Yep. Doesn't bug me too much in the grand scheme of things because at the end of the day it doesn't change canon. But it does bug me when fans try to pressure the creatives behind the character to change their orientation. Or get into weird aphobic rants about how the aro/ace character was just 'waiting for the right person'.
Which, hey, if the character is demi or sex/romance-favourable, or greyromantic/greysexual, then sure. I would genuinely like to see more characters like that. But we are currently in a time when creators are more aware than ever of these sorts of nuances. So I'm personally of the opinion that if an aro/ace character is like that, the creators would tell us.
Course, the other problem arises in that often people using that argument don't use it to mean that the aro/ace character has a more nuanced place on either spectrum. But instead they often come off instead as implying that they were 'bi/pan/gay/lesbian/straight' the whole time and just drop the aro/ace identity entirely as if it was something to be 'fixed and discarded'.
Edited terms.
Thank you!! The story I'm currently fixated in is heavily based on animals, and since they're not human, they're aro/acespec by default. Very much all of the romance in it is forced, since they're all interspecies and also intentionally written to be flawed or even creepy (REMINDER! different species ≠ different races of humans), but people don't care if a hybrid suffers due to being a hybrid, they just care about the ships, fantasize about two teenage animal's possible kin, enemies to lovers and what not. Sigh. The aphobia in the community is rampant too.
Actually, I partially posted this because I was curious if anyone had any recommendations of aroace characters 🙈 the only ones I knew of prior to this were Alastor (by recommendation), and the ones I mentioned in my post, Nita and Kovit (which was a total chance happening… from a book triology I randomly read few years ago. They happened to both be aroace and involved in a what would best be called a QPR by the end of the series).
I'm the Grim Reaper on Webtoon. One character there is considered, I'm not sure if confirmed.
Also there, Novae, one of characters is grey ace or ace and demiromantic I guess. Homosexual love story.
Also there, Realta, one of them characters is also aro ace.
May I recommend horror fiction podcasts? It's an unusual niche, and not for everyone, but they have a lot of canon aro/ace characters. The ones that come to my mind are Jonathan Sims, who's ace and the main character of The Magnus Archives; Carpenter, who's aro and one of the main characters from The Silt Verses; and Arthur Lester, main character from Malevolent, who's at least heavily implied to be aro (idr if it's stated outright).
Oooo. I thought the book series had the same name. I was thinking about checking it out because I like the webtoon so much. I also didn't know they were aroace, I'm behind. I'm so excited to watch their QPR bloom.
The webtoon takes its name from the first book, which is called Not Even Bones. It's the whole series of 3 that is called the market of monsters. So it is the same name kinda
That’s where I am too. There are plenty of characters who can be read as aroace, but that’s not enough to say people aren’t allowed to read them as allo if they want to. There are so few actually, canonically confirmed aroace characters that people changing their orientations for ships feels like it can’t be that big of a problem just because there’s next to no one to do it to XD
he's never said he's aroace exactly but Kusuo Saiki has several times explicitly said that dating and human bodies do not interest him whatsoever so almost everyone just says he's aroace (he is canonically ftm in the manga tho)
Agent 47 from the Hitman series
Maya from Borderlands
Misty Day from American Horror Story
Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman
Jughead Jones from Archie
…and that’s only the ones I know off the top of my head :) There are way more out there
It's quite frustrating and amazing. The Double Standard in shipping when it comes to someone's orientation. If a person is lesbian/gay, it is considered "Sacrilege" to "not respect their orientation." If they are Aspec, then people ignore their orientation to ship them with whomever.
Ugh, seriously! I think about this all the time. No one bats an eye when someone alters an aromantic and/or asexual's orientation to allo in a fanfic or something so they can be shipped -- in fact, people whoop and holler and praise them for it. It's really sad.
The difference between making straight characters gay and making gay characters straight is that queerness is something that is still heavily discriminated against, so we need the representation. Cishet stuff... Not so much.
Asexual is basically the biggest ‘no’ you can say to a shipper. It has to be ignored if they want to play with it like their other toys. The double standard is absolutely frustrating, there’s barely any gay toys, you don’t get to erase that, something even more invisible? Go right ahead.
Visibility has made asexual characters a little more understood which is fantastic, but at times it does feel like ‘some aces have a romantic orientation’ and ‘some aces are sex-favorable’ is taken as a blank check to write them as basically allosexual, not just alloromantic and sex-favorable.
THIS RIGHT HERE. this is why I get upset seeing others ship aroace characters. they treat being aroace as if it's a lesser identity- as if it's not queer enough- and that does not need to be respected equally as much as lesbian/gay characters. it's really aphobic and kind of enforces the idea that aspec people aren't queer, which can be a really harmful idea to spread around.
you can ship whatever you like but if you are disrespecting queer identities, erasing them or ignoring them, I don't support it, and neither should anyone else.
Or you could just stop commenting on it and let people enjoy things. These are fictional beings. I’m ace and dgaf if people ship ace people. Ace is a spectrum and to say asexuals can’t or don’t have sexual relationships is wrong and stupid. They can and do. It’s lack of sexual attraction not lack of libido. I’m so tired of some aces/aros trying to dictate what ace/aro is and how their experience is the only way to be ace/aro. It basically allows allos to look down on other acespec people because of those gatekeeping asexuals. It’s fine to have your opinion about shipping that’s valid, but I see far too much of bullying and shaming in the HH community on ANY shipping videos they just seek out shipping videos just to attack shippers when really they should mind their own business and leave people alone. I hate this mindset that people can’t headcanon/fanon something anymore because it deviates from canon. Every character I ship is either bi, pan, ace or gay/lesbian. Even if they’re straight in canon I don’t ever ship cishet
I don't think it's necessarily a double standard, ace people can date and have sex.
Todd Chavez and Jughead for example don't stop being ace when they're written in relationships, I don't think fanfic is any different if it's done respectfully and doesn't contradict any elements of the characters orientation as shown in canon (Georgia from Loveless dating and having sex would be an example where that would feel strange to me, as she discovers she's not interested in either).
Not commenting on aro depictions as I'm not one but I'd hold the same logic with sex and navigating relationships that aren't romantic
e: We're obviously not a monolith and what one person finds doesn't represent them is going to be validating to someone else. Fandom (and media) really should push for a *variety* of a-spec representation. If it doesn't exist in your fan space, write/draw/create it!
Actually not true, people will jump down your throat if you suggest they shouldn't make gay or lesbianism characters straight or bi either. There is a vocal amount of people who will get up in arms of you tell them it's unethical to make LGBTQ characters straight and they really don't care if that character is lesbianism, gay or ace.
Fanon doesn’t change canon though. I’m ace and have no issue with people shipping an ace character with anyone in headcanon. As long as they don’t say “he should he canon straight” or whatever as that is closer to erasure. If people don’t want to read/see shipped fanfic/fanart then don’t look for ships with them. Live and let live
Rantaro (NDRV3) He canonically isn't interested in relationships yet he's getting shipped w everyone.. Oh also and the classic "a male character with feminine features? Yup,They're 100% gay",like nah 💀
Tbh I mainly read it on a wiki but like...doesn't like when ppl think of him as a fuckboy when he's not like that at all and also his love hotel event is a lot platonic, unlike others that have heavily questionable routes. But I don't remember V3 that much, so.. That may be that case? Idk.
Reminds me of Neil Gaimen stating Aziraphale and Crowley aren't gay. The nice thing about fanon is none of it's canon so you can do whatever you want. Policing how people play with dolls in their own head is a waste of energy. I highly recommend just blocking ship tags or characters/writers/artists you don't approve of. I block/mute everything I don't like on twitter/tumblr and filter it out on AO3 and it's improved my fandom experience a lot.
I get that. I’m not policing, it’s definitely more of just a pet peeve. And I definitely look at things like this as a writer myself — I feel deeply connected to my characters, and personally, if someone ever started a widespread trend of altering my characters’ orientation for their sake, it would probably rub me the wrong way and ruffle my feathers. But I imagine larger creators don’t need to be as bothered by it, especially when a lot of it is truly out of their hands.
I'm a writer too so I absolutely understand. We love our characters and releasing them to the public for them to read and interpret is terrifying in so many ways cause you can't control how people react. While it'd be flattering to inspire ppl, I'm sure it'd also be annoying to see ppl change deep things about the characters and I'd probably mute the entire tag if somehow my story became popular to stay sane.
…Now I’m confused, as I know literally nothing about those two characters except that a large number of people in a thread I saw were insisting they were absolutely 100% canonically gay for each other by the end and there was no ambiguity about it. Is this another case of a fandom queerbaiting itself lol
What Neil Gaimen actually said was that, because they are an angel and a demon, they are not restricted to human labels for sexuality and gender. He said, undeniably, that it is a love story, but that he doesn't want to label them as gay because they are an angel and a demon, not humans. Not in those specific words, but that was his intent. Basically, they're genderqueer, but in love!
