Fandom Terms

It has occurred to me that most people in the world do not know what an OTP is or maybe even what a fandom is. I figured that google would sort of come into play at some point or someone would use the context to learn what some of the things I say mean during my never-ending monologues. I have finally thought that this is probably overdue and I should explain some of my nerd slang.

Courtesy of Pintrest

The word 'fandom' come from mushing the words fanatic and domain into one word, it basically means a group of people that like the same actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. The populations that make up fandoms are called fangirls or fanboys, depending on gender. These people are sometimes really closely knit groups in real life or online. Now, you might be wondering, what do these strange subcultures do besides share a common like for something?

These people sometimes cosplay, ship, draw fanart, write fanfictions, role-play, go to conventions, and worship their actor, band, TV show, anime, book, webcomic, etc. Cosplay is when a person dresses up like a character from their fandom and at Anime Bonzi most of what I saw was from an anime or Homestuck. You may have heard of ComicCon or something similar, but it is basically a gathering of fandoms that nerd out together and there are panels where people talk about anything from headcanons to origami to actors talking about filming.

Fanart and fanfics are fan created drawings and stories that revolve around characters in the stories or original characters created by a fan. Shipping is when you like the idea of two characters being in a relationship, and it can be platonic or romantic as well as canon or not. The acceptance of shipping varies from fandom to fandom. A Headcanon is an event or fact that someone likes. An example being that a character is secretly ticklish or what their height is.

Going back to shipping, the ship that you consider your favorite is called an OTP, and although it stands for One True Pairing, most fangirls have a dozen or more. A common word used by all fans is 'feels' as in feelings, because typing out ing is too much to do when your feels have been hurt. Finally an AMV or MEP are some fanart with music playing in the background. They stand for Animated Music Video and Multi Editing Project respectively, the main difference being that more people work on a MEP.

After getting such an amazing crash course in fandom slang, you are ready to dive face first into the world of fandoms and read this blog with a basic understanding of what I am saying some of the time. Either of those, or you are just really very scared and want nothing to do with fandoms or anything like them ever again and have probably stopped reading. Whichever one you are, you can now better understand some of the nerds you will meet.

Homstuck Cosplays

I have been looking at a few ideas for a cosplay for the next Anime Bonzi. Since the fandom that I share with the most of my friends is Homestuck, it is a safe bet to assume that we will be doing a group cosplay of it. Last Amine Bonzi we planned to go as Homestuck one day, Fairy Tail the next (mostly because Milly is oddly very persuasive), and have the last day be a sort of free for all madness day. Sadly I did not make the last day and missed out on interesting panels, Japanese candies, and a truth or dare game that I am more than a bit happy to have skipped. The other two days cosplays turned out well, with the exceptions of the loss of a wig and the fact that Tavros's giant bull horns are not meant for crowded spaces and therefor broke about five or so times.

It makes sense to do a cool group cosplay, and no one wants to cosplay a reference that they do not get, so Homestuck is a good solution. I think that I would like to cosplay either Vriska or Karkat, since I think a Vriska would be cool to do and I have the horns for Karkat. It might also be fun to try Tavros again, maybe with crowd friendly horns this time. Any of the Alpha or Beta kids would be fun to cosplay as well, it is so difficult to chose which one I would want to cosplay the most, but probably Jade. I feel like she is the kid I look the most like, and she is not a usually cosplayed character when Godteir. At least I did not see any Godteir Jades at the convention.

The Beta kids from left to right: Dave, Rose, John, and Jade

I have seen a few amazing cosplays on google images and if I am being honest, they were intimidatingly good. So for the past few weeks I have been simultaneously being inspired to make a fantastic cosplay and scared that anything I do would not be nearly as good. I would have loads of fun making something as intricate as that no matter what it turned out looking like.

I would also have fun cosplaying a supernatural character like Sam Dean or Cas. There are loads of Hetalia cosplayers so a chibitalia (baby Italy) or Canada. Maybe even a Nordic like Finland or even Denmark. The possibilities are endless (Actually around 50 or so but whose counting?).  I know that my friends would probably want to go as their favorite trolls like they did last year, Sollux for Milly and both Terezi and Nepeta for Alice, but if we got another person going as Godtiered Alpha or Beta kids would also be very fun to go as. That sounds like a good plan, now I will just have to go find someone to turn into a proper Homestuckian. Well, I have until September so I may just have enough time to convert someone into a Homestuck, wish me luck! Oh and for anyone looking for a cool cosplay help, here is the best website for that.

