shrug

nat hockey (🦑, 🦈, Torrent) & kpop mostly hockey sideblog

[pascnicos]

YOU live in the real world. I live in my rpf mind palace.

[jimiscellaneous]

(Rpf aside).. Will is a grown ass man. Yes he’s not confrontational but he’s not gonna let anyone bully or be rude to him for no reason. Especially Mack, who he’s not afraid of to call out his bullshit if he’s being unnecessary. Also Mack is training with coaches he’s been around his entire life and his father is there mind you. I guarantee he’s not going to act out of the ordinary in front of everyone. I genuinely think what you’re referring to is his genuine behavior/personality which is why ppl in the past have found it hard to like Mack. The sharks players and organization adore him and I think he has rlly matured like significantly since his BU days. And I’m sure Wsh knew what he was getting himself into when he agreed to train with Mack.. it’s gonna be intense and difficult.

I agree, Will is a grown man and perfectly capable of advocating for himself. That’s why I’m not bothered by Mack maybe acting like a bit of a dick, because I’m sure they can work it out because that is what friends do. I also think Mack has grown and matured a lot and can sympathize with the amount of stress and pressure he’s under. I agree that he’s widely loved by his friends, family, and the Sharks organization. I’m not saying he should be vilified by any means.

Again, my issue isn’t with Mack or his relationship with Will, my issue is how fans react to Mack. He is babied for every little thing he does, good or bad. At a certain point, it becomes dehumanizing. This fandom does not see Mack a full grown man and self actualized person, they treat him like a naughty child and it gives me the ick. You can be a fan of a person and still acknowledge when they are in the wrong or behaving inappropriately. If fans were reacting by saying that wasn’t his best moment or at the very least not infantilizing him, I wouldn’t be bothered. I’m getting the ick from fans, not Mack.

[jimiscellaneous]

I do think it appears like Mack was being a dick today.. but one botg isn’t enough to get the full picture of what was going on. The way Mack talks abt Will to the media etc literally since day ONE there is no way he’d do something that he knows is upsetting Will or will jeopardize their relationship in the future. I wouldn’t even consider Mack confrontational he just doesn’t handle his emotions well at all. He’s never had an actually fight where he initiated anything except for when Will got hurt and he absolutely lost his shit and became very emotional not bc he is confrontational (& he didn’t even drop the gloves). Will knows how Mack is and I think they’re close enough to where if it was bothering Wsh he would feel comfortable expressing that to Mack when they’re alone 100%. We have to remember Mack is only 20 yrs old gunning to be captain with a lot of weight on his shoulders to perform and exceed.

To be clear, I do not doubt at all that they are good friend and I do think Mack thinks highly of Will. I’m not saying that their friendship is over or that Mack is a bad person by any means. I agree with nearly everything you said and think Mack was probably just overworked and frustrated. My issue isn’t with Mack, everyone has unflattering moments. My issue is with fans coddling Mack and making excuses for behavior that they would otherwise call out if anyone else did it.

The one thing I personally disagree with you about Mack (and this is just my opinion) is Mack not being confrontational or having never been in a fight. His BU coach said that Mack and his captain at BU literally got into it verbally all the time and one time Mack got into a physical altercation with another BU teammate during practice. He’s also gotten into it on the ice with people, such as with Logan Cooley. He is described by the people that know him as someone that gives as good as he gets and has a reputation for bucking at vets and coaches. If he has a problem, he lets it be known. This is actually a quality that I personally like to think Will admires about Mack, because it seems like Will is more likely to bite his tongue than rock the boat. It also appears to me that this is a quality other hockey players respect Mack for, because he stands on business.

[jimiscellaneous]

……….(i agree)

THANK YOU!! Like genuinely, I appreciate it

[jimiscellaneous]

Not saying Mack’s behavior is cute if he was doing it to me, but I do think it’s a part of their giggly flirty behavior bc I’ve seen Mack doing this live at the games and Will is usually laughing or doing something silly to entertain him. But obviously it’s not annoying or upsetting to Will or he wouldn’t be in Vancouver and he wouldn’t have invited Mack back to Boston. Mack is very expressive and you can read all of his emotions just by looking at him and I honestly think Will handles him very well. And it appears like wsh enjoys handling him or wtv you wanna call it. Will is the boy king’s boy king lol.

I understand where you’re coming from, but again I feel like this is a very kind reading of the situation. Perhaps Mack and Will were messing around at other games, but Mack sounds genuinely annoyed in botg’s description of what they saw. And it sounds like Will wasn’t giggling or playing along.

