#i say minority because i know people who dislike the ship for the same line of thinking

[dizzying-faust]

I'm in the minority that dislikes Blitz//bee that isn't related to Bumblebee's age.

[utilitycaster]

"There is zero attempt to extend anything but bad faith."

standing ovation for tidily describing this fandom in a nutshell tbh

Thanks, but I'm talking about a particular subset, the handwringy overwrought appeals to emotion crowd for whom the gods can never under any circumstances be redeemed, so unless you are also talking about that specific small piece of the fandom, I disagree! I actually think the fandom at large has been pretty receptive to the story as it's being told. And honestly, even when I've been in fandoms that frustrated me greatly with widespread bad faith interpretations (Midst and WBN have both had problems here)* they've come around when more obvious evidence came about. Better late than never.

I do think that an issue in this fandom, and fandoms at large, is not so much bad faith but as someone else said, motivated reasoning (though in the case of something the motivated reasoner dislikes, will become bad faith). A lot of people decide how they want to the story to go very early, often in a manner that validates their own existing real-world politics (even if they're not super applicable to the situation at hand) or personal preferences. I mean, that's in the end the source of a good number of shipping bad takes - people decide two characters must be in love and so even if they start dating other people and not talking to each other anymore, the motivated reasoning shipper decides that ACTUALLY this is all a front and the actor's blinks are in secret code and the relationship will definitely break up and the True Love was Always Endgame no matter how many times the creators say "no, it never was our intention to have those characters get together." But even then I think the silent majority of most fandoms are just. vibing and happy to be here. It's just that motivated reasoning people are loud.

And I'm not setting myself apart here; I'm loud and I'm certainly not without bias. My motivated reasoning tends to be based on foregone conclusions that I think are more likely to actually play out, I think, and I try to be self aware about it, but like, I do tend to assume stories will be good and follow some narrative lines and use the hints they drop, and that is itself an assumption because some stories are poorly made. Like, for example, with the gods, I do think that there is very little chance Matt is going to tell a story that's like "hey, Ashley, you know your first ever TTRPG character, who brought you into this friend group and whose life's purpose is to restore worship in the Everlight? Bad news, Everlight's a genocidal cunt and she's gotta die." That's obviously not my only evidence here. We've got the whole opening scene. We've got the fact that the non-Aeorian NPCs who aren't divine companions we've spent time with have been a sickly old man granted peace in death, a gnomish woman granted solace after being cruelly mocked by Aeorian forces, and the beggars who didn't have food despite wagons of supplies going to Aeor, whereas the Aeorian NPCs have been guards, slimy bureaucrats, teens badly beaten for minor crimes, and a drunk cop; the defaced and forgotten temple in a poor neighborhood that is heavily surveilled from afar because its laborers are unwelcome. Hell, as I said before it aired, the fact that the main PCs are gods and not Aeorian mages is a very deliberate and telling choice on its own. But yeah on some level, while I think Bells Hells have the space to decide to kill the gods since they are those same cast members (thought I doubt that is what they will do), I do not think Matt will tell an earlier story that says "hey, everyone at the table except Marisha? your beloved character(s) whom you played for all or most of a campaign followed a rotten-to-the-core lie."

Going off the meta of creators is a bit risky - a lot of dumb D20 discourse is based on assuming Brennan's leftism is the same as Very Online I Do Not Dream Of Labor Leftism and not his actual "the BBEG is the exploitation and undervaluing of labor and the dehumanization of others; labor itself can be deeply fulfilling, you just shouldn't be forced to rely on your capacity to do labor to the exclusion of all other things to be housed and fed" leftism and reasoning from there - but it's certainly more reliable than going off reasoning of "I as a random private individual want the gods to die for whatever the fuck reason and therefore that is the correct thing to happen and any other outcome is bad."

This is very rambly because I just got up and maybe it's that it's a nice morning and I can actually enjoy a leisurely breakfast before going into work unlike most of last week and much of the rest of this week, but for all I proudly identify as a hater, I am very much a lover of fiction and I want it to succeed and I want it to not just validate me. Like, if I hate on something it's because I wish it were better, but I don't hate on something just because it presents a different viewpoint than the one I already held. And I think you have to bring that good faith to fandom as well. If people are being idiots and assholes then yeah you don't need to keep acting like they're valid for that (I mean, they're valid in that everyone has the right to their opinions, but not in the sense that you need to grant those opinions intellectual consideration on par with thoughtful and evidenced meta and theories) but I do not actually go in assuming the fandom is going to be wrong and dumb and disappointing, and I think that's why I've found such enjoyment in it. Most people are chill! Chill people just tend not to loudly say WOW I'M SO CHILL AND THIS STORY IS GREAT.

*one bit of salt to cut the sweetness here but also still weirdly positive: the way I've dealt with that and specifically WBN is that I am trying to write one piece of meta after each episode that doesn't attack people or anything, just lays out my thoughts respectfully. Be the change you wish to see. I think a lot of people in fandom see someone disagreeing with them and go "OH YOU CAN'T LET US HAVE ANYTHING" and frankly this is the cause of almost all fandom unpleasantness I've experienced (in the sense of people seeing me say I don't like something and acting like I shut them down instead of simply didn't vibe), but it's important to remember that isn't how it works. Even if you do think the fandom has widespread bad opinions, you can change this by being thoughtful and patient and putting forth better ones. I mean there's limits, and if a fandom is genuinely hateful, get out, but if it's just surface-level takes for something that should be deeper? Be the one who shows the depth.

[iniziare]

🔥 GO WILD

Prompt: Send me a “ 🔥 “ for an unpopular opinion. // Accepting. // @ccaptain

I don't think that there's a single thing that I feel as strongly about, as my opinions of the following two lines: 'Every portrayal is equal' and 'There are multiple interpretations of a character'. I think that they both play into harvesting and perpetuating the worst mentalities on Tumblr: insecurity and egos. I disliked the PSAs about the former back in 2013, I hated the transition of the former to the latter in 2015/2016, and I hate how the latter still seems to resonate around the RPC as if it's some sort of bible that does anyone any good. And before any potential 'but Sae, those are two different things', no, not really, they play into the same concept, it's simply the phrasing that changes to make it all the more mentally inclusive and sound more socially welcoming. But a bad message remains a bad message no matter how pretty its packaging is. It all plays into not wanting to hurt people's feelings, which I fully understand and it's even a noble cause at its basis, but coddling doesn't help people, it never has, and it has and will only continue to make people more sensitive (which is a topic for a different salt send-in), all the while demotivating and utterly frustrating others. I'm sorry folks, but not every portrayal is equal, there are people who will create a blog merely because a character is hot, or for social political reasons of 'look at me', or because they simply ache to write a fandom's popular ship, and they disappear as quickly as they come when the 'urge' has been fulfilled. Those, for instance, are not equal to people who put a lot of time into their portrayals, and I'm not saying that everyone needs to live up to the latter, but don't be telling me that everyone is equal on the mere premise that they all 'exist' and we should 'all support one another'. Not every portrayal is equal, not everyone's writing is equal, and people's understanding of a character will not always be equal. And these things aren't subjective, they are factual. There can be such clear differences between portrayals and ignoring them is actually doing an injustice to every single depiction out there. If you tell a blog that does minimal writing and seems to not have a great understanding of the character (yet?), or the worst one: seems to really not care— that they’re equal to everyone else, then you’re telling them, for starters, that they could have nothing to improve on. And trust me, I’ve seen it happen time and time again, people will not put in effort to improve if you tell them that there’s nothing to actually better. And of course simultaneously, you demotivate the ones that have stuck around for years and put much time into what they do on Tumblr. And that sucks pretty hardcore.

Now luckily, that first line has somewhat died out, but now in its stead, we're left with 'There are multiple interpretations of a character'. I don't know whether it's worse, better, or just equally as bad of a take. I vote for... worse, actually. — No, no one will ever convince me that if they wrote an OC, and then released them to the world, that they'd be okay if RPers anywhere would claim that one can read their OC multiple different ways. I've seen RPers on Tumblr blow up over much less. What I need people to realize and remember, is that all creators and writers alike, have an intent with their characters, and that isn't subjective. Just like personality traits aren't subjective. For instance, one can't look at Veritas Ratio and go 'he's confident' and have someone else state 'he's insecure', and say that both are factually true and that both takes are equal in 'value' if we look at accuracy, because they're not. They cannot both be true, and I'm not talking about minor details that can be considered to be 'exceptions', I'm talking about the rule. What I need people to admit to, more often than not, is that it seems to have become a common take to conflate what they want a character to be like with what they actually are. I sometimes can look at a character and objectively go 'I wish they had done this instead, focusing on this and this, or this part of their personality'. but if I then choose to portray the character like that instead, it doesn't mean that it's what the character that we ultimately see on screen is actually like. And admitting that it's not the case isn't a bad thing, being canon divergent isn't a bad thing, but it is entirely different from intending to write the character based on what we actually see.

[silvermoonshipping-is-love]

previous anon here! its absolutely understandable why you feel that way, especially since i noticed you were here during the creepypasta fandom recession era (2016-2019), where people were starting to police what was the right and wrong way to intepret the pastas.

As for the drownedsilver hate, while i cant confirm for sure it was the source, was primarily started by a pokepasta fnf community member who has been recently outed as a creep and a generally terrible person (who called any ship they disliked proship!!) 😭 they had an iron grip over that community for 2 years, hence why so many people were dogpiling! Now that they're gone, i see more people being comfortable with putting out drowndsliver content out there!

