Fandoms: the fans of a form of entertainment; whether that be anime, sports, video games, or music, they all fall under the category of “fandom.”

Since “fandom” can be seen as a very broad category, most people consider themselves to be a part of a few fandoms; sometimes they can even be a part of communities that only have few, if any, similarities.

However, it is a toss up between fans (casual, diehard, and in between) on whether or not fandoms are beneficial or harmful to the franchise and their community’s members, and opinions are often subjective on how a person sees fandoms as a whole.

“In a lot of the cases, they hurt the franchise because people may associate their fans with negative words such as cringeworthy or weird,” Oakmont junior Daylene Craddock said. “The fans’ image impacts the franchise greatly, so if they have a negative image, the franchise most likely will too.”

“I believe fandoms tend to be more helpful to their franchises more than harmful because fandoms usually tend to advertise and promote their franchise which creates a major plus side to the company producing it,” Oakmont junior Ryan Fernandez said. “But sometimes too much help and attention could lead to over exaggeration or the ‘overrated’ label.”

“I don’t necessarily think that any fandom makes themselves better than they are,” Oakmont senior Isabella Gomez said. “It’s really up to opinion as to whether or not the franchise is something you love or don’t love!”

“They can support and hinder; honestly a lot of fandoms can draw in more people, as long as fandoms don’t get weird about it or get hostile towards more people,” Oakmont senior Jeremiah Muela said.

From franchise to franchise, spreading across different platforms and types of entertainment, fandoms really do differ from each other, let alone each and every fan that considers themselves a part of the communities.

“I enjoy appreciating the work of the fandom and enjoying the franchise with the people in it since my fandoms are usually nice and funny,” Fernandez said.

In the end, most people just choose to support whatever interests them, and create bonds with communities through mutual interests.