• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

The Ringer: Why do Twitter Trolls use Anime Avatars?

Status
Not open for further replies.
I've noticed it myself but never really thought too deeply about it.

Doesn't stop me from using an anime avatar just like people who are assholes using real people pictures as avatars doesn't drive people away from using real person avatars.
 
I always assumed it was because trolls like the juxtaposition of cute anime girls mashed up with horrible bigotry and overall terribleness.
 
its not just anime, they normally have the following avatars:
anime,
bald eagle/flag,
dogs,
eggs,
or some weird person with shitty views they support as their picture.
 
Aren't there a couple of Trump supporters on gaf that have "Make America Great Again" hats photoshopped onto their little girl anime avatars?
 
Alt right and nerdy loner and anime have crossover.

I'd like to note it's never good anime. Generic shounen and shitty moe, typically.

Tbh though I like soul eater it's pretty cool.
 
0*qbp4IY_E0l2GErcB


Incredible.

Dammit it won't embed.
 
PSqueak said:
I always assumed it was because trolls like the juxtaposition of cute anime girls mashed up with horrible bigotry and overall terribleness.
Click to expand...

When gamergate happened, the moderators on our forum could spot the troll accounts from their anime waifu avatars. They just showed up in waves, all of these little cartoon girls telling us about ethics in journalism and how Zoe Quinn was a whore anyway. That was the first time I noticed it.
 
David H Wong said:
When gamergate happened, the moderators on our forum could spot the troll accounts from their anime waifu avatars. They just showed up in waves, all of these little cartoon girls telling us about ethics in journalism and how Zoe Quinn was a whore anyway. That was the first time I noticed it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm surprised it's news to people. Anime avatars being awful on twitter is basically a meme by now.
 
It's not a strange phenomenon to me that lonely, angry men who feel threatened by women and minorities choose to connect with sexualized drawings of young girls who do not threaten them. 1+1=2
 
This is painting a little too much of a broad brush by that writer.

I would never respect Trump ever and harrassment of any kind in games should be condemned harshly.
 
People to avoid on twitter

-People with anime avatars
-A dirty looking white boy holding a fish
-A dirty looking white boy holding a gun
-Someone with a NBA player as their avi
-Someone with a red hat on
-Avi with group of 3-4 young white boys with their arms on each others neck
-Egg avi
-Bald Eagle
-American/Confederate flag
-A lot of people without a picture of themselves
-People who use their dog or cat as their avi

The sad thing is twitter doesn't do shit about these fucking low life dumbasses.
 
David H Wong said:
When gamergate happened, the moderators on our forum could spot the troll accounts from their anime waifu avatars. They just showed up in waves, all of these little cartoon girls telling us about ethics in journalism and how Zoe Quinn was a whore anyway. That was the first time I noticed it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was bad for a long time. Even my current avatar is a response to that trend as a sort of "take back the anime avatar" movement. And also because One Piece is fantastic of course.
 
I always just assumed it was because trolls are more likely to be unsociable geeks who don't function well in the real world, and those kinds of people are also likely into anime.

Either that or Dragonball really is bad for kids like my mum always worried.
 
There's a crossover between them and the ones I've seen whining about censorship with Nintendo games on twitter. Who knew.
 
where are people with manly anime avatars like Dragon Ball, Hokuto no Ken etc.

Those steroid busted heroes fought for a cause and an ideal, protecting those in need (scantily clad women, kids and elderly), even if it meant beating their opponents to a pulp
 
I always took it to just be the kind of people who vehemently defend anime and otaku-oriented games as if an attack on those properties is an attack on the fans themselves. A lot of the feminist critiques made by people like Sarkeesian are routinely applied to anime and otaku games. Anime and Japanese media in general in the last decade has gotten so niche that the fans who stick with it are that much more hardcore and that much more willing to die defending it.

I didn't know it went as far as anti-semitism signaling and neo-Nazi imagery though.
 
I forgot about that thing certain people do regarding parentheses, that's really despicable, wow...

Good thing only non-trolling badasses have Metallica avatars, since she is generalizing to an extent which isn't okay either, though not a comparable sin here.
 
petran79 said:
where are people with manly anime avatars like Dragon Ball, Hokuto no Ken etc.

Those steroid busted heroes fought for a cause and an ideal, protecting those in need (scantily clad women, kids and elderly), even if it meant beating their opponents to a pulp
Click to expand...

TBF I have noticed it's largely moe or general waifu anime avatars this pheonomena refers to and less so people with battle shounen avatars. Imagine it may be partly due to those types often treating the former like a plague and less likely comparitively to be into stuff like waifu's .
 
Honest guess: Because a lot of anime is sexist and appeals to people who have social difficulty or have trouble reading subtle facial cues?

I say this as a person who works on anime regularly and appreciates some of it himself.
 
I actually know a few people who have anime avatars on Twitter explicitly in an effort to combat this btw, hahaha
 
EleventhHourSuperpower said:
I forgot about that thing certain people do regarding parentheses, that's really despicable, wow...

Good thing only non-trolling badasses have Metallica avatars, since she is generalizing to an extent which isn't okay either, though not a comparable sin here.
Click to expand...

Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is DONE!
 
I just like Noctis design tho it's been 10 years following him ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I've never set foot on anime Gaf as well, you probably see me in the sneaker or NBA threads.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

should I use twitter
2
50
2K
Grildon Tundy replied
Why do they still allow that film format? Letterboxing
2
58
1K
VulcanRaven replied
Use the Earth to Spell your Name from NASA
6
299
Moondoggy replied
Kagurabachi Anime Releases April 2027
News 
5
180
thefool replied
New Evangelion anime incoming!
2
52
849
NotMyProblemAnymoreCunt replied
Top Bottom