Fandom of Fandoms Podcast
Fandom of Fandoms is a podcast that dives into the worlds that fans love most — from galaxies far, far away to magical schools, epic quests, and everything in between. Each episode spotlights a different fandom, exploring its history, what makes it special, and why people are so passionate about it. We’ll chat with real fans, share wild stories, and invite you to geek out with us, one fandom at a time.
Fandom of Fandoms Podcast
Wands & Wizards: Fandom of Fandoms and the Magical World of Harry Potter
What keeps drawing us back to the wizarding world decades after Harry Potter first appeared on bookshelves? Our guest Dayna Grenier joins us to explore the enduring magic of J.K. Rowling's beloved series and why it continues captivating new generations of readers and viewers.
We dive deep into what makes the Harry Potter universe so special – from the complex character development to the rich world-building. Dana shares her unique perspective as someone who discovered the series as an adult rather than growing up with it, proving the story's appeal transcends age and timing.
We explore fan-favorite entries (Half-Blood Prince gets considerable love), discuss the expanded universe through Fantastic Beasts, and share our Hogwarts house affiliations. Our conversation takes emotional turns when discussing unforgettable moments like Dobby's sacrifice and Hagrid's triumphant return from Azkaban – scenes that continue to move fans years later.
Looking toward the future, we contemplate the upcoming HBO series adaptation and how the fandom continues evolving as millennials who grew up with Harry Potter now share the magic with their own children. Whether you're a dedicated Potterhead or curious about why this series maintains such cultural significance, this episode offers a heartfelt celebration of the stories that brought magic into millions of lives.
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All right, gentlemen and ladies, we are back for episode six of Fandom of Fandoms.
Speaker 2:This is going to be a great episode.
Speaker 1:I can already tell I've been very excited for this episode. I like the energy in the room right now.
Speaker 3:It does feel nice.
Speaker 2:Well, I like starting off the same way every time. What's everybody been up to since the last time we were together, which wasn't that long ago actually?
Speaker 1:You know, I saw Ben six days last week.
Speaker 3:Monday through Saturday.
Speaker 2:You might as well just move in at this point.
Speaker 4:They have another person coming to live with them soon. They don't need me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, yeah, well, I can start. I mean, I had my diaper party over the weekend, which you both were at, yes and yeah, very enjoyable time. Just so. Grateful for everyone that came and brought diapers and other gifts and I there were some people there that I hadn't seen in a while, so it was a lot of fun to kind of catch up and we got to meet your brother for the first time.
Speaker 4:that was cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know yeah, I as elusive as your family is it was nice that I finally got to like sit and have a conversation with you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you guys did talk for a while, it was fun.
Speaker 3:Yeah, what about you, nick?
Speaker 2:What have you been up to? You know? So today was my first day at work, so first day back on the job. Sorry about that, but yeah, I mean it was good. I'm starting at a brand new district, so it's exciting. There's just know when you, when you show up for the new job, like you got the training stuff right from the beginning and it's it's a little boring, like I was up a little bit too late the night before and I'm already like okay, I'm.
Speaker 2:I was a little tired, I was ready to fall asleep during some of those meetings, but that's the way it goes, like it's the, it's the nature of the beast. When you start something new, ben, what have you been into man?
Speaker 4:uh, biggest thing lately is I went to the dublin irish festival this weekend that was a good time lots of good food, good music, good just walking around seeing all sorts of different things. Like I was telling you guys earlier, yeah, I watched a bunch of guys pick up some like 250 300 pound stones pretty cool, yeah, well, so yeah that's about the biggest thing that I've been up to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, awesome. Well, let's cue up the intro music and actually intro the episode a little bit. Hello and welcome to the Fandom of Fandoms podcast, where every single episode, we are diving into the worlds that fans love the most, and we are very, very excited today to have Dana Grenier joining us to talk about harry potter right, it's gonna be, great I paused that was a that was a very dramatic pause.
Speaker 4:Yeah, well done, nick. Hey, very well, was that part of what you practiced? Yeah, well, maybe you know it never goes exactly the same way, right? But this?
Speaker 2:is true. No, it's, it's good, it's good, but we are definitely so glad to have you here joining us, dana and um, we're so glad that we get to really tackle something that again, like, we're kind of all we've got an interest in and passion in, so that's, that's kind of fun to have, because in the last few episodes I feel like it's always been like all right, there's a couple of us that are passionate, or one of us or whatever.
Speaker 2:And yeah so we're kind of all in it together again. So that's going to be awesome.
Speaker 5:And Dana it together again. So that's going to be awesome and, dana, you get the honor of being our first guest. So, yes, thank you. Yeah, how does that feel? Huge honor, I'm so grateful. Yeah, yeah, I will say I wasn't um chosen on mara alone, unfortunately. Yeah, best of interest in my life, so I appreciate that I played my cards right so why?
Speaker 4:don't you? Why don't you start off telling us how long you and michael have known each other? How long have you guys been married?
Speaker 5:oh man I gotta remember um, we met, let's see, four years ago and we'll be married for three years in september. Yeah, uh huh. Yeah, we met on a blind date. Yeah, you guys were set up by mutual friends, right we were yeah, we were yeah, and we're actually the third couple that this friend has set up who's gotten married. Incredible change. I think it is she should change careers at this point.
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactly, is that still a? Thing?
Speaker 3:Professional matchmakers. I've never met one but.
Speaker 5:I believe they're out there it's got to be in some cultures, I don't know yeah, exactly, oh man, um, well, I guess.
Speaker 2:So, dave, you've kind of introduced yourself a little bit. We know what we're talking about. So, michael, do you want to bring us into and, just like, give us a little bit of an overview? What's, what's going on? What are we?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, definitely. So you know overview here. So harry potter, I mean, I think most of our listeners probably probably know, but a series of seven fantasy novels written by british author jk rowling. Now I always said jk rolling, and then I don't know, I don't even know. When it was like a year ago, I heard someone say rowling, so now I say jk rowling but do you? Know that they were correct.
Speaker 4:Do we know what's correct? We don't.
Speaker 2:Okay, rowling is probably the British pronunciation right, rowling, yep.
Speaker 1:I don't know. So the novel is a chronicle of the lives of a young wizard, harry Potter, and his friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, all of whom are students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, so it has been adapted into eight movies. There's been other spin-offs, such as fantastic beasts um, um, there is, uh, the broadway play um the cursed child yeah, um, and then it even has its own theme park now.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of an overview of of what we're talking about today this is a large fandom when you think about it.
Speaker 2:I was thinking like we probably could have done a similar break on this that we did to Star Wars.
Speaker 4:We could have done books versus movies or like yeah, like there's any way we could have split it, but there's a lot, so we're just going to try and get a little bit of everything in this episode, for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. Well, Ben, do you want to introduce the next segment?
