Openness about being a member of the TLK fandom

How open are you about your fandom involvements? I use to be very open about the fandom when I first joined. I talked about it a lot in real life. Then, I started being closed about it verbally unless somebody asked me about it. I'll still wear a TLK shirt whenever I can. And, if somebody asks me about my favorite movie, I'll name some non-animated movie and mention TLK as a side note. But never go into detail unless asked very specific questions. No one ever really does. If I ever get asked 'are you part of the TLK fandom?', I would be caught off guard to say the least. Recently, I have been a lot more open about it on Facebook. I am sure that will overflow into real life because several people from work are friends with me on Facebook and offline.

Are you open about the fandom? And, how open should one be about being a TLK fan?

As open as can be.
It's not a secret at all.
The only time I kept it a secret (or tried to) was when I was in school. I didn't want to give the kids who bullied me more stuff to hurt me (while Lion King was kind of a healing thing for me).

30 tomorrow, and I don't care one bit anymore, anyone can know, it's been such a huge part in my life, it's done so much for me, and I keep saying it, and I still believe it myself, if it weren't for Lion King pulling me through, I wouldn't be having a birthday tomorrow.

Even at my previous job, whenever someone would go on a holiday to another country, I'd tell them to look for stuff.
They'd look at me all weird and like I was 7 years old or something, but I just couldn't care anymore, and ask anyways :p One of them, did actually get me a copy of the Greek DVD and a huge display, lol.

Mine is no secret to those who know me at all. I speak openly about it on line and have no problem telling if someone asks about it. But if I just ran in to someone or when I'm at work I don't like bring out too much personal stuff right out in the open, but if I become friend's with anyone they will find out. Heck only email address I give out when people ask my email is Simbathemighty (at) Hotmail.com and there has been a few people who asked me about it and I have told a few people how much Lion king means to me after that, but I don't go spreading the news out like a disease ;)

What comes to how involved am I in fandom... Not very. Besides trying to keep this site running I don't really interact with fandom in anyway. Unless there is people I can meet in the community of course.

It's no secret among my friends and acquaintances that I like The Lion King and animation, but I don't think that many of them know just how much of my life revolves around TLK :idiot: I wear Lion King t-shirts from time to time but beyond that I don't talk about it much unless I'm asked. I generally don't go out of my way to tell people that I'm part of the TLK fandom, but I tend to be more open about it once I know people well. And it's not like they can avoid noticing it if they visit my room anyway xD

I don't ever wear Lion King shirts, lol, I'm generally not such an "in your face person". I don't need to fill up the living room with stuff and such, though, when the new furniture will be put in, I'll have a cabnet to put in the expensive stuff, like the Swarovski figurines.

With Kenny's family, I have some on FB, and whenever they'd see me, they'd be like: what is up with all these Lion King pictures and items on your FB ????

And I'm always happy to tell them my story :p Weather they get it or not, that's not my problem, lol.
But even Kenny's mom got me a Hakuna Matata birthday card when the party was back in August, haha, people are starting to learn :lol:

well, my family know im a TLK fan, my friends also know, some workmates either, however i don´t "advertise" to anyone that im a TLK fan because i don´t think its needed, but if those people know that, i don´t think it´s a bad thing, because of that i never hide this fact when i post in my social networks for example, so anyone that folows me there, will know that im a TLK fan.

Reading through these posts and thinking about this thread today, I was inspired to make a Facebook event. It is, on the 27 of this month making a post how much TLK means to you on Facebook. Haven't made it public yet. Unsure if I should. Want to though.

Edit: just made the event public.
https://www.facebook.com/events/6188...ref=ts&fref=ts

It's never even occurred to me to hide it honestly.

It's funny too because the kids will notice the poster and little things I have around my room and just randomly say "You like The Lion King, don't you Miss?" and I'll just look at them and say, "I think I'm beyond 'like'" and they'll point to my arm and be like "Oh yeah". :lol: They don't seem to care one way or the other. A couple of them actually realized the movie was older than they were on Friday. That was interesting haha.

I'm actually thinking about doing a TLK theme in my room next year. That way, I can do Doctor Who one year and TLK the next and do a rotation. Something like that.

