Infected The Rick and Morty fandom and haters

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It's think this is more of a a millennial thing, but why does it seem that nearly every successful cartoon, TV show, video game, comic book novel, etc that has come out in the past 5 years has had this happen to it?

These different works of fiction and art go through a timeline that is similar to this:

1.X finds success.
2.X gains a following.
3.Fans of X read into the source material way too much and take the product too seriously.
4.Fans of X are aggressive towards outsiders of the fandom.
5.Internet then begins to hate X. This more often has less to do with the source material being bad, but rather the fans are just so obnoxious that people don't want to share interests with someone this unpleasant to be around.

Maybe it's because I haven't watched Rick and Morty in awhile, but I don't remember it being a Nova special in cartoon form. These people have to realize that at the end of the day, it's a dumb, fun comedy on AS, not a pretentious Terrance Malick film with an intended audience of self proclaimed geniuses.
That timeline usually has a percentage chance to happen depending on how popular something gets, sometimes a product gets lucky and manages to fade away into the night with a tolerable fanbase, other times you get SUPER MEGA FNAF/UNDERTALE/MINECRAFT/ETC FANDOM CANCER 2.0!
 
That timeline usually has a percentage chance to happen depending on how popular something gets, sometimes a product gets lucky and manages to fade away into the night with a tolerable fanbase, other times you get SUPER MEGA FNAF/UNDERTALE/MINECRAFT/ETC FANDOM CANCER 2.0!

I would argue that it depends on two factors: exposure by people of influence and the requirements for entry into a fanbase.

If all the right people are talking about it on Twitter or Tumblr and make some popular memes, the fanbase that pops up will probably be toxic because they're already seperating the enjoyment of whatever attention/online interactions from the media itself.

If the requirements of entry to experience the media are too high such as (initially) paying/pirating cable or a video game, there's less of a chance of 'fans' actually experiencing it and they tend to get caught up in online circle jerking or head canon crap.

I dunno. Just my observations.
 
I would argue that it depends on two factors: exposure by people of influence and the requirements for entry into a fanbase.

If all the right people are talking about it on Twitter or Tumblr and make some popular memes, the fanbase that pops up will probably be toxic because they're already seperating the enjoyment of whatever attention/online interactions from the media itself.

If the requirements of entry to experience the media are too high such as (initially) paying/pirating cable or a video game, there's less of a chance of 'fans' actually experiencing it and they tend to get caught up in online circle jerking or head canon crap.

I dunno. Just my observations.
I'd also add on that it could happen at anytime during the lifespan of a product, like for Undertale it happened 1 month after launch while with Rick and Morty, it seems to have happened somewhere between season 2 and 3. It's pretty much like a ticking time bomb that you don't know when it's gonna go off.
 
Hah, and tumblr felt so smug this summer for thinking they're edgy for not liking Game of Thrones and instead liking IT and RnM. And lo and behold, they ended up sperging over clown porn and bad chinese sauce. He who laughs last, they say.

It's think this is more of a millennial thing, but why does it seem that nearly every successful cartoon, TV show, video game, comic book novel, etc that has come out in the past 5 years has had this happen to it?

These different works of fiction and art go through a timeline that is similar to this:

1.X finds success.
2.X gains a following.
3.Fans of X read into the source material way too much and take the product too seriously.
4.Fans of X are aggressive towards outsiders of the fandom.
5.Internet then begins to hate X. This more often has less to do with the source material being bad, but rather the fans are just so obnoxious that people don't want to share interests with someone this unpleasant to be around.

Maybe it's because I haven't watched Rick and Morty in awhile, but I don't remember it being a Nova special in cartoon form. These people have to realize that at the end of the day, it's a dumb, fun comedy on AS, not a pretentious Terrance Malick film with an intended audience of self proclaimed geniuses.

I think it all started with the ponies, then it sorta avalanched from there. Adventure Time, Sherlock, the Marvel movies, Undetale, Steven Universe... There's just something about social media that hypes people up more than it should. Back in the day fandoms were also wild (see the Harry Potter fans of old), but IDK, there was also a level of community and chillness in many other fandoms.
 
I'd also add on that it could happen at anytime during the lifespan of a product, like for Undertale it happened 1 month after launch while with Rick and Morty, it seems to have happened somewhere between season 2 and 3. It's pretty much like a ticking time bomb that you don't know when it's gonna go off.
The show has risen again like an autistic phoenix.

I wonder what other old memes from 2015 will rise from the ashes?
 
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