...a.k.a., another brilliant way to waste a good hour or so of time that I should be using to start an essay for my theatre class. You know, the one that I need for my major. Can't be that important, right?

A lot of these questions really made me think too, because once I'm well into a fandom I don't usually stop to think about why I like it, I just know that I do.

Also, I just spent about ten minutes looking through all the little mood emoticons, some of which are pretty amusing. But you all knew that already, right? Well if you didn't, take a loot the the "It's hot" one. That's my new favorite. But anyway, on with the meme.

(Stolen from ~Nemonus, who got it from =The-GK.)

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The Rules: Pick three fandoms, answer the questions. Straightforward enough.
My Fandoms: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Tamora Pierce (Tortall Series)

1. The first character you really liked:
Star Wars: Han Solo. It was a combination of the voice, the good looks of young!Harrison Ford, and the awesome pants.
Harry Potter: Draco Malfoy. I just wanted to redeem him.
Tamora Pierce: Daine. Being able to talk to and turn into animals always seemed like a really sweet power (though the re-morphing to human form without clothes is less desirable).

2. The character you never expected to like as much as you do now:
Star Wars: Darth Maul. I blame Nemonus. And Ciarán, if I can blame an original character for being so much fun to write about.
Harry Potter: Charlie Weasley. It's not like he's a favorite, more like I'v had this plot that involves him in the back of my mind forever, and he's just kind of grown on me through persistence.
Tamora Pierce: George Cooper. I guess I've just got a soft spot for rogues.

3. The character everyone else loves that you don’t [like as much]:
Star Wars: Padmé. She kind of ceased to be interesting after Episode I. Not to mention that I can't like a character who wears gravity defying clothing.
Harry Potter: Oliver Wood. He's got some scary fangirls, and I'm just not sure where the obsession comes from. I mean, he's basically obsessed himself, just with Quidditch instead of girls. Maybe they relate.
Tamora Pierce: Jon. He just always came off as sort of selfish and spoiled to me.

4. The character you love that everyone else hates:
Star Wars: I can only think of two universally hated characters in the fandom, and I don't like either of them.
Harry Potter: This is such a large fandom that I can't think of a character that is hated by everyone; even Voldemort has his fangirls.
Tamora Pierce: I'm not fond of him, but I'm interested in the Stone Mountain family, at least in terms of writing about them.

5. The character you'd be romantically interested in:
Star Wars: Padawan!Obi-Wan and Ferus Olin. Too bad they both believe in that non-attachment business.
Harry Potter: I spent a lot of time thinking about this one, and for some reason the name that kept coming back to me was Remus Lupin. I have no idea why.
Tamora Pierce: Neal. He's both the sarcastic but adventurous knight that I want, and he's a doctor.

6. The character you'd want to be like:
Star Wars: Jocasta Nu. Book-smart but deadly.
Harry Potter: Minerva McGonagall, mostly for her ability to balance sternness and compassion.
Tamora Pierce: Kel, for the fact that she was actually able to deal with her debilitating fear of heights. If my teacher told me to go climb a tall tree every day just because he knew about my acrophobia, I think I'd have a panic attack upon receiving the assignment.

7. The character you'd slap:
Star Wars: Slap isn't the right word, but like ~Nemonus I would love to throw clothes into Aayla and Ahsoka's face.
Harry Potter: Can you slap character depth into Ginny? No? Then I'll settle for slapping Ron for being such a jealous ass most of the series.
Tamora Pierce: Lord Wyldon. Girl's can't fight, eh? Yeah, he's getting slapped with a glove. I'll loose the duel, but I'll have made my point.

8. A pairing that you love:
Star Wars: I don't really have a pairing I feel particularly strong for in this fandom, so let's just say Han/Leia and move on.
Harry Potter: Harry/Draco. I know it's not canon. It'll never be canon. But I still love it because I've seen it written well enough that it really works.
Tamora Pierce: Buri/Raoul. They're entertaining, because he's about six-and-a-half feet tall, she's roughly 4'11", and they're both deadly.

