25. Mad Men
24. The Real Housewives
23. Lil B
22. Stephen Colbert
21. Phish
20. Kevin Smith
19. Insane Clown Posse
18. Neil Gaiman
17. Bruce Springsteen
16. True Blood
15. Oprah
14. Star Trek
13. Community
12. Joss Whedon
11. Tyler Perry
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10. Arrested Development
POPULARITY: Never a ratings hit, yet in three seasons picked up four Emmys and inspired countless catchphrases. Repeat streamed viewings so intense that Netflix funded new episodes six years after cancellation.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 1.6 million (plus hundreds of thousands of likes for the cast)
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: N/A
FAN NICKNAME: Analrapists. Just kidding; they don't have a nickname.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Mash-up Tumblrs that combine AD quotes or scenes with other shows: Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Mitt Romney, Downton Abbey,The Hobbit. And on and on and on.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Anyone who wants to go on an Internet date is legally required to list Arrested Development among their favorite shows.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: It's one thing to like a canceled show and wish it would come back. AD fans are the type who would take it straight to thepresident of the United States. The critically lauded Fox comedy had "cult favorite" stamped on it from day one and seemed endangered from day two. The Save Our Bluths campaign kicked into gear during the show's second season (a year-one Emmy win brought few new converts), and fans spent the entire shortened season three agitating for more support from Fox. AD was finally canceled, but then — like Family Guy before it — word of mouth finally kicked in through DVD viewings, and the posthumous cult grew.
After some Patient Zero in the cast or creator Mitch Hurwitz first floated the idea of a reunion movie, an endless feedback loop began thanks to the fact thatAD counted among its fans nearly every single entertainment journalist, who all wanted a movie as bad as anyone. They acted as representative interrogators for the people, and so every interview with every cast member for an unrelated project brought up the question of a possible film — and recall that for a time there, you couldn't swing a hooded sweatshirt without hitting a Michael Cera profile. The more the idea bubbled in the press, the more realistic the idea seemed, and in turn, fans upped their own agitation. Fan posters flooded the Internet, quote blogs popped up all over the place, Jason Bateman amassed 700,000 followers on Twitter, and rather than a handful of obscure performers reuniting at a minor convention of sorts, the entire cast gathered at the behest of The New Yorker. (Which led to the cast being asked about this mythical movie even more often.) It took six years, but eventually Netflix, seeing just how many people were re-watching the original 53 episodes via streaming, realized that there's always money in a banana stand and green-lighted a fourth season. (Thereby jump-starting the hopes and dreams of Party Down fans: All things are possible!) Now that they've brought the show back from the dead, ADfans have turned their attention to bringing back one of their favorite characters, Mr. Steve Holt. (Steve Holt!) Once they save Steve Holt, everything will be right in the Bluth universe.
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9. Doctor Who
POPULARITY: Holds Guinness World Record as world’s longest-running science-fiction television show, having debuted in 1963; currently broadcast in about 50 countries; current run launched in 2005, has won 30 BAFTAs, and six Hugo Awards; most downloaded series in the U.S. on iTunes in 2011.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 2.7 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 263,000
FAN NICKNAME: The term “Whovian” has been in use since the eighties.
MAIN HANGOUTS: It can take an hour to sift through just one labyrinthine, 30-page thread on the message boards of Gallifrey Base. For more daily updates, there’s the Base’s sister site, the Doctor Who News Page.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: In the U.K., Doctor Who was always a family program. However, in the U.S., the show's earlier incarnations were mostly embraced by sci-fi-loving men who discovered it on PBS in the eighties. But since its 2005 revival, it has steadily continued finding a wider and larger audience; it now has a notably large female following, compared to other long-running sci-fi properties.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: From fan-run conventions (Gallifrey One in Los Angeles has staged an event yearly since 1990), to myriad fanzines (the Doctor Who Club of Australia has published more than 200 issues of Data Extractsince 1980), and the stylish production of numerous fan films (the third and final part of a reimagining of the lost 1966 serial “The Power of the Daleks” was recently released online), the Doctor Who fan appears to be as resourceful as the series' time-traveling protagonist.
In fact, it was fans who kept the Doctor alive in the U.K. when the BBC canceled the show in 1989 until its reboot in 2005: The TV network, seeing no value to its defunct character, let fans write a series of novels starting in 1991 and, further down the road, permitted a former Doctor Who Magazine editor to produce further audio adventures for CD and download, voiced by old cast members. Both of these enterprises continue today with many of the same fan players behind the scenes, and with each brand counting their numerous releases well into the hundreds. While they’ve become viable arms of Doctor Who, what’s noteworthy is how both were key to keeping the Whoniverse alive and in the public consciousness for the sixteen lean years the series wasn’t on the air. The line between Doctor Who fan and professional has, in modern times, frequently been a blurry one. One of the writers of that initial series of novels? None other than Russell T Davies, the man who so successfully reenvisoned Doctor Who in 2005 for modern TV audiences.
So, as the fans continue to commune, create and debate (as with the undying question of the ages: Which of the eleven actors who have played the Doctor is the best?), it's clear that this vibrant community will keep on doing so well after the series has someday ended. And then, just as a new actor has always emerged to take over the TARDIS, perhaps an enterprising fan will step forward to revive and reinvent the Doctor for TV once again.
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8. Lady Gaga
POPULARITY: Estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles sold worldwide; the Monster Ball Tour was the fifteenth-highest-grossing tour ever and highest-grossing tour by a debut headlining artist, grossing about $227.4 million over 200 shows. Has 174,103,423 YouTube channel views.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 53 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 30 million
FAN NICKNAME: Little Monsters
MAIN HANGOUTS: LittleMonsters.com, GagaDaily.com, LadyGagaNow.Net
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Though her songs appeal to moms, too, the core Monsters are gays and younger women.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: On a 2011 episode of SNL, Lady Gaga was in a sketch with Justin Timberlake called “What’s That Name?”, a game show in which the two singers had to remember various people's names. The main joke was that the aloof Timberlake didn't know the names of Chris Kirkpatrick or a girl with whom he recently had sex, yet Gaga not only instantly recognized Alphonse, a random fan who went to her “monster show,” but she then offered to pay for his sister’s medical bills. The point was simple: Lady Gaga is a megastar woman of the people: She’s Mama Monster but also one of them.
Her willingness to be open with her insecurities cements her bond with her fans, many of them high-schoolers going through the most insecure time of their lives: Recently, they rallied around her en masse on her site when she opened up about her history of struggling with anorexia and bulimia, commiserating and empowering her and each other with their own experiences with the disorder. The perception is she'll do anything for her Little Monsters (whether through donating to charities that matter to them or dancing until she throws up), but her frankness about her own issues cues her fans that she needs them as much as they need her: This isn’t just about idolizing a pop star — they’re all in it together. So, they follow — her every word on Twitter — where she has by far the most followers; bring her very personal gifts at arena shows; spend hours Photoshopping her into a fabulous unicorn; and dress up like her atconcerts, pride parades, and Halloween. She has been the most popular Halloween costume consistently for the past three years, selling in the millions. Not to mention the many who fabricate their own. It's not an easy costume to make (where will you find all those Kermits?) but, to her fans, it’s less of a costume than a uniform.
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7. Hunger Games
POPULARITY: Suzanne Colllins’s book trilogy is Amazon’s best-selling series of all time, while the 2012 film counterpart had the fifth-biggest opening weekend in history ($152.5 million domestic) and became the thirteenth-biggest-grossing domestic movie of all time ($408 million). Has inspired countless tie-ins (a cookbook, a sports club workout, a $999 Mockingjay pin).
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 7.8 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 657,000
FAN NICKNAME: Tributes
MAIN HANGOUTS: Mockingjay.net, Hunger Games Tumblrs
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Female, teen, or teen at heart. Thanks to better writing and kid-on-kid violence, the franchise attracts a wider following than its vampire counterpart, Twilight, but the core audience is still young women.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Mere hours after Jennifer Lawrence was cast as the big-screen Katniss in 2011, the forums were rumbling: She's not skinny enough! She's too fair-skinned! Her hair is (gasp) blonde! The immediate outrage over Lawrence — a 20-year-old Oscar nominee and an obviously talented actress — was about fidelity; Collins's books enthralled young readers (and the elders who read along with them) because of their precise, horrifying detail. So cue the ever-vigilant Hunger Games fan Tumblr, which monitors casting notices and opines daily about which actors meet the exacting specifications of the source material for the upcoming sequels. They post set photos and analyze costume and makeup decisions. They speculate endlessly about which minor characters will or will not make it into the movie.
And though it is young adults (read: teen girls) who participate most enthusiastically in this online behavior, the Hunger Games phenomenon has overtaken their elders, too. It is hard to find a parent without an opinion on the franchise's violence or a twentysomething female without an opinion on Gale versus Peeta. Most crucially, it is near-impossible to meet anyone who has not seen the movie: The widespread book-to-movie obsession resulted in an astounding opening and toppled all previous Twilight records. Should there be any doubt about continued interest, just consult the fan sites, where a never-ending war rages on about the physical embodiment of Finnick Odair and whether Sam Claflin is fit to play him. (Spoiler alert: He is probably not. But a record number of moviegoers will buy tickets to find out.)
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6. Lord of the Rings
POPULARITY: Saga considered the third best-selling novel ever written (J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is fourth), with more than 150 million copies sold; films grossed more than $2.91 billion worldwide and garnered 30 Academy Award nominations, winning seventeen, including Return of the King’s Best Picture win.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 10.4 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: N/A, but this random J.R.R. Tolkien Twitter has 32,700 followers
FAN NICKNAME: For fans of the books: Tolkienites or Tolkiendils. Movie fans: Ringers.
MAIN HANGOUTS: TheOneRing.net is the main fan site. The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza is the main location for LOTR role-playing games and forums. The e-mail list Tolklang, active since 1990, focuses on the books’ languages, while two active newsgroups also from the early nineties,alt.fan.tolkien and rec.arts.books.tolkien, continue.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Fantasy aficionados introduced to the books at a young age and who have followed its family tree down as they have grown up, touching on role-playing games (both dice- and CPU-based), or similar sprawling literary series (perhaps Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, or, of course, Game of Thrones).
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: With the original novels released in 1955, Lord of the Rings had a dedicated fan base decades before Peter Jackson ever said “action” on the movies. The LOTR fan was not and is not a passive one; they're scholars, studying and eventually teaching college courses about the books. Then the movies came out in the early 2000s and the fan base grew exponentially. Some went back and read the books, some didn’t, but they were equally obsessive. It was at this time that the fans split into factions: new fans, old fans who liked the movies, and the Purists or the Old Guard who disliked Peter Jackson's work. As a result, a big part of being a fan nowadays is participating in the debates over decisions the filmmakers made about ambiguous parts of the books, like: "Do Balrogs have wings?" That being said, though the Old Guard prefers new fans read the books, deferential new fans are given respect within the community and play LOTR-themed role-playing games along with the Purists. The movies also led to a surge in LOTR vacationing from new and old fans alike. Since the first film's release, millions of fans have made the very expensive flight to New Zealand just to see where the films were shot. After shooting The Hobbit, Jackson helped make the Hobbiton set a permanent attraction, which will likely only increase visits.
Fans followed Jackson's filming of The Hobbit as carefully as they did the previous three films, with the director again working with TheOneRing.net to supply fans tidbits and updates, and acolytes are beside themselves with anticipation for the first movie, An Unexpected Journey, which opens on December 14. However, though Jackson is a hero to the community for his allegiance to Tolkien's epic source work in the last three films, there is some trepidation amongst the flock about his decision to turn what is a 310-page children's book into three films. But just as the Star Wars prequels did not have grown Jedi fans disavowing Empire Strikes Back, if the Hobbit trilogy proves disappointing, it won't taint the Tolkeinites' devotion to the books or earlierLOTR movies. For many of them, LOTR was their definitive entry point into a world of fantasy that they have been mesmerized with ever since: They play role-playing games and read/watch other fantasy because it shares a vocabulary that LOTR pioneered. Tolkien's work is elevated in their mind above all else because it was their first love. And when they find the soul mate who shares their first love, they can both drop more than $4,000 on two One Rings to seal the deal.
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5. Justin Bieber
POPULARITY: At age 18, has released three straight No. 1 albums (My World 2.0, Under the Mistletoe, Believe) and sold 15 million copies since 2010; racked up 786,712,923 (and counting) YouTube views of “Baby” since 2010; and made a 3-D concert film that earned $73 million domestically (and $30 million on its opening weekend). Sold $60 million worth of his two perfumes.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 46.8 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 28.8 million
FAN NICKNAME: Beliebers
MAIN HANGOUTS: The Bieberhood, Justin Bieber Tumblrs
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Girls under the age of 12 who are not ashamed to make videos crying about how they will never marry Justin Bieber. They love him above all else.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Once upon a time, adolescent girls papered their walls with Tiger Beat posters, memorizing the studio-approved factoids and quotes (JTT is going to Harvard! Devon Sawa likes macaroni and cheese!) that constituted a teen heartthrob's public personality. Imagine if you could apply that infatuation to a walking, talking, singing celebrity — someone who actually comes to life with one click of the YouTube "play" button. The result is Justin Bieber, the first teen idol of the Internet era and the first love of millions of American tweens.
