I really love aftg and I not sure if a should read ICoS cause it’s does looks like a serie that gonna makes me obsessed but there is no active fandom like aftg does have 💔
HELLO
I'm trying very hard not to virtually shake your shoulders and bodily drag you into the ICoS rabbit hole I dug for myself over a decade ago, so I will answer with as much calm as I can. The lack of activity in the fandom can certainly be a deterrent. This is an older series that, very understandably, saw its peak time and then naturally faded into oblivion. AFTG would have probably gone the same way if it weren't for Nora's extra content and then second trilogy and then future duology that's kept the fire going. ICoS is not really dead if you think about how someone will always keep on summoning it from its place of rest every now and then (months ago there was even a little fandom event). Sometimes it's months before someone dusts off the cave, but it happens consistently over time. Still, it's not the engagement you can expect from any other piece of active fandom, which means that the main drive for ICoS needs to be experiencing its story for yourself.
Would you watch a movie you know you'll probably like a lot even if there will be no one else to talk about it with you? Or read a book, or a comic, or anything else where you might not have the option of joining a group of like-minded people passionate about the same thing as you?
I know what I would answer to that question, because it's pretty much what happened to me with both AFTG and ICoS. I was lucky enough to find people who got curious about what I was talking about and that then became part of the little fandom bubble I could interact with at the time. It's even what ended up happening with the Love and Deepspace fandom, which is very big and very active but I'm here just chilling with @chiclet-go-boom in the forum ;D (sorry for the random tag!). And then I have other IPs that I would love to rave about but have no one to do that with. I maybe possibly could if I managed to get someone curious enough, but those are projects that wouldn't pass the sunk cost test of all the time and energy I'd have to invest to achieve that.
All this to say: if fandom engagement is paramount to you, and the story you're thinking of experiencing doesn't have an active fandom yet/no more, you can look at two variables. 1) Would you be able to get others curious enough to get back into this thing that has passed its prime (not dissimilar to how we had a Twilight renaissance)? I can assure you even just 1 or 2 people is enough to scratch that fandom itch if they're all active and at least semi-prolific in fandom content. Consistent flow of new content will also attract others over time. 2) Are there people around already who act a little feral whenever someone mentions the story? For example, if you see my replies whenever someone even breathes about ICoS (you included) the length of my answers should already tell you how hard I'm vibrating at the mere thought of talking about this with someone else. In the tag, you still see people literally post into the void every now and then. They know there's a very high chance no one will even look at them, but they still post. That's when you know there are people starved for content and engagement, but there's nothing regular enough that keeps us in each other's orbit for long. That something might be as little as someone doing a liveblog read, or a fic writer posting drabbles, a fanartist pouring in some art, a meta, a crossover into another fandom. Anything.
If fandom engagement is appreciated but not necessary, then ICoS is a roller coaster that you'll enjoy either way. It's just that good (if you're into its specific brand of chaos, that is).
There, I managed to be fairly impartial in my reply. Now I can tell you: PLEASE READ IT. When I tell people "feel free to drop me a comment as you read by uwu" I'm NOT joking. I WANT a line-by-line commentary, I WANT a 2 months long continuous liveblog. Fucking hell, I'll read it all again the second someone asks me to do it. No mum, ICoS was not my emo dystopian phase, turns out I'm just like that all the time! Read it and talk to me about it!
