#911 asks

[sherlocking-out-loud]

Are you seriously implying Tommy is/has been more supportive to Buck than the 118? His found family? What show are you watching lol

the s9's 118 vs Tommy???? I'm not implying, I'm very openly STATING IT.

[texasbama]

They aren’t getting rid of Bobby. He’s the only straight white man on the show. He’s their diversity hire.

Not the diversity hire LMFAOOOOOOO

[narniancumberwitch]

What do you think is the biggest bit of Buddie proof / Gay Eddie proof we’ve gotten??

I started actually thinking that Eddie may get canon queer status when he talked about dating feeling like a performance, and Hen's reaction to it. Also in this season how he seems allergic to women in the context of dating lol.

As far as buddie is concerned, the tsunami arc sealed it for me tbh. The monologue, the song (Photograph, Ed Sheeran) talking about 'wait for me to come home' and showing buck and Eddie, and the trust Eddie shows by constantly taking Chris to Buck.

I think last season was kind of insane in how close they remained through the Texas arc, and how Eddie started becoming the reason why Tommy broke up; stayed away from being boyfriends with Buck. Now with actually showing the Buckley-Diaz dinners, protective Eddie, how Eddie was the first one Buck approached in the last episode, and also how they can still have fun with each other along the way!

It's an amalgamation of a lot of things, much like relationships are.

[cinderblanc]

really want to be hopeful about these last 2 episodes, but i fear that unfollow has had me in the dumps for a while. if we don’t get anything in these last 2 episodes, i think the “keep your eyes peeled” was about 9-1-1, but perhaps OS asked tim to not have anymore romance for buck this season & that’s why he unfollowed.

kinda upsetting bc eventually tim will have to bite the bullet and progress with buck’s love life, so all this baiting will just backfire when eddie ends up with a new girlfriend too.

glad to see lou doing well on such a huge show like the pitt, but part of me is really disappointed with how tommy’s story was handled (if that’s really it).

I've already closed, tbh. I know it's taboo to say it nowadays after an episode, and I definitely don't wanna shit on anyone's hopes, but that's just how I feel. I think if they wanted to do something with it, they would've already, or at least they would've left solid crumbs to indicate that that's where they're going. But Tim's priorities were made very clear this season, so I'm not gonna bother expecting anything. And yeah, the unfollow pretty much sealed the deal for me.

Putting the rest under a Read More cause I got ranty:

Personally, I don't think there was anything nefarious behind it or any plans that were cancelled. I think it was simply a case of Lou hasn't been called back until then and since (in my opinion) he and Oliver never really quite became friends outside of the show, he decided to unfollow to distance himself a bit from him and the ship. Not that I think they hate each other or anything. I've always mantained that they just never became friends due to different personality types and the relationship stayed purely professional. (Though I admit I do think OS' weirdness towards Buck's LIs in general and his obvious desire to not get any heat from the fandom played a part in it, however small that part is). In the end it is what it is and you can't do anything about it.

And the 'keep your eyes peeled' thing, again: The original message was in early December. If it was anything related to 911, we would've known by now. Guest stars and recurring characters on network TV shows are warned that they're needed just a couple of weeks before they actually film, maybe a month depending on the scope of the scene. With the benefit of hindsight, it's more than clear that he was talking about keeping our eyes peeled in general for his next moves in his career rather than specifically about 911. He had already filmed his role in The Pitt by then, so I'm confident in assuming he was talking about that.

People in the BT fandom need to remind themselves that just like conventions, Cameo is a tool for actors to supplement their income in exchange for fan interactions, so obviously he's never gonna say anything that can be taken seriously one way or another. Putting too much weight in what goes on there is setting yourself up for disappointment.

So that's how I feel. To me Tommy is suffering the same fate as Shannon: He was dropped because Tim still cares way too much about what the fandom has to say, and he'd rather keep them happy and giving online engagement to the show. But in this case it's almost worse cause at least Shannon had definitive closure with her death, but we get stuck in this limbo at least until Tim makes it clear that's it's over by giving Buck a new LI.

So yeah, I'm washing my hands off of it. Call me a doomer or whatever, and if somehow I'm wrong and he does end up appearing this season, ya'll can crash out on my inbox with all the "I Told You So!"s in the world.

And I'm also with you, Anon. I'll keep rooting for Lou to get bigger and better roles so he can get the recognition he deserves.

[atevanfool]

Also, her being mad that no one asked about her symptoms. My good bitch, how were they supposed to know? lmfao. They aren't mind readers. The team and Karen aren't medical alert dogs who can smell disease. Why would they suspect that she'd hide something like this from them.

This would be my villain origin story if I was Buck. What the hell do Hen and Eddie (last season) even MEAN that no one/Buck didn't ask how they were doing? I hope at some point, someone says this in front of Harry, May, or Ravi and one of them points out, super confused, that Buck actually DID.

Exactly this. She literally said she went out of her way to keep things from people. If she tried hiding everything, if her friends and family didn't see stuff happening, how the hell are they supposed to know? Everyone gets shaky hands sometimes, Hen. Coworkers let others step in to learn new things all the time Hwn. (Eddie turning the baby last episode.) There is not a single reason on this planet that people would have know things were happening. And I am SO fucking glad that Karen was in agreement, and was upset that Hen was hiding stuff for "their benefit."

I'll just say it. Episodes like this are part of the reason that Hen is by far my least favorite of the 118. I often find that most things she does she does for selfish and unjustifiable reasons that tend to leave others in a bad kind of way.

[fandom-hoarder]

Just randomly saw some of your posts about 911. I'm a wincest shipper who got into shipping buddie. It's funny at first I was put off buddie fandom because their text posts and mischaracterizing buddie's canon friendship felt like reading bad destihellers posts. I could tell some buddie shippers are hellers, which still puts me off, although I have actually come across some anti hellers and wincest shippers who ship buddie.

I don't feel like I'm really in the buddie fandom because i disagree with many popular fanons and meta. I've never believed buddie would be canon. Season 8 I thought maybe, but now I'm back to thinking no way never.

All the same, I ship it because even though it'll never be canon, they have the chemistry and the backstory and the canon friendship. It's so easy to enjoy the ship material that canon provides.

By comparison Bucktommy didn't get much at all in canon, except that it's canon and they've had sex. Yay? lol. Bucktommy at first was a good ship for buck stans because they could project all ideal partner traits onto tommy because he's a side character who just got brought back to further buck's story. But then things got complicated when tommy dumped buck and was a jerk about eddie being gone, which ruined bucktommy's reconciliation. So now i think bucktommy is only a good ship for tommy stans who want to imagine he's this poor wounded sweet baby who needs to be healed and loved or something.

The buddie fans who insist eddie is gay and buddie will be canon any day now so remind me of hellers and sterek fans. It's tiring...they're just going to be disappointed. And then they'll attack the actors. People regularly accuse RG of homophobia, just like some hellers did to JA. Wow this ask got long sorry

Anon, respectfully, I'm honestly not sure why you sent me this. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're sincere rather than antagonistic, but I'm still not sure what the purpose of this ask is. To convince me? If you've read my 911 posts, you would already know I don't agree.🤷‍♀️

I'm extremely aware I'm PMSing right now, and more easily ticked off, and have already reached my limit this week with negative interactions irl; so I probably shouldn't even be answering this, but I'm gonna anyway.

I watched 911 to see what was up with the Buddie relationship for myself, but I stayed because I liked the show itself; it's fun; I liked the characters and the reliability of the storytelling style and formula. I enjoyed the buddie friendship at first, but never ended up seeing a canon ship for them, and totally lost interest in the fandom side of the ship because of how helleresque people were about them (whether actual heller or otherwise), including seeing meanings that weren't there (which is PARTICULARLY annoying and hypocritical when a wincestie does this). Then, the past couple of seasons, Eddie's treatment of Buck started to really annoy me. For a little while I tried to get into the fanon idea of buddietommy, but it doesn't interest me at all anymore.

But as such, as far as shipping BuckTommy, you've said a few things here I have to argue with, but I feel I should start with this preface: I barely care about the fandom side of shipping in 911. I only dive ao3 for buck/maddie, not for anything else, and I get disappointed every time so those occasions are rare anyway. Sometimes I reblog a fic on tumblr because I see it on my dash and it piques my interest, but for the most part I don't care. The show is enough, or at least what fandom offers largely disinterests me (the sheer volume of kidfic as part of an apparently accepted fanon is baffling). I don't care about how they fuck or whatever.

I recognize that I have been spoiled by the abundance and experience of the wincest writing community. I am continually faced with the realization that 911 is a baby fandom—both in age of the series and average apparent maturity of those participating in fandom—and the fandom vibes just largely don't appeal to me very often.

When I say I ship bucktommy, I mean it in the same way that I ship other established canon couples in the show, like HenKaren, ChimMaddie, and bathena: like yes, I vibe with them. Because they're good together, they make the story richer and interesting, they've had struggles that need worked through but are worth fighting for, and the love keeps bringing them back together. They're part of the extended firefam, in a way none of Buck's other romantic relationships have really been.

