Fandom Meme - Year in Review
Fandom meme via 
umadoshi
Your main fandom this year?
One of the reasons it's been kind of a depressing year is that I haven't had any new fandoms to squee over, but honestly I think it's going to end up being Star Wars (the sequels time period) at the end 2019 and going into 2020. It's not brilliant, but it's moving to me.
Any new secondary-fandom feelings?
I did have some fun revisiting of Mirage of Blaze, mainly through the plays on DVD and rereading some of the earlier volumes-which are surprisingly good quality.
Unexpected ancillary fannishness?
The Star Wars love is a bit unexpected. I don't know if it's quite in a "fandom" category, but attached to other people's fannish interests, I really loved Joker. I'm in the "it was amazing" camp. Oh, right at the end of the year, we started watching The Witcher, which initially left me cold, but we kept up with because I, at least, am starved for anything not set in our current world (or a culture just like it). And it really improved and grew on me. I have my niggles with it but do feel a background fannish potential. Also Dark Phoenix was not bad! It was not bad; it's right in the middle of my X-Men film rankings, and it did stir some old fannish feelings.
Umbrella fandom you most enjoyed being part of/adjacent to?
So-this is how out of touch I am-"umbrella" means a general category? I still want to love manga and Japanese light novels, just haven't encountered a new one to love this year.
Your favorite book read this year?
Wow. Well, at the start of the year, I reread Great Expectations because I was teaching it in Victorian lit, and, boy, that holds up as one of the best books ever written. My dad first read it to me when I was about 6 or 7. I read it in high school, college, late 20s, 40ish, and this past year at 43, and every time it's a different novel, yet the same beloved novel, which is a mark of greatness. (As to books new to me, it's been a dry year. Nothing snaps to mind as a favorite. But I've gotten some good recs going into 2020.)
Your favorite show that you didn't develop fannish feelings for?
Russian Doll. It's very, very good, just not the sort of thing I would fic (in reality or mentally). Secondary show Good Omens, also very good-and it has real fandom potential for me. I just haven't quite cleared the time to dive into it as a fandom. Want to read
astrogirl's fic though.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
My favorite online fan community is Asphodel's Haven's Mirage discussion forum, though it's been pretty dead since the final play came out. I miss discussion forums as a fandom platform.
What impending new media are you looking forward to in 2020?
I am very stoked for Picard-really, insanely stoked, given that I was never a huge fan of ST: TNG, though I watched and enjoyed it. But I feel like we need this show; we need a dose of positive, hopeful, traditional Star Trek utopian desire to get out there and do the right thing. Also looking forward to starting The Mandalorian, which I haven't yet due to not being able to pay for the access. (We have now though.) Doctor Who should be fun.
What not-new media do you (really, seriously, and everyone believes you) intend to check out in 2020?
I'm going to catch up on some of those super-acclaimed science fiction novels of the past several years. I promise I will. I promise I will read N. K. Jemison.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Probably Star Trek: Discovery, and I say that not having been very fandom involved. It wasn't a catastrophic disappointment, but overall I felt the season was well acted but poorly written. The series, for me, is typified by jumping from climax to climax with little-to-no buildup, and that makes the passionate speeches, farewells, etc. feel contrived. I can see the excellent actors working it very hard. (I loved Pike though, especially the episode that explored his religious background.)
Number of times you watched your favorite fanvids?
Probably on the order of about 10. Not a lot of time this year, but I did have some moments of going back over some old, favorite X-Men vids in particular.
Media property with the most confusing-to-you total lack of a fandom?
Mirage of Blaze. Now, this lack is not really confusing because the series is long, complicated, a slow burn, full of complex Japanese culture and history, an older work (1990s, anime 2004), and not fully translated into English. So, yeah, I'm not confused about why its English-speaking fandom is dead. It's just really, really sad that so many people are missing one of the greatest works ever written. I'm serious. Yes, it has a lot of dross. Yes, a lot of its 40 volumes is boring and there are annoying high school hijinks, and a lot of the prose isn't great. BUT the overall trajectory of the story continues to blow my mind. It is one of the most profound explorations of the human condition I have ever seen in print. Go check it out now. Links are here.
Things that theoretically/ideally will happen in 2020?
Trump will lose. Oh, was this referring to fandom? I will develop a great love for some of that science fiction I will be catching up on. I will also get back into Star Wars novels and have some nice escapism with them. The Gangsta manga will continue to be written. Picard will be awesome! My sole remaining real-life fandom friend will clear a bit of time in her schedule for fandom viewing (though I think this is unlikely). And my other potential new fandom friend and I will get finally get together to gush about our shared love of T. E. Lawrence. He's a fandom, right? He sure was the in 1920s.
umadoshi
Your main fandom this year?
