A journey through fandom and obsession
Oct. 23rd, 2012 10:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gemfyreI do remember as a little kid repeatedly hiring out the video of "The Muppet Musicians of Bremen" and watching it over and over and over.
But I'd have to say my first 'fandom' would have to be this -
My Little Pony
It's a story I've told often before. Like many little girls, I wanted a horse. But my family lacked the time, space and money for a real one. Christmas 1985 one of my presents was a My Little Pony named Applejack (I still have her). For the next 6 years I'd get ponies/pony stuff for presents pretty much every birthday and Christmas and sometimes other special occasions. Then I was encouraged to do that annoying 'growing up' thing and they went into storage. I refused to get rid of them, figuring I'd give them to my daughter someday (I didn't realise the option to be childfree existed back then). In 1999 I dragged them out once again and discovered the online community of collectors and over the next few years my collection swelled to about 500 ponies plus loads of other stuff. Then everyone got on the bandwagon. The G3 line was released. Ponies became harder and harder to find really cheap in op-shops. I moved out of home and suddenly severely lacked space and disposable income. I'm now planning to sell a large portion of my collection to people who can love and display them - but I'll never part with my original collection, and the individuals I've grown to love in my later collecting.
Of course NOW there's the whole Friendship is Magic/Brony thing which just kinda weirds me out. I know barely anything about it. I have only watched a few episodes (I keep meaning to watch the rest). A friend has a large MLP collection like me, but his collection and my collection don't intersect anywhere. I feel like a bit of a hipster - I was into ponies before they were cool!
New Kids On The Block
Seriously, was there a tweenie in the late 80s that WASN'T obsessed with NKOTB? Joey was my favourite. I had albums, I had books, I had posters. I didn't have any of the dolls. They broke up in 1991 and I quickly moved onto other things.
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was among the various things that I have declared at one point of my life to hate, only to later get totally into. It started with Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves version. I guess it was my first fanfic, the long, convoluted story that played out in my head involving these characters and places. I wrote some of it down, I even drew pictures! I remember an original character I added who as an obvious Mary Sue (who I partnered with Will Scarlett - I had a crush on Christian Slater at the time). I read a load of books on the old Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. Perhaps it was the start of my interest in medieval/pre-gunpowder warfare.
Young Guns/Young Guns II/Billy the Kid
I liked many of the "bratpack" movies but these were my favourites. I even went so far as to have my poky local library get in Pat Garrett's "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" and read it cover to cover (it was excruciatingly boring). Again, I had a convoluted story in my head involving these guys and the requisite Mary Sue (who I paired with Tom O'Folliard/Balthazar Getty). Rewatching this now I'm older and wiser I understood a lot more of what was actually going on here, and how much of an asshole Billy actually was.
Bon Jovi
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lotus79 and I originally became friends in high school over a mutual love of the soundtrack to Young Guns II. We proceeded to get into many of the 80s hair bands during high school, but Bon Jovi where always number 1. We got all the gold signed tour edition CDs and had posters galore. I would pretty much buy any magazine they featured in. First time they came to Perth mum didn't believe me when I said the tickets will sell out within an hour, maybe faster. She left it too long and we missed out. We DID however go to the airport to see them arrive and caught glimpses of them. I found a fanclub card on the ground and Sarah and I were like "OMG, maybe one of them touched this!!" "Is that Dave's hair in your photo??" Ugh, we were terrible. The second time they toured we had tickets, but a few days before the concert Tico did something to his hand and couldn't play and they cancelled. That was the These Days tour, when they started trying to go all emo like every other band at the time and it just didn't suit them. I haven't bought an album by them since.
Edward Furlong
I was 13. I desperately wanted to see Terminator 2 but my mum wouldn't let me. I swore I was going to marry Eddie. Again, if a magazine had him in it, I bought it. I even tried to grow my fringe the same.
Terminator universe
About a year later I finally saw T2, and the first movie not long after that. Wow. I watched them many times. I actually cried when "Uncle Bob" had to be lowered into the liquid metal. I read the book of T2 which had a few extra scenes (that turned out to be in the director's cut) and cried again at the scenes with Kyle in them. I waited with bated breath as the first Judgment Day date came and went. I was initially disappointed with T3 when it finally came out.
