Mingling93 In reply to HoneyL17 [2021-07-03 04:29:56 +0000 UTC]

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PidgeonsPen In reply to HoneyL17 [2015-09-07 02:42:28 +0000 UTC]

Exactly! FC/Canon relationships only become harmful if the individual takes it too far - and by that, I mean trying to enforce their character as the canon's only love interest and attacking other people who feel differently on the matter or who also have their character paired with that same canon. But, again, as you said - most of the FC/Canon shippers are usually children who don't really have a grasp on how to handle these situations. (I myself briefly had to deal with someone commenting on my pictures of Nack, insisting that no matter what he was depicted doing, he was doing it for her character and would get upset if anyone pointed out she had nothing to do with the picture.)

I love a well-done FC/Canon ship. I won't deny it. I can't explain my attachment to the concept. And there are FC/Canon ships that I utterly loathe (ones that claim the canon "rapes" their character and present it as love scare me like no tomorrow) , or ones where I can look and say "I can't see it happening so i can't bring myself to ship it."

I personally can't justify my pairing of Carey/Nack beyond "it makes me happy", which is why I've moved to make it onesided. Mostly. *cough*  

See, I can't get behind the idea of "wanting other people to take ((my)) fancharacter seriously" because I think it's a toxic mentality. Sure, if it were for an original series that one wants to make successful, I'd understand it. But these are Sonic Fan-Characters. It's something meant to be fun, and innocent, and a way to express your love for a series that is very recognizable and popular. I love Sonic Fan-characters. I have an entire folder dedicated to my favorite ones, an entire tumblr tag dedicated to showing them off.

Like... I myself have changed a lot about Carey over the years to have her fit in better with the Archie Sonic continuity, and even moreso after a reboot was done to the comics to make them fit game canon. But I no longer stress over how others perceive her or her backstory or her relationships, because ultimately, I learned the hard way that it's my character, and the only one who has to be happy with her is me. I shouldn't have to conform to some silly elitist group that has dictated what makes a Sonic fan-character "good", and neither should anyone else. 

It's a really gross mentality to have, especially in a fandom dominated by young artists who are honestly just looking to have fun and share their love for a series.

What ever happened to doing something just for the sake of having some fun? Why is everything a competition to be the very best?

I love stumbling across a believable fan-character as much as the next person, but I won't condemn the ones who think outside the box and it baffles me that there's an entire group dedicated to trying to police and dictate quality within the fandom - which, again, is mostly compromised of young, new and sensitive artists.

Your last two points were valid, though. 

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HoneyL17 In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-07 04:00:12 +0000 UTC]

"...and it baffles me that there's an entire group dedicated to trying to police and dictate quality within the fandom - which, again, is mostly compromised of young, new and sensitive artists."

Which was pretty much why the Sonic Fancharacter group had long been closed like it did. XD

I perhaps treated the whole judging system as synonymous with art university standards, being that I have to deal being given critique myself.  In that kind of environment, there's a time for having fun and a time for making a good, smart case for your ideas (like a parody versus a deconstruction story).  Art being 'bad' for the teachers would usually equate to room for improvement for the student, and room for improvement is always a good thing, yeah? (Being a bad teacher in itself is a whole other topic to deal with of course)

I dunno what them kids back then expected to happen by submitting their art to our group then, when there's plenty of other groups and people they can go to to share their fun with.  Just because their character/art was not approved in one group doesn't mean their character/art automatically gets called out as 'terrible, awful, ugly' and all that without reason.  We were quite private was well about our critique, whereas we've had instances of former members publicly bashing our group as run by elitists and snobs.  The misplaced hate was tiring to have to deal with 24/7, hence the shutdown.

Their character, FC or otherwise, is their responsibility at their discretion.  If they asked for critique, they better damn well know critique doesn't always equal a free pass at praise.

(Of course this is merely me expressing my idea of fun in making any character, which is a lotta, lotta research and sticking to plausibility in relation to canon as much as possible ; P )

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PidgeonsPen In reply to HoneyL17 [2015-09-07 04:33:54 +0000 UTC]

Honey the bat is a character you've commissioned art of, have received gift art of, who you've made into your personal avatar and the character most people connect with your name. You'd put loving amounts of time into drawing her.

But at the end of the day, she is Rouge the Bat with a wig and slight palette change and new duds. She breaks the SEGASonic standards by having actual hair. You have much more viable, unique characters at your disposal.

