#the arcane fandom got toxic

[alphajaye071]

Y'all ever take a long break from a fandom and that leads you to remember why you love the piece of media that spawned it?

[arcanegifs]

ARCANE LEAGUE OF LEGENDS S1 -> S2: Vi + 🖕

[jaguarys]

Writing something that is not toxic yuri or toxic yaoi but some sort of fucked up secret third thing

[iminaworldofpureimagination]

being in the atla/arcane/helluva boss fandom I notice this word gets used a lot.

ABUSER

people sure do love to throw that word around... and yet i look to see it for myself and i just don't see it..

[blueraith]

Because fandom etiquette is dead and there's a combination of young folk (not all, obvs but the absolute SHEER lack of consideration makes me think of actual fucking toddlers) who think their takes are hot shit, trolls and flamers, misogynistic gay men who apparently can't stand to see lesbians happy, straights who of course throw a fit when THEY get the doomed ship for once, and braindead tt and twit users who already go out of their way to make each other miserable and bring their ugliness wherever they go, apparently

We're being attacked from all sides, frankly.

For fucks sake, you stupid dipshits I listed above, quit fucking tagging CaitVi, Vi, and Caitlyn if all you want to do is talk shit. MAKE AN ANTI TAG so we can blacklist your miserable, ugly asses

Why does the Caitvi tag seem more useful to fans of OTHER SHIPS and ANTIS CATVI than to fans of the Caitvi ship themselves ? You know... what the Catvi tag is normally used for. I'm tired of seeing anti Catvi people who come and post shit in the tag thinking they're intelligent...

[low-budget-korra]

Arcane Hot Takes

1. The hate on Jayce is mostly for no reason. He was a good guy, genuinely nice and with no toxic masculinity. He never created Hextec to be a weapon or to destroy the world. And only got really mad when Jinx stole his creation and honestly? He had the right to be mad at that. He ain't perfect, he made mistakes but c'mon guys.

2. If you hate on s2 Caitlyn but idolize Silco, you're a hypocrite. The difference is that Caitlyn did all blinded by grief while Silco did blinded by the thirst for power

And speaking of Silco…No, he is not this revolutionary man some of the fandom make him out to be. He was a Mafia boss who filled the streets with drugs, divided and weakened his own community and even used child work in his factories. Yeah, he was not some Che Guevara freedom fighter. All he had was beautiful speeches abt it.

And also not this perfect father figure for Jinx, as he kept filling her paranoias and manipulating her

3. The writers made a miracle managing to end the show in a nice way, but the truth is that Arcane needed at least one more season to be perfect. 

In s2 they rely too much on characters' micro expressions and subtext. Which is not a bad thing at all, but in a first view a lot of things get missed

I already saw s2 three times, so if you think things were poorly explained, try to watch a second time. Better, binge s1 and s2 and I guarantee that a lot of stuff you think was outta nowhere, will make sense.

4. Caitlyn had the best character arc in season 2. Experiencing the phases of grief, getting radicalized and manipulated, opening her eyes and realizing what she was doing, a subtle yet important redemption.

And I Say "subtle" bc even if for me it was obvious, I know for a lot of people, it wasn't.

Also, the haters don't want her to recognize what she did wrong bc she already did, just not with those on the nose dialogues. The haters wanted her to be punished, which she also was. Girl was stabbed in the abdomen, betrayed by her right hand, was almost executed in front of her men, got beat up with a knife still in her abdomen and lost an eye. Yeah, I think she was punished enough and if you wanted more, just admit that you are a bit sadistic and move on

5. Arcane is fiction. Sure, it takes insp in real life problems but is still fiction. Its cool to be able to recognize the themes but project our world problems, anger and frustration towards the characters is stupid and makes you miss a lot of good stuff in the show. If you act radical abt the show, you don't have the right to judge someone that goes radical after losing her mom to a terrorist attack.

It doesn't matter if her mother was rich or something. In fact, Cassandra was one of the few council members, maybe the only one, who actually did something good for the Zaunites as she was the one that created those air filters for people in Zaun, the workers, be able to breathe without getting cancer or smt.

Yes, I know it's the bare minimum but she was the only one doing something. Heimerdinger in his 200y never did something like that and only tried to help Zaun when he was expelled from the council.

6. Vi didn know Jinx was wanting to off herself. Jinx already tricked her a couple times before and “breaking the circle” , from Vi’s pov could mean a lot of things. From offing herself to explode things again. She doesn't watch Arcane guys, she doesn't know Jinx as well as we do.

