#AND a mini comic about them i never posted AND art of then wearing weird clothes??? this is my horrordust week bro

[triglycercule]

thinking so much about horror and dust,,, gosh these SILLY goobers theyre so EYDAGHGGG!!!!! compliments to eachother,,,,,

i need them to make puns about topics that absolutely nobody should be laughing about and then DIE cackling because no waaay the punchline was a human's execution :333 (phantom papyrus is shaking his head in dismay)

need them to share stories about shitty experiences with humans and for horror to be impressed by dust's ability to keep coming up with new ways to kill his human and then for dust to also be impressed by horror's ability to handle with all different types of humans!!!

they make eachother food but dust poisoned horror's food and horror added rusted nails to his so theyre just like no you first you really should eat first i wouldn't wanna be rude no but i INSIST! they both know. it's a fun little game isnt it??? horror gets a bit scared of having to eat the food when dust's eyes turn red and cyan but it's okay because then he can just shove the shitty eggs he made into those eyes because theres literal NAILS cooked into it

sometimes they fight because thats normal and dust is annoyed at horror for hating undyne because she's a good person who just wanted to help others and horror's getting pissed because DIDN'T YOU LITERALLY KILL HER DONT YOU JUST VIEW HER AS EXP WHY ARE YOU DEFENDING HER!!! and they bicker back and forth and dust is really starting to wonder why he even empathizes with horror atp.... but its ok after a little quarrel they simmer down and move on. they dont change opinions at all the fight was for nothing

but then there's also times when they just wanna confide in each other because likeeeee theyre both shitty people who fucked up their undergrounds by their own accords and miss how peaceful life was back then. dust tells horror stories of life back before the human came because horror doesn't really remember it that well anymore and horror speaks to phantom papyrus through dust so he can pretend that this is just a conversation between sans and papyrus and everything's okay for just a moment. they both linger onto their memories of how things were before everything went to shit even though horror can barely remember and dust hates his previous self back then,,,,,

dust thinks horror's sooo much better than him for not literally mass murdering everyone but then goes around and stink eyes him for forcing his snowdin to eat humans and then leave the rest of the underground to starve. WHY DIDN'T YOU DO BETTER HORROR WHY DIDN'T HELP EVERYONE ELSE. horror scoffs because even though he kinda lowkey gets dust's philosophy of saving everyone and stopping the human through gaining LV he still killed everyone??? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO THEM YOU IDIOT SHOULD'VE JUST FOUND ANOTHER WAY OR LET IT HAPPEN!!! the way they understand eachother on paper but then in reality despise what the other did,,,,,

ok SO WHAT if they encourage eachother's delusions. SO WHAT if they pretend the past never went away so WHAAAAT!!! it doesn't matter at least they found someone who can match their freak,,,,,, dust and horror peak duo PEAK DUO DARE I SAY OK

[thattimdrakeguy]

ROBIN 80TH ANNIVERSARY - REVIEW!! - The GREAT, the okay, the meh, the wait what, and the freaking awful

None of the stories I’d consider bad in this besides the Super Sons one.

They have flaws, some don’t have any but aren’t that great, and just weird choices, with some disappointments.

I’m just gonna be honest about each story because that’s all I can do.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S FIRST STORY: Really freaking good.

My favorite story is probably the first one:

Like the art is the best in the whole issue, and the only real flaw is how mean they made Bruce through-out it.

It’s yet again another story of how and why Dick quit (I guess he didn’t get fired this time) being Robin, but it’s just nice. Nice pacing, timing, dialogue, good art, and because the people working on it are 80s writers and artists, it keeps it feeling classic.

Which is great for a little showing of the 80s world, and I’m no big 80s DC guy at all, but it’s a really nice flashback for that.

One thing that was disappointing but I won’t count as a flaw (since it’s really not, just a wasted opportunity) is that this kid didn’t end up being Tim:

It looks like a young Tim, it’s drawn by the first artist on Tim’s Robin ongoing, written by his creator, it’s about the history of Robin, and he’s an overeager Robin fanboy-- like why wasn’t this kid Tim? He even has that dorky bowlcut Tim had when he was little, just less 80s styled.

A missed opportunity honestly.

The story though shows Dick’s compassion, talent, frustrations as he became his own man, his views on Robin, some of his sense of humor even. So his characterization is pretty great, but it is written by the man that grew Dick his own unique character to begin with, and it’s great to see this story keeps it up. (Prolly gonna find out this is an old script, but hey, it’s a good one.)

A weird retcon story, but it’s a nice callback to the 80s, and I think it’s really well-done beyond Bruce being a controlling grumpy prick to the point it feels like parody.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S SECOND STORY: It’s just alright.

Where the first story is a flashback to the 80s, this is a direct flashback to he 90s, with the writer and artist that started his ongoing solo.

And it’s good. Like I had a lot of fun reading it, good heroics, feels of it’s era, but like the last story that’s the fun.

There’s nothing really to say about it besides it’s good. There isn’t anything too standout about it.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S THIRD STORY: It’s forgettable.

I forgot this was a thing in this, and it just feels like a waste of page.

It’s in no way bad that I seen, but it’s so very bland and one note. Titans fight and Dick acts as leader. Very generic.

The art’s really good though.

--

DICK GRAYSON’S FOURTH STORY: It’s better than that last one at least.

Unlike the last one, this feels like it at least has a point to be here, and it actually feels like it makes sense to be in he 80th anniversary as well.

I’m not a personal fan of the “Grayson” series, it just sexualized Dick too much honestly, made him cheesier again a bit, and the writing was a little on the off-side in a way that just made it all feel empty besides a few moments, but I never read the whole series to be a great judge on it.

But also because of that, I have no idea who these people are for this story to be grand. What makes it feel like it’s worthy of being here though is trying it back to the history of Robin like the first story with these little bits.

Without these moments though, you wouldn’t have a clue why this is there.

Also Dick just suddenly wears this:

Which is super duper off-putting. But Oh-ho gotta have sexy Dick in there somewhere I guess. Just-- wow, was that super sudden.

--

JASON TODD’S STORY: It’s good but this kid doesn’t look right.

The story is very simple and sweet, and I think it works a lot given Jason and Bruce’s complicated relationship.

It’s even written by Judd Winnick who did Under the Red Hood, which is awesome.

But who is this kid they keep calling Jason exactly? It irrationally bugs me, because all the art has been super spot on till this story. They even write him well, but it just genuinely doesn’t look like post-crisis Robin Jason.

Like to show what I mean--

You read it and this is how the kid speaks.

Super snarky,

a bit of a rude edge to it,

practical sounding but rough teen-ish still

yet still mature enough to feel like he can handle himself.

So you might place this around when Jason was 15 given he’s Robin, and when he was 15 and when they gave him a unique design finally away from a generic silver age Robin, he looked like a young body builder--

Like this is what Jason Todd looked like when they settled his look away from a Dick clone:

A young body builder type, strong jaw, working out, mature features for his age

So who the heck is this?

Like this isn’t what Jason looked like besides pre-crisis, but this is post-crisis Jason. They already settled what he looked like during that 80s run, and this isn’t it. He’s not supposed to look like a generic silver age Robin anymore.

Even beyond it not looking like what Jason’s supposed to, it doesn’t fit the dialogue. He’s written as a practical, snarky, yet in his own way still mature teen. Soooooo why’s he look 5?

It’s so off-putting and it bugs me.

However, beyond that, I really like the story, and at least the artist was good at drawing adult Jason.

Them representing Bruce’s and Jason’s complicate relationship of distant but still caring is something I really enjoy. It’s so much more true to character rather than acting like Jason is just a part of the family like nothing ever happened.

More of that dynamic for them, please.

--

TIM DRAKE’S FIRST STORY: It’s pretty good, but it’s missing something.

Not the highest praise ever, but I do like this story. I enjoy it’s setting at Tim’s school. High school was a constant setting for Tim’s comics in Robin, and they rarely ever treat it like that so I enjoy this story bringing it back.

I really enjoyed the connection  between extracurricular activities and what he does as Robin. It’s that blend of relatability and heroics that really made Tim work as a character. So that’s also great they brought back.

One of my favorite things that they bring up is Tim being into eSports, cuz it reminds me of how much Tim was into video games. It’s a very modern version of him being into the arcades in the 90s. Which is great.

However a downside is that it doesn’t really focus on Tim as a character like the other stories did with the other Robins.

Nothing about his never give up attitude, his insecurities, his underdog likability, how hard he is on himself, or things like that.

In-general this story says nothing about his personality besides a mention that he’s geeky. Which is a pretty big let-down because it keeps it from being any better, despite it already being good.

Freddie William’s art is also very hit or miss. It’s so crude sometimes, and Tim seems so buff compared to before in his actual Robin run. It’s very displeasing given that his early Tim work was top 5 Tim art material. However I still enjoyed that they brought him back even if he can’t draw Tim as well anymore. Tim’s still good in the babyface in most panels at least.

BUT-- this is still a pretty good Tim story. It’s just lacking.

Like it just should’ve been more about Tim as a character since it’s a Tim Drake story.

--

TIM DRAKE’S SECOND STORY: It’s honestly just pretentious.

Tim doesn’t talk like this. Tynion has a melodramatic tone to his characters that works great for characters like Batman, I’ve actually quite liked his Batman run so far partially because of that, but it doesn’t work for Tim.

This is not what Tim talks like. It’s so very unnatural sounding for a kid. Yet Tim talks in this incredibly dramatic tone except for a few light hearted spots, when I feel like it should be the opposite.

It’s also trying hard to be a character study, but again it’s so unnatural. It sounds like a fan describing their view of the characters, not the characters themselves. Like since have these guys became each others therapists?

And then he has Dick say these things that makes Tim seem like a Gary Stu and the greatest most talented guy ever.

Also having Tim hang out with Jason when Jason’s using guns even though Tim’s insanely against that sort of thing.

They even have Damian talk like a typical fan person who dislikes Tim based off of superficial things for a bit.

