Do Fanbases Ruin Art? 

I can confirm that the Hazbin Hotel fanbase is the main driving force behind why I've started liking it less

The Virgin “you HAVE to watch/read/play/listen to my favorite thing!!” Vs the Chad “you might like this, if you ever feel like checking it out”

This video is secretly a plea for people to make dumbsville fanart

While I feel fanbases don't ruin the art itself, they can absolutely ruin your individual relationship with art. "Individual relationships" really is the key to understanding this sentiment, a problem a loooot of obsessive fans have (including my past self RIP) is that they love their experience so much and are so stuck in their own bubble that they REALLY want others to have the exact same relationship with their favorite work. They only mature if they realize that that's never going to happen. Nostalgia and special interests/hyperfixiations play a massive part in this; you may have a special comforting attachment to a certain media or character and you can enjoy that attachment, but no amount of forcing it onto others can give them the same attachment.

"Do fanbase ruin-" Yes. Not every fanbase, but like a solid 80% of them actually do.

I say no, I think people should generally be mature enough to enjoy something and distance themselves from the fanbase if they feel they need to. I'm not gonna stop consuming something cause somebody I've never met and never will is an idiot

Sex needs an update tbh, the meta has been around for millions of years and at this point it's getting stale

I think Fanbases can affect people's ability to enjoy it a lot of the time. However, they don't usually directly affect the show except in instances where creators pander to them.

The thing about hating something for its fanbase is that said fanbase can change over time. What was once the scourge of the internet can become a cult following full of mostly chill people. And what was once a chill cult following can explode into the scourge of the internet.

Whenever there's a work I think I might enjoy, I make a point specifically to NOT engage with the fanbase so I can avoid having my experience skewed one way or another by how other people feel about it. As far as I'm concerned, whether or not a fanbase is toxic OR wholesome is secondary to enjoying the work itself.

Fanbases are the reason why I can no longer see Tails sitting on a bench without unleashing some primal fear

As someone that has watched MHA, I can't go into the streets admitting I liked it because they immediately pair me up with the degeneracy of the fan base

Me personally don't let them ruin it, I guess I learned to ignore it all and just enjoy stuff, idk how to explain it any better. I just don't care what the fanbase does, yes I do sometimes see fans of something I like do something stupid, or cringey or even terrible and think "WTF?" But this doesn't really ruin that thing for me.

Do- Yes. Mf i literally draw PORN for a living and i have been told multiple times that im more respectable than most fandom dwellers. Be it from clients or people who have just had enough of said dwellers

Ever since the Steven Universe fanbase made that one girl to speedrun life, I have always hatted the post tumblr fan bases with a passion.

I feel like everyone says “I like the work, but hate the fanbase,” even though they’re 100% on board with the toxicity.

I’m one of those freaks that loves Kingdom Hearts. One of my favorite things to do is go through the series with someone. I did this with a friend two years ago, and he loved it! Had a blast going through the games again and seeing his reactions to certain moments. But since that went so well, I guess I wanted to chase the “high” and bought the series for another friend. It took forever to get through the first game, cause he just doesn’t really like games in that style gameplay wise. He definitely liked certain parts of later games, but I definitely see that I was in the wrong. Once we’d beat one game, it would take like 3 months to start the next. I feel super bad realizing what I did, so I’m definitely not gonna make him play the rest of them. Fantastic video as always, Dumbsville!

I love your editing and sense of humor

This is such a great video. I'm a firm believer that the fanbase of something should not turn you away. I know when I played Undertale a couple years back I was hesitant because of the fanbase. I was worried I'd end up going down the rabbit hole of an awful community, but I ended up playing and loving it, without really interacting with the community that much. Similar thing with Fortnite. I avoided it like the plague for years because I heard the fanbase consisted of annoying children, which is far from the case. There are so many talented people that a part of the Fortnite community and I feel like my experience with fortnites and undertales community have made me more open to try new games. But not everybody is willing to step outside their comfort zone and that's perfectly ok. There's nothing wrong with not wanting to experience a piece of media because of an annoying friend or stories of a toxic fanbase. Hell I feel like I might've been that annoying friend sometimes. It comes from genuine passion and I know that but I can see how it could come across as frustrating. Again, genuinely amazing video. It's super important to reflect and analyze stuff like this, especially as media becomes synonymous with works of art

In my case, yes, fanbases do ruin things for me. Seeing large amounts of fans acting toxic or overly cringey about something gives me INTENSE second-hand embarrassment and I just can't bear liking the same thing as them. I especially can't stand how people will tie their entire idenities to liking something, to the point that they'll take any criticism of it as a personal attack. For example, I like My Hero Academia, but I have zero problems criticizing the things I don't like about it. Mineta needs to die, the series needs to stop acting like Class 1-A is the only one that exists, the female characters need to quit being sidelined, the fetish-fuel costumes are weird and unnecessary (Midnight is the only one it makes any sense for) etc. I have no problem saying any of this because I don't latch my whole identity onto this series, but BOY do a lot if other people do. I barely ever talk about MHA because of its pretty garbage fanbase. Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel are the same way, which is extra hilarious and sad when you consider that, as of now, Helluva Boss has less that thirteen episodes and Hazbin Hotel isn't even past the pilot yet, and already the fanbase for these things are veering into toxic territory. Harassing artists, taking criticisms personally, intentional provaction etc. People can't just like things, they need to take it to obsessive levels.

Haven't watched the full video yet, but I'm going to put my opinions out there: 1. Fanbases for less mature media ironically have more mature fanbases, in both good and bad ways. MLP for bad, Kirby/most Nintendo games for good. By saying mature, I don't mean just "This fanbase has porn", and more like "This fanbase has mainly porn, OR it is actually calm and collected, and wants to expand on the media they like." 2. Fanbases do take away from online discussion of artistry, by introducing bias by connection. People inside bad fandoms generally will defend the media to an insane degree, while people outside of bad fandoms probably won't see the value it has because of the bad fandom. 3. (Inspired by comments on ANY song that has some relation to JJBA, and aren't the most popular songs of all time.) There are ALWAYS immature assholes in any fandom. Undertale, Steven Universe, MLP, and Voltron are all examples of how fandom can get out of hand, and not just harm the media they like, but people outside the fandom. 4. The more mature a piece of media is, the more likely the fandom it has is shit. Rick and Morty is all I'll say. Edit: Watched the full video. I agree with you whole-heartedly, Dumbsy.

The pokemon community has a different form of this problem where certain old fans will bully new fans or neutral fans for not hating the newer games.

As a Persona fan I sometimes feel the need to apologise. No joke, Persona is one of my favourite franchises, but my god, the amount of nonces in the fanbase genuinely makes me despair.

As someone who's been in many fandoms, some to this very day, the fanbase won't deter me from enjoying the franchises I love. Not to see that fanbases can't be toxic (Sonic, MLP, Star Wars, Genshin, etc?), but I will never admit to hate these series because of a couple of bad apples sours it for the rest of the community.

I think fanbases can ruin a piece of art if people make what they like like their entire personality

Average cycle of a fanbase is like this: 1)birth by spreading in reddit,discord,ecc... 2)fanbase gets slightly toxic 3)fanbase starts developing nsfw art 4)fanbase slowly turning more toxic 5)some fans leave for the now inhospitable habitat 6)fanbase starts decaying 7)fanbase remains as a hollow vessel of itself,mourning the forgotten first days of armony and youth [Not all fanbases become die completely or become toxic,since this is the average]

I agree with this video 100%. Really changed my views on art and fanbases in general. Nice video, Dumbsville!

