thoughts on the joxter x moominpappa ship?

I'll start off bluntly and say that I don't like the ship.

Not to say that it's invalid, it just feels ill-fitting for the 2 characters at least with the way I've seen it presented.

(BIG ramble down below)

I think it mostly hinges on Snufmin's existence and thus it being a funny situation. But I don't think Moominpappa and the Joxter would ever be interested in each other in that way.

Moominpappa explicitly does not care for Joxter, he views him as incompetent yet mysterious, but rewarding to impress. Moominpappa doesn't think of him very highly, but not in an active rivalry sort of way, he just doesn't capture his interest with bright starry eyes like Hodgkins does.

I blame the 90s series with its bare-bones characterization (and mischaracterization/misrepresentation) of the characters, making them and their dynamics so boring that it leaves it all to the imagination of the audience, which gives way to the most stereotypical fandom archetypes for the characters you can dream of. Most of the ship hinges on these fanon characterizations; characterizing Moominpappa and the Joxter's relationship as a rivalry with romantic tension or as Joxter being the annoying one of the duo while Moominpappa is the Regularly Annoyed Guy.

The only people the Joxter has expressed interest in is the Mymble (romantically) and the Muddler (which he seems to have a close bond with, to the point where he stands up for him and shares food with him), I always imagined the Joxter saw Moominpappa as an annoying enigma who is far too easy to mess with and only cares for Hodgkins so they don't interact much, much of the same goes for how the Muddler views Moominpappa aswell.

I also don't understand the romanticization of the main ship's fathers having dated in the past beyond how funny the situation is. It makes me very uncomfortable to think about and I wouldn't feel so inclined if I was either Snufkin or Moomintroll. If someone would go for a "the Joxter and Moominpappa fell out so it's so romantic how Snufkin and Moomintroll got together" and uses that as some cosmic fate angle I just don't.... Know how to feel about that. It just further cements Joxpappa as purely an extension of Snufmin and Snufmin is already a ship I'm getting tired of.

We also know too much about Moominpappa, I think. The only people who occupy his mind in a very positive way are Hodgkins and Moominmamma, he sure does have friends but they're just friends to him, Hodgkins and Moominmamma were very formative people for him and isn't the type to give that honor to anyone he liked. When it comes to the Joxter and the Muddler there's plenty of wiggle room and room for speculation, Moominpappa is established as an unreliable narrator (which is an issue I'm afraid I've been having to ignore because it extremely complicates things) but what he felt at the time was real to him, we get to see inside his head throughout the books, while the Muddler and the Joxter and Hodgkins get none of that privilege. Thus it feels wrong to me to force a ship that never had a hint, especially with Moominpappa in the picture.

I also don't see the narrative benefit of Joxpappa, it doesn't fit neatly into Moominpappa's arc or themes. The dynamic of high-strung attention-seeker vs wants-to-live-life and lazy cat is a fun dynamic to think about to be sure, but I can't imagine a romantic aspect to it because they haven't actively butt heads except for the time Moominpappa was being the worst when it came to the Island Ghost debacle.

I ship the Muddler and the Joxter because the nervous wreck and aforementioned cat dynamic is both fun and gives way to many interesting themes that are backed with the pre-established dynamic of the book. I see them as two completely different people brought together by the commonality of being considered strange and having a need to care for each other.

I ship Moominmamma and Moominpappa (although relatively recently) because I see these two different people who love each other in different intensities and would do anything for each other as we see in many adaptations. I see them as opposites holding paws because their opposing traits are what keep the other from falling into extremes and they just want to make each other happy (even if Moominpappa is more than selfish and both of them rely heavily of gender norms).

The Joxter and Moominpappa I can see potential in but the fandom has soured the appeal to me in more ways than one. The intensity isn't there, there is no strong feelings for each other or even opinions, they're incredibly lukewarm and often get on each other's nerves but they don't interact enough for it to be a big pattern.

A better parallel to Snufmin would quite literally be Moominpappa and Hodgkins. Because much like Moomintroll does for Snufkin, Moominpappa has a great and obvious admiration for the man and has more than a few rambles talking about him, he payed attention to his body language, he enjoyed him immensely despite the lack of social skills, he got legitimately depressed when he left for work for a long time, he was part of his special thanks in the preface next to his wife and the Hattifatteners who gave him the adventure he craved for a long time. Hodgkins is Moominpappa's true Snufkin - albeit I don't think it can be read romantically like Snufmin, more in a fatherly manner, but it's far, far more than he could ever have with the Joxter.

And as a Moominpappa kinnie I do say most of this should be accurate.

Anyway how's about we focus on real dyanmics instead of fake ones for a bit? I'm craving Moominpappa and Hodgkins father-son bonding.

Little my is a little sassy b- sorry for the wait x-x I work 5 days and my weekends are always for sleep all day :’0 

Traslation thnks to: @r00wscribbles

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The day before the wedding, the Muddler recruits Moomintroll and the Joxter to help find the Fuzzy a wedding dress.

