The Old School Otaku Lounge

Does anyone here know r/hobbydrama? It is a subreddit detailing all the drama in different fandoms. I've been writing an article about the fall of C/FO as a national organization, and the draft is here. Could anyone please give it a read and give your thought on it? I'd be extremely graceful for you to do so.

I think this article is great - it covers all the main points and is fairly even-handed. Honestly, it's the sort of article I think Anime News Network might be interested in publishing - it ought to be read by anime fandom as a whole.

davemerrill wrote: ↑Tue May 24, 2022 6:21 am I think this article is great - it covers all the main points and is fairly even-handed. Honestly, it's the sort of article I think Anime News Network might be interested in publishing - it ought to be read by anime fandom as a whole.

Thanks for the encouragement! It means a lot to me that you said so.

When I started writing this article, I was surprised by how many interviews people like Fred Patten used to give, and even then they did not mention the C/FO a lot. Things are not helped by how quickly the C/FO's legacy vanished. I know many anime fans who began in the 90s, and they knew people like you, Meri Davis and Sue Shambaug by name, but they have no idea an organization like C/FO ever existed.

And thanks for mentioning ANN. Maybe I should take my luck and send this article to them. But I want to find some pictures first. A lot of the sources I found have no picture at all. And to think that DSLR cameras already existed in the 1980s.

I finally post the article on Reddit. Please give it a shot!

So I post the article and the reception is positive! I even got hold of Michael Pinto to ask for some stuffs!

Congrats! Not sure if it is a typo or my own ignorance, but did you mean to say the first C/FO was started in Chicago? The standard story is that it started in Los Angeles, but the only non-Fred people I know of who talked about Fred before the C/FO were connected to his sci-fi fandom hobby and the LASFS, so maybe this is a "filter bubble".

I'm always amazed by how many Old School fans are on Reddit but not talking about it until prompted. (^_^) Kudos on drawing them into the conversation! Hopefully a few will consider dropping by.

just wanted to add, in answer to a question you asked in the comments on that Reddit post - that it's my understanding Be Forever Yamato was screened at the Yamato-Con event in Dallas in 1983. The Roman Album for that film was sold at American comic book stores and fan conventions in that time period. For some reason the Be Forever Yamato Roman Album seemed to be everywhere. Any Star Blazers fan trying to find out more about Space Battleship Yamato would find that movie almost inescapable at the time.

Thanks for posting this - it was really cool to see something like this relayed on Reddit and the comment thread. Also, thanks to /r/hobbydrama, I have another way to waste precious time