THE FANDOM FLANDERIZATION MEME

[elfstoned]

We all know how fandom flanderizes characters, but what if Save the Earth were a television show?

How would fandom get it wrong?



HOW IT WORKS:
Post a comment with your character journal explaining generally what the twisted and horrible fanon version of your character is. What less significant personality traits do they fixate on? How do the thirteen-year-olds on fanfiction.net write them? Who are they shipped with ad nauseum? What are they like in Omegaverse?

OPTIONAL: Reply IC to others' comments as your own flanderized fanon character, or feel free to have the real version express horror and disgust (or vicious amusement).

Have fun!!

Comments

AARON STRIDER | ARAGORN

[elfstoned]

After seeing his reactions to memory-Echoes, fandom is convinced that Aragorn and Aaron are like the Hulk and Bruce Banner: Aragorn comes out during times of emotional stress. Previously, they thought he was an axe-crazy killer, but after the mines, it's clear he has a soft spot for Julien friends.

Therefore, what we get is gentle!Aaron and yandere-other-self!Aragorn, who often gets jealously, possessively dominant over Julien, or Emery, or whoever the writer pairs Aaron up with.

That aside, either fandom plays up the sketchiness too much or forgets he's sketchy at all: he's either a selfless, giving angel or high all the time, pushing drugs for a plot device or just for comedy.

God save you all.

[abidan]

Aaron/Emery/Julien threesome, obviously.

CHRISTOBEL STARSKY | STARSCREAM

[reapsthewind]

If Chris were a male character, the problem would be fangirls ignoring her more failtastic and dickish and self-centered traits in place of holding her up as some kind of godly pedestal of perfection, and also shipping her hardcore with Matthew Brillion.

But alas, Chris is female, so instead she's bluh bluh huge bitch who gets in the way of the kawaii yaois gawd also what a mary sue am I right a PHD student with robot arms? ugh and why is she angsting about being part robot? ewwww women

[scramasax]

Commander Shepard would resent that.

MAMORU NAKAMURA | ICHIGO KUROSAKI

[15minuteslate]

At best, Mamoru is a goodhearted but goofy comic relief character, with an emphasis on physical comedy because lol Mamoru is so clumsy amirite??? He's also very excitable, having over the top freakouts over things that aren't normal, but also over-excited by things he thinks are cool. Also, he's written as a huge steampunk fan.

At worst, he's gay for his brother. This happens a lot. He angsts about it and is the one who has to be talked into it by Shiro, who is clearly the libertine of the two. So fanon Mamoru is a little contradictory, depending on whether or not he's being shipped.

Re: MAMORU NAKAMURA | ICHIGO KUROSAKI

[hollowleg]

obviously having hot brother sex is all Shiro's idea always

and magical self lubricating butts

Julien Sakazaki

[espigeonage]

Fandom has seen Julien's Echoes and thinks that he is absolutely right: they write his preincarnation as a rather inhuman, somewhat creepily focused/cold angel called the Apostle of the Violet Rose. The Apostle has done something bad in the past - fallen, possibly - and caused many people to die, so he began atoning by trying to save them, particularly humans. Sometimes from soul-absorbing eldrich abomination things. He's kind of James Bond, too, with the... spy thing, but not every writer really uses that.

Julien himself... is very inconsistent, with different authors focusing on different aspects. Sometimes he's the authorial stand-in and sort of wide-eyed and youthful, and generally willing to let other characters get away with whatever they want to do. Sometimes he's a huge flirt and has a lot of pick up lines to unload or gallantry to display. Sometimes, especially in shipping with men, he embodies the trope of the Keet, all energy and fun and chatter. Fandom in that case tends to ignore how he's been building muscle, have him be soft and skinny, and emphasize that he's short. He'll kiss anyone eagerly and then blush and become shy, and he's the uke wherever he goes, whoever he goes with.

No matter the version, when he gives people nicknames they are cutesy and not very imaginative. He may append Japanese honorifics to every name, or use gratuitous French at every chance, or both. Fandom's Julien is kind of helpless especially last version, but since the mines they've picked up on how he cares about Strider friends... so he gets dramatically teary and desperate if something happens. No matter which version.

