30 Days of Guardian

[extrapenguin]

12. Least favorite headcanon
Using the definition of headcanon as something which is not contradicted by canon: Shen Wei as royalty.

1. Sorry, there is only that much Special I can take in a character. He's already got the most specialest power and was stripped from his native time period to his far future, where he is treated as a returned legend and in some circles worshipped. Tacking on "secret royalty" to the end of the list is officially Too Much.


2. A lot of his issues related to being an effective politician make much more sense if he wasn't raised to rule and didn't expect to be given decisionmaking power over Dixing.


3. A common-born person being thrust to greatness is much more compelling than the whole "royal heir raised on a farm" trope or any variant of it, and has less unfortunate implications about the existence of "better folk".


4. I am at heart a grouchy republicanist who doesn't see the point of royals. Making Shen Wei (or anyone, really) royal-born is a big, big minus in my book.

(If we're talking about "identity headcanons", my least favorite is Shen Wei and/or Zhao Yunlan being ace, since I've experienced ace headcanons as the opening salvo of homophobic purity wankers one time too many and I now want to run the opposite way for my own protection if someone declares a character ace. If we're talking about "blatantly contradicting canon" headcanons, my least favorite is Dixingians not having bodily functions, because we see them use the loo on camera repeatedly when common narrative convention is to leave out everyone's bathroom visits. We see more Dixingians than Haixingians use the loo FFS!)

1. Favorite episode
2. Favorite case
3. Least favorite case
4. Favorite Holy Tools arc
5. Least favorite Holy Tools arc
6. Which character would you resurrect?
7. Favorite SID member
8. Favorite guest character(s)
9. Favorite piece of worldbuilding
10. Favorite rarepair
11. Favorite headcanon
12. Least favorite headcanon
13. Favorite main villain
14. Favorite case villain
15. Villain you’d like redeemed or whose redemption you liked
16. Favorite conversation between Zhao Yunlan and Shen Wei
17. Favorite Dixing power and/or power you want to have
18. Least favorite villain
19. Least favorite character
20. Most appealing point for a canon divergence AU
21. Favorite character moment
22. Favorite badass moment
23. Favorite soft moment
24. Favorite team moment
25. Thoughts and feelings on the ending
26. Rec a fanfic
27. Rec a vid
28. Rec a fanart
29. Rec a meta post
30. Prompt for a fanwork

Comments

[firestar]

If we're talking about "identity headcanons", my least favorite is Shen Wei and/or Zhao Yunlan being ace, since in my experience ace headcanons have been the opening salvo of homophobic purity wankers and I now want to run screaming the opposite way if someone declares a character ace.

As someone who is ace this is... very uncomfortable to read. I feel like there has to be a better way of distinguishing the start of homophobic purity wank without shutting down ace folks and their headcanons about people like them.

[extrapenguin]

Admittedly, I could've phrased that better... Someone talking about an ace headcanon will just have me not engage with that post. A post by a purity wanker will usually have more signs of being written by a purity wanker than just stating that X character canonically/fanonically in a same-sex relationship is ace, but I prefer not to engage with ace headcanon posts nonetheless. It's tied up with some of my worst squicks/personal shit, so while others can headcanon stuff in their own spaces, it's better for everyone if I don't engage. Sorry.

[firestar]

The two aren't mutually exclusive, though? I mean, you can be homoromantic and asexual at the same time so being ace doesn't preclude being in same-sex relationships at all.

It's tied up with some of my worst squicks/personal shit, so while others can headcanon stuff in their own spaces, it's better for everyone if I don't engage. Sorry.

I do get this, though, and sometimes not engaging is just the best thing you can do.

[extrapenguin]

Yeah, I know aceness doesn't preclude being in a same-sex relationship at all. My ... hackles are actually (mostly? brain is being uncooperative about this) about "this same-sex relationship is asexual :)" because the background thread the purity wankers had when they esposed that ("don't worry, gay couples don't need to have that icky gay sex") interacted really badly with some IRL shit I was undergoing, so now I have a very big squick that is reliably stepped on by "this same-sex relationship is actually asexual" headcanons* and also occasionally twigged by other stuff. Mostly I slam the backbutton; sometimes I don't recognize the more subtle squicking and have a vague malaise all day.

* IDK how I'd feel about "this het dude is actually ace". Not sure I want to go look.

[firestar]

Totally fair, and in that context it's a shitty argument for people to be making and I'm sorry you had to deal with that and that it still triggers you now.

On the other hand, the belief that a romantic relationship is somehow lesser because sex isn't involved - which, for the record is not what I think you're saying - is exhausting because it's god damn everywhere, regardless of whether it's a straight relationship or a queer one and I don't understand why sex is the value used to determine whether a relationship is 'real' or not.

And I think I'll stop here, before this gets too fraught for either of us.

[solo]

I had never heard about this 'Shen Wei as secret royalty' headcanon. I think I once came across speculation that his family were maybe Dixing nobility... possibly based on something about young Shen Wei and Ye Zun but it didn't make sense to me even then. Who needs that? I agree with all your points about that.

[extrapenguin]

I think I once came across speculation that his family were maybe Dixing nobility
Okay, I might've mixed it up with that one! Nevertheless, I also hate "Shen Wei as secret nobility" – why add even more Special when it'd just be to the detriment of his character?

[solo]

Still totally agreeing with you. :)

[tinny]

Heee, good points! I had never heard of the secretly a royal trope/headcanon, but I can safely say it does nothing for me, either. (Mostly for reasons 3 and 4.)

[extrapenguin]

It's thankfully not a popular headcanon, but I hate it. *g*