laserkid wrote:
Somehow, I don't think people who criticise DBZ don't even cone CLOSE to the massive genocide of a race. Maybe that's just me.
I'm not implying that the author (or you) are analogous to the Third Reich. But you could have figured that out, concidering I said in my post that I myself criticize the show. I was just using that as an example. I made a counter-point and you dismissed it on the grounds of hardcore fans playing the victim. If you would prefer a less sever compariosn, how about the movie Batman? The Joker berates Batman for countering his complaint of being allowed to fall into the vat by pointing out that the Joker killed his parents. The fact that Batman was playing the counter-victim card doesn't absolve the Joker from A- playing the victim card in the first place and B- having in fact done the deed he was accused of doing.
Of course there's a good and a bad side to DBZ fandom - if it was all a downside there wouldn't BE a fandom - but the article wasn't written to balance the good and the bad - simply to focus on the bad aspects. I would imagine a whats right with DBZ article could point out aspects of the fandom too. I do not mean to say YOU are a bad fan here either by the way, I just cited your reaction as a typical one that is inherently part of the problem. Not that YOU are a problem, but that THAT attitude that you used to make that post was.
I don't mean that the article is unbalanced because it only looks at the bad. That' would be silly. It's whole purpose to to examine flaws. I'm saying that some of the points brought up are unbalanced themselves. In this case, if one was to look at Dragon Ball's negative impact amongst fan communities, it isn't as simple as "DBZ fans is crazy yo." In the wake of the show's US run, there have been as many militant anti's spewing venom as there have been militant pro's making a scene. I just think the volatile nature of the situation as a whole is a bigger "flaw" than simply fans responding.
I'm surrounded by people who loathe DBZ but my fandom is not so weak so as to falter because my friends don't like it. Moroever my friendhsips are not so weak that my loving of DBZ and their loathing of it has caused us any issues. If you allow your friends to make you part of the "collective opinion" that is your weakness. If they shun you for liking DBZ they aren't true friends anyway.
Ditto. It seems more of an internet thing to me. But then, when I was in high school most of the guys loved DBZ (not many of the girls though), and it was in the hight of its popularity here. So I really don't know what the real world street-level situation is like these days.
No ones said anything is a crime here - you have the right to state your opinion no one said elsewise. But this is the internet, you make an argument SOMEONE is going to make a counter argument, if you didn't want to have your assertions disagreed with you shouldn't have published them.
The same holds true in reverse. I responded to you, afterall. And I have no problem whatsoever with my opinion being disagreed with. Written off or invalidated, that's another matter. Maybe I took your response wrong, but it sounded to me like "see, by disagreeing you in fact prove me right." Likewise, the IGN, by publishing the article, open themselves up to criticism. It comes with the territory, and there is nothing wrong with it.
Most of the people in this thread agree with you so please don't play I'm the only one here. It cites wide fanatacism as a reason it holds it to a high standard because people call it the best thing ever. It then points out that same fanbase has ugliness to it, and it's right there. We aren't a totally awful fanbase but we have flaws, and when those flaws are pointed out a segment of us cries foul for daring to be criticised - when I pointed your comments out it's because you're proving that right.
I don't agree with the article because I get any joy out of it. I said it earlier and I'll say it again I'm a long time member of this fanbase and I have several good friends (and some people I'd rather forget) that I've met here. But self examination is a good thing if only to allow improvement upon oneself as an individual or as a group.
If it bothers you so much to have the fanbase being told as a black mark then instead of going closing your eyes and sticking your head in the sand, and complaining about it, do something about it.
I have no problem with criticism, but I still feel the article makes some unfair calls. Recycled animation for example. For a show that old and that long, there really isn't that much of this compared to other shows of the era. A more appropriate complaint would have been the inconsistent animation, when the show would randomly drop in visual quality quite frequently.
But again, stating one's opinion of a published work on a fanboard about the subject is doing no harm. Where I to take your suggestion, "do something about it," and go over to IGN in arms campaigning against the articles injustice... THAT would be making your point about crazy fans who can't take criticism, no?
To show my appreciation, I'll only beat them half to death.
(I don't watch Naruto anymore but if I were a hardcore fan I'd be offended by the nickname. No idea how the actual fans of the show handle the name.)