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A few years back, there seemed to be fairly regular waves of people awakening to a certain kintype, all at once.  One month you'd have a sudden infusion of dragons, another month you'd have an infestation of angels.  Often these waves seemed tied to the release of major motion pictures relating to that kintype, such as the waves of elves that seemed to follow the release of every Lord of the Rings movie.  But I have to say, in recent years, I haven't noticed that trend as much.  No wave of angels, as far as I recall, followed the release of Legion or Gabriel for instance.  Even the movie Avatar, which I genuinely thought would bring waves of Navi-kin, mainly provided fodder for trolls.  I have yet to meet anyone who genuinely believes themselves to be Navi, though some elves find the concept intriguing.  Perhaps we just haven't had movies on the right scale for a while, and the ones who would normally be attracted that way are instead being drawn to the vampire or therian communities via the popularity of Twilight?  But then, not all of the waves seemed to be connected with movies… I remember waves of angels showing up that had no connection to anything in popular media as far as I could tell.  Or maybe the patterns are still there, but they're harder to see with how spread-out the community has become?  What do you guys think?  Seen any waves of a particular kintype awakening, lately?
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Jarandhel Dreamsinger said:
But I have to say, in recent years, I haven't noticed that trend as much.  No wave of angels, as far as I recall, followed the release of Legion or Gabriel for instance.
Funny you say this, because my own perception is that the angelic population has proportionally increased. (Not the same thing as new angelic awakenings, though, necessarily – just people I haven’t met before running into me or me into them.) Ten years ago I would have ranked them as quite a rare type, especially compared to elves and dragons who ran rampant; now I think of them as fairly common (although still not the dominant species, if you will).
I remember waves of angels showing up that had no connection to anything in popular media as far as I could tell.
*nods* Maybe this is what I’m lumping together in my head as a general increase – it’s a subjective feeling of “dang, where did all these angels come from lately, anyway?” – while you’re speaking of whether we’ve observed specific, narrow-time discrete spikes?
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Fambly
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Personally I think it's less an issue of any valid awakening, and more an issue of how impressionable people can be, coupled with the need for escapism.
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Jarandhel Dreamsinger said:
 Perhaps we just haven't had movies on the right scale for a while, and the ones who would normally be attracted that way are instead being drawn to the vampire or therian communities via the popularity of Twilight?ÂÂ
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Oh, now I so want to see some real-life sparkling vampires. Invading the normal vampire communities with their notions on biology and ethics of vasmpirism.
*imagine popcorn-eating dragon icon here*
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Arethinn said:
Funny you say this, because my own perception is that the angelic population has proportionally increased. (Not the same thing as new angelic awakenings, though, necessarily – just people I haven't met before running into me or me into them.) Ten years ago I would have ranked them as quite a rare type, especially compared to elves and dragons who ran rampant; now I think of them as fairly common (although still not the dominant species, if you will).
Having been on angelkin for a long time, even being a comod there for a while, I was probably exposed to more of them than the general person in the community; so I never saw them as particularly uncommon.  Even now, I don't necessarily think the overall proportion of them in the community has changed, though I do see some individual boards (not angel-specific boards either, unlike angelkin) where they are now the “dominant species”.  What really seems to have changed, from my perspective, is the number of dragon otherkin active on any forums but truewyrm and realdragon.  But maybe I just haven't found the boards where they tend to dominate, yet.
*nods* Maybe this is what I'm lumping together in my head as a general increase – it's a subjective feeling of “dang, where did all these angels come from lately, anyway?” – while you're speaking of whether we've observed specific, narrow-time discrete spikes?
*nods* A long while back, I'd been having a discussion with folks in Casteylan's system about it.  Forget if it was Arhuaine or Ash, but we'd been noticing distinct spikes in specific kintypes awakening as a group, and some of them (like the angels at that time… and this was way back when Ash was still modding angelkin, I believe) had no connection with anything coming out in popular media at that time, as far as we could tell.
I'd also been noticing spikes in awakenings at specific times of the year; Late Spring/Early Summer and Late Fall/Early Winterl if memory serves.  I don't really see those same patterns anymore, though again maybe I just don't have enough of a vantage point to see the community as a whole anymore… it used to be that I could literally subscribe to every otherkin mailing list there was.  These days, the lists are silent and it's a lot harder to locate all the forums that do exist and are still active.
technobushi said:
Personally I think it's less an issue of any valid awakening, and more an issue of how impressionable people can be, coupled with the need for escapism.
Some of it, sure.  But (and I realize I'm preaching to the choir here) some people do find valid connections with their Otherkin sides through popular media.  Look at how watching Eragon with Duo helped me connect with my dragon side, even though nothing about that world is really close to what I remember.  Sometimes, all it takes is the right sensory cue to help unlock something.  That's one of the reasons I often compare memories from past lives to having PTSD flashbacks.
Claude said:
Oh, now I so want to see some real-life sparkling vampires. Invading the normal vampire communities with their notions on biology and ethics of vasmpirism.
*imagine popcorn-eating dragon icon here*
You laugh, but there are STILL therians who refer to themselves as Lycans since the Underworld movies. 
