#Why I prefer Aarmau

[inuyashaloverforever]

Aphmau’s MCD and Mystreet Minecraft Stories- My thoughts and feelings on it

Not many people know I’ve liked Aphmau’s content for a few years or so because I don’t honestly talk about it all the much. Minecraft Diaries was a really good fantasy roleplay and I did enjoy it but I won’t go fully into details on who I think should have ended up with Aphmau or why wasn’t Garmau given more time before Aarmau ended up being canon because at the end of the day, it’s how the author wanted the story to end.

I watched Mystreet series (It’s what I ended up calling the Minecraft series she did as the Modern AU with Phoenix Drop High to When Angels Fall/Her Wish). I will be completely honest that I had already liked Aarmau due to MCD but I liked the fact that it was given more time based off the series. While I do understand that the age gap between Aaron and Aphmau is pretty big (mostly 4 to 5 years which is actually quite common for relationships when it comes to high school). I don’t understand how there are fans who prefer garmau and hate aarmau when the age gap is actually quite the same for larmau and garmau as it is aarmau. Garroth was childhood friends with Aphmau when they were little and Aaron was Aphmau’s online childhood friend since middle school. Garmau and Larmau had a big rivalry between two best friends over a girl(who was a freshmen and who had a crush on them both because they were cute).

They both betrayed each other’s trust and then blamed Aphmau on it while Aaron was there for her and trying to get her to trust them again. If Jason (Voice Actor of Aaron) was really against Larmau, Garmau and Einmau, he would have found better ways to stop it but this was his wife’s writing and he helped because just like MCD, Mystreet was a personifiction of their own love life. 

In all honesty, people can like the ships they like and I won’t judge them for it. I will judge people who dislike Aarmau because age gap but they are fine with garmau and larmau when its another age gap. 

[aphverse-confessions]

I’ll say this and keep it quick. I don’t think Aarmau should have been canon. I personally just don’t think the dynamic between them was represented how they wanted it to.

Ignoring the obvious negative parts of the relationships, they’re whole dynamic, from my person understanding, was the whole, He’s hurt, She helps.

Which in itself would have been fine, but I never truely figured out why they liked eachother. Now I’m not going to say that I prefer other ships, because I’m trying to explain my reasoning without saying another ship is better. And all ships in the series, in my opinion, lack that value of why they like eachother.

They have moments and everything, but a lot of it to me felt out of the blue, especially when Aphmau seems to have crushes on Garroth &/or Laurence.

But anyways, I just feel since ships are a major part of the series, we should have had more build up between the characters rather than the “will they won’t they” aspect.

.

[madcatlad]

I just came to a angst realization....

(Thank you to @shirazens for allowing me to use their comment)

I literally just came to this conclusion in a comment threat under my "Aaron Needs Friends" post with @shirazens .

In summary Aarmau comes off as unnatural

I think the main issue is how rushed and force the relationship was in the series, and the fact that it change key elements in the story to make a place for itself.

The Aarmau agenda also had to down other characters to build itself up, which sucks. A lot of character assassination stem from Aarmau. Including the way Aphmau interacts with her support. But I'd like to focus on how unnatural (and frankly problematic) this relationship comes across if you actually pay attention to how they interact with eachother.

And their relationship is certainly off.

@shirazens

THIS is why I've always disliked his character, he felt so disconnected.

also he continues to constantly mourn his past wife WHILE getting closer to aphmau which feels like to me he was just using her if that makes sense?

Their relationahip has always come across as strange.

In my former post I address a portion of this problem with Aaron not having any relationships outside of Aphmau. It is odd.

Aaron- despite being so closed off and mysterious and (quite rude in some instances), CONTINUED to follow her group around for months...but NEVER take an interest in ANYONE??? Except Aph. That is mad weird. If you like her so much to risk your life for her consistently why avoid her Support System so adamantly???

It makes the relationship seem very strange. Almost like Aaron is isolating Aphmau from her friends when building their relationship. They only really talked about his trauma or her stress-

Aaron and Aphmau are TRAUMA BONDING...

It hit me like a train! It isn't romance, it isn't a love story. It is codependency!

