Respect, oldsters.

[sarahtheboring]

An essay on the demise of Tokyopop - I wasn't following the Tokyopop story very much, but one point made in this essay was particularly interesting to me. Namely: The fandom needs young fans. They are numerous, and they spend money, even with those kids camped out in the aisle, not paying. They buy series that you don't like, they talk too loud at

Comments

[sarahtheboring]

They do more grumbling than screaming, that's true. I think they are equally annoying online, though. (OTOH, I'm not trying to stop them from being themselves.)

Coincidentally, I wasn't reading any Tokyopop series, but I do think that if every licensing company had an identical take on what to license and how to do things, the industry would go under even faster.

[sarahtheboring]

I mainly read one great clearinghouse blog on the manga industry; this was linked there. You're quite welcome, though!

Yeah - the shenanigans get on my nerves at times. "Seriously, yelling memes is your only definition of comedy? You're kidding." - but I appreciate enthusiasm. I really do. Heartfelt, non-dramatic fanatics make me happy. I don't even care what they're fanatic about.

Ex. There's an enthusiasts' group that rents out the building where I work a few times a year. They make me squee a bit, because they are always clogging up the hallways catching up with one another, and there's a team who volunteers to make food for everyone in the regional conference (or whatever) ...and I don't even care about the subject of their enthusiasm. I'm just glad that they care about something and bond over it. I'm a giant sap, basically.

...and bringing this back on topic, young fans can get that kind of level of enthusiasm more easily than older fans, it seems, or at least they're given more leeway to express it.

[scintilla72]

See, now I feel better about continuing to quietly try to fit in with that kind of fan regardless of my actual age. I'd probably get odd looks from some of our friends if they saw me squeeing and running around getting photos of great cosplays as much as I sometimes do at conventions; but if you can't cut loose at a con, where can you?

[sarahtheboring]

I definitely cheer them on from afar. I'm wayyyyyy too shy to join in, but lately, I am trying - hard, you guys! - to speak up and compliment people on costumes and such. And hey, the childhood-throwback non-ironic squee factor is exactly what our Artists' Alley table is built on.

>>but if you can't cut loose at a con, where can you?>>

That's another true, sometimes sad, potentially complicated point. I've seen posts from people saying things like "I can't be myself except at a convention," and I think that's a bridge too far - that makes me really sad. But the question of fandom meeting "mundane life" is a soapbox of mine to begin with.

Anyway, yes, as long as the "your rights end where my nose [or eardrums] begin" is in effect, that's what cons are for. I don't have any interest in partaking, but I'll defend the having of fun.