#mentions that she has a reselling store

[coffeeflavored-tears]

thrift store resellers fucking DIE AND STOP FUCKING DOING THAT I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOOOOOOD

[lean-mean-demon-genevieve]

More environmental virtue signaling from Gen today. She wants you to believe that 1.) magic fairies drop off these bags free of charge and evaporate your old sweaters into butterflies and 2.) that she actually gave away her designer jeans because she cares so much about saving the world.

Of course there’s a cost involved in these start-ups, this only makes sense. So you PAY for them to send you a bag to put your things into and then the return shipping is already paid for so long as it stays below a certain weight. There are several options but at minimum, one bag costs $14.50. A subscription option for 6 bags per year for $94 also exists. And that gets you access to their Rewards program.

But you won’t hear Gen mention any of that in her little ad or caption. Which is intentional.

While donating to your local charity shop is indeed free, there’s nothing saying that all or part of your donation doesn’t still end up in the trash. Especially if it’s rags already. They don’t pledge to resell, reuse, or recycle everything whereas Retold says this:

Clear as mud. Seriously, can someone translate that last sentence? Some of this sounds ok, but it also sounds like you’re paying them to use your textiles in their upcycling projects that they will continue to profit off of?

The Retold website also partners with several “sustainable” brands that you can purchase from their “Sustainable Store.” (Anyone else remember when Gen mentioned a storefront for the Towwn website?) And their rewards program goes something like this:

If you send them one scrap of cloth, they pledge to send you $15 in rewards but it doesn’t go back in your pocket like it says above. No, you get $15 worth of credit to spend on a bunch of brands you’ve never heard of. Here’s the link. I’ll wait for you to come back…

In case you’re not seeing it yet, the whole thing is a great big circle jerk of consumerism. It’s that image of the snake eating itself. Ain’t nothing for free. Especially not Gen and Towwn.

Here’s my point: Sustainability is a challenge. And I understand and appreciate anyone who wants to try to reduce their carbon footprint. But please stop treating this woman as if she is actually doing anything but patting herself on the back for profit.

If this bag still sounds like something you’d be willing to engage with, then that’s cool too. It’s not the worst trade off if you have the money to spare and if the textiles really do stay out of the landfill. I’m just here to be a good steward and to help you be an informed consumer. Per her branding for Towwn, Gen wouldn’t have it any other way. And whether you buy a bag or not, rest assured her check has already cleared.

[gemini-sensei]

So now I can't stop thinking about poly Daniel and Amanda with a older first time mom! Reader who shows up to the dealership trying to find a new car for her and the baby.

She wants to trade in her old car because she needs to upgrade, and plus she can't fit in the front seat because her baby bump has gotten so big and the car is too small for her. She's super nervous about the whole thing because not only is she pregnant but she's never gone to an actual dealership to buy a car before.

And Amanda and Daniel notice her right away👀

I can't stop thinking about it now!!!😭🙏

- Sensei-Venus💕✨

@sensei-venus (unedited, unfiltered thoughts)

Your mind- 🥰

😓 my mind, I got a migrain between working on this one so it's not my best work

She walks around the dealership so confused. There's so much more there than she was anticipating and she doesn't know what to do. She's not hard to miss with her big, swelling belly and pretty face. Amanda and Daniel decide they're going to work with her, walking up with big smiles on their faces. They introduce themselves and shake her hand, which makes Reader giggle. She tells them she recognizes Daniel from his commercials and immediately puts her hand back on her belly.

When they ask her what she's doing there, she explains the situation. She tells them she needs a new car because her belly is too big and her car is too small. It's also not a good car for a baby. They catch on to the fact that she doesn't have a partner, she doesn't so much as mention one. Amanda laments about how it must be hard to get too and from work so big and pregnant, and Reader laugh again and explains she's working from home. It's the appointments and the store that she struggles to get to.

