If you are uncomfortable with character shipping in the MCYT space, that is fair. Nobody has to like shipping at any time ever (romance isn't for everyone!), and also while I think the characters are not the creators, I aknowledge that the line is blurry, and it can be too blurry for you!
But I do ask that you be honest with yourself that romance or sexual content between cubitios is not more invasive and terrible to "do to a real person" than trans headcanons, or whump, or cutesy family dynamic, or depicting them as bigoted or abusive, or gore. These are all things which would be weird to do show a real person media about themselves without knowing for sure they were okay with it, and this is why all of these things have been things we've seen various creators put down boundaries about not wanting to see that.
Which is why my stance is that we should be keeping all of that to the fandom, to ourselves, and keeping it away from the creators who share the characters' names. That should be for other fans, not for tagging the main fan art tag on twitter.
But don't confuse your personal discomfort with romance or sexual content or preference for platonic content with the idea that shipping is somehow more invasive and personal for every person on this planet than torture and mindbreak, or aging down a character into a child, or transing their gender for them, or writing them as an abusive parent, or 'posessive behaviour", just to pick a few things I've seen float by on twitter and gone "you have GOT to be kidding me" about.
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I have given into peer pressure.
Below the cut is my un-referenced, not proofread, off-the-cuff thoughts on the main JJK characters and their tendencies to have traits that contradict themselves, which not only makes them more rounded characters but also creates a really interesting situation in which characters have mirrors and foils not only with other characters, but also with themselves.
The point of this post is that the characters in JJK are complex. None of them are one-trick ponies and all of them contain multitudes and have, at least once, contradicted themselves and their beliefs.
Might be spoilery? I tried to keep it vague enough that it shouldn't be, but read at your own risk if you're anime only, I guess.
The Obvious One: Gojo
Gojo is "the strongest." It's debatable, I think, whether or not being "strong" is a personality trait, but he makes it his defining personality trait. (And I'm not here to do a Gojo character study, so for my purposes, it will be viewed as one.) Obviously, The Strongest is a title given to him by others, but he fully owns it and believes it. This is his identity; it's how he views himself, how he handles himself, and it is a preceding reputation that he gladly leans into. It's not a mask he hides behind, it's a flag he proudly displays on his ship to warn others of exactly who they're dealing with.
It makes sense, then, that Gojo's self-contradiction is that he has the biggest, most obvious weaknesses of all the characters in JJK. The first of these weaknesses is his knowledge of how strong he is. Toji exploits that weakness in the Hidden Inventory arc, and it almost costs Gojo is life. His second weakness is, very simply, Geto. Kenjaku exploits that weakness during Shibuya. Interestingly, Geto is a victim of Gojo's first weakness (Gojo is so self-assured that he seems to extend that assurance to the people around him, thinking that they are "as gods" like him just for being in his presence, and therefore he does not pay mind to Geto's spiraling), and exploits his second. He, better than anyone else, knows that he is Gojo's weakness, and he uses that knowledge to do everything he does before and during JJK 0 without repercussions.
Gojo is framed by himself and by many characters within JJK as being the "savior" of the jujutsu world, but in many ways he was, in fact, its downfall - because of his strength, and because of his weaknesses.
The Main One: Yuuji
Yuuji is the king of contradictions to me. Not all of it is within himself, and in fact a lot of it occurs because a large part of the plot is happening to him instead of the other way around, but he has one dichotomy that I do think is All Him. Yuuji defines himself as a cog - in his thoughts, he has been used and beaten down for evil already, so why not just be used for good as well. He thinks of himself as expendable and easily replaced; a foot soldier in a war being fought by titans. At some point, his goal stopped being to follow his grandfather's last request and instead turned into the simple act of persevering for as long as he can just in case anyone may have need of him. In a way, his outlook and perspective on everything became rather bleak and inhuman - quite literally, as, again, he views himself as nothing more than a cog.
And yet, for someone who has claimed his only purpose is to be used to kill Sukuna, everything Yuuji does is so achingly desperately human and is born out of his own desires to save people. Every other sorcerer has a CT or a fighting style that disconnects them from their foe - be that ranged attacks or weaponry - but Yuuji uses his fists. It's raw and almost savage in a way that is unavoidably intimate and human. He says, "Use me," (and, don't get me wrong, he is used) but even the act of offering himself negates the connotations that revolve around being used and shines such a lovely warm human light on him.
Yuuji doesn't push people away. The other "strong" characters isolate (Gojo has infinity, Yuuta literally fucks off from the narrative, Geto fucks off from jujutsu society, etc.), but Yuuji hoards people and connections (and yes, those become weaknesses, but the thing is: they become strengths, too). Sukuna takes Megumi away from him, but that just makes Yuuji more determined to kill Sukuna and get Megumi back. Everything he does is out of love, and he has a drive to do what he has to in order to save (or avenge) the people he keeps close. That's not exactly cog-like behavior.
