Fandom Connection Spotlight: Laura Q.
Sideshow’s goal is to connect you with the characters you love and a community to share your passion with. That’s why we love to hear about how you embrace fandom in your daily life!
We want to feature you and your pop culture story through the Fandom Connection Spotlight, sharing true stories of global geeks just like you! We’ve asked collectors to tell us what pop culture means to them personally, and now we’re highlighting the heartwarming, nostalgia-filled fandom.
Hey there! Please introduce yourself.
My name is Laura Q. I’m from New Jersey and I’m a fan of sci-fi, fantasy, comics in general, and more specifically Star Wars™, Doctor Who, Star Trek, the MCU, and I love animation — Studio Ghibli, Disney, Pixar, etc.
Did someone like a family member, friend, or anyone else get you into pop culture?
Sci-fi was just present my entire life. My dad read comic books and sci-fi when he was a kid, and when I was a baby he used to hold me while watching Star Trek. If there was a sci-fi show on TV, it was always on with my dad, my brother, and me watching.
When my dad’s sister came to visit, she tended to bring sci-fi or fantasy books as gifts. She led me to my first Robert Heinlein book, A Door Into Summer, and that led me to reading all of Heinlein. And Asimov, and Sturgeon, and Bradbury, and more.
What is your earliest geeky memory?
I used to watch Doctor Who on the TV in my parents’ room, usually with a cup of noodle soup. This was on an antenna TV on some PBS channel above channel 13 (21, I think) and it didn’t always come in clearly, but it was where I discovered DW and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
I believe “The Robots of Death” was the first episode I saw, and there was a scene where the Doctor explains to Leela how the inside of the TARDIS could be bigger than the outside. She replied, “That’s ridiculous,” and I thought, “Yes it is … this is for me!”
What are your favorite fandoms?
Star Wars and Doctor Who all day, every day. I realized a couple of years ago that all my important relationships — my husband and my best friends — all have a love for Star Wars in common. My husband recently told me about once seeing some people “doing something weird” behind a potted plant at a convention in NY he attended years before we were married or had even met … of course, I was one of the people behind the plant. I was painting geeky “tattoos” on a friend’s hand. It’s a small geek world!
How do you engage with your fandoms?
I am a collector. Over the years I have collected various things: comics, posters and prints, Funko Pops, mini busts, and more recently, sixth scale figures. I’ve been getting into photography, and I’ve drawn lots and lots of fan art and have contributed to many fanzines. A piece of my fan art is even included on the cover of a college textbook!
Do you have a favorite pop culture-related life experience?
Free Comic Book Day is an event my husband and I have really been enjoying for years. It’s turned into a whole event with us, a friend and his two daughters, and another friend and his stepson.
We all go from store to store to store buying comics, entering raffles at some stores, taking pictures of cosplayers, talking about geeky things all day long, and at one store once we met a turtle (an actual, real turtle that was just wandering around on the floor of the shop). In years past, it usually coincides with a movie release so we’d often end the day with a movie.
The kids have really enjoyed it and have gotten a solid geeky foundation from this tradition.
Have you ever traveled for a fandom-related reason?
Conventions, absolutely. Have been attending cons since the ’80s and have never really stopped. I have attended the 10th anniversary Star Wars Con in 1987 (that was the first time taking an airplane without a parent) and I have gone to three Star Wars Celebrations (and will be going next year, if nothing crazy happens), plus countless NYCCs, Wizard Worlds, and other cons.
I’ve also been to several Doctor Who conventions where it seemed like every time I got on an elevator, it was with a DW guest. I once shared Jelly Babies with Peter Capaldi in an elevator.
For your own chance to be featured in a future Fandom Connection Spotlight, be sure to fill out our survey below or by visiting side.show/fandom to tell us what your fandom means to you! Then, keep an eye out for future Fandom Connection Spotlight blogs for a chance to be featured.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s make that connection!