Periphery Demographic: Difference between revisions

** ''Hetalia'' is officially a Seinen manga. Yet 99% of the fans are [[Yaoi Fangirl|yaoi fangirls]]. So with Hetalia, the periphery demographic is the main demographic.

* The anime for ''[[K-On!]]'', a moe series aimed at otaku, became so popular with young girls that it also airs on the Japanese Disney Channel, right alongside Hamtaro and Alice Academy.

* ''[[Trigun]]'' (shonen) and ''Trigun Maximum'' (Seinen) is very popular with [[Yaoi Fangirl|fujoshi]] over in Japan. Most doujinshi, and fan art on Pixiv and artists' personal sites, are either yaoi or a "cute guys doing cute and funny things" type deal.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'' is a shonen series meaning it is supposed to be popular for teenage boys. In Japan, according to and surprising creator [[Rumiko Takahashi]], it was more popular amongstamong girls than guys and Animerica in the year 2000 said that it increased the number of female readers in the American manga market.

* ''[[Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt|Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt]]'' has a rather significant female fanbase, despite it very obviously pandering to guys. [[Even the Girls Want Her|Even The Girls Want Panty And Stocking]] (and [[Evil Is Sexy|Scanty and Kneesocks]])?

* ''[[Kanamemo]]'' has it'sits share of female fans appreciating the yuri context for the sake of cuteness.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' is a weird example. Like the ''Nanoha'' example above, it took the cutesy character designs (by ''[[Hidamari Sketch]]''{{'}}s own [[Ume Aoki]]) and marketed it to the usual Periphery Demographic (adult men) of the [[Magical Girl]] genre. Then [[Wham! Episode|episode 3]] rolled around and fans realized that the createrscreators were doing [[Genre Deconstruction|something else altogether]]. However, this has not stopped the series from having both male ''and'' female fans. Mostly adults, though. This... [[Nightmare Fuel|really]] isn't a show for [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Little Girls?|your little sister]].

* Even [[Berserk]] has a much larger female audience than you would logically expect from its well earned fame as one of the goriest, most disturbing anime around. This is because its female characters are non-stereotypical (not to mention that it is perhaps one of the few works of fiction that treats {{spoiler|rape}} and its psychological repercusionsrepercussions with realism and, what do you know, respect. And that, as fans will quickly tell you, the main story is based on more universal and epic matters than "tits and gore" infamy be dammed.

** Jason Todd also has a large female fanbase. Pretty much because he is a [[Darker Andand EdgerEdgier]] [[Pretty Boy]] with daddy issues ([[Jerkass Woobie|and many others]]) and was voiced by [[Jensen Ackles]] in his [[Batman: Under the Red Hood|animated movie.]] Really all the Robins have a large female fanbase.

** This one can be blamed on [[Technology Marches On]]. In the early years, there were software houses that released software that outright refused to install if it detected that the version of Windows installed was not XP Professional (IBM with Rational Rose and DataStage comes to mind). Yes, there are people who take their work home, particularly if there's a looming dateline and they're not allowed to stay at the office overnight, and there are companies evil enough to not provide a laptop to the employee if they need to take their work home. Later, when multi-core CPUs hit the market, it was discovered that Windows XP Home was crippedcrippled to the point where it supported only ''one'' core in ''one'' CPU, nothing more. As far as Windows XP is concerned, each core is a separate CPU. Sure, Device Manager shows two CPUs on a dual core machine, but Task Manager shows only one CPU, and does not provide any options to map CPU affinity.

* ''[[Superbad]]'' was mainly targeted toward the 20-37-year old people who remember what high school was like, but it has also gained many 14-18-year old fans who enjoy the movie for its crazy and naughty humor, and the characters.

* ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'' has a very large fanbase of older fansreaders of high school and college age who picked up the series and stuck with it not only for it'sits clever humor and being literally based on the idea of the [[Mythology Gag]], but also because of it's surprisingly deep character development and realistic responses to certain situations. It's a rare mixture of regular young teen action/adventure novels mixed with older demographic drama.

* ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' is aimed at 10 -year-olds, but the average age of a member of the fandom<ref>on [[Warrior's Wish]]</ref> is 18.

* The idea of the Sci-Fi Channel (or SyFy now) having a mostly young male demographic is increasingly fallacious, which the execs seem to have some difficulty recognizing; when confronted with the fact that many of their viewers are women, David Howe [http://scifiwire.com/2009/03/sci-fi-president-dave-how.php acknowledged that] "almost half of our audience is women, thanks to shows such as ''Ghost Hunters'' that attract more women than men", completely ignoring the fact that many of their scripted shows (''[[Farscape]]'', ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'', the various [[Stargate Verse|Stargates]], ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'', etc.) had/have significant (if not overwhelmingly, or at least more involved in online fandom) female audiences.

