Toxic Fandoms

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FANGS

FANGS

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I'm reading through my Facebook feed and seeing all of the excitement about Halo Infinite and then something catches my and I think....what the heck? And then I see it again, and again. And then arguments about why that is true or untrue. And then....people jumping in to complain about something else because they figure it's a venue to complain about all things Halo.

So get this....apparently Chief is now fat.

I'm going to make this short and sweet. Toxic talk is the DEATH of communities. If I see that crap start here, it will be dealt with. The moment we make it okay to talk about a real human in terms of them being too fat, too skinny, too dark, too light, too tall, too short, etc. etc. etc. is the moment we start making our members here uncomfortable. Why would you want to come here and share what you've worked hard on for fear of someone telling you that you're "too" something.

As I'm sure a lot of you know, one of the most prolific toxic fandoms is the Star Wars fandom. Actors have stopped acting to get away from the bullying. Some have even confessed to thoughts of suicide over the "fan" reaction. Look at the outrage at the end of Game of Thrones where people were demanding that the studio re-do the final episode so it matched up with what THEY thought it should be.

You don't have to like everything that is produced for your fandom. It's okay to talk about it. But the moment it starts becoming nothing more than putting someone down it must stop. It stops becoming normal and something we all just put up with when we all work together to make it clear it isn't okay. I don't care if Halo Infinite ends up being the worst piece of crap game you've ever laid your eyes on. Before you start badmouthing everything about it, remember that there are real people attached to that game who worked hard and did their best. It's no different than someone showing off their armor here that they worked hard on and did their best. You do your best to say something nice or don't say anything at all. Keep in mind as well that for everything you really dislike, the person right beside you may think it's the best thing ever. Let people like what they like. We can be better.

I'm not saying that any of the comments I saw were by members here. But we are a HUGE part of the Halo community and we CAN help make this fandom a better place.

'Nuff said.
 
The worst part is this isn't limited to the game side of things, the number of times I've seen it seep into the cosplay community is astounding. Cosplayer is too short, too fat, armour is wrong, costume is cool but it's from a *BLAM* game. There's few things that get me angry in this world but being a *BLAM*lord on the internet because you have the barrier of anonymity on your side is not acceptable. This past weekend WorldsTallestSpartan was sharing work of artists he admired and swarms of comments out of the blue that were just negative and ignorant forced him to bring out the ban hammer and even take down posts just to clear the record of hurtful comments that the original creators may have seen. What the hell internet.

Dear 405th, keep on being awesome and blocking out the terrible human beings with your endless positive outlook and enthusiasm. <3
 
I may be new here, but that also means I come in with fresh eyes. I just wanted to add that I've not once seen a hint of that kind of mentality here, as everyone I've engaged with on the 405th has been passionate about helping others simply be their best cosplayer, regardless of what they want to play. I think that we have some responsibility in bearing the mantle to change this kind of toxic behavior/thinking. Seeing upper staff make this claim just reaffirms what I've seen on my own through the 405th.

Let's continue keeping Halo classy guys/gals :D
 
We have been battling this full on in the WWII community, a small but vocal portion of the community thinks it's cool to berate newer people and their outfits. This inevitably leads to less growth and less new people which in turn leads to the hobby "dying" as some say.

There is no mistaking as stated at the top, toxicity will kill hobbies. Glad to see we are taking a head on approach to this and being proactive!
 
I think that historical costuming communities might in fact be the original start of this sort of behaviour. It's totally fine to want to encourage people to keep learning and growing and improving your skills. It is never okay to make someone feel bad about their choices and skill level.
 
FANGS said:
I think that historical costuming communities might in fact be the original start of this sort of behaviour. It's totally fine to want to encourage people to keep learning and growing and improving your skills. It is never okay to make someone feel bad about their choices and skill level.
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This would make sense to me, they seem the type to get worked up about "historical accuracy".
 
In fairness, any of these groups have members who work very, very hard to learn everything they can and it's a passion. That sometimes makes it hard to understand when someone is okay with something that is just "good enough" or "close enough". We just have to be mindful that everyone has different levels of what they strive to be and do and it isn't wrong.
 
FANGS said:
In fairness, any of these groups have members who work very, very hard to learn everything they can and it's a passion. That sometimes makes it hard to understand when someone is okay with something that is just "good enough" or "close enough". We just have to be mindful that everyone has different levels of what they strive to be and do and it isn't wrong.
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Totally agreed, the fact of the matter is no matter how "accurate" you are or attempt to be you can only go so far. We're not in the past or future and we're here to have fun! Everyone has their own budget and skill set and they operate within that constraint.
 
People need to be mindful of others and honestly. I don't mean all this whiny coddle people and walk on eggshells mindful. I hate posting a lot of just my personal life because of hateful people. As cosplayers we know what it takes and always need to just accept people and their skill. All these hateful people and even 405th members posting their hate about some in just halo tore down the community. I will put my 2 cents in only in personal conversation in private message or in person. Where I live Halo use to be big but with a lot of trash talking and people not getting what they wanted it has slowly died off. That is a perfect example of being toxic. I admit I have get mad I get mean and trash talk, we all might at one point in time. But People must keep in mind on things like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter; that everyone is watching and whatever we post toward halo or the 405th is seen by all eyes and starts to create this image.

I get so mad at people being toxic to others when they are doing their best. Example I admit it I don't like DFT armor BUT, it is great for the beginners. I would tell all new comers go ahead use it a learn the skills. But always push to become better and never bad mouth someone's skill and always defend someone trying. We in colonial try to push each other and if someone seems to get mad or upset about something specific we stop and move past it. Being toxic about something someone else does because you simply don't like it, or they way they look doesn't make that person better. I tell my kids this all the time, "Treat others as you wish to be treated. If someone just stays mean just smile because you are the better person for not being mean."

At sci-fi Valley Comic Con I got one statement after the other. "I can't do something like this." I calmly looked and asked why and after they were done I showed a image of one of our members in his DFT. Then I pointed to the member talking to people in his armor. It shows how far he has come. Never push those away of make it seem hard. I know colonial does it but we ask if there are local to that event and say hey we can get together and we can teach you. These things make me proud to be apart of the 405th, we open our arms to help people grow and develop their skill. So saying mean, rude, or otherwise bullish things shouldn't be a thought we all have we are in a community of great support and a community with a similar interest and we should carry that to all fronts of cosplay, community, and our lives. The world is a dark enough place anymore; be the example and show how being a supportive person is a great thing.
 
If you ask me , It is getting pathetic imo. As much as I can say that it takes hours , heck that, days ! to just create a model with significant details . I have friends who struggled trying to model 3d models with just clarity and detail to keep up with the demand . And that's only one , theres usually hundreds of these models in a game , could you imagine how long would it take before we can get a perfect game with the reasonable amount of people with such detail and clarity ? . Same thing with cosplaying , it can take a while , a long time maybe , to create and also perfecting a cosplay ( or you can be like me whos going to showoff with a terrible looking one at sgcc maybe while I try perfecting a new one ) . Basically , they ( probably most ) , have no idea how hard it is to make a game nor create props or cosplays for support .

but eh , I also believe in a thing called balance ( yin and yang kind of thing ) . If there are more toxic people, there would be more non toxic people. ( doesn't exactly work like that but ok ) .
So , I technically wouldn't care for the toxic people. Tho they can provide real time entertainment sometimes .
 
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