Fuck it. Fuck this fandom. As a "PoC" non-binary person who's really into cartoons and wants to become an animator someday (and as someone who was also a fan of Rebecca Sugar's work on Adventure Time), I came and watched Steven Universe because I thought it would be something I liked. And I did. I LOVE the show. 'S probably the first show in a while that I haven't gotten disinterested in after a few episodes.
Between the gemkin and the "SU IS FOR TRANS PEOPLE ONLY!" and the "fans" that get offended at every little titchy thing (like UG coming in dressed as Rose Quartz, which was NOT a transphobic scene, despite what a few tumblrinas might be yowling), I'm about ready to have a go at the fandom. The tumblr fandom does, for the most part, suck majorly. They whine about people who are not inside their perfect "minorities, women, trans people, children" demographic. They whine about ANYTHING they can twist into transphobia. They whine about people calling the characters out on bad things they've done ("wHAT DO YOU MEAN AMETHYST IS NOT A PERFECT PERSON//???? YOU FATPHOBIC MISOGYNISTIC TRANSPHOBIC ASSWIPE")). They have furious debates about whether you can call Sapphire and Ruby lesbians if they're NB or not. If you don't conform to their will, it doesn't matter -- even if you're WITHIN THEIR DESIRED SPECTRUM OF SPECIALNESS, they'll turn on you. They'll call you a transphobic shitlord and try to shame you out of watching the show and send you various types of hate.
Steven Universe is, IMO, a pretty good show. Perhaps even a great one, although it really falls down to personal taste, and I'm not gonna scream at anyone who doesn't care for it. But by having lots of NB, female, and non-white/non-white-coded characters (which is a GOOD thing), it's given tumblr reasons to call people everything under the sun. You don't like Amethyst? Fatphobic misogynist. You don't feel comfortable calling Sapphire and Ruby lesbians? Transphobic or nb lesbian erasure, take your pick. Kind of pissed at Pearl for leaving Steven dangling from a cliff? Misogyny! Don't agree with the "Steven/Lars/Sadie/any character/entire cast is trans" headcanons? YOU HORRIBLE PIECE OF SCUM. GO DIE. YOU'RE THE REASON THE CIS WHITE PATRIARCHY IS WINNING.
Yeah, there are cool parts of the fandom. I cling to those parts desperately, like a particularly clingy starfish to a rock. But the biggest, loudest portion of the fandom is a steaming pile of shit, and it makes me want to curl up in a corner and give up. These people have made me pissed about my gender. I have been sent death threats. I have trouble enjoying this show as much as I could because I remember quite suddenly that I'm a "transphobic fatphobic misogynistic ableist cis white piece of shit". Look... I know when and where to put up barriers, but it starts to grate on you. I don't know how the hell you manage to deal with people like you do, Meowthkip, because it's wearing me out from the inside out.
and autism are pretty mellow people nowadays—not when it comes to their show, admittedly, but in their relationships with other fandoms and Hasbro. Bronies don't hate other shows for existing. There was a time when most bronies would try to proselytize you, but even then they accepted that other kid shows existed and there were people who enjoyed them. SU fans seem like they treat their show not only as their baby and their holy grail but think their baby is better than everyone else's. From what I've read, since Tumblrites think bronies are scum of the earth, they go out of their way to take everything they found was "wrong" with MLP and hope that if they steer SU's fandom away from that path from its infancy, their show will remain "pure" and "untainted".
