I hate when you love a show/book/movie etc but the fandom is just plain mean or constantly in wars, shipping or otherwise. Becoming ashamed of your fandom is one of the worst things that can happen to you as a fan. Fandom should be a family! You all love something so celebrate it and respect everyone else. It's not hard just be decent people!
omg i know what you mean. I been really embarrassed of being DC fan for the last year. Dc vs Marvel was so stupid. But no one can stray me from my undying love for batman.
People who say you can't cosplay as a certain character cause you're not the same race or gender make me wanna slam my head against a brick wall. Cosplay is being a character you love the way you want. Obviously you shouldn't do blackface but if you wanna be your own version of a character who's a different race then do it. If you wanna be a genderbend version of a character then do it. It's cosplay ffs. It's the character + your creativity.
I was talking about this one day with my mentor at school because she did a lot of cosplay when she was younger. That's actually how she met her husband. She was telling me that if I want to cosplay Steven or Connie from Steven Universe, I shouldn't let toxicity get in the way of my fun. (I'm hesitant to cosplay Steven because I'm tall and skinny, and I hesitant to cosplay Connie because I'm mixed race but white passing).
Yolonda Miller I say do it! I'm Mexican and pretty tan but I've cosplayed as Jesus from The Walking Dead and Joyce from Stranger Things. So I don't really think you'll get hate unless it's online since more people seem to able to be rude there.
Kimberly Lupercio bless your heart! *JOYCE BYERS IS QUEEN AND DESERVES THE WORLD!!!!!!* I was 011 for Halloween last year (compared to the other cosplayers I've seen, my costume sucked), and this year, I'm gonna go as Joyce, Christmas lights and all!!!!
It's so crazy what parts have changed with time and what hasn't. I'm dark skin, and when I was younger I cosplayed as characters and posted on LJ and Deviantart and often got comments about how darker people shouldn't cosplay characters because 'it just doesn't look right or like the character' and it was a common thing that was said often. Even cosplaying Yoruichi from Bleach who does have dark skin, I was told my skin was too dark to even dress as 'tan' characters. While people who were lighter than the characters usually got praise for their design instead of anyone even mentioning their skin at all, and that makes sense. I eventually stopped posting and going to cons. Now-a-days it seems like people are saying the opposite in terms of some people are too light to cosplay certain characters (which was almost never said back then), and still it's not nearly as common as the opposite was said in the past but there's more of a reaction to it. Which is great, but I wish the past was acknowledged and spoken about more as well.
I think one of the most peaceful Fandom I've ever been in was the Percy Jackson Fandom. Sure,, it had its issues (every Fandom does, there's no way to avoid it) but otherwise it was fun and nice to be in :)
Artsy Artist Also the love live fandom seems very nice! I expected it to be a lot more creepy neck beard pedos, but it's suprisingly nice and innocent, even though there are some really bad apples
+Minorca The thing is tht most of the prefered ships are the canon or really well cemented fanon ships as such wars aren't as noticeable. Rick's involvement is wonderful and thoug there was some character bashing with HoO the fandom has moved on to other stuff, like figuring how Rick is gonna screw over por Magnus. Although the Perfectly OOC Percy Sue in some fanwork does get annoying
IKR The KC fandom is specially dear to me as the books got me through some rough spots in my life. Carter and Sadie are the second bet BrOTP ever (second only to Cinder & Thorne from TLC)
its sad that as soon as i saw 'toxic fandoms' i knew voltron would be on a lot of peoples minds😅 but i have to say its also a pretty great fandom if you find the right accounts and people iv'e had several great experiences and the fan art and fan fiction is beautiful but if i were to crown a specific fandom in the last 3 years that had been may favorite it would have to be the haikyuu fandom I LITERALLY NEVER SAW BEEF IT WAS GREAT. or the yuri on ice fandom ANOTHER GREAT FANDOM IS THE ALEXANDER HAMOLTON FANDOM ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GET TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS IRL AND ENTHUSIASTICALLY RAP/SING THE ENTIRITY ON SATISFIED AND GUNS AND SHIPS
princess of .darkness I agree the place that I am in the Voltron family is loving and doesn't care about other people's opinions such as if someone ships something else I just won't threaten or harass them like the people who ruined the fandom
Join the Food Network Fandom it's very peaceful, all you have to do is like food. Also I think what makes a fandom toxic is people saying things like "This is ours! No one else can take it!" and taking claim of an entire fandom making it less enjoyable because then a lot of people will feel excluded. Another thing being shipping where some people are like, "This is my ship, it's the best ship, and the only ship. Anyone that disagrees can walk the plank."
Lots of youtuber and music fandoms are ridiculously toxic which is why I generally try not to involve myself in them. I've never really come across toxicity in any of my main fandoms (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, Once Upon a Time, Marvel etc.) people are pretty peaceful. I feel like the peace in the Harry Potter fandom is mainly due to the fact that, despite differences in opinion when it comes to shipping, we all absolutely hate Dolores Umbridge.
Thank god otome game fandoms tend to be the most likable bunch ever😍 Also, the killing stalking fandom is, despite the cruelty of its source, super relaxed and funny Love to all of these fandoms, they often times make my day🤗
I am so glad I joined the Homestuck fandom after it cooled down... but I still find people calling me cancerous just for liking HS. I would have thought you would talk more about HS since it was kind of seen as the scurge of the internet for a while there, but I still really enjoyed the vid :)
Pretty Princess Hi, former Homestuck fan here! First, you are especially lucky, as you have mentioned. I joined the fandom during its prime, and while I never got involved with any of the toxicity (I was part of the Intermission subfandom, where most conflicts consisted of infighting), I couldn't help but facepalm at some of the incidents caused by the more vocal fans, shippers or otherwise. While being a fan after the comic's wrapped up and most readers have moved on can be seen as odd, the fact that some non-fans in this day and age continue to bash it and/or its fans for merely existing shows how desperate and behind the times said basher is.
The people in fandom that bother me the most are the ones who shut you down by accusing you of racism/sexism/homophobia if you say anything against their ships.
Right! certain flash shippers tend to do that a lot, and it bothers me because no matter what you say they'll think your racist for not thinking a couple is cute or something.
I'm so glad that you mentioned Dream Daddy. I think the toxicity of the fandom started because the dev team wasn't transparent on the original release date and people stayed up during the very early mornings waiting for the game until a couple of hours later. That made people angry. And also with the gender bending artwork ohnips made, with transphobia so apparent these days, it's easy to set people off with any kind of canon-divergent artworks. ohnips was just making a nice genderbend artwork, just like any other fandom, but got massive hate for it because Damien is canonically trans, and having that artwork there was considered not okay by many people. ohnips even had to leave social media because the hate was becoming too much. I'd really be interested in a full video on the Dream Daddy fandom, whenever you're able. And, once again, thank you for a very nice video. ^_^
I think someone made a comment saying the Dream Daddy fandom went straight to the point where the creators had to stop telling people to send Death Threats in like, two days or something? Although I do eventually want to check out this game, i'm waiting for the hype to go down to the point where I dont have to fear hate.
My biggest gripe with the DDADDS fandom (possible spoiler but not really) People who think the hidden cult ending is homophobic like GODDAMN ONE MAN IS EVIL??? The rest are cool gay/bi dads trying to raise their children without being in cult???
Awesomesauce As a trans person myself I was excited to hear of a canonically trans character, though I have not played the game I still think the game sends a positive message. Hopefully dream daddy won't become a toxic pit, it just came out
ohnips didn't even leave social media lol. she said she might delete all her social media accounts but never did and just continued to make her art and got like 10k+ followers from all the drama. i personally couldn't have cared less about the artwork. because while it was weird for her to turn a fat guy into a chick with huge tits and a trans male into a female (lol) i normally don't get into my feelings about genderbends. i actually like them sometimes. one thing i DID get my panties into a twist over was the fact that ohnips was saying the n-word and claiming that she calls everyone the n-word, including her black boyfriend, and nobody batted an eye at that. people were actually saying that is was okay. like you got me fucked up if you think that i'll be okay with some girl who's white as a sheet calling black people the n-word lmaooooo
I'm one of those fans who reads fanfics, watch related videos and look at artwork, but I really don't do much else. Sure I leave comment some times, but not that much, so I don't noticed anything until I see a post or video about it. I'm a shipper myself and also a multishipper, I consider myself very open to ships I don't myself ship or ships I haven't tried before. An example would be that I ship Klance, but even through i don't ship Sheith I have read a couple fanfic featuring it and enjoyed them.
The smaller the fandom is the less toxic it seems to be. I'm in two very small fandom's one is hatoful boyfriend the other is thrilling intent. Hato is full of talented people and shit posts making it a very nice friendly fandom as we all know that we sufferd together. Thrilling intent is just full of nice people who don't go around policing other people making it nice. Fandom also seems to change depending where you go, for example Red vs blue. RvB is hell on tumbler, pretty bad on youtube, i think the redit community is ok and the rt site is full of actually civilised people. In conclusion tumbler sucks despite the fact I use it everyday
I'm tired of people labelling Voltron and Steven Universe as toxic /sigh. Maybe it's because I've been a part of fandom for a really long time, but I don't really think that they have more or less drama and bullying than other fandoms (even in the past). I think the words and moralistic arguments used to justify a certain ship or belief have gotten more extreme. A lot of younger people use the guise of "social justice" to do real harm to people who want to explore things that are maybe darker and squickier. In the end, it's sad that it drives people away!
The Hannibal fandom is the only fandom I've ever been in that I've never seen people fighting over something stupid. They're always the nicest kindest people and the only times I've seen problems rise up is when someone from outside the fandoms tries to come in and cause a scene. And even then they don't lash out like other fandom who will not be named. I guess that's what happen when the main character of the shows credo is "Eat The Rude."
I would actaully love to see a series explore the different "Toxic" fandoms and see the roots on how they became this way. That could be really cool! Also thank you for exploring this issue with such a balanced mindset that both addresses the toxic mentality while still pointing out how many fans are still level-headed people who just want a community that enjoys the same media they also do.
My first fandom was Hetalia, and I was fortunate enough to avoid the shipping wars and unintentional racism it soon became known for. I hadn't seen any of this (and have never been INVOLVED in this) until I was watching cringe complications and.... Oh God.
I haven't been in many toxic fandoms but I have seen REALLY intense ship wars,people calling others disgusting and immoral and death threats.Those are my worst experiences.Luckily most of my fandom experiences have been AMAZING!For example I was cosplaying as Viktor Nikiforov at a con when a Yuuri cosplayer came up and proposed to me.They handed me a flower before telling me that I looked really good and that I could keep it.It was probably the sweetest thing ever.
