Don't worry, it's not always this bad.
It's true that it is always the winners that write history. But it is the losers that do the Transformers Wikipedia entry.
The term used for obsessive fans of a particular activity that goes a bit too far onto the creepy side. Unlike
fangirls (which usually refers to women obsessed with characters and their relationships with either other characters or themselves to the exclusion of the rest of the elements of the canon), the term "fanboy" is usually reserved for antisocial people with a self-inflated ego over their knowledge and/or mastery of the topic in question, often parading it around and belittling those around him. They are to fandoms what "
"Stop Having Fun" Guys" are to tournament rules.
A major difference between fanboys and fangirls is how they approach the show in question. Fangirls are usually more attracted by the characters (both their looks and their personalities) than by any other aspect of the show, whereas fanboys often become obsessively attached to the show's
creators. Prime examples are
South Park fanboys who can barely get a sentence out without repeating the phrase "Matt and Trey" six times over, and
Star Trek fanboys who obsess over how Paramount has supposedly ruined "Gene's vision", not taking into consideration that Gene's real (and honourable) vision was to earn money to support his family. Fanboys are consequently much more attracted to the authorized than the unauthorized, because owning authorized items gives them a feeling of connection to the creator who authorized them and because spending money on an item means to them that the item has some value. This attitude sometimes leads fanboys to mock and disrespect traditionally female fan activities such as filking and fanfiction (after all, if you don't have approval and you don't pay for it, it must be worthless, right?), but it also leads them to spend precious money on vastly overpriced items simply so they can have that official, authorized connection to the show and its creator. As was once said: fans buy the Spider-Man comic book; fangirls write love stories about Spider-Man and Mary Jane; fanboys spend $129.99 on a tacky statue of Mary Jane doing Spider-Man's laundry that should really cost about eight bucks.
* According to the designer of the statue in question, it was supposed to be MJ discovering the Spider-Man costume in the wash, apparently thrown in without her knowledge.
The
Fan Boy is usually the first one to belittle, put down, and mock anyone who suggests that there might be
Ho Yay in a series,
even if it was deliberately put there by the creators. Shockingly, he generally reacts
quite differently, and
more favorably, to any possibility of
Les Yay. One could say this was due to his own crushing insecurities, but it might just be that he expects
a gay character to be different. At any event, he's the one who writes articles like
No Yay and who whines about "brain bleach" if any character who isn't
Camp Gay is even hinted to be slightly bisexual - and of course he'll never notice even the most blatantly obvious subtext, or he'll hotly deny that it exists after it's pointed out. Basically he expects
Fanservice to service him and him alone, and squeals in rage if anyone suggests the show wasn't written for his viewing pleasure only. This has changed in some fandoms, but in others it's still just as prevalent as it was twenty years ago. In some, it's even worse.
With the term
fangirl having come into prominence, fanboy is starting to see itself get used in the same way. However, when the term fanboy is used this way, it's usually suggesting something even more base about their sexual obsession. Whereas a stereotypical
fangirl will usually find some base element in the personality of the character to fetish over (although it definitely helps for the character to be handsome as well), a fanboy will usually just have discussions of a given female actor's physical attractiveness when it's not directly relevant (with almost no mention of personality unless it's something that contributes to fetish such as
Moe innocence or an affinity for a particular hobby). For example, one poster on a forum may comment that Ms. Smith (who plays a
Hot Scientist) appeared in an episode of a crime show. A fanboy will then comment that she wore some particularly tight jeans in that episode.
In the original Japanese, the term
Otaku is synonymous with this, but also implies an almost stalker-like attitude as well. The original (very pejorative) meaning got lost when it was adopted by English language fans of
Anime.
See also
Ascended Fanboy,
Promoted Fanboy,
Fan Dumb,
Saw Star Wars 27 Times, and
Running the Asylum.
Fictional examples
Anime and Manga
- Graham Specter from Baccano is the No. 1 Ladd Russo fanboy.
- Tamaki from Code Geass is a member of the Black Knights, who's always Fanboying about his "best buddy" Zero.
- And Diethard. So much that, on his deathbed, he asks Lelouch to kill him with Geass.
Comic Books
Film
- Patton Oswalt's character Paul in Big Fan. Unlike most fanboys, Paul does not obsesses over Sci Fi, Fantasy, Comics, Anime, or Video Games, he is a football fan. He was beaten up by his sport hero, and does not press charges in order to support his favorite team The Giants.
- The film Fanboys. Duh.
- Free Enterprise is a whole film devoted to this. It follows two fanboys who fulfill the nerd dream of striking up a friendship with William Shatner, only to find out he's as much of a loser (in-universe, mind you) as they are.
- Affectionately parodied in Galaxy Quest with the character Brandon, played by Justin Long.
- Jimmie "The Rocketman" Zara is this to Troy Bolton in High School Musical 3.
- Walt the Fanboy in The View Askewniverse movies (Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back).
Literature
Live-Action Television
- You wont really see it in the show, but if you go to Blog Of Dr. John H. Watson you can see comments from two fanboys (Jacob Sowersby and theimprobableone) in the comments sections of several posts.
- During the iStart A Fan War episode of iCarly, there is one fanboy for the Sam/Freddie 'Seddie' Shipping couple who is a textbook version of this. He stands up and shouts "SEDDIE!" over and over. For those with knowledge of the fandom, he's obviously based on one specific Big Name Fan who became well known for those antics on the creators blog and websites.
- Fanbot from VR Troopers. Although mostly comic relief with his Hollywood fanboy personality and proved to be a bit clumsy, he was actually the most powerful monster of the week they faced all season. Before fighting the Troopers, he was assigned to destroy a traitorous ally's super powerful robot, which he did fairly easily. JB's normal finishing move (the laser lance) was so ineffective that be it impalement, slashing, you name it, it only tickled to the point where he made a joke about it. JB actually had to hit him with the techno-bazooka to defeat him, a weapon used against multiple aircraft (but repowered his laser lance and attacked the already defeated robot for some reason). His personality was lampshaded when JB said during the battle "sorry, no autographs" and "there's nothing worse than an angry fan". He actually wasn't a fanboy by designed but a giant industrial fan (he killed the other robot by sucking his parts through his blades), so his name was a pun on fan.
- The character of "Whizzkid" in the Doctor Who story "The Greatest Show in the Galaxy" is widely-seen as a demonstration of how the show's creators at the time regarded fanboys. Especially his rapid and horrible death.
Video Games
- The Adoring Fan of The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was a character who would appear after you became the Arena Grand Champion and follow you everywhere. His obsessive devotion to your character has led many people to try to kill him by any means necessary, and his tendency to respawn only made him more annoying.
- Elder Xelpud in La-Mulana is an MSX fanboy, and a few of his quotes have him railing against the NES.
- Dr. Hal Emmerich, in the Metal Gear Solid universe, is a brilliant scientist...who self-identifies as an Otaku. His code name, Otacon, is derived from Otakon, the Otaku Convention. (This was done with the con's permission; in return, their program each year lists "Dr. Hal Emmerich" as their "Scientific Adviser.")
- The fictional TV show Steel Samurai in the Phoenix Wright games has a few of these, as well as its spin-offs like the Nickle Samurai and the Pink Princess and rival show Jammin' Ninja. Maya is a huge fan of all of these and is always dragging Phoenix into the mix, and in the third case of the first game, we meet Cody Hackins, a kid who obsesses over the show so much that he photographs all of the Steel Samurai's finishing moves and refuses to believe that the Steel Samurai would lose a fight/get murdered.
- And seconds after making that edit, this troper found out Cody's Japanese name, Kyuuta Ootaki, is a similar to that of Otaku.
- The biggest Steel Samurai fanboy in the series, however, is Miles Edgeworth. It's subtle enough in the other games, but it's Turned Up to Eleven in Edgeworth's own spin-off game. At one point he even tells someone they're not fit to call themselves a true fan of the Steel Samurai because they claim to have gone to the bathroom during the climactic scene of the play.
- And oh, does the hilarity ensue when Edgeworth finds out the guy under the Steel Samurai costume who he's been fanboying all evening? It's Larry Butz.
- Francis in Super Paper Mario.
Web Comics
Web Original
Western Animation
