My hate for fandom is overwhelming

[cashew]

I mean I know AO3 isn't the most representative sample, but since it's the easiest way to quickly tally and sort through the tags, it's what I'm using to measure fan engagement. And it's immensely annoying to find that Blade is the most used character tag in HSR fic (after filtering for CN language). And unsurprisingly, Blade takes the top 3/4 pairing tags (刃/丹恒，刃/丹枫，刃/景元). I'm mildly offended that 刃/丹枫 is more popular than 刃/景元 when 丹枫 is dead. WTF.

Also, it annoys me that poor 景元 is tagged in 1729 fics, but his main ship (刃/景元) only has 668 uses. Even adding in the second highest ship (景元/丹恒, 345 uses), that's still nowhere near his total tag. The fact there are 334 uses of 景元/彦卿 frustrates me to no end, because who even likes 彦卿, why do these people exist?!

Meanwhile, when looking into 景元/丹恒, 103 of those are simultaneously tagged with 景元/丹枫, and 61 are tagged with 刃/丹恒. So a good half of 景元/丹恒 is actually just a vehicle for another ship. I've also noticed that as soon as Blade shows up in any 景元/丹恒 or 景元/丹枫 fic, 景元 gets sidelined, because the main ship will always revolve around 刃/丹恒(应星/丹枫).

And my feeling is backed by the numbers. Under 景元 tag (1731), Blade shows up 872 times. 刃/景元 accounts for 639 of those fics. 丹恒 shows up 208 times in fics featuring both 景元 and 刃, and 127 of those appearances is 刃/丹恒 with only 78 appearances involving 景元/丹恒. Meanwhile, 丹恒 shows up 502 times under 景元 tag and of those, Blade shows up 208 times. Yet, 刃/丹恒 ship accounts for 116 of those 208 appearances, while 刃/景元 features a paltry 58 times. In other words, when 丹恒 appears in fics featuring 景元+刃, it's to predominantly pair up with Blade; when Blade shows up in fics featuring 景元+丹恒, it's to predominantly pair up with 丹恒. 景元 is basically an after thought.

My hate for Blade is reaching stratospheric levels.

Comments

[tanithryudo]

Blade's popularity baffles me sometimes. Like, I get why it would've been popular at the beginning when the game came out, because Xianzhou was the first couple of patch releases, and he did feature in that story. But it's been over a year now since his last story appearance...

As well in terms of gameplay, Blade is one of the characters that didn't age well at all. People make memes about Jing Yuan's gameplay, but JY is in a much better position than Blade, having gotten indirect buffs from many of the newer characters (Topaz, Sparkle, Robin, etc.) and environments (SimU Erudition, PF dungeon), whereas Blade...hasn't.

Is the bad boy trope just that attractive?

[cashew]

JY is in a much better position than Blade, having gotten indirect buffs

Doesn't seem to help him much, especially when the retro buff is merely the result of keeping newer units meta. But I doubt game mechanics play nearly that much of a role in fic popularity...

Is the bad boy trope just that attractive?

Anecdotal evidence: in mystery fandom the psycho murderer (aka Moriarty expy) is often the most popular, even more than the detective, so it seems that there's a scary amount of fangirls who really like the "serial killer" type. Probably stems from trope of "so special the guy changes for love", which I blame pulpy romance for popularizing. I've noticed the better adjusted and more competent the character, the less popular they are for fandom to ship. (See Steve/Bucky popularity before v after Winter Soldier.) Fixing a broken guy is just too popular of a romantic fantasy, much to my annoyance.

[tanithryudo]

Makes sense. Even when there's characters (*coughAventurinecough*) that ain't the serial killer type, there's still fans/fics which will make them into one.

What's your read on the Yanqing x Jing Yuan CP then? Like, Yanqing isn't a likeable character in the story (especially before the current patch, where he got more screentime). And he's a minor, doesn't even *look* sexy or anything. Not to mention this CP seems to like putting him on top (wtf?)...

[cashew]

What's your read on the Yanqing x Jing Yuan CP then? [...] Not to mention this CP seems to like putting him on top (wtf?)...

JY bottoms to everyone. Even Fu Xuan. So yeah, I hate Yanqing on a fic level, too. I don't really get why he's nearly as popular to ship with JY as DH. (At least that's the case on Ao3.) But he does show up significantly less than Blade in JYxDH fic. However, he shows up waaaaay too common in poly-shipping (aka all景元 or 景右).

The problem is even in the recent patch YQ was annoying AF, so I'm genuinely baffled by his (relative) popularity. I guess he's one of the few people left who actually gets to be around JY for any extended amount of time... The only thing YQ fics have going for them is that at least they keep YQ's loyalty to JY relatively intact. But I usually only stumble into these fics when looking for JY centric fics...