I'm not really involved in the Sherlock fandom any more because there is a raging war between Sherlolly/Mary and John shippers and Johnlock shippers. Basically it's any ship that isn't Sherlock and John against every other ship in the fandom and it's really bad. I remember when some Johnlockers sent death threats to Amanda Abbington and a lot of the time I Johnlockers get really angry at the shows writers and it's not okay.
I'm in a lot of Fandoms that are toxic but I never notice because I don't interact with others in the fandom and I am also never on fan pages so I don't have a best moment in the fandom either.
I have just had bad luck with fandoms apparently, because most of the fandoms I have been apart of have some sort of reputation of being toxic/personally seeing toxicity in the fandom.
I've come across some toxic fandoms but I've also seen wonderfully inclusive and friendly. I think the creators, cast, and crew can be a big part of whether or not their fandom is toxic. Like Supernatural's "SPN FAMILY"; the show has conventions and other events that the entire cast get involved with. I have seen this happen in comics, too. I think that it truly helps to keep fans engaged in a positive way when the people who bring us the source material are accepting and welcoming. Jensen, Jarod, and Misha even take the more "alternative" ships (lol) with a smile.
You are one of the best kind of fan. You spoke so calmly and analyze the reasons and provide understanding. Whereas some would spread even more toxicity by pointing fingers and look down at other uninvolved people in the fandom.
The best fandom experience I ever had was finding a blog on Tumblr run by a person who loves the musical Be More Chill and Shakespeare's plays as much as I do. I sent them an ask in which the two were combined and they loved it. It made me happy to know that there are people out there who share my really niche interests.
Could you maybe do a video about antis in fandoms (people that are anti certain ships, character or the entire show/book/anime etc.) and how they affect a fandom?
I introduced my friends to fandom and shipping, because I'm the nerd of the team, and I'm really enjoying the fangirl life and so do they, but I still have to explain a lot... I guess from now on I will send them your videos, 'cause you're good 😊 P.s. love your videos ❤
I like how in these types of videos that do not focus on shipping, you tend to stay on the fringe with what you personally believe. You don't let your own opinion sway the facts, and let us act upon these truths ourselves. The respect you hold for your viewers is very rare and is a diamond among stones. Thank you so much
Pokémon's a fandom I've been in practically my whole life so you could say that it's been the best fandom experience I've had. Without it, I don't think I'd be as close to my older sister or would have 99% of my friends. It's just been such a big part of my life.
Honestly, I've started to become ashamed of being a Steven Universe fan. It's really sad that such a small part of the fandom ruined it for so many people.
I'm relatively deep in the AoT, Black Butler, Free!, OHSHC, Soul Eater, Y!!!OI and Voltron fandoms, and I'm in the Phandom. Lots of drama in most of those
8:24. what happened? I thought my headphones went out for a second. Lol Another great video. Next time could you discuss the Alpha/omega dynamics in fanfiction. My friend is trying too get me into it but I don't really understand it. 😕
+HarleyxJoker FOREVER good ear :) no sometimes a line needs to be rerecorded for various mundane reasons invariably my tone is never quite the same lol
When you feel like your fandom is toxic(specifically on tumblr) you can blacklist tags so you won't see as much toxic content. You'll just have to hope that people tag their negative posts with tags such as "anti"
it's always so annoying when you start watching or reading something that you really enjoy, and you want to join the fandom, but it turns out that it's really toxic. Even though, as was mentioned, this doesn't necessarily mean the entire fandom is at war, I still find it annoying people can't just stop arguing with each other. This happened to me with every single fandom I've been in and I hate it. That being said, there are almost always good parts of the fandom. Sorry, rant over. :)
I think the most pieceful fandom are the superwholock people. Its just super fun how these fandoms interact together and i haven't noticied any toxic behaivor
EXACTLY! Not everyone in the fandoms are toxic. People always assume that I'm a terrible person that will freak out if you don't like steven universe. If you don't like it that's fine, I don't like certain things either.
"Don't turn a mountain into a molehill. Don't turn a mountain into a molehill. Don't turn a mountain into a molehill." -Doofenshmirtz (Phineas and Ferb)
Right Now I'm in the Hamilton fandom!:D It is soooooo nice! Yes, some ships can be a tad bit overwhelming and there is a little white washing and uncoiling of hair but those are small problems that Are easily fixed!:D No one tries to force their ship upon you, they are very accepting of everyone, and how can you ever go wrong with Hamilton? There is a tad bit of character hate but that is to he expected when some are depicted as the villains and there are posts explaining why they aren't really(I.E. Aaron Burr(ito), Maria Reynolds, Thomas Jefferson) But other than that it is probably the best fandom I've been in! (Then again I am comparing it to my other fandom's which are very toxic xD)
I just joined the fandom as well. I haven't truly joined since I haven't seen everything such as fanfics or such (not like it's a requirement) but at the moment I find all the 'characters' to be likable in the musical aspect at least. I have yet to know all of the quirks of the fandom though... would you be the teacher to this grasshopper?
I'm afraid that the Once Upon A Time fandom will soon become toxic because of the shows reboot. Many people will be saying goodbye to their ships and are already making assumptions that the show will suck and are spreading hate everywhere. It makes me very sad because I still have lots of hope and believe in the shows writers.
I'm one of the lucky ones who rarely encounters this, my fandom interactions are reading fanfics, watching/reading/playing etc. what ever fandom it is, or talking to close friends about what I like I don't really use social media.
The have been only two toxic fandoms I was directly apart of, one was Glee back when it was on. You were labelled homophobic if you didn't ship Klaine even if you yourself are gay or just have other OTPs for the characters (I really don't like Klaine at all). The Klaine shipping got so out of hand, the shippers started conspiracy theories about the actors and their dating life, stalking, bullying their respected real S.Os online as well as anyone who disagreed. Even so far to bully actors playing characters who "got in the way" of Klaine. Darren Criss, one of the actors seemed to egg them on, finding it hilarious (f him) but you can tell the other actor Chris Colfer hates them based on his choice of words/tone in interviews. The other is Marvel comics with the whole SJW war over Marvel's sales plummeting which is super messy.
I like marvel comics, have liked a long time. How ever I'm pretty casual fan and never super involved with other people in any fandoms really. So, I'm curious what's the deal with that Sjw war? I guess I would consider myself very lucky when I never get involved in (or usually even hear about) these toxic things happening in a fandom.
This is going to be a lot to explain so bear with me. Well as most people would know, comics aren't exactly a big money maker compared to the movies, TV and games based on them, so thus their sales have gone down slightly overtime. However Marvel has been going down more so compared to DC for a variety of reasons, mainly too much political influence, too many events and over use of #1 titles. But people focus on the social justice warrior stuff cause it's more interesting. Marvel has been replacing it's more popular characters with more 'diverse' versions: black Captain America, black Spider-man, female Thor, Muslim Ms Marvel, black woman Iron Man so on and so forth. This has pleased the more newer, left side of the fandom but has enraged the older, more traditional fans (who are the majority of the overall fans), thus making this constant struggle between obnoxious people who want too much diversity and those who denounce any at all. I personally think that Marvel is going too far with preaching politics and they should focus on the characters they already have like Wiccan, Hulkling, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Northstar among their vast array of diverse characters. But I also disagree with the traditional fans who are opposed to diversity because it is "pushing an agenda". It's a massive mess that was created by the writers which the fandom amplified to the cluster it is today.
Now that you explained it.. I've been actually wondering myself why they have kind of replaced so many characters, it has bothered me a little. It would be fine in some cases, but as you listed they try to do it so much nowadays. And yeah, these kinds of situations are tough. I see both sides of this argument. I don't have much first hand experience but I think these "too much diversity wanting" and the opposing "traditional" fans seem to be a problem in many fandoms.
Thomas E You know those #1 are just the start of a new volume allowing a jumping on point right? Because people keep complaining about it but they have the number of the issue on the bottom right or left and people ignore and quickly complain.
Thomas E I never liked Klaine myself, it was never about them being gay though. That was all to do with the writing and tbh the not so subtle self-inserting of Ryan Murphy. Which included them being added to storylines where they really were NOT needed (Brittana's wedding). The toxic fandom part i distinctly remember was the Finchel fandom against the Faberry fandom.
Now I can't say much since I only actively joined the fandom in 2014, 5 years after its major release. I would personally say that much of the toxicity of the Hetalia fandom is dying off. Including the webcomics, the fandom is nearly a decade old. Now according to some older fans, the toxicity didn't come around until the release of the anime in 2009, 8 years ago. Now all that's left is really badly written fan fiction and self inserts. Toxicity is in minor communities and definitively doesn't have the same reach. What's mostly left, as far as I can tell, are historical pieces, multiships, headcanon/theorists, fans of just the actual content itself and the sorta there RPG makers. The general consensus, considering so much toxicity was over shipping wars, is that if you don't like a ship, don't view material with the ship. Which basically means that pointing out all ships within a piece is pretty big, instead of just the main ship as I see in some of my other fandoms. For a fandom thats been cooling down for the last few years (with the exception of the few months surrounding new seasons of the anime) i would say Hetalia is a lot more welcoming now than ever. And to imagine that one of the most toxic fandoms had catchphrases that included "make pasta not war" is just really ironic.
The only time I've seen unknown people confronting me for my ships were in the Star Wars fandom, the FinnRey fans especifically. Apparently, for some girls, I ship Stormpilot because I'm racist. The fact that I'm blatino and gay and I want to see some representation have nothing to do with shipping Finn and Poe, no... it's truly because I'm racist! I like a lot of ships, for example, I'm a fan of RinHaru and I've never been harassed by any other Free! fans. So what's happening with the SW fandom is totally unexpected for me.
I think the difference is that Starwars is more mainstream. Where as Free! is a fandom that is anime and it being a sports anime with mostly men has more same sex shipping. Aaand I also think that RinHaru is the main ship for Free! Thought it was worth mentioning.
I've noticed this a bit as well. I think toxicity sometimes comes from different interpretations of what is on screen. For example, I see no romantic interest at all between Finn and Rey throughout the whole film. I see them as friends. However, in the few scenes Finn and Poe share, I do see hints of romance and the potential for something more. What's more, it would be the first canon LGBT relationship in the Star Wars movies (maybe the whole franchise? Not entirely sure on that one). And I think that would be wonderful. And it's not like either of them are Skywalkers so it wouldn't intervene with the main romance/story either. Also, Oscar Isaac has said in an interview that he was playing Poe romantically towards another character, and considering the only other character with a similar age he shares significant screen time with is Poe, I believe the two will develop a romance together in The Last Jedi. Of course he could have been lying to throw people off, but I don't think he was.
