#like that’s questionable for any media but HP fans are REALLY into it

[acewitch-writes]

Hello! I recently found your account, and I went on scrolling down and down...and now I hope you know how grateful I am. Thank u- Merci. About 90% of the content you share here has made me feel so much better. I realllyy hope wonderful things happen for you. I've been a fan of hp since 2001, but I'm not really a social media person so I haven't been active in the fandom. I had no idea what was happening here until recently..two months ago to be exact (other details are not important) and omg.. I ended up in a discussion with some I think, new fans. tbh I thought, "Great! I'm good at this, I read all the books more than once Let's talk :)"  and omg their very first question was "What do you think about Regulus?"

I was like, "Who?" *dying from secondhand embarrassment bc It turns out I'm not that good at this

but as the discussion continued, I became more and more baffled bc "Why was everyone talking about Barty, Evan, and Regulus? who is daddy Remu? and what do you mean people ship James Potter with R.A.B.? What?"

I swear for a moment I thought "Did the writer publish a new book? Did I miss something? " tbh, I respect everyone's opinion it's none of my business but I'm still shocked. The only thing that bothers me is everything that happened with this new Wolfsar

omg, for most fans around my age (or at least people I know), Sirius was the complete portrayal of a bad boy- a rebel, with boots, tattoos, a leather jacket, and a fucking motorcycle. so this new Sirius is like a stranger to me, and that's okay. Mein issue is kinda with this new Remus T T my beloved .

They (the fans I was talking with) told me Remus is "tall, so handsome, SO strong, and hot-headed person because,  yk he's a werewolf." I was like "hot headed? excuse me?" I tried to explain to them that Remus being a werewolf is a metaphor for illnesses like HIV, it's not some superpowery gift.  they didn't believe me, but then they literally looked me in the face and said, "Then why would Sirius like someone like him? He's poor, short, and ugly." I swear I wanted to cry right then and there.

What is this mindset that makes some people think that a person should be, Idk, hot and flawless to deserve to be loved? Yes I don't think Remus is tall and super hot and perfect and isn't it fine? and I am 100% sure he's so beautiful. not like Sirius ofc but he has this "warm, cozy, and soft" sort of beauty. and I don't think he was a coward (ok maybe he was a liitle) but I guess it's easier for us, humans, to take the worst or weakest moment of a character and amplify it until it defines them entirely. and omg I'm so sorry for my rant and my bad english. but once again thank you for your beautiful soul <3 thank you

Hi anon! I, too, am baffled by the recent obsession with Regulus in this fandom. I think Jegulus is fine as a crack ship, but it has become so mainstream that many fans have just gone ahead and canonized it to the point that you'll be vilified for not accepting it as canon. I underestimated how popular the "best friend's brother" trope was, apparently. I also think it appeals to many fans as a Marauders Era version of one of the most popular ships of all time, Drarry.

This new version of Wolfstar is my biggest complaint with today's fandom, too! I get that the Marauders have very limited canon information and therefore we have more creative freedom to flesh them out, but I really believe that it has gone way too far. Sirius and Remus in today's fandom don't bear any resemblance to the characters they're based on. Remus is just a generic alpha werewolf OC and Sirius is his generic himbo femboy love interest OC. They don't even share a physical description with their Canon counterparts, and their personalities and character traits are so far removed that I can't even fathom how we reached this point as a fandom. How can you claim to like these characters if you have to change everything the source material says about them?

You're English is great, by the way! I completely agree that Remus has a cozy-and-warm sort of beauty. He made a point to distance himself from the stigma surrounding Lycanthropy because it was the focal point of his shame and self-loathing. And I just adore Wolfstar's dynamic from this lens, with the intimidatingly beautiful, confident, headstrong Sirius Black, who could have his pick of anyone he wants, choosing this ordinary guy because he's cozy and soft and it's exactly what Sirius wants after surviving the harsh ideals and abuse of House Black.

[fanfic-lover-girl]

I hope you don’t mind me asking all these questions but I really wanted to know:

What ships do you love? What ships do you neither love nor hate, simply tolerate? And what ships do you absolutely hate?

Also, if you like Drarry, can you explain why? Was there something in canon that turned you to it or was it just some fanfics that you’ve read and enjoyed the ship in those specific stories? (If you don’t ship drarry, you can ignore this)

Hi anon!

I am assuming you just mean HP ships?

If so, there are no HP ships I love. I have ships I find intriguing, fun, funny or cute like Snirius, Drarry, Lucissa, Druna, Dreville and Dron. In most cases, I started liking the ship due to fanfiction and not purely because of canon. Because that's mainly because I am not a shippy person. I don't watch much media but I can't think of a single romance that truly wowed me, really shook me.

I absolutely hate Jily. Can't stand it. I hate Wolfstar. I strongly dislike Hinny and Romione. I can dig the premise but I don't like the execution of Hinny and Romione. Any ship with Remus and Lily in general. I tried Snupin a few times and I just could not do it. It also doesn't help that I dislike most of the characters involved in these ships.

Ships I tolerate? Bill and Fleur is meh. They seem cute and I liked Fleur's line about being pretty enough for both her and Bill when he got mauled by Greyback. But I don't care about either character much for me to actively ship them. I am fine with Drastoria overall but I am not a fan. I care little for Astoria and I hate the idea that she is responsible for Draco's redemption. Pass me on that. Percy seems to have cute relationships with his girlfriends. He was such a sweetheart with Penelope! For the other ships like Cho/Cedric, Neville/Hannah etc, I don't know much about them to care.

I want to like Dramione...but I dislike Hermione too much. Plus, I hate how Draco and Hermione are portrayed. Even if I find a Dramione fanfic writer who develops the relationship well...there's Hermione still and I don't want Draco with her. Same with Jeverus too. I do like the concept of James being obsessed with Snape and it leading to a toxic or redemptive romance, but I am not interested in James enough to read one. Plus, my tolerance for slash fanfiction is waning.

Drarry for me is very complicated. I have a love-hate relationship with Drarry. I like Drarry for many reasons.

First of all, I am a Draco fan - he's my favourite character. And the best Draco fics tend to lean towards Drarry. I got into HP fanfiction because I wanted a Draco story and it turned out to be a Drarry fic. I feel like Drarry fics tend to explore Draco's character very well and in very interesting ways. Unlike Dramione where Draco is usually horribly OOC. Drarry fics are top-tier.

Second of all, I like the Drarry meta here on Tumblr. While I do not believe romantic Drarry ought to be canon, I do feel like the story suffered by not exploring the Drarry relationship more. Draco and Harry foil each other and have such interesting and entertaining dynamics that I am very disappointed how JKR ended Draco's story in the books.

So basically I got into Drarry through fanfiction and then I learnt about canon more, and I had even more appreciation for the ship.