The fact it treats that Detective Comics Rebirth part of Tim’s character history as uber important is also a bit pretentious of the writer given he wrote that too. Despite Tim only being in that run for like three arcs and wasn’t even in-character for most of it.

Best part of it, is the vague acknowledgement that Tim didn’t want to be anything else but Robin to me.

Otherwise it just reeks of awkwardly written fan fiction.

Honorable mentions of quality though, is Dick and Tim being brothers train riding, and Damian’s mini-adult coming out. I’m so sick of them making Damian a generic kid sometimes that I actually liked this part even if it’s through a snarky filter.

--

STEPHANIE BROWN’S STORY: Better than expected, it’s actually pretty good.

I actually really liked this story. Overall I think Steph’s actual Robin run sucked, this is still a good story if I can get past the era it’s set in.

Unlike Tim’s stories, this actually uses her character.

How reckless she can be without it being super exaggerated, her attitude, love that they brought back the diary format for her inner-monologue too. 

There’s not much to say besides I’d actually consider this one of the best stories in the thing, except for the fact Steph clearly disobeys Batman and she was said to get fired for that. That’s a decent plot holes for me.

I super love the detail of Tim being so small that Steph can’t fit in his uniform. That cheered me up.

Them bringing back her Robin era artist was also great. Unlike Freddie Williams, their art actually really improved.

DAMIAN WAYNE’S FIRST STORY: The genuine worst story in it.

It’s so-- baaad.

Fan service can work if it’s in good quality. Like being in-character, or a nice homage. The train riding in Tynion’s story was that.

This isn’t that.

Damian and Jon didn’t get along right away, not even soon enough for this “mostly” part to feel right as a joke, because they obviously didn’t get along mostly right away. They fought a lot. They even show it on the full page them fighting, but they downplay how long they did fight just for fanservice. It took a long time, and even when they did it was still contrived.

Then they have Damian and Jon in the same class, when they aren’t the same age for that to make sense..

They even have Jon help Damian on his tests when it’s constantly shown that Damian is a brainiac who wouldn’t need that.

It’s literally even in the history summary at the end that he’s highly intelligent. So he probably wouldn’t even ever need a study partner considering he’s even said to have actual PHDs anyway. Which makes the study partner thing just plain out of character.

There’s also panels that straight up feels like oddly specific deviantart fetish art, which is so nasty. Especially considering that I know damn well that’s there’s pedophiles who make this same kind of oddly specific fetish art on there. So much so I had to stop using the site cuz of the anxiety it gave me.

And they downplay how mean Damian can be too Jon so much that it irks me.

This is the worst story in the whole comic, genuinely. Nothing good is in it, besides some decent enough art.

It’s certainly pandering to it’s fandom, but to certain parts it really shouldn’t be.

(This sort of stuff was still happening in their miniseries. Jon really shouldn’t want this as a brother. That’s stockholm syndrome.

--

DAMIAN WAYNE’S SECOND STORY: It’s better than the last one, but somethings missing still.

Unlike the last one avoiding talking about Damian’s actual character besides to play it down. This one actually uses it.

It’s just so quick, and empty feeling at the same time that it’s missing something. A bit like an inverse of Tim’s first story. Tim’s story had the setting and interesting story format, but no real character, while this has a lot of usage of the character but no interesting setting or story.

A lot of Damian’s character is that he’s not a natural Robin as far as attitude goes. He isn’t a typical Robin, and I enjoy how they play into that rather than be afraid of that. It’s what makes this actually work for me.

Although it makes you question why he’s still Robin, I consider that a good thing, because YOU SHOULD. You want the character’s to actually acknowledge things as if they’re real and not just ignoring things.

He’s not typical, he’s unique for better or worse. That’s Damian, and that’s what you should show of him.

This goes into why Damian’s the exact opposite of what a Robin normally is. That’s great.

But it’s missing anything memorable about it. However I think that’s cuz it leads into a future issue of Teen Titans which gives it a reasonable excuse.

I’m really hoping it leads into something.

Although i have a feeling they sadly might do the same thing as typical and ignore Damian’s actions more. Avoiding any genuine feelings.

--

OVERALL

It’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Only two stories I’d actually call bad, which is a lot less than I thought With just occasionally sloppy art, not even what I’d call back, but just crude or not drawing the character accurately which will annoy some more than others.

When I heard of this book I got so worried, but only two stories is actually almost relieving how little that is given the potential ego-driven things they could’ve done, which only those two stories then.

To me, I say it’s worth a pick-up, just rip out a story or two to keep it friendlier to revisit

Mostly was just really missing that extra heart in a lot of the stories.

[marksarmel]

What I’m Consuming

Gather ‘round ye mongrels of media as we attempt to satisfy our primal urge to consume!

TV

I started watching Steven Universe and these tasty 10 -12 minute episodes are like candy for my soul. Fun and light and happy.

Warrior Nun - Three episodes in and it’s a bit slow paced and I’m not a fan at all of the narration, but the action is very well done and it seems to be getting better.  I do love how seriously they’re taking a seriously ridiculous concept.

Game of Thrones is on rewatch. Not sure if I’m doing this to try to gain a new respect for some of the show’s lowest moments or just to relive the dragon fights and bastard fights and girl fights and wight fights and Tormund making goofy lusty eyes at Brienne. Also, can we get a GOT X-Files type of spin off with these two please? The first episode can be them figuring out whatever happened to Daario Naharis.

MOVIES

Take Shelter - This is an oldie that I was recently reminded about. Directed by Jeff Nichols and starring Michael Shannon and Jessica Chastain Take Shelter is a lazy snake that you’re not quite sure if it’s poisonous or not. Nothing in this film happens fast and everything feels cramped. Whenever Shannon’s Curtis LaForche is on screen he feels ill fit to the world around him. Like he’s wearing clothes that are too big for him and indeed in some scenes he looks that way as well. Chastain as Samantha, displays a weary tension throughout, but has a steady mid-western constitution that allows her to maintain her sanity when things get weird. Watch it, but not if you’re the least bit sleepy.

Life of Pi - In one of my bouts of insomnia I decided to rewatch this. It was as good as I remember and I even teared up. After it was over I found my blessed pillow and drifted of to a dreamland filled with tigers and boats and monkeys.

MUSIC

Crushing - Julie Jacklin (2019)- If you believe a song can have a hauntingly danceable groove look for me at the edge of the dance floor hoping Julia Jacklin will pick me. Body, the opening song to her album Crushing is like walking the hallways of your high school at 2am in the morning. Everything is stuffed with an adult melancholy that the kids only mime in broken hearted text messages. The soft plodding bass and spare drums plucked at my emo heart strings so deftly that my first listen turned into a second third and a then a fourth when I watched the video. Now I’m off to listen to the rest of the album.

Oh My God - Kevin Morby (2019)- Oh my god indeed. I recently stumbled across Kevin Morby and I’m so glad I did. There’s a yearning religiousness that runs through this album, but don’t let that burden you. The music here is haunting, beautiful and vividly illustrative of those parts of America that feel sleepy, dark and a few years behind.

To Pimp A Butterfly - Kendrick Lamar (2015) - When this album dropped I remember being slightly disappointed as I was expecting something more in the realm of good kid, m.A.A.d city. After several listens I realized it is very much in the same realm. It’s just that the realm is Kendrick Lamar’s and he roams large. I’ve returned to this album lately as a salve for what’s happening now. It’s a salve and also a guiding light. How can it not be with songs like, Alright and the self realization of Momma and I?

The simple fact is Kendrick is a storyteller from a different time, the future perhaps, or maybe the past. Alternate dimensions are not out of the question. In a time where we are careening wildly from fear to hopelessness to hate to the unknown, Kendrick’s lyrics are the guideposts leading us home.

Tobe Nwigwe - I mentioned him in a WIC recently and was pleasantly surprised when a friend posted a video of him on a track with a guest verse by Paul Wall. The track Juice is a banger through and through with my favorite verse being when Paul calls Tobe, “Too real. True and real. Trill.”

Love What Survives - Mount Kimbie (2017)- Sometimes an album digs deep into your ear like Dig Dig and you can’t shake it no matter what. This is a good good thing. I’d heard a couple of songs from this album (Blue Train Lines with King Krule and Marilyn with Michau), but never gave it a full listen. I finally did and it’s like a lazy drive with the windows down on a cool day that ends with a sweet makeout session at night in a parking lot. Soft, electronic music with a deep soulfulness.

COMICS/BOOKS

Silver Surfer - Parable - This old classic by Stan Lee and Moebius is an interesting ride. It moves at a brisk pace and some of the story feels a bit dated, but it’s always a joy to see work by Moebius.

I re-read Jupiter’s Legacy Part 2 recently and was just as immediately enthralled as I was in my first read. The art from Frank Quitley is as gorgeous as ever and while the story by Mark Millar rushes a bit too fast to the end it’s still a great read.

The History of the Marvel Universe - This plucks all my Marvel nerd boy heart chords. The art is beautiful and while the writing feels a bit cramped as it struggles to fit in all the bits and pieces it’s a must have for any Marvel fan. (Add artist and writer names)

GAMES - I’m still driving with Mario Kart. It’s just too good.

RANDOM NOTES

I have re-discovered candy from my childhood. Obleas Mini Wafers and Gloria’s Goats Milk! I used to get these when I was a kid when my mom went to Mexico and brought them back for me. The Obleas are like tiny tortillas, about the size of a silver dollar, with a caramel filing in the middle. The outside is this super thin wafer that always reminded me of the wafers you get when you take communion. You can eat these without having to admit your sins so that’s great!

The Glorias are like mini sausages, but have nothing to do with meat. They’re made from goats milk and often come with pecans. As a kid I used to eat these by the handful, but now I savor them and take a half a bite and then come back later for the other half. Andalé!

