Yeah, I feel like “Not every media property and/or aspect of a media property is going to be aimed at your tastes specifically and that fact alone doesn’t make those things automatically bad” is something I wish a lot of fans in a lot of fandoms would be willing to work with more often.
I did find the idea that we were “forcing” romance into Sentinel Comics a bit odd because C&A already put it there themselves. Some of us just find it entertaining to then discuss those particular aspects they put there. If it’s not someone’s cup of tea that’s totally fine, but, let other folks have their fun.
Where did I say anything even remotely contradicting that? I don’t even get why Friv said the line that you quoted. I expressed ambivalence toward the activity while also participating that; in what universe does that equate to me issuing some sort of papal bull which declares the action as heresy?
Again, I didn’t say you were forcing romance into SC. What you are doing is forcing romance into relationships between characters whose current romance is non-romantic, and thus destroying that existing relationship in the version of the characters as they exist within your mind, in favor of the way you prefer it. That’s not a cardinal sin that’s always unacceptable; I reinterpret characters myself quite a bit (see my Justifications thread, and in particular my take on Citizen Dawn as expressed there and elsewhere). But there’s a difference between extrapolating lore and contradicting it, and there’s a difference between having your own version of the character and trying to persuade the creators to change it in favor of your version. The Letters Page has shown a LOT of evidence of the latter happening, and I’m often okay with it, but in some cases I think it’s questionable. Maybe the community ought to respect the integrity of the original creators’ vision a little more, and help them better expand on their expression of that vision, without steering the process as much as y’all do.
You can have your own fun with your own toys. When you borrow someone else’s GI Joe doll and then put it into your Barbie Dream House, or when you borrow a Barbie and make her fight GI Joe, the owner of that original toy might very well see what you’re doing as proof that they shouldn’t have cooperated with you.
I legitimately don’t understand why so many members of this community seem to have such an ingrained hostility toward me, a positive determination to interpret everything I say in the most negative light imaginable. Everything I say should be read as neutrally as possible; I’m never trying to start arguments or anything like that, and I don’t get the fact that everybody thinks I am. It’s like I walk around saying “puppies are cute” and everyone immediately goes “why do you hate kittens, you kitten-hater?” (Or maybe it’s more like I say “this puppy isn’t cute”, but that difference shouldn’t matter; the statements are logically equivalent, each one is just an opinion, and expressing it doesn’t amount to condemning alternative viewpoints.) It’s bizarre; I feel like I should get Nightmist to check whether I’m cursed.
You know what, we know that KNYFE/Greazer is canon, so I feel like Cosmic/Greazer could really work. I think the difference there is that KNYFE feels sort of…I don’t know, more morally flexible? the sort of character one might expect to hang out with villains. Cosmic on the other hand isn’t really that, so there could be a lot of tension between the two of them, even as things start to get flirtier.
It’s a cool dynamic!
Unless of course either of them is a strict heterosexual. I know it’s very popular among today’s people to assume that everyone is either gay or bi, and no such animal as a straight person exists. But I think if you can assume some person might be “heteroflexible” or somesuch, despite having never given the slightest hint, then you should also be able to assume that another equally undefined person might NOT be willing to participate in a same-sex relationship, no matter who asks or how nicely.
There’s already been two Shipping episodes, a full one and an Editor’s Note followup.
In the follow-up, they explicitly asked us to “play with their toys” and tell them our non-canon ships.
They’ve read plenty of other letters in other episodes that involved talking about shipping.
And they’re having a third Shipping episode, just straight up fiat not even voting for it, it’s just automatically in the schedule, because they specifically think it’s amusing listening to us want to talk about this sort of thing.
So people are reacting negatively because we started a thread to have fun chatting about something C&A explicitly invited us to do and chat about, and you’re lecturing us over it.
I strongly recommend pausing and listening to Episode 77, Editor’s Note 21, and the schedule portion of Publisher’s Note 11 to hear C&A’s thoughts directly, and then coming back to the topic.