I'm surprised you were in the Free! fandom shipping RinHaru and got no harassment from others. I heard that the MakoHaru and RinHaru shippers were fighting nonstop LOL. I didn't really notice because I was off to the side shipping Reigisa :v
+Kamili Newsome Shipping StormPilot doesn't make someone racist. I think it's usually FinnRey shippers getting offended and thinking that not shipping FinnRey somehow automatically makes you racist. Which obviously isn't the case, most people just prefer to ship Finn and/or Rey with a different character, which with other Finn ships like StormPilot negates the racist claim anyway.
The most toxic fandom I've seen so far was The 100 with the ship war (Bellarke/Clexa) but I feel like it's calmed down ever since the end of the third season, which is a rather good thing. Some people might think the 100 was not THAT toxic compared to other fandoms though, but my interactions with this fandom are mostly limited to fanfictions and some rather innocent accounts on Tumblr and Twitter but if anyone has examples, feel free to add anything ! :)
I usually end up making friends in specific fandoms and if the fandom gets too toxic, I'll mainly just talk to them about the source material and avoid it on social media :) taking breaks by joining other fandoms for a few weeks can also help quite a lot. the people who I've met are probably what I enjoy most about fandom culture. I have had the pleasure to meet some of my dearest friends (from the Death Note and the Gotham fandom) in real life
Fandoms I'm in: 1. Steven Universe 2. Alexander Hamilton 3. Bmc 4. Dear evan hansen 5. Voltron 6. Undertale (just joined) 7. Got7 8. Bts I think thats it, I'm probably in more. Oh what I just remebered
Every fandom that I have come across has had at least some toxic fans, you really just have to learn to deal with them. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't seen anything about the Hetalia fandom. I love it to pieces, but it used to be one of the top trash fandom's, with people thinking it was just a yaoi show, even though there is not a cannon gay pairing (kinda. Its really hinted at). It has quite a few of its own serious moments, and has really mellowed out over the years, and mainly left all of the good fans. It's a fandom that I am happy to be a part of.
Oh my god, YOUR FACE! I've never seen it before. You're so pritty! ^^ Anyway, on to the subject of toxic fandoms. I'm one of those lucky people who's fandoms have never had a bunch of negative attention. The closest I ever got is in the spideypool fandom when some people started freaking out about people shipping Tom Hollands version of Spider-Man with Deadpool because of how young Tom Holland's Peter is supposed to be. Since I have never had too much trouble with a toxic fandom I can't tell you what I do in that serious a situation but I will say in the smaller situation I have been in, I was one of those people who carried on doing what I enjoy doing and left other people to think what they wanted, though I tried to keep things a little more vague and attempt to hide from negativity. For example, I wrote 1 fanfic while picturing Tom Hollens version of Spider-Man (though I did age him up) but I did not point out that I was taking inspiration from Tom Holland version of Spider-Man.
My best experiences in every fandom is mostly the fanart. No matter what the other fans say the fanart is most of the time beautiful even if its painful to watch because of feelings.
I haven't had to much luck when it comes to fandoms. I once tried to see what the Undertale hype was about. In their defence, the whole issue was with one person I know at my school. She got really pounty and petty when I said "It's not exactly a traditional RPG," which is what one of books based around. She became really bitter to me and attempted to rebuttal all my arguments on why it isn't a standard RPG even when my reasoning is sound. That soon became extremely annoying as she based all RPGs around one game, which put me off the fandom in general. Then I was in the Minecraft one for a while. And my luck with servers were horrible. People would come and help me with my builds, I'd then log on an hour later and find the entire place covered in lava, I had some real trolls attempt to enter RPGs I'd made and ruin the whole thing for everyone, and I gave up on global chat pretty quickly thanks to all the screaming 7 year olds. Then I was in the my little pony one - it's kind of sad to admit. I'm not going to say about that one. It was... An odd experience.
Gaddamn that was long. TLDR; one person at my school ruined Undertale by insisting it was exactly like every other RPG and it's mancanics should be in my book. Greifing happened in Minecraft (I only play single player now) and my little pony... Happened, unfortunately.
I can't talk much for Minecraft or MLP but I don't blame you for not being a part of the Undertale fandom. I got pretty disappointed by the other fans attempting to FORCE let's players into playing the game the 'correct' way. Also it ISN'T a normal RPG. Do normal RPGs let you dodge via bullet hell minigame, or let you spare every enemy?
Still the UT fandom overhyped this game like crazy. While it isn't a norm there are game where you can spare enemies, can have a 'good' or 'bad' ending based on moral choices and you said it yourself the combat is just a bullet hell game. It's different sure but it's not the second coming of christ levels of original.
What do you consider an RPG? Since its name implies Role Playing is all that's needed to call it an RPG, I'm legitimately curious what your version would be?
I never said RPG specifically. I just pointed out that the elements of Undertale are not anything new. Together maybe it's pretty different but not something to turn into a religion or anything.
I used to know a jovely and creative author who was chased out of SG-1 fandom by someone who claimed her works were of the devil. It still angers me that someone so good and kind would be treated so.
Great video!! I know that this is a tough topic. As far as good experiences with fandom, I find that due to some of the more toxic fandoms, some fandoms are taking really active roles in keeping peace. A personal example would be the Andi Mack fandom (Andi Mack is a new-ish Disney Channel show that I 100% recommend). The people in the fandom (we call ourselves the Friendom, if that gives you insight) take very active roles in staying positive and avoiding discourse? There's actually a peacekeeping blog that settles issues (we haven't had to use it yet). This is easier to handle, since it's a pretty small fandom, but the foundations are good, and all in all it's very positive. 10/10, would recommend this fandom.
Sadly, I'm part of a handful of fandoms considered toxic such as Undertale in the past, (I lost interest) Voltron and Steven Universe. It's pretty hard depending on the fandom you're talking about, but you have to try to ignore the negativity and push past it. Yes, the Voltron fandom has gone insane and so have others recently, but you still have to look on the lighter side of the fandom no matter what and tell yourself "yeah, there's a lot of crazy and dramatic things going down, but hey, look there's some good things about it too", instead of just ending your love for whatever it is because of the fandom or completely leaving it. And to be honest, every fandom is a little or a lot toxic, that's just sadly how it is.
My best experience in the Voltron fandom were the theories. They were fun, also making my my first big project for the fandom and am worked no together with other talented individuals. That's awesome. Also bonding with others over our OTP is super fun. Now, how I deal with toxicity in fandoms? I either just distance myself away from the fandom as a whole and maybe sort of forget about it for a while or actually get provoked by the haters because my tolerance is pretty shitty when it comes to bullying and lying.
I heard that Keith was confirmed to be 18 and Lance 17? I'm still not a huge fan of the Sheith ship (because I think they might be related and Shiro is more of a mentor), but until that's proven I'm slightly more open to it.
Im so happy you are talking about this! Well,when it comes to the toxic part of the fandom, I usually just ignore that side and then talk about the thing I like to my close friends. Even if they dont get what I like. At least they can understand more than those who get their passions blind them so bad that some people resorted to bullying others about it.
Thank you for adressing this issue, infortunately it is something that is becoming more current in most Fandom groups, I, for example, left or at least stopped following a lot of fandoms this last year because of that. Sometimes it becomes so toxic you start to feel bad when it is something you should have fun with. So maybe with this vídeo people start to take notice and go back to the time we used to all respect each others opinions. Thank You again.
Please go into detail with superwholock, I'm a member of each fandom separately and would love other people's thoughts and opinions on it as a whole. Also another interesting group would be the phandom, it has certainly improved on the last couple of years but I would have to argue that it's still somewhat a toxic fandom.
First, great vid as always. I actively avoid tumblr and online fandoms in social media where just anyone can jump in. My fandom are the friends I have who also watch the show, irl and online friends as well, so I never really was ever personally harassed, but the 'toxic' fandom made its way to me irl. I worked at the recreation centre at my college last year and was handing out free shirts and water bottles for orientation at our tent. I had my SU Pearl pin displayed proudly on my chest, and this pathetic boy in a young adult's body looks at me when it's his turn in line and says 'pffft, Pearl, really?' He even had his mom beside him. I was so appalled I just said gtfo and scoffed as I continued handing out stuff and smiling. I wish I was more composed or witty at the time but, I'm just minding my own business, I didn't come to be insulted over what character I like in a non fandom setting. Ugh. Second, your lips are such a lovely shape.
Any fandom with ship wars can be toxic. And I'm in a fandom of an anime that's still technically having its wars, and the show was first aired in Japan in 2007!!
Two of the best, or non-toxic fandoms I've been in, in my opinion, were Percy Jackson, and Doctor Who. I've met so many nice people in these fandoms, and they were very kind. I guess I've just never seen the bad side, if there is one.
The only complain I have with the Percy Jackson fandom are the close-minded people when it comes to shipping. It's like you HAVE to ship the most popular ship for each character, and if you don't, people are most definitely gonna come and spam "WHAT ABOUT [insert ship here]" and "this is fine BUT THINK ABOUT [insert ship here".
Yeah, which is kinda sad :/. But otherwise, the PJO fandom IS very friendly towards each other, I just wish ships other than Solangelo and Percabeth would be accepted, too.
Yeah. Personally, I do ship Percabeth, Soleangelo, and all of the common ships, but I accept everyones' ships, because everyone has different opinions. :)
Personally I wish Reynico got more love from fans. (like fanart and fanfics) Because in an alternate universe they would have been great together and I have to look hard to find anything for them. I have no problem with Solangelo shippers but I wish they wouldn't hate on other Nico ships as much as they do.
I'm actually in a lot of fandoms and I'm sure a lot of them are toxic, but I mostly avoid and ignore the negativity and confrontation unless I feel I have to intervene in some way, my experience with fandom is quite positive and well.
I've found the Yuri on Ice fandom to be relatively peaceful compared to my previous ones (incl. voltron, Harry Potter, some aspects of TH-cam fandom). Though I don't ship Otayuri and don't have strong feelings about it, so that may impact my experience. I will say that I've found being liberal with the blocking feature to be really useful in making my fandom experiences more enjoyable, particularly in larger fandoms. I could see that not being feasible in smaller ones, especially if you're highly involved in the fandom.
