It’s been a good long time
I first fell into fandom in 2001, as a real young kid, back in the heyday of Gundam Wing being the most populated sub-section in the anime category of fanfiction.net. I was surprised to find when I went rooting around two days ago that it’s still #11 on the number of fics written for it.
I grew up on Gundam Wing fic but never watched the series - till now. I have a lot of thoughts about it. I’m glad I’m watching it as an adult and can make my own decisions about the characters and what they stand for. It suffices to say that fandom has had their own stock interpretations of the characters, and that’s taken on their own trope-y life of their own. Nothing wrong with that! But I am loving discovering these characters with fresh eyes, having stepped away from fandom for so long. And I have a lot of thoughts while I watch the anime, and will probably use this blog to vent a bit.
A last thing - I started reading the Ion Arc and Googled around a bit and discovered Sunhawk had passed away a month ago. I never had the patience for the Ion Arc when I was younger but the fans around me did, and I read her shorter works. Hell, I didn’t even realise until two days ago that Sunhawk was a lady all along. It hit me damn hard to see that she’d been writing fic for 20 years, and that right about the time I came full circle back to this fandom, she was gone.
Rest in peace, Sunhawk - may your wings take flight. If you’re still in the fandom and seeing this in the tags - please say hi. I’d love to make friends.
