Defend Your Ship

Raina & Stevie welcome Viktor Devonne for some much needed education on The Simpsons. Specifically, Marge & Homer and #relationshipgoals. The Simpsons: They're Just People! Questions, comments, concerns? Hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Ringing in 2021 the same way we ended last year - getting real about Lord of the Rings. This time we're talking about hobbits: how much we love them, and how disappointing the movies were. Featuring Caitlin with an army of quotes, and Betty Brash, who really really really loves hobbits. Questions, comments, concerns? Hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

At the close of the year, we gathered our friends (from a distance) to discuss my favorite thing in the world - The Lord of the Rings. Because we know everyone always could stand to hear more about The Lord of the Rings. With us are Caitlin and Betty Brash to discuss linguistics, hobbits, and simping for Sauron. Questions, comments, concerns? Hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Mutants. Private islands. Connected bedrooms. It's time to talk about Jean Grey, Cyclops, and Wolverine. Also Emma Frost - it's a party! Featuring Maggie McMuffin, who is now billed as a recurring character on this podcast. Content Warnings: Discussions of polyamory at varying levels of health and success. Questions, comments, concerns? Hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com. And don't forget to venmo Maggie @lastchancedancer!

This week we welcome Henry from the wonderful podcast It Came From a Monster Movie to teach us all about the Godzilla fandom and its woes. Content Warning: Discussion of racism and colourism in fandom. The hosts and guest on this episode are white. Questions, comments, concerns? Hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Get ready for a live reading of a brand new fanfiction! You'll never guess who it's about. I'll tell you: Spiderman, and J. Jonah Jameson. They're kissing, just get over it. Featuring America Online as our treasured guest. Content Warning: A live reading of an erotic fanfiction, misuse of web, minor discussion of age gap relationship in fandom. Want to rant to us about your favorite ship? Follow us on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Welcome to Season 2! Just in time to sooth your wrinkled brain from the doldrums of election night. Stevie & Raina welcome back Maggie McMuffin to discuss Paradise Kiss in all its haute couture teen glory. What's it like to revisit your favorite teen manga as a Grown Up (TM)? You're about to find out. Content Warnings: Discussion of rape and sexual assault. Also discussions of misguided teenage expectations for romance. Want to rant to us about your favorite ship? Reach out on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

A quick announcement from Raina & Stevie. We will be taking a season break, and hopefully see you again soon. Keep getting wrecked in a good way!

Welcome to our final episode of Season 1! Today we have the fantastic DJ Stormageddon discussing everything he loves about Mass Effect and gaming fandom. Specifically, Kaidan Alenko and Commander Shepherd. Bonus topics include: video game modding as fandom, and how much we love beards. Content Warnings: Discussion of gender in Mass Effect and Mass Effect fandom, which often relies on male/female as differentiators. Have any ideas for what you'd like to hear in our next season? Would you like to be a guest and share your ship? Reach out to us on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

This week Raina and Stevie talk through their favorite iconic animes, courtesy of Gainax and Studio Trigger (complete with Gainax ending). Follow us on Twitter @defendyourship or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com!

Raina explains the Danganronpa series to Stevie, who learned what Junko posing was this past week. One entire hour of Danganronpa, because this quarantine is doing strange things to all of us! Follow us on Twitter @DefendYourShip Send us an email at Defendyourship@gmail.com Let us know what other topics and fandoms you'd like to hear about!

Raina & Stevie's recommendations for what to watch while you're on quarantine. Stay healthy out there, friends! Bonus: Raina recaps the last two Steven Universe episodes. Follow us on Twitter! @defendyourship Email defendyourship@gmail.com

Cliortis B. Toklas brings us a trio of fandoms! We talk Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, and Call the Midwife (plus one long tangent about Dollywood) for our longest episode yet. Content Warnings: Middle-aged white lady fandom, gently ragging on Laurie, and a reaaally long intro. Follow us on Twitter! @defendyourship Email defendyourship@gmail.com

