A couple of weeks ago I gave a sneak peek of a shrine that has yet to see the light of day blog. You suggested that I only reveal the RAPS *after* the recipient has had the privilege of unwrapping it. *impatiently taps fingers* The package was sent on April 12th, it celebrated Easter in a warehouse somewhere in the US, and now An Post’s track & trace facility informs me that it has been delivered at its destination. Hooray. I haven’t had confirmation yet from the recipient, so I have to forego the reveal for the moment.
Instead, I have decided to embark on a new multi-day fandom challenge. Just to pass the time *sigh*. My attitude is positively schizophrenic. On the one hand, I am glad that Mr A is not dominating the Twitter discussion anymore. On the other hand, it feels as if he has gone the other extreme – no personal tweeting since December, and a retro-sanitised TL, too. As everything in life, the right balance is in the middle: a mix of promotional information and an occasional glimpse of the man behind the @RCArmitage handle. It doesn’t have to be selfies or revelations of opinions and philosophies, but just a look into the ordinary day-to-day life would be great. Take @LelandOrser, for instance – I am really enjoying his way of handling Twitter. He tweets the promo stuff, of course, but he also tweets his own photos, which both entertain as well as allow the followers to feel as if they are knowing what he is up to during his time in Berlin. From showing the results of his cooking (the request for asparagus recipes was a great way to engage followers), to a picture of the Stolpersteine (brass plaques in the pavement for the Jewish citizens of Berlin who were victims of the Nazis). I can piece together the impression that beside his work on BS, Leland is engaging with the culture and history of his current environment. Fans *love* that kind of insight.
Anyway. So bac
k to my time-filler tactics. I have decided to amuse myself with another fandom challenge. Fandom challenges are nothing new. I remember doing one in my early fandom days in 2012. For this new challenge I have looked for new questions to answer – although some old favourites remain. After all, RA’s oeuvre is constantly growing, so new chaRActers come to the challenge, as do new pairings, and storylines, costumes and what-have-you. So there is scope to reassess how likes and dislikes have changed. Pantarei. I may even link back to my old answers if and where they overlap – just to see how my opinions have changed.
My adjusted RA-specific challenge is based on a non-specific fandom challenge I found at heckyeahtumblrchallenges. Those of you who enjoy cross-blog projects may like to pick up the mantle and do the challenge with me. You can find the questions on the graphic I designed. (Feel free to copy and use the image for your own blog.) There are no rules as to whether the challenge has to be done day-by-day. You could also do 5 questions at a stretch, if you so like. And for commenters – I hope you take the opportunity to answer the question in the comments. Feel free to take as much space as you need. To ease me us in, I am kicking off with the basic questions of how it all started.
Ad res.
♡ #1 The First Encounter
I am answering this differently this time. I’ve written about my first encounter before, so I’d rather like to say it in gifs this time ’round.
So, first there was a capitalist millowner who couldn’t really sway leftie me. (ca. 2009)
Snaffled from Preoccupiedbyarmitage
Then there was Captain America in 2011. Sorry, but I don’t like cardboard Nazi baddies never mind those glasses…
Gif by Nowhereinparticularra
And then there was this (all gifs by ghisborne):
Enigmatic Lucas North in Spooks season 9, episode 6. Maybe I was not hooked yet, but I can tell you, I had the first whiff of something really good…
So, now over to you – your first encounter? Say it in a gif – or a comment.
Guylty Pleasure 
Thanks for this Guylty! I’ve been running short of inspiration for original posts, so this will give me some ideas plus the opportunity to use some of the hundreds of gifs I’ve made over the years……and no doubt an excuse to make more! 🙂
LikeLike
Same here, Mezzie – I welcome the calm (if the alternative is storm), but I am also slightly uninspired while we are waiting for news from Pilgrimage, BoF and possibly BS. Might as well create our own news.
If you are answering the challenge on tumblr, please leave me a link here on a comment – I hope I’ll see the posts on tumblr, but just in case 🙂
LikeLike
Yes, I’m taking up the challenge on my Tumblr, tagging my posts with #guylty’s time filler tactics. They should come up in a search of that tag, as well as in the #richard armitage tag. I always enjoy reading the responses of others, so I’m hoping there will be at least a few Tumblr bloggers taking it up too, especially the newcomers.
LikeLike
That would be cool – and thanks for coming up with a tag, good idea.
I agree, I am always curious about other people’s “gateway” and favourites.
