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There's quite a big difference between being a bit of a fanboy or fangirl who fawns over a particular show, movie, artist or sports team and being a completely obsessed member of fandom. A Fandom is a subculture of fans that come together with a common devotion and passion for a certain franchise. These fans know all the details there are to know, will get irrationally offended if you tell them “these people are not real, they’re just characters” or “it’s just a game.”
These devoted fans or group of fans believe in these franchises or people without question, strive to help them succeed with moral support, and carry out rituals and pilgrimages in the name of their fandom with an almost religious devotion. Of course, the larger the group of fans the more impact they have - and the more money they'll spend - but it doesn’t take an overwhelmingly large group of fans to be considered as a devoted and obsessed fan base.
It all depends on how passionate and fervent these fan bases are. These group of fans are deeply emotionally involved with the artist, show or franchise they support to the point that their passion actively affects the way they lead their lives.
15. Twilighters
via funny-pictures.picphotos.net
After an extremely successful book series by Stephenie Meyer and an even more popular movie franchise, the fans of Twilight have been responsible for making vampires cool again and for creating a franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
The novels and movies started a frenzy of vampire-themed everything, and got fans heated over their beloved characters’ love triangle. The Edward vs Jake – vampire vs wolf – debate became a personal matter for members of this fandom. T-shirts and all kinds of Twilight merchandise began to appear, with fans even donning Team Edward or Team Jacob paraphernalia.
14. DC Comic Book Fanboys
via comicsalliance.com
Comic Con is the pop culture fan convention for sci-fi, videogames and comic books and has lately been taking over by the “mainstream” with the increasing popularity of blockbuster superhero movies and cosplay. Comic Con is a very important ritual for comic book fans who need to assert their dedication to comic fandom by making the perfect and most accurate costume to honour their favourite characters. DC Comics is, in particular, becoming more prominent this year with new cable network shows such as Gotham, Arrow and Flash.
The debate between Marvel vs. DC is an incredibly evocative one between comic book nerds, so if you don't know your Spidey from your Superman, you'll want to keep shtum at the next Comic Con event.
13. Game of Thrones
via independent.co.uk
Game of Thrones was wildly successful in its original incarnation as a fantasy novel saga, but its popularity soared exponentially once it hit HBO as a raunchy, edgy TV series. Writer and creator George R. Martin has also created all kinds of outspoken Game of Thrones fans eager and impatient for what will be coming next.
During a new episode and immediately after an episode airs, the internet is jammed with fans already dissecting, debating and predicting the events of the show and the connections between the many elaborate characters.
Much like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, some fans have begun to learn the language of the saga – Dothraki – and others have learned famous recipes of the Dothraki while many of the GoT fandom participate in role-playing groups.
12. Little Monsters
via tiyamaysaworld.blogspot.com
Lady Gaga’s Monster Ball Tour in 2009 was the highest-grossing tour by a debut-headlining artist and was the 15th highest grossing tour of all time. From this began her devoted fan base of Little Monsters – mostly teens – who all needed someone to make them feel good about being different.
Just as Gaga has become known for her eccentric appearance, her fans have followed suit and dress up in outlandish costume to attend her shows.
11. Cardinal Nation
via dalje.com
St. Louis Cardinal fans are some of the most loyal fans in baseball and have the second best attendance in the League. They have also become increasingly known for being angry and disrespectful towards – especially through social media. A St. Louis Cardinal game is almost certain to get rowdy, but the team are assured to have plenty of loud supporters wherever they play.
10. Swifties / Anti-Swifties
via jerseydustydinkleman.blogspot.com
There is no doubt that Taylor Swift came out of nowhere and rocked the music business as a bright young country musician, and she has been gracing tabloid headlines ever since. Although she has a massive fan base of people who love her and her music, she's become known as a polarizing gal. In fact, Tay has the unfortunate curse of being one of the most overtly criticized stars, taking huge flak on social networks from 'anti-swifties'. They criticise her not for her music, but for her personal life. Anti-Taylor Swift fans just love to hate her and snatch every opportunity they can to insult the way she handles her love life.
9. Directioners
via www.thesun.co.uk
The British boyband One Direction developed an obsessive fanbase comparable to that of Beatlemania in the 60s – all it took was one glance at these five tousle-haired cheeky boys and most girls were already Directioners. Directioners are usually female admirers of the boys, and often tween and teen girls, though moms aren't exempt from Direction fever...
A 47 year old woman got replicas of all of Harry Styles' tattoos and bought every single poster of him every printed, a fan got a tattoo of Styles' entire face on her arm and another fan broke into Liam Payne’s room and stole his underwear.
It's worth noting that a hefty portion of the Anti-Swifties mentioned above are also Directioners, unhappy with Taylor's previous romantic relationship with Harry Styles.
8. Bey Hive
via ejwontletyoudown.blogspot.com
Who isn’t a Beyoncé fan? Known as Queen B her fandom is dubbed her Bey Hive, and these fans might just be the nicest in the business. Beyoncé cannot seem to do anything wrong in the eyes of her fans - she's put on one of the highest pedestals in Hollywood and is constantly referred to as the perfect woman. Her secret, explosive album release and her tour with her impressive other half only solidified what all fans already know – there is no messing with the Queen.
7. Trekkies
via startrekmovie.com
Star Trek is one of the most popular TV shows of all time, which debuted in 1966, and has since spawned multiple spin off TV series, films, remakes, comics, novels and video games. While the fan base may tend to be older - given how long this institution has been around for - many young people have become just as devoted to Star Trek.
Trekkies proved their devotion in an unprecedented fashion when they launched a letter campaign to NBC to convince them – and successfully so – to renew the show for a third season.
6. Potterheads
via futuretimeline.net
J.K Rowling is the most translated author in history, the Harry Potter series is the best selling book series of all time and the eight films constitute the highest grossing movie franchise of all time. Basically, the entire world is familiar with the adventures of Harry Potter.
Potterheads don't just re-read the books and re-watch the films to keep the magic alive. They organise cons (such as the now famous LeakyCon, which spawned from Potter fansite the Leaky Cauldron), dedicate loving parodies to Harry Potter - like the Harry Potter musical - and visit museum exhibits of Harry Potter artifacts as well as the Orlando Harry Potter amusement park. Fans can even buy their own wands, cloaks and Harry Potter beverages. Universities across the world – including Harvard, Duke, and Stanford - have even developed their own Quidditch teams where sporty Potterheads can run around with bludgers and broomsticks.
5. Beliebers
via splashnewsonline.com
By the time he was 18 years old, Justin Bieber had released three number 1 albums in a row. He became the biggest worldwide phenomenon in the business overnight, and while at first he seemed only to attract pre-teen screaming girls, he soon grew up and became attractive even to the older female population.
As maligned as he often is in mainstream media, the Biebs has over 55 million followers on Twitter. His Beliebers have never stopped showing their obsessive support and will stop at nothing to defend him.
4. New York Yankees
via nymag.com
The New York Yankees are one of the most popular sports teams in the world and have had record-breaking numbers of devoted fans since the 1920s. In 2005, they became the third franchise in sports history to draw over 4 million spectators during the regular season and held the record - until 2006 - of having the most fans following them on the road.
Freddy Schuman, known as Freddy Sez, was an extremely passionate Yankees fan who went to every game for over 30 years with a frying pan and spoon for people to hit as hard as they can. He became the unofficial mascot for the team.
3. Phans
via shambhalamountain.org
Phish is an American rock band that's been around since the early 1980s, and is known more for its dedicated fan base than for its music.
Despite having notably unimpressive record sales and airplay, Phish still baffles the music business by being one of the most successful rock bands in terms of touring – their outdoor concerts have brought together over 80,000 people per show. The fans who frequent these concerts are commonly known as Phish heads – even though the band hates that name and prefers the term Phans. Phans are also known to follow the band wherever they tour and keep an obsessive count of statistics – Phististics – on pretty much anything to do with the band.
2. Jedis
via confused-kitty.com
The Star Wars movies consist of two live action trilogies, and an animated Clone Wars – all of which have grossed over $4 billion around the world. But the Star Wars universe extends far beyond this, made up of a mythos contributed to by fans.
The original Star Wars movie was released in 1977, but original fans have spread the obsessive fandom to the younger generations in everything from toys, to bobbleheads, to comic books, to video games and rereleases of the movie which have kept this beloved series alive. Almost half a million people have actually said their religion to be Jediism – influenced by the Star Wars term Jedi Knight. May 4th is also the unofficial holiday created by fans called Star Wars Day - an allusion to the famous line “May the Force Be With You.” Countless spin off Star Wars novels have been authorised, building up a complex universe - the details of which fans obsess over.
1. Cheeseheads
via fantasyfootballwarehouse.com
Believed to be the most dedicated fan base in the NFL, the Green Bay Packers - all you need to know about the city of Green Bay is that it's home to the Packers. Studies have shown that almost 85% of the population of Green Bay is a fan of the team and have some connection them.
It has become such a tradition that last year, Reverend Quinn Mann brought his sermon to Lambeau field. Known as the Cheeseheads, Packer fans now even have their own dating website, Packers Backers, and it is the fastest growing relationship site on the web.
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