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

[cluescorner]

The most important thing about a Megatron ship is that it cannot end well.

[angelus-osculum]

in a pinterest cold war rn

[plokoonweek]

Plo Koon Week - final prompt list

People of Tumblr have decided! This is the list of the prompts that received the most votes:

Day 1: Wolfpack || Accidental Child Acquisition

Day 2: Padawan Photos || Plo & Crechelings

Day 3: Force shenanigans || Father's Day

Day 4: "Not to me" || Alternate Universe

Day 5: Chronic pain || Broken anti-tox mask

Day 6: Family || Compassion

Day 7: Free day

Date: 14th - 20th July (nobody protested, so this is when the event will take place)

Tags (let me know if you want to be added or removed): @dukeoftheblackstar @tealmisthams @whyamismall @ezekiel13 @star-wars-lycanwing-bat @aknightreaderr @swfandomevents @lonewolflupe @dizzy-9906

Below the cut is the reminder of the rules

Every content must be related to Plo Koon. Art, fanfiction, moodboards, video edits, e.t.c are allowed. The more Plo content, the better!

Plo Koon should be the main character in your work or have an important role. He shouldn't be reduced to only mentions nor background character, give him a major role in your work.

Every ship is allowed, including Plo Koon x OC, x reader. We are not going to judge anyone and we want this event to be a safe place. Hate towards participants and bashing of any kind (ship-bashing, Jedi-bashing, e.t.c) is not allowed. Please tag your works properly, so everyone will be able to find something they like!

Both NSFW and SFW is allowed. However you have to tag your NSFW works

Again, tags, tags, tags! They're your friends! Use them, tag stuff that other people may not be interested in or feel uncomfortable (like gore, torture, kinks, x reader, first POV, vomit, e.t.c)

There is no minimum word count, so even drabbles are okay to post!

No AI content. Every work has to be made by human, not machine.

Mention the event blog, so your work will be able to be reblogged! You can as well use the tag #Plo Koon week, #Plo Koon week 2025 before posting.

Reposting older works is allowed. Do you have a favorite fanfic or fanart? Tag the event blog, so we will be able to reblog it!

Be kind! The purpose of this event is to appreciate Plo Koon, not start ship wars or hate each other.

You can complete only one, or both prompts for each day! Day 7 doesn't have a prompt, so you can create and share whatever you want, if you didn't like the prompts, or just want to do something more!

[chessboredom]

Can we please get a rant on PV's characterization ? Asking both to hear your thoughts and to see if I need to reevaluate my own idea of it because accidentally mischaracterizing favourite characters is my biggest fear ":)

So I'm having the thing where "opening your favorite character's tag only to see mischaracterizations" That makes me go "Oh I can't wait to look at fanart of my blorbos in tumblr dot com!" only to remember that people play the English version(scum of the earth) and not the Korean version(literal Cookie Run Bible to me) and then feel like I directly get shotgunned at the face and I never open the tags ever again.

This is Not to say that "Your characterization is wrong!!" or me trying to discourage anyone. It's just not for me, das all. Go do whatever you want forever.

ANYWAYYYY

(I'm still continuin this LMAO)(NOT DONE YET UUGGHHHHHHH)(still isn't done but I'll just make a new post lol)

This also extends to Shadow Milk characterization because I cannot characterize one without the other as a compliment. (I have the Chronic Narrative Foil illness from being a dirkjohn shipper. That god forsaken ship rewires your brain. I've made people like them and I clearly see the impact.)

PV is not nice, he is kind. His actions take effort with no exchange. He could impact a group of people one day, they love him, but they disappear. This is the part where he lies. PV is self-sacrificial, and he says anything that would benefit his subjects happiness over himself. It's important for him that they be happy for their whole life because they are all fleeting but he isn't. He is immortal.

(This is because I see people draw him hugging Smilk, which is something Smilk would HATE SO MUCH.)

He also changed from a patriarchic kingdom into a democratic kingdom.

And he isn't above violence, he just chooses to not participate in it until he didn't have a choice when they were fighting against Dark Enchantress. He protected his friends then stepped forward to attack her with everything he's got, and it's DARK MOON MAGIC. NO SOUL JAM. (I should mention that he USED TO be in the Middle position. This is a Smilk parallel.) Then gets SUCKED into a singularity she made which EXPLODED EVERYTHING AROUND THE KINGDOM TURNING IT INTO A BARREN WASTELAND, still manages to trap her in the Moonstone. He even enclosed the Vanilla Kingdom IN A TIME STASIS and IT FLOATS IN THE SKY. <-ALSO MADE WITH DARK MOON MAGIC, which is similar to SMILK'S DIMENSION but Smilk's has the future of the past and the present coexist.

(I correct my past assumptions about Healer Cookie now too.)

This so comes with the price of losing his memories, but his miraculous healing stayed. THIS was another parallel to him becoming "Truthless Recluse" (The Hermit of Truth in Korean) when Dark Enchantress said that he was "falling deeper and deeper into the abyss." PV's self was hidden in the dark side of the moon with the Light of Truth who was always calling out to him, until Gingerbrave came and changed everything, and then it made the voice louder. That's why his eyes were open majority of the time when he was Healer Cookie nearing the end of the Timeless Kingdom adventure, because he wasn't *full* Pure Vanilla yet. (PLURALITY MENTION!!) Healer Cookie is another personality who is taking place for Pure Vanilla's arrival. Until PV finally comes back, then reuniting once more with Healer Cookie, who is also himself.

Then he just sends Gingerbrave and Friends™️ into a quest to send letters to the other Ancients' kingdoms because he had to stay in the Vanilla kingdom, and the possible survivor's guilt he holds in that Dark Flour War and also to avoid the shock of having to meet them in person because you know he's understanding the situations they're possibly in since it's been decades since they met.

One Ancient who deeply cares for him as a friend is Hollyberry Cookie. Friendship gang's first meeting with Hollyberry Cookie was her PRETENDING to be a different cookie because of the CRUSHING GUILT she had of not being able to protect her friend that she abandoned her kingdom and her role as queen(sloth moment). And in one of PV's kingdom interactions with her is HB asking if he ate. 😭(I LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP SO MCUH)

(I WILL STILL NEED TO WATCH BEAST YEAST EP 1 - 2 AGAIN TO ADD TO THIS I SWAER. TO GO.D)

Skip to EP 7 - 8....

PV went to the Spire after they just found some totally (not) legit info about "Beast Binding Ritual," he met Fortune Teller Cookie, who was also himself(I cannot read tarot card. Might do that later), and then he was separated from the Friendship Gang because Smilk couldn't care less about them. Smilk wants Pv to focus on HIM. Main Character of the show. Not PV, the half-penny(fool or idiot). He literally puts himself into PV's memories, and then proceeds to tell PV that "I've been with you your WHOLE LIFE." "You need me." Okay projecting bitch. Shut up. That's bullshit.

PV doesn't need Smilk. PV has lived with no Smilk. It's the other way around. Smilk NEEDS PV. He's obsessed with him. Very obsessed that he is PROJECTING. In En he called PV his "other-half," but in Kr he called Pv his "lesser half." He is still in control. He does NOT want to see others authority over him, despite their theme of King and Jester.

Historically is that jesters where actually an incredibly valued part of royal family’s almost treated like a noble and were the closest to the king outside of his family. They where just silly goofy guys that they kept around. Jesters where so respected they would stand next to kings and help them make important decisions. A lot of jesters WERE scholars. They had to be diplomats in place of their kings.

At the time of Tr!PV, he wanted to push him to the BRINK OF BREAK DOWN. (Take a look at this freaky shit here.) But good thing Friendship Gang was there making him remember who he is, or else he would've actually became a Cookie of Lies, and remembers that his role and purpose, just like Healer Cookie, was to ACT like a different person until PV wakes up and becomes one again. This is a parallel to how Smilk has different identities in different times and ages, which are also himself.