However, I have moments where I hate Drarry. I don't like Harry much and it would be nice to have a good Draco-centric fic where Harry is not involved. I used to like Harry well enough when I mainly knew his character through analysis and Drarry fanfiction. But as I actually interacted more with the source material...I just don't like him. I hate Harry as a protag and the thought of him with Draco makes me sick sometimes. The daily posts from my mutual iamnmbr3 about Drarry moments in HBP and DH revived my interest in this ship and I have told her that lol. She sucked me back in :')

Sorry, this took so long anon! I had it in my drafts for weeks and forgot about it. Hope my answer satisfies your curiosity :)

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Ok so we all know hp is bad and hp fans are genuinely sus and Not Good people..But are fans of other things such as twilight, mcu, certain horror movies with awful directors, or even things such as rock singers in the 80s who made amazing music but they were Awful. Can people enjoy these things and still be a good person? I've wondered this for a bit and your hp reply was great!

The questions you have to ask yourself are “is [bad person] benefitting from me engaging with this media in some way” and “is [bad person] actively using their success in media as a way to fight for legislature that oppresses a marginalized group”. You also have to analyze if the media itself reflects whatever makes the creator bad.

JKR is a unique case because she uses profits from Harry Potter to fund hate groups and push anti-trans legislation into law. She uses her platform specifically as a means to harm other human beings actively, and her works are rife with racism, antisemitism, sexism, fatphobia, ableism, etc. etc.

It isn’t just a matter of JKR having a bad opinion, she weaponizes her media to groom her fans into TERFs and is directly placing trans people in danger, especially in the UK.

Fans of movies made by Harvey Weinstein or whoever are generally not being groomed to be sexually abusive because he wasn’t using his media as a weapon, he was using his money as a weapon for harm. Do I think people are inherently bad for liking Pulp Fiction or whatever just because the executive producer is a sexual abuser? Not really, because for one thing he’s in prison and can no longer benefit from any profit that movie could make and for another he was just the executive producer for most of the movies you’ve actually heard of, not a writer or director. Death of the author works a whole lot easier if the author is actually dead or otherwise off the table, and how tainted the media is by their involvement is proportional to how involved they actually were with the media.

So something like Mindless Self Indulgence is hard to justify still engaging with even though Jimmy was arrested because he was the direct artistic influence for his music and had more or less full creative freedom with it. I wouldn’t personally say it reflects great on a person to enjoy art made by a known child molester, but that doesn’t mean you have to hate Spy Kids or whatever just because someone on a very large team of people involved who didn’t really have creative control on the project was a bad person.

It’s case by case with a lot of reliance on using best judgment.

[logically-asexual]

i am personally of the opinion that thomas doesn’t need to make A Statement* about fitting in and other hp references because of reasons i’m too lazy to elaborate right now and i extend that opinion a bit towards becoming a cartoon. but i do think that a recent tweet thomas made was wrong and it is bothering me. so i’m going to ramble about it for a bit.

the original tweet has been deleted but apparently a fander (whose username i recognize because they comment on every single tweet by thomas with support and praise and often get acknowledgement from him, so they show up at the top replies always) posted about their feelings of discomfort with becoming a cartoon because of the association with hart man and someone else quote tweeted them with a comment like “meanwhile i love all episodes”

which first of all i think was rude in itself like. you’re not superior for loving everything thomas does and have no criticism towards him, everyone is allowed to dislike some of the things he makes, specially if it’s caused by the association of something with a bigot.

then thomas replied to that saying

like. i. i don’t like this.

i don’t know what the original comment was because it was deleted before i could see it (because of this reply by thomas) but whatever it was it couldn’t have been that bad? i know the author of it never has anything but praise to say for thomas in the replies to his tweets and they probably know that thomas sees much of their stuff so i don’t think they could have been so rude when expressing their discomfort with hart man’s presence in a video that thomas, 34, with years and years of experience with social media presence and queer activism, could find the comment “discouraging”.

the original tweet author then apologized and thomas said “no, yours was fine” and i don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. like. if this person’s tweet was indeed not that rude and wasn’t what discouraged thomas then why reply to this conversation in the first place? why not talk about it somewhere else? and even then. if it’s just the idea of some tweets complaining about an episode (for totally valid reasons!) that “discourages” thomas then .. he needs to? not get discouraged so easily? he’s 34? and this is Social Media. he knows how it is. i would imagine he does. he just has to make sure not to promote this man’s work in the future and move on and if some viewers won’t forgive him then he would have to understand that that’s out of his hands and. move on.

also if thomas gets discouraged by some comment on his videos he shouldn’t seek comfort from other fans who say “well iii do like everything thomas does without question!” he should seek comfort from his friends or other close people in his life and from his own understanding that he can’t please everyone and that he is allowed to make mistakes and move on from them and try to be better in the future.

publicly favoring the second comment saying they like everything (in contrast to the first one expressing dislike for one of his creations) means encouragement from thomas to be like the second fander and not like the first. through guilt-tripping. which i think is wrong.

people should be allowed to criticize content they don’t like in their own accounts, and if the creator sees the criticism (a creator with a decade of social media experience in this case) then they’re responsible for their own actions. thomas is responsible for his own actions and he should acknowledge the concern if he deems it valid or ignore it if he doesn’t agree and then idk sort out his feelings about it in private. later he can make A Statement if he feels that the situation requires it but without targeting any individual fanders in particular. but at the end he has Take Responsibility for his reaction and his feelings and Move On.

so in conclusion (Tl;DR) this is just one tweet and it seems everyone involved is fine about the situation but i really don’t like this trend of Thomas replying to tweets by fanders by saying he feels discouraged or under-appreciated whenever someone has a complaint. i think he should sort those feelings out by himself, instead of making these fans feel guilty for their opinions.

okay that’s all i had to say. tell me what you think.

[goggles-mcgee]

i used to like u but whyre u still into hp? jkr’s transphobia and racism are so bad in those books

There are many problems with the books, movies, etc and the person who wrote them I will never and don't deny that.

I don't know why you felt the need to tell me you used to like me. That just...you could have simply asked the question without trying to put me down. I'm not buying the new game, I don't buy any kind of memorabilia, I don't but new books, I didn't go to see the new movies...I don't support JK Rowling. I don't support putting money in her pockets.

If you have or did follow me, then I would think you would see I'm no stranger to critiquing things or just plain pointing out things that I hate or that annoy me in a media I am consuming. I legit write salt because of how mad shows have mad me because I wanted things to go different or because I thought some things could have been handled much better.

HP is not different.

I like to come up with funny little ideas for it, maybe even in the future angst or something like a rewrite. Why? Because I hate what became of it and the author herself.

Me writing little ideas is not benefiting JKR in anyway. Those who write HP fanfic or draw HP fanart don't do it because they support JKR, they do it for the media they fell in love with once upon a time and many acknowledge they don't support JKR. Some even do so in a defiant nature against JKR.

HP was something I loved in my childhood but I did grow and acknowledge all it's faults as I did. Growing is sometimes learning and acknowledging mistakes or wrongs. JKR will never do this but guess what? Past fans have, but instead of burying a past love in shame many take to pointing out the wrongs and mistakes with their fics or their redesigns. To make it better.

