via David, who said that we were “fundamentally missing the point.” (Still ongoing!)
Alto-hime: I wonder if there’s any real integrity with their position, or is it just part of the schtick they do.
Chiyo-chichi: They seem to feel pretty real about some of this stuff. I’ll be the first to say that if you’re a hipster wearing a mullet ironically, you still have a mullet. But the position that COLONY DROP STAFF (LOL) takes is that no parody will ever work.
“Simply pointing out the stupidity of heavy metal bands doesn’t excuse Spinal Tap from being one.”
“Simply pointing out how awful air disaster movies are doesn’t excuse Airplane! from relying on air disaster as its central plot point.”
Not saying Haruhi’s as brilliant as Spinal Tap, I’m not delusional. But the point stands.
Xingke: So wait, Haruhi is both a “self-insert” and a “moe heroine”? Anime fans really are messed up…
I’d suggest that this piece went wrong at approximately sentence two, otherwise agree with most of the above counter-argument. At the same time, not being a Colony Drop reader, I’m slightly surprised at some of the general hostility to the site over here. This is a site whose frontpage suggests low comment count, is that just because no-one wants to talk to them? When did they acquire the negative rep?
Wenli:I don’t think badly of Colony Drop guys. They have a schtik and they play it very pro. However since they have really low output (like, what, 2 posts a month?) and their pieces do not inspire serious thought, Colony Drop caters to a small niche of the internet audience.
Kino:I thought that Colony Drop just hated everything mainstream, but I stopped reading them after they claimed that every anime blog on the internet was shti unless they stamped it with the COLONY DROP STAFF SEAL OF APPROVAL.
Chiyo-chichi:yeah I don’t know if stopping by comments of other blogs just to say how much better they are is a really “pro” schtick.
I guess I admire their stick-to-it-iveness, but I’m not sure what the audience would look for: they don’t inspire discussion, they don’t really encourage it, and the schtick itself makes them questionable as a trusted source for reviews.
Wenli:I don’t read it until someone links me, which ends up covering like, 80% of their total posts anyways.
If there’s a fault, I’d say they troll way too hard for what they’re trying to do.
Hei: I think their fault lies in tooting their horn (read: taste in anime) atop their little hill while declaring that they have the higher ground and that their hill is bigger and better than any other person’s hill when they’ve built said hill on… what was it again? Ah, yes. ANN-esque taste and reviews to match said taste.
Wenli:Really? I think it’s clearly an act, unlike ANN.
Hei: So, Wenli, you’re saying that there’s hope for them to see the light, unlike ANN?
I don’t know. A lot of their macho posturing comes off as the real McCoy, especially when you frame it in the context of “Robots good, moe bad”, but not always. It’s the R1-faggotry, the pseudo-old-school (because they’re not really old; ghostlightning is old, and he knows what real old-school is) bullshit championed by this select group of Americans usually hell bent on asserting their superiority in the face of new anime.
In other words, fandumb!
Alto-hime: animekritik is older than a year, and focuses on even older shows (matsumoto leiji works) and isn’t interested in a rhetoric of superior/discerning taste.
I think that a review site’s capital is, for better or worse its taste and the way it’s articulated. However, in their case I think the lines drawn are indelible and there is no space for growth — as it, or they — can only interpret any change/relaxing of their stance as weakness or compromise.
Believe it or not, **** and I have had civil exchanges after our escalating hostile ones:
http://****.****.***
I happen to think that he is probably one of the most learned Macross fans in the web and is a big deal in the community (I am hardly known, since I’m mostly a lurker in the forums). The difference between us is that he takes on a very elitist stance: i.e. he views Macross Frontier as an insult to his intelligence as a viewer, and a betrayal to him as a fan. I don’t subscribe to such attitudes at all, but I get it. (I would be on the raving fanboy end of the sliding scale, which is also why I do not write reviews; but instead endorsements and propaganda)
This attitude that I’ve observed in his reviews and his behavior in the Macross World Forums (where he is far more civil to others) suggests that he really believes in their taste, and the fundamental position they take.
Now, the reference to ‘Colony Drop’ and ‘Operation British’ is classic Universal Century Gundam. What I can tell those who are unfamiliar with the franchise is that there is little reason not to read these as hostility. Hostility is their methodology, and their schtick is an appeal to some dark comic realm that can resonate with a few like-minded and perhaps sophisticated readers, but will antagonize everyone else.
Wenli: Hei: You’re almost right. The difference is the writer’s distance. ANN is the real McCoy, Colony Drop is a mix of “this is so ludicrous I can’t believe they are serious” and “yeah we’re just pandering to the R1 fake old-school fandumb crowd, because somebody has to.”
Reinhard: make sure you use that phrase “fake old-school” rather than just “R1″ or whatever, Hei.
(i cannot stop loling at their whole insistence at a kind of elitist “taste” in something so middlebrow as macross. ugh, that middlebrow show is so awful compared to this middlebrow show. it’s not like they’re saying “stop watching k-on and go watch kaiba” or “stop watching gundam 00 and watch mind game” here!)
Wenli: Also, FWIW, at least one of Colony Drop’s writer is in Japan. So yeah, it may only be R1 in upbringing at the most.
Hei: You can take the gaijin out of America, but you can’t take the America out of the gaijin?
Alto-hime: In a preview to to spring season one of them said Dragon Ball Kai was awesome because “[what's the matter with you!!?] it’s Dragon Ball!”
That’s their taste too.
Wenli: Hei, that would make an awesome book title. The market is ripe for this crap too!