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Multi Sonic fans are completely unhinged
- Thread starter Smacktard
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I think this is the way. I don't excuse bad games or design simply because it's a franchise or company I have some attachment to.
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Your take is a fine take. I can get people enjoying 3D Blast, but it's such a strange comparison to make!
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Couldn't agree more, and the line for me is when you move from enjoying something to having a personal stake in its quality or success. In other words, the fact of it being good or bad, or successful or not, can make you happy or sad, rather than the actual experience of it making you happy or sad. I don't understand why people would personally stake their emotions on things in that way, not least because with virtually any franchise there are going to be ups and downs. You not only can but should be able to be a fan of, say, Assassin's Creed whilst acknowledging that some of the games are better than others, and that you may actually not have enjoyed some of the games. I am a fan of Dawn of War and like the first and second games in their own way, but I acknowledge that the third game was terrible. I want the fourth to be good, but if it isn't I'll play something that is. I won't rage against the world or get upset about it. I won't be demanding that people acknowledge that Dawn of War is better than Age of Empires, Company of Heroes or Command & Conquer. It's weird to have a personal stake in those sorts of comparisons.
The only ever so slight angle to this that I can understand is the older console fanboy wars, between the likes of the PS1 and N64 (which, to me, is probably the height of those wars), for two reasons. The first is that the consoles and games for them were heinously expensive by modern standards, so when you invested in one of the consoles and bought games, those were significant investments in terms of money. You did have an interest in them being good because you'd spent a lot of money on them. There were no Humble Bundles or $1 Steam games back then, nor were there cheaper previous generation games you could buy instead. Gaming was really expensive.
Second, the PS1 and N64 were very different. Very different setups, controls, focus and gaming libraries. I legitimately liked my PS1 more, but even I couldn't deny that the N64 more easily allowed groups of friends to crowd around and play Goldeneye or Smash Bros during parties. I would die on the hill than Final Fantasy VII was better than all of them, but FF7 was not a group activity. Nowadays though there is so little difference between the main consoles, or at least the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. The Switch is different, but it is so different that it has a different target market for the most part which is much younger, so you don't have natural disagreements between the player bases in the same way.
So yeah, some understanding of fanboys around those sorts of consoles. But for individual franchises, or indeed for practically anything nowadays? No. You do you is the only way to live.
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I think those are all really great points, and they raise the question of why some fandoms are more unyielding and unreasonable than others. What is it that causes this nowadays? The PS1 vs N64 fanboyism makes sense in the context you explained: the console you owned defined your identity, in some ways. So why are certain fandoms, like Sonic, so rabid? Is it part of their identity as well?
What other fandoms are this devoted?
What other fandoms are this devoted?
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Agreed, it's a solid game, not a good sonic game, but good for what it is. Definitely not close to Mario 64
Also if you think this is bad, Im pretty sure there is probably a crap ton of rule 34 stuff but not gonna look to see how much stuff there is
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Every fandom has rule 34 stuff. I'm sure the Sonic stuff is degenerate, but I think it'd be hard to top Pokéfans
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The immediate example of other fandoms that come to mind are those for music artists. You've had obsessed fanbases in the music industry for a long time. I want to say that The Beatles might be the most prominent first example? But there are probably some that are slightly earlier. But each decade after that has brought artists, bands and groups that people have been completely obsessed with. The first I remember from my own lifetime is the boybands of the 90s, but it's continued all the way through to the present day. I've seen some examples this year of the obsession of K-Pop fans that very much made me think of the boybands of the 90s as well as more recent examples like One Direction. It's fandom that goes beyond simply enjoying the product, but feeling a person connection with the artist to the point where the individual takes any criticism personally, and will therefore defend the artist vociferously.
As for the reasons behind this sort of thing, I can't say for sure because I've never really experienced it (a bit during my PS1 owning days, but not as much as many other people that I even knew personally around that time), but I think the obvious ingredient for it is a deep personal connection, which I expect will usually come about when someone is young. We all know how difficult it can be to find meaning and make connections when you're younger, so if anything from a music artist, to an actor to a video game series or character does that for you, I think the potential has to be there for you to perceive that relationship as something more (and sometimes a lot more) than simply artist/producer/manufacturer and consumer.
I also say someone has to be young because I think necessarily there will usually be an absence of other things that will provide that connection and give your life meaning. At the age of 40 I have my wife, my kids, my job and my friends. I frankly just don't have the time or emotional bandwidth to build a connection with something in that way. But as a teenager or earlier on in life, it's a completely different story. There is not only the possibility but often the necessity for that sort of connection.
As people get over I think they will naturally grow out of these sorts of things. But some don't. And some of those end up making posts like that in relation to old Sonic games.
On a side note, I think there are related examples to this elsewhere as well. Sports, for example. Teenagers can rarely have a productive conversation about rival sports teams. I remember my relationship with Man Utd fans in school being positively vitriolic at times. But as an adult, you grow out of that. I had a neighbour in my old house who was a massive Man Utd fan, and we spent hours talking about football. But I do also know a few people who have never grown out of that attitude either. There's a dad of a boy who is in my son's class and I cannot have a conversation with him about football despite him being a Liverpool fan, because he's just so immature and unreasonable. Any decision that goes against Liverpool is wrong. Any success of another team or player is luck or a fluke. It's like talking to a teenager. I think there are some parallels with that sort of lack of maturity and these fandoms. Sometimes people just don't grow up like the rest of us.
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I dunno, dude... I feel there's a significant furry crossover with the Sonic franchise and that's why people probably get really fucking defensive. More so than people just trying to spank it to Gardevoir or something.Every fandom has rule 34 stuff. I'm sure the Sonic stuff is degenerate, but I think it'd be hard to top Pokéfans
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Music fandoms are a good example. I'd say Elvis was the big name before The Beatles. It's curious though -- I feel like, generally speaking, most rabid music fans are women, and most rabid video game fans are men. Maybe I'm wrong on this one, but it seems like women are more prone to idolizing the performers, while men are more likely to just enjoy the music/performances themselves. But then, it seems like jpop girl idols are contrary to this? Just hypothesizing -- I don't know much about jpop idol culture.
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Experience being on the internet, yes, but neither of those are my kinks.
Some of the AI generator sites I used to use, before MasterCard/VISA started imposing restrictions on NSWF content, hosted a ton of models for shit like that. So many of the anime trained models required you put "furry" in the negative prompts to avoid getting that.
One of the best anime models was originally trained on My Little Pony, so... They're probably the most degenerate of the bunch.
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