What A *True* TransFan Is!!!
JHooksX
thrown around the group, I think its time for our resident TMBG fan's essay to
be reposted. :)
_________________________________________________
The notion that fandom can be ranked and scored, that one's
knowledge of trivia and/or collection size defines not only "fan", but
"better fan than you". The philosophy that someone who likes/dislikes a
particular aspect of TFs is not a "True Fan".
"True Fan".
I've seen that phrase tossed across this newsgroup countless times.
Every time, it disgusts me. Unlike some people, I don't feel this
paranoid McCarthyist urge to divide the world into the black-and-white
division of holy and good "True Fan" and evil "Not Fan" based on my own
personal preferences of the TF universe.
What is a TF fan? As far as I'm concerned, a fan is anybody who
holds an interest in the aesthetic aspects of TFs... someone who cares
for MORE than a TF's resale value. Someone who enjoys the IDEA. ANY part
of that idea. I know plenty of people whose only interest in TFs is
selling them. Does that bug me? Hell no, I deal with these people every
weekend. If anything, that prevents them from saving the cooler ones for
themselves. No skin off my back. (Go re-read the section on toy dealer
comparisons if you want to. The guys I'm talking about here fall into
the latter category.)
And guess what folks. "Fan" encompasses a WIDE range of interests
AND dislikes. I am SO SICK of seeing messages like "Anybody who
likes/doesn't like (Fill In TF Subgroup of Choice Here) isn't a true
fan!", and "You don't know what (Fill In The Blank) is? You can't be
true fan!", and that ilk. "True Fan" is a bullshit term used by
insecure, narrow-minded people acting holier-than-thou, trying to make
themselves feel better by putting themselves up on the "True Fan"
pedestal while kicking others off. There is no such thing as a "True
Fan". There is only "Fan". Any measurement of fandom is arbitrary and
personal AT BEST. What you know, what you own, or what individual
aspects of TFs you like does NOT define whether one is a "Fan" or not,
and frankly, doesn't make anybody a bigger or better fan than anybody
else. Quit thinking that trivia and collection size equals penis length.
(Apologies to the female TF fans out there, but you know what I mean.) I
don't care if you could rattle off every tech-spec from memory
BACKWARDS, myself. I don't care if you own every TF ever made, including
rare prototypes. I don't care if you could act out for me every episode
of the American and Japanese cartoons, including the voices.
Anyone who hates/likes Beast Wars or Machine Wars is a TF Fan.
Anyone who hates/likes Action Masters, MicroMasters, Pretenders, or
any other generally disliked subgroup is a TF Fan.
Anyone who likes G1 but doesn't know what G2, BW or MW *is* is a TF
Fan.
Anyone new to TFs who only knows BW is a TF Fan.
Anyone who likes G1 but doesn't know anything about the Japanese or
European lines is a TF Fan.
Anyone who only likes the first two years of G1 toys is a TF Fan.
Anyone who likes the toys but knows jack about the cartoon/comic
fiction is a TF Fan.
Anyone who doesn't care about ANY of the toys but enjoys the
cartoon/comic is a TF Fan.
Anyone who only likes the first two seasons of the G1 cartoon is a
TF Fan.
Anyone who only likes the comic is a TF Fan.
Anyone who thinks the Decepticons have got it right is a TF Fan.
Anyone who doesn't like the way any of the fiction went but likes
the characters is a TF Fan.
Do you see where I'm going with this? Possessions and trivia don't
enter into it. Personal likes/dislikes don't enter into it. Those are
ASPECTS of TF Fandom, they don't DEFINE it. That "TF Fan Purity Test" of
Diana's is a JOKE, people. (I'm dead certain she'll back me up on this.)
It is meant to provide amusement. NOT to be used as a measuring stick.
I've been on this newsgroup for years. And there have been many
others on it before I was. Some may know more about the whole TF
universe, some may write fanfics or other TF-related documents, but they
are no "better" fans than some lurker or somebody who just joined last
week. So anybody who's been holding back on posting because they're
afraid of being stomped on by some almighty TF clique, stop worrying.
Post away. Give us your questions! We're here to help and encourage and
share, godsdammit!
M "Oh, For The Want Of A Killfile" Sipher
_______________________________________________________
(X)
Rory
<a bunch of stuff>
>week. So anybody who's been holding back on posting because they're
>afraid of being stomped on by some almighty TF clique, stop worrying.
>Post away. Give us your questions! We're here to help and encourage and
>share, godsdammit!
"hey, listen......"
"wha...what's that.....?"
