{"id":15649,"date":"2024-11-29T20:37:29","date_gmt":"2024-11-29T20:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patrickvhessman.com\/backend\/?p=15649"},"modified":"2024-11-29T20:37:40","modified_gmt":"2024-11-29T20:37:40","slug":"the-final-wars-war-how-a-bootleg-video-took-down-four-godzilla-fansites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patrickvhessman.com\/backend\/uncategorized\/the-final-wars-war-how-a-bootleg-video-took-down-four-godzilla-fansites\/","title":{"rendered":"The Final Wars War: How a Bootleg Video Took Down Four Godzilla Fansites"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This post was originally written for and posted on r\/HobbyDrama<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Content Warning: Mentions of Graphic Content (which will be redacted in quotations), Some R-Rated language<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Writer\u2019s note: Given the forum-centric nature of this story, links to archives of the original posts are limited. Most of these websites are defunct or in a state of disrepair and trying to navigate old forums on the Wayback Machine is spotty at best. Therefore I had to rely on recollections from people who were present (including my own) but I will post links to original pages and forum threads when I can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2024 marks the 70th anniversary of the Godzilla franchise, and the King of the Monsters has never been, pun partially intended, bigger. A franchise once mocked for its man-in-rubber-suit special effects now receives Oscar recognition for its visuals. Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire<\/em> stands as one of the highest grossing films of this year. Godzilla merchandise is more common than ever in Western markets. IDW\u2019s comic series1<\/sup> give love to the whole stable of Toho kaiju, not just Big G. Franchise crossovers abound; seeing the King of the Monsters tangle with the Power Rangers<\/a>, the Justice League<\/a>, Ultraman<\/a>, and some weird ant game on mobile<\/a>. Godzilla has more fans than ever, but in a time before Discord, reddit and open-for-all Facebook, a much smaller fandom existed in a network of fan-made websites and forums. This is the story of a flamewar that spilled out of one site and consumed three more and behind-the-scenes manipulation fueling the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part 1 – Countdown<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Hey! What do you know about the old days? If you all keep thinking like that, you’ll all become prey for Godzilla!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u2014Gojira (1954)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand this conflict, one must understand the state of the fandom circa 2005. It was not unlike any number of fandoms at the time. Aside from a small yearly convention<\/a>, the community was mostly confined to a handful of online forums. It had much in common with anime communities given the Japanese origin, reliance on dubs of questionable quality, and rampant flamewars<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Godzilla films hadn\u2019t received wide theatrical releases in Western markets since Godzilla 2000<\/em>. The poor quality English dubs of the Toho Studios films that earned the genre much mockery were the only easily-available versions for fans to watch, though Sony\u2019s DVD releases of Godzilla films in the USA were making the original Japanese audio tracks more accessible. I\u2019d be remiss if I didn\u2019t mention the standout video games Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee<\/em> and Godzilla: Save the Earth<\/em>2<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something else that is very important to know going into this story is the identities of Godzilla fansites were very much defined by their respective admins and moderators. The fandom was large enough to justify multiple popular communities, but not so large as to only need more than small teams of very visible staff. Their personalities radiated outward and set the \u2018tone\u2019, then G-Fans would flock accordingly to the communities they liked best. Fans didn\u2019t just go to war for their franchise, they\u2019d strike out to defend their favorite forums too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now is a good time to meet the belligerents of this conflict:<\/p>\n\n\n\n