Would love to hear if there are any old-fashioned "fansites" that are still as "hopping" today as they were in the 1990s-early 2010s. Are fans still swapping fiction and art, debating on forums, sharing pictures of merch, speculating on new media projects, and practicing their "fictional language/crafty" skills?
I would imagine these types of sites are a heavily dying breed that has been mostly replaced with social media groups/pages, Reddit threads, Youtube videos, etc. Not to mention, the loss of hosting platforms like Geocities hit creators HARD. But it would be really cool if some individuals still maintain their fan domains and keep the fan fire going.
As an example, today, The Ham Ham Paradise is the only English-language fansite of the show Hamtaro that is still active today AFAIK, in fact it was updated just this week! They have a Tumblr too, but clearly the fansite is the crown jewel of the creators.
Destinyislands, a lot of Pokémon and Power Ranger ones... Rabi-Ribi out of all things
Checked out Destinyislands and sure enough, it's alive and kicking in 2024 (outside of some layout change, it looks like). So happy to see that! I don't mind social media fan pages, Reddit and whatnot but it's neat to just GO to a website where you know others fans who share your interest WILL be. It's maybe not always convenient in one sense, but it IS convenient in the sense of a "central hub" to store your fan content/news/etc. for one particular series/franchise without some of the hindrances of Tumblr's format (which I like BUT for finding centralized fan content, I feel like it struggles).
Does Serebii.net count as a Pokemon fansite?
Rabi-ribi, interesting, a crowdfunded game! Guess people are still trying to keep memory of it alive, that's pretty neat and not something I would expect to have a still-functioning fansite. But I guess you could say the same about something like Earthbound, a cult classic that sold VERY poorly but nonetheless built up more and more fans over years and years right here on the internet. Still plenty of activity on their fansites (outside of Oddity, the "Earthbound style game for fans" which sadly hasn't been updated in quite some time).
I think there's a few Yugioh, Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball fansites out there still.
Interesting, all of those series are still in the limelight in some respect and still very active in the anime medium, so I get why they might still have a few fansites floating around (with the exception of maybe Yu-Gi-Oh). But even with YGO, whenever there is a new version like a big game rerelease or game package, fans usually flock back.
Hamtaro actually had a surprising number of fansites for an obscure family/kiddo anime, like I can recall probably 10 off the top of my head, but it simply never got big enough to be a mega franchise here, or generate a huge fanbase online. I have said in the past that if Hamtaro had arrived in a newer internet age where Bluey and G4 My Little Pony (along with other shows like Gravity Falls) were able to take off via internet fan culture/whole families getting into them, it could have done very well (well, I mean before Hamtaro hit clear seasonal rot, which IMO is around episode 100). It's a super chill and sweet show.
Destinyislands, a lot of Pokémon and Power Ranger ones... Rabi-Ribi out of all things
Checked out Destinyislands and sure enough, it's alive and kicking in 2024 (outside of some layout change, it looks like). So happy to see that! I don't mind social media fan pages, Reddit and whatnot but it's neat to just GO to a website where you know others fans who share your interest WILL be. It's maybe not always convenient in one sense, but it IS convenient in the sense of a "central hub" to store your fan content/news/etc. for one particular series/franchise without some of the hindrances of Tumblr's format (which I like BUT for finding centralized fan content, I feel like it struggles).
Does Serebii.net count as a Pokemon fansite?
Rabi-ribi, interesting, a crowdfunded game! Guess people are still trying to keep memory of it alive, that's pretty neat and not something I would expect to have a still-functioning fansite. But I guess you could say the same about something like Earthbound, a cult classic that sold VERY poorly but nonetheless built up more and more fans over years and years right here on the internet. Still plenty of activity on their fansites (outside of Oddity, the "Earthbound style game for fans" which sadly hasn't been updated in quite some time).
I wanna say Serebii does. It's unofficial so it's a fan site. So is Pokémondb which I prefer to use.
I'm nothing but a mass of concrete yet my heart is calling my name
Kirby's Rainbow Resort. I checked it out, but the forum links didn't work
That sounds super cute!!! I need to check that out-maybe they can help me finally figure out how to play Amazing Mirror (heh). It's a shame the forum isn't working though.
I tried to check the Ham Ham Paradise forum like 3 or so years ago and no only was it pure HECK trying to get the thing to work for me, but it wasn't even active when I finally got in.