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 ...
We're going out with a bang this season finale as we tackle a contentious (but fascinating) fandom: Bronies (adult male fans of My Little Pony)! What is it about the show, obstensibly for children, that draws in adults? Why does the fandom persist to this day? Why the controversy? That is it for this season! We will be back on April 21st starting off season 3 where we'll be talking about Doctor Who fandom with a special guest! Stay tuned! Want to see more awesome fandom content? [Become a Patron on Patreon!](http://patreon.com/thenickscast) Find more like this: [fanthropological.com](http://fanthropological.com) Find us on social media Twitter: [@thenickscast](http://twitter.com/thenickscast) Instagram: [@thenickscast](http://instagram.com/thenickscast) Facebook: [fb.com/thenickscast](http://fb.com/thenickscast) Youtube: [youtube.com/thenickscast](http://youtube.com/thenickscast) Email us about fandoms you want to hear about: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) Citations ["My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"](http://fanlore.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony:_Friendship_is_Magic) ["My Little Pony: the Bronies who love them aren't who you think they are"](http://www.thespec.com/living-story/6773146-my-little-pony-the-bronies-who-love-them-aren-t-who-you-think-they-are/) [""Creating A Universe": Acceptance, Expression and Individuality Found in the U's Brony Group"](http://dailyutahchronicle.com/2017/01/24/creating-universe-acceptance-expression-individuality-found-us-brony-group/) ["Shifting Pink and Blue Syndrome"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/shifting-pink-and-blue-syndrome_us_58bc9840e4b02eac8876d044) ["r/bronies - Why Do You Like My Little Pony?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/bronies/comments/17l2gl/why_do_you_like_my_little_pony/) ["r/mylittlepony - Why Do You Watch MLP:FiM?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/10rooj/why_do_you_watch_mlpfim/) ["r/mylittlepony - Does MLP Have an Exceptionally Creative Fan Culture? If so, why?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/34eemz/does_mlp_have_an_exceptionally_creative_fan/) ["My Little Pony: The Bronies Who Love Them Aren't Who You Think They Are"](http://www.thespec.com/living-story/6773146-my-little-pony-the-bronies-who-love-them-aren-t-who-you-think-they-are/) ["Who you surround yourself with is important"](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/who-you-surround-yourself-with-is-important_us_58c44fade4b070e55af9efad) ["My Little Pony - Wikipedia"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Little_Pony) ["5 Facts About Bronies, AKA The Adult Male Fans Of My Little Pony"](http://www.crushable.com/2014/04/29/entertainment/what-are-bronies-facts-my-little-pony-fans/) ["Brony Herd Census & State of the Herd Report"](http://herdcensus.com) ["Reddit: (serious) Bronies of Reddit, why do you like My Little Pony so much? What's the appeal? Is "Brony" derogatory to you?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1q2ovc/seriousbronies_of_reddit_why_do_you_like_my/cd8qn47/) ["Quora: Why do people hate Bronies?"](https://www.quora.com/Why-do-people-hate-Bronies) ["Bronies for Good"](http://broniesforgood.org/) ["5 Hated Groups That Are Going Out of Their Way to Be Awesome"](http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-hated-groups-that-are-going-out-their-way-to-be-awesome/) ["Bronies explained: The ...
What if you only had 60 minutes to _escape from this podcast_? To unravel the puzzles of _Crimson Room_ or the (surprisingly) lucrative business of locking people in a room? Well, you'd probably fail (but so would we). Listen in as we talk about fans of an even more puzzling experience: Escape Rooms! Next week, we wrap up the season with a Nickscast favourite (and a special guest) as we talk about fans... of the _Legend of Zelda_ series! ## Episode outline ### Fandom Facts **Origins and history:** Escape rooms, also known as _room escape_, _escape games_, _escape the room_, and so on, are physical adventure games where participants are required to solve a variety of puzzles using riddles, clues, and hints contained in the room within a fixed time limit. Sometimes, the rooms are thematically linked (e.g. a museum heist) or they can be a series of abstract puzzles with no linking theme. The concept of an escape room is heavily inspired by the similarly named video game genre where players are required to escape a room by pointing and clicking around a room to exploit their surroundings. The earliest example of this style of game is likely the 1988 text adventure, _Behind Closed Doors_, where the player has to escape a restroom, but some better known examples might include _MOTAS_ (Mystery Of Time And Space, 2001), _Crimson Room_ (2004), and _Viridian Room_. Arguably... fans of escape rooms are fans of this genre of video games, but that remains to be seen! The first escape room was created in Japan by SCRAP in 2007 and the concept later spread to other parts of Asia, then Europe... then, the world! There are now almost ...