I'm not going to hide being into what HP could have been/should have been. Because overall I'm just a fan of what other fans did with it. I don't want to feel shame about it but others really want me to feel ashamed.

The fact is I do feel shame. I feel shame for the little me who was so in love with the HP world that I never saw the wrongs until I grew up. I feel shame for all the gifts I got that were HP themed, I feel shame for the books I was given despite being only 10. I feel shame for things that were beyond my control because there are people who love to shove the old love fans of HP have in their faces despite repeated attempts to tell them we do not support JKR.

I could go on and on about me being LGBTQ+, I could go on about family members and friends being LGBTQ+ who are just like me and feel that shame, who hat JKR, etc.

But really I'm just going to end this ask with everyone needs to just stop this shaming. Everytime someone posts HP fanart they don't need someone in their comments shouting at them about why they would do such a thing. Everytime someone makes a fic they shouldn't be waring with themself if they should or shouldn't because they fear the reactions. The fans do not reflect the author.

There are so many fandoms out there that the media they are part of are problematic or the creator is and yet they aren't as heavily shamed, and I get it, HP is much bigger than a lot of them but it's still not right to attack the fans.

I know you're not attacking me. I know that. But it still doesn't feel nice to be told you used to be liked before someone even asked yo uyour opinion on something. It hurts when someone assumes.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to make you feel bad, you simply asked a question but I've gotten a lot more negative anon asks about this directed towards me and this way the most...polite and I felt it was the best to say my peace with all this.

[paperstarwriters]

hey i’m the anon who sent in that long critical ask to the queer characters blog; what discord harassment group is that other guy talking about 😭 sorry to use you as a go between, but multiple people can have the same criticisms of a piece of media. hello?? i haven’t interacted with the arcana fandom since i was in high school, i usually just block and move on if random people put it on my dash. if i sounded like i was upset or heated it’s because the arcana is like bordering on being a trigger for me lmfao but i don’t endorse harassment campaigns

anyway, in regards to the bird thing — it harkens back to the historical antisemitic jew nose/hawk nose imagery used prolifically by the nazis. and julian’s normal nose is already drawn rather large and hooked, and i’ve seen jewish arcana fans say that his design in general makes them uncomfortable, especially since this game is written/developed by goyim. red hair, sleepy eyes, hooked nose; all rather stereotypically caricature-esque features. also portia and the mother character whose name i forget fall into antisemitic design/personality stereotypes as well. uh i wish i could link you some academic articles or readings or something but i’m kind of worried tumblr is going to eat this ask if i keep leaving it idling in another tab LMFAO, if i can i really would like to dig up some actual texts about it, but um i’ve mostly just heard personal anecdotal evidence about the bird depictions being linked to antisemitism which is kind of hard to find and link as a credible source. but imo i don’t think it’s hard to link the whole bird motif thing to the antisemitic jew nose stereotype?

and to address the point of engaging with the fandom — i mean do what you want but i personally don’t really see any merit in the actual game when you strip away all the awful stuff, and to build a fandom around that and continue to promote/bring publicity to the game feels. icky. sort of like HP enjoyers, in that you can denounce the problematic aspects of it all you want, but you’re still banding around the dumpster fire and warming your hands on it, you know? maybe the new content brings more to the table, i left right about when the first three routes were ending, but. last i was there, idk what of the game/plot are left when you ignore all the shit.

anyway um finally i don’t mean any of this as like. attacking or harassing anyone. i don’t usually do things like this, usually i just block and move on, but (in regards to the queer character blog i sent the original ask to) my hackles sort of raised when i saw someone mention wanting to promote the game. people deserve to know what they’re getting into and i don’t want any poc/jewish people/abuse survivors/etc getting blindsided by the content in what markets itself to be a pretty fantasy otome game

Hello! thank you very, very much for the information! As for your questions and comments, the discord harassment group, I can only povide anacdodal points to this as I wasn't a part of the discord group, but I belive what happened was that someone had taken the position that shipping two characters was morally wrong—the ship between Asra and Julian specifically I belive, and they started a whole harassment campaign towards an individual who shipped the two of them together, but through an entirely new au exploring the uncertainty of a relatioinship without explicitly accusing one side or the other (again, anecdotal, I haven't exactly read that yet, so I can't exactly conform currently.) And while their point on the toxicity or racist undertones of the ship was likely well-founded, they went too far, accusing the person who shipped Asra and Julian to multiple other bad actions which were eventually revealed as false.

but yeah, 100% two people can have the same two critiques of a media and one can express those critiques in a more harmful way than the other.

As for the points about continuing to engage with the game I do agree that it can feel discomforting to continue to connect to media that has this many problematic issues, and while yes continuing to engage in bad media or bad pieces of work can be discomforting because of it's origin, there are still people who found a lot of worth and comfort certain aspects of the story. Personally I never engaged as much with Julian or Portia or their respective routes so I cannot say for certain, but in Muriel's route, the story is a little different thatn the initial three, and there are some clear gaps that can be explored more or simple traits that can be engaged with in a better light which can foster discussion rather than present a bad steryotype. Again, this may not be as easily applicable to Julian or Portia since they embody steryotypes and thus may require more adjustments in order to move beyond those steryotypes but it is still something to be considered.

Furthermore, at least part of why continuing to engage with fandoms like Harry potter may be discomfroting is that the problematic creators continuet to get revenue for their creation, Nyx hydra has since disbanded and while Dorian has put little effort into considering or developing awareness of these characters and their problems they at the very least were not the one to create the problematic traits of the characters. It is still a little bit of a questionable group but besides vibes, and the possibility of using ai art I cannot say anything for certian.

My arguements are not encouraging you by any means to re-join or re-engage with the fandom, it's mostly just an explanation as to why I'm still here or why other people may still be here too, but I do agree that people should be aware that there are many problems in the game concerning representation when engaging with it, especially since it presents itself as a seemingly inclusive game. If I were younger at the release of Muriel's ending, or if I played through Asra and Julian's route then, the representation of abuse could have been..... let's just say unhelpful for me. More than anything I don't want someone else who may be in an uncomfortable situation attempt to find solace in escapism only to end up feeling worse than before at the bad represetntation, or at the fandom regurgitating this bad representation rather than trying to dismantle or change it.

Anyways, I'm sorry for dragging you back into this discussion about the Arcana for a while, especially since you mentioned that it's triggering for you. I wish you well in enjoying your other fandoms, or other forms of media.

Thank you again though, for providing me this information on the issue of bird imagery and antisemetism, and thanks for also providing the info about Julian, Portia and Mazlinka and their steyrotypical representation I will take care with writing them if I ever chose to do so.

I do belive you were justified in your concern at promoting the game, but I also thank you for emphasizing that you didn't want to attack or harass anyone who does enjoy this content despite it's many problems and flaws.

