Ep. 18: What Is a TwiHard? (feat. Twilight Shitposting)

On October 24th, we're holding a New Moon Brew 'N View at the Majestic Theater in Madison! GET TICKETS: https://majesticmadison.com/events/

Despite often being the punching bag of the internet, online fandoms are powerful, precious things. They’re spaces where people can find escapism and create friendships over a shared love of something as ridiculous as the Twilight saga. Even as adults, it’s cathartic and healing to reignite our obsession and to pay homage to our younger selves that grew up kissing Edward Cullen posters.

Fae, Kayla and Taylor, three of the administrators for the hugely popular Facebook group, Twilight Shitposting, reminisce on the past and present of the Twilight fandom. Together, we remind ourselves of why we fell in love in the first place, and how we can grow with media that is–seemingly–frozen in time.

Twilight Shitposting:
-Become a ratty and join the Facebook group here.
-Follow their Instagram here.
-Follow their Twitter here.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So if someone were to just searchmy name on Facebook, they would see
some interesting stuff about Twilight and me. Everything else on my proofiles locked down
except for me talking about dick andballs and Twilight, and what about that
is there to be Shamefully, we'veall done about us among us hasn't talked
about dick and balls? You knowwhat you are? Twyheart's in recovery and

(00:24):
recovery. See see I simply cannotlook at an apple the same way anymore.
See it. Twilight just had sucha grip on so many people.
See it. See it. Thetwy Hard Recovery Club podcast, Empire Vampire
Empire, October fourth. The mostunrealistic thing about Twilight is that Bella didn't

(00:47):
go for the big chop and boxeye when Edward bailed July nineteenth. Imagine
texting me what that mouth do,and I say, come find out.
And now it's two am and you'resitting on the edge of my bed listening
to me talk shit about the weirdTwilight baby. September twenty fourth. Men
will reject any notion of watching Twilightand then fully expect you to watch all
the fast and furious movies with them. August seventeenth. You're pretty, yes,

(01:10):
but am I hauntingly beautiful? IfEdward Cullins saw me in the streets
of Forks, would he be somesmerized by my beauty that he would start
writing a bunch of lullabies about howmuch he craves my body and my blood?
September twenty second. Maybe it's justme, but Carlisle always looks like
he's got a dirty little secret thatno one else knows, and I want
to know it's so bad. Dearningin and in and in, Welcome back

(01:34):
to this Say It Out Loud podcast. My name is Jenna from Z one
and four Medicine, and my nameis Alissa. I edit the news.
And you may be wondering, Hey, guys, what the hell was that
quote? Well, they might havebeen tweets from a special guest that we
have, or three or three ofthem. But first we got to remind

(01:55):
you that next week, in exactlyone week from when we post this,
to be at the Majestic Theater inMadison, Wisconsin, watching New Moon with
a bunch of other people and hopefullyvery drunk. Yeah, hopefully it'll be
a great time. Get your ticketsnow, October twenty fourth, seven thirty
PM. Doors are at six thirty. It is a twenty one plus event.

(02:17):
We're making a drinking game to goalong with the movie. We've got
specialty drinks, we have got acostume contest with prizes, there'll be a
photo op, and we're gonna havesome special little things that will keep secret
for now somebody secret love it allright, So let's get into the episode
because it's going to be a longone. So our question today is what

(02:39):
is a twy hard. We haveit in the name of our show,
but we've never really elaborated. Funfact about twyhart is that the term came
from the actor who plays Mike Newtan. My definition of a twy heart,
I guess, is when you're downbad with the Twilight taka and I'm sticking
to that answer. Yeah, atwy hart is us walk it in.

(03:00):
Walking in. With over eighteen kfollowers on Twitter, twenty six k followers
on Instagram, and half a millionFacebook members, Twilight Ship posting is perhaps

(03:20):
the strongest source of non commercial Twilightcontent for people who love the saga but
recognize how goofy it is. Whilemaking Twilight memes, The admins behind this
group also work every year to raisemoney for the Kuli people to relocate to
higher ground. They've just launched somenew merch on their website. So welcome
Kayla, Taylor and Faye to thepodcast. Hello, Welcome. We're a

(03:40):
massing an army. Literally, no, you're a massing your own Twilight army.
Half a million weaponized rats. That'sright. Okay, So if you
don't mind answering, how old areyou guys, because I'll tell you we're
both twenty five. How old werewe won Twilight when the movie came out?
We were ten? Yeah, yeah, I am thirty. I'm twenty

(04:03):
eight, twenty six, goscha Okay, So we're like in that range.
That's fast though, too, becausesometimes I feel like with like the younger
Twilight bands, I'm like, Idon't know what kind of experience you had,
but it's different from mine. That'salso the we can see the stats
behind the scenes in the group,and so that is the biggest age range

(04:24):
of our members is in the Ithink it's twenty four to thirty five range
is the biggest age group. Yeah, I do think that makes sense because
my sister's twenty one and I alwaysforget like she she only knows because I
know. So I'm like, yeah, like remember this, and she's like,
none of my other friends have reallywatched, which is sad. That

(04:46):
scares me. Oh it's so weird, it's so strange. So what were
your experiences like with Twilight as kidsand how did you get into the fandom.
So I had some friends that readTwilight when it first came out,
and they were like, you've gotto read this because we all like the
same stuff. And I was like, perfect, let me read. And
so I got the book from thelibrary and I read the first chapter and

(05:10):
I was like, boring, that'sinteresting, and I returned it because I
was like, who wants to reada book about someone's boring truck and their
sad cop dad. Now the firstchapter like it sounds like a bread yeah,
and so like I read the chapterand I was like not interested,
and I moved on. But theneverybody was just like, oh, Twilight,

(05:30):
oh Twilight, and I was like, okay, obviously I am missing
something that everybody else is picking upon. So I read it and then
I like bawled my eyes out andpeople are like, oh, because you
wanted Edward. No. I wantedthe powers. I wanted to be immortal,
and I wanted superpowers, and Iwas like devastated that that just wasn't
going to happen for me. Andthen I found out that the next book

(05:51):
was all about Jacob, and Iwas like, I'm checking out. I
interested, Yeah, And then Idistinctly was at like my mom's best friend's
Fourth of July party and I heardpeople talking that they had announced the cast
for the movie. And I goupstairs and I get on their like family

(06:15):
computer in the computer room, andI'm like, let's see that cast.
And it came up and I lookedat it and I immediately I just powered
down the computer and I checked out. I said, I'm done. See,
I'm no longer interested, and like, you remember those promotional images.
They were terrible. They were terrible, and so I didn't watch it.
I didn't engage, I didn't readit. And then in college, I

(06:40):
was like super depressed and over withlife. And I came home for the
weekend and my family was all goneand they were like, story, you
we had plans and we didn't tellyou. And so I'm in my childhood
home alone, miserable, and Iwas like, well, what are you
gonna do about it? And Iwas currently in this like bisex hyperfixation with

(07:00):
Kristen Stewart, and so I waslike, well, time to get my
hands on the Twilight saga super legally, and I watched all of them in
one night, and I felt everyhuman emotion that a person is capable of
feeling. And that was it.The hybridation set in and it didn't really

(07:20):
ease up. That's my journey withTwilight. What about you, guys.
I think I was in like fifthor sixth grade, and I'm not sure
if it was the book or themovie first, but I want to say
it was probably. I saw thetrailer of the movie and I fell in
love with Robert Pattinson like hard,and then the movie came out. I

(07:44):
read the books and I had onefriend that I forced to be in a
Twilight club with me, which isbasically just me saying we're fans of Twilight,
and every Tuesday after school we hadto go and watch the movie.
So I did that for like sixmonths straight, and I would cut out
the like J fourteen posters and magazinesnippets, and I had the collage books

(08:05):
and a Robert Pattinson Wall. Iwas down bad for Robert still I am,
and then it kind of fell offas I grew up. I kind
of like, I still have thebooks and I would still watch the movie
if it feels on TV or something, but I kind of just like moved
on to other things. But thenMidnight Sun came out and I read that

(08:26):
and wanted to see memes about it, so I started looking it up on
Reddit and Facebook, and then that'show I got like super back into it.
And it was just like a wholeother level this time around, because
I actually had like a brain,right, yeah, a little that's so
interesting. My story is a littlecringier. So my I used to have

(08:50):
this best friend in middle school.It was like eighth grade. We would
go to the theater movie theaters andtell our parents who are watching movies,
but we wouldn't actually watch movies.We would go be Hooligan's where. So
one time she said, hey,do you want to go to the movies?
And I was like, yeah,absolutely, let's go, thinking we
were going to go to the grocerystore and get monsters again. No,
she actually take me, took meto the movies. And we went in

(09:11):
and we watched Twilight. I hadno idea what it was. I had
no previous knowledge. I hadn't evenseen like a trailer of it, and
as soon as we watched it,I was like, well, this is
my new personality. I was obsessed. I read the books in a week.

(09:33):
Oh god, yeah, I rememberbecause I was made fun of for
it, extremely awfully, because Iwould have I had block scheduling, so
like Monday, I was on onebook, and then when I had that
class again on Wednesdays, I wason a different book and the kids noticed,
Okay, I'm sorry, they're jealousthat you are literate as hell.

(09:56):
Oh my god. And so well, it's slowly like grew from there.
I bought all the movies. Iwas not allowed to read the books,
so I borrowed them from my schoollibrary and only read them at school because
my dad knew it was about vampires, but he didn't know anything else about
it, and at the time Iwas in a very Christian home. Hilariously

(10:20):
enough, by the time we getto breaking down part one, my entire
youth group is actually going to seethe Midnight Showing. So I go with
them and my dad can't really sayanything because I'm going to group. And
I remember sitting next to one ofmy friends who was just this crazy,
chaotic guy, and as soon asBella did her eyes open thing, we

(10:48):
literally stood up and screamed. Wewere very upset. That was the end
of the movie. When it wasNew Moon, I went to the midnight
showing with some other friends uh infreshman year, and we almost got kicked
out of the theater because that wasthe Jacob movie and every time he took

(11:09):
his shirt off at the midnight showing, insane screaming, screaming that would cover
up the next couple of lines,and me and my friend were so over
it. I stood up and grabbedmy candy. She immediately talked onto what
I was doing, stood up andgrabbed her popcorn, and we flung it
at people and told them to shutup. She's never told me this.

(11:33):
Yeah, I've never heard the storybefore. Oh my god, the rage,
the rage you took action against teamJacob so so and then I as

(11:54):
soon as all the movies were available, I bought all of them. I've
had yearly rewatches pretty much since then. In my senior year, I took
a creative writing course and one ofthe topics was fan piction sick. Yes,
so you can imagine what I wrote. Let's go yeah. Yeah.

(12:22):
So I wrote a twelve page Twiletfan fiction for my creative writing teacher and
it was it was great. Hedid pull me aside and asked, I
was okay, Oh can either Hehappened to the best of us. Yeah.
So once once the pandemic hit andnet and Twilet was on Netflix,

(12:45):
I actually had a month straight whereI watched Twilight or one of the movies
every single day. Damn. He'sgreat. And then I found twilight Ship
posting completely by accident, I think, so some one shared something and I
was like, oh shit, Iwant to join that. It was like
a month after it had been created. It was I can't remember what the

(13:07):
meme was or anything, and soI joined that immediately. And then they
talked about needing Discord mods specifically,and I had just drawing Discord because I
didn't know what it was at first, and I was like, you know
what I like Toilight. I likeDiscord. I don't even apply thinking I
had no I had a lot oftime on my hands, but also no
time on my hands because the pandemicwas simultaneously the best and worst thing that

(13:31):
could happen for my family, specificallybecause my mom got breast cancer at the
same time. So we were ableto stay home without receiving repercussions, and
I was able to take care ofher and become a full time caregiverer.
But so I had a lot inmy hands, but also free time.
So yeah, so I did notthink I was going to get it.
And then I was contacted by thelovely Kayla and I almost shit myself.

(13:58):
That is a beautiful story. Soa little bit of a cringier experience.
I like the variety though, Likewe have a little bit of just like
oh, like I was just akid then and it's like what people did
and I liked it. And thenthere's also like the no, like from
the moment I saw this, Ihave not left. Yeah, you need
both for something like this work.We do. We have a good balance.

(14:24):
So we're gonna move into like fandomspecific questions. So this is the
definition of fandom is the fans ofa particular person, team, fictional series,
et cetera, regarded collectively as acommunity or subculture. We have people
that are fans of the Twilight saga, but in like an like an ironic
way, like they're not actually fansof the saga, they're fans of talking

(14:48):
about the saga, you know.Yeah, which is really interesting though,
and we'll probably get into it alittle bit more too, but like it's
interesting, like the people who havedefinitely like come later on, like they
were, like I did not watchToilette at all as a youngster, and
now I'm like kind of getting intoit, but in a way where I'm
very much only making fun of it, which is so interesting it is.

(15:11):
But in terms of fandom, Ilike would really love to talk about the
way that like the Twilight fantom specificallyis and it's very much led by like
a lot of people, but Ithink initially it's very girl led, like
specifically like young people, and theway that that was like discounted when we
were younger, but now it's sopowerful, which is crazy when you were

(15:33):
when you guys were younger, likeways that that bandom like comforted you.
Yeah. So in our group specifically, eighty percent of the members are listed
as women on Facebook, which ishuge, wouldn't I was younger, I
definitely fell into the like I wasscared to be a girl too much because

(15:58):
that existed, like you could betoo much of a girl, and you
could be too much of a person, let alone too much of a girl.
And I do think that a lotof that contributed to my initial reaction
to Twilight, you know, becauseI started reading it and I was just
like, oh, I'm not interestedin this, and then I, you
know, got rid of it,and then everybody was saying how good it

(16:19):
was, and then I got itback again, and then there were so
many points at which, like Ihad friends that still continued reading the series
and loving the series and wanting tosee the movies, and I was just
like, well, I can't dothat. I'm already too much of a
person, let alone being too muchof a girl. And I definitely think

(16:41):
that a lot of that contributed tomy like hesitation to fully dive back into
the series, even though I clearlyloved the first book. And sometimes I
do wonder, like I think there'sa lot of like mourning girlhood and like
the things that you could have doneif you had the perspective that you now
have as an adult, and thethings you could have loved and enjoyed,

(17:03):
and the people you could have hadin your life, and just so many
of the things that you could havedone if you didn't have the like fear
of being too much of a girl. Yeah, we see a lot of
comments in the group of people beingeither like they refuse to watch it or
interact with it because of the hatredof vampires don't sparkle, blah blah blah,

(17:23):
and being in the group, nowthey're able to they finally watched it
and they're able to love it completely. Or it's the people who hid it
from everyone that they did like themovie in the series and now they're able
to just share memes and be publicabout it without feeling like lesser than or

(17:44):
to be made fun of, orif they do get made fun of,
they don't take it seriously because they'rejust like, that's old news. You
get out of two thousand and eight. There was this really sweet threat that
I came across the other day andI shared with everybody, and I was
like, this is this is likeso touch And it was two men in
the group and one of them shareda picture of him in like a Twilight

(18:06):
shirt and it was clearly like anold picture, and he was like,
you know, this version of mewould have been really proud of myself.
And some other guy like commented andhe was like, you couldn't have got
me to do anything like this,and the other guy was like, yeah,
I know. He's like I couldn'thave. I was so ashamed like
Twilight WHI was for girls, ButI loved it. And I'm really glad
that I found this group because nowI can just love it and I can

(18:26):
like heal that part of myself.And the other guy responding, he was
like, yeah, me too,Like I'm really glad that we're here,
and like I was like, ugh, im so gonna cry, like and
I see that, Like Jenna andI have talked about like us doing this
podcast is almost like an inner childthing where it's like, yeah, to
terms with our middle school selves,and like that's also part of it too,

(18:49):
of like oh, there's a lotof weird stuff, you know,
weird problematic stuff that's in Twilight sagathat you have to reckon with too,
but like you know, just beingable to like enjoy this as just yeah
cool, yeah, and just likeloving it and like loving like the things
that you experienced as a young childwith the saga, like just like those
weird little friendships you made going tothe theater at midnight even though like you

