#especially because I’ve seen a lot of binary trans headcanons for all sorts of characters but I really only see nonbinary for klavier and

[hashtag-anthems]

I’m working on a paper on this topic and it got me thinking so I made a poll. This won’t be used in my paper but it will satisfy my curiosity. I’m including the main ones I’ve seen around here on tumblr and on Ao3, but that obviously won’t be all-inclusive so feel free to pick “other” and give me an essay in the reblogs or replies. I want to hear the people’s thoughts!

I’m impatient so I’m only leaving it open for a day so pls share if you vote

[trackinghallownest]

i’ve seen a lot of posts flying around recently discussing the use (or not) of they/them pronouns for the canon vessels and as a Certified They/Them myself i feel at least a little obligated to add my two cents

you don’t really... see nonbinary characters in media too often. least of all when their nonbinary-ness isn’t like.. a huge deal. the vessels being genderless and using the pronouns they do is super important to me and many other people who identify like me, because it’s so so rare to get that sort of representation at all, least of all without it being made into a whole social justice issue or commentary (which is all great ofc, but it’s nice to have something just casual once in a while). which we get in hollow knight! and i love that! so do many others in my position!

however when it comes to fandom, both for this game and others with nb characters and protagonists (COUGHundertale) there is somewhat of a problem with people who see a genderless character, explicitly said to be genderless by the source material and/or the creator, and go “oh cool! a blank slate to project whatever idea of gender i want onto!”. which is pretty textbook erasure. and usually that gender is male, from what i’ve seen, which is a whole other can of worms about male being the “standard” that i don’t want to open but sure is a thing too that i and many others have noticed

making gender headcanons for canon characters that aren’t canonly marginalised identities is naturally all fine n stuff, but think of it this way (purely theoretical scenario): say there’s a gay character in media, who is widely seen as good representation, and openly shown/said to be gay in the source material or by the creator. however, for whatever reason, a big chunk of the fandom just so decides that this character is instead straight, and only describes them as straight and ships them with the opposite gender, because “it doesn’t matter that much” or “it’s up to interpretation” or “people make straight characters gay all the time” or *insert excuse here*

can we all agree that that would be homophobic at worst and erasure at the very least? ok? cool. that’s how I feel when I see people downplaying the importance of nonbinary/genderless characters in media. especially considering they’re even rarer to see compared to gay characters. you could replace the above example with just about anything - trans characters being hc’d as cis, poc characters being hc’d as white, it’s all the same principle and proves the same point

at the same time, though, nonbinary people do exist who use binary pronouns! that’s incredibly valid, pronouns don’t define your gender etc etc, my problem is more with people who completely erase the fact the vessels are nonbinary at all. i’d be considerably less iffy with people who make binary pronoun headcanons keeping that in mind (though anything other than the canon they/them for them does make me eeehh a bit, it really isn’t my place to judge people who aren’t exactly crossing any lines, so yall keep going even if its not my thing) but sadly i don’t see that too often

tl;dr cis/binary people please keep in mind that the canon vessels’ gender and pronouns may not seem so important for you, but to others it’s a huge deal when it comes to representation that’s otherwise very few and far between. please be considerate and listen to nb people when we say it’s an issue!

extra note: this post has nothing to do with ocs, feel absolutely free to have your vessel ocs identify however you like! it’s more a matter of the representation present in canon that i’m discussing here

[iamafxsh]

week 6 - w/c march 1st

march 6th 2021

Fictional characters are free game. Once it exists and it perceived and consumed, people can take what they want from it, or change it to fit their wants and needs, or let if be if that’s how they prefer. This is why things like fanart and fanfiction are so prominent, because we, as fans and creators, can take what we want and what we like, and discard what we don’t, or what doesn’t resonate with us.

All characters are free game, but some get played with a lot more, and I want to look at three cases, characters in which I believe/have taken to believing this without necessarily explicit canon information.

Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf) So I’ve talked about him a lot, in many, many posts, so I won’t go into much here, but yes, I think he is queer to some or multiple degrees. I don’t think he’s straight I know that. There is hinted at evidence, and when I say evidence I mean bits of media that very likely were not intended to point in this direction, but when viewed all together, it’s hard to see anything else.

Jamie Winter (Midsomer Murders) It’s hard to believe I never talk about this show because I love it dearly - and my main blog takes it’s name from this character - but I want to talk on Jamie a little. He’s my favourite Sergeant, the fifth and most recent of them, and I care for him dearly. I can say, without doubt or hesitation, that he is bisexual. There is no evidence for that, not at all really, but it just feels right. But, what about it feels right? Why does he feel bisexual?

I also imagine he had a pretty terrible childhood, with passive neglectful and abusive parents, and who never really felt love and acceptance until he left that environment.

Quite different things, but with the case of Jamie there is this: we basically know nothing about him. With other sergeants, we’ve known bits and pieces, but Jamie’s past has been left untouched on, so why do we - and by “we,” I mean a fair portion of the Midsomer Murders/Jamie Winter stans - believe he had a bad childhood? Little looks he gives and the odd sentence, but that’s it really, isn’t it?

Julian Bashir (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) Now I can talk on this a bit more because I wrote an essay about this character and his identity, through allegory, as a transgender man. It’s definitely an unintentional allegory - his trans identity shown through his identity as a genetic augment - but it’s definitely there. It was a joyous essay to write, especially as a trans person myself, and I felt very grateful to have a professor who was so supportive of this idea.

-

I focus on these because these opinions - that Rimmer is queer, Jamie is bisexual and Bashir is trans - are not just headcanons held by me, but by other people too, and it was wonderful seeing that. Looping back to what I said at the start about all characters being free game, yes, but Rimmer is consistently queer, multiple people have talked or written with Bashir as trans, nearly everyone I know that I talk ot Jamie about will agree he’s bisexual. So, what are we reading? What are we seeing that the others don’t? Why is Bashir the DS9 character headcanoned to be trans and not Jake or Kira or Rom? Why is Jamie explicitly bisexual to us and not just more broadly queer?

This post doesn’t really have a point or answer unfortunately. I imagine some of it, things regarding gender and sexuality, come from a history of being invisible or supressed with media, and so we naturally look into these character to find ourselves when we’re not explicitly impressed.

Mention Star Trek here for an example, but In ST: Discovery, everyone who has been seen as straight - as in straight-passing relationship with no explicitly queer identity - I don’t really headcanon anything about, and I assume they are straight - and the same in regard to gender. And in Discovery, we have gay and queer character, and trans and non-binary characters too. Now looking at Deep Space Nine, there are no directly explicit queer or trans character - yes there is Dax in terms of gender, but that’s a different topic, and Dax is only ever a woman on-screen so forgive - and so I headcanon half the characters to be queer, in gender or sexuality, purely because I can sometimes.

