Fandoms. Be it a tv series, a book, a comic, an anime or a manga, we've all been fans of some sort of series. What I'd like to ask is, what are the things that you love, or that you hate, about the fandom(s) that you are or were a part of?
For me, I used to participate more in some of my old fandoms (I've moved on from them for quite a while now). I liked Naruto when I was 14 or 15, and I think the most participation I've had was reading the fanfics and rarely looking at forums. I didn't really like the fans of this manga because of the shipping wars and hatedoms for certain characters so it didn't really stick.
What are your fandoms?
What are the things you love about them, or why are you proud or happy to be a part of them?
What are the things you hate about them, or why are you ashamed to be associated with them?
I'm in a few but I'll just talk about Touken Ranbu.
TouRan is a good game and the art is just beautiful. The stories that the fandom makes is pretty unique since they can expand on their personalities, since they aren't portrayed a lot in the game. The artist community produces so many fanart collection books, hnnngh. All full of droolable art. There is a lot of hate and people getting super butthurt because their precious husbando got dissed and things like that, and a lot of fighting to 'possess' a certain character.
I'm involved in several fandoms honestly. Here's just a list of some of them:
Super Smash Bros: I like how big the game is and I'm glad that it's well known. However I've really grown to hate the fandom as of late. The Melee fanboys (aka the competitive community) is cancer and they're the main problem. And as of Smash 4, it's getting worse. Pretty much the entire community is full of scrubs who bitch and complain about characters being "overpowered" to the point where they get nerfed beyond repair and become useless. Sheik, Diddy Kong, and more recently Bayonetta have fallen victim to this. Smash Bros basically got ruined the moment it went competitive. And people wonder why no one takes it seriously.
Five Nights At Freddy's: Yes I am a FNAF fan. While I'm not incredibly involved in the fandom, I do like some of the things that come out of it. Mainly theories about the lore of the series which was handled perfectly. As for the bad things, don't read the fanfiction. Also furries. Just......no!
Sonic The Hedgehog: Ahh how I love this blue blur. The fanbase on the other hand.....not so much. They can hardly agree on anything and it's pretty damn divided. Arguments will ensue about pretty much any Sonic game.
What I LOVE? It's really nice getting excited about a show/book with people and seeing all the fan created content. The Supernatural memes I see all the time are HILARIOUS. And seeing cool fanart for Steven Universe.
What I HATE? "You're not a real fan unless ____" elitist fans. >:[ You don't have to be knee deep in obsession to be a fan about something, and it's SO RUDE to hate on people for enjoying something and not knowing as much as you do.
There's also the crazies. c_____c You know what I'm talking about. Those fans that are bumblefuck lunatics and are loud and weird and make the whole fandom look insane. -whispers- my little pony porn.
I love Big Bang Theory. Or, at least I used to. The first few seasons are spectacular, but toward the middle of the show the writing took a steep turn and became mainly about relationships. It started strong, but wow... It changed so much since the beginning.
Final Fantasy VII. This game has a special place in my heart and always will, but seeing all the hate between Cloud/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa fans makes me shy away from sharing my enthusiasm about the game.
I have a lot of fandoms, but I only rarely get involved with other fans. The ones I can think of where I sought out other fans is Doctor Who, Hannibal, Sengoku Basara, Black Butler, and League of Legends(mainly for gameplay tips).
What are the things you love about them, or why are you proud or happy to be a part of them?
My experiences with each of them has been mostly positive. I love the creativity made inside these fandoms. They're so rich with ideas and theories and art. I've also met some of the nicest people through these shows/games.
Its weird to say, but Hannibal fans are really friendly. They are probably one of the most levelheaded fangroups I've seen. Its a little sad that the active numbers have dwindled a bit since the cancellation.
Whovians have a reputation of being hard to approach. I haven't had any such problems for the 4 or 5 years I've been in it. If you want a real good time, check out the Doctor Who Extended Universe. Its fun and mildly traumatizing.
I think Sengoku Basara is where historians go to die and I mean that in the best way possible. So many people say they should hate this anime/game due to inaccuracies, but they love it anyway. It doesn't take itself seriously so the fans don't either.
