Y'know what? [Archive] - Temple of Mewtwo

MewtwoStruckBack

July 6th, 2008, 01:33 am

...so I've been called out. I'm not suprised it's come to this. I'm actually suprised there wasn't a separate journal calling me out specifically on a lot of things, I suppose I should be happy it's ONLY on the Brawl rage.

I read it, and every reply to it so far. It's tough to hear all of that coming from a fellow 'two fan. Okay, judging by the dA search counts, the Fchan threads, and general response to Brawl and other things, Lucario has a decent fanbase. That's all fine and good.

My worries aren't about that fanbase simply existing. My worries are that there may end up being a time when the Mewtwo fanbase is nearly non-existent due to lack of support/new appearances. Seeing Mewtwo not make it into Brawl shows that our fandom is not immortal, that it's enduring the test of time, and it's something I'm fighting against mentally every day I think about it. I dread the day that the fanbase for ANY Pokemon exceeds that of Mewtwo (Pikachu not withstanding, he has the "franchise" tag so he's going to get the majority of attention by default.)

Obviously, I'm not concerned about your devotion to the fandom, Aeris -- what you've gone through in your life, and what Mewtwo has helped you through, have given Mewtwo a place in your heart that no other Pokemon, no other human being, no other ANYTHING will be able to take away. What I'm scared to possibly see would be the less devoted 'two fans turning tail on him and clinging to Lucario as "the next big thing", or any other Pokemon for that matter.

Every time I'm trying to bring new attention to Mewtwo, it's an attempt to thwart off just that. The Mewtwo Tribute Article, talks with anyone who is writing/may in the future be writing epic Mewtwo fanfiction, everything going on with Boris and the potential for a mass-produced line of 'two fursuits...the Brawl situation has made it clear that we can't count on Nintendo for support as a given, and that a good bit of it will have to come from us as fans.

The Pokemon-151 line has relieved my fears to an extent; one of the very first products off that line of clothing being a dedication to Mewtwo shows that they still know they have a rather large 1st-gen fanbase and that they should still try to cater to it. I am hopeful for a dominant manga appearance during the end of its run, and I'm hoping that fans that were disappointed with his non-appearance in Brawl might drum up enough attention that he makes an appearance in a future movie, another game, etc.) Other things are encouraging as well -- Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 (though Mewtwo only appeared in Darkrai's dungeon, he did not get his own), and the majority of the Pokemon TCG World Championship items still including Mewtwo on them.

On the other side of that coin...you only need to look at the Earthbound series. There have been several hundred pages of fan works directly given to people of authority within Nintendo, petition upon petition to get the unreleased "Mother 3" (Earthbound's sequel) released in the US, yet Nintendo treats it like an unwanted child, shunning it at every opportunity. If you check some of the updates throughout the Smash Bros. Dojo's daily update cycle, Sakurai goes out of his way to mention that Mother 3 was Japan-only, taunting that entire fandom repeatedly. I have literally prayed that Mewtwo does not end up suffering the same fate, with a huge fandom pleading to Nintendo to get additional recognition for a great character, storyline, and series and basically being spit on in return.

I still haven't played Brawl even once. I most likely never will. There are reasons beyond the Mewtwo/Lucario thing that play into that decision, the two big ones being "Perfect Dark syndrome" (throwing in craploads of unlockables and things to complete, like stickers, trophies, challenges, etc. just for the sake of having them -- Perfect Dark was the first game Nintendo made that REALLY emphasized that, and unfortunately it stuck)...and the copy-protection on save files that makes it impossible to use someone else's save. Admittedly, I'm curious to see what it's like, but without Mewtwo as an unlockable to make me commit interest, I don't want to end up going through a game where there are several hundred stickers, 500 trophies (some of which can only be gotten by random luck of a trophy stand dropping and getting it to take the last sliver of health away from a gigantic boss), I don't see me putting in 100+ hours on it. If saves were transferrable, I could try out someone else's fully unlocked save, and make my decision from there as to whether going through it on my own would be worth it.

I don't really know what else to say here -- that's the scariest part. I don't know if anything any of us visiting this board will do will actually do any good, I don't know if Mewtwo will continue to get further recognition in the media by those with the power to make it happen, and I don't know what's going to become of our fandom. Think of it this way -- Mewtwo means different things to different fans. My fandom began at 13, grew to fanatacism at 14, unhealthy fanatacism at 16...I've been completely dedicated to Mewtwo for 11 years now; in two more years, that will be half of my time on this Earth! I damn well want something to show for it. If the fandom dies entirely, then it would be like saying that the decade I've devoted to Mewtwo was worthless, and I'll be damned if I let that happen.

That's all I've got to say on this for now, I'm sure more will come out later if and when other people respond.