Speaker 4:Sure. So, dana, like why don't you start us off telling us like a little bit about when you first got into Harry Potter and you know, like some of your earliest memories, or what kept you involved in the fandom?
Speaker 5:yeah, I'd love to. I was pretty late to the game with Harry Potter, unfortunately. I wish I could say that I grew up really loving it, but I think I was. I like kind of just missed it. I was a little bit young, um, to grow up enjoying Harry Potter and reading it. I have some friends who did, but they were pretty young reading the books. So, yeah, I didn't really get into reading the books or watching through all of the movies until I was in college. I had a friend who was in my small group who would read the books all the way through every single summer and I was like, wow, this has to be pretty great to want to read through them that many times. And so, yeah, that was the first time I started reading. But when I was young I think I had seen like the first movie or two, but it wasn't until probably like 18, 20, that I became really interested in the fandom.
Speaker 4:Okay. So I mean Dana, like thanks for sharing about that. So you started off reading the books and you said, maybe watch a movie or two, but do you feel like you are more drawn to the books then?
Speaker 5:in general, yeah, I get great enjoyment out of both. I definitely would say. You know, everybody says the book's greater than the movie, and I think that's true. There's just so much more in the books and you get so much more out of the story than in the movies because obviously they have to cut out so much when they make a movie. But I think the movies are incredible and for me it's like all a part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, so I just finished reading the second book. I have never read through the books before, I've only watched the movies oh really yeah, I didn't even know that
Speaker 1:yeah, so this is my first time reading through the books and, yeah, I didn't realize the extent, like how much was in the books oh, yeah and yeah, like you said, I did not know you're, so you're on the third book. Right now, we're on the third book and it's wow so I, uh, I've acknowledged to a lot of people that, like a lot of people have told me they would love to go back and reread them for the first time.
Speaker 1:And so for me, I'm like, wow, I actually get to like as an adult, like know what I'm reading for the first time, you know. So it's pretty exciting. But yeah, there's so much more in the books that I would like Just a whole lot of plot threads, really, that you don't even get in the movies, and so it's yeah, it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Well, I think we could circle back here for a second, because we didn't actually share out what any of our background was in the movies and the books and everything. So it sounds like you're I mean I know you've definitely seen all the movies and so now you're circling back and kind of hitting the books for the first time, which is wild.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So back and kind of hitting the books for the first time, which is wild. Yeah, exactly, I uh. So I know I kind of talked about this in our little bonus segment in lego, but for me I read uh all of the books as they came out after uh goblet of fire, I think so that was like okay, by the time I started reading they were already on goblet of fire.
Speaker 2:Um, and then from then on, like I can remember, going to the midnight releases for the books, uh, or my dad would go to the midnight releases and bring me the book back the next day or whatever.
Speaker 2:And then you know, I'd read it in two, three days, whatever. And that was definitely for me and this is kind of embarrassing, to admit, a little bit as a as an English teacher but I was not all that into reading when I was in like middle school around this time, Like I only wanted to read Harry Potter. I wasn't really into like the other stuff, and so that was just. I mean, I feel like that was such a generation of kids Like I knew other people that were kind of in the same boat as me, Like well, they don't read, but they've read Harry Potter and they're into that world quite a bit.
Speaker 2:So I can remember being really young and my dad, like the, the first couple of books my dad read with me, so like we'd read him, uh, at night and he'd read me a chapter and whatever you know what I mean Like before going to bed, like that was. So that was definitely something that happened and so that I think there was a bonding aspect of that and um really got me into it as well. But, Ben, what about you? I know that I haven't really heard a lot about your, your background.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean I, I grew up with them. I remember my aunt gave me the first book when I was, you know, a young teenager and I was always around the same age as Harry, like when that's pretty cool when they came out, so yeah like for me it was like definitely.
Speaker 4:like I grew up like literally with it, like or senior, but like right around then and I was like you know, like getting ready to move out onto quote-unquote adulthood or whatever's next, and so like, yeah, wrapping up his journey at the same time I was kind of wrapping up high school and stuff like that was like super impactful to me and just yeah like, uh, yeah, a pivotal part of my life, I think, especially, yeah, just jumping into that fandom in general, probably the one I was most a fan of when I was a kid.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, well, dana, uh, so, like, what do you feel like about the story or the characters, or the world even like draws you in to this fandom the most?
Speaker 5:yeah, so much uh, you guys have talked about this a little bit in your previous episodes, but, um, it's fun to immerse yourself in a world that's very like fantastical and doesn't relate to your everyday life, right, yeah, I think there's something just really special about stepping outside of your your day to day life and stepping into a world that's so different from the one that you experience. And obviously there's things about Harry Potter that are relatable, like the different relationship dynamics and the battle of good versus evil.
Speaker 3:We all face that every day Right, mostly at work.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, but I think that, yeah, being able to have that like level of healthy escapism, you know, is really neat. And yeah, I was actually talking to michael about this. But one thing that I love so much about harry potter and the characters is that they all grow and change so much and we get to kind of see them grow up and become better people and they're still really flawed people and they all really need each other, um, but yeah, we, we just get to see them kind of be interdependent. Like there's not, you know, this one hero that has it all together, and um, I think that's really neat about harry potter yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, speaking of care, well, we're gonna say oh no, I was just gonna say this is where I get to nerd out a little bit on the on the book nerd a little bit. But like the coming of age novels are like, I love those stories almost more than anything for those reasons. Right, like you're, you're watching these characters develop, um, and kind of coming to understand that. So some of my favorite novels ever really like I mean, I love to kill a mockingbird that's you know, coming of age story.
Speaker 2:Um, I don't know if either of you guys have read or any of you guys have read, uh, kite runner before. That's another one of my favorites, but again, it's those stories, for whatever reason, just really they resonate with me a lot. Anyways, I don't know how they are with you guys, but that's. I love those coming of age stories too, so I agree with you there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure I was gonna say, speaking of you know character, character development, is there a character that you kind of most see yourself as like in the harry potter series?
Speaker 5:yeah, I love hermione and maybe that's just because I'm a girl, um, but I think she's so great and yeah, I I don't know that this is me necessarily, but I just see her as a character that's so brave, so consistent, so loyal, willing to to do anything to be there for the people that she loves. And yeah, I would love to be like that and she's beautiful. She's so cute when I wake up in the morning and my hair is like poofy, I say I look like 12-year-old Hermione.
Speaker 1:Yeah, every time, exactly. Yeah, yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 2:Do you have a favorite of the books? I feel like this is.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, easy question, or not an easy question, but like a classic question. Oh gosh, quintessential, yes, I know, there's so many to choose from.
Speaker 5:I would love to hear this for you guys as well, I think I naturally just say, say, the half-blood prince, yeah, and I think that's because all of the storylines from the previous books kind of come together and we get this really clear picture of, like, where we've been headed this whole time and sort of what the end game is for harry potter, and yeah, it's just so satisfying, it's so good. Um, I love professor slughorn, I love luna. Is that luna's in the fifth book? I guess for the first time, right?
