Listen up, minions

I need to rant. 


There is a phrase that fans say sometimes, and it makes me mad.  Maybe you've heard it before... 


"I was a fan before they were famous"


Have you heard this phrase before?  I have.  And it drives me crazy.  Crazyyyyyyyy, I tell you.


The other day a friend casually threw this statement out about Twenty One Pilots and it took all my might to just sit there and not throttle him.  I hadn't realized what this statement meant until now, and it irked me to no end.


So today I was ranting in all caps talking to a friend  about this and turns out she agreed with me.  We came to the conclusion:


People who say this are not true fans.


"Well that's a bit harsh," you say, sipping your tea and judging me intensely.  "Pray tell us how you came to that conclusion?"

Let me give you a snippet of our conversation.


Moi:  You know what I find annoying, when fans are all like "Yeah I was a fan before they were famous" and that drives me crazy.  It makes them sound so uppity and selfish, you know?  Like hey, I have only just become a fan in the past few months, because I hadn't discovered them until then.  It's not like we can help it that we didn't know who TOP was until recently....but we are fans just like they are and it doesn't make a difference when we became fans.


Friend:  YESSS I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!!! IT'S NOT ABOUT BEING THERE FROM THE START, IT'S ABOUT BEING THERE TILL THE END.


Moi:  YES.  And people who don't like new fans because we weren't there from the very beginning, they aren't true fans themselves.  They're just being possessive over their status of fanship, and that kind of destroys what it means to be in a fandom, right?


Friend:  EXACTLY. 

Now, you're probably thinking, "Well that's just your own opinion".  And you're right.  This is just my own opinion.  But I believe it has some truth in it. 


What is the object of fandoms?  To be a community for fans to congregate and socialize and feel accepted and understood by their fellow fans.  Our fellow fans are like family because we understand each other like outsiders can't possibly understand. 


So when you say "I was there before they were famous", what are you really saying? 


I was there before you. 


I am a better fan than you. 


I like them better than you. 


How dare you come in this fandom and pretend you're a fan, you newbie. 


And this is hurtful.  I'm not sure why people say this!  Can we help that we discovered Twenty One Pilots when they became famous?  I'm sorry, I didn't accidently stumble across it when it was a tiny fledgling like you did.  Can I help that?  NO! 


The main point is, I discovered this fandom and now I love it with all my heart.  It doesn't matter how you join the fandom, but how you stick with it. 


When people say "I was a fan before they were famous" it feels like they don't want us in the fandom because we didn't join the fandom in 2009.  It also feels selfish, like they don't want new members and they don't want the fandom to be popular. 


People who try to hoard a fandom and keep it to themselves are not true fans.  It goes against everything the fandom is about. 


I think too many people are getting more concerned about their status in the fandom than the actual fandom itself.  I don't like that.  We need to start being the welcoming, understanding, you-like-this-fandom-INSTANT-BEST-FRIENDS fans like we used to be. 


And I'm not just talking about Twenty One Pilots, but all fandoms.  We need to learn how to share our fandoms and be more loving and open to people about it.  Shouldn't we rejoice that our fandom is gaining more fans?  True, it can be sad that it's no longer a close-knit group anymore, and I understand that.  But we can't hoard the fandom.  We just can't. 


So to wrap up this rant, I'd like to ask you a favor.  Please pass this message on to other people.  Make people understand what "I was a fan before they were famous" actually means.  Let's make the fandom fun again. 


Let me leave you with my new favorite Twenty One Pilots song:

Stay awesome, my dear minions.

Have you heard people say this in your fandom?