fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2529 ]

[ SECRET POST #2529 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2529 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[Babylon 5, Art by A-gnosis]

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03.

[HGTV]

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04.

[Boy Meets World]

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05.

[Doctor Who, "Day of the Doctor"]

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06.

[Battlestar Galactica]

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07.

[Brian Cox, Jim Al-Khalili]

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08.

[Doctor Who]

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09.

[Top Gun]

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10.

[Once Upon a Time in Wonderland]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 017 secrets from Secret Submission Post #361.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 2 - posted twice ], [ 1 - ships it ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I don't know about you, but I'm always way too amused when my SO talks about fandom things with me because he's not in fandom and kind of regards as something both interesting and something stupid and terrible.

I was reading him a fic the other day and he we so surprised that it was good. Like, when I tell you the fic I'm reading is 200k words, do you think I spend several hours reading something bad?

He knows enough about how fandom works to ask what the portmanteau for Arthur/Melin was. I didn't know know at the time, so he's decided to call the ship Arthlin, though I told him later it's (lamentably) Merthur.

It's stupid to find this so hilarious, but whatever. Tell me tales of your non-fandom buddies talking to you about fandom things.

The couple times I've tried to discuss an aspect of fandom with non-fandom people, it's been really awkward. It was always the person overhearing me talking about it to a friend and asking what we were discussing. I don't do it anymore.

I get that too. When my friends who aren't into those types of things ask me about geeky stuff I'm into I'm always a bit awkward trying to explain.

But then there was the time someone mentioned Kirk and Spock being lovers and I squealed like weirdo and proclaimed how much I love them together.

"HEY CHARDMONSTER, DO YOU KNOW WHAT STEAMPUNK IS?" --ChardMom

I know that's not directly a fandom thing, but my mom isn't in "fandom" but into geeky stuff (she was the one who got me into Trek and Buffy and has seen way more Doctor Who than me) so it gets kind of amusing.

Edited 2013-12-06 00:52 (UTC)

My mom likes Buffy, but she's more into supernatural stuff as opposed to sci-fi. We watch a lot of shitty ghost movies when she visits

Ha, your husband sounds cute.

As for me, I generally don't like to because the people I talk to tend to be so weirded out by it. It's something they can laugh at, and while I can generally laugh with them because fandom can be crazy, it gets tiring and I stop caring after about five minutes of the conversation.

He used to be weirded out and make fun of me way back when we were first together. But, he's just recently, like in the last year or so, gotten into shipping. I think he ships his OTPs harder than I do sometimes. I'm a bad influence.

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

forgottenjester - 2013-12-06 01:12 (UTC) - Expand

a lot of people assume that because I'm female and sort of into fandom that I must be into shipping and slash pairings specifically and ask me questions pertained to these. Not that I've never shipped anything let alone slash pairings, but neither are or were a huge thing to me? While I do believe many people have had slash/yaoi 'phases,' I never had one and some people don't believe me.

I don't even read fic all that much.. am I doing fandom wrong?

Nah, besides being asked about fandom stuff, you sound similar to my experience in fandom. Never had a slash/yaoi phrase, never shipped stuff, or read much fic.

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 04:56 (UTC) - Expand

What I tend to get are people who assume that because I love sci-fi/fantasy and am in fandom that sci-fi/fantasy is, like, my entire life. Once, I was with a friend at a thrift store and she found a Star Trek action figure and said "Hey, here's something for you! Oh, wait, you probably already have this one, don't you?" I just gaped at her, because I had never in my life owned an action figure or felt a desire to start collecting any. She knew I liked Star Trek, but I had never given any indication that I owned or wanted any Star Trek paraphernalia. Then there was the time a distant relative expressed amazement that I was reading a non-fiction book because "I thought you liked science fiction." Yeah, but not to the exclusion of everything else. I like sci-fi and fantasy... and sometimes I read cooking magazines and watch popular sitcoms and go to see movies that don't have dragons or robots in them! It happens!

Somehow, being a sci-fi fan became my one defining trait for some people.

Yeah, I kind of feel that way too. Like my friends know I like certain things, but they seem to think it's literally the only thing I like.

That sounds annoying. I don't even read paperback sci-fi books at work anymore because people would ask me what I was reading and then give me a weird look when I said it was about aliens and spaceships. I should bring one of my dinosaurs in space books and see the look I get when I explain it's about dinosaurs AND spaceships.

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 01:12 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

fingalsanteater - 2013-12-06 01:26 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 01:31 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 01:57 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

queerwolf - 2013-12-06 01:18 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

fingalsanteater - 2013-12-06 01:26 (UTC) - Expand

oh, and if you're into one sci-fi/fantasy work, you're into all of them, ever. I love sci-fi horror, but people keep thinking I love Firefly and Star Trek, neither of which I could get into.

Sometimes my mum asks me & my sister about internet things.
Like:

"What's a meme?"
"What's steampunk?"
"What's shipping?"

the ones related to 18+ stuff are so, so awkward to try and explain. Now I understand how she must have felt when giving me "the talk".

