How do you differentiate between a hardcore fan and a casual

[MarCas92]

At what point do you think someone goes from being a casual fan, to a big fan to a hardcore fan?

Do you think there is such a thing as a "true fan"? If so, how do you define it?

Do you think these distinctions help the community/franchise?

[Hellspawn28]

To me a casual DB fan and hardcore fan will be like this.

Casual:

- Does not follow the series closely like us
- Only seen the series dubbed
- Probably never read the manga
- Plays a few of the video games and has some merchandise

Hardcore:

- Seen all of the anime, movies and read the whole manga
- Seen the series in Japanese
- Knows the series outside of the TV series with stuff like the Daizenshuu and old interviews from Toriyama.
- Follows the news on the Internet for the latest news of the series
- Knows voice actors and music composers very well
- Buys the video games and collect the merchandise

[VegettoEX]

There is no such thing as a "true fan", only levels of fandom insanity.

I think if you're reading Kanzenshuu at all, you're already clearly in hardcore territory.

[Gyt Kaliba]

For me, a hardcore fan would be someone that has seen at least large chunks of the series (likely all of it, or at least all that's been released in their home country), and probably owns it, as well as owning at least a small smattering of other merchandise, and still has a passion for talking about the series with fellow fans. You can get even more hardcore by getting to people go out of their way to stay up to date on new info, and talks about it online all the time, but at it's most bare minimum that's what I'd call a hardcore fan - someone who has more than a passing interest in the series and is still passionate about it on some notable level.

A casual fan, would more so just be someone that watched it back in the day, or even just discovers it now, and thinks 'Huh, that was neat', and doesn't really take it any further than that. They might watch Abridged. They might play the games. But it's just a passing thing in their mind, not something that they truly have a deep interest in.

[Theophrastus]

I think the idea of "true" fans is silly and basically serves no purpose other than to allow certain individuals or groups within a fandom to be elitist jackasses who look down on everyone else.

As far as casual vs hardcore, I'd say a "casual" is someone who enjoys the series but doesn't really put any effort into actively supporting it or trying to learn more about it. Someone who watches the shows on TV, or buys movie tickets out of nostalgia, but doesn't really care about "owning" anything, and doesn't bother coming to sites like Kanzenshuu for information.

"Hardcore" would be...well, pretty much anyone who actually does care about that sort of stuff (so most of the people here).

[SaiyanKingMike]

There is no such thing as a "true fan", only levels of fandom insanity.

I think if you're reading Kanzenshuu at all, you're already clearly in hardcore territory.

I agree completely with this. We r taking time out of our lives to discuss dragon ball and to learn more from the great information Kanzenshuu gives us.

[Gyt Kaliba]

Didn't even see the other questions, only noticed the one for the thread's title, ack.

While I do see some basic differences between so-called hardcore and casual fans, I don't see anything at all in relation to someone being a 'true' fan or not. If they enjoy Dragon Ball, then they're a fan, end of story. Doesn't matter if they watch it dubbed, subbed, muted with one eye closed and watching from their peripheral vision - doesn't matter. A fan's a fan, there's levels of fandom, but none of them are any more 'true' or 'false' than any other - it's a question of intensity of fandom, not whether it exists.

Also don't really think it helps the community - at large or just Kanzenshuu - really. If anything it harms it at times, with some occasionally trying to lord their opinions or knowledge over others. It helps the franchise for sure though - the more people they've got into the series enough that they're buying stuff, the better.

[B]

I suppose you could find a less divisive term, but to say there aren't different types of fans is just silly. It helps to know they exist and not to pretend we're all the same. I'm not the type of fan creating equations for power levels, or documenting all of Superman's feats for analysis, and I'm not patronizing places where that is the norm. Basically, be knowledgeable.

This might be a separate topic altogether, but I'm not a fan of how FUNimation threw out "hardcore fans" left and right in their promotion of the Dragon Boxes; almost as much as "definitive" for their bricks. It always came off as being a "hardcore fan" meant having a passing interest in the Japanese version. To me, that kind of sounds like the bare minimum requirement. That's the show. I don't get how wanting the show un-mucked with is being "hardcore."

[LuckyCat]

At what point do you think someone goes from being a casual fan, to a big fan to a hardcore fan?

I'm not sure I like the term hardcore fan because it sounds pejorative. A few weeks ago, we had a Spanish fan who wanted to ignore DO NOT ENTER signs on Toriyama's house and try to give him wine. That's hardcore to me. I consider tamer fans just to be loyal or dedicated fans and leave it at that.