I remember watching Dumbs years ago. Feels crazy to come back to a channel you haven't watched in a long time. the editing is so much better lmao

Former brony (it was a dark time) the fan base is a complete and utter trash fire I’m glad I got out of it especially with how many predators and weirdos are in there and have been outed

10:25 I honestly hate when this has happened to me and tried my best to avoid it by any means necessary. For example, someone I'm close with and I wanted to experience one of our different interests. For them, I wanted them to play through a Pokemon game. Now, as someone who has play Pokemon for years, it's kind of weird to see someone not do the optimal thing in a battle 24/7 but instead of being throwing up my arms and saying "you're doing it wrong" I explain they bare basics of the game, let them experience it how they see fit and only provide extra support when asked. At the end of the day it's better for them to play the game how they see fit because at some point in time, we were that same beginner who made our own less than stellar choices.

It's like the old saying goes: "If there's something that going to ruin a thing, it's other people." It ain't a real saying, but it should be. Both from fans, haters and makers alike.

The only exception to “youre watching it wrong” is like watching 2001 on a smartpone in a fully lit room - works that are highly atmospheric dont translate to non-immersive playback mediums

I wouldn’t say ruin but put a undertone to it that wasn’t originally intended

Haven't watched the video yet, but honestly i think they do. And it isn't because "this undertale fan was very anoying in 2016" or anything, but because of something else. As that art becomes more and more famous, there'll be more people who only interact with it because of the trend. The thing is, trendy people never stick around because of any apreciation of the art, so as soon as these people dip, the content creators will try as much as they can to preserve that new attention, destroying the original artistic integrity and alienating the fans in the process.

It’s starting to reach a point where you can’t get interested in anything without getting clowned for it.

Honestly that’s why i really like the anime otaku culture of the 80’s/90’s, a lot of fans of works from previous decades got to work on projects that were often directly inspired by their favourite series, so it might just be that i’m to distanced from how the community actually interacted back then, but it does feel like it’s more positive to make transformative takes on something you like then whatever is going on in the twitter anime community right now

I'm bad at commenting but i found this video very well put together as always. I also loved seeing P3 footage Dumbsville liking P3 feels kinda surreal for some reason I'll probs end up editing this comment a million times but ye

You forgot the worst fandom, the one that bullies the artist into conforming the art into their view.

As a Godzilla fan and someone who loves Tangled and the show, there’s a fan fiction with it along with all that Frozen Brave Dragon thing back in the day that lives in infamy with my friends. It’s so bad. I love it. But yeah art can be powerful in the wrong hands

Its alot of things for me. As someone who was introduced to Sonic through Sonic Adventure DX (which I personally feel doesnt look to well on the GCN) it was the fact that the fans couldn't agree on exactly what game they wanted. Some wanted another Adventure title, some wanted another classic game, and others wanted another boost game. Another was the art, wierd and from the greensite, when you realise that a majority of the character aren't even over 18 in most of the games with,I think, Shadow being like 50+ years old at this point.

The only time I truly hate a fanbase isn’t when it’s stuff like ship wars, or au ideas, or even the obsession angle. No the thing that makes me hate a fanbase is when people in the community put fanon over canon. Now sometimes I can feel fine with it usually if it like a joke thing or maybe a small what if scenario. But I loath it because sometimes fanon people forget actual parts of not only the story but actually a whole characters outlook and desires to their journey and replace it with a flanderized version of what they are. I’ve seen this with book series like Percy Jackson, game series like kingdom hearts and even films like Jurassic Park. Now this stuff will always happen and sometimes it’s not a problem but it becomes a problem when the fanon side either can’t except the reality or tries to force new changes from a series quickly without the rest of the fanbase getting adjusted to the changes. Lastly this argument of fanbase ruining art isn’t a right or wrong answer it is merely a perspective question that can have an actual legitimate discussion about it for a lot of series and groups. The only thing that matters though is remembering how canon should be looked and knowing not everyone in the fanbase has the same opinion as the author of the series they like and they shouldn’t be judged but should be reminded of how stuff is actually supposed to be in the series.

