Tripping around an Old LJ of Yore (long story) and got linked to this blog post in which an author explains that fanfiction is illegal and also mostly unjustifiable.

BUT THE COMMENTS. Oh my gosh, the amount of people who are like "we totally agree with you about that fanfiction, the gross stuff, but our ~pure~ fanfiction is really different, really!"

Oh, man, I am so happy that I didn't re-join fandom until this had mostly blown over and I had very little contact with this attitude. I mean, I write and mainly read canon-compliant fics but I think non-canon-compliant fics (even the explicit sex stuff! Even the really weird stuff!!) is important and worthy of protection and YKINMKBYKIOK.

Ahhhhh.

And there have been some threads on tumblr from young people agreeing with this stuff, which is only not worrying because AO3 is around. Thanks, AO3!

I just read my first Inception fic that concisely has the military backstory take place after Don't Ask Don't Tell was repealed and it was just a tiny, little detail that fired a million pleasure-circuits in my brain. This fandom and it's attention to world-building details is amazing.

Seriously, how is Inception fandom still cranking out magic??? Sometimes I want a "Unified Theory of Fandoms With Active Fanfiction Cultures" to figure out what is the magic click combination that leads to fic-creation and longevity. (And then I remember that I don't' want to watch Supernatural and also I am incredibly picky about my fanfiction and the minute the magical combination is unlocked, it will be utilized by our capitalist society to suck every possible dollar from the fandom collective.)

And then I think, eh, let some things stay a mystery.

Long story short, while I was staying with my parents for a few days, my (wonderful, lovely, generous) aunt agreed to spend two hours starting the Giant Project that is Cleaning Out My Childhood Bedroom.

We went through my small collection of VHS tapes from the days when I taped stuff of the TV. And I'll be fair -- I haven't watched any of those tapes in a decade or so. And the vast majority, if not all of them, are my tapes of the Digimon TV show, which I will still defend to anyone else who understands fandom. (To those that don't, I avoid the subject entirely. I don't care for being judged.) My aunt immediately threw them into the trash pile.*

But those DVD's aren't just copies of any random episode I would find airing on TV. Those DVD's are pure artifacts** from the Toonami days of yore. When I could, I would sit right in front of the TV, my finger on the "REC" button on my VHS player, recording the show and not the commercials. This meant that I became an expert in knowing the little bumpers between the commercials and the actual anime shows. I learned dorky Japanese words and random facts about Japanese vending machines. I knew the exact average length of the commercial break if I had to run from the TV.

And Digimon Adventure 01 had 54 episodes. I never managed to watch the show all the way through and back when I bought DVD's there was never a legal printing. But I knew the episodes I had on VHS by heart.

And before someone jumps in (no one will, this is LJ and I never made any DIgimon friends) I will defend that dub forever. Sure, it cut Joe's brothers down and such, but it was HILARIOUS intentionally. The snarky lines they gave those kids in shots that were just money-saving "mood" pans across the screen are pure dork comedy gold.

Last I checked there was an active torrent with the whole show dubbed, and it's honestly probably a good idea to get that and toss the VHS tapes. I don't even have a TV in my own apartment, I won't be watching these things anytime soon. I mourn the loss of the dorky Cartoon Network bumps, but it's probably time to let this stuff go, right? I mean, between my room at my parent's and my own apartment, I have to cut down on my sheer volume of stuff and in the books vs. VHS space battle, I'll keep my dead trees, thanks.

And I was never a part of a VHS fandom or anything. This was just me, inexplicably obsessed with this random weirdo children's show all by myself. It's not me abandoning anything greater than myself, just clearing space in my parent's house.

But still, it's hard. Just holding the giant black plastic VHS tapes with my meticulous junior high hand-written labels bring such a rush of memories. Thanks, parents, for not crushing my interests even as you found them dubious and juvenile.

____

*Alongside my VHS copy of the Digimon movie, which in America was a smashing-together of three separate Japanese movies. One of which was strong pre-cursor to the anime movie Summer Wars!

**Also to be noted: I spelled artifact the British way in this post and had a solid "What? Why?" reaction when my spellcheck objected. TORCHWOOD FANDOM I BLAME YOU.