Casual:
- Only seen the series dubbed

It sounds like by your definition only Americans can be casual fans. I assure you there are plenty of casual fans of Dragon Ball in Japan who mostly just watch Dragon Ball because it airs alongside One Piece.

[Hellspawn28]

I was mainly looking at things in the US since I don't live in Japan. I do imagine most casual fans in Japan are the ones who grew up with it in the 90's or now watch it along side One Piece for fun.

[Chuquita]

For me, casual is "you watch the show and that's it", where hardcore is "you do something about it", but even that has wildly varying degrees. There are shows I post about, but never draw any art for.

[fadeddreams5]

I've never read the manga, don't have any VHS/DVDs/Blu-rays of the franchise, and don't collect merchandise, outside of the games, posters, and actions figures I bought as a child.

I'm hardcore.

[Desassina]

True Hardcore (the enthusiast of anything Dragon Ball):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; watched the anime; thinks of Dragon Ball as depicted by the media; craps on canon claims; enjoys new material for its worth; collects what he wants to.

Faux Hardcore (the DB manga acolyte and theorist):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; claims to have not watched the anime; doesn't consider Dragon Ball outside the manga; clings to the canon; only enjoys material from AT; goes through illegal scans of DB.

It would seem to me that the latter is more concerned with sticking around in online forums to tear other people's entertainment apart.

[VegettoEX]

True Hardcore (the enthusiast of anything Dragon Ball):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; watched the anime; read through countless fan theories; thinks of Dragon Ball as depicted by the media; craps on canon claims; enjoys new material for its worth; collects what he wants to.

Faux Hardcore (the DB manga acolyte and theorist):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; claims to have not watched the anime; makes fan theories; doesn't consider Dragon Ball outside the manga; clings to the canon; only enjoys material from AT; goes through illegal scans of DB.

It would seem to me that the latter is more concerned with sticking around in online forums to tear other people's entertainment apart.

I don't quite understand your analysis / personal agenda with "fanslations" there while simultaneously pointing out illegal scans.

Can you expand on this and why you're classifying (what appears to me to be) identical items in different ways?

[Kuririn Fan]

To me a casual DB fan and hardcore fan will be like this.

Casual:

- Does not follow the series closely like us
- Only seen the series dubbed
- Probably never read the manga
- Plays a few of the video games and has some merchandise

Hardcore:

- Seen all of the anime, movies and read the whole manga
- Seen the series in Japanese
- Knows the series outside of the TV series with stuff like the Daizenshuu and old interviews from Toriyama.
- Follows the news on the Internet for the latest news of the series
- Knows voice actors and music composers very well
- Buys the video games and collect the merchandise

I wouldnt include video games, some of us dont play games.

[Desassina]

I don't quite understand your analysis / personal agenda with "fanslations" there while simultaneously pointing out illegal scans.
Can you expand on this and why you're classifying (what appears to me to be) identical items in different ways?

Sorry for my bitterness, I truly don't want to be this way. In any case, fanslations could be Herms' work, for example, which is available for free without replacing the official material that we can buy. The rest is not consistent, so never mind what I said.

[rereboy]

The difference between an hardcore fan and a casual fan is how much he likes the stuff he is a fan of. If he absolutely LOVES it, he's an hardcore fan, if he just enjoys it somewhat, he's casual.

It has nothing to do preferring certain arcs, or having seen or read everything related to it, or preferring the manga or the anime or anything of that sort.

True Hardcore (the enthusiast of anything Dragon Ball):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; watched the anime; thinks of Dragon Ball as depicted by the media; craps on canon claims; enjoys new material for its worth; collects what he wants to.

Faux Hardcore (the DB manga acolyte and theorist):
- Has read the manga; has seen fanslations; claims to have not watched the anime; doesn't consider Dragon Ball outside the manga; clings to the canon; only enjoys material from AT; goes through illegal scans of DB.

It would seem to me that the latter is more concerned with sticking around in online forums to tear other people's entertainment apart.

By that order of ideas, a fan that has seen more dragon ball related products is automatically a more hardcore fan than another fan who hasn't seen as much products but loves what he has seen much more than the first one. Doesn't make much sense.

As for the rest of what you said, it seems you are just criticizing other people's preferences regarding what they like and their focus on the franchise by saying that they aren't hardcore due to those preferences and focus.

[KameRule]

I don't think that there is a distinct point where someone goes from being a casual fan to being a hardcore fan, and there is definitely no definition of a true fan. However, I do think that someone who recognises Dragon Ball's artistic merits and downfalls and appreciates the series for them is a deeper fan than someone who just watches the series because they enjoy it. Not to say that either type of fan is more valuable than the other, though.