Fandom Friday: My Childhood Revisited

My First Fandoms

Happy FridayAfter I started really getting into fandoms, I thought back to my favorite childhood shows and realized something. I was totally in those TV shows' fandoms, I just didn't know all the terminology or understand what loving a TV show really meant to me.  So you can say I've been a fangirl since I was about 10-years-old.  These three TV shows defined the kind of person I would become and really set me on my path of being a total nerd.

Before I gush about my favorite TV shows from my younger days, (I still love them too!) you need to know something.  I did not have any cable or satellite TV, I had about 5 channels growing up.  I know, the struggle was real, but my grandma had cable at her house.  When I went to visit her, which was at least once a week, I would spend hours in front of the TV absorbing all kinds of shows that I normally never watched.  I watched a lot of TV, but these three shows stick with me the most.  So without further ado; lets go back in time and learn about what TV shows I thought (and still think) are totally awesome!

Teen Titans

Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed quite a few DC cartoons when I was younger.  I watched Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, I also caught a few episodes of the cool, futuristic Batman; Batman Beyond.  However, Teen Titans makes this list because I watched almost all of the episode while I was at my grandma's house, so I understood and followed this show the best.  I also loved all the characters equally, because each one had something really unique to bring to the table.  Robin was the leader and he didn't need any powers to kick some serious butt.  Starfire is awesome because she is an alien and she is so sweet and naive, but she is so strong and powerful, and that dynamic was so inspiring to me.  Then there was Cyborg, who was both a human and a robot and his character was funny and strong and supportive.  Beast Boy could turn into any animal he wanted to, which was super cool, and he was hilarious and dorky.  Finally there was Raven who was just so dark and mysterious, calm and collected, but super powerful and scary when she wanted to be.  When I re-watched this show, I realized it tackled a lot of mature themes during its run on TV.  All around it was a pretty awesome show, especially for any super heroes fans like me!
Random Fandom Stuff: When I was a kid, I totally shipped Robin and Starfire!! They were so cute together!  Now I also ship Beast Boy and Raven because of the whole opposites attract thing and I think they would be really good to each other!
Then, while I was watching Arrow back in its second season, and the show revealed the antagonist to be Slade Wilson/Deathstroke...the fandom stars aligned and I was geeking out because Slade was the big bad in Teen Titans for most of the shows run!!!

Danny Phantom 

Here was a show that I got to watch in its entirety that I thought was awesome!  The whole story set up fascinated me.  The idea that ghosts existed in another dimension was cool!  I remember watching Danny get his ghost powers and thinking that was fantastic and wishing I had ghost powers too!  Turing invisible, flying, being able to pass through solid objects, shooting energy blasts from his hands; Danny was one of my favorite characters to watch.  And Sam and Tucker were cool too!  I wished the show had lasted longer, I think it could have gone into some interesting directions if it had been given the chance.  A lot of what made this show amazing flew right over my head as a kid, but now I can appreciate it and understand just what little perks the show had to offer.  My favorite is Lancer, the English teacher curses by shouting book titles! Brilliant!
Random Fandom Stuff: I shipped Danny and Sam long before they ever realized they were perfect for each other.  I just knew they were meant to be.
Since the show ended too soon, you can read some fan fiction here: https://www.fanfiction.net/cartoon/Danny-Phantom/ and let amateur writers take you on new adventures with Danny.  But reader beware, some fan fiction is not for the faint of heart.

Avatar The Last Airbender
Hands down one of my all time favorite animated shows ever, ATLA is so amazing!!! First of all, the world this show takes place is so developed and interesting and fascinating that it immediately grabs and demands attention.  In a world where there are four nations based on the four elements, each containing benders who can bend their element based on martial arts is just super cool!!! The air nomads are peaceful and the monks believe in freedom, like the wind.  The water tribes are community centered people whose bending style involves slowing motions like water.  The fire nation is powerful and the earth kingdom is tough and stubborn like rock.  Then we have the original idea of mashing up animals to create new ones in this world.  The two main animals that are main characters in their own right are Appa the flying sky bison and Momo, a flying lemur.  So now lets talk about the gaang (that is not a typo, you will see why that is funny if you don't get the joke in a moment). In this world, the four nations have been at war because the fire nation wants to rule over everyone.  How does this world of conflicting elements and people find peace?  Through the AVATAR: master of all four elements!!!!! The current avatar is a 12-year-old air bender named Aang.  He was raised by  monks, but ran away when he learned he was the avatar because he was not ready to face all the responsibility.  During the show, he masters not only the other three elements but leans to master the avatar state and discovers how to end the 100 year war without violence.  He is goofy, sweet, peaceful, and wise and an interesting character.  Now for Katara, the heart of the gaang.  She was the only water bender in her tribe and she has been through a lot to become a master water bender, but she can do the other forms of water bending of healing and blood bending.  She is brave, compassionate, fierce, and loyal and a necessity for facing any big bad benders.  Her brother Sokka is the main non bender in the group and he is the meat and sarcasm guy.  He is a warrior and is silly and creative and funny and loves his boomerang because it always comes back.His girlfriend Suki joins the gaang in the end and she is a Kyoshi warrior so she is strong and an awesome fighter, but she isn't really a main character.  The last two members of the gaang are probably my favorite characters in the entire show.  First we have Toph.  She is blind and small and looks innocent but she is the best metal bender in the four nations and invented metal bending.  She can see by sensing the vibrations through the earth with her feet, which is so awesome!!!!  No one stands a chance against her as long as they are on the ground.  Finally, the character that goes through the most development and is the most well-rounded character I have seen on a children's TV show is Zuko, a fire bender.  When we meet Zuko, he is a banished prince of the fire nation looking for the avatar, so he was th show's antagonist.  But as the show progressed, Zuko changed and decided to find his own destiny, which ended up being helping the Aang defeat his father, the Fire Lord.  Zuko struggles and fights for his redemption and he is an impressive fighter as well because he can ever re-direct lightning!  So yeah, this show has amazing writing and a wonderful story to tell and if you haven't seen it, watch it! I promise it is worth seeing!
Random Fandom Stuff: I think I always shipped Aang and Katara because since episode one, they have been together and I liked how Aang had always had a crush on her.  I think Toph and Sokka would have made a good couple, I am fairly sure Toph had a crush on him, but Sokka and Suki were alright too.
The sister show The Legend of Korra continues the story of the avatar and the four nations and is similar enough to be reminiscent of the original series, but is totally different at the same time.  It is no longer a show just for kids.
Also, Uncle Iroh is the uncle everyone deserves! He loves tea and gives the best advice and knew how to make you break down in tears.  I miss Uncle Iroh.

So to wrap up here, I would like to share with you all another reason these three shows stick out in my mind as influential from my childhood.  In each show, I totally had a crush on at least one of the characters.  Call me crazy but I can't help it if I thought Robin was cute and Danny was easy on the eyes and Zuko was HOT!!! For animated characters, they are ridiculously good-looking!

Anyways, I had a lot of shows I loved and worshiped but I narrowed it down to three which was really hard.  So what about you guys? What shows from your childhood were you obsessed with?  Comment down below so we can all walk down memory lane together!
See ya next Friday!