TOP TEN TUESDAYS | Fandom | Shelf Pickings

Ah, fandom. Where do I even begin?

This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is a Fandom Freebie.

Well, well, well. If you follow me on Goodreads, I call myself “The Professional Fangirl”. Not that I get paid for it with money… with amazing memories, maybe. I may have a slightly addictive personality wherein I want to know everything about something that I like. Then I buy merch. No making money there, that’s for sure. 😉

(I provided a lot of links in place of photos. I have a feeling this post will be quite long.)

I remember when Tumblr was still new, I was pretty active on it. Then it grew. More fandoms started to join in. I then fell off the Tumblr wagon. Scrolling back and forth became too tedious and I found too many things to like and reblog. I pretty much set myself up for failure because I was a meticulous tagger and that became a chore fast. I also was managing a Castle tumblr and oooh boy, my interest for that show fizzled faster than a candle wick. Looking back now, Tumblr is perfect for inspiration (I never got the hang of Pinterest) and pretty stuff but I’m too multi-fandom to keep up with it.

Speaking of that, here are 10 fandoms that I subscribe to and follow. These are not my ONLY fandoms but these are the ones where I’m fairly active. Really, scroll through my Instagram feed and you can probably guess what they are. I tend to go merch crazy. Not all the time but I have moments. I never do posters, rather I collect fan art from Artist Alleys at conventions. The way I display my “affiliation” to certain fandoms (lately) is through charms/keychains. In the past, I was never the one for keychains but when my brother started collecting some for his JRPGs, I was hooked.

When I saw that this was this week’s topic, I felt overwhelmed. How do I present this? I can’t have pictures of everything. You guys will think I’m crazy. I already think I’m weird and nerdy. I’m proud of that. While my lipstick collection is quite big, my fandom merch is easily double that, if not more. Unfortunately, I don’t have much in terms of bookish fandom merch. Outside of pre-order swag and signed books, finding book fanart at conventions is not easy.

So I think that went on for far too long. Let’s get into the fandoms.

LORD OF THE RINGS. I guess you can consider this a bookish fandom. While I do love the books, I fangirl a tad bit harder for the movie-verse. I will and have dropped everything – school, work, social responsibilities – to attend LOTR-related events. I’ve been to red carpet premieres, Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremonies, post-LOTR project events, and the One Last Party held by TheOneRing,Net. I have the movies in every disc form, two sets of the trilogy, several covers of The Hobbit, including the 50th anniversary limited edition, two Keys of Thorin, pillows, fleece blankets, shirts, Funkos, bobble heads, Legos… you name it. I will never truly leave Middle-Earth. You can’t make me. Hannon le.

HARRY POTTER. Another bookish fandom. And this time, I’m more into the books rather than the films. But that didn’t stop me from meeting Daniel Radcliffe! Also, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at the Universal Studios Hollywood is one of my favorite places in the world. I can just go there, park myself somewhere and people watch. I don’t even have to ride the rides to enjoy. It’s just the feel of that place… it’s wonderful. I’m so happy that the friends I made through LOTR are pretty much the same ones that I hang out with at WWHP. We would dress up, one big group of students and other patrons would compliment us, the employees would give us free front of the line passes (this happened 3x in one day!), and even take photos of us. This fandom can be overwhelming but it’s always so much fun.

THE FIGHTING GAME COMMUNITY (FGC). I don’t know if this is a fandom per se but it definitely a community. I follow mostly the Street Fighter scene. It led me to amazing matches, great reading materials, and my favorite food truck ever, Okamoto Kitchen. You would think, “Oh it’s just a bunch of guys and girls at an arcade beating each other up with game pads and controllers”. Well, don’t knock it until you’ve experienced it. Either by being a stream monster or standing right behind the players in person, the thrill is unmatched.

CRIMINAL MINDS. I realized that I don’t watch real people hardly anymore. Except for Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders. I like that show but LOVE the original Criminal Minds. Back during season 6, I marathoned the whole show from season 1 in nine days. I went to Joe Mantegna‘s Hollywood Walk of Fame star ceremony (and hope to see him again at Gary Sinise‘s later this month). While I don’t watch quite as religiously as before, I will never turn down an episode if I happen to see one.

LEGEND OF HEROES: TRAILS OF COLD STEEL. This gem of a game has officially replaced Final Fantasy VIII as my favorite Japanese RPG. Actually, this entry can be JRPG but Sen no Kiseki is my favorite one. My brother and I spent more than 300 hours of our lives for this game and its sequel. I plan to cosplay one of the characters at this year’s Anime Expo. It is the most character-driven game and the storytelling is so compelling with each and every character given a backstory. I never get tired watching Let’s Plays and hopefully to replay it when I get another PS Vita.

MARVEL CINEMATIC UNIVERSE. Back when it was easier to attend Marvel red carpet events, I was all over it. My last one was Captain America: Civil War, I think. I skipped Doctor Strange since I already met Benedict Cumberbatch at a previous red carpet. I used to schedule my whole week around these events, wait 12 hours just for a glimpse of a celebrity or ten. XD Maybe when the next Captain America or Avengers come around.

YURI!!! ON ICE. This should be Yuri!!! Is Life. This has totally consumed my life. I even have a Makkachin tissue box just like Viktor’s. And yes, I rather spell it with a K. I have a growing collection of keychains that I turn into phone charms. I rewatch an episode or two every so often. I don’t mind the English dub even though the Russians sound like they belong with the Minions. Yuuri is a precious soul, Viktor is beauty, and Yuri is an adorable angry child. Heck, I even love JJ because his seiyuu is one of my favorite people in the business! This is more than just a yaoi-leaning sports anime. You can say I might be reading so much more into it but trust me, my little heart could only take one episode a day when I started watching this.

FREE! Another sports anime. I should start by saying that the seiyuu of this anime are a huge part of the reason why I love this show. Of course, I also love the story; muscled animated men and water are good extras. At first, it was your typical sports anime with an exceptional prodigy and his group of friends. But as the seasons progressed, it became so much deeper than that – friendship, dreams, loyalty… it is so incredibly heartwarming. Plus Makoto is an actual angel. XD Right now, I have Rei as my phone charm. I got thrice lucky at the gachapon. I drew Haru, Makoto, and Rei in three tries. I hope my luck extends to two more with Nagisa and Rei.

BLACK BUTLER. Another anime with an amazing cast of seiyuu. I always had an interest in the anime and manga but it was only late last year-early this year that I finally consumed them.

Actually, I was tempted to just put ANIME as one of the fandoms but I don’t watch everything. And even my other favorites don’t has as many merch as these two. If you’re interested, another of my faves is MUSIC ANIME. K-On, Tari Tari, Your Lie in April, and Sound Euphonium are a couple of my absolute favorites.

And last but definitely not the least, K-POP. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I only like a very select few K-pop acts. Mostly those from YG Entertainment. Definitely WINNER and BIGBANG. I’ve seen BIGBANG four times live, G-Dragon five times. I try to attend KCON as much as I can just so I can experience other K-pop acts. I don’t always like them but I did see Sistar, Turbo, and Roy Kim because of KCON. And oh, Block B and WINNER interactions give me life.