#like I just added a paragraph of context I don't need any more lol

[bucketsofmonsters]

Would you guys want me to post fanfics on here if they're still monster romance?? I asked this before for a one-shot and people said yes but this would be a long series I'd be posting weekly so I feel like I should gauge interest again.

[genericpuff]

All That Glitters is Not Feminism - An Analysis of LO's Brand of "Feminism" and What Remains of its Fanbase (A Prologue)

So I referenced a certain article in a recent reblog/ask response and I just need to talk about it because what the actual fuck-

This has to have been written by either a bot or a hater who's reached peak god tier level at playing the long con sarcasm game because NOTHING about this feels sincere or even factual. Much of it almost has to be read in a mocking tone for it to make any real sense.

It says "Lore Olympus" (literally in quotations) in just about every single paragraph over and over again and every single talking point revolves EXCLUSIVELY around Persephone, which I suppose comes as no surprise considering that seems to be all the comic - and its fanbase - cares about at this point.

I really love (/s) how Persephone's "evolution" is being naive and then 'blossoming' into an independent woman who relies entirely on the rich man who groomed her to solve all her problems.

Also all she's done since becoming Queen of the Underworld is abuse lower class people. That's the stuff feminist dreams are made of <3

While we're talking about the main leads, "poster child" is definitely a word for Hades, I think a more appropriate term would be "literal child". And boy howdy, 'god of consent' sure is a title to give the guy who ripped out a lower class satyr's eyeball and beat him half to death.

This man owns slaves, btw. And both he and his "powerful wife" are equally horrible to lower class people, especially women.

This is hands-down the funniest section of the article and we're only three bullet points in.

Thetis and Persephone have never even so much as spoken one word to each other outside of the courtroom that Thetis technically put her in after plotting against her for an entire season.

Eros is a man. Nothing wrong with that but it comes with the unintentional icky hilarity of implying that because Eros is the gay best friend, that means he's a woman.

They literally don't read this fucking comic-

Everyone always relies on this weird talking point of Demeter not being able to "let Persephone go"... y'all, she just didn't want Persephone to outright move to Olympus, she wanted her to commute. That was it! That was literally the only problem! She wasn't preventing Persephone from pursuing a higher education or telling her she wasn't allowed to work, she literally fucking encouraged it! And with the added later context of Persephone killing a bunch of mortals - and, ironically, the fact that Persephone was assaulted/put in harm's way by TWO SEPARATE MEN in the first two days of her time in Olympus - yeah, I don't blame Demeter for not wanting her daughter to move cold turkey actually LOL

Also hilarious that they claim Rachel has turned "tradition" into "innovation" when the only thing she's managed to do is set back modern feminism in her young adult readers by 80 years and re-establish misogynist brainwashing in her adult ones. Rachel, your fanbase was literally shipping a victim of abuse with her abuser just a few days ago.

oh boy this is uh

this is some cult shit ngl

and the "rewriting the script of Greek mythology" part is VERY concerning knowing what we know about Lore Olympus and who it was written by. This is literally cultural appropriation, full stop, and it exists because Lore Olympus - and works like it, made by people like Rachel - exists.

I can't even commit to the original theory that this was written by a bot because it all feels very pointed and intenetional. This is being written by someone who, at the very least, REALLY sucks at media analysis and writing, because the entire article is just "Lore Olympus, buzzword, Lore Olympus, buzzword, buzzword, Lore Olympus", it's like a white knight incantation for guilty virtue signallers who have zero clue what they're talking about. And at worst, yes, it's appropriation from someone who doesn't mind taking a culture's stories and myths and promoting their erasure by people outside of the culture like Rachel.

And that's it, that's literally the article lmao

*EDIT: There was a section here before addressing the writer of the article from a very opinionated POV that, while isn't unusual for what I do here, did feel necessary to remove after I was contacted by the article writer who addressed the flaws in their original article and is now seeking to correct them with revisions/an article rewrite. So I felt it only fair as a compromise to at least remove that section as it really doesn't have a whole lot to do with this post as a whole and can be removed without entirely ruining the flow of this analysis. If/when that article is rewritten, I'll be revisiting this post and my overall analysis !

And honestly, it's all really telling, because this does accurately reflect the state of the LO fanbase.

