The internet has a strange power to make us all seem like we known each other, probably more than we want to or like. The internet has made celebrities out of everyone from Justin Bieber to Brian Peppers and everyone in between. The same could be said Christian Weston Chandler, known informally as Chris-chan or CWC (pronounced like "quick").
Who has become a legend in the world of internet infamy. Never heard of him? I'll tell you about him...
Born
Christopher Weston Chandler in
Virginia in 1982. Mr. Chandler's saga is a strange one, indeed.
The Early Years
Diagnosed with autism at an early age, Chris struggled with school and life in general but found solace and happiness in the video game character of Sonic the Hedgehog.
In 1994, he won The Adventures of Sonic The Hedgehog Watch & Win Sweepstakes, which included a shopping spree at K-B Toys and was covered by the local news. Also that year he and his parents also legally changed his name from Christopher to Christian, inspired by Leonard Bearstein, an animatronic character, he encountered at a mall several years before, who misunderstood him and called him "Christian" instead of "Christopher".
Around the time he was in high school, he became obsessed with another Japanese video game franchise which had just become wildly popular in America, Pokemon, regularly taking part in trading card tournaments at the local book store and Toys "R" Us. This, too was featured on the local news, when they did a story about popularity of the card game. It was also around this time he made his first video, a project for English class, started writing poetry and stories and created a Pokemon website. His senior year he created Sonichu, a cross between Sonic and Pikachu, arguably his most famous creation. The character was created for a class project after his teacher told him, he couldn't use copyrighted or pre-existing characters in the assignment.
On the downside that same year, he was forced to take his mom to the prom because a girl he liked went with someone else and he threw a hissy fit during his graduation for not receiving an art award he thought he was going to win.
Looking for a "boyfriend-free girl"
As he approached adulthood, Chris kept working on his websites, playing in Pokemon tournaments and drawing his characters, he realized he needed to find a woman to love and thus began in his infamous Love Quest. He was suspended from his college for carrying around signs and harassing female students, he was also banned from a local mall for doing the same.
Upset, he made Mary Lee Walsh, the Dean of Student Affairs at his college, a recurring villain in his Sonichu comics.
He also started making videos for the internet, drawing issues of his homemade comics and purchasing sex toys from eBay. He started posting on sites like Adult Swim, DeviantArt and MySpace, but in 2007 everything changed...
Discovery by Internet Trolls
In 2007, he lost Megan Schroeder, a potential girlfriend after she moved to Kentucky. He found a surefire way to win her back. Chris entered a Parappa the Rapper video contest hosted by Sony to promote the (than recent) sequel to the popular PlayStation game, in which the winner would get an all-expenses paid trip to a gaming expo in Seattle. He hoped to bring Megan along and lose his virginity to her in their hotel room. Which would lead them to getting married and living happily ever after. Chris submitted a video, which somehow managed to get into the top 10. He encouraged everyone he knew to vote for him, but he lost. Chris became angry and accused the people who beat him in the contest of cheating.
Shortly after this incident someone on the Something Awful forums posted about Chris-Chan, and the trolling began. News of Chandler spread to other sites like 4chan and Encyclopedia Dramatica, two of the most popular "troll" hangouts online. Chris responded with editing his ED article to be more positive or posting his own porn drawings. It backfired, the trolling got worse, Megan asked to never see him again and he was kicked out of his Southern Baptist church after the pastor learned of his online activities (he later joined a Methodist church). The trolling just got worse, but Chris being the naive and gullible individual that he was, just kept on responding to it. Making him a prime example of an internet weirdo and the archetypal lolzcow.
Will the real creator of Sonichu, please shut up!
The trolling was really getting crazy, it was usually trolls posing as fans and potential female lovers. In late 2008, a troll claiming to be
Jimmy Hill, a retired soccer player and commentator in the UK, said he was the original creator of Sonichu and that Chris-Chan was
unauthorized to use the character. Plus showed fake articles and pictures that the character was already featured in a real game and had official merchandise in Europe. He also stated in that the "real" Sonichu was gay and that Chris was going to be sued for
copyright infringement. This made Chris-Chan furious. In 2009, another man claimed to be the "Real Chris-Chan" and started posting video claiming Christian Weston Chandler was the fake. The impostor was dubbed by Chandler as "Liquid Chris", as opposed to himself ("Solid Chris"). Chris was also tricked into thinking
Shigeru Miyamoto and
Reggie Fils-Aimé were going to put Sonichu in a real game for
Nintendo.
The "end" of Sonichu and recent developments
As the 00s became the 10s, a comic called Asperchu, obviously making fun of Chandler and his creation was released. Chandler stated he was "retiring" Sonichu, because the trolls "drained his creativity". Chris's behavior and his rage against trolls continued to get stranger and stranger. In 2011, Chris came out a "Tomgirl" (later a "Male identified Lesbian" and after that a transwoman), he grew his hair out, started wearing makeup and women's clothes. Aside from a few trolling incidents and his father dying, nothing really happened for a while. In October 2011, Chris had his first real run in with the law, when he and his mother were arrested for trespassing, assault, and hit and run by the owner of a game and hobby store that Chris had been banned from in 2008 and believed that the owner of the store and other regulars were part of trolling/cyber-bullying conspiracy against him. The following year, they were both dropped of charges and arraigned. Chris himself was put on probation. The next year or two was quiet until January 10, 2014, when a fire destroyed his home. Nothing of real note happened again, until later that year when Sonic Boom was released by Sega. Chandler threw a fit claiming that he was angry because the new game featured his favorite hedgehog with blue arms! Yes, for that reason! To protest, shortly after Christmas of that year, he went to a local Game stop vandalized some displays and attacked an employee with pepper spray. Despite Chris's warning of "Do not call anybody!", the manager called the police. CWC is currently on trial.
So ends the long, strange saga of Christian Weston Chandler (for now), who knows what will happen in the future, do you even care, sorry for wasting your time.
For more CWC
The CWCki
A video which is basically everything I just told you