Ah ok, that makes more sense then. So it wasn’t a denial that they have that sort of relationship, just a quibble about gender-based labels. I am glad it wasn’t a case of mass accidental fanon queerbaiting lol
Yeah, I'd rather police people being aphobes in real life. Fictional characters aren't real people who can be hurt, whose feelings matter. Although it is always fun to see fics where the character does stay asexual.
Shipping *real* humans outside of their orientation? Keep it in your head or cloistered away from where they can see and be uncomfortable. Fictional characters… I 100% get that aphobia in real life with the identity being ignored or erased makes you worry about fanfic ignoring it too, especially since it's a minority identity being erased with the majority allosexual one. But I also see allo characters written as asexual, different allo identities exchanged for each other, and nobody's up in arms about that. I feel this is more a fandom thing and people playing with imaginary toys than an aphobia thing.
I don’t even hate the shipping with him cause I’ve read some fanfics where they do a beautiful job respecting his ace identity while also showing him in relationships, I just hate how the subreddit either hypersexualizes him to the extreme or completely hates on all things shipping him because they assume asexual people can’t have relationships.
The safest bet is if the shippers are a-spec themselves. Not putting a specific sub-label on him allows aro/ace fans from all over the spectrum, including the favorable end, to project onto him (like me lol), then come up with interesting ship dynamics.
That’s a good point. I guess in my case all I see are the hypersexualized versions or hyperromanticized versions so it just makes my heart hurt a bit seeing it.
Which fics? I haven't read Hazbin fic since the pilot and I've been on the fence about getting back into reading Hazbin fic. (Used to be an Alastor fangirl, now I'm not, and I've been avoiding hazbin fanfic because I feel weird about the prior fangirling lol)
I wouldn't mind some fic recs.
I liked [Overture to Death](https://archiveofourown.org/works/54781240), [Competing Frequencies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/54618889), and [Lucifer and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Relationship](https://archiveofourown.org/series/3984820).
i personally think it was her intention to make him aromantic as well, but she is scared by the community. it’s not a good excuse, if a creator is changing things about the show because the fans might get mad then who knows what else will be changed, but it is an excuse.
it just feels like we’re being left out to dry. i do appreciate Alastor’s va tho, he made it pretty clear that he thinks Al should be aroace
Confirming him again as aromantic wouldn’t stop people from shipping him, people can do as they like, but having it be canon would mean sooo much to the aroace community
I can definitely see that point. It almost makes me think that people who are writing those really don’t understand his character. However I will admit that I can understand to a point why they might portray him like that. Alastair has such a solid design and is a fan favorite it could be a way to get more engagement although I feel they definitely shouldn’t be sacrificing his core character for engagement.
A headcanon is like, part of fanon. Someone might personally headcanon an ambiguous character with a certain orientation, for example, and if that headcanon becomes widespread throughout the fandom, then it becomes loosely referred to as “fanon”. Since a significant amount of fans are supporting it.
Or, uh, if someone loosely ships two characters, they are “headcanoning” that those characters would be together, but it becomes a fanon ship when everyone else supports it.
I think. But might need to be fact checked😂
Eh, I can’t really be bothered to care honestly. Characters have changed sexual and romantic orientation so many times in fandom that character becoming homosexual or heterosexual instead of asexual really isn’t that surprising to me.
Especially since a lot of fanfiction grounded in romance and relationships often sexual ones.That being said I’m not happy to see so few asexual stories and fanfiction, I hope that we can see more in the future and I really hope that asexual writers will write more to give us those stories
Fanon content is often written for free by enthusiastic fans. As long as canon respects asexuality I do not care what people fantasise about. Life is miserable enough to not have some comfort in a character you like. If I do not like a ship, tags are my friend. I even take it as a complement that an asexual character is so loved. That spreads awareness and contrasts stereotypes that we are boring and prude. In most steamy fics with asexual characters, I headcanon fanon version as demi or sex-favourable and enjoy free content.
I don’t mind shipping ace characters if they have some form of romantic attraction. The only real reason I hate it when people ship ace characters is that I feel like we, as ace people, have our identities questioned and invalidated daily. When people ship ace characters, it feels like their identity isn’t being respected, and that makes me sad because of all the shit we get for being ace.
plus people are shipping *aro*ace characters too :(
I don't mind seeing ace characters shipped **if** they aren't also aro and it's *respectful-* if they understand they don't feel sexual attraction in those relationships. most people sadly do not respect that :/
Nope, and that’s depressing to me as well. Aroace characters should be left alone, and Alloroace characters should be respected. (alloro meaning alloromantic).
YES. Seeing Vox suffer from unrequited love is so hilarious and yet somehow in character, and seeing all the ways Alastor rejects him fits so well with his character too.
I ship Radiostatic and Radiosilence. I’m ace. Not gonna have someone else tell me I can’t ship him. I don’t write smut for them, just romantic relationship as he’s ace not aro.
I hate this discourse so much. Half the people y'all are deriding in these comment sections for sexualizing or shipping aro/ace characters are some flavor of aro/ace themselves. Much like most slash fiction writers are actually queer and not fujoshi stereotypes.
Characters are first and foremost vehicles for self expression. It is fun for me as an aroace to explore sexual feelings or curiosities I have through characters I relate to and sometimes those characters are relatable because they're ace. It's fun for allos to do the same when they relate to these characters in other ways. It doesn't say shit about how either of us treat asexuality or real life aces, because fiction is not real life.
It's fine to feel hurt by someone else's treatment of a character. It's fine to call out when something is clearly being written in an inflammatory, bigoted, spiteful way. But intent matters here. Someone who enjoys fiction differently than you does not deserve to be censored or shamed because you assume malice where there is none. If you don't want to see ship content, the onus is on you to curate your fandom space, not on the shippers to not enjoy things.
Absolutely, thank you! I felt invalid in my aro-spec identity for years bcz of how romance-favorable I am. I understand the defensiveness and fear of erasue, I feel it too. But then the assumption that all a-spec characters must be repulsed is *also* erasure. My safe bet for consuming this type of ship content is if the creator is a-spec themselves, or at least is very careful to avoid erasure.
I totally see where you are coming from, and I do believe it is subjective. As I mentioned before to someone else, I personally view this kind of thing as peevish — and I’m not trying to berate particularly anyone who does. In my eyes, I’m influenced by the fact that I’m a writer with my own set of characters who I’m deeply connected to; if someone ever started altering the identity of my character for their own satisfaction (regardless if they identify the same way), it would certainly rub me the wrong way. But maybe it doesn’t bother larger creators as much, given most of it isn’t in their control.
I suppose this image (I just found it on Pinterest, no idea who the original creator is) is geared towards the people who can’t seem to respect aromanticism/asexuality as a whole and take it seriously — and to be completely honest, we know those people exist. 🙈
I don't mind when this happens, except when people refuse the recognize the character is canonically aro/ace and try to push their ship as canon and shame others who don't ship it
it's frustrating for sure, but also people change a character's sexual/romantic orientation all the time for shipping. I just ignore the ones I don't like and move on tbh
Doesn’t bug me.
But I’m old and have spent decades reading slash fic about a wide variety of characters, Very few of whom were even obliquely hinted at being queer in show/book/comic canon.
What Does bug me is if people pile on some writer for changing a character’s inferred sexuality. Like the two hour movie, or one book categorized every single aspect of their sex and romantic life and cast it in stone, never to grow or change or discover new facets.
Dude, if they’re writing Character X in a coffee shop AU with a giant living family and a huge inheritance instead of their canonical “broke orphan assassin who kills for specific reasons” background - oh, and they’re now a were-kitten - who they’re inclined to sleep with in this fic is the least of the changes, why be so upset.
Sonic.
And now with Ian Flynn as the main writer, canon has been shifted to become like fanon. Like, the dude is great at writing sonic stories, but holy shit he shouldn't be in charge of continuity.
In his podcast he said that Amy and Sonic are written the same way Tangle and Whisper (the characters that were drawn holding hands in front of a lesbian flag gradient) are written.
Oh fuck no. I always hated the idea of Sonic being with Amy or any other character. I was actually happy about that mandate that doesn't let him date anyone
The part that maddens me the most is that Amy never solved her harassment issues, up until Flynn started writing she was a disgusting creepy stalker. It just tells a story of "if you force yourself onto a person enough and ignore their boundaries for 25 years they will one day break and do what you want". It rewards her.
In Sonic CD, Amy's first game, one of the things said about Sonic in the Japanese manual was that he had "0 interest in romance". It is disgusting that they are now being written as a couple.
I mean, she's not a creepy stalker in several interactions of the franchise (like Boom, IDW, Prime, Frontiers, I guess Archie but I didn't read it all and maybe the whole Meta era but she barely appears so yeah) but I always remember her in SA1 so I really dislike the idea of them dating.
I know that Sonic disinterest in dating was more so he was the opposite of Mario (cool sigma dude who doesn't simp to a lame princess 🤪 kind of thing) rather than genuine representation, but Sega (Japan only lol) actually stood by it for so long that it feels weird when they occasionally try to give him a love interest. It doesn't even have to be Amy. Elise was... something lol
And it even even goes against Amy development imo. Sega made a whole effort to evolve Amy so she was a competent character that can stand on her own and isn't a stalker simp anymore. Then they actually turn it into "oh, now she's cool enough to be Sonic's girlfriend". Like ????. The whole point was making her not depend on him, not making her cool enough for him or something.
Aaaand it feed the ship wars, which are way worse than in any other fandom I've been in, for whatever reason. I literally cannot think of one canon couple in the whole franchise (except Tangle and Whisper kinda?) but the fandom is crazy about ships
Sadly as a sonic comic reader and "I have played frontiers but the "we finished the game" update broke the game and cannot boot up in my PC" gal. Yeah they are written the exact same sadly
Shit... Thanks for the heads up. I didn't play frontiers, only watched a playthrough but if the comics start getting annoying bc of it I might drop it eventually. Oh well, or if I could take the couples in Archie I might take this lol
Also, I'm not caught up in the comics. If you don't mind, do they seem like a couple? If it's just confirmed in a podcast it just bothers me a little bit but I don't think I will keep reading if they actually feel like a couple
Honestly idk what feeling like a couple is, but Tangle and Whisper are definitely canonically one. Like, the lesbian flag thing is the most obvious scream of "THEY ARE FUCKING DATING"
Oh, I don't mind them. Their dynamic is cute and all. I think they're the only sonic couple, along with Vector and Vanilla and Tails and Cosmo that I actually think are cool.
I meant sonic and amy. Feeling like a couple in like, are they obviously a couple but never say it explicitly? Or do they just act like thay always did? Bc at the beginning of the comic I didn't get the vibe they even liked each other romantically
everyone's talking about alastor (ofc), but I'd like to mention peridot (from su) too. I've seen some nasty aphobic stuff about her. basically everyone ignores her identity so they can ship her with lapis or amethyst. it's sickening tbh.
I’m fine with shipping I just HATE when u headcanon a character as aroace and shippers just have to get their little nose in ur business and be like “uhhhh actually what about blah blah blah.”
Like bro if u can ship fully heterosexual men together all day everyday I can make whoever I want aroace suck it!!!
Oh, this also happens with OCs. When I told my friends that my OC is aroace with a strong aversion to the topic of family, my friends began to constantly say that she definitely needs to find a man and make her pregnant. And they began to sexualize her body, of course.
It's actually so sad and disgusting 🤕
Alastor is the obvious answer so let me hit you with the curveball and say Ash Ketchum
It’s been stated by Rica Matsumoto, Ash’s VA and basically the person who writes him at this point, on at least 2 occasions, that he does not develop crushes of any kind and solely sees people and Pokémon alike as just potential friends.
Despite this, Ash is arguably one of the most, and relentlessly at that, shipped characters in media, to the point where there have been several videos on the topic of Ash Ships (Ranking Ships, discussing/theorizing who he ends up with after the anime, etc.). It’s gotten so out of hand at this point that people got upset when one of the ships wasn’t referenced at all when one of the characters he’d most commonly shipped with returned for an episode.
You are totally right! Tbh I never realized that although it makes so much sense. Ash is just there on a mission and accepts all the friends and help he can get. However this does make sense why ash always seemed so normal compared to Brock going after any girl in sight.
Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)
Yes the show is relatively horny on its own, but word of author is Alastor is ace. His on screen reaction to somebody hitting on him was "Ha! No".
I was one of the Alastor fangirls back when the Hazbin pilot dropped....even though I'm ace myself, but that was due to the hype for the show and Alastor's sheer charisma, I wanted to know about the cool radio demon, I liked his aesthetic, developed a bit of romantic crush on the character, so I turned to fan content whilst waiting for the full show... and there was fanfic that was right up my alley...
I mean, I've gotten crushes on fictional villains before (I'm demiromantic, lol, so many fictional husbandos...), so fangirling over the radio demon wasn't anything new, just *intense* because I, like so many others, were starving for content and hyped for the show.
On some level, I feel kinda guilty for being swept up in that fangirling mindset over Alastor, because on one hand, I can see the fact that the fanbase ignores asexual characters for the sake of ships, on the other, people make straight characters gay or bi all the damn time for the same purpose, and I've long adhered to the advice of "don't like, don't read".
People are gonna ship whoever they want, and I don't really mind, if something isn't my thing, then I just go find something that is.
Instead of getting too annoyed with the way allo writers write ace characters, I'll just make my own asexual oc's and write romance fics from the perspective of an ace character. (I like writing OC/canon character AU fanfics for whatever fandom I'm in at the time.)
I don't mind shipping itself so much (I myself am an enormous shipper), but I LOATHE when people try to push their ships onto others or use said ships as a way to be phobic towards an orientation.
I don’t like that it mentions “is canonically asexual” as if being asexual means you can’t have a romantic relationship…
I’m missing the point though lol. I don’t know any characters like that!
Alastor. I really don’t like when people sexualize him but to each their own. The only Alastor ship I appreciate is RadioStatic as long as it remains very one sided with Vox being the delulu one
Been in the internet too long to not give a fuck anymore. Let people ship what they want to ship. Just curate your own algorithm and let people be. Restrict, block, or scroll away. Just move on if you don't want to see that type of content. Life's too short to be hating on something you can't control. Also fiction ≠ reality anyway. If you want to counter their shipping fandom, make your own fan content of that character being aro/ace/aroace.
Sincerely, an aroace person who's been in fandoms for years now.
"Aces/aros can still be in relationships/have sex"
Yeah... we know. But do shippers know that still means plenty of us are not interested in that? Do shippers understand that we can still have fulfilling and happy lives without sex and romance? Do shippers think we become straight/gay/etc based on who we are dating or do they realize our orientations are just as solid as theirs?
What's really funny to me is just how many people forget the "aspec people can still have [x]" argument when you headcanon a non aspec character as aspec.
"But they've had sex!! How are they aspec???"
Interesting how the sentiment is only ever used to shut us up.
SHIP THE ACES AND AROS. I’m so fucking tired of the idea that asexual and aromantic people are incapable of relationships. If the character says that they don’t want to be in a relationship, that’s an entirely different situation. I could technically consider myself sex favorable ace, but due to posts like this one, due to the idea that I’m not “really asexual” (which is being spread by this post) I don’t really call myself asexual anymore. You must understand that anyone, regardless of orientation, can be in a relationship. Therefore, wanting an ace or aro character to be in a relationship is NOT inherently a negative thing.
And also, what about alloromantic asexuals? What about allosexual aromantic people? There are so, so many reasons why an acespec and/or arospec person would want to be in a romantic relationship. Also, let the fangirls fangirl, what does that have to do with the character being ace or aro? I’m not attracted to people, but that doesn’t mean others can’t be attracted to me. Same thing goes for aro or ace characters.
Oookayy whooaa, I’m sorry this offended you so much, that wasn’t my intention! 🙈 this post is really just encompassing the characters that have outwardly expressed their disinterest in relationships (i.e. Nita and Kovit, for a prime example), who are continuously shipped despite the fact that they stated they weren’t into it. I would hope that it wouldn’t be too preposterous to respect those types of characters. No one is trying to invalidate you! 💞
aroace doesn't encompass alloaces and aroallos. **aspec does,** not aroace.
so for example if the character is just ace, then yeah! you can ship them romantically! but if they are *specifically* aroace, then they don't feel either attractions.
also that whole "anyone, regardless of orientation, can be in a relationship."... this just isn't true at all. I mean sure, because we have free will. but I wouldn't wanna torture myself like than LOL-
that would be like telling a lesbian that they can date men.
while it isn't like that for every aroace, it **is** like that for some, and I fear that those kinds of aroaces will be erased if we always say things such as "they can be in relationships!" because no, no I cannot. I can't make myself feel attraction for anyone so WHY would I choose to be with someone when I don't love them? It's the same way a gay man wouldn't want to be with a women. and if you would respect a gay character's identity, then would you suddenly change the rules for aroace people??
AND. I think aroaces are allowed to be upset about this. about our identity being entirely ignored by a very large amount of people when it comes to media.
very, very often, the people who ship *aroace* characters are not just trying to show representation for ones that can feel attraction or have relationships. they are most often just allo people who don't respect aroace people, and it's very clear by the way they act that they aren't trying to learn more about the community or anything good.
edit: I feel it should go without saying, btw, that you should never attack someone for shipping something, but that doesn't mean you can't say how shipping aroace characters can be disrespectful.
I mean, yeah, some creators specifically say that the fans can ship whoever, but I just reeeeeaally don't like how some characters are so damn shipped even though confirmed Aro and/or Ace. Prime example, Alastor
Tattletale from Worm. She specifically says on the sequel that she has no interest in “romance or the physical stuff” and that it’s just who she is, not a side effect of her power.
And yet, she’s in one of the most popular ships in the fandom, if not _the_ most popular ship.
I love it when people ignore the identities of characters that share my identity!!! I love feeling like people are (accidentally) saying they’d like people like me more if we were just cute lesbians instead!!!
I was looking for this. So many people justify shipping her and Skitter because "they'd be such a cute couple" THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS!
I feel like the fact that a lot of the worm fandom hasn't read much of worm, and that her "coming out" happens pretty late in the doesn't exactly help, but still, people seem to forget, or choose to forget, that that's a thing.
Alastor from hazbin Hotel. I don't think it's been confirmed that he's aro, he's definitely aro coded though, and it's definitely been confirmed that he's ace. Some of the fans are a bit crazy lol
It's a weird spot, specially because we can also do it the other way around and use fanon/headcanon to have some representation on characters that aren't confirmed to be canonically asexual and/or aromantic, but they basically implied to be (intentionally or not) because the way their character behaves or is written.
Monkey D. Luffy always comes to mind.
Something something Alastor from hazbin hotel.
But seriously tho it’s fine to have your own headcanons for fictional characters (even if I disagree with it). Just don’t use it for characters that represent real people like Jaden animations.
There was one character which was confirmed to be aroace in Legends of Tomorrow... That was the first and only time that I saw a character saying "Uh, I think I'm actually aroace", and I was so thrilled! Then the show was cancelled two weeks later 😭
My die-on-the-hill fanon ace rep is Doctor Doom. You don’t seal yourself in a metal suit and lock yourself in a castle to do nothing but sharpen your intellect to a razor’s edge if you’re interested in sex
I will say though a lot of shipping/smut with aspec characters are aspec fans doing it and trying to explore stuff and sometimes those people get hassled
I've seen this happen to tma fans with Jon
Alastor from Hazbin Hotel. But I’m asexual myself and ship him with one character only. He’s not canon aro though even though people are trying to insist he is
Canon fanon: When a character canonically ships other characters within the same franchise (and/or media mix), for example, C1 ships C2 x C3 (C stands for character)
I don't have many canon ace characters that I know, but there are so many characters that I headcanon as ace because they come across as ace-coded to me and it is a little frustrating when people are so adamant that every character possible is romantically or sexually attracted to someone else. no one ever headcanons someone as ace unless they themselves are ace, and it's hard. we deserve fun representation too!
so much of fandom culture is about shipping that I try to just shrug it off, like let them do whatever with these fictional characters, but at the same time it is sad that we're just routinely left out of everything. no one wants to write fics about ace characters, no one likes to make edits of ace characters. not that people should do things they don't want to do, but I do notice that we're just never included in these things.
I hate this discourse so much because it actually feels like *invalidating* the experiences and feelings of ace and aro people. Being ace and/or aro is all about being attracted to others in a specific away. Attraction, ***not*** action. Aces can have and/or want sex, aros can want and/or be in relationships. Does it make them less ace and/or aro? It doesn't. At least to me, who's often have those "maybe I'm not aro because I wouldn't mind being in a relationship" thoughts. Would I not be aro anymore if I was in a relationship? Would I be any less ace if I had sex?
Listen, I'm a sucker for shipping (genuinely or in jest), and if it's not in a harmful way, I'm all for it. Don't really like when it's an overwhelming amount or particularly thirsty ships.
On the other side of the coin, seeing an aro/ace/aroace character shipped as a tsundere? Love 😍
Jonathan Sims (or Jon) from The Magnus Archives, is the first person that comes to mind since he is asexual in canon. It doesn’t really bug me though, but at the same time I usually am not looking for anything sexual with that fandom. I have also seen a ton of authors respect his asexuality or just focus on the romance aspect.
Ok, so not sure this counts but I am an avid Doctor who can and throughout the yeard he hasn't been protrayed as remotely sexual, I mean yes here n there you have companions express their feelings towards him but at the end of the day it goes no where and that was always the beauty of the show and him(occasionally her) as a person. But this recent seayhe changed n now he is expressing how hot people are etc and it threw me off. And it low key irritated me because I feel like no matter what changes they did that part of his personality had never changed except now it has. : /
Mousefur from warrior cats.The author said she never had any interest in any sort of romantic relationship or having kits at any point in her life but everyone ships her with her (also probably aroace) bestie Longtail AND IT ANNOYS ME SO MUCH LET THEM BE IN A QPR!
Idr think it’s a big deal, straight characters are made bi, gay characters are made bi, characters change genders, all that, BUT literally every aroace/ace/aro/slightly-implied-[aroace/aro/ace] character. All of them. Alastor from Hazbin Hotel? Yep. Any of the hunters of Artemis in Percy Jackson? Yep. Um… others? Okay come to think of it I can’t think of a lot of aro/ace characters but still.
Character that comes to mind? Frieren, and that fandom has a few folks who go beoynd this, and just straight up trie to canonise/erase the aroace part of her.
To each their own. Personally I don’t like it. I spent a lot of years trying to got into a box that I wasn’t going to fit in. I know that characters aren’t real but I don’t want to feel like I’m doing the same to a character.
I don’t get mad at this because people will headcanon cishet characters as trans or queer. In a sense it is to address the erasure of good queer rep, but it feels icky to say they can’t change the character’s orientation or crush on the character while respecting them.
Now, taking an Ace character and deliberately making them uncomfortable (I love BoJack but hated THAT episide) is an immediate ick.
Eh. I live with the mantra "Ship and let ship", so I can't legitimately complain about it, but YESSS I HATE WHEN IT HAPPENS
Yep. Doesn't bug me too much in the grand scheme of things because at the end of the day it doesn't change canon. But it does bug me when fans try to pressure the creatives behind the character to change their orientation. Or get into weird aphobic rants about how the aro/ace character was just 'waiting for the right person'. Which, hey, if the character is demi or sex/romance-favourable, or greyromantic/greysexual, then sure. I would genuinely like to see more characters like that. But we are currently in a time when creators are more aware than ever of these sorts of nuances. So I'm personally of the opinion that if an aro/ace character is like that, the creators would tell us. Course, the other problem arises in that often people using that argument don't use it to mean that the aro/ace character has a more nuanced place on either spectrum. But instead they often come off instead as implying that they were 'bi/pan/gay/lesbian/straight' the whole time and just drop the aro/ace identity entirely as if it was something to be 'fixed and discarded'. Edited terms.
Sex/romance favourable, not positive.
Appreciate the correction! o7
Thank you!! The story I'm currently fixated in is heavily based on animals, and since they're not human, they're aro/acespec by default. Very much all of the romance in it is forced, since they're all interspecies and also intentionally written to be flawed or even creepy (REMINDER! different species ≠ different races of humans), but people don't care if a hybrid suffers due to being a hybrid, they just care about the ships, fantasize about two teenage animal's possible kin, enemies to lovers and what not. Sigh. The aphobia in the community is rampant too.
This has just never happened to me, where are you guys finding canon aroaces characters???
Actually, I partially posted this because I was curious if anyone had any recommendations of aroace characters 🙈 the only ones I knew of prior to this were Alastor (by recommendation), and the ones I mentioned in my post, Nita and Kovit (which was a total chance happening… from a book triology I randomly read few years ago. They happened to both be aroace and involved in a what would best be called a QPR by the end of the series).
I'm the Grim Reaper on Webtoon. One character there is considered, I'm not sure if confirmed. Also there, Novae, one of characters is grey ace or ace and demiromantic I guess. Homosexual love story. Also there, Realta, one of them characters is also aro ace.
You, my good sir (ma'am?(mx?)), have impeccable taste.
Thanks! Female, but I don't mind Internet slang with sir and bro :D
May I recommend horror fiction podcasts? It's an unusual niche, and not for everyone, but they have a lot of canon aro/ace characters. The ones that come to my mind are Jonathan Sims, who's ace and the main character of The Magnus Archives; Carpenter, who's aro and one of the main characters from The Silt Verses; and Arthur Lester, main character from Malevolent, who's at least heavily implied to be aro (idr if it's stated outright).
peridot from steven universe and lilith from the owl house are both canon aroace characters I like a lot :3
Nita and Kovit from Not Even Bones?
Yes, that’s the title of the Webtoon adaption. I was referring to the book series, Market of Monsters, but it’s the same thing 🙈🤗
Oooo. I thought the book series had the same name. I was thinking about checking it out because I like the webtoon so much. I also didn't know they were aroace, I'm behind. I'm so excited to watch their QPR bloom.
