i understand why people say we didn’t have enough time to bond with the dr characters and therefore they didn’t care that much about them.

and to that i say: in terms of screentime they actually got just as much, if not more time than most of the ux characters whom everyone loves so dearly. but that’s not what matters. what matters is the amount of time the fanbase has known them for.

ux with its spaced-out updates had people constantly hungry for each new crumb of info. people were making new fanart and theories around the clock. they were invested. there were long hiatuses but people had so much to work with during those hiatuses.

whereas we didn’t get enough initial bonding time with the dr characters to propel the fandom for two entire years of hiatus. we couldn’t really solidly characterize each person at the very beginning. and then there just wasn’t anything more. flash forward to now and suddenly we have insane amounts of new info coming to us in one 5 hour long block and then that’s it that’s the end.

essentially what i’m getting at is the difference between synchronous and asynchronous media. between weekly episodes aired on tv and giant full-seasons dropped all at once on netflix. media is so much more enjoyable when experienced in a group of people all excitedly talking about it in anticipation. when there’s an active fandom.

someone who just pulled up the five hour cutscene compilation for khux on youtube and watched it all in one sitting might not end up caring as much about those guys. (unless they already knew a bit of enticing spoilers going in or had hyperempathy for fictional characters. both having been me. hehe.) anyway i’m not saying this is the only difference between the two stories but it’s a big part of it. i think people would have just adored these characters if we had seen more of them earlier like in khux fashion. bc it was a long and full and good story