7. Having Zaunites helping Piltover in the battle wasn't lazy writing or disrespectful. It was literally about the fate of their world, y'all thing Ambessa and Viktor would stop with just Piltover? Who y'all think would be the next target? 

They also used the enforcers uniform because it is a tactical one, useful in a situation like a battle. I can hate on the police all I want but in a situation like that, I would rather go to battle with that stupid uniform and bullet proof vest than go on a simple tank top, jeans and converse.

And this shows how better the Zaunites are compared to Piltover and it's enforcers. They were willing to shallow their hate, their pride and help their oppressors for the greater good. That's a good heart, maturity and emotional intelligence.

[sapphiresaphics]

I remember when The Owl House came out and there was INTENSE shipping of Amity and Luz. There were no other male characters Luz’s age, so the queer ship set sail. Then it was revealed Amity does in fact like Luz and the shipping exploded! By the end of season 1, Lumity was the most popular ship by far in the Owl House fandom.

But then Hunter was introduced in season 2. And the SECOND Luz and Hunter shared screen time together, suddenly there was intense hate and backlash to Amity even existing. Even when Amity kissed Luz and basically solidified them as the endgame couple of the show, there was INTENSE Lunter fanart and posting.

People’s reasoning was that Luz is bi and therefore she can like Hunter just as much as Amity. But it sure as heck didn’t feel like that at the time. As a lesbian in the fandom it felt more like people were trying to use Luz’s bi sexuality to straight wash the ships. And it felt very insidious since this was the first openly queer relationship Disney was allowing on the air. We finally got a queer wlw ship and people were trying to downplay it and take it over, using Luz’s sexuality as an excuse.

It felt targeted.

And it got BAD.

Every time Amity and Luz shared a cute moment together, someone would do re-draws of the scenes but swap out Amity for Hunter. And they’d deliberately tag the Lumity hashtag to force their ship into places it didn’t belong. For the longest time the Lunter hashtag was incredibly toxic and hateful towards anyone who called them out for this wlw erasure.

As the show progressed it became clear Hunter had a crush on Willow. And overnight the Lunter hashtag swapped to being Wintlow instead. They continued to do the same tactics as before, such as redrawing scenes of Lumity as Wintlow instead, but it thankfully stopped encroaching on the Lumity fanbase.

Still, to this day, if you search the Owl House hashtag you will find a disproportionate amount of Hunter X Willow artwork and fanfics.

I think of this whenever I see Jayvik fanart in the Arcane hashtag.

The number of people who are openly dismissive of Caitlyn and Vi and Mel being in relationships is staggering. Saying “whatever Jayce and Viktor had going on is gayer than Caitlyn and Vi!” is just as insidious as what the Lunter fandom was doing to Lumity.

We FINALLY got canon lesbian couples (not even bi, but full blown openly lesbian couples) in Arcane and all the fandom can talk about is Jayce and Viktor. A non-canon gay ship that dismisses Mel entirely and pretends like she never existed while denigrating Violyn because “Caitlyn is a cop and ACAB!”

I’m just so tired of this all. This dismissal of my sexuality and representation by the fandom hurts so much. And it seems to keep happening in every fandom that has a wlw ship.

I’m sure a lot of people aren’t even really aware they’re doing it either. Or they don’t feel like it’s a big deal. But after spending so much of my life YEARNING for canon wlw couples in animated shows, it’s disheartening to say the least how underrepresented we are.

[thatsailormoonkinnie]

Can we just chill??

ok, so, this is my first time being in a big fandom that isn’t like dead, in a WHILE. Safe to say, I forgot how toxic and draining it can be. Like I’m just trying to enjoy things I like and hang out with people who just wanna vibe. But like all the mis-tagged posts and the yelling at each other (mostly over shipping) is just so tiring. I don’t post much, if at all, but like I just need to say something at this point.

I’m a shipper. I love shipping. But omg can we stop trying to kill each other!? Like maybe it’s cause I’m a multi-shipper, but like Ive never understood shipping wars or hating on other ships. For example I don’t like Zaundads (nothing against Zaundads shippers), it’s not my thing, I personally see them as brothers because they are meant to be parallels for Vi and Jinx. But that doesn’t mean I go out of my way to bother Zaundads shippers when they’re doing nothing but enjoying their ship!! Like I was happy for them that they got more content in 2x07! And if for whatever reason you really just CANT..just block it…don’t make that someone else’s problem…?

