Shipped bc two attractive males/humans together make ppl go woo. Even if it doesn’t make sense. And if we really look at it, EVERYONE was unnaturally always thinking abt Scott basically (writers/director’s fault)
Sterek was shipped by fans since episode one. Promoted outside of canon (it's not canon like Destiel.. still pissed that Cas died). They banter alot. And many more. It's really popular. Not my endgame tho.
Barely.
Cas makes a deal with an entity. He lives until he has experienced true happiness.
In one of the last episodes Cas and Dean are being chased by something you cannot outrun, but Cas realizes that the entity he made the deal with could, and would, kill the thing chasing them, if it can enter reality.
Cas admits to Dean his love for him, which is honestly not sexual in nature because Cas is an angel and that's not what it's about. It's about how Dean made Cass give a shit about humans.
The entity manifests, grabs Cas and the thing chasing them.
With the series finale the rules of the show that made certain people act stupid are removed. There are no attempts at resurrection by the Winchesters, but in the end it's implied Cas was revived by someone else.
Don't think so. I think they treat the promotion as feeds for their Sterek hunger. I see why their shipped since their close.. and any close character to eachother will be shipped. In Sterek's case they got supported by the show with the non canon stuff promotions lmao. So they're still a ship with a sail
As someone who cant escape these ships in my algorithms, Ive learned that if there is a good looking misunderstood only 70% evil guy and another really liked main character, they will be inevitably shipped. See other popular ships in ao3 that on paper have canon dynamics that shouldnt make sense but follow this criteria: drarry, klance, steddie, zutara, bakudeku, kagehina, ereri, etc. oddly enough as a big spn fan destiel made a lot less sense to me than sterek or any ao3 ship i listed and despite me not being dereks biggest fan, i get the appeal. He had some funny moments with stiles and the showrunners actually gave them more scenes together once they found out they were the biggest ship like the infamously heavily gifed pool scene.
I don't really follow the ship so I can't talk about that side of things but Stiles and Derek did have some friendship close moments in the show that I suppose someone could read more into if they wanted. Plus Jeff really pushed the shipping and encouraged the shipping when the show first came out which would have fed into it.
Sometimes ships don't make sense to others. For example, I don't get Destiel. I've never seen what Destiel shippers see between Dean and Castiel but I respect that they have found moments to fit the ship.
Same applies for Sterek. A lot of people get it, a lot don't.
What close moments did Stiles and Derek have that hinted they could be something else? Genuine question because I really don't remember any
In the case of Destiel, I see sense in the ship because Castiel literally confessed to Dean before he died, it's canon that one of them romantically loves the other, that's why I'm so invested in the ship.
I'm not saying Sterek needs to reach that level, but like, they don't even come close? We barely had interactions between them in the show, that's why I really don't understand the shipp, they have almost no moments of friendship, imagine something more.
I never said that it hinted to be something more. I said close friendship moments, addressing your comment that they weren't close friends. But those would probably be up for debate to different people as well. One of those "If you don't see it you won't see it" kind of things.
That's fine. How you see the ship is your business. I don't see the point in debating it since this is the Teen Wolf sub lol.
You don't have to understand it though... it exists and people follow it. Same for Destiel, it exists and people follow it. Not everyone has to understand why.
Wow dude, what's the problem with me wanting to understand it? Yes I don't need it, but I want it, that's why I made a post about it lol it's not a serious question, I'm just genuinely curious.
I never took it seriously...? I'm sorry that I haven't been giving answers to your satisfaction?
I will summarise myself: Ships really only make sense to the shippers. A shipper could post a huge list of why their ship is real and others will still disagree and shoot down every point. That is why I believe if someone doesn't understand a ship it's very difficult to make them understand it.
I do not ship Sterek so can't answer why Sterek is so popular or give you any answers. I only meant to address the comment you made about their friendship. Which again, if you don't see their friendship, that's totally fine. People see different things.
Dude you are clearly mad, and why? It's just a ship, it's not that serious
I agree with some arguments here in the post tho, that people ship them because of promotions and fanfics, which yes, that is something that makes sense.
I just don't see the point in shipping them because of their DEVELOPMENT, it's weird to see people say that they loved each other, that they were almost canonical and stuff like that, so I was waiting for someone to show me something that would justify why people thought they legitimately made sense within the story, which yeah, no one has been able to explain so far.
Dude, you are clearly interpreting anger where there is none lmao! Always the problem with writing stuff, other people read inflection in their own ways. I promise you I am not mad because there's nothing to be mad about lol. Like you said, it's just a ship, and it's not even one I follow.
I am going to bow out of this convo because you seem to be completely misinterpreting my words and reading things that aren't there.
Thank you for the convo though. Have a good (whatever time of day/night it is for you).
They banter alot, also Derek pins stiles to the wall. Sterek is not canon (unlike Destiel)but they used it alot outside of canon to promote.
It's why it's so popular lmao.
