the BIGGEST fandoms on AO3

[@ColeyDoesThings]

Go ahead and guess what the biggest fandoms on AO3 are👀 Click betterhelp.com/coleydoesthings for 10% off your first month of therapy. Join over 4 million people who’ve met with a therapist on BetterHelp and started living a healthier, happier life!

[@lemonicowo]

I find it the funniest thing that this video about AO3 fandoms and the loads of fanfic is sponsored by a therapy company. We are everyone/therapy irl

[@Vileplume87]

PLEASE DON'T SUPPORT BETTER HELP THEY ARE TERRIBLE

[@RaindropEyewash]

I wish everyone on this site would stop taking sponsorships from BetterHelp. They’re shady as hell and they don’t do nearly enough vetting of the people they call “therapists”.

[@YumikoMayamine]

@@RaindropEyewash I wish creator would look out what kind of sponsorships they take... it's really disappointing from her

[@slyar]

coley no... not the BetterHelp sponsorship...

[@violetagnes]

Ao3 is an addiction that cannot be helped

[@InkPages]

we're all beyond help

[@blue-raptor4017]

I had one tab, I said it wouldn’t get out of hand.. I now have like 9

[@Pastelslumber]

​@@blue-raptor4017 9? I remember when i was as free as you..

[@InkPages]

@@blue-raptor4017 my old phone's browser had 96... I've since started building that on my tablet, so...

[@NandiniDevatwal3]

I can't read a 5000word chapter for school but I'll read a 250k word fic in less than 2 days

[@Alexander_Luv1]

Seeing Tommyinnits clinic was so fun cause i was like " I know that one" only to be IMMEDIATELY followed by one of the most earth shattering, soul crushing, fandom annihilating fics to ever come out of sbi was great. i will never read that fic i am so weak to angst lol

[@AlskskskdjdkdiMjdje]

💔💔 cried so hard reading tumoasd

[@kanemorsillo5501]

That feeling when you aren't into any of these fandoms and you're just here to be envious of their fic counts.....

[@Ray-wz8sg]

Me looking at my otp's tag with currently 240 fics (and some of them are my own) 😭😭😭

[@Blackplaaague]

@@Ray-wz8sg One of mine only has 14! It’s not very popular, since it is a rarepair, but I hope I can add to the count someday. It must be neat to have a mainstream ship that’s got a ton of five to choose from!

[@perrccyyy]

i feel you.... my fave fandom has a rather good amount of fics, but my specific interest in the fandom have very little :C

[@LifeLessSquip]

Tee hee

[@lexidc3940]

I have a couple of fandoms like this...one of them I actually started on AO3 with how obscure it is and the only other person who wrote another fic is my friend that I got into it. 😢

[@415-k1ub]

One thing I've noticed about fanfics is that people will write about what the original is lacking/doesn't have enough of. For example, if the original work is a tragic fantasy story, you can expect fics about modern AUs and fluff fics. If the original work is cute family-friendly stuff, there'll be a lot of angsty, tragic fics. It's kinda why I love fandom spaces so much. We build stretch, squish, twist and build upon the characters & concepts that we got and breathe a new life into it. It's literally like magic.

[@wishbee947]

Yes exactly! I've noticed that a lot, especially when it comes to movies or shows that are considered almost perfect and how little fanfic there is of them. It's because there really isn't much lacking in the original canon, people love what they were given and don't feel the need to improve on it

[@bitterestbird]

I go looking for fanfic when it ends too soon or...if I loved it but something annoyed me or an amazing plot got brushed off

[@AllTheArtsy]

wait you mean fanfics are not complete copies of the original??? woahhhhh

[@wishbee947]

@@AllTheArtsy they can be! Some people like rewrites, but everyone's different

[@nadyanathania3847]

you either put characters into situations or get them out of situations

[@scrensaver_]

Reading SBI fics and being in the fandom *did* feel like being repeatedly stabbed, you're absolutely right Ah, "There's Blood in your Web, Theseus (wipe it out)"...

[@AUCreatoer]

Fr tho 😭

[@Starloveswomen]

Yeah😭

[@malktheyellowdino5456]

So true

[@kassiaactuallydraws9361]

Can confirm

[@tova1412]

yeah...

[@beetea165]

in regards to sports rpf, there's an ongoing formula one ao3 fic that's currently over 5 million words long. it's been ongoing since 2014 and was updated yesterday. it has 547 chapters. it's infamous in the f1 fandom!

[@snsrml]

Link please 😊

[@yoshifan4569]

It's called Everything Changes

[@bethanbaker7066]

I went through an F1 phase after watching Rush but I've never heard of it. Probably because I got stuck mostly in the retro F1 fics if that's more to do with modern drivers. An interesting thing I actually found is that with regards to Niki Lauda and James Hunt, there are a weird amount of sticking them into new identities as Royals in the British and Austrian royal families, I'm honestly not sure why. For example I remember seeing one once that essentially dropped Lauda in place of Empress Maria Theresa.

[@cintiatakacs158]

@@bethanbaker7066 The fanfic in question is about Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. It's almost 6 million words long. I'm just amazed that a person can come up with a story that long.

[@bethanbaker7066]

@@cintiatakacs158 Ah ok. Yeah that also surprises me, I struggle to write 700 words. Uni essays are a pain for me, the word count struggle is hard and it's frustrating when everyone else says they struggle to keep under it.

[@lemonicowo]

Sports RPF Omegaverse being one of the most popular tags in the fandom is SO FUNNY

[@FunkyLittlePoptart]

Considering the number of pro athletes on Twitter banging on about being Alphas, it makes a lot of sense. They brought it upon themselves.

[@87blorbos]

A significant amount of abo, werewolf, and sometimes even dom/sub au fanfics in sports rpf that I've seen are an allegory for being a gay player (whether as being closeted, being in an environment with players with different cultures/beliefs, or just being a marginalized person dealing with stereotypes and prejudice). And then a bunch are just because the authors like abo fics or thinks that it would be fun.

[@meeeg7029]

Ain’t no way oh my lord new obsession unlocked

[@vm6615]

"If youre intimately familiar with this home page" jokes on you i exclusively get to ao3 through a shortcut that leads to the jonmartin tag i havent seen the home page in years

[@Labmistake]

You genius bastard

[@SuperanonymousUhhuh-pc1li]

Why hello TMA fan

[@vm6615]

​@SuperanonymousUhhuh-pc1li the funniest part is im not even a tma fan anymore i just do it out of habit

[@RannonSi]

I just go through the fics I have opened on a tab somewhere! :p Or the links I've saved in my one of my FF docs! :p

[@runa_cosplay_]

As a former dsmp fan I can say superhero/villan AUs were very popular in 2022 and there was a very little number of fics which were actually known by the whole community and tommyinnit's clinic for supervillains was only the second one to actually be known by a big amount of people in the fandom. (Edit: Passerine was the first)

[@catmeme6380]

don’t forget tumoasd… that and tcov was the big vigilante fics

[@kaehihi]

omg... passerine mention i cant even remember if i finished reading it because tommy angst ruined me

[@beesunavailable]

i read every damn superhero fic and adoption au i could get my hands on in 2021

[@1Ring2Rule]

Not a DNF fan, but Heat Waves was a big one too, right?

