rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 7, 2014 20:47:36 GMT
My current little side project as the moment is the creation of a timeline for Labyrinth and the Labyrinth fandom, chronicling everything from the movie’s inception to the afterlife it’s experienced through spin-off media, its home video/DVD release and fanworks. Writing a history of a fandom is extremely difficult since fan communities are primarily virtual - that’s why I’m looking for people who are involved with the fandom to get in touch.
Basically, I want to hear from you if:
a.) You were involved with the fandom back in the 1990s, when fans became organised for the first time. b.) You’ve been involved with the fanfiction community and can remember controversies/trends/iconic stories coming about. c.) You’ve have other misc. insights into/thoughts on the fandom you’d like to share.
If you’re interested in helping me with this, please reply and set out your involvement with the fandom. I will then get in touch by email to get your experiences down. I will at some point send you the overall timeline I’m working on, the idea being that you point out if I’ve missed anything big and let me know if my memory of events is faulty or incomplete.
Fandoms are notoriously difficult to chronicle, but I’m keen to give it my best shot. If you’re interested, get in touch and spread the word!
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Post by Bezzo on Jan 7, 2014 21:11:31 GMT
I was involved in a very popular Labyrinth RPG on yahoo groups (or clubs, as it was known back then) back in the late 90s. Feel free to contact me for any snippets of info from back then.
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Post by TempestFae on Jan 7, 2014 22:08:40 GMT
I was active back then, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. It was college and I was BUSY, as well as involved in a bunch of other fandoms. You might want to include one of the biggest spin-off events, Sypher Studio's Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, in your research.
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 8, 2014 22:07:43 GMT
I was involved in a very popular Labyrinth RPG on yahoo groups (or clubs, as it was known back then) back in the late 90s. Feel free to contact me for any snippets of info from back then. Thank you! I have a few questions- 1. What was the RPG called and how did it work? I was a little kid in the 90s so the only internet memories I have from back then are very fuzzy . 2. Do you remember when the RPG started/when it was at its most active? Can you remember roughly how many people participated? 3. Can you recall any memorable events that sparked discussion in the community? I guess I'm thinking of things like references to Labyrinth in the wider media, and if they impacted on the community's popularity.
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 8, 2014 22:10:41 GMT
I was active back then, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. It was college and I was BUSY, as well as involved in a bunch of other fandoms. You might want to include one of the biggest spin-off events, Sypher Studio's Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, in your research. Thanks for replying - any information is helpful! I'm covering the LoJ, so am on that . Just in case you do remember any details, here are some questions: 1. Can you remember what the biggest fan communities were? I know Lady Amethyst's mailing list was popular but don't have any other names. 2. Do you recall any particular trends in fanfiction, i.e. were popular stories dark, fluffy, romantic etc.? 3. A probably stupid but much more general question - are you able to describe how a typical mailing list would work? It's something I don't quite understand, and need to get a better grip on if I'm to develop this properly!
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 8, 2014 22:11:48 GMT
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Post by Bezzo on Jan 8, 2014 22:52:31 GMT
1. What was the RPG called and how did it work? I was a little kid in the 90s so the only internet memories I have from back then are very fuzzy . 2. Do you remember when the RPG started/when it was at its most active? Can you remember roughly how many people participated? 3. Can you recall any memorable events that sparked discussion in the community? I guess I'm thinking of things like references to Labyrinth in the wider media, and if they impacted on the community's popularity. 1. The RPG was called Into the Labyrinth. It was set up on Yahoo Clubs (or groups, as it is now known) as they were like the social media of the 90s! The RPG was like a huge round robin that never ended. You were only allowed to write for the characters that you had claimed or created, though. 2. The RPG began in 1998 and was very active from 1999 right up until 2003. I can' really remember how many people played, but there were quite a number. Sadly, the RPG seemed to come to a gradual halt in 2004 so we had to close it down. 3. There weren't really any events that boosted the popularity. The Labyrinth fandom generally has these sudden little bursts of popularity before cooling off for a while.
