The difference between a consoomer and a fan - and what's the difference between collections and a shrine

[Bum Driller]

Consoomers are shallow people with zero personality, who instead of actually working on their inner issues choose to fill that void with plastic and shit that can be easily bought for money. They feign being fans of this or that, buy every possible merchandise related to the subject and then, just as suddenly as they got in to it change in to another product. They are essentially a product themselves, a creation of the unholy alchemy of capitalism and "geek" culture.

Fans on the other hand are usually quite autistic people who actually devote themselves to some particular brand of fictional culture, to such an extent that it permanently shapes their personalities for good or ill. Unlike consoomers, their dedication to their chosen fiction is sincere, and quite deep, to such and extent that they often take it as personal insult if someone criticizes the object of their fandom. They are the people who actually learn to speak Klingon or Tolkiens elven language, or take other similar paths that demand both time and patience to actualize, in stark contrast to consoomers, and who hold the object of their fandom in almost religious awe.

 

[Bum Driller]

Does anyone have any good pictures/examples that aren't consooming?

Enyalië

Enyalië is a short ceremony of Remembrance at Tolkien’s grave in Wolvercote ceremony held on the Sunday morning. It was the origin of Oxonmoot, and is in many ways it’s soul. Enyalië includes a reading…

www.tolkiensociety.org

This is an example of what fans do, and what no consoomer would ever do.

 

[Dimensional Sperge]

I personally think it is fine to have a large collection of something or a theme as long as you're not letting it take over your life and are keeping it separate from things that aren't related it.

I also think it's fine to have a room where you can put your collections into and keep it separate from everything else at home.
E.g. I would have a room where I can have my collections and hobbies in while leaving it out of everything else in my home.

When it gets to consoomer territory is when you are overly obsessed with something and buy things because it's something from the show, anime, game you like with total disregard for the quality of the product and make purchases on impulse. Another time it gets to consoomer territory is when the thing you like dominates your life and is your "personality trait" and you get very insulted when somebody says they don't like the thing you like.

 

[Ratoyan]

I have an acquaintance/friend, lets call him James. James couldn't pay rent this week because he purchased 3 massive lego sets. He has several others cluttering up his room to my knowledge from his flatmate telling me. They are all dusty and taking over everything. Things like lego whitehouses, lego medievil smithing bench towns, etc. When you try to tell James he should clean this shit up and maybe have one or two at a time, he will rant and rave before one of them inevitably falls off his desk and breaks apart and he has to put it back together. This man is a menace to himself. We sorta debate if hes a consoomer or just a fan. He will fight you tooth and nail on every bad purchase he makes and then be unable to pay his actual rent and put himself and his flatmates at risk of eviction. Is this what a Consoomer is? or is he just misled.

 

[Thiletonomics]

I have an acquaintance/friend, lets call him James. James couldn't pay rent this week because he purchased 3 massive lego sets. He has several others cluttering up his room to my knowledge from his flatmate telling me. They are all dusty and taking over everything. Things like lego whitehouses, lego medievil smithing bench towns, etc. When you try to tell James he should clean this shit up and maybe have one or two at a time, he will rant and rave before one of them inevitably falls off his desk and breaks apart and he has to put it back together. This man is a menace to himself. We sorta debate if hes a consoomer or just a fan. He will fight you tooth and nail on every bad purchase he makes and then be unable to pay his actual rent and put himself and his flatmates at risk of eviction. Is this what a Consoomer is? or is he just misled.

That is definitely a case of consoomer, when the desire for product gets to the point of breaking the budget like that.

 

[Jeff_the_Thriller]

I'll admit I have a consoom room. It's a bunch of old vidya and VHS tapes with a CRT TV. Pretty much everything works and aren't overpriced paperweights. There's some signed movie memorabilia (mostly Dead trilogy stuff). Only one Pop but my sister in law got it for me for Xmas.

The room I consider more fan room than consoom room. The general reaction is "that's cool, in a loser nerd sort of way," and not "dear God, you need an intervention for your consoomerism."

I think the main difference between a consoomer and a fan is a fan has interests outside of their chosen franchise. The franchise is all the consoomer has. That's why a lot of fanboys are religious in their devotion to a franchise. Honestly, that's probably me rationalizing that I'm not a consoomer.

 

[LinkinParkxNaruto[AMV]]

Valuing product and purchases above experiences makes you a consoomer

If you like classic literature reading a pirated pdf, a second hand copy, a paperback or a limited edition hardcover wouldn't make much of a diference, same content, same experience, you'd go with the one most convenient for your budget, you'd care more about the act of reading than showing off an expensive book collection on tik tok. Another perfect example is those shitty artists you see sometimes on youtube with 3000usd cintiqs and a huge collection of expensive markers but they put no priority at all on improving their skills and can barely draw a steven universe face, they were trying to gain status for owning something, not by doing something

 

[Jeff_the_Thriller]

Here's the prime example of a fan vs consoomer.


I picked this up at Salvation Army yesterday for $1 because hey why not I like COD and been playing a lot of PS2 and Gamecube lately. The real reason was because there was a memory card still in the case.

Vs:
I need every COD game to complete my collection even though I only play Warzone and I'll never actually play this game.