The Homestuck fandom meme at 2:11 speaks VOLUMES to me. I'm usually on the more calm parts of the fandom; like fantrolls or theories about classpects. BUT HOLY SHIT the shipping side of HS is a absolute nightmare. I may have some OTPs in HS that I love to death; but some of them have a very large amount of "antis" who just spam the ship tags with vitriol.
i remember when Steven Universe got really big. at first i was kinda happy cuz suddenly there were a lot more people who liked the thing that i liked, but things steadily went downhill. the Keystone Motel incident was definitely the most stressful part for me and it was after that incident that i really distanced myself from the fandom. i still reblog art and analysis posts and watch some theory videos, but i definitely am not as engaged as i used to be and i keep myself out of fandom drama nowadays- it's just not worth it. i didn't even know people thought badly about Undertale because of the fandom until i saw posts talking about how bad it was- same with Voltron. I've been a fan since it came out and only in the past few weeks have i heard that its fandom is bad. So yeah, i just stay in my lane of fanart, gifs, memes, and occasional character analyses and theories. much safer that way.
I was in the Undertale fandom at the height of its toxicity. Mostly with the shipping wars. I was an Undyrus shipper, while most of tumblr was Alpyne shippers. There was a lot of bullying there and it was crazy. I ended up quitting tumblr, and ar this point I still enjoy some of the fan works, but I don't participate. Although I might pop back in and say hi on the fandoms 2 birthday
My advice to those who don’t want to see the toxic side of any fandom: unfollow people/blogs/channels. This is especially true for tumblr. People say that the whole of tumblr is toxic because of what others tend to blog and reblog. But what they forget is their dash doesn’t belong to those hate spreading people. Only see what you want to see, and if you see something you don’t want to, there is always the option of unfollowing these blogs. It happened to me three times: with the Free! and Supernatural fandom because of character hate, and with the Force Awakens fandom because of general hate. I followed one blog from each fandom that were a great source of news about the anime/series/movie. They were all up to date and if I was uncertain about something I could always go there and look it up. But there were always those posts about character bashing and hate (and yes, they were all caused by shipping), that I tried to ignore at first, but the more they appeared on my dash the worse I felt. That toxicity was affecting me too. Then one day I had enough and unfollowed those blogs. Even though they were great sources of news as I mentioned before, I had to make a decision: news or my mental health. And of course my mental health is more important than some news I can get from other places. So I unfollowed these blogs and my dash became so positive I can’t tell you guys, but maybe you too experienced it. It’s not really the fandom that’s toxic. It’s the attention seeking loud minority that everyone, people in and outside the fandom know about, and they make the mistake of labeling the whole fandom as toxic. I’m in both the Voltron and Supernatural fandom, I ship Klance and Destiel, but I don’t see hate on my dash and I don’t receive any. I hear news about what the toxic side did when and where, but my dash is not in the middle of a battlefield. There are really two things you have to follow if you don’t want to be part of this toxicity: 1. You are the master of your dashboard. If you don’t want to see something, blacklist the tag or unfollow the blog. 2. Be respectful of others. We are all different, we love different things, and we need to respect other’s opinion if we want them to respect us in return. So no hate blogging and bashing. It can be difficult, but if you follow 1. you won’t see anything on your dash that would trigger you. Wow, this turned out to be pretty long…
I think there will always be people who think very differently in a fandom and there will always be a divide in it, however I think what makes the fandom itself toxic is how the people in it deal with these ideological divides and how they handle the opposite side.
Small fandoms like Timeless and Lucifer are soooo chill. Fandom large enough to have some art and stories is great but still be small enough to go unoticed by really agressive shippers who are busy with mainstream is fantastic. Other good fandom are those that are retired and have been off the air for like a year. Only the nice dedicated fans are active and their is plenty of good material to go through.
My prefered I encounter what I consider toxic part of the fandom: Denounce them, block them, find a part that I find non-toxic, and try to focus on the more positive stuff. Yeah, denouncing somebody isn't the nicest thing to do, but, there are some things I don't have the patience to put up with when I can simple bypass them to get to something I like.
I was in the Sherlock fandom from April 2016 to February this year. I was really passionate about the show and read and came up with theories, clues and subtext stuff that hinted that Johnlock would become canon and it would be the "big reveal" at the end of season 4. It's the fact that when you look closer, there is So Much evidence to support it, everywhere you look. The cinematography, the backgrounds, subtle acting choices, hint at Johnlock, that Sherlock is gay, and John is bi. More passionate fans who look closer at the show will notice this evidence, whereas most casual viewers don't, and instead ship Sherlolly and/or John and Mary. This leads Johnlock shippers to feel that Sherlolly shippers are misinterpreting the show, and Sherlolly shippers to feel that Johnlock shippers are forcing a gay romance that "simply isn't there". And clearly both sides are very passionate about their ship, and it's unfortunate that we can't all get along and respect others opinions.
(EDIT: I wrote this before I watched the video lol. As always, the video is very informative and well made!) It seems to me that every fandom that gets big enough gets toxic. Exceptions may be media which already has controverse material in it (like Hannibal? Deadpool? Dunno) so fans can't use this show to feel morally superior/ already showing self awareness and critcial thinking skills by still liking it Ironically, the fandoms of material which have the best messages/ spread positivity (most recent example that comes to mind is DDADDS) are the one's who become the most toxic bc many of the fans that lack critical thinking skills, have a victim complex (everyone is 'problematic' except me, the 'woke' oppressed person who suffers more than anybody else) and see the world in black and white (evil vs good) choose them bc of it
I haven't really seen a lot of toxicity like there are problematic elements that I've encountered but for the most part the positives in fandom outweigh the negatives by a huge degree.
I watch a Hetalia ship war in the comments of a book on Wattpad. They were fighting over UsUk or FrUk being the best and I left one comment on saying "FrUkUs". I ended the war. Instead they joined together to tell me how that would never work and why it was wrong and stuff.
I'm honestly lucky that I haven't been a part of any toxic fandoms. I've heard of toxic things happening in my fandoms, but I haven't been harassed or trolled 🙌🏼
I've just always believed that every fandom is already toxic. Not that they're a bad or terrible thing, but because people are still involved. People are always terrible, not saying that they can't have good moments at the same time, just that people are selfish and greedy. And it is just easier to accept that people will always defend their selfish opinions.
It’s weird. I’ve been told that one of my fandom (Sherlock, specifically Johnlockers and Johnlock metawriters) is toxic but like... I didn’t notice it. But I guess I was just lucky.
This is one of the reasons why I don't like ships that don't have romantic undertones in the canon. It's those vehement shippers that will twist whatever relationship the characters have into a romance that drive me away.
It's video like this that makes me glad that I'm part of the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. (From my experiences at least:) I haven't encounter hardly any toxic fans or behavior. With Yu-Gi-Oh, I know I'm safe and can ship to my heart's content. 😊 (Not trying to say anything bad about other fandoms. Just, unlike some other fandoms I'm apart of, Yu-Gi-Oh for me, is one of the most chilled.)
I've had a lot of fun with voltron. I think I'm just used to toxicity at this point. I kinda just avoid it. I know that I can get overly invested in fandom. i think I'm just like that. At which point I just kinda take a break and try my best to be nice to people I meet. My friends are the most important part, honestly, both irl and online. I love meeting new people and it's a lot easier online so... here I am. I think I'm drawn to bigger fandoms simply because there's more content to enjoy. So... I just kinda deal with the toxicity as it usually comes with bigger fandoms. Also I think I learnt after being part of the Sherlock fandom not to get too invested, so now I can enjoy Voltron more. I think It's a neat show with cool concepts to explore in fan works separate from the show.
The Voltron fandom makes me kind of sad because it has probably the best fan art I have even seen in a fandom (seriously so many Voltron fans are amazing artists) and there are some get laughs to be had but then there's that toxic side that gives it a bad name. Haikyuu is probably my favourite fandom because people there are so fun and mostly tolerant of other's ships no matter how rare and it's just generally a good time overall. Also the Fanders (Thomas Sanders fans) is the nicest and most supportive fan base I've ever seen, they're always happy to help and praise other fans and it's beautiful.
I hate when you love a show/book/movie etc but the fandom is just plain mean or constantly in wars, shipping or otherwise. Becoming ashamed of your fandom is one of the worst things that can happen to you as a fan.
Fandom should be a family! You all love something so celebrate it and respect everyone else. It's not hard just be decent people!
Olivia Siggers I wish I could put that on a banner and virtually parade through some fandoms I'm not going to mention here.
Olivia Siggers
Here is someone who gets it! :)
omg i know what you mean. I been really embarrassed of being DC fan for the last year. Dc vs Marvel was so stupid.
But no one can stray me from my undying love for batman.
Olivia Siggers too true! Now my heart is full of warm, fuzzy bunnies :3
Yeah, in a perfect world.
People who say you can't cosplay as a certain character cause you're not the same race or gender make me wanna slam my head against a brick wall. Cosplay is being a character you love the way you want. Obviously you shouldn't do blackface but if you wanna be your own version of a character who's a different race then do it. If you wanna be a genderbend version of a character then do it. It's cosplay ffs. It's the character + your creativity.
I was talking about this one day with my mentor at school because she did a lot of cosplay when she was younger. That's actually how she met her husband. She was telling me that if I want to cosplay Steven or Connie from Steven Universe, I shouldn't let toxicity get in the way of my fun. (I'm hesitant to cosplay Steven because I'm tall and skinny, and I hesitant to cosplay Connie because I'm mixed race but white passing).
Yolonda Miller I say do it! I'm Mexican and pretty tan but I've cosplayed as Jesus from The Walking Dead and Joyce from Stranger Things. So I don't really think you'll get hate unless it's online since more people seem to able to be rude there.
Kimberly Lupercio bless your heart! *JOYCE BYERS IS QUEEN AND DESERVES THE WORLD!!!!!!* I was 011 for Halloween last year (compared to the other cosplayers I've seen, my costume sucked), and this year, I'm gonna go as Joyce, Christmas lights and all!!!!
Gabi Garzon hey I did the Christmas lights too 😆. I bet you're gonna look great as Joyce. So ready for Season 2!!!
It's so crazy what parts have changed with time and what hasn't. I'm dark skin, and when I was younger I cosplayed as characters and posted on LJ and Deviantart and often got comments about how darker people shouldn't cosplay characters because 'it just doesn't look right or like the character' and it was a common thing that was said often. Even cosplaying Yoruichi from Bleach who does have dark skin, I was told my skin was too dark to even dress as 'tan' characters. While people who were lighter than the characters usually got praise for their design instead of anyone even mentioning their skin at all, and that makes sense. I eventually stopped posting and going to cons. Now-a-days it seems like people are saying the opposite in terms of some people are too light to cosplay certain characters (which was almost never said back then), and still it's not nearly as common as the opposite was said in the past but there's more of a reaction to it. Which is great, but I wish the past was acknowledged and spoken about more as well.
