No Right Answer: Worst Instance When Fans Didn't Show Up

[BiscuitTrouser]

My girlfriend bought me firefly and serenity for my birthday out of the blue, having purchased them for "buy firefly day" and wanting to give them to the next deserving person. Hardcore firefly fan now.

Scott pilgrim is pretty much my central nerd obsession. I own this tshirt.

Spoiler

Comics i loved to bits. I adored them. I saw the trailer for the movie and that got me into the comics before the movie came out. But... the movie failed for me. I felt like hollywood missed the idea completely. I feel it went "LOOK A COMIC WITH GAMES REFERENCES! GEEKS LIKE THAT, IF WE ADD NERD CULTURE REFERENCES TO AN ACTION FILM ITS THE SAME COMIC!"

No it isnt. It misses ALL the emotional tug by casting micheal cera and missing out on ALL the key character development, where does Envy go? Kim resolution? Nega scott meaning something? The twins? Ramonas dark past? Where was ANY of this. It missed out on the things that made me love scott pilgrim....all of them... i got the DVD. I saw the movie. But it didnt do it for me... and it never will.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I've never been into Earthbound and I passed on Scott Pilgram because of the whole 'chase the girl' thing. Of course I'd never even heard of Scott Pilgram before the movie came out. I bear no responsibility for this since I personally didn't ask for either of those things.

 

[Gatx]

Hmm, I didn't expect him to come on and say he wasn't going to buy Xenoblade, but hey, if you're not a fan then you're not a fan, that's that.

 

[Starik20X6]

I didn't have a job when Scott Pilgrim came out, so I had $0 to spend on a movie ticket. BUT! I have bought the Blu-Ray, the PSN game (and the Knives DLC) and the figures, so I think it cancels out.

I didn't have a SNES, but I would have bought EarthBound if I did. Haven't bought XenoBlade yet because it's still AU$100 and I have too many games in by backlog as it is. I will buy it though, either after a price drop or I get through my pile-o-shame.

 

[JaredXE]

There were two big reasons Scott Pilgrim didn't do well: Eat Pray Love and The Expendables. Both came out at the same time as Pilgrim and both sucked any potential audience away. Michael Cera was competing against Dolph Lundgren and Jason Statham. No contest there.

And for the poster above that linked that pic showing all the movies that geeks wanted but never went to: I saw them all. In the theatres. Sometimes multiple times.

Fuck Hollywood.

 

[Random Argument Man]

Dude, Scott Pilgrim came out at the same time as the Expendables. The (Big action movie with every action star we know) vs ( The niche comic book movie that only some us know)....


Things were not going to end well...

 

[BehattedWanderer]

...Hey! I did my part for both of them! I've owned Earthbound since it came out, with the guide alongside it. I participated in the "Call Nintendo of America to get all any of the Mother games on the Wii's Virtual Console" drive. I was there, man. Saw Scott Pilgrim thrice in theaters, convinced a bunch of friends to go see it as well, and bought the dvd. I was there man, in the front lines!

Though, it's a bit moot, really. We're Still failing Mother/Earthbound, but Scott Pilgrim can at least still be bought for profit. We're too busy moaning about it to actually go out and do it, it seems. Dammit, guys, get it together!

 

[Sylveria]

Maybe if they didn't cast Michael Cera, a boy that makes Kevin Costner look charismatic, more people would have seen it. It didn't help that the fans of that movie were just insufferable. I didn't go see it in theaters because I didn't wish to associate myself with the obnoxious hipsters who were drooling over it and calling me retarded for seeing Expendables first. Here's an important life-lesson hipsters: If you want people to like what you like, stop acting like dicks about it. I'm glad it failed, it deserved to fail, maybe a few years with the "nerds" getting the brush off will teach them some manners.

People showed up to Iron Man. People showed up to Thor. People even showed up to Green Lantern. Don't blame Scott Pilgrim's failure on the fans not showing up, blame it on it being a dull movie with a silly premise and unlikable characters that was idolized by people acting like douchebags.

