Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer...

Challenge #13: Interact with someone in fandom you haven't talked with before.

I've actually been doing that thanks to snowflake_challenge, going through the various submitted entries through all of the challenges this year and commenting on them. It's something I hadn't done before in previous Snowflake challenges, including linking my own answers to the prompts to allow people to see my posts and interact with me, as well. As someone who has talked constantly about missing the sense of community in fandom spaces, this was a great opportunity to actually do something about that this year and I'm glad that I have been and will be continuing to do so. I've had some great conversations with other fandom people who I haven't previously talked to, and it makes me yearn for more of that interaction that I hope to keep up from now on, now just with Snowflake but in other places too. :)

Speaking of, I'm also active in tv_talk, and I like getting able to participate in the weekly discussions and even have done some reccing of shows over there.

Challenge #11: In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. What is that one (or several!) trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme that grips your attention whenever it pops up in fandom or fanworks? What is it about it that works for you or appeals to you?

Since I have a lot of favorites this was something I had to really think about otherwise we'd be here all day as I write an essay about every single trope/kink/cliche/etc that I love. I decided to go with one that is both popular and beloved as well as polarizing within fandom spaces.

( Some might be surprised (or not, idk) )

Challenge #7: In your own space, create a list of at least three things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a wishlist of sorts.

01. Icons of the following shows/characters/pairings: (the bolded are highly requested)

- Detective L (specifically of Huo Wensi, Luo Fei/Huo Wensi)
- Fangs of Fortune (Zhuo Yichen, Zhao Yuanzhou)
- The Blossoming Love (Mu Xuanling)
- Meet You At The Blossom (Zongzheng Huaien, Huaien/Xiaobao)
- Till The End of the Moon (Tantai Jin, Pian Ran)
- 23.5 Degrees (Aylin, Alpha, Charoen)
- The Untamed (Xue Yang)

02. Weird fiction recommendations. I tend to find a lot of things accidentally, but sometimes it can be hard to find something specifically to my tastes. I like a lot of weird fiction, weird science fiction/horror in particular, but anything goes in terms of the bizarre and straight up trippy storytelling. Examples of this include: the Dune series by Frank Herbert, anything from Jeff VanderMeer (The Southern Reach Trilogy, Borne, The Strange Bird, Dead Astronauts), television shows like Doom Patrol, Legion, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, movies such as Peau d'âne (Donkey Skin), Něco z Alenky and the filmography of Jan Švankmajer. Any medium, any genre, any language, any era. The more obscure the better, preferably.

Challenge #4: Since this is the start of a new year, this challenge will be to set your own goals! Of course we can all make large or ambitious goals, remember that small and/or short goals are also good!

My two fannish goals for 2025 (and beyond):

** Watch more shows and movies, and read more books. This was a goal I put down for my end of the year fandom meme answer, and one that I intend on achieving. I have quite a backlog for television shows and movies that I've been meaning to get into for some time, and while I have often fallen into the "I'm not in the right mood" mentality (a very valid one) I do want to work on at least getting more into the habit of at least trying something new and seeing if it'll tickle my fancy. Some of the best shows that I've gotten into have been purely on accident, either from fandom osmosis to simply trying it out at random. When it comes to books, I have severely been lacking in that department so that's a goal I definitely want to set up for myself this year. Read at least one new book during the first half of this year, and see where that takes me.

** Become more active. Even though I do consider myself active on DW, I want to try to become a bit more active than I have in the past, from writing posts to commenting on entries (from friends and strangers' journals) and communities and on AO3, to partaking in fandom challenges if I'm able to. I always want to start writing reviews again. I do every so often, but I think I want to do what I used to do which is do a bit more lengthy reviews, recommendation posts, writing meta.

++ Daredevil: Born Again official trailer. The gangs all there, and thankfully the trailer showcases how brutal and violent it is, which is something I think many feared would have changed once Disney got a hold of it. But we have been reassured by Charlie Cox that it's not only a continuation of the Netflix series it's also going to be more violent than before, and this trailer proves it. I'm still holding reservations until we see the final product once it drops (as I am repeating the mantra of "please be good, please be good"), but so far yeah. I'm in. Now where is my girl Elektra....

++ tv_talk is currently having a rec fest week, where every day there is a different prompt about recommending and talking about shows of specific genres. I've been really enjoying participating in it.

++ And now a fandom shipping meme, as seen from various people on my flist:

( Ahoy there, fellow shippers. )