My biggest beef that as a consequence of modern fanbase, a lot of people do absolutely not know how to absorb any media that isn’t filtered through their lens. Like an author could make a deliberate point and someone will STILL ignore that and treat the media as a sandbox for their fanworks or own ideas, which is really disrespectful to the hard work the author puts in to treat it like your own playground. Or when a fanbase basically does all the work writing the story bc the author likes to vaguely make points which can be basically Game Theory'd into the ground for smart points, so when an unbiased person watches it and sees it's nothing like the fans pretend it is, its annoying as fuck.

I am in a few infamously bad fanbases like Persona, RWBY, Sonic, Genshin Impact, Harry Potter and Star Wars but I usually like to cut myself off most of the fanbase and surround myself with a lot of my friends who are in those fanbases and also think similar to me which sort of evokes the feeling that it's a niche thing we're a fan of despite it being small and also just let's us express out enjoyment for the franchise without worrying about being sent death threats (plus it can be funny to make fun of the fandom you're in) And another thing, it does feel pretty great being in a good fandom like Devil May Cry, Doki Doki Literature Club and Final Fantasy XIV so maybe you should try seeking out actually good fandoms too

Honestly, I’m glad to say I’m fortunate enough to have franchises I like where I don’t feel the fandoms of them ruin it for me, it’s a thing I sort of hope works out for other when get invested into something new.

Honestly if the work does/doesn't appeal to me That is my decision, a fanbase shouldn't decide how you enjoy media Personally when I started Dragon Ball I expected it to not hold up, especially with how the fanbase tends to portray the series After starting and finishing most of it, it's one of my favorite series (maybe even franchise)

If you already like the media it doesn't affect it, you can still like something while (doing your best to) ignoring the fan base. But it does make it very hard to get into something new when all you've seen about it is posts from a horrible fan base

When I think about oversaturation and forcing an experience, I'm really inclined to think about how people reacted to Puss in Boots 2 online, because that was a really damn good kids' movie but the reception around it hailed it as something as emotionally deep as Grave of the Fireflies or something. I think that hyping up something and not letting people form their own opinions, not letting the media just 'be itself' without tacking on how revolutionary or important it is can 'ruin' somebody's interpretation of it. I know a few people I've met who came out of the movie confused because they were expecting one of the best movies ever instead of a good kids movie. Something pretty similar is happening to Bluey where people are way overselling their compliments instead of saying what they should say- that it's a smartly-written kids show. In the same way, the oversaturation of the 'badass no mercy Sans' archetype back when Undertale was popular kinda oversold how much that part of Sans mattered to the game at large, and even elevated the tedious no-mercy route that you're really not encouraged to get as a route just as important as the pacifist route- People hear about Sans, they get into Undertale, they neglect characters like Alphys because they're waiting for Sans, etc etc. Fandom controls perception, I think. And perception can be very powerful. anyways good video good discussion she fandom on my art til its ruined

Since I don't use twitter, I've never really run into a particularly toxic or heated argument online, though I know DAMN well my takes would get people angry. So yeah, fanbases have never really ruined an experience for me, but I really agree with your bit about how much a piece of work appeals to someone. I do not ever plan to watch MHA, My Little Pony, or Steven Universe, and the fanbases are just another reason why I have zero interest in them. However, I'm still interested in checking out Undertale, Omori, and most Nintendo games despite those fanbases being the absolute worst. For better or worse, I avoid interacting with the fandoms most of the time, as I just want to experience something for myself.

