#bughead fandom negativity

[likemereckless]

The fandom has been quiet lately, which I totally get. Things have for sure been different post time jump. Rather than spending season 7 harping on what I wish happened, I’m going to think about all of the wonderful friends, conversations, and creativity that Riverdale and Bughead brought into my life.

So… Here’s the plan! Over the course of Season 7, I will be revisiting an old, or new, Bughead fic each week. I’m asking those of you still enjoying the fandom, or those of you who just want to pop back in for season 7 for some fun, to read along with me!

The catch? You have to comment! It doesn’t need to be paragraphs! It can be as simple as, “I just reread this and I still love it!” So many people have brought us joy and I think this is a nice opportunity, rather than to delve into negativity, to highlight all the wonderful stories our fandom has given to us over the years! Maybe we can even inspire one or two to finish that last, lost chapter!

If there is a particular story you would love to see on my reading list, you can suggest it here! Or, send me a message!

My first read will be posted on Sunday, 2/5, and every Sunday after. I’ll be tagging with #Bughead7Farewell

[godheadjones]

You Still Haunt The Corners Of My Heart

A lump forms in Betty’s throat as she thinks about Jughead. Seeing him with Tabitha, happily smiling and laughing, makes her wish she had that. She only has one person in mind about who she wants a future with.

“Bee? You okay?”

She shakes her head. “No, Veronica. I think… I think I’m still in love with Jughead.”

---

read on ao3

fandom: riverdale

ship: betty x jughead (bughead)

for: (yoyo on ao3) thanks for suggesting! it really tested me as I have very negative feelings about adult bughead, but I think the final product is something you’ll enjoy :)

[lovedinapastlife]

Rec List

Hey. It’s me. Sunlit Garden on AO3. If you would like to find a bughead fic, beta, be long-term groomed with positive feedback and helpfulness, then have your self-confidence chipped away, be isolated from other support systems, be negged, insulted, and emotionally harassed/toyed with to output to her idea of perfection -- or find someone who did this to others and will most likely weasel their way into doing it again -- I recommend none other than jandjsalmon, the gal who runs theblueandgoldoffice - a handy fic-finding website.

I made a prior post about my personal experience but apparently not everyone knew it was her because I didn’t name her specifically. Hopefully, this is the last post I’ll ever make about her. A lot of wonderful people reached out with similar experiences or sympathy but I’ve also seen some continue to interact with her or rec her as someone to follow. Now, I’m putting it in the tags. Her name is out there. If I see her on rec lists, at least I know the info is out there that she abused me and others and whoever posted didn’t want to deal with having to deal with her bullshit of her harassing them or they think I’m a liar. I have nothing to lose in this fandom or to gain by outing her. I’m doing it because I don’t want her to be introduced to new waves of authors/readers/people will trust her without protecting themselves or doing something to protect others. Unfortunately, me and the victims I talked to did not feel comfortable sharing how much she hurt us with each other until she’d done a fair amount of damage, and we were all trying to make it work with her until we hit a breaking point.

As a reminder... this is just a potential scenario based on past experience.

If you do become mutuals, and she thinks you have an ounce of fandom fame or MIGHT post things she likes if she bugs you enough, she might make you aesthetics, reblog, comment, buddy up to your friends to get closer to you, find out and exploit your insecurities or mental illness, notably withdraw support to prove a point if you like something she doesn’t or even show love for another person who doesn’t love her, keep records of your convos, show them to other people, vague post about you (sometimes even going so far as to message you without you even asking to make sure you know ‘oh it wasn’t about you’ to rub salt in that wound), let her husband talk shit about and to you even when on good terms with her, and try to get involved in your personal life to be your (only) best friend and support system... only to tell you you are nothing without her, people rely on her for recs and she can turn the tides on fandom favorites, you should not write original works because original romance is “disgusting” YA is “immature” and no one likes your work and your mind is too fucked up to be productive without her. No one will love you or have time for you like her.

She will insist you include scenes even if you don’t want them there, then try to claim she helped write your fic in the comments of it when all she did was tell you to add something you already wrote and deleted back in, though she did comment on the doc and talk through your million ideas and pick her favorite OF YOUR OWN IDEAS and help with grammar. She will also tell you at least one of your fics is disgusting and berate you to the point of not wanting to post it, especially if it shows Betty even slightly interested in someone besides Jughead at some point in her life, claiming “that’s not her!” but OOC or Jughead with past/current partners is no problem... and she will be very apologetic to have to tell you and make you feel bad, but brag in DMs of her friends that she “made you change your mind” and “taught you how to think” if you eventually cave and adjust something. Conversations become drags where you agree with what she says just to avoid confrontations and meltdowns sometimes.

