Besides TMNT, What Are Your other Fandoms?

[PizzaPower1985]

I am a mega-geek. Uber-dorky, obsessed with superheroes... Since Covid I spend hours a day reading comics, watching the same movies over and over, like a child, blogging about superheroes. I can't get enough of:

DC (older Batman, Superman stories, JLA, SWAMP THING, various others) MARVEL (Spider-man, Daredevil, X-men, various others). TINTIN and Snowy, Ghostbusters, The Green Hornet, The Shadow/pulp heroes: radio shows, movie serials, comics, Spawn/Savage Dragon, big fan of 80s comics. Also into HELLBOY, BLACKSAD, the work of Dean Motter, ROBOCOP. I love superhero cartoons too.

WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER FANDOMS BESIDES TMNT?

IS TMNT YOUR BIGGEST FANDOM?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

TMNT is definitely not my biggest fandom.

I'm a great lover of sci-fi and fantasy. Hence the username.

[Leo656]

I don't do "fandoms". Fans are terrible and they ruin everything. This is the only forum I frequent at all and half the people here make me taste vomit on a regular basis just from reading the ridiculous things they say out loud.

I USED to post sometimes on a couple different forums like Lordsofpain (wrestling), Superman Homepage, He-Man.org, etc., like almost 20 years ago. But I quickly realized that 99% of those people have brain damage. Go there now and it's even worse, so I definitely got out while the getting was good. I've been very vocal in the past that I'm mostly here out of habit since it was one of the first places I was ever "active", and somehow not as awful as those other places.

Which is kinda odd, really, because TMNT has not only never been my very favorite thing, it wouldn't even be Top 3, I don't think. I've always been way, way, WAY more into Superman (and comics by extension), wrestling, Ghostbusters and He-Man, in no particular order. When people try and convince me that TMNT is cooler than those other things, I have to kinda laugh a little. Except wrestling, wrestling is objectively very stupid. But so it's kinda weird that I'd spend my posting energy on a forum that's devoted to maybe my 5th Favorite Thing... except for the fact that the forums for those Other Things are full of absolute rubes and I can only take so much.

Like, if you ever wanna know why I have such a dim view of humanity, go to Lordsofpain, pick any random article, read the Comments section and try not to crack your teeth as you imagine feeding these people to a wood chipper. Likewise, the people on the Superman page aren't THAT bad, but good Lord are they stupid. Well-meaning, hearts in the right place, but stupid. "Chris Reeve Chris Reeve Chris Reeve ChrisReeveChrisReeveChrisReeveChrisReeveChrisReeve ........." F*cking gag me.

Thus, I have things I love a great deal, but most of the time, the LAST thing I'd ever wanna do is talk about those things with someone else who swears they feel the same, because that usually ends badly. Obviously I WILL have those conversations, and at length even, but there's a vetting process. I have to know you're not a simpleton or I won't even engage with you, and I prefer to have those conversations one-on-one so there's less "static" and interference.

Thus, if I've ever had an in-depth conversation about any of that stuff with you: Congratulations! You're a Good Egg!

But yeah, I don't do "fandoms", but there's things I am a huge fan of, obviously. I don't know if Superman or He-Man came to me first, it had to have been around the same time since I was like, a year old, but they're both way up near the top. I have to give Superman a slight edge but if I was more into the fantasy/sci-fi stuff as a kid then I might've preferred He-Man. I definitely had a ton of the He-Man toys as a kid though (still have most of them). Wrestling (Hulk Hogan specifically) right after, around age 2, then Ghostbusters. Those were always the top things for me, from Then to Now.

Point of fact, y'know how some TMNT fans resent Power Rangers, because Power Rangers "killed off" TMNT by stealing all their popularity? At first, I had that same resentment for TMNT, because they in turn scooped all the heat from Ghostbusters and He-Man (although He-Man was already on the way out but as kids we weren't privy to that information). Kindergarten and First Grade? He-Man and Ghostbusters were IT, that's all anyone was talking about. Second Grade? All TMNT. I've never been a fad-chaser, if I like something it's not because it's popular, so all of a sudden having everyone tell me I was "stupid" for still liking He-Man and Ghostbusters because "TMNT is what's cool now" was very, very annoying. I didn't even want to give the show a chance, based mostly on that resentment. And I actually did NOT give it a chance, I fell into it because one of the Reading Groups in my class was using one of the Book-And-Tape adaptations of the cartoon as part of the lesson, and I did think it was cool, so I went home and watched the show and THEN I liked it. But I never really did let go of that resentment (because I DO still think those other things are way, WAY cooler than TMNT ), and as such TMNT never became my Favorite Thing, even though I did watch it religiously for many years. But I did understand and share the pain when Power Rangers in turn "killed" TMNT, because I'd already been there. And I never did like Power Rangers at all. Mostly because I liked Voltron, which was much better. MMPR proved to me as a kid that some concepts only work as cartoons; at least if you're not gonna spend more than $10 on it. I thought that show was dreadful, and I still do pretty much, so when all the kids abandoned TMNT for MMPR, I was dumbfounded. BUT, that's the way these things go, I guess.

Pretty big Speed Racer fan. Got my "M" tattoo and everything. I didn't get heavy into that until like '92 or '93 when it was on MTV but I was aware of it before then. I only like the original series and the movie, though (which to me feels exactly like the original series in live action, in the best possible way), all the reboots and revivals I thought were awful. The comics are a mixed bag but NOW Comics did some great stuff with it, back in the day.

I'd have to "confess" being a big Sonic fan if I'm being honest - at one point in the late-90s, the Archie Sonic comic was the only comic I was reading every single month, and it's still the only comic I've ever had a subscription to - but I understand why that's generally not something to boast about, as the Sonic "fandom" is notoriously one of the worst. But I have played almost all the games and had a good time with most of them, have 99% of the Archie comic even though it's a REAL mixed bag to say the least, own several DVDs of the various cartoons and am a big SatAM fan. So I'd have to say I'm a Big Fan, but if you asked me if it was one of my Very Favorite Things I might say nah, not really. It's like TMNT, I like it but I have to admit that there's tons and tons of junk attached to it and I like other things a lot more. Still deserves mention, though. I haven't bothered checking out the IDW comic, though; I was too heavily invested in the Archie "universe" to ever be objective about it so I feel like I'd be wasting my time. It wouldn't give me what I want from a Sonic comic and I also wouldn't be able to treat it fairly, so I don't bother with it.

I guess those would be the Big Things. I like lots of stuff but those are definitely the predominant things.

[ZariusTwo]

Doctor Who, just about all of DC Comics, pre-OMD and post-Slott Spider-Man (used to be a big Marvel fan overall, but those days ended the longer Joey Q stayed in power and every hero became a douche), Scooby Doo, Power Rangers, and wrassling

I'm kicked out of almost every fandom I've been part of as far as forums go...this and rangerboard.com are about the only places that'll really have me..and in RB's cases I was 'permanently' banned six or seven times before they finally gave up and let me post regularly again

Still a big fanfiction contributor, but I mostly read 'shipping fics because I'm a hopeless romantic (emphasis on "hopeless")

[Leo656]

What the f*ck do you DO to get in such trouble, you scalawag? I known you for a while and even seen you "pop off" a couple of times, but you're nowhere near the unapologetic shitheel that I've been to people at times. Y'seem like a good egg.

Are they a bunch of snowflake hyper-sensitives, or do you have a hidden Dark Side I'm simply not privy to? Little A, little B? I'm dying to know.

EDIT: I occasionally skim the He-Man forums and I've seen them Ban people just for making the very laudable point that "queering up" the She-Ra cartoon was in no way necessary, so I'm willing to accept that some of these forums are just run by people with their skin on inside-out who don't like dissent. I'm just wondering is all.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

If I had to rank all the ones I'm a fan of by how big of a fan I am of said fandom, then it would be this:

1. The Shadow
2. Elric of Melnibone
3. Tolkien
4. Anime
5. The Wheel of Time
6. TMNT

TMNT has fallen in recent years because IMHO there hasn't been anything noteworthy I've seen/read since 2009.

[PizzaPower1985]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

TMNT is definitely not my biggest fandom.

I'm a great lover of sci-fi and fantasy. Hence the username.

You would love to meet a Cardassian wouldn't ya? This may be the pot callin' the kettle, bro, but...

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Whatswiththeheadbands?

If I had to rank all the ones I'm a fan of by how big of a fan I am of said fandom, then it would be this:

1. The Shadow
2. Elric of Melnibone
3. Tolkien
4. Anime
5. The Wheel of Time
6. TMNT

TMNT has fallen in recent years because IMHO there hasn't been anything noteworthy I've seen/read since 2009.

Sell me on Wheel of Time? I've always heard about it, but never tried it yet. Robert Jordan, right?

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by PizzaPower1985

You would love to meet a Cardassian wouldn't ya? This may be the pot callin' the kettle, bro, but...

https://memegenerator.net/img/instan...ure-a-nerd.jpg

Absolutely. I think Elim Garak and I would get along swimmingly.

[Whatswiththeheadbands?]

Originally Posted by CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy

Sell me on Wheel of Time? I've always heard about it, but never tried it yet. Robert Jordan, right?

That's right (unfortunately he passed away before completing the books, so author Brandon Sanderson was tasked with finishing the last 3 books with Jordan's extensive notes)

Wheel of Time is an interesting one really. I'm only on Book 4 so far, but it's slowly becoming one of my favourite book series, next to Tolkien and Michael Moorcock's Elric series. It starts off being Jordan's version of Fellowship of the Ring, but by the second or third book, it really becomes it's own thing.

