#I always found funny how people hated ZaDr but shipped Dib and Tak when they didn’t even talk before she revealed she was irken

[minu-moni]

When I entered into the Invader Zim fandom in 2015, I remember being absolutely cringe and annoying to ship ZaDr. People would complain when others would call out the romantic tension between the two and use the creator as some sort of weapon to defend their opinion. “Jhonen would be embarrassed by this” and “Good thing the creator isn’t seeing this” were things often said to discourage people from enjoying the ship, as if it was a crime to like a fictional pairing for a show that was already over. What would also happen is people would use the “they hate each other” card to try to force other people to stop enjoying their parings. That was one I had to see a lot.

At the same time, we had other shows and series with rivals who were canonically paired together romantically (Danny Phantom, Gravity Falls, Ben 10, Teen Titans, iCarly) not to mention all the movies that came out years before any of this shows who showed the same dynamic, essentially being: enemies to lovers.

So, what was it about these shows that made their pairings acceptable while ZaDr shippers were shamed for liking it? Everyone knows the answer by now. All the other pairings were straight pairings.

It was okay for you to ship enemies to lovers, as long as it was a female/male relationship. The second you make it a gay or lesbian relationship, “but they hate each other”, “the creator would be disgusted by this”, “people always make everything about ships” and so on and so forth.

This was something that plagued me and followed me for years, even after I left the Invader Zim fandom, and it annoys me to this day that there are people who feel like I should be ashamed for liking a pairing just because they’re a gay couple (not that they’ll ever say that’s the reason they’re shaming you). I remember being paranoid every time I opened a ZaDr fanfic on wattpad out of curiosity, and even backing up those hurtful comments in fear of being discovered and isolated for liking a fictional pairing.

I recently fell back into the iz fandom and, oh boy, am I glad to be able to enjoy my shit without dealing with those stupid comments. Although they’re still around, it’s nice to be able to write and read about ZaDr without seeing those same complaints every single time. Things changed a lot in recent years and I’m glad we don’t get those hateful comments as frequently anymore. It was really upsetting getting bashed for liking a pairing that had the same dynamic as thousands of other pairings like it was my fault for receiving hateful comments in the first place.

There’s still a voice in my mind that nags me sometimes, specially when I look at old iz content and make the mistake of reading the comments, but I’m glad to say it’s much better now. I finally feel like I can enjoy the ships I like without needing to be afraid of backlash.