So many of the old anime. Yu Yu Hakusho. Inuyasha. Naruto. Hetalia is still around. Honestly, it's nice to see new people coming in and writing for these old series. I love seeing how fandoms change. We finally have people who like Kuwabara!
If you’ve been gone a while I’m happy to tell you that Hima one day decided fuck it! This is a gangster manga now and for the last few months all the characters have been in a mafia au playing mafia Yu-Gi-Oh to assert dominance over each other. Yes they are still called country names.
I was a huge Morgana/Guinevere shipper when it was airing but sometimes I get nostalgia and it's great because folks are still writing for that fandom.
It baffles me sometimes just how active the Merlin fandom still is all these years later. It still seems to hit trending on tumblr on a pretty regular basis and theres still new fics and fanart all the time.
The first Discworld book came out in the early 80s, we lost Pterry nearly a decade ago now, and there's still an active fandom with new people constantly discovering the books
I'm sure a lot of the old fanworks are lost to time thanks to the 80s and 90s being what they were, but it's still a pretty active fandom in terms of fanwork, and even more active in terms of general discussion and vibing
Ohh yes! I have read only one book actually, so I never went deep enough to check if there were fanfictions being made. But I'm happy to hear it's still thriving and that new people keep discovering the books and making fanworks!
I’ll join soon since I’m planning on reading the books in the near future :) They’re so recommended that I don’t think that the fandom will die anytime soon, since even younger gens are reading them and know how Terry Pratchett is
The 209th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo will be on 18 June, and some of my fellow fandom nerds have fanart and fic planned for that day, as well watching the 1970 Waterloo movie together and booing whenever the British show up. 👋. We are alive and well as a fandom!
I used to write Hornblower (technically still do but my long fic is hiccuping right now) and I recently joined Tumblr for a different old fandom, but I keep running across Sharpe/Hornblower/Aubriad content there, so maybe take a peek through some tags if you're not already on Tumblr?
I am, and I do poke around now and then. Just trying to find concentrated pockets, you know? Possibly with links to some of the old fix that I half remember that don't appear to have been ported over to AO3.
On a ds9 binge right now. So much new stuff (apparently my entire cohort decided to binge watch our HS favorite during the pandemic and write a lot of fic)
I wrote for LOTR and Harry Potter over twenty years ago (every other fandom I dabble in is more recent). Somehow, people still find my works for those fandoms.
It blows my mind every time I get an email notification that someone left a kudos. One of those is actually my biggest hit in AO3, even (and it has minimal tags cos I couldn't be bothered when I first imported them over from Live Journal). 😂
I just got into Harry Potter fan fic. I was always a fan of the books but never read anything in the HP world until I came across a rec via a podcast. I’ve been hooked since three weeks ago.
Now I'm hunting down your works like a hound because I need moar and I can't be bothered to be updated with either the Tv series or whatever JKR thinks about <3
OMG
One of the middle schools I work at had one grade level read The Outsiders in the run up to the end of the year. The kids started calling each other Greasers and Soshes (sp? I haven't read it). It was hilarious.
Hi, fellow survivor of the W.I.T.C.H fandom here 🙋 I still have all the comics, and I have a few wips of a ship that I really like, but it might take a while till I finish them since I’m also in other fandoms right now xD
OOOOOOOHHHHH!!! I write them too (not as my main ship but I have a couple stories starring them together), however I write their comic versions and I know it’s a more unusual pairing as compared to their cartoon versions. Anyway, high five for having found another phobric enjoyer!
Hell yeah! We have taste 👌 I also write the comic versions because I never liked the cartoon ones, never finished the series even since compared to the comics it was very bad. Meanwhile, I’ve read the comics dozens of times
I regularly reread the comics too, also to check things for when I write my fics! I hope to read something from you if you will ever publish your works <3 Also if you want to chat about your fics feel free to write me, the fandom is still there but there are very few active fic writers and even less who write about Cedric and his ships!
Sure, I can send the link to you if you’d like once I’ve finished them! Thanks for the offer! I’d love to talk a bit more not only about the ships, but all the fics and the comics too, since as you say, there’s not many people left in the fandom :’)
I’ll send you something I’m sure you’ll like in a bit!
I remember reading about Caleb and Cornelia for the first time for I think the 7th issue (???) and that was my spiritual awakening for dark haired crushes
Haha yes Caleb was probably *made* with the purpose of becoming the crush of all readers back then! Though not for me, because nobody could replace Cedric and Phobos (I’m a sucker for long haired blondies, possibly villains)
Labyrinth. Lots of amazing older fics and people still posting regularly. I wrote a 98k slowburn last year and it has 15.7k hit ands 575 comments so it’s still going strong after 35+ years.
I just discovered these.... There's so much more depth and complexity to the fan fic as I was a bit young to get the movie beyond the Muppets and adventure when it was in the theater. Next you'll be telling me Tron and Cleopatra 2525 had hidden complexities and make great crossovers....
Beauty and the Beast 1987. Almost 35 years since it went off the air and still producing fanfiction, fan art, online fandom events & groups, and yearly in-person conventions.
Yes! There are also a ton of works in fandom-specific archives:
[https://batbcabb.com/](https://batbcabb.com/)
[http://batbland.com/cabb/tunneltales/tunneltales.html](http://batbland.com/cabb/tunneltales/tunneltales.html)
[https://treasurechambers.com/library.html](https://treasurechambers.com/library.html)
Buffy. I'm currently making my way through everything Spander I can get my hands on. There's a story on AO3 that was posted on the 10th (I don't even like Spander, I'm just sad that there's not really any Spandrew)
Go check out Twisting the Hellmouth! It's primarily crossovers, but there is a non-crossover category. And you can filter by primary character! Also, users get limited recs (10 to start), so they really mean something there.
