Whelp, I'm bored at work and don't have many tags to do, so I think I'm just gonna babble about fandom like I was thinking of earlier.

It's interesting looking back and realizing I've been in the KH fandom for almost five years. And what's more, I still don't see any intention of falling out of it in the future...even though the canon has gone through a whole ton of weirdo stages and expanded far beyond what the first game was. I've decided my policy will be that as long as I continue to have fun, I'll keep enjoying the games and fandom. I'm still having fun right now, so I'm still in the fandom. Who knows how that'll be after KH3...just taking it one game at a time.

I first got in around when CoM came out, since I had JUST finished playing a friend's copy of KH1 before then. CoM really got me all excited, so I started in on fanart, and then fanfic and more. I think it helped on my art, and is still helping, since fanart has always been a great motivator to work on developing art skills that I wouldn't otherwise. And then I got into KHFFR, where there were a whole bunch of cool people, and got into the ranting/sporking side of things. To be honest, I'm really glad that I did that. I made a bunch of friends through KHFFR and other such places, friends that I still have today and even got to hang out with in real life! And that, I'm not gonna lie, has been pretty dang awesome. I wouldn't trade the friends I've made here for anything.

Although when I first got into the fandom and was doing more ranting stuff, I was also WAY more passionate about fans screwing up the characters or just doing poor work, and got way more angry about it. Like, it would just piss me off a lot how stupid people were being about certain things, because I cared so much.

And a whole bunch of games have happened inbetween entering the fandom at CoM, and now...definitely a lot of changes to the canon. Since then, while there is still stupidity, I've found that it just doesn't bother me as much any more. Part of it may be I've just gotten used to it and have found it's really not worth the worry...much easier to laugh at people being stupid and move on than to get really angry about it. And the stuff that seemed so important and BAD before doesn't seem all that big now. Part of it may also be that I've sort of...closed my fandom circle more? I post stuff here on my LJ and a lot on my dA, which is where I think most people watch me. But that is mostly regulated to me posting my fic, art, silly comics and LPs. But most of my discussion about the games themselves goes on on my Plurk, with friends over IM, or with what goes on in the RPs I'm in. I don't do things like visit the kinkmeme or the anonmeme or trawl ff.net. And in that sense, it's made fandom a lot easier on me. I pretty much never worry about wank, and just focus on the things that I enjoy doing the most.

The one thing I worry about with being more insular now in the fandom is that while I don't worry much about wank or problems, I know it's also harder for me to make new fandom friends. I feel comfortable now with the group of people I know, but I may be cutting myself off from a potential good friend; I don't know. But I guess that's true of most anything in life.

There's no way of knowing how the future will go, but for now, I'm pretty content doing what I am now...discussing and freaking out with my circle of friends, RPing with friends, doing the LP, drawing and comicing, and the occasional fic. And as long as I'm open to new friendships, I think that's how it should be.

It's also rather interesting comparing what I'm doing with KH fandom now with how X-Files fandom went when I was in high school. On the one hand, I feel like I do much better on my art and fic than I did when in X-Files, and that I've also made a LOT more friends in this fandom. My X-Files fandom friends, while they are still my super-biffles today, I pretty much only had IRL. On the other hand, I think I had a LOT more freedom to experiment and do whatever I wanted in X-Files.

But expanding on that, I think part of that may have also been the "format" that fandom manifested in. Back in the X-Files days, there was no centralized fandom social network or focus. You pretty much made your own websites using Angelfire or Geocities, or actually paid for a real good one, and provided all your own content. If you wanted to discuss things, you used something like Yahoo Groups or old forum sites. So while I did fanfic and fanart, I also went all-out and did whatever the heck I really wanted in X-Files. There was a lot more room for creativity there.

It's interesting, because I think X-Files had TRUE BNFs as they should really be understood (and lol, I was not one of them. I just worshipped them like everyone else did...I think the idea of BNF has become diluted over the years.) Also, looking back at the history of it, I think X-Files may have been one of the wankiest fandoms in the history of all fandom. Just back then, there was no central communication, so I was never aware of it while it was going on.

Compare that to nowadays, where fandom is pretty heavily centralized and compartmentalized due to things like dA, LJ, wank comms and anon memes. (Although now, things have more moved to Plurk and Tumblr.) You pretty much just work in news, fic, art, video, RP, LP or cosplay, and it's hard to think of stuff venturing out of those areas now.

Is it better or worse? I don't think it's either...it's just different. And I suppose things will continue to change as the internet and fandom culture and people change. But as long as I continue to have fun in some form or other, I think I can stick with it.

The most recent rant at KHFFR has made me think of maybe babbling about how KH fandom has changed for me over the years...how I'm still in it, and still enjoying it, but have just changed on how I interact with it and my general thoughts on it. This is definitely the longest fandom I've been in...my other longest one being X-Files, which may also be fun to babble about in comparison to the KH fandom. Dunno if anyone care about my babble, though. |Da

In any case, fandom musings seem way preferable to thinking too much about real life, which is just depressing me lately. I need to really take a long vacation from politics and maybe just news in general. 8( At least work is going okay, despite sudden really annoying parking problems.

Anyways! It's time to share some LP and art with you!





( All Hearts - Queen Minnie, and Chip and Dale )

( Under-covers drawings 195-200 )

Aaaand that's 200 waking-up drawings! :D Can't believe I've done that many...

Drawing: A gift art, and need to start planning out storyboards

Writing: iJAG stuff is going good!

