Oh just give it a bit of time, you'll totally get over the 'but come on, they're brothers!' squick. ;D

Its great fun surfing the Supernatural fandom, isn't it? You didn't mention the icons --little emoticon pictures/art made by fans. I have no artistic talent myself, but I love them. I have collected hundreds and hundreds of them and LJ only lets me have like 30 userpics!
(I'm with you on the whole slash issue - its been two years now and I'm not over the squick)
The CW board is also a fun place for some excellent discussions -- and a fair share of 'Who's hotter?' threads. ;)

Thank you so much ALice!, for taking the time to delve into 'our' fandom universe. I really appreciate the positive comments you put forth and great understanding you have shown of and for the fans of the show.

We are more than fanGirls, even Mr Kripke, Director of Sueprnatural has said it.
He says we are the smartest/best, funniest etc fandom out there, and I agree entirely.
I'm so glad you do too.

Thanks again.

P.S- Maybe you could also do an article about the other SN related phenomena us Supernatural fans cook up in another article.

Would you please also, if you could send this off to Mr Eric Kripke?

Great article!

Don't suppose you managed to find Plastic!Winchester Theater....

(I love to pimp it out. haha)

How fun and enlightening to read a relative newcomer's journey into the SPN realm. Welcome to the madness! LOL, it is a place you kind of have to pick and chose where to step, but on the whole, it is a fun, rowdy, warm-hearted fandom filled with some really amazing people. Thank *you* so much for a fair and balanced look at the fandom. I can tell you that we really appreciate some honest press. Thank you!

Heh, and I hear you about the slash. I know some very dear people who write and read it, and more power to them. But having come to SPN from the LOTR fandom, I was honestly surprised at how many people (and how easily) people embraced the incest thing. I guess it's because the Winchesters' lives are already so damaged and screwed up, they figured taking that lack of normal human relationships and (total reliance on just each other, with few other people to trust) to the next level wasn't that great a reach. So ... *shrugs* Incest is grotesque by any definition, but I've learned to just close my eyes as I go by slash in the SPN realm. I value the people, fellow fans, more than I'm squicked by the stuff some write. ;-)

Again, thank you for a terrific article!

Roger - I love Plastic!Winchester theater. It's a riot! There were so many things to write about when I did this, I forgot that one. Feel free to provide a link and pimp it out! It's worthwhile. That's true for anyone. I couldn't do the entire fandom justice in one short article, so tell everyone what I missed.

Thank you for the wonderful article. The SN fandom is pretty diverse and multi-faceted. I love Plastic!Winchester theater, too. Also, thank you for the Supernatural.tv mention. :)

haha thanks for the great fandom review Alice! i have to agree, i fear the fandom way more than any monster Kripke can cook up (fandom demon? haha)
though i just have a few things to point out. most of the reason we're kinda urked about the rings is cause we wanna know! most of the fandom loves Sandy just as much as Jared and really, we want them to be happy!

as for the slash... lol. you're right, they're bros. that's nasty, IMO. buuut there's the amazing RPF that kills me dead. and the regular gory, angst ridden fics are also so well done. we're really blessed to have such amazing authors.

and if you want to continue your exploration, try a few other things like The Society for the Continuation of Limp (And Redeemed) Sam, and Team Winchester. Beware of the CW boards. they can get just as nuts as the TWOP boards. but of course, we usually come back together for a good long oogle.

have a great one!

Great article!! I'm glad you liked the Supernatural fandom!
--Dee

We'll convert you yet. *grins*

*sings "Brothers On A Hotel Bed"*

"this community has way too much slash (if you don't know what that means, you don't want to know). I have nothing against slash in other fandoms, but come on, they're brothers!"

I completely agree! Way too much, and it often drives me crazy. I try to ignore everything slashy and to focus on the gen sides of the fandom...

Anyway, great article :)

In case you haven't found them yet, kroki refur's Episode Reviews of Doom and Ten Expressions are a thing to behold (and her fic's pretty shnazz, too..and her comic, The Awesome Adventures of Andy and Ava is good. Well, you get the idea). You can get all her Supernatural shtuff.

