TW: Mentions of SA and abuse. Nothing graphic, it is simply brought up as a subject.
a few days ago i skim read a newtmas fic that had nalby tagged bc the tags of the fic were... worrying me tbh and i was like, surely these tags are unrelated to nalby right. so i kinda just read over the scenes that included alby and i was getting a few red flags (like alby acting very aggressive and possessive towards newt) but i was like nooo surely that's not what this is leading up to right. uhm but yeah no the author had alby sexually assault newt and drug him 🫠
guys what are we even doing here. i know that most people don't write shit like this about alby in their newtmas fics, but do you know how hard it is to filter through the nalby tag to get actual nalby fics, and then in the half that are actually newtmas fics there's a good enough portion of them that depict alby as abusive towards newt? like i haven't read that many to be honest but I've seen a few people who do read newtmas fics remark this before to the point there's probably enough of them to be notable.
listen, whatever, if you want to write a fic where one of newt's closest friends is depicted as abusive and/or a predator, despite the we weird connotations of doing that to the only prominent black character in the main triology, then be my fucking guest. BUT WHY WOULD YOU TAG THAT AS NALBY 😭
do people seriously think people who want to read nalby are going to enjoy a newtmas fic with some nalby sprinkled in? not to mention that in a lot of those fics nalby is depicted as a negative relationship. do you tag so that people who don't want to read background nalby know it's there? idk i know that this isn't particularly strict fanfic etiquette but I've always been of the opinion that if a ship/relationship or character isn't focus of the story then DON'T FREAKING TAG IT YOU'RE CLOGGING THE TAG FOR THE REST OF US
again idk how much of an issue this actually is but it genuinely pissed me off so much to see alby depicted that way. him being disliked or seen as extremely aggressive and abusive when characters like minho and gally are fan favorites is bonkers to me and we need to acknowledge that the perception that alby is more violent than other tmr characters who are arguably worse is like, absolutely influenced by biases against black people.
is alby pretty aggressive and mean at the beginning of tmr? yes, I won't deny that, but gally is extremely hostile towards thomas and other gladers throughout the entire first book, he also endangers everyone by breaking a window in the homestead when the grievers are hunting them, in tst minho literally threatens to crush other gladers genitals if they choose to not go into the trials and is generally really aggressive in the way he talks to other characters. am i saying you should hate gally and minho? no!!! i like those guys they're fun interesting characters!!! but people who claim to looooove them and then turn around and act like alby is the most violent cruel guy in the glade are PLAIN WEIRD TO ME!!!
im just saying, please stop tagging your fic as nalby if it's actually just a newtmas fic with past nalby. stop tagging it as nalby if the only reason the relationship is there is to give newt trauma to have thomas 'heal' (or having thomas 'replace' alby. yikes). stop tagging nalby if you're just going to make alby the abusive predatory ex-boyfriend or 'best friend'. STOP!! DOING THAT!! WE DON'T WANT TO READ THAT!!!!!!
whatever. finally i just want to say I didn't tag this as newtmas bc i honestly don't want to yuck anybody's yum and if you're looking through the newtmas tag to have fun this might be upsetting. but you might come across this anyways on accident because apparently tumblr recommends post based on keywords aswell? i didn't know this but last time i mentioned the ship someone got mad at me for 'putting it' on their feed even though i have no control over that. but since this is abt stuff I've only rlly seen in newtmas fics i think it would be weirder to be vague about what ship im talking about, or god forbid censor the name as if it's a slur. if this post upset you I'd prefer if you blocked me instead of arguing.
no, I don't hate newtmas shippers (most of the people who like and reblog my art are newtmas shippers), i don't hate newtmas (i just have a very different interpretation of their dynamic), and i'm not mad because newtmas is the most popular ship in the fandom (ive had someone assume this about me before even though ive never said anything even close to that??).
what i am mad about is the way people depict alby in their fanfics, using him as just a plot device to give newt trauma and ultimately advance his relationship with thomas. i find it incredibly gross and even if it's only a handful of fanfics i think it is something that should be called out because no one should think it's ok to just blatantly bastardize a black character to further the romantic plot between two white characters, especially when the black character in question ISN'T ABUSIVE IN CANON.
and again please stop tagging your newtmas fics with past nalby as nalby. regardless of what their relationship is depicted as i just think it's kind of annoying.
