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rsadelleSome enterprising friends (accidentally, I think) recently got me into bandom. I was jokingly thinking that I was always three years (or so) late to every fandom party, and then I started to think about it more seriously. I think the only fandoms I've ever been in just as they were taking off were DamonAffleck and lotrips. (Also, what you may not know because I spent a lot of time resisting popslash is that I read popslash way before it was in for fangirls. I have no idea why I started reading the boy bands category at Nifty, but read it I did, and before I went abroad for the summer of 2000, which means before it really became a thing with fangirls, and I stopped after it became a fannish thing. What can I say? I can be stubbornly opposed to other people's fandoms for no real reason other than that I'm contrary that way.)
The good thing about coming into a fandom late is that there's a lot to read. And bandom appears to be a gigantic fandom with a lot to read. The same thing was true of J2, Sentinel, Buffy, etc.
The bad thing about coming into a fandom late is that there's a real loss of fannish interactivity. First of all, I've missed out on a lot. My source for all things bandom (read:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
schuyler) pointed me toward Panic's Rolling Stone interview, and there are at least two moments in there that fangirls must have flipped out about (Brendon trying to cajole Ryan out of being mad, which must have been the basis for at least a dozen fics about how "Brendon never remembers the difference between public and private," and Spencer and Ryan looking at each other in a way that, if you separated them horizontally just a bit, is the exact same look in every engagement announcement ever), and while I'm entertained now, I know what I'm missing by watching it in isolation.
Secondly, I've been reading mostly J2 for a couple of months, and I've gotten in the habit of emailing story recs to the friends who I know read it, but three of them have been in bandom forever and have probably read everything already, and the other one is not into bandom. (I've sent her a giant email of fic links, but I don't think bandom is going to be her thing.) I really liked being able to pass recs back and forth and talk about them.
Thirdly, I feel vaguely guilty about it all. I keep thinking that people are going to be like, "You've been ignoring everything bandom for years, and now you're interested?" (Even thoughschuyler assured me that it's always fun to share it with someone new.) I also just want to make lists of questions and ask them (like has anyone ever asked Spencer what's up with the beard?), but I know I should just google for myself first, but I'm not quite invested enough to make that kind of effort.
The good thing about coming into a fandom late is that there's a lot to read. And bandom appears to be a gigantic fandom with a lot to read. The same thing was true of J2, Sentinel, Buffy, etc.
The bad thing about coming into a fandom late is that there's a real loss of fannish interactivity. First of all, I've missed out on a lot. My source for all things bandom (read:
schuyler) pointed me toward Panic's Rolling Stone interview, and there are at least two moments in there that fangirls must have flipped out about (Brendon trying to cajole Ryan out of being mad, which must have been the basis for at least a dozen fics about how "Brendon never remembers the difference between public and private," and Spencer and Ryan looking at each other in a way that, if you separated them horizontally just a bit, is the exact same look in every engagement announcement ever), and while I'm entertained now, I know what I'm missing by watching it in isolation.Secondly, I've been reading mostly J2 for a couple of months, and I've gotten in the habit of emailing story recs to the friends who I know read it, but three of them have been in bandom forever and have probably read everything already, and the other one is not into bandom. (I've sent her a giant email of fic links, but I don't think bandom is going to be her thing.) I really liked being able to pass recs back and forth and talk about them.
Thirdly, I feel vaguely guilty about it all. I keep thinking that people are going to be like, "You've been ignoring everything bandom for years, and now you're interested?" (Even though
schuyler assured me that it's always fun to share it with someone new.) I also just want to make lists of questions and ask them (like has anyone ever asked Spencer what's up with the beard?), but I know I should just google for myself first, but I'm not quite invested enough to make that kind of effort.