I dont know if this information or acknowledgement will eleveate your anxiety. But i hope you gain the courage to post more about your own intepretations of ben and silver 🫂 You shouldnt feel like you have to appease a wider public to enjoy what you love.

My favourite example is the fact that say Ben HAD to be a pervert or a stoner and an asshole, nevermind the fact he's a deeply traumatized child, stuck in a video game and canonly a pacifist and not (intentionally) hurting anybody, like that is fine, but GOD FORBID you make EJ's skin slightly blue-ish to go with his overall colour palette. But also god forbid if you draw or write anything messed up or more mature in whatever way?? If anything the creepypasta fandom of all things being so strict is so odd, most characters don't have a fully set personality or the fact that all kinds of awful shit happens to them, especially CHILDREN, but wanting to draw two characters smooching? Now you've gone too far lmao.

Policing fandoms and fandom activity is a rising trend and I'm not happy about it as a "fandom old" so to speak lol. My motto is unless you are genuinely harming someone in real life or crossing someone's boundaries, just tag it correctly, and you do you. I may not like everything you do personally, but unless you are actively interfering with me or trying to harm me or others, whatever.

Also I was never in the community fully due to the incident and the hate towards SilvernMoon, so I never heard about this person. But unfortunately I'm not even that shocked, if you're that adamant about how wholesome or pure or unproblematic you are and everyone has to be, then you just seem all the more likely to have some skeletons so to speak. Just a real shame about my one FNF AU, cause it's sort of a personal one to me, cause of venting and feelings depicted.

If you mean creep as I think you do, I hope the victims are okay now.

But on the flip side I also eventually thought the fnf community are hypocrites anyways. Cause I saw all the hate for SilvernMoon while not even say incest stuff got as much hate in all my fandom years, yet the very person most of the community shipped Silver with? Red. The Red from his story. The same Red that is the whole reason Silver is forgotten and dead! I don't want to fully ship-shame, I just wanna showcase the irony, like- THAT is fine but SilvernMoon is wrong?? SilvernMoon out of all ships I ever saw is the one people drew the line at and hated the absolute shit out of???

Also there was a similar person over here in the regular creepypasta fandom that dogpiled on me as a minor, so that added, who called me a pdf file because I portray these characters as adults and made a more adult joke, but they INSISTED every version of Ben had to be 12 years old. Gurl, I don't know how to tell you, but the ghost kid that haunts a Nintendo Cartridge... He's not real, his whole concept as a cyber ghost isn't real. I know it's shocking to hear, you may sit down from that, but it's the truth.

I am getting better but it still feels like a long road to fully heal and say "fuck the haters"... I keep trying to even do youtube or stuff, but all this is holding me back pretty strongly-

[ladymorghul]

as a person on team green twt that surrounds herself with alys rivers enjoyers/alysmond shippers, i don't think they were the first to start things, though at the same time i don't believe them to be blameless. there were countless times when a completely unrelated alysmond tweet started getting traction and all of a sudden its author was under fire with helaemond shippers on the front lines. to this day no tweet about alys, even outside of romantic context - for example just talking about the potential of her character, can avoid gathering at least several negative and private quote retweets either from other shippers, team black stans or even jealous aemond fans.

im guessing because of that they're super defensive over her character and resolve to putting their anger and frustration onto the first visible target. which is probably the same reason behind always mentioning alys' status as aemond's canon lover. and as much as i can't stomach helaemond (while at the same time honestly believe it to be a better alternative to l*cemond, at least in this instance people aren't using the likeness of a real life minor in nsfw content) i do agree that everyone has the right to ship what they want if they're not harming anybody along the line. ig all i want to say is that bad apples exist on both sides of the conflict. ive found out that its better to just curate the content you want to engage with, ignore the rest and under any circumstances not bother oneself with snarky quote retweets.

no, i still think they were the first to start things. a lot of us didn't even know who alys was before she and alysmond were shoved into our faces asking "but why don't you like her and this ship? why are you incest freak shipper? ew gross" when we didn't even know who she was. 

i've personally closed my eyes to my own moots tweeting really insulting stuff about helaemond shippers only to later, some of them, to start suddenly ship helaegon. funny that, lol

also the "alys come on screen, they are shipping your man with his sister" that were obviously started by alys and alysmond stans.

also between the two of us, most tweets i've seen are alys in the context of her relationship with aemond and very little stuff about her as a character so yeah

and believe me, all the hate you see now, started way back. hotd barely finished when i saw the first anti helaemond tweet and i was like "who's this girl?"

i'm sorry but this was one of the most unpleasant experiences within the hotd fandom outside of team black stan bs so i'm really not very welcoming of it. it has left a very bitter taste in my mouth and it's a side of green twitter and green fandom that i dislike

the names i've been called, the way alys and alysmond shippers interacted with helaemond shippers who make fanart, the way i've had multiple people come into my mentions uninvited to argue on behalf of it, even trying to pose like they're not fans only to later admit it and resort to namecalling.

just last week someone said "don't share the movie where ewan is a r*pist without proper warning, but what can i expect from a helaemond shipper?" implying somehow that we're all really morally bad people

and as evidence about how i argue about every other topic on my blog, i'm not likely to let go of my resentment because it's been a bad experience and i am resentful of it.

as a last note, it's a bit backhanded to say the only thing that makes helaemond better than lucemond is because it's not ped*philia.

[quietwingsinthesky]

(Hey if you don’t want to have this discussion then it’s perfectly ok! :))

So personally as a leftist and a feminist I find it very hard to navigate online spaces that are left-leaning and also involved in media of any kind, because these types of people/communities often demonize and denounce things as "morally wrong" that I don’t necessarily agree with. A lot of this includes what would be considered "proship" fiction (as in themes of incest, abuse, pedophilia, necrophilia, etc) but also real life things like CNC, DDLG or age gaps.

My dilemma is I’m kind of torn between the two, because on one hand I’m a very big believer that adults should be able to do whatever they want with each other as long as it’s consensual & sane, and obviously fiction is not reality so you can’t apply real life morals and values to it, but on the other hand I know this often makes you look or sound like an abuser/pedophile apologist, and in the worst case, makes you seem unsafe to certain individuals.

Admittedly, I’m a little guilty of being prejudiced myself still, because for me it’s way more uncomfortable to talk about being anti-censorship when it comes to content like pedophilia, as opposed to graphic violence or even incest, even though all are fictional. This bias also extends to me disliking having to defend media that basically just portrays incest or pedophilia as "porn without plot", because it’s way easier to justify nuanced and complex fiction utilizing these topics having the right to exist, even though both portrayals are valid just the same and you can’t pick and choose.

I just wanted to know if you have any in-depth thoughts & views on this, or opinions about where (or whether or not in the first place) there should be lines drawn when it comes to fiction or tolerable/defendable relationship dynamics in real life. Hope this doesn’t bother you, if so just ignore!!

Apologies. This is going to get long. You brought up a lot I'd like to discuss.

First, I do want to tell you that it's okay to be uncomfortable. You're not somehow doing anti-censorship wrong just because you don't like certain pieces of media. No one is, or should be, telling you that you have to open up to reading or seeing stuff, just because you also don't think it should be scorched off the face of the Earth. These are uncomfortable topics. They are not for everyone. That's okay.

So, what we're going to do for the sake of this discussion is pretend that the internet isn't the way it usually is and instead that when we're discussing what to do about these topics, we are discussing actual portrayals of them and not say, 'this is a media/ship i don't like and therefore will accuse of being the worst thing i can think of.'

The most basic way to look at it, especially since you brought up real life relationship dynamics, is "Who is being harmed by this?" Incestuous abuse in real life is going to hurt the person being abused. Pedophilia is going to hurt the child being preyed on. Writing about these things, on the other hand, does not hurt anyone. If I post a fic about one character getting another drunk in order to rape them, when I'm finished with that fic, there will be no one waking up the next morning realizing they've been assaulted. They're only words on a page.

(You also brought up age gaps and BDSM dynamics such as CNC or DDLG, and these would follow the same logic. Who is being hurt? You may disagree with an age gap from the outside, but if the younger person is an adult, they have a right to their autonomy. (If they are a minor, I think the problem there is obvious. There is no consent there.) I'm making an assumption here that the kind of age gaps you mean are say, 18-25 year olds with people who are much older than them, and not 60 year olds shaking up with 80 year olds. If we say that someone who is 18-25 does not have the ability to choose the kind of relationship they want to be in, we risk drawing into question what else they have the ability to choose. For me, as a trans person, staring down the barrel of a gun that says 'you shouldn't be allowed to transition until you're 25', that is a horrifying prospect. Autonomy is a human right. The ability to make decisions, even poor ones, is a human right. The focus should be on creating support systems that allow for recovery for poor decision making, not taking away the ability to make any decision altogether. As for BDSM dynamics, if someone is getting hurt, that's not the fault of the dynamic. CNC has Consensual in the name for a reason; the whole point of proper BDSM is that both individuals want to participate in this roleplay. No one is harmed by consensual play.)