We do not know what Will and Mack are feeling or thinking, we can only make assumptions. Will knowing how to deal with Mack doesn’t necessarily make Mack’s actions any less rude, it could also just mean he’s a doormat and puts up with Mack’s attitude. Because he does. That’s one of Will’s key character traits that goes over everyone’s heads: he’s not a confrontational person, he’s very passive. Mack IS a confrontational person.

What also kills me is that fans complain about Willmack being “boring” because there’s no grit to their relationship and nothing to truly tensionpost about. This is something to tensionpost about.

[jimiscellaneous]

re: getting the ick i fear im the same way with the windshield story like i know will genuinely doesn’t gaf but whenever i’m reminded of it i just know if any man i knew irl did that,,,, #over

The windshield story was also never cute to me, personally, if anything it reminded me that Will comes from a wealthy background and an expense like replacing a windshield is nothing to him. However, I was shrugged it off because it doesn’t sound like Mack has had any angry outbursts since then (that we know of), which I take to mean he’s worked on his anger issues and grown since then.

However, what that botg described is objectively rude behavior. If I were Will, I would pull Mack aside in private and say something like, I came all this way to visit you and you’re going to embarrass me by acting like a dick in front of all these people? Do not treat me like that again. Because that is what you should say if they’re behaving that way towards you. It’s not ok to treat people like that.

[jimiscellaneous]

it’s okay because he’s hot and white and english speaking!

Yes and also a man!!! Women get crucified online if they even dare look vaguely annoyed and get called mean girls and fake friends and everything but a child of God. Hell, most other men would get raked over the coals for behaving like that towards their friend.

I like Mack. I cannot stand the way fandom infantilizes and coddles him for every little thing he does. Most of the time I can tolerate it because I know fans are just having fun and not being serious, but seeing fans coo and romanticize what is legitimately rude behavior is gross. He was acting like a dick. Call it what it is.

Before anyone goes, “Will didn’t react negatively to it so it’s fine” remember that Will is in front of dozens of people and cameras watching him. What about Will would lead you to believe that he’s confrontational or willing to make a scene when all these people are watching. Ask yourself what you would do in that situation.

[jimiscellaneous]

If I speak my mind in the tags or comments of posts I will be blocked. So…

Fans reacting to Mack (a grown man) being visibly annoyed with his friend, enough so that he’s banging things and shaking his head, by calling him a brat and a diva is majorly giving me the ick. I’m not mad at Mack, I understand he’s probably just frustrated and overworked, but I’m side-eyeing every person that is infantilizing him and calling this behavior cute or flirting. What is wrong with you people. That kind of behavior is never cute or ok.

[sidneh-crosbeh]

what did will fuck up on and how did mack act like a brat about it

just silly things like missing mack's pass or missing the net. he's suuuch a brat it's so funny. shaking his head, hitting the boards with his stick, looking up at the sky exasperated, pointing his stick at him etc. genuinely had me cracking up. diva.

[unfortunatelytheflyers]

if your fic is tagged "boypussy" without "trans male character" too, i'm just going to assume you're transphobic

[unfortunatelytheflyers]

it's not surprising that i see this most frequently in willmack fics

[10pointnight]

very much not a fan of everyone and their mother quote tweeting the flyers brotherly love tweet/in the insta comments section being like "LoL tHaT's KiNdA zEsTy!!! 🤪🤭" on their public twitter. it's not just the usual homophobic types either

[10pointnight]

Thanks guys! This is so helpful and woke of you. Jesus fucking Christ

[10pointnight]

I'm still pissed about this actually. Like it's insane that people don't realize that they are fostering a culture of homophobia when they do this. You are no better than some douchebag college jock calling them zesty as an insult, because that's literally what you're doing! and keep your fucking rpf to spaces where the players (and their families, friends, agents, coworkers etc.) can't easily see it. Is that so hard to do. Like if someone goes out of their way and makes a whole ass Ao3 account to view locked fic that's their problem imo but when there's 20 of you directly qrting/commenting on official flyers posts someone's gonna see it. Don't think this couldn’t adversely affect their friendship, either. Good god. It has been insaneeee to me to see the 4th wall trampled to hell these past couple months, I swear we used to have couth. And, like, hypothetically, if they DID have some kind of relationship, this would probably scare the absolute fuck out of them to see everyone putting them in the Gay Panopticon like this. They don’t care if you mean it wokely.

In conclusion: I do not support all tzjders some of you bitches are very dumb

[sturniolo-triplets]

[mack-will]

will training in vancouver, 21.07.26 (x)

[litteraeignotae]

demure coachable and exploitable

[the-ghost-bear]

I can’t stop laughing.

[inthejunipergrove]

Worship the hand that beats you or whatever

[seacryptids]

Design looks a bit better with color, still needs work.