#ik this is also a character design thingy people do

[xylofondue]

NINJAGO HEADCANONS #5?

When Nya uses her powers after s15, parts of her hair becomes water!

Also Kai!!!

[throughtartaruswithyou]

PJO show review (because you care)

hmm I think the time has arrived for me to put my thoughts into words on this bad boy. Ive had some thoughts swirling around since the show finished but i felt like i needed to sit on them before putting them out into the big wide world.

I think the show was mid.

before we get up in arms- mid does not mean bad!! theres countless shows which are worse, and some that are better. honestly, mid means more interesting. lets do a good old fashion pros and cons list:

PROS

LOVED the casting. I think the casting was spot on- uncle rick did not disappoint in that category. age, appearance, demeanour, everything was working for me. I honestly agree with every single casting choice. (even lin-manual miranda ik ik)

Contrary to popular belief, I think the pacing was good. I'm not mad they cut scenes from the book. I think it'll encourage more people to read it. game of thrones did a similar thing (cut a bunch of scenes) and I think it helps preserve the independence of the two PJO mediums. Ya some scenes would've been cool but I'm not totally pissed about any cuts.

Set was good. set design felt authentic without trying too hard. No one really mentions the set when they review the show but like the set was really good?? CONS The biggest con for me is that it felt like they undercut Annabeth ALOT. shes supposed to be the wise girl, but for some reason sally was the one telling percy about the mythology? and hes telling it to annabeth? huh? and grover also seems way more knowledgeable than her. I was really disappointed by this theme- especially because it seemed to come up often. the only scene where she really showed her smarts was in the hephestus amusement park gate-trap thingy. it made her character seem under-powered compared to percy. Also she didnt use her dagger enough imo.

the show vs tell issue. this has been brought up alot so I wont go into it too much but ugh. I understand the show is aimed at kids but kids deserve good media too. kids aren't dumb. they can afford to let the episodes go a little longer to allow some of those plot points to build! give the watchers a sense of mystery then the satisfying feel of discovery! I noticed this especially in the lotus casino episode. I wish they didnt tell us about the lotus flowers right off the bat. the scene could have been so much better with that little change.

The delay on season 2! this isn't even just me being an impatient fan I have a genuine worry they actors are gonna age up too much. they all already look older and I just hope they wont have to age up the characters. esp for season 3- which they should get renewed ASAP since it should take place in the winter after season 2. not so much the teams fault but I hope they wont get too rushed by the timeline. esp since i know it's important to rick to have age-accurate casting.

overall I thought the show was mid to well-done and if season 1 is the worst season we might have a great lil' show on our hands. also disney pls renew season 3!!!! i pinky promise i'll watch it.

[seth-burroughs]

The people who made raincode and danganronpa are making another game and you're the most raincode person I know so I'm coming straight to you

It's called "The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy" and it seems really swag and I was wondering if you knew about it, cus it's coming out next year and I'm looking to get it and ik you like raincode, dunno your thoughts on danganronpa but uhhhhhh yeah

I'll be honest I have no idea about any of the games that are coming out currently everything I learn about whatever it is going on in the game sphere has been through mutuals posts. I do not like knowing things. Like I knew about Tribe Nine (but like. just barely a few days ago i found out that's a thing) but this one is new. What's up with that Kodaka. Since WHEN are there two of these now and WHERE are they coming from

I'm not really, uhh, interested? in any of these? So far? (That being said I also wasn't interested at all in Rain Code when it was first coming out either and just wanted to check it out real quick with no intent to succumb to the demons and then return to my normal life, so this statement has the potential to age) Somebody in one of their comment sections said they look like gacha games and honestly yeah they do and I don't trust that. I don't trust them

Basically, uhh thoughts:

Main boy and his fit especially looks suspiciously similiar to Yomi and I think that for that he should be executed

They're reallyyyy pandering to all the Danganronpa fans in the chat aren't they. Aren't they. 16 students locked in an academy with a quirky mascot (who. also looks exactly like is Shinigami Rain Code procreated with Humpty Dumpty) while UDG happens in the background. Like, all these Unknown Assailants are literally just UDG monokumas. Also people die there. Also the style is just. Danganronpa.

What do you mean Kodaka apparently went into debt over this. How and why on earth

Yeahhhh sorry I won't be able to actually play this I think. Even if it did not suspiciously resemble a barely disguised gacha game, I am neither good at nor do I like these sorts of strategy type games. I'm pretty bad at gaming and grinding especially, just give me the story let me read the words on the screen.. I only ever successfully finished ndrv3 because you can't lose at Danganronpa. Thank you dr for being easy I am kissing you on the mouth. If a MDARC sequel ever comes out then I will probably actually buy it too because the first one's gameplay mechanics looked doable for me. But also like. If it's gonna be switch exclusive again then I'm just gonna watch it on yt or something I'm not getting an entire switch just for Rain Code. Basically what I'm saying is that I don't like strategy games cause they're too hard for me

The edgy blue hair girl looks like a middle schooler's deviantart oc no offense to all the middle schoolers on deviantart and their ocs just an observation. She looks so bad. Eyesore. Speaking of the character designs HOW are they so fucking white. They're making Kanai Ward residents look like they actually getting suntan in comparison

I spit on it. Disrespectfully. Why is everybody getting so excited over it yall said NOTHING when Tribe Nine game trailer was out this month too what's special about it. You will never be Danganronpa. I spit on you. I spit on you, disrespectfully

I just watched the... Second trailer apparently and it's looking a liiiiiiiiiiitle better but not enough. I'm still mad over the protag stealing Yomi's fashion. The enemies look so goofy and nobody is hot. Nobody is even hot.

Seth don't care

Similiar feelings on Tribe Nine also (esp. the whole gacha thingy except with this one it's pretty much confirmed lol), however. I am actually interested and will definitely check it out if it comes out (even if it's just to watch like, a few videos and then be done), because of two reasons.

One. The entire premise of the anime, which came out first and I'm pretty sure will influence tha actual game somewhat, is glorious. This is peak fiction. Rain Code wishes it had what Tribe Nine has. Futuristic dystopia where in order to combat the rampant youth gang on youth gang violence the government tells them to do baseball about it. But not normal baseball. EXTREME baseball. Where all of our balls are on the line. In Neo-Tokyo, we live by the ball, we die by the ball... The ball is love, is life itself. Don't you get it, my arch nemesis? This team. This baseball team is my found family, their balls belong to me and my balls are theirs fully, and I will do anything for it, for its honor... No matter how many balls I shall crush for it on my way. Get into position, the time has finally come for us to battle, and only one of us shall come out alive... Also there's robots watching us

Two. This fucking guy. This FUCKING guy they put Makoto in Tribe Nine. I thought they couldn't make Makoto any cuntier, and I was wrong. I believe their name is Zero. And I want them so fucking bad . They will not leave my mind. I swear to god even if I wont be in any way interested in the game after all if it comes out I will literally just obsessively look up videos of every time Zero appears on screen this will be my only exposure to Tribe Nine.

