i have two hands. i can talk about this fic and the fact that there are still dozens upon dozens of reylos reading and praising it while also talking about other things, like the reylo yesterday who went after a 14 year old anti. i believe you that there are reylos who call stuff out, but there are also TONS of reylos who don’t. i mean, theassholeantiarchive made a post about it but refused to call out the racism and instead labeled me as a harasser when i haven’t even interacted with the author.
and i dont want fic recs lol i fucking hate reylo no matter what.
“need to focus on other stuff like the rest of us”
Must feel so good when it’s not your people being reduced to a violent, disgusting and racist stereotype, huh anon? 🙄🙄🙄
“Fics where Finn is treated well” lmao according to fucking reylos? Pass
Which ones? They don’t exit. The whole base premise of reylo is that Finn for “some reason” isn’t worthy of Rey, “somehow” isn’t good enough for her. It’s impossible to write a reylo story that treats Finn well, the best you can do is just not include him at all. Which granted is its own problem, but at least you don’t violently mistreat or misportray the character the way you do when he’s included.
I would ask anon how they think a reylo story can treat Finn well, but as it’d include heaps of racism I’m frankly not at all interested in hearing their nonsense. Also, I’d demand they come off anon and say it with their face attached, but these schmucks are way too cowardly for that.
And anon? You could absolutely prevent that story from existing if you wanted to. You have all made certain that Black fans have been driven out by concerted efforts on your part, you could do something about this writer too. If you actually wanted to do something about this kind of aggressive and violent racism.
The fact that you all elect not to speaks its own language.
“You have all made certain that Black fans have been driven out by concerted efforts on your part, you could do something about this writer too.”
Exaaaaactly. When Black reylos spoke out about racist reylo fanfic, all hell broke loose. The reylo fandom sided with the white creators of racist content even before it got out of hand.
It takes a meeting of the minds to create a fandom space that doesn’t tolerate racism. The reylo fandom has demonstrated again and again that they have zero tolerance for speaking up about racism (notice the reylo claiming to have said something is anon). Actual racism is very much tolerated and widely supported.
Quietly expressing disapproval in private or hidden by anon doesn’t mean shit.
Yeah, it struck me how a reylo who openly called out the fic in the ao3 comments did so anonymously. It should alarm fans that this section of the fandom has become a space where people who call out racism are the ones who fear being driven off and harassed. By rejecting criticism of racism more than racism itself, the reylo fandom has turned itself into a safe space for racists.
Comparing Finnrey to romantic Lukeleia… YIKES.
L.J.: Funny how EVERY INTERRACIAL COUPLE EVER gets comments along the lines of “brotp!” and “siblings!” and so on, isn’t it? As @diversehighfantasy pointed out, it’s just another way of saying their having sex would be an abomination. This, disregarding the fact that Finn and Rey’s dynamic was nothing like Luke and Leia’s beyond being friends. Did Luke pour out his deepest secrets to Leia in a blatantly romantic scene? Did Luke cry out Leia’s name in a soul-rending scream? Did Leia overcome a lifetime of trauma to stand over Luke, defending him with her life? Did Leia lie down with Luke to die with him, crying on his chest like her heart was breaking in two?
It’s funny they should mention that scene, because I’d been thinking for a while how strongly Finn and Rey’s parting scene on Takodana reminded me of the parting between Rodrigo and Jimena from El Cid (1961).
I mean here’s the woman, climbing up on a higher step and turning to face the man for a Very Important Conversation just before he leaves we know you watched the scene over and over and were just itching to try it Rey you extra bitch
The woman tells the man how unhappy she is with his decision to go.
The man, in words or gesture, confesses his feelings for the woman. This part comes near the end of the conversation in El Cid but at the middle in the TFA scene, since Finn unlike Rodrigo must tell the truth of himself first.
The man makes a heartfelt request to the woman, and that’s exactly what it is–a request, respecfully presented without any pressure as opposed to “I can take whatever I want” or “I’ll destroy her”. As seen below, the woman refuses his request freely and without repercussions.
