(This is more about fandoms in general as opposed to only ponies, so I’m venting it here) It’s quite saddening how toxic a thing shipping is on the larger scale of a fandom. Personally, I think this stuff is hilarious to watch most of the time, but sometimes, it dawns on me just how deep the rabbit hole goes and my spirit just falls with it.
I’m not really into Star Wars, so the rock I’ve been living under blocked the “Reylo” phenomenon from my innocent boi ears until it apparently came to the attention of YouTube. Gotta say, death threats to writers and directors, preaching how the ship changed their lives, not being satisfied when their headcanon turns into full-blown canon, and viewing such canon not being handled exactly as they see fit as an insult to them as a human being all paint a vivid picture of how ridiculous these people can get. Unfortunately, this reminded me of our glorious fandom.
It especially reminded me of the folks squabbling and berating each other over the ships teased in the S9 finale. Anti-shippers foaming at the mouth while trying to belittle certain ships and the people who enjoy them or believe in them, shippers parading around excuses for why their ship was irrefutably made canon and never being satisfied with what they’ve already been given while pushing for more, both sides shoving their opinions down the throat of those who disagree and starting confrontations when there is entirely zero call for it. There are also obviously individuals who just want to watch the world burn, and you can’t really blame them when it’s so easy to provoke people.
Mind you, the creators, again, just vaguely teased shit just enough to get folks to debate it. As expected, fans still threw shit at each other over it. The creators knew exactly what they were doing, and it worked beautifully.
Is it really that difficult for something supposedly meant to be a cute and fun excuse for fan art, stories, and discussion between people who like the sound of particular characters getting it on to simply be that? Fun? Hell, if it’s not for more ‘pure’ purposes, it’s for porn. So why the unholy fuck do people dedicate so much time to stressing over fictional characters’ love interests or what genitalia they want touching their genitalia? My best guess has always been that people become too passionate about these fake relationships; it becomes ingrained in their identity, so a slight against it is a slight against themselves. It’s also why they so desperately grasp at straws when given the chance to give it a one up over other ships and throw a shitfit when the same is done to them, all in a bid to cultivate and maintain their fragile ego.
Any side of these arguments seems to act pathetically. But maybe I’m just as pathetic, considering I just wrote a mini-essay about fucking toxic shipping.
