October 6, 2017 • 44 mins
Why are Lego fans so into "Swooshability?" Did a single giant banana really help Manchester City fans regain their love for the sport? And can windmill fans and members of the Roundabout Appreciation Society ever get along? From Cheeseheads to Potterheads, Sherlockians to Beliebers, Will and Mango take you into the superfun, strange and curious world of fandoms.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Guess what will? What's that? Man? Go? So? I know
you and I were both huge Lakers fans when we
were kids, and my third grade basketball team was named
the Lakers, and I had this Magic Johnson basketball and
even though I'm really a Sixers fan at heart, it
was nice to root for a team that actually had
a chance of winning. But as much as I loved
Magic Johnson, I really loved Kareem Abdul Jabbar. You mean
(00:20):
even more than a C. Green or Byron Scott or
Michael Thompson or Michael Cooper. Do you do? We just
keep going. Look, they're all clearly great, but Kareem's hook
shot you couldn't defend against it. When I learned he
was a history nerd and a Bruce Lee fan, and
he seemed kind of quiet and introverted, like I liked
all of that. But the thing I loved the most
(00:41):
about him, he's a massive Sherlock Holmes fan. Wait, weren't
you Sherlock Holmes for like two or three Halloween's in
a row? Because I was. And this is where all
my third grade interests sort of come together. But but
apparently Kareem started reading homes when he was a rookie
with the Bucks and he got obsessed. He was inspired
to use his powers of deduction to figure out players weaknesses.
(01:03):
And just like Holmes had those Street Urchin spies, the
Baker Street of regulars, Kaem used a team of ball
boys to get him dirt like. He peppered them for
info and injuries, or asked them for details on opponents.
And if he knew a player was smoking, like he'd
exploit that by running him up and down the court,
just tiring him out. But his love for Sherlock Holmes
goes so much further. He's also been the keynote speaker
(01:26):
at a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast club, and he's published not one,
but two novels about microft homes. Who you know if
you don't know, is holmes older brother. I mean, Kareem's
basically published his Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, but reading up
about him again made me wonder about the world of
fandom and what are the most rapid fan bases out
there and why is identifying as a fan so important
(01:49):
to us as humans? And that's what today's show is
all about. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time
(02:13):
Genius I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by
my good friend man Guesh Ticketer and on the other
side of that soundproof class arranging an extraordinary cheese plates
our producer Tristan McNeil, so Mango. As you mentioned at
the top of the show, this episode, we're on the
hunt for the most devoted fan basis in the world
and to understand a little more about them along the way.
You know, thanks to the Internet and social media platforms
(02:35):
like Twitter and Tumbler, it's now easier than ever for
fans to find each other and geek out over their
shared passion for you know, well just about anything. So
today we'll talk about how these fanatical fan bases got
their start in the pre digital age, as well as
why humans form these fan communities in the first place,
and because no subject is too niche to have its
own fandom. Will also spotlight a few of our favorites
(02:57):
that fall well outside the typical realm of sports teams
or boy bands and movie stars. Again, and don't forget,
we'll also be talking to a couple of super fans
to get their insiders perspective on some of the world's
most popular fandoms. All right, So we should start by
noting an important distinction between fans and fandoms. You know,
most of us are casual fans of a lot of
(03:18):
things we like or appreciate, specific movies or TV shows, songs,
or books, and you know, we might even become fans
of the people behind those works if we happen to
watch enough of their catalog or maybe develop some personal
connection to the work. The capital f fandom is a
completely different beast. You know, there's this passion and enthusiasm
there that most of us would find hard to even
(03:40):
muster even for the things we enjoy or consider ourselves
fans of. Oh absolutely so. For example, if you're a
casual Tom Hanks fan, you might check out as latest
movie in theaters if you get the chance, and hopefully
you'll enjoy watching it in the moment. But a card
carrying member of the Tom Hanks fandom, they're gonna engage
with the same movie a lot earlier and a much
deeper and more sustained way. Like a Tom Hanks super
(04:03):
fan will comb through pop culture news sites daily for
any sort of crumbs about the upcoming film, and when
a new trailer drops, they might do a ten minute
YouTube video dissecting every second, and they'll pop over to
the Tom Hanks reddit threads to take in a little
fan fiction and maybe get some tips on how to
pull off the perfect Tom Hanks cosplay. All right, I
think we get the point on this. By the way,
(04:25):
kudos on choosing the most plain, vanilla example of something
people might get fanatical about. I mean, I know everybody
loves Tom Hanks, but is anybody that into Tom Hanks. Definitely,
Hanks is a fans fan. I mean, he's obsessed with
old typewriters, so he knows the drill. He's got two
under fifty of his own in his personal collections. But
but he's super nice to fans. He has his special
(04:47):
Quote Hanks stationary that that he uses to type out
thank you notes. Um, that's whenever people's ending letters. Do
you do? You know this from experience? You know? All right? Well,
back to the idea of fandom. So while your example
was suspect that the kind of behavior you outlined was
spot on, I mean you could swap out Hanks for
Justin Bieber or Marvel Superhero movies or Lord of the
(05:08):
Rings and still have a pretty good overview of how
a fandom works, because regardless of what the content is,
the true mark of fandom is, you know, this intense
degree to which members engage with and and that's never
been more true than today. You already mentioned cosplay and
fan fiction, but there are lots of other ways that
fans stretch out content to better suit their interest levels.
(05:29):
Sure so, pop culture enthusiasts especially seemed to turn out
a never ending stream of reviews and recaps and think pieces,
not to mention, like live tweeted commentaries during shows, right,
and you know there are tumbler pages cataloging these giffable
moments or video series dedicated to philosophical undertones of cartoons,
and this ever growing number of fan sites and podcasts
(05:51):
that approach they preferred subjects from every conceivable angle. I mean,
the Internet has opened the floodgates for this kind of
fan produced reactionary content. Yeah, and all those products of fandom,
like the memes and essays and videos have really become
their own kind of entertainment. And the funny thing is,
in most cases, these fan produced reactions far outweigh the
run times of the content they're reacting to. Like it
(06:14):
would take you a little over seven hours to binge
the latest season a Game of Thrones, but a die
hard fan could easily spend three or four times that
just listening to a single fan run podcast, you know,
something that dives deep into each episode. And these days,
if you're part of a devout enough fandom, there should
be plenty of ancillary stuff to keep you busy when
the show isn't on, which is crazy to think about
(06:34):
how much content is out there. But I mean, look
back on the media reactions to big shakeups and popular
old TV shows like you know who shot Jr? On
Dallas or whether the gang would end up in prison
on the Seinfeld finale. But you know, lots of people
make sure to watch so they'd be prepared for the
inevitable water cooler discussion at work the next day. But
now that feels really kind of like a quaint notion,
(06:56):
you know, I mean, like like, why wait until Monday
to hear someone else's opinion. You can hop online and
find a million hot takes on your favorite show immediately
after it airs. I know, for me, that's part of
what stopped allowing me to identify as a fan. Like
this is so weird to say, but I knew about
Harry Potter well before other people did. A kid cousin
who'd been abroad had gotten in on the craze early,
(07:17):
and before J. K. Rowling had sold the rights to
the film. I was telling my boss at the time
that he should try to option it because it could
make a great animated feature. But as much as I
love those books, I'm not like Hank Green, who you know,
has a band that writes Harry Potter songs and he
writes fan fiction about Wizards dealing with teen issues like
being sixteen and getting pregnant at Hogwarts, Like like, how
(07:39):
can I call myself a fan if that's what the
measure of fan is? Yeah, I mean I know what
you mean. So what single thing do you think you're
the biggest fan of? Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm
kind of inconsistent. Like at one point in my life
it might have been like Calvin and Hobbs or Rushmore
or P. G. Woodhouse. I I don't know, I'm just
not that committed. I mean, I love Duke basketball all,
(08:00):
but I'm not the you know, I'm in my thirties
and still face paying every game level of enthusiasm, and
I don't even think I own a T shirt anymore.
What are you passionate about? Well, you know, I've always
had a love affair with chicken biscuits, right. I once
tried to start a breakfast club devoted to them in
high school. It was called the Chicken Biscuit Club, and
and I tried to petition for it, had like three
(08:21):
hundred people sign this petition to start this club. And
the principle pulled me aside, is like, is this a
service club? I was like, no, was this? Ah? You know?
Is this an academic club? Will know? And well, what
are you going to do in this club? And I said, well,
We're gonna sit around and eat chicken biscuits. And he
promptly threw me out of his office unfortunately, So I
mean I joined that. But I guess part of the
(08:43):
question we're asking today is why do capital letter f
fans spend so much time on this stuff and what
do they get out of it? Well, you know, if
you look at what psychologists say, most of them would
tell you that fan mentality is tied up with with
two things. The first is self presentation. So think about
how we hadentify fire ourselves through our clothes and our appearance.
I mean that that conscious choice sends a message about
(09:05):
the kind of people we are, or at least about
the kind of people we see ourselves as or want
to be. And in the same way, some people build
parts of their identity around the media they consume or
the hobbies they take part in, and that sends a
message about the social groups that they belong to. Sure. So,
I mean, so someone who paints their face for a
game is sending a very clear signal that he or
(09:25):
she is a sports fan. And whatever qualities that people
associate with sports fan, like loyalty or enthusiasm, that's all
tied up in that message as well. Right, But you
know who is that signal for? And and that's the
second part of it. It's it's it's all about connectedness,
And so the paint tells others fans or non fans alike,
where you stand, you know. But the really interesting thing
(09:46):
is is how much of the signaling is for the
fans themselves, you mean, sort of letting themselves know that
they're a fan. Yeah, that's true. I mean I found
this study from a few years back where a psychotherapist
and clinical social worker named Teresa Stern. She was either
determine how being part of a fandom affects people on
a personal level, and she concluded that communities of fans
with shared interests provide, you know, this comfortable space for
(10:10):
people to explore and come to grips with their own identities,
so they can figure out what they like and why
they like it without feeling judged or embarrassed for doing so.
