Hey Everyone Come Look At Some Cool Graphs About Fandom

hey everyone come look at some cool graphs about fandom

aka: welcome to a statistical breakdown of the top 100 fics by kudos in the Batman - All Media Types Tag on ao3.

aka: my vindication for why i genuinely believed danny phantom was part of the dcu

So! Starting off: How many kudos do the top 100 fics have? Altogether, they amount to 1,805,647 kudos.

How many kudos does the #1 fic have and did you notice anything weird about the data? Why yes! So the #1 most kudosed has 73,889 kudos. Which is SIGNIFICANTLY more than the fic in second place with 39,709 kudos. 34,180 more, to be exact. That difference is so insane I gotta admit I am curious if that stat is actually accurate or if perhaps something happened somewhere because the difference is. Astronomical. In comparison, the difference between fic #2 and fic #3 is 6,955 kudos, and the difference between #3 and #4 is 1,490 kudos. So perhaps you can see why I am just a tad suspicious. I'll admit, fic #1 is popular! I've read it before and I really liked it! But statistically- I have a lot of questions. A lot.

How many kudos does fic #100 have and what's the difference between fic #1 and #100? Fic #100 has 12,900, giving us a difference of 60,989 kudos between first and 100th place.

Now for everyone's favourite part: GRAPHS.

What's the breakdown of ratings in the top 100?

pie chart labeled "ratings" showing E with 1%, NR with 9%, M with 10%, T with 54%, and G with 26%

(legend: e=explicit, g=gen audiences, t=teen, nr=not rated, m=mature) To nobody's surprise, only one fic with an E rating makes it into the top 100 (E fics tend to have a narrower audience for various reasons, plus gen fics are BIG in batman fandom rn). To my surprise, T actually made up the majority of fics in the top 100. I'd predicted that it would be G fics on top, I'm guessing this difference between hypothesis and reality is because I did not account for people rating fics with profanity as T. Otherwise, this breakdown wasn't too surprising.

What're the warnings in the top 100 like?

pie chart labeled "warnings" showing CNTW N/A with 1%, GDV with 12%, N/A GDV with 2%, N/A with 62%, CNTW GDV with 2%, and CNTW with 20%

(legend: CNTW=chose not to use archive warnings, GDV=graphic depictions of violence, N/A=no archive warnings apply, MCD=major character death) (could NOT make the graph label the little pink slice between CNTW N/A and GDV, so fyi that one is CNTW, GDV, MCD, and it has 1%.) Unsurprising: N/A makes up the majority. also only one MCD tag is present and Underage Sex and Rape/Non-Con are not present at all. Surprising: CNTW is second most popular! Also it is seen here being used in combination with other tags like MCD and GDV, which. Personally I didn't know you could do that. Makes sense though!

How many are complete fics?

Pie chart labeled "complete?" with N with 12% and Y with 88%

(legend: y=yes, n=no) Most of them!

Hey everyone guess how many F/F fics are in the top 100

Pie chart labeled "categories", showing o with 1%, n/a with 85, m/m with 12%, m with 7%, and g with 72%

(legend= o=other, n/a=uncategorized, m/m=male/male relationship, m=multi, g=no romantic or sexual relationships) Zero!!! No M/F ships either i will say. Unsurprisingly for batman fandom, gen is the CLEAR winner here. Also unofficial survey based on my observations only -> some ships that were present include: Superbat, Timkon, Jaytim (and probably more but i desperately did NOT have to want to officially track this and add more data points to what is already a very crowded spreadsheet.)

How long are these works and how's that relate to kudos/hits?

Hey Everyone Come Look At Some Cool Graphs About Fandom

(x axis= length, y axis= hits)

(x axis= length, y axis = kudos) So two big outliers here, one the work with 400000+ words, the other the work with all the kudos (and thereby hits) that was discussed earlier. But discarding those I think we can see from this graph that length is fairly irrelevant when it comes to how much interaction a work gets. From observations a lot of popular works fell within 1,200 - 5,000w category, and there was a weird lack of works in the 15,000-20,000w category. As in there was only one. It was a oddly noticeable absence.

Kudos/hit ratios!! I find these really interesting

(y axis = kudos/hit ratio) What is a kudos hit ratio? # of kudos divided by # of hits, equaling the percentage of hits that resulted in a kudos. Commonly lower on multichap fics, as people will click on them multiple times to read new chapters but can only leave kudos once. This is a stat that is probably meaningless and unimportant. But I find it interesting. So you all have to see it now.

When are these fics from ? aka: POSSIBLY THE MOST INTERESTING DATA SET YET!!!

(x axis = date in m/d/y format, y axis = kudos)

(x axis = date in m/d/y format, y axis = kudos) Available in both scatter and bar graphs! So with this I was curious if older fics would have more kudos cause they'd had more time to accuulate them. And I also wanted to know: Why do I (new-ish DCU fan) feel like the Batman fandom is so young considering it's about a media that's been around for 85 years? And here's my answer! Most of the top 100 was posted in the last 4 years! There are only 2 fics that are older than 8 years old!