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Post by TempestFae on Jan 8, 2014 23:05:10 GMT
I was active back then, but I'm afraid I don't remember much about it. It was college and I was BUSY, as well as involved in a bunch of other fandoms. You might want to include one of the biggest spin-off events, Sypher Studio's Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade Ball, in your research. Thanks for replying - any information is helpful! I'm covering the LoJ, so am on that . Just in case you do remember any details, here are some questions: 1. Can you remember what the biggest fan communities were? I know Lady Amethyst's mailing list was popular but don't have any other names. 2. Do you recall any particular trends in fanfiction, i.e. were popular stories dark, fluffy, romantic etc.? 3. A probably stupid but much more general question - are you able to describe how a typical mailing list would work? It's something I don't quite understand, and need to get a better grip on if I'm to develop this properly! Wow, that timeline is nice! Great details! 1)Lady Amethyst's list is the only one I really remember. I think I recall a community trying to get going on AOL in '97 or '98, but it didn't seem to be very active, and I left AOL shortly thereafter. There WERE a lot of RPG chat rooms on AOL at the time, and I do know there was a long-running Labyrinth based one, but my personality never really meshed with the person running it so I didn't join that group. 2) The biggest trend I've seen in fanfiction, and one that remains pretty steady is, for such a fantastical and expansive setting, almost all the stories focus on Sarah/Jareth shipping. It's interesting that as the fans and the fandom has matured, so have the stories I've read. I'm seeing less and less "Goblin Princess Sarah," and more and more "Queen on Her Own Terms Sarah." What I mean is that it's become less about wish fulfillment and "ooooo, Jareth so sexy and magical!" and more about personal growth and strength, Sarah being a worthwhile possible ruler in her own right. Since a lot of writers tend to identify with their characters, I find this development really encouraging. (I offer " Her Kingdom as Great" as an example of my point.) I'm also finding a lot of stories, lately, that really revel in character growth. Not just, what's happening ten years down the line, but serious character introspection. Two of the most popular ones I've seen (albeit, as crossovers), are the webcomic Girls Next Door by Pika-la-Cynique, and Roommates, the strip it spun off from, Roommates, by AsheRyder. Those strips live for exploring character growth and expansion! 3) I was never great at mailing lists; they always seemed so chaotic to me. The best way to describe it is like this: Have you ever sent an e-mail to a number of people, let's say more than five? And then someone replied to your e-mail, but replied to all? And then someone else replied to THAT reply? And then someone else replied to that reply, but they were actually addressing the original question? Then someone replies to the whole mess with a question about what's going on and a link to their (totally unrelated) website? And then someone replies to the original e-mail, entirely ignoring everything everyone else has sent, since. Multiply that by a couple of dozen people, most of them with signature lines that ran a dozen lines or more, who were addressing the subject with greater or lesser degrees of attention and seriousness. That's essentially a mailing list. You could set most of them up to either send you each and every response, or digest them all into one daily e-mail. They were frequently pretty rife with trolls, who you could block, but if someone responded to the troll, the response (and the original troll's attack) would go to everyone who hadn't blocked the responder, as well. Flame wars were usually a monthly occurrence. I hope that was helpful. Good luck on the rest of your research! Let me know if I can give you any more!
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 9, 2014 19:49:27 GMT
1. What was the RPG called and how did it work? I was a little kid in the 90s so the only internet memories I have from back then are very fuzzy . 2. Do you remember when the RPG started/when it was at its most active? Can you remember roughly how many people participated? 3. Can you recall any memorable events that sparked discussion in the community? I guess I'm thinking of things like references to Labyrinth in the wider media, and if they impacted on the community's popularity. 1. The RPG was called Into the Labyrinth. It was set up on Yahoo Clubs (or groups, as it is now known) as they were like the social media of the 90s! The RPG was like a huge round robin that never ended. You were only allowed to write for the characters that you had claimed or created, though. 2. The RPG began in 1998 and was very active from 1999 right up until 2003. I can' really remember how many people played, but there were quite a number. Sadly, the RPG seemed to come to a gradual halt in 2004 so we had to close it down. 3. There weren't really any events that boosted the popularity. The Labyrinth fandom generally has these sudden little bursts of popularity before cooling off for a while. Thank you for your answers - all of this info is very helpful and I'll incorporate it into the timeline.
