Web Media / Broken Base

Simply put: If it's popular and has an associated message board, you're bound to stumble upon fan wars at one point or another.

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Webcomics

Achewood, which began as a very patchy set of one-shots elevated by the Lie Bot, what is the saddest thing strips, and developed into a subtle, clever strip with several deep interesting characters OR Achewood, which began as a daring and hilarious absurdest web comic, and got "ruined FOREVER!" when Onstad sold out and started having continuing storylines and jokes that made sense.
- Conversely, many feel follow the first interpretation but believe that the strip has become so surreal, stylistic and referential that it's begun to lost its grip on those deep, interesting characters.
- There is also a divide over Onstad's subscription service- some felt he had the right to monetize and charge money for premium comic content, while others felt it was a slap in the fact to have to pay for what used to be free. The punch came when Roast Beef's wedding was made subscriber-exclusive whiel the free daily readers only got a single comic of random preview panels.
Collar 6: Should the world be complete fantasy, or should the characters analyze how dysfunctional their relationships are.
Dominic Deegan. Whether it's the death and perceived vilification of Siegfried, the Super Greg arc, accusations being flung about, the fanbase nitpicking everything out of spite (or because it's fun), or the forums dissolving into Deadpan Snarkers, trolls, and cries of "Ruined Forever" and "They Changed It, Now It Sucks!", it's a wonder the fandom hasn't imploded by now. Since there are indeed still fans who love the comic as much as ever, are willing to forgive Mookie his mistakes, or who simply don't see them as mistakes because of their Willing Suspension of Disbelief. They're simply less vocal, it seems. Perhaps they fear FanHaters.
- Ironically, the LiveJournal fans, which are far kinder, appear to average between three and four new topics a month, while the Keenspot forum (the most vocal hatedom) has an active community and posts a thread for every new comic strip. It was debated whether Mookie was hanging a lampshade on his fans with Gregory Deegan's line at the end of this strip.
Khaos Komix. Fan reactions to a certain page in Jamie's story have been... spirited. Prior to the 07 October revision, page 83 featured Charlie performing a sexual act on Jamie against his explicit consent, and Jamie dis-associating so as to make the experience pass more quickly. Although the arguments surrounding Charlie's actions against Jamie had many, MANY intricate and painful facets, the biggest and/or loudest camps were divided primarily between A: Those who felt that Tab's choice to make Charlie commit an act of sexual violence played dangerously into a larger trans-phobic cultural narrative, and B: those who either saw Charlie's actions as —if not forgivable— comprehensible given her extensive back story, or who focused on other things like the fact that it honestly portrayed a man as being susceptible to sexual abuse, in spite of a number cultural assumptions to the contrary. There was a LOT more to it than just that, but better to be brief and Let Other Articles With Better Writers give you an idea of some of the complexities involved. The original massive and contentious comment thread has since been taken down, though Tab has said that he is keeping a copy for posterity.
Looking for Group when it was finally confirmed that Cale and Benny are romantically involved, some fans responded with great wailing and gnashing of teeth and promises to never read the comic again, while others were jumping for joy.
There's the base of Megatokyo arguments, of Old Story (with Caston) Vs. New Story (Fred by himself), which then fractions into the characters themselves, literally all (even minor, minor, minor characters) of whom no one can decide as to how they're portrayed.
The Order of the Stick, over whether or not the series has become better or worse since it became subjected to Cerebus Syndrome.
- Also whether or not Vaarsuvius' "Familicide" spell and Haley's murder of Crystal were justifiable I Did What I Had to Do moments or indefensible crossings of the Moral Event Horizon.
- Miko fans vs. Miko haters.
Rain:
- The comic's artstyle. Some find its minimalist style to be very charming and say that it makes the comic look like something you'd see in a high school student's sketchbook, adding a sense of authenticity to the whole thing. Others find it amateurish and downright ugly. A third camp thinks that, while the artstyle is nothing special to look at, the story and characters are strong enough to make the comic enjoyable.
