#like the stuff i say isnt aimed at anyone in particular

[bunnihearted]

i cant fully control my emotions during a breakdown and then i come out of it and im like oh fuck........ ._.

[yammoba]

Responding to the captain howdie callout docuement, attepting to provide some kind of context to the actions of the past, trying to detangle and discuss some of the actual issues in the comic and presented by the document.

This is not nessecarily meant to be a defense. It was kinda blatent to me that the document lacks context and clarity that results from context that make the criticisms functionally useless. Unless their aim is to stir up a hate mob, then its constructed quite well

CW for every topic that is discussed in the original document. In more detail. Aditionally discussions of school shooters are briefly had.

Also this is long and my writing is bad. Sorry.

Nyen's old design -

Okay... while this design read more as creepy pasta character inspired than it does blackface to me, I am not black so i dont really feel like i can comment on it. But i also kinda doubt it was done with the intent of it being black face. I am judging that by how things intended to be blackface are usually depicted. But if it was intended or not doesnt realky matter yea? Because of the harm caused.

But also this is like. previously deleted (i think?) stuff? the design isnt in the comic. So i am not really sure what... what is to be gained by digging it up? What is the harm that was being currently caused by deleted pictures? I guess the argument would be, it help contribute to normalizing blackface back in the day? And because nyen is violent it perpetuates sterotypes of black people being violent and agressive... ahh... i just... how is a sterotype being perpetuated in a harmful way if no one would look at that character desgin and think "yeah thats a black man". Unless they were already wildly rascist. i think to most people on the internet on devientart in 2011 would see that design and think he was like a creepy black cat character. Since like.. black shadow people was and are kinda a thing? And when people wanted to be rascist back then, they were pretty open about it. There are elements to certain drawings that i think make the "shadow person" idea questionable, and at the very least its a desgin that does still too easily play into that history of harm, intent or no. Again this is not an area where im qualified to speak with any kind of authority. I dont think its a good design and im glad it was changed.

The n-word use -

Not good, but this is one of those things that lots of people, even adults, would say regularly, not even that long ago. Especially if it was with a "soft a". Especially the phrase "whats up my n-". It was kinda a meme? Not like an internet meme, but it functioned kinda like one. People would get in lots of very inane arguments about the "soft a" in particular, but it was seen as "acceptable" in some ways to say the n-word with a soft a. It was dumb but that was how things were, and even still are in certain places. These arguments are inane and because they mostly serve to distract from the real issue at hand. That that kind of language coming from anyone who is white will mean something very different and has a lot more history of harm thats called upon. But this was a time when a lot of people were convinced "rasicim is over tho, obama is president". They were wrong and that idea was a reflection of privlage. But it was also how things were. Im not saying all this as an excuse, but to try to explain the differences between the past and now.

The ratmen -

Ohhh boy.... ok... im gonna try... look... have you seen the internet? Theres so much ratcore trash weeb a e s t h e t i c people out there. Its like a whole movement to associate with "cringe weeaboo" shit like japanese school uniforms while calling yourself a rat or a racoon or what ever. To me it feels like a cultural movement to reclaim things people were into as uninhibited youthhss. As a means of reclaiming that youth that was probably difficult because you are probably neurodivergent and/or queer. Simultaneously recognizing that you've become uncringable with age, while also presenting a new dynamic to the "cool and cute" side of things by drawing a worm in a lolita dress or what ever. This feels like the way more obvious read on the ratmen than... refferences to anti-japanese propaganda? Like sure, you could make the argument that its like... a subconcious thing, and stuff is a grand tapestry of influence, which is true. But if you start declaring things irrideemable because of vauge connections of influence (especially when they have easier reads) then your gonna run out of non-irridemable shit reallly fucking fast.

There is a lot to be said about "weeaboo" culture and how it was formed and continues to exist as a reflection of a very specific and limited section of japanese culture. And how that has played into a form of othering and dehumanization in certain cases. By the academic deffinition, non-japanese people being super into japanese anime and anime cultre is -cultural appropriation-. Anime in particular is already several layers of abstraction deep before it even gets the weeaboo treatment. And because of that it isnt always sensible, or respectful. This kinda applies to the whole comic and not just the ratmen, but in that it applies to like... everyone who draws in an anime style who isnt japanese.

Cultural exchange between japan and america is kind of just a thing at this point, and its an exchange that deffinatly isnt always -acurate- but theres kind of a long history of both countries taking and abstracting shit from each other to suit their own needs. Anime itself (as its widely understood) is that, osamu tezuka was influenced by disney to draw large cute expressive faces wayyy back when.

In a lot of ways i think its really cool that there is this crosscultural exchange, especially when its between niche subsubcultures. The kind of subcultures full of outcast weirdos. Proves we all have a lot in common with each other. Like its pretty clear ranfren draws on a lot of doujintype aesthetics, 2chan meme culture, and rpgmaker horror games. Both the comic itself and the presentation, being on neocities with gallerys of art, are reminicent of this. Theres a lot of this on neocities but its cool to see people styling their neocities gallerys and websites after the way japanese artists used to style theirs, pre-social media. For me it taps into some very formative memories of stumbling on some artists website that you couldn't read or properly navigate because it was in japanese and google translate was clunky and bad enough to basically be useless. But the art was beautiful and inspiring, and wasnt polished and professional which felt relatable, felt validating. Sometimes you saw fucked shit cause you didnt know what you were clicking on, but to me it was worth it. Is it bad to see fucked shit at a young age? Eh yeah..? But its kinda inevitable that you will see fucked shit. The world is like that right now, and trying to change it is important but its also important to be able to have methods of dealing with what we have. (Some people's methods of cope involve drawing and looking at pictures of cat boys being eviscerated) Anyways its better to see fucked shit in an environment that you have some control over. Thats kinda.. one of the big Points to art in the first place. And also some people, for various reasons, resonate with fucked shit. That doesnt make them inherently evil, its just like... everyone has their own way of dealing with darkness. Ranfren is a pretty fucked up comic, a dude keeps a human as a pet friend and he cant escape and is suffering and its a major plot point, thats just kinda played for laughs. Its dark and fucked up but in a funny and relatable way. thats why people resonate with it. I ranted a lot more about this in my last post (see also the video "why did we like elfin leid" by hazel on youtube) but just.... the immediate read of the ratmen is not "ah, the author of this is refferencing anti-japanese propaganda and thus is supportive of the belife that asians are not human and inferior." Its just... if you're reading a webcomic on neocities about weird anime cryptid boys, i feel like the associations your more likely to make with the rats is, "ah cool, some rat boys, relatable."

Swastika/manji -

think it was meant to be both a swastika on the right and manji on the left. but the fact that both are there does kinda remind me of how manji would frequently either get censored in america and/or become the source of edgy jokes, "neji is a nazi"* and whatever. Also drawing a swastika on something was the kind of surface level shit that lots of people did, purely because it was an easy way to try to seem like an edgy bassass and get a rise out of people. Its not good that people were like that, its bad that people didnt get the education to understand why doing that was bad. And it being so wide spread did give people who wanted to actually use it because they are nazis a very convenient cover story. But its a weak case to present one, especially if its from 2011, as proof someone currently(?) holds antisemetic beliefs. People who claim to use swastikas "as a joke" while actually holding white supremisct veiws are usually possible to spot by just like... observing what they do and say. While thats an exhausting thing to do because these people are fuckheads of the highest order, its an important thing to be able to do and understand if you want to fight for justice. This is a bit off topic too but relying only on iconography also allows these people to go stealth and do the whole "im not a nazi i dont have a big swastika tatoo" while they go on fox news and talk about how great eugenics is.

*since the point of all this is to provide context i will try to explain. The character Neji Hyuga, from Naruto has a manji on his forehead. Usually covered by his very cool ninja headband. But an episode where he takes it off was censored in the english release because a lot of people in the world have the immediate reaction of "oh fuck a swastika, like the nazis". However it was kind of an edgy "fun fact" to point this out and make jokes, both about the censorship and the fact that Neji has a "swastika" on his forehead. This kind of thing did then lead to more cultural awarness of manji and the origins of the swastika.

Incest and pedostuff -

<tangent>

I was gonna separate these two, but what i have to say kinda applies to them both. But in the wider world of fandom and reality i think they are separate issues, and the conflation of them i tend to see drives me a little nutty, i guess i get that its because of real world personal associations people tend to have, but when it comes to incest ships that become "popular", they seem to fill a very different "need" than young/old ships and shit... ahgggh it doesnt actually have anything to do with randal because he's stated to be under age so it this case its like yeah i guess they are under the same category. I just wish people would think more about why these things happen the way they do. I cant ask that of everyone, especially if its an uncomfortable topic and you dont like thinking about uncomfortable things. But considering why things happen and if there are reasons beyond "people are nasty" is worth doing if you can.

</tangent>

Ahh, i gotta say, taken at face value, the images that captain howdie drew... ah, when i saw the warnings and stuff, i was expecting worse? I am Not saying these are good things to have drawn, but. Almost equally weird shit happens in the actual comic. Randal and Luther have a really fucking weird relationship in canon because both of them are weird. They have weird power plays and do body horror and ??? And Luther is kinda controlling and domineering. But its part of their characterization that they are like this. In the comic there just isnt a framing of someone going "plz draw me some incest art of randal and luther kthnx"

this particular reaction of mine, is probably an instance of me being too online and too desensitized to artists and people im fond of having turned out to have been actual irl pedophiles or abusers so. I dont know. I dont like it. I understand if it turns people away from the comic because that kind of thing hits very personally with some people.

But again, i do feel the need to explain a bit about how the internet used to broadly treat underage characters and shipping.

For one thing people used to just... draw and write porn of characters who were minors, sometimes because they were also minors, sometimes not... and i dont think people were always doing it because they wanted to do bad things to real minors or what ever. The general mentality was more, "the character exists, i have a ship that pleases me. I will engage in what i think is the natural conclusion of that ship." Part of that i think also comes from there just being... less characters? Like obviously time is a thing and we are always adding and never subtracting "available" characters and ships. But if you were into anime/anime-esq stuff, there was just less of it. And a lot of the stuff that was localized and thus widly availible, and thus widly popular, and thus had a big fandom to engage in, was intended to younger folks, and thus had younger characters. So it was just kinda seen as, fine. I think people usually just thought of the characters as ageless entities. I do think its odd that so many people (still to this day too) have a compulsion to ship and write romance and junk, even at the expensse of socital norms. Im like ace/aro spectrum so yeah, i think its weird and dont fully "get it" for people to be that fixated on romance and resulting physical intimacy. But I saw the harry potter fandom back in the day, to say nothing of pre-castiel supernatural, and onecest. People were not really widely considering if any of it could have an effect on people or be used by actual pedophiles to harm real children. Im not saying it didnt happen, but the general idea of what a predetor would do to get at kids did not involve anything fandom related. I also do think the "lets be shocking" mentality comes into it for some people. People get told what they can and cant like by parents, teachers, religeon with little justification beyond "I/God said so". So it makes these kinds of things which have a taboo element to them feel "cool".

I guess part of the idea was also "if you are mature enough to be on these parts of the internet, you are mature enough to deal with some weird shit." In some ways i still think there is a shard of truth in this mindset. Just on a personal level its helpful to know your own limitations and recognize the type of stuff is likely to upset you. Like, even if you love, idk, lucky star or magica madoka or some shit, but are not comfortable seeing ecchi art of the girls, probably just avoid certain fandom spaces all together. Im not saying its "virtuous" to be able to handel seeing some shit or that its an inherent good that people have to do this. Im stating it as very obnoxious unsolicited advice. And all that said i think the need for spaces that are safe and free from shit online are very important. (As are semi-private spaces where you can like... collectivly vent, and spaces where you can be kinda fucked up.) And in modern times i take a lot of issue with "adult" fans with certain interests "taking over" media aimed at kids (mlp and the bronies is sort of an example of this, in certain ways, its complicated.)

I fucking hate that we've all been forced onto like 3 platforms for fandom and art shit. Especially twitter, twitter sucks dick. Especially if you're a kid. i dont like being like this, but honestly people under the age of 18 should not be on twitter. Not even because theres porn and gore and no tagging/filtering system. Twitter is just shit. Like the app itself is designed to fuck with your head in a very very damaging way and you cant really do anything to make it not do that. Damn, everybody should make a neocities, we can bring back webrings. its really fun and not difficult to maintain at. all. I Promise.

Also i said this in the last post but... pedobear was a popular(?) meme. It was this bear character that people would photoshop into pictures of cute child characters from anime and shit. The "joke" was more a style of subversive shock humor. Lots of people on 4chan were weirdos but a lot more were edgy teens just kinda looking to get a rise out of people because that was the "point" of the internet for a lot of people. "For the lulz" was the general rallying call. Was it good that one of the big meme characters of the day was a bear that wanted to molest anime children? No. And other popular meme characters who were also problematic? No, it was a symptom of things beyond most peoples control. Was it normalized? Yeah. Was it emblematic of multiple wider aspects of internet culture at the time? Yeah. Did the normalization also lead to an arms race of edge that eventually helped gamergate and the subsequent altright movement gain traction? Sort of. I think its silly to blame memes and media in general, or even internet culture as the sole cause for any of that. It all played a roll but the root causes runs a lot deeper. And i think it short sighted to lable any one thing as a source of evil while condemming everyone who associates with it. Shortsighted in the sense that i think to combat these things you have to try to understand the systems and contexts that lead to these evils in the first place. And when and how much these things are doing harm. And in what situations that harm is balenced.

Nevada-tan sweater -

i feel like the pedobear rant there kinda covers a lot of this but. Im here to try to give context so that is what i will do. I guess i just want to say again how common it was to have violent serial killer ocs. I had an oc who was a fake girl scout who offered people cookies and then killed them. Hilarious. Having an edgy refference to a real world tragedy is kinda par for the course in certain horror communities even to this day. Even real horror movies will do this. Its really not great that these things drag real world people into this. This is an instance of something that i greatly dislike because it does directly involve real world people. But its worth considering why people do this. Why there are people who develop parasocial relationships with killers and school shooters. Why these people get memed into become symbols and characters more than real people who commited evil acts. I mean for one thing people do this to just like, regular people, so it apparently just something humans like to do. But i want to post this comment from the reignbot video about nevada-tan which i think explains some important context of why this girl in particular was one that people might have latched on to (that vid is also good if you want the full real world context of everything)

People find this, relatable. Its messed up. but so many people are left behind by systems that are theoretically supposed to help people. People find some kind of comfort(?) in the horror. Another really good video related to this topic is the one reignbot did about people who idolize school shooters, she interveiws someone who used to be "on the inside" and that person has a lot of very valuable insight into this kind of mindset.

And i think the nevada sweater on Nyen is more of a refferance to this collective internet horror referance, especially with the anime, doujin circles, connotation. One that the type of person reading ranfren is likely to get and understand in some way. And i guess nyen is maybe just that kind of guy. Again it is not something i think is good, even as cope. But given everything else in the comic the refferance makes sense. And im internet poisoned so i knew what it was refferanceing as soon as i saw it so ive lived with it this long. Im still suprised people didnt know about this honestly. I am old.

Residential school/logs -

I mean yeah, this is insensitive. but... thats is kinda how... peoples minds work... you think about something, then maybe something happens, and you go back to thinking about the other thing. Like yeah, you have control over what you post, especially when you have a following its good to keep in mind how things will be percived just in general. But also like... sometimes i go from thinking gay thoughts to thinking about the texas abortion bill to thinking gay thoughts to thinking about the nature of evil in the hearts of humans to thinking gay thoughts. Its just kinda how our minds work, especially, trying to process tragic things can be really tough. And in general i am not fond of the trend that demands perfect sensitivity and seriousness about all topics lest you be cast as like... not caring at all and there for evil. Especially if the person in question is like an artist or some rando, someone who isnt aiming to be an "activist". (Im using that term very loosely,)

I mean in general there is so so much bad stuff, an insurmountable mountain of bad stuff and its all connected in the worst rat-nest of suffering. You gotta let yourself take a break, or you will burnout so fucking fast and not be able to tackle problems in an effective way when the oportunity arises.

Conclusion -

All and all, i think this document does a bad job presenting the issues that are present in and around randal's friends. Because it either doesnt know or doesnt care to explain the actual underlying issues with any of them because it seems too preoccupied with making captain howdie look as bad as possible. The reasons that yes, even though this shit was very normalized its still worth having a think over why it was normalized, what it meant and what it all means. And understanding that it being normalized meant very many people engaged with it and are still feeling fallout from that and records of that time are easily dug up. The document is either missing or choosing to ignore important context that readers are apparently unlikely to understand. And takes so many things in bad faith that it will be useless in encouraging change or a genuine apology or what ever the fuck people want. BaCk In My DaY we used to use callouts to go on 40 page tangents about the implications of shipping Sam and Dean or naming your oc "himeko" or what ever the fuck. And a lot of those were also full of misplaced frustration. But like... i feel like had to try to translate what the actual concerns were behind half the problems in this document. Someone who doesnt have their brain full of years of social justice arguments and talking points is gonna look at that doc and mostly go What are you people fucking talking about??? (Or they'll feel like they have take it at face value because they dont want to become tainted by enjoying -problematic- media) it also has the problem present in a lot of callout shit where it feels like half of it is someone going on a hunt because one thing pissed them off, and finding things to justify their being pissed off. This is especially evident in the case of digging up deleated (?) devientart stuff and reblogs. And the fucking.. logs. Again, you could probably do this with anything. What is the end goal here? People seem to be mad that this was "brushed under the rug" but what exactly is achived by dragging it back out? If that stuff hadnt been deleted people would 100% be clamoring for them to delete it because leaving it up would be perpetuating the forms of harm that it does contain. People also dont tend to think to give premptive apologies for those sorts of things either, because it was normalized at the time and has been hidden from most people's veiw. And bringing it up is probably just gonna implicate you. And again, if you lack a certain kind of understanding it will be very difficult to word any kind of an apology properly. And i kinda doubt that document will get anyone to apologize because it reads in such bad faith, lacks context, and doesnt properly fucking explain what the real issues and impact are.