So yes, I’m sure some of this headcanon stuff comes from that, but it doesn’t, at least in my personal case, explain why I see Jamie having an abusive childhood. Mine hasn’t been, at least not in the same way I imagine Jamie’s being, so it’s not self-projection like it might be with Bashir being trans, so I don’t know. Maybe somebody else does, and I’d love to talk about this sort of stuff with someone (so if you want to, hmu on my main @jxmieswxnter)

[sepublic]

LGBTQIA+ in Bionicle: RaE

To celebrate the beginning of Pride Month, I figured I may as well briefly delve into the subject of LGBTQIA+ in Bionicle: RaE! And before anyone gets riled up over me ‘changing’ things from the previous lore, don’t worry! I have a permit;

(Also this is Bionicle: Redone and Expanded, it’s a fan-work so chill)

With that out of the way...

On Okoto, queer identity is a completely normal facet of everyday life. There has been no known, recorded instance of bigotry, because why would there be? People are people, and they freely explore their sexualities as they choose.

Being Trans and exploring one’s pronouns is frequent on Okoto. I’ve talked before about how Okoto’s Mask Culture favors the idea of making one’s own identity, creating a new ‘face’ for oneself, one you can actually choose and decide. To Okotans, one’s personal Mask that they make for themselves is more reflective of their personhood and identity than their actual physical face, because it’s something you craft for yourself and decide. Similarly, I imagine Naming Day -which I haven’t figured out the full details for- goes hand-in-hand with this idea of recreating one’s identity, of undergoing a rebirth of sorts.

Now obviously, a culture that prizes discovering yourself, reforging your own identity, sometimes even completing reinventing one’s identity; That’s a very trans-friendly narrative! A lot of people figure themselves out when crafting their personal masks, which tend to go through multiple revisions and versions. Naming Day is a way to come out and solidify and explore one’s new identity, at least for now; Nothing is set in stone! Of course, by that logic, genderfluid identities are also welcomed and appreciated!

On another note, I suppose the subject of one’s physical face and how an individual treats it varies, the way Trans individuals may feel about their own dead names and personalities. Some want to leave it behind and forget entirely, while others are pretty casual about referencing it as a past, outdated thing. Any option is totally valid! Nobody judges in Okoto. By the end of the day, Okotans value the concept of Identity, especially a self-chosen one, very much. Consequently, it’s seen as the epitome of disrespect to disregard someone’s chosen identity and bring up a past name or face of theirs in the process; It’s an incredibly petty, lowly, and grave insult, akin to spitting on someone’s personal mask or destroying it, or insulting a person’s family bloodline. Not even Makuta would stoop so low, so... To anyone who misgenders...

Don’t be worse than the narcissist who literally experimented on people.

During the Creation Age, if one wanted to have sex-reassignment surgery, it was pretty easy thanks to Masks of Power and other Life Automatons. Masks of Healing combined with surgical work can do the job. In particular, the Mask of Control was very efficient at helping trans individuals change their bodies if desired; Keep in mind that contrary to the legends, Ekimu and Makuta actually wore the Masks of Creation and Control interchangeably. Later towards the Creation Age, the two began to become more familiar one of the two, but generally speaking, there was no restriction. If you wanted a quick change, just pop over to Ekimu or Makuta, whoever had the Mask of Control, and ask!

On Xia, the general attitudes towards queer identities is essentially the exact same; It may be a horrific, industrial landscape... But there’s no reason to be bigoted. There’s no basis to it, there’s nothing to gain.

Unfortunately for Trans individuals on Xia, sex-reassignment surgery is far more difficult to have access to. Again, this is not out of any stigma towards trans people, but rather because Xian healthcare in general is so ridiculously expensive that everyone is screwed over. The Trans experience on Xia isn’t fun, because... Any experience on that cursed island isn’t fun.

Now, onto fun facts about the cast; Specifically, several characters’ sexuality and/or identities! I’d call them headcanons, but technically I’m the writer who decides what comes and goes in RaE, so really they’re just... canons.

Tahu- Is one of the most pansexual people out there. He’s a social butterfly that loves and grooves with just about anyone, and he’ll flirt readily- Provided those he’s flirting with are comfortable. He’ll back off if he can sense discomfort, and he makes sure to only do this when the situation is appropriate. As a person with basic morals, personal autonomy and consent is much-respected by Tahu.

Gali- Questioning, both in-universe and from a writer’s perspective. RaE Gali is a character who’s busy figuring a LOT of stuff out regarding her identity and role as a Toa.

Pohatu- He’s Gay, no ifs, ands, or buts.

Onua- Aromantic ace! She doesn’t quite get the idea of sexual attraction or romance, but it’s intriguing to quietly observe from an outsider’s perspective nonetheless!

Kopaka- Pan, but with a particular disposition towards big, buff people. 

Lewa- Also Pan, he’s pretty open to a lot of people and loves very freely and compassionately. (Of course, that isn’t to say that non-Pan people, such as aces or aros, don’t have compassion; Onua is a just person after all! It’s just that with Lewa’s very friendly and outreaching nature, it makes a lot of sense to me for him to be open to just about any possible relationship.)

On another note, the Protectors of Jungle and Water, Vizuna and Kivoda, are both non-binary and go by They/Them pronouns! Initially I grappled with deciding which one to make NB, but then it occurred to me that the more there is, the merrier! Likewise, Takua is a trans woman!

Generally speaking, assume most characters are pansexual. There are the occasional exceptions I know for certain, such as Harvali and Vira- They’re lesbians. On another fun note, if a character’s gender in RaE doesn’t match the one they had in the source material, there’s at least a 75% chance that they’re Trans! I haven’t decided on all of them exactly, but for now, it’s safe to assume that they’re probably Trans!

Any Trans Individuals or others of queer identity are free to give input on how I can contribute to, change, or update this kind of worldbuilding! I may be queer, but I’m still no expert in queer identities, and I welcome the feedback, corrections, and experiences of others- Diversity IS the spice of life! LGBTQIA+ asks about RaE are also welcome as well, as are suggestions on representation that I can include!

