#we remember Yana sharing what the team was told regarding who would be writing book 6 and why

[mysaldate]

Hey OP, I'm sure you didn't mean it this way, but pointing out flaws is not always done out of hate. More often than not, it is done out of love for the character. When I see a post saying Vil hates poor people and is a white supremacist, usually I just block and move on but from time to time, I do reply. I point out that Vil is actively providing for poorer students in the school when it comes to hygiene and beauty products and that Epel's accent isn't about racism or white supremacy but about vulgarisms and speaking properly to the occasion.

There are headcanons I disagree with because of personal tastes but there are also those made because of genuine misunderstanding that can be cleared up for everyone to enjoy the characters better. Then there are also headcanons that are made out of spite by people who hate that their fave isn't popular so they rip on other characters, and those aren't healthy either.

And when it comes to criticizing official material, that is a different story altogether. Loving a property can mean calling out its weak sides. It can mean that when a racist company makes a racist decision and that decision directly and negatively impacts the property, we, as fans, can and oftentimes should call it out. It's not being bitter or spiteful when the property suddenly turns directly against its core concepts and ideas and changes what it is and has always been because the Mouse decided they don't like what the JP team is doing (and blames it on their race) even though that's what brought the fans in in the first place. We are allowed to criticize the localization for its censorship, for its racist stereotypes, for its character assassination, for its mockery of the original's commentary on mental health, class issues, inequality, societal expectations, and more. We don't do that because we're bitter, we do that because we want to see our beloved property do better.

Being upset at certain headcanons is fine. Commenting can be beneficial in the right time and space. It should always be done in a constructive spirit when interacting with individuals but it is not inherently evil.

I'll give another example, back to Vil. In my opinion, the transfem Vil hc goes against his character as he establishes himself as a man multiple times throughout the game and one of his main philosophies is that men can and should be beautiful and that beauty isn't only limited to women. The hc also comes from misunderstanding Vil's personal pronoun, Atashi, which a few English fans took out of its cultural context and began claiming only women use. When native JP speakers and JP fans came out to explain the full scope of people who may use Atashi (including but not limited to women, trans women, feminine men, gay men, and trans men), they got harassed and attacked by the English speaking fandom. Given all the context around the hc, yes, it annoys me. I think it makes far more sense for Vil to be transmasc as that would play into his character far better. I will not comment on every post about transfem Vil of course. In fact, I won't interact with most of them. However, if I see a post spreading misinformation (saying Vil is CANON transfem, claiming Atashi is only used by women, etc.) or if a post is worded in such a way that there is room for discussion, I will try to politely point out the canon contradictions to that hc.

Hcs have always been for things that the canon doesn't explicitly mention. Aus have always been for changing established canon facts. There is nothing wrong with making an au in which Vil is transfem or hates the poor or is a white supremacist for all I care. Not every piece of content on the internal will be made for me. However, I will make my own posts about fandom takes that go against canon and I will occasionally comment in the hopes of a good discussion and a better fandom experience.

This got long, I am sorry OP, I hope what I laid out here sounds reasonable to you. If not, feel free to block me, I won't hold it against you. Cater your own experience as I will continue to cater mine.

I don’t see why people feel the need to comment on things they don’t like. If you don’t like something, it’s clearly not made for you. That goes for like everything. Needlessly commenting on someone’s post cause you don’t like it is a waste of your time an energy.

Being that spiteful and hateful cannot be helpful or healthy, right? This was triggered by one comment I got on a post btw, which I won’t publicly share which one or who it was. But the point is pretty important to state in general.

What is the point in commenting on someone else’s post that you don’t like? What do you get out of it other then annoying them. Like, your opinion isn’t going to magically change their own — especially in fandom spaces.

I always found it so strange when I was scrolling through reading headcannons and reading comments and there’s just a random person angry about it. I get that mischaracterization is an issue to understanding actual characters, but at the end of the day it’s just not that serious is it.

Fandom is a safe space for more than just you, you know. You are responsible for curating your own experience as much as I am. If you don’t like something the best thing to do is scroll. There’s no point in wasting energy on something that upsets you.