9. A pairing that you despise:
Star Wars: Kit/Aayla. Let's not have mammalian-amphibian crossbreeding, please.
Harry Potter: Any crack pairings. If it's well written and explained, I'll give anything a try. But let's not be shipping Lucius/Hermione just to see how many readers gouge their eyes out.
Tamora Pierce: Kel/Joren. I can only think of one reason Kel would want to get that close to him, and it involves a knife to places he doesn't want knives around.

10. Favorite character:
Doesn't this question reappear with more options? I'll be answering it then.

11. What are your three favorite things about the fandom?
Star Wars: 1) The universe is still expanding and changing; it keeps it interesting for writing. 2) It's more a science-fantasy than a science-fiction, so I don't feel like I have to understand quantum physics to understand the rules of the universe. 3) The variety of characters, some of which are classic archetypes, and some of which helped define their archetypes.
Harry Potter: 1) The completeness and believability of the world. 2) That even with magic, the characters still lead lives that us muggles can relate to. 3) I grew up with the characters; I was about 11 when I started the series, and book 7 came out just before my senior year of high school. It's kind of amazing to me that the things I liked as a child continue to captivate me almost ten years later.
Tamora Pierce: 1) Again, this was a series a I read when I was much younger, and even though it's a little below my usual reading level, it's still enjoyable now. 2) Magic in that world was just plain pretty. 3) The development of the different cultures and the treatment of their different points of view.

12. What are your three least favorite things about the fandom?
Star Wars: 1) The amount of scantily clothed females. 2) Episode II. 3) Scary pairings.
Harry Potter: 1) The extra-canon; little clips from interviews that supposedly tell us things we need to know, but don't contribute to the overall understanding of the series. 2) The Epilogue. 3) Scary pairings.
Tamora Pierce: 1) I always thought it was kind of strange that a book geared toward pre-teens (or at least that was the age I read them) had pretty blatant references to characters sleeping together. 2) Alanna always seemed a bit too good at everything. 3) Scary pairings.

13. Who are your five favourite characters (in order!)?
Star Wars: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ferus Olin, Boba Fett, CC-2224 (Cody), and I've found a recent fondness for Ben Skywalker
Harry Potter: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Remus Lupin, Hermione Granger, and Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore
Tamora Pierce: Keladry of Mindelan, Nealan of Queenscove, Lord Raoul of Goldenlake, Veralidaine Sarrasri, and Sergeant Domitan of Masbolle.

14. Who are your five least favorite characters?
Star Wars:Ahsoka Tano, Mara Jade, Grand Moff Tarkin, Padmé Amidala, and Jar-Jar Binks
Harry Potter: Ginerva Weasley, Pansy Parkinson, Vernon Dursley, Bellatrix Lestrange, and Igor Karkaroff.
Tamora Pierce: Jonathan of Conté, Roger of Conté, Emperor Ozorne of Carthak, Joren of Stone Mountain, and Blayce the Gallan.

15. What are your three favorite pairings?
Star Wars: Han/Leia, Siriwan, LSFRevan/Carth.
Harry Potter: Harry/Draco, Draco/Ginny, Ron/Hermione
Tamora Pierce: Kel/Dom, Neal/Yuki, Raoul/Buri

16. What are your three least favorite pairings?
Star Wars: Kit/Aayla, Ani/Ahsoka, Vader/anyone
Harry Potter: Lucius/Hermione, Snape/anyone, Harry/Ron
Tamora Pierce: Kel/Joren, Alanna/Jon, Alanna/Liam

17. Which character are you most like?
Star Wars: I'm guessing that using an original character here would be cheating.
Harry Potter: When I was younger, I equated myself with Hermione, who is very book smart but wasn't often at the forefront of the action.
Tamora Pierce: Kel, but only because we have the same fears: heights and spiders.

18. What is your deep, dark fandom secret?
Star Wars: I'm a latecomer to the fandom, so fortunately I was smart by the time I joined. But I also feel like that's a dark secret in and of itself. I mean, how did I go through 18 years without seeing Star Wars? Unless you count the books about Ewoks that I loved when I was five or so.
Harry Potter: My first OC for Harry Potter was Draco Malfoy's twin sister. And I also wrote about Rebecca, Harry's twin sister. Guess who was paired with who.
Tamora Pierce: One word: songfic.