#Pointless Romance

[stiffyck]

I should be allowed to get a "skip pointless and stupidly forced romance" button in everything I watch ever

[di-daynamic]

No, but the Hunger Games did need the romance plotline. See, Snow got it all wrong for the cause of the districts' rebellion. He thought an act of love is entirely separate and different from an act of rebellion, that the two are mutually exclusive. But we saw even in Katniss' though process that the two are mixed. And for the districts, the two are the same thing. For seventy-four years they've been forced to watch their children, grandchildren, siblings, niblings, friends die in the Games or through exploitation, are told it's an honour for them to die for the Capitol and are not allowed to grieve. And then suddenly this girl comes up and plants her feet and says 'no'. She survives through illegal hunting, avoiding the miserable death via starvation or the terrible community home. She doesn't stand by to watch her sister die, she volunteers. She doesn't treat her friend's death as one of a tribute to the Capitol, but as the horrible killing of an innocent little girl who deserves to be memorialized. She thanks and humanizes another district's people. She gives another tribute a merciful death. She refuses to give up on the man she loves, repeatedly. Defying all sense and establishment.

That is rebellion, for the Districts. Love, loyalty, grief, kindness, mercy - they're all rebellious sentiments.

And romantic love is an integral part of that. Not the be all end all, but an intrinsic part. We see sisterhood with Prim, we see friendship with Rue and Finnick and Johanna (and Gale and Madge a little bit), we see mentorship and connection with Haymitch and Boggs, so of course we need the romantic angle with Peeta. Of course we need the dandelion that grows after the war, the dandelion that started it all through one act of kindness to the starving girl he loves.

[actuallyjustabiscuit]

Fuck it

I think I just need to say it

This whole scene to me…

Didn’t come off as flirting

Ok, I promise I’m not doing this to put down any FunnyGummy shippers.

The ship is fine. I like it

But just hear me out on this take, because there’s a specific reason I’m making it.

And to do that, I gotta do a quick analysis on their interactions.

So here’s the deal, it feels weird to call Pomni’s behavior towards Gummigoo in ep 4, namely all her clumsy stuttering and stumbling, as anything resembling infatuation.

The reason she’s failing to play it cool is because she’s suddenly reunited with someone who, not a couple days ago, was previously blown up right in front of her.

Like, I’m pretty sure she was struggling not to just immediately go “holy shit, you’re alive!?” as soon as she realized who was standing on the other side of the counter.

Let’s try walking in Pomni’s shoes for a bit. Imagine seeing someone you just befriended…suddenly get killed…in a pretty violent fashion…and then pop back up again with absolutely no warning.

You’d think the first thing you’d talk about upon reuniting would be something related to that.

But nah, they just waltz in wanting some breakfast like the average customer in this little fast food simulation game that you are being forced to play in.

Now, let’s go back to ep 2

Gummigoo had accidentally stumbled onto the other side of Caine’s curtain, making him question his entire existence. Leaving Pomni the only one available to explain and to effectively shatter his worldview by revealing that he, and everyone he knows, is an NPC. And his reaction to all of this was naturally negative. He goes from panicking at the discovery to being completely dismal over the loss of the reality he knew.

To say the poor guy was going through it would be an understatement.

Gummigoo was pretty much in a hopeless state. Being burdened with eye opening knowledge is a very lonely experience. Especially when it seems you’re the only one to be made aware of it. It’s not hard to see why Pomni took the time to help him. She was forced to suddenly comprehend a different reality just the other day.

“Feeling like your nothing is kinda normal.” is a wild way to try to relate to someone, but she decided to take a seat next to him because it’s probably the most normal thing she’s heard since she’s been there.

And what’s important to note about their conversation under the map is that with every attempt that Pomni initially makes to help him feel less alone, Gummigoo’s quick to brush it off because none of it is enough to diminish the fact that he’s not a real person, and therefore does not get to exist as a real person. Believing that his friends care about him the same way he does for them is pretty much cold comfort when their roles have been literally coded for them.

Even when she offered him a way out of his situation, he wasn’t immediately keen on taking it. His question, “how does this benefit you at all?” is the kind of question someone asks when they place no real value on themselves as a person. He was so quick to accept that he is nothing, because from his understanding that’s what he would essentially be reduced to once the adventure is over. This is what fills him with dread, knowing his life ends when his purpose as a character is complete. And it’s only when Pomni finally gives him a new role, being her friend, that he begins to respond positively.

He goes from a fake bandit to a real friend, giving his existence some validity.

The show has been doing a great job at establishing that Pomni is the kind of earnest person to lend a helping hand. But, considering how she failed to help someone the day prior, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was placing a lot of responsibility on herself to make sure this guy at least gets a chance to not feel like nothing. Helping him benefits her beyond feeling less alone in this strange new life, it was also a chance to redeem herself.

This time she wasn’t going to abandon someone who needed her.

And then he was fucking obliterated.

Once again, Pomni failed at helping someone. And not just a stranger, this time it was someone she called a friend. On top of that, she didn’t just failed, she practically led this lamb to slaughter. She didn’t know the outcome of course, but it was still her idea to take him to the Circus.

