Meaning takes place through discourse… first between subject and the self, then between the self and the self’s own ideas/memory etc, and then goes further via sharing with others.

It is in the latter part of the process where I place your ideas on the emergence of the fandom, as an ideology. The fandom trades with itself ideas as material:

“What does Haruhi mean for us?”
“How do we feel when outsiders tell anyone who would listen that Haruhi is overrated?”

etc.

Then there is the interesting phenomenon of jockeying within a perceived internal hierarchy within fandoms! Check out fandom-specific forums (i.e. Macross World Forums) and you’ll see very overt status symbols taking note of records such as number of posts made/level of participation. There are contests based on trivia and minutiae regarding the respective subjects. Participation in/exhibition of such behaviors seem to answer the question “who’s the bigger/better fan?”