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Vox: When fandom bemes a crusade, things get ugly

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Yeah, who would have though the series called "My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute" that was filled with incestuous undertones would end with the MC hooking up with his sister.

Also, still doesn't excuse death threats.

Oh I'm not excusing those, believe me. I'm more just saying those that say the ending (or the second season or the whole series, really) was an abomination aren't saying it because of shipping reasons (well, that probably does factor in a bit, to be fair), but because of the exact nature of the ending. Death threats are a bit...extreme, though.

(I wasn't surprised by it, either. I mean, yeah, its in the damn title and filled with that stuff)

That's a real thing that happened, huh? WOW.

It gets weirder, really.

From what I recall (I never watched the show, I couldn't stand it. I only saw the aftermath), the author had pressure put on him by editors/higher ups to not have the MC end up with his sister. The author then has the MC break up/shoot down each and every one of the other girls who like him and goes through with a faux-wedding with his sister, only to break up a few months later since they realize the nature of their relationship can't work out.

So basically, the author torched every single ship pairing for the sister and then even kinda destroyed that one. No one was happy.
 
They probably buy pervy Vita games too. :P

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The rise of Kylo Ren x Rey has had an underlying bit of racism as well, considering how much Finn gets thrown under the bus by shippers.

Uhh Finn is already with Poe so he's taken and not even an option DUH!
 
I'm someone who keeps an eye on the Steven Universe fandom because I'm a big fan of the show, and trust me when I say shipping is both hilarious and scary.

Because of the primarily female cast of that show most ships are lesbian, which has give the fandom this weird progressive zealotry. Like, they see everything single thing they do as some great act of support for the LGBT community. Yet what they're actually doing is often taking two unrelated characters and attempting to smush them together until it looks like they might fuck. Usually this'll be an incredibly unhealthy relationship (that won't stop them from calling out other unhealthy relationships in an attempt to shoot down ships they don't like). And hell thats just the shipping.

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Shipping is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard of.

Every time I see the word I almost can't believe it's a real thing.

Why are people investing themselves so deeply into pretending characters are getting with other characters? This is baffling to me.
 
Fandoms are always ugly, they don't need a crusade for that.

Social media is a curse when it comes to entertainment. People should not be able to interact with the creators or stars of the entertainment that they consume so easily.
 
Shipping can be fun. But that should be all that it is: fun. If you're favorite ship doesn't work out, oh well. No need to cry about it.

The fact that there was a change in the plot sounds like they were focusing on a certain demographic then.

EDIT: Oh, I thought you were talking about Legend of Korra. My bad. Well, I did notice a few people talking about it, so I'll leave this here:

If you read what the creators wrote about why they went in that direction, you'll understand why.

Things to keep in mind:
-Season 1 was written on its own, seasons 2-4 came later. The romance wasn't the only thing they changed. They failed to plan things out properly in case they got 3 extra seasons, and so they had to retcon a whole bunch of stuff when season 2 started. Pandering had nothing to do with it.

-They came up with the idea, but didn't know if Nick would allow it. Then later, they realized, "Well hell, maybe we should ask."

The Legend of Korra, for all its faults, is not an example of the creators pandering to their audience, at least not as far as Korrasami goes. Anyone who thinks otherwise is either cynical or just has not been paying attention.

That particular romance was certainly done poorly, but it was not done just for fan service.

Bryke do, however, have a history of trolling the shippers.
 
I stopped caring about some dedicated forums for some of my favorite series (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy and Persona) because almost every new conversation was about shipping and bashing other characters from other games in the same series even if the topic at hand was anything else. It was, and sometimes still is, insane.

Thank god the mods here got tired of that mess and try to put a stop to the madness so you can go and find some good convo about the games but man, waifus always seem to find a way =/
 
I stopped caring about some dedicated forums for some of my favorite series (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy and Persona) because almost every new conversation was about shipping and bashing other characters from other games in the same series even if the topic at hand was anything else. It was, and sometimes still is, insane.

Thank god the mods here got tired of that mess and try to put a stop to the madness so you can go and find some good convo about the games but man, waifus always seem to find a way =/

Yep. It's why I'll be avoiding the Persona 5 OT even though I've got the Take Your Heart edition pre-ordered.
 
W...what? The entire article is just about shipping?

Like, i understand it's a problem, but no mention of things like the Steven Universe fandom harrassing the staff and fanartists? I mean, the fact that SU fans harrased an artist into an attempted suicide even goes unremoved from the show's fricking Wikipedia page.

And they're hardly the only fandom that is this violent and dox happy.

This article is an examination of fandom in its current form. It has a few examples the writer is familiar with, but it's not about running down the list of current worst fandoms.
 
I'm surprised The 100 isn't getting mentioned more, the CW is a breeding ground for this shit.
Arrow was essentially ruined by Tumblr and cretinesque Facebook users.

Felicity Smoak was a quirky, beloved character that had no reason to become the black hole of creativity she turned out to be after writers took notice of the hordes of fangirls shipping her along Ollie, who should have much more pressing shit to do than worrying about her pouting and creating even more artificial drama.

Ugh.
 
I stopped caring about some dedicated forums for some of my favorite series (Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy and Persona) because almost every new conversation was about shipping and bashing other characters from other games in the same series even if the topic at hand was anything else. It was, and sometimes still is, insane.

Thank god the mods here got tired of that mess and try to put a stop to the madness so you can go and find some good convo about the games but man, waifus always seem to find a way =/

7 Remake will be the worst. Upon its announcement I had completely forgotten about the shipping madness until it started already happening in almost every thread relating to the remake. Dark times are ahead ):

Yep. It's why I'll be avoiding the Persona 5 OT even though I've got the Take Your Heart edition pre-ordered.

Mods are on top of this, there's already a waifu ban in place for the eventual P5 OT. There will probably be a separate thread for it though, least that way they have an outlet.

I can't find the one particular pic, but this is a shitload of posts from various Naruto forums. Before the pairing was 100% confirmed in the epilogue of the manga, more and more info was being released regarding a movie that would take place before the epilogue. The info made it more and more obvious that the NaruHina pairing would win out, but many of the opposing ship refused to believe. You'll see some of that plus the true meltdown in there. It was a wonderful time to be alive

HA! Cheers, will enjoy this with lunch
 
Yeah, who would have though the series called "My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute" that was filled with incestuous undertones would end with the MC hooking up with his sister.

Also, still doesn't excuse death threats.

To be completely fair the first season of the adaptation was fairly good and void of uncouth sexual overtones.
 
I can't find the one particular pic, but this is a shitload of posts from various Naruto forums. Before the pairing was 100% confirmed in the epilogue of the manga, more and more info was being released regarding a movie that would take place before the epilogue. The info made it more and more obvious that the NaruHina pairing would win out, but many of the opposing ship refused to believe. You'll see some of that plus the true meltdown in there. It was a wonderful time to be alive

Good lord, that is indeed a lot of pictures. This will be an interesting read.
 
people need to start understanding that an artist creates a product and presents it. if you like it, buy it, if not, go find something else. but fans should never dictate to the artist what to create.
 
Lets not blame Arrows several problems on shipping thats just doing a disservice to a show that (imo) used to be good.
Both Vampire Diaries and Arrow ran into issues the moment one of their principle architects left direct involvement. Showrunners definitely matter.
 
Why are people investing themselves so deeply into pretending characters are getting with other characters? This is baffling to me.

It's fun to get off to two or more characters I like getting together.

I feel like the perception in most people's minds is... like, a disheveled person in a darkened room cackling and rubbing their hands together in front of a wall-length conspiracy board with character details and pictures pinned on every inch of available space and connected with bits of red string in esoteric and incomprehensible ways. Most of the time it's some nerd on their laptop going "wow this is hot, right click save as."
 
This article is an examination of fandom in its current form. It has a few examples the writer is familiar with, but it's not about running down the list of current worst fandoms.

I brought up the SU fandom example cause it was fresh on my mind as someone who frequently discuses SU, but my point was that the article focuses on shipping when worse things are being done by many fandoms, i think the fact that doxing and death/rape threats are being thrown around by fandoms all over the net is way worse than some crazies taking their ships too seriously.

I mean, why not straight up name the article "when shipping gets out of control" if they didn't go fully exploring all reasons why fandoms in general have gotten ugly.
 
I brought up the SU fandom example cause it was fresh on my mind as someone who frequently discuses SU, but my point was that the article focuses on shipping when worse things are being done by many fandoms, i think the fact that doxing and death/rape threats are being thrown around by fandoms all over the net is way worse than some crazies taking their ships too seriously.

I mean, why not straight up name the article "when shipping gets out of control" if they didn't go fully exploring all reasons why fandoms in general have gotten ugly.

I mean, this article isn't just about shipping, it's about shipping and fandom in general transforming into ideology, understanding how and why that happens, and understanding the real and perceived relationships between fans and creators.

Your saying there are all these fandoms engaging in doxxing/death threats. You have yet to really quantify that claim, but if it's the reality, it's of course a real problem.

I dunno man, feel free to write an article of your own!
 
This reminds me some people uronically ship Hiccup & Toothless and Ash & Pikachu.

I can't say I hate shippers because of stuff like the whole Naruto The Last shitstorm. It brought me so many laughs.
 
I would gladly have all ships go the way of the Titanic if you ask me.
And fuck Waifus too, ruined Fire Emblem for me.
Thank god Square ruined FF for me before waifus infested FF too.

Arrow was essentially ruined by Tumblr and cretinesque Facebook users.

Felicity Smoak was a quirky, beloved character that had no reason to become the black hole of creativity she turned out to be after writers took notice of the hordes of fangirls shipping her along Ollie, who should have much more pressing shit to do than worrying about her pouting and creating even more artificial drama.

Ugh.

I'll be fair, I don't even remember Season 3(or was it 4?) where they end up together and ride into the sunset and have a happy life.
Ok so clearly there's another Season of Arrow coming and they have to have a reason for ollie to come back to Starcity, right?
I thought the whole coming back wasn't completely horrible, like not worst trash ever.
And I'm like, ok they want OllieSmoak to work? Why not? Let's see how it goes.
Then they basically kill it in the most stupid and boring way because fuck Oliver not being a broody mess, you need to remember that Oliver is a mess and dark and stuffs.
I'm only there for Legends of tomorrow (dear god why are they trying to put a romance in that show?), Flash and Super Girl at this point.

And is it me or does the missing years plotline get more and more senseless as the time goes?
Like fill the void at this point?
What a great idea to give a reason why Oliver had Russian mob ties in Season 1 in Season freaking 4!(or is that 5?).

And I'm not even going beyond the surface.
for now Arrow is the downtime between Flash episodes.
 
I mean, this article isn't just about shipping, it's about shipping and fandom in general transforming into ideology, understanding how and why that happens, and understanding the real and perceived relationships between fans and creators.

Your saying there are all these fandoms engaging in doxxing/death threats. You have yet to really quantify that claim, but if it's the reality, it's of course a real problem.

I dunno man, feel free to write an article of your own!

hes telling the truth, i remember it showing up on my twitter timeline and i dont even watch the show or care about it at all lol

http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/steven-universe-fanartist-bullied-controversy/
 
hes telling the truth, i remember it showing up on my twitter timeline and i dont even watch the show or care about it at all lol

http://www.dailydot.com/parsec/steven-universe-fanartist-bullied-controversy/

Oh sure, I trust he's being honest about SU. I already don't think very highly of that fandom, myself.

But when you're saying doxxing and death threats are big things happening in "many fandoms" and Vox wasted an opportunity to cover that, then yeah, you're going to need to give me specific examples other than just SU.
 
Oh sure, I trust he's being honest about SU. I already don't think very highly of that fandom, myself.

But when you're saying doxxing and death threats are big things happening in "many fandoms" and Vox wasted an opportunity to cover that, then yeah, you're going to need to give me specific examples other than just SU.

There's always some tiny factions of fandoms freaking out and doing shitty things.

I mentioned earlier that in the Supernatural fandom, there have been many instances of death threats, to actors wives and even unrelated actors for being a part of the 'conspiracy' to keep the two main actors from being public about their secret relationship.

A tiny fraction of that 'wank' can be found here:

http://samanddeanunited.tumblr.com/post/128883018115/supernatural-fandom-wank-a-masterpost
 
That's hindsight taking, Kishi revealed later that he intentionally put in red herrings to make people believe Naruto would end up with Sakura.

Nah, I definitely saw the outcome years ago, and was unknowingly shipping Hinata with him before I knew shipping was even a thing.

Sure, there were some hints here and there... But that will happen in any love triangle story (if you can even call it that...)

Sakura just never made logical sense. He was always going to fall for the shy girl who didn't treat him like garbage.
 
Been noticing it more primary in female friends who show little interest in certain TV shows/movies unless it has high fanfic or shipping potential.
 
