Fandoms Fighting

[TheGoldenToon]

Okay, the SM anime is still a thing as of me typing this, and the tension levels are making me anxious as heck. It seems like fans are going back and forth constantly, (some love it, some hate it) and almost never coming to any sort of common ground. I don't mind if anyone ever disagrees with me; I came here to Bulbagarden to talk about Pokemon with other fans and have fun (corny, I know). With all of that said, this isn't really about SM alone or even the Pokemon franchise alone, but rather all fandoms in pretty much every franchise in the world. People arguing on the internet isn't anything new, but it really just feels so weird how people are always treating fiction like some kind of battle or war. I just don't get it! Why do fans in practically any fandom fight all the time? Why can't everyone just get along!?

 

[Juliko]

Yeah, some fandoms, or certain parts of said fandoms, can be like that. I personally haven't kept up with the Sun and Moon anime for various reasons, though I do plan to watch the rest of it later on. I tend to stay out of that kind of drama, or just say my piece and then move on. For a brief time a few years ago, I dabbled into a fandom for an obscure magical girl series and wrote a fan fic for it, just happy to get my ideas out and have fun. But said fandom was overrun with overly vigilant social justice warriors who wanted everything, even fan fics, to meet a certain standard, and their constructive criticism was more about assassinating my overall character and trying to dictate how I wrote things than actually trying to help me. They made a huge deal out of any mistake I made in writing, even stuff that didn't need to be made a fuss out of, even accusing me of endorsing unsavory views when I clearly didn't. (Example: I write a character who's bigoted and painted as being in the wrong, but because I didn't write it "sensitively" enough, I was accused of agreeing with the bigot's views) We wound up clashing a lot because of our differing views. After a while, it just got so negative and toxic and unbearable that I left. It's better to mingle with the saner people in a fandom and try to find a place in there. All fandoms have their bad apples, and Pokemon is no different. But the bad apples are usually the minority in some cases.

 

[TheGoldenToon]

Oh man, Sword & Shield are such a controversial topic of games, it's like watching a tornado! It might not be as bad as I think it is, but the chaos is making me very uncomfortable. I was ready to start posting on the Sword & Shield threads, but now I changed my mind because I am legit scared to death of saying my opinions on anything regarding the games.

 

[Weiss]

Great post agree with a lot if not all.

I feel some Fandoms are never happy Smash Bros is the worst in my opinion. Then again as a Nintendo fan they are my preferred gaming system I feel really alienated by the “new” Switch playerbase. So I can’t say if Smash fans have changed or if it’s the influx of more people gaming.

There are a lot of creeps on the Nintendo forums now I had to remove my picture of myself as my avatar. 10 years it was fine no creeps as soon as the Switch released I started getting creepy DMs. Clarify not on this site obviously.

Worst Fandoms IMO

Smash
Kingdom Hearts
Halo
Pokémon (recently?)

Best

Splatoon

 

[Weiss]

Going to add Overwatch is the worst game fandom I’ve ever seen. I’m not normally into FPS but I liked Overwatch I reached low GrandMaster with Zenyatta/Widowmaker/Winston as my top 3 Heroes.

I’m constantly subjected to racist and sexist team chat if not just swearing down the microphone and selfish teammates. It’s like this on PS4/Xbox and I moved to PC it’s almost as bad.

I hate the community on Tumblr as well they have zero interest in the actual game for the most part. They seem to have a hold over Blizzard right now it’s sad.

 

[Poke Dragon]

I wouldn't exactly say Splatoon is the best, but also definitely not the worst either, I would say it's somewhere on the good part, but not excellent. Being part of the Splatoon fanbase myself, I have seen many people defending stupid online behavior like squidpartying and being so unbearably stubborn about it, it's also where SJWs like to shove their ideas into everybody's throat. I shouldn't need to care about someone's sexuality whenever I'm playing a video-game. Need I mention how there are those who stubbornly refuses to accept the fact that Agents 3, 4 and 8 don't have canonical genders? Heck, even the games themselves prove my point in them not having canonical genders, but apparently, some people want to believe "promotional material=canon" thing so much that they disregard all sorts of evidence going against their argument.

Despite that, the good parts are really good, like the supportive nature of the fanbase, even some saying nice things like everything will turn out okay when you're going through dark times.

 

[Weiss]

I wouldn't exactly say Splatoon is the best, but also definitely not the worst either, I would say it's somewhere on the good part, but not excellent. Being part of the Splatoon fanbase myself, I have seen many people defending stupid online behavior like squidpartying and being so unbearably stubborn about it, it's also where SJWs like to shove their ideas into everybody's throat. I shouldn't need to care about someone's sexuality whenever I'm playing a video-game. Need I mention how there are those who stubbornly refuses to accept the idea that Agent 3, 4 and 8 don't have canonical genders? Heck, even the games themselves prove my point in them not having canonical genders, but apparently, some people want to believe "promotional material=canon" thing so much that they disregard all sorts of evidence going against their argument.