Speaker 5:but we get to see your character a little bit more in the sixth, so yeah, very cool, well, michael.
Speaker 4:So since, michael, since you haven't read all the books, then like so what's your?
Speaker 1:favorite movie then? Yeah, great question. So I hate to this is gonna sound like a cop-out answer, but I actually think the half-blood prince 2 is also my favorite and I don't know, I think, because snape is kind of like I don't know, like a almost like comically evil guy, at least in the in the movie version of him. But then at the end of half-blood prince kind of like seeing him as like whoa, whoa, he's like really evil. You know, like that was pretty interesting to me, yeah. So I think kind of what you were saying, like you actually start to see like the bigger picture of what's happening, like you know where this is all headed. So I love Half-Blood Prince and that's been my favorite. My if I can give a close second though Chamber of Secrets, almost purely for the ending. The ending of Chamber of Secrets makes me cry every time and so I just look forward to that great emotional climax there.
Speaker 2:I haven't watched it recently. I'm going to have to go back and watch Chamber of Secrets and see if the emotions get me a little bit, but I do agree with you. Definitely Half-Blood Prince. I was watching it in preparation for tonight, because I actually told.
Speaker 2:Ben before the episode, I was like no, Six for sure is my favorite of the movies Really Okay, yeah, nice, and it's because it even cemented it more when I watched it again, because I just remembered all of the things I liked about before and some of the um, just the, the subtleties of it, I guess. Um, where they don't necessarily. I mean there are certain scenes in there that they they kind of take an artful look at it like um. So one that kind of sticks in my mind is like the whole entire, all of the different parts of the year where draco is trying to plan to to kill dumbledore and then it just shows him there's no speaking in it or anything like that.
Speaker 2:So it's almost like I mean it does. It talks about it. At some point you're aware of what's going on, but it doesn't like have to smack you in the face with it. You just kind of see oh, he's working out this problem and it's to me it feels very like there's an artistic part of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:I love same with you. Slughorn the scene from the beginning when Dumbledore takes Harry to go and get.
Speaker 3:Slughorn. I love that. It's like my favorite scene in all of the movies, I think.
Speaker 2:But yeah, it's so, so good and it's yeah, I definitely would say it's my top of the movies, book-wise, though Prisoner of Azkaban. So so good and it's, yeah, I, I definitely would say it's my top of the of the movies, book wise, though prisoner of azkaban, I that's where?
Speaker 1:oh, okay, we're. We're watching prisoner of azkaban in preparation for tonight.
Speaker 2:Yeah but anyway continue. No, funny enough, like I don't. I don't love the movie, like it's good but like I, it's not my favorite of the of the ones either. It's it is it one, but the book-wise I don't know what it was. I think it might have been just the fact that I don't know. I feel like it was probably one of the first ones that I might have read that one alone by myself. I can remember the scene on the night bus and everything I mean.
Speaker 5:I don't know, it was just impactful.
Speaker 2:And then the fact that, you know, obviously, sirius shows up in that one and that's, you know, a major emotional attachment of Harry's in that one, the first one that he really has outside of.
Speaker 5:Ron and Hermione, like he's not close to.
Speaker 2:Dumbledore at that point. So that's, I don't know. I think that I really latched on to his character and you know, obviously, when everything goes down in the fifth book, just it's, it just hits you so much harder, because of prisoner of azkaban, for sure, and how much they kind of get to interact a little bit and you get to think, oh well, there's this possibility of like this, this happy ending, but I know I will say I think with the movies that was one of the first ones with a different director and he definitely did some interstitial things that felt unnecessary and kind of took me out of the world more than helped keep me in it, and so it felt that one to me.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it felt like it was well that was the first plain clothes ones.
Speaker 2:Like the first two movies, they were always in their robes really yeah okay and that time they. He was like yeah, we're gonna go with just regular clothes, and that was a directorial choice, I don't, I don't know. And then I think they stuck with it really because yeah, really in most of the other movies there weren't a ton of robes. Yeah, funny enough.
Speaker 4:I don't know, yeah, yeah well my, my favorite book was gobbled a fire is gobbled a fire? For me that one um first of all like expanding the world into seeing that oh, there are other wizarding schools. The whole Triwizard Tournament in general is just like such an interesting concept and event to kind of witness. And then it did like at the end it kind of like pivoted to be like a more dark tone for the rest of the books Then after that, I think like instead of just pure fantasy.
Speaker 4:It kind of pivoted into something like oh, we're gonna get a little serious with it. And again it was, you know, right around that age of like coming of age harry, where he's changing from this innocent kind of boy who's just kind of like these things are happening, to to like, oh, he's like in it now for sure, so yeah that one was it for me yeah, definitely, yeah, that's yeah, that's great.
Speaker 1:Well, why don't we transition a little bit to? We always have a starter pack segment here. So you know, dana, obviously you didn't get into Harry Potter until you were an adult, same with me. You know we didn't really grow up with it as kids. But if someone wanted to start in the fandom or getting into it, what would you recommend for them?
Speaker 5:Yeah, this is probably the classic recommendation, but I would say, read through the books. Either read all the way through them and then enjoy the movies, or read them one at a time. Watch the movie after. I think that could be really fun too.
Speaker 2:So you'd go book first then movie, like that'd be your your. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because go book first then movie, but like that'd be your your. Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 5:Yeah, because I think that with any book, it's special to like kind of create the world in your mind first. You know I'd agree with that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will say reading them after watching the movies. I do read the characters as the movie versions. So like I'm picturing the movie versions, like the actors, you know their voices, and so I do wonder what it would be like had I read the books first, kind of who, like what types of you know who I'd have in my mind for these characters. But it's really just the actors that I'm picturing when I'm reading it and you know and whatnot.
Speaker 4:This brings up a really interesting question that just came to mind.
Speaker 2:So, nick, you read the books. How did you pronounce Hermione's name when you read it? It's funny you bring that up because I was literally going to say the same thing, because I can remember, uh you know there's a lot of weird words in Harry. Potter and like when you were, yeah, when you read the books before you've actually seen the movie. You don't have to. You don't know how to pronounce those things for sure so.
Speaker 3:I want to say it was.
Speaker 2:Hermione.
Speaker 4:Yep, that's what I'm announcing too, hermione. Well, because when you read it when you read it again, like it's a very British name. Yeah. Growing up here you're like, what is this name Like? Yeah so, hermione, I'm trying to remember if there was anything that one stands out to me, though.
Speaker 2:Like that one I definitely can remember mispronouncing for sure that would have been from my dad reading the books to me too Him trying to get it right as well. And then I don't remember if it was Hagrid or Hagrid when we were reading it. There were so many of them, and I'm blanking on other ones that really stand out to me, but that one I know was again a name that I'm like.
Speaker 4:I've never seen this combination of letters before and I'm going to make it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I don't know. I think I'd be on the opposite side. Only because I thought about this on other, not necessarily Harry Potter, but I thought about it on other movies, where I have watched a movie after having read the book and then I feel like a disappointment. You know what I mean and I feel the same way about the Harry Potter books because you definitely I mean people when they had read the books, like there was disappointment when the movies came out and stuff like that, and so I almost would rather like if I could go back and imagine myself doing it all over again and like I was my first time going through it, I almost think I'd do the movies first.
Speaker 1:Personally, I don't know it's funny. You say that because I, like I was saying at the beginning of the episode like there's been so much more content in the books that.
Speaker 1:I've really enjoyed and found interesting. That kind of almost expands the movies a little bit. And so I think I'm actually experiencing what you just described where, like I love the movies, they're amazing, but then the books are even better. I'm not getting disappointed, you know, by. Oh, you know, this movie it's not what I expected or what I thought it would be. You know, like characters are how I imagine them in my mind, so there is kind of like I don't know it is it's a little bit poison.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, because I, I definitely know, I mean, whenever I read a book, like you've got something in your head and then you know it's that, what is, what is the disappointment come from? What's? Because you're you know, you've got this expectation, there's going to be this certain way, and then it's not, and it's so. I, I don't know, I, I think I'd be the opposite. That's just me personally though.
Speaker 1:Well, you guys will have to continue battling it out in the coming years.
Speaker 4:Yeah, Well, Dana, we're going to turn back to you for a minute, and one of the things that we like to do is, if you were talking to someone who somehow didn't know what Harry Potter was what like, yeah, but might be interested what would be your elevator pitch 30 seconds a minute to get them interested in it?
Speaker 5:Oh, okay. Do you want to immerse yourself in a fantastical world with adorable children who grow up into lovely people and battle good and evil? Then Harry Potter is for you.
Speaker 3:and battle good and evil, then, harry.
Speaker 5:Potter is for you. Yeah, I think I would say that there's just so much to enjoy. Yeah, the books, the movies, the expanded universe and the illustrated books are something that I love so much too, and also just the community surrounding Harry Potter. I think that they're so it's, yeah, very widely loved, and so I think that it's common ground when you're making new friends, meeting new people, and something that a lot of people enjoy. So, 10 out of 10 recommend.
Speaker 2:That's a good elevator pitch.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that was great, yeah, well speaking of the illustrated books, what have you brought for us today? So this is for our YouTube watchers.
Speaker 3:The show and tell part of it. Yeah, this is the show and tell portion of the show.
Speaker 5:Yes, I can't say that the Lego is mine, but Mott Boy Manor was a Christmas gift for Mike Wold this last year and it's pretty fantastic.
Speaker 1:It is. I'll give you a hand. Yeah, last year and it's pretty fantastic, it is.
Speaker 5:I'll give you a hand yeah.
Speaker 2:Let it keep going. Yeah, it deserves that kind of applause.
Speaker 5:It was expensive and I brought along one of the illustrated books here because I love them so much. I read the books, watched, watched the movies and then I think it was maybe the third time that I read through the books. I read the illustrated copies. Um, only the first five, I think, have been illustrated. But that was so fun because, yeah, you get the experience of, of watching the movies and then you read the books and kind of create the world in your mind and then you have this whole other way to like visually experience the world yeah, right see someone else's creativity in it too, and that was really fun because, like the characters you know that are illustrated in the book, they are, they look different than the characters in the movies.
Speaker 5:I mean, there are there are similarities.
Speaker 1:So I was going to ask does anyone know? I guess, as a producer, I should be looking this up myself, but does anyone know? So the illustrated book is not based on the movies, it's its own separate visual thing, so the characters in there don't necessarily match the movies. I believe, so Okay.
Speaker 2:You know, it'd be interesting to know if the guy that illustrated them knew anything like I mean, I'm sure he had to have seen the I was gonna say it's hard to avoid having ever seen any of the representation of harry potter beforehand, but my guess is that they gave them freedom to.
Speaker 4:You know, just like, come up with your own vision of it. Like yeah, because I mean some of it was will be by default by the descriptions in the book.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4:Will be those characters, but at the same time like, yeah, there could be differences.
Speaker 2:Speaking of, did you guys hear that the illustrator for the last two was, is not going to be the same?
Speaker 1:Whatever Is it really Peter K, is that his name? Or Jim K? Yeah, yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't hear that. Yeah, yeah, it was well. I can only imagine the amount of illustrations that he has done over the past like this has been like a decade in the making at least. Yeah, so yeah, so that was. That was kind of interesting. I just saw that story just the other day.
Speaker 1:Actually, I had not heard that yeah, well, speaking of jim k, why don't we? That's a good transition to the kind of the fandom culture, um. So you know, one question we had here as far as just the fandom overall, dana, what are your feelings on the upcoming HBO series? Are you excited, annoyed? Have you thought about any thoughts on the casting so far? Tell us about that.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I'm excited. I mean it's hard not to get your hopes up right. We've seen a lot of crashes and burns recently with just new iterations of famous IPs and you know that's been devastating.
Speaker 1:Name them. You're talking about the Acolytes, right? Name them.
Speaker 3:It's not going to happen this time.
Speaker 5:Harry Potter's going to be great. So, yeah, I think my hopes are high. It's I don't know, it's so hard because you look at a series like this and you're like, oh, it's so beloved. Like Because you look at a series like this and you're like, oh, it's so beloved, they can't mess it up. They won't mess it up, but they've done it before, they might do it again. So I think that I want to retain my enjoyment of Harry Potter.
Speaker 1:I don't want to let if I don't love this new series, I don't want to let it taint my enjoyment of the fandom, but at the same time, I'm really looking forward to it yeah, well, I think something that I found interesting was so the new casting, because I've seen articles, you know, floating around out there, youtube videos and whatnot, and it's funny how the three, the three main characters, are still being compared to the original movie actors 100%. And it's not like these, you know. The media is looking at the three new characters and comparing them to descriptions in the books and saying, okay, does this kind of match up? They're being compared to the original actors and I think it's just going to be that way. People aren't going to be able to get the original three actors out of their minds, even though they're not basing the characters and movies on those actors, they're basing them on the books.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean this comes back to an idea that we've definitely, like, talked about on this podcast before. Like I, there's there's some toxic nature to some of that comparison. Like I, I don't know, man, I it really does. It's unfortunate that those kids have the weight of that?
Speaker 1:yes, they do exactly and I. It is a weight on them.
Speaker 2:I I don't want that for them and I in my mind I mean, as we've talked about in multiple of our conversations, like I'm just gonna I am always excited when something that I love gets more like there's more of it to enjoy, and I try not to sit there and like, oh, I'm going to crap all over this, or you?
Speaker 2:know, just say it's going to be terrible, or even once I've seen it like, I'm still going to find things about it that I'm going to appreciate on some level. I don't know, I sound like such an optimist, but that's just. I want to enjoy things. Yeah, I sound like such an optimist, no, but that's just.
Speaker 4:I want to enjoy things.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I think that's how it should be and again, like going into something like this with different iterations of it, like we all have our own interpretations, we all have our own visions and creative differences and so, like I think so many people just get caught up in like the way that they see things, the way they originally experience things, is the right way.
Speaker 4:And so it's just so hard for anyone to see outside of that and so, like that's. That's again like we were saying, it's true in so many fandoms, but I think especially harry potter, because it was so crucial to all of us, like in very formative years maybe like you guys a little later, but like a large majority of the people who are fans of harry potter experienced it growing up and like, yeah, in those formative years of discovering themselves and everything like that, so that, like that, those images, the takes, everything like that, are ingrained in us.
Speaker 1:So it makes it a little bit harder to, uh, separate yeah yeah, yeah, for sure, yeah, people when it comes, yeah, people are like really passionate about that. You know they, they have strong opinions. Well, the nostalgia factor is always gonna to be a powerful thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say that too. I just got this so much there and I can't get it out. I can't escape what my initial impressions were for sure. So nostalgia is such a powerful positive thing, but it's a dual-edged sword. It's got a negative aspect to it as well, and I think that's kind of where some of the negativity can come from so hot takes Dana you have any hot takes in the fandom.
Speaker 4:Oh goodness, since we're talking our own hot takes just nostalgia in general. I know it's hard just to come up with it right off the bat what about any hot takes that you have, even if you don't have a particular side that you are on, anything within the fandom that you're like? Lots of people like to argue about this.
Speaker 5:Yes, I have heard people question the character of Dumbledore.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 5:Yeah, especially with the way that everything ends. I believe in correct me if I'm wrong. It was the intention of dumbledore that harry would die, that voldemort was unable to kill harry potter because of, you know, this interaction of the curse with his mother's love. I I didn't think that was anticipated by dumbledore maybe it was spoiler alert.
Speaker 4:Yeah, exactlyore, maybe it was Spoiler alert.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. You know what?
Speaker 4:If you're watching this.
Speaker 1:I don't feel bad. 20 years, You've got 20 years to figure it out. It's that time.
Speaker 5:Yeah, and maybe some of that is up to interpretation and it's intentionally mysterious, but I think I've seen some people question like, wow, they really just he really threw Harry under the bus or he really just cultivated this life for Harry that he maybe would not have chosen and didn't know how it was going to end.
Speaker 4:I mean even as a 13 year old boy. He was throwing him in dungeons and like go fight this three headed dog like that's 20 feet tall.
Speaker 2:Well, that's practically the entire like plot of the seventh novel really right. That's the whole entire thing. What do we really know about Dumbledore?
Speaker 1:I will say, though. So maybe a counterargument to that, though, is Dumbledore was willing to sacrifice himself in order to continue this thing for the greater good going, and more so than that, he was willing to have one of his best friends kill him for the cause. So even if you're questioning his character, his intentions, I mean, he paid the ultimate price for this. So it's not like he was asking Harry to do something that he himself not only was willing to do, but actually did.
Speaker 4:Dumbledore was 300 plus years old as opposed to Harry.
Speaker 1:He was a teenager A literal teenager. But Jude Law doesn't look that old.
Speaker 4:That brings me into another hot take. How do you feel, Dana, about the Fantastic Beasts movies?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't have strong feelings, and maybe that is how I feel.
Speaker 3:I don't know if many people would share that sentiment.
Speaker 5:I have seen I think, the first two one time and I enjoyed them, but I didn't have a desire to watch. Watch them more than that. And the Harry Potter movies I've watched a million times and. I will watch a million more. So yeah, I think that kind of sums up how I feel about the Fantastic Beasts movies. I think they were good. I wish they were great but I would love to hear what you guys are.
Speaker 1:I'd be curious. So I've got some opinions myself, but I'd be curious.
Speaker 3:So I've got some opinions myself, but we've never talked about.
Speaker 2:Fantastic Beasts.
Speaker 1:I'd like to hear from you guys what your thoughts are when the first movie came out.
Speaker 2:So this is kind of when we're. You know we've talked a lot about expectation, I feel like there were little like the expectations were kind of low, like nobody really knew what to expect with it. And I always find that when you've got that that kind of situation, that when it eventually does come out, if it is a good movie and I thought it was a good movie that it almost makes it even seem even better than it was because like, oh well, the expectations weren't really there for it to be something like incredible, and so it was. It was really good. So I really I loved the first one a lot actually.
Speaker 2:Um, I haven't watched it in a while, but I remember, I remember really liking it, I remember really caring about I mean, it got me invested in these characters that, in other words, like I wouldn't have cared about the you know newton, you know the, the muggle guy that I can't remember his name um but no, I you got invested in the characters a little bit and you did kind of care about them, and that's what I love from a good story, for sure, um, but then I think, as as often as the case with you know movies, they go into the next, the next iteration and all that I think that it did go steadily downhill personally, I can agree with that.
Speaker 4:I mean, I'll have a huge part of that, was you know, casting changes and everything like that, and like that didn't help yeah. That definitely didn't help, like having three different actors play Grindelwald, like was there three?
Speaker 2:different ones. I'm pretty sure. I mean, you're probably right. I don't remember, though I know Johnny Depp was was whatever.
Speaker 4:But yeah, that's I mean regardless. Yeah, they kept changing a lot of that. Um, yeah, and like, I appreciated them expanding the lore in the world a little bit, getting to see again like almost an american sort of take on it, as opposed to like, or what it looks like in the united states versus in england, and then also, you know, I mean yeah some of some of the. What was the? The, the teenage boy who could like morph?
Speaker 1:himself. What was he again? So I can't answer that question, but I can say that three actors did play yeah colin farrell, johnny depp and uh, mads mickelson that's right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, mads was the third one in the third movie. Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:Wow, I didn't even realize it was three different. Yeah, wow every see.
Speaker 4:That's again a huge part of it. Like this big villain, we're gonna have three different people play him like so and like yeah, you can write it off as it's a magical world. They change disguises and stuff like that, but there's not as much connection because like, yeah, every actor had a different take on the character, like I mean, granted, johnny depp was only him, for what? Three minutes of screen time or something like that, but not a long time, yeah regardless.
Speaker 2:I know. Um, yeah, back back to the question. You were saying like I don't know the kid's name again either, but it was. I mean they did add him in and it wasn't. It wasn't a great part of the movie, like that wasn't what was enjoyable about it I did enjoy. Actually, the character of grindelwald was, was interesting, was something you know what I mean, like watching that develop but then adding that additional character, I don't know that it added enough to the movie and in fact probably hurt it because I don't know.