[leafslash]

permanent plotter call !   (two: electric boogaloo)

CHA CHAS REAL SMOOTH ONTO THE DASH.  hi there! so i thought now might be a good time to get one of these out. it’s been about a month since my re-app, i’ve gotten some interactions goin’ and so far things have been a lot better a second time around. which meeeaaaaans.... my plotter call is due for a revamp! (NOTE: if you liked my first ad and you're still interested, you're more than welcome to like this too!) sooo! what does this do, you might ask? well, here’s the gist of it! by liking this post, you give me permission to do the following:

jump into your ims and gently scream at u until we plot.

tag you in starters and/or minis! (though only with your permission!)

reply to your opens.

send you memes on meme day.

potentially cry over our characters together, whatever suits your fancy.

sounds good, yeah? great! now then...

THE MENU.

aaaaand that’s all, folks! if any of these are up your alley, go ahead and hit that  ❤ and i’ll boogie right on into your ims! and if there's something else you've got in mind and don't see it here, hmu! i'd love to hear it.    :'^)

[bigskydreaming]

Tbh, my policy on pirating is pretty simple. I honestly dont give a fuck one way or another w/movies, TV shows and even comic books, bc the former two have managed to account for pirating in the way they pad their expenses and tbqh they dont really hurt for it. And with comic books, okay if you pirate indie or creator owned content you kinda suck, not gonna lie, you have NO idea the kind of effort and upfront costs that go into producing comic books without Marvel or DC backing you up, not until you actually try it. Its obscene. Especially if you’re not able to do all the art AND story AND inking/lettering/coloring yourself, and have to either pay other members of your self-assembled creative team upfront or on the backend. 

And this includes comic books published by Image (at least the ones without big name creators attached), because contrary to popular belief, Image has nothing to do with assembling the creative teams of most of their creator owned books, and they certainly don’t pay them any kind of wages or salaries. The way Image is set up is creators basically submit a complete first issue, all the art, inking, lettering, coloring, everything already done, to see if they’re interested in publishing. 

(Technically, you only have to submit the first eight pages in order to get a response, and theoretically its possible that Image has in the past greenlit books based on the first eight pages of the book, which then allows the creators some leverage in convincing the entirety of their creative team to put in the upfront work to complete the rest of the first issue still without payment, but at least trusting now that their work will see publication, but like, this doesn’t really happen much from anything I’ve ever seen or heard or experienced).

Anyway, point being, Image takes submissions and then greenlights the books they see as potentially profitable, but again....they in no way ever pay creators themselves. Creators only make money via the actual sales of their books, once published and distributed by Image...and only AFTER Image takes their cut, which is a flat fee deducted from the sales of individual issues. Its actually a good thing in some ways, that they only take a flat fee (their cut is for publishing and distribution costs, Image NEVER owns any part of the intellectual property they publish, unless they’re part of their ‘shared Image universe’ which tbh is just like, publisher Erik Larsen’s little sandbox for him and his friends and who even cares, those books suck, Savage Dragon is lame, Erik, and everyone knows Shadowhawk was a blatant rip-off of Darkhawk, and look, I love Darkhawk with all my New Warriors fanboying heart, but of all the characters in the world to rip-off, who the fuck considers Darkhawk worth being derivative of? So weird. BUT I DIGRESS. ANYWAY.) 

So in some senses the fact that they only ever take a flat rate is good, because in the rare cases of runaway books that really take off, the way Invincible and The Walking Dead were back when Robert Kirkman was still a no-name indie creator, like...the creator has the potential to make BANK. Which is exactly what Kirkman did, and why he’s now every-fucking-where, ruining all our other faves like who the fuck thought HIM producing a Chronicles of Amber show was a good idea, ewww. He’s gonna dial up the incest to 100, isn’t he? Sigh. UGH WHOOPS ANOTHER DIGRESSION, LOL YOU SEE WHY MY ADHD MEDS ARE ESSENTIAL, I ASSUME. 

Ahem. 

BUT in most cases, the fact that Image takes a flat fee off the top is like....shitty, because the last I heard - and tbf, this was years ago so its probably not the same anymore, but that means it could be worse - it was something like $2000 per issue. Which means the vast majority of indie creators you’ve never heard of before or after they published a six issue mini or whatever through Image never saw a cent. I’ve never heard of Image putting anyone in debt, like that’s not how they work at least - if your book doesn’t even make up to $2000, its not like you owe them for the remainder, but again, you just....never make a cent off it. So like....the reason a fuckton of Image books never make it past issue #6, if they even make it that far, is that the creators literally just can’t afford to keep producing out of pocket, financing the actual creative production costs of each issue themselves without making any profit on the backend, if they’re not ending up selling more than $2000 worth of issues once on the shelves, physical or digital).

So don’t fucking pirate Image comic books, plz. Just don’t do it. Unless they’re Erik Larsen’s. Pirate away, who gives a fuck, I hate that guy. LOLOLOL I’m such a petty asshole, ugh. Whatever. I blame my childhood.

ANYWAY. As I was saying, I don’t really give a shit about pirating from Marvel or DC, which maybe is bad of me because its not like those creators necessarily make bank either, unless they’re one of Marvel/DC’s faves and like, have their pick of titles at any given moment. But the way most of them are paid is Marvel and DC pay their creators actual salaries based on rates per page, and then Marvel/DC keep all the actual royalties themselves. The only exceptions to this are when issues sell more than 50,000 copies - that’s 50,000 individual copies of physical or digital issues, not $50,000 worth of sales like with Image. Once a creative team’s book sells more than 50,000 copies of a single issue however, THEN they start getting a cut of the royalties, as like a bonus incentive type thingie. But tbh, its pretty rare in today’s market for a book to move that many issues monthly, and only the top sellers of both companies end up in that rarefied air....and most of those books’ creative teams are the favored writers/artists anyway, the ones who have a degree of job security and never tend to lack for titles to shift to after ending a run on one book. Sooooo, they’re kinda the reverse of the creators who could actually use a cut of their books’ back end profits, but whatever.

So like I said, fuck Marvel and DC, like...corporately or whatever. Of course there’s no doubt that pirating has some definite correlation to how few books are able to move 50,000 issues monthly, but both companies have always been notoriously shitty to creators, and that’s not pirating’s fault, and less pirating honestly isn’t going to change that b/c the ones to benefit from less pirating first and foremost are still going to be the same ones who aren’t really that hurt by it currently....loooooooong before the lower rung creators start to see an uptick in profits as a result. And let’s be real, if Marvel & DC suddenly started seeing a surge in profits due to a marked reduction in piracy, they’d find some excuse to shift payment structures around again in order to still keep a lion’s share of the new profits while cutting the lower rung creators (read: new/just starting out/niche/lacking leverage creators) out of seeing much additional profits. Because the problem with creators making money off Marvel and DC IPs isn’t really pirating, its Marvel and DC not wanting to share the money made off their IPs, even with the people most responsible for those IPs generating revenue.

That’s the part of the pirating convo that most people miss, IMO....a rising tide just DOESN’T lift all boats, if one or two boats in particular are specially designed to make the most of any tiny uptick in a rising tide while all the other boats are made of the leftover shoddy materials and are undermanned or understaffed or whatever and can’t actually DO anything productive with any of the lift generated by the rising tide.

And if that made no sense, eh, idk, don’t blame me. Its not my metaphor.

ANYWAY. So that’s why I don’t really give a shit about pirated movies or TV shows or Marvel or DC books, though I do still think you suck if you pirate indie content including lesser known Image creators. You guys have srsly no idea how much harder indie comic book creators have to work compared to like, any other medium. It makes me wanna cry. Its ridiculous. It would take too long to explain just WHY its so much more of an ordeal/effort to produce indie comic book content than just about any other form of indie content save like, running an entire webshow with one or two people wearing all the hats while funding everything out of pocket and overseeing everything production wise and also being a key creator involved in creating the actual content.

BUT as I was saying in the last post, pirating novels is an ENTIRELY different thing, and I have vastly more opinions there than I do with other mediums. Because the publishing industry was designed to exploit and capitalize off the intellectual properties of INDIVIDUALS, unlike all those other mediums that are inherently collaborative and thus usually involve the combined efforts of several to dozens of people.

So at the end of the day, individual authors will ALWAYS suffer more from pirating, looooooong before publishing companies ever feel a ding in their profits. Because they designed it that way. Specifically SO that they, the big companies, would be protected. Its set up so that individual creatives, the authors, NEED publishing companies more than publishers need any singular author. Obviously the rise of indie publishing has changed this somewhat, but not as much as you might think.....because the thing is, indie authors are really only successful and profitable by the grace of Amazon. By the fact that Amazon can afford to pay authors 70 percent royalties on any sale as opposed to traditionally published authors who are lucky to get a ten to fifteen percent royalty rate on sales, with them not even seeing a cent of those royalties until AFTER their advance has already been paid back, if they ever even sell enough to make that happen at all.

And so like....its a very dangerous, precarious, and not at all trustworthy situation that allows for indie authors to CURRENTLY be profitable in ways or to degrees that a lot of traditionally published authors can’t be. 

But that’s only because Amazon is taking a loss on most of the books they publish, due to this payment model. Because Amazon CAN. They can afford it. They make enough from all their other departments and revenue streams to buttress those losses. And Amazon has been using this, and using indie authors, to leverage traditional publishers into giving up more and more of THEIR profits from THEIR books, by giving Amazon even steeper discounts on the books they distribute to them, to be sold to consumers by Amazon.

And again, like I said before, its the individual creators, the bottom rung authors, who take the hits here first and in the biggest ways, because it remains true that the publishers have designed their payment structures so as to use the profits of individual authors to compensate for their own dip in profits.

And Amazon isn’t doing any of this for the little guy’s benefit. They don’t care about giving indie authors a leg up, an alternative to tradition publishers. They only care about CURRENTLY making indie authors need traditional publishers less than trad publishers need them, for a change.....but ONLY so that Amazon can rake in the increase in profits first and foremost.

Because here’s the kicker. The thing I worry too many indie authors and readers don’t account for.

INDIE AUTHORS STILL NEED AMAZON MORE THAN AMAZON NEEDS THEM.

