Fandoms - What are they?

How many of you have heard the words ship and canon before?

Obviously, a ship is transport used on water and well, a canon (two n’s not three) is a Church law or decree but it just so happens there’s another world in which these words mean something else.

This is the world of fandoms.

Now, I know what fandoms are but there are some people who don’t, like my parents. So, here’s a quick breakdown…

A ‘Fandom’ is a community formed by fans of a TV show, a book, a movie etc.

Typically, the world of fandoms has its’ own jargon; the examples below are the ones I think are the most important to know.

A ‘Ship’ is the abbreviation of “relationship” and it basically means you want two characters to be involved romantically.

Now, a ‘Canon’ is the official storyline of the TV show, book, or movie, and when a ship is referred to as being canon, it means it is real in the show, book, etc.

And lastly, the final key piece of jargon is ‘OTP’.

An ‘OTP’ is someone’s ‘One True Pairing’, meaning a fangirl’s favourite fictional romance. I don’t have just one favourite fictional romance, and my latest one is actually the inspiration behind this post.

My sister and I, being the fangirls that we are, started freaking out over a potential romance that we didn’t realise could happen until yesterday. We’d been watching this show and have loved it, but never thought of these particular characters as a couple before; this show is MacGyver – not the original, the reboot!

We have lots of OTPs but haven’t felt strongly about one in a while and the potential romance between two of the protagonists, MacGyver and Riley, has brought out our inner fangirls - we're a bit crazy, I know!

We basically had a freak out moment, spurting out all these words that were foreign to our parents – just another language we now speak lol – and so, I decided to write a blog about it.

Many of you probably don’t know what I’m talking about and some of you may have just realised you’re fangirls or fanboys yourselves, but this whole fandom business is serious; there are ship names, fanfictions, fanvids and so much more all about fandoms.

So, here are some of my fave fandoms and ships:

1. MacGyver – MacRiley (MacGyver and Riley)

2. One Tree Hill – Naley (Nathan and Hayley)

3. Grey’s Anatomy – Slexie (Sloan and Lexie)

4. The 100 – Bellarke (Bellamy and Clarke)

5. The Vampire Diaries – Delena (Damon and Elena)

6. Hart of Dixie – Zade (Wade and Zoe)

7. Teen Wolf – Stydia (Stiles and Lydia)

8. Supergirl – Karamel (Mon El and Kara)

9. Lucifer – Deckerstar (Lucifer Morningstar and Chloe Decker)

10. The Originals – Kolvina (Kol and Davina)

These ten fandoms and ships are just from TV shows; I have many more from books, like Hessa and Clace (After and The Mortal Instruments), and movies, like Dotty and Covinsky (Fast and Furious and To All the Boys).

It can be quite hard to decide – I would know – but I’m curious.

So, what are your favourite fandoms and ships?

Until next time...