Also he's a huge target for bondage-themed art and fics. Subs to everyone. There's some conflict between what his preincarnation must have been like and how his last version's written, and this shows up as everything from becoming more dominant after a lot of sex in certain situations to split personality shenanigans.

He doesn't have much of a job and his family is usually absent (though there are angsty fics where his rich dad abuses him and he needs rescue), so he spends most of his time being klutzy in places like the Clinic. The person he and the Apostle are shipped with most is Strider, but fics can be found with just about anyone.

DID SOMEONE SAY BONDAGE

[elfstone]

*because I guess fandom Aragorn is all over that*

ANTHONY JANVIER | ANTHONY

[scramasax]

Anthony would be a bit to the StE fandom what 5 was to the 9 fandom and what James is to the Silent Hill fandom simultaneously.

In more words than that he would essentially be a dog, and subject in many loose super-deformed doodles (in most of which his expression is some variant of "o _ o") either cringing and possibly trembling, sadly line-facing, and fawning over if not physically clinging to other characters, also liable to be depicted overeagerly rushing into things possibly while gleefully shouting "I'LL PROTECT YOU" and running directly into hazards with or without flailing his sword about at random, having "oh-what-does-this-button-do" moments, "heh heh... heh ;_;"-ing in slightly awkward or gone-afoul situations, etc. With a bit of fluff of him being patted on the head, etc. He is often drawn even taller than he is to emphasize how gangly he is or far shorter - normally determined by who else he's drawn with.

On the whole he is either exaggerated into a bit of a comedically-beleaguered and panicky "spaz" or painfully reserved and brooding with a stutter whenever he does speak. Serious inclinations manifest with respectively either "I-I DON'T FEEL COMFORTABLE WITH THIS" or quiet, disapproving, tragic sta-a-a-ares. Subject of a bit of hurt-comfort fic. His French heritage is occasionally played up, and he understands utterly no pop culture references but is quite the fanboy over medieval history. Obligatorily subject to numerous zombie jokes and employment in pieces of black humor and occasionally employed as a Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant.

There exists at least one piece of fanart out there of him much shorter and in semi-chibi trailing after a wolf-eared and -tailed Mr. Lyall with a wagging canine tail of his own and another of him peering wide-eyed through the door of the LSR Clinic, as well as one of him uncertainly "8D"-ing captioned "DID I DO GOOD?"

His name would be listed second in every ship in which he is included, most of them with male characters.

Fandom is still not explicitly convinced that he wasn't some sort of apprentice wizard in his past life. He may have interpreted his visions himself as depicting him as a messenger to Charlemagne, but hey - perhaps Charlemagne was a wizard, too. Specifically a necromancer. Or opposed to necromancers and ran afoul of that.

[drama8om8]

I'd say I was sorry but I'd be lying

CINDERELLA | RARITY

[destinedforrock]

Fandom may be entering the impression that Cinderella was a human damsel of some walk of life - either a tailor to explain her receiving a song about tailoring in an Echo, some sort of ambiguously Victorian aristocrat, or a princess, which would explain her name - if not why on earth she'd have been reincarnated as a horse! Perhaps a few later Echoes will explain that.

As such, she is often portrayed either anthropomorphized, as a human, or simply comically performing humanlike behaviors; for example, attempting to hold a fork to eat a piece of cake (as of recently at least a couple fanart pieces of her have been captioned "Let them eat cake") or pouring a tea kettle with her teeth and/or sitting at a table and wearing a fancy dress with or without a tiara.

She's normally regarded as either a pompous comic relief, a sarcastic if not condescending bystander (often as a counterpart to Arthur in a comic duo), or an ingénue with a sparkling-eyed interest in learning about human-ness ("I wanna know about these strangers like me~e!") in fan fiction.

She is occasionally vaguely shipped with Julien, as he is such a very princely man; or Arthur, this most normally in "humanized" form - there's a cute picture of him carrying her gijinka form bridal-style out of a bus.