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 9, 2014 19:54:45 GMT
Thanks for replying - any information is helpful! I'm covering the LoJ, so am on that . Just in case you do remember any details, here are some questions: 1. Can you remember what the biggest fan communities were? I know Lady Amethyst's mailing list was popular but don't have any other names. 2. Do you recall any particular trends in fanfiction, i.e. were popular stories dark, fluffy, romantic etc.? 3. A probably stupid but much more general question - are you able to describe how a typical mailing list would work? It's something I don't quite understand, and need to get a better grip on if I'm to develop this properly! Wow, that timeline is nice! Great details! 1)Lady Amethyst's list is the only one I really remember. I think I recall a community trying to get going on AOL in '97 or '98, but it didn't seem to be very active, and I left AOL shortly thereafter. There WERE a lot of RPG chat rooms on AOL at the time, and I do know there was a long-running Labyrinth based one, but my personality never really meshed with the person running it so I didn't join that group. 2) The biggest trend I've seen in fanfiction, and one that remains pretty steady is, for such a fantastical and expansive setting, almost all the stories focus on Sarah/Jareth shipping. It's interesting that as the fans and the fandom has matured, so have the stories I've read. I'm seeing less and less "Goblin Princess Sarah," and more and more "Queen on Her Own Terms Sarah." What I mean is that it's become less about wish fulfillment and "ooooo, Jareth so sexy and magical!" and more about personal growth and strength, Sarah being a worthwhile possible ruler in her own right. Since a lot of writers tend to identify with their characters, I find this development really encouraging. (I offer " Her Kingdom as Great" as an example of my point.) I'm also finding a lot of stories, lately, that really revel in character growth. Not just, what's happening ten years down the line, but serious character introspection. Two of the most popular ones I've seen (albeit, as crossovers), are the webcomic Girls Next Door by Pika-la-Cynique, and Roommates, the strip it spun off from, Roommates, by AsheRyder. Those strips live for exploring character growth and expansion! 3) I was never great at mailing lists; they always seemed so chaotic to me. The best way to describe it is like this: Have you ever sent an e-mail to a number of people, let's say more than five? And then someone replied to your e-mail, but replied to all? And then someone else replied to THAT reply? And then someone else replied to that reply, but they were actually addressing the original question? Then someone replies to the whole mess with a question about what's going on and a link to their (totally unrelated) website? And then someone replies to the original e-mail, entirely ignoring everything everyone else has sent, since. Multiply that by a couple of dozen people, most of them with signature lines that ran a dozen lines or more, who were addressing the subject with greater or lesser degrees of attention and seriousness. That's essentially a mailing list. You could set most of them up to either send you each and every response, or digest them all into one daily e-mail. They were frequently pretty rife with trolls, who you could block, but if someone responded to the troll, the response (and the original troll's attack) would go to everyone who hadn't blocked the responder, as well. Flame wars were usually a monthly occurrence. I hope that was helpful. Good luck on the rest of your research! Let me know if I can give you any more! That was all incredibly helpful, thank you so much. You write very lucidly about the fandom, and I particularly like your comment about the evolving nature of fanfic - would you mind if I quoted that directly at some point in the timeline? I couldn't put it better! I've already got both fancomics, but will again incorporate your points. And that explanation of mailing lists is invaluable - they're a mystery no more! Thanks very much for all your help - if you have any more general points on the fandom, please put them down in writing!
