I've Been To The Year... 2010? (Everything Has Changed, But They Don't Live Underwater)

Before I get started with anything, I would like to issue a formal apology to Jonas Brothers (well, technically Busted, but you get the idea) for utterly destroying the lyrics to their iconic hit "Year 3000." There is nothing I can say that can make this any better. I am so sorry to all the people that I have affected by ruining their favorite song with my horrendous (but on brand *wink*) title.

Courtesy of Hollywood Records

"So Nickels, what's up with the title anyway? Another throwbacks post?"

Whaaaaa? I totally haven't done a throwbacks post before not at all!!!

But I mean... If you want to read it, it's totally not this blog right here.

Anyways, staying home all day has had some random, but not unwelcomed, surprises for me in the recent weeks.

On different social media, everyone has been saying that they are regressing to their old fandoms from when they were in middle school or high school. Apparently, it's a psychological thing related to coping with quarantine, which totally makes sense and is actually pretty interesting!

And of course, I, too, have been affected by this past-interests regression because now, I have watched 3 seasons of an anime that I have not watched since the 6th grade, reread tons of manga that I used to like, and have even begun watching new animes. I have not even THOUGHT about watching anime since I was twelve. THAT IS FOUR WHOLE YEARS. And now I'm back baby ;)

Re-watching this anime (spoiler alert, the anime is Haikyuu!! the same show that I talked about in my To All The Shows I've Loved Before post!) made me realize two things.

First, it's that I received full, free roam on the internet way too early in my life. By that I mean I had an Instagram account by the 3rd grade. Terrible, I know. I was exposed to some of the craziest things at literally 9 years old. That leads me to realization number two.

Man, I had some random and niche obsessions over the past few years. Like, I was never a Superwholock, or a Potterhead, or a Directioner. Soon, you'll see what I mean.

Thinking about my old fandoms reminded me of this trend from late 2019, before New Years, where people were posting their decade worth of fandoms.

Via @ecokitti on Twitter

So though I may be a few months behind on the game, I figured, why don't I take you on this journey to the past with my (mostly) random and (relatively... this is me desperately holding onto this blog's theme I SWEAR they are considerably underrated for the most part) underrated fandoms from the past decade. Maybe I'll find something else to regress to along the way. But I swear, if its anything from 2010-2013, I would be too embarrassed to show my face in public.

2010: Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia

Courtesy of Mattel

We all have that one childhood movie that just stuck to us like glue and have basically shaped our lives as we know it, and mine was Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia. I loved this movie so much as I child, I can still remember my exact favorite scene and how I tried (and failed) to recreate it.

I haven't seen it in soooooo long, so let's hope I can get this completely right. So Barbie, the legend herself, is on a beach and she has to eat this piece of seaweed to turn into a mermaid. She's so disgusted by it and doesn't want to eat it, but has to, so she tilts her head back and lets the string of seaweed slowly dangle into her mouth.

I hope you can imagine how I miserably failed in trying to recreate it because, yes, I did choke on a piece of spinach, thank you very much.

So, how did this movie shape my life as I know it? Well since then, I have made sure to thoroughly chew my spinach before trying to become a mermaid.

2011: American Idol

Courtesy of Fox

I cannot tell you how many sleepless nights I had as a child because of this show. Anytime there was a Filipino-American singer on this show, I would go absolutely NUTS. This was the year that Thia Megia entered the competition and I would spend all Tuesday night after each broadcast, in bed next to mom, holding the landline phone to my head as I called the number over and over again to vote for her. Her performance of "Daniel" by Elton John is the reason why that song is one of my absolute favorites.

Courtesy of Michael Becker

Center: Thia Megia

She was eliminated after a few rounds, but that did not cease my love for the show. I did the exact same thing for Jessica Sanchez (I actually liked Jessica far more, but her season was the following year) and was IN TEARS when she became first-runner up. I wanted her to win SO BAD.

And that's on Pinoy Pride, period.