Soul eater

Recently my sister and I have started watching an anime called Soul Eater. It is about a school run by Death for misters (the ones wielding the weapons) and their weapons, who are people that can become scythes, swords, and other weapons. They fight evil humans and monsters, and to become a death scythe, they must kill and consume the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch. The main characters are Maka and her weapon Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, Death the Kid and Liz and Patty, and Crona.

Maka is the daughter of Death’s Scythe, and after her parents divorce, does not want anything to do with her dad, but has to deal with him regularly because he works at her school. She is very good at sensing other souls around her and creating strong soul bonds with teammates. Soul is from a family of musicians who he left to go to Death’s school, DWMA. He is also great at playing the piano, but hardly ever does because of his family.

Black Star is obsessed with always being the center of attention in every situation, and is dead set on being the one who transcends God. Tsubaki is really sweet and always looks after Black Star, even when he does something stupid. Kid is as the name implies, the son of Death. He chose to go to DWMA, even though being Death’s child he could have skipped school and immediately become an official meister, he did not. He also has a weird thing about symmetry, and can not fight or concentrate when things are asymmetrical. Liz and Patty are American sisters chosen by Kid as his weapons so he would not have to be asymmetrical while fighting. 

Crona is the demon blade, which means that Crona very powerful and his blood is black and can cause madness in other people. Crona was controlled by the witch Medusa and fought against the rest of the main characters, but they eventually become friends and Crona attends DWMA to learn to fight witches. He is also my sister’s favorite character in the show.

Left to right: Black Star and Tsubaki, Crona,
 Maka and Soul, Liz Patty and Kid

At the end of the second season, it is revealed that the reason Death started the school was that he had to use his soul to bind a powerful enemy in a prison underneath the school to prevent him from escaping. Even with him miles underground, drained of blood and trapped in a bag of his own skin, Medusa was able to revive the Kishin with Crona’s black blood, adding to his madness. It is not always that serious, and is actually incredibly funny, since many of the adversaries are not scary and Death is like an over enthusiastic teacher with really no idea what he is doing most of the time.

So if you are looking for a good anime to watch and have yet to see Soul Eater, I would defiantly recommend watching it because of the humor, amazing storyline, great lovely characters, that add up to an overall beautiful story.

Fandom Rules

There are a few rules that all fangirls should hold themselves to, somewhat like an honor code. Some are just plain common sense, like not spoiling a book, or a recent episode of a show. Others seem like they should be common knowledge, but are sadly not, like never insulting someones OTP, favorite character, or fandom, no matter what. Not only is it horribly rude to do, but death will likely occur. Here are a few of the most important fandom rules of any fandom.

Lots of Fandoms

1. Never judge a fandom by the fan, and never judge the fan by the fandom. Like with anything, one person is a bad representation of a group, and their fandoms are not be an accurate way to tell anything about them. Stereotypes are not something that should be a part of fandom culture.

2. Do not make other fangirls feel unaccepted. Since we are a subcultre, some fangirls do not have any friends that they can talk to about their fandom, head canons, or other fandom related things. It is of upmost importance that everyone is always kind to each other, like they say, “Birds of a feather stick together”. 

3. Good fandoms must be accepting of other fandoms, unless there is a fandom war going on between them. Fandom wars have no rules, so they get incredibly terrifying and should be avoided at all costs. Unless they have insulted your fandom, then destroy them without a trace of mercy. Like when Supernatural star Jared Padalecki insulted Justin Bieber and its fans pledged to stop watching the show. Supernaturals next episode was the most watched episode in the shows history. Haha. Although when Homestuck and Hetalia used to fight, it got scary.

4. To reiterate the point, OTPs (One True Pairings) are not to be messed with. Seriously. People are dangerous when something they love that much is threatened. Even if it is the most vile NOTP (anti-OTP) possibly imagined, someone loves it and you will probably need an exorcist to calm them down if it is insulted.

5. If an actor, youtuber, or celebrity expresses that they are uncomfortable being shipped or having their character shipped, just do not do it. It is not easy for them to say they are uncomfortable, and ignoring them and their request will lessen their opinion of the fandom and cause problems in their lives, like with youtubers KickThePj and Crabstickz. Although if they are fine with it like the vast majority of actors and such are neutral or even supportive of the ship, like Misha Collins, Dan Howell and Phil Lester, and basically every Hetalia voice actor. Respecting our idols is very important, and the last thing we would want to do is to make them quit doing the job they love because of us.

I have seen so many fans doing these things lately, and it is really not okay. It is about time that fangirls started treating each other, actors, and characters with respect.