I'm very open about it. When somebody asks what my favorite movie is I tell them that Simba's Pride is. And if we get creative projects I sometimes like to use Kiara. I also like to draw her a lot too in my sketch notebook. I do openly talk about it also, hoping to meet some other fans. I have a collection of Lion King things also, so it's pretty obvious.

I'm positively squirrelly about my fandoms.

Well, not exactly, but really I only tell people what all else I get up to with my time if they're people that I know I will continue to have a given base connection with. For example, the people I volunteer with on weekends know a few of my special interest hobbies, because even if they don't share or understand them, we still have the original topic that brought us together for volunteer work to talk about. Another example, I mentioned around here that I collect American Girl dolls, because regardless of what anyone would think about that, we all still have plenty in common to talk and socialize and interact about.

However, when it comes to places like work, where there are no other overlapping shared interests beyond the purely functional, I do not share my fandoms or special interest hobbies, because there is simply nothing else to go on, either.

Hmm... well my family know about Lea, that I used to draw fanart and obviously about my massive collection of TLK stuff. My close friends know about the fanart somewhat and my collection, but not the full extent of my involvement with the fandom. And my other friends know I'm a fan of the movie and that's pretty much it. :lol: It's weird, I know it's dumb but I'm kinda shy about it, haha.

Hmmm, ya know, I don't think I've ever really thought about this before.
I guess I consider my TLK fandom membership to be a non-issue - I've never felt the need to hide it and I'm fairly certain that most people I know offline are aware that I'm draw fanart and/or post on forums. It's not really a topic of discussion, but that's only because we have other things to talk about.
In the days of yore, I used to regale them with tales of fandom drama though - they always got a kick out of that.
:lol:

While I'm not hiding it, it's also not as if TLK has taken over my offline life by any means. I have so many varied interests that I don't really focus on one and it's not in my nature to verbally babble about the things I like or clutter my home with trinkets (no space, hate to dust) anyway. I guess I'm a fan without the usual fan symptoms. Oh well - either people know or they don't, and I don't care either way. Coo coo ca choo!

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Originally Posted by Dare

While I'm not hiding it, it's also not as if TLK has taken over my offline life by any means. I have so many varied interests that I don't really focus on one and it's not in my nature to verbally babble about the things I like or clutter my home with trinkets (no space, hate to dust) anyway. I guess I'm a fan without the usual fan symptoms. Oh well - either people know or they don't, and I don't care either way. Coo coo ca choo!

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That is me to a T.

Fan without the fan symptoms, I like that. x3 There was a period of time when people would buy me TLK stuff, but the only TLK item I've gone out of my way to buy was The Six New Adventures books because I was at a book resale shop one day and stumbled across the whole set for $14. Was too good a deal to pass up. x3 But yeah, I don't have shirts or collectables or talk about it constantly--never have. Yeah, I do draw lion king-y stuff sometimes, but, like Dare, my inerests are so varied that it hardly accounts for the majority of my drawnigs. I spend much of my time doing other things, but the LK fandom (the archive in particualr) will forever hold a special place in my heart. :) I still peruse the FAA when I am in need of inspiration from time to time. Something about fanart is just so carefree and fun, it brings out my I-don't-care-how-this-turns-out-I'm-just-gonna-draw-it attitude, which is always a good way to discover new things. :)

Well I hide it because people of my age wouldn't understand anything about TLK fandom. I'm 19

And there's more... I've been "Nalaholic" for years lol

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my dorm room last year had 2 lion king posters and about 10 tlk plushes on display. the big disney store ones. pretty obvious haha. I was also 20 at the time.. heheh. Funniest part is that it was mixed with tons of opposite type decor (kurt cobain, guns n roses, ramones and sex pistols posters).
i don't necessarily talk about it openly but between my collection of stuff and me always saying it's my favourite movie when asked, it's pretty obvious :p

I think almost anyone in my family know how much I love The Lion King. I don't hide it at all. Usually one of the first things I will ask when I meet someone new is "Have you seen The Lion King"? lol I have a wall in my bedroom dedicated to all the TLK pictures I have drawn over the years, I have TLK blankets, plushies, all kinds of TLK goodies. All of my friends know that I love TLK and Simba especially! ^^ My boyfriend knows, gosh I wouldn't be surprised if the whole world knew how much I love TLK. So yeah, I do not hide it at all. I take "pride" in my love for Lion King. :irule: