#if the next pack is really a star wars thing I'm totally out

[siphersaysstuff]

MAY MECH MARATHON

So for May's Patreon-backed @tfwiki toy picture batch, I got a wild hair. After last month's Exdimensions update, I realized that the wiki was missing Legend of the Microns (Armada) Exdimensions Twist (Makeshift), the only XD Emergency Team toy I hadn't done. So I did him up. Hooray!

Then the next day I was staring at the raw photos I took of Retro Hot Rod, which were in my Patreon "working" folder because I didn't have a "Retro" repository folder because I am almost certainly not going to get any others in this line, so I did his pic up... besides, it's the "flagship" toy of the line, it should get unique imagery. God he's gorgeous.

At that point I went " to hell with it" and decided that for each weekday in May, I'd do one toy pic from a random, whatever-I-felt-like selection. No overarching theme, and trying to hit a pretty broad swath of toylines and timeframes. Thus...

Not sure why I picked Universe Magna Stampede next. I actually had to dig him up to take these pics. I think I'd just chanced upon his stock imagery, which was craptastic and also showed the axe split in two, which I'm certain the toy is not supposed to do, and went "no, I'm'a fix this.

And this last week's updates...

I picked up Decoy Smokescreen for cheap at TFCon, and really, the wiki's Decoy coverage has been... lacking. Mostly in that they were sold in so many colors and different ways in Japan that the wiki barely touches on. Smokescreen's page is now the template for how Decoys should be, so I'll get to those in time.

There's not much story here with Animated Lugnut. Most of the wiki's Animated toy imagery is stock, and while stock quality had improved since 2003 (it'd almost have to), it's still not great. Taking pics of the real, final-release toy will almost always be preferable for a number of reasons.

Takara's Mega Super Collection Figure Starscream was part of the big early-2000s burst of G1 merch in Japan. A 5-inch fairly-posable soft-plastic figure with swappable parts, he and a handful of other big-name characters were made, plus several Legends of the Microns headliners.

Power Up VT6 is from the "Real Gear Robots" subline of the 2007 Transformers movie series, one of a large range of 1:1-scale toys that transform from personal electronic devices into robots. He's also one of the few whose altmode is not almost totally outdated. The Cybertron-based stickers on the early Real Gears led to the belief that these were canceled /re-assigned Cybertron toys, but nope! They were made specifically for the movie line, it's just that in order to get them into production, they had to get those decals out fast.

Remember Attacktix? No? Not shocking. Hasbro had an admittedly cool idea for an action tabletop game, started the line with Star Wars, and moved on to Transformers. Yes, officially, you could have Optimus Prime fight Darth Vader. Battle Ravage was one of the booster-pack common pieces (laughably officially "Rare"). You rolled his base forward a set number of "tix" (a clicky-thing in the base counted them off), then could use his spring-loaded waist to swing the mace-ball in the hopes of knocking over your opponent's pieces. There's other rules but that's the jist of it. Each booster-pack piece commonly came with a black base, but there was a roughly 1-in-8 chance of getting a silver-chrome base one, which had no gameplay differences but it was shiny. Sadly, the whole Attacktix line was cancelled after only one series of Transformers pieces were released, with several more based on Generation 1 shown off but doomed to never see release.

Next Saturday, I'll update with the pics done over the course of this coming week!

And remember, if you like these big pic jaunts, you can help make this bigger and better by tossing a tip via Patreon. Just look up "gregstfwikipics" at that site! You can even help pick a monthly theme!

[bayisdying]

Lucky Penny - Chapter 17

A/N: I am so so so sorry that this took so long to get out to you guys. Writers block was so real for this chapter and even once I had it figured out it still wasn't coming as easily as writing usually does for me. I hope you guys enjoy it, and as always feedback back is appreciated!

8 Months Post Mission:

Wedding planning shouldn't be harder than flying a fighter jet but it sure felt that way.

The normally very in sync couple were fighting over everything.

"Can it be a Stars War theme?"

"Absolutely not."

"Can we have Mav officiate?"

"Um I'm sorry, that's a terrible idea!"

But it wasn't just little fights, they were having full on arguments over very important things. Firstly, the guest list. The Garcia clan was massive, Mickey's parents had a total of eleven siblings, and all of those siblings had children, and most of those children had children. Mickey himself was one of five, and all his siblings were married and three of them had kids. Plus he still had all his grandparents, and God knows how many other distant relatives. They could easily account for 150 people which was way more people than Lucky wanted there.

She wanted small, intimate. Their immediate families and their friends. That's it. She didn't have the large family background. The Steele family had never accepted her as one of their own even after William officially adopted her. When she had been five years old she tried calling his parents "Grandma and Grandpa" she had been punished. The two Christmases they had been invited to - there had been no presents under the tree for Baylie while she watched as the cousins she wasn't allowed to play with opened box after box.

So really all she had left was her mother, maternal grandparents, and a handful of assorted family members. And as much as she loved all of the wild Garcia's she couldn't help but feel a little inferior to them. He could pack a whole church with his family, whereas she could count her family on one hand.

Their fighting comes to a head one day when a very stressed out Fanboy snaps when Lucky is contemplating who is going to walk her down the aisle.

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of this."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lucky asked.

"I know you wish it was William, but he's dead and he wasn't even really your father. It's time to get over it."

He regretted the words as soon as they flew from his mouth, and especially when he saw the hurt in her eyes. She stood up and walked towards the door.

"Wait Bay.."

"Save it. I'm leaving."

And she did just that, grabbing nothing, not even shoes.

It had been only sprinkling when Lucky left the cottage, by the time she made it by foot to the Kazansky household it was a full blown downpour. She was soaking wet from head to toe and she wasn't sure which were tears or raindrops on her cheeks. She usually didn't knock or ring the doorbell, she was welcome in at anytime. But she rang the doorbell, not wanting to interrupt whatever her surrogate parents were doing.

When Ice opened the door, it took him far longer than normal to figure out that the tiny, soaked frame was that of his Lucky.

"What the fuck?" Came Dragon's voice from behind him. "Baby girl come here."

While Dragon led Lucky to the bathroom to get her out of her wet clothes and into a warm shower, Iceman went full on Papa Bear mood.

He started by taking a few deep breaths, and bypassed Fanboys contact to find the group chat he had created with Rooster and Hangman.

-----

The Hard Deck was busy as usual, and sitting in a corner booth were the foursome of Rooster, Hangman, Cinco, and Spicy who was currently on break.

"Oh look it's Mickey." Roo pointed to the bar, where their friend was sitting alone. "wonder where Lucky is?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to go invite him over here." Cin said as she emptied the rest of her beer. "I need a refill anyways."

She made her way to the bar, Penny handing her another beer, before she takes a place next to Mickey who tensed up.

"Hey buddy, where's our girl?"

No response.

"Fanboy? What's up?"

Nothing.

"You want to come join us in the corner?"

"Just leave me alone Cin, okay?" He snapped at her, causing her to recoil. "I'm not in the mood."

"What the hell Miguel?"

He went back to not responding until she got the hint and went back to the table with a dejected look on her face.

"What's his problem?" Jake asked.

Cin just shrugged, still feeling the sting of his rejection.

"He looks really grumpy." Spicy noted.

"I mean him and Lucky are planning the wedding, maybe it's a little stressful?" Rooster added as an observation, forever playing the optimist.

Just as he finished his statement both his and Jake's phones vibrated on the table. They flip them over in unison and read the text.

"Hey girls we will be right back." Rooster stated as him and Jake made a beeline to the bar, leaving their phones behind. The girls shared one look as Spicy reached out for Bradley's phone. Everyone knew his passcode, "1986" (the boy isn't original at all okay?)

Cin scooted closer to her friend, and they read the text from "Uncle Ice"

"Boys, I don't know what happened but Lucky showed up at our doorstep about an hour ago crying. She won't tell us what happened just that Mickey said something awful. Dragon got her to take a shower and now she's laying on the couch still crying. Help."

Spicy set the phone back down and sighed.

"What the hell could he have said to make her that upset?" Cin whispered.

"Something really, really bad."

----

Rooster had finally convinced Fanboy to take a walk with him while Jake paid for another round for him and the girls.

They walked down to the beach in total silence, before Rooster finally asked the burning question. "What happened?"

Fanboy sighed and closed his eyes. "I didn't mean to say it, it just came out man."

"What did you even say?"

"I told her that..William was dead and she needed to get over it."

Rooster took a deep breath, mainly to mask his anger, when he regained his composure his voice was barely above a whisper "why would you say that to her?"

"It's been a stressful few months, we went from not knowing if she was going to survive to planning a wedding where we can't agree on anything. Everything has been a fight."

"Maybe a night away from everything is what you two need."

"She's never going to want me back after I said that, I messed up almost six years with the most amazing woman with one sentence."

Rooster smirked. "Yeah right, that girl is crazy about you, she'll forgive you for this."

Mickey raised an eyebrow.

"She looks at you the way my Mom looked at my Dad, and how she continued to look at his pictures even after he died." Bradley paused. "And you look at her how Dad looked at Mom. Like she's the only person you can see in a room full of people. You smile as soon as she's in eyesight, and when she's not looking you look at her like she hung every star in the sky just for you. You two remind me so much of my parents, and they were an epic love story. This won't tear that kind of love apart."

Mickey just shakes his head, "William was her first knight in shining armor Roo. She carries around the hurt of losing him like a weight on her shoulders. He will always be her first love. I'm just the dumbass who gets to love the woman he raised her to be."

"And that woman knows you never meant to hurt her." Roo pats his buddy on the shoulder. "And that woman loves you so much it's blinding, everyone knows you two are inseparable."

Mickey knew the other shoe was about to drop, he could see the shift in Bradley's eyes, he was going from being his best friend to Lucky's.

"But you hurt her in the worst way, using something so sacred to her. You have no idea what losing a parents does to you, and she watched him die for six months before he actually died. She went to every chemo, every doctor's appointment, and she watched him fade away." Bradley had to stop his voice from rising. "You can't possibly imagine how that is, and this wasn't even the man who shared her DNA. This was the man who stepped up to the plate and raised her when her biological father wouldn't. He didn't run away from Delilah when he realized she had a daughter. Instead he became a damn good father, loved her, cared for her, and did everything for her. That's why she still talks to him after all these years. She has never had to question whether he loved her, because he proved it every single day."

They stood in total silence, the only noise was that of the waves.

-----

Back at the Kazansky house, Dragon had finally gotten Baylie to calm down enough to explain what happened. She covered Lucky with a warm blanket and picked up her phone.

Dragon was only a little upset when Fanboy let her phone call go to his voice-mail. She had wanted to actually talk to him, but this would have to work.

"Listen very carefully Miguel, I know you're both stressed, but what you said was so wrong. Sober up, and come by the house tomorrow to apologize. Just remember one thing, Ice and I would do anything for her. That includes hurting you for hurting her. See you tomorrow."

Fanboy listened to the voice-mail over and over again. Not to hear the bite in her voice when she said his name, or the threat. But because he could hear Baylie crying in the background and that sound was killing him inside.

He knew he had to do something big to win her back, and knowing his girl it was going to take all his romantic prowess.

-----

The next morning Ice had made Lucky pancakes, and watched as she just picked at them. It was breaking his heart seeing her so sad.

"Come on Lucky girl, it will be okay."

Before Lucky can respond they hear something out on the front lawn, they join Dragon who is peering out of a window.

"What the hell is this?" Lucky asked.

"Pretty sure your man is trying to make up to you." Dragon replied and stepped aside so Lucky could see.

Standing next to the Bluetooth boombox Lucky had bought him the last Christmas was Mickey. He was fumbling with his phone, and he has what looks like poster board in his hands.

"Oh my God."

Lucky opened the front door and the trio walked out onto the front porch to watch the show. Mickey put on a serious face noticing his audience. He also noticed how Lucky looked like she had been crying non-stop for hours.

"I wanted to say I'm so sorry cariño. I love you so much so I wanted to show you that."

He clicks a button on his phone, and "Gasolina" by Daddy Yankee start playing, resulting in very confused looks.

"Shit shit shit." They could barely hear Mickey over the music. He messed with his phone and the music stopped.

"Wrong song Garcia!" Dragon yelled to cut the tension.

"I know!" He yelled back, clearly stressed.

He frantically scrolled and finally found the right song. The next time the boombox came to life "Hero" by Enrique Iglesias started up causing Lucky to laugh this was the song he would sing to her whenever she was sad.

Fanboy turned the poster board around and she read the words.

"I want to be your hero baby." it was decorated poorly with pictures of them both through the years.

Lucky immediately started to laugh, he may have been cheesy as hell but she loved it.

She finally joined him out on the front lawn, he opened his arms and she ran into them. He wrapped his strong arms around her.

"Cariño..."

"Oh just kiss me Mickey."

He obligated her plea, kissing her hard, making damn sure the kiss said everything he wanted to;

She was his forever girl.

He never wanted to let her go.

He couldn't wait to marry her.

-----

A/N: would it be a chapter of Lucky Penny if there wasn't any angst? 18 actually is way less angsty. That's a promise.

Tagging the Besties: @mtnofgrace @mrsjaderogers @callsign-dragonbaron @callsign-milano @callsignthirsty @callmemana @breadsquash @cycbaby @kloofspeaks @roosterscockpit @notyoursbutlewis

[madeofcc]

Beginning/ Previous

Ecolifestyle review just below !

First of all, this review and all this gameplay story/legacy thing wouldn’t have been possible without @greenfooddog​ ‘s awesome gift :) Again, thanks a lot for this!

I’m not used to write sims reviews so I’ll try to give the up and down for every category. Feel free to contact me if you want to know something specific I don’t mention.

CAS : To be honest, I don’t expect anything from the CAS team anymore especially when I see how they look like irl. Not to be mean but once again, the CAS is mostly WTF outfits you would never probably see or wear irl ... This time I was surprised to find some cute items though especially the transparent top, the black hair we see on the cover (the one Samyah had when the story started). The men and child clothes are empty as usual but I guess it’s the way things are now ... 

Buy/Build : This is the main quality of this pack for me ^^ I really love a lot of things that come from this pack and I will use these items in the future for sure! The colours are nice even though they should add more slots to the shelves >< The only thing I didn’t like was the things our sims can create ... Most of them aren’t that great and I would have loved to have more swatches available ! Again, thank god there’s talented cc creator to change that :)

Gameplay : What I like : The new traits (always nice to have some more), the kind of realistic side about being a creator : the 3D print, the candle making, recycling making, giving presents we made, I also was suprised to enjoy making Fuzzy Juices. I kind of liked the neighbour plan and the fact that we can actually see the city changing every week. I wonder i this also works on another world and I will surely try one day to see if we can modernise Forgotten Hollow or Sulani, that would be a huge add to the game but I guess I’m actually dreaming ... Other thing I like is to compare the game with real life, I realised I’m living an ecofirendly life for most part XD The off the grid part is very functionnal now! You can basically create your own energy now! Oh and Evergreen Harbor is just beautifull ! I didn’t think I would love this world so much ^^

What I dislike about the gameplay : The carreers are very disapointing (always the same missions during all the career), most of the non eco friendly neighboor behaviour who keeps coming back over and over (loving is sharing huh?), I was also so disapointed to see that you basically have to have an active lot in each neighbour in order to keep it clean and green. And this is just to make it a little green, not fully >< I guess this is the most difficult challenge of the game now, especially when you only play with one family ! I also dislike th fact that in order to succeed at being eco friendly, your sims can’t rest ! Seriously, I rarely let he girls ate or slept during this legacy, I had to cheat everytime so the girl could do everything properly. It basically takes hours to make a candle or something with the 3D print, adding the fact that you have to go to work, to convince the neighbour to change and also to adapt your house to the new convention of the city! It’s a looot to deal with especially if you have bugs and if you want to live off the grid! Some unrealistic ideas are just hypocritical to me : the smoking vacuum, the fake meat .... Do you really imagine that in real life ?! WTF ?! The meat is really a ridiculous point but the vaccum smash it all ! When I first saw the trailer I was like : As if ? In game, it’s way worst because all the polution your vacuum gets, you have to put it in the trash later .... See the never ending circle? Ridiculous ... Also, does anyone of you have sold something? Jade and Samyiah created more than 50 things and it’s always a nightmare to sell these ....