[kinkymagnus]

Hey I've read a lot of your posts, where Magnus is a trans boy and I like that a lot, but I was wondering if you don't like the canon cis male Magnus? I'd ask you non-anonymously too, but I'm honestly scared of some people's hate messages for a question like this... sorry

long answer long answer lmao

hmgmgmnggg ok so i, hm. ok, i don’t think this was meant in a rude way at all, and i promise im in Education(TM) mode not Kill The Malicious Evil Transphobe(TM) mode like im not, accusing you of anything here, at all 

but i do have a few Issues with like, the way this was asked i guess

i will answer your question just--give me a sec, im a little uncomfortable here

also like, ok, i get why you’re sending it anonymously, it’s cool--personally i’ve never seen anyone get hate on behalf of trans magnus headcanons (rather than against them) but i mean, hate can come in all shapes and sizes i guess? and anxiety, so. whatever, it’s fine, i get it

but anyway moving on: first, “canon” cis magnus. my dude... my guy... did at any point magnus say I Am Cisgender or pull out his dick.... like... neither trans or cis magnus is really “canon” just as like, you know, izzy isn’t confirmed straight or bi or pan. we know she likes dudes and personally i think the way she looks at clary indicates she sure do like girls, too, but that doesn’t seem to have been intended so it’s debatable, and that’s basically it. 

also, in the context of just like... historical shit, realistically magnus isn’t cis. is he trans in the way i write about (like afab, “pre op”)? no, not necessarily in canon (although he isn’t... not that either i guess--we do see his flat chest, no scars, but HYPOTHETICALLY that could be a glamour, or the scars are magically healed. we know he has an adams apple, but there ways to do that without magic, let alone with magic. so like. i’m just saying.) 

but like, he wouldn’t be cis how we understand it either by the simple virtue of being much older than the western gender binary as we know it. even if he was born with a penis and all of that and identified as a Man(TM) And Nothing Else that wouldn’t mean his idea of masculinity/manhood would be the same as ours, or that it wouldn’t at least be shaped by very different factors. so like. even if my version of trans magnus isn’t confirmed canon, cis magnus certainly isn’t either i think. that might be slicing hairs or getting finnicky with language, but it’s how i feel about it. 

and just assuming that he’s canonically cis rubs me the wrong way, like, characters aren’t cishet by default, you know? obviously the writers probably weren’t intending to make him trans, and cc certainly wasn’t when she stole his character from dark hunters and made it “her own”, or else there’d be a bunch of transphobic tropes in there, but like, you know, death of the authors, we make sense of canon now. intentions arguably don’t matter, we do with the story what we will, especially when working within it.

again i don’t think you were necessarily being like “well magnus is canonically cis so :/” but it rubs me the wrong way and is something i’ve seen before so like, yeah

secondly, “trans boy” magnus versus “cis male” magnus. why boy, anon. why boy

(god why does “why boy” sound like a bizarre t-shirt slogan or a mbmbam segment--NO, BRAIN. WE ARE ON SERIOUS BUSINESS.) 

but seriously tho like the sort of infantilization of trans men is really a thing (seeing them as “soft bois” and “uwu cute boys” and feminine/soft/small/delicate) and like, specifically calling magnus a trans boy versus when he’s cis he’s a “male” (which technically can refer to any age but has those like, Connotations) sits wrong with me. like, magnus isn’t a boy, you know? i mean i get making jokes like “aw my boys <3″ or whatever, but with this it’s not that say memey context AND specifically it concerns a trans man (not to mention him being asian) so like, it feels, yikes? like just. he isn’t a “trans boy”

im sorry i realize it seems like im just like harshly picking apart your answer and i really dont mean to sound like a bitch here but like, again. Education(TM) mode not Anon Hate(TM) mode. just for learning, it’s cool, i’m not angry at you, it’s chill. 

to answer your question with the yikes language gently nudged to the trash chute: do i dislike cis magnus? 

simple answer: yes.

complicated answer: not really. i already stated why i don’t like Cis(TM) magnus as it feels unrealistic and dumb and also he just doesn’t have cis energy lmao, but if you just mean like... well this isn’t really “cis” but kind of what people mean in this context, AMAB magnus (meaning he was “assigned male at birth” aka has a penis and all that) and he’s canonically gnc so like, he’s “cis” even if his understanding of masculinity might be different than ours and obviously we’ve seen him be gnc and all that.... i don’t really hate that, and objectively, i have no issues with it, but personal taste wise, i basically only read/write trans magnus as you see on my blog now. because i’ve kind of absorbed it as “canon” in my head (fanon, i guess, lmao) 

plus, just generally trans magnus is really important to me because like, a) he is #goals i too want to be a muscular gnc hottie, b) he’s relatable and i project all my shit onto him lmao, c) it just feels very validating, in a lot of ways--with the sexual preferences i write about, his insecurities, just the way he looks, and him being trans is just kind of reassuring, you know? also d) i honestly think it fits him/his character/his backstory and he just has the vibes u kno 

so basically, Cis(TM) magnus? no-go. cis magnus as in AMAB/identifies as a man full stop even if it’s wibbly wobbly compared to current times and lbr no one is going to really explore that much beyond him being outwardly gnc sometimes? fine, whatever. trans afab magnus still being gnc as hell? yessssssss

ldkgjfgh anyway im glad you like my posts!!! and hopefully ive Inducted Another Into The Trans Magnus Cult (thats a joke, but seriously, im just like,,,,,maam do u have time for ur lord and savior trans magnus?? maam blease)  

[crispyjenkins]

do you think there are homophobes in gffa. like. they're living among literal aliens but do you think that there would still be those few people who are still like !11!!1! gay evil

i have a short answer and a long answer! short is no, not really, the galaxy at large is pretty chill. i know nothing of comic canon outside of what bits i’ve seen on tumblr, and i haven’t read the novels outside synopses and excerpts, so this is personal headcanon and i’m not going to go pull up evidence for it. i think there’s absolutely people that look askance (probably humans because i have very little faith in them) but the galaxy has too many genders and sexes and preferences and pronouns across hundreds of species (many of which don’t even have sexual dimorphism) that most just don’t put in the effort to care; there’s enough other stuff to worry about.

