#but the majority of it is just ship wars and character hate and it's just

[undreaming-fanfiction]

I'll merge my two major ships here. Eddie and Steve as musical actors and dancers who slowly fall for each other during their tour of the Cats musical.

Steve plays Rum Tum Tugger, the Curious Cat. His hair is simply majestic. He has a presence that has all the ladies swooning. He's a bit of a bitch, but people love him for it. He is used to being admired and adored.

Eddie plays Magical Mr. Mistoffelees, or Quaxo in his normal persona. He's quiet as Quaxo and is one of the very few cats who is unimpressed by Tugger/Steve. He calls him a bore and generally dislikes how loud and obnoxious he is. But as Magical Mr. Mistoffelees, he is skilled, confident, and incredibly magnetic.

Steve and Eddie's production of Cats leans into the mutual admiration/attraction angle of these two characters. Steve gets told the basics of his character first.

For their first meeting, Steve marches to Eddie, in all his attractiveness, fluffy hair, adorable moles and bitchy smirk. He shakes Eddie's hand with a strong grip, and announces: "Hi, I'm playing Tugger, and I was told I'm basically head over heels for you. So prepare to be loved!"

Eddie, who has just gotten off the plane from London, hasn't slept in about two days, and is at the point of exhaustion where he's slowly starting to hear and see ghosts, just blinks at him. To his tired brain, Steve looks like a shiny god, too beautiful to be real, but Eddie didn't get this far by being shy. He activates the bullshit confidence mode.

He shakes Steve's hand, winks at him and pretends to swoon a bit. "Oooh, I'll be looking forward to that! I'm not sure if I can love you back based on the script yet, but in person? I'd be flattered."

Then he spills his coffee over himself, because he's still Eddie, and he's massively sleep-deprived. And this beautiful man, bless his heart, helps him dry his t-shirt, checks him for burns, and even offers him a replacement T-shirt because Eddie's suitcase got lost somewhere on the way.

When Eddie thanks him and apologizes, Steve winks at him again. "Don't worry. I'll still love you, even when you smell like Starbucks."

Eddie really hopes the script says Mistoffelees loves Tugger back, because if not, he's going to have a horrible time acting like he doesn't.

They practice a lot, often separately. As Quaxo, Eddie just has to announce that Tugger is a terrible bore, and the hurt side eye that Steve gave him tugged at his heartstrings. He finds it hilarious how all the queens just dance around Steve/Tugger, trying to get his attention, and he's enjoying it a lot, but then there's always a small glance towards Quaxo. Just to make sure he's watching.

And then they get to the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees song, and Steve ramps it up even more. Eddie hates the wife guy trope, but damn, they should all be learning from Steve, because Steve's Tugger is Mistoffelees's announcer, agent, ad company and biggest cheerleader all in one. Eddie can focus on all those jumps and turns, while Steve cheers and points at him and well, loves him, just as promised.

They spend a lot of time together between the shows and become good friends. They help each other with stretching, Steve keeps bringing Eddie water to keep him hydrated, and they learn a lot about each other. Eddie tells Steve about his uncle, waiting for him in Manchester, about his asshole of a dad. Steve joins in about being nearly disowned for choosing musical theatre instead of finance, and now that he's successful, he's being paraded by his father like a circus act.

They both love Star Wars. They bond over that.

When the tour is over and Eddie already has a ticket back to London, he can't help but feel crushed. After their last performance, when they wash off the makeup and Eddie is nursing his cup of tea, he manages to smile at Steve. He's still picking out the long wig hairs from his own.

"That was something," Eddie says, and he manages to keep his tone light. "Gotta say, I'm going to miss all that adoration and love, Steve."

Steve is still frowning, dropping the remaining yellow hairs on a napkin, but this catches his attention. One of the hairs is stuck in his eyebrows, but Eddie doesn't have the heart to tell him. "What do you mean, you're going to miss it?" he asks. "You have my number. I'm stalking you on Instagram already. It's not stopping or anything."

Eddie squeezes his cup even tighter. "Um. So...that wasn't a Tugger thing?"

"At first." Steve shrugs and sneezes when another yellow hair tickles his nose. "But I liked you from the start. After those months with you on the road? I didn't even need to act. Even if you're cast to play the tiniest mouse in a school rendition of Cinderella, I'm going to cheer for you, Eddie."

And Eddie's dumb heart gives that treacherous squeeze. He drops his cup and moves to hold his hands - he didn't say it was love!, his brain shouts, but he's too emotional to stop himself. "I wish I could just pack you into my suitcase and take you with me to London," he whispers, finally getting that hair out of Steve's eyebrow. He wants to touch him so much.

Steve squeezes his hands, and oh, his smile. Eddie shouldn't have doubted it was love. Because there's no mistaking that. "Actually, it's just going to be two weeks," he says sheepishly. "I...um. I asked to be transferred to another company. In the UK. I've been looking for a good fit, somewhere to go to put some more distance between me and my parents. See the world. And England sounds cool, I mean, I can speak the language, right? And your uncle also sounds cool, if you ever want us two to meet. Uh."

Eddie just stares at him. He will kiss him in less than a minute, but before that, he needs to remember all of it, Steve's barely visible blush, the fear in his eyes, but also hope. "Steven Harrington," he says slowly. "Are you saying-"

"It's too much, isn't it?" Steve interrupts him. "I knew for weeks, but it wasn't confirmed or anything, and then I didn't want to impose and I get it, it's kinda crazy, but I thought - maybe I can be selfish for once. Do something crazy because it feels right. And I know I'm rushing things and I'm too much, and this maybe feels a bit stalker-y, which I only realize now, but-"

Eddie kisses him then, silences those thoughts. When they part, he strokes Steve's cheek and tells him, "not too much, nope. Never enough."

"Wrong musical," says Steve, but he looks really kissable, so Eddie does that again.

(also when Steve meets Wayne for the first time, he's worried, but Wayne just pulls him into a hug and grumbles "Finally! Eddie wouldn't shut up about you for MONTHS.")

[thefake-red]

I think I've sorta figured out why it bothers me so much when people simplify Harlan Ellison to just being a very hateful man or say that he's "rolling in his grave" about every dumb fandom behaviour (he would not care about you shipping the characters, be serious) or compare him to AM/say he's his self-insert.

lt's bcs this language does not allow him to be viewed as the complex person that he, and every person to exist, is.

I think it's good to criticise creators and Ellison was VERY worthy of criticism, but he's not some being running on hatred and hatred alone as so many "fans", primarily the ones who discovered he existed less than a year ago on tik tok, seem to describe him. Criticise him on his stubbornness to accept his wrongdoings, his underlying misogyny and racism in his writing, his defence of Ed Kramer, etc.

In the same breath, I'd also like to say I think, when it comes to someone as complicated as Ellison, it's also worth noting the good deeds he did alongside his wrongful behaviour.

Ellison, as he would frequently mention, was outspoken about his political beliefs and was a part of many movements. He protested the Vietnam War, he was a part of the civil rights movement, he joined the writers strike, and was passionate about the rights of creators.

He was also a major hypocrite and always believed he was right, and no one was worth listening to even if they had more experience than him in that topic. He was especially reluctant of listening to people's criticisms of his work and it's depiction of minorities.

He was complicated. He was not an especially just or kind person, but he was passionate and outspoken and more than just an angry little man.

[eurydicees]

re what they are saying about fiyero on twitter - gosh there is too much stuff. they talk about how uninteresting he is, how his presence has no effect on the leads, how he shouldn’t be elphaba’s endgame and doesnt deserve to be, how they want to delete him from the plot (somewhere along those line), how they want to block anyone making any fiyeraba or fiyero tweets or content and much, much, MUCH more like i genuinely do not understand the obsession?

i of course get not liking him, thats normal about any character lol but the way they just cannot shut up about how they dislike him is so….. like really no one is challenging your gelphie content 😭 we really are not interested to challenge your ship. you really dont need to focus on this guy 24/7 but ig you do you i hope they remain sane amidst all the apparent misery lol

well. you know. disappointed by not surprised. a partial fiyero ted talk under the cut. sorry.

it's like. it's just so frustrating to write him off as uninteresting and as having no effect on either elphaba (or glinda). like guys why is the media literacy not happening right now. also how the fuck would you delete him from the plot???? guys his plan is literally how elphaba escapes dorothy. he's the one who saves her from the gale force, TWICE. he literally sacrifices himself for her escape and its his sacrifice that makes her spiral into "wickedness" during no good deed.

also, fiyero is elphaba's endgame in part because he does what glinda cannot bring herself to do. WHICH IS SO VITAL TO THE ENDING. fiyero is the one who makes all of the sacrifices for elphaba that glinda refused, and he both pays the price for it and reaps the reward of it.

glinda and elphaba have a profound effect on each other, obviously, but it's not like fiyero is left unchanged by elphaba. i dont get where this idea that fiyero and elphaba have no dynamic because like??? that's just not true?????

fiyero goes from refusing to confront the difficulties of life to choosing the more difficult path for the sake of morality and loyalty and love because of elphaba (which is also really interesting given how he's, like, kind of a casualty of war in the book more than he is an actual rebel....mostly fiyero's book to musical adapation is #Rough but that's a cool parallel i hadn't noticed before).

glinda begins to see the flaws in the wizard's society, but she actively chooses to be a part of the system anyway. and she regrets it. that's the whole thing abt thank goodness!!!

fiyero, on the other hand, begins to see the flaws in this society and he chooses elphaba--and the life of rebellion that she's chosen--over everything that glinda admits to being unable to resist.

and GOD. guys that's so interesting. HES SO INTERESTING!!! how are you not interested by all of this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

wicked is such a cool study on morality and what the "right" thing to do in such a world is, and what it means to make the decision to do the right thing vs the comfortable thing. fiyero chooses to follow elphaba and he pays the price, but he also doesn't regret it. glinda chooses the "safe" option--but in the end, even if she chooses good then, she's entirely alone in it all.

and that's SO INTERESTING!!!!!!!!! god. whatever. twitter just doesn't get him like you and me get him, anon.

just. it's totally fine to dislike him! i'm not refuting people's right to dislike him. the nature of fictional characters is that sometimes people will dislike them. like that's fine.

but being incapable of shutting up about how much you hate a character just...it stops being "harmlessly disliking a fictional character" and starts being "you are insufferable to talk to." like sorry you're so miserable about fiyeraba but i'm gonna be over here just having fun because that's what fandom is supposed to be about :)

(also, just a major issue with breaking this movie up into two films released a year apart is that any movie-only fans just don't get the point of fiyero's character. it's kind of devastating. ik not all of the people saying that stuff are movie-only but man. the people who are...im BEGGING you to give him a chance in part 2. literally BEGGING you. fiyero is such a good character. he has so many good moments. let the green girl go lives in my head rent free and if they cut that i'll riot.)

tldr; fiyero is SO neat and twitter is just full of cowards.

[thera-daydreams]

SCARLET & SHADOW

ᱬ The Darkling x Scarlet Witch!Reader ᱬ

[aleksander morozova x wanda maximoff!reader]

Warning: This will be very canon-divergent, considering that it will be a fix-it fic for the Darkling's story. Will contain elements of violence, manipulation, and gore present in the series. Plus, mentions of depression, trauma, regret (as W. Maximoff) and the inclusion of possible adult themes in the later chapters.

Majority of this will also be based on the Netflix show since I haven't read the entire books yet. There may be inaccuracies and a whole lot of changes. You have been warned!

Otherwise, proceed and enjoy! ♟️🌹

(Sidenote: So... okay. I'm deciding to write this and make it a formal fanfic—as per previous post one and post two—because I seriously cannot sleep with the overwhelming inspiration I'm getting from shipping these two characters. Aleksander and Wanda are practically the same person in different fonts. They both did shitty, selfish things but I need to give them a happy ending. Together. Somehow. And hate it or love it, I firmly believe this idea should be shared to the world. If you know my other JJK fic, you'll know Wanda is an obsession of mine. Also, also, also! Please bear with me if updates are scarce. I'm juggling my academic review, work, another unfinished fic, and my daily fangirling. 🥹)

1. once upon a dream

Aleksander had dreams of you long before he even knew you. Maybe it was the stress of this neverending war. Either way, you weren't real anyway... were you?

(3.9k words)

2. coincidence

The Black General finds himself magnetized by the seemingly inconspicuous gardener in the Little Palace. He gets to know you, contemplating life. Just when he thought you were just a strangely wise, young otkazat'sya woman, he finds out why exactly you decided to work in the Little Palace.

(2.5k words)

3. reflection

You are confronted by a certain Shadow Summoner about your motives in bringing the kids to the Little Palace. He realizes that you've loved and lost so deeply, eerily the same as he had. Perhaps that's the reason why he was so drawn to you; he could see his reflection in your eyes. But the more answers the Darkling got, the more questions he had. Unfortunately for you, Aleksander was a patient and persistent man who would stop at nothing to get what he wants.

(4.8k words)

4. haunted

You were no powerless otkazat’sya, Aleksander finds out the hard way. He’s pushed you too far, and he’s left to deal with the aftermath of the new knowledge he half-regrets he gained. On the other hand, you see something bad about this new world that wished you had never seen.

(6.0k words)

5. ?

(tba)

... more chapters?

Synopsis:

"No more magic." You swore to yourself after the madness that you'd spiraled into; the chaos you'd wrecked upon the Multiverse under the influence of the Darkhold. Now, you had destroyed the Darkhold in every universe.

The last universe that had a Darkhold? Safe. Book of the Damned, gone. It was a land with no heroes, gods, or sorcerers... just... normal people and... Grisha? Either way, it was time for your atonement. Your repentance for your mortal sins.

But when you save and bring three orphaned Grisha children to the Little Palace, working as an otkazat'sya gardener to secretly keep an eye on them, it turns out that a certain Shadow Summoner begins to have his eye on you, instead.

taglist: @idohknow @robertthehoover @the-desilittle-bird @pearlstiare

[thedissonantverses]

The Inquisitor failed where Rook succeeded.

These games aren’t about Solas and the Inquisitor and it would actually make the story incomprehensible and worse if that was the case.

Or my breakdown of why having the elven agents would have been a no good, very bad terrible idea.

So right off the bat my first problem with this is that I don’t care about Solas’ loneliness. It’s his own fault. He killed his friends. I like the character. I understand his motivations. I redeemed him. He is compelling. He’s still the antagonist. He still committed atrocities. You can ship him all you want. I do.

But you cannot uncouple what he’s done to rationalize his actions. He willingly got a body. Sure Mythal might’ve manipulated him but he did in fact make the choice. Same with the Titans. For that alone he’s a monster. Forcing all the blame onto Mythal ignores the text and no it’s not surprising some people latched onto the nearest woman to excuse a man’s actions. She is culpable and he is culpable. They’re both Evanuris no matter how much that chafes Solas’ mythology about himself.

Solas also let the elven gods out then lied to Rook when he blamed them because it’s his whole m.o. He fucked up a ritual he shouldn’t have been doing in the first place. Hell even if Solas didn’t fuck up his own ritual a second time, it’s still his fault. If he had asked for help a single time none of this would have happened. Varric would still be alive as would all of the people Elgar’nan and Ghiln’nanin killed.

Forcing in elven agents, where we would mostly likely be forced to battle and kill them, would be the worst way to handle the elves in DA. Like it’s an exceptionally bad idea. Which is why I’m so glad they didn’t do it. You cannot tell me that you like the elves and understand the lore then have them start what amounts to a holy war in retaliation for past holy wars on behalf of a man who wants to openly destroy their world. Then turn around and say BioWare hates the elves. Or that they handled the Dalish badly because they sure did a better job than you did. It’s a level of cognitive dissonance that is truly baffling.

This story is not about the Inquisitor either. The Inquisitor, oh wait another holy figure, I don’t care how much you said shem in your fanfiction. The narrative has already set up the Inquisitor to be like Solas you don’t need to enforce this yet again, it was done well the first time. The Inquisitor failed to capture him because they think too much like him. Which is what Trespasser was about.

Rook is well established in the first major scene with Solas both visually, thematically, and narratively. Knocking down Elgar’nan’s statue. Thinking of a strategy no one else did because they let Solas set the terms of the match. Varric, knows all this, and knew he was most likely going to die talking to Solas, set Rook up in his place. Varric who found the lyrium dagger and set all of this in motion. Varric who sets Rook on the board to belabor the chess metaphor. Rook, because of all this, is a much better narrative foil for Solas because they are just a mortal and all but nameless and not some mythical divine figure sent from on high for Solas.

Solas has killed and driven away all his friends including your beloved Lavellan. He sure didn’t love her enough to tell her the truth when he should have. Rook knows they need help. They could never do anything else.

A mortal willing to stand against gods? That’s what’s compelling. Good people pulling together to fight tyranny is always going to be a better story than a man who betrays the people he loves at every turn.

Dragon Age has such a rich and interesting lore and frankly at this point twisting everything to be about one character is disrespectful to almost 20 years of crafting on the part of the writers and creative team. It actually makes me angry that their hard work is being torn apart because people want to force everything to be about one character. Not only did you completely miss out on a beautiful story to force an interpretation like this, you don’t even know what universe you’re in.

TLDR: The story is called Veilguard because it’s about Rook and the Veilguard. Hope this helps.

[princesstarfire1234]

TLDR: I fucking despise ship art and fanfics that infantilize Orion Pax / Optimus Prime

Okay so I just wanna put my thoughts out here right now because I've not seen many people talk about it and it honestly bothers me a lot...

So, it's no secret that I ship MegOp and stuff right? I like and have reblogged a bunch of art of them before and I will keep doing so, but something about how this place (or more certain parts of the fandom) portray the ship gives me major icks and I fucking hate it so much

Detailed thoughts under cut ⬇️⬇️⬇️

Case in point, a massive part of the TFP fanbase likes to ship Orion and Megatronus and I get that, I get why people like shipping those two but it's the WAY they do it. A lot, not all, but most of the fanart surrounding Orion Pax and Megatronus is him being like the smaller and more submissive one of the relationship which fine, whatever, but most people just end up drawing him REALLY small like ik he's shorter than Megs who was a gladiator and all that and he was an archivist but jesus christ... Aside the size which is weird and all but it's really all about the rampant infantilization of the guy. When they remove all agency from the character and act like Orion is gonna fucking combust the moment someone confronts him or tries to fight him like no... I've not read Exodus but I don't think Orion being a nerdy book guy is gonna make him THAT soft, this is still the same mech who became PRIME like cmon

I don't know the exact words for it other than "infantilization" but like y'know what I mean right?? I'm not gonna name blogs but there's this one AU on here where Orion is blind and it has this cutesy artstyle which is fine but I vividly remember reading a comic on that AU where some thugs confront Orion and he's all like sobbing and shit and has to be saved by someone and it's... so you made him disabled and also a crybaby and absolutely incapable of anything??? Does that NOT give you an ick of sorts or seem weird??? God I don't even know anymore because I've seen many people seem to like that so I'm just scared I'm the weird one and wrong for this lmfao... Maybe there's smthn im not getting, you tell me

Anyways this post is getting real long, but this kind of "infantilization" also applies to certain fanarts of TFA MegOp, I always thought the ship was bordering on kind of strange (since TFA Optimus is like the equivalent of some 20-something college dropout and Megatron is implied to have been doing the war stuff way way way back like Ratchet's time) but I won't get into that, I just don't ship that certain brand of the characters myself, but it's fine, do what you want with it. Just know that I have seen art of those two where they treat TFA Optimus as this sort of incapable cutesy uwu boy (aaaghh)

So yeah.... hahahaha stop infantilizing characters and taking a ship where they're both grown ass big men and like straight up turning the other one into some weird ass incapable version of the character that lacks any and all agency and honestly bordering on being really icky as fuck, thank you, idc if you make Optimus the bottom or whatever, that's not what I mean, cya ✌️

[madlori]

I'm asking this to you because you're the only person I know who's been around fandoms for so long — do you find this shipping-situation weird? I've been in many fandoms but I've never really seen this insistence on there being only one acceptable ship for a character and encouraging the idea that anything other than the norm is almost sacrilegious. Almost every big fandom over the years have had multiple conflicting pairings, take for example, Marvel. Even works of media that have a canon romantic pairing have had fans who ship others with the leads (that was what shipping was tbh) and no one has ever shown up to their doorsteps with pitchforks in hand, at least not that I'm aware of. So I guess I'd really like your opinion on why you think this is happening now? Have things always been this way, just not in plain sight? Is this just the new fandom culture that is developing now with the influx of younger people? Or is this fandom an aberration where a group of people are so used to being the majority that they simply aren't taking well to things not going their way?