Re: CINDERELLA | RARITY

[amberhearted]

that last bit is actually kinda cute

Emery Ayliff ★ MERLIN

[abidan]

★ Black haired intelligent introvert VS blond haired ham-fisted extrovert = OBVIOUSLY THEY ARE IN DEEP SLASHY TSUNDERE LOVE. It's a fact of all fic, okay. Just ask Loki and Thor, Sasuke and Naruto, Kyoya and Tamaki, and of course, Merlin and Arthur.
★ Skinny magical men who go out of their way to be kind are pretty much always gagging for it / pregnant in Omegaverse, so. Yeah.
★ The emphasis also seems to fall around how pristine they are: shy and clever, flawless pale skin, pink lips etc etc. Basically he's a Snow White for cock, it's no big deal.
★ He's keeping his magic a secret so he must be a deeply tormented soul who has ~constant rushes of magic beneath his fingertips~ just by ~having a strong emotion~ and it's ~so hard for him to push it back down~ etc.
★ He looks fairly young so he's mentally twelve. Will be shipped with older characters for this reason.
★ Laid-back hippies attract cut-and-dry business types. He'll be shipped with characters that fit the bill - extra points if blond. More Facts.
★ Vegetarian hippy artist = he probably owns a billion cats. Seriously.
★ Artist = fandom will dig him painting everyone like one of his French girls. Sign up below.
★ CLUMSY. Trips over dust. Trips over his own shadow. Constantly making a tit of himself and it's desperately endearing. Because everyone loves a walking disaster, apparently.

Re: Emery Ayliff ★ MERLIN

[espigeonage]

When Julien is shipped with him then generally someone has to be the more aggressive/macho one whose initial is the first letter. J/E or E/J? Ship wars are made out of these, flames to those who disagree. Julien's probably more worldly in canon and is a bit older, but is also definitely shorter and has the silly colors, so it's a toss up.



What often is agreed on is that Emery's ~magic hands~ can bring out the Apostle, who's definitely the first letter but also needs to be taught intimacy.

[testsonseashells]

SCIENCE SCIENCE SCIENCE SONG SCIENCE SCIENCE SCIENCE SCIENCE.

Mordin Solus has no other interests. In addition, he's an omnidisciplinary scientist. What do you mean computer programming isn't related to biology?

[elfstoned]

Man I'm so glad you're my best friend. I'm going to bring all my relationship troubles to you.

KARI ACOSTA | CAREN

[lackinginfaith]

Kari is already having vitriolic debates over whether she's evil, just selfish, or secretly nice. And she's been in one-and-a-quarter episodes. The time between the revelation of what she looked like and the first porn of her showing up on some fanart blog was about an hour and thirty-five minutes, which isn't even close to the fandom record.

[doomedtheworld]

Since Vanessa arrived on the show there have been heated debates over whether she's destined to become a woobie-sue or not, thanks to her backstory. Either way the poorly-conceived Hurt/Comfort fics have already started popping up, several beginning with Evanescence lyrics and/or titled with names of their songs.

A disturbing number of these ship her with Mamoru.

[15minuteslate]

Nice fishnets.

TOUSHIROU HITSUGAYA

[icy_heavens]

He arrived early on in the show, and there's already been debate on whether or not he was just added so kids would watch. Debate also rages on about whether he just gets in the way or he's being taken down the Sue route.

In fic, he's often presented as a really loud, shouty kid who yells at everyone about everything. Depending on the author's views, he always needs saving or he curbstomps whatever had been beating up someone else. He gets woobie-fied in fics where all the other kids pick on him because they don't understand how mature and deep and awesome he is.

Most of the shippy fic is actually cute little grade-school fluff with one of the other kids near his age and he is the dark and broody loner who must be brought out of his shell by the almighty power of kindness! Other shippy fic sends him out of Locke City for several years so he can grow up into a really hot adult guy who usually gets paired with Colette. Because his childhood crush was totally obvious. Totally! Alternatively, he gets paired with Winter a lot in this scenario, too. Because he has ice powers and just look at her name! Obviously, the show's writers shipped this from the start!