Like its ok, you are well within your rights to not like ranfren for what ever reason. I can understand not liking ranfren. I can understand not wanting to be into ranfren anymore, and its your choice. As ive alluded to, ranfren appeals to a very specific sort of person, and is presented in a way that reflects that. You get to choose what you want to keep reading. What im trying to express is that there are people who are gonna keep reading it, and reasons why they can still relate with it, and can understand the reasons behind some of the stuff captain howdie did, and that those reasons are complicated (see ⬆️ above). I guess if you just wanna dni those people too, cool. Block me. (Pftt fnfjf i dont interact with people here this is my vent blog please block me)

But i am also trying to express, or warn people, that everything has problems. "There is no ethical consumption under capitalisim/colonialism" applies to media too. Sorry, nothing is pure. All of media is a vast interconnected web of shit thats all been tainted in some way or another. Even your personal blorbo. Its about learning to see these systems that have caused so much of this and learning to analyze and balance harm. Ive many times made decisions to cut shit out of my life that was very precious and formative to me (im compelled to say its not harry potter bc im a melenial and i know the steryotype. its other shit. Fuck jkr tho) ive kinda alluded to this but platform size also plays a huge role in all of this! And what it is you intend to do with that platform! I am personally a lot more critical of anything the disney industrial complex has a hand in because they have wide reaching social influence and have managed to put their company in the roll of being able to influence the people, seemingly on purpose! This is just an example to illustrate what i mean. The influence of anything the avarage webcomic artist does is vastly outclassed by shit even from a hundred years ago. (Sorry webcomic artists) let alone more insideous social factors that can be much harder to pick apart and confront. I guess thats the thing... the world is frustrating and sorrowful and you want to feel like you can do something and a rando artist is an easier target than all of society. Honestly its not something i know how to deal with either. I just look at my cat boys and draw silly pictures and try to convince my coworkers to become anarchists. Sorry.

Also dont even try to fucking dox people you fucklords.

[jett-dawson]

i know rainbow high isnt like the number one best written show to exist and there’s always room for improvement within the plot, the dolls, the company etc and it is important to be mindful and be loud about that

but show wise. in terms of like. the plot and stuff. if ur just going to attack people for enjoying it, dont. feel free to voice ur opinion! nobody can stop you! don’t like the animation? cool! totally fine. don’t like the development? completely understandable. but just saying like “this show is just shit and you guys are fucking blind” does nothing? this rly isn’t aimed to anyone in particular and i just saw a confess abt it and i’m like. mad. i shouldn’t be but like. i’d feel the same way in regards to any show, any doll line. like. ok cool ur entitled to ur opinion but so are we. the plot itself isn’t harming anyone. yeah it’s got hella plot holes but so did eah? so did mh? i mean RH is vvvv new, it’s only now finding its feet. i mean compare the recent episodes to episode one. it’s only now finding its feet and there’s many characters and events that we haven’t even seen gone down

so idk i guess just. be nice? it’s ok if u don’t like it. we could care less! we also criticize tf out of this show!! idk. is this too much? probably ndmd

[formerlyrunephoenix6769]

I was asked and ask, and in my flu causing feverish state, I deleted it. So if you’re out there and recognize this question (and I’m paraphrasing) please reblog and @ me. 

So If i remember, the question was along the lines of 

“Why isnt there huge amounts of stuff, for shows like She -Ra and TDP, are they not as popular?” 

Lets go for a ride...

I think the reason why we dont get the same amount of content generated for shows such as The Dragon Prince and She-ra, say in comparison to shows like RWBY. 

And by content, I mean, theories, memes, art and in depth analysis, boils down to 3 things.

1) Time to Generate.

Both The Dragon Prince and She-Ra have only recently dropped their first season. Now both have their second season coming rather swiftly, esp in the case of The Dragon Prince. Season 2 is dropping tomorrow: Feb 15 2019 over on Netflix. 

She-Ra’s is set to be released April 26th 2019, again on Netflix. 

The Dragon Prince S1 was released on Sept 14th 2018, and She-Ra: Princesses of Power, Nov, 13th 2018. 

In TDP case, that is a 5 month and 1 day turn around and SPOP, 5 months and 13 days turn around. 

It is rather unheard of for an animation to have their Second season be ready in under 6 months. Usually it is anywhere from 10 months minimum to a year or in some cases, even longer. 

I put this down to the success of the two series and how the audience received them, and Netflix wishing to capitalize on it, and the hype generated. 

Lets just hope that the both properties dont feel rushed as a result. 