Years passed then Terminator Salvation was released and I went and saw it and became a mess of squee over the scene where John plays You Could Be Mine while he tinkers with motorcycle-like bots and my interest was rekindled. Having heard mixed reviews of Sarah Connor Chronicles I hadn't watched it when it first aired, but now I downloaded it and watched the whole series within a few weeks and that was it. Seriously in the Terminator fandom. Most of the fics I've written, and most of the fics I've written that I've let the public see are from this fandom. Being a timey-wimey ball pretty much anything is possible. And it's compelling to see what people will do when put in an extreme high-stress situation. For Sarah and John, it's just "John survives, or the world ends." It's simple as that. Losing isn't really an option.
Musicals/Andrew Lloyd Webber - mostly Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables
This probably started when the 1992 tour of JC Superstar happened in Australia. Mum just assumed I wouldn't be interested and didn't buy me a ticket. Somehow that ended up with me listening to the album over and over and learning it off by heart. It wasn't long before I got into other musicals as well. Phantom and Les Mis ended up being my two favourites. I saw them both in 1998 and was glad to have listened to the albums and read the librettos beforehand or I would have had no idea what was going on. I also went to a Sarah Brightman and Anthony Warhlow concert and a performance of Cats (I guess my mum really wanted to make it up to me for missing JC Superstar). The 1998 movie of Les Mis was a disappointed (No Eponine? WTF?!), but the 2004 Phantom of the Opera had me hanging about the fandom online and writing a few fics as well as reading them. It happens that the first slashfic I read was an Erik/Raoul story called Eyes of the Jackal - I still think it's a great story. I've also read Gaston Leroux's original book and Susan Kay's "Phantom", which is essentially just a really freaking good piece of fanfic itself, taking elements from the original book, the movies and the musical.
Grunge music and the Seattle scene - especially Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone
About 6 months after Kurt Cobain stuck a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, a high school friend and I decided that we loved Kurt and Nirvana. It was around the time I was working Saturday's and Thursday nights and didn't yet have a car or any regular expenses at all really. Disposable income that I spent mostly on CDs and magazines. I had books and videos and articles and of course albums by Nirvana and it didn't take long to get into the rest of the grunge scene. I started with the Big Four - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and my favourites, Soundgarden. I acquired classic grunge albums like Green River's Rehab Doll and Dry As A Bone, the compilations Sub-Pop 200 and Deep Six, and Mother Love Bone's self-titled album. I decided I had to have MLB's album from hearing one song - "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" from the Singles soundtrack. This was in 1995. Andrew Wood, the lead singer of MLB had died of a heroin overdose in 1991 - one of the first of a morbid club. Probably the first thing I ordered from overseas were two books in Sub-Pop's catalogue, "Loser" and "Screaming Life". I still get in grunge moods from time to time. And Soundgarden still utterly rock my socks - I saw them live in 1997 and screamed my little head off. I'd love to see them live again, seems they still rock just as hard as always.
Led Zeppelin
I had probably heard it before, but the first time I remember hearing Stairway To Heaven was in 1994. Like Bon Jovi, I seemed to get into Led Zeppelin by realising that, "hey, I like all these songs, and they're all by the same artist". I bought the Remasters album and it quickly got into heavy rotation. By the end of the year I had both box sets - which contain the entire Zeppelin catalogue. I also ended up with books about them and loads of magazine articles, and of course a copy of their movie The Song Remains The Same (which is just trippy). They are just so... awesome. The jams, the compositions, the majestic, epic songs like Kashmir and Achilles Last Stand and the blues rip-off jams like Bring It On Home, I feel like I know every bar of every Zeppelin song, I just listen to them so much. And they never get old or boring. Truly awesome, awesome music. I think they may remain my favourite band forever. How sad that they disbanded a week before my 1st birthday, when John Bonham died after a night binging on alcohol. *cries*
American Gothic
AG aired in Australia in 1996. It was on Wednesday nights after the X-files and I was immediately hooked. American Gothic tells the tale of life in the North Carolina town of Trinity, a town steeped in secrets and intrigue... and run by a sherriff who might well be the devil himself. Sadly it was axed after a measly single season and I immediately set about writing further storylines - probably the first deliberate fanfic that I wrote. My Mary-Sue in those stories was named Glory Gemfire - my internet namesake. I guess AG stuff was the first fanfic I actually read as well, seeing as I got online about a year after the show ended, and it was one of the first things I looked up - and found virtual further seasons and read them with gusto. If you have never watched this show I highly recommend it.