People who take things too seriously in fandoms are THE worst. Entertainment= entertainment not bullying or arguing
I think one of the most peaceful Fandom I've ever been in was the Percy Jackson Fandom. Sure,, it had its issues (every Fandom does, there's no way to avoid it) but otherwise it was fun and nice to be in :)
Artsy Artist Also the love live fandom seems very nice! I expected it to be a lot more creepy neck beard pedos, but it's suprisingly nice and innocent, even though there are some really bad apples
+Minorca The thing is tht most of the prefered ships are the canon or really well cemented fanon ships as such wars aren't as noticeable.
Rick's involvement is wonderful and thoug there was some character bashing with HoO the fandom has moved on to other stuff, like figuring how Rick is gonna screw over por Magnus.
Although the Perfectly OOC Percy Sue in some fanwork does get annoying
Artsy Artist honestly the Rick Riordan works Fandom: PJO, KC, Etc. are like home to me.
IKR The KC fandom is specially dear to me as the books got me through some rough spots in my life. Carter and Sadie are the second bet BrOTP ever (second only to Cinder & Thorne from TLC)
As a Percy Jackson Fangirl, I like and agree with this comment. Sure, sometimes there are issues, but overall things are quiet and peaceful.
its sad that as soon as i saw 'toxic fandoms' i knew voltron would be on a lot of peoples minds😅 but i have to say its also a pretty great fandom if you find the right accounts and people iv'e had several great experiences and the fan art and fan fiction is beautiful but if i were to crown a specific fandom in the last 3 years that had been may favorite it would have to be the haikyuu fandom I LITERALLY NEVER SAW BEEF IT WAS GREAT. or the yuri on ice fandom
ANOTHER GREAT FANDOM IS THE ALEXANDER HAMOLTON FANDOM ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU GET TOGETHER WITH FRIENDS IRL AND ENTHUSIASTICALLY RAP/SING THE ENTIRITY ON SATISFIED AND GUNS AND SHIPS
princess of .darkness OML bE MY BEST FRIEND
pssh no the yoi fandom is toxic af
It's actually cancer
but the haikyuu fandom is precious
keep it safe please
princess of .darkness I agree the place that I am in the Voltron family is loving and doesn't care about other people's opinions such as if someone ships something else I just won't threaten or harass them like the people who ruined the fandom
Since when is yoi toxic? Aside from a few salty anti-otayuri people we're all chill.
Since when is yoi toxic? Aside from a few salty anti-otayuri people we're all chill.
Join the Food Network Fandom it's very peaceful, all you have to do is like food. Also I think what makes a fandom toxic is people saying things like "This is ours! No one else can take it!" and taking claim of an entire fandom making it less enjoyable because then a lot of people will feel excluded. Another thing being shipping where some people are like, "This is my ship, it's the best ship, and the only ship. Anyone that disagrees can walk the plank."
Julia Aarushi I miss the Food Network Challenge
Good Eats was the best show on Food Network.
Hold on that's fandom? Where have a been?
a food fandon without without vegan - non vegan war? I dont believe you.
How to survive the voltron fandom, ignore most of them and just blacklist the tag "discourse" on tumblr.
Rivkae Winters i stay off to amino, for the most part there's different aminos for every ship so you can stay off into your own corner of the fandom
I bravely wander the shaladin tag. Things seem to be calming for the moment now that Keith was confirmed 18
Woo go theorists haha.
Cartoon Universe AAAAAAAAH. YES.
WOOO
I can't believe that Steven Universe has such a toxic fandom I'm not hating on it I'm just horrified of that I really love the show
Lots of youtuber and music fandoms are ridiculously toxic which is why I generally try not to involve myself in them.
I've never really come across toxicity in any of my main fandoms (Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Sherlock, Once Upon a Time, Marvel etc.) people are pretty peaceful. I feel like the peace in the Harry Potter fandom is mainly due to the fact that, despite differences in opinion when it comes to shipping, we all absolutely hate Dolores Umbridge.
That’s like in pjo we all hate gabe
Thank god otome game fandoms tend to be the most likable bunch ever😍
Also, the killing stalking fandom is, despite the cruelty of its source, super relaxed and funny
Love to all of these fandoms, they often times make my day🤗
Simona Nachname lol, you're actually not wrong
Simona Nachname I have never heard of an “otome” game
@@notproductiveproductions3504 it is a dating sim genre made for females with female protagonist
I am so glad I joined the Homestuck fandom after it cooled down... but I still find people calling me cancerous just for liking HS. I would have thought you would talk more about HS since it was kind of seen as the scurge of the internet for a while there, but I still really enjoyed the vid :)
Pretty Princess Hi, former Homestuck fan here! First, you are especially lucky, as you have mentioned. I joined the fandom during its prime, and while I never got involved with any of the toxicity (I was part of the Intermission subfandom, where most conflicts consisted of infighting), I couldn't help but facepalm at some of the incidents caused by the more vocal fans, shippers or otherwise. While being a fan after the comic's wrapped up and most readers have moved on can be seen as odd, the fact that some non-fans in this day and age continue to bash it and/or its fans for merely existing shows how desperate and behind the times said basher is.
The people in fandom that bother me the most are the ones who shut you down by accusing you of racism/sexism/homophobia if you say anything against their ships.
Right! certain flash shippers tend to do that a lot, and it bothers me because no matter what you say they'll think your racist for not thinking a couple is cute or something.
I'm so glad that you mentioned Dream Daddy. I think the toxicity of the fandom started because the dev team wasn't transparent on the original release date and people stayed up during the very early mornings waiting for the game until a couple of hours later. That made people angry.
And also with the gender bending artwork ohnips made, with transphobia so apparent these days, it's easy to set people off with any kind of canon-divergent artworks. ohnips was just making a nice genderbend artwork, just like any other fandom, but got massive hate for it because Damien is canonically trans, and having that artwork there was considered not okay by many people. ohnips even had to leave social media because the hate was becoming too much.
I'd really be interested in a full video on the Dream Daddy fandom, whenever you're able.
And, once again, thank you for a very nice video. ^_^
I think someone made a comment saying the Dream Daddy fandom went straight to the point where the creators had to stop telling people to send Death Threats in like, two days or something? Although I do eventually want to check out this game, i'm waiting for the hype to go down to the point where I dont have to fear hate.
My biggest gripe with the DDADDS fandom (possible spoiler but not really)
People who think the hidden cult ending is homophobic like GODDAMN ONE MAN IS EVIL??? The rest are cool gay/bi dads trying to raise their children without being in cult???
Awesomesauce As a trans person myself I was excited to hear of a canonically trans character, though I have not played the game I still think the game sends a positive message. Hopefully dream daddy won't become a toxic pit, it just came out
ohnips didn't even leave social media lol. she said she might delete all her social media accounts but never did and just continued to make her art and got like 10k+ followers from all the drama.
i personally couldn't have cared less about the artwork. because while it was weird for her to turn a fat guy into a chick with huge tits and a trans male into a female (lol) i normally don't get into my feelings about genderbends. i actually like them sometimes. one thing i DID get my panties into a twist over was the fact that ohnips was saying the n-word and claiming that she calls everyone the n-word, including her black boyfriend, and nobody batted an eye at that. people were actually saying that is was okay. like you got me fucked up if you think that i'll be okay with some girl who's white as a sheet calling black people the n-word lmaooooo
Ruby like the religious, perceived het guy got the cult ending and I found that hilarious. (He's not het we know )
Basically most of my fandoms are toxic, but I can find a sanctuary in each one.
Kat_ElvenMage the way I keep sane in the Free! fandom
I'm one of those fans who reads fanfics, watch related videos and look at artwork, but I really don't do much else. Sure I leave comment some times, but not that much, so I don't noticed anything until I see a post or video about it. I'm a shipper myself and also a multishipper, I consider myself very open to ships I don't myself ship or ships I haven't tried before. An example would be that I ship Klance, but even through i don't ship Sheith I have read a couple fanfic featuring it and enjoyed them.
The smaller the fandom is the less toxic it seems to be. I'm in two very small fandom's one is hatoful boyfriend the other is thrilling intent. Hato is full of talented people and shit posts making it a very nice friendly fandom as we all know that we sufferd together. Thrilling intent is just full of nice people who don't go around policing other people making it nice. Fandom also seems to change depending where you go, for example Red vs blue. RvB is hell on tumbler, pretty bad on youtube, i think the redit community is ok and the rt site is full of actually civilised people. In conclusion tumbler sucks despite the fact I use it everyday
I'm tired of people labelling Voltron and Steven Universe as toxic /sigh. Maybe it's because I've been a part of fandom for a really long time, but I don't really think that they have more or less drama and bullying than other fandoms (even in the past). I think the words and moralistic arguments used to justify a certain ship or belief have gotten more extreme. A lot of younger people use the guise of "social justice" to do real harm to people who want to explore things that are maybe darker and squickier. In the end, it's sad that it drives people away!
The Hannibal fandom is the only fandom I've ever been in that I've never seen people fighting over something stupid. They're always the nicest kindest people and the only times I've seen problems rise up is when someone from outside the fandoms tries to come in and cause a scene. And even then they don't lash out like other fandom who will not be named. I guess that's what happen when the main character of the shows credo is "Eat The Rude."
In any fandom there is always a little bit of toxicity
People seem to think that the brony fandom is toxic because of the bronies, but the real problem is the people who bully the bronies.
The most aggressive imo are:
Throne of Glass fandom
Armys
Voltron fans
SuperWhoLock
The 'Big Three' Anime Fans
Undertale fans
I would actaully love to see a series explore the different "Toxic" fandoms and see the roots on how they became this way. That could be really cool!
Also thank you for exploring this issue with such a balanced mindset that both addresses the toxic mentality while still pointing out how many fans are still level-headed people who just want a community that enjoys the same media they also do.
My first fandom was Hetalia, and I was fortunate enough to avoid the shipping wars and unintentional racism it soon became known for. I hadn't seen any of this (and have never been INVOLVED in this) until I was watching cringe complications and.... Oh God.