I hope they get an incredibly serious mental breakdown in the middle of losing at baseball with protag team when they monologue about what the ball means to them and without the ball, who are they. Protagonist boy, you must turn back now you do NOT know what you're during right now your ball dreams are meaningless compared to the reason as to why I continue to pursue it. I cannot fail. Failure is forbidden in my family. If I fail my human original whose DNA I have been created from will discard me to the dungeons, the tennis dungeons, to be forgotten. And I yearn to be loved and have abandonment issues and trauma I just have so much trauma mannn and when I was a child they locked me in a washing machine which is why I lost the ability to trust people. Not ever again........ *flies away screaming wildly gripping head and summons giant baseball robot with rocket launchers*

[dedfandom-xwx]

Hey this is me rambling at 4am so if you don’t wanna hear my random stuff then just skip over this post, but if you do then read under the cut. Idk what this is gonna contain and it might turn into a vent or get very opinionated so please so hate on me I just wanna ramble 😭👍

Okay but like can we just talk about Noel Gruber and Mischa for a second? Or like, Eddie Dear and Frank Frankly? I just realized Eddie and drink don’t have the same last name even though they’re married. I know some people like don’t change their name and that’s like totally cool and everything like no shame but I had no clue at first that they were married. Do they even have rings…? Idc if they do or not their designs are so friggin cute. I wanna hurdle a specific VR skin of Eddie into a wall though.

ANYWAYS, Noel and Mischa, am I right? That is true best friend energy right there. So silly goofy. A angry SoundCloud rapper and a romantic gay being. I never thought better energy would come from two characters.

i started to try animating. I made a little Home animation and I’m hoping to post it soon. Took me about 2 hours. It’s my first ever animation I’m actually a little proud of so please no throwin shame 🥲

ALSO I also wanna talk about how funny some of the word in the English language are. I know we kinda steal a lot of words from other places and like a lot of Latin words and stuff like that. But tell me, how in the fresh heck did we come up with words like the ones in science on the table thingy that I can’t spell correctly the one with all the boxes and colors and stuff?? (I know what it’s called but i just can’t spell it.)

Oaiajekeowowiwiwiwhwhwhwjskaopworurhrnxnxnxncgdbsjslalwiw

the current worm in my brain: Tick, Frank Frankly, and Sam Winchester for some reason??

man do I love supernatural. I also really like Friends and Big Bang Theory and Good Omens and Unsolved Mysteries and stuff like that. THATS what you call quality content.

i wish people would ask me more questions. Random Ik. I hate talking about myself but I like to answer peoples questions. Is there something wrong with me for that??

i really should log off and get some sleep but I don’t feel like it. This is a loooooooong ramble. I should probably shut up or som.

OKAY but physical pain. Like why. I just want to ride roller coasters and not feel like I’m gonna cry every two seconds when I’m trying to sleep.

when you meet a buisness man you must stake him by the hand

I wanna lick a book. Like one of the really old ones with canvas covers. Feel like it’s taste good.

I feel like Sundrops pants would be such a bad texture. Probably grimy and yucky and like a potato sack.

YUPPEE

In my life, I was Noel Gruber who worked at Taco Bell in Uranium City, Saskatchewan. But in my dreams I played a different role. I was Monique Gibeau in post-war France!

not gonna say the next line cause it’s a bit SuGeStIvE I guess

why are suggestive songs such a bop. Like you take away the lyrics or listen to piano versions and I’m head banging like I’m at a rock concert like it’s that good. For example, Say No To This from Hamilton. Or ofc, Noel’s Lament from RTC. BANGERS BRO. As an ace person, yeah a little uncomfy BUT THEYRE SO GOOD WKSGSISNWBSOSK

I wanna eat fries

I need sleep

WE ALLLLL HAVE A WOOOOORM IN OUT BRAAAAAAAAAAIN

I’m legit crying over SIOB rn why am I like this if didn’t even watch the episode kasoajwosgsiswdns

imma try to end this ramble here. If you make it this far, you’re amazing. Hope you’re having a nice day/night/evening/afternoon! 🫀🫀

and an apple for Wally 🍎

🚪🏃

[yourlocalnicknackkinnie]

Character Bingo: Nick Nack (HP:MS)

@dolly-royal @omggypsyesmeraldathings-blog (I know you asked for Riley too but I'm making it a separate post since its the same character :3 )

Alrighty lets begin (It's gonna be very long because I've got a lot of things to say about him)

They are so cool looking

I gotta admit, he looks very cool. Even tho some prople say he looks like James Charles (Which I STRONGLY disagree) I love his design. I personally like his clothes, the man has drip. Heck, I literally painted a white blazer for a cosplay but now I just wear it when I'm not in cosplay anymore. I also like his facial structure since it gave me a challenge to draw him before but now I've gone used too it. (I can go on and on)

Everyone but me is wrong about them

Ok, so this is just a little joke (I do believe in other people's headcanons about him) but I would make this joke of "As a Nick Nack Kinnie, he would defiantly do that" if there's something that I think he would do.

Wasted Potential

Ik hes in the prequel but he could have more potential in the first game too (Since his model was already made). I think that Nick could've been in the tea party with Mortimer and Riley at the end instead of Kathy. (IDK but stillll)

If they were real I would be afraid of them

Ok, maybe a little startled but still- I mean, he's a puppet that wants a human as his host. But I headcanon that when you say that he's your favorite, he'll stop, cry and just be nicer to you. (Since he doesn't want to harm a fan)

They are deeper then they seem

for some reason I feel like there's something more about Nick that we don't know. The fact that he might have the urge not hunt for Owen and his urge to do it is strange but maybe there's more context in the game when its realesed.

They got done DIRTY by fans

So one time I tried to look how far the fandom has got. So every fandom has R34 art so I decided to type it in on google and OH I REGRET MY DECISION. I found a Nick Nack one- (IDK if that counts tho but still)

Didn't get enough screen time

This applies for the first game. like- we only see him in the shadows and that's it.

