The Man-Faye backlash

[MonkeyFunk]

You've all heard of Man-Faye, right? Well, if not, he's a fat hairy guy who enjoys dressing as Faye from Cowboy Bebop (http://www.peregrinefox.com/Pix/AnimeExpo2004/AnimeExpoManFaye070320040008_std.jpg). And he's been getting a lot of attention lately - apparently he's recently starred in a TV commercial alongside Stan Lee. And his fellow anime fans are starting to rail against him:

I don't know about a few of the posters here who are just flame baiting him (which doesn't work), but this is more than just him. We're dealing with the entire fanbase here and getting the American public introduced properly towards anime through this guy. He's is now the unofficial representative of anime fans in the US right now. Why is that? Because more people have seen him on TV and the internet than regular fans who cry about Al Khan.

Would you like a few more generations of anime bashers to look down on this outside of Miyazaki films? Not to mention that this guy could get paid and even get his own comic series by crossplaying as he whores himself out to the public? That's completly unfair and not right for the anime community. Lets say I created a game series and some guy or girl crossplayed as one of my characters. The game was popular enough to catch that person's attention, but drives other people away from playing due to their own morals (which is impossible to happen) and somehow got money from whoring themselves out on TV. After that I would feel upset and insulted and most likely sue whomever that individual was.

Some one has to put this guy in his place. I can't do it and neither can the average person who flames him in Emails or his My Space. We need some guy who's made a big impact in the industry to just come out and say "We're not all like that. He's just a special case. There is a lot more positive aspects to this than what this guy can show." Even if a simple rant from Pierre Bernard would take place it could reach the public and make everyone else (outside of the regular weirdos) look better.

Sure there are a bunch of fans who support him, but a majority of those don't have a full grasp on anime themselves. Some of them may be the really weird ones we're scared of and mentioned in that previous topic that we were having fun discussion in. Well that is a theroy of have. The reason being is that every friend I have who's big on anime hates Man Faye and understands anime and the japanese culture better than most fans who watch subs and remember a few words of japanese. Once again if he wasn't thrown out of AX he would've never cried about equal rights to win over other people. Remember that there was no million man march at AX 05 and that was because we thought he was going away for good. Yet he's been popping up over and over again for the past 9 months and it's really bothering me and a lot of other people.

---posted at an anime forum

There's even a "stop Man-Faye" blog. Thoughts on the issue? :eyebrow:

[starlac]

He should go to a Japanese Cosplay, that would raise a few smiles in the crowds.

What’s to grasp, anime is a style of animation and that's it; nobody is going to convince me that it is any superior or inferior to any other form, only fanatics do that.

Fans are fine, but I have little time for fanatics.

[P.C. Unfunny]

Christ, this person is not only a classic anime snob, but a moron as well. People are just going to laugh at this guy for dressing in woman's closing, this won't hurt anime at all.

[MonkeyFunk]

More from this guy:

Heh you'd be shocked how many people know of him who don't have a clue about anime. Even in college there are a ton of people who talk about him and point him out whenever they bash anime, And yes when people look at something fast paced like DBZ and Pokemon, they'll think of that guy being the majority of fans outside of children. So they won't take anythng anime outside of Miyazaki seriously. CB is an exception, but again even if they enjoy it they'll think that there everyone besides themselves and their friends act like Man Faye.

Hmm. Attitudes like that come from a prejudice that would still exist even if Man-Faye spontaniously combusted next Sunday.

Y'know, I've seen otaku come up with an impressive list of scapegoats they can blame to explain why some people don't like anime as much as they do: Children's anime like Pokemon, dubbing companies, Hollywood, ingrained American racism, and now, apparently, a fat bloke in a yellow crop top.

Thankfully this guy got some more sensible replies:

Man-Faye is just having fun and being entertaining. Why would you want to stop him? Because he makes you look like a niche group of nerds? You are a niche group of nerds. A niche group of nerds that I'm proud to be a member of. I'm also a comic book fan, another niche group of nerds. But to deny your nerdiness, claiming that the world just doesn't understand and things like Man-Faye give you a bad name, is a self-pitying denial fit. We're all nerds here. Man-Faye does nothing to give us a bad name. He does everything to be entertaining and fun. And that's what he is.

Of course he's an attention whore, with a gimmick he's playing for all it's worth. So what? With Miyazaki in theaters and manga on the bestseller lists our little hobby's status as not mentally debilitating (a few nutty Bible belters aside) is secure. Let a weirdo have fun among weirdos.