Nine Inch Nails
My first taste of NIN was in late 1994, when a friend stuck a headphone in my ear and played "Closer". It wasn't until a few years later when I seriously started becoming an angsty teen that I really got into them. Trent Reznor's persona was a frothing ball of rage and angst and sexiness all at once. I had plenty of posters of him on my wall (he was about equal with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden at the time in terms of being aesthically pleasing to mine eyes). Then I became friends with a guy who was a big NIN fan and also introduced me into some heavier industrial, black metal and death metal bands. For a while I was quite in love with him so I eagerly listened to what he liked. It never went further than friendship - I'm kinda relieved about that now. While bands like Dissection and Cradle of Filth hold little appeal to me now, I still love listening to a bit of NIN. I guess it was lucky that when this friend needed money to pay a parking fine, he sold his entire NIN collection (which included every Halo up to that time plus some rare stuff) to me for a song. Sucker.
Batfamily
I realised after maybe the second X-Men film that I was quite fond of these comic book movies that seemed to be becoming a thing. Most of my friends these days all hail from various sci-fi/fantasy clubs in Perth, it's just a big mess of geeks that all seem to know each other. As fundraising for conventions we see newly released movies. So, most of the sci-fi/fantasy/comic book films I have seen over the last 10 years or so I have seen in the cinema with a pile of fellow geeks - it really enhances the experience.
So, in July 2008 off we went to see The Dark Knight. I remember telling my boss at the time that I was going to see it and he said, "Oh, you'll enjoy that." He had no idea. I remember when the lights dimmed and someone in the audience said "na-na-na-na-na-na-na" and the rest of the cinema cracked up laughing. I took a few days to "process" The Joker, an absolutely fascinating villain. I saw the movie twice more in the cinema trying to get my head around the storyline and all the characters. In my online wanderings I quickly discovered Harley Quinn and Oracle and started writing fic (which is hillarious for me to read these days, now I know a lot more about the characters and mythos). Batman, and the Batfamily consumed me for a few years. I'd read loads of Bat/Joker fic, then suddenly become Scarecrow obsessed and find out everything I could about him, and then it was some other Rogue, or the Robins, or something else in the universe. I watched movies and cartoons and read comics and novels and got a friend to make me a Harley Quinn hoodie and paint a Bat logo on a tank-top for me and even eventually ended up with a pair of underwear with the batlogo on them. Yes, I decided, I like this whole comic book thing. Why the HELL hadn't I discovered all this before? I think I kind of thought Batman was a bit ridiculous and silly. Now I'm a massive fan I realise it's so wonderful BECAUSE it is kinda ridiculous and silly.
The Avengers/Marvel Movie Universe
I had seen all the Phase 1 movies (except for Hulk, which I watched much later) in thier opening weeks at the cinema with the previously mentioned group of geeks and thoroughly enjoyed them. But somehow it wasn't until The Avengers that it all started consuming my life. Possibly Tumblr is to blame? I can't be sure. It was something about Loki. I can't resist an attractive, dangerous villain. I had been Tumblring small time for about a year, mostly for Batman stuff. But a search for Avengers/Loki/Tom Hiddleston set off an avalanche. Send help. There is still Phase 2 OMG. I think I want to wring Kevin Feige's neck for ruining my life. Or maybe hug him for enhancing it.