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Post by TempestFae on Jan 9, 2014 22:37:11 GMT
By all means. And keep us appraised of your progress. This sounds like a really neat project.
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Post by alorindanya on Jan 19, 2014 22:24:47 GMT
Was anyone else here part of the Labyrinth Boards? I think we all first met on Marysia's page but when it went down went to the Labyrinth Board (maybe called Labtech?). There are a bunch of us who still keep contact on our page at Facebook, but you can only be a member there if you were a member of the original group. We did things like go see David Bowie in concert in March 2005 in Columbus, Ohio and then later that summer in July go to the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade in Hollywood, CA. It had great fanfic writers KL Morgan, SaxonnyReturns, Lady Serade, Cormak3032, Scattered Logic as part of the group.
I personally got my start in the Labyrinth fandom back in 1999 while in college. I came across some fanfiction and was hooked.
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Post by Bezzo on Jan 19, 2014 22:27:45 GMT
I was on Marysia's board, too!! Those were the days. When Labyrinth forums were chatty!! lol
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rachael89
Wandering the Underground
Posts: 56
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Post by rachael89 on Jan 20, 2014 9:07:31 GMT
Was anyone else here part of the Labyrinth Boards? I think we all first met on Marysia's page but when it went down went to the Labyrinth Board (maybe called Labtech?). There are a bunch of us who still keep contact on our page at Facebook, but you can only be a member there if you were a member of the original group. We did things like go see David Bowie in concert in March 2005 in Columbus, Ohio and then later that summer in July go to the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade in Hollywood, CA. It had great fanfic writers KL Morgan, SaxonnyReturns, Lady Serade, Cormak3032, Scattered Logic as part of the group. I personally got my start in the Labyrinth fandom back in 1999 while in college. I came across some fanfiction and was hooked. Thanks very much for chipping in, alorindanya. Linda's Wish was one of the first Labyrinth fics I read when I first got into the fandom in the mid-2000s, so it's great to hear from you! Don't worry if you don't have time, but if you could take a few minutes out to answer these questions I'd really appreciate it. 1. How did you first become aware of Labyrinth, and in what year did you first see it? 2. Have you got any memories of the promotion the film received when it was first released in your country? 3. What are your first memories of becoming part of the Labyrinth fandom? Was there one online fan community you used predominantly? Can you recall what the big players were at the time? 4. Do you recall any particular trends in fanfiction, i.e. were popular stories dark, fluffy, romantic etc.? Did any particular events or stories trigger trends? 5. Would you say there are any 'important' authors in the fandom, people who've written stories that have been remembered or that had a big impact at the time they were first published? 6. If you read it, what did you make of the Return to Labyrinth series? 7. Do you recall any significant controversies within the fandom? Also, there are two more specific questions I;m trying to get to the bottom of. If anyone could help with answering these, I'd very much appreciate it. 1. What is the link between Lady Amethyst's mailing list and the marysia site? Were they maintained by the same person/people? Did they blur into one another? I can tell there is a very strong link between the two, but I just can't get my head around what the link is. 2. When would you say the early bastions of the Labyrinth fandom (such as the mailing lists, yahoo groups, and marysia's site) began to decline? What reasons would you put the decline down to? I now have a pretty meaty first draft complete, but am always on the look out for more info and want to develop my understanding of the early fandom especially. If anyone wants to read over the first draft, drop me a PM with your email address and I'll email it to you.
