it's a wonder to behold

Child's slowly growing rage at Teen Wolf for Derek's man-(wolf-?)pain is possibly the best thing about the show I don't watch. I don't need to, honestly; once a week, come the apocalypse, Child drops down disconsolately on the patio swing to talk about his epic feelings about Derek and Stiles and how they're being epically abused by $whoever.

One of the (hilarious) advantages of growing up fannish is he's on a good balance of way too invested and overenthusiastic (entertainment forever) but cynical as hell because he's been through All the Ship Wars Ever by proxy, so everything is old news as far as he's concerned.

And then there's this (semi-verbatim, this was weird):

Child: it's like the Ray wars, mom.
(note: using mom is always, always a warning sign.)
Me: ....sterek is like the Ray Wars? Wait, how?
Child: Yeah, it's like--
Me: I wasn't in the Ray Wars. We started watching way after the Ray Wars.
Me: Hold on, were you even born then? Potty trained? Able to argue with me?
Child: ...what does that have to do with it?

I'm sorry, I didn't find out how Sterek is just like the Ray Wars, I'll get on that, but seriously? To be fair to him, he was around during my ranting John Sheppard days, so yeah, that might have helped form his sensibilities.

Other random conversation (this is partially verbatim, because wow, that was a bad moment):

Child: you have any ideas for a name? I need a new one.
Me: Those are personal, but--wait. Why do you need a new one?
Child: Reasons.
Me: What did you do?
Child: Nothing.
Me: You know I can check tumblr, right?
Child: Not that one.
Me: The secret one I'm not supposed to know about?
Child: ....no, it's--nevermind.
Me: It's not xxxxxxx one, is it?
Child: Stop breaking into my computer.
Me: Lock your screen once in a while.

(note: he actually didn't do anything, he just gets bored with consistency. I'm not sure if I'm relieved or disappointed. Also, his password security is getting much better. Who says invasion of adolescent privacy has no practical benefits?)

I wonder what it's like to be the teenage fanson of a fanparent. Knowing fanparent is out there somewhere, anywhere, separated from you by three degrees of tumblr or less at all times, hideously aware of her hovering presence and getting recced 'oomg did you read this!1!!!!' written by her or her bffs (this happens), and horribly, horribly aware she could show up in your fandom at any moment and may do it just to fuck with her fankid because why not?

I feel like I've been waiting for him to hit this level of self-awareness and horror all my life.

Dear Fanparents,

This is so much fun, you have no idea.

-seperis

Comments

[libitina]

My mother is only peripherally fannish (she got deep into Highlander community, but that was about it), but I do have 1 story about being a fan child on the internet.

One day a friend was having trouble thinking of a character name and asked whether it would be okay to use mine. After a bit of consideration I decided it would be cool. And the story was promptly published.

I swear it took less that 12 hours for my mother to call me and ask whether I knew what this person had done.

(And this want even because she has Google alerts set up or anything - I got straight up tattled on to my mom.)

I was about 30 when this happened.

[seperis]

That. Is. Hilarious. *GLEE*

[mrshamill]

This is so much fun, you have no idea.

When you're not terrified. I well remember the time MissHamill wrote her first explicit slash (Harry/Draco? not sure) and I could NOT read it. Everybody else did and a couple of people moaned about her sex scene being hotter than what they could do.

I'm SO GLAD she's writing original fantasy. THAT I can read.

[seperis]

*dies laughing* I know Child writes, but not if he's posted, though I don't think he has yet anywhere.

That will be an interesting day.

[out_there]

That sounds hilariously fun.

[seperis]

It is, so much. Dude, if I'd known about this when i was in labor, I would have been in a much better mood.

[mecurtin]

Mine get freaked out when they're about to leave kudos on a story and they see I'VE ALREADY DONE IT. Especially if it's Explicit. ewww momcooties on the fanfic ewwwwwwwww

The Rules are: I may not follow their tumblrs. They don't follow mine, really, but I have a special tag -- #for the futures -- for stuff I'd like to share with them. So they check that tag on my tumblr from time to time.

Isn't Child the same age as my Distant Future of Fandom, who is packing for Brandeis? What's he heading for?

[seperis]

We mutual follow on his public-ish one(s) since we like each other's reblogs; there really isn't a lot of crossover between our fannish groups when it comes to reblogs, oddly enough, so I get some hilarious ones from his friends that are never seen by the greater tumblr community.

His others are his, but I check them variably to make sure he doesn't get caught up in the reblogging without researching the topic crap. He generally doesn't, but he's seventeen and teenagers can and do get caught up in that kind of thing when the words 'social justice' are mentioned. It's too easy for ethics to become slippery when you think you're doing something for the greater good, and if he's going to have an online presence, he's going to have good ethics, ones that can stand up to not becoming a doxxer for greater justice.

