Broken Base Cleanup

I think the list on YMMV.Just Dance could use some trimming, but I don't spend any time in the Just Dance fandom, so I don't know which examples (if any) are valid. With that said, the one about the removal of mashups looks shoehorned — the wording suggests that there's an "anti" side and and an "I don't care" side, which doesn't qualify.

I'm looking at this entry under Magia Record: Puella Magi Madoka Magica Side Story:

• The Madoka Magica fanbase seems to be very split on the announcement of the Magia Record anime. Some people are very excited, both because Magia Record has a great story and because we haven't gotten a Madoka Magica anime since 2013 (when Rebellion came out). Others are upset because we've been waiting for years for a sequel to Rebellion and they would rather have that than a Magia Record adaptation (or at least get the sequel to Rebellion first) - as it means having to wait even more. The fact that the Concept Movie was stated to be the core of a new Madoka Magica project isn't helping either, as the anime adaptation of the game could end up displacing attention from the main series.

It's written with respect to a then-future, now currently ongoing show. While I believe the base issue is valid (the anime was announced over six months ago, there are two distinct camps, and arguments between fans of the property and those who are still bitter due to the principles involved), it's presumptuous and involves a lot of speculative information.

YMMV.Ghost In The Shell 2017:

• The casting of Scarlett Johansson as the Major earned a lot of accusations on whitewashing, while others (notably, most of them in Japan) didn't mind it as long as the resulting film's story and direction was good. Another camp argued that while it was a bit of a wasted opportunity, the Major's body is artificial anyways.
• The trailers and TV spots made a lot of hints about the Major's past. While some found this a welcome change considering that her past is traditionally very vague and different in every adaptation, others disliked it, pointing out that the Major's past is not always the focus of the franchise and that she doesn't need to angst about it. It didn't help that many people started comparing it to RoboCop.
• The Reveal that the Major is in fact Motoko Kusanagi, and her ghost is still that of a Japanese woman in a shell that is white, was also controversial and divided viewers as to whether it successfully addresses the controversial casting decision In-Universe or just made the situation worse.
• As for the film itself, the base was broken about its general quality. Those who disliked the film claim that the opposite side has no standards and that they would allow any degree of crass Westernization and cheapening of the series and its values in order to have an adaptation of the work, quality be damned. Those who liked it accused the opposite side of being a party of unpleasable people that didn't appreciate all the care put into the production, and who would have panned the film regardless of its quality out of prejudices against Western adaptations of anime/manga.
• The movie's decision not to use the Fuchikoma/Tachikoma created a lot of contention between people who found their absence an acceptable change for the adaptation to make and those who thought it was a terrible idea that removed a crucial element of the franchise.
• For Latin American viewers, the use of a different voice cast from the anime films, in stark contrast with the Japanese dub, when their original voice actors were brought back as much as they could. Other people didn't mind the change much and they at least accepted the dub was good for its own merits.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Jan 31st 2020 at 1:49:04 AM

• Whitewashing: Sounds like it was added pre-release. Cut.
• The Reveal: Not sure.
• The quality of the film itself: It falls under the "is this work good or bad?" misuse since the detractors aren't part of the base. Cut.
• Adapted Out: Not sure.
• Latin American dub: The "other people didn't mind the change" part indicates that one side doesn't feel strongly enough to count as Broken Base. Cut.

I'm not sure about 2 and 4, but the other 3 can be cut for being misuse.

Opinions on whether the reveal justifies the whitewashing or not can be kept IMO. I've seen a lot of fights on it, and people still hold fast to their opinions to this day.

YMMV.Ed Edd N Eddy:

