Kylo Ren and Rey’s relationship became more intimate as they dealt with their Force bond. When The Last Jedi came out, I noted there was undeniable on-screen chemistry between Kylo Ren and Rey, as did Vanity Fair and other outlets. Until the release of The Last Jedi earlier this month, the fantasy was all they had. The majority of fans hope for the romantic pairing to become canonical by the time Episode IX rolls around, but are just as happy to have their fantasies play out on Tumblr or the fan fiction hub Archive of Our Own (often referred to AO3). The Reylo communities on Tumblr, Twitter and Reddit are tight-knit and outspoken. “As a result of that, many banded together and created little writing and art communities within the larger Reylo fandom to support each other’s creative efforts in the face of all of the negativity.” “For a time, the hate was quite focused and intense, especially on Reylo content creators, to the point where some people actually left the fandom over the harassment,” Reylo Art said. ![]() But she isn’t immune to the harsh words from members of the Star Wars community who hate Reylo. Reylo Art said that because, like Ohtze, she’s a curator of fan works and not a creator, she receives fewer messages. Reylo Art told Polygon via email that after she created her Reylo-centric blog in December 2015, she dealt with four instances of harassing emails. Reylo Art, another Reylo fan on Tumblr, recounted her own story. I mean, we tried to explain ourselves for two years and were brutally shot down.” “Some folks still try to respond to this criticism directly, but I don’t. ![]() “Now we just block and ignore,” Ohtze said. Harassment directed at Reylo ’shippers got worse, according to Ohtze. The more that information about Kylo Ren and Rey’s relationship was divulged, however, the more that anti-Reylo users called out the pairing as abusive. By the time promotions started appearing for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, the fandom had more ammo to use and point to. With smaller Kylo Rey and Ren scenes to reference in 20, supporters found these defenses hard to back up. ![]() In an effort to deal with critics, Reylo fans like Ohtze started penning longform essays to explain their points of view. We just wanted to enjoy Reylo whether it became canon or not, and people told us no.” “We were a bunch of women creating fanart and fanfic. The response to our mere existence as an online community was so hysterical that most of us were caught flat-footed, including myself. These criticisms were almost entirely ad hominem attacks on our intelligence/moral character, mixed in with straight up death-threats. “They were being directed at us, as individual fans who were trying to enjoy a fictional pairing in a fictional universe that had little to do with real world concerns. ![]() “It’s really important to specify that these criticisms weren’t being directed at the creators, or at the film itself,” Ohtze said. After a while, however, some complaints turned into harassing messages, and the Reylo fandom started to ignore them altogether. A user known as Ohtze, one of the most outspoken supporters of Reylo on Tumblr, told Polygon via email that when Reylo ’shippers first heard this complaint, they tried to explain their support for the pairing to their critics.
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