Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-30231630-20170613040752/@comment-25936766-20170614202913

LucasVerBeek wrote: Confession Time huh...okay so please don't shot me for saying this, as I joined this fandom during voume three almost a year after Monty died....BUT I never really got why he was such a big deal, creator of the show besides,...I mean I'm sure he was a great guy and his death was an unexpected tragedy but why do so many people hold him tantimount to God, at least those few that write Fan-Fiction anyway. I assume it was a combination of different factors. RT's fanbase has always been too forgiving. Understandable since RT wasn't a big company that could easily pull some AAA epic opera or something, but at times it means people criticize too little and praise too much.

As such, despite how mediocre RWBY was, especially in Volume 1, many people thought it was great, while those who didn't agree generally didn't remain, leaving only praisers for the most part.

At the same time, a good number of RWBY fans were kids, at least mentally. Not sure of the exact ratio compared to more mature fans, but my experience tells me it's a pretty high number, at least without comparisons.

And kids see a bit of cool fights here, a bit of good music there, and think the overall work is a brilliant 10/10 and the man who made it must be a god. Similar to Michael Bay movies.

On top of it, Monty was a great animator, and a nice guy, and since his mistakes and questionable decisions were not as perfectly known as they are now, he was overall a pretty admirable guy, which only makes things worse in this regard.

There's also how RT has a closer relationship with their fanbase than other companies have. And that includes Monty, of course. Plus he already had a fanbase pre-established, so any "fanatics" in it woud leak to RWBY's.

So, combine all that and possibly more, and you get a big amount of people who treated Monty's death as if their own baby had burned in a fire.

Thankfully, it's died down nowadays; It's common to see someone mention Monty's name with at least some respect and lament of his death, but it's rare to see someone overreact over it. Then again, time heals wounds, so most people likely just moved on.