What was the first fandom that you joined?

[Amazee Dayzee]

Figured it would be a fun little conversation to have since we need some more activity on the forum. My first fandom was the Mario Bros one. I used to frequent a fan site called "Lemmy's Land" as I liked to read the stories. That was were I discovered forums for the first time and tried to join them when I was 13. It uh...did not go very well as I got permanently banned from it. Then spent the next several years trying to get back on. Of course I failed and now the forum and the website is pretty much no more. But I CRINGE at some of the antics that I did including banjumping.

So what about everybody else? What was the first fandom everybody else got involved in?

[NHWestoN]

This one.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Seriously? You have been around for a long time and even was born when Kennedy was assassinated and there were never any other fandoms you joined? I find that hard to believe. XD

[CunningFox]

The first fandom I was really involved in was Godzilla.

[TomasBradtke]

The first fandom I was really involved in was Godzilla.

You are like me. My first fandom was also in Godzilla

[NHWestoN]

Howdy Doody's club in the early 1950's. (Hey, I'm old.)

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

Howdy Doody's club in the early 1950's. (Hey, I'm old.)

But is it Howdy Doody time?

[NHWestoN]

Always. That and Crusader Rabbit, Tom Terrific, Time for Beanie, and Kukla, Fran and Ollie. Now yer really takin' me back.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm gonna have to Google all of those things at some point. One show I liked as a kid and I will always remember was Chip n Dale: Rescue Rangers (back when the Disney Channel only played cartoons). I was shocked to learn there was a fandom for it while the show was airing. It was airing from 1989 to 1990. This was back in the infancy of the internet. I was truly shocked to discover that. Apparently there were massive arguments over whether Gadget should be paired with Chip or Dale.

I was 3 when I watched it on reruns so I preferred her with Monterey Jack until I rewatched it a few years ago and learned that he was a friend AND THE SAME AGE OF HER FATHER.

[The Blue Fox]

I'd say definitely the fandom for The Animals Of Farthing Wood. Was part of a fan forum for it during my teenage years, right from not too long after I first started using the internet.

However, long story short, I was a bit of an idiot during my teenage years and caused quite a bit of trouble to the point that they had to hit me with the ol' ban hammer.

I've never re-joined the fandom since. Kinda worried my past transgressions will come back to bite me. I may not be who I was back then, but I've seen how unforgiving and abstruse the internet can be when they find you did something wrong, no matter how small, no matter how long ago, even if it was unintentional.

I refuse to let that stop me from enjoying my top favourite animated series of all time, though.

[Amazee Dayzee]

Oh I definitely can empathize with you about being banned from a forum and not being able to go back. I also was an idiot as a teenage and got permanently banned from that website. It took me a LONG time and a lot of ban jumping to be able to finally let it go. Just in time soon because when I finally realized how that place wasn't worth all of the effort of changing my IP address and sneaking back in (which I did successfully the last time), the whole site the forum was on fell apart.

[D-Rock]

I couldn’t get involved in an online community until 2010, but I was always a Sonic and Pokemon fan growing up, then discovered Crash Bandicoot, and then just miscellaneous shows that would come on. Remember a friend in middle school and I both loved Jackie Chan Adventures.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I actually liked that show also and it was one of my favorites! Just thinking back to the shows that aired during that timeframe makes me miss Saturday morning cartoons and the KidsWB both...

[The Blue Fox]

I also miss the cartoons of my childhood. I was a 90's kid, and the kind of things cartoons did in the 90's? Yeah, nobody would dare air that kind of thing nowadays for fear of traumatizing today's youth. And I tell ya what, the way the younger generations have been turning out? They definitely coulda used a dose of childhood trauma. I got plenty in my youth and I turned out fine. *flashes an obviously crazed smile*

[NHWestoN]

Teaching college history, we frequently had movie nights for student discussion and conversation. My favorite was Walt Disney's Dumbo,a choice several of my colleagues questioned until some of them attended. I'd ask questions afterwards like, "Is Dumbo racist? - look at the crows - or are they the real heroes in Dumbo's transformation and triumph?" ... "Is Dumbo the story of a disabled individual turning hid "flaws" into strengths?" ... "Is there a class structure in Dumbo, class conflict?" ... "What about the "Pink Elephants" - is Uncle Walt pushing alcohol consumption, maybe even (gasp!) use of psychodelic drugs? ... What's the joke about Timothy Mouse? ... Is this Circus abusive? ... What about the technolongy of the film, the backgrounds, and the music ("Baby Mine" often got a tear or two going and talk about relations with struggling parents)."

It was fun and often "free and frank" exchanges about a whole range of issues, none of which I'm sure, Uncle Walt ever wanted to explore. Every generation can learn a lot about every other generation through its animations. Gotta love `em.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm sure if that was all put in a movie today there was no way it would get released and people would complain about it and cry how it wasn't appropriate. I do know that they would definitely say the crows were racist. As well as saying the circus glorifies animal abuse and torture and that circuses don't have animals anymore. Its one of the reasons that Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus shut down after 146 years.

[The Blue Fox]

Ah yes, political correctness. Cartoons have had to play things very safe since the 90's, keep their premises nice and simple and designed for intended target audiences. Action hero cartoons for the boys, pretty princess sparkle dress-up cartoons for the girls.

The first cartoon I've seen kind of buck that trend is My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, by appealing to a wider audience with more objectively generally good stories and morals. Then they dropped the ball with Tell Your Tale and Make Your Mark.

The ball was picked up big time with MLP Gen 4's spiritual successor, and my vote for greatest animated series of all time, Bluey.

Yes I can have two seperate cartoons for my favourite and for greatest. Favourite is more subjective and down to personal significance, while greatest is more objective in that I'm confident anybody who watches Bluey will agree with my pick.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I know a few shows in which there were more girls than boys watching them got them cancelled because the advertisers wanted BOYS to watch the show and buy their merchandise. That is kind of annoying to me honestly and I think one of the reasons Cartoon Network has gone downhill.

Don't even get me started in Disney Channel's obligatory 65-episode limit for shows before they pull the plug. I believe that happened with Kim Possible and fan backlash made them bring it back.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

Don't even get me started in Disney Channel's obligatory 65-episode limit for shows before they pull the plug. I believe that happened with Kim Possible and fan backlash made them bring it back.

I know right, it's kind of annoying, I do wish there were more episodes to my favorite Disney Junior shows, such as SuperKitties and Pupstruction

[TyVulpintaur]

Probably NASCAR, since I joined the NASCAR.com forums back in 2003-4. (back when the site actually had forums) I've been to more NASCAR races (1, 2005 June Dover race) than furry cons/meets (0)....

[Amazee Dayzee]

Didn't even know that NASCAR had a fandom and just thought it was a bunch of fans of the racers. I guess there TRULY is a fandom for EVERYTHING.

[IsraeliDisneyFan]

101 Dalmatians

[NHWestoN]

I want to say it was a TV kiddie club associated with Paul Winchell, then later Howdy Doody and the inescapable Mickey Mouse Club. There were many such TV clubs in the 50s.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I knew that there was a Mickey Mouse Club in the early to mid-1990s but I didn't know that it was THAT old. Guess this means that some characters that you follow are older than you think they are.

[NHWestoN]

I knew that there was a Mickey Mouse Club in the early to mid-1990s but I didn't know that it was THAT old. Guess this means that some characters that you follow are older than you think they are.

Yeah. I'm almost ashamed to do this, but I'll refer you to Wikipedia. The 50s show produced a lot of talented teens ... and some tragedies as well. The Disney heritage goes all the way back to the Alice in Cartoonland of the 1920s, mixing live actors with cartoon characters. These first cartoons, some Disneyphiles argue, introduce the first famous Disney character pre-dating Mickey. Yeah, it was the villain Peg-Leg Pete (or Black Pete).

"Some characters?!" Heck, I'm older than I think I am!"

[Amazee Dayzee]

I am honestly a bit shocked that they made an antagonist first before they made the protagonist since Pete is the first character that was ever created. Also they say he was originally a bear before becoming a cat but I thought he was ALWAYS a bear. LOL

[NHWestoN]

Huh?

[GingaDensetsuAleu]

He may have been a bear during the concept stage, but Pete has always been a cat as long as he's been onscreen, all the way back at Steamboat Willie.

[NHWestoN]

... the Cat and Mouse thing (another example, Tom and Jerry). Like Mickey, Pete's appreance and character evolved a lot over the decades and, eventually, he's become a kind of bumbling, oafish, but rather good-hearted neighbor to Goofy. His short turn as The Ghost of Christmas Future in Disney's Christmas Carol is simultaneously funny and terrifying.

Sorry about the "Huh?". I'm not at my mental best before I finish the first cup of coffee.

[Amazee Dayzee]

I'm not sure what shorts you have been watching but every time I ever have seen him in anything he has always been the villain and a bit of a dillhole. In the animated series "Goof Troop" where he is Goofy's neighbor, he is rude and mean towards him and Max and looks down on them because he has a ton of money. I think it was also implied he verbally and maybe physically abused his son PJ.