Thor & Loki
It was a natural progression I guess. I saw Thor when it came out, went "Wow that was cool, Heimdall was awesome, Chris Hemsworth shirtless is complete eye candy", but then I seemed to forget about it. It wasn't until after The Avengers and getting caught up in the online world that I became a hardcore ThunderFrost shipper. Ugh, so much angst and pretty. And they're pretty much immortal so it just goes on and on and *I think I died*. It also opened the door for getting interested in actual Norse Mythology. Sure, most of what I know stems from BetterMyths, but that is retelling actual Norse myth. Just in an unconventional manner. Must... read... all.. the... ThunderFrost... fic. And the comics, yes, whoever thought Journey into Mystery was a fun idea should be shot. If I end up dying of a heart attack or something - this is why.
Tom Hiddleston
Ah Tom. He plays Loki. He is ridiculously aesthetically pleasing. He is a damn good actor (and does brilliant and hillarious impressions!) He is intelligent. He is a geek. He is a fanbaiter (def: a celebrity who deliberately does stuff to send the fangirl hordes into a flailing tizzy - have a look at his Twitter account for a start). He is a geniunely lovely guy from the looks of things. He has an adorable bromance going on with Chris Hemsworth. He is 8 feet tall or something. The bastard is perfect okay?
BBC's The Hollow Crown
The Tom love meant I had to look up more of his work. Probably the most impressive is this series of remakes of Shakespeare's Henriad. I just love how these are done. Instead of overwrought "Shakespearean" acting, the lines are spoken in a much more natural manner. It meant I could sit down and watch them, being pretty unfamiliar with the plays, and have a pretty good idea of what was going on. I now know large chunks of the plays and am still trying to complete my reviews of the other 3 (I have already done Richard II). Also - medieval style warfare, political intrigue and English monarchy? Bring it on!
Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire
And we come to my most recent fandom. After hearing others rave about it I downloaded this and after a while finally got around to watching the first episode. Then the next day I watched the second episode. By Season 2 I was sitting down after work and watching 4 episodes in a row. Again, it has that medieval warfare/political intrigue/monarchy combo that I seem to be really into at the moment. The characters are all fascinating and compelling, whether they are lovable or disgusting. I am currently reading my way through the books and hanging out for season 3 next March.
The Future
Well, I'm currently watching Sherlock. I need to watch more of Supernatural. I have Young Justice, White Collar and Teen Wolf on my hard drive waiting to be watched. What will be my next obsession?
But I'd have to say my first 'fandom' would have to be this -
My Little Pony
It's a story I've told often before. Like many little girls, I wanted a horse. But my family lacked the time, space and money for a real one. Christmas 1985 one of my presents was a My Little Pony named Applejack (I still have her). For the next 6 years I'd get ponies/pony stuff for presents pretty much every birthday and Christmas and sometimes other special occasions. Then I was encouraged to do that annoying 'growing up' thing and they went into storage. I refused to get rid of them, figuring I'd give them to my daughter someday (I didn't realise the option to be childfree existed back then). In 1999 I dragged them out once again and discovered the online community of collectors and over the next few years my collection swelled to about 500 ponies plus loads of other stuff. Then everyone got on the bandwagon. The G3 line was released. Ponies became harder and harder to find really cheap in op-shops. I moved out of home and suddenly severely lacked space and disposable income. I'm now planning to sell a large portion of my collection to people who can love and display them - but I'll never part with my original collection, and the individuals I've grown to love in my later collecting.
Of course NOW there's the whole Friendship is Magic/Brony thing which just kinda weirds me out. I know barely anything about it. I have only watched a few episodes (I keep meaning to watch the rest). A friend has a large MLP collection like me, but his collection and my collection don't intersect anywhere. I feel like a bit of a hipster - I was into ponies before they were cool!
New Kids On The Block
Seriously, was there a tweenie in the late 80s that WASN'T obsessed with NKOTB? Joey was my favourite. I had albums, I had books, I had posters. I didn't have any of the dolls. They broke up in 1991 and I quickly moved onto other things.
Robin Hood
Robin Hood was among the various things that I have declared at one point of my life to hate, only to later get totally into. It started with Kevin Costner's Prince of Thieves version. I guess it was my first fanfic, the long, convoluted story that played out in my head involving these characters and places. I wrote some of it down, I even drew pictures! I remember an original character I added who as an obvious Mary Sue (who I partnered with Will Scarlett - I had a crush on Christian Slater at the time). I read a load of books on the old Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. Perhaps it was the start of my interest in medieval/pre-gunpowder warfare.
