CYL Vote Shaming And Why It Ain’t Cool

We only have 39 eyes in the top 10 pools this year.

The time of year to officially vote for our favorites has come! If you haven’t gotten to it yet, FE fans for the 4th year in a row are given the chance to personally select 4 “Brave” alts for Heroes! It can be, quite literally, any main cast character and even some villains! Most of the victors have been main protagonists, but we have had exceptions- Camilla and Veronica. So don’t be scared if your favorite isn’t necessarily a lord!

Sadly, it isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Some who choose to leak their votes are met with a certain group of people who shame or denounce their votes... despite this entire pool being a popularity contest.

Most of the hostility starts after we get the progress report. It can become especially hostile if the character is controversial- Camilla- or from what I’d like to call “turf wars”. Groups of characters that are so close to the top that they’re actively trying to rally fans for their own group and against the other group- like Marth and Claude this year. Both sides have people openly denouncing the other, and it can get mean pretty fast.

For some odd reason, this unprofessional and gross conduct is considered “expected behavior” around during CYL. That sucks.

This is an event designed to relish in our favorites, not call each other’s waifus shit! A person’s favorite (or whoever they choose to vote) is their favorite, and it isn’t your place to say they shouldn’t be. There are hundreds of characters in FE, but there are exponentially more fire emblem fans. Every single character is going to have a fan, whether you are one of them or not. And you don’t have to agree with them! Just don’t shame them- more on that later.

The biggest disgrace of it all is how some FE fans have been hypocrites. Just a week ago we made thousands of “HOES MAD” memes towards the smash community because they were denouncing a major character of our beloved game that made it in... only to denounce the favorites of our own community a week later.

FE fans have gotten unsavory reputations in the past because we have, ittedly, DESERVED it at times. I don’t think anyone deserves what we got last week, but those of us who have been around since last year could have compared it to Camilla’s victory last year. Things became so bad that the mods had to swoop in on TONS of dedicated hate posts DESIGNED to flame those who voted for Camilla. Entire guidelines were made in honor of it. Not. Cool.

Do we really have to submit ourselves to this? Do we have to watch people insult each other over pixels?

No, we don’t.

So we’re going to look at some solutions to this epidemic! It can honestly be summed up in a few categories. Cause life sucks a lot less when there’s a lot less toxicity.

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Shaming

The biggest and the broadest category. Luckily, it’s pretty easily to define!

Shaming in CYL is attempting to make somebody feel inadequate, dumb, or mistaken for their choices. This includes, but is not limited to:

-Slut Shaming (“Whore for horny weebs!”)

Common examples: Aversa, Camilla, Igrene

This one has become disgustingly common in general within the past year. Look at the character, not the tits, it’s not hard. If every single character that has curves is “a sexualized thot” you might have your own problems.

-Kink Shaming (“HE LOOKS LIKE A CHICK!”)

Common examples: Niles, “traps” , Kagero/units with breasts, “MILF” units like Ursula.

Commonly overlaps with Slut Shaming.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A GREEN FLAG TO ENDORSE LOLIS IN A CERTAIN WAY.

-Game Shaming (“FUCK FATES!1!1!”)

Common examples: Fates units, Awakening units, TMS units, and to a lesser degree 3H and Thracia/Genealogy units.

-Popularity Shaming (“3H IS PURE HYPE, PICK AN ORIGINAL GAME YA SHEEP!”)

Common examples: Same games as above but scrap TMS and Thracia. Sorry, FE5/TMS fans. ☹

It is worth noting that debating or stating that you don’t like a unit in a constructive manner is not shaming. Use your best judgement, but if you aren’t sure, clarify what the other person means before you jump on it. Example:

Not Shaming

“I don’t like Tharja- I think she’s creepy and treats her daughter horrendously.”

Shaming

“THARJA IS A THOTTY WHORE AND EVERYONE WHO LIKES HER IS A HORNY CHILD AB WITH A STALKING KINK.”

One of these is constructive and docile, the other is aggressive and accusatory. One of these is much more pleasant to read. One of these doesn’t feel like getting a failed teatime.

