Showing Who Puts the FAN in Fandom

Those lovely folks at Vulture.com have gone where few sites have gone before… and created a list of the top 25 most  devoted Fandoms. Since they limited the list to 25, we know it barely scratches the surface of the number of rabid devotee’s that will come out to play (between social media, events, and so on) because the genres varies greatly. Their top 25 ranges from Arrested Development to Doctor Who, Bruce Springsteen to Steve Colbert.

And True Blood ranks 16!

*booty shake*

Here is what they said about Truebie’s

True Blood

POPULARITY: Charlaine Harris’s best-selling Southern Vampire Mysteries now twelve novels long; HBO’s adaptation network’s most popular series sinceThe Sopranos.

FACEBOOK FOLLOWERS: 10.7 million (show); 191,000 (Harris)

TWITTER FOLLOWERS: 500,000 (show).

FAN NICKNAME: Truebies. (Though some might prefer the term Fang Bangers.)

MAIN HANGOUTS: Fan-fiction enclaves like True-Blood.net, and in 2010, perhaps they went aboard the “fangs and fur” cruise. Over the years, there have been a few different True Blood fan conventions: Bitten, in the U.K., Tru Blood, in Australia, plus two cons right here in the U.S.

AVERAGE DEMOGRAPHIC: Truebies aren’t the squealing Twilight fans you’re picturing. They’re older, for starters — the average age of a True Bloodviewer is 39 — and less dominantly female: 48 percent of True Blood‘s audience is male.

DEVOTIONAL PROFILE: To love True Blood is to love excess: a dozen books, dozens of characters, all kinds of supernatural forces, a menagerie of mythical creatures, a campiness so overwhelming it pushes the show all the way back around to earnest, and of course, a sexual bonanza covering a variety of predilections. There are those who like the books, those who like the show, and those who like both. (Don’t get them started on Book Sookie versus Show Sookie.) Indeed, there’s no one right way to venerate True Blood, just as long as you can name your perfect partner for the vulnerable Ms. Stackhouse.

And more than appreciating particular books (or short stories) or episodes, many Truebies cast their lots with a particular character. (See: Eric Northman.net, which bills itself as “the first and best source for the enigmatic vampire Eric Northman.”) Sookie has her devotees, but they’re not as fervent as Alcide’s wolf pack; Eric and Bill supporters are warring factions, but perhaps neither male lead is as beloved as Pam, who herself has 26,000 Facebook fans, even though she’s a secondary if not tertiary character on the show.

And because Truebies really excel at ephemera, they maintain a robust Etsy contingent. It’s not just Team Bill or Team Eric shirts, it’s Merlotte’s waitress name tags. They’re not just watching the show, they’re buying Bon Temps trivia apps. Dare we say it’s in their blood?

For the full list, check it out here!

So… what did you think? We think they glossed over the “who is best for Sookie” moment, for no one is better then Eric. Course, we are a tad biased here

And we here at ESL are very happy our friends at EricNorthmen.net were mentioned as one of THE places to hang out in the fandom.

Sound off below!