Re: TOUSHIROU HITSUGAYA

[angelskills]

LMFAO OH NO

Kotetsu Kaburagi

[earnedmystripes]

In fics that don't center on Kotetsu, he's generally relegated to silly comic relief shenanigans, with his sole contribution to the story being the biggest failure at life that humanity has ever known.

When he does take center stage, it's often a different picture. His clumsiness and silliness, and in some cases, even his friendly demeanor and kind, altruistic tendencies are merely an act--a facade to hide his Deeply Tortured Soul. Especially popular with teenagers, this type of fics often uses song lyrics which reappear in-universe as songs he listens to while tearfully composing love poetry to his dead wife. He cries constantly in private from the strain of smiling and laughing so much in front of others, usually while writing in his diary about his soul-crushing loneliness. Fanfic writers of this variety tend to dismiss any negative reviews they get, asserting that the reviewers do not understand Kotetsu's beautiful suffering the way they do.

In either case, fandom is generally agreed that Kotetsu does not have two brain cells to rub together, and writes him with the attention span of a squirrel. Things need to be explained to him in excruciating detail, and often more than once. If he figures something significant out, expect it to be of the "it's so stupid it might just work" variety. That being said, he's a fucking saint, and anyone who so much as looks at him wrong deserves to die in the most horrible ways possible. His uncertainty regarding his preincarnation's possible status as a superhero is interpreted in multiple ways, ranging from being an ineffectual coward to making him a godmoding badass who tears the bad guys apart with his bare hands.

On the flip side of the coin, Secretly Evil fics are pretty popular too, in which the kindhearted old man is actually a mole. Sometimes his Start of Darkness comes from losing his wife, and he joins the bad guys due to the Eldritch Abomination promising to bring her back. Heel Face Turns in which he discovers the error of his ways are common in these fics, though they vary between making him a real part of the ensemble cast or taking the Redemption Equals Death route.

Other times he's just a sadist who derives great pleasure from watching his fellow reincarnates suffer. He reveals he was in on Paul's death all along and ultimately sells everyone out for power.

He's often creepily shipped with the child characters on the show, often emphasizing their deep-seated daddy-issues, but there's a vocal minority that likes to put him with Julien. Some internet trolls have been known to pair him with Tamara, for the lulz. Other parts of fandom have him devoted to his dead wife to the point of disturbing obsession, and the occasional crazycakes fan who has him believe he's still with her on the astral plane. However, some fans cling to the Echo he had about someone being missing in his life, and are holding out for this mysterious character to become his love interest. Discussion on this person's possible identity often devolve into frothing debates on his sexuality.

Regardless of the pairing or lack thereof, there's always at least one joke about him not being able to get off in every fic.

[comparative_insanity]

Working for the bad guys because they're promising to bring a loved one back? For shame, fanon Kotetsu.

Ahem.

HELLO CAN THESE TWO BE AWKWARDLY SHIPPED BY FANDOM BECAUSE FAY IS LOOKING FOR A FATHER FIGURE PLEASE SAY YES

Kallen Kouzuki | Regina Akamine

[acequeen]

According to the overzealous STE fans, Regina would be written as either A) a typical angry tsundere who says nothing but snarky things to everyone, B) a stereotypical Strong Independent Woman™ who needs nobody!!, C) sexy fanservice who gets placed into scantily-clad and/or tight-fitted gang outfits that show off her dragon tattoo (and there might be fanart of her riding motorcycles for some reason), or D) a Mary Sue to be used as self-insert for the female fanbase.

Or E) she gets written as a total bitch who cares about no one but herself. Nevermind that she has a soft side which she tries to keep under control...

Also, I can totally see her past life as a gang member to be glamorized by stripping away all her flaws and/or downplaying them so Reasons C and D mentioned above can happen. Either that, or they'll be used for the ultimate soap opera-esque factor for Regina.

Naturally, there will be porn of her, too. Lots and lots of it. See icon for why.