All of these can be covered under a blanket “common decency”. Just be nice, please.

And honestly, this can be covered under banner reactions, but that’s a post for another day.

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Rally For Your Team, Not Against The Other.

It is SO much more fun to market with ion instead of hate! Think of it- you are literally the Ebenezer Scrooge of CYL. Nobody likes him. Or at least until he starts remarking on the positive things! If you’re really struggling, imagine your audience is Marianne. Would you talk about how much life or a person sucks to poor, depressed Marianne who needs all the hope she can get? Would you? Who would you rather gush about your favorite things with her til you inevitably go participate in those fun things with each other?

Other Ideas For Positive Rallying:

-Sharing what you like in the Adoration Chat!

-Adoration posts!

-General content about the unit! (Writing pieces, character art, unit guides, CYH posts, edits, etc!)

-Uncle Sam style campaign posts!

Like this for those who don’t live in America! (And guess what, that post worked!)

-Memes and Shitposts!

-Bribing People!

If you’re desperate and feeling a little generous. It’s not trashing the other team, right? :sweat_smile:

And many, many more!

It’ll make you happier, it’ll make everyone else happier, it’s a win-win. You’ll probably have some fun! And : not everyone will change their mind. That’s okay, not everyone is gonna have a perfect track record!

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You Have A Voice!

We don’t have to let repeat offenders continue their rampage! If you see injustice, SAY SOMETHING! They’re only going to keep going if they’ve kept up so far.

But what if you aren’t comfortable doing that? Say you’re super shy and/or have social anxiety, or you simply don’t like conflict? Other options include asking a friend to do it for you (or heck even me I’ll do it if ya pm me), or if you feel that it’s serious you can get a mod involved! However, I do ask that you try to resolve it yourself first. The mods are likely busy monitoring the Latest Feed and presumably have lives outside of this amino too, so they might be extra busy as is! Don’t hesitate if it is a case you feel deserves attention, because it is their job to take care of things like that! Use your best judgement.

And of course, if you really hate conflict and don’t feel comfortable asking, you do not have to. You’re allowed to pick your own battles!

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Try To Move Past Your Mistakes.

Everyone has a bad day, but those bad days don’t define you. At least until it’s a repeat offense. Lots of s who frequently interact will have at least one salt mine- it’s inevitable.

Don’t let it happen again, but don’t isolate yourself either. If you have more guts than most of us and know you genuinely wronged somebody, feel free to apologize! Cancel culture is its own cancer; one slip-up shouldn’t end your whole career. If you genuinely prove yourself to be better than that people who you may have quarreled with will catch on. However, if you continue to be a repeat offender and refuse to acknowledge disrespectful habits... you’re going to get a reputation and it will become much harder to fix that. Better late than never, but the sooner the better.

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Every Single Hero “Deserves” A Victory.

CYL, regardless of your definition of “Brave” hero, is a popularity contest. If a hero was popular enough to place over another (possibly better-written) character, they deserve the win. Hype and appearance will, sometimes frustratingly, take an effect. However, there is a good chance the hype is deserved for one reason or another. There is a very high chance the hero themself deserves a “Brave” title. Regardless, they fit the exact criteria for being on the banner, they broke no rules, and no hero has a “right” to take their place on the banner for being more plot-important. They still had enough to win.

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Holy shit that was long. As in, I started at 1 AM and now it’s 4 AM. (Disclaimer: am not posting this right upon completion only for 3 hours of work to get buried overnight. It’s probably like 5 or 6 PM EST when this actually comes out.)

I am also trusting the mods to uphold these to hold an example. Besides, a less hostile environment makes your lives easier! :)

Feel free to leave your own experiences and suggestions, though! I’m only one person in the early hours of the morning- I almost definitely missed something. This entire post was born from getting a particularly rude comment after seeing way too many other rude comments the past few days, and I think we’re all done with it. We’re supposed to be mature, let’s act like it.

But most importantly: Happy Voting!

Credit to Alu for digging unit pictures and special quotes for me. All writing, formatting, and commentary was mine.