[emma-what-son]

I must say that im not sure if I’m still as excited to read Tom’s book anymore. I was one of the many people that got a pre-order on Amazon as soon as he announced that he was writing a book. The way the sold it was that he would be sharing stories never told, and his experience growing up on a movie set. Well as a huge HP fan i definitely wanted to read that, how are you ever going to get more gossip, or behind the scenes stories than from an actor that’s as in the movies. But from what I am seeing and reading online, the book talks about him and Emma a lot. Like I know that’s always been a topic people love to discuss since Emma said she had a crush on him when they were children. But man this dude needs to let it go, even if it’s for PR and getting more sells. They might be actually be good friends, “soulmates” or been FWB at some point, but this man is milking it till there is no more left. Out of the many young actors that came out of the HP movies only a few have been able to continue their acting caters beyond HP. Emma, Dan, Rupert, Robert, are probably some of the only actors that had a career after HP at least a productive one. I think both Dan and Robert are the most successful actors that came out of the HP cast. Yeah Dan will always be seen as Harry but he’s been getting great roles in shows or movies lately, and you can tell he’s having fun and he picks what he wants to do. Robert is killing the game, he became the latest Batman, and has a bunch of great roles in his career as well. Both Rupert and Emma have continued their careers even if it’s in smaller roles, or TV shows. I think Tom definitely needs HP to be able to get anything, before the book release when was the last time people talked about him? So I see why he keeps going back to it and Emma. But man I think he probably realized he fumbled the bag, specially if he never dated or even had sex with Emma. After years and years of people asking you if you had anything with her, he probably realized he messed up. And maybe even now if he does want anything with her I’m sure she’s the one that’s moved on from him. Plus I’m not sure how his girlfriend is ok with him talking about her so much, like each time people ask him questions it’s always about Emma. Now after she called him her soulmate it’s going to be worse. She must really love the guy to put up with this crap show. As for Emma she’s definitely trying to make a comeback, but surprisingly she didn’t even promote the book on any of her socials. Which is kinda odd if he’s supposedly one of your best friends. You would think you would try and help to promote it. She’s been a bit more active on social media or Instagram. Posting about Prada, but in sure that’s probably due to contract stuff stating she has to promote the product. And even after that promotion it’s definitely not doing good number for sure. So I’m not sure if Prada will be happy with how little attention she’s getting for the adds and perfume itself. She got more attention for being mentioned in Toms book and wiring the intro. Shes also doing that pickleball tournament next month. I’m sure that’s good PR for her and will hopefully help her image. I think people are losing Interest in her and her career and she’s probably having trouble getting used to it. Unless she comes out with a huge project next year, either a huge movie role, or production project. She’s either going to continue to go downhill or some crazy rumors will end up damaging her career even more.

---

Emma is brought up a lot, because he's essentially using her and their friendship to promote the book. I'm sure there's a lot more HP stuff in the book that doesn't involve Emma. It's true that she didn't promote the book in any way. Maybe she thought she'd done enough by writing the foreword lol.

[bblinkppotterr]

Are you sure you ship hinny because it seems like you don’t really like ginny as a character? Like I understand that ginny isn’t on the same level as the golden trio but she’s still famous in her own right:

- being one of leaders of the DA during her 6th year at a time when Hogwarts is under death eater rule, which I’m sure many students would respect her for.

- her quidditch fame. it’s literally canon that ginny achieved great success in her quidditch career before her retirement.

- her journalism. she covered brazil vs bulgaria with rita skeeter, who, albeit a questionable journalist, would be a veteran journalist by then. ginny would have to be view on par with her to be invited to give commentary.

- being married to harry and related to the weasleys. ginny would have been the second potter after they got married, she would’ve been under so much media scrutiny for being the boy who lived twice and defeated voldemort twice’s girlfriend + wife.

that post just makes it seem like ginny’s no one special and besmirches her self-worth (that she would be such a karen about not getting let in). harry is also so oc in this because no way he wouldn’t take care of ginny, just like how there’s no way ron wouldn’t be looking out for his sister.

Hinny is made up of harry + ginny. both are equally amazing characters. you put down ginny so often and the way you write and post seems like you think she’s not worthy of him when the best thing about their relationship is how equally balanced they are. it’s posts like that which makes me wonder if you’re really a hinny because you don’t seem to support this ship at all.

Long post below

Hey, thanks for letting me notice that. I read it carefully now and I agree that Harry in that post was very out of his character. He would probably ask that security why the heck he was not letting her in, given she is a very famous quidditch player (according to that post). I mean who will ask Mbappe to show his ID to make sure that he was invited, right? Just using an example, you know.

I apologize for reblogging it, especially when I didn't properly read it. And I love Ginny and I see why people think otherwise about me. Because I have been vocal about criticizing her than I criticize Harry. I agree that I have a sort of have a grudge againist her. Especially her presentation in book six. Also, her fans here also didn't make it any easier to love her more than earlier.

But I really swear that I don't hate her or don't don't care about hinny. Every HP characters are sometimes annoying. And I think that's the fun of them. It maybe because I was used to be seeing a lot of her fan's posts about how she is more powerful lady or more interesting than Hermione, Ron and Harry ( my favourite characters) . But, to be honest, I don't have any hate on anything about her or Hinny.

I see now that I should be careful in reading the posts before giving a response. Or make it more clear about why I see a point in or agree with a not so nice posts about my favourite characters or ships( I think we should try to give a sort of nod to the people who don't ship what we ship or like characters we love very much, I mean I do see people who don't like our ship not because of their own fanon reasons but due to their own genuine reasons.)

I know very well that people follow my posts or blogs for getting some of their favourite characters or ship contents. It's not fair of me to do this. Thanks for asking about this in a nice way (I mean not at all using cursing words and all), especially I am now almost used to be receiving a lot of hatred through inbox. Asks are now a bit of a scary thing for me now.

[dentpx]

I do think there’s a degree to which it’s fine to like. Involve yourself with the existence of Harry Potter because pretending like this massive series never existed and had no impact on anybody is a fool’s errand and people simply aren’t going to abandon something like that wholesale. But I really do think that you should not spend your money on it PERIOD because part of what has maintained the popularity of the world is how insanely marketable it is. Like the universe itself and the houses and all that is just. Endless streams of merch. And if it sells then they make more forever and JKR gets all that money and funnels it back into her transphobia.

[itsclydebitches]

Hey Clyde, have you caught Shaun's recent video on Harry Potter? It's quite good, but while watching I was also struck by a number of his general criticisms of the series (no good or bad actions only good or bad characters, lack of forethought when introducing new world elements, lack of engagement with established world elements, extremely poorly thought out racial allegories etc) and you can probably guess the other series I thought of lol

I'm watching it now! Thanks for the rec, this is quite good (and I love the background art). I'm about a half hour in and:

"What is done isn’t so important as who is doing it.”

