I'm a big fan of ihnm and am really sick of the fanart of himbo AM...feels like a lot of tumblr users really don't understand how horrific the original short story truly is (have not played the game so cant comment on that). This has been bothering me for a wihile and i feel like its just gotten worse?? I mean no disrespect but yeah just needed to voice this somewhere without getting into a flamewar.
This has been sitting in my inbox for the longest time, so I apologize OP for responding so late. I'll also admit that I wasn't quite sure how to approach this anon at first, because I do understand where you're coming from. I actually received a message in my inbox that was of similar nature, which I gave a thorough response to here. My response was admittedly a bit more...vituperative than it probably needed to be.
In defense of the AM humanizations, in the video game adaption of IHNMAIMS, AM's brother systems Russian AM and Chinese AM (who play a much more significant role in the game than they do in the short story) both appear in cyberspace in humanoid forms. Also, AM's voice in the game is so sarcastic, so wrathful and emotional and venomous, that it's sometimes hard to not imagine him as being like a person. Perhaps this is what AM wanted to be all this time?
I also just think that being a mature individual in a fandom means learning how to co-exist with the folks that make up the fandom in the first place, and if you're not seeing what you like, create the content yourself. Make the art you want to see. Write the content you want to consume. There's a lot of weird shit in this fandom yeah, but there's also so much talent and passion that's non-himbo. I wouldn't focus specifically on what's bothering you. Follow the artists/content makers that you do like so that your feed is more curated to your tastes. This fandom is small and tight-knit as it is, it don't need no flamewars, or pettiness, or tearing down someone else's work. The block button exists for a reason.