Not only do many of the people who defend this comic like it's their job not pick up on the blatant misogynist tones that are going on in its narrative (I can't even call them "undertones" anymore, they're no longer that subtle) but whether or not they even read the comic at all is up for debate with how much stuff they tend to get wrong in their own arguments and justifications. And this is something that's VERY regularly seen in the fanbase discussions, readers will constantly be unaware of things that happened because they skimmed through it at lightning speed just to see if Hades and Persephone kiss and so they can get the top comment on Webtoons so they can be "ahead of the fanbase". It's no wonder that Rachel has gotten used to getting away with retconning things because her fanbase didn't even read what she established the first time.

Rachel's fanbase was literally defending the romance ship of an abuser and his victim on the newest FP episode preview. When that FP episode came out two nights ago and Hera said, point blank, that he didn't love her but abused her, I could only think of that portion of the fanbase who was very audibly simping over Kronos in the IG comment section. Are they actually having their moment of shameful clarity now? Or are they just gonna move the goalposts and pretend that didn't happen?

I don't want to say anything bad about Shelby here because she really seems like she's fighting for her life on this site that she's trying to get off the ground, but a lot of her other articles also come across as very one-note while being peppered with buzzwords that make it seem like what she's talking about is "progressive" when it really isn't. Case in point, Lessons in Chemistry has been commonly criticized for not actually appealing to the demographic that its Mary Sue-ish main character is supposed to represent - women in STEM career fields.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lore Olympus is not 'feminism', it's white feminism that is designed to appeal to predominantly heterocis white women who think the solution to misogyny is to willingly submit to it and accept the status quo - that it's "empowering" if the woman is smiling and having all her needs paid for by a man. Sure, I can accept that different women will be looking for different relationship dynamics, some women genuinely are happy being in a relationship where they support their husbands first and foremost. But can that truly be called feminism? Or is the real feminism the choices we make along the way that we should be given the freedom to make?

It says a lot about the folks who tend to regularly prop up LO on a pedestal like this as some "revolution in feminism" despite the contrary after spending more than just 30 seconds skimming the attention-grabbing art, and Shelby is just one of many. She's not the worst of the bunch, though.

That goes to someone else who I want to give proper light to in their own essay. Someone who definitely earned a good stern talking-to this past week and has, thankfully, had consequences dished out to her for her horrible actions towards queer POC writers.

If you know, you know. If you don't, buckle up.

[elysiumxii]

GET TO KNOW THE MUN

NAME?: Kai

PRONOUNS?: she/her/they

PREFERENCE OF COMMUNICATION?: I don't care as long as you talk to me tbh. IMs is a great place to start and then once we have a ship, i'll be in all your business on all platforms.

MOST ACTIVE MUSE(S)?: helios, giselle, antonio... and honestly, i wish i was writing more of them, more often. 🥺

EXPERIENCE / HOW MANY YEARS?: okay i have to really think and it's a bit fuzzy... because i think... well i was writing by the time i started university in 2009, on a forum for Super Junior. I wrote fanfiction before that in about 2008? i don't need a calculator i will not be looking at how many years that is...

BEST EXPERIENCE? oft hard to answer, i have both so many and the world's most appalling memory. the excitement of any budding new ship is truly what keeps me going, but i do remember one in particular with a bar tender muse of mine and a 'straight' firefighter that just... oh it was good. then more recently it would be meeting @okajibana and forming my whole existence around her, you're stuck with me now! plus every time i get a notification from @irrwicht or @temporalobjects my day is always improved.

RP PET PEEVES?: ohhh it's possibly going to get me some hate, and look, if it works for you? you go boo... but it's greeting starters. they're usually one liners and someone has maybe picked a muse of yours but then they fling it out there, and i'm like... what do i do with that? there's no setting, there's no context, it's maybe a bit of dialogue and i'm cut adrift to try and work out what to do with it? that for me is not fun. i have added it to my rules that i don't want them but i still get them and... i feel so bad ignoring them, but also am too awkward to be like, hey, have this back and maybe plot with me? i will plot with anyone and i will hype your ideas to the moon and back but, a throw away one liner... i can't do nothing with. (and listen, maybe i'm the problem! everyone else seems happy!) also small text is nice to look at and it's easy to add now! js...

FLUFF, ANGST, OR SMUT? i feel like if i said anything other than smut, online pals from the rafters would scream for me to be real. imma be real with you, this is a smut blog wrapped up in fancy wrapping that makes it seem like i'm here for the plot... i'm here for the d-! jk i'm happy to be here i will write anything... smut tho...

PLOTS OR MEMES?: plots i'm just good at memes. if we have a ship, use me for drabbles that's all i'm saying.

