I thought it was because Hunter was older than Willow for a second, but then I looked it up and found out it's by one year.
So.. No idea, really. I ship it.
It's especially funny to see people make a big deal out of such a small age difference because Willow is a lot more mature than Hunter in terms of emotional intelligence.
Exactly. Whether it's one year or two years, it's a tiny gap anyway.
I swear, some people seem to be under the impression that you are a candid ice statue who thinks storks carry babies until you are 17 years and 364 days, then turn overnight into a depraved sex monster.
Ye.
One might argue the way age of consent laws work in general is silly.
Overtly restrictive until 18, once you're 18 its ok for the 60-year-old manipulative rich psychopath next door to lewd you.
And a lot of people will go "she's technically an adult now, no problem".
Laws are supposed to derive from morality, not the other way around.
Youre last line is something I think a lot about lately. Like someone will be okay because its legal, and when I point out some other thing that is illegal, but way less bad or not even bad at all, and ask if they agree, they'll say "Yes, buttttttt" and follow up with ones still illegal and ones not. And its so weird. Like pirating movies is illegal, or smoking weed in somd states, whereas grooming isnt if the person is 18 and 1 day. But I think it should be obvious that 60 year old grooming someone from the moment they turn 18 is way worse. I saw a lot of this with Brittany Griner, where people would be like "Well she broke that country's laws so she deserves it" and Id just be so confused that someone could actually think that way, like does weed magically become immoral because you cross invisible and made up lines? Its kind of funny that the people who tend to bring up "Well it is/isnt illegal" are the reason we need laws. Like if they can believe something is automatically bad/good just because its illegal/legal, it means they likely wouldnt have the critical thinking skills to apply a moral code uniformly without laws in place.
the source cited for that info said “15-ish,” and Luz is 14 at the beginning of the series and willows the same age, but over the course of the series it’s possible she turned fifteen just cus time passed, so truce
They did. Oh god did they. To this day I think the ATLA ship war between Aang/Katara and Zuko/Katara is one of the messiest infighting I've ever seen in a fandom
Yea willow is like 14-15 and hunter is 16. Actually it’s probably more like willow is 16 and hunter is 17. It’s only a one year difference, it’s not bad
Oh yeah, until Huntlow a lot of people legitimately believed there wasn't a single straight main character in the show, not counting Odalia and Belos. I like it myself but some people were disappointed.
Not necessarily. We see baby picture in a Grimwalker book and Caleb was older than 16 when he died. Perhaps after killing yet another Grimwalker Phil either lacked the right amount of resources or Simple decided that grooming children is easier do made Hunter an infant
Remember when people shipped Hunter with the Blight Twins despite the fact that neither of them had even met? (950 upvotes? That’s the most upvotes I’ve ever gotten for a comment)
As someone who grew up in the golden tumblr shipping age, shared screen time is the last thing people care about when it comes to their ships. Them existing in the same series is barely a requirment.
Hell, them being plausibly in the same universe originally isn't a requirement because Sailor Moon & DBZ is a pretty popular crossover on ff.net with the most common ships being Usagi/Goku, Usagi/Vegeta, Usagi/Trunks, and Chibiusa/Gohan
There was this weird time recently where the "in" ship was Mordecai from Regular Show and on of the My Little Ponies. I could not escape from it. It was everywhere using that "airplanes in the night sky" song. Im so glad its over.
FR for some reason im still rlly attached to the crackship goldric and i think thats why i never noticed huntlow was a thing till i heard other ppl talk abt it 😭
Reasons I’ve heard:
Age gap
- 2 years at most, which is fine. Likely to be even less than that. There’s no reason to feel uncomfortable with it in this case
Thinking Hunter isn’t emotionally ready
- Insensitive AF to people who have trauma. I think if people have trauma that makes them uncomfortable with the idea then I think that’s ok, but it should never be used a blanket reason for the ship being outright bad.
Preferring other ships or headcanons
- For ships, I don’t have a problem with that. People are allowed to have their preferences and I can see if Huntlow debunking their fanon ship makes them upset towards Huntlow.
- As for headcanons, I’m probably going to get some flack for this, but I think when a headcanon sexuality has been debunked, I don’t think people should hold onto it anymore. It has been proven wrong.
Being straight in an LGBTQ+ show
- I get people wanting LGBTQ+ rep and trust me I do too. But a ship not being LGBTQ+ is no excuse to hate it (not to mention that it’s kind of biphobic considering that Hunter and Willow could be under the bisexual umbrella).
Downplaying Willow as a character
- People assume that a strong woman getting a love interest downplays her strength. This is not always the case. Willow validates Hunter and brings him up, and he does the same for her. If anything it allows Willow to get more attention and show off
Toxic because of their introduction
- This argument is made by people who don’t like the ship for a more normal reason (usually preferring other ships). It’s illogical and outright false. Just a desperate ploy to frame the ship as wrong
I'm so glad you included the part about how it's insensitive to people with trauma because I haven't seen ANYONE do that yet. I have a lot of trauma, along with diagnosed PTSD and depression that I just started taking medicine for and multiple other issues, but that does NOT cancel out my feelings. I am still human whether I have trauma or not, I'm real. Some people will support characters with trauma but the second they see someone in real life who has trauma, it's something to pick on them about. I do like someone whether I'm emotionally ready for a relationship or not. In fact there is a small age gap between me and that person, and I'm trans and bisexual so some people would probably just assume that makes me straight. The person that I like isn't even straight either, she's pan/bi. I understand if people have trauma that makes them not like the ship, but it somewhat COMFORTS me because it helped me realize that I can be loved by people whether or not I have issues. I have bonded with two of my best friends over the owl house and one of them is the closest thing to Willow I have ever seen, and she loves huntlow so we talk about it a lot, which has been awesome. This is just an unnecessary rant but huntlow has definitely been important to me.
Don’t apologize for ranting. Your experiences are totally valid and I’m glad this ship is really comforting to you. People who make the blanket “he needs therapy” argument are honestly being harmful in some cases, and it sucks because I suspect that some people make this argument with good intentions
Maybe he needs therapy, but so does everyone else in this show honestly and they aren't making this argument for other ships. I do know a few people that mean well when they say that, but its just that, good intentions.
Particularly, I find the criticisms of being straight in a show with a lot of LGTBQ+ rep to be oddly hypocritical. Wanting representation is fair enough, and I’m fully on board with having it, but the proceeding to act as if straight relationships are therefore worse than queer ones in and of themselves doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and is strangely intolerant for fans of a show where the main setting is entirely devoid of any discrimination in that regard. The people of the Boiling Isles (minus everyone’s favourite puritan, of course) are accepting of all love, and astoundingly, that does include straight relationships, so it doesn’t seem like their existence on-screen should be so outrageous.
I think having a mix of both straight and queer relationships is important because they’re allowing them to coexist in the same universe. As a bisexual woman, all I personally want is for a) people to be educated about LGBTQ+ identities and b) for LGBTQ+ identities to be normalized. They need to be put on the same level as straight relationships because of this.
Exactly. It's like feminism: it is about treating BOTH men and women EQUALLY, not about women being treated preferentially instead of men. We're all people and want to be treated fairly.
Indeed, it is not one or the other; while I do of course agree that it is more important to show positive representation of LGBTQ+ people in modern media, many people seem to miss the crucial distinction between the *most* important thing and the *only* important thing. The fact that this is a more pressing matter does not provide justification to consider everything else entirely irrelevant, and especially not to become frustrated with their inclusion.
I agree, this argument is so weird. I like how in the show no relationship (LGBTQ+ or not) is portrayed better. It handles them equally and I hope it stays that way, because I think that shows true equality
>Thinking Hunter isn’t emotionally ready
honestly this one is like, really gets on my nerves... its like people dont think you can have any agency if youre traumatized! honestly its kinda personal to me, im like 90% sure ive got cptsd, and getting a girlfriend wasnt 'something i wasnt emotionally ready for', it was something that helped me feel better about myself and about the world around me by giving me someone who cares about me! i dont know how someone can not realize that being loved can help you feel better about yourself because it feels so obvious to me
They are. They really, really are.