2012: TheComputerNerd01

Via YouTube

Center: Joshua Chomik

Here's where we start to get weird. Understandably so, because I was, in fact, 8 years old. TheComputerNerd01 was mainly a song-parody YouTube channel run by Josh Chomik from Rahway, New Jersey. You cannot even begin to imagine how excited I was when I found out he was from New Jersey. I was like, "What if I run into him at the mall? Do I just start singing his Friday by Rebecca Black parody to get his attention or do I just ask him for a picture. NO I CAN'T GO UP TO HIM THAT'S TOO WEIRD" and so on and so forth.

I loved his parodies so much that I made an Instagram fan-page for him called Chomikator04. I know, I know, I was 8 years old and this was probably the least safe thing I could do, but hey, it gave me one of my greatest memories:

After some childish whining, my parents let me buy one of his t-shirts from his District Lines store. I thought it was the greatest thing ever because it said "I'm on a horse" with a rocking horse on it. This was the period of time where Random=Funny and so of course this shirt came from his Random=Funny song, "I'm On A Horse."

Via District Lines

When it finally arrived, I posted a picture of it on my Instagram and of course, tagged him. Then, the unthinkable happened.

He LIKED THE POST!!!!!

TheComputerNerd01, with a sizable amount of subscribers for a YouTuber during this time, liked my post. And obviously I bragged to everyone about it... But most of the kids my age besides my friends didn't really know who he was.

Please, if you watched The ComputerNerd01 as a child, please let me know. Is there anyone out there who memorized every single lyric of his "Gangnam Style" Parody like I did?

2013: Lab Rats

Courtesy of Disney

This is most definitely the cringiest phase of my life and if THIS is the fandom that I choose to regress to after my newly revived anime phase is over, you have full permission to whack some sense into me.

My obsession (and I mean OBSESSION) with this DisneyXD show surpassed just watching it on a daily basis. No, I had an Instagram fan-page where I made memes and edits about the show AND ON TOP OF THAT a fanfiction.net account where I wrote romantic fanfiction about the bionic characters Chase and Bree Davenport.

Courtesy of Disney
L to R: Bree Davenport & Chase Davenport

Before you say anything, my dear reader, I made sure to say that they were adoptive siblings, since in the show it was never explicitly said who their parents were in the show. Still, I definitely should not have been writing fanfiction about the woes of love of these two bionic siblings.

Unfortunately for me, I will forever be immortalized on the internet with not one, but BOTH of these things because I have forgotten the passwords to the Instagram and the fanfiction.net account and cannot delete them.

Go ahead, laugh at them. I'll just sit here and cry a little bit while I wait for you to keep on reading.

2014: British YouTubers & Troye Sivan

Via HollyWire on YouTube

L to R: Chelsea Briggs, Caspar Lee, Alfie Deyes, Marcus Butler, Zoe "Zoella" Sugg, Tanya Burr, Jim Chapman, Louise Pentland, Joe Sugg, Louis Cole

These following years are fandoms that are little more mainstream, but this one lags behind a considerable amount compared to the rest that will come. Because... it kinda died after 2014. But we all must admit, 2014 was the PEAK of British YouTubers and YouTuber (not Pop Singer) Troye Sivan. No one else could compare to the popularity these YouTubers had during this year.

We had Dan and Phil, Zoella, Pointlessblog/Alfie Deyes, Thatcher Joe/Joe Sugg, Marcus Butler, Jacksgap/Jack and Finn Harries, A Sprinkle of Glitter/Louise Pentland, and Charlieissocoollike/Charlie McDonnell. The list goes on and on with all these YouTubers.

Via Pinterest

L to R: Phil Lester, Dan Howell, Jack Harries, Tyler Oakley, Finn Harries

I was supposed to meet Zoella at her book signing for her novel, Girl Online, but the date got snowed out. Ah, what a shame. I still can't do that milkmaid braid thing that she made a trend.

But anyway, I would sit there and rewatch every single Jacksgap video and Dan & Phil video until I had them practically memorized. I just remember all of these vloggers collaborating and taking pictures with one another during VidCon and it seemed like they could break the whole internet.