LONG OR SHORT REPLIES?: long. i have a rule about mutually agreed lengths because i can't with just one paragraph that doesn't go anywhere im sorry! i find short replies so unsatisfying and maybe i'm a demanding bitch idk.

TIME TO WRITE?: i try for an hour or two every week day evening GMT. i do my business, then i get into bed and work through my drafts. usually can't do weekends cuz the bf is all up here demanding my attention and shit. ugh men.

ARE YOU LIKE YOUR MUSE(S)?: yeah lol every bit of clown foolery, where they do or say dumb shit, is me. some of them are know it alls like me (looking at you alistair), some of them are dumb like me... giselle... some of them open their mouth and say shit and then go, oops, like me, heather, cory omg...

tagged by: @irrwicht and @temporalobjects (MY BABEESSSS)

tagging: @bvrningshq @okajibana @champagneandparacosm @svndri @sentimentalscientia @lellarps

[invinciblerodent]

Honestly i want to start playing DAO and then go up by release from there till the new one cause it all looks so nice and enjoyable but i haven't even started and i keep hearing about the fandom being the worst of the worst and people actually got truamtized from it im genuinely scared... Im only so new to this gaming fandom thing it started with bg3 and sims 4 and stardew valley for me lol everytime i want to install DAO Tumblr shows me a post about the toxicity of the fandom like its fate herself trying to warn me not to go there lmao

Oh babe, don't worry, really!!!! I'm sorry if I made it sound bad earlier lol, it's... well, it's no worse than regular fandom drama I reckon, it's just the one I'm familiar with, and one that's been around a very, very, very long time. The kind of toxicity there is, I genuinely do not think it is any worse than any other fandom's, it's just kind of what happens to every petri dish if you leave it alone for ten years: turns into something of a meme. But if you follow nice people, and stay out of the tags (as is recommended for every fandom tbh), I don't think you have anything specific to worry about.

I'd be DELIGHTED to see more people feel inspired to pick up Origins, partly because I'm a huge believer of art preservation, and think that old games, old books, and old movies alike deserve to be seen/read/played and enjoyed- in part to be able to appreciate what we have now, in part to see where exactly we came from, and in part to see how things have changed. I think that kind of context is necessary for any meaningful commentary to exist.

DAO is an excellent game, despite what people may say- it's just like 15 years old. Naturally, over that time, it has started to show its age: jokes have aged poorly, mechanics feel dated, people and views have mutated and evolved (nobody is the same person in 2024 that they were in 2009, or at least I hope), and the surrounding social environment as well as the technology have changed drastically, to the point that what was once scandalous and a bold, daring move, now just feels dated, stuck in the past, or even offensive. Media that is already out there does not have the luxury of being able to change and adapt as time passes, and I think we need to keep that in mind.

(Edit: adding a paragraph here because the previous one sounded very apologetic and negative: the cinematics in particular still feel intimately real in DAO, its treatment of the ambient and the limited tools it had is still very immersive, and the writing is very strong. I also remember blushing my way through flirting with Leliana that the first time [as a closeted bi woman who hadn't even realized that she's bi at the time], I remember feeling lost, and vulnerable, and terrified at certain parts, and elated, excited, joyful at others. And I really want everyone to be able to feel like that, and also gain the kind of insight they need to be able to see how far gaming as a genre had come.)

I honestly hope you do end up picking it up, because despite its age, it's still one of my absolute favorite games, and one of the stories that made me fall in love with RPGs, and games in general. I still vividly remember the first time I played it, when I was like 18 (which was 12 years ago at this point), and how it broadened my horizons, because until then, I kinda thought that games were either like the Sims, or like.... idk, first person shooters, not these big, sweeping, immersive stories you can get lost in.

I LOVE these games- I feel like that much is clear, lol. I just don't love the people who insist that there is one right way to love them.

I don't want to turn off anon for exactly messages like yours, but honestly, I do recommend to everyone who is at all concerned to do just that, to block liberally, and control their experience of engaging with the games as harshly or as leniently as they like.

It'll be fine. There will likely be an influx of new people picking the series up for the first time (just like there was with BG3) (though lbr, there will probably be a lot of people FORGETTING that the series is 15 years old but I hope they'll keep an open mind), we'll get a much-needed blood transfusion with people like you, and I genuinely hope that you'll have a very nice experience overall. ❤️

........

