Leaving fandom.

[foxmonkey]

That's my question today. When did you know that your fandom love had turned cold, that it was time to move on?

Back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth and fandom mailing lists were king, I got into the Hercules/Xena fandom. I was incredibly lucky; I followed a few links to Ksmithares, run by the fabulous listmistress thamiris. It was everything fandom should have been for a newbie, and I absolutely loved it.

My favorite character was Ares, and he appeared on both shows. Sadly, I knew it was time to give it up when Hercules was cancelled; Xena was still on, but by that time the show wasn't jumping just sharks, it was jumping friggin' humpback whales. I moved on.

I dabbled in the Invisible Man fandom for a bit, but having been spoiled by the perfection of my first fandom experience, the new one didn't measure up. And then they started monkeying with the show, and then it was cancelled. Out in the fandom cold once again! Noes!!!

I drifted. I discovered Sports Night fic, read tons of it but never wrote any. The show was in re-runs somewhere, but I only got to watch a couple of episodes before...YOU GUESSED IT, the reruns were cancelled!

Happily, I found popslash and the most fabulous world of LJ, and I've been a very happy online camper for the past few years. Edited to add: I've found a couple of Doctor Who communities that I absolutely love, and I've begun writing in that fandom.

And that, my friends, is my fandom tale.

So! Now you know my fandom past and why I've given up a few fandom ghosts. What's done it for you? Are you currently having a fandom crisis? Where are you now and where are you going?

I am curious Fox. Learn me.

Comments

[gabilady.livejournal.com]

1996-Nifty Archive, Celebrity section. This is where I met *NSYNC and BSB.

????-This led to Nsyncgrrl and all of her long story drama (which I don't mind admitting that I enjoyed it very much)
I then read everything I could involving the boys and joined LJ in the early days as BiGeorgia. Had to delete that one and became GaBiLady later. Lost some friends, found some. Most left for Harry Potter and other sci-fi.

Took me a while to join HP, but I enjoy it thoroughly.

2007-MCR, FOB, bandslashy goodness. Very nice to find previous boybandslash writers in this new fandom. :)

[joeysdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

You scared me, I saw the title of your post and thought you were leaving the fandom! LOL

NSYNC is the first fandom that I really got heavily into. I was into the X-Files and went to a couple sci-fi/movie conventions, but I didn't have the internet back then so I didn't have all that.

It's still really the only fandom that I read fic on, and all that, but I do read some SPN and Lost communities from time to time.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Most left for Harry Potter and other sci-fi. Took me a while to join HP, but I enjoy it thoroughly.

I've read *tons* of Harry Potter fic (I love Ron/Harry and Ron/Draco equally!) and I've written a few myself. I'm finally getting around to posting some of it. Sadly, I never seemed to find a central HP place to just hang around or check in on a daily basis. It's such a freakin' huge fandom, you know? I'd probably approach it a little differently if I were just getting into HP today.

I think the majority of my flist has migrated to bandslash; I think I've finally gotten over the first rush of anxiety at being adrift, and I think I'll be okay in the Whoverse. :-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

It's still really the only fandom that I read fic on, and all that, but I do read some SPN and Lost communities from time to time.

Yep, bandslash and SPN have eaten my friends list! :-)

Actually I guess I can't complain; I've only had two major fandoms, and I've had great experiences in both. :-(

[joeysdramaqueen.livejournal.com]

I read the post above, I forgot about HP! LOL

Yeah... it makes me sad to see all the bandslash stuff... I'm so not into PATD or FOB. Why can't everyone just still love our popslash boys? LOL

[gabilady.livejournal.com]

~~Why can't everyone just still love our popslash boys? LOL~~

That's what I used to say as well, but then somewhere between seeing Frank Iero get tattooed on LA Ink and William Beckett's hipbones, it hit me.

[musiclover03.livejournal.com]

I dont know if I've ever left a fandom. Maybe been less involved but still there. My fandom days go all the way back to 1980 when my first fandom was Duran Duran. Then there was New Kids On The Block (what can I say? I'm from Mass! LOL) and then the last being *N SYNC.. God its been 10 years already! Back in the day when I had AOL and dialup, chat rooms and yahoo groups. And yes.. the title entry scared me too :)

[mirroredimage.livejournal.com]

My first fandom was probably the Hanson fandom that was around for a while when I was 12-13ish (man, I can't believe I read some of that stuff at that age). Then from there, I found NSYNC. Then PopSlash in general. Then Harry Potter. Then Lord of the Rings. Then Queer as Folk.

Now? At 23? I'm kind of in-between it all. I'll still poke around HP, LotR, and QAF, but it's so rare now. I don't have the time. In the case of PopSlash, I just lost interest, sadly enough.

