Snowflake, Day 2
Jan. 4th, 2020 04:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
allekhaStill have a cold, but went skating this morning and got some practice done. I seem to have unlocked something in spins recently - I can consistently get two or three revolutions on one foot now without feeling like I'm about to fall over - and I thiiiink my mohawks might be getting better. Or I've just stopped caring if they're bad. Not sure which. And there's nothing like doing spirals through a public session to make you feel like you're Sasha Cohen, ha.
Never done the snowflake challenge, but it seemed fun, so: Day 2 - In your own space, talk about your fannish history.
I can almost pinpoint when I first got into organized fandom. I happened to watch a re-run of the Avatar: the Last Airbender episode "The Waterbending Scroll" and was instantly interested in the series, but the next episode wasn't out yet. At some point very soon thereafter, I found a fansite with fic on it - I might've even googled 'Avatar stories' or something like that - and it was only a few clicks until I discovered ffnet. So sometime in May 2005. I guess it's been a while!
Since then, I've mostly been in anime and video game fandoms, with a few exceptions. Some of the ones that are more prominent in my memories:
AtLA - I was really, really into this one for years. I haven't read much fic/looked at art for it in ages, but I still think of it very fondly. One of my original worlds started off as an OC-centric fic idea that kept growing and growing until I was telling my dad about it one day and he asked why I didn't set it in an original world since I'd made up so much worldbuilding for it. There were some negatives to the fandom (oh, boy, the ship wars) but there was also a ton of fun, creative energy and I read so many stories back in the day. I still love the worldbuilding and the characters - Aang and Katara were my favorites. Aw, man, remember when anime and adjacent fandoms mostly used AxB conventions to indicate ships? I remember searching the different permutations for my favorite ships on ffnet to make sure I caught all of the stories.
Bartimaeus - never a very active fandom, but I absolutely adored the books - still do, I love the worldbuilding and character voices and writing style - and for a while was pretty obsessive about checking for new fic. I think I read everything that had been posted multiple times at one point! Was pleased to check in a couple years ago and see a trickle of activity, and even a Japanese doujinshi for it. I have the books in Japanese and should probably read them.
Sailor Moon - I think this was my gateway from Avatar to more anime. I watched a little of the American dub when I was a kid, though I didn't remember much, and stuck with it for the first two season when I watched it in full the first time, while consulting a guide on the changes the dub made every episode. Switched to the subs in S because I hated Usagi's new voice and since then have mostly watched anime subbed. I have seen every episode of the 90s anime and also read the manga, but was not as impressed with its plotting or its treatment of its paper-thin there-to-die villains. So much pretty fanart and even fan games, though for fic I was mostly interested in rare pairings. Usagi/Haruka, Seiya/Yaten, Ami/Rei, Ail/En, though I did read some more popular stuff like Rei/Usagi. I think I mostly read shorter stories, too, rather than sprawling Silver Millennium fic or anything like that.
Yami no Matsuei - remember when you could watch anime illegally on Youtube and it'd be split into three or four parts? That's how I watched YnM. And then read low-quality scanlations of the manga when the anime wasn't enough. (Later picked up some of the official release.) Loved Tsuzuki/Hisoka, but the shikigami world later in the series also fascinated me. Read sooo much fic - though I looked up one of my old old bookmarks the other day and some of it wasn't that good, haha. The first two doujinshi I ever bought in print off the internet were for this series! I still have them.
CLAMP - I think I read a crossover fic between YnM and X from an author I liked, and then checked out what this X thing was. Watched the whole anime, read the manga (still waiting on that ending, CLAMP!), and then tried out some of their other series. I loved Cardcaptor Sakura and Tokyo Babylon. I still remember reading Wish from the library, with the unflipped pages that were only just coming into style. I read Angelic Layer, too, though I only made it through an episode or two of the anime. I also remember reading Miyuki-chan and Legal Drug as well, and I've read some of xxxHolic but not most of it, and the first three volumes of TRC. I have Suki Dakara Suki in Japanese, but don't believe I've read it all. Fandom-wise, I was mostly into TB/X and still follow a couple of fics, but I also adored CCS. I've been catching up on the new anime.