But actually that wasn't the only benefit. The study also
found that fandoms offer a support system for members and
can even help them build self esteem and confidence, which is,
you know, where the desire for connectedness fits in. Yeah,
(10:33):
and obviously that's such a universal desire. I mean, we
all want that sense of belonging, and fandoms just seemed
like one way of finding it, Yeah, you know, which
is why it's a shame that being a fan is
so often stigmatized. So you can keep painting your face
magnet if you want to feel okay with that. But
you know, even with so much of geek culture having
gone mainstream, there's still a tendency to view die hard
(10:55):
fans as crazy or unstable or maybe even kind of pitiable.
I don't I don't know that there's there's this quote
from a psychologist named Jolie Jensen, and it breaks down
the discourse pretty nicely. So so she says, there's very
little literature that explores fandom as a normal, everyday cultural
or social phenomenon. Instead, the fan is characterized as an
(11:16):
obsessed loaner suffering from a disease of isolation, or frenzied
crowd member suffering from a disease of contagion. In either case,
the fan is seen as being irrational, out of control,
and pray to a number of external forces. I mean,
we both witnessed Dragon Con in Atlanta a few weeks ago,
and it's so fun seeing people who are just thrilled
(11:36):
to be and just really comfortable walking around in giant costumes,
and you really feel like we're past that sort of
high school mentality. But I guess it never ends for
some people. Although you know, at this point you would
think the folks who belong to a fandom might outnumber
those that don't. It's like, if I don't know, three
quarters of the student body was in the A V Club,
but they're a handful of jocks still trying to give
(11:59):
them all released exactly. Speaking of which, actually I remember
where you were talking about Dragon Con. I remember being
at a hotel here in Atlanta a few years ago
when Dragon Con was going on the same weekend that
Alabama and Virginia Tech were playing a football game, and
seeing these fan bases converge, and I remember seeing the
elevator will open up in this lady with these giant
(12:22):
wings and like beautifully dressed stepped off the elevator, and
these two guys in these big Alabama sweatshirts saw this
lady and I think they thought maybe they were dreaming
or something. It was the most bizarre convergence of these worlds.
But super fans in their own right. But you know, remember,
being a dedicated fan is one of those rare points
of overlap between different kinds of people. I mean, they
(12:42):
might be watching very different things, but the level of
excitement in each group is is bringing to the tables.
You know, it's pretty evenly matched. Are you sure about that,
because I mean I feel like a convention full of
trek ees can get pretty unruly, but sports fans can
get downright violent. Yeah, it's true. And for what a reason.
Soccer fans seem to be among the worst offenders in
(13:03):
that area, at least it used to be with, you know,
like the old fashioned European hooliganism. Yeah. I read this
book awhile back called Against the Thugs by Bill Beuford.
It's about these extreme menu fans but the way they
justify acts of like intense violence and racism. And it's
an amazing book. And you know, I'm such a World
Cup fan, but uh but you'll cringe at some of
(13:25):
the things that happened in it and justifying these atrocious
fist fights and riots and things for like people's noses
are being smashed. I mean all because like you identify
with one jersey and they identify with another. You know,
Seinfeld has this bit about sports where he's talking about
how players and coaches are constantly shifting, so your allegiance
is really just to the random colors on a shirt
(13:46):
assigned to a location. It's true, and and that can
sound a little bit bleak, but I actually have a
more positive story to tell you on this one. It
before we get to that, why don't we take a
quick break for a quiz. Okay, mango, So, as you know,
a couple of weeks ago, we put out a call
for for many of our fans who've been writing in
and wanting to be on the show to say, tell
(14:08):
us why we should have you on the show to
play one of our quizzes. And with today's episode being
about super fans, we actually heard from someone who is
a die hard Game of Thrones fan also, Sarah Petrozelli.
Welcome to Part Time Genius. Thank you, thank you for
having me on. Well, thanks for writing in. Now where
are we? Where are we talking to you today? I
(14:29):
am calling him from Connecticut. I asked, where are we
calling you from? I guess I could have answered that.
So we're actually recording in New York today. This is
kind of a different one, but you're in Connecticut. We
could almost throw a rock to you. So all right, Well,
before we jump into this, you actually told us in
your email that you practice several forms of martial arts.
What do you mean by that? Correct? Um, I study
(14:51):
at the Bethel Accronemy of Martial Arts. I practice kick practicing,
also practiced chi kundo, which is is Bruce Lee's style
martial arts, which is kind of a melting pot of
Eastern Western martial arts. I'll see in a lot of
these movies that he practices and it's a lot of
minimal movement with Maximus. That's super cool. When I was
(15:14):
a kid, I used to watch kung fu movies on
Sundays with my mom and that's how I got into karate.
Really alright, cool, very cool. Well, you are a big
Game of Thrones fan. I'll tell us when you say
you're a big Game of Thrones fan, what what do
you do to express your fan and how do you
dig in? Well, I'm sure my Facebook friends and my
friends in real life are sick me hearing about it.
(15:36):
Talking right, we know every Sunday when it's done that
between nine pm and ten thirty. Do not follow me,
do not text me. Um. I watched the show. I
read a little bit of the books. I read the
fan theories online. I subscribed to YouTube channels and podcast
to listen about this series and what might be coming
(15:58):
up next. I also like to watch the I in
the scene, which is really neat because you get to
see how um scenarios can ride the dragon. It's she's
literally writing like a mechanical bull looking. It's really it's
really crazy looking, and they put a green screen behind her,
so she's doing all this amazing acting like she's actually
riding a dragon. It's just unbelievable. And the actors are fantastic.
(16:21):
They're definitely born to play this role. Yeah, and how
those whole worlds are put together, it's just amazing. At
Metal Class, we did an interview with some of the
the costume makers for this show, and it was just
crazy to think, like how they were looking to like
both modern and ancient fashions to pull together the styles.
It's really awesome. Yeah, it's pretty remark it's like a
(16:43):
whole of the world. And do I understand correctly that
the next season, the eighth season, is supposed to be
the last? Is that right? Yes, it's so sad. I
don't even want to think about it. Well, we won't.
We won't think about that today. Instead, we'll play a game.
What do you say, man, go yeah, I'm for it.
We're gonna play a game called doing It for the Fans. Alright,
(17:04):
Doing It for the Fans? What a great name, manga. Alright, So,
so what we're gonna do, Sarah. We're gonna ask you
a question about a fan or fan bases and and
you'll have to come up with the right answer. Simple
as that. You ready, I'm ready alright? Question number one?
What animated Disney character and uncle to triplets has a
hardcore fan base in Germany, where they appreciate him for
(17:26):
being a lovable loser but not a quitter? Is it? Yeah,
you're right, it's but Donald Duck is insanely popular in Germany,
like way more popular than Mickey and in fact, he
has a fan group called the Donaldus who liked to
study Duckberg in a way that's akin to anthropologists. Wow,
(17:47):
very cool. Alright, one for one, Okay, this was a
good one, all right? What music streaming service did the
funk band Wolf Peck used to release a ten song
album of Complete Silence, so they recommended their fans played
on loop as they went to sleep every night. What
streaming music service did they use for this? Is this
(18:08):
an allowed to ask questions? Or now I thought we
were asking the questions, but I just I just guess
a very popular streaming service, let's see modern day. I
would say Spotify. Yeah, that's right. So the then actually
collected twenty dollars in royalties from that and uh and
(18:28):
they used it to fund this free tour for all
their fans. So they made twenty dollars from this complete silence.
Isn't amazing? Wow? Okay, Sarah's two for two. Question number three,
Tetris fans at what science focused university outfitted the windows
of a campus building into a screen for a giant
Tetris game. What university are we talking about? Oh? My god,
(18:51):
and I can't remember the science university cal Tech. Really
good guests, but we're off on this one. What was it? Mango?
It was m I t and and that's actually just
the tip of the Tetris culture. There's everything from fan
fiction written about Tetris like fifty Shades of Tetris, to
U Tetris shaped tater tots on the market known as
puzzle potatoes. Alright, Question number four, and I'm actually gonna
(19:17):
completely forgive you if you don't know the answer to
this one becassa alright, So, so what band, fronted by
Scott Stapp was shocked when their fans sued them for
two million dollars in a class action suit for playing
a truly terrible shown that what's not? That's actually I
think we should give her a point for that one. No, no,
(19:39):
this is everyone needs to stand it's um. Yeah, the
money was supposed to be used to recoup ticket and
parking costs for the fifteen thousand people in attendance, but
it was the case I actually thrown out in court. Alright, okay,
let's do one more question. Let's see what Plucky Mexican
(20:02):
Mouse was pulled from the rotation on Cartoon Network for
pushing stereotypes until Hispanic fans banded together to bring him
back on air. Yeah that's right. So, according to Hispanic online,
many people grew up viewing Speedy as this positive character
because he always outsmarts the quote gringo cat Sylvester, so
(20:25):
they petitioned to bring him back. Wow, that's a good one.
All right, Well, how has how is Sarah done? Today?
A mango? So Sarah's got an amazing four for five
and uh, in addition to earning our total admiration, we're
going to send her the official uniform of any PTG
fan Part Time Genius T shirt. All right, well, that's
pretty awesome. We had so much fun with you today, Sarah,
(20:46):
and for any of our other listeners, if you want
to come on and play a game on the show,
don't forget to email us at Part Time Genius at
how Stuff Works dot Com or you can call us
on our seven fact hotline that's one eight four four
pt Genius, and you have to tell us why you
should be on the show. So leave us a really
interesting fact about yourself. But Sarah, this was great. Thank
(21:07):
you so much for joining us on Part Time Genius.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So welcome
back to Part Time Genius where we're talking about fan
(21:28):
bases today. All right, so, I know there are tons
of bleak examples of how enthusiasm of sports fans can
turn ugly, but you know, as I mentioned before the break,
I came across the story from the English soccer history
that that shows how all that energy can also have
a positive effect on fan behavior. So this took place
in nineteen seven, and at the time, soccer was it
(21:49):
an all time low in the wake of these violent incidents,
and in fact, the sport had fallen so far out
of favor it had actually been completely banned in some
parts of Europe, which is just on in Magina, and
the fans that still clung tight to their favorite pastime
had few reasons to smile at the time. But that
changed when this guy named Frank Newton shows up at
(22:10):
a local Manchester City stadium brandishing a five foot inflatable
banana in his arms. Wait, like a big novelty banana.
