Fist Exposure to Mermaiding?

[MermaidRanoria]

Forgive me in advance if this topic has been discussed before. I went a few pages back in the the "General Community" section of the forum and did a few quick searches. Nothing yielded results. so I figured it was safe to post.

While writing my introductory post I wrote about my first introductions to mermaids in general, but I didn't talk about how I was introduced to the idea of mermaiding as a hobby or profession. (am I using the term mermaid right? haha) I see some of the community in their introductory posts have written about their first exposure to mermaiding, but many did not. So I ask you:
What was your first experience with the concept of mermaiding? What was your first impression of the hobby/profession? Was it love at first site, or did you ease into it? Was it a profound or emotional experience for you? Lets discuss! Relive the magic before you got your sea fins on!

Personally, about 3 years ago I just randomly googled "real mermaid tails." I figured someone had to have had made one that was functional in water. To be honest I'm not even sure how you google for such things. I received a lot of results for fabric tails, but not as many professional performance type tails. My first impression was in aww and wonder at all tails and participants. I thought it was completely awesome hobby/obsession/profession that takes a lot of dedication, and for lack of better words balls, to participate in. I've always been attracted to what most people would call the "bizarre" so naturally with my appreciation for mermaids and costuming i was blown away by the concept.

[Mermaid Kelda]

I've always had a love for mermaids (though strangely enough The Little Mermaid was never really a favourite Disney film of mine - though I did have lots of renditions of the original fairy tale) and, since I lived on the banks of a large creek, I'd always swim with my legs crossed and play mermaid games with my friends.

It was through tumblr, I think, that I found out about mermaiding (yes, mermaiding is a term, you got that right! It's pretty much a free-for-all with regards to coining new words, since none of them appear in any dictionary ;D)
I started a blog purely for ocean/mermaid/nautical pictures, and through that I saw someone post something about the MerNetwork. A while later, I joined, and really began to discover that this was something people actually did as a hobby, and even as their profession. Now, a little over a year later, I have two silicone tails on the way, plans to make and paint a few neoprene ones, and am planning on starting a children's entertainment business with a couple of friends. All in all, I'm so glad I stumbled on this place, and the people here are so amazing and supportive! :)

[Fun123joker]

when i was younger i would always be on youtube so one day i types in "how to make a...." and one of the first results were "how to make a mermaid tail" i was really confused and thought it would be those mermaid spells people post but i clicked it and it was tutorials of how to make fabric tails. so i click the first one then i look in suggestions and i see videos of girls swiming in thier fabric tails. after video and video i decided to ask my mom if i can make one. so speent a few years swiming and i thought the only place i can see and talk to mers were on youtube and wondered if there were somewhere else ment for this. It was on tumblr where mernetwork was mentioned. i thought that silicone and latex tails were only for famous professionals like hannah mermaid and mertailor until i came here to find out alot of people make silicone tails.

[AniaR]

It started with Splash, then about 10 years ago I saw Hannah :)

[Seatan]

I was dating a guy who did Amtgard, which is a medieval/fantasy Roleplay game where people fight with foam swords. (Similar to the SCA except way less hardcore when it comes to realism and historical context), and I created a persona for it named Seavanna Merchilde. Seavanna's father had snuck her onto a fishing boat dressed as a little boy. The ship was caught in a storm and the sailors saw merpeople in the distance. Someone realized Seavanna was a girl, and because of superstition about women on ships the fishermeb believed that having her on board had angered the sirens and they were causing the storm. They thew both Seavanna and her father overboard. It turns out that the merpeople had come to SAVE the ship (they only took down pirate ships), but one of the mermaids found Seavanna and, realizing what the fishermen had done, they let the ship sink. Seavanna's father drowned so the merpeople took her back to their island, which was full of inlets leading out to the sea. Seavanna lived there amongst the merpeople from age 3 to 16, when a ship came to take all the gold the merpeople had stolen from pirate ships. All the merpeople were killed, but before she died, Seavanna's adopted mom put her on the back of a narwhal, who carries her to safety in the mainland. Raised by mermaids, Seavsnna was very awkward around humans, freaking them out a lot. Her main goal was to find the sailors who killed her family and get her revenge.

After making all this up,I began to search for mermaids. When I found pictures of Finfolk's tails, I was astounded, then found my way to mernetwork. Mermaiding just seemed like an awesome extension of my love for scuba--plus Amtgard wasn't really my thing. I am totally jockish when it comes to winning fights, but the guys there treated me lousy because I was female.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Does anybody remember sabrina the teenage witch? the one movie when she went to Australia? THAT was what introduced me to mermaiding.

[thevirginiamermaid]

Fortunately it hasn’t been that long since I was introduced to mermaiding. I loved the little mermaid, splash, and the thirteenth year, and hook. When I would go swimming I would put both my legs in one leg of my floral 90’s leggings and wrap the other leg around my waist and tuck it in to the elastic and of course I had flippers too. But sadly I grew up and it wasn’t socially acceptable to swim around like that so my dream fizzled. I remember about a year or so after I got my tumblr I searched “mermaid” in the tag search bar and after that I spent hours going through tags of “mermaids” and “mermaid tails” and “real mermaids”. My obsession was born. Recently I changed my tumblr from hipster/artsy girly to a strictly mermaid and oceanic themed blog. Before I discovered mermaiding I didn’t really have a dream. When people asked me I never gave them a straight answer because I didn’t have one. But now my passion is being a mermaid and it drives me everyday J

[Mermaid Kelda]

You should post the link to your tumblr in the tumblr thread so I can follow you! :)

[Dolphin Man]

I was eight or nine in 1984. My crush on female characters with magical powers --- like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and even Troi in Star Trek: TNG --- was burgeoning at this point. Regardless of the character, I'd have both a crush on and a desire to have her power.

1984 seemed quite a year for mermaids. Although I hadn't ever seen a Riptide episode, the haunting commercial for "Catch of the Day" stayed in my mind. Boz touches a hanging mermaid tail and the actress character walks over to say: "Don't touch my fins". It was an instant, intellectual attraction. "It's Punky Brewster" had an episode called "Fish Story" aired in Dec 1985.

So, I took an unused pair of pants and cut it into a makeshift tail, even using the other pant leg to as the upper waist. Surely, I was the only guy who wanted a tail; I kept it to myself. Women have freedoms that I, as a guy, sadly don't.

The movie "Splash" had only been a passing awareness in my mind until I saw its tv movie sequel in May 1988. Wow. Hard choice between watching that and switching channels to watch an alien woman who could read minds on "Something is Out There".

[Merman Dylan Zalrian]

I think it was the time I spent at the beach. My grandparents used to own a condo by the beach. I remember walking on the beach at a young age. I spent time in the ocean as young as when I crawled. I grew up close to the ocean sense before I can remember. The only word that could describe the connection I felt was merman "Man of the Sea".

I think I discovered the idea of being a merman on a Disney cruise. Since than, I would sleep with my legs bound together because that's the only way I could be what I felt in secret.

I think I shocked my family when I decided to swim in my first tail and share stuff.

I would not say that I became a merman because of Ariel, but it was the little mermaid that introduced me to the word merMAN, and it was my experience with the ocean from such a young age that established the feeling I had with the ocean. I'm not a fan of Ariel, but sometimes I wish I was born in her world. Personally, I think she was crazy to give up her life under the sea.

Sent from my LG-TP450 using MerNetwork mobile app (http://r.tapatalk.com/byo?rid=95032)

[Slim]

The grandmother to my nephew's half brother is a retired Weeki Wachee mermaid so that was my first exposure.