Dan and Phil

I have recently discovered another thing to be totally obsessed about. Youtubers danisnotonfire and AmazingPhil.  They are British best friends who make videos about their lives and vlogs (video blogs). Both of them are tremendously funny and give surprisingly good advice. 

They are some of the most popular people currently making these sorts of videos, but other ones I like are Tyler Oakley and animators Domics and OnlyLeigh. All of their channels are pretty comedy orientated and binge watching all of their videos has a part in why when I sit down to do homework I never get anything done. 

Back to Dan and Phil, together they also have a gaming channel, creatively named ‘DanandPhilGames’ where they play games such as Five Nights at Freddy's and the Sims 4. On Dan's main channel he does ongoing segments called Reasons Why Dan’s a Fail!, Internet Support, and What not to do at the (beach, public transport, town, ect.). 

And Phil has invented many popular youtube tags. Some of them are the Toilet tag, a silly Q&A video, the Seven Second Challenge were he obviously has to do a challenge the person he is playing with tells him to in seven seconds or less,and the Explore my Brain tag were he talks about his thoughts. Since they live together they regularly appear in each others videos and help each other with video ideas, which is pretty nice of them.

Dan's channel trailer

Phil's Channel Trailer

Together they host a popular radio show on BBC1, and because of that UK Disney asked them to have cameo roles in their new movie Big Hero 6. I want to see that version just for the five seconds they are going to be speaking. Phil also voiced an emo goose for the app crossyroad.

Together they have been nominated for these awards in their youtube careers, Shorty Award for YouTube Star, and the Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Collaboration. Dan has over four million subscribers and they have ongoing jokes about how long it takes for him to upload a new video. Quite honestly there are pretty big pauses in between each of his videos, but it is ok with me as long as he stays a part of youtube. phil has a little over two million subscribers and has a end segment on most of his videos called “Draw Phil Naked” and I do not think that I can explain that to make it sound any less weird.

Both love Pokemon, Doctor Who and many different animes, which is why I started reading death note and watching the best ever Attack on Titan series. Well, that and the fact that three of my friends would not stop pestering me about reading/watching them, and ok, you guys were right I love them, you win for peer pressure.

Seriously, they are some of the best people on youtube, and if you want to check out my favorite episodes of theirs, here is Stuck on a Roller coaster by Phil Lester where he 'nearly died', and here is Dans video What Not to do on Public Transport where Dan accidentally got his head stuck in a subway door. Yep, I am proud to call these guys my role models.

A Fangirls Christmas

Ah, the holidays. One of the best and worst times of the year to be a fangirl. Now like anyone I love all of the gifts and tasty holiday foods, but leading up to getting presents is maddening. Let me explain.

Before the holidays, everything I want either can not be found, or, like this year, my parents ask me to go along with them on their christmas shopping for me. Way to ruin the magic. I mean, I get it it is difficult to figure out what to buy someone, but asking them what they want seems a little better than telling them to pick out what they want in a TJMax. 

It is also awful trying to pick out something that a friend or family member would like when they have different tastes than you. This here is a common problem everyone suffers from, especially those who, like me, do not understand how not everyone wants an Attack on Titan Eren plushie, or a god tier hero of heart shirt from Homestuck. 

Although, by far the worst thing about it is that I do not know what books I will get that year. This means that to avoid reading a potential gift, the entire month of december turns into a book deprived sadness month. I am not being dramatic, every year it means I have to deal with reality much more than usual. It is exhausting. Seriously how do people live with only reading very little or not at all? It makes me crazy to go to school, or anywhere really, without a trusty book. 

I even brought 16 books on a cross country road trip to Michigan and was worried it would not be enough for what I then though would be a month long trip that turned out to be a little over twice as long. Thankfully the books held out with some meticulous rationing and Netflix binge watching.

Disappearing Weeping Angel mug

Hero of Breath

Another thing that tends to happen all the time is that I will receive a book that I already have. The current record is held by The Book Thief, one of my favorite books of all time, but when you have three copies of that book, it gets to be just a bit too much. Bookshelf space is slowly disappearing while the new books are quickly piling up. For the record I do like using my kindle to read, but there’s something really nice about owning a real life book, like hi lighting it, dog-earing pages (my biggest pet-peeve in library books), and books legitimately smell absolutely amazing, do not judge me just visit a book store and you will get what I am talking about.

