Small moment of nostalgia
Jan. 28th, 2003 01:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
burntcopperWas going over the Batwhore website, and that got me thinking of the time I created the first set of 'Batwhore' tenets of the faith, one autumn day on the Smallvilleslash list, back when it was the first Smallville slash list, and Smallville fandom was tiny. Really. When the fic was for the most part pretty good, and there were very few people writing it, adn we didn't mind the sap so much because the characters were shiny and new. This was before the hysteria of the fandom set in, as fandom does when it gets big. Before the first big argument, which led the slashers to leave the list and go to ClarkLex and Lexslash.
It's quite odd, those first few weeks/months of a new fandom, because there's a generally benign and bubbly atmosphere, and the really stupid shit like the wedding fic hasn't started to come in, and the teenies haven't clocked on or got their act together enough to come find the lists.
I've seen the beginnings, or at least explosions, of some fandoms - christ, Buffy back in S2, before there were website awards, and you were amazed when someone had a fairly nice collection of pictures on their site, let alone manips. Often it does generate pockets of hysteria and wedding fic.
This got met thinking about the tiny fandoms I'm in, like Dark is Rising, which is still tiny compared to most fandoms, but is... a lot bigger these days than I first remember it, when there were about six stories out there. And it can be a real surprise when the ones that flock appear to be manga/anime obsessees, like with Harry Potter, when all the art is manga influenced, a style which I just tend to look at and go '...No. Doesn't look at all like how I pictured them.' Possibly because I don't have any experience with manga beyond a few Ranma 1/2 books. Christ, I still feel like DIR is 'my' fandom, the little one I have to cosset and protect and encourage people to write in and keep the giggling Mary Sues at the door from.
One day, the ELF could be taken over like this. Yes it could.
It's quite odd, those first few weeks/months of a new fandom, because there's a generally benign and bubbly atmosphere, and the really stupid shit like the wedding fic hasn't started to come in, and the teenies haven't clocked on or got their act together enough to come find the lists.
I've seen the beginnings, or at least explosions, of some fandoms - christ, Buffy back in S2, before there were website awards, and you were amazed when someone had a fairly nice collection of pictures on their site, let alone manips. Often it does generate pockets of hysteria and wedding fic.
This got met thinking about the tiny fandoms I'm in, like Dark is Rising, which is still tiny compared to most fandoms, but is... a lot bigger these days than I first remember it, when there were about six stories out there. And it can be a real surprise when the ones that flock appear to be manga/anime obsessees, like with Harry Potter, when all the art is manga influenced, a style which I just tend to look at and go '...No. Doesn't look at all like how I pictured them.' Possibly because I don't have any experience with manga beyond a few Ranma 1/2 books. Christ, I still feel like DIR is 'my' fandom, the little one I have to cosset and protect and encourage people to write in and keep the giggling Mary Sues at the door from.
One day, the ELF could be taken over like this. Yes it could.
