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The Shipping News: Dean Winchester Can’t Say "I Love You" and it Hurts

In this week's Shipping News we get our first look at the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special, the Sleepy Hollow fandom stole my heart and I recommend some Welcome to Night Vale fic. Also, the tragic life of Dean Winchester and nce upon a time I accidentally shipped Prince Charming with Captain Hook.

Fandom News Round-up

As the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special draws near, we have been treated to the first in-studio images of Matt Smith, David Tennant and John Hurt from “The Day of The Doctor”. Excitement is reaching critical levels!

Can we OT3 if they are all the same person?(Source)

Not content with the fandom explosion one picture caused they also released a teaser trailer. Brace yourselves fandom - “The Day of The Doctor” is coming… #SaveTheDay

Want to spend a whole weekend hanging out with Teen Wolf fans? Well that’s exactly what’s going to happen at The Bite Convention. A group of wonderfully enthusiastic fans are currently organising the first U.S. Teen Wolf Convention, which will be held in LA in April. Find out more at The Bite Con Tumblr or check out the Indieigogo fundraiser - lots of cool perks available for those who contribute!

Have you ever shipped one show’s writing team with another? Well you’re about to.  Sleepy Hollow Writers got into a twitter battle with the Elementary Writers and it was magical! If this isn’t true love then I don’t know what is.

— Elementary Writers (@ELEMENTARYStaff) October 11, 2013

While we’re on the topic of Sleepy Hollow - not only is it an incredibly enjoyable show  (completely bonkers in the most wonderful way), it’s also my new favorite fandom! We’ve already established that the writing team are awesome, and the cast is just as fun, especially Orlando Jones who has completely embraced his inner fangirl.

He’s shipping things left right and centre (including his character Frank Irving with the Headless Horseman). He also caught a case of fandom induced insomnia, referenced the “make John Green find the thing” meme and requested fan fiction. He insists he knows exactly what he got himself into, but does anyone really know what they are getting into when they delve into the wonderful world of fan fiction?

Jones has even suggested a slash solution to the growing ship war between IchAbbie and IchKatrina: “Can’t we all just get along? And more importantly where are the Irving & Ichabod shippers (Ichaving? Irvabod?)” (x) Personally I think this is the perfect excuse for an OT3.

100 points to the slash fan that can make Orlando Jones find this article. Hi Orlando! *waves* we found a fic for you!

Speaking of making celebrities find the thing, the Misha Collins fandom blew everyone out of the water this week, when Misha Collins tweeted a picture of himself holding a dollar bill with: “Are you Misha Collins?” written on it.

It all started with one of those random popular text posts floating around Tumblr - assckles: “I want to take a dollar bill and write “are you Misha Collins” on it and maybe one day it’ll end up in his hands and he’d be the one mind fucked for once”. Well he found the thing! Read more about it at The Daily Dot.

Welcome to Night Vale’s Cecil/Carlos came a close second to the powerhouse that is Klaine in a recent poll on TheGeekiary.com. It’s always great when Klaine wins a poll of course but it’s also kind of cool that a pairing like Cecil/Carlos (with a POC) from a grassroots fandom like Welcome to Night Vale was able to come so close to beating them! In celebration of this achievement here are a couple of Cecil/Carlos fics!

What We’ve Got Here by Margo_Kim

"Carlos’s reaction to the first date involves a lot more anguished cries than Cecil’s, though to be fair, they’re only anguished cries of “Why did I do that, why did I say that, why am I allowed to interact with other people" so they’re still better than at least eight percent of Night Vale’s late night wails."

The Rat and the Ruby Slippers by indigostohelit

"Carlos is having the strangest dreams, and the strangest headaches, like there’s something he’s supposed to be remembering. Not to mention the intern’s wedding coming up, and that new chemical StrexCorp wants him to develop. It’s going to be a busy week."

Accidentally Shipped: Captain Hook and Prince Charming (Once Upon a Time)

Those of you that weren’t too busy crying over Mulan and Aurora (I’ll never stop crying) might have noticed a burgeoning friendship between Captain Hook (Colin O’Donoghue) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas). They started out hating each other but however reluctantly they have definitely begun to care about each other. The show has been pushing a “bromance” (I really hate that word) since before Season 3 began (x;x), but I might have accidentally ignored the bro- and skipped straight to the -mance because these two would be adorable together.

I’m always surprised by the shippers that come out of the woodwork when I accidentally ship something, but I was genuinely shocked by the number of fans that shipped Captain Charming (Once Upon a Time has THE BEST ship names).  This fic is great and the Tumblr tag is full of gifs, graphics, fanart and general excitement over this pairing. HOW DID I MISS THIS?

It’s not so much winning as won…. help slash fans, I accidentally shipped so hard I OTP’d!

Slash Soap Box: The tragic life of Dean Winchester

The week started exceptionally well for Destiel fans when actor Jensen Ackles confirmed at Toronto Con that it was scripted for Dean to say “I love you” to Castiel (Misha Collins) in Season 8, Episode 17. Ackles told fans that he changed the line to “We’re family, I need you” because he didn’t feel that Dean would say those three little words  because no chick-flick moments (which is basically Supernatural for NO HOMO).

 A fanmade gif of the scene.(Source)

Naturally the fandom spiraled out of control. Some were just excited because the reveal confirms that Dean’s love for Castiel is canon (what kind of ‘love’ is still up for debate)! Others were concerned that it was another example of possible homophobia from Jensen Ackles. Perhaps the most interesting discussion to come out of this reveal was the idea that it’s Dean Winchester’s internalised homophobia that ultimately prevents the show from pursuing a relationship between Dean and Castiel. It suggests that Destiel can NEVER be canon because Dean would NEVER admit to being attracted to Castiel.

Despite the usual arguments about what constitutes canon - does it count as canon if it doesn’t make it into the final cut? - it did seem like a validation of sorts for Destiel fans. There’s no denying it, Dean loves Castiel.

Celebrations were short lived, because in true Supernatural style - the promo for next week’s episode (903) showed Castiel KISSING A WOMAN! This, of course, led to the usual misogynist reactions from slash fans already condemning the poor girl to a terrible fate (again it’s Supernatural so they are probably right - spoilers). There were also talks of boycott - although there are a lot more people complaining about a potential boycott than actually boycotting, if there is anyone boycotting at all. While this not the first girl Cas has shown interest in (remember that one episode when he had a wife?) it stings that little bit more because the week started out so well.

It’s rather unlikely that TPTB (the powers that be) planned it so that Jensen would confirm the cut line just before footage of Cas kissing a woman was released. That’s a little too supervillain, even for them. BUT it does draw attention to the queerbaiting that this show often engages in.

Queerbaiting is one of those terms that most people have heard of, but not many actually understand. Generally the term ‘queerbaiting’ is used to describe the act of capitalizing on popular queer subtext without following through with actual representation. It’s an accusation that is often thrown around in problematic ways like when slash fans insist that all they really want is representation when what they actually want is for their fave pairing to get together (OTP or nothing). There’s nothing wrong with wanting your OTP to become canon (it’s a slash fan's dream), but it’s important to acknowledge that it’s not an entirely selfless desire.

Anyway, queerbaiting is not a good thing (surely we should be past this kind of teasing by now) and Supernatural is definitely guilty of it. They have a way of pushing their relationships to the limit - before screaming “NO HOMO” so loud it will burst your eardrums.

Personally I’m not completely on board with slash fandom’s total obsession with achieving ‘canon’ status. But I do think there is a point where the queerbaiting becomes absurd. It’s ridiculous that Dean Winchester can’t say “I love you” to another man, even in a platonic way. And the fact that it makes sense is even worse! I have no doubt in my mind that Dean would not be able to say those words to Cas and that sucks. It’s also incredibly depressing, because it basically shatters the hopes of fans that thought we might have reached the point where a slash couple could feasibly get a relationship upgrade.

It’s not that I think they are being deliberately malicious. I love Supernatural, I am actively involved in the fandom and I ship Destiel. I’m not going to stop watching - in fact most of the time I enjoy the wink wink nudge nudge acknowledgements. And I’m not saying that Destiel should, or even could, be canon. It’s just really sad to realize how engrained this attitude is.

If Dean still can’t tell Cas he loves him then what hope do we have?

Parting Gif

In an attempt to motivate the fandom to vote for Teen Wolf in the TVGuide Fan Favorites Cover Contest the Teen Wolf Tumblr posted a couple of gifs of unseen footage from the now infamous “We’re on a ship” vid. I don’t know if it worked they way they wanted it to because I think I have become about 85% less productive since I discovered this gif:

Then Dylan O’Brien threatened to #KillDanny (not cool Dylan) and it got real! If this article is posted it will be a miracle because while I’m pretty sure they are not going to actually kill Danny (everybody likes Danny) I am not willing to risk it. Are you? I have been voting non-stop for about 24hrs. I need sleep. Damn you Teen Wolf! #SaveDanny

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