Fandoms absolutely ruin the enjoyment of games sometimes. I used to be in a hat in time for about two years or so, but unexpectedly, the fandom was so unhinged. Because it was Tumblr, people got incredibly heated over stupid shit, so much that there was an entire drama over people whining about how "too many people like this specific character and it takes away from artists who draw the other characters", so much that artists who likes that character alot were called RACIST because that character was white and one of other characters that didn't get drawn much was black (completely ignoring that the white character was a very major villain, and the black character was just an alternative protagonist you could use instead of the default one). That threw me off so much, the game is genuinely an extremely bad memory to me. I can't stand looking at fan art of it anymore, not even my own, even though it was a really important journey for my art and my eventual creation of my own original characters. The game was fantastic, but... It was ruined for me completely. I didn't touch it ever again

The Bluey fandom (from what I experience) is pretty chill. Better than the Alpha and Omega fandom.

“Thou can watch/play anything, and Thou have the choice to do or do not interact with the fandom, and still enjoy it.” -me

Tbh, I’ve avoided my fair share of franchises solely because of their fandoms- it’s not that I think the media itself is bad or that the fans ruin the experience, I just.. don’t want to be associated with them? I totally agree with this vid about like being forced to enjoy something- Undertale is the first that comes to mind with the over saturation of it. Yes I know you want me to play it, I know the game is good, I know it’s a well made game with cool ideas… do I want to play it? No. Not anymore at least.

I've always wondered why people compare the fanbases with the franchises. Do you really need to be apart of the fanbase to enjoy the series? I can enjoy Dragon Ball without interacting much if at all with the fan base.

I think the only time this has ever happened to me was with Beserk. I hear how absolutely fantastic it is so often, usually by Beserk fans, but I'm pretty hesitant to read it because of one guy. It was in the comments of a vid about AoT, he said Beserk makes AoT look like child's play, and I simply said "I dunno man, it's pretty hard to top literal genocide lol" and it was pretty harmless. Not trying to insult Beserk, I haven't read it so I can't say how good it is or how dark it is, but It seems a Lil silly how it's the best thing ever and is the darkest thing ever with no competition (presumably). But this guy drags me into some big ass argument, bro went on about how shitty AoT is and how I'm a fkn idiot for not reading Beserk, Yada fkn Yada. I gotta admit, I really don't feel like reading Beserk now. The fan base turned me off by being so in your face about how good it is, and that guy made me have a bit of a resentment for the fans and the series. Why would I want to be associated with the guys who don't respect my boundaries or opinions and shove it down everyone's throat?

I love the Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss shows, but god damn do I hate the fanbase. So many fucking OCs trying to be pushed as canon and fans who get pissed characters in the show don't act like their head canons.

I hold no empathy for people who defend garbage by saying "Art is subjective"

I see the appeal of having a community of people dedicated to talk and share about something you like. But for me if the community is full of insane/horrible people you can't avoid. I'm more than happy to quietly like something and have as little contact with the fandom as possible. The only type of work, I can think of that you can't avoid the fanbase is multiplayer-only games, since the other players are part of the experience.

Yes. for all of the hated fanbases the medias themselves aren’t necessarily bad it’s… the fans. 14 year old girls run our earth

Fanbases don't ruin media, they ruin people's perception of said media. But only if said person witnesses the fanbase. I had a friend who was really into the anime Fire Force and begged me to watch it, so I watched like 10 episodes and gave up cause I thought it was shit

One piece of media I really like apparently might be cancelled because people refuse to comply to the creator’s requests. Like not to sell their creations or making nsfw artwork of their characters.

I think the issue is that fanbases can potentially ruin the perception of a piece of media/art to people who have yet to experience it. How many people don't watch anime because of toxic weebs? How many people hated MLP back in the day because of bronies? How many people hate Star Wars because of toxic fans? A lot, but a common trend is that they're not so much put off by the work itself. Rather, they dont want to be associated with the fanbase. I don't blame them either. But there's an easy solution, just *don't* interact with the fanbase. Fanbases do a small disservice to the work itself by ruining the perception of potential new viewers. However, it is unfair to judge a work of media/art based entirely on the fans. The actions of the fans do not diminish the work in any way because the original content and intent remain unchanged. Works of media/art can absolutely be enjoyed without having to ever interact with the fanbases. I believe all potential new viewers of any work should keep this in mind. You don't have to be a part of a fanbase or label yourself to enjoy a work of media/art.