In each case the woman refuses, asserting her own needs and feelings, while also reiterating her unhappiness with the man’s leaving. This is greeted without any rancor or even a repeat request on the man’s part.
The man says good-bye with complicated feelings. He knows he’s leaving the woman unhappy and she doesn’t want him to go, but he does what he has to do. And she lets him, without threats or coercion, because when you love and respect someone you also respect their decisions.
That doesn’t mean she’s not sad as hell, of course. She climbs down from the steps she was standing on, the better to watch him go.
And she watches and watches, so sadly…
While the man in turn can barely bring himself to go, and looks back at her before he leaves for good.
Finn standing on a lower step than Rey is in fact a very recognizable romantic/knightly trope with the knight gazing up at his lady in adoration. It’s pretty much a mirrored version of the El Cid scene, as seen above. THAT is what knightly worship looks like.
Also, Kylo “bowing” to Rey? Nah, we’ve seen this before, a man invading a woman’s personal space after tying her up, only for her to ridicule and rebuff him (putting under a cut for potentially triggering content and also Hunchback of Notre Dame gifs):
Here’s the man, leaning into the personal space of a woman he has abducted and physically restrained. See how the woman leans away, the fear and revulsion clear in her face:
And then she humiliates him, revealing him as the pathetic bully he is with such force/Force that he is physically repelled. I was always very impressed at Esmeralda’s projectile spitting ability.
As usual Reylows get it all wrong and don’t know their cinematic history lmao.
God, they’d better not be Sleepy Hollow-ing Finn. I mean I’m pretty positive they’re not killing him, but he could still be seriously sidelined.
This isn’t really new they have always had very little Finn merchandise. It’s the same old bull shit Disney has been pulling with there black characters for a very long time. It’s the same reason there’s very little princess Tiana merchandise, Falcon, Iron patriot, Ect.
Disney doesn’t care about there black characters except for the ones from black panther and that’s really an anomaly for them.
What’s the source for Finn being removed from new TFA merch? There is definitely merch that leaves him (but not Poe) off going back to 2015. I have pics to prove it. But I had a much harder time finding FN-2187 merch (blood streaked helmet) until the last year or so. SuperHeroStuff has several Finn shirts for sale, including an FN2187 and a “I’m kind of a big deal” tee I never saw when TFA came out. Not to mention WalMart sells multiple Finn and Rey figure sets and other Finn toys, well more than Poe toys, especially from TFA lines.
So what are they basing it on?
Yeah I’ve had the same experience as you, that Finn merch (and FN-2187 merch) is easier to find now than it has been so far. And no I’m not talking about shops where I’ve been asking about it. I mean just seeing it in the normal toy/figure/SW/whatever section of the shop along side all the rest.
I used to have to dig – or ask – about it, now I can often find it on the shelf. Or at least more often than I used to.
I’m not saying it doesn’t/hasn’t happened, but it conflicts very much with my own experience. So I too would like some actual examples of this.
Disney parks and there stores are a very different situation. They have very little if any Finn merchandise that’s not just an action figure. I know cause every time I go to Disney I ask what Finn merchandise do you have? Shit I was in Disneyland right after tlj came out. All Finn got was a couple figurines Rose didn’t get much either. Yet the porgs where fucking everywhere. They do this with all there non-white Star Wars characters. I made a post about it awhile back and seems nothing has changed.
You can go to Disney official website and see there dismally small supply of Finn merchandise. Meanwhile kylo, rey, luke, Han and Leia are easy to find. Do to the solo movie we did get more Lando merchandise but I see it falling off soon. I remember that campaign about where’s Rey and how she got all new toys and merchandise. Wish we could get that same energy for Finn the current male lead of the series.
But people are saying Finn has been “removed” from new TFA merchandise, not that Disney parks stock less Finn than WalMart, which has been true from the beginning. All that says is that people who shop at Disney are less interested in Finn merch than people who shop at WalMart, where there are a decent number of Finn items.
