What's left behind when a Touhou fan dies?

[Alfred F. Jones]

This is a topic I saw get brought up on another forum for a different series, but when I saw it there, it was so thought-provoking that I decided I wanted to see how Touhou fans would react when faced with this question, however uncomfortable or painful.

Most of us don't have a very wide net of people in real life who are into Touhou like we are. We might have a few friends who are into it, but in general, we're left to pursue our Touhou interests online, uploading replays and posting cosplay photos and writing up Danmakufu scripts, or whatever. We have fun and contribute to our fandoms online, pursuing our enjoyment in the ways we see fit.

But what happens if something goes wrong, and you die? Then it just ends. If your Touhou merchandise, from figurines to game CDs to wall scrolls lasted 'till the end of days, then we might consider those to be fitting tombstones to us. If we could be buried with our hard-earned collection, then wouldn't that be great? Or would you rather it be split up, distributed, or maybe donated to a toy or art museum, maybe passed on to younger siblings or children? Or depending on the circumstances of your death, what if it's sold to pay hospital bills, or the cost of burial? What would you like to keep regardless, maybe have buried with you?

What about your friends in the fandom? If your account just stops posting, will your friends have your phone number or address in order to contact your family and ask if something happened? Will they even know? I have heard that this problem confronted the TH-P community a few months ago-- one of their writers died in a car accident, and his mother was able to get online on his computer and inform his friends, as I heard it. Do you have something like that in place for you?

It's a difficult series of questions, but it's one I think we'll all have to confront, because unless something else happens between now and then, this is what will happen to all of us eventually; we'll leave behind an idle account on a forum or two, and a room filled with merchandise waiting for us to come back and play with them. Frozen in time.

My apologies if this somehow makes people feel uncomfortable or brings up bad memories, but I do think the question is worth asking.

[Luna Scarlet]

I have friend who died because of cancer in a forum from a game...
Our entire guild went it remorse and the guild forum was been silent for almost a month...
She was a dear friend and but happy till the end...
By the day when we found was 2 days after her death, her brother posted news...
It was very sad, but we stay positive in-game and our guild master said "If she were to see us like this, would she be happy?"
Then after that we made her our honorable member...

This my experience...
It maybe saddening, but no one can dodge the awful truth..
It maybe painful, but it would soon heal...
Thats just how it is...

For me, I hope I die with a smile...
And oh...
Its not touhou but its still the same experience...

[Gpop]

Someone at Google actually died pretty recently. Her friend got on her account and notified the board about her death, but did not mention her cause of death as it was too personal and great for her to say so publicly

There was great remorse though, and it was so sudden.

If it was me though, my parents are aware of this site, so they would likely do something, or probably not. At least my sister though. Though probably not until a couple of months later when she gets herself together.

That and probably Suikama would say something.

[Iryan]

I had this thought some time ago actually and instructed my brother to sign up and make a post here about it should that happen.

I haven't mapped out what should be done with my touhou possessions after my death, but then again, I don't have anything beyond the games themselves, so...

Well, let's hope that this won't be necessary.  :derp:

[Luna Scarlet]

@Gpop
She told her sickness when she was still at our guild forums, her brother confirmed it...
She told also us that it was incurable, at first we though it was just a bad joke, then IT came...

@Iryan
Why not donate it or give it to some of your dearest friends..
its more dramatic that isn't it?
just  my opinion though....

[nintendonut888]

I (sadly) have nothing of value from Touhou in my possession, so there's not really anything there to be passed down. I at least have comfort that if I were to suddenly die my friends online would have the resources to find out about it.

[MatsuriSakuragi]

The only Touhou-related stuff I own are some of the games, and it'd be silly to have them buried with me-- I wouldn't need them there!. I'd much rather let my friends have them, so they can introduce new people to them-- and Touhou in general! I certainly wouldn't want them sitting in my room, frozen in time, as you said. And that goes not only for my Touhou stuff, but everything I own in general. If it has a purpose, it should be used for that purpose, and not just left to collect dust over the years.

As for myself, anyone who needs my phone number has it, and that way they can pass the news on to anyone else who should know.

This sort of thing is something I don't really prefer to think about, but do anyway. It's worth thinking about, I suppose.

[ふねん1]

This topic has crossed my mind a few times before, but I never gave it too much thought then, for precisely the reason that it's painful. I'll see if I can't give it a shot now.

