The 4 Horsemen of Toxic Fanbases

Decades ago, a show or an artist simply had admirers. Fast forward to today, where the internet is an inexorable phenomenon, fanbases are more prevalent than ever. However, most fan groups have a significant subset of people that are in too deep. Not every enthusiast is a horrible person but because of this one subset, the whole fanbase becomes associated with being insufferable.

Metalheads

There is a great irony present among metalheads- they will refer to anybody that hasn't listened to heavy metal as 'uncultured' even though they themselves have not ventured out to other genres. A superiority complex will be apparent, especially when fanboys pick on anybody that wears a Metallica shirt and judge them based on whether or not they are unable to name at least 5 Metallica songs that aren't Enter Sandman. If we focus on Bangladeshi metalheads, you'll find them revolving their entire personalities around Cryptic Fate and Powersurge.

BTS

While there are multiple fandoms in K-pop, the BTS 'ARMY' dwarfs them all. All it takes is one mildly negative comment on their 7 angels to unleash their wrath. Not only do they bully or harass people who don't like K-pop in general, they also attack other fanbases, referring to them as lowly 'multi-stanners.'

Since an idol is advertised to be for the fans alone, the most obsessive fans will go haywire if they ever find out their male idol is hanging out with another woman. It's still ingrained into their heads that they have a shot at getting to know their idols and to be in their lives.

Read more

Top 10 Toxic Fanbases

Andrew Tate

Very self-explanatory. Tate's hardcore fanboys, better referred to as simply misogynists, treat whatever he says as gospel. Tate's mission is bringing back 'masculinity' which apparently means infringing on women rights. They will also extend their hatred towards transmen and further illustrate everything wrong with toxic masculinity.

One common trait is that whenever Tate is on the verge of being cancelled, all his fans resort to the same excuse: the right to exercise freedom of speech. While I am an advocate of free speech, women's rights aren't a debatable issue.

Marvel

Marvel is more relevant than ever, and it predictably comes with its own toxic fans, who have a hard time differentiating between fantasy and reality. For example, many diehard fans sent actor Wyatt Russell death threats because they didn't like his portrayal as the new Captain America. They also suffer from entitlement issues, proved by the instance where they bombarded actress Elizabeth Olsen with hate comments because she didn't post a tribute to the late Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman.

When they're not sending death threats, they're busy complaining about each and every production that Marvel pumps out. This could be anything from how the suit doesn't look comic accurate to how their favourite actor should've been casted as Professor Twilight Sparkle instead.

Also, my apologies to Marvel fans because this article doesn't have a post credit scene where I tease my next topic.