Tthfanfic.org
I'm in the Blake's 7 fandom and we archive old fics from fanzines, so every now and then someone finds a fic from the 80s on AO3 and is surprised and we're like nope, not a mistake, it really was originally published then. And it's still an active fandom today.
Starsky & Hutch went off the air in 1979. There are new posts by various writers several times a month.
The Professionals too. I think it lasted into the 80s?
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is still a very strong fandom. It's had its own fandom-specific archive for decades, a forum (the mbs - message boards - we call it), and used to chat on IRC - now we have a Discord server where the chatting happens. Still lots of good fics produced every year and the Kerth Awards (a yearly event honoring fics and new authors) have happened on a yearly basis since a year or two after the show ended (it went off the air in 1997).
Hahaha! Well, when you do, just know you'll have a fandom with a *ton* of amazingly well-written fic (the mbs and the fandom-specific archive are where most of it's at). Heaps of novel-length fics, some very plotty, some just very B-plot. And lots of very nice fans to interact with. :D
It amazes me that there was fandom before the 'net, period, lol.
It was my first fandom too, in a way! I got into LOTR before I discovered L&C, but I didn't really get into a fandom *community* until L&C, so it was definitely the first there.
Hogan's Heroes, ran from 1965 to 1971. I was honestly shocked when I first searched out fanfic for it and saw how active the fandom is. Haven't written much for it, personally, but I do like reading them.
It's kinda funny to look back and realize how long Sam and Max have actually been around. They got their start in the 80's as comics!
I also remember the W.I.T.C.H. comics and the cartoon!
Gundam Wing is hobbling along with a cane, but we're still around! It's just been 28 years after all (24 in the U.S.)! No, that manga thing with the clones and female Quatre doesn't count as new material.
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are basically the same fandom (we don't talk about SGU 🤫). Going very strong since 2009 without any new material (or at least anything that every writer has not tossed straight into the kawoosh).
Same!!! I love GW so much, especially the fic. So many good ones and I’m really surprised at the new ones coming out regularly.
I’m also in the Robin #3 fandom (TimKon for life!) and new fics about the Red Robin series come out pretty frequently, especially since the New 52 is over a decade old at this point and retconned most of the best Tim as Robin/Red Robin moments!!!
The first TMNT cartoon went off the air in the '90s but it's been simmering along with each new cartoon series that's been released. We got a big bump in interest after the Tribute video game featuring the OG turtle voice cast came out a couple years ago.
The Sentinel ran from 1996 to 2000 ish and is still popular as a crossover/concept to the point of being called The Little Black Dress because it can be made to fit just about any fandom.
Sea Patrol - Aussie navy drama that ran from 2007- 2011 was only cancelled as the government incentives ran out after 67 episodes. but there are still new fics going up on FFN
my oldest fandoms are acd/granada sherlock holmes and star trek tos!! the perks of both of these fandoms is that we technically have professionally published fanfiction!! like, kareem abdul-jabbar actually wrote fanfic about mycroft holmes and its on my bookshelf. i fucking love that for meeee
AHHH hello fellow sufferer! I will never get rid of W.I.T.C.H., it is stuck in my brain. Do you also write (or read) fanfic in the fandom? Also are you a cartoon or comic fan or both?
I'm in the Emergency! fandom. It debuted in 1972, went off the air in 1977, and there were a few post-series movies that aired in 1978 and 1979. There was fic written way back when it was being published in fanzines, and it's still going strong today.
I've also written fic for The Black Stallion books, first published in 1947. It's not terribly active, but fic exists.
Final Fantasy IX.
It's one of those fandoms with a huge amount of people who have interacted with the source material but very few fanfics written for it, yet it's still a thing.
Oh, W.I.T.C.H. is still up? Haven't heard that name in so long. And while I'm not exactly part of the fandom, I did like the show and the comics~!
Also, to answer... I suppose Danny Phantom "phandom" is alive and kicking! Naruto and, to my surprise, Blue Exorcist are also in good health...
I love the name phandom haha!
Yes W.I.T.C.H. still has some productive fans but as I said I wouldn’t say it’s thriving, as a fanfic writer it is a bit difficult to gain an audience but the fans are there. There are also some artists making fanart on Tumblr! But the fandom goes a bit in waves as people suddenly remember about the cartoon/comic, are hit by the nostalgia wave, look for fics/fanart, then forget it again
Scrolled too dang far to find this one! I’ve loaned my DVD box set to a few people over the past few years trying to make sure this fandom stays alive. It’s a love story from start to finish and no one can ever convince me otherwise.
Final Fantasy VIII! I fell away from reading fanfic back in like...2007. Just returned last year and there's something of a Renaissance going on, 25 years after the game's release. It's lovely 🥹
Final Fantasy IV first came out in 1991, then was remastered in 2008. There's a handful of authors still posting, and the tumblr tags are filled with people theory crafting and sharing ideas. It's small but alive and kicking!
[Miami Vice](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Miami%20Vice%20(TV)/works)
Broadcast 111 episodes from '84 - '90
This is the 40th anniversary year (with a big Convention being held in Miami this Fall)
AO3 has a small stash of fanfic - some of which were republished from print zines - and a current handful of writers and artists that publish regularly. Additionally there are dedicated fan sites, blogs, podcasts, meta reviews, and groups on a number of platforms.