Shiro Nakamura | Hollow Ichigo/Zangetsu

[hollowleg]

Obviously he's the white haired prettyboy who is DEFINITELY GAY despite canonically being bi and liking to hit on the ladies. According to fandom, this is just a way for him to get over his ~*feelings*~ for his brother because omg super hot soulmates right???? Sometimes shipped with Chris as well for the het fans in the audience. Chris/Shiro and Nakamcest shippers are always at odds in a fight the likes of which hasn't been seen since Ichirukis vs Origos.

In fic, people tend to write Shiro a lot more brooding and dark than he really is, and oh yeah he always plays his guitar in public places. HAVE YOU HEARD THIS ONE IT MIGHT BE WONDERWALL. Sometimes they go the other way and he's too woobie. Bitch, he's a happy medium between badass and fairy, ok.

furries latch on to him in his more monstrous forms for vore. So much vore.

[15minuteslate]

and Mamoru's coolness toward's Shiro's flings is definitely him trying really hard not to be jealous of Shiro's philandering, right?

ALEX KUSNITZ | AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL

[moarnomsplz]

Alex can't get three syllables out without repeating one or more of them, and fandom has multiplied his teenage gawky awkwardness x 2 so that he's constantly running into things, or getting stuffed into his locker, or saying the wrong thing and blushing. He's usually demoted to comic relief, but occasionally shipped with Bakura or Anthony.

A small but vocal minority insists the tail will lead to him Taking A Level In Badass. Comparisons to Neville Longbottom are bandied about, and they appear as a crossover ship with alarming regularity.

A smaller and less vocal minority really, really likes the tail, and draws him with it all the time.

Re: ALEX KUSNITZ | AXIMILI-ESGARROUTH-ISTHILL

[scramasax]

Give me a spot of pleasant BroT3 anyday.

Emphasis upon "bro", mind you.

Mir | Miranda Atmiller

[vanisland]

Owing to the fact that she hasn't given anyone a name yet, the fandom has no idea who this person is. At all. Total troll or a softie inside? Interpretations are all over the place... including appearance-wise.

Re: Mir | Miranda Atmiller

[15minuteslate]

She's totally a bishie.

Eugene Yokugawa | Kosei Kougami

[happybirthdaytoyou]

Comic relief.

Also, his love of cake is taken to even greater extremes to the fandom. How can this be possible, you make ask? Cake-sexuality. Yes, they ship Eugene with cake... and also his brother, sort of, although nobody seems to actually write fic about it. It's just a running joke that the Yokugawa brothers are so codependent that of course they're boning. (He also gets shipped with Arthur due to Mutual Loudness.)

About half the fandom thinks he's a silly kook and nothing more. The other half agrees with Haruka that he's secretly evil--or, well, not evil in THIS life, but maybe evil in his last life? (Astute fans have noticed that his, Mort's, and Shuji's past lives seem linked in some way due to the similar tiny robots, though nobody quite understands how.)

In fanfic his entire dialog is in capslock. Half the time they forget Rhonda exists.

[destinedforrock]

I rather expect obligatory pieces of "evil!Eugene" gag art in which he suspiciously lures his fellow reincarnates aside with cakes and a slicing knife or bloody rolling pin clutched behind his back.

COLETTE BRUNEL

[angelskills]

The fandom is viciously torn on Colette. Half think she's precious and adorable and that she can do no wrong while the other half despises her for being a helpless bimbo who only bogs down the rest of the show. Tumblr is often rift with teenage girls screaming at each other how Colette is realistic versus how awful and generic. Both sides take her at face value, though, and classify her as an endlessly optimistic bubbly air-heard who is way too out of touch with reality to understand situations when in reality Colette actually subverts those tropes by forcing herself to take a positive outlook and staying quiet when she realizes something is amiss rather than taking direct action. She also trips every three minutes, stutters, blushes, and is constantly surrounded by a barrage of shoujo sparkles.

Also, the fandom doesn't realize that Colette lies. A lot. Fandom writes her as blurting out everything that crosses her mind and being fooled by everyone else in the game. She is dumb and simple to the fandom. Basically generic plastic cute girl with no depth.

