3882: Is this fandom politics?

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Is this fandom politics?

Made by: truteal

Explanation

This strip takes the announcement of a new television adaptation of the Garfield series, referenced in Garfield's bubble in the strip, and portrays it as being inevitably compared to nostalgia for Garfield and Friends, the 1988-94 television adaptation of both Garfield and U.S. Acres/Orson's Farm; the Garfield and Friends nostalgia is superimposed onto a shoe threatening Garfield in the strip. The author even goes as far as to apologize for the then-recently-announced show in their notes.

Although the author appears to have tried to take a neutral stance between Garfield and Friends and the then-recently-announced Nickelodeon adaptation, there is still clear fandom politics in play in this strip, in that the author appears to completely ignore the existence of The Garfield Show, the 2009-16 television adaptation of the Garfield series; the article linked to within the author's notes, although it does make mention of that adaptation, takes a jab at it as well. Regardless of the author's and article writer's feelings toward The Garfield Show, that show certainly has its fans, and thus any new Nickelodeon Garfield adaptation would inevitably see comparision toward The Garfield Show as well as to Garfield and Friends.

However, it is currently unknown if the then-recently-announced Nickelodeon Garfield television adaptation is even still in development; sources pertaining specifically to that adaptation date only as recently toward the timeframe in 2019 when it was first announced. Although a Nickelodeon staffer released some Garfield-related artwork in 2023, artwork that has been shared on the Garfield wiki on Fandom, that artwork is not a clear sign to indicate that the series in question is still in development.

The author writes:

I kinda feel sorry for the new show.

Original strip: 2000-02-25.

Transcript

{Garfield is standing on the Fence at night}
Garfield: We have a new upcoming show on Nick!
{Garfield sees something off-screen}
{Garfield runs away from a giant shoe labelled "Nostalgia for Friends"}