Do we have a YMMV Trope for a work being unfairly judged due to its type of fans?

I want to add to a post with an indie comics YMMV page that got flak for being a "a comicsgate work pushing alt right propaganda with anime tiddies" when in reality it was just a rather beneign conservative comic that ticked some boxes with the above crowd and more gets judged for it's handful of volatile fans than the actual book being offensive.

I thought mismaimed fandom but that doesn't match up after reading it.

Any ideas?

It might fall under Vocal Minority, perhaps.

Eh doesn't fit I think.

To add more context the book is Kamen America. It got flak for being a comicsgate book when in reality was nowhere near the poor or offensive quality of those books & In fact it's a matter of record that the creators quietly disassociated with that group & have even gotten flak from them for it.

It's more like they were lumped in with some bad creative when in reality they were just sort of adjacent and not really a part of it.

There was once Tainted By The Fanbase; it is now on Permanent Red Link Club because it attracted so much inter-fandom bitterness. Overshadowed by Controversy might fit, though, if the comic itself is apolitical but is caught up in its creator's politics.

Eh it's a tough call. It's pretty political, especially with its recent arc basically being about a corpo and it's "diverse global unity superhero team" being frauds who's making the robots they save people from while spinning this story about the robots being alien drones sent to attack earth in response to "light pollution" and it's basically a superhero allegory for that "climate change is a hoax to push radical climate laws" claim.

Like Kamen America's writing is obnoxious but it's critics make it out to be "a lunatic comicsgate book peddling alt right lunacy with anime tiddies" when it really isn't as extreme as they make it out to be.

Edited by Phantomskyler on Apr 30th 2024 at 9:45:21 AM

There is the Law Of Fan Jackassery, where the fanbase is too small for mainstream appeal but not large enough to drown out toxic fans.

That one may fit. For as successful as Kamen America is (even has a fanbase in Japan) I don't really her much about it outside of it's own hype circles. I see a decent number of them making comments like "finally a comic book that doesn't talk down to me or push politics" ignoring how *very* political the book is or how "it's a bastion against woke feminist garbage" and I can see why it's so insulated...

Misaimed Fandom, then.

(For future reference, this sort of query might go in Trope Finder.)

From how you described the content, calling a comic book that supports conspiracy theories about climate change denial an "altright comicsgate" isn't unfair.
It's the fucking truth.

I wouldn't really say Misaimed Fandom fits here since it seems like the type of fans you are describing are the target audience of the book (ie a conservative book is aimed at conservative fans)

Eh I think in relation to the book itself the thing is while it's definitely a conservative book and has some dumbass Alt right claims as story plots, it's specifically not a comicsgate book. As far as I can tell the writers had enough self awareness of how much brand poison those guys were and made a point of disassociating with them in spite of the shared venn diagram of conservative readers.

Edited by Phantomskyler on May 1st 2024 at 11:10:20 AM

Misaimed Fandom is specifically when a work attracts an audience that interprets themes in opposition to the intended message. When a work attracts an audience outside the Target Audience that is Periphery Demographic.

Truth is fans tend to exaggerate the viewpoint of a work and it's perceived as more hardline than the more nuanced portrayal it really is.

If I remember correctly the authors WERE comicsgate, but they fought with Ethan Van Schiver (over why it's not exactly clear), and thus disavowed it, so them not being Comicsgate is moreso over the creators not liking each other rather than due to comicgate's reputation. (although you could say that technically it is since getting into fights caused comicgate's bad reputation)

The impression I get is that the comic is not part of Comicsgate itself, but is aimed at a similar alt-right audience and promoting weird conspiracies. Given that, I would say that lumping it in with Comicsgate is inaccurate on the details, but still gives a fair impression to those who would rather avoid such comics.