"It's so hard getting all the baby's things. I mean, I don't even have a crib because I can't fit it in my tiny car. That's why I was hoping to trade it in? It's practically brand new, I've only had it a few years, and the milage is still good," she tells them, hoping to sell it to them. She doesn't realize she doesn't have to, she doesn't see the way that they look at her or the looks they give each other when she looks down. "I've never wrecked it, never had a problem with it. I think the resell value would be pretty good."

"Oh, you don't worry about that," Amanda says, gently touching her arm. It's a comforting gesture because she shouldn't have to worry about stuff like that, especially heavily pregnant. She offers Reader her arm. "Let's walk outside and take a look at your car."

So they take a walk outside and Daniel takes a look at Reader's car, but him and Amanda already know they're going to take the car. How can they not? She's in obvious need of a new car, she can't drive herself and a baby in this small thing. So while Daniel is checking it out, Amanda is telling her about how things are going to work when she trades it in.

They take her inside to do some paperwork and let her rest her feet. Instead of taking her around to look at cars, they show her some on the computer. Amanda is sitting a little close, her voice nice and low and tender. Daniel is sitting on her other side, explaining all the great thing about each car and how good they'll be for baby car seats and what not. They're so sweet to her and she has no idea that they typically don't help customers this much. They sell cars all the time, sure, but it's never this up close and personal.

She takes to it very nicely, though. She's so appreciative of their help and she can't thank them enough. She looks so cute to them, they tell her that she doesn't have to the k them at all. They're just doing their jobs after all, but she insists that she should thank them in some way, since they've been so patient with her...

[mimisempai]

Learning together

Summary

Crowley invites Aziraphale to the Ritz for their first date. Aziraphale, however, is unaware of this. When he learns by chance that this could be their first date, having no idea what it entails, he goes to find out what a first date is, and to do so taps into a source of information unknown to him. The romantic comedies. 

Notes

Crowley should never have mentioned Richard Curtis to Aziraphale that day in the pub...

On Ao3

Rating G -  1420 words

Aziraphale had closed his eyes and was tapping his fingers on the armrest to the rhythm of Shostakovich's Waltz No. 2, the notes of which were playing on the gramophone.

He didn't hear the shop door open, and it wasn't until Crowley gently touched his shoulder that he opened his eyes.

The demon said softly, "Hello, angel."

"Crowley? I wasn't expecting you yet."

Aziraphale raised his hand to stop the gramophone as the demon settled down on the arm of the chair, right across from the angel.

Aziraphale couldn't help but smile as he felt the light pressure of Crowley's lips on his hair before the demon replied, "Maggie told me she found a rare Velvet Underground record reseller, but it's not a very nice place. She asked if I could go with her, bad boy aura and all."

Aziraphale chuckled, "Bad boy, that's right.

Crowley shrugged and, rising to his feet, asked, looking surprisingly a little hesitant, "How about dinner at the Ritz tonight?"

Aziraphale's eyes lit up and he replied, "Temptation accomplished."

Crowley smiled, but Aziraphale had a strange feeling that he was hiding something from him. He asked, "Are you all right, my dear?"

Crowley immediately replied, "Yes, yes, fine. Well, I'm off, see you tonight then, shall I drive you?"

Aziraphale barely had time to nod before the demon was on his way in the direction of Maggie's store.

Aziraphale put it aside, figuring the demon would tell him if anything was wrong.

He was looking forward to dinner tonight. It had been a long time since they'd spent so much time together.

The thought of food made him long for the delicious Eccles cakes at Nina's, so he left the bookshop, crossed the street and entered the coffee shop, going to the counter.

"Hello, Nina!"

"Hello Mr. Fell."

Aziraphale shook his head and replied, "Oh, no, after all this, you can call me Aziraphale."

Nina gave him a half smile and asked, "What can I bring you?"

"Two Eccles cakes, please."

