My Mad Max Fandom Journey

Do you ever look back at your life and zero in on a moment that changed everything? Maybe it was signing up for a class where you met that special someone. Maybe it was making a connection that helped you land a dream job. For me, it was the summer of 2006, when I picked up a dusty old VHS copy of "Mad Max" (1979) at a garage sale with my mom. I look back at that moment fondly, now realizing it would lead to a lifetime of fandom, friendships, opportunities, and creative inspiration. It even led me to meet the love of my life.

I didn’t expect much from a humble video tape from a garage sale. When my mom flipped the well-worn cardboard case over to read the back, she mentioned she was nostalgic for this random old movie, having seen it in theaters back in her youth. And since she had been sharing her love of 70's and 80's action cinema with me, this seemed like a natural pick. I was 14 at the time, and I knew nothing of the franchise, except that it had something to do with cars and Australia. And frankly, as a teen girl, I wasn't particularly interested. It didn't even have any boys I had crushes on! At least not yet, you sweet summer child. Nevertheless, I was open to seeing the film. It was a classic, after all.

Hoo boy. I had no idea this 50-cent video tape was going to rewire my brain chemistry and change my life for the decades to come.

That fated video cassette waited its turn on the shelf for months. Back then, my mom would walk on the treadmill and pop in a movie while I'd sit nearby and watch it with her. That's how I first saw "Terminator," "Alien," "Predator," "Die Hard," "Total Recall," and "Commando." Then one day, she plunked our copy of "Mad Max" into the VCR. I took my seat on the sofa while her rhythmic steps and the treadmill hummed in the background.

I had no expectations going in. But subconsciously, I had become accustomed to the glitz and polish of Hollywood big-budget blockbusters. When those largely unknown-to-America names popped up during the rather rough-hewn intro credits, my child brain didn't know what to expect. And before I could really process what was happening, I was watching a leather-clad chubby manchild spy on a horny couple via his rifle scope.

Little did I know, this character would capture my imagination and become my muse for my first foray into creative writing. (That’s Roop. That’s my online identity’s namesake, right there.) Roop proceeds to drive like a complete dipshit, and I’m utterly captivated. So it begins.

Then Toecutter (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and the gang roll up. Once again, I was enraptured. Some kids look at famous athletes or rock stars and wanna be just like them, but as soon as I laid eyes on Toecutter, it was like the heavens opened up and dropped my new aesthetic right into my lap. He and his compatriots fascinated me with their homoerotic antics and may have awakened something within me. Between Roop and the Acolyte gang, I was utterly spellbound by this film

Aside from the characters, the setting felt oddly familiar to me. It’s not a huge shock — I’m from a midwestern American Rust Belt city that’s been on the decline for decades. That lived experience made the world of "Mad Max" feel like home.

When the credits rolled, I was practically tripping over myself to look up the cast on IMDB and obsess over every last character.

My mother didn’t realize this. She apologized to me for what we just watched (she thought she was showing me "Mad Max 2"). When I explained to her that I absolutely adored what I’d just watched, there was practically a look of betrayal in her eyes (she’s a Road Warriors fan all the way).

Nevertheless, my teenage brain latched onto this low-budget 1970s Ozploitation flick. Only problem was, there was no real fandom for me to join. I drew fan art, but it languished in obscurity on DeviantArt, because nobody in my peer group knew anything about the film. (Eventually, I formed a small friend group and got pity likes from two other girls with ultra-niche interests. One liked a "Warrior Cats" background character and the other adored some Canadian insurance mascot. My teenage years were strange.)

Sure, there was the MadMaxMovies.com forum, but I was a 14-year-old girl. It wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to hang out with a bunch of guys my dad’s age, so I simply lurked and soaked up all the lore I could. And that’s where I learned about this mythical movie that would, perhaps, someday be made. It was called Mad Max: Fury Road, and the idea of actually seeing it on the silver screen sounded like a pipe dream. I was practically salivating over every detail, from murmurings about the plot and the new vehicles to casting speculation and the anticipated return of Hugh Keays-Byrne as the new villain. For years, I had watched HKB’s IMDB page, hoping against the odds to see him in something new. The very idea of seeing him on the big screen again — in a Mad Max film, no less — seemed too good to be true.

Alas, it was only 2006, and "Fury Road’s" first preview wouldn’t hit the internet until the summer of 2014.

My interest in Mad Max never went away, but receded into the background as I took theater (yeah I was That Kid), locked into my high school academics, and branched out into other fandoms. But those fandoms came and went. I always found myself returning to Mad Max. It would intersect with my other interests — if I had a Subeta, Valenth, DragonAdopters, or Dragon Cave pet, there would inevitably be ones named Wez, Toecutter, Bubba Zanetti, Mudguts, and so forth. Some of those petsites are no longer online, but I still have cherished memories of Bubba Zanetti the Silver Dino on DragonAdopters and Toecutter the Chimaera on Valenth. (I think Toecutter was some kind of special cash shop variant of the normal pet? I remember my mom letting me use her PayPal to buy him.)

And don’t even get me started on all the Pokémon I named after "Mad Max" characters. Bubba the Umbreon was a beast back in my stall-oriented Gen III competitive team! Clunk the Hippowdon was a star in my Gen IV sandstorm team. So was Mudguts the Swampert. Sometimes I made Mad Max-themed teams, other times, I’d just name a Pokémon or two after a character from the series. I even named some of my Digimon in my copy of Digimon World: Dusk after Mad Max characters. Basically, no matter what game I was playing, I’d always find a way to bring my favorite bikies along for the ride.

Anyway, the point is, my interest in "Mad Max" was always simmering, even if it was on the backburner. I had to immerse myself in it somehow, aside from watching the movies over and over. And there just wasn’t a whole lot for an American fan to dig into — the novelizations were out of reach, there wasn’t a game I could access, and the fandom wasn’t really a place for a teen girl to hang out. So I made my own little bubble where I could play with the characters, albeit in an abstract manner. I always hoped someone would recognize a "Mad Max" character’s name in an online match. If it happened, no other players ever told me. But I didn’t mind — even if the names didn’t ring a bell to anyone else, they were meaningful to me. And they made me happy.

Then I started college. It ate my life. Games and fandom fell to the wayside.

But one fateful summer day during my Junior year, a video popped up on my YouTube recommended page. It was the Comic-Con first look at "Mad Max: Fury Road." I couldn’t believe my eyes.

My jaw was on the floor as the images on screen flashed before my eyes. I combed through every frame and shoveled it all into my heart. Frankly, I don’t know if I’ll ever shriek the way I did when I first saw Hugh Keays-Byrne as Immortan Joe. It was like I wasn’t even in control of my body, I just went absolutely fangirl apeshit mode. And there was some cool-looking guy dual-wielding guns in an all-blue scene? Riding on a car with tank treads? Holy shit. I was enamored.

In addition to all the new lore and a new cast of characters to fall in love with, there was one thing I had long anticipated about the release of "Fury Road" — a fandom revival. Maybe there would finally be a group of fans my age! Maybe I’d have friends that actually understood my love for these movies! I’ve always had a tough time making friends, so the very prospect of this literally kept me up at night with gleeful anticipation.

I swear, the days between that trailer drop and May 15th, 2015 dragged like a motherfucker. The movie couldn’t arrive soon enough.

I walked out of the theater utterly blown away. It was everything I wanted and more. Hugh Keays-Byrne was captivating, of course — and I’d even fallen in love with another character! The Bullet Farmer was living rent free in my heart. And after finding so little content of him on the internet, I decided to make a Tumblr fan page for him. Thus began my involvement with the rapidly growing Mad Max fandom.

In addition to giving me new fictional characters to obsess over, the fandom was my gateway to meet countless wonderful real people. The incredible folks of the Gigadumpster (the warlord trio fandom) were my introduction to fully appreciating fannish culture. A fandom for the original Mad Max film also cropped up — and I made fast friends with the folks.

I even made my first foray into creative writing in this fandom. As much as I’d always loved exploring stories through art and imagination, I’d never written fic or gotten into a proper multi-paragraph roleplay. Getting into roleplay helped me hone my ability to bang out multiple paragraphs on virtually any given topic, which (frankly) helped my writing more than any college class and gave me the confidence to pursue content writing as a career. Until I participated in the fandom, I never really considered myself a writer, but now, I currently have a full-time job writing content, print ads, and commercials. But the life upgrades didn’t stop there.

Around 2018, after the Mad Max fandom went dormant on Tumblr, I got an itch to do some roleplay. But no one was around to play, so I went in search of new folks to write with. I poked around on a number of sites, but I kept returning to one site in particular. I wasn’t expecting much, but after a few dud RPs, I met Mygodcharles, a partner that was reliable. Fun. Creative. And we were profoundly in sync. What started as a platonic roleplay between my character Roop and her OC, Miel, became a blossoming romantic relationship.

We eventually got to know one another better through both RP and everyday chats. And as we developed more pairings and discussed our values, priorities, needs, and dreams, we found that we were perfect for each other. Just like our characters, our relationship started off platonic, and we became each other’s world.

Today, our relationship is going strong — she’s even making this website with me and participating in MM fandom shenanigans!