prisca | Snowflake Challenge: Challenge 13

Snowflake Challenge promotional banner with image of ice covered tree branches and falling snowflakes on a blue background. Text: Snowflake Challenge January 1-31.

In your own space, share a favorite memory about fandom: the first time you got into fandom, the last time a fanwork touched your heart, wild times with fellow fans (whether online or off-line), a lovely comment you’ve received or have left for someone.

Another easy challenge. Or maybe not, because there are so many memories I don't want to miss. But because here it is asked for a favorite one, I will go with Ring Con, because this is the first one that came into my mind.

Ring Con is a german convention that, in the beginning, was based on the Lord of The Ring fandom. I guess I mentioned before already that I usually am a more introverted, shy person, and visiting an event like that was new and exciting for me. But to my own surprise, it never felt like being at the wrong place.

Meeting people I had met online before and watching some actors of my beloved movie on stage was sooo great. Fun fact: for some of the actors (like Sarah McLeod or Craig Parker), this con was a new experience, too, but they all were so lovely and interesting. The most well-known actor at this con was Brad Dourif, and we all hadn't even seen him on-screen back then, because Two Towers was not even out. But it was so exciting to stand vis-a-vis him during the autograph session.

Over the following years, I visited the con every time, and I got to meet more popular actors like Billy Boyd (what a nice guy), John Rys Davis (when he starts talking, there is no end ... laughs ... he's driven the poor stuff crazy during the autograph session because he wanted to chat with every fan), David Wenham, Miranda Otto, Andy Serkis and lots more. The highlight for me was meeting Sean Astin. Only for him, I stepped over my lines and went to a photo session - no, I won't show the photo because I am looking like a dork, but I love it and even more the memory of this particular moment.

Later, Ring Con started to change, other fandoms found their way to the con, when the interest in Lord of the Rings began to fade away step by step; finally, it got renamed into Magic Con. And I started to lose interest.

Until in 2019, the Lucifer cast (Tom Ellis, Rachel Harris, Kevin Alejandro, D.B. Woodside, and Lesley-Ann Brandt) was announced. I knew I had to go and see them. And even if it was not the same anymore, most old friends had long stopped visiting the con, but nevertheless, it was a great convention I did enjoy so much.