pronker

Day 7

In your own space, create a fanwork. Make a drabble, a ficlet, a podfic, or an icon, art or meta or a rec list. Arts and crafts. Draft a critical essay about a particular media. Put together a picspam or a fanmix. Write a review of a Broadway show, a movie, a concert, a poetry reading, a museum trip, a you-should-be-listening-to-this-band essay. Compose some limericks, haikus, free-form poetry, 5-word stories. Document a particular bit of real person canon. Take some pictures. Draw a stick-figure comic. Create something. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

The laptop gave fits for six full days, refusing to do basic things like open Pictures. It's fixed now. This cartoon bubbled up and here it is, *pop*




Day 15

In your own space, write a love letter to Fandom in general, to a particular fandom, to a trope, a relationship, a character, or to your flist/circle/followers. Share you love and squee as loud as you want to. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Dear Fandom,

Thanks for being there in thick and thin, through many changes in life that come to everyone in some sort or another. I appreciate knowing so many fellow fans and thinking of them peeking back at me as I peek at them. You were the inspiration for getting a computer in the first place in '05, after running to the library for twenty minute sessions after taking turns for the sign ups. From your first iteration as a plaything, I went on to work online for which I remain grateful.

Most of all, you are fantastic and fun and life-affirming. Yay fandom!

Sincerely,

pronker

PS Way to go, mods, getting the Challenge up this year! It's been a squeeful ride.

PPS Er, the cartoon likely is obscure for non-fans of Penguins of Madagascar, explanation cheerfully given!

Day 13
In your own space, write about a moment in fandom that meant a lot to you. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Easy peasy. Bjo Trimble began a letter-writing campaign in early 1968 to Save Star Trek and somehow my friend the Superfan discovered it. She was the one who scribbled reams of Star Trek fanfic collaborations from us all onto legal pads and who came up, honestly, with stuff like plots while the rest of us supplied the longing sighs over Shatner, et al.

Superfan, who later became my first apartment roommate, was more smarter, more fannish, more dating-ish, more social-ish, just more. She organized our clique of five fourteen year-olds into writing letters to NBC during our almost-weekly sleepovers. There was one rollaway bed crammed into the average suburban 11x14 foot bedroom that already contained two twin beds, but somehow we managed to get close to 20 minutes of solid sleep on Friday nights with two per twin and one lucky in the rollaway. Of course, we slept in and My Second Mom, who had owned a bakeshop along with her ex-Navy cook husband, prepared pancakes and all sorts of goodies for us the next morning every time. Loved that family. Still do, after 59 years of friendship.

Er, back on track. That moment of fannish glory, added to the fact that there was a Season Three for Star Trek and what we did worked, was empowering.

Day 11
In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

How else might you demonstrate your love for your chosen creator? You could make a recs list of your favorites. Or post a link to their personal website or to an archive, whether it's at fanfiction.net or Instagram. You could even create a page for them at Fanlore, or add to an existing one.


ruth baulding is a capital writer for Star Wars. I can't think of a better one and I'm not alone, so making her presence known on fanlore took on epic proportions. Here ya go, lady!

ruth baulding fanlore entry

Whew, took all day off and on, but here is an entry for you, r.b. *falls over ded*

DAY 9:

Send feedback to two fannish people — they can be anyone you want: a writer who’s made you happy, a moderator of your favorite exchange (not us!), a fanartist you avidly follow… There are so many possibilities. Just let someone know you appreciate their work.

Done, to Mud, Alcalina's foray into the glorious world of Star Wars. With the release of Rogue One and the Force Awakens, fandom is blessed with a fine talent to juggle the characters of Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, Quinlan Vos and others in the Clone Wars era. Come along for the ride to discover how Anakin and Obi-Wan form a partnership in all senses of the word. Rich and evocative prose delineates the relationships: Master-Padawan, Jedi-Council, Hondo-Aurra, stop if you are already intrigued and just go read. 34 chapters and counting, a fine debut. Add to the rec that her artwork exceeds hawt and goes straight to steamy.

Done, to Getting Into Character, GrandOldPenguin's RPF that blends Penguins of Madagascar characters with Tom McGrath and Co. who bring them to glorious life. Really, the work melds human and penguin personalities in the best way possible, along with displaying an intriguing method of getting its plot going. Think smoke detector. Go on, you'll never guess why/how/who.

Day 06

In your own space, create a list of at least three fannish things you'd love to receive, something you've wanted but were afraid to ask for - a fannish wish-list of sorts. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your wish-list if you feel comfortable doing so. Maybe someone will grant a wish. Check out other people's posts. Maybe you will grant a wish. If any wishes are granted, we'd love it if you link them to this post.

1. More fic? Sure, in the Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Penguins of Madagascar, or Laredo fandoms. Hooha, the last one is in the western genre, sorely neglected because there's not much out there in media in 2017 as opposed to 1957. There's some, though because Rawhide has its own section on fanfiction.net, which blew me away. Laredo hasn't its own section, and it offers a chance to write comic/lightly dramatic western material a la Alias Smith and Jones and Wild Wild West (another set of faves but not what I'm hungering for at the moment). I've never read slash for Laredo where I have for Wild Wild West and Alias Smith and Jones. Hint, hint, to anyone who knows me. :) Here's a character sheet: entry for Laredo.

