Friday, October 3, 2014

Five Fandoms that have made me who I am today





I am SO excited for this new blogging-series that comes courtesy of Super Space Chick and the Nerdy Girlie !  Every Friday, a bunch of us blogging geeks will be posting about 5 things we adore, with a different topic each time. For the first official one, we name our top 5 fandoms that have made us who we are today!

When you find a fandom, it's like finding a friend for life. It's like finding your own universe that revolves around something or someone that speaks to you, or has touched you in such a way that things just become a little more... clearer/brighter/better than they were, whenever you immerse yourself in it's goodness.

Check out my list below of the top 5 fandom universes that have helped to shape me into the proud geek I am today, and please share/link me to yours! :)



5.  JAPANESE STREET FASHION

Ok, so maybe this isn't so much a "fandom" per se, but being a fan of the unique clothing styles popularized by Japanese culture has definitely been an inspiration for all of my creative endeavors, (namely the fashion/costume design side). I've discovered artists who are also fans of the styles and inject it into their work, as well as met people who have become good friends because they understand how fun it is to dress up, or who have a deep appreciation of all things kawaii in a way that nobody else understands! The clothing styles themselves also helped introduce me to other Japanese things in general, such as food, music, manga art/novels, which are essentially fandoms in themselves!

(
Here is a Japanese Lolita-inspired doodle from my sketchbook!


4. TIM BURTON

The wonderful world of Burton has also been a huge inspiration in my creative endeavors for many many years, now. Gloomy visuals, unique and lovable characters, charming costumes (by the genius Colleen Atwood - she deserves some credit!). I simply can't get enough. Even ages after some of his most popular movies have been released, there are new products and merchandise being created and sold and devoured by the die hard fans year after year. Especially around Halloween-time. You just can't have Halloween without the King of Halloween, Jack Skellington, greeting you with his devilish grin somewhere!

My graduating final-collection from fashion school in 2012 was inspired by Tim Burton/Colleen Atwood's world, (with a touch of Japanese street style!). You can see a slide show of it on my official website, here .



3. MONSTER HIGH

I have always been a fan of dolls. Yes, even Barbie. It's just something that has stuck with me since childhood. I've never been afraid of them, (like so many people seem to be), or grown 'too old' to play with them.. I enjoy making clothes for them, giving them names and back-stories, and sometimes even their own voices! Some people might call me crazy, but it's my honest opinion that if those people can live day to day with a talking phone who can "plan" their life for them, (hello Siri!), then they're just as nutty as I am. (If not more so... haha). When I discovered Monster High a couple of years ago, I was elated. They're a series of dolls produced by Mattel (the same company that does Barbie), who are the supposed teenage daughters of famous/well known horror movie monsters or historical monsters. Frankenstein, Dracula, Zombies, Swamp Monsters, you name it, there's probably a doll for it! The concept really hit home for me, because I was kind of a 'weird' teenager, myself, when I was in high school: I dressed weird, was into 'dark' music, frequently dyed my hair black, and had an obsession with vampires, (this was years before Twilight even existed, by the way!). And even though I had friends, I still had times when I felt like I truly didn't fit in with all the 'normals'. So when I discovered a brand of dolls that was essentially all about making "weird teen girls" suddenly be "cool" and stuff, I fell in love! They own their freaky sides and are proud! I own at least 24 dolls, I've seen all the movies, and the very first game I bought for my Nintendo 3DS was the Monster High Skulltimate Roller Maze one. I even follow the official Monster High Twitter, and love how many other fanatics there are out there!

I've blogged about my dolls before, here


2. the M.C.R.-my

So. As I stated above just now, in high school I was very much into the 'darker' styles of music: the screamo/heavy metal/black-clothing-only-wearing varieties of bands that were comprised of artists that were my heroes. And while I still sometimes listen to some of those bands when I'm feeling nostalgic, there is one singular band that has stood the test of time and for whom my love and adoration has only grown with the years: My Chemical Romance.

I've written other posts about my love of MCR here...

