’t supposed to. There is no denying that Dylan and Hoechlin
have chemistry and where there is chemistry there is shipping.
Basically I ship Sterek because if you ignore heteronormative assumptions
Stiles and Derek have the makings of an URST filled will-they-wont-they
romance.
Come on – don’t you want to see their witty banter evolve from
malicious to flirtatious? What about the mutual life-saving thing they’ve got
going on – wouldn’t it be amazing to watch them discover that they care what
happens to each other? It would be worth it just to watch these two emotionally
constipated assholes try and negotiate actual
feelings. Think of the awkward attempts at wooing and the misunderstandings
fueled by miscommunication! That’s entertainment.
And that’s why I ship Sterek. What about you? Why do you ship
Sterek? Or why don’t you ship it? Let me know in the comments!
Finally this happened... feel free to squee the appropriate amount.
(Source)
I hope the length of this makes up for the lateness. I promise to be
back on schedule next week. Till then – happy shipping!