So I mean, I feel like if Manchester has a
banana mascot, I I feel like I should know that
it's it's not the mascot. That the banana was totally random,
but Frank just brought it as a laugh, which ended
up being exactly what his fellow fans needed. It was
(22:32):
itching to add a little fun back into the game
they held so dear and other fans quickly followed Frank's example.
They started bringing their own inflatable bananas, and vendors started
selling them to those who were late to the trend.
By the next season, it was common to see all
kinds of inflatables in the stands, you know, not just bananas,
of course, You've got your sharks and your penguins or airplanes.
(22:52):
Even Frankenstein's Monster was getting it on the fun and
some fans even totally inflatable waiting pools to the game
and waved those. I wish. I'm sure the people went
back them loved, But um, I mean, that's all great,
but it's kind of a shame that Frank became just
another banana in the crowd. Right, Well, he must have
felt the same way, I guess, But by the N
(23:13):
eight eight season, he'd upgraded from this five ft banana
to a six foot crocodile. Nice. But um, did the
inflatable craze have an effect on the team, Like, did
they start playing better or going to winning streak? Well,
I'm afraid they didn't really play much better. I mean,
Manchester City was a notoriously bad team and the improved
morale among their fans didn't change that. But but that's
(23:35):
the thing. The fans were content to keep coming back
to games even if their team was losing, so long
as they could have fun together like they used to
back before the violence among them had given the fandom
a bad name. Yeah, and that makes sense. And obviously
sports can be an insanely uplifting experience as well. I
remember that sociologist Emila Dirk him talks about this overwhelming
(23:57):
spirit and experience of being part of a crowd as
they watched something miraculous, like I don't know, being there
to watch that guy put a perfect eighteen on a
pop up course, or to watch someone pitch and no
hitter or whatever. I mean, it can be moving and amazing.
But where was I? Oh? Yeah, So I read this
article in the Atlantic about a study conducted by an
e communist named Philip Porter, and he crunched the numbers
(24:20):
on twenty five years of baseball attendance from nineteen sixty
six to just to see what kind of an effect
fan loyalty had on the amount of wins the team had,
And amazingly, Porter found that the team's most likely to
win weren't the ones with the extremely loyal fans. The
winning teams were those with the most fickle fan bases.
Oh really, wow, I mean, I guess it kind of
(24:40):
makes sense if you look at it in more of
a cynical way. You know, if they know the fans
will turn up win, lose, or draw, then the actual
outcome of the game becomes much less important. I suppose,
after all, the tickets will be sold, the seats will
be filled. Of course, the team wants to win, but
if they don't, it isn't a big deal. I mean,
you know, I can remember when we used to go
to Chicago a good bit back in our Mental Flaws days,
(25:02):
and this was before Chicago became really good at these
last couple of years at baseball, and you would see
these people just so fueled by Opening Day and how
excited they were to go and the Cubs were always
horrible that they loved going to these games. So it
is kind of a good example of that. I know,
they treated like the beach there. Yeah, it's amazing, But
it does seem like fans a getting the short end
(25:23):
of the stick in that case, right, I mean, I
don't know. I mean, remember what we were saying about
fans getting personal validation and a stronger sense of identity
from their experience in fandoms. And it's the same for
sports fans as it is for pop culture fans. Are
there these communal benefits that are often more important than
the thing they're senter around? And how's that? Well, this
blogger for Scientific American, let me just find this quote
(25:46):
here this so this writer Eric Simons puts it this
way and his piece about the long suffering sports fans
why would anyone stick with a losing team? But one
way of thinking about is that sports fandom is one
of the more accessible, more obvious, us more fixed sources
of identity out there. In the world win or lose.
The existence of the relationship props you up a sports
(26:07):
team and its fan base, or an anchor point in
an inconstant universe, fulfilling a need for belonging that some
researchers argue as his fundamental motivator to us, his hunger. So,
I mean, that's interesting, and it makes the idea of
fandoms seem decidedly less modern if they really are rooted
in this basic sort of human need for fellowship. But well,
(26:28):
I I know you were excited to talk about the
origins of a fanatical fan basis so late on me.
What what's the world's oldest fan base? All right, Well,
I don't think I can definitively answer that. I mean,
if you want to go way back, you know, passionate
fans have cropped up around influential figures all throughout history.
I mean, let's go back to Plato. He was such
a rock star philosopher in ancient Greece that he set
(26:49):
up his own academy where fans would come from all
over just to pick his brain. And then there's this
guy Jesus. They loved his carpenter loved and yeah, and
he had his own private entourage of d votees, even
if that particular fandom was only twelve deep at the time.
You know, so we might be straying from fans into
followers territory. But how about Lord Byron, Like we now
(27:12):
know that he was one of the first public figures
to be inundated with fan mail. Really Byron actually hadn't
heard that. Yes, and not too long ago, historians uncovered
hundreds of love letters sent to him by anonymous women
who were utterly charmed by his poetry. And apparently the
women asked Byron to toss the letters because they contained
some really scandalous and silicious stuff that nineteenth century society
(27:34):
wouldn't have approved of. But being a romantic, Byron couldn't
do that, so he just filed them away for Radney
day reading. Wow, it's kind of the equivalent of like
delete that text. Alright. So, so Byron definitely had his byromaniacs.
But you know, since we don't have any record of
these ladies ever getting in touch with one another, I
think it's safe to say he didn't have an organized fandom.
(27:55):
So if we want the true starting point for what
we recognized today as these and communities. Then we need
to jump ahead, probably to the eighteen nineties or so,
when you know the unparalleled popularity of Sherlock Holmes set
the first known fandom in motion Silochians. Yeah, so finally,
Kareem and I can feel like we belong. So I
(28:16):
actually remember reading that Londoner has lost their minds when
Conan Doyle killed his character off like he'd been publishing
home stories in the Strand magazine for years, But the
truth is he really only saw the character as the
stepping stone from genre fiction to more ambitious works, you know, um,
something that was more deserving of his literary talent or whatever.
But uh, but Sherlock Holmes fans had different ideas, and
(28:38):
when he sent Homes plunging to his death off Rankenbach Falls,
the fictional detective took the bulk of the Strands readership
with him, and so more than like twenty thousand people
canceled their subscriptions and protests. Yeah, and in fact, lots
of people also wrote angry letters to Conan Doyle demanding
he brings Homes back from the dead, and supposedly tons
of fans wore black armband to show they were in
(29:00):
mourning you know, and across the pond, you look at
the Americans. They started with these like let's keep Homes
Alive clubs. They were organizing their own letter writing campaigns,
intent on shaming the author and to resurrecting their favorite character.
And so already you can see this kind of prototype
fandom just forming there. Yeah, and I mean I knew
Conan Doyle brought back homes, but I didn't realize it
(29:22):
was because of public pressure. Yeah. He held strong for
I think it was like eight years or so, but
he finally caved in nineteen o one when he published
a prequel story set before the Detective's fateful fall. That story,
the Hound of the Basketballs, went on to become one
of the most iconic in the series, and just two
years after that, Conan Doyle followed it with another story,
(29:43):
this time revealing that he'd never died in the first place,
he had actually faked his own death. I know that
that story line always struck me as so hokey, but
I guess fans didn't mind, Oh not in the least.
I mean, they've done the impossible. They brought a character
back to life through sheer Will, and that's a heck
an accomplishment for you know, a loosely associated group of
people who really only have this shared fondness for pulp
(30:06):
fiction and common I mean they weren't even fans yet technically,
if you knew this. But the term had recently entered
the public lexicon as a nickname for baseball enthusiast, but
it hadn't really been applied to other groups. It was
in nineteen thirty four, seven years after Conandle stopped writing
Sherlock Holmes for good, this journalist named Christopher Morley came
(30:26):
up with a different moniker for Holmes fans Sherlockians. Nope,
I know, you keep trying that the Morley's actually responsible
for the name that New York based Sherlock fan club
that we were talking about earlier. You know, the one
Kareem spoke at it to the Baker Street Irregulars, and
the whole thing was largely an excuse for Morley and
a fellow well to do mystery junkies to get together
(30:46):
and talk about their hero over drinks. You know, but
the b s I also had a hand in establishing
some of the rituals and ceremonies that would later become
staples of modern fandoms. They were talking about, you know,
fan fiction, convince tions, even cosplay, and this is true
because members of the group sometimes wore Sherlock's iconic beer
stalker hats, you know, to their meetings and things. I mean,
(31:08):
it's pretty cool that the first fandom is still going
strong today, and I mean that kind of longevity is
a testament not just to the character who has proven
to be endlessly adaptable, but to the power of the
fans themselves. Yeah. You know, I think prior to Sherlock,
people generally accepted when stories ended and we're willing to
move on whether the author said it was time to
do so. But something about Holmes and his adventures resonated
(31:31):
with readers in in a special way. Yeah. I mean
the fact that they told the author to bring him
back and it actually worked. That's insane. And that kind
of open communication between fans and creators seems like a
really important step in the evolution of fandoms, and it's
something we see more and more of now that fandoms
are online. Well, yeah, definitely. I mean you just just
look at the cult favorite TV shows that have been
(31:52):
given a second or even third chances. I mean, This
is all thanks to devoted fans making their voices heard,
and some really good ones in there too. There's Arrested
Development or Twin Peaks or Futurama. I mean, these were
all shows that were canceled, only to be revived down
the line through these fan efforts. Yeah, the bigger and
noiser of fandom is the more I can get accomplished.