Creatures - the aLife video game series. This series seriously impacted my life and influenced the direction I took academically and in research. On the fandom side, the modding scene is/was fantastic and very creative and helpful, making so many new fun breeds of creatures and objects and areas. I learned how to use the game script to make things, and I actually really enjoyed it as a programming language, more than C++ or Java. Even helped run the annual community event one year, though I've dropped off since then.
Good Omens - for the book, mostly, which I've reread multiple times. I liked the show, but it only briefly inspired me to read fic and look for art again, so most of the fanworks I remember are older.
Elder Scrolls - I liked Morrowind. I liked Oblivion. I liked Skyrim. I don't think this is a very popular opinion? Or maybe it is, but the people who stan only Morrowind scream the loudest. Anyway, the worldbuilding is so much fun, and I am 100% here for the weird mushrooms and the glowing crystals and the lizard people. I've read some fic for it that I've really enjoyed, but my favorite thing is definitely downloading new mods and trying them out on a new adventure - both the serious and the silly ones. Again, very creative fanbase!
Hetalia - got really into this one for a while. I think it was my next big fandom after AtLA and YnM. It sucked me in for a few years. I have a lot of fic bookmarked for this one - still my biggest bookmark folder - and a lot of doujinshi sitting both on my shelf and on my hard drive. Blah blah it's cringey whatever, it was fun and it opened the way for me to learn a lot about geography and history that I didn't know about before. I read a book about life in Tang dynasty China and learned about Bulgari's role in WWII and even decided to visit the Baltics because of this series. (Man, this is making me want to catch up on it....) I remember Funimation once did a thingy to collect postcards for Hidekaz after they got the license and I participated, though I don't remember any follow-up to it. (Still mad about their dub, though.) I think I focused mostly on the east Asian characters and my favorites of the European ones, but with all the characters, it felt like there were so many corners to the fandom.
Final Fantasy VII - got in late on this one. I read a fancomic that was an adaptation of someone's fic, and I liked the comic so I read the fic, and I liked the fic so I read the rest of their fic, and I liked the rest of their fic so I asked for the game for Christmas, and only then did I play it. I have to say, the fic made the game seem so much more coherent! Definitely fun, though, and I see why it inspired so much time travel fic, which I am very here for. Curious to see if the remake is going to be any good. I am relieved that they left in the crossdressing episode and hope the sillier elements make it through.
Supernatural - for a hot minute. I binged the first five seasons and then got bored halfway through the sixth. I've heard it's ending now. Haven't touched any of the fic in my bookmarks for years.
Star Trek - went with some friends to watch the second reboot movie without having seen any other Trek ever, hopped into the AOS fandom, then watched TOS with my dad and fell in love with it. All the background colors, the dramatic musical cues, the Theiss costumes, the super duper serious fight choreography, all of it (excepting the 60s biases showing). Literally decades of fic - I bought a couple of old paper zines at a con once. Lots of interesting meta, too. I once spent a few hours on Fanlore exploring the history of K/S and how zines used to be made. Don't really feel the need to write any fic myself, but I am glad for all the great writers in this fandom. I've seen most of TNG and liked it, but it didn't hook me fannishly in the same way.
Fallout 4 - ROBOTS. And robots who are people in complicated ways. That's the best part of the game. I liked playing FO3 - there were some great mystery story mods that I still remember - but its characters didn't grab me the same was as Nick Valentine and Codsworth and Curie did. I also like fic with a hopeful rebuilding element, especially given the settlement mechanic in the game.
Yuri on Ice - my current main fandom and I've written a kajillion fics for it. Really enjoyed experiencing this one live with everyone. Loads of beautiful fan art, loads of fic even if the fandom's taste in general and mine do not always quite align, great costumes for cosplay :D I love Victuuri and fluff and the show itself is my happy place, but I also love the side characters and rare pairs and gen relationships and sometimes poking at darker aspects of the relationships and environment. Still have too many ideas to write, and I honestly don't see myself moving on to anything new soon, though I guess you never know.Movie when???
Figure skating - yes, I am one of those filthy fans who got into it because of YoI. I dove straight into it, and got both figuratively and literally invested, since I started taking lessons in skating myself. The fandom is terrible and let's not start on the judging, but the skaters are (generally) great. I mostly watch singles, and then ice dance more than pairs, though I'm still working on understanding what is happening is ice dance. I adore some of the current skaters like Zhenya, but I also enjoy watching older programs.
I already liked to write stories as a kid, and my first fic was posted in (squints at ancient ffnet profile) February 2006. After writing some terrible early fic and then some slightly less terrible fic, there was a period where I didn't write much and posted nothing from about 2011-2014. Since then, however, I've been writing more, and become much more confident about letting other people see my fic. 2014 is also when I started doing exchanges. I write original stuff, too, but fic is a lot of fun :)
Other fan activities I've dabbled in include game modding, almost entirely for the aforementioned Creatures, including making my own sprites (but I'm not very good at drawing); wiki editing, mostly for Creatures Wiki; AMVs/fanvids for various shows, mostly in old Windows Movie Maker or later in Premiere, half of which have never left my hard drive; more recently gifsets, mostly for figure skating; and doing panels at anime cons. I've also done cosplay! It's great for letting loose my tendency to throw myself into researching the small details of something. I'm still not great at sewing, but I've cosplayed:
Children's Day Hungary (Hetalia) - In which I dove into Hungarian embroidery so I could hand embroider the vest and somewhat into historical Hungarian clothing construction. Made two layers of floofy skirts out of heavy linen and then attempted to figure out how to hold them up with a petticoat (my answer nowadays would be moar petticoats). I also smocked the shirt.
Maskie (Marble Hornets) - I painted a mask to match his and bought a black hoodie and that was it. Easiest cosplay ever. It was so much fun to creep people out with it! Less fun to breathe in a mask and attempt to talk through it all day.
Souryuu (Yami no Matsuei) - One layer of ruffly under-robes with giant sleeves, one layer of outer robes with nice contrast fabric at the hems - the fanciest I'd ever bought at that point, thanks to my cousin taking me to the LA fabric stores - then a couple layers of belty things and a wig that was bought before I discovered Epic Cosplay wigs (which are far better quality and don't tangle nearly as badly). I made his outfit from an actual hanfu pattern. Surprisingly comfortable, wig aside.
F!South Korea (Hetalia) - Giant hanbok skirt! My dad helped me hem it and I still had to be careful not to trip on it. There's five meters of fabric involved in it, though I think it's still less full than it's supposed to be! I bought Korean brocade from a hanbok supply store and made it from a hanbok pattern. This time I bought the wig from Epic Cosplay, and multiple people asked me if it was my real hair.
Japanese ghost (folklore) - Several people thought I was the girl from The Ring. I've never seen it, but probably not far off. Reused the wig from the previous cosplay, and made the kimono from a bolt of white jacquard kimono fabric. Consulted ukiyo-e to try and figure out how best to wear it (wrapped properly but loosely). Used actual traditional make-up like what's used in kabuki and by geisha to paint my face white, which produces a very nice, smooth effect but is annoying to get off because it involves wax on your face. The second year, I added ghostly contacts and gloves made from white tights with fake fingernails. Also fun for spooking people!
Chrono (Chrono Trigger) - It came with a built-in bag!! Very handy. Lots of linen and cotton so it was mostly comfy despite the multiple layers. I hot-glued the boots together and please, please do not ask me about the wig. There is newspaper in it, along with most of a bottle of glue and a ton of wig fiber. It had its own transportation box. It was not very comfortable on my head. Fun to see how many people recognized the costume, though. I got some free Chrono Trigger buttons from an artist in the Artist's Alley once while wearing it.
