A movie star meeting her adoring crowd.
"Fans are great. Fandom is weird."
The term used for the collective of fans for any given work, person, or other thing, that came together for mutual benefit. Often have different terms for more specific things, but this trope covers them all.
The term "fandom" can be traced back as far as 1903. Fanwank has featured a few vintage wanks that show fans have always been as crazy as they are now. This might have existed since the beginning of fiction.
Compare Fame and Reputation Tropes, Admiration Tropes.
Contrast Hatedom and Fan Hater.
Is not the opposite of Fan Sub. Also not related to wiki hosting service Fandom (formerly known as Wikia).
Sub Tropes (as long as they are about the fans themselves, not just what they do):
Categories:
- Approval of God: The creator praises works done by the fans.
- Ascended Fanboy: A fan of heroes ends up becoming a hero themselves.
- Base-Breaking Character: The fandom is divided over whether this character from the work is good or bad.
- Broken Base: The fandom is divided over whether this aspect of the work or franchise is good or bad.
- Cosplay Otaku Girl
- Ensemble Dark Horse: A single character with an unexpectedly large fandom, usually a minor or secondary character.
- Estrogen Brigade: A work aimed at male audiences has a female fandom, usually due to one or more attractive male characters.
- Fan
- Fan Boy: A fan (usually male) who defines their fanhood by how much trivia they know.
- Fan Community Nicknames: Nicknames given to specific fandoms.
- Fan Convention
- Fandom-Enraging Misconception: If you don't want to piss off the fans, make sure you don't get the basic facts about the work wrong.
- Fandom Heresy: If you disagree with a viewpoint most other fans have, the rest of the fandom will turn on you.
- Fandom Life Cycle
- Fandom Rivalry: The fandoms of two different works don't get along well.
- Fandom VIP: A fan of a work becomes widely known among its fans.
- Fan Dumb: The members of the fandom who give the rest of the fan base a bad name due to their idiocy and other bad traits.
- Fanfiction Archives
- Fangirl
- Fanon: Fans' interpretation of details not explained or shown in the actual work.
- Fanwork-Only Fans
- Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: A fictional person is also a fan, this time of a real person.
- Friendly Fandoms: The fandoms of two different works get along rather well, to the point that being a fan of one work makes it likely you're a fan of the other.
- Furry Fandom
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: A work has fans outside of its country of origin.
- Groupie
- Instant Fan Club
- Juggalo: Fans of the band Insane Clown Posse.
- The Law of Fan Jackassery: If a show's popularity is midway between "obscure" and "mainstream", there's a good chance that most of its fans will be toxic jerks.
- LGBT Fanbase: A work becomes popular with LGBT+ audiences.
- Loony Fan: A fan of a person who won't leave their idol alone.
- Make-A-Wish Contribution: A fan is involved with the work because of their wish.
- "Meet the Celebrity" Contest: A fan enters a contest for the chance to meet their idol.
- Metalhead
- Occidental Otaku: A Western fan of Japanese works.
- Official Fan-Submitted Content: A fan work ends up becoming an official part of the series.
- One of Us
- Otaku
- Periphery Demographic: A work has fans outside of its intended audience.
- Promoted Fanboy: A fan of the franchise ends up becoming officially involved with it.
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: A person's obsession with a movie is demonstrated by having them claim to have seen the film a ridiculously large number of times.
- Silent Majority: The majority of the people who consume a media don't actively talk about said media.
- Smart Mark: A hardcore Professional Wrestling fan who has at least some understanding of the business' inner workings.
- "Stop Having Fun" Guys
- Straw Fan: An unflattering portrayal of the fandom.
- Teen Idol (aka Pin Up Girl)
- Testosterone Brigade: A work aimed at female audiences has a male fandom, usually due to one or more attractive female characters.
- Trekkie
- Unabashed B-Movie Fan
- Unpleasable Fanbase: No matter which direction you go, the fans will still complain about the work's quality.
- Unpopular Popular Character: The fanbase loves a single character that's hated or poorly regarded in-universe.
- Vocal Minority: An opinion only seems omnipresent because of how vocal the people who have that viewpoint are about it.
- Whovians
- Yaoi Fangirl
- Yuri Fan
