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timepiececlockI was browsing this old Mega Rec List for Cowboy Bebop fanfiction and idly skimmed some old fics, and it reminded me of how much I miss certain fandoms that I'm not active in anymore. I miss CB fanfic in particular, which I was seriously into in my senior year of high school and first two years of college. I adored ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
fayeandspike, which barely gets any activity now. Just like I used to be seriously into the Vash/Meryl segment of Trigun fandom.
Anyway, while browsing all this great old CB fic with its massive epic chapter fics and its insane resurrection storylines and the incredible talent base of Bebop fandom and the Spike/Faye faction in particular, I had a terrible, gasping moment of regretful nostalgia. And I know exactly what it is.
I miss being in an adult fandom.
It happens, just because things do, that the fandom I'm most active in right now is a youth-based fandom. It's not my first (I spent quite a lot of time in HP fandom, and various anime series), but it's the one I'm into now that I've been involved in for the past two years. It's been longer-lasting for me than even Doctor Who, which suffers because you only get 13 episodes a year.
It's not the fact that ATLA fans are young that's particularly the issue I'm brooding over tonight (many of them are my age or older)... it's that the characters are young. For the last two years I've been writing fic about teenagers, be it ATLA or Harry Potter or Naruto or FMA or Veronica Mars or even DW's Rose Tyler who is, for all her wisdom, only twenty at best.
Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Buffy... these were shows about adult characters and thus allowed for adult situations. I don't just mean sexualized stuff, I mean adult on all levels and in a variety of contexts. I haven't been "into" a fandom with a full adult cast in a long time, be it television or anime. Even in series like HP, Naruto, or Fruits Basket the adult characters are secondary and often less-developed supporting characters rather than a driving force in the story.
I need something new to get into, something that inspires me to fangirl it like crazy and also something that puts out mature, elegant, quality fanfic on a huge level. While there's good and bad fic in every fandom, the range *does* differ, and the styles or modes each fandom culture puts out differ as well. ATLA fandom, for all that I love it, doesn't have as much high-quality fic as I would like to read, or as I've found in other fandoms before it, even reading multiple pairings.
Also, I want to have a cool, fun series that makes me love it AND makes me fic it (I don't fic every show I love) that isn't about teenagers.
The only problem is that all the good and really popular anime I've come across in the last two years is about teenagers, and most of the live-action tv shows from America or the UK just don't inspire serious fangirlism in me. I may watch Robin Hood or BSG or Sarah Connor Chronicles but I'm not, if you care to notice, particularly fannish crazy for them. And I've zero desire to fic them.
Ah, woe is me! Whining about a lack of well-written serious fanfic is always a good way to end your day.... because tomorrow or next week you just MIGHT discover a previously unread epic drama that takes your breath away with its style, sophistication, and panache. It could happen!
fayeandspike, which barely gets any activity now. Just like I used to be seriously into the Vash/Meryl segment of Trigun fandom.Anyway, while browsing all this great old CB fic with its massive epic chapter fics and its insane resurrection storylines and the incredible talent base of Bebop fandom and the Spike/Faye faction in particular, I had a terrible, gasping moment of regretful nostalgia. And I know exactly what it is.
I miss being in an adult fandom.
It happens, just because things do, that the fandom I'm most active in right now is a youth-based fandom. It's not my first (I spent quite a lot of time in HP fandom, and various anime series), but it's the one I'm into now that I've been involved in for the past two years. It's been longer-lasting for me than even Doctor Who, which suffers because you only get 13 episodes a year.
It's not the fact that ATLA fans are young that's particularly the issue I'm brooding over tonight (many of them are my age or older)... it's that the characters are young. For the last two years I've been writing fic about teenagers, be it ATLA or Harry Potter or Naruto or FMA or Veronica Mars or even DW's Rose Tyler who is, for all her wisdom, only twenty at best.
Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Buffy... these were shows about adult characters and thus allowed for adult situations. I don't just mean sexualized stuff, I mean adult on all levels and in a variety of contexts. I haven't been "into" a fandom with a full adult cast in a long time, be it television or anime. Even in series like HP, Naruto, or Fruits Basket the adult characters are secondary and often less-developed supporting characters rather than a driving force in the story.
I need something new to get into, something that inspires me to fangirl it like crazy and also something that puts out mature, elegant, quality fanfic on a huge level. While there's good and bad fic in every fandom, the range *does* differ, and the styles or modes each fandom culture puts out differ as well. ATLA fandom, for all that I love it, doesn't have as much high-quality fic as I would like to read, or as I've found in other fandoms before it, even reading multiple pairings.
Also, I want to have a cool, fun series that makes me love it AND makes me fic it (I don't fic every show I love) that isn't about teenagers.
The only problem is that all the good and really popular anime I've come across in the last two years is about teenagers, and most of the live-action tv shows from America or the UK just don't inspire serious fangirlism in me. I may watch Robin Hood or BSG or Sarah Connor Chronicles but I'm not, if you care to notice, particularly fannish crazy for them. And I've zero desire to fic them.
Ah, woe is me! Whining about a lack of well-written serious fanfic is always a good way to end your day.... because tomorrow or next week you just MIGHT discover a previously unread epic drama that takes your breath away with its style, sophistication, and panache. It could happen!
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one more time
Date: 2008-03-29 07:29 am (UTC)Sounds pretty cool. I love getting recs from you cause you talk about the kind of things I want to know ahead of time, and even though I didn't get into the last one, it was really a taste issue-- it wasn't a *bad* show or anything. I just didn't end up being into it.
I'll check this out, though. I've seen that title floating around, never looked at it yet. When I watch it I'll make sure to post or tell you.