I feel very old right now.
WARNING: This post is all rambly and mostly filled with ~~reminiscing~~ and fail attempts at some actual decent blogging since I've never actually made an ~~in depth~~ and ~~contemplative~~ post before, so don't say I didn't warn you.
So AM^2 was my first convention, anime or otherwise, and it was pretty fun if not really tiring. Wasn't very crowded in the morning but it filled up as the day went on. My group of friends and I mostly kept to the Exhibit Hall and spent a few hours browsing around there. There were about as many exhibits as I was expecting, not enough to really fill the room but enough to have a few decent buying options. I talked to a few dealers and the general consensus was that it would have been better if there simply had been more people, but I wasn't expecting many people because this was a first time con and to be honest, not much advertising was done for it. Only thing was, we didn't stay long enough to see the apparently cool bands that went up for the Summer Festival, which I kind of regret now. Oh well, there's always next year.
Overall, it was a cool experience, and the whole free aspect made it even better. If they have it next year, I'll be sure to go back. For me, free means no harm, no foul.
But then I got to thinking this week. I can't really say that the con was my first venture into fandom-related stuff, since that Tokyopop sale had taken place two months before, but even before then I'd been in fandom for about... eight years?
Yeah, that's right. Eight years. I've been in fandom since I was eight years old.
I'd like to think I've matured and I'm pretty much past all the typical "newbie mistakes" that people make (fishing for compliments, getting involved in wank, general immaturity, ect.), even though I can't be sure since I haven't been that much involved in fandom lately. That's just it, though. I haven't been into fandom that much lately and I'm not sure why. It's lost it's... luster for me I guess? I'm not exactly sure if it was one thing that just turned me off instantly, since a lot of stuff has happened in the past eight years.
Take Avatar: The Last Airbender, for instance. That was the first fandom I actively participated in. Fanfic, icons, posting on forums, ect. I have so many memories from that fandom it's hard to just choose one to tell on this post. Teen Titans was officially my first fandom, since I very much remember reading Robin/Starfire fanfic at eight, but Avatar was my "real" entry to the Internet and The Horrible Things That Come With It. I had fights, I made friends, I grew up, I acted like the child I was.... all on an old forum called Distant Horizons. I doubt anyone remembers me from there these days. I'm sure it's a whole new crowd over there now, but I wonder what would happen if I ever went back sometimes.
There were other times, too, like running my own Mai/Zuko forum called Flaming Knives at around eleven or twelve. How that one ever managed to make it off the ground I will never, ever know. It was fun while it lasted, though. At least when I see people talking about the old ATLA fandom, I can at least feel a sense of pride because for a while I was there, y'know?
Actually the AM^2 message board was actually the first forum I've participated in in a very, very long time. Since DH, actually. I haven't really been able to find any other forums for shows I like that I've been interested in posting on. Most of the stuff I'm into these days, save for maybe Hetalia and Disney, is pretty obscure, though, so maybe I'm not part of any big enough fandoms to begin with. Only thing about the really big fandoms like the APH one is that they kind of... intimidate me. Especially since fandoms like that have such a huge potential for some fantastic wanks. Every fandom has its crazies, but I tend to stay away from interacting with fandoms that I know have a particularly high concentration of the nuttiness.
Sucks all the fun out of life, though. Sometimes I feel like just taking a dive and writing some terrible fanfic for one of my needs-more-love fandoms like Vassalord or even that new Blade series (which I love already even though there's only one episode out how is that even possible??), but I actually haven't written fic in a while. I still need to finish my big fandom project, Life After Lies, and let me tell you when the sooner that mess of a story is over, the better. I was proud of it when I first wrote it, but now I look back and it's pretty unimpressive now that it's been around for a while. I hope I've at least gotten better in writing since then, but I need some major improvements if I ever want to write a respectable novel, for serious.
I dunno. Maybe I'll get into something really big one of these days, something that'll inspire me enough to really be active with interacting with other fans and everything. Until then, I guess I'm okay with my lurker status. I lurk waaaaaay more than I actually participate. Hopefully that'll change one day.
TL;DR Gigi is an Internet Introvert, which shouldn't even be possible. Seriously.
So AM^2 was my first convention, anime or otherwise, and it was pretty fun if not really tiring. Wasn't very crowded in the morning but it filled up as the day went on. My group of friends and I mostly kept to the Exhibit Hall and spent a few hours browsing around there. There were about as many exhibits as I was expecting, not enough to really fill the room but enough to have a few decent buying options. I talked to a few dealers and the general consensus was that it would have been better if there simply had been more people, but I wasn't expecting many people because this was a first time con and to be honest, not much advertising was done for it. Only thing was, we didn't stay long enough to see the apparently cool bands that went up for the Summer Festival, which I kind of regret now. Oh well, there's always next year.
Overall, it was a cool experience, and the whole free aspect made it even better. If they have it next year, I'll be sure to go back. For me, free means no harm, no foul.
But then I got to thinking this week. I can't really say that the con was my first venture into fandom-related stuff, since that Tokyopop sale had taken place two months before, but even before then I'd been in fandom for about... eight years?
Yeah, that's right. Eight years. I've been in fandom since I was eight years old.
I'd like to think I've matured and I'm pretty much past all the typical "newbie mistakes" that people make (fishing for compliments, getting involved in wank, general immaturity, ect.), even though I can't be sure since I haven't been that much involved in fandom lately. That's just it, though. I haven't been into fandom that much lately and I'm not sure why. It's lost it's... luster for me I guess? I'm not exactly sure if it was one thing that just turned me off instantly, since a lot of stuff has happened in the past eight years.
Take Avatar: The Last Airbender, for instance. That was the first fandom I actively participated in. Fanfic, icons, posting on forums, ect. I have so many memories from that fandom it's hard to just choose one to tell on this post. Teen Titans was officially my first fandom, since I very much remember reading Robin/Starfire fanfic at eight, but Avatar was my "real" entry to the Internet and The Horrible Things That Come With It. I had fights, I made friends, I grew up, I acted like the child I was.... all on an old forum called Distant Horizons. I doubt anyone remembers me from there these days. I'm sure it's a whole new crowd over there now, but I wonder what would happen if I ever went back sometimes.
There were other times, too, like running my own Mai/Zuko forum called Flaming Knives at around eleven or twelve. How that one ever managed to make it off the ground I will never, ever know. It was fun while it lasted, though. At least when I see people talking about the old ATLA fandom, I can at least feel a sense of pride because for a while I was there, y'know?
Actually the AM^2 message board was actually the first forum I've participated in in a very, very long time. Since DH, actually. I haven't really been able to find any other forums for shows I like that I've been interested in posting on. Most of the stuff I'm into these days, save for maybe Hetalia and Disney, is pretty obscure, though, so maybe I'm not part of any big enough fandoms to begin with. Only thing about the really big fandoms like the APH one is that they kind of... intimidate me. Especially since fandoms like that have such a huge potential for some fantastic wanks. Every fandom has its crazies, but I tend to stay away from interacting with fandoms that I know have a particularly high concentration of the nuttiness.
Sucks all the fun out of life, though. Sometimes I feel like just taking a dive and writing some terrible fanfic for one of my needs-more-love fandoms like Vassalord or even that new Blade series (which I love already even though there's only one episode out how is that even possible??), but I actually haven't written fic in a while. I still need to finish my big fandom project, Life After Lies, and let me tell you when the sooner that mess of a story is over, the better. I was proud of it when I first wrote it, but now I look back and it's pretty unimpressive now that it's been around for a while. I hope I've at least gotten better in writing since then, but I need some major improvements if I ever want to write a respectable novel, for serious.
I dunno. Maybe I'll get into something really big one of these days, something that'll inspire me enough to really be active with interacting with other fans and everything. Until then, I guess I'm okay with my lurker status. I lurk waaaaaay more than I actually participate. Hopefully that'll change one day.
TL;DR Gigi is an Internet Introvert, which shouldn't even be possible. Seriously.