>>101928744A lot of people like to tout the "Support the talent, not the brand" slogan, but Gura/Saba effectively is a brand.
The amount of people who're "fans" despite never watching a single fuck stream from her is actually staggering. They flock to her, not because they care about her, or know a single fucking thing about her, but rather because they know OF her.
She's the one who everyone can name.
She's the one who every brand wanted to use for their sponsorship,
She's the one who's face was plastered in every other clip channel's profile picture.
She's the one who gets a shoutout in FNAF, because she's the one they all know of.
But barely any of them actually know her.
Gura was never the mascot of Hololive, but she was/still is the mascot of vtubing.
The reason Pikachu moves a shit ton of merch isn't because people genuinely give a fuck about it.
I had hoped that a fresh slate would allow her to get a more genuine fanbase this time, but so far that doesn't seem to be the case. Maybe after things settle down a bit.