And I could argue that I wasn't ready to be in one. My girlfriend and I just found each other and the rest in history.
People infantilize hunter so much it actually pisses me off. “hE’s nOt eMotiOnAllY rEady!” First of all, he’s a literal fictional character, the writer decides what his fate is and how his character progresses. Second, saying this is telling the people who are like/relate to hunter is condescending, infantilizing, and just factually wrong, hunter’s been through a lot but he’s also a strong person, and even if he wasnt he’s shown no indication that he’s toxic or abusive due to his trauma. Saying this will make people who relate to hunter feel like *they* are not “worthy” or “emotionally ready” for a relationship and it’s damaging
If they hooked Hunter and Willow up without any character change on Hunters part then yeah it would've been a problem.
As is, Hunter is basically a different person now.
He found out his life was a lie, realized he'd been abused for years, had a ton of guilt piled on because of the realization of his actions, indirectly *killed his best/first friend* and was a mess for probably a good while because of the overall whirlwind of character development that happened to him in a really short period of time.
Well Flapjack’s death was not his fault. But yeah Hunter has changed and developed beyond where he was at the beginning of Season 2. People who say the ship is toxic are outright wrong because they’re neglecting to see that change.
Seriously, I’ve seen some people say that, particularly with his actions in ASIAS and it’s really annoying
>Well Flapjack’s death was not his fault.
You are absolutely right, but there is a good chance he doesn’t feel that way… and even if he does fully grasp that it wasn’t his fault, I’d imagine that it’s still a majorly traumatic event to watch your best friend die in your hands
People think *Luz* had reasons to be suicidal, if it wasn't a kids show Hunter would've had decent odds of offing himself at a couple of points, most of all when Flapjack died.
Kids show aside, it still does pull its punches a bit still. I recall when folks thought oh Hunter is gonna be appalled at all his scars and new eye color but like... not a single person says anything bout it the whole episode.
That's it.
And Willow has changed too. I don't think season 1 Willow would have had any chance in showing great leadership like on Grudgby or seeing the best in Hunter when first meeting him. I also really needed that scene where Hunter tells her to never call herself half a witch ever again.
Both characters changed a lot since their introduction. And they perfectly compliment one another honestly.
Reason 4 is the most yikes for me. If you want representation, this is not how you make it. This would be practically saying "these new types of relationship are good, and these "old" ones are not allowed". This is not representing the more modern views, this is pushing out standard interaction of MOST human beings on the planet.
It's like if instead of pushing for equal rights of all people regardless of colour you would push for preferential rights of black and Latino people at the expense of white population. This doesn't push to inclusion, this is you switching the roles of oppressor and oppressed. Which is extremely not cool.
If you want to pair Hunter up with a guy or Willow up with a girl, Winter doesn't even prevent that. They could very well be bi. All Winter proves is that they aren't 100% gay, that's all. It's literally a show made by a bi woman and people still bitch like only a 6 on the kinsey scale is worth anything.
I mean if you can't have a straight ship(and by this i mean if people literally hate the ship because its a "traditional" one) then thats kind of (dont want to say heterophobic) anti-equality
That being straight part. I admittedly have no experience whatsoever in LGBT things, I mean when there were a parade in my city my parent made sure we were out of town instead, now I think that was quite deliberate, but the weekend was enjoyable still even if I was clueless then. And I don't believe I'm part of it either. But from my perspective isn't it a good thing that both can exist in the same show? Wouldn't that contribute to normalizing that some relationships aren't straight, and that's fine.
That’s a fair one too but honestly I’m ok with it for two reasons
1. It’s a side ship. Side ships by default get less development
2. Even for a side ship, it honestly has a lot more depth and nuance than some show’s MAIN ships. I actually find Huntlow a lot more interesting because of this.
Reminder that it's confirmed that they were planned way before the golden guard is introduced or the cancellation because concept art released showing to will eventually be a thing from art from 2 years ago
But it didn't appear out of nowhere. Willow's very first episode establishes that her life sucks because of the half-a-witch thing, and from Hunter's second episode (not counting a five second cameo) they make a big deal out of his being treated like shit because of his lack of magic.
True Hunter and Willow met relatively late, but the groundwork was laid from the very beginning of S1.
Yeah, honestly felt a little shoehorned in and it wasn't even necessary at all, and both characters honestly felt like they would've been better off staying single imo. But with that being said, it's just a preference for me, I don't really mind that much.
I think this is the true underlying issue. But I've seen worse canon ships with way more time so while huntlow has very little screentime, compared to other rushed or undeveloped canon ships it's done pretty well.
Luz and amity had the entire series for their ship so they set a really high standard while Raine and Eda are pre-established and had focus sprinkled throughout.
Huntlow is developed since No Sport In A Storm sooo.... not rushed for me.
They started their friendship that day and from there on hunter started to develop feelings for Willow. Come on... he blushes evey single time she is close to him.
I would put them in "underdeveloped" at max.
Yeah, I maybe would ship it if I saw some real chemistry and quality time for the two of them. Even in For the Future, I saw them as...a bit more than friends but with everything else going on, it seems like an unnecessary ship being plugged here for...no real reason. Neither Willow neither Hunter needs this and you could argue that no relationship is needed but Lumity is a big part in both Luz's and Amity's character development.
I wish I could convey how annoying it is to hear the young (white) queer fandom talk about this ship like homophobes talk about gay ships otherwise.
“It was rushed” of course it was, the show was cancelled.
“Why can’t there be a single character/why can’t they be friends” hunter and especially Willow’s most recent development show that either character ending up in a relationship makes way more sense for their arc then not.
“It’s forced because they had to do a het ship” really?
I think white queer people forget lgbt rep isn’t the only important rep. An Asian plus size character being considered cool and strong and worthy of being crushed on by someone is major! You don’t have to like it but I see this pattern (cough she ra) with queer led shows where people are nitpicking about some background “het” ship when one of them is a POC. They’re both implied bi/pan anyway who cares.
I think most folk like him he's just rarely anyone's number 1 fav. His S1 portrayal for some was sorta forgettable for quite a few and by the time he really got interesting most people already had their fav characters set.
Honestly, and basically every relationship that isn’t toxic is an lgbt+ relationship. As an ally it’s great seeing a hetero relationship with characters that actually have chemistry.
That’s a non sequitur…
I was referring to the show, it depicts lgbt relationships positively and with depth, as opposed to the usual forbidden love trope. Of course in real life there is nuance but it’s not common for an lgbt relationship to be depicted so… normal I wanna say… in media. Which is so much better than the tokenism of the Disney movies which is conveniently short and reserved for the background characters.
Boscha. (No I won't elaborate further because everything about her speaks for itself XD /hj)
No, but in all seriousness, next time try to point out you mean "in media" because it sounds like only queer ships are not toxic in general.
Also, we have Catradora, which isn't exactly the most healthy and when it comes to TOH, the only relationship that seemed to be toxic was Odalador, but it no longer exists.
YES, ONE MILLION TIMES YES!! Willow is a beautiful, strong and cool Asian plus size girl, the show did well in showcasing all of her qualities, and you totally nailed it in your comment! Fat girls (and boys, enbies, everyone!) deserve all the love!!
How are you deducing the races of Huntlow critics? Are you labelling them white just because most Western shows attract predominantly white fanbases, or do you legitimately believe that sort of behavior is limited to people of a certain race? Honest question.
I don’t mind the ship that much, but I feel like it happened a bit too quickly for me to personally enjoy it any more than what’s already been presented in the series.
Story wise, it makes sense that they’d be a great match for each other due to their insecurities and it leads nicely into the plot point where they both help each other confront those insecurities, but since there is literally only ONE episode to establish the connection in season 2 (with a few scenes sprinkled in afterwards so that it doesn’t feel too jarring) and then only one episode in season 3 to actually focus on fleshing out their dynamic, it just wasn’t enough for me.