[@runa_cosplay_]

@@1Ring2Rule yes but it's centered around around only two people and was really only a romance fic while tcfsv had a more broad storyline

[@starrysoda8711]

MINECRAFT HAVING THE MOST ANGST FICS WILL NEVER NOT BE FUNNY 😭😭

[@LisaMartin-r1n]

I mean, it is a survival game at first hahaha. (has a lot to do with RPing too I think)

[@sof27]

i genuinely laughed so hard at that i cried😭😭😭

[@spicywaffle_]

@@LisaMartin-r1n yeah, i play on a generic survival server and players sometimes decide to just start wars with each other and i have to break their immersion by informing them that raiding is indeed allowed and if you air bomb their base in retaliation i will have to ban you. i find mostly children label player conflict as wars, i dont really know why

[@gay-flower]

just wait until you hear about the exile arc on the dsmp 😭😭😭 then it makes sense

[@mitzisbored]

i think it’s definitely because of the dream smp ahaha

[@Femcel_Fujoshi]

We're all here to see our fandoms mentioned

[@lovetolovefairytales]

Not me. No one is going to mention mine.

[@ErisGekko]

@@lovetolovefairytales as a Rain World fan, same.

[@AUCreatoer]

Sad BSD didn't make it. Thankfully Haikyuu made it lol

[@lovetolovefairytales]

@@ErisGekko as a Mirror Mirror fan I'm LITERALLY writing all the fics except for a single one shot. My darling isn't getting a mention.

[@valentinkambushev4968]

Same. I came for Tolkien, Batman, and others. I am just happy Tolkien's works are still getting the attention they deserve, especially now that more and more people find out the Silmarillion.

[@SignalShine]

Bro I had war flashbacks when you said passerine and tommyinnits unbeatable method of escaping sudden death. It’s truely just raw pain. 😭😭

[@Ebop15.-kc9ne]

I just read TUMOASD and felt physical pain don't do that man

[@razzma_tazz_]

TUMOASD quite literally changed the chemistry in my brain (in a good way)

[@Alexander_Luv1]

hence why i will never read that one. I BARELY survived passerine dude.

[@Therefore_-us8tx]

I was reading that while it was updating. The first and second half of the fic literally had me like that one cat meme that goes balling😎/bawling😭

[@gay-flower]

somehow haven’t read passerine yet but god tumoasd WRECKED me

[@melemon810]

ayo reminder that better help has been known for treated their patients AND therapists badly so just a warning

[@coovulm]

I don't know if this specifically is true, but I would not be surprised! A lot of companies that sponsor youtubers aren't great. the wix website is against palestine, raycons are (supposedly) poor quality, and raid shadow legends isn't a good game either. I haven't done much research on these brands, since I wouldn't buy from them anyway, but I guess I'm happy youtubers are making some cash. It's up to us viewers to stay informed and try to inform others, since the youtubers are probably not allowed to say anything negative.

[@ettaetta439]

Yeah, considering all the controversy I was surprised to see Coley allowed them to sponsor her.

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

@ettaetta439 I don’t entirely blame her, she’s getting the bag

[@machinegunlament]

​@@one-onessadhalf3393 there are still a lot of better sponsorships that she could have taken that will still pay her

[@goosesatan]

better help knows their target audience 😩

[@dramaticartisan]

Neopolitan trio (Techno, Wilbur, Tommy) being one of the frequent additional tags is funny to me when you compare it to the SBI platonic ship tag because it's like a handful of people decided "They're going unsipervised this time, hope dad comes back before it gets worse" And then we have the fic type tags deciding it's flavoured like vinegar&salt chips with a side of iced lemonade

[@jvever4904]

Be careful of Better Help, they don't fully vet their therapists and have been predatory to clients in the past.

[@pharuhs]

this needs more attention, good warning

[@Potterhead1111]

I was going to comment this because I saw no one else mention it. Hope she notices and (respectfully) cuts ties.❤

[@melanymata8550]

Please do a video on All the Young Dudes! Genuinely the storyline and plot is so good that it’s worth it waiting for the romance because it feels like a special reward even after the FANTASTIC character building!

[@icybumblebee_5527]

It hurt too much to finish, I quit 70% of the way through

[@LightGardenFlowing]

Seriously i just bought hardbacks that run at $300 this fic has a vice grip on me

[@shinymist]

The reason video blogging rpf is so heavily tilted towards minecraft was because for a very long time there weren’t official tags for Minecraft characters, since most streamers just used their username as their character’s name. For the more popular SMPs and characters, real tags were created, but for the rest we are still stuck with the rpf tag. You’ll see a lot of these fics may have some variation “this is about the characters not the person” in the tags or notes, especially ship fics

[@niteyknight503]

yeah, happy we finally got our own fandom tags but this was a problem for a LONG time lol

[@clockworkrabbits6767]

I still remember the times that 'Dave' was in the Technoblade character tag (and also when there were only ~500 fics with him in it) but it's crazy how it's changed over time

[@six9058]

Yeah that rpf tag kinda butchered the numbers of fics for their specified actual tags like dsmp or hermitcraft so its not really the true number

[@my4818]

Yeah for a long time I think the only smp with a fandom tag was hermitcraft. We were however a bit annoyed that It was "hermitcraft rpf". The change to "hermitcraft smp" was nice. Finding minecraft fics that was not dream smp or hermitcraft wad a bit of a pain.

[@hrhkeepingtrack]

Hi Coley! As someone in a Sports RPF fandom (specifically Hockey RPF), I wanted to let you know that most people putting out fic make it archive locked on AO3 to help keep the fourth wall alive and well. There have been several purges of fic and fandom content over the years as broadcasters/podcasters/other people working adjacent to sports media find fic and try to bring it to the athletes' attention, so the fandom works hard to keep to itself to prevent it from happening again. I know you need to be logged in to do videos like this and get an accurate read on numbers, which I totally understand! I just also know that the fandom would appreciate if you didn't show archive locked fics on screen or share their summaries if you DO end up doing a deeper dive into RPF/Sports RPF at some point. There's an interesting page on Fanlore about Hockey RPF and the fourth wall if you wanted some more information on this all too 😊

[@Emma-eo1tq]

The analytical/video essay nerd part of me would LOVE a sports rpf deep dive, but the rational part of me almost puked praying my works wouldn’t show up onscreen lmfao

[@ellienomaly]

thank you for saying that!! and tbh i’m personally terrified of the very concept of a sports rpf deep dive … i totally get how fascinating it can be from an outsider perspective but at the same time, let’s maybe not 😭

[@hrhkeepingtrack]

@@ellienomaly I feel like there's been SO many posts going around the general fic-reading public about Hockey RPF & its writers recently. I've def seen a non-zero amount on tumblr and tiktok and twitter, and those get circulated pretty widely!! So it's kind of felt like only a matter of time before someone makes content about like ... the reputation of Sports RPF/Hockey RPF writers in the fic community, at least. I'm just gonna keep my fingers crossed about the fourth wall being held up if it does happen, lmao!

