#i havent been active in those fandoms and ships for a while but they're still so dear to me

[cicimellie]

it's been years but my heart remains soft for dramione and zutara. look idc if you don't like it, whatever floats your boat, but i just cannot let the idea stand that it was only a ship or only popular because "bad boy/good girl" or "fire and water." it's about the redemption. the healing. the hard work towards a connection. for draco, for zuko: the idea that if you really want to, you can change. that you're worth more than your mistakes. that there isn't a place you can't pull yourself out of if you put in the work. that you might have been better if you hadn't been where you were; that you have the chance now.

for hermione, for katara: that people have seen you the same way your whole life and now you are given the chance to break away. that you have wounds and dark moments that the motherly ones and the bookworms shouldn't have, don't get to have--but that someone has been at the bottom of that same pit, that there's a hand reaching down. that there was a bitter, cruel history that meant you had no choice but to be enemies. but that there is that choice, now.

the appeal of that can't be reduced to simple tropes

[turtlecano]

someone's GOT to also have had the thought "charlie/zoey/pim love triangle: queue drama"...right?

i can see the title now: "If Smiling Friends Was A Rom-Dram" call to the void? hello?? has anyone played around with this? is there a reason why i havent seen anyone play with this? does the fandom not like that idea?? its literally the most un-characteristic thing the show would ever do but that's the fun in being a fan i guess lol i mean, some of yall are already FREAKY with Smiling Friends like that soooooo why not angsty too? (that isnt grim and gnarly lore lol)

Im genuinely curious. Someone out there, please... tell me your thoughts. It pops into my head whenever I scroll past ship art

I'm not a shippartist in ANY capacity, but hear me out: IN👏THIS👏VERSION👏: There's a feeling in the air that Charlie and Zoey are falling out of love, and the feelings Charlie and Pim have for each other deep down is starting to show itself, but Charlie and Zoey haven't properly sorted out they're relationship issues, and broke it off yet.

I imagine Charlie is checked out of the relationship. At first, he was definitely into Zoey, but he felt she never really reciprocated any advances he made on her, but somehow, they still got together. He felt confused, a bit betrayed, but now, he's stopped trying to even put any effort into it anymore. He doesn't feel it's a very deep or meaningful relationship at all, and all he can think about deep down, how things might be different if he was with Pim. Like, he's had these emotions that he's packed down all this time, thinking "how could Pim EVER see a relationship there?". But he still indulges in the idea in where he could have something so much more fulfilling with the one he's BEEN having feelings for, for the longest time. THEN, I like to imagine Pim feels the same way Charlie does toward him. Not seeing how the other would EVER wanna be their boyfriend and repressing those emotions. Pim is especially good at it though. Along with that, he could NEVER think of backstabbing Zoey with how her and Charlie are still together.

I think Zoey sees the relationship that is actively withering away in front of her, and from her perspective, she's the only one who's trying to make it "work". But her and Charlie see they're needs they need from each other pretty differently. Over time, she starts to realize, she's mixing up platonic, with romantic. I like to think when she starts seeing little things in their interactions with one another, she feels the teeniest bit jealous, but deep down, knows that Charlie should be with Pim, not her. But shes scared she'll lose him all together, and they wont be friends in the end. She wants to still hang out and create those new memories and experiences with Charlie, just yknow "not like that"

Like is that too much?? As an demi/ace, Ive never EVER got into speculative shipping and relationship drama about fictional characters before, untillll i got into my first relationship almost 2 years ago. But OF COURSE, it had to be with this goofy ass show ands its goofy ass characters and hypotheticals you arent supposed to take seriously. Im thinking of this big ol' story with all these nuances, while on the other hand i've seen NOTHING I cant be the only one! If there's someone doing something similar to this, PLEASE TELL ME!! Im super curious as to how someone else would shove such a heavy plot point like that into a simpler show like Smiling Friends (simple baisic plot wise that is)

[aquariumgirls]

vei lorepost. (tldr at the end before the cat picture. also this is a huge vent about how being on the internet so young (i was seven) damaged me as a person in a way that i fear may never be truly fixable and also i hate myself)

when i was young (like seven. i was on the internet too young) it was the ship and let ship/dont like dont read era of the internet. being a small child with autism i wanted to consume as much content related to the things i liked as possible, and ended up stumbling upon spaces i should not have been in nor been able to access at my age.

most of them were pertaining to things that i know understand are problematic. it damaged me fundamentally, as i only exited those spaces and realized all the things that i thought were normal were wrong, when i was 13 years old. it was traumatizing for me. it desensitized me to things that i should not be desensitized to. things that are disgusting to me now. and it fucking sucks when people say that fiction doesn't affect reality, because it absolutely fucking does. i am literal proof of that.

when i was eleven, i got my friend into undertale. it was the early days of the fandom, and i liked it because i had watched a youtuber play the demo of the game a few years prior. certain ships were popular. because i was eleven, i thought certain things were normal, and i was in nsfw spaces despite being so young, because it was practically everywhere.

when my friend got into it, she also got into one of the most popular problematic ships. she gave me a nickname pertaining to it, and despite me not knowing why, i was ashamed and embarrassed when she would call me that.

i (obviously) am not pr*ship. i am not neutral, either. i resent pr*shippers because people like them normalized things for me and exposed me to things that i should not have seen, and that should not have been normalized. i still get intrusive thoughts about it. i still feel ashamed of who i used to be. i still feel disgusted with myself when i have said intrusive thoughts. i am in therapy, and it took me a while to realize that it was traumatizing. i didn't just see gross fictional content, i saw real gore, shock videos that made me nauseous, videos from depraved people that i watched on a dare, among other things.

my first anime was hetalia, which im very much NOT proud of. you can imagine the shit i saw in 2011/2012/2013. i also had homestuck as a special interest until i was around sixteen, and by then i had been actively trying to avoid it for about a year.

basically: fiction affects reality and i am legitimately traumatized because of it. to be real i havent told anyone this. im afraid of being judged. i dont want people to think im like the people who exposed me to traumatizing and damaging content when i was little. these things make me physically nauseous with shame. you obviously dont have to read this post because its long as hell but i know that some people my age have probably had similar experiences. i dont call myself an anti anymore because im nineteen years old, but i deeply DEEPLY resent and hate pr*shippers. i also know that some of them are coping in unhealthy ways. but it doesn't change the fact that they exposed me to things i shouldnt have seen when i was a young, impressionable child, and it doesn't change the fact that they're still doing it now.

i am in therapy. i avoid and block every pr*shipper i see and religiously scour blogs to make SURE they aren't one. anytime a blog i like gets exposed for being one in secret, i feel sick.

i was in those damaging spaces longer than ive been out of them and sometimes i think that ill be damaged like this forever. ive done things im not proud of. things that make me so ashamed that i throw up. sometimes i wish i could wipe my memory from up until i was 13. i dont think ill keep this post up very long because frankly i dont want people to think im some sort of freak or whatever, but ive been thinking about this recently and i need to say it to SOMEONE before i go fucking crazy.

tldr: i was in pr*ship spaces until i figured out that shit was wrong and by then i was already 13 (in eighth grade) and by then the damage was already done and now im left with trauma, intrusive thoughts that make me physically nauseous, and a fear that im actually secretly like the people who exposed me to those traumatizing things.

cat photo to thank you for reading.