CWRPS

This page is about the fandom. You may be looking for the livejournal community.

RPF Fandom
Name(s):	CWRPF, CWRPS, WBRPF, WBRPS
Scope/Focus:	RPF fandom for the actors on various shows on The CW
Date(s):	at least 2005, possibly earlier - present
See also:	J2, Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, JDM, Christian Kane/Steve Carlson, Michael Rosenbaum, Tom Welling
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Needs Updating: This page is out of date. Editors are encouraged to add more recent information.

CWRPS is the term used to describe the Real Person Fiction Fandom that primarily, but not exclusively, features actors appearing in television shows on the CW Network (Supernatural, Smallville, One Tree Hill, Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls).

History and Structure of the Fandom

The Fandom began as WBRPS, and that name changed to CWRPS when the WB became the CW network. While the fandom was then, and is most commonly now, described as an RPS fandom, it is not exclusively a slash fandom, but it is fair to say that slash works have always been in the majority. Like most RPF fandoms, there are few gen fanworks.

In the early days of the fandom, fanworks tended to feature slash pairings made up of the two Smallville stars Michael Rosenbaum and Tom Welling and/or the Supernatural stars Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki. This connection in fanworks reflects the canon friendship between Jensen Ackles and his former Smallville co-stars.

Common recurring characters in early fanworks were drawn from CW shows, or from the circle of celebrity friends of the central characters. In some cases those connection overlap creating sometimes murky divisions between canon and fanon. Stories often feature Chad Michael Murray as friend of Jared Padalecki, Christian Kane as a friend of Jensen Ackles or Kristin Kreuk and Allison Mack as friends of Tom Welling and Michael Rosenbaum.

The popularity of the Smallville actors as characters waned over time, possibly spurred on by Michael Rosenbaum's departure from the show and the growing popularity of Supernatural. More and more fanworks tended to focus exclusively on Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles, generally known as J2, pronounced "J-squared," though some fans also use the portmanteau "Padackles." Other characters were more often chosen from their canon relationships or from other Supernatural actors. This part of the fandom is also sometimes referred to as Supernatural RPF and includes works focused on other characters in addition to J2.

Christian Kane and his former musical partner Steve Carlson are the main slash pairing in a spinoff fandom that overlaps with J2 and CWRPS. Aldis Hodge, who appears on Leverage with Christian Kane started showing up in CWRPS stories soon after Leverage began airing. While the Leverage Newsletter lists RPF works, most of them are Chris/Steve.

Misha Collins joined the cast of Supernatural in its fourth season, and he appeared in RPF immediately, most often as a secondary character.

By 2011, with Supernatural entering its 7th season, and Smallville off the air, the fandom continued to diversify away from its roots. While Jared/Jensen is still the main pairing, het, gen, and femslash pairings have become more common. New characters moving into the common rotation are coming, not from other shows, but from Supernatural or from the real lives of the Supernatural actors. CWRPF has only the most tenuous connections to other shows' stars, and none of them are on the CW.

Femslash featuring Genevieve Cortese, Danneel Harris and Adrienne Palicki regularly show up on the newsletter or in the kink meme, where it was once extremely rare. These femslash pairings are also more likely to show up in J2 fic as secondary pairings and these women have nearly completely supplanted the Smallville actresses as background characters of choice.

Other m/m slash pairings, most featuring a "J" with Misha Collins, but some pairing Misha with Sebastian Roché are also on the rise.

The 2011 SPN J2 Big Bang had one gen RPF story, and the mods listed the non-J2 pairing fic in a separate post for the first time.

Fandom on Livejournal

CWRPF has been almost exclusively on Livejournal since its beginning. No Supernatural archives, with the exception of Sinful Desire allow RPF and the fandom was slow to adopt posting at the AO3. Posting of Supernatural RPF or CWRPF at the AO3 has increased in 2011, along with the increase in Supernatural fic posted there, but the numbers are no match for the bulk of the works which are still on Livejournal exclusively.

Unlike many other RPF fandoms, including more recent ones, CWRPF is mostly posted unlocked and is listed in the newsletter along with the FPF. The majority of fannish spaces are open to both wings of the fandom.

Communities

• super_real
• wb_rps
• cw_rps

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.