#the only downside was the toxicity in the fandom.. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

cloudmancy · 9 months ago

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which is worse: d20 tumblr or d20 twitter?

this is such a funny question. frankly I prefer talking with my existing friends over discord over either of them but here's a breakdown of my experience with them

d20 tumblr

feels like a more isolating experience because of the way tumblr is set up in general as a platform. I follow relatively few people here, so all my interactions are from people engaging with my art (love you mwah) or asking me questions. nearly every time I go into a d20 related tag I regret it

I think frankly I disagree with 90% of the opinions on d20 here but because I don't have to see it I can just post my art and go

feels relatively static like there's not a good way to get everyone talking about a specific transformative fandom thing instead of only what's happening in canon because it's a looser more disconnected community

allows for longer posts and the search system on my own blog is great though. I love directing people to go through my tags or archived art

d20 twitter

incredibly, astonishingly, bad at recognizing jokes for people who are fans of a comedy show

way easier to interact with people which means most of the friends I make are from d20twt...

very easy to get everyone talking about one specific thing (ie fhsonas) because of how interactive Twitter is as a platform and how quickly word spreads

downside of this^ is that every time I express an opinion someone disagrees with they tend to assume that this is a majority opinion rather than like, 3-4 popular gay asian artists speaking their mind? when I complained about fhjy 18 battle on here I got interesting and thoughtful reblogs and everyone kept it respectful meanwhile on twitter people started making vaguetweets about how people who hated the episode were morons. stuff like us joking that oisin's grandma's whole mahjong group got murked getting 200 likes VS people directly shitting on us getting 1.7k likes and people going "wait... people are mad about oisins grandma for REAL?! she was going to kill people !!" getting 2k likes. clearly there is some sort of strange authority people put on your words whether or not you're actually just trying to have fun with your friends

I did talk about this more on twitter but I am not a fan of the CRitterfication of d20twt either. feels like much of the fandom is now watching because they're megafans of the cast rather than for the story which leads to some really big toxic positivity bias and the implication that criticism of the show == direct attack on the crew and therefore on THEM because parasocial attachment. I don't think it helps that for a majority of them d20 is their first big fandom experience aside from like... kpop or tswift because they have not developed a lot of the detachment from canon + not being parasocial + ignoring opinions you don't like if they're not directly addressed at you mechanisms that people who've been around have. sorry I'm not trying to fandom elder or whatever here I'm 21 years old but I think it's incredibly hard for me to interact with people whose entire understanding of canon depend on siobhan thompson's opinions like this

tldr;

d20twt has way less reading comprehension and critical thinking skills. better for making friends. I interact almost entirely with 30-40 of my artist friends. (my) d20tumblr experience is more chill and feels like I'm doing a seminar and people come up to ask me questions afterward. more isolating but easier to do my own thing. I do recognize and am fond of a lot of you but I've made one (1) entire friend who I can talk to off platform and not just see on the dash/my notes and that's just the nature of how tumblr works as a platform (it's terrible for conversations)

#asks #anon #long post

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dorkynerd23 · 2 years ago

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The Nuzi Hate Is Ridiculous And Just Saddening/Defending Nuzi.

Alright, so...let me just start off saying that this'll be the last time I'm going to discuss anything drama related, especially what goes on in the Murder Drones Community. Honestly, at least over here on Tumblr, the fandom isn't that bad and awful and is not that much of a trainwreck as it is over on the toxic bird site, but this is something that just NEEDS to be discussed in general. This situation and just the insane amount of drama and fighting that's been happening with the MD fandom lately has honestly been tiring and has taken a toll on me. it honestly has, if I'm gonna be honest, it's been draining and I just don't wanna talk and deal with this anymore. I just wanna move on from this situation and continue obsessing over and watching my favorite robot show and not deal with any of this unnecessary and childish drama anymore!

Anyways, for those who don't know, there's been a lot of arguing and fighting in the Murder Drones fandom as of lately, at least on over on Twitter, but it's been happening over on things like Tik Tok, even YouTube and it isn't uncommon exactly, but it is something that's gotten worse in as the show continues to grow in popularity. The main discussion and arguments when it comes to shipping in the Murder Drones fandom are between Envy (N X V) and Nuzi (N X Uzi) there's other ships in the fandom people like, but Envy and Nuzi are two of the most popular ones and the ones who are often the topics when it comes to shipping wars. I've already discussed and talked about the craziness and drama that's been happening with the fandom with some fans harassing and going after the VA's, people getting on them for their opinions, trying to switch things around to fulfill their egos, ect. But, the main thing I'm going to be talking about with today's topic is Nuzi and the amount of unnecessary hate it's gotten and how I think it's unfair, because it's seriously gotten worse and worse. And if you don't know what the ship Nuzi is and aren't very familiar with the ship or MD itself as a whole, basically, Nuzi is the pairing between Serial Designation N and Uzi Doorman from Murder Drones, who are two of our main characters in the show. Now, people have been shipping these two since the pilot and have enjoyed their interactions and at first in the beginning of the show it seems the show was hinting at the two being just good friends but as time went on, the show started to develop and explore the two and things started to change and the show has started hinting at both N and Uzi starting an eventual romance down the line and hinting at some romantic tension going between them. Now with Uzi, it seems she's definitely starting to fall in love with N and gaining feelings for him, but she seems to downside her crush on him and it's pretty one-sided since meanwhile with N and his side of things, he seems clueless and isn't aware of Uzi's feelings and it seems that he only sees Uzi as a friend and nothing more beyond that and the show hasn't hinted on how N feels about Uzi right now..of course, it's too early to tell for where the relationship between these two will go and it's too early to have N and Uzi fall in love and start an relationship but there is potential and room for them to start a relationship eventually, there's room to dive more into their dynamic and relationship and potential to have a good romance between the two.

Now, as I've stated..Nuzi has gotten an extreme amount of hate lately, some misinformation and rumors have been spread around in the fandom to the point it's caused people to start attacking others who are fans/love the ship and started going after and harassing fans who make fanart of the two, anits and especially diehard shippers of both Envy and Thuzi, (but it's mostly Envy shippers) keep on throwing around and saying the excuses on how Nuzi is a "P*oship" and how N is an adult and Uzi is a minor and how they're siblings, or say how, "Uzi has a crush on Thad!" "N has a crush on V and even admitted it!!" And they'll just use EVERY excuse in the book..they'll turn shit around and do whatever they can to make people feel bad and shitty for simply even adoring and liking Nuzi and finding it cute, hell it's even gotten to the point where some fans started going after others for liking other ships in the fandom like Vizzy/Pink Lemonade, and just any ships involving WD X DD. I'm not kidding, I've seen fans and others argue that Nuzi wouldn't work out because both N and Uzi are different robot species and how on N has killed and slaughtered Uzi's people. Apparently because both N and Uzi can't make a good pairing because they're apparently, "boring and uninteresting" and one is a WD and the other is a DD, but because both V and N are DD's and because they knew each other in the past that automatically means something..? Seriously?? I'm not joking when I say some of these fans are downright ridiculous and childish, they'll do whatever they can to stop people from liking ships like Nuzi and shame people for even enjoying it and make childish hate posts on said ship constantly, and it's overall just so hurtful and ridiculous, Dude. And it's people like them that make this fandom look awful and downright toxic, it's people like them that make others think that everyone in the fandom is like this when that's far from the truth!

