#h0hw

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

Okay but I have to ask: what is "That One Fic" and how did it have Ed break the no-killing rule??

oh here’s all my posts abt this fic if but basically at the beginning of the fic ed was having them raid ships full of immigrants to sell into slavery and he would have his crew pick one of the kidnapped people who looked the most like stede to bring to his cabin and where he would cry and ask them to hug him and then he’d kill them. he did this with a few people.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

the virgin Ed's Mom from HOHW who disapproves of ed's career path bc he should be happy being poor since that's what god chose for them or whatever vs the chad Ed's Mom from My Brain who would be terrified for her son's safety but ultimately proud of him for proving her wrong and providing her with comfort and luxuries and also killing colonizers on the reg

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

been trying to figure out how to phrase this in a way that’s not like preachy and annoying or like “UGH white ppl amirite???” bc i’m white and im not trying to distance myself from that but the way the author of hohw responded to criticism has me thinking abt how baffling it is to me when i see other white people respond to accusations of racism with some sarcastic/flippant/joking response (and idk if the author of that fic is white but this is a bigger issue than just one fan and i’ve DEFINITELY seen white people do this). truly do not understand WHAT makes them so assured of their own innocence that the idea that their behavior could unknowingly be influenced by biases is funny.

even if (and it’s a BIG if) the thing ppl are calling racist is bullshit. we don’t get to just laugh off the idea that we might be racist. cannot stress enough how much we don’t have the right to do that.

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

h3ll or h1gh water is a fic that i am caught up with and i am subscribed to but im literally so conflicted abt it. the dialogue and conflict resolution is so fucking tasty and handled w so much care but the way they characterize the Fan Favorites Trio is... it makes me go "hmmm. idk abt this." like from least to most problematic:

st3d3 is an effective pirate now but there's so much emphasis on how he's so rugged and dresses plainly and he's so masculine now and he has a beard and it's. weird.

iggy's given a tragic backstory to explain his internalized homophobia, and he also starts seeking personal growth... WAY too quickly imo. a little faster than i think his canon personality would. and on their own i think both of those things COULD be done well, or at least done in that corny fic way where it's kinda mediocre but bc it's amateur writing done in someone's free time im willing to lower my standards a bit. but the thing is it IS really well written, but bc both of these things happen in the fic it leads to iggy seeming like more of a victim of abuse than the perpetrator he is in canon

and fucking. Ed. for one thing he's WAY angrier than he is in canon. and also more violent! and his violence is usually put into the context of him feeling trapped and unsafe but like... it's still. an uncomfortable route to go. especially since at this point in the fic iggy is pretty much ok with moving on with his life and putting the past aside but ed is written as still being emotionally immature (to a degree that he ISNT IN CANON) and still prone to anger and violence.

like iiiii get why it's such a popular fic and why it's on like every rec list bc so much of it IS really good. when the characters talk shit out it's so well done but. hnnnng idk i think aside from ed's characterization in the fic, the biggest problem for me is the portrayal of ed and iggy as Equally Responsible for how toxic their relationship is/was. which would take a rlly long time for me to dissect why i think this is not true in canon and i dont have the time or energy to do that now.

i feel like. bc the fic was first posted in april. some of the stuff the author writes are where my brain first was when i first watched the show months ago. i used to interpret ed as angrier than he is in canon and it took a lot of analyzing to realize i was letting my history of how this kind of story goes/how characters like ed are usually written to form my opinions and not the actual text of the show. so i kind of get it. but some of it rlly feels like. they didnt need to go there

just kinda bums me out i guess bc well-written arguments/disagreements are the kind of shit i go apeshit for and it can be SO hard to find that, especially in fic. and if it wasn't for some of the characterizations going on i'd be eating that shit right up. but as it is like. the mischaracterizations rlly stop me from being able to fully enjoy the fic. AND bc it's such a popular fic i worry it might affect how other fans interpret the show!!

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

fucking shit i forgot to fucking unsubscribe from this shit ass fanfic god damnit

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

last night i was trying to go to bed but i suddenly remembered hell or high water and got so mad i couldn’t fall asleep i was just sitting there curled in bed all cozy and i was FUMING abt this fucking racist fanfic that’s one of the BIGGEST fics in the fandom

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

yknow one thing that does make me feel slightly better is whenever i start making posts that i think are gonna make people unfollow (like when i shit on two hugely popular fanfictions) i usually end up GAINING a handful of new followers instead

like follower count isn’t important to me (otherwise i’d stop posting things that i think are gonna make people unfollow) but it’s encouraging that when i’m talking about shitty things i keep seeing in this fandom there are apparently a decent amount people who agree enough to follow me. the shitty “fandom is for fun, no discourse (aka valid criticism of toxic/problematic behavior) allowed!” people are always gonna be the loudest but it’s nice to see that not EVERYONE is like that

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

anyway i’m just straight up blocking everyone who’s posting positive things about hell or high water at this point. i’m so tired. i’m so fucking tired why does nobody have any critical thinking skills