* Although ''[[Beakman's World]]'' was generally aimed at 9-to-14 year old school kids, high -schoolers and college students liked it too. Maybe it was because they finally got what they couldn't get in middle school; maybe it was because the main character looked like someone who'd do drugs; maybe it was the assistants (no, not the rat); or even a combination of all three.

** In Seattle (where the show was filmed), a large part of the audience were older adults who really missed ''[[Almost Live]]'', where the Science Guy and the other cast members got their start.

** Though [[Ear Worm|some of the songs are catchy]] as well. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8ju_10NkGY "You Are a Pirate"] is the only reason some people have even ''heard'' of this show.

* Word on the street has it that the live-action ''[[Dresden Files]]'' TV series was cancelled because, while it had an active fan following, said fan following was mostly older women who didn't mesh with the rest of The Sci-Fi Channel's (perceived) young male demographic.

* As for Sci-fi examples, ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]'' was cancelled to make way for ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' so TPTB could appeal to athat younger male demographic instead of SGA's (very large) female fanbase.

* The ''[[Vision On]]'' [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcCHRW8G9yY gallery theme tune], so iconic it penetrated a national consciousness, can only be intended for the periphery demographic, as the intended audience was {{spoiler|deaf children.}}

** It's a little hard to find ''The Golden Girls''{{'}} original demographic. Even during its debut it was very popular with younger demographics (and still is). When asked why, I think [[Betty White]] said it best, "Because it's funny!"

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x4weajfqm0 "Green and Purple"], a weed-themed parody of Wiz Khalifa's "Black and Yellow", has attracted a lot of [[Image Board|/v/ users]] due to the two colors' [[Memetic Mutation|memetic status]] on there. Why those two colors are popular [[Rule 34|is something]] [[Dragonball Z|to discuss later]].

** And as a further [[Shout-Out]], when a paleontologist realized that no scientist had ever actually given a name to the bunch of bone spikes on a stegosaur's tail, he proceeded to start using the name given to them by the one guy who had ever thought about it: thus the growing usage of [[wikipedia:Thagomizer|"thagomizer"]] in the paleontological community.

** Following one cartoon that involved a female chimp accusing a male chimp of "hanging around with that Goodall tramp", Larson got a bunch of hate-mail from people who resented the implication on Jane Goodall's behalf - and a letter from Goodall herself telling him that she thought the cartoon was hilarious and that she was honored to have been featured. Goodall, who was a long time fan of ''[[The Far Side]]'' enjoyed the cartoon so much that she invited Larson to her nature reserve in Tanzania and wrote the preface for a collection of ''Far Side'' comics that included the cartoon. Her institute also recently{{when}} began selling a T-shirt with that same cartoon on it.

*** And in the first known instance of interspecies [[Periphery Hatedom]], [[Shout-Out|Frodo]], Goodall's alpha male chimp, proceeded to [[Curb Stomp Battle|beat the snot]] out of poor Gary Larson. Jane Goodall recounted the experience in the preface she wrote to one of the ''Far Side'' collections.

* It is certainly true that ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'' has developed the rather unexpected Brony Periphery Demographic. These fans praise the cartoon for many reasons, ranging from quality animation, to well developed characters, to great [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Shout Out|pop culture Shout Outs]], and even the domination of the internet by [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Memes|Pony Memes]]. Much of the fandom for this show built its foundations on the internet, and many view the episodes on livestreams, YouTube, or download them via torrents. Some have chosen to support Hasbro's show with their hard earned cash to make up for their effective piracy of the show (which Hasbro doesn't seem to mind about, allowing episodes to be posted online). Others genuinely are into it for collecting. Regardless of the reasons though, an increasing number of these Brony fans have taken to browsing the pink aisle in their local department stores.

* In the world of toys, there's [[Built With Lego|Lego]]. While the iconic building bricks are marketed to kids, there's a number of adults who make a hobby of them as well. Lego has seemed to thoroughly embrace this demographic; scale Lego models and the people who design and build them are showcased in the Legoland theme parks, and there's a downloadable program for home model design and purchase. And then there's the Lego themes with nostalgia value, like ''[[Lego Star Wars]]'' and ''[[Lego Indiana Jones]]''. Even the in-house ''[[Bionicle]]'' line has its own Periphery Demographic. And then there's a host of online webcomicsweb comics using Lego, such as ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]''.

