Sayonara Besto Frendo Pika

 I'm not heavily into the VTuber scene... but there is a VTuber that I enjoy... or enjoyed since she got bullied into "graduating". For those of you who aren't in the know: a VTuber is a streamer that instead of using their face to stream, they use a Virtual Avatar, usually an anime styled character.

This is a VTuber: Amano Pikamee

The term "graduating" is used when a VTuber retires, leaves the agency, or is coaxed to retire (fired) due to circumstances usually good, but sometimes scandals can make a graduation happen sooner than expected. This is the case of Pikamee.

The person who voices Pikamee is of mixed heritage. She's half Japanese and was bullied for her light colored hair. Part of it due to casual Japanese racism towards mixed race people and there's some stigma against yellow hair. Something about ruffians and troublemakers being bottle blond. For some reason, she connected more with Western Audiences... probably the dorky little sister energy she radiated was the key. So, she decided that she wanted to stream Hogwarts Legacy... and you can guess what happened.

Before I continue: 

J.K. Rowling has made some comments that can be seen as Transphobic and you're allowed to vote with your wallet. But when you begin to harass people for wanting to enjoy a property they like despite what the author has said, you're being just as bad as in this case, J.K. Rowling. Be Better.

So, back on topic. SocJus Slacktivists bullied Pikamee due to the game and she went silent for some time until the graduation message. Not cool. I understand why people are boycotting the game, but the whole bullying others into following "their way," is wrong. When even the biggest speedrunning event suddenly has to ban ALL Harry Potter games out of fear, kinda shows that these SocJus slacktivists are taking the wrong approach. I'm not defending Rowling. I'm simply stating that there's no need to become as bad as the monster you're fighting... Especially when the boycott has been a massive failure. How much of a failure? 

It took Elden Ring about a year to sell 20 Million copies. It took Hogwarts Legacy roughly 2 weeks to sell 12 million copies. Want to know WHY a lot of those copies sold? As pushback against the bullying.  The worst part is that the (non-politiziced) reviews for the game have it on slightly above average game at best and at worst an average game. Had the bullying not happened, the game wouldn't have sold as well as it did. They're even considering a sequel.

But back to the main topic again. The whole anti-J.K. Rowling campaign is looking bad because of the methods being used. While Pikamee's graduation was possibly coming before the Hogwarts Legacy incident, but it has been tarnished by the incident and it makes the people "defending trans rights" look like the bad guys. Stop fighting assholes by becoming a bigger asshole. Be better. 

In any case Thank you Pikamee for your entertaining streams, we will never forget our best friend Kaiju Kettle, dayo!