#& that all the men the reddit freaks & shippers go hard for are the only characters that actually matter

[nicorobinphd]

okay folks, tumblr has let me out of the cage!!! you know what that means!!!

[picks up bat] [gears up] [glares at hornet’s nest] [SWING]

Nico Olvia would be just as popular as Rosinante if people cared about women more. The reason that I compare them is because they’re both characters granted a relatively similar amount of depth + core influence on a major character*, and it’s done over a relatively equally short amount of time. Yet the length the male character goes for his values & his younger mentee/ward is valued above that of the female character’s for [checks smudged note on hand] “it’s more meaningful inherently somehow.”

You could make similar claims about Yasopp as it pertains to fandom antiblackness, in particular as it relates to the assumption (though it is treated as fact) that he left Usopp & Bacchina out of a lack of care rather than due the weight of his dreams, in spite of canon expressly contradicting this. Like.. you’re so right fandom! that fits no stereotypes about Black men & fatherhood at all! Non-black fans inserting parental resentment into Usopp’s* storyline where there isn’t any because it’s fun to be mad at Yasopp totally doesn’t seem targeted or weird at all!

Elaborations beneath the cut.

*also relevant in this context is the foil work oda does with robin in law throughout dressrosa** & wano. yasopp is mentioned more to comment on the way the op fandom’s treatment of mentor/parent characters is impacted by social bias, but canon has genuine basis for law & robin (&, thus, rosi & olvia) comparative analysis.

**it should be additionally noted that robin’s relationship to the idea of family & familial relationships is heavily present within the subtext of her arc during dressrosa through both her ties to sabo & luffy, as well as through her commitment to helping kyros & rebecca. again, the olvia comparison has some subtextual basis.

*When you look at Usopp’s view of his father in-text, he is not shown or implied to view his father as anything other than admirable- something that is central to his early conflict with Kuro in Syrup Village. Even when we flashback to Bacchina’s death, Usopp does not seem to resent his father’s absence (for all he would clearly find it comforting), nor does Bacchina. In fact, Bacchina actively praises her husband for being the type of man to value his dreams in her final moments. Moreover, the idea that Usopp never knew his father at all is another fandom misconception- or, at very least, a fandom assumption, & flashbacks to Yasopp’s recruitment indicate that not only was he still in the EB when he joined the red hairs, but that he was reluctant to join for quite a while. I’ve also heard japanese fans state that the original text seems to imply that it was Bacchina herself who finally convinced Yasopp to set sail, though personally i’ve not seen it evidenced so take that with a grain of salt (though if anybody seeing this can speak to this, please do!) So far as how this relates to whether Usopp would have met his father, this makes it seem that Yasopp & Bacchina were already established domestically, & that if Usopp had not been born yet, the fact that he was going to be born was something Yasopp saw as a reason to stay, and a reason he had to be convinced to change his view of. It is equally possible that he was being convinced to set sail without his young son as he was his unborn boy. Moreover, Yasopp setting sail is never once framed as a lack of care, & he actively laments to young Luffy about how much he misses his son. If I remember correctly, Luffy was also partially able to recognize Usopp just based on these stories- something that both points in favour of them having met before, & in favour of the fact that people are projecting shittiness onto Yasopp where canon hasn’t placed it. I don’t pretend to be in a position to police how Black fans approach this dynamic, but to my fellow non-black fans- could you all maybe like??? please pause for a moment when you’re forming an opinion on Black & Black-coded characters to see if any biases are impacting said developing opinion??? ‘cause it happens more than you think, & in ways that seem innocuous at first (ie. “my son vs the sea” jokes seem relatively harmless, yes… but do you think this opinion- which again, contradicts the source material- would be anywhere near as commonplace? no? oh wonder why.)