New page for Lunargyros is up today! Blar transition pages. I am so behind on pages, arrgh. D:

WHY CAN'T I STOP WATCHING THIS


I was thinking of making a fandom secret, except then I remembered that going anon makes me really uncomfortable, so I thought I'd just make a discussion out of it instead. (Maybe I'll make a discussion out of the whole anon idea later). I've been thinking about this idea of "elitism" in fandom (and consequently, I guess it's opposite of "fanbrattiness") and how the terms are thrown around a LOT. And probably in both cases they don't really apply as often as people think; it's almost to the point where it feels like fans have to be one or the other. I'm finding it especially weird how "elitism" has developed SUCH a negative connotation on it, when I'm not certain it was always that way. I suspect "fanbrat" has always had the negative connotation. :/

What makes someone (or something, like a community) "elitist" in fandom? What's the difference between being an elitist and just being a highly active member of a fandom? Why does it become such a bad thing to people? Does it have to do with what people perceive/expect from fandom BNFs? Is it the activities people engage in, or what pairings/story interests they talk and write about, or how they treat others? How is it all that different, or worse than, "fanbrattiness"? How does perceived fandom popularity link into being an elitist or a fanbrat? Once fandom at large has a perception of someone as either a fanbrat or an elitist, is it even possible to change their minds? Is it worth it?

I'm curious to hear your thoughts, flist and others! And you can work from whatever fandom you're most into, or even forget fandom completely and say how you think it works in The World At Large.


Drawing: Worked summore on revising 'boards yesterday.

Writing: Schtuff

First off, I am pimping this one more time, just in case anyone missed it:

If you're in the Kingdom Hearts fandom and also write/draw/create original works, come on and join awalkinandante! It's made for KH fans and friends to share their original works and encourage development on new ideas. :D Coooome join, 'tis awesome!


And now, I catch up on all the memes I got roped into:

From Shi:

Comment here and I will reply to you and tell you what icon of yours I associate with you. Once I reply, please repost this in your own journal, because I want to know what icon you associate with me.

From Tegu: Respond to this post, and...

1. I'll respond with something random about you.
2. I'll challenge you to try something.
3. I'll pick a colour that I associate with you.
4. I'll tell you something I like about you.
5. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory about you.
6. I'll tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll ask you something I've always wanted to ask you.
8. You must post this in your journal.

Drawing: Various commissions and giftarts need to be colored.

Writing: Finished that sporking!

So there's onoes teh KHFFR drama. What else is new? In barely-related news, I'm GIVING IN and doing this meme, since it seems most my flist is. I suck at these kinds of memes...maybe you will suck less?!

Summarize 10 of your fandoms in one sentence, then see who on your friend's list can guess each fandom.

1) A couple of drumsticks doesn't make him a killer!
2) Don't mess with leaf-bugs, they may have enormous big brothers.
3) You haven't traveled 'till you've traveled by candy spaceship.
4) Your clan's been transported back in time. And to AVALON.
5) It's always MORTAL PERIL o'clock somewhere.
6) When visiting the beach, watch out for sharkbirds.
7) It's the adventures of Moose and Squirrel!
8) This coffee-maker enables time travel.
9) Finders keepers, losers dead.
10) :Db IT STINKS!


Goooo for it!

Damn you all to hell! Why do you have to pick the absolute worst time ...group project due tomorrow that we're nowhere near having done, final project for Maya that looks like crap, extra class and presentation tomorrow evening, packing our house as chobit001 moves in... to completely explode?!

Between this whole WfI mess, mass paranoia on LJ, just coming out of FanLib, and now anonymizers in KHFFR? MY PRODUCTIVITY IS DOOMED. Doomed, I say! And why is the server not robust?! And dammit, as soon as lab is done it'll probably be a whole 'nother six hours of lunch and class and projects and traffic before I can find out more of what the heck is happening!

Than again, maybe I really need to step away from the computer for a bit...

FYI, I'm not changing my interests or deleting any of my icons or banners. As far as I can tell, none of my stuff is questionable, and if anyone thinks it is, they're a few fries short of a Happy Meal. I am paranoid, but I'm doing my darndest not to actually act on it. My prediction/hope is that by the time the weekend rolls around, this will actually be settled and fandom will move on.


...Guh, yeah, I promise I'll post something actually cool and non-freaky later. In the meanwhile, have a new Lunargyros page. It's fuzzy!

I would post this on deviantART, since that's where it actually belongs, but I'm a bit afraid it would create drama. So, I vent here instead. And I won't give specifics, just because.

I'd been watching a particular artist for a bit, because they had some ridiculously cute fanart. They weren't mind-blowing, but still quite good, and a thankfully unique style from most KH art out there. So, I friended them on dA.

And then, just today, I noticed one of the dA clubs they listed was a club that I absolutely despise. Like, goes beyond just normal fandom irritation that I can shake off, because hey, fandom is fandom. This club pisses me off with its unbelievable stupidity so badly that it literally speeds up my heart rate; gets me in fight or flight mode. A stupid thing to get so worked up over? Definitely. But it just gets under my skin in a way I can't even describe. So I defriended her on dA, and it's only the second time I've done a defriending. Even though her art is cute, I just can't appreciate it anymore even just knowing she runs in that particular circle.

But now I feel kind of petty for defriending someone over a particular club icon posted in their journal. I mean, that's their own business. Why does knowing that a particular artist associates with that suddenly immediately turn me off of their artwork? Shouldn't their artwork be separate from themselves? I really don't know what to think about myself for that. Has this sort of thing happened to anyone else? You really liked some particular art (or writing) by a creator until you found out they had a particular hobby/belief/passing interest?

Because this isn't a fun feeling. D:

P.S. I saw "Meet the Robinsons" today, and that was much more of a fun feeling. Will probably babble about it later.

Drawing: Toned the next LG page, worked on some commishes, and now the cast pic.

Writing: Same old!