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Skipping around because what is order, anyway?
Compare and/or contrast your very first fandom obsession and your very latest fandom obsession.
(Obligatory disclaimer: I talk about Harry Potter in this post. I in no way, shape or form support anything The Author has said regarding transgender and nonbinary individuals. Harry Potter was very important to me, and still is for the role the fandom played in my life. The Author is in the Azkaban of fandom, and I'm good with that.)
I guess that would be Harry Potter and Schitt's Creek? But I can't think of any similarities, apart from the fact that I landed on very active, enthusiastic communities with a lot of great fanfics. I can't say the same for other fandoms I've tried getting into.
I think Buffy and Harry Potter are more comparable in terms of the canon. Same genre, both coming of age, both have heroes who are the chosen ones but don't really want to be, both have a power trio of kids, plus four if you include Giles and Hagrid. Who are nothing alike, I realize, but they ARE adult friends of both sets of kids. And Xander and Ron share a bit of character DNA in terms of being the "least special" and most sarcastic, although I like Ron better than Xander. I also want a fic were Harry and Buffy get a drink in a pub and talk.
All that said, I do think one core commonality is that I like stories where the characters are very much a unit. Which isn't to say there can't be conflict, there should be conflict because it's boring if everything is perfect all of the time, but I like characters who like each other (generally speaking) and come through. I like teams. It makes the INFP/Hufflepuff/Jocelyn Schitt in me very happy.
What would make you leave a fandom, or prevent you from getting into it in the first place?
Lackluster enthusiasm, and/or toxic behavior. Maybe more so the former, and let me explain because I'm sure a lot of people balked. The truth is, it's the internet. There's toxic behavior everywhere because unfortunately, a lot of the internet is toxic. Now, if it's mostly toxic, that's different. I'll also leave toxic fannish spaces, or wish I had in retrospect. But if it's toxic AND no one seems to want to have fun, or just no one wants to have fun, forget it.
I think part of the problem is that spaces which are purely fannish are harder to find, which I've ranted about 87 times now so I'll leave it at that. tl;dr I miss specifically fannish websites and forums. And no, I don't blame Tumblr, I started noticing this on LJ comms years before Tumblr.
Oh, and also, too much focus on shipping. Ships are cute. That's not all that matters. I blame the Harry Potter fandom, honestly, if anything will kill ships for you, it was the ship wars. Good Lord, the ship wars.
Skipping around because what is order, anyway?
Compare and/or contrast your very first fandom obsession and your very latest fandom obsession.
(Obligatory disclaimer: I talk about Harry Potter in this post. I in no way, shape or form support anything The Author has said regarding transgender and nonbinary individuals. Harry Potter was very important to me, and still is for the role the fandom played in my life. The Author is in the Azkaban of fandom, and I'm good with that.)
I guess that would be Harry Potter and Schitt's Creek? But I can't think of any similarities, apart from the fact that I landed on very active, enthusiastic communities with a lot of great fanfics. I can't say the same for other fandoms I've tried getting into.
I think Buffy and Harry Potter are more comparable in terms of the canon. Same genre, both coming of age, both have heroes who are the chosen ones but don't really want to be, both have a power trio of kids, plus four if you include Giles and Hagrid. Who are nothing alike, I realize, but they ARE adult friends of both sets of kids. And Xander and Ron share a bit of character DNA in terms of being the "least special" and most sarcastic, although I like Ron better than Xander. I also want a fic were Harry and Buffy get a drink in a pub and talk.
All that said, I do think one core commonality is that I like stories where the characters are very much a unit. Which isn't to say there can't be conflict, there should be conflict because it's boring if everything is perfect all of the time, but I like characters who like each other (generally speaking) and come through. I like teams. It makes the INFP/Hufflepuff/Jocelyn Schitt in me very happy.
What would make you leave a fandom, or prevent you from getting into it in the first place?
Lackluster enthusiasm, and/or toxic behavior. Maybe more so the former, and let me explain because I'm sure a lot of people balked. The truth is, it's the internet. There's toxic behavior everywhere because unfortunately, a lot of the internet is toxic. Now, if it's mostly toxic, that's different. I'll also leave toxic fannish spaces, or wish I had in retrospect. But if it's toxic AND no one seems to want to have fun, or just no one wants to have fun, forget it.
I think part of the problem is that spaces which are purely fannish are harder to find, which I've ranted about 87 times now so I'll leave it at that. tl;dr I miss specifically fannish websites and forums. And no, I don't blame Tumblr, I started noticing this on LJ comms years before Tumblr.
Oh, and also, too much focus on shipping. Ships are cute. That's not all that matters. I blame the Harry Potter fandom, honestly, if anything will kill ships for you, it was the ship wars. Good Lord, the ship wars.