The Fandom Discourse: Megumi
In my opinion, of all the characters (but especially the first-years), Megumi is the logical character. Especially when it comes to his job as a sorcerer (fighting and killing curses). He is knowledgeable about the world of sorcery, the most book-smart of the first-years, and he is smart and methodical when he fights.
He is also the only character who has openly admitted that he really only cares about saving the people he wants to save, as opposed to the general rhetoric of saving everyone. He's selfish, and he's not shy about it. Even he doesn't try to rationalize it; it's just part of who he is. Logical, methodical, smart, but also deeply, truly, selfish when it comes to where and how he expends his energy and efforts.
And yet, he is also the character who is most willing to die. Now, before half the fandom jumps down my throat, I don't mean to say that he wants to die or that he is constantly trying to - I'm just saying that he is willing to. (Obviously, Yuuji is also a character who is willing to die, but Yuuji is only willing to do so if it would also kill Sukuna, and he is determined to stay alive until such a time. Megumi, on the other hand, doesn't have a similar end-goal ultimatum for death). Yes, he comes at dying from a logical point of view, and yes, he only ever brings martyrdom into the equation if he feels he has no other option, but he has no hesitation when he reaches that point. And you (he) can rationalize self-sacrifice as much as you want to, but that is a very emotionally driven response, regardless of the situation. It's a last stand not only for himself, but for his friends, his family, the world. It's the end of the line for him, and it's something he is willing to do if it means taking out his opponent and making the world safer for everyone else - not just for his "select" people.
He is willing to run away from a fight he cannot win, but he is also willing to do something that he knows for sure will kill him if winning and running are no longer options. And I know that not everyone will see these things as opposites or all that detached from each other, but, to me, intelligent and methodical fighting does not naturally go hand in hand with, essentially, grappling your opponent and jumping off a cliff with them.
The Favorite Child: Yuuta
Like Gojo, Yuuta has access to an overwhelming amount of power. There's no doubt that when it comes to raw energy, he is the strongest sorcerer in his generation. He's exceptionally skilled when it comes to fighting and is often able to get by on simply overpowering his opponents (truly, much like Gojo). He doesn't embody being strong, though - he knows that he is, but it's not something that he considers a defining trait for himself. Instead, Yuuta's whole thing is that he has a tendency to shoulder burdens that other people won't (much like Yuuji, actually) (also it's kind of funny because of all the characters in JJK, I would consider Yuuta to be a "cog" way more than Yuuji, but that's a whole other thing). Yuuta is willing to be a monster, to make hard calls and suffer the consequences, because he has internalized what everyone keeps telling him - that, after Gojo, Yuuta is now "the strongest."
Which means that Yuuta also needs an equally large weakness to balance out that power. But where Gojo had arrogance (and his boyfriend), Yuuta has innocence. There's this pure sort of worldview that Yuuta carries with him that completely counterbalances the part of him that is willing to get his hands bloody. He has this youthful sort of hopefulness and naiveté that if he does the dirty work and puts in effort, then things will work out in his favor because they must. If he is sincere, if he shoulders an unbearable mantle, then everything will be fine simply because he chooses to do so. He does things because they are right and just, and he wants to believe that the universe will acknowledge that and be fair - even though he wouldn't have to do these unnamable things if that was true.
The Less Obvious one: Nobara
Nobara doesn't have a lot of screen time compared to the others, and specifically not a lot of time spent planning for/fighting in the "big fights," but she has one thing that the other characters don't have: self awareness. Nobara is the only character who knows what her contradictions are - she even says them out loud.
She wants nothing more than to be a normal girl who is into fashion, who could be a model, who does her hair and her nails and her makeup, who goes on dates, who has a lot of money and spends it freely. That's her ideal, that's her goal. But that's also who she is right now. She dyes her hair, wears makeup, is feminine in all the ways that would mark her as a girl to strangers on the street, goes shopping and buys too much and makes Yuuji carry her bags. She likes being girly and doesn't shy away from it.
But she is also, and I mean this with all the love in my heart, a feral little gremlin who is willing to bash people's skulls in with a hammer. She's brash and rude and loud. She takes up space and is unapologetic about it. She's vicious on the battlefield. She's not afraid to get bloody, and she hates being viewed as a damsel in distress. She's strategic in her fights, and she uses the fact that opponents underestimate her to her advantage. And she knows all of this, too, and she likes it.
She's self-actualized <3 No notes from me; I love my girl.
Anyway, that's it KSJDBVJKLDFVBJKDFVB There's no real point to this. I'm not saying anything profound, I don't think. This was all just a thought that I had, a little thing that I noticed, and I was bullied (affectionate) into sharing.