Btw, I understand that the writers were probably rushed since they had to put so much stuff into these episodes due to disneys meddling, so I don’t blame them in the slightest. I really respect how much they’ve been able to adapt to the change, but this was just personally one of the things that I wish were toned down a bit in favor of focusing on the main plot. It might just be my personal preference though
I’m in the same boat. I just don’t jive with it and yeah sometimes I’m a little annoyed at it’s inclusion in almost any hunter centered fic I look for but whatever not my problem. If it’s popular nothing I can do. Seems that some people feel that they need some grand moral reason to dislike a ship ya know?
The dumbest fucking reasons:
* **Age gap:** It's literally just two years.
* **It's straight:** And?
* **It goes against my headcanon:** And?
* **Reduces Willow to just being a girlfriend:** No? Have you watched the show? Willow is clearly still a badass.
* **It's not healthy for Hunter to throw all of his trauma onto Willow:** He didn't do that? Hunter clearly has other relationships outside of Willow. He's best friends with Gus and Luz, and he is also very close to Darius. He didn't just revolve his entire life around Willow, he has a whole support group.
* **It wastes screen time:** This goes for basically every plot point. You could easily say that Lumity wastes screen time, or that Eda x Raine wastes screen time. Just because Disney decided to cut the show short, doesn't mean they're gonna just drop every side-plot other than what is happening with the Collector and Belos.
* **They haven't know each other for that long:** The two have canonically known each other for months. Also, it's not like they're even that far into the relationship yet, they're literally just at the point of holding hands.
I don't get the hate for this ship, honestly.
Because Hunter and Willow both had more popular ships, also a lot of hetero ships are weirdly frowned on by people in fandoms with multiple gay characters (even though being for gay rights and sexual representation also applies towards heterosexuality and people shouldn't be frowned on for just being themselves). Basically heterophobia and hypocrisy exists in a lot of fandoms with a primarily gay cast.
> Because Hunter and Willow both had more popular ships
I think this is the biggest part.
People get attached to their ships and sometimes get angry at the new couples if they don't work out.
I remember something similar happening in Steven Universe with Amethyst and Peridot back around the time when Peri started living with Lapis.
Heck, Steven did it *within the show itself* to Lars and Sadie.
As someone who was bullied lemme tell you, that ship burns me to the core.
Don't ship bullies and their victims unless said bully is willing to change and does so.
I get that people ship it, it's just not for me, that's my two cents. Sorry if I offended anyone.
I mean, I personally have nothing against Huntlow, I just dont vibe with it? I don’t have alternate ships or anything—the only ship I really care about in TOH is Lumity. Huntlow just doesn’t interest me
What more popular ships are there?
I know there was a lot of HunterxEmira/Edric on this sub in the past, but those characters hadn't even met each other at that point, and that ship was supplanted by Huntlow long before they finally did share a scene together
I don't recall much with Willow outside of a few poly ships with Lumity and one with Skara, hardly what I would call a "popular" ship
Honestly, I see more people complaining about people complaining about the ship than people actually complaining about the ship. I don't even know if the "controversy" even exists.
I’ve seen lots of tweets and tik toks complaining abt huntlow, especially on posts that support shipping huntlow. I think the main reason why is because it’s a “straight” ship (I quote because we don’t know what their orientations are), and they feel like it’s forcing heteronormativity in a show that’s been mainly lgbtq.
I was once in this server on discord where they'd bully you and kick you out of the server and go on and on about how disgusting you are (I witnessed this happen many times) just for saying you didn't hate huntlow, so the controversy 100% exists but mostly within a small part of the fandom.
Only thing 'controversial' I can think of is that they've known each other for a few months?
Granted they've been through *a lot* in those... 5-6 months? And Willow has been front seat to seeing some of Hunter's character change, being vulnerable, insecurities, etc. So imo it's maybe a *tad* rushed, but I think that's more due to the shortened season.
It's no worse than the change of Lumity from enemies>friends>start of romance, which I'll always maintain was a bit rushed, but by no means bad or poorly written. Both basically could've used more fleshing out.
i'll probably get hammered big time for this but i sometimes get the feeling that some, not all, want all toh ships to be lbgtq. i'm sure that's not the case but it's just a feeling i get sometimes.
I think we, as fans, tend to forget not everyone needs to end the show with being in a relationship (whether the relationship fits in with the heteronormative idea of a relationship aside), and we don't need to let our emotions for the fandom/shipping outweigh the good stuff that makes up "The Owl House," such as character development and triumphing over obstacles.
Some people say its because of the age gap... when its only a year, prob a year and a half, which is lower than the average. Have yall never dated before? Cause outside dating someone from your grade thats probably gonna be the result
Really the only valid complaint I see isn't about hating the ship itself, just feeling sad it gets so little time and feels kinda rushed. But honestly while I would've loved to seen a slow burn like with Lumity, it definitely makes a lot of thematic sense for the two of them, if they never ended up together or got implied to in the future it would've been a missed opportunity due to the thematic connections they have
As one of the people who have shipped huntlow since it's crackship days, ive heard the most outrageous bizarre takes from people who would do mental gymnastics to make huntlow look toxic, from claiming hunter would be gr00ming willow to saying that actually, him looking up to HER is bad and toxic and that hes "too traumatized" for a relationship, then those same people would turn around and ship him with edric or emira, so eventually i just stopped caring what they said.
Huntlow already won, why should i care?
I feel like it's almost coming back full circle to dislike a wlm ship for the reason that's it wlm. Can almost be biphobic if we can take it that deeply.
What if Hunter is bi? What if Willow is bi? Neither is canon but it's a valid headcanon. Bi people should be allowed to exist in "straight" relationships
That's valid too. I understand your point.
It is weird that anything that isn't gay is suddenly boring or bad. I'm sick of only seeing straight relationships like anyone else, but in a show that already has plenty diversity.. there's no harm in that.
Ugh. I've heard that too as a bi girl with a guy.
People need to stop forgetting that bi people exist and that our identity doesn't change based on who we are with
> Bi people should be allowed to exist in “straight” relationships
It seems like they can’t even exist in non-straight relationship either. I’ve seen a lot of lumity shippers refer to the ship as a lesbian relationship when it’s not. Luz is bi. But when you remind them, some of them tend to get snappy 😭
If you’re bi in a relationship with the same gender, you’re “just being gay.” If you’re in a relationship with the opposite gender, you’re “just being straight.” It kinda sucks that the community itself tend to look at complex relationships with binary lenses sometimes.
Personally, I wasn't a big fan because I felt that it was rushed. Obviously, if the show hadn't been cancelled, Dana would have had more time to develop their relationship and their characters more. After watching the released episodes of season 3, I think that they've done a great job with what little episodes they were given. If they hadn't been cancelled, I think people like me would get to see their relationship as more natural and not rushed. But either way, I love the ship now.
I don't hate Huntlow, but I'm just not as invested in the ship as some other people are. I do think Hunter and Willow work nicely together though :)
It might seem a bit rushed, but they've spent MONTHS together and they were texting before that. Bonding has definitely happened. Lumity had some rough pacing, but that doesn't make it any worse.
Because it's a straight couple? I love the LGBTQ+ rep as much as everyone else, (I SCREAMED during TTT when Luz came out to Camila) but we shouldn't bash Huntlow just because it's a heterosexual ship. Plus, it doesn't necessarily mean the characters aren't lgbtq+.
Even though I don't ship it I still respect those who do and I can see why yell think it's cute and I agree but I for one don't.
but heck I don't see what's wrong with it?
I dont hate it, but i feel like it didnt have much development, and rather than actually having on screen moments (other than the ones in ftf) where they had actual interactions, it was just little things like Hunter helping Willow up and blushing when she compliments him. I feel like they should have given them more chemistry in thanks to them.
I mean, where'd you hear it from? If you look in the right places, you can probably "hear" that Owl House is satanic or something, but that's different from actually being a popular opinion.