Tr!PV's WORDS(in Korean) are so perfect, that he even manage to fool Smilk himself through making him think that HE has the upper hand. He even mentions it later when he was awakened. (I have to look for that part again.)

With his new awakened form making Smilk crash out for lying and being a traitor, and then he literally beats the shit out of Smilk 2-3 consecutive times because he's a stubborn child who doesn't want to. (Seeing fanart of PV hugging Smilk is so ??? to me. Smilk would rather DIE.)

DON'T GET ME STARTED WITH THIS. ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS DO NOT SHOW THIS LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING IN HIS WORDS.

Smilk wanted to end it all!!! He doesn't need PV. He doesn't need the Soul Jam. HE WANTS TO DESTROY IT ALL. (Goofy ahh tantrum.)

Now the part about Shadow Milk and touching, and being "touch-starved." But people seem to forget he is a CONTROL FREAK. He's gonna have some tantrum if the narrative isn't in his control. Yes, he would love the sense of touching PV, as long as he leads. He NEEDS to be in control. He NEEDS to be in the spot light or else he'll be weak and he doesn't want to be seen weak. Like, he's already accustomed to being starved of touch. And receiving it makes him feel sick. >> I answered an ask here.

And about ShadowVanilla; I keep seeing the joke "friendzone" and then seeing Smilk be disappointed which is... something... Like... The kind "relationship" Smilk made for them wasn't getting married, (but they are Metaphorically as Narrative Foils) it was FORCED through TORTURE because THAT'S ALL HE KNEW HOW TO MAKE A RELATIONSHIP. He wanted to share a soul with PV because it was his fear of being alone that he rather drown himself than face that Truth, and that was the ONLY TIME Smilk made himself vulnerable. Do you think he had a choice when the Witches created him with the other Virtues? They immediately had sentience with no young adult stage to meet naturally like how the Ancients slowly melded into a friend group, and they had no kingdoms to attend to back then. And the Virtues need to work together while being entrusted with a bunch of cookies, which for them is equivalent to taking care of ants.

And that being said, with the consideration Smilk is a literal cookie god who never felt a touch of another cookie in millennium, being invited into a friendship (with another cookie who he was not baked with in the dawn of time) is the most intimate shit he's going to get. He may Know everything(LITERAL NERD OVER HERE), but he never had Any EXPERIENCE. As slutty as he looks and acts, he is one. VIRGIN. LOSER. (TO ME!!)

To end this rant. Control Freak character weakness: Getting dicked down by some guy with a kind heart(who is unexpectedly freakier than Control Freak).

[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.

[pollyaunt]

i honestly no longer wanna be part of the #ACOTAR fandom anymore.

it's nothing the loving community that was formed over 10 years ago, with SJM interacting with the fans and all of us holding genuine love for the stories and the characters she poured her heart and soul into.

It's just not there anymore. Even SJM knows that tbh.

For the 10 year anniversary, the author herself did not post about it which is no matter what, pretty much an alarming call of how deeply fucked and ruined this fandom has become with the amount of toxicity on every platform in relation to this.

I dont blame her, who'd want to interact with a community where majority of the 'fans' are hellbent on hating the goddamn MCs, writing and spreading negativity about the same and the author, acting entitled thinking SJM is nothing but a system like ChatGPT where anything can be said and there'd be zero repercussions and that she owes us everything she does/has done, outright hating the plotlines and the stories in the name of 'criticism', taken the ship war to an extent where most 'readers' have started using it as rage bait for likes and views, so on and so forth?

Imagine spending years of your life and creativity into something you love and are passionate about and people have nothing but hate filled for it after it being loved for so long. Imagine how gut wrenching that transition must've been.

Would you rather want to interact with a community where most don't like your books or are just so focused on pitying your own FICTIONAL characters against each other that they tend to constantly forget the meaning of morally grey? I don't think so. It's not that hard to drop a book and keep it to yourself when you don't have nice things to say unless and until an author is genuinely fucked and an outright bad person.

I love SJM and the world she has created, and maybe i'll continue to interact sometimes or during major events but from here on, I just can't call myself a fandom member of the ACOTAR universe any further.

