Everything Wrong with : Sonic Fandom (Mainly the wattpad one)
Warning : This book contains my overall opinion and view on specific topics that I feel like, should be talked about or handled better. Crazy enough, these are my opinions...
This is gonna be short, this is a quick rant after all. Anyway, so I saw someone in my feed who liked a book called "You Know You're a Sonic Fan When" by DisGangster which idk it had a pretty okay concept. Sadly I cannot interact with the user (and if I forgot why , its means that user is probably one of the many people who childishly blocked me lmao) but you know, a few clicking here and there and I viewed it for fun (and boredom)
And since it talked about some aspects of oneself that helps emphasize your "credibility" as fan, it was fun to read. Though I do have contradictions here and there. But some of that later
Honestly there are some aspects there that, while it does clearly make you realize you really like Sonic as a fandom, most of it didnt really touch me on, liking it as a franchise of as a game/form of physical entertainment.
And while that isnt really a problem, that being because the book is more obviously favorable to wattpad sonic fans, aka those who obsess over fanfiction, fanart and ranting, I did want to see aspects that can relate more to canonically knowledgable fans, and not just those who panders over fandom-wise content.
The reason I was interested in writing this because the concept made me think, and intrigued. Especially around the idea of, to how or what certain aspects of yourself do you have, that makes you believe or realize you are a fan.
Honestly you don't need to pretend you've memorized all of Crush 40's songs to prove you are a fan (Eh Anniversary Live was pretty bad honestly, but Jun saved it). My mindset lies in between the boundary of, while this is a pretty cool concept and helps a fan explore which aspects of themselves can relate to archetypes of Sonic fans, it does feel rather unreliable, since one can easily twist their words, to mentally convince themselves that they have that aspect for the sake of proving to their own selves that they have a pretty good amount of credibility, when this credibility concept isnt really that relevant.
One overly analytic, enthusiastic, smart and amazing Sonic gamer + illustrator maybe and one sonic roleplayer who steals artwork on DA is yes, different in levels but in the general public, is just both fans, regardless.
Sometimes I feel like some people in the future might just comment there some lies to build up their self-esteem as a fan or even to show off to others, but is actually just lying about it to feel better about themselves. But this is mere speculation though.
But in the end, the point is to see which aspects you have anyway so theres no use for me to ramble about that
Quick side, The amount of hate that the book had on Elise and Chris was rather irritating, because idk while those two are very controversial characters, the book was speaking in a general tone about disliking the two for how bad they are and how they are represented. Don't get me wrong, I see the lost potential Chris and Elise has, but I do still see good in them. They are both decently written and deserves their own merit. Sorry, I just didnt like how it emphasized how it's like we are SUPPOSED to hate them, although I do know it was supposed to be opinionated.
Quick other note is that it did bother me that some of them were pleasure-related, like dreaming to adventure with Sonic, wanting a Sonic band or hedgehog pets. Nothing wrong there honestly, just you know, I was surprised.
Also, Does Sonic X even air anywhere currently? I mean I don't remember any companies that airs anything like that to my knowledge. Sonic Boom obviously airs in Cartoon Network but X?
The topic did make me interested in giving a more general version of this rant, one that tackles most users and not just the book which is something I'd look forward to do, if you guys would be interested. Anyway, sorry if my rants are getting shorter, I'm losing things to talk about.
Suggestions would be really helpful!
My motivational Image of the Day:
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(I took this screenshot btw and the source is already in the picture so yeah)
Tag yourself! I'm basically Line #3, seriously (not the first two though, I'm that immature)
