#murderbot fandom

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I’ve been thinking about “Don’t like, don’t read” since an anon asked me about it. I’ve also been thinking about fandom communities that discourage negative views and promote positivity.

On the surface, these ideas sound perfectly reasonable. Fandom spaces are meant to be places where we share our joy in the media we love, right? Why spoil someone else’s enjoyment by expressing negative opinions? It’s like going to a restaurant regularly and complaining about the food every time. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to go there. Keep your opinions to yourself and let others enjoy things!

That’s surely the logic and it's the correct attitude.

But is it always?

On further reflection, I’ve come to think that even in fun, voluntary communities, having space for both positive and negative views is essential for a healthy environment. Not all “negative” opinions are the same, and not all of them are harmful.

I think there are broadly two kinds of negative reactions:

1. Simple venting

This is mostly about taste. “I didn’t like the casting.” “I wish they’d kept that scene.” “That's not the voice I'd imagined for ART”

It’s emotional, subjective, but it's human. Venting helps people process disappointment, and it doesn’t have to hurt anyone if it’s kept in the right space, such as sharing with like-minded friends through direct communications or posting with appropriate tags.

2. Constructive criticism

This is thoughtful, grounded, and often comes from a place of care. It includes things like:

concerns about representation

noticing harmful tropes

pointing out narrative changes that shift meaning

discussing industry biases

talking about why a change matters

For example, in the Murderbot Apple TV adaptation, some fans felt disappointed that the focus shifted away from Dr. Mensah – a middle‑aged Black woman who is central to Murderbot’s emotional development – toward Gurathin, a white‑adjacent male character. Many people loved the show, and that joy is wonderful. It was lovingly created with blessing from Martha Wells herself. The actors played the characters powerfully and memorably. The music and cinematography were beautifully crafted. It brought new people into the fandom.

Nevertheless, the disappointment is also valid, and worth discussing.

This is not the same as “I don’t like Kevin R. Free’s voice” or “The cover art in that edition isn’t my cup of tea.” It is part of engaging with media thoughtfully. What do the choices they made – regarding actors, scenes to include or cut, scenes to newly introduce – mean? Were they commercial choices to bring in existing fans of popular actors? Were they meant to make the show more accessible to viewers who don’t usually watch sci‑fi? Did unconscious social bias play a role in sidelining a Black woman protagonist? What does the change say about the target audience and the society producing the adaptation?

These questions aren’t negativity. They’re analysis. They’re care. They’re part of loving a story deeply enough to think about it.

Constructive discussion, including criticism, has always been part of healthy fandom communities. It’s one of the ways we think about the stories we love, and how we connect with each other. But when communities treat any discomfort as unwelcome, or insist on constant cheerfulness, it can slip into toxic positivity: a pressure to only express joy, and to hide anything that might be complicated or critical. That isn’t healthy for anyone.

At the same time, it’s completely valid that some people may not want to see criticism at all, especially if they already have a lot going on in their real lives and want fandom to remain a space of comfort and escape.

I think a good fandom community doesn’t choose one group over the other; it helps everyone curate their experience. Clear tagging, opt‑in threads, and designated spaces for venting or analysis let people enjoy what they want to enjoy, and avoid what they need to avoid. Joy and critique can coexist, as long as we make room for both.

Thank you for liking and commenting on my impromptu data post on how Murderbot is a more gen-fic centred fandom compared to other book-turned-into-tv/film fandoms!

Several people pointed out that the large portion of M/M in the PHM fanworks must be attributable to crossover fictions, in particular with Iron Lung.

@rajamitsu suggested that category proportion might get more similar to murderbot if we removed crossovers. So, I decided to try just that.

I am now comparing:

Murderbot (before the TV adaptation came out)

Murderbot (current, but without any crossovers)

Murderbot (all the data to date)

PHM (before the film came out)

PHM (current, but without any crossovers)

PHM (all the data to date)

And here is the raw data

The most amaze-amaze-amaze thing is that 98% of all the PHM fanworks came out after the film - which was only 4 months ago (premiered on 9 March 2026)!

Indeed, prior to the adaptation, 67% of all the works in the PHM fandom was "General" - meaning, no shipping centred which was comparable to the Murderbot fandom.

Focusing on shipping categories, the highest shipping category for Murderbot Diaries is "Other". This is not surprising considering that the protagonist Murderbot has no gender, and even though Murderbot expresses disinterest (as in actively NOT interested in sex or romance), people often use '/' tag for special flavours of platonic (e.g., QPR) when writing stories focusing on relationships between Murderbot and other characters.

In the Other category, the most popular ship is "ART/Murderbot" (488 works), followed by "Dr. Gurathin/Murderbot (433 works)".

In PHM, the highest shipping tag excluding crossover is F/M, followed by M/M. In the F/M tag, the most popular pairing is Grace/Stratt (754 works). But what really surprised me was the second most popular one: Ryland Grace/Reader (504 works)!

In the M/M category, the highest one was Grace/Rocky (586 works).

Needless to say (?), if I include crossovers, the most popular pairing in PHM is "Simon (Iron Lung)/Ryland Grace" (2793 works). (why...) This is much higher than Grace/Rocky (669 works).

If we ignore shipping, the most popular relationship tag (without excluding anything) is "ART & Murderbot" (1525 works) followed by "Dr. Mensah & Murderbot" (635 works) in the Murderbot Diaries. In PHM, it's "Grace & Rocky" (4865 works), followed by "Simon/Grace" (2999 works) and "Adrian/Rocky" (1649 works).

Conclusion:

Murderbot is still a very Gen focused fandom.

📚 Platform Decay by Martha Wells 🛰️

Everyone's favorite lethal SecUnit is back! In this eighth installment of the Murderbot Diaries, our anxious, snarky protagonist volunteers for a rescue mission on a torus-shaped space station—which means spending significant time with humans it doesn't know. (Nightmare fuel for a SecUnit with severe social anxiety, but peak entertainment for us.) Wells masterfully weaves together high-stakes corporate corruption, forced labor, and the question of who gets treated as disposable, all while Murderbot's internal monologue keeps us laughing through the chaos. If you love morally gray characters, cutting wit, and sci-fi that actually has something to say, this is essential reading. ⭐✨

🔖 Purchased from tellebook.com 💫

More book edits! Go read the Murderbot Diaries if you haven’t already, especially if you liked the TV show! They’ll make you laugh and break your heart.

I would like to request any fic recs you may have that deal with the fallout of murderbot freeing more barish estranza secunits.