(Inspired by this amazing piece of art, it gave me so many feelings, thank west for drawing it)

if you insist..

I only lowkey ship these two thanks to Boorishbint’s fics. <v<;

A DTIYS of the disaster dads from my friend @joxxdraws on Instagram. ^v^

You could say that snufkin was very attached to joxter when he was a little

feels like i’m wearing nothing at all

😾😾😾

if your wondering what's going on in my head at any given time spoiler alert! it's this

The Moominpappa’s Memoirs TRAILER is out! Thanks to everyone who did this with me! An improvised, no script, all fun!

Papa Joxter and Baby Snufkin taking a well deserved nap together!

Art Inspired by Magnonette’s fic Unexpected return in winter

Nosborn que galán(?)

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An Amateur’s Guide to Moomin Part 3

For the third and final part of this retrospective on the Moomin Series, I explore the major adaptations of Tove Jansson's work, and examine how it affects the latter half of the author's life, as well as contemplate the reason for why the Moomins have gained such popularity amongst certain people online.

Chapter Markers: 0:00 Introduction 1:20 Chapter 8 - Adaptations and Appreciation 4:40 An Unexpected Adaptation 7:46 Fuzzy Felt Friends 10:17 The Moomin Boom 17:39 Chapter 9 - Concluding the Third Moomin Renaissance

Part 1: https://youtu.be/ICAgFDASPII Part 2: https://youtu.be/EcikoHSf2-8

Bibliography Below

Augsburger Puppenkiste. Die Muminfamilie, ARD, 1959. Bosworth, Mark. “Tove Jansson: Love, War and the Moomins.” BBC News, BBC, 13 Mar. 2014, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-26529309. Dębiński, Lucjan, and Maria Kossakowska. The Moomins, Episode 1-100, Se-Ma-For, 1977. Jansson, Tove, and Elizabeth Portch. Comet in Moominland. Puffin Books, 2019. Jansson, Tove, and Kingsley Hart. Moominpappa at Sea. Puffin Books, 2019. Jansson, Tove, and Kingsley Hart. Moominvalley in November. Sort Of Books, 2018. Jansson, Tove, and Thomas Warburton. Moominsummer Madness. Puffin Books, 2019. Jansson, Tove. Finn Family Moomintroll. Translated by Elizabeth Portch, Puffin Books, 2019. Jansson, Tove. Moomin: the Complete Tove Jansson Comic Strip. Drawn & Quarterly, 2010. Jansson, Tove. Moominland Midwinter. Paw Prints, 2008. Jansson, Tove. Tales from Moominvalley. Penguin Books Ltd, 2019. Jansson, Tove. The Exploits of Moominpappa. Penguin Books Ltd, 2019. Jansson, Tove. The Moomins and the Great Flood. Drawn & Quarterly, 2018. Karjalainen, Tuula, and David McDuff. Tove Jansson: Work and Love. Penguin Books, 2016. Lamppu, Eva. “Big in Japan, but Could America Love Moomin?” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 6 Oct. 2009, www.reuters.com/article/us-moomins/big-in-japan-but-could-america-love-moomin-idUSTRE59501Z20091006. Miyazaki, Akira, et al. “Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka.” Tanoshii Mūmin Ikka, season 1, episode 1-78, TV Tokyo, 1990. “Moomin Characters as Tove's Self-Portraits.” Moomin, 15 May 2019, www.moomin.com/en/blog/moomin-characters-as-toves-self-portraits/. “Moomin Products in the 1950s.” Moomin, 15 May 2019, www.moomin.com/en/blog/moomins-in-the-1950s/. Moomintrivia. “Psychology of The Invisible Child.” Moomin Trivia, 10 June 2019, moomintrivia.tumblr.com/post/185491696931/psychology-of-the-invisible-child. Moyle, Franny. Moominland Tales: The Life of Tove Jansson. Youtube, BBC 4, 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYgC0nKyF0g. “The Story of How Moomintroll Was Born.” Moomin, 12 Jan. 2020, www.moomin.com/en/blog/the-story-of-how-moomintroll-was-born/. “Who Inspired Tove When Creating Moominmamma?” Moomin, 15 May 2019, www.moomin.com/en/blog/who-inspired-tove-when-creating-moominmamma/. “Who Inspired Tove When Creating Moominpappa?” Moomin, 15 May 2019, www.moomin.com/en/blog/who-inspired-tove-when-creating-moominpappa/. Yamazaki, Tadaaki. Moomin, Fuji TV, 1969.

#Moomin  #Moominvalley

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/kathmanhenry Tumblr: http://henrykathman.tumblr.com Podcast: https://pinkaisle.podbean.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/Henrykathman

mymblejox, joxpappa, and joxter as a really short stepdad