At the end, I can say that I’m disapointed again with this pack :( It didn’t look like a good idea and apparently it wasn’t after all ! I’m so happy I won it otherwise I would have never bought it. Some things are nice but again, incomplete, especially when you think about kniffty knitting and laundry day that should have come with this pack (that is totally relevant now). The main idea would have been nice if it wasn’t that superficial as usual with this gen. I will probably try to change another world in order to try if we can but I’m really not sure about that and that would reall annoy me if I try hard for nothing ^^ If you consider buying this pack, please, really look for gameplay video or reviews before you do otherwise expect to be disapointed. Also, remember that this is just my personnal review of this pack and that I totally understand and not blame anyone who enjoy it. We all have different taste after all and it’s important to remember that. But it’s also important to remember that EA did better before ;)

[emcon-imagines]

omg,,, congrats on 500, emcon! i remember seeing your initial post but i totally missed your celebration post! i hope i'm not too late. can i request a hurt/comfort drabble with finn (star wars) for your drabble event? if it's not closed, that is.

gif // a/n: i hope you like it! this maaaaay have inspired my one shot for Noah’s writing challenge

“You all right?” Finn asked, sitting down on the floor of the ship, next to you. You were still out of breath, your heart racing, and you could see Finn’s legs shaking as he stretched them out, leaning his head against the wall.

“It’s been a long day,” you responded with a sigh. “A really long day.”

When you shut your eyes, you could still see the faces of the soldiers that were left behind, the ones who didn’t make it back to the ships, the ones that you tried to rescue and failed. The First Order had been faster than you. 

“Your wrist,” Finn finally said, noticing it, you cradling it against your chest, your breath hitching whenever the ship lurched and the momentum hurting it even more. “When did that happen?”

“It’s just a sprain,” you said, eyes still shut. “I’ll be fine.”

“Seems worse than just that.” You heard him shuffling around the cabin, the click of a cabinet unlocking before he sat down next to you again. “We should at least... wrap it or something... I don’t know. I can’t find any freeze packs or I’d give you one of those.” He cracked open up the medpack and pulled out wrappings, holding his hands out, gesturing for you to let him help you.

With another sigh, you offered him your wrist, trying not to flinch as you moved it.

“I can’t get it out of my head,” Finn murmured as he wrapped your wrist. “All those people... left behind. We should have never tried to run. I know the First Order. I should have known it was a trap.” His voice tightened as he recalled the scene on the planet below.

“It’s not your fault,” you said. “We had no way of knowing. And by then, communication had already broken down.”

“But I knew,” Finn said. “Or I should have known. But I just panicked...”

“If no one got out, no one would have known what the First Order was doing,” you said, trying to convince yourself just as much as Finn. “We witnessed it. If we didn’t run, that secret would have died down there.” You paused, wincing as he tested the tightness of the wrappings, searching your eyes.

“Does that hurt?”

You shook your head. “I’m good.” He released your wrist and you immediately folded him into a hug, pain be damned. “You did the right thing, Finn. Okay? There was no other way.”

[ackermancurse]

OOH I'm happy to hear about blurb night cause I'm so so SUPER excited for Far From Love!!! Can you expand on a little idea I have? I think peter would be the kind of guy to save every little memento he can of his girl. Like every receipt/ticket, every flower shes ever given, a keychain she bought him, etc. Like his bedroom is FULL of her things because it makes him so happy to see them and think of the great memory each item is attached to! I just love a whipped Peter Parker for his girl xx

omg i’m so happy that you’re excited!!! also this idea is absolutely ADORABLE 

.

Peter Parker was a helpless romantic who just so happened to get the girl of his dreams in high school and was able to keep her to now, their last year of college. 

You made Peter’s day. You were one of the main reasons he got out of bed every morning for the past 8 years. You were the one.

One day while the two of you were getting ready for your 8 year anniversary dinner you were looking for one of your gold bracelets that Peter had bought you for your 5 year anniversary.

“Ugh Peter do you know where it is? I’ve looked everywhere!” you yell from your shared bedroom. It was a complete mess. 

Dropping to the floor you thought maybe it had fallen under the bed from the last time you wore it and left it on your bedside table.

Your hand stretched out as far as it was able to and you felt it, “Found it!” you touched something else as well. Something that felt hard.

Huh that’s weird. You never put anything under the bed.

You pull out the bracelet and place it on your wrist but look underneath the bed to see a big black box. You manage to drag the box out despite its weight. 

Seriously what the hell was in this?

You sit cross-legged on the floor and place the box in front of you opening the lid. A bunch of random things were stacked to the brim.

A Delmar’s receipt dated 8 years back. Two packs of sour gummy worms. Two number 5′s with pickles (smashed down real flat). $10 total. Your first date with Peter. It was at a park and he brought you what he called “The best sandwiches in Queens.”

You smile.

A plastic sandwich bag filled with sand and a few seashells. Coney Island November 2015 was labeled on it in black sharpie. That’s the day Peter asked you to be his girlfriend. You laughed when he started to fill this bag, “I wanna remember this!” You didn’t think he actually kept it.

A bunch of pressed flowers in individually laminated sheets. Each with random dates. Each was from a bouquet of flowers that Peter bought for you on the most random occasions. “Sorry one of the flowers got smushed on the way here so there’s only 1.”

A movie ticket to see Star Wars The Last Jedi. You treated Peter for his birthday and he kept kissing you the whole movie. “Babe you’re not even watching the movie!” “How can I when the best girl in the world is sitting next to me?”

A dollar bill with a sticky note, ‘Y/n lent me $5 so I could buy a bagel and this was the change 3/9/20′ You laughed. Peter hadn’t eaten anything that day so you gave $5 so he could buy something small while you went to lecture. “The bagels are ridiculously pricey here sorry babe.”

A plastic spoon in another sandwich bad from your favorite ice cream place. This one was labeled, ‘When I finally told y/n I’m Spiderman.’ He took you guys out for ice cream and you sat on a random rooftop. “I can’t believe you actually kept this from me this long!” “Guess I am pretty good with secrets.”

A parking ticket labeled ‘Got caught making out in my car… 5 houses down from y/n’s parent’s house.’ Oh god you remember being so embarrassed. “Peter I told you to read the No Parking sign!” “Well if I did then we wouldn’t have gotten to make out tonight would we?”

A stack of birthday cards you have given to Peter over the last 8 years. You made sure to always get him the funniest ones. “Who would’ve thought that I have the funniest girlfriend in the world? These never get old.”

A copy of your signed apartment papers from 3 years ago. You guys wanted to live together so bad that when Peter was able to get a loan from the bank you immediately bought this place. “Living with my favorite girl and waking up to her every morning? What else could I ask for?”

A receipt for a jewelers dated to a couple months ago. It was a few thousand dollars. Huh you never got a piece of jewelry. You kept reading it and that’s when you see ‘engagement ring.’

“Hey babe sorry I– Oh gosh you weren’t supposed to see this,” Peter starts rushing to place everything back into the box. You continued looking at the receipt and your heart was pounding in your ears. Engagement ring.

Peter noticed you quiet and finally looked to see you holding a piece of paper. He grabs it gently from your fingertips and you stare at him wide-eyed. He reads the paper and his body goes numb. Good job you idiot. You blew your cover. It all came down to this. He wanted to do this after dinner but nothing can ever really be planned for.

“D-Did I read that right?” you ask and Peter grabs your hands and stands the two of you up. He sighs and his hands are shaking like crazy.

“So I guess the cat’s out of the bag… I wanted to do this after dinner but um…” He takes another deep breath, “Y/n you have made me the best version of myself possible. Every day for the past 8 years I wondered why I was the guy that you fell for? Why was I the guy who was lucky to call you his girlfriend? Why was I the guy who had someone who made loving so damn easy? Y/n you are everything and more that I have ever wanted in a girl. I am so grateful we have been able to journey life with you by my side but I was kind of hoping that you’d want to stick around and journey it with me for the rest of our lives?”

Peter got down on one knee and pulled a small black velvet box from his pocket, “Y/n Y/l/n will you marry me?”

To say that there wasn’t a dry eye between the both of you is an absolute lie. You two were crying like babies.

8 years now turned to infinite.

“Peter Parker I would love to marry you,” You reply and he springs upwards smashing his lips onto yours.

Peter Parker was the man you dreamt of since you were a little girl reading about the knight in shining armor. 

Your foreheads rested against one another’s, “Wow we actually did it,” Peter whispered and you laughed.

He pulled away from you and placed the beautiful ring on your left finger.

Peter Parker was yours forever. Many more memories to make. Many more things for him to collect. Looks like he was gonna need a bigger box.

[etlunainmorte]

❄❄❄

***

*Old - Fashioned Peanut - Butter Cookies*

*Ingredients

2 cups creamy peanut butter ( not the all - natural variety )

1½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

½ teaspoon kosher salt

*How to Make It

Step 1

Heat oven to 350° F.

Step 2

Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and sugars on medium - high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and beat in the eggs, baking soda, vanilla, and salt.

Step 3

Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and place on parchment - lined baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. With a lightly floured fork, press the dough to a ⅜ - inch thickness, making a crisscross pattern on top of each cookie.

Step 4

Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the edges are set, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

***

❄ Three Wishes ❄

***

II

***

You were blissfully unaware of this but, V prepared for your very first date the entire night before the big day that he almost drove Griffon to sheer insanity.

Picking out clothes and accessories for him and teaching him stuff he, more or less, already knew regarding the opposite gender, the bird worked hard to the bone just to make his master look good in front of you. He wanted his master to give a nice first impression, after all.

But, then again, since V started living separately from Dante and Vergil for a month ( the younger brother always made him clean the eternally messy shop, while the older twin and him knew each other too well to the point of awkwardness and, sometimes, hostility ), he only managed to buy a few pieces of clothing with the money he has earned as an independent Devil Hunter. Meaning, there wasn't too much clothing to choose from in the first place. Well, at least right then. He could earn money faster than his two bickering brothers, anyway, and he has proven it more than a decent amount of times already.

So, he has no other choice but to go along with a decent and smart casual wear, which consisted of a simple white button down shirt, black pants, and a pair of black boots ( with the extremely cold weather going ballistic on his thin and bony frame, he has to set aside the sandals for a while ). Completing his look with a knitted pullover and a black parka, he made his way towards your house, which was not really that far, since he now practically lived next to you.

Approximately five minutes before eight in the morning, V was sitting there on the sofa, waiting for you to come down. And when you finally did, boy, was he really surprised. Clad in a light - colored coat worn over a gingham dress, black leggings, and a pair of boots, you looked truly lovely in V's eyes.

You smiled brightly as V greeted you, and after receiving something from your loving grandmother that she made, herself, you two finally took off.

*

The Red Grave shopping district, despite the cold weather, was packed with people of all ages. Children, teens, and adults, each and everyone of them walked about the place, going to different boutiques, eating at restaurants, or just simply looking around. And most of them were already buying Christmas presents.

V had different plans for you, however. He bought tickets to that latest installment of a long - running space opera saga, after all, which, he rightfully thought, was one of your favorite movie genres. Now, you found this completely normal, since movies like that were really in demand as of the moment. What really surprised you was the quality of tickets he bought for the two of you.

"Umm, V, Star Wars is that way." You gently reminded him after grabbing your popcorn, jelly beans, and (F/F) frappe from the snack bar.

V only smiled at you. "I know, dear." He told you as he guided you towards the opposite direction were lesser people were going: the Director's Club, of all places.

Director's Club?! You thought hysterically. But, tickets there are way too expensive!

And he was totally not kidding around! You were going to watch Star Wars there!

"This,... is unreal,..." You gasped in wonder as you finally entered the prestigious theatre house and took a seat in one of the lounge chairs that has the perfect distance from the huge screen. Since few people could afford tickets to the Director's Club, the place, itself, was refreshingly calm. And it was perfect.

"Hmm?" V hummed in question as he settled down next to you and wore his 3D glasses.

You shook your head and gave him a smile. "Nothing."

The movie, itself, was wonderful. You smiled at the little jokes, became emotional at the drama, and gasped at the wonderfully choreographed fight scenes between the heroine and the villain. It was,... very good,...

... however, for the third time since the movie started, you heard that weird noise coming from your left side as if something huge was just pumped out of a clogged drain. The noise was not that loud, actually, but the quietness around you made it seem like it was really loud in your ears. And so, you made the wrong decision to turn and,...

V's eyes widened as he felt something soft and warm cling to his left arm, and he was surprised to see you looking up at him with a worried look on your face.

"V," you whispered. " ... someone is,... s - someone,... they're,..."

The poet furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he followed your line of sight, and when he finally saw what you were talking about, a soft curse escaped his lips.

For there, on your left, were two young lovers shamelessly kissing and totally ignoring the movie.

V clicked his tongue in annoyance. These young people,...

"Dear, can we switch places?" V asked, and a few moments later, as the teen lovers were still doing their thing, they were startled when something forcefully dropped right in front of them. "Apologies." The poet said with a sadistic smile, his left hand firmly holding the cane that startled them, his eyes still focused on the screen. "My hand,... slipped."

You were still laughing about it an hour later after the movie wrapped as you recalled how the teen couple reacted ( they scrambled away from V and out of the cinema in utter fear of the tattooed poet ). And V? He seriously breathed a sigh of relief. It was a good thing that your experience to your first movie with him was not entirely ruined because of them. For, if it did, only God or the Devil knows what he will do to them,...

After the cinema, he brought you to a restaurant to have lunch. Then, when you still have enough time, you asked V to accompany you to the Music Store to buy something.

And all throughout your quality time with him, you were not aware of the eyes that were observing you and V from afar,...

"Ah, I've been looking all over for this!" You happily exclaimed as you took out the piece of Mozart's Ah Vous Dirai - je, Maman from your shopping bag. "Thank you so much for going with me, V."

"No," the poet answered with a gentle smile as he twirled his metal cane. " ... thank you,... for indulging my,... little,... request."

Once again, you felt yourself blushing before the man and slightly turned away. Why does he always make you feel that way?!

Before you could embarrass yourself even further, you took out the thing that your grandmother gave you. It was a jar of peanut butter cookies that she baked, herself.

"This is for you." You told him with a shy smile as you handed him the jar of homemade cookies. "Gran told me to give it to you. I hope you like it."

"Why, thank you so much." V answered graciously. "And I'm sure I will! Would you mind if I take a bite now?"

"Oh, of course, not! Go ahead."

Feeling excited upon receiving something homemade for the first time ever, V eagerly opened the jar and took one cookie, its wonderful aroma filling his nostrils.

However, before he could even take a single bite, someone scoffed from behind him. You and V turned and saw, to your utter shock,...

"How awfully domestic is that?!"

***

❄ @la-vita , @clevermentalitybeliever , and @birdgirl69 . ❄

***

P.S. Let me know if you want to be tagged for the latest chapters.😁😁😁

***

❄❄❄

***

[blueberryrock]

Here is the last chapter, and now we're all caught up, tomorrow will have the new chapter!

(Third pov)

"Umm log date, 126 3 56. Today marks the beginning of the third month of my pregnancy. It's been at least a couple hundred years since I have last done this, but I really need to talk to some things out."

I would talk to Yellow about this, but it'd probably poof her, and I would talk to Steven, but I don't want to dump all my problems on him, I definitely don't want to dump this on Spinel especially after all that she has been through."