- The sheer amount of characters that are revealed to be queer by the end of the comic. Some feel it very much makes sense as there are plenty of queer people in real life that are closeted. Some however, find it to be very unrealistic, bordering on ridiculous that a fairly conservative, mainly Catholic area would have this many queer people.
- Rudy falling in love with Rain. While most readers found the comic’s handling of a gay man falling in love with a trans woman and seeing her as his only exception to be surprisingly well handled as well as a genuinely surprising subversion of expectations. A vocal minority found it to be highly problematic and couldn’t be happier when they finally broke up.
- Whether or not Jessica and Aiken were both in the wrong when it came to them breaking up. While everyone agrees that Aiken went out of line and acted like a complete unsupportive jerk, some think Jessica should have been honest with Aiken and thought ahead of the scenario where there would be insurance problems. While others think Jessica was not obligated to out herself to Aiken.
SinFest started its path towards the broken base around 10/2011 with the arrival of Xanthe Justice and her Sisterhood arc. It quickly escalated into a full-blown civil war.
Vampire Cheerleaders fanbase was divided between those who favored the PMS crew and the comic's Facebook community, who favored the cheerleaders. The second group accounted for the larger part of the fandom. So when the "Vampire Cheerleaders Must Die!" arc cast Lori and her coven as villains, they dropped the comic; causing it to lose much of its ad revenue and resulted in the comic ending prematurely, due to Vol.4 being cut.
In universe example. As shown in the page image, two characters in Weregeek argue over how the Lord of the Rings series should have gone. Sarah would've preferred to explore the backstories of the side characters, particularly the dwarves, while Jess thinks that's a complete waste of time as well as boring and prefers the action scenes and thinks the series could've been much shorter. Needless to say, they get annoyed at each other pretty fast.

Web Original

Is Kevin from Welcome to Night Vale an adorable tragic traumatized slightly-psychopathic cutie-pie who just needs a hug and a friend and some help decorating, or is he a terrifying monster who's trying to destroy everything Cecil holds dear? Or is he both? It depends on who you ask, and the mixed responses can be quite amusing.
Episode Three of "Alice Isn't Dead" begins with a trigger warning, one that specifically states that someone gets attacked in the episode. Trigger warnings in work are a controversial topic already, but many fans found that this one in particular spoiled a potentially great Jump Scare. Others thought found that the warning was warranted by the content.
Season four of The Music Video Show, specifically the Black Comedy. Either it helped the show become funnier or it made the season worse.
The presence of storylines in Video Review Shows. Some see them as a great way to see what else the reviewer is capable of, some find them generally entertaining, or don't see a problem with them. Others find that it makes it hard to take the review seriously, find them lacking, and point out how it can take time away from the actual substance they came to see. Some even would be fine with them if not for their prevalence and for the Follow the Leader tendencies from Channel Awesome.
- Speaking of, The Nostalgia Critic. Demo Reel. Should Doug have left his burned bridges burnt and stuck with Demo Reel? Should he have never stopped the Critic to begin with? Should he devote time to doing both? Nobody agrees on this. Even single individuals taken as a sample over a long period of time don't agree on it.
- Ditto to the actors from Demo Reel that are now regulars on his show: Do they add spice and humor to his reviews, or, because of their Demoted to Extra from Demo Reel to reboot ^note, are shoehorned in with nothing to do? Or are they, perhaps, one or the other depending on the episode?
The Spoony One's departure from TGWTG practically shattered the base. Did Spoony quit or get himself fired? Did he reveal himself to be a sexist, petulant asshole who couldn't get that he crossed the line with his joke to JesuOtaku, or was he the victim of the collaboration of Allison Pregler aka Lupa and Lord Kat, who got involved with something that was none of their business? The fact that Spoony later admitted to his own psychological issues and finally getting the proper treatment for them may have quelled the online war between the Broken Base - somewhat.
The Mond oMedia YouTube channel deals with a lot of this. On one side of the subscribers, who have the people only subscribing for Happy Tree Friends and Dick Figures, and anytime Mondo uploads a new series or episode of that new series, they will comment asking for more Happy Tree Friends or Dick Figures, while the other side appreciates the newer shows and will tell the other fandom to shut up.
