It has officially been a year since I joined the Just Dance fandom!
I’ve seen my JD mutuals making anniversary posts, so I decided to do it too. :)
First of all, I want to say that this is no doubt the best experience I have ever had in a fandom.
Just Dance is something I like to call a Sandbox Fandom™️, where all the characters and settings are open-ended to the point where you can do whatever you want with them. No two fans have the exact same interpretations of a character, be it their backstories, personalities, or relationships. There is no rock solid ‘canon’, and I don’t think I would enjoy the fandom as much as I do if there was. And everyone just… gets it. We love seeing what everyone does with this silly little franchise. We love hearing each other gush about their thousands of headcanons. We love reading each other’s fanfictions and seeing each other’s art.
You all have a gift, and I hope nobody takes that joy and whimsy away from you.
My first Just Dance game was JD 3, which I got for my 7th birthday. I liked the game, and I played it on and off throughout my life. But I never became a full-on fan until last year, where I watched Tatoaka’s lore videos on TikTok. I liked the idea of the main story, so I bought the new games so I could experience them myself. I had fun and properly exercised for the first time in a while.
I took one look at these gayass goths and it was all over for me. I instantly went to look up fanart for them. Some small headcanons I had bloomed into an entire, detailed storyline that I made up for them. The very first fanart I ever made for this fandom involved them.
And in honour of the anniversary, I redrew it. There’s been a lot of improvement and it’s only been a year!
(This is how they show their love, I promise.)
And then I found Doodle’s discord server. Everyone there is so cool and supportive and I immediately felt welcomed! There’s even many that I would consider online friends at this point. I’ve been in past discord servers where I felt like an outsider and was ignored by everyone else. But I never felt that way here. And I thank you all for it.
I would like to shoutout my mutuals for making my experience in the fandom a memorable one:
@uneasylex, @croftersforlife, @eviesroompookie, @supyovalk, @anja-the-sane-panda, @swannox, @stylishkatz69, @spaceanxshark24, @localsimpissleepy, @phoenixriaartemis, @ssstarlighttt, @ruthyanypunto, @iggypancakes17, @marianaaags, @doodling-doodle, @karis17love, @lightning-and-sparks
All of you are awesome as hell!
And don’t think I’m discounting you just because you’re not on the tag list. Every single one of you has done your part to make the Just Dance fandom what it is today.
If I ever lose interest in Just Dance and move on to something else, I will never forgot this fandom and everything it has done for me. Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Let’s make this year a good one. 🩵