Fandom Trope of the Day: The single-character fan

[seriousfic]

The single-character fan (also known as the single-pairing fan) is a fan who is focused on one character in his or her fandom, usually one that is part of an ensemble rather than a lead. Doesn't mean that this is the only character they like, but other and more popular characters tend to fall by the wayside where they're concerned. Much of this fan's fannish activities will be devoted to letting others know the glories of this one character (or pairing). They'll do posts of scans centering around the character, they'll write fanfics or draw fanarts about the character, they'll request this character in ficathons, they'll RP the character, they'll write essays on the character, they'll rec fics with the character in it, and so on. They also tend to quail when this character is mischaracterized, grind their teeth when this character is pwned in two seconds to establish how badass Supervillain G is, and write angry letters when this character is killed off. These are the people who see a cover with "their" character on it and immediately add it to the pull-list because, dude, it's Giganta! When is she not awesome?

Now, some of you might be getting the warning signs of "Uh-oh, looks like a cuckoo clocksetter," from my description. And while there are some fans who do take it a little far (look for the telltale "if this character were real, I'd marry him/her"... when no one's been talking about marriage), the single-character fan provides a valuable service to fandom at large by breaking out of the usual monochromity of popular characters and providing some variety, in the form of exposure to a lesser-known character. In short, they help enable the democratic side of fandom. Yeah, you go single-character fan, it's your birthday, go, go!

Examples would include bluefall with Wonder Woman, jen_in_japan with Batman/Superman (one of the cases where the character/pairing is popular, but the fan is still single-pairing), and myself with... well, guess. Come on, guess, it'll be fun!

Comments

[htbthomas.livejournal.com]

I'm a double pairing fan... singular within my two fandoms, though. I wonder if that counts? :)

[sinanju.livejournal.com]

UH oh. You've finally described one of my classic things. I'll confess--I tend to pick up minor characters and run with them. Sometimes even one-shot characters (Benny Carbassa or Michelle Webster in Highlander, for instance). What can I say? Lots of people write about Duncan, Methos, Amanda, Joe, et al. Almost nobody gives those characters any love, so there's a lot more room to play with them.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Is there a term for ... like, the midway step in that progression?

Because, as a Whovian, I certainly have my favorite companions (and Doctors), but I'm not so much "OMG ____ IS TEH BESTEST EVAR!!!1"

Well, okay, maybe a bit with modern-day Sarah Jane Smith, but still ...