LikeLike
Reblogged this on Unkraut vergeht nicht….oder doch? and commented:
Guylty hat 31 Fragen rund um das Thema ‘Fangirlen mit RA’ zusammengetragen, die nun jeder Interessierte beantworten kann.
Lust mitzumachen und keinen eigenen Blog?
Ich stelle gerne meinen Blog für Gastbeiträge zur Verfügung – Kommentar mit Interessensbekundung unter diesem Beitrag genügt!
Ich würde eine gebündelte Beantwortung bevorzugen, bin mir aber sicher, daß wir eine Lösung finden, wenn dem Gastposter etwas anderes lieber wäre.
Gastblogger dürfen gerne auch auf englisch antworten, da bin ich leidenschaftlos 🙂
LikeLike
Thanks for reblogging this. Looking forward to your answers, Herba!
LikeLiked by 1 person
you have some interesting questions thrown into your mix, I’m curious to see how you (and others) answer them! as for my own first encounter with Richard, it was through Thorin Oakenshield in ‘The Hobbit: an unexpected journey’. I felt like his eyes were telling a story all their own and so my attention was continually drawn to him throughout the movie.
LikeLike
*coughs* I know. There are a couple of questions in there, where I am already wondering whether I will dare to be honest…
As for Thorin as a gateway – if I hadn’t been a fan already by the time TH came along, I probably would’ve been sucked in by Thorin, too.
LikeLike
A newspaper was having a summer DVD giveaway of famous period dramas one year -. Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair and the like.
.
So what was this one? Somehow I had never heard of North and South, so I stuck it on and off it went — only then the door went and a crowd of friends and family had arrived for tea and a chat, so I only glanced at it now and then out of the corner of my eye. I did wonder briefly who was stalking through the cotton snowstorm but I got distracted. Later, it went clean out of my mind.
Until…
But that’s another story. 🙂
LikeLike
That is an interesting story, Jenny! And how dare these friends and family interrupt your first encounter of He Who Stalks Through The Cotton Flakes.
I’m really curious now how your story continues. But that’s probably something for the next instalment of the RA Challenge…
LikeLike
MWUHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Beward the ides of 19!!!! (IT gives me 18 entrees to come up with a gentle way to say it.
LikeLike
*chokes* I can imagine… that is one of the questions where I am already wondering whether it was wise to include it in my list…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Prolly not. Might have been okay had you NOT included ‘RL’….
LikeLike
Ahem. I know.
Reminder: Questions *can* be answered. They don’t necessarily*have to* be… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I must. I must. I have this little anal gene.
LikeLike
😂 In that case: Enter at own risk ⚠️
LikeLiked by 1 person
hehehe. I will probably do what I should have done before – answer the question in as FEW words as possible – no graphics.
LikeLike
Could be interesting. I am looking forward to it…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on zee's muse and commented:
OOOOOOOOH! I need to finish my Snowflake Challenge. How far did I get on that???? No matters! Beward the Ides of 19!!!!! Gives me 18 entrees to come up with a gentle, no so slap-happy way to say it.
LikeLike
PS: Cheers for the reblog!
LikeLike
Oh! That’s a great idea! Thank you for this “challenge”.
LikeLike
You are welcome :-). And thanks for taking part – will comment over on your post!
LikeLike
In a way I’ll always always feel I have Toby Stephens to thank for my accidental discovery of RA. I had caught the last part of his portrayal of Edward Rochester in Jane Eyre and was intrigued enough to check into purchasing the DVD at Amazon. I always read the customer reviews before making a purchase and I noticed that so many of the commenters stated that while they loved this version of JE, an even better (more swoon worthy) period drama would be found with North and South and the gorgeous Mr Thornton. Well, Mr Richard Armitage (whoever you are) we shall see, I thought smugly. Ha! We shall see indeed! The moment his character appeared on the screen was like a thunderbolt. His performance completely captivated me and later set me on a mission to see every piece of work of his I could get my hands on. I might add, too that this was the first time EVER that an actor has had such an effect on me to make me do that, nor has any since. 😍
LikeLike
That’s a really nice story, D, thanks for sharing that. I could almost imagine you, huffing to yourself that *no one* could possibly surpass Stephens – and then to be faced with Mr Thornton… I mean, even *I* have learnt to love Mr Thornton, despite initial misgivings.
But anyway, this sort of thing is nicest possible way of being proven wrong. And in fairness, I think RA certainly is worth the admiration he garners.
