#I also feel genuinely SAFER discussing other games in the franchise bc none of those games

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Do you feel that Edelstans are engaging in some sort of psychological warfare here? The amount of times they sealion and repeat the same talking points that have been discussed over 4 years be it about Edel's stance on nobility, her imperialism, her racism and desire to genocide an endangered race feels like it's repetitive on purpose; to make the mind vulnerable to believe anything even if there's factual evidence against it.

I don't know that they're thinking that far ahead about it nonnie lol, I just think they're trying to argue for the sake of it. They have to know by now that people have their opinions already and that arguing and telling us our opinions or discussions amongst ourselves are wrong or "strange" isn't going to make us like or even want to like their favorite. They just, for some reason, cannot stop reagitating the same old shit.

I mean, I think they're a combination of chronically online and can't handle that other people don't like their favorite. Whenever people are minding their business just talking amongst people they know with their shared interest, these people seem to butt in and argue with them. My post was almost entirely about Miklan and his influence on the story, and yet that last person was saying "Crests had nothing to do with it" and shit, but like... Sylvain and Dimitri's supports were literally about that?

Basically they ignored everything in my post regarding what it was actually about and just wanted to argue anti-Dimitri (and Rhea, who the overall post was very minimally about), because the overall post they responded to wasn't really that much about Dimitri, but Miklan's place in the story (which has to include Dimitri and what he's doing).

Generally, from everything I've seen across various Faerghus blogs/people who just like the Faerghus characters, the Edelgard stans do this to all of them or most of them (at least the ones who are actively discussing the games amongst each other). Basically if you're just any random user who likes Dimitri, they'll do this to you if you're posting about him in a positive light. That's what I meant by as soon as you start posting about Houses, that's it, you're immediately anyone's target for discourse even if you don't engage in that regularly (and only do so when it's thrown at you).

Like yeah, I give my opinions about what I don't like (such as the second half of GW and coming up, why I hate VW's treatment of Claude about as much but in a totally different way), but I'm doing it to just express my opinion on my blog to my followers in my own space without tags that aren't my own personal tags.

It's fine to talk about what you don't like, but they always come in to talk about what they don't like... on posts that already exist about liking those things these people don't like. Like... it's literally common courtesy not to go onto a post loving up about a character and being like "this character is bad and wrong".

Frankly, I think they just thrive on discourse. Why else would one of them come onto a post that had nothing to do with them, wasn't in the Edelgard tag (and was a reblog no less, from someone they don't even know and had never met), was only talking about Dimitri as a side effect of talking about Miklan, and ultimately had nothing to do with what they wanted to argue about it (i.e. they just seem to have picked a random post that was pro Dimitri to argue for Edelgard and reach as faaaar as they could to justify why they were on that post at all)?

Also yeah, it's been the same shit for four years now with some extra Hopes salt and pepper added in. It's tiring and I want no part in it. Like, my posts about why I believe the writing failed Edelgard as a character? It's my opinion on the overall writing, and while they haven't engaged with those posts at the time of this ask (I didn't tag them in the main tags specifically for that reason), I wound up tagging it as discourse in at least the first part (for followers who are worried about discourse and being found and targeted to be able to avoid that) because all the discourse that's happened ultimately ended up making anything negative about Edelgard discourse. You can't say anything bad about her without it essentially being discourse because of this bullshit.

I enjoy discussing things with my followers and mutuals and seeing their perspectives, and it's good because we realize things from each other! But the important difference is that we're on the same page with each other/understand that it's harmless discussion, just giving our thoughts to each other and we understand that we're all trying to be respectful and not drag discourse into it. We don't have to agree on everything. I've had people disagree with me to some extents regarding Edelgard, and like... that's fine if you're not an absolute dick about it?

Me and R (if you know who that is you know who that is lol, just to not specifically name drop in case?) don't agree on Ike at all but we've been mutuals for years (and that's looking at my favorite lord, one of my favorite FE characters overall, and my second and third favorite FE games in the franchise). Difference being, we can have a solid and respectful conversation about it, or even about Claude who I like and R doesn't really like all that much).

It's one thing to have a discussion, but they only want to be completely right with no contest. They also come in, instead of having a good faith conversation, saying outright that we're wrong and strange, which is an antagonistic manner of starting a conversation. They're not polite; they're demeaning right from the get go, and they can't fathom how anyone could like Dimitri.

So, to sum this up... it would appear to be a case of chronically online, people unable to handle anyone having differing opinions, and thriving on arguing and pulling people into discourse. I don't know that they're trying to wear people down, because people who like Dimitri already are set in that they like Dimitri. They're not going to magically change their minds no matter how hard Edelstans argue at them. It just seems like they want to argue and hate other people.

Sadly this is why I have to be cautious when interacting with FE fans at all (of any game), because if they like Edelgard I'm automatically wary because of shit like this.

When talking to someone who isn't in the fandom, I expressed worry about their Edelgard loving friends knowing about me (because said person was playing Houses for the first time) because I love Dimitri and because of experiences from Edelgard fans and how they target Dimitri fans.

You know what they told me in response? That Dimitri fans are the ones attacking Edelgard fans (on Twitter) just for liking Edelgard. That is to say, the Edelgard lovers already told and convinced their friend this was true before I even expressed my worry. Was I surprised? No. Disgusted? Yeah. It tells me that when Edelgard fans get their friends into the game (and have them play CF first), they "warn" them about Dimitri fans before they even start playing.

Mind you, this person has now played CF and is an Edelgard fan now, just like her friends. When I started trying to explain to this person why I'm not comfortable discussing politics from this game (because of all the discourse) she got mad because it was "too much fandom drama" for her... but she didn't care when her Edelgard loving friends "warned" her about Dimitri fans? Said person also said "her friends will filter for her", and she told her friends (which I saw from a screenshot from her) that she leans more toward Edelgard's viewpoint politically, so uh... suffice to say someone I once was a friendly acquaintance with because of another fandom I'm very uncomfortable around now.

Ironic, isn't it, how the Edelgard fan has Edelgard loving friends and they get mad when a Dimitri fan tries to explain why they're uncomfortable with the game's politics, but the Edelgard fans can actively talk shit about actual real life people for being fans of an opposing character and that's not too much fandom drama. I've felt sick to my stomach that a potential friendship has a tear in it now because of fucking Edelgard discourse, and frankly I don't know if it can mended because of how uncomfortable I feel around her now.

While I'd like it to, I don't have high expectations considering she was more than happy to listen to her friends talk about fandom drama/tell her about it but got mad at me for trying to explain why that exact drama is why I'm uncomfortable discussing the game's politics.

Like, it really is always the Edelgard fans and I've seen plenty of people who originally were on the fence about her decide they don't like her now because the stans made them hate her or actively dislike her.

#DCB Ask #I talk abt Fodlan with my followers/mutuals bc I like the games but... #I also feel genuinely SAFER discussing other games in the franchise bc none of those games #have stans running around attacking anyone and everyone they can get their hands on #who doesn't love their favorite as much as they do. not even Fates had discourse even remotely like this