I want to carry them in a handbag like a tiny dog

Well kinda, I don't own any handbags but I wanna put him in a back pack instead with him poking out of it. If i had a Nick Nack puppet i would put him in there, let him poke out of it and go out with him like that for aesthetic purposes (And probably comfort reasons as well).

Nothing I like about them is technically canon

Another joke one. I do like things that are canon but I like to come up with headcanons to make me like him more than usual.

Why do they look like that

I don't mean his Midnight show ver. I meant his model that was supposed to be in the first game. What happened to his eyes? Where his is little beard thingy? (I headcanon that the eyes are supposed to be a mechanism that was added in later. like Puppet contact lenses I guess. it was later added because it wasn't in the blue prints so it was just a last minute idea Owen came up with)

Im mentally ill about them

Help, my mind is all about him now- send help (JK)

Wow... they are LITERALLY me!

Yep, that's me (As my username says it) I relate to him a lot. from my interests to maybe personality. heck I made a list of it and there's a lot of things I kin him that its scary. Ex. liking arts, having mood swings, being a tea person, likes to sing (the difference is that I think my voice sounds horrible) and more things-

They've never done anything wrong in their life <33

Ok, Ok maybe he has done some thing wrong in his life but at least he has the urge to not kill us-

So that's all for now. I could make a headcanon post about him on here (Pls reblog or comment down if you want something like this cause I have a lot of headcanons for Nick and plus I love making this kinds of posts)

[ct-multifandom]

Evolution Things

I see you’ve all been sleeping on Alim Kubdel. Couldn’t be me <3 glad everyone’s waking up though. I’m glad to see him finally be relevant again

Also Alix ‘cause she didn’t do jack in s4???

I’m a bit confused about why adult Bunnyx was sending Alim in “our” time postcards instead of him in her time. Just so that he’d know she’s Bunnyx before it even happened? Plot bs?

Edit: I had this typed out and then I deleted it, but I saw other people mention it so I’ll edit it back in. Will Alix’s dad die??? I had the thought while watching that scene, but the tone was so cheerful I thought nahh it’s a kids show. If it’s true, though, NOOOOOO!!! Also, would it be something that happens during canon, or off-screen right between present and future Bunnyx time? Ik Alix is a pink-haired cartoon girl who just got her superpowers, but don’t orphan her! You have to make her the new MC of the series if you do. It’s anime law.

Edit 2 I can’t shut up: I remembered in Chat Blanc when people were theorizing that future Alix sentimentally holding on to this stuffed toy she won off Rose as a kid was meant to imply that Rose will succumb to her illness. If THAT’S true… *screaming and crying* if I had a nickel for every time future!Bunnyx showed up bringing a vague omen of someone’s impending death unrelated to the emergency at hand I’d have two nickels which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.

Okay a little fandom salt here, warning: I’m seeing everyone talk about how cute Cannigirl (?) is, and imma be real, I feel like Miss Hound, Flairmidable, and her all have similarly designed and equally good suits. But when Penalteam came out the majority of people were shitting on Miss Hound saying she looks ugly? Idk I think if Miss hound has a bad design then so does Cannigirl and if Cannigirl has a good design than so does Miss Hound. Maybe everyone’s just gotten used to the Barkk drip after the initial expectations vs reality reveal in 4-24 but I’m starting to think a lot of you guys just play favorites big time…

I love Alix’s hat tho. It’s so cute, it’s like a newsboy cap or a Donald Duck hat. I love how Sabrina had a dog ear beret and she had a dog ear cap. It’s different and fits their characters. I also love that it turns rabbit-themed when she unifies. I kinda wish it was part of her usual design? Attention fan artists who draw the kids in alternate outfits: I need more hatlix.

I’ve been waiting to see if baby Bunnyx looks different from the big one, and she does! The white part of her suit on her belly is shaped like a romper in the present while in the future it’s shaped like a crop top. Edit: baby bun doesn’t have the circle thingies oh her mask. Present!Bunnyx has a black inside on her umbrella instead of white. Future!Bunnyx keeps her normal hair and piercings when she transforms but little Alix doesn’t have piercings yet and her hair stays similar, but changes ever so slightly. It’s the same length on all sides, is styled a little differently, and is a darker shade of pink. Reminds me of Caprikid’s hair change.

The DJWifi kiss. Man people have been rightfully complaining for the past forever that we didn’t see them really interact in Animan before coming back on screen and going, “oh yeah btw we like each other now”. This was an admittedly very clever way of addressing that. Still a little weird that they became so serious so fast, but oh well, we don’t know how long the tension was building up before Origins ‘cause they’ve been close for a long time and Animan was just the tipping point.

It was also funny how they re-contextualized the taxi joke from Reverser. Turns out Scaredy-Chat wasn’t exaggerating too much!

Gabriel get drinked by Nathalie

I saw someone say Nathalie is finally growing a backbone. More like she’s wearing one as an exoskeleton. She has a literal spine of steel now, but at what cost.

Something that I find really interesting is Alix talking about her interest in engineering. This is pretty much new info for us and it adds context to future Alix’s shirt with the gear with rabbit ears. It could also lead to development in her undeveloped friendship with Max by giving them something in common beyond being aspec.

They keep dropping new hobbies for the cast beyond their “one defining cartoon character interest”. They tell us that Kim likes running and swimming, Max likes playing games and programming, Marc likes writing, and also soccer/football. But I noticed that they’ve also gotten into talking about the kids’ career aspirations. Nino likes to DJ, but he wants to direct films. Luka likes playing music, but he plans to make stringed instruments for a living. Juleka likes music too, and she likes cosmetology, but she dreams of modeling. Alix likes skating and street art, but she plans to become an engineer.

Adrien has no idea what he likes, and Marinette has too many things to choose from, so it’s interesting to watch these side characters start to figure out their futures first. Ik a timeskip to the kids as adults wasn’t in the plans for s6/s7 as announced a long time ago by Astruc, but I’d love to see them grow up and have these different hobbies vs jobs. Who will follow their current interests into the pro level and who will take a totally unexpected path? I’m looking forward to seeing more of this from others in the present.

I hope they will do the pattern of recovering a miraculous one at a time and giving it to the holder permanently. As exciting as the love square resolution is, miraculous is so lonely to me without the side characters. Idk how it’d work out with the rings, like is the kwami actually in there? Is stealing a ring the same as recovering the miraculous? But we’ll see. They can’t episodically shoehorn meaningful side character moments into episodes that aren’t really about them.