Shipping is kind of fine when it just happens naturally. For example, I thought the whole Captain and Bucky interaction in CW was very.... tender. Especially the way they interacted with each other in that jet after escaping from Tony & Co. It's the kind of male interaction that we rarely see because it cuts down the macho jingoism and instead focuses on two men who truly cares about each other. It just warms my cold, cold heart.

HOWEVER, I absolutely loathe it when the fans forced it to happen, like the case of Supernatural Wincesters. Ugh, ugh, ugh. I want my horror show back. I don't want the show about the brothers. I want the show about the freaks, things that eat people, where the characters barely able to defend themselves. The first 2 seasons were ace horror but then the fans insisted on more focus for the brothers and we've all seen the result now.
 
Surprise, shipping can become pretty toxic, and the people who start to primarily identify as shippers (instead of as fans of a work) can be absolutely terrible

I just wonder what creators could do to dissuade ships from becoming that extreme.

It doesn't seem like there's really a solution at all (and I feel like the stupid shit that extreme shippers do are just gonna get more extreme as time goes on)
 
Shipping is quite possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard of.

Every time I see the word I almost can't believe it's a real thing.

Why are people investing themselves so deeply into pretending characters are getting with other characters? This is baffling to me.

I find it quite dumb once people take it seriously and try to make shipping a thing, or get very upset if it does not become a reality.

I assume the reason why it gets this way is because some get an emotional high off of it, and when you generally watch the characters over a long period of time; you get attached, relate, and you think you understand them. If you really value romance, you probably start wanting the character to get with someone that you like also.

Emotional investment and character design seems to be the key to breed these types of behaviors. Waifus are designed specifically to bring out something in the viewer so they can get attached to them. I know some said that women might be inclined towards shipping, but I think it entirely depends on the material and how the fanbase reacts to it.

Fandoms is not generally bad, but once people get so invested in something that they think it is almost real and believe that they deserve something out of it. That is were it gets bad.
 
I would gladly have all ships go the way of the Titanic if you ask me.
And fuck Waifus too, ruined Fire Emblem for me.
Thank god Square ruined FF for me before waifus infested FF too.



I'll be fair, I don't even remember Season 3(or was it 4?) where they end up together and ride into the sunset and have a happy life.
Ok so clearly there's another Season of Arrow coming and they have to have a reason for ollie to come back to Starcity, right?
I thought the whole coming back wasn't completely horrible, like not worst trash ever.
And I'm like, ok they want OllieSmoak to work? Why not? Let's see how it goes.
Then they basically kill it in the most stupid and boring way because fuck Oliver not being a broody mess, you need to remember that Oliver is a mess and dark and stuffs.
I'm only there for Legends of tomorrow (dear god why are they trying to put a romance in that show?), Flash and Super Girl at this point.

And is it me or does the missing years plotline get more and more senseless as the time goes?
Like fill the void at this point?
What a great idea to give a reason why Oliver had Russian mob ties in Season 1 in Season freaking 4!(or is that 5?).

And I'm not even going beyond the surface.
for now Arrow is the downtime between Flash episodes.

I think people are correct in that Arrow has a fuckton of issues, but the show would have been tolerable during the past couple of seasons if the writers just had the restrain not to put Felicity front and center during every single episode.

They fucked up so bad that in their quest to make a main character out of an excellent supporting one they reduced her actual value to eye candy.
 
The emergence of waifu culture invalidates this post.

Waifu Wars aren't strictly shipping in its standard form. It's far closer to databases and ranking, being less about power levels or abilities, but about the abstract concept of being "the best". the behavior engaged in in the two is pretty similar.

To use Persona 4 as the easiest example, saying that "Chie is best girl" is not saying that I think she is a better romantic partner for the main character. It means that I rank her higher than Yukiko, Rise and Naoto by some arbitrary metric of Waifu-ness. Being the official paining of choice in this case only serves to validate my ranking in the same way that a scouter reading would validate an argument that Krillin is stronger than Tien in Dragonball.
 
Nope. I cannot see anything progressive or empowering in obsessing over and tying your identity to works of fiction. The adjectives I'd choose to describe that kind of behavior would be at the opposite end of the spectrum.
 
I just started watching Supernatural a couple weeks ago and am halfway through season 4. Should I stop now before I get infected? Or is it too late.
 
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