I don't have much Touhou stuff in general (just games and that Youmu costume), but even if I did I can't say I want to be buried with any of it. Sure, Touhou has become one of favorite video game series ever in a pretty damn short amount of time, but there are plenty of other things about me, some of it obviously more important, so being buried with Touhou stuff doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Most likely I'd just leave my possessions to immediate family members.

As it stands right now, it wouldn't be easy for anyone to really find out if something happened to me (never mind that I don't post as much as others here to begin with). I've mentioned before that I'm not a very sociable person, thus I'm not that close to anyone online and haven't shared information like phone numbers. I also don't talk much about my online status with anyone in my family, so they wouldn't know to come here or anything.

So yeah, that's my current position. Like with Matsuri, the idea of dying so suddenly is something I'd rather not think about, even though I've been steadily realizing that I can't ignore it either.

[Berzul]

What's left behind when a Touhou fan dies? Answer = same as anyone would die.

hmm if I die I want to meet Yuomu and Yuyuko, what is on the real world... left behind does not matter in afterlife.

But yea.. what can you tell me about afterlife? You won't be able to do stuff in the real world so you should not bother with it afterlife. It's just does not matter for you what is going to happen to your stuff or anyone you know, after you die... just simply because you won't be able to communicate with them.

On the other hand if someone dies, and had a hobby, the hobby dies with him, unless it was taken over by someone else. Look at any hobby for that matter really. It does not really matter if it's something you can make money of or not. As longest you make someone else think it's has a sentimental value he/she would carry it on after your death (as much as he/she can, or willing to do, depending on the level of that sentimental value).

If you can convince someone to your hobby... like that guy who has a wife and makes "Hang in there Kogasa" I think he's wife would carry on his work after his death and such. Can you do it? Have you meet someone at a convention?

[Tengukami]

I've thought of this not just in terms of Touhou, and in fact, there's even a service for born-agains that addresses this problem. YBLB requires you to log on every day and, if you don't log on for three days, sends a message to all your loved ones that you've been raptured up.

I don't think it would be difficult to create a script for Outlook that would do the same thing, except send all your log-in details to a trusted friend if you haven't logged in a few days. This friend could then verify whether or not you're actually dead, and then log onto your list of forums and copy/paste your respective farewell messages to your internet buddies, from beyond the grave.

I haven't really given the matter a lot of thought, to be honest, but it has crossed my mind.

As for my Touhou stuff, all my games, manga, hentai, videos and CDs will probably go with me to the tomb, as no one I know IRL has any interest in the games. Maybe as a parting shot, I'll have some of my replays projected onto giant screens behind my coffin during the reception or something.

[Unassuming Squid]

I've thought about this a lot in the past, in precise detail. Most of my friends are online, and I really only have one person IRL who I would feel comfortable with giving instructions about informing those I don't know in person.

I've come to the definite conclusion that, assuming I didn't do that, I doubt anyone would know for sure that I passed. It would probably just seem like I stopped coming on everywhere and never came back. Some people have my phone number, and they could call that, I guess.

In the way of merchandise, I have almost nothing of value. The most I have to show my Touhou pride are my Flandre t-shirt, the piano arrangements I've made, and the character papercrafts I've put together over time. I'd probably just have my papercrafts given to family or IRL friends who wanted them, and my shirt...I dunno, maybe a friend can take that too.

[psyfaqs111]

I've never thought about this topic, but now that I think about it, this is a problem for me.
My touhou merchandise i would like to give to my real life friend who is also into touhou. He can do whatever he wants with them from that point.
The probelm is, i wonder how I can get news across on internet.......
no one i know knows that i am in this cite, so no one would know here (not that many might care, since im new....)
same for all other cites i go to. I am a secretive person online, and i don't mix my online self with real life self much.......
so practically, if i did die, only my friends, family, and those type of close people would know, but no one online.

[Drake]

For the sake of the possibility that whatever measures I've put forth to tell people that I somehow died don't happen, and I haven't actually given a farewell post or have been banned or something, you can all assume that if I haven't posted in a month, I have died. I feel utterly fantastic typing this by the way.

[J.O.B]

I've thought about this question before, but more of a what happens when you die (from your point ov view)?
As in, what is it like to be dead? Is there anything after death? Do you just stop feeling anything? Does everything just cut off? Do you watch the world go on without you, or do you just stay there, surrounded by blackness?

