Every fandom has its downside. People are a part of a fandom and some people just don’t know how to play nice and ABSOLUTELY MUST BE RIGHT GODDAMNIT! Every fandom I’ve been in ever has always had some sort of drama.
"Who’s on top" wars (thanks SasuNaru fandom for introducing me to that, seriously, destructive debates on whether or not Sasuke was on top or Naruto was on top. We all shipped the two of them together but the drama came from who topped who).
"Which pairing is best" wars (all, extra bonus if the same character is involved multiple times: MakoHaru versus RinHaru).
"This character is/isn’t gay" wars (all, especially Persona 4 and Kanji).
"This is canon and here’s why" debates (all).
"This character is (insert label here) and here’s why" debates (all).
"How could you like this character when they’ve done this and this and this" debates (all, a good example is Adachi from Persona 4).
"This female character is a bitch and here’s why" debates (Gundam Wing, Naruto, any lady who interrupts the yaoi, ect., even if she isn’t in the way at all and the yaoi isn’t canon)
"This character looks like (this) stop making him/her look like (that)," debates (pick a fandom, really, and change the character in some way — genderbent, racebent, ect. Or, in Persona 4’s case, the trans Naoto debates)
It goes on and on and on, but it’s important to remember the good in fandom, which is when you meet those awesome people who you just click with. Not to mention the creativity in fandom (fics, art, vids, cosplay, ect.) There’s good in fandom, trust me :)
I still remember the good, and I’ll always be thankful for those small but meaningful moments where people aren’t acting like spoiled little brats. I think I’m overly bitter with this fandom more than others because of how much I love the games. I’m just tired, oh so tired. Three years of seeing this thing grow from lovable to unbearable breaks you.
I’m hiding a lot more resentment than I’m showing or ever will show. I will refrain myself from doing anything unforgivable, although my patience is easily triggered. The less I involve myself the better. I don’t want to relive some bad experiences.
I know this feel. This was me and Naruto. I loved that fandom so much. I wrote so much fic for it, long fic, chapters and chapters, fic challenges and everything. I mean hell, my first book started from an unfinished Naruto fanfic. That fandom was my baby. Gundam Wing was my first, and Yu Yu Hakusho the second, but I invested SO MUCH TIME in Naruto.
But the drama, just, omg. I will never forget the SasuNaru vs NaruSasu war on livejournal, just… so many comments, SO MANY, you’d think they were debating the presidential election. So much hatred, and anger, over WHO WAS ON TOP! Then there was the Sakura hate, the, “OMG SHE’S IN THE WAY,” even after she had a part where she said she wanted to help bring Sasuke back for Naruto’s sake. Just… so much, so much, and I felt so bad, but then I remembered all the good. Without that fandom, I wouldn’t have started my book, or hell, the book I have with my partner. It all started with fandom and random roleplaying. I’ve also made some good friends through that fandom, who I still talk to even if I’m not a part of it anymore (which isn’t because the drama drove me away, I just got tired of reading the manga).
So yeah it sucks, but just hold onto the things that made you love the fandom in the first place. That’s never going to go away. The characters are still awesome, the plot is still great, there’s so much to love about Persona 4 :)