That tf2 spy saying pornography literally scared me

I've seen some of this happen online, specifically I've come across posts (not that many really, but still posts) from people who became tired/couldn't enjoy Star Wars anymore because of the unbearable and toxic nature of much of modern discourse surrounding Star Wars in general, primarily from critics of modern SW projects and the debate between them and other people. It became too much for them and honestly, I feel bad because one's enjoyment of any work should be based off of its own merits rather than its fans. Personally, I separate the audience from the art since a) it's really easy b) I kind of have to this day.

i remember there was someone in my class who always told me to play Devil May Cry 5 just so that we can talk about it at first it made me not want to try this game at all because that person never shuts up about anything but then at summer vacation i saw some videos of a newcomer to that series playing through all of the games and giving his thoughts about them and that made me interested in the Devil May Cry franchise i now beated Devil May Cry 3, 4 and 5 on DMD and i had a fucking blast doing it i will never buy any more video games i have like 7 games already

I think the worst part of a bad fanbase driving you out of something you enjoy is when that thing you enjoy is simply too unique for anything else to fill that itch for example smt which I love but the fanbase behind has been testing my tolerance on it with all the stuff like doomposting, toxicty, elitism, and so on yet when I try to find something like smt to get away from the fandom I just can't find it not even an indie game the closest I found to it was a touhou fan game in development inspired by old megaten which I know absolutely nothing about touhou (i'm still interested in it) but yeah it just feels like its to hard find another kind of art to fill an itch when the last art you enjoyed is too unique

As a Fallout fan, i can confirm that a fanbase can ruin an experience I avoided the Fallout series for years for how annoying and invasive most of the fans are (especially the obsidian fallout fans), and after i played all of the games the fanbase somehow turned out to be worse than i thought, because i ended up realising that the bad part of the fanbase most of the time don't even understand Fallout, they made me think that Fallout was something completely different than what it actually is.

Fanbase toxicity is why I exclusively stay in the fringes of whatever media I enjoy. To me, being a fan of something isn't about existing in a community - it's about my personal enjoyment of it, and that's it. Anything else, be it toxic fans or weird AUs be damned.

The biggest example of this has been My Little Pony. Bronies were such a driving force of the show that the entire IP was worse off because of it. -Starting Season 4, the show became a hollow form of itself with references taking the foreground, 4th wallbreak gags, etc., it got REAL bad at EP 100, where they went full on balls to the walls with fanon being canon -The toyline was absolutely demolished; The entire point of the MLP figures were to brush their hair and style it yourself, then fans bitched about it and it got replaced with plastic that resembled the show's characters. -The sexuality towards the show wasn't a "there's rule 34 if you can find it," but it was prominent and nigh unavoidable both in public and online (remember that it was normal at Bronycon to have fucking waifu pillows of Scootaloo - A LITERAL CHILD)

I mean, the welcome home fandom became hella toxic and gate keepy within hours of it blowing up- and I think that speaks volumes about some fandoms or how fandoms work in general

Beautifully said. As a fan of Undertale, I'm honestly scared sometimes to admit it or tell it to newer friends. Hate for them too assume anything sadly. Thanks for this vid

Just another reason to not go on social media

I'd say just don't let the fanbase ruin something for you. Despite the fanbases being not the best, I got into Genshin Impact and Valorant and man these 2 are fun (I probably have more examples but can't remember)

How to deal with someone forcing you to watch/play something: 1. Got to google 2. Search [Thing they want to force upon you] Spoilers 3. Read 4. Mention casually to them the spoilers

This video reminds me of that time someone wanted me to watch a Disney cartoon called Amphibia Even though it wasn’t my cup of tea probably because I’m older. Same person was also kinda annoying and is the Twitter user type so I don’t miss them

"Do Fanbases ruined Art?" Fill-in Memes from DeviantArt: Allow us to introduce ourselves

the entirety of "Meet the Spy" sped up except when spy says pornography

I have several critiques of Helluva Boss but the fanbase is made up of mostly kids and teens who sure as hell can’t handle any criticism, so… I’ll just wait some years until the show fully ends and the audience actually matures.