(long answer under the cut)

the longer answer is that as a queer trans person, i’m so sick of reading about my own discrimination. and if the gffa has absolutely nothing to do with earth, then i rather choose to believe it’s not even a thing. gender and sexuality cannot exist as a binary in the gffa, i firmly believe it isn’t sustainable, especially with how advanced human medicine is: they’d know there’s more than two sexes, and gender is a lot more complicated than your bits. sooo my writing is sort of all riding under the assumption that while the ships will have issues with different cultures, or statuses, or multiple love interests, their sexualities are never the issue. i don’t like that the only pinup art we saw from the clones were humanoid women like human and twi’lek, because there are millions of clones. look me in the eye and tell me there isn’t a clone only interested in Wookies. especially when the clones are technically mandalorian, which isn’t any one species at its core, despite what bullshit Lucas has been pushing since the clone wars. I literally roll my eyes when I’m reading a fic where any of the characters have a gay panic? i’m just. really tired. so i don’t write it. it’s fanon, i can say that my version of gffa doesn’t have homophobia or transphobia, and i want to create works for people that share that idea. 

for canon gffa, iiii honestly probably don’t know enough about canon and eu canon to give you an in-depth answer? we see misogyny and speciesism, but so much of that is due to authors’ and artists’ own prejudices and invisible biases. unfortunately, we have Lucas a creator who is. problematic. and thus anything in star wars is fair game for problems, but then we also have people like mark hamill that actively encourage queer and trans interpretations of canon characters. so i dunno. 

tldr: there’s too much species and culture diversity in the gffa for a binary system of belief to make any sense or be any sort of sustainable. i write in a version of gffa where no, sexuality is never an issue, and gender is more an exploration than a panic, because i’m personally exhausted reading coming out stories. not that those aren’t important, but i wanna read other stuff too. lucas is racist and homophobic and gross, and therefore much of star wars is biased so i don’t know how to answer your question in regards to disney canon. 

speciesism is a whole other topic that i think is an active issue in the gffa, because power and corruption and drugs, but i super dislike that all forms of sexual slavery i’ve seen from either the eu or disney canon is humanoid women. just. it’s so lazy. you really gonna look me in the eye and tell me the absolute largest sexual preference is only twi’lek and human women? with hundreds of species and sexes and whole cultures that don’t rely on species, and entire races without sexual dimorphism? nah. lazy.

i digress. thank you for the question! 

[noddytheornithopod]

SU or P&F for the media hyperfixation ask! Choose your favorite questions. I can’t decide which to pick.

Okay, will answer whatever I feel like (or rather, what’s easy enough, if anyone wants to challenge me then be more direct :P).

Steven Universe:

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation? Like many, I found out about SU because of tumblr and everyone getting excited over Jailbreak when that aired. I didn’t bother watching the show for a while, but the fact I kept hearing so many good things about it ended up with me having to consider it eventually. I finally gave it a shot about six months or so later, and I instantly fell in love with it.

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it? For me, I think really the core of what draws me to SU is that I don’t think I’ve come across any story this emotionally intelligent? Like, people will always talk about complex characters and moral ambiguity, but SU is probably the story I’ve seen do it best. The writers have outright said they don’t categorise characters into good or evil and just focus on who they are. This ends up with a cast where pretty much even the most minor characters can have nuances and feel fleshed out, and the characters all end up with so many interesting relationships. I’d also say the fact that even with this complexity, the fact that the show always aims for a positive outcome is especially commendable. I like angsty and dark stuff myself, but when you make sure it stays hopeful and try to send positive messages through it, it ends up making something really touching.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you? Nothing too strong, but I do find myself as an Autistic person with strong connections and relatability to characters like Peridot, Pearl and Onion. I also think Steven is neurodivergent in some way, though I’m not specific on what. I’m also of the opinion that gems are technically asexual because their species has no reason to have sexual attraction. They clearly have romantic relationships as seen… all the time, but in terms of sexual orientation there’s no reason for it to be in their species because that’s now how they produce. They can still have sex and enjoy it (as implied with characters like Rose), but they don’t feel attracted to others in that way because there’s no need to. I list it here mainly because I think it’s important to remember that Gems are still aliens and probably don’t fit into human behaviours as neatly as some may assume? I mean, it’s pretty much canon that they’re technically agender nonbinary women, because despite gems not having a concept of gender as a species, they’re fine with being perceived as women even if they don’t fit human gender binaries (Rebecca Sugar even said it’s to reflect on her experience as a nonbinary woman, someone who’s okay with being perceived as a woman but doesn’t actually fit the gender binary).

🍀 do you have any kins or comfort characters from your hyperfixation? I’m not a kinner by any means, but I definitely have comfort characters. Peridot and Connie are probably my main ones, I just strongly empathise and connect with those kinds of characters (young passionate nerds :v). I think for Peridot it’s also the anxiety and just attitude and quirkiness, and for Connie it’s her background (something that really helped me) and how relationships work for her.

Phineas and Ferb (forgive me if I’m rusty here, PnF hasn’t been in the central special interest spot for a while so I’ll have to work with what I can):

📌 how did you find your hyperfixation? I believe I first spotted Phineas and Ferb on an advertisement in a kids magazine they sell in Australia called DMAG when I was 11. It stood out to me, but not enough for me to independently investigate (I mean I didn’t have Disney Channel so I couldn’t just watch it whenever I wanted). It then showed up on free to air TV eventually, and even then I found it much more interesting than all the other shows on TV.

✨ what draws you towards your hyperfixation? what is interesting about it? I guess if I had to summarise it, it would boil down to what the show kind of promotes: creativity. Phineas and Ferb is a really creative show, and that was part of its original appeal to me, I had never seen anything so intelligent or complex from a kids show at that time. Going even deeper, I just really like the characters. I think they’re really interesting is that at first they might seem one dimensional or like stereotypes, but there’s often more going on, with the show often outright deconstructing the roles the characters have boxed themselves into. Couple that with the fact that even in a comedy focused show nobody is mean each other for the sake of it, and you have a really loveable cast.

🏳‍🌈 do you have any headcanons (lgbt, race, neuro, etc) that are important to you? Many headcanons. For important stuff, you’ll most likely see me on the ship of the Autistic Phineas as well as OCD Candace headcanons, but I also think Autistic headcanons can work for all the Flynn-Fletcher kids, Baljeet and maybe even Doofenshmirtz (who I also think fits ADHD, and honestly given how similar ADHD and Autism are comorbid I see how that neurotype can apply to characters like Phineas too). I also have thoughts on all the characters’ sexualities, but one I find myself gravitating towards a lot is asexual or demisexual demiromantic Phineas, given that falling for people doesn’t seem very easy to him? I also think Isabella is some flavour of demi because it’s clearly hard for her to have feelings for someone not Phineas. Also, count me in on the trans Doofenshmirtz train.

🍀 do you have any kins or comfort characters from your hyperfixation? Phineas is actually one comfort character, believe it or not. I’m not really like him, but he’s sort of the kind of person I aspired to be? And I think it’s also the fact that despite his optimism and genius that he still has human flaws and struggles interacting with certain people (aka fodder for Autistic headcanon lol). I find myself relating to that flawed side even if most people either don’t focus on it or just treat it for lolz. I also find Isabella is one too? I guess as I grew up I ended up realising I was more emotional and sentimental than I thought I was, so I kind of really empathised with her and her struggles with her crush on Phineas. Depending on my mood, Baljeet, Candace and even Stacy can also be comfort characters with their unique issues they face (especially Baljeet, who is probably who I’m most like lol).