Younger Victor (Yuri on Ice) - I also made a matching eros!Yuuri for Z and we cosplayed together! :D The wig was kind of annoying because I've never learned how to actually style wigs beyond gluing them and maybe cutting in hime bangs, whoops. Making all the feathers took for-ev-er, but I really enjoyed wearing it with Z. It was the first time I'd ever done a real pair cosplay rather than just dressing someone up in a yukata and wearing one of my own yukata/kimono.
Never done the snowflake challenge, but it seemed fun, so: Day 2 - In your own space, talk about your fannish history.
I can almost pinpoint when I first got into organized fandom. I happened to watch a re-run of the Avatar: the Last Airbender episode "The Waterbending Scroll" and was instantly interested in the series, but the next episode wasn't out yet. At some point very soon thereafter, I found a fansite with fic on it - I might've even googled 'Avatar stories' or something like that - and it was only a few clicks until I discovered ffnet. So sometime in May 2005. I guess it's been a while!
Since then, I've mostly been in anime and video game fandoms, with a few exceptions. Some of the ones that are more prominent in my memories:
AtLA - I was really, really into this one for years. I haven't read much fic/looked at art for it in ages, but I still think of it very fondly. One of my original worlds started off as an OC-centric fic idea that kept growing and growing until I was telling my dad about it one day and he asked why I didn't set it in an original world since I'd made up so much worldbuilding for it. There were some negatives to the fandom (oh, boy, the ship wars) but there was also a ton of fun, creative energy and I read so many stories back in the day. I still love the worldbuilding and the characters - Aang and Katara were my favorites. Aw, man, remember when anime and adjacent fandoms mostly used AxB conventions to indicate ships? I remember searching the different permutations for my favorite ships on ffnet to make sure I caught all of the stories.
Bartimaeus - never a very active fandom, but I absolutely adored the books - still do, I love the worldbuilding and character voices and writing style - and for a while was pretty obsessive about checking for new fic. I think I read everything that had been posted multiple times at one point! Was pleased to check in a couple years ago and see a trickle of activity, and even a Japanese doujinshi for it. I have the books in Japanese and should probably read them.
Sailor Moon - I think this was my gateway from Avatar to more anime. I watched a little of the American dub when I was a kid, though I didn't remember much, and stuck with it for the first two season when I watched it in full the first time, while consulting a guide on the changes the dub made every episode. Switched to the subs in S because I hated Usagi's new voice and since then have mostly watched anime subbed. I have seen every episode of the 90s anime and also read the manga, but was not as impressed with its plotting or its treatment of its paper-thin there-to-die villains. So much pretty fanart and even fan games, though for fic I was mostly interested in rare pairings. Usagi/Haruka, Seiya/Yaten, Ami/Rei, Ail/En, though I did read some more popular stuff like Rei/Usagi. I think I mostly read shorter stories, too, rather than sprawling Silver Millennium fic or anything like that.
Yami no Matsuei - remember when you could watch anime illegally on Youtube and it'd be split into three or four parts? That's how I watched YnM. And then read low-quality scanlations of the manga when the anime wasn't enough. (Later picked up some of the official release.) Loved Tsuzuki/Hisoka, but the shikigami world later in the series also fascinated me. Read sooo much fic - though I looked up one of my old old bookmarks the other day and some of it wasn't that good, haha. The first two doujinshi I ever bought in print off the internet were for this series! I still have them.
CLAMP - I think I read a crossover fic between YnM and X from an author I liked, and then checked out what this X thing was. Watched the whole anime, read the manga (still waiting on that ending, CLAMP!), and then tried out some of their other series. I loved Cardcaptor Sakura and Tokyo Babylon. I still remember reading Wish from the library, with the unflipped pages that were only just coming into style. I read Angelic Layer, too, though I only made it through an episode or two of the anime. I also remember reading Miyuki-chan and Legal Drug as well, and I've read some of xxxHolic but not most of it, and the first three volumes of TRC. I have Suki Dakara Suki in Japanese, but don't believe I've read it all. Fandom-wise, I was mostly into TB/X and still follow a couple of fics, but I also adored CCS. I've been catching up on the new anime.