(19:11):
weren't, that's way past your bedtime. Just stuff like that is so fun
to think about. Yeah, no, it's good, and it's I like
that we have a space where likeall of those the fact that, like
those kinds of experiences were so common, like some people were really lucky to
have people in their lives that theycould do those things with and experience them,

(19:32):
but other people weren't. And it'scool that you can get a second
chance when you're being the kid versionof an adult. Yeah. For me
now too, it's growing up.My family didn't really have a lot of
money, so I didn't see anyof the movies in the theaters, even
though I was there when they cameout. And I never had like any

(19:52):
merch or anything, no T shirts, nothing like that. So now as
an adult, I have collected somuch nickknacks of Twilight and it's just like
so soothing to me that I canfinally do that and have my Twilight wall
that's not just posters. And nowyou're making Twilight March too. Yeah,

(20:14):
who would have thunk we're wearing itso I know that. Dame It said,
Okay, what do you think differentiateslike the Twilight fandom versus every I
mean even Harry Potter. Like wemake that comparison all the time of like
Twilight and Harry Potter, but likeHarry Potter is a little different. There's
something a little bit more die hardabout Twilight. To me, I think

(20:34):
it's one of those things where likeTwilight fans were universally shipped on by everybody,
even by other like cringey fandoms.They were like, well, at
least we're not Twilight, you know, Like, and that was something that
was everywhere. There were commercials,there were late night talk shows, there
were other movies, there were otherbooks. Like people would promote like books

(20:57):
by being like, like, well, at least not Twilight, like that,
like still a better love story thanTwilight. Still he will still submit
stuff like that. But I feellike Twilet fans kind of were universally dumped
on by everybody for so long.Now it's almost like a vengeance, you
know what I mean. Like evenTwilet itself was hated by one of its

(21:21):
own main actors. Yeah, andnow he doesn't because he is not anymore.
Else We love that we love evensaid, hating Twilight is so two
thousand and eight. Shut up,welcome back, Ron, We love to
see it, Thank you, sir. So I think that that is a
part of it is a lot ofTwilet fans had to experience that, and
now we're at a place where,like, you don't have to worry about

(21:45):
shame so much as an adult.It doesn't affect you the same way it
did when you were thirteen, fourteenyears old. And I don't think Harry
Potter fans had to deal with thatso much and then, but I do
think they are having to do withit now, so like the tables have
totally spun, and they have spunin our favor. So so I think

(22:07):
that it does create a different likegroup dynamic amongst the fandom of sort of
we know what it was like tobe at the very bottom and sort of
reconciling with all of those problematic elementsof the series and then coming out on
top there. I feel like there'ssomething about the angst of Twilight and like
the angst and like being the underdog, so it was almost like being shipped

(22:32):
on for so long was like partof the personality. Yes, I definitely
made it part of my personality.When I was bullied for like reading the
book so quick and then also havinga shirt or two turned it into like
a pickny situation where I was like, different, you hate Twilight. I

(22:57):
like it, But that was partof it, right, because that's Bella's
entire personality. Yeah, so itwas almost like, yes, like it
wouldn't like the fandom wouldn't have beenthe fandom if it wasn't now if that
we had been yeah at the time, if we were beloved or viewed.
I don't even know now if Twilightfans are really viewed is beloved. I
think they're just kind of viewed like, oh, there's a party going on

(23:22):
there. They are, they're veryloud. I don't know what they're doing.
I don't know what they're doing,but they are very loud about it.
So that feels kind of like thevibes. But I think like when
you grow up and you start torealize like fandom as like uh like obviously
as like a community, but especiallyfor like young women, like these are
like safe spaces for a lot ofus. Like that is like so freeing

(23:47):
and just being like I can bea girl. Yeah, and that's uh
literally life changing. Yeah, it'snuts, it is. I love it
a sort of to the safe spacepart. These friends that I have gotten
from Twilight. We're the first safespace where I felt like I could tell

(24:15):
people who didn't fully know everything aboutme that I'm non binary and like could
go by them and feel safe inthat way and could go but just without
feeling judged m hm weird. Andit's like being able to grow up and
like reconcile that and be like thisis wow. This was a part of

(24:38):
my personality and I never had todeny that in the first place. What
a like insane frame thing. Yeah. And healing, Yeah, healing really
the word of the day. Welove to see it, really absolutely.
Carlisle would love us. He wouldall grown up. Okay, so I

(24:59):
know we're we're healed in the present, but I do want to briefly take
you back to two thousand and eightwhen the family started. I don't know
if y'all remember this, but Iwrote down some things that were very prominent
in two thousand and eight, forexample, BlackBerry phones, Gladiator sandals,
the rise of Thanks. Hmm,what about a forehead headband? Right across

(25:22):
there? Yes, fake glasses likeyou would go to a three D movie
and pop out the front. Yeah, I did that. Yeah, I
wore contacts at the time. I'vehad these, and I've had glasses in
second grade and I still did thejust with your three D glasses. Yes,

(25:45):
went above and beyond. Also thatrider strike in two thousand and eight.
Was there one back in two thousandand eight too? There was?
Because Twilight came out like right eitherI think like right after it ended or
right before it started. Were filmingduring the writer's strike, which like,
but that is why we have theline the you better hold on tight Spider

(26:08):
Monkey. That was a Catherine Hardwickspecial. They didn't have the writer on
set, and she was like,I feel like he should say something here.
Now, why didn't she go intothe book and pull up where he
says hold on tight, little coward. First of all, that's fantastic.
We should have kept that one inthere. But no, she was like,

(26:30):
I have a list of lines thatyou could potentially say, Robert Pattinson,
you pick one, and he pickedthat one because of course he did,
because of course, but why didshe write that hold on tight,
spider monkey? But that's not eventhe worst one was hold on for lift
off. There was another one likehold on tight, Buddy, Buddy,

(26:56):
Buddy Noddy. No. Yeah,anyway, So the hold on tight spider
Monkey line is thanks to the writer'sstrike and Catherine Hardwick being like, I'm
going to power through this girl powersnuts full moment. That's incredible. Two
thousand and eight, when Twilight cameout, a lot of stuff happening a

(27:18):
very distant time from where we arenow, thank god. But obviously in
two thousand and eight, film wasnot well received. Okay, critics not
huge on it, and specifically Ifound the New York Times review of the
film a man, I'm about toget mad. You just might, You

(27:38):
just might, so I'll read youlike the end excerpt. Though Edward and
Bella reached certain heights in Twilight,notably during a charming scene that finds them
leaping from piny tree top to treetop against the spectacular wilderness backdrop, the
story's moral undertow keeps dragging them down. If ms Meyer has made the vampire
story safe for her reader and theirparents, the sole real menace comes from

(28:02):
a half big subplot involving some swaggeringvampires who like their sake, sagnant and
human. It's only because she suggeststhere is actually something worse than death,
especially for teenagers. Sex faced withthe partially clad Bella who would bite if
she could, Edward recoils from herlike a distraught Victorian like ms. Hardwick.
The boy, the poor boy hasbeen defanged and almost certainly were almost

(28:27):
entirely drained. He's so lifeless hemight as well be dead. Oops,
he already is. Wow. Butlike, it's so interesting because sometimes we'll
go back and we'll look at likethe reviews from the movies and or even
the books, and they're all aroundfifty percent checks out. But also I

(28:52):
am of the opinion that I actuallydon't think, Okay, we love the
first movie for vibes and for nostalgia, I actually don't think the first movie
was a very good adaptation of thebooks, and I think it did set
the stage for the books and themovies to be continually mocked in pop culture.
I think Hardwick her movies have aspecific tone to all of them,

(29:15):
and she definitely gave Twilight the Hardwicktone, And so there are some scenes
that could have been done a lotbetter that I think would have made people
enjoy the story itself a little more, Like there are a lot of book
moments that we could have gotten thatwould have added to the plot, rather
than getting the first scene that makesI think of as a first time Edward

(29:38):
and Bella kiss in her room.Hardwick just made that a little weird.
So when he's when Bella realizes thathe's a vampire, like in the book,
it's like a casual little conversation wherethey're having a little banter back and
forth, and in the movie it'sthis three spinny tilted angles, dramatic shade

