Corporations should be loyal to their customers, not the other way around. You need us, we don’t need you.

You may not be able to divorce the art from the artist, but it should be easy to separate the commodity from the salesman.

The fans owe the franchises nothing, in fact it's the other way around, if a franchise wishes to stay relevant.

Building your entire personality around what corporate produced media you consume is just sad to me honestly

Such a good point. The movie experience changing from “Are you, the customer, well pleased with the new product we have just sold you?“ To “Are you a real, true blue fan, or a Judas traitor?“

100% agree. It is shocking to me how many people will defend a corporation against their fellow consumer when that consumer provides criticism. Disney doesn't care about you. No corporation does. Stop picking up a sword for them.

"Don't ask questions, just consume product, and then get excited for next product"

The “Emotional Intelligence” bit is painfully true and touches on some of the BS creatives go thru when they care about their craft.

The only complaint I have is that I can only like this the once.

It’s really a form of the ad hominem attack, i.e., it’s not your point or argument that they are addressing, it’s YOU.

So tiring being dismissed as a hater for not blindly accepting and praising every new thing that churns out. 😒

Everything you say is the reason I look at an advertisement that says “we care” and “give me a break” is always at the back of my mind. When I go to a store and am displeased with a policy, I should never, ever get mad at the employee. I blame the brass and whomever abused the policy to begin with. I love everything you put out, Michael. I’m glad you’re not afraid to speak your mind.

Once upon a time, I had someone online that I thought was a good friend, that turned on me over my wanting to buy a third party Transformer. His argument was that the third party company stole the IP (intellectual property) of something Hasbro owns, and created products based on it, and is profiting off it, and that if I were to purchase those products I'd be "receiving stolen property", which is a crime... ? I told him that I was sick of seeing "BayFormers" toys, and animated stuff, and wanted high quality renditions of the iconic versions of these characters/toys--in other words 'Marvel Legends' but for Transformers. And I stated that if Hasbro won't give me what I want, and these third party overseas guys will, then I'm just going to go in that direction. He countered with saying that I was acting "entitled", which is childish (???) Then he argument continued and he kept doubling down on the "theft" angle in regards to the IP, even going so far as to *invoking The Bible*, namely the Ten Commandments in regards to the "theft"... ???? I said it's Hasbros fault for allowing the third party stuff to go on for YEARS without sending a "cease&desist" to someone. Again he doubled down with a sermon about burning in hell. Long story short, we stopped being friends. It's crazy to think, but yeah, he was literally holding Hasbro on equal footing with GOD. ...Let that shit sink in.

_"I'm a Scorpion. It's what I do."_

I absolutely agree with your sentiments. Sadly this behaviour is symptomatic of a much larger societal problem, where groups endlessly fight with each other whilst simultaneously defending the corperate overlords and their government cronies who have sown the divisions in the first place.

In the 1997 Special Editions, a scream sound effect was added when Luke Skywalker chooses to let go of the platform in The Empire Strikes Back and possibly fall to his death. People hated it, and George removed that sound effect in the 2004 DVD. People say all his changes were his "true vision" but if that was true, he wouldn't have changed it back in 2004. I find it annoying when people try to defend anything he does as "It was always his vision" when the truth is he makes it up as he goes along. Just like most people, when new opportunities come out way, we decide on the spot what to do; it wasn't planned out 40 years in advance.

These kind of Retroblasting videos arent *just* the best content on the channel, they're some of the best videos on all of KZfaq. Period.

“The guy that continually borrows money and never has to lend it” ie..how many corporate bailouts to corporations registered over sea to pay little to no taxes can you tolerate?

To be fair, this is genius

"Whatever you do, do it well. Do it so well when people see you do it they will want to come back and see you do it again and they will bring others and show them how well you do what you do."- Walt Disney I think they may have strayed from this vision.

I will never forget the moment when a fellow fan defended Disney for axing the Star Wars expanded universe. - What where they supposed to do? - he argued - Maybe fucking respect the work of (then) 35 years of talented and devoted artist who worked on books, comics and video games that truly fleshed out the universe. Hire some ultra nerds to form a "canon coherency department" that would oversee scripts? It would not cost much, and would provide insane quality.

People are literally turning into legit corporate Cultists. Some of these people need to focus on there priority like there career, family, or maybe find a actual religion.

i shared this on my facebook , withouth restrictions . everyone in the world that likes and cares about movies etc, should watch this video. Simple as that.

I like the saying a true patriot questions his government. The same goes with my fandom. I don't just buy into it. I have standards. I need good characters. I need a good story that makes sense.

