Clown cars actually operate on two opposite sides of a bell curve - the most average-sized cars transporting a sensible amount of people are the least clown cars. So while the more famous type of clown car is the comically tiny vehicle that can fit an absurdly large amount of clowns inside, a huge fuck-off giant pavement princess ego truck that is only used for transporting the driver around is also a clown car.
A social gathering of dudes who all have serious Main Character Syndrome, but all are wildly different genres. One of them is the "people don't like me because I'm too smart" Misunderstood Genius who isn't actually particularly smart, just mean. Another one thinks he's wisecracking and clever by just talking like a character in a Marvel movie. Third one thinks he's subtly pulling off a mysterious Film Noir vibe by wearing a fedora and spending most of his time internally narrating, and silently staring at people. The fourth one is a deeply dramatic purple prose self-fashioned Byronic Hero who is unaware that he would be a mildly annoying minor antagonist in a Jane Austen novel at best. The fifth one has gotten his entire personality from shounen anime.
god this is embarrassing imagine saying this. imagine saying these words in that order. imagine thinking that thats an own. i genuinely cannot think of a more succinct way of saying "ive never listened to a single green day song before" elon did you really think you were the good guy in american idiot. are you kidding me. kill yourself
imagine being the literal richest person in the world and not thinking you're the machine
love green day for pissing off these losers with the same song for two decades and counting.
I remember during puberty talk in 6th grade they handed out permission slips for parents to sign if they didn’t want their kids getting sex ed and like five students ended up having to wait in the library while the rest of us learned about puberty and health stuff.
Afterwards during lunch recess almost everyone in class spent our time telling those five kids what we learned and showing them our handouts.
ATINY twitter (pt. 37/?)
Indeed think the thing i like most about Kinnporsche as a show is that its a tragedy, porsche loses. He gets drawn into a life he never wanted and is trapped there forever, he will never know what actually happened to his parents because his mother is catatonic and korn will literally never tell him the truth. Porsche’s most immediate want outside of NOT JOINING THE MOB (which he now partially runs) is to protect his little brother and make sure he has a better life. Well guess what, your brother dropped out of school will always be in danger due to the job you dont want and is actively sobbing the last time we see him. Korn’s last line “the winner writes history” is actually chilling because korn won, he got everything he wanted and its actually insane
I don't really ship superbat but i had this really funny thought and have been seeing some really pretty superbat fanart and read one really funny superbat fanfic so here ya go
I just imagine one day Lois catches Bruce flirting with Clark and she gets mad because Clark is hers and Bruce doesn't even defend it for some reason he just keeps flirting idk why but for this silly thought that's what's happening
And it just results in Lois and Bruce fist fighting in a Denny's parking lot and Clark is just standing there confused as to why his wife is fist fighting his best friend and also he's fixated on the fact lois is winning and all of the batkids are watching and all of them bet that Lois would win except maybe like Damian and the bat kids all take bets and stuff and Bruce is just made to eat dirt and Lois is just shouting.
"keep your playboy Brucie Wayne dysfunctional romantic relationship ass paws off my man HE IS MINE he is too nice for you.. I WILL NOT LET YOU BREAK HIS HEART AND HE IS MINE GO FIND YOUR OWN".
And Clark is just standing there like 🧍and he's just thinking would now be a bad time to remind her that I'm the last of my kind it's physically impossible for him to get his own.
The bat kids are eating popcorn while watching and Jason is cheering lois on.
Bruce tells Dick about it before anyone.
Richard Grayson, his first child - not borne out of blood but made of his heart. His first Robin. Little Dickie who had looked up at Bruce, solemnly with all the sincerity in his big heart, eyes large and imploring to let Clark stay with them forever.
Dick Grayson, the last of the Flying Graysons who had kicked Bruce's ass when he had behaved like an ass and forcefully dragged him out of his repressed state to finally address his long suppressed feelings for their resident blue-eyed red caped superhero. Dick Grayson, his partner in crime - who helped him woo his best friend, and then promptly wrapped Superman around his own pinky like a goddamned elastic band. Dick Grayson, his salvation in an eight year old's body, who had called Clark 'dad', sleepy and pliant in the latter's arms wrapped in his favorite blanket after a grueling patrol.
