darkSpyro

like it or not MLP fandom spread through the Internet fast and hard. do you see another fandom going to be like that, and what would that fandom be?

Steven Universe right now. It's going through the same phase and also the same growing pains of the fandom. Just at a different part of the internet and with a different demographic.

Also to a shorter extent FNAF but I'm starting to think that's on its way out.

Maybe Star vs the Forces of Evil

League of Legends seems like a popular game at the moment. I've never played though and don't intend to. But it was everywhere at the previous con I went to and a lot of people cosplayed from it. :\

Steven Universe appears on my dash a lot, so definitely that. It seems like it's more popular on tumblr than anywhere else though lol. Gravity Falls is pretty popular atm too, at a lesser extent. Adventure Time and My Little Pony are still popular but I think the fandom is slowly dying now.

Homestuck was another one back in like, 2010, and I think the fandom was at it's peak in 2012. It's a shame the fandom has died now. But it's no surprising considering the constant pauses and the fact that it's still going, and it really sucks now after the giant pause (the fandom sucks now too, and has gotten worse).

minions

I kinda thought Jurassic World would be bigger than it was :/

Frozen.

and kh3 might become popular again once the third game finally gets released. although that's more just me hoping that it will lmao.

I would say and agree with others that Steven Universe is pretty big at the moment. I don't really see why, it doesn't entertain me. But don't take me wrong, I'm fine with others going all fanboy/Girl on about it.

Quote: xXBeavcoonXx

I kinda thought Jurassic World would be bigger than it was :/

Well it did become the third highest grossing movie of all time

Quote: StriderSwag

minions

Maybe in the larger more general pop culture sure but even there there's loads of people who are already clearly sick of them (pretty much all us edgy teens and young adults).

I think he's asking about the next big, online based underground fandom akin to what bronies were (huge online but not necessarily that big outside it).

Quote: DarkCynder_543

Frozen.

and kh3 might become popular again once the third game finally gets released. although that's more just me hoping that it will lmao.

KH is more popular than most people realise already (even Square Enix and Disney have admitted this), but yeah, KH3 will be huge. It's one of the most hyped games period right now, on any system, and a lot of people want a PS4 just for it. It's going to be everywhere when it comes out, and especially when we see the inevitable Frozen world.

I feel like it'll be something that hasn't been made yet tbh. Like there are a few reboot shows that are supposed to be airing soon, so maybe something like that? I dunno.

Maybe the sherlock Fandom will grow if it ever freaking comes back

Straight Outta Compton Yuri/Yaoi incoming

Either Minions (wouldnt surprise me) or an entire Frozen Fandom when Frozen 2 comes out

I have a feeling Hetalia'll come back because of its new season out soon
Or Star vs the Forces of Evil or Steven Universe
Though FNAF might make a comeback somehow too

Some indy horror game in the future.

Quote: Samius

I have no idea. I think the MLP fandom will be around for a long time still. Hasbro certainly won't stop coming up with things for them to pay for.

Then there are the Bronies who don't buy anything #Guilty

Quote: Samius

I have no idea. I think the MLP fandom will be around for a long time still. Hasbro certainly won't stop coming up with things for them to pay for.

Yeah but as far as being the big fandom on the internet is concerned bronies have had their time. More and more prominent figures are leaving the fanbase while seemingly less people are stepping up to take their place. And while I'm out of the loop the fanbase seems to universally think the show is starting to drop in quality (though from what I've seen I think it's just fine).

Meanwhile Steven Universe is a wildfire on tumblr that doesn't seem to show signs of stopping. Expect it to be the new big thing for the next couple of years.

Quote: CAV

Meanwhile Steven Universe is a wildfire on tumblr that doesn't seem to show signs of stopping. Expect it to be the new big thing for the next couple of years.

****ing SU... yay...

If you ask me, less merchandise is pretty much a good thing. It's probably not going to happen that I start hating SU, but I can easily get tired of something if it's being shoved in my face everywhere.

Quote: Sleepy0429

****ing SU... yay...

Thought you liked Malachite…

Quote: Samius

Quote: CAV

Quote: Samius

I have no idea. I think the MLP fandom will be around for a long time still. Hasbro certainly won't stop coming up with things for them to pay for.

Yeah but as far as being the big fandom on the internet is concerned bronies have had their time. More and more prominent figures are leaving the fanbase while seemingly less people are stepping up to take their place. And while I'm out of the loop the fanbase seems to universally think the show is starting to drop in quality (though from what I've seen I think it's just fine).

Meanwhile Steven Universe is a wildfire on tumblr that doesn't seem to show signs of stopping. Expect it to be the new big thing for the next couple of years.