They will scream through the entirety of his sold-out shows; they will mob his promotional appearances (to the point that Bieber regularly finds himself trapped in hotels while the local police attempt to disperse the crowd). "Boyfriend," his most recent music video, was viewed 17 million times within a week of its release; "Call Me Maybe," the (genius) Canadian pop song that Bieber tweeted out to his 28 million followers, spent nine weeks on the top of the Billboard Hot 100. All major pop stars have an army (or navy, in Rihanna’s case) of Twitter followers; Katy Perry and Rihanna sell millions of albums, too. But the difference is in the quality of worship. Justin Bieber is not just a singer; he is an imaginary, ever-present boyfriend to millions of tween Americans. Remember how you felt about your first crush? Exactly.
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4. Harry Potter
POPULARITY: Seven Harry Potter books are best-selling book series in history, with 450 million books in print; final installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds Guinness World Record for fastest-selling work of fiction in 24 hours (11 million copies in the U.S. and U.K.). Books are published in 73 languages, making J.K. Rowling one of most translated authors in history; eight films have grossed 7.7 billion dollars, making it highest-grossing film series of all time. Potter brand in its entirety is worth more than $15 billion.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 50.7 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 728,000
FAN NICKNAME: Potterheads, Potterites, Muggles (though some believe "Muggles" is a term for nonfans). The very vocal subset of fans who believe Harry and Hermione should have ended up together call themselves Harmonians.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Rowling's own Pottermore for interactive reading;Mugglenet and the Leaky Cauldron for news and forums; Fiction Alley for fan fiction; the Harry Potter Companion for fan art; Mugglecast, Pottercast, andPotter Pensieve for podcasts.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Although nominally children's fiction, the books have attracted a much broader readership — a fact the publishers have acknowledged by releasing separate covers for child and adult readers. Both the books and the films "age" with Harry, growing progressively darker as the series continues (thus the PG-13 ratings for the later films). But unlike most fantasy series (except those that focus on romance), the convention scene skews more female.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Outsiders predicted there would be a post-Potterdepression following the release of the last book and the last film, and yes, there might have been a slight slump at first, but the fandom quickly bounded back before you could say, "Accio wand!" Potter love has transcended the story's completion, especially with a new generation of converts discovering the books for the first time (which is why J.K. Rowling is still careful to avoid spoilers when she speaks). And while HP fans are happy to read (and reread) the books, part of the magic is feeling like they're part of Harry's world. They go to Pottermore to get assigned their house and wear their colors with pride, even if they've been put in Slytherin. They might have a wand at the ready, just in case. And robes. For the more elaborate props not available for purchase, fans make pilgrimages to museum exhibits, places featured in the films, and the HPamusement park in Orlando, where you can drink Butterbeer in Hogsmeade. But that's all if you're just kinda casual about it.
Serious fans aren't content to play tourist; creating something new, or placing Rowling's work in a new context, is what keeps the fandom's blood pumping. Fanfic for HP surpasses that of Star Trek, and it can get pretty pornographic — a lot of the slashfic involves pairings such as Harry/Draco, Hermione/Snape, even Dumbledore/Fawkes (and need we remind you Fawkes is a bird?).Parodies thrive, and there's much wrocking out to wizard rock — an indie underground innovated by the HP fandom that boasts some 500 bands. Rowling and Warner Bros. allow the bands to perform and sell CDs so long as they remain not-for-profit, which limits the growth of the genre, but that hasn't stopped other fandoms (Twilight, Hunger Games) from adopting the practice. Fans also play a real-world version of Quidditch — a bruising mash-up of rugby, basketball, and dodge ball, with brooms, of course, but no flying — and it's become an international sport, with 798 teams in the U.S. alone. That not dedicated enough for you? How about fans who have lightning bolts tattooed on their foreheads? Or who have legally changed their name to Draco? Fans may grumble that Pottermore isn't satisfying enough (too many technical hiccups!), and they debate whether Rowling shouldn't write another book after all — because loving Harry Potter is not something you grow out of.
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3. Twilight
POPULARITY: Books by Stephenie Meyer have sold well over 100 million copies worldwide; film adaptations are gigantic blockbusters in theaters and on home video; highest grosser Eclipse made $300 million domestically
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 35.2 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: More than 1 million
FAN NICKNAME: Twi-hards, Twilighters, Team Edward, Team Jacob
MAIN HANGOUTS: YouTube, where Twi-hards like "nuttymadam3575" can post tearful reaction videos, and Twilighted, where fan fiction flourishes (50 Shades of Grey famously got its start as thinly veiled Twilight fan fiction).
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Teenage girls and women in their twenties who like their romantic fiction to have some supernatural spark.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Every so often, Hollywood gets a reminder that young men aren’t the only ones who go to the movies in droves. It happened in 1997, when Titanic became a cross-demographic blockbuster that nonetheless earned most of its cash thanks to repeat business from young women. Still, the lesson didn’t truly sink in until 2008, when the first Twilight film earned a staggering $192 million from an audience that was almost exclusively female. The first film was well timed, arriving at the feverish peak of popularity for Meyer’s book series, and it made superstars of its three leads; the next three sequels would do even better, earning around $300 million each. Studios that had formerly been on the hunt for the next Harry Potter franchise now modified their search: Maybe, if they tracked the avid reading habits of young women, they could find the next book-to-film phenomenon in its infancy.
What was it about the Twilight series that fans sparked to? Partly, it's the way the series flirts with sex (the bloody transition from human to vamp is a metaphor for the loss of virginity) while still remaining chaste enough that younger fans can be drawn in … at least until Edward and Bella have their honeymoon night. But Meyer was smart to stoke her fans' passions with the central love triangle between Bella and her beaus Edward and Jacob; when battle lines were drawn online between those who were Team Edward and those on Team Jacob, it only increased the bond between the reader (or viewer) and Meyer's story. Twilight fans are so ardent, in fact, that geek mecca Comic-Con had to start slotting its Twilight panels earlier in the convention to suit the Twi-hards, who regularly queue up days in advance for the film franchise’s panels, swamping the less devoted fans of Marvel movies and other comic-book blockbusters. Those boy-heavy fan bases bristled at the intrusion, but they’d better get used to it: The record-breaking success of Twilight on the best seller list, at the box office, and on home video is only the beginning of a femme-dominated genre force, not an anomaly.