Maybe the whole season is just the cat, bug, and rabbit, but that doesn’t make sense to me. If the show was originally planned to end at s5, you’re telling me the hero team was just never coming back until post-canon? That some of them were meant to have a combined screen time of 2 minutes over the whole show? It makes no sense. Plus, why drop transformation phrases for the Penalteam heroes if they’re not gonna actually transform for over a season? Chat said it himself, we’re getting them back one by one.

Maybe each and every episode won’t feature the hero for its miraculous, but they’ll get the kwami back anyways and make the holder permanent later at a time that makes sense? Idk

Gabriel dumbed his last ass

Nathalie spit in Gabe’s eyes challenge

If I want anyone to have a redemption arc it’s her come on bbgirl I believe in you

Alix dodgeball master

Poor 1940s Barkk is so innocent. She doesn’t know what’s coming. I mean, they pulled her out of Nazi-occupied France, so comparatively the present is in a much better place, but still.

Rabbit Noir was so cute. The neon blue under-eye weirdly works, but I feel like they could’ve done something different with the tails.

Let’s drink to all the Alix screen time yet to come. I told myself that my one expectation for this episode would be good Alix time, and I got it, so I must say I’m happy. Return of the queen.

About Multiplication: idk if Mylene will be relevant to this plot considering she wasn’t in the trailer and it’s gonna be big Adrienette time, but in Mega Leech the filter thing they were protesting was a Tsurugi company product, and Ikari Gozen is quite literally a Tsurugi car. Could there be a connection? Is Mylene gonna bring her environmental concerns up to Tomoe directly? Will she help defeat her? No clue how they’re actually gonna do it ‘cause no lucky charm or cataclysm alone will defeat an army of giant samurai sports car centaurs deliberately wrecking Paris. (If you steal the mouse ring off one of the clones will it be the same as taking it when they’re all combined?)

[angelamontoo]

what hobbies do you think the various characters would have? personally i think joel would like embroidery

That's definitely a nice one for Joel, it gives me mental images of him unwinding in a big chair with one of those old timey embroidery tablet thingies after a long and frustrating day. Also forcing Wilmer to be his mannequin while he embroiders details onto clothes

As for my HCs for what he'd enjoy, I tend to run with Cairo having theatre tickets in the film and imagine he's a big fan of theatre and literature and reads and does creative writing a lot-probably has some drafts for plays he wrote at various levels of completion kicking around. I can't say if its true, but I think I heard somewhere that in the book cairos said to know a lot of languages and I like the idea of him having a passion and interest in language aswell. Also, ik how stupid this last one sounds, but I kind of like the idea of Cairo baking after I drew that "why do they call it oven" image. Ik it's a silly shitpost, but I really like the way he came out in the second drawing I added to that post

Herman naturally likes reading up on human anatomy and how the organs function(although his interest probably started to fade some after having to know how long you can keep a person alive with their liver on the outside of the body became part of the humdrum grind) aswell as working on new faces for jonathan. I think if he had the time he'd happily plan ahead weeks in advance about exactly how he was going to make his partners next face look, drawing up sketches of the imagined nose from different angles, comparing the design to chonnys previous faces etc. But ofc he doesn't usually have that much time. If Herman were to have a hobby that's far removed from his criminal shenanigans, I can see him doing something wholesome and quaint like scrapbooking or birdwatching. Maybe after meeting Elaine they took up something together like mini golf or tennis

Polo loves collecting nice things. Ofc he knows that when he steals something he should give it back(unless Andre says otherwise) but sometimes he can't find the original owner or doesn't remember who they are or it was just a really soft, pretty coloured powder puff that would be a perfect addition to his "soft things to pet when I'm stressed cause Andre's mad" box. Another, more healthy hobby of Polo's is training his pet mouse. I think Tanya would notice that Polo's kleptomania was more manageable when he was focused on his mouse and would encourage him to keep it up. Andre would notice too and feel the opposite way

Louie collects snails and leaves them in random places around Tony's yacht when he's having rich people parties

[mewberii]

Streamer!Scaramouche AU

i feel like he’d be one of the biggest streamers on his platform- probably one of those that everyone has heard of even if they’re not into watching livestreams and all

but between those who do know who he is, they either love him or hate him. no in-between

it’s kind of understandable because his attitude is not suited/can be handled by anyone

he’s brutally honest even when his opinion may be seen as rude (to him he’s just saying the truth so he doesn’t mind if people get offended)

of course he doesn’t try to be rude on purpose but i mean it as in he’ll say what he thinks

imagine he’s playing a game and he doesn’t like a certain mechanic, or he isn’t enjoying the story;

he won’t say the game is bad but he’ll openly say he doesn’t like it/it’s not for him. it makes him seem strict but tbh he’s not that hard to please and even when he complains about one or two things he still enjoys the game

he usually gives every game a chance even when from what he’s seen it doesn’t sound like a game he’ll like. if he turns out to be right he just won’t play it again and if he’s wrong he’s a little too prideful to admit he spoke a little too fast but in the end he will admit the game is good or he’s having fun

probably the kind that just knows so much about all games and all the creators and all the game-making engines and is up to date with every single news of everything video-game + streaming-related,,, how does he do it, i don’t know,,,,

and also since he’s so popular he probably gets packages from game developers with limited edition stuff or merch from different games soooo often

and he placed the ones from his favorite games in his setup room and it looks INCREDIBLE he has so much stuff

he did a room tour stream once talking about all he has, where he got everything, from his monitor to every complement of his computer and like,,,,, the cost of his setup,,,,,,, some people already know they’ll never be able to afford that in their entire life

and he already had a great setup before he even became big as a streamer so people can already guess he’s fairly rich 

also i feel like he would have started his career as a streamer without using a facecam and even like that, he already managed to get very popular because of his professional commentary of game dynamics/playability + you can tell that he’s passionate about this and also he’s very funny without even trying??

