Sockpuppet Accounts or Parasocial White Knighting Stan? Zee-rambles, the Wannabe Dictator of #SaveRotTMNT and Anti Criticism in the RotTMNT Fandom
After having some notable recent encounters with Tumblr users and Rise of the TMNT fans, @/zipzaizen/@/zee-rambles and @/raintouchedstars/@/bakatakos, I've noticed that there are many striking similarities between the two users. Commonalities like similar writing quirks, mutual interests, backgrounds, and so on suggest that both blogs, raintouchedstars and bakatakos, may be zee-ramblesâ sockpuppet accounts. Or, alternatively raintouchedstars/bakatakos may be completely independent of zee-rambles and is instead a white knight who will antagonize and heckle anyone who's disagreed with zee-rambles. Note, this zee-rambles sockpuppet theory is largely speculative and alleged, however the acts of fan dogmatism that inspired these speculations are tangible.
As a prominent and influential fan in the RotTMNT Tumblr fan space, zee-rambles is at the center of the "movement." She reigns as the seemingly benevolent de facto leader who calls the shots and gives "marching orders" (her words, not mine, because she's obsessed with inappropriately shoehorning into her content allusions to war and combat) to other RotTMNT fans to fight the good fight against corporate greed to bring back Rise of the TMNT as a fully animated series. On the surface, zee-rambles appears to cultivate a fan space of hope, creativity, and optimism. However, underneath all the positivity and tireless work done for the glory of RotTMNT's coming resurrection, there lies an alarmist and militant mentality, an inflated yet fragile ego, and desire to remove from the fan space any dissenting opinions that do not align with zee-ramblesâ own vision for the cartoon and its fandom.
In the most recent post from zee-rambles (see the screenshots below), she frantically and aggressively calls for RotTMNT fans to continuously stream the series on Netflix before it's removed from the platform on June 1. For the record, the RotTMNT cartoon show's contract with Netflix is ending regardless of fan demand, but the entire series will remain available on Paramount+. Since publishing this post, she's been actively deleting, hiding, and blocking any comments from fans who are skeptical about this panicky stunt. I know this because I witnessed it in real time. She and raintouchedstars dogpiled on a critical commenter in the Replies section, I saw that and decided to intervene by adding my own constructive feedback to the thread. Zee-rambles then went scorched earth and deleted all 14 replies, including her own and those of raintouchedstars. This had happened in the span of about 20 to 30 minutes. She's since continued to erase or hide any other dissenting replies or reblogs, including my own reblog where I describe zee-ramblesâ ongoing efforts to suppress any opposing views, no matter how mild and non-confrontational. Admittedly, there isn't much evidence of this having gone down, as I wasn't able to get screenshots. Zee-rambles has been working quickly to make non-hostile differing opinions disappear while maintaining a mostly friendly and welcoming image.
Zee-rambles' efforts to erase skepticism and feedback in this instance is indicative of a wider culture of anti-critical thinking in the RotTMNT fanbase. RotTMNT fandom figureheads like zee-rambles foster a fan environment where critics are often shunned and yes-men are celebrated. Zee-rambles lords over RotTMNT fans with her overzealous calls for mass action to #SaveRotTMNT and those fans follow zee-rambles orders unquestioningly. In the post shown below, zee-rambles instructs RotTMNT fans to comment and engage with a not-viral YouTube video from a small content creator, and the fans just do it without question, because it's for the good of the #SaveRotTMNT "cause" and every bit of support no matter how small or nonsensical is good. Don't think, just do what I tell you to do, says zee-rambles. As an aside, the ârandomâ YouTube comment on the video zee-rambles is telling fans to upvote looks suspiciously like a comment she planted herself, let that serve as a bit of foreshadowing for the next section of this analysis.
The Case for raintouchedstars/bakatakos being zipzaizen/zee-rambles' Sockpuppet Accounts (Important note: please reference my exchange with bakatakos aka raintouchedstars for better insight into this case, HERE)
As previously mentioned, raintouchedstars/bakatakos has a lot in common with zee-rambles. So much so that it's kind of uncanny.
The most distinctive writing quirks they both have are a tendency to emphasize words and phrases with all caps and/or colored text. When using bulleted lists, they both seem to like adding an intro passage written in bold text before following it up with bulleted points. They both don't include any spaces in their use of ellipsis (...)
zee-rambles Writing Samples
raintouchedstars/bakatakos Writing Samples
Mutual Interests and Shared Talking Points
Both users just so happen to be fans of The Dark Crystal and Hey Arnold. zee-rambles and raintouchedstars/bakatakos have expressed passion for both franchises in a nearly identical manner. Both users parrot the same talking points, including their insistence that Clone High was primarily revived by fan demand after going viral on TikTok.
zee-rambles Interest Samples
raintouchedstars/bakatakos Interest Samples
Similar Backgrounds and Constant Interaction with Each Other
Zee-rambles and raintouchedstars/bakatakos pride themselves in being active in campaigning for the return of shows. raintouchedstars/bakatakos is constantly reblogging posts from zee-rambles.
As previously stated, zee-rambles and raintouchedstars in quick succession and in a coordinated manner bombarded another user and I with defensive messages on the Netflix post. Within 20-30 minutes, zee-rambles deletes all 14 of the replies. Then, within an hour of me reblogging the post with my commentary, bakatakos begins ranting at me.