This was also when Troye Sivan was at his YouTube prime and everyone wanted to know: Is Troyler (the pairing between himself and YouTuber Tyler Oakley) real?

Via YouTube

L to R: Troye Sivan & Tyler Oakley

It's crazy to think how these people dominated Tumblr feeds every day during this year. I honestly wouldn't mind getting back into these YouTubers. Sure, their content back then was like "woah cinnamon challenge!!" and "20 character impressions but half of them are of Kermit the Frog and Peter from Family Guy" but it was all wholesome fun. No tea spilling or drama like there is now.

Well, except for the time Zoella got exposed for having a ghostwriter for the novel I mentioned earlier, Girl Online.

2015: Anime

Courtesy of Sentai Filmworks

Now here is the phase that I have returned to. My otaku phase.

If you know me, then you know that I have never been the biggest sports fan. So I can't even begin to explain why I loved sports animes so much. Whether it was Haikyuu!!, the volleyball anime, Free! Iwatobi Swim Club, the swimming anime, Kuroko no Basket, the basketball anime, or Ace of Diamond, the baseball anime, I watched it ALL.

And of course, romance and slice of life animes were my favorites as well, being that I was a young girl hoping to find true love at... 11 years old. My favorites were especially Ouran High School Host Club and Toradora! A small part of me still thinks that we'll be getting a season 2 of Ouran High School Host Club, even after 14 years after the release of the first one. Please. Let us have it, PLEAAASE.

Courtesy of Bones Inc.

This fandom in particular is where I was LOUD and PROUD about my interests. You may remember from my TV show post (which I've already linked above) that I went as one of the characters from Haikyuu!! for Halloween. That was just a teeny, tiny little blip of it.

My Google background for my school account was a picture of the characters from Toradora. When I went to swimming lessons, my backpack was Free! Iwatobi Swim Club themed. Then I had a swimming and slumber party for my birthday that was also Free! Iwatobi Swim Club themed... Both appropriate. My friends and I would sing the theme song of Ouran High School Host Club in class (KISS KISS FALL IN LOVE). I would wear my bright orange Haikyuu!! jacket to school all the time. (Of course, I wasn't allowed to wear my Death Note shirt to school, but why was an 11 year old watching DEATH NOTE??) Finally... I had a Free! Iwatobi Swim Club t-shirt that I regularly wore to class in 5th grade.

May I remind you that this anime was a swimming anime. The one of the boys on the shirt was shirtless.

Via Ebay

HOW DID I NOT GET IN TROUBLE?????

The worst part is, I happened to wear that shirt on our schoolwide panorama picture day.

So if you visit my elementary school and look at the panorama picture of 2015... you'll find me in the back, wearing this exact shirt...

And there is nothing I can do to get rid of that picture.

2016: K-pop Boy Groups

Via Soompi

L to R: V, Jungkook, Jimin, Jin, RM, Suga, J-Hope

This transition from anime to k-pop makes total sense, and here's where we completely hit mainstream fandoms. I fell in love with BTS first (though that happened in mid-2015) and it spiraled into every single possible boy group (only boys at first) that I could stan.

From the most popular, like EXO and Got7 (both of which I GOT TO SEE IN CONCERT THAT YEAR), to some of the newly debuts, like Astro and SF9, to some underrated faves, like B.A.P and Nu'est, I listened to everything.

My mom and I waiting to get inside Prudential for EXO's concert!

I remember trying to learn the choreographies to BTS and Got7's songs and taking days to memorize 30 seconds of it. Giiiiiirl I was so bad at dancing yet I was so obsessed with it. I tried to memorize every single one of their names and would take online quizzes to see if I could recognize their songs by hearing only a single second.

And if you're wondering if I could, then yes. For many of the songs, I could hear 1-2 seconds and be like, "THAT'S 'SWEET GIRL' BY B1A4" (great song by the way if you're wanting a recommendation!)

I wasn't that into girl-groups yet, but that all changed very, very soon.

2017: Gfriend

Courtesy of Source Music

L to R: Sowon, Umji, Yuju, Eunha, Yerin, SinB

I think Gfriend, my first and most favorite K-pop girl-group ever, was definitely my BIGGEST obsession. I ran a fanpage on Instagram for about 8 months for my favorite member of the group, Eunha. In it's prime it actually had well over 2.7k followers, which shocks me to this day. I watched all of their variety/reality shows and learned almost every single one of their choreographies even though I was still a very, very sucky dancer. I also tried to memorize the Korean lyrics so I could sing them in the shower though... My pronunciation was probably so bad that it was offensive.

Fun fact, the reason I started listening to Gfriend was because I was learning Korean and used their song lyrics to test if I was properly reading the Hangul. I can still read Hangul pretty well to this day, the only problem is that I don't understand even a single bit of what I'm reading... Oops.

I still remember the first song I ever heard from them, "Rough." SUCH A BOOOOOOP

Anyway, on June 23, 2017, I was able to meet the 5/6 members of my beloved Gfriend (one member, Yerin, was in Indonesia to film a variety show) at KCON, the Korean Culture and K-pop convention, and this memory is literally one of the most precious ones I will ever have.

Via Soompi

L to R: Eunha, SinB, Umji, Yuju, Sowon

When you entered the venue at KCON (which was the parking lot of Prudential Center) with your ticket, you received a scratch card for each ticket you purchased. These scratchcards would give you access to a limited event with whatever group you got.

First my mom did her scratch card, and she got Highlight, a wonderful K-pop group, but not the one I was looking for. Then I did mine and luckily enough, I GOT GFRIEND. At this point, I was jumping around like an idiot. However, since my mom didn't get a Gfriend card, I wouldn't be able to go because I would have to be unsupervised. I was obviously disappointed, but I didn't let it ruin my day.

Then later in the day, Gfriend had a surprise pop-up event at a certain booth and I came just in time. That exact moment was the closest that I will ever be to my idols and thinking about it today, I'm still giddy about it.

LIKE AHHHHHHHH OH MY GOSH LOOK AT HOW CLOSE I WAS TO YUJU

Right after this event, an angel came to me from heaven above and offered to give me her Gfriend scratchcard because she overheard me talking to my mother. I was in so much shock and felt so indebted to this random kind girl. I tried to offer her my Highlight scratchcard, but she didn't want it and said that I was clearly such a big fan of Gfriend and deserved the card.

What a sweetheart. I wish I could remember her face and tell her how thankful I am for her.

And so I got to see my queens a second time that day (not counting the concert that was held later that night for all ticket purchasers) and I'm pretty sure I screamed my throat raw. They were so so so SO CUTE and AMAZING and even though I didn't get the hi-touch cards ('cause girl, those costed HELLA MONEY), I was so grateful for everything. I will never forget this day.

2018: Musical Theatre

Courtesy of Matthew Murphy

Center: Eva Noblezada

For most of this time, I had been a musical theatre nerd, but this was the height of it. I don't think I listened to any thing that wasn't The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Last Five Years, or Miss Saigon. Those were my top 3 shows that year.

Like, if you asked me to name a song that was in the Billboard Top 100 during 2018, I couldn't tell you. Was Havana released that year? Sorry by Justin Bieber? I have honestly no idea.

It makes me sad to see that The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee has such a small following in the musical theatre community because I absolutely adore that show because I love quirky and eccentric character-driven pieces. I was able to land my dream role for this show in 2018 and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had performing in theatre. It was new and different for me to work with people I didn't know and with a completely different director and it really just made me fall in love with the craft more.

Courtesy of Tom Russo Photography

I've already said my piece on this blog about The Last Five Years, so if you're a regular reader here, you KNOW how obsessed I am with that show. I dedicated not one, but two whole blog posts to it. It's so worth the tears that you will inevitably cry when you listen to it.

And Miss Saigon will always hold a special place in my heart, since it was the first musical I ever saw on Broadway. Such a beautiful score!!!!!!

It hurts my heart to see how Broadway and the entire theatre community is really struggling during this period of quarantine, so I must say, PLEASE SUPPORT THE ARTS! The national tour of Miss Saigon, as well as many other tour, Broadway, and off-Broadway productions have been permanently canceled due to these events, some without a proper closing show. How New York City will change is unpredictable, but we gotta keep supporting these talented actors, actresses, stage managers, technicians, and more. Don't mean to be sappy, but it's true! SUPPORT THE AAAAAARTS

2019: Produce 101 Season 2 & Produce x 101 (Produce 101 Season 3)

Courtesy of Mnet

Technically, this should only be Produce x 101 since I was into Produce 101 Season 2 when it aired in 2017, but I didn't fully watch every episode of Produce 101 season 2 when it was airing.

Essentially, the Produce 101 series is a Korean music survival show where the nation votes on which 11 K-pop trainees will be the next "Nation's Idol Group" out of 101 trainee contestants. It's like any other singing or talent competition here in America, but more cut-throat.

When Produce x 101 was announced, I was so excited since I had really enjoyed watching season 2. But, like I said before, I hadn't watched all of season 2, so I decided to binge watch it all.

Courtesy of Mnet

Pictured: All 101 trainees of Produce 101 Season 2

This show will make you feel emotions at their most extreme points. At some points I was so nervous when a trainee would make a mistake, then I would be crying tears of happiness when they improved drastically, then of course, I would sob like a madman when a favorite trainee of mine got eliminated.

Season 2 of Produce 101 is quite near and dear to my heart because a pre-established K-pop group that I had mention was a favorite of mine in the 2016 category, Nu'est, was forced to join.

They had been struggling to get sales and fans in their more recent comebacks, so their only choice to regain popularity was to become trainees again and compete with 97 other boys to get a spot in the top 11.

Courtesy of Mnet

L to R: Kang Dongho, Kim Jonghyun, Choi Mingi, Hwang Minhyun

SPOILER ALERT: only 1 member of Nu'est makes it into the final group of Produce 101 Season 2, known as Wannaone. This member, Minhyun, was my bias/favorite member in Nu'est so that was exciting, but JONGHYUN WAS TOTALLY ROBBED. He ranked 1st twice??? And still didn't make it in? I call BS.

Now, finally when Produce x 101, the following season, aired, I was way more attached to these new trainees because I had started learning about each and every one of them before the show even started.

Well, when I say "each and everyone of them", I mean "as many as I could" because, let me remind y'all… THERE WERE 101 TRAINEES. 1 0 1.

I tried to watch the show live as frequently as possible as to avoid getting spoiled, though this was extremely difficult since it aired, in Eastern Standard Time, on Fridays at 10:00am. Luck seemed to be on my side though, since I had 10:30 lunch period. So, even though my friends relentlessly made fun of me for it, I would watch the livestream of Produce x 101 during lunch.

Yet again, I ran another fanpage, this time on Twitter, for my favorite trainee, Ham Wonjin. ANOTHER SPOILER: He wasn't able to make it into the final 11 for the group, but he recently debuted in his own group, Cravity. Go and check them out!

Courtesy of Candytuft

Center: Ham Wonjin

The final episode of the show happened to land about 8 hours after I arrived on a flight to California, so I BOOKED it when we got to my Aunt's house, went to sleep as early as possible so I could watch the 4:00 am PST stream of the final show.

I ended up waking up around 6:15am JUST when they started announcing the Top 11 members. I literally cannot believe my luck.

Well, not for long since Ham Wonjin didn't make the cut and I cried... But anyway! It's seriously a fun and interesting show if you like K-pop or are just willing to try something new!

WOAH. This has been an absolute ride. Now I must apologize for how obscenely long this blog was. I get overly excited too much... Hehe oops.

Hope y'all enjoyed taking that trip to the Year 2010 and up with me! Let me know if y'all are experiencing the same "wow I'm liking everything I liked in middle school" situation that I'm in and what fandom/interest that happens to be! Or if you found something maybe you'd like to try out of my old fandoms, give it a shot! (as long as it is not Lab Rats Chase and Bree fanfiction, please)

Until the Year 3000,

Ugh, not again, Nickels. Get it right the first time!

Until next time,

Nickels :)