i touched on this before in an ask, but from here on out, i’m disregarding aspects of canon because in my opinion, the devs have become unreliable narrators of their own story.
this is because they’ve collectively displayed a pattern of behavior that is honestly a little bit spiteful and contrarian towards their fans.
self-shipping has become prominent among fans? oh, suddenly sebastian has a ring and lines about being married.
people are making a bunch of experiment-sonas and ocs? oh, suddenly a discord message is circulating about how urbanshade kills all their failed experiments, thereby de-canonizing all these ocs.
we get bait-and-switched about being able to rescue painter in the most recent trailer because the devs are aware that they are a beloved character.
it’s very strange behavior, and honestly the same can be said for seb/painter. there was initially nothing in canon implying a familial relationship, and now, a little “kid” nickname is being tacked on to painter, and it feels like an afterthought to me. ship stuff aside, it also comes across to me as infantilizing of painter and their character.
this, coupled with several instances of homophobia from the dev team (remember when they didn’t allow people to post art of seb wearing femining clothes to their official discord?) makes it all seem to me like this sudden familial characterization of their ship is a *reactionary writing decision.*
so much of what’s recently been done in this series has been *in response to the culture among their fanbase.* and for what?
spite towards their fans? an overprotectiveness of their lore? a contrarian attitude?
i don’t know.
but what i Do believe is that Whatever It Is is starting to *really influence* this game and its story. and in some aspects (not all!), i think it’s for the worse.
maybe they didn’t expect this game to blow up as much as they did, and now they can’t handle it? who knows. but as a lay-person, i don’t consider that my problem—and neither should you!
i think this is still a fine thing to ship, not because of what is being put out there in canon Now—because that’s kinda weird. but more importantly, because this characterization wasn’t there from the beginning. it’s an afterthought.
by the way, did you know that sailor uranus and sailor neptune were originally lovers, but when sailor moon was dubbed into english for an american audience, they were retconned to be cousins?
tldr, i’m ignoring canon from now on. they are my toys now. this is because in my opinion, the team needs to pull the sticks out from up their asses, consider embracing vagueness, and log off.