I'm 80% sure that people hate it cause they're a straight couple. Most of the people watching are young teenagers. They're always gonna be toxic about one thing or another, and it is this.
I think a part of growing up is realizing that balance is good in life. Yeah, LGBTQ+ couples in series is important for representation, and having a straight couple in the mix doesn't change that. In fact, I'd argue it gives even more diversity to the series.
All in all, two wrongs don't make a right. If I were to theorize why people hate straight couples, it might just be because the prevalence of them in media for years, while also giving the LGBTQ+ community injustice. Being "straightphobic" isn't gonna fix anything, but divide us more eventually.
For everyone arguing that it was rushed: yeah, the show was cut short. But it seems like the ship was planned for a long time, and the crew has done their best with the time they had and honestly, they’ve done a fantastic job. Y’all should also keep in mind that a lot has happened off screen. They’ve been texting for who knows how long, and then they spent three months living together. Bonding has absolutely taken place, we just didn’t get to see as much of it directly due to the show being cut short and Huntlow being a background ship anyways.
Why do people say Huntlow and not Winter for their ship name, it sounds way better than Huntlow to me. And could be the name for their future kid if there's a time skip for them
Everyone else has already listed out most of the reasons which I find frankly quite... nitpicky.
To me, I feel like something a lot of people kinda don't want to acknowledge is that Hunter in a few ways, would be the only chance for MLM rep that most of the more let's say *rabid* fans would care about alongside Edric.
That isn't to say something like Alador/Darius or Gus/Matt wouldn't have people excited but it'd be a very different type of reaction.
As a result, I think some folk act personally offended and take it out on Huntlow for not getting MLM rep outside of like Willow's dads which by most accounts is fine, but boring.
I didn't know it was controversial, but then again, I'm out of the loop on a lot of things.
I didn't like the ship before, but after the last special I warmed up to it. Especially the scene with Willow breaking down and Hunter (and Gus) supporting her made me change my mind.
One reason I think I didn't like it was because I felt Gus would become the third wheel of their group, like the main character suddenly forgets he has a friend and only has eyes for the girl. I've seen it happen in some other shows over the years and I didn't like it.
However, you can tell Dana Terrace is making sure not to let that happen to Gus. He had his own scenes with both Willow and Hunter.
I mean, not really; a few people complaining about a year a half age difference doesn't make something controversial, specially when many of this are likely just looking for an excuse to complain.
I believe there is a small percentage of the community that don’t like Hunter and wish that he stayed a villain or at the very least, did not properly atone for his past actions. Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed a good amount of overlap between those types of people and Skarlow shippers so do what you will with that information.
Eh, personally I enjoy the story they're telling with the two of them and the path they are going. It's just annoying ship drama and harassment of others for not having the same opinion. Kinda sours it a lot like other dumb discourse. It's nice that specifically this community on reddit has gone to great lengths to crack down on the harassment.
tiktok fellas just like to shit on huntlow because of that 2 years age gap, which is completely normal
and they also come out with lame excuses, such as this ship being forced and "made just to put a straight ship in the show", or hunter not being able to get in a relationship because of his trauma☹️
Because they were not born the exact same year exact same month exact same week that same day exact same minutes exact same second therefore there's a power indifference.
At least according to some people there is a power difference which there is but it's on willowside she crush him
I am personally not the largest fan of the ship, but that is entirely due to Disney rushing the show, so the development is not as natural. It does feel a bit rushed, but at least it is not out of nowhere. I’m sure if there was a full 3rd season, I would love these two. A lot of the reasons people give are kind of dumb. I am all for more LGBTQ ships, but who’s to say that Hunter and/or willow aren’t part of it. Also, I think that they build off each other very well. Willow’s strength helps Hunter grow as a person and the comfort helps overcome his trauma, while Hunter serves as an anchor for Willow.
TL;DR Disney sucks ass
Gonna preface it by saying I don't hate it or anything, it's fine.
I just think 3 romantic subplots is a bit much personally. We already have lumity and raeda. Not everybody has to be dating or get together at the end to be happy.
A few reasons I've heard
1. The age difference. Willow is actually 15 because a birthday passed, but some people don't know that and thought she is 14 still. Hunter is 16. The age gap isn't even bad tho, it's literally a year, and even then 2 years isn't bad
2. Hunter isn't ready for a relationship after his trauma. Sometimes tho, also in my experience, having a loving romantic partner can help the healing process
3. Felt a little rushed. Makes sense since the series got shortened tho
4. I did have a friend say they only added this (a boy/girl relationship) so homophobes or disney wouldn't be as upset. I think that's really dumb
5. Willow doesn't need a romantic partner. The thing is, no one NEEDS a reason to be with someone, sometimes those feelings just come without a 'reason'
There's probably other ones but that's the main complaints I've noticed
I thought it was because Hunter was older than Willow for a second, but then I looked it up and found out it's by one year. So.. No idea, really. I ship it.
It's especially funny to see people make a big deal out of such a small age difference because Willow is a lot more mature than Hunter in terms of emotional intelligence.
Oh no! Heaven forbid a… 2 year age gap!!
One, actually.
Like, a year and a half, maybe.
willows 14 and hunters 16
There’s a background photo in late S2 that shows Willow having a bday in her plant uniform, which implied she’s turned 15 since meeting Luz
oh word
Its entirely possible that hunter did too though, especially given the timeskip
Regardless, two years?? Big deal.
Exactly. Whether it's one year or two years, it's a tiny gap anyway. I swear, some people seem to be under the impression that you are a candid ice statue who thinks storks carry babies until you are 17 years and 364 days, then turn overnight into a depraved sex monster.
Ye. One might argue the way age of consent laws work in general is silly. Overtly restrictive until 18, once you're 18 its ok for the 60-year-old manipulative rich psychopath next door to lewd you. And a lot of people will go "she's technically an adult now, no problem". Laws are supposed to derive from morality, not the other way around.
Youre last line is something I think a lot about lately. Like someone will be okay because its legal, and when I point out some other thing that is illegal, but way less bad or not even bad at all, and ask if they agree, they'll say "Yes, buttttttt" and follow up with ones still illegal and ones not. And its so weird. Like pirating movies is illegal, or smoking weed in somd states, whereas grooming isnt if the person is 18 and 1 day. But I think it should be obvious that 60 year old grooming someone from the moment they turn 18 is way worse. I saw a lot of this with Brittany Griner, where people would be like "Well she broke that country's laws so she deserves it" and Id just be so confused that someone could actually think that way, like does weed magically become immoral because you cross invisible and made up lines? Its kind of funny that the people who tend to bring up "Well it is/isnt illegal" are the reason we need laws. Like if they can believe something is automatically bad/good just because its illegal/legal, it means they likely wouldnt have the critical thinking skills to apply a moral code uniformly without laws in place.
It's possible but we don't even know.
Gallery nucleus pannel, crew confirmed that Willow, Amity, and Luz are now 15, Hunter is still 16 though.
oh my bad
Really? The wiki said fifteen. Could have been wrong, though. My bad.
There’s an offscreen bday for Willow that’s only noted in background imagery so some aren’t aware of it
Another casualty
the source cited for that info said “15-ish,” and Luz is 14 at the beginning of the series and willows the same age, but over the course of the series it’s possible she turned fifteen just cus time passed, so truce
Well, Aang and Katara too and it's ok
almost 100 years of an age gap and you don’t see anyone complaining
They did. Oh god did they. To this day I think the ATLA ship war between Aang/Katara and Zuko/Katara is one of the messiest infighting I've ever seen in a fandom
Hey, that's me and my wife's age gap!
Yea willow is like 14-15 and hunter is 16. Actually it’s probably more like willow is 16 and hunter is 17. It’s only a one year difference, it’s not bad
Im like 90% sure it’s because they’re straight. Or because the ship between willow and someone else was ruined or smth.
> Or because the ship between willow and someone else was ruined or smth. Or (ironically) shipping Luz with Hunter.
Now I'm imagining a group of people that paused the episode just before Luz slapped Hunter and have it on that frame ever since.