I hope this community gets a fandom cleanse which is much needed and maybe we're able to go back to the loving and cherishing genuine readers it used to have. Reading was supposed to be an escapism, especially fantasy.

It can't be a goddamn escape when most of the people are hellbent on relating reality with the fantasy.

Until then, to the stars who listen & the dreams that are answered xx

[bloggingboutburgers]

I saw it on a confession blog, I replied to it too but I can see that people are ok with going with the fictional characters exist.

You don't see the same tune for racism or misogyny.

They don't like to be told the truth, that it's just because it hinder their capacity to ship. I also hate even more to see people in the spectrum justify it, talking in our name and like caring is stupid.

Again, not the same turn for other marginalized group.

Because it's an issue to shipping suddenly, any escuse is ok.

The funny thing is, I like shipping too! In fact, I recently have an OTP I love that really lift my mood!

But shipper in general? I never liked them. I never liked the culture over shipping.

I never like seeing them expecting ship that were never intended to be canon and then send hate to the creators. Seeing a character as having the duty to love another one else they're ungrateful. Seeing that same character loving someone else as betrayal. The ship wars. The way how female characters are considered only around shipping and not as themselves

But stop being a killjoy! Let people have fun! Don't ever think about all of this ever!

Nobody want to think about why they can't write anything but romance and sex to this point and if you do, you're annoying.

I just think about doing a closed group with other aroace rn. I thought about doing a whole server but a little group is enough.

This hypocrisy drive me mad, especially how casual it is. How they don't even think about it twice.

Yeaaaah... To be honest people will kinda overlook anything to justify shipping it seems...

IS what I would say and shrug it off, except supposedly, when it comes to queer orientations, those actually get properly respected even when it comes to shipping.

...IS what I would say, but really, "queer orientations" just means "gay" in this sense it seems. 'Cus yeah. According to that narrative, aces and aros can go fuck themselves, alongside everything else that gets overlooked.

Yeah. The double standards are insane. And yeah, people don't think about it twice. For as much as they claim to support us, the majority of them will still endorse our erasure like it's as natural to them as breathing.

[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

[dario-el-estupido]

In Honor of Valentine's Day, Here's what your KNY ship says about you!

Canon

You are the Democratic-Republicans of the fandom. Hehe APUSH people get that comparison. Basically you believe in strict adherence to canon ships, and anything else is sacrilege or nonsensical. While most of your ships are popular anyway, a common stereotype is that if you only ship canon ships, you are either boring and uncreative at best, or homophobic at worst, a stigma definitely perpetuated by a vocal minority. 

TanKana: You guys like fluff and vanilla ships, and choose to believe Tanjiro lived a long healthy life. 

ZennNezu: You are a profound Zenitsu apologist and wished you saw more of their dynamic post-Nezuko cure. 

InoAoi: You guys are just vibing.

ObaMitsu: You are the majority of the fandom. You constantly praise the ship and its writing, fanart, and headcanons, sometimes spreading the hugging myth. You might also reply to any contradicting ships who are jealous Obanai memes or ask “what about Mitsuri/Obanai”, making a lot of enemies. 

Uzuis: There’s a chance that you really like their loving relationship and polyamory representation, but most of the time you’re a gooner or a Tengen glazer.

Kagaya x Amane: You like domestic ships

HakujixKoyuki: You crave this backstory to be adapted and love the cotton candy colors. Might spoil Akaza hating anime-onlies and are probably an Akaza apologist. Any other Akaza ship is sacrilege unless Akaza and Hakuji are separate characters.

TamaYush: You like doomed romances. And will probably be a Yushiro apologist. You are one of the most obscure and least popular of the canon ships

YoriiUta: A combination of TamayYush and TanKana. You both like fluffy romance with a husband that LOVES HIS WIFE and doomed romances. 

ShinRuka: You are probably a Shinjuro apologist and love husbands who are head over heels for their wives. Also a fan of doomed romance.

Humans

SaneKana: You’re in a weird limbo where you have basis and teasing, but too little actual interaction to be considered “canon”. Also Kanae’s dead. You also probably love doomed romances and opposites attract dynamics. You might act like SaneKane is indeed canon but quickly be shut down by others. 

SaneGiyu: You love yaoi and especially love the enemies-to-lovers trope. You’re probably at war with the Kocho sibling shippers and face a lot of “but they hate each other” backlash. Green and blue are your favorite colors. However, there’s a decent chance you make the ship heteronormative by feminizing Giyu and making Sanemi more masculine.

GiyuShino: 2019-2020 was the best period of the fandom for you. You hate Doma. You also probably annoyed conflicting shippers in the past and spread the “Shinobu told everyone about her plan except Giyu” myth but are now the underdog because of the ship’s waning popularity. 

Platonic GiyuShino: You're definitely in the minority and probably resent being overshadowed by the romantic shippers, especially the normies who assume they are a couple because of all the fanart.  

SenjuroxNezuko, KanaoxNezuko, MuichiroxNezuko: You think Zenitsu is way too annoying and possessive for Nezuko and she deserves someone with less personal flaws, even if they barely or never interact. You might sometimes exaggerate Zenitsu’s negative traits in fanworks.

ShinoMitsu: You are a lesbian or a wlw lover, and obsessed with the minor but close relationship. Edits and fanart galore. At war with ObaMitsu and ShinoGiyu fans.

GenMui: You like the Swordsmith Village arc and the Kokushibo fight. Screaming shaking crying at Chapter 179. 

GenTan: SaneGiyu Jr but with less intensity and vitriol on the Shinazugawa’s part. Screaming shaking crying at Chapter 180. 

MuiTan: You REALLY like the SSV arc and now like the Hashira Traning arc’s anime adaption. You squee anything Muichiro does a 180 and smiles at Tanjiro. Screaming shaking crying at Chapter 180.  

TanZen: You think Zenitsu has more chemistry with the other Kamado and will latch on to him being all bashful towards Tanjiro.

InoTan: You probably like the Tarzan x Jane dynamic but gay, and latch on to Tanjiro calling Inosuke attractive.

KyoTen: You are a believer of the manliest of gay ships, and you also appreciate Tengen being explicitly inspired by Kyojuro.

SaneOba: Is it gay to kiss the fellas goodnight?

Uzuis x Giyu: You latch on to that one panel where Giyu is at a hot spring with Tengen and his wives and want Giyu to be sandwiched between three sexy women and one sexy man.

GenKanao: SaneKana Jr. You like opposite-attracting pairs and probably ship Tanjiro with one of the other main 3 boys. No hard feelings. 

SabiGiyu: Again, doomed romance and cry at Giyu’s backstory every time. You hate the age gap in Kimetsu Gakuen! though.

YoriiTama: You are fascinated by their first and only interaction and believe they both deserve a second chance at love.

Sabito x Makomo: You are the stereotypical shipper with low standards so two characters friendly towards each other count as a ship, but hetero this time.

MuraGoto: You love irrelevant bitches that no one seriously cares about.

Human x Demon

ShinobuXTamayo: Also a lesbian or a wlw lover, and love the color purple. You’d think you’d be at war with Yushiro shippers but you’re so obscure you barely interact. 

RenKaza: You crave messy, toxic, one-sided hatred one-sided crush, killerxvictim, villainxhero dynamics and latch onto Akaza’s borderline homoerotic reactions to Kyojuro’s strength. Will definitely mischaracterize one of them, probably Kyojuro.

DouShino: Ditto but emphasis on all the adjectives. You are greater in number because of there actually being a canon basis. You get a bum rap, likely because the victim in the killerxvictim dynamic is a woman, but continue making fan art of them. You keep Shinobu’s hatred because that’s endearing to you.

DoTaha: You fully believe Doma loved Kotoha and that he’s Inosuke’s stepdad, and that all would’ve been great if Doma wasn’t a demon. Also get a bum rap because of the killerxvictim dynamic with the victim being a woman. 

