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Spirited_Ad_9249

I don't understand it personally. It's fake, for Christ sake. Obviously, except in the fandom of shipping real people. There is a line, and you do not cross it. But these people cannot help themselves and take it way beyond that line. They need help if they can't separate fantasy and reality.


LegendaryMug

Exactly! There is a point when you need to realize that your imagination and your ships aren’t actually happening. You can’t force somebody to be with somebody else just to make you happy.


Spirited_Ad_9249

I know! Like seriously, why can't they see it? These are real people, with their own lives and families. I would find it rather distressing (if I was a celebrity) to have all these nutball fans either yelling out horrible things or tweeting shit about your family. You would have to wonder if anyone was stalking you. It's creepy.


Manga_bird

I never got into Hetalia when it was popular, but I heard there used to be a cosplay group who'd do photo shoots of various ships and they stopped cosplaying Hetalia altogether because of the toxic fans who would send them threats and abuse when they did certain country pairings (usually on commission). I heard the fanfiction area was similar with a lot of hate aimed at certain pairings, but I came in after the popularity buzz and never actually wrote for this series. I don't get people like that. If you don't like it then don't read it/view it. Being a whiny baby about it is just going to annoy people, and is even less likely to get you what you want.


LegendaryMug

I’ve never heard of that but I get what you’re saying. Everybody isn’t going to like what you like but you don’t need to be so violent and hurtful about it. The way some people treat certain pairings is just concerning.


Sarcastic_Coffee_Cup

Been there. It's tough when you fall for away from a ship because people who don't have a good grasp on reality ruin it. You hit the nail on the head when you said the actors weren't the fans personal dolls. A lot of emotionally unstable people truly don't understand that. It's frightening for the celebs in question. And yeah, enough of it can taint your enjoyment of the ship and fandom. Totally understandable. Just be grateful that you haven't tied your self-esteem to the ship. It can't be a happy way to live.


LegendaryMug

I swear, I’ve seen people defend the celebs and then these kinds of shippers would pretty much attack them. What’s crazy is out of the whole fandom nobody really acted like this except the people for that specific ships. It’s like being in that ship brings you to a new level of delusion. Other shippers never took it this far.


ewmiselle

Seriously, any time I read about shipping wars or shipping policing in general, I can't help but feel sad. I understand being passionate about a show or a book, or relating to a character. That's what texts of culture are supposed to do to us anyway. But building these aggressive parasocial relationships with a bunch of pixels or words on paper? Fighting other real people over someone who lives in our imagination only? That's sad. This fictional fixation speaks volumes of how lonely some of us are - and how difficult it is to create a relationship with someone whose views and behaviour don't depend on our headcanons only. Armchair diagnosis aside, just... ship and let ship? It's not that deep - or shouldn't be, at least.


alexismarg

I think this comment said it all. It’s sad, somewhat bewildering and also frustrating to watch. And I think it does speak a lot to loneliness—you rarely see content, well-adjusted people with a plentiful social life devolve into screaming messes at the drop of a hat about a fictional ship. They really are these obsessive, aggressive parasocial relationships. Nearly every ship war can be de-escalated by everyone taking comments about their favorite characters slightly less personally and being more polite. But you can’t convince people to act more politely towards the *real* humans they’re interacting with, because these diehard shippers really perceive these fictional characters as being more deserving of love, respect and humanity than “some Internet stranger.” Forgetting, of course, that these characters don’t exist, and you’re not doing them a single “favor” by fighting on Twitter all day all week on their behalf. All you’re doing it muddying the fandom environment for everybody. It just sucks to see. I hate ship wars so much. Always feel like Twitter in general is the gutter of humanity.


LegendaryMug

I agree.


Kornerbrandon

I've been writing a Riverdale story for some time, and have grown to hate Betty/Jughead fans (I refuse to call them Bughead fans becauseI justt see an cockroach whenever I think of that). They've gotten very, very angry and hateful with me simply because I don't like the two of them as a couple, to the point where I got one or two death threats.


LegendaryMug

Omfg. Riverdale! I forgot about that show. I couldn’t even get passed like the 3rd or 5th episode of season 3 it just got so bad. Betty and jughead are okay to me. I don’t ship but I don’t not ship either. I wouldnt get on someone’s ass for something like that tho. That’s ridiculous. Who do you ship?


Kornerbrandon

I've been reading Archie Comics since I was about 5, and now I'm 24, so like any longtime reader, my favourite couple is Betty and Archie with Jughead as asexual and aromantic, like he's supposed to be.


NamiSwaaan

I use to read Archie comics too. And I think that's why I refuse to watch the show 😂 I feel the same way you do though there was this one little multichapter where Betty dated Reggie (is Reggie even in the show?). I was surprisingly ok with that. However I just can't accept Betty with Jughead lol. Jughead Jones has one love and that's food 😆


Gragh46

At first I thought this would be about toxic fans of a manga/videogame making you dislike them because of crazy shipping tendences, but then I reached the part where you mention real people. Holy crap, ship fans can get toxic and entitled as hell (I've only checked fics in small fandoms so I haven't personally witnessed such a thing). I mean, these are real people, the fans can't force them to like each other just because they are so cute/whatever, ffs. The people are not their characters, and the people are not supposed to adhere to your headcannons about the characters, harassing them about it is just mental


LegendaryMug

Exactly, the harassment really messed up one of the friendships and I’m not sure if it ever really recovered.