Earthbound getting the reception it did is hardly cause of the fans. It was because the game was extremely expensive and extremely poorly marketed. It did receive a huge push, but that push was "This game stinks!" (literally).

No other game before or since Earthbound has been the subject of so much fan support with several petitions with tens of thousands of signatures being sent to Nintendo to show them that their is a fanbase and there is a demand. Nintendo simply wishes to be retarded about it or fears legal recourse for the music holders. A real fan of Earthbound or someone who's interested in gaming history would know that lack of fan-interest is probably the only issue Earthbound doesn't suffer from.

 

[Stalydan]

So this is what Ness would look like in his mid-twenties... awesome.

I think it's a shame Mother 3 isn't going to be released outside Japan. Thank god for fan-translations, those people are saviours. I played it not too long ago, very fun RPG.

 

[Dibbzy]

In a conversation with my brother once we determined Scott Pilgrim failed is because the people the movie was aimed at are the kind of people who would rather stay at home, and watch a pirated copy than pay to go see it.

Personally I think Scott Pilgrim was at its best when I saw it on the big screen. I love that film.

As for Earthbound, I?m afraid I?ve never actually heard of it.

 

[The Random One]

Don't worry, Kyle, I'll save you!

Some points in favour of S. Pilgrim:
1. Earthbound had been a gamble from the beginning, and it came out in a time in which there was no internet, unclear division of genre, and almost no way to figure out what a game was like other than buying it. RPGs were fated to not do as well, especially when you consider translations were very rare back then. You can sell Double Dragon everywhere, since people of all creeds and races speak the universal language of PUNCH. But with RPGs, if you don't have a good grasp of the English language you can't play at all. And the complexity also keeps children from enjoying it. So that's two markets struck out in one blow. That's a tough thing for Final Fantasy style RPGs which follow the basic premise of medieval(ish) fantasy; imagine for an ultra-niche urban fantasy RPG! That's not an excuse when Scott Pilgrim came out; not only had the Internet come to be, but also to create a subculture of its own.

2. The Mother series is not coming to the US. You know what's not coming to anywhere because Scott Pilgrim failed? At the Mountains of Madness. Ask your best friend Bob for more info.

3. Nintendo is stubborn and dumb. Operation Rainfall proves it: see how much they resisted releasing a game that people obviously wanted. Do you think a game so old it can drive really factored in their decision to the extent they claimed? If Earthbound had done well, they'd find another excuse. Wot I think is that Nintendo believes, for whatever reason, that Americans will find Mother 3 offensive. That's not a far shot; Eagleland is essentially a parody of America, and the difference between 'loving reference' and 'vicious putdown' is not so clear when you are a stiff executive at a corporation that got to where it is by appealing largely to children and you live in a country that defines both 'traditional' and 'insular'. I honestly don't think fans could have made a difference.

Therefore, I have won this round. Thank you, thank you.

 

[Drakmeire]

Saw Scott Pilgrim twice in theaters and brought several friends. Bought the DVD and show is as often as I can. did my part well.
Also Pre-ordered Xenoblade just to prove that gamers can be good on their word.

 

[kwagamon]

No guilt on Scott Pilgrim. Saw it in theaters, have the DVD.

 

[dystopiaINC]

The Scot Pilgrim movie was way overrated. I rented it, and was not impressed. Dropping pop culture references, even if they happen to be video games ones, doesn't automatically make you cool, no matter how much Family Guy thinks it does.

the scott pilgrim movie was shafted hard in box office. i rented it on red box since i didn't really hear about it until i saw movie bob's review of it.

it was awesome. i returned the rented copy and made a trip to wal-mart to buy the dvd that same day. then i went to amazon that night and ordered the whole graphic novel series.

