Current State of the Shipping Wars (Season 8 spoilers)

["ebailey140" <ebailey140@xxxxxxx>]

Well...

Since that last little bombshell, I've been poking around the various
forums to see how it's affected the Shipping Wars.  And folks, we have
a new enemy, who is, well, very enraged, right now.  Yes, Rabid Ducks
have declared war.  So, if you see ducks that are foaming at the mouth
paddling around our lovely pirate ship, shoot on sight.  :)

Now, it's not that all B/A shippers, aka Bangels, aka Ducks, are
rabid.  The Bangels, of course, have engaged in a years long war with
the Spuffies and Banders, taking pot shots at the Fuffies and us
whenever they've seen us.  So, some have gotten...  touchy about rival
Ships.  They've gotten a very bad reputation, of late, due to a
tendency to go into forums and scream at everybody that doesn't ship
as they do, demanding that everyone stop their heresies at once and
accept that Buffy and Angel are "soulmates" and "destined".  Nothing
else can be tolerated.  Why, Joss would be betraying all the TRUE fans
of the series (You're not a TRUE fan if you don't exclusively ship
B/A) by doing anything else.  

The Spuffies, for their part, have gotten pretty mellow about things.
 B/S is their favorite Ship, but they accept the possibility that
other things could happen.  Some of the Banders are as hardcore as the
Bangels, right down to declaring anything other than a B/X ending a
betrayal, but mainly have saved their fights for the Ducks.  

So, we have the build-up to issue 12, and it's clear something major
is going to happen.  But what?  All sorts of speculation, about. 
Leave it to the Fuffies to be very certain Buffy is going to sleep
with Satsu.  Wrong dark haired Slayer to them, of course, but hey.  :)

Needless to say, this got them attacked full force by the Bangels and
Banders.  It's the usual attacks that have always been used against
both us and the Fuffies, of course.  There's been nothing to suggest
Buffy is into girls, whatsoever!  Buffy/Willow soulmatey stuff? 
You're imagining things!  cough*The Long Way Home*cough  Buffy/Faith
subtext?  Never happened!  Never mind the writers saying it did!  What
would THEY know?  

Some of the Bander contingent thought it COULD happen, but hoped it
didn't, as that would, as far as they're concerned, make Wiffy a
viable Ship, as it has all the arguments in it's favor Bander does,
only more so.  Willow and Kennedy having relationship problems,
well...  Some of the Banders are a little suspicious as to where this
is leading to.  :)

The reaction in the Fandom has been mostly positive.  Non-shippers
(who, believe it or not, still make up most of the Fandom)think it's
an interesting development, and makes perfect sense, at this point. 
Fuffies are happy, and are writing fic where Faith finds out, though
what they're noticing is Willow's reaction (And, well, they want Tara
resurrected, but they've wanted that for a while).  Spuffies even like
it, though I suspect it's because they support anything that makes the
hardcore Bangels pull their hair out.  Besides, Spike would approve. 
:)  The Spangels, meanwhile, will support anything that keeps Buffy
away from their couple.  

The hardcore Bangels, well...  Oh boy.  They really, really, hate the
Femmeslashers, now.  We've replaced the Banders on their most hated
list.  They'd not minded Spuffy as much as Bander, because at least
Spike's a vampire.  For some reason, Buffy MUST be with a vampire,
though now they'll amend that and add a MALE vampire.  :)  After all,
after years of bashing the Fuffies and Wiffies for saying, for years,
that Buffy wasn't entirely straight, they can't admit that maybe, just
maybe, they were wrong.  No, they're insisting Joss just dropped this
in out of the blue, not recognizing the TRUE fans, and we're STILL
just imagining all the subtext we'd noticed over the years.  Oh, and
there's never been anything to suggest that Willow has ever been
interested in Buffy, so they can't figure out why on Earth Willow is
so bothered by this development.  

Everybody else is saying the reasons Willow is so bothered are kind of
obvious.  Major reassessing of things, Willow will have to do.  

But then, the hardcore Bangels have alienated the Fandom, at large. 
They've taken a lot of the fun out of the Fandom with jumping into
every forum, and whatever thread they can, and ripping into everyone.
 And, some add, not everybody wants to talk about Ships all the time,
let alone theirs.  There's, y'know, other things going on besides
who's sleeping with who.  

The worst part for me is it's done what the Rabid Kittens did to me
regarding Willow/Tara.  Like with that Ship, while it wasn't my OTP
(That'd be THIS one), I liked B/A, but I can't enjoy it, any more,
because of it's Fundamentalists.  
      


------------------------------------

Willow: "It's a good fight, Buffy, and I want in."
Buffy:  "I kinda love you."
                      --'Choices'

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