What are the biggest "fuck yous" from creators to fanbases? (OPEN SPOILERS)

Cafe Society
1

I was thinking earlier about how Stephen King decided to end his Dark Tower series, a three-decade series of books whose fanbase defined “dedicated” - they made Star Wars fans and Trekkies look casual by comparison.

When King finally completed the series last year, [spoiler]or didn’t end it, as it just created a loop back to the first book with a “maybe next time!” sort of ending, he prefaced the final chapter with one of the most dickheaded, prickish things I’ve ever seen a creator do - a monologue that basically said,

QUOTING Stephen King, Paraphrased: Hope you didn’t expect a real ending ending, dickhead. I really don’t appreciate all of these fans coming to my house, sending me letters, and demanding that I finish this series. What’s wrong with you? Get a life. Sigh…I guess if you’re such an asshole that you INSIST on having an ending to this series, read the next chapter. I can go ahead and tell you that it’s not going to satisfy you, but that’s your problem, not mine. Who do you think you are, expecting me to finish this series on a satisfactory note? I guess some people just can’t handle not having endings to things. Seriously, what’s wrong with you? Fine, go ahead and read it. Fuckface.
[/spoiler]
It was nothing less than a gigantic, flashing, neon middle finger to his most dedicated fans, many of which had enthusiastically followed this series for almost 30 years. I still don’t understand what inspired such an action, other than that the guy’s just an enormous asshole, which is pretty much a given (even among people who really like him).

So, anyway, what are some other major “Fuck you guys!” moments, where artists or writers or musicians or etc. just turned on their fanbases and intentionally did something to spite, disappoint, or alienate them? The raw audacity of such behavior is so fascinating - to bite the hand that feeds, to attack and offend and alienate the very lifeblood of your career as an artist.

What are some of the best and most infuriating? How did the fanbases react?

2

I’d say that the final episode of Enterprise was one big middle finger thrust at all of Trekdom. The “writers” had the audacity to call it a Valentine to the fans, to which most fans responded, “If that’s a Valentine, I’d hate to see the hate mail.”

3

How? What did they do?

4

Well, in comics when Marvel put Thor in the “Book of the Dead” even though he wasn’t dead and then basically danced on his grave. Bit of an F.U. to the Thor fans out there…all seven of us.

In Warhammer, when they retconned part of the Enemy Within Campaign.

Robert Jordan, just by his continued writing of such utter, derivative crap.

5

*Misery *was a slippery fuck-you to King’s fans, years ago. King is one messed up individual, and he blames his fans for the fact that he’s a hack. So what did you expect?

6

That’s a bit of a broadside, but I will say that Jordan’s decision to suddenly start writing a series of prequels, further postpoting the end of a series that’s already dragged on to at least four or five books longer than it should have been, is a pretty big middle finger to his fanbase.

7

I like your version better. After 5 books I just gave up. Enough is enough.

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link

9

The WB’s “thanks everybody!” message pasted on to the end of the final ep of Angel struck me as a bit of a FU to the fans. Supposedly the thank you was from the WB to the people of AtS but I know, after an amazing final ep, I felt like the thank you was a slap in the face.

10

I won’t say I’m a fan per se but I do have a bit of interest in him if for no other reason than my username. What, specifically, did they do?

11

Bobby Ewing’s death in Dallas. Or to be more exact, his return.

Lead character wants out of a successful show. Okay, you bring in a new brother, or a cousin, or even an evil twin. But the producers wanted none of that. They simply erased one entire season, and more importantly, about a half-dozen continuing storylines, as a nightmare Pam Ewing had one night.

They didn’t just jump the shark, they pulled the corpse out of the shark, put him n the shower, and acted like nothing happened.

12

Huh. I didn’t read it like that at all. I thought it was almost exactly the opposite. An apology to his fanbase for his inability to come up with a “better” or more definitive ending. That, and a bit of Lemony Snicket-esque metahumor.