And the Christian Linke thing. I will admit, at first I was heated too. As an ace person who’s favorite ship is MelJayVik (at first just JayVik but the pipeline swallowed me lol) I didn’t like that part of my identity was being used to invalidate or villainize something I like. However, looking more into the situation has calmed me down a bit, especially seeing how aggressive people are being. Yes, I think Viktor being ace was implemented weirdly and could’ve been handled better. But that doesn’t make Christian some spiteful, evil, homophobic, SoB. Like…could he have revealed it sooner or made it more upfront in the show? Sure. But I think treating him like the devil for that discredits how important he was to the making of Arcane and how hard he fought it in the first place. Like it’s fine to be mad at him, or disagree but, remember, he’s just a guy. A person; we can very easily forget that online.

It just feels like every time I show up to this fandom, I’ll be happy one minute and grimacing as people argue the next. Like I know one post from a rando who never posts anything isn’t gonna stop fandom toxicity. But like can we just all chill out for a minute and think about what you’re arguing about. We all love this show…so why are we yelling at each other..we are the same thing different font fr fr lol. Like I’m just tired at people yelling at each other for…having a good time..? Enjoying what they enjoy…? Existing?

Sorry for kinda long incoherent mini rant. Don’t wanna bring anyone’s mood down. Have a good day nerds. Have fun!!

[thekirammanjinx]

I think there are some people that are overly self righteous when it comes to Arcane in particular, it’s like they have missed the entire point of the show. It’s tiring and disappointing. And it’s so much worse when a sapphic couple is involved.

Like when it comes to CaitVi, people are so critical and striving for an impossible “perfection”. I always see antis being like “well Cait is a cop! I can never support it”, “the jail scene was so icky”, “Cait should have apologized this way.” We give so many passes to heterosexual couples and m/m ships than f/f ships. People really need to pay attention to the context of the show , especially when it comes to subtle details in animation. Also like you said, relationships can be messy and unhealthy at times but that doesn’t define it for the long term. They made that clear about Caitlyn and Vi tbh.

Sorry for the long one but I’m just tired of the constant negativity

Truly people are so self righteous and pretentious. Like no you're not morally better than anyone because you don't like the fictional "cop ship"(as if a million of these dont exist for m/f). People truly did miss the point of the narrative and Cait's role in being an enforcer. A character can be a cop without the show being copaganda.(this got long thank you for the ask)

But if these people lack so much cognitive thinking that every show that involves a cop is copaganda then maybe there is no hope. Truly missing the entire narrative. A story is being told, how about stop thinking you're better than people because you think you're above it all and start actually viewing the media in front of you??

The standards that people put on f/f relationships gets so exhausting. Just because the show didn't unravel in the way they would want in some fanfiction then they deem it bad or unsatisfactory. Or suddenly the character is ooc. Actually I don't think alot of these people know the characters. They've just created a version of these characters in their own head.

Fandom has gotten into the habit of labeling everything "toxic". Like no it's not toxic. They handled real emotions poorly. They made bad decisions in the face of battling said emotions. No Cait/Vi isn't toxic or abusive. People who say they are an example of domestic violence... please for the love look up and learn what domestic violence is.

A moment of physical assault does not necessarily equate to abusive. The two can be mutually exclusive. Please read the narrative in front of you.

I don't know what moral grand standing people think they're achieving but I promise the only thing they'll be achieving is continuing to reduce the f/f representation we get on screen. Why do m/f relationships get to be bumpy and have their ups and downs but f/f have to check off every perfectionist and purist box.

Let f/f be complex. Let f/f relationships that exist in complex universes be complex. Let there be moments that they regret because they lashed out because of their emotions. Let female characters be well rounded.

Speaking of details of animation. This show is so richly crafted, there's so much put into the facial expressions and posture and everything. This is visual media people. Please learn to take in the full picture this is not an audio book or podcast. Watch with your eyes please.

Speaking of giving m/f a pass, i love timebomb but nobody says they're toxic or talks about how jinx was terrible to ekko and the firelights. They got one au episode and suddenly forget all that happened before then? Nobody is begging for an apology there. Nobody is talking about how jinx could've killed them both on the bridge. Or how they had little interaction outside of those scenes if any.

Caitvi is deemed rushed or unsatisfying but they had to pull in an au episode/timeline for ekko to reach out to jinx. People say Vi only arc is in Caitlyn(guess we forgot about vander and jinx--again over simplifying a character story just because it's not what they wanted to see), but what was ekko arc at the end?

I'd be fine if people were giving the same energy across the board but no. Once again we are here watching people tear down a f/f ship.

"We deserve better" bitch China won't even let the girls talk to each other on screen and rest their head on each other's shoulders. Get a grip.

[kuchenkekse]

So I just have to express my happiness, because my beautiful platonic wife just got into Fanfiction and I'm so happy.

I fell into Fandom and Fanfiction as a little innocent girl of eleven years old and I love this chronicle online world with all it's beautiful creative people, with all the toxic nonsense and the absolute brainrot.

I love the essays, the stories, the drawings, the smut and the shitpost. For me Fandom is a big community, with endless little communities that all have their own little things but can connect over excitement, kicking their feet, twirling their hair, giggling, crying, jumping randomly through their room and making bad decisions at 3 am.

And all my life this crazy beautiful world was online, and now one of the most important people in my life is actively part of it and she expires all the things I do.

We share a lot of Fandoms but non quit gave her the kick to go beyond the original, that was untill...

Arcane Season 2, Jayvik. Viktor Nation, truly a glorious evolution.

[arcaneconfessions]

Look I know that not every bad thing popping up about arcane "fans" is what the actual general fans of arcane are like, but damn.... I fear and would hate if any of these "fans" get a hold on to other champions of league. I say this now because of the current thing happening after the "Welcome to Noxus" cinematic.

Way before I knew of league, I came across storyboard for a cancelled movie of league featuring Katarina and Garen. I love that draft animation, it became the first lol content I consumed and the first league ship I actually like. I'm not a league player, I just love animations in general so I watch complete, wip, or abinded vids in youtube. I just found the pairing interesting after reading all the comments in that video, which was posted before arcane.

I'm all for fans shipping characters, but what's happening currently is quite sad. For any of you can't understand my dissappointment with what's happening, imagine: CaitVi has been hinted and has interactions that they're in a relationship for years, other champions know it. Now, still follwing along? Good. Now, the moment one of them are introduce to the general audience (let's say it's Vi), people latched onto to them because they look cool (understandable). Then someone asks, are they for the guys? IMO, it's fair question especially if you didn't know the character at all. A veteran fan comes in and answers, " No, she's lesbian and in a relationship with a Piltover Cop : Caitlyn kiramman". Then suddenly people who never knew these characters lores, hates on Caitlyn even if they don't know anything about her and made judgements as well as starts attacking fans of the CaitVi ship, just because Vi is in a relationship with another woman. Like I get it you don't like the ship because of actual criticisms, espcially if you actually know the lore of these characters but to hate a character because you want them to be for the guys only.... it sounds fucking terrible right? RIGHT?

Look, I get that the amount of wlw ships we have are still lacking, but please for the love of whatever or whoever you respect, please don't start attacking fans of hetero ships. KatGaren is the first ever relationship league of legends, and league have created comics about them for years and other characters from different regions also knew about it. (This is not some fanon interpretation.) It might not be as toxic as toxic yuri and yaoi we all grown to love but istg, a cliche, Vanila and bread straight ship are still good. Please 😭.

Some of ya'll are making me understand why people are annoyed then starts saying the "Not everything is gay" phrase Garen is not even my and otther people's favorite champion (because he is seen as boring, plain, or bland), but ya'll got people defending him. Heck, even haters of the KatGaren ship is defending it now because of how much ya'll start attacking the ship just because someone said Katarina is not for the gals only.

I thought ya'll clowning on Jayce is already bad, but ya'll attacking Garen despite not even being introduced, animated or even alluded to is insane. Please give this spin to win, by the books, himbo a chance guys. I sincerely fear what happens to this fandom when we get a Demacia focused series. I'm hoping that by the time they announce it, we all became chill and not become a mirror of what the game community of league is like and became known for.

- sincerely from a league lore and arcane fan

.

[scarlet-moonlight]

This is gonna be a LONG ass post but

I got around to watching Arcane s1 (I watched s2 without finishing s1 because I didn't want to worry about getting spoiled for all the stuff that will inevitably flood the league tags so I just said fuck it, I did know a little bit about what happened during s1) and now that I did, I think I like s2...less?

Like I thought I was confused while watching s2 because I skipped s1 so I might not have known about what was happening (And I did on some, like I didn't know Silco and Vander were close at one point when I saw the flashback with them and Felicia, or that Singed used to be a mentor for Viktor) but..no. Looking at s1 then back at s2 it really does feel night and day. I think the problem is that s1 is great in how down-to earth and realistic the world, the characters and problems they have, but then in s2, suddenly everything became so much more..bigger. And not in a good way. suddenly everything became so much more bloated with too many characters, conflicts that started/showed up that they needed to end in the same season cause they had to make it 2 seasons even though it could've benefitted from another one or at least anotehr act. The animation is great, the music is great, but even that just feels like well.. spectacle for the sake of it. Especially when it comes to the music, because compared to s1 and s2, s2 is just too music heavy. And I was watching s1 with my sister (who is blind reacting to all of arcane from the start) and I feel like if we finish s1 and get to s2 she might not think of it as good as s1 for the same reasons.

MORE IMPORTANTLY THO I realize how oddly ooc Jayce became from s1 to s2, mostly for his relationship between him and Mel that got sidelined in s2 for viktor. And apparently that was intended by the writers because they liked jayvik more (I used to watch Star vs the forces of evil so this is giving me serious flashbacks to the writers hell that became) Yes Jayce and Mel started off as more or less fuck buddies but there were scenes that showed that they cared about each other that they just..kinda threw away in favor of Jayik. I don't hate jayvik and I liked the memes and all but I also dont like just sidelining a woman (A black, woman no less) in favor of a yaoi ship in the grand year of 2024. Like knowing their relationship in s1 it makes me realize how ooc Jayce and Mel were acting towards each other in s2. I don’t care if they ended up canon or not, but they just acted toxic and indifferent to each other for no reason when they did have scwnes in s1 that showed they cared about each other and now I think they just did this just so they could make Jayvik look better and because of how Mel was done dirty despite me loving her character I am now actively going to ship Meljay out of spite (Also fuck you they both look sexy) (and I also like Viktor by himself away from Jayce, preferably him in s1 because of how cute he was and I want to keep him for myself)

For any arcane only fans, I happen to be a selfship/yumeship blog who's favorite charater happens to be in a really popular yaoi ship (made partially implied by canon and making him all thats ever used for when theres so much else that they can do with his lore instead of just making him an accessory to please fandom, huh doesn't that sound familar?) and I know people would hate on me for also being a girl "getting in the way" if i was in any other part of league fandom (at least tumblr is pretty chill) so don't worry we're at two for two here

Again, I like s2, I think they've done a great job but knowing what happened in s1 and then seeing s2 it just made me feel like there was so much missed potential outside of the already confusing plots and pacing issues I experienced on my first watching

and ykw Im gonna repeat what I said in a previous post in that; fuck yall, I wanted the Mel being pregnant rumors to be true just to spite yall (and that the kid would be Rell)

[julietasgf]

hello! my name is vicó, and welcome to my blog!

brazilian | she/her pronouns | 20yo

I speak english (not my first language), brazilian portuguese and spanish! so feel free to talk to me in all of these three languages!

I'm multifandom. currently, I'm very into tbosas, but more specifically, into sejanus plinth and sejarcus. I do enjoy writing sn*wjanus, but only when they are toxic/abusive. sejanus is my favorite character and if I see an opinion I don't like abt him, I'm blocking (it's nothing personal). I'm highly critical of c*riolanus snow, so if you're fond of him, please, block me or don't follow me, because I'll slander him at some point. I also enjoy writing and creating stuff regarding sejanus' family, the plinths, and I adore ma plinth (I call her by vesta). I'm also a clown who's constantly making jokes.

I enjoy writing a lot of AUs, specially modern setting ones, and I'm not much a canon-compliant type of person (in the sense of not writing many canon compliant fics lol). I also do art sometimes.

other fandoms I may reblog something about: fallout, arcane, F1, HOTD/GOT, sports in general (specially brazilian soccer or brazilian atheletes), etc.

this is my ao3 acc, however, the big majority of my works are posted under anonymous collection. if you want the link to some of them, you can ask me and I'll send it with no problems!

it's important to say that I don't care about the movie. I find it an overall fun piece of media, but I don't like it as an adaptation, and I don't really consider anything regarding it canon, neither I consider the actors (with all respect to them and their work). I prefer going for my designs over the characters to imagine how they look.

I love yapping, and I love meeting new ppl! my inbox is always open to talk about anything!

this pinned post can be updated at any time!

[iminaworldofpureimagination]

as someone who's been in fandoms since 2005 I can say that helluva boss was made for the teenagers growing up in the 2000s esp us invader zim ZADR shippers. its obvious how much influence shows like zim maybe billy/mandy as well.. had on hb as well as disney musicals.. just shippers in general.. it feels like it was made for the shipping side of the fandom.. it probably was..

and eyeing the discourse for caitlyn/vi in arcane as well as helluva boss .. . all the hate feels like its from the generation of people who thought that video games cause violence I dunno where this whole judgemental attitude to what people ship/enjoy came from but its a drain on fandoms and i see nothing to gain out of spending all that energy being hateful to things. i have characters i hate shows i dislike and i spend like 2 percent of time on it.. so t his hating for the sake of trying to prove a moral point makes zero sense to me and guilting people /acing like people are bad for enjoying what you deem as toxic in the end is just toxic itself.

I just don't get why people are so hateful these days in fandoms.. fandoms are meant for fun.. not to be a hater. there's a fine line between criticism and hate and man does hb criticism really cross the line to annoying degress

[kitkatopinions]

TW: Sucide, toxic relationship, slavery, abuser and victim

My biggest pet peeve with stans regardless of the fandom they are in is always "you would've like female character if they were a man" No. Just stop.

If you want the biggest example of everyone hating on a male character even if they swap genders is none other than GOT Jeffrey.

That spoiled brat has no irredeemable qualities he's just a spoiled stuck up brat who everyone cheered when he died.

HOWEVER im not saying that there ISNT any misogyny towards female character/villains because no matter what fandom you are in there will be misogyny most towards fandom that has a large male fanbase (example Star Wars, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Assassin's Creed, etc.)

Having a valid reason to hate a female character/villain is NOT misogyny. I hate Neo because the shows wants us to feel sorry for her because she didn't know what to do after Roman's death but are we forgetting an episode ago she DROVE RUBY TO SUCIDE USING PEOPLE SHE KNOW and then she redeemed herself by killing Cat?

FUCK THAT!

Regardless if Neo was a male anyone who drove someone to sucide will never be liked by me or anyone else.

Here's another one Leonora from Castlevanina is hated because she made Hector a slave and saw him as a pet yet she started to develop feelings for him the more time she spent with him. And many people are disgusted because 1) she enslaved Hector and then develop have feelings and 2) because of the obvious power imbalance/relationship of the abuser and victim.

If a character has a trait that triggers the audience or they don't like them for any actions then they can have a reason why they dislike not. I have many female characters that I hate with valid criticism just how much I hate male characters for that same reason.

Yeah, here's the thing, if I actually thought that anti-rwde posters were honestly concerned about misogyny, I would be very sympathetic.

Every single time a piece of media so much as passes the Bechdol test or has a woman that never wears a bikini, there are a bunch of misogynistic idiots and dudebros who hate it or those women. And in the modern day, only hardcore Trump supporters are out here out and out saying that they hate women and are misogynists and that's why they hate whatever it is they're ranting against. People do very much so use perfectly valid (or not so valid) "real criticisms" because they don't want to say the honest truth, or because they themselves wouldn't recognize their own misogyny. Recognizing that just because someone SAYS they hate a female character because of an action that they did doesn't mean they're not a misogynist is kind of important. The guys who harassed the actress of Rose Tico off of Twitter all hid behind 'valid reasons' for their criticism too.

But here's the thing:

1. It's important to be able to figure out what is and isn't actually a sign of misogyny. There's not a precise rule, but you can do things like see if the thing they hate is an exception or the rule, or see if they're hypocritical about their reasons, or see what kind of language people use. If they come around with "brat" "bitch" "cunt" for female characters, that's a red flag at best!! But yeah, ANY criticism of that kind of thing isn't automatically misogynistic. It's like yeah, a bunch of misogynists hated Taurial in the Hobbit because she's a woman and yes they disguised that by claiming it was for other reasons, but there ARE very valid criticisms and complaints about Taurial and you have to be willing to hear out those things instead if just blanket assigning 'misogyny.' Lots of things from Arcane to something as bad as Twilight has perfectly valid haters that are fine, and then also a bunch of misogynists that are going to pretend or really think they have valid reasons. Somone being unable to tell the two apart probably means that person is too close to the situation and too defensive, but these critics don't want to admit that maybe they're wrong.