Nina nodded, and as she prepared the cakes, she asked, "So, since the events, how are you getting along with... Mr. Grumpy."

Aziraphale couldn't help but chuckle at the nickname that more and more people seemed to be adopting before he replied with a slight blush, "It's going very well, in fact, we're going out to dinner tonight."

Nina raised an eyebrow, "Oh? First date?"

Aziraphale asked with a confused look on his face, "First what?"

“A date is an appointment to meet someone or go out with them, especially someone with whom you are having, or may soon have, a romantic relationship. It can be, a long drive, natural place, music, and candlelight dinner, sitting on the beach, taking a long walk, cuddling, long conversations, icecream, chocolates-”

"Muriel, I think Mis- Aziraphale has understood," Nina interrupted, watching the man become increasingly agitated as the angel recited what they had probably just learned in all the new books they were reading.

Muriel bowed slightly and said quietly, "Don't worry," before sitting back to continue her book.

Aziraphale now wondered if Crowley's invitation had a double meaning and if that was the reason for his strange expression earlier.

"Aziraphale, are you okay?"

Nina's voice snapped him out of his thoughts and he nodded before grabbing the cakes she held out.

He said quickly, "I have to go. Thank you and have a nice day," then he hurried out of the coffee shop and into the bookshop. There, he began to walk back and forth.

A date.

He had no idea what to do.

Was it different from other meetings?

The only thing he knew about love was what he'd read in the novels of Jane Austen and other authors, but that was all from another age. He had absolutely no idea what to do in this kind of encounter.

"Get humans wet and staring into each other's eyes, vavoom, sorted. I saw it in a Richard Curtis film." 

That was it! Crowley's movies! He'd found the solution!

Half an hour later, thanks to the DVD store around the corner and a little magic, the angel was sitting in front of the TV he'd summoned, watching the first movie he'd bought. 

When Harry Met Sally. 

Much later, his plate of Eccles cake long gone, two cups of hot chocolate down, and his handkerchief damp, he thought he'd found the answer thanks to those movies and looked forward to finding Crowley.

He checked his outfit for wrinkles and decided to go to Maggie's to see if they'd returned. As he left the store, he saw the Bentley parked in front of the record store and headed toward it. Not seeing Crowley, he decided to wait in the car.

He didn't wait long: five minutes later, Crowley opened the door and got behind the wheel. No doubt the car had tipped Crowley off one way or another.

The demon raised an eyebrow and said to Aziraphale, "You're early."

Aziraphale coughed, tried to act natural, and replied, "When you realize you're going to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want that rest of your life to start as soon as possible, my dear."

Crowley said nothing, but Aziraphale couldn't help but notice the slight blush on the demon's cheeks, so he figured he'd said the right thing. 

The demon also coughed and murmured, "It's... it's... the same for me. Well, let's go."

They soon arrived at the Ritz, at their usual table, and eventually the evening unfolded like any other of their encounters. Their conversations were the same as usual. The only difference was that from time to time, in moments of silence, he would catch Crowley's strange glances at him. 

Aziraphale enjoyed a bite of the scrumptious meal he'd ordered and said in what he hoped was a natural voice, "I think I'd miss you even if we'd never met."

He watched Crowley out of the corner of his eye, but this time the demon didn't look as flustered as Aziraphale expected and instead raised an eyebrow and replied, "Did you just quote the wedding date?"

Aziraphale shook his head and, avoiding Crowley's gaze, replied, "I don't know what you mean, I've never seen that movie."

"Angeeel?"

Of course, Aziraphale could no longer lie to the demon and sighed before answering, "Yes.

Crowley chuckled softly and asked, "What possessed you to do that?"

Then Aziraphale told him why he had decided to do it and by the end of his speech Crowley was laughing and when he caught his breath he said, "You watched When Harry Met Sally, The Wedding Date and Bridget Jones's Diary in one afternoon to know what a date is? Oh, Angel, we're both idiots. I don't know what I'm doing any more than you do, but in the end all we have to do is be who we normally are. We're having a good time, aren't we?"

