Being part of a fandom is a unique experience. As someone who has been in quite a few of them over the years, from Twilight to Fifty Shades, I’ve seen the good and the bad that comes with it. Despite those bad moments, the ones that happen when a fandom comes together and unites can be an incredible experience. That’s what General Hospital’s Sprina fans understand.
Since the beginning of October, fans of Spencer Cassadine and Trina Robinson, AKA Sprina, have been running a campaign titled Fall 4 Sprina. The campaign’s goal was not only to get more people to recognize that the pairing, who are not even a couple yet, have a huge fan base behind them but also to show some love to the actors Nicholas Alexander Chavez and Tabyana Ali, who play them.
Although the pairing is famous to the fans who love them, me included, there was a definite and noticeable lack of promotion from General Hospital. Considering it’s the show these two are on, we found that to be a bit disheartening. When the fandom realized that our faves were not being promoted in the ways that they should have been, which includes the simplest of things like a photo on the shows official Instagram (we’ve done the research and found no duo shots of Sprina), we decided to take matters into our own hands.
The Sprina fandom recognized that we had to be the ones to do the work to make our voices heard. That’s where Sprina Nation came in and how the Fall 4 Sprina campaign took shape. With the fantastic planning and organizational skills of those behind the Sprina Nation fan account, multiple interactive activities were arranged so anyone interested could participate. Through this campaign, we were able to re-live some of our favorite Sprina moments and showcase how many talented people exist in the fandom.
The Fall 4 Sprina campaign saw many people joining in, and you could feel how much they loved and supported the Sprina ship and the actors. The campaign’s final week closed out in a significant and memorable way. Through the help of donations from people in the fandom, Sprina Nation was able to organize a plane with a banner flown over Prospect Studios, where General Hospital films. I don’t know about you, but this is the first time I have ever participated in something of this magnitude in a fandom. I believe it will go down in history as one of the most unforgettable moments in any fandom.
The banner, which read “Nicholas & Tabyana, We love you #Fall4Sprina,” was a labor of love, and months of planning went into it. You’re probably wondering why a fandom would go to this much trouble for a soap opera and a couple that isn’t even a couple yet. That’s the beauty of fandom, however. We will ride for our ships and the actors involved in those ships, no matter the circumstances. And that means Sprina Nation will keep going because we know how important it is to see a pairing like theirs on the screen. Most importantly, we want to ensure that everyone involved in General Hospital sees what we see when we watch the two together.
Though the two haven’t been on the show that long, they have made an enormous impact. It’s beautiful to see an interracial pairing have a storyline that so many people are invested in. It continues to remind us that representation matters, and Sprina is what viewers look forward to. Not to mention the actors are just as invested and do their part to bring the story to life honestly and authentically. The characters of Spencer and Trina mean a lot to them as well.
We’ve done our job if we could bring a bit of light into their lives with this campaign while getting others to start investing in their love story. It’s evident that our voices were heard because the General Hospital social media accounts shared a few of the posts from the banner flight, and we even got our first photo of Chavez and Ali posted on the Instagram account. While that stuff was meaningful, seeing the looks of pure joy and the many thanks received from Chavez and Ali was one of the best feelings and made this even more worthwhile and heartwarming.
Check out Chavez and Ali’s reaction to seeing the “Fall 4 Sprina” banner below and to see more footage head over to Sprina Nations Youtube channel.