2. If this was something like Steven Universe, then the defensiveness would make more sense. If it were a well written slow burn with a cast of characters with well rounded dynamics that the writers put work into and the show was about rebels trying to fight the system for a peaceful life and the show had never sexualized the women and there was hard-fought for groundbreaking queer rep and it was created by a Jewish bisexual non-binary woman, and there were mistakes and valid criticisms of the series, but also a lot of unjustified venom of nothing but bad-faith... Then we'd be having a different conversation. Instead it's a show about badge-carrying law enforcement officers, who fight the evil civil rights group from upsetting the status quo, in a show that has tons of things just 'happen off screen,' with a history of sexualizing some of the main female characters, that only recently confirmed any main character as queer years behind the curve, and that was created by and mostly written for by a bunch of straight cis men most of them having said or done misogynistic things. Anti-rwde posters like to pretend that there's no reason why a great completely non-problematic misunderstood stand-up show like RWBY made with love by the totally not at all a part of RT "CRWBY" should be hated, and therefore it must be because of misogyny, but they aren't living in reality.

3. Most anti-rwde posters actually don't really care about misogyny and they aren't actually basing this on - for lack of a better word - good faith. They don't care about Jaune harem fics or the fanarts of RWBY girls with giant breasts in bikinis, and they don't call out the writers or even RT for their bigotry, and they have quite literally Trump supporters that post anti-rwde stuff, but none of that matters. Instead they spend their time harassing a group of mostly queer women for *checks notes* criticizing a show written by mostly men.

So yeah. I've seen misogyny in rwde posters tbh, and I don't think that "I have valid reasons for disliking them" is always proof that there isn't misogyny at play, but the anti-rwde accusations are nothing, because not only are they blind to the flaws of the show and the writers and are unable to recognize the difference between misogyny and just criticism, but also they're only using these accusations as a screen anyway, because they only ever go after rwde posters with it and are unwilling to call out the blatant misogyny in the rest of the fandom, in the show, or in the writers room. I would take this seriously if I thought this was an actual concern of theirs, but it isn't. They don't actually care about misogyny, they just want their show to be above criticism.

(By the way, I've never seen Game of Thrones or Castlevania so I can't speak to it, and also I like Neo a lot lol. XD Personally for me, villains doing bad things doesn't typically blacklist them for me so long as they're entertaining.)

[frogtender]

HI I WATCHED S2 ACT ONE

and i'm going to be rewatching it multiple times before the next arc comes out bc omg mama we have been fed so fucking good i am REELING I LOVE THIS SHOW SO MUCH

i want to interact with the arcane fandom on here more!!! but please keep in mind my takes are silly and surface-level bc my knowledge of lore is not that good and i'm not that smart <3

my thoughts and feelings below the cut. 100% spoilers livetweeted to my girlfriend so it speaks to her directly in some places but i'm not about to type out any other thinkpiece about this omg

- vi come to our reality bc u would love King for a Day by Pierce the Veil and Kellin Quinn (2012)

- jayce was saying to mel "how is viktor like basically fucking Dead and i wasn't hurt at all??? it should be ME in there (the hex core bacta tank)" and mel was like "there's no sense in things like this it's pointless to speculate" which would be a true and meaningful statement EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT people speculate her shining gold metal back and arm appliqués stuff is a Solarian shield (idk jack shit about Solaris but it's a thing i guess idk) so there is SUCH a chance that jayce was shielded by it but not viktor... which like... would be a dramatic reveal if mel was like "yeah i actually didn't want him to survive so i chose to only shield you" but why the fuck would she do that??? but in the very first shot which is of jayce coming back to awareness he is already Standing Up and mel is standing right next to him while everyone else has been blown tf around so. i am pretty confident that she shielded just the two of them... i hope jayce finds out and resents mel for it while still resenting viktor's machine herald shit omfg what if he blames mel for viktor becoming robot king... like viktor told jayce "i was supposed to die u promised to destroy the hex core" so viktor blames jayce but what if jayce blames mel WHY CANT EVERYONE KISS AND MAKE UP COME TF ON....TOXIC THROUPLE TOXIC THROUPLE

- the important character development of s2e1 was cait being really scared and intimidated about filling her mom's shoes but then by the end she is Girlbossified and has a hextech rifle... with three sights on it??? like regular glass sights but there are three of them? i have no idea how that would be more effective than just a single sight with a really clear lens but i also don't know shit about guns LOL. anyway she marched into the council meeting at the end like "YES I AM A GIRLBOSS AND HERE IS MY PLAN" and ambessa was looking at her a bit concerned... if there ends up being a power showdown between ambessa and cait it will be so fucking wild bc tbh cait is NOT very scary lololol like she's angry and she's got a gun but imo she's still the kind of person who would hesitate before kicking someones teeth in

- ok episode 2 zaun is going full mad max AND steampunk w half people wearing bondage gear and the other half being top hat bespectacled steampunk gentlemen.. its like a chem baron fight for power thing except they all fucking suck and i'm excited for jinx to kill them all (she kills 1/3 of the remaining ones in s2e2)

- VIKTOR IS MACHINE BOYYYYYYYYYYYYY "WHAT AM I" YOU ARE MY PERFECT BEAUTIFUL BOY SON!!!!

