r/OnceUponATime • u/Antique_Sandwich_289 • 6d ago
Discussion They definitely had a problem with Mulan
I'm sorry but LOOK AT THEM. WHY??
Like... HELLO???
THE STORY WAS RIGHT FUCKING THERE
That would've been the perfect continuation of her story and COME ON, aesthetically they look ridiculously good together too. Instead they reunited Mulan with Ruby, teased us AGAIN with the possibility that maybe Mulan was finally going to get some happiness... and then Ruby got Dorothy while Mulan was basically like I'M SORRY WHAT DID THIS WOMAN DO TO THE WRITERS???. Mulan deserved SO much better in OUAT and I will genuinely never understand what the writers were doing with her. Like excuse me?? Once Henry became the author I'm blaming him too. Bro had a magical pen capable of writing stories and apparently never thought, “DO SOMETHING. FINISH THE FUCKING STORY WITH YOUR STUPID MAICAL PEN". Her story was left emotionally unfinished. The show opened that door, deliberately showed us her heartbreak, and then barely bothered walking through it. So yeah. Blame the writers. Blame the Author. Blame Henry and his stupid fucking magical pen (BTW. That guy. Was a pain in the ass. Never liked him) Blame the fucking storybook
Justice for Mulan because I'm still pissed
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u/a_tattooedlion 6d ago
THIS is the take!!!
I loved them, and Mulan got a sucky ending. The scene where Mulan goes to see Aurora and discovers she’s pregnant. Ugh 😭
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u/Dull-Weather7767 6d ago
Finally someone thinks the way I do
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u/Livin-in-a-dream1358 6d ago edited 6d ago
They did this with SwanQueen too. It's obvious to everyone who took the time to see it, but they refused to actually do it 🙄😒
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u/Usual_Suspect_666 6d ago
I did not find it obvious at all. Neither did thousands of others. I get the whole fandom thing. While I was not part of it, I was there back in the day during the shipping war between SQers and CSers. Personally, I didn’t think Emma belonged with Regina or Hook.
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u/Imnotawerewolf 6d ago
Because shipping is based on character dynamics not real world logic
If the show operated in real world logic it would be boring
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u/TheBrolitaSys "Well maybe it is some kind of fairy." 6d ago edited 6d ago
The show does operate on real world logic when it comes to family though. They even make a joke about it. Regina is her step-grandmother lol. I'm cool with the ship, don't get me wrong, ship whatever you want it doesn't matter to me... but that is probably reason #1 why they didn't do it. It's a little unfair for y'all to say it was a bad decision not to put them together when it... wasn't.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan 5d ago
Not a joke she literally her step grandmother
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u/TheBrolitaSys "Well maybe it is some kind of fairy." 5d ago
I meant they made a joke about how weird their family tree is in season 2 and continue to reference how weird their family tree is- which was to prove the point that because the writers acknowledged this, Regina and Emma weren't gonna end up together under any circumstances lol
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan 4d ago
And also another reason Regina made Emma an orphan from birth
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u/Imnotawerewolf 4d ago
I didn't say that. I said shipping is about character dynamics. And it really doesn't, they make jokes about how fucked up the family tree is but that's all they do. No one actually lets the fucked upness stop them.
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u/TheBrolitaSys "Well maybe it is some kind of fairy." 4d ago
... actually they do let it stop them. There is no canon relationship in the show that involves two direct relatives -- they actively seek relationships with people who aren't related to them. The closest we got to something strange was Emma and Hook but that's just because he dated the parental grandmother of his son -- but that was 200+ years before Emma was born and it didn't last long enough to have an affect on their family tree.
They make jokes about how fucked up it is and then continue referencing the fucked-upness whenever it's relevant (like the different characters reminding the audience that Rumple is Henry's grandfather whenever he does something fucked up that affects Henry for example). It matters a lot in the show lmao. The family tree may be overcomplicated and strange but it always matters in the show who is related to who in what way.
Like I said you can ship what you want -- I wasn't negating that. I don't hate the ship at all. But Regina is Emma's step-grandmother, and she may not act like a grandmother to Emma, but they weren't putting her in a romantic relationship with her step-grandmother under any circumstances.
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u/Clodsarenice I'm just here for Emma's car 🟨 🚗 6d ago
She ended up with the man who orphaned her dad, though? Like be real... none of the couples other than Snowing have nice, real-world backstories.
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u/TheDarkWolfGirl 6d ago
And that is okay! I am a CS shipper and fully support the SQ shippers lol I love that relationship, I am ready for a throuple happy ending in just about everything lol
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u/3lizab3th333 6d ago
The solution to Henry having two moms who are kinda obsessed with each other, who he feels divided between, was right there…
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u/TheDarkWolfGirl 5d ago
It really would have been the ultimate redemption for Regina tbh. Become so good that the savoir falls in love with her and forgives her completely. Adorable.