Creatures - the aLife video game series. This series seriously impacted my life and influenced the direction I took academically and in research. On the fandom side, the modding scene is/was fantastic and very creative and helpful, making so many new fun breeds of creatures and objects and areas. I learned how to use the game script to make things, and I actually really enjoyed it as a programming language, more than C++ or Java. Even helped run the annual community event one year, though I've dropped off since then.
Good Omens - for the book, mostly, which I've reread multiple times. I liked the show, but it only briefly inspired me to read fic and look for art again, so most of the fanworks I remember are older.
Elder Scrolls - I liked Morrowind. I liked Oblivion. I liked Skyrim. I don't think this is a very popular opinion? Or maybe it is, but the people who stan only Morrowind scream the loudest. Anyway, the worldbuilding is so much fun, and I am 100% here for the weird mushrooms and the glowing crystals and the lizard people. I've read some fic for it that I've really enjoyed, but my favorite thing is definitely downloading new mods and trying them out on a new adventure - both the serious and the silly ones. Again, very creative fanbase!
Hetalia - got really into this one for a while. I think it was my next big fandom after AtLA and YnM. It sucked me in for a few years. I have a lot of fic bookmarked for this one - still my biggest bookmark folder - and a lot of doujinshi sitting both on my shelf and on my hard drive. Blah blah it's cringey whatever, it was fun and it opened the way for me to learn a lot about geography and history that I didn't know about before. I read a book about life in Tang dynasty China and learned about Bulgari's role in WWII and even decided to visit the Baltics because of this series. (Man, this is making me want to catch up on it....) I remember Funimation once did a thingy to collect postcards for Hidekaz after they got the license and I participated, though I don't remember any follow-up to it. (Still mad about their dub, though.) I think I focused mostly on the east Asian characters and my favorites of the European ones, but with all the characters, it felt like there were so many corners to the fandom.
Final Fantasy VII - got in late on this one. I read a fancomic that was an adaptation of someone's fic, and I liked the comic so I read the fic, and I liked the fic so I read the rest of their fic, and I liked the rest of their fic so I asked for the game for Christmas, and only then did I play it. I have to say, the fic made the game seem so much more coherent! Definitely fun, though, and I see why it inspired so much time travel fic, which I am very here for. Curious to see if the remake is going to be any good. I am relieved that they left in the crossdressing episode and hope the sillier elements make it through.
Supernatural - for a hot minute. I binged the first five seasons and then got bored halfway through the sixth. I've heard it's ending now. Haven't touched any of the fic in my bookmarks for years.
Star Trek - went with some friends to watch the second reboot movie without having seen any other Trek ever, hopped into the AOS fandom, then watched TOS with my dad and fell in love with it. All the background colors, the dramatic musical cues, the Theiss costumes, the super duper serious fight choreography, all of it (excepting the 60s biases showing). Literally decades of fic - I bought a couple of old paper zines at a con once. Lots of interesting meta, too. I once spent a few hours on Fanlore exploring the history of K/S and how zines used to be made. Don't really feel the need to write any fic myself, but I am glad for all the great writers in this fandom. I've seen most of TNG and liked it, but it didn't hook me fannishly in the same way.
Fallout 4 - ROBOTS. And robots who are people in complicated ways. That's the best part of the game. I liked playing FO3 - there were some great mystery story mods that I still remember - but its characters didn't grab me the same was as Nick Valentine and Codsworth and Curie did. I also like fic with a hopeful rebuilding element, especially given the settlement mechanic in the game.
Yuri on Ice - my current main fandom and I've written a kajillion fics for it. Really enjoyed experiencing this one live with everyone. Loads of beautiful fan art, loads of fic even if the fandom's taste in general and mine do not always quite align, great costumes for cosplay :D I love Victuuri and fluff and the show itself is my happy place, but I also love the side characters and rare pairs and gen relationships and sometimes poking at darker aspects of the relationships and environment. Still have too many ideas to write, and I honestly don't see myself moving on to anything new soon, though I guess you never know.
Figure skating - yes, I am one of those filthy fans who got into it because of YoI. I dove straight into it, and got both figuratively and literally invested, since I started taking lessons in skating myself. The fandom is terrible and let's not start on the judging, but the skaters are (generally) great. I mostly watch singles, and then ice dance more than pairs, though I'm still working on understanding what is happening is ice dance. I adore some of the current skaters like Zhenya, but I also enjoy watching older programs.
I already liked to write stories as a kid, and my first fic was posted in (squints at ancient ffnet profile) February 2006. After writing some terrible early fic and then some slightly less terrible fic, there was a period where I didn't write much and posted nothing from about 2011-2014. Since then, however, I've been writing more, and become much more confident about letting other people see my fic. 2014 is also when I started doing exchanges. I write original stuff, too, but fic is a lot of fun :)
Other fan activities I've dabbled in include game modding, almost entirely for the aforementioned Creatures, including making my own sprites (but I'm not very good at drawing); wiki editing, mostly for Creatures Wiki; AMVs/fanvids for various shows, mostly in old Windows Movie Maker or later in Premiere, half of which have never left my hard drive; more recently gifsets, mostly for figure skating; and doing panels at anime cons. I've also done cosplay! It's great for letting loose my tendency to throw myself into researching the small details of something. I'm still not great at sewing, but I've cosplayed:
Children's Day Hungary (Hetalia) - In which I dove into Hungarian embroidery so I could hand embroider the vest and somewhat into historical Hungarian clothing construction. Made two layers of floofy skirts out of heavy linen and then attempted to figure out how to hold them up with a petticoat (my answer nowadays would be moar petticoats). I also smocked the shirt.
Maskie (Marble Hornets) - I painted a mask to match his and bought a black hoodie and that was it. Easiest cosplay ever. It was so much fun to creep people out with it! Less fun to breathe in a mask and attempt to talk through it all day.
Souryuu (Yami no Matsuei) - One layer of ruffly under-robes with giant sleeves, one layer of outer robes with nice contrast fabric at the hems - the fanciest I'd ever bought at that point, thanks to my cousin taking me to the LA fabric stores - then a couple layers of belty things and a wig that was bought before I discovered Epic Cosplay wigs (which are far better quality and don't tangle nearly as badly). I made his outfit from an actual hanfu pattern. Surprisingly comfortable, wig aside.
F!South Korea (Hetalia) - Giant hanbok skirt! My dad helped me hem it and I still had to be careful not to trip on it. There's five meters of fabric involved in it, though I think it's still less full than it's supposed to be! I bought Korean brocade from a hanbok supply store and made it from a hanbok pattern. This time I bought the wig from Epic Cosplay, and multiple people asked me if it was my real hair.
Japanese ghost (folklore) - Several people thought I was the girl from The Ring. I've never seen it, but probably not far off. Reused the wig from the previous cosplay, and made the kimono from a bolt of white jacquard kimono fabric. Consulted ukiyo-e to try and figure out how best to wear it (wrapped properly but loosely). Used actual traditional make-up like what's used in kabuki and by geisha to paint my face white, which produces a very nice, smooth effect but is annoying to get off because it involves wax on your face. The second year, I added ghostly contacts and gloves made from white tights with fake fingernails. Also fun for spooking people!
Chrono (Chrono Trigger) - It came with a built-in bag!! Very handy. Lots of linen and cotton so it was mostly comfy despite the multiple layers. I hot-glued the boots together and please, please do not ask me about the wig. There is newspaper in it, along with most of a bottle of glue and a ton of wig fiber. It had its own transportation box. It was not very comfortable on my head. Fun to see how many people recognized the costume, though. I got some free Chrono Trigger buttons from an artist in the Artist's Alley once while wearing it.
Younger Victor (Yuri on Ice) - I also made a matching eros!Yuuri for Z and we cosplayed together! :D The wig was kind of annoying because I've never learned how to actually style wigs beyond gluing them and maybe cutting in hime bangs, whoops. Making all the feathers took for-ev-er, but I really enjoyed wearing it with Z. It was the first time I'd ever done a real pair cosplay rather than just dressing someone up in a yukata and wearing one of my own yukata/kimono.
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