Amazon is VOLUNTARILY taking losses on their book sales, and have been almost from the start. Because they don’t NEED that department in particular to be profitable for them NOW. They’ve been angling for a long time to get as close to an actual monopoly on the book market as is possible under current free market laws. So the thing is....unlike traditional publishers....Amazon doesn’t need ANY indie authors OR sales. Like, AT ALL. They could shut down their entire indie book model tomorrow, and not really be any worse off for it.

And the second Amazon doesn’t need indie authors even as LEVERAGE to pry more profits out of traditional publishers....you better believe that 70 percent royalty rate is going to vanish literally overnight. Because there’s absolutely nothing in Amazon’s business model or legal obligations to indie authors that requires they maintain it, or protects indie authors from having it suddenly dropped to a five percent royalty rate at Amazon’s whim.

So the second the scales tip far enough that Amazon decides they really don’t need or want to milk anything else out of traditional publishers, they’ve gotten as much of a price cut or a monopoly as they’re going to get or want to get without forcing publishers (and by extension their own ready made product that Amazon then distributes) out of business.....Amazon is going to quite happily STOP taking a loss on the sales of all these indie titles, and say well, we don’t need you as much now, so we’re gonna just give you ten percent royalties, take it or leave it. Its not like you have any better options at this point.

So whether traditionally published or indie published, pirating books hurts individual creators in very real, tangible ways that creators in other mediums aren’t affected, or are supplemented or buttressed against.

I say all this not to guilt anyone, but simply to provide information. Because there’s always so much discourse going back and forth around legality of pirating and ethics of pirating and so much stuff that’s not even consequential or relevant if people don’t even understand the MECHANICS of how pirating affects various mediums. So they can then make INFORMED choices on how they feel about pirating certain content versus other content.

As I was saying at the start of all of this....I have my own personal stance on pirating, and I don’t expect it or need it to be anyone else’s personal model. Like I said, I don’t really care about other mediums, and when it comes to novels, I’m against it as much as possible, but with caveats. Lots of people, including authors, describe novels as luxury items, and as such say that nobody’s justified in taking one for their own personal entertainment just because they WANT it. I differ from that POV because I honestly don’t consider books a luxury. I consider them to be absofuckinglutely as essential to the survival and THRIVING of the human condition as food or rest. Far more so than TV or movies, which not everyone has access to, or finds as easily accessible. Bottom line.....I fall in the category of arguing that its not enough just to survive. People have to have reason to survive, to live. Things to look forward to. Things to enjoy. Feeding the human spirit, as cheesy or whatthefuckever as that sounds, is every bit as essential as feeding the body. I would not have survived my childhood without books. I would not have survived my twenties without books. Hell, I would not have survived this YEAR without books.

So, even as an author myself, and yes, I have written stuff that’s been pirated (I made a fairly decent living for a couple years as a self-published indie author of m/m erotica and m/m erotic romance short stories, novellas and novels, and those particular genres/markets get the SHIT pirated out of them. So trust me, I am VERY much putting my money where my mouth is on this subject).

But yes, even as an author myself, I have zero problem with people pirating stuff because they honestly, truly legit can not afford it otherwise. Its not a lost sale. If you don’t have the money, you don’t have the money. It doesn’t mean you still don’t need, let alone deserve, to have something to take your mind off your poverty, your stresses, your issues. And even if you technically have the money to afford a book, I’m well aware that doesn’t always mean you ACTUALLY have the money to afford it in any meaningful way. If you have five bucks to spend for the day, and a choice between a book and a bagel, or like, an actual sandwich and drink, that’s not a fucking choice that ANYONE should have to make. Use that five dollars to buy yourself a fucking sandwich and just pirate the book, I say. You can pay it forward when you get the chance. You find yourself with more money at a later point, by all means, go back and buy a legit copy of that book, your money’s still good then, and having had that book to enjoy at an earlier, more stressful time in your life might very well have contributed in even the tiniest of ways to you getting to a place where you had better finances and more spending money.

Yes, obviously, I am a big fan and proponent of libraries, and I think you should always go there first, if possible, to get your free literary content. Libraries are great, and they have a LOT more content, and more of a range of content, then a lot of people realize.

I am however aware that libraries are not necessarily practical for everyone. Sometimes you just plain can’t get to one, you have transportation or mobility issues or live in a household where your reading habits or interests are frowned upon or even penalized, because sometimes, parents are awful. Sometimes libraries just don’t have the content you’re looking for. Content is subjective, depends on staff, geography, community. LGBTQ+ kids shouldn’t have to risk being seen looking through the LGBTQ+ section of the library or checking out a book, if they’re not out at home or school or in their community. By all means, I would much rather a kid in that situation pirate the fuck out of their comforting, soul-sustaining LGBTQ+ themed books than risk upsetting a currently safe and secure status quo. Again, just pay it forward when and if you can, at a later date. And so on and so forward.

BUT, again, there’s caveats there, because with books, I consider it a case by case basis, and the case in question is the individual consumer. The above scenarios IMO are based entirely on the genuine, sincere situation of not being able to afford a book in any practical way, and not having a library as a valid option for getting that or any book.

This is an entirely different situation from HAVING the spending money, and being perfectly capable of dropping five bucks on a book versus five bucks on one of those much-talked-about-in-pirating-convos Starbucks’ lattes that you don’t NEED any more than anyone supposedly NEEDS to read a particular book. 

If you CAN afford to pay full price for a book without dipping into funds intended for other practical necessities or hurting or even inconveniencing you in any meaningful way, if you CHOOSE to pirate a book you can access or download through legal channels with just as much ease as you can pirate it...(again, I’m aware that due to bullshit territory laws, not all content is legally available in all areas at all times, and this isn’t what I’m talking about).

I’m talking about if you’re NOT in a bad - not just slightly uncomfortable - but BAD, financially tight, thrifty, constantly stressed situation where its honestly a Sophie’s fucking Choice trying to decide if you’re gonna shell out your money for the sequel you’ve been waiting on pins and needles for for a fucking year and its been the only thing getting you through some days....or if you’re gonna like, eat today....

THAT’S when I have no patience for your piracy, specifically. Not when it comes to novels and the bottom lines of individual, hard-working authors, most of whom have to spend their lunch hours or come home after work to soak their blood, sweat and tears into the manuscript that becomes the book you just pirated. I know what I said about indie comic book creators having it so much more fucking tough than anyone else knows or realizes, but that doesn’t mean that midlist and lower than that authors don’t work DAMN fucking hard on their product, even after working forty hour weeks at some minimum wage job that’s every bit as soul-crushing as the worst job you’ve ever held.

And you’re not a fucking rebel or revolutionary if you’re taking money out of THEIR pocket, when you don’t need it yourself, just because you can. You’re not sticking it to the man, or teaching greedy capitalist publishing pigs the error of their ways. They don’t care, and you’re just being a dick.

Entitlement isn’t always a bad thing, I believe, because we ARE all entitled to certain things. A broke, disabled person with transportation issues and disability benefits that aren’t even enough to cover their actual living expenses is IMO every bit as ENTITLED as anyone else to a nice, stress-free, enjoyable read they picked out because it was precisely what they were looking for and not because it was the only thing out of ten available options that looked halfway decent. I will never ever judge or condemn or disparage someone for pirating in a scenario even REMOTELY close to that.

But that doesn’t mean that gratuitous entitlement doesn’t always exist, and isn’t obnoxious as fuuuuuuuuuuck. You’re not entitled to whatever you want, whenever you want, for as little as you feel like paying for it, just because you WANT it. And just because you can GET it, consequence free. If THAT’S the defining motivation or influence behind pirating the debut novel of a single mom working sixty hours a week to support her kids PLUS hanging onto her dreams and pounding out her novel over the course of a year and a half on her lunch hour.....then yeah, you fucking suck, and you know it, you whiny little shit who identifies with this paragraph and goes "who me? YOU DONT KNOW MY LIFE!” Yeah, I do. We all know someone like you. You’re not special.

Just like I know that author profile I just described there was not grabbed out of my ass, but describes someone very real and not at all embellished, and she’s not even the author I know in the most stressful scenario-whilst-writing. She certainly wouldn’t even consider herself in the Top Ten. And her publisher passed on the option for her sophomore novel, because her much-pirated book never made back the $25,000 advance she was paid over the course of three installments, which meant after taxes, she got an extra $10,000 bucks spread out among three eight month intervals, or just under two years.

So yeah. That’s where I fall. Soundly in the same camp I fall in most things: Actions have consequences, and you should always make an effort to be informed on what those consequences are before deciding whether or not you take action.

Let’s be real, no one’s effectively policing whether or not every individual consumer on the web pirates casually, extensively, or religiously, if at all. Its not likely EVER going to be an issue for you. That someone can actually keep you from pirating because you’re genuinely afraid of legal consequences.

But you shouldn’t need the threat of legal consequences, the question of can I get away with this or not, to police your own actions.

And at the risk of giving anyone whiplash, I for sure don’t give a fuck about the legality of taking away from the bottom line of massive, multi-million dollar corporate interests if I can get away with it. I’m just as entitled to keeping my five bucks that I worked DAMN FUCKING HARD FOR, as the people most likely to see that money even though they didn’t log a single actual hour on producing the content they’re charging five bucks for, IMO. I’m perfectly aware there’s a shit ton of people who’d call that rationale self-serving bullshit and hypocritical, but bite my lily-white Irish ass, I don’t give a fuck. I’m comfortable with my own morality.

But part of the reason I’m comfortable with my own morality, is that it tells me that even though there are times when I think I’m entitled to certain things I can’t necessarily afford, there are also times when I know I’m NOT entitled to things I may just not WANT to afford. Any time you’re able to justify ALWAYS having things your way without it ever costing you any kind of concession, I think that’s usually a good sign it might be time to stop and take a second look at yourself. Nobody gets to have everything their own way, to their best liking, all of the time.

But the flip side of that coin IMO, is that nobody should be penalized to NEVER having anything their own way, to their liking, ANY of the time. And if that’s the situation you’re in at some point in your life, and pirating’s the only available option to giving yourself a break from your regular monotony or currently-shitty-reality? Like, who the fuck am I to tell you not to pirate that feel good book or movie that has the chance to let you go to bed later with an actual smile on your face for a change? Who the fuck is anybody to tell you that?