There is a fic for every pairing with Colette possible because she's often used as a self-insert for the writer, or the generic "cute girl" they want shipped with someone. However, there's a large section of the fandom that worships Colette/Tamara and some who also ship Colette/Regina because Hot Girls with Cute Girl. All of that is fanservice despite both ships actually having potential to be deep and awesome. Colette always wears pure white panties and a bra with a little pink bow on it. She's also stutters a lot and is very nervous about even kissing, and will never make the first move.

However, there's also another side of the shipping fandom that features her as a hardcore yet still cute dominatrix who spanks boys a lot. No boy in the game is safe from her succubus domming ways. If the shipping isn't featuring her she will sometimes make a cameo appearance in fics encouraging the two main characters to get together and playing The Best Friend Matchmaker. Then she vanishes for the rest of the fic, never to be mentioned again. The tumblr fandom has screaming matches about Colette and Julien versus Colette and Banagher. They get very vicious. Even the ones who hate Colette. Shipping wars are intense. Oh, and Aeron/Colette is also really popular because Incest.

The fans have no fucking idea what's going on with Colette and her echoes. Many suspect that she's actually Supergirl with brain trauma.

FEEL FREE TO THROW ME YOUR IDEAS TOO GUYS

[acequeen]

Colette is the cutest pimp ever, let me tell you.

Tamara Osada | Takako

[formermagicalgirl]

Fandom seems to think that Tamara is completely in denial and is actually a lesbian or bi because of one offhanded comment and the fact that she tends to prefer to hang around women.

Plenty of fans ship her with Colette and many arguments happen about who will really top. The non-canon pairings for her definitely always involve girls and very few seem to ship her with a guy who isn't Sam. There's definitely plenty who ship the canon pair, however. There's also a betting pool on if she'll end up being the death of Sam someday like she was in one of the echoes she has gotten. They definitely think her preincarnation got what she deserved because she's a bitch, but a couple suspect that Tamara is very wrong about her interpretation of it.

Fan artists have a blast with her strange abilities with her hair and the NSFW art commonly features her tying someone up with her hair, and that is often cited as why she would top in any ship. Also there is some art showing her only with long hair covering up certain parts. Art nearly always shows long hair and loves to have her look like Fenrir even if she rarely will do that. Artists also seem to forget that she's not all that busty as well and she tends to be portrayed a lot more slutty than she is and she definitely gets a lot of NSFW stuff made. A lot of the NSFW stuff for other characters is also claimed to be photoshopped works she's done of everyone else in the game. Fans also think she gets off to her photoshopped porn. The maid outfit is also much loved in fanart of her.

Gen stuff tends to either make her too nice or too much of a bitch, never a happy medium or really accurate. Most of the fic writers really suck at getting her humor down and put her mind into the gutter more than it would be.

[caosgo]

omg you guys I had to find a few minutes to work this in I just can't quit you.

EMMANUEL HALL, ULTIMATE WOOBIE.

Pacifist? More like complete baby. Forget the fact that he's in his thirties, he's terrified of everything and cries a lot. Also says things like "bless you, child" and fandom writes him like a Catholic when he's Anglican. Speculated to have been abused by his father. People apparently really like blasphemy kink and church sex...regardless. A lot of people still think he's a virgin/took a vow of celibacy despite that having nothing to do with his denomination.

His ex-wife is considered a huge bitch for dumping him and he usually seeks solace in Julien's arms...though some people do ship him with Kallie. And Chris. A tiny but vocal minority puts him with Haruka, despite the fact that they never even exchanged names. (and the age gap...whooo.) Otherwise he gets shipped with basically every other dude he's so much as spoken to and never tops.

People think his preincarnation was some kind of badass assassin or hit man. Also there's speculation about who this "good friend" that he's mentioned a few times is. Definitely a former lover, right??

In fanart he's usually drawn wearing the coat, even though he only tried it on once.

[espigeonage]

Hee!

Of course when Jules is in this pairing someone has to be the top, but how Julien is characterized is so variable... Regardless he tends to call R.E. "Father" because one writer started it and a bunch of others perked up and copied.

