#not to shame all solangelo fans

[lightcassian]

Some of y'all Solangelo fans act like Will isn't his own person, and it shows.

[yonemurishiroku]

I’m going to be honest I think some nico fans are a little to hard on fanfic writer’s people are writing for free and I see it all the time the notes when y’all attack shippers solangelo do this pernico do that people are writing for free and it keeps fandom alive driving people away cause one don’t like a ship is shitty just don’t read the story it free heck I’m in an anime community and if you know anime fans it gets nasty but even they try to not attack writers everyone is agreement not to attack artist drawing but why not extend the same grace to writers

It feels kinda breathless reading this but yeah I get your point and I wholeheartedly agree.

Even before engaging with the PJO fandom, I've been made aware of how nasty a English/Western-based (yeah I made that word up) fandom can get, so I'm mostly prepared to witness some... incidents (?). It's hardly a surprise at this point lmao.

There's always a line to follow. And someone behind you that would yell "Hey! That's mischaracterization!" whenever you're brave enough to escape the prison. This fandom treats unconventionality as if it was a crime, which reduces a lot of the fun. Shame.

I reckon it happens to every character's fandom, not only Nico - like, there should be a line when the community crosses a certain number, their quality decreases as much as it grows bigger. 😂😂😂 And yeah by that same logic, the Nico fandom would be one of the harshest bc the nature of his popularity.

I'm aware of the anime community. Though, if I read it right, anime originates from Japan, and Japan is without a doubt the laxxest when it comes to borderless creativity, so yeah, in a way, it's still better than a fandom brainwashed by the Western purity culture.

By the way, I don't think artists are any better in... whatever this is. if one is hateful towards something, they will attack the creator regardless of whether they're a fanfic writer or fanartist. Perhaps, the artists would have better chances of gaining a certain amount of supporters, who would defend them should need be, but again, that also means they have more risk of encountering nasty viewers as well.

All in all, things are not the brightest (since when they are anw) - that's why I'm here! 🥰🥰 To help destroy it faster, really.

Jk (or maybe not). I am proud to serve as a secure haven for those with unconventional creative sparks, even if it means challenging societal norms - for nothing other than to spite the shipping police, really. I make a point of trying to encourage every type of creativity, moreso to fanfiction just bc I'm mostly engaging it with - not bc my support is limited lol. It's nothing much, but I'll take the fact that you feel safe enough to send me an ask about this issue that I'm doing at least a good job of being the patron lolol.

[parcai]

My Opinions on PJO (and the entire Riordanverse)

Okay so this is going to be a really messy post, but I think I just want to put my two cents out there on just everything, not really explaining why, but just listing my stances. I’ve gotten a few questions about it on FF especially, asking why I don’t include certain characters a lot, or why I don’t like this, or what do I think of that, etc, etc, so here’s basically a loose summary of my opinions on all that ish. Buckle up, ig, bc this might be harsh.

Just a few weeks ago, I got a question asking why I rarely write Leo into my stories. I just said it’s because he never fits in the plot. That was partially honest, but not the whole thing.

Full disclosure? I hate him. I hate his characterization, I hate his development (*cough* or lack thereof *cough*), I hate that he’s Rick’s idea of a sensitive male character, and I think the only people who really like him are kids who just don’t know any better which is not their fault. Actually, I think that’s the case for a lot of Rick’s flaws. His younger, easily impressionable demographic misses it all, and it’s depressing to think that they’re being raised with the understanding that all of this is okay. (I hope they find their way to Tumblr eventually and educate themselves).

I dislike HoO Annabeth especially, and I only like her in people’s fanfics or in bits of PJO.

I despise Rick’s idea of POC characters, especially Piper, and I say that as a POC person. (It makes me even more mad because as a successful author, he had the resources to hire consultants on all his POC character depictions. I don’t think his racist portrayals are purposeful, but rather a direct result of ignorance. But ignorance should be held accountable as well). The only POC person who’s okay is Beckendorf, and that’s probably because Rick never talked about him too much, giving him zero opportunities to fuck him up. I won’t say much about Frank or Hazel for the same reason as Beckendorf: they barely exist. There are def a bunch of poor portrayal moments for both of them, though. (In fact, none of the OG HoO characters got much development at all, and I feel like I don’t even know them, but that’s a separate rant.)