 

[Jadak]

Does this 'phenomenon' even exist? My impression is that these things don't bomb because they fans don't bother, but rather because people don't actually want to see it.

Did anyone who actually who was a fan of the Scott Pilgrim series and wanted to see the move movie simply not bother doing it for no particular reason?

I get when people might not bother with something because they're poor, or busy, or whatever. But in general, I can't say I've known many (or any) people who would ever call themselves 'fans' of something and then 'not show up'.

 

[ace_of_something]

Fun fact when Earthbound came out I got it for Christmas that year. (i think I was in middle school or high school) and the game came with the strategy guide and scratch'n'sniff stickers. The stickers smelled like 'garbage' 'socks' and other fine things. The stickers still adorn one of my first guitar cases.

It's one of the few SNES games I still own. I would buy a wii if they made a new earthbound game.

Also, I saw Serenity and SPv.tW on opening days. I remember how many people I told to watch firefly when it was on and they told me it looked stupid. Cut to many years later...

 

[Redd the Sock]

Sorry, Serenity has to win over both as that was the film fans actually whined into existance only to not show up. Earthbound was pre-mass internet (and pre FFVII so few people were into RPGs) so it was a hard sell for Nintendo Power. Scott Pilgrim, while nice to have, it's not like too many people were begging for it.

 

[Beautiful End]

Hey, I took a risk and watched the movie in theaters without even know who Scott Pilgrim was!

I'm not a big Michael Cera fan. But if there ever was a role that fits him perfectly with his whole "awkward boy that it somehow cool" persona, this is it. This is, in my opinion, the only good role he has had because it feels like he's not even acting! Most of the times, the movies revolve around his persona. This time, it was the other way around.
Aside from that, the movie was great. Easy to follow, AMAZING soundtrack, funny and never a dull moment. It's not meant to be taken seriously (I mean, come on, once the first Ex exploded in spare change, we knew this wasn't a serious movie).
This was the first movie that, to me, thought about geeks, video games and all that stuff and combined it together into an ultimate geek fan service. Stuff like The Big Bang Theory (Which I hate because not all geeks are geniuses like that) are nowhere near as good as Scott Pilgrim. Those shows reference geek culture but in a "This is what geeks do everyday" kind of way. We don't need to be reminded of this! We live that kind of life! Now, Scott Pilgrim: Flaming katanas, killing people that explode into change, power ups, ninja moves, fighting bosses, space highways, all of that you cannot find in real life. THAT is what we want.

I bought the DVD when it came out and I also bought the game. Because, guess what? It IS also amazing.

But back to topic. I don't blame Nintendo for not wanting to release good Japanese-release-only games over here. I support the release of Xenogears because I see a lot of people want it, but if they're not gonna come through, then I wouldn't blame Nintendo if the end up backing off all the way. While we're at it, I honestly didn't like Earthbound for the SNES. I bought it like 3 years ago. I like RPGs. I heard this was a godsend so I got it. And...it just wasn't. It just didn't attract me at all.

The problem is that Nintendo, or whoever, thinks that because the internet is crying out for a game, that means ALL gamers in the world will buy it. I'm a gamer, and I don't want it. They are rare titles that are rarely advertized as big as some other local titles (Call of Duty, Skyrim, etc).

While we're at it, I DO want to play The Last Story. That one I am gonna pre-order because I know most people don't care about it and stores will get like 5 copies due to lack of pre-orders.

Anyway, like everyone has said before, Scott Pilgrim didn't do that well because the testosterone-fueled The Expendables released at the same time. So of course, you know that any movie with mucho-macho guys, muscle cars or hot chicks will do well in theaters (See The Fast and the Furious (Any of them), XXX, The Transporter, etc).
...Do you know what its like to be the only girl in that small theater, surrounded by guys who can't stop staring at the big screen filled with sweaty guys exploding things with a predictable "hero" plot? The place smelled like sweaty balls! Yeah, I learned what those smell like that day too!

...Cannot unsmell.