Aph ONLY goes to Aaron when she is stressed about her responsibilities. "Because he understands". And in turn Aaron's only personality trait is trauma- and he only really opens up to (or talks at all) to Aphmau. Think about it, this man is FOLLOWING her- for seemingly NO REASON by time the Post-Irene-Dimension arc roles around! "Having nothing" isn't really a logical reason anymore. He had NO motive to be present. He's made no connections, no character growth, no earthly ties, so WHY are you following the 🎆"magical friendship woman"🎆 if you don't want to make friends???

And I think this is great writing potential. This makes sense for the storyline in season two, as Aph was extremely overwhelmed, and the steaks had just risen from village quarrels to Armageddon. And I definitely can see where @shirazens was going with the how Aaron saw Aphmau, as a stand in or familiarity to his wife, or that he was using Aphmau to get a semblance of his late wife, Lily.

Personally I'm not amongst the re-write clan of aph-fans, (I prefer to progess with the shit show we were given). But this is a juicy narrative to explore for both, especially if you don't want to throw out Aarmau all together.

If you want to get angsty, you could argue that Aaron being so distant to Aph's support group was to isolate her from them. Again, this fits, and I am well aware Jesson did not intend this BUT Aphmau DID become a lot more distant to her companions for Aaron's sake. She became dismissive of their concerns, argued with their suspicions, and lowkey berated them because "she trusted him" and expected everyone to follow suit (fr a lot of them were so real for that, homie was acting up- ahem- Laurence- ahem- Katelyn). She put Aaron on a pedestal out of nowhere, and vouched for him undeservingly. You could argue that this was a result of isolating her, you could argue that this was just Aph blindness to Aaron's faults.

And this also really REALLY fits well with the Irene VS Shad motif and how that entire mess went down between them. I can totally see those two being codepent with one another as well with their similar struggles and pain. I can see them relying on one another too heavily. I can see that leading to suck strong feelings of betrayal. Especially if Shad was as isolated as Aaron. In fact I'd say Irene and Shad damn near prove this idea.

Fun right?

[mybrainsrottingwithmcd]

hi!! so i’m. really really new to the aphmau fandom, aka i was super into it when i was like 8 and now my autistic ass got back into and actually joined in fandom stuff

i don’t. entirely understand how to guide through the aphmau fandom on tumblr. and i have a few questions- if you wouldn’t find can you answer them for me since you seem to be super into this!

what is an MCD rewrite and where do i find them- i assumed it’s people rewriting minecraft diaries but what sparked this and why?

what’s with the hate for aaron and aarmau- i don’t. fully understand it

how did garroth/lawrence happen (i love the idea)

is there like. a masterlist of aphmau lore somewhere so i can make sure i didn’t miss anything in my rewatch (i definitely missed stuff in my rewatch)

Hello hello!! Welcome to the fandom (we’re so sorry ur here its a mess)

I’d be happy to answer ur questions :D

“what is an MCD rewrite and where do i find them- i assumed it's people rewriting minecraft diaries but what sparked this and why?”

Yeah you’re right a MCD rewrite is people rewriting MCD and adding their own ships or improvements or different plot points. It started because the original MCD is kinda written poorly. Some plot points go nowhere, some parts are problematic, some parts drag on, characters appear and disappear, characters stopped developing and most importantly MCD has no ending and was abruptly discontinued by Jess so she could focus on Mystreet and other projects. People just wanna improve and finish the thing that means so mich to them basically. You can find them on AO3 and a few on Wattpad (I recommend AO3 tho its easier to find rewrites ur interested in cuz the tag system)

“what's with the hate for aaron and aarmau- i don't. fully understand it”

(There arent enough words in this world to explain my hatred for aarmau and aaron BUT)

