Fandom Gripes Thread

Discussion in 'Fan Town' started by keltena, Feb 6, 2017.

  1. Miraculous Ladybug fandom is At It Again with the Sentimonster!Adrien Theory discourse, featuring:
    1. a widespread lack of ability to distinguish between personhood and human-hood. (I know there are languages where there aren't separate words for human and person, but this discussion is all taking place in English.)
    2. as a consequence of (1), repeated debate over the *meaning* of what it is to be human that doesn't even make sense in the context of The Real World, given what we know about other primates and just animals in general.... let alone a show with
      • a dozen explicitly-nonhuman characters, at least one of which appears in every episode
      • a non-humanoid robot who feels emotions so strongly he can get akumatized the same as the humans
      • in one TV special that's outside the main canon, a very human-looking android who is treated by the cast and narrative pretty identically to all the other superheroes, including a touching scene where she's hurt and her mother is worried. Being an android is pretty much there as That's Her Superpower
    3. periodic insistence that nonhumans are inanimate objects and/or "empty husks".
    4. "my first google hit for what it is to be human includes a checklist that includes communication and making facial expressions so I'm just going to run with that without any awareness of the Implications of making those the cornerstone of how to classify an individual as human"
    5. "Now it finally makes sense that the kid with the abusive dad doesn't stand up to his abusive dad, he literally can't because magic. It wouldn't make sense if he were human."
    6. Greengrocer apostrophe plural for senti
    7. As far as I can tell, zero people talking about the COOL THINGS about sentimonster!Adrien theory, such as "what does it mean to be *Adrien*? How many of his past decisions or preferences are ones he had on his own and how many were just his mom or dad controlling him? How many of his past actions, however inconsequential, were things he decided to do? And given that sentimonsters are an embodiment of an emotion.... are all of his feelings even his own?
     
    • Witnessed x 7
  2. LadyNighteyes

    LadyNighteyes Wicked Witch of the Radiant Historia Fandom

    Every time you complain about this to me I am astonished all over again that everyone in a fandom that size is managing to waste that delicious crunchy angst premise. The entire canon runs on identity shenanigans, how do none of them appreciate a good identity crisis.
     
    • Agree x 3
  3. Nobody's Home

    Nobody's Home I'm a Greg Coded Tom Girl

    Ughhgh my message got deleted here we go again.

    This is less of a gripe and more of a thinky observation I've had

    Ok so i follow a few fandom old ppl who were around when zine primarily meant the paper handmade ones people made on their own. Versus the glossy artbooks that exist in fandom today. And they seem to scoff at the whole notion of it, or would prefer these not be called zines and called artbooks instead.

    Now language evolves and changes, unstoppably, but I do wonder how Zine got applied to these fandom artbooks. If they should just be called something different- if theyre bad things?

    I'm coming from a young person in fandom, and I've never been a con goer (no money) so the current "zines" are all I know. I've been in some - mainly cause I LOVE! Having my art in a glossy book. I do also intend to publish my own little zines just for me. Because I see the whole appeal of it (read some academic studies on the transgressive nature of zines).

    I'm just wondering how this might evolve in the future, if this will change etc. I'm just supposing herw but I'm sure paper zine culture outside of fandom still remains as is. Its not like its gone - its just fandom has a different perception of it given the artbook boom.

    What do you guys think?
     
    • Like x 1
    • Informative x 1
  4. HonestlyVan

    HonestlyVan a very funny person who never tells jokes

    I think it's just the escalation inherent to advertising yourself on social media. There's a lot of small zines out there, lots of PDF-only free zines, lots of small hobbyist projects, but everyone wanting to make a zine for money has to have some sort of a selling point. High-quality print versions are now expected, additional tat is now expected, big pagecounts are now expected, art-to-writing ratio favouring art is now expected.
     
    • Informative x 2
    • Agree x 1
  5. Aondeug

    Aondeug Cringe Annoying Ass Female Lobster

    Honestly my biggest issue is that I'm not an artist and I'm not interested in art books so I kind of wish they were just called art books. But I am kind of sad that like the ones sold for profit need such high production values and such heavy focus on art. The barrier for entry is extremely high, both on contributors and printers. And while there are a bunch of smaller zines and the like it kind of reminds me of what the webcomic scene looks like now compared to what it looked like when I was in middle school. I get why this has occurred and my getting that makes me feel like it's not likely to change anytime soon.
     
