We’re getting in on the 5 Fandom Friday action! For those who don’t know, 5 Fandom Friday is a feature all about your fandoms! Each week, there’s a new prompt to talk about 5 things you love, hate or fangirl over. Here’s our first edition ever – “Gateway Fandoms That Made Me Who I Am Today!”

nerdist-podcast

The Nerdist Podcast
(Debbie @da_rolf)

I love podcasts (I even have one!) but The Nerdist podcast is the first one that I ever listened to, and through it I not only discovered podcasts as a medium but also a lot of people that inspire me professionally. At first I was just excited to listen to interviews with so many interesting people, but as I became more familiar with Chris Hardwick, I began to discover more than just other podcasts. The Nerdist led to to Geek and Sundry, which introduced me to Wil Wheaton and Felicia Day, which led me to The Guild, Titainsgrave, Supernatural, Comic Cons, about half of the people that I follow on Twitter…The list goes on and on to things that I love now that I can trace back to this podcast. It also was a huge motivator for me to create things outside of my day job. I remember feeling frustrated as I was heading to one of my internships after I graduated film school, and I listened as Chris talked about how the podcast came from his own frustration and so he decided to “just make a thing!”. While I’ve heard the same advice from plenty of other creators that I admire, The Nerdist is where I heard it first.

sailor-moon
Source: www.viz.com

Sailor Moon
(Steena @steenaleen)

It wasn’t my FIRST fandom (that probably goes to Narnia or Redwall) but Sailor Moon was the catalyst to so many other fandoms. A handful of Sailor Moon episodes on a VHS were all it took to hook me into the world of magical girls, planetary powers, and mini skirts with go-go boots. But those few episodes led me into the wilds of fan fiction, RPGs, anime, and Kdrama. I’d even argue that Sailor Moon is the source of my feminist rhetoric (Girls can kick butt and save the day. They can also be crybabies, super geniuses, wear make-up, and love bunnies). Geek culture has influenced a lot of who I am but I’m the geek I am today because nine girls showed me how to fight the power of the Negaverse.

view-askew
Source: theeyzmaster.deviantart.com

The View Askewniverse
(Mandy @cyannide)

My gateway fandom is one most people wouldn’t really even consider a geeky fandom: The Viewaskewniverse. Basically the universe of Kevin Smith’s main movies (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Clerks 2). It was the early 2000’s and I spent much of my free time on the View Askew Messageboard where he himself actually posted, and I got a real taste of interacting with other fans. You don’t really find that sorta place anymore. It really shaped who I am as a geek, lead to excellent online friendships to this day, and even inspired my own online site. It’s a fandom that lead to many others for me as I got to share and explore other fandoms like comics and anime through other people sharing them with me. And it will always hold nostalgia for me.

UNSPECIFIED - OCTOBER 05: Medium shot of Kristen Bell as Veronica sitting in car, pointing camera. (Photo by Ron Jaffe/Warner Bros./Getty Images)
Source: Ron Jaffe/Warner Bros./Getty Images

Veronica Mars
(Meghan @mesulli)

I don’t even know how or why I started watching Veronica Mars but I was hooked from the very beginning (and very angry it ended so soon). Clearly whatever marketing they did reached me. I loved it so much so that I explored everything I could about it. As a result I found a podcast from the writers of the show. I faithfully listened to every episode as it was released and the writers constantly referred to Battlestar Galactica. Veronica Mars led me to BSG which in turn opened up more fandoms.

tabletop-games
Source: solentwargamers.co.uk

Tabletop Games
(Sarah Bonilla @adventgeekgirl)

A long time ago in a state far, far away, one of my best friends brought out a game called Settlers of Catan. I became addicted immediately and wanted to play more and more. Hero Quest was one of the next ones we played and I was absolutely in love. I wanted to play all the time. As the years went by, we found more and more games to play and today I run a Tabletop Game Club, I am a GM for RPGs and I even attend Cons that involve tabletop games. I’d always loved games, but taking it to the next level really rocked my world and I kept playing more and more games from Pandemic to Munchkin and beyond! Now I’m a geek in every sense of word, embracing all the awesomeness that goes with it, especially game-themed t-shirts!

Thanks for checking out our first 5 Fandom Friday. Stay tuned for more, and feel free to leave a comment letting us know what evil fandom was a total gateway drug for you!