This is SO INTERESTING to me. Why is this happening? In similar fandoms (Marvel), I regularly find works from 2012, 2014, etc, that are high in kudos. Hell, I just went and checked and 5/10 of the most kudosed fics in the Marvel tag are from pre 2016! What's going on with Batman-AMT? Just from casual engagement in fandom I'd been getting the sense that there was a big boom in the popularity of Batman on AO3 sometime relatively recently and this data really feels like confirmation.

I'll open this up to other fans: have you noticed this phenomenon? And if you were on Batman AO3 4-5 years ago - any insights? From the date alone I'd guess it's somehow pandemic related (sudden majorly stressful event caused mass desire for comfort like the type found in batfam gen fics, thereby launching the genre into previously unseen levels of popularity)? But idk! Tell me your thoughts! I'd love to unravel this!

Who's writing the top 100?

All in all, 68 authors make up the top 100. Shoutout to powerhouse @envysparkler, who makes up 11% of the top 100. Following that are TheResurrectionist and Just_here_for_a_laugh with 5% each, @unpretty and smilebackwards with 3% each, and foldingfacets, helenabertinellis, Ididloveyou_once, adelfie, Vamillepudding, Drag0nst0rm, AutumnHobbit, IzzyMRDB, Blueseabird2, and @motleyfam with 2% each.

AND NOW MY VINDICATION

Pie chart labeled "crossovers" showing danny phantom with 12%, spiderman with 6%, and n/a with 82%

In my previous stats post, I mis-grouped Danny Phantom as a DCU property because my experience in fandom had brought me to legitimately believe it was part of the DCU, especially as I'd never heard of it before or since. Well, with this graph, perhaps you can see why. Danny Phantom makes up 12% of the top 100. TWELVE. The only other crossover in the top 100, Spider-Man, makes up only 6%. Notable absences were Miraculous Ladybug and White Collar, which, while being very popular crossovers for DC and Batman, apparently didn't grab enough kudos to make the list.

So there you go!! Anyone have insights on anything discussed here? I'd really love to hear about it!

[All data collected from AO3 Nov. 29, 2024.]

Fics I Enjoyed in December - DC Comics Fic Rec List

Fell headfirst back into DC Comics for the first time in years this month. Reread some old favorites and discovered some new gems!

Heart, Humble by Betty (Mature, 8k, 2005) Jack Drake deals with finding out that Tim is Robin (poorly, and then not so poorly). THEE canon-accurate Jack Drake-focused fic of all time, this is canon in my heart.

Back then, all the boys his age had hero-worshipped costumed vigilantes. Jack supposes they still do.

Exit Strategy by smilebackwards/@smilebackwards (Teen & Up, 13k, 2021) Tim plans to leave a family he thinks he was never really a part of and decides to train Damian on how to run Wayne Enterprises before he goes. Delicious angst, excellent character work, and fun Wayne Enterprises worldbuilding.

Batman needs a Robin and Batman has a Robin. Tim is just extraneous now, vestigial. He’s a bandage over a healed wound. He doesn’t know what he’s hanging on to. Or: Tim didn’t expect his exit strategy from the Batfamily to involve quite so much bonding time with Damian over Wayne Enterprises bureaucracy.

On the Downbeat by husborth (Teen & Up, 2k, 2019) Bruce and Jason talk while waiting in line at a drive-thru (featuring Gotham-typical violence and husborth-typical gorgeous prose). I've always adored husborth's Star Wars fics and I'm so glad I dipped my toe into their DC works, no one's writing hits quite like husborth.

Jason has recovered his sanity, and Bruce and Jason have recovered their relationship; but there are some things that are hard to forget.

A Zoo for Canines by husborth (Mature, 45k, 2019) Part 2 of Zoology; Dick and Jason try to help Bruce recover from addiction. If you're used to fanon Dick Grayson (cheery, friendly, forgiving) you will not find him here - his anger and pain is ugly, raw, and so fucking captivating.

Dick, Bruce, and Jason head out to a cabin in the mountains, and they handle things about as well as they handle anything.

All the Roofs of Uncertainty by Kieron_ODuibhir/@kieron-oduibhir (General Audiences, 70k, 2015) Dick almost dies and makes Jason promise to take care of the family for him. A masterclass demonstration on how DC fic can square all the wildly divergent canon versions of Jason Todd into a single compelling character.

For all the blood on his hands, Red Hood was never just a villain. And Nightwing never gives up on family, not for good. (Or: The one where Dick bleeds a lot and Jason argues with everybody.)

The Till-Then From the Ever-Since by Kieron_ODuibhir/@kieron-oduibhir (General Audiences, 85k (WIP), 2020) Kid versions of the whole Batfamily mysteriously time travel to the future! I livetexted a friend the whole time I read this so I could yell about how amazing the character writing is; also I'm wildly impressed with how the author deftly handles tons of dialogue-heavy scenes with like 12+ guys in it without anyone going unmentioned.

