Fandom Meme

[rusty_halo]

http://rusty-halo.com/wordpress/?p=2776

goldy_dollar wrote a nifty little fandom meme. It’s one of those how-well-do-you-know-me things, but I’m just doing it as a normal meme; feel free to gack.

The Basics

1). My past and present fandoms?

Buffy, Angel, Highlander, Veronica Mars, Queer as Folk, Harry Potter, Due South, Sharpe, Star Wars, Pirates of the Caribbean, A Song of Ice and Fire, Lymond Chronicles, and lots of rock bands (PIG, Chemlab, and Alice in Chains recently).

Although it's debatable how many of these are "fandoms" with the social aspect and how much are just "stuff I really like(d) and obsessed about on my own."

2). What fandom did I have a falling out with and no longer speak to?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm not sure what the breaking point was--probably the combination of the whole second half of season six: the "Dead Things" alley beating, the nauseating Riley-worship in "As You Were," the abomination that was "Seeing Red," and then everything I liked about Spike (at its core, the triumph of free will over fate) being annihilated when he got a soul.

And then let's not even start on season seven.

3). What fandom did I have a hot summer fling with?

Well, jaydk, drujan, and I did go see the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie something like eight times in the theater when it first came out. The obsession definitely didn't last, though.

4). What fandom did I briefly contemplate breaking up with before taking it back, more devoted than ever before?

You know, once I've broken with a fandom, I don't think I've ever gone back to it. It takes a lot to drive me away and it's pretty much always final.

5). What other fandoms do I dabble in?

I think I put everything under question #1, though it's a stretch to call some of those "fandoms."

6). Past and present OTPs?

I'm not really a shipper, and definitely not an OTPer. But pairings I've really enjoyed have been Doctor/Master, Doctor/Rose, Remus/Sirius, Brian/Michael, Wesley/Lilah, and Logan/Veronica.

7). Other pairings I’ve dabbled in?

I'll get into pairings when they're written well in fanfic. Spike/Angel and Spike/Xander comes to mind. People like witling and eliade and kita0610 made me love pairings in fanfic that I'd never have considered otherwise.

8). What about threesomes?

Hmmm, no. My natural inclination is not to ship at all; threesomes push the romance-focus way too far for my taste.

Easy Questions

9). Who are some of my favourite male characters?

Francis Crawford of Lymond, Jaime Lannister, Methos, Spike (soulless version only), Brian Kinney, Logan Echolls, Sirius Black, Benton Fraser, Luke Skywalker, James Norrington, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce.

10). Female characters?

Rose Tyler, Sarah Connor, Lilah Morgan, Veronica Mars (season one version only), Inspector Thatcher from Due South, Teresa from the Sharpe movies, Anya from Buffy, Princess Leia, Brienne of Tarth, Danaerys Targaryen, Christian Stewart, Philippa Somerville.

11). Favourite TV episodes?

I'm always going back and rewatching Highlander's "Comes a Horseman"/"Revelation 6:8." I don't know if anything will stand the test of time like that has.

12). Favourite incarnation of the Doctor?

Anyone who knows me already knows the answer to this question. ;)

13). Favourite New Who companions?

Rose and Donna.

Harder Questions

14). Who do I blame for my Doctor Who obsession?

jaydk. We went to see Ian McKellen in "King Lear" and she spend the whole time babbling about this weird Doctor Who show, so I agreed to watch it and we ended up watching something like fourteen hours straight, covering nearly all of season two and the last three episodes of season three. The sun was up when she left my house. And when I woke up that afternoon I then proceeded to download all of season three and watched it that night. So it's entirely jaydk's fault.

15). What was my longest running fandom and for how long?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I suppose. I got into online fandom at the start of season six and didn't leave until somewhere in the middle of Angel season five, which is about two and a half years. Although I only stuck around for the fandom; emotionally I was over it by the end of season six.

16). My second longest running fandom and for how long?

I haven't really had any other major long-running fandoms. Maybe I'd say Star Wars since I've loved it since I was eight, but I've never participated in it in a social setting. Doctor Who is probably the most I've gotten involved in an online fandom since Buffy; it's been a bit over a year.

17). In which fandom have I been most prolific, fic-wise?

Uh, I guess Buffy? I wrote the start of a terrible, terrible story when I first got into it. I don't write fic, though.

18). Second most?

Yeah, I don't write.

19). In which fandom have I been most prolific, meta-wise?

Buffy. God, I miss BAPS. I can't believe all those hours of debate got deleted. And apparently I managed to write meta in that fandom that still gets insane people to froth at the mouth six years later, which is always fun.

20). My happiest fandom experience?

Running All About Spike. That's the only fandom where I ever felt like I had a purpose, like I belonged and was being useful, helping authors get their work read and helping readers find good fanfic. Plus, through it I got to know some of the best writers in the fandom and made friends who I still treasure. I miss it.

Other Questions

21). In springtime, what is the one thing I might obsess over more than my fandoms?

This is totally a goldy_dollar-specific hockey question. ;) I'd say for me the one thing that I might obsess over more than a fandom is music, either a band or an album. Which is kind of its own fandom in a different way. I lost a lot of BtVS-focused LJ friends when I spent a whole year talking about nothing but the band PIG.

22). If I was stranded on a desert island and could only bring one episode of TV with me, what would I choose and why?

I... think I might choose "Comes a Horseman"/"Revelation 6:8" (pretend that a two-parter counts as one episode). That's weird. I don't think of myself as that much of a Highlander fan, but I do really love those episodes. I never get sick of Methos.

23). What attracts me to a fandom?

Well, the canon needs a basic level of quality (the baseline seems to be getting higher as I get older and have less tolerance for crap). But the main thing that draws me into a fandom is whether or not I connect with one specific character. Pretty much all of my fannishness is driven by identification and obsession with a single character, rather than with a pairing or with the whole canon. There are plenty of otherwise crappy shows that I've watched for an OTC (Queer as Folk, I'm looking at you) and plenty of great shows that I've never gotten into because I can't connect with any of the characters (BSG seems a likely candidate here).

24). What attracts me to a pairing?

Old friends, betrayal, love and hate in equal measure, equals who challenge each other.

25). What fandom am I most likely going to fall for next?

I wish I knew. The Lymond books are lovely, but I don't see it going anywhere socially, which is necessary for getting me into a fandom versus just being a fan of the canon. I'm always on the lookout for something that combines social interaction with a canon I can obsess over. *shrugs*

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