There’s a big difference between Finn merch not being on shelves vs Finn Merch not being made or removed. If anything, Finn merch sitting on the shelves is a bad thing. It means no one is buying it.
Yup and the only toys I’ve ever seen in the 80% off bargain bin are Kylo and Pretorian guards. The dollar store near me still has unsold $1 Kylo Ren items from three years ago, while the Finn versions are long gone (and I know they were there because I bought some of them). That’s all anecdotal, too – the business journal articles about Kylo items massively underselling aren’t, though. The business of merchandising is separate from the business of making the films (look at FoD, Finn has two episodes, Kylo has zero, yet there was Kylo doll). And in the case of LF, their merchandising Dept has always had tremendous bias in favor of white buyers who want white toys.
What are the business articles describing the underselling off kylo items?
The focus on Kylo merchandise over the heroes, especially Rey, was a scandal in early 2016 covered extensively in the media.
John Marcotte of Heroic Girls was widely quoted after he spoke with Disney execs about the lack of Rey merchandise when TFA was released. He said they were “blindsided” with the lack of interest in Kylo, who they expected to be the breakout character. He said, quote:
“Now they’re stuck with vast amounts of Kylo Ren product that is not moving and a tidal wave of complaints about a lack of Rey items.”
The miscalculation led to a TFA script rewrite to focus more on Finn, Poe and Rey. RJ had planned to focus on his own new characters, as well as Kylo, presumably.
TFA toy sales were huge despite of Disney’s miscalculation. Top TFA toys per Google research were the app enabled BB8, Millennium Falcon toys and Lego sets, Stormtrooper figures, and Rey items once they started rolling out.
It’s also been widely reported that TLJ’s toy sales fell by 47% compared to TFA sales. Hasbro CEO blamed releasing the toys in September, but later noted that Star Wars merchandise was picking up online (where fans have choices beyond leftover TLJ merch like the Pretorian guards that didn’t sell).
The cult of Kylo Ren in fandom and on social media has not translated into blockbuster sales of Kylo merchandise.
tbh (taking about reylo again lmao) ive never seen a fandom like. use quotes said to other characters to support their ship? like… they’ll be like “see she’s talking to/looking at finn but she’s REALLY thinking about kylo” with no evidence and it’s just… bizarre
Have you seen the hot takes where they use Finn’s lines to Rey (such as, “You looked at me like no one ever as”) and claim that once those words are spoken between Rey and Kylo, no one can dispute their love then?
I would like to thank them personally for confirming canon finnrey
It’s okay to still believe in Force User Finn and Rey Skywalker
People never had a problem with Leia being a Skywalker because she wasn’t the lead, she didn’t recognize her as one, and she never held a lightsaber in the movies. That’s not case with Rey.
People never had a problem when Mace Windu being a black Jedi because he was a supporting character, he was in the background, and he wasn’t one of the new faces of Star Wars.
Finn being a force user wasn’t some affirmative action, social justice warrior, escapist crack Theory. It was literally just watching Finn go through the traditional hero’s journey, only with a modern theme and TFA doesn’t imply it, doesn’t hint at it, but it freaking screams in your ear while dangling Finn holding a lightsaber that this dude is a force user. Being a force user doesn’t erase his 20 years of enslavement as a forced Stormtrooper or his deflection. The Force doesn’t have a color or gender it belongs to everyone, no matter what Karen or Brett say. The Force has been used by Lazy muppet people and literal fascist murders, nothing is exclusive about the force. It wouldn’t ruin Finn’s character at all and the arguments against it are bias.
Rey being a Skywalker wasn’t about some blood purity, keeping it all traditional, Mary Sue self insert bs. It’s literally just drawing the logical conclusion as to why this random woman keeps getting shoved into the middle of this one family and keeps being involved with mysteriously vague scenes that connect her mysterious part further to this family‘s past. The Skywalkers are literally born from slaves and farmers, and this powerful legacy stuff is made up bulk shit. The Skywalkers are literally only know for being a slaves, farmers, hermits, and a fascist. Rey being a Skywalker isn’t a gift or a curse, it’s just giving her a family that loves her but she was taken away from.
