The Nickscast discuss why a show targeted towards men became unexpectedly popular with women and has continued to grow in popularity: We're talking about the SPNFamily (Supernatural fans!). How is the show so popular after even after twelve seasons? How does it differ from its peers? What keeps its fans going? We're going to eat some pie and find out on this week's episode of Fanthropological! Next week, we’ll be talking about fans of Sherlock Holmes (BBC Sherlock, Elementary, classic; we're talking it all). Stay tuned! ## Episode outline ### [Last episode's](http://fanthropological.com/e/26-whovians/) Famous Last Words **Z:** Who is the fan favourite character and why? **G:** In canon, who is born first and why do fans think it is one way or the other? **T:** Is it just because its two hot people? Will any show about two hot people succeed? **Alex:** How much slash fiction is there? ### Fandom facts **Origins:** An American fantasy horror series that was first broadcast in September of 2005. It follows the nomadic lives of brothers Sam and Dean Winchester, travelling the US and hunting down supernatural foes (as their father did, who spent years seeking revenge against the demon responsible for his wife’s death). It just ended its 12th season, as of this recording, and is renewed for a 13th. **Fandom origins:** Largely Livejournal ([supernatural_tv](http://supernatural-tv.livejournal.com/)) **Names:** Supernatural Family / SPNFamily **Size of fandom:** The TV series pilot has 5.6 million viewers, and episodes regularly have about 3 million viewers. **Fanfics:** Archive of our own: Over 92000 (January 2015); Over 60000 (February 2014); Over 27500 (December 2012) ### What did we discuss? A brief history of strikethrough and splintering of fandom from Livejournal ~ the Supernatural newsletter ~ Fan terms like imbroglio (vs fanwank) and real-person fiction (RPF) ~ Keeping a ...
# Description To expand on our episode on Tabletop Gaming, G & Z sit down with Caleb & Christian from the Trailblazer Network (home of Pathfinder Academy and Trailblazers) to talk about how they got started with Pathfinder over D&D, their experiences as both players and GMs and some of the controversies that tear the community asunder. Their podcasts can be found over at [https://www.tblazer.net/](https://www.tblazer.net/) and wherever fine podcasts are heard! ## Where can you find us? Pretty much everything we do is `something/thenickscast`, but specifically... * If you're looking for this podcast (Fanthropological), you can find it at [Fanthropological.com](https://fanthropological.com) or on different podcatchers including [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) and many others! * Keep up-to-date with our latest goings-on on [Facebook](https://facebook.com/thenickscast), [Twitter](https://twitter.com/thenickscast), or [Instagram](https://instagram.com/thenickscast), all `@thenickscast` * We also occasionally create extra content about fandom including convention coverage and interviews on [YouTube.com/thenickscast](https://youtube.com/thenickscast) * We have some fine merchandise available at [shop.thenickscast.com](https://shop.thenickscast.com) (and we'd love your support!) * If all else fails, you can email us: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) ## What is "Fanthropological"? Every week, 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. ## Credits * All music and sound for this week's episode was provided by Nick Green! ...
What happens when you find yourself in a beautiful world as a silent protagonist and a non-verbal story? You _might_ end up getting into a "games as art" discussion with a special guest Nick! We're talking about fans of the works of Team ICO (i.e. ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, The Last Guardian)! Fortunately, we have [Nick Suttner](https://twitter.com/nsuttner), author of [the Boss Fight Books book on the subject](https://bossfightbooks.com/products/shadow-of-the-colossus-by-nick-suttner) to help us out! ## Episode Outline ### Fandom Facts **History and Origins:** > Team Ico was a Japanese video game development studio led by game designer Fumito Ueda. It was part of Sony Interactive Entertainment Japan Studio's Product Development Department #1, and had developed the games _Ico_ and _Shadow of the Colossus_, both for the PlayStation 2. The team was also initially responsible for _The Last Guardian_ before Ueda's departure in 2011 and the formation of a new company taking over development in 2014. Their games are usually characterized by minimalist storytelling and gameplay, an atmospheric use of bloom and high dynamic range rendering (HDR) lighting, and use of fictional languages. Their products are frequently cited as examples of video games as an art form. > > — [Wikipedia - Team Ico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Ico) **Search Data:** Based on worldwide search data, it looks like [the biggest peaks of interest in the games has already passed](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&geo=US&q=%2Fm%2F05zht0,%2Fm%2F0h53djf,%2Fm%2F06404g0). _Shadow of the Colossus_ is by far the most popular of the games and has had spikes in interest around October 2005 (its release date) and again in February 2018 (remake of the original). Interest in _The Last Guardian_ similarly spikes around its release date: December 2016. The top ten countries, by search volume, are as follows for the different games: - _Shadow of the Colossus_: Brazil, ...