Also maybe save my favorite reaction image from ten years ago, and use it liberally. I know I'm gonna:

[tiredassmage]

swtor asks: 46, 39, 43, 22, 26

Woe, more swtor asks be upon us! I had to rotate some of these overnight, lol.

22. One feature not in-game that you'd love to see?

Cheating, I'm giving you two because I wrote a big paragraph about one and then there's also: I'd kill for a playable tech-based sword wielding-class. The fact that only my Force users can use the cool swords and whatnot, but at the expense of robbing them of lightsabers while there's npcs running around swinging vibroswords is a bit of a crime, tbh.

Anyway, it'd be fucking awesome and I'd actually give Tyr a second combat style for it because I think that'd be so hot for him. How much I'd actually play it instead of Operative is maybe a different story because I'm a little stealth princess, but hey, we're talking about options here, lol.

Anyway, on a slightly more... fleshed out note? This gets long quickly, let me put a cut here.

SO. Okay, this may exist and I’m just blind to it because I don’t generally do group or raid content of any kind [hamster peace sign meme here], but FFXIV has something called Party Finder which is sort of… if a group finder and a message board? It’s got sections for dungeons [standard 4 person party composition], trials [8 players], alliances [24 player encounters], etc. XIV players generally use this to build parties for current, on-level higher difficulty content such as extremes or savage raids rather than using the random matchmaker ie group finder equivalent that'd just pitch you into a queue, but it can also be used to form ‘premade’ groups to clear older content either synced [level/abilities adjusted back to release-era] or to overlevel the ever-loving shit out of some poor lvl 60 or 70 boss and just take their lunch money.

It’s a really nice system to even know what content is out there and has several filters/status settings for party conditions like syncing or priorities (are you looking for a learning party focused on clearing at all or doing several preferably quick, clean kills in succession for looting purposes, etc) and you can search by roles/jobs in need. In XIV, I’ve cleared most of the higher difficulty content I’ve seen via Party Finder groups; not all friends want to do the same content/same level of content at the same time, schedules don’t line up, etc., or guilds/free companies just be intimidating, lol. Never fear! Party Finder is here.

Something about the systemic nature of it makes it less intimidating in my brain, too, than like, random shouts on the fleet or whatever to fill groups. Probably the added context of party descriptions and objective labels. If you don't get what they put on the tin, then someone labeled their party finder incorrectly, but it's meant to give you an idea of what you're getting into before you commit and we do love to see that.

26. Weapon of choice?

I agonized over this one, lol. Picking just one was a tricky endeavor because I've fallen into the rabbit hole of personalizing sets down to weapons for different characters, so I have a handful of favorites I've nominated for mention.

I recently got the Frontiersman's Blaster Rifle for Len (I've been eyeing it for probably a month trying to figure out who/which outfit to put it on), Rhyst's most prominent is probably the Inscrutable Dualsaber with... I think a smoky amber color crystal? Oli has the EE-2 Blaster Pistol (I like the blue lights). Nikihlus has the Zakuulan Exile's Sniper Rifle, possibly with a red color crystal, I don't remember if I modded it at all, but the extra shing of the blade attachment when you draw it is everything to me. Annnd Barreth, one of my Consulars, got Vengeance's Unsealed Lightsaber that I have her wield a pair of with a green indestructible crystal.

39. Single saber, twin sabers, or dual sabers?

Hmmm… contextualized as in like, what combat style I prefer, I actually… really like Juggernaut more than Marauder?

Anyway, my OG Consular has a dualsaber and I’ll live and die by the fact that dualsabers kick ass. They’re so cool. Particularly when [maybe cheating] you can, like, detach them and now you have TWO laser swords? [I made his second combat style Sentinel to appease the brain goblins about this.] Adaptability. Cool rating. Really beautiful designs.

Also because Shadows and Assassins have stealth and I am, again, a pretty, pretty stealth princess. Bonus objectives for slaughtering rows and rows of enemies? Don’t know her.

43. Favorite operation?

I've yet to actually do operations because I'm a bit of a scaredy-cat. I know, doesn't translate when I've done 8 man extremes with glee in FFXIV, but I have definitely backed off raiding and gearing related grinds since being in college. They can be pretty involved and I just do not always have the spoons left over to get into performance like that.

I've enjoyed it in XIV though, so I'd be down for giving it a whirl sometime, maybe over the summer when I won't have classes. Work and class schedules kinda also limit my time, so it's a bit intimidating to commit to progression schedules within everything.

46. What do you think of the world events so far?

Oscillating between the interpretation of “what in-game events do you like” and “what do you think of the story,” but I think the latter is more fun and has more meat on the bone.