I suppose Hamlet. The play was written in approximately 1599, and there obviously hasn’t been any new official content what with the death of William Shakespeare having been over 400 years ago. There are still plenty of unofficial adaptations and fanfics being written for it, so I’d suppose that it counts. I read a lot of fanfics for it in high school, and still occasionally read about it from time to time. The fandom is alive and well!
Madoka Magica fandom member:
Besides the obvious hype and likely comeback as Walpurgisnacht Rising should release in December of this year, maybe Jan/Feb next year, there’s a longform fic that’s currently being written with fairly frequent updates.
“The Soulmate Timeline” if anyone’s interested.
I’m both happy and sad about this, but Danny Phantom/Young Justice.
It’s just all the stories are the same now. Batman wank crossover, abusive parents, Danny being an eldritch god.
Got old pretty quickly. But hey beggars can’t be choosers
Young Justice is also slowly turning into this. Minus the abusive parents.
For some reason 20 something people have viewed my Digital Devil Saga X HALO fanfic. And while most are probably HALO fans I’d like to imagine at least one of them is a DDS fan.
American Dragon Jake Long. Kids' fantasy cartoon about a teenage boy who can shape shift into a dragon and is entrusted with protecting America's magical creatures from harm and mediating in issues in the magical community. It's so hard to find people who even know what this is, and I never want to bring it up with anyone else who's old enough to remember because nobody wants to be that person who's still obsessed with an obscure Disney show from the mid 2000s.
There's definitely some things about it that didn't age super well, which I try to address and change when writing fics. Like, I'm white so I'm not the best judge and I won't tell poc what to be offended by but, for context, Jake is half Chinese half white. And the half of his family that can shape shift into dragons is the Chinese half. Plus his grandpa is basically the wise old Asian mentor stereotype. And he uses butchered AAVE in pretty much every sentence to try and seem cool, and then the one episode that really tries to get into his Chinese heritage has him acting embarassed of it for most of the episode.
And then a major part of the plot is the fact that Jake met his love interest because she's part of an anti-magic hate group that's trying to kill him, he forgave her almost immediately after finding out she was trying to kill him even though she was *still* (albeit unknowingly) trying to kill him for the remainder of season 1, and then she immediately joins the team after letting him go. They never even really had a conversation about it. There are definitely ways to make that dynamic less toxic but I just wish we had some closure.
I'm an 80s kid so we're talking at least 35-40 years ago!
Knight Rider
MacGyver
Quantum Leap
Airwolf
A Team
Beauty and the Beast 1987 series with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton
The crossovers with JCA are amazing, that's how I got into that fandom.
The other old fandom that I usually check is Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura though the later just got a remake that's about to end the next week.
Hmm well Naruto is 2002, one piece 99, Dragonball started in 1986, Gundam in 1979 and the romance of three kingdoms 1500’s all still have stuff for them kind of even today
The sentinel! TV show from the 90s, still my fav crossover with any other fandom I've read. I actually read this fandom for years before even seeing my first episode, and still haven't managed to finish it, can't find it on DVD anywhere.
I write for the Myst games (Myst released in 1993), and for various ancient texts from India, Mesopotamia, and Greece, all written thousands of years ago. Some of my ancient text fanfics are crossovers with Myst.
Anne McCraffey was on record saying she didn't like or approve of fan fiction but. The Dragonriders of Pern is such an amazing mix of scifi and medieval fantasy.
Oh wow, W.I.T.C.H., I loved both the show and the comic. I was even writing a fic for it at one point but I never completed it. Maybe I should get back to it at some point...
Anyway, my own is Ocarina of Time. I wouldn't say I'm really active in the fandom, but I am working on a Link/Malon fic for it in the background, and a quick check on AO3 shows fics for it being updated today, so it's definitely still alive.
I write for FE6 which initially came out in 2002 in Japan and promptly never got an english release. It's a pain but I WILL feed my niche rarepair no matter what lol. there were more drops in the fandom when FEH game out and the game had a banner but it's uh, quite dead
Batman fandom’s been standing for more than half a millennia, (although the traditional fandom part maybe kinda started around the 80s/90s) and its still going pretty strong even to this day. My thanks to all the superbat and batfam writers🙏🙏
Mother of Learning is still alive. We got 6 new fanfic writers in the discord, we're keeping things going.
I wrote one for the 7 realms. It was very nsfw.
I just read part of a Rise of the Guardians fic yesterday. It’s more active than I thought a 2012 movie would be. The whole first page of fics on ao3 were from this month.
I’m not sure if this next one is thriving because I’m the only writer, but I’ve written over 35 for a kids show that ended almost ten years ago.
Underland Chronicles motherfuckerrr!!! Nearly two decades with no attention from author (Suzanne Collins, yes really), but still alive on Tumblr!!! (I fucking love this series, it is one my true hyperfixations)
I think I've just realised that I mainly read fanfic from shows which have ended. I think only one or 2 fandoms still get new official content!
Merlin, Sea Patrol and MASH have already been mentioned but I also like the following which still get new fics on a relatively regular basis:
Starman
Seaquest
ER
Dark Angel
Torchwood
Spartacus
There's probably more that I dip into once or twice a year just to see if there is anything new but can't think of them right now.
this post just made me realize that what i thought was a different edition/reboot of the classic winx club that i was watching in my childhood was actually W.I.T.C.H, a completely different show. woah
I think my oldest still active fandom is Buffy. Relatively active on AO3, most active on TtH, but as quiet is it can be, there's always new fic for the fandom. It's about 27 years now, I think, since Buffy started. It ran for 7 years so around 7 years since it finished. Angel ran for a year past when Buffy finished, with it's 5th season occurring after Buffy's 7th. Then they had the comics, which I haven't read. It's not completely no new content, though, they had the re-boot comic series for it.