When I think about where the lines should be drawn in fiction, I think a lot about my own work. I write about the things you brought up, and I post them, and I go seek out similar works to read when I'm too tired or don't have the ideas to make it myself. I will defend the right for these things to exist until my dying breath. They are not pretty, they are not always written perfectly or in a respectful way nor were they intended to be in the first place, and sometimes, yeah, they are just weird porn. As a weird porn maker myself, you'd be surprised the level of thought that goes into what appears from the outside to be thoughtless horny writing. Somewhere, someone decided to create these things. That person is real. The things they are writing about are not. In drawing a line, any line, in what can be made, the only person that gets hurt is the writer who wanted to make it.

I see it get brought up a lot that everything should be allowed to be written except for "illegal things". Oftentimes, what this actually means is specifically just fiction including incest or minor/adult relationships (note: personally, I think it is reductive to call fiction about minors in sexual situations 'pedophilia'. I think this dilutes the term and is disrespectful to people who have actually been victims of sexual abuse as children.) which, yes, would be illegal in real life. But so would murder. We do not (or, god, I hope that isn't discourse going on under some rock I haven't uncovered yet) claim that it makes you someone who secretly wants to kill people if you write a murder mystery. Marvel movies aren't snuff films. Legality is a poor choice for how to determine what should be written about, and that's not even bringing up how being queer is still illegal most places in the world. (Note: Most discussions involving 'legality' will also default to American laws, due to the internet being highly Americanized. This is very frustrating for many reasons, but mostly because I think people's anger about potential fictional minors being harmed would be better spent against the actual real life laws that allow child marriage in the USA. You know. The real people being hurt in the real world.)

When I write or read dark fiction, (I speak only for myself since that's the only perspective I can offer. I can't claim to know why other people write what they do or even why they read what I write. No one can.) I use it as a way to engage with these things safely. I enter, let's call it The Box (or the Cage lmao), where I can write or read about whatever I want for as long as I'm comfortable. I can do as much fucked up shit as I desire to characters. And the minute I am no longer comfortable, I can exit The Box, and leave all of that shit in there. There's no need to keep engaging with it beyond my comfort zone. There's no need to even enter The Box if I don't want to. It's important to me to have this space that is free to enter and leave when I choose, because many times in my life, I have not had the choice to leave a bad situation. It's empowering to have control over how far I go. And I do play with fucked up shit in there, I have since I started writing as a kid. (Erase the myth that children are pure innocence unable to conceptualize of dark things without being corrupted by outside influences. it does not help them. it did not help me. people of all ages explore dark themes. they deserve space to do so, especially space where they will not be taken advantage of by bad actors, which is what will happen if they are forbidden from doing so in other spaces, they will go to less regulated ones and be hurt.)

(Note: a lot of the time when justifying dark fiction, people will say that it should be allowed because of those who are using it to cope with trauma, through writing or reading it. I'm not saying this isn't true and important. I'd just also add that that sets a precedent I don't enjoy, gating off these topics to those harmed by them and requiring those people to present proof of their trauma in order to write about them. I just don't think I should have to justify to online strangers through trauma receipts when I want to use Sam Winchester as my own personal stress ball. Anyone should be allowed to write about dark stuff, and their reason can be, "felt like it.")

You said about defending these topics, "on the other hand I know this often makes you look or sound like an abuser/pedophile apologist, and in the worst case, makes you seem unsafe to certain individuals." And for that, I can only say that you can't control people's perceptions of you. Especially people who are not willing to do any deeper reflection on why they want to lash out on the internet at other people who are not hurting anyone rather than focusing their energy on people in power who are. (What's that old refrain, "What we do in fandom is not activism".) These terms are so watered down that they as easily can be wielded to say 'you are supporting real life harm' as they are to say 'you enjoyed reading Twilight.' You clearly know that you are not these things, you are not dangerous, the same way that I know writing wincest doesn't make me a danger to my very real siblings that I love.

So, all that to say, I don't think that drawing a line on what people are allowed to write and post will help anyone. (Or even work. People will continue to make this stuff and they will just post it untagged or in other places.) Making sure we have things properly marked so that dark themes can be avoided by people who want to is a better approach. Focusing energy that's being spent on nonsense online on providing support for people actually being harmed in the real world is a much better approach.

uh. hopefully that all made sense and helped a little? thank you for coming over, anon.

[enneamage]

why are tombur and other power difference ships more popular on poppy than ships of equal ages? i thought it might be minors with crushes on wilbur selfinserting as tommy, but cdiscduo got shipped (overt or covert) by people who were never dream stans and even disliked dream and many were adults.

I think the motives were mixed depending on the ship.

It seemed like people who shipped clingy and bee2 were hiding in plain sight, they could get their vitamins and minerals from the content around them while bluffing to themselves. (The ones who were more honest started a secret subblr, which we now stand in the smouldering crater of, for the critblr lore keepers out there.) I don't know if they got away with as much covert sexuality ('cuddle fic') but I didn't see as much, so maybe that's a blindspot on my part.

There might be something here about breaking one taboo made you more likely to break two since you were already pushed out by main standards? Or the people who were more offput by taboo would want more equal-power relationships? I know that things existed, but they just existed less. Might be a morbidly simple case of how popular the 'ship' was in the grand scheme of things, and then 5% of that went to Poppy.

C!discduo was interesting because their energy was so specific to them in the narrative that if someone had a taste for darker or more intense media I could easily see them latching on to what they had going on, even outside of shipping. What genuine found family enthusiasts had in crimeboys, villain enthusiasts had in discduo.

With the more suspect c!discduo stuff, I think people who were fixated on tommy being vulnerable found the dynamic that made him most vulnerable in canon and went with that. I would say that some of it was more Tommy attraction than for Dream, since human brains are weird and can attach to a self-insert as the focus of attration at the same time. Some people also took the C vs CC line very seriously, so the people who were more C!Dream people might have been trying to cope with cognitive dissonance. It's not unusual for people to be attracted to villains in power scenarios, really common honestly, and those two were the most popular characters on the smp to have that going on.

[putterpen]

Responding to the cult of Eggman

Aka: Responding to people about my opinions on Eggman that they seemingly cannot handle lol.

To Quote crusherthedoctor :

No one can ever politely debate with us, can they? They always have to be hungry werewolves about it. And not even clever werewolves at that.

Why should I be bothered to debate you? My opinions are mine and I can say whatever I want to say about a cartoon mustache man.

So anyway, on to responding to the response I guess.

Aww, poor, poor Starline! Always getting so viciously bullied and ruthlessly harassed by *checks notes* five people in the entire fandom that dislike his character’s writing 

Are you keeping tabs on how many people dislike Starline? Right off the bat...that's pathetic. Why? Are you planning something? And also you don't know who I talk to, and where I've talked to them. I have seen other people dislike Starline for various reasons.

But also… Starline pretty much IS a Gary Stu. He has several abilities that are completely unexplained (like the hypnoglove and the electric heel spurs he suddenly has from Bad Guys and onwards), has an ability that makes him absurdly overpowered (the Tricore) and the narrative makes it a point to present any flaws he might have as a result of his association with Eggman along with propping him up as this awesome foe which is mightier and x100 smarter than Eggman. His plans, despite everything Starline goes through in his miniseries, are still realized almost exactly how he intended (see below).

In a world where an 8 year old can fly planes, space ships, airships, warships, build mechs, buster canons, rocket ships, and replicate the properties of the chaos emeralds themselves...and you are mad because Starline has rocket shoes that he can't even use that well, and some mcguffins. Are you kidding me. I am laughing as I write this.

As "overpowered" as the Tricore is, it do him any good did it? And a device that can hypnotize people isn't really that astounding in a world of insane tech and magic. You think Tails is okay but Starline is a line too far...got it. He isn't a gary-stu. Starline is about on par with everyone else.

What is Starline actually, genuinely good at? The comic always hands him his major strategic victories on a silver platter, and even if his allies backstab him, it just proves to be a minor inconvenience to him and he still gets what he wants at the end of the story. His plans never completely failed until #50

Why do you want to read a story about a character who just fails at everything? He worked and planned to get everything, not sure if we are reading the same comic. You think he should have failed because you have some immense irrational hatred towards him. But hey you got what you wanted. He failed in the end ultimately. Though you can't be soothed since if Starline had succeeded, you would still scream.

Then you post pictures of Tails and Zavok. All I can say is the more the merrier. I bet you don't even like Zavok, as most people don't, but you will use him if it helps your case. The point I was making is Starline was trying to be a better Eggman than Eggman, and that I what I like about the character. Zavok is cool in his own way but his methods are different, and so are Tails, and they all have different motivations to go against Eggman. So cool, the more Eggman rivals the better.

What complaints of ours is this supposed to refute? No, seriously

"complaints of ours?" Are you from some kind of Eggman cult? How do you know what every other Eggman fan thinks? Do you speak for all of them? Hah. Just need to get this out of the way I don't think I have come across this blog before.

The problem we have isn’t just “Starline steals Eggman’s stuff”, it’s that Starline steals Eggman’s stuff while putting Eggman down at every chance he gets and gets painted as a much more effectual villain than Eggman could ever be by the comic for it .

Are they supposed to steal Eggman's shit while singing his praises? Also it isn't like anything they said was wrong.

And in case you try to say “He’s a hypocrite intentionally!”, I’ll immediately raise  a counterpoint: hypocritical characters have to be intetesting. Starline is not written with the same amount of nuance that, say, Walter White has, he’s just an immensely obnoxious brat whose hypocrisy only serves to irritate people more

Matter of opinion alert. And I think your opinion is dogshit. You don't like Starline and that's fine. You don't think he is "intetesting", but I disagree. And that is literally where your "counterpoint" hits a wall. Hope you were wearing a seat belt. You know who else isn't nuanced? Eggman. Also comparing anything from Sonic the Hedgehog to Breaking Bad is cringe.

