the amazing digital autopsy
I was never really a fan of TADC but the way this whole situation has played out is just really depressing. I don't like how people are talking about it (especially on twitter where the grey area goes to die) and I wanted to put my thoughts on paper. I'm also so curious to hear what other people are thinking without the veneer of extremism on both sides of the spectrum that twitter fosters. Firstly and most important: Gooseworx is not a "horrible person" or "the worst indie dev ever" or anything like that. They are just a human being making human choices. Artistic burnout is real and the burden of having a largely underage, reactive fandom watching your every move is very difficult to reckon with. I don't blame her for the things she's said, they strike me as being rational answers to an unprecedented, terrible situation. However, I take issue with the people who are placing the sole blame on the fandom for how the show turned out. Those people seem to forget that for a good amount of episodes, the majority of the content throughout the show was pandering FOR the fandom and their desires, rather than servicing the story that everybody involved knew had very little time to be told. Like the beach episode, the fucking maid dresses, and other filler episodes where it seems the main thing the creator had in mind was putting them in marketable situations. Allegedly the inspiration for this show was "I have no mouth and I must scream", but I don't see that influence anywhere but the first episode. Maybe it was because of how immensely popular the first episode was, but it seems that almost immediately the show began to egg on the fanbase's desires. Whether this was Gooseworx's choice or a decision from Glitch, I have no clue. I'm almost certain it was not Gooseworx's choice to have the finale be in theaters, at least. I would not be surprised if behind the scenes there was corporate meddling on behalf of Glitch in order to maximize the profit on their cash cow before it has to end. But Gooseworx has gone on record many times saying the show was exactly her vision the entire way through. So it seems the pandering was baked into the loaf. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see people throw up their hands and say the show would have been better if not for the fanbase. One that yes, can be voracious, cruel, and over-the-top with their celebration. But also one that has been endorsed and justified BY the decisions made throughout the show, decisions that definitely do not exist to further the story. At the end of the day, the success of the show is a result of the fanbase-- people who chose, over every other fucking piece of media that exists today, to spend their valuable time watching this one. And a fanbase's collective behavior is informed by the show they are fans of. So to say it's all their fault is, in my opinion, disingenuous. To have something blow up like that is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that many creatives can only dream of.
And that's not even getting into my personal issues with how the show was marketed towards children. I think knowing your audience demographic is extremely important because it puts many things in context. I would guess the age range is primarily 12-20, famously a period of time where you make terrible, overkill, and embarrassing decisions because your brain is still growing in. Whether or not that was the fanbase the creator had in mind, that is the one they got. And creatives shouldn't have to be heavily involved in the business end of things, but they should at least have a vague awareness of the community they've fostered and adjust their work accordingly. Yes it does suck. It feels terrible to have a creative vision and see it get consumed and regurgitated for other people's enjoyment, especially when it comes at the cost of your personal creative aspirations. It can suck the soul and empathy out of even the most understanding people. But I think it's absolutely wrong to sit here and blame a fanbase for the outcome of a show, especially one that is mostly minors. Plenty of other pieces of media have terrible fanbases but the blame still falls on the creators' shoulders if they put out a bad or divisive product. I've never heard anyone say, for example, that Hazbin Hotel or Secret of the Mimic would have been better if only their fandom wasn't so shit. And I don't think Gooseworx should get a pass just because she was open about her feelings-- feelings which, unfortunately, almost every creative will have to feel eventually.
(pt 2 in replies)
