🦋🪐🌌☄️🌠🌻

I like to think that part of his stress/fear response is acting really "normal", to the point where it's kind of jarring--I don't mean that in a depressing way, but like, I imagine the Saja Boys visiting a haunted house for Content (you know how idols do a ton of random sidequests in their promo content?) and Jinu spends the whole time just kind of nervously talking about how the rooms need cleaning and like, commenting on the furniture layout and stuff. All these mundane everyday things that are so not the point of what's going on. and whenever there's a jumpscare he greets the actors like he's meeting them. like some kind of ghost jumps out at him and he just automatically bows and goes "annyeonghasimnikka 🙃🙃🙃" (<-most formal way of greeting someone in Korean, used in speeches, news broadcasts, and when you're meeting someone you want to show a lot of deference to--think like, meeting your SO's parents). Those clips probably end up being circulated a lot in the fandom lol.

Or like. He'll sometimes point out social things that he thinks is obvious but it turns out for most people is subconscious. He'll mention things on a livestream like "you know, that certain way that people drink from a straw where they tilt their head and grab the straw in their teeth without looking and then suck on the straw, and it's hot/cool because it draws attention to your lips, which makes you seem attractive, but it's also just a normal everyday action, which makes it seem effortless, so it makes you hot/cool in an effortless way". And then he'll get genuinely surprised when the other members say that they don't actually mentally calculate the way they drink from a straw, they just do it. (In his defense, he was raised in the k-pop industry instead of having a normal childhood with friends his own age. And the k-pop industry does teach you to think intentionally about these things.)

Or. He also occasionally talks in terms of "supposed to" in ways that throw the other Saja Boys off, which then throws him off in turn. It would maybe almost be uncomfortable for some of the others (in terms of him reinforcing social norms blindly), except that none of the others care (which makes Jinu outnumbered) and also Jinu usually brings up such weird and specific social norms that it's more funny than anything. Like, grocery shopping after debut, standing in the cereal aisle and going "aw I wish we could get cereal..." and the others are like "?? why can't we" and he gives them a look like c'mon this is obvious and he's like "we're adults now... we need to be mature... we can't be eating cereal..." and the rest of them stare at him like. Jinu. what the fuck are you talking about. free yourself.

Because, like, unless they have a say in the creation of the character/lore, they can have whatever opinion they want and it wouldn't mean anything to the lore. Not to mention that it would be a self-sabotaging move to publicly speak out against any ship.

And I'm not even taking into account the VA/actors who seem to misunderstand their own characters.

For context: Leon's voice actor has already said he likes a certain ship, and other voice actors have also spoken about their favorite ships. This has led to arguments as each fandom is trying to use their statements as "evidence."

Also, the hypocrisy of the fandom: the VA/actor's opinion only matters if it validates MY ship or MY headcanon.

It's just a thought I had. 🥀

Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, if we're thinking about it from an analysis perspective, sometimes it can be useful to have input from the creators, because they can explain the context they were thinking of their story in, which might include things you didn't know about which could help you interpret the story with more depth and understanding. Like, for instance, if a story is drawing on a specific cultural tradition that you don't know about, hearing the creator talk about that story and how that tradition plays into the story will probably help you better understand the story than if you try to understand it blind.

Actors (voice or no) do have input into the creation of a story, so I would consider them "creators," but only to a limited extent. Their opinion and ideas can only inform the context of the story insomuch as they contributed to creating it--which is to say, their opinion can only really inform the context of their own performance, not the rest of the work as a whole. So the most you can get out of a creator saying they like a ship is "oh, maybe they were playing [x scene] kind of romantic, that's an interesting context to look at that scene in".

...Which could be kind of a fun thing to rotate in your mind, but not that important to your ship "winning" (becoming canon, I guess? idk, ship wars don't really seem to have winners) in the long run.

And beyond that, of course, there's the fact that fandom is not just about literary analysis--people engage all sorts of ways with the story, because fandom is above all a hobby people do for fun. You don't need the go-ahead from canon, or creators, to enjoy a ship. You can just like it because you like it, and you don't need to gather "evidence" about it. Just have fun, at that point! Make your own story, if you really wanna see your ship sail! Write fanfiction, write scene rewrites, draw fanart, whatever! Again, ship wars are so pointless, because nobody ever truly wins. It's just a bunch of people fueled by misplaced anger sniping back and forth and making each other feel bad ad infinitum. In my opinion, one of the worst ways a person can choose to spend their time. Not only is it about tearing others and yourself down, it's about doing that for zero good reason. Like, genuinely it's pointless.