[@ellienomaly]

@@hrhkeepingtrack you’re right. i remember there was online drama (plus hockey romance books are often talked about overall) so that brought on more popularity as well. it’s the fourth wall i’m concerned about - the public opinion on rpf is even less favourable these days so i’m not sure if people are just gonna express their displeasure with it (which is fine) or take things further :/ keeping my fingers crossed with you anyway hehe

[@UltimateEmoDetective1]

heeyyyy uhmm would you mind explaining what RPF or sports RPF is? ive been reading fanfics for a long time but always see RPF..i still have no clue what it is!

[@polinaignatenkova3634]

That opening line about being mostly isolated on ao3 and staying in your own little corner is SO TRUE. I was surprised and devastated that atla isn't in this video. Then I went and looked at the fic count . . . yeah no that makes sense, just cause I'm stuck in that beautiful world doesn't mean that it will be nearly as popular as these massive and long-standing fandoms.

[@hyrulebaelfire]

I was the same thing with Once Upon a Time! It's a big fandom and when you spend a lot of time there you expect it would HAVE to be on this list until you realize that wait, there are actually much bigger fandoms. Ao3 people really do stay in their own corners.

[@charzhazha1]

Sammme. Zuko (and the setting and characters in general, but I just love our angsty awkward turtleduck) just allows such good AUs ❤❤ Who knows, maybe the live action will reinvigorate things this year!

[@sle3pytill394]

SAME! i honestly wasn't expecting it to make top 20, but when I actually looked the fic count I was a little shocked. on that note, do you have any BlueSpirit!Zuko fic recommendations? like, the ones where he becomes part or fully spirt by merging with the mask/og blue spirit? I've been trying to find more, but I'm kinda lazy lol

[@blue-1079]

@@sle3pytill394 'blade of silver, forge of blue' is a major one i know of?

[@sle3pytill394]

@@blue-1079 ooo. imma go read that soon tyty

[@ItzN0tGh0st]

reading SBI fanfics were like grabbing a bottle of pills and swallowing them all with alcohol and then running outside to which you were then stabbed repeatedly and forced to walk on hot coals as you ran onto the road to get hit by a truck before someone then came over and shot you multiple times in the head. the authors were super talented and they had me sobbing so much every time

[@tiffanyhart1152]

In regards to the Batman Fandom, I'm surprised that Danny Phantom crossovers of any kind were not even a blip on the radar. It's so popular right now. I just find that shocking.

[@royce6485]

Yeah why is that crossover so popular??

[@tiffanyhart1152]

@royce6485 Well first Danny Phantom is a cartoon about a teenage superhero, so it pairs well with pretty much anything superhero-related. There is also the fact that recently Danny Phantom had a graphic novel released this past year with the promise of a sequel coming in the next. So we're starting to see a resurgence of new Fandom( or Phandom, if you will) material.

[@sunnydotjpeg]

ikr

[@remy817]

@@royce6485 there is also the fact that the phandom never fucking died, like seriously i decided to check it out on ao3 for nostalgia over a year ago and it was just *active*. there is an october event called ectober and another event called phic fight (is it obvious yet that we like to spell stuff starting with f whit ph yet) and the crossover(dp x dc) itself got popular not that long after i got back into the fandom, i think its just really funny to see the dc heroes react to and interact with the danny phantom cast, there is just a lot of angels to consider: amity parkers in general being like cryptids to anyone who isnt from there, danny getting adopted into the batfam, danny *not* being adopted into the batfam because he doesnt want to ever(he is done with fuitloops aka vlad), danny actually being related to someone from the batfam (buce's son, sometimes damian's twin, a few times as someone else's twin), interactions with john constantine specificlay the gost king danny headconon, the anti ecto acts get brought up almost always and meta protection laws often get brought up with them etc ^^this is all from the top of my head, but it honestly is just the black heir blue eyes that batman and the robins share that danny also has, you know because bruce sees a kid that looks like him and cant not adopt them

[@mystik_owl]

I feel like DP/Batfam crossovers are REALLY polarizing. You either really like them, or you really don't care for them. I think it might depend on if you're looking for a specific character to act as fantasy wish fulfillment

[@g_evrythng]

The captions are so funny on Coley videos sometimes, ‘cause instead of “canon divergence” you get “Canada v*rgins” 😂😂😂

[@B2WM]

We gotta make that a tag. Wolverine and Deadpool fans? My fellow Aximili stans? Due South fandom? Dudley Do-Right crew? By your powers combined...

[@Wild_Card69]

Coley, you should do a video on the least active fandoms on AO3 or perhaps the uncategorized fandoms. I think it would be interesting to see what fanfics were hiding under our noses the whole time.

[@lovetolovefairytales]

Mine might actually get a mention in that!

[@terracottagecheese2767]

I love occasionally looking through the miscellaneous, microscopic fandoms on Ao3 and coming across things like an entire section dedicated to the twelve foot Home Depot skeleton.

[@lovetolovefairytales]

@@terracottagecheese2767 dude! And I thought MY ship was weird. Making me feel like the sane one in the room!

[@ragewireloki6213]

Maybe SSTWL could get mentioned. A fandom so overlooked that ao3 doesn’t know how to classify it.

[@tmoneydamaster20]

then she should check out the strawberry shortcake ao3 fics. i was honestly surprised we had any

[@elihinata1]

57:56 "Oh God, It's Jackson Wang and his parties" XD

[@shadowgirl363]

😂😭

[@MrFinchy_Wing]

Reading SBI fics is like I got hit by a truck, stabbed repeatedly, and then run over by a hundred bulls, and then I was gently carried to a bed where I got stabbed even more, SBI fics are painful, angsty, and I don't think I've ever read one with just fluff and no underlying angst/trauma. It's painful but also I like to see how long I can last before I grab my cat and just cry :3

[@kassiaactuallydraws9361]

I wanted to suggest sircantus but they do write a lot of hurt/comfort (Anyways, still check them out if you somehow haven't, they write only masterpieces)

[@MrFinchy_Wing]

I looked at them and have decided to read 'My boy lost in time' despite the sadness that could probably happen thank you for suggesting 'em to me :]

[@Peppapantss]

As someone who wrote a bunch of stuff for SBI I just looked back and of 24 works in my Google drive ONLY ONE was just pure fluff 💀

[@1Ring2Rule]

@@MrFinchy_WingI love that one but yeah it hurts lol

[@AUCreatoer]

@@MrFinchy_Wing The angst that fic had 😭

[@nostalgicsapphic8450]

hello! please do more research into your sponsorships in the future🙏 better help has a history of controversy mostly related to connecting people with unlicensed therapists, selling their users data, and other bad things. congrats on the sponsorship tho!

[@suchalem6686]

The reason why Minecraft/VBRPF has so many incomplete fics is because there was a huge focus on multi chapter fics. Due to dsmp canon already being very community driven (and also having lots of AUs), most authors had to write a lot to flesh out their ideas- leading to an abundance of multi chapter fics. More multi chapter fics means more unfinished works.