Dick Grayson, now twenty-five, his own legacy in the making, protector of Bludhaven, the infamous Nightwing who was now staring at the ring nestled in soft obsidian fabric inside the tiny black velvet box perched unassumingly over Bruce's outstretched palm. The diamonds inlaid in a plain line stretched in the center of the platinum ring glittered blindingly in the late afternoon sunshine.
"Oh, Bruce..."
Dick's eyes sparkled with a sudden film of tears as his words wobbled precariously. Bruce's anticipation transformed into shock at the face of the unprecedented emotion twisting his oldest son's still youthful face.
Dick picked the box from Bruce's hand and observed the ring closely. Then he clicked the box shut and placed it almost reverently on the table and then dragged the older man, almost violently, against himself. Bruce grinned as Dick almost squealed in a delighted whoop of laughter. It made a liquid warmth travel through his veins.
"You made it B! You made it!"
Dick Grayson laughed and laughed, shaking in mirth and delight and disbelief and vindication and relief and an overwhelming love for the man who had raised him and loved him for so long that it felt like he had always known him.
"I did... didn't I?"
Bruce whispered against his boy's soft raven hair and dreamt of his other sons' wild teasing and Alfred's pride filled eyes and the good natured ribbing of a gaggle of lifelong friends he had collected through the League and his own tiresome journey through Gotham's filthy sewers.
But most of all, he dreamt of the love yet to come.
Of Clark's handsome face slack in surprise, then aglow in that etheral inner light, which made him resemble the very sun, his bright laughter and the warmth of his arms around Bruce's waist, the tickle of his messy curls under his chin and the press of those sinfully soft lips against his own.
Bruce smiled and dreamt of that starry night when Batman and Superman had held each other's hands shyly, and Robin had giggled beside them and ordered them to never leave each other.
Before I begin, I'll preface this by saying I think about all of this extremely differently than what's talked about in the post. I personally also don't feel comfortable applying fictional shipping dynamics onto real people, but I also don't view it as harmful as long as it maintains restricted to fandom spaces and doesn't get pushed out to the ones it's about, so I hope we can all be cool about this!
Also, I'm 29 now and I've seen the way shipping culture has impacted real people's friendships and such, so I'll abstain from interpreting into any of their dynamics - I'll just go based on what I see and what they've said.
Regarding the whole WooSanSang shipper-drama, all I can think is... this is just history repeating itself. We had the same stuff going on in the BTS fandom when certain Taekook shippers started piling onto Jimin for no reason. And what did that accomplish? Nothing. Precisely. It just made everyone, especially Tae and Jungkook, uncomfortable.
Back then, Tae even specifically called those shippers out and yet they still wouldn't stop:
So please, guys, let's not follow in those footsteps. Be better than this!
I definitely won't sit here and claim Ateez don't do fanservice - they do a lot for the fans directly (certainly more than I think they should feel obligated to) and they're obviously aware fans scream louder when any of them get close to each other, so they most likely know the most popular "ships", but I personally think comparing any of this to the Thai BL industry is taking things too far. Way too far, even.
But I'll explain myself:
I remembered them directly addressing this type of thing before so I dug around a bit and found the discussion I was thinking of in this 2020 video:
From that, we can already gather that group dynamics and chemistry have always been fluent in their heads and it's not about couples - duos, trios, the 99 line, Tropical Boys - it's all on the same level for them, all of it contributes to the Group Chemistry™.
Hongjoong here is still hilarious to me though:
On top of that, I genuinely don't think the company cares much about any of this. They just let them do whatever as long as they don't go causing controversies. That's also why they let the guys loose without media training. (The Jumping Ban™ was always a joke btw - it was never real.)
You gotta keep in mind KQ was originally a management agency - they were never following the same grain as BigHit. They also never had Ateez on a dating ban. I really don't think ships were on their mind much at all for a long time, probably right up until WooSan shippers felt the need to act up and start micro-analyzing and interpreting a million things into every small exchange which must have been impossible to ignore.
I do think that sudden shitstorm made all eight of them more aware of the many eyes that have been newly aimed at them and it's made them more careful and reserved in regards to certain things like having arguments on camera and such - they used to include moments like those in Logbooks sometimes.