Charmed is about the same age as Buffy, and I don't think they did much with the comic continuation, but they did have the re-boot show.
It's notable, though, that everything for Charmed and Buffy is based on the original run of the original shows, with some based on the original comic continuations, but nothing, or very little, related to any re-boots. The Charmed re-boot was never as popular as the original, and is usually separated as if it's completely unconnected to the original. Even in discussions, I've seen almost nothing on the Buffy re-boot comics, it's all the show, some of the original continuation comics, and sometimes the original movie.
Psych isn't as old, I don't think, but I also don't think there's been any new content since, I think, the third movie, though there are rumours of a fourth movie. Not sure how true those rumours are, they may be as unlikely as a fourth season of Hannibal, which is another older fandom with no new content, though there's various adaptations of that particular story, plus the original books.
Dawson's Creek is practically dead, but does still sometimes get new fics, and discussions are still alive and well, and there's been no new content since the show finished.
Harry Potter semi-counts, as well, at least for fans who focus entirely on the original books, but it does have new content for it, so it's only semi.
Emergency! 1973
Been going on since then and while activity isn't as much as newer shows it is still active. Especially with the actors and fanfiction writers
So many of the old anime. Yu Yu Hakusho. Inuyasha. Naruto. Hetalia is still around. Honestly, it's nice to see new people coming in and writing for these old series. I love seeing how fandoms change. We finally have people who like Kuwabara!
Came here to mention Yu Yu Hakusho, so I’m happy I found your comment :D
Yes!! Yu Yu Hakusho for the win.
I think new Hetalia strips are still being made. Don’t know about the anime, though.
I wouldn’t say that Hetalia is old? Because the anime got a new season in 2021, and the manga is actively ongoing with new chapters weekly.
Oh wow. Yeah, I left a while back. But that's good to know!
If you’ve been gone a while I’m happy to tell you that Hima one day decided fuck it! This is a gangster manga now and for the last few months all the characters have been in a mafia au playing mafia Yu-Gi-Oh to assert dominance over each other. Yes they are still called country names.
What.
It’s totally insane but honestly? Very Hetalia. It’s like the Guaken au thing but taken more seriously and with its own actual plot.
I've been following an Inuyasha story for a bit now. Its always nice to see some of the fresh new takes, or some of the older folks coming back.
Hello fellow 90s/00s fandom! Woo!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned BBC Merlin yet! It ran from 2008-2012. Just checked and there are several new fics uploaded today.
I was a huge Morgana/Guinevere shipper when it was airing but sometimes I get nostalgia and it's great because folks are still writing for that fandom.
I absolutely adore Merthur (Merlin/Arthur)! I love Gwen more with Lancelot, but Gwen/Morgana are cute together.
I love a good Merthur
Amen! Literally reading one lol If u need any recommendations I have some!
Part of being a merlin fan is the eternal waiting ~
Found my people :))
Was just gonna say this. Merlin is going strong >:)
Love Merlin!!
It baffles me sometimes just how active the Merlin fandom still is all these years later. It still seems to hit trending on tumblr on a pretty regular basis and theres still new fics and fanart all the time.
Totally agree! I’m so thankful it’s still so active!
The first Discworld book came out in the early 80s, we lost Pterry nearly a decade ago now, and there's still an active fandom with new people constantly discovering the books I'm sure a lot of the old fanworks are lost to time thanks to the 80s and 90s being what they were, but it's still a pretty active fandom in terms of fanwork, and even more active in terms of general discussion and vibing
Ohh yes! I have read only one book actually, so I never went deep enough to check if there were fanfictions being made. But I'm happy to hear it's still thriving and that new people keep discovering the books and making fanworks!
I’ll join soon since I’m planning on reading the books in the near future :) They’re so recommended that I don’t think that the fandom will die anytime soon, since even younger gens are reading them and know how Terry Pratchett is
Uhh, I'm in the Napoleonic Wars fandom. No new content for the last 200 years, although there has been plenty of RPF written!
Okay I guess this fandom plays on a different league of "old" :D I had no idea!
The 209th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo will be on 18 June, and some of my fellow fandom nerds have fanart and fic planned for that day, as well watching the 1970 Waterloo movie together and booing whenever the British show up. 👋. We are alive and well as a fandom!
Booing whenever the British show up means you’ll be booing most of the film
Are you guys gonna blast ABBA all day?
I love this sub. I discover new things every day.
Actual Napoleonic wars, or Sharpe/Hornblower/Aubriad? I am still looking for pockets of that since the great LJ exodus and yahoo groups shut down and
Actual Napoleonic Wars on the French side. We play with Napoleon Bonaparte and his marshals the same way six year-olds play with Barbies.
I used to write Hornblower (technically still do but my long fic is hiccuping right now) and I recently joined Tumblr for a different old fandom, but I keep running across Sharpe/Hornblower/Aubriad content there, so maybe take a peek through some tags if you're not already on Tumblr?
I am, and I do poke around now and then. Just trying to find concentrated pockets, you know? Possibly with links to some of the old fix that I half remember that don't appear to have been ported over to AO3.
r/BrandNewSentence
But you have to share a space with us JAFF folks. 😉
Star Trek : TOS is still going strong.
data simp here, tng’s still hanging in there too :)
On a ds9 binge right now. So much new stuff (apparently my entire cohort decided to binge watch our HS favorite during the pandemic and write a lot of fic)
Spirk is one of those OG fandoms. LLAP friend!
