No Takebacks

Welcome to a new DPP week, pilotshippers! I've shamelessly stolen the title of this post from letterstonorah's flawless and amazing fic, but the actual topic really is the subject of the names of our pilots, and the ways that they use them.



We've seen in canon that pilots, for a couple so obviously in love on such an epic scale, are rather different from most couples in one major respect: we NEVER hear them call each other by an endearment or cheesy nickname, ever (callsigns don't count). When they're making epic declarations or not-quite declarations of love, or the eyefrakking is particularly intense, they tend to resort to first names or full names, like they do here:


This also happens quite a bit when they're in situations where they shouldn't be using first names, like when they're out flying and should be on callsigns - one of these that often get overlooked is in KLG1, when Lee uses her name over the comms just before Kara jumped away, when previously he'd been so mad at her he couldn't use anything but her rank when speaking to her. (and that brings me to my other point - when the denial/anger is running high, we see them resort to the most distant forms of address imaginable for them - their official ranks).

What do you think of all this, Shipper Nation? Feel free to discuss, and bring up all the other instances I missed out on!



PS: We have a new commentfic by dramaturgca over at the last DPP, and anyone who loves AUs should most definitely read it. You know what they say about a pilot by any other name....

Welcome to the DPP, everyone! Sorry for the delayed start to the week, but to kick it off, here is a question that all of Shipper Nation has an answer to, and ABSOLUTELY NEEDS TO SHARE, because we all need to hear it: when did you first start shipping pilots?


(for that matter, how did you end up watching BSG in the first place, and did any of you have any idea about pilots beforehand? Because I certainly didn't.)

So please, do take a moment out and tell us how you fell for pilots in the first place, whether it began here:



or before that (see the moment in my icon, or the first brig scene), or even much, much later - maybe one or both pilots had to do a bit of work to win your heart and make a shipper of you? Or maybe fanon - via fic, vids, squee and meta - helped along the way?

Tell us in as much or as little detail as you like, complete with thoughts at the time - no story is too trivial or too silly to share!


PS: Also, the DPP schedule from next week onwards is wide open and needs people to head it up, please do sign up for one if you can!

We've had a comfortably quiet week here, and it's been nice (I would like to speculate that it is because people are following the collective meltdown of one of the most annoying fandoms in existence in the wake of scandalous celeb gossip, but that's just me and my cackling, plus my eternal gratitude that we're not anything like that level of crazy). 

And speaking of firsts, here is a pic of the first moment that made me really start shipping pilots:


It's almost the weekend, and in honour of that I'm inviting everyone to have a trip down memory lane - tell us about the first pilots fic you remember reading/liking, or alternatively, the first pilots fic you ever wrote! (for those of us who've written fic, that is - discussion of meta, fanvids and fanmixes is also welcome - the more the merrier!)

Yesterday's post, on what other characters might have thought of pilots, is still up so feel free to tell us what you think of that too, if you feel like it. 

Hello pilotshippers, and welcome to this week's DPP!



To start with, here's something simple: we all know pilots are ABSOLUTELY UNIQUE among fictional couples - there has never been anyone quite like them, and probably never will be again.


But even if no one can replicate their magic, I want to ask the question: have you ever been reminded of them by other fictional couples, even in a small way? Have certain elements/moments in the relationship of pilots ever reminded you of anyone else you've read/watched?


Or am I just crazy for even thinking of them as comparable to other couples at all?

We kicked off this week's DPP by contemplating the possibility of no pilots, and moved on to lament the way they ended, on the third anniversary of the day.
Today, I'd like to offer up a third possibility: what if you got the chance to change things for pilots? Suppose you were given a choice of one point in the story from which to undo the injustices done to them in canon, what would you pick, to give those poor kids a shot at a happy ending? From which point, effectively, would you take them AU?



Whether it's having Lee actually admit to Kara that he wants her in Colonial Day/Kobol's Last Gleaming (which is coming up this week in the rewatch!) or averting their marriages, or preventing Kara's death, or even if you're ok with everything all the way till/except for the poof and would only change that, tell us! (or would they be better off being taken completely AU and removed from canon entirely?)

We love our pilots, and we love them very much indeed. But what did we think of them, when we hadn't yet seen them together onscreen? Did that change, once we had?

It's been observed, elsewhere in the fandom (over at workerbee73's, in fact) that Kara and Lee in their very first scenes come off as somewhat bratty and abrasive, and more than a little annoying.

But when they are together onscreen, making sarcastic remarks at each other and eyefrakking and exuding enough UST to power a small nuclear reactor in the first brig scene, to many people that is the moment when we first begin to like them unreservedly - or at least a whole lot more than when we already did - and if not then, seeing them together onscreen certainly makes us love them more with time. So what did you think of them alone and together, Shipper Nation?

I'll go first, with an edited version of my thoughts about pilots during my first watch of the miniseries - chip in with your own in the comments:



Oh hey girl, you are kind of an asshole, and do you really like getting in trouble so much? But I like your swagger, and think I am starting to develop some serious girl crush on you. Even if you would probably kick my ass and laugh at me for admitting to that.



You sound like a brat, but I think it is your daddy issues making you act out (and I can sympathise). Also, you are very, very pretty.



You two have some serious tension going on, and I call it - you are going to hook up at some point (also, nice arms, Lee! Who knew that was under your flight suit..). But somehow, you seem less like assholes when you are together. And I refuse to ship you. This show is yanking my chain, and I am too savvy to ship you.

My presence here should indicate how well that worked, but I'm still wondering what everyone else here thought of our pilots when they were each introduced to us separately, and if seeing them together changed the way you saw their characters? Tell us all about it!

Also, anyone who hasn't done so already should check out The Limit, by word_vomity and (ETA) Burns and Bruises by useyourlove, the fruit of yesterday's DPP. That and the DPP before it are still open for discussion and ficcing, if anyone feels like it!

Hello, everyone (I hope those of you who have Thanksgiving/holidays to celebrate will have a lovely time of it), and welcome to this week's DPP!

Today's topic of discussion is one of the gaping holes in the story of our pilots, i.e. a long stretch of time (and what looks like some possibly significant relationship development with loads of eyefrakking thrown in) which canon tells us NOTHING about. Specifically, the gap between this:



and this:


( pics ahoy! (and discussion and fic too) )

In honour of weekend laziness, I won't ask too much of anyone who comes by here today - only that you leave a rec for something, anything, that's pilot-y and makes you happy (or even beautifully, heart-meltingly sad, that will do too since fannish feelings for BSG and pilots seem to be an indicator of hidden masochistic streaks in many of us).

Pics, fics, vids, manips, meta, quotes, drabbles, gifs, bring 'em on, people - whether they're old favourites in the fandom or something you just discovered, tell us about them!

I'll go first, here is the Cracky Epic!Space!Movie!Trailer kivryn made for me at the DPP wishing well a couple of weeks ago:



And fic-wise, I just began reading kag523's Libertas, which is AWESOME and EPIC. This and workerbee73's Borrowed Time (pre-mini pilots! *squeals*) and taragel's awesome Ice!Pilots have got my weekend and possibly a few days after that tied up. How about everyone else?