#rajcourse

the reason why ppl think they're boring is because we only had like, 5 episodes of them. because they are a very explicitly queer couple in an animated show, the production team had to fight to even get them canonized, they couldn't get the same amounts of screen time as other couples because of the fact that it's a gay couple. you don't have to like rajbow, you can think it's boring, but that's no fault of the characters or the production team, it's the limitations they had.

also, rajbow is a milestone in terms of representation. even if you don't like them, you've gotta acknowledge the fact that they show how far representation has come. five years ago, having a character be introduced as "the gay guy" would've been unheard of, let alone having them almost win the whole season. five years ago, having a character go through the process of realising/coming to terms with the fact that they're gay and then coming out would've been unheard of. hell, even having a character as openly supportive as Wayne is would've been an anomaly. they're not the First Gay Couple ever, but they're a big part of showing how far representation has gone, especially in "children's" shows like total drama. even if you think they're boring, acknowledging their importance matters.

the discourse is stupid too because like. how about we all go on a walk and pet a dog instead of arguing. how about we respect others opinions. how about peace and love and plants on the planet earth.

I'm sorry but saying that shipping it erases Wayne characters is so funny to me. Sorry but if you say his point is to be a "straight ally I'm gonna laugh at your face loudly

He can be an ally, the point is that he is an ally to his friend

I don't care if people dislike it, but that's like the cheapest excuse I ever heard in a fandom

Waynecourse -> whether or not it’s morally acceptable to ship Wayne x any male character

trentcourse: deep analysations of trent’s past and how it affected his mental health, discussions on outbursts he had in the show and how he was treated

and i've seen people comparing rayne to f/m ships with bowie or raj WHAAATTTT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT😭😭😭 erasing “straight ally rep” by making a character actually gay isn't comparable to messing with gay rep since straight allys are famously not systematically oppressed against and constantly being erased LMFAO.

and if were looking at this through the lense of wayne being a character that is important for gay people to demonstrate that they can have allys that are straight, why do people care so much if GAY PEOPLE do something that they like for a character that's meant for them. (i have never ever seen a straight person/ fujoshi ship rayne. get real if this is your argument against it)

rajbow and rayne are fundamentally different dynamics. saying that rajbow exists and is gay therefore rayne isn't allowed to because “omg there's a canon gay ship right there stop making up new ones” is entirely nonsensical. if you want a childhood friends to lovers or whatever story, that's rayne. you can't force rajbow into that role. its okay to have different ships like holy shit. the dramatics i see towards rayne piss me off because they're always annoying every damn time and i LITERALLY DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT SHIP as i pretty much only ship wlw ships (as a lesbian lol)

i just imagine a world where fuckin. idk julia has a straight bff and mkulia is canon. i legit would not fucking care if people liked a different dynamic because mk-“toxic yuri”-ulia is not for fucking everyone and i use my brain and see that and am not annoying constantly about the ships people do and don't like.

The fact of the matter is, Bowie is our first openly gay character, and not only that, but he is black and femme. This is obvious from the literal moment he is introduced. We've already seen people react negatively towards him for all of these aspects (no, he is not stereotypical, he's just femme PLEASE learn the difference). By contrast, Raj is masc, Desi, and gay, the latter of which he discovers for himself during the season. It is incredibly important, in a world where the vast majority of gay rep consists of two white people (to the point where people make jokes about how so many wlw couples in media are just 'blonde woman' and 'brunette') that the first gay couple on this show is a black man and a Desi man.

Inserting Wayne into the equation then, or even removing Bowie from it entirely and shipping Wayne with Raj instead, is... well, it has it's implications. Again, I'm by no means accusing anyone of doing this with any ill will, but people are capable of harbouring biases that they may be unaware of that are still capable of impacting how they interact with media--and yes, this includes how people ship. The conversation around people shoving aside canonical interracial couples to ship two white people instead is as old as time, and while this isn't quite the same, it is still altering an interracial relationship between two non-white people to include a white man.

I'm obviously not capable of stopping anyone from shipping fictional characters, but all I'm saying is that people have every right to be wary of people who ship Raynebow/Rayne.