A source from the games, please?

Tails has never stole Eggman’s inventions in the games. His entire shtick is that he is an inventor, which allows him to build stuff himself 

Also “GUN steals Eggman’s stuff” is asinine. What, are they “stealing from Eggman” because they have an army of mass-produced robots too? Where was it ever remotely implied that GUN steals Eggman’s resources in the games?

I will admit that I made a mistake. I somehow generated false memories. I thought dialogue the Shadow the Hedgehog game mentioned something about G.U.N using Eggman's technology.

When it comes to Tails, I know Tails can invent but where does he get the parts? Raw materials? How does he have a mech in SA2 that seems functionally identical to Eggman's? I have always assumed he must be nicking stuff off Eggman at least as a starting point.

Me: Starline hasn’t taken over the world like eggman has!

You’ve literally conjured this one out of the thin air lmao

How can you prove that? Where is your evidence? Are you serious? How dare you tell me what I did or didn't do.

Time Eater is your one and only example. Vs how many other failures? Don't pat yourself on the back.

Eggman is funny when he’s stealing shit and tampering with it. Starline isn’t.

Jesus Christ you really just love the smell of your shitty opinions. I don't care if you think Starline isn't funny. What you think is good is subjective.

Also the Time Eater says hi again

Yeah your one time of being right says hi.

Bruh lmfaoooooooooo “the best version of Dr. Eggman is the one that constantly sits on his ass and screams at his nephew to actually do anything against the Freedom Fighters”

That's my opinion, and I clarified in a comment that it was mostly based on nostalgia. And he did plenty to the freedom fighters, dispersing them, terrorizing and imprisoning their friends and families, robotisizing them, and forcing them to live in the forest as he systematically destroys their planet day by day sums it up.

Eggman’s proactivity is a core part of his character. He’s famous for being the best example of a Recurring Varying Tactics Boss in gaming, so for you to haii the version of Eggman that’s the most passive one out of everyone else as “the best one” is quite amusing 

Just because SatAM Robotnik didn't physically move much (But yes he did indeed move around) doesn't mean he wasn't proactive. His swatbots and other machines did the work for him. He was always hunting down the Freedom Fighters and cooking up new schemes to gain more power.

Also, SatAM!Robotnik conquered the world by stealing an invention that didn’t belong to him and tampering with it lol

Yeah so you're a hypocrite for crying about people stealing Eggman's stuff. If I'm amusing, then you're just sad. The amount of anger you hold for some random person's opinions iiiis a bit amusing. Not gonna lie.

Alright, let’s see. Eggman canonically has:

abused animals; summoned an insane water god to destroy a large urban center; launched a nuclear warhead into the heart of said urban center when his plan went wayward; blew up the Moon to prove a point; kidnapped an innocent girl’s mother out of spite; split the planet apart TWICE (Advance 3, Unleashed); harvested the lifeforce of a peaceful allien race to fuel his plans; was shown siphoning the Earth’s lifeforce to fuel his plans; caused a global war for 6 months; created what essentially is an orbital internment camp to imprison anyone who dared to stand up against his rule; practiced “robotomy”, which is actually quite similar to Robotcization and is described as a proccess that “appears to leave its patients mentally disabled following the process, making them unable to think independently, and therefore turns them into mindless robotic slaves working for the doctor.”; dropped an artificial star on his enemies to wipe them out 

Do you see any reason to perceive someone who’s willing to do all of this shit without a second thought and with a smile on his face as a joke? Or what, is this list of crimes Eggman’s commited suddenly null and void because his dialogue is jokey and he’s not voiced by Jim Cummings?

Yes game Eggman is a joke. You will not change my mind lol. Sure SatAM Robotnik did not match those heights, but he did things equally as evil. As I mentioned before, he was cold, calculating, and heartless. Game Eggman is a joke because he is insane, always doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result, and formulaically, has to ally with Sonic to clean up the mess he started. And will continue to do that because yadda yadda status quo. Eggman caused a ton of property damage and built things in space, all for nothing. He can't even physically hurt anyone.

Stop speaking for every Eggman fan. You are not the leader. And Starline is a pretty good villain.

[endlessdreamerxoxo]

"Stop this War"

I will try to be nice with this post, but I really dislike people telling Hellcheer shippers to stop this war with st*ddies in the name of peace and harmony. Although, I do like the sentiment. I really do. I just can't be quiet about the bold harassment and the unnecessary toxicity against something I like and people I admire for their creativity. And I really do question whether those people truly understand the fundamental problem that Hellcheer shippers have with toxic st*ddies and the scope of the situation in general.

I'm checking the A03 tags as I write this post up and currently

we (Hellcheer) have 956 works on the website.

Steddie have 7,013 works on the website.

And Harringrove (a ship that has been around since 2017) has 8,415 works on the website.

For a better comparison, that means that Steddie has exactly 1,402 fics to go to meet the cumulative effort of 5 years hard work in a less than 3 months since the official creation of the ship. That's utterly insane. And if we did that math again, Steddie has 6,057 more fics than Hellcheer. That's the fucking scope that we are dealing with.

Their ship is the Lusitania, while our ship is a rowboat.

Many of us have always say this over and over, we were minding our business for a good solid week or two (I came around June 9th into the tumblr fandom) before claims were being made about Chrissy's age. Personally I didn't even know that people were shipping Steve x Eddie (cause they have no chemistry in my eyes) because no one was talking about them in the 'edssy' tags and I don't have twitter. People were just making fanart and other things to celebrate our cute ship. So I literally discovered Steddie's existence as we got called out for  p*dophilia (which is not the correct term, but go off) and homophobia. From my viewpoint, we got dragged into a shipping war against our will as we kicked and screamed at the the top of our lungs that we didn't want a war. I know for my "Joe Quinn was Right" posts, I danced around my actual feelings to preserve peace and minimize hate. I know a lot of my mutuals did that and continue to do that with those who are stalking their accounts and sending them threats. We have been vocal about not caring whether someone ships St*ddie or Hellcheer. Nevertheless, we are also been very clear to point the obvious flaws in shipping Steddie and or their sketchy behavior, while acting as holy than thou than the rest of the fandom:

The misogynistic harassment of Grace (and Amybeth).

The biphobia and bi erasure.

The fetishization of attractive white gay men.

The constant whining for some or better wIw rep in Ronance, but than ignoring the canonical lesbian ship of Rockie in the show or failing to give Ronance the same amount of love as your mIm ship.

Only making Chrissy a lesbian because they want her away from Eddie under the guise of allyship.

The stealing of lines from other scenes or characters in order to make their ship more cute and fluffy.

The mass reporting of Hellcheer artwork.

The invalidation of people's queer identities/sexualities because they ship a heterosexual ship (or a straight passing if they see it that way).

The obsessive nature that people have formed a parasocial bond with Joe Quinn to the point where they are assuming his sexuality, stalking his family's social media for pics where he was a minor for some twisted reason, and harassing him on his family vacation.

Like we can't bring up those facts because we don't want a shipping war? We didn't even bring up those fact until recently because we have been poked for a entire two months straight. Grace literally thought her safety was in danger, going to an con because her friend was attending the same event. Are you really telling us not to say anything? Are you telling them to mind their own business and go to their corner of their internet with their 7,013 fics and their shit ton of fanart? Because the reality is this extremely tiny Hellcheer squad can't stop this war. Even if we decided not to call people out and did our own thing, people would still be harassed and made to feel like crap about themselves for liking this ship. Even if Joe came out tomorrow and say stop this war, toxic St*ddies would think that Grace is holding him hostage at knife point. St*ddies are the only one who can stop this war, but they wouldn't until they get Steve x Eddie as canon (which they will never have). We are truly just trying to defend ourselves and just want to be left alone.

[wenellyb]

Can I ask your opinion on the what if... series? I'm really hating the Captain Carter trailers. I feel like it's disrespectful to Sam's character who has only just taken up the mantle of Captain America and the shield. I get that this is an alternate timeline series but from the sounds of things they plan on launching these alternates into the main MCU via the multiverse. If rumours are true and Peggy appears in Doctor Strange 2, then that means Captain Carter will appear on the big screen as a supersoldier shield-weilding Cap before Sam appears. And that doesn't sit right with me. Not to mention the merchandise that's already everywhere. Feels like Sam's getting sidelined again before he's even had the chance to shine on his own. Anyway, I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it, if you've seen it. (Also, less related, the uniform being the British flag just reeks of WW2 British imperialism which is also just ugh. And I'm an Australian, our flag literally includes the British one! I just do not like any of this.)

Hi Anon!!! Thanks for the ask it's a very interesting question.

I haven't thought about it a lot because I have seen the trailers and I liked it, it looks like a very cool show and I llike Peggy Carter's character.

They have announced the What If... series since a long time ago and one of the scenario announced was indeed what if Peggy was "Captain America", so this isn't exactly a surprise.

I have seem some posts about the fact that there is much promotion and much more merchandise is done for Captain Cartet than for Captain America. And that are disappointed that Sam's character is sidelined and maybe it's too spon and I will changer my mind, but I personally don't feel that way for now.