I don't doubt that tumblr is all over it. For that exact reason I also don't think it'll ever grow up to be as big a thing as MLP is (or rather, was).
People probably won't like me saying this, but the direction and the focus of social media has always been mostly dictated by the medium of young men. This is because of the fact that most of the content creators are young men, and the simple fact that there are more men than women online.
If I'm not completely mistaken (which I might be), the active tumblr userbase is mostly female. Their perceived focus is largely dictated by that majority.

And no, this doesn't mean that men couldn't like the show, but I seriously doubt that it will reach the same amount of visibility. Which is what we're looking for here, right?

Again, this is just my assessment of the situation. I can't claim with 100% certainty that this is what will happen.

If we are going by gender appeal logic, Steven Universe has a much easier time appealing to men than MLP does. While the majority of characters are female, the main protagonist isn't. And the females are generally portrayed as fairly cool and powerful and not overly feminine for the most part, unlike with MLP which is just super girly in general. Steven Universe is also structured more like an anime, in that it actually has ongoing story arcs and character development across the whole show. As opposed to MLP, which for the most part, is just girls doing girly things.

Though maybe the girlyness of MLP is what made it take off so much. Guys liked it and made a big deal out of it because "OMG I LIKE PONIES????".

Ah, I get what you mean.

Still, while Steven Universe isn't quite at MLP level yet, it's getting there. Unlike MLP, the female characters are of a broad range of body archetypes and actually resemble humans, and have a lot of sensual interactions in the show. MLP did partially catch on to a lot of young men because of some weird fetish stuff. I can see SU catching on for similar reasons (in fact it already has), since the female characters fit under a wide range of body types to begin with, while MLP had all of the ponies look more or less the same, and the fetishistic side of the fandom had to make up anthro bodytypes for them.



As well as that, like I mentioned, SU has a lot of similarities to and influences from Japanese anime, in both certain visual stylistic choices, and in the style of it's narrative. It's lore and the laws of it's universe can actually be fairly complex and convoluted at times, and young men tend to love that kind of thing. It also has a lot of DBZ-esque action sequences (not to mention borrowing the concept of "fusion" pretty much straight outta DBZ), and well, we know how popular that is.

Even just looking at promotional posters for SU and MLP, I'd easily say it more immediately appeals to the "16-30 year old men" age demographic than MLP does.

Quote: Samius

I don't doubt that tumblr is all over it. For that exact reason I also don't think it'll ever grow up to be as big a thing as MLP is (or rather, was).
People probably won't like me saying this, but the direction and the focus of social media has always been mostly dictated by the medium of young men. This is because of the fact that most of the content creators are young men, and the simple fact that there are more men than women online.
If I'm not completely mistaken (which I might be), the active tumblr userbase is mostly female. Their perceived focus is largely dictated by that majority.

And no, this doesn't mean that men couldn't like the show, but I seriously doubt that it will reach the same amount of visibility. Which is what we're looking for here, right?

Again, this is just my assessment of the situation. I can't claim with 100% certainty that this is what will happen.

Yes, and at the same time no. While tumblr probably likely is predominantly female, that can still allow it to spread pretty far and fast (at least enough to where someone like my IRL best friend (male) demands that I check the show out). And the fact that Steven Universe is by default more gender neutral in appeal and design (and apparently even in character?) means it'll have a considerably easier time gaining large appeal compared to MLP.

No matter how bronies want to say "FAUST SAID IT'S FOR EVERYONE", MLP by design is geared towards younger females and older crowds (particularly men) getting into it is nothing short of a freak miracle. And while it definitely spread large and fast to where it was a staple of Hot Topic and the like it was also met with vicious opposition that balanced it out (you would never see MLP on the front page of Imgur, for example). Other people who weren't into the show saw fans of the show as freaks and against the norm that shouldn't be watching a show like that, and rarely did they budge. MLP got as big as it did but it also had a mountain of hatred behind it.

Steven Universe on the other hand doesn't or shouldn't have this problem. Like most Cartoon Network shows past and present SU isn't meant to appeal specifically to boys or girls, but rather everyone. It's not extremely geared towards one gender or demographic, and people outside the loop may not (and do not) have much issue with people liking that show. It seems honestly not much different from liking Adventure Time (though that seems more towards boys). I just don't see people strongly opposing the show SU like they did MLP. I only ever see hate for the fanbase, and that's a sentiment that exists even with people who enjoy the show, so that's some growing pains they'll have to deal with over time.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a guarantee that Steven Universe will match the popularity and near epidemic craze that MLP had. But it's certainly in a better position for it than MLP frankly had any right to be. MLP is a good show (and I don't understand why people who talk about good modern cartoon shows like to exclude it) but the brony culture is a niche that happened to explode and spread everywhere. SU isn't really a niche since by default it truly does seem to be for everyone. And while you can say the same for shows like Wander Over Yonder or Regular Show, SU already has a sizable (and loud) following to back it up.

Quote: AvatariDragon

I dunno man, MLP seemed to pretty much explode with popularity. It was like you couldn't go anywhere, online and IRL, without seeing a bunch of stuff related to it. To this day I still see stores selling the stuff. Steven Universe might be popular on tumblr yeah (although tbh I hardly ever see stuff about it but maybe it's because the blogs I follow don't post about it), but it hasn't really reached the MLP level imo. Like it's already been out for like two years and I really don't hear about it all that much except for when someone on here posts about it. Maybe it'll just take more time sort of like MLP, but I don't really see it happening tbh.

I'm just noticing a slight pattern. Honestly the big one in mind is how from the start some dS users started adopting SU avatars (similar to what happened with MLP here). And now it's reaching a point where it's often mentioned among reasons why modern cartoons are great, and tumblr is all over it, and I've heard of so much drama pertaining to it (again similar to the growing pains of bronies).

I could very well be wrong. But as far as what we currently have right now, SU is probably the best candidate.

EDIT:

Quote: Samius

What you said might be the case if we were talking about preteens. Preteens are way more divided in their interests due to their gender than any other age group is. I've never even heard of a preteen male MLP fan, but a lot of them might like a show like Steven Universe. This is because little boys hate stuff that seem girly and vice versa.

They do exist out there (and I recall there actually being a story of one attempting suicide because of the ensuing harassment), so it's not like preteen boys can't or don't like the show.

That said however, go to a convention like I have and you'll tend to get the idea of who watches the show. Men our age. Women our age or older. Couples. Parents who got into the show as much as their children did. I recall someone at the con who looked in his 60s and had the same glowing expression of a child or teen when asking Nicole Oliver (Celestia) a question at the Q&A.

So for the most part you're right but MLP's appeal has somehow been almost universal. Though it is predominantly the young adult males who go crazy about the show and made it into what it is today.

Quote: StormDragon21

If you ask me, less merchandise is pretty much a good thing. It's probably not going to happen that I start hating SU, but I can easily get tired of something if it's being shoved in my face everywhere.

Quote: Sleepy0429

****ing SU... yay...

Thought you liked Malachite…

I do but I hate big fandoms. That is why I love Godzilla and the fandom.

Something a YouTuber will play and it'll get a huge following just because of that

i like steven universe and i know a lot of people in and out of real life who do so

Quote: CAV

Quote: Samius

I don't doubt that tumblr is all over it. For that exact reason I also don't think it'll ever grow up to be as big a thing as MLP is (or rather, was).
People probably won't like me saying this, but the direction and the focus of social media has always been mostly dictated by the medium of young men. This is because of the fact that most of the content creators are young men, and the simple fact that there are more men than women online.
If I'm not completely mistaken (which I might be), the active tumblr userbase is mostly female. Their perceived focus is largely dictated by that majority.

And no, this doesn't mean that men couldn't like the show, but I seriously doubt that it will reach the same amount of visibility. Which is what we're looking for here, right?

Again, this is just my assessment of the situation. I can't claim with 100% certainty that this is what will happen.

Yes, and at the same time no. While tumblr probably likely is predominantly female, that can still allow it to spread pretty far and fast (at least enough to where someone like my IRL best friend (male) demands that I check the show out). And the fact that Steven Universe is by default more gender neutral in appeal and design (and apparently even in character?) means it'll have a considerably easier time gaining large appeal compared to MLP.

No matter how bronies want to say "FAUST SAID IT'S FOR EVERYONE", MLP by design is geared towards younger females and older crowds (particularly men) getting into it is nothing short of a freak miracle. And while it definitely spread large and fast to where it was a staple of Hot Topic and the like it was also met with vicious opposition that balanced it out (you would never see MLP on the front page of Imgur, for example). Other people who weren't into the show saw fans of the show as freaks and against the norm that shouldn't be watching a show like that, and rarely did they budge. MLP got as big as it did but it also had a mountain of hatred behind it.

Steven Universe on the other hand doesn't or shouldn't have this problem. Like most Cartoon Network shows past and present SU isn't meant to appeal specifically to boys or girls, but rather everyone. It's not extremely geared towards one gender or demographic, and people outside the loop may not (and do not) have much issue with people liking that show. It seems honestly not much different from liking Adventure Time (though that seems more towards boys). I just don't see people strongly opposing the show SU like they did MLP. I only ever see hate for the fanbase, and that's a sentiment that exists even with people who enjoy the show, so that's some growing pains they'll have to deal with over time.

I'm not saying it's necessarily a guarantee that Steven Universe will match the popularity and near epidemic craze that MLP had. But it's certainly in a better position for it than MLP frankly had any right to be. MLP is a good show (and I don't understand why people who talk about good modern cartoon shows like to exclude it) but the brony culture is a niche that happened to explode and spread everywhere. SU isn't really a niche since by default it truly does seem to be for everyone. And while you can say the same for shows like Wander Over Yonder or Regular Show, SU already has a sizable (and loud) following to back it up.

Quote: AvatariDragon

I dunno man, MLP seemed to pretty much explode with popularity. It was like you couldn't go anywhere, online and IRL, without seeing a bunch of stuff related to it. To this day I still see stores selling the stuff. Steven Universe might be popular on tumblr yeah (although tbh I hardly ever see stuff about it but maybe it's because the blogs I follow don't post about it), but it hasn't really reached the MLP level imo. Like it's already been out for like two years and I really don't hear about it all that much except for when someone on here posts about it. Maybe it'll just take more time sort of like MLP, but I don't really see it happening tbh.

I'm just noticing a slight pattern. Honestly the big one in mind is how from the start some dS users started adopting SU avatars (similar to what happened with MLP here). And now it's reaching a point where it's often mentioned among reasons why modern cartoons are great, and tumblr is all over it, and I've heard of so much drama pertaining to it (again similar to the growing pains of bronies).

I could very well be wrong. But as far as what we currently have right now, SU is probably the best candidate.

EDIT:

Quote: Samius

What you said might be the case if we were talking about preteens. Preteens are way more divided in their interests due to their gender than any other age group is. I've never even heard of a preteen male MLP fan, but a lot of them might like a show like Steven Universe. This is because little boys hate stuff that seem girly and vice versa.

They do exist out there (and I recall there actually being a story of one attempting suicide because of the ensuing harassment), so it's not like preteen boys can't or don't like the show.

That said however, go to a convention like I have and you'll tend to get the idea of who watches the show. Men our age. Women our age or older. Couples. Parents who got into the show as much as their children did. I recall someone at the con who looked in his 60s and had the same glowing expression of a child or teen when asking Nicole Oliver (Celestia) a question at the Q&A.

So for the most part you're right but MLP's appeal has somehow been almost universal. Though it is predominantly the young adult males who go crazy about the show and made it into what it is today.

tbh I feel that the main reason why MLP got so popular is because of the fact that it gained a following that wasn't expected. Although I could be wrong. :\

Quote: sonicbrawler182

Quote: DarkCynder_543

Frozen.

and kh3 might become popular again once the third game finally gets released. although that's more just me hoping that it will lmao.

KH is more popular than most people realise already (even Square Enix and Disney have admitted this), but yeah, KH3 will be huge. It's one of the most hyped games period right now, on any system, and a lot of people want a PS4 just for it. It's going to be everywhere when it comes out, and especially when we see the inevitable Frozen world.

well we've got big hero 6 so far, which has already given the game a lot of hype. so i guess you're right. xD

****ing minions

The Sonic fandom is still as big as ever and still in the public eye. It isn't even comparable to something like SU or MLP, as it always has something going on.

Just search up "Sonic Dreams Collection", which is the latest happening in the fandom. That made news articles all over the place, and popular YouTubers like Markiplier and Game Grumps covered.

Yes it is, because it's covered by people outside of the fandom. Game Grumps have a Sonic Adventure DX play through ongoing, and they are not part of the fandom. They have done other Sonic games in the past.

There is also the fact that Sonic frequently crosses over into other fandoms. He's in two iterations of Smash Bros (and in the current iteration, he is considered a top tier in competitive play), he has a dedicated crossover franchise with Mario, he has a Nintendo produced figurine, Sonic Lost World has Nintendo themed DLC, he has a costume in Mario Kart 8, Super Mario Maker, and Yoshi's Woolly World, he's in a Hatsune Miku game, he's in a Disney movie (where he is actually the first character to touch on one of the most important plot points of the movie). He has two crossover comics with Mega Man (and the upcoming one will feature other SEGA and Capcom characters). He has a TV show on Cartoon Network that is doing really well and is drawing in a new generation to the fandom, as is the accompanying toy line.

Those are just a few things I could mention, but Sonic is pretty constantly in the public eye.

Oh, and then there is the Sonic social media accounts. Can't forget about those, everyone loves them.