** Lego itself may be a sort of double-inversion, as the toys were originally intended as ''architectural tools'' to allow, well, ''architects'' to rough out a model of a prospective building in 3D in a rapid and efficient manner. To this day they're still used as this, and Lego has even spun-off a corporate consulting division which uses Lego bricks to help solve problems in similar ways. This went full circle when Lego started its Architecture line, Lego sets for architectuallyarchitecturally famous buildings.

** Being an adult also has its advantages. For one thing, [[Crack is Cheaper|it's actually affordable to you]], and adults have the skills to engineer much more complex sets (check out the author's creations [http://www.reasonablyclever.com/lego.html here] at ''Reasonably Clever'', home of the famous [http://www.reasonablyclever.com/mizers.html Lego Minimizer]).

** Lego Mindworks has become popular as of late{{when}} with early robotics engineering prototyping, lower level university mechanical engineering courses, and AI with robots (which hack out the default Mindworks instruction system for something more suitable like ROS).

* ''[[The Idolmaster (video game)|The Idolmaster]]'' is a pop star raising simulation game with an all female cast (That is, until [[Wholesome Crossdresser|DS]] and ''THE iDOLM@STER 2'') that was intended for male otaku. However, due to it being very girly, with there being a focus on fashion and the [[Virtual Paper Doll]] aspect, songs about girl power, and well, the fact that the cast is all female, there isare quite a lot of female fans, especially in the westWest. Namco even acknowledged this and added three [[Bishonen]] male idols as rivals in ''THE iDOLM@STER 2''. Unfortunately, while the female fans were pleased, it provoked a massive backlash against the game from [[Unpleasable Fanbase|the male otaku audience]], in part because some of the original cast didn't make it into the sequel and the [[Bishonen]] males were [[Replacement Scrappy|seen to be "replacing" them]].

** The Periphery Demographics are, in fact, the reason for most of the popularity the series has accumulated. The games themselves are fairly standard [[Bullet Hell]] [[Shoot'Em Up|Shoot Em Ups]], however fanartistsfan artists became obssessedobsessed with ZUN's (often conceptually brilliant, always technically flawed) character designs and sought to improve upon them, the doujin communities saw incredible potential in an elaborate setting with piles of [[Fanfic Fuel]], [[Fan Fic Magnet|Fanfic Magnets]] and [[OC Stand-In]]s, and the musical arrangers fell in love with the music, to the point where they managed to turn [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLGW4-pgGXc this] into '''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-eensMhO_k this]'''.

* The rather... complicated storylines, the dozens of [[Estrogen Brigade Bait]]s and the ''buttloads'' of [[Ship Tease]] (either [[Het]] or [[Ho Yay]], as well as some bits of [[Les Yay]]) has made ''[[The King of Fighters]]'' '''extremely''' popular among female players. It does help that it's among the [[Long Runners]], therefore many of the ladies who play it now likely grew up watching other people playing the earlier games.

* ''[[Catherine]]'' has a scene amongstamong, of all things, ''competitive gamers'', thanks to its versus mode. It's become a staple at some fighting game tournament events, to the point where there are money matches.

** ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy|Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' has a large following among kids, teenagers AND adults, mostly due to its overwhelming amount of [[Ho Yay]], plus plenty of amusing stuff for those who aren't Yaoi Fangirls.

** ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'': ostensibly a [[Lighter and Softer]] version of ''Batman'', except for the load of [[Mythology Gag]]s put in just about every episode that appeal to adult viewers.

** The same can be said about [[Sequel Series]] ''[[The Legend of Korra]].'' To put it in perspective, the 1-hour series premiere had a 1.01 adults 18-49 rating out of its 4.5 million viewers, and another episode had almost 4.1 million total and a 1.13 adults 18-49 rating. Teenagers are also loving it as well, to the point where it's scheduled to start{{when}} airing on ''Degrassi''-loving [[Teen Nick]]!

*** The show also enjoys a strong following amongstamong college/adult male cartoon fans who seem drawn to the female characters' often buxom designs. And they don't call them [[Hartman Hips]] for nothing!

* The [[DCAU|DC Animated Universe]] has some of the most intelligent, mature writing in Western Animation. So it's no surprise ''[[Batman: The Animated Series|Batman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Superman: The Animated Series|Superman the Animated Series]]'', ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', ''[[Static Shock]]'' and ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' have huge teen and adult fanbases. Including the comic book geeks who watch these out of sheer obligation.

* The intended audience of ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' was intended to be elementary- and middle -school -age girls, but due to the show's [[Fetish Fuel|fetishistic overtones]], the show has found its primary audience among college -age males.

* Near the end of ''[[Bugs Bunny]] and Tweety]]''{{'}}s run on [[ABC]], the show was still receiving a respectable total number of viewers, mainly outside the 2-11 audience. It was only cancelled because their contract ran up, and ABC by then switched to [[One Saturday Morning|an all-Disney lineup]].