Speaker 4:I just it became it became like a side plot and like, yeah, there's no real explaining it and it just became too much. I suppose again, like grindelwald, could have been the focus and I think we would have been fine jude law, though as as dumbledore I was a good dumbledore, yeah, jude law is incredible and I I like him in most things.
Speaker 1:I would say, yeah, I do too well, I'll, I'll give my quick, quick answers. The question I I think I have processed this externally with dana last night, but, um, because I've never I've I think I've seen part of the first fantastic beast and I think I've seen the third one, but I was watching it on a plane and because I hadn't watched the first two I would just was pretty lost. Um, but I was thinking to myself like okay, so you have this expanded. You know, universe expanded, part of the Harry Potter world, potter world.
Speaker 1:You know I love Harry Potter so much, so like, why do I not feel like more drawn to this or like a greater desire? And I kind of realized that what I love most about Harry Potter is the three central characters. So Harry, ron, hermione, and I think those characters, more than the world itself, is kind of what draws me in, so kind of of like what you were saying, nick, like I just don't know that I care you know, really Like it's cool that there's this expanded universe, but because I'm really only drawn into it because of those characters.
Speaker 1:if the three core characters aren't in it, I don't know that I really even care that much. So at some point I would love to watch those movies, just for the sake of it because I think it'd be good.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this question then. So how did you feel? I assume you read Cursed Child then, did you no?
Speaker 4:Oh wow no.
Speaker 1:No, I've not read it Cursed Child?
Speaker 5:Nope, but if you guys want to babysit our baby this fall?
Speaker 3:we hear, it, it is coming to Columbus.
Speaker 5:It's coming to Columbus, it's coming to Columbus. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, I'm going to have to go see that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I was just curious, I didn't know, because it sounds like you, like you wouldn't really get into the other, the expanded parts of the universe. I know you're not a video game person, anyways, but it doesn't sound like you would play like a Hogwarts legacy, because it's not in the, in that realm, it's not focusing on those characters and those stories for sure, I will say, especially books.
Speaker 4:the friendship of the core three is what makes part of the stories so special. Having two people that close to lean on the way Harry does to.
Speaker 3:Ron and.
Speaker 4:Hermione, it's just special.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Why don't we jump into the group discussion here?
Speaker 2:Let's do this right now. Why don't we take a quick break, real fast, and then we'll get into that group discussion here in a few moments. What do you think Sounds good?
Speaker 1:All right, we are back from our break and we're going to jump into the group discussion here, so why don't I kick us off with just some questions we have for our guest Dana. First and foremost, if you could have one character over for dinner, who would it be and what would you serve them?
Speaker 5:I would have Luna Lovegood over for dinner. She is so fun and sweet and I think we would be best friends especially because you have her glasses I do, I was for her for halloween, yeah, um, I think that I would bake her some bread and maybe do like a bread and dips kind of you know, dip dinner yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:What about the rest of you guys? You got, you got a, you got a character in mind.
Speaker 2:See, we're going to put everybody on the hot seat here. That way, it's not just Dana.
Speaker 1:She spread the love. I would have over a Peter Pettigrew and I would feed him some cheese. It's gotta be a joke answer.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Michael oh man, um, I mean I my favorite, I feel like my favorite character in the series outside of like the the core three, uh for sure, was serious, like I don't know. I always loved him as a as a character 100, what would I say? I don't know. I feel like he seems to be like the type of guy that would enjoy like a nice steak you know, maybe some bourbon we? I feel like we'd get along.
Speaker 1:well, you know what I mean, like finer, finer things. The finer, honestly, and I forget what this is called, when a wizard can turn into an animal, but with him being Animagus, animagus, yeah, what. Stay could be perfect because I feel like as a dog. I mean, dogs love stay, it's true. It's true.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I would have said Sirius Black or even Lupin. Let's hear more about what life as a werewolf is like I did love Lupin too. He's another one of my favorites, and again one of the best teachers hand down, Especially of the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Nobody said Gilderoy Lockhart. I don't need to hear him go on about himself for three hours.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4:Basic question, dana what house are you in and how do you feel about like? Have you been officially sorted or are you just gonna pick a house which either is valid?
Speaker 5:I do think I took a quiz at some point, but I've also been told by many people. I would love to hear what you guys would guess I am.
Speaker 2:It's probably pretty easy. I don't know, I don't know what I would get see my, I feel like it's cheating if I was to like go to michael to ask yeah, I already know the answer, so I can't, I can't participate.
Speaker 4:Oh man what my initial guess would be ravenclaw or I was.
Speaker 2:I was thinking ravenclaw, but I don't know really. Yeah, I, I've been told I'm a hufflepuff, okay through and through.
Speaker 5:yeah again, cozy things. You like to bake, you like gardening? Like again very'm a Hufflepuff through and through, yeah Again cozy things you like to bake you like gardening, Like again very quintessential Hufflepuff.
Speaker 1:I do a Mufflepuff, so I can say that Wearing a shirt and everything, yeah For our. Youtube watchers. We don't need to point it out.
Speaker 2:Anyways, nick what are you? Yeah, I am Ravenclaw Okay. Yeah, I am Ravenclaw, okay, that tracks Nice, absolutely Sorted into that one. So Michael.
Speaker 1:When I took the quiz, I was Gryffindor.
Speaker 4:Okay, I could 100% see that 100%.
Speaker 1:Yeah, nice, good question man.
Speaker 2:So this one's kind of I feel like it's a loaded question, but like would you actually ever want to live in a magical world like that? Or does actually ever want to live in a magical world like that, or does it just seem like it's just a to life or death, that it would just, you know, I wouldn't want to live there, be too stressful it really depends on, yeah, what is currently plaguing the wizarding world, I mean are we post Voldemort because?
Speaker 5:it seems incredible if there's no threat of Not just impending doom at all times.
Speaker 1:Well, really only, though, at the end of the school year.
Speaker 3:During the school year he kind of stays. It's blooming though.
Speaker 5:It's building. Yeah, I think that, if you know, I could just hang out with the Weasleys and live my life without fear of evil wizards. I would gladly live in the Wizarding World.
Speaker 2:I agree. I don't think I'd want to live in a world where Voldemort exists. But, unfortunately, I feel like evil always exists anyways.
Speaker 5:That's the sad part. Yeah, we have our Voldemorts. That's right.
Speaker 1:We do In society, we have our Voldemorts. That's funny. Well, okay, so let's say, yes, you're in the wizarding world, you're a wizard yourself.
Speaker 4:What would?
Speaker 1:your go-to spell be.
Speaker 5:Yeah, if I'm not being threatened by evil, I would say that some kind of housekeeping spell would be incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 5:Like doing the dishes.
