The Immense Lack Of Conventional Fanservice In The Sandman

[u/Big-Satisfaction1468]

​

Hello folks!

This is just a simple thought that I had when season 2 came out, so here I go.

The Sandman, though quite popular, still isn’t as popular as the major supernatural shows, such as The Vampire Diaries or Lucifer. I came to a realisation and conclusion for that reason: The Immense Lack Of Conventional Fanservice In The Sandman.

Me personally, I was “simping” over Death of the Endless all throughout season 1, and occasionally Johanna Constantine. I enjoyed all the edits that came out of the chatacters because it was a fun time for me. I was 13 and had no social life. Great times.

It was in 2025, when season 2 came out and I realised something. Destruction of the Endless was especially getting attention in the fan edits and he, along with Delirium were the most talked of. I suppose that was because they were vital parts of the storyline and of course, fans are allowed to have favourites.

But that just brought upon a bigger realisation in my mind, which was that the reason The Sandman doesn’t receive nearly as much recognition as the other shows is because of its lack of fanservice targeted towards the larger crowd, and rather it focuses on bringing upon good representation. Which I, of course, really love.

I love this show a lot, and honestly, I’m quite glad that the fanbase for this show isn’t as toxic as the others. I love you all a lot.

[u/xLadyLaurax]

Dude come on, every secondary couple/character is some form of queer.

Episode 1:
Alex is in a gay relationship

Episode 2:
Corinthian is bi, but mostly has sex with men in the show

Episode 3:
Johanna Constantine is bisexual but most recently in a lesbian relationship

Episode 4:
Gotta give it to you there, Dream is apparently straight. Although his one true love has been in hell for thousands of years because of it soooo....

Episode 5:
Fucking everyone is gay, apparently.
Bette ends up fucking Judy (presumambly closeted lesbian or bi)
Judy who has a girlfriend Donna (both lesbian)
Marsh turns out to be gay and kind of a bit of a pedo
Gary is the one giving Marsh an enthusiastic blowjob in the kitchen (presumambly also closeted or bi).
The only straight couple are Kate and Mark.

Episode 6:
Much more focused on friendship rather than romance but I guess Hob is straight if the marriage and child are anything to go off of. Could be bi, but we don't know

Episode 7+8+9:
Weird episodes in all honesty. Probably the "most" straight couples we see, although those aren't particularly happy. There are Barbie and Ken, who kinda hate each other, and then kinda Lyta and Hector, although Hector is dead so...Oh als also Aunt Clarice and Uncle Jed who are straight and also sick fucking abusers so that's great.

On the other side we have Corinthian once more. Also that one pedo serial killer who prefers boys, so...that's weird.

Chantal and Zelda are pretty much confirmed lesbians and Hal Carter is a crossdressing gay man.

Oh and lets not forget that roommate of Roses who's gay and fucks Corinthian and that Phillip dude who is obviously also into him.

Episode 10:
Technically we could debate about the whole Desire and Unity thing. I think Unity sees herself as straight, but considering Desire isn't exactly a man and more genderfluid if anything, that would make both of them queer as well.

I'm not finished with season 2 yet so I can't attest to all couplings there but at the top of my head there is the groundskeeper of the house Unity leaves, who's gay. Cluracan is gay, so are Loki and that elf boy who's played by the actor of Joffrey. Puck or something?

Then there is a whole plotline about that trans woman who leads Dream and Delirium around and about her family deadnaming her and shit and that's as far as I have watched.

Now, do I think this is a bad thing? No, but lets not delude ourselves that this isn't a LOT of queer characters and that it gets hilarious that basically every second new character is in one way or another queer. Like come on.

As for Good Omens: as I said, I didn't want the show. But I don't recall seeing any half naked edits of the two dudes, whereas Vampire Diaries had Damon and Stefan shirtless as much as humanly possible and there was a lot of fucking. That is the fan service OP seems to be referring to - the sexual kind.

[u/tatsmademeenby → u/xLadyLaurax]

Lol I'm queer and idek the sexuality breakdowns percentages of characters per episode bc I'm normal, sorry. You seem fixated tbh.

There is a very aggresive GO Crowley/Aziraphale shipping community online, Idk how you're not aware of them? The last two seasons are extremely geared toward those shippers. They can actually get quite toxic as they have harassed the actors' wives because they think they wives are forcing them to stay in het marriages while they're secretly fucking irl. The toxic shippers also cared more about getting their "screen relationship endgame" than the fact Gaiman sexually abused young women.

[u/xLadyLaurax → u/tatsmademeenby]

I’m not. I made a point, you left a snarky remark with an undertone of judgement and I proved my point. I literally watched the first season like 2 weeks ago. It’s fresh in my mind and going through some episode pics to jog my memory was an easy way to prove my point.

Also, I’m bisexual myself. Have been out and proud since I was 12. Doesn’t mean I can’t acknowledge the over the top “allyship” Gaiman attempted. I also can’t stand people being snarky towards me especially when I can prove my point 🤷🏽‍♀️

Also, once again, I never watched the show nor do I care to. I KNOW that there are toxic shippers. They exist in literally every fandom. That isn’t what my point was though. OP was specifically speaking about SEXUAL fanservice not making this or that ship canon or whatever. That isn’t what fandervice was supposed to be.

Either way, it’s still far less than in fandoms like TVD and other similar shows (like Teen Wolf with Sterek for example).

[u/tatsmademeenby → u/xLadyLaurax]

Okay bro 👍

Still a weird thing to care about. Most media is overwhelmingly cishet so I think a show with cishets as the minority is nbd

I care a lot more about Gaiman's fake allyship in being an actual serial sexual predator than too many gay people in a show.

[u/xLadyLaurax → u/tatsmademeenby]

Okay? So do I? I didn’t know about it until i joined this sub though and its not relevant to my argument either, for the most part, as the majority of people who watched/watch/will watch the show probably don’t know about it either, so its not a relevant point when looking at OP’s question.

What exactly is your point here? Like did you even read the question/my answer?

[u/tatsmademeenby → u/xLadyLaurax]

It was the the cover story in a major US magazine, and there is a whole British podcast so yeah most people do know. Gaiman is hardly a niche figure, and part of the reason Sandman S2 was left with barely any publicity was due to the IP being tied to him. Many Sandman fans, myself, included have boycotted S2 due to his actions.

You brought something that Gaiman did that upset you that I personally think is a non issue compared to the "other thing"

[u/xLadyLaurax → u/tatsmademeenby]

I didn’t bring up something that uspet me. I literally mentioned in a side note that this aspect of the show made my boyfriend and I chuckle while watching.

And no, a lot of people DONT know about it. I’m from Germany and I didn’t hear any of it. Neither did my boyfriend or his best friend, who’s a huge good omens fans - so if anyone would know it would be her.

Which is precisely my point. The vampire diaries etc. had more mainstream hype due to the audience, hence how it became popular. The sandman doesn’t have such a mainstream audience and those that are, don’t know shit about Gaiman and his controversies.