Despite that, the good parts are really good, like the supportive nature of the fanbase, even some saying nice things like everything will turn out okay when you're going through dark times.

Perhaps because I use Japanese only Splatoon forum (some Korean also). I’ve never seen what you describe didn’t think it was that popular in the West. I’m sad to hear these people moved into the Splatoon community as well they’ve killed Overwatch.

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

A lot of Smite players can get super toxic for literally no apparent reason. I was playing alongside a guy who rage quit after whining about his kills getting stolen all match. You bet your lower back parts that I reported him for his toxicity! Hopefully he gets banned for a while.

 

[Nicolas721]

Some people manage chance better than others. The developers or writers make controversial decisions, and some people just can't contain their anger that they end up fighting with other people because of how much the game or show means to them. For example, the anime fandom was nice before the release of BW, and the games fandom was really nice before all the questionable choices done during Gen VI and now Dexit.

 

[hanecco]

Most anime fandoms end up with really juvenile behaviour caused by waifu wars. It's kind of sad, really, especially when it gets dragged into places where it shouldn't be (such as non-anime forums).

Similarly, fans of one anime will often stomp on fans of another anime and claim the opposing franchise is trash, or whatever. Happens a lot with rival shonen series such as Naruto and Hunter X Hunter. See also: how Love Live! fans react when you simply state you don't like the franchise or the characters. Trash talking is fine and all, but this lot take it too far and too seriously. It's why I left the anime fandom altogether.

 

[Parissong]

On the topic of fandom rivalries, a really big one that comes to mind from long ago is from the anime Fairy Tail with the NaLu or NaLi Shipping Wars. To keep it concise and succinct, it is a war between the fandom whether the protagonist (Natsu) should be shipped with his childhood friend (Lisanna, hence NaLi) or his current travelling partner/deuteragonist of the anime (Lucy, hence NaLu).

While it seemed very minor at the time, as Fairy Tail's popularity grew, they started making Lisanna more relevant to the story (she was out of the picture initially). As that took off, more and more fans started to fight with one another over who the protagonist should be shipped with. Personally, I was not online as much during those times as I preferred to watch with myself or some friends and did not really seek an online fan site (i.e. anime forums, Reddit, etc.) But my friend who was active in MyAnimeList alongside other sites witnessed behaviour related to this, some pretty big examples being:

• Making polls and flaming those who didn't vote for the other one
• Attacking users on their pages
• Trying to "convert" others to the other side (i.e. NaLu fans trying to convince NaLi that NaLu is more correct)

During that time I went to several anime conventions, and I cosplayed as Happy (I'll post a picture of the character below) from the same series. Anyways, this obviously led to me being whisked to several Fairy Tail photoshoots, fan meet ups, panels, etc. And here is some of the less-than-savoury behaviours I have witnessed due to this silly shipping war fandom rivalry:

• Lucy and Lisanna cosplayers would refuse to interact with one another, to the point where even during group shoots some would refuse to be in the same picture with the other and make a fuss
• There were people who would physically go in between a Natsu and Lucy/Lisanna cosplayer pair (e.g. it could be a boyfriend/girlfriend cosplaying), by ducking in between or stopping and saying that NaLu/NaLi is wrong. This is very blatant physical harassment.
• People would shout and scream and escalate one another, over NaLu/NaLi, turning into shouting matches. This is especially bad in hotel areas.
• A more extreme example: Lucy has a prop that is a bunch of keys on a key ring (think Klefki. For those who watched Fairy Tail, these are her Celestial Spirit Keys). There was an instance where a Lucy cosplayer's keyring got stolen and when the thief was apprehended, he said it was because Lucy shouldn't be with Natsu and shouted expletives at her. The fact that this happened due to the shipping war is extremely shocking to me.

And now I guess we're all wondering, why is this happening? I'm no psychology expert but here are just some of my two cents:

• The fans are attracted/a huge fan to either Lucy or Lisanna and believe that both deserve the spot as the protagonist's "girl" that would ameliorate their status in the anime. To have the other gain the status would be a major defeat.
• Lucy and Lisanna are so relatable that a fan feels like those characters are extensions of themselves, superimposing themselves onto the characters. Thus, it turned into some kind of personal-level rivalry
• Other characters in the show had very well-defined ships, more than Natsu (i.e. for those that are fans, Gray x Juvia, Elfman x Evergreen, Happy x Carla, etc.) so to have the main protagonist be torn between the two seems like a call from the studio for the fans to dictate it
• The fans are just very passionate :v

Good thread. I hope I explained it well, haha. It has toned down since then since FT is past its glory days, but it was nice to reminisce.