Breaking News! Were you at YetiCon? If so, you may have been a part of our live podcast: *A Fanthropological View of Pokemon*! What is it that keeps a franchise going for over twenty years? Why do fans continue to flock to it? Who are the fans of Pokemon anyway? Stay tuned, and find out! ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **Origins:** Pokemon is a video game and media franchise that was started in 1995 by Game Freak / Nintendo video game designer Satoshi Tajiri. The franchise centers on fictional creatures called Pokemon (*Pocket Monsters*) which humans, known as Pokemon trainers, catch and train to battle each other for sport. The is the third best-selling video game franchise (behind Mario, and Tetris) and spans 18 mainline games, over 60 different spin-off games, an anime series that has been running for 20 years and 11 seasons, 20 different movies... there is a *lot* of Pokemon! **Demographics:** Obviously, the main game series has broad appeal, so it is hard to pin down. Using data from [*Club Nintendo* and *Media Create*](http://www.siliconera.com/2014/12/01/pokemons-audience-growing-older/), it looks like the average Pokemon player is male, between the ages of 19-24. *However*, there are lots of other data sources. Data from [*Infoscout* on Pokemon licensed merchandise](http://infoscout.co/brand/pokemon_licensed) is slightly different: the largest group being white females between the ages of 35 to 44. Also interesting is that this data shows that Pokemon purchasers are more likely to have kids, to have a college education, and to make over $80k USD. Some data on [*Forbes* about Pokemon GO](https://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2016/07/26/more-women-than-men-are-playing-pokemon-go-by-a-lot/#29c1bee613dc) suggests that the majority of players are age 18-29, and female by a large margin (63% vs 37%). That's 2-to-1! **Names:** Pokemon Fans, Pokémaniacs, Pokétubers (Youtube) **Most Active:** I would argue that Pokemon is more popular ...
[// Pregenerate link to episode ahead of time: - clicktotweet.com- sharelinkgenerator.com]: # > Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle...and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him. > > — Nier: Automata Uh... we're talking about Nier this week, and hopefully we don't dive too far down the existentialist rabbithole. Plus, we've got special guest Sarah (aka SMZeldaRules) as our resident Nier-ologist to get us through it all. Next week, we'll dive into that long-running and epic fandom: Final Fantasy fans (with special guests, Dan and Ari)! ## Where can I learn more about SMZeldaRules? Do you like Cosplay? Perhaps Video Games? Good news! SMZeldaRules is a huge fan of both! If you want to follow her work, you can find her on... - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/smzeldarulesartandcosplay - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smzeldarules/ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/smzeldarules - Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/smzeldarules - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/smzeldarulescosplay ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** Nier... is actually a complicated game series to explain. It is definitely most well-known because of the 2017 entry in the series, _Nier: Automata_, but technically that is a sequel to the less popular _Nier_ (2010), which itself is a sequel to Ending E of _Drakengard / Drag-On Dragoon_ (2003). I think I've got that right. [// Interject and ask if Sarah can provide some additional detail without a tone of spoilers ]: # Speaking just about _Nier_ and _Nier: Automata_ (for the moment), the games are set in the far future where Earth has been left in a state of decay. _Nier_ focussed on the character of the same name attempting ...
For a limited time only\*, you can check out this week's episode IN SMELL-O-VISION as we talk about fans of fad foods! Plus, we've got a special guest: Nick H of the Epic Film Guys and RestauRant podcast! Next week, we're closing out the season with a callback to the first episode. We'll be getting our D-4 classification to learn about the world of the SCP Foundation! \* Only at participating locations ## Where can I learn more about EFG Nick and the Epic Film Guys? > **Epic Film Guy Nick** has been in love with film and filming for as long as he can remember. When he’s not listening to Justin’s lisp, he is focused on his two sons, fiancee, and working on his own screenplays. Other interests include beer and playing music. > > — [Epic Film Guys - About Us](https://epicfilmguys.wordpress.com/about-us/) To find out more, check out: - The [Epic Film Guys podcast](http://www.epicfilmguys.com/) - The [RestauRant podcast](http://restaurantpod.podbean.com/) - The Epic Film Guys on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/epicfilmguys) and [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/epicfilmguys) - Nick H on Twitter: [@thedraylives](http://www.twitter.com/theredraylives) ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **Search Data:** We had no idea how to even broach this topic; what is the search term for fad food? What we learned is that [interest in the McRib](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=hipster%20food,fad%20food,mcrib), for example, dwarfs interest in search terms like 'fad food' or 'hipster food'. If you remove that, there is a noted increase in interest in 'hipster food' and decrease in interest in 'fad food' since 2004 (though overall, fad food is the more popular search). The vast majority of results come from countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. ### [Last Episode's](http://fanthropological.com/e/breakfast-cereals-part-of-a-fanss-complete-breakfast/) Famous Last Words **Z** Is there a fad food fan out there who collects wrappers (or similar)? **G** What was the first fast food restaurant ...