But regardless, as someone who's been on top of Ateez's content since 2021, I honestly can't say I ever sensed a strain in any of their dynamics. They all very clearly adore each other a lot and, as time passed, they all collectively got closer and closer, but as they've matured, new dynamics also emerged (Topaz, for example, got really close really quickly, but also JongSang have gotten wilder, SanSang obviously got closer, and Wooyoung's lil crush on Yunho was addressed openly - and often jokingly). But that's just what happens when you're around the same 7 people day in and day out for years.
We see the same thing in groups like NCT Dream who all grew up together and have been together for ages. They constantly shift who they're obsessed with, but the overall family dynamic never wavers. I think that's just human nature - you switch up your favorite person to hang out with which keeps things interesting.
What I think is generally noteworthy though is that multiple duos can be doing the exact same thing, but only the most popular ships will be talked about and it'll be seen as A Moment™. This happens all the time.
But if you zoom out and actually keep track of all of them, it's clear to see they're all constantly all over each other - both with words and actions. I mean, all of these are from the same recent Logbook alone:
These guys just really, really love each other a lot and they're super comfortable in each other's space. They also all talk about each other all the time, whether the others are around or not. And whenever they have a solo schedule it's all "the members this", "the members that" - it's super sweet.
But more importantly, as they've gained popularity, they've also gotten more and more opportunities to build their careers, both as a group and individually. And this is exactly why I think this is no way comparable to the Thai BL industry which is wholly centred around couple-dynamics.
Ateez have been and always will be primarily about music, dancing, occasionally modelling, and whatever other passions they have. Since the beginning, they performed in zombie make-up, with masks on, etc. - they want to be known for their performances, their achievements and that's what they promote.
Whenever they do do fanservice, it's very obvious, honestly. For example, the duo fancalls recently where they were acting out what the fans wanted (the SeongJoong hug, Wooyoung sucking at Yeosang's cheek). Or when they play games where they have to get really up close and personal, they'll often exaggerate it and make teasing comments. Or when Wooyoung rubbed up against everyone while dancing to "Sexy Back" (San and Seonghwa's faces here are so friggin' funny lmao). But even when they do this type of stuff, they clearly still have fun with it themselves.
I think San just adores Yesoang a lot and he feels very protective of him. San's always been a protector even before he bulked up and, now that Wooyoung's really grown into himself and gained a lot of confidence, San may have instinctively moved to Yeosang who, honestly? Needs a protector more than anyone else in this group.
Wooyoung's already protected him for a long time and we've heard the stories of how that went - Yeosang getting fooled by a prank call, accepting strangers' invitations to pet their dogs, often needing instructions explained twice because he zones out a lot. He's not incapable - far from it (I mean, he chose to leave BigHit for his own good, thinking Wooyoung wouldn't follow, he's LOCKED IN whenever he performs, etc.) - but it is good he has people around who'll stick by him and watch over him.
I also think San being different on- and off-camera isn't all too surprising. From the beginning, he's always acted the most while filmed (pitching up his voice, acting cutesy) because he was worried about coming across as scary or intimidating , and now he's likely concerned about being misunderstood or causing negative press if he allows himself to slip and let his anger show.
Mind you, I think his anger is likely primarily directed at saesangs, reporters, perhaps certain interview questions or other shit going on in the Kpop industry or just the world at large (politics, social injustices, etc.). We know he has a huge heart and he cares deeply and feels very protective, so seeing the state of the world right now will likely make him no less angry than it does the rest of us. But since he's a public figure, he has to sit on it a lot more.
Now regarding what I think whenever the members flirt with each other, bicker, hug, kiss, etc. - I think they just do it because it's fun! They enjoy the fans getting so loud and hyped up while they're on stage, but they clearly also love seeing each other's reactions, pushing each other's boundaries, exploring how far they can go before the other one puts a stop to it. I mean, they've always been equally affectionate off camera too.
For example, Wooyoung biting Yeosang shortly after meeting him, WooSan being seen with their arms around each other while walking down the street years ago, all the 99 liners going to Seonghwa's bed for cuddles when they were still all sharing a dorm as eight (Seonghwa mentioned it in a live once when Yunho came to lay down with him).
