Best & Worst: Twilight Websites
Sites that sparkle... and some that suck
Next: Fan Sites
[PAGE-BREAK]
Fan Sites
Best
Twilight Source
Why It Rocks: It's fun, fan-friendly nicely laid out and easy to navigate. Plus it feels like it connects with fans.
Plus, it's customizable, a nice extra bonus if you're looking to make your experience a little more different.
Worst
Next: Fan Fiction
[PAGE-BREAK]
Fan Fiction
Best
Awakenings
Why It Rocks: It was voted one of the best by the team behind FanFiction.net, easily the biggest library for fan writing about any book/TV show/film etc ever.
If this lot think you do good work, it counts for something. And in a world where quality is rarely the main aim of the scribblers, Awakenings is a well-crafted tale.
Worst
Twilia, The Girl Who Waz In Luv With A Vampyre
Why It Bites: Actually, we're still trying to decide it this was a carefully crafted hoax - it's written in such gibberish teen-speak that it cries out as fake. So much so that is was deleted from FanFiction.net.
Still, someone preserved chunks of it, so go have a look if you need a chuckle.
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we’ve got you covered.
Next: News
[PAGE-BREAK]
News
Best
Twilighters.org
Why It Rocks: It suffers a little from long-page-itis, but it's otherwise a nicely designed little site that offers decent news coverage that gets regularly updated and doesn't try to be overly flashy.
Worst
The Twilight Saga
Why It Bites: We're going to go a little easy, since it's more of a blog, but it doesn't seem to want to mention a whole lot besides what it itself has going on. There are a few stories, but we'd look elsewhere.
Next: Merchandise
[PAGE-BREAK]
Merchandise
Best
Cafe Press
Why It Rocks: Cafe Press is a long-established site where people can create their own T-shirts and more.
It helps that they have a lot of talented, often funny people along with passionate fans, so their merch is usually up to a higher standard than most.
Worst
Hot Topic Rings
Why It Bites: Hot Topic has attempted to corner the market on Twilight gear, and though it has a few decent shirts, there's also an awful lot of clag to be find.
Repackaging cheap body glitter to get the fans buying is bad enough, but these dodgy-looking rings just scream tacky.
Next: Cash-In
[PAGE-BREAK]
Cash-In Item
Best
New Moon Soundtrack
Why It Rocks: All credit to the New Moon filmmakers - they've put together a pretty impressive soundtrack for the movie.
We suppose it doesn't hurt to have bands desperate to appear on an album that will fly off the shelves, but scoring the likes of Thom Yorke? Impressive.
Worst
Stephenie Meyer biography motion comic
Why It Bites: Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear… Coming straight from the school of People Will Buy Anything To Do With The Phenomenon, the biography was already slightly odd.
Now there's the motion comic version, which includes narration from a Drac-alike vamp (er… okay….) and some utterly embarrassing work. Just check out the trailer above.
Next: Official Site
[PAGE-BREAK]
Official Site
Best
Stephenie Meyer's site
Why It Rocks: All credit to Meyer for providing a regularly updated destination for fans that includes lots of insight into her work (she even published the abortive Midnight Sun chapters after the leak in a classy move) and more.
It's fairly basically designed, but that makes it easy to use (JK Rowling's for example, is flashier, but a little more awkward).
Worst
Twilight New Moon MySpace Profile
Why It Bites: Um, it's on MySpace? Okay, that's a cheap shot. Sometimes MySpace gets good trailers. But the pages are awkward and overloaded and the New Moon entry is no different.
Mostly, like most official presences, it's just exhortations to buy stuff. Consume! Obey!
Next: Haters
[PAGE-BREAK]
And For The haters…
Like This? Then try...
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter here .
Follow us on Twitter here .
James White is a freelance journalist who has been covering film and TV for over two decades. In that time, James has written for a wide variety of publications including Total Film and SFX. He has also worked for BAFTA and on ODEON's in-cinema magazine.