And since Julien's preincarnation is thought to have been some kind of cold badass angel commonly used in darkfics, going and uh... punishing those who've had stuff to do with evil, that's happened too.

luke lawrensen | loki

[jests]

— his dry sense of humour and tendency to lie is either taken to two extremes: as a means of "proving" him correct about whatever, or to prove how much of an asshole he is.
— both his occupation and his dynamic with haruka are cited as proof by some that he is a Jerkass with a (secret) Heart of Gold. in accordance with this, despite his complete dislike of the majority of the child/teenage characters present on the network, he is supposedly secretly fond of and good with children.
— at this point, his echoes have been taken to mean that he is part of a superhero ensemble and in line with the grumpy realist who (unfortunately for him and his delicate sensibilities) is capable of magic and he joins the team unwillingly otherwise harbours a preference of ~doing his own thing~. despite (or due) to this, fandom is quite happy to slot him into the anti-hero role or the mole role and even occasionally as a double agent depending on what the fic calls for.
— he is used as a vehicle for kinks, less than pleasant ships, or shipped with haruka despite the age gap/to showcase parental!! issues on the part of one or the other.
— fandom tends to either take him at face value, or insist that he Clearly Has A Long Game in mind and have incredibly well-thought out theories for what said game plan could be, despite the fact that there's no evidence to say he's doing anything other than making it up as he's going a long at this point.
— being british and in this thirties, the britaboos have a tendency to portray him as super classy^TM, a fan of the BBC (naturally) and very fond of tea, despite the fact that he canonically hasn't mentioned british tv, doesn't care for tea, only really has familiarity with the most standard of brews and really likes coffee.
— his lack of effectiveness in the mines is used as proof by some that he is a posturing coward underneath it all, or that he has totally! relatable! flaws by others. relatedly, he is either loved or hated depending on whether he's read as a Generic Smug White Man, or perceived to have hidden depths.
— his helmet is assumed to be of great importance and left on prominent display in his apartment despite being canonically shoved in a closet.

Re: luke lawrensen | loki

[hoennmaihime]

Haruka [ Minamoto ]

[hoennmaihime]

Haruka is one of, if not the, most controversial character on the show. But I'll get to that in a moment - first I just want to say that she's constantly characterized as an extreme tsundere/yandere. She's a complete and total dick to everyone (except Luke) for absolutely no reason whatsoever. They don't have to piss her off or anything, she's clearly just cray. Oh, and it's obvious she'd go full-on yan for Luke - the way she shot that bat about to maul his face was totally foreshadowing.

Anyhow: Luke/Haruka is totally fandom's Hannigram. By which I mean a truly worrying amount of fans look at it and see true, flaw-free, lovey-dovey, made-for-each-other ~wub~.

They are completely and utterly shocked when he ruins her life because what do you mean he's a bad person; what do you mean she's fucked up; WHAT IS THIS PLOT TWIST

(Any psychological abuse, no matter how hardcore, is just interpreted as ~chemistry~. 'Luka' is their cutesy ship name.)

Competing ships are Kotetsu/Haruka and Emmanuel/Haruka. Haruka is basically fandom's go-to girl when it comes to ships with age gaps.

Also, tumblr likes to argue about Haruka's privilege levels all the time because she's ~POC~ but she has light brown hair and blue eyes............???? And there is a shitstorm when it's revealed she was bullied in Japan for looking white because nobody can decide if that's racist or reverse-racist or what.

The fact that she's kind of racist is a massive elephant in the room, but people love to talk about how her classism makes them uncomfy. Her 'aggressiveness' in general causes a lot of (unsure)ing. The common consensus is that Haruka should be made "safer" because rn her behaviour strikes too close to home for too many people, you guys




And some people are convinced she's going to end up with Banagher because hey, they ~bicker~ and guys and girls are never just friends on television.

Re: Haruka [ Minamoto ]

[happybirthdaytoyou]

Speaking of giant age gaps... Eugene/Haruka. Usually by fans who are all EVIL EUGENE. They want him to be the cake-baking Hannibal Lecter to her Clarice.

