#fran rants💌

[far-from-fran]

Violence ask game!! 7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Ooh, this is a good one!😈

I'm gonna start with the funnier ones, then get to the more serious ones.

I don't currently hate any of these characters. I've pretty much gotten over it, but these are the first ones that came to mind.

Ok, I'm putting this under a cut as a warning to people in these fandoms. I'm going to be bitching and moaning. Probably about your favs. So, read the tags and:

🚨 DON'T LIKE, DON'T READ! 🚨

Anyway…

Danny Phantom

I don't have anything against Danny. I actually really like him. I just got tired of seeing him all over AO3. Almost every time I searched for a fic, even in fandoms that had nothing to do with him, I'd have to filter out a bunch of DP stuff. It got to the point where I was filtering out more DP tags than tags I actually wanted to filter out. It was annoying for a while, but I took a break from AO3, and now I just find it funny.

Dr. Emile Picani (Cartoon Therapy)

This is a general pet peeve sort of thing, but I just don't like how “uwu babyboy” people make him. He's a geeky therapist with a sensitive side, but people act like he's a softboi who's never done anything bad. (He has. I actually have big problems with his debut episode. The second episode is a lot better, imo.)

It's the same issue with Patton from Sanders Sides. They take a grown man and turn him into a tiny, wittle babyboi. It's mad annoying.

Also, I hate Emile in a skirt. I just don't think he'd ever wear one, so I wrinkle my nose whenever people talk about him in one. Honestly, the “fandom is afraid of masculinity” sentiment I've seen here and there is a completely different can of worms. But I'm starting to agree with it. Nothing against men in skirts in general/irl, though. Just to be clear.

But, anyway, fanon Emile is becoming indistinguishable from fanon Patton, and I hate that. Hell, canon Emile is becoming indistinguishable from canon Patton. Like, seriously. Since when has Emile ever had to “earmuff” because someone was cursing? (Mixed feelings about the Remy/Thomas therapy video.) Let Emile be an interesting character, please. And not just “Baby softboi, but he's wearing pink this time™”.

Virgil (Sanders Sides)

My feelings toward Virgil tend to fluctuate. Most of the time, I love him, but sometimes I can't stand him. (Mostly by his own doing.) But, the way the fandom treats him like the second coming of Christ in a purple plaid hoodie is so fucking annoying. Especially with the way people woobify him.

In canon, he started as a big jerk, realized he was a big jerk, and decided to be a little jerk. It's not like he's a little uwu baby who's never done anything wrong. The Halloween ep is even sort of about not woobifying Virgil. (It's more about taking anxiety seriously.) Like. I get it, but it's still really annoying.

Of course, there's the other side of the fandom that treats him like he's the devil. Which can also be annoying, but at least they actually call him out for stuff.

The most annoying thing, however, is how the other sides will be villainized to make Virgil look better. It's nuts. Like, yeah, Janus and Virgil have beef, but neither one of them is evil, so.🙄

Aang (Avatar: The Last Airbender)

Speaking of people treating a character like they're the second coming of Christ…!

In all seriousness, I never really had problems with Aang until toxic Kataang shippers started harassing Zutara shippers. They held the ship, and Aang, to such a high stature that I couldn't like either anymore. Especially since zutara shippers were (and still are) accused of being shallow, at best, and… checks notes supporting genocide????? at worst. And, the brunt of that was when I was, like, 12, so.

Obviously, I don't blame all kataang shippers. Most of them are pretty cool. And, zutara shippers can also be toxic. I'm a zutara shipper, and I've seen some of the toxicity firsthand. But, that experience really made fandom shitty for me.

However, I've watched the show recently and remembered that I really like Aang. Despite how much he can annoy me. So, there's always a bright side.

But, yeah. Thanks for the ask, @msnihilist!😊 Sorry if I got a little heated.😅 That wasn't directed at you, lol.

[far-from-fran]

Ok, so this is a growing problem, and it bugs me as someone who loves to read, but struggles to find the time/motivation.

If y'all don't want to read something... just don't read it. None of this ChatGPT/AI shit. Like? If you have to speedrun a book, at least use a summary made by a real person. Or better yet, use an audiobook. Like! Why are people trying to cheat reading??? You're not in school anymore, you can read for fun! Reading can be fun, have we forgotten that????

what is HAPPENING

[far-from-fran]

Do Zuko for the ask game, lol

How I feel about this character

Zuko's kind of a tough one for me, because I have Strong Feelings about him, but I also don't? Like, he's my favorite character of all time, he's my number two comfort character, he's half of my OTP. ...But, I hardly ever think about him??????

Like, I'm rotating Janus Sanders around in my mind like he's in a microwave, but Zuko? He's just kind of There™.

When I do give him time to be thought about, I want to squeeze him until he pops, I want to shake him for being dumb and because I love him. I want to kiss all over his face (in a platonic way) and cook him big home cooked meals. He's dumb and awkward and makes every bad decision he could ever make. He's inspired me to keep going despite all the bullshit, he's made me feel like I can do anything (can't fuck up as bad as Zuko/Zuko got through worse), he's Just Like Me Fr™. But, also? He's just kind of... sitting around my mind palace like this:

It's a weird dichotomy.🤷🏾‍♀️

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Katara, I'm warming up to Zukaang and Zukaangtara. Julie Yamamoto, Gwen Tennyson. I don't ship Zuko (or Karata) with many people, but all the other people I ship them with come from the Ben 10 series... Huh... weird. Probably because they were both my hyperfixations for the longest time.🤷🏾‍♀️

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Probably Sokka. I'm also really liking Aang and Zuko as best buddies.