Survival of the Fittest v5 has become somewhat more stringent and much less personal with its character evaluation process than previous versions. A fair few veterans have left because they don't like the change of atmosphere.
Go into any well-frequented NationStates IRC room or forum and ask what the real point of the game is. Then stand way back. The NS page says there are two ways to play it, but it's more like seven. Fortunately for the fanbase, each group mostly keeps to themselves and tries to keep the others at arm's length.
BikdipOnABus's fans either love or hate his new girlfriend being in his videos.
The Slender Man Mythos, due to the Running the Asylum nature of the mythos, is almost this by definition. Since Victor Surge, the man who posted the first images of the Slender Man, has stepped back to let fans run things, no one but Surge can claim to be the original creator and there's an unwritten "everything is canon" rule. Fans are divided on almost every aspect. Some consider Marble Hornets, Tribe Twelve, and Everyman HYBRID the only series worth watching, many say that only one of the three is good, and some fans consider "Surgism" the only way to go. Fans will debate over whether or not Marble Hornets (the most well-known series) has "sold out," there are very different opinions of crossovers of any sort. And there's the eternal vlog vs. blog debate. That's not even counting the in-fighting between various forums, Facebook groups, and drama that's not related to the story in specific ARGs and series fanbases.
- Slenderman himself has become one due to how ingrained in Creepypasta he's become and how much the original content is related to, or inspired by him. The Creepypasta wiki even banned the posting of any more content that even looked Slenderman related.
Neurotically Yours. The Reset Button, Art Shift, and combination of the secondary series's into Neurotically Yours. Some find it a fresh breath of air to the series, and a good idea. Others can't stand the new art style, and reset story, and have quit watching it altogether.
Red vs. Blue fans almost universally like the first eight seasons, but then things get split: some don't like how Seasons 9 and 10 focus on exaggerated action sequences, Seasons 11-13 are mostly well-liked but earn their share of detractors (particularly regarding the slow pace of Season 11 and the Season 13 conclusion), the very idea of Season 14 being an anthology did not bode well with fans, Season 15 is either downright Seasonal Rot or just a funny standalone season, and the Denser and Wackier route Season 16 took is either liked or downright loathed. Then again, the fanbase's conflicts are very minor compared to another Rooster Teeth show...
RWBY
- Volume 3 marking a drastic tone shift from an archetypical high-school battle anime to a world-spanning save the world plot has divided viewers. People in favor of it argue that the Beacon chapters were only meant to be a prologue to the story at large and that this allows the show to explore Remnant in full and put the characters in more unique situations. Detractors criticize the show for inconsistent pacing, especially in Volumes 4 and 5 right after the tone shift, or argue that the series worked better when it played into its cliches.
- The battle between Team RWBY and the Ace Ops has quickly become one of the most heated debates in the fandom. Those against claim it makes no sense that a group of teenagers who never officially graduated as Huntsmen were able to defeat a team of hardened, experienced soldiers described as some of the best Huntsmen in Remnant, while those who liked the battle point out that it makes sense due to the various handicaps the Ace Ops had at the time (Vine and Marrow were actively holding back to try and de-escalate the situation, Harriet underestimated Ruby, and Elm made numerous tactical blunders due to her anger over Team RWBY "betraying" Ironwood clouding her judgement).
- The FNDM is rather split over whose side to take when Team RWBY and Ironwood's group come to blows at the end of Volume 7. One side agrees with Ironwood and rejects Team RWBY's argument, taking the position that it's better to evacuate who they can save in Atlas and concentrate on keeping the two Relics and Winter Maiden as far away from Salem as humanely possible, especially given that they had almost no time to prepare before her army of Grimm arrived at the kingdom's border. Another group sides with Team RWBY and rejects Ironwood's argument, taking the position that Ironwood is morally wrong to abandon Mantle and the rest of the world to die by Salem's hand, and taking the Relics and Winter Maiden into orbit will only delay Salem at best. There is also a third group that argues the narrative is clearly on Team RWBY's side and against Ironwood, and that his plan is terrible, but that Team RWBY's approach to dealing with it was so self-sabotaging that they're Right for the Wrong Reasons. While the first two groups can't find any middle ground between them, both groups argue with the third group due to being incompatible with how their preferred side is represented.
