Everything in your post is spot on, though I would say it's less a matter of "who they want to be"/"who they think resembles them" and moreso "
who they find the most attractive" - and pooner tastes get
fascinating. If it didn't seem too derailing to the thread, I'd love to do a roundup of original creations by pooners (not sure if it'd fit in the SJW Art Thread) as this is a scourge that spreads beyond just fandom spaces and enters
any art space.
(Those unfamiliar with these types may be unaware of the abundance of patchy-bearded, pot-bellied, half-bald sleazeballs right out of Grand Theft Auto with top surgery scars; for some visual assistance,
VCR_WOLFE is a prime example of this phenomenon.)
For another amusing piece of trivia to those unaware, fandom pooners also have a stronger tendency for infighting than you might expect
even out of feisty fandom lasses: you have the fujoshi-pooners who want to read two actual dicks touching on account of "muh dysphorias" railing against the lack of tagging committed by the fujoshi-pooners who insist on FTM x Man because to tag it would be "delegitimizing" pooner yaoi. The former like to wield the accusation of straight girl fetishism against the latter, while the latter like to weaponize self-hatred as being specifically discriminatory towards "gay trans men."
They recognize each other as their own reflections: self-hating fetishists whose misogyny and erotic tastes blended into a sense of self in the absence of a more meaningful existence. And because they are the ultimate NLOGs, they
hate this and will attack each other with vicious bloodthirst if pushed far enough, for they have a social movement on their side. Nothing as pithy and pointless as fighting over Sasuke x Naruto versus Naruto x Gaara - these are fights with true teeth. If I find more examples, I'll post them, because I find them funny. Go for the eyes!
There's really a whole discussion to be had about the manifestation of self-image, fanworks/fandom culture and how it intersects with female sexuality and social dynamics, but that'd probably bore the lads in the thread who just wanna laugh at goofy chicks, so apologies for the derail. Another time, perhaps.