Which is better: Riverdale, or The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina? Neither. They're both trash, and that's why we love them. In this episode, Raina represents Sabrina, and Stevie enthusiastically trash talks Riverdale. Content Warnings: Spoilers for The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Season 3. No hard spoilers for Riverdale, but there is discussion of events from early in Season 4. Other warnings: Raina eats a wonton, Stevie's cats thunder up and down their cat tree, and Stevie hijacks the show to plug their new fandom. "Hey what IS that pyramid scheme Stevie wouldn't shut up about?" Don't worry, Stevie's got you. You can read their primer for The Untamed right here. Questions, concerns, enthusiasm? Find us on Twitter @defendyourship, or send us an email at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Today we present Johnny Caligula on the greatest divorce story of all time: Professor X & Magneto, of The X-Men. They're playing chess, they're raising kids (kind off), they're ....madly in love. It's basically canon. Content Warnings for: Not much! Except... Shrek-like Scottish accents. Apologies. If you have any feelings about Cherik, (or "Profneto") find us on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com!

Raina and Stevie talk through the ups and downs of Millennials in Fandom, from the days of geocities, to AO3, to FOSTA/SESTA. Tl;dr, the kids are alright. Thoughts about Millennials? Thoughts about Fandom? Find us on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com.

We brought back Maggie McMuffin for another round! This time we're talking femslash. Specifically, Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy, and all our queer fantasies for them. Do you have some feelings about Harley Quinn? Find us on Instagram @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com. Follow Maggie McMuffin on Instagram @MaggieMcMuff! Content warnings: discussion of abuse and trauma in real life and fanficion. Light encouragement of criminal behavior (like robbing banks to pay your mortgage). Discussion of homophobia as it impacts women and femslash.

Get ready for a rambling conversation about all the wild tropes and topics that make us love fandom (and make real life media look super boring by comparison). Featuring discussion of polyamory, sexwork, BDSM, romance as psychological horror, and taking care of each other while exploring the dark weird stuff. Additional topics include an 8-minute recap of the last Twilight movie (29:54 to 37:02), and an in-depth discussion of A/B/O, and its significance as a fandom trope that has developed a canon of its own (from 46:20 on). Plus, stay-tuned after the regular content as we answer the question, "which ghost do you ship Scrooge with?" (We originally meant to post this episode on Christmas). Want to get excited about fandom with us? We're on Tweeters, @defendyourship, or you can email us at defendyourship@gmail.com. Content warnings: horrific pregnancy (Twilight), A/B/O, biological prescriptivism as a trope, heat cycles, dubious consent, dark!fic in general. Fanfiction referenced in this episode: Suppress that shit by appalachian_fireflies

Would you believe that Homestuck was an innovative frontier for new storytelling and language? Well, we're defending it anyway. Or rather, Betty Brash is. Content Warnings: Can't think of any! This is a fairly tame episode, aside from the fact that it's Homestuck we're discussing. Want to tell us how nuts we are for talking about Homestuck in 2020? Tweet as us @defendyourship, or send us an email - defendyourship@gmail.com. And don't forget Betty Brash and Mx Macabre's Homestuck Burlesque show! March 13th, at the Nest in Brooklyn.

Happy New Year! For our first instalment of 2020, we're bringing you murder, desire, obsession - but this time with femslash (well, technically it's canon). Our guest Shannon presents: Killing Eve. Content Warnings: Murder, serial killers, gaslighting, obsession, stabbings and shootings, and spoilers for Killing Eve, Have anything to add or share? Any fanfiction recs for Emily? Reach us on Twitter @defendyourship and by email at defenyourship@gmail.com.

We're talking about cannibals for Christmas! This week Emily brings us Hannigram, and it's beautiful. Content warnings: Cannibalism, serial killers, murder, gore, dubcon, gaslighting, and other spoilers for Hannibal. Thoughts on Hannibal and Will? Have anything to add or share? Any fanfiction recs for Emily? Reach us on Twitter @defendyourship and by email at defenyourship@gmail.com. Media referenced in this episode: Reapersun's coffee shop comic. Merry Crisis!