"it's.......it's....."
YOU GOT THE TOUCH.......YOU GOT THE POWWWEEERRRR..!
YEAH!!
(heh, this song just started in my head the moment i finished reading
that paragraph. well put Hooks! )
- Rory
"Windows 95/98 is a real 'Operating System'. It does
whatever the hell it wants to. Thus, all else
should be called 'Co-Operating Systems'"
Scylla
>
> On 17 Nov 1998 15:45:16 GMT, jho...@aol.com (JHooksX) said:
>
> <a bunch of stuff>
> >week. So anybody who's been holding back on posting because they're
> >afraid of being stomped on by some almighty TF clique, stop worrying.
> >Post away. Give us your questions! We're here to help and encourage and
> >share, godsdammit!
>
> "hey, listen......"
>
> "wha...what's that.....?"
>
> "it's.......it's....."
>
> YOU GOT THE TOUCH.......YOU GOT THE POWWWEEERRRR..!
> YEAH!!
>
> (heh, this song just started in my head the moment i finished reading
> that paragraph. well put Hooks! )
>
> - Rory
Ok, before anyone flames HooksX for plagerism, it was the poster above (Rory)
who attributed m sipher's touching essay to HooksX. HooksX was *clear* that
it was m sipher's words. :)
+You'd think I wouldn't have to post this....... :(
+ ^
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+ (( // || `-'
+ \\)) \\ and her crew of
+ //|| )) Femme Space Pirates
+ ( )) //
+ // (( Formerly known as Grrrlgoyle
+
Squid ascii by -Nina Butorac-
Joona I Palaste
: Rory wrote:
: > (heh, this song just started in my head the moment i finished reading
: > that paragraph. well put Hooks! )
: Ok, before anyone flames HooksX for plagerism, it was the poster above (Rory)
: who attributed m sipher's touching essay to HooksX. HooksX was *clear* that
: it was m sipher's words. :)
Erm, Scylla, there's an explanation for Rory's words. Perhaps Rory
didn't mean to attribute M's essay to HooksX at all, but his words
"well put Hooks" refer to the ACT of HooksX posting M's essay, not to
the essay ITSELF. How's that?
--
/----------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Joona Palaste (pal...@cc.helsinki.fi) | | | |
| Kingpriest of "The Flying Lemon Tree" | | | |
| TFA, FtPoW: Stargazer |------- -----------------|
| |------- -----------------|
| G++ FR FW+ M- #80 D+ ADA N+++ W++ B OP+ | | | |
| Finland rules! => | | | |
\----------------------------------------------------------------------/
Cyclonus: What is this place?
Daniel: An ice cream factory?
Cyclonus: You are insolent, Earth boy!
Daniel: Thanks!
--- from "Surprise Party"
Rory
ok, let me clear all this up. um, it appears that Hooks posted the
"True Fan" thing, but they aren't his words but M sipher's?
is that right? i just meant that the whole thing about the "True Fan"
was well said, and i thought Hooks wrote that so i said 'well put
Hooks.'
Scylla
>
> ok, let me clear all this up. um, it appears that Hooks posted the
> "True Fan" thing, but they aren't his words but M sipher's?
> is that right? i just meant that the whole thing about the "True Fan"
> was well said, and i thought Hooks wrote that so i said 'well put
> Hooks.'
No problem, it happens; it's easy to overlook m siphers name in the piece. :)
But certain people like to jump on HooksX for the smallest thing so I was
trying to prevent some slagging over nothing since some people would think
HooksX might have not attributed it correctly. If I jumped the gun, I
apologize, but I'm sick of a.t.t.'s latest bouts of in-fighting.
+
Rory
>No problem, it happens; it's easy to overlook m siphers name in the piece. :)
>
>But certain people like to jump on HooksX for the smallest thing so I was
>trying to prevent some slagging over nothing since some people would think
>HooksX might have not attributed it correctly. If I jumped the gun, I
>apologize, but I'm sick of a.t.t.'s latest bouts of in-fighting.
hey it's ok. i'm getting tired of it too. just when you think the
fights are dying, you wake up and there's 10 more posts in the thread!
just so you all know, i won't be jumping on anybody coz i've learnt to
ignore negative comments directed at me. and if i have to reply, i've
learnt to do it calmly. and i also try my best not to make comments
that might start a flame war or fight or something. i'd just like to
join in the fun discussions with everybody else :-)
i guess it must be weird since i kind of just jumped into the threads
a couple of weeks ago and nobody really knows who the hell i am. maybe
you all would like an introductory post about myself? maybe the
regulars on a.t.t. could do that too. and some of the lurkers who want
to join in the discussions but are a bit intimidated. it would be
rather nice in the midst of all this fighting and bickering. why not
try and strengthen the a.t.t. community and get some constructive
discussions going? it's a good idea to get to know everyone before
going to Botcon '99 too :-) watchy'all think?