I've been thinking about this today, and I'm still not sure what I think.

I've been in fandoms with a hugely dominant ship before. I've been in fandoms that had ship wars. I've been in fandoms with a lot of peacefully co-existing ships. I'm not sure this fandom is really all that different. To answer your first question, no, I don't find it all that weird. In fact I sort of expected it.

Let me tell you a story about the Brokeback Mountain fandom, which managed to have a ship war despite having really only one ship, the canon ship. So BBM fic fell into several broad categories, the biggest of which were fix-the-ending/canon divergence fics and the straight-up AU fics (I wrote one of each, lol). Post-canon fics weren't as common, because you had to deal with one half of the canon pairing being...well, dead.

There was a post-canon fic that gained a lot of fans...and when I say "fic" that's really an understatement. It was a SAGA, and I don't use that term lightly. It was a series of like...6 or 7 epic 100K+ word fics and it was over a million words total. The author would put out more than one 5K chapters per DAY. I'm still in awe of this woman's output. But it was the content that created the issue.

(Brief recap for those who have not seen BBM - two ranch hands in the 1960s, Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) spend a season herding sheep together, have sex, form a bond, then separate to go about their expected hetero lives but get together for fishing trips every year or so to have sex and spend time together. Jack wants more, Ennis is terrified. Both marry and have families. Eventually Jack dies in what is implied to be a gay-bashing but who knows, and Ennis makes his peace with the love he'd felt for him)

The saga picked up a couple of years after the film's events. Ennis decides to tentatively explore what being queer means, goes to Laramie, finds a gay bar, and very cautiously enters. Through a Series of Events he gets mixed up in an assault there and befriends a local sheriff's deputy, who is also gay. They begin a relationship.

Now, this series was COMPLEX. A huge cast of characters, a long and thorough evolution of this relationship, a lot of angst over Jack's memory, and it really worked for a LOT of readers. The new love interest she created was a really great character.

For others...it did not work and they hated it.

The animosity between fans who loved this saga and those that did not grew pretty heated. This was like '05 so there was no twitter or tumblr, this was all on LJ and dedicated fandom forums (some of which banned discussion of this fic for this reason), but there was doxxing and namecalling and real vitriol.

I guess my point in all this is that when there's strong feelings, some fans will find a way to be horrible to each other.

I was in the Sherlock fandom, another fandom 98% dominated by one ship. There were other ships, but somehow they seemed to co-exist mostly peacefully barring some snide remarks and rude comments (I could be wrong about this, if you asked someone who shipped a non-Johnlock ship they might have a different answer). No, the insanity in the Sherlock fandom was not ship-war-related.

I was also in the Criminal Minds fandom, which has a whole bunch of disparate ships and no ship wars that I can recall.

Then there are other fandoms, like Avatar, with TERRIBLE ship wars that are still going on.

I don't think the situation in 9-1-1 is as unique or different from other fandom wanks as has sometimes been asserted. I think terrible fandom wars are sort of inevitable, whether they're ship related or not. But for what it's worth, here are some of my thoughts on what's going on here.

A loooooong time (5.5 seasons) with one very dominant non-canonical queer ship. No other ship really ever approached the level of saturation or devotion of Buddie.

A pervasive belief that this ship might possibly become canon. That's a feature a lot of other ships do not have.

A lack of intense devotion to any of the other love interests. BuckTaylor was never a challenger to Buddie. Neither was Eddie and Shannon, or anybody else. It's hard to fight when there's no worthy challenger.

But now? BuckTommy is not only canon, but it has a lot of fans. It's a threat. And it's not only a threat in a feelings kind of way (as in, people like a thing that is not the thing I like and it makes me upset) but there's a perception that it's an ACTUAL threat, as in if people like this ship and promote it, it could cause it to become a permanent relationship (the degree to which fan response actually affects how the show unfolds is...debatable).

I do not personally think this is the case, but some fans strongly believe that Buddie could still happen if it weren't for BuckTommy. So if you're still wanting Buddie and believe it will or could happen, the existence of an alternate love interest represents a direct obstacle to that happening. That's a heck of an incentive to hate that competing ship. I get it.

That...might be a somewhat unique situation. There's a fight now because there's a challenger who might actually stand a chance.

This goes along with what we saw in the immediate aftermath of 7x04. I read someone else say (apologies, I don't know who it was, feel free to @ me if it was you and I'll credit you) that the early post-7x04 enthusiasm and acceptance of Tommy reflected the belief that he was temporary. A lot of folks thought it was just a way for Buck to get with Eddie, like, very soon after that. But the more time went by, the clearer it became that this was not the plan or the intention. So the mood soured for those who were still pulling for Buddie.

Other fandoms I've been in with a hugely dominant ship...Sherlock and X-Files are the two that spring immediately to mind...there was never a challenger with any legs. X-Files fandom wank was between the ship and the...lack of ship, shall we say. But a concrete, tangible "opponent" makes a fight so much more visceral, doesn't it?

I do think there's been a fandom shift towards needing ships to be canon that I don't really get, but it's there. There's been a lot written about fandom culture in the last ten years, the breakdown of boundaries between fans and creators, the access to those creators, a sense of ownership/entitlement, purity culture, obsession with shipping "correctly" (which leads into wanting things to be canon for the validation)...these are all newish features. So pile that on top of 9-1-1 having a longtime single ship that's legitimately threatened for the first time in its existence by a competing canon ship and it's kind of a powderkeg.