Blue sighs

"So here we go. This is going to sound very very selfish, but I hate this. I hate being pregnant, I hate having to eat, I hate haveing to drink water, I hate feeling them move around inside me. I hate that whatever food that they don't like comes back up. I hate seeing Yellow, White, and Steven so happy about this when I'm not. I don't understand why can't I enjoy this."

"Why can't I enjoy the thought of feeling them moving around inside me, why can't I enjoy the thought of little gemlings running around, why can't I bare to enjoy the thought of Yellow being happy with them."

"Ah shit, I think I hear someone coming, I'll have to finish this later, umm Blue Diamond out"

"This is the continuation of log date 126 3 56, it's been one rotation since the last log and today Steven and Garnet came to visit us, I suspect they actually came for me, and not for White or Yellow."

They both seemed nervous, like they knew something that I didn't, which makes me feel even worse. However, it was very pleasant to see Steven again, whether or not he was acting suspiciously."

He invited me to go for a "stroll", I agreed and we walked around the palace, which was nice but he kept asking me how I was doing/feeling. I thought he meant physically so I said fine (which wasn't a total lie), but he kept on pressing, and I told him I was fine emotionally. Which was a lie? Maybe? I-i still can't answer that question."

But I quickly changed the subject until I dropped him off at Pink's old room (which is now Spinel's room). Then I came to my chambers and started this log continuation, so now I'm just talking to myself again, stars, I should really do something useful."

"But the further along in this nightmare called pregnancy, the less and less work I have to do. Yellow said something about it being less stressful for me and the 'babies', but with all this time on my hands, I've only been thinking about what's going to happen to me."

"When the crystal gem Pearl explained to us what happened to Pink when she was giving birth. Pearl said that as soon as steven's torso came out she disappeared in a flash without even saying a word to anyone."

"I-I don't want that, I don't even want this, I don't want to have to say goodbye, hell I don't want to fucking leave."

"But Yellow watching the gemlings develop and on the scanner is making her so happy, I don't remember when she was this happy, not even when Pink or I first emerged. Not when we learned she wasn't shattered and we found ( I think she was more relieved that the war was over than actually being happy), not even when we invited Spinel to live with us, although I think that's a close second"

"But this, I'm only doing this for her. I have to make it up to her, for all those times she was there for me when we thought we lost Pink. I have to do it even if it means sacrificing myself and if I'll never get to see her again."

"Well I have another appointment to get to, and this time Spinel is coming with us, I wonder what her reaction will be, it will definitely be better than mine."

"Blue Diamond out"

(Blue's pov)

I shut off my screen and I bang my head on my vanity, could I really go through with it? Could I really sacrifice myself? Why am I having these thoughts, this was...no is a big mistake?

I instantly perk up to the sound of my room's doors opening, I whip my head to look at the person that opened them.

"Hey Blue, we are ready to go when you are" Yellow diamond says with a smile on her face.

I try to match her happiness "yeah, umm I'm ready to go now" I push my seat back and I make my way over to the group.

This time Steven, Garnet, and Spinel is tagging along with me and Yellow to my appointment. Spinel is gleefully skipping in front of us as everyone else is going the same pace as me.

"Coome oon, can't you go any faster" Spinel whines. " Now Spinel, I am going as fast as I can" I smile at her as she groans.

We make our way to the medical wing, past the waiting area and into the same room where we first learned that I'm..pregnant.. I take a seat on the same same, pale blue, metal table.

Yellow picks up Spinel and sits down in her chair, she gently sets Spinel down in her lap.

"Ooh I'm so excited!" Spinel bounces up and down.

"Why? The medical pearl said it's going to be a normal check-up" I cross my arms in my lap.

"Well, this'll be the first time I get to see them" Spinels says with a big smile "were you just as excited and happy to see them as I was."

I open my mouth to say something but I just look down at my hands.

"I know I was" Yellow replies with just as much happiness as Spinel "I nearly cried when I saw them, even if they were just little grey blobs"

"Y-yes, I was very happy" I lie, I try to smile but it comes out as a half-smile.

"Anyways, how many little gemlings are there?" Spinel asks another question.

"Three" I answer dryly.

"Huh, I thought it was two" Spinel stops bouncing "oh well, I can't wait to see them!" She continues jumping with almost twice the amount of excitement.

I smile at her sheer silliness, the pale doors open as the small medical pearl wheels in the camera scanner.

"Wait, I thought you were going to use the regular scanner" Steven says, huh I almost forgot that he was here.

"No, every three months I will use this scanner to scan Blue Diamond" the small medical pearls pats the screen part of the scanner "and it has been three months"

The medical pearl turns to looks at me "you do remember how to do this"

I give her an unsure nod "I just lay down and phase away some of my dress?" The medical pearl nods.

I do as she needs and I get as comfortable as I can on my back, I carefully phase away the part of my dress to reveal my swelling stomach. The coldness of the room makes little bumps appear on my arms and stomach.

After the medical pearl sets up the screen, I have to help her onto my bulging belly, she then pours almost two bottles of cold gel onto me. I shiver from the cold gel and the room, it causes the tiny pearl to almost fall off.

"Sorry" I quickly apologize.

The medical pearl brushes her green hair away from her face "it's quite alright my dia-Blue Diamond"

Spinel lets out an excited squeal as the pearl starts to move the scanner around my abdomen. The screen starts making the same noise as before and I turn to look at it.

"Aww two little...well they're not little" Spinel as excitedly "and wait, I guess I was right, there is only two."

"Wait two" I say out loud "there is supposed to be three" I look at Yellow, she looks like she's about to cry.

I look back at the Pearl "what happened" I say angrily, why am I getting like this...?

"I-i don't know" the Pearl frantically tries to look for the third gemling, but she can't find it.

"Wait, I heard something like this happening with humans" Steven jumps up to get a better look at the screen.

I give him a perplexed look. "Well, sometimes if a woman has twins or triplets, one of the babies 'eats' " he makes air quotation marks "or absorbs the other baby, it's actually not as rare as people think" Steven finishes, he jumps back down and takes his seat next to Garnet.

"So, one of the...babies...ate the other one?" I ask "does that mean one of them died?"

"I really don't know Blue, I'm not an expert on this" Steven looks sadly at me "the only reason I know about it, is Connie's mom told us about women that had two babies then give birth to one"

I turn my gaze to the medical pearl, who is trying to silently pack the scanner away "does this mean I have to eat and sleep less?"

"Umm I don't know, I've never seen this, I think you should continue what you've been doing. But please contact me if you feel any different" the medical pearl finally gets the scanner ready to be put away.

"Okay" I wipe off the now warm gel on my baby bump with my sleeve, I sit back up and I look at Yellow. She still looks devastated, I wish I could cheer her up, but I'm not good at it, all I'll do is make her feel worse.

"Hey" Steven calls out, our gaze shifts onto him "were going to go back to Spinel's room, if you need to talk to anyone, I'm here" he looks at Yellow "that's goes for the both of you."

I phase on the missing part of my top and carefully slide off the table, I make my way to the empty chair next to Yellow and Spinel. As soon as I sit down, Spinel decides to move onto the floor to give us some room.

I place my hand on Yellow's, but she doesn't seem to really notice. "Yellow?" I try to get her attention, she slowly moves to look at me.

Her sad, watery, golden eyes stare into mine "what" she says miserably, she turns her gaze to hand.

"Why don't we go to my chambers and relax?" I stand up, trying to get her to move "I can start my extraction chamber and" Yellow angrily cuts me off.

"What's wrong with you?" Yellow quickly jumps to her feet.

"What's wrong with me? I didn't do anything" I raise my voice a little bit.

"Exactly, we just found out that we lost one of our gemlings. And you're just standing here unphased by it" yellow balls her fist, a small lighting arc coming from her elbow to her shoulder materializes "it's like you don't even care"

"Hey I'm just going to go now" Spinel's small voice cuts through the room.

"Me too" Yellow turns to the door, I grab her shoulder and turn her back around "Yellow i-" she cuts me off.

"I'm going to my chambers to think, don't try to send any messages to me" Yellow angrily turns away and heads out the door with Spinel.

Anger seeps through me as I follow them then turn to head straight for my chambers, I try to remain calm as I walk through the somehow crowded halls. As soon as the doors close behind me, I let out an angry groan. I summon a small white orb from my finger and throw it at the wall.

I curl my hands into fists, why couldn't I be sad? Or mad? Or something, other than feeling nothing at all?

I aggressively run a hand through my soft hair, I tear out any knots I come across. I begin to pace around my chambers, with one hand in my hair and the other one on my baby bump.

I yank my hand out of my hair, some clumps of hair is wrapped around my fingers, as I shake the hair off I summon my screen again "umm, log date 126 3 56, this will be my final continuation of this log" I stop pacing and I sit down on my bed.

"So it turns out that one of the gemlings has absorbed one of the other ones, I am now curious if that's going to have any side effects. But I doubt that I'll be able to see it if any occur"

I let out a long sigh "the reason I am finishing this is because I think I made Yellow mad, well not necessarily mad, just upset. But I don't understand what I did or didn't do"

"I would apologize but she said she needs some time to think, but I hope that she'll forgive me, but if not I still have about six months to fix my mistake."

"Stars, I don't know what's wrong with me, I should be devastated that we lost one of the gemlings. I should have tried to do more to cheer up Yellow, I should've done more to prevent whatever happened"

I lay my head in my hands "I need to fix this somehow, but I don't even know where to start, how am I supposed to fix something that started with something that I don't even want" I spit out angrily.

I lift my head out of my hands "Yellow, if somehow you find this, and I am gone, I just want you to know that I am very sorry that I put you through this and with the six months that I still have, I will try to make it up to you. No, I will make it up to you, no matter what"

"I still love you"

So im not very good at "angsty" stuff, so there is my attempt, hope y'all enjoyed it, see ya tomorrow!

[swainlake]

Hello! So now that got has ended I'm looking for some tv shows that I could watch after I'm done with my exams. Do you have any suggestions? I'm not looking for anything specific, although if you have watched some good period dramas, I'd love some recommendations. Also wanted to add how much I love your blog, it's really beautiful

tysm that’s so sweet!! i love giving recs so i’ve got a bunch that you might like under the cut; i’ve put a ♡ next to my favs

period dramas:

NEW WORLDS (2014)this one is a mini series, only 4 episodes long, but please don’t let that stop you! it’s about anti-monarchism and rebellion and forbidden love in the 1600′s & is set in both england and america. i cried more than once but the ending is so bittersweet and hopeful!! 

POLDARK (2015—)i have a love/hate relationship with this one tbh. i started watching because of the main relationship but i ended up really into it for the side relationships instead?? the actual political plot doesn’t interest me but i love the drama between the family members. also i adore the women in this show, every single female character is well-written and realistic and you’ll love them all (even if at times you hate them). the men tho? the men are pretty much collectively the worst. “what’s wrong with the women in this family?” “the men.”

SPARTACUS (2010—2013) ♡i started watching this before i ever got into game of thrones but if you like the fight scenes in got, you’ll enjoy this! great characters, great fight scenes, great friendships. this one is based on gladiators who are fighting for their freedom.

THE WHITE PRINCESS (2017) ♡okay firstly and most importantly: jodie comer stars in this so you know it’s good. it’s also got michelle fairly (catelyn stark) in it though tbh she wasn’t my favourite character in this and i didn’t find her likeable at all. it’s not very historically accurate ofc but the relationship between henry/elizabeth is honestly the perfect enemies to lovers rep & always lowkey reminds me of book!sansa/jon possibilities

PAN AM (2011—2012)this one isn’t like game of thrones at all but it’s only one season and it’s super cute and has a lot of famous actresses in it like christina ricci & margot robbie. based on the adventures of a crew of pan am stewardesses, this is a good combination of lighthearted fun and chilling cold-war drama. an old favourite. 

THE MUSKETEERS (2014—2016) ♡i’ll be gushing over this for years to come tbh it’s really just that perfect. the relationship between the musketeers is so lovely, the personification of ‘brotherhood’ really, but also the romantic relationships are really good too?? which for some reason i personally hadn’t expected. my fav couple is aramis/anne (anne is played by the actress who played roslin frey!) because the forbidden love & the respect and adoration between those two is just perfect but really every relationship (even the ones that don’t become endgame) are written very well

OUTLANDER (2014—)i haven’t watched every single episode of this one but from what i have seen it’s very good, and has some similar themes to game of thrones!! the sex scenes are epic, the main relationship is lovely, and overall its a very realistic show that features supernatural elements!

THE LAST KINGDOM (2015—) ♡i’m not going to lie: i started this series by skipping straight to 2x7 because i’d seen gifs of the relationship between aethelflaed and erik but it was so good i ended up going back and starting from the beginning! this show reminds me of ‘vikings’ more tham game of thrones but it’s not as gory and the characters aren’t all assholes. side note: if you love sansa stark as much as i do you’re gonna love aethelflaed, lady of mercia! she’s actually a real person but this show is based on a book series that looks super interesting! honestly the main character also kind of reminds me of jon snow

HARLOTS (2017—) ♡oh my gosh how do i describe this show?? the family dynamics are so! intricate! and! beautiful! honestly just stunning. everything about this show is s t u n n i n g. the costumes are colourful and vivid and honestly i’d recommend watching just for that but the storyline really does keep you hooked!! also: liv tyler and jessica brown findlay are love interests in this which is honestly a dream come true

BLACK SAILS (2015—2017)okay full disclosure; i haven’t actually seen this but i’ve heard very good things and it’s on my list!! it’s about pirates, i think there’s some queer rep (can anybody confirm??), and there’s lots of amazing women. again, allegedly. 

dramas:

THE SOCIETY (2018—)i literally watched the entire first season in a single night so it must be alright, right? basically all you need to know about this is that a town full of teenagers go on a field trip & then return to find all their parents mysteriously missing and their town closed off from the outside world. it’s basically lord of the flies but modern! with some kick-ass friendships! and amazing young women (one literally teaches herself to be a doctor can you believe?)! 

SHARP OBJECTS (2018)if you haven’t heard about this one yet idk what rock you’ve been living under but welcome back! this one is a m a z i n g but also hella chilling and the ending is such a shocker if it hasn’t been spoiled for you yet!

THE BOLD TYPE (2017—) ♡i always describe this one as ‘sex and the city for millennials’ but i’ve never watched a single sex and the city episode in my life so i honestly don’t know how accurate that is?? but it’s about a group of 20-something year old women who are best friends and work mates and they love each other so much?? the relationship between the girls is my favourite thing about the show but the show honestly tackles a lot of relevant issues; trump, age gaps, queer rep, immigration, racism, etc. i can’t recommend this enough!

CODE BLACK (2015—2018) ♡you know those episodes in greys anatomy where everything is life-or-death and you’re on edge for the whole episode? that’s basically every single episode of code black. this is hands-down one of my most rewatched shows ever. i love medical dramas and this one balances well written characters with action-packed medical miracles so honestly what’s not to like?? 

A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES (2018—)okay admittedly the only reason i watch this show is because of the main couple but i can’t help it when they’re just so gosh-darn cute!! they love each other so god damned much! i wasn’t completely sold on this straight away but by ep 3 i was HOOKED. if you like supernatural romances/dramas that are more mature than your usual cw show, this one is a good choice!

THE OA (2016—) ♡i can’t even put into words how much i adore this?? but also: it will confuse THE SHIT out of you. no matter how smart you are, this one will leave you scratching your head. basically: a group of people who’ve had near-death experiences get kidnapped and experimented on. it’s not as brutal as it sounds, in fact the show is exceptionally beautiful, but it does deal with some hard themes and the good guys don’t always win. 

12 MONKEYS (2015—2018)do you like time travel? do you like forbidden and yet totally-still-devoted-to-one-another-anyway love? then this is the show for you! this one is dark and gritty and deals pretty realistically with the concept of time travel & self-sacrifice and what people will give up to create a better world. it’s got a happy ending & you wont regret watching!

THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE (2018)oh this one will make you cry. in a good way though! long story short a family grows up in a haunted house and it affects them in ways they cannot imagine. it’s hauntingly beautiful and poetic and everybody should watch it at least once imo

comedies:

THE MARVELOUS MRS MAISEL (2017—)okay so this one counts as a period drama as well but it’s about a COMEDIAN so i put it in the comedy section lol. okay so long story short, a woman is left by her husband, she’s worth 1000 of him & everybody else knows it because you seriously can’t help falling in love with this woman but ofc there’s period-typical sexism she has to face as she struggles with being a single woman, a single mother, and an up-and-coming comedian. def recommend.

SANTA CLARITA DIET (2017—2019)drew barrymore is a zombie!! who lives a normal life but also eats people!! it’s only weird for the first couple of eps. the family dynamics are snarky and witty and they manage to make gore funny?? honestly this entire show is legit laugh-out-loud darkly hilarious.

[bronzetomatoes]

Post

In grade 6 I made the decision to join band. It went about as well as expected, what with 30 eleven-year-olds packed into the music room, blowing into instruments we didn't know how to play. I remember our band teacher recorded us playing a Red Book song all the way through (a whole 8 bars!!) so that he could play it back at the end of the year. I'm pretty sure there were more reed squeaks than correct notes.

By the end of the year a couple students had dropped out. We all packed into a bus and picked up the kids from the other elementary school, with a combined total of about 40-50. We played a horribly slow rendition of the Star Wars main theme in each of the schools for the respective student bodies. Afterward, our band teacher informed them that "this could be you!!! you could do this when you're eleven!!" The rest of the day was even better bc he took us bowling, which he does with his 6th grade classes every year. Idk where he gets the patience for that honestly.

By the time we made it to junior high the next year, we were left with around 30 kids total from the two schools. I don't think there was a single of the 8 clarinets (from my school alone!) left. Band wasn't fun anymore!! They wanted to do Family Studies!! Which is perfectly fine but at least you were only renting that saxophone!! My class specifically, as we were the kids from the French Immersion course, had 10 band students. Total.

Middle school band was a lot of playing until you were aching and then doing it again and again. It was a lot of whiching you had dropped out but knowing you could never go through with it. It was a lot of getting better, a lot of seeing that progress put out in front of you, and it was so much fucking growth that you can't imagine a time where you didn't know what you do. That did make us kinda weird though I'm not gonna lie lmao but it also brought us really fucking close together (for 7th and 8th grade, at least).

I used to get so pissed at the "nerdy band kids no one wants to be seen with them" trope from Every Disney Channel Show, but at this point? Valid. I don't blame you. They hate us for our swag.

I still, however, find myself thinking about how much of an impact its made on me. Like Holy Shit, I'm in a provincial youth honour band. Holy shit, I'm going to a university band camp. Holy fucking balls I already somehow have 5 years playing experience and I get to write that on things.

I'm in high school, and have been for nearly 2 years. From the 3 middle schools combined, there are less than 60 of us in my grade. To be honest, I don't think I've ever loved the class more!!! I stay after school until 5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I go to extra rehearsals and as many groups and ensembles as I can join, I froze my balls off playing in a parking lot at night in December. And!! I have fucking friends now (which I 10/10 would recommend). There is no band without community. You can feel it in every practice, and it comes through in our music.

I'm not sure where I'd be now if I didn't decide to join, but I know damn well I wouldn't be as happy. (Also ik this is really rambley but idc I was figuratively kicking and squealing this afternoon bc the music sounded So Good and I needed to tap this out)

Where's that post I made about being cringe bc it applies to being a band kid too

[spideyxchelle]

Hi, I'm a bit shy to ask but would you mind if I'd ask you some spideychelle hc with trans Peter? Sorry I'm new in this I don't know if you take this kind of request but I love this headcanon and since I'm queer and I've lot of trans and nonbinary friends it make me so happy to see people embracing this headcanon like superheros (even if not canonically) can be trans and supercool and it's good because trans people are PEOPLE not aliens and Spider-Man can be a trans boy and still be supercool

OMG DO NOT BE SHY, PLS. I have written an MJ as non binary head canon before which you can find here and there is a slight nod to Peter being trans in that. SO I have no problem filling these kinds of prompts. people deserve to have representation in media, to see themselves in their heroes and if you want to head canon Peter Parker as trans then omg you totally should. 

I will say that as a cisgendered straight woman I do want to express that this head canon is not my story or my experience to tell authentically. and I recognize that my privilege may inadvertently effect this head canon (I could never know what it is like to be trans or queer), so I’m sorry to all of the trans and queer people that read this if I misspeak. that was NEVER my intention. 

if you’re looking for LOTS OF AMAZING TRANS PETER CONTENT I suggest @transpeter 

Peter knows he hates the name Petra. his Aunt May jokes that he’s hated it since he was about four years old (there was an incident with a Barbie doll that Aunt May loves to retell). and he would absolutely agree. Petra is a fucking terrible name. 

he used to really blame his parents for naming him PETRA of all things but he’s seven when they die and at the time he couldn’t really remember why he hated the name so much. all of his emotions were muted beyond the pain of losing his parents. and he was their little Petra so how could he hate the name then?? the name they gave him??

but when he’s nine he starts to hate Petra, again. the name (and himself a little bit because he doesn’t quite fit in). the little girls in his class don’t want to play with him. apparently, he’s strange and weird and spends too much time with computers to be normal. but computers don’t tease him or make him feel shitty about himself so he’d rather take the computers over the girls in his class. 

and he would rather take the girls in his class over the boys. the boys are horrible. in his head, he assumed that maybe he and the boys would have more in common than him and the girls but that was because he always considered himself one of the guys. the boys in his class do NOT consider him that. 

so school is pretty miserable. 

that’s when Aunt May and Uncle Ben start looking into alternatives. because Peter doesn’t deserve to spend every day of his school life feeling tortured for not fitting in. at the time he didn’t know why he wasn’t QUOTE UNQUOTE NORMAL. he was just a kid, trying to play with other kids. but kids are cruel. kids are so, so cruel. 

its during the hunt for a new school that Peter sees Laverne Cox for the first time. Aunt May is watching some show on Netflix and he remembers thinking that Laverne Cox is beautiful. transfixed, he guided himself down on the seat next to his aunt and asked the question that changed his life, “who is she?” Aunt May paused the show and answered, “Laverne Cox. she’s beautiful, right?” Peter nodded dumbly and Aunt May kept talking, “she’s trans, Petra. do you know what that means?” he shook his head. “it means she was born in the wrong body. she was born as boy but is actually a girl.” Peter blinked, “how can she do that?” “there’s nothing to do, sweetling,” May said gently, “she just is a woman. that’s how she feels on the inside and so that’s who she is.” 

Peter had gnawed on his lip, and innocently told his aunt, “I think that happened to me. I think, I’m in the wrong body.” Aunt May had nodded, he would always remember her face, and sat up a little taller, “okay, then. what do you want me to call you, then, buddy?” AND HIS LITTLE MIND HAD EXPLODED BECAUSE THAT WAS IT?! it was THAT simple? he could just be himself?? 

but of course it was that easy. Aunt May always made things easy. 

he remembered throwing his arms around his aunt and whispering, “Peter. my name is Peter.” 

three days later Aunt May had Peter in with a pediatric doctor that specialized in trans children and they were discussing their options. Uncle Ben couldn’t come, he was at work (Peter found out after Ben had died that his uncle took every extra shift available to make extra money for Peter’s transition, Ben and May had set up their own fund). 

the doctor had asked Peter what felt like a hundred questions and then began to explain to May the way things they could as a family progress from there. 

five days before his eleventh birthday he started hormone blockers. two weeks after he starts his blockers, Peter tests into the Midtown school track (a middle school and high school for super geniuses) and that is when Peter feels the most relieved. because he won’t be forced to go back to that terrible school where everyone still called him Petra. he could just be Peter. start fresh. 

and so when he starts Midtown middle school at 12, everybody does call him Peter. that’s how he introduces himself and so that is who is he. he’s a little smaller than the other boys in his class but he IS one of the boys. and if kids know (and he prays they don’t), they never say. he’s just Peter Parker. 

the one constant between his old public school and midtown, though, is Doctor Nedal. Doctor Nedal is his therapist, a woman who specializes in queer children related issues. and they meet once a week to talk, check-in and work together. he’s not sure why he still goes to her when he hits thirteen (he’s been living as PETER for almost four years now) but when he asks Aunt May, she reminds him that having Nedal on their side will make it easier for Peter to start his hormones when he’s ready. 

he hits fourteen and he’s ready. they talk to Nedal about starting testosterone and he’s warned about everything that may happen. the increased irritability, the options (pills, injections, gels), the potential aggressiveness, the fact that it may stint his growth slightly. but Peter knows what he wants. 

so he starts T. and while his body isn’t everything he wants, the hormone blockers helped keep some things under slightly more control. besides, his aunt May always assures him whenever he’s having an off-day, he can always get surgery when he’s older. it’s going to be okay. 

and then everything is not OKAY because Flash Thompson starts Midtown when he starts his freshman year. he’s barely started testosterone when Flash comes barreling into his life. 

he takes one look at Peter, sneers meanly at him, and calls him Pretty Parker. and its devastating. some other kids snicker. kids he’s known since he was 12. kids he trusted. and Peter starts to panic that Midtown is going to be JUST like public school. and he can’t do that again. he was so miserable.

but before he can have a full-on breakdown another new student, Michelle Jones, call Flash an idiot. he sputters like he’s afraid of her (and he does find out a few years later that MJ and Flash grew up together because they both had wealthy parents in the suburbs) and tries to shoot back, “I’m not an idiot.” she crosses her arms, “uh, yeah you are.” and that comeback is the ninth grade equivalent of cursing someone out. Flash is humiliated and flees. 

peter mumbles a thank you and MJ rolls her eyes and storms off. (over the next few years he’ll grow very accustomed to MJ storming away from him). 

but the day drastically improves when he meets Ned Leeds. and they’re instantly tight. Peter even considers disclosing the fact that he’s trans to Ned. he’s not sure how much kids gossip or if Ned even knows, but he still wants to tell him. he wants to have that moment. 

he tells Ned when they’re sitting on his living room floor watching Empire Strikes Back, the best Star Wars movie. and Ned grins and knocks his shoulder against Peter, “cool. thanks for telling me, man.” and that’s it. Ned doesn’t push or ask a hundred questions. he’s still just Peter to Ned. and they’re nerdy and best bros and everything is awesome. 

and it gets even MORE awesome around Christmas time when he goes on a field trip to Oscorb with his chemistry class to look at some of their tech advancements. personally, Peter is more interested in Stark tech than Oscorb tech but beggars can’t be choosers. especially since Tony Stark is a FREAKIN’ superhero now. he doesn’t have time to invite genius kids to look at his work. 

its on this field trip that Peter gets bit. and his whole life goes CRAZY TOWN. he gets sick for a few days after, like insanely sick and Aunt May worries that maybe something went wrong with his testosterone injection, but when he comes out of his sick haze he has FUCKING super powers. insane, something out of a comic book superpowers. 

Tony later tells him that the testosterone he was taking mixed with the spider bite made his whole body freak out. see here: eight pack and arms for daaaaays. if he hadn’t been trans, if he hadn’t been taking T, he never would have become Spider-man. it was the mix of both ingredients that made him extraordinary. 

and, like any other reckless teenage boy, Peter uses this new found powers to fight crime. he has a television. he’s obsessed with Tony Stark. he sees the Avengers. and he starts to dream that maybe he could be one. 

he has his powers for thirty-three days, nine hours and fifty-four minutes when Ben dies. he’s on his way back from the therapy with Peter in the front seat when someone tries to hijack his car. Peter is so frozen the whole time, shocked by the exchange, that he misses when the gun comes out. but he doesn’t miss the sound of the gun shot as it hits Ben. the killer freaks out that he actually killed a guy and runs off. but Peter does nothing. he cries for help, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP, and he holds his uncle as he passes. before he goes, Ben calls him Peter one last time. then, he’s gone. 

May is devastated. Peter is horrified. and their whole life is falling apart around them until Tony Stark shows up in his living room with the promise of greatness. he tells him that he likes to save the little guy because “when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you.” 

then he’s BASICALLY an Avenger and then he’s into Liz and then he’s screwing everything up and then homecoming happens and FINALLY his life starts to finally even out. 

he lays off of patrol, somewhat, and being a superhero starts to feel like only a part of his life. not entirely who he is. 

he hangs out with Ned and he trains upstate and life is great. Flash upgrades Pretty Parker to Penis Parker (which is crazy hurtful) but he’s not so upset about that anymore because Flash is irrelevant to his life. and he’s awesome. 

and then, MJ happens. she’s his sort-of friend, then the captain of his team and then one day he realizes he’s been looking at her too long and it hits him that he likes her. he likes all the good and the bad parts of her. he likes her dry sense of humor, her passion for human rights and the way she smiles at him when she thinks no one is noticing. fyi, he always notices. 

but he’s not sure how to do this. not really. he’s never really dated. sure, he took Liz to homecoming but that was a dance. dating someone for real is a lot more complicated than just ditching someone as soon as they arrive at a dance. 

and he’s also terrified that MJ won’t be interested in a trans guy. which is dumb because lols of course trans guys are amazing. but he can’t beat away that evil voice in the back of his head. that voice is really mean. 

so he procrastinates. he keeps putting off asking MJ out even though the more and more time he spends with her at school and at practice and on the occasional outing with him and Ned convinces him that he really does properly like her. 

and THEN, she finds out he’s spider-man. more like she tells him that she’s always known. they’re walking through downtown and he’s munching on a churro when she asks, “are you ever gonna tell me you’re spider-man or…?” and he chokes on his food. MJ stands there expectantly while he works his shit out before he finally can speak, “um, excuse me?” “spider-man. you’re him. wanna tell me I’m wrong?” he shakes his head, “no, just, um, how did you know?” “i’m observant. duh.” and his face heats up read because damn, she is observant. how observant, tho? like, does she know other things about him, too? again, he’s never 1000% certain what the gossip mill says about him. 

they walk in silence for three more blocks before he blurts out, “i’m trans!” and that is so not how he wanted to tell her. he wanted to gently prod at her about her feelings toward queer people, feel out if she would be open to dating a trans person and THEN tell her. but his dumb mouth says it before he can execute his master plan. that he’s been procrastinating on. really, um, he was gonna tell her. eventually. 

or now. now apparently is the answer. 

her lips turn up just slightly, “is that the last confession you wanna tell me today, Parker? or do you have one more?” he flushes and turns back to his churro, “dunno what you mean.” “yea, you do.” and he does. he can tell from the way she’s looking at him that she knows about his big, FAT crush on her. 

he eat another bite of his churro, sends a prayer up to whoever is listening and takes the leap, “I like you.” 

when MJ leans down and kisses his cheek Peter’s her ACTUALLY stops. not really, but that’s how it feels. it feels like he can’t breathe and his life is over and he wants to call Aunt May. he has so many questions about all of the feelings a simple kiss on the cheek could bring about. 

“I like you, too,” MJ says, stealing what is left of his churro. Peter grins real big, “you do?” “I do,” she rolls her eyes. “even though I’m…” “you’re Peter,” MJ cuts him off. and yea, he is. he’s Peter FUCKING Parker. 

and the fact that Peter FUCKING Parker is dating Michelle Jones seems to interest nobody at Midtown is even better. because it feels normal. because it is normal. because Peter is trans but that is not all he is. he’s a superhero and a best friend and a nephew and a boyfriend. 

he likes being someone’s boyfriend a lot. 

he likes going to pride with MJ and having her on headset with Ned during his patrols and making out with her. making out with her is great. and she’s super aware of his dysphoria which helps. she never pushes him to do anything he doesn’t want to do and, frankly, there is a lot of other things they can do. AHEM. they’re teenagers. they make it work while being respectful of Peter’s boundaries. 

but his favorite thing about dating MJ is the way she always seems to catch his eye across the room. no matter where they are or what they’re doing, MJ finds him. and its nice to feel like someone is looking out for him. because that’s all he ever does as Spider-man, look out for the little guy. 

now, though, he has an MJ. and sharing Spider-man with someone he loves is way better than doing it alone. 