I’ll note specifically in Editor’s Note 21 when a letter said “Canon means nothing to me” and Christopher said in a cheerful voice, “Good, good, that’s correct when you’re shipping”.
I’ll also note that C&A have said on numerous occasions that they in general actively enjoy us playing with their toys. They love hearing that we’re writing fanfic, drawing fanart, coming up with fan decks, the crazy things we do in our RPG games, and so on. They don’t always directly engage with it because of legal issues, but they love that we do it.
And the Letters Page as well is collaborative. We send them topic suggestions, yes, but they do not actually put up for voting everything we send in, not by a long shot. They put up for voting from the options the things they personally want to talk about. So if they’re discussing anything on the podcast, you can know that it’s because they wanted to discuss it.
This is true of letters as well, they choose what to read and what not to read. Even letters from the live recordings this is true of. There have been times when we typed letters at them during a recording and they just typed us a response in the server rather than reading it on the air, either with an answer or explaining they can’t answer it for whatever reason. That’s cool.
Sorry for the long discourse here, I just felt like maybe it would be good to explain this in general just to get us all on the same page.
@The_Justifier, it sounds like folks want to have a conversation that you aren’t interested in having. Would you be willing to let them have that conversation and enjoy themselves in it?
Yeah I brought up in a discussion elsewhere that I appreciate AZ and Tachyon are a rare set of opposite gender besties in fiction who are in fact just besties, and I honestly have about as many “BroTPs” as I do romantic ships.
My personal fave BroTP other than AZ & Tachyon is Sky-Sky and Tempest. They actually have a lot in common as two aliens with tragic pasts who are trying to fit in on Earth and appreciate Earth pop culture. Just, you know.
A random thought that popped into my head a few days ago that I can’t shake is a Wraith/Black Fist fling. It’s of a time when Henry and Maia are of compatible ages both keeping the streets of Rook City as clean as they can but neither is likely to settle down with anyone long term. Idk I’m just thinking there’s some potential there
Yes, platonic shipping is also great. I remember how delighted I was at the idea of Expatriette and Legacy just kind of hanging out and being informal cousins. I kind of wish we’d seen more of that after the off-hand mention of it once.
Hmm… who would my favourite BroTP be? I would have liked to see Writhe and Visionary get close to each other. Maybe she could have pulled him off of his course towards whatever the heck he’s turning into. Alternately, now that she’s on Earth, I’d love for Idealist to declare that she’s going to get Fashion up to date with all the latest cool culture.
Haha, indeed. The problem with having to switch between two different keyboards all the time is that the auto correct fails whenever I forget to switch. Swedish and English share most letters and more than a few grammar rules thankfully.
Listen she starts in Paul’s age bracket and by the end of the multiverse she’s in Felicia’s as people age around her that’s just how it goes for her.
Meanwhile, on the BroTP front, a conversation today with one of my good friends reminded me that Unity & Omnitron is right up there with with Tachyon and AZ for me. But speaking of Unity I’ll admit to never having wrapped my head around her and Benchmark. Like, their brands of cheesy don’t necessarily line up in my mind, but Benchmark is also one of the characters I have the shallowest grasp on still in terms of personality, so i can definitely still be convinced.
But also, I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this yet, but Road Warriors really just lives in my shipper brain rent free. Like, yes, we know that Ansel is a terrible selfish lover, but I believe in Jackson’s ability to find a way to work with that, especially for his favorite movie star. Is it any more than just a hookup in my mind? No, never. Do I think about it on a regular basis? More than I wish it did.
Meanwhile I’m extrapolating on my Fashion/Idealist “Cool Aunt” idea, and realized that Miranda has a “Cool Uncle” in Mainstay, thus leading to clashing personalities between Fashion and Mainstay simmering for a long term “Beauty VS Beast” that could become “Beauty AND Beast”…
I actually know how they can explain Maia’s weird aging in a way that almost completely makes sense, and could lead to future story potential. You know, if anyone is interested in hearing how a Justifier might go about fixing that little plot hole and Justifying the existing lore…