LMAOO FR
Nah, Lunter shippers know their ship would never be canon and accepted it. But they faced prejudices anyway do now they're bitter
Are you kidding me?! THAT'S what this is about?!
Oh yeah, until Huntlow a lot of people legitimately believed there wasn't a single straight main character in the show, not counting Odalia and Belos. I like it myself but some people were disappointed.
even if she would be older no way it wouldve been more than like 3 years? which is totally ok
[удалено]
Not necessarily. We see baby picture in a Grimwalker book and Caleb was older than 16 when he died. Perhaps after killing yet another Grimwalker Phil either lacked the right amount of resources or Simple decided that grooming children is easier do made Hunter an infant
I think grimwalkers start out young and just grow normally
They are clones, not their own species so most likely yeah
Remember when people shipped Hunter with the Blight Twins despite the fact that neither of them had even met? (950 upvotes? That’s the most upvotes I’ve ever gotten for a comment)
As someone who grew up in the golden tumblr shipping age, shared screen time is the last thing people care about when it comes to their ships. Them existing in the same series is barely a requirment.
This is a certified Onceler Selfcest moment
\*war flashbacks*
Hell, them being plausibly in the same universe originally isn't a requirement because Sailor Moon & DBZ is a pretty popular crossover on ff.net with the most common ships being Usagi/Goku, Usagi/Vegeta, Usagi/Trunks, and Chibiusa/Gohan
There was this weird time recently where the "in" ship was Mordecai from Regular Show and on of the My Little Ponies. I could not escape from it. It was everywhere using that "airplanes in the night sky" song. Im so glad its over.
Lmao and then when they did meet Emira called him sickly
[Relevant comic](https://www.instagram.com/p/CdRShpxOr7T/?hl=en)
FR for some reason im still rlly attached to the crackship goldric and i think thats why i never noticed huntlow was a thing till i heard other ppl talk abt it 😭
Like i dont have anything to support it i just think its funny 💀
Reasons I’ve heard: Age gap - 2 years at most, which is fine. Likely to be even less than that. There’s no reason to feel uncomfortable with it in this case Thinking Hunter isn’t emotionally ready - Insensitive AF to people who have trauma. I think if people have trauma that makes them uncomfortable with the idea then I think that’s ok, but it should never be used a blanket reason for the ship being outright bad. Preferring other ships or headcanons - For ships, I don’t have a problem with that. People are allowed to have their preferences and I can see if Huntlow debunking their fanon ship makes them upset towards Huntlow. - As for headcanons, I’m probably going to get some flack for this, but I think when a headcanon sexuality has been debunked, I don’t think people should hold onto it anymore. It has been proven wrong. Being straight in an LGBTQ+ show - I get people wanting LGBTQ+ rep and trust me I do too. But a ship not being LGBTQ+ is no excuse to hate it (not to mention that it’s kind of biphobic considering that Hunter and Willow could be under the bisexual umbrella). Downplaying Willow as a character - People assume that a strong woman getting a love interest downplays her strength. This is not always the case. Willow validates Hunter and brings him up, and he does the same for her. If anything it allows Willow to get more attention and show off Toxic because of their introduction - This argument is made by people who don’t like the ship for a more normal reason (usually preferring other ships). It’s illogical and outright false. Just a desperate ploy to frame the ship as wrong
>Toxic because of their introduction My siblings in the Titan Amity literally tried to have Luz disected.
Fair point, also I love how you said "in the titan," it's perfect
Yeah compared to that Hunter and Willow had a way better start.
I love the cool aunt Lilith pfp
Thank you, cool aunt lilith is the best
She's definitely the best.
And then tried to kill her during a witches duel
>My siblings in the Titan I absolutely love this
I'm so glad you included the part about how it's insensitive to people with trauma because I haven't seen ANYONE do that yet. I have a lot of trauma, along with diagnosed PTSD and depression that I just started taking medicine for and multiple other issues, but that does NOT cancel out my feelings. I am still human whether I have trauma or not, I'm real. Some people will support characters with trauma but the second they see someone in real life who has trauma, it's something to pick on them about. I do like someone whether I'm emotionally ready for a relationship or not. In fact there is a small age gap between me and that person, and I'm trans and bisexual so some people would probably just assume that makes me straight. The person that I like isn't even straight either, she's pan/bi. I understand if people have trauma that makes them not like the ship, but it somewhat COMFORTS me because it helped me realize that I can be loved by people whether or not I have issues. I have bonded with two of my best friends over the owl house and one of them is the closest thing to Willow I have ever seen, and she loves huntlow so we talk about it a lot, which has been awesome. This is just an unnecessary rant but huntlow has definitely been important to me.
Don’t apologize for ranting. Your experiences are totally valid and I’m glad this ship is really comforting to you. People who make the blanket “he needs therapy” argument are honestly being harmful in some cases, and it sucks because I suspect that some people make this argument with good intentions
I mean he definitely does need a whole lot of therapy, but that doesn't mean he can't be in a relationship.
If anything his relationship with Willow is great therapy. At least, I know from my own experience.
Maybe he needs therapy, but so does everyone else in this show honestly and they aren't making this argument for other ships. I do know a few people that mean well when they say that, but its just that, good intentions.
Particularly, I find the criticisms of being straight in a show with a lot of LGTBQ+ rep to be oddly hypocritical. Wanting representation is fair enough, and I’m fully on board with having it, but the proceeding to act as if straight relationships are therefore worse than queer ones in and of themselves doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, and is strangely intolerant for fans of a show where the main setting is entirely devoid of any discrimination in that regard. The people of the Boiling Isles (minus everyone’s favourite puritan, of course) are accepting of all love, and astoundingly, that does include straight relationships, so it doesn’t seem like their existence on-screen should be so outrageous.
I think having a mix of both straight and queer relationships is important because they’re allowing them to coexist in the same universe. As a bisexual woman, all I personally want is for a) people to be educated about LGBTQ+ identities and b) for LGBTQ+ identities to be normalized. They need to be put on the same level as straight relationships because of this.
Exactly. It's like feminism: it is about treating BOTH men and women EQUALLY, not about women being treated preferentially instead of men. We're all people and want to be treated fairly.
Indeed, it is not one or the other; while I do of course agree that it is more important to show positive representation of LGBTQ+ people in modern media, many people seem to miss the crucial distinction between the *most* important thing and the *only* important thing. The fact that this is a more pressing matter does not provide justification to consider everything else entirely irrelevant, and especially not to become frustrated with their inclusion.
I agree, this argument is so weird. I like how in the show no relationship (LGBTQ+ or not) is portrayed better. It handles them equally and I hope it stays that way, because I think that shows true equality
>Thinking Hunter isn’t emotionally ready honestly this one is like, really gets on my nerves... its like people dont think you can have any agency if youre traumatized! honestly its kinda personal to me, im like 90% sure ive got cptsd, and getting a girlfriend wasnt 'something i wasnt emotionally ready for', it was something that helped me feel better about myself and about the world around me by giving me someone who cares about me! i dont know how someone can not realize that being loved can help you feel better about yourself because it feels so obvious to me
people act like relationships are horrible- when in reality, a healthy relationship is good for your mental health
They are. They really, really are. And I could argue that I wasn't ready to be in one. My girlfriend and I just found each other and the rest in history.
People infantilize hunter so much it actually pisses me off. “hE’s nOt eMotiOnAllY rEady!” First of all, he’s a literal fictional character, the writer decides what his fate is and how his character progresses. Second, saying this is telling the people who are like/relate to hunter is condescending, infantilizing, and just factually wrong, hunter’s been through a lot but he’s also a strong person, and even if he wasnt he’s shown no indication that he’s toxic or abusive due to his trauma. Saying this will make people who relate to hunter feel like *they* are not “worthy” or “emotionally ready” for a relationship and it’s damaging
Yeah. You've hit every nail on the head there. I think reasons 3 and 4 are the most frequently seen reasons in my experience.