On topic now, I would probably give my stuff to my eldest sister. She doesn't exactly like Touhou that much, but she still likes it a bit (I just make her get sick of it because I talk about it a lot). I have three Touhou posters, a Touhou art book which came with Touhou tarot cards, I have the games and I also have these large light-up Flandre wings that were made by my sister. So I think she would be the one who appreciates it most. She would also probably be the only one who would go on to this forum and post the news about my death.

[Widermelonz]

Reminds me of "did he drop any good loot?"

[Drake]

I've thought about this question before, but more of a what happens when you die (from your point ov view)?
As in, what is it like to be dead? Is there anything after death? Do you just stop feeling anything? Does everything just cut off? Do you watch the world go on without you, or do you just stay there, surrounded by blackness?

As far as "there is no afterlife" goes, people usually can't quite grasp the concept of "you are dead". Your brain activity has stopped. You cannot sense, you cannot think. There is no blackness because you can't sense the blackness or your eyes being closed or anything. Your consciousness is gone, there is no "you" anymore. Everything in your body has stopped; if you made a life-sized stuffed puppet that looked exactly like you, that would be you dead. Imagine one of those nights where you don't dream or feel anything at all, suddenly it's the next morning and you're like "wait how did 8 hours pass"; death would be the time you can't grasp but it would be forever and you wouldn't wake up to realize how long you've been thinking nothing, and to a greater extent than that because you're not thinking as opposed to thinking about nothing.

[J.O.B]

As far as "there is no afterlife" goes, people usually can't quite grasp the concept of "you are dead". Your brain activity has stopped. You cannot sense, you cannot think. There is no blackness because you can't sense the blackness or your eyes being closed or anything. Your consciousness is gone, there is no "you" anymore. Everything in your body has stopped; if you made a life-sized stuffed puppet that looked exactly like you, that would be you dead. Imagine one of those nights where you don't dream or feel anything at all, suddenly it's the next morning and you're like "wait how did 8 hours pass"; death would be the time you can't grasp but it would be forever and you wouldn't wake up to realize how long you've been thinking nothing, and to a greater extent than that because you're not thinking as opposed to thinking about nothing.

To me I would think that in death you wouldn't be able to do anything at all and have no idea what else is happening, as if you have just suddenly been cut off from the rest of the world which is the one thing about death that actually scares me.

[Drake]

take solace in the probability that that isn't the case

[Zil]

For the sake of the possibility that whatever measures I've put forth to tell people that I somehow died don't happen, and I haven't actually given a farewell post or have been banned or something, you can all assume that if I haven't posted in a month, I have died.

This. I haven't been here long, but I think I'm addicted enough to this forum that if I were gonna quit I'd say something. If I don't post in a long time, I'm probably dead.
As far as "merchandise" goes, I don't really have much Touhou stuff. But now I'm wondering what would actually happen to all my other stuff. My random meaningful items, video games, dream journal. Even my secret lolicon collection would no doubt be found by someone. (That might be embarrassing, but at least I'll be dead. :3) The thought that someone else would acquire that stuff is kinda creepy actually.

As for what being dead is like: I'd say it's pretty much like how it was before you were born, which is to say, inconceivable. On the positive side, if you ever came back to life in the future, it'd be like no time passed at all.

[Yukarin]

This is a fun thing to think about.

The only merchandise I have is a Reimu plushie, and I think that goes to one of my friends currently in the uni. That, or it goes to one of my dear friends back in high school. As for the games, that goes to my friend in Uni I'm currently infecting with the Touhou disease.

If I were to die, well, not many people would actually mourn, save for my family and all that. I think even here no one would mourn, since I haven't really made close friends with anyone of you yet. I think if I die here right now, nobody in MotK would notice, but all that can change now, can it?

How it feels like to be dead, huh? That's a hard thing to actually explain, since you actually need to die and relay your experience, but I think that's a little bit silly.

[Darth_Sirov]

Deep questions and interesting points of view...

I'm usually quite reserve and don't forge a lot of close relationships online, so having people to speak for my "disappearance" is highly unlikely; chances are they'll think I moved on to different things, rather than a different plane of existence.

As for my things & hobbies, I guess I would have to give them to my brother if he wants to , and most of my touhou stuff (he's a fan of the fandom, manga, but not much on games), are mostly on data form (no merchandise), so that's giving him the keys to the data I pretty much backed up.