So! First of all, I am absolutely a story gremlin. I absolutely got into SWTOR primarily for the story and whatever it is or isn’t as a MMO is whatever it is or isn’t. That said, I don’t know why I didn’t expect it to grip me and sink into any little porous opening in my being that it could find, but I’ve been playing for over a year now and it has… done that. I think it’s safe to say that it’s taken over as my primary gaming choice by now, lol.

I have my least favorites among the class stories, for sure, but I’d agree with the consensus that, generally, they’re all good. They’re all good at something. Whatever I dislike about them is more-so down to personal tastes and preferences than jarring faults in the story.

And it’s definitely my favorite way to engage with Star Wars. I was never particularly in to Star Wars - I could enjoy it, I could leave it. I have bones to pick with its consistent dedication to binary and that’s a gripe I could agree with even inside of SWTOR. But I do love the way SWTOR engages with the universe - allows me to engage with the universe. Several of the class stories are not what I’d define as the general fare of Star Wars, or there’s ways to play them that inverse, twist, or otherwise do something cool with something that the movies might not have - that wasn’t the story the movies wanted to tell or what have you.

Trying to pin down the timeline hurts my brain. I hate math as a general rule and I dislike trying to riddle out certainties from conflicting or non-existent information when it comes to timelines, lol, but that’s not a uniquely SWTOR problem. xD

Ultimately, I started playing for the story - I’m still here because I’m invested in the story. I’m invested in my characters and the npcs and companions in a way I fell in love with in my first Bioware experiences in Dragon Age and Mass Effect. The dialogue options - particularly those that are voiced - add such. Chef’s kiss, y’know? It’s a whole different way to engage with a game  and really be a part of it when I can reflect a character’s way of thinking inside of a game like that.

Star Wars as a whole has always been a sort of odd relationship for me in that I have plenty of bigger gripes with what it does or how it does overall, but the universe is full of such potential. I still love some of the potential, some of the pieces of it. I am eager to see what comes of the saboteur options that started with Jedi Under Siege - my main being an Imperial Agent that took the SIS route definitely factors into that, lol.

Something about how the story is set up and how it plays has just… really got me. To describe it kind of feels almost diminishing and it’s difficult, but, in short, I guess I’ve loved the way I can engage with it and the way I can return to it. The many, many possibilities packed into just the class stories alone is so much to explore and it’s so, so fun to get into a character’s headspace and really figure out how that affects everything they see and take forward with them into the expansion content. It’s changes and nuance I can reflect as well as expand upon in writing or headcanons or what have you and it’s just… been a whole lot of fun. Whatever does come of it, I think I’ve found another one of those pieces of media, the kind of ocs that’ll stick with me for years to come and that will always be some part of me and what brings me joy to remember.

Anyway: my favorite of the in-game events that I’ve done so far is Bounty Contracts Week. I have fun with the intro and it’s a nice simple daily rotation.

[hircines-hunter]

Writing Patterns/First 10 Lines Game

Rules: list the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there’s a pattern! (If you don't have 10, do as many as you have!)

Tagged by @vivifriend ! I love this a lot. But I added the first paragraph. It just gives more context and is more interesting. I’m bad at seeing patterns but if you see anything let me know lol.

There’s also a really long collection/series where the latest part just spoils a lot so, I just added the first line from the very first part!

Also, quite possibly obsessed with making LDBs. 😊

Going to tag @madamefluffnstuff @wildhexe @bostoniangirl21 and anyone else (no rush or pressure)

1. Roar of a Wolfborn - Skyrim ; LDB x Farkas

Sifkni’s feet carried her far from her home. Far from everything she’d known. Everything she loved. It didn’t matter anymore. Her heart dropped. What was she going to do now? Everyone was gone.

2. Sivaas - Skyrim ; Werewolf OC x Brynjolf

The dark skinned Bosmer wandered the market stalls in the middle of Riften’s town circle. She perused the wares at each stall, wondering where each of the items were originally procured from. Sure, she could ask where they got the items from but there was no fun in that. She brushed her orange hair behind her ear.

3. Encounters - Elder Scrolls Online ; OC x Zeira

It was a typical sunny and hot day in Abah’s Landing. Aurelia Proxima, an Imperial noble currently residing in the desert, sat in her study. She, however, was not studying. She enjoyed watching the streets below and the study had the best vantage point.

