Caitlyn stans are a bit weird...
No shade to Caitlyn herself (yet). I have a few several criticism about how her character was executed and quite a few things to yell at her about, but I find her to have lots of potential to be both a great character and person. People that are familiar with my blog, especially my mutuals, know how I feel about Zuko, how I like to tear him apart for how he was written and the shitty things he did, but it comes from a place of love because I like his potential as a character and I want him to be well written, so I can't help but be frustrated that he's not. And I do think he has the capacity to be a genuinely good person, a great one even, which is why I'm bothered by the characters brushing his bad behaviors under the rug instead of forcing him to grow out of them. I feel the exact same way about Caitlyn Kiramman.
Funnily enough, I feel the same way for Caitlyn stans that I feel for Zuko stans.
Aaand now all of my mutuals reading this collectively sighed and made a mental note to not watch Arcane if they haven't already so they don't have to put up with a new Zuko Stan variant XD not that I blame them, I understand the self preservation that comes from being a fandom veteran, especially an atla one, but I have to say, the first season of arcane is genuinely so good, and what season 2 lacks in good writing, it makes up for in entertainment value, so overall I'd grade it a 6.8/10 show, would recommend. Just stay away from Caitlyn stans.
Which brings me back to my original point of Caitlyn stans being weird. Why, you may ask? Well, first of, they have the same bad habit as Zuko stans, where they feel thos pathological need to justify Caitlyn's bad actions. Fans of comics!Zuko and Caitlyn stans both seem to think that because their fave is on the "good" side, their bad actions are justified because it was for "the greater good" or because they were manipulated.
But dare I say, Caitlyn stans are even worse, because comics!Zuko, at least, is being manipulated by his abuser. He's falling back to a pattern of being manipulated by the same person. His history with Ozai makes it easier for his father to try and manipulate him. So I guess Zuko stans can use that as an excuse for him. That, and he's also 16, learning how to lead all by himself, after not being in-touch with leadership politics since he was 13. And even before he was banished, we still don't see him get much political education because Azula was favored by Ozai, so he most likely paid more attention to her and her education.
Caitlyn, on the other hand, is a grown ass adult woman, and the sole heir of her family, in a system were the seats of the Council are more often inherited to the lines of the elite houses of Piltover. So Caitlyn was always the only plausible choice for an heir to her mother's Council seat, and she wasn't neglected or abused by either of her parents, so it's very likely she has had political education. So as an adult person with a whole ass job and a lifetime of political education, she really shouldn't be they easy to manipulate by somebody she doesn't even know and has literally zero history with. You could argue she was in a vulnerable position and was ambushed by Ambessa, but even if that was the case, she has six whole months to get over the shock of being ambushed and get her head back in the game.
Caitlyn stans have truly done the impossible, and made themselves sound even dumber and more dickride-y than Zuko stans in an attempt to defend her. Despite the fact that both those characters would have been infinitely better if, instead of being defended, the fandom and the writers insisted on holding them accountable and expecting them to grow tf up and get it together. Allow characters to grow, you guys. Pressure them to grow and become better. Because they have the potential and capability of doing just that, and a flawed character that sees the error in their ways and strives to change is much more well written and enjoyable than a character who is flawed, but everyone acts like they never did anything wrong.
But here's the part where it gets worse. You know how Zuko stans often use ableist rhetoric to defend his ableist actions towards Azula? Well, during the release of season two, Caitlyn stans truly were out there using PRO POLICE BRUTALITY rhetoric to defend her bad actions. Because she's a police officer, and she was brutalizing people. They were using pro domestic abuse rhetoric too, to excuse her hitting her girlfriend, btw. But the police brutality thing, man, that was truly insane.
Worst part of it all is that, just like disabled people called out Zuko stans for their ableist rhetoric, people of color started calling out Caitlyn stans for being pro police brutality, especially black arcane fans. And that's when Caitlyn stans decided to expose themselves as the most anti black subcommunity I've ever had the displeasure of encountering.
Black arcane fans would point out Caitlyn police brutality towards Zaunites having intense racial subtext (because a story of oppression can never truly be colorblind) and call out her stans for excusing or even supporting those actions, and then they'd be met with slurs, offensive stereotyping and intense anti-black rhetoric. Black creators that would break down why Caitlyn behavior is not justified would be met with blatant racism, the most prominent example I can think of being a black female creator by the name "chiaki nanami lover" being nicknamed "chicken lover" because of the stereotype of black people eating tons of fried chicken.
There was also an instance of a white Caitlyn fan smashing Mel's (black character) funko pop because they thought they got a Vi (white character, Caitlyn canonical love interest) or Caitlyn one instead, and crashed out about getting a black character instead of one of the white ones that they wanted. When black fans pointed out how that's a little messed up, they were also met with extensive racism. Then there was an incident of Caitlyn throwing a toy boat in frustration while arguing with Vi once, and while that by itself isn't that big of a deal, when somebody (a black person) pointed out that it's not ideal behavior to display in front of your love interest that you've hit in the past, the racism was also way off the charts, and the creator of that vid eventually opened up about how they had Caitlyn stans calling them slurs every single day.
There have been several black and brown people, especially black women that have been harassed off of social media, mainly TikTok and Twitter, because they dared to say they don't like the police brutality coating Caitlyn and Vi's relationship (especially considering their class differences, and how one is the oppressor and the other is the oppressed), a creator by the name LuckyLeftie being amongst them, and having to take down a video where she made a very mild crotism of Caitvi but received a disproportionate amount of harassment in response. There used to be this Twitter creator, Estelle, who I believe got mass reported and suspended off the platform because she had a gazillion receipts of Caitlyn stans being blatantly racist.
And let's not forget about the two seperate instances Caitlyn stans got exposed for sending literal lynching threats to black arcane fans on Twitter. Or the time they harassed Reed Shannon (the black VA of a black character) off of social media because he made a joking tweet saying something along the lines of "I'll never forget Ku Klux Kiramman". And also that one time Caitlyn stans insisted the only wrong thing Caitlyn ever did was not killing Jinx, Sevika and Ekko (two out of these characters are poc btw) (Ekko specifically is black, and arguably the most morally upstanding person in the entire cast, so that was straight up an insane and unreasonable thing to say).
It gets even more insane when, after all that anti blackness, they have the nerve to look you in the eye and say that calling out Caitlyn for her police brutality and being a literal dictator is racist because Caitlyn is supposed to be half east Asian, which is just plain stupid. While Ionia is culturally inspired by east Asian countries, and Caitlyn's father is from Ionia, the writers of arcane make no effort for any of those Ionian/Asian traits to be represented through Caitlyn. Her cultural background has literally exactly 0% impact on the way her character is perceived by the story. So it'd be pretty fucking easy for a racist person to disregard her poc heritage and continue to be racist towards the people calling her out. Or to just be anti black without expressing asian hate. Saying that as a Caitlyn stan you can't be racist because your fave is poc is like saying that you can't be racist because you have one black friend. Plain stupid.
Anyways, I'm aware that this post might step on some toes, so here's a quick disclaimer: If you're a Caitlyn fan and you're not viciously anti black and openly racist, then this post isn't talking about you. Not everything is about you. Since this post is clearly not describing you, don't feel the need to reblog or reply saying "🤡wELl, im NOt liKe tHAt😱" because I don't fucking care. What do you want? A cookie? An award for not being a raging racist? If you're not racist, then this post os clearly not talking about you, so you shouldn't feel offended or targeted by it. So just scroll on. This post is about calling out the Caitlyn dickriders that ARE anti black, so if you're not them, move on. Good day.