Young Guns/Young Guns II/Billy the Kid
I liked many of the "bratpack" movies but these were my favourites. I even went so far as to have my poky local library get in Pat Garrett's "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid" and read it cover to cover (it was excruciatingly boring). Again, I had a convoluted story in my head involving these guys and the requisite Mary Sue (who I paired with Tom O'Folliard/Balthazar Getty). Rewatching this now I'm older and wiser I understood a lot more of what was actually going on here, and how much of an asshole Billy actually was.
Bon Jovi
lotus79 and I originally became friends in high school over a mutual love of the soundtrack to Young Guns II. We proceeded to get into many of the 80s hair bands during high school, but Bon Jovi where always number 1. We got all the gold signed tour edition CDs and had posters galore. I would pretty much buy any magazine they featured in. First time they came to Perth mum didn't believe me when I said the tickets will sell out within an hour, maybe faster. She left it too long and we missed out. We DID however go to the airport to see them arrive and caught glimpses of them. I found a fanclub card on the ground and Sarah and I were like "OMG, maybe one of them touched this!!" "Is that Dave's hair in your photo??" Ugh, we were terrible. The second time they toured we had tickets, but a few days before the concert Tico did something to his hand and couldn't play and they cancelled. That was the These Days tour, when they started trying to go all emo like every other band at the time and it just didn't suit them. I haven't bought an album by them since.Edward Furlong
I was 13. I desperately wanted to see Terminator 2 but my mum wouldn't let me. I swore I was going to marry Eddie. Again, if a magazine had him in it, I bought it. I even tried to grow my fringe the same.
Terminator universe
About a year later I finally saw T2, and the first movie not long after that. Wow. I watched them many times. I actually cried when "Uncle Bob" had to be lowered into the liquid metal. I read the book of T2 which had a few extra scenes (that turned out to be in the director's cut) and cried again at the scenes with Kyle in them. I waited with bated breath as the first Judgment Day date came and went. I was initially disappointed with T3 when it finally came out.
Years passed then Terminator Salvation was released and I went and saw it and became a mess of squee over the scene where John plays You Could Be Mine while he tinkers with motorcycle-like bots and my interest was rekindled. Having heard mixed reviews of Sarah Connor Chronicles I hadn't watched it when it first aired, but now I downloaded it and watched the whole series within a few weeks and that was it. Seriously in the Terminator fandom. Most of the fics I've written, and most of the fics I've written that I've let the public see are from this fandom. Being a timey-wimey ball pretty much anything is possible. And it's compelling to see what people will do when put in an extreme high-stress situation. For Sarah and John, it's just "John survives, or the world ends." It's simple as that. Losing isn't really an option.
Musicals/Andrew Lloyd Webber - mostly Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables
This probably started when the 1992 tour of JC Superstar happened in Australia. Mum just assumed I wouldn't be interested and didn't buy me a ticket. Somehow that ended up with me listening to the album over and over and learning it off by heart. It wasn't long before I got into other musicals as well. Phantom and Les Mis ended up being my two favourites. I saw them both in 1998 and was glad to have listened to the albums and read the librettos beforehand or I would have had no idea what was going on. I also went to a Sarah Brightman and Anthony Warhlow concert and a performance of Cats (I guess my mum really wanted to make it up to me for missing JC Superstar). The 1998 movie of Les Mis was a disappointed (No Eponine? WTF?!), but the 2004 Phantom of the Opera had me hanging about the fandom online and writing a few fics as well as reading them. It happens that the first slashfic I read was an Erik/Raoul story called Eyes of the Jackal - I still think it's a great story. I've also read Gaston Leroux's original book and Susan Kay's "Phantom", which is essentially just a really freaking good piece of fanfic itself, taking elements from the original book, the movies and the musical.
