Its Good...

Alright, the amount of hate towards 2Nu in recent months is getting ridiculous. I know there’s always been 2Nu haters, but since Gorillaz is active again, the animosity is back and bigger than ever. It’s ridiculous. I can understand not liking shipping the bandmates with each other, but 2Nu really gets a lot of flack. And the detractors seriously love throwing terms around without caring, just so they can justify their hatred. It’s comedy fucking GOLD. One thing haters love to call 2Nu is “child grooming.” Do you even know what child grooming actually fucking is? Child grooming is defined as:

The constellation of psychological manipulations and actions taken by a predatory adult, meant to reduce a child’s fears and inhibitions, as a prelude to sexual abuse or exploitation by the predator or his/her associates. (thefreedictionary.com)

Oprah’s site elaborates on this more:

The grooming sex offender works to separate the victim from peers, typically by engendering in the child a sense that they are special to the child and giving a kind of love to the child that the child needs.

And during research, there are several steps to child grooming in order to get the sexual end result.

Targeting the victim (self explanatory. Most commonly look for children who feel isolated, emotionally needy, or have low self confidence)

Gaining the child’s trust (watching and gathering information on the child so they can know how to approach the child and lower their guard. The predator has to be slick and not act in a way to gain suspicion by the parents/guardians)

Filling a need (such as gifts, extra attention, etc.)

Isolating the child (constantly trying to create situations in which the predator can be alone with the victim. This in turn makes the connection stronger and the child trusts the abuser more. It can be even more reinforced when an offender cultivates a sense in thechildthat they are loved or appreciated in a way nobody else provides the child)

Sexualizing the relationship (going slowly by taking advantage of a child’s curiosity and then advance the sexual encounters the more time that passes. Through this, they make the child become a sexual being)

Maintaining control (the usual threats if the child tries to withdraw from the relationship. The child will by now be so afraid of losing their special relationship they’ll become docile in order to keep their abuser close to them.

Now, going over all of these points, does that really sound like something 2-D would do? Hell no! Child grooming is a drawn out process that not just anybody can pull off. It is INTENTIONALLY done. It requires quite a bit of planning and is a process that can take months to plan before execution. Now, no offense to 2-D, but he’s not exactly…smart enough to pull off something atrocious like this. 2-D is an adorkable goofball and he would never do something like this. Especially not to Noodle. Now, child grooming sounds more like something Murdoc would do if he were a pedophile. He seems the type to do something like that (and no, I’m not calling Nudoc pedophilia, either, I’m just saying. Out of the two of them, child grooming sounds more like something Murdoc would do rather than 2-D because he’s really despicable).

Another term 2Nu haters just love to throw around carelessly (and this applies to any fandom towards ships that have age gaps) is pedophilia. “Oh, you can’t ship 2Nu! It’s pedophilia!!!!!!1 1 ONE!!!!!” ….lolk. Do you people know what pedophilia ACTUALLY means? Hold that thought, it probably doesn’t mean what you think it means. Pedophilia is actually defined as:

An ongoing sexual attraction to pre-pubertal children…the fantasy or act of sexual activity with children who are generally age 13 or younger. (Psychology Today)

Now, again, does that sound like 2-D? Again: HELL NO. I don’t see how people continue to call 2Nu pedophilia to this very day when, in CANON, Noodle is almost THIRTY FUCKING YEARS OLD. I don’t think that a 39 year old being with a 26 (almost 27) year old is pedophilia. Now, if people ship 2Nu in Phase 1 and 2, when Noodle was 10-14 or so respectively, yes THAT can be considered pedophilia, but starting from Phase 3 and now, it’s NOT pedophilia. In Phase 3, Noodle was 20 years old. Phase 4, now, Noodle is about 26 years old. And in the UK, the age of adulthood is 18. So since in Phase 3, Noodle is 20, I don’t see how that can still be called pedophilia. And truth be told, I don’t see much fanart of Phase 1 or 2 2Nu. The few pieces that are around, it’s mostly just unrequited crushes Noodle has towards 2-D, nothing seriously romantic. But even so, quite a lot of Phase 2 2Nu art I’ve seen, the artist deliberately states that Noodle is of age in those pieces. Have you people never heard of aging up a character? I guess not. But I will agree, Pre-Phase 3 2Nu is very wrong. Besides, most 2Nu art that is around and is romantic depict them in Phase 3+. And don’t even get started with the stupid “B-but 2-D and Noodle have a 12 year age gap!!!!” because that shit’s annoying. Yeah, that’s quite a few years in between them, but it’s not that bad. Especially since, as I’ve said before, Noodle is of legal age. And it’s only 12 years between them. It’s not like Noodle is 26 and 2-D is 65 or whatever. Now with Murdoc, he’s many years older than Noodle. He’s literally old enough to be Noodle’s father. 2-D and Noodle’s age gap pales in comparison to the bigger age gap between Noodle and Murdoc. And I honestly don’t see Nudoc getting as much hate as 2Nu. *sighs and shakes head*

Also, “2Nu is abusive!!!” Ummm…LOL. No it isn’t. Never once has 2-D physically, mentally/emotionally, nor sexually abused Noodle and never will, so your argument right there is invalid.

And out of all the Gorillaz ships, 2Nu is the most plausible (in regards to the band members dating each other). It’s not hard to imagine Noodle always having a crush on 2-D. And yeah, you could argue that they’re like siblings, but there are plenty of pairings that are like brother and sister but end up together (aka main guy x main girl in almost every series). It’s honestly not as disturbing as Noodle and Russell. Russell is like a big brother to Noodle and like a father to her. He was the one who REALLY raised her like his own. Murdoc’s like that sleazy older uncle who is addicted to strippers but still cares for Noodle. 2-D is a bit like a brother, but again, it’s not hard to see Noodle having at least a one-sided crush on him after all these years. Also, they seem more like super BFFs than ONLY just like brother/sister.  Especially when she reunites with the band in “Rhinestone Eyes.” After being gone for about 5 years or so, I’m sure seeing him again would reawaken her feelings for him and make them even stronger. 2-D could start to view Noodle romantically after all these years, surprised by how well she aged and since she’s physically (and mentally perhaps) a lot different. And sure, 2-D would be freaking out and conflicted at first, but eventually he would get over it and love her back. Besides, even if he didn’t return her feelings, they’re best enough friends to not let something like that come in between them. Their zen bond is stronger than that.

And let’s not forget the official art that’s come out since Humanz came out. There’s one magazine cover that can be taken as romantic with how Noodle is posing with 2-D. Besides, there’s been a lot more art of 2-D and Noodle close to each other in this phase (there were a couple as well back in Plastic Beach, but not as many as there are now with Humanz). It’s nice to see how much closer 2-D and Noodle appear to be in Phase 4. And honestly, it isn’t hard to imagine someone not into Gorillaz mistaking these images implying the two are together.

It’s hilarious how haters are all “LOL friendship goals!!!” but if it’s Noodle next to Murdoc or something, it’s deemed “CANON LOLZ.” Seriously. Ah well, I’m also a victim of rose-tinted shipping goggles for other pairings myself, so I can’t judge too hard. *shrugs* Also, quit getting super peeved when someone likens “To Binge” or any song from Plastic Beach to 2Nu. Let people do whatever they want. If someone thinks “To Binge,” or “Broken,” is a 2Nu theme, then for crying out loud, let them think that! That also goes for “She’s My Collar,” too. Stop giving people shit because they’re “not understanding the song’s real meaning/message!” or whatever.

So, in short, those are my defenses to the two biggest anti 2Nu arguments that I see everywhere, and then some. Now, it’s fine to not ship 2Nu, but you really shouldn’t cross-tag into the pro 2Nu tag and start attacking anyone and everyone that ships it. It doesn’t make you look any better, really. And that goes for any other Gorillaz pairing. If you don’t like a pairing, that’s fine, just don’t go all ballistic when you see your NOTP. And seriously, stop cross tagging. It’s seriously irritating and makes you look like a huge asshat. Stop ruining the fun for shippers and everyone else. Stop causing fucking drama. This isn’t the SU (or insert other insanely dramatic, toxic fanbase here) fandom for crying out loud! Also, holy crap, Noodle is almost 27, let her get fucking romance already! Stop treating Noodle like she’s still that little 10-year-old girl.

TL;DR: Let people ship whatever the fuck they want in the Gorillaz fandom and stop giving them shit for liking said pairing. Especially 2Nu. Seriously, stop trying to start shit.