They always pile onto each other, whether they know they're being filmed or not. It's likely what happens when you've been through hell together and we know their path to success was tough and included lots of abuse at the hands of Mnet, people who called themselves fans but aren't, award shows, and more. Not to mention the shit Jongho's been through with his former label and Mingi needing a mental health break and time to reconsider whether he even wanted to continue on this path or not.
Them having been this open with their words and physical affection from early on (thanks, Wooyoung <3) is clearly also what has gotten Jongho to be so much bolder now compared to when they first debuted. He even thanked them for it in 2019:
Ultimately, I don't know if any of them are truly dating or have ever dated. Just as I don't know if any of them have had or currently have romantic crushes on each other. All I know is what they show us and what they say and anything beyond that is for them to know and them to know only. I'm just happy to see them happy and thriving.
I don't want to shame anyone for how they interpret and interact with the content Ateez puts out. If you like to ship, ship away within fandom spaces. All is good as long as personal boundaries are respected and everyone remains conscious of where they post and who might see it.
Please also keep in mind that everything I said here is simply how I see it, but if you'd like to chat about differences in opinion and such, please do feel free reach out - my ask box and messages are always open! <3
The San/Yeosang relationship receives positive and negative attention from the fandom. The majority of us find their bond really sweet! We coo when San clings to Yeosang and declares his love; we chuckle when Yeosang nods his head in shy acceptance.
On the extreme ends of the fandom spectrum, you encounter discourse that generally falls into two camps:
These arguments are not new, but they increased in volume within the last year or two. I felt compelled to explore these arguments and put into words some of my complicated thoughts and feelings about this particular relationship. I also believe I'm in a unique position to comment on these arguments because...
I am a shipper. I've been in fandom spaces since I was a preteen (nearly 20 years!) and I am primarily drawn to a fandom when there is great potential for shipping. I was in the Hockey RPF fandom from 2012-2015 and wrote/consumed stories where NHL players kissed each other and sometimes got each other pregnant. These are my bona fides.
Everyone in the Hockey RPF fandom knew the rules. Don't break the fourth wall. Don't make it weird. Don't get delulu. We all understood that Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were not secretly lovers pretending to be good friends and teammates (👀). We were there to have a good time and, more importantly, we all enjoyed hockey! I seriously got into hockey through fandom and attended many games. I still feel a huge swell of fondness when I catch the Pittsburgh Penguins on TV. THOSE ARE MY BOYS!
Before I found Ateez and joined this fandom, I was heavily into the BL genre and specifically Thai BL. The thing about Thai BL is that many of the most popular shows have nothing to do with their writing or directing or acting; they are popular because they star a "branded pair" of good-looking young men who perform fan service outside of their shows. While there are actual queer actors in the Thai BL genre, very few have the same level of global popularity as branded pairs.
ZeeNuNew, the hottest branded pair of the moment
Branded pairs are deliberately modeled on the kpop idol industry, which similarly encourages its young female audience to project m/m fantasies onto their faves. There's actually a whole Korean BL called Bump Up Business about two struggling idols (OnelyOneOf's Mill and Nine) who are paired together in a new group with instructions to appeal to fans through BGP: Business Gay Performance.
The key to a successful branded pair is to emulate as closely as possible m/m archetypes rooted in early '00s Japanese yaoi, which is the primogenitor for modern BL and remains a dominant influence in kpop fan-service.
Here are the main archetypes, as defined by the expert on the subject, AbsoluteBL:
AbsoluteBL clarifies: seme/uke is about who is in CONTROL of the relationship's story, as opposed to top/bottom, terms which come from the gay/queer community and pertain to sexual preference and (should) have nothing to do with narrative power dynamics.
Traditionally, the seme is physically larger and conventionally more masculine in appearance, while the uke is smaller and more feminine in appearance. The uke is often considered "pure" (yes, I know, problematic), which makes them all the more desirable. Female consumers project themselves onto the uke to enjoy a romantic fantasy without having to fully engage with the patriarchal bullshit baked into traditional m/f romance (AbsoluteBL calls this "heterosexual dysmorphia").
