CCB Insider #002: Fandom Wank

Recently, while surfing the net, Matt and I stumbled across this video.

Note: This video is no longer live, possibly due to the negative response to their flames.

I want to grab this person and shake them really really hard. I want to scream at them for dissing pretty much every fandom that ever came out of a country that is not Japan. And then defending like two extra TV shows anyway because "at least it's a cartoon". That's just sad. I bet this person doesn't even enjoy fandom anymore. This person is a perfect example of what a hipster really is--someone who cannot enjoy something in any way shape or form just because it's popular.

I can't even pity people like that. I just barely feel sorry for the fact that they can't just take five minutes to stop and smell the roses as it is. To enjoy life for what it is. To have FUN for once in their life. Jeez! And they have to rain on everyone else's parade too. What a jerk!

This person here didn't even do their homework, either. That's just... Wow. They slam BBC's Sherlock and Dr. Who, which are pretty much the TIP of the SciFi iceberg. TV SciFi is really popular right now, yeah, and I often claim that most of the people shipping Sherlock/Watson or wishing for the TARDIS to come for them someday too have probably never once cracked open a book in their silly little lives before, but I don't begrudge these people their happiness. 

Also, it seems like the person in the video also conveniently left out basically every other SciFi blockbuster to ever grace the silver screen, the family DVR or even the wardrobes of so-called "cosplay celebs". What about Star Trek? And Star Wars? What about those brave souls who wear several hundred pounds of Storm Trooper and Darth Vader influenced samurai armor at Anime Expo in the middle of summer, huh? You wanna call those guys out for being lazy? Because their blood sweat and tears went into making an outfit that expresses one's interests and manages to unhinge my jaw year after year after year no matter how many times I stop and stare and that interest was Western?

Oh hey. What about Hanna Is Not A Boy's Name? That pretty much encompasses all the sweet spots and covers all the bases of fandoms in general. Beautiful artwork, science fiction/supernatural themes, huge spike in popularity before a very mellow, simmering lull. Gorgeous cosplays. Body paint. Would it be defended just because "it's a cartoon" too? Animation comes from all over the world, my friends, and don't even get me started on where Osamu Tezuka came up with the idea for Atsro Boy.

What about Marvel and DC comics? Multi-million-dollar grossing movies are made based on them yearly, and rightly so! The stories are engaging. The art is fantastic. I am on the edge of my seat while catching up in Civil War the very same way I perpetually bounce excitedly in my seat waiting for MSPA to update. The Avengers movie set to release this May makes my mouth water because I LOVE THE AVENGERS. Do comics count as "just cartoons" in this case?

Hooves up for my fellow Bronies who take offense to "it's just a cartoon"--my cousin Jason who writes Daddy In A Strange Land can attest to the fact that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is LOADS better than the vast majority of the sloppy bowl of brain-melting mush force-fed to American children DAILY by programs like Nick Jr. and whatever it is Disney's got playing while big kids go to school and mom and dad go to work.

And I'm not dissing Nick. No, not at all. Avatar: The Last Airbender's new series Legend of Korra might be the next convention sensation considering ATLA is the perfect blend of East-meets-West in the form of--you guessed it! "Just a cartoon!"

Adventure Time is pretty awesome too. I love the art style. A lot of fans say it's "surreal" and while I don't necessarily agree that the genre applies here, I still think that the whimsical world portrayed on my television screen is awesome and inspiring and I still can't decide who I wanna cosplay as from it. There are so many different characters. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Speaking of cosplay. OP talks about "closet cosplay" as though Homestuck is the only fandom with excited youngsters who wear a shirt and an accessory and claim to be cosplaying. I beg to differ. But assuming we're giving OP the benefit of the doubt... 

Hey, Hetalia cosplayers! How many of us started with a pipe cleaner in our hair and a corresponding country's FIFA 2010 t-shirt or something similar? Raise your hand right now if you looked like a total n00b once. I dare you. I'll even raise my hand too. Even now I am STILL trying to get better at everything--cosplay, voice acting, competitive trading card and video gaming, convention news blogging--and I am unashamed of that fact. It's called being an enthusiast.

And if you didn't raise your hand while reading that paragraph, I'm sorry, but I don't believe you. We all start out somewhere. Not all of us get to the level of thoroughbred contest winners overnight. Heck, I'm still trying to figure out the finer points of applying stage makeup and I'm in my mid twenties. Meanwhile, a friend of mine at the tender age of fifteen is gearing up for the World Cosplay Summit preliminaries for another shot at representing the United States next year. 

Moral-of-the-day tangent ASIDE, Homestuck's Western. Big deal. This seems to be a huge problem for OP, what with how knotted their knickers seem to have become over the issue. Here, let me help.

If you wanna tell a certain fandom to get out of your con, here are three useful suggestions that may or may not assist you in some way:

1. Start your own convention and simply ban the fandoms you don't like. (Note to OP: Anime Boston is not YOURS.)
2. Become extremely rich and just pay people to stop liking certain fandoms (Note to OP: the odds are not stacked in your favor without a written contract--you'll probably want to make sure those pesky fans don't take the money and run.)
3. Stop going to cons if it bothers you so much (Note to OP: If you can't get rid of the situation, kindly remove yourself from it and stop ruining con for everybody else with your attitude problem.)

Now might be a good time to point out that all three of these suggestions will take quite a large amount of effort from any which side and neither one seems likely to budge. 

I guess some fans just get a bit ruffled when they discover that Western media is so popular. And it's not "all of a sudden" either. I don't wanna tack that cliche phrase onto the end of this sentence because the art form we know and love called "anime" was born from inspiration provided by a certain Western corporation that provides fanboys and girls of all ages the world over with our beloved cartoons. They're not JUST cartoons. They're something to be treasured and loved and shared by fans. You don't have to like EVERYTHING, but going out of your way to be a jerk about just one little thing that just wasn't your cup of tea is something most fans probably will not stand for. I'm taking my own advice here too--no more bashing that one anime with the inaccurate guns and the pretty clothing and the little demon boys for me!

Maybe OP hasn't quite figured out that same old life lesson we nerds all learn just yet--anime cons are chock full of fans, and the more popular a series gets, the more fans there will be. You don't even have to think that hard about it. It's a fact of life. You either roll with the punches and try everything once or stay there in your cold, dark cave and just hate everything. You don't have to ask me twice which lifestyle I prefer. 

In conclusion, I do have one cliche I'm cool with tacking onto the end of this post:

If OP likes Japanese media so much--and don't get me wrong, I love me some animu y mango any day of the week--maybe they should just go to Japan or something.