A Humorous Look at Anime fandom (please don't take it too seriously...) The Different Types of Anime Fans: Everything made after 1982 is garbage: The old-timers. The original anime fans. These people have been into anime fandom since the very beginning and were raised on Prince Planet, Astro Boy, Ultraman, and Speed Racer. Hearing them talk, one would think they were imitating the grumpy, old man from Saturday Night Live. Quote: "We didn't have Bubble Gum Crisis in our days. We had Mighty Atom in black and white... AND WE LOVED IT!" Everything made before 1982 is too old to watch: The new kids. The college boys who got interested in anime after they moved in their dorms. They were introduced to anime when Robotech first aired (or possibly a rerun of Star Blazers). Unless it is new, with slick and shiny animation, they think it's too old. These are the type of people who loved Nu Gundam and Gundam 0083 but refuse to watch the original 1979 TV series. Quote: "Yamato? Harlock? You gotta be kidding, that stuff's ancient..." All anime is good: Those lucky few who have one foot in each world. These people can easily discuss the differences between Eight Man and Baoh. Quote: "Urusei Yatsura is okay but Princess Night was much better." "FEN" not "Fan": If they were seriously into Star Trek they would say "Trekkie not Trekker!" or in anthropomorphics: "Furry not Furvert!" (Oh, I'm sorry. It's "Anthropomorphic" now... sheesh!). These are people who would believe they are the elite of anime fandom and anyone who does not have standards as high as theirs are just posers. Quote: "I belong to twenty APAs, thirty newsletters, and seventy world-wide anime echos... I think that makes me more qualified to decide what will be shown on tonights video schedule." Mechophile: Techheads. Robofreaks. The type of guy who would stand up in the middle of a showing of Laputa and say "That plane could not possibly fly." They drool over big robots and can quote to you the armaments of every single aircraft in the US Airforce off of the top of their heads. Quote: "Oooh look! A GM Commando (copyright 0079, Anaheim Electronics) with enhanced thruster pack that gives it 20,000 extra pounds of thrust and extended use of the beam sabre!!!" Plotophile: Is into anime because of the storyline and drama that it sometimes provides. They usually think that such trivial things as sex and violence detract from the plot on hand. Quote: "Tomino could be a great storyteller, right up there with Shakespeare, if he didn't put in those stupid mecha battles." Perfectionist: This person thinks that his or her view of anime is the only one. They will go out of their way to describe to you that it is pronounced "Sha Aznable" not "Char Aznable" and "Sylia" not "Celia" (or Selia, Cylia, Seleeah, etc.). These people will also have two tons of personal pet peeves that you'd better watch out for. Quote: "If you cannot allow us to view this video in utter silence then you might as well leave the room!" Blood & Guts: That scary guy (or possibly gal) who yells "COOL!" everytime someone gets snuffed in a horrible fashion. These people love Fist of the North Star just for its violence and will not miss an episode of Wandering Kid. They could not care less that it is impossible for the human body to contain that much blood. Quote: "Man, I was watching Midnight Eye Goku II and this guy was screwing this girl and he just chopped her head clean off! When that happened I said 'Dude! This stuff is just too cool!'" T & A: The guy who watches anime just for the bouncing breasts. They own the entire set of Cream Lemons and can qoute to you the bust sizes of their favorite anime gals. Some of these individuals own the 1/8 scale models of their favorite anime gals (with optional removable clothes) along with every erotic dojinshi dealing with them. Quote: Bishonen Lover: The gal who watches anime for the effeminate, long-haired, heroes. Their favorite heroes probably have the trademark of clenching a rose between their teeth (or something or other dealing with roses). They own every erotic dojinshi whose contents would send a homophobe screaming to the hills. Quote: "Patarillo was such a beautiful show." I love : Like the T&A except that they focus on one female anime character (usually Lum, Kei, Yuri, Ranma-chan, or Nadia). These own every single product dealing with this character. Quote: "I saw that Ranma 1/2 key chain at the Con auction and just had to have it! So when the last bidder said $10, I screamed '$50!'" (no joke, the Ranma 1/2 and Lum keychain both went for over $40 at Philcon 1991 after fierce bidding!) I worship : A bad case of hero worship. This guy or gal worship their favorite