I haven't been in many toxic fandoms but I have seen REALLY intense ship wars,people calling others disgusting and immoral and death threats.Those are my worst experiences.Luckily most of my fandom experiences have been AMAZING!For example I was cosplaying as Viktor Nikiforov at a con when a Yuuri cosplayer came up and proposed to me.They handed me a flower before telling me that I looked really good and that I could keep it.It was probably the sweetest thing ever.
I'm not really involved in the Sherlock fandom any more because there is a raging war between Sherlolly/Mary and John shippers and Johnlock shippers. Basically it's any ship that isn't Sherlock and John against every other ship in the fandom and it's really bad. I remember when some Johnlockers sent death threats to Amanda Abbington and a lot of the time I Johnlockers get really angry at the shows writers and it's not okay.
I'm in a lot of Fandoms that are toxic but I never notice because I don't interact with others in the fandom and I am also never on fan pages so I don't have a best moment in the fandom either.
I have just had bad luck with fandoms apparently, because most of the fandoms I have been apart of have some sort of reputation of being toxic/personally seeing toxicity in the fandom.
When talking about toxic fandoms Me: *starts thinking about Voltron legendary defender fandom*
I've come across some toxic fandoms but I've also seen wonderfully inclusive and friendly. I think the creators, cast, and crew can be a big part of whether or not their fandom is toxic. Like Supernatural's "SPN FAMILY"; the show has conventions and other events that the entire cast get involved with. I have seen this happen in comics, too. I think that it truly helps to keep fans engaged in a positive way when the people who bring us the source material are accepting and welcoming. Jensen, Jarod, and Misha even take the more "alternative" ships (lol) with a smile.
You are one of the best kind of fan. You spoke so calmly and analyze the reasons and provide understanding. Whereas some would spread even more toxicity by pointing fingers and look down at other uninvolved people in the fandom.
Honestly the least toxic fandom I've ever been in is Hannibal. Glass ceilings and all that, I guess.
The best fandom experience I ever had was finding a blog on Tumblr run by a person who loves the musical Be More Chill and Shakespeare's plays as much as I do. I sent them an ask in which the two were combined and they loved it. It made me happy to know that there are people out there who share my really niche interests.
Could you maybe do a video about antis in fandoms (people that are anti certain ships, character or the entire show/book/anime etc.) and how they affect a fandom?
I introduced my friends to fandom and shipping, because I'm the nerd of the team, and I'm really enjoying the fangirl life and so do they, but I still have to explain a lot... I guess from now on I will send them your videos, 'cause you're good 😊
P.s. love your videos ❤
I like how in these types of videos that do not focus on shipping, you tend to stay on the fringe with what you personally believe. You don't let your own opinion sway the facts, and let us act upon these truths ourselves. The respect you hold for your viewers is very rare and is a diamond among stones. Thank you so much
Pokémon's a fandom I've been in practically my whole life so you could say that it's been the best fandom experience I've had.
Without it, I don't think I'd be as close to my older sister or would have 99% of my friends. It's just been such a big part of my life.
Honestly, I've started to become ashamed of being a Steven Universe fan. It's really sad that such a small part of the fandom ruined it for so many people.
I'm relatively deep in the AoT, Black Butler, Free!, OHSHC, Soul Eater, Y!!!OI and Voltron fandoms, and I'm in the Phandom.
Lots of drama in most of those
I have other fandoms, but I'm deep in those ones
8:24. what happened? I thought my headphones went out for a second. Lol
Another great video. Next time could you discuss the Alpha/omega dynamics in fanfiction. My friend is trying too get me into it but I don't really understand it. 😕
11:10 it happened again. Are you using two different microphones?
I'm not complaining just asking.
+HarleyxJoker FOREVER good ear :) no sometimes a line needs to be rerecorded for various mundane reasons invariably my tone is never quite the same lol
ShippersGuideToTheGalaxy oh ok 👌
When you feel like your fandom is toxic(specifically on tumblr) you can blacklist tags so you won't see as much toxic content. You'll just have to hope that people tag their negative posts with tags such as "anti"
I'm wheezing I got a Voltron ad before 😂😂😂
it's always so annoying when you start watching or reading something that you really enjoy, and you want to join the fandom, but it turns out that it's really toxic. Even though, as was mentioned, this doesn't necessarily mean the entire fandom is at war, I still find it annoying people can't just stop arguing with each other. This happened to me with every single fandom I've been in and I hate it. That being said, there are almost always good parts of the fandom. Sorry, rant over. :)
I think the most pieceful fandom are the superwholock people. Its just super fun how these fandoms interact together and i haven't noticied any toxic behaivor
EXACTLY! Not everyone in the fandoms are toxic. People always assume that I'm a terrible person that will freak out if you don't like steven universe. If you don't like it that's fine, I don't like certain things either.
"Don't turn a mountain into a molehill. Don't turn a mountain into a molehill. Don't turn a mountain into a molehill." -Doofenshmirtz
(Phineas and Ferb)
Right Now I'm in the Hamilton fandom!:D
It is soooooo nice!
Yes, some ships can be a tad bit overwhelming and there is a little white washing and uncoiling of hair but those are small problems that Are easily fixed!:D
No one tries to force their ship upon you, they are very accepting of everyone, and how can you ever go wrong with Hamilton?
There is a tad bit of character hate but that is to he expected when some are depicted as the villains and there are posts explaining why they aren't really(I.E. Aaron Burr(ito), Maria Reynolds, Thomas Jefferson)
But other than that it is probably the best fandom I've been in!
(Then again I am comparing it to my other fandom's which are very toxic xD)
I just joined the fandom as well. I haven't truly joined since I haven't seen everything such as fanfics or such (not like it's a requirement) but at the moment I find all the 'characters' to be likable in the musical aspect at least. I have yet to know all of the quirks of the fandom though... would you be the teacher to this grasshopper?
Of course!:D
Hush yeah, and Burr was a genuinely good person that did a bad thing
While Hamilton was a bad person that did good things for le country
Derp UmWell Aaron Burr(ito) hahahaha you made my day
Gabi Garzon ohhh,young child, I have SOOOOO much more
So much more
My favorite experiences in fandom is when I realize I'm not the only one that loves something.
I know this is off-topic af, but I love the amount of TVD gifs you're using. The flashbacks :')
I'm afraid that the Once Upon A Time fandom will soon become toxic because of the shows reboot. Many people will be saying goodbye to their ships and are already making assumptions that the show will suck and are spreading hate everywhere. It makes me very sad because I still have lots of hope and believe in the shows writers.
I'm one of the lucky ones who rarely encounters this, my fandom interactions are reading fanfics, watching/reading/playing etc. what ever fandom it is, or talking to close friends about what I like I don't really use social media.
The Hannibal fandom is very kind and welcoming.
The have been only two toxic fandoms I was directly apart of, one was Glee back when it was on. You were labelled homophobic if you didn't ship Klaine even if you yourself are gay or just have other OTPs for the characters (I really don't like Klaine at all). The Klaine shipping got so out of hand, the shippers started conspiracy theories about the actors and their dating life, stalking, bullying their respected real S.Os online as well as anyone who disagreed. Even so far to bully actors playing characters who "got in the way" of Klaine. Darren Criss, one of the actors seemed to egg them on, finding it hilarious (f him) but you can tell the other actor Chris Colfer hates them based on his choice of words/tone in interviews. The other is Marvel comics with the whole SJW war over Marvel's sales plummeting which is super messy.
I like marvel comics, have liked a long time. How ever I'm pretty casual fan and never super involved with other people in any fandoms really. So, I'm curious what's the deal with that Sjw war? I guess I would consider myself very lucky when I never get involved in (or usually even hear about) these toxic things happening in a fandom.
This is going to be a lot to explain so bear with me. Well as most people would know, comics aren't exactly a big money maker compared to the movies, TV and games based on them, so thus their sales have gone down slightly overtime. However Marvel has been going down more so compared to DC for a variety of reasons, mainly too much political influence, too many events and over use of #1 titles. But people focus on the social justice warrior stuff cause it's more interesting. Marvel has been replacing it's more popular characters with more 'diverse' versions: black Captain America, black Spider-man, female Thor, Muslim Ms Marvel, black woman Iron Man so on and so forth. This has pleased the more newer, left side of the fandom but has enraged the older, more traditional fans (who are the majority of the overall fans), thus making this constant struggle between obnoxious people who want too much diversity and those who denounce any at all. I personally think that Marvel is going too far with preaching politics and they should focus on the characters they already have like Wiccan, Hulkling, Luke Cage, Black Panther, Northstar among their vast array of diverse characters. But I also disagree with the traditional fans who are opposed to diversity because it is "pushing an agenda". It's a massive mess that was created by the writers which the fandom amplified to the cluster it is today.
Now that you explained it.. I've been actually wondering myself why they have kind of replaced so many characters, it has bothered me a little. It would be fine in some cases, but as you listed they try to do it so much nowadays. And yeah, these kinds of situations are tough. I see both sides of this argument. I don't have much first hand experience but I think these "too much diversity wanting" and the opposing "traditional" fans seem to be a problem in many fandoms.
Thomas E You know those #1 are just the start of a new volume allowing a jumping on point right? Because people keep complaining about it but they have the number of the issue on the bottom right or left and people ignore and quickly complain.
Thomas E I never liked Klaine myself, it was never about them being gay though. That was all to do with the writing and tbh the not so subtle self-inserting of Ryan Murphy. Which included them being added to storylines where they really were NOT needed (Brittana's wedding).
The toxic fandom part i distinctly remember was the Finchel fandom against the Faberry fandom.
Now I can't say much since I only actively joined the fandom in 2014, 5 years after its major release. I would personally say that much of the toxicity of the Hetalia fandom is dying off. Including the webcomics, the fandom is nearly a decade old. Now according to some older fans, the toxicity didn't come around until the release of the anime in 2009, 8 years ago. Now all that's left is really badly written fan fiction and self inserts. Toxicity is in minor communities and definitively doesn't have the same reach. What's mostly left, as far as I can tell, are historical pieces, multiships, headcanon/theorists, fans of just the actual content itself and the sorta there RPG makers. The general consensus, considering so much toxicity was over shipping wars, is that if you don't like a ship, don't view material with the ship. Which basically means that pointing out all ships within a piece is pretty big, instead of just the main ship as I see in some of my other fandoms. For a fandom thats been cooling down for the last few years (with the exception of the few months surrounding new seasons of the anime) i would say Hetalia is a lot more welcoming now than ever. And to imagine that one of the most toxic fandoms had catchphrases that included "make pasta not war" is just really ironic.
