JE Fandom Meta
This post is public, but if I think trouble is brewing, I will freeze comments. I will avoid deleting unless I really think it necessary. Play nice.

Okay.

First, some background: Once upon a time, I was a fairly active member of the Tenimyu fandom. I slashed; Tuti/Nagayan and Souta/Kimeru were my pairings of choice, although certain authors could get me to read anything. Now, Tenimyu has since grown and changed, but at the time, we were tiny. I wrote, and was generally well-liked for what I wrote, I suppose.

But one person right away rubbed me the wrong way. BNF kooriyoukai. In something like my second group chat, someone showed me pictures from a modelling book that Nagayan had done when he was maybe 18. They were tasteful nudes, and really impressive for someone as young as he was. We were lightly making fun of his apparent plume of pubes, because dude. MANSCAPING KTHNX.

And KY im'd me privately and said I should stop joking about it, it was a very bad time in his life, and we should all not talk about it ever again.

Thinking this was something that actually happened, I requested more info. Her response? He looked sad in the photographs. Therefore, he was very depressed and deeply regretted the shoot and it was now a Forbidden Topic.

...Now, I'm trained for modelling. I've done a little bit; as an actress, I can tell you. Photoshoots are hardly representative of one's actual state of mind. So I told her that I disagreed, I thought the photographs were quite artistically impressive, and that I saw no reason to pretend like they didn't exist.

KY and I did not speak much from then on. Timing of certain events bothered me, the way she spoke down to me and others bothered me, and the way she behaved in fandom in general bothered me. I was not the only one with this opinion, but I stayed quiet. I am not one to cause wank, and my personal issues with her had little do with fandom anymore. I grew out of TeniMyu shortly after my trip to Japan, and moved on to new shiny: Arashi, and Johnny's Entertainment.

kooriyoukai has recently made an attempt to enter K8 fandom. While JE fandom in general is a welcoming, fun-loving bunch, we are comprised of two kinds of fans.

1. Teenage fanbrats (usually in KAT-TUN, sometimes stray to the 'prettiest' members of other bands).

2. Veteran Fans who have been active in several other fandoms previous to JE.

Type #2 are the meat and potatoes of fandom. They support and supply and moderate and keep things running smoothly. They are the 'staff' of the fandom, in essence. Type #1 are the clients, to extend the metaphor.

But see, here's the thing. #2's come from other fandoms. They know what wank looks like and what causes it; they take steps to prevent. Aside from KAT-TUN, pairing wars in JE fandom are practically unheard of. OTPs, while present, are less "So and So are devoted to each other and only each other" and more "I like porn with these two the bestest ♥". You will have a hard time in JE if you come in with your strict OTP and never look or appreciate anything else. It just doesn't work.

JE bands are great friends. They love each other, ALL of them. If you as a fan cannot understand that, you're going to have problems.

KY has attempted exactly that. She approaches fandoms like a yaoi fangirl; her OTP, and only her OTP. She attempts to use 'logic' (screenscaps as evidence, jumping to conclusions, ignoring the actual personality of the people involved and often the context and speaking as thought Her Way is the Only Way) and her extended 'analysis' to convince people. She does put thought into it; but she frequently accepts only her own conclusions, unwilling to see other potentials.

I ship Ohmiya, firm and fast. But anyone who has ever spoken to me or even read my journal for a brief time should be well aware that I ship Arashi first and foremost; they love each other, all of them. I also do not for a SECOND believe they are truly dating. I would like to think they are; I think they have a chemistry, a spark, whatever. I suspect, I guess, I have a hunch; I do not BELIEVE, per se.

A grain of salt. Or better yet, a whole shaker.

KY is stepping into K8 on the wrong foot entirely. It's not that her pairing is wrong, or her opinions are wrong; it's how she phrases, how she ignores everything else, how she exludes any other possibilities but her own. She blocks people out and refuses to listen to reason.

She has already upset SEVERAL people in fandom, and there is a quiet move to blacklist her. I think that while this would be a load off my mind, it's the wrong move. JE welcomes everyone.

We just want 'everyone' to be a little less crazy.

KY will attempt to make herself seem victimized. She likes attention, like many BNFs of small fandoms do. She's very good at spinning things to make it seem like she's innocent, attacked, trolled. The truth is more like she blundered big time and upset people, and instead of doing to mature thing and apologizing and laying low for a bit, she makes a fuss.

Do not troll her. Do not attack her. If you comment, be civil, rational, and don't go anon. Don't give her a way to make you look like the bad guy.

With any luck, she'll either stay quiet in fandom, or come to some sense.

But if her history is any indicator, I won't be holding my breath.