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2. Star Wars
POPULARITY: Seven Star Wars movies (two trilogies and the Clone Warsfilm) have grossed $4.5 billion around the world. Thirty-five years after the original movie came out, George Lucas’s spinoff industry includes toys, video games, CDs, books, TV series, cookie molds, Mr. Potato Heads, along with animated Clone Wars series, Dark Horse comic book, and seemingly ceaseless number of rereleases. Approximately 500,000 people around the globe listed Jedi Knight as their religion on official census forms.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 8.85 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 269,000
FAN NICKNAME: Warsies.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Official site Starwars.com, fan Mecca TheForce.net
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: The question, really: Who isn’t a Star Warsfan? It probably skews a bit more malethan female, given the abundance of boy toys in the seventies and eighties (and the original trilogy’s single female character), but the Expanded Universe’s more gender-neutral cast has balanced it out a bit. And it is one of the few continually renewing fandoms, given the geek tendency to want to spread the love to their spawn.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Much like Star Trek fans, Star Wars acolytes are everywhere, from the casual “May the Force Be With You”dropping guy, who occasionally pretends that he’s using the Force when the supermarket doors open, to the men and women of the 501st Legion, an international fan organization modeled after Darth Vader’s Stormtroopers, who have led the Rose Bowl parade and helped raise millions in charity. (Also, just head to your nearest search engine and peruse the approximately 4.4 million responses for “Star Wars tattoo.”) Lucas has encouraged the fans at every turn, lending his weight behind the Star Wars Celebration series of conventions, held since 1999, and fully supporting a robust fan-film community (provided no one charges money for people to view them), even holding an official Star Wars Fan Film Festival.
The ever-expanding universe through comics and TV shows continually gives fans new topics to scrutinize and debate, and Star Wars fans have a love-hate relationship with Lucas: For as much as he’s provided a formative, positive influence in their lives, the fact that he continues to “refine” the original trilogy with digital enhancements is a sore point: Just mention “Han Shot First” and strap in for a tirade that may or may not include the phrase “George Lucas raped my childhood.” However, the irony is that these apoplectic older fans usually have passed their Star Wars obsession to their children, who often prefer the prequels and tweaked originals that have so annoyed their parents. And so the two generations keep fan activity alive, whether through joy or disgruntlement.
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1. Game of Thrones
POPULARITY: George R.R. Martin's award-winning book series A Song of Ice and Fire (which begins with A Game of Thrones and has spread through five novels so far) is one of the best-selling fantasy sagas in the last decade, selling more than 15 million books worldwide, having been translated into more than 40 languages. Emmy-winning HBO series based on books is third-most-watched series in the history of the channel, averaging 10.3 million total viewers per episode; most pirated show of 2012.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 4.2 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 465,000
FAN NICKNAME: There isn't one umbrella moniker, but various fans dub themselves the Brotherhood Without Banners, the Bookwalkers (viewers of the TV series who have read the books), the Unsullied (viewers of the TV series who have not read the books), and the GRRuMblers (fans who wish George R.R. Martin would write faster).
MAIN HANGOUTS: Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net for news, forums, and roleplay; ToweroftheHand.com, for rereading the books;Podcastoficeandfire.com for podcasts.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Despite a nerd-alert review by the New YorkTimes that said it only appeals to “Dungeons & Dragons types,” aficionados of both the books and the TV series extend well beyond the fantasy crowd. The show reaches a broad audience, and the reader-viewer combo fans tend to be literate, creative, and patient — because they have to be: The last book was more than 1,000 pages long, after a wait of six years. Who knows how long it will be until book six, The Winds of Winter, arrives?
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Star Wars may have wider anthropological permanence, more cottage industries, and a wider age range of fans. Twilightmay induce more screams and tears. And Harry Potter may be a new rite of passage for children everywhere. But Game of Thrones has the most devoted fanbase of all because of the sheer surging might and immediacy of its readers (and viewers’) obsessiveness over a story that is still in the midst of unfolding. The main arcs behind the other giant franchises have been told, even if fans are still immersed in the movie follow-throughs or ancillary side mythologies. ButGoT fans feel like they are in the midst of the adventure; they are as anxious for the coming of winter as the series’ characters. It has driven some to extremes; Martin partly avoids online GoT forums because if he does bother to blog or respond to fan queries, people assume he's wasting valuable time that could be spent finishing the next book. This came to a head as six years dragged on between the fourth and fifth installment, which finally came out last year; fans were driven mad over the wait, leading to an impassioned defense of Martin by Neil Gaiman (which spawned the catchprase “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch”). These are people who adore the saga so much that they often anticipatorily resent its creator for the possibility that it might not end satisfyingly. (Or end at all.) They have too much invested in this saga to implicitly trust its very creator. To satiate and perhaps calm these nervous followers, Martin has been reading sample chapters aloud from Winds of Winter.
Fans who don't read the books, however, are unconcerned with these developments; their primary issue is one of spoilage, because readers have a tendency to dissect events before HBO even has a chance to shoot them (the Red Wedding is not really a wedding — discuss). But the two factions have brokered an uneasy peace and learned to trade theories (Who is Jon Snow's mother? Was Ned Stark even his father?). Genealogy matters in GoT, which is why who has sex with whom is a big deal and the source of much fanfic. (Fans love to imagine Jon Snow getting some action, though Martin is famously opposed to fan fiction.) To keep themselves warm as winter is coming (and it is coming, eventually!), GoT fans also keep busy expanding and modernizing the medieval world of Westeros, beyond the usual fan art and mash-ups, as inventive as those may be. The most devoted get tattoos of the house sigils. They buy replica swords and engage in on- and off-line role-playing games. They figure out the recipes for the food, write cookbooks, and serve up whole feasts of Dothraki goat, pork pies, and lemon cakes. Speaking of Dothraki, some fans actually learn to speak Dothraki, which became an entire constructed language à la Klingon from Star Trek or Quenya from Tolkien — but so far, no Valyrian beyond a few phrases. In short, though the Most Devoted Fans may be dying for a sixth book, they definitely keep themselves busy without it.
VULTURE
Sorry for the seemingly half-assed post; I kept getting error messages when I attempted to post the whole thing (it was too large, apparently).
