100 Fandom Related Things: 001 - Fandom.

[etacanis]

So, the downside to giving myself such a broad topic is I didn't know where to start. I have so much I can do with this topic - fic recs, comm recs, fanmixes,  anything - that when it came down to it, I didn't know where to start.

I thought about it for a while, read some posts on my flist, refreshed tumblr and then, then it occurred to me. My

Comments

[goddess_of_ice]

Fandom is so much better than real life.

I think you've touched on one of my favourite aspects of fandom, but I also love fandom because it let's me feel like I'm part of something bigger. Like, Harry Potter is an awesome series and I love it, but it's the fandom that I can't imagine living without. In the last movie I didn't cry because the series was over, I cried because it was the last time (outside of cons) that I would have an excuse to go spend time irl with the fandom. There's something magical about having an automatic connection with someone, and that's what I find in fandoms.

[etacanis]

To be completely honest, I don't care for the HP books that much nor have I ever liked the films. I liked the books, yes, obviously, but for all the years I've been in the fandom, it's been the people that kept me there. Because we bonded over something that had nothing to do with real life, and that was so different. IRL, you're judged on lots of things before you. You're judged on your hair, your face, your clothes, everything. Fandom? You can only be judged on you. That's rare and wonderful.

[pretty_panther]

Pretty much the same things that you like. I like that you can connect with people from all places and backgrounds through a common interest. Being the same age as someone and in the same places at them at a specific time doesn't mean you can just magically get on~ People around me 'irl~' don't share my interests so we don't have as many things to talk about. With my friends who I talk to through the internet I do. Also, with my anxieties, it is easier to communicate with people. I'm usually ok actually talking to people face, but it is the environment that sets me off. I don't like being outside and in social places around strangers, even with people I know. Online, I'm safely tucked away in my room feeling secure. I love that about fandom.Anxiety is a constant feeling of worry and fear, whether it is my GAD or SA and fandom strips so much of that away. It is wonderful. And, I guess in society these days so much is judged on wha you look like where in fandom that side of it isn't as strong because people can't see you all the time.

[scatteredintime]

This is going to be really cheesy, I'll bet.

Fandom is a bit like home for me? It's where I can go to to relax, to indulge and to be with my friends. I don't have a lot of IRL friends and the ones I do have are dear to me, yes, but we're not particularly close. I don't feel about them the way I feel about the friends I've made in fandom.

I've met both of my best friends through fandom, though at a point in my life when I wasn't as involved or even as aware of fandom as I am now. And it's a bit amazing, to be honest, because I think if I had met endlessfighter IRL first, we probably wouldn't have got along because of shallow reasons. XD And last time we met, one of her IRL friends mentioned how curious it is to see our friendship because you wouldn't think we are friends if you look at us. We're from different backgrounds, we look way different, and we have really really different interests these days. But we're still friends and fandom gave us that

[etacanis]

I was thinking that as I wrote these - some of my best friends online? Probably wouldn't have had anything to do with them IRL. For completely superficial reasons. I wouldn't have been like SO YOU LIKE HARRY POTTER? ME TOO OMG. I would have been like "eh they don't look nice". I like that online friendship gives you a chance to get past the really dumb shit.

[scatteredintime]

Ahahahah, I knowww. That's the problem IRL. You look at people first and don't actually see who they are as a person. I don't look even half as awesome as I am and people do go by looks after all. For instance I was in the same year as this other person in school and we knew of each other and saw each other and we both heavily disliked each other based on what we saw. And then in our last year it just so happened that we shared a house during the grad trip where we really got to know each other's personalities and she's now one of my closest IRL friends (although still a distant one because well, IRL friends are just... yeah). That's how it goes. And my bff Jule and I probably would've sooner got into a fistfight than become friends. (LOL, consensus is that we would've beat each other up and then become friends on the grounds of being stubborn bitches. Possibly. It's still a mystery that we actually haven't fought with each other that way yet

[hbics]

I'm lucky to have a really great group of friends, but you know, I live 7 hours away from them at the moment. One of them basically brought me into fandom so we both spazz about SuperWhoLockOmens a lot. Right now, the only way I really talk to her is through fandom, and I'm okay with that.

I applaud your eloquence. I've tried to say this and it comes out as "ajsfhlashefkj fandom is awesome"
Also #a giant support group of cuddles should be a tag.

[etacanis]

Yeah, I...I have some really great friends, online friends that have become irl friends, ones I don't mark as online friends, but they're all in different countries. Even my friends from here, the ones I went to school with, they're all back in the UK now.

ansgosisg that's basically what i wanted to write but i was like NO THAT'D BE A SHITTY POST. So this happened.

[vivaciousmuse]

I agree with just about everything in this post. Well said!

I love the people in fandom. They're all so much cooler than the ones I have the potential to meet IRL.

[etacanis]

Thank you! ♥