The End Of The Year Fandom Meme: 2021

[rogueslayer452]

Which TV shows did you start watching in 2021?
Heaven Official's Blessing, Word of Honor, Prince of Tennis, Detective Samoyeds, Ancient Detective, Mr. Queen, Go Princess Go, Advance Bravely, Mr. Honesty, Douluo Continent, The Legend of Yunxi.

Quite frankly, it was a lot of Asian dramas, which I wasn't expecting to get into so many, let alone get attached to quite a few, but considering the way I dove headfirst with The Untamed last year it's unsurprising. Aside from being rather "meh" about Western media at the moment, most of these dramas are one-and-done which makes it easier to consume a lot of them along with getting emotionally attached to them without the pressure of waiting to see if there will be another season or getting overwhelmed by the sheer amount of seasons it has. Some of them have large or reasonable sized fandoms, others don't (at least English-speaking, easily accessible fandoms anyway), but yeah.

Aside from those though, I have also really gotten into Dimension 20's content, so much so that I signed up for their service at Dropout. I started out being interested in Misfits and Magic which then led to me getting into Fantasy High and then it kind of went on from there.

Which TV shows did you let go of in 2021?
None.

Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2021? Why?
Cherry Magic. It's more of an accessibility thing more or less, which happens a lot with some of these dramas that aren't readily available on certain streaming services. I'll get to it eventually, though. There's a lot of dramas like this that I saw floating around and wanted to check out, but it was more about how much time I had and when I could watch it.

I've also been curious about the Fear Street movie trilogy that was released this year. At first I wasn't at all interested, but seeing some things it made me intrigued. I like it when certain things are tied together so intricately, with time and eras interconnecting with a curse, and that seems to be the case here. Admittedly, I was never that into the Fear Street books growing up, but from what others have said while it doesn't follow the books they did a good job with maintaining the core spirit of what those books represented in tone.

Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2022?
The Legend of Vox Machina! I'm so excited to see these characters that I love so very much come to life in animated form! I'm also looking forward to seeing Ghost Files, which is Shane and Ryan's new ghost-hunting show on their channel/company. It'll be just like BFU but, like, better, because they're in control of everything now and I'm curious to see what has been upgraded and other shenanigans they'll be getting into.

And there's a long list of Asian dramas that I want to try out, also. Like, a long list.

Which TV show impressed you least in 2021?
Mr. Honesty was a bit disappointing, I just wasn't engaged with it at all. It felt like the show had two different genres smashed together, with one of those genres better than the other, and unfortunately it wasn't the main focus of the show. Simply put, I was more interested in Plot B featuring supporting characters than the Plot A romance with the main ones who I found boring together. Granted, I only did watch this for a particular actor who unfortunately was saddled into the Secondary Lead Syndrome (happened before with Dance of the Phoenix, as well). Had the drama primarily focused on the complicated rivalry between the former best friends more than the romance it would've been much more interesting, imho.

Critical Role's second campaign ended this year and, looking back on it, it left much to be desired for me, personally speaking. I stopped watching the campaign midway through, mostly due to falling behind but then just not caring to catch up proper because I wasn't invested in it. Again, this is not their fault, they had their story to tell, I just wasn't connecting with it, and that's fine. But I can still say it was disappointing seeing certain threads and developments in the story and characters that had major potential and just....not getting that payoff.

Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2022 unless things significantly improve?
None that I can think of.

Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
I think any of the online series that I watch -- Critical Role, Dimension 20, Watcher, etc. -- because they have a variety of content that even if I'm not really feeling a particular series I can just find something else on their channels to view.

Your main fandom of the year?
Definitely Word of Honor, for sure. Although I do think it's a three-way tie between Word of Honor, Heaven Official's Blessing, and Prince of Tennis since they were the biggest ones that I got attached to this year and what I've been incredibly fannish for.

Your favorite film you watched this year?
Dune

Your favorite book read this year?
Sadly, I didn't really read all that much this year, much to my own dismay. :( However, I have received some books that I'm excited to dive into most recently, so hopefully that'll spark more interest heading into next year to reading a bit more.

Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
I don't really pay that close attention to released albums of artists, even artists that I like (as I always find out long after the fact that they have new music out), however I will say that Lil Nas X and Olivia Rodrigo really captured my attention this year, as far as mainstream musical artists go. "MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)" is such an earworm that I couldn't stop listening to it once I sampled it. And Olivia's Sour album is very good, very emotional, and "good 4 u" was a constant repeat for me, personally.

Aside from that, soundtracks were where it was at for me this year, mainly songs that played during the cdramas I watched.

Your favorite TV show(s) of the year?
Word of Honor, Heaven Official's Blessing, Prince of Tennis (2019).

Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
Perhaps the Word of Honor and general MXTX fandom communities.

Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
Heaven Official's Blessing, Word of Honor, and Prince of Tennis (2019), and of course most recently towards the end of the year Ancient Detective which has been fascinating to watch so far.

Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year?
I've been kind of revisiting some older fandoms somewhat unexpectedly actually, realizing that I need a massive rewatch of them, such as Friday Night Lights, Dead Like Me, Carnivale, Defiance, Warehouse 13, Orphan Black, Falling Skies, just to name several that's been on my mind this year. These are shows that I loved, with some I may have talked about before on my LJ in the past while some not so much, but I had kind of a nostalgia for them during this year at certain points. I do think it's been part of my lull of Western media lately that had me going back to older shows.

Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
The way people latched onto the whole "read another book" rhetoric regarding Harry Potter, and just the general way certain people have adopted this bullying method of harassing and mocking fans of a series just because the author is a bigoted asshole. I thought people were better than that, especially older people in fandom, but clearly not. As I've mentioned previously, this is a delicate matter and it doesn't need dismissive language and behavior from individuals who are just clearly looking for validation of acting like they're morally superior.

Speaking of problematic creators, everything that was further revealed by Charisma Carpenter (and backed up, supported by fellow former cast members) regarding Joss Whedon's abhorrent behavior which apparently was much worse than we originally thought was not surprising, just disappointing.

I mentioned Critical Role and their second campaign being a disappointment, but I also think the fandom has been majorly disappointing for a number of reasons, and it's part of the reason why I ended up not liking C2 and why I've distanced myself from the fandom community as a whole. Thankfully, by doing so it has led me to appreciate the show more, like I adored Exandria Unlimited and I'm enjoying C3 so far, so by lessening paying attention or caring about what the online fandom is up to has given me that freedom of just enjoying the show on my own. Which should be a default no matter what fandom you're in, really, but CR was one of those few fandom communities that initially I had a good time in but, the more the community grew the more unwanted drama started happening, or at least becoming more vocal in the spaces I was lingering in. Sometimes, you can enjoy something without participating in or being that involved with its fandom, and that's okay.

I also kind of wanted to add, since I've been getting into a lot of cdramas lately, some of the stuff happening with the c-ent which is quite serious that goes far beyond fandom, which as an English-speaking Westerner I don't know much about but even reading the updates on what's been going on has been heartbreaking and, above all else, I just want everyone who has been affected to be safe.

Your fandom boyfriend(s) of the year?
Yan Zhiming (Prince of Tennis), Li Zhi (Detective Samoyeds)

Your fandom girlfriend(s) of the year?
Sofia Bicicleta (Dimension 20: The Unsleeping City)

Your biggest squee moment of the year?
The fact that MXTX's novels have gotten official English translations, and I've received the first volumes for all three of her books, and that the Heaven Official's Blessing donghua's second season is coming very soon, not to mention the live-action drama that is being filmed. A big win for MXTX this year, and it gives more opportunities for other danmei to get official English translations too, which has been proven since the author, Meatbun Doesn't Eat Meat, has announced signing a contract for 2HA and another one of her works to have English translations!

And Word of Honor, just everything with Word of Honor, more specifically I think the biggest squee moment would have to be the Word of Honor concert that was such an utter delight. Beautiful, imperfect, and just pure glorious.

And while not fandom specifically, Britney Spears having her conservatorship permanently terminated! After thirteen years of absolute hell that she was placed in, she is finally free, and that, to me, is the biggest win of the year.

The most missed of your old fandoms?
The usual reply as always, but with an addendum: when fandom communities weren't being sanitized all to hell. (:

Additionally, as I've gone back to some older fandoms, I do miss it when there was an actual sharing community among online fandom. Social media can be shared, but only by so much. Places to share not just fanwork (fanart, fanfiction, fanvids, etc) but a way of sharing knowledge of creating such things, communities dedicated to helping people find specific programs or perfect their skills. Iconmakers who would spend a lot of time conversing with other iconmakers about improving their skills, vidding comms with tutorials, things like that. Sure, there can be posts here and there but it's not as tightknit as it used to be, and in a way I miss that.

The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
The Husky and His White Cat Shizun (aka 2HA), which I've heard a lot about over the recent year, with the expectation of the live-action drama, Immortality, that is still in limbo, and now that the author has officially announced that it'll have an English translation novel released I'm very curious about it. I know nothing of the plot aside from what I've learned through osmosis of people in fandom, vaguely anyway, so it makes me excited to see what everyone is talking about with this series.

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System is the only MXTX series that I haven't delved into, but now that I have the first volume of the novel I'm actually excited to find out what the deal is with it. I do know that it's hilarious, completely different from her other two works, so it should be interesting.

Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
The Legend of Vox Machina, the return of Euphoria with its second season, the possibility of the second season of the Heaven Official's Blessing donghua (we've gotten a trailer, no date for its release at the moment and no way of knowing when it'll be available internationally, but at least there is a promise for it to be released within the next year), the next volume releases of MXTX's books.


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Aside from that, I'm sure that I commented to everyone that I saw but if I somehow missed you I want to say Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

My Christmas was uneventful, it's usually quiet and laidback but these past two years have been uneventful due to everything happening in the world. And in a way I cannot believe that we're almost done with the year. It feels like this year went by with such a blur, and perhaps it's combining that as you get older time doesn't mean anything and the entire stare of the world with the pandemic still in effect just messing with everything. If I didn't have these newer fannish interests that I collected over the course of the year, who knows what my state of mind would be like. And this is why whenever people ask me why I'm still involved with fandom, this is precisely why. It keeps me sane, it gives me something to look forward to and is a nice distraction from the monotonous nature of what life has been like in these last couple of years. I suspect that 2022 is going to be more of the same, as well.