#fandom salt

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

"Cal/Kanan fix the mistakes of the old Order and stop repressing what makes them human."

An actual take I have had the misfortune of reading with my own two eyes.

It's amazing how much amatonormativity and aphobia lies just beneath the surface of many anti Jedi arguments, among other kinds of bigotry.

I'm aroace. I cannot fall in love. I'm chemically, physically and spiritually incapable of it. According to this people, I'm broken, emotionally repressed… and when they drop the mask they will outright say I'm not even human.

That's, of course, without getting into the sheer ignorance or outright bigotry towards people who choose celibacy for religious reasons, or the many other reasons someone can abstain from traditional romantic relationships, from trauma and past abuse to "idk just don't feel like it".

"Why are you so against seeing Jedi critical takes?" Geez, probably because the people making them are bigots, towards a minority I'm part of, and will even claim I'm not human?

I am a Jedi fan, I love the Jedi if the name of my blog and the content I post weren't telling enough. I love them for three million and a half reasons. Their culture not being centered around romance, marriage and bio-kids is only one of them, and not even the most important one.

You have no idea how it feels like to see people like you, people who aren't what your society thinks is normal, being heroes when the world doesn't believe you exist or that there's something about you that needs fixing. And that's not getting into how people relate to the Jedi or find them comforting because they aren't Space Christianity Lite™️, because that's a topic that deserves its own post.

So people that have this claims or that even imply Jedi characters falling in love makes them somehow better, can go fuck themselves sideaways.

[longing-for-rain]

The “Katara and Aang are both genocide survivors so they can relate to each other better” idea might hold up if, the one time Katara actually got the chance to meaningfully talk about her trauma, Aang didn’t tell her to forgive her mother’s murderer and compare her to a madman who attempted to flood a village full of innocent civilians when she pushed back 🙃

[blackkatmagic]

Reverse Star Wars AU writing challenge: every time canon fridges a mother, fridge the father instead. Every time a woman dies for the sake of Manpain™️, kill off the dude instead.

(I know this gets particularly complicated with Obi-Wan, because his woman-who-died-in-my-arms count is in the double digits at this point, but I have faith fandom can find a way.)

The only rule is that the story cannot be about a man. It cannot be about man angst. It has to center the women.

[bestangelofall]

Well, I think Jason should keep wearing a bat symbol and doing increasingly unhinged shit while wearing it 🫶 to corrupt the symbol that fucked his life over. Just like he took the name Red Hood, he should keep wearing the symbol of the other person responsible for destroying his life.

If he stops wearing it, it should be his decision, because he's done with those people :)

[glorious-spoon]

ngl i'm growing increasingly weary of the Mom Steve thing in st fandom. it's gotten to the point where his prevailing characterization is, like, fussing over the kids' bedtimes and full-naming them and scolding them for swearing, and like... i'm sorry, but no. steve is not their mom (and tbh a lot of it would be wildly overbearing even if he was). he's the big brother. like, yeah, he'll look out for them and protect them and give them advice, but he also cusses them out and would probably cheerfully dump any one of them into the pool fully clothed if they gave him cause

[pathetic-lifeform]

After witnessing Hayden’s return to Star Wars, first in OWK in 2022 and now in Ahsoka, I cannot help but think that why did it take us nearly 20 years to collectively claim this man as our own? Do we even deserve him?

In the prequels he gave his everything, his portrayal of Anakin was incredibly nuanced and he clearly had done his homework (e.g. nailing JEJ’s speech pattern and his vocal cadence, as well as David Prowse’s physical mannerisms). Looking at Hayden you could see exactly what George Lucas meant when he said he wanted someone who had ” that presence of the dark side”. But you could also distinguish the former innocent slave boy, who wanted to be a Jedi and make his loved ones proud. He was Anakin, he was Vader.

It still makes me extremely sad and upset that some fans thought their image of Vader at the time was the only right one. They had their heads too up their asses to see that Anakin/Vader was right there, exactly as George Lucas had written him, both passionate and powerful but also sad and pathetic. And of course there were those who did see it, most of them were just too young at the time/without a platform to express all that awe and outpouring of love, as it was mostly drowned out by the loud, spiteful hate and criticism.

I can’t even imagine the things Hayden had to hear, directly from fans and from the media. It must’ve been so discouraging for a young actor. Heck, he was 24 when RotS came out. 24. And still, after everything, he decided to come back. He could’ve declined when Deborah Chow called him and asked him to return to the franchise, I would not have blamed him.