LikeLike
The same story for me, except that before Toby Stephens was “The Company You Keep” with Robert Redford. Then I watched old English Blitz war or propaganda movies, then European movies about WWII and at least old English drama movies (Powell, Pressburger, David Lean,…).
LikeLike
and peplum too
LikeLike
Sounds like a classical education 😉 I think Armitage fits very well into that list.
LikeLike
First time I saw him was in an interview for the DOS & I remember thinking, “Why is Hugh Jackman in all the movies? Are there no other actors”
LikeLike
LOL – yep, there is a certain likeness between the two of them. Unfortunately for some, unlike Jackman, Armitage is *not* in all the movies…
LikeLike
My first encounter was in ‘The Hobbit/AUJ’, but I’ve seen it belatedly in summer 2013 in an open air theatre and I remember I was not captured. As I saw the movie for the second time on television in winter a year later, I was somehow fascinated by the leader of the dwarves. I borrowed the DOS dvd from a friend and watched BOTFA twice in cinema and after that I was hooked and got all the other stuff…
Although I’ve had other celebrity crushes over the years, RA had the strongest effect on me and he is the only actor who led me to active fangirling…
This is a very nice idea, Guylty, and I have the idea we have enough time to answer all these questions in length, since he has changed from a tweeting socialite to Mr. Invisible. I regret this.
LikeLike
Maybe you were distracted when you were watching THAUJ in the open air cinema? Since I was already a fan by the time AUJ came into the cinema, the first scene with Thorin did not really create a total thunderbolt moment for me. Because I *expected* to be wowed; I was ready for the thunder and lightning. Mind you, he really did blow me away in BOTFA.
I had a couple of movie crushes before RA, but they both fizzled out pretty quickly. RA has held my attention for much longer – I take that as a sign…
And glad that you are taking up the challenge. I do regret that we are hearing very little from the set of BS, too…
LikeLike
Pingback: 039: The RA Challenge, part 1. | Luscinnia
Pingback: Guylty’s doing a Richard Armitage challenge | Me + Richard Armitage
Thank you for the link love! And no pressure to take part – just passing time!
LikeLike
Nice idea, Guylty! In London now for a few days but yep, I’m in when I get back. 😊
LikeLike
oooh, London. Well, you are definitely excused, Esther! Enjoy your stay. There is no time limit on this challenge, anyway.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Reblogged this on nellindreams and commented:
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do” – eigentlich wollte ich mich aus dem RAuge des Orkans zurückziehen… Aber was gibt es Schöneres als diese BeschäftigungstheRApie à la Guylty?
Meine erste Begegnung? Natürlich (?!) der Baumwollspinnereibesitzer aus Nordengland, wie er wütend die Treppe seiner Mill herunter stürmt und den widerrechtlich rauchenden Stevens ziemlich handgreiflich zur Schnecke macht.
Mein Lieblingszitat stammt – ich weiß, wenig originell – auch aus North & South. Ja, ich fände es ziemlich cool, wenn so ein Mr. Thornton auch zu mir mal “Look back at me” sagen würde… 😉
Wobei ich andererseits auch sehr gerne mit Ricky Deeming einen trinken würde!
Der Shipperei kann ich nur gaaaanz wenig abgewinnen. Vielleicht mit ein Grund, weswegen ich
zwischendurch immer mal bei Punkt 29. Ein wenig Erdung tut mir jedenfalls ziemlich gut. Nach dem Motto: Lasst andere neben ihm sein. 😉
Trotzdem: bei dem Song “Sex on fire” der Kings of Leon denke ich unwillkürlich an RA, denn ob er es will oder nicht, diese Wirkung hat er nicht nur als Lucas/Porter/Daniel/Ricky/Thornton/Thorin… auf mich. Immer noch. Auch nach mehr als 7 Jahren Fantümelei in mehr oder weniger intensiven Abstufungen. Egal, ob er nun tweetet oder nicht!
Danke für die umfangreiche RA-Do-List, Guylty! 🙂
LikeLike
Pingback: Pilgrimage Pops Up | Guylty Pleasure
Thanks for the challenge! I’ll give it a go on the weekend.