[@hauntedaether]

SPECIFIC INSIGHTS FROM A MCYT FAN: There actually would be more fics in the Minecraft tag for smps and stuff but most fans usually tag their fics with specific fandoms like DSMP, Life series, ETC! I also like how she read out the fact tumoasd is a superhero au crackfic without acknowledging the Major Character Death tag. Really funny to me (i'm insane about that fic)

[@izzyliberty8720]

hey, this is some good evidence against the whole "all fanfic is smut" stigma, considering how the mature&explicit ratings generally made up smaller percentages than g/t-rated fics! Edit: ofc actor RPF (the category most likely to be adressed derogatively on talk shows) is the most explicit one lmao

[@aidacelicaguilar7927]

As someone who's been in fandom for more than 15 years, I love these types of videos. And I especially appreciate that you are so non judgmental about what other people write/enjoy. Even if it's not your cup of tea, you still treat it like silly and fun. It's a breathe of fresh air given how puritanical and aggressive modern fandom can be. I feel we both grew up with the 'don't like don't read mindset' and we carry it forward to today. Anyway, loved the video very much, thank you for making it.

[@febe1895]

Everyone/Therapy is my favorite ship

[@broblerone413]

otp ❤

[@my.fav.no..is.12.point.9]

omori 😍😍

[@khaliyahjefferson832]

it's perfect

[@stellasdoesstuff]

But not using betterhelp, because they teat both therapists and their clients horribly

[@febe1895]

@@stellasdoesstuff 100% ^^^

[@kelijahf]

"My brain would be like swiss cheese with thoughts just flying through the holes like fruit flies on psychedelics." is a helluva quote.

[@enterthenameyo]

Every AO3 ranking vid has me holding my breath that Sterek is still relevant 😭

[@perfectgirl4385]

Sterek staying strong

[@Anna_Crossing]

Me but with Bowuigi LMAO

[@one-onessadhalf3393]

Me but with Jayvik

[@LifeLessSquip]

Same 💀

[@anti_acido]

i thought that was a shrek ship, imagine my disappointment as i search this on google images

[@razzle-dazzle3668]

as someone who was in the dsmp fandom before there were even characters tags, it's so wild seeing how popular it is now. definitely deserved!

[@stormystudios82]

DSMP was one of the first fandom I was obsessed with and it will forever have a place in my heart. Passerine was the first real (real meaning good quality/not on wattpad lmao /lh) fanfic I ever read, and it was so sad but so worth it. It has set my standards really high for fanfics though lmao.

[@illustricks]

My story’s similar. Although I had read some fics before that, Passerine is what really inspired me to read more and to write my own stories as well. It’s nice to know that there’s a small generation of fanfic readers that started there haha

[@waveiiyt]

i feel this!! passerine was actually what converted me from wattpad to ao3, and it is my first bookmark on ao3 (out of ... like ... six thousand or something bookmarks now). i barely read any dsmp/mcyt/rpf in general at all now, but it's very dear to me still.

[@esraongun8044]

Dsmp was such a surreal indescribable experience, the fanbase’s impact on the narrative and creative freedom must be studied honestly it was just like making your own ocs for fanartists and writers (I am both)

[@elokin300]

The quality and variety of DSMP fanfics literally spoiled me

[@kalkxx]

yeah like aside from everything the actual streamers have done, just looking at the dsmp storyline objectively it was genuinely so interesting😭😭 crazy how that era was simultaneously one of the best and worst eras of my life lmfao

[@TheArtsyThorn]

A video about All the Young Dudes would be so cool! It is slow but the few years of happiness makes up for it. There's also a whole bunch of angst though so be prepared to be mentally destroyed by the end :')

[@shuirei]

its so sad that the f/f tag is less popular

[@myguitarisbetterthanyou]

ok great thought I was the only one noticing that

[@friskybitzboi]

It sucks but I also get it- there’s more male characters in most media and they’re generally better written because most writers are men. Femslash is huge in fandoms for properties with many well-written female characters but unfortunately that’s not most fandoms

[@pinkconstellations]

@@friskybitzboi lmao you’re telling me the MCU had that many fics because the male characters are “well written”?? people just like putting effort into making their favorite male characters shippable and just ignoring female characters. besides it’s really telling in smaller fandoms like scott pilgrim where there is still over four times the number of m/m fics than f/f fics and I would argue there are a lot of fleshed out female characters. the only fandoms that have a sizable F/F fan base are ones where either literally ALL the characters are girls (and even in RWBY’s case, the amount of F/M fic is almost equal to the amount of F/F) or the sapphic ship is literally canon (like she ra). most of the time the male characters are also poorly written. fandom just likes to spend time fleshing out the male characters, but dismissing female characters as “badly written.” why is that? I’ll give you one guess.

[@friskybitzboi]

@@pinkconstellations I’m not denying it’s partially due to internalized misogyny. For sure that’s a factor for some fans. But it’s not the entire explanation. As Coley has said in another video (I think the one explaining danmei?), there’s reasons women (and other fem and afab people) may gravitate towards m/m ships, like the fact it’s separate from our real life experiences with the patriarchy. Personally, I usually like m/m ships more because 1. there are usually more and better written men in most of the fandoms I’m in and 2. it’s escapism, I can put myself in the shoes of one of the characters and not feel the pressure of being fem person navigating sexuality (and 3. I’m really gay for men but irl they only see me as a woman so I have to explore that in fiction instead)

[@pinkconstellations]

@@friskybitzboi3 is a fair point and I hope you get to the point one day where that doesn't apply anymore :-) I am going to be honest though "the men are just better written" is, like I said in my first comment, kind of a cop out. I guess I can understand the displacement/inverse projection idea but the people I see most obsessed with m/m shipping will literally never talk about female characters ever. which turns it from "I just like shipping men more than shipping women" to "I just like reading about men more than women" which is... is that not clearly internalized misogyny? it is to me, at least. I'm a lesbian, if that matters. preferably it wouldn't, but I do think it helps explain my frustration here at the staggeringly low f/f numbers

[@Mads-nb3cu]

The genshin fic "entirely out of spite" is SOOO good i love it so much

[@Katlove687]

Please do not use betterhelp. A therapist should not be selling your data but that's exactly what they do. I have had a friend use it for anxiety and been told by multiple "therapists" just stop. Or spewing religion at them.

[@1080benny]

yes omg i was so dissapointed to see a betterhelp sponsor :(

[@eve6880]

the f1 rpf fandom is CRAZYYYY something about the inherent homoeroticism of being one of the only 20 drivers in the world... and there is So Much Lore. actually surprised brocedes didn't make the list. max verstappen is the current world champion (traumatic childhood, found family? in his team red bull) charles leclerc is widely acknowledged as the most attractive driver on the grid (DEPRESSING lore: losing his dad during his f2 season and getting back in the car less than 48 hours later and proceeding to win that race; his relationship with his godfather jules bianchi who was an f1 driver set to join ferrari but died during a race, and charles now drives for ferrari and has a goal to win a championship with ferrari (though he's been fucked over by them in recent years :( charles and max are lestappen bc of their weirdly touchy relationship and tendencies to maxplain and leclerify with each other after races AND THEIR HISTORY IN KARTING TOGETHER!!! THE INCHIDENT!!! they're emotional support rivals your honour. i think one of the big reasons for the amount of lore is bc most of the drivers started out as rivals in karting since they were 8, 9 years old and literally grow up racing each other.