So with such little time, and a very short hiatus in terms of tv shows, (which is when most of fandom generated content tends to be created), that gives very little time for their respective fandoms to leave their senses and devolve into some sort of animeesque Lord of the Flies in a matter of weeks, in a bid to cope.

(RWBY FNDM, I’m looking at you with your ‘Beehaw’s’ and YORSE, and ‘Scheehaw’s’. I still cant believe you made Arryn read that with her own eyes!!) 

(You can tumblr search Yorse yourself, I aint making anyone look at that cursed image without their consent. You’ve been warned! ;p @hammertime-rwby  i shake my head in your general direction... ;D ) 

Time to generate can also be reflected in how long a show has been on air, thereby garnering a wider and much larger fanbase with a broader set of creative skills, which in turn results in more fandom content generated, esp if there is the potential of shipping. 

And bloody hell does SPOP have some crazy potential on the shipping front, 

2) Time to Mature and Fandom Engagement. 

As a show matures and the audience leans learn more about the characters and the world that they inhabit, the nature of fandom created content evolves. It also depends on the verve of the show itself. 

The way in which a show is presented, the topics and themes they cover, the way the characters and the world are presented, can vicariously dictate how the fandom engages with the property, go forth and multiply.

For example:

Sherlock is very meme worthy and that tends to be reflected in the content that is generated by the Sherlockians. 

RWBY has been out for 6 volumes and has a very dedicated and passionate FNDM, but it is also broad, large and incredibly diverse.

 It is also rather vocal and has very strong differing opinions from one end of the spectrum to the other, which in turn creates YT reviews, reactions and rebuttals and heated retorts. 

These polarising pov’s can then go on to permeate to other branches of social media, such as twitter, tumblr, discord etc etc 

Same with fandom accepted headcanons and lore... 

(I’m still on the fence about you Renora Rodeo Round up... You’re on thin ice! ;p ) 

But it has taken a number of years to cultivate. 

Neither The Dragon Prince or She-Ra has had the time to do that, yet! 

But I’m certain that will change in the coming future. 

 She-Ra has already generated quite the buzz on both the positive and negative sides, due to being based on a much loved, older, property, ‘She-Ra 1985′, but that is a mine field which I covered on my previous blog before some asshat decided to axe it. 

Also, the themes that Netflix She-Ra seems to be covering, which helped generate a lot of the negative backlash towards the show, will most definitely continue to be polarizing... So I would keep an eye out if YT and people picking stuff apart is your jam. 

On the other side, what SPOP seems to be trying to deliver will also generate lots of awesome content. Just look at how this took off,

“Hey Adora” 

And this cinnamon roll’s preoccupation with ‘force captain orientation’,

The Dragon Prince strikes me as a show that would generate deep reflective analysis of world and characters as well as theories, much like its older cousin, Avatar Last Airbender, once there is more to comb over and speculate on.

These two shows are presented differently and they way they are tackling certain themes in their respective narratives are also vastly different, which could also have a lot to do with their respective target audience and intended demographic,  so it stands to reason that the results of fandom generated content would be different. 

3) Platform and Format. 

This I believe is one of the most important aspects which ties the previous points above.

If a property is delivered week by week, such as RWBY, there is time, for the FNDM, after they make amazing screen shots and insta analysis and excited speculations, to go over it again and allow the episode to sink in. 

(which both TDP and SPOP could do, as they have episodic episodes but that is an entirely different post)

There is time for the fans to go sit back and react to what they have seen, whether that is creating beautiful fan art, crafting in depth theories, character analysis, extrapolate potential world building. 

A week by week delivery culminates in an emotional impact that is allowed to foster and grow, thereby gives space and time for the individual to go off and create content for their respective fandom. 

Fanart takes time, fics take time. 

The not knowing what could happen next opens up the avenues of thought out speculations. 

Having a week to go over everything to that point and process new info. Being able to take your time to research and prep before you put it out there, results in good, in depth analysis and well crafted work. 

Time gives breeding ground.

(Some wait years for lore.. Overwatch fandom, I dont know how we do it! But we all cant be Tracer!) 

Because, we are so salivating at the the mouth for insta gratification and ‘binge’ culture has become so prevalent where media is concerned. 

When a property is delivered all at once, it gives no breathing space for speculation and wild theories.

For a particular scene or interaction between characters to have an emotional impact and thereby create emotionally significant fan art, that is reblogged and shared in that moment, give it time to resonate with its respective fandoms.

And there for have time for other members of the fandom to be inspired to go off and create their own stuff in what ever medium is their forte. 

