KPOP Demon Hunters is so goddamn weird to me.
Look, I'm usually late to the party. I'm accustomed to having my autism fixate on franchises that are well past their heyday, that are kind of niche, or at the very least big with specific audiences but not necessarily something that EVERYONE is getting into.
And shipping? Well, you know me. I usually gravitate toward the B-couples and unorthodox poly ships, and when I do get something that is canon and is the main ship, it's again for things that are big with certain demographics but are still big fish in small ponds. Lumity and Catradora are great, don't get me wrong, but for as successful as those shows were, it was still with specific audiences. The closest I've felt to being part of something huge when it was at its height was Gundam: the Witch from Mercury and SuleMio, and most of that fanbase is overseas.
Then fucking KPOP Demon Hunters drops, something that really was a quirky little passion project that nobody expected to be as big as it turned out to be, but thanks to having the right people do the right things and drop it at the right time, it absolutely EXPLODES into being the biggest thing in the world. I'm talking original Star Wars levels of big. And for once, I actually get on the bandwagon while it's hot, and oh yeah, my autism is fully fixated on this specialized interest, thank you very much!
But then you get to fucking Polytrix, a ship that feels like it was specially designed in a lab to make me obsessed. It's sapphic. It's poly. All three have distinct, likeable personalities. They're openly loving and affectionate toward one another, so much so that keeping secrets driving a wedge is a massive plot point. Their story is extremely queer-coded, or at the very least queer-applicable even if it wasn't intentional. And there is that special mixture of individual trauma, tragic backstories, angst, guilt, and heartbreak that adds the right kind of spice, with a healthy helping of actual autism. And much like Shinji/Asuka/Rei, part of the appeal is that I kind of see different parts of myself in all three of them.
Oh yeah, did I mention that they're the freaking MAIN CHARACTERS?! And would you look at that, they're the most popular ship for the world's most popular movie, one whose obligatory canon het romance is...actually really good? And Polytrix is still blowing right past it? And here I am, blessed with a nonstop feast of Polytrix content while completely beside myself as to how in the world this happened, because this NEVER happens?!
Biggest franchise in the world right now.
Biggest ship of that franchise.
Sapphic. Poly. It's a sapphic polycule that's also autistic, and it's the biggest ship from the biggest thing in the mainstream and this never happens what even is happening right now?