KibuRei: You are a believer in what TV Tropes calls Draco In Leather Pants. In your books, Muzan is loving his role as the family man and he and Rei actually have a thing. As for the daughter, it’s split on whether or not you think she’s Muzan’s or Rei’s ex-husband that Muzan killed, but either way, he cares about her as much as he does Rui. You choose to ignore Muzan abandoning them for his life as Toshikuni, but if you have to acknowledge it, he’s either living a TRIPLE life or he simply left without killing either of them.

MichikatsuxHis Wife: You probably romanticize Michikatsu as a family man a little too much, but unlike Kibureis, you get a worse rap because Michi explicitly abandoned her.

KanUme: You read the Gakuen! Chapter where they become coworkers and friends.

Demons

DouKaza: You want RenKaza but without the questionable killerxvictim stuff and with Akaza as the hater instead of the lover. Also probably like enemies to lovers or more specifically the FoeYay dynamic

KokuDoma: Ditto but with less animosity on Kokushibo’s side. They are the Odd Couple but demons.

KokuNaki: You probably like couples who match each other’s personalities, in their case: stone-cold bitches.

EnmuxMuzan, EnmuxDoma, EnmuxGyokko: You think Enmu is gay and either want to ship him with the person he’s gayest towards, or demons who match his freak.

KokuMuzan: Idk, you’re the type to ship the big bad with their second-in-command, because they’re one of the few people they actually hold with respect.

GyoHan: You’re either shipping the ugly demons as a haha gag, or you are an unashamed freak.

ZohaUme: You are @riri_zui or follow them on Twit-X.

Every other Crack Ships and Rare Pairs

You are an enigma and your ship is either so obscure and nonsensical that it simply chases an empty appeal (like being tangentially related or a theming), or has no pattern to exploit and is just random af. Bonus points if they actually consider the characters, but they probably won’t.

[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 manganelo 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!!!

[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 ✌️

[kidspawn]

Thoughts on Zutara?

Ah. Zutara.

I have to be honest, I need to tread on careful ground here because the last time I spoke on Katara shipping wars I got, essentially, drawn and quartered on live TV. In fact, I think the person who went after me wanted to send me into the 50th Quarter Quell Hunger Games to watch me die slowly, brutally, and in 4k.

Yeah, so I ship Zutara! I actually quite enjoy it thematically, and I can't put my finger on what draws me to it. In terms of just... chemistry onscreen - there's a genuine draw those two characters have to each other, and much like every other ship in the fandom it has an appeal to me when written well.

What made you ship it?

I think there was a buildup to it I always found very appealing? I can't think of a major "clicking" moment, because I made a very notable effort to stay out of ATLA ship wars so I just never engaged in Zutara content? Then, once again, 2020 I rewatched it and I went... "Oh. I get it now." And I think the biggest moment for me is in "The Southern Raiders." I find them most interesting when they bring good things out in each other - Zuko, for instance, really recognizing what Katara needed in that moment and how to give that to her, was what really sold it to me? I'm not too into the "oh my god he's like with the fire nation and she's water tribe oooooooooooh" but I do enjoy it for when they make an effort to connect due to their similar past experiences with the Fire Nation. I think, at its base, I really enjoy it from a thematic and a technical standpoint - it's a well-contructed and logical ship, and I think from a storytelling perspective its the most interesting and fitting for the story's themes.

(Also the Netflix adaptation marketing and the actors have fantastic chemistry.)

What are your favorite things about the ship?

I mean, I am confident enough to admit it's got an edge to it I adore in the early seasons? I love ships with nuance and intrigue, and I'll be the first to admit that scenes like the necklace scene in book one is... wow. Yeah. I didn't even know drawings could have that much chemistry. What the hell. It's interesting to me. I like that it works alongside Zuko's conflict to become good? Like, a majority of the Book Two ending angst involved him rejecting the lifeline Katara was giving him, creating a sense of betrayal and hurt.