I guess I would have more of a problem if:

-it weren't an animated series and there was a real show with Captain Carter. I didn't know about Peggy appearing in Doctor Strange 2, but I guess we'll have to wait and see what is the screntime, if she appears as Captain Carter or not. But for now, I personally don't see Captain Carter as a problem or as Sam's character being sidelined.

- if they brought back Chris Evans' Captain America on a different project, like those rumors said some ago. It would annoy me to no end if they used the excuse of the multiverse to bring back another version of Steve Rogers as Captain America, or as

Honestly, for me, there is a problem with Sam's character and how him being Captain America is handled, but it has nothing to do with the What if series. I think it's important to put the blame where it should be.

The problem isn't that there is more promotion or more merch available for the What If series or Captain Carter, because the show is about to air, so it's normal that it would get promoted, that's how it works.

To me, the problem is that we had a TV show with Sam as Captain America, and then... nothing???

The problem is that we had an announcement for a Cap 4 movie but with no realease date nothing? Not even a TBA date in 2024 or whatever? With all these MCU moves already lined up there should be at least an official announcement, even a vague date.

And I'm thinking maybe we'll get to Sam Wilson in other movies, before the Cap 4 movie, but it's not a certainty, and also what about the official dates for his own movie? Not even something like "confirmed" or "announced" with the Captain America logo.

That's what doesn't sit right with me, because for now it looks to me that Disney has no plan to follow up on Captain Sam Wilson... Just from the looks of it, I don't know what they will or will not do.

Am I the only one who remembers that we were supposed to have a Cyrborg solo movie in the DCEU? It was announced and it never happened? So that's what's really making worried regarding Captain America.

From where I'm standing, Disney wants the diversity points without putting in more work than necessary.

Another issue is that historically the fandom never stands up for the Black Superheroes and the Balck actors.

It happened woth Ray Fisher, it happened with John Boyega, and I think John's case it's even more disgustimg because the behavior of the fandom eventually led to his role beong reduced in the Saga...wtf. They preferred to run an incoherent story and make a mediocre movie rather than pay Fonn his due!

Just an example of what I mean when I say that the fandom doesn't support Black Actors: You see all what is happening with Scarlett Johansson right? The lawsuit etcetera.... I have seen dozens and dozens of posts supporting her and her lawsuit.... And this isn't coming from her fans... It's even coming from people who dislike her but understand the importance of what she's doing. I understand the importance of what she's doing... But I can't help and compare it to he support Ray Fisher had in the fandom, when he was calling out the abuse he received from Joss Whedon and from some Executives. Since the story with Scarlett started every 10th post on my dash is about it. And yes, it's still fresh, so it's normal people are talking about it. But when the whole story started with Ray Fisher, the reaction was just not the same.... People were amkong posts that wouldn't get more that a 100 notes, and for me it was easier supporting from Twitter because at least I could retweet Ray's tweets.... but let me tell you that he was bassically fight alone. ALONE.

I have seen so many posts saying.... "I hate Scarjo but..." "I can't stand Scarjo but..." So from where I'm sitting a problematic White actress will get more support than an unproblematic Black actor denouncing abuse. And just to be clear... I do think that the fandom should support Scarjo's lawsuit because Disney is never held accountable for the sh*t they do, I'm just making a comparison and saying they both deserved support but only one of them got it.

That's why I have absolutely no fate that the MCU fandom will stand up for Anthony Mackie or Sam Wilson if it's ever necessary seeing how they turned their back on Anthony Mackie the moment they thought he was against "Sambucky". They will turn their back on him and his character the minute a minor inconvience happen. And Disney/Marvel will love that because they will have a justification as to why they will not follow through with Sam Cap (His characyer is unpopular.... or whatever excuse they will find).

And about the interview thing, I guess I could understand if and only if they had a problem with some of the things he had said... But the fandom made it clear that they only cared about what they thought he said about Sambucky, not the rest, proving once again that the fandom is untrustworthy. Because they were ready to condemn hom for something as trivial as a fictional ship.

If push comes to shove, and for instance they brought back another Steve Rogers from another universe, I'm sure they would be quick to support THAT character instead of Sam.

To me the problem is Disney & Marvel Execs and also the fandom of course... Because the Execs go where the money is... If the fandom is hyping up anybody BUT Sam Wilson... the execs will do the same... because they will promote characters who are the most popular.

It's important to reward reprensation, and hype up movies and shows with reprensentation, but to me it is as important (if not more important) not to reward lack of representation.

That's why I have absolutely no intention to pay for a MCU movie other than Shang Chi, and Black Panther and also Cap 4 whenever it comes out! But other than that... I'm staying away from the movies with always the same group being represented.

TL:DR; in my opinion, there is indeed a problem but the problem isn't the What if series, far from it.

[bitter-sweet-coffee]

Feel free to ignore this btw if you’re tired of this conversation, I honestly would not blame you LMAOO

But I read up on your whole shadow age posts and omg. I’ve seen that debate stir up a lot on sonic TikTok of all places, where people go back and forth that he’s 15 or 50 and it’s so strange bc literally like you’ve been saying; he’s canonically ageless.

The only place his age was shown as 15 was from a leaked sonic 06 file, but, other than that, every other piece of canon material either doesn’t state his age at all or says he’s ageless.

If someone one wants to use this to view shadow as 15, that’s totally fine, but that doesn’t automatically equal it being canon information since you rlly have to dig to find it and it was never officially released. Unless SEGA or Sonic Team or someone who works there comes out and straight up states “shadow is 15” than it’s not canon evidence. Idk why that’s such a hard thing to grasp?

As someone who likes to headcanon (emphasis on this part LMAO) Shadow as physically and mentally 15, i still enjoy making and seeing “he’s an old man” jokes bc he was made so long ago and it’s also just fun to play around that Shadow’s so behind on modern day things and trying to play catch up. He’s just trying his best. But just cuz that’s my interpretation that doesn’t mean he’s canonically 15 or canonically an old man and everyone has to follow it. It’s all just for fun.

He’s still canonically ageless and immortal.

The whole shipping aspect tho is rlly where Shadow not having a real canon age is weird and causes the most uproar, as we saw. It’s understandable, but at the same time it’s just weird to see such intense debates over something so minor to the franchise. Don’t get me wrong, there are certain ships to be uncomfortable with and that have real issues, and each person has every right to dislike them. But with Shadow, bc of the age debate, I think that’s a situation where leaving it up to a persons own interpretation is fine and just leave them be bc at some point it’ll just be talking to a wall. That’s me tho.

I also think some people have forgotten there’s a line between fanon and canon, or it’s at the least very blurred for them, so they just automatically apply their fanon ideas into canon and don’t realize ppl interpret things differently. You have people who heavily use canon to inspire their works and their discussions and then you have ppl who heavily rely on their fanon ideas for that. Both are totally fine and are allowed to, and should, coexist and I think some ppl don’t remember that.

Sorry this got so long omg.

Hope you have a fantastic day tho!!!!

i'm posting this because you summarized it all flawlessly (much better than my humorous performance that was prompted because my original post was tagged as a vent post that non mutuals and blindsided mutuals decided to turn into a shitshow... completely proving my point about the current animosity and lack of reading comprehension in this fandom)

i never said people can't make shadow 15 in their fanon, i said he is canonically ageless, and people's first response was to accuse me of not knowing the sonic canon and citing nonexistent manuals and falsified links to "prove i'm wrong" or posting their fanon interpretations in my canon discussion. i can fight fanon with fanon but that doesn't negate the canon fact he's ageless, if anything it just derailed more

people can headcanon all they want, but it doesn't replace the canon ages which was the point of my vent (people replacing the canon and spreading misinformation— not because of headcanons, but because of headcanons they falsely claim are canon)

but seriously, thank you for wrapping this whole thing up as neatly as you did, cheers! xx

[wowsoboring]

Deconstructing baseless Harry Potter arguments #1: Harmony Edition

There’s a very helpful account on instagram (this instagram page merely gathers toxic harmony shippers, they don’t ship Harmione or hate all Harmione shippers, please don’t send them hate, show them love and support) where you can essentially find stupid fucking bashers who make baseless arguments. I’m all for Harmione shippers, as long as they don’t denounce Romione, bash Ron and just peacefully co-exist. To my pleasure, such people are out there: they just dont seem to be seen as often as the ones that are not nice. Maybe all I see is the mean people and the majority is nice, but in this post, I am attacking those who make baseless claims and bash Ron/Romione/Hinny/Ginny. I don’t myself hate all Harmione shippers. On top of that, as a Romione/Ron fan, i do acknowledge Ron’s character flaws along with Hermione’s and I hold them on the same pedestal.

This is copied directly from my own instagram page, granger.weasley_ on ig.

Anyways let's get deconstructing

1)

rebuttal:

Yeah okay mf; maybe don’t compare real-life relationships with fucking fictional ones. Your relationship going wrong has nothing to do with Ron/Hermione. It has everything to do with you and your ex: the *real life* people involved in it.

2)

rebuttal:

The weird subreddits and discord servers also seem to have a lot of die-hard Harmione “non-canon” shippers. They bash Ron and Romione (along with Ginny and Hinny) with a burning passion without any objective sense of remorse. They ignore all the merits of Ron’s character and bash him to push their agenda. They can’t even do so much as fucking acknowledge any of Hermione’s character flaws but still somehow manage to fixate on that one time when 11 year old Ron just shit-talked one line while Hermione had just publicly humiliated him in front of the Charms class and practically shouted at him for doing the spell wrong just before. I personally don’t because Hermione was 11 too and wasn’t that good at social cues that early on, which is more than okay. Neither am I.

