You're AWESOME!

GQ Encyclopedia of Matt Damon, his Bourne co-star Julia Stiles begins to tell the story of their encounter with Prince:

Have you ever thought “Man, I feel impossibly shitty and I don’t know why”?

Run through this checklist before you do anything else.

What have I eaten in the last 24 hours? Is it enough? If not, go and eat some food, you butt.

Am I hydrated? If not, put some fluids in your body, fool.

Have I slept an acceptable amount in the last 24 hours and preceeding few days? If not, do your utmost to have a nap. You need a reset, bro.

Have I been outside/partaken in whatever form of exercise I am capable of? You’re stagnating, homie.

Have I communicated with anyone? At all? About anything? In the last 24 hours? Sup, you’re not actually a lone wolf, and even if you’re just shouting BUTTLUMPS at someone over the intertubes, it’s better than shouting it at yourself inside your own head.

Although I was an MMFD fan from the start of the TV show, I didn’t discover the Tumblr fandom till halfway through S2. So I’ve got a few questions for those who were here much earlier… Thanks in advance - you are world class. I mean that.

👑🏆👑🏆👑🏆👑🏆👑🏆👑🏆👑🏆👑

1: When did you arrive in the fandom, and who was already here? (Was it all mainly still fields?)

2: Did the fans have a group name for themselves prior to ‘I’m an Emu’ popping up in s2 ep1? (And how exciting was it when you realised that Tom had remembered and used a fan’s jokey suggestion?!)

3. At what point did you lot start writing fanfiction, making gifsets and videos, and producing artwork?

🎧 💓 💡 💭 ✒ 📝 💻 ✂ 📺 ✏ 🎨

4.How long did you have to wait for a second series to be confirmed? (Was it as intense as the wait after S2?)

👂⌚⏳ 🔜 ⏰ ▶

5. Were there EVER any male emus? I can think of one lovely recent arrival, but prior to that, none. I hoped there’d be boys with crushes on Sharon. I’m gobsmacked that there aren’t boys crushing on Nico with us!

💕 😍 💑 👬 😻 💃 🏃

Tagging the folk I think were most active in the early days (if you’re not into MMFD anymore, please ignore):

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1: When did you arrive in the fandom, and who was already here? (Was it all mainly still fields?)

I showed up right after episode 4 … I mainlined the first four eps in a day and then jiggled my leg impatiently waiting for the next two … Not sure what you mean about still fields? It was a small fandom, but very enthusiastic. 

I think the first fic I read/liked was by @puppy-love-club, before I made this MMFD tumblr. Other folks I remember from the early days are @howlinchickhowl @adaftmyriad @nicrememiralleggro @greenangelheart @slothpaws @sassy-curmudgeon @ch1darkcy @hohumi @old-lady-at-heart @damecatoe @i-love-mmfd @girlsofargone @veganmarshmallows @bflute06 @ucancallmeal @princessofpoldark @blobwithagob @rebelfell @fwnsias @fantasticab @rae-nelson @raefinnxo @aggressively-lamps @backofthehand @acciohilarity – I KNOW I’m missing people out, but those are people I remember being active and interacting with almost from the start. I think we converged right around the time the last couple of episodes were airing and just after.

I think the very first people were all like, “Can you believe they ACTUALLY MADE THIS SHOW? And that it’s SO FUCKING GOOD???” It was so much just squeeing and sighing and writing fics to smoosh their faces together.

2: Did the fans have a group name for themselves prior to ‘I’m an Emu’ popping up in s2 ep1? (And how exciting was it when you realised that Tom had remembered and used a fan’s jokey suggestion?!) 

I don’t remember a name … am I blacking out? I know lots of people were very into Tom giving us something to christen ourselves with. :D However, I have to admit I like Nico’s malapropism of fan-dem, and I like to use that more. Emus is cute, tho! I’m proud to be a fan of MMFD, whatever our name! xoxo

3. At what point did you lot start writing fanfiction, making gifsets and videos, and producing artwork?

The fanfiction came pretty much immediately. It was what drew me in, and how I interacted at the beginning. I do remember most of us were too shy to comment at first. It took me a couple weeks to even feel like I could reblog people’s fics, because I wasn’t sure how this thing worked. Gifs came soon after. And there were amazing manips in those first few months, courtesy of @ch1darkcy and @nicrememiralleggro, in particular. :D

@jongparksin’s (@onionring88) fan art came pretty quick and @fseventh made amazing gifs … awesome parallels. Those are the first gifsets I remember, but they started coming fast and furious after a bit. My early archive is heavily text based, tho.

There was so much to fill in that first series! How did we get from Episode 4 to Episode 5 where he’s scribbling all over her? We had no idea that Finn’s mum wasn’t in the picture until Tom tweeted that she’d left to live abroad with her partner. *shrug* Sure, why not? Such rich fodder for fic and speculation!!!

4.How long did you have to wait for a second series to be confirmed? (Was it as intense as the wait after S2?) 

It was announced at the end of the last episode of S1 that there would be a second series, and we had an excrutiating wait … over six months before they even started filming and then they kept messing us about with the S2 release date. It was like ten days out and they still hadn’t confirmed when the first episode would air! That was a crazy time. A year of build-up, basically!

5. Were there EVER any male emus? I can think of one lovely recent arrival, but prior to that, none. I hoped there’d be boys with crushes on Sharon. I’m gobsmacked that there aren’t boys crushing on Nico with us!

The backstory: Prince’s recording studio, Paisley Park is located in Chanhassen, MN which is like 5 min from where I grew up and 30 min from where I live now. The past two weekends he’s been throwing these parties there where you pay a $30 cover and there’s music for dancing and pancakes/drinks for purchase. There’s no guarantee, but Prince could show up and play.

Two weekends ago he didn’t show up to the Friday party but ended up playing a 1.5 hr set at the Saturday party. So my friend and I decided to wing it and hope for the best for these past Saturday. (Note: he didn’t show up for this past Friday either.) Also, it was confirmed that local artist Dessa, from Doomtree was going to play and that in itself was worth the $30.

How the night went down: We get to Paisley Park around 9:30pm. First off everyone that works at PP is super nice. We were greeted at the door like guests and kindly reminded that cell phones are not allowed or you’d be kicked out. Then we hung out in this area that looks a little like a club. There were pancakes and drinks (no alcohol) for purchase, while music plays. After a while they open the doors and usher everyone into what turns out to be a huge concert hall type room with a big stage. There Dessa does her full set. (She’s amazing, check her out!)

When she’s done music comes on and there’s what’s supposed to be a dance party. We hang out for maybe 2 hours(?) No one wears watches anymore, so without your cell phone you don’t know what time it is. In that time they begin to set up the stage with 3RD EYE GIRL’s equipment. Then they bring out Prince’s microphone stand with his symbol on it and you know it’s getting real. After what seemed like forever waiting for them to set up, the band comes out and plays a little AND THEN PRINCE WALKS OUT ON STAGE!!!!! Everything after that was so bizarre and so Prince.

They played two songs and then went into playing a continuous riff where Prince went to each instrument (guitar, keyboard, drums, bass, etc) and played for a couple minutes or so. After that, they walked off stage and were done. Nobody was really sure what had just happened or what was happening next. Finally they started ushering people out of the concert hall and said PP was closed. Finally when we got to the car we found out it was 2:15am. Everything just felt and still feels surreal.