BEANIE BRIGADE

from Fancyclopedia 2

The segment of fandom that acts, at cons, like all the fugg- headed teenagers that ever lived, thereby lending those gatherings some of their disenchantment. Distinguished by its costume (theoretically including a zapgun and helicopter beanie, hence the name) and its preference for collecting a mundane audience in preparation for its feats. It was first pilloried by Bob Bloch, who commented that it did fandom harm to publicize the screwball-adolescent fringe, and pointed to the Cinvention photos of "an army of goons wearing beanies, false beards, and Buck Rogers blasters". Actually, he may have been referring to an eminent and mannerly Fan of Distinction, Art Rapp, who wore a large fake beard and George Young's helicopter beanie. The large MSFS delegation Rapp led could quite easily have been confused with an army, says DeVore.