I agree Michael that’s why I’ve made the decision to divorce myself from “geek culture” of today. That includes collecting, I’m good with what I have but people always have to make stuff that’s supposed to be fun extremely toxic. I just don’t have time for it anymore. You are one of only 4 or 5 collecting channels I didn’t unsubscribe from based solely on that fact that you have integrity.

Sir, every time I watch one your videos, I get a little bit smarter. Job well done as usual. For the record, your “Canon is overrated” is a CLASSIC.

"Brand Loyalty is the biggest oxymoron since Military Intelligence"- Subbed at that. You rock.

The consumers aren't voiceless. They have the most important thing. The money. This is why free markets are so important. Monopolies, private or socialist, deny the opportunity of choice, and thus prevent anyone from offering a better deal.

This is why their is an difference between the fans and fanatics. This is why "fan boy" and "fan girl" are derogatory terms.

Dear god, thank you for the Stalag 17 footage. What a fantastic movie.

SammyClassicSonicFan: "When will you learn... THAT YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!" A quote I live by forever.

This is the perfect metaphor for politics too. So tribal without looking at the policies people stand for and the corporations they’re in the pockets of. Supporters just blindly follow the “brand” Of the party irrespective of the person that’s running. That’s what got us into the catastrophe that is today.

Also!... A "brand loyalist", is no different than a bandwagon sports fan. They're only going to be loyal to the brand so long as they're winning. The moment that brand goes into a slump, suddenly the "loyalists" stop being so loyal. Remember back in the day, when everyone and their mother was a Bulls fan? Or same with The Cowboys?... Where'd all those people go? 😂 I saw this happen with Ghostbusters first hand. People piled onto the "loyalty" train with the franchise only due to their political leanings. Soon as the movie flopped and was deemed a failure, the attitude changed to "I was never really into Ghostbusters to begin with" 🤦‍♂️ Yet whats funny is, when I call people out on this stuff out, I've been labeled an "elitist"... ??? Huh?

I've been called a hater, but I'd rather be a hater who looks for quality than a suck up who doesn't have a unique opinion

"Why don't you start a KZfaq/video/podcast channel?" Yesterday I reminded myself why I have been hesitant to do so. I made a comment on a Hasbro page simply stating a request/demand for "Expanded Universe/True Canon please". Then the Disney shills/bullies came out not to debate/defend their trilogy but to spread lies (the norm of the EU was never canon and such which is debunked on the back of most EU novels). After they get caught with facts they then result into bulling and belittling me rather then discussion. It's not being called a troll, nazi, Incel, alt right, weeb and the like that personally offend me. Its the factor the nerd community is no longer what it once was: a place for us to come together despite our differences. Between factors of corporate shills, show runners/directors that don't care about mythology, politics, and the deceiving legacy media have become the new bullies that don't want to take responsibility for their own actions. They don't want to accept that they failed on their own merits, didn't listen to fans and chase money away that they could have.

Opus! Incredible peice. So honest and sadly, so true.

You say this is some new thing but I'm old enough to remember the console wars in the early 90's. This mentality was always there. The internet just gave it a megaphone.

This is everything I've been feeling about fandoms in a nutshell. Thank you for finally putting it in words.

A worthy companion piece to "Cannon is Overrated". A+

In general, all internet debate turns into name calling and insults and anger. Everyone is so angry today. Chill out.

One of the most annoying things about all this is that there was potentially almost zero risk for these companies making sequels - the idea was a winner and carefully handled could continue to be a winner. Carefully handled. It was never carefully handled, they don’t know how to do that.

"Mr. Gilmore, it is your turn; Mr. Madison, please choose the topic." "I choose BUSiness ETHICS!" [Ominous Music Plays]

Also it wasn't "fair" comparing cooperations to a wild animal like bears.. For one thing bears can actually feel emotions. 😜

If only there was some sort of basic law of supply and demand with which consumers could significantly influence the decisions of corporations.

Thanks for using those clips from Stalag 17. I wonder how many people in your audience have seen that movie. Perhaps more than I would guess, but I'm afraid that most of the people either complaining about or defending the various corporate franchises at the heart of today's cultural debate simply don't watch many older movies or independent movies or foreign movies or much of anything outside these genre based properties. If they did, they might have a wider appreciation of movies in general and the complainers would find better things to be concerned with and the defenders would realize they haven't been protecting art. That being said, I hate Disney Star Wars!

I long for the days of watching a movie, having a spirited debate over it, have a couple cuts of coffee and calling it a night. It’s the reason I stopped playing poker with my friends, the ten dollar game turned into, and I mean this literally, I’m going to own your wallet. When I stopped playing, I was accused of being a baby, or had to hear that’s how you really play the game. It wasn’t fun anymore, so I’m not going to waste my time.

