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ashen-star-mage · 6 years

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My Favorite Fandoms and Why

I’m a huge nerd. Hopefully that’s clear for anyone who follows my blog or posts. So naturally I like a lot of fandoms, but there are a number that I really really like and some I’ve followed since childhood.

Pokemon

A fandom I’ve followed since childhood. I was part of the original Pokemon generation who were kids when the first games (red, blue and yellow) came out. I love how even in the beginning there was no end of things to do in Pokemon. Bored with your team? There’s 151 of them and more on the way. Then you could battle and min-max your team to your heart’s content, and way back in the day you could even gamble in Pokemon games. I love the art style of Pokemon and the beloved creatures that are way too easy to get attached to. It’s like to the point where when someone (I’m not naming names) KOs your favorite Pokemon and then it’s time for some serious payback. We’re talking Hyper Beam on a 10% health Pokemon payback. Modern games have given us even more to do in games. If battling isn’t your thing, you can breed them for cool moves and other things (and potentially become a twisted Pokemon eugenicist). You can hunt for oddly colored Pokemon (shinies), something I never had the patience for. You can participate in Pokemon contests, and bond with your team by feeding or petting them. Pokemon designs are really diverse too, from ‘normal’ animals to plants to the gods themselves. Gods that can be caught and battled by ten year olds for some reason. Also it needs saying that for some reason teenage boys (and perhaps girls too) detest Pokemon because it’s not cool. What’s cool for teenage boys? Skateboards and saying ‘radical’ all the time? Ninja Turtles reference by the way. I was definitely in the minority liking Pokemon in my teenage years, but when I got to college, suddenly it was cool again and everyone was allowed to like it just like when I was a kid. Pretty awesome right? I’m really hyped for Sword and Shield, just like I’ve been hyped for every new main series game.

Star Wars

Another fandom I’ve followed since childhood. While Pokemon took us to a land of wonderful creatures of all stripes, Star Wars takes us to that galaxy a long time a go and far far away where there are adventures, cool ships, and magic space wizards. In my opinion, Star Wars introduced the world to some of the coolest and most iconic ships. Like the wedge-shaped Star Destroyers that struck terror into all who saw them, or the Millennium Falcon, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. And who could forget the characters. Definitely a diverse cast in terms of archetypes, Luke the naive and idealist farmboy, Leia the tough no-nonsense princess, Han Solo the lovable rogue, Darth Vader one of the most feared men in the Empire and an extremely iconic villain. The list goes on. Even if the galaxy is almost always at war, be it the clone wars, galactic civil war, or other conflicts, it was somewhere I always wanted to go some day. Meet the characters, try not to get force-choked, fly a ship through hyperspace. Star Wars may have started as three very well-done movies, but it has turned into an incredible multimedia franchise. The Legends series (formerly expanded universe) really fleshed out the galaxy and lore beyond what the movies did and so did the prequels. Say what you will, but they had some really good aspects to them. Then there are the games like my favorite of all time, Empire At War, game that would transport you into that galaxy far far away for a few hours at a time and let you blow up stormtroopers or rebel scum to your hearts content. Or clones or clankers (battle droids) if you prefer that. The fans have definitely done their part too, like the 501st Legion and Rebel Legion, two incredible professional-quality Star Wars costuming organizations (both of which I want to join some day). They really do their part to bring the galaxy to life.

Disney/Pixar

Ah, Disney, the company that has been entertaining us with beloved child-friendly characters and stories for many decades. A lot of generations can say they grew up with at least one Disney movie. I love how Disney movies appeal to people of all ages. They have characters both kids and adults adore and stories and even humor for both adults and children as well. Then there’s Kingdom Hearts, the massive Disney and Final Fantasy crossover that brings tons of Disney characters into one universe. Also Disneyland and Disney parks which bring the magic of Disney to life with animatronics, costumed actors, and various other things. Unless someone outright hates Disney or animated films, there’s bound to be something in the Disney canon for almost everyone. I have too many favorite Disney films to name, but some I’m particularly fond of are Mulan, Tangled, Wreck-It Ralph, Alice in Wonderland (my namesake). I’m definitely planning some Disney cosplays in the future, and now that Disney owns Star Wars, those characters could count too.