Many reasons heres the main few: when Aaron was introduced he was supposed to be a side character but then he became a love interest kinda outta nowhere (my theory as to why is because Jess’s husband Jason voices him) and when he did become a love interest other characters like Laurence and Garroth kinda stopped developing and became worse to justify why Aaron was a good choice for Aphmau. For me they never had any chemistry in MCD, when its revealed Aphmau is pregnant with Aaron’s kid my brain logged out because wtffff how did they find the time and also why Aaron ://. He wasn’t kinda boring, his angsty past could’ve been used more but wasn’t he was just a brooding masked figure who followed Aphmau around. Then Pheonix Drop High happened and made things really weird. So when Aaron was 18 going on 19 he started dating Aphmau who was 14. Very creepy much yuck, they didn’t communicate well and then his whole character became that he’s in love with Aphmau but “he’s just not good enough for her :((“ and “i shouldn’t be with her shes perfect” and personally i find romance dramas infuriating, especially that kind of drama. AND YES AS A 18YR OLD U SHOULDNT BE DATING A 14YR OLD WELL DONE AARON. Mystreet they were the annoying lovey dovey couple with relationship drama they just rubbed me the wrong way in that series, I stopped watching after Emerald Secret and only recently forced myself to finish Mystreet and yeah no idc about them or their relationship. In MCD season 3 when Shad was introduced as a full character his whole thing is he’s Aaron again but evil and Aphmau’s sad about it and uuuuugg i dont caaareee. And I personally thought Aphmau wasn’t gunna end with anyone in MCD because she went on multiple rants about how that isn’t what she’s looking for and she has to think about her people first and she prefers her own company and then BOOM gets pregnant of masky mcsad face. Ugh. Basically Aaron ruined everything.

(Aroacemau truther 4 life aarmau hater 4 life)

“how did garroth/lawrence happen (i love the idea)”

Garrence has been a ship since the characters were introduced and quite simply its because they have more chemistry together than with Aphmau. I’ve always been a lil uncomfortable with how Jess wrote Laurence and Aphmau’s interactions and Garroth and Aphmau’s interactions but Garroth and Laurence interactions were just more natural they had more banter they were sweet together. Then Jess did a bunch of queerbaiting with it and the ship got bigger, so many fanarts so many fanfics. Then it just never happened because Jess is a coward. Like it would’ve been so nice to see the hints and chemistry go somewhere but it didn’t. Everyone still holds hope tho. With rewrites Garrence is Canon :))

“is there like. a masterlist of aphmau lore somewhere so i can make sure i didn't miss anything in my rewatch (i definitely missed stuff in my rewatch)”

i have no idea on that one, i’ve rewatched MCD every other week for the past 8 years (autism go brrrrr) i’ve never had to look for a masterlist of lore BUT I’m sure someone has to have compiled one somewhere either on the fandom wiki or on Tumblr somewhere. :))

ANYWAYS YEAH WELCOME TO HELL HAVE FUN HERE

[thelostscholarofmcd]

What type of MCD Aaron fan are you? An Aarmau Aaron fan or a He Had Great Potential Until Aarmau?

oooooooo lordy is my answer complicated to that one

in short: he had great potential until aarmau

buckle up cause here comes the long version

from a story telling point, aaron had certain characterisation that was cringe at best and unbearable at worst (mainly referring to the "broken human" thing here) but what I always liked was how he formed connections with others and how at his core he had a "protect those deserving of protection, show kindness to everyone" mentality

he didnt speak or even make an effort, simply decided that those people were better to be with than to live the rest of his life alone - this is the character i loved most

from a storytelling point i can understand why aarmau quote on quote worked in canon, though i never fully agreed with it because it not only ruined aarons haracter but also took away from aphmaus

to me aarmau never really had any romantic underlining and instead resembled a mentor-mentee connection, and thats why it surprised and disappointed me when they decided to take it down the path of romance

now after aarons death in season 2 we dont find out anything more about him (other than the letter which is uhm... w e l l . . . there really is not a nice way to phrase it; was the shows attempt at salvaging/making aarmau plausible) and even after in season 3 he barely has any appearances, and the rare appearances he is given just further deteorite his character and centralise his love for aphmau as a core motive

So in conclusion; i understand why aarmau is canon and can sympathise with it to a certain degree, but i would prefer if it didnt turn romantic and instead allowed the characters to help grow and learn from one another

[mcd-ms-rants]

the s1 post as promised :)

here u go

STUFF I DIDNT LIKE IN MYSTREET S1:

• This is probably the only season where Aphmau does not act like a literal child so props for that

• Also I liked the ‘Don’t tell mom!’ episode cuz Ro’meave supremacy

• k I’m gonna stop telling the boring stuff here’s the actual start

• Ok so at this point mystreet was basically a sandbox roleplay of mcd characters in a modern day setting which is NOT A BAD THING but it did lead to a lot of mcd references, whether it was Garroth and Laurance changing into their mcd forms or Zane somehow brandishing his sword from thin air. Again, NOT A BAD THING but it did make it a bit weird especially after the whole ‘mcd and mys are related‘ plotline s4 onwards