It was her insistence on bringing him along that got him killed

So now she’s talking to someone who may or may not be the same person because he sure damn well looks like him.

And if he didn’t really die, then perhaps she didn’t really screw up again, at least that’s what she’s hoping for

However, this isn’t the Gummigoo that got stranded under the map with her and needed consoling from his existential crisis.

This is just a guy who’s still waiting on his Sausage Bacon Jaffle Combo, and is super weirded out that the cashier girl is crawling around trying to get his attention.

And you can see all the hope in Pomni’s eyes die at that realization.

Additionally, her saying “I…don’t know” feels like it goes beyond the surface level “we met before…but you don’t remember me, so maybe not…”

Because, really, Pomni actually doesn’t know Gummigoo.

She never got the chance to know him. Sure she knows what he is, but who Gummigoo was as a person was what they both were going to find out together.

But this Gummigoo doesn’t have the baggage of knowing the truth, which is what ultimately led him to feel like nothing, and in turn needing the validation that he doesn’t have to be nothing. Here, he’s just a simple customer.

This isn’t her friend. And Pomni has to accept that it’s best that he doesn’t remember her. He doesn’t think he’s nothing, and that’s all that matters.

Alright, so why am I really going over all of this?

Why bother making a whole post analyzing these two just to pedantically point out that their interactions have been purely platonic?

Well to tell you the truth, it’s cuz I’m a little fed up with all of it.

I don’t mean people making assumptions that these two characters have feelings for each other.

Im talking more about the trend of when a girl is shown acting all nervous around a guy, people automatically conclude that she has a thing for him.

But when it’s two characters of the same gender acting the exact same way, you get some annoying commentary about how it’s for reasons unrelated to romance and how they “just don’t see it”

“It’s like people can’t just be friends anymore”

Does that phrase annoy you as much as it does me?

Now, thanks to Gooseworx, we are all in a collective understanding that none of the characters will actually get together romantically. So we are free to ship who we please, with the caveat that we are not to act superior over what will or will not be canon. And this is a good rule.

I’m too old to be making arguments against a ship because at the end of the day these weird little guys are public domain and you can imagine them being together in any way you please because they’re just characters.

So me saying that people viewing Pomni’s behavior towards Gummigoo in ep 4 as inherently smitten are misconstruing their relationship just sounds like I’m putting someone’s beloved ship down for no real reason other than just being weirdly contrarian about it.

And you’d be right to think that way.

But when you get people in this day and age who are so quick to label these interactions as romantic and then have trouble extending the same imagination towards a ship like ragapom, it starts to get a bit grating. That the awkward and nervous interactions between two women can be dismissed as platonic and anything more is just delusion.

Like, even people who sincerely ship them tend to make jokes about how delusional we are to do so. You don’t see that in people who ship FunnyGummy. And that’s a little depressing to me.

Now, I’m not saying you have to ship Pomni and Ragatha romantically. I’m not here to dictate anyone’s tastes or say anyone’s reasons for shipping are less valid than others.

I guess it just irks me that we don’t extend this platonic view just as readily towards straight pairings.

Like, I honestly feel that Pomni and Gummigoo’s relationship is appreciated less because of all the shipping.

Their story is so much richer than just another “love that could never be”. It’s the tragedy of losing a friendship only moments after its inception. Of having to come to terms that someone you wanted to be closer with, is better off living their life separate from yours. You wanted to be a positive influence on them, but it didn’t work out as planned, leaving you both to suffer as a result. And all you can do is wish them well as they leave you behind.

A lot of people like to see this pairing as a tragic romance because their circumstances give them prime shipping material. That her having feelings for him would make their separation feel bittersweet.

But Pomni not being in love with Gummigoo doesn’t invalidate the heartbreak of her having to say goodbye to him.

And it shouldn’t. Because he was her friend, for the brief special moment she knew him. And in the end, she did get to do something for him.

She got to wish him a pleasant day.

[childofthestone]

rook and solas...narrative foils? rook? a narrative foil? to SOLAS? rook? to solas? ROOK? ROOK????

[nedlittle]

maybe this is delusional but in the same way that contemporary romance authors switched from writing basketball/football romances to hockey romances bc hockey is a predominantly white sport so they don't need to come up with excuses for all-white casts....i feel like there's been a rise in popularity of viking/norse mythology inspired fantasy bc it's an easy excuse for making all your characters white and blond coinciding with the retvrn/clean girl to alt right/general rise of fascism in the West shit

[regainingparadise]

Is it even Mandalorian romance if they haven't tried to knife each other at least once?

I've been thinking about the people I ship Din Djarin with, and realized that there's an inverse relationship between how much I ship a given couple, and how chill they are together.

Don't get me wrong, I'll happily ship Din with almost everyone, but the ones I get super into? Gimme some good angry fights.

(this says more about me than it does about any of these ships, and this is also 100% not a knock on any of the ships listed or not listed here. It's just me doing some pointless meta about my own tendencies)

In order:

Paz. I love him. They apparently fight all the goddam time. You cannot tell me there is not history there. It makes the times they're on the same side all the more impactful (and adorably awkward).