• "If It Smells Like An Ed", full stop. Viewers are split between those who find it too cruel to be funny or a fan-favorite for being the first half-hour episode in the series and having elements of Detective Drama.
• "A Fistful Of Ed". Some fans think it's one of the most sadistic episodes ever and hate it for being overly mean-spirited towards the totally innocent Edd, the hardcore scenes of violence and Eddy's obnoxiousness. Other fans like or praise it for exploring more seriously Edd's Character Depth, the emotional scenes, and the Bittersweet Ending (with Eddy actually standing up for Edd and saving the day by making The Kankers back off).
• The final two seasons had the kids attending school. Some fans thought it was a refreshing change of pace, others disliked them for changing the status quo and location the show took place in. Similarly, did the series suffer Seasonal Rot after it was Un-Canceled? Reactions range from believing so to be the case, to others saying that they're either just as good as the pre-cancellation episodes or not quite as good but, overall, still pretty funny and enjoyable in their own right.
• Pretty much any episode where a character (frequently Eddy) gets tormented mercilessly is bound to be not very well-liked, or at least contentious. Some prominent examples include "Sorry, Wrong Ed", "The Good, The Bad and The Ed", "Smile for the Ed", and "Your Ed Here", all of which have a broken base.
• The 2013 Kevedd craze polarized the fandom. Everyone either writes a Kevedd fic or makes a jab at them.

Keep the first three, remove the fourth example for being too general, and remove the fifth example for appearing to be a short-lived issue.

Edited by ADrago on Feb 5th 2020 at 7:40:36 AM

Remove the full stop from the first example, too.

From the Disney Parks YMMV:

• Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway has gained a very divisive reception among fans. On one hand, a lot of people are happy and eccentric that Disney's iconic mascot is finally getting an proper attraction all to himself after all of these years, but others have question the decision to base it off the modern shorts rather than the classic shorts that made him popular to begin with, arguing that the ride would feel out of place in the park and won't have the timeless value that basing the ride off the classic shorts would have brought instead. And that's not even going into the fact that the ride is replacing The Great Movie Ride of all rides, which some are happy as they think it was outdated and needed to be replaced, and others are upset that another classic Disney attraction is going away. (The fact that it was the original flagship attraction of the park—and the very last one from opening day—didn't help matters either.)

This attraction isn't even open yet (1 more month as of writing this). Cut?

Cut it. It violates the six-month waiting period we have for Broken Base.

From YMMV.Nightwing The New Order:

• Broken Base: Unsurprisingly, given its premise. Some think the story is entirely out of character, and comes across as DC's answer to the highly divisive Secret Empire, while others are interested in seeing how the story plays out. Some are just interested in seeing a Nightwing-centric Elseworld story.

Cut. Typical "complaint complaint complaint but some people don't mind it."

• Broken Base/Persona 5
  • Due to the criticism, the English version of Persona 5 Royal opted to change the dialogues between the Camp Gay couple and Ryuji for being perceived as homophobic in nature, which also sparked another debate. One side appreciates the change, while another side feels that the localization doesn't change the original intent of the scene. A third side feels this is a cultural misinterpretation, as Ryuji and Joker were in the Red Light District that's infamous for being a place for hook-ups, and Ryuji's reluctance may be because of the fact he is a minor.

The English version of Royal isn't even out yet and this change was announced just a few days ago.

from YMMV.Ralph Breaks The Internet:

• The princess scene. A funny self-parody, or shameless self-promotion?
• The ending. Some enjoy the lesson Ralph learned about letting loved ones go, while others feel like Vanellope abandoning her game contradicts the moral of the first film and makes her come across as a selfish hypocrite.
• Related to the above, Did Vanellope "go Turbo"? Fans of the movie are extremely divided on this. Defenders claim that unlike Turbo, Vanellope does not actually go out of her way to endanger the game she's in nor was there any malice in her actions, plus says at the end that she fully intends on going back to her old game whenever taking vacations to the arcade to visit Ralph. However, detractors pointed out that whether or not there was malice in her actions, Vanellope still abandoned her game for another one. They cite that Ralph did the same thing in the first film and gets called out on it, yet no one brings it up against Vanellope.

From what I can tell the people opposed to the change are a very Vocal Minority.

I feel the first two are valid examples, but the third entry is just expanding upon a specific element of the second. I'd say cut the third entry.

the first two don't actually describe a sustained, acrimonious split among the fanbase. They don't talk about the base at all, just say the equivalent of "chocolate or vanilla?" or "thing: best thing or worst thing?"

They're ZC Es at best.

Remove the first for being a ZCE, but combine 2 and 3 since 3 goes into more detail about how the ending was divisive.

YMMV.Digibro has a lengthy Broken Base section for an Analysis Channel

Well, the first point is very clearly about his overall reception, and not about division among his fans.