[Alfred F. Jones]

I should mention that when I asked "what happens when we die?" I didn't mean in any metaphysical sense. That is beyond the scope of a Touhou fandom discussion. I suppose I meant what happens to your place in the fandom.

I know that what would happen if I were to die (like if I were successfully hit by a car, for example) would be that a few trusted friends of mine who have my phone number would call my house if I hadn't logged in in over a week without any explanation. I should also probably put a document in my flash drive titled something along the lines of "in case of my demise, read this" that has a few farewell messages and planned endings to things like White Rose and my other pieces of fiction (troll endings first, and then the real endings). My Touhou swag like my game CDs would go to one friend, keychains to another, drawings and sketches would probably stay with my family. That sort of thing.

[Jana]

I've included my passwords to the places where I'm most active in my will.

[Paper Conan]

I (or more like my friends and family) wouldn't be able to do anything to inform my online buddies in all the websites I go to and MMO's I play since they kinda don't care about my online life. I guess I'd just be 'never heard from' ever again. :V

I have one question which hurts me to ask, though.
Does anyone know what happened to Slaves? Last time I checked, he hasn't posted in a couple of months. I want to believe that he told everyone that he wouldn't come online or something. I'm honestly concerned; I really hope nothing bad happened to him.

[Gpop]

I (or more like my friends and family) wouldn't be able to do anything to inform my online buddies in all the websites I go to and MMO's I play since they kinda don't care about my online life. I guess I'd just be 'never heard from' ever again. :V

I have one question which hurts me to ask, though.
Does anyone know what happened to Slaves? Last time I checked, he hasn't posted in a couple of months. I want to believe that he told everyone that he wouldn't come online or something. I'm honestly concerned; I really hope nothing bad happened to him.

I think he's all fine, otherwise I'd see something for Mode's online status on MSN (yes...I still have her :V)

[Alfred F. Jones]

Excerpts from the final will and testament of Sakura Rurouni.

Possible endings for White Rose of Chireiden
_{One of these things is sure to happen}

1. As Koishi is dying she gains her second power, that of being a God. She uses this power to make a world without demons where everyone is equal and kills every Shinki before they are born. Only Satori remembers her and that's why she carries white roses around in her hair.

2. As all hope is lost, Koishi opens her eyes. Everyone is relieved, but it turns out that Koishi had been a demon of Makai the whole time. She rips Satori into 666 pieces and scatters them across Gensokyo. Only Sanae can go on the journey to save them, so the story is renamed the Star Lotus of Moriya for the sequel.

3. Eirin, who tries to revive Koishi at the final battle, reveals that she is actually pregnant with Utsuho’s child. Koishi dies after delivering a healthy baby boy which sends Satori into a downward spiral of drinking and depression. With the help of Orin, she gets control back over her life and raises the child as her own.

4. Satori's and the rest of the cast’s tears all fall on Koishi’s body because no one had any tissues. Their love revives her and everyone is happy.

5. It turns out that the whole fanfic was actually just a fantasy thought up by the younger versions of Satori and Koishi because they are lonely and have no friends.

Does anyone know what happened to Slaves? Last time I checked, he hasn't posted in a couple of months. I want to believe that he told everyone that he wouldn't come online or something. I'm honestly concerned; I really hope nothing bad happened to him.

Homestuck kidnapped him!
Just check this out: http://slavess.deviantart.com/

[shurcle]

Probably nothing.
I haven't accumulated much yet.

[Chronojet ⚙ Dragon]

May my Danmakufu scripts be laughed at even after I die.

[Bias Bus]

In regards to folks knowing what happened to me?

No one probably ever will. If I were to suddenly drop dead today or tomorrow (Shinki forbid), no one would ever know the difference between my death and me suddenly ragequitting and not telling anyone about my reasons or when I'll be back. No one I know irl has any knowledge of me being into Touhou or that I'm on this forum at all. For all they know, I just sit on the computer and browse the net for no good reason. So that pretty much bones the hell out of them notifying anyone. The only thing that remains is what I've managed to post or what I've left behind, This will most likely be in the form of my art, which can be found on multiple forums and websites (most of said sites I have only told a few about). Writings probably will be few and in between since what I posted is only a small portion of what's actually on my HD due to me taking for ever working on them.

In other words, I will die. No one will cry.

[Desu_Cake]

I've decided to add to my will that I be buried in my Reimu cosplay. That way when a necromancer raises me from the dead (Which is inevitable, really) I can cosplay zombie Reimu!