Replied to a comment on Reddit asking why I shipped Floofty x Gramble and thought, wow I wrote like almost 800 words, this should NOT be stuck on Reddit. Remembered I made this side-blog just to take @floofble as my user, so here’s my 2AM rambling about why I enjoy the pairing.
Wording might be off because, again, 2AM and Reddit comment reply. Feel free to offer your own insight, or to bash me for my opinion if you want lol.
Frankly, it’s difficult for me to really explain why I love the two so much because a lot of it comes down to my own personal headcanons and just the fact that I’ve liked the pairing since I first got into the fandom (about four years ago. Side note but DAMN, long time.)
When I did first join the fandom, I hated Wiggle with a burning passion and loved Gramble with all of my soul, thus causing me to hate Gramble and Wiggle as a pairing (I have moved on from this and I do like them now, but not exactly important to my ranting haha). I honestly just had wanted someone to pair with Gramble in spite of Wiggle. Who else to pick but the scientist on the other side of the beach that everyone was already shipping with half of the cast? In the beginning it was mostly just “haha, purple and pink sillies” but as I got more and more fixated on them I realized a lot of things that could genuinely make them an interesting pairing.
Firstly, their relationships with the Bugsnax sort of oppose each other yet mirror eachother in a fascinating way to me. Floofty’s entire goal throughout the game is to figure out a way the Bugsnax could be useful in a scientific/medical context. Their goal is based off of good for other grumpuses, and yet they socially isolate themself, seemingly not WANTING to build any relationships. Gramble, however, is pretty much the opposite. His sole purpose for coming to Snaktooth was to become part of a family, and despite the plethora of people surrounding him he too seems to isolate and instead fill the absence of a family with Bugsnax. I think, if written correctly, interactions between the two (whether platonic or romantic) could have added a lot of growth to their characters in regard to their relationships with others.
While Gramble having to come to terms with the fact that Bugsnax don’t make up for real connection and Floofty realizing that without connection they can never truly understand the people they are trying to help ARE points that occur in the canon end game, I think that the resolution of it all could have been a bit more satisfying if they had both had more interactions with people outside their main counterparts, and the fact that both of their resolutions revolve around relationships with others makes the pairing stand out.
Besides the whole story logistics of it, I think the two also parallel pretty well with our main boys (DRUMROLL PLEAAAAASE… Snorpy and Chandlo.) I think that any of them could mirror the other, honestly. The obvious choice of Floofty mirroring Snorpy for their sharing of a lack of social understanding/connection, their overall sort of high regard for themselves compared to others despite their obvious insecurities, honestly just the fact that they’re siblings, etc etc. Chandlo and Gramble’s mirroring is a bit less obvious, but it’s still there. Both of them have a surplus of love and care to give out based off of their respective canons, both are the more lighthearted of their couples, both also having obvious insecurity that they tend to shadow behind their resilience or just brush off all together.
Less obviously, Gramble could mirror Snorpy and Floofty could mirror Chandlo. Bear with me here. Gramble and Snorpy both have their extremely obvious anxieties. They both tend to dance around topics, resulting in miscommunication. They both isolate and have limited interaction with the others in game. Now, with Chandlo and Floofty I do think I might be reaching a tad bit, but here we go. Floofty and Chandlo both have a need to get things done themselves, a sort of a complex in all honesty. They are both stubborn as hell, though it’s more blunt with Floofty. Their goals are similar, just with Chandlo wanting to help one specific Grumpus rather than the entire race as a whole like Floofty.
There’s honestly a bajillion things I could say to explain this pairing. I was not expecting myself to write this much 😭 I guess, in conclusion, they have a shit ton of writing potential that I enjoy. Also, Floofty watching Gramble sleepwalk is funny. Don’t they have research they could be doing? Watching Gramble certainly isn’t helping you with your Bugsnax studies, Floofty.