#but a reader insert in fanfic. except that’s ALL 9 CHARACTERS. and especially botw link

[un-pearable]

@iratusmus

i am both very petty and interested in sharing, ty for asking! i promise this is the most fandom wank-y i will ever be (i have SO many opinions on this now that im not actively involved after like. two years of being so. so my apologies this is a Lot)

l*nked *niverse is a zelda fancomic with the premise of all the different versions of link meeting, a concept that has both been done multiple times and is incredibly predictable given the state of. everything about entertainment rn. this is just one example that got particularly popular, bc the artist is talented as hell and the character dynamics as they introduced them are very fun! intriguing possibilities for storytelling, distinct enough characterizations that were still as accurate to each link's respective canon as it could be, etc. so it understandably has a pretty big following and a crap ton of fic, as the comic updates pretty slowly (given it is completely draw written and everything by a single artist)

so it has a very robust and active fandom! this fandom is largely centered on a single very large discord server. while a lot of this server is very positive, and a fun environment for developing head canons, entire AUs, long running stories, etc. this is also where a lot of predictable fandom problems come in:

a) in a series that has a lot of canon (the comic itself + 9 separate main characters, each with their own game or games and supporting casts) that few people actually engage with (most are relatively hard to find, most fans are younger and have only played one or two, etc), polarization over specific characters is RIFE. thus, discourse out the wazoo

b) splintering off into smaller more specialized servers to even have a chance of interacting one-on-one ended up being more and more necessary as the series blew up after it started posting on insta.

c) insulated, centralized communities encourages a lot of BNF mindset, with small groups of individuals "controlling" attitudes about characters, tropes, relationships, etc. mods understandably have a lot of control. they also set the rules for the server, and this leads to the biggest conflict, largely over shipping and "abuse of mod power"

as the server grew, people got pissed easily, and started rival servers to "solve" these issues. the main server was fucking huge, discourse was common, and niche interpersonal conflicts blew up quickly. during the middle of a decently sized hiatus, three or so big artists got pissed at the mods for some reason, and started their own

this is the server (fluctuating around 200-300 people big, compared to the main’s thousands) I ended up moderating on mainly bc I was friends with one of the lesser mods and one of the only people to actually apply, and i did so bc: only one of these original founders actually knew how to mod! one was chronically inactive, another was incredibly easily offended and extremely aggressive in most interactions. even between moderators. pretty early on they recruited some others to help, and they did 99% of moderating. the next biggest issue with this well meaning mess (most of the members had been invested with the series for longer and really wanted to see it succeed now that the main had been so overfilled) was the ruleset.

LU is a series about 9 of the same person. the creator has a staunch anti-shipping policy with her characters. this is completely understandable! most people were fine with this, and anyone who wasn't ditched for another different-links-meet au. theres like seven million now its whatever. in the case of this particular spin off server, the main issue arose with ravio and shadow link

ravio is a character in link between worlds who is explicitly link's counterpart in another dimension. not the same person, but his narrative counterpart, and plays a large role in the story as one of link's main companions for the game. so people ship them. a lot.

does ravio count as a link? is shipping him with his link (legend) count as violating her rule (given he HAS appeared in the comic, though without a redesign)? this link ALSO has a love interest in a different game, so there is an extremely popular ot3 for all three of them.

shadow link is from the four swords manga and is explicitly the evil version of that link. this link also splits into four people. its complicated. people ship shadow with the purple link (vio) bc vio goes undercover as evil for a bit to trick him.

does shadow count as a link? is it ethical to ship literal parts of the same person? (does this matter? does he show up? was the multiple parts of that link even canon in the comic at that time? no. we just love to fight and also there were more than a few homophobic people in the fandom.)

the original server had no rules about shipping beyond not between the main 9 and no explicit sexual content. this new server decided to die not only on the hill of no shipping at all but in their rules, which only got posted after they shared the link everywhere and got people to join, said polyamory was both illegal and immoral.

this is what said aggressive mod was extremely fucking vocal about. none of the lesser mods (anyone who wasn't an original founder) had agreed to this! none of the lesser mods had any control over this! they eventually repealed those rules after immense backlash. they would continue to implement random, arbitrary rules, until the lesser mods wised up and got more agency given they were basically running the entire server. the server's entire life was a cycle of the lesser mods ensuring day to day things went well, and then a founder mod picking fights, and then the lesser mods being abandoned for another month to pick up the pieces. I had to talk someone three times my age down from a permanent ban for someone sarcastically saying "yes mom" in response to a (needlessly aggressive) correction on what channel they should be in

the members themselves were extremely nice!! 99% of people involved were delightful and the filter of being a step removed from the main server meant you got fewer bots and trolls, and more and more people were genuinely invested in both canon accuracy (as much as you can get with this kind of thing) and encouraging a welcoming environment for new creators. it was a fucking nightmare to moderate. multiple times upper mods threatened to delete the server without telling anyone. multiple times they quit without notice, then reappeared to fuck stuff up behind the scenes

when all the poly and shipping stuff went down, bc the upper mods were all extremely close friends, they immediately shut down any criticism and refused to compromise. every single negative comment was treated the exact same way.

i thankfully ditched for sonic fandom right before the bomb finally went off, but the moderation team was already so much of a revolving door literally no one was surprised when it collapsed. lower mods finally stood up to the upper mods, upper mod got pissed, miscommunication on all sides, and the server was unceremoniously deleted. the people who were actually involved in the community started a new one, i started reading archie, and here i am with strong opinions and mutuals left over from a fandom who only ever shows up on my dash now in callout posts and long-suffering fandom veterans (… of the like 4 years it’s existed) exhaustedly explaining why so much of the current fanfic characterization is ridiculously flanderized.

anyway. this is very long winded and whiny. it’s a fine fandom. it thinks it’s much bigger than it is. it rehashes the same discourse every few weeks and desperately needs to chill. half the cast is routinely demonized in a roulette wheel of nonsense discourse. it’s also where i first started getting involved in internet fandom and doing art. i still love and respect tons of my old friends from it but jesus was it an Environment.

i treat all my interests like the repressed middle schooler i was - desperately hiding them and cringing whenever someone even insinuates they know i enjoy it while shamefully consuming content about it constantly in private - for about a month before i make a sharp 180 and become The most obnoxious about the subject and tell every single person in my life about it incessantly. this cycle repeats every single time