What are the things you hate about them, or why are you ashamed to be associated with them?
There is a weird sub-sect of Whovians who are super sex-crazed and foam at the mouth if you mention the Doctor has shared feelings with more characters than just Rose. I stay as far away from them as I can. They are not friendly. They are set in their ways. They will go away if you don't look at them.
Ragers are always a problem in League of Legends, but my pet peeve is when I'm watching an instructional video and someone in the chat of the video is raging. Its a small thing(especially since there's a mute button), but its annoying all the same.
I have a small complaint about Black Butler. Parents should really look at the rating of anime. That's all I'll say.
Final Fantasy VII. This game has a special place in my heart and always will, but seeing all the hate between Cloud/Aerith and Cloud/Tifa fans makes me shy away from sharing my enthusiasm about the game.
But kicking that aside, I completely agree with you. I love both those characters, and heck, they were great friends too. I love the story and the characters, the rpg style- it was the first JRPG I ever played. What I didn't like was how if you shipped one char over the other, you were immediately a hater of the one you didn't ship.
The same I would say for the anime Inuyasha. I love it to bits, it's the first anime series I watched from start to finish, the first manga I read from start to finish, and the first fandom I wrote a fanfiction for. It had a great story, fun characters, adventure, drama, romance, etc. But the continuous Kagome/Kikyou love/hate and who deserved Inuyasha more was annoying.
Love: All the Shit Posting Hate: They don't praise the Sun enough
Anime Fandom
Love: Usually a really energetic and passionate group. And the amount of fun they can be in groups is almost unparalleled.
Hate: Too many people are Elitist. Mainly in two different camps (some in both). Some in the "Mainstream Anime is a plague!" so those who enjoy Shonen Anime, or even non-Shonen Anime that just happened to get big (ex: Death Note) are seen as not 'real' anime fans. Others are in the "Anime is love. Anime is Life" camp, where the only interests they seem to be able to relate to others with is Anime or Nintendo Games (Mainly Pokemon), and you can be interested in both of those, but if they deem too much of your own time is also invested in 'other' interests then you're basically an outsider.
I actually made a comment in a YouTube video about this recently when the question "Should Anime become Mainstream?" came up.
I don't necessarily care if it becomes mainstream or not. Like, for both Gaming and Anime I already have to shift through a lot of bad to find the good gems and I don't imagine that changing from going Mainstream. If anything, going Mainstream could throw more funding at anime which is good, but like you said could also monopolise it, which is bad.
However I think there's an additional barrier to becoming mainstream that this video didn't cover much, the fan base. I've ran into a lot of anime fans whose interests are practically 'just' anime and any Nintendo video games (mainly Pokemon). Even others in the Geek Community are often seen as outsiders to them, Geeks who can sympathise with being outsiders, want to be involved with Anime but are constantly kept out their interested in GoT instead of Fate Zero (even though both are outright amazing) or Xbox instead of Nintendo.
Being a Niche audience is one thing, being a Niche-Niche audience is also another thing. But to be a Niche-Niche audience that alienates the rest of the Niche you're inside? You're not doing anything to help the image of Anime nor to bring in new people. And really, we can't expect the Anime Community to be able to get along with the rest of world learning their interest if even fellow Geeks are being judged and kept at a distance.
And if we dig one level deeper than that? The Shonen Audience is a Niche Niche Niche audience (though admittedly also has the most mainstream appeal), who the rest of the Anime community is also at odds with for giving the 'wrong' image of anime. So not only does the Anime Community have issues getting along with fellow Geeks, they even have trouble getting along with fellow Anime Fans.
Big ways off from being able to convince your everyday person that Anime can be cool and capable of some great content.
And note, I'm not trying to say that all Anime Fans are like this. But there's enough of them that you're going to run into them if you try to get into any non-Shonen Anime that it acts as a pretty big deterrent to bringing in new people, and as a result expanding the fan base enough to one day become mainstream.
