February is Fantasy Month: Questions + Fandom Tag!

Time for some Fantasy Month tags! I decided to fill out Jenelle's questions and the Fantasy Month tag in the same post, because, why not. And it was very fun, except for the part where so many of the questions were ridiculously hard. Seriously, guys. 

Thanks to Jenelle for tagging me for the Fantasy Fandom Tag! 

Praecepta:
Include the graphic somewhere in your post!
Answer the questions!
Tag two fangirls (or boys, I suppose!)

(Quick disclaimer: Unless I'm talking about Marvel, when I'm talking about my favorite fandoms, I'm talking about the books, despite my use of movie gifs. Somehow, they haven't made gifs of how the books look in my head yet. I'm not sure why.)

(I loooooove this aesthetic, but I don't know whose it is...so, credit to the creator. I found it on Pinterest. XD)

What’s the first fandom you remember becoming a part of?
The really question is...what makes someone part of a fandom? Is it just being a fan? Do you have to have swag? Have one of the books memorized? Want to be the characters? Interact with other fans? *has existential crisis*
Seriously, though, I think the series that turned me into a rabid fangirl was the Ranger's Apprentice series, by John Flanagan. (I still love this series dearly, and am 100% due for a reread.) I still remember reading the first book six times in probably the first week after I discovered it. (And then bragging about it "by accident", but we're not going to dwell on that.) 

It was my first or second exposure to the coming-of-age story, and I...loved it. Halt was the perfect crusty mentor, and I loved him for it, Horace was delightfully irritating, and the peril at the end--I think it may have been one of my first exposures to Major Peril for the characters I loved, and it gave me so many feels! 

And then I realized that there were more! The second book was the first book I ever cried over. When I started reading the series, we had #1 and #5, and Dad bought me #6 as a random surprise so I wouldn't have to wait for it from the library. I read 5 & 6 more times than I can ever count. They were my comfort books for so many, many years. (And one of them still has hot chocolate all over it. Cuz that used to be my comfort beverage. XD) Dad and I were "racing" through the series, and I was thrilled because I finished first, but also really sad, since I wouldn't have any new adventures with alllll the characters I'd come to love. So I started rereading. 

Probably how my dad feels. XD

What’s the newest fandom you’ve come to enjoy?

I'm guessing that all of you know the answer to this one already, but if you missed it: Marvel! I have jumped on the fandom train for this with such enthusiasm that I think my dad still has whiplash. 

It's funny, though--I realized that as of when I watched Avengers, I hadn't become part of a new fandom for about a year (yes, I'm a bit picky). And it just feels so good to have a new thing to enjoy and theorize about and rant about and worry about and be in suspense about! 

What’s a fandom guaranteed to give you feels?
It's really, really hard to give me feels. Like, I-have-only-cried-about-four-books-in-my-life hard. But the book that had be literally sobbing through the denouement was...*trumpet fanfare* Lord of the Rings! My family was actually worried about me. XD I'm fine. Everything is fine, until I start thinking about Faramir and Eowyn, and wow, I'm tearing up again. This is kind of embarrassing, and it's making it hard to type. 

What’s a guilty pleasure fandom of yours?
I don't have any guilty pleasure fandoms, but I do occasionally enjoy reading objectively horrible YA dystopians. XD

Image credit: Pinterest, again.

What’s the weirdest fandom you’ve heard of/are a part of?
I don't know that I'm part of any totally weird fandoms...but does Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quintet count? I love those books with every fiber of my being, but they are a bit strange, to the uninitiated. 

Quite possibly the best moment in the entire franchise.

Favorite popular/widely-known fandom?
Harry Potter! I read these in one summer when I was probably...fourteen? And despite the inconsistencies and not-always-amazing writing...I love them. I love the world, I love the characters, the plot is honestly excellent, and the Christian symbolism is the best! 

Image credit: Tor. com

Favorite bookish fandom?
Whhyyyyyy are these questions so mean? Um, well, given that LOTR is my favorite book of all time, I think it's technically that? But since answering multiple questions of LOTR gets boring, let's say...The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner (one of the very few series where every book is five stars). I've been minorly obsessed with these books for around three years now, and every reread, they just get better and better! They're probably the most complex books (in terms of emotion, plot, and characters) that I've ever read--and Turner makes them that way on purpose! There are so many twists and turns and little puzzle pieces that click into place that you never quite know exactly what's happening. And it appeals to my Ravenclaw-y-ness. Plus, the characters are some of the most realistic I've ever read. So. Yes. Much love. 

