#poptopics

Gooseworx, is the creator of The Amazing Digital Circus from the Australian-based indie animation studio, Glitch Studios. It became the fastest-growing indie pilot in, 2023 when it debuted. As most colorful and vibrant cartoons do, they attract an array of people who become obsessed with the media, from kids to adults. Some criticize the series for whatever reason you can think of, but the main topic has been with two of the standout characters, Pomni and Jax. Pomni the main protagonist of sorts, is a skiddish, slightly neurotic jester girl, and Jax a supporting/main bunny character with a sly smile and an asshole personality to go along with it.

These two polar opposites originally used to buttheads upon Pomni’s arrival, they then began a budding potential friendship, until Episode 6 when Jax began to crack under the guise of his own fears of getting too close to her and others. Controversy arose on the ever-so-not-lovely forum social site, Reddit, where Goose was interacting with some of the fans, sharing her opinions about her characters. The keyword, HER characters, and fans attacked her for it.

I'm not gonna lie, the TADC fandom is sooo severely reminiscent of the way people treated Rebecca Sugar, creator of Steven Universe, and their crew members during its heyday. So many controversies happened, from a teen fanartist nearly committing, because of an adult male and other adult fans harassing them for drawing a slimmer version of Rose Quartz, the mysterious gem matriarch and leader of a rebellion within the show. Meanwhile, years later the true identity of Ross Quartz comes out. Not to mention, a former member of the show's team, known as Zuke at the time, was an avid shipper of two characters, Lapis and Peridot dubbed Lapidot. They were harassed by certain fans over encouraging small glimpses and nods to their ship in the show, when they were tasked with storyboarding and writing some of the episodes. So much so, that they had to leave just for the sanity of their mental health.

Another example, is with another femme creator, Dana Terrace, creator of The Owl House and co-creator of another Glitch Studios project, “Knights of Guinevere”. Recently, fans of the KOG series harassed and unrightfully labeled Dana as a TERF simply because fans headcanoned one of the characters, Frankie, as trans because of another character in the show misgendering her, and using a male nickname when speaking to her. Dana clarified that Frankie isn’t trans, but this did nothing, and instead the fans were discouraged and started to label her as transphobic all because she clarified a headcanon that wasn’t real, all for a character she simply HELPED in co-creating. Not to mention, in Dana’s Disney series, The Owl House, she had a nonbinary character as a love interest for one of the main characters in the show.

All of this is to say, that the same stuff that was done to them, is being done to Gooseworx, to the point that she’s mentioned possibly not wanting to return to the series at any point in the future because of how toxic the fandom is. The parasociality of modern day fandoms, has been a major issue for years, and it is one of the BIGGEST pollutants within the internet’s ecosystem.

We see it so often in places like Twitter/X, specifically the stan portions of that hellsite, constant name-calling of current and former pop stars over who is a ‘flop’, who is coming out or coming into the ‘Khia Asylum’, and who stole who’s “nachos”. Now I won’t pretend to be above it all, cause I do find certain stan twitter lingo hilarious, and I’ve even been in the trenches of the Steven Universe fandom wars, fighting YouTube creators over theory videos, harassing Tumblr artists over fan art, etc. I’ve done the hard work and learned about the wrongs of my old internet ways. I wouldn’t even want those things done to me either.

I do believe the bigger issue I’ve seen, is that these femme creators are some of the few to have such popular, mainstream shows that have gained cult-like fandoms. Yet, amongst all the divisions, fandom controversies and wars, why is it always the femmes that get the worst people to become obsessed with their work? Food for thought…

I think Dana’s story, like many others, is a testament as to why creatives, especially in animation, are going the indie route. Big corporations only care about the profits and financial gains artists bring in, all the while stifling original stories of their essence (the recent news of Elio’s film, and many more Disney projects).

I’ve seen comments where people think that this wasn’t a good idea, or that they don’t want all her shows and ideas to be about how she got screwed over by Disney, but I personally disagree. Why not tell a story about your experiences for however long it needs to be repeated? Telling your own experiences in whatever medium is cathartic, it’s healing, and it’s vindicating of what you experienced. Why not make something that you and others will enjoy? It’s a win-win!

Whether you’re a music artist, visual artist, writer, animation/VFX artist, companies don’t care about your ideas or concepts. They just want to milk you for what you’re worth, exploit your ideas, and discard you once they’re done. That’s entertainment, that’s business, and that’s showbiz baby!! And after yesterday’s recent news, Disney has already retaliated and has BASICALLY stolen Dana’s The Owl House nacho recipe for a new movie they’re making, that I will not utter… go look it up yourself if interested, it’s all over the socials.