And that never stopped you from being important to you.

So I literally cannot get behind this gross elitist mindset that condemns people for doing just that - loving their creations, for better or worse.

That group deserved what it got, because frankly it was cruel. I'm all for showcasing amazing Sonic Fancharacters, so long as it's done to do just that: show off just how wonderful and unique and creative people in this fandom can be. Something SonicFanCharactersAndRedesigns ( sonicfancharactersandredesigns… )has done far better than that group ever did, while doing it in a matter that didn't use intimidation or elitism. 

SonicFancharacter went wrong because instead of having the honest goal of showing off how great the fandom could be despite the reputation it had, it only served to give the bad rep merit.  Y'all took yourselves way too seriously and in the end, it was a laughingstock. Criticisms towards the group were always handwaved as people being butthurt or upset.

The entire lot was just people who had a bad day and decided to grasp at straws for some wicked sense of control and authority.

And really, half the critiques I saw weren't constructive. I'm disgusted that you feel it ever was, frankly.

Your idea of fun is just that: your idea of fun. It's not a cool thing to impose on other people, and it wasn't cool how many people that group hurt over something as silly as Sonic. Fucking. Fancharacters.

The fact that people think having this elitist attitude makes them better, makes their characters better, than anyone elses is just... odd. A fun, innocent hobby turned bitter by people who think anyone who thinks differently is butthurt and misguided. 

I mean, I do get where you're coming from because I do try to make my characters stories plausible as canon, but holy shit I'm not obsessed over it. And I would never impose my method of character creation onto others. The fact that you're trying to justify hurting peoples feelings under the guise of "critique" is really, really gross and sad.

It is possible to help people grow and improve without hurting them or tearing away at their individuality.  

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HoneyL17 In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-07 08:48:14 +0000 UTC]

Yikes.  Maybe I hadn't thought through the last post as well as I could have.

Honey was pretty much deliberately designed to be as such.  At first she was a direct lift off of me, but her overall look stuck even as she deviated more and more as her own character over the last two redesigns I did.  I couldn't do away with the black hair, because I have black hair.

I can't speak for the other former mods, but from what I remember I genuinely thought I was helping the members then along in putting their FCs together with my critique.  I tried my best to keep any words strictly applicable to the art itself; I can't be accountable for how the person ends up reacting to said words, either in stride or personally (e.g. the eyes look wonky, arms don't bend like that, too dark).  I never once claimed any of my characters were better or 'more original' than anyone else's visually (although I can admit to being upset of being accused of lazy recoloring once or twice, which reflecting on it now was pretty stupid.), I kinda had my own little world with them and I was fine with that.

And criticisms towards the group?  To be honest I wasn't sure how things could have been fixed when it had reached a certain point.  I wasn't there much when it was on the downturn, and it'd be foolish to save face when I wasn't even there.  I'd apologize if I knew by name who was hurting over those past hurts the most.  Didn't know whose word to believe in with that mess.

I do know this: I'm sorry if it seemed like I was disregarding how other people have their fun.  As an art student, when you're trying to show off your art to a certain demographic, feelings kinda have to take a backseat in case of rejection or catering to the audience's demands (and it WILL dare to happen, even to the best of us).  I was treating the whole thing seriously, but it wasn't the best mentality to be entertaining with just anyone.  I'm sorry if that divide ever discouraged anyone from continuing to make art.  Art is meant to celebrate life, fanart, original work, videogames and all that stuff.  Fanart to me now is no less valuable than an original work, and that's my reason for why I treat both with the same kind of light.  Am I a good guy or bad guy for it?  Depends on who you ask.  It's my freedom to use and mine to take responsibility for.

To quote Peter Meiderlin: "In necessary things unity; in uncertain things freedom; in everything compassion." (translated from Latin)

What would you do though to help people grow and improve?  Maybe throw some practical suggestions to the journal entry of your ideas?  This is a good opportunity for more input while people are listening!

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PidgeonsPen In reply to HoneyL17 [2015-09-07 13:11:21 +0000 UTC]

I think my point regarding Honey may have gone over your head. 
What I was getting at wasn't an accusation on your own originality, but rather the fact that despite her being essentially a Rouge edit (in terms of design), you still grew to love and care for the character. As you said, she grew into her own thing over time. Whether or not you've changed her isn't the point, but the fact that despite her not being super *unique* or up to other people's standards, you loved and cared for the character. Enough so that you commissioned Yardley to draw her.