• Dante should not have had a crush on Aphmau like no hate if you ship it but the way canon dealt with it he never stood a chance. once again no hate :)

• Aarmau was a bit rushed in my opinion, tho it isn’t so evident. but the fact that Aph just unquestioningly gets closer to Aaron doesn’t sit right with me. just like mcd s1 it feels like she’s just going off a script, which she technically is but it isn’t supposed to be that evident. I would’ve liked Aphmau to question her relationship, tell aaron that she needed time or to take it slowly. They couldve still gotten together at the end of the season with a much better narrative. I dont exactly focus on ships involving aphmau that much but even I can appreciate some well written slowburn. which this was not. let’s not get into the age gap in pdh THAT WAS NOT OK but I’ll elaborate on it in a separate post otherwise I’ll just keep ranting about it here

• Garrance literally kiss on screen and nothing happens?? I don’t exactly remember what happened after it cuz I haven’t rewatched in a while but I’m pretty sure that they just went back to normal :/ (correct me if I’m wrong tho!!) is this queerbait? can I call this queerbait?? can we not have queerbait please?

• IM SORRY WHAT WAS KC’S CHARACTER. She was so nice in mcd. she worked well as a side character and her writing was done well in my opinion. WHAT HAPPENED HERE. This girl is literally a walking aarmau advertisement. I get it you wanted to promote the main ship but at least don’t ruin her character for it. I don’t really like her mys version for this reason and I prefer to use my hc version (tho this goes for all characters) Please give this girl some actual character development. by the end of this season all we know about her is that her name is kawaii~chan, she likes pink, she loves ships, yay aarmau is sailing, don’t get in the way of kawaii~chan’s ship!! Name ANYTHING ELSE THAT WE KNOW ABOUT HER LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE

• I really don’t like how some potentially triggering and more serious themes were joked about here. You can make it a comedy show without making serious topics funny. Travis makes perverted comments that I feel really border on sexual harassment at times, Katelyn keeps punching Travis every time he speaks and if that isn’t anger issues idk what is, Garroth and Laurance literally stalk Aphmau multiple times when she’s out with Aaron and KC has a goddamn aarmau shrine in her basement. The first time I watched it, it slipped past me but the second time I really looked at it and said why do we need THIS to make a show funny. • The story of Zane becoming Aphmau‘s friend was literally him taking a cat version of her home on Christmas and tearing up when she (somehow??) gave him her sweater. what was he even going to do with a cat-sized sweater?? How was THAT the good deed that turned her back into a human?? How was it going to help him?? I get that magic exists in this world and this incident can definitely be a part of their friendship story...but don’t make it the ONLY part of their story. youre telling me that THIS is the reason he’s willing to turn himself into a relic in s6 amidst all the blood and death and chaos??

• STOP BABYING ZANE HE‘S A GROWN MAN. I HATE it when Aph keeps cooing at him in a baby voice, especially since I hc him as autistic. the way he’s written really makes me feel that he is autistic and this ruins it

• once it’s revealed that Zane likes mlh, most of his screen time is just focused on that. He has other aspects of his character too which are never really shown and this makes him so one-dimensional which is ironically the same problem his MCD counterpart had. GIVE HIM DEVELOPMENT PLS

• Lucinda is like the ONLY character who has their shit together. good for you girl <3

• WHERE DID JEFFORY GO?? I really liked his character and we never see him after s1...in fact we barely see him IN s1. he keeps zooming in and out and then he just...stays out forever. for the record, WHERE DID BRENDAN GO?? He was like in three episodes and then he just dipped MORE MINOR CHARACTER REPRESENTATION PLS

• MORE VYLAD PLS. I get it he’s traveling the world but Aphmau is literally god so don’t say that it’s not doable

• Showing Katelyn actually recognizing her anger issues would’ve been great, and maybe joining therapy or taking a group lesson or even doing meditation would’ve been such a great development to her character and would’ve paved the way for much healthier interactions in s2. she would not have been able to fix them completely since these things don’t just go away in one day, so the s2 talk between her and Travis would still happen but it would better in my opinion (and I’ll elaborate more on this when I do a rant for s2)

• Can we have more nb and lgbtq+ representation in general?? this point is gonna be in every rant I make istg it needs to be said.

ya umm this is all that I can think of rn

thanks to everyone who follows me and even those who liked and reblogged my posts!! Your support means the world to me <3 <3 <3

[mml-nerdo]

1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 10, 15, 19, and 20

1.What OTPs in your fandom do you just not get?