4. The Amazing Adventures and Tales of the Dovahkiin, Elja Iron-Breaker - Skyrim ; LDB x Isran

This journal belongs to Elja Iron-Breaker. If found, please burn the journal.

5. Blessings of the Moons - Skyrim ; OC x OC

Finnki wandered around the entrance of a cave that she cleared of bandits. She made sure she had finished her job before she returned home to Whiterun. The area seemed clear. No traces of living bandits. It would give peace of mind to travelers in the area. She didn’t want any stragglers to stumble about and catch her off guards. It truly seemed peaceful once more.

6. Vestige Liselle Encounters Another Prince ft. Dragons (and Mudcrabs / Just a Ruin (and mudcrab) Advocate - Elder Scrolls Online ; Vestige x Abnur Tharn

I’ve been away from home for so long. I’ve been trekking throughout Hammerfell. The climate is so vastly different from home, but it has its charms and the clothing there is actually comfortable. Breathable.

7. Shadows Preserve Us - Skyrim ; OC x Mercer Frey

Ragna leaned against the damp wood wall of the local tavern, The Bee and the Barb, flipping a coin in her hand. She kept an eye on the busy market. Some of the patrons stood out. She needed to look for someone to help. Help find a rat.

8. Frostfalls of Solstheim - Skyrim ; LDB x Miraak

Do you ever feel like something isn’t right? You do all you can to live and survive. You have a place to live and a family whether they’re blood or not. They’re still family.

But something is calling you.

You need to find ‘home’.

9. Mists of Sovngarde - LDB x Kodlak

Kaetilvi, Dragonborn, Thane of Whiterun, sat on the stairs to the Skyforge next to Jorrvaskr. The Nord woman had a long day of fighting a dragon and once she set foot in the city, to the mead hall it was to drink. And drink she did. She swayed in her seat as she hummed a song, occasionally a string of slurred lyrics would come out.

10. Saga of a Talos worshiping Shield-maiden - Blades ; OC x Henrik

I need to keep certain things about myself discreet lest this fall into the wrong hands. Especially after the war. Especially the mockery of ‘peace’ the Aldmeri Dominion is parading around. Praising. Hunting. Torturing

[demonsfate]

I distinctly remember someone on here saying that Harada said that Tekken is not about romance (Not sure what was the context of that). And while we all know that's OBVIOUS lmao, the answer is, well, not good? Like I kind of understand what he said but adding a bit of good written romance doesn't mean the game is ruined. It's just an extra thing. It doesn't have to define a character it only adds more to it. Buuut, like I said I'm not sure if he really said that. So take it with a grain of salt lol

I'd have to see the tweet itself (I'm assuming he said it on Tweeter) to see if there's further context. Especially because saying it's "not about romance" doesn't necessarily mean he's saying there can't be no romance, or any focus at all. It could be him saying it's just not the utmost important part of the game's story - not a full on romance story - especially if shippers are annoying him. I know Harada has dealt with fans who spam his account with demands or just being "pushy." It's possible this could've happened with ships.

So, I can't really say much on that, because I don't know if he really said this - or if he did, then I don't know the full context of it. But like had he, it'd just be... weird. Given that, whilst yes - they've unfortunately lack chemistry / scenes in recent games - but Xiao always feel she's supposed to be set up to be Jin's love interest - regardless if it's a one sided crush, or not.

And I'm not saying the game has to have romance. Whilst I enjoy shipping, and romantic stories - not everything needs it. But it is weird when it should have romance at times. What I mean is how Jun and Kazuya had a kid together, but their relationship is CANONICALLY ambiguous. Just because the writing / lore never bothered to delve into their relationship, and how it came to be. Thus, the romance is absent. This leads to major confusion, as well as some... unsavory theories from some fans.

So, it's just weird to set up romances, but never go anywhere with them. Either have them, or don't. And in Tek's case, with the way they set up some - it feels like it's necessary. As you said, it doesn't have to be the main focal point, nor does it have to ruin the story. It's just an extra thing.

BUT. I was about to publish this without anything else than what I said last paragraph. But as I was writing this - I did remember TK6. Whether people ship them or not, Lars and Alisa were clearly intended to be a romance by the writers. Especially after Alisa's "death" scene, when "Jin" asks, "don't tell you... you loved it?" (He might have even said "you were in love with it?" But I can't remember exactly. My brain tries to block out a majority of TK6's actual canon.) So, that also makes me a bit doubtful that Harada said something like that - and well, if he did, then people might've mistaken the context of what he meant.