#-fanon interpretation of [insert fandom whatever]

[itachikun]

whenever i read "fanon" i think it relates to frantz fanon and not to fandom shit 😭😭

[lestats-ovaries]

putting in my two cents as an aroace hazbin fan to the whole alastor shipping debate (adding a cut below because this got long-)

before I start, it's important to remind everyone:

alastor is canonically ace and (semi)canonically aro, and that should be respected the same way we'd respect angel dust's identity as a gay man, or vaggie's as a sapphic woman.

"ace" and "aro", while also functioning as labels unto themselves, are umbrella terms for a lottt of identities. Some of which do include the ability to experience sexual and romantic attraction, in different ways and at different levels (demi, cupio, lith/lithro, grey, aro-and aceflux, the list goes on).

So, given all that, is it possible to interpret alastor as experiencing some level of romantic attraction, or sexual attraction? Of course, identities like the ones I listed above are just as valid as any other acespec and arospec identity.

So, what's the issue then? Right now, a lot of fans are using the breadth of aspec identities and experiences as a shield, to excuse them shipping him like they would an allosexual/alloromantic character.

Just to make it clear, that in itself is erasure. And I know that's a strong statement, and that there being such a broad aroace experience adds nuance to any statement you can make on that, but we have to acknowledge as a fandom that there are objectively wrong ways to handle aspec characters, both in the way we discuss them and in the way we portray them in fan works.

And before anyone says it, saying "alastor isn't real" or "fanon content won't change his canon sexuality" doesn't work when real life aspec people can't even look in a tag of a character that's supposed to represent them without seeing their identity erased. It's the way I feel attempting to engage with a lot of hazbin content, and I know a lot of my fellow aspec hazbin fans are feeling it as well.

So, what's the solution to all this? That's unfortunately kinda complicated. Everyone has a different opinion on what constitutes as erasure, what is good rep, how much benefit of the doubt we should give people, et cetera, and so everyone's solutions look different. In a way there also isn't a way to solve it, since aroace erasure is so normalized in fandom culture (not just the hazbin fandom; fandom culture as a whole) that there will always be a significant portion of fans who will ignore, erase, or otherwise deny alastor's or any other aroace character's sexuality.

So, to put my two cents on it:

My philosophy is that if you're going to ship alastor (or any aspec character for that matter), it's best to have an identity in mind for him to use as reference. For example, I think of alastor as sex-repulsed aroace, and I write him with that in mind. Whatever you pick can be a steadfast headcanon, an identity tailored to the story you want to tell, or one you want to explore in your fanwork, whether for fun or to educate yourself on it better.

What's better is that you don't even need to mention the sexuality itself in the work! Show don't tell is a great writing tool, and for alastor specifically, who canonically isn't aware of his sexuality, it works perfectly. Just simply creating with it in mind, asking yourself, "how would someone with [insert identity] experience this?" and going from there, makes a world of difference.

Just in terms of good fanfic etiquette, I'd also make sure to include it in the tags if you're posting it on ao3, just to make sure your readers know what's up and to help with filtering (I personally don't read any alastor ship fics that don't include the asexual or aromantic tag at this point). Bada bing bada boom, that's representation right there!

Since Alastor is one of very, very few ace characters in mainstream media, and even less aro characters in media period, us as a fandom creating good representation with him is really important, especially in terms of the breadth of aspec identities. We don't get much representation, so claiming he's definitively one label or another isn't productive, and hurts the community in the long run. Fanfiction is first and foremost an exploration of canon, so why not play around with what "aro" and "ace" can look like for him?

Case and point, I've seen some incredible ship fics that headcanon him as demisexual and/or demiromantic, and do a great job representing those identities. I've also seen some really good fics that portray him as sex-repulsed, and others that portray him as sex-neutral or positive. All of that is great, and again, even if it isn't directly mentioned: adding subtext, putting it in the tags, and even simply writing the fic with the sexuality in mind does wonders.

Me personally, I headcanon Alastor with the same identity as me; sex- and romance-repulsed aroace, but open to queerplatonic relationships. That doesn't mean fics that interpret him with a different aspec identity are less valid, or are interpreting him wrong. All of it is valid representation.

And that's not even getting into queerplatonic relationships, which is what I put Alastor into for my own headcanons (queerplatonic radioapple fic when). For that, please do your own research, but remember that queerplatonic relationships tend to look different for every couple. They can be poly, include kissing and physical intimacy, or look just like what most people would consider a regular friendship or regular romance.

So, can you ship aroace characters? Sure you can, as long as it isn't at the expense of their sexuality, or more accurately, the representation their sexuality gives to a historically underrepresented group.

That's pretty much it from me, please remember to support aspec fanartists and fanfic writers, and happy (early) aromantic spectrum awareness week for all my fellow arospecs!!