Aphmau Fandom: Einmau. I-I just- f- why? Also Zane-Chan.

GOT Fandom: Obviously Jaime/Cersei. For quite obvious reasons.

Marvel (Avengers): fuuck I don’t know. Maybe Clint/Natasha because Clint’s married but I did ship it before knowing that.. so I don’t know. Ohhh I got it, Vision/Wanda. I don’t get it.

Marvel (Guardians): Drax/Peter. I’m not sure if this is common, but yeah, I just don’t get it.

Marvel (XMen): Mystique/Erik. 

TWD: I shit you not I’ve seen something Tara/Aaron. I got so confused, because they’re both gay.

2. Are there only popular fandom OTPs you only BroTP?

Aphmau: Dante/Travis.

GOT: Brienne/Jaime

Avengers: Stucky. Sorry, I’m a sucker for Stony, Civil War made me cry like a baby.

Guardians: Gamora/Peter. Like- I’m okay with it being canon because I know unless one of them dies in infinity war it’ll be canon. I’d just rather have them find someone else.

XMen: Erik/Charles. Like, I’ve already joked about romanticizing it, but in reality eh. I’d be okay with it, but they’re the ultimate- though problematic- bromance.

TWD: Daryl/Rick. Sorry.

5. Has fandom ever ruined a pairing for you?

Aphmau: Not yet surprisingly. 

GOT: Nope, I don’t expect the fandom to, I expect the show to though. There is so much death in that show and I can’t explain it to normal people.

Avengers: Steve/Natasha. Idk, they just overused it for a bit. At least in my experience.

Guardians: Nope, I don’t really know what they could do- I don’t really have a ship in guardians.

XMen: I don’t think so. I don’t recall them ruining a ship.

TWD: Nah.

Wow, it’s kinda sad the only one that was ruined was from Avengers. It’s surprising it wasn’t form Aphmau.

6. Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Aphmau: Aarmau. Now, without context this would be very confusing. I didn’t like Aarmau, but I didn’t hate on Jess for it... I just complained to my friends sometimes. And then the fandom just had a huge backlash on Jess and I defended her all the way through it. I didn’t necessarily defend the ship, I defended her. And then I kind of just opened my eyes and ears to find what Jess was trying to tell us through the relationship and I just found it more enjoyable, because the relationship between them is based on her and her husband, especially in mystreet. I just came to enjoy it more.

GOT: Daenerys/Jorah. I didn’t hate it, I just disliked it. And the fandom plus the show’s turn of events made me enjoy it more and cry for how hard Jorah tried to please Dany and I- was just a fucking wreck for a lot of the recent Jorah/Dany scenes.

Avengers: Nope

Guardians: I don’t have ships here. Only the Milano.

XMen: Jean/Scott. Idk it just did, I don’t have an explanation.

TWD: Nah

8. Have you received anon hate? What about?

Nope. Thankfully.

10. Most disliked arc? Why?

Aphmau: I have very strong feelings about the arc where Jeffory died. I still need more explained. And probably most of LLP and part of LL.

GOT: The Joffrey and Sansa betrothal arc. God I wanted to kill him.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron. It was just kinda eh. The only purpose it served was humor and new characters.

Guardians: I thoroughly enjoyed both movies. I don’t have a disliked arc.

XMen: XMen: The Last Stand. The movie that made them decide to reset the entire timeline in Days Of Future Past. I’m glad they did that because The Last Stand was painful to watch in more ways than one.

TWD: That arc where (spoiler alerttt for like fuck idk Season 5?? 4?? Somewhere around there)

Tyreese died. Yeah that. Pre-Alexandria.

15.Unpopular opinion about the manga/show?

Aphmau: I like Aarmau.

There you go.

GOT: I love saying “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Idk if that’s unpopular but it seems like it.