2. In tune with #1, a fic rec list for any of the above three fandoms.

3. I'd love to draw anime/manga for Penguins of Madagascar! Any hints or sites that offer a quick tutorial on the basics, like how to frame drawings to show dramatic progression or what those red lines across the characters' cheeks really mean?

Off to read others' wishes to grant them, if possible. (gets out magic wand, oh here it is /*)

Day 5

In your own space, post recs for at least three fanworks that you did not create. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


Oh, boy, foisting reccing! Thanks to wendelah1 for reminiscing about LJ's comm Crack Van. This entry with its fourteen artiste recs (the norm was three fics weekly and one vid and one crossover per turn at the wheel) is in fond remembrance for the comm and the years that I recc'd for it:

Zootopia Scenes and Shorts GrandOldPenguin writes well-plotted and characterized Penguins of Madagascar stories, each complete and completely captivating. With the release of Zootopia, he has undertaken various genres of ficcing to extending the Zootopiaverse. Bonus mentions of PoM characters in the first segment!

A Tangled Web Revin Songlifter makes me drool with her ability to flesh out Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea TV-verse characters and create worthy OCs, especially a supernatural one who ... um. Trot on over and meet Galené.

Paternity Pursuit places Marlene The Otter in a situation that is responsible for various states inside the Penguins of Madagascar 'verse or outside of it: joy, despair, catatonia, you name it. Her unplanned pregnancy sets the stage for Wildgoose1's delicious series of novel-length stories written in an inimitable style. Take a moment to get used to the script-like format detailing adventures for Skipper and Team and then dive into the main stories plus its sequels, Deviations, Hell Hath No Fury, and
Once More Into The Breech, now in progress. All are imaginative and introduce OCs to die for.

Priorities by the team of Snark-N-Moon details how Kowalski's lack of sleep prompts Rico to "help" his friend. Lots of Kico (Kowalski/Rico) and Skilene (Skipper/Marlene) for romance lovers and also a neatly developed plot. There is a WIP sequel, A Season of Miracles with a very decent wordcount.

Polyester Girl by Hyaenaa portrays Rico's love for his 11 1/2 inch plastic dolly in completely understandable terms. A sweet and slightly sad story for PoM.

Asthma by ForThoseWhoLikeToMoveItMoveIt features Skipper's ailment as something he'd like very much to forget about. Luckily, staunch friend Kowalski holds his feet to the fire to force the penguin commando to face facts. An uncommon ending in this one.

In The Line Of Duty by Crystal Volcheck details the humanized penguin commando crew in an engaging fashion and she has an ask blog over on tumblr for the team. It can't be easy to transfer the show's birds-in-a-zoo characters into the human realm, but she does the job neatly.

Hooboy, the art derived from four little penguins boggles the mind. Here are recs for some favorites:

The Gayest Comic is a webcomic by Madame Dobato, WIP, with very decent output in both English and Spanish of the humanized crew. Lots of black and white fun here in both senses of the phrase.

Nice To Meet You by Leilush12 displays her awesome talent for shading and drawing adorable poses of all the team, but in particular Rico. In For Christmas, the effect of fire on the cute couple of Rico and Miss Perky makes the whole piece glow.

Quietly features a humanized Skipper/Private pairing portrayed by Eiskaiserin, who details just the perfect background for a romantic get together for the two.

Winter Wish is JVs Luck's portrayal of species change so that romance occurs between otter and penguin. This time it's an illo for the Skilene pairing from one of wildgoose1's stories. Skipper makes a dashing otter.

Our Love Is Out There, He's Not Coming Back, and Thanks For All by Abecedye (AKA Oftheriot on deviantArt) all portray the cast of a cartoon show as humans, with the first rec as Skilene, the second as not-quite-Dorski (Doris/Kowalski) but maybe Dorskip?, and the last as the whole cast in human form. Such talent and imagination, sighhhhh ...

Smexy Kowalski shows Moonwolf03's talent for just right poses of the penguins, bold as befits a commando. Hitting Turbulence is NSFW in the Skipper/Kowalski pairing. MSPaint is used meticulously by Moonwolf03 and leaves an indelible impression of stick-to-it-tive-ness per the artist. Way to go, moonwolf03!



As the last, here is an episode in animatic form that shows details of how the end product is reached. Voice acting done with expert singing by Jeff Bennett and Danny Jacobs, storyboard by Sunil Hall completed, and now the animatic provides music and sound effects and from there it goes to the colorists, I imagine. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the recs for today.

In your own space, share a book/song/movie/tv show/fanwork/etc that changed your life. Something that impacted on your consciousness in a way that left its mark on your soul. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.


This is fan space, so here is the most relevant response I can muster. Theoden's speech "Fear No Darkness!" gets me each time, and the clip shows Merry's and Eowyn's fear as real, graphic terror and dread and conviction to go forward. It also shows Eomer at his berserker best. I do my best to fear no darkness.