#i just notice patterns overtime y'all

[khruschevshoe]

Having been in a couple of fandoms where this phenomenon happened, it always fascinates me when a character who has made semi-questionable decisions in the past (But nothing QUITE completely irredeemable) and is the center of the main/biggest ship in a fandom is suddenly given a hard pivot into abusive tendencies/hard-line no-go actions (i.e. Dean locking up/telling Jack he has no soul, Blaine SAing/cheating on Kurt, Ed being abusive to the crew in s2), the fandom/fanfic largely splits into two main reactions: either 1) taking the new events as new character traits, souring on the character, and writing fic dedicated to getting their partner/family/friends out of the situation written into the show, or 2) writing fix-it fic where the character they know never would have done such a thing and allowing the couple to continue on as they were pre-questionable-writing decision.

I've always wondered what causes people to fall into each camp (I tend to fall into the former, but when I was younger, I fell into the latter when it came to glee, especially). Is it love of the character and what they mean to you? Is it spite for the writers? (I'd argue that both options involve some level of spite for the writers, and I can at least understand both options rather than people who treat the abusive behavior in question as okay or even justified.) Anyone who writes fanfic/has noticed this pattern I would love to hear from- I've been curious about this for years!