Only a few people in the Romione fandom bash Hermione. And it’s not like Harmione shippers (most, not all!) don’t bash Ron and Ginny remorselessly, right? The fucking hypocrisy.

If someone considers Ron as the best member of the trio, it is their own opinion and not a fact. I do that. If you consider Harry and Hermione as the best member of the trio or in the whole wizarding world, most people don’t give a flying fuck and probably won’t argue with you because it is simply an opinion. That will only happen when you pass that off as a fact.

Statistically speaking, most (not FUCKING all) Harmione moments are in the movies. The weird dance scene especially. The passionate kiss that happens in Ron’s vision, shit like that. Ron is pushed to the sidelines in the last set of movies while Harry and Hermione show each other endless love and support. “I’ll go with you”. The books on the other hand, describe Harry and Hermione as siblings multiple times, with very little Harmione references.

3)

rebuttal:

So you don't want us to fixate on the large majority of Harmione shippers who do the exact same thing, just kissing Hermione's and Harry's ass and hating on Ron. However you will fixate on people who are most likely not EVEN bashing or hating but pointing out a few character flaws in Hermione in a fair and unbiased way. I would know, I'm a huge fan of Hermione as an individual character (in the books). The only criticism I've seen of Hermione to this day has not been bashing. In the comment section of my own fics (shameless plug) I've seen some Hermione bashing. On an ao3 comment section. And I've seen so damn fucking many people bashing Ron, Ginny, the Weasleys etc. and garner tens and thousands of upvotes on quora.

What does Ron even need excusing for? The running away incident and Krum. What does Hermione need excusing for? Canaries, contributing to Ron's insecurities by making him jealous through Cormac and Krum even though she didn't even like them (especially not Cormac, she fucking hated him). Ron wore a locket that literally highlighted his fatal flaw (insecurity) in an echo chamber. Harry kept getting annoyed when Ron wanted to check in on his family. Harry asked Ron to leave; Ron didn't say that shit in the books about Harry's parents being dead: that was plain shock value.

And sorry for repeating myself but I have seen quite a few Harmione shippers bash Ron and Ginny and excuse every single thing Harry and Hermione have done.

4)

37 upvotes on this weird comment that makes no sense? Echo chamber alert! You know what us Romione/Ron fans all have in common? We have never experienced such an echo chamber. I made a pro Ron/Romione post on reddit and got a considerable amount of people who bashed Ron and Romione in the comments.

The amount of Hermione haters is very few compared to Ron bashers. Nobody hates Hermione for being independent, determined, etc. We dislike perfect movie Hermione who’s an unrealistic image of females and seems like some sort of agenda than a real woman. Most Romione shippers/Ron fans and book fans in general (except for you apparently) dislike movie Hermione and still are fans of realistic book Hermione. Most, not all. In general, we do not claim anyone who does the exact same thing to Harry and Hermione that these sorts of Harmione shippers do to Ron, Romione, Hinny and Ginny. I say this on the behalf of all Romione shippers and Ron fans.

Ron's not a bitchy lay-about drama causing loser. That's Steve Kloves's movie Ron. In the books Ron is realistic and simplistic and apologizes whenever he causes problems. He acts up substantially twice in a span of 7 years where he is also a hormone-fuelled teenager.

This is so contradictory and juxtaposed to the point of near delusion. First you talk about how Romione shippers bash Hermione and then you bash Ron as a Harmione shipper. Mate, fighting fire with fire will get you called a hypocrite. Fix yourself.

5)

So the movies are fine when they work according to your agenda? And yes how dare he add such a (fake) chemistry fuelled moment between Harry and Hermione while defeating the entire purpose and groundwork for Romione, the sadness caused by Ron leaving and so many more things? Those Harmione moments you mention seem friendship -esque more than anything else.

Steve Kloves's moments ruined many things while just paying fan service to the Harmione fans he'd birthed through years in the course of 6 movies where he showed Ron as a, how you so eloquently describe it, lay - about drama causing bitchy loser, Harry as one dimensional and Hermione as a zero - dimensional Mary Sue who might as well be the main titular character. Obviously Harmione fans such as yourself don't see the problem with it as it fits your narrative

6)

We do care about Harry and Hermione at large. Most Romione shippers rightfully bash Draco, Pansy, etc. not particularly Harry and Hermione, that's quite rare. Harry and Hermione can get along without Ron as friends. Ron and Harry can also get along without. Hermione as friend. So can Hermione and Ron without Harry as friends or more. I don't understand your point and how what you said is any different than Romione or Ronarry’s friendship.

7)

Constant arguing is not what they do. They bicker, they apologize, and sometimes they just do it for the heck of it. They are argumentative teenager. Opposites attract doesn't work in the sense of fire and ice, it works in the case of Brownie and ice-cream. Ron is passionate, laid back and insecure. Hermione's passionate, a workaholic and not as insecure. Ron can help her get calm and composed and get her to give herself a break. Hermione can motivate Ron and re - enforce his confidence.

It wouldn't be step incest. Harry and Ginny do not regard each other as siblings. They do not look similar whatsoever. And a Harmione shipper also bashes Hinny and Ginny along with Ron and Romione? Checks out

" that fucked up Harmony" hahaha. What?

8)

Are you literally going to date someone on the basis of what Harry Potter ships they prefer? That is so shallow end depraved. Your Harry Potter ship preferences should not be the groundwork for your dating life. Please understand that. Harry Potter is a fictional world which is not real. Hogwarts doesn't exist. Magic doesn't exist. I sound like a Dursley but that's what it is: a fictional realm with fictional character. I would personally not give a fuck if my best friend or significant other was a Harmione shipper. In the case of them being a Ron basher, I would ignore it as if it was just a minor inconvenience and something we wouldn't be discussing and that's how it should be with you. Fuck BuzzFeed, your opinion on what Harry Potter ship / character is your favorite says squat about your personality and relationship with others in a romantic or platonic context. But who cares? Live your life however you want. I'll be stoic.

9)

It's not opposites attract rubbish or high school opposites attract. Ron and Hermione aren't polar opposites like I said, they are a bit different but similar too in many ways. They have a lot more in common than Harry and Hermione. Ron and Harry have the most in common. Both Ron and Hermione are passionate, loving, argumentative, caring, etc. Your argument lacks substance. It's biased trash. And what does “obhwf " mean?

---------------------------------

at the end of the day, i’m just an annoyed teenager. I try my best to be open-minded to people but only as long as they are too. I tried to use my brain more than my feelings for this post. 

[frobin]

Random consideration: there is an online legend about Oda can change story events if someone on the web/fans guess the thing. So... what do you think about this topic? It can be really valid? If yes, even for whatever eventual not-canon ships? I don't know, because ships are just a very side element in the story, and not like main events of the storyline. (And for my opinion, for Jin:be father topic, I could agree with who said is for the age, maybe. Anyway, I will ship FroBin forever).

Hey anon! Thank you for your question!

Maybe Oda really made Jinbe the dad because of age. right now Oda and Jinbe have the same age (46). He has two children who are (if the internet and my math are correct) 15 and 12 years old. So may it’s not unlikely? If he connects with Jinbe he would rather see him as a dad than a grandparent or a weird uncle. 

-

Now, to the rest... I have to say sorry for answering so late but as of right now I’m writing parts of my answer and I literally pulling my hair because I really try to make sense of the whole situation and trying to understand the intention of a 46 year old japanese man. And this is long again so sorry about that. Anyway... 

I have heard about that. I remembered something about Oda not reading Fan Theories and now I googled once more. Apparently this is the newest Information:

"Oda once said he will change OP story if it coincides with fan theories. But according to TV show today, Oda will never change his plan about "final chapter" even if a fan theory hits the nail on the head. Oda said in 1999 that he had already decided final panel and chapter."

https://twitter.com/sandman_AP/status/1352851201478418432?s=20

I don’t think Oda is actively browsing the web for OP content ( how would he have time to) but he gets fanmail with questions and suggestions. And considering that over 4 million people are One Piece fans... one of them has to get it correct eventually. Trying to avoid any similarity with any fan-theory is IMPOSSIBLE. 

And I do believe that Oda knows how he wants One Piece to end and won’t change that, no matter what. 

As for the details in-between........ I wouldn’t say Oda is not prone to be a Troll and sometimes downright an ass towards his fans. XD Never out of malice but because he thinks it’s funny. 

I’m also sure he will never focus on romance in the manga, but since love is an important part of life it will come into play now and then. Classic romance (?) more with side-characters  (Roger/Rouge, Sai/Baby5, Bege/Chiffon) than with main (Strawhats) but still possible.

He may very well edit less-important plot lines if they don't change the ending. 

That also includes, that I absolutely think it’s possible that the Strawhats will have romantic involvement at the end of the story. At the moment it is never in the focus, except for plot reason (Whole Cake Island for example, though that is an entirely different topic) but absolutely possible. 

Because the Strawhats boning each other or maybe someone outside of the crew will not change the story. It has no influence to anything, except if it’s on a higher scale, like if Luffy really suddenly married Boa Hancock. That would influence the political outline of the world.

Meanwhile Pauli/Iceburg or Noland/Cagara or Bartolomeo/Cavendish have literally no influence to the story (anymore). And I don’t think I have to start on things like other rare pairs or even OC-ships. 

That being said, and having more stuff in mind, I wouldn’t put it past Oda to actually focus more on Jin/Bin. 