(32:12):
But you know, there's something to be said for the
fringe fan groups as well. They don't often make the headlines,
but it's nice to know they're out there doing their thing.
I'm a little skeptical here because I don't know how
fringe we're talking here. But before things get too weird,
why don't we take a quick break, so then go.
I know, a few weeks ago, you were reeling off
(32:33):
a few of your favorite names for you know, various
fan bases and things like. You know how Barry Manilow's
fans are called fan alows and Crisp Pines fans are
called you said pine nuts, right, That's right, And so
I've got a couple more of my favorites written down
I wanted to share. Katy Perry fans are called Katiecats
fans of the who are the hooligans and any idea
of what Ed Sheeran fans are called what serios? Actual
(32:56):
already knew that one of them, but I just didn't
want to admit it. Actually, when I'm remember thinking was funny,
it was Clay Aikins fans are apparently called Clay Mates.
So I love the world play ones. And of course
there are fan bases for TV shows and sports and
comic characters. Veronica mars has our Marshmallows. Arsenal has the
Gooners because the team's the Gunners. I have to admit
(33:16):
I'm disappointed. I thought you're gonna say our Cino Hall
and I was like, oh, I think he had the
dog pound. Alright, I'm sorry interrupt, No, no, no, I
don't know why this is funny to me, But fans
of the show community called themselves human beings, right, So
so we've listed off a few of them. But but
I know you and I wanted to create kind of
this kid's alphabet of these, like C is for cumber Babes,
(33:37):
which Benedict Cumberbatches fan base is called, and G is
for the goould Diggers, which are Ellie Goulding's fan base,
and and we thought we turned this into a little contest.
So to anyone who submits a fan based nickname that
makes his smile and we included in our alphabet, will
send you a small reward as thanks. Yeah, so just
submit the name of the fan base that tickles you
(33:57):
and your name and address. The ads part is important
to part time genius at how stuff works dot com,
and we'll try to pull these together in the next
few weeks. All right, back to the show. All right, Mango,
(34:20):
I'll admit I'm curious what kind of obscure fan bases
did you come across in your research. Well, we mentioned
Trekkys and Sherlockians, and of course you're familiar with the
believers and the one direction ars, But have you ever
heard of the a fols. I can't say I had
a pleasure. So so what is an a FL It's
actually an acronym for the adult fans of Lego. These
(34:42):
are the older plastic brick enthusiasts who organized conventions, buying
trade pieces online and you know, construct their own elaborate
masterpieces to show off to other apls. According to Lego,
the adult fans account for a roughly five percent of
the total sales, and as much as half for more
of the revenue at the companies dedicated Lego stores. At
(35:02):
last count, there were more than forty self identifying Apple's worldwide.
I mean, that's pretty cool, but I'm going to need
you to stop saying Apples. It sounds like one of
those things, just like hold your tongue and say aples. Yes,
no problem, but there's much better Lego lingo anyway. So,
for for instance, did you know that fans measure and
ranks certain bills according to their swooshability? I did not.
(35:25):
According to brick WICKI, swishable is a word that describes
the playability of a particular space or aircraft model. A
vehicle that can be held aloft, moved through a stimulated
series of turns and loops, and elicit an audible swoosh
sound from the person holding the model is deemed to
be swoshable. All right, Well, actually I like that one
(35:47):
you got any more? Well, a fairly Lego fans play
a version of the White Elephant gift exchange game. It's
called a dirty Brickster, which is just such a great
slur for a Lego thief. Oh and and probably my
favorite legos lean is this term one by five? One
by five? I can't even imagine what that means? What
is that? Yeah? So it's code? Actually? See uh, Lego
(36:09):
fandom is still largely a man's world, though the female
market share is definitely on the rise. But whenever a
male April spots an attractive woman at a Lego convention
or wherever, he might ask his buddies, did you see
that beautiful one by five over that part? Spin? Are
people really saying that? I don't want to get it? So?
Is a one by five like a really nice kind
of brick or something? Well, the name refers to a
(36:31):
brick dimension, so one stud by five studs long. But
here's the thing. Lego doesn't make a one by five brick.
They make a one by four brick and a one
by six brick, but one by five is are non existent.
So I'm still trying to figure this out. Does this
just mean that this is like it's a girl who
shares their love of Lego is just as rare as
a one by five or something? Okay, all right? Well
(36:55):
I came across a few unusual fan base as well,
and I think my favorite has to be roundabout Appreciate
Society based in the UK. There's a group of people
predominantly men again, who routinely get together to photograph and
talk about traffic roundabouts. I love that, you know. Um
in high school they made a tiny roundabout by my
friend Pete's house and we sat lawn chairs in it
(37:17):
for a day, just being ridiculous and protesting it. Um. So,
I guess I'm the opposite of that. But what can
you possibly say about roundabouts that would require multiple meetings?
I don't know what you mean. Roundabouts their chock full
of juicy talking points. I mean there's the architecture and
the design of the roundabouts. They're they're very safety features.
You know, the wildlife that call them home. You know,
(37:40):
all the different approaches people take when entering or exiting
around about. I'm just trying to come up with anything
I can, but I'm probably still selling the topic short here.
But but here's how the Society's founder, Kevin Beresford describes
the objects of his appreciation. He says roads are often
condemned as being scars on the landscape, but with the
(38:00):
coming of the roundabout and all their glory, they counteract
the roads on sightliness with infinite variety, color and creativeness.
These bit jamen babes lift our sagging spirits on long,
tiresome trips. That all sounds ridiculous, and you're saying this
is mostly a male fandom. Well, in its defense, the
society has taken steps in recent years to try to
(38:22):
attract more female members. See they released this calendar each
year with a photo of a different roundabout for each month,
and apparently they started featuring one with a windmill on
the cover. And so the plan here is to poach
some of these female windmill enthusiasts. I guess they skew
more female and then they turn them into these humble
(38:43):
charms of less flashy roundabout. It all makes perfect sense.
I've already ordered my two thousand eighteen, so now that
I think about it, this actually sounds similar to a
group I've loved for a while now. It's called the
Dull Men's Club, and so this is another British group,
but it's a little less discriminating about its members interests,
so long as they're dull. And so among the club's
(39:05):
five thousand plus members are a guy who photographs different
drain covers that he spots around town, the owner of
the world's largest traffic cone collection, which is that more
than five right now, and a husband who has sent
his wife the same Valentine's Day card for almost forty years.
That's pretty great. I kind of actually want to be
friends with all of these guys. I know me too.
(39:25):
And then I love how the group got started. So
apparently a group of older men was sitting in a
bar reading about all these different clubs that were open
to them, so, you know, a sailing club, a judo club,
a ski club, and it just sort of dawned on
them that they don't really do any of those things.
But rather than try to take up any new activities,
they decided to start a club that catered to their
(39:47):
own dull taste. You know, like we've been saying, we
really are living in the golden age of fandoms. You
know that there's a community out there for people of
all interests, and if not, you can always start up
your own one. And you know, actually, if you remember,
back in our our mental Floss days, our two best
researchers were a married couple and they met as members
(40:08):
of a Queen Queen the band, Right, Yeah, that was
pretty amazing. Yeah, I love that story. And did you
know there's there's even one group that has this ritual
where the members go back and forth sharing random bits
of trivia with each other in rapid fire succession. That
sounds suspiciously like the fact off Mango. So I guess
it is time for that. Why why don't you go first?
(40:31):
H Okay? So this one's about fans who share in
the rational belief and so you know how people line
up for limited release sneakers or before a new Apple
product comes out. Apparently Star Wars fans started lining up
seven weeks before Star Wars Episode three opened, and specifically
(40:54):
they did it at Groundland's Chinese Theater, which is doubly
strange because the employees kept tell on the line that
the movie wasn't going to be playing there. I mean,
the fans just assumed that because the first two Star
Wars prequels had debuted there, they'd be showing the third
one as well, despite what the employees were telling them.
And it wasn't just the employees, like twentieth Century Fox
released a statement about it, but the fans just thought
(41:16):
they were trying to get rid of them for standing
outside the building for two months in Star Wars costumes,
so I have to know what happened on opening day.
So a group of volunteers and Stormtrooper outfits finally just
escorted them to a different theater where they got to
watch it. That's pretty amazing, all right, Well, did you
know that Elvis's manager used to sell I Hate Elvis
badges and merchandise with the same slogan on it. He
(41:37):
was just trying to make sure that Elvis was able
to make money off of the people who didn't like him.
I love that. Have you ever heard of gadget hack Wrench?
Apparently she's this totally adorable pilot mechanic and inventor in
Chippendale Rescue Rangers. And she's also a mouse, and and
she is insanely popular with fan clubs in Russia. They
(41:58):
composed songs to her and play sticks of her wherever
they go, apparently. And when that great site English Russia
asked members why Russians are obsessed with her, one member
responded this way, quote, she is the divine being, the
most untouched and perfect sibling of the great God on earth.
Why I love her? It's stupid question? How I can't
(42:18):
love the goddess. He is strict, cute, optimistic, and her
level of technical knowledge is unachievable for immortal being. I
think she needs to meet the roundabout dude. That's pretty great.
All right, Well, speaking of fans, did you know that
Richard Nixon loved rap music? According to the Washington Post,
there's an audio tape at the Nixon Presidential Library where
(42:39):
he said, I've often thought that if there had been
a good rap group around in those days, I might
have chosen a career in music of politics. I don't
believe it's true. It's actually in a number of sources,
and when it became common knowledge in Christopher Buckley and
Paul Slansky started writing imaginary verses for raps Nixon could
have written. So it's fan fiction about Nixon being a fan.
(43:02):
Exactly amazing. So I think you've earned the championship felt today.
All right, Thanks so much, and that's it for this
week's episode. Thanks so much for listening, and in the
immortal words of rapper Richard Nixon, he sweet out, thanks
(43:27):
again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of
how stuff works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant
people who do the important things we couldn't even again
to understand. Chris and McNeil does the editing thing. Noel
Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy
sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gave
Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the research
Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams. And
(43:49):
Eve Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,
And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
you could leave a good review for us. Do we do?
We forget Jason Jason who depicts depict the depict the
Party defended b
Guess what will? What's that? Man? Go? So? I know
you and I were both huge Lakers fans when we
were kids, and my third grade basketball team was named
the Lakers, and I had this Magic Johnson basketball and
even though I'm really a Sixers fan at heart, it
was nice to root for a team that actually had
a chance of winning. But as much as I loved
Magic Johnson, I really loved Kareem Abdul Jabbar. You mean
(00:20):
even more than a C. Green or Byron Scott or
Michael Thompson or Michael Cooper. Do you do? We just
keep going. Look, they're all clearly great, but Kareem's hook
shot you couldn't defend against it. When I learned he
was a history nerd and a Bruce Lee fan, and
he seemed kind of quiet and introverted, like I liked
all of that. But the thing I loved the most
(00:41):
about him, he's a massive Sherlock Holmes fan. Wait, weren't
you Sherlock Holmes for like two or three Halloween's in
a row? Because I was. And this is where all
my third grade interests sort of come together. But but
apparently Kareem started reading homes when he was a rookie
with the Bucks and he got obsessed. He was inspired
to use his powers of deduction to figure out players weaknesses.
(01:03):
And just like Holmes had those Street Urchin spies, the
Baker Street of regulars, Kaem used a team of ball
boys to get him dirt like. He peppered them for
info and injuries, or asked them for details on opponents.
And if he knew a player was smoking, like he'd
exploit that by running him up and down the court,
just tiring him out. But his love for Sherlock Holmes
goes so much further. He's also been the keynote speaker
(01:26):
at a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast club, and he's published not one,
but two novels about microft homes. Who you know if
you don't know, is holmes older brother. I mean, Kareem's
basically published his Sherlock Holmes fan fiction, but reading up
about him again made me wonder about the world of
fandom and what are the most rapid fan bases out
there and why is identifying as a fan so important
(01:49):
to us as humans? And that's what today's show is
all about. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time
(02:13):
Genius I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by
my good friend man Guesh Ticketer and on the other
side of that soundproof class arranging an extraordinary cheese plates
our producer Tristan McNeil, so Mango. As you mentioned at
the top of the show, this episode, we're on the
hunt for the most devoted fan basis in the world
and to understand a little more about them along the way.
You know, thanks to the Internet and social media platforms
(02:35):
like Twitter and Tumbler, it's now easier than ever for
fans to find each other and geek out over their
shared passion for you know, well just about anything. So
today we'll talk about how these fanatical fan bases got
their start in the pre digital age, as well as
why humans form these fan communities in the first place,
and because no subject is too niche to have its
own fandom. Will also spotlight a few of our favorites
(02:57):
that fall well outside the typical realm of sports teams
or boy bands and movie stars. Again, and don't forget,
we'll also be talking to a couple of super fans
to get their insiders perspective on some of the world's
most popular fandoms. All right, So we should start by
noting an important distinction between fans and fandoms. You know,
most of us are casual fans of a lot of
(03:18):
things we like or appreciate, specific movies or TV shows, songs,
or books, and you know, we might even become fans
of the people behind those works if we happen to
watch enough of their catalog or maybe develop some personal
connection to the work. The capital f fandom is a
completely different beast. You know, there's this passion and enthusiasm
there that most of us would find hard to even
(03:40):
muster even for the things we enjoy or consider ourselves
fans of. Oh absolutely so. For example, if you're a
casual Tom Hanks fan, you might check out as latest
movie in theaters if you get the chance, and hopefully
you'll enjoy watching it in the moment. But a card
carrying member of the Tom Hanks fandom, they're gonna engage
with the same movie a lot earlier and a much
deeper and more sustained way. Like a Tom Hanks super
(04:03):
fan will comb through pop culture news sites daily for
any sort of crumbs about the upcoming film, and when
a new trailer drops, they might do a ten minute
YouTube video dissecting every second, and they'll pop over to
the Tom Hanks reddit threads to take in a little
fan fiction and maybe get some tips on how to
pull off the perfect Tom Hanks cosplay. All right, I
think we get the point on this. By the way,
(04:25):
kudos on choosing the most plain, vanilla example of something
people might get fanatical about. I mean, I know everybody
loves Tom Hanks, but is anybody that into Tom Hanks. Definitely,
Hanks is a fans fan. I mean, he's obsessed with
old typewriters, so he knows the drill. He's got two
under fifty of his own in his personal collections. But
but he's super nice to fans. He has his special
(04:47):
Quote Hanks stationary that that he uses to type out
thank you notes. Um, that's whenever people's ending letters. Do
you do? You know this from experience? You know? All right? Well,
back to the idea of fandom. So while your example
was suspect that the kind of behavior you outlined was
spot on, I mean you could swap out Hanks for
Justin Bieber or Marvel Superhero movies or Lord of the
(05:08):
Rings and still have a pretty good overview of how
a fandom works, because regardless of what the content is,
the true mark of fandom is, you know, this intense
degree to which members engage with and and that's never
been more true than today. You already mentioned cosplay and
fan fiction, but there are lots of other ways that
fans stretch out content to better suit their interest levels.
(05:29):
Sure so, pop culture enthusiasts especially seemed to turn out
a never ending stream of reviews and recaps and think pieces,
not to mention, like live tweeted commentaries during shows, right,
and you know there are tumbler pages cataloging these giffable
moments or video series dedicated to philosophical undertones of cartoons,
and this ever growing number of fan sites and podcasts
(05:51):
that approach they preferred subjects from every conceivable angle. I mean,
the Internet has opened the floodgates for this kind of
fan produced reactionary content. Yeah, and all those products of fandom,
like the memes and essays and videos have really become
their own kind of entertainment. And the funny thing is,
in most cases, these fan produced reactions far outweigh the
run times of the content they're reacting to. Like it
(06:14):
would take you a little over seven hours to binge
the latest season a Game of Thrones, but a die
hard fan could easily spend three or four times that
just listening to a single fan run podcast, you know,
something that dives deep into each episode. And these days,
if you're part of a devout enough fandom, there should
be plenty of ancillary stuff to keep you busy when
the show isn't on, which is crazy to think about
(06:34):
how much content is out there. But I mean, look
back on the media reactions to big shakeups and popular
old TV shows like you know who shot Jr? On
Dallas or whether the gang would end up in prison
on the Seinfeld finale. But you know, lots of people
make sure to watch so they'd be prepared for the
inevitable water cooler discussion at work the next day. But
now that feels really kind of like a quaint notion,
(06:56):
you know, I mean, like like, why wait until Monday
to hear someone else's opinion. You can hop online and
find a million hot takes on your favorite show immediately
after it airs. I know, for me, that's part of
what stopped allowing me to identify as a fan. Like
this is so weird to say, but I knew about
Harry Potter well before other people did. A kid cousin
who'd been abroad had gotten in on the craze early,
(07:17):
and before J. K. Rowling had sold the rights to
the film. I was telling my boss at the time
that he should try to option it because it could
make a great animated feature. But as much as I
love those books, I'm not like Hank Green, who you know,
has a band that writes Harry Potter songs and he
writes fan fiction about Wizards dealing with teen issues like
being sixteen and getting pregnant at Hogwarts, Like like, how
(07:39):
can I call myself a fan if that's what the
measure of fan is? Yeah, I mean I know what
you mean. So what single thing do you think you're
the biggest fan of? Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm
kind of inconsistent. Like at one point in my life
it might have been like Calvin and Hobbs or Rushmore
or P. G. Woodhouse. I I don't know, I'm just
not that committed. I mean, I love Duke basketball all,
(08:00):
but I'm not the you know, I'm in my thirties
and still face paying every game level of enthusiasm, and
I don't even think I own a T shirt anymore.
What are you passionate about? Well, you know, I've always
had a love affair with chicken biscuits, right. I once
tried to start a breakfast club devoted to them in
high school. It was called the Chicken Biscuit Club, and
and I tried to petition for it, had like three
(08:21):
hundred people sign this petition to start this club. And
the principle pulled me aside, is like, is this a
service club? I was like, no, was this? Ah? You know?
Is this an academic club? Will know? And well, what
are you going to do in this club? And I said, well,
We're gonna sit around and eat chicken biscuits. And he
promptly threw me out of his office unfortunately, So I
mean I joined that. But I guess part of the
(08:43):
question we're asking today is why do capital letter f
fans spend so much time on this stuff and what
do they get out of it? Well, you know, if
you look at what psychologists say, most of them would
tell you that fan mentality is tied up with with
two things. The first is self presentation. So think about
how we hadentify fire ourselves through our clothes and our appearance.
I mean that that conscious choice sends a message about
(09:05):
the kind of people we are, or at least about
the kind of people we see ourselves as or want
to be. And in the same way, some people build
parts of their identity around the media they consume or
the hobbies they take part in, and that sends a
message about the social groups that they belong to. Sure. So,
I mean, so someone who paints their face for a
game is sending a very clear signal that he or
(09:25):
she is a sports fan. And whatever qualities that people
associate with sports fan, like loyalty or enthusiasm, that's all
tied up in that message as well. Right, But you
know who is that signal for? And and that's the
second part of it. It's it's it's all about connectedness,
And so the paint tells others fans or non fans alike,
where you stand, you know. But the really interesting thing
(09:46):
is is how much of the signaling is for the
fans themselves, you mean, sort of letting themselves know that
they're a fan. Yeah, that's true. I mean I found
this study from a few years back where a psychotherapist
and clinical social worker named Teresa Stern. She was either
determine how being part of a fandom affects people on
a personal level, and she concluded that communities of fans
with shared interests provide, you know, this comfortable space for
(10:10):
people to explore and come to grips with their own identities,
so they can figure out what they like and why
they like it without feeling judged or embarrassed for doing so.