Yup. Yuuuup. That covers a lot of RWBY's current problems right there, alongside that specific tendency to not plan ahead while also attempting to fix things later with the same lack of thought put into the explanation that created the problem in the first place. "Why can't everything be solved with time turners? Oh no, all the time turners were conveniently smashed, problem solved" feels very similar to, "How in the world will they survive the immortal witch? Oh yay, Oscar has a magical nuke in his back pocket, problem solved." Sure, technically speaking both scenarios could (and obviously did) happen, but that doesn't mean they're satisfying to watch/read. I think both RWBY and HP suffer from a lot of moments that never had to be problems in the first place if the authors had just thought ahead a bit more, or even just gave some honest "There's no good explanation because I didn't think about that at the time, sorry" responses to fan questioning. Although, the problem might lie in how those two things appear to contradict for some people. There's such a desire for authors to have thought through every aspect of their stories that when they're faced with a question they don't have a good answer for, they scramble for one to avoid looking bad. Hence ill-thought-out ideas they'd "always planned" that either wreak havoc on the canon, or just come across as ridiculous. The silver lining I suppose is that these moments give fans a chance to come up with cool explanations that the authors failed to consider (with the "My headcanon is actually canon, how dare you suggest the author is less than perfect" take being an extreme result of that play). By coincidence I finished up a HP fic the other night and one detail I liked was the author considering the question, "Why did Voldemort have his followers create a two-way portkey that ultimately allowed Harry to escape from the graveyard? Surely a one-way-ticket (ha, Weiss) would have been better." The kids theorized that all portkeys are like that. Later the reader learns that's incorrect and Malfoy just blames Crouch for being incredibly foolish. It's eventually revealed that Voldemort did that deliberately, hoping to send Harry's body back to Dumbeldore as a warning. It was one of those moments when I went, "Oh cool, the fans aren't just thinking through the world building more, but also thinking through the facts of the world vs. student ignorance vs. biased assumptions vs. egotistic plans that thoroughly backfired."

Though it's by no means a new conversation, I'm really glad fandom is unpacking problems like the fatphobia and alcoholism, alongside JKR's TERF-rhetoric, especially since much of it is all bound up together. Also, I immediately like any vid that acknowledges how utterly ridiculous Cursed Child is lol. Look, I have heard from multiple people whose taste in media I greatly respect — one of them very recently! — who say the play is absolutely amazing... but I just can't get over the plot. Or the characterization. Or the, well, everything else. I too might get caught up in the spectacle of the production if I ever get the chance to see it, but strip that away and you've just got a bad story imo. So yeah, I'm always sitting up when someone else mentions how insane it is that Cedric became a Death Eater because he lost a contest. Guess it's a good thing he was killed and that moment is no longer the tragedy that sparked the second war!🤦‍♀️

(Ah man, now I'm thinking about parallels to Penny's death: a similar revision where we strip the tragedy away for silly shenanigans that exist only to bring a beloved character back into the spotlight, no matter how their characterization is butchered in the process.)

I've gotta admit though, as well done as the video is so far and as much as I agree with Shaun's primary points, I think he's excluding important context for some of the smaller examples to push the "This is very badly written" angle. For example no, we don't know that Harry is a horrible child who didn't give his friends gifts for Christmas. The books are written in a limited third person, mostly Harry's POV, which mean the texts, especially early on, tend to focus on what he's received, not what he's given. But the existence of later gifts and Harry's overall characterization say pretty clearly (to me anyway) that of course he gave his friends presents, we just don't hear about them because the short paragraphs assigned to describing Christmas are more concerned with what he got. To be honest, I've always taken issue with the, "Harry should have solved the Weasley's financial problems and the fact that he didn't means he's a shitty person" take. Beyond the fact that I don't think 12yos should be responsible for solving or attempting to solve the financial problems of those around them (especially abused 12yos who randomly learned one day they have a fortune), JKR may have fucked up a lot of the story, but she does a pretty good job of establishing Harry's careful approach to wealth and the Weasleys. As Shaun lays out, Harry offers to share his candy and tries to trade for Ron's sandwich. He recognizes right from the start that Ron's pride won't let him accept a straight up, charitable gift. In later books Harry thinks about how he'd happily pay for all the Weasley's stuff, but he knew by then they wouldn't accept. By the fourth book Harry is old enough to have figured out a way to help without embarrassing anyone:

"Harry," said George weakly, weighing the money bag in his hands, "there's got to be a thousand Galleons in here."

"Yeah," said Harry, grinning. "Think how many Canary Creams that is." The twins stared at him.

"Just don't tell your mum where you got it... although she might not be so keen for you to join the Ministry anymore, come to think of it."

"Harry," Fred began, but Harry pulled out his wand.

"Look," he said flatly, "take it, or I'll hex you. I know some good ones now. Just do me one favour, OK? Buy Ron some different dress robes and say they're from you."

The twins are the most carefree and chill of all the Weasley clan and they're still pretty reluctant to take money they know Harry doesn't need, money he won through traumatic events to boot. Imagine the response if he tried to get the most money-concerned member (Ron) to accept an expensive new wand at 12 years old, using the money his dead parents left him. Toss in practical concerns like "The wand chooses the wizard," so these kids need to get back to Diagon Alley for this Christmas present — Harry can't just order one in the mail — or else get Molly and Arthur involved, so we're right back to the embarrassment of this kid doing for Ron what his parents can't. It's just always seemed silly to me, this idea of, "I can't believe the literal child who has known about magic for about a year didn't solve the financial difficulties of this prideful family. Harry is such a jerk." The REAL question is why McGonagall, the adult Deputy Headmistress and Head of Ron's House, was willing to shell out a stupid amount for Harry's racing broom, but won't buy her student a new wand. There's some characterization to unpack. Obviously though Shaun's end point is the main takeaway: we have to ignore a lot of easy fixes to set up Ron's broken wand ending up in Lockhart's hand (personally, I would have just had the wand break during the fall into the chamber), but I don't actually think Harry's money is one of those easy fixes here. For all the awful problems with the novels, Harry as a fully realized character is something I've always liked. He makes bad choices, silly choices, often does things and doesn't do things based on emotion rather than what's the Objectively Right Choice. I absolutely buy a 12yo who grew up with the Dursleys keeping his head down about money problems until, a few years later, he's figured out a way to give some without embarrassing everyone in the process.