he says some stuff so casually that he doesn’t realise how funny it is

probs showed his face after he hit a very important milestone

he never considered showing his face that important but he understood why people would want to see his reactions when playing games (even tho he warned them he’s not the most expressive/dramatique person in the world and they know by now) and would want to put a face to the person who entertains them so much with his streams

and when he does show his face people go absolutely cRAZY BECAUSE he is crazy good looking (if you don’t think he’s good looking i’m sorry for your eyesight. jk i’m sorry in general i just really love him)

some people who didn’t watch his streams will even check them out because of that but literally if you come for the visuals only you won’t stay for long because as i said not anyone can handle his personality

if he sees people being superficial about him too much instead of paying attention to what’s happening in the stream, he will immediately turn the subs mode on in the chat (if he didn’t have it on already)

being rude, being disrespectful/saying discriminating stuff or anything of that sort won’t be tolerated and anyone who does it will be banned instantly

without even interrupting what he was saying before he saw the comment, he’ll just type the ban to whoever said that and go on

and his mods do the exact same. they are just as strict as him

if it ever got too much of course he wouldn’t be afraid to speak up about it and tell his chat to stop that behaviour or else, as they should already know, he won’t be afraid of banning them even if they’ve been subscribed for months or years

ANYWAYS

why do i feel like he has a super organised chat— as in instead of spamming 5 emotes per comment they all send just one and it looks so tidy and perfect

literally other streamers would be jealous of how not-messy his chat is even when he has thousands and thousands and thousands of viewers all the time

also i have this idea that maybe any of his fans would have designed him as a genshin character (which would be the design of the scaramouche we know (?))

and the little pop-ups (i don’t know the name in english rIP) thingies that show up to notify when someone subscribed or donated would be lil chibi art of that design

it’d be really cool

and since i also doodled what a stream of his could look like (i’ll show it in the future when i’m done!!) i thought that way it’d be more recognisable that the streamer is scaramouche

99% of the people who have seen him irl found him too intimidating to go ask him for a picture or tell him anything

he’s not a huge fan of taking pictures anyway + is more on the introverted/reserved side but he wouldn’t mind if someone went up to him (if he’s not busy with something) to tell him something or say they enjoy his streams

i feel like in a couple occasions he would have played a game with some subscribers and he’d like to tease them speaking with his usual tone and face (in case they’re watching the stream as they talk) so they think he’s serious

“did you watch my 12 hour stream the other day?”  -scaramouche

“ah,,,, i-” -the sub

“think well of what you’re going to answer.” -scaramouche

“i-i couldn’t watch the whole thing,,,” -the sub

“ah, is that so…?” -scaramouche 

he’ll pretend to sound disappointed but at one point he just can’t help but smirk and hold in a chuckle before telling them he’s not serious

(he literally doesn’t know how the hell he survived that stream himself because he isn’t one to stream for that long)

i feel like deep inside people who know him would know he wouldn’t say such things seriously/wouldn’t be disappointed in anyone for not watching every single minute of his streams or not even all his streams

but he says all that so seriously that it’s,,, intimidating and they’re lowkey like “god but what if he’s not joking-”

he’d play games with the other streamers sometimes but i feel like most of the type he’d play more single-player games

it’d be so funny if he plays among us with others and for example one of those others it’s childe

both of them would always be suspecting of the other first/bickering, especially scaramouche

and if one game turns out they’re both the impostors… people would know right away

like, if any of them tried to defend the other, everyone else would be like “!?! what is this? scaramouche and childe defending each other? scary”

they’d vote one of them (maybe scaramouche) out because they started guessing + saying proof of how both of them could be the impostors (but the biggest proof is them not coming for each other’s throats sNKJFNGKJS)

scaramouche would have to resist the urge to S C R E A M

needless to say he doesn’t like when he has to be impostor with childe

and unfortunately for him, fate makes it happen considerably often

i feel like at least one time scaramouche would kill next to childe and then report it and literally blame childe

and childe would be like ?!?!?!?!?? WHAT- NO- (struggles bc his brain instinct is to say ‘it was you!’ but they’re both the impostors??? how-)

and then they’d eject childe,,, and then people wouldn’t suspect of scaramouche for most of the game because ? why would he- blame his partner---

well he did it with no regrets and at the end when they all found out they found it very funny (except for childe, but even he ended up laughing in the end because what a mean strategy sjkfhdsgkj)

i have this feeling that even though they bicker so much and for any strangers it’d seem like they hate each other, when scaramouche does play online games, many times it’d be with childe?

ik they aren’t supposed to get along but for the sake of it being a modern au i don’t want bad vibes between any of the characters pls-

and everyone enjoys their dynamic and those streams always get a ton of viewers sjfhdsgkj and i’m sure both their chats would be good friends (most likely one’s fans would also be a fan of the other too)

very very very rarely (because he prefers just playing and talking while playing) he’d do streams where he doesn’t play anything but just talks with the chat, watches videos that they send him, looks at the fanart they make, just talks about games,,,,

it’d be super chill and the perfect streams for people to be doing homework/work/play games/draw or do basically anything while they listen to his stream in the background

he’d also be answering some of people’s questions about him or about his favorite games, or if he’s playing this new game that came out earlier this week,,,

“will you play ‘it takes two’ with childe?” -someone in the chat

“absolutely not. i won’t play a co-op game with him”

not even 5 days later, tweet from childe saying “streaming in 30 minutes! Scaramouche and I will be playing It Takes Two on my ch---”

anyways this will be all!! (for now?) i obviously knew genshin before this but, yesterday i could finally start playing it myself! so i feel like if not now, soon i will also write headcanons of him playing genshin! i don’t take requests but if you guys have any ideas or anything you want to say about this AU, send me an ask!! i’d love to talk about this and about genshin in general!

also, i was very inspired to write this by @baeshijima​ ! so thank you very much to her for her wonderful streamer AUs and if anyone reading this hasn’t read hers already, go check them out!! they’re amazing!!

[ijoinedtoomanyfandomsilosttrack]

i have decided to live blog my reactions to the new netflix winx saga bc i heard it's apparently bad?? currently all i know abt it was they replaced techna and flora and also theres white-washing and fatphobia?? idk anyway i'm starting with ep 1

thoughts:

its definitely not 'colorful magical girls' like the original cartoon was

"feckin' sheep"

OH ITS DEFINITELY NOT COLORFUL MAGICAL GIRLS WHAT THE HELL THAT WAS A FULL ON SHEEP (?) CORPSE YOOOO I WAS NOT EXPECTING THAT???? MAN IM NOT SCARED OF GORE BUT THAT CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD

big scary beast pog?

yeah,,, theres gore in there. rip farmer/shepherd dude

okay i have to give them credit for that pretty dope intro. its not the winx club theme but hey i kinda like it

ooooh this music is dope. time to add it to my spotify playlist

hmmm im assuming redhead girl is bloom?

girl with the plants is definitely flora (or whoever she is now)

blonde is deffo stella or smthin

girl with the headphones is musa i think

who's the dude?? i dont remember the names of the dudes in the original winx

Are they still using Bloom's backstory as like the princess (?) of a kingdom??

wAIT DO THEY STILL HAVE THEIR PETS?? LIKE BLOOM'S BUNNY??

