Lessons on Geek Anthropology: types of fans

Let’s have another chapter of lessons on Geek Anthropology. This time we’ll talk about types of fans. Not all fans have the same personalities nor are interested into the same topics on the same level. So, today, we’re going to discover what types of fans are out there. This is just a list, so you can find many other classifications of fans. Depending on the author, the list might be longer or even shorter.

Though the meme that I’m going to use focuses on fangirls, this can also be applied to fanboys. So, please ignore the gender, and just focus on what fans do so that we can know what type they are. Let’s go for it!

According to Horokyun we can find the following different types of fans:

• The Hardliner: an extreme fan who will only accept their only fandom and reject the others. They try to convert people to their fandom.
• The Undercover: a fan who is closeted. Their friends might not know at all about their fan status, nor even if they have or not merchandise. They might buy or not merchandise related to their fandom. Some of them might show up their fandom online, but it might be under a nickname. So, it’s hard to know who they are!
• The Godmother/Godfather: a fan who is eager to explain everything about their fandom to new fans or anyone interested. They are patient, kind, and one of the best creatures that will make you fall into it deeper than you thought.
• The Shipper: a fan who is more interested in relationships of the characters she/he loves than the canon stories within the fandom. These fans can ship any combination. Characters might be from different fandoms, the same fandom, or they can ship themselves with the chosen favorite character.
• The Hardcore: a fan who knows absolutely everything about the fandom, has tons of merchandise, watches the show or read the books endless times, and loves to hang out with other hardcore fans. Please, do not confuse this type with the Hardliners.

Some fans might be happy with just belonging to one fandom, others, however, like to be into different fandoms at the same time, while others like to jump from one to another. At some point, all have been new fans, and might have encountered these types of fans who might have helped them into the fandom (or not).

Undercover fans are hard to track. You can find many in the world of fanfiction. They might use nicknames in order to pursue their favorite fannish activity without disclosing their identity. Some are so by choice while others need to be undercover for different reasons, like their jobs or their environment not being very open to the fandom world.

Hardcore fans are really passionate. They can spend great amounts of hours talking about their favorite fandom, as much as Hardliners do. The difference, however, is that while Hardliners are quite closed, Hardcore fans are opened to other fandoms as well.

Godmothers and godfathers are the kindest and most dangerous kind. While being really open and eager to explain to anyone all about their fandom, they open the nets to trap new fans into it. Open, funny and patient, this kind is the one that convinces in an easy way people to become fans.

Shippers love to ship their favorite characters. So, be prepared to know about all the possible ship experiences they can go through. They might read tons of fanfiction or even write it. Some of them might be open, while others might be undercover!

Remember that people have several identities at once. So, you can be a Godmother, Shipper and Hardcore fan! You can be open about one of your favorite fandoms, while undercover shipping some characters.

So what type of fan are you?

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Copyright: Images on this post (C) depepi.com (C) Horokyun / Memes (C) by their owners.