Where did "Fans Explaining" Montages come from?

Twitter user @OnePunchDio posted the first anime fans version on March 9, 2021, drawing on earlier fandom generalization memes.

What does "Fans Explaining" Montages mean?

The title riffs on fandom generalizations, roasting each fanbase through a stereotype clip; the follow-up label X Slander describes the same roast structure applied to countries, games or platforms.

How do you use "Fans Explaining" Montages?

Pick a category, line up short GIFs or clips for each sub-fandom under it, label each one, and lay the Powerpuff Girls or What's New, Scooby-Doo? theme over the whole cut.

Is "Fans Explaining" Montages still popular?

The original Twitter format faded, but its X Slander descendant on YouTube kept racking up views into 2022, with Soopkrz's country slander video hitting 1.4 million views that May.

"Fans Explaining" Montages

Q: What is "Fans Explaining" Montages?

A video format that stitches together reaction GIFs and viral clips, each labeled as a different fandom inside a shared category like anime or racing games, usually over the Powerpuff Girls or Scooby-Doo theme.

2021viral videoclassic

Published November 13, 2026

"Fans Explaining" Montages, also called X Slander, are stereotype supercuts set to The Powerpuff Girls or What's New, Scooby-Doo? theme songs, where each clip roasts a different fandom under a genre umbrella. Twitter user @OnePunchDio started the anime version in March 2021, and by May 2022 YouTubers were running the same template for countries, Roblox and Mobile Legends under the Slander banner1 6.

fandom discourse memes mashup video memes stereotype memes anime manga montage parody memes

Overview

Each montage stitches together short reaction GIFs, meme clips and voice bites, with every segment labeled as a different fandom inside a shared category. The audio bed is almost always the opening theme of The Powerpuff Girls or What's New, Scooby-Doo?, which gives the roast a cartoon pep that undercuts the insults on screen1. A typical anime version will cut from a One Piece fan to a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure fan to an Attack on Titan fan, each shown as some loud, deranged or oblivious caricature drawn from pre-existing viral clips like Thank God for My Reefer and Ibai Llanos Explaining Things6.

The gag only works when the targets share a category, so the fun is in the taxonomy. Anime, retro FPS games, racing sims, countries and mobile games each got their own edition9 12. By mid-2022, the Slander Memes label took over on YouTube, where longer, punchier compilations replaced the short Twitter clip format10 11.

Gallery

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter (origin) / YouTube (viral spread as X Slander)

Creator

@OnePunchDio

Date

2021

On March 9, 2021, Twitter user @OnePunchDio (DioWhosAHeroForFun) posted a montage captioned "The current state of Anime Fans," cutting between reaction GIFs tagged as One Piece, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and Attack on Titan fans over the Powerpuff Girls theme song2. The original tweet picked up 470 views, 30 retweets and 75 likes in its first three weeks, modest numbers that undersold what the format was about to do6.

@OnePunchDio released "Anime Fans: Part 2" on March 22, 2021, keeping the same structure and audio3. Know Your Meme documents the format under the names "The State of Fans" Montages and "Fans When" Montages, tying it to the broader fandom generalization meme family6.

How It Spread

Reposts carried the clip faster than the original ever moved. A March 10 iFunny mirror pulled 580 smiles, a March 13 Instagram repost by needs.exe cleared 40,000 views and a March 17 crosspost to r/Animemes titled "shounen fans be like" hit 2,300 upvotes6. On March 22, 2021, the account Images with Deltarune Music swapped the Powerpuff theme for Deltarune tracks and landed 24,500 views in a week, the first proof that the audio was swappable6.

The template jumped out of anime next. YouTuber BK4 uploaded a Gran Turismo version on March 23, 2021, and it drew over 65,000 views in a week1. On March 27, the @TheFunny_mp4 Twitter account's repost of the original anime clip hit 152,000 views in four days6.

By mid-2022, the format rebranded as X Slander on YouTube. GabLikesFrogs posted "Country Slander (DARK HUMOR)" on June 24, 2021, which cleared 1 million views over ten months3. Soopkrz's follow-up country slander video from May 7, 2022 hit 1.4 million views in two weeks4. Tutili applied the template to Roblox on August 17, 2021 for 380,000 views5, and Backrow Bandits' December 8, 2021 "Mobile legends Slander memes" video drew 122,000 views7.

Timeline

2021-03-09

@OnePunchDio posts the original anime fans montage on Twitter set to the Powerpuff Girls theme.

2021-03-17

A repost titled "shounen fans be like" lands on r/Animemes and clears 2,300 upvotes.

2021-03-22

Images with Deltarune Music swaps the audio for Deltarune tracks; @OnePunchDio drops Anime Fans Part 2.

2021-03-23

YouTuber BK4 adapts the format for Gran Turismo fans, drawing 65,000 views in a week.

2021-06-24

GabLikesFrogs uploads "Country Slander (DARK HUMOR)," the video that popularizes the Slander Memes label.

2021-08-17