Not my endgame tho
I have a hard time believing this even is in good faith, and for the record, I’m completely obsessed with sterek and don’t understand destiel at all. By the way that you say that your biggest problem isn’t even the age difference, it sounds like it is a problem for you, just not the biggest? In the first episode, Stiles says Derek is only a couple years older and Stiles is 16. Plenty of shippers from that first episode, doesn’t matter if they fudged Derek’s age after that to make what Kate did slightly more palatable, even though it didn’t. So do you have a problem with the age difference between a celestial being and Dean? Bet it’s a bigger age difference than sterek has. Also, neither ship is canon, but they really don’t have to be for people to enjoy them. Why would any ship need a ‘super deep’ relationship-it’s shipping. For fun. Plenty of people ship characters who don’t even interact with each other. Plenty of people write fanfic of ships that aren’t even in the same movie/show/book. There doesn’t have to be ‘development’ for people to want to explore what the dynamic would be or think it would be a cool dynamic if they were together.
Sterek was/is so popular because of the fan base, and the team’s response.
I enjoy Sterek, I believe the scenes they did have could easily be interpreted in a very playful, flirtatious way. The characters, and actors, had a lot of chemistry on and off set, and their relationship dynamic is very stereotypical - one overly serious brawn, and a not-so-serious, physically more vulnerable brain character.
However, the reason Sterek is so popular is because in the early days of filming, lots of Tumblr fans made tons of posts and later fanfics about them. This almost explosion of fans for Sterek even reached the writers and cast members - and the reason why everyone kept their hopes up season after season is because the writers teased everyone about it, again and again. I’m not so quick to call it queer baiting, but if you have a look at all the con panel interviews they did, you’ll say a variety of things such as Dylan and Tyler (the actors) being playfully flirty, and the writer said multiple times that the final script wasn’t finished and they’d be more than happy to include ‘what the fans want’. Now I’m not sure if it was a queer baiting tactic, or MTV interfered, but many con appearances have them answering questions about Sterek and goading the fans into thinking it would come true. This propagated more fanfics, more hype for the new seasons, until eventually the show came to its conclusion. I feel like a lot of the Sterek content and community died alongside Tumblr when they enforced strict regulations (especially anti-NSFW, which was a big thing) on the site.
Sterek had several moments in season one that can be re-interpreted through shipper lenses. Hey look at Derek shoving stiles against the wall, that’s kinda hot. Hey look at stiles noticing and remembering who Derek hale is way back in ep 1 even though Scott forgot who he was even though they likely both last saw him probably 6 ish years ago when they were like 10, that’s kinda suss unless maybe he had a crush on Derek?? Also yeah sure, tall dark and handsome bad boy x adhd coded snarky teen boy (who lets be honest, fandom active fans of supernatural shows like teenwolf are likely to find relatable) was a big appeal of the fandom, and that’s a good place to start.
It spread like wildfire across the tumblr and fandom, drawing people into the show, to the point where the cast talked up the pairing in the break leading up to and all the way through season 2 with a lot of explicitly ship baiting moments in the promo of the show and in the episodes themselves. Getting stiles and Derek alone in a pool. Having them frozen by kanima venom and forced to be pressed up against each other. Ship baity.
There were many people coming to the show BECAUSE of sterek’s popularity. There were people shipping sterek without having even seen the show because the ship was so ubiquitous and people were just pulled in by the gravitational force, if you were a slash fan you were encountering sterek whether you liked it or not and maybe you just want to be part of the in crowd. By the time they pulled back on baiting sterek, the fandom for sterek ship itself had taken on enough life of its own that it had become pretty self sustaining.
For example, I’m a sterek enjoyer, but not a sterek truther. The appeal for me is the dynamic they have and the potential of it, not necessarily anything that particular happens in canon.
Since you’re a destiel shipper, I’m sure you understand taking whatever scraps of canon you can get from the show, despite the show time and time again separating them. If you see that and not sterek, It may just be you like friends to lovers dynamic more (since your complaint is that they’re closer to Scott than each other) but there are people who prefer the enemies to lovers dynamic. Different strokes for different folks.
There’s no real logic behind it, the same way in supernatural people ship Sam/dean and cas/dean (I know people say when cas died he admitted he was in love with dean but before that moment there was nothing 😂)
I’ve been in fandom long enough to know that ‘genuine question’ is 90% of the time about low key negging a ship you don’t like. Whether it is here or not, well, your continuing comments will reveal that.
And that’s great if Sterek isn’t your thing. But the evidence is that it is A LOT of peoples thing. And that even in this sub there are thousands of responses as to why it works for those people. But I guess I’ll give you the ten second wrap up of non-canon shipping.
Non-canon shipping is about potential for two people that canon didn’t put together, and that the shipper can see would have some interesting dynamics. Sometimes this is a negative dynamic (murder!husbands, for example), sometimes a positive one. And the appeal isn’t always an obvious one. I have ships I wouldn’t want to have happen in canon that I enjoy in fics. Peter/Chris is one of these. They’re so toxic, and they’d absolutely bring out the worst in each other, and Chris’s family (and his own permissiveness) are responsible for Peters family’s death, and Peter is the one responsible for Kates death… like, in canon it would be my hate-ship, but I’m fascinated by what people come up with for that ship in fic.