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Out of all the pairs in Ateez, SanSang are the most seme/uke-coded.
San is the pursuer. He wants to protect Yeosang because Yeosang is "cute" and "pure." San uses his size to put Yeosang into physical situations he must tolerate/endure for San's pleasure. San preens whenever Yeosang acknowledges him, compliments him, or initiates contact. San wants to take Yeosang to "Paradise" (Single's Inferno) and feed him steak in bed. Only San can kiss Yeosang, which he repeatedly tells atiny. We cannot have Yeosang, he belongs to San.
On paper (or on tumblr), this description would make anyone raise an eyebrow. For the anti-fans of this relationship, San is a bully who routinely takes advantage of Yeosang's gentle nature. I've even heard an argument that San's physical transformation prompted KQ to "reassign" him Yeosang as a fan-service partner in order to maximize their seme/uke appeal to fans. As evidence, fans point to Yeosang's tendency to flinch whenever San gets too close and his hesitancy to reciprocate when San boldly declares his love in front of the cameras.
I have a few responses to this characterization of their relationship.
Quick note: fan service is a feature, not a bug, of kpop. The HYBE internal docs that leaked last summer explicitly mentioned different ships among various Big4 groups and cited strategies for promoting certain ships among their own groups.
Ateez excels at fan service, and this is partially to do with their natural chemistry with and genuine affection for each other. But also, as a smaller company, KQ did not have the means or resources to provide media-training to Ateez in their early years AND they gave almost unfettered access to the members via the vlive app, which is how many kpop fans got to know smaller and newer groups.
The sale of vlive to HYBE, who proceeded to shut down the app and replace it with their own company-managed app, terminated that kind of easy and unrestricted access to idols.
From what I gather, Ateez's growing popularity can be attributed in part to how much the members charmed fans by being unscripted and candid in their live videos, often about their relationships with each other. Sometimes we saw too much, i.e., the Woo-San-Sang intervention during their Christmas live.
I think fans got used to a certain kind of fan service from Ateez, a kind of fan service that seemed to tease fans with a genuine "what if?" about their relationships. This was helped by the built-in narratives surrounding the members: Yunho and Mingi meeting in ninth grade; Wooyoung and Yeosang being trainees together; Seonghwa being inspired by Hongjoong to pursue his idol dream.
And of course, WooSan, but I'll get to them later.
Going to back to SanSang: if you watch their early content, you'll see that San was drawn to Yeosang and the feeling was reciprocated. You can find multiple examples of them cuddling, hugging, and being affectionate with each other going back to 2019. It's been going on since San's "twink" era!
However, while fan service comes naturally to San, it is not the same for Yeosang. In fact, while he excels at all other aspects of being an idol (such as vocals, performance, dance, visuals) he arguably lacks the instincts for fan service. He is different from someone like Jongho, who abstains from fan service unless he's in the mood, or Hongjoong, whose tsundere persona (another Japanese romance archetype) is part of the Matz appeal.
My fellow ateez meta writers have offered their thoughts about Yeosang and how he often suffers for lack of "killer instincts" within the group (they clearly adore each other, but they also fight each other for our love and attention). What is the cause of Yeosang's passivity? Is it lingering trauma from his trainee years? Is it his general tendency to be forgetful or oblivious about events happening around him? Yes, Yeosang is smart, clever, and has a dry sense of humor, but he's also the child that Hongjoong said was hardest to parent.
Then there's a Yeosang that we almost never see and we once glimpsed in a cute exchange between him and Mingi. It's implied that Mingi and Yeosang forgot they were being filmed and Yeosang spoke differently than he normally does on camera, which San observes in surprise. I am not a Korean speaker, but he sounds extra sweet and soft. If that's how he is at home, no wonder he inspires so much cuteness aggression in the members.
I'll also note that Yeosang's "flinch" response to fan service is similar no matter who handles him, whether it's Mingi, Wooyoung, or Jongho. Yet, San is his most persistent suitor and his actions draw the most attention, positive and negative.
Let's Talk About San
San's shiftable personality is something the members observed in an early vlive with Hongjoong, Mingi, Seonghwa, and Yunho.
