What'ch'you bin sayin' 'bout my ship!? - The things they don't tell you about being in a fandom

     So most of us have been there. We've been scrolling through tumblr, happy as can be, when you see something most horrid...
                                                         A Fan War.

Oh no, not again...

        You've seen them around and hope that some how, your fandom will never succumb to such anger and hatred. But You're wrong. Every single fandom, at one point during the book/show/film/other fandoms duration, has some form of bickering among it's fans.
     Notable FanWars that I have been unfortunate to witness/be involved in are:

Zutara vs Kataang - The first fanwar I witnessed. Although I supported Zutara, I really tried my best to steer  clear of all the flame. Though if someone flamed me, I flamed right on back..

Seddie vs Creddie - This fanwar was so big that they actually made an episode all about it (see picture above). I'm a Seddier and from my experience, the Creddiers were just horrible to everyone. Simple as.

You know better than to mess with Zutarians...

     I'd say that these were the two that have affected my life the most. The Avatar:TLA fanbase went insane during the last few months of the show, Zuatarians and Kataangers verbally attacking eachother from all over the place. The Seddie v Creddie war seems to have always been in place. I remember shipping it during the very first episode. The major battle did however start around half-way through season 2 of iCarly when episodes like iMake Sam Girlier, iMust Have Locker 239 and iTwins came out. After that, everything worsened. By season 3 there was a clear divide between the two ships and a seemingly never-ending war.

     This sort of fanwar is bad enough. People who are fans of the same thing going against eachother over a slight difference of opinion. But at the end of the day, they all come together for one thing. Fandom vs Fandom.

     If your entire book/show/film/other fandom becomes under threat from another book/show/film/other fandom, then you're sure to put aside your differences and fight this threat.

     Let me explain how this works. If you're part of more than one fandom (like me) then it is likely that at some point in your life you have witnessed a war between two of your fandoms, unable to contribute in any way as you support both sides. 

          For example:

Niall and Miranda didn't help...

     I am a part of the iCarly fandom. I follow a few iCarly blogs on tumblr. Also on tumblr I follow a few One Direction blogs as I am a bit of a fan of One Direction. When Styles and co. guest stared on iCarly there was a war. A very verbal war that consisted of Directioners proclaiming how 'their babies' were too good for iCarly and so on and so forth. I won't go too far into it as it is over now but it really wasn't a pleasant war. 

     Now as I just stated, I follow some One Direction blogs on tumblr. I also follow a few Taylor Swift blogs as I am a fan of her. And when it was revealed that Taylor and 1D's Harry were an item, there was a war. Not overly big this time (thank goodness) but a war all the same. Mainly just people moaning about it saying that they shouldn't be together blah blah blah... But it's all good. 'Haylor' lasted a total of two months so now everyone's happy (apart from maybe Harry and Taylor... but hey! Think of the songs)!

Oh Tay Tay...

     So. I follow some Taylor Swift blogs on tumblr (you can see a pattern) and I also follow some musical theatre enthusiasts (as I am a musical theatre enthusiast). And when it was rumored that Taylor Swift might play Eponine in the Les Mis movie (which she obviously didn't), you guessed it, there was a war. Some very verbal flames at Taylor saying that she can't sing, blah blah blah.. and some Swifties saying that Taylor was better than that musical, blah blah blah... It went on. For a while.

     The hardest thing about being in all these fandoms during a war like this is that you can't really get involved in it. You can try and calm people down but you can't really overrule peoples opinions. It just won't work.

     There have been so many fan wars. They will never stop. Avatar:TLA's Mike and Bryan just seem to love them and in great trolling fashion have put a love triangle in The Legend of Korra for everyone to shout about. iCarly's Dan Schneider felt it right to finish iCarly with no canon ship. Meaning that Seddiers and Creddiers alike both teamed up against the uber-troll that is Dan Schneider.

     

     Lets just all try to not flame people. Let try to be polite. Instead of saying 'that ship is crap, go jump off a cliff' proclaim ' oh by jove, that is a rather peculiar decision of ship you have acquired  please explain why you have decided this.' 

This makes for happy people. Happy people = other happy people.