No wonder it's caught on fire.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: MMO’s

Alien: What do these letters mean? Human: “Massively Multiplayer Online Game” Alien: Shouldn’t there be a “G” in there as well then? Human: Then it would be “MMOG”, and that sounds silly when said out loud. Alien: *Looks sad* Human: Oh Christ your name is Mmog, isn’t it? ---------------------------

Alien: So this game is about the star wars religious fanatics fighting each other? Human: Pretty much. Alien: You would think the rest of the galaxy would have united and wiped them all out by now since it looks like the majority of conflicts are started by one side or the other. Human: Pretty hard to stamp them out when they can crush your windpipe from half a star system away. ----------------------------

Alien: So evil triangles fighting good spheres? Human: Pretty much. Alien: That doesn’t sound exciting. Human: It was before they put up a paywall around everything believe it or not. Alien: How so? Human: Well for one thing you got to punch an ancient worm god the size of a skyscraper in the face on Mars. Alien: Wow, that does sound like fun. -------------------------------

Alien: Friend human, I wish to start a fight but I don’t know hard. Human: Oh that’s easy. Human: Walk into any of those blue cities and shout in chat ��Sylvanas did nothing wrong!”. Alien: Thanks. *An hour passes* Human: How’s it going? Alien: I’m not sure how but I may have started an in-game race war. Human: Ah; classic indeed. ---------------------------------

Alien: So this one is about flying around the universe and raiding people? Human: Yup. Alien: Isn’t that what we do now though? Human: Well when it came out it was depicting the future so it was more exciting. Alien: I’ll say. Alien: For being supposedly dangerous I’ve seen waiting lines at amusement parks on Florp III that were more harrowing. Human: They never did find that little girl waiting for the teacup ride. -------------------

Alien: Why are there fire pits everywhere?!?! Alien: There are not enough players to need so many. Human: you just don’t understand. Alien: Understand what? Human: You always need to leave a trail of fire pits behind you as you go in this game. Alien: Why? Human: *Points behind alien character to see angry band of players dodging way through fire pits trying to attack them* ---------------------

Alien: I don’t like this one. Human: Really? Human: You loved the two previous entries. Alien: Those were both offline games and this one isn’t. Alien: Plus it has a really annoying feature I hate. Human: Which is? Alien: Having to interact with other players to complete missions. -------------------

Human: They called this one a wow killer. Alien: How’d this get a name like that? Human: Well for starters they invested in decent writers. ------------------

Human: I heard that one is rather good. Alien: I guess. Human: You sound disappointed. Alien: Well I’ve yet to come across this black desert the title speaks of and I’m starting to get upset. -------------------

Alien: All I wanted to do was mine asteroids!!! Human: Yeah, but you did it in their territory. Alien: This is government controlled systems! Alien: Nothing is player controlled!!! Human: Probably explains why they are swarming you with cheap ships. Alien: Why!?!? Human: They’re probably hoping they can take you out before concord floods the system and wipes them all out. Alien: That’s crazy! Alien: They’d waste dozens of ships just to take out my lone miner? Human: Let me tell you about a little group called “Goonswarm”. ----------------------------

Alien: So everything is player created in this world? Human: For the economy at least.  Alien: That would explain a few things. Human: Like why there is super inflation for a bundle of wood? Alien: More so why every sword for sale is called a variation of “Buttsmasher”

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

i've seen zks be like "if we were self inserting we would've been doing so with mai since she's such a blank slate character" but the thing is mai *does* have a personality, it's just an unconventional type of personality they can't personally relate to as much as they can with katara or jin

Katara also has a personality - one zutarians constantly disregard for the sake of self-inserting. Hence them constantly going on and on about how "No 14-year-old girl would go for a bald 12-year-old instead of the hot, older guy with a cool scar."

I wouldn't even say Mai's personality is unconventional, it's just personality that sexism says girls should not have. Being all nurturing and soft and vulnerable with someone else doesn't come easy to her, she doesn't react with too much emotion to most things, yet she will speak her mind when something isn't to her liking - and most things are not to her liking because, despite her apathy, she's not exactly someone people would discribe as "easy going". If Mai was a guy, especially a conventionally attractive one, she would be super popular, much like her boyfriend who could be a real bastard sometimes.

You just have to look at all the zutara fics, fanart and meta that constantly make Mai out to be an uncaring, cruel, and downright abusive person for doing things like not pretending to like something just because her boyfriend was the one to get it for her, or getting cranky, or asking Zuko to get her food, or simply getting mad at him when he unfairly accuses her of liking someone else... and then act like Katara is the "better woman" for supposedly being super easy going and "only wanting love"

Zutarians want a doormat girl that they can use to not only ship themselves with Zuko, but also to CONSTANTLY suck up to him. Katara just happened to be the one that was there from the start and, more importantly, didn't actually interact with Zuko that much, so she doesn't ruin their fantasy of "ideal girlfriend for precious boy Zuko" (extra ironic considering that, if Katara really was that passive instead of stubborn and strong-willed, Zuko would fucking hate her).

Because Zuko and Katara are rarely seen truly talking to each other and having to deal with their clashing personalities/goals, zutarians just pretend the negative scenes were "repressed sexual tension" to ignore the simple fact that these two characters genuinely hated each other - Zuko hated her for being a foreigner that dared to put up a fight against his nation's imperialism, and Katara hated him because imperialism killed nearly everyone in her tribe, including her mom - and then hyper focus on the few positive scenes, taking them out of context to make it romantic.

More importantly, they can pretend that they were TOTALLY thinking about each other during all those scenes in which they're dealing with literally any problem, as if Zuko and Katara were each other's "saviors", even though their arcs have nothing to do with each other -and since these are the overwhelming majority of the "scenes with zutara subtext" they are PERFECT for people who like self-inserting because they are completely blank slates.

But Mai? There are entire episodes in which her romance with Zuko is a super important part of the plot - and she speaks her mind regardless of whether Zuko likes what she has to say. She can be bossy, she can be cranky, and she is her own damn self (which Zuko canonically likes). More importantly, the show doesn't take the easy route of "every problem in their relationship is caused by something outside of their control, like the war or an obviously evil romantic rival that is totally coercing one of them into a relationship" - aka the lazy excuses Zutarians use to justify why their ship was never canon, let alone endgame.

Mai's personality is not easy to erase because she has an actual dynamic with Zuko, something Katara didn't have until the very end of the show and thus it naturally didn't get fleshed out enough to threaten the idealized version of it zutarians came up with in their heads. If Mai had been a one-off character like Jin, with only enough time to be charmed by Zuko's cluelessness, they would LOVE her.

[absoluterpmemetrash]

META ASKS: If Your OC Was Canon.

BASIC:

What changes do you think would be made between your muse as they exist in your head vs how they would be treated as part of canon?

What plot points would change due to the inclusion of your character in canon?

What role would your character play in the story? Are they a major player, or a one scene wonder?

If there are multiple adaptions/If they are part of a multi-part franchise, which ones would your character appear in?

Besides your face/voiceclaim, who do you think would be cast as your character?

If your character had a breakout show/film/comic, what would the plot be? Who would be in their supporting cast?

What headcanons/theories do you believe fandom would invent about your character?

FANDOM:

What do you think the fandom for your character would be like? Are they a fan favorite, a love to hate villain, derided for whatever reason, or something else?

What feelings does your character most often instill in their fans? Affection? A desire to protect? Open lust? A love/hate dynamic? Why do you think their fans feel this way?

By contrast, what would their haters dislike about your character? Is it a petty complaint? A mischaracterization of the character or their intentions? Are they just a woman in a largely male-centric series?

What controversies/drama would your character incite in fandom?

What fan-material would exist for your character in fandom?

Is your character the subject of ‘imagines’ or ‘x reader’ style blogs?

Are there any tropes fandom would put upon your character, for better or for worse?

What would be the ‘incorrect but wildly popular’ interpretation of your character in fandom?

What corners of fandom would consider your character blorbo material?

SHIPPING:

What do you imagine the most popular ship(s) for your character would be?

Are there ship wars? Are they a popular character to ship, or the kind of character that gets shuffled off and away from shipping for whatever reason?

How does fandom characterize/mischaracterize your characters ship in fanworks?

If your character isn’t designed for shipping/isn’t interested in shipping, how hard does fandom have to mangle them to make them shipping material/open to a relationship?

Be honest. What song is playing over an AMV/tiktok of scenes between your character and their love interest?

What is the wildest crackship you can imagine for your character, whether in-universe or in crossover?

What is the quote between your character and their love interest/whoever they might be shipped with that their fans would latch onto?

What’s the discourse surrounding your ship?

[evanorphia]

okay, so if you follow me on tiktok you’re probably already aware of where this rant is going because i’ve spoken a bit about this on there, but i really need people to understand that fandom operates on a ‘don’t like; don’t read’ basis.

you can dislike/hate headcanons/ships/characters/fics/etc in this fandom (i have ships and hcs i dislike, and that’s okay, everyone is allowed to have different opinions and preferences) but the issue comes in when you take that dislike towards something and post about it publicly; when instead of ranting to your close friends, you put it on social media and/or hate on other people for liking/engaging with that thing. by posting about your hatred of something, that could a) be someone’s first impression of the thing and that can lead to them not forming their own opinion on it (i know this happened to me, my first interaction with one of the popular fics was negative and so i automatically disliked it rather than forming my own opinion on it), and/or b) upset them or make them feel bad about liking that very thing. this is detrimental to fandom as fandom spaces are supposed to be about creativity, sharing ideas, and a safe place.

the issue gets worse when, instead of just posting about the hatred on your own page, you go into the comments sections of other people’s posts. whether it be an edit/skit/etc that the person has made, they made it for free and out of passion for whatever the contents is. i’m going to use jegulus for this example because it’s a popular ship but this issue can apply to all ships (and more so applies to rarepairs), by commenting things such as “jegulus is a monstrosity of a ship” or “in canon this would never work” or “jegulus ruined this fandom” (which btw, it didn’t, no ship can “ruin a fandom” whatever that means) you’re actively making people NOT want to create content for this fandom and actively making people feel bad for things that they shouldn’t have to feel bad about.

moreover, this fandom seems to really care about characterisations of characters and i have three things to say on this. 1) we do not know enough about the majority of these characters to be able to mischaracterise them and the characters we do know about, we meet when they’re in their thirties and have been through copious amounts of trauma and a whole war to get to this point, they are bound to be different in their teenage years than they are in thirties. 2) the majority of this fandom is fanon and that’s the joy of it, everyone can have different opinions and headcanons and people can take inspiration from each other. if everyone characterised the characters exactly the same the fandom would be so boring and everything would just be a copy and paste of each other. 3) arguing over headcanons, especially stuff like “fem vs masc sirius” can have real life consequences. by saying that someone making sirius feminine makes him “less of a man” or “straightens wolfstar” you’re actively opening the floor for transphobia and homophobia and, as a transmasc who presents femininely and is in a relationship with a man, are you saying that our relationship is now “straight” or that i’m a woman purely because of how i present? please, let that sit with you before you argue over these headcanons again. if you don’t think the marauders boys would wear skirts, scroll or click off of the fic. (also btw, not everything has to be time accurate, that’s the joy of AUs).

furthermore, fanfiction is created for FREE. you do not get to criticise and hate on a fanfic like you do with published literature. fanfic writers have written fanfics for you out of passion with nothing in return other than kudos or comments, they are not making profit off of fanfiction (which would be illegal if they somehow were) and it is NOT their job like how it is with published authors. by hating on fanfics (no matter how popular or untouchable you believe them to be), you are actively discouraging people from writing their own and who knows — that could’ve been your new favourite fanfic. furthermore, a lot of ships lack fanfics because people are scared to interact with anything other than wolfstar and jegulus because of the hate that rarepairs get. there’s plenty of amazing ships out there that have so much potential but people are too scared to create for because of the hate/backlash they may get for creating for that ship.

all in all, like what you want and don’t like what you want, but don’t make it everyone else’s problem and if you don’t like something, scroll. thank you.

[morisbasement]

oh and in celebration of the emerald wirch arc anime coming out next year, i have some tips for the new black butler fans!! or old if they apply to you lol

ALWAYS read the manga first.

the anime deviates so far from the manga that season 2 can't even be considered canon. im not even joking here. after the second half of s1, the animators just pulled shit out of their rears and called it a day. they didn't pull it together until book of circus, but to anyone who had watched the anime before reading the manga, the story made zero sense. i watched the series three times trying to understand it but it wasn't anything but crack until i read the manga.

if you can't buy the manga, read it on mangakakalot.com or mangareader.to, but PLEASE read it before watching.

sebaciel is (somewhat) canon, heavily implied at times, but so are lots of ships, so for the love of god please don't hate on shippers

yana toboso, the writer, has admitted that kuroshitsuji was originally intended to be a yaoi, but her publishers warned her against it. (← im told that's a rumor) there were still some sebaciel-esque scenes in the manga, so be warned! but there are also other implied ships (which is basically the entirety of s2), so suffice to say there are bound to be lots of ship wars. please don't turn the kuroshitsuji fandom into another mha fandom 😭

if you're sensitive to proship content, especially adult × child, STEER CLEAR of black butler.

while an argument may be made that it's not technically a proship since pedophilia isn't a crime in japan or since it's a human × nonhuman, therefore age gap rules aren't as cut and dry as they would be otherwise, sebastian is still portrayed as an adult and ngl it can be kind of triggering for victims of this kind of thing, and just icky in general if you don't know to expect it.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pay heed to the content warnings, not the actual rating.