    • Witnessed x 4
    • Agree x 3
  6. HonestlyVan

    HonestlyVan a very funny person who never tells jokes

    IDK I find this point really variable b/c at least the zines I've read recently have been heavy on fic, low on art (this being primarily Transformers zines) so I think it's largely a matter of who is running the zine. If someone simply arranged for more fic focused zines for anime and game fandoms, I don't see why there wouldn't be a market for them.

    For my part, I'd love to help out more with zines, with typesetting and layout, but my skills also aren't good enough for the really professional art-heavy zines. I'd probably like being on the management side, too -- but where am I gonna practically learn the skills necessary? I've never ran a zine but I'd love to try, if I just knew where to begin.
     
    • Informative x 3
  7. YggiDee

    YggiDee Well-Known Member

    Okay this is a personal taste thing, but I'm real sick of "incorrect <fandom> quotes" blogs because if I'm looking up a character on Tumblr it's because I want to see/read about the character, not a Brooklyn 99 scene with fandom names pasted over it. I wanna read about Kakashi, not Griffin McElroy quotes attributed to Kakashi. I find them very difficult to tag filter.
     
    • Witnessed x 5
    • Agree x 4
  8. KarrinBlue

    KarrinBlue Magical Girl Intern

    God yeah. And even when the quotes are funny (and often they lose half of whatever the original punchline was) they really don't mesh with the character.
     
    • Agree x 3
  9. ChelG

    ChelG Well-Known Member

    I don't think this is anything like as much of a thing anymore, but I'm going through old Hetalia fics, and I just think it's really ironic that two of the biggest memetic molesters are the guy who casually says "I never feel that way" when someone gropes him and the guy who thinks he's permanently ruined for marriage when someone gives him a hug.
     
    • Agree x 1
  10. ChelG

    ChelG Well-Known Member

    (Kind of amused by the idea of Japan getting as far as forcefully hugging someone - it's usually China or America - and then just stopping, all like "... I did not think this through.")
     
    • Agree x 1
  11. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    this isn't necessarily a gripe so much as it is an expression of bewilderment but. why are there so many fics shipping Arthur Dent with Khan Noonien Singh. where did that connection get made. I'm so confused
     
    • Witnessed x 1
  12. coldstars

    coldstars get Jazzy on it

    It's an unfortunate relic of Johnlock - Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch playing the character in each movie respectively.
     
    • Informative x 7
    • Agree x 1
  13. Astrodynamicist

    Astrodynamicist Adequate Potato Goblin

    goddamn dude, something something future archeologists/historians/etc...
     
    • Agree x 4
    • Witnessed x 1
  14. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    dear fucking lord
     
    • Agree x 3
    • Witnessed x 3
  15. vegacoyote

    vegacoyote dog metaphores and pedanticism

    Fucking. Seriously? Ford Prefect is right there!
     
    • Agree x 4
  16. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    tbf it looks like there is also quite a bit of arthur/ford fic, so the invasive species hasn't been totally destructive. but still. what a weird fucking ship.

    it's all smutfic, too, nothing but a/b/o as far as the eye can see...
     
    • Witnessed x 5
  17. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    additional hgttg gripe: I can't stand martin freeman's voices for basically any character in the audiobooks. theyre all either wrong, obnoxious, or both. steven fry was so good but he only did the first one ;_; I should really check out those full cast radio play versions instead.
     
    • Witnessed x 3
    • Agree x 1
  18. LadyNighteyes

    LadyNighteyes Wicked Witch of the Radiant Historia Fandom

    Fun fact, the radio series actually predates the book.
     
    • Agree x 2
    • Informative x 1
  19. vuatson

    vuatson [delurks]

    really? damn, that is cool but I really wanted to actually reread the book. guess I won't be able to do that at work. I do have my old paper copies around somewhere, at least.
     
    • Witnessed x 1
  20. HonestlyVan

    HonestlyVan a very funny person who never tells jokes

    The radio series also has a different story than the later books, so it's really worth experiencing on its own. The Finnish production of it is how I got into Hitchhiker's originally :)
     
    • Informative x 2
  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice