So, three weeks into the RA Challenge ♡, we come to an essential topic. The level of fandom. From secret admirer to full-on obsession. Hm, it’s all relative, isn’t it? I am certainly not a secret admirer (this blog being the case in point), but where does obsession start?
So, to explore the scale of my interest in my favourite actor, imagine RA was a storm which is kind of fitting, I think, where on the Beaufort scale would he be for me? He certainly doesn’t leave me calm (Beaufort 0), and I think he is much more than a gentle breeze (Beaufort 3). I may have been in a hurricane (Beaufort 12) when this whole natural disaster struck four or five years ago. But the waters half calmed a little bit since then. Or maybe I am better prepared for the storm at this point? In any case, I would rate him a strong gale (Beaufort 9) – quite a substantial force, with the potential to ruffle more than just a few leaves. Occasionally leaves damage, but still mostly containable.
Richard Armitage directs the hurricane (Beaufort 12) with the force of his mind. Still from Into the Storm.
So translated into less metaphorical language: I don’t think I am full-on obsessed. As if *I* could evaluate that… I am definitely not un-stirred by him, and I take more than a passing interest in his career and him as a person. But I harbour no illusions. I consider myself at the upper end of the happy medium, kind of two-thirds there. With a willingness to invest more in my hobby than cinema tickets and DVDs or pirated TV downloads, but attendance at premieres and airfares further afield. And like every addict, I know I could stop *at any time*. Yeah, right…
What about you? Does the Beaufort scale work for you, too?
Guylty Pleasure 
I myself have not yet reached the level of thinking that the Armitage can control the weather with his mind! LOL!
But this challenge has got me poring over pictures, rewatching N&S, and reading more fan fiction! Lots of fun.
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Hehe, there is no end to the power of the Armitage, Sue!!!
Glad to hear that the challenge is providing entertainment – and new areas to explore. That’s exactly what it was devised for.
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Hmm. I think it’s fair to say in my case it’s 12 because “it” (aka the hurricane) blew me all the way to New York…! 😀
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Nicely put, Judit. And yes, I think our transatlantic efforts were actually pretty high up on the Beaufort scale… 🌪
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Every time I think my fannishness has subsided to the level of a relaxing hobby (like knitting! LOL), Himself does something to send me right back to a state of thunderstruck drooling and gibbering.
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Sounds really familiar… sometimes it is a new role, of course. Sometimes I have “artificially” created a re-ignition by starting a fandom challenge *grins*, and sometimes it is just reading his opinion on something and I am back in flames… I kind of enjoy that unpredictability, I must say.
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In my case it’s usually sparked by the prospect of a new play, but an onscreen appearance or audiobook can also do the trick!
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Yep, what Linnet said!
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fan addict, binge watching, fanfiction reading but still laughing at myself, Make fun of me
My email in working
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Sounds pretty healthy – as long as we can still look at ourselves from the outside and realise that some of our behaviours may be a little bit unusual, all is well 😉
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The worst is the condescending glance, the condemnation judgment of the person who discovers your hobbies, which occupies your idle time. To write something about geopolitic of series and fear triumph, helps me to go further,. I feel less guilty in front of ignorant person with prejudices, bias.
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Yes. *nodding heavily* Hence I choose very wisely whom I tell what I do with my private time…
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Living in hurricane country, I’m familiar with the Beaufort Scale. My obsession with His Royal Hotness, aka HRH, must be at 12. I live in the eye of the massive Armitage storm. He’s always on my mind. Even when I’m out in public, out with friends, anywhere, he is interacting with me. I’m amazed I can function normally in public when I’m thinking about being close to him, although I’ve learned not to imagine having sex with him while in public because my face tends to react when I climax. This is a long term fantasy going back years. We have a life, children, joys and catastrophes. My sister thought I was nuts until I told her of her involvement (after all, my family and HRH’s are part of the fantasy). My sister now thinks she prefers the world I’ve built and has become an enabler. Forget all the Armitage related paraphernalia I’ve accumulated and that I will now travel to see him. The obsession has only grown stronger over the years and I don’t seek a cure.
Of course it’s possibly that the voice in my head is a little Funko Thorin. You know you’re crazy when the voices start inhabiting little vinyl dolls. Bwahahaha!
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Hehe, well, what you are describing there is RP fan fiction in your head 😉 . Or what is called “Kopfkino” in German. (Didn’t RA use the term in the interview with Hewson at some stage? “Cinema in your head”)
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Oh I definitely practice kopfkino. Never heard of that word but after googling it, yes, I am kopfkino-ing at the moment. I’ve been asked if I ever write my fantasies down, especially since they run in serial form night after night for weeks, months. My dreams have always done that but only my mother thought to write down one childhood serial dream where I was a wild horse in a family herd and every morning I’d tell my Mom the latest adventures of each of the horses. (Dad always said I was a horse in my previous lives. It was my first word instead of Mama or Papa.)
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Wow – serial form. That is some proper work. My kopfkino opens up every night, too, but I usually stick with my favourite films…
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I’ve just learned about the Beaufort scale! I was definitely 12 in the first two years, now I’ll say I’m somewhere between 8 and 10, depending on what’s happening in the RA world.
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Sounds like my own experience. Funny, the hurricane came out of nowhere, didn’t it? Maybe we are now right in the eye of the storm, where it is supposed to be calmer than on the outside?
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After all these years being a fan it was never calm or windless. I am more or less constant at level 8 with some considerable increase after each ( for me) good new project. Btw Into the Storm wasn’t one for me.
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Oh yes, a new project usually increases the storm activity, I agree.
I didn’t really get particularly excited about ITS, either…
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I have been a fan on and off over the years since watching North & South on TV back in November 2004. I remember barely being able to concentrate at work the next day….I would describe my interest as a 5/6 on the Beaufort scale, gusting to 8 if he says something of interest (or drops his pants)! I have not viewed all his screen work: I got bored with the Hobbit films, and Spooks and Robin Hood series never appealed. He is not even my favourite actor; I find some of his performances too laboured. And some of his interviews have left me inwardly cringing. Nonetheless he remains my secret guilty pleasure; my husband knows and is resigned. I have not admitted my crush to anyone else amongst my friends and family! I think they’d laugh if they knew!
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I think he is very crush-worthy indeed, and so I understand where you are coming from, even if you haven’t seen all of his work, and don’t even think he is the best actor ever… The whole package is what makes him so good – the decent acting, the choice of roles, the attractive outside, the glimpses of the man behind the mask… Sure, some stuff is cringey – but well, that’s human, and that’s why we like him.
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We sure do!! It’s the glimpses of the real man that keep me interested. And his masculine good looks of course!
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