24. The Real Housewives
23. Lil B
22. Stephen Colbert
21. Phish
20. Kevin Smith
19. Insane Clown Posse
18. Neil Gaiman
17. Bruce Springsteen
16. True Blood
15. Oprah
14. Star Trek
13. Community
12. Joss Whedon
11. Tyler Perry
10. Arrested Development
POPULARITY: Never a ratings hit, yet in three seasons picked up four Emmys and inspired countless catchphrases. Repeat streamed viewings so intense that Netflix funded new episodes six years after cancellation.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 1.6 million (plus hundreds of thousands of likes for the cast)
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: N/A
FAN NICKNAME: Analrapists. Just kidding; they don't have a nickname.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Mash-up Tumblrs that combine AD quotes or scenes with other shows: Game of Thrones, Mad Men, Mitt Romney, Downton Abbey,The Hobbit. And on and on and on.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Anyone who wants to go on an Internet date is legally required to list Arrested Development among their favorite shows.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: It's one thing to like a canceled show and wish it would come back. AD fans are the type who would take it straight to thepresident of the United States. The critically lauded Fox comedy had "cult favorite" stamped on it from day one and seemed endangered from day two. The Save Our Bluths campaign kicked into gear during the show's second season (a year-one Emmy win brought few new converts), and fans spent the entire shortened season three agitating for more support from Fox. AD was finally canceled, but then — like Family Guy before it — word of mouth finally kicked in through DVD viewings, and the posthumous cult grew.
After some Patient Zero in the cast or creator Mitch Hurwitz first floated the idea of a reunion movie, an endless feedback loop began thanks to the fact thatAD counted among its fans nearly every single entertainment journalist, who all wanted a movie as bad as anyone. They acted as representative interrogators for the people, and so every interview with every cast member for an unrelated project brought up the question of a possible film — and recall that for a time there, you couldn't swing a hooded sweatshirt without hitting a Michael Cera profile. The more the idea bubbled in the press, the more realistic the idea seemed, and in turn, fans upped their own agitation. Fan posters flooded the Internet, quote blogs popped up all over the place, Jason Bateman amassed 700,000 followers on Twitter, and rather than a handful of obscure performers reuniting at a minor convention of sorts, the entire cast gathered at the behest of The New Yorker. (Which led to the cast being asked about this mythical movie even more often.) It took six years, but eventually Netflix, seeing just how many people were re-watching the original 53 episodes via streaming, realized that there's always money in a banana stand and green-lighted a fourth season. (Thereby jump-starting the hopes and dreams of Party Down fans: All things are possible!) Now that they've brought the show back from the dead, ADfans have turned their attention to bringing back one of their favorite characters, Mr. Steve Holt. (Steve Holt!) Once they save Steve Holt, everything will be right in the Bluth universe.
9. Doctor Who
POPULARITY: Holds Guinness World Record as world’s longest-running science-fiction television show, having debuted in 1963; currently broadcast in about 50 countries; current run launched in 2005, has won 30 BAFTAs, and six Hugo Awards; most downloaded series in the U.S. on iTunes in 2011.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 2.7 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 263,000
FAN NICKNAME: The term “Whovian” has been in use since the eighties.
MAIN HANGOUTS: It can take an hour to sift through just one labyrinthine, 30-page thread on the message boards of Gallifrey Base. For more daily updates, there’s the Base’s sister site, the Doctor Who News Page.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: In the U.K., Doctor Who was always a family program. However, in the U.S., the show's earlier incarnations were mostly embraced by sci-fi-loving men who discovered it on PBS in the eighties. But since its 2005 revival, it has steadily continued finding a wider and larger audience; it now has a notably large female following, compared to other long-running sci-fi properties.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: From fan-run conventions (Gallifrey One in Los Angeles has staged an event yearly since 1990), to myriad fanzines (the Doctor Who Club of Australia has published more than 200 issues of Data Extractsince 1980), and the stylish production of numerous fan films (the third and final part of a reimagining of the lost 1966 serial “The Power of the Daleks” was recently released online), the Doctor Who fan appears to be as resourceful as the series' time-traveling protagonist.
In fact, it was fans who kept the Doctor alive in the U.K. when the BBC canceled the show in 1989 until its reboot in 2005: The TV network, seeing no value to its defunct character, let fans write a series of novels starting in 1991 and, further down the road, permitted a former Doctor Who Magazine editor to produce further audio adventures for CD and download, voiced by old cast members. Both of these enterprises continue today with many of the same fan players behind the scenes, and with each brand counting their numerous releases well into the hundreds. While they’ve become viable arms of Doctor Who, what’s noteworthy is how both were key to keeping the Whoniverse alive and in the public consciousness for the sixteen lean years the series wasn’t on the air. The line between Doctor Who fan and professional has, in modern times, frequently been a blurry one. One of the writers of that initial series of novels? None other than Russell T Davies, the man who so successfully reenvisoned Doctor Who in 2005 for modern TV audiences.
So, as the fans continue to commune, create and debate (as with the undying question of the ages: Which of the eleven actors who have played the Doctor is the best?), it's clear that this vibrant community will keep on doing so well after the series has someday ended. And then, just as a new actor has always emerged to take over the TARDIS, perhaps an enterprising fan will step forward to revive and reinvent the Doctor for TV once again.
8. Lady Gaga
POPULARITY: Estimated 23 million albums and 64 million singles sold worldwide; the Monster Ball Tour was the fifteenth-highest-grossing tour ever and highest-grossing tour by a debut headlining artist, grossing about $227.4 million over 200 shows. Has 174,103,423 YouTube channel views.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 53 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 30 million
FAN NICKNAME: Little Monsters
MAIN HANGOUTS: LittleMonsters.com, GagaDaily.com, LadyGagaNow.Net
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Though her songs appeal to moms, too, the core Monsters are gays and younger women.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: On a 2011 episode of SNL, Lady Gaga was in a sketch with Justin Timberlake called “What’s That Name?”, a game show in which the two singers had to remember various people's names. The main joke was that the aloof Timberlake didn't know the names of Chris Kirkpatrick or a girl with whom he recently had sex, yet Gaga not only instantly recognized Alphonse, a random fan who went to her “monster show,” but she then offered to pay for his sister’s medical bills. The point was simple: Lady Gaga is a megastar woman of the people: She’s Mama Monster but also one of them.
Her willingness to be open with her insecurities cements her bond with her fans, many of them high-schoolers going through the most insecure time of their lives: Recently, they rallied around her en masse on her site when she opened up about her history of struggling with anorexia and bulimia, commiserating and empowering her and each other with their own experiences with the disorder. The perception is she'll do anything for her Little Monsters (whether through donating to charities that matter to them or dancing until she throws up), but her frankness about her own issues cues her fans that she needs them as much as they need her: This isn’t just about idolizing a pop star — they’re all in it together. So, they follow — her every word on Twitter — where she has by far the most followers; bring her very personal gifts at arena shows; spend hours Photoshopping her into a fabulous unicorn; and dress up like her atconcerts, pride parades, and Halloween. She has been the most popular Halloween costume consistently for the past three years, selling in the millions. Not to mention the many who fabricate their own. It's not an easy costume to make (where will you find all those Kermits?) but, to her fans, it’s less of a costume than a uniform.
7. Hunger Games
POPULARITY: Suzanne Colllins’s book trilogy is Amazon’s best-selling series of all time, while the 2012 film counterpart had the fifth-biggest opening weekend in history ($152.5 million domestic) and became the thirteenth-biggest-grossing domestic movie of all time ($408 million). Has inspired countless tie-ins (a cookbook, a sports club workout, a $999 Mockingjay pin).
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 7.8 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 657,000
FAN NICKNAME: Tributes
MAIN HANGOUTS: Mockingjay.net, Hunger Games Tumblrs
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Female, teen, or teen at heart. Thanks to better writing and kid-on-kid violence, the franchise attracts a wider following than its vampire counterpart, Twilight, but the core audience is still young women.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Mere hours after Jennifer Lawrence was cast as the big-screen Katniss in 2011, the forums were rumbling: She's not skinny enough! She's too fair-skinned! Her hair is (gasp) blonde! The immediate outrage over Lawrence — a 20-year-old Oscar nominee and an obviously talented actress — was about fidelity; Collins's books enthralled young readers (and the elders who read along with them) because of their precise, horrifying detail. So cue the ever-vigilant Hunger Games fan Tumblr, which monitors casting notices and opines daily about which actors meet the exacting specifications of the source material for the upcoming sequels. They post set photos and analyze costume and makeup decisions. They speculate endlessly about which minor characters will or will not make it into the movie.
And though it is young adults (read: teen girls) who participate most enthusiastically in this online behavior, the Hunger Games phenomenon has overtaken their elders, too. It is hard to find a parent without an opinion on the franchise's violence or a twentysomething female without an opinion on Gale versus Peeta. Most crucially, it is near-impossible to meet anyone who has not seen the movie: The widespread book-to-movie obsession resulted in an astounding opening and toppled all previous Twilight records. Should there be any doubt about continued interest, just consult the fan sites, where a never-ending war rages on about the physical embodiment of Finnick Odair and whether Sam Claflin is fit to play him. (Spoiler alert: He is probably not. But a record number of moviegoers will buy tickets to find out.)
6. Lord of the Rings
POPULARITY: Saga considered the third best-selling novel ever written (J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit is fourth), with more than 150 million copies sold; films grossed more than $2.91 billion worldwide and garnered 30 Academy Award nominations, winning seventeen, including Return of the King’s Best Picture win.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 10.4 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: N/A, but this random J.R.R. Tolkien Twitter has 32,700 followers
FAN NICKNAME: For fans of the books: Tolkienites or Tolkiendils. Movie fans: Ringers.
MAIN HANGOUTS: TheOneRing.net is the main fan site. The Lord of the Rings Fanatics Plaza is the main location for LOTR role-playing games and forums. The e-mail list Tolklang, active since 1990, focuses on the books’ languages, while two active newsgroups also from the early nineties,alt.fan.tolkien and rec.arts.books.tolkien, continue.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Fantasy aficionados introduced to the books at a young age and who have followed its family tree down as they have grown up, touching on role-playing games (both dice- and CPU-based), or similar sprawling literary series (perhaps Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, or, of course, Game of Thrones).
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: With the original novels released in 1955, Lord of the Rings had a dedicated fan base decades before Peter Jackson ever said “action” on the movies. The LOTR fan was not and is not a passive one; they're scholars, studying and eventually teaching college courses about the books. Then the movies came out in the early 2000s and the fan base grew exponentially. Some went back and read the books, some didn’t, but they were equally obsessive. It was at this time that the fans split into factions: new fans, old fans who liked the movies, and the Purists or the Old Guard who disliked Peter Jackson's work. As a result, a big part of being a fan nowadays is participating in the debates over decisions the filmmakers made about ambiguous parts of the books, like: "Do Balrogs have wings?" That being said, though the Old Guard prefers new fans read the books, deferential new fans are given respect within the community and play LOTR-themed role-playing games along with the Purists. The movies also led to a surge in LOTR vacationing from new and old fans alike. Since the first film's release, millions of fans have made the very expensive flight to New Zealand just to see where the films were shot. After shooting The Hobbit, Jackson helped make the Hobbiton set a permanent attraction, which will likely only increase visits.
Fans followed Jackson's filming of The Hobbit as carefully as they did the previous three films, with the director again working with TheOneRing.net to supply fans tidbits and updates, and acolytes are beside themselves with anticipation for the first movie, An Unexpected Journey, which opens on December 14. However, though Jackson is a hero to the community for his allegiance to Tolkien's epic source work in the last three films, there is some trepidation amongst the flock about his decision to turn what is a 310-page children's book into three films. But just as the Star Wars prequels did not have grown Jedi fans disavowing Empire Strikes Back, if the Hobbit trilogy proves disappointing, it won't taint the Tolkeinites' devotion to the books or earlierLOTR movies. For many of them, LOTR was their definitive entry point into a world of fantasy that they have been mesmerized with ever since: They play role-playing games and read/watch other fantasy because it shares a vocabulary that LOTR pioneered. Tolkien's work is elevated in their mind above all else because it was their first love. And when they find the soul mate who shares their first love, they can both drop more than $4,000 on two One Rings to seal the deal.
5. Justin Bieber
POPULARITY: At age 18, has released three straight No. 1 albums (My World 2.0, Under the Mistletoe, Believe) and sold 15 million copies since 2010; racked up 786,712,923 (and counting) YouTube views of “Baby” since 2010; and made a 3-D concert film that earned $73 million domestically (and $30 million on its opening weekend). Sold $60 million worth of his two perfumes.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 46.8 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 28.8 million
FAN NICKNAME: Beliebers
MAIN HANGOUTS: The Bieberhood, Justin Bieber Tumblrs
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Girls under the age of 12 who are not ashamed to make videos crying about how they will never marry Justin Bieber. They love him above all else.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Once upon a time, adolescent girls papered their walls with Tiger Beat posters, memorizing the studio-approved factoids and quotes (JTT is going to Harvard! Devon Sawa likes macaroni and cheese!) that constituted a teen heartthrob's public personality. Imagine if you could apply that infatuation to a walking, talking, singing celebrity — someone who actually comes to life with one click of the YouTube "play" button. The result is Justin Bieber, the first teen idol of the Internet era and the first love of millions of American tweens.