If you talk to her and try to rebuild your friendship or set boundaries, she will either lash out or apologize and be good for a few days until she can find a reason to turn on you again. When you distance yourself for protection or make new friends, she will harass you in DMs asking why you unfollowed (even if it’s a tumblr glitch) or followed so and so, why you did or didn’t like something, tell you how awful everyone except her is, and try to get you to talk shit about your own friends when you know she’s talking shit about you, too.

Oh and if you compliment her on something you’re considered good at that she’s insecure about (prompted or unprompted), be prepared to be called a fake liar and a judgmental bitch in general for having an opinion -- yes, even if it’s positive, so imagine how fun it was to disagree on something neither of us even made.

She is not a neutral party when it comes to abuse and harassments either. Despite being very anti-cheating, she stoutly defends the Sprouse brothers despite multiple women and outlets coming forward claiming they cheated on or abused their partners, claiming the sources are “crazy” or “jealous” or “unprofessional.” I have some pretty ironic in retrospect screenshots someone sent me of some of her rants but I won’t post them publicly here. What Jandy told me of her former victims was that they blocked her for no reason. She was nothing but supportive of them and they got too big for their britches and had other friends and abandoned her. I’m sure she says similar if not worse things about me for calling her out and cutting her off.

So yeah, it will be uncomfortable to unfollow, ghost, and/or block her. It might even be inconvenient because of the service she provides to this fandom. But please keep in mind that even the slight fear/dread of her shadow-banning or harassing you is a sign that she’s affected you, too.

If you really miss that one extra comment per chapter, hit me up. I’ve got a lot going on but I’ll make an exception for people who need that extra support as long as I can. For additional support, please see local and online organizations to talk to a professional or volunteer trained to help with emotional abuse, toxicity, depressive, or anxious thoughts like therealdepressionproject. Good luck and have a wonderful day.

[melimelrockswell1204]

To add in my amazingly sought after Unpopular Opinion™️, I won't be mad if Jabitha were to happen.

Yes, I said it.

Does that make me less of a Bughead fan? I mean, in some eyes maybe?

But also some eyes believe see that baseball is boring and like, we all know that's not the case so like why am I gonna burden myself to care what those "some eyes" believe?

I haven't been watching this season, this ain't news. But from all reports, the only people that have been there for Jughead have been Tabitha and her grandfather. The only person that gave a shit about Jug and his drinking have been...yep, you guessed it - Tabitha.

Not Archie. Not Betty. Not Toni or the rest of the Serpents.

Just the Tates.

And yes, I completely understand how problematic Jabitha may be. But the burden of the RVD writers’ racism isn’t on the Jabitha shippers. How the show treats POC isn’t the fault of the fans of those characters, it’s the fault of that  writers room. It’s not on the Toni fans that Toni become a pod person for seasons 3-4, it’s on the writers that write Toni. 

And I hate to state the obvious, but like - the show’s racism is so much bigger than Jabitha. It starts in the writers’ room and moves outwards, and we’ve all seen those photos of that writers room. 

I’ve seen Jabitha shippers be compared to the Jeronica shipping of s2 (what?) or B*rchie (I swear to God, I’ve never been so offended, DAFUQ?!?!!?) - and I’m sitting here thinking, who the fuck are these people talking to? Almost every Jabitha shipper understands that in the end, it’s going to be Jug and Betty. We know this - this isn’t news. But wanting a simple kiss between Jughead and Tabitha, that’s not the end of the world like some of y’all seem to think it is. 

[satelliteinasupernova]

thinking a lot about how riverdale’s writing has completely denied Betty any interiority since season 5 except for her feelings about her darkness and how convenient that is for the writers who would just hate to be nailed down by things like thematic or emotionally resonant character arcs.

and also thinking about how for the most active contingent of the ba fandom, this writing of Betty is actually ideal, since they are mostly invested in her as a white girl they can project onto because they think Archie is hot, anyway.

[bettyminicoop]

I want to say that no matter what shit this show throws at us this season, in the final episode or at the very end - I'm glad that I share my emotions with you guys.

I love my fandom. There is no way I would have gone through this alone.

[girloffire5]

Has the BH fandom (not all) always been as toxic and racist as it is now, or is it only more obvious now.

I mean the way they talk about Erinn and Tabitha is absolutely disgusting, if they spoke that way about other cast members they'd be ripped to shreds.

At this point they're as bad as the worst part of the b*rchie fandom and their treatment of Veronica.

[good-night-dodger]

I don't care what happens in canon. I'll sink with them if I have to, but I'll ship Bughead forever.

If I can still root for Rory and Jess and be salty about how the show treated their relationship 14 years later —yes, I'm choosing to ignore the revival—, you bet that it would take a lot more than this (this being season 5, the writers, you name it) to change my mind.

Sending some love to my fellow Bughead shippers in these trying times. I'm extra grateful for our content creators. You are one of the biggest reasons I'm still here. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 💛

[daphnefangirling]

Y’all, I’m exhausted…

This is not goodbye. This is however me deleting the Tumblr app from my phone because I need to step back.

You can still find me on Instagram at @/mybughead_artstuff and @/comicsbughead

Cheers!

[thestaredown]

Per the 100th episode.

This is the one time in this fandom that pretty much everyone is going to likely have something to enjoy.

For fucks sake let people enjoy the parts they like, this fandom doesn’t seem to understand peace or staying in your lane from the anons I’ve seen people get, especially today.

Everyone gets a cookie next week just take it and enjoy it in your circles.

It’s not that hard.

[arsenicpanda]

Do you still ship Bughead because all your tweets are shading them especially Betty on Twitter? Why do you act one way on here and another on Twitter?

I should ignore this, but nah, I'm gonna take the bait because I'm annoyed.

TL;DR Yes, I still ship bughead.

Now for the "too long" part (my favorite part):

Yeah, I ship bughead; the show is giving it jackshit right now, so I've zero new things to say about them and just as many new ideas, but I do enjoy them and would enjoy them being endgame so long as they don't screw over Tabitha and they put in the effort for it (with effort, which is relative to the series a ship is from, being a requirement for all ships becoming canon for me). And I'm not shading bughead or Betty; I'm shading the kind of shitty, asshole, purposefully obtuse, so-called bughead shippers I see all over twitter. I think the only negative thing about Betty or bughead on there is one tweet that simply restates that she and Archie are both cheaters, and that's just because I fucking hate cheating for personal reasons (it's a real testament to just how much I like both Betty and Archie as individual characters that I didn't throw either of them in the trash and set it on fire).

I do act differently, to a certain extent, but that's mainly a function of the different ways the websites function, particularly in the way I can't talk way too goddamn much in one sitting over on that hellhole that I almost exclusively use to find more people talking about Jughgead/Tabitha because I am living in rare pair hell and trying to claw my way out of it. Like, it's so bad that I'm reading fics where they're a background ship and using ctrl+f to find any instances of them.

Look, if what you're asking is "When will you start posting and reblogging bughead content again?" a.) you should just say that, you'll sound much less judgmental and intrusive and off-putting, b.) idk, when the show puts effort into them again and some fans stop showing their asses and irritating me, esp by popping in to ask me if I still ship it while giving no reason that's relevant to them for asking that question, c.) when grad school is over and I'm less tired all day, every day, and d.) when I can enjoy the high-quality content to its complete, purest extent because it deserves better (and its creators and I deserve better) than to be consumed for the sake of being consumed and reblogged, and I would like to happen sooner rather than later because I miss it and the people who don't suck. And like, I hate to act like a bitch, but I'm seriously sick of the question.

[iarasstuffss]

doing a whole tw account to make fun of bughead fans it’s a whole other level of obsession, doesn’t people know how to stay in their land?

[bettyminicoop]

The first thing I will say is that the absence of Riverdale in my life for two weeks has an extremely positive effect on my mental health. Switching to Stranger Things and spending time away from the computer is refreshing.

Second. I don't think I'll watch this episode and probably won't be back until 6-22. But I believe that the only thing Roberto can and should do right now is to bring this whole multiverse farce to an end with his head held high. Admitting right now that this was all a big mistake would be an even bigger mistake. Because that would mean that no one in the writers' room really understands their audience and their own show.

And yes, of course it was all just a big kid's wet fantasy of his longtime dream of a crossover. It's very bad.

However, I'm always here for amazing fanfiction. I really look forward to updates and miss my Bughead. I love you fandom ❤️

[srainebuggie]

Y'all getting in your heads about RAS' post...its his job to promote the show/current storyline.

He's a troll.

Bugvarchie endgame, fam. Don't worry about this shit.

[bettsc]

Will you watch season 6?

oh, nonnie. probably not live?

in the spirit of honesty, i have not watched an episode live since 4.15 i think? it began as me having a night class on wednesdays and then morphed into watching through my dash (and fingers) for all of season five.

i am however intrigued by the comics tie-in for the 100th episode, so i will attempt to watch that!

been finding ways to divert my fandom energy towards those who create such beautiful fic, edits, and gifs. to me, it seems like a much more productive use of time at the moment!

[melimelrockswell1204]

I don't know what this says about me...

...but have you ever read fanfic where your favorite character is suffering, and since canon already has them suffering, you get emotional and just wanna...wail against the universe's injustices?

That's...where I'm at, today.

(Yes. This is about Jughead Jones.)