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Digging your tabletop pride icons! I like the filter effect they have! :-) Do you by any chance have a textpost of the characters and their sexual orientations/gender identities? I recognise some of your characters, but not all of them, and there are pride flags I've never seen before, so I'd like to learn more. :-)

well thank you. it was just a bit of photoshop work.

i do not have a list of that made up yet...so lets do that now lol

let me preface this though with two points.; 1) i am 1 of 2 females who play regularly in my dnd group of 6 (sometimes 7) people, the other is Dixon. so i am usually the only female in the party itself. i have only ever played 2 (and a half) male characters in the 6/7 years i’ve been playing; every other male character i do in my tabletop group arts are story characters, not player characters. i am also 1 of 2 (sometimes 3) people in the group under 40. romance isn’t really a big part of our storytelling...no matter how hard i try to put it back in there ^^; 2) i identify as quoisexual myself, so all my characters have that to some degree in them just because i’m the player and you bleed into your characters that way. i also use goggle as a helpful tool to learn about all the different identities, so my knowledge and interpretation is fallible.

ok so list now;

Paige-Cupioromantic, meaning does not feel attraction, but desires that type of relationship i went with this, because Paige....well...is Paige lol. as one player once said “it feels wrong trying to date her, because she acts so young and innocent” and to be fair, she isn’t really out here looking at people as romantic partners. she wants friends, she loves her friends. also you know, mortal embodiment of an eldritch horror terror, so...

Cizma-Fraysexual, meaning has strong attraction until a relationship is formed and then the attraction fades she’s the opposite of Paige, and this is mostly based on her “relationship” with InkShade honestly; she believes she’s madly in love with him, but he refuses her, so she pursues him more. i think if he gave into hr advances and reciprocated, she’d realized her feelings weren’t what she thought they were. i admit, this one’s new to me so my interpretation could be very wrong, but that’s how i feel it fits Cizma.

Ada-Quoisexual, meaning has trouble distinguishing between romantic and sexual attraction as i said above, my default is this, so if i don’t know a character’s leanings it’s their too (yes jelena is my icon and is this too fyi). BUT in fairness, it suits Ada because of how she was raised; she has very little idea how to properly people here. and she is developing some sort of a relationship with Til. also, her first dice bag was my pride bag with this flag.

Gauzra-Lithoromantic, meaning has desires of attraction, but does not want them reciprocated again, kind of supposed to be in opposite to Ada, and seeing as i still don’t know Gauzra’s personality this could change...but from my interpretation of her right now, this feels right. plus the flag goes with her color scheme.

Rosalba-Demisexual, meaning does not feel attraction until a strong bond is formed at the time i was playing Ro, this was how i identified primarily, but it still suits her i think. if you met Rico after meeting her, you would never know WHY they were a couple, but those two kinda fought against two life times to be together (three if you count the accent into godhood). Ro’s also never been good at getting close to people, but once she did, you’re stuck with her.

K’nessan-Nonbinary, meaning does not identify with a binary gender scale; Marsic, meaning is attracted to masculine qualities ok, ok, *technically* since Ness is a hermaphrodite they should be inter-sexed BUT they do prefer the gender neutral pronouns (followed by the masc; never use “it/that’ or you will die)...and their color scheme matches the flag, so... ^^; i also included in the list the Marsic because Ness does have a preference for male partners

Nemo-Asexual, meaning has no desires for attraction Nemo is nothing but a hero, so that pretty much screamed ace to me...plus it matched her color scheme

Mekala-Aromantic, meaning has no desire for attraction i wasn’t really sure about her, since you know 2 failed campaigns in a row didn’t give her much room to grow, but i could see this working. she’s not really looking for anything, more searching her past. 

Jass-Bisexual, meaning attracted to both males and females Jass is my sabretooth, so my sabretooth headcanons are canon for her lol. we only saw her have a relationship with fantasy!Deadpool in the game she was played, but hey

Tesla-Electio Aroace, meaning has no desire for attraction, whether sexual, romantic, or tertiary  i admit, this one is completely new to me, so my interpretation could be very wrong, but the idea that this is one that is uninterested in any form of attraction suits my viral android very well. again, she has gone on record saying that “the biological imperative for emotions is distractive” (more or less) which is especially funny since she was played in a valentines game where the goal was to let Cupid infect a town with horniness to make babies; Tesla was the only one unaffected and actively trying to stop that. so yeah.

Theo-Pansexual, meaning is attracted to any gender yeah, Theo’s just out there doing and being anything

Sean-Bisexual, meaning attracted to both males and females; he however has a stronger male preference i admit, one reason why Sean is bi and not just gay is for the “half and half” joke...but yeah, he started the game with a boyfriend, he would kill everyone for his boyfriend, he woudl die for his boyfriend.

Vitanya-Gynosexual, meaning attracted to feminine qualities still learning new things as we do this, but since Vita has had little development (but will be getting more) i’m kinda aiming to have her be a bit more into girls...we’ll see how that pans out

Lokaj-Androsexual, meaning attracted to masculine qualities originally i had him as something else, but when i saw that description i liked it better, since he ended up with Arkos and all

Arkos-Transgender, meaning identifies with a different physical gender than the one assigned at birth; Gay, meaning attracted to men going more off the latest version here than my previous one for this. but yeah, he’s just straight up trans here, not intersexed, and his tribe is cool with it. plus being a tribe means not enough money to get magic to physically change anything...but he’s ok with that. in his tribe it’s less what you have and more how to act.

Rikkar-Bisexual, meaning attracted to both males and females mainly because he did have a fiance...even though they weren’t super into the idea, they weren’t against it either...but he’s far more into Ark

Tarn-Lesbian, meaning attracted to women she has been a loud raging lesbian since day one, and nothing will ever change that. not even one continuity having her in a forced, bested in trial by combat, marriage to Starlord basically. she will only go for a dude if he’s a dragon...and he’s gotta be a hot dragon...and even then it win’t lasting dude.

Reyzah-Abrosexual, meaning one’s attraction is constantly changing or fluid Reyzah started as a knock-off tarn honestly and never got to thrive too much. but compared to her siblings, she was always the one learning and trying to figure herself out, so this fits well.

