SHELLVISION RANT!!! (ALSO A SHELLY CHARACTER RANT!!! YEAHHHH)
hah rant back
Ok starting off, just like in my fossilcleaning post I gotta preface this with why shellvision as a ship/pairing/whatever you wanna see it as....does atleast make sense.
Theres two general reasons I can get behind and atleast understand why people could consider it:
Opposites attract
So this ones pretty obvious. People like to see :) and >:( get together.
And
2. Narrative parity
This one though, plays just as important a role, even if people dont realise it. Let me explain:
Vee and shelly are both main characters, they have the same amount of importance when it comes to dandys world as a game.
So you'll very likely often see them together, in updates, in lore, hell even in merch, etc.
For contrast, imagine maybe- vee x finn or something.
Sure it works but realistically they just won't appear together as often purely by chance, sure maybe if they had lore together but- mains dont need a reason to be seen together other than the pure fact that just theyre mains.
-Those are two general reasons, but some more specific to shellvision are that...
Cmon
You know the devs care
There has been an attempt to amend their relationship in the eyes of the public not once but TWICE
First was the flat out discord message clarifying vee doesnt hate shelly-
Secondly, redrawing the past and future poster so vee doesn't look disinterested.
Whether this was a change of hearts with the devs mid way or they seriously just messed up vees expression that badly the first time isnt clear but-
This atleast shows that their CANON (yes big exaggeration on that word) relationship was never meant to be what was majority wise perceived. Usually some iteration of vee hating shelly or something.
But tbh
I absolutely understand why 😭✌️ ok sit down shelly tangeant ive been hinting at TODAY
. . . .
Lets look at shelly and vees two interactions shall we.
Wow. Vee does not wanna be here it seems.
Hm.
Lets look at vees other interactions though.
Ok see im not ss'ing them all but you get it
The common denominator has been:
Vee is consistently blunt or no filter. But the reason we (mostly) dont see it as hostile, is because the toons shes interacting with dont take it to heart
Now shelly
Shelly 😭✌️
You could literally say nothing and shelly would still make you feel like you yes YOU personally just curb stomped her childhood bestfriend infront of her eyes
CASE IN POINT 😭✌️
This isnt vee being mean
This is vee on a Tuesday
But because of the writers dissonance in basically all of shellys interactions, and her being written as overly sensitive (yes i will get to this) it gives us the combined effect of
Vee: is normal
Shelly: is heartbroken
Vee + shelly= that tv is bullying that fossil i saw it
Which
Honestly
Is a ship trope in itself
😭 but whatever
Vees bluntness isnt targeted, rather shellys sadness is internal, its not caused by vee. Its just a common reaction she has to most toons, and the tone mismatch between the two is why this reaction is the one that sticks out.
Even though vee openly beefs with glisten and scraps
But yeah
now
Overly sensitive
Listen
I get that they're cartoons, so their personalities are exaggerated, but this breaks the fourth wall and delves more into how shellys character writing as a whole just has loopholes, not some "intentional silly cartoon character writing"
its fine to have a character with a shelly personality lol, everyones different and reacting like shelly isnt unusual in her case, BUT.
Shelly doesn't deserve it. Not in a sad way in a her character has done nothing to prove she should feel this way 😭💔
Shes a main character, shes literally everywhere.
She has a whole ROOM dedicated to her, something only 5 (DEBATEDLY, idk if pebble gets one) of the like....whatever amount of ppl here get.
Shes got....shes got people man.
Tisha seems to be a very good friend, always checking in on shelly and doing things to make her happy.
Shelly has talked multiple times about having a friend she learned to sew/is learning to sew from.
Cosmo was a friend SHELLY introduced sprout to, so shelly was/is atleast acquainted to.
She seems to have a good relationship with astro, spends time with sprout and vee often (even if its helping her move stuff).
EVERYONE has a good relationship with teagan (except dandy).
Yatta is 😭😭😭 teaching her to do acrobatics i guess. You get the jist of it.
She has one undeniable best friend, some questionable decent ones, and loads of acquaintances.
There are toons here with like one friend (and its a fishing rod or something) doing ten times better than her. 😭😭😭 HOW
SHES GOT A PARTICIPATION AWARD 😭 THE HALLMARK OF NOT BEING FORGOTTEN EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDNT WIN SOMETHING 😭
I get it, its fine to be sad in this situation, but shellys sadness is supposed to be caused by being forgotten.
....
Where
Where dude
I mean.
I think it goes without saying most kids wouldnt be interested in her stuff, considering her competition.
(magic moon man, steve har-vee, guy baking magic moon man cookies, or literally just a dog. Who doesn't like dogs)(ok some ppl but u get it. Considering shes a serious paleontologist, shellys objectively got the least to offer here for kids who draw like this:)
What kids trying to learn about like carbon dating or something when you could be playing dance dance revo- i mean dance dance toon on the other guys floor. Be honest.
Tisha must be so embarrassed bru 😭 imagine your best friend yes best friend literally twists because they have no friends 😭 id never show my face again but whatever
Now where does this lead us
Right.
Loopholes.
What even is shelly.
Is shelly a main 😭
Look- even after the ichor operation, you can clearly tell the mains are still involved in eachothers life or atleast WERE once upon a time beyond just comedic relief in their dialogue.
Sprout and vee especially - they even talk about trying to get answers out of dandy- and sprout tells vee to drop it. Astro has entire pictures with dandy and the dialogue with pebble about being worried with him.
But shelly
What is shelly doing dude 😭
With the way she plays zero role in the story as of right now- and how she has virtually zero dialogue concerning dandy or the entire operation as a whole- you'd think she doesnt know the mains like that.
BUT SHE DOES!!!
WHATS THIS!!! WHATS!!! THIS!!!
WHAT IS ANY OF IT!!!! ARE THEY FRIENDS OR NOT!!!
"they're settling in well" they all settled into gardenview TOGETHER, debatedly lived together before that even.
But shelly seems to show zero concern for dandy, if vee, sprout, pebble and astro all show some kind of active role or acknowledge dandy, why doesnt shelly? Is she not a main?
"zilla shes forgotten lol"
I can accept this, sure, works in a void.
But this isnt intentional, its moreso the dialogue of shelly just trying to be focused on pitying her and the fact no one cares about her, they were too busy doing that to remember the mains have zero reason to ignore her, and again, none of them do.
Shelly and vee work together, shelly invites sprout over to listen to her facts AGAIN which means its happened before and probably does regularly with the way its phrased so casually, her and astro are talking pretty fondly, shelly legit calls him buddy 😭 before asking for a goofy dream.
So why exclude her from the lore like that?
Well i just answered why but this is to prove a point.
Shellys character is just poorly handled, atleast in my opinion.
There was alot of potential to make a COMPELLING story here, being a main yet still majorly ignored makes for a pretty good arc by this games standards, but shelly checks out nearly no box when it comes to DESERVING this arc, its just forced onto her, and it makes no sense.
This is why you need to be pretty careful when looking at the ships involving shelly, and need to factor in whether its really bad chemistry or literally just 😭 shelly.
Theres a reason shelly x astro or bassie or tisha are like the only "healthy" ones, cause those r the only dialogues where this narrative isnt being pushed.
Now back to shellvision
Ignore shelly syndrome, and look at shellvision with fresh eyes with the writing in mind.
Theres so much reason people ship it.
Ships have been pushed for more with less.
This cowardly fandom. Was never there. For. Like. Idk freddy fazbear x sans. Coward s.
Its a cute pairing, the mere idea of a piece of technology dating a fossil is just, cute. Even more so when by the fandom in majority, both characters are pretty likeable.
Unfortunately, a ship isnt really gonna sail if it takes you deepdiving into a tumblr post to get their dynamic, is it.
Or actually is that the beauty of it
Shrug
i could sit here and tell you all the copious reasons its not evil like "why would vee ask her for help if she didnt think its because shellys capable!" Or "vee said she knows all the dinosaur facts to impress shelly!"
But thats assumption, grasping at straws even, and the job of the writers, not ours- and is frankly a headcanon more than anything. And this is coming from the girl who writes shellvision fanfiction at 4 am
What i can do and have done tho, is give you the reasons we concretely have, for seeing them with a little more whimsy in your heart.
It doesnt need to be a ship, just them. Coexisting. Because not everything needs to be about love. Though it absolutely could be if you wanna look at it that way.
Also last hoora we got the big dawg
The femslashinator. The breath take awayer.
This is what dreams are made of for kids discovering for the first time that girls can kiss other girls.
Clearly, we will never know what this episode is about, but i think its ironic that the one poster flutter, the butterfly with hearts all over their body and a heart for a literal head, does show up as a cameo in, is the one in which the the main focus is actively holding hands and frolicking in.
Better yet, thats her whole drift.
Spreading kind messages of friendship.
I just think thats wholesome dude 😭
Theres definitely a friendship between the two, and you can choose to ignore it, but you cant deny it.
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