Mingi: "which member has the most behavioral gap with and without a camera?"
Hongjoong suggests that Yeosang and Seonghwa are pretty much the same with or without a camera. But San behaves differently.
Hongjoong: "Seriously. In the absence of a camera...how should I put this...I'm having trouble putting it in a nice way...he has a pretty extreme character...his mood changes a lot...whenever we all gather for a conversation, he's like...it's fascinating! How does someone think like that? He acts like a normal person with a camera...he's very abnormal with us."
While Hongjoong is talking, the other three see San approaching and they all visibly get nervous.
San: "I heard you dissing me!"
I recap this live because I think it strengthens my interpretation of the SanSang relationship as informed more by San's personality than company mandates. I think San's extreme personality and his ability to shift into "character" in front of the camera enables him to similarly adapt to certain dynamics. He is very perceptive about what his members need out of fan service with him. He's Yunho's sweet boy; he's Seonghwa's pesky little brother; he's Jongho's favorite hyung; he's Mingi's goofball bro. We'll get to Wooyoung.
Thus, one theory is that San becomes the "seme" for Yeosang because he recognizes a need in Yeosang that isn't being met.
Let's revisit the 2024 Off The Record interview between San and Yeosang:
San: There's something I want to ask you. Did anything I did upset you?
Yeosang: Actually, for me, instead of being upset, I feel more like I owe you an apology. Because for example, when you say things like "I love you", you show your love and affection, for me it's not easy to reciprocate, so I feel like I owe you an apology. Sometimes, when you try to kiss me... how can I say it... my body's reaction to avoid it is automatic.
And when San replies that Yeosang has done nothing to upset him, Yeosang continues, unprompted:
Yeosang: Nothing upsets you... Thinking about it another way, this feeling of being upset, I don't think it's entirely negative. I feel like the closer the person is, It's easier to get upset about something. I often wonder if I'm not doing enough (also about taking care of San). It's a bit of a stretch to say something like "I'm going to do something to upset you," but I'm going to do my best to do it.
Let's go back a year earlier to Yeosang's message to San during San's 2023 birthday live:
Sometimes when san shows affection to me, I...hahah...because i’m a little shy, yes...so i really, i really like, i brush it away/discard it but still...to me who cannot express (affection well), Sanie approaching me like this first is (something) i’m always grateful for, and because i feel like i won’t ever be able to express that gratefulness well, so i’m sorry too, but still, i am always thinking very thankfully to Sanie who approaches me first like this.
After listening to this, San smiles softly and says, "You're mine."
I think a more cynical person could read these exchanges as Yeosang apologizing for not giving back enough to their fan service, but I think Yeosang is really saying that he wants to be an active participant in his relationship with San. He wants to be able to genuinely upset San, which he sees as a marker of close friendship. While there is still a part of him that remains uneasy with San's excessive physical affection, he wants to be more to San than just a pretty doll to play with. (Interestingly, this is how Jongho described his relationship with Wooyoung earlier in the ep: “am I an accessory to you?”) I don't think for one second that San feels anything less for Yeosang than intense care and adoration.
Given all of this, SanSang "should" work as a major ship!!
Fans should be falling all over themselves to romanticize the gentle, dominant seme coaxing the timid, traumatized uke into accepting his care and affection!
Yet instead, many in the fandom have a hard time accepting or appreciating the fan-service SanSang provide. It comes off as particularly inauthentic for them. Almost too much like a manhwa/yaoi manga.
The primary reason? WooSan.
Many folks have already written about the WooSan ship and why they find it so exciting and compelling. A lot of the reasons boil down to this: it could actually be real.
My non-shipper kpop friend, who listens to everything but doesn't participate in the fandom, told me at their concert that there was a time when she genuinely thought WooSan were in love.
The image above sums up fandom's perception of WooSan: Wooyoung leads, San follows. Wooyoung pushes, teases, pressures, initiates, while San watches him with the fondest look in his eyes. Wooyoung demands, San gives: his attention, his praise, his own flesh. For narrative purposes, Wooyoung is the seme, San is the uke.