MrRepzion made a video criticizing Ian Hecox and Anthony Padilla of Smosh, which some of his viewers agreed with, but a large percentage of his viewers also sided with Ian and Anthony.
Matthew Santoro:
- Some fans prefer that the viewers be called "The Santoro Army", while others prefer "Santorians".
- Some of Matt's fans have gotten into arguments over whether Matt should start a gaming channel.
The Cartoon Hero's "Top 10 Cartoons I Hate That Everyone Else Loves" video…well, with a title like that, you can guess what happened. It was talked up and down the Internet when it was posted in 2013, and split his fanbase. Some people thought it was a piece of crap that didn't explain his dislike for the cartoons on the list well enough and condemned it as "The Bart's Nightmare Let's Play" of his videos, while others enjoyed it and thought it was underrated. Two months after it was posted, a team of ten commentators got together and did a co-op commentary on the video. The Cartoon Hero would later admit that he didn't explain his reasons well enough and would give them reviews to go into more detail for why he didn't care for them, though so far the only cartoons on the list he has covered have been SpongeBob SquarePants and the first Naruto series.
Smash Bros. Lawl developed this over time. Once the Post-Morgan Era started, many complained about the firing of the Brawl announcer, especially in regards to Morgan Freeman being the announcer, the detractors mainly finding the sentence mixing to not be as amusing as that of the Brawl announcer. The creator took notice, and revealed there would be multiple announcers including Will Smith. This was planned from the beginning but fan complains made him reveal it earlier than intended.
pixiv:
- One of the most divisive issues regarding artwork on pixiv is the practice of taking work that was submitted to pixiv and sharing it directly on other sites, particularly Twitter and Tumblr (often within the context of roleplaying), or using art as avatars, all without asking the artist for permission. People who practice it argue that there's nothing wrong with it and that artists shouldn't upload their works if they don't want it spread around, and don't want to go through the process of asking the artist every time they want to share one of their works, especially when most pixiv artists are Japanese and only have a cursory knowledge of English. People against the practice, especially artists, consider this a breach of copyright and an act of disrespect towards the artists who worked hard on their pieces only to have it spread around beyond their control, and point out that artists have ended up in copyright-related trouble or quit out of disgust because of unauthorized art sharing.
- Within the "sharing without permission is okay" camp, and especially amongst people who post erotic works / "hentai", there's the whole issue of posting the source work and/or artist alongside the art itself. Those who argue for it feel that it helps people discover more art from that source or artist, and that it's the least one can do for the artist if they're not willing to ask. Those who refuse to source their artwork feel that it's too much of a hassle and just want to spam hentai nonstop and that people who want to find the source so badly can just use tools like SauceNAO.
- Values Dissonance also happens to play a big role in this argument as well. As some Japanese fanartists have noticed, in the west there's an unspoken rule of sorts that if whether or not you are allowed to perform a certain action is not explicitly stated, then that means it can be considered acceptable. However, the reverse is true in Japan: if you don't know whether or not it's okay for you to do something, you should assume that it's not okay, hence why Japanese fanartists tend to more often than not request not to post their works without explicit permission..
YouTuber Planet Dolan expanded from being a one man operation into a small company, and as such, Dolan chose to hire people to narrate videos as his time was otherwise occupied. This has led to no end of people bitching about how much they hate certain narrators, while others know that the scripts would be exactly the same even if Dolan were the narrator and understand why this was done.
Go to Team Four Star's Discord server, official Subreddit, YouTube comments, Twitter replies, Facebook page, or anywhere else that fans congregate, and you'll notice a sharp divide between folks who only care about the team's abridged series, and those who also enjoy their other content. The abridged-only fans tend to consider the team's other output a distraction from their main appeal and would prefer they focus only on anime parodies. The "other-content" fans tend to like the abridged stuff fine; their beef is with how angry and demanding the abridged-only fans can sometimes be. Flame wars between the two sides are distressingly common, especially when abridged content is delayed or cancelled.