Platonic Janus/Zuko. They are my favorite characters, I need them to hang out. Also, Zuko and Kevin definitely need to hang out too.

My unpopular opinion about this character

This one won't make me many friends...

I'm putting this under a cut.

Fellow Zutara shippers, look away.

🚨!!Last Chance!!🚨

Uh, ok, as much as I love Zutara, I hate when people make Zuko completely pussy-whipped to Katara. They are equal partners in battle, friendship, and pretty much everything, and yet, I see a lot of people ignore this. I love a man who Loves His Wife as much as the next guy, but it's annoying when his character is completely changed to make him Katara's #1 hype man and lapdog. It's annoying and makes me like Katara less, not more. It's actually a big reason why I don't read atla fanfic. (It's annoying with any Zuko ship, I've just seen it with Zutara the most, and I'm saying this AS a Zutara shipper.)

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

We find out what happened to Zuko's mom, and we see him get that closure. I get that the end with Zuko asking Ozai about Ursa was just meant to be symbolic of him not being under Ozai's control anymore, but it still would've been great to:

Know what happened to her. (I don't count the comic "explaining" it. Too convoluted.)

Have Zuko have all the loose ends of him family tree tied up, so he could move on from the trauma and heal along with his nation. Yeah, he technically did that in canon, but I think it would've been more powerful if he knew what happened to her. Not necessarily see her again, she was probably dead, but still. Just knowing what happened.

Anyway, though...

That's my boy.😌

Thanks for the ask!!!!!!!!😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊

@msnihilist

[far-from-fran]

So, I reblog a lot of food stuff, right? Like, GIFs of cakes and pictures of cute hotdogs. So, I get a lot of recs for food posts, yeah? Well, I just got recommended a post with an AI generated cake... Like... y'all can't even BAKE CAKES anymore???????

[far-from-fran]

Feelin' like Finbarr mother fucking Calamitous right now with all these unfinished WIPs!

[far-from-fran]

"most importantly you all do not understand the comedic potential of characters being kind of shitty to eachother."

I have been saying this my entire life

Characters bickering can be SOOOOOOOOO fucking funny, but Noooooo, that would make the relationship """""Toxic""""". 🙄😒

it actually makes me so sad that people consume media where every character is kind of an asshole and they just entirely overly sanitize every character and every problem thats caused by the being kind of an asshole thing. i loooove conflict i love people who suck. i love people who are good people but also still kind of suck in some ways because they are a person. most importantly you all do not understand the comedic potential of characters being kind of shitty to eachother.

[far-from-fran]

I hate when people say, "I agree that-", and then say some shit you didn't say. You could say, "I like apples.", and someone will come in like, "I agree that apples are better than oranges." Like, bitch, I didn't say that.

[far-from-fran]

People aren't toxic because of shipping, they're toxic because they're toxic. If it isn't shipping it's headcanons, if it isn't headcanons it's fan theories. And so on and so forth. Blaming the method of toxicity instead of toxic people will just make the toxicity move somewhere else. Stop blaming people for shipping, and start blaming people who are just assholes.

Fandom Problem #6589:

I have come to the conclusion that 'shipping culture' is actually ruining TV, fans and writers all together. It's too toxic.

[far-from-fran]

I 100% agree, but I don't think it's as hard to find non-shipping content/blogs as people say. If I want non-ship stuff, I just search "[insert media] meta" or "[insert media] theories" or even "platonic [shipname]", and I'm good to go. People are just too lazy stubborn to do the bare minimum of fandoming.

Also, I've always hated the "Why can't they be friends?" thing. Because. They can. They are. Nothing is stopping that. If people want characters to be friends so bad, then make them friends. Write, draw, headcanon, make moodboards, make playlists, make friendship zines, make "cringey" cosplay ship videos but they're friends instead of being romantic together, make meta, make theories, make iceberg videos, make ita bags, decorate cork/pin boards, make Pinterest boards, roleplay, knit stuff inspired by your favs, sew outfits and style your fashion around a specific episode. Everyone can do literally whatever they want in fandom! It's an all-you-can-eat buffet! Let's have fun! Go nuts, I'll cheer y'all on! It's only All About Ships, because people aren't being the change they want to see in the world.

📢Be the change!

This one kind of got away from me, but... yeah.

Also, also

If you ever see me caring about what the writers want, outside of fair pay and treatment, hit me with a shovel.

i get v tired seeing people complaining about shipping culture in fandom for a lot of reasons, but the one im thinking about right now is when people scream about how 'nobody in fandom cares unless its about ships and its bad media literacy and i hate it!!'

like my guy idk how to tell you this but you are not the extra most specialist fan that stands alone in fandom spaces

if you dont want to see shipping stuff there are an endless amount of people who Also dont want to see it, and spend their time analyzing and thinking about other aspects of of whatever it is youre invest in

'but they're hard to find!'

i mean

oh well? thats just the way it is you have to put in the work to curate your own experience and all that

cause it all comes back around to people seeing shipping as lesser and somehow an indication that if you like to ship things its the only way you're capable of engaging with media which is bullshit nonsense

but also i do find that this sort of complain frequently comes from people who dont create shit in the fandom anyway lol