I only like Solangelo because of the fandom, but the canon version is trash. It was a last minute resort to give Nico a romantic interest because he couldn’t come up with a better idea, and it has no development whatsoever. The only reason he probably made them a bigger part of his universe and spin-off books is because he saw how much the fandom loved having representation and he fed off it. Shameful.

Speaking of feeding off fan reactions, Jason’s death in TBM was a cheap money-grab. Most of Rick’s recent books are straight fanservice (like for Solangelo), and when Rick saw that his sales were falling as HoO progressed, he decided to reel back in his original readers by killing off Jason.

Calypso was basically an object and a prize for Leo, so thx for that. Over half of his female characters are Strong Women™ which is a fucking knife to the gut. (And the ones who aren’t are portrayed like villains. Big whoop).

In Kane Chronicles, Carter is portrayed as more useless than Sadie despite knowing more about the mythology and growing up with their father. (Oh, and he’s expressed multiple times as being darker skinned than Sadie. Coincidence? Perhaps.)

In Magnus Chase, the Norse Gods are fucking jokes. At least in PJO, the monsters were fearful, and only the giants were stupid. (Notice I did not say the same for HoO). You’re seriously going to tell me Thor’s just a stupid asshole? Really? Really? At least pretend the stakes exist.

I think that’s about it off the top of my head. Man, that’s like a weight off my chest.

Finally, I just want to say that I understand it’s a children’s series, and I understand it was a decent effort to start being progressive for its time, but tbh, I’m sick of people pretending children’s books are exempt from criticism.

If they’re intended for younger audiences, shouldn’t we actually hold them to higher standards? Wouldn’t we want the best of the best for our youth? This is part of the reason I encourage criticism on my fanfics, and when my book comes out, I want y’all to criticize that shit. If I fuck up a POC character, call me tf out for it. If my representation of a certain group isn’t good enough, fucking call me out. In the second book esp., there are going to be quite a few POC characters (there only 3 in bk 1 as of now; there’s more LGBTQ+ though lol), and I’m trying my best to do a lot of research, but I also fully admit that I am capable of messing up.

I’m not saying Rick did a bad thing by trying to be inclusive, but I am saying he started to get lazy with his research (if he even researched at all), and it shows. I’m not saying to cancel him like JK bc I think he has the potential to grow if he chooses to do so, but I think it’s time we take him down from this pedestal and stop pretending he can do no wrong and acknowledge that there are things that aren’t right about his books as well.

I am saying complacency will kill this nation if we don’t get a mf grip. We can only improve as a society by holding ourselves and each other accountable. If you want me to expand on any of these criticisms, hmu, and I’m happy to explain.

I think I will be writing a post on my female criticism really soon bc I see a lot of posts about the racism recently (which is equally as important, and those threads are well-written and incredible) but not so much about the other things. I think I’ll write one on the female one, the Solangelo one, and the Jason one, and maybe the Magnus Chase one, because I’ve had a lot on my mind about all of those recently.

[bailci]

You probably know who I am based off of who was just liking lots of posts and you have seen my guilt as well I agree with you that there needs to be more solangelo content and good fan art~ ignoring all the toxicity in the current fandom, it's sad to see so much of the old content unaccessable, I was reliving in shameful nostalgia and very little content remains Hopefully there will be a Renaissance of old fans that bring forth new solangelo content- probably not tho because tumblr said no smut

(cont.) (Same anon but I ran out of characters) have some sad faces to express my discontent 😔😔😔😔😔😢😢😢

________

Hey anon. To be honest, I’m really not following much of this fandom drama with solangelo or any other things because I don’t come up here much how I did back then..and I’m more interested in other things too. Sadly a lot of content creators for the ship moved on and I rarely see things about them when I end coming here, so I understand how you feel. But it looks like both Nico and Will will have more parts in the last book? I remember seeing something some time ago..so who knows? Maybe new content (from the people that still likes the ship) will appear!