AND THEN the journey to healing that is so beautifully crafted, oh my god. Much like I enjoy Sokka not really handling Zuko with kiddie gloves and joking around with him, I love Katara calling him out and countering him every step of the way. I find it fascinating, because Katara is so fiercely loyal and devoted to the people she loves of course it'd take a lot to heal that hurt. So, Zuko really had to do something valuable and noteworthy to regain her trust - and that arc is literal perfection, in my opinion. When she hugs him at the end of "The Southern Raiders" I genuinely get chills. They manage to go from "I hate you you are everything I have been told to hate and/or fear and you are the representation of all my past traumas" to standing side by side in a fight against the person who has the deepest hurt aimed at Zuko? Like, they work alongside one another to heal and fight their deepest childhood hurts? Like...? Damn?

(I am also perfectly content with them remaining platonic, and I see a lot of value in their platonic relationship. Because that's usually where the appeal of Avatar lies to me - in the found family dynamic. But I enjoy this ship for its narrative relevance.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

I enjoy it more in-universe than I do outside. Because thematically its beautifully written. I don't dabble much in alternate universe writing, but the canon development is the most appealing aspect of it for me. God I cannot stress how, from a storytelling perspective, it is fundamentally gorgeous. The dynamics of it are built from the original cartoon's story beats, and I just think it adds that extra oomph. That KAPOW. That WHAM.

send me a ship

[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):

[notashadowbutawave]

ID: screenshot of this article : https://www.tvinsider.com/1186967/911-bobby-dead-peter-krause-leaving-athena-goodbye/

text reading:

TV INSIDER: Because you talked about what Bobby meant to Buck, who is Buck leaning on more, Maddie or Eddie?

Tim Minear: Buck is trying to lean on himself. Because Bobby says to him, "You're going to be okay and they're going to need you," and that's going to confuse Buck. He's not going to quite know what to do with that. Everyone's going to be just a little off their equilibrium in these last three.

TV INSIDER: So when Buck does open up to someone, who is it going to be?

Tim Minear: He's going to open up to everyone on some level. Yeah, you'll see. You'll see, Meredith.

The obsession with Buck and with Buddie is really starting to fucking weird me out. We haven't spoken the name "Eddie Diaz" for the entire two parter and people are just OBSESSED with this nonexistent storyline where Buck leans on Eddie for support and they realize they're in love and marry each other. Like it's not happening. It's not in the script. They did, however, show Tommy crying looking at Buck on the video feed. There is no need for them to be paying Lou to show up as a recurring guest star to shoot these scenes if it's not important. like. 555 come on now. You get the screeners and the interview with Tim and this is the shit you ask about ?

on top of that I think Buck as a character has AWAKENED something in some people that is so haunted. Unfortunately Oliver Stark can't help that his face looks like this but truly that mouth and the wet crying to Hozier, I think the potency of the lab grade blorbo has increased. Like there is a biohazard and it's that huge man's tears

I'm probably focusing on this insanity as a way of coping with Bobby.... which ultimately I think was right for the show but. This is how I described it to my GC:

ID: two text messages from me :

like this show used to be a kind of character driven soap that said weirdly mature things

now it's like "hey what if everyone suffered" and on one hand I think it's madness that meets the current cultural moment but on the other hand I miss knowing peace

I'm just so... I don't even know

it doesn't help that the arc of the entire plot was easily gleaned by observant people from BTS photos and the set leaks were CRAZY. no one I know IRL has ever even seen this show and yet extremely online people seem to gravitate towards it like moths to a flame, across the political spectrum and spanning generations. people are NUTS about this show. this was a big dick swing of an episode at an audience that is splintered into many factions and alliances

I love this stupid firefighter show but Wow this has been a wild ride I think I'm gonna try to stay offline about it for awhile (this will inevitably not happen, because I'm at my mom's without much to do for a couple days, but !!!!! Put it on the record that I tried)

ETA that I re tagged this "anti bobs" (... I hate that this ship war has like distinct terminology) because I'm really not anti buddie at all, ppl should ship what they want and have a good time, but this type of weird insistence that buddie is the only reason that 911 exists is not my jam at all

[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.