"Wow. You are so lost. I'm impressed by your confidence in the face of complete ignorance. Issue is, you're overcommitted. I mean, you're essentially running." Did I somehow miss some backstory?? What is up with this dude what is going on??

man i dont like the blond dude?? what is going on?? i am confused??

i don't remember bloom's whole backstory but i think the show's still using it??

dude did a full 180

"Sorry, I'd be happy to--" "Mansplain it?" i would've loved this line more if bloom was a bit more petty than smiley

NEVERMIND SHE IS A LITTLE BIT PETTY HDJWKKEJG (edit: nope she's tryna flirt)

oh they have british accents but bloom is american

"Oh how very american of you." HSJDJKFKG

MAGIC RING WITH A PRETTY DESIGN POG

HAJDJFKKEKWJE OKAY SO FAR I REALLY LIKE STELLA???

transformation magic has been lost as they evolved?? thats definitely not foreshadowing for the winx's abilities /s

Hhhhh bloom probably committed arson /hj

Yeah she definitely committed arson (albeit accidentally)

can we get more characters in here? like ik bloom's the protag but please i need more characters

oop all the girls are dorm mates

"Lady of the Flies, don't be sexist" IK THIS WAS A JOKE BUT WHAT THE

OHHHHHHH AISHA POG!! Yeah yeah i remember her, her name back in the cartoon seemed to alternate(?) from Aisha and Layla!! She had the bubble powers!!

BLOOM'S A RAVENCLAW/SLYTHERIN POG

ah yes the classic magic is linked to emotion trope i love that!!

Oh flora's name is terra now okay. Not quite a fan of the name change, but hey

OH HER COUSIN'S NAME IS FLORA JGJFKKGKH

she's so chatty bc of nerves and yeah,, i can relate

headphone girl's eyes turned pinkish purple what?? she used magic??

Terra is me when talking to people

man headphone girl wasn't even talking to me and I got hit with that rsd

Okay i got the confirmation that headphone girl's name is musa alrighty

specialists?? what are those??

i dont like how this riv guy acts

i dont like how all of the guys act so far

yeah no i dislike most of the men who have had lines in the past 12 minutes

OHHHH BLOND DUDE'S NAME IS SKY

wait isn't he supposed to have long hair??

The teacher man is kinda scary

Oh so specialties are like soldiers or smthn

burned ones?? oh??

riv literally left the barrier to smoke?? bruh

the burned ones sounds so scary but man are the hollows from miss peregrines home for peculiar children are scarier

RIP riv this mf is gonna die

eeeeehh gross gore

mmmmm heres the fatphobia

beatrix doesn't give me good vibes

mmmmmm mom of the year award goes to bloom's mom. like ik ik youre worried but you didnt have to call your child a weird loner??? that shit hurts man (am i speaking from personal experience? mayhaps)

oh yay another sky and bloom interaction /s

i am begging this show to make one of the winx gay pleaseee

or bi

please just don't make all of them cishet

(who am i kidding,, they're all gonna end up in cishet relationships)

Are sky and stella exes??

bloom really found out that there aren't any people outside the barrier and dipped from the party even though it might be dangerous. mood

ooh pretty firefly thingies

yeah bloom deffo committed arson

arson pog

she's gonna straight up cause a forest fire

UH OH SHE CANT CONTROL IT

WATER FAIRY AISHA POG

Mmmm i dont like blooms parents

OH CHANGELING BLOOMS A CHANGELING

MMMMM MS DOWLING SUS VOTE HER OUT

I DONT LIKE RIV FUCK THAT GUY

FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH YOUR FATPHOBIA BITCH

yeah get his ass terra gET HIS ASS

Man alfea got that sweet cell signal

stella doesn't want bloom in alfea alrighty

musA IS A MIND FAIRY?? I THOUGHT SHE WAS A MUSIC ONE??

bruh stella i take whatever nice thing i said about you

man i miss my girl techna

give me my tech fairy back

"y'know you don't have to be okay." bitCH YOU CALLED HER A WEIRD LONER AND TOOK HER DOOR

mmmmm okay bloom's mom im giving you one more chance do not fuck it up

weird creepy building ew

oh its where she slept in

oop she gonna get jumped by burned ones

OOP SHE LOST THE RING

yeah fuck this im skipping i hate scenes like these

FUCK THE BURNED ONE TOOK THE RING

yeah sky and stella were exes

yeah no stella you gotta live the consequences of ur actions

Beatrix and riv are a duo that i do not need

terra is tryna reach out aw

oooh musa's an empath

oh okay ms. dowling isnt as sus anymore okay

who the hell is this rosalind character??

lmao watch her be bloom's bio mom

hooded character???? who are you???

OH GOD SHE'S A TRIX (?) like the one with the lightning powers

WAIT BEATRIX

FUCK

me: i've connected the dots

also me: you didn't connect them

FUCK SHES FREEIN THE BURNED ONE DAMNIT

FUCK I CALLED IT

final conclusion: so far i hate like half of all the characters in this show. the literal only people i trust is ms. dowling, terra, aisha, and the kid that riv picked on. everyone else i mildly dislike (stella) or can go fuck themselves (riv)

[twilightofthe]

I found a totally legal way to watch The Mandalorian!!!  Gonna do one of my first live-blogs of it, here’s Chapter One! (tag is “liveblogging the mando show” if y’all wanna block it)

Ooooo I really like the helmet flashing new logo (tho still curse you Disney)

OOOOOH THERE’S BEEPING THERE HE IS HE’S HOLDING A BEEPER I CAN’T HANDLE THIS

Ew gross don’t molest the guy you’re beating up my dudes

EW GROSS LEAVE HIM ALONE

Yayyyy Mando Man’s here!  He gonna help this dude or?

Wait how’s he supposed to drink through his fancy mask

I love how they’re going back to Huttese omg the nostalgia

YUS BOI GET EM GET EM GOOD

Aaaaaand back to business as usual typical bars

This guy’s gonna get captured too lol I know it

Ahaha I knew it

Welp at least Mando Man’s gonna be probs a bit nicer about it

OOOOOHHHHHHHH I FREAKIN LOVE THE TITLE MUSIC

Wait did we even know what planet this was?

So he doesn’t like droids or they’re easily tracked or????

Can’t be the opening of a Star WArs movie without a trashy old Uber driver of some sorts

Also cannot be proper Star Wars without someone calling another person’s ship garbage ahah I love this

Oh dinosaur monster walrus worm cool

Ya know this guy is surprisingly nonchalant about being taken in for a bounty

Shock staff or bug zapper?  A two in one deal!!!

Oh NOW you like his ship

Pfft I know like exactly zilch about ships, I’m not one of those SW nerds, can someone tell me if Razor Crests or anything are supposed to be important or not?

Vac Tube?  Huh, I thought “fresher” was the word for “space potty”.  Guess there’s more than one lol

Ooooo weapons

C’mon this guy really thinks he’s getting out?  Pfff

Oh so Life Day is canonically a galactic holiday then, not just another word for “birthday”.  I mean I kinda knew cuz they use “birthday” for Ezra in Rebels but this confirms Life Day too

Ooooo new planet!  I wish they told us the names like Rogue One did

Aaaaaand yet another bar

OMG RECOGNIZABLE LUCAS ALIENS THANK YOU FAVREAU I’M GONNA CRY THANK YOU

*Pokemon theme* Catch em’ alll

heck yea boi stick it to the Empire

Omg I’m hopeless Pedro Pascal has such a nice voic aaaaaaaa.

“I’ll take them all” Cocky bastard

his VOICEEEEEEE AAAAAA.  

I’m already intrigued, but I really want to see more of his character behind just “cool armor fighter mask man mystery”.

Ik ik I’m being impatient this is only the first ep but still

Also his cloak game is On Point and I love it

HEY IT’S SOME OF THOSE TRASH CAN DROIDS I LOVE THOSE

*Obi Wan voice* Hello there stormtroopers xD

Hmm so who’s the doctor?

That metal old dude’s wearing, it’s not Rebel Alliance, is it Empire?  It makes sense if he’s hanging out with Stormtroopers

Wait shoot Old Dude could be another Mando, if he’s got beskar and all

BAHAHA ROASTED MONKEY LIZARD AND THEY’RE TRAUMATIZING THE LIVE ONE XD ANAKIN WOULD BE PLEASED HE HATES THOSE THINGS.  SO WOULD POE HAHA

I’m adoring the Western-style soundtrack

Oooo more Mandos

And color me wrong but that curvy fleur-de-lis thingy on the wall is the Mandalore symbol right?  I forget, don’t kill me

Head of his guild here I guess?

What is the Purge?  Ooo so he doesn’t have legit beskar armor cuz it’s rare, so he’s trying to build a 

new suit?

I like the design of the armorer’s mask

What’s a Foundling???

Ohhh his traumatic backstory I guess?

Bahaha I just thought he’s got the same tragic backstory as Kung Fu Panda pffffttttt

I Love The MUSIC

Another planet, this one sandy.  Tatooine?  The rocks look right and I know the show was going there 

Aight this looks right Imma say this is Tatooine for now, the planet likes to pop up in people’s scanners Tusken-style and attack you like Space Australia does

I recognize this alien guy’s (Ugnaught? Gah I can never keep species names straight ik I’m horrible) voice from somewhere

Vaporizers, another point towards Tatooine

Oooo sassy “idk if I want your help”

Omg bluurgs, those were on Rebels!!!

Bahaha animal taming time!  I’m glad they’re keeping some Star Wars Humor in here, it wouldn’t feel quite right if it was too serious

*How To Train Your Dragon theme plays*

The CGI my dudes!!!!!!!

At least Mando Man is polite

“I have spoken” That’s gonna be my new answer for whenever I don’t know anything and someone calls me on my BS

Weequays!!!!!!!

Oop now they dead

Guess someone’s got competition

He just doesn’t like droids then :(

Wait what can a droid do with credits?

I guess every SW protag needs a trusy droid sidekick lol

Bahaha “do not self destruct” me @ me

I love him he’s got that “done with everything” attitude

Wheeeeeeee spinny gun!!!!!!

Yay they’re friendly!

Aw he’s nice for a bounty hunter!

Omg old-timey door sparky explosions THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Another trash can lol

Omg they put the freaking Baby Yoda in the trash can pfffttt it’s a literal trash baby gremlin

Awwww he likes children!!!

Ok good he protected the baby over the droid

THAT LITTLE FINGER

AND FILONI DIRECTED IT OF COURSE HE DID

AAAAAAAAAA

STILL REALLY LOVING THE WESTERN-STYLE MUSIC

I can’t watch the next one quite yet cuz busy, but omg omg omg omg I really liked this!  I know Filoni and Favreau know probably the most about canon Mandalore between the two of them (Favreau played Pre Viszla on TCW) so I totally trust them to do this well.  I’m liking Mando Man! (I shall call him Mando Man until they give him a real name and No One Can Stop Me)  I haven’t learned much about him yet, but so far I see that he’s a dedicated hunter and kinda a crankypants, but he cares about children!  He has a moral compass!  I’ll stan for now!!!!

I’m really really happy they brought the old Star Wars aliens back into this, I haven’t seen any live-action ones for so so long now ;_;  

I’m interested about the Great Purge, but I’ll go more into that on a separate post lol

[skummell]

im still a little confused what the guild is and what to do if your in the guild thingy, also i wanna make a character for it but idk wut to do and for some reason digital art is driving me crazy ((i dont have my sketchbook 'till sometime on sunday))

I’m sorry if it was confusing. I’m bad at explaining but I’ll do my best.

So basically the guild exists in a world where certain people aren’t accepted much like any other. But particularly those with horns aren’t accepted. Those who have strange horns, deformed horns, rare horns. Basically, those who have “different” horns. The guild “Tsuno Girudo” or “Horn guild” was created to protect those people. Everyone in the guild has horns and can relate to what some may be passing through so they chose to enter to help others and to sometimes stay protected better themselves. 

Now for the characters, there aren’t any boundaries design wise all you need is to give them horns. And the rest is in the rules post. And don’t worry there is no limit time to when you can submit your character especially as I currently have no members. Feel free to take your time drawing. Ik digital art sometimes can be something that makes you want to hit your head on the wall over. I and my personality are just very impatient so I get frustrated with these things sometimes. And feel free to ask again if you don’t understand something. There are also I few more specific things about the guild on the blog I made for it: @tsuno-girudo

[wbwest]

New Post has been published on WilliamBruceWest.com

New Post has been published on http://www.williambrucewest.com/2017/06/13/toy-biz-hotline-bling-used-call-wall-phone/

Toy Biz Hotline Bling: I Used To Call You On My Wall Phone

If you’ve been to this site before, you were probably brought here for my weekly pop culture news review, West Week Ever, that I post every Friday. It didn’t always used to be like that, though. No, I used to write about anything that popped into my mind, as you’ll see in my archives. Over my time online, however, I’ve found that anything I can do, a lot of other folks can do better. When it comes to the nostalgia game, no one does it better than Matt over at Dinosaur Dracula. So, imagine my surprise when something popped into my head that he hadn’t covered yet! That’s right, kids – today we’re gonna talk about the Toy Biz Hotline.

