this post was submitted on 10 May 2026
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In the Lord of the Rings fandom there's a persistent debate whether balrogs, or Durin's Bane specifically, have wings. The text in Fellowship is ambiguous whether what it is describing are literal wings or something else wing-like.

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[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

I happen to be a fan of The Amazing Digital Circus, and for a brief time I did participate in the fandom, and here’s just one of many, many examples of what this fandom does to itself.

Someone came up with the idea that one of the characters is trans…based on absolutely zero facts from the show itself, anything said or implied by the creative team…nothing more than their own oddball imagination. Which immediately split the fandom into two very rabid camps on this non-issue. And you’d think the show’s creator explicitly stating that no, this character is not in fact trans, would settle it? Lol nope.

Shouldn’t surprise me that a show with the subtext of mental illness would attract mentally ill people, but man this fandom will pick a fight with anyone.

[–] Clbull@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

TADC is probably the only good thing to have come out of Glitch Productions since SMG4 got enshittified to become more "advertiser friendly." But part of the reason I haven't gotten into it is the fandom.

I don't like how half the fandom sexualizes Pomni; especially against the creators' wishes.

[–] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Afaik, Zooble's the only canonically trans character. I mean, the nightmare segment of ep8 was VERY obviously about their severe dysphoria, as well as their couch therapy gag with Caine. Hell, their whole body design was Caine's pretty lame attempt at alleviating their dysphoria by giving them dysmorphia instead.

Tbh, I was very pleasantly surprised by how seriously they took depicting actual computer science. There is a world of difference between Kinger with the bucket on his head missing a keystroke and this shit.

[–] Arctic_monkey@leminal.space 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thanks, just watched the pilot and it looks really good. Which character did people think was trans and why?

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Jax. And there is no why.

See, a sizable percentage of this fandom are maladjusted woker-than-thou 12 year olds who develop parasocial relationships with fictional characters, and adults with similar personality profiles. That’s where it came from. Lurk in some of the fandom spaces and you’ll see behaviors similar to this. Some of these people even picked a fight with the show’s creator over who the main characters are. She’s had to come forward more than once to collectively tell people to settle the fuck down.

That being said, I’m happy you watched the pilot. Enjoy the next seven episodes - there’s some great character and plot/lore development and even though there’s only one episode left, there’s still a lot left to reveal. The most exciting part of this is that Glitch, an independent animation studio, managed to secure a worldwide theatrical release for the final episode (which will actually be episodes 8 and 9 combined for a full-length feature film run) in early June. This is unheard of for an independent studio. They’ve been doing their best to keep the fandom up to date on how they’re securing venues, and enlightening us all on the massive shitstorm of red tape you have to navigate to accomplish this.

And of course the fandom had to scream at everyone about that too lol. 🙄

[–] FosterMolasses@leminal.space 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Jaaaax??? He's like the token normie straight guy LMAO

Zooble is literally right there... idg these "headcanons" a lot. Why not invest in shows that already have representation or write your separate AU fanfics? Forcing representation seems like an egregious thing to maintain inside a fandom space when shows like Helluva Boss already have clean cut representation without any mysticism, so why not gravitate towards those fandoms instead?

Sometimes I wonder if fandoms like these engage in a sort of purposeful gatekeeping because they want a larger queer majority for the space than actually exists. I can see how it would be tempting to retcon a character like Jax, for all intents and purposes the sole young straight cismale character, and then it suddenly becomes a lot easier to achieve that. But it's not a very healthy thing to do by any means.

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

You know what I think happened? A while back someone posted a fan drawing of Jax in a maid outfit, which got a lot of attention. Later in the show there’s a scene where the rest of the gang “vote” to put Jax in a maid outfit just to piss him off. And I really think those two oddly-coincidental events melted some people’s brains.

Also I’ve noticed with the less mature folks, they can’t separate their fanfics/ships/whatever from the actual story being told. And this is what we get.

[–] GalacticGrapefruit@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah... honestly, I feel awful for Gooseworx. They were trying to tell a serious story, and they succeeded. It is a serious story, and it is a good one. Unfortunately, they have to wade through a sea of the survivors of 21st century cultural and societal damage.

Markiplier broke the wall, and Glitch is shoving its foot through the crack. In a few years, indie makers will be in the movies. Let Hollywood tremble, mwahaha!

[–] Arctic_monkey@leminal.space 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I'd have guessed Zooble because of the whole changeable body parts thing...

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago

And that’s what makes it even more absurd. You’ve already got a nonbinary character who represents body dysmorphia, but nope, let’s start this fight over a completely different character.

[–] Wrufieotnak@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Yeah, Jax is insane, I would have also guessed Zooble with same reason as you said.