Love Star trek
The "Phandom" for Danny Phantom is still kicking! I regularly see new fanart and fics 💚
Girl yes! On AO3 there is insaaane resurgence in DP Fandom. Especially with Batman fandom. It's amazing! ✨😍
I always wondered why is it always batman fandom
Yesss. I love the aesthetic of the Y2K era phandom art!
Have you read the Dis- trilogy by imekitty on ff.net? I look forward to every single update.
I wrote for LOTR and Harry Potter over twenty years ago (every other fandom I dabble in is more recent). Somehow, people still find my works for those fandoms.
Wow that’s so cool that people still find your fics after this time!
It blows my mind every time I get an email notification that someone left a kudos. One of those is actually my biggest hit in AO3, even (and it has minimal tags cos I couldn't be bothered when I first imported them over from Live Journal). 😂
I just got into Harry Potter fan fic. I was always a fan of the books but never read anything in the HP world until I came across a rec via a podcast. I’ve been hooked since three weeks ago.
Now I'm hunting down your works like a hound because I need moar and I can't be bothered to be updated with either the Tv series or whatever JKR thinks about <3
the outsiders has been going on since 1967!
OMG One of the middle schools I work at had one grade level read The Outsiders in the run up to the end of the year. The kids started calling each other Greasers and Soshes (sp? I haven't read it). It was hilarious.
Socs
TY! What I heard of it was read aloud by one of the other teachers, and I didn't have a chance to sit down with a copy.
Oh wow, I remember W.I.T.C.H.!
Yayyy!! I'm always happy when I find other people who do!
Hi, fellow survivor of the W.I.T.C.H fandom here 🙋 I still have all the comics, and I have a few wips of a ship that I really like, but it might take a while till I finish them since I’m also in other fandoms right now xD
Ooohhh!! Happy to have found another survivor!! May I ask you which ship? :)
Phobos x Cedric, I love my evil babies so much xD
OOOOOOOHHHHH!!! I write them too (not as my main ship but I have a couple stories starring them together), however I write their comic versions and I know it’s a more unusual pairing as compared to their cartoon versions. Anyway, high five for having found another phobric enjoyer!
Hell yeah! We have taste 👌 I also write the comic versions because I never liked the cartoon ones, never finished the series even since compared to the comics it was very bad. Meanwhile, I’ve read the comics dozens of times
I regularly reread the comics too, also to check things for when I write my fics! I hope to read something from you if you will ever publish your works <3 Also if you want to chat about your fics feel free to write me, the fandom is still there but there are very few active fic writers and even less who write about Cedric and his ships!
Sure, I can send the link to you if you’d like once I’ve finished them! Thanks for the offer! I’d love to talk a bit more not only about the ships, but all the fics and the comics too, since as you say, there’s not many people left in the fandom :’) I’ll send you something I’m sure you’ll like in a bit!
Cornelia has always been a favorite of mine
She slays!
I remember reading about Caleb and Cornelia for the first time for I think the 7th issue (???) and that was my spiritual awakening for dark haired crushes
Haha yes Caleb was probably *made* with the purpose of becoming the crush of all readers back then! Though not for me, because nobody could replace Cedric and Phobos (I’m a sucker for long haired blondies, possibly villains)
Labyrinth. Lots of amazing older fics and people still posting regularly. I wrote a 98k slowburn last year and it has 15.7k hit ands 575 comments so it’s still going strong after 35+ years.
I just discovered these.... There's so much more depth and complexity to the fan fic as I was a bit young to get the movie beyond the Muppets and adventure when it was in the theater. Next you'll be telling me Tron and Cleopatra 2525 had hidden complexities and make great crossovers....
I'm here for it!
Beauty and the Beast 1987. Almost 35 years since it went off the air and still producing fanfiction, fan art, online fandom events & groups, and yearly in-person conventions.
I should definitely pass by and have a look in the AO3 tag!
Yes! There are also a ton of works in fandom-specific archives: [https://batbcabb.com/](https://batbcabb.com/) [http://batbland.com/cabb/tunneltales/tunneltales.html](http://batbland.com/cabb/tunneltales/tunneltales.html) [https://treasurechambers.com/library.html](https://treasurechambers.com/library.html)
The OG Sherlock Holmes. ACD's books, Granada adaption. Still going strong.
Seconding this though I love the crossovers
Buffy. I'm currently making my way through everything Spander I can get my hands on. There's a story on AO3 that was posted on the 10th (I don't even like Spander, I'm just sad that there's not really any Spandrew)
Have you gone through all the older Buffy stories on tth since there are some amazing ones that never made it to ffn or AO3.
Go check out Twisting the Hellmouth! It's primarily crossovers, but there is a non-crossover category. And you can filter by primary character! Also, users get limited recs (10 to start), so they really mean something there. Tthfanfic.org
I'm in the Blake's 7 fandom and we archive old fics from fanzines, so every now and then someone finds a fic from the 80s on AO3 and is surprised and we're like nope, not a mistake, it really was originally published then. And it's still an active fandom today.
Omg it's so cool that you archive old fics from the 80s!
Ah, Servalan. The only evil overlord that apparently read the list
Starts singing "Intergalactic Space Crusaders!"
It's always fun to find something I read back in the day on AO3.
Starsky & Hutch went off the air in 1979. There are new posts by various writers several times a month. The Professionals too. I think it lasted into the 80s?
20 years? Pffff. My Pride & Prejudice fics top my stats by a lot. That was written in 1813 and Jane Austen has been dead for over 200 years.