Margus-gay, meaning attracted to men Margus, similarly to his sister, started off as quiet nervous gay, and by the end of the adventure he had himself a doppleganger husband and confidence to boot, so yeah, my baby boy grew up good. admittedly a lot of his self-confidence issues were more from his half-orc heritage, BUT that fed into the “no one would wanna date me cause i suck” mentality. so yeah.

Nikkos-Asexual, meaning feels no desire for attraction he’s Margus’ twins, and was always intended to be some sort of ace. the joke being the Ironbrood kids are a full set; likes girls, likes guys, figuring things out, likes doughnuts. i waffled over making him a more defined type though...but since i’ve only played him for like one session as a background character, i’m not sure where he’s at. so general ace is fine. he loves and supports his siblings, and is best uncle to Margus’ kids anyways, so s’all good.

Jelena-Quoisexual, meaning has trouble distinguishing between romantic and sexual attraction i know i said up in Ada’s that Jelena was this too, but here i am saying it again since she’s my actual icon and not in the reffed to image set. i haven’t played her, so this could change...but i’m very self projecting on her during quarantine to begin with, so yeah she’s quoi until proven otherwise ^^;

so hope you found this informative...and that my information isn’t too terribly off ^^;;;

[rabbitindisguise]

oooo my phone died, killing the possibility of me doing my Daily Assigned Task (I only have one because aside from staying afloat with food and stuff that’s all my brain can cognitively handle. Yes, I also do this doing the school year. Yes, I know that sounds absolutely bonkers) right this moment so while I have my boredom captive in this textpost, let’s ruminate over the nature of humanity some more ignore me I’m talking to myself 

it is also very extremely weird and by “very” I mean “not at all” and “extremely” I mean “minimally, if anything, actually not super weird in any of the senses of the word” and weird still just means weird because otherwise the previous things I just said would no longer be accurate BUT

let’s just say it’s totally expected 

that people find These Weird Things That I Do generally, absolutely fascinating in fiction. Like, my original works for example are steeped in weirdness. Rolling with abnormalities. Boiling with oddity. And so on. And I don’t pull this out of my ass! Oh no. This is all like . . . gosh, inspired stuff. From things I saw and liked and felt reflected my very soul in fiction. 

But they’re totally hated in meatspace 

I wonder 

Anyway, it’s also really strange to see posts about this Weird Things That People Do on tumblr and to read people complimenting them and to feel a warm glow of pleasant optimism about the state of humanity, and hear the very same audience of tumblr people absolutely go nuts over the strangest bullshit I have ever seen or heard or conceived of in my entire life. Like I get weirdly tense and fraught subjects. I get really tense and pissy if someone headcanons a character as binary trans when I headcanon them as non-binary when I’m a nb trans it literally doesn’t matter aside from my emotional attachment to the concept. I’m not proud of it! But I get it, is my point. I understand. It makes sense to me. 

But what just doesn’t quite click, doesn’t snap into the convoluted logic of my brain meats, is HOW exactly SO MANY people have the same weird gripes of this obscure stuff that should be totally okay if people are accepting the activist principles of ableism as nonsense and weirdness not being bad. Many others who are probably smart have said it is simply, nay, merely hypocrisy and I’ve met a human or two in my time alive, I can see the potential for that sort of thing to happen. However, considering that Herd Mentality is what it is, I don’t think it’s possible that the plague is actually “being widely inconsistent in the execution of your beliefs to fit in to society” when that’s so stigmatized but actually that being angry about the same things is good for some reason. 

This is important! It’s important because Reasons. Because if you say “hypocrite!” when there’s a fire, I don’t think anyone will understand or listen to the concern. If the answer is anything but hypocrisy, talking about it generally pisses people off and makes them yell at you- a near identical response of an actual hypocrite, confusing everyone further. So I don’t think it’s unfair to talk about hypocrisy, of course not, there is nothing I enjoy more than finding logical inconsistencies because it means the world can be improved etc etc that’s not the problem. The problem is most definitely that if the problem isn’t even hypocrisy than the solution isn’t the solution to hypocrisy.   

If my theory is right, or semi-right, or at least not wrong, then approaching a bunch of people yelling about a thing to encourage others to yell in tandem is not going to be won by yelling something opposing to that, especially if it makes them angrier and also makes them feel wronged. Instead, calmly being like “nah, dude, I don’t feel the same way, but it’s chill” is way better. Not only because it makes them look ridiculous for having an out of proportion reaction to someone being weird in public (the horror, whatever shall we do about ~being weird~ and doing it ~in public~) but there’s no defensive position to get on. There is no “debate tactics” to use. There’s absolutely not a disagreement about ableism or politics or intersectionality. Rather, it uplifts a contrary option that is confident and secure and this is exactly the same rhetorical device that Centrists or whatever they’re called, use all the damn time. People have talked At Length about jeez, idk, it being exhausting to constantly talk to a person that’s not as invested and doesn’t see it as the Serious Issue It Is- but from the perspective of when they’re actually talking about serious issues, rather than complaining that someone referenced a tumblr meme in public or plays mc and oh, no, how cringey 

This is of course blatant emotional manipulation but as the fairness complaint generally goes, they did it first. Multiple people weighing in on a topic with angry voices telling someone not to do something doesn’t work because they have secret actual good reasons and that shines through, it’s because there’s a number of angry people and they’re trying to subdue someone’s Weird with force. Emotional force, but there’s nothing about consent involved in this exchange. No personal boundaries. Shame is a mode of control. Power, even. Which is why I hate those second hand embarrassment fics and avoid them like the plague because it’s icky to me and makes me feel gross and I guess one of my personal triggers is someone feeling bad for doing something Shameful in public 

Which brings me to Weird Humanity Musings part II (III? I can’t do math) that have taken a weird non-activist and highly personal turn for the worst: 

I don’t think people notice how often emotional manipulation plays a part in subtle power plays that go on in human interactions every day. Humanity made dominance ffs. Humans are the ones that get upset and feel challenged with eye contact- not dogs. Dogs use sustained eye contact all the time for a bunch of reasons. Humans too. But it’s humans that recontextualized that behavior as exclusively dominance, a wholly human concept, and, whatever I’m not going to spend too much time on this because I don’t actually particularly care about it. But the point is actually just that humans went out of their way to create this thing, and it plays a part in social interactions. Mothers and daughters and siblings and friends all have scripts of code that basically go for the emotional center of the other person to get them to obey. Most people can’t recognize it because society has that whole “if everyone does it THIS must be the baseline of normal” be as well All Know, normal doesn’t even exist so that reaction is bullshit before it’s even analyzed in any meaningful sense. 

Example time because I highly doubt I can just say that off the cuff and actually get people to follow that train of thought to completion (unfortunately, I’d rather not have to write this post at all because it means one less problem in the world and that’s a good thing). 

Anytime someone says “I’m your mother!” it’s to reinforce the authority of the child that this person probably have financial, social, physical (such a medical) and emotional control over for almost two decades of their life, or however much it actually was. This is often used to make the child of the mother Do Something, like maybe they’re questioning her judgement or smth I don’t know I get this one a lot and it’s lost all meaning to me by now 

Whenever someone says “thank you” it generally plays into the social script where they do the whole dance of “I got this service from you, I say thanks, you say you’re welcome.” This works as a subtle manipulation (not necessarily negative! these examples aren’t Get Mad and Force Conformity examples, just How It Works examples) when someone doesn’t feel like they’ve done something for someone else, so saying “thanks” shows appreciation for the effort and can force an acknowledgement of that effort by expecting a “your welcome” or “no problem” from the other person. This gets shitty and creepy when someone doesn’t take silence aka “I’m not doing the dance because I don’t agree” to a degree where they’re like “oh? are you not going to say you’re welcome?” aka are you gonna be a conceited shithead that thinks they’re better than saying “you’re welcome” the most common social nicety that supposedly always costs nothing? Which does nothing to make the person to feel better and everything to leverage the situation and make them preform social interaction for the other person’s amusement. 

“Good morning” is another example. It doesn’t actually matter if the morning is good or not, but it establishes rapport and focuses on the positives- one of those things called “small talk.” (Never heard of her.) This is something someone can actually observe better at the cultural level- someone says “good morning” in english, in another language they say something else. Both show ideological underlying beliefs of the culture Because That’s How Culture And Language Work because it’s a sneaky not-liar that can’t hide its true feelings about things. 

I’m not actually all that good with the line between “what is acceptable emotional manipulation in a social context when the fundamentals of the english language rely on subtle power exchange to function [and holy shit would some people hate knowing That] and the unacceptable abusive emotional manipulation” and I generally err on the side of stuff that people seem to be explicitly asking for and prompting but I don’t always succeed and I don’t know that I’m doing the best method but that’s the most chaotic good thing I could come up with  

But it still remains that calling things emotional manipulation is both true and a misnomer because in some ways, they’re necessary to exist in society without being considered a jackass (as a self proclaimed “I was called a jackass using many different words that all basically mean jackass” that mostly doesn’t participate in these social nicety dances because I don’t like my brain yelling at me that I’m doing the same bullshit I hated as a Youth and I don’t like disappointing myself) and in others, they’re totally unneeded and artlessly cruel. I mean, heck, going through this internal debate every time someone says “good morning?” Who does that? (I do. This is why people think I’m a dumbass lmao. Jokes on them unfortunately,) 

Regardless of what people actually DO about it though, these things are the underlying mechanics of how emotional manipulation works. It’s a concoction of societal expectations, situational contexts, personal histories, selective pressures, and a bunch of other things in smaller amounts. Most of the time it’s “normal” social stuff but with a ton of exaggerated features (I almost used my own handle from a different Social Media and that my friends is having a lot of issues and self hatred due to abuse! and also anxieties over becoming abusive ofc but who doesn’t have those these days). Which is why I think it’s so important that it’s expansively defined so much because otherwise people are really thickheaded about emotional abuse specifically. They think it’s impossible to do in some cases and in others, think it’s exclusively the realm of insults and humiliation. 

Those exaggerate features are even harder to spot if someone doesn’t even recognize the interpersonal dynamics of language in the first place. It all just becomes nonsensical and no one can tell what came from where or what this particular question is abusive and not this other one. The logic gets poked with holes easier and abuse survivors get dismissed. 

Of course, expanding that definition to reshape thinking might just go along the same direction as representation, where even alluding to the truly abusive mechanics of actual, you know, emotional abuse, is seen as abusive. Everything, literally, would become problematic. There could be callout posts about any human interaction in any context with anyone ever. I’m confident in holding myself to a higher standard than the rest of society but I Cannot overstate that being bullshit to the nth degree that I couldn’t even put up with myself telling myself to keep to it as a standard. It just doesn’t work. I’ve tried it. That way lies the nonsense form of madness as in the non-nd kind. That, along with purity culture and censorship and doxxing and death threats and so on: I don’t fully want to release this theory out into the world in practice because I’m afraid society will just use it as fodder to be cruel to people but I’m also equally afraid that not saying anything will just cause people to, I don’t know, keep accidentally causing suffering to others. So I’ll stuff it under a read more and hope that keeps the impact minimal but not non-existent. 

But yeah this whole post is a demonstration that just because someone’s behaving weirdly doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re bad people. Even if they do something that seems downright mean. I read a post that was basically “there’s no such thing as asshole disorder” but there really is, and it’s whatever I have. I get so compelled to Do the right thing by my ethics and morals that I go through above *gestures* and take longer than neurotypicals do to respond to “good morning” and I don’t mean anything by it so I assume that people can tell because I assume the best in others, and others are free to assume the worst in me so they do. 

I’m not upset by it but I also wish that there were a better system to screen assholes than assuming that non-compliance with normality is a sign of evil, because that’s the system we seem to have. It might have a high reward in the brain via confirmation biases and whatnot, but that doesn’t seem worth the risk of basically knocking down any and every mental illness symptom that’s unpalatable. Because they’re all unpalatable to someone, somewhere. That’s what makes them symptoms. We don’t have any “glowing green hair” as symptoms because that’s just sick as fuck and I want some. People who have working with their symptoms and turned them into something beneficial have largely challenged societal ideas about what is “good” and “natural” to get there, and that type of work isn’t someone everyone is cut out for. 

Many physically disabled people are all medical model, all the way because they’ve been largely neurotypical their whole lives, and I’ve read their grieving posts like people recommend that I read and I just don’t see how I can help them empathize with me as a person that doesn’t give a shit if my clicking pen annoys people if it helps me focus. That’s an Asshole move if any has ever be determined by society, but at the same time, a common fundamental symptom of many disorders, and as such, I don’t feel bad about it and I don’t know that I could, ever, be made to feel guilty for existing. I’ve never seen myself as a drain on society. I’ve never felt like a freeloader. And I’ll never feel bad for being disable or neurodivergent. Does that make me the bad guy? Or the weird cool antihero from fiction? My impulse is to say “yes” to both ‘cause what people like in fiction is not always what they tolerate in real life 

It’s kinda weird and paradoxical that I can feel bad about not feeling bad but not feel bad about being disabled at the same time but w/e I’m an abuse survivor we, collectively, excel at stuff and things that most people may not understand so I guess that’s all the explanation I need 

[howlingmoonrise]

At worst, take this as a bit of fandom history?

