Alex Kurtzman signs 4 year contract extension worth $160 Million

[J!!]

No

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

It is as far as them having a vote as legitimate fans of the franchise.

That kind of cuts to the heart doesn't it?

Is there such a thing as an "illegitimate" fan?

It's like the Shiites and the Sunnis. You kind of ask, "but why?" with one of them, but are they either really wrong?

[clearspira]

It is as far as them having a vote as legitimate fans of the franchise.

That kind of cuts to the heart doesn't it?

Is there such a thing as an "illegitimate" fan?

Yes. Every franchise has someone who follows it solely because they want to fit in with a crowd. Perhaps because its cool. Or popular. Or a girl they like enjoys it. Being a fake fan is the very definition of being an illegitimate fan.

Y'know what? During the nineties to early noughties I was a member of several comic book and gaming groups. I wasn't quite the nerd in the back of Games Workshop painting my Warhammer figures but I was close. And I can count the amount of jocks and girls I saw in those clubs on one hand. Come the mid nougties when games and comics became cool? Millions of them suddenly appeared from somewhere, all of them swearing that they had been fans since they were in nappies. All of them wearing the same Captain America T-shirts that I used to be insulted for. Those are illegitimate fans because they were either unwilling to support their favourite franchises when it needed support, or only appeared when they thought there was some cultural capital to be gained.

I am far more willing to believe that those people enjoy comics and games now in 2021 than I was in 2005 because a decade and a half has passed since then and we are now dealing with Gen Z raised on a diet of Twitch and the MCU.

Weeaboos who claim to be anime fans despite only watching Dragonball Z or ''gamer girls'' who cackhandedly hold a controller whilst playing Mario but make thousands because they have their cleavage out are borderline examples to me. Not as illegitimate as the fans who appeared out of society's ass in 2005 but they hardly have much respect among the lifetime fans either.

[TGLS]

So what you're saying is "you liked comics before it was cool".

[Thebestoftherest]

It is as far as them having a vote as legitimate fans of the franchise.

That kind of cuts to the heart doesn't it?

Is there such a thing as an "illegitimate" fan?

Yes. Every franchise has someone who follows it solely because they want to fit in with a crowd. Perhaps because its cool. Or popular. Or a girl they like enjoys it. Being a fake fan is the very definition of being an illegitimate fan.

Y'know what? During the nineties to early noughties I was a member of several comic book and gaming groups. I wasn't quite the nerd in the back of Games Workshop painting my Warhammer figures but I was close. And I can count the amount of jocks and girls I saw in those clubs on one hand. Come the mid nougties when games and comics became cool? Millions of them suddenly appeared from somewhere, all of them swearing that they had been fans since they were in nappies. All of them wearing the same Captain America T-shirts that I used to be insulted for. Those are illegitimate fans because they were either unwilling to support their favourite franchises when it needed support, or only appeared when they thought there was some cultural capital to be gained.

I am far more willing to believe that those people enjoy comics and games now in 2021 than I was in 2005 because a decade and a half has passed since then and we are now dealing with Gen Z raised on a diet of Twitch and the MCU.

Weeaboos who claim to be anime fans despite only watching Dragonball Z or ''gamer girls'' who cackhandedly hold a controller whilst playing Mario but make thousands because they have their cleavage out are borderline examples to me. Not as illegitimate as the fans who appeared out of society's ass in 2005 but they hardly have much respect among the lifetime fans either.

So your believe gate keeping is good, and suddenly having a million more fans is somehow bad for your favorite franchise.

[CharlesPhipps]

I think it may well be that plenty of people liked comics and video games who weren't of the mind it was a lifestyle.

[Deledrius]

I think it may well be that plenty of people liked comics and video games who weren't of the mind it was a lifestyle.

Which is itself not a problem, and generally not something most would object to. There is always room for varying levels of casual-to-ardent attachment in a fandom. A legitimate grievance appears when the arbiters of what is being made and what is official (and thanks to overzealous copyright, the only legal content) shifts to pander to the new audience at the expense of (rather than inclusive of) the existing one.

That's a manufactured but inevitable conflict, and for some reason we tend to favor the corporate argument rather than the individual one, ignoring the gatekeeping that goes on from that side of the fence.

[Madner Kami]

I think it may well be that plenty of people liked comics and video games who weren't of the mind it was a lifestyle.

Which is itself not a problem, and generally not something most would object to. There is always room for varying levels of casual-to-ardent attachment in a fandom. A legitimate grievance appears when the arbiters of what is being made and what is official (and thanks to overzealous copyright, the only legal content) shifts to pander to the new audience at the expense of (rather than inclusive of) the existing one.

That's a manufactured but inevitable conflict, and for some reason we tend to favor the corporate argument rather than the individual one, ignoring the gatekeeping that goes on from that side of the fence.

Quoted because: This! On a financial level, it is obvious that more fans means good things for the franchise and a higher likelyhood of more media being produced for said franchise. But at the same time, this very much can water down the franchise up to a point, where it has little if anything to do with what it originally was. Why some people are very unhappy with such a development, should be obvious and I feel they have a point.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I appreciated Discovery much more once I had seen all the series before it. Picard, as I was more with some seasons/aspects of Discovery over others, I was a bit disappointed with but optimistic for future seasons.

[McAvoy]

So what you're saying is "you liked comics before it was cool".

I was a huge Iron Man fan before it was cool to be one. Can I get a cookie?

No seriously I was. I was reading Iron Man right around Armor War II, or when he was using the Neo Classic Armor. That was after he wore the Silver Centurion armor that was destroyed in the first Armor Wars. It was the armor that War Machine's original armor was heavily influenced from.