Puppies in a Box

From Fanlore
(Redirected from Puppies in A Box)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Website
Name: Puppies in a Box
Owner/Maintainer: Helen
Dates: December, 2000 - ?? [now defunct]
Type: website
Fandom: 'N Sync
URL: Puppies in a Box (waxjism.net) 2001, Puppies in a Box (helenish.org) 2002 - ?? Wayback Machine
Puppies! in! a! Box!.png
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

This site was an influential center for popslash rps, especially in the first wave of the fandom's growth[1]. It moved several times[2], was hosted for a while by waxjism, and five authors archived stories there--Helen, Synchronik, Cecilia, Laura and Sinead. Helen ran the site, writing and maintaining all of the non-story pages and doing the fic updates.

This picture was displayed on a later version of the Puppies in a Box website. Manip by Dacey.

The metaphor of "puppies in a box" reflected part of the fannish feeling toward boybands; the boys in said bands were all cute, pick any one, any two, any group of them! The website's name also contained an element of ironic self-mockery[3] that was particularly prevalent among the first wave of media fans who fell in love with popslash fandom[4], a tendency which is more obvious to the casual observer in website names like Temporary Insanity and I will not be afraid of boybands.

The phrase "puppies in a box" originated[5] in one of Synchronik's earliest stories in the fandom[6], which was part of "On The Bus", a very loosely-knit series of stories and snippets hosted on the site. The series' unifying element was that all the stories took place on the 'N Sync tour buses; it included gen stories and slash of varying pairings, and followed no set time line. These were some of popslash's gateway entry stories; they were the among the first things recced to newbies, and many people read them on their way into the fandom, as well as many other stories on the site[7]. The site's high traffic sometimes exceeded its allotted bandwidth.

fan Comments

[2002]: I used to be a hardcore NSync fan (*hangs head*) and I first discovered fanfiction through that sometime around June 2000. At first all I could find were Mary Sues and I read more of those than any human being should ever be subjected to until finally stumbling across a site called Puppies in a Box and falling in love with slash. Because... touchy boy love! Whee! [8]

References

  1. ^ Roughly, late 2000 into 2002. See Popslash History
  2. ^ Here is an old redirect from April 2001, accessed 16 October 2008 via wayback.
  3. ^ See also ironic distance for information about a related trend in fandom.
  4. ^ The guide, a page from the website containing a tongue-in-cheek discussion between Helen and Synchronik that demonstrates the simultaneous impulses to mock and to squee. (Accessed via wayback, Oct. 2008.)
  5. ^ [1] Page titled *the hell? from the puppies website. For a small selection of contemporary (approx. 2001) fan comments and jokes about 'N Sync, see the quotes page (both links accessed via wayback Oct. 2008).
  6. ^ External link accessed via wayback Oct. 2008.
  7. ^ e.g., The Same Inside, Run Through (accessed via wayback, Oct. 2008)
  8. ^ comment in "How I discovered U2 slash" post at u2slash dated November 21, 2002; reference link.