[pinkrelish]

I wonder if it’s canon that’s how he views girls and relationships, I haven’t read the book but I saw your brief statement on it. Kinda ruins my view on him a little bit but I know it’s not really his fault due to how he’s treated :\

disregarding googled blanket statements, the author has been asked directly on social media if this book is canon-canon since she was a writer for S4 and thus sat around a table when they created eddie's character, but she's never responded, to my knowledge. i wouldn't be surprised if it was an implied "yes," but the team is avoiding saying that as to not ruffle the fandom's feathers by giving concrete canon this late after the show, and going against popular fanon.

and even if it does turn out to be true-canon, there's inconsistencies, plot holes, and retcons within the show itself, so.

but to talk more on your actual disappointment—once a creator or artist releases something, it belongs to the community. it doesn't matter what eddie's motives are towards relationships if you don't want them to matter. furthermore, he's only 18 in the book, 20 in the show, maybe he does enjoy flings over commitment in his youth, or has a genuine disinterest in relationships, but then he changes. or maybe you prefer virgin!eddie, of which there are plenty of stories out there. or there's a concept you want to write of your own. canon, fanon, he's whatever your preferences are for a fictional man. want him to woo you and be sweet? it's out there. it can be your canon. want him to learn to be romantic while still abiding by him having one night stands in the past because he finally learned that he craves to be loved, and he's not getting it from a girl sucking him off in a dirty dive bar bathroom? i bet there's several long fics along that plot to get lost in. want the book-canon, but it's set later in life and explores his fear of rejection and trauma surrounding being vulnerable? well, you're in the right place.

in summary, it's just one person's interpretation of a character that had several people writing for him, and one person who flipped their world upside down when he played him on screen. there are discrepancies even within the script and how JQ portrayed him, inserting a lot of goofiness, sweetness, and snark into a personality that was skeleton outlined on paper. this has fueled an entire spectrum of "eddie's" people have written on here, and they're all correct to the person who wrote them and those who wanted to read them.

idk, be like eddie and don't care about authority lmao. don't let one person's writing dictate whether or not he disappoints you, gives you the ick. your sweet man is still out there, written by people who can craft the exact story you want.

[crushedsweets]

As someone who had been part of the creepypasta fandom since 2012, I agree with anon. I see SO much BS now that I never had to deal with until now. People apparently can't have head cannons anymore; you can't like so and so or the classic hate against AU's. As someone older, I do not care. This is supposed to be fun for everyone. I'm not letting some 12–15-year-old tell me how to enjoy myself. Also Gatekeeping is just cringe.

Really ?!? When I was 9-11 on qoutev reading fics/roleplaying, I remember people were really mean about anything that wasn’t “canon” (whatever that means at this point) and being really mean to “Mary sues” and self inserts .. Nowadays I feel like everyone I meet is like “yeah my AU is like this, but I like how your AU does this!” LOL

I think the biggest gatekeeping issue I see nowadays is “they’re killers!!! They’re cold hearted and this is supposed to be the SCARY FANDOM!!! If you make them anything other than horrifying monstrous creatures, you’re stupid and lame and boring and a child!” And the realism vs fanon vs canon etc debate.. but I literally couldn’t care less like this fandom was built on anime boy jeff the killer x readers you cannot convince me otherwise

I wish there was a better way to distinguish creepypasta (the scary stories) from the creepypasta fandom (the characters and relationships and comics and animations and cosplay etc etc)

Anyway that’s just my experience but I hope that u guys are able to find good healthy circles of people who embrace new interpretations and creative story telling and interesting designs and all! That’s the best part of this fandom and what makes it so much fun

Edit; not to say that what u described DOESNT happen though HAHA I’ve had people make some remarks about my stuff and whatever so I know it’s true !

EDIT 2; THIS WAS ABOUT STUFF I SAW ON TIKTOK IN LIKE SUMMER 2023 DONT SEND ME ASKS GOSSIPING SBOUT SPECIFIC PEOPLE THANK UUUUU

[4sk-t1cc1-t0by]

HELLO!!! I thought it would be more organized to put the important details in here :)

Do not interact list:

-Any sort of transphobe/homophobe

-Racists

-Sexists/Misogyny/Misandry

-People who think that headcannons are cringe (cause there’s a lot of that here)

-MAPS (disgusting)

-Any form of body shaming

——————————————————————————————

Don’t do:

-NSFW (not including simping, unless if you get too freaky)

-Mention Masky/Tim cheesecake joke thing, it’s fatphobic/bodyshaming!!

(More will probably be added in the future but I can’t think of anything else)

Feel free to:

-Ask for your self-insert/creepypasta to be added in an ask

-Simp (Again, don’t get too freaky. You can be suggestive at most but that’s it)

-Waffle joke cause as far as I know it is harmless :)

-Ask other characters, AS LONG AS IT ALSO INCLUDES TOBY IN THE ASK. Characters can be:

EJ (Eyeless Jack) [He/Them]

Clockwork [She/Her]

Jane the killer [Any/All]

Jeff the killer [He/It]

Masky/Tim [He/Him]

Hoody/Brian [He/Him]

Slenderman [They/it], Trenderman [He/Them] or Splendorman [He/Her]

Sally Williams [She/Her]

X-Virus [He/They]

Emoji anons (or whatever they’re called) are allowed! Just please ask first for the emoji anon you wanna be so I can make sure there ain’t any doubles.

This ask blog is a way for me to get over art block (which is why I answer everything with art) and as a way to bring back the silly fanon Toby (and to show my own interpretations of the characters). I do not owe any of these characters (I believe Toby was made by Kastoway who left the fandom) and Hoody/Brian and Masky/Tim is from the web series Marble Hornets (able to watch on YouTube!!)

