[ SECRET POST #2005 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2005 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.


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03.


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04.


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05.


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06. [nf]


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07.


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08. http://i.imgur.com/H1X1Z.gif
[linked because uh not sure if this is porn or not; live action]


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09. http://i.imgur.com/pNcu1.jpg
[porn of the drawn variety - Tintin]


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10.


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[ ----- SPOILERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]











11. [SPOILER WARNING for Hourou Musuko]



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12. [SPOILER WARNING for Prometheus]



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13. [SPOILER WARNING for Homestuck]



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14. [SPOILER WARNING for Avengers]



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15. [SPOILER WARNING for Merlin]



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16. [SPOILER WARNING for Tangled]



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[ ----- TRIGGERY SECRETS AHEAD ----- ]












17. [WARNING for ... pretty sure this has something to do with rape]



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18. [WARNING for rape]



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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 000 secrets from Secret Submission Post #286.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[scarfman]

Riley got dealt a bad hand; he was the love interest who happened to be on the plate when the alltime fandom darling 'ship came along, and got a crapload of inappropriate abuse for it. Now, any time I see the same effect anywhere else (Sam Anders, Martha Jones, Pete Shanahan, Nyota Uhura, etc.), I call it "Riley Finn syndrome". He didn't deserve what the writers did to him; he didn't deserve to be made either an object lesson or a poster boy (I can't tell which the creators meant) for the nice-guys-lose-out-to-bad-boys trope. I forgot what I was driving at. I think it was just, I don't think people really dislike Riley. Either they resent his perceived object to their favorite other 'ship, which he never was because that 'ship was never going to end well, or they resent what the creators did to him in order to write him out when they needed him gone.

[(Anonymous)]

I proposed this exact concept on YKTTW on TV Tropes once (citing Riley and Martha). It kinda ran out of steam.

Riley's biggest crime, in the eyes of the majority of people, was simply not being Angel. And then his second biggest was not being Spike. Tara got away with not being Oz through sheer adorableness; Riley just didn't have anything going for him, plus he was up against two ships. It wasn't going to happen for him.

[dgcatanisiri]

You'd have had my support. It's a case where the fans hate a new love interest for the simple fact that they aren't the old love interest (or, occasionally, the next love interest). They don't judge them as a character, they just hold up the previous love interest as the bar, perpetually out of reach.

I really want to see what would have happened had Riley NOT become Buffy's love interest, either remaining single or getting together with a different character. Would he still be hated, due to his blatant 'good guy' status (the guy goes to church! In a suit and tie!) or because of his ties to the Initiative arc? I wonder about these things.

[(Anonymous)]

I don't ship any (het) pairings on Buffy, and I'm not a fan of Spike, but even I can't stand Riley. It's all too easy for Riley fans to dismiss his unpopularity as being a case of shipping envy, but that's rather short-sighted, IMO. I'm not saying that shipping envy hatred of Riley doesn't happen, but don't try and make out like that's the sole reason that Riley is not liked by anyone ever, because it's not.

[lunabee34]

I agree with this 100%.

[darkmanifest]

This makes so much sense in regards to the clusterfuck that was Riley's part in the story, thank you.