On Fascinations. And more Vorlons.

I have a long history of getting really really interested in particular things. I never really know what's going to trigger my uber-fascination circuits -- in early childhood I had a thing about assistive technology (no idea why), followed by a very intense Star Wars obsession (I was actually banned in 5th-6th grade from doing any more Star Wars related projects because until that point I'd somehow manged to work Star Wars elements into every assignment!).

Later, I got heavily interested in "four dimensional space" (a favorite book in high school was The Fourth Dimension, by Rudy Rucker), and was also generally fixated on anything to do with "the nature of the universe" (particularly string theory and Grand Unified Theory ideas). And in college, I got very interested in longevity and related matters.

I generally had 1 or 2 "major fascinations" at any time as a child. As an adult, I find I'm able to maintain 3 - 5 quite comfortably, though I tend to delve deeply into one at a time for weeks or months on end.

And in addition to the major fascinations, there are always various lower-key but still significant fascinations operating in the background -- e.g., ingredients labels, electrical outlets and plugs, aluminum foil, duct tape (and duct tape wallets!), Lego, various video games (though I'm not currently playing any), etc.

Altogether, the capacity to get really really fascinated with something, to the point where I end up exploring it from every possible angle I can find, memorizing facts about it, having the urge to squee with delight when I see something related to it is one of the thing I like most about being alive. It's one of those things that, while it definitely got me into trouble as a kid every so often (and which can sometimes make transitioning between tasks and activities difficult even now), I would never ever want to give up.

Soo...I promise this isn't going to turn into the "All Vorlon, All The Time" blog or anything, but this evening seemed like as good a time as any for a wee bit of fangirl indulgence.

I've been totally fascinated by the Vorlons since watching the very first episode of Babylon 5 a few months back. It's difficult to explain precisely what fascinates me about these particular fictional aliens -- I mean, they're definitely a key element in B5's mythic story arc, but there's much more to it than that for me. It's really the whole package, I guess -- ridiculous-yet-somehow-awesome encounter suits, living ships, terse conversational style, and a questionable but (in the context of the B5 arc) intriguing ethical system.

Now, none of this should be taken as an endorsement of actions taken by Vorlons in Babylon 5 -- I don't need to agree with everything someone (or something) does in order to be fascinated by it. As a species, the Vorlons were actually kind of arrogant, in the sense that the ocean is kind of wet -- though without getting spoilery, I will say that it was clear that not all Vorlons had the exact same personality or perspective (particularly with regard to the "younger races", which in the show included humans). I will also say that for a character that wasn't even in all that many episodes, and who spent most of his limited screen time wearing a sparkly black shower curtain, the series' primary Vorlon (Kosh) managed to project quite a strong individual personality. The whole thing was just really well done, and it was a joy to watch throughout the series.

Right now, I'd say Babylon 5 is a "major fascination", with Vorlons presently being a minor but significant sub-fascination. Welcome to my brain. Below are some of the fruits of this fascination. I am having so much fun with this. :D

My very first Vorlon drawing.


The Duct tape wallet, with drawing attached.


A Vorlon action figure I ordered from Amazon. I was very happy to find one, but not too happy with the "flat" color scheme.


Enter the acrylic paints! I did some Web searching prior to visiting the local hobby shop, and discovered that custom action-figure painting was actually a fairly well-established Thing People Do. So while I was initially apprehensive about potentially making a mess of my precious plastic Vorlon, I decided to take the paint plunge -- and I am really glad I did, because it was a lot of fun.


The "Before" (unpainted) and "After" (painted) picture.


Now I can take moody Kosh pictures! *skulk*


Obsess much?


And I even have a t-shirt now!


I took my basic drawing (the one I initially did for the wallet), photographed it, played with the color scheme in GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program), and created a design which I submitted to zazzle.com, who printed my shirt and mailed it to me. In case you can't read it easily, the text on the shirt says, "Understanding is a three-edged sword". Whee!