Of course, I thought the very ending was pretty much the only thing in that book that really worked.

Anyway, this one’s from Serenity, and I should say I think it was delivered in the spirit of being all in good fun: [spoiler] To set up, Book is a priest, but he somoehow has combat skills, knowledge, and clout with the ruling regime unbefitting his position. This string has been hanging since the Firefly TV series.

Mal: You’ll have to tell me how you know all this one day.
Book: No I don’t.

And he didn’t. He died later in the film. [/spoiler]

13

I didn’t get to see it. They killed Trip? The bastards!

14

Well, first they truncated the Lord Thor storyline (where Thor inherits all of Odin’s power and uses it to bring Asgard to earth and basically take over the earth). Jurgens had to wrap it up (poorly) in one issue or so. Then, in order to fit in with the dire Avengers Disassembled storyline they had Asgard go through Ragnarok. That wasn’t as good as you might expect.

Thor discovers that Ragnarok is just an endless cycle that is used to empower/feed gods superior to the Asgardians known as “Those Who Sit Above in Shadow”. Before Ragnarok about to begin, Thor goes through a number of the same trials his father did to gain the knowledge of the runes. Thor, however, goes further than his father did (e.g. he plucks out both of his own eyes) and gains total control of the runes. Thor is now a galaxy busting level power-house.

Thor, knowing the true nature of Ragnarok, makes an agreement with Surtur and basically leads him to Asgard. With the mayhem raging, Thor travels to the dimension of the upper gods and destroys the threads of fate. This basically means that Asgard is no longer tied to “Those who sit above in shadow” and can now forge its own destiny. It also means that Those who…etc. are effectively powerless.

Thor returns to a destroyed Asgard and decides that he will sleep…for a while…

He’s not dead. He does not die. And that’s that for our Thor.

15

Not only that, but they turned the final episode into a meta-NextGen holodeck episode. With interjecting vague sensings from Troi. Gaaaah! I’ve never wanted to wrap a rope around the collective necks of Bermaga more…

16

They did that in DC with the Justice Society.

Of course, then it was said in Sandman that it was really a reality created by Odin to test different ways to fight Ragnarok.

Oh well…

17

And they picked a really crappy way to do it, too.

18

Given that it’s easily one of his best books, King should do such fuck-yous to his fans more often. Although I think you’re oversimplifying the book – yes, Sheldon (the King stand-in) feels trapped by his fans. But on the other hand, that very forced imprisonment inspires him to write his best work ever, in the genre he was trying to escape. If any of King’s books are a fuck-you to anyone, I’d nominate The Dark Half, in which his bitterness at the person who outed his Bachman persona is barely restrained.

I was never able to force myself to read beyond book 3 of the Dark Tower saga – King’s real and grossly unsuccessful attempt to literafy his pulp tendencies. But the ending being a downer doesn’t surprise me. King’s rarely done endings well, as he admits. I kind of enjoyed his latest, The Colorado Kid, just because he makes it clear throughout the book that it’s not going to have a satisfying ending – and lo and behold, people still bitch on Amazon that it doesn’t have a satisfying ending.

My nomination for big fuck-you: Thomas Harris’ Hannibal, which I thought was a darkly funny response to the fans who fell in love with Hannibal Lecter. He amps up the grotesquerie, turns him into even more of a superman, and even lets him get the girl. I can’t believe his tongue wasn’t firmly planted in his cheek throughout, but man, the fan outrage was loud.

Of course, I’m starting to suspect he just plain got sucked into the cult, now that he’s writing a prequel. Move on, Thomas, move on.

19

Neon Genesis Evangelion. I’m not sure if that was “fuck you, fans”, “fuck you, Gainax”, or both.

20

There’s simply no no way that Joss would deliver a FUCK YOU to Firefly fans. As much as I hated the spoled plot point because of the future storylines it foreclosed, I can’t think that it was done because of any animosity Joss had toward the fans. If it weren;t for the fans there would have been no Serenity.