This can apply the other way round, art ruins fanbases too

Wasn’t expecting Persona 3 and Sonic frontiers footage today but I like the topic

I'm surprised that more people haven't talked about this topic before, it's oddly mature. Like, we all agree Art can be interpreted in any way. But we almost never talk about what happens when someone doesn't interpret but personates art. Slowly taking their entire love for a piece of art into their core personality until it just is, I find it kinda odd and sad. Art has been a thing for such a long part of Human history and yet we haven't matured long enough for us to separate art we perceive with our being. Art is moving yes, but never should define you, especially if it's not your own art. Oh shit I fuckin ranted for a bit lol TL;DR - Love stuff, don't steal things and call it something that you specifically love

Fanbases dont ruin art, they ruin the memories associated with it

I do like MHA even though the fan base is toxic, but I'm a fan of final space. As seen in my PFP 😂 its lesser known so far. The fan base isn't toxic as well, as well, as a Lego monkie kid

Ι really enjoy these video essays. Great work!

Whenever i think of anime, i just think of the chill anime fans or the really weird ones ones ;-; *cough* elist, Lolicons , Shipppers ( the bad ones ) , people that like 2d woman too much or men , gatekeepers , and the hentei enthusiastist that wear their hentei hoodie or any hentei clothing in public

From personal experiences, I do feel certain fandoms ruin some people’s perspective of art, an example would be Radiohead because of the hardcore fans that shove it down everyone’s throats. However, I feel the art itself doesn’t get affected overall for the most part. It’s just the fans to get in the way, which IMO, is easy to separate.

I think it's best to let people interact with things on their own and curate their own experiences with such pieces. For example, I kept seeing lots of weird things in the Bluey fandom that make me not want to watch the show, since I related the show to the weirdos, but when I was able to watch it on it's own, I found I liked Bluey- but have made a point to stay far from the fandom. Same with things like My Little Pony, South Park, or Helluva Boss.

I think the only fanbase that destroyed the original art, its the Homestuck fanbase, since Homestuck itself was something that since it first page, the fandom was changing stuff, giving the characters names and actions they would do, but later in years, it got worse because of the Tumbrl people, and made the creator of it, Andrew Hussie, lose his mind over the years, and the lore and stuff on the webcomic got just worse and lame, and as current now, the team behind official Homestuck stuff, is a bunch of twitter toxic racist people, writing the worst things anyone could read.

Fortunately for me, I am trapped within an antisocial bubble and never really interact with fanbases as a whole outside of my small friend group and some Discord servers. I enjoy things like FNaF and Hazbin/Helluva and MLP in a vacuum. Fandoms can definitely hamper my interest in certain media, but way more often than not, if I’m not interested in something, it will be because I don’t like certain aspects of the work itself and not the fandom “ruining” something for me. Namely gacha games like Genshin or Rick and Morty for doing an Alabama resident.

I understand how a fanbase could make you not want to watch/play something. Maybe they're cringe or say it's better than something you really really like. However, it's a you problem, not a product's problem. I had the same experience with Undertale, I thought the fanbase and art style was super cringe(like bruh, goat people??? A talking flower?... how can that be good?), however, after simply giving it a try, it became one of my favorite video games of all time. It's a matter of perspective. Don't judge a product based on the fanbase, there's literally cringe fans in every single piece of media out there. Don't be spiteful, just be open minded. Honestly this has made me appreciate so much more in life. I haven't even interacted with the Helluva Boss community. I probably won't. However, if I got a friend that watches it, I'd love to know their opinions and stuff that differs from my own. Echo chambers are kind of problematic, especially when one develops over hating a piece of media because of its cringe side of the fanbase

Short answer, yes. Long answer. Any group of people can ruin anything.

