fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #251 ]

37: Have to give a sarcastic round of applause to the...colorful people...who feel superior and pleased with themselves by passing judgement upon this person.

Because you know:
Scurrying around to point fingers, belittle & name-call > 'Fan-girl love' (tm).

That's not fangirl love. That is a serious headcase who needs to see a professional. Stat.

Headcase? Wow, nice to know that a person's imagination and heartfelt wishes are just psychological impairments. Seriously, I must have been absolutely insane when I was a child. Oh wait, still am.

Did you forget the part of the secret where she says she's realized he's not real? She's distinguished between reality and fantasy. As such, no harm. Any other desires she has are hopeful wishes she's allowed to play around with. If it makes her happy and doesn't hurt her or anyone else around her, then no biggie.

Did anyone else around here have an imaginary friend or boy/girlfriend when they were younger? Does no one else out there play around with dreams and fantasies? I must be odd-man out here. 'Cuz when I'm sitting in during a boring lecture for a class and I can't focus, I'll play around with ideas that me and my favorite fan-characters are hanging out or whatnot. It helps time move along and it's fun. What can I say, I have an imagination.

She also said the reason she's been single ever since she "broke it off" with a cartoon character is that "no guy was ever as good to me as he was."

Remember, this guy didn't exist. Doubly so because she never actually watched the series.

That's not imagination. That's just fucking creepy. In the $300-an-hour-on-a-couch way.

It's also called 'high standards'. She's creating an imaginary guy (that is her ideal guy) that she's comparing the society of men against. Probably not fair and it might hurt her in the long run if she's really serious about wanting a boyfriend, but that's something that she'll have to deal with.

so you don't see anything wrong with having impossibly high standards BASED ON ANIME CHARACTER FOR AN ANIME SHE'S NEVER WATCHED?

create all the imaginary friends she wants, but she stepped over the line when she claims it was a character that she doesn't even know about!

And what line would this happen to be?

DOH! What am I thinking? Wait, forgive me. I keep forgetting. I took Fangirl 101 last year and on the "How To Be a Proper Fangirl Test" that is exactly the question missed on Golden Rules of Fangirlism.

~~Wow, when did I develop this bitchy streak? I really don't mean to insult you, but I find the comment itself quite silly.~~

....

I guess I can see people thinking her weird for having "high standards based on an anime character" (which I don't, but then again I'm more open-minded and understanding towards stuff like that... I don't see it as any different than having opinions/high standards based off of things read in a novel or gossiped about amongst friends... my mom had those issues with sex - she said she had been so "hyped" up over it and ended up being greatly disappointed and told me that it's not all as great as people gush about)... but the rest of that sentence seems irrelevant.

yeah, I think there is a certain expected set of behaviors for calling yourself a fan of something. that would include knowing the source, having read it, watched it or played it.

do you write fanfiction for fandoms you've never seen the source?

it's the same concept. she claimed to be in love with a character from an anime she didn't watch. if she wants to have these high standards based on made up and imaginary things in her head, that's fine.

she's set herself up for a very sad, lonely and disappointed life if that's the case.

Okay, you've got a good point. It's like when writing a report or preparing for a speech, YOU NEED TO DO YOUR RESEARCH. In order to make a good argument, in order to support your points, in order to make conclusions you need to understand your data.

Point established. But let's further continue on with that analogy. How you come across your information can come from different sources. Like, let's say your speech is on the inhumanity of the Holocaust. You can find straight facts and figures in a book, you can reference books written by actual victims of the war, or you can directly go to the source itself and interview a victim or previous Nazi. Not all forms of information are made available to every person, some aren't necessary, and others just might not be worth it (even if they are the ideal choice). I've written lab reports, and many times I've had to research specific information for my reports. It'd be ideal to look up and read the article that I need, but sometimes it's not possible ('cause I don't have access) or practical, or it's not worth my time (like it's too long, and it's just better to read a summary by someone else).

Fanfiction writing is the same way. The author does not have to necessarily read/watch the original series in order to understand what's going on. That'd be the ideal situation, but it doesn't always happen. And to people who really care about who they're writing about, they'll do the research. Reading other fanfiction is not the best source for information, b/c it's constantly littered with the authors' personal opinions and interpretations (and sometimes outright lies or misconceptions). But it is still a source in order to gauge different ways to interpret the character. I think the best would be to get some objective key facts down first before you start relying upon the subjective material, but not everyone is going to think of that or realize. Hell, when people are 'fan'ing seriously over something, all coherent thought generally gets thrown out the window. Believe me, I've experienced it.

By not directly watching the series, the only dimension that's being left out is her own personal opinion of Duo Maxwell. But a lot of people out there could give a butt less about the author's intent... they just want to see their characters put into situations that didn't happen in the canon. And generally, they want to see it done THEIR way. "Oh, Duo should be heterosexual - No Duo's a homo! - I think he's seme, he's all man - Oh but he can be uke at times - Guys, you're pathetic for trying to pair him up, you're completely screwing up the character." That's personal opinion. The author's not always going to win the favor of everyone, b/c everyone has his/her own preferences and interpretations.

The author can, however, avoid the OOC character if she/he truly wishes it. That just simply requires research. The direct source is ideal, but not necessary.

And people can whine, but we have our reasons why we don't. I like Renji and Gin from Bleach, but I'm not willing to sit through the series. I tried both reading and watching, and it just doesn't strike me. And I have a million other better ways to be wasting what free time I have other than making certain I'm pleasing the rest of you folk out there and abiding by the expectations.

I'm so much of a loser that I need to split my rant in half... how pathetic.

