Challenge 15: Let's Talk About...

[seraphina_snape]

Here's my question:

What's your habit regarding fandoms? Are you a one fandom person who hangs on to their favourite(s) forever, do you cycle through your favourites and add a new one every once in a while, do you love them passionately for a while and then forget them when you find something entirely new to obsess over *cough* focus on?

[my own answer]I'd

Comments

[neaptidea]

I'll promise to come back with my answers to your questions but I'll ask more from you first as I'm intrigued by the ending line "Very occasionally I'll find a new fandom to love and it gets added to the cycle."

What's is the oldest and the newest fandom in your list, and how did they pass your "scrutiny" to be considered one of the favourites?

[seraphina_snape]

The oldest... in terms of the first fandoms that I remember falling in love with are Harry Potter and Buffy - that was in the late 90s when I was a teenager. I spent hours online in Buffy forums and fanfiction.net and later Fictionalley and so on. The newest of my favourites is... probably Check Please (the gay hockey webcomic).

Hmm, I never really thought about what makes a fandom a favourite and what doesn't... I suppose if I feel the need to binge on fanfic for a show or movie, it's probably on the list. Yeah, I guess it's the fandoms where the show/movie/whatever isn't enough on its own. Where I watch an episode and immediately my mind comes up with ten ways the events on screen could have happened in a different way, or what might have happened if x hadn't done y, and so on. With Harry Potter I was fascinated with the wizarding world. I wanted to read stories about everyday wizarding stuff, the stuff that you don't get to see in the books or that are only vaguely mentioned but that sound so interesting. The same with Buffy - I

[neaptidea]

Now I'll finally get back to you :). Your question was kind of difficult one for me and I still don't know if this is the answer I want to give, but here goes

[seraphina_snape]

I totally understand that sometimes fans are the bad experience in a fandom. People can be shitty, especially when they feel safe to be mean since they're anonymous online. I'm really sorry that turned you off wanting to seek out people for other things you like.

There really is no one way to be in a fandom - all of the things you described fit; I do all of them myself. (I was devastated when - years ago - my hard drive with saved screencaps and other images died and I couldn't recover any of the images - I had so many old images that aren't available anymore saved. It stopped my making art for a long, long time.)

I've occasionally made art for fandoms that I'm not in (for exchanges or as gifts or because of challenges), but it's always a little weird. I'm always secretly worried I'll get it wrong since I don't know who anyone is. *g*

[sgafirenity]

For me, I have different categories of fandoms... if that makes sense. There are the fandoms that I enjoy because they are fun to watch, and then there are the... as you said obsessive fandoms that I typically will end up writing fanfiction about. My art tends to follow the obsessive fandoms too, sometimes they will include the fandoms that I just like but it's less likely

[seraphina_snape]

It does make sense. I don't write fic for all the fandoms I enjoy, so there are certainly different levels when it comes to fandom behaviour and involvement with fanfic/art.

I have no idea what Warrior Nun is, but it sounds very cool.

[sgafirenity]

Warrior Nun is on Netflix so if you have a Netflix account, I suggest checking it out.

[lab_brat]

This is an interesting question and its taken me some time to actually think about how I want to answer it. Because I think I am a combination of all of those? But even when I am actively participating my participation is at different levels

[seraphina_snape]

Yeah, I get not participating the same way in all of your fandoms - I don't write fic for all of my fandoms, and my fic writing fandoms and art making fandoms don't always intersect either.

Small fandoms are rough. It's even worse when what little fic there is is bad or about a pairing you dislike.

[mravenwood]

I think I have a few favorites that are always there, but I feel like I love too many different things, that I'm never thinking about some of my old favorites enough. It sort of gives me anxiety in an area that I come to feel happy, so I try to not worry and remember that even if I don't constantly blog about Twin Peaks, it's still part of me. I have a few shows I rewatch over and over, but there are others that I feel I love just as much, but spend more time in a fandom space, and less rewatching/revisiting

[seraphina_snape]

I get what you mean about not thinking about some of your old fandoms enough - sometimes I will randomly come across a fic for an old fandom I haven't thought about in ages and it'll make me re-read all of my old faves and then I'll start worrying about not having read any of the newer fics and... well.

What are your favourite tropes?

[mravenwood]

My favorite tropes are probably fake dating, enemies to friends to lovers (or friends to lovers), and characters meeting up after not seeing each other for years. With the enemies to lovers, I also like when its more people who never noticed each other/were in different cliques/worlds. I really like reading some really cute AUs and crossovers/fusions, but I don't like a fusion that feels just like the character names are changed and nothing else.

[seraphina_snape]

I meant to reply sooner, but then life happened. But FAKE DATING! I love fake dating. It my favourite trope ever! And I never really thought about it, but I kinda love those "10 years later" fics where suddenly people meet again and get a whole new perspective on each other.

I know what you mean about fusions - sometimes it seems that the writers didn't put in the necessary effort and just transplanted the fandom 1 character names into the setting of fandom 2. But crossovers are probably my second favourite thing to read - I just love seeing two (or more) fandoms collide. *g*

[caitieness]

Haha this depends on the fandom for me. I get super super into fandoms but they can burn out fast for me and then I'll hardly even remember anything about it. Those usually don't have a lot of fan content in my circles of the internet (like Sense8 which I was so obsessed with for a year) But then I have my standard fandoms that I'll always be into but sometimes I'm more into them than others - Animorphs (my first fandom! i will always love them and always seek out fanwork for it), Twilight (which I got into really late in 2011 and will go away completely for a while and then come back), Avatar: the Last Airbender (which has been a huge part of many different seasons of my life and every time I come back to it, my interest in it is slightly different), and Harry Potter. It's hard to imagine picking up a new fandom to fit into this rotating group, especially since I can only really have interest in one fandom at a time!

[seraphina_snape]

Interesting. So you have your favourites, but also shorter periods where you're into new/other fandoms that eventually fizzle out for various reasons?

I totally get only having enough focus for one fandom at a time - I could never be one of those people who just switch gears from fandom to fandom.