So by that, can you at least understand what I'm getting at with my point on these harsh criticisms? 

Like, I don't blindly love every fan-character I see. I have personal standards and tastes for what make me look at a character and fall in love with their concept and design. BUT I don't feel it's right to try and force my standards onto others, or to make others who don't feel badly. People shouldn't be dragged down for loving their creations - even if you think it's bad or feel it meets the  criteria for a "Mary Sue".

That's the point I was trying to make in my journal. Live and let live. If someone wants to change their character and improve their design and make them believable as the canon cast, then hell yeah! I'm all for that! And if someone is content with their character, despite it's design being perceived by others as poor/cliche and a Mary Sue? Hell yeah to that, too. 

The quality of Fan-Characters in this fandom does not need to be policed. Whether you want to admit it or not, that group was creating peer pressure and hurting others. Maybe you want to shrug it off and say you aren't responsible for the hurt feelings of people who didn't make it in, or who took one glance at the group and felt they would never measure up. Something a lot of these groups don't consider is the actually legit mentally ill people that exist, who will see something like that and let their anxiety over it eat them from the inside-out and cause them to feel as though their creations aren't good enough and never will be. All the young artists who tried and tried and kept returning to the group after making strides in improving, only to be shot down repeatedly.

Thing is, when you keep trying to justify your stance as you being an art student, it comes off as incredibly arrogant. Fan-art is art, yes. I'm glad you understand that. Few people do. But you need to take a step back and really think about just how silly it is to apply it to fan-characters, and stop trying to justify hurting people's feelings over something done for fun. At the end of the day, it's only a hobby. A fan-character can be flawlessly designed, fit seamlessly into the games or comics canon, and have a backstory that ties everything together and seem like it would really do the actual series justice. Which is amazing and I really have the utmost respect for such characters. But at the end of the day, they're just their for their creator to play around with. SEGA isn't going to contact you and say "Hey! Great fan-character! Come over to Sega Of Japan and lets discuss how he can fit into the next game!"

I understand being passionate about your work. Don't think for a second I don't. It's been 9 years since I've first started creating fan-characters for this fandom, 7 that I've been on this site, and to during all this, my passion for my fan-characters and my friends fan-characters hasn't died out. It's an extremely enjoyable hobby of mine, especially coupled with roleplaying. I am content and confident with my characters now, but I know what it's like to be on the other side. I've had my Mary Sue stage and while I look back and laugh, I acknowledge that it helped me. I was no stranger to the words Mary Sue during my first few years on dA. I had people try to hammer in what they thought my characters should be. 

I have been blessed with a watcher-base who, for the most part, respect my characters and the choices I make with them. Who don't shut me out when I take the occasional chance to talk about my own characters or make me feel stupid for enjoying something so frivolous.

The real world can suck. It can be harsh and cruel and exceedingly difficult. I consider fan-characters - both well done and the mary sues - a form of escapism. A harmless, constructive, fun form of escapism. Because sometimes, sometimes you need a way to escape and live through your characters and a self insert can do wonders for ones self esteem. Professional help is important and highly reccomended, but simply indulging in something that can help the process and make things just a bit easier. If you can't personally relate, that's fine. But I know people who can, and that's why I will always stand up for the Mary Sues and the Self-Inserts. You don't know what's going on in a person's personal life; do not be so quick to judge.

To answer your very last question: 

If people want my advice, I welcome them to come and ask with open arms and an open mind. I actually not too long ago helped a watcher of mine bring an idea for a character of theirs to life, as I found they were looking for help in doing so.


And their happiness with the end result made it well worth my time. 

 I will not impose the idea upon people that they absolutely have to improve. If people are content with this being a passing hobby, just for the fun of it - I will not tear them down for it. I will not chase them off and tell them they are not welcome if they don't care to improve. Human beings are not a hivemind. We are independent beings who express ourselves individually. Everyone learns and grows and improves at their own pace.

I've been working for a while on a journal exploring what I personally understand to be the SEGASonic basics of character design, while also exploring how other branches of the franchise (such as SatAM) work, in the hopes that it can help people better understand how character design in the series works and how, if they so wish, they can apply the rules to their characters to make them fit with the actual canon cast, at least in terms of design. It's a huge project and I'm running it solo, so it's been taking a while, but I am definately game for giving people the option.

I am not, however, treating it as some sort of Sonic Bible that must be adhered to. If people want to have their characters as is, I will not judge them for it nor will I support tearing them down or shoving it down their throats. To each his own.

