What Would You Do If You Had the Craziest Fanbase on the Planet?

[DasIstWunderblyat]

You get your own villainous minions? The obvious answer is to rule the world!

(But as a serious answer, I'm wary of an unpredictable dog that can bite me, even if its my own and it has never bit me before)

[kyupol]

They will be my private army and harem.

[Iris-Grimoire]

Disappear except to post new pages or whatever. Calling them out doesn't work, singling them out doesn't work, showing your human side makes it worse because it increases the parasocial aspect. Just make them hollow out like a Klonoa fan pre-last month's remake, until they find something else that feeds their need for attention.

[TroyVSTheWorld]

I would let the power go to my head and send them out as an army against people I don't like

I'd give them a code of ethics to only troll trolls

I would not be a healthy experience for the internet, I imagine

[JaveCraze]

admit defeat.. and keep on posting chapters. there's nothing better for me to do.

[ccmatta]

Are they giving me money? then that's ok.

just kidding. That's complex. I'd try to encourage people to report those who are doing bad things or something like that, but there's not much I can do as a creator, is there? So i'd just focus on doing my work the best I could and keep posting and keep the message that I don't condone those actions, mainly because my work deals with mental health and those kind of actions affects immensily the mental health of people. We as creators can't control our fanbase I think, and nothing I'd do would have any effect, I believe.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Probably laugh, since the theme of understanding one another and how to avoid becoming toxic becomes an increasingly prominent theme as the comic goes on Or cry. Probably both :'D

In all seriousness though, I'll probably try to reason with them a bit but I won't be all like 'play nice kids' or 'harassment is bad mkay?'. I'll try to figure out why they're being toxic and give them suggestions for what to do instead. As per the themes of my comic (So if they're actually fans and not haters, I have a possibly overoptimistic hope that it will in fact go well XD)

... or alternatively I might straight up stop uploading for a while, to see if it dies out. But continue making content behind the scenes. By the time I can post again I'd have a huge buffer

[Aeneas1]

Gleefully relish the attention.

[Lensing]

The only positive thing about having fans is money, I would try to avoid everything else the best I can

[Calculus_Homework]

Whoa, this is actually a really excellent thought/question.
I always kinda had a small anxiety about that, just from watching other comics/stories with fine intent develop a toxic fanbase.
Certain things/stories/aesthetics/ships attract certain crowds. So, personally I hope to attract a good crowd as the majority. But I feel like it can be unavoidable sometimes. Never know what'll happen.

What I would do?
I would be persistent on letting my audience know that I do not condone those actions or any negative behavior. I would express that the story is a safe place for ANY and ALL teen+ readers. I would actively discourage harassment.
And I wouldn't care if a fan threatened to leave or stop their patreon sub because I didn't do something they wanted--good riddance. They could go tell their friends how they didn't get their way--I couldn't care less. I care not to associate myself with ego-maniacs. They need to get more productive hobbies if this is how they choose to handle things... or better yet, therapy. I can vouch that therapy is helpful. lol

(Hmm, I would probably ignore publicly calling out any threats to myself tbh and just take it up with the authorities. Because death threats are a serious CRIME. So be sure to take all evidence somewhere, and try to get it sorted out if your life is ever threatened verbally or in writing.)

[Calculus_Homework]

holy shhhh--!!
That is super creepy. It's not like you created the comic, or even ARE the actual character irl. Wow, that's so crazy. Insane lack of common sense and etiquette. Why do some people resort straight to stalker behavior? What goes through their heads? lol
Hope you never go through that kind of thing again! (Though, it must mean you're a pretty damn good voice actor perhaps... lolol)

Curious. Were they young teens mostly? They really shouldn't do that stuff--they can put themselves in danger.

[darthmongoose]

Curious. Were they young teens mostly? They really shouldn't do that stuff--they can put themselves in danger.

Yes, and this was something I had to keep warning them about. I was already 25 when I started voice acting in Homestuck stuff, but voicing a teenage character (it was never a secret though that I'm the oldest member of the cast), and without any effort on my part, in fact generally trying to keep means of privately contacting me limited, I had an influx of underage people desperate to tell me all about themselves and seeking my approval.
Naturally I told the kids who came to me that they shouldn't do that, because there are absolutely people out there who would take advantage of it... and the sad thing was, I was right. We had to remove one or two people from our project because a few years later it turned out they'd been taking advantage of and grooming underage fans who'd come to them. It really sucked.

Unfortunately with fandoms... you can try your best to set a good example and to tell your fans how to behave, but there will always be a significant number of people who think they're special and the rules don't apply. Kids who think they're more mature than other kids and that it's okay for them to talk privately with adults and share personal info, or people who think it's okay to make mean jokes like you would with a close friend because they believe they know you well from reading your tweets and things, or people who have appointed themselves as fandom "protectors" and will do "raids" on other fandoms or police other people's ships. You can never completely stop this stuff, only try to manage it and not to take advantage of the vulnerable.

[UrMom]

I would, no joke, delete all my shit off the internet then start over on new accounts. Maybe exclude my stuff to print, as difficult as that would be. Most likely a majority of the toxic readers would be teens, so they wouldn't be old enough to read my comic anyway, and I wouldn't want to associate with the adults in that bunch either. If any of them find me and get pissy I'll just be straight up with them, like, I don't tolerate that garbage. I'd feel bad for the good readers, but... oh well. I did this on Webtoons once for something similar, if they like my comic enough they'll find it.

[TAMAnnoying]

Ignore the fuck out of them- they want attention. Don't give it to them. Go on with life as per usual.

[Kann]

Probably I'll be like "You guys really need to calm down" or something. I can't imagine myself staying completely apathetic to having a crazy fandom, but also I don't really think I can control their behavior more than voicing my disapproval of their actions. Which probably won't influence most of the more toxic ones.

[sams_cartoon_shack]

I'd address and discourage such behavior constructively. Since many crazy fans will be crazy fans who might at best be livid at me and twist my words, I would likely also go a step further and poke fun at them in my comics just to have fun with their insanity.

[OohitsEli]

I would completely disavow them. That goes against everything I stand for and I would not stand for it. I wouldn't try to control them as that is a death wish in itself but I would make it clear that I am ashamed and do not stand with them and their actions. Basically a "shame on you" lol

[Junohugger]

I would hope to god I was at least rich enough to live in total seclusion, full Brando mode. Being poor and famous is a shite combo.

[MickC]

I just don't want people to interpret Viscount Mousehole and Gilbert's relationship as romance, and I don't want it to end up like what happened to Hades and Persephone either, so as Yoon Bum and Sangwoo from Killing Stalking.

Hades and Persephone's relationship is romanticized by the Greek Mythology fandom which the fandom misses the point of that hymn. That hymn focuses the relationship between Persephone and her mother Demeter. I don't think Demeter is a overprotective and whiny mom towards Persephone, and she was a mother looking for her lost daughter.

Killing Stalking on the other hand, its fandom interpreted that Sangwoo loved Yoon Bum but he didn't. He saw Bum as his mother and despise him, yet the fandom... likes this guy and treating a psychological thriller as BL/romance.

Overall, I don't like fanbases similar to these and there are bunch of misunderstandings. I'm fine if it's a smaller fandom.

[system]

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