#salt response

[therapardalis]

[Salty as F*ck Munday Meme from Anonnie.]

14. Ever knew someone that everyone loves but you can’t stand? ------------

Not exactly. As in, I don't think there's anyone I've disliked for no reason. It's gotta come down to the person's attitude or behaviour, towards me or towards others.

But that said ... I've been doing this a long time and let me tell you, some people are as fake as polyester fur. They fling themselves at a mun they've only just met, spouting massively effusive, gushy, ass-kissy adoration and praise, flatter them, squeal at them, act like that mun hung the very stars ... but it's all performative. It's fake, just an exercise in sucking up so that mun will give them what they want*.

And sadly, a lot of muns fall for it. I mean, who doesn't want to be complimented and flattered, have someone constantly shower them with attention and praise?

Which is where this leads back to the original question; 99 times out of 100 I'm not the one being love-bombed (*cough*being a dirty female OC rather than a male canon*cough*), but I've spent a lot of time watching it happen to others, and damn if I can't spot it at a hundred yards!

(Footnote: *And as soon as the mun doesn't give them what they want, the adoration deflates like a leaky balloon.)

[shadowmayura]

Thoughts on GabeNath and how it fits into the bigger picture — post-Miracle Queen meta

So yesterday I accidentally ran into some GabeNath salt in regards to Miracle Queen, and it made me sad, but now I actually feel encouraged by it, and I will write a sugar-fueled mini essay on why: (ps, this is GabeNath positive meta in response to negative meta)

I won't go into too much detail about the original post because salt sucks and I don’t want to dwell on the negative, but the two biggest complaints that were more substantial than petty ship hate were “this doesn’t even serve the target demographic” and “there’s no reason to devote so much time to this throughout S3.” I cycled through so many feelings about this — first anger, then sadness, then injustice, and back to anger all over again. But the more I think about what I read, I actually feel better about it. I think the reason it got under my skin in the first place was because the claims made weren’t totally unsubstantiated.

However, they fail to address the big picture.

I’m realizing now that the original post I read was not malicious (and just to remind people before anyone goes on a witch hunt: it was properly tagged, but I ran into it by my own error on a blog I follow). The person who penned it and those who agree with it don’t have all the puzzle pieces yet, or at the very least, are struggling to arrange them. If I take my stan goggles off for a moment, I can logically see where the criticisms would come from, even if I don’t agree.

But I am a stan. And I have paid a lot of attention to this relationship — this very specific, very important puzzle piece. And I think I’m seeing where it fits.

(meta below the cut)

I’ll address this point first — it doesn’t serve the target demographic.

That’s actually true. And it’s wonderful.

This is one of the few parts of the salt post that I agree with. Although many of us who love this show are adults and teens, we’re not the target demographic of this show. It is a kids’ show. That doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to enjoy it, but it’s not being written for us.

So why do the writers indulge in this technically extra-marital affair between two adult villains? That’s not what the kids are going to be interested in; they want to see the love square! They want the pure, wholesome relationships involving the kids in the show.

It doesn’t make sense to have GabeNath fanservice. But that’s where the confusion is coming in for anti-shippers: because it’s not fanservice.

It’s true that GabeNath doesn’t fit the target demographic. Here’s why that’s important: it disproves the other point — that there’s no reason to devote so much time to it throughout S3, that it doesn’t serve a purpose.

However, this can be corrected by one simple word: yet. The relationship doesn’t serve a purpose yet.

It’s not fanservice, not for the target audience. So why feature it? Why put so much emphasis on this relationship? Why go through the effort of laying the groundwork? The reason is because it’s going to serve the narrative in a major way.

At one point, during S1 and maybe S2, I thought that there was a multitude of ways that Gabriel could stop being Hawkmoth. The most obvious was that Ladybug and Chat Noir would eventually defeat him, and he’d have his miraculous taken, he’d be put in jail, etc, etc.

But now, I’m 100% sure that’s not going to happen.

