#first of all some of the nicest people i know are in the sp fandom | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vanvelding · 8 months

Text

I'm going to say one of the nicest things I can about a show about Star Trek: Lower Decks

They played us like a string quartet.

(Spoilers for 4x09: "The Inner Fight")

Lower Decks was sold a Star Trek/Rick & Morty mashup from the start. The first scene is a drunken Mariner literally harming her sidekick, Boimler. It practically screamed, "Mariner & Boimler a hundred tours! Double-u, double-u, double-u dot Mariner and boimler dot com!"

But of course, it also had Star Trek references. One of the earliest is "Who would win in a fight? Khan or Roga Danar?" Why would anyone else in The Federation know or care who Roga Danar is? And there's no imagination on display for the oldest referential paradigm, "Who would win in a fight?" Lazy. Bullshit.

Of course before the end of season one, Lower Decks showed us it was more than that. Boimler was gaining the kind of experience he needed. The story hinted very strongly that Mariner had been in Starfleet a LONG time. She wasn't a omnicompotent mary sue; she was a Commander with her own philosophy/trauma that compelled her to remain an Ensign.

It was a good show and it stood on its own. The references were used well to create interesting stories ("Twovix"), as part of the setting ("Hear All, Trust Nothing"), or just as a gag here and there ("Kayshon, His Eyes Open" and, like a dozen others). The references to the setting become the background radiation, remarkable in how deep a cut they really are (Vendorians?). I've described it to many people as "Star Trek, but everyone has watched Star Trek."

What it wasn't, was related to its namesake. "Lower Decks" was a surprisingly heavy episode about the younger members of the Enterprise crew and their perspective on the missions of galactic import that the viewer usually enjoys an omnisicent view of.

Lower Decks mentions our main cast don't have that omniscient view, but Mariner is a stone-cold badass, Rutherford was part of a secret effort to develop artificial intelligence, Tendi is the Mistress of the Winter Constellations, and Boimler--actually Biomler is no more exceptional than any other Starfleet officer.

So when we get our main cast and the senior officers into a room and they mention Nick Locarno, our thought is, "LOL, another reference. This one from TNG. Not particularly deep. LOL, Boimler is a Beverly Crusher fanboy. I guess it makes sense, they have the character model from the episode with Tom Paris. Clearly, Robert Duncan McNeil is happy to do some voice work. We'll probably make a reference to how much he looks like Tom Paris.

"lol"

Look, if you figured it out then pat yourself on the back. Me? I filed away another reference. I didn't realize that Nick Locarno was connected to the episode of TNG that was this entire series' namesake. The characters even say, "Who?" which is one of the first times they don't get a Star Trek reference. Because Nick Locarno isn't a part of the Star Trek universe they view with an enthusiastic fandomness; it's part of their dramatic history, whether they know it or not.

"ha-ha, I guess Nick Locarno is too deep a cut for the show that called back to Morgan fucking Bateson."

But whatever, A-plot/B-plot. Gags about Starfleet habitually rolling up to seedy establishments in uniforms while looking for information, which is subverted by Captain Freeman being fucking genre savvy (also, wasn't she going to be promoted before getting arrested at the end of season two? I guess getting framed for a crime was deemed to be not very 'admiral-able'). Mariner ends up in a cave with a Klingon taking shelter from a crystal rain.

The pieces are there. Mariner was an ensign during The Dominion War. Two to three years before The Dominion War, Wesley Crusher left Starfleet, our Nick Locarno expy Tom Paris was recruited to Voyager, and Sito Jaxa was an ensign.

And Nick Locarno is in play.

We could have figured it out! We're in the narrative and emotional third act of this series (Tendi gave us the "We'll always be friends" speech last week)! Everyone regular just sat in a room trying to figure out how to help Mariner; we were one fruit salad analogy away from an intervention with Dr. Migleemoo!

Mariner escapes from Cardassian interrogation chambers for fun!

But Locarno is just another TNG reference, like Beverly Crusher. Background radiation. The season's story arc is something original to Lower Decks, which it's proven it's unafraid to do at this point. The series has no relation to "Lower Decks"

And then they fucking hit us with it; Beckett Mariner knew Sito Jaxa. They were friends. Then Jaxa died.

That's Mariner's trauma (that and The Dominion War).

