#super fans

Instead of having Hollywood film makers who only saw the original production once 18 years ago make the crucial decisions about how to cast the wicked movie

why don’t they like… ask the Wicked super fans??

Find the teens and young adults who’ve seen it multiple times, have seen videos of dozens of different actors and actresses in the roles, have read the books, have written the fan fiction, who’ve devoted their lives to loving the story

THOSE are the people who know what to look for in an Elphaba. They know these characters inside out because they’ve been living in their own personal Oz in their head for years

So Hollywood, please go out and find the super fans, not the ones who’ve only seen the original cast, not the 12 year olds who are Idina ride or die, the real ones, and have them give their advice, they know how to make it great

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk 😌

(This was in the form of a comment on his video so I addressed it to Dream himself, that’s why it reads as if I’m talking to him)

“I’m sorry dream, I love you’re videos and honestly you are a great person, and I’ll probably continue to watch you, but I don’t agree with the point you are trying to make with this video.

You say stans aren’t toxic, and you say that less than 1% of stans are toxic, but that just isn’t true. Even if it were, the small amount of stans that are toxic overshadow the good ones. They are the loud minority, which encourages others to be forced to normalize their behavior.

When people say there is a problem with stans, they mean the stans who dedicate their LIVES to people they adore. When people criticize stans, they are not criticizing “super fans”, they are criticizing what ‘stan’ really means: “stalker fans”.

You are talking like stans, a fairly large amount of them, are not toxic, but the simple point is that they are. Maybe you are trying to be defensive of them because you appreciate them, and I get that, but as rude as this may sound, this issue goes way beyond you. Look at Jawsh, who basically had a mental breakdown because of stans and went on a Twitter rampage (don’t agree with his wording, he was a bit harsh, but I agreed with his general idea), or Carson, who got called ableist and racist for blocking people because they were making him uncomfortable with tweets, like they were entitled to his feelings.

Dream, you making this video will make people rationalize the toxic things they do. You have not CONDEMNED the toxic stans that are out there. Instead, you tried mainly defending them and condemning the haters. The difference is, haters are already condemned by society as extreme and toxic; stans are not. With this video, you have made every toxic stan think

“well im a stan but I’m not as toxic as other people”

which is not a mindset you want people to constantly have. You are generalizing stans. You are saying it’s ok to not only stan you, but also to stan others. But you don’t realize other people have other opinions.

Not all people are comfortable with what stans do. Hell, I’d be EXTREMELY uncomfortable if your stans did what they did to you, to me. You have to realize this is not a one shoe fits all issue, so please do not make it one.

You can appreciate people who love you and what you do, but the people who are being put down, the people who are being criticized, are the people who are legitimately stalkers.

You are right that you have a lot of haters, but if I’m being honest, I’d say you have just as many haters as you do stans. It’s just hard for you to see because you don’t have an outside perspective. You choose to look away from your actual stans because you don’t want to face the fact that, ya, maybe this is getting a little out of hand. Even if there are more haters than stans(and there just might be), this should not diminish the toxicity of your stans. Of EVERYONES stans.

Dream, I love you, and I’m sure you’re a good person, so please.

Take a step back

And please try to rationalize why so many people have made videos/posts about Stans and toxic behavior

I’m not going to stop watching you as some might do after watching this video of yours, I just hope that, if there’s even a small chance, you might read this comment and consider some of the points I made: not only for yourself, but for other creators, influencers, and even celebrities who feel uncomfortable with stan behavior.

Have a nice day Dream”

And there it is. I know a lot of people won’t agree with me, but I just felt as though dream was doing everything to ignore the actual toxic stans who everyone is always referring to. He talked about how the name doesn’t mean stalker fan anymore, it’s more like super fans, and he’s right. But that doesn’t matter. People wanted him to address the toxic side of his community. Honestly, his video was more about the culture of stans rather than the toxicity of his fandom, which it should’ve been about. All he said about toxic stans was that what they were doing was wrong, but he never elaborated. He always switched the subject to something else like haters or “sports fans” (which was not a good argument I will say, since people seem to be praising it)

**Double post

“So damn sick of the so called “super fans” thinking they own the band, that no one else has the right to a front row, to be at the front of a line or to get the chance to speak to them. The cliques and the rudeness and the constant alluding to private jokes and “being in with the band” hidden within hashtags (or not hidden at all!) is getting boring. The showing off of the 4000 selfies you have with them. If you were “in with the band” you wouldn’t need a million selfies with them to prove it happened. You’d be hanging out with them, you’d be friends. You’re no better than any other fan. Lots of us travel to see them. We can’t all put our lives in total hold to do so but it doesn’t mean we’re not as worthy a part of the fandom as you are.“

Flying High!