Times When You Almost Abandoned being a Fan of something...

[Malcolm]

...that you thought you would NEVER swear off of.

You know that scene in the lost episode of Spongebob where Patchy threw away all of his Spongebob merch and stuff? We all know some people who dramatically proclaim that a franchise has betrayed them and that it's dead to them and that they'll never buy another thing from them ever again? Has anyone ever felt close to doing something like this yet not actually go through with it?

I did. Ironically, it was Sonic the Hedgehog.

I know a lot of people love shitting on this franchise and there are people who say the franchise was ruined when it went 3D, but I loved the games, regardless(well, most of them *coughShadowtheHedgehogSonic06cough*). To me, they were still fun to play and Sonic is such a fun character and his world was just so interesting with clashing chaotic themes kinda like a proto Amazing World of Gumball/Adventure Time.

But it was NOT a fun time to be a Sonic fan. People not only shat on the games, they shat on people for liking these games, shat on people for being defensive about, good games like Sonic Rush didn't count, and things REALLY got bad when GameGrumps came around. Funnily enough, this hate only made my love for the franchise stronger.

This led to them making Sonic Colors and Sonic Generations, games that would be critically well received, but the franchise would begin stripping away a lot of it's uniqueness that I grew to love and began to, for lack of a better term, Mario-fying the series. I know not a lot of people were fans of Sonic interacting with humans other than Eggman, or more dramatic stories(I was kinda burnt out myself), or the more grounded environments from the early 2000s games(which was just an art shift, by the way. Angel Island was redesigned, too), but I liked them and thought they added flavor to Sonic's world. Sega essentially made a retcon that put a strict embargo on referencing any games from between 1998 and 2008 in order to give 06 the Benoit treatment.

This along with some of the more egregious mandates courtesy of Ken Penders' lawsuit screwed up a lot of characters(who weren't all that consistent, I'll admit). But these mandates also handicapped adaptations like comics.

Then there was the nostalgia pandering overload where now essentially every single level looked like Sonic 1. Look, I get that people love Sonic's world to look all whacky and shit, but when this is ALL you ever show, it gets boring. Sonic Lost World was the worst offender offender of this while also trying to ape Mario's cartoony artstyle to boot.

Then there were the NEW characters that were introduced. You think Elise is bad? I'd take her over Zavok any day. Hell, I might even take Chris Thorndyke over Zavok. This guy is the suckiest Sonic character that was ever created. People call him a wannabe Bowser, but I feel like that would be an insult to Bowser. In fact, the entire Deadly Six is so disappointing. They were so one note, one dimensional, and only Zeena, Zazz, and Zor have good designs. The other 3 suck. Then there was Infinite who became a villain because "HE'S NOT WEAK!!!".

In Sega's mind, nothing but Sonic 1-3 mattered. Not even the Game Gear games. Just imagery and references from Sonic 1-3. Over and over and over again.

Unpopular opinion and molten lava take, but I thought the dialogue in Lost World was atrocious and way worse than anything in 06.

The less said about the Sonic Boom fiasco outside of the cartoon and Sticks the Badger(put her in the main universe, you cowards! Give her Zavok's spot!)

Sonic going 3D couldn't make me do it. Shadow the Hedgehog couldn't make me do it. Sonic 06 couldn't make me do it. But this almost did. I began to seriously contemplate leaving the franchise because outside of Sonic because I didn't think it was for me anymore. Ironically, it was fanart and fan games such as Sonic Omens and Sonic World that made me stick around.

[Fade]

Rise of Skywalker and the overall handling of the Star Wars ST really, really did a number on my fandom. ‘Specially after the prequels a decade or so earlier.

[Rolent Tex]

Sting shaking Triple H’s hand. WWE wqs slowing building up bad will with me and as a big WCW fan that was it…Sting’s match idea be damned. I pop back on occasion but my full time fandom was dead.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

If I didn’t have bizarre need to see every last episode, I’d probably have stopped watching the Simpsons years ago. Though this season was much better than previous ones.

[BorneAgain]

The constant disappointments of Discovery and Picard, with the shows' inability to get out of their own way when it came to their stories kind of has me burned out on Trek for now. While I think I'll eventually go back to watch Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, I need some time away from the franchise because quite frankly I'd be going into LD and SNW with too much baggage to properly appreciate them at the moment.