I relate to this video on so many levels. I hated fate for YEARS because some fan was being annoying as hell about it and spamming me about it and for that i have a hard time tryna get into it

I don't associate myself with most fanbases for some of these reasons, especially when trying things out. Oversaturation does make it less fun to play or watch because it's possibly spoiled. Forcing or trying to force people to approach media a certain way is one of the worst ways fans do thing. Fans grouping up to bully people is uh... just about the worst thing they can do.

This was a really interesting video! Props to you, I enjoyed the conclusion you came to as I never thought about there being two experiences of works. I used to be pretty sure on yes fanbases can ruin things but I'm definitely more yes and no on the issue, for lack of a better term haha.

In my personal experience, I stayed away from so fucking many pieces of media because of the fan base.

Me and my best friend recommend each other shows, games, etc so often it’s crazy. He recommended me black clover which I love now, and he enjoys undertale and deltarune which I recommended him. I gave him fallout new Vegas to play and he didn’t like it at all which is fine, I couldn’t really get into final fantasy X which he gave to me. I show him movies same with him show me movies. We’ve both shown each other movies and shows we found just ok or didn’t like and just move on which is how all friendships should be with things they’re fans of. A great example of this method is how whenever we hang out we go through each other’s likes videos finding videos to laugh at. Because of this we’ve found videos we play constantly and new youtubers to enjoy together. I swear he plays the jerma screaming and farting comp every single day we hang out since I showed it to him. Tldr: sharing stuff you’re fans of with your friends is good don’t get too attached to one specific thing hoping they’ll love it, because maybe the next thing you show them they’ll love even more.

The Sonic Fanbase: *Yeah, we already know how this Fanbase is* The Mario Fanbase: *Eh* Tiny Toons Fanbase: *It is kinda controversial (or Im just confused)* Klonoa Fanbase: *Harmless at best & traumatizing at worst* Oddworld Fanbase: *It exists* FNF Fanbase: *Atleast we got some good Mods* Shantae Fanbase: *Fetish* Looney Tunes Fanbase: *Racist towards Ducks is evil* Space Jam Fanbase: *I don´t like where this is going*

I wish Genshin isn’t so popular enough to attract the toxic fans. Like to me, i think the reason it got somehow popular more than Hoyoverse’s first game Honkai Impact was because some Zelda fan got upset and smashed his PS4

well they don't ruin the art itself, but they sure as fuck can ruin both it's reputation and it's developement depending on how much the artists listen to them. -Undertale is a great-game for many-reasons, but it's fanbase was so cancer and cringe that it basically ruined the reputation of the game forever. -StarVSEvil started as a good-cartoon, but it's community was so focused around it's politics and their favorite ship that the authors ruined their own show to pander to them. so while fanbases can't exactly ruin something by themselves, it's their reputation that end-up influencing and/or impacting how well something is received and remembered. no-matter how good is the thing you're producing, if you end-up developing a fanbase no-one likes or tolerate, peoples will hate your produce just by association.

The 3rd reason definitely has affected me negatively before. With lots of older games like Deus Ex, older fans will pressure newer fans into playing those games at their highest difficulty while going for a ghost/pacifist run from the get-go because “it’s the only way to play it” or some other arrogant reasoning, not realizing that they themselves most likely played these games at lower difficulties themselves and possibly multiple times as well. It’s like these people don’t realize the luxury they were offered by being able to play however they wanted with zero judgment from strangers online, only then would they be skilled enough to complete such a challenge. The game gives you options while it’s players actively take them away.

As a fan of Friday Nigut Funkin, I can confirm that I distanced myself from the fanbase as a result of their actions