Bah, my train of thought is running out. I do hope I've made my point, and I'm sorry if I've come off as aggressive. It just upsets me that people have developed a sense of elitism over an innocent form of expression, especially one directed at a series that is so colorful, bright and made for a young audience. 
 

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HoneyL17 In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-08 14:37:27 +0000 UTC]

Points taken. I do believe we've both gained a little outta this discussion, emotionally charged as it may have gotten. If only most discussions on the internet could be this controlled.

Can't fault me for treating the whole critique thing being a serious endeavor. There is a line for me for fancharacter design versus actual art presentation (like telling versus showing in a story). I dunno if you think this same way, but that's my line of reasoning for being as 'harsh' as I was. And understand these individuals approached me for input. And it's difficult to gauge how each person was gonna react with the number of entries to scour over, their personal hurdles aside; I was on the scale of expecting said volunteers to be of 'open mind' and treated each submission more or less the same way. Feelings towards the volunteer had to be temporarily cast aside over what my eyes ultimately see (or not see) in the art. It was the only thing that mattered in that situation, and what would matter to everyone else upon the art being approved.

Not gonna deny I might have been needlessly hurtful because I wasn't made aware of the art's importance to the volunteer. But in the grand scheme of things, having art rejected by a group shouldn't cause people to cave in to peer pressure. Groups are overrated in that sense same way as pageviews are. If a person worries if their art is good enough to show up in a group, their priorities are skewed. Don't sweat about the lack of attention, just focus on the fact that you did a good job with your art. And if you DO want such approval, understand that your standards will be challenged by another person's standards. Some of us entertain it as a hobby, others do it as a paying job and need approval to make a living. The differing reasons don't make one better or worse than the other.

Either way, don't give up on having fun while making art. And people can live without most other peoples' approval anyway. Enjoy the work for whatever it is for you, and take a small joy when someone else can relate to your idea of fun.

My kind of fun? I think I'll still be a stickler for the little details, but I will make an active effort to avoid criticism where it just isn't called for. I only hope when someone does seek help from me, I'll be careful with the words I use with respect to them. Time and place for everything!

And with that, I can totally get behind 'live and let live' mentality, at least where character creation's concerned. (And whenever possible, respect source material when trying to incorporate dubious ideas.)

(Also I forgot to mention this last post, but I was a little flattered to know one of my FCs made it in the tumblr you linked up. And art made by someone else at that. Quite surprising.)

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PidgeonsPen In reply to jessycrackers [2015-09-07 00:57:02 +0000 UTC]

Yay! I am a happy Pidge

Honestly, the argument that having your FC paired up with a canon character being "unoriginal" always bugged me because, like... how does who your character fall in love with define whether or not they're a good character? What about pairing your character up with another fan-character makes it different? What nitwit thought that was a good argument against FCxCanon?

I mean, I'm all for people having opinions. I try to keep my FCxCanon stuff out of people's faces over on tumblr by having a special tag for it so people can block it out if it upsets them, but the fact that there are people willing to sit down and talk down to you about why a canon wouldn't be with your fan-character is... awkward. More upsetting is when people insist a character like Sonic would NEVER be friends with someone's fan-character. Like. Bro. Sonic is a huge dork and he's not mean-spirited. He's a very social spirit and he makes new friends in almost every game. What even.

I love your characters from what I've seen. I'm only familiar with Jessy, but I'd love to know about your other creations! OnO I just love fan-characters so much and you've such a great eye for color schemes and well-done personalities! 

OMG, I know what you mean about watching them grow. Hilary and Carey have both been around since 2006, and evolved so much over the years. They grew with me and I just legit can't imagine how people can just not love their own characters. They are our babies. Our brain babies. Birthed from the mind's vagina.

I think it's a shame that people think its cool and edgy to mock other peoples characters. I've seen people resort to creating hate art and rants and sending their watchers to attack another deviant just over fan-characters. It's really disgusting and cruel that peoole have to be afraid of showing off their creations because the amount of backlash that can come from something so harmless is gross. People grow, and their characters will grow with them. <3 Hilary and Carey were both originally created just for the simple purpose of pairing them with canons (Scourge and Nack) and were "Mary Sues" and poorly written (and arguably still are, depending on personal opinion and taste) but really, people need to give Mary Sues and their creators a chance - even if that means simply ignoring them. It's better than tearing down the creator and hurting them over fictional brainchildren.