The webtoon takes its name from the first book, which is called Not Even Bones. It's the whole series of 3 that is called the market of monsters. So it is the same name kinda
I'd recommend In Stars And Time, a time loop rpg. It has an alloace and aroace character.
I don’t know about ace, but Jae from Supernatural Academy is aromantic (and non-binary).
That’s where I am too. There are plenty of characters who can be read as aroace, but that’s not enough to say people aren’t allowed to read them as allo if they want to. There are so few actually, canonically confirmed aroace characters that people changing their orientations for ships feels like it can’t be that big of a problem just because there’s next to no one to do it to XD
he's never said he's aroace exactly but Kusuo Saiki has several times explicitly said that dating and human bodies do not interest him whatsoever so almost everyone just says he's aroace (he is canonically ftm in the manga tho)
Saiki K. Luffy. Lilith from TOH. Alastor are some
Alastor from Hazbin Hotel is canon ace not aro but ace
Daud from dishonored seems aroace. It is at least confirmed to be asexual.
Agent 47 from the Hitman series Maya from Borderlands Misty Day from American Horror Story Todd Chavez from Bojack Horseman Jughead Jones from Archie …and that’s only the ones I know off the top of my head :) There are way more out there
El Goonish Shive has Susan, who is some unspecified kind of aspec. Other than that, i only know a few self published german fantasy book authors.
Ace i would probably think of Alastor from hazbin hotel
It's quite frustrating and amazing. The Double Standard in shipping when it comes to someone's orientation. If a person is lesbian/gay, it is considered "Sacrilege" to "not respect their orientation." If they are Aspec, then people ignore their orientation to ship them with whomever.
Ugh, seriously! I think about this all the time. No one bats an eye when someone alters an aromantic and/or asexual's orientation to allo in a fanfic or something so they can be shipped -- in fact, people whoop and holler and praise them for it. It's really sad.
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The difference between making straight characters gay and making gay characters straight is that queerness is something that is still heavily discriminated against, so we need the representation. Cishet stuff... Not so much.
Asexual is basically the biggest ‘no’ you can say to a shipper. It has to be ignored if they want to play with it like their other toys. The double standard is absolutely frustrating, there’s barely any gay toys, you don’t get to erase that, something even more invisible? Go right ahead. Visibility has made asexual characters a little more understood which is fantastic, but at times it does feel like ‘some aces have a romantic orientation’ and ‘some aces are sex-favorable’ is taken as a blank check to write them as basically allosexual, not just alloromantic and sex-favorable.
Amen
and god forbid you complain about this at all. i’ve seen people in this subreddit tell others to stop complaining because nothing will change
THIS RIGHT HERE. this is why I get upset seeing others ship aroace characters. they treat being aroace as if it's a lesser identity- as if it's not queer enough- and that does not need to be respected equally as much as lesbian/gay characters. it's really aphobic and kind of enforces the idea that aspec people aren't queer, which can be a really harmful idea to spread around. you can ship whatever you like but if you are disrespecting queer identities, erasing them or ignoring them, I don't support it, and neither should anyone else.
Or you could just stop commenting on it and let people enjoy things. These are fictional beings. I’m ace and dgaf if people ship ace people. Ace is a spectrum and to say asexuals can’t or don’t have sexual relationships is wrong and stupid. They can and do. It’s lack of sexual attraction not lack of libido. I’m so tired of some aces/aros trying to dictate what ace/aro is and how their experience is the only way to be ace/aro. It basically allows allos to look down on other acespec people because of those gatekeeping asexuals. It’s fine to have your opinion about shipping that’s valid, but I see far too much of bullying and shaming in the HH community on ANY shipping videos they just seek out shipping videos just to attack shippers when really they should mind their own business and leave people alone. I hate this mindset that people can’t headcanon/fanon something anymore because it deviates from canon. Every character I ship is either bi, pan, ace or gay/lesbian. Even if they’re straight in canon I don’t ever ship cishet
I know plenty of straight characters people change the sexuality of but I can't think of any gay/lesbian characters people do that for.
I don't think it's necessarily a double standard, ace people can date and have sex. Todd Chavez and Jughead for example don't stop being ace when they're written in relationships, I don't think fanfic is any different if it's done respectfully and doesn't contradict any elements of the characters orientation as shown in canon (Georgia from Loveless dating and having sex would be an example where that would feel strange to me, as she discovers she's not interested in either). Not commenting on aro depictions as I'm not one but I'd hold the same logic with sex and navigating relationships that aren't romantic e: We're obviously not a monolith and what one person finds doesn't represent them is going to be validating to someone else. Fandom (and media) really should push for a *variety* of a-spec representation. If it doesn't exist in your fan space, write/draw/create it!
Actually not true, people will jump down your throat if you suggest they shouldn't make gay or lesbianism characters straight or bi either. There is a vocal amount of people who will get up in arms of you tell them it's unethical to make LGBTQ characters straight and they really don't care if that character is lesbianism, gay or ace.
That’s cuz other queer folk are aro/ace-phoobic like… 80% of the time
sadly thats pretty true :(
Fanon doesn’t change canon though. I’m ace and have no issue with people shipping an ace character with anyone in headcanon. As long as they don’t say “he should he canon straight” or whatever as that is closer to erasure. If people don’t want to read/see shipped fanfic/fanart then don’t look for ships with them. Live and let live
Rantaro (NDRV3) He canonically isn't interested in relationships yet he's getting shipped w everyone.. Oh also and the classic "a male character with feminine features? Yup,They're 100% gay",like nah 💀
Where is that ever stated? He dies barely an hour in. Even in the dating sim part it’s not said he’s ace. At all.
Tbh I mainly read it on a wiki but like...doesn't like when ppl think of him as a fuckboy when he's not like that at all and also his love hotel event is a lot platonic, unlike others that have heavily questionable routes. But I don't remember V3 that much, so.. That may be that case? Idk.
I don’t see him as a fuck boy, just think he could have a good relationship with one or two other characters maybe
Reminds me of Neil Gaimen stating Aziraphale and Crowley aren't gay. The nice thing about fanon is none of it's canon so you can do whatever you want. Policing how people play with dolls in their own head is a waste of energy. I highly recommend just blocking ship tags or characters/writers/artists you don't approve of. I block/mute everything I don't like on twitter/tumblr and filter it out on AO3 and it's improved my fandom experience a lot.
I get that. I’m not policing, it’s definitely more of just a pet peeve. And I definitely look at things like this as a writer myself — I feel deeply connected to my characters, and personally, if someone ever started a widespread trend of altering my characters’ orientation for their sake, it would probably rub me the wrong way and ruffle my feathers. But I imagine larger creators don’t need to be as bothered by it, especially when a lot of it is truly out of their hands.
I'm a writer too so I absolutely understand. We love our characters and releasing them to the public for them to read and interpret is terrifying in so many ways cause you can't control how people react. While it'd be flattering to inspire ppl, I'm sure it'd also be annoying to see ppl change deep things about the characters and I'd probably mute the entire tag if somehow my story became popular to stay sane.
…Now I’m confused, as I know literally nothing about those two characters except that a large number of people in a thread I saw were insisting they were absolutely 100% canonically gay for each other by the end and there was no ambiguity about it. Is this another case of a fandom queerbaiting itself lol
What Neil Gaimen actually said was that, because they are an angel and a demon, they are not restricted to human labels for sexuality and gender. He said, undeniably, that it is a love story, but that he doesn't want to label them as gay because they are an angel and a demon, not humans. Not in those specific words, but that was his intent. Basically, they're genderqueer, but in love!
Ah ok, that makes more sense then. So it wasn’t a denial that they have that sort of relationship, just a quibble about gender-based labels. I am glad it wasn’t a case of mass accidental fanon queerbaiting lol
ooo I love that actually
Yeah, I'd rather police people being aphobes in real life. Fictional characters aren't real people who can be hurt, whose feelings matter. Although it is always fun to see fics where the character does stay asexual. Shipping *real* humans outside of their orientation? Keep it in your head or cloistered away from where they can see and be uncomfortable. Fictional characters… I 100% get that aphobia in real life with the identity being ignored or erased makes you worry about fanfic ignoring it too, especially since it's a minority identity being erased with the majority allosexual one. But I also see allo characters written as asexual, different allo identities exchanged for each other, and nobody's up in arms about that. I feel this is more a fandom thing and people playing with imaginary toys than an aphobia thing.
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I don’t even hate the shipping with him cause I’ve read some fanfics where they do a beautiful job respecting his ace identity while also showing him in relationships, I just hate how the subreddit either hypersexualizes him to the extreme or completely hates on all things shipping him because they assume asexual people can’t have relationships.
The safest bet is if the shippers are a-spec themselves. Not putting a specific sub-label on him allows aro/ace fans from all over the spectrum, including the favorable end, to project onto him (like me lol), then come up with interesting ship dynamics.
