Daily TLM confessions - 6
Hey there, I wanna rant a little about Coppernauts (but mostly about the characters themselves rather than just the ship), especially since today starts the @coppernauts--week and all.
(This is NOT ship hate at all, it's just my biggest issue with how the fandom portrays it rather than the ship itself.)
For a long time, I usually didn't ship characters who had very little to no interactions, which was btw the main reasons why I didn't shipped Coppernauts back when I first heard of its existence, but my opinion changed over the time. HOWEVER, over the time, I realized that there was also a very specific reason for me to not actually like it:
The way how the ship is portrayed in the fandom.
You see, one thing I noticed while seeing Coppernauts fanart is how the ship can basically be described as:
"GCBC is an asshole 100% of the time who is always in angry mode and is constantly insulting Benny 24/7 whenever he brags about spaceships or is just existing, while Benny is the clueless and brainless sunshine guy who is always annoying GCBC and likes to be insulted."
This is one of the reasons why I used to say that the ship was "flat" on the surface, not because of the trope appeal, but because that's how they're portrayed in fanart.
Now, I get that Coppernauts does have some appeals to be so popular, the main being the "opposites attract" trope and their parallels, which is definetely something to note.
However, I feel like a lotta ppl ignore what these characters even are in the first place. Now, I'll get off-topic of the ship to focus on the characters themselves.
What really pisses me off is how GCBC has a MAJOR fanbase, is one of the most beloved characters of the franchise, is one of the most remarkable characters, and YET, ppl forget that he was MANIPULATED by his boss, BLACKMAILED, EMOTIONALLY BLACKMAILED, was FORCED to do things while firmly believing he was doing the right, watched his parents get KRAGGLIZED IN FRONT OF HIM!! And when he was betrayed, he choose to change sides and decided to HELP the protagonists on their escape, thus officially starting his redemption arc.
ALSO, not to mention that Scribble Cop's creation's entire idea wasn't just to replace Good Cop where he originally existed, but also to ERASE HIS PAST SELF AND COMPLETELY DISASSOCIATE HIMSELF FROM THE SYSTEM THAT HURT HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE!!!! (Did ppl ever thought about this while watching the movie?)
You see my anger on this? How can a beloved character have a huge fanbase and yet not only his trauma is overlooked by his fans but also FORGET that he decided to change sides and reddem himself? And to make things worse, he's always getting reduced to his main visible personality trait while he's in Bad Cop, an angry cop who's always acting like an asshole to everyone.
As for Benny though, I can't say much about him since his personality is very simple, but I do get pissed whenever he's portrayed as a little femboy or a youthful twink. Like, Benny is FAR from being a young guy, because while his age is not said in the movies, is very implied that he resembles nostalgic stuff, aside from him being one of the oldest minifigures from the main gang, not only that but ppl ALSO forget that he's known as "1980-something space guy", and if I'm not mistaken, that's what Vitruvius calls him when he first shows up, which means that he FAR from being a young guy (I headcanon that 1980 was probably the year Benny was born). YET, ppl make him a femboy twink.
Lastly, when it comes to Coppernauts, THAT'S WHERE I GET PISSED THE MOST. When combining GCBC's portrayal in the fandom with Benny's femboy twink portrayal in the fandom, the result is literally "sunshine guy who is annoying grumpy guy 24/7 and gets insulted back". THIS is the reason why I thought that Coppernauts was very flat at first, not because of the movie, but because of the fandom portrayal.
I do find ironic how Coppernauts is considered "angst" when I BARELY see any Coppernauts angst art or fic out there. Actually, I think I NEVER once saw an angst Coppernauts art, at least on tumblr.
I had to rewatch the movie SO many times just to understand the TRUE reasoning for Coppernauts popularity aside from the classic "opposites attract haha". It took me a LONG time for me to understand the whole emotional plotline between GCBC and Benny, the reason why it took so long is because of how they barely interact. But I finally figured it out after a long time by noticing the characters' lore individually.
Another thing that a lotta ppl think a lot is that Coppernauts is a potential "enemies to lovers" ship. Well, let me break it to you, but Coppernauts is NOT enemies to lovers, in fact, is FAR beyond enemies to lovers. Wanna know why? Well, is because GCBC and Benny barely interacted with each other to even form some sort of rivarily, and even why they first interact, their only interaction in the entire movie is POSITIVE. Do I have to remind y'all that Benny's personality is very simple? Well, this is also another reason why coppernauts isn't enemies to lovers, because EVEN IF GCBC had any grudge against Benny, the hatred is not reciprocated because Benny doesn't even hold any grudges at all, in fact, he's quite easy to forgive if the person is genuenely trying to change, WHICH SHOULD BE THE ENTIRE POINT OF THE SHIP.
I'm not saying that Coppernauts NEEDS to be agnst in every fanart, but if it had more of it, it'd be really cool, because GCBC's trauma and terrible experience in Octan is COMPLETELY overlooked, and Benny is just portrayed as a feminated pet, so if we have a dynamic in which GCBC is actually trying to reddem and forgive himself for what he's done in the past while becoming a better person each day and Benny sees that progress and helps him instead of annoying him, then Coppernauts would really have a healthier dynamic.
Coppernauts CAN be a very interesting ship if you don't just draw or write the characters by portraying them on their surface traits. In fact, if there was more fanart about GCBC being comforted by Benny instead of insulting him 100% of the time, then I think I would really like the ship lot more. If Coppernauts is just "angry cop and sunshine spaceman" then the ship does feel very flat.
In fact, the more I talk about it, not only flat the ship feels in the fandom, but also Coppernauts accidentally becomes rather unhealthy in some aspects, I'LL GET TO MY POINT SO DON'T STOP READING. I say this because technically, if we think on an in-universe sense, Coppernauts would really be a very flat and unhealthy kind of love unhealthy, because if we're talking about the FANDOM portrayal of Coppernauts, then it's basically what I said earlier; GCBC's short-tempered and asshole personality plus Benny's annoying and boundary tresspassing. That kind of love quickly dies if we're talking on fandom coppernauts being applied to real life. For a relationship to even work in the first place, both (or more) partners should have RESPECT with each other and should also respect each other's boundaries. So when it comes to fandom coppernauts being applied to real life, then realistically speaking, GCBC would HATE to have someone constantly disturbing his peace and boundaries while showing up at work suddenly, and Benny (if he's annoying but at least has some sense) would persoally not like being insulted just because he exists.
THIS is the kind of love that would (realistically speaking) die out very quickly.
BUT, if we actually follow their canon personalities correctly instead of just using their surface traits, then the dynamic becomes REALLY interesting. At the start of the year, I thought that the ship was really flat because of the fanarts, but after finally understanding the real depth of it, I think that the most movie-close accurate interpretation of Coppernauts would probably be translated to something like this:
"After quiting Octan for once, GCBC does feel guilty about his actions in the past when he operated for President Business, so he activately tries to overcome his failures and tries to change himself each day. And Benny, the most quick to forgive people whenever they actually make some progress and is GENUENELY trying to change, would see GCBC's progress and would occasionately help him to get over his past."
And if we're talking about casual slice-of-life Coppernauts, then it'd probably be something like:
"GCBC occasionately gets annoyed by Benny's obsession with spaceships, but this doesn't become a reason for insulting, while Benny, after getting to know more about GCBC, actually respects his boundaries whenever he wants some space and room for himself."
You see what I'm talking about? If ppl actually remember for once that Benny is someone quick to forgive, and that GCBC is a character that has plenty of room to have a full redemption arc, then Coppernauts has a VERY interesting dynamic if the characters' emotional depths are explored further than just "Bad Cop-angry-mode boyfriend insults joyful spaceman boyfriend just for existing", in fact, this reads more like a pre-movie 1 coppernauts, so it is kinda flat.
The most interesting thing about a close and accurate interpretation of the characters' movie personalities is that this kind of dynamic can be read as both platonic and romantic without needing an appeal to be exclusively romantic.
THIS is the kind of Coppernauts portrayal I'd REALLY love to see being drawn or written more often by the fandom. IN FACT, this is where the opposites attract trope could shine and serve a better meaning for the ship, in which I think it could be something like: "GCBC tries to ground Benny's obsession with spaceships instead of insulting him for it, while Benny tries to help GCBC either with his redemption arc or by giving him a reason to keep changing and continuing his growth and development instead of pushing his boundaries".
Feel free to agree or disagree with this, I'm all ears to any debate or other opinions.
Thank you for reading until here and have a nice Coppernauts week! <3
-pixelego
