Yeah. I'm not sure how strict of a norm it is, but it is a thing I've noticed? And I can get why people might not have, especially if they're newer to the board. As it's one of those unspoken expectation kind of things. Like how people's vent threads are like sacrosanct and such. Socializing is weird and frustrating!
This thread almost feels like one of those fandom confessions blog, where it’s not a proper discussion as much as a disconnected series of personal assertions. It’s an odd mode for a forum thread
Related salt: "X character is autistic coded and is therefore inappropriate to ship with people" wank. It's like this weird combination of "autistic people are literally incapable of having the ability to consent to sex/relationships" and "autistic people are basically all children and can't have any agency" and it comes up a lot in faux woke fandoms Off the top of my head, DA2 and Undertale had a shitton of it, and there was a good amount of it in og Homestuck fandom too (ie Mituna wank)
Mituna wank was funny considering the guy had a very definitely sexual relationship with a girl in canon lmao
related related: in 9 cases out of 10 "X-coded" just means that you want your not completely implausible headcanon to be widely accepted real bad. also "the author wrote an X character, they just don't know it yet" when said in complete seriousness is a fucking stupid phrase.
Yeah, but that was totally an example of Hussie being a shit ableist for writing a mentally challenged character into an inherently nonconsensual relationship -doffs 2012 era tumblr hat-
related related related: it’s not like I can prove this, but i’m reasonably certain people sometimes headcanon characters as asexual because that character is unattractive or the idea of them being a sexual being makes them uncomfortable (see again Mituna) kind of like how “x character is straight” is more often than not a pretext for “I despise this character” on tungle
related related related related: I don't want to see another “X character is straight” (in sneering context) ever again
Best example of that i've ever seen is teruteru from DR2, who is both like, kind of a gonk character and pretty much trying to get into every character's pants from the first second he's introduced and is literally like a canon incel That said, he was pretty commonly headcanoned as ace so he wouldn't spoil people's 2012 era "literally everyone is a triple hyphenated micro identity" headcanon charts, because then people can have him have a LGBT+ identity without having to actually ship him with anyone
This was the light in which I saw the original post that set this off. I'm really sorry for starting all this drama.
well to be fair I'm probably the one who started all this drama... but thank you ^^ I'm glad it's over
Nah it's cool. We sorted it all out pretty quick and without setting five other boards on fire in the process.
It's real obnoxious when people feel like they have to pair everyone off. I once read a BNHA fic that very casually mentioned that literally everyone roomed with their significant other, except the girls, who were all dating each other and thus free-floated through six rooms depending on their moods. Not a single single in this bunch of highschoolers. It's not like this author planned on writing most of those characters talking or doing shit, so why the fuck would they just drop Sato/Kouda/Shouji on me like that?
somehow i missed that during 2012-era DR fandom. jesus i know everyone hated teruteru and didn't want to think of him actually doing the do with anyone but, really??
It could have been specifically in my corner of the fandom (ie, the type who got very fighty over that kind of 'everyone is some triple-hyphenated identity' headcanon) but yeah a lot of people treat ace as the dumping ground for characters they consider unshippable
*procedes to write all manners of ace characters as I cackle maniacally cause fuck those fools honestly*
There was a "That's not what 'Coded' means" FFA thread earlier today with highlights like "Harry/Ginny is a coded lesbian pairing because they both play Quidditch." I think it's occasionally valid in the case of autistic characters, but not a lot of other values of X.
and it works for autism 'cause of the nature of what autism is, 'cause autism is something people can see in the behaviour and thoughts and emotions of a character that were put onscreen or on the page, basically, and 'cause people are capable of observing people acting autistic or being autistic themselves without knowing it's autism - and those things really don't all apply to the other values of x that people use that phrase for.