*Shrugs*

There’s my two cents: The Ten Volume and Unnecessarily Long Saga.

[thenightling]

The many things wrong with The Dreaming issue 5 (2019) ...I will not be kind...

Warning!  It’s long!

1.   Let us begin with the stupid Trumpisms.   I feel like Simon Spurrier thinks he has to punish or “re-educate” us poor, ignorant, Americans for electing Donald Trump.  It appears that no one has broken it to him yet that Trump lost the popular vote by over three million voters.  So why are we being punished because we’re stuck with him?  We’re already resisting as best we can or does he not watch the news? 

 There’s no way in Hell the color palette for this cover was an accident or happenstance.  For you non-Americans, the Republican (Trump) Party have a popular symbol.  An elephant that is usually drawn in red, white, and blue.

2.  The ugly and immature symbolism.   The Dreaming is bleeding color! (says the plot synopsis from the solicitations and DC Vertigo’s Facebook page).  Without diversity, without color, The Dreaming becomes bland, all white, and dreams die.  Do you know where I first saw this same literal story?   Rainbow  Bite in 1985!  Not only is it condescending and lacks the charm of the symbolism from The Sandman: Overture but it’s stolen, whether accidental or not, this is from a kids show from when i was a toddler in the 80s!    

3.   ‘Y’all.”   I know Judge Gallows is meant to be a cliche, old west style judge. But this is like watching a 1970s Doctor Who Brit actor put on what they think is an American accent.  The y’all(s) feel forced, and that takes a lot when it’s not said out loud.   He sounds like the damn chicken lawyer from Futurama. 

The accent, it burns!

4.    “His creator.”     It’s like Simon both knows and doesn’t know the original lore, all at once, it’s baffling.     As Lucien’s dying it looks like he’s half-reverted to a raven form.  @missghostlymoonshadow  you were right! 

 However as he was one of Dream’s ravens that indicates he used to be human (even if Lucien claims otherwise).   There was even some suggestion that he’s Adam.  Not sure about that as it’s very close to the novel Lilith but not impossible either.  

5. It’s Daniel the asshole, ladies and gentlemen!     I’ve complained about this before.  That whenever anyone other than Neil Gaiman writes Daniel, no matter how hard they seem to try, Daniel comes off as a f--king asshole.  Supposedly he has no choice, he has to leave.   But he’s so f--king cold here, so, so cold. 

You... Heartless... Little... Asshole...  

Morpheus was more kind to Dora in the flashback than Daniel is here!   WHY do people keep making Daniel crueler than Morpheus was pre-character-growth??!     Granted I’m starting to think there may be something wrong with Simon Spurrier, himself, that he thought what Lucien did on the steps of the castle with “I did warn you” is perfectly okay.  He doesn’t treat it like anything bad that he just uncreated a bunch of Merv’s friends on the steps of the castle.  In fact he treats Merv like he’s overreacting for being upset by it!  (Clearly he never read the start of Sandman: Overture or even The Dolls House.)  And yet we’re not supposed to be sympathizing with Merv’s behavior.  He made that clear.  Who (besides Dora) Are we supposed to care about?!??

His narrations try to keep us from pitying those that actually deserve pity.

Because how dare Cain actually give a damn that his brother is acting weird!

Unless Daniel turns out to be wearing a control collar ala X-Men, or has a magical-bomb implanted in his spine (Suicide Squad) this is going to be very hard for The Dream Lord to justify and even then it’ll be a little hard to forgive.  Daniel’s walking around, obviously still has access to some power.   Whatever his “I have no choice” is all about it seems like it can’t be quite equatable to Morpheus in the binding circle, in his glass bubble.   

6. I still want to know what the Hell happened to the griffon.   That griffon wasn’t of The Dreaming.  He was a gift from The Greeks.  Why did you replace him?  For the sake of cultural diversity?  There’s no in-story explanation.   Eve being any race she feels like makes sense.   But this doesn’t make sense and it’s jarring.  The Griffon wasn’t a dream entity.   See “The Wake.”

7.    Oh, look, someone skimmed Dream Hunters, or they didn’t and just picked up a few bits and pieces of Japanese folklore...

8.  MIlam Cascades is being far over-used and retroactively at that.   Trying to insert that into the original Sandman now doesn’t work.  I get the lore, I understand it’s origin, but really stop.  You’re just trying to make a mini Dream vortex.  or Vortexes... er Vortices.   

I NEVER want to be subjected to Milam Cascades again!  I’m starting to hate it as much as I hate the stupid revisions to Nuala’s necklace to make it a Macguffin, the existence of Echo, Cain and Abel’s sister wives, and Danny Nod.  (Creations from the first version of The Dreaming.) 

Do NOT retroactively describe things you want to insert into the original Sandman!  YOU are not Neil Gaiman!   Only he has a right to do that!  How dare you!

This is egotism. Not only is Milam Cascade being used as a mini Dream Vortex (the way Matthew’s death in the first version of The Dreaming was used as a mini knock-off of The Wake) but to have the audacity and arrogance to insert it into the original Sandman lore, to retroactively TAINT the original Sandman with this crap!    No.  if Neil, himself, did it, I would begrudgingly accept it.  But not here.  Not like this.   I don’t care if it’s “With Neil’s consent.”  He consents to a LOT of stuff, including the first, now defunct, version of The Dreaming.  

Wow, I’m more angry about that than I originally thought...

 9.   How dare you!  How DARE you do this to Lucien!    How dare you!   You saw how much it was despised that Matthew was killed off in the late 90s / early 2000s version of The Dreaming and yet you go and use Lucien like this?  And what’s worse is we’re supposed to pretend his behavior in issue 2 was okay because of it.  And no one reacted badly to him uncreating dream entities on the steps of the castle and acting like it was a form of punishment (”I did Warn you.”) except Mervyn, who was OBVIOUSLY in the wrong, because he’s an EVIL racist now!

 So, first you write Lucien badly, but I guess the memory fading was supposed to make that justifiable. Then you don’t even address that what he did was wrong, except through a character who you’ve gone out of your way to make unlikable and ridiculously out of character.   And now poor Lucien is dying and “Won’t be at peace in The Dreaming.” 

Thanks, Satan.

10.  Still no explanation for randomly turning Mervyn into a redneck Trump supporter and classist caricature.  The biggest OOC (Out of character) moment being when he made the “You people” comment to Erzulie in The House of Whispers comic book.  Do you not remember how Merv would look like a deer in headlights if caught backbiting Morpheus but you think he’d be racist to a Voodoo goddess to her face?!  This... Does not make sense...

Yeah, no....

He should be afraid Erzulie will turn him into a spiced pumpkin jam in her cupboard.  

11.   The only sword in Destruction’s realm should have been his own and he took that with him when he abandoned his post. (See Brief Lives.)

12.  He writes Cain as a knife-happy muppet that wants to stab everything.  We’re supposed to know something’s wrong with how Abel’s acting but this is what he thinks is normal for Cain?  Cain ONLY kills his brother, it’s his compulsion.  As they are both mostly immortal this is kind of a thing for them.  And Simon Spurrier has yet to justify having THE KEEPER OF MYSTERY spend nearly three pages explaining who and what he is.  (There’s no way in Hell he’s murder incarnate.  That’s like saying Bill Gates is Windows OS Incarnate.) 

_________________________

Things I’m okay with:

I’m okay with Dreamkin.  We can keep that term.  I’ve been trying to figure out what to call the creatures of the Dreaming for over a year and a half now.  Dreamkin works.     

The Morpheus flashback was... Okay...   I sort of liked those. 

Matthew’s still being written semi-decently.

The art is decent. 

There.  It’s done.  It’s written.   I’m going to go back to re-reading Goethe’s Faust again...

I’m tagging all the Sandman fans who may want to see this.

@jr4cats  @sorry-for-the-chocolate @deathlyendless @winterbirdybuddy @vagaryhexxx @endlessemptynight  

[tumblunni]

Hhhh bunni legs pain accomplishment day

I HAVE FINISHED THE SHOPPING OF HELL

Tfw u only get paid 4 days before christmas and have to rush everything aaaa

It was bad enough today so i'm so glad i got it done before it got even more busy!

Misc boring essentials i bought for myself: new phone charger cos broken, new trousers cos i spilt hair bleach on my only two pairs, new shoes cos my left shoe literally snapped in half down the middle like wtf even happened there, cheap pink hair dye from a discount store cos i wanna try different colours but in a thrifty way

Now for EXCITING CHRISTMAS PRESENT TIME!!!!

First off SO MANY pc and xbox 360 games from Every Charity Shop In Cardiff, St Mellons, Rumney and Llanrumney. My sis has been trying to find some games to play but was like 'dont worry about it i can just wait til the charity shop gets something good'. So i thought i'd get some stocking stuffers via all the charity shops on my side of town. By our powers combined we will blitz the entire vale of glamorgan's discount gaming scene!!! I found SO MANY good stuff for £1/£2/£3 like holy shit i love when charity shops dont know the proper price for shit XD

speaking of which i also found a WEBCAM for £2! If its that cheap it probanly isnt great but itd still be fun to play around with! :D and the same store also had an old vintage G1 My Little Pony coffee mug in excellent condition. Oh god the nostalgia! My support worker gave me a lift to llanrumney so i had to awkwardly explain why i had an armful of weird 80s mugs and big teary eyes!

