Aspiring Comic Writer

This is something I felt has needed to be said for a good bit. And the conclusion of the Amazing Digital Circus only made me feel more adamant about it.

Don’t get me wrong: I have characters I love and stories that have moved me to tears. But at the end of the day, they are just that: fictional stories about fictional characters made by incredibly talented people.

And in my lifetime, I have seen ‘fans’ display a type of anger that is more often than not created by their precious headcanon not being acknowledged, or treating what happens to a fictional character as a personal attack on them.

I’m aware that a lot of this could just be internet hyperbole. That these over-the-top displays could just be how some people express themselves. Except the personal insults and death threats. Those are never okay under any circumstances. I don’t care how upset a goddamn cartoon made you.

All of this kind of reminds me of a recent quote from the producer of The Pitt:

And yeah, I don’t go into a comic, a movie, a game, a book, whatever to see stories that I would write. I’m going in to witness how someone else is writing their story. Did the Last Act of TADC turn out how I would’ve written it? No. Not at all. But it’s not MY story. It’s Gooseworx’s story. And it’s a story I ended up really enjoying.

So if you take anything from this post, it should be this: don’t go into media with the expectations that your headcanons will be ‘validated.’ And don’t tie your mental health to fiction. At least, not to the insane degrees I’ve seen on multiple platforms.

Me and my brother saw the finale of The Amazing Digital Circus in theaters last night. No spoilers, but we absolutely loved it!