(30:04):
out loud member Like, it's justso like, it's so much, and
I feel like the book is alreadylike you're gonna love it or hate it.
It's polarizing, and I feel likeHardwick's style of film is polarizing.
And then you mash them together andit was just like a lot. So

(30:25):
do you guys remember what the fandomwas like in the two thousands, Like
when it was all first happening,Uh, really dedicated. I didn't have
internet access, so I was onI was me and me alone this Love
and Twilight. I had no ideaabout the outside world, like at all,

(30:47):
I only knew that the people thatI went to school with, and
I only knew like what I sawin like magazines or that like adults would
talk about. I was not intimatelyfamiliar with the fandom at the time,
but the people that I did knowwere really into it and there was nothing

(31:07):
you could say otherwise. There werea couple like the Alice choker wearers,
like they always wear fangs. Sangswere not in the Twilight saga, but
the Empires don't have thangs. Butbut you had to do something. They
had to do something to let peopleknow. So one thing I did know

(31:27):
back then was the Twilight Moms.How crazy and creepy they were towards Robert
and Jacob basically the specifically, especiallybecause the poor guy was only sixteen and
they were being crazy. I lovetalking about the magazines because, yeah,

(31:48):
like thinking about like we didn't haveinternet, like you couldn't just like go
on Twitter and see if so,like remembering the magazines is so fun.
Yeah, Day fourteen and Tiger Beetand where I got my Twilight info from.
Yeah, yeah, I think therewas an addition in one of those
where it was like other actors ofother like teen movies reacting to Twilight and

(32:14):
what they thought of it interesting andit was not great. Everybody hated it.
It was hate it those people,those people that were Twilight fans,
and they didn't let anybody to tearthem stronger than anybody strong. There was
one that was like one good reactionin that like addition, and I can't

(32:34):
remember who it was, but itwas something completely off the wall, like
a fucking Jonas brother or something likethe one good react. Kevin Jonas.
Probably he was like, I knowwhat it's like to be universally hated,
and now he's like, really goodhe is? He is, Yes,
Kevin has had the Twilight effect happenedto him too. He deserves it.

(33:00):
It's funny because also I know,the original fandom had to rely a lot
on Stephanie Meyer's website, like shereally everything there. So people were waiting
for the fresh drops on Stephanie Meyer'swebsite, right, and now people ignore
that website entirely, like it's gotall the answers that people are looking for
about things. They're like, hasanybody ever answered how Edward got a boner?

(33:20):
And it's like, yeah, StephanieMeyer, she literally did in twenty
ten, on her website. Man, like you, you got to go
consult the text. So the holythe primary Yeah, the primary text.
H. So we're going to shootback to now and talk and we kind
of covered some of this stuff.But what's new in the fantom since two

(33:43):
thousand and eight? Obviously a lot, But I'm curious, like, and
you guys know a lot about thedemographic, but how do you think the
demographic of fans has changed since youknow, two thousands to right now?
There's more men as far as thegroup goes. Every year we get more
and their percentage in the group growsand grows, and I think some enjoy

(34:07):
it in like an ironic way,but some seem to genuinely be enjoying it,
joining, joining in the ranks ofthe rest of us. We're converting
them, Yeah, slowly working onit. I'd say probably there's well,
there's not as many like ten tolike sixteen year old fans like that was

(34:30):
in two thousand and eight. Thatwas like the main people and now we've
all grown up, so the demographichas changed that And I don't think I
don't think I know anyone under theage of twenty who's like super into Twilight,
Like, my little sister has nevereven seen the movies. You haven't

(34:52):
made her watch it? Not yet? Yeah, I know. I'm curious
of like the younger like if theyounger generation is going to get their own
resurgence or not. I'm very curiousabout that. I can see what happened
with the new TV show, OhGod, and I can also see it
happening just as like the style comesback in. Yeah, that's true.

(35:13):
And then I feel like they're gonnalike I actually I feel like TikTok has
helped a lot. Yeah, Iwas gonna say, like Twilight has become
sort of like a content farm situationwhere it's pretty universally known by people.
Whether you love it or hate it, it's going to be easily recognizable.
And then you can also bank onthe fans sharing interacting with your content.

(35:37):
So there will be people that theywill just make Twilight content because they know
it will gain traction. But becauseof that, I have a unique perspective.
I'm a teacher, so I workwith high schoolers, and I've been
in a few different schools now andthey're the case has been the same every

(36:00):
time, where kids will tell melike, oh I saw this on TikTok,
like I'm going to read it.I'm going to read it, and
I'm like, okay, you're goingto read it. Do you want to
watch it? Like? What's like? How are we engaging with this?
And I've had that happen multiple timesand now I'm really lucky. I work

(36:21):
more directly with books and we havea lot of kids coming in. And
let me tell you what the booksthat are being interacted with the most is
Divergent. I did not Divergvergent,right, it wasn't even beloved in our
time. Why are you guys checkingthis out constantly? It's so many people

(36:47):
and so many people and I'm like, y'all are going to be disappointed with
those movies, by the way,because they never finished them anyway. Divergent,
Twilight Hunger Games are like the bigwhat people are wanting to read right
now, and I think a lotof that not Divergent. I don't know

(37:07):
what's going on there actually, butHunger Games in Twilight, for sure,
A lot of it has to dowith TikTok and content that people are posting
there. That's true my well,since we're Facebook group, that's my main
the main fans I see are onFacebook, and now Facebook isn't really for
like I was twelve when I mademy first Facebook, so kids aren't kids

(37:30):
these days aren't really on Facebook.So I don't I don't see the fans.
But then when you brought up TikTok, I'm like, oh, yeah,
that makes a lot more sense.That's where they get introduced to it.
Like, could you imagine your firstintroduction being a TikTok Edward Thurst editing
right now? Yes, oh mygod, Like I just don't know,

(37:51):
Like I was thinking, like stylewise, so like someone's going to be
like outputs inspired by Bella they do, yeah, they have, and the
like all these trendy girls are goingto be like, oh now I have
to like find out who Christen Stwardis. Where the Long Sleep exactly like
her sin little headband and yes,her blowout was a headband. Yes,

(38:14):
I don't know if the bowling shirtwill ever make a full comeback, but
so please it's cute. I likethe bowling shirt, and I feel like
we've touched on this a little bitthrough other questions. But why do you
think it's like cool now but wasn'tten years ago? I think kind of
like what Kayla was saying, whereback then it was like every single thing

(38:36):
in media was about how much ofa girl you were and if you were
too girly and you were kind ofshot on, and like women were not
treated well in media at all.And now it's like I feel like with
the pandemic, we reached sort ofa balance of like nihilism and also kind

(38:57):
of like not to be but likethis almost like yolo personality, where why
wouldn't we go headfirst into the thingsthat we enjoy. Why wouldn't we like
the pumpkin spice a lot days.Why wouldn't we treat ourselves. Why wouldn't
we, you know, have momentsof self care and all of these things

(39:19):
because who cares? We're all temporary. I think definitely like so much of
that, but a lot of Idon't know media specifically, but like a
lot of like online spaces have becomea lot more dedicated to like the concept
of like shealing your younger self orjust like supporting your younger self, forgiving

(39:45):
your younger self. And I thinka lot of that is for a lot
of people going back to things thatthey liked or they enjoyed or they part
they were a part of when theywere a child, and like revisiting them
and sometimes those visits become permanent andyou move in. And I think Twilight
is one of those experiences for people. Yeah, especially the movie is just

(40:09):
so nostalgic with the outfits and theactors themselves and the script and setting and
nobody has a cell phone. Yeah, so actually Bella does Bella does Bella
does have a cell phone? Iwould mix that up with the book,
but yeah, but it's not likecore to the plot. Like our phones

(40:30):
are like so much of our livesnow and like my my world is like
like it matters what happens here.But like I feel like in the entire
saga, we only see the cellphone four time. Yeah, Like she
calls her mom, she calls herWhen I watched the first movie, it's
just like I get into this bluetint of just like comfort and relaxation,

(40:52):
beful. Yeah, I think nostalgiais a lot of it. Like that's
kind of how we got back intoit. We just started reading Twilight.
Like we were roommates at the timeand we were like just reading the book
out loud to each other. Well, and I think the pandemic obviously had
so much to do with the twobecause that's when everyone was getting like the
nostalgia bug, and that's like roughlywhen the movies were back on Netflix,