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Post by alorindanya on Mar 2, 2014 3:37:12 GMT
Was anyone else here part of the Labyrinth Boards? I think we all first met on Marysia's page but when it went down went to the Labyrinth Board (maybe called Labtech?). There are a bunch of us who still keep contact on our page at Facebook, but you can only be a member there if you were a member of the original group. We did things like go see David Bowie in concert in March 2005 in Columbus, Ohio and then later that summer in July go to the Labyrinth of Jareth Masquerade in Hollywood, CA. It had great fanfic writers KL Morgan, SaxonnyReturns, Lady Serade, Cormak3032, Scattered Logic as part of the group. I personally got my start in the Labyrinth fandom back in 1999 while in college. I came across some fanfiction and was hooked. Thanks very much for chipping in, alorindanya. Linda's Wish was one of the first Labyrinth fics I read when I first got into the fandom in the mid-2000s, so it's great to hear from you! Don't worry if you don't have time, but if you could take a few minutes out to answer these questions I'd really appreciate it. 1. How did you first become aware of Labyrinth, and in what year did you first see it? I saw it originally in theaters when it first came out in 1986...I was 6. 2. Have you got any memories of the promotion the film received when it was first released in your country? I just have this memory of seeing the biting fairy in a tv promotional trailer and thinking it was so cool. To this day I cannot find any trailer with that fairy in it, so I have no idea if it really even existed. I also remember my dad's reaction to the trailer and him being enthusiastic about the movie. Of course, he had also taken me as a 2 year old to see Dark Crystal.3. What are your first memories of becoming part of the Labyrinth fandom? Was there one online fan community you used predominantly? Can you recall what the big players were at the time? I think I answered that in my original post. The boards at Marysia. I used to do online chats with Cormak3032 and Scattered Logic and a person called Magpie. We would go over plot points with eachother before actually posting to the general public/fanfiction.net. I also had the blessing of being able to meet with KL Morgan and read her actual hand written plot ideas for What Dreams My Come in March 2005 when we met with a few others (Saxonny, Lady Serade) to see David Bowie in concert together.4. Do you recall any particular trends in fanfiction, i.e. were popular stories dark, fluffy, romantic etc.? Did any particular events or stories trigger trends? Not sure where to go with this one. It was popular for Jareth and Sarah to end up together in one way or another. Many stories had Sarah become with child. Many stories had them having twins. Many stories dealt with the idea that Jareth is a Fae of the UnSeelie or Seeilie Court. Some had his relatives be Oberon and Titania.5. Would you say there are any 'important' authors in the fandom, people who've written stories that have been remembered or that had a big impact at the time they were first published? KL Morgan, Cormak3032, Scattered Logic, and Judith Agrathea.
6. If you read it, what did you make of the Return to Labyrinth series? I actually got in an arguement with Jake Forbes at the message boards of Muppet Central...and I think it might have done some good. I actually liked many of the plot points, although I will say that I didn't like Mizumi as much as I liked her daughters. I LOVED Moppet and what she represented. I wish it would have been romantic between Jareth and Sarah instead of it having him being completely selfish and Sarah accepting him but letting him go at the same time. UGH.7. Do you recall any significant controversies within the fandom? Did Jareth Love her? Was he Evil/a true Villan or just doing what Sarah asked? I know most people are pretty civil when allowing someone to have an open mind to their view point, but some voices were louder than others (But that was so long ago...nearly a decade so I don't have specifics).
Also, there are two more specific questions I;m trying to get to the bottom of. If anyone could help with answering these, I'd very much appreciate it. 1. What is the link between Lady Amethyst's mailing list and the marysia site? Were they maintained by the same person/people? Did they blur into one another? I can tell there is a very strong link between the two, but I just can't get my head around what the link is. A: To my knowledge there is no link other than some of the same people posted to both. But Marysia to my knowledge is not Lady Amethyst.2. When would you say the early bastions of the Labyrinth fandom (such as the mailing lists, yahoo groups, and marysia's site) began to decline? What reasons would you put the decline down to? The owners didn't have time for it any more. We were out of college and starting to move on with our careers and started our own families.
I now have a pretty meaty first draft complete, but am always on the look out for more info and want to develop my understanding of the early fandom especially. If anyone wants to read over the first draft, drop me a PM with your email address and I'll email it to you. I am so sorry I never saw this post before today. I really only come to this board once a month or so, so I hope it isn't too late for your project.
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