What exactly is the significance of gel, and what is it that ties together a series that shares only two words (Tales of)?? This week, we're talking about fans of the _Tales of_ series (e.g. Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Berseria) with special guest (and Maple Gel Con organizer) Jesi McMulkin!
Next week, we'll be demystifying the world of anime and manga fans a bit as we discuss fans of josei and shoujo... or in layman's terms, anime and manga "for women and girls".
## Where can I learn more about Jesi McMulkin?
If you enjoyed listening to our special guest, Jesi, and want to learn more about the _Tales of_ series, you should definitely checkout [Maple Gel Con](http://maplegelcon.squarespace.com/) in Burlington, Ontario!
## Episode outline
### Fandom Facts
**Origins:**
The _Tales_ or _Tales of_ series is a video game series that has been running since 1995 with the release of _Tales of Phantasia_ on the Super Famicom. While there are sixteen main titles, many spin-offs, manga, anime, and audio dramas, the different entries in the series are fairly independent of each other and are mostly linked by their similar gameplay style (in particular, the "Linear Motion Battle System"), and its anime/manga art style. In English-speaking regions, it is generally seen as a niche series but is in the top-running for RPG series in Japan (behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest).
**Most Active:**
[By Google search volume](https://trends.google.com/trends/explore?date=all&q=%2Fm%2F038sbw), interest in various Tales-series games has been on a slow decline, with the most interest in the game series occuring between 2003 and 2004 (corresponding to the releases of _Tales of Symphonia_ and _Tales of Rebirth_).
**Size of Fandom:**
One estimate for the size of the fandom would be the number of games sold:
> As of December 2013, the series has sold 16 million units worldwide.
>
> — [Wikipedia - Tales (series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_(series))
This gives us at least some watermark of the dedication of fans, and puts the rough number of fans at something like one million fans (16 million units over 16 games = 1 million fans per game).
Another metric might be the "Tales of" festival in Japan. The seventh such festival in 2014 managed to draw out over 22 000 fans over two days to fill the Yokohama Arena.
Also worth mentioning, the Tales of subreddit boasts an impressive ~11 000 subscribers.
**Fan Demographics:**
We weren't able to get numbers on fan demographics. A rough estimate, in Japan, at least, from the 2014 Tales of Festival:
> Far from the stereotype of a game otaku sausage party, the crowd at the 2014 event is almost exclusively female.
> "Players of the Tales of series are 70% male and 30% female in Japan, but for events like this it's about 90% female," series producer Hideo Baba tells me at the end of the first day. "Women tend to be more interested in the story and the characters, while men are more interested in the games themselves and messing around with game hardware. So when their favorite game character appears on stage, the sound of screaming female fans is really something."
>
> — [IGN - WHY 90% OF FANS AT TALES OF FESTIVAL ARE FEMALE](http://ca.ign.com/articles/2014/06/26/why-90-of-fans-at-tales-of-festival-are-female)
**Around the world:**
The top 10 countries for search volume around the "Tales of" series are: Japan (by a large margin), Phillipines, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong, France, South Korea, and Indonesia.
**Famous fan works:**
Arguably, the fan translation of "Tales of Phantasia" by DeJap:
> "I bet Arche \*\*\*\*\* like a tiger"
>
> — [TVTropes - Tales of Phantasia](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Funny/TalesOfPhantasia)
**Fanfics:**
According to Archive Of Our Own, there are approximately 4500 fanfics related to the Tales of Series (the majority of which are Tales of Zestiria — approxi...
