#fandom division

[violet-phoenix-nebula]

Every single person who has ever been a fan of the Harry Potter universe who is an LGBTQIA+ member or ally has been forced to make a very painful choice.

It's a horrendous position to be in, and everybody is handling it the way that they feel is best, not only to the community at large but for our own personal selves.

There have been a vast number who have chosen to leave the Harry Potter fandom and world behind. That is their choice that they have made for themselves.

It, however, is not the only choice.

There is another group of us, quieter though we may be, who have instead refused to let a bigot (among other things) rip this sliver of happiness away from them.

This group of people is dubbed the "fuck its" in this video: Drarry Vs. J.K. Rowling: A Fandom in Crisis.

I am one of those people. Harry Potter brought me an escape when I had nothing. Hogwarts was my home when I had nothing and no one.

I've tried to mentally separate myself from it in the wake of JKRs BS, however I've basically got a variety of trauma bond with it that's made it genuinely extremely distressing to let go of because its also a coping mechanism I formed when I was 13 growing up in an abusive home. And sure I could work on unpacking that in therapy but that shit's expensive and I have a lot better things to unpack.

I do not and will not purchase any branded/licensed Harry Potter products or merch. I refuse to let JKR have my money.

I refuse to let JKR rip my one single scrap of teenage happiness from me. I will not grant her that. I will not give her that satisfaction. I refuse to let her win.

[allyinthekeyofx]

Unpopular opinion probably

But right now I wish the Revival had been the end of everything, that season 11 wasn't happening. Because I am so sick of the level of hatred directed at Gillian and David by people of this fandom who then seem to relish in attacking each other and scoring points on behalf of two people who deserve more than having fans intent on elevating thier own statuses on the back of thier respective personal lives.

Neither one of them needs our involvment to such an extent and maybe it's time to start acting like fans should act - by rejoicing and sharing and promoting thier work, thier photo shoots, thier interviews and stay the hell away from the things in thier lives that are private to them.

Maybe a show of fandom solidarity towards them both wouldn't go amiss at this point and would likely be far more appreciated?

Just my thoughts.

[amisbro]

