But . . . but . . . this should mean everyone wins!

[gryphonsegg]

Back when The Legend of Korra was announced, some people in Avatar fandom complained because they didn't want a new series with new characters and instead wanted the creators to make another series about the original ATLA cast. Recently, Dark Horse announced that it will publish an ATLA comic that will include 70 pages of new material about the original cast. Now people are complaining about this because they don't want more of the same character but instead want the team that's responsible for the comic to do something totally different. *sigh* How in the world is this a problem? Those who want new characters can watch the new show, and those who don't want them can refrain from watching it. Those who want more of the same characters can read the comic, and those who don't want more can refuse to read it. Those who want neither can abstain from both, and those who want both can get both.

At least there doesn't seem to be the same level of outrage as there is in DC fandom about the Young Justice TV show or in HP fandom about supplementary books that were produced for charity or the extra details JKR has released in interviews or via her website. I hope it stays that way.

Comments

[holyschist]

I will not complain about any new Avatar, unless it sucks! I am trying not to let my hopes for ATLOK and the comic to reach unattainable stratospheric levels.

[gryphonsegg]

Yeah, I totally understand being disappointed by sequels, supplements to existing canon, officially sanctioned AUs, etc. because they turned out not to be as good as you'd hoped. I just don't understand being unhappy about that kind of stuff existing at all, sight unseen. I will be all over any new Avatar stuff!

[holyschist]

I dunno, I think it's a manifestation of fan entitlement? The creators didn't do exactly what we wanted them to, oh noes!

Like Kristin Cashore fans being mad about Bitterblue being about Bitterblue and not The Continued Adventures of Katsa and Her Boyfriend. (Seriously, there are a ton of "reviews" of BB on GoodReads, and it doesn't even have a publication date yet. Most of them are complaining about how it won't be about Katsa, and sometimes also about how Fire wasn't about Katsa.)

[gryphonsegg]

What, she's supposed to do nothing but write about one character for the rest of her life?

I knew Avatar had some fan entitlement problems going on with regard to ships (LOL, Zutara!) and to teenage fans wanting the series to be more Edgy!Grimdark! than it was. Maybe it is another manifestation of that.

HP has by far the worst fan entitlement I've ever seen, including people who take the concept of "death of the author" to be some kind of moral principle which means it's morally wrong for an author give out information about backstory that wasn't in the book, so they get angry at the canon creator for giving interviews and answering the questions the interviewers ask instead of . . . I don't know, becoming a recluse or something.

[holyschist]

Evidently! (I think it was basically "We loved these characters and want more of them," which, okay--they'll be in BB, just not the main focus.)

[gryphonsegg]

Personally, I'd rather have three good stories about three different main characters than one good story and two bad stories about one main character. Just because a writer has one good [your favorite character here]-centric story in her, that doesn't mean she has an unlimited amount of good stories to tell about the same character. It's entirely possible for someone who produced a high-quality, entertaining story to get writer's block when trying to repeat the project but come unblocked when developing a different project.

[holyschist]

Oh man, me too. And so far both of Cashore's novels have struck me as being very self-contained, the kind of novel where you could spin off about a secondary character but not necessarily write Continuing Adventures Of.