LikeLike
Hooray, that sounds good. Any time, really – there’s no deadline to this 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
This challenge is an absolutely great idea! I’ve read your post yesterday, coming back from holiday and my instant reaction was OMG, I have to start a blog and do the challenge. Today, at home, realizing that the holiday is almost over, I’m not so optimistic about blogging, but I will try to answer in the comments. So, as a LOTR fan, I followed the development around The Hobbit movie, but not very close since I had no expectation from the story. I checked RA’s imdb page once as I was convinced he will play Bard, the only character that seemed to be interesting at that moment. I was not impressed, but I later remembered the name when I saw the dvds with Robin Hood (special edition for Romania and Bulgaria).
After seeing THAUJ, I was intrigued by Thorin, I never thought I would like a dwarf! The second day I bought the dvds with Robin Hood. My conclusion after seeing Guy? This actor is definitely worthy of my attention! This was the beginning of the craziest adventure ever!
LikeLike
I like how you conclude your response – beginning of the craziest adventure. And an unending one at that… Here’s hoping that RA will continue to act on an international scale for many years to come…
And hehe, no worries about having to blog about this – comments and tweets are equally effective.
LikeLike
OMG it’s mine. Mine! You sent that shrine to me! I had no idea! I thought I was just making a flip comment about “awesome lips.” Did I inadvertently enter a contest or something? I love it! Thank you!!! I took a photo, but the light wasn’t good. I will send it to you in case you need it, but you have good photos that you took before shipping, right? So YOU should introduce this shrine to the world. It’s a honey. And came with its own discreet carrying case! Sent to me by my international fangirl pen-pal friend. I love being a member of this fandom!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
*big fat grin on my face*. Hehe, yes, it is yours. It had to go to you. And I was particularly pleased when you commented that I should reveal the shrine *before* it was received by the recipient…
And no – you did not enter a contest ;-). I just decided that you had to have it. Glad if you like it!
I will post the shrine the next couple of days…
LikeLike
My first encounter was Robin Hood. I will watch anything to do with Robin Hood or Arthurian tales, so of course I tuned in with the premiere. But then this dark clad gorgeous gentleman(?) stepped into the scene and my eyes popped. Who was this vision with piercing eyes? And thus began my research into the life and career of His Royal Hotness Richard Armitage. I googled and read everything. Then I discovered richardarmitagenet.com which was a well organized emersion. I made a list of all of his roles and started tracking them down. Fortunately, my local library carried many of his shows on DVD which is where I found North & South. For 2 weeks I watched all of it each day, twice on Saturdays and Sundays. I watched the final railway scene even more. Had to have it and luckily, my local Barnes & Noble had it in the store. Then I discovered fandoms on Facebook and blogs. More DVDs, magazines, lots of pictures, and other memorabilia later, I finally had the opportunity to see him live on stage in New York 3 nights in a row, so close one night I could’ve grabbed his ankles if fellow fans and friends from FB hadn’t placed firm hands on my thighs and held me in my seat. It’s an addiction and there is no cure. Of course my brother, who is my executor, wants to know what the heck he’s going to do with all my Armitage paraphernalia when I die. I’m leaving my sister in charge of that redistribution.
LikeLike
I think RAnet was a real enabler. I totally snaffled everything from Ali’s site, too. Mostly the interviews and communications with fans, though. Ali has a lot to answer for *lol*.
Hehe – your executor and the problem of distribution.
LikeLiked by 1 person
First encounter was either with Sparkhouse or Between the sheets, it was so long ago I can’t quite remember which came first. I remember noticing this bloke on TV and thinking, didn’t I just see him in something else last week? so I searched online and found his name. I hadn’t recorded Between the sheets but I had taped Sparkhouse so I went back and watched it again. I thought the character of Standring was so sweet. Then I didn’t see anything else until Robin Hood, which is when I really became hooked. I’d missed North & South but I came across it by accident in my library so I borrowed the DVD and that was it! Totally besotted! I have found nearly everything that hasn’t been shown is Aus’ online.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow – that is really long ago, Austoz! You really are a fan of long stand(r)ing *hehe*.
I had to catch up with everything in retrospect. Luckily, five years ago many RH and Spooks episodes were still available on YT, so I never had to buy the DVDs. A lot of stuff has vanished since then. I think I only own NS, the Hobbit trilogy, Frozen, and 1 set of RH on DVD…
LikeLike
Pingback: RA Challenge – Week 1 | I'm Feeling This
Pingback: The RA challenge, part 1 | The Book of Esther
Pingback: RA Challenge – Week 2 | I'm Feeling This
Pingback: RA Challenge – (Final) Week 5 | I'm Feeling This
Pingback: Time for A[nother] Fan Challenge | Guylty Pleasure