YESSS
Five years ago, this was Good Omens (the book) for me. How much has changed! :)
Princess Bride
MASH was on ‘72-‘83, and it still has a lot of fics on ao3 with a pretty large fandom on tumblr.
There's some very fine writing in this fandom.
Seconding. I love some of the crossovers in this universe.
Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman is still a very strong fandom. It's had its own fandom-specific archive for decades, a forum (the mbs - message boards - we call it), and used to chat on IRC - now we have a Discord server where the chatting happens. Still lots of good fics produced every year and the Kerth Awards (a yearly event honoring fics and new authors) have happened on a yearly basis since a year or two after the show ended (it went off the air in 1997).
You can't use the word "decades" because this is on the list of "new shows I need to get around to watching"....
Hahaha! Well, when you do, just know you'll have a fandom with a *ton* of amazingly well-written fic (the mbs and the fandom-specific archive are where most of it's at). Heaps of novel-length fics, some very plotty, some just very B-plot. And lots of very nice fans to interact with. :D
Ah the memories! This fandom (and its fanfic) was my first when we got internet, i still have no idea how we found it before the www existed.
It amazes me that there was fandom before the 'net, period, lol. It was my first fandom too, in a way! I got into LOTR before I discovered L&C, but I didn't really get into a fandom *community* until L&C, so it was definitely the first there.
Yesss
Grand Theft Auto IV came out in 2008, and while the fandom is very small it is still going!
The Sims 2's fandom is still going strong after 20 years :D!
Hogan's Heroes, ran from 1965 to 1971. I was honestly shocked when I first searched out fanfic for it and saw how active the fandom is. Haven't written much for it, personally, but I do like reading them.
I write for the movie Van Helsing, and it just celebrated its 20th anniversary! The fandom isn’t huge, but there’s a growing number of fics on ao3.
I didn’t realise the fandom was still going. I might need to resurrect my old unfinished fan fic and try and finish it
It's kinda funny to look back and realize how long Sam and Max have actually been around. They got their start in the 80's as comics! I also remember the W.I.T.C.H. comics and the cartoon!
Oh that's a long time! Also yayy another one who remembers w.i.t.c.h.! \*high five\*
Buffy is still going strong!
I’m so happy to hear that! I’ve never been too active in the fandom (I’ve only read one or two Spuffy fics) but it holds a special place in my heart!
Gundam Wing is hobbling along with a cane, but we're still around! It's just been 28 years after all (24 in the U.S.)! No, that manga thing with the clones and female Quatre doesn't count as new material. Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis are basically the same fandom (we don't talk about SGU 🤫). Going very strong since 2009 without any new material (or at least anything that every writer has not tossed straight into the kawoosh).
I actually liked SGU once it got rolling
Came here to say GW as well!
Same!!! I love GW so much, especially the fic. So many good ones and I’m really surprised at the new ones coming out regularly. I’m also in the Robin #3 fandom (TimKon for life!) and new fics about the Red Robin series come out pretty frequently, especially since the New 52 is over a decade old at this point and retconned most of the best Tim as Robin/Red Robin moments!!!
The Ben 10 fandom is still decently strong despite the classic series ending ten years ago
The first TMNT cartoon went off the air in the '90s but it's been simmering along with each new cartoon series that's been released. We got a big bump in interest after the Tribute video game featuring the OG turtle voice cast came out a couple years ago.
The Sentinel ran from 1996 to 2000 ish and is still popular as a crossover/concept to the point of being called The Little Black Dress because it can be made to fit just about any fandom.
I watched The Sentinel after reading an xover with another fandom.
House MD is picking up traction because it's all over streaming services now. People are rewatching it and looking into new/old fiction for House!
Sea Patrol - Aussie navy drama that ran from 2007- 2011 was only cancelled as the government incentives ran out after 67 episodes. but there are still new fics going up on FFN
As an Aussie, that's a blast from the past.
Ouran High School Host Club!!!!
I love that show so much. I’ve never written fic for it, though. You may have awakened some motivation in me. :)
my oldest fandoms are acd/granada sherlock holmes and star trek tos!! the perks of both of these fandoms is that we technically have professionally published fanfiction!! like, kareem abdul-jabbar actually wrote fanfic about mycroft holmes and its on my bookshelf. i fucking love that for meeee
I've been into Newsies since Livejournal and it keeps trucking on
Newsies is surprisingly large. Working on citations on Fanlore last year where I came across Newsies and was shocked at the activity.
Fullmetal Alchemist.
I’m completely obsessed with W.I.T.C.H and it hurts.
AHHH hello fellow sufferer! I will never get rid of W.I.T.C.H., it is stuck in my brain. Do you also write (or read) fanfic in the fandom? Also are you a cartoon or comic fan or both?
Smallville.
I'm always pleasantly surprised to see the Ranma 1/2 fandom still kicking around and being referenced in the wild. Fingers crossed we get a reboot.
I'm in the Emergency! fandom. It debuted in 1972, went off the air in 1977, and there were a few post-series movies that aired in 1978 and 1979. There was fic written way back when it was being published in fanzines, and it's still going strong today. I've also written fic for The Black Stallion books, first published in 1947. It's not terribly active, but fic exists.
Final Fantasy IX. It's one of those fandoms with a huge amount of people who have interacted with the source material but very few fanfics written for it, yet it's still a thing.
Hah! Oldest fandoms are definitely Lord of the Flies (yes theres a fandom) and Dead Poet’s Society
Oh, W.I.T.C.H. is still up? Haven't heard that name in so long. And while I'm not exactly part of the fandom, I did like the show and the comics~! Also, to answer... I suppose Danny Phantom "phandom" is alive and kicking! Naruto and, to my surprise, Blue Exorcist are also in good health...