* Many a ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' fan (then in their 20's and 30's) were also taping ''[[Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures|Jonny Quest the Real Adventures]]'' for many of the same reasons they dug ''GR''.

** ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' is pretty much an inversion, especially when they got their own spinoff[[Spin-Off]] on Sunday evenings. ''[[Animaniacs]]'' for all its '''brilliant''' [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|adult humor]] and [[Parent Service]] still had LOTS''lots'' of slapstick and anvils dropping on people in every episode. And yes, Pinky's idiocy, catchphrases, and the show's occasional physical violence (against Pinky, usually) was there to keep the kids entertained. But practically everything the Brain said ([[Maurice LaMarche|as well as the fact that the voice actor is doing]] [[Orson Welles]]), AND''and'' the pop culture references, AND''and'' the often VERY''very'' scathing political and social commentary of the show, AND even the occasional [[Take That]] at the younger viewers, all possibly leads one to believe that the show was really a program for parents that kids would watch and not get 90% of what was going on (making the kids the Periphery Demographic). And even in Pinky's case, the "Are You Pondering What I'm Pondering?" exchanges eventually got extremely out of a child's comprehension. I for one wonder if the failed ''[[Pinky Elmyra and The Brain]]'' spin-off was green-lit because [[Executive Meddling|some executive wanted to increase the kid viewership to a very smart, adult program by severely curtailing the adult appeal in favor of getting more young children watching the program]].

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes|Jimmy Two Shoes]]'' has an audience with adults, but what do you expect from a kids' show that takes place in [[Hell]]?

* This is the entire motto AND modus operandi of [[The Hub]]. Knowing they couldn't beat the other major kids' networks with just kids watching, it's a veritable fountain of fun Periphery Demographic. Their crown jewel in this regard is ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]''; see the Toys section above.

* ''[[W.I.T.C.H.|WITCH]]'', a comic/cartoon about five girls with magical powers, has no small number of male fans, in part due to its gorgeous art (and ''not'' just in a sexual sense, either; it's essentially a series that ascends Disney fairy-tale art [[Up to Eleven]]), and in part due to the way its characters, though predominantly female, are also very ''human''. The show took its appeal to the opposite gender even farther; while Blunk was [[The Scrappy|not so liked]], [[Freakazoid!|Napoleon]] the [[Hey, It's That Voice!|talking]] cat was a big hit, to the point that it's sad his screen antics never ascended in the comics.

* Similarly, ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' was aimed at young and pre-teen boys, but is quite popular with teens and adults, given its great character reinterprataions and development, awesome script and voice acting, wonderful tributes to classic Spidey stories and lore, and the surprisingly large amount of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]. It even holds a good following after its [[Too Good to Last|premature cancelationcancellation]].

* ''[[Neopets]]'' Is a very odd case; although the site originated for college kids, the eponymous [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]s attracted a Periphery Demographic of kids, and the site became [[Lighter and Softer]] as a result. This wasn't a bad thing, as TNT still got a lot of [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|crap past the radar]], but after Viacom started [[Executive Meddling|meddling]], the site became more focused to the kids and started neglecting the older fans, who had become a periphery demographic, and loyalists who started playing as kids but remained on the site through their teens. However, TNT started interacting with the new periphery demographic of older fans by setting up a [http://www.facebook.com/Neopets facebook page], and [[So Cool Its Awesome|The Faeries' Ruin]] did a great job of [[Win Back the Crowd|winning back older fans]]. Not only that, but said older fans are the ones who play the most on the site. They're the writers for the Neopian Times, plot participants, and are basically the ones who don't get bored and leave after a few months. TNT's trying to reach a happy medium between appeasing the "preteen girl" fans who only want cute things, the "tween boy" fanbase who just like the games, and the older fans who love writing for the Neopian Times and Poetry Gallery, drawing for the Art Gallery and Beauty Contest, and participate in plots.

* Road sign creation software, like ''[http://www.keytraffic.com KeySIGN]'' and ''[http://www.buchanancomputing.com SignPLOT]'' have become popular with automobile geeks, roadgeeks and [[We Will Not Use Photoshop in the Future|graphic designers]]. Strange, but true. [[Viral Marketing]] by a fan plays a part here.

* Henry Jenkins, says in his book ''Textual Poachers'' saysthat this may be the primary driving force behind [[Fanfic]]. The [[Girl Show Ghetto]] means that females aren't going to have their brothers or husbands watching shows that are aimed for them, or they find the [[Lifetime Movie of the Week|female-aimed shows lacking in quality]] and they end up watching shows aimed at men and using fanfic to refocus the narrative.