Bumbleby vs Blacksun

Bumbleby vs Blacksun is a ship war in the RWBY fandom, between fans of two Blake Belladonna pairings: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, better known as Bumbleby, and Blake Belladonna/Sun Wukong, better known as Blacksun. 
== History ==
Bumbleby and Blacksun have been Blake's most popular ships since the series began. The ship war first started in earnest when volume 2 was airing, most notably after Blake danced with both Yang and Sun at the ball. The intensity of the war only increased after volume 3's finale due to Adam Taurus claiming he would destroy everything Blake loved, "starting with [Yang]." This brought about discussions within the fandom on whether Bumbleby would actually be explored in the future over the a more obvious expectation of Blacksun becoming canon. Unfortunately, this lead to fans on both sides getting very defensive over their ship's chances.
Tensions rose when the song "Like Morning follows Night" was used during volume 4 as it focused on Blake and Sun's relationship. Blacksun fans also pointed out that Blake and Sun started volume 4 on a literal ship and that they continued to do typically couple-coded things together, such as carrying each other bridal style, meeting Blake's parents and being teased by her mother. Meanwhile some Bumbleby fans found it uncomfortable that Sun followed Blake without telling her, with some going so far as to call Sun a stalker. This label was heavily debated.So... Just saying, Sun isn't a stalker
Things worsen following the release of volume 4's soundtrack which contained a love song called "Bmblb", the same name as Blake and Yang's ship, that fans interpreted as being written from Yang's perspective about Blake. However, Blake's voice actor responded on Twitter that any song that does not appear in the show itself is not consulted on like others are. As such Bmblb was simply a dynamic that composers Jeff Williams wanted to explore, and did not indicate canon romantic feelings between Yang and Blake.Arryn Clear Up Discussion around Bmblb Song on Twitter This clarification only added further fuel to the ship warbottletopp post and the tweets were later deleted.
Certain sections of both the Blacksun and Bumbleby fandoms have claimed to have dropped the show once they felt it was apparent that their ship would not become canon. For Bumbleby fans this was around volume 4-5 when Team RWBY was split up and Blake spent most of her time with Sun back home. Blacksun fans made similar claims after Sun exited the narrative at the start of volume 6 and Blake and Yang began to reconnect. 
By 2019 when volume 7 was being released the shipwar had lessened, in part due to Sun no longer being present in the show and many fans from both sides of the war agreeing that Bumbleby was likely to become canon at some point in the future.
== Accusations of Homophobia ==
Accusations of homophobia have been a hotly contested factor within the shipwar. Bumbleby fans have noted opposition to their ship sometimes comes down to others being homophobic and not wanting see any LGBT couples within RWBY, whether it be Blake/Yang or others. Blacksun shippers have also commented that preferring their ship over Bumbleby is not inherently homophobic, nor does it invalidate Blake's bisexuality. 
=="Wasp" and "Sundowner"==
===Wasp===
The term "Wasp" began being used by Blacksun fans to negatively reference "Bee" shippers. It's intention to only label "toxic" Bumbleby shipper has been questioned by the fandom as the term began to be used outside of shipping communities. It has generally been poorly received by Bumbleby fans as it is believed to increase divides within the fandom and to encourage the on-going ship war. There is also the belief that the term is used to label all Bumbleby fans, regardless of their behaviour. 
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=== Sundowner ===
Similar to "Wasp", the term "Sundowner" exists to label "toxic" Blacksun shippers.Blacksun has it too. The toxic side is called sundowners, May 28th, 2019 However the term rarely sees use, even less so outside of shipping communities. 
== Fandom Distress ==
Fans, within and outside of the Bumbleby and Blacksun fandoms, have felt the ship war was having a negative effect on the overall RWBY fandom. In May 2016, teamgentsfancynews noted: 
And by 2018 yesmyjiin posted that:
Some felt it puts too much focus on shipping within the RWBY fandom, with Gemtail commenting on Reddit: 
However there has also been those frustrated with the discussion surrounding the ship war itself, as Anti_Logic stated on reddit:
adrestianknight similarity notes on tumblr that there is too much emphasis on the shipwar is by non-shipping fans:
== Meta ==
* The vagueness of romance tropes and its negative impact on fandom: an essay by Sirshrugsalot13
* Wasps: how it affects Bumbleby Shippers by phoenixhare, 2018
== Resources ==
* Tumblr Tags: anti-bumbleby, anti-blacksun
** homophobic blacksun callouts a Receipt Blog
** toxic bumbleby callouts a Receipt Blog
==References==
Category:RWBY
Category:Shipwars
Category:2013 Events
Category:2010s Events
Category:2020s Events