But actually that wasn't the only benefit. The study also
found that fandoms offer a support system for members and
can even help them build self esteem and confidence, which is,
you know, where the desire for connectedness fits in. Yeah,
(10:33):
and obviously that's such a universal desire. I mean, we
all want that sense of belonging, and fandoms just seemed
like one way of finding it, Yeah, you know, which
is why it's a shame that being a fan is
so often stigmatized. So you can keep painting your face
magnet if you want to feel okay with that. But
you know, even with so much of geek culture having
gone mainstream, there's still a tendency to view die hard
(10:55):
fans as crazy or unstable or maybe even kind of pitiable.
I don't I don't know that there's there's this quote
from a psychologist named Jolie Jensen, and it breaks down
the discourse pretty nicely. So so she says, there's very
little literature that explores fandom as a normal, everyday cultural
or social phenomenon. Instead, the fan is characterized as an
(11:16):
obsessed loaner suffering from a disease of isolation, or frenzied
crowd member suffering from a disease of contagion. In either case,
the fan is seen as being irrational, out of control,
and pray to a number of external forces. I mean,
we both witnessed Dragon Con in Atlanta a few weeks ago,
and it's so fun seeing people who are just thrilled
(11:36):
to be and just really comfortable walking around in giant costumes,
and you really feel like we're past that sort of
high school mentality. But I guess it never ends for
some people. Although you know, at this point you would
think the folks who belong to a fandom might outnumber
those that don't. It's like, if I don't know, three
quarters of the student body was in the A V Club,
but they're a handful of jocks still trying to give
(11:59):
them all released exactly. Speaking of which, actually I remember
where you were talking about Dragon Con. I remember being
at a hotel here in Atlanta a few years ago
when Dragon Con was going on the same weekend that
Alabama and Virginia Tech were playing a football game, and
seeing these fan bases converge, and I remember seeing the
elevator will open up in this lady with these giant
(12:22):
wings and like beautifully dressed stepped off the elevator, and
these two guys in these big Alabama sweatshirts saw this
lady and I think they thought maybe they were dreaming
or something. It was the most bizarre convergence of these worlds.
But super fans in their own right. But you know, remember,
being a dedicated fan is one of those rare points
of overlap between different kinds of people. I mean, they
(12:42):
might be watching very different things, but the level of
excitement in each group is is bringing to the tables.
You know, it's pretty evenly matched. Are you sure about that,
because I mean I feel like a convention full of
trek ees can get pretty unruly, but sports fans can
get downright violent. Yeah, it's true. And for what a reason.
Soccer fans seem to be among the worst offenders in
(13:03):
that area, at least it used to be with, you know,
like the old fashioned European hooliganism. Yeah. I read this
book awhile back called Against the Thugs by Bill Beuford.
It's about these extreme menu fans but the way they
justify acts of like intense violence and racism. And it's
an amazing book. And you know, I'm such a World
Cup fan, but uh but you'll cringe at some of
(13:25):
the things that happened in it and justifying these atrocious
fist fights and riots and things for like people's noses
are being smashed. I mean all because like you identify
with one jersey and they identify with another. You know,
Seinfeld has this bit about sports where he's talking about
how players and coaches are constantly shifting, so your allegiance
is really just to the random colors on a shirt
(13:46):
assigned to a location. It's true, and and that can
sound a little bit bleak, but I actually have a
more positive story to tell you on this one. It
before we get to that, why don't we take a
quick break for a quiz. Okay, mango, So, as you know,
a couple of weeks ago, we put out a call
for for many of our fans who've been writing in
and wanting to be on the show to say, tell
(14:08):
us why we should have you on the show to
play one of our quizzes. And with today's episode being
about super fans, we actually heard from someone who is
a die hard Game of Thrones fan also, Sarah Petrozelli.
Welcome to Part Time Genius. Thank you, thank you for
having me on. Well, thanks for writing in. Now where
are we? Where are we talking to you today? I
(14:29):
am calling him from Connecticut. I asked, where are we
calling you from? I guess I could have answered that.
So we're actually recording in New York today. This is
kind of a different one, but you're in Connecticut. We
could almost throw a rock to you. So all right, Well,
before we jump into this, you actually told us in
your email that you practice several forms of martial arts.
What do you mean by that? Correct? Um, I study
(14:51):
at the Bethel Accronemy of Martial Arts. I practice kick practicing,
also practiced chi kundo, which is is Bruce Lee's style
martial arts, which is kind of a melting pot of
Eastern Western martial arts. I'll see in a lot of
these movies that he practices and it's a lot of
minimal movement with Maximus. That's super cool. When I was
(15:14):
a kid, I used to watch kung fu movies on
Sundays with my mom and that's how I got into karate.
Really alright, cool, very cool. Well, you are a big
Game of Thrones fan. I'll tell us when you say
you're a big Game of Thrones fan, what what do
you do to express your fan and how do you
dig in? Well, I'm sure my Facebook friends and my
friends in real life are sick me hearing about it.
(15:36):
Talking right, we know every Sunday when it's done that
between nine pm and ten thirty. Do not follow me,
do not text me. Um. I watched the show. I
read a little bit of the books. I read the
fan theories online. I subscribed to YouTube channels and podcast
to listen about this series and what might be coming
(15:58):
up next. I also like to watch the I in
the scene, which is really neat because you get to
see how um scenarios can ride the dragon. It's she's
literally writing like a mechanical bull looking. It's really it's
really crazy looking, and they put a green screen behind her,
so she's doing all this amazing acting like she's actually
riding a dragon. It's just unbelievable. And the actors are fantastic.
(16:21):
They're definitely born to play this role. Yeah, and how
those whole worlds are put together, it's just amazing. At
Metal Class, we did an interview with some of the
the costume makers for this show, and it was just
crazy to think, like how they were looking to like
both modern and ancient fashions to pull together the styles.
It's really awesome. Yeah, it's pretty remark it's like a
(16:43):
whole of the world. And do I understand correctly that
the next season, the eighth season, is supposed to be
the last? Is that right? Yes, it's so sad. I
don't even want to think about it. Well, we won't.
We won't think about that today. Instead, we'll play a game.
What do you say, man, go yeah, I'm for it.
We're gonna play a game called doing It for the Fans. Alright,
(17:04):
Doing It for the Fans? What a great name, manga. Alright, So,
so what we're gonna do, Sarah. We're gonna ask you
a question about a fan or fan bases and and
you'll have to come up with the right answer. Simple
as that. You ready, I'm ready alright? Question number one?
What animated Disney character and uncle to triplets has a
hardcore fan base in Germany, where they appreciate him for
(17:26):
being a lovable loser but not a quitter? Is it? Yeah,
you're right, it's but Donald Duck is insanely popular in Germany,
like way more popular than Mickey and in fact, he
has a fan group called the Donaldus who liked to
study Duckberg in a way that's akin to anthropologists. Wow,
(17:47):
very cool. Alright, one for one, Okay, this was a
good one, all right? What music streaming service did the
funk band Wolf Peck used to release a ten song
album of Complete Silence, so they recommended their fans played
on loop as they went to sleep every night. What
streaming music service did they use for this? Is this
(18:08):
an allowed to ask questions? Or now I thought we
were asking the questions, but I just I just guess
a very popular streaming service, let's see modern day. I
would say Spotify. Yeah, that's right. So the then actually
collected twenty dollars in royalties from that and uh and
(18:28):
they used it to fund this free tour for all
their fans. So they made twenty dollars from this complete silence.
Isn't amazing? Wow? Okay, Sarah's two for two. Question number three,
Tetris fans at what science focused university outfitted the windows
of a campus building into a screen for a giant
Tetris game. What university are we talking about? Oh? My god,
(18:51):
and I can't remember the science university cal Tech. Really
good guests, but we're off on this one. What was it? Mango?
It was m I t and and that's actually just
the tip of the Tetris culture. There's everything from fan
fiction written about Tetris like fifty Shades of Tetris, to
U Tetris shaped tater tots on the market known as
puzzle potatoes. Alright, Question number four, and I'm actually gonna
(19:17):
completely forgive you if you don't know the answer to
this one becassa alright, So, so what band, fronted by
Scott Stapp was shocked when their fans sued them for
two million dollars in a class action suit for playing
a truly terrible shown that what's not? That's actually I
think we should give her a point for that one. No, no,
(19:39):
this is everyone needs to stand it's um. Yeah, the
money was supposed to be used to recoup ticket and
parking costs for the fifteen thousand people in attendance, but
it was the case I actually thrown out in court. Alright, okay,
let's do one more question. Let's see what Plucky Mexican
(20:02):
Mouse was pulled from the rotation on Cartoon Network for
pushing stereotypes until Hispanic fans banded together to bring him
back on air. Yeah that's right. So, according to Hispanic online,
many people grew up viewing Speedy as this positive character
because he always outsmarts the quote gringo cat Sylvester, so
(20:25):
they petitioned to bring him back. Wow, that's a good one.
All right, Well, how has how is Sarah done? Today?
A mango? So Sarah's got an amazing four for five
and uh, in addition to earning our total admiration, we're
going to send her the official uniform of any PTG
fan Part Time Genius T shirt. All right, well, that's
pretty awesome. We had so much fun with you today, Sarah,
(20:46):
and for any of our other listeners, if you want
to come on and play a game on the show,
don't forget to email us at Part Time Genius at
how Stuff Works dot Com or you can call us
on our seven fact hotline that's one eight four four
pt Genius, and you have to tell us why you
should be on the show. So leave us a really
interesting fact about yourself. But Sarah, this was great. Thank
(21:07):
you so much for joining us on Part Time Genius.
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. So welcome
back to Part Time Genius where we're talking about fan
(21:28):
bases today. All right, so, I know there are tons
of bleak examples of how enthusiasm of sports fans can
turn ugly, but you know, as I mentioned before the break,
I came across the story from the English soccer history
that that shows how all that energy can also have
a positive effect on fan behavior. So this took place
in nineteen seven, and at the time, soccer was it
(21:49):
an all time low in the wake of these violent incidents,
and in fact, the sport had fallen so far out
of favor it had actually been completely banned in some
parts of Europe, which is just on in Magina, and
the fans that still clung tight to their favorite pastime
had few reasons to smile at the time. But that
changed when this guy named Frank Newton shows up at
(22:10):
a local Manchester City stadium brandishing a five foot inflatable
banana in his arms. Wait, like a big novelty banana.