Gabriel’s feelings for Nathalie serve a narrative purpose. They create another obstacle for him. If he loves another woman, why is he trying to revive his wife, who is, for all intents and purposes, practically dead? These emotions create an internal struggle for him in addition to his external struggle, and I bet you anything that the internal struggle is going to pose the bigger challenge for him.

And honestly? Good. That’s far more interesting than the straightforward “heroes defeat the villains” story we’ve all seen before. It’s more exciting if he defeats himself.

I can’t say exactly how his reign as Hawkmoth will end, but I can tell you that it will not end as a simple defeat in battle. It’s going to involve choosing Nathalie in some capacity. Maybe he actually wins, but when it’s time to make the wish, he finds he can’t do it because it’s not what he wants anymore. Maybe he does make the wish, but he regrets it, and he and Nathalie have to find a way to help fix the imbalance they’ve caused. Maybe the objective changes, maybe his goal becomes to save Nathalie from the damage she’s taken. Maybe protecting her somehow loses him the miraculous.

There’s a lot of possibility there. But one thing is certain — this relationship holds all the keys to how this Hawkmoth falls and the next one rises. It’s here for a reason.

[therapardalis]

[Salty Mun Meme from @pinguiino.]

10. Any fandom(s) you don’t want to rp in or crossover to? 11. Are you for or not for purple prosing? ------------

Any fandom(s) you don’t want to rp in or crossover to? Disclaimer: these are my general opinions only. There are good folks in every fandom, just sometimes they're overshadowed by the assholes.

One fandom that I tend to take a long step back from is Transformers (or Voltron, or similar of the 'big sentient robot' kind). This is because I've known people in the fandom who talked about it and I took a look myself, and those fandoms seem to have major drama like constant white noise. Honey, I'm in Star Wars and Marvel, I already get drama served hot three times a day! I have no inclination to join another RPC that even on first glance is so full of it.

Are you for or not for purple prosing?

Hmm. Difficult question, because to me it isn't just 'purple' or 'not', it's a matter of taste and scale. I love me some metaphors, and I enjoy a bit of fancy wording, but it's a matter of taste where that ends and 'purple prosing' begins.

Generally I think it gets to the 'bad' kind of purple when the wording interrupts the message. Like I'm working my way through a list of complicated words rather than a coherent sentence, and/or I have to go back and re-read at least once to get a clue what the writer actually means ... then yeah, miss me with it.

[therapardalis]

[Mun Salt Meme from @tidalhaired.]

3. What rp trends are you so over and can’t wait for it to die?

------------

I'm not sure it's a trend so much as 'being new', but I'm so over all the one-liner RP/ask blogs who tag every single post with the fandom's RP tag. Like 'marvel rp' or whatever their fandom is.

I mean sure, tag your intro post or promo, but not every ic post you make!

It's almost impossible to find any promos or new blogs in the fandoms because it's full of their posts and I'm getting tired of scrolling or blocking.

[shadowmayura]

I read the salt post about the Gabenath target demographic and just want to say that I totally loved your response, I agree that Nathalie is playing an important role in Gabriel's storyline. Well thought!

Thank you! Whether people like the ship or not, it serves a purpose, and I just wanted to share that. It’s one thing to not enjoy Gabenath, but I think it crosses a line to say there’s no point to it in the story.

[shadowmayura]

I just wanted to say thank you for your reply from the salt post. I felt so bad when I read it, esp the part where the person said that no one over the age of 10 would find their relationship interesting and that only little kids couldn’t see the obvious direction it was going (or something like that) It made me feel dumb and embarrassed because I shipped them SO HARD and I found their relationship the most interesting :/ So thank you for that response :)

I think the OP was actually saying that no kids under 10 would find it interesting, which was a problem for them since that’s the target demographic of the show (unless there’s a different salt post I haven’t seen?). Either way, I think that’s bullshit. Not all relationships are made to please or interest a target demographic. Sometimes things happen because they are relevant to the plot. I believe Gabenath is a factor that is hugely relevant to the plot.