(41:14):
but also like and that's when MidnightSun came out. Yeah, yeah,
it had a really good Yeah,it came out a good time. Honestly,
I feel like the reception would havebeen a lot different if we weren't
all in our houses soually. MidnightSun coming out is what was the like
ignition of the Twilight renaissance is becauseTwilight was not on a lot of people's

(41:38):
radars still like the fandom. Stillthere was like merch she could find,
and there were some spaces online,but it wasn't it wasn't the frenzy that
it is now. And then sheannounced this Midnight Sun is coming out,
and it everybody was reminded, andthen spaces on started popping up and there

(42:00):
was just a lot more like Twilightactivity because I think it surprised people that
she announced Midnight Sun was coming outand the general reception was excitement. It
wasn't people being like, oh god, disgusting, Like there was some of
that, for sure, but therewas a lot of positive reception, and

(42:21):
I think it caused a lot ofthe fandom to just kind of like look
around at each other and be like, oh my god, we're all here,
like we're all still a ride.I remember when Midnight Sun got leaked
and I was like twelve or thirteen. I went crazy and I went into
my grandma's basement and read the wholething and was just like, oh my
god. Yes. And then Meyersaid that she would probably never release it

(42:45):
publicly, and twelve thirty on metwas co rush. And then I remember
I was laying in my bed justlike scrolling through and I saw that she
was going to release it, andI shot up and I was just like,
oh my god, like thirteen yearold me is finally getting this.
And it was just like a senseof excitement that I hadn't felt, especially

(43:06):
because we were like in Lockdown andall that stuff, and so it was
it also took me back to beinga kid, and so it was just
it was so good. What isyour guys' like current consensus or opening on
on Stephanie these days? How arewe feeling about her? There's this thing
in the fandom where like it's likea really bad game of telephone, where

(43:30):
like something gets said and then itgets repeated and twisted and twisted, and
like it's just like until it becomesthis like fan me posts, and there
are some fandom conceptions and like storiesthat are just that, which are just
like stories. And so we domake it our mission a little bit to

(43:52):
try to like fact check some things, because there are things that are justified
and absolutely we should be like callingthis out and addressing this, and it's
not okay. But then there's otherthings that it feels more like we're wasting
our energy circling on something that it'sfor like the shock factor and just to

(44:16):
get people to like reblog it orshare it on TikTok, and it's not
entirely true. Right. The thingabout Stephanie is there's not a ton of
like information about her because she doesn'ttalk. She doesn't talk, which is
also part of the problem. Thereare some things she should absolutely address and

(44:37):
absolutely need to be addressed, notjust about what's in the books, but
some things outside of the books,and her not saying anything is not a
good look. But then there's alsoso much that's unknown, like about her

(44:58):
actual personal life and actual beliefs,and so the things that we do know
are some of it's not great,but the things that we don't know leaves
a lot that needs filled them.So I know, like one thing specifically

(45:22):
is Chris Hyatt and Solomon There wego, Thank you. I knew it
started with the teeth. They weretwo of the boys that you see in
the first movie that people say thatthey were the original Sam and Jacob Black,
but Solomon's in the group. Membersdon't know that, but Solomon's in

(45:45):
the group. And we asked him, you know, were you ever asked
to cut your hair and that's whyyou lost out on the roll? And
he said no, he was neverasked to cut his hair. One of
our friends just meant that when wewent to the movie the other night.
Well, and it's because right nowpeople are going viral on Twitter about it
again. It's one of those thingsthat's constantly repeated. And so we asked
him, you know, were youever asked to cut your hair? Were

(46:07):
you ever told that you were Sam? And then it was taken away and
you know, he said no,he was never asked to cut his hair.
That was never something that he wasasked. And he doesn't think Chris
was asked that either. And thena friend of Chris's joined the group and
she was doing a little Q andA with him because he was like,
I don't do Facebook stuff, likeI'm not going to join the group,

(46:29):
and so she was asking him questionsand then she was like posting them in
the replies and she had like picturesof them together. And she asked him
if he was ever asked to cuthis hair, and he said no,
he was never asked to cut hishair. He was never originally cast as
Jacob, and he didn't want tocontinue with the movies because people made fun
of him for being in that dumbTwilight like vampire movie. But he said

(46:52):
he was never asked to cut hishair. He was never anything like that,
and we had that confirmation from bothof them in the group. But
it's one of those things that getscontinually like posted elsewhere that makes what she
did with the Quiliute tribe was badenough, and by inventing things that didn't

(47:15):
happen and focusing on that, ittakes the focus off of where the issue
really should be. And that's likejust an example of like one of those
things that like it gets perpetuated likein the fandom and then even outside of
the fandom, And it would bereally great if we could use those opportunities
instead to focus on the realities oflike what actually happened and what actually needs

(47:37):
our attention and our efforts. Yeah, we have like moments like that all
the time where it's like we're notall the time. I think we're getting
better with it, but it's like, how do we watch this and enjoy
it and like love it for allof the things we love it for and
also like, you know, thinkabout our childhood, but also how do

(47:57):
we like watch scenes like you knowwhatever, and we think about the weird
age gaps and we think about likeyou know, all of that stuff,
like how can we still enjoy itor is there always like a thing in
the back of our heads or whatever? But yeah, very interesting. I
don't know if there's any The earlytwo thousands and even the twenty tens were

(48:19):
a crazy time media. Like ifyou go back and you rewatch a lot
of like movies or TV shows,it's just like, oh, oh my
god, that was like super transphobic, Like, oh oh my god,
that was like really racist, andyou're like, I watched this movie all
the time when I was in middleschool, and I had no conception of
that, And I think it's justsomething that was so ingrained in our culture

(48:40):
and and our media at the time. It was almost inescapable. But not
that doesn't make it like excusable.Especially I mean a lot of us were
like kids during that time, sowe we didn't know exactly, but I
think that's something that gets laid atthe feet of the adult during the time

(49:00):
period, because yeah, yeah,I don't know, it's just so always
a weird thing of like I don'tknow, how do we how do we
go forward? And I think,like, you know, I think you
guys are always doing a great thingwhere you are like constantly like giving attention
to the Quiliu tribe and being like, listen, we need to like actually
help them where they're at because wewe like as a community, have done

(49:22):
a lot of damage for them,especially like when we were younger and when
we you know, we were raisingall these misconceptions, but also we helped
contribute to that in some way eventhough we were super young. You know.
It's like, yeah, still tosome degree, like there is a
little bit of fault on a lotof us because we participated and that sucks,
but it was it was big forus when we went to the uh,

(49:44):
like when we went to forks inthe festival and finding out that like
the tribe actually has like an opendrum circle that they open up the festival
with every year and they like inviteall the fans and like they have like
the reservation like open, and thebeaches open, and like people are able
to come, and they have likethey have stalls where like people are selling

(50:05):
things and it's it's really cool tosee the way that they like embrace some
of like the Twilight fandom and likethe people and that was that was cool
they experience. That was probably oneof my favorite parts was getting to like
see all of that. And therewas a moment where the group kind of

(50:29):
split up for events and the onegroup was going to a recording of Remember
Twilight, and we got pretty lost, and so one of the booths that
the Ko tribe was at, likeshe kind of like looked at us and
could tell we did not know wherewe were going and was like, do

(50:51):
you guys need help finding something?And we were like, yeah, we're
looking for this area this building forthis thing, and she was like,
okay, you go here, yougo there, you get there, and
we were thank you go by thenew school, didn't we when we were
there? Oh nice? That wasreally cool to be able to see what
everyone has talked about and something thatwe have urged members to raise money for.

