The worst fanbases

[scarper]

The majority of the SHMUP fanbase. If you go to any shmup forum, or talk to people who plays a lot of shmups, it is impossible to talk about anything game related without them saying that they are/were more hardcore than you. (Some shmup fans, i.e. me and Rackateers are not like this.) They become overtly obsessed with the fact that they "beat X Touhou game on impossible difficulty while you're pussy ass is playing Radiant Silvergun."

I know a person in real life who's like this all the time. Everyone avoids talking about video games with him, so that he doesn't become an instant dick for 10 minutes.

[dunpeal2064]

The majority of the SHMUP fanbase. If you go to any shmup forum, or talk to people who plays a lot of shmups, it is impossible to talk about anything game related without them saying that they are/were more hardcore than you. (Some shmup fans, i.e. me and Rackateers are not like this.) They become overtly obsessed with the fact that they "beat X Touhou game on impossible difficulty while you're pussy ass is playing Radiant Silvergun."

I know a person in real life who's like this all the time. Everyone avoids talking about video games with him, so that he doesn't become an instant dick for 10 minutes.

I knew it'd show up eventually.

Its true though, elitism is a plenty in that fanbase.

... Radiant Silvergun >>>> Touhou imo

[lisalover1]

Don't get me started on the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic fanbase!

You're entitled to your opinion, and I'm not going to deny that there aren't some problems with the fanbase, but I have yet to find a kinder fanbase on the entire Internet. I go on Ponychan a lot, and the people there are generally caring, smart, and helpful.

[Erik_Twice]

But to say that George Lucas has no right to do what he wants with his own story and to try to improve his own work?

He never claimed he doesn't have the right. Which is actually pretty debatable. Did Orson Wells have the right to destroy Citizen Kane? And even if he did, why would it be good or moral to do so?

I think the key is that he can do with his story whatever he wants without destroying it.

While I too find it frustrating that Lucas would destroy older versions of his work--especially when it has so much cultural significance by now--I have on occasion destroyed my own older work when I felt it was inferior.[...] There is always a temptation to hide or destory work that reminds you of your own percieved flaws and failings. I cannot expect George Lucas to be any different.

That's how I would describe it. A temptation. But it's not a temptation of art, it's a temptation of hiding your own flaws.

We also have to remember that comparisons between us and him are kind of farfetched. The first film alone won no less than 7 oscars and the sequels would earn two more. It's loved by millions and has made millions and it's often quoted as one of the better films ever made*.

That said, other than the destruction of original film prints which is a big no for me, my issue is with the poor quality of his "revised" versions, not so much with him trying to change them.

I would be happy if he simply kept revising without destroying the originals.

*True or not

[avrame]

Apple fanboys (aka bias reviewers)

Can't stand reading reviews on Gizmodo or Engadget due to how bias they are towards everything Apple. They find any reason to rag on a CEO that isn't Steve Jobs, any reason to praise Apple products, and any reason to mark on a product review because it isn't Apple.

You can only read 'This isn't anywhere as good as Apple's X' in a review before you start to question their credibility.

[Bradtemple87]

I would say Star Wars for sure

[wootcube]

Apple fanboys (aka bias reviewers)

Can't stand reading reviews on Gizmodo or Engadget due to how bias they are towards everything Apple. They find any reason to rag on a CEO that isn't Steve Jobs, any reason to praise Apple products, and any reason to mark on a product review because it isn't Apple.

You can only read 'This isn't anywhere as good as Apple's X' in a review before you start to question their credibility.

I hate how tech news sites constantly run iPhone or iPad rumor articles, like its actual news. As somebody who owns quite a few apple products, I get really irritated with the rabid fans because normal people make assumptions about you based on the crazy fan base.

[avrame]

Apple fanboys (aka bias reviewers)

Can't stand reading reviews on Gizmodo or Engadget due to how bias they are towards everything Apple. They find any reason to rag on a CEO that isn't Steve Jobs, any reason to praise Apple products, and any reason to mark on a product review because it isn't Apple.

You can only read 'This isn't anywhere as good as Apple's X' in a review before you start to question their credibility.

I hate how tech news sites constantly run iPhone or iPad rumor articles, like its actual news. As somebody who owns quite a few apple products, I get really irritated with the rabid fans because normal people make assumptions about you based on the crazy fan base.

Not to mention all the Apple based ads/popups:

"CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU ARE WINNER OF IPAD 2! THIS IS NOT A JOKE, CLICK HERE!"

[Xeogred]

Aww crap. This one's going to be a TLDR, everyone. Sorry in advance.


Let me preface this by stating that I love all six Star Wars movies, especially the original trilogy. That said, none of them were meant to be more than fun pulp adventure (which is why "hard" sci-fi fans often hate seeing it lumped in the "science fiction genre), with all the cheese that naturally comes along with that genre. Lucas himself has said that it was a nostalgic love letter to the pulp adventure movies he grew up with, especially space operas like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers. It's meant to be good popcorn fun, that's what all six movies are, and that's the keystone to everything I'm about to say.

Most nitpicky: Get some Star Wars fans together on the Internet anywhere besides a dedicated Star Wars forum, bring up Star Wars--especially the prequels, and suddenly all they want to do is bitch. Oh, the prequels weren't cast right. The pod race is too long. It contradicts the books. Somewhere between the lines in conversation XYZ there might possibly be a hint of a suggestion of an implied continuity error. Anakin shouldn't build C-3PO. They didn't use enough puppets. They complain about cheesy dialogue, and pretend the lines in the originals weren't just as bad--they most certainly were, laser brain. Goddammit guys, if that's the mentality you're going to bring to watch a campy space adventure, of course you're going to hate the prequels! Just shut up and enjoy it for what it is already. I've seen hardcore SW fanboys even joke amongst themselves that anyone else would think they hate Star Wars. It's a wonder that they don't.

Biting the hand: Star Wars fans hate George Lucas. I can't think of any other group that I've seen relentlessly bash and insult the mastermind behind the object of their fandom like that. "He's a hack! He's lost his talent! He made the originals good by accident!" They wouldn't have Star Wars without Lucas. Lucas knows better than anyone what Star Wars should be like, because it's his! If it didn't turn out to be what you thought you wanted, go be a fan of something else. But no, we're all going to stick around and look the gift horse in the mouth. It's well known that Lucas has never considered any of the films to be finished, and that he has re-edited every single one of the films every single time it has been released. Fans know this, but they act as though Lucas suddenly became a "revisionist" sometime in the 1990s, and they claim he has no right to do it. It is one thing to complain about the films, but personal attacks against their creator defines a sort of low that should shame all fandoms everywhere to see it.

These first two issues, I think, are directly related to two separate factors. One is simply the worst ever case of rose-colored-glasses. All six films are written in more or less the same campy pulp space opera style, including absurdly cheesy dialogue and entirely improbable plot twists. The originals might have pulled them off slightly better, but only because Lucas lucked into some amazing undiscovered actors--and Mark Hamil hadn't even become an amazing actor yet. "Oh, but Luke was never a whining, stiffly-acted, obnoxious emo bitch like Anakin!" Dude, I thought you actually watched "A New Hope" at some point. Listen to Luke whine and snivel about those power converters! Training aboard the Millennium Falcon? "Whine whine blast sheild, moan whine!" Yeah. And Anakin's tearful, screaming, lunatic "I HATE YOU" rant in episode III as Obi-Wan chops his limbs off? A perfect counterpart to Luke's "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!!!!" and "I'LL NEVER JOIN YOU!!!!!!!" You don't see it? "Nope, I've got my nostalgia blinkers on. The originals were perfect. --but only before the Special Editions. --and except for the Ewoks." Yeah.

The other contributing factor, I think, is the enormous Expanded Universe. Some of the stuff is quite good, some of it not so much, but by and large it is as Lucas once said, a different Star Wars. While the films are all a fun pulp adventure, the Expanded Universe material often tries to put a more serious spin on things, writing histories so detailed and vast that Tolkien's head would spin, and just generally putting way too much thought into things. However, this take was the only new content Star Wars fans had for many years. The industrial strength rose glasses combined with prolonged exposure to the much more dry, much more serious Expanded Universe to cause my third, final, and largest complaint against the general Star Wars fandom, and the one that brings the other two into focus...

Missing the damn point: Too many Star Wars fans have brainwashed themselves into believing that the original trilogy was supposed to be "serious." It wasn't. Watch any of the six films without rose glasses and without the books and RPGs in your head, and you'll plainly see that. But these guys don't get it. They want Star Wars to be some other thing that isn't really Star Wars, and wonder why Lucas can't get it right. They go in to the prequels expecting War and Peace, or Dune, or at least The Wrath of Khan, when what they went to see was fucking Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe--and then they wonder how things went so horribly wrong! Most epic fandom fail ever, folks. That's all I've got. Good night.

Good stuff, although I'll have to disagree concerning the quality of the OT vs the NT. I'm sure some people are sighing now or not, but really... the old films had the charm, that cheesy charm as you'd probably say, but the new movies were just terrible. It's worth noting Lucas didn't even direct Episode 5-6 (totally sure you know this), he kind of lucked out with 4 pulling that one off, even if the dialogue is still pretty wonky throughout the whole OT off and on, it's never meant to be taken totally seriously like you're saying here.

Oh man the Ewoks complaints... I get so sick of that crap. I always try to argue with my friends that Episode 6 has always been my favorite since the conclusion is so great, but "Ewoks" is always their go to complaint that makes the whole movie suck apparently.

Have you seen the Red Letter Media reviews of the prequels? Not to sound like I've latched onto that guys ideals, but he brings up a lot of legit stuff. And even then I pretty much decided I didn't like the prequels much at all right out the door when they all released in theaters one by one, the experience just wasn't as great as the originals. Didn't have the charm.

But yeah, a lot of people certainly are two faced about slamming Lucas about everything too. It's pretty funny.

Anyways yeah, all that said as much as I do love the OT, I probably do treat them like you've described here. It's literally pretty much Disney tale stuff, a very basic tale of love and betrayal with other cliche' themes, things like that and it's just fun stuff. I've never cared to dive into the novels or EU, things like that. I would like to say though I think the KOTOR games did a really cool job at expanding the universe and they go back so far, it's kind of its own universe in itself, that feels a bit more serious than the movies and all. Definitely my favorite movie trilogy and favorite movies, but indeed that about sums it up... the franchise isn't my religion or anything like that.

[wootcube]

Apple fanboys (aka bias reviewers)

Can't stand reading reviews on Gizmodo or Engadget due to how bias they are towards everything Apple. They find any reason to rag on a CEO that isn't Steve Jobs, any reason to praise Apple products, and any reason to mark on a product review because it isn't Apple.

You can only read 'This isn't anywhere as good as Apple's X' in a review before you start to question their credibility.

I hate how tech news sites constantly run iPhone or iPad rumor articles, like its actual news. As somebody who owns quite a few apple products, I get really irritated with the rabid fans because normal people make assumptions about you based on the crazy fan base.

Not to mention all the Apple based ads/popups:

"CONGRATULATIONS!!! YOU ARE WINNER OF IPAD 2! THIS IS NOT A JOKE, CLICK HERE!"

Ew, I hate those. Although you can't really blame them for using Apple products - as much as some people hate them, they are kinda a little in demand at the moment, and scammy ads rely on that.