Top 10 Fandoms in 10 Years

Over the decade that I have been writing for GeekMom, a big chunk of my posts have been about entertainment in the form of books, comics, podcasts, games, movies, music, TV shows and whatever else is out there, with world creations, concepts or characters that I fell in love with, wanted to be part of, obsessed about: my fandoms. Writing for GeekMom helped me not bore strangers at parties (or scare them away.) My top post of all my time here was about a fandom, Bronies, the boys who loved My Little Pony TV show. Although I wrote about it, it was not one of my personal fandoms.

My fandoms posts were sometimes brief but intense obsessions where I wrote several posts over a year or so, while others have come back again and again throughout the decade. These posts vary from essays intensely explaining why EVERYONE should be a fan too, to themed recipes, composing original music, crafts, making or finding videos, reading fanfiction or drooling over fanart, or writing essays about another topic but I brought in my fandom as an example because I think about it all the time. Luckily, I’m here with ya’ll, where you understand me. As I looked back through my 435 posts, first on an independent GeekMom.com, then a subset of Wired, and then in partnership with GeekDad, I sorted and tallied all the fandom posts to find my top ten over those years.

11. Honorable Mention: Japanese storytelling

From Princess Jellyfish to Library Wars to Bleach, I am a huge fan of the very specific way Japanese culture tells tales through manga and anime. It’s not just another language or direction of reading, Japanese stories fascinate, confuse, and delight me, and I’m proud that my children grew up being exposed to a different culture. I’ve cosplayed and written a couple of songs about it too.

10. Ancient Greek Myths

Again, this is a cultural fandom. I did not realize how much I have written about how I am “Geeked About the Greeks” until I tallied up the numbers. They are compelling and angering at the same time for me. As a woman, these myths are full of rape and abuse of power by male gods and men, yet, I still am inspired by the heroics and the fact that these stories have been told in some form for thousands of years. Recently, I have found authors that re-tell these myths from a female perspective, doing what all good storytellers do throughout time, altering the details to fit the audience. Keep it up!

9. Steampunk

This is an aesthetic that my daughter and I became obsessive about after attending ConnectiCon, where we saw all these cosplayers in a very distinct style. Although I have not written much about it in the last few years, I still admire a well-placed gear, and men always look good in bowler hats.

8. Warm Bodies By Isaac Marion

I insisted for years that I was not a zombie fan, but then I came across this book (can’t remember how) and was captivated by the sweet romance and metaphoric story for our times. It immediately became one of my fandoms. The movie was really well done too. I wrote a fan song, I started a Kickstarter to make an animated music video for it, and it happened. There are four books in the series and I have read three. I plan on doing a full review of the entire series soon.

7. Harry Potter By JK Rowling

I read the books before I let my children read them. I was such a fan, I made them wait until they were old enough to truly appreciate it. And then they had to wait until they were old enough to read the next one. No rushing a good story, especially one that matures with the characters, although their friends spoiled all the plot points for them, which really pissed me off. I still remember going to see the first film with my sister and my mom, leaving the kids to be with my husband. We were all fans. I still remember chatting with my sister on the phone, staring out the window, both of us just finishing the penultimate book and speculating, hoping, what the outcome of Snape would be. My children were just old enough to catch up with all the books in time to be at the opening of the final movie. We even attended the Quidditch World Cup one year. What a great time to be alive and part of a cultural phenomenon.

6. Lord of the Rings By Tolkien

I was not alive to be a part of this cultural force for the books, but yes for the movies. It is a world I wish was real, and that I could be part of (and have magic!) I bonded on a plane with my seatmate because of a mutual love of LOTR. (I can type that and you know what it means!) I wrote a song for one of the characters and obsessed over the actors as well. A friend of mine, a fellow fan, took me out to an all-day showing of all the movies at a theater and we cried and cheered together for hours. That same friend did a read-aloud of the books for our children that took a few years, and then, (and only then) did we let them see the movies, ensuring they knew Frodo’s true character. Although I use those books as an example of the lack of female speaking characters, I am still a fan and am always inspired.

5. Avatar: The Last Airbender and Korra. TV Series by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko

I knew these would be in my top fandoms list. I put these together because they are part of one big story. This is such a good series. I’ve written post after post explaining why you and your kids should watch it. It has the best character and story arcs of any TV show I have ever seen, not just animated, not just for kids, ANY show. I watched it with my children as it aired and found myself watching new episodes late at night and pretending I hadn’t seen them when we watched it together the next day. We obsessively watched all the AMVs. Korra was tough at first because we just wanted our friends back on screen, but that show quickly became another favorite, with several episodes making us all tear up. I recently rewatched the first series with my nieces who loved it and I’m waiting for them to be old enough to enjoy Korra. The whole series has some of the BEST female characters ever created. For Christmas just this year, a friend gave our family a coloring book set in that world. I have never seen the movie and never will. I do, however, plan on continuing to read the comics, which keep me in that world.

