A little bit about fannish history - or rather, a lot.
>>> It all started with
Star Wars, I think. I wasn't involved in the fandom in an "official" manner, you know. We were poor, for many years we didn't have a computer, internet was a mystery I didn't have access to, merch was out of the question (I didn't even know what it was) and we lived in the middle of nowhere anyway. There was no one to connect with.
But my father loved Star Wars with all his enthusiasm and we watched the movies together many times. Strangely the original series I liked but they didn't made as much of an impression as the Prequels did. Oh boi, how hard and fast I fell in love with those! (I know I'm a rare type of fan...) Stranger thing even, my father loved them just as much and he grew up on the sacred original three! I never grew out of this love and watched the movies many times but with the arrival of Harry Potter, things changed.
Harry Potter (as for many of us, I suppose) is my fandom home. I can always go back to it, and it welcomes me with open arms. I love everything about it, even the things (Umbridge…) that I hate. I have approximately a million fic ideas and started projects and read just as many fics and I'll never stop loving it, working in it. My as of that time closest friend introduced me to the world of fandoms on the internet and it blew me away. (Forever thankful for her!!!!)
Addiction, from the very first moment. I immediately consumed every kind of Drarry content, as a budding slasher, and wrote a fic impulsively which grew out to be 41k long but is still unfinished (right now, I plan to finish it, whenever my muse hits me). With growing older, taste even more refined I got into the, khm, slightly toxic pairing of Tom/Harry and Voldemort/Harry. Mortal enemies to friends to lovers became My Thing™ and Voldemort is kinda my favorite character ever, so. This obsession will never fade.
Along the way I stumbled upon
Teen Wolf, and I cannot be more thankful for it - this fandom gave me the bravery to use my language skills and start to write fics in English, create fannish profiles on LJ, AO3, Tumblr, DW... Posted quite a few fics on AO3 and they're still getting good comments and many kudos regardless of some of them just sitting there, patiently waiting for the anxious author to get back around finishing things she started ^^''''''''' I'm an obsessive kind of fan, with an impatient thirst to devour everything about the topic that interests me so I consumed many fics in a short span of time - mostly Stiles/Peter ones, because that's my sacred OTP.
I arrived late to the party (as is usual with me, I have literal years to catch up on) but enjoyed it anyways - Season 6 helped with that but cooled it down too. I feel like I have to rewatch the series to get on track again. Tho I have the inspiration, my canon facts are lacking (and I could watch that disaster show anytime for my darling Stiles).
A show that I still haven't finished - because of obsesssions out of my control taking up my brainspace - is Gotham. But. It's MAGNIFICIENT. I totally fell in love with Robin Lord Taylor's acting and the dynamic of Jim Gordon and Harvey Bullock, his partner at GCPD. That show should get more recognition, it's insanely good! I remember reading all the fics I could get my paws on! (Not that many; all the more reason to enjoy and treasure them!) It was sort of a gateway for me into the hero business. Sure, before Gotham I watched Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and thought that was the best interpretation we'll ever get. Oh boi was I wrong. DC's strongest point has always been it's villains (in that department MARVEL is quite weak and simple) and this show, guys. I have a weak spot for villains and this show is all about them! It's really worth watching, forget about Suicide Squad and other horrible attempts to revive DC, Gotham did it single handedly.
Now, now, time to reminisce about Supernatural. I'm sure I don't have to go into details with this one. Except - I want a bunker like the boys have. And a '67 Chevy Impala, black with cream leather interior. My favorite episode is Bobby's Day™ and I haven't watched the last two seasons yet. I'm procrastinating. I love monster of the week types of eps the most tho and Charlie is Best Girl and it's sad that it's gonna be over but at the same time I'm kinda glad. Supernatural will never be over, after all. The fanbase is too strong and too invested for that. And Misha, too XD
AN HONORABLE MENTION - THE ABSOLUTE FAVORITE HENCE I'M PUSHING BACK THE DAY I STEP INTO THE (TOO LITTLE) FANDOM SHRINE
Bartimaeus Trilogy. I read it before I read Harry Potter and love it even more. Differently, deeper. It's something that shaped my impressionable little teen mind that was unusually interested in politics and social problems and other serious topics. Plus, Bartimaeus, as a bloodthirsty, narcissitic and unpleasant (towards humans and absolutely unbearable towards his own kind - entities from The Other World) character who has the most sarcastic humor ever is someone out of this world. (Literally just as much as figuratively.)
I found his monologues, his existence, his views on humanity and life beyond wise and unique and status quo-shattering. (I'm using he/him/his pronouns but actually it should be they/them/theirs. We're talking about a demon who can take up any shape or form but has none at it's home - The Other World.)
The thing with these children books is, that they are not really books for children, I think. Sure, they are fantasy novels and kids can understand them aplenty, but there're so many deeper messages in them.
I read some comments from readers and got quite baffled that many people don't like the series because the main characters - three in total - are not likable. They're jerks, bad jerks with foul tempers and many shortcomings and bad deeds under their name, to put it simply. Strictly speaking, readers described them as villains, who still get the main narratives. This might be true from a black and white viewpoint, to the simpler audience (I'm sorry).
But fact, these faults, unpleasent and selfish personalities and dark pasts make these characters so painfully real and loveable! These novels are true masterpieces, dealing with timeless social issues, untraditional views on good and evil, and the mystery and power of love beyond boundaries. Jonathan Stroud is a genius.
Please check the series, if you're even remotely interested after my drivel!
To get a little back into the known, there's MARVEL and in it the MCU. Of course there is. Who doesn't love MCU or fallen at least a little bit into it's massive orbit? Not many words needed.
Actually, it was my Mom who saw Iron Man before me and got me addicted to it (and to RDJ, haha). Then the first Avengers movie made the world fall in love with a villain (finally, thank you, Tom Hiddleston, you wrote history, no pressure).
The massive success, all the movies that came after and will come in the future, I love. To different degrees and with different intensity, but I do. Guardians Of the Galaxy is still so dear to my heart, I cry and laugh every time I watch it. Both parts. Can't wait for the third, can't wait - still - for the stories they have to tell. And while I'm a bit angry, a lot sad for how they treated Tony (the official scapegoat of the universe) I can't not love MCU, with all it's faults and weaknesses too. Endgame really cooled me down, so I'm happily throwing myself into other stuff to cure my PTSD. There're always fanfics for Tony to live on forever.
So we're nearing present time!
The time I should talk about Boku No Hero Academia which groundbreakingly shattered my only one OTP per fandom tradition. I equally love the fiery duo of Midoriya/Bakugou and the molten lava love of Midoriya/Shouto. My mood is the deciding factor to what content I'd rather consume/create at a given moment.
It's such a perfect creation! I love even the side characters a lot, the plot, the manga, the anime, the movies, the merch, tha fan-theories, everything! The complexity and the simplicity at the same time.
Totally trumped the way MCU (and the western world in general) deals with heroes. I could go into excruciating detail, with rigorously outlined bulletpoints, charts, stats, laws, moral differences and real life comparisons. I won't, not now, not here. Just know, that japanese people are ahead of us in so many things, it's mindblowing.
And now. The moment has come. It feels like I don't do anything else with my time but gush about this, but it's well deserved.
Welcome to danmei hell.
Mo Dao Zu Shi
Guardian
SCI
a.k.a my Saint Three
Pros: canon BL love. Superior writing style. Long and complex stories. Loveable, realistic, colorful characters (to die for) and their dynamics. Endless pining and loyalty and love. Intruiging mysteries. Superior humor (Guardian, I'm looking at you, mainly). Many adaptations to gush over, made with love and care (especially in the case of MDZS - The Untamed officially ruined me and now I do believe in God - Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo are too fine creations to exist, and anyway XZ is an angel in -obvious- disguise. They kept me sane for most of 2019). I'd stress this againg, LONG stories - time to get to know everyone and beautifully work out the story arcs.
Mo Dao Zu Shi consumed me last year and I'm not willing to let it go, like ever. I remember when reading the novel there were parts I sobbed so fervently I couldn't read on. Had to stop and cry my heart out, just for the next sentence to kill me all over again.
It's that good. And exciting, adventurous, humorous at times and painful. So, so painful. But there's a happy ending! (One suffers more than enough through it, I'm glad Mo Xiang Tong Xiu had the common sense and good heart to end the story in the best, most beautiful way imaginable... Maybe except for the AU fics where everyone good lives on XDXDXD.)
Guardian I read twice (already have withdrawal symptoms), it's so good and it's not a tragedy that tears out my heart with every paragraph. No, quite the opposite. While it has it's beautiful, sombre and sad moments, all in all it's a delightful comedy with crazy characters, and family dynamics in a supernatural police department. It's perfect, and while MDZS makes you cry at every turn, Guardian makes you laugh out loud!
AND THERE'S STILL PINING, EVEN MORE THEN IN MDZS. HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE. Tho the drama ends on a tragic note, it's storyline is quite far removed from the original thanks to censorship (and the staff probably being high on extreme hallucinogens, because frankly? it's a crazy clusterfuck of a ride but still loveable.)
SCI, I'm extremely in the beginner stage with. I'm successfully delaying the drama, so I still have a few episodes to watch. I'm in love with it tho. So so much. In the novel I haven't got far - the longest translation I found is not the best quality and frankly makes it very hard to enjoy the otherwise amazing novel. Ah, but nevermind, I could watch Bai Yutang and Zhan Yao bicker all the time in the drama, low budget and funny CGI nothwithstanding (the previous ones prepared me well for that XD)
As for favorite comms, I haven't been active on DW in 2019. Frankly, I don't even remember how the year just quietly slipped away from me. I was still in a rut, in the middle of catching up on this very challenge, and now we're in 2020 and my mind is like, ok, how did we get here again?
I still have to mention
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
getyourwordsout - THE community for (struggling) writers. Immensely helpful and all in all a friendly and supportive space.
Just recently I found
one_sentence_only - it has tables full of writing prompts and is a no-stress space to get your creativity going.
No stress is kinda my keyword for the year.
Also, here's my cat right now, to lighten up your mood.
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full
sick
exhausted
lazy