There's some fantasy genre tropes (chosen one, dark lord etc) but it does some very interesting subversions of those tropes to make them fresh. Yes, there's a chosen one, but unlike other chosen ones, he has to earn his power and trust. He makes mistakes and gets called out on it multiple times.

His friends don't trust him sometimes and there're all sorts of different cultures and groups of people who all have distinct traits and where they fit into the story.

The book count and page count of each can seem daunting, but it's clear why there's so many books. A lot happens with lots of twists and turns within the books. Some chapters DO drag on a bit, but overall I'm enjoying what I'm reading.

There's a TV show in development (should really make a thread about it) which will probably cover the first two books or so in its first season, so reading it now would be ideal if you want to watch it

[Leo656]

It's kinda weird I guess, but in pondering it, a case could be made for either Superman, He-Man, OR Hulk Hogan being my favorite thing to fanboy over. Maybe it'd depend on the day. They each had a very strong influence in shaping my personal values as a kid. I don't think that's any accident, either; instilling strong moral fiber in young kids is what each of those characters was all about, after all. Keep in mind, this relates to the "Hulk Hogan" character more than Terry Bollea, who like anyone else is an extremely flawed human being. But the values he put forth in-character were absolutely the right thing to teach kids, even if he wasn't a saint in his personal life.

I did not have good role models around me in real life, so pretty much all of my virtue comes from lessons I took from watching/reading those characters Every Single Day for the first 5-10 years of my life. Thus, they're all incredibly important to me.

Very tough to put one over the others. I've definitely spent my fair share of money on all of them over the years. But yeah, those are the Big Three and on any given day any one of them would be the top of the list.

[MikeandRaph87]

TMNT is my biggest fandom. Over the years I have had secondary fandoms and those I participate casually (Star Wars, specific wrestlers). As a 90s' kid I was a big Power Rangers fan but left the franchise after its fifth season. Pok'emon took its place shortly afterward and I was on board for 7 seasons and 2 generations playing the games for a third. That fandom did not fade abruptly like Power Rangers did, but over time. I still am nostalgic for it. I was always a fan of Batman, but never dived into it until about late 2001 and noticed the comics did not align with what I had seen in other media which is where my love for the classic Bat Family was born and it became my secondary fandom to this day. While it is Batman in general that I enjoy its Robin, Batgirl, and the villains that draw me to Gotham City not Bruce Wayne himself. The Bronze Age tone fits the character perfect for me, however like TMNT while a certain version or two is always going to be closest to my heart I will give it a try. It is the only other franchise I can say that about. I am not into Marvel as I like DC history and sampling various heroes form the company I do enjoy Spider-Man especially the period from the beginning to the Clone saga, the 1994-1998 animated series and three Raimi/McGuire films. Also, a sports fan, but specifically an Atlanta Braves fan.

[ZariusTwo]

Originally Posted by Leo656

What the f*ck do you DO to get in such trouble, you scalawag?

I like telling people their opinions are wrong a little too much.

I'm also a bit of a cheeky chappie, occasionally ribbing a subject so much it grates on others who can't read the room on the internet and can't pick up humour with a metal detector

[PizzaPower1985]

If I had to pick my top 5 fandoms, I couldn't do it. For me it's like I'm a giant Batman fan but I dont need to collect every story or comic. Same with Supes. I love Will Eisner's The Spirit but I'm okay with owning a "Best Of" collection. I think ultimately, all my fandoms: Marvel, DC, comic strips, cartoons, indie comic characters, Indiana Jones etc. They all amount to ONE GIANT FANDOM. I can't really put one over the other! It used to be Batman. It was my first ever movie in 1989. It was my first action figure. BTAS changed my life. Saved my soul. Batman was the first comic book I ever read BUT as years went on , as I discovered more, it took a back seat to so much other stuff! Still love you, Bruce.... as long as you're not stubbly, poorly drawn Bat-god, psycho-Bat that has permeated over the last decade.

[Leo656]

For me, it's only that easy to separate Some Things from the Others because the things that I got into at the youngest age are the things I took the most from and that stayed with me the most.

I tend not to like too many things "just a little". If I like something at all I'm generally a huge fan of it. But some things definitely had more of a hand in shaping me than others and those are the things that stand out in their own class.

[Autbot_Benz]

DC Marvel Bill and Ted Funko Doctor Who Power Rangers

[FredWolfLeonardo]

Pokemon, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Superman (Movies only) and Classical Disney films are the main ones which I keep track of obsessively.

In terms of video games, classic Call of Duty games up to Black Ops 2 and the Counter Strike franchise.

There are many other little things I'm a fan of such as DragonBall and Sonic, but nowhere to the extent that I obsess over the above listed.

[CylonsKlingonsDaleksOhMy]

Originally Posted by Autbot_Benz

DC Marvel Bill and Ted Funko Doctor Who Power Rangers

Commas, friend.

Unless that's an epic fanfic crossover you're working...