The only time I've seen unknown people confronting me for my ships were in the Star Wars fandom, the FinnRey fans especifically. Apparently, for some girls, I ship Stormpilot because I'm racist. The fact that I'm blatino and gay and I want to see some representation have nothing to do with shipping Finn and Poe, no... it's truly because I'm racist! I like a lot of ships, for example, I'm a fan of RinHaru and I've never been harassed by any other Free! fans. So what's happening with the SW fandom is totally unexpected for me.
I think the difference is that Starwars is more mainstream. Where as Free! is a fandom that is anime and it being a sports anime with mostly men has more same sex shipping. Aaand I also think that RinHaru is the main ship for Free! Thought it was worth mentioning.
I've noticed this a bit as well. I think toxicity sometimes comes from different interpretations of what is on screen. For example, I see no romantic interest at all between Finn and Rey throughout the whole film. I see them as friends. However, in the few scenes Finn and Poe share, I do see hints of romance and the potential for something more. What's more, it would be the first canon LGBT relationship in the Star Wars movies (maybe the whole franchise? Not entirely sure on that one). And I think that would be wonderful. And it's not like either of them are Skywalkers so it wouldn't intervene with the main romance/story either. Also, Oscar Isaac has said in an interview that he was playing Poe romantically towards another character, and considering the only other character with a similar age he shares significant screen time with is Poe, I believe the two will develop a romance together in The Last Jedi. Of course he could have been lying to throw people off, but I don't think he was.
I'm surprised you were in the Free! fandom shipping RinHaru and got no harassment from others. I heard that the MakoHaru and RinHaru shippers were fighting nonstop LOL. I didn't really notice because I was off to the side shipping Reigisa :v
Amina Gant Believe me, I was surprised too. I knew about the fights but no one ever came to question my ship on Tumblr. But with Star Wars... =_='''''
+Kamili Newsome Shipping StormPilot doesn't make someone racist. I think it's usually FinnRey shippers getting offended and thinking that not shipping FinnRey somehow automatically makes you racist. Which obviously isn't the case, most people just prefer to ship Finn and/or Rey with a different character, which with other Finn ships like StormPilot negates the racist claim anyway.
The most toxic fandom I've seen so far was The 100 with the ship war (Bellarke/Clexa) but I feel like it's calmed down ever since the end of the third season, which is a rather good thing. Some people might think the 100 was not THAT toxic compared to other fandoms though, but my interactions with this fandom are mostly limited to fanfictions and some rather innocent accounts on Tumblr and Twitter but if anyone has examples, feel free to add anything ! :)
thank fuck they killed off lexa, once she died, the majority of the toxicity went away.
It's weird you didn't mention Star Wars. Which has one of the greatest toxic fandoms alive lol
I usually end up making friends in specific fandoms and if the fandom gets too toxic, I'll mainly just talk to them about the source material and avoid it on social media :) taking breaks by joining other fandoms for a few weeks can also help quite a lot.
the people who I've met are probably what I enjoy most about fandom culture. I have had the pleasure to meet some of my dearest friends (from the Death Note and the Gotham fandom) in real life
Fandoms I'm in:
1. Steven Universe
2. Alexander Hamilton
3. Bmc
4. Dear evan hansen
5. Voltron
6. Undertale (just joined)
7. Got7
8. Bts
I think thats it, I'm probably in more. Oh what I just remebered
santos bonilla yes musicals
Every fandom that I have come across has had at least some toxic fans, you really just have to learn to deal with them. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't seen anything about the Hetalia fandom. I love it to pieces, but it used to be one of the top trash fandom's, with people thinking it was just a yaoi show, even though there is not a cannon gay pairing (kinda. Its really hinted at). It has quite a few of its own serious moments, and has really mellowed out over the years, and mainly left all of the good fans. It's a fandom that I am happy to be a part of.
Oh my god, YOUR FACE! I've never seen it before. You're so pritty! ^^
Anyway, on to the subject of toxic fandoms. I'm one of those lucky people who's fandoms have never had a bunch of negative attention. The closest I ever got is in the spideypool fandom when some people started freaking out about people shipping Tom Hollands version of Spider-Man with Deadpool because of how young Tom Holland's Peter is supposed to be.
Since I have never had too much trouble with a toxic fandom I can't tell you what I do in that serious a situation but I will say in the smaller situation I have been in, I was one of those people who carried on doing what I enjoy doing and left other people to think what they wanted, though I tried to keep things a little more vague and attempt to hide from negativity.
For example, I wrote 1 fanfic while picturing Tom Hollens version of Spider-Man (though I did age him up) but I did not point out that I was taking inspiration from Tom Holland version of Spider-Man.
Harry potter reference : Happiness can be found even in the darlest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.
My best experiences in every fandom is mostly the fanart. No matter what the other fans say the fanart is most of the time beautiful even if its painful to watch because of feelings.
I haven't had to much luck when it comes to fandoms. I once tried to see what the Undertale hype was about. In their defence, the whole issue was with one person I know at my school. She got really pounty and petty when I said "It's not exactly a traditional RPG," which is what one of books based around. She became really bitter to me and attempted to rebuttal all my arguments on why it isn't a standard RPG even when my reasoning is sound. That soon became extremely annoying as she based all RPGs around one game, which put me off the fandom in general.
Then I was in the Minecraft one for a while. And my luck with servers were horrible. People would come and help me with my builds, I'd then log on an hour later and find the entire place covered in lava, I had some real trolls attempt to enter RPGs I'd made and ruin the whole thing for everyone, and I gave up on global chat pretty quickly thanks to all the screaming 7 year olds.
Then I was in the my little pony one - it's kind of sad to admit. I'm not going to say about that one. It was... An odd experience.
Gaddamn that was long. TLDR; one person at my school ruined Undertale by insisting it was exactly like every other RPG and it's mancanics should be in my book. Greifing happened in Minecraft (I only play single player now) and my little pony... Happened, unfortunately.
I can't talk much for Minecraft or MLP but I don't blame you for not being a part of the Undertale fandom. I got pretty disappointed by the other fans attempting to FORCE let's players into playing the game the 'correct' way. Also it ISN'T a normal RPG. Do normal RPGs let you dodge via bullet hell minigame, or let you spare every enemy?
Still the UT fandom overhyped this game like crazy. While it isn't a norm there are game where you can spare enemies, can have a 'good' or 'bad' ending based on moral choices and you said it yourself the combat is just a bullet hell game. It's different sure but it's not the second coming of christ levels of original.
What do you consider an RPG? Since its name implies Role Playing is all that's needed to call it an RPG, I'm legitimately curious what your version would be?
I never said RPG specifically. I just pointed out that the elements of Undertale are not anything new. Together maybe it's pretty different but not something to turn into a religion or anything.
I used to know a jovely and creative author who was chased out of SG-1 fandom by someone who claimed her works were of the devil. It still angers me that someone so good and kind would be treated so.
Great video!! I know that this is a tough topic. As far as good experiences with fandom, I find that due to some of the more toxic fandoms, some fandoms are taking really active roles in keeping peace. A personal example would be the Andi Mack fandom (Andi Mack is a new-ish Disney Channel show that I 100% recommend). The people in the fandom (we call ourselves the Friendom, if that gives you insight) take very active roles in staying positive and avoiding discourse? There's actually a peacekeeping blog that settles issues (we haven't had to use it yet). This is easier to handle, since it's a pretty small fandom, but the foundations are good, and all in all it's very positive. 10/10, would recommend this fandom.
Sadly, I'm part of a handful of fandoms considered toxic such as Undertale in the past, (I lost interest) Voltron and Steven Universe. It's pretty hard depending on the fandom you're talking about, but you have to try to ignore the negativity and push past it. Yes, the Voltron fandom has gone insane and so have others recently, but you still have to look on the lighter side of the fandom no matter what and tell yourself "yeah, there's a lot of crazy and dramatic things going down, but hey, look there's some good things about it too", instead of just ending your love for whatever it is because of the fandom or completely leaving it.
And to be honest, every fandom is a little or a lot toxic, that's just sadly how it is.
My best experience in the Voltron fandom were the theories. They were fun, also making my my first big project for the fandom and am worked no together with other talented individuals. That's awesome. Also bonding with others over our OTP is super fun.
Now, how I deal with toxicity in fandoms? I either just distance myself away from the fandom as a whole and maybe sort of forget about it for a while or actually get provoked by the haters because my tolerance is pretty shitty when it comes to bullying and lying.
This aligns perfectly with the vld fandom right now
Chelsea H. Yup
I've been avoiding it because I haven't seen the new season yet. What's going on?
Yolonda Miller the ages have been revealed. It's wild
I heard that Keith was confirmed to be 18 and Lance 17? I'm still not a huge fan of the Sheith ship (because I think they might be related and Shiro is more of a mentor), but until that's proven I'm slightly more open to it.
Yolonda Miller I agree with you. I like broganes, and yeah. XD
Im so happy you are talking about this! Well,when it comes to the toxic part of the fandom, I usually just ignore that side and then talk about the thing I like to my close friends. Even if they dont get what I like. At least they can understand more than those who get their passions blind them so bad that some people resorted to bullying others about it.
Thank you for adressing this issue, infortunately it is something that is becoming more current in most Fandom groups, I, for example, left or at least stopped following a lot of fandoms this last year because of that. Sometimes it becomes so toxic you start to feel bad when it is something you should have fun with. So maybe with this vídeo people start to take notice and go back to the time we used to all respect each others opinions. Thank You again.
Please go into detail with superwholock, I'm a member of each fandom separately and would love other people's thoughts and opinions on it as a whole.
Also another interesting group would be the phandom, it has certainly improved on the last couple of years but I would have to argue that it's still somewhat a toxic fandom.
First, great vid as always. I actively avoid tumblr and online fandoms in social media where just anyone can jump in. My fandom are the friends I have who also watch the show, irl and online friends as well, so I never really was ever personally harassed, but the 'toxic' fandom made its way to me irl.
I worked at the recreation centre at my college last year and was handing out free shirts and water bottles for orientation at our tent. I had my SU Pearl pin displayed proudly on my chest, and this pathetic boy in a young adult's body looks at me when it's his turn in line and says 'pffft, Pearl, really?' He even had his mom beside him. I was so appalled I just said gtfo and scoffed as I continued handing out stuff and smiling. I wish I was more composed or witty at the time but, I'm just minding my own business, I didn't come to be insulted over what character I like in a non fandom setting. Ugh.
Second, your lips are such a lovely shape.
Any fandom with ship wars can be toxic. And I'm in a fandom of an anime that's still technically having its wars, and the show was first aired in Japan in 2007!!