The same people who say "to be fair" fight for companies who lies about caring about customers, (*cough* Activision *cough*), also use strawman & ad hominem reasoning to force others to like new things made without full true love (*cough* Spyro REMAKE *cough*), and gatekeep against others of said product. Hate the un-needed delayed released time? "Get it over it". Hate remixed music? "You just have bad tastes and haven't heard real music" Hate some redesigns of characters and their personalities, and some of the inappropriate fetishes added to the game, a game, mind you, MADE FOR AND BASED ON NOSTALGIA? "(ad hominem attack (and/or) strawman attack on you or the old game it's based on), and your just nostalgia blind. It's perfect in every way, now shush. 🤚" I swear, they protect the companies and it's sick.

I think the best quote that can be applied to pretty much anything in life, especially when it comes to defending a brand and it comes from The Last Jedi of all movies. "Live free, don't join"

They have one job, to make entertainment that pleases us. If they can’t do that, they deserve no excuses.

I love when I tell people that I like BOTH Star Wars, AND, Star Trek, both for very different reasons, and, everyone looks at me like I've sprouted a second head.

Hear, hear! No one should give unconditional loyalty to corporations, or to politicians. The moment you do, they stop trying to earn your support, and take you for granted. They should be working every day to earn your support, otherwise they don't deserve it.

In regards to this company/customer dynamic, the only loyalty I have is to my own personal satisfaction. Pop-culture, movies, games, toys, etc are there to entertain ME. It is not my job to prop them up blindly. And if some SIMP is mad I don't tip his corporate waifu, he can get rekt.

Explaining to a communist how voluntary transactions (capitalism) protects every one is impossible. All business is essential because consent, and freedom are essential.

"How many people do you know who are one year away from retirement and are fired?" None, because of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. If you have a pensions plan, it has to start vesting within so many years of service. The longer you stay the bigger it gets, but usually within 5 years you start getting entitled to something. You can't fire someone after 39 years and give them nothing because they didn't hit 40. More likely, the company didn't provide a pension or comparable retirement plan in the first place (ERISA doesn't require that a company has a retirement plan, only that it follows certain rules if it does). The biggest way that employees are are screwed out of pension, when one is offered, is through Chapter 11 not-bankruptcy. A company promised a lifetime of retirement, didn't get around to actually funding it adequately because that was a problem for future Homer, and suddenly now it has liabilities so big that it is at risk of going under. So the court declares it "bankrupt," but instead of going out of business, it just gets out of a large chunk of its debts (including pension debt) and then can resume business.

Michael is such a gifted writer

Birth of corporate nation states. With trends of advertising that promote conflict with in existing consumer groups. Console wars for example.

YES! Great piece. So tired of being dubbed a "toxic fan" for not liking everything a company produces not only by other fans but by employees of the corporations. No accountability. Everything is our fault. So frustrating. You just cannot have a civil conversation anymore.

When the "remake" of Resident Evil 2 was announced I voiced my trepidation about it. I was literally called "not a true fan" by someone because I didn't praise everything about it. I absolutely love the original game and the franchise as a whole and want to see it prosper, but I'm not gonna accept everything that comes down the pipe just because I'm a fan.

While I certainly think there's merit to what you are saying here, I think the door swings both ways. As someone who generally likes (or at least doesn't actively dislike) newer entries into many legacy franchises, I've often been on the receiving end of attitudes like these from fans who don't (often couched as loyalty to "fandom" as opposed to a corporation). The real problem IMHO is that many people no longer seem capable of accepting that not everyone is going to share their opinion of a given work, whatever that opinion may be. I wish we could just go back to the days when I was a kid where we tended to just say "I liked/didn't like that new movie" and leave it at that.

Well it's like what mr krabs always says "the money is always right"

The problem as I see it is that companies buy an IP - an "Intellectual Property" - i.e. naming rights - and expect the NAME to be the thing that sells whatever polished turd they stamp the name on. As if owning the IP entitles them to the money the IP has always generated. And when the shininess wears thin, and fans realize they are being asked to pony up for a turd with no recourse, they are attacked by the company for not paying for something that is no longer what they loved.

Wow. I don't think I've ever been so deep into a fandom that I wasn't willing to walk away from it when it started to suck. I mean, I'd still call myself 'an X-Men fan,' even though I don't want to read anything written after Grant Morrison got ahold of it. Its kinda hard to understand that mindset....

You hit the nail on the head! You knocked it out of the park! Spot on! The real toxic fans are the ones who demand loyalty to a company/brand. I don’t understand why they hate the so called “haters” because, well, they are hypocritical because they HATE the rest of us, making them haters themselves. Lol. Thank you for fighting the good fight Michael/Retroblasting.

