Gilbert Blythe lives on through Anne of Green Gables internet fandoms

Reaction to the deathofCanadianactor Jonathan Crombie, whosuffered a fatalbrainhemmorhageat 48last week, shows that theAnne of Green Gables star wasquite a teen heartthrob in his younger years.

Following the announcement Saturdayof Crombie's death,many on Twitter referred to Gilbert Blythe, the character that the actorfirst brought to life on CBC TV in 1985,as one of their "first crushes."

"Gilbert was many people's first love,"wrote Sarah Larson for The New Yorker on Monday in one of severalpieces about this very phenomenon. "Crombiegave Gilbert caring, intelligence, and dreaminess: qualities that enchant seventh-grade girls."

Plenty of women who were intheir adolescenceduringthe late 1980's have indeed been mourning the loss of the handsomeman who portrayedGilbert Blythe on screen butthey're far from alone.

It would appear as though, just like the wider Anne of Green Gables franchise, Crombiehas continued torackup new fans from all over the world since the final film aired on CBC TV in 2000.

For a Canadian actor who isn't Ryan Gosling, Crombie's onlinefandomis actually quite impressive.

Here are just a few of the ways that fans have been paid tribute toAnne Shirley's"perfect boyfriend" on Tumblr, on their ownblogs and through romanticfan fiction over the years:

Gilbert Blythe fan art

Finding artistic tributes to Crombie's best-known character is a lot easier than whittling down a selection of these pieces to share. Dozens of illustrations and digitally-enhanced stills from the film series can be found by searching for"Gilbert Blythe" on the creative community deviantart.com, while elsewhere on the web, thousands of Gilbert videos,image macrosand even clothing itemscan be found many of them themed around Crombie's character's relationship withAnne Shirley, played byMegan Follows.

Romantic fan-fiction

Fan fiction,sometimesabbreviated as fanfic, essentially refers tofan-written stories aboutcharacters froman existingfilm, TV or book series (Like 50 Shades of Grey.)

The fan ficcommunity is large and prolific, with nearly 2.2 million users registered to the largest network of writers, fanfiction.net,as of 2013.According to Adweek, this type of material makes upapproximately33 per cent of all book-related content online.

Seventy-one stories with the name "Gilbert Blythe" can currently be found on fanfiction.net, the majority of them tagged as either "romance," "general," or "humour."

Gilbert also appears as a character in many of the other 701 stories in the Anne of Green Gables-specific section of the site, and in works of fan fiction published elsewhere on the web.

Tumblrand Pinterest fandoms

While fan fiction may be created as part of one,fandomsare more of a community organized around a particular show,series or artist. Dedicated members of some large fandomsconvene at events, incorporatefandoms into their digital identities, andrefer to themselveswith a collective name (think "Trekkies," "Whovians," or even "Beliebers.")

On Tumblr and, to a lesser extent, Pinterest, these fandoms are played out through sharing GIFs, images, and quotes, often with comments.

While nowhere near the scale of a Dr. Who or Star Trek fandom, there is indeed evidence ofAnne of Green Gables fandoms on both Tumblr and Pinterest.

"Follow Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe as I unveil their inspiring love story and the lives of other kindred spirits from Avonlea," reads the bio on anneshirleygilbertblythe.tumblr.com.

This Tumblr, and several others like it, post predominantly images and animated GIFs of Crombie and Follows as Gilbert and Anne, which are then reblogged throughout the network.

Love letters

Like SarahLarson did inherNew Yorker article mentioned above, several bloggers and reporters have publiclyprofessed their love for Gilbert Blytheand/or Jonathan Crombiein recent years (and even more so in recent days.)

"Thank you for the way you brought to life the Gilbert I read of in Lucy Maud Montgomery's books. You embodied him like no one else could," wrote Jessica Turner on themomcreative.com Sunday. "Jonathan, you and your Gilbert, will always be a part of my childhood story. Honestly, you'll always be a part of my life story."

"I know you are unattainable. You are fictional. I get it, Gilbert. You and Anne are meant to be," wroteSara Mirowski on samuelfrench.com in 2012. "I think it's best for me to stop gushing sooner rather than later. But remember, you are the most handsome, sweetest, loving, caring, and special male being ever. And, in case you were wondering, I'm not a stalker your kids are safe."

The Gilbert Blytheboyfriendmeme

One of the most consistent pieces of material we've seen pop up in our travels around the digital world of Gilbert Blytheare image-based macros featuring Crombie'simage, overlayed with pieces ofuser-generated text or quotes from the film series.

Often, the text in these images alludes to the fact that Blythe is an ideal romantic partner, or is of a generally romantic nature like this valentine.

Here are a few of the most widely-shared we've seen: