Are You a Superfan?
You might think you’re a big fan of science fiction or of a particular franchised universe, but are you in line with the folks who are actively demonstrating they are at the top of the heap?
This thought occurred to me as I watched a guy drive away from the parking lot at work with a license plate that read ‘DR WHO 4′ (and me without a camera!) Now, I’m not sure why he had the 4 in there – it could be he has 4 cars all with that plate, or it could be he’s the 4th person with a DR WHO plate here in Massachusetts. But regardless I started realizing that no matter how much I loved Dr Who there is little chance I’d get a license plate like that. But then I thought – what would I be willing to get a license plate for? Frankly, nothing sci fi. And that’s when I came to grips with the fact that I am not a superfan.
A few clicks of the mouse have turned up the real superfans. Let’s take a look at how far somebody is willing to geek out about a creative sci-fi property they love.
First there is Gary Reighn who remodeled his house to look like the bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. Wow, is all I can say. This guy really pushed the limit. I recently saw Richard Garriot (aka Lord British of Ultima fame) state that the castle-like modifications he has made to his house were a major concern to his lender because they were, at best, no addition to his home value. It’s not impossible that Gary will find somebody willing to buy this thanks to all the publicity he has gotten, but whoever that is will be another superfan.
It turns out that people will put almost anything on a license plate. A little image searching will turn up all kinds of things, but there are a few folks who use license plates to display their superfan status. We have the ‘license plate man was not meant to have’ pictured at the top of the page. And we have several Star Wars and Star Trek plates like the one pictured. And I shouldn’t be surprised, but many people went and got themselves an “OUTATIME” plate around the time the Back to the Future films were out, but they are now less frequently seen. No doubt there are some obscure ones around (Lensman maybe?) – if you know of one, share it below.
The top of superfan exposure is not, as you might think, wearing costumes of your favorite characters. People express themselves at Halloween and conventions and these folks just don’t take it far enough. Instead, the top has to be the ones to tattoo themselves with the image of their favorite character. Nothing says superfan like having something semi-permanently etched onto your body. I’ll defer from linking to more images (there are many) but a few that caught me eye were one of the head of Isaac Asimov, many of Yoda, a few from Warhammer 40,000 (really!) and a scary Stormtrooper / Hello Kitty mashup that I sincerely hope isn’t permanent.
So OK, you’re a fan, yes, but are you a superfan? If so, share it below!
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Well, for starters I’ll submit my comic book poster/SF art/action figure festooned office
http://www.baddaystudio.com/studio.html
Clearly DOCTOR WHO 4 is a reference to the fourth Doctor, Tom Baker.
Not that I’m a superfan or anything.
Scariest bit of fanboyishness ever:
Neil Gaiman tells a story about a big man who asked for his tattoo on his right shoulder, and then he left. He came back, two hours later and came to the front of the line again to show Neil that he’d gotten Neil’s signature tattooed into his arm. It was still beading drops of blood. He mentions that there was a girl who wanted him to draw a big picture on her back, for the same reason.
“Scariest bit of fanboyishness ever…”
Not as scary as you might think if you’re looking at it from inside tattoo culture. I hope Mr. Gaiman wasn’t too freaked out by it.
I’m more curious if there are any real superfans for shitty properties, like Krull or Event Horizon. I’ve met guys (always guys) who claim to try to live the “ideals” of the Gor novels, or tout Battlefield Earth as the pinnacle of SF, but I’ve never seen a parallel fanboy dysfunction for the obviously inferior properties.
I say “obviously” to differentiate from the legion of Buffy, Stargate, and SW eps 1-3 fans. I find all of those entries beyond unwatchable, but I can at least understand the nature of their fandom. If someone is an obsessed uberfan of, say, Pluto Nash or the Swamp Thing TV series, THAT”S the nutjob I want to meet.
It seems to be oh so easy to take pot shots at fanboys with strange tattoos and the personalized license plates (let’s all snicker and giggle like a 14 yr old valley girl). However, I have fairly extensive knowledge of a subgroup that routinely uses personalized license plates as a normal occurances, Ham radio callsign license plates. And before you all start snickering and giggling again and thereby embarass yourself, Amateur radio is still very active, clubs usually provide extensive local support by providing local communications capability to events like triatholons, parades and walkathons. The clubs usually engage in building different electonic radio projects, examples single receivers and transmitters, radio direction finding aerials, etc. IIRC, the FCC issues several thousand licenses per year.
I love the fact that the “CTHLHU” license plate says “Kids First” on it.
I know somebody who had a DELENN license plate. I’d love to have KOSH personally.
I dressed up as Bender from Futurama at Halloween long after the cartoon was off the air. It had only just started on the Cartoon Network in the Adult Swim slot. No one at the party knew who I was, they just thought I was some random robot. The horror!
Since you disallowed Halloween costumes I guess I would’t count as a superfan, perhaps I should have worn the outfit to work.
Yet, am I a superfan? I am reading this blog aren’t I? That’s the only definition I need.
Hey, I watched the Swamp Thing TV series.
I mean…er…okay, all my Swamp Thing fanboyish love comes from the comics (and the sweet Game Boy game,) but…Well, I have no point.
And I’ve always wanted a ZATHRAS license plate.
And I’d like to meet someone who’s the die-hard fanbase of “Solaris.”
Allen I think you misunderstand – there was no giggling or poking fun from me regarding the superfan. I’m serious both awed and slightly surprised by this level of devotion. If you are such a fan that you get a license plate, tattoo, or redocorate your house in homage to that property, you get a tip of the hat from me as a superfan.
Amateur radio is completely different. I happen to know that the father of one of the blog authors here is a lifelong operator (WB5DBT was his callsign and license plate for over 20 years and why I remember it.) These folks don’t have custom license plates because they have become enamored of a fictional universe, but instead to display their call sign for something technically used in the real world. I seem to remember these folks carry both handheld and automobile-based radios where having the call sign allowed others to give a shout out to them while travelling.
I’m definitely a fanboy, but my allegiance never goes quite that far. I have toyed with the vanity plate idea before but never had the courage to go through with it.
I agree, the “4″ refers to Tom Baker..THE BEST Dr. Who, in my opinion.
Tatooing is just going too far. My likes and loves ebb and flow. If I love something, that doesn’t change, but I am always adding new loves…and no matter how much weight I gain there wouldn’t be enough space to tattoo ALL of my loves on my bod, so why start?
I’ve thought about getting “ED-209″ vanity plates before …
OK this guy gets the superfan tag for sure. Seriously – all this trouble and for what?
http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000668.php