Rant continued...

And to those people out there who get stressed out about fandom being filled with fanbrats who never watched/read the original material... I understand your pain. I know what it feels like to wade through a bunch a crap just to find some solid gold. But you know what? That's life. They're 'fan'ing the things they want to, and we're 'fan'ing it the way we want to, and we stress and piss each other off until we're at each other's throats. But also realize that while there probably is a strong correlation between not watching/reading the material and writing a load a crap (with OOC characters and whatnot), that doesn't always ring true. i.e. My tryst with GW. I watched the whole series when it was on Cartoon Network, and I loved Relena while I was watching it. Soon after finishing it though I came across the Wonderful World of Web. I was introduced to many shiny, new things at the time, one of them being yaoi. I fell in love with it immediately. And I was childish, obsessive, and completely immature with it. I became a hardcore 1x2 3x4 shipper, and I joined the fancraze of bashing Relena left and right, even though I initially loved her. I regret what I did, but I'm glad I went through the stage, b/c it helped me realize many things about myself, what I liked, how I could improve and so on.

So I guess my whole point is that while I can understand people getting stressed out over other's not reading the material, it also begins to frustrate me at the same time. Whatever, you can think less of people for doing so - there's nothing I can do about it - but we have our reasons and it is not necessary.

And I could continue ranting until I was blue in the face, but I'm tired and I need to go to bed. Therefore, end transmission.

Have a great day everyone! *dead*

what fangirl love? she "fell in love" with fan interpretations of a character-through fanfiction. by her own admission, she hadn't even seen the show.

so how can she say she "fell in love" with the character? not the character of the show, that's for sure because she never saw it!

You people all take this too seriously. "ZOMGUE! SEH DIDN'T WATCHETH TEH SEIREZ SO SHE IZ NOTZ FANGOIRL! TEH WEBSTER DOES NOT LIES! I LOOKED IT UP MYSELFS!!"

Nitpick, nitpick. Seriously. How someone decides to fangirl/fanboy over something is not your problem. So don't get your panties caught in a nasty wad.

So she didn't watch the series? Big deal. The only dimension she's missing is her own interpretation of her direct observations. And it might not be any different than what she's already pinned him down as. If that doesn't bother her, then all the cools.

And how can you truly know a character if you haven't lived his/her life and experienced first-hand every damn thing he/she experienced? It's all just speculation anyways.

And he's NOT EVEN REAL.

She's accepted that, realized it, posted so in her damn secret. But the fact that you have to go point it out, pass judgment, and belittle someone over a MAKE-BELIEVE CHARACTER makes you fail even more.

She only needs help if she's still living in a fantasy world, b/c people like that can really hurt themselves. Many people go through stages like that when they were younger - in case you didn't know, that's called childhood. Y'know, when Neverland was only a pinch of pixie dust away? LE GASP!

She's just enjoying what she likes the way she likes. As long as it doesn't hurt her or anyone else around her, it's no one else's concern.

(And I'm making a big assumption she's a girl. Just watch it come bite me in the ass. *Looks through secret twice-over to double check there's no obvious evidence other than my initial interpretation*)

You people all take this too seriously.

Hon? Before you go pointing fingers, let me remind you that no one else has posted as much teel deer in response to this secret as you have.

Many people go through stages like that when they were younger - in case you didn't know, that's called childhood.

I guess I must be the weirdo who never actually believed my imaginary friends and boy/girlfriends were real. Because, yanno, they were imaginary.

Ja, I'm being a hypocrite. And I can understand where people are coming from when they're complaining, but I get riled up at the same time.

"Read/watch the series." I keep hearing that, and it gets annoying after a while. So basically I'm ranting off of others' rantings, which doesn't make me much better (probably worse), but I feel that the other side of the equation needs to be stood up for. I stand up for it b/c I can be lumped with that group sometimes.

When I was younger I believed they were real... or rather I wished so hard that I could fool myself into thinking they were real. I grew out of it, but I still play around with my imagination (and I'm 21).

Looking back on what I typed, I shouldn't have used "you". Definitely not. That's like asking for trouble.

IAWTP! These were my exact thoughts as I was going through all the posts. Thank you for attempting to bring things back into perspective.

You totally OWNED that thread, by the way. ^-^ Kudos.

This post has been sort of eye-opening. Am I really the only person who still sort of longs for the fantasy worlds of my youth?

Thanks. I mean, I had a point to make... I just think a lot of it was overshadowed by my assholishness. So if people want to cry "HYPOCRITE!" I'll agree with them. I'm sorry for HOW I said it, but I'm not sorry for WHAT I said.

And I know how it feels to long for the fantasy worlds of my youth. Sometimes, I just wish to escape into the nostalgic, innocent feelings that I had when I was younger. There's nothing wrong with that... as long as I come back. I like how I've matured, but sometimes it's nice just to have some imagination.

What people are objecting to is this:

This guy was my first (and only, to date) boyfriend.

then, I think the reason I've been single all this time may be that no guy in my real life has ever been as good to me as he was.

this is not just flights of fancy in imagination, even though she 'admits' that she knows he was fictional.

no guy in my real life has ever been as good to me as he was.

sorry. try again.

Okay, once again I still can't see what is wrong with that.

OF COURSE no other guy has treated her better than Duo. Her "relationship" with him was her ideal dream. If she wants to make comparisons with a relationship that didn't happen in "reality" that no one else can experience but her, then that's her deal, her decision.

We're on two different mindsets here. We will fail to agree. Let's leave it at that.

And it'd help to login. Not that it really matters.

[ SECRET POST #251 ]

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