#shipwars

but

some of yall

some of yall be radiating the same energy as the whole “I DONT LIKE [insert character] BC THEY RUIN MY OTP!!!”

and it has me CACKLING. It’s giiiving 2020 stereotypical bakudeku stans to uraraka. Marienette X Adrien shippers when Kagami. OR (some) SONDOW SHIPPERS WHEN AMY??

So… you know how Instagram is basically a black hole? I fell in. Gone. Life. It’s not so bad, though. My boys are making sure I get Jimin when Jimin decides to show us that it’s not just Golden Maknae who’s the golden boy and good at everything.

Honestly, though, that’s a whole other post: “How did the fandom convince us that only Jungkook could be super talented?” Anyone else wanna dive into that?

But anyway. Scrolled through, saw Hobi’s video... And, forgetting the fact that Hobi had a mind-blowing glow-up on a whole new level... Actually, scratch that. He didn’t have a glow-up. I’ve just always reacted to his sweet smile like that.

Back to the point. The video. Focus, Majku! Hobi posted. I left my body. Maybe it was the Hobi-Jimin-YOONGI combo. But I was gone. Barely even noticed Taehyung’s post.

Then I checked Taehyung’s post.

So, based on my recent posts, you might think I don’t like Taehyung. Like I think he’s petty or full of ego. But no, I actually like him. In my own way, he’s great. Never gonna say Tae should leave BTS. And that doesn’t mean I think JK and Jimin see him the same way I do. I think he’s just... like that. Jikook might not care, or they could see it totally differently. Maybe ‘cause they know him better than I do.

So, yeah, he’s a cute guy. Cute pics from a cute guy with a cute message: "We’re together, and the world should be afraid!"

And then there’s this one pic of Tae sitting on JK’s lap. Fine, whatever. Let him sit there. Jungkook’s strong enough (and bold enough) to shove him off if it bugs him.

But here’s the thing. My issue isn’t with the picture itself or with how Tae triggered a whole taekook apocalypse over it. My issue is how the fandom reacted.

Jikook has to work for it. Like, they’ve done so much to show us they’re a couple—trips together, dating rumors, leaked private pics, carefully crafted media statements, questionable comments, borderline PG13 behaviors, their “own world” they fall into every time Namjoon isn’t looking, their military enlistment, their travel show... You get it.

Then, OT7 post drops, and suddenly there's a storm because Namjoon lays his head on Jimin’s shoulder for a pic, Hobi and Jimin are making kissy faces in the mirror (hello, girls’ night vibe!), and God forbid Yoongi looks away and there’s Jimin standing there... And suddenly, we forget about how many? 10 years of consistent attempts to show us how they really feel?

Massive chaos. Where am I?

And don’t even get me started on how big jikook accounts are suddenly flooded with pseudo-logical arguments about why Jikook isn’t real, and Taekook is. Like, okay, sure. Totally makes sense.

Now, I’m about to go into full “older, wiser” mode, so sit tight and please, don’t get mad at me for this.

This is what separates a mature person from a hormonal teenager.

Again, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you’re all teenagers. But I observe relationships, I’m in one, and I’ve seen stable, happy couples... And this isn’t Taekook. What you call “brotherhood” in Jikook is actually the stability that a relationship doesn’t need to be together all the time to be solid. It’s a life built together, but also apart. It’s the simple stuff—taking care of each other, going to each other just to hug, smile, and fix the blanket.

And no, separate rooms don’t mean a crisis. Could mean a lot of things, but in this case, it’s probably just about sleep hygiene. First of all, I’d suffocate my boyfriend after two days because of his snoring, and second, he’d probably murder me for going to bed when it’s barely morning.

Going out with friends? Doesn’t mean a crisis. My boyfriend hates cafes, I hate stopping at every tech store. That doesn’t mean we don’t love each other. It just means we can totally do our shopping separately and still be happy.

Do you get where I’m coming from? Why are we throwing away 10 years of history over one picture? (If JK’s actual brother was sitting on his lap, would you still be freaking out?)

