I'm a sore thumb in a worldwide fandom. Point blank. I love all you guys and all the things, and the past is the past, but that doesn't mean I can waltz back in and 'take over'. We all know that. I especially know that, not because I 'learned a lesson' (let us not misconstrue again), but because I have learned respect. I've mentioned my long experience in and out of fandoms.
Fandoms are like college parties, very territorial, sometimes irrational, but mostly loads of cute and sparkly and ready for FUN. When fandoms grow big enough to sweep the actors along with their own tides, it gets amusing, like how Benedict fandoms are such a huge deal (way bigger than the Johnny Depp fandom now). There is nothing on God's green earth that any entertainment production involving Benedict can do about it except be ready for damage control and interface as kindly as possible, because every person standing in the fandom spotlight between the fans and Benedict becomes a permanent part of the wild and crazy world fame thing whether they want it or not. TV interviewers have learned to capitalize on this, of course. Worldwide fandoms are bread and butter, gravy, and icing all at once, instantly spiking ratings, selling out tickets, and hoarding merch.
I'm a fansite owner in a much tinier world fandom that doesn't have this kind of collective power, so what power does arise becomes very political, and people get eaten. That's the law of fandoms, very Amazonian tribal kind of stuff, hafta make the proper sacrifices and appropriate gifts and homages so heads won't wind up on sticks kind of thing. It's common, and even kind of cute when you look at it like a sociologist studying group interaction on the webs. Makes for fascinating soap opera-y entertainment when things get boring.
TTIR isn't my OTP, although I really want to see it become a thing because it sounds like an awesome show. I am not staff or spokesperson, just a fan floating around several fandoms while I work on my own stuff. It's not really my place to jump in as cheerleader rallying troops after the kind of debacle I've already been in blowing up around me innocently doing that. My place now is Pinky. Which, very surprisingly, has blown ALL my other stuff away 3X over just in the last 3 months. For me, that's a really good sign. It means when aspienado touches down and starts blowing the world around, I might actually get a pretty good wind going. The last thing I need or want is Pinky getting all tangled up in other people's stuff. So the best I can do, I think, is just simply ask if there is something specific I can do that is helpful and use the KISS method. (Keep it simple...)
I'm understanding lately why there are demarcation lines and rigid control regimes in fandoms. All it takes is one person misunderstanding something from one other person (regardless of motivation) and saying something inappropriate that freaks people out. The definition of inappropriate is an actor telling a fan to tell another fan on a public timeline that they're full of shit without having a clue of what's really going on, what really went on in the past, and what is really going on in the future. You guys need to understand that social media making it easier to contact 'famous' people and the giddiness of being interacted with isn't the end-all beat-all of fandom. If that's all it takes to spoil someone else's attempts to leverage fandom loyalty into new product and merch because fans become afraid to stand out or speak up because boats keep rocking, then it's really not my place to play cheerleader and push a collection plate for a campaign.
What I am saying is I want to see my favorite actors keep making new things and I'm not afraid of people thinking I'm ridiculous when misunderstandings erupt. Because I ~am~ ridiculous. I'm super aspie Pinky blogging about world fandoms, watching a Lexx post go viral in a country with Sharia law, getting more personal click outs on a dormant FB page than Lexx does collectively, and hefting more actual klout than ALL of the Lexx actors put together. Sorry, that's just the way it is.
So here's the deal. You want to see a really cool time travel TV series? Would you like to actually help production meet some goals? (I've already talked about a few things that go into production challenges.) We're living in a new age of more real time interaction between actors and fans on social media, and the world is flipping toward viewers having more control over the content they want to see in entertainment by investing personally and getting in on the behind the scenes action in real time. So let's say you're an Ellen Dubin fan, or a Cas Anvar fan, or a Sebastian Spence fan (etc), you can actually be part of their real lives and their real jobs in real time simply by following them on social media and becoming part of the #TimeTeam. You don't have to take sides retweeting Pinky on twitter and facebook, you don't have to show up around ME at all and risk being mistaken for supporting me when you're really supporting 'Giggy', right?
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