Speaking of vintage, i found this new vintage toys and games shop in cardiff called Galactic Attic! The name hooked me in and then they actually DID have pokemon inside! As well as all sorts of stuff ranging from 40s to 90s, wow! There was even a lil pile of old 90s gaming magazines in the corner, covered up by a bunch of boxes. I'm glad i noticed them! I got the announcemt issues for pokemon diamond pearl and platinum in a weird old pokemon fan magazine that i loved as a kid. Im kinda sad that nowadays we just have one official magazine fpr each console and not the wild madness of amateaur journalists failing horribly to get news from japan. Shame they didnt have Beckett Pokemon cos that one was infamous fot drawing its own terrible interpretations of pokemon sprites to avoid copyright. And speaking of terrible, they even had bootleg pokemon!! I talked to the cashier and he was like "you know those are fake right" and i was like "yeah its so nostalgic thats why i want em" and he was like "lol yeah they actually sell pretty well so i'm not mad my supplier ripped me off". It was a pretty good and awesomely terrible fake at the same time? There was this exact replica of some japanese display stand for the product and then the actual pokeball toys looked perfect BUT the mini pokemon inside were.. Really not. I am so damn happy with the surprise inside my one, surprise inside has never been more accurate! I can't take a picture now cos my phone is charging but REGICHEETO. Just..just imagine that, and whatever you're imagining it is probably worse. I love it so fuckin much. Also less hilariously there were some bootleg mini pika plushies with actually (as far as i can tell) their own unique design? They have cute lil winter scarves and an art style that reminds me of the Magical Pokemon Adventure manga. A really cute and good bootleg that i would have loved to see as a real product! The only way you can even tell its a bootleg is because there's no marking on the tail. I dunno, maybe if i still have some brown fabric in the cupboard i could fix it? Or maybe its unique tail makes it even more special! I mean there's Cosplay Pikachu with its double tail marking so maybe this is her cousin Accessory Pikachu with no markings? He just likes wearing scarfs and hats and stuff. OMG HE'S THE POKEMON GO EVENT PIKACHU!!!!!!

Along the miscness of finding a few things for myself, i also found: cute lil pokemon pencilcase, kingdom hearts blind bag, cheap copy of Fruits Basket volume 1 cos the new remake is coming out soon and i wanna Get Hype! The KH blind bag was really weird cos i didnt know they now have an entirely different set as well as the keychains i bought before. Its kind of a shame the art style doesnt match cos vexen is only in the keychains, alas! But i do really love these ones! Theyre apparantly made by funko pop but dont have the art style AT ALL, they just look like really accurate versions of the characters in mini form. Its kinda like the 'distance animation' style in steven universe? (Incidentally they also do SU ones but they missed the opportunitu to actually use the distance style, lol) I got a Sora in his kh2 outfit and i'm decently happy with that, its not one i really wanted but its not a bad one either. But i think now i've tried the fun of surprise once i'll just buy the actual ones i want off ebay later. They have roxas in his organization outfit! With a happy smile!!!

Oh oh and then EVEN MORE XBOX GAMES OF THE WILD THRIFT STORE VOID! i managed to find the whole fable series, two assassins creeds, saints row, gta, some misc shooter games and racers that she wanted but i dont know much about, mass effect 2 and ff13. I think maybe one or two others cos i cant fully remember right now. Theyre all in separate bags strewn across the room and my shoulders feel like death so i'll sort through them later.

Aaaand i wrote up like 14 paragraphs more but tumblr didnt save my draft fpr some fuckin reason and now im way too tired to do it again

Briefer summary:

* had a huge horrible panic attack getting stuck in a skyscraper shopping centre clothes place full of screaming and every perfume smell and WHY DO I HAVE TO NAVIGATE THIS HELL MAZE TO FIND THE ESCALATOR and seriously i was my most primal animalistic self and i went full fight or flight on this bitch

* had a lovely time visiting Cool Shop Grandma and rambled the story of how i met her and how we became friends but hhh too tired to rewrite. But anyway today i gave her a christmas pikachu plush as thanks for everything and cos her shop is moving on to its next location soon. She got really teary and gave me a big hug! She's gonna be at a comic con in march so i hope i'm able to go to that and see her again.

* went on a wild goose chase looking for harry potter merchandise and eventually found a gold plated replica of the movie prop version of the time turner and HELL YES my sis will love it!

* rambled about several market stalls that were cool but i can make a separate post about that in the morning when i find their contact details to advertise them

* got a plushie delibird and decided to take selfies with it everywhere to try and fight my social anxiety somehow. We went to a neat lil restaurant and had cheesy fries and a coke float!

* asked for a refund on an item for the first time ever and im proud of myself

* went off on a mystery bus trip to buy a preowned 3ds and pokemon games from a lady in an online preowned stuff facebook group and it didnt go horribly and i am glad! She was really nice and i witnessed A Good And Smart Parenting Moment and man it healed my heart and i wish i'd been raised that way. Again i'll probably ramble about the details later when im less tired, it really touched my heart seriously! And now i have MANY GIFTS FOR SIS!

* in total i was out present shopping from 9am to 8pm and i clicked my shoulder out of its socket for a split second from.all the heavy bags. Now im in a lot of aches and i need a sleeps

The End

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Buffy Season 12 - Issue #1 - Thought Post/Review

SPOILERS AND LONG, IMAGE HEAVY POST UNDER THE READ MORE!

- Awful artwork. [EDIT: Sorry, I’m going to be harsh about Georges Jeanty’s artwork throughout this whole post. I just can’t help it. I don’t like his art style at all and some of this art is just really, truly bad. The paneling was fine though.]

- Character development? What character development? Xander literally sounds like he is back in high school, UGH!

- I like that Xander and Spike are still friends. I like that Xander seems to have specifically invited Spike. I also like that Spike showed up with wine. Wine always seems to come off as being more “refined” than beer, which comes off as more “lower class” and such in media. In Season 6, for Buffy’s birthday, Spike showed up with a six pack of beer, now he is showing up with a bottle of wine. It’s a small thing, but I like what this subtlety says about Spike’s character and growth over the years.

- Suddenly Spike is eating human food again? 

I was actually fine with the way that got approached in Seasons 10 and 11, but okay, whatever. Consistent vampire mythos was never a true forte of this series anyway.

- I do like that the breakup was at least mutual and that both Buffy and Spike hug.

- The “Out. For. A. Walk. Bitch.” call back was weird, unnecessary, and just awkward (though, it was probably meant to be awkward - the characters both look a bit awkward with the situation). Honestly, it was painful to read... I do wonder how recent the breakup was though.

- Giles...doesn’t have glasses (is he wearing contacts?) and just doesn’t even look like Giles at all (I honestly thought he was Ethan for like a half second there). 

- Also, I actually liked young!Giles. I didn’t like how his story was handled in the Season 11 mini, but I liked how his character was handled in Season 10 of the comics. Also, once again getting back to that Character Development? What Character Development? thing...Giles was shown to be less useful, powerful, and happy as an adult in Season 10′s Freaky Giles Day. So I feel like aging Giles up just totally ignored that and was done for fanservice... This is another one of those things that we needed to see happen on screen. : /  I mean, the only spell that Willow found to age him up in Season 10 was a one time deal thing and was supposed to negatively impact his potential life span overall so...this “we just found a spell, lol” thing just reeks of lazy and bad writing.

- This version of Xander needs to just not talk. 

I know he is talking more about guys in general...but, just the way he is wording his stuff, it feels like Xander’s character has reverted in age...What happened to Doctor Mike?

- I like that Willow started up a blog though. That’s cool.

- I like how Riley has Willow’s back.

- Buffy and Spike breaking up makes zero sense. Buffy went from saying this:

- To saying this:

- Ok. But I don’t buy it. Buffy said that it would take more than just a few weeks apart to break them up. Apparently a quiet year was what did them in. But that doesn’t work for me. Especially because we didn’t actually see it. What exactly was the issue, why did they not work right as a couple when nothing was going wrong? Did they not have enough common interests? Or was it something more/else? This vague answer doesn’t work for me when a ton of seasons and a ton of years went into building up this relationship. I need more than this. - The conversation that Buffy has with Willow here: 

Is the same one that she had with Dawn at the start of Season 11:

Buffy’s answer to both were different but ultimately the same. It isn’t the relationship (it isn’t Spike) - it’s me. But, I mean...

- At the end of Season 11, from Buffy accepting her powers again: 

To Buffy’s “I love you too,” kiss, and cuddle with Spike:

Was all meant to show that Buffy was done being cookie dough and was now cookies. So once again I find myself asking Character Devleopment? What Character Development? ...Like has Whedon even actually read Seasons 10 and 11? Because from the way some of the characters are acting (specifically Xander and Buffy, who had some of the biggest amounts of character growth in the past two seasons) I would say not.

- I do like that Buffy is 30 though. I called that ages ago on Reddit and am glad that I was getting her age right throughout the comic run. That also means that Dawn is currently around 25 (since they are five years apart - according to Buffy in S8 when she was talking to Fray’s sister). Good to know.

- Ugh. I honestly thought we left this whole “being a normal person” stuff like ages ago. Buffy got over this already, ffs! 

Whedon needs to learn how to write about new and different stuff. Rehashing the same issues over and over again gets boring and honestly comes off as meaningless after a while.

- “It’s a gray area, and gray is not my color.” ...It was your color all throughout Season 11. For example:

Really, this is getting ridiculous. Whedon clearly hasn’t read the recent seasons... (And you may be wondering why I keep placing all the writing blame on Whedon instead of Gage, but the answer to that is 1. all of Whedon’s usual writing ticks are present. 2. I haven’t had much issues with Gage’s writing in the past, but whenever Whedon is involved with the comic writing, I see the quality drop. And 3. Whedon is still the one that has to OK everything.)  - Buffy talks about her relationship stuff complicating things, but earlier she said that the issue wasn’t her and Spike, and we also saw zero relationship issues in Season 11 (in the sense of them getting in the way of her and her self discovery). They had internal issues that they worked through in Season 10 and external issues in Season 11 that they worked through together. They were really great and communicative in Season 11 (and even through most of Season 10). They had rough spots, but they worked through them. But suddenly her relationship stuff is complicating things. Ok. I’d believe that if I actually saw that. But we got none of that, so I don’t buy it at all. :/ Instead we saw Buffy and Spike work through an almost breakup, which now almost seems like a completely pointless scene. As does the moment they have when they decide to continue their relationship in Season 10. Why didn’t the writers just end it there? It would have made more sense at least. All of this just comes off as lazy drama and it feels like Joss doesn’t know how to write happy characters and drama together. It’s a thing. You can have characters be happy and/or be in happy, healthy relationships and still have drama. Sense8 is a fabulous example of this. (Seriously though, I really recommend this series to everyone reading this - it’s wonderful! <3) 

- I do like the running joke in this issue about the sign on the door though. It reminded me of the joke about how Giles always left his door unlocked.