A few days ago, I saw that a Facebook friend had shared the video for a Knight Rider hotline where you’d call and K.I.T.T. would tell you a story. Considering William Daniels actually respects himself, it was more likely the chance to hear a randomization of pre-recorded dialogue from a K.I.T.T. impersonator. One of the perks of calling the hotline, however, was that you’d receive a free “Wuppie”, which is basically a cotton ball with googly eyes and feet. You’d be surprised how many hotlines used the promise of a Wuppie to lure kids into calling.

If you’re a youngin’, then let me educate ya on something: the 80s were chock full of these hotlines, mainly because we didn’t have the Internet yet and unscrupulous business folks learned how to monetize that thing hanging on your wall in the kitchen. To put it in 2017 terms, 900 numbers were the “in app purchases” of the 1980s. While they were required to tell kids to get their parents’ permission, these hotlines were designed to trick kids into racking up high phone bills – ya know, so they could talk to Santa and get a toy cotton ball.

While we were obsessed with our phones in a different way than we are today, I can assure you that not everything was designed to make a dollar. Before you could tweet your displeasure at a company account, you used to have to call them. That’s right, you had to be indignant and ask an employee, “What’s the number for corporate?!” Remember, you couldn’t Google that shit yet. If they weren’t too busy using that slide thingy to process a credit card transaction, they would take out a Lisa Frank pen and write down a number for you. If you were lucky, that number would connect you to a phone system that MIGHT eventually lead to a real person on the other end. Basically, customer service was handled solely by phone. Some companies, instead of just waiting around for complaints, decided to be proactive with their customer service hotlines. That’s what brings us to Toy Biz.

http://thecomicscode.weebly.com/x-men-toy-biz.html

“But what’s a Toy Biz, Uncle Will?” Well, back in the late 80s/early 90s, all comic book-based action figures briefly came from the same company! I’ll let you catch your breath there for a minute, as I know that’s a crazy notion in today’s competitive world. Not only did Toy Biz land the license for 1989’s Batman (for which they produced an assortment of a whopping THREE figures), but they also handled DC Comics Super Heroes, based on Kenner’s old Super Powers molds. Then, shifting into the 90s, they dropped DC in favor of the Marvel license when Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter bought the company. We initially got a Marvel Super Heroes series, but their real claim to fame was the 8,000 X-Men figures they would go on to produce. I’ve always said that nobody mines a property quite like Playmates, but Toy Biz was a close second.

This was probably the first toy line to teach me about waves, meaning that the toys were released in batches at a specific time.  Most toys don’t include an “evergreen” line of toys that you can always find on shelves at any time. They used to differentiate the multiple iterations of a character by Roman numeral. So, “Wolverine” eventually gave way to “Wolverine XVII”. For example, if Wolverine II came out in September of 1994, then you’re probably not gonna be able to find him on shelves in October of 1995, because Wolverine III will be out by then. How would you know which figures were supposed to be in stores, without your parents wasting all their gas driving around? That’s where the Toy Biz hotline came in.

  Listed on the cardbacks of all Toy Biz figures was a hotline that you could call that served as Toy Biz’s customer service line: 1-800-634-7539. While I guess you could call them to let them know your Colossus had two left legs, that’s not why people called it. No, the hotline had a prerecorded message where an emotionless male voice rattled off the names of the figures in the latest wave, in many cases mispronouncing them because they couldn’t give two shits about what they were actually saying. So, you’d get them just putting two words together, like “Omega Red”, but you’d also get mistakes like them calling the X-Men villain “Mag-NET-o”, instead of “Mag-NEAT-o”. I can’t speak for other folks, but I didn’t care! My best friend, Brett, and I used to call that number ALL THE TIME. It was the centerpiece of our sleepovers. It was like “So, should we call the number?” as if we were discussing digging out one of our dad’s old Playboy stash.

From what I could gather, it seemed like the message was updated about every 6 months or so. As the Toy Biz catalog increased, the message got longer. There was the X-Force subset, and the Hulk series, the Fantastic Four series, and more. If you wanted to, you could just listen to the dude drone on for a good 30 minutes. I have to admit, though, that once Power Rangers mania hit, I left Toy Biz in the past. So, I missed the evolution of the basic figures into the dynamic, articulated sculpting of the Marvel Legends that soon dominated Toy Biz’s offerings.

The hotline also had an answering machine portion, where you could ask questions about the toys. You were told to leave your name, number, and address, and they would get back to you. To date, I don’t know a single person who ever heard back from them. According to this article, it doesn’t seem like anyone heard back from them.

Since most of Toy Biz’s output was Marvel figures, it made all the sense in the world for them to change the name to Marvel Toys in 2007 – only to give up the Marvel license to Hasbro later that year.

So, we were left with a Marvel toy company that couldn’t make Marvel toys, and the company circled the drain as it cranked out Lord of the Rings and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling figures. The hotline remained a fixture on Marvel Toys packaging through the release of 2007’s Legendary Comic Book Heroes line. By this point, they had established a website, but were still advertising the number as the best way to reach them. In 2008, with no fanfare, the Marvel Toys website was taken down, signaling the end of the hotline and the company itself. Nowadays the number belongs to a DirecTV promotions department.

Despite what the ladies of LiveLinks would have you believe, the age of the interactive hotline is over. The Internet came along with its promises of instant gratification and all the correct AND fake news that you could want. Still, there was something quaint about the “personalized” experience of calling a hotline. Sure, we knew the messages were prerecorded, but that didn’t matter to us. When calling that hotline, we felt like we were getting insider information. We could go back and tell the news to our friends who lacked phone privileges. “Wolverine VII? Yeah, he’s not out yet, but Black Tom Cassidy is. Oh, you don’t know who that is? Well, I can’t help you there.” The Toy Biz hotline: Building fandom snobs before the Internet.

So, am I alone in remembering this? Do any of y’all have fond memories of dialing up this number? Share your memories in the comments!