ANYWAY I've ranted about HP for too long now (surprise, surprise). Gonna watch more of the vid tomorrow👌‍

[goodwoodpod]

this might be too late to still be included but i still wanted to offer my opinion about your questions on change in how fandom is done! sorry this ended up so long 🥴

a lot of how people approach fandom in general (& criticise/talk about how fandom is performed today) depends on how they first engaged with it.

i'm gen z, so my first "real" fandom activity was firmly on centralised fanfic sites (like The german fanfic archive, wattpad and ao3) and then on social media like twitter and recently tiktok. i think this is quite similar to how most younger folks today got into fandom.

in my experience, this way of doing fandom makes for a more passive (more consumerist than productive) fandom experience, especially in massive fandoms like HP or popular bands. it ends to be very public and open; you might even interact with official twitter accounts, maybe comment on twitch streams, etc. often, fans attach their face or at least name to their fandom activity and there is virtually no barrier of entry to the content (opposite e.g. to password-protected vintage forum fan communities)

but: my actual first experience with fandom or the core activity of fandom - expanding on existing universes - was roleplay forums in the early/mid-2010s. it wasn't (always) building on a "classic" fandom but operated in a shared universe where you HAD to create new content yourself in order for the format to work (basically LARPing but online!)

this format of forums feels very "old school fandom" (i.e. pretty private & built on personal connections to anonymous users you came to know). i think it might also be why i do fandom more actively (and am also more conscious of privacy) than many others in my age group.

at the same time, it feels like discord groups are bringing back the closed universe-feeling of old-school fandom - but in a slightly different way i can't quite articulate? in my experience, they have less emphasis on anonymity and absolutely no regard to any kind of archive function, but at least establish the boundary between fandom in- vs non-fandom out-group (including creators/objects of fandom) again.

i'm super interested in what you all have to say about this topic!

I am full-on "how do you do fellow kids"-ing you with this response, because as someone on the cusp of the generational divide I feel like I really straddle the millennial-gen z cusp, even for fandom (being that I missed the livejournal heydays and was around for infamous 2014 tumblr), but oh my god does hearing about kids getting into fandom via tiktok make me feel OLD ahahahaha.

it blows my mind, and I also find it interesting in light of debates happening on tiktok about fandom cringiness (mostly around cosplayers and the stranger things fandom, from what I've seen). for those out of the loop: the collision between fandom-goers and non-fandom-goers is continuing, in that people who don't "get" fandom are deeming those in fandom (in this case, con-goers who are REALLY into the tv show stranger things) "cringe," and it's resulting in some interesting conversations about which people get exposed to fandom and which don't.

back to your ask: the roleplaying is so interesting! I also did roleplaying (on facebook, oh how times have changed) waaaaaay back in the day. I totally feel like you're right in saying you starting with rp might've encouraged you to be more open and active!

I wholly agree that discord has abolished senses of privacy... which has some upsides, and (in my opinion) a lot of downsides. I'm of two minds on these things, because while I'm an optimist at heart, and I love making connections, I've also seen that go awry a time or two. I feel like I knew how to navigate the "old" internet really well (tell no one your name, or what country you're from, and BY GOD tell no one how old you are," but the new internet, with its radical openness (name, age, pronouns, location in bio with tons of identifying features ready for consumption), sometimes still makes me wary!

but then I'm like, oh, well, I want to connect with people... and you connect by being open with them... and it very much feels like I want to have my cake and eat it too re: what to put online. it's a weird place to navigate! all I know is that I'm grateful I'm navigating it right now as an adult, as opposed to a kid. I really feel for the young gen z'ers and gen alphas who are truly growing up in this environment. it's a convoluted one!

-bec

[caffeineandsociety]

So the thing about boycotting H*rry P*tter is -

Look. I get it. Yes, there IS a lot of overstatement of harm that happens in a lot of discussions of this. That bigoted piece of shit gets probably a fraction of a cent from any merch you buy; you're probably not introducing this series to anyone no matter how vocal of a fan you are; if you're unsure about abandoning the series, the core question on your mind is probably, "well, there are so many people still buying tickets and merch and whatnot, what difference will I make?"

But as it turns out the answer is...a lot, actually!

Look, when the shit first hit the fan, I, too, thought that this series was way too much of a cultural mainstay to be effectively boycotted - I could cut it out of my own life, sure, but getting enough people to ORGANIZE and drop it? So many people are so apathetic when it comes to media that I genuinely thought it would just be a matter of, well, cunt goes mask off, it loses her maybe 15% of her paying fans, but it's not the end of the world for her.

And I've never been happier to say that I was wrong.

This franchise, once a cultural mainstay, is on fucking life support. New films are flopping, they're getting axed, merch is flopping, auctions are going unsold, contracts are getting tossed around like a hot potato, this franchise is circling the drain.

We are THIS CLOSE 🤏 to proving in no uncertain terms that being militantly transphobic and otherwise bigoted and sidling up with nazis in the name of your transphobia CAN KILL a franchise that used to be synonymous with young-teen fantasy.

And if you can explain this to other holdouts, and just...maybe 5% of them - 1 in 20 - agrees that it's worth it? IT'S DONE. You, personally, DO have the potential to be the final nail in the coffin.

This would be HUGE in the face of the surge in global fascism. Fash and fash-adjacent types really like to think they're the silent majority (they were the ones who popularized the term, for exactly this reason) - just look at how JKR herself claims that if you like HP then it MUST mean you secretly agree with her. They're fucking OBSESSED with being "normal". To show that their views are so unpopular that they can kill a cultural JUGGERNAUT like this? It will make a difference that is potentially much bigger than just media. It will very likely deradicalize some people - certainly not someone like the cunt herself, but some of the people who aren't as deep in, absolutely.

And, hell, it'll hit one asshole children's-author-turned-political-lobbyist where it hurts the most - in the credibility and the wallet.

For all the people on the internet who love to go after marginalized creators over bad-faith readings of 10-year old tweets because they're small enough to harm - why go after them when you could direct your energy somewhere it will actually make a SIGNIFICANT difference and kick a literal nazi while she's down?

So, let go, and let the asshole turn her own series into the new Pepe the Frog. It'll only make it easier for others to divest after you. You don't have to abandon the friends you made in the fandom; you can join forces with those friends and build a better, less bigoted wizarding world from your fanon.

It's worth it to let go.

[teashoptiramisu]

Another fic rec list

This started as a rec list for “well-written fics with feral characters”. It kinda got out of control, and I started questioning “what even counts as feral in a characterization sense”, but hopefully some of these hit the mark. They are all fics that I love a lot and recommend more generally! All of these are gen and mostly rated T, unless noted otherwise:

A Dark Night in Ba Sing Se: ATLA, 20k words, first arc complete, on hiatus. Zuko gets arrested for taking the guard’s swords when he fought Jet at the tea shop, but he will not stay arrested, and further shenanigans ensue. Sweet, funny, excellent characterization, many delightful OC’s that really fill out the world of Ba Sing Se.

Towards the Sun – ATLA, 57k words, first arc complete, on hiatus. Same author as the previous (muffinlance). Zuko becomes firelord in rather worse circumstances than canon. TBH the “feral” part doesn’t really come in until near the end, when it turns out that trying his hardest isn’t enough, so he tries something else. Same author as the above, with really excellent characterization, a humorous kind of narration that will keep you laughing through the tension and heartbreak. Beware the angst in the middle but it gets better!

There May Be Some Collateral Damage – Bleach & HP, 60k words, complete. Ichigo is sent to bodyguard Harry for the 5th year, everything is delightfully chaotic and hilarious.

“I don’t take things from people,” Ichigo corrects her indignantly. “I mean, sometimes I chop them up and set them on fire, but I don’t take them. Stealing is wrong.”

