Not My Canon!

Pottermania

While many of my recent posts may come across like a grown man whining in dissatisfaction about everything that was new in the Potterverse (which is not totally off-base), that's not my intention. In fact, I was really excited in July 2016 for what was coming. I think the majority of us were and still are. However, this retrospective has made me recognize the poor treatment of the fans through the lack of effort, impatience, arrogance, bad PR, and commercialism. It's not as if this is new. All fandoms are monetized to some degree. I just have such a high esteem for the material and the association we all have with it, and so it makes me want to confront them for all of us. Not that you need me to do that for you, but I suppose I feel compelled to at least point out what happened during the months and years leading up to the release of the play so that when the sycophantic Mini-Death Eaters tell you to shut up and just be satisfied with Cursed Child because we got new content, you can return to this little habitat we've made to seek out any substance you may need to use as a defense. Because, at least for me, a lot of my reaction came down to a general, unexplainable feeling of disenchantment, without really being able to peg down why... since there was always so much coming at us.

It needs to be noted that JKR is a "master of controlled publicity", as the New York Times has claimed. Even if we felt a sense of displeasure with the new Potter material, chaos was always expertly reigned in with more new and exciting material. And here's where they truly captured our attentions and pumped the brakes on the disharmony. Without addressing the most recent issues with cultural appropriation, Pottermore did their part to brush past the newest scandal by reminding us of better times through a stream of memes and mini-vids.

Then we got a glimpse at the approaching awesomeness that would be Fantastic Beasts at Comic Con in San Diego, California in the exclusive Funko Pop of Newt Scamander.

SQUEEE!!!! TAKE MY MONEY!

Then the production team from HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD surprised us with another behind the scenes video. Narrated by the award-winning set designer, Christine Jones, it was only a minute long, but it took us directly into the most exciting elements of the production.

These close up shots of the set model were so detailed and captured our minds like never before.

Truly, 2016 was becoming the year of Harry Potter's comeback. Some were even calling it the "Return of Pottermania". Again, the fans were overjoyed about what was to come, but the whiplash of positive and negative press was starting to rattle the brain.