I might add some of my own Creepypasta Oc(s) in the future if I think it would fit with the ask

[that-wildwolf]

how does fanon get Shakarian wrong? 👀👀

*inhales*

I'm gonna start off by saying that I'm a turianfucker too and turians are hot and I get the thirst I get y'all

BUT

too many people are attracted to turians and want a turian romance so badly that they ignore Garrus's entire character for the sake of getting a turian romance and just basically strip him down to nothing but his species. People who are into turians and have a primal kink or something, which like. I also get I'm a monsterfucker too that's fun. are also projecting too much of that kink onto turians and Garrus specifically because Garrus is just unlucky enough to be the romance option. People write a generic alien/human relationship while ignoring most of what the Shakarian dynamic looks like in canon because. Well I actually don't know why. But the amount of turian/human fics, and yes, Shakarian too, that include some kind of "turians are a bit feral or actually aggressive/possessive" take is terrifying. Have we played the same games? Turians are literally described over and over as uptight having a stick in their ass sticklers for the rules. Garrus is an awkward nerd who doesn't know how to flirt with his girlfriend. Even when he he does the evil he does it in the most rule-obedient way possible. He's a mess and he relies on Shepard a bit too much especially in the first two games. This man is NOT the growly dominant alien character insert you want him to be I'm sorry. Turians have 15,000 more years of civilisation than humans. They are not going to be feral creatures just because they have sharper teeth. The human would be the primitive uncivilised alien in a turian/human relationship if you need someone to fill that role (also, why would you?).

Not to mention Shepard being treated as a self-insert which is. well it is a lot more forgivable in my eyes, but even as an RPG PC, Shepard still has a lot of distinct character. I think this is the first time since playing The Walking Dead that I've seen a player character with such a strong personality despite the genre forcing her to be different things.

To be fair I think a lot of the problems with fanon characterization of not only Shakarian but pretty much everyone who gets commonly mischaracterized (look at the woobification of Tali) could be fixed by regularly checking back in with the source material instead of, which I understand and can also be guilty of sometimes, immersing yourself in more and more layers of fanfic until you can't tell apart the fanon Shakarian from the canon Shakarian.

Dishonourable mentions (things that aren't common bad fandom practice but bother me personally): sub Shepard and actually worse yet dom Garrus, any AU where Garrus is a human (like??? lmao. his entire personality and conflict is driven by him being a turian, that is so central to his character that I can't imagine why you would take that away and think that's the same person), Shakarian retiring to the beach (Garrus said tropical. He didn't say beach. He hates swimming he would drown save him)

Also obviously this should go without saying, but there are TONS of great fanfics about Shakarian out there. This is just a list of what people get wrong that I wrote in like ten minutes on my phone sitting on the floor in my kitchen. It's not some magic truth scroll of fandom transgressions. Also obviously everyone is free to interpret fictional characters however they want even if it's different from the source material. Sometimes ignoring canon is better, trust me. Do whatever you want and don't let me spoil your fandom experience for you.

But yeah

TL;DR: I think that Shakarian and Garrus in particular suffers a lot from Garrus being the only turian romance in the games.

[jayteacups]

my stance on ships & shipping culture - a quick note

(please read before interacting!)

I'm seeing discourse in the AOT Tumblr niche ramp up once again (what would the AOT fandom be without harassment and discourse /s), so I want to put up this quick note to be linked in my pinned navigation post. Therefore, from now on, if someone sends an ask about ship discourse, it'll be clear whether or not they've read this post. Therefore that'll make it easier for me to see who respects my boundaries and who is and isn't worth my time.

This blog is primarily a Levi x Reader-insert/OC-insert/Self-ship blog. If you have a problem with this, save us both the time and energy, and just block me. If you harass me or anyone else who enjoys this type of harmless content, I will block you. This is not up for debate.

However, I am also a multi-shipper. You'll occasionally find that I reblog fanworks of Eruri, Levihan, Rivetra, Levifar etc, and that I tag all ship content so you can filter out the ones you may not like. I’m not a ‘proshipper’ though; for example, you won’t find any reblogs of fanworks involving a veteran character being with a recruit character in a romantic or sexual sense. However, I will never harass anybody for shipping a ship that I don't like, so I expect everyone from every corner of the fandom to return that same courtesy.

So please do not bring me into any ship discourse, I’m not interested in entertaining pointless debates over ships. I do not and never will condone harassment over people's opinions on fictional ships.

If somebody doesn't ship your OTP, or they ship something you personally do not like, that doesn't mean you have the moral high ground over them, and that certainly doesn't mean you can falsely accuse people of awful things or leave anonymous death threats in people's inboxes. Additionally, it's okay for your OTP to be fanon. The canon/fanon status of a ship doesn't make it better or worse than another ship. The sooner people accept this instead of twisting canon to suit a false narrative, the better. On that note, please don't send me long-winded, unsolicited asks about how a fanon pairing is 'actually canon if you read the subtext' whilst quoting 'facts' with no or incorrect sources. Let canon be canon and fanon be fanon. There's a difference, and a reason why they have separate labels. I'm not saying that you can't have a different interpretation of canon or the subtext, but I'm saying that not everybody will agree with you, and it doesn't automatically make your opinion the right or 'true' one.