some streaming services say that kuroshitsuji is tv14. TRUST ME. it's not. here's a full list of content warnings:

severe violence

lots of sexual themes including rape, not once but TWICE (in the anime, only once in the manga) by sebastian, and pedophilia

intense gore

there is a character who is somewhat minorly important who is a lolicon (duke whatever his name was)

deals with themes including cults, rejection of the christian faith, demons, rituals, supernatural phenomena, and generally disturbing stuff. for crying out loud a TWELVE YEAR OLD kid has summoned a demon servant, is a major underworld crime god, and has survived some major cult shit.

language is pretty bad

cults

arson

murder

murder

murder

mafia/underworld crime/organized crime

organized extreme abuse/ritual abuse, mind control, organized abuse, etc. is a MAJOR theme. it's basically the precursor to the entire series and is heavily discussed and shown. please please please don't get into it if you're triggered by that, ESPECIALLY if you're a victim/potentially a victim and healing. nobody would want you to uncover memories or harm yourself because of the series. stay safe!!!

one of the character's main things is he's basically obsessed with stepcest (lao)

lao is also a drug dealer

oh yeah, drugs and drugs and drugs and drugs and–

arranged marriages for kids (ciel and lizzy)

the second season (say what you will about it but i enjoyed it) had a LOT of torture and mindbreak over some dumb shit and was generally really really disturbing, objectively more so than the first season. we're talking waterboarding (i think is what it's called? correct me NICELY if im wrong) and making the mc's relive their trauma to achieve a certain goal.

also the second season deals with twice as much pedophilia, arson, demons, and murder since the second mc (alois trancy) is basically ciel phantomhive but blonde and a lot gayer (olé!)

stalking

lots and lots of murder

it's a horror series, what do you expect

both explicit and implicit sex scenes aplenty

manipulation, mindbreak, and abuse

there's a whole jack the ripper arc and it is MESSY

it's bad at the start and only gets worse! please please please only get involved with kuroshitsuji if you can handle that!

both the manga and anime are ongoing, so don't treat it as a one and done!

yana paused production of the manga to work on a game called twisted wonderland (edit: and apparently to focus on bb too? dunno how that works) , but more chapters and arcs are expected, and the series is far from over despite starting over a decade ago! i reread and rewatch every now and then to stay updated (and because it's a great series)! while i realize that can be a bit of a task, trust me when i say it's worth it!!

lastly, have fun with it!!!

kuroshitsuji fandom has been dying. REVIVE IT!! engage with fan works! cosplay! talk to other fans! make friends! convert people to the dark side!! be down bad!! be weird, be cringe!!! do whatever as long as it isnt toxic!!!

[ochrearia]

The more I think about how season 7 went the more it feels like the dragon prince's crew kinda of like... just gave up? In a way? Like I feel bad. Because obviously this was something the people working on it loved. Hell, I love this world they created but by the end it just feels like... none of it really matters? Everyone was just kinda there and they seemed keen to kill as many major characters as they could before the end trying to stress the tragedy of sacrifice or whatever. And a lot of things just. Contradict themselves in my opinion

It's like they couldn't choose between focusing a story on character relationships and a story on ending the world fuck you lets kill the sun lets kill everyone and it just flopped between them trying to have both but ended up with having neither. I think this show lost sight of an end goal after season 3 to be honest.

Don't get me wrong I think there was a decent amount of things that got a laugh out of me in season 7 and I do think some things did actually work. Specifically the way Aaravos' vessel goes nova when killed, they set that up by showing up how Leola also nova'd when she died so that at least didn't feel like a random out-of-left-field risk. But like... really? Oh suddenly we have the Novablade! Of which by the way was forged from an archdragon's tooth and suddenly the bite of an Archdragon is what can kill the vessel of a Star-Touch Elf btw are you getting all of this?

I think this show started trying to do too much with too little time. Started hyper-focusing on character relationships or just shipping in general because oooo fan-service gets people talking!!!! Somewhere along the line it feels like TDP became more about Rayllum or whatever pairing than it did about its actual plot. And it's like, it sucks because yeah, a lot of LGBTQ+ rep here, its nice, coming from an LGBTQ+ person, but you can't just change a focus from a plot about war and looming apocalypse to a plot about Look How Many Characters Are In Love or Finding Family. ???? It would've made more sense for that to have happened without Aaravos still being a threat. Aftermath of war and the threat, let's continue on and delve into character relationships and have More Time to focus on those being grown. It would've worked better that way.

Sometimes wanting both just doesn't work. TDP kinda shows that I feel. Aaravos plot was interesting but it got drowned by all the focus on Love and Relationships after season 3's success of spreading peace in a way. And you know what? Navigating life and relationships after peace is set up would've been an interesting plot to watch too if there hadn't still been the threat of the world is about to end again but in an even worse way.

My two cents. I don't hate the show. This show still means a lot to me and it's always going to be a part of my heart. I just wish it was handled better. But you can't make everyone happy, I suppose.

[tvckerwash]

plot points that should've been utilized in season two but weren't #432575890: the chembarons.

ignoring how awful the chembarons being taken out in a single music montage already is, I actually think it was a mistake for them to be taken out of the picture at all.

piltover's goal in season two, or act one of season two anyway, was to regain a semblance of order and reestablish control in the midst of the chaos left in the wake of the attack on the council and the continued chaos being perpetrated by jinx. as runeterra's version of the panama or suez canal, they are very valuable, and the entirety of act three in season one is establishing just how much trouble they could be in if they don't get a handle on the situation—which was one of the reasons why jayce made a deal with silco in the first place, as having some outside faction swoop in and take over because of their instability would be a problem for both piltover and zaun:

the chembarons are zaun's leaders/policing force/the guys keeping the place from falling into total anarchy, and as mentioned above an outside force coming in would be a major issue, so logically they should've played a key role in helping piltover hunt down jinx, if only for the sake of their profits. as a bonus, season one established that every single zaun faction we meet—silco’s guys, the barons, and the firelights—all hate jinx, and for good reason! so they have multiple reason to want her out of the picture.

it'd also been made clear in season one that piltover CAN'T control zaun, which is why the vote for independence happened, and with silco dead zaun is in the exact same position as piltover. working together is in their best, mutual interest, and that in of itself would be a major point of tension between the two—zaunites are pissed they're working with pilties, and piltovians are pissed they're working with trenchers. the situation would not be helped by jinx continuing to be jinx while evading capture, renni's attack, and warwick running around murdering people either btw. everything is on fire and the barons and the council are going "this is fine".

basically taking out the chembarons was a really, REALLY stupid move on multiple fronts, in and out of universe.

with the barons out of the way I want to take a moment to address ambessa and noxus, since the writers decided to make them the threat piltover and zaun came together over, which imo was also stupid. jinx being arrested should've been the finale of season two, and cait letting her go on the condition that she left piltover would've been a better ending than her sacrificing herself (because lbr having every suicidal character 'die' at the end is uh. definitely A ChoiceTM)

anyway, contrary to what the writers thought of her in season two, ambessa never had a desire to conquer piltover in season one, in fact it seemed to be the complete opposite—she wanted to take mel, whatever hextech weapons she could get jayce to make, and jump ship. a war between piltover and zaun was literally meant to be a diversion against the guy that killed kino (who I think could've been urgot but I guess we'll never know):

[emblemxeno]

Sorry king gotta rant. Why does Bernie having trauma mean you can't dislike her? Where's this energy for Rhea, who lost her people and mother? Catherine has good reason to support Rhea since she saved her fucking life but she doesn't get that pass. Dimitri is mentally ill as hell but I don't see Bernie stans defending him? Oh because Bernie didn't hurt anyone else? Okay, what about cyril? The 14 year old boy who was saved from SLAVERY brings up his surrogate mom a lot. Who did he hurt? Why is Bernie's annoying "funny footsteps" ass where the line is drawn? Everyone in 3h has trauma! People can hate whomever they want don't get me wrong but don't act like your favorite traumatized waifu is above criticism while characters like Rhea get dragged through the fucking mud. I guess trauma is only valid if you support the emperor.

Valid feelings imo anon.

I have come and gone on how I feel about Bernadetta, because it's extremely apparent what she was written as: a character whose major gimmick is meant for surface level laughs and entertainment, with a backstory intended to endear her to the audience.

But therein lies many issues I have.

---One support conversation with Byleth, and she says she's fine around them, for no discernable reason according to her. Her entire support chain, including her Goddess Tower scene, is her all but saying "I can't and never could do anything without you professor!" That's a problem 3H has in general because it has no idea how to intentionally write an actual developed relationship. It's why the Lions' intense homoeroticism within its cast, along with Ferdinand and Hubert, are the most common ships outside of Byleth centered ones, as those effectively stumbled into gold.

Comparatively, most other romantic chains-where love/marriage/a relationship was blatantly intended-fall flat because they shove a lot of it into the A supports (sometimes the B rank ones too), which also has to complete the support chain's arc, making one/two conversations tackle two different and delicate topics at once.

I know people are critical of Awakening and especially Fates having romance being hamfisted in the S ranks, but at least you can complete a support chain's story in those games without the shoddy lovey dovey aspect being required reading alongside the conclusion. It's unavoidable in 3H, and also makes many characters look like shitty, emotionally immature people in a meta sense because they can have these near-confessions-of-love with different characters simultaneously due to it being in the A ranks. Not in a cute polyamorous way, either, no just ludicrous.

I digress though, because this affects Bernadetta for me specifically because it's such a rough backstory that it fails to get me to suspend my disbelief that she can suddenly become comfortable with a very speficic stranger to the point of falling for them. Compounding that with a military academy, events, and eventually a war? Yeah, no, it makes no fucking sense.

---Simiarly, as you say, the music that accompanies her supports makes the revelation of her backstory feel insincere and vacuous. Now, I praise similar kinds of writing in games like Engage with Alfred, for example, where learning a very important detail recontextualizes everything you know and have seen about the character. With Alfred, knowing about his illness and losing his father at a young age, it shifts the entire thought process about his supports, story scenes, Firene as a whole, etc.

The difference between him and Bernadetta though, is the sense of respect. Perhaps it's due to Alfred being plot important, but Alfred is written in a way that signals "I, the writer, respect my work, respect the character I'm putting time and effort into, and respect the audience who is consuming it." Alfred has funny music scenes too, but it's never at the cost of making a joke of his trauma. His muscle worship is funny to listen to, his fitness/health regimen is nutty, his overly enthusiastic personality is entertaining, but none of this is at the expense of his vulnerable points. There's hardly, if any, instances of him being forced into changing who he is, altering his beliefs and lifestyle, or being made into a perennial punchline.

Bernadetta, on the other hand, is almost always treated horribly by the support writing. Yelled at by Edelgard, forced out of her room by Ingrid, beat up by a rabbit in Petra's support, accosted by both Ferdinand and Hubert, carried against her will by Caspar, etc. The only supports where I can comfortably say she's treated all right is with Dorothea, Leonie, Raphael, Seteth and Alois, and even then, a couple of those are reliant on a character getting backstory/teachable moment in between her screaming.

It boils down to "Haha, look at this kooky situation that Bernadetta found herself in because of her shut-in personality, what will happen next? 🤪", meanwhile the whole reason why she's like that is because was violently abused by her father and a childhood friend of hers was nearly beaten to death. The backstory itself, doesn't even recontextualize everything the way Alfred's does either, because now all I think when Bernadetta's screaming is "wow, this is fucking gross and potentially triggering for people who also hate having boundaries crossed due to trauma."

And this is the same game that gave us Dimitri's story arc lol. Then again, most of the female characters in 3H have some garbage writing attached to them, soooo...

---This is personal, but I also just can't jibe with Bernadetta conceptually.

Her part one design is okay (aside from the "wow crazy face Bernadetta cuz she's scared haha! 🤪), but her part two design is kinda horrid.

I don't like her voice at all, though that's not an indictment of Erica Mendez at all (she's great as Deirdre and Lianna). It's the direction and character concept, I just hate high pitched squealing and screaming, no matter the voice type, it hits my ears in the worst way.

She's pretty cool as a unit, due to the vengeance builds and having a good spell list if you wanna go a magic route, but... that's about it.

I don't know if I hate Bernadetta herself, or even really dislike her, but I do vehemently hate the concepts behind her and how she's written.

Really, I think people should feel how they feel about whatever character. And I agree, I think it's kinda BS how certain characters are treated worse than others because their personalities are "more annoying/less endearing" despite also being in similar situations.

[rusted-soda-can]

why don't you talk about how your side of the fandom is talking about one part of you ship? The hate Midoriya is getting from bkdk shipper it's really a proof that how they see his character.

I understand your point and agree with you to a certain extent. I think any hate that is being directed towards Izuku is just plain dumb. I love him as a character, and what I believe the root of most people’s anger — though probably taken out on the wrong subject — is the characterization of Izuku in the epilogue.

I do agree that shipping has become a main focus of a majority of fandom activity and hindered different types of interpretations of media. And that shipping doesn’t always need to be the primary goal in engaging in a piece of media. But I also respect and do engage in shipping a reasonable amount.

I think the main issue is not shipping, but the toxic nature of modern online fandoms and the habit of escalating minor inconveniences into full blown fandom wars.