PoP! Fangirl of the Month – April 2012
The PoP! Stars scour all of teh internetz in search of the most Fabulous Females of Fandom. Please keep it in your pants.
This month we turn our attention to the PoP!ulation member we share with the armed forces, Tina Reichl, just in time for her to meet the lot of us at this month’s C2E2!
Name: Christina Reichl
AKA/Handle: ZombieNightingale
Birthdate: 11 Aug 1988
Location: Germany (for now)
Marital Status: Married
Current Occupation: Dog Handler
Favorite Comics: Kick-Ass, Batwoman, X23, Hack/Slash, Walking Dead, X-Men Legacy, Justice League Dark, Catwoman.
Favorite Writers: I haven’t really found a writer that I go out of my way to go read yet. But maybe some day.
Favorite Artists: I love Jo Chen’s cover art. I also like Sana Takeda and J.H. Williams III.
Favorite Movies: My absolute favorite movies will always be George Romero’s Dead movies (Night, Dawn and Day) I even liked Land of the Dead. But my close runner up movies are the original Nightmare on Elm Street 1 & 2, Friday the 13th 1-3, Serenity, Kick-Ass, Shaun of the Dead, and Return of the Jedi.
Favorite TV Shows: True Blood, Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Castle, Ghost in the Shell, Being Human (American and British), Fire Fly, Battlestar Galactica, Bones, Vampire Diaries, FLCL, Trigun, Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Vampire Knight. I pretty much don’t watch TV anymore, I go online and download things that look interesting and watch it from there. 
Favorite
Video Games: Baldurs Gate 1 & 2, Never Winter Nights, Resident Evil 1-3, Halo 2 & Reach, Bioshock, Pokemon gameboy games, Dragon Age 1, Final Fantasy 1-3 & 7, Mass Effect 2, Silent Hill 1 & 2.
Favorite Music: Linkin Park, Adele, Julie London, Bat for Lashes, Flogging Molly, The Tossers, Slipknot, Within Temptation, Evanescence, Flyleaf, Gavin DeGraw, Rammstein, Michael Buble, and 30 Seconds to Mars.
Favorite Books: Blood Legacy series, Vampire Diaries 1-3 (I liked them at first but after the third one I kind of fell out with them), Harry Potter 1-4 (for some reason I just didn’t want to read the rest any more), Black Jewel Trilogy (I found on my deployment and read the whole series), Working for the Devil, World War Z, Zombie Survival Guide.
Turn-Ons: A natural sense of humor, appreciation for art, and a willingness to explore and try new things. Also, someone who accepts me for me.
Turn-Offs: Selfish, greedy, egotistic people who think they are better than everyone else. That’s my main one that usually determines if I’ll even try to talk to a person. There are a few other things that bug me but it usually depends on the person.
What do you do that makes you a Fangirl? I read comics as much as I can, I suck down stories like oxygen. I always try new video games, even if they look like crap. And most people I know, for some reason, come to me when they have a question about a show they watch or a movie or a game.
Nothing says Fangirl/boy like being people’s “go to” source for info. How long have you considered yourself a Fangirl? I have always been a fangirl I guess. I grew up watching nothing but horror movies with my oldest brother. My mom would always watch Star Trek (didn’t matter which one, she watched them all), and she always watched the original Star Wars. I use to go to my best friends house and we would light saber fight all the time, it got expensive because I would accidentally break them. 
We would run around in his back yard with toy guns pretending to kill zombies. Let’s just say the neighborhood kids thought I was weird.
What are your current Fangirl obsessions? Zombies! zombie zombie, zombie zombie.
"Zombieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee Nightingale!"
Now that’s what I call a one track braaaaaiiin…Looking back, do you have a favorite geek memory of your childhood? Riding my bike 6 miles to the nearest comic book store and squatting in the store all day looking at comics, only ever left with 2 to 4 at a time though after each of my visits. I also remember being horrified by my TV as a kid because I watched an old zombie movie where they came from the TV. I re-watched that a year ago and couldn’t help but laugh at the bad acting.
It’s always funny to see how good or bad things from our childhood hold up. Turning our attention to the here and now, who are your favorite bad-ass ladies in comics, games and movies? Hit Girl, Batwoman, Catwoman, Michonne, Rogue and X-23 in comics. I like Kat from Halo Reach, but most female characters I like in games are the ones I make. As far as shows I love Starbuck in BSG and the Major from Ghost in the Shell. For movies the newer Salander from the recent Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Has being a Fangirl affected other aspects of your life? Well, apparently in the eyes of guys I know I am another guy just like them and in the eyes of the girls I know, well they look at me like I’m weird and say I’m “special”. >:(
The crowds at C2E2 better give her some space...
Little do they know “special” isn’t a dirty word anymore. Is there an aspect of geek life or culture you’d like to explore more? I am trying to get out to more conventions. C2E2 will be the first one I cosplay at. I went to ECCC a few years back and nearly had a panic attack because I didn’t know anyone and I’m not good in crowds.
Thankfully in Chicago you’ll be with the PoPulation, and no one takes better care of one of their own. There’s been a lot of talk about a rise in female geek culture. Do you think we’re in a “geek girl renaissance?” Why or why not? No. Geek girls have always existed. It’s just with the internet the way it is now more of them can try and get their voices heard (it’s still hard sometimes though). I find though that it doesn’t help that most who do try to speak out seem to care more about them selves being girls instead of geeks. I am a firm believer that no matter what you do you’re a geek first and foremost and a girl last. Even at work I’m like that, I don’t see why gender should be apart of any of it. I never go into something saying, “hey! I have tits!” I go in saying, “Hey! Guess what just came out and who died in comics today!” The main times I ever bring up being a girl is when creators find a way to ex out our opinions on the materials we love.
Since you’re currently stationed in Germany, would you say there is much geek culture in the armed forces? Depends. I have met people where on an entire shift all we would talk about is what we would do if the zombie apocalypse would happen or who would beat who in a fight and if DC would kick Marvel’s butt. Heck, I’ve even had hour long conversations with people about video games. But like I said, it’s few and far between. Right now at work my boss seems to look to me when it comes to video games or Walking Dead, everyone else just laughs at me and says, “Reichl is just being Reichl.”
I hope that your supervisors and fellow soldiers are paying attention in just in case they find themselves facing the living dead. Speaking of one track minds what would be your advice to someone wanting to win over the Fangirl/boy they can’t stop thinking about? Be yourself, don’t change your self for someone else and don’t change others. If it’s not meant to be then it’s not meant to be.
Very true. Where can people find you on the internets?
Last FM: http://www.last.fm/user/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/
Tumblr:http://zombienightingale.
G4 Forums: UndeadNightingale and on Facebook
Thanks for the info Tina and we look forward to seeing you in Chicago!
Filed Under: Fangirl of the Month
Awesome!
Hmmmm…… I may need to rethink my answer to “who I’d take with me in the zombie apocalypse.” that assault rifle is rather convincing…..
The Hit Girl costume looks amazing.
Thanks, that was at Halloween two years ago that I wore it.
Such wonderful film taste! <3
Nice. Looking forward to meeting you at C2E2!!