This is an exciting dynamic for shippers, refreshing for its lack of traditional yaoi archetypes. Big, strong San getting pushed around by bratty Wooyoung and loving it. San wrote tragic fanfiction for their characters in Bouncy. San is so confident in Wooyoung's love for him that he jokes Wooyoung will "always come back" even if he strays to another members. San is Wooyoung's home.
The biggest Yeosang antis claim that SanSang is an insult to WooSan. They claim San only acts like he's close to Yeosang because the company separated WooSan after they got too close for comfort during Bouncy era. Fans point to fewer WooSan appearances and promotional activities; no more shippy moments during the logbooks; they rarely filmed tiktoks or tagged each other in instagram photos; there was less "soulmate" talk on lives and during interviews. To add insult to injury, they didn't even get a unit song: It's You is a three-man performance with Yeosang.
Another theory shared by a not-insignificant faction within the fandom is that Wooyoung would not permit himself to be put into the role of the passive, submissive uke, so KQ made the call that San should be more attentive to Yeosang.
I am sure there are multiple factors for why WooSan distanced themselves/were distanced after Bouncy-era (cue Oprah voice "were you silent? or were you silenced?"), and I do think some of that has to do with the meteoric rise of Ateez after Bouncy. I think all of them were savvy enough to realize that they could promote the group on more than just being yaoiteez, and San's skyrocketing fame contributed to that shift too, along with Wooyoung's own self-described internal character arc away from being the "sexy" member towards someone with more mystery and maturity.
I would argue that their "distance" had the result of redirecting our attention to how affectionate San already was with all the members. Suddenly we're noticing how clingy he is with Yunho, Seonghwa, and Jongho. Same goes for Yeosang. Their dynamics are nothing new, but I would argue the fandom's attention and scrutiny made it seem new.
While this cannot be an accurate measurement of anything really, compare how many fics are written about each pair:
San/Wooyoung: 7,525 works on Archive Of Our Own
San/Yeosang: 1,345 works on Archive Of Our Own
As a shipper, there are really interesting observations to make about why the SanSang ship does not work compared to the WooSan ship.
My main theory takes us back to those classic seme/uke dynamics that the SanSang dynamic reproduces through their fan service. When compared with WooSan, SanSang comes off as inauthentic because it's too obvious, too easy, too much like shipper bait. It's traditional yaoi-coded appeal is actually the turn-off!
Here's my other theory: many are uncomfortable with SanSang because it forces them to reckon with the very real Business Gay Performance scaffolding all idol fan service. Because if SanSang is obviously manufactured for attention, are other unit pairs the same?
A Final Few Words About Yeosang
Yeosang is the unfair recipient of a lot of hate by the fandom, for shipping and non-shipping reasons. It's awful and it needs to stop.
I also see a worrying trend among his staunchest defenders of infantilizing Yeosang, stripping him of agency in their battles on his behalf, whether it's for better line distribution, more solo promotions, and fashion week schedules. There was even talk of organizing protest trucks outside of KQ, which I personally find mortifying.
I sincerely hope that in the future Yeosang has more opportunities to shine as a singer, dancer, and performer. I also hope that he comes to a place of comfort and confidence in his abilities to give and receive affection from the people who love him the most, a struggle he's voiced publicly. I truly wish him the best!
A Final Few Words About Me!
As someone who was introduced to Ateez via shipping my initial understanding of these relationships was refracted through the lens of the fandom. It's rare for me to move from "fanon" to "canon" like I am with Ateez, where I'm catching up on all their content, vlogs, and interviews and trying to understand them as "real" people, to the extent that anyone can ever know an idol. I am now streaming and voting in addition to reading fic! I'm no longer lurking but actively participating as a fan! This is a whole new phase for me in my 15+ years of being in fandom.
The interesting thing about my journey is that while I entered the fandom through the side door, I've actually become more interested in their IRL relationships and dynamics. I still read fic of course, but like my Hockey RPF fandom days I am able to compartmentalize the part of my brain that goes "oh these pretty boys are in love and should kiss!" and the other part that goes "these enormously talented artists deserve my support and attention."
That being said, I still enjoy shipping and I enjoying talking about how RPF ships work in the context of the idol industry. SanSang is a great case study to think about these topics, and I hope others will respond and with their own meta.
Thank you for your time!