Two of the best, or non-toxic fandoms I've been in, in my opinion, were Percy Jackson, and Doctor Who. I've met so many nice people in these fandoms, and they were very kind. I guess I've just never seen the bad side, if there is one.
The only complain I have with the Percy Jackson fandom are the close-minded people when it comes to shipping. It's like you HAVE to ship the most popular ship for each character, and if you don't, people are most definitely gonna come and spam "WHAT ABOUT [insert ship here]" and "this is fine BUT THINK ABOUT [insert ship here".
KSJ I get what you mean. A lot of Percico (PercyxNico) or Perachel (PercyxRachel) shippers get hate from Percabeth or Soleangelo shippers.
Yeah, which is kinda sad :/. But otherwise, the PJO fandom IS very friendly towards each other, I just wish ships other than Solangelo and Percabeth would be accepted, too.
Yeah. Personally, I do ship Percabeth, Soleangelo, and all of the common ships, but I accept everyones' ships, because everyone has different opinions. :)
Personally I wish Reynico got more love from fans. (like fanart and fanfics) Because in an alternate universe they would have been great together and I have to look hard to find anything for them. I have no problem with Solangelo shippers but I wish they wouldn't hate on other Nico ships as much as they do.
Do you mean Star Wars fandom? Cause Holy shit, the level of disrespect on this fandom is huge.
I'm actually in a lot of fandoms and I'm sure a lot of them are toxic, but I mostly avoid and ignore the negativity and confrontation unless I feel I have to intervene in some way, my experience with fandom is quite positive and well.
I've found the Yuri on Ice fandom to be relatively peaceful compared to my previous ones (incl. voltron, Harry Potter, some aspects of TH-cam fandom). Though I don't ship Otayuri and don't have strong feelings about it, so that may impact my experience.
I will say that I've found being liberal with the blocking feature to be really useful in making my fandom experiences more enjoyable, particularly in larger fandoms. I could see that not being feasible in smaller ones, especially if you're highly involved in the fandom.
The Homestuck fandom meme at 2:11 speaks VOLUMES to me. I'm usually on the more calm parts of the fandom; like fantrolls or theories about classpects. BUT HOLY SHIT the shipping side of HS is a absolute nightmare. I may have some OTPs in HS that I love to death; but some of them have a very large amount of "antis" who just spam the ship tags with vitriol.
i remember when Steven Universe got really big. at first i was kinda happy cuz suddenly there were a lot more people who liked the thing that i liked, but things steadily went downhill. the Keystone Motel incident was definitely the most stressful part for me and it was after that incident that i really distanced myself from the fandom. i still reblog art and analysis posts and watch some theory videos, but i definitely am not as engaged as i used to be and i keep myself out of fandom drama nowadays- it's just not worth it.
i didn't even know people thought badly about Undertale because of the fandom until i saw posts talking about how bad it was- same with Voltron. I've been a fan since it came out and only in the past few weeks have i heard that its fandom is bad.
So yeah, i just stay in my lane of fanart, gifs, memes, and occasional character analyses and theories. much safer that way.
I was in the Undertale fandom at the height of its toxicity. Mostly with the shipping wars. I was an Undyrus shipper, while most of tumblr was Alpyne shippers. There was a lot of bullying there and it was crazy. I ended up quitting tumblr, and ar this point I still enjoy some of the fan works, but I don't participate. Although I might pop back in and say hi on the fandoms 2 birthday
My advice to those who don’t want to see the toxic side of any fandom: unfollow people/blogs/channels. This is especially true for tumblr. People say that the whole of tumblr is toxic because of what others tend to blog and reblog. But what they forget is their dash doesn’t belong to those hate spreading people. Only see what you want to see, and if you see something you don’t want to, there is always the option of unfollowing these blogs. It happened to me three times: with the Free! and Supernatural fandom because of character hate, and with the Force Awakens fandom because of general hate. I followed one blog from each fandom that were a great source of news about the anime/series/movie. They were all up to date and if I was uncertain about something I could always go there and look it up. But there were always those posts about character bashing and hate (and yes, they were all caused by shipping), that I tried to ignore at first, but the more they appeared on my dash the worse I felt. That toxicity was affecting me too. Then one day I had enough and unfollowed those blogs. Even though they were great sources of news as I mentioned before, I had to make a decision: news or my mental health. And of course my mental health is more important than some news I can get from other places. So I unfollowed these blogs and my dash became so positive I can’t tell you guys, but maybe you too experienced it. It’s not really the fandom that’s toxic. It’s the attention seeking loud minority that everyone, people in and outside the fandom know about, and they make the mistake of labeling the whole fandom as toxic. I’m in both the Voltron and Supernatural fandom, I ship Klance and Destiel, but I don’t see hate on my dash and I don’t receive any. I hear news about what the toxic side did when and where, but my dash is not in the middle of a battlefield. There are really two things you have to follow if you don’t want to be part of this toxicity: 1. You are the master of your dashboard. If you don’t want to see something, blacklist the tag or unfollow the blog. 2. Be respectful of others. We are all different, we love different things, and we need to respect other’s opinion if we want them to respect us in return. So no hate blogging and bashing. It can be difficult, but if you follow 1. you won’t see anything on your dash that would trigger you.
Wow, this turned out to be pretty long…
I honestly only think people are toxic, there are people who share opinions and attack but it's still them and not the fandom
I think there will always be people who think very differently in a fandom and there will always be a divide in it, however I think what makes the fandom itself toxic is how the people in it deal with these ideological divides and how they handle the opposite side.
I'm really glad you displayed the shirt for us, I was going crazy with curiosity >.
Small fandoms like Timeless and Lucifer are soooo chill. Fandom large enough to have some art and stories is great but still be small enough to go unoticed by really agressive shippers who are busy with mainstream is fantastic.
Other good fandom are those that are retired and have been off the air for like a year. Only the nice dedicated fans are active and their is plenty of good material to go through.
My prefered I encounter what I consider toxic part of the fandom:
Denounce them, block them, find a part that I find non-toxic, and try to focus on the more positive stuff.
Yeah, denouncing somebody isn't the nicest thing to do, but, there are some things I don't have the patience to put up with when I can simple bypass them to get to something I like.
I was in the Sherlock fandom from April 2016 to February this year. I was really passionate about the show and read and came up with theories, clues and subtext stuff that hinted that Johnlock would become canon and it would be the "big reveal" at the end of season 4. It's the fact that when you look closer, there is So Much evidence to support it, everywhere you look. The cinematography, the backgrounds, subtle acting choices, hint at Johnlock, that Sherlock is gay, and John is bi. More passionate fans who look closer at the show will notice this evidence, whereas most casual viewers don't, and instead ship Sherlolly and/or John and Mary. This leads Johnlock shippers to feel that Sherlolly shippers are misinterpreting the show, and Sherlolly shippers to feel that Johnlock shippers are forcing a gay romance that "simply isn't there". And clearly both sides are very passionate about their ship, and it's unfortunate that we can't all get along and respect others opinions.
(EDIT: I wrote this before I watched the video lol. As always, the video is very informative and well made!)
It seems to me that every fandom that gets big enough gets toxic. Exceptions may be media which already has controverse material in it (like Hannibal? Deadpool? Dunno) so fans can't use this show to feel morally superior/ already showing self awareness and critcial thinking skills by still liking it
Ironically, the fandoms of material which have the best messages/ spread positivity (most recent example that comes to mind is DDADDS) are the one's who become the most toxic bc many of the fans that lack critical thinking skills, have a victim complex (everyone is 'problematic' except me, the 'woke' oppressed person who suffers more than anybody else) and see the world in black and white (evil vs good) choose them bc of it
I haven't really seen a lot of toxicity like there are problematic elements that I've encountered but for the most part the positives in fandom outweigh the negatives by a huge degree.
Oooh! An obscure ace attorney reference! Is a Narumitsu episode coming, perhaps?
Omg i would love that!
I watch a Hetalia ship war in the comments of a book on Wattpad. They were fighting over UsUk or FrUk being the best and I left one comment on saying "FrUkUs".
I ended the war.
Instead they joined together to tell me how that would never work and why it was wrong and stuff.
Oof I’m part of three of the toxic fandoms mentioned but all of them have changed my life for the better
I'm honestly lucky that I haven't been a part of any toxic fandoms. I've heard of toxic things happening in my fandoms, but I haven't been harassed or trolled 🙌🏼
I've just always believed that every fandom is already toxic. Not that they're a bad or terrible thing, but because people are still involved. People are always terrible, not saying that they can't have good moments at the same time, just that people are selfish and greedy. And it is just easier to accept that people will always defend their selfish opinions.
It’s weird. I’ve been told that one of my fandom (Sherlock, specifically Johnlockers and Johnlock metawriters) is toxic but like... I didn’t notice it. But I guess I was just lucky.
This is one of the reasons why I don't like ships that don't have romantic undertones in the canon. It's those vehement shippers that will twist whatever relationship the characters have into a romance that drive me away.
It's video like this that makes me glad that I'm part of the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom. (From my experiences at least:) I haven't encounter hardly any toxic fans or behavior. With Yu-Gi-Oh, I know I'm safe and can ship to my heart's content. 😊
(Not trying to say anything bad about other fandoms. Just, unlike some other fandoms I'm apart of, Yu-Gi-Oh for me, is one of the most chilled.)
I've had a lot of fun with voltron. I think I'm just used to toxicity at this point. I kinda just avoid it. I know that I can get overly invested in fandom. i think I'm just like that. At which point I just kinda take a break and try my best to be nice to people I meet. My friends are the most important part, honestly, both irl and online. I love meeting new people and it's a lot easier online so... here I am.
I think I'm drawn to bigger fandoms simply because there's more content to enjoy. So... I just kinda deal with the toxicity as it usually comes with bigger fandoms.
Also I think I learnt after being part of the Sherlock fandom not to get too invested, so now I can enjoy Voltron more. I think It's a neat show with cool concepts to explore in fan works separate from the show.
The Voltron fandom makes me kind of sad because it has probably the best fan art I have even seen in a fandom (seriously so many Voltron fans are amazing artists) and there are some get laughs to be had but then there's that toxic side that gives it a bad name.
Haikyuu is probably my favourite fandom because people there are so fun and mostly tolerant of other's ships no matter how rare and it's just generally a good time overall.
Also the Fanders (Thomas Sanders fans) is the nicest and most supportive fan base I've ever seen, they're always happy to help and praise other fans and it's beautiful.