Why? Well... 

we had so many interactions between Robin and Franky after the time skip that it was almost ridiculous. In every single arc we see them fight alongside each other. We had strong romantic tropes portrayed with them: 

Their meeting after the timeskip (Sabaody Archipelago)

Franky having his head in Robins lap (Punk Hazard) 

Wearing the same shirt (Dressrosa) 

Finishing each others sentence (Zou)

Franky offering Robin a ride and her answering with a heart (Wano)  

And the moment the internet exploded when Robin was holding Frankys face. Which yeah, only a Colorspread and not canon yadda yadda

For now let’s gloss over all the other moments that showed that they cared for each other. 

... so many.

Anyway what I want to say is that Oda had declared “All the Strawhats are in love with adventure.” and “I won’t focus on romance.”  but is seemingly showing a connection between Franky and Robin, that made one think that he might actually be aboard the ship even if the fandom itself is rather silent and small. 

Meanwhile when Jinbe appeared (in the timeskip) he was instantly a hit. His popularity then rose thanks to Fishmen Island Arc. And again I can’t blame anyone. On the other hand Franky always had a hard stance. This was recently shown again because is the lowest ranked Strawhat in the popularity poll. 

One (Oda) might come to a conclusion here:

Maybe people don’t like Franky and so would dislike FRobin. But since Oda also seems to enjoy grown up relationships (?) maybe he thinks Jinbe is the only reasonable replacement?  -> It could be a tactial decision. 

Maybe he really changed his opinion and personally likes one more than the other. He was a FRobin supporter but now likes JinBin more? It wouldn't change anything for the story and there wouldn't be any harm -> It could be a personal decision. 

Maybe he fears that he put too many hints in the manga and now has to paddle back? Because let’s be honest, until the colourspread with Robin putting her hand on Frankys face... the FRobin fandom was on the backburner. And so he wants to throw out some Red Herrings.  -> Again a tactial decision

Maybe he never inteded to make it  romantic and it is actually all just friendship. Subtext is something many authors use without being aware of it. (Just ask anyone who is a lesbian!Nami fan. They have good points.) -> A mistake from the very beginning. 

And you can use these same thoughts for every other non-canon ship. 

Please take everything of this with a grain of salt because I try to understand the intention of a man who is more than 10 years my senior and from a culture I can’t even start to try to comprehend (sometimes I don’t even get my own culture), who is the head figure of a money-making machine. So it’s hard to tell what else influences his decisions. 

My interpretations are influenced by my own experiences and knowledge which is big and vast but also stretched very thin. 

Last but not least I want to make clear that any speculation is really the same as asking a crystal ball. In the western fandom we have only few people who can even slightly try to give an insight to the whole thing and they (smart enough) keep out of any shipping discourse. 

tl;dr: I don’t think Oda will change the ending. But I do think that he is willing to change minor plotlines  and so yes I think Oda might change couples for any possible reason, as long as it does not change the ending, and he does not even has to choose a good reason because in the end they are his characters and he is free to do whatever he wants with them.

[outrunningthedark]

Maybe I’m just thinking controversially but I feel like T*ylor is the only example out of the two where some of the shit she gets is cause she’s female. Like a lot of it’s good reasons but it’s more hate than if a male character did the same. But she also has a lot more people protecting her at the same time which (hypothetically) wouldn’t be the case with a male reporter. Like the whole plot point of wanting to stream the clips she got of Bobby when he was high and just wanting to stream those clips in general and only not doing it because the stations lost a lawsuit. Honestly I’ll never know cause ya know they used a female reporter but I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this

I won't attempt to psychoanalyze everyone else's dislike of T*ylor, but for myself, I have no real issue with the character on her own. I'm a lesbian. M/F romances do nothing to keep me interested. I realize I'm in the minority here, because from my perspective, this fandom is made up of folks who are "okay" with either outcome (Buddie vs. BT). Had BuckT*ylor remained platonic, then my only *gripe* would be a het white (side) character's screen time exceeding that of the three black characters who also happen to be canonically gay (Michael, David, Karen). We all to see storylines that match our personal experiences, no? It's why people attach various LGBTQ+ labels (headcanons) to their fave(s), right? I relate more to the gay characters, specifically Karen and Hen as they are also lesbians, than I do T*ylor Kelly. That's the bottom line. And because I know this fandom loves nitpicking someone's POV to find "inconsistencies" - yes, I am a lesbian interested in seeing a M/M ship go canon. However, I don't dwell on whether Tim & co. will "go there" re: intimacy of any kind. I don't need it to feel satisfied with their relationship. Just tell me they're committed to each other and I'll be happy. Canon!Buddie (for me) is about so much more than watching two dudes kiss/have sex or even having confirmed bi characters. (Tim could never define their sexuality and I wouldn't give a fuck as long as they were together, but then again, I am not bisexual and I understand that kind of representation matters to those who are. Empathy. What a concept.) Re: protecting/defending her BECAUSE she is a woman - 💯💯 you're right and you should say it! If the roles were reversed in the finale and Buck said "you didn't chase after me" he would have become fandom enemy #1 and everyone knows it. But because T*ylor "chose" Buck in the end, her behavior is seen as a good thing - finally! Buck is the one being *chased*! As far as the incident from Dosed is concerned...IMO, the fact that (so far) Tim & the writers have gone out of their way NOT to bring it back up is helping the T*ylor stans make peace with their love for her. We're supposed to believe everyone has moved on, right? There's no need to dwell on who she used to be when she's CLEARLY trying to be a better person. (Plot twist: T*ylor's past actions are gonna come back to bite her in the ass and lead to the end of BT 👀)

[enneamage]

I got this ask as an account of a person who spent some time in Poppy, the content is very intense so I’ll be putting it under a readmore.

Tw, rape, gore, poppytwt etc. i was a part of poppytwt very briefly when i was practically prepubescent, and it's safe to say that most people i met were minors. Even while they were shunned by their "morally superior" counterparts (main as they called it) i remember very clearly that there would be call out posts done on groomers in the community twice a week. The shunning made poppytwt a very unsafe community, and that led to a lot of predators seeking it out and fostering an unhealthy space for kids. We were all private, and the priv accounts always had a dislike for open ones as they broke the "rules" that went unspoken in the community. Under no circumstances were the cc's shown or were told about the things being talked about ( being priv made that easier ). What might have been a safer nsfw community ( idk how that would work but alas) turned into one of Very very violent ones. The minors in poppytwt were mostly victims. It was their way if coping i guess? So a lot of these shipping fantasies almost always turned either violent or outright illegal. I was a part of fandom culture from a very young age, so i liked shipping and playing with characters as they were my dolls. I'm sure there were more like me ( non violent i guess? ) but the community almost always consisted of rape and violent fantasies. It pushed what normally would be a healthy thing for teenagers to think ( tommyinnit is hot! or like wow tubbo and tommy are so gay and in love ahhahaa) and turned them into INSANE ones. Poppytwt was mostly go big or go home. Either you write rape fanfiction of ur favs or you go back to main. That was one of the reasons i left, i just wanted to play around and make my favorite characters fall in love. I was in this community for about 2 months and i still somehow can't wrap my brain around it. My tl mostly consisted of 15 year olds whining about school work and talking about cc's. We were all kids man, the oldest person i met was 19. A lot of predators got called out regularly, and the things they did was absolutely INSANE. i would have to retweet call out posts consisting of literal sexual abuse, stalking, rape, and very very gore-y death threats. It was just such an unsafe community for such vulnerable kids. I was friends with alice ( very briefly ) and i had multiple people i knew go offline or off the grid because of what happened to him. I miss her very dearly, and he was also one of the reasons i left. I remember seeing him tweeting about how suicidal or guilty they felt, and there was nothing i could do about it. She was a kid. They had SO MUCH to live for. i do not endorse rape fantasies or anything of the sort, but what i am more opposed to is the shunning of vulnerable kids. why were we treated as predators when most of us were victims? I dont know. i guess im just rambling now. Sorry for any spelling mistakes, english isn't my first language.

This lines up with what I’ve seen and heard, the way that older and younger people were all in the same place for different reasons and then escalated from there. I think it’s important to keep the people who were victims of circumstance for all this in mind when people talk about Poppy, since so many of them were young troubled people as you said.

[aster-ion]

Sylvie x Loki Might Not Happen and Here’s Why

***SPOILERS FOR LOKI TV SHOW***

1.  They are basically siblings

Even though they have different personalities, backstories, and physical appearances, that doesn't change the fact that they are the genetic equivalent of siblings. No matter what Timeline you're looking at, both Sylvie and Loki are the offspring of Laufey and whoever he had children with. We know this because they are Variants of the exact same person, meaning that if either of them were born to someone other than Laufey, they would have been pruned as a baby. And since they weren't, that means they must be just as genetically similar as siblings are.

Because of this, the idea of Sylvie and Loki engaging in any kind of romantic or sexual relationship is extremely disturbing to a lot of fans. It's too big an oversight to brush past, especially when the show has continued to remind us over and over that they are, in fact, both Lokis. Maybe if them being the same person wasn't such a major plot point, it would be easier to ignore the facts, but it is, and that means that Marvel is basically pushing either an incest or selfcest (depending on how you look at it) type relationship. And that’s extremely risque for a corporation as large as Marvel, especially with a character as beloved by fans as Loki. 

