#ITS THAT OLD!!

[kelocitta]

As a pre-downpour fan, what are the major changes/differences you noticed between the fandom pre- and post- dp?

Really the only thing I would say is a notable 'change' is a shift in how most character-based fanworks is. Base game RW slugcats are pretty straightforward lil animals with small hints of personality, but nothing really strong. It's less a personality and more a vibe. The iterators aren't much different- the ways they interact with you and with each other is something sort of hard to dig into. A lot of people came away with just understanding moon and pebbles as "the nice one" and "the mean one" and the slugcats were very similar. People complain about infantalizing Pebbles now but god I'll take that over the villianization. Funny enough, if I had a nickle for every "Robot that was characterized as a complete asshole before getting a sequel that better explained their actions and issues and suddenly they were infantalized instead" I'd have at least two, which is fun. DP has a lot more direct character, even if you don't think its fitting. The slugcats are more distinct from each other and fit nicely into archetypes if you want them too, but there is still wiggle room for people to change it up without being 'wrong'. The iterators have more in-game content of or about how they interact with the world and each other, they have more personal relationships with certain slugcats, they have actual designs for more than Moon and Pebbles, etc. Its much easier to get a feel for the characters and that means content directly about them is more appealing. Not just shipping (although absolutely shipping, since pre-DP the characters you had actual interactions for were animals, or siblings, or you had like one blurry picture and an offhand reference. People still tried!) but anything about how they would play off each other or behave is just... easier to do. So you have more of that. The less vague things are, the more people actually pick up on it. A lot of vanilla RW asked you to dig into it yourself, which a ton of people simply aren't going to do- even people who LIKE the thing. DP has a very different vibe than vanilla RW, Its well done but if you dig into it you can see the ways it attaches onto the base game rather than seamlessly extends. And I think one of those ways is just that its much more broadly appealing storytelling. Other than that its just a bigger fandom with bigger fandom issues. Not anything unique to RW, just par for the course for fandoms to get bigger and suddenly things feel more disconnected or overwhelming or less friendly or that it feels like theres more drama. And these issues aren't absent from pre-DP RW, there was its fair share of drama in regards to people who were either assholes or predators. It never didn't have that problem because thats an unavoidable problem to have when you have a bunch of people who are strictly united by the fact they like the same thing.

[canonkiller]

I just think everyone should take a moment to consider the question "what is your visual shorthand for cruelty?" and then follow it up with a critical "and who taught you that?"

specific examples include but are not limited to

why is an evil timeline character design disabled? (why do the heroes go through equally punishing battles and never lose an arm, a leg, an eye?)

why are the futuristic scifi terrorists uniformly darker skinned? (why are the heroes so much lighter?)

why is the greedy boss fat? (why are the heroes skinny?)

why is the criminal mastermind heavily scarred? (why is the brooding, traumatized hero unscathed?)

why is the predatory creep a bearded person in a dress and makeup? (why are none of the heroes trans women?)

who taught you that this is how things are?

how long do you plan on repeating it?

[s0up1ta]

toxic yaoi or something idk i haven't watched gravity falls

[ariespetal]

They start talking like retired men on a golf course and it makes marcille overly aware of the passage of time

[chongoblog]

[planefood]

rules for thee and not for me

[cracklewink]

My Mane 6 Redesigns all together! I was going to post them separately but ended up finishing them all before I got around to it lol

[bacchuschucklefuck]

couldnt draw my thang for mid-autumn so treated myself to a calne redesign instead

[edwardbonnets]

how to ask the demon you've been smitten over for 6000 years to dance: an angel's guide

bonus:

[hinamie]

10 years later

[grimewart]

giovanni

[diadraws]

so, theres a cartoon. but, get this: i've drawn the characters as weird animals. i bet youve never seen me do that before

[solarwreathe]

in another universe they could have been playing at the beach

[mischievous-thunder]

Why are you two improvising?! Why are you making it seem so real?! Wait, is it real??

[cryptocism]

"just as I did, in 1983."

you'd never know my favourite parts of the show are the fucked up insane bits when my first instinct is to draw the cheesiest thing imaginable

[pbnmj]

THE NOIR-HOBIE INTERACTIONS THAT I MADE UP IN MY MIND ARE VERY REAL TO ME. SONY PLEASE PICK UP WHAT I’M PUTTING DOWN!!!