The End of the Year Fandom Meme
Dec. 30th, 2023 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rogueslayer452Which TV shows did you start watching in 2023?
The Last Of Us, Beyond Evil, The Glory, Love O2O, Once Upon A Time In Lingjian Mountain, The Journey of Chongzi, Dropout.tv (A Court Of Fey And Flowers, The Seven, Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Dirty Laundry, Breaking News: No Laugh Newsroom), Watcher (Mystery Files).
I'm actually surprised that I didn't watch that much this year. I think I ended up revisiting older shows/fandoms more, especially during the last half of the year. I guess I've been kind of in a lull at the moment, I don't know.
Which TV shows did you let go of in 2023?
The Mandalorian. As much as I really enjoyed the first season, by the third it's not exactly what I wished for with the direction of the show. I love Din Djarin, and Pedro Pascal portraying the character, which is the entire reason why I started watching the show in the first place, but it's become quite clear that The Mandalorian has more or less become The Grogu Show ft. New Character Introductions To Become Future Star Wars Spin-Offs, even more evident as it's been stated outright they have no plans on an ending for the show proper. Unless there is actual character development for Din Djarin, as in understanding who he is as a person outside of his Mandalorian identity, then I'd say it's time for me to let it go.
Which TV shows did you mean to get into but didn't in 2023? Why?
The Fall of the House of Usher. I'd been curious about it, heard some great things and seen the gifsets/some clips from it, but somehow I just didn't get around to it.
Till The End of the Moon is something I was intrigued by due to Luo Yunxi as Tantai Jin, I cannot resist a pretty face and being tortured and getting a little bit of revenge as a treat. Unfortunately the only thing putting me off is the main romance angle which I'm not sold on based on the minimal things I've seen from it. Aesthetically it looks good, but it does make me question whether it's worth watching all forty episodes or if I can just get a compilation of Tantai Jin (and Pian Ran's) scenes only.
Which TV shows do you intend on checking out in 2024?
Orphan Black: Echoes is the only newer show that I'm going to be checking out next year, so far at least.
Aside from that, I've been intrigued by Hotel de Luna, which has Yeo Jin-goo (from Beyond Evil) and Lee Ji-eun (aka IU) after seeing little previews from it. Pit Babe, which is currently airing but I'm going to wait until all the episodes are out before I can find a way to watch it, but trust me, I'm definitely going to be checking it out once I'm able to. The second season of Heaven Official's Blessing donghua. There's quite a bit of Asian dramas that have been on my list that I want to check out eventually, so I'm hoping I'm in a better mental capacity next year to at least try those out for the ones that I didn't this year.
And while not shows, there are some movies that I wanted to check out: Lost in the Stars and Only the River Flows, because I've been hearing good things about them, particularly the former, due to Zhu Yilong's phenomenal acting. Also Golden Spider City (2022) because I'm trying to go through Chen Mengqi's filmography and I'm curious.
Which TV show impressed you least in 2023?
Love O2O. I tried, but I couldn't make it through the first episode. I much prefer the movie version. The Journey of Chongzi was a cdrama I tried briefly, mainly because of Wang Zhuocheng since he was playing a demon lord kind of character and that was new and interesting for him, but I found myself kind of bored and only fast forwarding to his scenes just wasn't worth it.
While it wasn't bad necessarily, The Mandalorian wasn't something that impressed me that much this year. The direction isn't what I wanted it to be, and while there were some good parts (Din Djarin and Bo Katan teaming up) it was pretty lackluster. I think opening the show up with Din Djarin and Grogu already back together after an emotional farewell in the S2 finale because they reunited on another show was a tremendously bad move. That, along with some of the things that Jon Favreau have said, it's quite unimpressive and leaves me feeling less confident in continuing on with the show.
Which TV show do you think you might let go of in 2024 unless things significantly improve?
This is less letting it go and more taking a temporary step back until either certain things have been resolved or once it's finished so I can go back to it, but the third campaign of Critical Role. Don't get me wrong, I've actually been enjoying this campaign a whole lot, but recently with the pacing and how certain events have been handled I'm not as into where things currently are at the moment. This happens, especially with long ongoing campaigns like CR runs, there can be a lull in the middle and I think that's where I'm at. I'm hoping that next year things will pick up, but if not then I'll most likely be taking that step back from it.
Which TV shows do you think you’ll never let go of no matter how crappy they get?
Eh, at this point I'm not quite sure. I think my only answer are some of the TTRPG shows that I watch, because they tend to have different stuff available that I can switch to if I'm not feeling whatever campaign they're currently doing.
Your main fandom of the year?
I feel like it's been Beyond Evil and Dropout.tv content for the most part, and then the Saw franchise. Although I am also still on my Detective L bullshit from last year, so, of course I'm going to be adding that into this year as well.
Your favorite film you watched this year?
Saw X, Donkey Skin (1970), Evil Dead (2013), The Hunt (2020), Best Mechanism Great Master / Weir Technician, Love O2O (2016).
Your favorite book read this year?
I started reading Guardian by Priest, the official English translation edition.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
"DEMIAN" and "Propose" by Dreamcatcher, from their Apocalypse: From Us mini-album. I've specifically had these two songs on repeat since this mini-album dropped, which is the conclusion of their Apocalypse series era.
"28 Reasons" by Seulgi, from her debut solo album 28 Reasons.
"BIBI Vengeance", "BLADE", "Timeless", and "Animal Farm" by BIBI
"METALIZM" by BABYMETAL, from The Other One, their newest album released this year.
Your favorite TV show(s) of the year?
Beyond Evil. I'd heard good things about it, and once I started watching I was immediately hooked. It was all I could think about for a long time after watching it.