[@almostyumi]

omg HAHAHA I love how you explained this. We should talk and discuss lol, I've never actuallyv talked to anyone else who both watches F1 and reads fanfic ❤🧡💚💙

[@Lena-ferns]

Them being born only 16 days apart the lore is ramped.

[@Miguinnie]

I was looking for this comment!! I love reading f1 rpf lmao

[@aparnay6391]

Oh my god, youre convincing me to dive into this 🙃😂

[@hayimlee7070]

Lestappen lore goes crazy

[@CaptainObviois]

Tumoasd jump scare. That fic irreparably damaged me. Also I’d love to see more fandom exploration of other smps besides the dsmp and others that splintered form it. Coley, you would get a kick out of the life smps and what the fandom has created

[@Ren_zilla-12]

same qwq. it was like getting stabbed in the heart seeing that XDD

[@AUCreatoer]

SAME. I didn't expect to get stabbed in the back multiple times but I did 😭

[@spirit_kitten]

That fic didn’t make me sad, it just gave me trust issues… I started reading it before it was finished…

[@spirit_kitten]

Anyway the title hits different

[@Oceanius7871]

Tumoasd was the first fanfic ive ever read and that was before the twist was revealed and thats when I experienced angst for the first time! :D

[@l3ftward]

the moment you brought up TUMOASD , i screamed that fic made me cry SO HARD OMFG

[@emilyrattini8462]

I came into it *knowing how it ended* and I still got blindsided

[@smthreallycool]

Not one human being can possibly understand the pain of that fic without reading it. I saw the warnings for angst, and I was relatively new to the fandom, so I thought "It can't be that bad!" No. It hurt everywhere. Never again. Incredible fiction.

[@fledge__heartinc]

@@emilyrattini8462I literally watched a video on someone talking about the sad ending and I still went for it…….WHY DO WE DO THIS TO OURSELVES

[@annlyonofdevalon]

As someone who got only recently into the Supernatural fandom and was looking up some fics to accompany watching the series... I cried when i saw the sheer amount of works. I'm usually in smaller fandoms and got really overwhelmed there for a minute 😭😂

[@ChronoBio]

I feel overwhelmed by Heartstopper (TV) approaching 6k; these numbers bowl me over.

[@tactac43]

I felt the exact same way 😂 (I also got into it recently after being in mostly smaller fandoms)

[@Insert_Creativity_Here]

Same lol That’s not even to mention ffn + livejournal fics, it’s a very big fandom

[@Guiltyzzz]

I'm just waiting to finish Supernatural so I can see some of the fandom stuff, just because I am too spoiler prone to get into the fandom without finishing the show.

[@chiaraz]

Oh hi other people who is getting into Supernatural in 2024, I thought I was the only one lol

[@ellabilge4982]

Please read All the Young Dudes and make a video about it! I promise the fic is so well written and engaging that the slow burn doesn’t even feel that slow. I reread this fic every year

[@cintiatakacs158]

Some of the fics and fandoms in this reminded me that I would love to see a video about the Top 10 longest fanfics (incomplete works included) on AO3. I feel like there would be some unexpected fandoms in that list that aren't necessarily the biggest ones.

[@Haileydybdahl]

A second chance by breanie will probably be up there just given how long it’s both been going and the sheer size of it.

[@lovelylynx5473]

ive read an incomplete dsmp/harry potter crossover that was 2 million words last time I saw it (like.. 3 years ago lol)... I don't know how long the longest one will be but jeez when I finally took notice of the word count it sure was a shocker

[@felesnocis]

God I’d love that One of my favorites (probably wouldn’t make the list tho) is the grand unified theory of shen qingqiu. It’s getting close to 500 chapters and it’s over 600k words but we haven’t had even one kiss yet. MC has no idea romance is happening, he’s just making art and teaching his kiddos.

[@Haileydybdahl]

@@lovelylynx5473 a second chance is over 3.5 million words and 360 chapters long.

[@AUCreatoer]

@@felesnocis GOD. I love that fic sm (And thank you for reminding me to catch up for the recent chapters lol)

[@iriswildfire7355]

in the minecraft fandoms, some of the ones tagged explicit or mature are also tagged that for violence and stuff like that. though there is still a lot of smut

[@kofiique]

The wonders of ao3 never cease to amaze me

[@gras_slayer]

One of the reasons of the Minecraft-fandom slowing down was for one the ending of dsmp, but most certainly Technoblade’s death in 2022. While Tommy is the favorite to pick as a protagonist, I’d say it was Techno who moved people’s hearts the most. He was very active in the fandom, retweeting fanart and commenting on fanmade conent and being generally a nice person. He inspired many, which is also probably why there’s so much fanart of him. Artist’s felt SEEN and appreciated. Therefor his death hurt so much more and many chose to abandon their work (fanfics) because it hurt too much. But it warms my heart that people are still creating to continue on his legacy and making sure that TECHNOBLADE NEVER DIES

[@lovetolovefairytales]

If someone writes a smutty Sports RPF fic about Messi, does that make it "A Messi situation"??? 😂 I'll see myself out.

[@stayville-connections]

someone has GOT to write a fic titled that now

[@camallow4388]

you definitely should read passerine. it’s one of the best fics i’ve ever read, hell, it’s better than a lot of published books i’ve read. it’s the kind of writing that inspires analysis, and multiple other fanworks (some with millions of views) have been made based off this fic (namely Sunsprite’s Eulogy, an animatic by SAD-ist on youtube). i have read it multiple times and every time it makes me cry. I have a very clear memory of the first time I read it, I was in the middle of online school and when there was a lunch break I cried all the way through it, for about an hour. So be prepared to have your heart broken. There’s also something to be said about it being a gen fic! the plot and familial relationships really carry the story and I think it’s a really good stereotype-breaking example of fanfiction :)

[@greenbeansrtasty]

Genuinely, the day after I read it I couldn't get through mathematics without tearing up. Worth it

[@nurkkakala5665]

and it hurts waaayy more after 2022… o7

[@solaciola]

Vouch!!! I still think about this fic a lot

[@myguitarisbetterthanyou]

as a gen fic writer thanks so much for what u said about them!

[@emilyhuber73]

As soon as the name Passerine was read, I heard Cafe 1930 in my head (the backing music for Sunsprites Eulogy)

[@TheMimiSard]

Yes, Pepperony is very common as a background in Stucky. Pepperony is a very common mainstay canon ship in the whole of the MCU. I may be nesting in the Clone Wars, but my previous fandom was the MCU and I spent some time in Stucky.

[@felesnocis]

“Nesting in the clone wars” God why is that such a mood.

[@TheMimiSard]

@felesnocis6515 The Clone Wars is such a happy place for plot, and full of sexy and interesting characters.

[@felesnocis]

@@TheMimiSard I only fell into it recently while looking at time travel fix its and I’m definitely enjoying it. Learning all the names is taking awhile but I think it’s kinda fun that way. If you’ve got a recommendation off the top of your head I’d love to hear it

[@Oceanius7871]

Please read passerine!!! Its incredibly high quality and is absolutely heartwrenching. And after your done, you should watch the Passerine animatic by Sad-Ist which is called "Sunsprite's Eulogy". Its really good!

[@codeddreams]

i love how batman is at the top 15! and a large majority of us readers decided to brainrot about the fandom around the same time just before the new years lmao

[@Notfallkaramell]

The the Uptick of Batman/Danny Phantom Crossovers around that time was caused by the Dark Knight? Huh.

[@getinloserweregoingshopping947]

same i was honestly pleasantly surprised

[@VegaNorth]

Welcome! Remember to give the villains some love-there’s a lot of fan content to catch up on.

[@royce6485]

I just got into Batman fic last year and I’m surprised to see a lot of people like me- barely seen any canon, im absorbing my knowledge from fanfic lmao

[@getinloserweregoingshopping947]

@@royce6485 i actually recommend getting some into canon i love the comics😭

[@perrccyyy]

OMG TCFSV (tommyinnits clinic for super villains) is SO popular. it took the fandom by storm ong!! though i half expected that one figure skater au to take the cake.. (cant remember the name), might just be because ive read it like 50 times personally lol

[@justalurkerignoreme]

Omg icing those hurts is so good!! I absolutely loved it

[@perrccyyy]

@@justalurkerignoreme YES THABK YOU I FORGOT THE NAME

[@vaskebjornbuksa]

i will forever stand by Passerine as one of my favourite fics of all time!!

[@fionamaecry7579]

its so good😭

[@vaskebjornbuksa]

@@fionamaecry7579 i cried so much

[@majakwasny]

YES, PLEASE DO A "READING ALL THE YOUNG DUDES" VIDEO!!! thats literally all i could wish for from you omg i want it sooo badly, i know that you'd LOVE this fic, its just genuinely very good and well written! compared to the marauders fandom now, some headcannons in atyd are a bit outdated and not relevant anymore (for example marlenes personality in atyd is actually the opposite from how shes headcanonned now), but still it gives you a good insight and is a great starting point to get into the marauders-era stuff :D

[@Dragonbug126]

It's insane how much the dream SMP still has a chock hold on the Minecraft fandom. Given, it's been over for like at least a year. Gotta love SBI tho

[@emilyhuber73]

SBI rules! I wish they got their own fandom tag on AO3 cause a lot of their content has been away from the DSMP

[@hoppybirdy6967]

They're an amazing way to indirectly take a good look at one's attachment issues and feel feelings. Plus, it emphasizes platonic and familial bonds, which can be really reassuring. I've never been in a fandom this long, and I've never been trying to leave a fandom for this long, and I think that I might try to avoid getting deep into other fandoms so that I have more mental space for my actual life, lol. Still, the stories have been genuinely so impactful and I'm glad to have loved them.

[@wjx5081]

I love how Jackson Wang and his parties are practically canonical in almost every single kpop fic. It's like one of the main plot settings where shit goes down.

[@valentinkambushev4968]

9:06 Ironic that you say that, since in Tolkien's greatest love story, it's the female character that constantly saves the day, while the male character... is trying to not die.

[@nourriadh6976]

True Tolkiensts know that Beren and Lúthien is THE OTP when it comes to the legendarium

[@valentinkambushev4968]

@@nourriadh6976 you know you have a loving husband when he models every extremely beautiful woman in his story after you.

[@nourriadh6976]

@@valentinkambushev4968 honestly his wife and kids were so lucky to have him as a husband/father. Added to the list of barely reachable goals in life.

[@TheLegendCreator0]

I can’t believe I was jumpscared by my own blorbo in a ColeyDoesThings vid. I can’t believe the Silmarillion passed Coley by. But hey, at least Maedhros/Fingon, the big ship of the Silm, made it into the mother fandom’s tags.

[@TheMimiSard]

And on Marvel, I suspect its dominance is that the whoel of the MCU is a post-AO3 franchise. That is to say, the movies started either after AO3 onlined, or concurrent to it. As for both Natasha and Pepperony's position in listings, I think both get such high placings as secondary or background presences in a lot of fics. Like I said in my Captain America commemt, Pepperony is one of those canon ships that is a good tentpole to occupy a background role in stories. Writer doesn't have an alternate shipping purpose for Tony? His relationship with Pepper is highly respected so automatically gets in. Natasha? Has associations with Tony, Steve, Bruce, and Clint, and she is, on her own, an interesting character and useful as that hyper-competent friend who helps the given main character. I have even seen fillial bonds between her and Peter Parker happen in fics, so she is a super useful character.

[@Sp00kyHere]

I’ve been heavily into the SBI FIC community since the start and there’s definitely so much more that goes down below the surface level my god :,)

[@merisaxchi]

Final Fantasy representative here. There are two Warriors of Light (characters) in Final Fantasy! The one you saw is NOT THE CHARACTER from the top characters list. The Warrior of Light you looked up is the pseudo "first" protagonist of the entire franchise from FF1 that's reused in several games... but isn't actually that popular of a character. The Warrior of Light in the tags on Ao3 that's second to Noctis is the player character from Final Fantasy XIV, which really is just your OC/SI protagonist. It's stunning to me that this is the second most popular character in FF on Ao3. If you want to see the marketing version of the Warrior of Light for FFXIV, look up the Final Fantasy XIV trailers to see who we fondly know as John Final Fantasy (official name: Meteor, alternate universe twin: Ardbert).

[@bellamango6708]

hell yeahhhhh WOLshipping killed cringe for a lot of people

[@lottepegacorn]

‘charles leclerc you have a lot of popularity here’ i meannn have you SEEN this man i’m kinda surprised x readers with him weren’t higher on the list 😭😭

[@Cheeseboy1967]

Coley: “It’s just a theory” Me: *A Film Theory, and CUT, god I’ll miss him saying that*

[@Ray-wz8sg]

I'd love a video like this for the reverse, looking at more niche fandoms, maybe one's you're in or fan submissions, as a way to get more people to check out the fandom if it sounds interesting

[@noonelooksatusers]

maybe then there'd be hope for my fandoms :,) edit: oml just realised ur the one i saved that rhaast/kayn playlist from also absolutely based on skillet and starset

[@yumyummaey]

You gotta read passerine! It's great, especially if you watch the animatic by SAD-IST (Sunsprite's Eulogy) after that!!! (the cherry on top)

[@ElsaKool2300]

As for Sports RPF, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin started playing in the NHL for the same team in 2005 and are still teammates to this day. They are the best hockey players of their generation so that's why they are so much popular! Also a lot of ships in the same team become forgotten when one player is traded to another team, so I guess that's why Sid and Geno are still going strong!

[@aliciaerjavec]

Adding to the fact that Pittsburgh reporters have called quite literally called them an "arranged marriage" adds fuel to the fire. As well as how they lovingly talk about and support each other.