And nobody is saying these things have to happen, but the general argument everyone uses is just that they don’t like it, so not only shouldn’t it not happen, but it shouldn’t be brought up, regardless of heavy foreshadowing.
ReySky and ForceFinn isn’t a fetish kink like Reylow, it’s not a Doomrey stupid ass theory cause of a greeting, and it’s not those Snoke is Mace Windu dank theories that have no validation.
Both beliefs of ForceFinn and ReySky were grounded in a positive mind set and were equally progressive. Did some bad apples take it too far? Yes, but every part of the SW fandom has a bad apple.
Some people would just like to think TFA wasn’t a giant red hearing that meant nothing at all but to be Johnson’s subversion target. We already had character arcs repeated and now people want to make the movie completely pointless to pay attention to? If I wanted to watch confusing garbage, I’d watch Looper or Age of Ultron.
Why have so many scenes that mean nothing to the film or the future of the movies? With how much was really riding on TFA, am I really supposed to believe JJ just chose his two leads to entire character arcs didn’t mention?
Why is Maz asking about Rey, when Finn is the ex Stormtrooper acting suspicious? It’s scenes like this that ignore Finn to focus on Rey’s no last name given mysterious past that make me question why even bother with so much secrecy?
Why do Snoke and Kylo feel an Awakening in the force if only Fin has been the one showing all the signs, and Rey is just living her normal life? It’s scenes like this that focus on Finn’s connection to the force over Rey’s that make me question why even put all that in there in there?
I’m tired of people ignoring Finn and making him out to be nothing, even though TFA screams that he is something. It’s just about letting him have an ability he was hinted to have since TFA.
I’m tired of peoole saying Rey being related to Luke is some terrible thing. It’s just about giving Rey a family she was hinted to have since TFA.
If people can’t understand how Finn not being Force sensitive undercuts them, if people don’t understand how Rey not being a Skywalker undercuts, then that’s their problem.
Do they have to be those things? No. But many people would like to know that TFA wasn’t a complete lack of time.
These situations remind of the current Finnrey situation.
It’s like if something looks different to how people want it, Black Protagonist Jedi, Woman protagonist Skywalker, interracial relationship between the leads, the public and media will do whatever it takes to erase it and underplay it, but also make everyone turn against because of bad examples that don’t represent something that could have, and very well might still be, something incredibly progressive and positive.
What gets me about Reylo is that it’s basically a self-insert ship. Reylos are attracted, en masse, to white boy Kylo Ren and wanna hop on his dick, which makes Rey – the attractive female lead – the catalyst of their thirst. That has to be the explanation for this shit:
What about the expression on Rey’s face indicates that she finds her captor at all attractive? Without context: she looks like she’s trying to get away from a nasty, stank-breath dude with no understanding of personal space. With context: he is torturing her for information. She is CRYING.
Reylos DO NOT care about Rey, they only care about Kylo Ren and his dead “Ben Solo” identity – which is another attempt at making him out to be attractive (in this case: redeemable, kind at heart, selfless) when canon evidence presents otherwise.
Additionally, while it’s obvious how a relationship with Rey would benefit Kylo (she would “make him a better man”), what could “Ben” give her that someone else couldn’t? Admiration and unconditional love? (If someone who murdered their own father in cold blood is even capable of such a thing). There’s Finn, standing right there, clinging to her like she’s his lifeline:
Without context, it can be understood that they care for each other deeply. With context, we see Rey embracing a boy, now a man, whom she adores and who, in turn, adores her. A relationship between Finn and Rey would be one of mutual respect; we’ve already seen how they build each other up and support one another. What’s important here is that neither Rey nor Finn would have to change.
What I’m saying is: Finnrey is an actual relationship. Reylo is wish-fulfillment.
“Reylos don’t care about Rey”
Bullshit.
You’re full of shit OP. You are absolutely full of shit.