Trust Me, I’m an Alchemist – FMA & YOI, 55k words, complete. Also by metisket. What if everyone in Yuri!!! On Ice had to deal with Elrics instead of Yuri Plisetsky? The answer is mafia connections and secondhand trauma but also more friendship and general shenanigans! Incredibly crack-y premise and the beginning to set it up is a bit weird and confusing but I promise the rest of the fic is 100% worth it. So funny, so wonderful, I re-read my favorite bits of this at least once a week. Technically lots of shipping (this is YoI after all) but it’s all played for laughs/characterization, not particularly romantic. I would post a favorite quote like for the above but I couldn’t choose just one.

Play it again – Teen Wolf (but no familiarity required), 63k words, complete. Same author as the previous two (metisket). Dimension-Travel fix it, Stiles is 200% chaotic but he has a plan and it’s gonna work. The Hale family is alive and so much fun, especially Laura. Also very funny, some romance at the very end but it’s pretty low-key.

What Goes Around – Teen Wolf, 71k words, complete. Kate kills Sheriff Stilinksy as well as the Hales, so Stiles and Peter team up to take out hunters like her in revenge. Unlike most of my other recs, this one is not funny, but it is interesting, and while they’re very methodical about it I think the way it handles “serial killers hunting serial killers” definitely counts as feral. Also this one is rated M rather than T and has Stiles/Derek at some point but I forgot the details.

Subject: A Comprehensive Report – BNHA, 83k words, updates very sporadically. Izuku remains quirkless but becomes the scariest damn researcher. I would call this “feral about investigating.” I love the multi-media formatting of this work and the expansive, in-depth worldbuilding the author contributes to explain how the hero system of canon came to be.

Something Borrowed – BNHA, 130k words, abandoned (for now at least). AFO!Izuku, who personality-wise is pretty nice, but when he goes all-out with his quirk he goes all out. I REALLY love the creativity the author brings to exploring and combining quirks, and how the characters work together to figure these things out.

Mr. and Mrs. Todoroki’s Excellent Day at Hero-Con – BNHA, 5k words, complete. I love “hero cosplays at fancon, trolls fans” as a story genre, and for some reason I haven’t really seen that outside of BNHA? Anyways this is one of the most chaotic and fun versions of this. Features Izuku and Uraraka trolling the entire world and especially Todoroki with utter panache. It’s Izuku/Ochako/Shotou but the shipping is pretty low-key.

Looping Back to the Beginning – BNHA, 10k words, complete. Class 1-A is caught in a time loop so they have fun with it. Featuring pranks, taunting villains, general shenanigans. Probably more “chaotic” than “feral”, but it’s a lot of fun!

Yesterday Upon the Stairs – BNHA, 424k words, complete. Look if you read BNHA fics you don’t need me to tell you about this fic, but suffice to say I think it’s status as the most-read English language work on AO3 is entirely deserved. Izuku is particularly feral in Ch. 7-9 (USJ attack), Ch. 26-27 (final exam), Ch. 34-40 (Kamino Ward), Ch. 50-end (Nighteye internship – esp. 57-59 for the showdown with Overhaul).

Twin Swap – BNHA, 55k words, two complete arcs. Fuyumi and Touya get body-swapped, shenanigans ensue. This is funny and cracky and endearing and more towards “found family feels” than feral escalation, but I’m putting it on here b/c Fuyumi is so done with everyone’s shit, and Dabi is, well, Dabi. Background Dabi/Hawks and Fuyumi/Miruko.

Abolish Private Property - Naruto, 27k words, sporadic updates. “The raging communist SI/OC that no one asked for, or really, deserves.” It’s, uh, very cracky but pretty funny. TBH I much more enjoy the sister fic Sanitize but that is the opposite of feral. Yui suffers no fools but she’s here to bring the wonders of modern medicine (what she can of it) to a preindustrial society wracked by war.

Several Yelp! Reviews of the Bridge~Port Brew Pub – Leverage, 900 words, complete. Parker is just always feral but this is my favorite Leverage fic, it’s fun!!

…and I didn’t end up with any FMA recs on here did I? woops. Uh, I recommend going through metisket’s and silentwalrus’ author pages, they both write great ridiculous Elrics. Mind the tags.

[lady-of-disdain]

Taking the more recent actions of jk out of the picture for a second her series still has:

1. Fatphobia, so much fatphobia

2. Lycanthropy being likened to aids with a specific werewolf going only after children.

3. Goblins being equated to Jewish people and even including the Star of David on the main bank floor in the movie.

4. An abusive teacher that joined the magic n#zis who spent almost 2 decades bullying literal children including ones who were already in abusive homes.

5. Expects us to have sympathy for said teacher because he wanted to bang the protagonists mom as if that erases abuse.

6. A magically enslaved race who wants to be slaves and only one person thinks it’s wrong.

7. A magical snake who’s enslaved by the bad guy and revealed to be an Asian woman.

8. Cho Chang being two Korean last names but the character is supposed to be Chinese.

9. Rita skeeter being described with features stereotypical to that of a trans woman.

10. The way she bastardized Native American sacred animals and beliefs in the new movie series.

11. Only one character is explicitly black in the book. His last name is shackle bolt.

12. Confirming dumbledoor as gay years after the series ended. Refusing to let him be portrayed as gay in the new series but still saying him and grindlewald have “hot sex”

So yeah… I know I’m missing things but the series really doesn’t hold up well after 20+ years especially coupled with the author being a terf.

I take a while to get to asks sometimes because my work week can be so hectic, so for anyone who thinks this ask seems very out of the blue since I don't really reblog any HP content, it was sent shortly after an incident where a Yashahime/Rurouni Kenshin/Harry Potter fan showed up on one of Billy's posts about hny and rk proclaiming that they support rk and just because they support rk doesn't mean that they support the creator's views. It was especially ironic because they tagged JK Rowling as well in their reblog with that statement, and it turned out they were a terf, which means they very much DO support the fictional media AS WELL AS the creator's views.

All that said as far as my response Nonny, I do agree. There was a lot of stuff that Rowling said or did even before she was an out and proud terf that made me question her sanity.

I grew up on HP just like a lot of us did, and there is no denying it made a large impact on who I am as an adult today that can never be changed. I still describe myself as a Hufflepuff, I still have the books I bought way back in high school sitting on my book shelf, and somewhere in boxes in my closet I'm sure I've still got my wand and my homemade Hufflepuff scarf.

But DESPITE the fact that her stories did have such an affect on me, I refuse to allow her to have any more part in my life, and I refuse to put any more money or attention into her current works.

I suppose this is on part a secondary response to that terf who showed up in the above linked post (if I hadn't already blocked their nasty ass), because they kept trying to claim that you can still enjoy a piece of media even if the creator is pretty terrible, and honestly?

If you are viewing the media on a paid subscription site, you are supporting the creator. If you are buying official merch, you are supporting the creator. And honestly, if you are going out of your way to tell other people that it's fine to do the above two things in order to "support the fandom community" you are inadvertently supporting the creator because you are fostering an environment in your fandom where the people partaking it it think it's fine to put their money into it.