- Buffy and Spike are clearly not fine with their breakup. -ugh- 

They keep saying they are, which means they aren’t. Plus, the body language and eye contact all imply that they aren’t. In pure, unadulterated fangirl mode, I would be happy if Buffy and Spike got back together. But from a writing perspective and from a critical standpoint I would just find it to be a weak and watered down revival of their relationship. Seasons 10 and 11 were powerful and strong, you really felt the emotions. If Buffy were to end up with any of the characters this season, it would just end up feeling rushed and shallow.

- UGH. Whatever, Angel.

(Yes, I’m going to be salty here. Yes, my bias is showing. But I don’t particularly care. At least he only whispered it to Illyria, though, kudos for that.)

- LMAO! XD This was good though. 

That definitely made me actually, legit laugh out loud. 

-The rest of this whole dialogue though is coming off so choppy and clunky. They are trying to fit way too much information into one issue. I feel the same about the earlier scenes too. The pacing just feels rushed and if this were a show or live action or something it would just feel like everyone was just running lines to get through them as quickly as possible. There is no time to let the characters or plot really breathe. I feel like this could have been avoided if the character development from Seasons 10 and 11 were actually left in place and some of the characters (especially Buffy) didn’t suddenly hit a reset button.

- This artwork is killing me! 

I miss Rebekah Isaacs so much! T-T

- I didn’t like Xander asking/telling Dawn to stay at home with the baby. He says it isn’t for sexist reasons...but then he lists a couple reasons that are sexist when being used in this particular way: Only she can feed the baby!? Hello, baby formula exists. It won’t kill a baby to drink formula every once in a while, especially in an emergency, and mother’s pump milk too so... Only she ‘can sing the Sleepy Song the way [Joyce] likes’!? You can sing too Xander! Baby Joyce may not 100% love the way you sing it, but you can still do those two things that you mentioned. I would have preferred it if Dawn had specifically stated that she would stay with the baby. At least Dawn looks annoyed by this, so hopefully this will be a plot point that will get discussed or resolved at some point in the next three issues. (EDIT: Read my notes towards the end).

- A lot of fighting that I personally don’t care about. Fight scenes bore me. I also don’t care about Angel, Illyria, Harth, or Fray. I’m honestly just here to see how things wrap up for Buffy and her friends. Faith showed up, which is cool, I guess. I don’t care much for Faith, but I liked her well enough in her brief appearances in Seasons 10 and 11.

- Unpopular Opinion Time: I hate season 3 of Buffy and I hate The Mayor. He is one of my least favorite Big Bads. I thought he was written terribly and so, of course, he has to show up in this issue. 

Ugh. Just my luck, lol.

- At least how he still exists makes sense (far more so than The Master’s reappearance in Season 8). I personally don’t care much about Faith or her story, but it’s good for her character development. And it seems like they are going to drag this plot point out a bit, which I’m okay with. I’d prefer that over a rushed character moment.

- Seriously! What is up with these creepy, white dead looking eyes!?

- “I’m texting as fast as I can! I have fat fingers!” - Lol, I feel you on this one, Xander.

- A part of me feels like they just aged up Giles for this bit: 

Also, where is Giles even looking? Is he talking directly to us, the readers?

 Because he isn’t looking in Buffy’s direction at all.

- I do always like and appreciate when Dawn uses her Key powers! <3

- Though, back on the artwork...I really miss the cute outfits that Rebekah Isaacs and Megan Levens used to give the characters. 

I feel like, especially with Dawn, they just went “She is a mother now, so she has to wear boring clothes.” : / 

- “Xander, this time you stay with the baby. I pumped, there’s milk in the fridge.” - Yes, thank you, Dawn. I’m sensing that this might be an ongoing issue throughout the next three issues though, which I’m actually pretty all right with. It would be good to see more of Xander and Dawn’s relationship, since we didn’t get much of it in Season 11.

- The last panel is actually pretty nice looking. I don’t have much feelings or thoughts on this bit yet. That’ll likely be more of a discussion/talking point for me in the next issue. I do like the fact that Coke still exists in the Fray future though (there is a sign for コカ・コーラ behind Fray, it’s written in blue text and the sign is yellow - it’s Japanese).  - I really didn’t like this issue much at all. So much forgotten/reset character development. Xander felt particularly dated with a lot of his lines and the issues with Buffy are things that she had supposedly already worked through in previous seasons - her personal issues aren’t all that interesting to me because it is just rehashing and feels like her character did the whole “one step forward, two steps back” thing. The artwork was not good. And there was a bunch of other smaller things that bugged me, which I talked about above. 

That being said, there were some little things here and there that I did like and I’ll read the next issue. This wasn’t nearly as bad as the Giles Mini was, but it wasn’t that good either. Regardless of all that though, I still want to see how things end for Buffy and the Scoobies. I do know that I likely will not be buying the physical copies of this season though. Image Credits to: Georges Jeanty (Season 12 Images) and Rebekah Isaacs (Season 11 Images).

[kalliejupiter]

Some LEWKS from fashion illustration, or rather a fall capsule collection that I would wear myself if I were an intergalactic space provocateur (thus the inclusion of pants and a sensible heel). My partner and I debated the practicality of a drop-crotch pant I. The cockpit of a spacecraft—I and my instructor agree that the drop-crotch is totally fine, and fabulous. Besides, I’m not taking design advice from a guy who still dresses like he’s in junior high (JK, I ❤️ my partner). I tend to write long posts, and I like talking about and documenting ideation. So, I headlined each segment for easier navigation. Just some details on concepts, design process, and such. I will post more sketches, line drawings, fabric swatches, and maybe color comps later. The Assignment: Create a ten piece collection. Decide the season, demographic, include at least five different types of garments (trousers, dresses, at least one coat, etc. I also had to draw out the flats and include swatches and stuff. In the end I had to edit down from at least 20 initial sketches. Designing wearable sci-fi LEWKS comes easy to me, but self-editing does not. Take note toxic masculinity in geek culture, a girl can still be sexy in pants and a sensible heel and drawing something from the female gaze doesn’t mean a dude can’t appreciate it... I used my sensibilities as a starting point—although, in the end the collection skews a little younger than my demographic (I can get away with it as a woman of color because a WOC could be anywhere between the ages of 25 and 45 without a stranger being able to tell the difference. I’m still a little punk rock at my age, but if I had more time, I would create a companion collection that’s a little more stately and tailored for a more professional lady in my demographic (while maintaining the visual cohesion with the collection I eventually made). The instructor initially thought I was joking, because I actually submitted a market plan that said my target demographic was an intergalactic space nomad, political double-agent, listed the median income in space credits, and made several references to lasers and cyborgs. Spoiler alert, I got an ‘A’ on the final. I prefer fall to any other season, so too is my collection for fall. Fall, as a whole, has a wide range of potential garments, mostly because fall weather is so drastically varied (in spite of this, it is usually the BEST weather of any given place, IMHO). I also like fall color palettes best (as a suburban teen I spent my adolescence wearing all black, listening to Morresey, and writing really terrible poetry, like every other suburbanite teenager). Dark colors are slimming and hide a myriad of sins, accidents, and the bloodstains of your slain enemies. I wanted to include both a short and long coat/jacket, day wear, one formal piece, a jumpsuit of some kind, a mini and maxi silhouette, a work outfit, something to work as loungewear, something to work as activewear, and something that would look cool on a robot. I also wanted to strike a balance between bodycon silhouettes and easy to wear volume—which is probably why the collection ballooned into something as large as this one did—there were so many variations of single pieces that it was hard to choose which of them to include. The piece variations themselves were compelling on their own and also in comparison to its counterpart that it became more interesting to present looks as side-by-side options. Each look was multilayered, highly detailed, and designed to be physically adaptable/changeable anyway, so assigning a single croquis to a look seemed like a wasted opportunity. References and Ideation: I got the ideas for the collection from real life. One of the weird things I picked up from the military was from Basic, and it’s the idea that you are issued all of these pieces with utilitarian properties at first that encapsulates everything you’d ever need, apparel-wise (from underwear to formal wear, and for all weather and situations) and all of it can fit in a single seabag. It was fun trying to imagine what shenanigans one could experience as an intergalactic scene-girl, and what kind of clothes she might want. The concept of a sea bag (or “space bag,” in this case) jives with the idea of a capsule collection (stylish staple pieces that can be worn over many seasons with smaller, less expensive pieces that can be altered or replaced by trendier items as the seasons progress). All the pieces can be mix-and-matched and are adaptable in many ways—there is something gender neutral about a lot of it (I wish I designed the bodysuits with more variation in the briefs: make some with compression shorts, leggings, and such—I didn’t really consider these separate LEWKS, per se, but layering pieces, because some part of my underpants are always showing under my garments, and if you are going to have exposed bra straps, make it look like you did it on purpose). Also, the tailored structure and details of military clothing are really are really cool design elements to explore. I also used Middle Eastern references to balance out the designs—mostly because I thought it would be thematically appropriate/ironic to combine the two style sensibilities (non-Western cultures have so many more interesting silhouettes in any case—it might be appropriation, but in the neutral sense of the term). The concept of armor and utility informs every piece. Those concepts also the reason I referenced (or resurrected) less common clothing items and styles. For example, the quilted leather snood, a pleated leather bolero, spats over the boots, and a molded, hooded, cuirass (leather is a good material, it adapts to the wearer like a second skin and because of that, the material plays into the theme of personalizing a basic uniform to make it one’s own—90% of the swatches for the collection are organic or natural fibers because I would think the artificial environments and materials of space might make one long for something more “natural,” especially with something as intimate as the clothing that separates a persons skin from everything else. It’s also luxe and sometime more durable). Aesthetically, details like cording, high waisted pants, draped tops, high necklines, and asymmetrical hemlines reoccur as a design through line in the collection. Utilitarian features, like zippers and velcro closures, do double duty as both functional and aesthetic elements. A practical zipper on a detachable long sleeve becomes the decorative beam on the short sleeved version. Velcro tans on an exaggerated drop-crotch pant transform the garment from a maxi silhouette into short and leggings combo. I admit, this comes from my unironic love of those weird convertible bridesmaids dresses that people always end up lazily tying around their neck. Look Details (the Coverall): That’s why there is a “fashion coverall” in this collection—I know from experience that those are the comfiest work pajamas, ever, and even though this collection is supposed to exist a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I did want to reference some contemporary trends and needed a non-catsuit jumpsuit, and tailored coveralls seem very classic in a way that could be stylish beyond the current moment. I wanted to use design to solve actual practical problems. For example, instead of the traditional buttoned cuffs and collar, I chose to use a ribbed knit on both the neck and 3/4 sleeves. It is more comfortable and easy to wear, works just as well in a hot engineering space or in the colder climate controlled server spaces and Officer decks of a ship, and prevents the clothing from getting caught on equipment and becoming a liability on trouble calls or planet-side laser melee. The knees have built-in padding, and Velcro patch details, so our girl can switch allegiances fairly easily. The only thing is the lack of pockets. A cargo short is an amazing idea. In the abstract. I have never seen one in public that did not look like an Eldrich Abomination. If someone needs to Cary so much stuff in their pockets that their pants look like they are hiding the legs of Yogsheggoth, perhaps it’s time to consider carrying a bag. I’m looking at you, Dudes. Also, the belts and harnesses of the collection were designed with detachable pockets and specialized equipment in mind. I kind of wish I designed the piece with a jodhpur or cigarette leg silhouette instead of a boot cut. Both the jodhpurs and cigarette leg would have been more interesting, especially if I had also designed a short, romper version of the piece. Final Thoughts (for now...): I don’t expect anyone to have read all the way through this, and if you have, thanks! Feel free to contact me with any questions, requests, random musings, like, share and follow. I’ll try to be less wordy in the future. A Word of Thanks to the Fashion Illustration Class: I really enjoyed that class. Everyone of my classmates had different skills, experience, and came from a lot of different disciplines (for example, I make comics and work in advertising, some were animators, some fashion students, and one was an editorial photographer who didn’t draw well in the conventional sense of it, but drew croquis that had the character of a Mondiglioni and could convey not only the sense of the garments, but the personality of the girl who wore them). We talked about everything, asked a lot of good questions, and hyped each other up for fashion in general. I will say that out of the many years of studying various art disciplines in various classrooms and open critiques, this was the first time I experienced colleagues as open and giving as these classmates were. I’m used to a lot of pushback and blank stares during critiques (especially when I give them—I obviously talk a lot, and connect ideas to a lot of obscure references—“consider the jodhpurs,” “you seem really into minimal geometric patterning—write down ‘Ainu’ and look up their textiles and mouth tattoos,” “there is something very vaporwave about this non-binary collection, I see a lot of pastels and navy,” “I know exactly who the girl is that wears this collection—she converted an Arizona ranch into a minimal art gallery in the middle of nowhere, collects antiques from the late 1950’s and Kieth Harring prints, and makes excellent margheritas...”—and then they would use my suggestions by the next critique! WHAT!!?!), but people really listened and we all tried to understand each others point of view and encourage one another. I loved that class.

