Bellflower (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bellflower) wrote2020-01-03 01:55 pm
bellflower) wrote2020-01-03 01:55 pm
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snowflake_challenge challenge #2
Challenge #2
In your own space, talk about your fannish history. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
This is an interesting one, and something I had to think about a bit. In the end I am not sure I remembered a huge amount, but here's the major parts of that journey at the very least!
***
Honestly, I can't remember what Baby's First Fandom was exactly. The first time I can remember falling into online discussion (back in the message board days) was somewhere around the ages of 15 or 16, and, well. That was Dynasty Warriors. I'd been playing the game for a few years and fallen in love but I'd never really thought about looking it up online. That wasn't particularly unusual for the time and my level of awareness of the world, but around that age I was hitting the 'lonely teen in an environment without many friends' stage of my life so I suppose it was natural.
I'd enjoyed shows and games before then, of course, and can remember trying to write a story about Legend of Zelda for myself beforehand on a computer that was ancient even for the times, but that was the first proper fandom experience that I remember. It probably wasn't the actual first one though (might bet on it being Pokemon), but... at the age of 33 now Dynasty Warriors is still absolutely central to my fandom experience. Honestly it's remained a part of it the whole time, after a while sharing the space with Samurai Warriors. I fluctuated between which was more important to me over the years but always loved both.
That wasn't it, of course.
Aside from the dominant KOEI theme over the years I had a long period of being hardcore into Soul Calibur during my early to mid 20s, notably during the time when fanlistings and fansites/shrines were major. I ran a fansite for the Soul Calibur character Maxi that was around for a good 4 years or so and, whew, it was a big site. I went all in with this thing, guys, and I've never had a bigger presence in fandom before or since! It was popular and enjoyed a lot of traffic which surprises me to think about now, honestly. It was my passion project and absolutely dear to my heart. I hadn't thought about it for a while until writing this thing but... it's nice to, honestly.
Oh, and the fanlistings? YEP. I ran a huge amount of those too. Mostly Soulcalibur and KOEIwarriors ones, unsurprisingly, but there was some Devil May Cry in there too. The fanlistings and that fansite together were a huge part of my experience as a fan online for such a long time that it feels odd to look back and see how different things were only a short time ago.
Fandom's changed a lot. And then, well, it's not changed at all either!
I'm rambling though, so a small summary of my interests would be: KOEIwarriors from the beginning to the present as the constant fandom. Soulcalibur in my early to mid 20s. Small jumps into Pokemon in early 20s, Devil May Cry and Metal Gear for a year or so in mid 20s (my first ever doujinshi purchase was for Devil May Cry), and a hodgepodge of various videogame fandoms towards the end of my 20s. 30s has been Touken Ranbu, a brief flirtation with Onmyoji and, right now, settling right back into 'mostly KOEIwarriors' on its own. I've never fully abandoned any fandom I loved, though, it's just that some are too big and too overwhelming for me to feel safe in or something I mostly enjoy privately instead.
The comics interests I've had/have are the latter, you'd never know how much I adore the Deadpool comics (with some selective 'why' runs, but that's just comics). Dragon Age might be an example of 'too big/intimidating.'
Guess that's it! Could go into my history of fave characters and ships and the like but that's an essay on its own and I'm rambling enough. So I'll draw it closed there, but feel free to ask anything. This has been genuinely interesting to ponder on.
In your own space, talk about your fannish history. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.
This is an interesting one, and something I had to think about a bit. In the end I am not sure I remembered a huge amount, but here's the major parts of that journey at the very least!
Honestly, I can't remember what Baby's First Fandom was exactly. The first time I can remember falling into online discussion (back in the message board days) was somewhere around the ages of 15 or 16, and, well. That was Dynasty Warriors. I'd been playing the game for a few years and fallen in love but I'd never really thought about looking it up online. That wasn't particularly unusual for the time and my level of awareness of the world, but around that age I was hitting the 'lonely teen in an environment without many friends' stage of my life so I suppose it was natural.
I'd enjoyed shows and games before then, of course, and can remember trying to write a story about Legend of Zelda for myself beforehand on a computer that was ancient even for the times, but that was the first proper fandom experience that I remember. It probably wasn't the actual first one though (might bet on it being Pokemon), but... at the age of 33 now Dynasty Warriors is still absolutely central to my fandom experience. Honestly it's remained a part of it the whole time, after a while sharing the space with Samurai Warriors. I fluctuated between which was more important to me over the years but always loved both.
That wasn't it, of course.
Aside from the dominant KOEI theme over the years I had a long period of being hardcore into Soul Calibur during my early to mid 20s, notably during the time when fanlistings and fansites/shrines were major. I ran a fansite for the Soul Calibur character Maxi that was around for a good 4 years or so and, whew, it was a big site. I went all in with this thing, guys, and I've never had a bigger presence in fandom before or since! It was popular and enjoyed a lot of traffic which surprises me to think about now, honestly. It was my passion project and absolutely dear to my heart. I hadn't thought about it for a while until writing this thing but... it's nice to, honestly.
Oh, and the fanlistings? YEP. I ran a huge amount of those too. Mostly Soulcalibur and KOEIwarriors ones, unsurprisingly, but there was some Devil May Cry in there too. The fanlistings and that fansite together were a huge part of my experience as a fan online for such a long time that it feels odd to look back and see how different things were only a short time ago.
Fandom's changed a lot. And then, well, it's not changed at all either!
I'm rambling though, so a small summary of my interests would be: KOEIwarriors from the beginning to the present as the constant fandom. Soulcalibur in my early to mid 20s. Small jumps into Pokemon in early 20s, Devil May Cry and Metal Gear for a year or so in mid 20s (my first ever doujinshi purchase was for Devil May Cry), and a hodgepodge of various videogame fandoms towards the end of my 20s. 30s has been Touken Ranbu, a brief flirtation with Onmyoji and, right now, settling right back into 'mostly KOEIwarriors' on its own. I've never fully abandoned any fandom I loved, though, it's just that some are too big and too overwhelming for me to feel safe in or something I mostly enjoy privately instead.
The comics interests I've had/have are the latter, you'd never know how much I adore the Deadpool comics (with some selective 'why' runs, but that's just comics). Dragon Age might be an example of 'too big/intimidating.'
Guess that's it! Could go into my history of fave characters and ships and the like but that's an essay on its own and I'm rambling enough. So I'll draw it closed there, but feel free to ask anything. This has been genuinely interesting to ponder on.