Make sure you check out Sam's drunken letters to Stephen King. I laughed until my sides hurt.

Great article - we are indeed a diverse and talented fandom! As an admin, and fellow geek, at the Superantural Wiki, I am so glad you enjoy it. And of course, I have now linked to this essay on the Meta page!

I've finally found the link to Plastic!Winchester theatre. I should be taunted heavily for forgetting this, for it's the most unique and outrageous thing I've seen in any fandom.

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions, and keep them coming. Sorry, but I'm still queasy about the slash!

Thank you for such fun, insightful and respectful article on Supernatural fandom that also showed that you know the show and love it as much as we do.

One thing that is really particular - and special - about our fandom is that we are very protective of our show and the boys. Even they recognize that.

I am a brazilian fan and seriously adore Supernatural. I like Chuck, too, but Supernatural has a very special place in my heart, and honestly, in my life too.

Thanks again for the wonderful review/post!

Best regards!

Oh God~ I got peter petrelli too~~ *facepalm*~ argh the only reason I stick to internet till now is because of SPN fandom~ I'm addicted! XD thanx for the wonderful review hon!:D

Podcasts are popping up as well, like Supernatural Podcast.

I love this fandom! We are some of the wittiest, smart and interesting people around.

"this community has way too much slash (if you don't know what that means, you don't want to know). I have nothing against slash in other fandoms, but come on, they're brothers!"

While I have absolutely no problem with someone having a problem with slash (and especially incest slash) but to say "you don't want to know" is a little judgemental. You can't know that someone doesn't want to know what to slash is -- and truth be told a variety of aca-fen had to learn the hard way to find the fan/academic discussion because people are scared to define and/or understand the issues that contextually are referenced in slash and slash fandoms because of its "problematic" nature. Just because something is linked to relationships about homosexual pairings does not make it an automatic freak show.

Overall a very nice article, covering most of the main fandom outlets.

However, I wish I could say I was surprised by your rather judgmental one-liner about slash. The tone was troubling, but I feel Shay addressed that very well above. So I'm just going to take a moment to address the way you glanced right over slash with a tiny, obligatory mention.

The fact is, whether you're comfortable with it or not, most of the online Supernatural fandom is slash oriented, especially when it comes to fanfiction. All you have to do is take a look at the daily Supernatural Newsletter to see that this is true. The newsletter is a thorough compilation of virtually everything Supernatural related posted on livejournal each day. The volume of Sam/Dean and Jared/Jensen stories is much greater than any other genre or pairing. And yes, both incest and RPF squick a lot of people. I understand that and I'm certainly not trying to force people to read something they're uncomfortable with. I just think that passing over slash in our fandom with barely a mention is a disservice to and misrepresentation of our community.

I second the commenter that said you should check out Team Winchester! It's comprised amazingly dedicated, proactive fans that are physically out promoting Supernatural, as well as spreading the word online.

What boggles my mind is that folks constantly miss the CW Lounge - the message board on the website of the NETWORK that the show is on! There are so many thoughtful threads and not nearly the negativity TWOP is notorious for!

Just a quick comment about Jensen's trip to Australia. He was there promoting the show. He was there to do tv, radio and press interviews. He combined it with a little vacationing, but his reason for being there was to promote the show for Australia's Channel 10, so don't feel too sorry for him. He was supposed to be attracting attention to Supernatural and he did his job well. :) There were no pictures or reports of him during private time, just public appearances.

Good article. I'm on your side with the incest thing; it makes no sense to me. I think what's kind of sad is that, as with pretty much any other fandom, those of us who are bothered by it or don't like it are unconsciously pushed into silence because it would be "politically incorrect" to voice our opinions. Not to mention a lot of slashers can tear off your head in piranha-esque frenzy if you express your disapproval in more than just a passing one-liner. (Or even with a one-liner, as your article demonstrates.) Slash debates always end up being ridiculously long and downright ridiculous....

Personally, I'd like to think in Supernatural fandom, slash is confined to the internet. Fans who are mostly uninvolved with online fandom don't ever really go there. And why should they? I kind of know what you mean by the whole "you don't want to know" comment. My friends, who have never been involved in online fandom, learned about the existence of slash (and incestuous slash) through me, and they still can't get over the "ew" factor every time it gets brought up, even after a couple years.

What continues to bother me, after years in all kinds of fandom, is this weird undercurrent that keeps popping up in discussions: there's always gotta be at least one slasher that hints at wanting to convert a nonslashing fan. As if not slashing is uncool.

But anyway -- as for Supernatural, this one fan made an amazing survey of all the fanfiction in the SPN Newsletter not long ago and created a pie chart of the results! Check it out!

Alice, you said something about cop show in your review, I was wondering what is your favorite cop show or do you have one? I'm a huge Starsky & Huch fan, I think that was the the best cop show on TV in the 70s. I love Supernatural! Great fandom review Alice!

The Supernatural fandom is one of my favorite fandoms, and is one of the best I've ever been in. The only other one that I think even compares is Firefly/Serenity fando,.

Thank you so much for taking the time to check our fantabulous fandom out.

Totally agree with you on the slash thing - I've never had much of a problem with slash in other fandoms, but in SN, it drives me up the wall. Sam and Dean are sacred as they are, in the primary brotherly love.

But I loved your rticle, and I'm glad you've joined us, even if it was only for a short while. But you know, once a Fanchester...

Thanks again everyone for more suggestions. I really need to get busier. I've got plenty of time until April 24th (although I will be watching when reruns return Thursday). It sounds like I'm going to have to do a follow up article on all that I missed. I'll certainly be busy this summer.

LindsayW - Thanks for mentioning the CW lounge. I haven't spent a lot of time there, but from the time I have spent there, you are right, many of the threads provide some interesting discussion. In the future, I'll cover the CW site in general, because in my opinion, their website is more fan friendly than other network sites. Too bad the network isn't as well done as their website.

Sherry - I've actually been watching Starsky and Hutch on hulu. I wrote an article about hulu, commenting how much I was looking forward to seeing that show finally and how much I was in awe to see that car in person in Vegas. It was even cooler in person. Others, like Adam 12 and Dragnet (which might even be 60's) are dull.

MM - Thank you so much for clarifying about Jensen's trip. I'm glad to hear he actually did have a good vacation. From reading posts, that was never made clear.

Finally, I'd like to address the slash issue. I'm not dissing slash or homosexuality. I was in the House community for years, trust me, House/Wilson slash is the norm and some of the best written stories were from that pairing. My comment about "you don't want to know" had nothing to do with homosexual relationships. It had to do with the perspective in this fandom, which is incest. I have zero disrespect for those that read and write the Sam/Dean pairing, but it's just not my thing. Please don't take the remarks to mean anything but one person's opinion on one particular pairing. Thanks for sending your comments and defending your part of the fandom! It's great to see people standing up for what they believe in.

ALICE Great article with some great information. I just wanted to mention another interesting and very active message board that I'm drawn to again and again and that is the IMDb SUPERNATURAL board. It has a very excellent self-policing policy that keeps the negativity (not that there's a lot ;)) at a minimum. It also watches out for spoiler damage because many of the posters are from all parts of the world and haven't yet seen all the episodes that we have here in the States. All in all, it makes for a very enjoyable excursion into the 'Supernatural' Realm.

Alice--

Can't believe you forgot Fandom Rocks, which is a fan-based charitable contribution drive!

There's also OpWin, or Operation Winchester, that collects money and DVD sets to send Supernatural DVD sets to troops overseas in the Middle East!

That was a blast Alice. I agree with what you said about slash, I write fan fics though mine generally run to romance/family for the "boys." I also have four forums, a website (the one linked) as well as a fanfic archive community and Numerous Live Journals with fics about the show. I think I am a bit over zealous but my readers don't mind. LOL. Thanks for your input on the Fandom.