Yeh fuckin oath.
The goal should be the work, enjoyment of the work and achieving and publicizing it upon completion.
You see entire fuckin discord servers of WANNABE artists and animators flying around those who've gotten some notoriety or exposure for what they make... Somehow hoping it'll rub off on them? Or they can piggy back off them or learn what? To be like them by emulating them exactly?
I honestly don't know.
I'm not saying don't be a big fan of someone else... But if you want to be an artist, just be an artist. Do your own thing, play your own game and be satisfied with the work you do.
Some mediocre people become famous and make good money, some exceptional people make great things and only get recognized after they're dead.
But if you're an artist of whatever kind, you do your thing because it's what makes you happy and you're compelled within yourself to do it.
The whole cartoon/animation fandom as a broad umbrella is a very, very mixed bag.
You have many wholesome, benign fans who just love cartoons or specific ones for harmless, sincere reasons.
Then we have all these sick fuck pedos or just other kinds of nasty characters, as well as fetishists of many types.
And even that last group... People who are into growth, expansion, medical procedure, obesity, detachable head, etc... So long as it isn't predatory in nature or intent; I may not understand it, but I'm not against it.
I'm a big Star Trek fan, and wow I've seen some absolute scumbags within that fandom.
Imagine someone threatening to kill you, or attacking you over social media and trying to dox you over nit agreeing with your take on a TNG character.
But as said before, that exists within all fandoms on some degree.