Speaker 3:Molly Weasley's magic yeah, laundry, there you go weeding weeding the garden.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, be great. I mean I gotta agree as an adult now. That would be probably the the most responsible form of magic there.
Speaker 4:Yeah, for sure I mean accio would also super come in handy.
Speaker 3:It goes back to being a jedi too like you know, just the ability to summon things without needing to actually go get it. Yeah, great yeah.
Speaker 4:What would your favorite class to attend be at Hogwarts? Oh, that's a good one.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I would love to take Herbology.
Speaker 1:I knew it, I was going to say that earlier, yeah.
Speaker 5:Again, classic Hufflepuff, classic Hufflepuff, yeah I love gardening and I think it would be so fun to learn all of the special plants in the Wizarding World, mm-hmm. So yeah, that would definitely be it for me.
Speaker 4:Great yeah. So I mean, okay, of the books. Do you have a favorite professor that stuck out to you then?
Speaker 3:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 5:I love Professor McGonagall.
Speaker 4:Okay, yeah, just because she's the best objectively, 100% is yeah, yeah.
Speaker 5:So I love her, the scene where she summons the stone guards.
Speaker 1:It's in the very last movie is like oh, I will have the soundtrack to that in that scene down, it just gives me goosebumps.
Speaker 4:It's really intense. I just love have a Biscuit Potter.
Speaker 2:That is a good one. Yeah, that's good. Oh man, do you feel like there are? We kind of talked about characters a lot here, Do?
Speaker 3:you feel like there's a character that's underrated in the series.
Speaker 2:I think for me I'm going Dobby.
Speaker 3:Really Okay. I feel like he's underrated. Okay, no.
Speaker 2:You guys feel like he's not underrated.
Speaker 5:I love Javi.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know that he's underrated in the sense. I would say he's not underrated in the sense that he is given such a large part to play, especially when he Well for Malfoy Manor, Especially when he rescues the gang from Malfoy Manor and he's very central to that whole plot point.
Speaker 2:But like he's been gone for most, like he kind of like comes back into the story.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:I mean like he hasn't really done a lot in the I don't know the previous. I don't think he was in 5 a lot for sure, but he's kind of there a little bit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so obviously he was a main. Yeah, you're right. I'm trying to think of kind of where Because he started. Is it Chamber of Secrets? That's where he that's where he shows up.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so he's trying to stop.
Speaker 1:Harry from going and then after that, I guess I don't really even know, because we're watching the third movie right now and he's not even. He's not in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mentioned he's in the movie, but goblet of fire. I think he he's a part like as he works in the, doesn't he work in the kitchen?
Speaker 4:is that when they start to really show the kitchens? Yeah, I think so yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2:So I that's why I guess I would say he's underrated. Is that like he? He kind of he does show up? And then there's this really powerful moment in book seven when he dies. Spoilers again, again. Here we go.
Speaker 5:But no, it hits super hard.
Speaker 4:One of the first times that a book has made me cry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that is super emotional in that moment Actually that kind of hits on one of my other questions the most emotional moment in the entire series, at least to me.
Speaker 5:Yeah, me too actually.
Speaker 1:Well, did you have an underrated character Because I was going to answer the emotional question? Yeah, you know, I don't know. Did you have an underrated character because I was gonna answer the emotional question?
Speaker 5:yeah, you know, I don't know if I have an underrated character, but as a hufflepuff I feel a little bit slighted because I know we have cedric and everything, but he's, you know, really short-lived character. Um, yeah, so I'd love at least like one more. You know one more good hufflepuff?
Speaker 2:because we're great. Who else are the, the hufflepuffs in the? I don't know, is that all like they're they?
Speaker 4:mentioned a couple. None of them immediately come to mind. That says a lot is that really yeah? Uh, newt's commander was a hufflepuff okay, okay, that, that I know, but again not in the core books I guess I didn't realize that, wow man.
Speaker 1:Well, what about emotional moments? So, ben, what, what's it? So what's an emotional moment for you?
Speaker 4:obviously, besides dobby, and then obviously losing a head. Wig too, that one yeah that one hurts a lot, especially because, like she was one of harry's first friends and companions, and even at home, like he was a, she was a reminder of school and of that magical world that harry's a part of. But again, like she had to be kept in her cage so much.
Speaker 1:And so again, like I love animals too, so like just again, a very emotional attachment to hedwig, yeah so mine is actually a happy emotional not a sad emotional but I mentioned at the beginning of the episode, uh, the very end scene of Chamber of Secrets, which in the book they kind of just gloss over it, or she kind of glosses over it, jk Rowling. But in the movie the scene is really fleshed out. But it's where Hagrid returns from Azkaban and his letter gets lost because he's using Ron's owl, who's just like a nitwit, errol.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, errol, I've forgotten all about that. So you're saying it was more present in the movie. You feel like it was way more fleshed out in the movie. So he comes he returns.
Speaker 1:he comes into the Great Hall when they're having their feast and everyone applauds him, yeah, everyone applauds him and then he goes up to harry and harry gives him that big hug and then they all crowd around and I don't even remember this it is. It is extremely emotional and I have so a harry potter youtube channel. They put out thousands of clips. You know they'll just clip the movies and put out like clips and stuff. I have that clip saved in my watch later because it's just.
Speaker 4:I love it so much whenever you need a, a good cry.
Speaker 1:But the song that's playing behind it is Wondrous World, or I think it's Wondrous World of Harry Potter and John Williams, obviously.
Speaker 4:I was going to say we can't go throughout this whole episode without mentioning John Williams again and the score is just super impactful and it makes me cry every time.
Speaker 2:So happy, emotional.
Speaker 4:For sure. I have a similar reaction at the end of the first one, just like again like harry, you know, wrapping up his whole first year book wise too, of just like a good button of. You know, I experienced this whole thing and, yeah, summer's gonna suck, but I get to come back to this sort of like and, like, you know, my, my friends are here, my family's here, and he, he has hope, which is something he didn't really ever have as a kid Right exactly.
Speaker 2:Well, this is probably a good segue question here, because I think we're going close to the end. Let's kind of turn it into this idea of what do you think If you had to make predictions about what the fandom is going to look like in the next 10 to 20 years and how it's going to develop, what kind of predictions would you have for the future?
Speaker 5:Yeah, I think that it's going to keep captivating people. It feels timeless to me. We have just some good friends in our church who their kids are like 10, 11, and they're reading Harry Potter for the first time and that's so sweet and special and I love seeing that yeah, that new generations are continuing to enjoy Harry Potter. So, I think that's probably going to keep happening.
Speaker 2:Has it reached classic status then? Like is this going to?
Speaker 3:be like the novels that we're going to read 50 years from now.