The Last Of Us, which was something I had been anticipating and it did not disappoint. It exceeded my expectations and it became perhaps the best video game adaptation in recent years. The cast and performances were amazing, the way the season was structured, the changes that were made actually made sense, and there's a lot of promise to what will be for adapting The Last Of Us: Part 2, especially when you have the same people involved.
Your favorite online fandom community of the year?
I think it's been primarily the TTPRG communities (Critical Role and D20/Dropout) and the Asian drama fandom communities. I definitely think the D20/Dropout fandom community was my favorite during the WGA/SAG strikes, and because I got around to really catching up on a lot of the series on there and the fandom provided a lot of entertainment as well. A lot of that made me smile and laugh, which is what I needed during the middle of this year so that was great.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
Beyond Evil, Luo Yunxi, BIBI, Seulgi, Forestella
Your fandom that made an unexpected comeback this year?
The Saw franchise making its comeback with its prequel, Saw X, and while I never stopped loving and being obsessed with those movies it actually got me seeking out more of the fanbase that is pleasantly still incredibly active. Sure, some people will make memes surrounding Saw that I've seen floating around, which are funny, but the fans of the franchise who make a lot of introspective and good discussion pieces about the movies, the characters, that's been a pleasant surprise for me this year.
Castlevania, mostly influenced by the series premiere of Castlevania: Nocturne, which I haven't seen, however I was mostly inspired to return back to the main Castlevania series. In fact, I ended up revisiting a lot of older fandoms this year which in a way kind of was an unexpected comeback on my end. I do tend to revisit old fandoms every once in a while but this year kind of made me go back to a handful of them.
I'm tickled that House M.D. has made a resurgence among the Tumblr fandom community, that was certainly unexpected. People are either baffled or amused by its existence or are just as giddy as I am that it's among the "older" fandoms that has made a comeback.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Oh boy. Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, as in the fact that the unions needed to be on strike at all because of greedy corporations not treating their workers fairly. Furthermore, while the strikes were a success on the fandom side there was some disappointment when people didn't understand the definition of what "scabbing" was and there was a lot of incorrect information being spread around social media.
And then there's how there's been so many actors and celebrities kind of showed their true colors this year, in various ways from different situations. Some were unsurprising, while others I was utterly gobsmacked. Some of it is current event related, others are individual incidents that have recently been brought to light that, upon learning, make my stomach turn. You know those sayings about never idolizing anyone or putting anyone on a pedestal otherwise you'll end up disappointed? It's sound advice that has never been proven more true when applied to this year.
The fact that it seems that, regardless of whether it continues on or not, the Scream franchise is most likely dead because of the unjust firing of its leading star and losing its other lead shortly thereafter.
There's also been some disappointing revelations from behind-the-scenes internal affairs with AO3/OTW and the treatment of some of its members.
Your fandom boyfriend(s) of the year?
Tantai Jin (Till The End of the Moon), Huo Wensi (Detective L), Lee Dong-sik (Beyond Evil), Han Joo-won (Beyond Evil), Joel Miller (The Last Of Us), Tommy Miller (The Last Of Us), Ha Do-yeong (The Glory), Joo Yeo-jeong (The Glory), Alucard (Castlevania), Trevor Belmont (Castlevania)
Your fandom girlfriend(s) of the year?
Pian Ran (Till The End of the Moon), Amanda Young (the Saw franchise), Moon Dong-eun (The Glory)
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Discovering Beyond Evil and how it completely took over my brain.
I now own the official physical copies of the Detective L soundtracks!
The existence of Pit Babe, a canonical A/B/O story (based off of a BL novel), being aired in Thailand. While it's certainly not the first television show in history to feature something like this (Dark Angel did it first), it is the first time the extension of these tropes of what people know now as the Omegaverse has been televised, including the existence of MPREG, scenting, a main Alpha/Alpha pairing, and the discussion of male Alpha menopause, which is only just what has been revealed thus far from what I've learned. There's also supposedly a possible cdrama that's going to feature something like this, too, with Alpha/Omega and MPREG. What a blessed timeline we live in! :D
The most missed of your old fandoms?
I say this every year, but the sense of community.
But more than that, as I've been revisiting some of my previous fandoms, I do miss some of the fanworks and active discussions and overall presence of them in a fannish community. Especially shows that used to be big when they premiered. I saw some Tumblr polls about whether people know about certain shows, and while those polls aren't an accurate estimate of everyone in the Tumblr fandom community, it's pretty upsetting seeing the results of things that were popular years ago of people not even knowing what they are. To me, fandom should always be about keeping a piece of media alive and going even long after it is finished. And people moving onto one fandom to the next after it either ends or gets cancelled really blows, because imagine people just discovering that older fandom for the first time and wanting to see more of a fandom for it and finding nothing because nobody is talking about it or making anything from it anymore? It's pretty damn lonely. So yeah, this is a long-winded way to say: I miss it when people were still excited about older fandoms.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
I still have yet to dive into certain Thai dramas, that's been on my "to watch" list for some time. I follow certain people who post about various ones on the regular, especially BL and GL based ones, and it's all very enticing.
Your biggest fan anticipations for the coming year?
Dune: Part 2, Saw XI, Orphan Black: Echoes, Heaven Official's Blessing donghua S2, Fantasy High: Junior Year on Dimension 20/Dropout.
I always feel like I'm forgetting something whenever I do this meme. But TL;DR, I didn't watch nearly enough newer stuff (to me) as I expected, but I did revisit a lot older stuff, and I'm still very deep in Asian dramas.
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Date: 2024-01-03 08:14 am (UTC)Yeah, this is also weird, especially given how easily things get cancelled these days by streaming companies. I can't imagine just not watching a show because it doesn't have an ending. Honestly, sometimes I'd rather watch one that got cancelled than one that, say, has an ending that was absolutely terrible after 10 seasons that slogged.