Scylla
>
> On Fri, 20 Nov 1998 06:50:22 -0800, Scylla <der...@ccnet.com> said:
>
> >No problem, it happens; it's easy to overlook m siphers name in the piece. :)
> >
> >But certain people like to jump on HooksX for the smallest thing so I was
> >trying to prevent some slagging over nothing since some people would think
> >HooksX might have not attributed it correctly. If I jumped the gun, I
> >apologize, but I'm sick of a.t.t.'s latest bouts of in-fighting.
>
> hey it's ok. i'm getting tired of it too. just when you think the
> fights are dying, you wake up and there's 10 more posts in the thread!
Ack! Tell me about it. And here I thought the "Decepticons are (not) Evil"
thread went forever. :p
> just so you all know, i won't be jumping on anybody coz i've learnt to
> ignore negative comments directed at me. and if i have to reply, i've
> learnt to do it calmly. and i also try my best not to make comments
> that might start a flame war or fight or something. i'd just like to
> join in the fun discussions with everybody else :-)
Well, that's just Prime! Nice to see someone coming in with a positive
attitude, for once. Maybe you will start a trend. :)
> i guess it must be weird since i kind of just jumped into the threads
> a couple of weeks ago and nobody really knows who the hell i am. maybe
> you all would like an introductory post about myself? maybe the
> regulars on a.t.t. could do that too. and some of the lurkers who want
> to join in the discussions but are a bit intimidated. it would be
> rather nice in the midst of all this fighting and bickering. why not
> try and strengthen the a.t.t. community and get some constructive
> discussions going? it's a good idea to get to know everyone before
> going to Botcon '99 too :-) watchy'all think?
Well, every couple of months or so we have a "who's who on a.t.t." thread
where people introduce themselves and give their "stats". I don't know how
long it's been since last time but you can always try and see if people are
ready to do it again. <g> We do have eight months before BotCon so don't get
too excited or you'll wear yourself out by the time it comes around. :p
Hopefully this latest outbreak of G1/BW fighting is dying down. It also
happens once or twice a year. We're not always this way, really. We're a
happy fun place! (Come on, everyone, prove me right and make me look good in
front of the newbie! <g>)
Welcome to a.t.t.!!! Glad to have you here.
+
+ ^
+ / \
+ \ / .---. der...@ccnet.com
+ | | \___ ,-. . . | | ,-.
+ | | \ | | | | | ,-|
+ |0 0| `---' `-' `-| `' `' `-^
+ // ||\\ and her /|
+ (( // || crew of `-' voted favorite
+ \\)) \\ Femme Space Seacon on
+ //|| )) Pirates ATT
leath...@gmail.com
But that's just how I see it. Your opinion is your own and you can like or dislike my views all you want. It won't change how I feel about this particular subject, but I thought I would offer my views and my explanation of them to perhaps give you another perspective to consider and think about, even if you reject it completely. **smiles**
Zobovor
> This is the only thing that makes sense, at least to me, and thus grants a lot of people
> the proper distinction they have earned by remaining fans regardless of the time that
> passes and the changes that occur.
sure, okay.
I strongly disagree that you have to somehow earn the right to be
called a fan. M Sipher's original "True Fan" rant was meant to
disparage people who somehow felt the need to compartmentalize the
fandom and assign arbitrary values to people based on what aspects of
Transformers they liked, which ones they didn't, how many toys they
owned, etc. The point of his argument was that you're not "more" of a
fan than me because you watch Japanese episodes and I don't, or that
I'm not a "better" fan than you because I buy toys that you don't have
any desire to own. We're all "true" fans regardless of our level of
fan participation.
Of course, his rant was written before the influx of the movie
merchandising glut of 2007, after which droves of people were suddenly
wearing Transformers T-shrits and putting Transformers stickers on
their cars and buying Transformers posters to hang on their walls...
but were unable to visually distinguish Bumblebee from Sunstreaker.