Avengers: I prefer Iron Man over Captain America, but I ship them.

Explain that one to me please, I don’t even get it myself.

Guardians: The Gamora/Peter thing. Ya know, “The Unspoken Thing™”

XMen: Not really liking Scott that much sorry.

TWD: I don’t really like Carol. I mean she has bad ass moments but that’s all.

19.What is the one thing you hate most about your fandom?

Aphmau: The toxic hate. And the youtube comments, oh dear lord hide the children.

GOT: The incest part.

Avengers: I don’t know.

Guardians: *shrugs* 

XMen: Idk man, I haven’t seen the worst of the marvel fandoms yet.

TWD: the romanticizing of Negan. I just- no. I can’t do it.

20.What is the purest ship in the fandom?

Aphmau: Garroth/Kim. You can’t convince me differently.

GOT: There is no such thing as pure here, where have you been? But if I had to choose probably Tyrion/Sansa.

Avengers: Wanda/Anyone. Wanda is the purest fucking character, I will fight anyone who disagrees (I’m kidding, I don’t fight much.) She has enough purity for two people. 

It would still be pure if it was Wanda/Tony.

She would purify Tony, and that would be terrifying. And Cute. But Weird. But still adorable.

Guardians: Baby Groot and another Baby Groot. 

XMen: Keith/Anyone. Same thing as with Wanda.

TWD: Carol/Ezekiel. Idk. It just feels pure. Ezekiel is Pure.

[mouchiiarts]

Anon you're right on the money about why a lot of people don't like ZaneChan/Zana. I myself LOVE this ship but even I agree that ZaneChan/Zana was hella rushed. They only have maybe 3 of 4 significant scenes together before their kiss which definitely didn't lend to this impression. Which is such a shame!! They have such a fascinating dynamic which could've been explored!! Zane and Nana are shockingly similar to one another and deal with deep-seated feelings of inadequacy but have polar opposite coping mechanisms. This interesting and really rich dynamic, which anon explained perfectly, was just,, not used at all. It was cut short by ill-timed comedy or other characters or the plot or Aarmau TM or what have you. Honestly that's probably one of my biggest gripes with Mystreet is the constant need to shove Aarmau down everyone's throats. I'm mostly indifferent to Aarmau as a ship. Not my thing, I prefer them as friends, but I'm not against them being together (so long as we're ignoring all of PDH and FCU 😬). But as soon as it was obvious that other - honestly more interesting - ships were being pushed aside in favor of Aarmau, it started to get grating very quickly. I can easily name multiple Aarmau moments from S5 pre-ZaneChan/Zana kiss but Zane and Nana only have 3 or 4????? 2 + 2 ≠ 5 the math is not mathing bro 😮‍💨

I think a lot of reasons why people hate Zana/zane chan is bc Jesson CAN NOT stop pushing there “AARMAU IS THE ULTIMATE SHIP PROPAGANDA”

Hear me out. Now I know a lot people don’t like the ship bc it kinda came out of nowhere and was v rushed which was true. But Also Nana herself having to be this “yes-man” to the relationship really makes her a flat character. Especially bc the only reason she was on Starlight was bc she blackmailed Zane. Now the making of Zana is really interesting bc we show a dynamic of two similar but different people.

Zane is the shadow of his brother and in turn decides to turn his back on the world. While Nana is the shadow of her silbings and decides to change herself to make the world notice her. This is a very interesting dynamic one I wish we didn’t have to rush bc Jess wanted to get back to the plot.

Also I think it’s Nana’s lack of character depth that makes her seem terrible. With Zane his dickness is well developed with his backstory and his nice moments of development are nice. We never get this from Nana, we also never get her backstory or even meet one of her ELEVEN siblings. So everything dickish that Nana does is just dickish bc we really don’t have a basis of why she does these things.

Zana could have worked as a ship if we established Nana’s backstory early on and gave them actual problems to work out instead of doing somethign stupid like Nana kissing garroth not realizing. Bc the funny thing is THEY BOTH HAVE ISSUES THEY COULD WORK THROUGH.

Like how Nana does rush into all of her relationships and how Zane runs to Aphmau’s side everytime she has a minor problem. They could work through these problems and maybe even have arguments and I would have enjoyed

~~