zumbieve

Zumbie Ve

ČOR.Just a normal zombie..perhapsAnd a SA2 shadow’s prime enthusiast. Prime!Shadow appreciator. (They better not fuck up Movie 3 shadow)

473 posts

Do You Think We Can Bring Back ROTBTD In 2021?

Do you think we can bring back ROTBTD in 2021?

(Oh wow I mulled over this ask for quite some time. I hope this is somewhat helpful!)

If by "bringing back" you mean restoring the crossover to something close to its former popularity, then no, I honestly don't think we can. I think more than just a fandom, part of what made RotBTD so well-known back then is because it got picked up as a tumblr trend, and trends move on. Not to mention with the lack of new source material, the possibility of coming up with inspirations for fanworks (something that creators need, and i feel like this is particularly harder for crossovers) as well as topics to talk about are pretty limited, so it's understandable that most people who participate decided to leave for good after having their share of fun. This is just the way things are.

On a brighter note, it's not like the fandom is actually dead, far from it. The fans are very much still around; there are those who never left (salute to you guys, seriously), those who return (like me!), and those who get into this old fandom late. Discussions are still happening. New fanworks are still being made; lots of it! And though the traffic might be slower, I think a lot of people would agree with me that there's been something like a fandom revival recently.

And this is just my personal opinion, but I do think that what we have right now is even better than what we had back then. The community is much more chill. There’s a deeper appreciation and understanding of the four franchises as well as the characters that the earlier fandom frankly lacked. People are respectful about shipping. I can go on.

However, I understand that it could still feel less lively than the RotBTD fandom that you remember and wish to bring back. And I’m afraid I only have one advice to assuage that: try to reach out and engage more with the current community.

Look for people who like the same characters/ships/AUs that you like and follow them. Reblog fanarts that you like and maybe even tell the artist what you like about their work. Comment on fics you enjoyed and maybe share it with others that might appreciate it too. Send asks to folks whose headcanons you’d like to see more of. Maybe join one of the discord servers and hang out there. Or if you haven’t found a particular thing you’d like to see, make a new post and just talk about it!

Like I said before, many of us are still around and kicking, and I think it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that everyone here is open to having another person to talk to about our interests. So if what you're looking for is a livelier experience, simply chat and interact with other fans! After all, having like-minded friends/acquaintances/mutuals of some kind helps a lot in making fannish experience more fulfilling.

oh and please don’t read this as an imperative to be sociable, but rather as an assurance that it's okay to be more present in the fandom space!! If the idea makes you uncomfortable, there’s always the option to use the anon feature or only pop into the fandom tag once in a while. Just do what feels right for you, and remember that just because it's a smaller fandom now doesn't mean you can't have fun.

(Also a little off-topic but i feel like we often forget just how big BIG rotbtd was. It was like a giant stone soup collaboration across all types of media: fanfic, fanart, fancomic, gifsets, edits, RP blogs, fan videos, fan songs, animation, cosplays, fanzines, etc. It felt like everyone was doing it and pitched in with something new or at least knew about it and passed it around. Of course it would feel a lot emptier when we're being compared to that.)

I’m aware I pretty much just assumed the intent behind your question and ended up babbling here lmao so feel free to message me again and correct me if I misinterpret your ask in any way!