[shiromadoushi]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaannnggst~ Often conveniently forgetting that his grandparents exist, the fandom often writes Bakura being any combination of homeless or having inherited great wealth when his parents died, but always always, he's alone and brooding. In some fic, he may as well be Batman with how often the fact that his parents are dead is mentioned! Brooding, serious and very punk, fandom Bakura often goes for long walks in the rain and loudly claims he doesn't need anyone but Diabound.

Which of course doesn't stop him from being shipped with everyone he's ever talked to. There's a very creepy section of fanfic devoted to him and Lyall, another only slightly less creepy section with him and Toushirou. Defrosting the ice queen tropes fill another section with him and Banagher. He becomes the predator in fics with Anthony and Kurt, dragging them down in to the seedy underworld of whatever illegal thing the "fictress" has decided Bakura is involved with. Underage drinking, drugs, thuggery, anything to show that Bakura's a tough guy who takes what he wants!

[struckout]

As one of the characters on from the very beginning but who also hasn't been very proactive since then, Kallie has a very mixed reception from the audience. The theory that she's literally a fallen angel is so common as to be generally accepted as truth... though at the same time there's the question whether the writers are that predictable or if they actually have something else planned for her. There is an abundance of textual eye-rolling over the belief that the woman is going to ~OUT OF NOWHERE~ eventually save the day in some spectacular fashion... or attempt to destroy it.

The high-and-mightiest of the fans love to spend hours and hours writing out dissertations about what her memory Echoes and/or hair color mean in relation to everyone else's. The other, mostly male-oriented crowd just want a changing scene.

Fandom naturally takes that her canon lack of love interests and chilly personality definitely means that she A) has a dark past, preferably with secretly abusive parents, B) just needs someone to show her the meaning of lovings. Many ship her ferociously with the blond man from some of her returned memories named Snow- mostly because he seems troubled as well and probably not willing to take her crap.

That said, there is a rapidly-growing fanbase of Kallie/not-cat!Regina shippers too, mostly in the fanart category leaning towards showing off their... gifts. Those who don't like her do ship her with cats. Not the cat characters, mind you, but just cats in general, if it means she'll go away and be lonely forever. The feathers she's capable of summoning come in useful for this.

Fanfic-wise she's typically painfully tsundere, cast as a villain/spy/etc., the aforementioned woobie/waifu, or thrown into a relationship with one of the other characters just to be broken up in the name of her partner finding true love with whoever is the author-insert at the moment. Despite her social awkwardness, she is always the mean popular girl in high school AUs.

[comparative_insanity]

Because Fay - rather immaturely and irresponsibly - ran away from his home, fanfic is already being written about his horrible and angsty past where his parents are utterly demonized and everything is made about 1000x worse than it actually was. Other fic also touches on how cheap and miserable working as a stripper makes him, despite the fact that he rather likes it. Why? Because sex workers can't ever like their job, that's why. Fay is clearly a victim of everything and everyone and hasn't only been horribly abused by his parents, but also by countless boyfriends in the past. But since he's such a broken being, he just took it, instead of... oh, say, serving the perpetrator a huge amount of screw you and leaving so fast that his passing would tear the paint off the walls.

If the writer doesn't like him, the fact that he's southern and a high school dropout will make them play him off as hilariously ignorant and about as dumb as a spoon. A lot of sidesplitting jokes will be made about the fact that he doesn't know even the most basic things, like telling time or spelling "cat" until the reader is given the impression that it's only happy coincidence that allows him to walk and breathe at the same time.

And since he's now a) part of a gay couple b) clearly the more "girly" one, he gets turned into a kawaii uke who cries a lot and constantly clings to Youou and needs saving from his awful life. For some reason he is constantly blushing and going "nooo, not there" despite having been sexually active since he was 17.

Unless, of course, they go down the "dark vampire" route, in which Fay is secretly sadistic, controlling, all that is good in yandere. There Youou is instead woobiefied, the fact that he was a virgin the first time means he doesn't even know what sex is, and Fay happily takes advantage of it while drinking his blood and probably killing puppies too.

He got crack!shipped with Regina The Cat once. It was awesome.

...there is so much fanfic in this meme that I want to see now.