Grunge music and the Seattle scene - especially Nirvana, Soundgarden and Mother Love Bone
About 6 months after Kurt Cobain stuck a shotgun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, a high school friend and I decided that we loved Kurt and Nirvana. It was around the time I was working Saturday's and Thursday nights and didn't yet have a car or any regular expenses at all really. Disposable income that I spent mostly on CDs and magazines. I had books and videos and articles and of course albums by Nirvana and it didn't take long to get into the rest of the grunge scene. I started with the Big Four - Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, and my favourites, Soundgarden. I acquired classic grunge albums like Green River's Rehab Doll and Dry As A Bone, the compilations Sub-Pop 200 and Deep Six, and Mother Love Bone's self-titled album. I decided I had to have MLB's album from hearing one song - "Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" from the Singles soundtrack. This was in 1995. Andrew Wood, the lead singer of MLB had died of a heroin overdose in 1991 - one of the first of a morbid club. Probably the first thing I ordered from overseas were two books in Sub-Pop's catalogue, "Loser" and "Screaming Life". I still get in grunge moods from time to time. And Soundgarden still utterly rock my socks - I saw them live in 1997 and screamed my little head off. I'd love to see them live again, seems they still rock just as hard as always.
Led Zeppelin
I had probably heard it before, but the first time I remember hearing Stairway To Heaven was in 1994. Like Bon Jovi, I seemed to get into Led Zeppelin by realising that, "hey, I like all these songs, and they're all by the same artist". I bought the Remasters album and it quickly got into heavy rotation. By the end of the year I had both box sets - which contain the entire Zeppelin catalogue. I also ended up with books about them and loads of magazine articles, and of course a copy of their movie The Song Remains The Same (which is just trippy). They are just so... awesome. The jams, the compositions, the majestic, epic songs like Kashmir and Achilles Last Stand and the blues rip-off jams like Bring It On Home, I feel like I know every bar of every Zeppelin song, I just listen to them so much. And they never get old or boring. Truly awesome, awesome music. I think they may remain my favourite band forever. How sad that they disbanded a week before my 1st birthday, when John Bonham died after a night binging on alcohol. *cries*
American Gothic
AG aired in Australia in 1996. It was on Wednesday nights after the X-files and I was immediately hooked. American Gothic tells the tale of life in the North Carolina town of Trinity, a town steeped in secrets and intrigue... and run by a sherriff who might well be the devil himself. Sadly it was axed after a measly single season and I immediately set about writing further storylines - probably the first deliberate fanfic that I wrote. My Mary-Sue in those stories was named Glory Gemfire - my internet namesake. I guess AG stuff was the first fanfic I actually read as well, seeing as I got online about a year after the show ended, and it was one of the first things I looked up - and found virtual further seasons and read them with gusto. If you have never watched this show I highly recommend it.
Nine Inch Nails
My first taste of NIN was in late 1994, when a friend stuck a headphone in my ear and played "Closer". It wasn't until a few years later when I seriously started becoming an angsty teen that I really got into them. Trent Reznor's persona was a frothing ball of rage and angst and sexiness all at once. I had plenty of posters of him on my wall (he was about equal with Chris Cornell from Soundgarden at the time in terms of being aesthically pleasing to mine eyes). Then I became friends with a guy who was a big NIN fan and also introduced me into some heavier industrial, black metal and death metal bands. For a while I was quite in love with him so I eagerly listened to what he liked. It never went further than friendship - I'm kinda relieved about that now. While bands like Dissection and Cradle of Filth hold little appeal to me now, I still love listening to a bit of NIN. I guess it was lucky that when this friend needed money to pay a parking fine, he sold his entire NIN collection (which included every Halo up to that time plus some rare stuff) to me for a song. Sucker.
Batfamily
I realised after maybe the second X-Men film that I was quite fond of these comic book movies that seemed to be becoming a thing. Most of my friends these days all hail from various sci-fi/fantasy clubs in Perth, it's just a big mess of geeks that all seem to know each other. As fundraising for conventions we see newly released movies. So, most of the sci-fi/fantasy/comic book films I have seen over the last 10 years or so I have seen in the cinema with a pile of fellow geeks - it really enhances the experience.