I think some people, like the OP of that salt post, are so blinded by their ship hate that they don’t see how it fits into the narrative. And in all fairness, I think this will be something that becomes more apparent to them over time. We’ll see it become relevant; I don’t blame anyone for not “getting” it right now; I just think they’re incorrect and misguided.

I’m glad you found comfort in my response. You don’t have to feel stupid for shipping them, and honestly, fuck anyone who tries to make people feel guilty about shipping it. They are two consenting adults, and I know everyone loves to scream “infidelity,” but Emilie is pretty much dead. There is nothing immoral about moving on from a woman who is only technically alive through magic intervention.

And I agree that it’s the most interesting dynamic in the show. We all know how the lovesquare ends. I like this ship because it has suspense. There are many things to love, so don’t let the haters get you down.

[therapardalis]

☀- what is your RP pet peeve?

[Salt Meme for @bertievi.]

Ooh … otherwise known as ‘what is Panth going to rant about today?’. OK, give me a minute …

I think today my biggest peeve is going to be the times that you do your best to be fair and behave like a decent human being, only to end up with knives in your back and a trail of bootprints where the people you’ve been fair to have trampled all over you.

I mean, I will be the first person to tell you, I can be a problematic RPer*. I get jealous. I get pissed off. I get stung when someone I’m RPing with seems to drop my threads in favour of RPing with others. But ya know what? Those are my problems, and I’ll do my absolute best to manage them quietly myself instead of causing hassles for my partners.

Block and blacklist are my friends, and if I can wall out the things that are upsetting meuntil I get the hell over them, I will. I try to give the other person benefit of the doubt, even when my ‘bullshit radar’ is going off the charts recognising their crap behaviour from past experience.

Do I always succeed? Hell no. But I do my absolute fucking best.

So that’s when the peeve comes in - when I find out or it becomes screamingly obvious that the person I’ve been fair to actually really is trying to fuck me over. Trying to monopolise all my partner’s time so they have none for me (or anyone else)? Check. Creeping around behind the scenes telling my partner (and others) to drop me (extra points - making up lies to do it!) Check. Deliberately trying to push in or derail whatever threads/chat my muse is having by swamping the partner to get them to do it with theirs instead? Check. Whining and guilt-tripping? Check. Dragging them off into ‘private chat’ so they can do the above without being seen? Check.

Basically, doing all the crappy, crappy behaviour that I could have done, but I knew damn well was crappy and therefore did not do? BIG CHECK.

Sadly, very often the short term result is that they win. Even if I can see them doing it I can’t speak up, because then I’ll sound like I’m pressuring my partner the other way. Not to mention that that sort of RPer will happily use any resistance on my part against me.

So it … fucking pisses me off, when I do my best and others just walk all over me.

Thanks for listening ;)

*I will note here that I’m a lot better about these things than I was maybe 12-18 months ago. They still bite, but it’s not as visceral as it used to be - I think I’ve just plain old hardened up, or maybe it’s because I’ve met some other people who operate on the ‘decent’ side and that’s shown me I’m not alone.*

[therapardalis]

❀ What has made you completely lose your chill?

[Salt Meme for @memoirsverse.]

Usually, my go-to for that is Anon Haters. Just … don’t get me started. I will never understand what goes on in someone’s head to think that kind of behaviour is OK, hiding behind a mask to deliberately be vicious and make someone else miserable. Just … what sort of scum do you have to be? What sort of excuses do you have to make to yourself?

I don’t care if they have some sort of problem in themselves - the thing about ‘being abused doesn’t give you a right to abuse’? That right there. Your problems don’t give you a free card to be an arsehole to others (especially telling someone to choke or kill themselves, I mean how fucked up are you?). Even more it doesn’t excuse you doing it to someone you don’t even know beyond a character on a screen.

… Wow. I said don’t get me started, right? But whoops there it is.