FanSided’s Fandoms of the Year will be here in December to reflect back on what moved, excited and entertained us this year. But here’s a peek at what captured our attention in September.
FanSided Fandoms of the Year is an authentic celebration of fan culture, bringing together the FanSided community of readers and writers to celebrate the teams, players, competitions, movies, experiences, actors, music, television shows, games and more that made us want to stand up and cheer in 2021.
Fandom is all about community, people sharing passion, joy, grief and triumph. In a world wracked by sickness, fear and uncertainty the things that connect us as humans have never been more important. This project is a way to celebrate and examine the things that bring us together, to recognize the transformative power of positivity and maybe even help people find something new to fall in love with.
The project (formerly the FanSided250) is a curated list of things that moved, inspired, thrilled and entertained us this year, featuring 100 fandoms described, in-depth, by people who love them. This year, for the first time, the list will be unranked, putting all 100 fandoms on equal footing, highlighting how they are all worthy of celebration. However, we’ll also be highlighting 10 fandoms with superlative recognition in categories like “Most karmically-owed fandom” and “Most inspiring fandom of the year.” And, as in years past, we will be choosing one fandom as the FanSided Fandom of the Year.
In the past, the list has all been rolled out together in December but this year we wanted to extend the fun. As a lead-in to the final list, we’re going to start releasing a monthly check-in highlighting five fandoms that were relevant or that we connected with that month. Here’s what we were rooting for in September.
What Fandoms of the Year were we rooting for in September?
Manchester United welcomed back Cristiano Ronaldo after he left in 2009. It’s brought back so much hope and promise for the supporters! The team is hoping to win its first trophy since 2017 and with their new striker, the expectation is they can get it done.
— Braulio Perez, FanSided Staff Writer
Tune into F1 races this year and you might be greeted by the sight of thousands of fans decked out in orange, letting of orange flares to celebrate Red Bull’s Dutch driver Max Verstappen. He’s the quickest on the grid and chasing his first World Championship while his fans make F1 events magical, rain (literally) or shine.
— Alicia de Artola, FanSided Staff Writer
2021 was definitely an interesting year for Lucifans. Not only did Netflix gift us with the second half of season 5, but they also gave us the show’s final season, and what an incredible final season it was. Although there were definitely some misses, it’s been a while since I can say I’ve loved a final scene as much as I loved the closing sequence in Lucifer’s series finale. Regardless of your thoughts on the final season, season 6 was truly only possible because of the fans who stuck with the show from day one. Few shows can say they managed to evade cancelation twice, but Lucifer is unlike any other show so it’s only fitting it would be an exception to the rule. While the show might be over, Lucifer will live on forever through the Lucifans and the incredible community the show has gifted us with.
— Cody Schultz, FanSided Entertainment and Lifestyle Director
With WWE weekly programming becoming stagnant and repetitive, All Elite Wrestling has made professional wrestling, well, fun to watch for fans in 2021. The company produced compelling television shows and tremendous pay-per-view events throughout the year, such as All Out, which has now entered the WrestleMania X-Seven tier of “greatest pro wrestling pay-per-view event of all time.” They even brought in tremendous talent such as CM Punk, Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole to add to their already-stacked roster, providing a plethora of dream matches down the line. If you are trying to get into following professional wrestling or have fallen out of love with it, give AEW a try. 2021 has been huge, and 2022 could be even greater.
— Scott Rogust, FanSided Junior Staff Writer
Only Murders in the Building is a brand new Hulu Original that was just released. The mystery comedy is headlined by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez. At a time where the consumption of true crime media is at an all-time high, it is so fun to see a new, quirky take on those who consume true crime, and secretly wish to be involved in the investigation from the start.