Speaker 5:I hope it does, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, it's funny you say it's timeless, because I feel like that goes back to the point I was trying to make earlier about you know the characters themselves, like the characters and their dynamics and the way you know the trials they go through, the way they develop. Like that is any generation I think can resonate with that and I feel like you know that's going to be what carries it forward. You know it's it's not really like a trendy, you know type of story. It's a very, very timeless story about these. You know this found family that comes together, and so I agree with you on that.
Speaker 4:I think it is gonna like continue on and I think that it helps too that just thinking about this like it kind of lives outside of technology because, like you know, you're a wizard, you don't need a lot of the stuff that we have technology for short of you know, maybe electricity or you know some basic stuff like that. But like again, like yeah, because it doesn't revolve around like that, the current time yeah necessary, it can kind of it, kind of fits itself into whatever time the generation.
Speaker 2:Current generation is in yeah, well, I can remember reading through the books the first time and feel like I thought that they were written for like the time that we were in right then and then only come to find out like much later that. What harry, really. By the time you know the the series was over in what was it? 2011?
Speaker 2:like he would have been like 40 something because the the books actually took place in the 90s, right like I don't even know when did the battle? There's an official date for the. The battle of hogwarts and I think took place in the 90s.
Speaker 4:Like I don't even know when did the battle there's an official date for the Battle of Hogwarts, and I think it's in the 90s somewhere. Really Okay, I think. So I believe it is. I think that's right too, because I want to say his first year was like 80, 89 or something. It was like he started at. Hogwarts in like the late 80s maybe. But, yeah, so again, it was kind of predating, even when the books were coming out.
Speaker 2:But yeah, you don't even realize. I don't know how, I don't know. Was that like? Did that come up Like? Did JK Rowling say that? Or was it actually just something that people did math? I don't know.
Speaker 4:It could have been one of her posts post writing it like adding to the lore, sort of things Maybe.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. What about the rest? Do you have any predictions about what's to come with the fandom and where it's going to be 10, 20 years from now?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think there's going to be a new generation. I think millennials are just kind of made fun of for being so into Harry Potter. Maybe excluding you, dana, maybe more like me, nick and Ben Our generation, the millennial generation, I think we're made fun of for loving Harry Potter and being in a house. That's almost part of our identity as millennials. But, with that being said, our kids. I would love for them, once they get a little bit older, to read it and, like Dana said, we've got people in our church and my sister, her kids are beginning to be exposed to it and they love it so much. So I think our love of it as millennials is going to get passed down. We're going to kind of force it you know, on our kids Absolutely.
Speaker 1:I mean so with your kids Nick, like do you want them to be?
Speaker 2:invested in this and, um, I mean, you know, know, it's one of those things like I read it with my dad. I, you know, I hope to read it with my kids one day. You know, I, I want that to be a a thing, and especially with the, you know, the illustrated copies, like I, I really look forward to that, that day, that when that can actually happen, for sure. So I, I will definitely be participating in trying to pass down the, the fandom a little bit, yeah yeah, I mean I would agree that I'm optimistic, first of all about the show.
Speaker 4:Uh, I think that they've got some good people on it. Hbo has a good track record of shows in general and along with that, like I mean, they're gonna be able to expand on a lot more than just the the books, or like the movies were able to uh, not the books, but they'll be relate, to be able to relate closer to the books than the movies could, because, yeah, we hope yeah, uh, but we'll see.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean because, like they'll get an average of 10 hours per book instead of the one and a half to two and a half like. So yeah, um, along with that, I mean, obviously it's stuck around for so long, considering like you look at harry potter world and down in universal, like that's grown so much, and it's been 10, 15 years since the last movie, like it's it's grown a lot and so it's still stuck around, and so I forgot to ask has everybody here been to harry potter world?
Speaker 3:no oh wow, like a pilgrimage at some point all right, that's the next fandom of fandoms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like a fandom of fandoms group tour.
Speaker 3:Yeah we could actually charge the whole thing to our fandom.
Speaker 1:I was going to say it's totally affordable.
Speaker 4:Yes, and who's bankrolling this, michael oh?
Speaker 5:man, you're in charge of getting a sponsor. Oh right, yeah, I forgot about that, excuse me. We need someone to fund our trip. Yeah, yeah, you guys definitely that is.
Speaker 2:it is magical. I'll tell you I remember the first time that I actually set foot in it and I'm like this is wild.
Speaker 4:Like this is so cool.
Speaker 3:Especially Diagon Alley is so cool and I'm sure I know they've added on to it.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Because I haven't been down there in a long time. So I went shortly after the one opened the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Florida and saw it the very first, and then, when they eventually opened it up in California, I think I was over there and got to see a soft opening of it, but I know they've continued to add on to it, so I want to make my way back for sure.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and they just opened up the Ministry of Magic area and stuff like that down at Epic Universe and Universal.
Speaker 2:Wow, man, I need to go.
Speaker 1:Yep, Alright, oh really Down at Epic Universe and Universal. Oh man, I need to go. Yep, All right, it's settled, we're going.
Speaker 2:Yep that's next.
Speaker 4:All right, all right, guys. What about what's next for us?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, nick. What's next on the podcast?
Speaker 2:Well, this is exciting for me. At least, I know that it's not for you guys. I'm probably not going to be talking about the Ohio State Buckeyes. Yeah, there we go. Thanks, michael. We got another guest, bailey, and he's going to come and join us. He's going to be talking to us about, I think, really just all things Buckeye. Really the reason I say that Ben's not really into it Ben's always been a Cincinnati guy. He's from Cincinnati.
Speaker 3:And Michael.
Speaker 1:I just don't think he cares about sports, sportsy things in general for the most part, but I'm excited to learn, though, and I love Bailey too, so, yeah, I'm excited for us to just venture out into a less quote unquote nerdy thing.
Speaker 4:Yeah so so for all of you listeners out there, we're not just nerds.
Speaker 2:We're also, we like sports.
Speaker 3:Well, we're nerds, we're.
Speaker 4:Renaissance, men yes, men yes exactly no, that is true, it is.
Speaker 2:It's definitely a step outside of what we've been doing so far and that's the entire point of the show. Really right, like we're we don't just want to stick into one thing that we're most familiar, comfortable with. Like, I hope, when we're bringing people in, we're bringing in people that are able to expose us to some new things for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 4:Yeah, all right. Well, that brings us to a close, dana.
Speaker 2:Thank you again. So much for joining us. You were a wonderful first guest.
Speaker 3:You did such a great job.
Speaker 5:I appreciate it. You guys are so fun. It's been great.
Speaker 1:That's a wrap on this episode of Fandom of Fandoms. If you loved it, hit that follow button at fofpod, on Instagram and threads and leave us a quick review. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, it's like fuel for our little nerdy spaceship. Got a fandom you want us to tackle? Shoot us a DM. Until next time, stay curious, stay passionate and keep repping what you love.