Now... I'm genuinely content with my tiny world of Broadway love.

[timberho.livejournal.com]

Okay, that title scared the crap out of me! Shame on you!

The only fandom I've ever really belonged to is the NSYNC fandom. If the Internet existed back then like it does today, then I would have been deep into the New Kids fandom.

I dabbled in HP but could never really get into it. I'm not really into the other fandoms. It's sad that so many good people have moved to bandslash, SN and whatever else is out there.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

That's what I used to say as well, but then somewhere between seeing Frank Iero get tattooed on LA Ink and William Beckett's hipbones, it hit me.

I feel so oooooooooooooooooooold...

No idea who these people were, so I Googled William Bennett and...okay. I see the attraction. ;-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

yahoo groups

Yes! Ksmithares was a yahoo group. Man, it was like a little family (with a LOT of members!). When I stop to think about it, I really miss it.

I'm moving on to Doctor Who as my active fandom, but I'll probably have one foot in popslash as long as there's a fighting chance that JC will release another album in my lifetime. ;-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Harry Potter. Then Lord of the Rings. Then Queer as Folk.

Harry Potter was just so vast, I just didn't know where to start. I was just getting used to the move from yahoogroups (email-based) to LJ, and moving from a mailing list with one central archive was oddly disconcerting as well.

Lord of the Rings! I had a crazed couple of weeks looking for Aragorn/Legolas slash. Yummy! I adore the movies, but the fandom just never grabbed me.

Queer as Folk! Loved the show, never looked for fic. I guess I didn't need slash with all the yummy stuff going on onscreen. ;-) If I *had* though, I SO would have been reading Michael/Brian. I'm all about the pairings no one is interested in writing. ;-)

[mirroredimage.livejournal.com]

I was immediately taken by the H/D. I mean, honestly, now! I've read other pairings (het and slash) but I mean those 2. Make me happy to read.

I'm not as into LotR as I am the other 2. There's a lot of not-so-great fic out there and it turned me off. The A/L was cute for a while, then I learned all the happiness that was any/all Elf-Pairings. And I was happy.

There is so much M/B that it makes me sick. Haha. I always hated the thought of them together. Besides, B/J were SO meant to be with each other. Just look what their initials could stand for!!

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

Shame on you!

Uh...I should probably change it. :-D <--[cheesy grin]


It's sad that so many good people have moved to bandslash, SN and whatever else is out there.

I know. :-( I've never even seen Supernatural! I should DVR an episode just to see what people are talking about. If I can survive watching Vegas ::cries::, I can watch anything!

[timberho.livejournal.com]

*waves to flower shooting robot snowman*

Supernatural was good the first two seasons. I'm not overly thrilled with the third season. There are some people who are all "OMGTHISISTHEBESTSHOWEVER" every episode. There's been two or three of this season I've liked. The rest.. eh.

I just FF through everything that wasn't JC. LOL It was over in like 10 minutes.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

There is so much M/B that it makes me sick. Haha. I always hated the thought of them together. Besides, B/J were SO meant to be with each other. Just look what their initials could stand for!!

Miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiikey!!! Come on, how can you hate Michael/Brian? Thereloveissounrequited!

God, Brian and Justin got on my LAST nerve!!! Eeeee! The lesbians also got on my last nerve. Deb I could take or leave. Justin I could take or leave. LOVED Brian. Gale Harold was just too beautiful in that role. Gorgeous!

Michael's hot boyfriend was...YOWZA, loved him. Loved Emmett and his football boy, and I enjoyed Ted once he got his act together.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

I just FF through everything that wasn't JC. LOL It was over in like 10 minutes.

ROFL! If he's ever on again, that'll be my plan. ;-)

[mirroredimage.livejournal.com]

See, for me, Mikey was that friend that hung out with your group, but everyone in your group secretly hated. He's the one that got on your every last nerve for being so pathetically in love when he knew nothing would ever happen. And he was always in everyone's business.

I loved Brian. Jackass he may be, but he was so real. Justin was just fun and he got annoying at times, but I liked him in the middle seasons when he learned who he was and stuck up for himself.

I hated Deb with a passion. The lesbians should never have been put onto that show. I was indifferent towards Ted. Emmett was wonderful throughout all 5 seasons, I have to admit. I thought Jen Taylor was the best thing ever once she got over the "Holy crap, my son's gay" time frame.

But Mikey. Ugh.

LoL.