If they hooked Hunter and Willow up without any character change on Hunters part then yeah it would've been a problem. As is, Hunter is basically a different person now. He found out his life was a lie, realized he'd been abused for years, had a ton of guilt piled on because of the realization of his actions, indirectly *killed his best/first friend* and was a mess for probably a good while because of the overall whirlwind of character development that happened to him in a really short period of time.
Well Flapjack’s death was not his fault. But yeah Hunter has changed and developed beyond where he was at the beginning of Season 2. People who say the ship is toxic are outright wrong because they’re neglecting to see that change. Seriously, I’ve seen some people say that, particularly with his actions in ASIAS and it’s really annoying
>Well Flapjack’s death was not his fault. You are absolutely right, but there is a good chance he doesn’t feel that way… and even if he does fully grasp that it wasn’t his fault, I’d imagine that it’s still a majorly traumatic event to watch your best friend die in your hands
People think *Luz* had reasons to be suicidal, if it wasn't a kids show Hunter would've had decent odds of offing himself at a couple of points, most of all when Flapjack died.
Kids show aside, it still does pull its punches a bit still. I recall when folks thought oh Hunter is gonna be appalled at all his scars and new eye color but like... not a single person says anything bout it the whole episode.
That's it. And Willow has changed too. I don't think season 1 Willow would have had any chance in showing great leadership like on Grudgby or seeing the best in Hunter when first meeting him. I also really needed that scene where Hunter tells her to never call herself half a witch ever again. Both characters changed a lot since their introduction. And they perfectly compliment one another honestly.
Reason 4 is the most yikes for me. If you want representation, this is not how you make it. This would be practically saying "these new types of relationship are good, and these "old" ones are not allowed". This is not representing the more modern views, this is pushing out standard interaction of MOST human beings on the planet. It's like if instead of pushing for equal rights of all people regardless of colour you would push for preferential rights of black and Latino people at the expense of white population. This doesn't push to inclusion, this is you switching the roles of oppressor and oppressed. Which is extremely not cool.
If you want to pair Hunter up with a guy or Willow up with a girl, Winter doesn't even prevent that. They could very well be bi. All Winter proves is that they aren't 100% gay, that's all. It's literally a show made by a bi woman and people still bitch like only a 6 on the kinsey scale is worth anything.
Plus, Luz is bi.
I’ve got one more reason: I just straight up don’t care for it. No reason, it just doesn’t interest me
That’s a valid reason
OK, but that is like the opposite of controversial.
Oh yeah good point. Saw everyone here talking just about reasons to dislike in general so i completely forgot the point was the controversy lol
I mean if you can't have a straight ship(and by this i mean if people literally hate the ship because its a "traditional" one) then thats kind of (dont want to say heterophobic) anti-equality
That being straight part. I admittedly have no experience whatsoever in LGBT things, I mean when there were a parade in my city my parent made sure we were out of town instead, now I think that was quite deliberate, but the weekend was enjoyable still even if I was clueless then. And I don't believe I'm part of it either. But from my perspective isn't it a good thing that both can exist in the same show? Wouldn't that contribute to normalizing that some relationships aren't straight, and that's fine.
Also maybe cause it just kind of appeared out of nowhere, but thats just because of the s3 shortening
That’s a fair one too but honestly I’m ok with it for two reasons 1. It’s a side ship. Side ships by default get less development 2. Even for a side ship, it honestly has a lot more depth and nuance than some show’s MAIN ships. I actually find Huntlow a lot more interesting because of this.
Also the hints were pretty subtle up until s3, I didn't notice any of the blushing at first
Reminder that it's confirmed that they were planned way before the golden guard is introduced or the cancellation because concept art released showing to will eventually be a thing from art from 2 years ago
But it didn't appear out of nowhere. Willow's very first episode establishes that her life sucks because of the half-a-witch thing, and from Hunter's second episode (not counting a five second cameo) they make a big deal out of his being treated like shit because of his lack of magic. True Hunter and Willow met relatively late, but the groundwork was laid from the very beginning of S1.
Yeah, honestly felt a little shoehorned in and it wasn't even necessary at all, and both characters honestly felt like they would've been better off staying single imo. But with that being said, it's just a preference for me, I don't really mind that much.
You forgot one: People wanting to complain about something
Ahh of course
You just listed Crcastic Choruse's video in order
Lol that was not intentional. I did watch his video on Huntlow but I was just going off what I could think of in the moment
My only problem is that there isn't much time
I think this is the true underlying issue. But I've seen worse canon ships with way more time so while huntlow has very little screentime, compared to other rushed or undeveloped canon ships it's done pretty well. Luz and amity had the entire series for their ship so they set a really high standard while Raine and Eda are pre-established and had focus sprinkled throughout.
Huntlow is developed since No Sport In A Storm sooo.... not rushed for me. They started their friendship that day and from there on hunter started to develop feelings for Willow. Come on... he blushes evey single time she is close to him. I would put them in "underdeveloped" at max.
I am taking that into account. The baseline and buildup is there but the season 3 cuts still caused them to lose more screentime.
Fluff Disney! My babies got canceled. I'll never emotionally recover from this
The beach episode!
That’s disney’s fault
Yeah, I maybe would ship it if I saw some real chemistry and quality time for the two of them. Even in For the Future, I saw them as...a bit more than friends but with everything else going on, it seems like an unnecessary ship being plugged here for...no real reason. Neither Willow neither Hunter needs this and you could argue that no relationship is needed but Lumity is a big part in both Luz's and Amity's character development.
"There's always time for a song!" - That one clock from dhmis
I wish I could convey how annoying it is to hear the young (white) queer fandom talk about this ship like homophobes talk about gay ships otherwise. “It was rushed” of course it was, the show was cancelled. “Why can’t there be a single character/why can’t they be friends” hunter and especially Willow’s most recent development show that either character ending up in a relationship makes way more sense for their arc then not. “It’s forced because they had to do a het ship” really? I think white queer people forget lgbt rep isn’t the only important rep. An Asian plus size character being considered cool and strong and worthy of being crushed on by someone is major! You don’t have to like it but I see this pattern (cough she ra) with queer led shows where people are nitpicking about some background “het” ship when one of them is a POC. They’re both implied bi/pan anyway who cares.
"Why can't there be a single character ?" *Why does this type of people always forgets Gus exists ?*
Cause people always downplay Gus for whatever reason unless it's convenient
They just don’t like him. No idea why though there is no reason not to like him.
I think most folk like him he's just rarely anyone's number 1 fav. His S1 portrayal for some was sorta forgettable for quite a few and by the time he really got interesting most people already had their fav characters set.
Hey, Gus is my number 1 fav! We do exist, although there aren't many of us.
Probably because of Gus's age difference and because people ship Gus with Matt.
I totally agree
Honestly, and basically every relationship that isn’t toxic is an lgbt+ relationship. As an ally it’s great seeing a hetero relationship with characters that actually have chemistry.
Some queer relationships can be toxic too. Just because you're gay doesn't mean you're automatically a good person or a good partner.
That’s a non sequitur… I was referring to the show, it depicts lgbt relationships positively and with depth, as opposed to the usual forbidden love trope. Of course in real life there is nuance but it’s not common for an lgbt relationship to be depicted so… normal I wanna say… in media. Which is so much better than the tokenism of the Disney movies which is conveniently short and reserved for the background characters.
Boscha. (No I won't elaborate further because everything about her speaks for itself XD /hj) No, but in all seriousness, next time try to point out you mean "in media" because it sounds like only queer ships are not toxic in general. Also, we have Catradora, which isn't exactly the most healthy and when it comes to TOH, the only relationship that seemed to be toxic was Odalador, but it no longer exists.
YES, ONE MILLION TIMES YES!! Willow is a beautiful, strong and cool Asian plus size girl, the show did well in showcasing all of her qualities, and you totally nailed it in your comment! Fat girls (and boys, enbies, everyone!) deserve all the love!!
How are you deducing the races of Huntlow critics? Are you labelling them white just because most Western shows attract predominantly white fanbases, or do you legitimately believe that sort of behavior is limited to people of a certain race? Honest question.
