TGWTG Fangirling:

I am a fangirl…

I am such a fangirl! Anyone who’s seen my improper blog is probably all too aware of that fact. I suppose I have four main fandoms that I adore as a whole to the point of annoying others, albeit unintentionally, with my absolute enthusiasm. Those four are: musicals, Tim Burton movies, Disney movies and TGWTG.

The first three seem far pretty universal; I could mention Donald Duck, Edward Scissorhands or Sound of Music to nearly anyone and they’d probably know what I was talking about.

That isn’t the case with TGWTG. If I mentioned, for instance, a show about a critic who reviews movies and takes them personally when they’re awful and sometimes sings about mother f-ing T-Rexes and boring M-Preg movies… Well, I would imagine they’d guess it was less artistic and meaningful than my prior three favorite fandoms.

But it isn’t… to me anyways.

I came across TGWTG when I was fourteen via Critic’s (first) Titanic the Animated Musical review, and since I was as nocturnal then as I am now, I decided to watch as many NC reviews as humanly possible that night. I was hooked. My fourteen-year-old brain found the Nostalgia Critic to be the most hilarious thing I had ever encountered.

I called myself a fangirl immediately, and kept up with the Nostalgia Critic reviews as well as other reviewers like Paw, Nostalgia Chick and Marzgurl.

I love Marzgurl, her videos honestly helped me through one of the most difficult points in my life, but I’ll write thoroughly about that some other time.

Anyways I was pretty fangirly, but I wasn’t dragged in deep until this year. Why? Because 1. Nostalgia Critic “died” only to be resurrected (but of course no one knew that at the time) so my reaction was to re-watch the old reviews and 2. ‘To Boldly Flee’ happened.

As with my introduction to Marzgurl’s videos, ‘To Boldly Flee’ happened to line up with a tumultuous, difficult point in my life.

It seems like it’s an often occurrence in this fandom for people to latch onto TGWTG during their times of trouble.

Incidentally, that also happened for me with the musical ‘Cabaret’, but once again, that’s a blog post for later.

Yet, as different as ‘Cabaret’ and TGWTG are, I see a huge similarity. They are both art, to me, in the most amazing sense- they effect people’s emotions and help them through hard times.

I could also say that they’re similar in seeming like escapism until you realize, “Hey, this is sad!” The next thing you know, you’re crying along with something you laughed at seconds ago… but art is subjective, so that might just be my interpretation.

Regardless, TGWTG has something else I find amazing in art. It has the power to change people. I honestly feel like TGWTG has made me a better person. I feel like I’ve become nicer, smarter and more creative by being inspired by TGWTG.

I’ve become smarter by being able to acknowledge harmful flaws in media and hopefully avoid them in what I make.

I’ve become nicer by hearing virtues extolled and hoping to pursue them.

I’ve become more creative by seeing their passion and who inspires them, and doing my darnedest to be as passionate and devoted to my art as they are to theirs.

One of the hardships (though on the lesser scale) I dealt with during this last year was being cast in a show I disliked and at first had no passion for. My role was a one-dimensional villainous-sidekick.

I recalled how a multitude of reviewers expressed their love for diabolical villain-characters who obviously delight in their awful actions, and actors who take what they’re given (as dreadful as it might be) and have fun with it!

I did my best to run with those traits, and in the long run, it made my experience in that show far less awful!

I’ve been inspired in one way or another by almost all of the content-producers.

Nella helped me become more confident with my appearance by showing how rightfully confident she was with hers.

Linkara inspired me to see my past writing, like he sees his past writing. It might have some massive flaws, but it was a step that got me to the storytelling level I’m at today, so all’s well.

Lindsay inspires me by showing how hilarious and compelling seemingly academic topics can be, when handled correctly.

Paw made me realize that geeking out about things no one else seems aware of or likes, such as reefer madness, is A-Okay since it’s harmless and it makes you happy!

Doug reaffirmed my suspicion and inspires me more so, that if you’re going to write for children, you better respect their intelligence and put your entire effort into it!

I could go on, but I had an epiphany-

Okay, now this will sound weird, but it’s four in the morning and I’m going all out, man!

I feel like TGWTG is growing up with me. It’s silly, since they’re all adults, and I don’t imagine the expected demographic was ever specifically fourteen-year-old girls, but I’ll explain:

To Boldly Flee speaks of the Nostalgia Critic evolving and it’s obvious. What makes me happy, though, is that I see myself evolving as well. Everyone evolves, it’s inevitable, it’s being human, but some characters never do!

I’ve heard the old NC described on TV tropes as “testosterone poisoned” and I definitely see it now. The strange thing is, though, that young me never really noticed. I mean, there were a few moments where I thought, “Well that was a jerk-move!” but I didn’t really think anything else of it. But I look back on myself at fourteen and I had a ton of jerk-moves, I regret.

Interestingly enough, one dumb thing I did as a fourteen year old was to argue (rather aggressively) online, solely because they said something negative about one of my favorite movies. Not to mention, I managed to sound like Enoby Darkness Dementia Way in the process…

“Don’t go around judging people by this, it’s not worth it, just because you like a film or don’t like a film, it doesn’t mean you’re an idiot or you’re not smart or you’re a jerk or anything like that…” – Doug Walker

I’m sorry, to whomever I ineloquently argued with five years ago…

I used to think of the Nostalgia Critic as someone to be like, and I look back and think of how silly that was, but now I’ve returned to that.

Have you seen the recent reviews? That speech about respecting children’s media? Or that one about honoring the dead if you’re going to portray them? Or that one about doing one’s best to capture a friend’s spirit to make something beautiful? Or his tribute to his hero, Rodger Ebert? Ahh, I’m going to cry…

He’s still very flawed-

I’m still very flawed-

I’m over-analyzing-

But my point is: as I mature and aspire to be a better person, it feels like Critic is doing so, as well.

Not only that, but as all the producers, for lack of a better phrase, “grow-up” they improve their art, and I can only hope that I do as well!

I love TGWTG so much! Everyone involved is so talented, and because of that and how it incorporates other things I love (like musicals, for instance) I am more than happy to project my fangirling onto it!

I hope that this unexpectedly long rant gives those who scoff at my incessant posting of TGWTG gifs improper blog an insight on why this fandom actually means a lot to me!