[musiclover03.livejournal.com]

Nothing wrong with participating in an active fandom... popslash has its good days. He will.. and Chris too. We'll finally get the albums we've been waiting for :)

[dick-grayson.livejournal.com]

My first fandom was Highlander, then I moved onto The Sentinel, and then found popslash. I came late to Firefly and SGA, but I stil keep an eye on the fic for the former and the episodes for the latter (not a McKay/Sheppard shipper, so not a big consumer of fic). These days, I mostly keep a toe in the House fandom, but more for the episode/character discussion and not for the slash (not a House/Wilson shipper either). And I'm definitely into Torchwood, which is probably my main obsession at the moment. I occasionally dabble in SPN, Doctor Who, and CSI, but only if something particularly catches my interest. Despite my fandom diversity, I don't think I've changed my flist much since I joined LJ, which probably means I'm missing out on meeting new people, but I really do enjoy the company of ye olde popslash buddies, even if a lot of them have moved into fandoms that don't interest me much. More than you probably wanted to know (and I'm sure I've left something out!), but there you go.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

Two years in X-Files, two years in Sentinel, over six years in popslash. I'm very mono-fandom. I can read all sorts of stuff, but to care enough to squee and write, one at a time, baby.

How do I know when it's time to move on? I dunno, it just happens. I thought I'd never move on from popslash, because nothing I saw elsewhere made that click happen in my head.

I gave SGA a look, because half my flist went there from pop - nope, nada. Bandslash, I am way too old, but I'm happy it makes so many people happy.

I gave Supernatural a try, and wasn't impressed, tried again and all of a sudden found myself caring desperately about Sam and Dean. It just happened, no idea how or why. After that switch happens, I think, wow, this is so obvious, what took me so long and why can't EVERYONE ELSE SEE IT?

Popslash will always be the fandom of my heart, though.

[brighton-girl.livejournal.com]

*NSYNC has been it for me. Sure I have liked other groups, etc. But nothing has ever caught and kept my attention like these 5 men. I've tried to read SPN, because some great writers went there...but I don't watch the show so it doesn't do anything for me.

Bandom is fine, the guys in those groups practically act out canon for the fans, so I can see the appeal. But you know I actually loved *NSYNC's music, and I haven't really found one of the new bands where I can get into their music.

So it will probably always be popslash for me, until it all just disappears.

[silveryscrape.livejournal.com]

The only other fandom love I've had is XF. I read and read and read, and watched until Doggett and Reyes showed up, and lurked the newsgroups and websites, until suddenly I realized I'd read everything and was sick of hearing about how Chris Carter had ruined his own show, even though it's true. Ha. I can still remember the day I was sort of listlessly clicking through Torch's page, debating reading Ghosts and Lovers for the millionth times, when I decided out of boredom to read The Grapefruit Gurus, and boom. Next thing you know, I was googling up the guys and wondering over JC and buying dvds at Barnes & Noble, and then, livejournal.

So, for me fandom is mostly fiction based, but I have to love the source, too... which leaves out SPN, for me, and Bandom, and I just don't watch SGA past the first couple of seasons. And even then I haven't ever felt that rush of fascination like I had with Nsync (and XF), and truthfully I also don't really feel like I have to have that, anymore. XF was my first fandom, and with Nsync I found lj and going to fandom events, and I suspect to feel that kind of fandom love again I'll have to have a whole new experience. For the stuff that's popular now, well. Been there, done that, you know? And none of it's as interesting as Nsync. Bottom line, I guess.

Sounds kind of sad! But it isn't, not so much. I'm happy to keep an eye on JC and Chris and wait for Justin's next record, too. And when RL people talk about Joey & Lance, which they sometimes do, I get a secret thrill. Well, not so secret - it's amazing (or not) how many people you come across who're like "Oh, Nsync, I loved them!" :)

Great question.

[madelf.livejournal.com]

I always tend to just drift in and out of fandoms. I went from Buffy slash to nsync slash, and while I was somewhat active in both, I fizzled out on them after Buffy started annoying me and Nsync split up. I still read in both, particularly favourite Nsync stories, as they never fail to cheer me up when I'm feeling down.

After that, it was Harry Potter for quite awhile. I stopped being active in fandom after HBP, though, mostly because the books started pissing me off and I needed to take a step back. I don't think I could ever write for it again, but I still read.

I had a brief fling with QaF, but I was a Brian/Michael person, so the fandom really got me down. When the show went completely downhill, I stopped bothering.

I also had a short brush with Veronica Mars fandom, but I never got involved. Another case where canon started to bother me enough that I needed to step back.

Now, I mostly hang out in Doctor Who fandom. It's the first fandom I've ever used my personal lj for - prior to that, I just started a new journal when I joined a new fandom. Filters are brilliant.

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

My first fandom was Highlander, then I moved onto The Sentinel, and then found popslash. I came late to Firefly and SGA, but I stil keep an eye on the fic for the former and the episodes for the latter (not a McKay/Sheppard shipper, so not a big consumer of fic).

Wow, I just realized that I forgot about the mountains of SG-1 fic I've consumed! I've written a few stories but again, other than reading a lot of Jack/Daniel (Daniel!), I haven't really been *in* the fandom. I was a major Daniel/Cameron when Mitchell showed up, but writers didn't embrace him the way I thought they would, and after the crappy way Jack treated Daniel for a few seasons there, I couldn't read about them as a couple anymore. ;-p Plus, Cameron! Shiny! :-D

McShep. OMG, 'nuff said. Sadly, Ronon/Sheppard is sadly lacking, which I absolutely cannot understand, given the glorious golden gorgeousness of Jason Mamoa. Ronon is absolutely adorable. Less McShep, more ShepDex, dammit!

Firefly/Serenity! Yay! Once again firmly in swimming upstream mode, I absolutely LOVE Malcolm/Zoe. Talk about a rare pairing, MY GOD. Another one I don't understand, given the onscreen hotness and chemistry of the two. With the backstory we've been given for the two of them, you'd think more people would have explored the possibility of them hooking up after Wash died (or even before, I'm not picky). Sadly, the workings of the fandom brain seriously elude me.

Despite my fandom diversity, I don't think I've changed my flist much since I joined LJ, which probably means I'm missing out on meeting new people, but I really do enjoy the company of ye olde popslash buddies, even if a lot of them have moved into fandoms that don't interest me much. More than you probably wanted to know (and I'm sure I've left something out!), but there you go.

Actually, that's exactly what I wanted to know! Thanks for sharing. :-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

And I'm definitely into Torchwood, which is probably my main obsession at the moment. I occasionally dabble in SPN, Doctor Who, and CSI,

And I meant to ask...what's a good Torchwood community? I'm trying to find a home before season two gets underway. Seeing how I'm fit to bust with excitement and squee, I'd like to find one that's Martha-friendly. :-)

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

I gave Supernatural a try, and wasn't impressed, tried again and all of a sudden found myself caring desperately about Sam and Dean. It just happened, no idea how or why. After that switch happens, I think, wow, this is so obvious, what took me so long and why can't EVERYONE ELSE SEE IT?

LOL! I've never seen an episode; I'll have to DVR an ep and give it a look. Whee! Starting in four minutes. I'll finally see what everyone's been squeeing about. :-)


Popslash will always be the fandom of my heart, though.

I got lucky twice, first with Hercules and then with popslash. Of the two though, I'd say that NSync/popslash has been the more amazing ride!

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

*NSYNC has been it for me. Sure I have liked other groups, etc. But nothing has ever caught and kept my attention like these 5 men.

Yes and yes! I loved the group, the guys, *and* the music. I could appreciate their talent, the concerts, JC's earnestness in interviews... :-)

Bandom is fine [snip] But you know I actually loved *NSYNC's music, and I haven't really found one of the new bands where I can get into their music.

Again, yes. ::nods enthusiastically::

[foxmonkey.livejournal.com]

I haven't ever felt that rush of fascination like I had with Nsync

Yes! I remember when I first saw people making fun of JC, I'm like, who? Googled him, fell in love with him IMMEDIATELY, and the rest is history. :-) The more I knew about them the more I wanted to know. I probably chewed my way through a hundred or so NSync sites that first day! Talk about sudden, mad, unholy love. ;-)


with Nsync I found lj and going to fandom events, and I suspect to feel that kind of fandom love again I'll have to have a whole new experience. [snip] And none of it's as interesting as Nsync. Bottom line, I guess.

I'm really enjoying Doctor Who, even though there are some "Chris Carter had ruined his own show" elements on the production side of things. Still, I'm enjoying it enough right now that I can overlook some of the negative stuff.

[withdiamonds.livejournal.com]

Tonight's ep is...interesting. Not a bad one to start with, not a great one.

Popslash is amazing because the guys are amazing, and so are the people in the fandom.

[dick-grayson.livejournal.com]

Do you want a fic community or a general discussion community? I check out TWoP for discussion, but it's divided up into a UK thread and a U.S. thread (which aren't in the same place, as the UK thread falls under the Doctor Who threads). There are a number of LJ comms -- you might want to start with torch_wood, which has a gazillion tags so you can look for anything you like. They also feature a big list of links to all things Torchwood on the right side of the main page. As for Martha, I haven't really seen any negative comments about her among the Torchwood crowd, but I can't say that I know of any sites that are specifically Martha-on-Torchwood and friendly. If you like the character, though, Freema's site (freemaagyeman.com) is a good starting point for all things Martha.