They will scream through the entirety of his sold-out shows; they will mob his promotional appearances (to the point that Bieber regularly finds himself trapped in hotels while the local police attempt to disperse the crowd). "Boyfriend," his most recent music video, was viewed 17 million times within a week of its release; "Call Me Maybe," the (genius) Canadian pop song that Bieber tweeted out to his 28 million followers, spent nine weeks on the top of the Billboard Hot 100. All major pop stars have an army (or navy, in Rihanna’s case) of Twitter followers; Katy Perry and Rihanna sell millions of albums, too. But the difference is in the quality of worship. Justin Bieber is not just a singer; he is an imaginary, ever-present boyfriend to millions of tween Americans. Remember how you felt about your first crush? Exactly.
4. Harry Potter
POPULARITY: Seven Harry Potter books are best-selling book series in history, with 450 million books in print; final installment Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows holds Guinness World Record for fastest-selling work of fiction in 24 hours (11 million copies in the U.S. and U.K.). Books are published in 73 languages, making J.K. Rowling one of most translated authors in history; eight films have grossed 7.7 billion dollars, making it highest-grossing film series of all time. Potter brand in its entirety is worth more than $15 billion.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 50.7 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 728,000
FAN NICKNAME: Potterheads, Potterites, Muggles (though some believe "Muggles" is a term for nonfans). The very vocal subset of fans who believe Harry and Hermione should have ended up together call themselves Harmonians.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Rowling's own Pottermore for interactive reading;Mugglenet and the Leaky Cauldron for news and forums; Fiction Alley for fan fiction; the Harry Potter Companion for fan art; Mugglecast, Pottercast, andPotter Pensieve for podcasts.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Although nominally children's fiction, the books have attracted a much broader readership — a fact the publishers have acknowledged by releasing separate covers for child and adult readers. Both the books and the films "age" with Harry, growing progressively darker as the series continues (thus the PG-13 ratings for the later films). But unlike most fantasy series (except those that focus on romance), the convention scene skews more female.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Outsiders predicted there would be a post-Potterdepression following the release of the last book and the last film, and yes, there might have been a slight slump at first, but the fandom quickly bounded back before you could say, "Accio wand!" Potter love has transcended the story's completion, especially with a new generation of converts discovering the books for the first time (which is why J.K. Rowling is still careful to avoid spoilers when she speaks). And while HP fans are happy to read (and reread) the books, part of the magic is feeling like they're part of Harry's world. They go to Pottermore to get assigned their house and wear their colors with pride, even if they've been put in Slytherin. They might have a wand at the ready, just in case. And robes. For the more elaborate props not available for purchase, fans make pilgrimages to museum exhibits, places featured in the films, and the HPamusement park in Orlando, where you can drink Butterbeer in Hogsmeade. But that's all if you're just kinda casual about it.
Serious fans aren't content to play tourist; creating something new, or placing Rowling's work in a new context, is what keeps the fandom's blood pumping. Fanfic for HP surpasses that of Star Trek, and it can get pretty pornographic — a lot of the slashfic involves pairings such as Harry/Draco, Hermione/Snape, even Dumbledore/Fawkes (and need we remind you Fawkes is a bird?).Parodies thrive, and there's much wrocking out to wizard rock — an indie underground innovated by the HP fandom that boasts some 500 bands. Rowling and Warner Bros. allow the bands to perform and sell CDs so long as they remain not-for-profit, which limits the growth of the genre, but that hasn't stopped other fandoms (Twilight, Hunger Games) from adopting the practice. Fans also play a real-world version of Quidditch — a bruising mash-up of rugby, basketball, and dodge ball, with brooms, of course, but no flying — and it's become an international sport, with 798 teams in the U.S. alone. That not dedicated enough for you? How about fans who have lightning bolts tattooed on their foreheads? Or who have legally changed their name to Draco? Fans may grumble that Pottermore isn't satisfying enough (too many technical hiccups!), and they debate whether Rowling shouldn't write another book after all — because loving Harry Potter is not something you grow out of.
3. Twilight
POPULARITY: Books by Stephenie Meyer have sold well over 100 million copies worldwide; film adaptations are gigantic blockbusters in theaters and on home video; highest grosser Eclipse made $300 million domestically
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 35.2 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: More than 1 million
FAN NICKNAME: Twi-hards, Twilighters, Team Edward, Team Jacob
MAIN HANGOUTS: YouTube, where Twi-hards like "nuttymadam3575" can post tearful reaction videos, and Twilighted, where fan fiction flourishes (50 Shades of Grey famously got its start as thinly veiled Twilight fan fiction).
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Teenage girls and women in their twenties who like their romantic fiction to have some supernatural spark.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Every so often, Hollywood gets a reminder that young men aren’t the only ones who go to the movies in droves. It happened in 1997, when Titanic became a cross-demographic blockbuster that nonetheless earned most of its cash thanks to repeat business from young women. Still, the lesson didn’t truly sink in until 2008, when the first Twilight film earned a staggering $192 million from an audience that was almost exclusively female. The first film was well timed, arriving at the feverish peak of popularity for Meyer’s book series, and it made superstars of its three leads; the next three sequels would do even better, earning around $300 million each. Studios that had formerly been on the hunt for the next Harry Potter franchise now modified their search: Maybe, if they tracked the avid reading habits of young women, they could find the next book-to-film phenomenon in its infancy.
What was it about the Twilight series that fans sparked to? Partly, it's the way the series flirts with sex (the bloody transition from human to vamp is a metaphor for the loss of virginity) while still remaining chaste enough that younger fans can be drawn in … at least until Edward and Bella have their honeymoon night. But Meyer was smart to stoke her fans' passions with the central love triangle between Bella and her beaus Edward and Jacob; when battle lines were drawn online between those who were Team Edward and those on Team Jacob, it only increased the bond between the reader (or viewer) and Meyer's story. Twilight fans are so ardent, in fact, that geek mecca Comic-Con had to start slotting its Twilight panels earlier in the convention to suit the Twi-hards, who regularly queue up days in advance for the film franchise’s panels, swamping the less devoted fans of Marvel movies and other comic-book blockbusters. Those boy-heavy fan bases bristled at the intrusion, but they’d better get used to it: The record-breaking success of Twilight on the best seller list, at the box office, and on home video is only the beginning of a femme-dominated genre force, not an anomaly.
2. Star Wars
POPULARITY: Seven Star Wars movies (two trilogies and the Clone Warsfilm) have grossed $4.5 billion around the world. Thirty-five years after the original movie came out, George Lucas’s spinoff industry includes toys, video games, CDs, books, TV series, cookie molds, Mr. Potato Heads, along with animated Clone Wars series, Dark Horse comic book, and seemingly ceaseless number of rereleases. Approximately 500,000 people around the globe listed Jedi Knight as their religion on official census forms.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 8.85 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 269,000
FAN NICKNAME: Warsies.
MAIN HANGOUTS: Official site Starwars.com, fan Mecca TheForce.net
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: The question, really: Who isn’t a Star Warsfan? It probably skews a bit more malethan female, given the abundance of boy toys in the seventies and eighties (and the original trilogy’s single female character), but the Expanded Universe’s more gender-neutral cast has balanced it out a bit. And it is one of the few continually renewing fandoms, given the geek tendency to want to spread the love to their spawn.
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Much like Star Trek fans, Star Wars acolytes are everywhere, from the casual “May the Force Be With You”dropping guy, who occasionally pretends that he’s using the Force when the supermarket doors open, to the men and women of the 501st Legion, an international fan organization modeled after Darth Vader’s Stormtroopers, who have led the Rose Bowl parade and helped raise millions in charity. (Also, just head to your nearest search engine and peruse the approximately 4.4 million responses for “Star Wars tattoo.”) Lucas has encouraged the fans at every turn, lending his weight behind the Star Wars Celebration series of conventions, held since 1999, and fully supporting a robust fan-film community (provided no one charges money for people to view them), even holding an official Star Wars Fan Film Festival.
The ever-expanding universe through comics and TV shows continually gives fans new topics to scrutinize and debate, and Star Wars fans have a love-hate relationship with Lucas: For as much as he’s provided a formative, positive influence in their lives, the fact that he continues to “refine” the original trilogy with digital enhancements is a sore point: Just mention “Han Shot First” and strap in for a tirade that may or may not include the phrase “George Lucas raped my childhood.” However, the irony is that these apoplectic older fans usually have passed their Star Wars obsession to their children, who often prefer the prequels and tweaked originals that have so annoyed their parents. And so the two generations keep fan activity alive, whether through joy or disgruntlement.
1. Game of Thrones
POPULARITY: George R.R. Martin's award-winning book series A Song of Ice and Fire (which begins with A Game of Thrones and has spread through five novels so far) is one of the best-selling fantasy sagas in the last decade, selling more than 15 million books worldwide, having been translated into more than 40 languages. Emmy-winning HBO series based on books is third-most-watched series in the history of the channel, averaging 10.3 million total viewers per episode; most pirated show of 2012.
FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 4.2 million
TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 465,000
FAN NICKNAME: There isn't one umbrella moniker, but various fans dub themselves the Brotherhood Without Banners, the Bookwalkers (viewers of the TV series who have read the books), the Unsullied (viewers of the TV series who have not read the books), and the GRRuMblers (fans who wish George R.R. Martin would write faster).
MAIN HANGOUTS: Westeros.org and WinterIsComing.net for news, forums, and roleplay; ToweroftheHand.com, for rereading the books;Podcastoficeandfire.com for podcasts.
AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Despite a nerd-alert review by the New YorkTimes that said it only appeals to “Dungeons & Dragons types,” aficionados of both the books and the TV series extend well beyond the fantasy crowd. The show reaches a broad audience, and the reader-viewer combo fans tend to be literate, creative, and patient — because they have to be: The last book was more than 1,000 pages long, after a wait of six years. Who knows how long it will be until book six, The Winds of Winter, arrives?
DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: Star Wars may have wider anthropological permanence, more cottage industries, and a wider age range of fans. Twilightmay induce more screams and tears. And Harry Potter may be a new rite of passage for children everywhere. But Game of Thrones has the most devoted fanbase of all because of the sheer surging might and immediacy of its readers (and viewers’) obsessiveness over a story that is still in the midst of unfolding. The main arcs behind the other giant franchises have been told, even if fans are still immersed in the movie follow-throughs or ancillary side mythologies. ButGoT fans feel like they are in the midst of the adventure; they are as anxious for the coming of winter as the series’ characters. It has driven some to extremes; Martin partly avoids online GoT forums because if he does bother to blog or respond to fan queries, people assume he's wasting valuable time that could be spent finishing the next book. This came to a head as six years dragged on between the fourth and fifth installment, which finally came out last year; fans were driven mad over the wait, leading to an impassioned defense of Martin by Neil Gaiman (which spawned the catchprase “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch”). These are people who adore the saga so much that they often anticipatorily resent its creator for the possibility that it might not end satisfyingly. (Or end at all.) They have too much invested in this saga to implicitly trust its very creator. To satiate and perhaps calm these nervous followers, Martin has been reading sample chapters aloud from Winds of Winter.
Fans who don't read the books, however, are unconcerned with these developments; their primary issue is one of spoilage, because readers have a tendency to dissect events before HBO even has a chance to shoot them (the Red Wedding is not really a wedding — discuss). But the two factions have brokered an uneasy peace and learned to trade theories (Who is Jon Snow's mother? Was Ned Stark even his father?). Genealogy matters in GoT, which is why who has sex with whom is a big deal and the source of much fanfic. (Fans love to imagine Jon Snow getting some action, though Martin is famously opposed to fan fiction.) To keep themselves warm as winter is coming (and it is coming, eventually!), GoT fans also keep busy expanding and modernizing the medieval world of Westeros, beyond the usual fan art and mash-ups, as inventive as those may be. The most devoted get tattoos of the house sigils. They buy replica swords and engage in on- and off-line role-playing games. They figure out the recipes for the food, write cookbooks, and serve up whole feasts of Dothraki goat, pork pies, and lemon cakes. Speaking of Dothraki, some fans actually learn to speak Dothraki, which became an entire constructed language à la Klingon from Star Trek or Quenya from Tolkien — but so far, no Valyrian beyond a few phrases. In short, though the Most Devoted Fans may be dying for a sixth book, they definitely keep themselves busy without it.
VULTURE
Sorry for the seemingly half-assed post; I kept getting error messages when I attempted to post the whole thing (it was too large, apparently).