One of the reasons it's been kind of a depressing year is that I haven't had any new fandoms to squee over, but honestly I think it's going to end up being Star Wars (the sequels time period) at the end 2019 and going into 2020. It's not brilliant, but it's moving to me.
Any new secondary-fandom feelings?
I did have some fun revisiting of Mirage of Blaze, mainly through the plays on DVD and rereading some of the earlier volumes-which are surprisingly good quality.
Unexpected ancillary fannishness?
The Star Wars love is a bit unexpected. I don't know if it's quite in a "fandom" category, but attached to other people's fannish interests, I really loved Joker. I'm in the "it was amazing" camp. Oh, right at the end of the year, we started watching The Witcher, which initially left me cold, but we kept up with because I, at least, am starved for anything not set in our current world (or a culture just like it). And it really improved and grew on me. I have my niggles with it but do feel a background fannish potential. Also Dark Phoenix was not bad! It was not bad; it's right in the middle of my X-Men film rankings, and it did stir some old fannish feelings.
Umbrella fandom you most enjoyed being part of/adjacent to?
So-this is how out of touch I am-"umbrella" means a general category? I still want to love manga and Japanese light novels, just haven't encountered a new one to love this year.
Your favorite book read this year?
Wow. Well, at the start of the year, I reread Great Expectations because I was teaching it in Victorian lit, and, boy, that holds up as one of the best books ever written. My dad first read it to me when I was about 6 or 7. I read it in high school, college, late 20s, 40ish, and this past year at 43, and every time it's a different novel, yet the same beloved novel, which is a mark of greatness. (As to books new to me, it's been a dry year. Nothing snaps to mind as a favorite. But I've gotten some good recs going into 2020.)
Your favorite show that you didn't develop fannish feelings for?
Russian Doll. It's very, very good, just not the sort of thing I would fic (in reality or mentally). Secondary show Good Omens, also very good-and it has real fandom potential for me. I just haven't quite cleared the time to dive into it as a fandom. Want to read
astrogirl's fic though.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
My favorite online fan community is Asphodel's Haven's Mirage discussion forum, though it's been pretty dead since the final play came out. I miss discussion forums as a fandom platform.
What impending new media are you looking forward to in 2020?
I am very stoked for Picard-really, insanely stoked, given that I was never a huge fan of ST: TNG, though I watched and enjoyed it. But I feel like we need this show; we need a dose of positive, hopeful, traditional Star Trek utopian desire to get out there and do the right thing. Also looking forward to starting The Mandalorian, which I haven't yet due to not being able to pay for the access. (We have now though.) Doctor Who should be fun.
What not-new media do you (really, seriously, and everyone believes you) intend to check out in 2020?
I'm going to catch up on some of those super-acclaimed science fiction novels of the past several years. I promise I will. I promise I will read N. K. Jemison.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Probably Star Trek: Discovery, and I say that not having been very fandom involved. It wasn't a catastrophic disappointment, but overall I felt the season was well acted but poorly written. The series, for me, is typified by jumping from climax to climax with little-to-no buildup, and that makes the passionate speeches, farewells, etc. feel contrived. I can see the excellent actors working it very hard. (I loved Pike though, especially the episode that explored his religious background.)
Number of times you watched your favorite fanvids?
Probably on the order of about 10. Not a lot of time this year, but I did have some moments of going back over some old, favorite X-Men vids in particular.
Media property with the most confusing-to-you total lack of a fandom?
Mirage of Blaze. Now, this lack is not really confusing because the series is long, complicated, a slow burn, full of complex Japanese culture and history, an older work (1990s, anime 2004), and not fully translated into English. So, yeah, I'm not confused about why its English-speaking fandom is dead. It's just really, really sad that so many people are missing one of the greatest works ever written. I'm serious. Yes, it has a lot of dross. Yes, a lot of its 40 volumes is boring and there are annoying high school hijinks, and a lot of the prose isn't great. BUT the overall trajectory of the story continues to blow my mind. It is one of the most profound explorations of the human condition I have ever seen in print. Go check it out now. Links are here.
Things that theoretically/ideally will happen in 2020?
Trump will lose. Oh, was this referring to fandom? I will develop a great love for some of that science fiction I will be catching up on. I will also get back into Star Wars novels and have some nice escapism with them. The Gangsta manga will continue to be written. Picard will be awesome! My sole remaining real-life fandom friend will clear a bit of time in her schedule for fandom viewing (though I think this is unlikely). And my other potential new fandom friend and I will get finally get together to gush about our shared love of T. E. Lawrence. He's a fandom, right? He sure was the in 1920s.