Going back about 15 years; Nintendo's constant weird experiments with Donkey Kong (after the letdown that was DK64) had me basically give up on the series, which hurt given how much I loved the Country trilogy. It wasn't until DKC Returns that it felt like the brand was finally coming back.

[ERON]

My interest in mainstream comics has had one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel since Civil War at Marvel and New 52 at DC.

[Cyno]

I swore off WWE in late 2018 and that was almost the end of my wrestling fandom. Fortunately near the end of the year, I came across a Kenny Omega marathon of NJPW programming, with the first match I saw being his two out of three falls match with Okada at Dominion. It reignited my love of wrestling and I became a big NJPW and Omega fan. Then a couple of weeks later, Omega announced that he was joining up with this new promotion called All Elite Wrestling and that was that.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Not really, no.

Barring any instances where I need to separate a creator from their art, if I don’t like the current output of a series or IP, the older material still exists.

And I don’t give a rat’s ass about others not liking me being a fan of stuff.

[Tenshigure]

Jul 9, 2022 17:54:39 GMT -5 Fade said:

Rise of Skywalker and the overall handling of the Star Wars ST really, really did a number on my fandom. ‘Specially after the prequels a decade or so earlier.

I think overall it's the Skywalker Saga that I'm done with when it comes to Star Wars. I was on the side of Revenge of the Sith leaving a bad taste in my mouth to the point where I didn't even bother watching Rise of Skywalker (read a synopsis and that was good enough for me), but whenever I see anything else that doesn't directly involve the Emperor or the main group (ie Rogue One) I enjoyed it far more.

[Ryback on a Pole!]

The Disney Star Wars sequels, but, they have regained my support with their TV shows. Mando and Obi-Wan was excellent and Boba Fett was enjoyable.

[thechase]

Had it not been for the newspaper strip, the recent video game, Renew Your Vows, and Nick Spencer's lifeline of a run on ASM, I'd have given up on Spider-Man a damn long time ago. Who knows, I still just might put it behind me.

Power Rangers tested my patience quite a bit from Samurai through to Super Megaforce.

[James Fabiano]

Jul 10, 2022 2:40:15 GMT -5 Ryback on a Pole! said:

The Disney Star Wars sequels, but, they have regained my support with their TV shows. Mando and Obi-Wan was excellent and Boba Fett was enjoyable.

This in a nutshell for me too. Tapped out on the movies after TLJ. TROS was technically the only SW film I never saw in theaters (if you count the OT special editions), and never saw AT ALL.

This has probably happened dozens of times with wrestling. Given how scummy we're learning people we watched all our lives are, and some who are fairly new by comparison, and given how the fandom has become somehow MORE tribal now than it ever was in the Monday Night Wars, along with a few personal disappointments...well, I want to tap out for good and stick with my old school videos, YouTubes, etc. But somehow, there's always someone around I want to follow the work of, and I can't get away from obsessively reading about the business.

Also happens a lot with network prime time television. When my favorites end/get cancelled, I swear I'm back to only watching 80s-and-back sitcoms, then someone else shows up (like Ghosts, for an example now)

I dunno, a lot of childhood loves just faded away, usually, as the toy line was ending. Transformers and Masters of the Universe, for two. (Obviously, they came back in full force in adulthood)

[Nr1Humanoid]

Sliders.

It took me years to get through most of the final seasons. To this day I refuse to watch any of those Kromagg episodes.

[schma]

For a long time Spider-man: One More Day was it. I swore off buying any Spider-man comic (though I'd still pick up team books he was part of). That story stank of editorial meddling that went completely against who Peter is and I did not want to support it. I didn't pick up a Spider-man comic again until Superior Spider-man. It's a shame because I'm told that many of the early stories after One More Day were fantastic.

[thechase]

Jul 10, 2022 10:54:08 GMT -5 schma said:

It's a shame because I'm told that many of the early stories after One More Day were fantastic.