Because we are on this fast paced ride, not only from the start of the chapter 1 to end of the first ‘book’, so to speak, but also the social media need to be the first to create the content for the fandom, the type of content generated, how and why, is hugely different and may not at first glance look like it is forth coming.. 

It just takes time to sink in.. To go back through and re-evaluate. 

Being inspired by a particular interaction between two characters , or a certain facet of the world that an fan may have noticed and wishes to expand on, art wise, fic wish or theroise, loses its validity when you know that the next episode could answer your burning questions in less than 5 seconds. 

And so you stave off for the dreaded nine episode when your eye balls are nearly gumming together and you know you have work in 4 hours but you need answers to the burning questions.. 

and so results.

This is not the content creators fault, in anyway. This is quite literally the way in which it is delivered. 

Its is pretty much, 

II) However, in Conclusion 

The perceived lack of fandom interaction/generated content, in the social media platforms that a fan chooses to  consume, or is available to them, does not mean that a show isn't popular. 

The ties to previous projects, such as SPOP to She-Ra 1985  and The Dragon Prince to Avatar Last Airbender are vastly different. 

Expectations are vastly different.

 Fandom interaction and generation of fandom content, is not a measure made of how popular a show is.  

Also, politely, remember the demographic of which these shows are aimed at. 

Be respectful of the show creators, the property, the characters and the narrative that the show creators have painstakingly crafted and put out into the world. 

The story that they want to tell. 

Again, 

 a reminder, 

Tomorrow, 15th Feb 2019 , Season 2 of The Dragon Prince. 

(im gonna go back into my fluey coma now)

[gizmosisbuttons]

Episode 4 was a fandom wide callout post.

all you fools too busy being pissed bc Coran went all show crazy and basically re-characterized the paladins to what the masses found entertaining, to notice that the entire episode was literally a fandom wide call out post. they literally called us out guys. 

lets go over the list of things Coran said/did in ep 4 and compare them shall we?

let me preface this by saying he literally wasn't himself and i still love him just as much as before, my gorgeous man.

”I worked up very specific personas for each of you. This is going to help the audience connect on a much deeper level with each team member.” 

as if they didn't already have defining personalities that make them very likable and awesome? sounds familiar right? its one thing to speculate and theorize based on what we know about a character especially if we don’t know a lot about said character. the writers put a lot of time and effort into developing these characters and even said during an interview once that one of the things that bugged them about og Voltron was that the only properly developed character was Keith. the other guys didn't get a chance to be loved. and that was what they aimed to do, to give every paladin and character the chance to be loved. since the beginning the fandom has been bad at this. taking one teeny trait from each character and twisting them so that the only thing that matters is that trait. 

         “lover-boy lance”

throughout the series lance is known  to flirt with...pretty much every cute alien girl. of course. hes handsome, charming, girls love him. Coran wipes away all of the actually relatable things about his personality in favor of this charming flirt who would win over girls. Lance is insecure, he’s witty, he is the freaking sharpshooter, the teams sniper and their glue. he’s voltrons right hand now for a reason. he got into the garrison which is a military space exploration base, not just anyone gets in. hes incredibly intelligent and a great pilot. amazing really. bc simulations are always absolutely terrible and rarely help. oh yea, and hes charming.but god forbid anyone forget that hes a flirt. who cares about the other stuff that will actually help the audience connect with him. 

        “science wiz pidge” 

its no secret that pidge is incredibly intelligent. she is one of the characters who haven't gotten their developing points until this season. in one of the first flashbacks we learned she nearly gave up studying because some kid decided to be a dick and bully her. Matt pulled her out of it and encouraged her to work hard. later on in ep 4 coran says that her science doesn't need to be factually correct because noone will understand her either way. he undermined her intelligence because . well. noone cares what she says as long as it sounds smart. fanfic writers do this a lot. like. a lot. i understand that you may not have the same knowledge that the girl who hacked herself into a military school base undercover at he age of 14-15 (if the theory that the garrison is a high school program is correct) because she had gotten banned for sneaking in and hacking into the computer system, but if you really do insist on focusing her on her smarts, do some research. no to mention. pidge may be the youngest, but she really is more than science and calculations. shes intelligent yes, but she can hold her own in battle (at the age range of 15-17 with no prior battle training), shes afraid of the possible reality that all her efforts are wasted and Matt and Sam are dead, she is actually pretty social with the paladins (she can even be seen hanging out in the kitchen while hunk makes glass cookies.) and beyond her intelligence, shes wise. shes not just random science facts, she knows how to hold her own in situations outside of battle and books. shes street smart. 