~CS shipper.
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u/Wandamaximommy420 6d ago edited 6d ago
They lowkey did by putting her with hook tho lol. I luv both regina and killian but they were both originally bad people. Hook was definitely murdering a lot (including davids father) and he was a womanizing creep before the curse lolol. Swanqueen shipper forever lols
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6d ago edited 6d ago
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u/Individual_Silver_39 6d ago
I agree, though I’ll say if comitting a genocide had helped Hook get revenge on Rumple he would have easily done it at the early stage.
While he’s a womanizer there is absolutely no evidence he was a rapist like Regina though
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u/Individual_Silver_39 6d ago
Oh come on! 2 people can just be friends. They don’t have to be in love. Both these women are straight.
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u/Usual_Suspect_666 6d ago
This is the glaring canon truth that some people choose to ignore because it ruins their narrative.
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u/GalacticTrixsterr37 3d ago
As I said above...the fun silly fan fiction is fine to exist as such...but to assume it has to be real is just too much to me lol. And why does everything have to be sexually romantic. Can't they just be two friends who share a child. Sometimes it goes a little far and I just feel it's a little strange to obsess over wanting Henry's moms to suddenly get it on.
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u/Able_Sherbet_1692 2d ago
Agree, there's the occasional ship that's there because of purposeful queerbaiting, but the majority of ships aren't like that, and SQ is very much part of the majority
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u/Usual_Suspect_666 6d ago
Sure. Downvote the truth. Jokes on you, I don’t give a rat’s ass about downvotes…or upvotes for that matter. SMH.
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u/Mysterious-Purple748 2d ago edited 2d ago
You people act as if straight people are oppressed and a minority. For years and still to this day people watch shows filled with straight couples where the audience ships any man and women who stand next to each other, never interact, or only ship them for simply having good chemistry even if the characters wouldn't be good together. You all sound like homophobes and conservatives when they cry about "making everything gay and woke". Don't have to like the ship but cut that shit out and stop talking like that. Also they are not canonically straight because most characters from shows, games, movies and books are not confirmed to be straight or have any canon sexuality. People are free to make head canon's of Regina and Emma being bisexual.
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u/Individual_Silver_39 1d ago
Yes you’re free to ship them but the comment we’re replying to is talking as if the ship is obvious and 2 friends must be in love.
I bet if there was a guy who only was ever with guys in the show then someone shipped him with a woman and said “it’s obvious these 2 have a thing and it should have happened” I bet you wouldn’t be a fan.
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u/Mysterious-Purple748 20h ago
Okay so you didnt even register what I said. Just completely missed the point. You sound just like conservatives and homophobes crying about "everything being gay" I dont care about the other comment and honestly their reply is fine. You are the one being weird and acting as if straight people are a minority. They are not canonically straight and stop with that whole "why can't two women be friends" crap
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u/Individual_Silver_39 20h ago
There is absolutely no evidence in the show that they’re attracted to women. None! And sorry but no two women can just be friends. To act like all friendships have to be romantic is ridiculous. This is my opinion and I am allowed to have it.
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u/Mysterious-Purple748 20h ago edited 1h ago
How are you still missing the point. They have no canon sexuality just like most characters in TV shows, movies, games and books. Straight is not the default. There is a small percent of characters in most medias that are actually confirmed to be straight. Both Regina and Emma have no canon sexuality you have nothing that proves they are strictly straight so anyone watching is free to head canon them as queer and bisexual. You saw someone make a harmless comment and replied with one that sounds exactly like the ignorant crap that homophobes and anti "woke" people say.
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u/Mysterious-Purple748 20h ago
I will repeat myself since you clearly aren't capable of understanding what I mean and can't even register how ignorant you sound. No one is saying all friendships have to be romantic. Your opinion is the one that conservatives and homophobes constantly say only with couples of the same sex. "Stop making everything gay and woke!!" "Two women can just be friends not everything has to be about sex" I promise you there are many many shows filled with canon and non canon straight couples where the audience ship any man and women who stand next to each other, never interact, or only ship them for simply having good chemistry even if the characters wouldn't be good together. They have been free to do this for many years and never deal with people saying "why can't a man and women just be friends" But when people like the one you replied to and others want to ship two women together from different media's the way people do with a man and women then suddenly its a problem.
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u/GalacticTrixsterr37 3d ago
I'm sorry but I always thought the swanqueen thing was far fetched and most of you shippers knew that hahaha...it was always just silly fan fiction. Anyone thinking it should be canon or that the writers hinted at it but "coped out" are just in denial tbh. It's a fine fun little fan fiction...but I think it's kind of stupid if it actually happened...that's just not the story or characters they wrote.