anime characters as their idol and will do anything to emulate this person. They will dress up as them at cons and may sometime insist that they are called by their heroes names. (Hey! It's one thing too like Seiya but another to insist that one is called Seiya). Quote: "I am having my legal name changed to Roy Fokker." Sub or Die!: These people believe that the only way anime can be brought over to America is by subtitling. They quote bad voice acting and even worst editing of scenes as the reasons why. There is a subset of this class that believes that only fans should do the subtitling on Amigas and that Animeigo and other subbing companies put out inferior and too expensive products. Quote: "I JUST SUBBED THE ENTIRE ORANGE ROAD SERIES IN JUST UNDER 73 HOURS!!! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT THEN @$#^ OFF!" Dub or Die!: People who believe that the general American public does not like subtitles an would be more interested in Anime if it was dubbed into English. They think that there was nothing wrong with "Revenge of the Ninja" (the Dagger of Kamui dub) and "Warriors of the Wind" (the Nausicaa dub). Quote: "So they cut out half an hour of the film and changed the plot around completely, BIG DEAL! At least it's in English!" Purist: Believes that anime fandom should remain in the lunatic fringe and that everyone who wishes to get into it should either read the scripts or learn Japanese. Thinks that subtitle obscures too much of the picture and dubbing destroys the original feel of the film. Quote: "Those idiots!!! They changed the gender oriented obscene gerund that Kenshiro says just before Jagi's head explodes!!!" Hoarder: If it is anime, this person will have it. They collect everything and video quality and speed do not matter. They have hundreds of tapes filled with stuff at EP speed, tenth generation. They will have the original Akira, the subbed Akira, and the dubbed Akira just for the sake of completeness. Quote: "I have the entire run of Cat's Eye in French with Swedish subtitles. Only seventh generation off of TV!" Laserhead: Laser discs are good! Laser discs are the wave of the future! These people believe that the only way to watch anime is off of laser on a 35 inch tube (no rear projection!) TV with sound going through a Dolby Pro-Logic Surround system (with sub-woofer). If you want anything dubbed onto tape from these people it is best to address them as "Sir" or "Maam". Quote: "I'll only dub it for you if you provide a Extra Mega High Grade Gold S-VHS tape and want it in SP speed." Stukey Sympathizer: Those who agree that what Randall Stukey says in gospel and that he is the only person who can save anime fandom from its downward spiral into bootleg piracy and bad subtitling. Quote: "Anime fandom should be run non-profit by fans... with Randall Stukey in charge of course..." Stukey Hater: People who hate Randall Stukey just for the sake of hating him. They blame him for everything from the collapse of the C/FO to the current economic recession that our country is suffering (some throw in AIDS while they're at it). They flame him whenever possible and always have at least three things on hand to complain about him if asked. Quote: "Let's fire bomb his house!!!" Stukey Who??: The majority of anime fandom who either don't know who Stukey is (those who have joined in the past year) and those who could care less about what he says since he has no affect on their world whatsoever. Quote: "Who cares?" Bootlegger: Let's face it. As long as there is a market and video companys do not take legal action, there will be bootleggers. These guys range from those who run high-tech mail order services to those who color photocopy covers of anime VHS tapes and try to pass them off as the real thing. Most people turn to bootleggers at cons because they are disenchanted with getting tapes through their local fan clubs (if there is a local fan club), quality of bootlegs has jumped up to first generation laser because of falling LD Player prices, and fans can get tapes when they want and view them (in the case of at con tables) before buying them. Quote: "Of course it's first gen off of laser onto a high grade tape, hi-fi, four head... Would I lie to you?" Bootleg Hater: ...And as long as their are bootleggers there are those who will criticize them and try to hamper them. These are people who believe that the average fan can afford to buy a LD Player and laser discs or have a local fan club to turn to for tapes. Their actions usually range from griping about it to trying to get them kicked out of cons to outright confiscating (stealing) of a bootleggers merchandise. Quote: "Let's firebomb his table!!!"