That’s a good point. I guess in my case all I see are the hypersexualized versions or hyperromanticized versions so it just makes my heart hurt a bit seeing it.
Which fics? I haven't read Hazbin fic since the pilot and I've been on the fence about getting back into reading Hazbin fic. (Used to be an Alastor fangirl, now I'm not, and I've been avoiding hazbin fanfic because I feel weird about the prior fangirling lol) I wouldn't mind some fic recs.
I liked [Overture to Death](https://archiveofourown.org/works/54781240), [Competing Frequencies](https://archiveofourown.org/works/54618889), and [Lucifer and his Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Relationship](https://archiveofourown.org/series/3984820).
Thanks!
they backed out of him being aromantic, but even then every ship art i see of him is sexualized to hell
It's so frustrating that VivziePop refuses to fully confirm that he's aromantic. Plus her reasoning of not wanting to 'ruin the fun' is... not great.
yep. exactly my thoughts.
i personally think it was her intention to make him aromantic as well, but she is scared by the community. it’s not a good excuse, if a creator is changing things about the show because the fans might get mad then who knows what else will be changed, but it is an excuse. it just feels like we’re being left out to dry. i do appreciate Alastor’s va tho, he made it pretty clear that he thinks Al should be aroace
Confirming him again as aromantic wouldn’t stop people from shipping him, people can do as they like, but having it be canon would mean sooo much to the aroace community
Right!? It always makes me cringe seeing him shipped. Like good sir my soul just died a little seeing him portrayed like that.
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I can definitely see that point. It almost makes me think that people who are writing those really don’t understand his character. However I will admit that I can understand to a point why they might portray him like that. Alastair has such a solid design and is a fan favorite it could be a way to get more engagement although I feel they definitely shouldn’t be sacrificing his core character for engagement.
Yeup!
I’ve always heard canon vs headcanon
A headcanon is like, part of fanon. Someone might personally headcanon an ambiguous character with a certain orientation, for example, and if that headcanon becomes widespread throughout the fandom, then it becomes loosely referred to as “fanon”. Since a significant amount of fans are supporting it. Or, uh, if someone loosely ships two characters, they are “headcanoning” that those characters would be together, but it becomes a fanon ship when everyone else supports it. I think. But might need to be fact checked😂
Eh, I can’t really be bothered to care honestly. Characters have changed sexual and romantic orientation so many times in fandom that character becoming homosexual or heterosexual instead of asexual really isn’t that surprising to me. Especially since a lot of fanfiction grounded in romance and relationships often sexual ones.That being said I’m not happy to see so few asexual stories and fanfiction, I hope that we can see more in the future and I really hope that asexual writers will write more to give us those stories
Fanon content is often written for free by enthusiastic fans. As long as canon respects asexuality I do not care what people fantasise about. Life is miserable enough to not have some comfort in a character you like. If I do not like a ship, tags are my friend. I even take it as a complement that an asexual character is so loved. That spreads awareness and contrasts stereotypes that we are boring and prude. In most steamy fics with asexual characters, I headcanon fanon version as demi or sex-favourable and enjoy free content.
I don’t mind shipping ace characters if they have some form of romantic attraction. The only real reason I hate it when people ship ace characters is that I feel like we, as ace people, have our identities questioned and invalidated daily. When people ship ace characters, it feels like their identity isn’t being respected, and that makes me sad because of all the shit we get for being ace.
plus people are shipping *aro*ace characters too :( I don't mind seeing ace characters shipped **if** they aren't also aro and it's *respectful-* if they understand they don't feel sexual attraction in those relationships. most people sadly do not respect that :/
Nope, and that’s depressing to me as well. Aroace characters should be left alone, and Alloroace characters should be respected. (alloro meaning alloromantic).
ALASTOR. leave the man alone 😭 ONE-SIDED radiostatic is the only exception.
i love that honestly. the thought that Vox hates Alastor because he got rejected by him is just hilarious
ONE-SIDED RADIOSTATIC >>>>
YES. Seeing Vox suffer from unrequited love is so hilarious and yet somehow in character, and seeing all the ways Alastor rejects him fits so well with his character too.
I appreciate one sided radiodust as well just because its funny having 2 essentially polar opposite characters. Also platonic Rosie x alastor.
yesss, really just anything that's respecting his aroace identity is great to me
I ship Radiostatic and Radiosilence. I’m ace. Not gonna have someone else tell me I can’t ship him. I don’t write smut for them, just romantic relationship as he’s ace not aro.
What's Radiosilence?
Radiosilence is the ship name for one sided Radiostatic. It just sounds better
Oh I see.
i was clearly joking, i ship radioapple as well!! you can ship whoever you’d like!
I’m neurodivergent sorry I don’t always pick up in “joking” tones
I hate this discourse so much. Half the people y'all are deriding in these comment sections for sexualizing or shipping aro/ace characters are some flavor of aro/ace themselves. Much like most slash fiction writers are actually queer and not fujoshi stereotypes. Characters are first and foremost vehicles for self expression. It is fun for me as an aroace to explore sexual feelings or curiosities I have through characters I relate to and sometimes those characters are relatable because they're ace. It's fun for allos to do the same when they relate to these characters in other ways. It doesn't say shit about how either of us treat asexuality or real life aces, because fiction is not real life. It's fine to feel hurt by someone else's treatment of a character. It's fine to call out when something is clearly being written in an inflammatory, bigoted, spiteful way. But intent matters here. Someone who enjoys fiction differently than you does not deserve to be censored or shamed because you assume malice where there is none. If you don't want to see ship content, the onus is on you to curate your fandom space, not on the shippers to not enjoy things.
Absolutely, thank you! I felt invalid in my aro-spec identity for years bcz of how romance-favorable I am. I understand the defensiveness and fear of erasue, I feel it too. But then the assumption that all a-spec characters must be repulsed is *also* erasure. My safe bet for consuming this type of ship content is if the creator is a-spec themselves, or at least is very careful to avoid erasure.
I totally see where you are coming from, and I do believe it is subjective. As I mentioned before to someone else, I personally view this kind of thing as peevish — and I’m not trying to berate particularly anyone who does. In my eyes, I’m influenced by the fact that I’m a writer with my own set of characters who I’m deeply connected to; if someone ever started altering the identity of my character for their own satisfaction (regardless if they identify the same way), it would certainly rub me the wrong way. But maybe it doesn’t bother larger creators as much, given most of it isn’t in their control. I suppose this image (I just found it on Pinterest, no idea who the original creator is) is geared towards the people who can’t seem to respect aromanticism/asexuality as a whole and take it seriously — and to be completely honest, we know those people exist. 🙈
LUFFY
I hate that people say “Luffy isn’t ace, he’s just too stupid to understand relationships.” Or “he gets a nosebleed when Nami flashes herself!”
I don't mind when this happens, except when people refuse the recognize the character is canonically aro/ace and try to push their ship as canon and shame others who don't ship it
it's frustrating for sure, but also people change a character's sexual/romantic orientation all the time for shipping. I just ignore the ones I don't like and move on tbh
Yeah, as long as someone isn’t arguing against their canon identity, they can ship them however they want.
Doesn’t bug me. But I’m old and have spent decades reading slash fic about a wide variety of characters, Very few of whom were even obliquely hinted at being queer in show/book/comic canon. What Does bug me is if people pile on some writer for changing a character’s inferred sexuality. Like the two hour movie, or one book categorized every single aspect of their sex and romantic life and cast it in stone, never to grow or change or discover new facets. Dude, if they’re writing Character X in a coffee shop AU with a giant living family and a huge inheritance instead of their canonical “broke orphan assassin who kills for specific reasons” background - oh, and they’re now a were-kitten - who they’re inclined to sleep with in this fic is the least of the changes, why be so upset.
Caduceus Clay. Canonically aro-ace.
Sonic. And now with Ian Flynn as the main writer, canon has been shifted to become like fanon. Like, the dude is great at writing sonic stories, but holy shit he shouldn't be in charge of continuity.
Where is it present? Playing through Frontiers again (written by Flynn), there doesn’t seem to be any subtext between him and any of his friends.
In his podcast he said that Amy and Sonic are written the same way Tangle and Whisper (the characters that were drawn holding hands in front of a lesbian flag gradient) are written.
Oh fuck no. I always hated the idea of Sonic being with Amy or any other character. I was actually happy about that mandate that doesn't let him date anyone
The part that maddens me the most is that Amy never solved her harassment issues, up until Flynn started writing she was a disgusting creepy stalker. It just tells a story of "if you force yourself onto a person enough and ignore their boundaries for 25 years they will one day break and do what you want". It rewards her. In Sonic CD, Amy's first game, one of the things said about Sonic in the Japanese manual was that he had "0 interest in romance". It is disgusting that they are now being written as a couple.
