Recently as I was scrolling through TikTok, a fan edit for a show that I had never seen or heard of before popped up on my For You Page. It was about a “new” show called Julie and The Phantoms and the edit consisted of the titular character Julie Molina and the deuteragonist Luke Patterson singing a duet of the song “Edge of Great.” I was immediately hooked and decided to give the show a try. My curiosity on the context of the clip got the better of me. I ended up binge watching it in two days and it’s become my new favorite show at the moment. However, if you notice, I put “new” in quotes in the beginning. That’s because the show isn’t actually new, it’s three years old and the show got canceled in 2021! I’m three years late on the show’s initial hype and missed out when it was really popular!
You would think this would make me upset. Most people would be if they realized they missed the peak of the fandom of a show they like. In all honesty though, It really didn’t make me mad at all. In fact, I was more upset that I wasn’t going to get a season two of this awesome show. But in terms of being late to watching it? I’m actually pretty chill with it and I prefer it that way sometimes. Why? Well I actually have a lot of reasons for this!
- All the fanfics in my disposal!
-
When I’m early to a fandom of a show that has just been released, the lack of good fan content at first actually drives me crazy. Especially when a show isn’t really that popular and you’re one of the first people there, you often feel high and dry. When a fandom is more seasoned and has been around for a couple of years, you have a lot of fanfics to choose from. People now have had years to get to know the characters and build adventures around them. In my experience, the fan stories I read turn out better that way.
- The quiet atmosphere
-
Fandom tends to be pretty toxic sometimes. In my experience, the bigger the fandom the higher toxicity it has. When you are in a popular fandom, arguments seem to be commonplace. As someone who was (and still is) in the Avatar: the Last Airbender fandom…I have seen some nasty things being said. When you are late to a fandom, all of these arguments have died down. People got their opinions out when it was big and things got quiet afterwards. Being late has made fandom experience more tolerable because I don’t have to deal with that.
- Having the feeling of choice
-
This might be a little weird, but I don’t really like getting recommendations from people. I’ve been harped on this by some friends and my own sister. Whenever I get recommendations for popular shows, I tend to hesitate and sometimes even avoid the media in question without realizing it. In my brain, getting recommendations tends to feel like a demand and I have a tendency to avoid people’s suggestions on movies and TV shows. When I join a fandom late, this feeling of pressure is gone. I get to enjoy the piece of media however I want and on my terms alone. I tend to feel overwhelmed otherwise.
For a lot of people, what I described is really weird. There are some downsides to it, like missing out on a large community and being present in the moment. Sometimes there are moments where I’m like I really missed out and I wish I was here earlier. However for the most part I’m very content with getting into things “late.” There’s no expiration date on when to enjoy things. I love getting to fall in love with characters and media for the first time, no matter when I end up doing it.