LIST ALL THE CHARRIES. ALL OF THEM. <3 or not it's fine I'm just glad this journal is reaching people!
Hhhhh thank you! ;o; Jessy's already one of my top fave Sonic FCs. I just love her personality and design and hhhh so much great things. ;o;

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jessycrackers In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-09 22:51:05 +0000 UTC]

hnfksfhsdkhk// late reply
But anyways, aaaaaaexactly!!

It seems people set these unwarranted standards for many aspects of a fan-character, beyond just who they're shipped with, and claim that they're "fact" as to what makes a good Sonic fan-character. It's sad to see so many artists mocked and especially discouraged because of this snobbish mindset that people can have. In the end it's just an opinion.
My characters were uh... "poorly done" by these BS standards at one point in time. It took a while for me to finally decide to improve upon them, I was just so attached to her old look but I pushed myself to try and make her look better. And I did this on my own time, with self-criticism. While not everybody will do this, there's no need to rush people into "bettering" their imagination's babies. In the long run they should really be what makes the creator happy.

And honestly Sonic is just that type of character that has a heart of gold, he'd gladly befriend anyone. He's just such a social spirit lmao. Any FC with a good heart is a friend in Sonic's book, he's just that much of a dork indeed XD

Also wow, since 2006? Man, they must've come a long long way for you! *o* I love the way they've turned out :3, they're one of my personal top favorite FCs out there >u< They have so much personality to them, not only from the way they're written but their designs really speak for themselves! The effort you've put into them all these years really shows!

And omg thank you so much! I really appreciate how much you like Jessy!! It means a ton to me hhhhhhnng ;u; //sobs happily
I have a few more characters to come, writing and drawing their bios is a slow process for me tho ;o;  But I'm happy you're excited to see more of my work, aaaaaaaaaaaa <3

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PidgeonsPen In reply to Axe-Cell [2015-09-07 01:05:59 +0000 UTC]

I don't know, I'd argue that if a character doesn't have any ties to canon materials, exists in their own world, has their own rules set up for said world, has a completely independent story from an existing franchise - it's an original character, even if it's drawn in Sonic style. Because style doesn't define the character. To me, it just means the person hasn't yet discovered their own anthro/furry art style yet. But I do agree that the mix-up's in terminology can be aggravating. For both sides.

It gets especially bad when Sonic fans choose to completely ignore an artist's insistance that their character isn't meant to be a Sonic FC and add it to Sonic groups+folders just because it's an anthro animal drawn in a cartoony style. Both sides can be in the wrong.

I think that bit about the name is ridiculous. You can't really own a name. That's like trying to say "this hairstyle is unique to MY character and MY character only! Any other character with this hair is ripping me off!" - it's just something you can't claim as your own. You may be the first to use it, no doubt - but you've no right to claim an arrangement of letters belongs to you and you alone. So silly!

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Axe-Cell In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-07 07:03:36 +0000 UTC]

Okay, I didn't think about the style of which their characters are drawn in that manner at all. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on that, miss.

Whenever I see a character in my inbox, the first thing I do is check through the artist's description just to see if the character is a part of the fandom or an original character. This also involves a trip through their galleries, cause it doesn't hurt to dig about for more info before I hit that favourite button and possibly leave a comment under that picture as well. I don't want to irk them the tiniest bit, so... yeah. :'D

Bwahahahaah~ I ain't complaining if I were to stumble across a character that shares something similar to mine. In fact, I celebrate it! Because this means that I and the other person would be able to share ideas... if the other person is willing, of course.

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PidgeonsPen In reply to KissTheThunder [2015-09-06 20:18:58 +0000 UTC]

Do it. I'm serious. <3 Spread some love.

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PidgeonsPen In reply to PKBlast1o1 [2015-09-06 18:58:40 +0000 UTC]

"Mary Sue" is such a scary word for young, inexperienced writers because it has such a large presence on the internet. It's not a constructive criticism. It doesn't help people improve. It's just a word used to tell people that their characters are crap (when they're not) and to start silly fights that inexperienced people don't know how to walk away from.

Sadly, there are always going to be people who insist that their unwelcome criticisms are them "helping" and that taking their advice is going to serve people for the better. Insecure pricks who can't accept no for an answer because they couldn't possibly be wrong, and who wouldn't want opinions constantly shoved down their throats without be asked?

