The Biggest Cult Fandoms and Why Fans Stick With Them
You can’t take the sky from these fans.
Some fandoms are born from massive multi-media franchises that have multiple decades of content to draw in audiences and inspire fans. Think Star Wars, Star Trek, Marvel, DC.
And some are scrappy little critters that got kicked over and stepped on, but we love them more for it.
These are the one-hit-wonders of fandom, that were either cut off too soon or only had a devoted audience sprout up long after its debut. Let’s take a journey to the biggest little fandoms that we’ve seen.
Firefly – 1 season, a movie, and a comics series
Despite all the grossness of Joss Whedon, undertones of Confederate revisionism, and the issues of racism and sexism in the show (seriously, look up the deleted Inara Reaver plotline only if you have a strong stomach), it was still a gem that was killed by the network before it really had a chance to show how shiny it could be. Thankfully, it got to wrap up some of the biggest plotlines in its movie that came 3 years later, though the movie also underperformed and killed any hope of sequels.
Obviously, some fans of this series tend to be fans of Whedon’s larger body of work (this show came out during Buffy Season 7 and Angel Season 4, and many cast members later appeared on either show). But it still says a lot that over two decades later, you can find some fans of Firefly out there in the verse, holding onto what they’ve got. There’s still a presence at fan cons, in comics, and forever on the Internet.
Freaks and Geeks – one season
This show was another ahead of its time and one that was likely never going to last on network television but was definitely undercut by NBC (the producers made a website to promote the show but NBC refused to let them share the link for fear that the Internet would run them out of business). The period setting (early 80s), hour-long episodes, and subdued, quirky humor, would’ve made it a hit with modern audiences but ended up alienating audiences of the late 90s/early 2000s. Still, fans of the show are a dedicated group of misfits, and memories live on in the many cast members who broke out with significant careers in Hollywood.
Rocky Horror Picture – One musical (with many versions)
One phrase encapsulates the show: counterpoint dialogue. Going to the show with cult fans is like seeing a movie in 3D; it adds a whole other layer you wouldn’t be able to see otherwise, a sort of live commentary track on top of the show. This show’s cult following is so ridiculous that it has its own Wikipedia article. Even if you’ve never seen Rocky Horror, you probably recognize a song or two or the costumes that go with it.
Broadway musicals (Heathers, Be More Chill, Etc) –
The interesting thing about most Broadway/Musical fandoms is the fact that due to lacking accessibility, many fans of Broadway musicals may have never seen the shows live. This is thankfully being rectified with greater access through pro-shots (filmed recordings of live musicals), pirated versions, and touring/lottery systems. Still, there is a certain magic that can be said for the fans who spend hours upon hours animating their favorite songs from the cast albums without having ever seen the performances on stage.
And while there is an ever-increasing trend of musicals being based on existing books/movies, there is also a lot to be said for how these musicals recontextualize the original works for the stage.
Hazbin Hotel – a single pilot episode, a few comics, and a spinoff web series on its second season
Vizziepop’s magnum opus asks what happens when the Princess of Hell attempts to open a hotel to rehabilitate sinners with the goal of getting them into heaven. Featuring a fun cast of characters that have inspired the imaginations of thousands of fans, the single pilot episode has 7918 fanfics on Archive of Our Own, as well as thousands of fan comics and fandubs.
The Room – 1 movie, 1autobiography, 1 biopic
Often touted as one of the worst films of all time, the film now has a devoted fandom that will attend midnight screenings, throwing plastic spoons at the screen or footballs in the aisles of theaters to encapsulate the surreal experience that is this movie.
The infamy of this movie also eventually led to the making of the 2013 nonfiction book Disaster Artist and the 2017 movie adaptation that outperformed the original theatrical run of The Room.
Sorta Cheating
These are the shows that it wouldn’t feel right to not include, even if they are still coming out or are based on larger media.
BBC Sherlock – 4 seasons and a Christmas Special
Technically we’re cheating our qualifications here since this show is drawing on over a century of Sherlock Holmes novels and adaptations. However, I included this show as it only had 6 episodes (2 seasons) at the height of its popularity on Tumblr. This series (along with the much longer-running shows Supernatural and Doctor Who) absolutely owned early 2010s Tumblr and exploded the careers of Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman.
Our Flag Means Death – one season
Granted, this show is still running. Nevertheless, it has already captured the minds and hearts of its fans and amassed a respectable armada of 10541 fanfics on Archive of Our Own in 5 months.
Hades – 1 game
Again, technically based on millennia of Greek Mythology and adaptations of it, but this game’s devoted fandom shouldn’t be discounted. One of the most loved games of the pandemic, we will follow Zagreus into the underworld and back.
Free! – 38 episodes, 5 movies
Again, technically not an unrespectable amount for a series, if somewhat small for an anime.
The real interesting part is that many people attribute the show’s rise to a 30-second teaser that went viral on Tumblr before the show technically existed.
Bee and PuppyCat – 25 episodes
Bee and PuppyCat is another series that has a respectable 25 episodes but feels like a cult fandom due to how much the first episode exploded in popularity and the fact that the fandom is only just now getting a second season on Netflix this September (nine years after the first episode).
So why do people get so attached to these works?
For some it’s an attachment to the creator: Joss Whedon and Steven Moffat were both pretty well-known when they started creating some of these shows and their names attached probably helped get initial eyes on the projects. Sometimes, because these works are adaptations of well-known stories, they had a built-in and very loyal audience.
Others go viral; they find that group of people who resonate with the story online and those people act as their advocates and publicists, generating hype through word of mouth rather than advertising.
And some just come out at the right moment, encapsulating the sexual revolution of the 70s or the hellscape of modern-day late-stage capitalism.
There’s no set formula to engineering a cult fandom, though we’re sure some marketing execs have tried to reverse engineer the phenomenon.
It’s something that happens because a piece of art appears either in the right place at the wrong time or the wrong place at the right time. Either way, it manages to find a devoted audience that stays with it through thick and thin, hiatuses and delays, false starts and broken promises and cancellations.
Honorable mentions from other Mary Sue contributors:
- Homestuck
- B&P
- Sunstone
- Promare
- Team Fortress 2
- Serial Experiments Lain
- Them’s Fighting Herds
- Skullgirls
- First season of serial
- Arrested Development
- Dragon Age
- Five Nights at Freddy’s
What’s your favorite cult fandom or favorite piece of underrated media?
(image: Fox)
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