From YMMV.Inside Mari

• Broken Base: Fans were mostly disappointed by the ending. Mari and Yori part ways and many plot threads seemed to be abandoned. Was it a good ending or not?

ZCE at minimum, probably shoehorning. Cut.

From YMMV.System Of A Down

• Broken Base: There's some disagreement among the fandom about Mezmerize/Hypnotize, mainly due to Daron's more prominent vocals and the slightly more comedic edge.
  • A good way to determine which of their discography you'll like more is to listen to Steal This Album!. If you like the first half more, you'll enjoy their first two albums more. If you like the second half more, you'll like the Mezmerize/Hypnotize albums more. If you like both halves, you will like all their material.

Not a sustained, bitter conflict with no middle ground. Cut.

YMMV.Harvest Moon Magical Melody:

• Broken Base:
  • Much like The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker broke the Zelda fan base up, this games visuals are controversial. It's often complained that the bodies are disproportionate or they look like children. It doesn't help that it was preceded by the Darker and Edgier Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life.
  • Fans are torn on whether they like the characters or find them too bland. The characters come off as shallow due to having a limited amount of dialogue. Each has roughly one line that they almost always say until you get their friendship level up. This is presumably due to the large amount of characters. It's expected they had to cut corners to get them all in well enough.

YMMV.Animal Crossing New Leaf:

• Broken Base: Villager trading. New Leaf has a mechanic where, the day before a villager moves out, a friend can visit your town and convince the villager to move into their town. Some people online take advantage of this by charging Bells or trading rare items or even other villagers to let people claim their villager. Proponents of the practice consider it essentially the same as trading items online—a way to add depth to a simple game. While relatively few players engage in villager trading, many of those who do are extremely devoted to it; some people have multiple copies of the game or even multiple 3DS systems just in order to have "cycle towns" to trade more often (and hence earn more money). Some people think that villager trading defeats the purpose of the game; others are creeped out by the idea of buying and selling villagers, especially for the exorbitantly high prices—up into tens of millions of Bells—for the most popular villagers (particularly vehement opponents call it "villager trafficking"). This isn't helped by the fact that many villager traders use time traveling (another controversial mechanic) in order to make deals and transactions more quickly and easily. There's a even a Subreddit dedicated to this practice on Reddit.

YMMV.Animal Crossing Pocket Camp

• Broken Base:
  • The frequency of monthly garden events, and just events (including Gyrodite hunting and Fishing Tourneys) in general. Some players like it to justify being active in game (and more options for dressing up/decorating), some don't for making them burn out easily, especially if the event feels prolonged due to mere bad luck and being typically the longest of the three events of the month. While those that are pro-event also justify their preference of more events because they keep the game fresh, the anti-event players, especially regarding the garden events, feel like the game basically misses the whole point of Animal Crossing, a casual game that players are free to check whenever, not being heavily pressured by the overabundance of time-limited events. Starting from November 2018, each of the three events mentioned above are now part of an even bigger event, starting just two days to immediately after the end of the previous one- giving players barely to no break between one month's Gyrodite Hunt event and the next month's Garden Event.
  • Thematic crafting events costing Leaf Tickets, first introduced in the Super Mario Crossover Event. While the mechanic is already applied to the limited-time "special character" furniture (K.K. Slider's chair, Tom Nook's chair, Celeste's telescope), its presence in this type of event manages to bug some players. However, some others defend it as the event also gives out Leaf Tickets via easily-doable Timed Goals and the obvious fact that, well, Nintendo still needs to make money from this game.
  • The Super Mario Crossover Event itself, which lasted a whole month, divided into three parts, unlike other thematic crafting events. Mario fans see it as a treat, non-Mario fans that like filling the catalog don't mind the new items, other non-Mario fans simply don't care about this event and consider it a nice little break (especially after the exhausting Leif's Spring Garden Event), while the rest absolutely loathe this event. Emphasis on the last one, as their reasoning include that it's either causing more stress or deemed unnecessary. It also doesn't help that every part has one craftable item that requires Leaf Tickets to make! (see above)

Edited by Pichu-kun on Feb 27th 2020 at 7:16:58 AM