(51:14):
And it it was totally on accidenttoo, because we were driving somewhere
else and then we were like,oh my god, is that the school?
And there it was, and wedrove by the old school too.
We got to see the old schoolwhen we went to the beach. Massive
difference. So what are your thoughtson the franchise trying to recapture the fandom,
like specifically like the capitalist part ofit, like noticing I really got

(51:40):
on my fucking eard and like thefact that like so many people sent them
to us and sent us what theywere getting these letters for. And literally
some woman had a piece of afern that it said like Forks, Washington
and it had nothing in the listingabout Twilight at all, and she still
got to cease and assist for it. That's a plant, a plant in

(52:05):
Forks, Washington. You can't dothat well. And what's extra crazy is
that the actual origins of our groupcome from the negligence of Summit and Lionsgate.
So, like ten years ago,they created a Facebook group and it
was the Official Twilight Group, andall of the admins were like Bella Swan

(52:29):
verified and like Edward Collen, likethat's what it was. And then they
had a series of mods, andthen over the course of ten years,
like those mods dwindled down or theydeactivated, or they left until there was
one woman left one woman, Andso in like the twenty twenty hey day,
you know, there were tons ofpeople that were in that group,

(52:52):
and then you know, she announcesmid night Suns coming out and people start,
you know, going to the OfficialTwilight Group. And this poor she
was a moderator. She didn't haveany of the tools that she needed to
do anything. So there were spambots. People were posting horrible, horrible things.
There was a ton of like bigotryand racism, and you know,

(53:15):
the George Floyd protests were going onat the time, and people in that
group were It was chaotic and itwas out of control, and this poor
one woman had no power and notools to do anything about it, and
she was making so many posts beinglike, guys, please, I've tried
to reach out to so many people, nobody will respond to me, like

(53:35):
I've been trying for years to gethelp, Like nobody is prioritizing this group
at all. I'm so sorry.And it was so it was so sad,
and so that was actually why theperson who clicked the create group button
created the group. She created TwilightShip Posting and then just went and like
spammed join links all over the wholeofficial group and was like join here,

(53:59):
and that's how all of us sawit, and we joined, and people
were wanting a moderated Twilight space.Yeah. Also it was twilight Ship posting,
so it's also more like meme focusedrather than the official group was more
kind of like your classic I don'tknow, you'd post like pretty pictures of
Edward Bella and so being able toshare the link into the main group with

(54:22):
this, oh, this meme shipposting group about Twilight people were just like,
yes, let's go, this iswhat I need. Yeah, And
so our group started growing, andthat poor one moderator was still like begging
and pleading anybody to acknowledge her andcome and help. And several months later,
so like at this point we hadwe had like several thousands and thousands

(54:46):
of members. I don't know ifwe had hit one hundred k. Yeah,
I think we were at least wewere close. And we saw that
like Lionsgate used one of their accountsand they made an official statement in the
group where they were just like,we're so sorry. We did hear about
what's been going on in here.We know about like the Twilight renaissance,

(55:07):
and like everybody like we've appointed newpeople to moderate this group and they've been
given more tools and access so thatway this won't happen again. But it
was like this woman had been reachingout for years and had zero response,
and then the minute that like theTwilight fandom moves on without you, that's

(55:27):
when you decide to step in andbe like, oh, sorry, are
bad, Like let me help youout, you know. Yeah, Like
going back to the merch there wasthere's sellers who had been selling Twilight stuff
on Etsy for years and then justnow get a season desist because all of
a sudden, linds Gate and Summitare like, oh, we can get
money off of this again, let'scash back in on that check. And

(55:49):
they don't do licensing to small creators. They have like an exclusive licensing with
Hot Topic, who also is apart of like Spencer's and Box Lunch and
bunch of other things, and sothey you don't have the option to get
officially licensed, and you don't havethe option to sell a fern from Forks
Washington. Come on, somebody hadone that just said it was literally a

(56:16):
car sticker that said locas and mirrorare closer than they appear. And they
got a copyright letter, a ceaseand desist. And they didn't even have
Twilight in any of the hashtags.Nothing Twilight. It was the word loca,

(56:37):
like yeah, and so yeah,they got real bold and real aggressive
with that for a company that abandonedtheir fandom for literally do you guys,
do you guys think you like thenew sho? I know it's way too
early to talk about it, butlike we kind of don't want to watch
it, but we will. Well, I feel like it'll be like how
like High School Musical was, LikeI haven't watched a single episode of I

(56:59):
mean, did you guys see thestills from the new like Mean Girls that
they're going to put out. There'sa Mean Girls. It's like a musical
okay version, Sorry, I'm revealingI'm a little more crackically online than you.
God. Anyway, they revealed stillsfrom this new Mean Girls that they're

(57:21):
coming out with, and I gottatell you, I don't think there's a
way to do reboots like that anymore, because immediately everybody was like Regina,
George and Shean, I don't thinkso, like what are we doing here?
And I just don't. I don'tthink that they understand what it is
that draws Twilight fans in yes,yeah, exactly. It's it's not something

(57:45):
you're going to create now, it'sthe nostalgia that we're checking it on.
And even if even if they werelike, oh, we're bringing Robert Pattinson
back to play Carlisle, isn't thisso funny? I think that people would
hate it more like there's nothing youcan do that's going to make us on
board with it the same way thatwe are with original Twilight. Additionally,
like we've pointed out in the group, there's no way for them to move

(58:07):
on and do this reboot unless theyare going to address exactly and give reparations
to the Quilliut tribe. That's thebecause you can't. You could, I
don't think you can, but youcould maybe get away with saying it was
a mistake one time, But thenif you're going to repeat that same thing
ten years later, it's not amistake. It was an intentional choice,

(58:30):
Yeah, and then you're just gonnaexploit them further, So like exactly exactly.
I do think it was cool inthe behind the scenes footage of New
Moon. I think Chris White's wasmy favorite of the Twilight Saga directors because
you could tell on all the behindthe scenes footage he was just so intentional
and so compassionate and so caring aboutthe cast. There are some iffy thinks

(58:54):
about it, but he was theone who insisted on making sure everybody that
was cast as a part of thetribe was officially affiliated with a tribe so
they didn't have another Taylor Launer situation. Loutner situation happened. And there was

(59:14):
some cool behind the scenes footage ofhim working with members of the afiliate tribe
to make sure that like the houseshad items from the tribe in them,
and I thought that that was justone of like several cool things that he
did. But that's not enough that'snot enough. There needed to be way
more, especially in the form ofcompensation. M m M. I feel

(59:37):
like there's a lot of members whoare initially excited about it and like initially
think it's like really really cool.But I have a feeling it's not gonna
stay excitement. It's it's it'll turninto harsh criticism pretty quickly, especially if
they are a t ship posting memberand also excited about the new TV show.

(01:00:01):
Because we've made our stands pretty clearand it I feel like Kyla's posts
really we're on a lot of lightto the situation, the actual situation,
and made people realize how it's notgonna be a great thing unless things are
addressed. We were getting a lotof posts about people being like, oh
my gosh, did you hear aboutthis? I'm so excited, And now

(01:00:22):
you know, they've released more informationabout the reboot and we have not had
to peep out of people about it. So not going to get the rats,
sorry, nope. I just thinkof the potential dialogue. It's going
to be cringe in a cringe Twilightway. It's going to be in a
cringe twenty twenty three writers rooms tryingto sound like gen Z. Way,

(01:00:44):
Yeah, it's really horrible. Iloved Full House as a kid, Like
I had every season of Full Houseon DVD, and then they did Fuller
House and I was like, I'mso like they had like original actors,
so I was like, this isgonna be awesome. And then I'm like,
oh my god, it was sobad. It feels so four.
It's it's it's very it's so cheapto cash in on nostalgia. Yes,

(01:01:08):
in ways that are not meaningful tothe fandom. You're not. You're not
gonna get like the new gen Zcrowd. You need to age with your
fandom exactly. All right, We'regonna roll into some speed questions. Believe
this will be fun. Okay,Okay, okay, Number money, who's

(01:01:29):
your favorite character and least favorite?Oh that's hard, Okay. I'd probably
say I love Edward and Bella justso much, but it just depends on
which one i'd pick my mood ofthe day. Okay, I'll say I'll
say Bella. I love Bella alot. And least favorite character Renee.

(01:01:52):
I don't like Renee solid I havemommy and shoes too, so I I
like trust with that her chaoticness andrandomness in the movie is entertaining, but
like, as a character, sheenrages me so much. I think my
favorite character is probably em It.Oh hi. My least favorite character but

(01:02:17):
I love to hate him, isKius. Oh yeah, I feel that.
I love in the books, he'skind of sexy like your books is
great, and I because he's likehe's like forty in the books and he's
got like silver hair, and like, sorry, Marcus and Cius are swapped

(01:02:38):
in the books to the movies.Marcus is the young one, he's supposed
to be nineteen is the old one, and then in the movies, Marcus
is the old buck and Kius isnice. So he's the one who like
when he died. Yeah, yeah, I think my favorite is either Emmitt

(01:03:01):
or Garrett. Uh. And thenmy least is Alistair. Okay, yeah,
we love to see it. Vampireman. Yeah, get out of
here. I changed my hate answerto Irena. Oh, that's a good
one. That's a very good Ido love to hate us, it's not

(01:03:23):
it's not like a hate hate allright, Next question, favorite movie,
I'd say, Okay, it changesper my mood, and I'd probably say
today it would be New Moon.I really enjoy the soundtrack, the colors,
the directing, and the dialogue Bella, she looks gorgeous that entire movie,
Jewel. I have no solid reasonfor this, and I fully accept

(01:03:50):
it as a not universally accepted favorite. Eclipse, I knew it. I
knew the soundtrack is so good.It's so good. Like listen, I
don't know why, but when Iwas watching the movies for that month,

(01:04:14):
there was like another week where Ijust watched Eclipse to Fall Mountain. Oh,
that's I should That's because you're afanfic writer, Like, that's we
all have to share a bed.Yeah, okay, listen calling me out

(01:04:38):
on blast. So I am alwaysa sucker for New Moon. I love
New Moon. I'm obsessed with NewMoon, the yearning, the longings,
and like when they reunite. Oh, it's just it's it's beautiful. But
I also really love Breaking Dawn partone. We get the wedding, we

(01:04:58):
get Edward being sexy on the honeymoon, we get all the drama of the
pregnancy, we get like, weget so many good snippets of like the
tribe and the pack. We getso much of like the seth dynamic.
So I love I love a lotof the things in Breaking Dawn Part one
that we get the eyes. Ifyou could pick what you think is the

(01:05:25):
best line from the movie, anyof the movies in a worst line,
best or worst, I think justlike the most notable. It was written
as best slash worst. Oh god, I'm like replaying all the movies in
my head at super speed. Iknow this is probably an unfair question,
but or it's just like, what'smost memorable for me? Uh, it's

(01:05:48):
we do not care what you did, Carlisle, like the song sound of
it. We'll play on endless loopsin my head. I can't it.
We did not care? But Carlisle, why did he say it like that?
I don't know, but I'm eternallygrateful that he did. Thank you,
thank you for giving us that.For some reason, the first thing

(01:06:11):
that pops into my head is thescene in the first movie when Bella and
Charlie are eating at the diner andMike's outside against the bush going down to
the bow underrated moment, and thenCharlie's like Newton boys got a big smile
for yet, and I was justlike, fuck no, And it wasn't

(01:06:33):
even a smile. It was hisbutt. Yeah you only saw that smile.
That's not a smile. Oh soit's not good in certain ways because
of things. But I really Ikind of just love the very very Charlie
esque moment of his bring him inbecause we all we all tired of like

(01:07:00):
the whole like toxic dad stuff.But it was like it was almost just
such a joke for him. Yeah, he was like he didn't even bring
it with him, like it washonestly didn't. He didn't breathe the door.
It was just it was just betweenhim and bella joke, you know.
Yeah. A favorite book, man, We should have prepped you guys

(01:07:23):
with these questions. I think Twilightis my favorite book because it's got The
book has so much of Edward andBella getting to know each other and like
the way that they like talk toeach other and they share little tidbits and
fun facts. I think we getmore of it in Midnight Sun than we

(01:07:43):
do in Twilight. Yeah, there'sa hole chapter that's just like with your
favorite color, back and forth?Where's Bella? Was just like we talked
about our favorite stuff, and Edwardwas like, here's all the details I'm
gonna give them line by because becauseBella didn't think it was interesting enough to
put on the page, didn't thinkshe was worth it. But Edward was
like, yes you are. I'mgoing to say everything about you the most.

(01:08:03):
I honestly love the psychoanalysis of that. Yeah. Yeah, no,
it's great. I'd say I'd probablysay Twilight too. Yeah. If not
Twilight, probably a New Moon.New Moon is really good. Moon has
a lot of chapters in it thatweren't in the movie, even though the
movie included a lot. Yeah.Yeah, And I think the reason both

(01:08:28):
of those would be my favorite isbecause of what wasn't included. Yeah,
I think, yeah, absolutely.This is not one of the questions we
have written down, but something I'vebeen thinking about. Do you find that
most people in the fandom are teamEdward? Yes? I think it used
to be a lot more equal,But I feel like as people have gotten

(01:08:49):
older and they see like the wholemultiple instances of non consensual kissing in the
book and then in the movies,and then also like his aggression toward her,
which that's a writing choice, that'sthe writer's choice. He's not a
real person, he's not you know, but I think it had made more

(01:09:12):
people be like, actually, Ithink the flags are a little redder overhead.
There's a lot of them on bothsides, but they're a little they're
a little redder on this side.I will say, I don't think it's
as aggressive, though, as aggressivelyTeam Jacob team Edward. And if you
are Team Edward, you absolutely despiseJacob. I feel like people are Team
Edward because they grew and they sawwhat he was actually doing and the red

(01:09:36):
flags turned into beige flags or greenflags, but it was also khaki flags,
and they saw the red flags fromJacob and realized, oh wow,
these are actually really big. Butthey don't hate Jacob if they're Team Edward,
you know what I mean, It'sjust that they have chosen Team Edward

(01:09:57):
because for me, for me too, I saw Edward's character development from the
first book to the last book.That Edward we meet in the first book
is not that Edward we get inthe last book. But we don't see
that with Jacob, like at all. He's the same throughout the entire thing.
Honestly, probably gets worse from NewMoon to where Edward leaves without giving

(01:10:21):
Bella a choice to Breaking Dawn wherehe wants Billa to be involved and doesn't
want to shield her from everything andstarts to trust her to be able to
handle herself. Like that's even inprogress that we see Eclipse. When he
comes back, he's like, hey, you really like riding motorcycles? Now

(01:10:45):
I got a motorcycle. It's thatway. I can ride with you if
you want me to, but nopressure. And like, also, I
got you some safety gears so youdon't ride without a helmet or a leather
jacket anymore. Also, it's kindof sexy. He use the word sexy
about Mella riding motorcycles, Like allright, Edward Collin using the word sexy,

(01:11:06):
no longer a press teenager, Yeah, yeah. Whereas if Jacob,
when Bella dies giving birth, hegoes onside and he's like, well,
I know she's dead because I don'tfeel anything for her anymore. And it's
like, that's what you're thinking rightnow. And the only reason he stops
being so obsessed with Bella is justbecause Renesm is born and he's able to

(01:11:29):
channel that somewhere else. So yeah, the lack of character grows. It's
a huge one. That is notKayla saying that he was attracted to Bella's
egg. He was not attracted toBella's egg. Controversial, Yeah, controversial,
yeah. Third on the Stephanie Meyerwebsite. No, yeah, that's

(01:11:49):
true. That is true. Whilewe're at it, I would have been
EJ. No, Jacob wouldn't havedifferent person. Okay, And if if
it had been Jacob's own sibil spatsibling been Jacob's own spawn, it would
not he would not have imprinted onhis own child. Yeah, okay,

(01:12:14):
different person. Important notes inter Iknow, got to write it down.
Listen. The amount of things I'vehad to learn because of this group.
Literally, the amount of times Ihad to go back to Stephane's website to
like fact check and be like,okay, I'm back again right here,
I am cracking it open. Yuhyeah. No. I love fun facts

(01:12:39):
and trivia and tidbits and histories thatI could find out all throughout like my
high school years and stuff. ButI will admit I was a the Ocean
warmed his ballsack believer until Kayla.Lovingly. I say that though, because
that is funny as ship. I'mlike misinformation and it's one of those things.

