Originally published May 2018

The title of this article is dumb because I make it so. It should be The Symptoms of Fandom Abandon, but I desperately wanted to make a dumb rhyme. Why? Because it's my website, and that's why you read these articles: Stupid jokes sprinkled in long articles of rambling thoughts about assorted media! Where was I going with this?... Oh yes! This same sort of reckless abandon applied towards things other than sentence structure or article purpose, such as movies, video games, TV shows, etc., tends to lead down the road to destruction. If I were to be more specific, I mean to point out how easy it is for fans of a particular franchise or source material to be easily disappointed to the point of discarding the thing they like so very much due to mishandling of the material or someone else's reinterpretation that just didn't line up with that of the fans.

You can probably tell that I was struggling with an article this week. I didn't have time, or the passion, to sit down and write out another lengthy thesis on something in particular. I also didn't have a movie I'd recently seen that was worth any thought or opinion. I simply wanted to sit and posit an idea that may lead to a longer series of thoughts down the road. I know it has something to do with my own personal interests, obviously. But how, exactly? I'm not sure.

I'm writing this all out bit by bit as a stream-of-consciousness article, and I can already tell I'm losing you. In a nutshell, I've been thinking about how someone could go from loving something in a way that makes them a fan willing to buy comics, video games, or movies related to this thing worthy of a fan's love, to turning on it completely and preferring not to interact with it at all. A few recent movie releases and trailers got me into this mental conundrum. Avengers: Infinity War is already a commercial success, as we all knew it would be, but a lot of people are upset about it for reasons I know, but won't divulge. Likewise, the latest Star Wars movie did well, commercially, but was received poorly among fans, as well as myself. With how people seem none-too-excited about the upcoming Star Wars movie about its most beloved scoundrel, Han Solo, I couldn't help but think about all the different things that I once cared about as a devoted fan, for which I have since lost interest.

Venom used to be one of my favorite antiheroes, and now he's getting a full movie to himself with a costume that doesn't look terrible. Yet, I don't care and the trailer does not make me the least bit excited. Godzilla saw an American remake and a Japanese reboot within the last decade, and neither of them was bad. But neither made me as interested in the series as any of the older movies. Alien is one of my favorite horror movies of all time, and its direct sequel is a just-as-awesome action thriller. However, I have yet to see the alleged calamity that is Alien: Covenant. How did I get here? What made me so apathetic towards these things I once held in such high regard (for better or worse)? For some of these personal favorites, it was a slowly growing desire to ignore nostalgia's rose-tinted perspective. For others, it was a sharp realization that made me step away. The reasons certainly vary. It could be due to my own personal opinions and biases, or it could be because I have no faith in the people who have control of the intellectual properties in question.

As I said, this is all a stream-of-consciousness, free-writing exercise to see if anything worthwhile spilled out onto the webpage. I'm still going to go back and proofread this before publishing, of course. I'm also going to miss a few grammar and spelling mistakes, of course. However, now that I've made it to the end of this long brain fart, I think I know a new feature I want to add to DagonDogs.com. The infinite nihilism that pervades so much of my personality and opinion compels me to share with the internet! The franchises, the moments, and the thought processes that led to the deaths of my various fandoms. I want to call out the travesties and tragedies that swayed my former adoration into resentment or apathy. And I already know what I'll call it.

Death of a Fan, coming soon to a Wednesday near you! On DagonDogs.com!

Fan of death metal? Check out my band on Bandcamp and Soundcloud. If you like what you hear and want to hear more, head to HoundsofInnsmouth.com for more info!