# Description In 2013, two short years after it first appeared on the internet, Vaporwave was declared "dead". And yet, it still lives and has spawned a brood of micro-genres (Simpsonwave, Zeldawave, Glo-Fi, Mallsoft) in 2019. And what about the fans? Somehow, we try to tackle what this music is and figure out the people behind it. ## Episode Outline **Topics:** What is Vaporwave?, Is it a joke?, An internet micro-genre that seems to be constantly changing, Earnestness versus irony, pretentious art ideals versus memes ### First Impressions #### Z: When I first stumbled across Vaporwave, I was shocked by how evocative of some sort of nostalgia it was. Which is strange because I never was much of a mall rat, or spent a lot of time in places that played heavy muzak. And yet, there's a strange atmospheric quality to the music that reminds me of listening to a warbly radio from the bottom of a swimming pool -- which is still weird because I have never done that before in my life. #### T: I know next to nothing on this. I assumed that Vaporwave was some obscure genre of music that was facet of a facet of some genre I still couldn't pin down. #### G: I thought it was a fun meme thing where everything looks bad intentionally. ### Observations We really got caught up on the question of whether any of this stuff was earnest or just an enormous joke. Z especially took up the former position, saying (perhaps a little tongue in cheek) that Vaporwave is all about being a postmodern look at postmodern irony. G and T, on the other hand, kept pretty firmly in the "nah, in 2019 this is more of ...
We start off Season 5 with a mega-blast! It's all of our hosts favourites fandoms this season starting off with fans of the Blue Bomber: Mega Man! Why haven't there been any new games lately, and how have the fans adapted? How is a game from more than 25 years ago still relevant to fans today? Tune in and find out! Next week, we'll be doing the things a particle can and talking about two rockin' musicians (John and John) and their fans as we talk about They Might Be Giants fandom! ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **Origins:** Rockman (also known as Mega Man, outside of Japan) is a video game franchise created by Akira Kitamura and designed by Keiji Inafune by (and owned by CAPCOM). Originally released for Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987, the franchise has over 50 games on multiple systems, and, by March 2015, over thirty million copies have been sold worldwide. The original game follows the story of Rock (Mega), an android created by Doctor Light and his assistant, Doctor Wily. Doctor Wily reprograms Doctor Lights other robots in an act of treachery, and Rock volunteers to defend the world from Wily's violent robotic threats. Other main series within the game's history: - Mega Man X - Mega Man Legends - Mega Man Battle Network **Most Active and Fandom Trends:** Based on [Google Trends data](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F016vdf), interest in the Mega Man series of games has been on a steady decline since Google has started tracking trend data (current interest is about one fifth of data back in 2004). The most popular point in this history is around July 2004, which likely corresponds to the release of Mega Man X: Command Mission, a turn-based RPG. **Size of Fandom:** It's ...
New year, new format, new episode! This week, we ask the question “Is it ok to be a fan of bad things?”. Disregarding what _bad_ means, we dig into: * Solidarity in fans of bad media * Bad media as a metaphor for life * Bad media as a references for good media And a lot more! All in under 30 minutes! ## Where can I get updates? If you want to follow us on social media, we’ve got you covered: * Facebook: [facebook.com/fanthropological](https://facebook.com/fanthropological) * Twitter: [@fanthropologic](https://twitter.com/fanthropologic) And of course, we can be found where all fine podcasts are found (e.g. [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/2IVp8MBIUyCqlKyZn79iHn), [Apple Podcasts](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/fanthropological/id1163621210?mt=2), [Google Podcasts](https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cDovL2ZlZWRzLnBvZGlhbnQuY28vZmFudGhyb3BvbG9naWNhbC9yc3MueG1s)). Oh, and here at [fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) ## What is Fanthropological? Every week, our podcast, Fanthropological, delivers about an hour of fandom-related "fanalysis" covering a different fandom every week and giving you hard data, history, special guests, and, of course, speculation! We cover topics spanning the gamut of anime, manga, comics, video games, comics, movies, books, television, and, in general, geek culture. ## Who are you? We are the Nickscast! Three products of late-80s / early-90s pop culture who love exploring fandom and everything geek … who also happen to have been best buddies since high school, and all happen to be named Nick. We started the Nickscast as a labour of love, and as a place to entertain and to discuss our love of fans and fandom. We want to help others learn more about different fandoms, and to create empathy with other fans. If you want to learn more about us, you can follow us on most social media @thenickscast ([Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast), [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast)), see all of our projects on [thenickscast.com](https://thenickscast.com), or [email us](mailto:[email protected]). ## Credits * [Trouble in Watertown](https://sonic25.ocremix.org/) ...