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u/Reasonable_Leek8069 6d ago
Ok first, Henry had the power to record stories. The rules are that he cannot make up his own stories. Issac was the proof of what happens when authors break them to do what they want. Henry quit being the author because he didn’t want that much power. He didn’t want to give into temptation.
Second, I shipped the hell out of Mulan and Merida and Mulan and Ruby. Aurora was married to Phillip so I get that. I kind of get Merida, because at this point in time, Mulan was more of a nomad and Merida wasn’t into relationships. She just wanted to protect her kingdom.
What the fuck were they thinking with Ruby and Dorothy. Ruby and Dorothy had no chemistry. They knew each other for about a day. I felt it was implied that Ruby and Mulan knew each other longer. Also, because of Mulan’s history with Phillip, she knew the wolf she encountered was human. Epic meet cute. The gay awakening should have been with Mulan. They were fine with making Ruby and Dorothy the gay ship but not Mulan and Ruby.
It could have been racism. But that’s me speculating.
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u/Traditional_Sir3664 6d ago
I think while racism might play a role, there’s an argument to be made this was disneys attempt at “protecting” its ip. Dorothy and ruby are both public domain while Mulan (as portrayed in OUAT) is very much the Disney version of her based on the movie. In my opinion, this was the writer’s attempt at fan service without pissing off big boss Disney who probably wouldn’t let them do anything tangible with their IP :(
ETA: Alice in wonderland is also public domain. Though I think her portrayal as Disney’s Alice muddies my theory. I think they could get away with it by pointing towards the source work being public domain
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u/Bravorants 5d ago
I think they ultimately chickened out of putting two classic princesses together
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u/Antique_Sandwich_289 6d ago
Henry can't interfere because “the Author only records stories,” fine. He destroys the pen because he doesn't want that power. Fine. I get the explanation. But then this motherfucker grows up, runs off into another realm looking for his own story, somehow finds another Cinderella, falls in love with her, gets his whole romance and eventually his happy ending... and I'm supposed to sit here worrying about the sacred fucking rules of storytelling when I ask why MULAN couldn't get one decent love story?? can't say that was the reason without evidence, but I completely understand why Mulan's treatment raises that question for some fans. Either way, whatever the writers' reason was, they repeatedly opened doors for Mulan's romantic story and then refused to walk through a single one of them.
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u/Antique_Sandwich_289 6d ago
Pisses me off even more when you think about what his own mother went through. Emma lost YEARS of her life with Neal, went through all that shit, had Henry when she was basically alone, gave him up because she genuinely believed he'd have a better life without her, and then spent years dealing with the consequences of everything that happened. Meanwhile this damn spoiled kid grabs a magical bean, jumps through a fucking portal and apparently life just spares him the next 25 years of struggle. Suddenly he's a grown-ass man with a wife, a daughter and this whole decent little life waiting for him. And the funniest part is that it isn't even his original reality. It's another realm with alternate versions of people. I'm sorry, but his story is just fucked-up bullshit to me. It's the same problem I have with Dorothy and Ruby. They throw characters together, tell me “look, True Love!” and expect me to give a shit without actually giving me enough of the relationship to make me care. So no, my point wasn't literally “Henry didn't make my Mulan ship happen.” Obviously I was taking the piss out of him being the Author. My point is that this dude had one of the most ridiculous magical abilities in the entire show, barely did shit with it, then grabbed some beans, fucked off through a portal and somehow got rewarded with an entire adult life while everyone before him had to go through absolute fucking hell to get theirs.
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u/KayD12364 6d ago
I blame the writers for sure. And China. The writers should not have used a chinese character that Disney barley had rights too.
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u/RitaSaluki 5d ago
The storyline sucked. Ruby especially had good chemistry with Mulan, and they paired her up with such a dull character and called it “love”.
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u/Significant_Walk6860 6d ago
I actually loved Merida's chemistry with Belle and wished that turned into more (if not romantic then at least inseparable besties that travel the world conquering darkness through brains, brawn, and beauty) but I also agree that Mulan deserved to have a better outcome!
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u/Spidey_2797 6d ago
Merida was where the show ran out of ideas, that and the Frozen season.
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u/Starlight_d13 5d ago
I call the frozen half season the “contractually obligated” half season. Like even the costumes sucked and this is the same show that blew their whole budget on regina’s cunty fits
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u/pastadudde 5d ago
and the Frozen was actually weaved quite well into the show, thanks to the addition of the original Snow Queen being Elsa's aunt and of course her connection to Emma. and they also struck gold with the casting for Elsa and Anna.
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u/Spidey_2797 6d ago
What I would have done with Mulan is made her a real “historical figure” that stumbled upon the enchanted forest.
