).Off the Deep End, Through the Wilderness and Nothing but Rage · 5:55pm Oct 18th, 2012
It's time for another rant. One that's been suppressed for a while because it will make me seem like I'm deluded. And in some ways I am, we all are Some more of this is just he way I see things combined with the way I put terminology to it to produce meaning in my own mangled manner.
That said, this rant's about shipping, so all those who don't want to hear me prattle on about social structures, factions and other such things that will likely never impact directly on your life, exit the blogpost here or abandon all hope.
The alternative title for this post is Twidash rising, with the same connotations as blood moon rising and if Knighty ever makes it to my humble blog I worry for the possible implications. I worry more about how sane this is all going to sound though.
Twidash annoys the ever-living crap out of me. There, I said it. I know some of why. I'll talk out more of why, but in the end I should be happy to live and let live and I am not. I am so very, very not happy. I will persevere
Let's rewind the clock on the fandom back to... Griffon the Brush-Off. First Season, Episode 5 from memory. This episode was the first that would begin to shape the fandom's shipping community, so that's why I hark back to it. Back in those days (this was before even I came along, but the history isn't hard to track and/or infer) it was just a bunch of I'd hazard a guess at 1000 unnamed, 100 or so trip coders, and 250 with names. It's not hard to picture them huddling around some kind of camp fire, rather disturbingly. Anyway, these guys are sitting there, basking in the glow of being on to something good. The fandom's collective unconscious has just had it's first pangs of self-awareness and it's constituent elements that would later become juggernauts are still in formatative stages. The shipping community was about to come into existence and long time fandom dwellers knew it. Big mac was now a cemented recurring character, but nobody knew what to do with him yet.
Then Griffon the brush-off aired and like a bolt from the blue came Pinkiedash. Along with Gildadash, as backstory or as character exploration. When this happens four groups instantly cement themselves among the marked few prone to such things. The pro-culture forms, embracing the new direction, hoping it'll get more expansion in following weeks. The counter-culture forms in reaction, the ship doesn't sit right with them and they go looking for an alternative. The straigh shipping culture forms as well, a much smaller group who suddenly realize that a lot of what comes out of this fandom is going to be homosexual. And in the middle the ambivalent group forms, playing and toying with all these ideas but never commiting to one and never getting invested.
For a few weeks, nothing happens. In fact nothing will change that situation until Look until you Sleep, wherein the foundations of Flutterdash lie nestled oddly enough. However this is only the case if one considers the freshly formed Rarijack camps utter rejection of the next major event a possible formative point. Fall Weather Friends airs some eight weeks after the concrete inception of shipping with in the fandom. It provides an alternative to Pinkiedash, while resonating incredibly among those still camped out in 4chan. Appledash enters the fray, with a whole lot of retrospective under it's belt suddenly there's a slight tension. Some still aren't satisfied, some immediately embrace this with all their soul. Others say "Bah, humbug" and go back to writing Pinkiedash fanfiction. Butterscotch Sundae is among them I believe by this point.
It isn't until the Cutie Mark Chronicles, some 10 episodes later that the unsatisfied suddenly find themselves staring down the barrel of an alternative. Here we find the birth of the serious Flutterdash community. Before now it's only been the work of those who endeavour to explore every avenue for Dash, but now we have a Childhood friends angle, and with that hook meaning gathers. This is the state of what I call the triumverate. Pinkiedash, Appledash and Flutterdash. In order of popularity I suppose. The numbers shift around in response to what just aired, but otherwise they're more or less constant in relative position.
I abide Appledash and Pinkiedash. They have rhyme and reason, the same stength of tenuous deduction and reinterpretation holds them together as holds Flutterdash together. We can agree to disagree and I will concede them points and they will concede me/us points.
Twidash follows a growth pattern easily compared with that of cancer. And this is where things get rough. Not only do I not see whatever it is twidashers see, I'm not sure it's there to be seen. Twidash is cut from a different cloth. Rather than develop from an amusing amount of innuendo, or misconstrued glances, Twidash comes from a more primal energy. Energy that powers all shipping in the end. Energy best summed up by the phrase "But they look so cute together.". It has only slightly more basis in canon than Raridash, but that is entirely irrelevant and unhelpful.
Twidash has grown like the plague. It is now threatening Pinkiedash as the fandom's biggest ship. It has Knighty on-side. It has a lot of big names, and a disproportionate presence in the feature box and on EQD. It only came to significance as an entity group halfway through season 2.
It angers me because the characters have nothing in common. Before Daring-Do it was more or less unfounded, now it has a book series. It is a more pure form of shipping in some ways, and like all purer forms of any substance, it could well be dangerous.
I do know more about some of the factors that have lead to the rapid rise of this ship, but I will not repeat them here as there is no need and it does not advance my point.
My point is better served by the following: I've come from communities where situations like this produce flamewars. We haven't had one yet, but if we do it'll be Twidash at the heart of the matter and for a few days, the fandom will blaze brighter and hotter than the Zutara/Katang conflict ever did.
I still haven't answered my question though. In the end I know there is no answer, Twidash makes me angry because Twidash makes me angry. Same way reading Appledash or Pinkiedash in full knowledge of the ship feels like breaking a leg.
I wish I wasn't like this, more balanced, able to accept and read other ships. I could read Who We Are, The Party Never Ended and not grit my teeth and lose the impact of Forever is Forever. That's just a few of the difficulties. Fluttermac by all accounts is a quite well don community bt because it conflicts with my OTP I can't sodding go near it. It's irrational, it's painful and it eats at me, makes me question my sanity, intellect and emotional integrity.