How could I get tired of these precious spazzes?

What do you consider your ‘homebase’, a fandom you can always come back to?
Lord of the Rings. 100%. It just...feels like home. And I will never get tired of reading these books. Never. 

Me when I see crazy Star Wars fans

What’s a fandom you know all about…but aren’t actually into it?
Star Wars. I mean, I don't know that I know all about it, but I do know a lot about it (due to having a brother who is completely obsessed--literally, ask Eomer any trivia question about Star Wars, and he will answer within ten seconds. It's insane). I've watched 4, 5, 6, 7, and the last 1/2 of 8. And I really don't have any major desire to watch the rest of 8 and 9. So...yeah. I like the original trilogy, but not enough to fangirl about it. :)

Which fandom has the best characters?
All of them? Seriously, who wrote these questions? Um. Dang. Seriously, Marvel, LOTR, and the Queen's Thief all have amazing characters, so I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to narrow it down any more for ya. Sorry.

Name your all-time favorite ship.
Aaaaah help. How am I supposed to narrow it down to one? Okay, I'm going to cheat and give you three.
Faramir & Eowyn
Aragorn & Arwen
That super cute and spoilery one in The Queen of Attolia which continues through the rest of that series.

What’s a fandom you’re curious about joining?
Sherlock Holmes! Believe it or not, I've not read any SH books, or watching any movies, miniseries, or what have you. I mentioned the other day to Mom that I hadn't actually watched anything with Benedict Cumberbatch (or, as we always call him, Butternut Crinklefries), and she told me that I should read the SH books so that I could watch Sherlock. So...that's my plan!

So, now the question is, who do I want to inflict this on pass this on to? 

Well, I guess I tag:
Movie Critic
Sarah Rodecker

Alright, on to the official Fantasy Month Questions, asked by the lovely Jenelle! 

What was the first fandom you fell into? 
As I noted above, Ranger's Apprentice. :)

What is the most recent fandom you've become a part of? 
MARVEL! 

Star Wars or Star Trek?
I'm honestly ambivalent about both (although I've not watched much Star Trek AT ALL), but, I guess...Star Wars?

Marvel or DC?
*delicate cough* MARVEL! But in this case as in the one above, I've not actually watched much DC (does the Lego Batman Movie count?). So I'm kind of biased. But from what I've heard of DC, it has a lot less of the things I love (flawed characters, nerdy heroes, found family, beautiful relationships, dysfunctional but loving teams) than Marvel does. So even if I do watch any DC (and I'm not planning t0, tbh), I think I'll still like Marvel better.

What is a fandom you love enough to want to live in that world?
Um...all of my fandoms? But if I had to choose...Lord of the Rings. Middle Earth is just the BEST, and I could hang out in Gondor and Rohan and the Shire and visit Ithilien, and, and, and...guys, it would be amazing.

If you could hang out with a character from one of your fandoms, who would it be, and why?
Have I commented on how hard these questions are? Yes? Okay, I'll stop now. (*whispers* But seriously, they're hard). After mature consideration thinking about it for a minute or two, I've come to the conclusion that I would totally want to hang out with Natasha Romanoff. We could go out for coffee and chat about various ways of taking people down in awesome ways, nerd out about Latin (seriously, how many characters do you know of that speak Latin? Hmm?), talk about the Avengers, discuss her dysfunctional love life *cough* no, OF COURSE I wouldn't bring that up (just watched Avengers: Age of Ultron, and am a weeeeee bit salty. And/or conflicted), and just generally chat about life. 
Of course, if this happened in reality, I would probably be too starstruck to say anything, or else would make a giant fool of myself, but we won't talk about that. 

Unknown fandom
Honestly, I like a lot of unknown fandoms. But ESPECIALLY Howl's Moving Castle. Everyone knows about the movie, almost no one knows about the book, and I just...don't understand, because the book is excellent (*cough* better than the movie *cough cough*), and the sequels are very fun, too. 

What Marvel character would you want to hang out with? Would you rather live in Gondor or Rohan? (I would probably choose Rohan, myself. Or maybe I'd have a house in both places.) Do you have a favorite ship of all time that you can think of without having to list three? XD