Saturday, May 10, 2014

Why The Power Rangers Fandom HATE The "MMPR Fan Film" (Special Commentary)

Rangercrew member Moonknight posted this on the forum regarding that thing claiming to be a fanfilm of MMPR, but is just generic grimdark schlock. It's probably the best reasoning why the core Power Rangers fandom is vehemently against MMPRINO. In the event that the thread is lost to the anals of time - wording entirely appropriate in this regard - I've decided to nick the whole thing and repost it here, along with the usual disclaimer of the following piece not necessarily reflecting the opinions of the blog itself.

And with that, we pass the stage over the other guy...

Oh you want reasons why we don't like the people making the MMPR film? Sure, I'll give you a whole list of reasons, from a PERSONAL perspective, having had a lot of personal direct interactions with Dom and the producers behind the project.

When this was first announced (ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO, mind you, and we still have virtually NOTHING to show for it... but I'll get to that later), the creators made it clear that this was going to be a 90-minute fan-film. Direct words, "Fan film." Then in their defenses of their project, it evolved into "minor theatrical release," and "fan film" was nowhere to be found, because of their pretentious attitudes. "We're not some fanboys making a low-budget crapfest. This is going to be a nearly Dark Knight-level production, and we would never lower ourselves to being called a 'fan-film.'" Only until faced with the knowledge that not being a "fan film" immediately opens them up to being sued out the arse for everything they don't have, it becomes "nonprofit fan film" a year later (oh and by the way, it's now going to be a 5-part miniseries focusing on one Ranger at a time). Why does this matter at all? Because it sets up the pretentious, "holier than thou" attitude that I'm about to get to.

So being one of their most vocal critics, Dominic somehow managed to find me on Facebook, added me as a friend, and bugged me time after time to tell him why I was being such a "hater" - FYI, keep your eyes out for that word, it's going to come up a lot. So eventually I added him, because I make good decisions obviously (note: sarcasm). I expressed my concerns with the film, mainly the needlessly "darker" take. But really, my biggest issue was the fact that any time anyone asks them questions about what the project was and what their plans were, they could never give a straight answer. And in all my conversations, I never got a straight answer. He would post on his FB about the MMPR film a LOT, and since we were FB friends, I'd see them. Every once in a while I'd comment - I was never rude, I was ALWAYS respectful. My comments were always honest critiques and legit questions, but because I was the only "negative" one on the page, he and all of his legions of followers would jump on me, label me a hater, a couple even threw racial slurs at me - I'm Black, just so you know - and yet Dom always sided with them and supported their disrespect towards me when I never did anything to deserve it. Eventually he just unfriended me simply because he can't accept anyone that isn't a Yes man.

So MMPR pops back around Rangerboard after a couple months or so. Up to this point I'd pretty much been avoiding the MMPRfilm situation. They make a point to promote their Facebook page, but still refuse to answer any legitimate questions or criticisms. Lists of simple direct questions were just being dodged and not answered outright. When someone would criticize them, they'd just be labeled a hater, someone who just didn't "understand" them or whatever. These pretentious, unprofessional guys decided the entire PR fandom was just a bunch of "haters" and basement dwellers. They even directly said there were only two groups - people that supported them and the "haters". This is a DIRECT QUOTE from an "interview" that a fan did with Dom. There's no in-between to them. In their minds, either you love them, or you don't, and if you don't (or you're anywhere in between), they want absolutely nothing to do with you.

So in a last-ditch effort to try to appeal to them on behalf of the PR fandom, because I'm still respectful and well-spoken and generally very level-headed, and I know the last thing we need is an angry fan who can't type and gets super worked up to be talking to them and turning opinions against the fandom on the whole, I started posting on the MMPR Facebook page. Because, again, I make good decisions (note: sarcasm). I was courteous, I never called anyone names, I had very well-formulated statements and arguments with legitimate criticisms. I made a point to never antagonize any of them. I was willing to discard my uncomfortable feelings about the film, and I directly said that if they just answered my questions and showed that they were willing to listen to criticism without being rude, disrespectful, or writing me off as a "hater," I would gladly come back to the forums and defend their project to the fans. I'm not an important person by any means whatsoever, but at the very least, they'd have some sort of voice in their defense.

So I go to their Facebook page, post my questions criticisms, and what do I get? Disrespect. Disrespect and hate from their legions of followers. Their "fans." Basically in their minds, I'm just a stupid hater who doesn't know anything. And the worst part is, if I disagree with any of them, I got told not to be disrespectful. I get told not to "stir up trouble." Yet the people disrespecting me, calling me names, and being rude overall got absolutely no warnings at all. The "producers" joined in on it. I'm being respectful, their being arseholes, and I GET WARNINGS from the MMPR people. They made it VERY clear that they don't want to hear anything but positive comments, support, and basically people kissing up to them. The level of disrespect coming from the people behind this project was unbelievable.

Eventually they just started deleting any comments that weren't from supporters or Yes men. I know this because I just posted something recently that was in disagreement with another member - again, I was being respectful, just pointing out a flaw in their argument, and it got deleted. I even posted under my pseudonym on Facebook because I didn't want them just automatically associating me as a "problem" on their page. And they simply deleted it, and the comment after mine that agreed with me. These guys really don't want to hear about anyone who disagrees with them or says something they don't like to hear.

Even their fans are starting to turn on them at this point. They keep promising things that they can't deliver on. "The first episode is done, it was shot over Labor day weekend, we're releasing it in November... It's November, but wait, it's actually coming in January. It's December, here's a 'trailer' for the first episode, that's still coming in January... it's January, now it's coming in Spring 2014... wait, that's not true... it's coming sometime in 2014, we guess... here's a 'sneak peek' that's basically an actor talking about it, and a full scene that you basically already say in the trailer for the episode... but it's still coming... eventually!" People are getting understandably annoyed by that. We knew they weren't going to be delivering on all of the promises they made a long time ago, and now it's getting harder to keep their legions of supporters happy... but they're still not accepting any negative opinions from people who don't agree with them.

Overall, the level of unprofessionalism with these guys is just... unbelievable. And they still claim they are a "legitimate film studio." They live in a total fantasy world. It's clear from any extended interaction you have with them that Dom and the producers' heads are completely up their butts. They'll never admit they're completely in over their heads, though. Because in their minds, they can do no wrong, and they can't possibly understand why there are people that can't see that.

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