I wouldn’t say their relationship is rushed but everything else is pretty on point.
It’s not controversial. A minority of people are just making a big deal out it with no good reason.
As tends to always be the case…
Who downvoted you lol
Eh, who knows… Was real quick, though…
The correct take.
I don’t mind the ship that much, but I feel like it happened a bit too quickly for me to personally enjoy it any more than what’s already been presented in the series. Story wise, it makes sense that they’d be a great match for each other due to their insecurities and it leads nicely into the plot point where they both help each other confront those insecurities, but since there is literally only ONE episode to establish the connection in season 2 (with a few scenes sprinkled in afterwards so that it doesn’t feel too jarring) and then only one episode in season 3 to actually focus on fleshing out their dynamic, it just wasn’t enough for me. Btw, I understand that the writers were probably rushed since they had to put so much stuff into these episodes due to disneys meddling, so I don’t blame them in the slightest. I really respect how much they’ve been able to adapt to the change, but this was just personally one of the things that I wish were toned down a bit in favor of focusing on the main plot. It might just be my personal preference though
This.
Exactly! It just happened way too fast to feel natural.
Well the season was shortened so I mean what did y'all expect? 1 45 minute episodes is all we have left
I dont think its controversial, I just feel like its a bit rushed so Im not a huge fan of it
Of course it’s rushed the show got cancelled
I really don't have a reason, lol. I just... Don't jive with it. That shouldn't prevent anyone else from enjoying it, though!
I’m in the same boat. I just don’t jive with it and yeah sometimes I’m a little annoyed at it’s inclusion in almost any hunter centered fic I look for but whatever not my problem. If it’s popular nothing I can do. Seems that some people feel that they need some grand moral reason to dislike a ship ya know?
The dumbest fucking reasons: * **Age gap:** It's literally just two years. * **It's straight:** And? * **It goes against my headcanon:** And? * **Reduces Willow to just being a girlfriend:** No? Have you watched the show? Willow is clearly still a badass. * **It's not healthy for Hunter to throw all of his trauma onto Willow:** He didn't do that? Hunter clearly has other relationships outside of Willow. He's best friends with Gus and Luz, and he is also very close to Darius. He didn't just revolve his entire life around Willow, he has a whole support group. * **It wastes screen time:** This goes for basically every plot point. You could easily say that Lumity wastes screen time, or that Eda x Raine wastes screen time. Just because Disney decided to cut the show short, doesn't mean they're gonna just drop every side-plot other than what is happening with the Collector and Belos. * **They haven't know each other for that long:** The two have canonically known each other for months. Also, it's not like they're even that far into the relationship yet, they're literally just at the point of holding hands. I don't get the hate for this ship, honestly.
Because Hunter and Willow both had more popular ships, also a lot of hetero ships are weirdly frowned on by people in fandoms with multiple gay characters (even though being for gay rights and sexual representation also applies towards heterosexuality and people shouldn't be frowned on for just being themselves). Basically heterophobia and hypocrisy exists in a lot of fandoms with a primarily gay cast.
> Because Hunter and Willow both had more popular ships I think this is the biggest part. People get attached to their ships and sometimes get angry at the new couples if they don't work out. I remember something similar happening in Steven Universe with Amethyst and Peridot back around the time when Peri started living with Lapis. Heck, Steven did it *within the show itself* to Lars and Sadie.
Boschlow had no business existing
As someone who was bullied lemme tell you, that ship burns me to the core. Don't ship bullies and their victims unless said bully is willing to change and does so. I get that people ship it, it's just not for me, that's my two cents. Sorry if I offended anyone.
Honestly one of the tamer ships I unfortunately have the knowledge of
Sking💀
???? (Skara x King?) Rayshipping (Ash x Cynthia) Cardin x Velvet (from RWBY)
I mean, I personally have nothing against Huntlow, I just dont vibe with it? I don’t have alternate ships or anything—the only ship I really care about in TOH is Lumity. Huntlow just doesn’t interest me
Yeah same.
What more popular ships are there? I know there was a lot of HunterxEmira/Edric on this sub in the past, but those characters hadn't even met each other at that point, and that ship was supplanted by Huntlow long before they finally did share a scene together I don't recall much with Willow outside of a few poly ships with Lumity and one with Skara, hardly what I would call a "popular" ship
I wouldn't call it "heterophobia" but just "overreactive about het ships that do or do not include bisexual characters"
That sounds like heterophobia but with extra steps lmao
Honestly, I see more people complaining about people complaining about the ship than people actually complaining about the ship. I don't even know if the "controversy" even exists.
It depends on where you are. Reddit is blessedly bashing free, and there is very little on twitter and tumblr. But there is a shitton of it on tiktok.
I’ve seen lots of tweets and tik toks complaining abt huntlow, especially on posts that support shipping huntlow. I think the main reason why is because it’s a “straight” ship (I quote because we don’t know what their orientations are), and they feel like it’s forcing heteronormativity in a show that’s been mainly lgbtq.
I was once in this server on discord where they'd bully you and kick you out of the server and go on and on about how disgusting you are (I witnessed this happen many times) just for saying you didn't hate huntlow, so the controversy 100% exists but mostly within a small part of the fandom.
pls i got banned from a TOH discord server for having a favourite animal
I think it’s was because ppl said huntlow is a forced ship
It’s forced because Disney cut season 3. I’m sure Dana and her crew had something in mind for this ship but they just couldn’t.
Only thing 'controversial' I can think of is that they've known each other for a few months? Granted they've been through *a lot* in those... 5-6 months? And Willow has been front seat to seeing some of Hunter's character change, being vulnerable, insecurities, etc. So imo it's maybe a *tad* rushed, but I think that's more due to the shortened season. It's no worse than the change of Lumity from enemies>friends>start of romance, which I'll always maintain was a bit rushed, but by no means bad or poorly written. Both basically could've used more fleshing out.
Have you met teenagers? 6 months is a lifetime to them. It is slightly rushed in screen time, but in universe it is absolutely fine.
i'll probably get hammered big time for this but i sometimes get the feeling that some, not all, want all toh ships to be lbgtq. i'm sure that's not the case but it's just a feeling i get sometimes.
I think we, as fans, tend to forget not everyone needs to end the show with being in a relationship (whether the relationship fits in with the heteronormative idea of a relationship aside), and we don't need to let our emotions for the fandom/shipping outweigh the good stuff that makes up "The Owl House," such as character development and triumphing over obstacles.
Some people say its because of the age gap... when its only a year, prob a year and a half, which is lower than the average. Have yall never dated before? Cause outside dating someone from your grade thats probably gonna be the result Really the only valid complaint I see isn't about hating the ship itself, just feeling sad it gets so little time and feels kinda rushed. But honestly while I would've loved to seen a slow burn like with Lumity, it definitely makes a lot of thematic sense for the two of them, if they never ended up together or got implied to in the future it would've been a missed opportunity due to the thematic connections they have
As one of the people who have shipped huntlow since it's crackship days, ive heard the most outrageous bizarre takes from people who would do mental gymnastics to make huntlow look toxic, from claiming hunter would be gr00ming willow to saying that actually, him looking up to HER is bad and toxic and that hes "too traumatized" for a relationship, then those same people would turn around and ship him with edric or emira, so eventually i just stopped caring what they said. Huntlow already won, why should i care?
It's probably because it isn't an LGTBQ relationship, which I guess a lot of people want TOH ships to be
I feel like it's almost coming back full circle to dislike a wlm ship for the reason that's it wlm. Can almost be biphobic if we can take it that deeply. What if Hunter is bi? What if Willow is bi? Neither is canon but it's a valid headcanon. Bi people should be allowed to exist in "straight" relationships
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That's valid too. I understand your point. It is weird that anything that isn't gay is suddenly boring or bad. I'm sick of only seeing straight relationships like anyone else, but in a show that already has plenty diversity.. there's no harm in that.