- i am so sorry and so delighted to announce that viktor in this form has somehow reached PEAK PATHETIC WET MEOW MEOW HE LOOKS SO GOOD

- i can't believe VIKTOR is being the lead toxic in the yaoi WHAT DO U MEAN U HAVE TO GO... THE ONLY THING KEEPING U TOGETHER WAS AFFECTION.... BRO MARCH UR NEWLY METAL ASS BACK IN THERE AND SMOOCH UR BOYFRIEND HE SAVED YOUR LIFE‼️‼️ augh okay i guess viktor will be an emo cult leader now

- sevika is TOTALLY becoming a new champion she HAS to jinx gave her a really cool new arm... its very silly but very cool i think u will like its concept.. but sevika and jinx team-up goes crazy actually i am a Big Fan‼️‼️

- VIKTOR IS MAKING ALL THE SHIMMER ADDICTS INTO MACHINE PEOPLE..... and it completely heals them and makes them young??????? broski WHAT like that is cool as hell!!! they look super badass after The Transformation even if i wasnt a shimmer addict i'd want him to do that shit to me... no wonder he becomes a cult leader he's earned it

- another episode ending with a vander werewolf tease SHOW ME THE WOLF ‼️‼️‼️ SHOW ME THE WOLFFFF i know at the end of episode 3 these bitches are gonna release da vander and then i will have to wait a week to see him forreal augh

- okay its 1:52pm im terrified to watch this tbh but this is the last minute i can start before hockey game

- EXTREMELY COOL ANIMATIC OMFG AND THE SONG RULES HELLO.... babe u HAVE to see this you'd LOVE IT OMFGGGG ITS SO GOOD

- ooh the dead son is a real dead son and also that old lady with the too young voice (amara i guess) was in fact related to the scary goddess thingy people were hypothesizing??? i think??? but thats who the medarda family has blood feud with ig we don't know much else yet

- YURI KISS OMG CAITVI KISS YURI CONFIRMED YAAAAY THEY GOT THEIR LITTLE DRAMATIC FIRST KISS SCENE WOOOOOO YEAH i was worried they were gonna make us wait for that but hell ya

- omfg there is a CRAAAAZY furry design in this bitch hello... who is she and why is she such a queen

- okay maybe ur right jayce does look unnervingly human LOL there was a scene between him and ekko where he looked WAY too good

- TOXIC YURI TOXIC YURI vi stopped cait from shooting jinx and also btw cait has been on a Being A Bitch arc omfg they were making out 10 minutes ago now they are BROKEN UPPP!!! because a random child has trauma-bonded to jinx as an older sister figure HOW THE TURN TABLES and she shielded jinx w herself and seeing that a child cared that much for jinx made vi falter about killing jinx. who is reckless to an apathetically suicidal degree now

- also um. jayce and da scientists seem to have touched the arcane a little too close bc?? they got transported into a Nothing Dimension and then the very nature of reality started glitching in a CRAZY acid trip sequence while jinx vs vi and cait vs sevika fight was happening... it seemed very much like an Into the Spiderverse kind of thing... very interested to see how this will continue to manifest in the remaining two arcs

- mel was just kidnapped by the black rose (??? cult???) which are the ones ambessa is beefing with.. they better not kill her i love mel i want her back safe she's too beautiful to die

- ambessa is in War Mode and she looks extremely badass even if i think she's at least 70% evil

- also cait shot off jinx's middle finger

- in an EXTREMELY bold move, ambessa appointed CAIT AS GENERAL IN PILTOVER WHICH IS NOW UNDER MARTIAL LAW????? bruh cait is getting an insane arc this season.. she went from naive to vengeance-driven and impulsively violent in 3 episodes

- oh my christ cait is fucking queen of cops now... this is so unfortunate for her character arc and so unfortunate for lesbianism

- ANOTHER VANDER TEASE ARE U FUCKING KIDDING MEEEEEEEE I SAID SHOW ME THE GODDAMN WOLF BRO

- okay so it seems like ambessa has realized that she can use cait as a militant pawn using her grief over her mother's death, bc she sees a ruthless quality in her... srsly cait's arc is insane rn