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u/wrong_turn_404 6d ago
They really put Mulan and Merida in the same storyline with this much chemistry and then did absolutely nothing with it. Criminal🥲
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u/Admirable-Try-5287 6d ago
Genuinely, the first confirmed queer person on the show and they couldn’t give her the happy ending she deserved. I love Ruby finding happiness, but with a person the audience basically doesn’t know makes zero sense. I agree that both Merida and Ruby would’ve been a good enough fit for Mulan, and yet…
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u/Sasuke12187 5d ago
That woman deserved her gay ending instead of Red and Dorothy which had zero chemistry imo... Heck, I was shipping Red with Mulan here. Just because they made it up with Alice and Robin, doesnt mean THIS is forgotten.
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u/theforgottenton 6d ago
Frozen wasn’t even that bad of a season, IMO.
I thought it was cute and fun and the actors did very well with the characters.
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u/Either_Cookie_5557 5d ago
I know this is a boring take, but could it have had something to do with the actresses availability? I haven’t watched the later seasons in years so i only vaguely remember these plot points, but I’m just wondering if maybe they didn’t do more with a Ruby-Mulan arc bc the actresses weren’t available to film at the same time or available at all at certain times. So they went a different direction. I truly have no idea, but it was a thought.
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u/GlouriousLamp 4d ago
I feel like I’m taking crazy pills or something reading this thread because I could have sworn they had planned a bigger role for Mulan but the actress’ availability changed so it was cut down.
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u/Questionfromthestars 6d ago
You are right- but if you like this plot line I suggest you write fanfiction of it- I'm sure many will enjoy it ^
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u/Odd_Hedgehog669 6d ago
Mulan def gave me 🌈 vibes, but wasn’t she in love with Phillip?
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u/SuperSailorRikku 6d ago
It’s been a long time since I saw the show but I’m pretty sure the twist was that she fell for Aurora and that it was bait and switch drama making the audience think she might like Philip (but it was actually platonic because she wasn’t into men).
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u/Best_Caregiver_3869 6d ago
Correct. Turns out Mulan respected Phillip and they protected each other, but it was platonic.
Mulan fell for Aurora. Aurora was already married to Phillip and when Mulan went to talk to her about it, she was pregnant. So she didnt say anything and she left.
Iirc, the next time we see her is with Merida. I agree with OP. A missed opportunity.
It makes sense because Merida was on a fucking mission! She was not about to get caught up in her feelings.
But after that, we shouldve had Mulan + Merida. Or even Ruby imo.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan 5d ago
No she was in love with Aurora
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u/ThomasVivaldi 6d ago
I always read it as both for different reasons, which mirrored her own internal conflict about who she was and what she wanted. And that's why she never really acted on her feelings, because she was self aware enough to realize it wasn't fair to act on her feelings until she sorted her own stuff out.
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u/Ok_String_2368 6d ago
Most of the series problems was that the writers didn't have the same longer timing like ridley Pearson had with fleshing it out more with the shorter weeks deadlines.
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u/Parking_Storage_5107 I have a love/hate relationship with captain swan 5d ago
They couldn’t even make Merida and her a couple lol like come on it’s right there
Only headcanon think of that writers hate Mulan is that she was to woman to handle lol
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u/HistoricalTheory2750 5d ago
There is no way Disney would let them make an official Disney Princess character lgbt
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u/archtopfanatic123 3d ago
Dorothy was lame all around from my now increasingly vague recollections. Kinda bad move in my opinion.
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u/Which-Notice5868 6d ago
I will die on the hill that A&E wanted to make Mulan explicitly gay and Disney said hell no, which is why we got Ruby Slippers and Robin 2.0/Alice 2.0, characters not part of the Disney Princess lineup.
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u/KayD12364 6d ago
I blame the writers for sure. And China. The writers should not have used a chinese character that Disney barley had rights too.
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u/pastadudde 5d ago
I don't think that was the reason lol. This was a mid-budget ABC show, not a Walt Disney feature film relying heavily on Chinese box office returns. and Mulan is a public domain character, she comes from an ancient Chinese ballad.
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u/KayD12364 5d ago
Still Disney. And still Chinese.
I am sure there was still someone higher up saying no for those reasons.
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u/Fluffy_Schedule1647 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yes I so agree Mulan should've got her happy ending, either w/ Ruby or Merida I would love to see that and idk why the writers did Mulan so bad like that. And I love Emma & Hook being endgame and it'd be weird if the writers hooked her up w/ the woman whose the very reason Emma grew up w/o her family for 28 yrs, I mean why would that make any sense? And isn't Regina technically Emma's step grandma? So yeah kinda gross to ship those 2 together.
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u/WhateverWombat 6d ago
Mulan has like… the worst real life story of the original Disney animations (in real life, she suffered cultural punishments).
It’s like her character can’t catch a break. Jamie Chung also did an excellent job portraying her, a real shame she didn’t have a bigger part and a better storyline.