Ais > Status Update

I do the same. Maybe it's because there's just way less options to choose from?

I think that might be. Also, I think when you have a really basic story line, even a trite one, having it be Boy Meets Girl makes it like every other story out there we're inundated with on a daily basis-- tv shows, movies, books, comics, it doesn't matter. Almost all of them have the premise of male + female, at least in the mainstream, so m/f has more competition and therefore can be compared to more. But changing the genders makes it a bit different so I go into it thinking maybe the tropes will be dealt with differently too. Maybe there will be a spin.

It's not really true, though. Being m/m or f/f doesn't inherently make something good, in my experience. I've read m/m, f/f, m/f, gen and others that are poorly done, excellently done, and everything in between. I think I just go into it with the hope that it will defy my expectations when it involves GLBTQ more, though. Maybe just because I'm gay so I want to read something that applies to me in some way more than the stereotypical Boy + Girl = <3 stories.

Most of the time, when a story has both a male and a female protagonist, I'll be wary. I just kinda hate it that there's always sexual tension between them (unless they're family) and I find myself fearing that they'll end up together and ruin everything. That's one of the main reasons I didn't give Elementary a chance.

When it's m/m or f/f, though, I'm always torn. I kinda want to see how they end up together and how they solve the problems their relationship might cause, but the other part of me that's not fond of forced romance wants to see if they can just be friends and have a strong friendship that doesn't fall into romance. Which is the same I want to see in f/m couples.

But, yeah, a part of me prefers to go for the LGBTQ relationships rather than the straight ones. Not sure why...

Ahh, yeah, I think it's the same for me. I like how you explained that.

Actually, that's the same reason I'm wary of Elementary. I wasn't fond of their very first meeting. Actually, it annoyed me. And I was watching it on their website and the buffering wasn't working properly so I ended up giving up on the show for the day shortly after that scene. I'm not enthused about starting it again because no matter what they do, that first scene is going to continue to annoy me. Either that was a fluke and Watson is usually really straightforward and not interested in romance-- at which point why the hell did she respond that way in the first place and not just be like "Ok keep your pants on, Casanova, I'm here for srs business"-- or they're going to make them into a couple, at which point, what? They had to genderswap one of them to make a relationship acceptable? I don't even care about whether or not Watson and Holmes are ever shipped but it would definitely annoy me if they saw legit reason for Holmes/Watson shipping from the original so went with it, but only felt they could if one was a girl. And PS: if you're going to genderswap, why not genderswap Holmes instead? That would have been more interesting.

I like friendship stories and wish more series let people just... remain friends. That's probably one of the bajillion reasons why I love the manga One Piece so much. It gives you all sorts of relationships but almost all of them aren't actually verified as intimate. Almost all of them could be read simply as strong friendship or, if you're so inclined, could be shipped as more... and in the majority of canon situations where one character has romantic interests in another, the other side doesn't reciprocate.

I actually watched the season finale of Elementary because my brother did like the series and I just happened to be around. Later on we talked about why he liked Elementary and I didn't, while I love BBC's Sherlock and he doesn't. But one of the points he conceded was that, if for some reason Watson and Sherlock became an item in Elementary, that'd be the end of it for him. It's one thing to genderswap Watson and Mrs. Hudson and otherwise deviate from canon as much as possible to avoid a lawsuit from the BBC, and it's another one entirely to do a genderswap just so you can have them be a couple and not annoy a certain subset of fans.

But yeah, a Holmes genderswap would've been much better. There's actually an anime where Sherlock's a young girl... it looks much too pink and shiny for my tastes, but at least it was done on some level somewhere.

Ah, I have to give OP a chance one day. I tried, long ago, but the artwork put me off. Still, my girlfriend and my other brother are in love with it, so I suppose I can try... :P

But yeah, friendship is strangely underrated in modern stories. It's one of the reasons I don't ship Watson/Holmes as anything beyond bromance. I love that they can be such good, close, even intimate friends without it having to go into an actual romantic relationship. I wish we had more of that in all possible pairings: m/m, f/f, and het.