Yes, I Am An Extreme Walking Dead Fan

I originally wanted to title this article, Why is the Walking Dead fandom so extreme? But I decided against that because I would not be able to answer that question in the article. Lennie James was asked on Talking Dead why he thought Morgan was so popular and essentially he said he didn’t want to know. As I thought about why my love for The Walking Dead is so extreme and different from my love from other shows, I ultimately decided that I don’t want to know. It is what it is.

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I’ve loved shows in the past. I loved House, MD. I loved Seinfeld. I loved Homicide: Life on the Streets. I’ve enjoyed many sitcoms throughout my childhood and young adult life: The Golden Girls, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Moonlighting just to name only a few. I’ve watched many a Law and Order, Charlie’s Angels and Without a Trace. I really loved Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. I even traveled to the set of Dr. Quinn on a four-day weekend with a friend. But The Walking Dead is different. I loved The Hunger Games books and movies.

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This is different. The Walking Dead Fandom is an amazing place. Perhaps there are other fandoms like it that I’m not aware of, but this is the first extreme fandom I’ve been in and I love it. It is very much a family like the hashtag #twdfamily says. I’m on Twitter and I tweet for Undeadwalking. There are so many amazing fan artists who draw the actors and scenes from the show. They range from somewhat amateur yet still quite good to unbelievably talented and gifted artists and cartoonists whose work is incredibly detailed and nuanced or quite creative and adorable.

Twitter is also a place where actors and show runners, walkers and crew share tidbits of their Walking Dead life with the fans. Fans share their love of the show with each other. We post memes and jokes, any information we learn, pictures of our memorabilia, people post pictures in costumes dressed as characters, we play trivia games and puzzles.

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I have Walking Dead action figures. I had never considered buying the action figures until I saw them in a different way on Twitter one day. Now I pose them in silly situations like doing yoga and dancing the tango or checking Twitter on my cell phone or wearing bunny slippers. I post these pictures on a Facebook page with other crazy fans who do the same thing. I think it’s hilarious. I’m 50 years old. I wear Walking Dead T-shirts all the time. Cute ones with cartoon Walking Dead characters.

The Walking Dead has infiltrated every aspect of my life and my thought processes. I find beauty in the walkers now when I’ve always hated horror movies and gore. I think about how things would be used during a zombie apocalypse. I saw bottles of bubbles in the store one day and wondered if walkers might chase them. Then I thought that bubbles might be a fun, quiet, no-tech activity for down time. These are not normal things to think about when you see a bottle of bubbles!

A crazy show and a crazy fandom. Some people have golf. Some people have WWE. I have The Walking Dead. And like Lennie James said about Morgan. I don’t want to know why I love it. I just do!

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