Doctor Who
Love: This show is rather unique in how it can appeal rather strongly in both Geek and Non-Geek circles, so you get a lot more variety in this Fandom than in most which is really nice to see. Combined with how long the shows been running the Fandom is also filled with people of all age groups. So yea, A LOT of variety.
Hate:
-The Rose X Doctor Fans. A number of fans will try to push this ship among all else, as if everything in the show was lost to them expect this one poorly managed romance arc. And they can also be rather zealous about Rose being the best. Thankfully, 'Aggressive Shippers' are a demographic I rarely end up associating with for long so I don't actually see much of these people.
-The Doctor Wars. Everyone always arguing about which Doctor is best or better. Everyone will have a preference for sure (Peter Capaldi ftw), but some people take the difference to zealous levels. In some cases a Doctor is outright banned to be discussed near them, other times they ban all doctors expect for one. And note this can also take the form of "New Who VS Old Who" as well.
Game of Thrones
Love: Just how into it the Fanbase can get when discussing the show, the books and making theories about what's coming in the future. I don't think I've had much other Fandoms make me be so engaged in not just talking about liking the show, but talking and learning more about the Show.
Hate: The people who will use GoT as a political platform... So obvious disclaimer, what you will see in the spoiler below is a bit political in nature.
It's a part of the Fandom I noticed when the whole Immigrant situation started to happen. George RR Martin had publicly announced he was in support of bringing Refugees in, which part of the GoT fanbase disagreed with. Some of whom began to use George's own work against him claiming stuff like (paraphrasing) "How could the Author of show that has so much Moral Complexity be so one-sided in this situation?". Thankfully, George was quick in dealing with these people stating (again, paraphrasing) "Because unlike Game of Thrones this is Real Life".
Magic The Gathering
Love: How easily accessible the Fan Base can be. For most things you need to go to the Internet or very specific clubs to find these people. And while that certainly makes it easier in Magic's case too, you can find people of the same interest rather easily without such. And the fact finding such people is so easy is a bit of a testament to how widespread it is, which acts as an even bigger testament to how welcoming some players can be to introducing new people to the game taking hours to teach a stranger the in's and out's, giving away cards or simply doing trades in favor of the new player. It's wide spread enough they don't need to be doing this to keep the community going, but they do anyways.
Hate: The people a bit too obsessed with the Standard Rules. To explain quickly, Magic is a rather long lasting trading card game. This means over the years more and more cards get printed, and if left unregulated it can lead to people digging back to some rather broken combos. So the solution for this that only so many 'sets' of cards are allowed in legal play in any one time, that keeps their margin for balancing between much smaller. Makes perfect sense from a tournament standpoint and such, but in casual play it can cause a lot of people who are strapped for cash to lag behind which is what either Extended Play (more sets allowed) or Anything goes rulesets are made. They aren't valid for say events, but they work for casual playing.
However, there are those fans who as a result take the Standard Rules to heart as if it is the only way to play and are usually just not that interested in playing with those outside of it. And if they do have to because of lack of options, they go out of their way to build the most broken decks possible (something the people who are too poor to stay in Standard to do are also too poor to pull of in Extended or Free Play) as a sort of punishment for daring to go against the Standard formula. Which as a result can create effectively a Wealth Class system within the Fandom.
The show has give onto pandering to the most bat shit crazy fandom I ever encountered. Shopping attract some wired ads people willing to harass an actor's fucking wife...
I think Sengoku Basara is where historians go to die and I mean that in the best way possible. So many people say they should hate this anime/game due to inaccuracies, but they love it anyway. It doesn't take itself seriously so the fans don't either.
Dat moment when Shingen is on two horses. Walking perfectly up the side of a Castle, with no fucks given. God I love Sengoku Basara and it's dumbness xD.
With that said though, I try not to get involved in many fandoms, but here's the ones I do like and often get involved in.
There's more, but those are the ones off the top of my head.
I like talking about something I like with a group of people who also like what I like. Sharing favourite moments, favourite characters, etc. It's nice.
The fact that some of the crazies pretty much ruin the fandom for the rest of us. Not being able to take critiques all that well or understanding that someone may just not like that thing you like.