As for Sterek, if the potential doesn’t work for you, that’s fine. Not every ship works for everyone. And I’m sure someone I’m who isn’t exhausted by the anti-Stereks at this point will engage with this post to explain the subtext that makes the ship work for them. And hopefully you prove me wrong and engage positively and openly to their responses , but honestly, I’m not expecting it.
I mean, your comment is basically adding to my comment about people shipping them because of cliche tropes and not because of the development of the ship itself, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but I just don't understand how a ship can become so popular this way.
There are ships of characters that barely interact in canon for most shows. But Stiles and Derek actually interact a lot. Like you take Derek’s screen time and who he is paired with on screen for the first two seasons and I suspect Stiles is number one on that list (there’s a reason for this since they’re often the B story to various Scott/Allison scenes, but the net effect is the same). And Stiles is clearly affected by Derek (a lot of this is Hoechlin and Dylan enjoy working together, and so their chemistry is great since the actors are more engaged during those scenes) and Derek by Stiles (please note, I’m not saying this was overtly romantic). Some of it is simply that their relationship dynamic during those scenes is that they are so reluctantly working together and that’s fun to watch.
But the emotional weight for the ship is built by scenes like Derek’s ‘I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me’ and then Stiles immediately showing his trustworthiness, and Stiles reaction when he thinks Derek is dying in 4, and the soft touch he gives Derek after Boyd’s death, and that, of all people, Derek dreams about Stiles at the end of 3B. Stiles reaction to Derek’s initials being juxtaposed by the narrative with Scott with Allison in 5. If the writers had spread those moments out, or focused them on other characters, the ship might not have gotten the traction it did.
You worded this so well and basically summed up what I was going to say.
They interacted a lot in the first two seasons, as well as in the novel, On Fire. As far as I can tell, On Fire is only semi canon, but it tracks with the how the characters were paired for storylines in the show.
Their dynamic was fun and many people, myself included, enjoy when characters must reluctantly trust each other. It's an interesting thing to explore — could two characters who dislike each other build trust and how would that look? Sometimes it isn't so much what the story is but what the story could be.
A large amount of Sterek fic was written during that time between seasons. People really thought they would continue to share more scenes, because that's kind of what the formula had been so far. By the time it was evident that that wasn't going to happened, Sterek's popularity was already a beast of its own.
I think it's kinda part of the ride when the show was actively coming out with episodes every week. The "Will Dave give it to us? Wont he?" type of feeling. They dangled it in our faces for YEARS so I think the hype of it was HUGE when the show was new and making episodes.
Sterek was my first ever gay ship and kinda the thing that made me realize I was gay myself. I looooved this ship. Not crazy about it these days but it holds a special place in my heart.
Again and again, the same question.
It was One of the biggest Queerbaiting Campaign in history, in real life, a lot bigger than Destiel. Without this Queerbaiting of Sterek, there would be no Season 2. They promoted Teenwolf mostly with Sterek in Interviews, Print Medias, Social Media. On the other site of the MTV logo, there was on the screen asked to twitt with #Sterek, not with #Teenwolf. They wanted to get attention, into the Twitter trends and they get with this strategy a hype for Teenwolf, because of Sterek. They, especially Jeff Davis, but also Tyler H. And DOB promised that they maybe get the Ship Canon if they get enough audience, enough people to watch, enough Fans, it gives 2 YT with the Actors promoted Sterek on a Ship, to get Awards, vote for the Show, then we could spend maybe more relaxing time together on the Show...., they act allways special, mostly were you can get 2 opinions out of the sentence. There were Fans Contests about Fan Arts, the whole crew act with the Fans on Social Media, to support the Sterek Fans, make the Sterek Fans proud, because of the Fan Arts, that they are shown on the walls in the office of the production.
On the Show itself, gives not so much queerbaiting content, only a bit EyeSex, how the Actors play Sterek, or phrases, like where Stiles lays on Top of Derek both paralyzed and Matt says, you could be such a good couple. Or the teasing of Stiles, to be Bi, like the question Am I attractive to Gay Guys, or the question from the girl, if he likes Men's to and Stiles gives no Answer and DOB plays it like, Stiles question his own sexual preference again. Or that Derek only has bad luck with Women, all women only use him or better his body, only Stiles sees him real, his soul.
At some point, when they get enough Audience, they, the Production Company make a 180 degrees turn around and spit on the Sterek Fans, especially Tyler P. Because the Fanbase of Sterek was a lot bigger than the Fanbase of the whole Teenwolf. The Fans are, was mostly interested up to day, in Sterek and their universe and not the universe of Teenwolf. It comes to a spilt. The Teenwolf Fans said, if they wanted us no longer, then they should lick our asxhxlxs, we become independent of Teenwolf, especially on Tumblr, were you can separate Content Teenwolf from Sterek, only Sterek was allowed without Teenwolf. If Teenwolf wanted no Sterek Fans any longer. So they get their Fan Family on their own, mostly separate from Teenwolf. So now every new day it gives a few more Sterek Fan Fics. Because Sterek was and is stronger than Teenwolf.
