#dedesuka critical

[operationhoshinokaabii]

also important thing to note in the show about escargons love for dedede in one episode when he sings about his love he uses the very very formal way of love aishiteru not daisuki which is VERY TELLING

haha. ha. Hoo boy.

Let's take a moment to address the Phanphan in the room.

So like... Yes, Escargon does have some deep and misplaced affection for Dedede, likely in a romantic sense.

It can depend on who's writing the episode - there are some writers who don't have Dedede hit him and have them get along better - but overall it's an unhealthy at best, and at worst an outright abusive relationship. o_o 

I know it's appealing to have any sort of LGBT representation. And heck, messed up relationships can be fun to explore in fiction! Back in 2002 it was a big deal. Buuuut it's 2022 and we can do better.

Like if I had one real complaint about the show, it's that gay relationships are treated as a punchline at times. (Not that other Kirby media has been better. A bunch of the manga are full of homophobic jokes n_u )

So I think in fandom, we should careful how we treat this sort of relationship. Don't romanticize it, at the very least. And I know people like to do the whole ‘just change it so it’s not abusive’ or even ‘pair Escargon with game Dedede’ but that’s also controversial because others feel it minimizes or trivializes the abuse.

Whatever you do, just be considerate of the people who are uncomfortable with it- add proper content warnings and such so people can filter it.

[shrimpmandan]

Even though Dedesuka is one of my favorite ships, it’s definitely important to acknowledge that it was a product of its time. Even today, Japan isn’t exactly the most LGBT-positive country. It’s not VIOLENTLY homophobic, but being LGBT is typically seen as childish and something you grow out of, or is entertainment for non-LGBT people. Gay marriage is also still unrecognized. Now imagine how bad it was 20 years ago.

I enjoy Dedesuka as a ship, both from a toxic perspective and a non-toxic one, but that doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t criticize the fact that it was written that way due to homophobic ideals that were extremely prevalent in the early 2000s. I feel like a big reason Escargoon hasn’t truly returned as a character is because Nintendo doesn’t want to acknowledge how much they royally screwed up with writing him. It’s a shame too, because he has a TON of character potential and it sucks that he’s basically just been relegated to an easter egg. Maybe if we ever get a reboot of the anime (which is unlikely) we could get a version of their relationship that’s more positive, but again, I doubt that’ll ever happen.

also important thing to note in the show about escargons love for dedede in one episode when he sings about his love he uses the very very formal way of love aishiteru not daisuki which is VERY TELLING

haha. ha. Hoo boy.

Let's take a moment to address the Phanphan in the room.

So like... Yes, Escargon does have some deep and misplaced affection for Dedede, likely in a romantic sense.

It can depend on who's writing the episode - there are some writers who don't have Dedede hit him and have them get along better - but overall it's an unhealthy at best, and at worst an outright abusive relationship. o_o 

I know it's appealing to have any sort of LGBT representation. And heck, messed up relationships can be fun to explore in fiction! Back in 2002 it was a big deal. Buuuut it's 2022 and we can do better.

Like if I had one real complaint about the show, it's that gay relationships are treated as a punchline at times. (Not that other Kirby media has been better. A bunch of the manga are full of homophobic jokes n_u )

So I think in fandom, we should careful how we treat this sort of relationship. Don't romanticize it, at the very least. And I know people like to do the whole ‘just change it so it’s not abusive’ or even ‘pair Escargon with game Dedede’ but that’s also controversial because others feel it minimizes or trivializes the abuse.

Whatever you do, just be considerate of the people who are uncomfortable with it- add proper content warnings and such so people can filter it.