Heart T-shirt 

Anyways, Christmas this year was very good I got tons of cool gifts, had fun with my family, and I think everyone got what they wanted this year. This year I got a Misha Collins t-shirt, two Homestuck t-shirts and a Dan and Phil t-shirt TARDIS socks a weeping angel tea mug and 4 books. It was a super awesome break and it made going back to school even more difficult (no offense), but I hope you had a good holiday and appreciate how tough being a fangirl is during the holiday season. 

White Flags and Pasta

Hetalia is a Japanese manga that was turned into a very popular anime show. It's about the personifications of nations and their interactions through history. Most of the first two seasons are about the Axis Powers in World War Two. Instead of being sad and violent like you may expect when looking at world history, for the most part it's a very cute story. Most of the characters are based off of World War Two stereotypes of the country they represent.

By Hidekazu Himaruya And Funimation
Front to back: Italy, Germany, Japan, America,
China, England, Russia, and France

The Allies, (America, England, France, China, Canada and Russia) and the Axis (Italy, Germany, and Japan) are the main characters, but there are over 50 characters, including countries that no longer exist, like Holy Roman Empire or Prussia. There are also some micro-nation characters, like Sealand, who somehow always manages to get on England’s nerves. Then again, it’s not very difficult to get on his nerves, ask France.

My favorite characters are Russia, Canada, Finland, and as if that was not enough europeans, Prussia. Many Hetalians do not like Russia because he is a little scary, but he is seriously sweet and very cute. Do not argue with me, I am an expert. Canada is a quiet introvert who is either overlooked or mistaken for America all the time. Oh, and he has a pet polar bear (casually adds polar bear to christmas list). 

Finland is not a very big character in the series, but it is Finland, he is a nordic, he is nice, he is married to Sweden, he is just too awesome not to be included. Then last but definitely not least, ze awesome Prussia. Capable of breaking the fourth wall, Annoying his brother Germany 24/7, and keeping a diary from the dawn of time, Prussia is quite clearly just as awesome as he constantly states.

The closest thing the story has to a main character is Italy, who is relatively defenseless and ends up being caught by the Allies multiple times, only to be given back to Germany because he talks way too much.

In all honesty, I just can not find it in me to dislike any of the characters, even Turkey and Cuba. I think they all have really admirable traits and relationships with one another. This is by far my favorite anime, even though it is not as serious as Attack on Titan or Death Note, it makes me really happy to just watch it and it has some really cute messages from time to time.

I have learned more about pre American history from a TV show about the personifications of nations getting into petty fights and insulting British food at every turn than I have in an actual history classroom. I would not know what Liechtenstein is, and I would not have been able to answer most of the Jeopardy questions that I have (It is a good show ok?) without having watched Hetalia. It also makes Geography more interesting and it can be credited with helping me pass the European map test with flying colors.

Hasta la pasta!

Anime Bonzi 10th Anniversary

I got to go to Anime Bonzi last weekend. The panels were interesting and funny, I bought tons of fandom merch, and all the people were super nice and cool to talk to. Honestly if I could go back every weekend, I would.

It started on Friday when Alice picked me up. I was cosplaying as Tavros, Milly was Sollux and Alice was Terezi from Homesuck. We had to wait in line for a half an hour, but we got to talk to a Canada cosplayer. She was extremely nice and I talked to her for an hour before I realized any time had passed. On the first day I spent most of my time talking to people and helping choose which toy llama my friend Sarah should buy. I only went to one panel that day, Reading vs Writing and it was fun to talk about fanfics we had written or read. I also bought lots of merch, including a Supernatural pin, a plushie Darlek, a Prussia wall scroll and a Sherlock purse. It was a truly beautiful thing.

Prussia, ze awsomest! And Gilbird on has head.

The second day I was Aries from Fairytail and loads of people asker to take pictures with me. It was tons of fun again and I was also able to meet up with the people I had seen the day before. Although I went to way more panels on Saturday including origami 101 (I FINALLY made a swan!), a Doctor Who scavenger hunt (got to keep a commemorative bow tie and everything), a Fairytail one (Spoilers D:) and most of a very intreating Hetalia panel (they had a cool Russia). I made friends with 2 Terezis, a grimdark Rose, a Prussia, Jake English(yes, he had an english accent), and a very attractive Dave Strider. There was also a Batman in a hot tub, but I didn't nor do I ever want to know. I also bought some cute Supernatural and Hetalia stickers.

Moral of the story, whenever given the chance go to a fan convention because it is amazing. I had so much fun, and I'm taking all my friends who didn't go this year next time.

top left to bottom right England and a mint bunny, Russia with a metal pipe, Italy with a white flag, and Germany judging them all, Sam, Castiel, and Dean