ThreePursuitShip

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Title:	ThreePursuitShip
Creator:	executrix
Date(s):	September 2004
Medium:	online
Fandom:	Blake's 7
Topic:	Blake/Avon
External Links:	Original post at LiveJournal, (archive link with expanded comments) Archived version Dreamwidth mirror, Archived version
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ThreePursuitShip is a 2004 essay by executrix at The Shipper's Manifesto.

The subject is Blake/Avon.

Some Excerpts

Terminal. It was the third time I watched Terminal. I’d seen most of the episodes on video, and read a few dozen fics, and written a few. Although I usually preferred to read B/A, I didn’t really believe in B/A as a ship.

And then, that third time, it clicked into place. I saw that Avon was sure that he wasn’t going to find Blake. And Avon was more or less certain that his own, probably horrible, death was only hours or minutes away. But just because of the most infinitesimal chance that he and Blake could be together again--and Avon could save him again--he had to take that chance. That’s how strong his love is.

Sure, I’m a B/A shipper -- I mean, I’ve written about 50 B/A stories, which makes about half my stories B/As. In another sense, I’m an anti-shipper. I’m damn sure they’re doing it. I just wish they wouldn’t. You know how it is, when you have a friend who’s dating somebody you don’t like. Even apart from you-know-what. I think of it as Avon: A Terrible Relationship. And, I must admit, even apart from you-know-what, a lot of it is Avon’s fault.

Fandom has articulated many theories about the bizarre costumes chosen by Kerr (His Trousers Are Pastede On, Yay) Avon, but the consensus is that the leathery black plumage is designed to attract the Burly Rebel (var. Curly-Headed). Personally, I think it’s so that he can’t pull his trousers up at the knee to preserve the crease. Blake’s too used to having someone else to iron his clothes, and Vila and Gan don’t give a monkey’s.

What lesbians, proverbially, bring to a second date is a U-Haul. Blake managed to go one better by bringing the U-Haul after a disastrous first date. One common pattern in B/A stories is for the sexual relationship to act as a catalyst that forces Avon not only to recognize but to admit otherwise unacknowledged or unspoken emotions. In other words, Blake gives sex to get love. Avon gives love to get sex. Which makes Blake the girl. However, because Avon is noticeably shorter than Blake (although not, as some fanon would have you believe, in need of toe shoes to go down on a hobbit), there’s a certain amount of Smaller Man characterization in B7 fanon. Probably the central item of B/A fanon is that Blake has a larger endowment than Harvard, and he does display a certain easy confidence that implies a sense of security. I rather think that Avon Regrets that he has a small Part of Life.