Obssess Much?

Have you ever known someone who was so much of a fan of something that they knew most everything about it? They are the kind of fan who absorbs not just the movie or book, but they also consume all supplemental material such as commentaries, reviews, fanart, fanfics, and so on. On top of that, they collect merchandising and even participate in various personal expressions of fandom where possible, such as cosplay, drawing fanart, or writing fanfiction.

I know some fans like this--my cousin happens to be this kind of fan for the shows My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Psych, Doctor Who, and several others. Well, I happen to be this kind of fan too, although I'm usually fairly picky about what gets added to my list. I can think of only two anime that are on this list: Full Metal Alchemist (that should be obvious though if you've been reading my blog) and Code Geass. There are plenty of animes that I love and enjoy, but those are the two that will turn me into a hyper, excited, giggly fangirl. There are a few books that I am a fan of as well. First, I absolutely adore the Dragonlance Chronicles and Legends trilogies written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I will obsess over my two favorite characters: Raistlin and Sturm, although not together; I really dislike slash art and fics. Also a good read by the same pair of authors is Rose of the Prophet; I'm only moderately less obsessed with that trilogy. Moving away from M. Weis and T. Hickman, I am also a fan of the Lord of the Rings and most anything Tolkienish.

Those are the big titles for me for anime and books. Movies are a little bit more complicated. There are five movies that I tend to pick up when I need background noise or something to watch while working on tedious handsewing on cosplays. At the very top of that list is the Lord of the Rings--I am the obsessed fan who watches the extended versions of the movies every month or so has listened to all the commentaries at least twice, and watched all the extra disc footage at least twice as well. I currently stalk news sites and twitter feeds for updates on production of the Hobbit. Following behind Lord of the Rings is A&E's Pride and Prejudice, Enchanted, Tangled, and The Forbidden Kingdom. Beyond this my fandom in movies is fairly mild; I tend to stalk actors more than movies. My current top actor list consists of Colin Firth (<3333), Geoffrey Rush, and Karl Urban. Obviously I loved the King's Speech, felt that Pirates 2 would have been better with more Barbossa screen time, and have thoroughly enjoyed Star Trek, R.E.D. and any other movie I've caught Karl Urban in.

This post was inspired by the fact that I spent two evenings earlier this week watching The Lord of the Rings yet again. Last week I was watching the cast commentary--I'm about part way through the first disc of the Two Towers on that, so I'll probably be spending much of the next couple of weeks eating through the rest of the cast commentary and maybe the director commentary and also possibly selections of the extra production footage while I buckle down to do some binge working for Anime Weekend Atlanta. Obsess much? XD

What kinds of movies, books, animes, etc. make you go crazy?

WIP Wednesday - July Part 1

In true Gothic Panda style, I am officially distracted from the projects that I'm supposed to be working on. One week later, Aries has not progressed much, little to no crocheting has been completed, and the closest I've come to getting anything on my "This is what I'm supposed to do" list done is working on costumes. Even then, those are low priority, and on top of that, I spent time working on the one that has the deadline farthest away. Go me! So what am I working on instead of Aries, crocheted bunnies and kitties, and Code Geass cosplays?

Skulls, Fairy, Flower, Mushrooms, Pandas, and Pendant.

These charms appeared on my Tumblr end of last week, and they still aren't glazed, although I did get the "Longlife" symbol added to the white round one. I also realized that what I thought was white embossing powder was actually clear, so I've ditched the black round one until I can find some white powder.  I will be making more of these in different colors. Most will be 2-toned, and I haven't decided what colors I'm doing next, but these are fun to make, so I look forward to it. Also, these aren't too bad a distraction really, since they count as original art, and that's kind of what I'm supposed to be working on for Otakon and AWA. =D

Codex, Vork, Clara, Zaboo, Tink

I really wanted a break from drawing my usual prints and more elaborate pieces, so I've been working on a couple of bookmark sets. This set is 5 out of 6 bookmarks for The Guild webshow--if you haven't seen this, go watch it. Like now.

Bladezz, Caramon, Raistlin, Kitiara, Tanis

Up next is the last Guild bookmark design, and the first 4 designs for my Dragonlance bookmark set. =) I really like Caramon, Raistlin and Kitiara came out. I kind of want to redraw Tanis. XD

Laurana, Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Night Elf

This set has Laurana from the Dragonlance set and the first 4 bookmarks for the World of Warcraft set. I still need to draw Sturm, Goldmoon, Riverwind, Tasslehoff, and Flint for the Dragonlance set.

Draennai, Worgen, Troll, Tauren, Blood Elf

And, this would be 5 more of the WoW set. I don't like the Tauren at all. XD I will definitely be redrawing that one. I still need to draw the Goblin, Undead, and Orc bookmarks. The way things are going, I just might finish these before I finish the Zodiacs--maybe even before I get Aries finished.