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Jarandhel Dreamsinger said:
Some of it, sure.  But (and I realize I'm preaching to the choir here) some people do find valid connections with their Otherkin sides through popular media.  Look at how watching Eragon with Duo helped me connect with my dragon side, even though nothing about that world is really close to what I remember.  Sometimes, all it takes is the right sensory cue to help unlock something.  That's one of the reasons I often compare memories from past lives to having PTSD flashbacks.
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Oh that one is actually very true, and one of the reasons (beyond trainwreck syndrome and boredom and “for the lulz”) that we'll seek out some of the most ridiculous potentially triggering media out there at times. Because there is always the chance that it'll trigger *something*, and if that something is something from your subconscious rebelling and suddenly setting facts right in indignation. The typical “That's not how it was! – Oh wait. That's interesting.”
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You laugh, but there are STILL therians who refer to themselves as Lycans since the Underworld movies.
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Still? Oh my. I thought that would be out of fashion by now. 
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The only film I remember triggering memories of any sort was Saw, damn 😛
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To be honest I don't really see enough people awakening and joining forums any more to notice any patterns whatsoever.
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I've read a bit in RL media about na'vi kin, but without otherkin being mentioned – is it possible that there are lots around, just not in any way associated with otherkin? There have also been a fair few people claiming to be something or other from The Golden Compass, and at least one forum with a stack of them on it.
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Archer said:
To be honest I don't really see enough people awakening and joining forums any more to notice any patterns whatsoever.
True… these days there really aren't the waves of awakening that there used to be, or if there are they aren't as visible.
I've read a bit in RL media about na'vi kin, but without otherkin being mentioned – is it possible that there are lots around, just not in any way associated with otherkin? There have also been a fair few people claiming to be something or other from The Golden Compass, and at least one forum with a stack of them on it.
 So far, everyone who has claimed to be na'vi kin that I've seen around has just been trolling.  I'm not discounting the idea that we may find some sincere ones out there, but I haven't encountered them yet.  I'm actually kind of glad of that, as it shows people aren't just jumping on the latest bandwagon of kintypes.
Golden compass?  Do you mean the daemians?  I've been looking at them, but I haven't figured out quite what they believe… if they think they're nonhuman or if they are just using the term from Golden Compass to describe a totemic experience or what…
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I've definitely heard about people who seem to genuinely think they're na'vi, as opposed to trolls in the obvious places, but haven't looked for them first hand. I don't see immediate crossover with the otherkin community though, because by its nature believing yourself to be from a specific modern fictional story implies believing that specific story is real, and nothing more.
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Plenty of people believe Star Trek is real, but I'd say they don't generally pop up in otherkin groups because otherkin groups by their nature are more general. Also of course, in otherkin groups it's only acceptable to believe you're from a fictional story if it's Milton or Tolkein or something otherwise canonised, pop culture inhabitants must be fakers 
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I think those daemon people are the ones I mean, yes, but i'm sure I've seen other websites for them.
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Either way, if something is very specifically tied to one story then I don't think there's likely to be much of a crossover into otherkin groups. Na'vi are na'vi are na'vi and they're from Avatar. Elves on the other hand appear in Lord of the Rings but they're from myth and legend. Vampires feature in Twilight but they're from deep in human psychology.
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Archer said:
I've definitely heard about people who seem to genuinely think they're na'vi, as opposed to trolls in the obvious places, but haven't looked for them first hand. I don't see immediate crossover with the otherkin community though, because by its nature believing yourself to be from a specific modern fictional story implies believing that specific story is real, and nothing more.
Unfortunately some of the ones people think are genuine are the trolls.  Tireanavi for example.  But it's very possible that there are genuine ones out there.  I just haven't run into the ones who really believe that yet.
Plenty of people believe Star Trek is real, but I'd say they don't generally pop up in otherkin groups because otherkin groups by their nature are more general. Also of course, in otherkin groups it's only acceptable to believe you're from a fictional story if it's Milton or Tolkein or something otherwise canonised, pop culture inhabitants must be fakers
Depends on where in the otherkin community you go.  A lot of places have shunned fictionkin less because of their actual beliefs and more because of some of the early vocal examples, like Maduin.  It's largely guilt by association.  But there are other boards, like this one, where fictionkin are welcome. ÂÂ
I think those daemon people are the ones I mean, yes, but i'm sure I've seen other websites for them.
Probably, I just haven't explored very far into their subculture.
Either way, if something is very specifically tied to one story then I don't think there's likely to be much of a crossover into otherkin groups. Na'vi are na'vi are na'vi and they're from Avatar. Elves on the other hand appear in Lord of the Rings but they're from myth and legend. Vampires feature in Twilight but they're from deep in human psychology.
*shrugs* Doesn't always seem to work that way… there are plenty of otherkin types who don't appear in older myths and legends.  Hell, arguably half of the otherkin groups calling themselves elves don't remotely fit the myths or legends of elves, or even Tolkein's version, in any way other than superficial resemblance.  And there's lots of folks already thinking of the Na'vi as blue fuzzy elves.  I think we probably will see some genuine ones pop up before too long, if they don't get sucked into groups like To The Home Tree that are run by the trolls.
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