fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2566 ]

[ SECRET POST #2566 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2566 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 090 secrets from Secret Submission Post #366.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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Tony/Rhodey from the Iron Man films.

Yeeeeeessssssss. So weird. (Although the first actor to play him was horrible so maybe that's something.)

But I heard Rhodey was gonna be in the next Avenger film so maybe that will spark something?

I didn't think he was so horrible, but yeah maybe that could be it. I'm still eyeing the racism reason though.

I don't know how much the next Avengers film would do, but that would be pretty great :)

Oh. Oops. Sorry! Wait- There was a racism reason?

It would be. I really like Don Cheadle.

A lot of people think that the reason Tony wasn't shipped with Rhodey was because he was black, and while I'm not inclined to hop onto the racismwank wagon very easily at all, I'm inclined to agree with them here.

Oooooohhh, makes sense.

...or maybe they just didn't have the right sort of chemistry/interactions? To be honest, it took me a few seconds to remember what, if anything, the Rhodey character contributed to the movies.

That would be a good reason for an individual person to not ship them. But believe me, those two were exactly the type of bffs that buddyshippers would have normally been ALL over. I don't mean it as in "how can you not ship them?", I mean it as in "why on earth are there so few shippers for this pairing when so many fictional friendships very similar to this one get shipped to hell and back?" I personally don't even ship them myself, I'm just weirded at the fact that no one does.

Also, your opinion of Rhodey is a rather rare one. I'm not saying the opinion is wrong, (although I sort of wonder how you hold it after IM2), but it's not a common one, so that definitely can't explain the lack of shipping.

I'm sure other individuals have equally valid individual reasons to not ship them.

And just because it's a supposedly a buddy dynamic doesn't mean it's a dynamic that a lot of people want to write. (The actors that played Tony Stark and Bruce Banner (or Tony Stark and Captain America) did a great job of working off of each other, which is cited as character chemistry and a sign that they were meant to be shipped. The Tony and Rhodey dynamic wasn't so easy.)

Whether it was intentional or not, Rhodey doesn't add anything to the plot or Tony's emotional arc in IM2.

Out of control killer robot soldiers would/should be considered a horrible threat to New York in their own right. That Rhodey is trapped in one, especially when the others are apparently unmanned, is unnecessary. Worse, he's written in such a way that he doesn't do anything to make his predicament more interesting... or anything that the narrative hadn't set Pepper or Natasha up to do.

He also keeps Tony from accidentally killing his party guests but, although a more interesting use of the character, the scene is short and more dramatic cut than explored.

With only half a scene of being interesting under his belt - and a BFF who seems to forget that he exists when he's out of the frame - I can see why few people who write for the movies latched onto Rhodey as a potential romantic pairing after IM 2. The writing doesn't provide Rhodey and Tony with an easy understanding during the semi-decent times (like with Banner) and Rhodey's disapproval isn't shown to matter to Tony (unlike with Captain America. In fact, the writing makes it seem like Tony's more upset about his suits being nicked than his friend betraying him.) And people, whether consciously or not, are likely to react to these sorts of narrative cues. (Despite having an arguably smaller role in IM1, Rhodey had a much more important role both in terms of plot and Tony's emotional arc in that movie, which is probably why someone's aforementioned funvee shipping community was able to get off the ground.)

So, uh, in short, I don't think it's fair to shout the race card when there are many reasons, both personal and in the narrative, not to ship those particular characters. Not unless someone comes out and tells you that... which seems unlikely given how loud fandom is, especially when it comes to policing other fans. (For their own good, I'm sure.)

Edited 2014-01-12 17:22 (UTC)

There was some. They even had an LJ comm called The Funvee. I don't think it was ever a big ship, though.

This. Big pairings usually have a lot of friendshippy gen, too, so I was disappointed T/R wasn't a thing. I'd have loved to read gen along these lines.

There's not even all that much Tony/Rhodey gen friendship in fics. I hate fics where Steve just takes over Rhodey's place as Tony's BFF.

With Tony/Rhodey I can't help but feel that the RACISM!!!11!-brigade might be on to something. Y u no more popular? :/

I don't ship it but man I wish there was more general bro stuff with them too.

Yesssss.

Back in the day (Iron Man 1, the day, I mean) I wrote a couple fics for them. They were the only ones I could find on LJ.

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[ SECRET POST #2566 ]

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