memes

Rick and Morty

Honestly, linux for me (yes I know where I am). Love the software and options, but holy shit is the fanbase incredibly opinionated and full of condescension about it. Also they don’t know how to shut the fuck up about it, and constantly bring it up where it doesn’t belong. Like its a personality trait to them or something.

Star Wars. It's not perfect, and sometimes bad, but avoiding the fanbase gives me peace.

There's so many bands I love and I don't even have a clue what they look like much less know anything about their fan base

Skoolies for me. A few years ago I bought a used school bus and started converting it into a motorhome. I made an account at the main forum (skoolie.net) because there were people there that actually knew useful stuff, primarily about metalworking (which I'd never done before) and the mechanical aspects of bus ownership (which I still don't know shit about).

Surprisingly (or maybe not) skooliers heavily tend towards being right-wing, trump-loving, gun-toting, immigrant-hating wankers. There are exceptions but they always end up being driven away. The thought of going to one of the annual skoolie gatherings is nightmare fuel for me.

not interacting with people in general:

Rick and Morty.

Fallout.

Star Wars.

Magic (except my friends).

Absolutely every single anime I ever watched.

Terraria has a unusually thirsty fanbase that never fails to disgust me.

Did I mention Fallout?

lemmy.world/c/formula1 is small enough that we occasionally acknowledge a race happened.

Most 'nerd' stuff. Comic book movie discussion has gone to shit because people have become weird about it. When it's not manosphere bullshit, it's people expecting Endgame level quality and stakes for every single movie now, who would've shat on Iron Man if it came out today, and who need to be reminded of the absolute horse shit that we used to get. They're starting to rival the Star Wars fans in terms of being insufferable.

Outside of the cosy games spaces that I've been hanging around, all I ever hear from Gamers™ is some controversy about a female character being a game. Or gasp a black character. They're happy with the main protagonist being a woman if the jiggle psychics are set to max though.

And online at least, the alternative scene has gone to shit. People from the anti jock subcultures started listening to jocks with microphones on podcasts. People who grew up listening to Jonathan Davis singing about being called a "faget", went on to become people who call others "betas". Metal went from representing rebellion to representing people who go "stop making it political".

And so many 'punks' seem to have become Joe Rogan fans too. I've even had to argue with people calling me a "woke lefty" in fan spaces for The Clash. We all laughed when Joe Rogan said "conservative is the new punk" but it's an even bigger joke because half the people that took his word for it were punks.

I attempt to only talk about these things with IRL friends. When our opinions disagree, we're all nice about it. When we agree, it's really fun to geek out on it together.

Even when we disagree, it can be fun to hear the reasons why. Because we don't attack each other over personal preferences.

But trying to do that online? Nah. Tis a silly place.

I don't understand what a fanbase is. Probably why I just enjoy stuff and don't really care about who else likes it though.

It was so weird to study in STEM and meet other Star Trek fans in the cantina. Now there is something wrong with Wesley Crusher and I'm supposed to hate him and project that on the child actor, too? And when Jeri Ryan is nice enough to come all the way to a European convention, they yell "strip"? (At least they were disgusted as well about the latter, just reported others doing it.)

No thanks, I'll hang out with decent people.

I've found fanbases are often split between the best and worst people around without much in the middle. It usually comes down to WHY they enjoy the thing.

Star Trek space travel and the social commentary versus pew-pew. R&M science fiction concepts versus being a drunk asshole. Warhammer as satire versus ...whatever they think it is.

Now look, you can think lasers are cool or that one jerk is funny, but if that's all you got... yikes.

Warhammer/Warhammer 40k

Love the games an the lore but I wouldn't touch the fandom with a 10 foot pole. Some of the absolute worst degenerates in there...

Or liking things that doesn't have a big fan base works too. For instance, a lot of novels.

Lemmy?

Wait... Fuck

Sonic the Hedgehog for me. I love the franchise, but I stay clear of the fandom. So many weird people latch onto Sonic stuff and make it all icky and creepy. I guess that's what happens when a company like SEGA claims "Everything is canon."

Being fan of the thing, not the fanbase.

eSports. Particularly cs2 formerly known as csgo. I haven't played it since July 2019 due to my gaming PC passing away and being unable to afford a new one.

I still watch all the majors.