#please don't tag as romantic tuggelurina

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

Hi! Sorry, I really mean no harm and I don't want to start any discourse at all, but I saw your Platoria post from a few days ago, (wait, December 4th?! And it's December 11th now?! How time flies! *cry*) and saw that you said, it was one of the most underrated ships in the fandom. Sorry, but it seems like it's one of the most popular! I know it's the third most popular ship on ao3. So I was just wondering what you meant by that. It's a great ship tho!

hi hon!!!

honestly ty so much for asking this, and you're so polite about it, which means a lot lol

so i talked about it a lot here (which may or may not have been the post you're referring to!) but i really appreciate you asking me to elaborate, because yes, from glancing at the AO3, i absolutely can see why you would think it's one of the most popular!

and before i get into this post, i first want to say that i am in NO WAY bashing the ships that i am mentioning. i love all of these ships, i think they're wonderful, but i also think it's important to recognize this issue. so please do not come for me saying that i'm shitting on people's ships.

going into the Platoria tag on Ao3, however, the top stories aren't even Platoria-centric. It's either gen pairings listed first (like non-ship), or it's Tuggoffelees or another major pairing. Or the pairing is part of a larger work, like a bunch of one-shots compiled together!

(and i will be the FIRST to admit that i do that, where i list Platoria even if it's a secondary ship in my stories!)

and honestly, saying that Platoria is the third most popular ship on Ao3 really doesn't mean that they're one of the most popular ships.

the Platoria tag has 76 stories.

The Cats the Musical fandom has 1,361 stories (as of when i'm making this post).

That means that the Platoria tag takes up less than 6% of the Cats the Musical fandom page on Ao3.

and like i said, that tag has stories that aren't even Platoria-centric, they're either a background couple or have a few stories within a collection of one-shots that also have other pairings.

While Victoria is a very well-beloved character in this fandom, Plato is almost always forgotten about. He's surprisingly one of the most underrated characters, which is a bit understandable, given that we barely see him in the second act of the show due to the actor needing to be in Macavity makeup + costume for the majority of the act.

also there was a whole thing a few years ago within this fandom where i saw a few people basically making Plato out to be this terrible manipulative character, JUST BECAUSE HIS ACTOR ALSO PLAYED MACAVITY, so i think people just don't think of Plato that much, which is so unfortunate.

and i know i always mention her when it comes to discussing this, but PLEASE go check out @munku-collar's posts about biphobia and bi erasure within the Cats fandom. it's incredibly pertinent to when i say that Platoria is underrated (as well as other m/f ships like Demestrap and Casslonzo).

m/f ships are either completely disregarded, ignored, or added in as an afterthought. Bringing up Ao3 again, Tuggoffelees has a whopping 404 fics (taking up about 29.5% of the Cats Fandom page), whereas the next biggest ship only has 198. That ship is Demestrap, which takes up about 14.5% of the page. I love Tuggoffelees, everyone knows that, but Demestrap is literally as canon as Cats the Musical can get. Yes it's wonderful when actors confirm that they're playing Tugger and Misto as a romantic pairing, but that's not how they're played all the time. But Demestrap is pretty much ALWAYS played as having romantic undertones, so I think the fact that the CANON m/f ships (Demestrap and Platoria) have less fics combined than Tuggoffelees says quite a lot.

Demestrap, Casslonzo, Platoria, Tuggelurina, those are all ships that are often pushed aside in favor of ships like Alonzostrap, Victeazer, Tuggoffelees. and i've seen instances within this fandom of people getting asks claiming that they're being homophobic or other wild accusations the SECOND that they say they prefer an m/f ship over one of the more popular m/m or f/f ships.

so from the outside, yes, it looks like Platoria is one of the most popular ships. but when you really look at it, it isn't.

#platoria #plato #victoria #cats the musical #fandom discourse #bi erasure

[uppastthejelliclemoon]

embracing them from behind, platonic Tugger & Bombalurina ^^

PLATONIC TUGGELURINA MY BELOVED

i can't write romantic tuggelurina very well, but platonic?? I WILL WRITE ALL THE PLATONIC TUGGER AND BOMBA

When Bombalurina and Demeter returned to the Junkyard, Tugger and Munkustrap took it upon themselves to reacclimate the sisters to lives as Jellicles.

For Tugger, this meant offering affection to his closest friend whenever she needed it. As kittens, Tugger remembered always cuddling with Bombalurina, laying with her in the sun as other cats roamed about.

So Tugger always kept an eye out for opportunities to lean against Bombalurina, or throw an arm around her shoulders.

One afternoon, Tugger approached Bombalurina, who was walking around the Junkyard with Jemima in her arms, allowing Demeter and Munkustrap some time to themselves. He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around both the red queen and the small kitten, putting his chin on her shoulder. "Hey, Bombs."

"Hi there, Tugs." Bombalurina replied, offering her friend a small smile over her shoulder. Little by little, Bomballurina's fiesty, strong personality was returning, and Tugger was elated. He didn't treat Bombalurina with kitten gloves at her request, and he was over the moon at her snark and cheeky smiles returning.

"You on kitten duty?" Tugger asked, reaching over Bombalurina's shoulder to tickle Jemima, the kitten giggling and squirming.

Bombalurina's smile grew. "Someone has to take care of this one so Dem and Munkustrap can figure themselves out."

Tugger couldn't help but snicker before taking Jemima from Bombalurina, his grin growing as Jemima immediately nuzzled into his mane. "We should go out sometime, Bombs. Our group. We haven't managed to celebrate you and Dem returning."

"Their group" meant Munkustrap, Demeter, Tugger, Mistoffelees, Bombalurina, Cassandra, and Alonzo. As younger cats, before Demeter and Bombalurina had left, the group was as close as could be, doing everything together.

"That would be nice." Bombalurina agreed. "I don't want to go anywhere that's part of his territory, though."

Tugger's eyes sparkled with mischief, thoughts already forming in his head. "I think I know just the place, my dear Bombalu. Have you heard of the 'Ivory Lantern'?"

#bombalurina #rum tum tugger #platonic relationships #please don't tag as romantic tuggelurina #sorry it's a bit short! #*chanting* BOMBREY BOMBREY BOMBREY BOMBREY #sorry i had to throw a bit of a bombrey tease in there #y'all know they're my OTP for bomba #liv's writing corner