The raintouchedstars and bakatakos blogs behave like stereotypical sockpuppet accounts. The raintouchedstars account signal boosts zee-rambles (although that account will also lash out at zee-rambles' dissenters) and the bakatakos account does the dirtier business of antagonizing critics of zee-rambles. After I reblogged zee-rambles alarmist Netflix post with my critical commentary on her suppressive response to mild, reasonable disagreements, bakatakos started to immediately pick up where zee-rambles had left off with me in the Replies. The only difference being bakatakos was much more aggressive and belligerent than zee-rambles.
Even in light of this possibly damning evidence, could raintouchedstars/bakatakos just be an overly passionate fan of zee-rambles'? Sure, and that's what raintouchedstars/bakatakos basically claimed when I confronted her. Check out this sus exchange I had with her:
Notice how raintouchedstars/bakatakos immediately goes into a long-winded, mess of a rant instead of immediately refuting the accusation that she's a sockpuppet of zee-rambles' making. Funny how she also doesn't address their mutual interests and similar backgrounds (i.e., being fans of The Dark Crystal and Hey Arnold and being "campaign leaders") and instead focuses on insisting that virtually all diehard, zee-rambles fans have adopted her rather unique style of writing. As if zee-rambles' troops lose all sense of individuality to the cult of zee-rambles and her #SaveRotTMNT âmovement.â
Additionally in this response, she deflects and attempts to cast doubt on the primary function of sockpuppet accounts and in this case how a sock account would work specifically in zee-ramblesâ favor. Zee-rambles doesnât want to keep publicly scrapping with a RotTMNT critic like me on her squeaky-clean, no-crit allowed, happy-happy-joy-joy RotTMNT glazing blog. She canât afford to ruin the vibe and her rep. Sheâs also used to being surrounded by yes-men who constantly praise her, sheâs accustomed to having the last word and always being right. In fact, in one of zee-ramblesâ now deleted replies on the Netflix post she mentioned how much she dislikes being told that what sheâs doing is wrong. So, after erasing our first convo, she gets on her sockpuppet account to give me grief and taunt me, ranting and raving at me while roleplaying as an angry, concerned rando fan whoâs defending the honor of sweet zee-rambles and the great RotTMNT. Also noteworthy in this message is âraintouchedstars/bakatakosââ attempt to goad me into contacting the alleged puppetmaster, zee-rambles, to get a reaction out of me. This is textbook sockpuppet behavior, yo.
Finally, itâs interesting how Ze- oops, I mean, raintouchedstars/bakatakos, tries to further bait me by accusing me of being a sockpuppet to some "guy" and a Tumblr user I don't interact with much or have much in common with apart from the few times our paths have crossed because we both criticize RotTMNT, its fandom, and now I guess RotTMNT fanatics like zee-rambles and crew. Speaking of zee-rambles' crewâŠ
The Case for raintouchedstars/bakatakos being zipzaizen/zee-rambles' Parasocial White Knighting Stan
Possibly maybe, raintouchedstars/bakatakos really is telling the truth. Maybe, she actually is an extremely impressionable, obsessed, unhinged fan of both zee-rambles and RotTMNT. She's so fanatical and lost in the sauce that she'll attack rando people online for daring to civilly disagree with her Almighty Queen zee. Which, if that's the case, then I'm sure zee-rambles considers this user to be her best mindless soldier.
For now, at least, the sockpuppet theory is all alleged and based purely on the suspicious encounters Iâve experienced with the bakatakos account and zee-rambles.
Regardless, none of this looks good for zee-rambles. Zee-rambles has been working hard indeed to sustain the illusion of a committed, united bunch of hopeful hyperfans, who all agree with each other and who all do whatever it takes to support the #SaveRotTMNT "cause" by doing whatever zee-rambles orders them to do. And, if that means eliminating any shred of independent rational thought from the RotTMNT fandom, then so be it says zee-rambles. Constructive suggestions, informed opinions, and criticism on how to improve will be stifled in zee-ramblesâ fanatical, militant fan domain.
The Case Against Sockpuppets, White Knights, and Wannabe Dictators in the RotTMNT Fandom
The RotTMNT fandom deserves better influencers than someone like zee-rambles, a gloryhound of a person who appears to relish in bossing people around and being perceived as a sort of savior by the fandom. Furthermore, zee-rambles uses, or perhaps, abuses her station as de facto leader. She wields her role more as a means for self-promotion and engagement farming than for the purposes of sustaining and celebrating RotTMNTâs legacy. Zee-rambles' single-minded insistence on being The Fan who saves RotTMNT is such a wrongheaded and selfish attitude to have.
The RotTMNT fandom deserves people who are willing to accept feedback, foster diverse perspectives, support new and innovative ideas for growth, and encourage critical thought. So far, zee-rambles has proven that she lacks these qualities, so sheâs in no position to inspire those traits in other fans. Perhaps, zee-rambles has done some good in energizing the RotTMNT fandom with her brand of #SaveRotTMNT, but at what cost? If zee-rambles had been making a difference for the better at one point, then maybe those good times are gone because the zee-rambles of today is apparently more interested in making sure that people canât tell her that what sheâs doing is wrong.
Idk about you all, but Iâm ready to say good riddance to the (alleged) sockpuppets, white knights, and wannabe dictators in this fandom.