I try to reblog what I can when I see on the @solangelo blog, so you can follow there to see more old posts if you want? 😊

[nessaiscute]

Okay so I was going through your posts about Solangelo, and I... agree with you. I don't hate Solangelo, and I do want Nico to be happy, but it was really rushed and we never got to see Nico and Will grow as a couple. I think it's a perfect example of Uncle Rick being TOO generous to his readers. It's a real shame, because the fandom throws a fit when it doesn't get its way. (Looks at fandom reaction to Rick's reasoning for not making Reyna lesbian)

this is an exellent point. and for the record im not against Reyna being gay but i accept that she’s just not.  Rick is way too nice to his fans. and they take and take and they are never happy with what he does cause what these fans are trying to say ‘i want every straight pairing to break up and everyone to be gay’ thats all solangelo being canon really did. and now they feel like they have a bone to pick with all straight canon pjo parings. its always kinda humorous to see them try to attack the percabeth fandom and fail miserbly cause you can’t just use a few chapters to compete with 10 whole books of moments. and they try the whole ‘percabeth is boring i don’t make the rules sweetie’ to try to piss people off but they just look like fools not even worth bickering with cause it not the pairing they hate its the fact that percy is a guy and Annabeth is a woman an they love each other. which destoryes their whole ‘all straight pairings are toxic’

and as for the Reyna thing. I saw this coming a mile away. There was this build up with the Reyna fans. Cause there was the line bout not taking the opinon of a man that dosen’t like her serriously. and it just building from there. The thalia bonding which was stupid to take too serriouly cause Thalia is a hunter and once you realize that the hunters aren’t men hating lesbains which was pretty clear how rick sees the whole hunter thing. but it kept builing an now we are where we are. Where Rick is now trash to them. and what really ticks me off, is that we got a lesbain pairing in the ex hunters but 1) due to the fact it once again destories the hunters are men hating lesbains 2) the were old hunters so im willing to bet the real issue with that pairing is that its not ‘sexy’ enough. and theres the whole ‘they aren’t main characters’ so they just get more  mad

greedy assholes. its not like we’ve had like every ethnicity in these books and none of them have been treated like dogs. hell, most of the hated characters are white men who think they’re better then everyone else. Every poc in these books has been amazingly well written and we have tons of interracial pairings. Hell even Drew wasn’t too bad, i may bitch bout her a lot but lets be really clear she could of been way worse. Hell the smartest character in these books is a Hispanic male (and yes Leo is the smartest) and even on the Reyna note shes so powerful and strong. Okay she dosen’t strictly prefer women shes still amazing inspiration to women like her.

and thats all i’ll say for now on this thanks anon I was kinda angry and you helped me calm down

[gatesofember]

Really out of the blue question, how do you deal with solangelo hate? Really love your writings!!

Hi, anon!

Ooh, this is tough.  It’s always hard when someone trash talks something you love, isn’t it?  Sorry it took me a while to reply, I was trying to think of what to say.  Let this be a lesson to you all: if you ask Ember for advice, she’ll write you a frickin’ novel.  To be honest, this might not be the answer you were looking for, but it’s the answer I have to give.  Here are some pointers that I compiled for you.  I kept it generic, so if any of my followers are having similar problems with another ship/fandom, the same advice applies. 

Before you do anything, take a step back.  When you read ship hate, you get sad or angry and you can’t make convincing arguments when you’re fueled by that kind of emotion – and you might do something that could hurt someone else.  Walk away and calm down.

First off, make sure that you aren’t part of the problem.  Sometimes, we all need to be reminded that there are many opinions in fandoms.  Not everyone has to like Solangelo, and Solangelo isn’t the “best ship” or even “better” than anyone else’s (although I do like to claim otherwise on occasion).  Before you get upset, make sure that you aren’t overreacting because someone said they didn’t like Solangelo.  That being said, it’s okay to be upset or sad, and sometimes, people can just be jerks – in which case, they are in the wrong, not you.  I just wanted to point that out because we’re all human and we all can be judgmental, harsh, and rude on occasion.  I’m guilty of it, too.  