[blueneonlightshow-blog]

Starco vs Janco

Star sat at the table with her head leaning against her hand. Students passed by with their trays of food. Her friends sat with her, talking about their lackluster class, TV shows they saw last night, the amount of homework they were assigned, and other various topics Star didn't care to pay attention to. Today was one of the rare times she chose not to engage in conversation with her friends. She was too busy mindlessly doodling in her notebook, not because she grew bored of the topic. In fact, Star always had something to contribute to the conversation. She loved talking! It's just that… well, she just had her mind focused on something else.

Or rather, someone else.

Star's been developing feelings for her best friend since that Mewberty incident, and it didn't take her long to realize what was going on. She denied feeling anything for Marco other than a platonic friendship in fear it would ruin their very unique relationship, but as time passed by, her crush for Oskar shifted to her best friend. She laughed it off at first, thinking how silly the whole situation was and that she'd be over Marco in a few days. Star tried to pretend it wasn't there and forced herself to look at other boys and see if she could form a crush on one of them, but none of them impressed her. Not even Oskar. It only made her want to be with Marco even more. It annoyed her because she wasn't ready for that kind of relationship with her best friend. She was afraid things wouldn't work out and their status as best friends would disappear and they would never talk to each other again. So instead, she suppressed her feelings for Marco, and only wrote about it in her secret journal. Of course, during class, she'd start going off in her own thoughts and start drawing or writing about the possibilities of a Starco relationship. She'd be extra careful to keep those close to her and not let anyone see-

"How about you, Star?"

Star jumped in her seat, covering her drawings with her arms. She met with two sets of eyes staring at her. "Huh?"

"I said do you think you can make it?" Jackie asked.

"..."

"This weekend?"

"..."

"...Movies?"

The princess seemed confused for a moment before coming back to reality. "Ohhhhh! Uh- yeah, movies! Um… That sounds good! I can totally do that! Haha…"

Jackie smiled. "Alright, sweet. Guess we got ourselves a plan."

"You sure are getting distracted, Star. You okay?" Janna asked.

"Yeah, everything alright?"

Star scoffed, waving her hands. "Pfft, yeah of course! Why would you think something's wrong?"

"Well, for starters, you're clearly hiding something in your notebook..."

The princess looked down to see herself covering the book with her entire body. She blushed a bit, sitting comfortably back in her seat, bringing the drawing closer to her. "Well…" she started. "You never know. A monster could come out of nowhere and steal my wand like they usually do! They might destroy my notes!"

Janna spoke up. "I don't know, Star. No offense, but you don't usually take notes during class. Or… try at all, really."

"Wha- I try!"

"You drew cats on your math test."

"You handed in a paper on Mewni corn for biology."

"You tried to go to another dimension in the middle of class."

Star opened her mouth but had nothing to retort. "...Uhhhh…. I was bored?" she answered with a shrug.

Jackie chuckled. "Well, you can say that, but still doesn't explain why you're hiding your notebook like that."

"...Orrr maybe you're talking about your little crush in that notebook," Janna suggested.

Star felt her face turn hot as the attention turned to her. A crush? She can't tell them about how she felt about Marco! That'd make things way more complicated than it has to be. "I-I dont know what you're talking about. You guys are probably imagining things. I don't have a crush."

Jackie pointed to her cheeks. "Your glowing hearts say you do."

She quickly brought her hands to her face, cursing at her birthmarks. "I'm telling you, I don't have a crush on Marco!"

"Who said anything about Marco?" Janna pointed out.

The princess's heart stopped. Oops. "I-I didn't- I mean… I- that was- well-"

Jackie tilted her head. "Ohhh, so you admit it? You guys are dating!"

Star waved her hands, trying to defend herself. "No no no no no! I don't! Really! Besides, he likes you after all-" She covered her mouth. Oops again. She didn't mean to spill Marco's secret like that. Both Jackie and Janna looked at each other. "Please, don't tell Marco I said that!"

The two human girls seemed confused, keeping silent for a moment before Janna started, "I think you have it wrong, Star."

"What do you mean?"

Jackie chimed in. "You do know he's over me, right?" she said with a hint of sadness. The girl didn't seem too bothered by it though. She accepted the facts and moved on.

"He… is?" Star asked in disbelief that her best friend didn't tell her something as important as that to her. She felt a bit betrayed. Marco told her everything! "I'm… sorry to hear that." Star genuinely meant it, but she couldn't help but feel a bit of happiness at the same time.

"Yeah. No big deal though, so don't worry about it."

"So… who does he like now?"

The two girls glanced at each other again before looking back at the princess. "You're… joking, right? I mean…" Jackie trailed off, unsure of what to say.

"It's… kind of obvious, isn't it?" Janna asked.

"He kinda said it outloud one time."

Star grew slightly annoyed at the seemingly obvious answer that everyone already knew. "What? When? Who does he like?"

The girls were silent. They weren't sure what to say next, but a subtle smile appeared on Janna. "Oh? Getting curious, are we?"

Star's cheeks grew more red, her hearts glowing even more. "No! I mean, yes. I just… want to know. As his best friend, it's my duty to make sure he's as happy as can be!"

"Right. 'Best friends'." Janna said with a smirk.

"Janna!"

Jackie laughed. "Don't worry, Star. I don't think you have anything to worry about. The point is, Marco's available. So a certain someone could make a move," she suggested, hinting at Star.

The thought of her and Marco together as a couple filled the princess with joy and excitement. Maybe it could happen!

"But…" Janna continued.

Star's daydream was cut short at the sudden catch. "But?"

"Well, you got some competition. And you know what they say about love and war."

Star didn't quite understand what Jackie was trying to say. "No. Competition? Love and war? What does love and war have to do with each other?"

Janna responded. "Love is a battlefield. Do anything you can to win. And sorry to tell you this, Star, but I plan on winning. Friend or no friend," she said with a smirk. She held out her hand to Star.

It took a second to process what Janna meant before the princess understood what she was saying. "Ohhhh…. Okay…. Well, sorry to tell you this, Janna, but I also plan on winning," Star accepted the terms she was offering, shaking her hand.

First to Marco's heart wins.

"Yyyyeah, I think I'm gonna sit this one out, but good luck to both of you," Jackie said as she watched her friends begin their competition.

Star went back to her drawing, making her subtle depiction of her and Marco more refined when it dawned on her. Star slowed her pencil to a complete stop as the realization set in her mind. She had to confess to her best friend.

She had to confess to her best friend.

"Uh-oh…"

------------------------------

"Stupid stupid stupid stupid Star!" The princess scolded herself as she trailed behind the very boy she was supposed to win over. The two walked through the halls as the final bell rang, signalling that the day was over and the students were free at last. She felt her heart race at the challenge she just accepted from Janna. "Am I crazy!?" she muttered to herself. "I already decided not to do anything like that! I might not be friends with Marco anymore if it doesn't work out! I can't live like that!"

"I gotta say, Star, your angry whispering is kind of making me nervous. You're not trying out that new spell Glossaryck showed you, are you?" Marco asked as he looked behind him to see why Star seemed so distracted.

Star looked up, making eye contact with his chocolate colored eyes. "O-oh, no I'm fine. Just… uh… thinking about that one history class! Ugh, so boring."

Marco smiled. "Yeah, it's not my favorite class either. At least you stayed awake this time."

"Thanks to that extra sugar pack I had. I'm telling you, Marco, you should try some sugar burritos! It's totally the best thing ever-"

"Yeah, no thanks. I like my food pure and holy."

Star scoffed. "Please, Marco, It's hardly the worst thing in the universe to eat."

"No, but it is-"

"Hey, Marco. Star." The two friends stopped to see a certain beanie wearing girl leaning against the lockers. "Fancy meeting you here."

Marco sighed. "Hey, Janna."

Star was cautious. She recalled their challenge and decided to keep a careful eye on her friend. She chose her words carefully, hinting at an underlying message with each question. "Hey, Janna. What's up?" What are you up to?

Her rival had no trouble understanding the message. "Not much. Just thought I'd say hi to my friends." I'm here to see if you made your move yet.

"Awww, that's so sweet! We're actually going downtown to eat grab some food, right now." No, I didn't. Don't interrupt my attempt!

"Ohhh, that sounds fun. Better hurry, though. I hear they're gonna close early today." Better do it fast, or else.

Star feigned a smile at her friend, who simply smirked at the princess' reaction. She began to understand the 'all's fair in love and war' idea. Janna would try at Marco's heart, even if Star was in the middle of her attempt. She assumed that this was Janna's way of warning her of how she's planning on playing this game. Fair enough. Star accepted the challenge.

"Are you sure about that Janna?" Marco asked. "I don't think there's anything special going on at the store," he commented, completely oblivious to what was going on.

"Eh. Just a hunch. Anyway, I should get going. I hope you guys get what you need." I hope you win him over, or else I will.

With that, the dark haired girl left, leaving the two best friends in the middle of the hallway.

"You know, I was kind of expecting her to mess with me somehow… like she usually does…" Marco said with both relief and annoyance.

Star nervously laughed. "I'm sure Janna was just saying hi." She cleared her throat and skipped ahead, pulling Marco along. "C'mon, let's go get some food!"

-----------------------------------------

Attempt 1

"Ooohhhhhh Marcoooooo~!" Star sang aloud.

"Ohhhhhhhh Staaarrrrrr~" Marco responded in kind.

"Come heeeerrrrrreeeeee!"

"Okaaaayyyyyyyyy!" The boy entered the kitchen. "What's up, Sta….aaar….." He scanned the room, seeing what looked like a warzone of food splattered everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling. "Starrrr? What did you do?"

"Look, Marco! I made something for you!" She ignored his question and presented a bowl of…. something edible… possibly… Needless to say, it definitely didn't look very appetizing.

"Um… w-what is this?" Marco asked, taking a step back from the bowl of 'food'.

"It's pizza!" the princess proudly answered.

Marco looked at her in shock. "Pizza!?" The mass of ingredients looked nothing like pizza! Why does it look like everything from the refrigerator mashed into one lump? Why did she suddenly have the urge to make pizza when they could've ordered it? WHY DID SHE MAKE PIZZA IN A BOWL?

"Weeellll? Aren't you going to take a taste?" Star asked excitedly. She was sure this would win Marco's heart. After all, food is the best way to get to a man.

The boy gently pushed it back. "Uhhh… you know, I'm really full from lunch still, and I should really save my appetite for dinner-"

"Awww, Marco, pleeeeaaaaase?" The princess gave her best puppy eyes.

Marco hesitated before giving in, taking the bowl and spoon from her. "...Well… here goes nothing."

Star's eyes widened as he brought a spoonful of her pizza into his mouth. "Weeeellllll? What do you think? Pretty good, right?"

Marco was frozen in place, the spoon still in his mouth.

"...Marco?"

"..."

He collapsed.

--------------------------------------------

Attempt 2

"Star, we went through twelve different dimensions. What are you looking for?"

"Uhhh, just… you know, something…"

"That's specific…" Marco muttered. "Maybe we should-"

"RAWR!" Suddenly, a poorly crafted monster suit jumped out of a nearby bushes.

"Ahhh, don't worry, Marco! I'll save you!" Star said in a somewhat monotone voice. Her previous attempt didn't work out very well, considering her meal left Marco unconscious for several hours. This time, she would have a monster come and attack the two, she would save Marco (again), and possibly have him fall in love with her. Of course, she didn't want Marco to actually get hurt, so she asked one of Marco's friends.

...It's bound to work better than her pizza idea, right?

"Back, you monster!" She swung at the fake monster, not using any real magic.

"RAWR- ow! Hey that hurt."

"Shhh! Be quiet, Ferguson. You're going give it away!" she whispered anrily. "Don't make me use my spider with a tophat, you beast! Get out of here, Marco! It's too dangerous!"

Marco waved. "Hey Ferguson."

"Hi Marco- Ow!"

"Ferguson!" Star glared at the boy. He shrugged, smiling apologetically. She sighed. Time for a new plan.

----------------------------------------------------------

Attempt 3

Star opened her locker, pulling out the books she needed for the next class. She had some trouble thinking of what her next move would be. Cooking was out, dimension hopping wasn't as romantic as she thought, monster fighting was a no…

"Why can't I think of anything! We do everything together! It should be easy!" She stopped herself. That's right… they did everything together. They talked, ate, and adventured everywhere. Never once have they done something without the other. Well, there were a few special cases, but there was no room for a romantic attempt. There was nothing unique she could do… except tell him the truth. Star began to panic. "Oh no… no no no no no, that's too direct. Gotta be something else I can do…"

"Make any progress, Star?"

She jumped at the sudden question. She closed her locker to see Janna standing behind it. "Janna?"

"Hmm… by the way you're panicking, I'd say no."

Star sighed. "It's harder than it seems, Janna."

The girl chuckled. "Yeah, I know. I do it all the time, remember?"

"Uuugh, I can't get anywhere with Marco! We already do everything together so I can't make things special!"

"Well, you better think of something fast, or I'll have to take charge," Janna threatened.

That caught Star's attention. She moved closer to Janna, her eyes pleading her not to do anything yet. "Pleeeaaaaaase let me have some more time!"

"Mmmmm… no."

"But Janna, we're friends! I just need a little time to-"

"Love and war, Star. I already gave you plenty of time to do it yourself, remember?"

The princess grew more annoyed at her friend's stubborness. "Why do you like him anyway?"

Janna thought for a moment before shrugging. "I dunno."

"Janna!"

"What? I just do. I think that's reason enough."

"That's not a reason!"

"Sure it is. And you're gonna lose this game soon if you don't get a move on." Star didn't appreciate Janna's reminder. She knew she had to move quick or Janna was going to do whatever it is she needs to do to win Marco over. Janna's eyes widened before giving a mischievous smirk. "So, why do you like Marco? Because he's cute?"

Star's hearts began to glow on her cheeks. "U-uh… I'm sure you can imagine…"

"No, I don't. Why do you like Marco, Star?" she repeated.

"Well… he's kind, he's funny, he's lovable, he's… ahem… handsome… he's the best friend I ever had… and after spending so much time with him, I just… kind of… started to like him. More than a bestie should… That answer your question?"

Janna smiled. "I think it does. How about you, Marco? You get all that?"

Star's heart nearly jumped out of her chest as she turned around to face Marco. "M-Marco! I- we- Janna and I were just… just… playing a game! Yeah!"

"Oh, we were playing a game alright," Janna snickered, trying to contain herself.

"Um…. sooooo….. how's your day going?" Star asked innocently, trying to keep herself composed.

Marco was unconvinced. "What were you two talking about…?"

"Yeah, Star. What were we talking about?" Janna chimed in, still laughing.

The princess tried to think of a way out of this mess, but couldn't think of a plausible excuse. "We… were… talking about… uh..." She continued to postpone the answer, dragging every second out.

Janna finally stopped her laughing and answered for her. "We were talking about how she has a major crush on you and everything."

Star stared at Janna, shocked that she actually said the truth.

It was over. Now Marco knew. And he probably won't want to speak to her again.

So ends the best friendship she ever had.

"That's all?" Marco asked.

Star was… surprised at his response. "What do you… what- but… I- you just found out that I like you, Marco! What do you mean, 'that's it'?"

Marco shrugged. "Well, I didn't just find out. We're already boyfriend and girlfriend, aren't we?"

Star stared at Marco, both in confusion and shock.

"...We… are boyfriend and girlfriend, aren't we?" he asked again, this time more concerned that Star was having second thoughts.

The princess was utterly confused. Her… and Marco? Boyfriend and girlfriend? She turned to Janna who couldn't stop laughing. "I-I can't take this anymore, hahaha! I'll leave you two lovebirds alone!"

Janna walked away to her next class, leaving the two best friends behind.

"You and I… are together?"

"Remember? I confessed to you and asked if you'd be my girlfriend?" Marco started. Star simply stared at Marco in disbelief. "...Star, were you listening to me when I said all this a week ago?"

"Uhhhhh…."

"When we were in that mirror dimension?"

"..."

"We were being chased by a monster and I confessed because I thought we were going to die?"

"..."

Marco sighed, a slight blush appearing on his face. "Well… lemme try again… Star… I really like you and… would you be my girlfr-"

He was cut off by a pair of lips. He was stunned to see Star kissing him so suddenly, but quickly melted into it. She wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him with all her bottled up emotions.

Finally.

They parted, their faces red with embarrassment. They stared into each other's loving eyes, coming closer once again. As they were about to kiss again, Marco quietly spoke up…

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"...You really don't remember me saying any of this?"

"Oh, be quiet, you."

[armory-rasa]

Hello Gabriel! First of all, I want to say I really love your work! It's really inspiring and detailed! I wanted to ask how you set up your own business, because it seems really hard to start working and then actually get costumers. Did you make a portfolio, or was it word of mouth? I don't know if you've written about this before, so sorry if I'm just asking again. :)

Short answer: lol, I started my own business because I’m really bad at convincing people to hire me.

Long answer: STRAP IN! (This is probably more backstory than you wanted, but I promise I’ll have some advice about the how-to at the end)

So I mentioned that the first leatherworking I did was for the Hawke cosplay, and that came out reasonably well. Then a friend of mine was like, “Hey, you should use your skillz make me some leather handcuffs” and I was like, Hokay. So when people ask “How’d you get started selling kink gear?” my smartass answer is “Because D-rings come in packs of ten not packs of two.” I made a pair for my friend…. and then made four more pairs, because else what was I going to do with D-rings? And then I made an Etsy store and put them up for sale, because what use had I for four pairs of handcuffs?

…and people bought them. o_O I was like, Can you guys not see that I have sold ZERO things before? Why do you trust me to actually deliver the goods? What makes you think I have ANY idea what I’m doing??

So that was a thing that was going on in the background – I added a basic collar to my inventory and started making them in colors that you don’t normally see kink gear in, which a lot of people quite liked, and it was a nice bit of side cash, enough that the hobby was paying for itself.

Then my lawyer (who was not at that time a lawyer) moved out to California for law school and she was like “You should come to California with me, because it’s better than Texas” and I was like, Hokay. And everyone was telling me, Ohhhh, but the job market in California is so bad!, and I was like, Nah, I’ll be fine, yo.

…Aha... ahaha, about that. I wound up in a totally above-board but very sketchy-sounding arrangement with one of her professors in which my official job title was “houseboy.” We met at a gay bar called Headhunters where he was like–

The professor: “So what do you do?” Me: “I’m looking for a job.”The professor: “I’m looking for someone to clean my hot tub! I’ll start you at $12/hr.”Me: “Hokay.”

So between running his odd jobs and the money I was making selling kink gear (about $2000 over the course of that first year), I was keeping myself afloat.

Then The Hobbit happened.

I saw the posters, thought Kili was hot, decided to take a stab at his bracers. I finished the first one just before we left to go see the movie, tossed it up in the shop – and it sold before we even got out of the movie.

That was when the floodgates opened and practically overnight, leatherworking went from being a sideline gig to being my fulltime job. (To wit: I made $250 in December 2012 and *$3,500* in January 2013. That’s more money in one month than I’d made doing leatherworking the entire previous year.) People were buying Kili bracers by the dozen, and flooding me with inquiries asking, Can you do Fili’s bracers? Can you do Thorin’s bracers? Can you do Thorin’s belt? Can you do Kili’s quiver? Can you do Legolas’s bracers?

And I was like, Hokay. (The professor was bemused, and only slightly grumpy at how I suddenly had less time for him.)

Granted, that kind of boom doesn’t last, as I would learn subsequently. There’s a rush of interest when something is new, but nothing sustains that level of demand forever. I got really lucky because I happened to jump onto the Hobbit bandwagon right as it was kicking off, so my bracers were out there first, the first thing people saw when they went googling for Hobbit cosplay. Relatively few other costumers ever even bothered to make the pieces that would be competing with mine, since I’d already done them, and done them very well, (and was doing it really cheap since I didn’t know the value of my labor then), so for a while I was about the only game in town when it came to dwarf leatherworking.

Dwarf costumes kept me fed for about six months before interest started to wane, by which point I’d diversified into MCU Loki armor too. That’s been the story of my business since – keeping an eye out for new fandoms with cool costumes that are in my skillset, and being on the ball about getting them done and posted as early as possible. I cannot overstate the advantage of being the *first* one to do a costume, because there are few fandoms that have truly long-term staying power, so you have to be there when the hype is highest. (Dragon Age, Zelda, Star Wars, etc, have a core of dedicated fans who will cosplay it until their dying day, but those are low-volume markets. My Dragon Age items are not my highest sellers, they are my labors of love.)

I often start with making a small, inexpensive item from a fandom, just enough to put me on the radar when people start googling for their cosplay – like a hook to reel them in. Customers will frequently ask if you can do other pieces from the same costume or the same universe (I started with the Wonder Woman tiara, and built the rest of the set as people asked for it; likewise, the Aquaman armor grew out of a single bracer; people who have seen my Loki stuff have commissioned Enchantress and Scarlet Witch), but they won’t usually ask a Lord of the Rings leatherworker if you can do stuff from, say, Game of Thrones. (Even though I totally could if anyone ever asked for it.)

I will say that specializing in cosplay puts you at the mercy of whatever’s trending, and the lulls between fandom booms can be deadly – when your income suddenly drops from a couple thousand dollars a month to a couple hundred, you best hope you’ve got enough of a cushion to ride that out until the next boom comes along. The more fandoms you’re in, the more diverse your portfolio, the less hard those bust cycles will hit you.

My shop pretty much is my portfolio, because I don’t take anything down (except when I stopped selling kink gear) even after interest is long gone, since it still showcases the styles and techniques I can do. I have a deviantArt with my stuff, mainly because I’ve found that dA – for whatever reason – indexes in google image search faster and higher than any other social media platform. It wasn’t until about this time last year that I finally got a facebook and started making a more concerted effort to maintain a social media presence and promote my business. It’s… coming along. I’m slightly better at remembering to post these days. >_>

I think it’s less about word of mouth than about whether people can find you when they’re googling. (~Search engine optimization~ or whatever.) There are tricks you can do to get yourself ranked higher, but I’ve never tried any of that stuff, just made sure that my listings, etc, are tagged with the right keywords to get picked up when potential customers go googling.

It is hard work (I work… a lot….) but it’s also a lot of fun – there is no job I would rather be doing, and I consider myself very lucky that I’ve been able to turn my passion into my career. (Which is like the most cliched thing to say, but it’s true – there are Etsy sellers who would KILL to be able to quit their day job and focus on their hobby full-time, so I’m aware that I’ve been quite fortunate.)

Anyway. I hope you enjoyed the novel I wrote for you. :D

[myucornerorg]

You're lucky. I have parents who are not geeky like I am and mostly buy me clothes and stuff for my birthday and Christmas. I was surprised when I got a Fourth Doctor Pop figure from them last Christmas. Usually my brother is the one who gets me geeky stuff, like my Star Wars Episode 7 and TARDIS throw blankets. My best friend also gets me geeky stuff sometimes, and I got some Sailor Moon and Pokémon stuff from a coworker through a Secret Santa thing at work, which was a total surprise.

Usually I don't like to spend much on merch for myself either. Like Crunchyroll recently tempted me with this beautiful CCS figure:

Unfortunately, it's $254.99. It was discounted when I first saw it, but still WAY beyond what I would feel comfortable paying.

I also passed on a Cure White figure that was like $35 or $40 at the local Book-Off, cause with the other stuff I was buying, I would have ended up spending a LOT of money (well for me), not a smart move with me needing to pay rent soon at the time. Plus I checked whether it was a fair price (since it was at a used goods store) and it wasn't much cheaper than it is to buy the same figure new.

My only CCS merch currently is the manga (which I bought when it came out back in the day; I'm short one volume though - the last volume of the Clow Card Arc. I found it used on Amazon, but when it arrived it was in horrible condition so I returned it), the Tomoyo chess piece from the chess set released with the CLAMP no Kiseki books, and a small blind box figure I found at an Asian store of Sakura flying on her original wand with Kero flying next to her. Unfortunately, the little piece that connects her to the base (the same sort used for the Sailor Moon Petit Chara figures) broke so I need to fix it.

(I actually really like the chess pieces, though I'm afraid I'll never be able to complete the set, cause you had to send away for the board and the two Kings, which I think are Kero and Spinel Sun. Tomoyo is a White Queen btw).

As for Sailor Moon merch, I have a bit more. I have the full Kodansha USA Sailor Moon manga, which I collected as it came out, along with the two Sailor V volumes. I also own the old version of Codename Sailor V in French, which I got from Amazon Canada. (I figured shipping from Canada would be cheaper than from France, since I live in the U.S.). I have a Sailor Pluto Pop figure I got from GameStop and two Petit Chara sets - the one with the Inners, Tuxedo Kamen, Luna, and Artemis, with two versions of each one, and the Summer Yukata set with the Inners and Chibiusa - which I got via Crunchyroll deals (I get Premium Member pricing on that stuff). Unfortunately the connecting bits on a few of those broke too, and the one for Minako from the Yukata set seems to be missing - I'm afraid it got lost in the move somehow, even though I swore I put all those figures and the bases and stuff back in the original box when I packed. :(

I also own some books. I bought the PGSM Memorial Art Book off a fan. They'd taken it apart to scan, but it's still readable. I also own the Moon and Mercury Scout Guides, a couple of the American chapter books, and the Live Action RP book (which is actually kinda fascinating).

Then there are my CDs. I own the MomoClo Version of the Moon Pride/Gekkou single, the first SMC OST, and the SMC Character Songs CD. The only '90s anime CD I own is the single for "Watashitachi ni Naritakute," which I bought from a fan. It's on minidisc! (But still playable on a normal CD player).

I think that's it. (Oh wait. I have a couple shirts. One Hot Topic shirt, and a shirt from Ript featuring Luna that's a play on the famous Le Chat Noir poster).

Out of curiosity do you own any SM or CCS merch? And if you do what do you have?

I don’t have anything CCS-related yet, but I have accumulated a few Sailor Moon items over the years! Behold! (plus a fleece blanket and a couple of Hot Topic t-shirts!)

Turns out 100% of my collection is actually from birthday gifts, because I can’t justify spending $$$ on merch for myself but I am blessed with friends and family who know Exactly What I Like. 

[grapsandclaps]

PCW WHITE COLLAR WRESTLING & ICW FEAR AND LOATHING X - GRAPS AND CLAPS ON TOUR

Hello again everyone and welcome to the story of Show 88 and 89 of the #100showyear respectively that took me to Preston for PCW White Collar Wrestling and then the next day to Glasgow for ICW Fear & Loathing X at the Hydro.

We first start with the trip to Preston on a cold Saturday afternoon for PCW White Collar Wrestling, which is an initiative that PCW first started advertising way back in November last year for members of the public to train for 8 weeks with such luminaries as Bubblegum, Danny Hope and Ashton Smith who were passing on their endless knowledge to at least 20 hopefuls over the course of 8 weeks leading up to this big event in Evoque raising money for a number of charities.

I was there for my mate Dan who I first met at PCW around 3 years ago and have been standing with ever since at the Preston shows, so it would be interesting to see how he would perform on this evening as well as the other competitors.

But before going into Evoque, it was as ever time to sample the local drinking holes, first starting off with the Station hotel which is located literally across the road from Preston Station. Here I was meeting up with Runcorn's no.1 darts player - Mark for a swift half of Guiness at a cost of £1.75.

Onwards up the road, we stopped off at everyone's favourite front room/pub - The Guild Ale House which has now grown a new upstairs area. A pint of Trevor which is a 5% dark stout at a cost of £2.90 was had here and as ever was a cracking pint which this pub consistently produces.

Next pub was Hogarths which was quite packed due to the England Rugby match and the afternoons football matches producing more abject disappointment for me as my £3 went down the swanny. Here I went for a £2.30 pint of Moorhouse White Witch.

A cross over the road to the Twelve Tellers posh Wetherspoons for a pint of Saltaire light ale for £2.30 and then a pint of Bombardier in Yates's for £2.40 were had next with not much to report of them being outstanding or poor, just 2 good pints.

Arriving in Evoque a crowd of around 300 friends and family gathered for the nights entertainment and the intrigue to what we would see you could smell it in the air.

A total of 18 matches took place on this evening with a fair few of the PCW Alumni such as Sheikh El Sham, Joey Hayes, Danny Hope, Rhio, James Finn, Philip Michael, BIG T, Charlie Sterling & T-Bone taking on the budding wrestlers in a mixture of singles & tag matches.

I had prior information from Dan that he would be on first in a tag match with a lad from Yorkshire vs Danny Hope & Joey Hayes. So it began and being announced in second to the tune of 'Rockstar' by Nickelback mixed in with the Star Wars theme tune here came hailing from Blackpool - Daniel 'The Star' Waldemar.

Now I have to give it to Dan, he played his role as a baddie very good doing all the hand mannerisms and reactions really well and I can say I looked on in glee watching it as well. Sadly he fell to defeat for his team after being distracted by Joey Hayes but he can leave with his head held high.

I'm not going to do a run down of all the matches but some of the highlights included SuperTed being beat by Sheikh El Sham, 3 BIG T Matches which basically involved him death chopping his opponents which is always good to see.

Preston Councillor Drew Gale faced T-Bone and got in a running cannonball attempt before falling to a headbutt and a piledriver which looked Ouch!

2 of Charlie Sterlings opponents Mr. Darlington and one who was a rugby player didn't look out of place against Sterling who you might say did a 'Sterling' job of things.

Micha the Crazy German with his army of fans stood behind me got a great reaction despite losing.

There was a couple of victories though for the hopefuls which helped for a surprise element. I had to leave sadly 16 matches in due to trains but Ive got to say it was a very fun night watching it and all props have to go to PCW for pulling it off and also the actual competitors taking part who performed admirably on the evening and raised over £5,000 for charity in the process.

Another White Collar Wrestling is taking place again early next year with some places still available, go and check PCWs Social Media for information on how you join up.

Sunday 19th November it was an early start for a mammoth 3.5 hour journey to Glasgow for ICW Fear and Loathing X at the SSE Hydro for the second year running which drew a total of around 4,500 to 5,000 which is still an excellent number for a British independent company in 2017 and at a guess could be around what Progress might possibly draw at Wembley Arena next September.

After a relatively fast but hefty journey passing time watching NXT Takeover from the previous night, you owe it to yourself to go and watch Alistair Black vs Velveteen Dream which is an excellent match benefiting from a fantastic tv build and in turn building a new star in one Patrick Clark.

First port of call was to find the hotel for the night, which was The Fraser Suites a former bank back in the day which has been renovated into a block of studio apartments and seeing that this was a Sunday, a great room price of £56.16 was on offer.

As you can see, I got a giant king size bed, mini-kitchen, couch, 32" T.V and spacious room to move. I fully recommend this place to stay if you are after a romantic weekend away in Glasgow or just up there for a show.

We had a total of 3 hours or so to kill, so we went off on our merry way around the pubs of Glasgow to which the number of them has grown over the last 3 years since first visiting:

First pub that was nearest was the Blackfriars Bar which has an old style bar set up with a total of 8 cask ales mainly from scottish breweries including Drygate and Fallen Brewing. I had a pint of The Champion beer of 2015 - Jaguar 4.5% £3.50 which was decent but not worthy of any awards but still this is good boozer in amongst a quite area of the city.

It was then a move on to a regular stop Brewdog for the usual 2/3rds for £5 (7% Great Again) , but this Brewdog seems to have more choice than most Brewdogs from both a beer and food prespective and also a bit cheaper which is always a good thing.

A visit to the local Nicholsons joint - The Drum and Monkey was next which was where we meet our Irish friend Steve who travelled up early in the morning from Dublin. With most of these joints you would be lucky to find a pint of real ale under £4 with a pint of Saltaire Triple Chocoholic & Herbalist both costing around the £4.30 marker, our Geoff though did get a pint due to an app he has for £1 for a pint of Nicholsons Dish Water which was what it was.

Next place follwing a short walk up one of the many high street climbs in Glasgow was regular Whisky Bar of The Year - The Pot Still which has a cavalcade of Whisky to suit any tastes plus a good range of cask and bottle beers. Here I had a pint of 4.3% Cross Fire for £3.20 which was passable and a 35ml shot of Laphroaig 10 year for £2.50 even though it was peaty in taste due to the islay malt style was still good and didn't rip out your throat like some do.

We then went on a 20 minute walk to The Hydro via a chippy across the road for battered sausage and chips for £4/a figure the shopkeeper randomly came up with in his head whilst looking at the board.

Bell time was just starting as we got to our lower tier seats (block 050) and also seat 1 & 2 to make a quick exit to the bar for £2.50 a pint for Irn-Bru which would soon make my piss look illuminous and my poo look like a relay baton by the end of the night.

So lets see what went down:

It was a 7 way ladder match with Aaron Echo vs DCT vs Bram vs Jody Fleisch vs Ravie Davie vs Kid Fite vs Joe Hendry for the No.1 contenders shot at the ICW Title at Square Go next year.

This went about 12 minutes with much high flying from Jody as you would expect, Ravie Davie was the main part of this match carrying on his feud with Twitter Favourite - Bram who handed out a heavy beating to Davie about 2 months ago, but a returning Davie won a match over Bram the night previous to get into this match.

The finish came when Davie was reaching for the belt only to be stopped by soon to be former girlfriend in the storyline - Martina who tilted the ladder over to put Davie through a table to help her new squeeze Bram to climb the ladder to the boos of the crowd. This was chaotic but a good crowd warmer to the night.

Next up was a very good tag match which was a distant memory from last years Dudley Boyz vs Polo Promotions match which was one of the worst last year. This year we had the Champions - Bird & Boar facing Polo Promotions and went around 10 minutes with the much improved Polo Promotions picking up the title win. A beat down followed from Bird & Boars mate Iestyn Rees but he was soon marched on his merry way by tonights commish old glass knees - Kevin Nash.

3rd match in with the much anticipated Kenny Williams facing Booyahkah Booyakah 619 Rey Mysterio.

This was a really good 15 minute match with Kenny holding his own against the more experience Mysterio who can still go a decent lick despite his catalogue of injuries over the year. The finish came with Rey going up to the top for a big splash which he hit but it got reversed into a tight roll up from Kenny for the surprise victory for Kenny who hopefully will get raised to bigger and better things in 2018.

A huge detour into insanity land next as we have the King of Insanity 4 way with Stevie Boy vs Mikey Whiplash vs Jimmy Havoc vs Chris Renfrew

This was a long 25 minute deathmatch but still exciting and brutal which you like to see im these matches. Highlights included Stevie Boy being busted open early on from a chairshot but that didn't stop him from taking Chris Renfrew up on the stage to back body drop him through the stage and through a barbed wire board to a huge pop.

Back in the ring there was mamy shots with chairs, staple guns, falls through tables and barbed wire crosses. The finish to this came with Stevie Boy hitting a huge Destroyer on the drawing pins for the win, this was not as good as the famed FCP Deathouse from this year but still a great effort from all 4 lads.

After a short break it was a 3 way Womens Cage Match with Viper vs Kasey Owens vs Kay Lee Ray with special enforcer Carmel.

Carmel was taken out early after being distracted by a blond lady called Jamie Winters so it left the 3 combatants to go it alone.

This sadly wasn't as good as I thought it would be hampered by a few run ins which is ICWs crutch at times, the action was good in places when Viper and Kay Lee Ray were imvolved. Finish came when KLR was escaping but Kasey trapped KLR leg in the cage enabling her to climb over despite the Kings of Catch trying to stop her to no avail. OK match but disappointing.

3 Way Dance time next with Lionheart vs Zack Gibson vs Rob Van Dam was next.

As ever Gibson was the early star of this match berating the absolute collection of bellends in the crowds to a chorus of boos. This guy is money !!

A really good 3 way match despite Gibson being eliminated early leaving Lionheart vs RVD in a re run of their PCW Guild Hall match which thankfully this time was a mile better than that clash due to RVD bringing his a-game on this night. A shock victory here for Lionheart in the end who also looked great in winning and looks on for better things in ICW in the coming months.

Semi Main Event was the DEAD DIRTEE TAG with The Kings of Catch (Aspen Faith & Lewis Girvan) vs The Kinky Party (Sha Samuels & Jack Jester) in a short but fun tag contest in which The Kinky Party got the win and the crowd surfing celebration through The Hydro. First time of seeing The Kings of Catch and they work really well as a tandem and I wouldn't mind seeing them again.

Main Event time with it being Title vs Title with Zero-G Champion BT Gunn facing ICW Champion Joe Coffey.

Lasting over 25 minutes this was a really good match but did get a but daft with BT kicking out from 6 discus clotheslines for near falls, also a Kevin Nash run in and eventually 2 mystery men turning up out of the dark to superkick Coffey who eventually fell to submission from BT Gunn to end the night with your New Double Champion BT Gunn celebrating into the scottish nightsky.

A 40 minute walk back to the hotel through the wet via a £4.70 pint of Chieftain IPA in O'Neills was had before going off to the land of nod.

Overall as a show Fear & Loathing X was a good show with not much to gripe about on the card except for bits of the main event and the cage match mainly due to the run ins as described, but it was still worth my trip up the Highlands.

Next day was a trip around Glasgow again to search out more pubs till our train back at 3pm. Here is a short run through of pubs that we visited:

The Counting House Wetherspoons for a Scottish Style Breakfast including Haggis but sadly no square sausage for £6.25 plus a pint of Caesar Augustus IPA for £3.75. It was noted that Wetherspoons up here enforce a 2 alcoholic drink maximum before 11am to curb over drinking.

A swift half of Tennants lager (£1.75) in The Auctioneers was had next which included someone dropping the fruity for £160.

A new place called The Shilling Brewing Co. was visitef next and this was one of the standout bars of the trip. This is another former bank but has been turned into a craft ale dream with over 20 taps, immaculate toilets and even proper safe doors used as the toilet door entrance it was lovely to visit. A pint of Long White Cloud IPA £5.40 was had here and despite the price, it was a gorgeous drink.

The last 3 pubs on the trips were The Raven which serves 6 craft ales plus a range of barbecue eats - beer ranges from £3.40 to £4.80 a pint

The Merchant which had cask ales on sale for £1.99 which was the only pint under £3 I had on this trip and was just as good as the more expensive ones.

Last boozer was somewhere called Drury Street which is an underground bar/eaterie serving a handful of craft ales - I had a schooner of Blackberry Gose £5.40 which despite a sharp taste was a good drink. I did also have a chance for a game of Pool against current BritWres Pool Champion - Geoff but sadly this was non title due to it being played on an American pool table with bigger balls.

Due to my eyesight seeming to work better with the bigger balls I cleared up to get a surprise victory before departing Glasgow.

So that was that!! Hope you have enjoyed reading this hefty edition of Graps and Claps and I hope you will spread the word, till next time #grapsandclaps

[duanecbrooks]

A Sight For Sore Eyes     It's what could be called an old-time flick, having been released in--steady yourself--1969.       It features two leads who have long, long, long since gone off the radar, namely Jacqueline Bisset and Jim Brown (Actually, Brown has only sunk from sight as an actor. He has for some time had a third-act career--he began as a pro-football heavyweight, remember?--as an entrepreneur).         Having been released in, as was mentioned, 1969, its filmic style and the motivations of its characters would, in this overflowing-with-political-correctness age, likely be dismissed as greatly dated, even rather philistine.               However...     As the theatrical film The Grasshopper, which first unspooled in said year and which stars said folks--and which, in a leonine change-of-pace, I saw not on DVD but (and this is not a typo) on YouTube--proves, it is very much worth re-visiting, being--say what you will about it being Old Hat--an incisively-written, maturely-directed and, its strongest suit, sensitively-performed drama about following dreams, dealing with what life throws at you while you pursue those dreams, and, at last finally, is a cautionary tale concerning the fate of those who thoroughly, totally surrender their positivism, who allow themselves to be entirely swept up in all the crap that comes their way. The long-popular assertion goes: "Be careful what you wish for, for you might well get it." What The Grasshopper, with considerable style and genuinely impressive intelligence, says is: "Be sure to have a realistic perspective about what you wish for, otherwise there'll be hell to pay."             Let's get to the picture itself.                 We open with its heroine, 19-year-old Christine Adams (Bisset), sneaking down the steps of her house and outside--the latter after leaving a good-bye note for, as we'll come to discover, her parents--carrying luggage and, eventually, getting into a convertible and driving off. After she goes a distance, we see her car conk out and Christine having to hitch a ride. As she and her driver are riding along, she fills him, and us, in on her story: She's going to L.A. to hook up with her boyfriend, who works in that city. Also: Her past home life was far from tranquil, as is demonstrated via a flashback, wherein Christine thinks back to her incessantly warring parents. It all culminates in Christine giving her driver, and us, a verbal sketch of what she wants her life to be ("It's very simple. What I want is to be totally happy, totally different, and totally in love"). In time she's taken up by one Danny Raymond (Corbett Monica, a stand-up performer who was quite popular at the time), a Las Vegas-based comic whose humor fails to impact our girl (He freely acknowledges: "I'm not too funny, but you can't expect brilliance in the middle of the desert").           We press on. While transporting Christine, Raymond stops off at his employment base, namely Vegas, where he attends to some business and Christine takes in the sights and, in time, is summoned back to Raymond's side (He has the hotel announcer intone: "Will Christine The Hitchhiker please report to the front desk?"). Eventually she, and we, meet Tommy Marcott (Brown), a former pro-football star who is employed by the hotel as, well, a lure, as a celebrity whose fame is used to bring in customers. We also see Raymond trying to get close to Christine and she firmly resisting ("No, Danny. I like you. You're a lot of fun") but Raymond not being in the least dissuaded ("Stick around a few more minutes. I hate to be alone"). At last finally Christine gets to L.A. and Eddie, with whom she entreats to have a baby with her. Yet life with Eddie turns out to be far from the Paradise Lost she imagined and hoped it would be, as her job as Eddie's sister bank teller, she finds out to her dismay, is routine and boring (In an attempt to put some life into her life, she hands a customer the following note: "This is a hold-up. Give me your money and don't touch the alarm"). At one point she goes for a walk and, gazing into the windows of the other apartments, she sees the inhabitants fighting between themselves and otherwise engaged in the kind of dullish, mind-numbing activities she hates with a passion. Thus our gal leaves Eddie and returns to Vegas and Raymond.             To go forward: At first Christine's hooking back with Raymond turns out to be very pleasant for both of them (We see Christine happily lying in bed next to Raymond and his saying into the phone: "I gotta go now, 'cause there's this gorgeous girl just dyin' for my body"). Yet it all ends when Christine is informed by Raymond that his ex and their offspring are coming to visit. Next we see our heroine audition for a position as a showgirl. At first her auditioner is quite skeptical (Christine: "I did Little Women in school." Auditioner: "Did you do it nude?"), telling her: "Showgirls gotta have gigantic tickets [breasts]." Christine doesn't shirk at the least upon hearing this, firing back: "In my hometown I was considered one of the over-developed girls." At last finally Christine unbuttons her blouse and proudly shows her auditioner her "tickets," which causes the auditioner to happily hire her (The auditioner asks Arnold, his barber at the time: "Would you pay $12.50 to look at that [Christine's fully-exposed bosom]?" When Arnold smiles affirmatively, that to the auditioner is the deciding factor, which causes Christine to say: "Thank you, Arnold"). From there we witness our girl as part of the hotel's regular showgirl line-up and getting the 411 from a sister showgirl ("There are only two kinds of dancers in this line: great dancers and girls with friends") and, later, catching a performance by the hotel's resident rock group, The Ice Pack, wherein she becomes fast friends with a devoutly homosexual member of the group. Their friendship develops to the point where Christine informs him of her hopes and dreams ("I was thinking of becoming a stewardess...I like people. Maybe I'll meet a nice guy") and, after debating whether God did indeed create the world or whether the human race evolved from monkeys, standing side-by-side one night and gazing at the stars (Christine: "When you look out there, there's got to be a God." Homosexual buddy: "Or one hell of a monkey").     Going on: Christine's former beau Eddie comes to town, accompanied by his wife and their baby, all of whom, after a visit with Christine, make her quite wistful. Afterward she has further association with Marcott, who makes it abundantly clear that he kowtows to nobody unless he absolutely has to ("I used to be eight years old...I don't say anything unless I mean it"), and rebels when, during a conversation with some financiers, his employer casually manhandles him ("Don't do that, man. You make me feel like a piece of meat"). We then see Christine and Marcott riding a merry-go-round and the former further contending what she wants and expect regarding her life ("Sure I know what I want out of life. No, I don't. Yes, I do") and the workings of her inner self ("No matter where I am or what I'm doing, somewhere in the back of my head I'm thinking somebody is having more fun than I am"). They talk more and they exchange dialogue on Christine's priorities concerning her romantic life (Christine: "I hurt that guy I grew up with [Eddie]. And he hurt me." Marcott: "Everybody gets hurt"). Christine fervently urges that she and Marcott live together rather than get married but he loses no time shooting down that notion ("I've been that route. I don't want a chick to shack up with. I don't want a pad, I want a home"). At long last they decide to elope, which, when the woman at the Vegas chapel they turn to sees them with another couple, makes her quite antsy (Woman, into the phone: "I'm serious, Ted. A white girl, a Negro, a Jap, and a sissy").             Grasshopper moves forward. Now Ms. Tommy Marcott, Christine sets herself to getting her new hubby a less degrading job with the hotel. While swimming, she pushes to one of the aforementioned hotel's bigwigs for Marcott to given higher standing and, when the bigwig balks, she flatly spits water in his face. Next we see her with another hotel higher-up making the same case and, again, being unsuccessful (Higher-up: "Only your husband is special at shaking hands." Christine, walking angrily away: "You're a bastard"). The ante is upped when Roosevelt Decker (Ramon Bieri), a particularly wealthy financier, enters Christine's life. She--unwisely, as she, and we, will come to discover--accompanies him to his hotel suite and, not surprisingly, Decker loses no time in making a play for her. Also not surprisingly, she fully rebuffs him ("Mr. Decker, I really enjoy talking to you. Can't we just be friends?"). Decker, alas for her, doesn't take this well, first openly disparaging Christine's hubby ("I'm as good as any nigger"), then going on from there to literally beat the crap out of her. When she arrives home afterward, she shuts herself up in the bathroom. When Marcott forcefully orders her to open the damned door ("If you don't open the door, I'm gonna break it down"), she does and he, along with us, get a full view of her battered and bruised face. Cut to Decker playing golf and Marcott coming after him right there on the greens. Decker runs away but Marcott soon catches up to him and gives him the same aggressive beating that he gave Marcott's wife. The very next scene has the Marcotts in a car, hubby at the wheel, driving away from Vegas and he making it fulsomely clear that from now on their lives are going to be very different ("I'm gonna find myself a job where I don't have to play the clown. And you're gonna be my wife").             We continue. We next see our young lady at a laundromat, washing clothes and unmistakably bored peeless. In an attempt to enliven things, she spreads laundry detergent upon the floor and does an impromptu dance for the others doing their laundry. Following is a scene where Christine's old buddies, The Ice Pack, sneak up on her and following that are scenes wherein she had the same blast with them as before. It all bleeds into her growing disenchantment with her life with Marcott and it culminates in her flat-out confronting him (Christine, standing defiantly over him as he's sitting in a chair: "You don't really like my friends [The Ice Pack], do you?" Marcott: "Look, Chris, are you trying to start a fight?" Christine, still defiantly: "Yeah, maybe I am. Anything to liven things up around here"). Yet Christine comes to shake off her antagonism toward her husband and open herself to him ("I thought if I loved you, everything would be all right"). Things, however, go badly when Marcott, in the midst of shooting hoops on outdoor basketball grounds, is fatally gunned down, no doubt by a fellow specifically hired by Decker. This of course devastates Christine, who deals with her mega-anguish by, during the ride back from the funeral, ordering the driver to stop and pick up these two hippie types whom she sees standing around ("I don't give a damn what you think! Pick them up or I'm gonna jump out!"). We proceed to see Christine pouring her heart out to her homosexual pal ("The worst part is, I can't even grieve for Tommy...If only I knew [my crying] was for Tommy and not for me") and said buddy coming clean regarding whether or not she'll get justice concerning Marcott's murder ("I don't think [the authorities are] even gonna touch Rosie Decker"). Having experienced the real deal in the aforementioned way, Christine returns to Vegas and her former employer, who offers her financial assistance--which she adamantly refuses ("Wait, let me get my tin cup"). Her ex-boss then suggests that she go back to hometown and try for "civilian" work--a suggestion she also rejects ("And be a secretary for $300.00 a week?...I don't want my life to be a cliche"). It's here where her former boss-man throws down the gauntlet: "You're not that talented. You got a pretty face and a nice body...You're an average girl. Why are you knocking yourself out [to Be Somebody]?" Our heroine's response cuts right to the heart of the matter: "Why not?"             Going forth: Christine next hooks up with one Richard Sherman (Joseph Cotten), a highly rich older man who gives her a fur coat. Christine, naturally overjoyed at receiving such a present, hugs Sherman--which brings forth a lighthearted admonishment from him ("Christine, you'll break something!...There are certain rules you must follow when you're dating an older man"). Christine, for her part, solemnly assures him that he really and truly is The One ("I think what I've always wanted was a mature man, someone with whom I can have a real relationship"). Yet we next see the utter insincerity of her words, as we see her making out bare-ass-naked in the shower with Jay (Christopher Stone), a singer with The Ice Pack, who's also jaybird-naked. Christine, along with the rest of us, get the inside skinny on Jay's doings since Christine last saw him ("I didn't leave [The Ice Pack]. They fired me") and she gives him, and us picturegoers, the inside skinny about her actual needs ("I need someone. I'm lonely, Jay. I want to be in love"). Next: Christine is back with Sherman, who warmly extols her ("I'm not going to bore you with the old story of my wife not understanding me...You saved the day"). Afterward we see Chris back with Jay, who angrily lights into her ("Do you love me, Christine, or do you just think you do?...[W]hy don't you try the only thing you were ever any good at--balling?"). Jay winds up leaving Christine a "Dear John" note, and Christine, having reached the end of her rope emotionally/psychologically, gets this pilot to sky-write "Fuck it." (This being 1969, we natch don't see the full statement) As Christine is being taken in by the cops, she's asked how old she is. She replies rather listlessly: "22," which says volumes about all she's been through and the emotional/psychological toll it's all taken on her.             There's The Grasshopper, a skillfully-made cautionary tale about what happens to those who don't take care while pursuing their dreams. Ramon Bieri wholly chills the blood as Christine's eventual assaulter. The men in her life--Brown, Cotten, Monica, Stone--are all virile and appealing, each in their own ways, to make you see why Christine stayed with them as long as she did. The then-red-hot writing team of Garry Marshall and Jerry Belson (also Grasshopper's producers) come up with many engaging characters and many heart-tugging romantic entanglements. And as director, Jerry Paris--who would work with Garry in the future, helming many a Happy Days episode--deftly pushes the proceedings along, never, ever allowing even an iota of schmaltz or grandstanding to show. And one of the picture's key numbers, "Used To Be," is sung with impressive feeling by the intensely-beloved Carol Burnett sidekick Vicki Lawrence.               And at last finally there's Jacqueline Bisset. She is, quite simply, radiant. With her stylish beauty, her beauty-queen charm, and her lightning-rod energy, she absolutely walks off with the picture. Her smooth good looks and her volcanic sexiness positively dominate every scene she's in, easily heralding her breakthrough performance in her signature theatrical film The Deep (Fess up: Is there any one of us men who, when we look back on said picture, does not mightily drool at the memory of the opening when, while underwater, Bisset exposed her oh-so-succulent breasts?). Indeed, it's Bisset's Grasshopper portrayal that brings out this unarguable fact: Motion pictures were the most effective as a visual medium, when they entirely eschewed aesthetic considerations and presented luscious, well-bodied players who enchanted us with their vitality and their charm. It was the 1950s cinematic sexpot Ava Gardner who, in her classic personal/professional memoir, freely acknowledged, concerning her heyday: "I wasn't an actress--none of us kids at Metro [-Goldwyn-Mayer] were. We were just good to look at." In point of fact--and Bisset in Grasshopper abundantly proved this--pictures were at their best when they sidestepped artistic aspirations and simply gave us performers who "were...good to look at." (Television is, in the main, fantastically moronic. But the redemptive factor regarding it is that it's a visual medium. There's none of this crap about the director or about how some star "fell in love with the script." All that's necessary is to put Pamela Anderson or Carmen Electra or whoever on camera showing skin--or to put Kerry Washington on camera, period--and the battle is won)                     It was the fiercely-esteemed big-screen director Bruce Beresford who, in a forward to a compilation of picture reviews by a then-well-known critic, asserted: "I know it's not politically correct to say it...but...watching beautiful girls can do a lot to relieve tedium." It is "watching" Jacqueline Bisset, the "beautiful girl" of The Grasshopper, that "does a lot" to keep said picture from becoming "tedious." And how glad we are to have that specific "relief."