We are extremely lucky to have him back as Anakin and Vader again. And we better remember that.

[alabyte]

Can we talk about the fact that Scorch's death was completely irrelevant because there could've been pretty much any clone commando and the scene would've been all the same

His death had no plot weight

His death had no consequences

His death was unnecessary

I have spoken.

[riddlers-roulette]

Probably a bit of a hot take, and definitely petty fandom salt, but i’ve come to notice that in recent years, with most fandom spaces becoming puritanical in their efforts to ice out anything that can be labeled toxic, or anything that just doesn't fit the fandom’s prevalent opinions on a situation or character–a phenomenon that has only been exacerbated by TikTok and the overuse of “therapy-speak”--there seems to be a general lack of nuance and/or sense of media literacy in most vocal fandom spaces when it comes to a story that is not just black and white.

Arcane is one of the most recent example of this, with (arcane s2 spoilers ahead) characters caitlyn and vi being discussed pretty heavily with the terms like “domestic abuse” and “abuser apologism” particularly when it comes to caitlyn’s act of jabbing her rifle at vi’s side before walking away, leaving vi anguished. Now, i’m not saying domestic abuse is not real–i’m just saying, that in this instance, I don't believe that the act was domestic violence, nor do i believe that any of the parties that make up CaitVi are abusers.

Arcane itself is a complex story with heart shattering situations that the characters find themselves in constantly, often putting them at odds with their morals, the morals of their environment, and the morals of the audience. Do I think caitlyn was right to jab her rifle at vi? No. But we as an audience can tell that neither does Caitlyn herself. Neither does Vi. But when Caitlyn did so, it was when she was under immense emotional duress, her mother’s killer getting away, and she was blocked from taking vengeance by the person she trusted the most. When she said the horrible things she did, she was hurting and angry and lashing out–she was punching the walls like a woman gone. And why is it that we can offer characters like Jinx the grace to absolve her of her crimes due to her own psychotic breaks, but not other characters to their own actions done in moments of their own breakdowns? Vi punching Powder, for instance. An act that had Vi villainized by the fandom for a long time. 

Which brings me to another point–absolution. It is one the extremes characters tend to fall into when it comes to fandom, with the other extreme being amplification. A character’s sins tend to be glossed over, or explained away so that the character in question becomes an unquestionable angel and champion of justice, or, in other cases, tend to be overly exaggerated, making the character out to be the worst of the worst, the lowest of the low. Rarely is there an in-between, with multifaceted characters complete with riveting backstory and motivations and complicated characteristics inevitably losing a little of what makes them, them, all in the pursuit of woobification, gratuitous groveling from other characters, and victimization; it’s an apology fantasy on steroids. In other cases, and often, connected cases, if one character is getting the baby treatment then chances are that another is getting the villain treatment, becoming a sort of caricature of themselves. Motives and environmental factors and politics are all thrown out the window, and all that’s left is cartoonish, flat, oft one-dimensional portrayals. 

Arcane’s Silco is an example of the former, with the singular trait of caring for Jinx becoming twisted and emphasized until he is nigh unrecognizable. His harmful actions towards the undercity are erased and he is lifted up instead as something other than he was. He is transformed from the fascinatingly flawed, human depiction to something bland and uncanny. He is just a Poor Sad Betrayed Meow Meow who is also a Good Dad. But it’s okay because he also does crimes! Except wait, those crimes are also sanitized and cutesy, or horrific and without reason or logic. He has lost what makes him, him.

And for the other half of the coin, the unnecessary villainization, we have Jayce! Jayce was hated upon widely, especially after the release of Season 1, and his struggles were erased.

(and yes, there were struggles. Jayce was more privileged than those from the Undercity, that is unquestionable, but he was not as privileged as the other Council members or even most of his peers. He had the fortune of a patron, but that was something that had to be earned, and he could always risk losing. He was from a House, yes, but it was also a minor one, and he would have labored in his factories alongside other workers–he wasn’t a crazy wealthy guy. He staked his entire life on his research that he was actually going to take his own life when his dream was taken from him. His dream wasn’t to generate wealth by unlocking the arcane, but rather, it was to put these tools in the hands of the common man too. One of his first act as councilors was to immediately try to root out corruption. He was able bodied and from Piltover, and so, had more privilege than Viktor (who is my favorite arcane character) that is undeniable. But Jayce did have struggles, he wasn’t taken seriously by the Council due to his own status and had to go through them initially when it came to his own HexTech. Jayce had struggles,but Jayce is a POC and Viktor is a white boy, so Jayce’s problems are gonna be minimized by fandom but that’s a whole other issue–)

And yet, three years ago, the Jayce hate was at a total high, with every action of his being dramatized so as to make Viktor’s pain far more excruciating. 

