Celebrate fandom! Tell everyone about your main fandoms of the past ten years and discover everyone elses.

For each one, give:

The Fandom:
Period you were a fan:
What is it?
Why do/did you love it?
How did you participate in the fandom?

The Fandom: Phantom of the Opera
Period you were a fan: 2000-2001(ish, it was a long time ago and I don't remember)
What is it? Musical
Why do/did you love it? Because it is AWESOME. And because the music is brilliant and the story's really sad and dark and great. I saw it in the theatre and it was amazing :)
How did you participate in the fandom? I didn't, really. We only had dial-up back then and my parents were all "YOU CAN'T GO ONLINE UNLESS IT'S AFTER 6PM AND ONLY FOR A FEW MINUTES EVEN THEN." So the extent of my fandoming was my friend and I learning it off by heart and being fangirly :)

The Fandom: Evanescence
Period you were a fan: 2003-2007
What is it? Band
Why do/did you love it? Evanescence introduced me to so much more music - seriously, I think nearly all the bands I like today are - either directly or indirectly - because of Evanescence. At this point I only really heard music that was on the radio, and it was so nice to hear something that actually had feelings behind it, rather than manufactured pop about fancying some boy.
How did you participate in the fandom? I joined the Evanescence.co.uk messageboards and obsessed about every song xD This was also when I started trying to make things on Paintshop Pro (god, the early stuff was baaaaad, although I did make the header for the site at one point, so I did learn a lot).

The Fandom: The League of Gentlemen
Period you were a fan: 2004-2007
What is it? Insane, brilliant British sketch show about a rather scary Northern town (you'll never leave!) ;)
Why do/did you love it? It is extremely funny, and very black humour. It also manages to have repeated characters without the joke being the same every episode, which some sketch shows do end up doing.
How did you participate in the fandom? I was on the old lofg.com forums (in fact I still post there now and again), plus made PSP stuff :)

The Fandom: Wicked
Period you were a fan: 2007-2008
What is it? Musical/book
Why do/did you love it? The show is amazing, just... wow. I've seen it six times xD I love the songs, and I love some of the darker themes of it - in the book especially, there are some very strong political points over the treatment of the Animals and how people will believe whatever a person in power tells them. I love how well the songs fit in, and No Good Deed just, like, owns my life xD
How did you participate in the fandom? I was on a few Wicked message boards, plus pretty much fell in love with and joined a forum for the woman who played Elphaba in the London production. Made faaaarrrr too much PSP stuff than is probably healthy, bought a tonne of green clothes/makeup (sadly this is true), read fanfic, read RPF (even though I find it a little squicky) and even wrote a rather dodgy Elphaba/Glinda fic (but we don't talk about that)

The Fandom: Dr. Horrible
Period you were a fan: 2009-THE END OF TIME!!!!
What is it? Internet Musical of Awesome and Win
Why do/did you love it? Where to start?! Billy's so sweet, and Penny's really pretty and lovely, and Hammer's is hilarious, and the songs are brilliant (Everything You Ever FTW) and Commentary!The Musical, and the comic, and poor heart-broken Billy and Dr. Horrible darkness and OMG.
How did you participate in the fandom? Getting an LJ, joinging Horrible comms, making lots and lots of PSP things, finally starting to write fanfic (Elphie/Galinda didn't count). Making awesome LJ friends :)