Also, he's a senior this year. He's jumping between going to a four year off the bat or doing community college for two years; he's not really interested in the "freshman experience" (deliberate quotes there), but I think he'd benefit from having to deal with roommates and dorms a lot. OTOH, the local community college classes are taught by UT of Austin adjunct faculty, and there are one or two

The only thing I nixed off the bat was he couldn't take a year off, mostly because he doesn't have anything concrete goalwise he wants or needs to do with it. The only way I'd let him is if he joined a legit study abroad or service abroad program after his senior year, but

[green_grrl]

Just for the cost per semester and for the ability to be in a class of 40 where the teacher knows you versus a class of 300—community college. (Says she who works at a big state U)

[synecdochic]

I love your stories about Child so much, you have no idea.

[seperis]

Child is the gift that keeps on giving, forever. *g*

[synecdochic]

And by now you've won enough favor to be the one he conquers last!

[niqaeli]

I legit fucking laughed for like two minutes straight at the Ray Wars thing.

I adore Child stories, he's so entertaining.

[green_grrl]

Thank fucking god I never had to negotiate parents and fandom! I did just take Mom to The Winter Soldier and we both love all things RDJ, but she hates the Internet. Whew!

[minim_calibre]

AHAHAHAHA! This ALMOST makes me look forward to the kid's teen years.

ALMOST.

Though she's all about the fan art thing as a producer. And vids as a consumer. I suppose I need to find someone to teach her how to do it herself for those.

(I mean, I joke that we're raising her to only find a mate at Comicon, but she's cosplaying the Winter Soldier for Geek Girl Con, so.)

[pensnest]

Heh. I introduced my daughter to Harry Potter fanfic (the SugarQuill, of course), but she found her way to the slash on her own. Sadly, she never got into writing fanfic, but she read my stories and even beta'd once; the fun part for me was when she was away at uni and left a comment on something on my LJ to the effect that, yay, hot story - omg my MOTHER wrote this.

It was kinda like the time she gaped in horror at me and actually said, "You're not going out dressed like that!"

She's developed into a different kind of geek now, alas.

[the_shoshanna]

Your Child stories are fabulous.

[lurksnomore]

Being a fanparent can be the absolute bomb. My boyChild (turns 17 at the end of August) writes fic now and is working on a WIP. We have agreed that I am NOT to read his stuff. He used to moan about people who didn't update their WIPs because of life, and now he's on the other side of that. I get to poke at him about his readers not getting updates and he *glares at me*. Its so much fun. GirlChild (just turned 14) and I talk about fic and slash fic and all kinds of fannish things and her friends think its either way cool or deeply, horrifyingly embarrassing that she and I discuss gay sex. And have arguments about pairings or whether Gimli and Legolas were the bestest of friends or an OTP. And talk about the "male gaze" and cultural and internalized misogyny. Watching her friends blush while we argue over slash parings? its just the best.

This is the fun, best bit of being a parent.

[inoru_no_hoshi]

...And now I have another reason to look forward to having kids. I must try and raise them to be fankids, and then be the Horrifyingly Aware mom. >:D

(Child is so entertaining. Even if I have no idea what the Ray Wars were - I suspect either Not My Fandom, or Before My Time, or both. That, and I tend to be oblivious to wank unless people talk about it where I can see it, in that I know it must be there because fandom=wank happens always, but could not generally tell you what the subject is for, well, anything ever. xD)

[genarti]

Now I, too, am deeply curious in what way Sterek is like the Ray Wars! Even though my knowledge of both is secondhand, and in the case of Due South is after-the-fact as well.

Also, this story is hilarious. Child is a delight, and I am just plain giggling at your gleeful fannish looming.

[astolat]

*waits impatiently*

[druidspell]

Oh man, I actually get to come at this from the opposite perspective, which is of a fannish child whose mom got into fandom later in life. She writes fic, edits, helps run an archive, and makes graphics for people, and I get to talk to her about various fannish things as an adult, whereas when I was a teenager she very much did not approve of my interest in fandom. But the fact that she vacations every year with her fannish friends makes her much more understanding of me going on vacation with mine :)

[lena204]

LoL, I am right there with your son in regards to the Teen Wolf angst with Dean and Stiles.

You talking about the fanparent and how it inspires your parenting is one of the only reasons I ever give thought to having a child.

[fyrdrakken]

I'm starting to reach a weird point in my life where I'm sometimes wistful that I don't have a preteen fankid around to mold. (I just A) never engaged with the male gender enough to reach the preliminary stages of creating one and B) would have liked to skip directly from birth to school-age because diapers and toddlers and full-time oversight of a small person never really appealed as a lifestyle choice. Also, I can barely afford to cover my own expenses and pets, never mind adding an extra dependent person to my budget.)

Also, Dylan O'Brien is so very, very pretty, and I suppose Derek has his good points for those who like that sort of thing. (He's hitting a few superficial points of resemblance with John Shepperd, only with added muscles and occasional color-change eyes.) I'm kind of glad I'm only peripherally aware of what's going on in the fandom shipwars, though. (Also, I've heard just enough about some of the casting changes having to do with actors moving on to other shows between seasons that I'm not sure how many of the onshow deaths and abrupt character disappearances to actually blame on the showrunner fridging females and POCs while giving white males a pass. I do blame the showrunner for creating a character who was so obviously a female version of Derek to try to divert the Sterek ship into a canonical het ship, though.)