#i cannot emphasize enough how fucking wild lan fan as a character is

[just-trying-my-best-everyday]

I think we are way too chill about Lan Fan. "She's sixteen. She cut off her own arm and waded through dirty sewers right after. She recovered from automail surgery in six months, a shorter time than the main character of the series, who previously held the record for shortest recovery period. She took on not one, not two, but THREE immortal beings and came out alive from every encounter. She cut off her own arm. She blew up a town in her first appearance. She blushed a lot. She cut off her own arm. She was the key to a more important character accomplishing his goal. She was arguably the most loyal character out of a giant cast of hyperloyal characters. She cut off her own arm.

[dent-de-leon]

You can give an opinion without being an arsehole, mate. Also, I just read that 'broganes' was headcanoned by an Asian, so are they racist too? I'm not 'trying to win an argument', I'm genuinely confused. I've searched for it on here, but I can only find people arguing against it being racist. Most people I've seen who think of them as siblings isn't because they 'look similar' (which they don't), but because of how they act.

Okay, let’s break this down. First off, I know who the first person that came up with the bro/ganes headcanon was. I’ve been in this fandom a long time, practically since the show aired, and I honestly have a better understanding of fandom trends than a lot of other people since I saw it all firsthand right from the beginning. So, again–I know who the first person that came up with the term was. Yes, they were Asian. And I also know that it was 1) intended to be a “fun AU” for them based off their own personal experiences with their sibling, that they based it off that, and 2) it was meant to be an AU, not canon–which is how many antis took it–and it was also never meant to bash other ships or trivialize Shiro and Keith’s relationship. 

It was a fun personal project for them, and it wasn’t meant to be used as a tool to harass others. Guess what happened anyway. Just guess. Bro/ganes might have started out as something innocuous and innocent, but antis clung to it and things very quickly went off the rails. And just because some Asian fans liked the idea, you literally cannot change the fact that I’ve heard multiple others express their concerns on just why the subject was so upsetting for them. You cannot separate this term from the inherently racist connotations built up and emphasized by antis over the years. You cannot. The person who invented bro/ganes didn’t mean for it to get out of hand and be used by antis to hurt others like that, so please don’t try to play them like some kind of trump card or drag their name through the mud. 

And if you want to see firsthand just how detrimental bro/ganes is, Barlee very innocently posted an artwork of Shiro and Keith calling them “bros.” Antis went wild over it, and she then deleted the comments. People were like, “hey, why’d she delete the comments?” And antis started making up bullshit like, “oh, she probably did it because evil shaladins were bothering her, because they were upset about bro/gans!!” And then Barlee literally made a post saying that, actually, she deleted it because she didn’t want antis harassing shaladins and running away with the whole bro/ganes bullshit like they literally always do. When you have fans literally harassing the staff over this nonsense, it’s gone too fucking far:

Copying and pasting a brief history of bro/ganes here from my other post in case you didn’t see it:

I’m not sure how many of you were around for this, but I was here well before season 2. And the bro/ganes crap absolutely predates that (BOM) line. By a lot. I’m talking like practically the beginning. They’ve literally always been like this. Hunk saying the other paladins are his brothers convieniently never gets mentioned, but antis zeroed in on that one out of context line, because that’s how they are. They were ready for any scrap that they could wave in our faces and scream about like children somehow “proving” their nonexistent point.

And if you’re saying there’s weight to the line with Keith and Shiro, then you must also acknowledge there was considerable weight to Allura’s words when she called Keith and the other paladins her family. That was a heavy scene, there’s no way around it. It’s even followed by this embrace and words of affirmation. And yet, how interesting antis fixated on one scene with Keith and found family but not the other.

The facts are these–antis have always been uncomfortable with Shiro and Keith being so close. Because the easy intimacy there felt very tangible and real. Because it wasn’t k/l. I was there when the first trailer for season 2 came out, the one with Shiro calling out for Keith at the end. The one where Shiro tells Keith to lead Voltron. Do you know what antis were saying at the time? They were pissed that Keith and Shiro were so close and it would be a “sheith season.” We’re talking before this thing even aired. How dare Keith care so much about Shiro. Where was Lance? The nerve. 

People literally said they hoped Shiro would die because then sheith could never happen. I can’t even begin describe the very visceral hatred that people had for his character at this time–because Keith had the audacity to careabout Shiro, and it drove them fucking wild. As part of some mass delusion, people arbitrarily claimed it would be a “choice” between Lance or Shiro dying–because Lan/gst and everything must be about Lance. And there were posts and posts of people saying that they would throw Shiro off a cliff for Lance’s sake in a heartbeat and how if it’s between them they hope Shiro gets killed. 

People kept trying to rationalize it by insisting the only canonically mentally ill character needed to die because he was too traumatized to lead, because he wasn’t good enough for the team. He had to step down and give Lance his time. It wasn’t until antis had that one out of context BOM line to latch onto that they finally breathed a sigh of relief and went, “look, look bro/ganes is canon!!! We’re safe!!!” And suddenly no one said he had to die right away. In their mind, sheith was “dead,” and that was just as good as killing Shiro. It’s pretty sick. 

The bottom line is this–people have always hated sheith’s relationship and have been frantically looking for ways to undermine it. Bro/ganes–even right at the start–very quickly turned into fans going all conspiracy theory, making very racist assumptions without any evidence to back it up. “They look similar, they must be related!” “Keith’s last name in GoLion was Kogane, which sounds like Shirogane!! So they’re related!!” Is that how last names work? No, not in the fucking least. Did they neglect to mention Lance’s was Kurogane? Absolutely. 

Anyway, moving on–“They’re both Asian, so obviously, they’re brothers!! That’s why they’re so close, it all makes sense!!” You know what else is pretty upsetting to me? That you have tons of teenage girls fetishizing the k/l rivalry–because someone harassing another guy is apparently hot–but then immediately showing disgust when you have two guys actually expressing mutual love and support. 

The fact is, they used bro/ganes as an excuse to make Shiro and Keith’s relationship more “palatable” because they were personally uncomfortable seeing two guys so close, so obviously open and affectionate. And not in a way that was ever staged as fan service, not in a way with juvenile love/hate “sexual tension” played up to titillate an outside audience. Instead, Shiro and Keith’s interactions are very much heartfelt and organic. Interesting how apparently more guys like she/ith than k/l. 

Anyway, the most striking thing of all here is you keep saying I’m giving shallow reasons and that “it’s just racist because I say so,” like…you’re literally missing the entire point here, which is that, it doesn’t fucking matter what I think. This isn’t about you winning an argument with me. I cannot and I can never decide what’s racist to actual Asian fans, this is about their feelings on the matter, not mine. And if you don’t acknowledge that this is a term that’s been steeped in racist connotations and used to harass others for months and months now, then I literally don’t know what to tell you. Also, “You can give your opinions without being an asshole.” You already called me a dick, mate. You don’t have to pretend to be polite now, it’s okay. 

This isn’t an issue I’ll ever budge on, so I really don’t know what you’re expecting here. But it’s not about me, it’s never been about me and my feelings. You can open up and listen to others who are personally affected by the matter. Please understand these are my final thoughts on the subject, and nothing you can say will change it for me.