1, 16, and 51. :D
1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?
Sailor Moon; at least, if you’re talking in terms of online fandom. I first had (largely unsupervised) internet access when I started high school back in the late nineties, and I didn’t really know what to do with it; a new friend introduced me to her favorite Japanese cartoon, so I rather randomly tried looking for more information about it, and … boom. I discovered fanfiction, joined forums, and started lecturing my IRL friends about dubs vs. subs (I was a self-righteous child, sigh). I also realized I was queer, and started pursuing visual art in a more serious way; I kind of owe most of the pillars of my adult identity to that silly show.
16. Are there any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?
When it comes to Trek, I tend to like what I perceive to be the most popular ships, at least from a fan perspective? I’m not very fond of many canon pairings (Bashir/Ezri Dax, Dax/Worf, Kira/any of the dudes she gets paired with), but I’m not sure how “popular” those really are. Back when I was more into AOS, I disliked Kirk/Bones, which was pretty popular. I’m pretty out of touch with the reboot fandom now, though.
51. Rant or gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!
(Just one? All right.) So I’m very much in fandom because I love the source material, or at least it potential, and I’m generally most interested in stories that really dig into it in various ways: stories that work hard to add to, correct or reimagine the original narrative/characters, first times for non-canon pairings (how did it happen? show meeee), attention to detail with worldbuilding and characterization, etc. I’m open to multiple interpretations (this has come up for me a fair bit in DS9 with different takes on Garak, actually, which is part of why I tend to be Switzerland when people start arguing about him), but one thing that really frustrates me is people taking characters and shoehorning them into the same cookie-cutter trope, alternate universe or character/pairing archetype without really working to make it FIT those characters. Don’t get me wrong, I often love a well-executed trope (and will read a million fake dating stories for every pairing ever, god), but if I’m reading about Elim Garak and Julian Bashir, I want a story about THEM, not just Generic Older, Experienced/Seductive Cynic meets Generic Beautiful Idealistic ~Genius on DS9/at the coffee shop where one of them works/in Victorian London/at Hogwarts. It’s gotten to the point where I’m extremely wary and picky about most AUs in most fandoms. And I generally avoid inexplicably popular side character relationships like the plague, since there usually isn’t enough canon characterization to build on in the FIRST place. Ugh.