So, in July 2008 off we went to see The Dark Knight. I remember telling my boss at the time that I was going to see it and he said, "Oh, you'll enjoy that." He had no idea. I remember when the lights dimmed and someone in the audience said "na-na-na-na-na-na-na" and the rest of the cinema cracked up laughing. I took a few days to "process" The Joker, an absolutely fascinating villain. I saw the movie twice more in the cinema trying to get my head around the storyline and all the characters. In my online wanderings I quickly discovered Harley Quinn and Oracle and started writing fic (which is hillarious for me to read these days, now I know a lot more about the characters and mythos). Batman, and the Batfamily consumed me for a few years. I'd read loads of Bat/Joker fic, then suddenly become Scarecrow obsessed and find out everything I could about him, and then it was some other Rogue, or the Robins, or something else in the universe. I watched movies and cartoons and read comics and novels and got a friend to make me a Harley Quinn hoodie and paint a Bat logo on a tank-top for me and even eventually ended up with a pair of underwear with the batlogo on them. Yes, I decided, I like this whole comic book thing. Why the HELL hadn't I discovered all this before? I think I kind of thought Batman was a bit ridiculous and silly. Now I'm a massive fan I realise it's so wonderful BECAUSE it is kinda ridiculous and silly.
The Avengers/Marvel Movie Universe
I had seen all the Phase 1 movies (except for Hulk, which I watched much later) in thier opening weeks at the cinema with the previously mentioned group of geeks and thoroughly enjoyed them. But somehow it wasn't until The Avengers that it all started consuming my life. Possibly Tumblr is to blame? I can't be sure. It was something about Loki. I can't resist an attractive, dangerous villain. I had been Tumblring small time for about a year, mostly for Batman stuff. But a search for Avengers/Loki/Tom Hiddleston set off an avalanche. Send help. There is still Phase 2 OMG. I think I want to wring Kevin Feige's neck for ruining my life. Or maybe hug him for enhancing it.
Thor & Loki
It was a natural progression I guess. I saw Thor when it came out, went "Wow that was cool, Heimdall was awesome, Chris Hemsworth shirtless is complete eye candy", but then I seemed to forget about it. It wasn't until after The Avengers and getting caught up in the online world that I became a hardcore ThunderFrost shipper. Ugh, so much angst and pretty. And they're pretty much immortal so it just goes on and on and *I think I died*. It also opened the door for getting interested in actual Norse Mythology. Sure, most of what I know stems from BetterMyths, but that is retelling actual Norse myth. Just in an unconventional manner. Must... read... all.. the... ThunderFrost... fic. And the comics, yes, whoever thought Journey into Mystery was a fun idea should be shot. If I end up dying of a heart attack or something - this is why.
Tom Hiddleston
Ah Tom. He plays Loki. He is ridiculously aesthetically pleasing. He is a damn good actor (and does brilliant and hillarious impressions!) He is intelligent. He is a geek. He is a fanbaiter (def: a celebrity who deliberately does stuff to send the fangirl hordes into a flailing tizzy - have a look at his Twitter account for a start). He is a geniunely lovely guy from the looks of things. He has an adorable bromance going on with Chris Hemsworth. He is 8 feet tall or something. The bastard is perfect okay?
BBC's The Hollow Crown
The Tom love meant I had to look up more of his work. Probably the most impressive is this series of remakes of Shakespeare's Henriad. I just love how these are done. Instead of overwrought "Shakespearean" acting, the lines are spoken in a much more natural manner. It meant I could sit down and watch them, being pretty unfamiliar with the plays, and have a pretty good idea of what was going on. I now know large chunks of the plays and am still trying to complete my reviews of the other 3 (I have already done Richard II). Also - medieval style warfare, political intrigue and English monarchy? Bring it on!
Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire
And we come to my most recent fandom. After hearing others rave about it I downloaded this and after a while finally got around to watching the first episode. Then the next day I watched the second episode. By Season 2 I was sitting down after work and watching 4 episodes in a row. Again, it has that medieval warfare/political intrigue/monarchy combo that I seem to be really into at the moment. The characters are all fascinating and compelling, whether they are lovable or disgusting. I am currently reading my way through the books and hanging out for season 3 next March.
The Future
Well, I'm currently watching Sherlock. I need to watch more of Supernatural. I have Young Justice, White Collar and Teen Wolf on my hard drive waiting to be watched. What will be my next obsession?
