Confession time. I’ve had a wonderful mind-vacation over the past couple of months, indulging in a new and fierce Monster High doll obsession. 🙂 It was Sirena Von Boo, the ghost-mermaid hybrid doll, who started it for me. Then, I looked into the doll line’s rather intelligent use of mythology, and Sirena started getting a lot more company. Then I had to get the dolls who are obvious musicians (Catty and Casta are hanging out in my recording studio, looking fabulous), and well… There’s a doll shelf in my future at this point, and I’m not the least bit ashamed. 😀
I believe Tumblr would call this a partial Shelfie.
I realized how deep into the fandom I had truly gone over the weekend, when I was browsing a Halloween store and found myself wanting to cheer on a wee trick-or-treater and her mother for ruthlessly hunting the perfect Frankie Stein costume….and I knew exactly which character/doll/costume they were talking about.
Then I started thinking about how cool it would be for this little girl and all sorts of other kids if they could meet all the brilliant cosplayers I’ve met. And then, how neat it would be for little kids to meet all of the wonderful geeks I’ve met, of various dedications and genders. And then I jerked my own reins, because I realized that even starting that conversation with a random mother and daughter in a random Halloween Store in central Arkansas would be more complicated than I wanted it to be, and possibly frightening for the two of them. 🙂
But I can dream, right? And I can keep giving a cheerful thumbs-up to all the awesome cosplays and trick-or-treaters I meet?
I forget sometimes that my world of conventions and festivals, music, fire, feathers and fun is not the world that everyone lives in. Tell you what, though: I never knew until I got adopted by bunches of facets of fandom how good it would feel to know that we don’t have to grow out of dressing up, Halloween, theatre, and so many other wonderful things. We don’t have to grow too old for those things. Too old, or too serious, or too sad. We don’t have to let them go. They’re still ours. This is one of the things I can always count on to keep me going.
So here’s to all of you, no matter what year you were born, who are planning to go all out on a costume this year, whether or not it’s for Halloween. 🙂 Here’s to those of you who are going all out for your kids, for your fandom, for your friends, or most especially for yourself. You’re awesome.