I’ve derailed a little! The point of this post was to point out the “therapy speak” in fandom that often comes at the cost of lifting one character up and bashing the other, all while skipping over the context and nuance for the gray situations the characters found themselves in. All this to say–with fandom’s recent behaviors when it comes to relationships in fandom, it really makes you wonder if people have forgotten that relationships aren’t easy and actually require constant work and effort. That relationships change and evolve and grow with each obstacle that comes one’s way, and that sometimes things get rough, but that love is being able to understand and empathize with one’s partners–that not everything is black and white and that not every mistake is irredeemable.

edit: also, don’t really care enough to argue with ppl on this point in the notes. it’s tired and repetitive and half the time it’s like arguing with a brick wall. if this gets out of hand I will start deleting and/or restricting replies

[frostycatblr-fandom-files]

Nothing "former" about that ARC trooper status. I have spoken.

[varpusvaras]

No, I am serious, actually. If I write an AU where other characters are fine with Jason, that's wrong, but how much would you guys bet that if I wrote an au where Jason is living a regular life and doing what is considered good vigilantisim, and where other characters continue to treat Jason like shit and treat him like he can never be trusted, there's no forgiving him, and no matter how much good he is doing, no one is ever obligated to treat him according to those actions, I would be called out for character bashing, even though that's how you all say others should treat him no matter what. I would take that bet.

[yourhighness6]

The thing about the whole TSR discourse is that a lot of it is centered around who was right: Zuko or Aang. Although I have seen posts focusing primarily on Katara's feelings, I do think it is necessary to remind anyone who cares to listen every once in a while that it doesn't really matter who was right. It matters who enabled Katara to make her own choices and gave her the space to do so, and I think we all know who that was.

[eriexplosion]

Cut for Negativity

One thing I will not put up with though is being called Delusional for picking up on blatant hints. They might not have panned out but like... come the fuck on. The hints of CX-2 Tech were right fucking there? You kill a man ambiguously and then bring in a masked guy that gets three episodes of focus and then you just go UHHHHHHHH ANYWAY. HE IS DEAD NOW.

Fuck that shit.

[longing-for-rain]

Schrödinger’s Redemption Arc:

It was either perfect storytelling or an insensitive colonizer guilt narrative…depending on who you ship him with.

[blackkatmagic]

really wish that fandom would at least acknowledge in passing that Alpha-17 is not some squishy father figure but a dude who was literally about to murder infants on the off chance they might not be fanatically loyal to the Republic. like, I get wanting to attach the Dad label to any random clone that stands still long enough, but it makes him so much less interesting.

can we just have ONE character who does not get sanded down to fit a fandom trope?? Please???

[heyclickadee]

If we ever get Tech back (as we should and I still hope we do), and if we get more of Tech and Phee (as we should and I hope we do), I hope Tech goes in to kiss Phee first. Because:

1. It would show that nearly dying out of nowhere really had an impact. Knowing that you’re probably going to die on a battlefield somewhere is different than it almost happening and then being gone for an extended period of time as a result. He needs Phee to know how he feels now because the last time he didn’t do or say anything he almost never came back, and he’s not sure when they’re going to run out of time.

2. I think it could be really sweet.

3. Phee is amazing and deserves to be smooched by her hot pilot boyfriend.

(Fandom salt under the cut)

4. Because, yes, I am still salty about the constant “why would he even like her?” and “Phee’s abusive and Tech’s just too afraid to push back” that was rampant for most of season two, and nothing would fuel my spiteful little heart more than seeing the idea that Tech isn’t into Phee shut down by having him make a move towards her like that.

[winn-wynn]

Why is Percy the only who has to grovel at the rest of the Weasleys family feet? Why is he the only one who to apologize in a fight that wasn’t one sided.

Both sides made mistakes. Why in fics is Percy the only one begging for forgiveness? Why aren’t the rest of the family reevaluating their choices and wondering what made him want to go anyway?

Is it because that would be admitting they’re wrong? Because clearly Percy was wrong so why is the rest of the family wrong? We were on the right side of the war.