[tinyolsen]

Odds!

o 1: when you have cereal, do you have more milk than cereal or more cereal than milk? Sort of level but if anything more milko 3: what random objects do you use to bookmark your books? Post it notes, traintickets, bus tickets, anything tbho 5: are you self-conscious of your smile? Yes if my mouth is open/ showing some teeth cos idk it feels weird but to quote my mate I have “a cheeky lil smile” so o 7: do you name your plants? I have a mini cactus called oucho (see ed and oucho from cbbc) o 9: do you like singing/humming to yourself? Yes if no one is around, I was singing in the kitchen in my uni accom and the cleaner walked in, I nearly diedo 11: what’s an inner joke you have with your friends? Bert box, hughhhhhhhh and hades without any of the weird shito 13: what’s something that made you smile today? I went to a talk by sunny Jacobs and peter pringle and when they said we have 4 goats and live together, I beamed they are sooo cute (btw look them up their story is amazing)o 15: go google a weird space fact and tell us what it is! Venus is 462 Co 17: what color do you really want to dye your hair? I wont dye it but like dark blue/ black like gabriella in hsm 2o 19: do you keep a journal? what do you write/draw/ in it? I do I have three, one for cute memories, one for random facts and one that has doodles in it mainly of my dogo 21: talk about your favorite bag, the one that’s been to hell and back with you and that you love to pieces. My fav bag is no bag ever, cos effort to carry but my mufc hold all, has been to football tournaments, dance shows, America and back and its now under my bed at uni with spare towels and tea towels ino 23: what’s your favorite thing to do on lazy days where you have 0 obligations? Play guitar, catch up on tv just chill, don’t think about work, go to the park and just sit and take pictures, dance in the kitchen (opps thing)o 25: what’s the weirdest place you’ve ever broken into? I have never broken in anywhere o 27: what’s your favorite bubblegum flavor? Cherry o 29: what’s something really cute that one of your friends does and is totally endearing? one of them does a sideways smile when you say her nameo 31: what is your opinion of socks? do you like wearing weird socks? do you sleep with socks? do you confine yourself to white sock hell? really, just talk about socks. I love patterned socks, football socks, trainer socks, slipper socks, but I have to wear just plain black trainer socks otherwise I think someone is judging me, but I really love my monkey and banana ones they are burgundy I also just got iron man, spiderman and captain America ones from my mateo 33: what’s your fave pastry? Puff, comes ready rolled, is vegan and I use it to make cheese straws for my flatmates (I have just been told that this means pastry thing, in which case cheese straws) o 35: do you like stationary and pretty pens and so on? do you use them often? Yessssss! I just bought purple and blue highlighters cos I had to get rid of my old ones (long story) and they are awesomeo 37: do you like keeping your room messy or clean? I like it lived in but not messy, and clean o 39: what color do you wear the most? blacko 41: what’s the last book you remember really, really loving? Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, its just inspiredo 43: who was the last person you gazed at the stars with? Someone who I dated for a bit but id like to forget that plsssso 45: do you trust your instincts a lot? lol noo 47: what food do you think should be banned from the universe? Custard o 49: do you like buying CDs and records? what was the last one you bought? Not really cos I often don’t like full albums, unless its Rumors – Fleetwood mac but I bought when you love someone (acoustic) – James TW on itunes if that countso 51: think of a person. what song do you associate with them? My brother and little things cos we have a funny joke with it (funny to us)o 53: have you ever watched the rocky horror picture show? heathers? beetlejuice? pulp fiction? what do you think of them? yes, no, no , yes/ loved it, n/a, n/a, and loved it.o 55: what’s the most dramatic thing you’ve ever done to prove a point? eaten a tub of ice cream to prove that I could bite ice cream for more than just one bite, I stared the girl in the face and bit every spoonfulo 57: go listen to bohemian rhapsody. how did it make you feel? did you dramatically reenact the lyrics? Awake, course, you are lying if you say you don’to 59: what’s your favorite myth? The Trojan horse was the first one I ever learnt in year four and it will always be my fave, but Icarus and Daedalus comes closeo 61: what’s the stupidest gift you’ve ever given? the stupidest one you’ve ever received? This all happened this Christmas, I gave my dad a mug saying “im retired (emphasis on the tired)” and my mum gave me bin bags (im an excellent gift giver just ask my family, I out do them all every year) o 63: are you fussy about your books and music? do you keep them meticulously organized or kinda leave them be?  As long as the books are upright with small in the middle, large at each side idm, and my music is on specific playlists on my phone (i.e fast walking playlist, chill walk playlist)o 65: is there anyone you haven’t seen in a long time who you’d love to hang out with? Quite a few people from school, and the three awesome people who made my dance class epic (going to uni and leaving them sucks)o 67: how do gloomy days where the sky is dark and the world is misty make you feel? Awesome, if im okay anyway cos its so prettyo 69: what are your favorite board games? Monopoly cos I rule at it, block us and scrabble with my grandparents cos they like to use non English words/ made up oneso 71: what’s your favorite kind of tea? Good ol’ cuppa (Yorkshire tea bags) o 73: what are some of your worst habits? I isolate myself, blank out, cant react to other peoples emotions and I pop my shoulder in and outo 75: tell us about your pets! Omggg, Alfie the cute lil puppy is my bae, hes the light of my life, hes a cavalier king Charles spaniel and he’s the best boy, the only guy bar my lil brother I trust. And then my rabbit, leon the lion lop, died just before xmas, I miss the lil fluff but he was the cuddliest thingo 77: pink or yellow lemonade? After learning that this probably means American style lemonade, yellow. But uk style, lucazade pinks one is pengo 79: what’s one of the cutest things someone has ever done for you? My best mate gives my the best handmade cards all the time, that and a date gave my guitar picks with my name on onceo 81: describe one of your friend’s eyes using the most abstract imagery you can think of. grey pebbles imagine if you put the clearest water blue stripped though out it or a grey and blue stepsil mushed together o 83: what’s some of your favorite album art? Idk tbh not gonna lieo 85: do you read comics? what are your faves? On and off, and probs the one amazing fantasy ive reado 87: what are some movies you think everyone should watch at least once in their lives? Dead poets society, 50/50 and some others I cant think ofo 89: are you close to your parents? Ish, um naho 91: where do you plan on traveling this year? Back home and idk where else yeto 93: what’s the hairstyle you wear the most? Side parting and just brushed, nothing fancyo 95: what are your plans for this weekend? Do uni worko 97: myer briggs type, zodiac sign, and hogwarts house? Infj, Aquarius and ive had Hufflepuff, ravenclaw and Gryffindor in recent weekso 99: list some songs that resonate to your soul whenever you hear them. Scars to your beautiful, facing west cover and halo- lewis Watson

thank you :)