Consider whether this is really worth your time.  Is this just some salty comment someone made and tagged with your ship?  If so, they frankly don’t deserve your attention and probably wouldn’t listen to you anyway.  The best thing to do is ignore it.  Don’t try to engage anyone in a fight – it won’t make you feel any better (you’ll just get more upset) and if someone has that kind of hatred and they’re that impolite about it, they’re not going to listen to any arguments that don’t reaffirm what they already believe.  Bitter ship hate is immature and not worth worrying over, especially when the ship is tagged in an attempt to make shippers feel bad, convince them to shop shipping, or just to get attention.  Take it as the rambling of a salty fan or someone with an opposing ship.  Stop right here, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, and go back to browsing through Solangelo fluff.  Heck, take a break from Tumblr or whatever social media you’re on if you have to.

If, however, the person who was saying negative things about your ship was respectful and made a well-thought-out argument, you can probably have a discussion with them about your differences if want to – that is, if you can remain open-minded and calm.  Don’t fight back to prove them wrong; engage in a thoughtful conversation with the goal of understanding one another, which can help the both of you learn to tolerate, accept, and respect each other’s opinions.  It’s healthy to communicate with one another and it helps the fandom become that much better.  And who knows?  You might find a new ship!  (Heck, I found Clico that way.  There’s nothing wrong with multi-shipping!)

Listen before you talk.  Take time to seriously consider the points the other person made.  They’ve put a lot of serious, rational thought into this, so they deserve to be heard.  It shows a great deal of maturity if you’re able to recognize valid points in an opposing argument.  Consider what kind of evidence supports their claims.  For example, they may say that Solangelo happened to quickly.  This is, of course, a matter of opinion rather than a fact, and we don’t know all the details behind how and when they got together.  That being said, it contains a valid point.  Nico did have a lot of baggage to get over and, because we didn’t see what happened in the interim, it does seem a bit fast.  Solangelo is not perfect.  Solangelo has its flaws, just like every other ship.  People are free to like or dislike Solangelo.  Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your ship is better than everyone else’s.

Consider points you might make in defense.  Remember to keep a cool head; fighting doesn’t work, but conversation does.  Going with the example I used before about Solangelo getting together quickly, let’s think about what you can say to make valid arguments in favor of your ship to help someone understand why you disagree.  We know that about six months passed between BoO and THO.  Somewhere during that time, Nico and Will got together.  Saying that six months is too short a time to start a relationship is a matter of opinion, but it is reasonable to say that Nico, with the trauma he went through, might need more time.  You might consider that Nico and Will are 14-15 years old, and, at least in my experience, 14- and 15-year-olds tend to move pretty quickly, so it’s not unrealistic.  Another point you could consider is that those six months took place during the school year.  Camp was empty except for a few year-rounders.  Nico and Will probably saw a lot of each other because there wasn’t much of anyone else to see.  So, while mortals their age only see each other at school or clubs or when hanging out, Nico and Will see each other all the time.  Six months might actually be considered a sizable chunk of time.  A third point you could make is that in BoO, Nico went through quite a bit of character development, and you may question the claim that Nico wasn’t ready for a relationship.

When and if you respond, remember to acknowledge the other person’s claims.  If you show that you understand their argument and except the validity of it, it makes you seem more trustworthy and they’re more likely to take you seriously.  Stay calm, don’t get too aggressive, and respect that they might just have a different opinion than you.  As long as they aren’t hurting anyone, they’re allowed to have an opinion and talk about it.

Remember that you are engaging in civil conversation in order to understand one another’s views.  You’re not trying to convert someone into liking your ship; you can’t force people to like something.  Fandom can be a wonderful thing, but it’s also can be toxic.  It is unhealthy to start getting into ship wars.  You are free to like and dislike ships and to engage in discussion about why, but do not fight, spread ship hate, or shame someone for not liking what you like.  If someone else is spreading ship hate based solely on anger or bitterness, they are in the wrong.  If they are tagging your ship to rile you up, they are in the wrong.  You can’t control what they do, but you can make the choice to be the bigger person.  Keep your head cool, know when to pick your battles, and when it’s time to talk remember to be mature and respectful.

I hope this helps, although I did end up rambling quite a bit.  Thanks for writing!