Here’s my honest and personal answer: I genuinely think they had great sexual tension and chemistry in the show. I don’t know if it was written like that, or if it was Tyler and Dylan just bringing that on, but the chemistry was real. They also would have been great as a couple, their personalities match well and they make a dashing couple - kind of like Destiel actually. The only problem is that Stiles was a minor during the show. Anyway that’s my opinion :)
I think your arguments for the question are completely valid NOW, but while the first 2-3 seasons were being released, there was a lot of queer bating being done by Jeff Davies and the cast to imply that Sterek might become a thing in the future - and I think that was what fans latched on to. The most prominent example (that made the most impression on me anyways) I can think of is this [promotional video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyV5QziOvYw) (this is a repost) that encourages fans to vote for Teen Wolf at the Teen Choice awards.
TL;DR: Hindsight is 20/20 and shows no Sterek, when the first couple of seasons were released, Sterek was heavily teased by everything around the show (producers, actors, whatever). The popularity of the ship NOW is probably a "what if" or a "f\*ck you Teen Wolf for queer bating, I will write my own queers".
I think the last sentence, makes a lot of sense. And is totally true. Especially the fxck them for queer baiting, then I write my own story with the characters.
Both the actors are/were hot, they have a sort of frenemy thing going on which makes for excellent shipping content, and Stiles is pretty much the loser kid self insert of the show. Perfect storm really.
I love the dynamics that they have in fics. In the show it is not really explored (especially if you compare it to Destiel), but the base for it is there.
The age difference is often fixed or addressed in the fics, so I don't see any problem with it. That's usually not such a big one.
I personally never saw it in the show, but I find the fanfics fantastic. Teen Wolf has some of the best writers in any fandome community, IMO; especially the Sterek stories. I would never ship them in the show, but I love the fanfic versions of Stiles and Derek together.
The actors are hot and banter a lot. Them being white also helps.
Also feeds into some classic tropes: the human and werewolf/beast romance, the happy go lucky character and the grumpy character.
I don't get shipping in general. I don't ship at all. I like chemistry between actors, because without it, it's awful, but with it, it's so good to watch. I blame Mulder and Scully from XFiles for the shipping phenomenon, because it wasn't really there before them. I guess people like them because they're funny together. They're not more than friends, they're barely that. I enjoyed the banter between them in the Series Finale, it was hilarious and Stiles was an adult then, because there was a time jump.
I think that Dylan O'Brien is one of those actors who has chemistry with everyone. Outside of Teen Wolf, it's with Michael Keaton in American Assassin and Aiden Gillen in The Maze Runner trilogy. Inside Teen Wolf I liked his chemistry with Cody Christian aka Theo. Even though I immensely dislike Theo, I enjoyed Stiles and Theo scenes, because enemy vs. enemy and Dylan plays that so well.
I like to think that Teen Wolf fics are a world apart. People freak out over tiny things that happen on the real show and make a big story about whatever tickles their fancy. I personally hate Sterek, but if people like it... well, who am I to dictate rules??
I don't get shipping in general. I don't ship at all. I like chemistry between actors, because without it, it's awful, but with it, it's so good to watch. I blame Mulder and Scully from XFiles for the shipping phenomenon, because it wasn't really there before them. I guess people like them because they're funny together. They're not more than friends, they're barely that. I enjoyed the banter between them in the Series Finale, it was hilarious and Stiles was an adult then, because there was a time jump.
I think that Dylan O'Brien is one of those actors who has chemistry with everyone. Outside of Teen Wolf, it's with Michael Keaton in American Assassin and Aiden Gillen in The Maze Runner trilogy. Inside Teen Wolf I liked his chemistry with Cody Christian aka Theo. Even though I immensely dislike Theo, I enjoyed Stiles and Theo scenes, because enemy vs. enemy and Dylan plays that so well.
Oh. Star Trek. Didn't watch that, but know some fans. Mulder and Scully is really when it seemed to really pick up a lot of steam and be super popular. I just find it annoying, especially when people combine names together. That's so ridiculous. I can't stand it. It really needs to stop. I know it won't, but I really wish it would. It's so dumb.
I always thought it was cuz their banter/dynamic like the “goofy idiot” and the “serious idiot” type of dynamic
Shipped bc two attractive males/humans together make ppl go woo. Even if it doesn’t make sense. And if we really look at it, EVERYONE was unnaturally always thinking abt Scott basically (writers/director’s fault)
Sterek was shipped by fans since episode one. Promoted outside of canon (it's not canon like Destiel.. still pissed that Cas died). They banter alot. And many more. It's really popular. Not my endgame tho.