[@kokoro7996]

Genshin is like the only fandom I’m really in that’s main stream. Also, as I Childe simp, I’m glad that he’s the most written about character.

[@Acro_YT]

Childe mid

[@TheGelieace]

@@Acro_YThope u heal from all that jealousy😔🙏🏼

[@Azaleaaah]

Childe is so versatile, its no wonder. He is shipable, can be your friend, enemy, he can literally be anything. No wonder he is number 1

[@Azaleaaah]

​@@Acro_YThope you heal from that jealousy 😔🙏

[@kokoro7996]

@@Azaleaaah Exactly!

[@pchou8118]

Sports RPF really is good fun. Can't speak for the other sports but Formula 1 really is tropes galore. You have childhood best friends, "omg they are teammates", enemies to friends to lovers, lovers to enemies, angst and just the inherent eroticism of rivalries in general. There are multiple races a year and whether if our blorbos win or lose, you'd expect a celebration or fix-it smut after each race (which explains all the explicit fics).

[@divs2466]

Yeah I love lestapen their enemies to lovers hits hard

[@laylanoelle9968]

Oh no, I didn't even think there'd be F1 fics and thought it'd be a joke but now I'm curious

[@pchou8118]

@@laylanoelle9968 F1 RPF on AO3 is huge!! Nearly 34k fics haha!

[@jamiegenlix8613]

This is pretty cool seeing the fandom’s rank through the year nice video! Btw you HAVE to read Passerine it’s such an amazing beautiful fanfic about war and bittersweetness. please give it a try!! 🙏

[@TolkienOtaku]

Coley learning about Russingon is giving me life.

[@Someone-zn4dh]

8:18 Fun fact, one of my university class basically made us analyze Tolkiens book One of the material is talking about the Fanfiction Phenomena ...I teach my professor about Frodo x Sam sub in AO3

[@elinasanglert1520]

Be careful with "Better help", yes there is a chance you get a therapist that is good and helps you but there have also been alot of instances where the therapist doesnt have the qualifications they need and have been awful for the user. In Better helps documents they list alot of suspicious stuff that makes it so they are not responsible if for example your therapist was homophobic, barely focused during calls (cleaning the house at the same time for example) and if they "miss" meetings constantly. The last one is gonna make it so you pay for something ur not even getting. Coley i really think you should research them abit incase youre thinking of taking their sponsorship again.

[@lexysteinberger7725]

The WoL (Warrior of Light) you're seeing in the FF fandom is supposed to be the player's character in Final Fantasy XIV (14), the MMO. G'raha, Emet, and Haurchefant are all VERY beloved guys in the fandom. So it's more OC/those 3.

[@xtremesubber9136]

While I typically stay in larger fandoms (Dream smp, Harry Potter, marvel, ect.) I understand what it’s like being in a small fandom with not very many fanfics. I’ll have a couple of months of being in a smaller fandom, and it’s honestly really really frustrating when you’re looking for a specific storyline, and none of the fanfics explore that storyline. Like there’s nothing you’re interested in, and it suuuuuuuucks

[@lilikagamer3724]

Yes please do a video dedicated to All The Young Dudes!!! It's amazing and famous for a reason, though indeed slow at the start

[@avaaasimar4730]

woooooo hermitcraft and empires mention!!!!!!!!! was kinda sad to not see em with the minecraft tag but im v v happy to see em in the rpf tags (even though it's looked down on in the fandom to ship the content creators instead of their characters in the series they play in)

[@A_Mini_A]

Ah!! Big up Ianto Jones! He’s my favourite Doctor Who character, and I find his popularity so strange and cool at the same time! He’s only in 2 episodes of Doctor Who during season 4, and he doesn’t particularly have that big of a role compared to the other characters. Heck, even in Torchwood, he wasn’t really a main character till series 2. It definitely comes from his relationship with Jack and his dry humour is great. I’m very new to the Doctor Who and Torchwood fandom (started DW in September 2023 and finished it in November 2023. Started Torchwood a week later and finished that in 2 weeks) and I’m just so surprised that there’s a literal shrine to him! Not a small one someone has in their home, but a wall where the show was filmed!!! Children of Earth (IMO the best Doctor Who story!) happened like 14/15 years ago and for this to still be going is just… fabulous!

[@physicallyateabag3185]

I love this video, you're so thorough!! this is also great as someone who generally doesn't explore fics outside my bubble that often this is great for recommendations lol. Also as someone who recently started reading All the Young Dudes i'm currently on chapter 45 and honestly as someone who doesn't read slow burns this is really well written as well as I feel like the relationship isn't the primary point of the story but the emotions and experiences the characters have. Truly one of my favourite fics so far.

[@polinaignatenkova3634]

You gotta read "Deku? I think that's some pro" and "Yesterday Upon The Stair" those are some of the coolest fics and the worldbuilding in them is simply *chef's kiss *

[@sle3pytill394]

I also really love "tea in a bar", as well as other MHA fics by all three authors!

[@amarislinville530]

I've read all those and they're all excellent choices!!

[@Kaicoles5678]

“They way you used to do” is my favourite bakudeku ff. it’s so good (only if you like shipping though)

[@-brookebugz-]

Coley PLEASEEE read passerine, it’s such a fantastic and beautiful fic, and if you decided to make a video on it my heart would forever be happy

[@Starloveswomen]

AAAA SLEEPY BOIS IN THE THUMBNAIL!!!! So excited to watch this :D

[@isalovez]

BTS fics are what led me to discovering ao3 and i have been the rabbit hole of lots fandom fics there ever since. There are so many good writings there no matter what fandom you'll search in 👏

[@current9300]

You definitely should check out Fingon/Maedhros and then fall down the Silmarillion rabbit hole. Lot of fun and suffering there!

[@Fiamma_Galathon]

If I could suggest two absolutely brillant fics/series for Russignion : "In Equal Measure" by Philozophizes and "Thread Unaraveled" and the whole Thread-verse by ScribeofArda

[@elsalaiho1699]