I should also point out that the actions of a few bad apples is not representative of an entire ship community. For example, I have seen some people falsely assume the entire Eruri community are toxic based on the recent anons harassing Levi-centric blogs. This simply isn't true. The majority of shippers are very chill, but the toxic minority just happens to be the loudest. Let's not make assumptions about Eruri shippers or insult their OTP, because I have seen a few people do this in response to seeing the harassment, which I find incredibly hypocritical and unhelpful. Don't lose sight of the bigger picture - which is that we're all fans of the same thing and we all want to have fun in whatever way appeals to us.

Fandom is supposed to be fun, and I believe you should be focusing your energy on what you like rather than what you don't. Personally I think it's strange that these weirdo anons and harassers spend so much time and energy harassing people who don't ship their OTP, rather than using that time and energy to support creators who make fanworks of their OTP, or even creating some fanworks themselves. They care more about making other people miserable rather than fostering a positive community around their ships, and that is something I absolutely do not support or condone.

If you've read everything and have reached the end of this post, thank you for your time. If you fundamentally disagree with my stance, fine, but don't debate me on it. I've made it clear I won't change my mind on it, and you probably won't either, so I suggest you block me instead of starting a futile argument.

[heyclickadee]

Yeah, okay, here goes:

I think some fandom infighting would be less toxic if we a really understood that all of us are here for different reasons.

And I don’t just mean that different kinds of stories are going to be helpful for some and hurtful for others and vis-a-versa, or that different people are going to tell different stories, you know, differently, and that should do our best to let people enjoy things. I mean that, at the end of the day, there’s a spectrum of the parts of fandom people enjoy.

For example, I have a sibling who’s in some fandoms strictly for the transformative aspect of fandom. Canon is more like a jumping off point and, to some extent, an afterthought. Their primary interaction with whatever a fandom is centered on might be fanfiction and other fan works. The characters and world they interact with in those fandoms are often completely unrecognizable from canon. The goal is often to create characters—self-inserts or otherwise—to exist in completely new stories that are (vaguely) informed by canon, but not beholden to it in any way. Most everyone in that fandom has a self-insert OC or a Y/N. The whole point is taking something you like, or wanted to like, and shaping it to fit you better. That’s fandom for them. And that’s great!

And then there’s me, who’s almost the exact opposite. Canon is more of a focal point. I love seeing fanfiction and fanworks that completely veer away from canon events and characterization, I appreciate them, but I don’t like making them myself. I love to write, but I have a hard time writing fanfiction, I couldn’t write a fic-it-fix to save my life (no, not even in the highly unlikely hypothetical scenario where it turns out a lot of us are wrong and Tech is dead for real). The closest I get to fanfiction are either short little half analysis/half story blurb posts, or doodley fanart that’s either a theory for something I think could happen in the future in disguise, or silly drawings about scarves. I compartmentalize fanon, my headcanons, and actual canon a lot. And I love seeing people’s OC’s, including the self-insert ones, but I dont want to make one myself. I don’t want to be in the story, because it isn’t about me; one of the things I love most about interacting with fiction I didn’t write is that it helps me get outside my own head and see things from a different point of view. I write a lot of metas and theories, but my favorite thing is being able to look a story that’s completely told and done, and getting to tease it apart. And that’s also okay.

Now, the two points I’m using as examples aren’t really opposites; there’s a ton (A TON) of very good character analysis and interpretation in fanfiction, and there’s often (maybe even usually) transformative aspect to analysis/intepretation. And I’m betting that most people in fandom fall somewhere in the middle of the range between transformative and interpretive when it comes to what they like about fandom. A lot of people write great fanfiction and equally great meta posts, and honestly, I think being good at the one makes you better than the other. But they are different approaches to enjoying and interacting with fiction, and I think at least a little of the friction in fandom can come from not recognizing that we all often have different approaches to this fandom thing.

Edit: I need to also mention that when it comes to interpretation and analysis, there’s a lot of wiggle room for contradictory conclusions that are all equally valid. Do I think that interpretive conclusions not supported at all by the text exist? Oh boy howdy, yes. But I also think there’s a lot of space before you get there, and a lot of ways for even one person to interpret the same thing, let alone an entire fandom.

Edit 02; I should probably also acknowledge that, as a lifelong Darkwing Duck fan, I also really enjoy shows or even books where ‘canon’ is more like a loose set of guidelines or a basis premise and the whole idea of the show is to do wacky things with that premise. I’m way more likely to get involved in the transformative side of things when this is the case.

[arceespinkgun]

Same Ravage anon as before, thank you for responding. You used "partner" to refer to Ravage and Megatron, do you mean this romantically or as a companionship type of partner? And it's interesting to me how many people see Ravage as a woman. I never got the appeal to it, but it's super common for some reason. Is there a specific origin to the headcanon, or is it just one of those fanon things that catches on?

Prev post

In MTMTE/LL, I think JRo… well, I'm going to be honest, I don't know what he was intending with panels like this, but maybe he saw Ravage as a romantic partner to Megatron??? But then that interpretation of this specific panel is also super weird because Ravage was Soundwave's mentor early in IDW, but then a whole bunch of other dynamics involving her and Soundwave and how Soundwave treated his cassettes complicate it even more, and it doesn't seem in-line with how Ravage and Soundwave behaved before MTMTE/LL… but then again, JRo retconned a LOT of character dynamics, so I have no clue what he was thinking. If Ravage was Megatron's romantic partner, that makes the lack of agency even more annoying.

In other series like Marvel UK or Beast Wars, I just meant that Megatron and "Decepticons forever" Ravage sometimes seem to respect each other more than anyone else and are companions and partners like, in crime. Fans can interpret those canon details in whatever way. I'm normally a MegaSound shipper, but in some continuities it's definitely more that Megatron and Ravage are close than Megatron and Soundwave. *Insert reminder here that characters like Ravage and the other cassettes and other transformers who have beast modes are canonically people* I think the more media in this franchise you see, the more it's clear how flexible and diverse dynamics have been.

For me, my headcanon that Ravage is a woman comes from a few things 1) there weren't enough female Decepticons in G1, 2) Ravage in the Sunbow cartoon barely ever spoke, making it easier to create headcanons about her, and 3) she has many skill and personality similarities to some of the first female Decepticons who were added to the franchise like Night Racer, Shadow Striker, and the antagonist-adjacent Nightbird. For the rest of the fandom... not sure.

[scoobydoominuscoobydoo]

Not me rolling my eyes when some members of the fandom screech at me for pairing an “obvious” lesbian like Velma with Shaggy or Fred when at most she is bi.

Is it because she doesn’t look like the conventionally attractive Daphne? Is it because of her glasses and bobbed hair? Is it because she’s smart?

Whatever the reason may be for the most popular fanon interpretation, Velma Dinkley is [also] attracted to men. Nothing wrong with that.

There are at least 10 guys she’s canonically interested in, even if they: turned out to be bad and she changed her mind; were just passing crushes.

(Side note: Admittedly, I’m on the fence on whether or not I approve of Velma x Sam Winchester bc it wasn’t stated in the crossover if the gang were considered teens still or adults, since Dean and Sam are obviously not teens and Sam’s disapproval of Dean’s crush on Daph stemmed from her being implied to be with Fred, and not the age difference, but the episode used is based on their earliest adventures of when they were teens, so yeah. On the fence until further clarification.)

In the Scooby Doo Apocalypse comics, she’s officially together with and happy with Shaggy.

In the Velma + Daphne books, she’s implied to be interested in Fred. (I really hope the author continues her series and explores those avenues further despite what the current movies and series say.)

I don’t see how these adaptations are an “insult” to her sexuality.

My hang up with the “confirmation” that Velma is “canonically a lesbian” I guess is mostly how it was executed and how they try to explain it.

In Mystery Incorporated, Velma’s relationship with Hotdog Water doesn’t reduce her to an babbling idiot. Neither do most of her relationships with the men. At most, she was adorably awkward, but still capable of being objective. Plus, if the male love interest in question was an irredeemable bad guy, no way would she compromise her morals!

With the Coco girl, on the other hand…yeah…Velma pretty much got the canon-character-in-this-medium-who-is-now-the-adoring-love-interest-of-the-mary-sue-self-insert treatment and was practically worshiping the ground this lady walked on on (I will acknowledge that Coco has a cute design; as for how Velma could possibly be attracted to her, I cannot tell you.)

Even her newest TV series doesn’t know what to do with her romantic/sexual orientation.

As a Frelma fan, I am unhappy that she is reduced to being a bitter jerk and that he is reduced to the stupid, self-absorbed and secretly insecure white boy born in privilege template instead of them both being likeable characters equal in intelligence in different areas.

As someone who sees Velma and Daphne as just really close opposites-attract-besties but will be objective for the sake of Delma/Vaphne shippers, it really bugs me when adaptations paint Daphne as mostly at fault for whenever caused their fallout as childhood friends and how they cannot have a civil conversation in their present years but oh-look-not-so-secret-belligerent-sexual-tension-explains-why-they-clash-and-why-now-they-should-be-considered-a-possible-thing instead of having them naturally drift apart for a few years bc school be like that, reconnect after some friendly, albeit awkward “oh how have you been? Oh fine i guess, you?” moments, be besties again, and then maybe lead up to a more natural and less rushed heat-of-the-moment developments. But nope. Suddenly they kiss at the end of episode 2.

As a formerly major and currently neutral Shelma fan, Norville (Shaggy) deserves better. That’s it.

So yeah, I’m annoyed by Trick or Treat, Scooby Doo! for claiming Velma as explicitly a lesbian now when they portrayed her romantic interest as such an insult to her core character, and moreso at the fans claiming it, James Gunn’s initial drafts of his films, and one of Velma’s live actress’s real life sexuality as the “correct interpretation” of Velma’s romantic inclination.

I’m annoyed at Velma the Series because whatever Frelma moments will happen, it will happen between the most negative and superficial interpretations of each character.

I feel like it's a little late to come forward and be like "Velma the Series" is a travesty and forever taints the otherwise fine Scooby-Doo repertoire. That is not a new observation especially with the news of it officially being the lowest rated show on IMDB. I knew from the minute it was announced that I wasn't going to be watching it. I just knew that the people working on this did not care or have a deep understanding of Scooby-Doo and why people like it.

I now feel validated in that initial judgement and can say with full certainty that I would rather watch Mystery Inc. (a show I have well vocalized my hate towards) for the rest of my life than even watch a MINUTE of Velma.

Velma as a character is loved and (although it obviously varies) she has a relatively consistent characterization across every show. She's the brains, she's the voice of reason, she's the skeptic. She acts as the person who keeps everyone down on Earth. And she is a great character but people always forget that she is great IN AN ENSEMBLE. She has the rest of the gang to bounce off of and the charm of SD is in that group chemistry. If you watch the show and think "Wow Velma totally carried this show" it's clear you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the SD franchise as a whole. Again, these observations seem moot at this point. Saying Velma is bad is like saying ice is frozen water.

What I will say is that it's upsetting that every character had their personalities stripped to just fit the very specific self-insert fantasy that Velma is trying to sell. Velma is no longer Velma, Daphne is no longer Daphne, etc. And that is obviously going to do no favors for Frelma at all. In every show (even MI) Fred and Velma are the brains. They're obviously smart in very different ways but anyone paying attention can tell that they are the ones who love to solve mysteries. They are a detective duo and are usually on equal footing. Obviously if you think Velma was the one carrying the team then you can't really portray her on equal ground with anyone.

But if I like Frelma, there is no way I am going to enjoy seeing the scale tipped so high in Velma's favor that Fred might as well not even be there. Their relationship dynamic is why people (me) love them and if that dynamic is done poorly then there's not much point in liking them.

Anytime Velma has shown any romantic interest in someone (male or female) she's typically pretty collected about it. Which makes sense - again she is the logical one in the group. And I suppose that only makes the discrepancies in her current character even more glaring.

I know that being bummed that we won't be getting well done Frelma/Scooby gang representation is a little ridiculous when we're looking at the other complaints made against it. The disappointment from the Indian community at how poorly they feel represented being the most important one (at least to me). Compared to that, this complaint is almost nothing. But it is also a reminder of what happens when people are given the rights to properties they clearly don't have any respect for. Riverdale having no respect for the Archie comics is another good example. I am hoping that all of the bad reception Velma has gotten will show that you can't just take any franchise you want and use it as a skin for your poorly written self-insert fantasy.

[steelycunt]

your tags on regulus basically getting popular bc people were getting bored of r/s... you are correct! look, obvious disclaimer, #notALLregulusstans etc. etc. but the interest in the character is so fucking shallow from a lot of what i've seen. he's a generic blank slate you can project any personality and persona onto and ofc he has to be hot and involved with an established canon character and it is so goddamn boring. and it ruins!!!! what we know about regulus too bc he's nothing but a self-insert to a large amount of the fandom. so we get takes where people are like "regulus had NO support system and was so lonely and vulnerable and only joined the death eaters because he had to" but ALSO he was the most popular guy in school with a great group of friends who had no supremacist leanings themselves whatsoever and he obviously had all of Sirius's friends falling over themselves for him and like??? how does this character make any sense??? what is the appeal here except to live out a fantasy all with a timothee chalamet fancast???? add that to garbage takes on child abuse and also rampant misogyny and just weird apologism for a character who does not need it and it's like... no wonder jegulus is slowly dying and the fandom is getting more and more superficial and interest in regulus is slowly fading. a good portion of you guys did it to yourself. #makeregulusaninterestingcharacteragain

hi! yes! i dont have too much more to add honestly i agree with you totally n i think you've said it all...i think the way you put it actually highlights the two different parts of the whole Regulus Thing that i don't get. the first one being i don't really get why people feel so deeply for a character with no actual canon appearance or personality traits (although as i said in the prev ask i understand the appeal of a blank slate oc that can easily be inserted into canon situations) which is more of a personal preference, and the second one being that i don't really like what fanon (and as you say, obligatory #notallregulusstans disclaimer here) has chosen to do with said blank slate oc. and i do agree that a lot of what could have made him interesting has been stripped from him in order to turn him into a justifiably likeable and morally-sound remus derivative (and also to justify a world in which canon james could possibly have any sort of relationship with canon regulus, which i personally think just makes...very little sense frankly and again in a lot of cases just speaks to people being bored of r/s and wanting a new refurbed version of r/s which isn't r/s but is adjacent to it). but yeah lol i mean. i can't speak much to whatever the Latest Discourse in the jegulus community is seeing as i am not in it but i definitely agree with ur interpretation of what has been done to his character by popular fanon.

[mermaider00]

I don’t know who needs to hear this but just because your interpretation of a character feels like they’re “(insert word here)-coded” does not mean that they are in canon.

People need to realize that how they view a character or a ship or whatever is just an opinion, it is not a fact. Just because you feel in your heart of hearts that a character is “(insert word here)-coded” doesn’t mean it’s true. That is a fanon head canon and no one is obligated to agree with you or portray that character as “(insert word here)-coded” just because you strongly feel like they are. Others can absolutely join you in your personal interpretations but to force others to agree and then harass them when they disagree is wrong and it’s ridiculous. It is always wrong to harass others.

Unless the creators themselves say word for word that a character is that “(insert word here)-coded” type you so wish for them to be, your interpretation is only yours and not everyone else’s and definitely not something others have to adhere to. I don’t care what evidences you bring up, not everyone sees it and feels the same.

Stop enforcing personal interpretations on others in fandom

[space-blue]

10?

10 — worst part of fanon

Homogenization, and the slow descent into policing and then blurring of lines with canon.

I like finding gems that have a unique take on blorbo. And yeah, sometimes it's some horrible woobified take, or it's twisting said blorbo beyond recognition so they become the kind of character who'd get wrapped around the author's self insert or whatever.

But it's fun, and I like a varied eco-system. It's an artist/author having fun too. Sometimes I've clicked on fics that had a wild set of tags and summary, that sounded batshit to me, and was either pleasantly surprised, or challenged in how I view a character. Or just had great fun with it even though that's not how I see the character.

But when things get big, you see a tendency for the dominant fanon take to get turned into a sort of new canon, and its fans to grow intolerant of other takes, or other explorations.

People coming into your comments, your blog, twitting you that no, these two you're shipping are brothers, they're clearly brothers. Or Blorbo is absolutely a bottom and you're so wrong for writing him as a top. Or "this character is actually X (because this popular fic is so convincing I think they have it from some obscure corner of canon and I never checked)". etc.

Like, darling, nobody died and made you god. If you can't cope with diversity of opinions or blorbo flavours, then stick to canon content and stay off other fans' lawn. Nobody enjoys a fandom cop, besides the other cops.

Nobody wants to hear "your fanon sucks" for any reason.

I find it tasteless already when people get too upset about canon interpretations, but that's at least something worth discussing. Debating fanon and getting upset at fans for what they're enjoying as their hobby is just... please don't.

Thanks for the ask! It's from these Choose violence ask game!

[afro-elf]

Did you see Anthony Mackie's statement on the exploitation of pure and beautiful homosexuality?

i agree and have always agreed that anthony is the absolute king of bad old man phrasing and talking too much but the rage feels odd to me because like evans and stan have responded in similar ways to the question of shipping (with evans being lukewarm and stan responses being on a spectrum because press that caters to fandom is aware that a lot of bucky fans Only care about who he's fucking for some reason) and people got upset for like two hours and then went back to talking about how badly they wanna lick their abs, anyways i have a bit of a ramble and it's kinda unrelated but this situation just dug up my feelings about it SO

i obviously can't and won't be the one to decide if mackie's comments were homophobic, but i can tell you what i've observed in the tfatws fandom alone. a lot of y'all (and you know who y'all are) were only here for bucky. you made this abundantly clear from the moment the trailer premiered to the closing shot of the show itself. now, as i said before, a huge loud chunk of bucky's online fanbase is very concerned with who he's sleeping with to the point where most conversations about bucky outside of like... interviews where sebastian stan is actually asked what's going on with him, tend to favor questions about bucky's sexuality. now, as i've said in the past, it sucks that marvel and disney are deeply homophobic companies so the fans are left to make prominent characters overtly gay in fanon and fanon alone, but the obsession with the shipping potential of bucky really took a strange and annoying and frankly racist and misogynoiristic tone during the show's run and it also felt less about bucky being a canon gay character and more about bucky being a widely shippable feature

first, it was the former st*ckies' refusal to not let the show be about sam. they inserted steve into every scene, every piece of dialogue they could manage. they made the show's web reception all about bucky and bucky's "post-steve life" and bucky trying to date and bucky's tears and "ooh bucky and zemo and ooh NO not bucky and leah and ooh bucky and john and NOT BUCKY AND SARAH eh i guess bucky and sam sure i guess sure i guess whatever i guess bucky and sam since there are no other options i guess bucky and sam". and, as much as i H A T E D the politics of the show, holy shit, why did it feel like every major conversation about the show revolved around shipping when it was so busy trying (failing, cannot emphasize this enough) to talk about race and class sorta but not really?

when black fans expressed discomfort with the fandom and the show's treatment of sam, they were drowned out. when black fans wanted to talk about bucky's microagressions, they were drowned out by fanon ideas of bucky's woke levels. when black fans were interested in bucky and sarah being an item the idea was deemed idiotic and the show was accused of baiting an audience it never meant to court (remember who disney/marvel is) but had to try not to displease for the sake of audience retention. scenes meant to show us something new about bucky as a character were made into ship fodder, like the scene where they're undercover and zemo basically implies (in my interpretation) that, as the winter soldier, bucky didn't just murder people but was also used as a sexual object, which was fascinating but so beyond unsexy and uncomfortable that the idea that there were fics written because of that scene still kinda makes me nauseous

but since the focus was so on bucky and seb it seemed like the (mangled) themes and center of the show were forgotten until after it was over and we were all like so that was bad, right? mackie was asked a LOT about seb during press for the show as a result of the fandom hyper-fixation and i feel like that never would've happened if shipping were not a primary function of mcu fandom to the point where no one actually cares about the plots of the movies as long as they get a chance see two men kiss or a hint that they could kiss. the truth of the matter is that if the mcu was better written we could maybe have a discussion about the richly depicted personal and sexual lives of the characters but instead we're left with the cinematic equivalents of action figures and people getting very mad that kevin feige's play style with those action figures is fundamentally whack and homophobic so like i say all of this to say the displeasure mackie feels with all relationship related and really all discourse in specifically the mcu fandom being reduced to two men kissing (and this being exploitative of gay relationships and identities- even if he worded it worse than me) isn't unfounded even though i am not mackie cannot speak for him and do not know him personally so i can't call him and be like "hey what did you mean by this?" y'know? i guess i'm saying that i think fandom rage in this case would be more understandable to me if the canonical basis for a romance between the two men they wish had kissed was truly as fleshed out as it is in fanon

anyway i hope i carefully explained myself well and also comics!sambucky owns, comics!sambucky fat juicy pussy supremacy throwing ass and making cash

[nobaraisalive]

