My main issues with the "critisisms" from the CN girls.
Even if they probably won't see this because it's on tumblr and theres not a big CN presence here.
"Valko promotes voilence against women for breaking and entering"
CALEB AND SYLUS ARE STALKERS. SYLUS LITERALLY HELD MC HOSTAGE IN HIS BASE WHEN THEY FRIST MET. CALEB IS EXTREMELY POSESSIVE AND CREEPY ON MULTIPLE OCCASIONS.
If you ACTUALLY had issues with voilence against women, there'd be riots over Caleb and Sylus. But no, they are some of the most loved characters. Hypocrites. Now I do know there was a BIT of backlash when they came out, but you all switched up really fucking fast once they had been around a while. And you know what? I'm gonna be that guy and bring up Caleb and the step bro trope. I understand completley that he and MC are not related by blood and that the term 'gege' is used in several contexts, including an older male friend you are close with. But the fact they were raised together by the same woman, under the same roof, during their formative years, AND use sibling-adjacent lanuage? That creates a step-sibling dynamic and is the biggest critique I have with LADS as a whole. Step sibling incest is an extremely real form of abuse and the real life trauma of so many people who are victims of a step sibling grooming and abusing them using that sibling power dynamic. Just because you are not realted by blood, doesn't mean it's not abuse and incest.
If you are truly against voilence against women? You'd hate Sylus and Caleb too. But you don't, it's just an excuse you're using to justify hating Valko.
"pandering to a BL audience"
This is just a fucking lie. There is not a single line or even a subtle animation that suggets the LIs are into each other. This is entirely based on what SOME people think a gay man looks like. This is generalising gay men, shoving them all into a single box and claiming Valko "looks gay". It's homophobia. Outright. It is insinuating gay men look a certain way and that it (and being gay) is a bad thing. Like I knew a good chunk of the LADS fandom was weird toward its small audience of queer players (because yes, gay, bi, trans and intersex men play this game as well. We don't demand anything because we KNOW it's a female targeted game) ands LIxLI shipping. But this is just so fucking blatant. I'd rather be called a fag to my face tbh. I am a queer man, I am telling you this is homophobia. There is ZERO padndering to queers, you have a bias and bigoted stareotypes dicatating your view of Valko.
No the fuck he's not. He is paler than me and I'm white as fuck. The insunation that being tan/dark skinned is a bad thing is blatant racism. Now look, I know and understand CN has had a very complicated history with other countries targeting them and classism which has lead to a culture obsessed with being pale/ skin whiting products/ covering every inch of skin from the sun etc. But there is zero excuses for racism. Ever. Which is why I'm not out here calling the CN fandom racial slurs or anything just because I'm mad. Which is why I'm acknowlaging the genuine concerns with the unit 731 thing. That genuinley was a fuck up on infolds part. Which is why I am acknowlaging there is a very long history of colourism and discrimination in Asia and toward Asia. But claiming this very pale man is "too dark" and that it is a bad thing, is racism. Point blank period.
What I (and pretty much all of the EN fans) agree with
We do need more main story, Caleb and Sylus content. They have been lacking for a while now. We do need things like the lighting in the home system fixed. We do need an even number of crads per LI in the wish pool, Sy and Caleb have been lacking for a while now and make gathering good teams with them difficult. We do need to be careful with numbers because that 731 thing was a genuine fuck up. But none of this is going to be fixed by acting completley unhinged toward the devs, taregting a character that has absolutley nothing wrong with him and targeting outrage over unrelated issues toward him.
Aside from the obvious racism and homophobia. The unhinged, entitled behaviour and hypocracy really, really disappoints and angers me. There is zero excuse and reason to be sending harrassment to the staff. Point blank period. That is disgusting behaviour and a horrible reflection of the fandom. The hypocracy, claiming you care about violence against women but worshipping Sylus and Caleb as if they haven't done the same kind of dangersous acts toward MC. Reminder again: Sylus stalked, kidnapped and held MC hostage. Caleb is posessive and stalkerish over MC and plays into the step sibling incest trope.
The parasocial, delusional behaviour disappoints me to. You dont't have to play Valko's storyline, wish for his cards, select him at the cafe etc. You don't have to engage with him at all. No one is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to like him or play with him. Your main is not going to be mad at you over a fictional man, your main is fictional. Mocking and harassing those who do like Valko is unacceptable behaviour. Ruining things for everyone else just because you don't like it is mean, entitled and brat behaviour. It is ugly. You have an ugly soul if you have been behaving like this. All you had to do was ignore him. Don't select him in the home sytem, cafe, wish pool etc. Ignore his calls and texts. That's all you had to do. I ignore Caleb, not go out and demand he gets removed or harass Caleb mains. Because I am a mature adult that knows to not shame others for their personal tastes and demand everything be catered toward me.
The work the artists, writers, animators, devs etc put into him... years of work. Gone. Because of some very loud bigots. I can't belive a million dollar company has let boigots and entitled crybabies bully them into submission. They could have made a wonderful move and stood agaisnst the blatant bigotry and kept him in. Told the fandom that they are not going to let them take away years of artists hard work over skin colour and "looking gay". I feel for the artists, creating their baby and puttin him out into the world, only to be met with...this. I really hope they are being provided with proper mental health services because harassment this bad can do very serious damage. Especially when bigotry is involved.
I will acknlowlage, there have bee some EN/JP/KR players being assholes too. I am in no way saying it's a CN only thing. But the vocal majority of it is coming from the CN fandom, which is why I talk about them here. But gods... I can't stop thinking about this. How deep it goes beyond just genuine issues with game quality, but outright discrimination, criminal acts of harrassment and astronomical levels of entitlement.
I hope all those who have engaged in this behaviour know that their beloved main LI, all of the LIs, would dump them for being such hateful people. They would hate you, just like you hated one of their own.