(I also ship Paz with Axe for the same reason)

2. Migs Mayfeld. Migs is just such a snarky shit, they have every reason to hate each other (/Migs has every reason to assume Din is gonna kill him). They've got the whole fun double-crossing history, and in many ways they're opposites and foils, but ultimately Migs respects and understands Din, and Mando is willing to trust him

3. Cobb Vanth: I mean, their first real interaction is "take it off or I will," so no surprise here. Vanth is very clearly 110% into Din, and they get over the violence phase of their relationship way faster than Din does with either Paz or Migs.

4. Boba Fett. They don't really have a murder phase of their relationship. We get a li'l tension and then they're besties. I ship it, but I'm not as into the ship, 'cause like, how can I ship Mandalorians if I haven't seen them fight each other?

5. Luke Skywalker. I love this ship because it's just...so logical, what with the coparenting. It's a ship in a slightly different category because it lends itself so much to the domestic/parent narrative. But if I'm reading Din/Luke fics, I like a nice (un)healthy dose of tension and possibly violence while they get to know each other

6. Omera. I love Omera/Din as a "what could have been if his life was very very different" ship--especially given that she apparently has some violence in her past that she's now escaped and found peace from.

[spineless-lobster]

They won’t even let you use divine dash anymore… because of woke

[mobilesuit]

mr. quincy isaacs if you read this im free on thursday night and would like to hang out. please respond to this and then hang out with me on thursday night when I’m free.

[charming-demon-belle]

I'm aroace but i really wouldnt mind if someone expressed romantic or sexual attraction to me. I don't date but I would be happy to have a close lovey queerplatonic relationship and fuck as long as it's kinky, and I would be excited to learn about the feelings this person has and how they might differ from my own.

Enough of "oh nooooo i have a crush but they're aro/ace" more "they're aro/ace but it's still worth saying and maybe we can work out a relationship style that suits us both even if it doesnt look how i'd expect"

Having a close lovey flirty relationship where we can fuck as long as it's kinky is just how I do friends. Being aroace doesnt make me uninterested in that at all, it makes me not have the emotions that most people use to judge whether they should do that, so then I find other reasons to do it.... i.e. I feel comfortable enough around you. I would be interested to find out what things I truly am uninterested in due to being aroace. Besides just vanilla sex and dating.

[milkbreadtoast]

[nedlittle]

halfway thru yet another lesbian romance but this time the protagonist is a mechanic. if this girl so much as looks at a dress or a skirt in the remaining 47% i WILL start killing hostages that is a promise

[altschmerzes]

also seeing a lot of people lately in the aro community talking about how weird/silly/pointless/reductive/stupid/etc it is to label relationships At All and it's just like. lmao. can you understand perhaps why someone who is aromantic and perhaps entirely uninterested in and even repulsed by romance as a whole concept especially when potentially applied to their person and relationships might have an investment in being clear about their relationships and what they are and aren't. you don't have to, and that's fine, but please don't act like there's no point in it at all.

sometimes it is very important for people, especially aromantic people, to have clear labels and a clear line separating what is one kind of relationship and what isn't. that isn't to say that certain activities or sentiments or feelings are inherently part of one kind of relationship or another - i.e. kissing, 'i love you's, cohabitation, cuddling, etc - but that if someone wants to make a clear point about whatever they're doing with someone being meant in a specific way, it actually is important that people respect that and Be Cool About It.

[boopboopbitch]

I'm down for genderbending Sophie. Hell give us lesbian Eloise. But Michael Sterling?? The entire point of that book is based on his male privilege. Then there is Francesca wanting a child leading her to go back on the marriage mart. Despite her reluctance because she LOVED John. You literally see her torn because she feels like she is cheating on her dead husband. We won't get her and violet bonding over the loss of her beloved husband now because she never loved him in the first place! We wont get her crying because the baby was the last piece of john she had AND the keys to the earldom. We won't get the marriage of convenience that came from Michael becoming the earl because women can't inherit. Despite frannie being far more competent at the job than michael. Which was something that was both acknowledged and celebrated in the books! We wont get frannie reading michael to filth for taking advantage of his male privilege and ditching when shit gets hard.

This was like the one DECENT bridgerton book. The one with fleshed out characters and a form of complexity.

Why destroy this plot when you had ELOISE RIGHT FUCKING THERE.

Her book is terrible and very outdated ALONG WITH BENEDICTS!!!!! Those books needed a makeover NOT THE ONE ABOUT GRIEVING YOUR DEAD HUSBAND AND INFERTITLY.

Not the one discussing important topics women go through AND RESONATE WITH. What the fuck.

This was a misfire.

[stiffyck]

romance is so fucking boring oh my god

[offbeat-manga-ships]

TSUMI TO KAI / 罪と快 / PLEASURE & CORRUPTION by Someya You / 染谷ユウ • volume 1

[howifeltabouthim]

'I should be able to protect you. I should be able to protect your sister, and anyone else you care about. If I can't do that, then what's all of this for?'

Emily Henry, from Great Big Beautiful Life