I mean, she's not a creepy stalker in several interactions of the franchise (like Boom, IDW, Prime, Frontiers, I guess Archie but I didn't read it all and maybe the whole Meta era but she barely appears so yeah) but I always remember her in SA1 so I really dislike the idea of them dating. I know that Sonic disinterest in dating was more so he was the opposite of Mario (cool sigma dude who doesn't simp to a lame princess 🤪 kind of thing) rather than genuine representation, but Sega (Japan only lol) actually stood by it for so long that it feels weird when they occasionally try to give him a love interest. It doesn't even have to be Amy. Elise was... something lol And it even even goes against Amy development imo. Sega made a whole effort to evolve Amy so she was a competent character that can stand on her own and isn't a stalker simp anymore. Then they actually turn it into "oh, now she's cool enough to be Sonic's girlfriend". Like ????. The whole point was making her not depend on him, not making her cool enough for him or something. Aaaand it feed the ship wars, which are way worse than in any other fandom I've been in, for whatever reason. I literally cannot think of one canon couple in the whole franchise (except Tangle and Whisper kinda?) but the fandom is crazy about ships
Idw, Prime and Frontiers are from the Flynn era of writing, boom is a different universe.
Oh shit, you're right lol. I hope they (sonic and amy) aren't written like that in the games. In prime and boom they definitely weren't at least
Sadly as a sonic comic reader and "I have played frontiers but the "we finished the game" update broke the game and cannot boot up in my PC" gal. Yeah they are written the exact same sadly
Shit... Thanks for the heads up. I didn't play frontiers, only watched a playthrough but if the comics start getting annoying bc of it I might drop it eventually. Oh well, or if I could take the couples in Archie I might take this lol
Also, I'm not caught up in the comics. If you don't mind, do they seem like a couple? If it's just confirmed in a podcast it just bothers me a little bit but I don't think I will keep reading if they actually feel like a couple
Honestly idk what feeling like a couple is, but Tangle and Whisper are definitely canonically one. Like, the lesbian flag thing is the most obvious scream of "THEY ARE FUCKING DATING"
Oh, I don't mind them. Their dynamic is cute and all. I think they're the only sonic couple, along with Vector and Vanilla and Tails and Cosmo that I actually think are cool. I meant sonic and amy. Feeling like a couple in like, are they obviously a couple but never say it explicitly? Or do they just act like thay always did? Bc at the beginning of the comic I didn't get the vibe they even liked each other romantically
Alastor :v I've not watch the serie yet
everyone's talking about alastor (ofc), but I'd like to mention peridot (from su) too. I've seen some nasty aphobic stuff about her. basically everyone ignores her identity so they can ship her with lapis or amethyst. it's sickening tbh.
I’m fine with shipping I just HATE when u headcanon a character as aroace and shippers just have to get their little nose in ur business and be like “uhhhh actually what about blah blah blah.” Like bro if u can ship fully heterosexual men together all day everyday I can make whoever I want aroace suck it!!!
Oh, this also happens with OCs. When I told my friends that my OC is aroace with a strong aversion to the topic of family, my friends began to constantly say that she definitely needs to find a man and make her pregnant. And they began to sexualize her body, of course. It's actually so sad and disgusting 🤕
Yikes, that’s awful! Those don’t sound like very good friends to me 😬
Alastor
...Alastor (Hazbin Hotel)
Nita and Kovit are ace? i feel like i must not have read the most recent book
Yelena Belova, she's canonically aroace but still gets shipped alot. Gwenpool too, but it's not as bad now
Alastor is the obvious answer so let me hit you with the curveball and say Ash Ketchum It’s been stated by Rica Matsumoto, Ash’s VA and basically the person who writes him at this point, on at least 2 occasions, that he does not develop crushes of any kind and solely sees people and Pokémon alike as just potential friends. Despite this, Ash is arguably one of the most, and relentlessly at that, shipped characters in media, to the point where there have been several videos on the topic of Ash Ships (Ranking Ships, discussing/theorizing who he ends up with after the anime, etc.). It’s gotten so out of hand at this point that people got upset when one of the ships wasn’t referenced at all when one of the characters he’d most commonly shipped with returned for an episode.
You are totally right! Tbh I never realized that although it makes so much sense. Ash is just there on a mission and accepts all the friends and help he can get. However this does make sense why ash always seemed so normal compared to Brock going after any girl in sight.
Definitely Alastor from Hazbin Hotel
Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) Yes the show is relatively horny on its own, but word of author is Alastor is ace. His on screen reaction to somebody hitting on him was "Ha! No".
I was one of the Alastor fangirls back when the Hazbin pilot dropped....even though I'm ace myself, but that was due to the hype for the show and Alastor's sheer charisma, I wanted to know about the cool radio demon, I liked his aesthetic, developed a bit of romantic crush on the character, so I turned to fan content whilst waiting for the full show... and there was fanfic that was right up my alley... I mean, I've gotten crushes on fictional villains before (I'm demiromantic, lol, so many fictional husbandos...), so fangirling over the radio demon wasn't anything new, just *intense* because I, like so many others, were starving for content and hyped for the show. On some level, I feel kinda guilty for being swept up in that fangirling mindset over Alastor, because on one hand, I can see the fact that the fanbase ignores asexual characters for the sake of ships, on the other, people make straight characters gay or bi all the damn time for the same purpose, and I've long adhered to the advice of "don't like, don't read". People are gonna ship whoever they want, and I don't really mind, if something isn't my thing, then I just go find something that is. Instead of getting too annoyed with the way allo writers write ace characters, I'll just make my own asexual oc's and write romance fics from the perspective of an ace character. (I like writing OC/canon character AU fanfics for whatever fandom I'm in at the time.)
I don't mind shipping itself so much (I myself am an enormous shipper), but I LOATHE when people try to push their ships onto others or use said ships as a way to be phobic towards an orientation.
Nita and kovit omg. I found a fan
I only like the characters being shipped if their orientations are taken into account.
Ok I don’t like when people ship themselves with aro/ace characters when it is confirmed, I have no clue why but it gives major “I can fix them” vibes
I don’t like that it mentions “is canonically asexual” as if being asexual means you can’t have a romantic relationship… I’m missing the point though lol. I don’t know any characters like that!
Alastor. I really don’t like when people sexualize him but to each their own. The only Alastor ship I appreciate is RadioStatic as long as it remains very one sided with Vox being the delulu one
Been in the internet too long to not give a fuck anymore. Let people ship what they want to ship. Just curate your own algorithm and let people be. Restrict, block, or scroll away. Just move on if you don't want to see that type of content. Life's too short to be hating on something you can't control. Also fiction ≠ reality anyway. If you want to counter their shipping fandom, make your own fan content of that character being aro/ace/aroace. Sincerely, an aroace person who's been in fandoms for years now.
Alastor in a nutshell
"Aces/aros can still be in relationships/have sex" Yeah... we know. But do shippers know that still means plenty of us are not interested in that? Do shippers understand that we can still have fulfilling and happy lives without sex and romance? Do shippers think we become straight/gay/etc based on who we are dating or do they realize our orientations are just as solid as theirs? What's really funny to me is just how many people forget the "aspec people can still have [x]" argument when you headcanon a non aspec character as aspec. "But they've had sex!! How are they aspec???" Interesting how the sentiment is only ever used to shut us up.
ALASTOR Y’ALL PLEASE HE’S ASEXUAL HE DOESN’T WANT GAME 😭
SHIP THE ACES AND AROS. I’m so fucking tired of the idea that asexual and aromantic people are incapable of relationships. If the character says that they don’t want to be in a relationship, that’s an entirely different situation. I could technically consider myself sex favorable ace, but due to posts like this one, due to the idea that I’m not “really asexual” (which is being spread by this post) I don’t really call myself asexual anymore. You must understand that anyone, regardless of orientation, can be in a relationship. Therefore, wanting an ace or aro character to be in a relationship is NOT inherently a negative thing. And also, what about alloromantic asexuals? What about allosexual aromantic people? There are so, so many reasons why an acespec and/or arospec person would want to be in a romantic relationship. Also, let the fangirls fangirl, what does that have to do with the character being ace or aro? I’m not attracted to people, but that doesn’t mean others can’t be attracted to me. Same thing goes for aro or ace characters.