Buck and Tommy have a similar structure to all of those established couples. I don't know if the new season will follow through on what's been set up or not, because the showrunner is chaotic and especially since moving to abc they don't always follow the old formula, but the bones are there. The longing is there. The structural beats for reconciling are there. They strung the thing with Taylor over several seasons, so there's no reason they can't do that here, too. And Tommy is actually a part of the history of the 118, so he has more footing in the story beyond being some pilot Buck had a thing with.

At this point I don't think buddie will ever be a thing, and if it was I would be hella annoyed. Prior to s8, even though the idea of canon buddie made my metaphorical dick completely flaccid, I would have just accepted it as part of the show, like any other relationship I didn't really care about but accepted it existed. But after s8, I would probably be pissed if they got together. But they probably won't, because RG doesn't want to play a queer Eddie. He was offered the opportunity, before Buck got the bi storyline instead. Eddie is a straight man. He's said it over and over. And that's fine with me. I honestly thought he would leave the show after s8, and am now disappointed he didn't, because Eddie's behavior in the back half of the season was a complete backslide. It was really put into focus how little he cares about Buck as a friend compared to Buck's care and thought for him. Eddie doesn't deserve Buck atp. His only redeeming quality is Chris, and he hasn't really treated him well either lately.🤷‍♀️

Ship what you want, but don't make it my problem. But you have, because you came into my ask box about it for some reason. To me, buddie does not have chemistry. They had a decent friendship for awhile, but as previously stated I don't even have good vibes from their friendship anymore. It's always felt more enthusiastic from Buck's side, even with the custody-of-chris reveal from way back when (that's a regular platonic friends thing, btw. My mom's best friend was also in her will to take me and my siblings for a time, and vice versa.) But I don't think Tim really recognizes how poorly he's serviced Eddie as a character or a friend, and I don't think any of what I take issue with will be addressed in a satisfying way. I don't think Eddie's character will ever truly grow or take real responsibility for his hurtful actions at this point.

You say bucktommy didn't get much in canon, but I think you're wrong. Sure, they didn't have the same amount of time on screen together as buck and eddie's 6-7 seasons, but that's a ridiculous premise in the first place. Plenty of relationships happen from just meeting someone, having a crush, and getting together.

You say "it's so easy to enjoy the ship material that canon provides" for buddie, but I say it bores the fuck out of me, when it's not annoying me how much Eddie just seems to take Buck's friendship for granted or even treats him as a childish annoyance.

Buck and Tommy have more than just "it's canon and they've had sex." For one, the on screen acting of their relationship DOES have chemistry; they really sell it to me instead of making me uncomfortably aware they're acting. Every time they've kissed has made me so happy, like a tension being released or a breath of fresh air. Also, Tommy has a history with the 118, and had a personal connection to Bobby and Chim prior to meeting Buck on the helicopter rescuing Bobby and Athena, so it's not like he's just some random love interest background character. Tommy has a character growth arc, and a backstory of being a closeted gay man who didn't feel comfortable coming out until Gerrard left and Bobby's nurturing style of captaining allowed him space for getting his wings, in more ways than one. Tommy has been a catalyst for a new tier of Buck's coming of age storyline, which is how I view the overall theme of 9-1-1. Tommy has been shown in multiple episodes to be a caring, attentive, loving, and fun boyfriend, even while still being grounded (ie: having his personal boundaries about not being in a closeted relationship now after so long in the closet, but still being willing to give Buck another shot when he apologized and explained everything; despite thinking the billy boils curse was silly, still indulging Buck in his attempt to break the curse, doing his own lowkey comment at the grave, taking care of Buck while he was healing; not calling Buck childish or selfish like Eddie does; cooking for Buck rather than leaving before Buck woke up the morning after what could've easily been rebound sex he snuck away from; clearly still listening to Buck's messages even if he was screening his calls, because he was able and willing to come with the helicopter when Buck called; admitting to Buck he'd been pining for him)

Your negative character comments about Tommy make me suspect you're one of the many tommy hater buddie stans, despite what you've said about not being like the heller-style buddies. If you think you're not, you may want to reexamine your biases against Tommy and whether they're actually rooted in canon, because I find it hard to see how you can have such animosity for Tommy's actions in the breakup, while Eddie has behaved worse and you claim he's a better fit.