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I've been struggling to articulate why people conflating Wyll's desire for emotional fidelity with no sex until marriage bothers me so much. I think this is the fifth or sixth time I've rewritten this post. So I'm giving up. Here are some bullet points in no particular order:
Waiting to have sex until marriage is inherently tied to purity culture. I hope I don't have to articulate why this is a bad thing. Making the worth of someone dependent on their perceived purity/virginity is not at all in line with Wyll's character.
Please stop getting sucked into the lie of purity culture being a show of dedication/restraint/true love. Please stop painting it as a good thing. Please fandom I am begging you.
Marriage is inherently a religious (and sometimes legal) institution. Wyll is canonically dismissive of the gods and they do not hold a great importance in his life ('The only thing a god's ever given me is a cold shoulder') And Wyll is not filing paperwork in triplicate with the city of Baldur's Gate before getting down and dirty with his love. No.
It takes what is a grand romantic gesture—a desire to know and understand his Love Interest and truly dedicate himself to them before sex—and turns it into a checklist. 'Gotta get married fast so we can fuck'.
I have seen a few individuals veer straight into aphobia with this. They'll give Wyll the strawman position of wanting to wait to have sex until marriage, so that when they criticize Wyll wanting to wait, make him out to appear "broken" for applying a different priority on sex than other characters, and then proceed to "fix" him, they're painted in a better light. The reality is they're just perpetuating the same tired old aphobic bullshit that people on the asexual spectrum must just be prudes/religious nuts/broken/sheltered/'one good fuck would fix them' instead of acknowledging that it's a valid orientation.
I don't personally headcanon Wyll as asexual—but there are definitely parallels in how some people in fandom treat Wyll's wanting to wait and how people treat asexuality
You don't have to justify why Wyll is having sex in your fanfic. These are fictional characters. Do what you want with them. Just stop it with the aphobia
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What sucks is that I can feel that a major split in the fandom is probably inevitable now
I guess this is doomposting but I can already see it happening
idk, I'm gonna support the workers in any case
I don't particularly care about the current argument over the union, it's pure distraction to shift the discussion away from the actual problems, as if anyone here actually cares about the union and not just what the union can possibly facilitate
But I do care about the employees and former employees of QSMP and they deserve respect and dignity and credit, not slander or vague passive-aggressive accusations
Which I've unfortunately seen even from people I know and care about, even people I follow or used to follow here on Tumblr, even people I consider friends
So, I feel like I should just be honest here, idk how I'm gonna handle this diplomatically in order not to burn too many bridges unnecessarily, because I don't actually want to lose people over this, but I do also have principles
I had no animosity towards Quackity before this, I hope you can see that from my blog history; I've never been a cc!Quackity hater. Unfortunately at this point I do need to see him do better than this, because his employees and former employees deserve better
If he does actually try to make it all up for them, if he actually talks to them with respect and a willingness to listen to their concerns and their experiences, then I have no more beef with him
I don't think he's a bad person, but he is doing a bad thing
That's all
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I think on this fine Saturday afternoon it's a good opportunity to take a breather and remember that there are really no ethical paparazzi pictures. Every single one is inherently exploitative.
Just because photos were taken on a movie set, when someone is 'working,' does not make the practice any less invasive and creepy. Imagine just going about your day, doing your job and having some weirdo snapping pictures of you to sell without your consent for others to endlessly repost online.
There are thousands of pictures of your favourite actor online already. Plenty taken with his knowledge and consent. I'd really like to see more of them on my dash, rather than the creeper shots.
And don't get me started how disseminating these pictures directly leads to people going to said sets. What starts off as admiring how good someone looks has real world implications.
No, hanging around a movie set and disrupting people doing their jobs is not harmless fun or a way to show your appreciation.
If you hang around a movie set, you are a stalker.
Don't tell me that it's okay to take your online admiration for someone offline. You may admire him but he does not, and will never, personally know you. He will never be your friend/boyfriend/daddy. He is a stranger.
The only way meeting your favourite actor is going to happen is at a convention or maaaaaybe a movie premiere if you're incredibly fortunate. You know, places they appear specifically to meet fans (or not in the case of premieres, where the purpose is to promote a movie. Which is also completely understandable if actors don't stop. You are not owed an interaction).
Of course, you cannot help it if you randomly run into someone you admire in the wild. Even then, consider that they probably won't be all too thrilled to be approached in public by a complete stranger. It's up to you to gauge the situation, but remember there is a person at the heart of all of this.
Boundaries and respect are a kindness which deserves to be extended to each and every human being regardless of their looks/talent/fame/wealth.
Fandoms blur those lines a little too often for my liking and I think just scrutinising what you're interacting with, or what behaviour you could be possibly falling down that slippery slope towards is nice to do every once in a while.
I mean no malice with this post and it is not directed at anyone in particular. It's something I cannot help but feel strongly about because I've seen this destructive cycle time and again in fandoms over the years. It's not healthy and it makes us all a little bit more disconnected from our humanity for it...
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