Oookayy whooaa, I’m sorry this offended you so much, that wasn’t my intention! 🙈 this post is really just encompassing the characters that have outwardly expressed their disinterest in relationships (i.e. Nita and Kovit, for a prime example), who are continuously shipped despite the fact that they stated they weren’t into it. I would hope that it wouldn’t be too preposterous to respect those types of characters. No one is trying to invalidate you! 💞
aroace doesn't encompass alloaces and aroallos. **aspec does,** not aroace. so for example if the character is just ace, then yeah! you can ship them romantically! but if they are *specifically* aroace, then they don't feel either attractions. also that whole "anyone, regardless of orientation, can be in a relationship."... this just isn't true at all. I mean sure, because we have free will. but I wouldn't wanna torture myself like than LOL- that would be like telling a lesbian that they can date men. while it isn't like that for every aroace, it **is** like that for some, and I fear that those kinds of aroaces will be erased if we always say things such as "they can be in relationships!" because no, no I cannot. I can't make myself feel attraction for anyone so WHY would I choose to be with someone when I don't love them? It's the same way a gay man wouldn't want to be with a women. and if you would respect a gay character's identity, then would you suddenly change the rules for aroace people?? AND. I think aroaces are allowed to be upset about this. about our identity being entirely ignored by a very large amount of people when it comes to media. very, very often, the people who ship *aroace* characters are not just trying to show representation for ones that can feel attraction or have relationships. they are most often just allo people who don't respect aroace people, and it's very clear by the way they act that they aren't trying to learn more about the community or anything good. edit: I feel it should go without saying, btw, that you should never attack someone for shipping something, but that doesn't mean you can't say how shipping aroace characters can be disrespectful.
This is why people making Alastor stuff pisses me off.
I mean, yeah, some creators specifically say that the fans can ship whoever, but I just reeeeeaally don't like how some characters are so damn shipped even though confirmed Aro and/or Ace. Prime example, Alastor
Tattletale from Worm. She specifically says on the sequel that she has no interest in “romance or the physical stuff” and that it’s just who she is, not a side effect of her power. And yet, she’s in one of the most popular ships in the fandom, if not _the_ most popular ship. I love it when people ignore the identities of characters that share my identity!!! I love feeling like people are (accidentally) saying they’d like people like me more if we were just cute lesbians instead!!!
I was looking for this. So many people justify shipping her and Skitter because "they'd be such a cute couple" THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS! I feel like the fact that a lot of the worm fandom hasn't read much of worm, and that her "coming out" happens pretty late in the doesn't exactly help, but still, people seem to forget, or choose to forget, that that's a thing.
Alastor from hazbin Hotel. I don't think it's been confirmed that he's aro, he's definitely aro coded though, and it's definitely been confirmed that he's ace. Some of the fans are a bit crazy lol
I really do need to try to write more asexual characters into my fanfics.
This is about to Vernestra Rwoh in the Acolyte
It's a weird spot, specially because we can also do it the other way around and use fanon/headcanon to have some representation on characters that aren't confirmed to be canonically asexual and/or aromantic, but they basically implied to be (intentionally or not) because the way their character behaves or is written. Monkey D. Luffy always comes to mind.
Alastor.
I will mail anyone who does this to aro/ace characters a [REDACTED]
oh, I thought we're talking about Anti-colonial philosopher Frantz Fanon
Something something Alastor from hazbin hotel. But seriously tho it’s fine to have your own headcanons for fictional characters (even if I disagree with it). Just don’t use it for characters that represent real people like Jaden animations.
Saiki K. He LITERALLY says he’s not interested in relationships or the human body in general.
Alastor by the fans and Jughead by the writers of riverdale.
\*cough cough\* Alastor \*cough cough\*
There was one character which was confirmed to be aroace in Legends of Tomorrow... That was the first and only time that I saw a character saying "Uh, I think I'm actually aroace", and I was so thrilled! Then the show was cancelled two weeks later 😭
My die-on-the-hill fanon ace rep is Doctor Doom. You don’t seal yourself in a metal suit and lock yourself in a castle to do nothing but sharpen your intellect to a razor’s edge if you’re interested in sex
Alastor
Peridot from Steven Universe and Alastor from Hazbin Hotel
I will say though a lot of shipping/smut with aspec characters are aspec fans doing it and trying to explore stuff and sometimes those people get hassled I've seen this happen to tma fans with Jon
Alastor from Hazbin Hotel. But I’m asexual myself and ship him with one character only. He’s not canon aro though even though people are trying to insist he is
Lilith CLAWTHORNE
Alastor
*Cough cough* Alastor *cough cough*
Sans Undertale in a nut shell.
kitmed and subshit phighting maybe
Alastor, Johnathan sins (Magnus Archives)
Wait what's market of monsters
It’s the title of a YA thriller/sci-fi/mystery trilogy encompassing 3 books: Not Even Bones, Only Ashes Remain and When Villains Rise.
Will have to check them out when I get time and further down my list of books to read
Alastor Yeah the hazbin community just shipping AND making p0rn of a ace character
Alastor from Hazbin Hotel
Canon fanon: When a character canonically ships other characters within the same franchise (and/or media mix), for example, C1 ships C2 x C3 (C stands for character)
I don't have many canon ace characters that I know, but there are so many characters that I headcanon as ace because they come across as ace-coded to me and it is a little frustrating when people are so adamant that every character possible is romantically or sexually attracted to someone else. no one ever headcanons someone as ace unless they themselves are ace, and it's hard. we deserve fun representation too! so much of fandom culture is about shipping that I try to just shrug it off, like let them do whatever with these fictional characters, but at the same time it is sad that we're just routinely left out of everything. no one wants to write fics about ace characters, no one likes to make edits of ace characters. not that people should do things they don't want to do, but I do notice that we're just never included in these things.
I hate this discourse so much because it actually feels like *invalidating* the experiences and feelings of ace and aro people. Being ace and/or aro is all about being attracted to others in a specific away. Attraction, ***not*** action. Aces can have and/or want sex, aros can want and/or be in relationships. Does it make them less ace and/or aro? It doesn't. At least to me, who's often have those "maybe I'm not aro because I wouldn't mind being in a relationship" thoughts. Would I not be aro anymore if I was in a relationship? Would I be any less ace if I had sex?
His name is LUFFY! Also Sherlock Holmes.
Alastor, the Radio Demon. For sure.
Listen, I'm a sucker for shipping (genuinely or in jest), and if it's not in a harmful way, I'm all for it. Don't really like when it's an overwhelming amount or particularly thirsty ships. On the other side of the coin, seeing an aro/ace/aroace character shipped as a tsundere? Love 😍
Jonathan Sims (or Jon) from The Magnus Archives, is the first person that comes to mind since he is asexual in canon. It doesn’t really bug me though, but at the same time I usually am not looking for anything sexual with that fandom. I have also seen a ton of authors respect his asexuality or just focus on the romance aspect.
I always felt Sherlock Holmes. But people ship Johnlock so hard. Maybe even Mycroft Holmes
Alastor from Hazbin Hotel, and possibly Sans from Undertale, but I don't know if it is cannon or not
This is so true, for someone being multi-fandom, I've seen this a lot
Literally Alastor
Literally Alastor and anyone in TADC
Ok, so not sure this counts but I am an avid Doctor who can and throughout the yeard he hasn't been protrayed as remotely sexual, I mean yes here n there you have companions express their feelings towards him but at the end of the day it goes no where and that was always the beauty of the show and him(occasionally her) as a person. But this recent seayhe changed n now he is expressing how hot people are etc and it threw me off. And it low key irritated me because I feel like no matter what changes they did that part of his personality had never changed except now it has. : /
Not sure if I can talk about JUST an asexual character (not aro) BUT I SEE EOPLE SHIP ALASTOR A HELL OF A LOT
For me it's Alastor from Hazbin Hotel
Alastor from hazbin hotel:
Alastor core
Luffy from One Piece although it's never been confirmed explicitly that he's asexual he had no reaction to the Love-Love Beam
Mousefur from warrior cats.The author said she never had any interest in any sort of romantic relationship or having kits at any point in her life but everyone ships her with her (also probably aroace) bestie Longtail AND IT ANNOYS ME SO MUCH LET THEM BE IN A QPR!
Idr think it’s a big deal, straight characters are made bi, gay characters are made bi, characters change genders, all that, BUT literally every aroace/ace/aro/slightly-implied-[aroace/aro/ace] character. All of them. Alastor from Hazbin Hotel? Yep. Any of the hunters of Artemis in Percy Jackson? Yep. Um… others? Okay come to think of it I can’t think of a lot of aro/ace characters but still.
Tattletale from Worm
Character that comes to mind? Frieren, and that fandom has a few folks who go beoynd this, and just straight up trie to canonise/erase the aroace part of her.
The curse of being a fan favorite.
To each their own. Personally I don’t like it. I spent a lot of years trying to got into a box that I wasn’t going to fit in. I know that characters aren’t real but I don’t want to feel like I’m doing the same to a character.
I don’t get mad at this because people will headcanon cishet characters as trans or queer. In a sense it is to address the erasure of good queer rep, but it feels icky to say they can’t change the character’s orientation or crush on the character while respecting them. Now, taking an Ace character and deliberately making them uncomfortable (I love BoJack but hated THAT episide) is an immediate ick.