For the month of April, I’m breaking out of my usual “format” and showcasing one of my favorite fandoms a day, so I will have shiny things to make me smile every day of my birthday month. When I sat down to write the list of my top 30 fandoms, I found the task terribly hard. How do I choose just 30? My apologies to all my beloved fandoms left off the list. I’m starting with my favorite fandom and then using random.org for the rest.
Highlander: the series
Favorite Quote: “Look for the light instead of the shadows.” ~Duncan MacLeod, Studies in Light
Favorite Episode: Through a Glass, Darkly (see a list of my favorite episodes for more)
How I Got Into It: For months I avoided the show, thinking it was not something I was going to like. It was actually the mimes killing people in a Season 1 episode that made me stop while flipping the channels and watch a few minutes. And then it was the incredibly hot guy running that made me keep watching. And then I totally fell in love with every aspect of the show.
Fangirl Intensity (scale of 1 to 10 with 10=full-out obsessed): 19
How I Fangirl: I devoured every episode, transcribing my favorite parts and watching over and over again. I wrote a few poems and fanfic and had a Highlander-themed webpage. I watched the movies, the spin-off series, the animated series. I listened to soundtracks on repeat and even avoided my family on vacations when the chance arose to watch a repeat on TV. I fell in love with Scotland. I sat through dreadful movies simply because Highlander actors were in them. I became a regular on the show’s official (and non-official) message boards and would spend hours a day reading comments, posting photos, discussing theories, etc., thrilled for the first time in my life to have real people to talk to about my favorite fandom. Ah, the early days of the internet 🙂 I bought many items from the Highlander store (and developed a love-hate relationship with them). One year for Christmas, my only present was the Season 4 boxed set and all the extras that came with it, each wrapped and waiting for me under the tree. The first fan convention I ever attended was Legacy, a Harry Potter convention. I still have never met Adrian Paul, though (one of a thousand regrets).
Weirdest Merch I Own: A toss-up between my Highlander bathrobe and the 4 copies of the second Highlander movie (which is weird because I don’t believe that movie exists and, yet, I own 4 copies of it: 3 different versions on VHS and 1 on DVD).
Favorite Fandom Creation: The message board community. Nothing could beat that fun! I also always loved the Adoption Agency
I was “Defender of Duncan’s Honor” *G*
Why I’m Glad I Fangirl It: Watching Highlander is almost spiritual for me. This show, about immortals who kill to survive, taught me more about life than possibly anything else. I learned how precious and important life was. I would research events and characters referenced in flashbacks. And, when I went through my suicidal years as a teen, I knew I couldn’t off myself because then I’d never know how the show ended; so it quite literally kept me alive at a time when I needed something to help me through (okay, there was a book that also helped immensely, as did the nice folks on the suicide hotline I called a couple times, but it was largely this show).
Leave a Reply