I love your characters. I love that there seems to be a piece of you in each of them and that you do what you want with the designs and stories. :> 

 When I first started creating characters, I had never, ever heard of a Mary Sue. I just came up with dumb little ideas that made me happy, slapped them together and was excited to show them off to the world.  Were they terrible? Yes. Were they ridicluous? Extremely. Any redeeming qualities? No. Do I regret that part of my artistic journey? Not at all. To this day I still indulge in things typically seen as Mary Sue ideas; FCxCanon, my characters being frands with a canon, characters with powers, characters who maybe, just maybe, might save the day. I see nothing wrong with it ( and ngl Carey/Nack has been an important emotional crutch for me for many years and it still holds a special place in my heart for getting me through hard times)

Like... everyone starts somewhere. And sometimes, they don't "grow out of it" - we need Mary Sues. They help us feel strong during the hardest parts of our lives, sometimes. It's a guilty pleasure and I wish it didn't have to be. I hate that the internet has made hunting down and flaming people with mary sues a thing. The fact that their are entire blogs and websites dedicated to showcasing "bad" art and characters - usually made by young artists - out there and that people think it's a cool thing to do, at all.

Mary Sues are the ultimate form of fantasy wish fulfillment, done in a harmless yet expressive way. And yes, some Mary Sue creators/writers can be massive dkcwads and really hurtful and immature. I won't deny that there are Mary Sue owners out there who are genuinely mean arrogant people - but not all of them are, and I hate that that's what people think of when usually it's just people looking for a break from reality. 

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PKBlast1o1 In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-06 20:12:33 +0000 UTC]

Yea omg it gives such harsh confines and limits people on what they think they can and can't do with their own characters like people should be able to do what they want with their characters without some fear someone alone is gonna bash them for it. Like seriously, they'll probably end up developing their character later down the road anyway so jfc

//blushes// Gosh hon you're too nice hehe. I really do love the support for my babies. I love your characters as well! Especially Carey and Snaps kill me. (Also Hilary cuz in my head her and Larkena are besties sob)

I'm so glad someone understands that like I honestly could not put into wors any better bless u so much Ceej

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PidgeonsPen In reply to TheDarkMantis16 [2015-09-06 17:02:20 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! Haha, yeah, the Mary Sue bit isn't going to be popular, but I do hope you can at least agree it's not a good idea to hurt people's feelings over fictional characters or to try to enforce your ideals onto other peoples creations and self-expression!

I don't click links outside of dA from people who aren't my friends, sorry! 

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TheDarkMantis16 In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-06 20:25:55 +0000 UTC]

I see.

Aw, that's a shame. qq

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PidgeonsPen In reply to scotskunk [2015-09-06 17:00:40 +0000 UTC]

Very true! I know a few people whose OCs were originally Sonic FCs.

I just wish that people would drop the "HAHA MY STUPID SONIC PHASE WAS SO EMBARRASSING" because like... hey, you had fun, ya know? No need to act like you're above it all. 8D 

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Starimo In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-06 18:00:53 +0000 UTC]

THIIISSSS..... There is nothing embarrassing about having loved Sonic, Lorax, or any fandom for that matter. Nothing embarrassing. You loved it, probably still do a little. It's a part of you and yeah.. =/ 

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PidgeonsPen In reply to Starimo [2015-09-06 18:09:09 +0000 UTC]

YES. You get it omg. 
It just blows my mind that people are so insecure with what they enjoyed (usually because the internet has given it a bad rep) that they act like losing interest in it is  a ~HUGE STEP~ towards being a better person/artist. 

The tag for Sonic Fancharacters on tumblr is litered with people talking about how their OC started ut as an ~embarassing~ Sonic FC and how mortified they are to have ever been a fan and how glad they are to be "above it" now. It's just like... seriously? Talk about misplaced pride and grasping at straws.

No one should ever feel embarassed for enjoying something - especially if that thing happens to be obscure or something other people ridicule or only like ironically (don't even get me started on people who pretend to enjoy a series ironically and to get a rise out of the people who actually enjoy it it and think they're being genuine).

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Starimo In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-07 17:41:44 +0000 UTC]

Yes, yes, exactly! It's so nice to find someone else who gets this!

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scotskunk In reply to PidgeonsPen [2015-09-06 17:05:19 +0000 UTC]

Exactly, I mean, look at neo robia. The majority of the characters in there were all influenced by the sonic verse. But we've moved it away from that not because of us hiding we liked sonic stuff, more so that we could say we have a good standalone story.

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