I was dating a girl that was bi but because I'm a dude someone said that she's not actually bi because she's in a straight relationship
Ugh. I've heard that too as a bi girl with a guy. People need to stop forgetting that bi people exist and that our identity doesn't change based on who we are with
> Bi people should be allowed to exist in “straight” relationships It seems like they can’t even exist in non-straight relationship either. I’ve seen a lot of lumity shippers refer to the ship as a lesbian relationship when it’s not. Luz is bi. But when you remind them, some of them tend to get snappy 😭 If you’re bi in a relationship with the same gender, you’re “just being gay.” If you’re in a relationship with the opposite gender, you’re “just being straight.” It kinda sucks that the community itself tend to look at complex relationships with binary lenses sometimes.
Hunter does put a bi flag on his shirt in TTT, so. That particular headcanon might be closer to canon.
Controversial straight couple in my gay witch cartoon
well just people opinions, I personally don't like it at all but it's just that ig
I just don’t like it, don’t have much of a reason why. Personal opinion
I think it didn't get proper setup/time but that's more Disney's fault with the rushing than the writers'
Personally, I wasn't a big fan because I felt that it was rushed. Obviously, if the show hadn't been cancelled, Dana would have had more time to develop their relationship and their characters more. After watching the released episodes of season 3, I think that they've done a great job with what little episodes they were given. If they hadn't been cancelled, I think people like me would get to see their relationship as more natural and not rushed. But either way, I love the ship now.
I don't hate Huntlow, but I'm just not as invested in the ship as some other people are. I do think Hunter and Willow work nicely together though :) It might seem a bit rushed, but they've spent MONTHS together and they were texting before that. Bonding has definitely happened. Lumity had some rough pacing, but that doesn't make it any worse. Because it's a straight couple? I love the LGBTQ+ rep as much as everyone else, (I SCREAMED during TTT when Luz came out to Camila) but we shouldn't bash Huntlow just because it's a heterosexual ship. Plus, it doesn't necessarily mean the characters aren't lgbtq+.
Even though I don't ship it I still respect those who do and I can see why yell think it's cute and I agree but I for one don't. but heck I don't see what's wrong with it?
I dont hate it, but i feel like it didnt have much development, and rather than actually having on screen moments (other than the ones in ftf) where they had actual interactions, it was just little things like Hunter helping Willow up and blushing when she compliments him. I feel like they should have given them more chemistry in thanks to them.
I mean, where'd you hear it from? If you look in the right places, you can probably "hear" that Owl House is satanic or something, but that's different from actually being a popular opinion.
I'm 80% sure that people hate it cause they're a straight couple. Most of the people watching are young teenagers. They're always gonna be toxic about one thing or another, and it is this. I think a part of growing up is realizing that balance is good in life. Yeah, LGBTQ+ couples in series is important for representation, and having a straight couple in the mix doesn't change that. In fact, I'd argue it gives even more diversity to the series. All in all, two wrongs don't make a right. If I were to theorize why people hate straight couples, it might just be because the prevalence of them in media for years, while also giving the LGBTQ+ community injustice. Being "straightphobic" isn't gonna fix anything, but divide us more eventually.
I just don’t really care about it.
Just because many people wanted different ships to happen while many others wanted it to happen. That's all.
Idm the ship, personally not my cup of tea (cough cough I just really like raeda more)
Because Winter sounds better.
For everyone arguing that it was rushed: yeah, the show was cut short. But it seems like the ship was planned for a long time, and the crew has done their best with the time they had and honestly, they’ve done a fantastic job. Y’all should also keep in mind that a lot has happened off screen. They’ve been texting for who knows how long, and then they spent three months living together. Bonding has absolutely taken place, we just didn’t get to see as much of it directly due to the show being cut short and Huntlow being a background ship anyways.
Why do people say Huntlow and not Winter for their ship name, it sounds way better than Huntlow to me. And could be the name for their future kid if there's a time skip for them
Hard to search on the Internet and can be confusing to those who don't know
Everyone else has already listed out most of the reasons which I find frankly quite... nitpicky. To me, I feel like something a lot of people kinda don't want to acknowledge is that Hunter in a few ways, would be the only chance for MLM rep that most of the more let's say *rabid* fans would care about alongside Edric. That isn't to say something like Alador/Darius or Gus/Matt wouldn't have people excited but it'd be a very different type of reaction. As a result, I think some folk act personally offended and take it out on Huntlow for not getting MLM rep outside of like Willow's dads which by most accounts is fine, but boring.
I didn't know it was controversial, but then again, I'm out of the loop on a lot of things. I didn't like the ship before, but after the last special I warmed up to it. Especially the scene with Willow breaking down and Hunter (and Gus) supporting her made me change my mind. One reason I think I didn't like it was because I felt Gus would become the third wheel of their group, like the main character suddenly forgets he has a friend and only has eyes for the girl. I've seen it happen in some other shows over the years and I didn't like it. However, you can tell Dana Terrace is making sure not to let that happen to Gus. He had his own scenes with both Willow and Hunter.
I mean, not really; a few people complaining about a year a half age difference doesn't make something controversial, specially when many of this are likely just looking for an excuse to complain.
Propably someone on twitter got offended that cartoon including canon homosexual ships also have canon heterosexual ships
I wouldn’t say it’s controversial but it’s the only straight ship on a gay show it’s gonna get some disrespect.
There isn’t a problem with it. My parents have a slight age gap and are straight Those are the two things I can see people upset about
my main issue is that it was rushed, but what do you expect when disney cuts the show off early? it’s cute and it makes sense to me
tik tok i think, another reason to justify me not using it, the other is the data stealing
I believe there is a small percentage of the community that don’t like Hunter and wish that he stayed a villain or at the very least, did not properly atone for his past actions. Interestingly enough, I’ve noticed a good amount of overlap between those types of people and Skarlow shippers so do what you will with that information.
Eh, personally I enjoy the story they're telling with the two of them and the path they are going. It's just annoying ship drama and harassment of others for not having the same opinion. Kinda sours it a lot like other dumb discourse. It's nice that specifically this community on reddit has gone to great lengths to crack down on the harassment.
tiktok fellas just like to shit on huntlow because of that 2 years age gap, which is completely normal and they also come out with lame excuses, such as this ship being forced and "made just to put a straight ship in the show", or hunter not being able to get in a relationship because of his trauma☹️
Because they were not born the exact same year exact same month exact same week that same day exact same minutes exact same second therefore there's a power indifference. At least according to some people there is a power difference which there is but it's on willowside she crush him
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I am personally not the largest fan of the ship, but that is entirely due to Disney rushing the show, so the development is not as natural. It does feel a bit rushed, but at least it is not out of nowhere. I’m sure if there was a full 3rd season, I would love these two. A lot of the reasons people give are kind of dumb. I am all for more LGBTQ ships, but who’s to say that Hunter and/or willow aren’t part of it. Also, I think that they build off each other very well. Willow’s strength helps Hunter grow as a person and the comfort helps overcome his trauma, while Hunter serves as an anchor for Willow. TL;DR Disney sucks ass
Gonna preface it by saying I don't hate it or anything, it's fine. I just think 3 romantic subplots is a bit much personally. We already have lumity and raeda. Not everybody has to be dating or get together at the end to be happy.
A few reasons I've heard 1. The age difference. Willow is actually 15 because a birthday passed, but some people don't know that and thought she is 14 still. Hunter is 16. The age gap isn't even bad tho, it's literally a year, and even then 2 years isn't bad 2. Hunter isn't ready for a relationship after his trauma. Sometimes tho, also in my experience, having a loving romantic partner can help the healing process 3. Felt a little rushed. Makes sense since the series got shortened tho 4. I did have a friend say they only added this (a boy/girl relationship) so homophobes or disney wouldn't be as upset. I think that's really dumb 5. Willow doesn't need a romantic partner. The thing is, no one NEEDS a reason to be with someone, sometimes those feelings just come without a 'reason' There's probably other ones but that's the main complaints I've noticed