Editing Fandom

The community of Transformers fans is referred to as a '''fandom'''.  While the term technically encompasses any group of kids coming together to talk about Transformers in a sandbox, it is commonly used to refer to the 30 year olds of the online fandom. The fandom has long played a role in the [[Transformers timeline|history of the franchise]].  Most notably, [[BotCon]] is their [[Wikipedia:Mardi Gras|Mardi Gras]], an official convention geared almost totally to adult fans.

==History==
Modern (online) Transformers fandom has its roots in [[alt.toys.transformers]], a text-only [[wikipedia:Usenet|Usenet]] newsgroup.  Because Usenet is one of the oldest parts of the internet (dating from 1979, a.t.t from 1993) it functioned as a central hub where all all members of the fandom interacted together.  This situation continued largely unchanged until the mid-2000's, when the fandom scattered across several dozen web-based message boards where it is no longer possible to 'know everyone.'

==References==
Many references to the fandom have been made in official Transformers fiction.

===Beast Wars===  
The story editors of the [[Beast Wars (cartoon)|Beast Wars cartoon]], [[Bob Forward]] and [[Larry DiTillio]], interacted with the fandom via alt.toys.transformers, and worked numerous "shout-outs" into the series.

* In "[[Dark Designs]]", a loopy [[Waspinator]] declared that he was "Not wacko, Wonko! Wonko the Sane!" In addition to being the name of a character in ''[[wikipedia:The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'', "Wonko the Sane" was a screen name used by [[Ben Yee]].
* In "[[Before the Storm]]", the [[Predacon]] computer informed [[Megatron (BW)|Megatron]] of a "code A-T-T alert," and Megatron later initiated a "voice code A-T-T override," both references to alt.toys.transformers.
* Also in "Before the Storm", Megatron mused that "There is a storm coming. A storm of such power, such magnitude, it is beyond imagination!" This was a reference to the website of fan James Hooks, called "Beyond Imagination."
* In [[Nemesis, Part 2]], [[Optimus Primal|Optimus Primal's]] line "encoding transmission M Sipher" refers to the screen name of [[Greg Sepelak]].  
* Also in "Nemesis, Part 2," Megatron instructs [[Dinobot 2]] to fire on "targetting grid 3H," referring to [[3H Enterprises]].
* Numerous locations throughout the series were references to the names (both screen and real) of fans: 
**[[Grid Darcerin]]
**[[Grid Joona]]
**[[Grid Scylla]]
**[[Sector Tallories]]
**[[Subsector Hooks]]
**[[Tengu Sector]]
      

==Fans==
Many  members of the fandom have gone on to contribute to Transformers in an official capacity. 

LIST GOES HERE 


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[[Category:Fandom| ]]<div id="wikia-credits"><br /><br /><small>From [http://transformers.wikia.com Teletraan I: The Transformers Wiki], a [http://www.wikia.com Wikia] wiki.</small></div>