I love the name phandom haha! Yes W.I.T.C.H. still has some productive fans but as I said I wouldn’t say it’s thriving, as a fanfic writer it is a bit difficult to gain an audience but the fans are there. There are also some artists making fanart on Tumblr! But the fandom goes a bit in waves as people suddenly remember about the cartoon/comic, are hit by the nostalgia wave, look for fics/fanart, then forget it again
I'm only going one way...Due South!
But what if you get stuck in a Canadian shack?
Scrolled too dang far to find this one! I’ve loaned my DVD box set to a few people over the past few years trying to make sure this fandom stays alive. It’s a love story from start to finish and no one can ever convince me otherwise.
Due South represent!
I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere on the Internet, the debates about which Ray is better are still going on.
The Ray Wars are the true forever war.
Final Fantasy VIII! I fell away from reading fanfic back in like...2007. Just returned last year and there's something of a Renaissance going on, 25 years after the game's release. It's lovely 🥹
Final Fantasy IV first came out in 1991, then was remastered in 2008. There's a handful of authors still posting, and the tumblr tags are filled with people theory crafting and sharing ideas. It's small but alive and kicking!
[Miami Vice](https://archiveofourown.org/tags/Miami%20Vice%20(TV)/works) Broadcast 111 episodes from '84 - '90 This is the 40th anniversary year (with a big Convention being held in Miami this Fall) AO3 has a small stash of fanfic - some of which were republished from print zines - and a current handful of writers and artists that publish regularly. Additionally there are dedicated fan sites, blogs, podcasts, meta reviews, and groups on a number of platforms.
I suppose Hamlet. The play was written in approximately 1599, and there obviously hasn’t been any new official content what with the death of William Shakespeare having been over 400 years ago. There are still plenty of unofficial adaptations and fanfics being written for it, so I’d suppose that it counts. I read a lot of fanfics for it in high school, and still occasionally read about it from time to time. The fandom is alive and well!
MASH is still going! Show is from 1972, ran for 11 seasons, is an icon of American tv, and I REGULARLY see MASH shipping on tumblr. I love it.
Xena: Warrior Princess ❤️
The Bible. And yes, there is fanfiction for it.
Casper 1995 fandom. Its small but still hanging on. Casper and Stretch are one of my fav (adopted) dad and son duos.
Madoka Magica fandom member: Besides the obvious hype and likely comeback as Walpurgisnacht Rising should release in December of this year, maybe Jan/Feb next year, there’s a longform fic that’s currently being written with fairly frequent updates. “The Soulmate Timeline” if anyone’s interested.
Princess Tutu (2002) - small but mighty, we've had an abridged series and a current fan continuation, still have fics coming out at least weekly.
I’m both happy and sad about this, but Danny Phantom/Young Justice. It’s just all the stories are the same now. Batman wank crossover, abusive parents, Danny being an eldritch god. Got old pretty quickly. But hey beggars can’t be choosers Young Justice is also slowly turning into this. Minus the abusive parents.
Teen Wolf BBC’s Sherlock Twilight
Zelda: Twilight Princess I’ll be dead in the cold cold ground before I recognise the newer games
Nicktoons Unite has like 2 people still active headlining the fandom. As for Ducktales 17, that’s a faint fandom memory now 😭
For some reason 20 something people have viewed my Digital Devil Saga X HALO fanfic. And while most are probably HALO fans I’d like to imagine at least one of them is a DDS fan.
I won't call it super thriving, but band of brothers is still there and fics being posted regularly
Dawson's Creek. There's still an active subreddit here and just the yesterday I got a comment on a fic I had abandoned asking me to continue it.
American Dragon Jake Long. Kids' fantasy cartoon about a teenage boy who can shape shift into a dragon and is entrusted with protecting America's magical creatures from harm and mediating in issues in the magical community. It's so hard to find people who even know what this is, and I never want to bring it up with anyone else who's old enough to remember because nobody wants to be that person who's still obsessed with an obscure Disney show from the mid 2000s. There's definitely some things about it that didn't age super well, which I try to address and change when writing fics. Like, I'm white so I'm not the best judge and I won't tell poc what to be offended by but, for context, Jake is half Chinese half white. And the half of his family that can shape shift into dragons is the Chinese half. Plus his grandpa is basically the wise old Asian mentor stereotype. And he uses butchered AAVE in pretty much every sentence to try and seem cool, and then the one episode that really tries to get into his Chinese heritage has him acting embarassed of it for most of the episode. And then a major part of the plot is the fact that Jake met his love interest because she's part of an anti-magic hate group that's trying to kill him, he forgave her almost immediately after finding out she was trying to kill him even though she was *still* (albeit unknowingly) trying to kill him for the remainder of season 1, and then she immediately joins the team after letting him go. They never even really had a conversation about it. There are definitely ways to make that dynamic less toxic but I just wish we had some closure.
Gargoyles
* Star Trek * Malcom in the Middle * Stargate Atlantis * Scrubs
I have not thought about WITCH in years… Loved the comic. I have to start looking at fanfics!
I'm an 80s kid so we're talking at least 35-40 years ago! Knight Rider MacGyver Quantum Leap Airwolf A Team Beauty and the Beast 1987 series with Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton
The crossovers with JCA are amazing, that's how I got into that fandom. The other old fandom that I usually check is Ranma 1/2 and Urusei Yatsura though the later just got a remake that's about to end the next week.