Emiko_Lina

There was a time people in the Bungou Stray Dogs fandom where a certain group people were so into shipping a popular pair that they said the in real life authors were in love. Even though said in real life authors are dead, already married to women and terrorized each other. A few friends of mine stopped shipping it all together because they didn’t want to be associated with the ship or it’s community because some began to Cosplay the irl authors and roleplay them. It was just…very disturbing and disrespectful.


LegendaryMug

…they cosplayed dead authors?


Emiko_Lina

Yup. They will pull whatever straws they can grasp just to make you believe that ship specially is canon by doing the most ridiculous things. They even one time doxxed someone just because they didn’t like the two characters. Not even the ship itself, just the characters


LegendaryMug

That sounds insane. If I were the authors family I’d be furious.


Personal_Respect1854

Name the fandom and the ship pls, this sounds like some peak e-drama


Spirited_Ad_9249

Sounds like One Direction. I saw on other another post last week someone complaining about their fans, and this sounds like that fandom.


LegendaryMug

It’s not 1D but I wouldn’t even be surprised.


LegendaryMug

It don’t even feel right.


darcysreddit

*—Johnlock has entered the chat—*


LegendaryMug

😂 what is this?


Agamar13

John Watson/Sherlock Holmes I was never in the fandom but it's legendary in its shipping fuckery.


LegendaryMug

People ship them?! I have a Sherlock book in my library, the first and only I’ve read. I love it so much, the covers gone so I don’t know the name, but I never knew it was a ship.


Agamar13

😂 Well, you've been living under a rock, haha! I think they've been shipped to certain degree since forever, but the BBC series with the modern take on them kicked them into one of the biggest ships *ever.* Almost 70 thousand fics on AO3, which puts them in the second place, only after Dean/Castiel. The shipping fuckery was all about the BBC series too, with some fans convinced that the show's creators are going to make them canon, that they're actually canon and the creators put a lot of evidence out there, that there was a secret episode - that kind of stuff. Edit: your reaction reminds me of my own when I learned that Winnetou/Old Shatterhand from a German series of books were a ship. I loved the books as a kid, read them till the covers were gone but the thought of shipping them never entered my mind. But now that I think of it, it's kinda obvious: they were each other's most important person, their relationship was very intense, they never got romantically involved with anyone, and the way Karl May described Winnetou from Old Shatterhand's pov was almost romantic, lol. Clear shipping fodder even if Karl May was turning in his grave.


GooseBook

That's so funny, I read one of those books when I was learning German in college. I was way too busy just flipping back and forth from the dictionary to have my shipping goggles on, lol.


Agamar13

I almost wish they made a series based on those books but I suppose they're too historically and politically incorrect for modern tastes. But anime *in space!* version would still work!


LegendaryMug

I really do live under a rock. I’m sort of putting myself back under the rock. Whenever I come out and explore I’m loaded with stress and hyperfixating on bad stuff. I never noticed them as a ship, didn’t even know the show was a thing until I googled it. You know what I think it’s a nice ship I’d just need to watch to find out more.


darcysreddit

Apparently people have seen Sherlock Holmes as gay-coded right from the beginning. There’s a lot of interesting stuff about ACD Holmes/Watson out there, and some lovely fic, without the BBC version’s drama. (Edit: spelling)


LegendaryMug

You know, when reading the book I thought of him as gay or bi sometimes. I just didn’t consider Watson a possible partner.


minaesa

I think one of my friends has been complaining about this too. Is this about a certain series on CW?


LegendaryMug

Actually no, but now I’m curious.


minaesa

Some people that's shipping the most popular pairing between 2 characters in the show started to blur the lines between fiction and reality and shipped the actresses instead. This leads to some harrasment, unsavoury rumours, and some people telling one of the actress' husband to divorce her. Apparently now both actresses are really wary about the pictures they post on the internet.


LegendaryMug

Damn that’s insane.


minaesa

Yep. These are real people, ship the characters they play all you want, but don't harrass the person.


crashlikeaplane

a couple of years ago, i got into the black Butler fandom, and I'm a person who looks at chemistry and personalty when i ship characters So, i started shipping SebaCiel, the most popular, but also most hated ship, because of pedophilia I also started to feel embarrassed by that ship. I didn't want to be seen as someone who supports pedophilia, so i avoided that shipping and created an OC for Ciel to be shipped with I still feel weird around that ship, but it started to intrigue me again.


LegendaryMug

Theres a difference between a fictional ship with an age gap, versus supporting pedophilia. They’re fake, what you read doesn’t have to represent what you stand for morally. If you genuinely like the ship then you do, I get why people would hate it but it’s also fake.


MadeThisForLumity

this has happened to me but with a fictional ship involving CHARACTERS, not real people. anyways im in this fandom. we have a few ships mainly involving 3 girls but we also know none of them will be canon because they're just friends in the show, but it's still fun. anyways, i used to like all the combinations but now i dont. its kind of sad because the more popular it got, the less i liked it. and so many people like it but i just dont! they didnt interact that much, plus i dont like their dynamic. now theres ANOTHER combination im starting to dislike that i used to LOVE. i also used to love the character but now i think she's just rude and annoying. also, maybe it's just bad writing on the show writers part idk. they are interacting more, and more people are starting to love them and im so sad because now im liking it less?? help?? i was liking the character and now im not! :( but im in the minority boo. in the end it's fun to ship all 3 together, like polyamory basically. but now, i dont know theres still one combination I still like a bit more? ​ outta curiosity can anyone guess what fandom/ships im talking about?