And I didn't see it because I came to see Lower Decks as a series that stood on its own merits as a show while calling back to earlier Treks in a light, non-committal way. And I credit that solely to the writing of the show which leveraged both of those qualities to make an entertaining show that I like before, but now respect.

Just amazing stuff.

#star trek #star trek lower decks #star trek lwd #lower decks #lower decks spoilers #star trek lwd spoilers

247 notes · View notes

suckasstakenames · 4 years

Text

I saw someone else do this and now I’m compelled to as someone who’s been in the fandom since 2010

Stereotypes of SP fans by character:

Stan fans: pretty chill usually, hates discourse, likes telling people about their pets, very appreciative of the old school SP eps, wants Randy Marsh to burn

Kyle fans: usually some of the nicest ppl around, ain’t too afraid to speak their mind, reblogs a lot of art, big smarts

Kenny fans: open to a lot of different aus/concepts, would literally die for him and his siblings, usually big readers, appreciative of many different ships even if they don’t directly ship them themselves

Cartman fans: confident on their blog, isn’t afraid to let people know when something bothers them, has a consistent friend/group of friends, isn’t a stranger to discourse, I pray for them each day that they survive in this fandom

Butters fans: wholesome and caring people, can be pretty shy at first but when you get to know them they’re a joy to be around, quite creative and artistic, don’t need to be protected but you wanna protect them anyway

Wendy fans: just wants everyone to be at peace, is capable of heavily binge watching their fav show if they wanted to, promotes a lot of positive content, appreciates the background characters a helluva lot, girl power!!

Craig fans: comes out with really random shit all the time, usually the funniest one in their group of friends, sarcasm is in their blood, was probably a real wild child

Clyde fans: posts memes a lot, doesn’t care for aesthetics or a consistent theme with their blog, exaggerates stuff literally because they can, quite social/keen to make friends online, the type who laughs at inappropriate moments

Tweek fans: excitable, big on aesthetics, usually the arty type, easily amused, can talk about the same headcanon for days and not get bored, smol bean but will fight

Token fans: rare to find, pretty clever, easy to get along with, chilled about life in general, will sit down with just about anyone and fan girl about all your fav things (or fanboy?fanenby? whatever the neutral term for that is)

Jimmy fans: generally supportive, has an endless stream of headcanons, is all about giving love to rare pairs and minor characters, sympathetic and sincere up until you leave Jimmy out of Craig and those guys, then they might roundhouse kick you into orbit

#OBVS NOT ENTIRELY ACCURATE its just from my personal experience #tried not to self project on the clyde part lmfao #clyde fans have been rare to come across lately #there used to be loads of us back in the day rip #south park #tweek tweak #wendy testaburger #kyle broflovski #clyde donovan #stan marsh #jimmy valmer #token black #kenny mccormick #eric cartman #craig tucker

393 notes · View notes

steeklover · 1 year

Note

i never thought of stan/tweek before but you got me hella interested in the dynamic.. /pos

ahem...allow me to explain my lore behind this ship-

So I started shipping Steek not long after I joined the SP fandom, it was completely be accident if I'm being honest. I was trying to come up with a Stan-centric fic idea that would be based off the You're Getting Old/Assburgers episodes because I thought those episodes were really good and I love Stan!

I knew I wanted to make it a ship fic but I didn't know who to ship him with. When I first joined the fandom the only Stan ship I really knew about was Style but I didn't want to write it as a Style fic which left me searching for another Stan ship to use and I admittedly went to whatever Stan x Tweek was.

I went straight to Tweek because he's my favorite character but I didn't know anything about Steek, I didn't even know if it was a thing. So I did some research about it and found that there was some content out there but not a lot. The idea I came up with was pretty cute in my opinion and I'll link the two versions I have of the fic in case you haven't read them yet but would like to.

As I continued to dive further into the fandom and more specifically Steek, the ship quickly became my OTP which brings me to today where I can not shut up about them. They are literally all I think about and they bring me so much joy that all I want to do is create more content for them.

I can't decide whether I'm shocked or not that more people don't consider Stan and Tweek. The people that I've come across that don't like the ship usually dislike it for two reasons. The first reason is because they don't like the idea of shipping Tweek with anyone other than Craig which you can't really do anything about because haters are going to hate.

The second reason I've seen is because canon-wise Stan wasn't exactly the nicest to Tweek so people think he would be too mean to Tweek. Personally, I completely disagree with that. Sure Stan is a little shit and there were times when he was a little hard on Tweek but so was Kyle and yet I see a lot of Twyle content out there. There were also times where Stan was nice to Tweek like when he said he liked him better than he liked Butters (although I don't know if that's saying much) or when he tried to assure Tweek that things would be okay when Tweek didn't make enough paper hats in Free Hat.

Also, in seasons 2, 3 and 6, the main 4 weren't really fleshed out that much (at least in my opinion but I know others feel the same way) so of course Stan is going to act like a little boy who's a jerk, that's basically what all the main kids were in the earlier seasons. Now we have more of a personality for him but we haven't been able to really see how that would work with Tweek.

Besides, you can't really go off of canon here because Stan and Tweek barely interact with each other. I feel like for most South Park ships you can't go off of canon except for little background moments or like two or three lines that two characters happen to exchange. I see a lot of people say how do people ship this? or they barely interact and it's more about what they could be rather than what they actually are, at least in my opinion.

And also, if they hate each other than why not have enemies to lovers Steek???

Also I'm not trying to say that anyone's opinions or invalid by pointing these reasons out. I myself have ships that I don't like but I know others do. Even though their reasoning for liking that ship may not appeal to me, I still respect those opinions so I hope that you will respect mine too!! I'm not trying to call anyone out lol 😊😊

The number one reason why I probably ship these two is because they are both my favorite SP characters, one being Tweek and two being Stan (sometimes I find them being tied though) but I DO think they would work well together.

They both seem to be more in touch with their emotions versus Craig and Kyle who are more in touch with their logical sides. Because of this, I feel like Stan and Tweek would understand each other pretty well. I can't imagine either of them being hard on each other or not listening to each other when they're having their issues because they both have experience with not being listened to (Stan with Kyle in You're Getting Old/Assburgers and Tweek in Put It Down, and also not being listened to by their parents). I feel like they could sympathize with each other because of that and even though they might get frustrated with one another, I think they would try their best to understand and help.

I also find that they seem to have a lot in common. They both seem to have a love for animals, they both seem to like music and they both like legos. I think those would be things that they would bond over and have fun together with.

I can see them fitting into a lot of relationship dynamics (going off of Pinterest lol). Again they could be enemies to lovers if you want both of them (or at least Stan) to be little pricks. I can see them both being little jerks that only like each other plus a select group of people. I can see them as the nerd x jock trop with both of them in either role but preferably jock Stan x nerd Tweek. I'm in LOVE with the idea of goth Stan x sweetheart Tweek, I saw this comic about it on Pinterest and I think it's the cutest thing I've ever seen. They DEFIENTLY fit the moon x sun dynamic! There's more but I can basically imagine them in any trope/dynamic, maybe it's because they can actually work together or maybe it's because I'm forcing it too much.

You probably shouldn't have sent me this ask if you were looking for a short reply because I will literally take any chance I get to go on a rant about these two! 😂😂 I just love Steek so much and I really wish more people would be open to it. I have seen a little surge in the content for the pairing, like there's a few fanfictions that have come out and I've seen some new artwork for them. I think there's a lot of people that are interested in the pairing or are at least open to it but not enough to engage themselves in the content, if that makes sense. That's why I've made it my goal to try and produce as much content for the ship as possible, the soul purpose being that I want more people to pay attention to them. Call me selfish I guess-

I don't know how you came upon my blog but if you want to, here's some of my favorite Steek things if you'd like to take a look:

I Can't Handle Change Version 1 - By Moi

I Can't Handle Change Version 2 - By Moi

Goth Stan x Sweetheart Tweek Comic - By Unknown

Drawing - By @ari-nee-23

Drawing - By @kvsagi

Drawing - By Unknown

Drawing - By @naitosutan

Drawing - By @kingukairu

Lastly, did you know that Stan has canonically given Tweek a rose?

That's all. Sorry for such a long response again, I couldn't restrain myself from writing an essay. Hope you liked the response and thanks for the asks, it made me so happy as soon as I saw it! Have a great day anon!! ❤️❤️❤️

#sorry for such a long response #i know not everyone is into that #but i just had to rant #tell me your desperate without telling me your desperate #😂😂#i'll take any chance i get to talk about steek #asks #steek #sp steek #thanks for the ask!!

20 notes · View notes