Fandom from afar

[dolorosa_12]

We're nearing the end of the fandom meme — Day Twenty-Five:

Y: What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)?

At the moment it's definitely The Untamed and Guardian — I'd say a good 70 per cent of my circle is a fan of one or both of these and heavily involved in the fandom!

This is definitely not the first time I've had these kinds of secondhand fandoms (I can remember a lot of people being into e.g. hockey RPF, the MCU, podcast dramas, Sherlock, etc etc over the years — none of which I was involved in in the slightest, with the possible exception of the Thor films in the MCU). It's always nice to see people being happily fannish in their own corners, even if it's fandoms that I'm highly unlikely to be involved in.


Z: Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go!

Comments

[auroracloud]

At the moment it's definitely The Untamed and Guardian — I'd say a good 70 per cent of my circle is a fan of one or both of these and heavily involved in the fandom!

Haha, the same! Even more because some of the fannish podcasts I listen to (especially Be the Serpent and Breaking the Glass Slipper) frequently mention them.

And yeah, I know far too much about MCU films and characters considering I've never seen one or particularly sought out articles about them etc. :-D

[dolorosa_12]

I think they're impossible to miss in most fannish spaces at the moment — and the MCU is such a monolith that even if you avoid the films you're still likely to pick up something.

[merit]

I feel like a have a beginner's knowledge of TMA or Critical Role. I just wish I had the patience for some of the longer Cdramas/Kdramas. But 70minutes plus an episode kills me.

[dolorosa_12]

Are TMA and Critical Role podcast dramas (or whatever the word is for fiction told through the medium of web recordings)? I wish I could get into stuff like that, but I cannot take in information when it is solely audio: it needs to be words on a page/screen, or moving images+audio.

I've always felt terrible about this, because my mother is a radio journalist...

[schneefink]

Clearly I haven't been posting about them enough ^^

Critical Role is a live D&D campaign: there is a podcast version, but originally it's video. It's very good, but hard to get into because there are about a hundred episodes for each of the two campaigns (the first one is finished, the second ongoing) and every episode is about 4 hours long.

TMA is a great podcast (though actually, audio drama is probably more accurate.) If you're interested in checking it out, there are transcripts available for every episode to help you follow along, and I've heard of several people who read the transcripts first and only later actually listened to the episodes.

[dolorosa_12]

Clearly I haven't been posting about them enough

Hahaha, you post about them plenty, but I have a tendency to skim over posts about fandoms I'm not in.

They both sound like a lot of fun, although a bit daunting to get into this far along (given the four-hour episodes for Critical Role!).

[schneefink]

I was just kidding, ignore all you like ^^

Critical Role is a lot. But TMA has "only" 164 episodes so far of about 20 minutes each, so totally doable :)
...though actually I'm not sure I'd rec it to you specifically. It takes quite some time until we get a focus on some good friendships, and for a long time the characters are, hm, struggling with their working relationship, let's put it that way.

[merit]

Quite! Okay, I didn't know that Critical Role's episodes were... 4 hours long?? But I guess that makes sense for a DnD campaign.

The only way I've been able to listen to audiobooks successfully, is to be moving while listening. So during chores or the commute. I find my mind unfocuses too much when it is purely audio.

[dolorosa_12]

I know, right? Four hours is ... a lot!

I suspect that's the only thing that would work for me with audiobooks/dramas. At the moment my 'commute' is walking from my bedroom to my living room, but when I'm not working from home it involves walking 45 minutes to, and 45 minutes from my library. I've always had long walking commutes, and I've always had to do them without music/audio, because I'm so vague that I get distracted and walk in front of traffic. But listening during chores might be doable.

[naye]

As one of the people guilty for spamming everyone with Guardian I can only imagine!

Though the secondhand Untamed stuff I've picked up is a lot. I had friends who were into the book and the animated series before the live action happened, and I've (rather unsuccessfully) tried to avoid spoilers ever since. (I pick up even more about shows I know I will never watch - I keep telling myself that maybe one day I will get around to The Untamed, though it's getting more and more unlikely.)

[dolorosa_12]

Ahahaha, don't worry about it! It's nice to see people being so enthusiastic, even if it is from afar.

Given what you've said in the past about being really monofannish, I would assume it's currently impossible for you to get into The Untamed unless you were to drop Guardian, so what you say makes sense. I guess it's your fandom from afar.

[naye]

I would assume it's currently impossible for you to get into The Untamed unless you were to drop Guardian, so what you say makes sense
Exactly this. I am consciously avoiding any media that has that fandom pull, because I'd really prefer to stay where I am for a while longer. If only I were slightly less monofannish, or slightly better at choosing fandoms it might be easier.

[schneefink]

The Untamed, Guardian, hockey RPF, the MCU, podcast dramas, Sherlock
I spent some time in almost all of these ^^ Or at least checked out the canon, if not fandom. I'm easily drawn in by others' excitement. And I've almost never regretted it :)

[dolorosa_12]

Yes, from the look of things, you've been having a marvellous time in all of these fandoms! I wish others' enthusiasm was enough to draw me in — it would lead to a lot more shared fandoms, if nothing else — but I generally only get drawn in by specific character dynamics/tropes, and I'm much more likely to try something new if it's a book, rather than a long TV series, which is a much greater time commitment. But it's enough for me to know that other people are having fun, even if I'm not in the same fandom(s).