The first breakup was abrupt, yes, but Tommy wasn't being cruel on purpose; he was protecting himself from an expectation of future heartache. Many of the other canon ships have had moments like this also, which were tests for the growth of the relationship, and it's also a common trope in romance fiction where one or both partners have fears around commitment. Buck has a habit of jumping into everything with both feet, barely looking or thinking about consequences; at this point, 6 months into their relationship Tommy probably understands that well; and knowing he's Buck's first boyfriend, Tommy's worry is understandable. I know I had my own reservations about my relationship with my partner when we got engaged, because I was the only person he'd ever slept with and I worried I was pinning him down. These are real feelings people have, no matter how irrational it looks from the other side or the outside. And we can't forget the added layer of mindfuckery with the Abby reveal.

Giving understanding for where Tommy's coming from isn't woobifying him in the way you're describing, though I certainly can't rule out that some Tommy stans treat him that way, because fandom contains multitudes. But Tommy is a character with layers, and yes, some of those layers are insecurity from a life of controlling father figures and socially enforced closeting. These insecurities are actually mirrored in Buck, who has abandonment issues, but a supportive sister and found family network; they each guard themselves differently. They BOTH have wounds they need to heal from, and that's why they have issues reconciling when the wound is poked. When they feel too vulnerable, they either lash out or back away.

Tommy wasn't "a jerk" about Eddie being gone, and this statement has me so confused. I think he was genuinely worried he was Buck's second choice. And because Buck felt frustrated by Tommy's suppositions, he lashed out with hurtful words. Both of them were still too tender and close to their perspective of what was happening to themselves to properly communicate, and then on top of it everyone else has apparently stopped talking to Tommy and Maddie fucking discourages Buck from TRYING to communicate because she's the runner, too. But then you can see in Tommy's "and you" in the helicopter, and Buck's expression, the feelings are still there. And the decision to show Tommy's heartbreak as he watched Buck breakdown on the videofeed furthers the idea that the feelings are still there. So hopefully s9 will at least have them make another attempt and give the satisfaction of communication that doesn't end in pointless heartbteak, but as I said at the top, Tim can't necessarily be trusted to have satisfying follow-through. And there's also surely background issues at play, like budget and LFJ's other acting gigs. So right now, my main hope is just that Buck's bisexuality isn't completely abandoned, and that Eddie stops treating him like shit if he's staying on the show.

As for comparing RG and JA's treatment of being called homophobic: these are apples and oranges, because RG has literally made comments or liked things on his social media involving queerphobia, other racism, and manosphere shit. He's a person that has soured me towards Eddie even further because of his irl behavior. Whereas Jensen has been called homophobic by little idiots who are mad he says Dean was straight.

And sidenote: I take exception to lumping sterek fans into the same group as hellers and buddie truthers. Maybe some stereks did get that bad, idk because I stopped watching and participating around s4, but sterek WAS legitimately queerbaited at the fans with things like award promos where dylan o'brien and tyler hoechlin were sitting together kinda flirty on a boat and dylan said "we're on a ship!" And tyler said "boat" and the fandom being prompted to vote for sterek in pairing awards and polls. Now, it should've been obvious at a certain point that fan requests for canon sterek were never going to come to fruition, and in fact jeff seemed to make storylines so that stiles and derek scenes were more rare while throwing girls at them both, so people that believed any conspiracies about it going canon rather than just being baited on social media for fan engagement are ridiculous and probably very young, like I suspect many hellers and buddies are. But I still haven't seen anything near the level of heller there myself. Rather, I've seen people bitter about the bait, but perfectly happy to just do their own sterek interpretations rather than attack jeff davis for not giving them sterek, of all the things we could take issue with him over in tw canon lolol.

I feel like I'm forgetting points I wanted to make, and I know I would've liked to provide the receipts for RG's behavior, but I've already been typing this for too long and I just don't want to spend any more time on it.

[thats-the-biz-babe]

I've seen this is in many fandoms and I truly think the reason why Buck gets hate is because he comes off as "annoying". Now, I am not saying that Buck is annoying, but that could be the preception others are taking away because he dares to have human emotions that don't fit the stereotypical male. He crashes out, he lashes out, he gets very emotional and upset over things that don't seem like a big deal. He loves very hard, he clings very hard, he wants to hold who he loves very close. There are so many things that make him a layered character and that is the charm I find in him. But yeah, I think that could be why he's disliked by others.

its the neurodivergency.

[wenellyb]

No wonder some toxic Buddie fans are angry 😂

HI!!!! So this is the post everyone is talking about? Thank you so much for sharing.

It sucks to be a toxic Buddie shipper right now...