Let’s also not forget to mention Rey spends the first half of TFA desperately trying to set up personal space boundaries with Finn. Anything can be interpreted any way.
Is this the same first half where Kylo tortures Rey, or did you just ignore that part? See, you Reylos don’t even understand her character at all! Rey grew up without any friends whatsoever and Finn, whom she canonically “adores”, was the first person to try and connect with her in a meaningful way. Considering her childhood on Jakku, of COURSE she set up barriers at first. By the end of it, she was kissing Finn on the forehead and taking HIS hand. That’s literally what TFA is about: Rey learning to love and trust people. That is NOT up to “interpretation” – that is canon.
It honestly terrifies me that reylows can look at rey looking scared, angry, discouraged, sad, even outright CRYING IN PAIN from Kylo’s treatment and still sexualize her reaction. Nothing says “I care about you” like “I find your misery and humiliation sexy.”
Also did that absolute weapon seriously compare Finn taking Rey’s hand in an emergency to Kylo abducting and torturing her wtf is wrong with these people
Idk how to explain to you that we’re not talking about real people and who is gaining or losing from a relationship, and that we’re talking about what makes a good story involving buildup and payoff.
Freedom of speech is always a thing, but if you’re writing racist trash, it’s other people’s right to call your racist ass behavior.
Don’t like it? Then don’t be a racist.
And talking about it and making people aware that this is a segment of fandom that actively supports antiblackness is not harassment. Fans of color should be aware that this is a hostile environment, especially toward Black people. Fans are rallying around this author and this fanwork in support.
They’ve already made it clear that they will fight to protect racist fanwork before, and they’ll keep doing it. The fandom has a responsibility not to look away, because this is real life. If someone has that much hostility toward a black fictional man being in the vicinity of a white woman, do you think it doesn’t reflect at all in how they view real people? They sure don’t hesitate to go after Black fans, regardless of ship.
its times like these where i wish i didnt have most reylos blocked so i could see what they’re saying. the thing is, even if that stuff is happening, she still has a chance to apologize? her fic is disgustingly racist and its been brought up in the past and will continue to be brought up until she 1. acknowledges she’s being racist 2. apologizes for being racist 3. deletes her fic.
and yeah, i’ve been on this website long enough to know that when people are accused of things like racism they always threaten things like self-harm and suicide instead of just confronting their own behavior and becoming a better person.
heres a snippet of what the writer and her fellow reylos are sending to me tho so like? who cares if u got death threats babe join the club lmfaoo. and yes boo i too have clinical depression and anxiety and YET i havent threatened self-harm as a way to get out of consequences. fuck outta here with that mess. stop being an ugly violent racist and nobody will bother you! it’s not like you get hate mail for just existing like the rest of us. cry me a river.
despicaWhat J said. They do these things to us to really showcase their violent bigotry (antiblackness and islamophobia in J’s case) then turn right back around and cry victimhood. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if these were reylos sending her this shit so that they can really play their victim complex.
They are all fucking despicable.
It’s so telling, like practically a case study?? A white woman (op), an Asian woman (me), and a Black woman (@muslimfinn) all tear into a shitty racist fic. Guess which of them gets threats of violence, suicide bait, and Islamophobia in their inbox. I published both the critical asks I got in relation to this mess. They were annoying, disingenuous, and self-serving, sure, but NO ONE threatened me or was bigoted toward me. The difference in treatment is palpable.
And yeah, fuck off with hiding behind mental illness/RL issues. White women called on racism pull this shit all the time, weaponizing their perceived frailty to silence criticism and avoid accountability. Because obviously the people they hurt can’t have mental illness or other shit going on in their lives. Because everyone else are just dumb brutes with no real feelings and inner lives that matter. Because it’s not like racism, interpersonal and institutionalized, is devastating for the mental and physical health of Black people. I find myself agreeing more and more with the analysis that white supremacy is a form of socially accepted sociopathy (link) that frees too many white people from empathizing with Black people or indeed seeing them as full people at all.
L.J.'s Obsessions 