You know i find it funny how people disregard the undenying tension that was between Geto and Gojo and put words into Gege's mouth saying how he was only showing their relationship as best friends and nothing else, completely ignoring every subtle reference and hint that was shown. But will free-handed go and talk about how Gojohime works because apparently Gojo is very popular with girls but he can't get Utahime and this is Gege's way of showing that he's always been attracted to her. I swear that fandom Gojo and every other character that gets mischaracterized for some wild and childish fantasy ought to be the worst thing I've ever seen. You would actually think that the reason he says pick Nanami instead of Gojo is because Gojo wouldn't be such a good choice for a partner and that his bad personality is not something a woman would find attractive but no, Utahime will like that amirite? Gege created Utahime to show that not every woman wants him, in a series where life is at stake people believe that they'd date lol - according to the fans

Like, do you just blindly ignore what the story is actually trying to tell so you can fit your shipping material and call every little thing you can find that makes zero sense a ship crumb? Create a self insert, create an oc just stop ruining characters and turning them into something they're not. Honestly? Just imagine if Geto was a woman, just imagine, that would be immediately recognized as romantic but when he's a man, no they're just best friends after all "that's what's Gege trying to tell" but then he's also trying to tell is how Gojo likes Utahime "according to the fans" so that's why he torments her.

All these fanon interpretations of a ship is so cancerous and i honestly don't get what people miss in their life to go on lengths like these.

the “popular person who fall in love with the only person they can’t get” is so lame. What is love for these people? a competence? a whim?

Which women want Satoru anyway? There is no single lady in love with Satoru in the story. He only got the attention of some random girls and women in an only girls school and that is probably because they haven’t seen a hot guy in a while lol Jokes aside, that is not being in love, that is just some attention a hot person gets. I’m sure most women lose interest in Satoru when they get to meet him because he is so unconventional in the wrong way.

Mei Mei did flirted with him in chapter 65 but that wasn’t real interest, she is just… sexual active and with no ethical limit.

A hot person and a person with more than one person actually in love with them are phenomenons that don't necessarily happen at the same time. Gege saying that Satoru is handsome doesn’t necessarily mean there are many people in love with him, he is just saying that he is attractive according to beauty standards and most people agree with it.

In general terms, people can headcanon whatever version of the story they want, only with the condition to keep in mind that those are headcanon. Headcanon and analysis are different activities. About sharing their headcanon and/or fantasies, the line is with problematic ships and some other problematic issues.

About some people that are against the idea of Satoru and Suguru being in love, well… some people love to live in denial. I have this anecdote with a fansite on instagram. When Hakari and Kirara show up they immediately accept they were dating, but when Panda referred to Kirara as a male implying that they could be a gender non conforming person, they switch to interpret like they were just friends. They would believe anything before acepting their fave aren’t cis hetero.the “popular person who fall in love with the only person they can’t get” is so lame. What is love for these people? a competence? a whim?

Which women want Satoru anyway? There is no single lady in love with Satoru in the story. He only got the attention of some random girls and women in an only girls school and that is probably because they haven’t seen a hot guy in a while lol Jokes aside, that is not being in love, that is just some attention a hot person gets. I’m sure most women lose interest in Satoru when they get to meet him because he is so unconventional in the wrong way.

Mei Mei did flirted with him in chapter 65 but that wasn’t real interest, she is just… sexual active and with no ethical limit.

A hot person and a person with more than one person actually in love with them are phenomenons that don't necessarily happen at the same time. Gege saying that Satoru is handsome doesn’t necessarily mean there are many people in love with him, he is just saying that he is attractive according to beauty standards and most people agree with it.

In general terms, people can headcanon whatever version of the story they want, only with the condition to keep in mind that those are headcanon. Headcanon and analysis are different activities. About sharing their headcanon and/or fantasies, the line is with problematic ships and some other problematic issues.

About some people that are against the idea of Satoru and Suguru being in love, well… some people love to live in denial. I have this anecdote with a fansite on instagram. When Hakari and Kirara show up they immediately accept they were dating, but when Panda referred to Kirara as a male implying that they could be a gender non conforming person, they switch to interpret like they were just friends. They would believe anything before acepting their fave aren’t cis hetero.

Hakari is a reference to the Fight Club movie, which is a critique of masculinity. It makes some sense that he is the character dating a gender non conforming person. Seems like those fan didn’t get the reference lol

[dwellordream]

This is kind of a random question but since you’re writing about Harry Potter more lately, I was wondering your opinion on Lily Evans as a character is? What do you think of common fanon interpretations and what are some of your own?

I dislike the common fanon interpretations of her as being identical in personality to Hermione, or whatever the fandom thinks Hermione is like, since HP fans like to smooth Hermione over into their shy and helpless self insert.

Basically I think Lily was extremely popular, confident and bold and you either really really liked her or couldn’t stand her, like most popular girls.

I obviously don’t think she was a bully or anything like that but I think while her home life was not the happiest as both her parents seem to have died by the time she was 20 and her sister treated her terribly, she generally had a pretty good time in school and was used to being the subject of a lot of attention and admiration as a student.

Does that make up for personal tragedy, of course not, but I can see her having a very different identity at school as opposed to at home, like both Snape and Sirius.

I also think she dated people before James and was the more experienced of the two, because fandom obsession with player boys and virginal girls is insufferable.