I don't really partake in anything HP these days except maybe occasionally reading fanfiction. But fanfiction is all about continuing or changing media past what the original gave us anyways, so honestly I find that it doesn't typically count. (If I had a dollar for every time I read the words "I never played Undertale" when reading UT fanfiction comments.)

But if I DID want to see the new Fantastic Beasts movie coming out (lolno) then I would pirate that shit faster then Jack Sparrow could steal a ship right out from under it's captain nose.

AND I would make sure to proudly admit that fact any time I talked about it, AND I would help other people also pirate it. Because it's not enough to quietly enjoy your free media while hyping up the media in the fandom.

There is a YouTuber I've stumbled across once or twice that makes a great argument for Piracy of anime in light of how streaming services work, and in an effort to try to make them better. But I feel like this is also a great way to openly oppose the support of creators like Watsuki. "Oh you're gonna remake Rurouni Kenshin? Fuck you we're all pirating it just to spite him."

One of the arguments that people have made against his supporting of piracy is "what about the animators?" Well his audience has been supporting the animators via the Animator Dormitory Project for the past 3 years. Their entire stance being instead of paying for that streaming service, pirate what you want to watch and instead put that money towards the cogs in the system to keep them afloat until the industry gets the message.

Anyways this response has gotten way longer then I intended so I'm going to leave it off here with a hilarious response video from above YouTuber to the corporate bootlickers that were crying "waaah piracy is wrooooong!"

[ashilrak]

Thoughts on Different Ways of Shipping

I've been in a many fandoms over the years with varying levels of involvement.

Something that has stuck out to me is the different forms of shipping people do and how people view it completely differently. And I think it comes down to one thing: do you view shipping only in the context of wanting to see something happen in the original work, or do you view it in the context of consuming fan created content and reading about the what-ifs?

Two examples that really showcase the different perspectives are Sherlock and H*rry P*tter.

Sherlock, and I'm aware I'm dating myself a bit here, had Johnlock. Many people who shipped Johnlock, myself included, were genuinely hoping it would become canon in the show. People looked out for scenes in the show and talked about it constantly. It was a whole thing. Sure, there were other ships, but the vast majority of the fandom created content for Johnlock.

H*rry P*tter, on the other hand, has a fair bit of content for pretty much any and every ship you can think of. I'm talking full-length fics for characters whose names are only mentioned and never actually show up (I had a phase in middle school where I went through the HP/Salazar Slytherin tag).

I've shipped both ways, though I tend to fall into the second category more often; I'm a multi-shipper.

The fandom I'm active in right now largely falls into the first category. Most characters are in relationships in canon and these are very popular in fan content. I'm talking a HUGE difference in the amount of content for the canon ships compared to non-canon. Every fandom has more popular ships, but I had never before seen such a huge difference. I don't actively dislike any of these canon ships, but I'm currently mainly writing for a non-canon rare-pair, and it's given me an interesting perspective.

For me, I enjoy multi-shipping because it gives me the opportunity to explore different dynamics and characterizations. Non-canon ships especially are fun because you have to come up with a way for the characters to get together. I'm also someone who looks for plot over ships when I'm reading fic; some of my favorite fics are of random ships I never would have considered because the plot and characterizations and dynamics are incredible.

I just could not understand why people wouldn't want to explore different non-canon pairings -- there are so many incredible interesting characters, why hasn't anyone tried mixing them together? It just wasn't clicking.

I thought it was so weird how unwelcome non-canon ships seemed. On the extreme end, I've seen a popular series get hate in the comments because the fic isn't the popular canon ship and I've seen comments calling out people who don't ship the popular canon ship as encouraging unhealthy relationships (relationships in media vs relationships in real life is an entirely different post).

I was talking about this in a discord, and one of the members brought up a really good point: some people only view shipping through the lens of what they want to see canon and that's how they consume fan created content.

It made me think of a post I saw earlier today talking about watsonian vs doylist explanations of media (in short, watsonian explanations use examples from canon to explain an inconsistency, where a doylist might say something like "the author forgot"), and how two people may look at the same exact thing, answer the same exact question, but never reach any sort of agreement because they're looking at it completely differently.

There is obviously a lot more discussion to be had here, but I like writing out my thoughts. The next questions I have are what drives certain fandoms in these directions? Why are some so focused on ships as they are in canon and others favor a fanon what-if approach?

[tarchey]

Can and should allies or members of LGBTQ consume Harry Potter media? I feel as though you shouldn’t. I know some friends who identify as allies and still do but they don’t support the authors views. I don’t know, it seems like a double standard to me. I’ve seen people people ‘cancel’ others with hateful views but still support their works.

Alright I've had this ask sitting in my inbox for far too long now and I always thought I would come up with a really good answer some day but the truth is... there is no good or right answer.

Can and should allies or members of LGBTQ consume Harry Potter media? I feel as though you shouldn’t.

I think it's a beautiful thing that so many people decide for themselves not to give JKR any more money and spread their knowledge and talk about the many issues of the HP-books. But I would be careful to call people out for still loving the books and movies or, yes, even for still spending money on HP merch. I don't think it's for anyone to decide what anyone else can or should consume. It feels more effective in the long run to encourage people not to give JKR one single more pound than to hate those that still do.

I know some friends who identify as allies and still do but they don’t support the authors views.

I grew up with Harry Potter and Artemis Fowl and The Lord of the Rings and His Dark Materials and so many other books that will always be very dear to me and that have influenced me for my whole life and will probably always continue to do so. And yes, I also love Harry Potter very much.

When the movies came out I was immediately aware of the lack of POC actors and even before the movies, I noticed that the few POC characters had very questionable names and that house elves had a rather dubious concept. I didn't pick on the transphobia and the antisemitism and so much other stuff. But I'm so glad I have the opportunity to learn that all this sh*t is a part of not only our history but our day to day lives.

I feel like it's way more productive to talk about all the problematic stuff instead of hating the people that still love these books. I've seen so many hardcore HP fans that are acknowledging the problematics without trying to ignore or erase them and that are turning their backs on JKR. Also allies and queer people. They don't have to stop loving such a big part of their lives imho.

I don’t know, it seems like a double standard to me. I’ve seen people people ‘cancel’ others with hateful views but still support their works.

I'm struggeling with this thought because I don't want to respond to you with whataboutism, but I don't think there is a perfect book series without it's own problematics and whith perfect representation and diversity. Or maybe it exists, but I wouldn't know it. And that doesn't stop with books. What cruelties lie behind the smartphone you are using? Or clothes you are wearing? Or the food you are eating? What issues are you aware of but still decide not to change what you consume? I'm not trying to call anyone out. I just want to say that nobody is perfect, which shouldn't stop you from trying to do good. But it helps to put stuff in relation.

Are HP fans really your enemies? Or only those that actually stand behind the bullsh*t JKR is throwing around and glorify the books and the author to a level that they refuse to see the flaws and the hurtful stuff?