Lords of Kobol, hear my prayer...

Challenge #13: TALK ABOUT A COMMUNITY SPACE YOU LIKE. It doesn’t need to be your favorite, or the one where you spend the most time (although it certainly can be). Maybe it’s even one that you’ve barely visited. But talk about that space and how it helps support fannish community.

I'm going to actually say Dreamwidth.

As someone who joined online fandom via LiveJournal ages ago and have seen the shifts and changes of the online fandom community over the years, from the fandom migration to other platforms and how things have altered with the presence of social media, I think Dreamwidth has kept up what I once enjoyed about the LJ fandom community. I do use Tumblr for the pretty graphics and visit Reddit every now and then for updates on things, but ultimately when I think about fannish community I think of something that is more interactive, more personable, and less judgmental. And that's what Dreamwidth is for me. It reminds me of the times when online journaling offered something for everyone, fandom related or not, and was a place to express your thoughts and opinions clearly on your own journal and in community discussions, engage in conversations with others. I participate in fannish conversations and challenges, such as snowflake_challenge as an obvious example, even going onto different people's journals to talk and squee about fannish interests. It's something that I miss when it comes to the fandom community interaction as a whole, the engagement of just talking with people about things, having back and forth civil discussion in comment threads. Dreamwidth offers that to me in ways that other places cannot.

That's not to say that other fandom places online I visit don't have value and aspects that I enjoy, it's just that I think I feel more comfortable and safer in the controlled environment that Dreamwidth provides. It may be smaller in comparison to what LJ used to be, it's definitely not on the same wavelength as Tumblr and I do wish more people would join/return to DW, although I must admit to liking how quiet it is here compared to the social media reactionary drivel you often see. Plus, it's challenges like this that get me off my ass to actually write and participate, and I like that kind of push. I don't have to do it, but I want to. Because I miss this kind of thing in fandom, y'know?

Challenge #06: Top 10 Challenge. The category(ies) you choose are up to you.

( Top Ten OTPs. )

( Top Ten Favorite Pieces of Underrated/Less Talked About Media )

This got way longer than I had intended. I tried to be concise with the second category but, y'know, when you're a fan of something you want to be thorough.

++ We have the official teaser for the second season of Daredevil: Born Again, which I'll be honest the only thing I care about from this is the return of Krysten Ritter as Jessica Jones. The interactions between Jessica and Matt in The Defenders was truly the biggest highlight and I've always wanted more of that, and we're finally getting it.

++ I'm still not on the Heated Rivalry train, but I'm happy for all those who are enjoying it. It's just interesting how the show gained so much traction so quickly since it premiered, and really sometimes you just don't know what is really going to resonate with so many people. Perhaps it's the FOMO some have, hopping on trends and popularity of something, whatever it is every single time I see someone talking about it in the wild and not in a fandom space it's just fascinating. I get slightly taken aback because this isn't usually something that most would talk about, the show isn't made for the broader audience in mind (at least to my knowledge, it's a mature queer story with explicit scenes), so it's kind of a pleasant shock. I mean, when the Major of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, recommended the city's citizens read the book for free during the winter storm and the Prime Minister of Canada meets with the cast and pays tribute to the show? That's kinda amazing.

Challenge #03: Write a love letter to fandom. It might be to fandom in general, to a particular fandom, favourite character, anything at all.

( My love letter to fandom. )

Challenge #01: The Icebreaker Challenge: Introduce yourself. Tell us why you're doing the challenge, and what you hope to gain from it.

I'm a fangirl who has been involved with fandom for a very long time, started my online fandom journey on LJ in 2003 and I haven't stopped since. As one can see on my profile just a taste of the various fandoms and interests that I'm into.

When it comes to snowflake_challenge, I have participated in the challenge itself for some years because, ultimately, it's just fun. I like being given prompts where I can give insightful answers to, I like the level of engagement it provides with interacting with others with fannish interests, from just those on your friendslist to others who participated in this challenge. Which is another thing, last year was the first time I actively participated in the challenge by linking my posts to the community and reading/commenting on others who also participated in the challenge, as well. I miss fandom engagement like that, and that's why I like doing this challenge every year.