I'm personally a massive Tolkien fan, it's my oldest and dearest, the fandom I keep always returning to. And I'd like to offer a few observations as to your comment about how you didn't think it was that big, if I may. Sorry this is long, but I sorta hope you read it anyway, there might be some bits of stuff here that you find interesting :D So for one, sure the fandom is big, and it *feels* big even when you're in it, but it doesn't really feel quite as big as it is going by the collective tag for everything, because there's pretty strong divides between different aspects of the fandom. Like, sure, there's also a lot of overlap but like there's still, I would argue, very distinct divisions, difference between fandom culture and between what things are and aren't popular, etc, if you line up the Hobbit fandom (which mostly really became its own thing with the PJ movies in the mid 2010s, I would say, like I'm sure you can find some fics that focus on Hobbit characters from before them, but it wasn't really a story that most people were looking at prior to that, so I'd say it's the one with the strongest movie influence), the LOTR fandom (within which there's also some divide between book and movie fandom, although I don't think it's as noticeable now as it might have once been), and the Silmarillion + other relevant posthumously published works -fandom. Of the three, the Silmarillion fandom also kind of easily flies under the radar to most who look from the outside. It has its own fanbase which is big enough and very dedicated, but Silmarillion even as a work in its own right isn't as widely known (especially since the Tolkien Estate so far has been unwilling to give out adaptation rights for it), so it's not necessarily something people even know is there unless they spend time in pretty close proximity to Tolkien fandom. Oh and of course then more recently you've got the Rings of Power but honestly I don't really know what the fanbase looks for that, I don't venture much out of my own corner of the fandom anyway (I'm not super familiar with the Hobbit fandom either and never have really been on that side of things, I'm just sorta familiar anyway because it became big around the same time as I was entering the fandom, so I saw a lot of it even if it wasn't my thing personally, while these days I have my own established circles I mostly stick to) Another point is that Tolkien fandom just is old (granted, so are some of the others on the list as well, but still), so there's a fairly significant amount of works there that have been archived from other fansites over the years (or possibly even from zines or such pre-internet era fandom material; I'm not terribly familiar with the older works archived there myself), rather than having originally been posted on Ao3. And a fandom that old and that big also kind of just naturally has a certain momentum that keeps it going pretty steadily on without it necessarily being always super bright and loud, like, new works will trickle in bit by bit even in slower quieter periods, even if there doesn't happen to be anything that's actively drawing the spotlight to the fandom or creating an influx of new fans or new works. All in all, Tolkien fandom just works in a way that makes it easy for me to see why you wouldn't have thought it was so big. Because it is like 3+ fandoms in a trench coat pretending to be one, to an even greater degree than a lot of the things here. As a fun fact, while they're not so many as to meaningfully skew the statistics, there's also some works on Ao3 under the Tolkien fandom tag that are in fact fanmade translations of two different Russian adaptations of Tolkien's works, rather than fanfic in themselves. Three that I know of are translations for the Lay of Leithian rock opera, and two are for the Finrod rock opera. Speaking of which, I think Tolkien fandom is also one where there's fairly big amounts of fic written for the fandom in languages other than English. Like just scrolling through on an average day, if I don't filter to English-only, I'll see a lot of Russian, German, French, I think Spanish as well, and... well, either Japanese or Chinese, I can't really tell them apart at a glance, coming up in the search results. As for your discovery re: Maedhros/Fingon - yeah they're EXTREMELY popular in the Silmarillion fandom. Maedhros is the eldest son of the elven king Fëanor, Fingon is the eldest son of Fingolfin, Fëanor's half-brother (should note that like 90% of interesting characters in Silmarillion are somehow related because a lot of the story revolves around a couple elven royal families), and with the Russingon ship specifically there's... well, a lot of angst and tragedy and war crimes and all the stuff that fandoms like, lol. Also Fingon rescues Maedhros when Maedhros is captured by the evil dark lord, and what's more romantic than rescuing someone from a horrible fate? especially when you've got every reason to believe they're dead and also every reason to hate them because their family sorta betrayed yours and, like... yeah. I'm sure you get it. As a fair warning, if you do look into Russingon... expect like, a lot of angst and trauma, lol. Neither of the characters has a super happy story, and one dies violently in battle and the other ultimately commits s**cide. If you want fluff with them it's either pre-Darkening or AU or fourth age fic where everyone's been released from mandos, pretty much.

[@ognicho2333]

As someone who loves analising statistics and numbers this video was dropped on me from heavens

[@xtremesubber9136]

Since Coley gave me permission: *takes breath* 🔊 COLEY, READ PASSERINE!!!!!

[@tsukihimeyfan]

1:17:27 YES please join us in the beautiful madness that is the DPxDC fandom. It's just too perfect if you think about it. I mean, a black-haired, blue-eyed teenager with less than ideal parental figures desperately trying to do good via vigilantism, who has also had one too many brushes (or maybe full-on collisions is more accurate) with death? Danny's basically standing there BEGGING someone in the DCU to pull a Batman 😂

[@felesnocis]

Like come on guys, Jason NEEDS someone to make awful death jokes with

[@kfc6029]

As a HUGE marauders and Coley fan, seeing your reaction to ATYD would be amazing (so so amazing)!

[@luvvhans]

it’s impressive how you managed to pronounce EVERY single f1 driver name wrong 😭

[@Annabeth7071]

Especially Max Verstappen

[@luvvhans]

@@Annabeth7071 yeahh i didn’t even know you can mispronounce it that bad haha

[@Insert_Creativity_Here]

@@Annabeth7071 My German loving brain hurt hearing her pronounce that ngl (i know he’s dutch but similar word sounds)

[@purrowell]

you said yell at you to read passerine so here: READ IT. it's really good and really sets a scene for a lot of royalty au fics in the dsmp, since many authors were inspired.

[@MusicGal672]

Please do an All The Young Dudes video!!! I read it over Christmas and when I say read I mean DEVOURED it is so freaking good

[@banananana7412]

epic vid as always! waiting for the day a life series/hermitcraft ship/character makes it onto the minecraft top tags listing lol. i join the chorus calling upon you to read passerine, absolutely no emotional damage to be found here (hides sad-ist's animatic behind my back) (i am not a dsmp fan, more a life series and hermitcraft kinda guy, but rock on, dsmp comrades)

[@pearlgirl6]

seeing Bus to Nowhere in this vid made me so happy!! I know she’s mentioned it, but I would LOVE to see a Danny Phantom fandom deep dive 🤞🏼🤞🏼🙏🏼

[@ghostinbox_]

seeing clinic and TUOASD there as the top kudos fics was a brutal reminder of the reading experience of both of them, take being repeatedly stabbed by the most used tags but multiply it by a thousand, that’s how bad it hurt. highly recommend reading if you haven’t already, it was truly a masterpiece (up there alongside passerine and wasting your time, another couple of incredible angst fics)

[@kirbstagoontheaxolotl]

Was so happy to see the Life Series in the top subfandoms of Video Blogging RPF. I'm a Flower Ranchers shipper (I will also ship the Flower Husbands, Ranchers and Snowbugs, which are Scott/Jimmy, Tango/Jimmy and Tango/Scott respectively, god I love this trio sm) so getting to see the series in there was the happiness I needed today

[@Tepgg_]

Former-mcyt and haikyuu fan here, oh my god this video made me remember lol, still play volleyball to this day and omg it’s not 2019 anymore 😭 This hit me like an absolute truck.

[@flitxthedestroyer237]

I was wondering how much of the Silma fandom would show up when you went through the Tolkien category! Not too surprised to see Russingon (Fingon/Maedhros) as the pairing that made it through (lol), though Sauron/Morgoth is also probably mostly form the silma side if I had to guess. While the Silmarillion is definitely not always the easiest text to get through, it is a fandom that I've genuinely enjoyed, and between the fanart, headcanons, and fanfiction, its got some insanely good and creative stuff. If you were even the slightest bit interested I would defenitely reccomend it, and on that note I'd love to see the Silmarillion fandom for one of your 'entering the fandom' videos!

[@silentraven-studios]

^thisss coley doing a >entering the silm fandom< video would give me life