Happy Hanukkah! In this special episode, Raina requested a conversation about patriotism, fandom, and Captain America's Jewish roots. Stevie and Raina discuss the difficult nature of a character who embodies America,, the importance of Captain America in a Jewish context, and what to do with cognitive dissonance between fanon and canon. Content warnings for: Mention of explicit fanfiction, including anal play and gangbangs. Both are mentioned pretty briefly, although Stevie perhaps goes on a bit too long about tossing salads. Sorry about that Any feedback about the episode? Thoughts, comments, concerns? We know you've got them. Drop us a note: @defendyourship on Twitter, and defendyourship@gmail.com. Many of the fics Stevie mentions in this episode were written by Hansbekhart. Further shout outs to the the fanart of bluandorange, faun-songs (now chernozemm), and silentwalrus1.

It's gay, it's in space, it's Kirk/Spock. The guys who put the "slash" in slash fanfiction. Welcome to Defend Your Ship! Kalliope and Stevie freak out about Kirk and Spock, and Raina is extremely patient. Follow us on Twitter @defendyourship, or email us at defendyourship@gmail.com Content Warnings: Discussion of on-screen misogyny and sexism References: The Ship's Closet on Youtube

Welcome our first guest - Maggie McMuffin! Sex worker, performer, and writer extraordinaire. Get wrecked over the many iterations of known "superpowered whackadoos" Harley Quinn & The Joker. Content Warnings: This episode features in-depth discussion of "darkfic" and kink. The episode focuses on consensual enjoyment of kink and fandom, though the fan content itself may be involve dubious consent between the characters. We also discuss experiences as underage people participating in fandom. Specific topics include (but are not limited to): Discussion of dubcon and noncon themes in fanfiction Discussion of physical and emotional abuse of fictional characters, and cycles of abuse in real life Discussion of rack play Description of a consensual waterboarding kink scene (26:05 - 27:33) Brief mention of fantasy wound f*cking and knife play (which you should not try at home) Disclaimer: The hosts and guest are aware of abuse as a theme in the Harley/Joker pairing. Our discussion does not seek to make light of abusive relationships, but to acknowledge the value of abuse narratives in fanfiction. Media referenced in this episode: Stevie's Content of the Week is: Reapersun Raina's Content of the Week is: Devour: A Tale of Cannibal Mermaids Maggie McMuffin's Content of the Week is: PaintedGlass The Labyrinth fic with the chickens is: My Fine Feathered Friend by Lexxle The song by The Bastard Fairies is "Maybe She Likes It" Questions! Comments! Concerns! Reach us on Twitter at @defendyourship, and by email at defendyourship@gmail.com.

Buffy and Angel, or Buffy and Spike? What about all three at the same time? Even better - all three of them going to therapy. This week Raina gets real about threesomes, biphobia, and getting your shit together. Follow us on Twitter: @DefendYourShip Email us at defendyourship@gmail.com No content alerts this week, just some discussion of biphobia in media.

Dredging up the mid-2000s, Stevie defends Axel/Roxas! Assuming they can remember anything about Kingdom Hearts. Important lessons: have a legacy, never die, and always remember everything forever. Email us at defendyourship@gmail.com, or hit us up on Twitter @defendyourship. Fanfics referenced in this episode are "The Light Underneath" and "Reckless and Impulsive," both by VIII of XIII on Fanficion.net. Content alerts: Suicide ideation is discussed in the context of a fanfiction plotline (8:50 - 10:10). We also briefly discuss age gaps in pairings and IRL relationships.

Our first episode, featuring Raina Sinclair and Stevie (aka Sonickitty). We discus fandom, sexuality, and problematic moments of our youth, all through the lens of fandom and ships, ships, SHIPS. Welcome to Defend Your Ship! Hope you're ready to get wrecked. Episode 1 covers Raina and Stevie's entry to fandom and shipping, featuring Sailor Moon, Kingdom Hearts, and some anime you never thought you'd care about again. Content warnings include discussion of shipping underage characters while we ourselves were underage, as well as light discussion of E-rated fanfic. Visit Raina Sinclair on Instagram @rainasinclair28 Visit Stevie on Tumblr (yes, Tumblr) @sonickitty