What did I learn this weekend in NYC while connecting with the SCANDAL fandom at the first Gladiator Meet-Up? One – the fundamentals of fandom never change:)! lol! We fall in love with characters, with their stories, and we are passionate about what we want them to do, feel and say, from what we don’t want them to do, feel or say. At the same time, we accept that we are at the mercy of the writers (unless you write fanfic:)!, and as long as they don’t step over THAT line (and every fan’s line can be somewhat different:), we will GO DOWN WITH OUR SHIP!
And that’s what the OLITZ (Olivia/Fitz) crowd is all about when it comes to their undying devotion to their OTP (One True Pairing) – more on the OTP goodness in a future blog post.
I am basically a newbie to the SCANDAL fandom, believe it or not. Yes, I talk about it on Facebook and Tumblr, and blog about it at Waterworld Mermaids now and then, but I haven’t been to a fan convention in years (does last year’s Phauxcon count?).
I have loved SCANDAL since I and friends devoured the first seven episodes on DVD last summer during Hurricane Sandy while vacationing on Captiva Island. From Sweet Baby to the final scene in episode seven we were goners.
But I wasn’t a fangirl, not in the classic sense (like I was with BtVS or AtS or New Girl:), not yet, not like my good pal Xio Akrelrod. I brought the show to her attention a while back, and within no time she was off and running. A musician, singer and poet who I met 10 years ago via writing fan fiction for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she was always a talented writer but the past few years her song writing and singing career have been her focus (and still is), but her creativity in other mediums reemerged with her love of SCANDAL, and the show has inspired her very popular original fiction, Star-Struck.
So back to what I learned this weekend? A lot, but here I’m going to just say, I am thrilled that this fandom exists and is thriving. Congratulations to the organizers. You all did a great job. And please send out a survey – we want to keep the momentum going for 2014 in LA!!!
And enjoy the photos! If you’d like higher res copies, please let me know. I own all except the one I snagged of Kerry W. as Olivia P.