It began, or seemed to begin, with Jason. Usually that would have meant something in the order of fire and explosion and probably at least one gunshot wound, but for once (as Tim said, sourly), it wasn't actually Jason's fault.

only you will have stars that can laugh by silverwhittlingknife/@silverwhittlingknife (Teen & Up, 9k, 2022) Dick finds out Tim is alone on Christmas and invites him to Babs' Christmas party. Discovered silverwhittlingknife through their galaxy brained Dick & Tim meta essays, stayed for every single line of Chapter 2 ripping out my heart and roasting it over an open flame.

You coming over is possibly the only thing that’s gonna stop me from wanting to punch your dad in the face, Dick doesn’t say. My current Christmas Day plans are 1) pace around at home, and 2) try not to obsess about what Bruce is up to, so trust me, you’ll be an improvement, Dick doesn’t say. Tim's alone on Christmas Eve. Dick finds out, and fixes it.

nerve endings by silverwhittlingknife/@silverwhittlingknife (Teen & Up, 5k (WIP), 2024) Post-Catalina Flores, Dick, Tim, and Bruce go on a (canon-accurate) cruise and dance around their open wounds. This is a glorious example of "he WOULD fucking say that", Dick's voice is so canon-accurate that the angst is even more painful i cri

It's all right, even, to have a foreign hand pressing against his skin, testing him, testing his reactions. He keeps his breathing controlled. Just Tim, damn you, it’s just Tim, don’t fuck it up. Dick's on a cruise with Bruce and Tim. And he's fine. Mostly.

Red Letter Day by silverwhittlingknife/@silverwhittlingknife (Teen & Up, 42k (WIP), 2022) Dick is sure the cryptic scribble in his agenda refers to something he's supposed to do for Damian, but he can't remember what. Mostly about Tim and Dick s l o w l y mending the post-Damian rupture in their relationship, but the whole family is here and Jason, especially, is fucking hilarious.

Dick Grayson, stressed pseudo-parent to a preteen assassin, tries to solve the case of Damian’s Mysterious Wednesday. He never expected it to help him fix his relationship with Tim, too. (… Though only after everything fell apart first.)

Gonna Be A Better One (A Thousand Miles To Your Door) by Traincat/@traincat (Teen & Up, 18k, 2011) Tim and Kon keep dating even after Jack forces Tim to retire as Robin. I reread this fic annually and every time am delighted to rediscover how funny and heartwarming and squee-inducingly kind it is, pure Timkon perfection.

In which Tim quits being Robin, Kon refuses to quit Tim and Ma Kent is full of relationship advice.

last light in a darkened room by bigdamnher0/@bigdvmnhero (Not Rated, 6k, 2024) Tim finds a distressing video of Robin!Dick and wishes that things were different. The whole fic, particularly Tim manifesting a happy ending in the bathroom, is a gorgeously crafted tragedy such that you're left kind of awed at how thoroughly massacred your heart and soul are post-read.

Tuesday morning: a video was uploaded to one of the deep web black markets. The footage, shot on those grainy vintage camcorders. But Tim knew that boy in the thumbnail; his eyes had memorized him, the heft and shape and dazzle of him, imprinting like an afterimage. Or: a brother is a witness; there's your tragedy.

buy back the secrets by sundiscus/@vinelark (Teen & Up, 91k (WIP), 2024) Superboy rescues civilian Tim Drake before learning that Tim is Robin and shenanigans ensue. I spent my whole holiday vacation intermittently screaming at this fic while my family members looked on with vague concern this fic is ADORABLE and AGONIZING and PERFECT please and THANK YOU.

He takes a long, slow breath. Ignores the glares from the other students. “Superboy,” he murmurs. “It’s me. If you’re listening, I could use some help.” Or: 5 times Superboy saves Tim Drake, and one time Tim Drake saves Superboy.

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lizzardman

1 year ago

You know what scene I’m going to be distraught if we don’t get in the show (due to it being cancelled after season 1 or any other reason)?

The sirens scene in Sea of Monsters.

Percy with his wax ear plugs. Annabeth having him tie her to the mast so she can listen. The frantic swim toward the beach when she escapes. Percy seeing her siren dream when he catches up to her. Percy and Annabeth hugging at the bottom of the ocean.

I will be distraught if we don’t get to see that.

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lizzardman

4 weeks ago

reblog to give your headache to elon musk instead

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lizzardman

6 months ago

John Oliver platforms Palestinian voices as he advocates for voting for Harris.

If you live in a swing state, please properly consider your role in this election. Remember to distrust the polls, the projections - the presidential election will be infuriatingly close. Nothing is set in stone.

Please think about your queer friends and family, your community that includes people of colour, disabled people, poor people, immigrants. Evaluate the true historical value of what a protest vote does - compare it to the two candidates, one of which will be the president at the end of this final stretch.

Your vote matters. Please, treat it like it does.

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lizzardman

11 months ago