4. Star Trek: Created by Gene Roddenberry

This is one of my family’s fandoms. My dad introduced me to Star Trek as he and most of my family became fans of The Next Generation, though we did watch the Original Series when it happened to air on TV (oh, not just days before internet streaming, but before the average person had a VCR…not even DVDs, people.) We saw the movies when they came out too and we wished that that positive outlook of the future could be real. When I left for college and then started a family, I did not have TV service, so my father videotaped the two series he was watching most: Voyager and Deep Space Nine, which became my escape during those early days of parenting. Voyager becoming my most-beloved series ever. Once my own children were old enough, my hubby and I decided to watch the Star Trek universe with our kids. I asked the community here on GeekMom to help pick out the best episodes of each series to give them a taste of the whole thing. The more recent movies and series took Star Trek to new places, and I think it changed appropriately with the times, though my son and I both miss the lighter tone of the old ones. It was quite a family saga for us and we finally finished up just this year! What a beautiful and inspiring creation that I hope continues for another generation.

3. Wolverine: Created by Roy Thomas, Len Wein, John Romita Sr.

Honestly, I thought this was going to be number one of fandoms. One of my first posts here on GeekMom was about Wolverine, and I’m still talking about the hulking mass of testosterone that I adore. My obsession began with the first X-Men movie back in 2000. I was a mom with two tiny children and I took them with me to my first entrance into a comic book store because I wanted to know more about Wolverine and the whole universe. My husband had been a fan of the comics when he was younger and steered me in good directions. I wrote an entire screenplay, a sequel to the first movie before the next one came out. It took me a year and I never stopped being interested. I posted it on fanfiction.net and read other fanfiction with my favorite hairy mutant. I continued to watch the movies as they came out, though I felt they were hit or miss. I followed some comic storylines. I did not watch the final movie with Hugh Jackman as Wolverine because I have no desire to see him die. Instead, I’ve gotten into the podcast series, which is superb storytelling. Wolverine is a complex, sexy, and endlessly entertaining character, and is the only being I would leave my husband for. (He is not worried.) I can talk endlessly about him. And since I’m not the only one who thinks so, I know I’ll be enjoying him for many years to come.

2. Tea

“But mom, that’s under a ‘health’ or ‘food’ thing, not entertainment.” So my son reprimanded when I showed him my list. And although he is correct in the normal usage of this beverage, I am as obsessed about tea as I am about any of my fandoms on this list with reading books about tea, creating my own teas, discussing the different aspects of tea, games with tea, tea poetry, perusing DeviantArt for tea-related illustrations, and trying to create posts about tea when I really didn’t have anything more to add, but I wanted to bring it up because I love tea so much and really it’s a fandom because I’m a fanatic! I even passed this obsession to my daughter. We started a business together when she was in high school called TeaPunk, selling bath and body products with tea in them, and just having fun with tea. She started a Tea Club at college and worked for several years at a tea cafe. I created a newsletter called TeaPunk Tales on my personal blog called Steepings for awhile too. I wrote a radio play about tea and performed it with my family at a local tea festival. “You make the best tea,” is a phrase heard often by guests. Yes, yes, I do. And the secret ingredient is love.

1. Fictional Pirates

Real pirates are desperate people. There have been pirates as far back as there have been boats, and the pirates then and today are people who are in terrible situations where piracy is even an option. Saying that, I am endlessly amused by fictional old-timey pirates in comedy films, romance novels, memes, costumes, on mugs, t-shirts, wherever those big boots, eye-patch, and pseudo-Scottish accent pop up in pop culture. Pirates are my number one of fandoms because of Talk Like A Pirate Day, which I have been creating posts for during the past decade with songs, books, food, and language tutorials. At Christmas, my son and I would have a Pirates vs Ninja debate, and I just wrote a post declaring I was the original creator of Pirate Carols. I didn’t expect it to be my most popular fandom on GeekMom, but looking back, I’m not really surprised.

Secret Number One: Loki

I thought Loki would be in my top three fandoms, since I have a huge crush on him. My son and husband guessed the trickster Asgardian would be my number one because I have Loki paraphernalia all over my house, competing with Wolverine for t-shirts I wear, figurines, and comics books. Plus, I generally see the Marvel movies the day they open. And even took a day trip with a friend to see Tom Hiddleston live in NYC. Loki or the MCU didn’t even make the top 10. Why? The answer sheds some light on all my fandoms:

Along with some other fandoms I have that didn’t make top 10, I don’t write about Loki much because Marvel is covered here on GeekMom and GeekDad plenty. I’m not sure I have much to add. Even with the new series coming out, I’m sure another writer has called dibs, and I’m not great at being “timely” with pop culture posts. My fandoms are slow burns and I write about them as they inspire me, not necessarily when the book or movie first comes out. Luckily, the editors here on GeekMom are ok with that, letting the writers compose as the muse sings. Looking at how many fandom posts I have written during this decade, that muse is very active.

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