#hype backlash

the idea:

The 2003 BSG relaunch is apparently seeing something of a resurgence right now.  I’ve seen more and more people discovering it online over the past few months and beginning full-series watches.  I’m happy for any old TV series to get rediscovered (Although the thought that a show I watched as it aired is now considered “old” is disheartening), but I’ll be honest that I was never as in-love with the series as others seem to be.  And after seeing so many people talking about how it’s one of the greatest underappreciated shows of the ‘00s I’ve got to get out my thoughts.

It's not a BAD show, not by any means, but I do honestly think it was much more impressive at the time it came out than it is now.  It tried to do new things for TV sci-fi in the early 2000s, and now that other shows are doing those same things better it doesn't stand out.  It was the novelty that made it seem so amazing at first.

Tumblr: OMG this movie is wonderful I love it it's the best it should win all the awards!!!

Movie:*wins all the awards*

Game/show/media of any kind gets good reception At First and becomes incredibly popular and praised, so much so that a subset of its fans get to be really annoying, which starts to poison the media's wider perception

Time passes, then either because of poor fan behavior or the media in question making some sort of faux pas/mistake/decision some people decided is an Unforgiveable Sin, and the reaction is swift and violent, former fans turn on the media and tear into it/the creators viciously, people start to say it was always Terrible and anyone who actually liked it was too stupid to see it, the idea that anyone might Still like it is mocked and so are they

And the formerly well liked thing (or hell, even person) becomes hated (often by an extremely vocal minority who bully and shut down anyone pushing back) and it and its remaining fans are treated like a joke

And it just Keeps. Happening.

Due to the fact that ‘The Junkyard of the Circuit Chaps’ had been lost long ago,

For the most part, people are pretty aware of what a popular show/book/movie/whatever can bring out in some people. For whatever reason, sudden surges of popularity can make them really, really tired of seeing the next big thing plastered everywhere. And I actually kind of get that—it can be annoying to anyone! People can feel left out if they’re not in this huge exploding fandom. But when the same thing happens to characters who suddenly get popular, things get weird.

My first “big” Internet fandom was MLP, and like many of its fans, I loved (and still love) Princess Luna. Her backstory was fascinating, I identified with her volume control issues, and night sky motifs have always been gorgeous to me. She was basically my best pony all through Seasons 2 and 3 until I started noticing tons of “Luna is overrated” posts.

“That’s okay,” I thought. “Not everyone can like every character, and Luna has a lot of fans anyway. That doesn’t mean I can’t like her.”

Then I saw Frozen, and really liked Elsa. Same thing here—the Internet loved her for a few months, and then decided she was overrated. Except, by the time it reached this point, it got far worse than just not liking a character—for both Elsa and Luna. People would try to take apart their stories just so they could say another was better than them, even to the point where Frozen got critiqued to hell and back for not as feminist as other Disney princess movies.

And you know what? I still get this. I still understand every one of the “X character is overrated” arguments. I like other Disney movies way better than Frozen, and nowadays, Celestia is my favorite MLP princess. Characters can still be overrated and maybe the two I mentioned are.

But when your favorite character gets thrown in the cringe bin, and it keeps happening in other fandoms, you stop wanting to admit who your faves are. You stop wanting to like popular characters. And that can easily lead to not wanting to admit your favorite show/game/whatever anymore, either. MLP, Undertale, Steven Universe, anyone?

“X character is overrated!” That’s fine, that’s your opinion.

“People who like X character aren’t real fans!” “People who like X character haven’t even watched the show!” “People who like X character are just cashing in on the fads!” That’s not okay. It might not be a big problem in the grand scheme of things, but making people feel ashamed of what they like (as long as it’s a harmless, silly thing) can lead to bigger things, believe me. Especially if they’re young and just want to have fun.

I started watching BNHA lately. And anyone who knows anything about the three fandoms I mentioned (heck, basically just the Elsa hint, even) might be able to guess the character I like. Heck, I’m a sucker for a good sad backstory. But the very minute I checked Tumblr and found out that Todoroki was a very popular character from a very popular franchise, I panicked. To this day, I haven’t seen any posts specifically saying he’s overrated. And that’s when I realized.

Hype backlash can keep you from liking popular series, characters, anything, even when it’s not even there. Because you remember where liking that sort of thing landed you at before, where you pretended not to like that series or character just to be cool. And even if it’s just a small thing, you’re still keeping yourself from enjoying things, and believe me, that can fester into something far worse.