So I mean, I feel like if Manchester has a
banana mascot, I I feel like I should know that
it's it's not the mascot. That the banana was totally random,
but Frank just brought it as a laugh, which ended
up being exactly what his fellow fans needed. It was
(22:32):
itching to add a little fun back into the game
they held so dear and other fans quickly followed Frank's example.
They started bringing their own inflatable bananas, and vendors started
selling them to those who were late to the trend.
By the next season, it was common to see all
kinds of inflatables in the stands, you know, not just bananas,
of course, You've got your sharks and your penguins or airplanes.
(22:52):
Even Frankenstein's Monster was getting it on the fun and
some fans even totally inflatable waiting pools to the game
and waved those. I wish. I'm sure the people went
back them loved, But um, I mean, that's all great,
but it's kind of a shame that Frank became just
another banana in the crowd. Right, Well, he must have
felt the same way, I guess, But by the N
(23:13):
eight eight season, he'd upgraded from this five ft banana
to a six foot crocodile. Nice. But um, did the
inflatable craze have an effect on the team, Like, did
they start playing better or going to winning streak? Well,
I'm afraid they didn't really play much better. I mean,
Manchester City was a notoriously bad team and the improved
morale among their fans didn't change that. But but that's
(23:35):
the thing. The fans were content to keep coming back
to games even if their team was losing, so long
as they could have fun together like they used to
back before the violence among them had given the fandom
a bad name. Yeah, and that makes sense. And obviously
sports can be an insanely uplifting experience as well. I
remember that sociologist Emila Dirk him talks about this overwhelming
(23:57):
spirit and experience of being part of a crowd as
they watched something miraculous, like I don't know, being there
to watch that guy put a perfect eighteen on a
pop up course, or to watch someone pitch and no
hitter or whatever. I mean, it can be moving and amazing.
But where was I? Oh? Yeah, So I read this
article in the Atlantic about a study conducted by an
e communist named Philip Porter, and he crunched the numbers
(24:20):
on twenty five years of baseball attendance from nineteen sixty
six to just to see what kind of an effect
fan loyalty had on the amount of wins the team had,
And amazingly, Porter found that the team's most likely to
win weren't the ones with the extremely loyal fans. The
winning teams were those with the most fickle fan bases.
Oh really, wow, I mean, I guess it kind of
(24:40):
makes sense if you look at it in more of
a cynical way. You know, if they know the fans
will turn up win, lose, or draw, then the actual
outcome of the game becomes much less important. I suppose,
after all, the tickets will be sold, the seats will
be filled. Of course, the team wants to win, but
if they don't, it isn't a big deal. I mean,
you know, I can remember when we used to go
to Chicago a good bit back in our Mental Flaws days,
(25:02):
and this was before Chicago became really good at these
last couple of years at baseball, and you would see
these people just so fueled by Opening Day and how
excited they were to go and the Cubs were always
horrible that they loved going to these games. So it
is kind of a good example of that. I know,
they treated like the beach there. Yeah, it's amazing, But
it does seem like fans a getting the short end
(25:23):
of the stick in that case, right, I mean, I
don't know. I mean, remember what we were saying about
fans getting personal validation and a stronger sense of identity
from their experience in fandoms. And it's the same for
sports fans as it is for pop culture fans. Are
there these communal benefits that are often more important than
the thing they're senter around? And how's that? Well, this
blogger for Scientific American, let me just find this quote
(25:46):
here this so this writer Eric Simons puts it this
way and his piece about the long suffering sports fans
why would anyone stick with a losing team? But one
way of thinking about is that sports fandom is one
of the more accessible, more obvious, us more fixed sources
of identity out there. In the world win or lose.
The existence of the relationship props you up a sports
(26:07):
team and its fan base, or an anchor point in
an inconstant universe, fulfilling a need for belonging that some
researchers argue as his fundamental motivator to us, his hunger. So,
I mean, that's interesting, and it makes the idea of
fandoms seem decidedly less modern if they really are rooted
in this basic sort of human need for fellowship. But well,
(26:28):
I I know you were excited to talk about the
origins of a fanatical fan basis so late on me.
What what's the world's oldest fan base? All right, Well,
I don't think I can definitively answer that. I mean,
if you want to go way back, you know, passionate
fans have cropped up around influential figures all throughout history.
I mean, let's go back to Plato. He was such
a rock star philosopher in ancient Greece that he set
(26:49):
up his own academy where fans would come from all
over just to pick his brain. And then there's this
guy Jesus. They loved his carpenter loved and yeah, and
he had his own private entourage of d votees, even
if that particular fandom was only twelve deep at the time.
You know, so we might be straying from fans into
followers territory. But how about Lord Byron, Like we now
(27:12):
know that he was one of the first public figures
to be inundated with fan mail. Really Byron actually hadn't
heard that. Yes, and not too long ago, historians uncovered
hundreds of love letters sent to him by anonymous women
who were utterly charmed by his poetry. And apparently the
women asked Byron to toss the letters because they contained
some really scandalous and silicious stuff that nineteenth century society
(27:34):
wouldn't have approved of. But being a romantic, Byron couldn't
do that, so he just filed them away for Radney
day reading. Wow, it's kind of the equivalent of like
delete that text. Alright. So, so Byron definitely had his byromaniacs.
But you know, since we don't have any record of
these ladies ever getting in touch with one another, I
think it's safe to say he didn't have an organized fandom.
(27:55):
So if we want the true starting point for what
we recognized today as these and communities. Then we need
to jump ahead, probably to the eighteen nineties or so,
when you know the unparalleled popularity of Sherlock Holmes set
the first known fandom in motion Silochians. Yeah, so finally,
Kareem and I can feel like we belong. So I
(28:16):
actually remember reading that Londoner has lost their minds when
Conan Doyle killed his character off like he'd been publishing
home stories in the Strand magazine for years, But the
truth is he really only saw the character as the
stepping stone from genre fiction to more ambitious works, you know, um,
something that was more deserving of his literary talent or whatever.
But uh, but Sherlock Holmes fans had different ideas, and
(28:38):
when he sent Homes plunging to his death off Rankenbach Falls,
the fictional detective took the bulk of the Strands readership
with him, and so more than like twenty thousand people
canceled their subscriptions and protests. Yeah, and in fact, lots
of people also wrote angry letters to Conan Doyle demanding
he brings Homes back from the dead, and supposedly tons
of fans wore black armband to show they were in
(29:00):
mourning you know, and across the pond, you look at
the Americans. They started with these like let's keep Homes
Alive clubs. They were organizing their own letter writing campaigns,
intent on shaming the author and to resurrecting their favorite character.
And so already you can see this kind of prototype
fandom just forming there. Yeah, and I mean I knew
Conan Doyle brought back homes, but I didn't realize it
(29:22):
was because of public pressure. Yeah. He held strong for
I think it was like eight years or so, but
he finally caved in nineteen o one when he published
a prequel story set before the Detective's fateful fall. That story,
the Hound of the Basketballs, went on to become one
of the most iconic in the series, and just two
years after that, Conan Doyle followed it with another story,
(29:43):
this time revealing that he'd never died in the first place,
he had actually faked his own death. I know that
that story line always struck me as so hokey, but
I guess fans didn't mind, Oh not in the least.
I mean, they've done the impossible. They brought a character
back to life through sheer Will, and that's a heck
an accomplishment for you know, a loosely associated group of
people who really only have this shared fondness for pulp
(30:06):
fiction and common I mean they weren't even fans yet technically,
if you knew this. But the term had recently entered
the public lexicon as a nickname for baseball enthusiast, but
it hadn't really been applied to other groups. It was
in nineteen thirty four, seven years after Conandle stopped writing
Sherlock Holmes for good, this journalist named Christopher Morley came
(30:26):
up with a different moniker for Holmes fans Sherlockians. Nope,
I know, you keep trying that the Morley's actually responsible
for the name that New York based Sherlock fan club
that we were talking about earlier. You know, the one
Kareem spoke at it to the Baker Street Irregulars, and
the whole thing was largely an excuse for Morley and
a fellow well to do mystery junkies to get together
(30:46):
and talk about their hero over drinks. You know, but
the b s I also had a hand in establishing
some of the rituals and ceremonies that would later become
staples of modern fandoms. They were talking about, you know,
fan fiction, convince tions, even cosplay, and this is true
because members of the group sometimes wore Sherlock's iconic beer
stalker hats, you know, to their meetings and things. I mean,
(31:08):
it's pretty cool that the first fandom is still going
strong today, and I mean that kind of longevity is
a testament not just to the character who has proven
to be endlessly adaptable, but to the power of the
fans themselves. Yeah. You know, I think prior to Sherlock,
people generally accepted when stories ended and we're willing to
move on whether the author said it was time to
do so. But something about Holmes and his adventures resonated
(31:31):
with readers in in a special way. Yeah. I mean
the fact that they told the author to bring him
back and it actually worked. That's insane. And that kind
of open communication between fans and creators seems like a
really important step in the evolution of fandoms, and it's
something we see more and more of now that fandoms
are online. Well, yeah, definitely. I mean you just just
look at the cult favorite TV shows that have been
(31:52):
given a second or even third chances. I mean, This
is all thanks to devoted fans making their voices heard,
and some really good ones in there too. There's Arrested
Development or Twin Peaks or Futurama. I mean, these were
all shows that were canceled, only to be revived down
the line through these fan efforts. Yeah, the bigger and
noiser of fandom is the more I can get accomplished.
(32:12):
But you know, there's something to be said for the
fringe fan groups as well. They don't often make the headlines,
but it's nice to know they're out there doing their thing.
I'm a little skeptical here because I don't know how
fringe we're talking here. But before things get too weird,
why don't we take a quick break, so then go.
