Rick and Morty

Star Wars. It's not perfect, and sometimes bad, but avoiding the fanbase gives me peace.

Honestly, linux for me (yes I know where I am). Love the software and options, but holy shit is the fanbase incredibly opinionated and full of condescension about it. Also they don’t know how to shut the fuck up about it, and constantly bring it up where it doesn’t belong. Like its a personality trait to them or something.

lemmy.world/c/formula1 is small enough that we occasionally acknowledge a race happened.

Or liking things that doesn't have a big fan base works too. For instance, a lot of novels.

Most 'nerd' stuff. Comic book movie discussion has gone to shit because people have become weird about it. When it's not manosphere bullshit, it's people expecting Endgame level quality and stakes for every single movie now, who would've shat on Iron Man if it came out today, and who need to be reminded of the absolute horse shit that we used to get. They're starting to rival the Star Wars fans in terms of being insufferable.

Outside of the cosy games spaces that I've been hanging around, all I ever hear from Gamers™ is some controversy about a female character being a game. Or gasp a black character. They're happy with the main protagonist being a woman if the jiggle psychics are set to max though.

And online at least, the alternative scene has gone to shit. People from the anti jock subcultures started listening to jocks with microphones on podcasts. People who grew up listening to Jonathan Davis singing about being called a "faget", went on to become people who call others "betas". Metal went from representing rebellion to representing people who go "stop making it political".

And so many 'punks' seem to have become Joe Rogan fans too. I've even had to argue with people calling me a "woke lefty" in fan spaces for The Clash. We all laughed when Joe Rogan said "conservative is the new punk" but it's an even bigger joke because half the people that took his word for it were punks.

Warhammer/Warhammer 40k

Love the games an the lore but I wouldn't touch the fandom with a 10 foot pole. Some of the absolute worst degenerates in there...

Rick and Morty.

Fallout.

Star Wars.

Magic (except my friends).

Absolutely every single anime I ever watched.

Terraria has a unusually thirsty fanbase that never fails to disgust me.

Did I mention Fallout?

Sonic the Hedgehog for me. I love the franchise, but I stay clear of the fandom. So many weird people latch onto Sonic stuff and make it all icky and creepy. I guess that's what happens when a company like SEGA claims "Everything is canon."

Skoolies for me. A few years ago I bought a used school bus and started converting it into a motorhome. I made an account at the main forum (skoolie.net) because there were people there that actually knew useful stuff, primarily about metalworking (which I'd never done before) and the mechanical aspects of bus ownership (which I still don't know shit about).

Surprisingly (or maybe not) skooliers heavily tend towards being right-wing, trump-loving, gun-toting, immigrant-hating wankers. There are exceptions but they always end up being driven away. The thought of going to one of the annual skoolie gatherings is nightmare fuel for me.

It was so weird to study in STEM and meet other Star Trek fans in the cantina. Now there is something wrong with Wesley Crusher and I'm supposed to hate him and project that on the child actor, too? And when Jeri Ryan is nice enough to come all the way to a European convention, they yell "strip"? (At least they were disgusted as well about the latter, just reported others doing it.)

No thanks, I'll hang out with decent people.

My exception to this rule is Pokémon ROM hacks, relatively small fan base though which helps

Every few years I find a kpop act I like but holy shit, the fanbase is fucking horrible. I'd rather try getting into League again before I'd interact with those creatures.

not interacting with people in general:

There's so many bands I love and I don't even have a clue what they look like much less know anything about their fan base

I don't understand what a fanbase is. Probably why I just enjoy stuff and don't really care about who else likes it though.

Amazing Digital Circus for me. Sad that I know people who didnt watch the show just because they wanted to avoid the fans.

Lemmy?

Wait... Fuck

The older I get the better I am at finding groups of people and fanbases where this doesn't apply. I'm in a spot with music, cooking, visual arts, science and more both IRL and online that are just nice. And it's not about lack of different opinions and being in a bubble, I just focus on and stay with people and groups who are nice about it.

Being fan of the thing, not the fanbase.

Gaming fandoms. I personally love gaming but avoid fandoms associated with it like the plague.

Pipe tobacco.

Love the hobby, rusticness of it, 'the art', if you will, but man is the entire community full of grumpy old incensitive conservatives. There are exceptions to the rule like a few dudes at my local shop, but for the most part, I keep to myself about it.

MMA. I've been training for 4 years and I really enjoy it. But I've only ever watched 2 UFC fights on TV and never really interacted with the fans.

My god the F1 crowd is awful. There is no debate on rules or issues, there is only "I'm right and your a fucking idiot for disagreeing". I want to get more into GT3 as I've always preferred it in racing sims, but it's kind of hard to follow comparatively.

Probably a good idea, OP. The F1 fanbase has become a circus in the past decade. A lot of newcomers bringing their tribalism mentality of other sports along with them, not understanding how F1 works.

If you actually do want to get involved in a motorsport fanbase, GTs. But watching the NLS stream with chat while Max is in a team can be fatiguing. 100+ teams on track over many classes, so effectively 16 races going on, and every five mins his fanbase, that has no idea what they're watching, start arguing about F1. Some genuinely say it's their first GT race and ask a lot of questions, the fanbase is thrilled and explains everything with welcoming arms.