I'm honestly really sick and tired of how this fandom mistreats and bullies other people just for simply liking different ships, people have stated that they feel hurt and feel like they can't like certain ships without them being attacked and shitted on, they feel like they can't like something they enjoy without others dragging them down and being hated on. It's ridiculous how some of these fans see Nuzi as the most awful and horrendous ever made and it needs to be forgotten forever. It's ridiculous and laughable how some of these people point out and rant on how much they hate Nuzi, only to make it the only thing they talk about and mention 24/7, some of these people literally just whine and complain about how they're not a fan of said ship. I mean, it's totally fine and okay to not like certain ships and you don't have to love and enjoy the same things as others do, but you don't need to make hate posts all the time and bash others for finding comfort and liking the ship they like, you don't need to make rants 24/7 on how you despite said ship..it just makes you look so damn childish and just unbearable, like okay..you're not a fan of certain ships, okay? JUST MOVE ON!! WE GET IT, just stop harassing and making us feel like shit and horrible people, stop making us feel terrible for loving Nuzi, just move on and just don't interact with us if it bothers some of you so damn much. I mean, it's gotten so bad that some have left the MD fandom because of the toxicity and childish behavior from some of these fans. Just please stop and be nice to one another, it's not right how some of you will harass and do whatever you can to make people feel shitty for enjoying what they love and trying to paint them out as these awful individuals. Like seriously, I just cannot stand shipping wars and I really despise them, shipping wars are such a waste of time and are just an excuse to harass and cause unnecessary drama and it just results with people getting hurt. And I've said this many times before and I'm gonna say it again, shipping shouldn't be the ONLY thing to focus on when watching and getting into any piece of media. There's much more to love and look forward to, there's more to appreciate and shows have more to offer than just ships, SHIPPING AIN'T EVERYTHING.

One more thing I'm gonna add and talk about before we finish up is that..I don't even understand and get the hate Nuzi has received, I mean I'm fine and totally alright with people seeing them as friends and respect their opinions. But, what's with some of these people just disliking and harassing people for seeing the two more than just friends and wanting them to be something more? I've seen people argue and say that it's either too cliche and just call both Uzi and N, Starco 2.0. And it's just ridiculous how some of these fans and antis act whenever there's moments with Uzi and N together or when the show is hinting at a possibility of the two being an item someday. Is this seriously how these toxic fans are gonna act whenever Nuzi have any moments together?? Whether it's romantic or not? It just seems the idea of Uzi and N being something more just burns these fans up inside and just frustrates them to the core. Nuzi ISN'T what you guys think it is and it's more than that, nothing is being rushed and forced and nothing is being written poorly between them either, and they AREN'T another Starco. Also, Nuzi isn't just here for fanservice, these moments we've gotten with Uzi and N were already planned out and worked on, MD has been in the works and in production since about 2020, wayyy before the show even came out and before the fandom was even a thing. Uzi and N were already planned and hinted at being something more and having something special between them, they were always meant to have something deeper and important and the show seems to be going the route in wanting to develop further into Uzi and N's dynamic and their relationship as a whole. The scenes we've gotten for Uzi and N have always been planned out and if Nuzi happens and becomes a thing in the series, it's because Liam wants it to be and planned it that way, NOT BECAUSE OF FANSERVICE!! It's fine if you're not a fan of the pairing and just don't find any interest in it, you can love and like what you want. But please stop acting like it's a big deal and something to get angry about, because it's not..it's not worth it. It's not worth throwing tantrums and acting over the top about, just move on and ignore.

Anyways, this is all I've wanted to talk about when it comes to this Nuzi hate and the drama that surrounds the ship when it comes to the fandom, I've just wanted to give my thoughts. Also, everyone in the Murder Drones Community, just PLEASE be nice and kind to one another and respect each other's opinions. ♥️ You guys are better than this and getting into arguments and shipping wars aren't worth it and are just plain silly, doing any of this just results in people being hurt and affected, getting into shipping wars aren't worth it and they're are better things to do. Please, be nice to each other and if you aren't a fan of certain ships in the show then that's fine and alright. Just move on and scroll away and respect other's feelings and opinions, you don't have to like a ship that's popular or what many seem to like! Just don't be a dick and treat others like crap and make hate posts just because you're not a fan of said ship, just please move on and keep moving forward! Plain and simple, just ignore and move on with your day, mistreating and hurting others just isn't worth it.

#murder drones #liam vickers animation #glitch productions #small psa #important #vent post sorta..?#shipping wars suck #shipping wars rant #murder drones shipping stuff

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sclfmastery · 27 days ago

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Since I've been away for more than a month, I feel like I should gently reiterate that: A) I don't have a "favorite" DW showrunner; I think each of the three NuWho showrunners has done excellent and terrible work in different respects and at different points, and I really can't disregard any era as pure trash. What I really want is someone who isn't an old white cis man to run Doctor Who (look, a girl can dream). I only mention this because it seems to remain the chief reason for toxic in-fandom arguing re Doctor Who, and I noticed it coming back up on my For You feed, as it always seems to when a new episode emerges from the aether, lol. and B) when I was in my twenties and early thirties, my vocation (education) carried over into how I interacted with media; I believed that if I argued a point as clearly and politely as I was able, with enough persistence and solid empirical evidence, I could have a productive conversation with other fans who had very different interpretations of canon. I am no longer impeded by this logical fallacy, LMAO. And I don't say that with scorn: We each interact with media and with fandom for complex, nuanced and sometimes intractably personal reasons. Disrupting someone else's experience of canon can therefore be unnecessarily cruel. So I now live and let live, because I am old-ish and tired and IRL has recently eaten up way, WAY more of my free time (and not in entirely negative ways).

This is a long-winded way of saying that if you have a take I don't agree with, and it feels like you expressed that take to vent, to reassure yourself, or to invalidate other views, I'll recognize the futility of the exercise and not engage.

The downside of this is that this seems to be increasingly the case for people who want to stay sane across the platform, and that doesn't bode well for fandom on Tumblr or on online spaces in general.

Buuuut. All I can do is be here, have fun when I can, and be receptive when I have the energy for it. <3

#ooc #psa

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starcwrld · 1 year ago

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:: THE FANBASE OF STARCLUSTER ::

in this post you'll find: fanbase info, most known members in the fanbase, twt pfps you should avoid, and the starcluster iceberg!

So first, their fanbase is big and I could see their fanbase getting pretty wild at times.

Like think there would be a lot of fighting within the fanbase and they wouldn’t really fight other fanbases

Like I think there would be a lot of solo stans so the solo stans would be fighting each other and then ot5 fans would be fighting the solo stans for being ‘fake’ so it would be like a constant civil war.

In terms of the most popular members it goes: Hana, Soyi, Ichika, Kiyoko, and Minji.

I think the loudest of the solo stans would be Soyi and Ichika’s fans like I could see them being very vocal within the community and also like really annoying in a way? Like think of the stan loona under every single tweet yeah that would be ichika fans.

Minji fans would be chill but their only downside is that they like make her seem like a victim a lot like the situation could not even be about her but somehow Minji is a victim in it so…

Kiyoko fans are also pretty chill ! I think women make up a lot of her fanbase, unlike Ichika who has the most male fans. I think they mind their own business and tend to stay out of the drama BUT they are really lazy in terms of their support ?

Hana’s fans would kinda be a mix of them ? Like some of them would be toxic, some of them would be chill, there would be toxic fanboys and lazy fans so like it would be hard to generalize her fanbase.

From an outsider looking in, the whole fanbase seems pretty normal but like when you get on starcluster twitter or starcluster tiktok is when you see how they act with each other LOLL

:: MOST WELL KNOWN FANS WITHIN THE COMMUNITY ::

1 !! Anna <3

The known member in the fanbase !!

She of course mainly focuses on Hana since that is her bias but she does support all five of the girls.

She’s from LA and is also known to contain the biggest starcluster collection like she has every album, exclusive albums, monographs, exclusive photocards, merch, exclusive merch, you name it she most likely has it!

She’s also the main fan site that gets interacted with by Hana and a few other members! She gets the most interactions from members.

She’s also kinda worshipped among the fans which is kinda ??

Like her words and opinions are law in the fanbase and she’s also usually the first to report on member incidents and have like exclusive details because its rumored that she gets inside info from somewhere :O

Overall, she’s loved, liked and respected by the fanbase!

2 !! Luna <3

Kinda problematic just like her bias !!

She’s known to be VERY vocal about her opinions she does not shut up and she’s not afraid to say what's on her mind!

Is the first defender of Soyi (and the rest of the girls but she does not come to play with Soyi)

Did Soyi rob a bank? Well, it’s the bank's fault for having no security and that’s not even something Soyi would do.

Did Soyi burn down an entire town? It was an accident!

Like Soyi does no wrong to her and yeah she will throw out her morals for this girl so she is kinda weird :/

Anyways, she’s 50/50 within the fanbase like people respect her/go to her when the girls need something (like if another member is in a scandal or is getting attacked and they want defense LOL) but they also attack her at times too and tend to blame her for bad things that happen within the fanbase and the bad looks the fanbase gets.

3 !! Yuri and Nako <3

They are at a tie and are also complete opposites…

Yuri is well-known in the community and is kinda like the golden child. If the fandom was a mini-version of Starcluster, then she would be the exact replica of Ichika. She’s well-liked and protected.

She gives Ichika a lot of gifts though and is a main supporter when it comes to buying albums.

She’s pretty quiet about her personal life but she actually revealed that she’s a hairdresser and makeup artist and worked with the girls once on one of their concerts in Japan! (it’s thanks to Hana and Soyi that she got the job since they stalk their fanbase the most LOL)

Nako is a bit 50/50 like he’s a toxic solo stan most of the time but sometimes he’s tolerable I guess….

He spends the most money out of all of these fansites that are going to be mentioned. Like he once spent 5k just trying to get into a fancall with Ichika…. (he didn’t get in)

He’s like decent overall but he is a toxic fanboy and makes his whole life revolve around the girls so !

4 !! Chalita <3

She’s honestly the best well-known person within the fanbase.

Like Anna, she supports all the girls but obviously gives a bit more for minji.

She’s actually met Minji and has also taken a few classes through Starseed in music production and so she’s actually talked to minji! They have contact info and everything!

Super quiet in the fanbase as well like not much is known about her bc all she tweets about is starcluster things so she keeps her private life completely away from social media!

It is rumored that she’s an intern at Starseed too :O

5 !! Tori <3

Another chill fanbase member !

She’s more involved in the fandom though like she’s constantly posting and she’s pretty open about her social life.

She’s a ballerina and posts about that a lot and she’s even preformed for starseed entertainment once and took some dancing classes there as well !

She’s pretty popular online outside of being in the fanbase like she has a pretty big instagram and tiktok following and not many people know she has a fan account for kiyoko LOL.

She’s kinda a microcelebrity basically with a little fan acc for her bias <3

:: EXTRAS ::

run if you see these icons

the iceberg

#fake kpop gg #fictional idol group #idol oc #bts addition #oc kpop idol #fake kpop group #fictional kpop idol #idol oc gg #nct addition #fictional idol community #: ̗̀➛ 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 ⊱┊𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓮 #: ̗̀➛ 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓬𝓵𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻 ⊱┊𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓸 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼��

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dangan-kagura · 1 year ago

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Three Danganronpa Characters the Fandom Ruined for Me

I know I've shared stuff like this before, but right now, I'm having a really shitty week and felt like writing this. These are characters in Danganronpa that I feel like that fandom has ruined for me and have got me thinking just how toxic the Danganronpa fandom can be sometimes. Two of them are characters I do enjoy, while the other one is a character that makes me uncomfortable sometimes.

Shuichi Saihara

Shuichi is one of my favorites, but sometimes, I don’t like it when people call characters like Shuichi “emo” all because he dresses in black and has a very dark or negative personality. It’s not that I don’t like emo, it’s more like, I feel like people are using it the wrong way. I feel like when it comes to characters that have tall, dark, and mysterious personalities and dress in black and have eye-covered bangs, people just assume they’re emo, but I just think that’s really stupid.

Here’s something that I’ll share, during my research about what the emo stereotype is like, one fact I found was that emo claims to glorify suicide. Now in terms of music groups that carry the emo label, do you really think that a band like Fall Out Boy would sing songs about expressing suicidal thoughts? Let me share this, I’m a bit of a fan of the American Pie movies, and in terms of what songs are in the series’ soundtracks, the majority of them come from bands that carry the emo label. And let me ask you this, do you really think the cast of American Pie are emo? Would Jason Biggs’ character be any similar to how the Danganronpa fandom portrays Shuichi? Moreover, when I was doing research about a list of songs that are about suicide, only about a few songs I was familiar with came from bands that carry the emo label, the remaining songs I was familiar with came from bands that don’t carry the label.

To me, I don’t personally use the term emo, instead I use subgenre terms like pop-punk or post-hardcore. I just think that depending on the theme of a modern rock band, people could just slam the emo label on any music group even if they aren’t part of that subculture, and I don’t want to be doing that. In fact, back when the emo backlash came out during the late 2000s, I had assumed nu metal bands like Linkin Park were emo, boy was I wrong. And I would be damned if I met someone who was dumb enough to believe that the reason for Kurt Cobain’s suicide was because Kurt Cobain was influenced by emo. FUCKING FALSE!

Okay, sorry about that last one. I just feel like people should be more careful with how they use the word emo, and at this point, I feel like emo is dead. I just think that characters like Shuichi shouldn’t be treated like this.

Ibuki Mioda

If you’ve read my really long blog on why I don’t like Ibuki, you’ll know that it’s because I don’t like both Ibuki’s music and her popularity in the fandom. Having to see Ibuki make references to death metal or any similar subgenre, whether it’s in the games or the fandom, just feels like a red flag for me.

But here’s something that I will explain that I never got to fully explain. There are fans that do seem to headcanon Ibuki as being a fan of music groups that aren’t death metal. The downside is that some of them aren’t music groups I would approve of. While most fans headcanon Ibuki being into punk, I’m a little disgusted from seeing headcanons that have Ibuki being a fan of emo/screamo shit, that kind of music is just fucking disgusting for me. In fact, I find it unfortunate that most fans don’t headcanon Ibuki as a fan of hard rock and metal bands with female lead singers, examples are bands like Halestorm, Otep, and Kittie. Moreover, it’s worth mentioning that Ibuki has a FTE that references the song “Freak on a Leash” by the nu metal band Korn, and out of the three bands I mentioned, Otep and Kittie also play nu metal. I’m not saying fans should headcanon Ibuki as a fan of that particular subgenre, I just never met anyone in the fandom who likes these bands. I actually do enjoy certain nu metal bands every now and then, so I can tolerate Otep and Kittie’s music, although I’m personally more of a fan of Halestorm’s music and I think that band has a few songs Ibuki might like. Nu metal aside, I also find it unfortunate that fans don’t seem to headcanon Ibuki as a fan of kawaii metal, which is literally a fusion of metal and J-pop idol music.

Getting back to the fandom, I really don’t like seeing Ibuki make any sort of reference to crap genres involving death growls. It’s just not cool or funny, it’s just seriously dark, and I’ve never met anyone who feels the same as I do. Read my long blog for more info.

Kirumi Tojo

I’m gonna admit that there are times where Kirumi can be a comfort character for me. There are times where I’ll cry over her death, and her love suite event is comforting sometimes. The downside is that I don’t like what fans are doing to her, namely the 2B jokes. I’ve already posted a blog about why I don’t like that and that characters like Kirumi shouldn’t be treated like that.

Obviously, the reason this bothers me is because I’ve failed to see the big deal about Nier and don’t really find it to be an interesting game. In fact, I’m more bothered to see how massively popular it’s become, to the point where the game's soundtrack is apparently one of the top soundtracks on iTunes, literally. But I won’t get into too much detail as to why I don’t like Nier, I just think it’s ugly, overrated, and the fandom is probably toxic.

Getting back to Kirumi, when I first met her, she actually reminded me of the Touhou maid, Sakuya Izayoi. Earlier in the year at the time (like, mid-2021) I was already getting into Touhou after learning about Sakuya and the fangame Koumajou Densetsu II. Afterwards, I fell in love with Sakuya after learning more about her. At least Sakuya is a fan favorite in the Touhou fandom whereas Kirumi is only acknowledged for being a gothic maid that believes in selfless devotion and being the prime minister. And at least I’ve never seen anyone pull off that 2B meme on Sakuya and frankly don’t want to see that.

I just feel like my opinion about Kirumi is different from the majority and I’m sick of seeing how the majority sees her, and the more I see it, the more likely I’ll lose interest in Kirumi and I don’t want to let her go. Is it wrong for me to like Kirumi? I just don’t want to let her go because I felt something for her death and I don’t want to forget about her. But I honestly just don’t get what the big deal is with Nier, what is it about that game that everyone loves so much?

And just as I don’t like seeing people make Kirumi look like 2B, I also hate it when people make jokes about Ibuki looking like Twilight Sparkle, but that’s a different story.

In Conclusion

Overall, seeing how Shuichi, Ibuki, and Kirumi are portrayed in the fandom just bothers me. I don’t like it when fans call Shuichi emo, I don’t like seeing Ibuki sing in death growls and act like an idiot who thinks she has her shit together, and I don’t like seeing Kirumi wear a blindfold. Having to see all three of them like that makes me realize just how toxic the Danganronpa fandom can be sometimes, but that’s just my opinion.

#danganronpa #sdr2 #ndrv3 #shuichi saihara #ibuki mioda #kirumi tojo #blog #rant #super danganronpa 2 #goodbye despair #new danganronpa v3 #killing harmony #danganronpa fandom #toxic danganronpa fandom #characters the fandom ruined for me #looking back on this #i should've included nagito

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corpyburd · 3 months ago

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Had enough of the toxic swamp "X" formerly Twitter?

Looking at Bluesky🦋 but feel you'll lose touch with your favourite X accounts?

Set up an account & go to feeds. Scroll down your interests to select.

Then search & check out the starter packs. There are Fandom packs appearing everyday.💖

👏No annoying adverts👏

Only downside is the 1 minute videos uploads. You can use their Tenor gifs but found uploading my my own a bit glitchy.

Many users report finding a friendly atmosphere & good vibes on Bluesky.💖

#bluesky #twitter #platform known as x #elon musk #mental health #resource #help #fandom

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ao3feed-toshinko · 4 months ago

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"Love Me, All Might!"

by HaveACalmHeart

Being a famous hero comes with it's downsides. All Might's being chased by lovestruck fangirls, and now backed into a corner, he needed an excuse to escape. And that's when he saw her.

Inspired from the song "Love Me Cheerilee" by The Wooden Toaster and The Living Tombstone First (and probably only) MHA fanfiction.

Words: 3711, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia (Anime & Manga)

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Inko

Relationships: Midoriya Inko/Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Midoriya Inko & Yagi Toshinori | All Might

Additional Tags: Pre-Canon, Takes place during MHA Vigilantes spin-off, parasocial relationships, Toxic fans, stans, Yagi Toshinori | All Might is a Dork, Shy Yagi Toshinori | All Might, Saved by Mama Midoriya, Toshinko - Freeform, as a bonus, All Might encountering a parasocial situation, Toshinori is just too sweet, Second half of fic is during cannon, don't know what else to tag, We need more fics focused on ToshInko

https://archiveofourown.org/works/59885464

#ao3feed #toshinko #all might #yagi Toshinori #Inko Midoriya

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roseonthewindow · 8 months ago

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Amusing.

It is Whore Dirt and Trash I see.... I assumed after, what over ten years, the most toxic Kingdom Hearts Roxas (dirt) and their group of bully fucks that Included the worst Alistair (trash) from Devil may cry rp fandom would have grown the FUCK up.

It appears they recognized me but there is one huge downside... the only matching info is a not public e-mail and my conection to sandboxing that cyber terrorist (whore) they keept running cover for. 35 is not a minor, arrested for harassment is not a innocent person having openly violated countless of tumblrs TOS at the time and not been removed is a issue Having private information not attainable as they claimed was and still is criminal acts intimidation slander criminal stalking, pretending to be a police officer... do I need to go on you three are far too quick to be on my ass even back in the previous character I bet you can't even get the Fandom right. The only people I interacted with know why I left, they are not Littles anymore you guys are welcome to come bother me in my inbox. As for whore trash and dirt, CAM YOU FINNALY GROW THE FUCK UP AND REALIZE THAT WHORE IS A PSYCHOPATH.

#out of character

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et-ceterra · 2 years ago

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There was a post I read today that talked about the vastly different One Piece fandom experience that you get on various platforms, and I think this is a common trend that can be found across multiple fandoms.

Here’s the original post:

By nature, some platforms allow for longer form content which in turn allows for more time within the video/post to explore nuanced takes and topics within the fandom/lore. Often there are open discussions that follow and the creator usually encourages people to share if they disagree or have another idea to consider. Of course there are exceptions, but the fact remains that I'm not opening up Tiktok to look for a nuanced video essay on a character's psychology.

Tiktok is also a much more accessible platform for anyone to create and post a video, or in Twitter’s case, a short tweet. Due to the algorithm, it is easy for anyone to go viral. This comes with a negative downside, though, as it is much easier for anyone to quickly spread negativity and hate in a video that took them thirty seconds to film, or leave short comments on said videos. There is less room for ambiguity or disagreement, and these factors contribute to the reason that the Tiktok and Twitter parts of fandoms are often more negative and argumentative. Of course toxicity can manifest anywhere, and it does, but I think it's to a much lesser degree on other platforms than, for example, Twitter.

It becomes an ongoing cycle, with people knowing that they can reach a large audience more easily on certain platforms, so they post more on those platforms, so more people see that they can post on those platforms and be heard, so they start doing the same thing, if that makes any sense. Basically, everyone knows that there are different types of discourse on different social media platforms, and depending on what they are looking for, they will spend time on that one.

It can be easy to become enthralled by the anonymity and accessibility of posting online, and some sites make it easier than others to interact with as many people as possible. Unfortunately, this often leads to people becoming only concerned with presenting their opinions to other users as fact. And they are often very condescending and negative toward either the source material or other people who have opposing takes. There is nothing wrong with putting out one’s opinions online or talking about things you dislike in the source material until it comes to the point that any other view is wrong and there is no room for actual discussion or disagreement. It’s okay to disagree with each other! It’s okay to disagree on ships or favorite characters or an author’s writing! Note that I am not advocating for every situation to be absolved by an “agree to disagree” mentality, like obviously that does not apply in every situation. I am mainly referring to petty disagreements that aren’t about serious issues, yet they get blown up to be the source of a rift in a fandom.

This is not to say that short form content is all bad. In the context of fandoms, being able to reach a large amount of people relatively quickly is great because it brings together a whole community and exposes it to others outside the fandom, who may decide to start reading again or check out a new show they saw recommended on Tiktok. Knowing this, there is a specific consideration that comes with posting on short form content platforms. It’s much harder to clarify oneself and acknowledge other sides in 140 characters or a sixty second video. The platform simply isn’t set up in a way that easily allows for in-depth, nuanced discussion. Some people aren’t very open to that in the first place, and Tiktok etc just pushes that sentiment further.

Let’s be honest, a good majority of the people on tumblr have some general idea of how to interact within a fandom, as a lot of users joined for that exact reason. Content creators do most of the work on YouTube, with the viewers mainly consuming said content. They have also usually had a more stable, long term career than creators on Tiktok, Instagram, etc and so fans have a better idea of what to expect from them and what discourse in the comments should look like. Pinterest is mostly saving images to one’s own boards; it’s more consuming content than creating it. A huge part of the tumblr ecosystem is reblogging, which is sharing other people’s thoughts. The way that Tiktok, Twitter etc are set up more encourages sharing one’s own opinions without considering other people’s perspectives. This contributes to the adoption of the idea that there is only one correct way to view a certain character, plot point, or concept. In turn, this leads to aggression and negativity when people inevitably have different opinions, often causing the fandom as a whole to have a bad reputation. There will always be toxic people everywhere online; they’re just more visible on sites like Twitter and Tiktok.

Being able to share your own thoughts with people with similar interests as you is an amazing thing, and so much great discussion has come about thanks to the easy access of these social media platforms. I don’t mean to sound like I’m saying “technology bad” because it isn’t! Half the reason why I get invested in books and shows is to have interactions with other fans online and hear their thoughts. But it’s really unfortunate when the conversation shifts from actual critique/praise of character development and worldbuilding to unnecessary drama and negativity. And it is so, so easy to add to the spiral of negativity and aggression. We become so defensive of our own views that it completely closes us off to criticism and new perspectives, and gatekeeping and insults ensue.

In the case of fandoms on social media, most people simply want to have a good time, share ideas, and cry over fictional characters. In reality, there is often so little of actually trying to understand different perspectives that the environment becomes hostile and unwelcoming. It’s a better experience for everyone when that black-and-white mentality is dropped and instead, people are allowed to disagree with each other and the source material without feeling personally attacked by others in the same community. Op is right; it’s a pretty sad way to interact with others who, at the end of the day, simply want to have fun talking about stories.

#maybe I’m just stating things everyone already knows #but idk the difference between different platforms has always been really interesting to me #if you disagree you’re wrong #and there is no room for discussion #/j of course #fandom

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weedle-testaburger · 3 years ago

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something I find pretty funny about the owl house fandom is it's basically the product of every other gay cartoon or cartoon liked by gays's fandoms squashed together into one thing because all those other shows have ended now so this is all the new content we're getting

#personal crap #the owl house #not to say toh isn't great ofc it is #but i doubt it'd be as big as it is if adventure time gf su she-ra etc. were still on #the downside is it's also now the only kid's show still on with lgbtq rep #given all this I'm amazed the fandom isn't an infamously toxic mess #I'll be really interested to see if the ghost and molly mcgee changes any of that #since apparently that'll have 'queer themes'#idk if that just means it'll bait people and have background rep like svtfoe though :p #i should mention i also love that this shows in stuff like people thinking eda is stan's ex or hunter loves su

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canyonemoon · 4 years ago

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dream released a song???

he did! it’s called ‘road trip’ and it has really nice summer-y, road trip vibes!:D

#only downside is that the fandom is trying to push that streamstream culture #like....nah just vibe with it #it's a toxic culture in this fandom and the bts fandom dont go down that road #ask #anon #kat tag