The "True Fan" rant has become infamous (even to the point where it
gets an entry in the Transformers wiki, strangely enough), and I've
always held it in the back of my mind. With that said, I would be so
bold as to propose that going out to see the Michael Bay films and
then uploading a Transformers ring tone to your phone doesn't
automatically make you a fan. I tend to characterize these folks as
Instant Fans, and frankly I have to wonder how many of them have
continue to hold an interest in Transformers six years down the road
(or whether they're now wearing Superman T-shirts just because the new
Man of Steel film is coming out this summer).
Zob
Chad Rushing
>
> Of course, his rant was written before the influx of the movie
> merchandising glut of 2007, after which droves of people were suddenly
> wearing Transformers T-shrits and putting Transformers stickers on
> their cars and buying Transformers posters to hang on their walls...
> but were unable to visually distinguish Bumblebee from Sunstreaker.
> The "True Fan" rant has become infamous (even to the point where it
> gets an entry in the Transformers wiki, strangely enough), and I've
> always held it in the back of my mind. With that said, I would be so
> bold as to propose that going out to see the Michael Bay films and
> then uploading a Transformers ring tone to your phone doesn't
> automatically make you a fan. I tend to characterize these folks as
> Instant Fans, and frankly I have to wonder how many of them have
> continue to hold an interest in Transformers six years down the road
> (or whether they're now wearing Superman T-shirts just because the new
> Man of Steel film is coming out this summer).
fans? The fickle/fair-weather fan is the person who was only
interested in Transformers as long as it's the Big Thing; they soon
move on to the next Big Thing. The devoted fan is someone who shows
interest in some aspect(s) of the franchise through thick and thin.
I'd guess that most ATTers fall into the latter category.
- Chad
Zobovor
> How about distinguishing between fickle/fair-weather fans and devoted
> fans? The fickle/fair-weather fan is the person who was only
> interested in Transformers as long as it's the Big Thing; they soon
> move on to the next Big Thing. The devoted fan is someone who shows
> interest in some aspect(s) of the franchise through thick and thin.
> I'd guess that most ATTers fall into the latter category.
slope rather quickly (are fans who are devoted inherently better
because they've been fans since 1984? Because they stuck around
during Armada or the Michael Bay films when other fans bailed out?
Because they forced themselves to buy toys they didn't like?)
Even I wouldn't be considered a True Fan by some standards, since I
haven't sat through an entire new Transformers cartoon series since
Robot in Disguise. Between Energon and Cybertron and Animated and
Prime, there are hundreds of episodes that I've never watched and
never plan to do so. By that definition, I haven't been a
Transformers fan for at least ten years!
Zob
Chad Rushing
>
> Even I wouldn't be considered a True Fan by some standards, since I
> haven't sat through an entire new Transformers cartoon series since
> Robot in Disguise. Between Energon and Cybertron and Animated and
> Prime, there are hundreds of episodes that I've never watched and
> never plan to do so. By that definition, I haven't been a
> Transformers fan for at least ten years!
in with the bad, so you've missed out on some memorable moments in the
franchise's fiction.
What's funny is that RID is the *only* Transformers series in English
that I have never watched in its entirety, although I saw a few
episodes here and there when it first aired. That is probably due to
it never being released on R1 DVD (although it's probably on YouTube
now). I did watch all of BW/BM when they were released on DVD, and
I've (eventually) watched through every single English TF TV series
ever since. I haven't watched all of the earlier Japan-only series,
but I might someday.
- Chad
P.S. OK, I guess I haven't watched that Rescue Heroes show, either,
but I don't know if it even counts as a real TF show any more than the
Playskool Go-Bots VHS episodes did.
Alden Bates
> P.S. OK, I guess I haven't watched that Rescue Heroes show, either,
> but I don't know if it even counts as a real TF show any more than the
> Playskool Go-Bots VHS episodes did.
TV and everything!
Travoltron
> Poseur!!! Geewuner!!! ;-)
There are derogatory terms like this for people like me. I wish there
were terms for the other end of the spectrum.
There is a certain type of fan that is the complete antithesis of me
that I can't stand. This type of fan apparently believes that
Transformers just keeps getting exponentially better every year.
Whatever product or fiction Hasbro is churning out now is the greatest
thing ever and past product is complete crap in comparison. They will
be very vocal about this and shout you down if you disagree
Another related type get enraged anytime Takaratomy does something
different than Hasbro, be it a new color scheme or a Japan exclusive.
Even if TakaraTomy's version is an obvious improvement, they won't admit
it. They will either whine about it or simply post, "PASS!!" like
anyone cares what they're buying. It goes without saying that they hate
all 3rd party stuff.
Thankfully there is nobody here left like this, but they are everywhere
on the various message boards.