I’ve always found ship wars kind of absurd because, honestly, I don’t think you can compare a fanon pairing to a canon one. I mean, if both pairings are fanon, sure, we can debate, but it doesn’t really make sense to argue about a dynamic we’ve actually seen in canon versus one that’s entirely based on the readers’ imagination. And this is coming from someone who isn’t a fan of Romione, for example—but it still doesn’t make sense to compare Romione to the "what if" that is Dramione.

Then there are ship wars like Wolfstar/Remadora, which, to me, often falls into overwhelming misogyny. While I do think Tonks deserved better than to end up being Lupin’s token love interest, whom he got pregnant and then abandoned, I also think the arguments for why people prefer Wolfstar are steeped in internalized misogyny. Because honestly, as much as you might like the idea of Wolfstar, the truth is that Sirius never gave a damn about Lupin until Lupin was the only friend he had left.

Anyway, beyond that, I don’t think ship wars have much to do with the ongoing conflict between Severus and James fans. That debate, in my opinion, is more about ethics and morality and touches on deeply personal principles for people. It’s the eternal discussion between those of us who defend the victim and those who defend the aggressor—those who argue that no matter how unpleasant the victim might be, the harm they suffered shouldn’t be downplayed, versus those who minimize the abuse for narrative convenience.

Eris and Emerie.

HEAR ME OUTT HEAR ME OUTTTT!

I feel like they can both understand each other because they both have an abusive dad. Or like the fact Emerie's view of Illyrian men is cocky, mean and gross.

What would her view of a sexy redhead Autumn court male be with fire in his veins..........

It means nothing but both their names start with E lollypol

But also i feel like Eris is the type of man who lovessss coloured women? LIKE WORSHIPS THEM?

Okok maybe i'm just imagining myself with Eris tehehehe

Hey, Anon...

You sent this prior to Memories 2021 hitting the streets. Very unfortunate. I am wondering if your outlook has changed any since yesterday/day before yesterday.

I am not sure what the relationship status of Tae is (single, taken, married, 4 kids and a minivan?) but Jimin and Jungkook are still as close to each other as ever. Personally, I never doubted that, the only thing was, how much of it were we going to see in this edition of Memories?

Your ask seems to be coming from a point of view that you do think there is a chance two of them are in a real life relationship. But then you sort of switch gears ..."why allow all this bullying and bad energy in the fandom ..." which to me comes from a shipping point of view.

Again, that's not Tae's or Jungkook's or Jimin's responsibility to manage the fandom.

The fans are not their children who need to be scolded because they have bad manners.

Fans are responsible for their own behavior and actions.

None of the members of BTS “allow” fans to behave a certain way in order to make money off said behavior. What money is being made off of it? Money is made from concert ticket sales, album/music sales, merch sales, commercial sponsorships, the pay-to-view content on Weverse, etc. There is no income being made from fanwars.

BigHit has published announcements when necessary to shoot down damaging rumors or to state ongoing legal action against people committing prosecutable acts against the members. Ship wars don’t fall into any of those categories.

The phenomenon of “shipping” has existed long before BTS came into existence. Perhaps it wasn’t called that but it existed. Creating fantasy relationships between celebrities is nothing new. No one is going to eliminate that from happening. 

The sector of “fans” who behave badly when it comes to Tae, JK and Jimin are less interested in those three and more interested in fighting for their fantasy celeb-ship pairing. That’s why they fight tooth and nail against each other. They want to be on the winning team. 

In reality, there is nothing to win. Tae, Jungkook and Jimin are real people. They are entertainers and also (very wealthy) regular individuals. They have a great working relationship with each other as we see from the Memories clips that have flooded the bluebird app timeline as well as everyone’s blogs here. 

Those who really believe Tae and JK are a real couple are not in touch with reality. There is no evidence that they are that close in their off time. If any of the three are a “couple” it is Jimin and Jungkook. Anyone with a lick of common sense can see that from what we’ve been shown and what the wild streets tell us. I saw a tweet that said “tkkrs will hear someone fart in the background and believe that’s a sign their ship is real.” It’s basically true, they make up stuff in order to perpetuate a fantasy and try to convince others it is reality.

Anyway, maybe I got off-topic but I hope I addressed your concerns, Anon.

I do hope your fears have been dismissed and you are enjoying what we’ve been seeing as far as how it went in 2021.