Jreg:
- Inverted, as Jreg actually does have fans from all political quadrants, who while not agreeing on anything else, agree that jris anti centrist videos are awesome. Any actual fandom infighting is more likely to result from shipping the ideologies together which due to it all logically ending up as Ho Yay, provokes a reaction from jris Authoritarian Right fans, and even then some of those fans are down with it only for the absurdism.
  - That said, the fandom is broken in terms of where it amasses. The Twitter fan community is mostly dominated by leftists, the Jreg subreddit is liberal and left-libertarian leaning (though both Twitter and the subreddit are home to most of the Ho Yay fanart), while the more right-wing segments of the fandom generally congregate on the Discord server. The YouTube comment section is the most neutral ground.
  - Jreg has acknowledged the left-libertarian bias of jris subreddit on centrist occasions and lamented it's not technically in the spirit of anti-centrism (as opposed to the Political Compass Memes subreddit), but acknowledged that it leaning authoritarian could get it banned for actual hate speech and dictatorship apologia. The anti-centrism subreddit is another attempt at a more unified userbase.
- The creation of The Mental Illnesses caused a lot of divide. Throughout the fanbase as a whole, certain sections like the series and saw it as an improvement, other sections declared it tasteless and harmful, others weren't as bothered, and others missed JrEg's political content and saw the shift in topic as a step down. The series caused a substantiation amount of divide in specifically the Twitter fandom where many denounced it.
The Critical Drinker's fixation on harping on about alleged political correctness gone mad (usually in regard to feminism) in almost all of his videos has led to two sides developing about Drinker. Either you love the character and agree with his criticisms along with enjoying how he's willing to call out political correctness and makes his points about it all clear and understandable, or you find his criticisms petty, illogical, whiny, mean-spirited, or at worst outright bigoted.
Homestar Runner: The post-hiatus annual Fan Costumes toons, for 1) not being entirely the Chaps' work; 2) being more common than any other type of toon post-hiatus save for the Halloween toons; 3) unlike the pre-hiatus ones, not being commentary-only and lacking "previous" and "next" options, and 4) relegating into the Chaps making fun of themselves, especially where so-called "obscure" costumes are concerned.
YouTube video creators having paid-sponsorship segments in their videos. There are those who are opposed to them because they see it as corporate selling-out and, less cynically, an implicit limiter on what the creator is allowed to make or say since as a general rule, if you are being paid by a sponsor to make a video, you do not say things that criticize them or harm their reputation. Others argue that these are fine as long as they do not significantly impact the quality of their work and that in this day and age, many YouTube creators, especially those who lack another means of sufficient income, depend on these sponorships to take care of themselves.
Helluva Boss:
- Does the show not focus enough on the assassinations I.M.P. carries out? Some people say that I.M.P come off as a borderline case of The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything, and that since it's the premise of the series, there should be more episodes dedicated to the company pulling hits in the mortal realm. Others argue that doing so would run the risk of making the show overly formulaic, while the more scattershot approach to episode subject matter lends itself well to worldbuilding and Character Development.
- Is Stolas and Blitzo's relationship sexually abusive? Detractors point to the massive power differential, Stolas holding Blitzo's life and livelihood in his hand since imps are Cannon Fodder and he controls access to the grimoire Blitzo needs, Blitzo's disturbed expressions in early episodes when Stolas hits on him, and the fact that Blitzo agreed hastily to their Sex for Services relationship to get Stolas to stop talking to him while he was being shot at. Stolas doesn't seem like he'd ever want to intentionally harm Blitzo and, going with later reveals about their relationship's past, might have just given him access to the grimoire if asked, but Blitzo doesn't really seem to know him well enough to know any of that. In the other direction, Blitzo seduced a drunken, lonely Stolas to get close enough to steal from him, which certainly makes informed consent on Stolas' part rather shaky. On the other hand, the sex is something both of them would want to be doing without ulterior motives anyway, and it is possible healthier negotiations could take place offscreen and just weren't funny enough to write into the show.

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