I don't have an ending for this. Twidash is here to stay, it makes me mad, but there's nothing to be done. I'm sure I was going somewhere else with this when I started but just this is enough for now. I'm not going to start screaming "Vanquish the non-believers!" either. This will probably be subjected to some form of edit tomorrow.
Game over, for now.
Everhopeful out.
Everybrony ships Rainbow Dash.
I suppose you feel the same way about anything other than the OTP that I do about anything that's more popular than my own fanfiction. Though I will agree that, in fact, Flutterdash is the OTP, and it's one of the few ships that I'm currently reading. One of the only fanfics I'm reading, actually, glance through my favorites and you'll see them all.
I would appreciate you, though, elaborating on how this will lead to a fandom solar flare, in Steam or otherwise, when I have the time.
431492 Everybrony ships Rainbow Dash.
THIS. I figured that in a fanbase like this, everyone shipped everything, and while that's true, it's ridiculous how Rainbow Dash has a monopoly on this community's shippers. I suppose it makes sense in a generic, stereotypical way (e.g. rainbows=gay blah, blah) but it's overwhelming how heavily she is focused on, seemingly because of this.
Now... Twidash.
I understand that it's a repulsing taste for you. I agree that it makes little to no sense canonically. However, in corollary, I feel compelled to present a selection of canon events that could result in a Twidash mentality beyond the simple fact that they look cute together.
When Dash is hospitalized and discovers that she has a guilty love for reading, ShippingBrony123 jumps on this and interprets it as an opportunity to form a relationship. Being a closet bookworm (egghead, lol) would be a fueling characteristic; it's not illogical to assume that inherently different individuals could develop affection over having a single but significant interest in common. Of course, it requires one to believe that both characters are comfortable with being homosexual (or uncomfortable but strangely attracted) but neither of those are alien to the shipping community.
Just thought I'd provide an example that makes a little bit of sense; I still agree that it's not a very strong basis. My own interpretation would be that they simply develop a more personally connecting friendship over their common interest (e.g. book buddies). Thoughts?
431492
I'm acutely aware it's the only ship you read. I'll get around to that elaboration when I next see you on steam.
432120
Oh believe me. I am aware of Read it and Weep and the justification derived thereof. Believe me I know. My problem is in-spite of it. The fact of the matter is the ship existed before the justification and was, from my sketchy memory, just inside the top 8 or so when that episode came out. I'm also aware of "Oh Rainbow Dash, you don't have to hide your feelings from me." Read it and Weep was the second punch. It takes content over 2 seperate episodes to kick-start a ship. Or it did, back in the early days. PinkieDash gets to break this rule because not only because it was the first, but because it had a class 1 shipping event to back it up.
My problem is that before that episode it was powered by unstable energy, and grew a lot just on that energy.
The reason I theorise for this is that it is the ship that unites the two nexi of shipping within our fandom.
Rainbow Dash is without a doubt the most frequently shipped pony. There are a few reasons for this, aside from the horrid stereotyping, I'd say it's more due to her personality. The whole tomcolt thing, combined with the athletic bent comes together to make her a handy character for the prodominanlty male shipping base to project on to. Not only that but she fits handily into the male/female relationship model in either role, which makes it easier for males to identify with her as a mare who likes other mares. Furthermore her personality makes her a handy compliment or sumplement for the rest of the mane 6. Combine all this with the fact she's the embodiement of one of the most sought after characteristics in a romantic partner, loyalty, and her awesome character design and suddenly it makes a whole lot of sense, well more than just "Rainbows=gay" anyway. I hope.
Twilight Sparkle on the other hand holds the crown for being the most variously shipped pony, both M/F and F/F. She has if I'm remembering correctly ,been at one time or another shipped with just about everypony. My reasoning for this is less extensive, having spent less time musing on it. Most of my thoughts come back to the fact she's nominally the main character. Oh and a whole lot of the fanbase identifies with the intelligent and socially awkward aspects of her personality.
It's these two figures I suppose that in some ways mark Twidash as the path of least resistance ship, despite the fact the characters still have relatively little in common. As the old proverb goes "Shippers will always find a way".
Oh and I have this whole thing about colour balance as well. Don't ask me about that.
Anyway, I hope that explains a little more.
Everhopeful out.
Blasphemy. TomBerg is OTP.
just curious, what are your thoughts on RariDash, you seem to dislike all the mane six pairing of Rainbow Dash that isn't with Fluttershy.
1005343
Curioser and curioser. I wonder how you even ended up here, I didn't think I'd ever warrant someone reading back-issues on my blog.
My views have changed since I wrote this, but only in intensity. I don't hate either Appledash or Twidash any more.
On to your question, I quite like Raridash, comparatively speaking. I don't read it, becasue as you mentioned I don't really read that many works that rule out Flutterdash. I don't have the same gut reaction against it that I do against bigger ships though, and I've read some Raridash fics I've actually quite liked. Possibly the biggest factor in this is the recent spate of FlutterRariDash polyamory fics, started by Unexpected Confessions . (Okay there's just two of them that I know of but in terms of the three-way shipping we see around here, that's quite a lot.) It also helps that Raridashes usually work really hard to establish the attraction between the two, something people who write for the bigger ships often forget to do, or just skip to save time, which frankly, I really dislike. It's important to make the reader feel the connection between the two characters. Most Raridash stories I've read do that. Which raises its estimation in my books significantly.
Hope that helps sate your curiosity a little.
1006702
Yeah i realizes that now, i just recently started join groups and reading forms, one form lead me here and i was curious
1006973
It's not a problem, I was just curious myself. Thanks for stopping by.