(01:13:00):
It's one of those things that likethe fandom joked about, and then
it just got taken seriously yes,to where so many people are like,
no, that's the truth, andthen they get mad about it. They're
like, this doesn't make sense becausehow is that how Renesme was born?
But it was human sperm? Wow, Stephanie Meyer doesn't know anything, and

(01:13:21):
it's like, actually, that isa fandom joke. There is an intext
explanation for this. You're not gonnalike it, but you don't know money.
It's venom. All of their likebodily fluids are replaced with venom.
So the most that they can figureout is that like they take in blood

(01:13:42):
and it turns into venom in theirbodies and it's what lubricates them and allows
them to be able to move.And it's still like they still can breathe,
like their organs, like their lungsmove, but they don't have to
breathe out of necessity. It's morejust like for sense, and it can
become uncomfortable if they don't. Andso they have venom sperm and yep.

(01:14:09):
And the only venom that changes aperson is when they bite them. It's
their spit venom, which is whyEdward has to be so careful about kissing
Bella is because he doesn't want anyof his spit venom to like get into
a sore in her mouth or somethinglike that, and he doesn't want her
to like nick her lip on oneof his razor sharp flat teeth. Yeah,

(01:14:32):
that is how Esme is a hybridis because he's got he's shooting venom.
But then that's also how the guyin like South America was creating like
an army of hybrids. And that'swhy people were like, it doesn't make
sense, because if Edward just hadsome leftover from being a human, how's
that guy just cranking it out?And it's not because when he turned,

(01:14:55):
his vampire superpower was jiz, whichwould be an insane vampire superpower to have
yotting that down. It's because it'sall better, so the men keep producing
it. So there we go,learning something new that I had to learn.
I had to sit down and belike, all right, well,

(01:15:18):
because people will like talk about itand they'll get in fights about it,
and then I'm like all right,all right, like I in order yeah,
in order to like moderate the fight, I have to learn. So
here we go I'm full of thisknowledge now got to share it. Do

(01:15:40):
you want to know my favorite scenein the movies? Because I want to
tell you, yes, Okay,it's when they're underwater in New Moon.
I fucking love that part and thesong and it beautiful. It's so good.
It's so good every time I'm like, it's on and then I stare
at it and I'm like, huh, okay, there we go. And
then it's a media ruined by Bella'sfake drowning. What was that? What

(01:16:02):
in the world was that? Shecomes out and she's just like cross eyed
and like and like a tiny littledrain of water like trickles all like ray.
It's so bizarre, Like, girl, you went from dying to just
being like like you. They couldn'teven have her sit up and do like
a full barreled cough. They hadto like it's so weak, thank you,

(01:16:26):
Jacob. And it's like, hey, I'm glad you woke up.
Harry's dying brutal. It's so ohgod, what a moment iconic. I
had to share. Had to share. Another favorite is when they are hunting
the bears and wolves. Yes,the Radiohead song Yeah yeah. So many

(01:16:51):
of the like most of yeah,iconic scenes come from New Moon, Like
it's a possibility. Chairsmith, Ithink that's what it is. We've gotten
older and we're like, fuck,been there the chair before a month?
Yes, honestly the way I've gotI brought it away before. We have

(01:17:13):
had homes among us hasn't had girlrot. Fans have all been there,
We've all been there. Yes,Okay, what's the most embarrassing thing that
you've done as a Twilight fan?Time to confess fan is going to have
the best, so let's hear it. I've made some pretty odd memes that

(01:17:46):
are public, so if someone wereto just search my name on Facebook,
they would see some interesting stuff aboutTwilight and me. Everything else on my
proofiles locked down except for me toalkingabout dick and balls in Twilight, And
what about that? Is there tobe shameful? Yea? Among us?
Among us hasn't talked about dick andballs. For me, the most embarrassing

(01:18:13):
was that somebody tried to get mefired from my job because their post got
declined in the group. No,yeah, it was crazy, it was
super crazy. It was super weird. She called in to my school and
she was like, hey, Iknow this person and they're getting high and
drunk before school every day. They'rea danger to kids. They need to
be arrested and like need to losetheir job. And like she called in

(01:18:33):
and like her number didn't match up, and then they were like, oh,
how do you know her? Andher story kept changing and they were
immediately like red flagged it and theywere also like this just doesn't align with
the Kayla that we know, andso they like brought it to me and
I was like, holy shit,like this is the girl's post that got
declined earlier, not by me,but she was yelling about me, of

(01:18:54):
course, and so then she waslike not stopping. And so my administrator
was like, we have to getthe cops involved because she has escalated it
to this situation. So two policeofficers showed up to my job and I
had to sit down with my principlesand these two police officers and I had

(01:19:16):
to explain to them what the Twilightgroup was and why this person who was
mad at me and the faces ofeverybody in the room as they're all taking
notes and they're just like, now, what is it again? And I
was like, it's a twilight groupfor me, it's like having to go

(01:19:40):
through that was next level? AmI embarrassed of the group? No?
Was I embarrassed in that moment tohave to be in that situation because of
the group? Yes, yes Iwas. That's like something I would never
think psychotic. Yeah, they geta little they go a little wild when

(01:20:01):
it comes to the Kaila. Yeah. Yeah, So that was a girl.
She gets all the hate and likefifty to fifty, it probably isn't
her who did whatever they're mad at, but it still gets So that for
me was the most embarrassing, justlike to have that moment and be like,
well here I am. Yeah,that was weird, okay, and

(01:20:28):
we're waiting. I'm waiting. I'mnot going to let this lad Well,
I'm not letting it go. Okay. So the same night that we went
to The New Moon midnight opening nightshowing, if not the literally throwing food
at people afterwards because our parents thoughtwe were at the sleepover. Afterwards,

(01:20:58):
we walked around the complex. Itwas like, you know, to almost
two am, however long that moviewas, and there was a gentleman in
a grocery store and he looked verymuch like it and walked up to him

(01:21:24):
and talked to him and we allflirted in our little middle school way of
flirting, and he was I don'tknow, probably mid twenty thirty, and
I'm eighty nine percent sure. Welike he gave gave him a piece of

(01:21:49):
paper with all of our numbers onit. Oh my god, you were
really had at New Moon. Huh. That's so teenager core, yeah if
it. And we were all deckedout too, We had our merch on
and like did sick makeup and thingslike that. And we we also like

(01:22:11):
again, this was a complex whereI did a lot of shenanigans as a
middle schooler. We like tried toclimb the parking garage and all the way
to the roof and shit like that, and you needed sedate it. Yeah,
there was. I mean there wasanother night in the same parking garage
where we did make it to theroof and we dropped watermelons from it.

(01:22:33):
Classics. So but yeah, waynot that it was having to explain to
my creative writing teacher one what Twilightwas why my thick was so long Because
everyone else turned in like two pages. I was constantly the child who was
turning in extra long stories and probablybeing the bane of my teachers because they

(01:22:55):
had to then grade them. Yeah, and it brought you to this moment
in time. Yeah. So yeah, all right, guys. Well that's
I mean, we've been talking forages, so I think that's all we
got for you. But thank youso much for coming on, giving us
your knowledge, all of your littletidbits about things, for having us.

(01:23:18):
Yes, it was really fun.I could talk for another four hours about
Twilight. Yeah. I literally wedidn't even get in any of the backstories
of the other characters. It's likethe iceberg right here. We could keep
going and going and going. It'slike what you all had to say just
about like fandom in general, andlike what it means to you. I
think, like there's some really goodstuff in there. Good okay, like

(01:23:41):
all this inner child stuff. I'mlike, yeah about Twilight and the group,
I wouldn't have met Faye and Kaylaand other admins when they've all become
a really important part of my lifeand I can imagine being about them.
And it's just crazy to think thatit's all because of Twilight and sparkling vampires.
I know, it's funny, itfeels so goofy sometimes, but it's
like, but it has been avery significant part of my life obviously.

(01:24:03):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Andit's one of those things where like people
in my life they've been like,oh, do you still do that stuff?
And I'm like, yeah, it'sa lot of fun and it's this
nice little community of people and it'sit's like a fun little hobby that's also

(01:24:25):
like parallel to like my interest inreading and books and smories, and I
think that that's I think that that'ssomething that's cool. Yeah, thank you
guys so much for real of course, as if you cannot run me,
as if you could bite me off. Sound vampire