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Fanboy

Fanboy is a term used to describe any individual who is devoted to a single subject in an emotional or fanatical manner, or to a single point of view within that subject, often to the point where it is considered an obsession.

History
Fangirl
Fanmen
Media

Comic books
Television
Radio/podcasts
Movies

See also
References
External links

History

According to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, the earliest known use of the term "fanboy" in an English-language publication dates to 1919.^[1]

In comic book culture, a 1982 reference is to the cover of the "Official Underground and Newave Comix Price Guide". On this cover page are sketched overweight, overzealous comic book collectors wearing T-shirts that state "Fanboys of America," who are describing the extreme measures they would go to, including moving to San Francisco, to preserve their comics.

Also published in 1982, a comic strip appeared in Jim Engel and Chuck Fiala's "Fandom Confidential" comic. In the strip, Jim and Chuck met comic artist/writer John Byrne and collapsed into "mindless paroxysms of adoration." The John Byrne character responded that they were "a couple of fanboys in bondage" (a play on words referring to a Monty Python sketch in which an Elizabethan era character reads what she claims to be a new Shakespeare work called "Gay Boys in Bondage". ^[2] Another early use is in a smart-alec editorial reply by "Ambush Bug" to a letter in his comic in 1985.

By 1990 the term was being used in popular music and science fiction circles^[3], and as electronic entertainment gained popularity, the term became increasingly applied to computers and video game consoles - with people often developing an obsessive loyalty towards one platform or brand.

Current subjects of such obsessive loyalty include areas of: TV shows; movies; music; anime; comic books; cars; sirens; video game consoles, video games and MMORPGs; and computer operating systems, hardware and software. ^[4] "Fanboy" was added to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary in 2008.^[5]

Fangirl

The term fangirl, while similar, often carries slightly different connotations - often applied to any enthusiastic female fan regardless of obsessive qualities or not, and is often used with overtones of "teenybopper". Depending on context, "fangirl" may be used or perceived as a derogatory label.

Fanmen

Earliest usage of the term "fanmen" seems to have come from the forum Zentendo^[6]'s members:

"There are 2 kinds of fanboys: fanboys who stick by their company and eat all its garbage, worshipping it as they like; and fanboys who bash their fixation over the tiniest things, declare all-out war on them, say they hate them and are getting rid of all their stuff and never buying another game again, and then inevitably getting whatever next game comes out to either praise it if it's good or bash it really hard if there's some tiny, slim little problem with it, even if this "problem" doesn't affect anything in the game.

I wonder if they're going to make a united front and get people to call them "fanmen" instead..."

http://www.zentendo.com/forums/index.php?topic=27966.msg137329#msg137329

Media

Popular depictions of Fanboy stereotypes include the Comic Book Guy on The Simpsons and columnist Larry Groznic from the satirical newspaper The Onion. In the songs of the fannish parody musician Luke Ski, many characters proudly consider themselves fanboys.