They mostly all weren't. Ironically enough, the best ones from that phase were all from Dan Slott, before he started to suck (and Superior in itself is an absolute trash-fire if you really think long and hard about it)

[chrom]

Jul 10, 2022 10:54:08 GMT -5 schma said:

For a long time Spider-man: One More Day was it. I swore off buying any Spider-man comic (though I'd still pick up team books he was part of). That story stank of editorial meddling that went completely against who Peter is and I did not want to support it. I didn't pick up a Spider-man comic again until Superior Spider-man. It's a shame because I'm told that many of the early stories after One More Day were fantastic.

Joe Quesada is a scumbag with what he did and I'm glad he's finally got the boot

[El Pollo Guerrera]

When it comes to comics, it wasn't a single BIG THING that caused me to cut back a lot of titles, it was the continual use of mega-maxi-monster crossovers that they swore would CHANGE EVERYTHING and two months later the universe was back to the way it was.

I just couldn't afford to keep throwing good cash at them. I had to cut back.

[Baldobomb-22-OH-MAN!!!]

when DC went on its Boomer Dad fetish, brought Barry Allen back for no f***ing reason and tried gaslighting fans about Wally never existing. happy trails, Didiot.

[thechase]

As some will attest in the various threads on the matter, recent seasons of The Simpsons have convinced fans to give the show another chance after a near lifetime's worth of more misses than hits

Doctor Who...nothing wrong with how 'progressive' it is, but it ain't worth beans if it's not entertaining, and the writing and acting under Chibnall was by large atrocious and for a lot, it was the last straw. Were it not for the devotion I've had to this since I was a child, I'd have been out by the start of Jodie's run, and maybe even before then as Moffat wasn't so hot after series five either.

[schma]

Jul 10, 2022 11:11:37 GMT -5 thechase said:

Jul 10, 2022 10:54:08 GMT -5 schma said:

It's a shame because I'm told that many of the early stories after One More Day were fantastic.

They mostly all weren't. Ironically enough, the best ones from that phase were all from Dan Slott, before he started to suck (and Superior in itself is an absolute trash-fire if you really think long and hard about it)

Okay, I think Big Time was supposed to be good. That was Slott I think?

There were elements of Superior that required a lot of suspension of disbelief. There were some good elements, though it was annoying Doc Ock's realisation of why Peter was the true Spider-man was just written out because he backed his memory up before that.

Jul 10, 2022 14:31:11 GMT -5 El Pollo Guerrera said:

When it comes to comics, it wasn't a single BIG THING that caused me to cut back a lot of titles, it was the continual use of mega-maxi-monster crossovers that they swore would CHANGE EVERYTHING and two months later the universe was back to the way it was.

I just couldn't afford to keep throwing good cash at them. I had to cut back.

I gave up crossovers because of that. Missed some actual good ones but too many were just that. EVERYTHING CHANGES...except not really. Oh we killed someone off, that's something right?

Honestly, the amount they bring people back, when they kill off one of my favourites, it's not dramatic. I just figure 'alright see you in a couple years'.

It's a bit sad, in 2012 I was reading so many damn comics as Marvel was having a bit of a renaissance that lasted all of about 3 years. Now I've ended my pull lists. Part of that is no one to chat comics with regularly but there are other elements.

Jul 11, 2022 7:34:49 GMT -5 thechase said:

As some will attest in the various threads on the matter, recent seasons of The Simpsons have convinced fans to give the show another chance after a near lifetime's worth of more misses than hits

Doctor Who...nothing wrong with how 'progressive' it is, but it ain't worth beans if it's not entertaining, and the writing and acting under Chibnall was by large atrocious and for a lot, it was the last straw. Were it not for the devotion I've had to this since I was a child, I'd have been out by the start of Jodie's run, and maybe even before then as Moffat wasn't so hot after series five either.

Chibnall's run has had some pretty lousy writing (though there have been good bits in there) but Jodie feels like a doctor. I feel like she has that doctorness. I really wish she would have stuck around to see what Russell T Davies could do with her.

Moffat was best when he had someone to answer to. He was a lot like Bendis in that his plot would happen regardless of whether it made sense or not. The episode that wrote out the Ponds had so many plot holes you could lose an entire fleet of ships in them and that wasn't even him at his worst. He was capable of greatness but left to his own devices, it often fell short. I almost gave up on who during his first season as head writer.