Fire Emblem

A tactical RPG with one of the world’s saltiest fanbases (at least in my opinion). I’ve described the series as chess-meets-Final-Fantasy to people who have never heard of it. Basically you have an army of very relatable characters who can talk to each other for combat bonuses and you have a bunch of enemies and undoubtably a giant evil dragon to fight. These games have been pegged as being rather difficult, considering weapons can break mid-battle, characters who die in battle never come back (until recent games), and experience points are limited (more in older games). Fire Emblem used to be such a niche series, only known to a few dedicated fans, but luckily Fire Emblem Awakening saved the series and made it really popular, to the point of being a mainstream series now. I only got into the series in high school, but I’ve been hooked ever since. The mix of strategy, RPG elements, and interesting characters and plots really was a winning combination. The character relations are deep, especially when there are 40+ playable characters per game. Each character can talk to around half a dozen others several times, revealing character backstory, personality, and interesting and sometimes funny interactions between them. I think Fire Emblem Awakening is one of my all-time favorites, and not just because it saved the series. It was a great standalone game. Some of my favorite characters are Lilina from Binding Blade, Nino from Blazing Sword (just Fire Emblem in the international release), Lissa, Chrom, Frederick, Robin, and Nowi from Awakening, Flora and Mozu from Fates. I even cosplay Mozu. I should honestly dust that cosplay off and wear it again. I love the character.

Hyperdimension Neptunia

Definitely still a rather niche series. It’s extremely meta and loves trampling on the fourth wall. This series is basically the video game console war (Wii vs Playstation 3 vs Xbox 360) with all the players (pun intended) personified as anime girls. It’s not just those systems either. Sega is a major player, as in main character major, and video game piracy is personified too. The characters are fantastic and their interactions are equal parts endearing and hilarious. There are way too many video game references and tidbits. Like how Vert (Xbox personification) complains about overheating just like a real Xbox 360. Or how the enemies you fight are based on classic video game enemies like the ghosts from Pac-Man or the space invaders. This franchise is rather unique for me in that I like almost every character. With Star Wars or Fire Emblem for example, there are definitely a fair number of characters I’m neutral towards, but both those franchises have way more characters than Neptunia. I think my favorite characters are Vert and Nepgear (personification of the Sega Game Gear).

RWBY

Say what you will about the animation style at first (believe me, I was turned off at first but then I came back years later to give it another try) but this series has some of the most epic fight sequences and choreography in any series I’ve seen. All the main characters have superpowers of varying sorts called semblances and throw in a bunch of cool weapons that are also guns and you’ve got a recipe for epic combat. It’s so tragic and sad that Monty Oum, the series creator passed away, since he was a real driving force behind the epic fight choreography. I normally don’t like series just because the fighting is good (I’m not into most shounen battle anime). There needs to be more than just epic fights. I like character-driven stories and RWBY provides quite the diverse and likable cast. The team dynamics (RWBY stands for the names of the four characters on team RWBY) make for very interesting character interactions.

Disgaea

Probably the most wonderfully absurd fandom on my list. Disgaea is about playing as the demons as they get into mischief and are forced to fight even worse demons and sometimes rogue human super-villains and angels too. Also did I mention the exploding peg-leg penguins called Prinnies who also talk like surfers for some reason? Because they do exist and they’re so great they even got a few games that star them as the main character... even though they’re supposed to be the fall guy and cheap slave labor of the Disgaea universe. The main characters, Laharl being a great example, are a departure from the ‘good guy’ protagonists of your typical RPG. He’s greedy, petty, and likes to brag about himself. Sure he’ll do the right thing after much prodding, but he really likes to play the role of the villain too. Aside from the absurd characters and plots, there’s the absurd game mechanics. Lv 99 look too low for you? Try Lv 9999 and then reset to lv 1 and grind back to Lv 9999 multiple times. Also stats reaching the millions and billions and damage several magnitudes beyond that with the right overpowered sword (which you can level up by going inside it).

Tales Series

A series that’s somewhat similar to Final Fantasy in terms of being a mostly fantasy RPG, but also with hack-and-slash team battle mechanics. It’s a series that I feel is terribly underrated and needs more love. Final Fantasy is great but I feel like Tales deserves more recognition. The series has a lot of great characters and heavily emphasizes character interactions and character development. A perfect example is Luke fon Fabre, a character whose spoiled, whiny, abrasive personality makes him hard to like, but due to certain events he becomes one of the most beloved protagonists in the series (and a personal favorite of mine). This series is known for playing archetypes and tropes straight (like the chosen one trope, or unshakable destiny) and then turning them on their heads and deconstructing them, only to reconstruct them, then deconstruct them again. The combat is fast-paced and exciting, and while I love turn-based combat as well, the Tales fights, especially boss battles are fantastic. I describe the series as Final Fantasy meets Super Smash Bros in terms of battle system. My favorite game in the series is Tales of the Abyss.

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