...and here


I can't even truly put into words how much this fandom has changed my life. If you ask anyone else who is a part of this fandom what MCR means to them, I guarantee they will all say the same thing: "this band saved my life".  The beauty of this band hasn't always been just their music, so much as it's been the people behind it. In addition to wildly talented, all four members are known for being kind, humble, honest, and true to themselves. I think that's the main reason why their fanbase has always been so huge. While other similar bands have gone the "Hollywood-way" and married celebrities or use their money for stupid things, these guys keep working at their art for the sake of it. And they don't shut out their fans in the process. To make a long story short: they encourage us all to go after our dreams, no matter our circumstances or our struggles, be they financial or mental health related. They are us, and we are them.




This music video was and still is everything to me. 


1. DOCTOR WHO



My "The Day of the Doctor" post from last year is still one of my top five most popular ones, according to Blogger.

In case I've never told the story of how I 'discovered' Doctor Who, here it goes: I should start with when I was eleven, because if I hadn't done something that I did at that age, I probably never would have discovered this show... (how terrifying!)

Alright, this is kind of embarrassing, but I have to tell  it! When I was eleven I was into horrible music. Namely, the pop variety. (Stay with me here, it will all make sense soon). I will not willingly admit to having owned albums of certain well known pop stars, but I will admit that I was curious to buy an album of a certain British pop star named Billie one fateful day in the music/cd aisle of a Target, when I was a kid. I had read about her in some horrible magazine, and wanted to see if British pop stars were any different (i.e. better) than American ones.

Fast forward a few several years. I am now a twenty-something-year-old who knows better about all sorts of things and has far better music tastes. But I still remembered the name Billie Piper.  One day, while channel surfing out of utter boredom that there was nothing to watch on the telly, I stopped on the BBC America Channel and read the description of the show that was on called "Doctor Who". If you're familiar with the t.v. descriptions that the guides on your satellite/cable provider gives you, you'll know that sometimes they give you the names of actors that are in whatever movie or show that you stop at. I saw the name Billie Piper and I was like, "hey! is that that British chick whose c.d. I used to have? I guess she's an actress now? Ha! That's so interesting! I wonder if she's any good?..."

The rest, as they say, is history.

I haven't stopped watching the show since then. This very first episode that I watched was the one where the 10th Doctor, Rose, and Mickey end up in a parallel universe and Rose find that her dad is still alive in this one, and then they Cybermen take over, and so on and so forth.  So yes, while I often make a big song and dance about how 10 is MY Doctor, I do owe a huge debt of gratitude to Billie Piper/Rose Tyler herself. I like to think now, that (assuming the Doctor is real), he traveled back in time to when I was at that Target at age eleven and more or less led me to that album. I can't remember hearing any TARDIS noises, but yep.  It was the Doctor who led me to discover Billie Piper (who honestly, actually has a pretty good singing voice and some of those songs on that album were catchy!), and who then in turn led me to discover Doctor Who.

I can't imagine my life without this show, now. I had always been interested in the idea of time travel, as well as outer space even before this show, but now that there's a character in my life who gets to travel and zip around literally anywhere and anytime in history or space, well. I can't get enough. 

The End.


So there you have it! You now know a little bit more about me.. maybe more than you ever wanted to know, haha! I can't wait to learn about YOU!

Until next Fandom Friday!

-Gaby



9 comments:

  1. Gaby, I LOVE your MCR write up! I love what music can do to us and when the artists are so kind and relatable it makes them even more special!

    I <3 your ADORABLE Doctor Who dress!!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh my word, MCR. YES. Love, love, love!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love that you included Japanese street fashion! I used to love going to bookstores and looking through all of the magazines with Japanese fashions. They're so much more interesting than people typically wear here in the United States!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I so agree! My favorite is the Gothic and Lolita Bible,but the American version went out of business and it made me so sad!

      Delete
    2. Yes, I so agree! My favorite is the Gothic and Lolita Bible,but the American version went out of business and it made me so sad!

      Delete
  4. TIM BURTON. YES.

    Your Doctor Who story was AMAZING!! I loved it! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha, glad you liked it! Thanks for stopping by, Travis :)

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to read and comment!

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...