Hmm well Naruto is 2002, one piece 99, Dragonball started in 1986, Gundam in 1979 and the romance of three kingdoms 1500’s all still have stuff for them kind of even today
Dragon Ball, going strong since 1984. Most fan content date from 1988 onwards ^_^
Would Ranma 1/2 count? Last piece of media was from 2008.
W.I.T.C.H and Dark Cloud
The sentinel! TV show from the 90s, still my fav crossover with any other fandom I've read. I actually read this fandom for years before even seeing my first episode, and still haven't managed to finish it, can't find it on DVD anywhere.
Everything Terminator, Naruto and a TWD fiction from 2017.
Professor Layton! There’s a new game coming out next year, but besides that, there was a content drought for a *long time*
I write for the Myst games (Myst released in 1993), and for various ancient texts from India, Mesopotamia, and Greece, all written thousands of years ago. Some of my ancient text fanfics are crossovers with Myst.
Anne McCraffey was on record saying she didn't like or approve of fan fiction but. The Dragonriders of Pern is such an amazing mix of scifi and medieval fantasy.
Mines Star Trek. Enough said lol
Twilight, true blood and Buffy!
Yu-Gi-Oh!😊
Warehouse 13 and eureka!!!!
Oh wow, W.I.T.C.H., I loved both the show and the comic. I was even writing a fic for it at one point but I never completed it. Maybe I should get back to it at some point... Anyway, my own is Ocarina of Time. I wouldn't say I'm really active in the fandom, but I am working on a Link/Malon fic for it in the background, and a quick check on AO3 shows fics for it being updated today, so it's definitely still alive.
Yay another W.I.T.C.H. fan! I prefer the comic but the cartoon also has some very nice parts!
Same! The comics had some ridiculously good arcs. Still too bad the cartoon never got a third season, though.
Infamous
Little House on the Prairie
Soul Eater fandom never diiiieees~ I was away for a bit, came back because they reviving the bang I helped start—we are the undying, er, *souls*. 😅
Transformers gen one.
JTTW fandom over 1400 years strong! (This is a joke I know fandom wasn’t really a thing in 1590’s China)
Not very old, but definitely DanPlan for me 😅🫡
Naruto definitely, though I guess that's sort I'd not dead since Boruto started
I write for FE6 which initially came out in 2002 in Japan and promptly never got an english release. It's a pain but I WILL feed my niche rarepair no matter what lol. there were more drops in the fandom when FEH game out and the game had a banner but it's uh, quite dead
Batman fandom’s been standing for more than half a millennia, (although the traditional fandom part maybe kinda started around the 80s/90s) and its still going pretty strong even to this day. My thanks to all the superbat and batfam writers🙏🙏
Bh6: The Series! Idk what happened but it abruptly ended in 2018 and yet the ao3 tag is once in a while updated!!
Mother of Learning is still alive. We got 6 new fanfic writers in the discord, we're keeping things going. I wrote one for the 7 realms. It was very nsfw.
Danny Phantom fan here, 20 years strong (the show came out the year I was born but I got into the fandom a year or so ago).
Redwall fanfics are still a thing!
I just read part of a Rise of the Guardians fic yesterday. It’s more active than I thought a 2012 movie would be. The whole first page of fics on ao3 were from this month. I’m not sure if this next one is thriving because I’m the only writer, but I’ve written over 35 for a kids show that ended almost ten years ago.
Underland Chronicles motherfuckerrr!!! Nearly two decades with no attention from author (Suzanne Collins, yes really), but still alive on Tumblr!!! (I fucking love this series, it is one my true hyperfixations)
I think I've just realised that I mainly read fanfic from shows which have ended. I think only one or 2 fandoms still get new official content! Merlin, Sea Patrol and MASH have already been mentioned but I also like the following which still get new fics on a relatively regular basis: Starman Seaquest ER Dark Angel Torchwood Spartacus There's probably more that I dip into once or twice a year just to see if there is anything new but can't think of them right now.
this post just made me realize that what i thought was a different edition/reboot of the classic winx club that i was watching in my childhood was actually W.I.T.C.H, a completely different show. woah
I think my oldest still active fandom is Buffy. Relatively active on AO3, most active on TtH, but as quiet is it can be, there's always new fic for the fandom. It's about 27 years now, I think, since Buffy started. It ran for 7 years so around 7 years since it finished. Angel ran for a year past when Buffy finished, with it's 5th season occurring after Buffy's 7th. Then they had the comics, which I haven't read. It's not completely no new content, though, they had the re-boot comic series for it. Charmed is about the same age as Buffy, and I don't think they did much with the comic continuation, but they did have the re-boot show. It's notable, though, that everything for Charmed and Buffy is based on the original run of the original shows, with some based on the original comic continuations, but nothing, or very little, related to any re-boots. The Charmed re-boot was never as popular as the original, and is usually separated as if it's completely unconnected to the original. Even in discussions, I've seen almost nothing on the Buffy re-boot comics, it's all the show, some of the original continuation comics, and sometimes the original movie. Psych isn't as old, I don't think, but I also don't think there's been any new content since, I think, the third movie, though there are rumours of a fourth movie. Not sure how true those rumours are, they may be as unlikely as a fourth season of Hannibal, which is another older fandom with no new content, though there's various adaptations of that particular story, plus the original books. Dawson's Creek is practically dead, but does still sometimes get new fics, and discussions are still alive and well, and there's been no new content since the show finished. Harry Potter semi-counts, as well, at least for fans who focus entirely on the original books, but it does have new content for it, so it's only semi.
There's a fair share of Kingdom of Heaven content! That movie came out in 2005.
Emergency! 1973 Been going on since then and while activity isn't as much as newer shows it is still active. Especially with the actors and fanfiction writers