Alright let’s talk about it again

So on twitter recently I saw someone talking about how UtaPri became “divided” as it were.  This is funny to me because of the fact that I literally made a post about this on here not that long ago and so I thought we would have this discussion again “Is the fandom actually divided?” I mean to a degree...yeah you can say that and I don’t like writing that but its something which is an unavoidable truth. The biggest reason for this is well...because HEAVENS has become a fixture in the series and I can guarantee you that if they hadn’t the fandom would have been a lot closer and more unified because you wouldn’t have the camps that want to see HEAVENS more involved in the franchise and those that have been pretty much indifferent to them as is.  This has caused a bigger clash than it should have because...a lot of the time now when things get announced you will more than likely start to see people go “Where’s HEAVENS?” And I mean look...I get why people get annoyed with this because you just want to enjoy the content without hearing this a lot.  I respect that actually but we still need to understand this: As long as HEAVENS is included in the series there will be people that want them included in more media beit an Anime season ,their own Stage , A VN etc etc etc so if you are sick of hearing it I do apologize but you have to understand that not REALLY getting the content that say a QN or a STARISH gets is pretty annoying.  I’m genuinely shocked that Broccoli included them in the Prince Cats line and more surprised that Int’l fans didn’t pitch a fit because of the fact that they are included on the announcement in the UtaPri twitter instead of...you know...on their OWN twitter?! Now if you think this is harsh cool...I get it but the thing is that ,when it comes to Shining Live, there are projects or songs that have had HEAVENS in them and then KLab doesn’t include (at the very least) the songs which is weird!  It’s almost like SL tries to write this Canon where HEAVENS doesn’t exist even though they have to promote a CD project that might have had songs for them IN IT! The PERFECT example is this: So we had the songs “SUPER STAR” “This Is...” and “GENESIS” (not the band but HEAVENS’ song) released and of course the big thing they did WAS...release the first two but...not include the third What happened? Well of course apparently people got irritated because of the fact that (I guess) people wanted the HEAVENS song to be included and the fans from the STARISH/QN contingent got annoyed with it.  I get it trust me and I respect that people got annoyed but what we need to also remember is that was literally a song included on ONE DISC!  It’s not like the song was a separate song (Like GIRA SEVEN and Secret Shangri-La were) but it was a song on one disc.  The song doesn’t get used and I guess that people were irritated. Now the argument that is always heard is “Well its called Shining Live” It is...and I wonder if we have started to see a drop off because of that branding? Like okay look..,we get that people will say that HEAVENS is “too new” or “They don’t have enough songs” but I would like to remind people that HEAVENS as a whole has been around since about 2013.  The original Incarnation debuted on 6/6/2013 so that is what we go by there.  Now if we go with the argument of “They don’t have enough songs” Well really who’s fault is that?  It’s clear that Broccoli spends a lot of time getting Agematsu to write songs and so forth for STARISH and QN so of course they have a lot more songs...when you literally have only one CD a year (Group CD kids) its harder to build up a catalog of songs for HEAVENS. But this goes into the whole thing about the fandom being “divided” YES the fandom has this problem and it won’t be going away anytime soon I’m afraid.  Literally it will go away when one of two things happens 1.  The series ends 2.  HEAVENS gets closer to proper representation in the franchise...if I am honest the former seems more likely It is also fascinating to see that its been...6 years since we had a proper VN for the franchise and if we remember the inclusion of HEAVENS in Dolce Vita was announced back in 2017 and if I remember the hype for their inclusions was about that of the “explosion” in the Omega/Moxley Barbed Wire match...in simpler terms it was basically sparklers!  Trust and believe though if that had been an announcement of a new STARISH VN there would have been hype for weeks about it! The problem here is that the fandom on the whole (Japanese and International) seems “Okay” with the concept of the two “Main groups” getting all the content while HEAVENS fans gets scraps.  Literally the frustration that has to be bottled up because fans of HEAVENS are basically told to “be quiet” is like the worst part of it.  It would be NICE if instead of that happening the fandom tried to get “close to equal treatment” for all three groups and then maybe this “division” I read about in a tweet would go away.  The problem is every time it feels like it could some drama starter has to take a blog post from here and remind people about the “NEXT DOOR Mess” (which I have moved past for the most part btw) and instead of moving the hell on and trying to welcome HEAVENS fans into the fold...that part doesn’t happen (or at the very least) not on the Int’l side.  It would be nice to not have to have drama and just have people enjoy the series and not have to have group chats on twitter that are basically “HEAVENS fans group chats”.  It would be nice instead to have GC where we can all chat about the series and things we are looking forward to (I ,for one, am looking forward to the next step of the “Road to 7th Stage” myself) but we have to get rid of the division.  Trust me when I tell you I don’t want to be talking about this again this time NEXT YEAR! Somehow we have to become a “Family” (or the closest thing to it) again and do I know how we are going to do that?  NOPE but I am open to suggestions. Here is something I feel I need to clear up Do I have my bias in the UtaPri series?  Yes and we know who it is Do I hate either of the other two groups?  No and if you honestly think that then that is a YOU problem! Do I still enjoy the series for what it is?  Yes of course but again I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have my group and I want the best for them.  Some might argue that is what is detracting for it and you know what?  You might be onto something but I am stubborn to a fault...I’m a Gemini so that is basically a given sadly. Let me end on this Am I excited for the next “Project” for UtaPri?  I’m more curious to understand what the hell it actually is! Am I excited for 7th stage?  I mean yeah since its been 4 years plus since we had one!  Like no joke the last time we had one TRUMP was in office!  Ponder that for a second.  Trump was in office and Brexit happened in the same year (I remember that too.  Watched it on facebook when they had the Leave/Remain vote). Am I excited to see the next “Pure HEAVENS” project down the line?  We shall see.  I’d prefer an actual Anime project but if they get something like whatever STARISH and QN will get then fine.  I just need to understand what the hell it is! You know what I am most excited for?  The day when we can stop being basically the “Shining Agency” camp and the “Raging Entertainment” (HEAVENS) camp and just be a family again...let’s try to get there and see what happens no? take it easy

[f-ckyeahfutbol]

Here's the thing, though.

I love Sam Winchester. I love Dean Winchester. I love Castiel. I love Crowley. I love Charlie Bradbury. I love Bobby Singer. I love Claire Novak. I love Jody Mills. I love Donna Hanscum. I love Kevin Tran. I love Hannah. I love Gadreel. I love Anna. I love Balthazar. I love Aaron Bass. I love Jo, Ellen, and I especially love Ash. Holy shit, I love Bela. I love Garth. I love Cain. I love Meg. I love Cole. I love Chuck. I love Tessa. I love Gabriel. I love Frank Devereaux more than you will ever know. I love Krissy. I love Benny. I love Ed and Harry. I even loved the Campbells.

This is what Team Free Will means to me.