[grapsandclaps]

GRAPS AND CLAPS REVIEWS - REV PRO GLOBAL WARS UK

Hello and welcome everyone to this edition of Graps and Claps, this time taking me to the Brixton Recreation Centre for Rev Pro's big Global Wars UK show with the main event rematch for the Undisputed British Heavyweight between Minoru Suzuki and Tomohiro Ishii (a proper 2 dads in a car park match).

Early start for me to get down to London with a 50 minute bus from Rochdale to Manchester, followed up with a 2 and half hour train/tube trip to Brixton, arriving in what is an upmarket area of the nation's capital but on this impression with the wafting smell of fish in the air and a grey and miserable day this wasn't the upmarket area that it was supposed to be.

Only one boozer we visited here was a branch of the Craft Beer Co located near the Beehuve Wetherspoons. A mixture of 20 beers on tap either keg or cask plus a number of cans were on sale as well, the decor inside this pub was akin to an american diner of sorts with bright flashing boards and red leather seats.

A good 2 hours was spent in here meeting up with a number of wrestling luminaries including the Indy Corner's JP and Joe, whilst also looking outside at Mark Davis walking past in his socks and sandals - whoever thought this look was going to come back into fashion, but I'm not going to argue with Dunkzilla's fashion sense.

4 pints in here were mainly IPA based with the £5.40 Siren Brewery IPA being the best of the pints I had, when visiting here do expect to pay anywhere from £4.50 to £8 a pint but in all honesty it is maybe the best place for a drink near the venue.

With the time coming up to 345pm, our group decided to make our way to the Brixton Recreation Centre which was only round the corner and up one flight of stairs. This venue was in all sense and purposes a gym hall with bleacher seats on one side which were instantly filled, so what was supposed to be a seat for the evening ended up being a standing spot for the duration of the 3 and half hours.

Beer in here was a bit of a shambles with long queues of up to 15 minutes at one stage - our Geoff missed all of the second match thanks to this occurrence. Once they worked things out it did improve but it did feel all a bit like 'spoons with one serving behind the bar - if you cant handle pulled beer, just get cans in - its so simple!

Anyways rant about the £4 beer over with, lets get into the action with a big 9 match card that opened up with the current IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida taking on Kurtis Chapman who was replacing David Starr who was stuck in air limbo due to the airline company going bust but not notifying there passengers - complete shithousery on there part.

So with Chapman taking Starr's place we got down to action with an early feeling out process which Kushida got the upper hand of. A feature of the evening was the at times apathetic crowd that didn't half need a bit of geeing up from my stamping right foot, no wonder I have been walking like John Wayne today.

Despite the quiet crowd this was still a passable match with Kushida looking the best out of the two as he finished off Chapman in around 10 minutes with the Hoverboard driver for the 3 count. To be honest even though he took the match at short notice I didn't think anything stood out about Chapman, that a Josh Bodom could have maybe done a better job as a replacement but hey ho I digress.

Next up was an interesting Tag Team tussle between Ringkampf (Walter and Timothy Thatcher) vs L.I.J (Sanada and EVIL). Surprisingly there was a lot of offence against the Ringkampf boys especially on Walter from EVIL making the Austrian look vulnerable in comparison to his New Japan counterparts. Ringkampf eventually did come back into the match locking in duel sleepers on both Sanada and EVIL but they both managed to escape the Ringkampf duo's grip as they sent Walter packing to the outside, meaning that Thatcher was left all alone to be hit with the Magic Killer by EVIL and Sanada to get the big victory here in what I could count as a shock.

Match No.3 we had the arrival of Lord Gideon Grey who I haven't seen for ages since the whole feud with Grado and Colt Cabana a couple of years ago. Grey was here to introduce the match up between his Legion of Lords tag partner Rishi Ghosh whom he has recently had issues with at the most recent Cockpit show, his opponent was The Great O-Kharn who has been on the old Wayne Rooney hair growth programme - a proper mound of curly hair.

This was certainly a diversion from the fast paced New Japan feel but with a great bit of storytelling in between the ropes with Ghosh playing the plucky underdog against Grey's new charge O-Kharn who is currently undefeated and has visibly improved his ringwork since the last time I saw him at Altrincham vs Danny Duggan which was a total dud.

Ghosh managed to crawl out of O-Kharn's claw hold/slam to fightback but as the referee wasn't looking, Lord Gideon whacked his former best friend around the head with a cane to knock him loopy leading to O-Kharn to hit a reverse neck slam to get the three count, cue more ring announcing stylings from Gideon - I surprisingly enjoyed this match and well above my expectations.

4th up we had the clash between Chris Brookes and L.I.J's leader Tetsuya Naito who came out to a great reaction from the Brixton crowd. Early on Brookes fainted Naito to the outside by doing Naito's pose which only riled Mr. Naito who came in to kick Brookes in the shoulder to stop these shenanigans.

Brookes give him his due performed admirably against one of New Japan's big stars and he nearly picked up the shock victory with a Jay Driller for a 2 count, as Brookes was looking to finish things off he got laid out with not 1, but 2 Destino's from Naito who picked up the win in 11 minutes. A solid match but Naito was in house show mode for me wearing his T-Shirt for the duration of the match (come on Naito you have a better body than my fat arse).

Intermission Main Event with my dad's favourite wrestler Zack Sabre Jr. taking on Former NEVER Champion Hiroki Goto. It was during this I found that the current NEVER Champion is Taichi - christ almighty they must be running out of options 😞.

Lots of strikes and submissions in this one folks with ZSJ looking really good in the process and I would say he was quite dominant over his much larger oppponent, one thing I love about Zack are the countless transitions from hold to hold, he is just so fluid as an operator in the squared circle. Despite trying his best to submit Goto, Zack put away Goto in 15 minutes with a reverse bridge pin for the victory as he looks on his way to facing maybe EVIL or Naito in the futute, the Naito match could be a barn burner in my opinion.

Half time break of 10 minutes which stuck to the schedule, we returned with Mark Davis taking on Satoshi Kojima who as we have found out he has gained a great respect for bread of all things - I just can't imagine that Kojima has some Blackpool Milk Roll in his bread bin.

A hard hitting 10 minute match with many clotheslines and forearms in the ring corner by both men but it was Kojima who got the best of things as he hit the rapid fire chops in the corner to Davis to make his chest look like corned beef. Not long after that Kojima finished off Davis with the cozy lariat for the victory and as you may say - the breadwinner for the evening.

7th match up was between El Phantasmo taking on Rocky Romero in what I felt was a bit of a comedown match before the two what would be best matches of the evening. Early dives from both Romero and ELP were hit but when the action got back inside it was ELP who got the better of things as he put away Rocky Romero with a splash/moonsault combo to pick up the impressive victory, but in hindsight this match maybe could have been scrapped just to add a few more minutes elsewhere on the card.

8th match up was an anticipated contest that I was looking forward to seeing with Will Ospreay taking on Chris Ridgeway for whom it was great to see him getting this opportunity high up on this card.

As expected this duly delivered as Ridgeway tried to use many strikes to wound Ospreay but Will was more than his match as his ground game is greatly under appreciated as people still think of Will as ever the high flyer.

With the match coming to the boil, Ospreay looked to hit the Oscutter to Ridgeway but he was caught with a sleeper choke by Ridgeway to cause the tapout victory to end a belting match. After the match Ospreay had to be carried out as he picked up an injury during this contest, as Ospreay went to the back Josh Bodom came out to attack Ridgeway to possibly set up a match between them two in the future - Bodom bodywise looks amazing fantastic shape that hasn't been anywhere near the Holland's puddings.

8 matches, it is now time for your MAIN EVENT and what a main event this was for the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship between Minoru Suzuki who is the title holder taking on Tomohiro Ishii. Once the singalong to Kaze Ni Nare had ended we got down to business as both Ishii and Suzuki both got into forearming each other really hard and Suzuki hitting some of the hardest chops I have ever seen - these made Walter's chops look like tummy tickles.

The action spilled to the outside to the merch desk and both also had a chair battle in which Ishii came off the worst but he did manage to beat the count to continue the match. With Suzuki on top, he even had time to give me a death stare telling me to zip it from clapping and stamping which elicited a OOOOOHHHH from the crowd as I shat myself.

Suzuki who as I said looked well on his way to victory, got a bit to complacent by not puttong away Ishii and he got duly punished for this as Ishii hit the match winning brainbuster to Suzuki in 24 minutes to end an amazing match and for me easily in my top 5 matches of the year - check this out on the VOD ypu won't be disappointed.

Show done it was time to leave the venue diwn the ultra wet stairs and say our goodbyes to everyone in our group who were all great company - always good to see JP and Joe and Grappl app creator Gareth, you should download the app from the play store to see what it is about.

Overall as a show this was very good if only for the last two matches which I whole hearteadly recommend that you watch. The downpoints though were maybe too many New Japan victories once again with Kojima and LIJ getting wins over talent that should be pushed to the hilt in Rev Pro in Ringkampf and Mark Davis.

With the early finish at 715pm, I managed to get the earlier train back to Manchester to arrive back in Rochdale for 1120pm to rest my aching limbs before going to work in the morning.

I hope you have enjoyed reading, any feedback and comments are welcome and I will return next with a review of Futureshock Wrestling from Prestwich this Saturday, so until then - BYE!!

#grapsandclaps

@oggypart3