Alright I’m pretty tired but it finally hit me that some antis legitimately believe that people are shipping a 25yo with teenagers and I’m still a bit dumbstruck. Then I mused a bit and realized it’s probably a fandom background/generational kind of thing, and this post was born. I’d appreciate if you read through it, and if you want I'm always open for discussion as long as it’s civil. 

There’s two main points I want to make on this post:

1) Creators’ words outside of the source content being automatically “canon” is a fairly recent thing. As in, last 2-to-5 years recent, and in new fandoms only. It’s not global.

If you go back to older and not-so-older fandoms, you'll see that most of them disregard stuff the creators have said outside of the source material or even source material content if it’s OOC, illogical, contradicts previous canon, etc. If a showrunner or a writer said something in a convention or in an interview, this wasn’t taken as canon and people didn’t assume that other people would know and adopt this information as official content, for a multitude of reasons.

We’re talking about creators queerbaiting/colourbaiting and saying or teasing outside of the books/shows/etc that a character was LGBT+ or Latin@ or something of the sort and getting kudos for being inclusive without any of the backlash. 

We’re talking about creators saying all sorts of canon-contradicting bullshit outside of the source material just because, or because they couldn’t even be bothered to keep up with the material they were supposed to be writing for. 

We’re talking about something having multiple creators and each having different views on the content and contradicting each other and even the very source material. 

We’re talking about creators taking a look at the headcanons and ships the fandom was creating and not liking them and doing everything to squash them to the ground.

I could cite a few examples, starting from queerbaiting on shows like Supernatural and Sherlock, the whole thing with Moffat and Doctor Who, Butch Hartman downright banning people and shutting down all LGBT+ headcanons and ships he sees of his shows for over a decade now, writers and producers Bryke for A:TLA stiffling the other writers and the pre-planned progression of the show in favour of their ship, even stuff like (NSFW) JK Rowling going ahead and tweeting that group masturbatory sessions in the Hogwarts dorms were a thing. 

None of this is particularly new. Creators putting stuff out there outside of the published material has been going on for as long as anything resembling fandom has existed. I’ve gone a bit more into this and the Death of the Author trope here.

Something that has also been going on as long as this is fandom creators taking all this, ignoring it, and doing their own thing. Creators say a character is definitely, for-sure, no take-backsies cis and straight? Nope. Trans and gay. Non-binary and ace. I’ve seen y’all doing this with Pidge even though she’s the one character to have canonly (in the source material) come out as any gender at all. Hermione has mentioned to be pale and to tan in the books? Let’s make her black. Alya’s family is from Martinique? Cool, it aligns with my headcanons but I’m not gonna push it into anyone else. Trans!Danny Fenton has been shut down by the creator in social media so hard you got whiplash? Keep putting him in binders, my dudes. This spreads to stuff like what the characters like to do for fun or their favourite colour or their birthdays. (you will pry hunk being cancer from my cold, dead hands.) Or, you know, ages.

People used to be legitimately sued and doxxed for writing fanfiction at all because it deviated from the creator’s original vision, the likes of Anne Rice making people afraid to post fanfiction for years, so that we’ve come this far and that we’re able to headcanon and take creative liberties with other people’s characters or worlds speaks a lot. This isn’t just about social justice and inclusivity. Extra skills for a characters? AU fics? Couldn’t. Coffeeshop slowburns included, considering it ruins the “integrity” of their work.

You see where I’m going with this, and this leads us to my second point.

2) Your opinions and feelings aren’t invalid, but I’ve met nearly no shaladin/pidge shippers who took the general ages lineup as canon. Though, to be fair, i don’t deal with all of them so I’m generalizing things a bit. You’ll notice I won’t mention She!th and that’s because I haven’t interacted with them.

I can assure you right now that, for example, Shidge shippers in general are grossed out at even thinking of a 14/25yo relationship. A good portion of them are even CSA survivors or minors, so you can see how much they’d like the mere idea of it. Shunk and Shance shippers, from what I’ve seen, don’t tend to roll with the “canon” ages either. If you’d like to argue that Shiro is coded as a clear adult or that Pidge is coded as a kid as opposed to the other paladins being late teens, I’ve argued against that in my comments here so feel free to take a look. If you’d still like to contest another point, I am more than willing to discuss your point and make my own.

I can sum up one half of this point like this: show a shaladin/pidge shipper a 14/25yo relationship, and they think it’s gross. A good portion think the same of 16/17/25. That they’re shipping shaladin/pidge ships regardless just comes to show that they really don’t see the age lineup as an actual thing. 

You have all the right to still feel uncomfortable with these ships or dislike them, though! It’s not for me to tell people what to like or not, nor to decide what affects them and their personal experiences or not. You also have the right to keep thinking that the age lineup is official and canon!

Picture the “creator’s word is canon” debacle like this: for me, the sea is blue. For you, the sea is green. Why? It depends on the depth of the waters, the weather, the environment beneath the waves, pollution degrees, etc. Neither of us is wrong here, but it depends on our own experiences and perceptions. In this case, those factors would be these: fandom background, personal opinions, previous headcanons, your own cultural background, and degrees to which you relate to a character. With a bonus of whether you think the creator is the worst thing since standardized testing or not, for some fandoms.

I’ve explained the fandom background on my previous point, but here’s a tl;dr: on recent fandoms and for people new to fandom, what the creators say goes; with less recent fandoms and fans, people do their own thing and only adopt what is said in the source content as canon, with the rest being taken as strong headcanons but not official canon. There are fans who even ignore sequels or certain episodes of their source materials due to it not fitting their standards.

This, coupled with the rest, obviously brings clashes of opinions, and sadly enough harrassment from both parts. Yes, I’m not discounting that there are shippers that are downright nasty, it’s a terrible reality we don’t have control over. We’re not a hive mind, and neither are you.

I’m not writing this to get any of you to ship or not ship a thing. I just want people to know where others are coming from, and you should respect other people’s history, culture, and experiences regardless of your opinion on the ships or on whether what creator’s say outside of the source material is canon or not. 

Throwing around suicide-baiting and harmful terms such as ‘pedophilia’ is unarguably not a good thing, especially when you’re attacking minors and csa survivors along the way. You need to respect that not everyone has the same background as you, and as such the age lineup isn’t canon for a good portion of the fandom and this does not make them pedophiles or supporters or anything resembling that. 

Respect. Other. People’s. Backgrounds.