#groovy-guy

Basically, Matt Burnett, a member of the crew who is known for answering fan questions - usually around the time new episodes air - and is particularly known for giving jokey, tongue-in-cheek responses, was asked by a fan to explain an inconsistency in the latest episode, “Fusion Crime”. Pearl talks about finding the human process of “eating” to be disturbing, but had previously mentioned in an earlier episode “Yes, I like pie!”

Matt’s response was half-and-half, saying that Pearl liked the “concept” of pie, or rather, the process of CREATING pie, and that the line from FC hadn’t really been thought out well. He admitted it was probably best to call it a retcon.

After this inconsistency was pointed out, several other tumblr users (please don’t name names) began adding a list of inconsistencies, and in some cases demanding explanation for them as well, all in all referring to the episode as if it were nothing more than a list of failures and shortcomings. They also called Matt’s jokey, lack-of-real-answer responses “unprofessional”, which - rightfully - got him a bit upset. He felt that such responses were not criticism of his work, but criticism of HIMSELF, which really hurt.

He closed his Tumblr today, posted a few “don’t worry guys, I’m good!” tweets, saying basically what I’ve just outlined above, and said it would be best if he didn’t dwell on it and just moved on. He said there were more important things to focus on. Namely, his work and his son.

It shouldn’t be a big deal, but it really annoyed me as a wannabe content creator myself, and as someone with a lot of content-creating friends. Artists, writers and the like already get enough flack in their jobs, and to treat them with disrespect over petty details is really…well, petty, and rude. In my opinion, we should all let artists do their thing, let them make mistakes and learn from them.

It’s good that we’re able to be critical and discerning in our ability to point out inconsistency and such, but there’s a line where it goes from constructive and helpful to rude, nitpicky and personal. That’s why I too got upset when I logged into tumblr/twitter this morning. I’ve calmed down a bit now, but this sort of thing really frustrates me, y’know? Pointing out a list of “mistakes” or “inconsistencies” or whatever word you call them really doesn’t help anyone, and kind of makes you look like a wad.