Hi everyone! I’m Adri, back for another issue of The Shipping News and serving you up all of those FEELS! So let’s get right to it.
Shipping Win of the Week: Destiel Reunion (FOR REAL THIS TIME)
Last time I was with you guys, I gave my ship of the week to Destiel even though I only knew about them vicariously. This week I come to you a full convert to weep and praise the trench-coat-wearing angels for the Dean and Cas reunion, for real this time. We had a reunion in Purgatory, of course, but here they’re back at home base, and boy are they happy to see each other! More than that though, we got some answers we've been waiting for since the season started.
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As Dean so earnestly put it, he tried very, very hard to get Cas out of Purgatory and in the end it was all for naught, because as it turns out Cas just wanted to wallow in penitence until he felt he’d been punished enough (or like, until unknown forces got him out and back into Dean’s arms). So because of the sheer amount of feels, the Destiel reunion takes the win of the week!
Slash Dictionary: “Fix-it” Fic
There are innumerable genres of fanfiction out there, some of them are fairly basic and common to general literature and others…well others arise out of necessity. Sometimes our slash ships are canon (in a non-delusional sense) or have a nice amount of canonical evidence that we cling to. And sometimes canon turns around just blows a hole in your ship.
Fix-It fanfics are like burn medicine, a usually simple and emotionally soothing healing remedy to our canon-inflicted wounds. Now, that definition could understandably encompass the entire scope of fanfiction, but Fix-It fanfics tend to a specific injury (or ship-crushing event) rather than the big ugly idea that these guys are never going to display their love on screen.
What happens sometimes is you’re innocently (or not) enjoying a new episode of a show, or the next chapter of a novel or what have you and one of two scenarios will send you into bouts of shipper panic: 1. Your ship has, of their own volition or due to the demanding pressures of the evil canon universe, broken up (which is devastating, having your ship be canon and then just losing it) or 2. half of your ship up and dies on you.
It is canonically possible (though entirely improbable) that Stiles will be killed off next season on Teen Wolf. (Oh dear I just heard about a hundred thousand shippers telling me to shut my dirty mouth.) That of course would leave half of Sterek dangling in limbo. This is where Fix-It fic would come in, with supernatural dead-raising spells, just-kidding-never-mind scenarios, and Dallas-style "it was all a dream" twists. These would be produced by the dozens within hours of the horrifying event.
I have witnessed this most recently in the Glee fandom, where people were trying to fix the horrible mess our beloved Blaine had made ever since the rumors first sprung up. Since then, it is hard to find any brand new Klaine fanfiction that is not in some (quick and marginally less painful way) trying to fix what has gone horribly wrong. Fix-It fic is personally one of my favorite fandom phenomenons, a way in which we come together in our brokenhearted grief and offer each other consolation in our fan-controlled domain.
Fandom News Roundup
- The BattleShips tournament over at Hypable is down to the quarter-finals! The battle is between the beloved Merthur and our on-the-rocks Klaine! Boy, those Glee boys are just popping up everywhere, making me cry.
- The first teaser trailer for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones premiered this week and the Malec shippers pounced! Sadly there was no image of our glitter-loving Warlock (rumor has it his captivating cat eyes are still being worked on by the CGI folks), but we did get to hear a snippet of his voice, did you guys catch it? We did on the other hand get to see Kevin Zegers as Alec and he looks amazing! Check it out below...
Spoiler time! Wow guys, this week is really very Klaine heavy, is it a sign? Wetpaint has a spoiler that is set to get our shipping hopes up!
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M/M Pairing of the Week: Malec
*** Warning: SPOILERS FOR The Mortal Instruments: City of Lost Souls AHEAD! ***
I know we focus a lot on television in this column because it’s a compelling medium... and there are gifs. We just love gifs. But there are other forms of fiction out there, you know, like books.
This week's release of the trailer for The Mortal Instrments: City of Bones may well have been the first time you ever heard of the series. But for fans familiar with the books, it might be the beginning of the end of the longest wait ever. You’ll be hearing a lot more about it trust me, now that the Twilight phenomenon is out of the way and needs replacing. In any case, The Mortal Instruments series holds a hidden treasure of slash shipping, the magnificently canon Malec. Magnus is an ancient, fashion-forward warolock and Alec is his 18-year-old magically tattooed demon-fighting warrior boyfriend. With New York City as their backdrop, I mean come on, what’s not to love?
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This ship, although absolutely legitimate within the context of the books, brings us some of the same needy greedy feelings that our non-canon ships do because, well, it’s a book and there’s only so much we get to see on the big screen from two secondary characters.
Part of what makes the ship amazing is that you come to care about the characters individually just as much as you do for them as a couple, which as I personally observe isn’t always the case. When young, all-too-serious-for-his-own-good Alec is still digging his heels into the closet, we care for him regardless of which glitter-laden warlock flirts with him. When we hear of Magnus’s tragic past we care for the little boy he was and not the comfort he might or might not receive from his lover.
Many fans read the books for Malec instead of the main characters. I think the fact that we adore them so much (in a lot of cases, ) lies heavily on the subtle way author Cassandra Clare lets us see what it is that they love about each other, faults and all.
And no, I am not going to get into that Horrible Thing That Happened, but I will refer you to the author’s own answer when questioned (about five billion times) about the subject: “Where there’s life, there’s hope, I guess!”
Artist to Watch: Muchacha
I have always loved Muchacha, her art is so memorable with those Tim Burton-ish eyes and the distinct personification of each character. Her work is just lovely, and I always squeal in delight when I see something new from her. Here is one of her Klaine pieces, to hold us over-- or make us break down further-- until our boys are finally back together.
(Artist: Muchacha / source)
Featured Fic : "Little Numbers"
I’m feeling very melancholy about Klaine this week and I’ve needed a few pick me ups! One of my go-to things is definitely this fic. "Little Numbers" is one of the most famous Klaine fanfictions ever written. Its text message style, dear loveable Bradshaw, and the songs that got stuck in our head made its updates as exciting as a fresh Glee episode!
Excerpt:
(1:56)
That's good, because he's slowly becoming my favorite, too.
(1:58)
Goodnight and sweet dreams, Kurt.
(1:59)
Goodnight.
~~~
(2:01)
Rachel.
(2:02)
RACHEL.
(2:06)
Do you think it's possible to fall in love with the idea of a person?
Read the full story here.
Parting GIF
I use this GIF all too often, haven’t we all felt this way?
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All right everyone! In honor of Thanksgiving, let us know in the comments what ships you're thankful for, and make sure to check back next week for more of The Shipping News!