It’s funny, the people that against corporate culture are the ones who are defending what the corporation does. You’re right about a lot of things in this video, but it will fall on deaf ears as they will keep defending the corporation that makes bad decisions and don’t give two shits about you or set franchises that they hold the rights too. I always thought of the prequel‘s as OK, not as good as the original trilogy but still nonetheless not bad. I have my favorites and I have my least favorites. At the end of the day I would blame the creator because it was his vision that is who should be blamed.

Hear, hear, well spoken. From the point of view of the good of society (beyond fandom) - this is deeply troubling.

To be fair...my main problem with the "alleged sequels" (EU 4 Lyfe bitches) was that second movie. Rogue One I loved, and Force Awakens was...ok but not offensive in any way shape or form. I wasn't a fan of A New Hope or Phantom Menace, so I was just thinking "Oh well, the first movie always blows, the second cranks it up. Happened with Empire, happened with AOTC!" and I marched happily into Last Jedi. And then I walked out in tears. Fuck Disney.

There is always religion. If you throw out organized religion, you replace it with something else, whether you realize it or not. It’s just part of human nature to desire to be a part of and worship something larger than the self.

I am loving all the Futurama references. I loved that cartoon from day one, and always knew there was some other level that I would come to appreciate it. 20+ years later & I am not disappointed. Guess it didn't take as long as we thought to hit the year 3000.

Michael is on a roll with these videos. I absolutely LOVE Star Trek, and that is why I refuse to support the current crap. I'm loyal to the true ideas of the franchise, not the logo. True story. After Star Wars TLJ, I made a comment on a video talking about episode 9 in which I stated I didn't care about anything in these new, terrible, films, so I wouldn't be wasting any more time on them. Someone responded that I was obligated to see episode 9 because I had already seen episodes 7 and 8, so I had to finish the story. I retorted "What story," and proceeded to explain my time is precious an I'm not going to waste it on something I don't like. This person could not understand such a concept. So, I ended out discussion by telling them they are welcome to be first in line for the release of the Star Wars suppository, but I'll be spending my money elsewhere.

I appreciate the fans commentary. It’s always been like that. That is how New story lines are created. You can’t disrespect your source material. Basic , basic success material. I still respect him. You begin to expand on the basic source material and create-- not destroy it. Enough said.👍

I think this may be indicative of how empty and devoid of meaning most of our lives are. There are no great causes to take up, or struggles to wage. Many of us don't even have a strong sense of community. So we lash out against and latch on to things that are the definition of trivial.

At the end of the day, it’s all about business and making money.

The word of the day is "Brand Loyalty" and the corporations will still bame you for their mistakes. Also are we gonna have a livestream today? And why does Michael have blonde hair as a kid and dark hair as an adult?

Applies to LEGO as well. This is a very well spoken perspective

RetroBlasting can do or say no wrong! I am 100% loyal to this brand!

Life will never be fair because it is the reason why humans try to improve themselves.

This goes beyond the subject of fandom and brand loyalty. This is also a great commentary on what we have enabled the corporate system to do to us in all aspects of life. Faction wars between groups of fans is just a slice of what we also see in the workplace, where loyalty, teamwork and pride has been replaced with a**kissery and backstabbery. We are being made to behave like apocalypse survivors fighting over scraps. And our benevolent overlords now expect our undying appreciation as well as our cash. Hopefully, the veil is being lifted for some as we see the true priorities being addressed during this pandemic. Great video guys.

Creativity is gone and everyone is looking to blame someone else. The more uninventive and dull we feel, the more we try to hide it, from ourselves and others, with things like rhetoric, moral rectitude, knowledge, experience, authority, past achievement, charity, congeniality - everything that doesn't require imagination.

I had a somewhat similar epiphany; was watching a video where one person declared "your not a true fan if..." and my inner brain replied: "so what?". Being considered a "true fan" neither adds nor it takes away from my life.

Besides being an excellent treatise on the current state of fandom, this also is a great indictment of how modern-day employers really operate. Cold and calculating with zero loyalty to anything but profit or the own cynical machinations of those in management for their own personal gain. Yet plenty of buzzwords, made up phrases, and useless bromide and platitudes about leadership and all that jazz will keep flowing. It's all meant to bamboozle employees, especially when they find themselves the target of said employer. Any company or organization that tries to refer to everyone as a family or refers to you in familial terms is usually the first one to stab you in the back.

Hmmmmmm....can't resist....*LAUGHING IN WARHAMMER* we're already at each other's throats over which army of toy soldiers we like the most.

Alright this is how how I see it. Star Wars ended after the prequels. Star Trek ended with Nemesis. Marvel comics ended with the Earth X series. DC comics ended series with the Kingdom come series! I have no loyalty to ANY brand! I have become so jaded it's not even funny. I let my pocket book do my talking. If I don't like a product I just don't buy it!

A lot of the time it comes down to the age old question, is this hill really worth dying on?

THIS is why I subscribed! You have a way of verbalizing my thoughts and feelings about these topics in a crystal clear articulate logical manner.

The main question is: how many of those "defenders" are paid by the company to act as defenders. The internet is fully anonymous and false flags have happened more than enough times, both as distraction and to sow mistrust. Edit: I still believe in being the change I want to be, so I still operate under fairness, but I'm not going to defend any company for their logo alone.

This hit the nail right on the head.

I found with fandom another issue has been that identity politics plays a new toxic side of it all, now its not just being a fan but also your gender(s), political ailment, race, sexual preference, ailments now puts you in a make believe group that either has a large say or no say. But on a side note was never a fan of the dark knight trilogy as I wanted to see him fight actual super villains instead of just normal humans dressed up

Thank you Michael for cutting to the heart of a matter that is one part of a systemic poisoning of our society in general. People just can't seem to disagree and let it go at that, it comes down to trying to beat down and prove wrong the person who disagreed with you and obliterate them at all costs.

Another great video...you're digging deep on these.

Agreed. On the reverse side I suggest being a fan divorced from a fandom. Too many people make a mob and it always becomes a... less than articulate flock of parrots. It’s all about balance and finding something for a better you.

Man, I wish this video would have been around when I had this frustrating argument about movie studios continued making of reboots unwanted remakes and sequels

I saw a facebook group turn on an elderly man because he stated that because he was disappointed in a brand name film, he was worried that the next brand name film would be bad as well. That's all. No bashing. No hateful comments. But WHAM, they attacked like a swarm of bees. They didn't attack his comment...they attacked him personally. They defended a film, that still hasn't been made, by personally attacking an elderly gentleman. Thanks for this video. It helps clarify what those defenders of the brand were really all about.

Again, nice video, right on the money! Michael. As a side comment, I could never had reach that kind of loyalty to any company and that is because I always had analitic critic eye for the things that take my money and time away.

Michael, this is so thought provoking and well done. This is why I've been a Retroblasting fan for years.

That clip with Liam Neeson is the movie The Commuter (2018).

Thanks for this awesome video Michael it's honest and so true how fandom has changed over the years

Great analysis. Parts of this video seem staunchly anti-big business or, at least very aggressive toward corporate culture. I'm more than fine with that. We need to change business culture to be less monstrous and predatory, but it's the nature of the beast when your sole priority is profits. Also, I can't tell you how many times I have been attacked as a Batman fan for HATING the Knightfall story, or finding Batman Begins to be a better movie than The Dark Knight. Fan culture has become so obnoxious.

Would point out that a CEO is far from a dictator. The board may not speak up often because by and large, the CEO is doing what the board wants him to do. With the exclusion of companies in whom the CEO is the founder or majority shareholder, CEOs are the most likely person to get fired in any company. The median tenure of any CEO in a large cap company is less than 5 years and the vast majority get fired or in corporate speak they resign gracefully.

Remember how Papa John board treated the guy that created the company. HIS OWN company, and they threw him out over an audio taken out of context.

I think fans know deep down that new movie properties are products being sold to them by impersonal corporations, but their language on the Internet is often one that involves personal language like “a love letter to the fans“ or “a big F you to the fans.“ The experience of being a fan is very emotional. Tempting therefore to mistake what’s going on at the corporate level to be the same. But is someone like Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams or Rian Johnson primarily a creative, artistic type, or a corporate manufacturing type? They are in a bit of a between position between fans and their corporation. But we remember their names and faces. Someone like George Lucas proved his artistic cred first, risking everything creating stuff no one was promising to make him a millionnaire for, and then perhaps going corporate once he could sign things promising him millions. The corporation ultimately decides what is made, and the fans ultimately decide what is bought. I’m not sure we’re consistently identifying which fool is in the driver seat, nor whether something is a creative decision or a corporate decision. I can only assume that the whole debate over “go woke, go broke“ is about this. Are properties “going woke” driven by artistic and emotional considerations? Or is it some kind of a corporate, boardroom decision? How’s it going to look in 10 years time? I have this feeling that it’s going to age as well as the obese 45-year-old rapping in an 80s after school special in a white T-shirt three sizes too small to kids about doing their homework and avoiding drugs.