This is one of the main reasons why I would LOVE to create my own indie animation studio. Glitch has really inspired me, and seeing so many indie pilots being released nearly every week fills my heart with tons of joy. The idea of working for big corporations and seeing how often execs in suits will force you to tell a story based on their company values, beliefs, and what they think audiences want vs. being authentic to your own vision, and telling a story that uplifts the voices of underrepresented people that they can feel seen in. That is what my future company will represent, and those are the kind of stories I want to tell.

I have sooo many ideas for shows; from a fantasy series with 7 mythical creatures and mages protecting their world from dark magick. A coming-of-age series about a teen who moves to a new town full of heroes as he battles his own struggles of adolescence. A sci-fi series about a family that travels through the cosmos helping foreign creatures and discovering the disappearance of their mom and her true identity. And an isekai-inspired series that takes place in cyberspace with a cybernoid spy and a quirky human joining forces to keep the digital world safe. (I’ll likely talk more about these shows at a later date when I feel comfortable to).

This situation is partially why I have never been able to get into K-Pop/J-Pop as a whole. These Korean and Japanese music labels want to incorporate the swagger of black cultural elements by washing over them with Asian artists and performers. Copying multiple 90's groups, Michael Jackson, Tinashe, and so many others. I don’t hate K-Pop or even J-Pop, I’ve just never gotten into the globalized hype of it — when there are American and UK/European black and POC popstars that do electropop, R&B, can rap, and create alt music, yet they never get the credit they deserve. So in a sense, I don’t fully respect it, nor the practices they have of overworking their artists to exhaustion and burnout.

Girl groups with interracial dynamics have been going on for years. Some of the most successful being groups like Spice Girls, 3LW, Little Mix, Fifth Harmony, The Pussycat Dolls, Danity Kane, and now Katseye. The main thing a lot of these girl groups have in common, is the mistreatment of the black women apart of said girl groups.

You have RECENT examples like the treatment of Normani during her Fifth Harmony days. Albeit, Fifth Harmony conceptually failed as a US girl group in many different areas, and having Camila be the breakout star that Normani should’ve been is one of them. However, Normani has had an onslaught of issues happening in her life that prevented her from being THEE premiere black pop girl we’ve needed since the debuts of Beyoncé and Rihanna. From the health crisis with her parents, the mismanagement from her label, the misguidance from her team, to herself not having the full confidence and drive to pursue a solo career. I don’t want to count Normani out, because I believed in her wayyy before the majority of the current black pop/R&B girls started getting their shine, however, I just don’t know how she’d stand out and have staying power with the obstacles she’s faced.

As someone that was never a Little Mixer growing up, I don’t have much of an opinion on the issues Leigh Anne faced — other than the time Jesy Nelson tried having her solo career, only for it to be cut short because of the stereotypical song “Bad Boy” she released with Maga Minaj, sampling [REDACTED]’s song ‘Bad Boy’. Not to mention the blackfishing she was doing at the time. Yet, the fans of the group never defended Leigh Anne, when she was experiencing several forms of harassment and racial attacks… like girl what??

Manon recently spoke out in an interview with The Cut about her treatment during the making of Katseye via Pop Star Academy on Netflix, saying how she’s reflected on the things that were said to her by the staff, “Being called lazy, especially as a Black girl, is not fair. Now I feel like I always need to put in extra work to prove something, even though I really don’t.” Further saying “America has a very different culture when it comes to work-life balance. You guys are all about grind and hustle. In Switzerland, if you’re sick, you take a day off. No one’s going to expect you to work.” And everything she said is 100% true. America is known for its chase the bag mentality, we live to work, and in comparison with other countries and ethnic cultures, they work to live a free life. Even if you have ongoing health issues, like Manon, Western society expects so much out of you. Instead of giving people the time and healthcare to heal on their own time, America wants you to push yourself to the limits and then toss you aside just to replace you.

The main draw to Katseye for me was always my two biases, Lara and Manon. They’re beautiful, personable, melanated brown QUEENS!!! That’s not to take away from the other girls, but as a black person, we naturally gravitate to those who look like us and share our same experiences, and this is why diversity is important, no matter what medium or media it’s divided into. Lara being of South Asian descent, and Manon being of Ghanaian and Swiss-Italian descent, are what make them such standouts for me. Manon will thrive no matter the outcome of this. Immediately after news broke, black women across the industry have been showing her so much support, from SZA, Chloe & Halle, Leigh Anne from Little Mix, and even Normani. It’s beautiful to see such a strong sisterhood forming in the wake of this mess.