I know, a few weeks ago, you were reeling off
(32:33):
a few of your favorite names for you know, various
fan bases and things like. You know how Barry Manilow's
fans are called fan alows and Crisp Pines fans are
called you said pine nuts, right, That's right, And so
I've got a couple more of my favorites written down
I wanted to share. Katy Perry fans are called Katiecats
fans of the who are the hooligans and any idea
of what Ed Sheeran fans are called what serios? Actual
(32:56):
already knew that one of them, but I just didn't
want to admit it. Actually, when I'm remember thinking was funny,
it was Clay Aikins fans are apparently called Clay Mates.
So I love the world play ones. And of course
there are fan bases for TV shows and sports and
comic characters. Veronica mars has our Marshmallows. Arsenal has the
Gooners because the team's the Gunners. I have to admit
(33:16):
I'm disappointed. I thought you're gonna say our Cino Hall
and I was like, oh, I think he had the
dog pound. Alright, I'm sorry interrupt, No, no, no, I
don't know why this is funny to me, But fans
of the show community called themselves human beings, right, So
so we've listed off a few of them. But but
I know you and I wanted to create kind of
this kid's alphabet of these, like C is for cumber Babes,
(33:37):
which Benedict Cumberbatches fan base is called, and G is
for the goould Diggers, which are Ellie Goulding's fan base,
and and we thought we turned this into a little contest.
So to anyone who submits a fan based nickname that
makes his smile and we included in our alphabet, will
send you a small reward as thanks. Yeah, so just
submit the name of the fan base that tickles you
(33:57):
and your name and address. The ads part is important
to part time genius at how stuff works dot com,
and we'll try to pull these together in the next
few weeks. All right, back to the show. All right, Mango,
(34:20):
I'll admit I'm curious what kind of obscure fan bases
did you come across in your research. Well, we mentioned
Trekkys and Sherlockians, and of course you're familiar with the
believers and the one direction ars, But have you ever
heard of the a fols. I can't say I had
a pleasure. So so what is an a FL It's
actually an acronym for the adult fans of Lego. These
(34:42):
are the older plastic brick enthusiasts who organized conventions, buying
trade pieces online and you know, construct their own elaborate
masterpieces to show off to other apls. According to Lego,
the adult fans account for a roughly five percent of
the total sales, and as much as half for more
of the revenue at the companies dedicated Lego stores. At
(35:02):
last count, there were more than forty self identifying Apple's worldwide.
I mean, that's pretty cool, but I'm going to need
you to stop saying Apples. It sounds like one of
those things, just like hold your tongue and say aples. Yes,
no problem, but there's much better Lego lingo anyway. So,
for for instance, did you know that fans measure and
ranks certain bills according to their swooshability? I did not.
(35:25):
According to brick WICKI, swishable is a word that describes
the playability of a particular space or aircraft model. A
vehicle that can be held aloft, moved through a stimulated
series of turns and loops, and elicit an audible swoosh
sound from the person holding the model is deemed to
be swoshable. All right, Well, actually I like that one
(35:47):
you got any more? Well, a fairly Lego fans play
a version of the White Elephant gift exchange game. It's
called a dirty Brickster, which is just such a great
slur for a Lego thief. Oh and and probably my
favorite legos lean is this term one by five? One
by five? I can't even imagine what that means? What
is that? Yeah? So it's code? Actually? See uh, Lego
(36:09):
fandom is still largely a man's world, though the female
market share is definitely on the rise. But whenever a
male April spots an attractive woman at a Lego convention
or wherever, he might ask his buddies, did you see
that beautiful one by five over that part? Spin? Are
people really saying that? I don't want to get it? So?
Is a one by five like a really nice kind
of brick or something? Well, the name refers to a
(36:31):
brick dimension, so one stud by five studs long. But
here's the thing. Lego doesn't make a one by five brick.
They make a one by four brick and a one
by six brick, but one by five is are non existent.
So I'm still trying to figure this out. Does this
just mean that this is like it's a girl who
shares their love of Lego is just as rare as
a one by five or something? Okay, all right? Well
(36:55):
I came across a few unusual fan base as well,
and I think my favorite has to be roundabout Appreciate
Society based in the UK. There's a group of people
predominantly men again, who routinely get together to photograph and
talk about traffic roundabouts. I love that, you know. Um
in high school they made a tiny roundabout by my
friend Pete's house and we sat lawn chairs in it
(37:17):
for a day, just being ridiculous and protesting it. Um. So,
I guess I'm the opposite of that. But what can
you possibly say about roundabouts that would require multiple meetings?
I don't know what you mean. Roundabouts their chock full
of juicy talking points. I mean there's the architecture and
the design of the roundabouts. They're they're very safety features.
You know, the wildlife that call them home. You know,
(37:40):
all the different approaches people take when entering or exiting
around about. I'm just trying to come up with anything
I can, but I'm probably still selling the topic short here.
But but here's how the Society's founder, Kevin Beresford describes
the objects of his appreciation. He says roads are often
condemned as being scars on the landscape, but with the
(38:00):
coming of the roundabout and all their glory, they counteract
the roads on sightliness with infinite variety, color and creativeness.
These bit jamen babes lift our sagging spirits on long,
tiresome trips. That all sounds ridiculous, and you're saying this
is mostly a male fandom. Well, in its defense, the
society has taken steps in recent years to try to
(38:22):
attract more female members. See they released this calendar each
year with a photo of a different roundabout for each month,
and apparently they started featuring one with a windmill on
the cover. And so the plan here is to poach
some of these female windmill enthusiasts. I guess they skew
more female and then they turn them into these humble
(38:43):
charms of less flashy roundabout. It all makes perfect sense.
I've already ordered my two thousand eighteen, so now that
I think about it, this actually sounds similar to a
group I've loved for a while now. It's called the
Dull Men's Club, and so this is another British group,
but it's a little less discriminating about its members interests,
so long as they're dull. And so among the club's
(39:05):
five thousand plus members are a guy who photographs different
drain covers that he spots around town, the owner of
the world's largest traffic cone collection, which is that more
than five right now, and a husband who has sent
his wife the same Valentine's Day card for almost forty years.
That's pretty great. I kind of actually want to be
friends with all of these guys. I know me too.
(39:25):
And then I love how the group got started. So
apparently a group of older men was sitting in a
bar reading about all these different clubs that were open
to them, so, you know, a sailing club, a judo club,
a ski club, and it just sort of dawned on
them that they don't really do any of those things.
But rather than try to take up any new activities,
they decided to start a club that catered to their
(39:47):
own dull taste. You know, like we've been saying, we
really are living in the golden age of fandoms. You
know that there's a community out there for people of
all interests, and if not, you can always start up
your own one. And you know, actually, if you remember,
back in our our mental Floss days, our two best
researchers were a married couple and they met as members
(40:08):
of a Queen Queen the band, Right, Yeah, that was
pretty amazing. Yeah, I love that story. And did you
know there's there's even one group that has this ritual
where the members go back and forth sharing random bits
of trivia with each other in rapid fire succession. That
sounds suspiciously like the fact off Mango. So I guess
it is time for that. Why why don't you go first?
(40:31):
H Okay? So this one's about fans who share in
the rational belief and so you know how people line
up for limited release sneakers or before a new Apple
product comes out. Apparently Star Wars fans started lining up
seven weeks before Star Wars Episode three opened, and specifically
(40:54):
they did it at Groundland's Chinese Theater, which is doubly
strange because the employees kept tell on the line that
the movie wasn't going to be playing there. I mean,
the fans just assumed that because the first two Star
Wars prequels had debuted there, they'd be showing the third
one as well, despite what the employees were telling them.
And it wasn't just the employees, like twentieth Century Fox
released a statement about it, but the fans just thought
(41:16):
they were trying to get rid of them for standing
outside the building for two months in Star Wars costumes,
so I have to know what happened on opening day.
So a group of volunteers and Stormtrooper outfits finally just
escorted them to a different theater where they got to
watch it. That's pretty amazing, all right, Well, did you
know that Elvis's manager used to sell I Hate Elvis
badges and merchandise with the same slogan on it. He
(41:37):
was just trying to make sure that Elvis was able
to make money off of the people who didn't like him.
I love that. Have you ever heard of gadget hack Wrench?
Apparently she's this totally adorable pilot mechanic and inventor in
Chippendale Rescue Rangers. And she's also a mouse, and and
she is insanely popular with fan clubs in Russia. They
(41:58):
composed songs to her and play sticks of her wherever
they go, apparently. And when that great site English Russia
asked members why Russians are obsessed with her, one member
responded this way, quote, she is the divine being, the
most untouched and perfect sibling of the great God on earth.
Why I love her? It's stupid question? How I can't
(42:18):
love the goddess. He is strict, cute, optimistic, and her
level of technical knowledge is unachievable for immortal being. I
think she needs to meet the roundabout dude. That's pretty great.
All right, Well, speaking of fans, did you know that
Richard Nixon loved rap music? According to the Washington Post,
there's an audio tape at the Nixon Presidential Library where
(42:39):
he said, I've often thought that if there had been
a good rap group around in those days, I might
have chosen a career in music of politics. I don't
believe it's true. It's actually in a number of sources,
and when it became common knowledge in Christopher Buckley and
Paul Slansky started writing imaginary verses for raps Nixon could
have written. So it's fan fiction about Nixon being a fan.
(43:02):
Exactly amazing. So I think you've earned the championship felt today.
All right, Thanks so much, and that's it for this
week's episode. Thanks so much for listening, and in the
immortal words of rapper Richard Nixon, he sweet out, thanks
(43:27):
again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of
how stuff works and wouldn't be possible without several brilliant
people who do the important things we couldn't even again
to understand. Chris and McNeil does the editing thing. Noel
Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy
sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gave
Bluesier is our lead researcher, with support from the research
Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams. And
(43:49):
Eve Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. Good job, Eves.
If you like what you heard, we hope you'll subscribe,
And if you really really like what you've heard, maybe
you could leave a good review for us. Do we do?
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