If I can complain and be petty for like. 15 minutes of your time: here's a 1.3k word-ish general reflection/musing on the idea of popular ships and what that means for their portrayals in fic and fandom space, and how I feel it's reflected in meichae in particular -- brought to you by yours truly 𩷠this was like v surface-level skimmed so read at your own discretion
I think the reason I fall out of viewing window w some ships is the mass fandom commodification of them. Nottt because I have any sort of complex about what is popular, or âgovernmentâ, but because of the subsequent shoehorning and pigeonholing this produces? When a ship like meichae reaches the height of popularity, against my own will I find my enjoyment waning as I see an influx of opinions or perceptions I just. Straight up donât agree with. On one hand itâs lovely to see an increase in popularity, and by all means I would never go around telling people how they should interpret and perceive ships (we are, after all, engaging in rpf; we are all Hopefully. Ethically suspending our acceptance of reality), but at the same time⌠đ. It's also worth noting that I guess with government ships there is a degree of fanservice to the fronts being put on that is actively, consciously being pushed from an actual marketing angle as well, but still - feeling more 'fabricated' isn't a reason to dislike gov ships. I like everything!! (mostly!!)
also, commodification and the subsequent thesis..? of this post wasn't really the main reason I fell out w katseye + its rpf, but that's not the point here lmao
There's this sort of idea of âmain ship syndromeâ where, in accordance with a rise of popularity, ships become less of a dynamic between two specific people and moreso faces to slap any dynamic or trope onto. This is not the first time this phenomenon has been observed or commented on in general fandom space or even rpf, but regardless itâs still a sentiment that resonates with me. Over the course of 2026 Iâve been getting into actual kpop groups and subsequently the rpf of that sphere (which is funny because I went from being into a group that was defined by their Not Subscribing [Entirely, and this is a big caveat too but also discussion for another time] to the Kpop model, to⌠actually delving into said model. but itâs been fun, and interesting!) and I've observed that itâs not a phenomenon that's exclusive to katseye: it just makes sense that it would occur in rpf in general, where it involves the public personas of real people with liberal room to experiment that also feels grounded in some area of a canon. Jiminjeong of aespa and Haely/Sullbae of nmixx are a couple examples where I also felt this for varying different reasons, and Iâm not going to go into depth with that because I donât feel like it but for jmj specifically thereâs a lovely dreamwidth essay here that touches exactly on this coined âmain ship diseaseâ. here's another essay as well that all but nails the bullseye on this sentiment as a whole, including insight into aformentioned haely/sullbae fandom phenomenon that I agree with. I can speak further to how glaringly the jmj perspective comes off to me as well, as someone who's only surface-level into aespa, so these the widespread/accepted portrayals of them are the only ones I've really seen, and that have me going, 'but that can't be all there is to them, right?' cause like seriously what is a stupid hung cheese cat. The commodification of Haely and Sullbae are also so interesting to me because it feels like it happens in two different ways..? but I will talk about that only if someone asks because this is getting SO long lol
this might just be one long cokerant to bring up the fact that I really donât like meichae unnie kink đ. Iâm definitely lagging a few months behind meichae-moment-relevancy wise so idk issues of the past maybe but it feels so antithetical to meichaeâs entire dynamic and relationship to the idea of age roles and hierarchies that the word âunnieâ imposes. Never mind the fact that katseye is distinctly not kpop so there isnât really any reason yoonchae would adhere to calling them unnie, and if I were to be reallyyy cutting with it it feels like blatant fetishization: having yoonchae call Megan unnie and be turned on by it enough to qualify it as a kink feels almost entirely dependent on her identity as a korean person and The Only Korean Person in the group lol.
All this to say seeing meichaeâs sheer popularity (their blatantly, explicitly rpf edits go viral on tiktok the local public is out here shipping meichae) has sort of turned me away from them for a bit sndjsnddj. Which is so unfortunate because I LIKE meichae !! I just think they have all the catnippy elements that make them easy to engage with on a surface level (golden retriever x black cat dynamic, general softness and that typical teenage awkwardness/fondness, a treasure trove of eyebrow-raising moments in their canon timeline) that eventually culminates into like. A steamrolling of their more complex aspects, aka the exact things that I have the most fun engaging with. genuinely all this to say I think that both Megan and Yoonchae are, to some extent, done disservices both in their individual perceptions and their perception as a duo/ship. like I mentioned above sometimes the pigeonholing of meichae into tropes feels like a flattening entirely of who they are as people. Megan falls victim often to being seen as the quirky, chronically online, pathetic down bad neurodivergent canât read tumblr catnip etc. etc. you already know girl that disregards her capacity for emotional depth, especially her ability to self-reflect and identify her emotional state. And this is less important to me but - Megan also has the capacity to act quite mean! This is not to say I think people should start, like, writing her a bully or something, but I think that duality between her relationship with her emotions vs. her capacity to lash out and cause genuine hurt whether intentional or not (meichae beef is kind of a fundamental of this to me) is so interesting. Yoonchae has cumulative layers of being the youngest, the most uninformed with the western culture sphere, and the most impressionable for said sphere â making her a perfect canvas for all the different facets of her membersâ personalities and embodiments imprinting onto her. Which has made her such a nuanced, complex individual that is sometimes difficult to pin down, but that's the fun in it!! Lately I've become so so endeared to Jang Kyujin and all the neuroses her and Yoonchae (could) share in being maknaes who are frustrated and wish to be taken more seriously, so I guess it's something I wish could be explored in further depth with Yoonchae, but that's just one idea on top of a plethora. etc., etc.
I guess at another time I could have dredged up even more on the topic of how I wish Megan and Yoonchae were more widely written, but I've also been typing this for upwards of like half an hour now and now I feel so mean fndnfngk. I donât mean any of this to be yucking someoneâs yum I really donât care if people are writing and publishing meichae unnie kink on ao3 donât like donât read/engage etc. these are just my own personal thoughts you are unfortunately being subjected to if you are still reading this far in which case hi <3 By all means I donât want this to come off as some sort of collective demand to change the way meichae is written in the katzrpf sphere. aus are wonderful and ooc is subjective because again real people + the way people perceive other people is always going to vary depending on who both of you are as audience and as viewer!! Above all I find rpf fascinating and I do enjoy seeing multiple perspectives, I just wanted to share my own personal gripes and opinions. #myblog. if anyone wants to discuss with me please do!!!
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