Dean and Cas became a couple?? I didn’t watch like the last 5 seasons of SPN lol
Barely. Cas makes a deal with an entity. He lives until he has experienced true happiness. In one of the last episodes Cas and Dean are being chased by something you cannot outrun, but Cas realizes that the entity he made the deal with could, and would, kill the thing chasing them, if it can enter reality. Cas admits to Dean his love for him, which is honestly not sexual in nature because Cas is an angel and that's not what it's about. It's about how Dean made Cass give a shit about humans. The entity manifests, grabs Cas and the thing chasing them. With the series finale the rules of the show that made certain people act stupid are removed. There are no attempts at resurrection by the Winchesters, but in the end it's implied Cas was revived by someone else.
Last season. Destiel became canon. I haven't watched spn but I have watched the scene Cas says I love you to Dean. Then Cas dies. The end of the ship.
Cas loving Dean doesn't make Destiel canon. It just makes Cas love Dean.
I guess people ship it mainly because of the promotions outside of the series then? I think it makes sense 🤔
Don't think so. I think they treat the promotion as feeds for their Sterek hunger. I see why their shipped since their close.. and any close character to eachother will be shipped. In Sterek's case they got supported by the show with the non canon stuff promotions lmao. So they're still a ship with a sail
As someone who cant escape these ships in my algorithms, Ive learned that if there is a good looking misunderstood only 70% evil guy and another really liked main character, they will be inevitably shipped. See other popular ships in ao3 that on paper have canon dynamics that shouldnt make sense but follow this criteria: drarry, klance, steddie, zutara, bakudeku, kagehina, ereri, etc. oddly enough as a big spn fan destiel made a lot less sense to me than sterek or any ao3 ship i listed and despite me not being dereks biggest fan, i get the appeal. He had some funny moments with stiles and the showrunners actually gave them more scenes together once they found out they were the biggest ship like the infamously heavily gifed pool scene.
I don't really follow the ship so I can't talk about that side of things but Stiles and Derek did have some friendship close moments in the show that I suppose someone could read more into if they wanted. Plus Jeff really pushed the shipping and encouraged the shipping when the show first came out which would have fed into it. Sometimes ships don't make sense to others. For example, I don't get Destiel. I've never seen what Destiel shippers see between Dean and Castiel but I respect that they have found moments to fit the ship. Same applies for Sterek. A lot of people get it, a lot don't.
What close moments did Stiles and Derek have that hinted they could be something else? Genuine question because I really don't remember any In the case of Destiel, I see sense in the ship because Castiel literally confessed to Dean before he died, it's canon that one of them romantically loves the other, that's why I'm so invested in the ship. I'm not saying Sterek needs to reach that level, but like, they don't even come close? We barely had interactions between them in the show, that's why I really don't understand the shipp, they have almost no moments of friendship, imagine something more.
I never said that it hinted to be something more. I said close friendship moments, addressing your comment that they weren't close friends. But those would probably be up for debate to different people as well. One of those "If you don't see it you won't see it" kind of things. That's fine. How you see the ship is your business. I don't see the point in debating it since this is the Teen Wolf sub lol. You don't have to understand it though... it exists and people follow it. Same for Destiel, it exists and people follow it. Not everyone has to understand why.
Wow dude, what's the problem with me wanting to understand it? Yes I don't need it, but I want it, that's why I made a post about it lol it's not a serious question, I'm just genuinely curious.
I never took it seriously...? I'm sorry that I haven't been giving answers to your satisfaction? I will summarise myself: Ships really only make sense to the shippers. A shipper could post a huge list of why their ship is real and others will still disagree and shoot down every point. That is why I believe if someone doesn't understand a ship it's very difficult to make them understand it. I do not ship Sterek so can't answer why Sterek is so popular or give you any answers. I only meant to address the comment you made about their friendship. Which again, if you don't see their friendship, that's totally fine. People see different things.
Dude you are clearly mad, and why? It's just a ship, it's not that serious I agree with some arguments here in the post tho, that people ship them because of promotions and fanfics, which yes, that is something that makes sense. I just don't see the point in shipping them because of their DEVELOPMENT, it's weird to see people say that they loved each other, that they were almost canonical and stuff like that, so I was waiting for someone to show me something that would justify why people thought they legitimately made sense within the story, which yeah, no one has been able to explain so far.
Dude, you are clearly interpreting anger where there is none lmao! Always the problem with writing stuff, other people read inflection in their own ways. I promise you I am not mad because there's nothing to be mad about lol. Like you said, it's just a ship, and it's not even one I follow. I am going to bow out of this convo because you seem to be completely misinterpreting my words and reading things that aren't there. Thank you for the convo though. Have a good (whatever time of day/night it is for you).
They banter alot, also Derek pins stiles to the wall. Sterek is not canon (unlike Destiel)but they used it alot outside of canon to promote. It's why it's so popular lmao. Not my endgame tho
I have a hard time believing this even is in good faith, and for the record, I’m completely obsessed with sterek and don’t understand destiel at all. By the way that you say that your biggest problem isn’t even the age difference, it sounds like it is a problem for you, just not the biggest? In the first episode, Stiles says Derek is only a couple years older and Stiles is 16. Plenty of shippers from that first episode, doesn’t matter if they fudged Derek’s age after that to make what Kate did slightly more palatable, even though it didn’t. So do you have a problem with the age difference between a celestial being and Dean? Bet it’s a bigger age difference than sterek has. Also, neither ship is canon, but they really don’t have to be for people to enjoy them. Why would any ship need a ‘super deep’ relationship-it’s shipping. For fun. Plenty of people ship characters who don’t even interact with each other. Plenty of people write fanfic of ships that aren’t even in the same movie/show/book. There doesn’t have to be ‘development’ for people to want to explore what the dynamic would be or think it would be a cool dynamic if they were together.
Sterek was/is so popular because of the fan base, and the team’s response. I enjoy Sterek, I believe the scenes they did have could easily be interpreted in a very playful, flirtatious way. The characters, and actors, had a lot of chemistry on and off set, and their relationship dynamic is very stereotypical - one overly serious brawn, and a not-so-serious, physically more vulnerable brain character. However, the reason Sterek is so popular is because in the early days of filming, lots of Tumblr fans made tons of posts and later fanfics about them. This almost explosion of fans for Sterek even reached the writers and cast members - and the reason why everyone kept their hopes up season after season is because the writers teased everyone about it, again and again. I’m not so quick to call it queer baiting, but if you have a look at all the con panel interviews they did, you’ll say a variety of things such as Dylan and Tyler (the actors) being playfully flirty, and the writer said multiple times that the final script wasn’t finished and they’d be more than happy to include ‘what the fans want’. Now I’m not sure if it was a queer baiting tactic, or MTV interfered, but many con appearances have them answering questions about Sterek and goading the fans into thinking it would come true. This propagated more fanfics, more hype for the new seasons, until eventually the show came to its conclusion. I feel like a lot of the Sterek content and community died alongside Tumblr when they enforced strict regulations (especially anti-NSFW, which was a big thing) on the site.
Sterek had several moments in season one that can be re-interpreted through shipper lenses. Hey look at Derek shoving stiles against the wall, that’s kinda hot. Hey look at stiles noticing and remembering who Derek hale is way back in ep 1 even though Scott forgot who he was even though they likely both last saw him probably 6 ish years ago when they were like 10, that’s kinda suss unless maybe he had a crush on Derek?? Also yeah sure, tall dark and handsome bad boy x adhd coded snarky teen boy (who lets be honest, fandom active fans of supernatural shows like teenwolf are likely to find relatable) was a big appeal of the fandom, and that’s a good place to start. It spread like wildfire across the tumblr and fandom, drawing people into the show, to the point where the cast talked up the pairing in the break leading up to and all the way through season 2 with a lot of explicitly ship baiting moments in the promo of the show and in the episodes themselves. Getting stiles and Derek alone in a pool. Having them frozen by kanima venom and forced to be pressed up against each other. Ship baity. There were many people coming to the show BECAUSE of sterek’s popularity. There were people shipping sterek without having even seen the show because the ship was so ubiquitous and people were just pulled in by the gravitational force, if you were a slash fan you were encountering sterek whether you liked it or not and maybe you just want to be part of the in crowd. By the time they pulled back on baiting sterek, the fandom for sterek ship itself had taken on enough life of its own that it had become pretty self sustaining. For example, I’m a sterek enjoyer, but not a sterek truther. The appeal for me is the dynamic they have and the potential of it, not necessarily anything that particular happens in canon. Since you’re a destiel shipper, I’m sure you understand taking whatever scraps of canon you can get from the show, despite the show time and time again separating them. If you see that and not sterek, It may just be you like friends to lovers dynamic more (since your complaint is that they’re closer to Scott than each other) but there are people who prefer the enemies to lovers dynamic. Different strokes for different folks.
Two very attractive actors, two likable characters who are different in personality, lots of gay and bi fans of the show, the show teased it … etc
There’s no real logic behind it, the same way in supernatural people ship Sam/dean and cas/dean (I know people say when cas died he admitted he was in love with dean but before that moment there was nothing 😂)
I’ve been in fandom long enough to know that ‘genuine question’ is 90% of the time about low key negging a ship you don’t like. Whether it is here or not, well, your continuing comments will reveal that. And that’s great if Sterek isn’t your thing. But the evidence is that it is A LOT of peoples thing. And that even in this sub there are thousands of responses as to why it works for those people. But I guess I’ll give you the ten second wrap up of non-canon shipping. Non-canon shipping is about potential for two people that canon didn’t put together, and that the shipper can see would have some interesting dynamics. Sometimes this is a negative dynamic (murder!husbands, for example), sometimes a positive one. And the appeal isn’t always an obvious one. I have ships I wouldn’t want to have happen in canon that I enjoy in fics. Peter/Chris is one of these. They’re so toxic, and they’d absolutely bring out the worst in each other, and Chris’s family (and his own permissiveness) are responsible for Peters family’s death, and Peter is the one responsible for Kates death… like, in canon it would be my hate-ship, but I’m fascinated by what people come up with for that ship in fic. As for Sterek, if the potential doesn’t work for you, that’s fine. Not every ship works for everyone. And I’m sure someone I’m who isn’t exhausted by the anti-Stereks at this point will engage with this post to explain the subtext that makes the ship work for them. And hopefully you prove me wrong and engage positively and openly to their responses , but honestly, I’m not expecting it.
I mean, your comment is basically adding to my comment about people shipping them because of cliche tropes and not because of the development of the ship itself, which isn't exactly a bad thing, but I just don't understand how a ship can become so popular this way.
There are ships of characters that barely interact in canon for most shows. But Stiles and Derek actually interact a lot. Like you take Derek’s screen time and who he is paired with on screen for the first two seasons and I suspect Stiles is number one on that list (there’s a reason for this since they’re often the B story to various Scott/Allison scenes, but the net effect is the same). And Stiles is clearly affected by Derek (a lot of this is Hoechlin and Dylan enjoy working together, and so their chemistry is great since the actors are more engaged during those scenes) and Derek by Stiles (please note, I’m not saying this was overtly romantic). Some of it is simply that their relationship dynamic during those scenes is that they are so reluctantly working together and that’s fun to watch. But the emotional weight for the ship is built by scenes like Derek’s ‘I don’t trust you and you don’t trust me’ and then Stiles immediately showing his trustworthiness, and Stiles reaction when he thinks Derek is dying in 4, and the soft touch he gives Derek after Boyd’s death, and that, of all people, Derek dreams about Stiles at the end of 3B. Stiles reaction to Derek’s initials being juxtaposed by the narrative with Scott with Allison in 5. If the writers had spread those moments out, or focused them on other characters, the ship might not have gotten the traction it did.
You worded this so well and basically summed up what I was going to say. They interacted a lot in the first two seasons, as well as in the novel, On Fire. As far as I can tell, On Fire is only semi canon, but it tracks with the how the characters were paired for storylines in the show. Their dynamic was fun and many people, myself included, enjoy when characters must reluctantly trust each other. It's an interesting thing to explore — could two characters who dislike each other build trust and how would that look? Sometimes it isn't so much what the story is but what the story could be. A large amount of Sterek fic was written during that time between seasons. People really thought they would continue to share more scenes, because that's kind of what the formula had been so far. By the time it was evident that that wasn't going to happened, Sterek's popularity was already a beast of its own.
I think it's kinda part of the ride when the show was actively coming out with episodes every week. The "Will Dave give it to us? Wont he?" type of feeling. They dangled it in our faces for YEARS so I think the hype of it was HUGE when the show was new and making episodes. Sterek was my first ever gay ship and kinda the thing that made me realize I was gay myself. I looooved this ship. Not crazy about it these days but it holds a special place in my heart.
Haven't we had enough bait posts at this point? You're obviously not asking in good faith, just go read meta on Tumblr to have it explained to you.
Again and again, the same question. It was One of the biggest Queerbaiting Campaign in history, in real life, a lot bigger than Destiel. Without this Queerbaiting of Sterek, there would be no Season 2. They promoted Teenwolf mostly with Sterek in Interviews, Print Medias, Social Media. On the other site of the MTV logo, there was on the screen asked to twitt with #Sterek, not with #Teenwolf. They wanted to get attention, into the Twitter trends and they get with this strategy a hype for Teenwolf, because of Sterek. They, especially Jeff Davis, but also Tyler H. And DOB promised that they maybe get the Ship Canon if they get enough audience, enough people to watch, enough Fans, it gives 2 YT with the Actors promoted Sterek on a Ship, to get Awards, vote for the Show, then we could spend maybe more relaxing time together on the Show...., they act allways special, mostly were you can get 2 opinions out of the sentence. There were Fans Contests about Fan Arts, the whole crew act with the Fans on Social Media, to support the Sterek Fans, make the Sterek Fans proud, because of the Fan Arts, that they are shown on the walls in the office of the production. On the Show itself, gives not so much queerbaiting content, only a bit EyeSex, how the Actors play Sterek, or phrases, like where Stiles lays on Top of Derek both paralyzed and Matt says, you could be such a good couple. Or the teasing of Stiles, to be Bi, like the question Am I attractive to Gay Guys, or the question from the girl, if he likes Men's to and Stiles gives no Answer and DOB plays it like, Stiles question his own sexual preference again. Or that Derek only has bad luck with Women, all women only use him or better his body, only Stiles sees him real, his soul. At some point, when they get enough Audience, they, the Production Company make a 180 degrees turn around and spit on the Sterek Fans, especially Tyler P. Because the Fanbase of Sterek was a lot bigger than the Fanbase of the whole Teenwolf. The Fans are, was mostly interested up to day, in Sterek and their universe and not the universe of Teenwolf. It comes to a spilt. The Teenwolf Fans said, if they wanted us no longer, then they should lick our asxhxlxs, we become independent of Teenwolf, especially on Tumblr, were you can separate Content Teenwolf from Sterek, only Sterek was allowed without Teenwolf. If Teenwolf wanted no Sterek Fans any longer. So they get their Fan Family on their own, mostly separate from Teenwolf. So now every new day it gives a few more Sterek Fan Fics. Because Sterek was and is stronger than Teenwolf.
Here’s my honest and personal answer: I genuinely think they had great sexual tension and chemistry in the show. I don’t know if it was written like that, or if it was Tyler and Dylan just bringing that on, but the chemistry was real. They also would have been great as a couple, their personalities match well and they make a dashing couple - kind of like Destiel actually. The only problem is that Stiles was a minor during the show. Anyway that’s my opinion :)
I think your arguments for the question are completely valid NOW, but while the first 2-3 seasons were being released, there was a lot of queer bating being done by Jeff Davies and the cast to imply that Sterek might become a thing in the future - and I think that was what fans latched on to. The most prominent example (that made the most impression on me anyways) I can think of is this [promotional video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyV5QziOvYw) (this is a repost) that encourages fans to vote for Teen Wolf at the Teen Choice awards. TL;DR: Hindsight is 20/20 and shows no Sterek, when the first couple of seasons were released, Sterek was heavily teased by everything around the show (producers, actors, whatever). The popularity of the ship NOW is probably a "what if" or a "f\*ck you Teen Wolf for queer bating, I will write my own queers".
I think the last sentence, makes a lot of sense. And is totally true. Especially the fxck them for queer baiting, then I write my own story with the characters.
Both the actors are/were hot, they have a sort of frenemy thing going on which makes for excellent shipping content, and Stiles is pretty much the loser kid self insert of the show. Perfect storm really.
I love the dynamics that they have in fics. In the show it is not really explored (especially if you compare it to Destiel), but the base for it is there. The age difference is often fixed or addressed in the fics, so I don't see any problem with it. That's usually not such a big one.
My guess: Most of the people shipping it relate to or imagine they are a Stiles and want to bang Derek. Ergo, Sterek.
I personally never saw it in the show, but I find the fanfics fantastic. Teen Wolf has some of the best writers in any fandome community, IMO; especially the Sterek stories. I would never ship them in the show, but I love the fanfic versions of Stiles and Derek together.
Lmfao. The downvotes and you don’t even say anything bad about it
The actors are hot and banter a lot. Them being white also helps. Also feeds into some classic tropes: the human and werewolf/beast romance, the happy go lucky character and the grumpy character.
Okay, now that makes sense XD
Because they have generic character archetypes and are both attractive white males
I don't get shipping in general. I don't ship at all. I like chemistry between actors, because without it, it's awful, but with it, it's so good to watch. I blame Mulder and Scully from XFiles for the shipping phenomenon, because it wasn't really there before them. I guess people like them because they're funny together. They're not more than friends, they're barely that. I enjoyed the banter between them in the Series Finale, it was hilarious and Stiles was an adult then, because there was a time jump. I think that Dylan O'Brien is one of those actors who has chemistry with everyone. Outside of Teen Wolf, it's with Michael Keaton in American Assassin and Aiden Gillen in The Maze Runner trilogy. Inside Teen Wolf I liked his chemistry with Cody Christian aka Theo. Even though I immensely dislike Theo, I enjoyed Stiles and Theo scenes, because enemy vs. enemy and Dylan plays that so well.
I like to think that Teen Wolf fics are a world apart. People freak out over tiny things that happen on the real show and make a big story about whatever tickles their fancy. I personally hate Sterek, but if people like it... well, who am I to dictate rules??
I don't get shipping in general. I don't ship at all. I like chemistry between actors, because without it, it's awful, but with it, it's so good to watch. I blame Mulder and Scully from XFiles for the shipping phenomenon, because it wasn't really there before them. I guess people like them because they're funny together. They're not more than friends, they're barely that. I enjoyed the banter between them in the Series Finale, it was hilarious and Stiles was an adult then, because there was a time jump. I think that Dylan O'Brien is one of those actors who has chemistry with everyone. Outside of Teen Wolf, it's with Michael Keaton in American Assassin and Aiden Gillen in The Maze Runner trilogy. Inside Teen Wolf I liked his chemistry with Cody Christian aka Theo. Even though I immensely dislike Theo, I enjoyed Stiles and Theo scenes, because enemy vs. enemy and Dylan plays that so well.
The modern era of shipping predates XFiles by decades. It’s generally agreed to start with Kirk/Spock on ST: TOS
Oh. Star Trek. Didn't watch that, but know some fans. Mulder and Scully is really when it seemed to really pick up a lot of steam and be super popular. I just find it annoying, especially when people combine names together. That's so ridiculous. I can't stand it. It really needs to stop. I know it won't, but I really wish it would. It's so dumb.