       “lone wolf keith”

now i know this was said to allura, and ill get to that. but if the keith vlog showed us anything, its that  hes not just a moody loner teenager.  i am very guilty of this myself. i portray keith as a human disaster. we don’t know hen he was left alone, we don’t really know much of his story. i head canon that his dad left him to fend for himself but every month woul drop off food or money or something. i head canon hes terrible about taking care of his body. but at least i don’t call him moody and move on.  i give him a background to fill in the blank space, but sometimes i forget and focus too much on his folded arms and  pouty face. he smiles. he laughs. hes an actual precious bean.  but hes also afraid of being pushed away. hes guarded and does his best to be strong. he hides his feelings and protects his heart with everything he has. (geez boi who hurt you). he is not the human embodiment of “teenagers” by mcr. aka he has feelings too. not to mention he also got into the garrison, and was the top pilot regardless of how he got in, if it happened to be by recommendation like most people think. 

      “humourous hunk”

as a hunk stan this one annoys me the most. throughout the episode hunk is consistently embarrassed, and even protests the fart noises, fart jokes, etc. he is purposely tripped for laughs. the fandom forgets that hes not just the fat funny guy, or just the personal chef. hes overcome so much since babies first lion flight, he used to get sick, constantly had to be the voice of reason to keep his teammates out of trouble,  he is just as intelligent as pidge and is actually one of the only people that can keep up with her science stuff. keith and lance even stated that they didnt understand anything they'd said. hes a fantastic engineer even if he had a few tummy mishaps. hes an amazing pilot too, and extremely sassy. he and pidge probably rigged the game console to work in space, And hes pretty friendly and cautious. he is NOT meant to be the comic relief. (say it louder for people in the back)

     “shiro the hero”

a lot of the fandom has taken to calling shiro daddy, sexualizing him (”now put on this tight shirt”) and focusing on shiro and only shiro (shiros the “favorite character” of corans little show). hes great. he really is. and the man needs a break. voltron is a kids show. he isnt meant to  be sexualized, none of them are. hes more than his arms and his leadership abilities. the biggest issue i have with the whole shiro thing. regardless of if hes a clone, when shiro returned he cut his hair differently, and wore short sleeves. everyone i know, including me, said they'd be fine with the clone if he had kept his hair long and “as much as i love the arm view” and didnt change his outfit. its a kid show. his body shouldn't matter.i am also guilty of this, and ep 4 opened my eyes to it. coran lifted shiros arm as if to prove that thats what the audience really wanted. he treats shiro differently bc hes the real star here and everyone should know it. ofc, hes the black paladin. (i wonder where the whole “the black paladin is the only one who really matters here” mindset came from. looking @ u ‘84). shiros may have ptsd, and hes constantly trying to hold himself together for his team, and its obviously not easy. maybe thats why hes got a cute white floof. the stress. 

      alluras erasure  

another point that always bugged me. the fandom either forgets allura exists, or that she is just stealing lances place temporarily. Allura is the blue paladin. while keith is gone, she is not filling in. shes a paladin now too. for coran to call her keith, and constantly call her keith, even though she obviously has a few choice words to say about it, its distrespectful. she says his plan is working and he replies with “why thank you keith...i like to keep you in character” once again, erasing her existence. now im not as well versed in this particular topic, but id like you to keep in mind that he talks to his princess with that mouth, and that she IS the princess and not a fill in while keith leads. feel free to elaborate on this more. 

     coran “fires “ team voltron. 

this. i find extremely entertaining. remember that legal trouble last year bc of the leaks? and right around that time the klance shipper started threatening them if they didn't make it gayer and put keith and lance together? the  fandom, who wanted all of this to happen their way, were threatening to get it cancelled and such just because things didnt go their way. shiro, the leader, disagreed with coran and tries to shut him down. and coran in fit of rage says:

you're a bunch of quitters! quitters! i’m a visionary! i have thoughts, ideas, i dont need you anyway. ill rewrite the show, get rid of the whole lot of you, replace you with new paladins! and the show will be better than ever before!...except for you shiro, ill never get rid of you, you're our most popular character!

this is essentially what the fandom was saying. now, was this definitely their plan, to call us out with this bit, in not sure, but honestly, its almost too coincidental.

the writers have made it clear that they heard us, and have always been listening. and really, thats why i love ep4. you're angry because you know you got called out but haven't admitted it to yourself. the writers do their best to bring us the best show possible, but they cant satisfy everyone. why cant we just be happy about Actual Meme (tm) Matt, and look forward to season five instead of fighting them because we got our shit handed right back to us. weve gotten a  taste of our own medicine, so chill. i enjoy them keeping us on our toes, surprising us with every turn, theyre great writers.who cares if one or two things pissed you off? we both know youre not gonna stop watching.