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

cassandraoftroy - 2013-12-06 01:46 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 02:53 (UTC) - Expand

This one time my parents asked me about 50 Shades of Grey, not because they know I'm in fandom, but because they know I read a LOT of books (although I haven't read those travesties and never will).

That was an awkward conversation.

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

fingalsanteater - 2013-12-06 01:12 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

weaselbee - 2013-12-06 01:15 (UTC) - Expand

Reading one of the newspaper articles about the popularity of Harry Potter, in which was mentioned this odd little thing called "fan fiction" and the many forms it can take, my mom went on a rant... "I can't believe some people out there! What on Earth gives them the idea to write those kinds of stories about the Harry Potter characters? They're just kids! The books are for kids! [Bunch of perverts etc etc]!"

I could have said so much, but I just silently went, heh.

I usually don't talk about fandom things to people unless they're in fandom themselves. I hate explaining things to people and I'd rather have mutal discourse about something else.

My mom tho, is kinda fandomy but not. Like she KNOWS fandom stuff and will randomly bring it up, but doesn't participate in fandom. It kinda blows my mind sometimes. She knows a lot about Supernatural fandom and DW. She also called Yugi "bondage boy" when I was into YuGiOh when I was younger, and she watched DBZ with me.

She knows all about fic and art, but stays away from it. She likes talking about fandom going-ons with me too. I feel like I have to shelter her from the darker things in fandom tho as she's a gentle soul.

TL;DR My mom isn't in fandom but has learned about fandom through osmosis and keeps up with it for me.

Edited 2013-12-06 01:31 (UTC)

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com - 2013-12-06 04:40 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

sootyowl - 2013-12-06 06:02 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

mimi-sardinia.livejournal.com - 2013-12-06 06:28 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

sootyowl - 2013-12-06 06:39 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

(Anonymous) - 2013-12-06 05:04 (UTC) - Expand

Re: When people not in fandom ask you about fandom things

sootyowl - 2013-12-06 06:04 (UTC) - Expand

My bf asked me about shipping when we were having a conversation about fandom and I dropped the word in without thinking, I think he got what it was about but I'm not sure he really understands it either. I don't talk to him about fandom very much but he knows I'm in it and that I read fanfic, he also likes to make a game out of guessing my ships. Most of the time he is completely off but he's gotten one right so far.

I find it very funny that, back in the 80's, when I was writing my cousin letters and gushing over Doctor Who, and other SF fandom stuff, she was horrified, and wishing I wasn't sending that kind of letter to her.

Now, 30 years later, she's on FB, gushing about Doctor Who, and SF fandom stuff, and how amazing it all is, and why didn't anyone tell her earlier about how great it all is.

My mom knows fandom stuff. She doesn't participate in it online, but she's a convention-goer and was a '70s Trekkie who helped establish the RHPS dress-up tradition. But she's a bit behind the times with some technological stuff. She is constantly asking definitions of what various popular websites are, especially if there's any social media aspect. I think I've had to explain tumblr like 6 times...

My mom calls me up all the time if she's watching a TV shows and thinks two dudes on the TV show are really shippy because she knows I ship a lot of slash ships. It's pretty cute.

Outside of one very specific context, I don't talk about fandom with friends.

The only buddies I have who aren't fandomites in some shape or form are family and coworkers. I kind of keep things on the down-low from both. My sister and one of my coworkers both used to write fic, but now they see it as a "that thing that only middle schoolers do" so I don't really bring up the fact that I still write it.

I had to explain to my boss what a Let's Play was after I was talking to some gamer coworkers about making one. I don't really think he got the concept even after all three of us tried explaining.

It's becoming more and more of a thing, since my dad is slowly starting to like more geeky things and he's started reading reddit.

Just last month on the Daily Show he heard Jon say the word 'fangirling', and he paused the TV for a second to ask me what that was. I explained it, but the worst thing is not only has he told other people about it, but he uses it wrong. It's both adorable and embarassing at the same time.

It gets even worse when he asks why something on the internet, like twitter, is so damn popular/what use does it have, and I have to respond that I have no goddamn clue. And then he's like 'But [name] this is your generation's stuff, how do you not know?' and I say 'Dad a lot of people of my generation like stupid shit, don't ask me why cuz I don't get it either'.

If I talk about Fandom stuff to someone non-Fandom, I usually don't go into detail. I might occasionally explain what fanfic is, what RP is, but going as far as to bring up slash? Not usually.

Actually, just last Wednesday I was in for one of my regular (3 monthly) appointments at a hospital clinic. The head nurse asked what my latest hobby was and I mentioned I'm currently doing Twitter RP. I think she suspected it includes porn. I was amused by her reactions.

Probably the people I will bring up the most detail with is either Mum (who I live with, so she hears the most of it), and my brother Grey, who I know reads fanfic, so I feel he has some understanding.

I used to have a friend here in Brisbane who was a Fandom regular, but she moved to Tasmania. While she was up here she was someone I could talk detail with.

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