2.  It is terrible LGBTQ+ representation

And before anyone says anything, no, it is not because Sylvie is portrayed as female and Loki as male. I've seen a lot of Sylvie x Loki shippers say that the reason people don't like the couple is due to it being one between a male and female, but that's not true. Loki and Sylvie were both confirmed to be bisexual, meaning that they can engage in a relationship with anyone of any gender. It would be completely valid for either of them to pursue romance with someone of a different sex and still be bisexual. No one is arguing against that, and if they are, I definitely do not agree with them.

However, the problem comes in when you take into account Marvel and Disney's (who owns Marvel) long history of queerbaiting. There have been countless times that Disney advertises their "first gay character!" only for it to be a single line of dialogue or a brief shot. Marvel in particular has used the popularity of certain LGBTQ+ ships and headcanons in their fanbase to generate media popularity that they don't actually follow through with in their movies/shows. So when Loki was confirmed to be both genderfluid and bisexual in Episode Three, lots of people felt like they were finally getting a win for representation. 

But those people, myself included, appear to have been let down again. The first two official queer characters had so much potential to go off and be with anyone they wanted, but instead, the show has set them up to be in a romance with each other. Now, this wouldn't be problematic on it's own, but when you take into consideration the questionable nature of their romance from Point One as well as the fact that the show has explicitly referred to it as "twisted," it raises the question of whether or not this is actually good representation. Because the fact is, in one episode the writers went “look, it’s two queer people!” and in the next, they said “their relationship is disgusting and demented.” Marvel’s first bisexual characters being borderline incestuous/selfcestuous does not sit well with me at all.

All of this is made even more confusing when you take into account the background of the Loki crew, most notably, the director Kate Herron. She also directed the Netflix series Sex Education, which has quite a bit of very well done representation of all kinds. So how is she managing to fail so badly on this project? It makes me wonder whether she truly is just losing her touch or if this is all a misdirection. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.

3.  It does not send the "self love" message people seem to think it does

The writers, director, and cast of Loki have said multiple times that the relationship between Sylvie and Loki is meant to act as a metaphor for self love. And in a way, that makes a lot of sense. Despite creating different identities for themselves over time, they are still ultimately the same person and therefore share a special bond because of it. And there's a lot of potential that can be done with that concept.

Loki is an extremely complex and intriguing character. He has experienced a lot of trauma in his past that has shaped him into the person he is today. And that person is clearly very broken. He has never given away or received any kind of love, with the exception of his mother and possibly his brother, Thor. Other than that, he's had no healthy friendships, romances, or perception of himself. It makes sense for him to be confused by this pull he feels towards Sylvie, who is both alarmingly alike and vastly different from himself.

Something this series does exceptionally well is breaking Loki out of his comfort zone. He is finally forced to see himself from other people's perspectives. It started with the file Mobius showed him in the first episode. Loki was able to view his actions apart from himself, and was hit with the realisation that he had been hurting people, and he didn't like that. 

Loki is also confronted by the existence of the Time Keepers and the TVA, who describe him as an antagonist and nothing more. To them, his role is to make those around him look better, even if that means he repeatedly gets the short end of the stick. Mobius mentions that he disagrees with this and that Loki "can be whoever and whatever he wants, even someone good," adding another layer of depth as to who Loki could be in the future of the series. 

Another huge moment for Loki's character development is while in the Time Loop Prison with Sif. Though he starts out annoyed with the situation and recalls not feeling apologetic when he cut off Sif's hair, the longer he is in the loop, the more he changes. Loki admits things to himself that we have never seen him say aloud, such as the fact that he is a narcissist that craves attention. Sif telling Loki over and over that he deserves to be alone makes Loki question whether or not he believes that to be true, allowing him an introspective moment where he really has to think about who he is. 

Now with all of that being said, I'd like to tie in why this is important to the writing of Loki and Sylvie. They act as a mirror to one another, representing both the flaws and strengths of "what makes a Loki a Loki." For once, Loki gets an honest, unbiased look at himself without layers of expectations or self doubt. On Lamentis, he calls Sylvie "amazing" and praises her for all her accomplishments. That's a huge moment for him because it shows that despite also finding her irritating, he can look past those traits and see someone worth being a hero underneath. And through that realisation, he begins to understand that he can also grow to love himself. That kind of character development for Loki is incredible to watch, and it's the kind of character development I want to see from this series. Unfortunately, them possibly engaging in a romantic relationship will ruin it.

Whenever I'm feeling insecure about myself and my abilities, the solution has never been to look at who I am through a romantic lens. Self love is an entirely different type of love from romantic love, so if the series tries to push this relationship as a romance, it will fail to truly represent the arc that they are trying to show.

4.  Nobody likes it 

This one's a little on the nose, but it's true. Almost no one likes this ship, and more than that, most people actively hate it. Yes, there is a small minority that like Loki and Sylvie together, but there is an overwhelmingly larger group that is disgusted and angry by the fact that the show paired them up.

After Episode 4 aired, I ranted for about an hour and a half with a friend about how much we didn't want them together. My aunt whom I have never texted reached out to me to say that she hated their relationship. My homophobic neighbour came over and told me that she would prefer any other romance to this. Friends that I haven't talked to much since school let out for summer have all agreed that they collectively dislike Loki x Sylvie. This ship has brought people together purely because everyone hates it more than they hate each other.

There is no denying that the general feedback for Loki and Sylvie being a couple has been negative, even if you support them getting together for some reason. So if there are so many people out there who don't like it, I'm confused as to how it would be approved by a team of professionals.

5.  The contradicting information we have gotten so far

Before the release of Episode Four, Kate Herron said that the relationship between Loki and Sylvie was “not necessarily romantic.” During the interview, she continued to refer to them as friends and people who found solace and trust in each other.

However, after Episode Four, the head writer, Michael Waldron, and other members of the crew spoke up about Sylvie and Loki. They said things like “it just felt right that that would be Loki’s first real love story” and “these are two beings of pure chaos that are the same person falling in love with one another.” These kinds of comments very heavily imply something romantic, directly contradicting what Kate Herron said. Even Tom Hiddleston, the actor for Loki, has assessed the situation, highlighting the differing viewpoints. He’s also said before that the end of Episode Four ultimately has Loki getting in his own way. 

Now, this could all just be a misdirection on either side to build suspense for the show, but as of right now, it is entirely unclear who is telling the truth. Though it is more likely that the statements made by Michael Waldron are more accurate (as he is the writer), there is still a slight possibility that Loki x Sylvie won’t happen. I’ll link the articles I’ve found on this topic below so you can read them and decide for yourself. 

Kate Herron Statement - https://www.cbr.com/loki-sylvie-relationship-not-romantic/ 

Michael Waldron Statement - https://www.marvel.com/articles/tv-shows/loki-sylvie-in-love 

Tom Hiddleston Statement - https://thedirect.com/article/loki-tom-hiddleston-sylvie-romance 

6.  It is still salvageable

The odds are not in our favour, I’m afraid. It is highly probable that the show will put Loki and Sylvie in a romantic relationship with each other. Yet there is still a way to salvage it and turn their bond into something incredibly satisfying. Like I mentioned in Point Three, the relationship between Loki and Sylvie has the potential to be incredibly empowering and provide both characters some much-needed growth. And I believe that while unlikely, it can still do that. 

The only mention of them being romantically interested in each other came from Mobius, who at the time was angry, betrayed, and doing anything he could to get Loki to talk. Then, at the end of the episode, right before Loki is about to confess something important to Sylvie, he is pruned. This results in no explicit confirmation from either Loki or Sylvie that they are in love with each other. The audience is left not knowing whether Mobius was correct in his speculations, and honestly, I don’t think Loki knows either.

Loki is no expert on love, as I explained earlier. It is entirely possible that he doesn’t grasp how he feels about Sylvie and defaults to romance because of what Mobius said. There is undoubtedly some sort of deep bond forming between them, and I would love to see that being explored in the next two episodes. I would love to watch Loki’s journey of realising that he doesn’t want anything romantic with Sylvie, and was simply confused by the new things he was feeling towards her. Loki even says “this is new for me” when talking to Sylvie at the end of Episode Four. Him momentarily believing that he wants to be a couple with her then shifting into them becoming friends who help each other grow is still a reality that could happen. And ultimately, I think that would benefit them both as characters as well as strengthen the overall message of the show.

In a show about self love, acceptance of yourself, and figuring out who you want to be, Loki very much needs people who support him. He has that in Mobius already, and now he’s beginning to have it in Sylvie as well. I just hope that it is done in a way that resonates with the audience and subverts expectations, which just cannot be done through some twisted romantic relationship. I’ve spoken to others watching the show and seen people talking online, and everyone seems to agree that Loki and Sylvie work much better as platonic soulmates or found family than a couple. 

Of course, my hopes aren’t that high up. While I’d love for this to happen, I’ve been let down by Marvel before and wouldn’t be surprised if they went for the easy route of pairing characters up rather than dealing with the emotions correctly. Still, I have hope for this series. Everything else about it is wonderful and perfect in every way. It has the potential to become a masterpiece and easily the best thing that Marvel has ever done. However, this romance would ruin it for me and so many others. We already feel incredibly disappointed by Loki x Sylvie being suggested, so I can’t even begin to fathom how people will react if the show makes it canon. I’m begging Marvel to please do better than this. They have a wonderful story to tell and a wonderful team to do it, and I hope from the bottom of my heart that they don’t throw that away.