people have already given roses to the way the naddpod crew and fandom treat platonic relationships w just as much weight and importance as romance, but i’d love to give a rose specifically to hardshine for this phenomenon. i have never in my life been into a “main guy x main girl” ship, in fact i was very leery of hardshine on my first time listening to c1 and then getting into the naddpod fandom for the first time too. i didn’t like the thought of the ship bc i was bracing for the worst- seeing people say hardwon and moonshine couldn’t possibly be “just friends” bc theyre the main guy and the main girl and went through the story together and that just automatically means that they must be In Romantic Love, seeing hardwon’s and moonshine’s established interesting characterizations get thrown away for the sake of squishing them into the roles of a Man and a Woman in a Normal Romantic Relationship. that’s been my experience w the m/f ships in literally any other fandom.
so it was SUCH a pleasant surprise to see how hardshine was actually treated. in the show itself, they never state anything outright, they don’t force that interpretation on the listener like it’s a foregone conclusion, they don’t confirm any romantic feelings and then pivot into making the culmination of their story a romance- it’s hardwon and moonshine’s friendship w each other and w bev that’s still the most important. and in the short rest they have the opportunity to make anything word of god, they could have said hardshine becomes Officially Dating later down the line, but instead they all talk abt how hardshine have a secret third kind of love for each other thats so different from a traditional relationship. emily saying bev’s story is a romance, and thats not what moonshine and hardwon are, she wanted to make sure to tell other kinds of stories too.
and 99% of the fandom seems to get it too!!! ive literally never in my life seen a male protag x female protag ship ever get so widely accepted as queerplatonic. and not just through the word (which is cool in itself!), but through the portrayal of their actual dynamic, the openness of their relationship. they always have such a deep love and affection and adoration for each other, but the traditional expectations that they have any sole claim to each other as Boyfriend and Girlfriend are not there and it’s glorious. in fact the amount of hardshine fics that simultaneously explore moonshine’s canonical complicated relationship w romance is unprecedented to me, ive never seen such a widely adopted aromantic headcanon, let alone for one of the characters in a main (m/f!) ship, regardless of how much subtext there is supporting it bc usually people would rather just ignore it to go all in on the romance. but not for hardshine.
in conclusion, just roses on roses for aromantic polyamorous bisexual queerplatonic hardshine 🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹
