Fandoms and suchforth

[AJHunter 265]

I was browsing the forums of another comunity (yes, I have a mistress other than MLPForums. I'm sorry, dear.), and I came across this thread discussing fandoms, bronies in particular.

 

It got me thinking. What causes a fandom to form? How does such a tight-knit community grow? How is a fandom defined?

 

I'd just like to see how others in our community view fandoms in general, as most of the people in that thread aren't, as far as I know, big into any fandoms. It's a really interesting topic, I think, and warrants discussion.

[PonyEcho 1,610]

well i think a fandom always starts off small and it take a certain something (for example all the positive reviews the MLP FiM had) to get the snowball rolling (and yes ill be using allot of snow ball related things here)

 

and as the ball gets bigger and big with a lager and larger fan base some one outside will take notice of how big it is and some people will try to brake it down and chip away at it because they believe such a little thing (like MLP) doesn't deserve to be this big

also its never perfect it will always have the obscure rock and branches inside the ball and there will alway be bumps in the road which will cause fans to disassociate with it all (which is what happened to me once when some bronies started to get snobby which i now dub them as Canterlot bronies).

 

that's basically how fandoms are made something small becoming something big and attracting fan as well as undesirables

Edited August 9, 2012 by PonyEcho

[Planty 1,053]

well i think a fandom always starts off small and it take a certain something (for example all the positive reviews the MLP FiM had) to get the snowball rolling (and yes ill be using allot of snow ball related things here)

 

and as the ball gets bigger and big with a lager and larger fan base some one outside will take notice of how big it is and some people will try to brake it down and chip away at it because they believe such a little thing (like MLP) doesn't deserve to be this big

also its never perfect it will always have the obscure rock and branches inside the ball and there will alway be bumps in the road which will cause fans to disassociate with it all (which is what happened to me once when some bronies started to get snobby which i now dub them as Canterlot bronies).

 

that's basically how fandoms are made something small becoming something big and attracting fan as well as undesirables

 

This seems like a good description, once a few people who like something get together and form a community it can grow fast,

 

But in the end fandoms always end up having big arguments within them from attracting people who differ from the original groups view of the show or how the fandom should be portrayed/run or even which bits they like.

 

This then causes it to split like MLP has into many different forums and smaller groups ect