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bestworstcase · 2 years ago

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do you think there's anything to be implied about the quality of rwby's writing and framing in light of how much of the audience misinterprets salem/oz and the role of the gods? i see so many people reading the lost fable as a straightforward condemnation of salem and ozma as a pretty basic tragic hero that it makes me nervous about the future of the show and that IM reading too much into things when i see more nuance in salem. are that many people really that shallow when engaging with rwby? idk

nah people are—well tbh i think what it comes down to mainly is that fandom is not really centered around critical analysis, it’s centered on transformative engagement, and while these are by no means mutually exclusive endeavors they are in fact. Different. analytical vs transformative approaches to the text are different endeavors with different goals requiring different skillsets and can but do not inherently overlap. frankly in fandom spaces i think real textual analysis is not just ancillary but actively discouraged; nobody is quicker to respond to analytical discussions with “it’s not that deep” than a fan who doesn’t like the discussion and there is a noticeable tendency in fandom spaces for any analysis that isn’t 100% ebullient to be read as negativity or critical—e.g. note the frequency with which my reading of ozma is interpreted as character bashing—which isn’t to say that fandoms do not engage analytically at all, but in broad terms there is something of an unspoken… chilliness toward textual analysis in fandom culture. and i am saying this from the perspective of having written a lot of textual analysis and a lot of fanfiction across different fandoms; there is A Pattern. you write a detailed analytical breakdown of your reading of a character and see people tagging it fandom negativity while gushing about the detailed character study you wrote based on that same reading enough times and you start to pick up on the fact that maybe fandoms are not really built for analytical engagement. there is also the whole thing where fandom has an entire category of headcanon predicated on “this thing happened in the text but i don’t like it so no it didn’t” and a second entire category predicated on “this has no basis and is possibly out of character but i like it so happened actually” lmao [TO BE CLEAR THIS IS NOT A VALUE JUDGMENT I HAVE NONSENSE HEADCANONS ALSO ITS FINE.]

anyway this is all fine but! because fandoms devote the bulk of their collective energy into pouring out vast endless streams of like, fanfic and fanart and headcanon and “ship dynamics” [i still do not quite understand what these are] and incorrect quote mills and so forth you tend to get a sort of collective flattening of the text. there is a tendency for characters to be stripped down and reduced to small easily-manageable sets of tropes derived more from aesthetics and first impressions and for any moral complexity to be boiled down to simple black and white and for unique worldbuilding to be smudged a bit until it resembles its nearest recognizable trope. there is a sort of creative entropy. a smooth surface is easier to write on. also sometimes fans do not Obsessively Rewatch The Show four times in the space of a year and over time details get memetically blurred and this, obviously, is detrimental to the overall fidelity-to-canon of popular fanon.

and then like the thing to remember about rwby is it’s a very detail-oriented story, and one that respects its audience. the one downside of that storytelling approach is that fandom is uniquely ill-equipped for it (think about how many people Completely Missed that ironwood was on the express train to fascism land in V4-5 even though. the narrative made it like. hilariously obvious)

In Summary i lived through the fandom where the protagonist after two years of increasingly toxic behavior towards her bestie, charbroiled her friend’s arm into a shriveled blackened husk and not only did not apologize but had a whole episode about being mad at the friend for being upset and then 95% of the fandom was shocked when the friend went “fuck you” and stole the magical artifact whose power was involved in the charbroiling incident all of four episodes later; and almost two years later half the remaining is still Discoursing about how the friend “didn’t have a reason” for betraying the protagonist. tts was a show written with small children in mind. i have witnessed Actual Forty Year Olds insisting that this character’s betrayal was petty and childish. rwby is a lot more tightly-written and nuanced and not a disney princess cartoon and while it does benefit from its fandom not being mostly Disney People the fandom is still. A Fandom. doing what fandoms… do.

#i really cannot emphasize enough that the salem nonsense is not ANYWHERE EVEN CLOSE TO the level of the cassandra tts nonsense #like every single episode that is About Cassandra is about rapunzel being an egregiously bad friend #(cause tts went ‘this girl grew up abused in a tower and has negative social skills’ god bless)#and the charbroiling happens because rapunzel uses a Known Dangerous Uncontrollable spell that cass begs her not to use #goes into a trance repeating it and cass grabs her to snap her out of it #and then like two episodes later is like i’m mad at you bc i had it under control and you wouldn’t have gotten hurt if you listened to me #and people are still like ‘how dare this petty egotistical selfish bitch be angry at rapunzel’ lmfao #like at least with salem she’s The Villain yk #not the deuteragonist who gets two seasons of being relentlessly mistreated by her friends and permanently disabled before finally snapping #anyway yeah as a Collective fandoms don’t engage beyond the level of like grade school analysis you get on TVTropes #i.e recognition of common tropes and genre conventions #the rwby fandom is honestly ahead of the curve for having a widespread grasp of what deconstruction is #but it’s still not. great #ironwood is the measuring stick to use here

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familyagrestefanblog · 3 years ago

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I'm gonna be real I just want season 4 to be over already. Not that I don't like the story we are getting, I personally enjoy the nuances, layers and bold ass moves character wise of season 4 alot (when it actually ends the way I think it does, but that becomes more likely with every passing episode so I'm quite certain), but discussions in the Fandom are just absolute NIGHTMARES right now because we aren't actually TALKING to each other the same way Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir aren't talking to each other. I want all of season 4 to just be out NOW please, so we can move on from this fighting already.

One of the biggest strengths of the show that also is one of the biggest flaws has always been the fact that the stories and lives of our two main characters are so vastly different that you can almost never just project your understanding of one of them onto the other. This is great because that how life works. People ARE so vastly different and it should be portrayed in one family cartoon that such different lives WILL clash in your life and therefore a bigger understanding of what consequences can occur after what behavior and action is definitely welcome.

But the downside of doing this to the degree we see right now is that with two main characters representing two completely different kind of people and lives you simply also have two opposing fronts when shit goes down. Like right now.

People who identify with Marinette/Ladybug for example and can only understand her live of normal foundations because their own lives and experiences ressembles hers much more than Adriens of abuse, are now ESPECIALLY also going to see everything from her perspective and struggle with understanding what all of this means for Adrien/Chat Noir. Whereas people who identify with Adrien/Chat Noir (like me for example) and his life that is completely deprived of anything resembling "normal" through abuse, are instinctively more drawn to take his side in all of this because Marinettes situation may be understandable in nature to a certain extent for us but we dont quite understand where Marinette is coming from the way people who didn't grew up in completely broken and or toxic families do.

I'm only talking for myself now, but especially in episodes like the following "Kuro Neko" it's really hard for me to get behind Marinettes mind set because my brain is still completely rewired, especially on the level of instinct, through surviving years of excessive abuse. Like Adrien.

I'm so sensitive to the argument of "Marinette can't know something is wrong for Chat Noir" because I absolutely wouldn't even need to know that he's Adrien Agreste and the extents of how harsh the abuse is he has to live under, to know that Chat Noir has an abusive home life. I recognize the behavior of an victim of abuse in basically everything that boy does when he's transformed, it's jumping at me right in my face in full speed. So when I then continually watch Marinette/Ladybug just not reacting to any of this or worse, proceeding to double down on her anger until Chat Noir "learned his lesson" then I lack the fundamental understanding of how a person like Marinette, who grew up in a loving, healthy family, thinks and sees the world, to be able to actually comprehend how and why Marinette absolutely doesn't pick up on Chat Noirs concerning behavior. It's just unfathomable to me and so are posts of people who have the same problem as me but with ADRIEN. So all I can do is grasp at any objectively, noticeable factor of Marinettes situation I can gather and try to reconstruct a concept of a mind set that is run by those factors and see if I manage to find an explanation for why Marinette is behaving that way. Seriously, there is a reason why I don't do Marinette analysis and it's because that girl is 70% incomprehensible to me and I know I wouldn't do her the justice she actually deserves.

And in times like these right now it gets harder and harder for me to manage to successfully pull off the reconstruction of a mind set of which I only know how it works by shear LOGIC, others peoples words and explained opinions. My understanding of Marinette is mostly of an objective, theoretical nature which on its own is an indicator how well the show manages to portray two completely different lives but now the cliff between the two perspectives is getting so big that fans are now on each other's throats which is completely natural considering the nature of the situation the show puts us as fans in right now. Our two main characters are about to fall out in a massive fight of clashing perspectives, live experiences and emotions, it's definitely legit that the show writes the conflict in a way that the viewers FEEL the conflict and take part in their seperation to make the point clearer, but my GOD it's exhausting!

Somebody wanna talk about this? Like, please don't make this about any of the characters itself, I would just like to talk about our individual issues right now to understand the other side of the conflict. Because in the end what we are doing right now is done intentionally by the show because it straight up is what the in universe conflict is about and reflecting and explaining why we are struggling at the moment is also what will happen in Canon to solve this problem. In the end of the day there is no right and wrong. Both Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien/Chat Noir are part of this conflict and while this season focused mostly on Marinette and her active choices that create her entire side of "blame" of the conflict which may now be bigger than Adriens by shear logic since it's HER season, it's also made absolutely clear by the narrative in my opinion that it's done to set off Adrien/Chat Noir big time to switch their roles in season 5 where everything is finally resolved.

There is an undeniable logic to the current situation but our subjective human emotions that the show deliberately takes advantage of to convey the conflict (and our reactions clearly show that its WORKING) make it harder and harder to stay objective and unified. Again, that's the point but I still have the feeling we should DEFINITELY talk about this and our individual clashing perspectives because. It's. The. POINT!

#miraculous ladybug #ml spoilers #miraculous #adrien agreste #chat noir #Ladybug #marinette dupain chang #Ml Fandom #ml kuro neko #Ml season 4 #Ml season 5

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ariainstars · 3 years ago

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Ben Solo? Sorry. Maybe He’s Better Off Dead.

Introductory note: this meta is explicitly not anti-Reylo. I am a Reylo myself. I am merely fed up with what a large chunk of the Star Wars and Reylo corner has made of this pairing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have read it more times than I can count: Ben Solo shouldn’t have died, that’s what one side of the fandom says. The other side argues “Reylo’s have destroyed Star Wars.”

Both are right. And both are wrong in a way.

Yes, I was disappointed when Ben Solo died at the end of the sequel trilogy. He was by far my favorite character, the most intriguing of the movies and one of the most interesting of the entire saga.

My husband argued for years that they couldn’t let a patricide and multiple killer live, let alone give him a happy ending. And I myself was skeptical when it came to the popular Reylo interpretation that “their love” would save the day. Apart from the fact that it would have fitted a romance but not an action movie; important as personal developments and relationships always are in the saga, it would have been sappy.

However, since this is the Skywalker saga, I figured that they couldn’t kill the last of their blood; and since the Force wants Balance and this was heavily foreshadowed in The Last Jedi, I imagined Ben, alone or with Rey’s help, would somehow find the key to this balance and pass it on. Had that happened, at least his death would have had some meaning. The Rise of Skywalker was an unsatisfying ending because it brought the saga back to zero, with a Palpatine in charge and no hero in sight. I still don’t like it. But as for Ben Solo, I sometimes think that maybe this was the best ending for him after all.

One great mistake I made was to spend too much time on social media after having seen The Last Jedi, a movie that I was and still am enthusiastic about. I quickly learned to keep away from the toxic parts of the fandom and found myself mostly among Ben Solo and Adam Driver fans, romantic souls who obviously expected some Disney-style happy ending. It was nice to exchange thoughts and dive deeper into the saga’s theme together with these fans. The downside was that we all set our hopes high and fed off each other’s energies expecting with too much certainty that Ben would get his happy ending.

And that’s not the worst part.

The most annoying part of the fandom, for me, has become the realm of Reylo fanfiction.

~ more under the cut ~

While I have read some that are very good, by now I am fed up with the probably most common Reylo trope: “poor, tough girl and rich bad boy”. Yes, I know that we read and write fanfiction only for entertainment, but isn’t it going a little too far when in every second Reylo fanfiction you stumble on the Fifty Shades of Grey narrative?

The morals of such stories are more than dubious, you can call me narrow-minded and old fashioned all you want. Poor girl meets guy who is tall, dark and fascinating, finds that sex with him is lots of fun, and the fact that he’s a billionaire doesn’t hurt either. (A millionaire is no longer enough: nowadays to give a girl everything she wants, billions are necessary. I wonder what she could possibly require.) Of course the hero has some dark, distant past, like having killed and tortured people, but that only adds to his fascination. The fact that he wears Armani and drives a Maserati only adds to his charm. Poor girl, not having had a family growing up and no education, has a low inhibition threshold, so she enjoys kinky sex with the bad guy, can’t get away from him because “his tormented soul needs her”, and because the wicked things he did or still does add spice to their sexual relation; besides, he can offer her silk dresses, a brand-new luxury apartment and jewels the size of rocks. Either she’s so poor that she is dazed by all the magnificence, or she’s doing well enough but she will take what she can, even if he did not earn all his money but inherited it or got it the criminal way. Besides, rich boy and his girlfriend don’t have to worry about old socks lying around, empty pantries and overcooked meals, since he can afford plenty of servants for such boring, mundane tasks. Of course she will forgive him and love him - who would let such a magnificent fish slip through her fingers?

Strangely, these stories are seen as highly romantic and interpreted as “love can conquer everything”. In the end, rich boy turns “good” again, they will be together courtesy or her forgiveness, and they can spend the rest of their lives having much more money than any person could reasonably spend in an entire lifetime. Oh well, maybe a few of their friends will get underpaid jobs. The big chunk of the cake is carried away by poor but smart girl who knows how to wrap rich bad boy around her little finger.

These are not only a few bad apples. I have stumbled on this cliché (and stopped reading these fanfictions when I realized where they were going) dozens of times. It doesn’t get better although the sequel trilogy is concluded by now. I don’t even know where the idea came from in the first place, maybe due to Ben being a princess’ son; but we never saw any hint at Ben’s youth and whether he lived in abundance or not. And I’m fed up.

No, wealth should not make a guy attractive.

No, the fact that he’s capable of killing and torturing also shouldn’t make him attractive.

No, if a man you hardly know gives you expensive stuff it’s not a proof of “true love”.

No, it ought not to be fun to have sex with a ruthless guy who just so happens to have a soft spot for you.

No, love is not a magic power that makes everyone better, and most of all, richer.

Those of you who also read fanfiction: have you ever wondered why so many Reylo fanfiction are set in modern times? Right - because it makes it easier to turn Kylo Ren / Ben Solo into a thinly veiled Christian Grey. Or maybe Edward Cullen. In any case, for mysterious reasons average girl meets dream prince not where he’s hiding away in a castle but at Starbucks or McDonald’s - like a billionaire would even go there - “love” takes over and you can imagine the rest without reading it.

And please don’t tell me that this is only fiction and that we can consume kinky stuff responsibly. The stories you read or watch, in particular growing up, have an influence on your mind, no matter how aware you are that they’re not reality. Pornography is no more realistic than a Disney movie. Poor tough girl finding love and happiness with rich bad guy is extremely unlikely to happen. But such stories are consumed over and over and countless girls and women sigh about them, fooling themselves that their minds are too superior to get contaminated. Believe me, they’re not. I have been married a while now and looking back I often shake my head at the stories I used to read and how far detached they were from reality. And yet they made me suffer, because for many years I subconsciously believed that “love” is only real when it happens a certain way.

I’m sorry for Ben Solo, not only because he’s dead but mostly for what many Reylo’s have made of him. I’m beginning to think that maybe he’s better off dead than bestowing diamonds and designer shoes to “Rey’s” who apparently have no other quality except for the fact that they are not afraid of him.

I’m glad the Disney studios have retained enough morals not to have paved the road for more of this mentality. This is not Cinderella or Beauty and the Beast, where the peasant girl marries the prince and they live happily ever after. Ben Solo has a terrible past and that needs to be approached. That he’s dark and brooding and allegedly rich should not make everything he did forgivable. Even if he had no other way to go, he gave in to his frustration by killing many people, including his own father, and believing this would make him stronger. “Love” is not a sponge that wipes away the past. A man was still formed by the life he led before he met the girl, he’s not born again through their love because she has decided to project all of her expectations onto him. This is a toxic and highly unrealistic expectation on the female side, and I wouldn’t want to know how many girls and women have been made unhappy because they believe it.

A main mistake Reylo’s who expected a happy ending made was not to consider that most fans only watch the movies, where we learn little to nothing about Ben Solo’s past. That Palpatine whispered in his head is only hinted at in the third movie; he says his father disappointed him but not why; we never see him talk to his mother; his uncle failed him but that was obviously only the last straw for him. Only reading the novels and comics and interpreting them from Ben’s point of view a fan realizes the tragedy of his situation. Technically, he’s the villain. Yes, it’s of course good that he redeems himself, but it’s not Rey who saves him through her love, there are many factors pushing him back to the Light. His redemption was heavily foreshadowed and he more than earned it. Did he deserve a happy ending with Rey? No. They were very different and they hardly knew one another. She was repeatedly unnecessarily aggressive towards him, and he was the main villain. She did not “deserve him” and he did not “deserve her.”

For very many Reylo’s, all of that seems to make little difference. Both protagonists are sexy, that’s enough. Of course, bad boy from blue blood he must get married to good poor girl. It doesn’t matter if they fit, and how their past was: they must get their happy ending because the cliché says so. Rich sexy guy can’t die, even if he was a ruthless killer who slaughtered innocent and disarmed people for years. Poor tough girl can’t stay alone because she deserves a guy who will do anything for her, even change sides and his whole character, and the fact that he can shower her with jewels doesn’t hurt either. He may be capable of torture and murder, but in the end, he will capitulate and do everything she wants. I don’t even know where to start about how toxic the idea of such a couple dynamic is. Apart from that, it has nothing anymore to do with the sequel’s actual story. Yet by many, it’s apparently seen as „the happy ending we were deprived of”.

I can only speak for myself. But I find these expectations both trite and immoral. There is nothing “romantic” about them and I’m glad nothing came of that in the saga. As long as I only met these tropes in fan stories from time to time I just shrugged them off, but they are getting unbearable. What ideas do so many fanfiction authors have about love? How sick and distorted is it to assume that money and sex are what keeps a couple together? Do two people really need nothing more in common? Can differences in upbringing, attitude and past experiences simply be swept away by passion and diamonds? In a so-called bodice-ripper perhaps. One of the reasons why I like Star Wars is that for all of its mysticism and symbolism, it’s psychologically very realistic.

I would be happy for Ben Solo to get a second chance, and after all, Anakin in a sense had two lives too. It only seems fair. Maybe he could meet Rey again someday and they could give it a new start.

But rich sexy bad guy and poor sexy tough girl riding into the sunset, where a lifetime of kinky sex and tons of wealth are waiting for them?

This is not romantic in the least, it’s capitalism ad absurdum - having More Money Than You Could Ever Spend and Never Having to Lift a Finger Unless for Pleasure, Having Done Nothing to Earn It, except feeling entitled to it for obscure reasons.

No. I’m sorry, dear Reylo’s, but in my opinion both Ben and Rey deserve something more meaningful than that. Ben is better off dead than reduced to a sex fiend with an unlimited credit card; and Rey is better off alone than wearing designer clothes over lace underwear and handcuffs. These ideas are a slap in the face of their dignity and neither romantic nor erotic. They wouldn’t have fitted the Star Wars saga either, and they wouldn’t have been in line with Disney’s moral standards. Maybe the studios had other plans at first, but honestly: if these disgusting tropes don’t get any more fodder than the first two movies already gave them, it’s for the better. I believe young people, in particular young women who read fanfiction, need something different than sex, violence and riches to form their ideas of what love and partnership should look like.

The Jedi didn’t deserve to be wiped out; their mindset deserved it. Ben didn’t deserve to die; what he has become a stand-in for in the eyes of countless female fans can’t die too quickly.

Give Ben Solo another chance? Any time. But please, not like this. And please leave Adam Driver alone, his sexiness is no excuse to morph him into a f*** toy.

Please be respectful in your comments, these are only my personal points of view and no one asks you to agree. Thank you.

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