Aziraphale had to admit that was the case and nodded. He was about to pick up his fork again when suddenly Crowley's hand slid down the table, palm up, right next to his. He looked at Crowley, then at the offered palm and placed his hand on it, the demon's fingers immediately closing on his hand and their fingers intertwining naturally. 

Crowley said nothing and took a sip of wine, so Aziraphale did the same and continued eating.

In the end, it was that simple.

New but familiar.

Usual but different.

Learning together.

And so the evening went on.

Their hands searching for each other, letting go, naturally, as they chatted as usual.

A little later, Crowley's hand held Aziraphale's again as they walked from the Bentley to the bookshop.

Arriving at the door, Crowley turned to him and said with a wink, "A good night kiss to end this perfect first date?"

Aziraphale chuckled softly and nodded. Crowley framed his face with his hands and pressed their lips together in a tender kiss that grew longer and deeper, neither wanting to stop.

When they had no choice but to part to catch their breath, Aziraphale murmured against Crowley's lips, "Nice boys don't kiss like that."

Crowley, panting slightly, asked him, "Don't tell me you just quoted Bridget Jones's Diary?"

Aziraphale chuckled against his lips and Crowley continued, "Then you know what I'm going to say?"

Aziraphale nodded. 

The demon murmured, "Oh, yes, they fucking do," before pressing his lips to the angel's, showing the angel that, yes, nice boys kiss like that.

Still not beta'd

Still not my native language

Still hoping you'll enjoy this story  🥰

Still thanking you for bearing with me 😝

Ineffable Growing Love series : here (After season 2)

Ineffable Husbands masterlist : here (Before season 2)

[callgespenst]

A week and a half ago, my old friend JJ passed away. He told me about his cancer diagnosis…I’m not sure when, I feel like it was only a couple months ago. Last I talked to him, he sounded like he wasn’t doing bad at all. He asked me to help his family out sorting through his collection, in the worst case scenario. And the turnaround on that was, much faster than I expected, than anyone expected, I’m sure. He had only just turned 41 a few months ago. I’ve known him for about twelve years. We went to college together, took Japanese together. His influence definitely helped shape me into the massive dweeb I am today.

I knew his family, was over at their house a few times, I also knew was his sister and her husband pretty well. Today, I came up to help out with the estate sale. I’ve been absolutely dreading coming here for the last week. This is the first time I had seen any of his family in at least three years, and everyone is understandably miserable, grieving, and trying to do all the stuff a situation like this demands as best they can. So far, at least, I don’t feel nearly as awkward as I thought I might, so that’s something.

Now, if you had asked me before today, I would have told you that JJ was quite the collector. Big fan of action figures, model kits, robot toys of all sorts, not to mention a wide selection of anime dvds and manga. But uh, he had -much- more than I thought he did. Between his bedroom, the basement, the storage unit down the road, there is, an almost unfathomable number of items. Many of them, by sheer dint of sitting around long enough since he purchased them, are now worth a small fortune. At the very least, with my assistance identifying many of the more niche items, selling them all will cover the expenses typically associated with dying, and hopefully also get everything to homes where they’ll be appreciated.

Before I came here, I went to the local hobby store, partly to buy a Qubeley for another friend of mine, but mostly to ask them, if they’d be willing to buy JJ’s backlog. They were nice enough to say yes, which is good, because selling model kits online is such a pain. Having someone buy the whole kit backlog without having to ship out all those big boxes will probably have the same net profit, with substantially less hassle. But somehow yet again, I drastically underestimated how much stuff he had lying around. The trunk of my car is almost full of 30 Minute Missions, Sisters, SMPs, and all sorts of other kits that were purchased, put in the basement, and never built. And somehow there’s still more. I don’t know if it’ll all fit in the trunk. But it has to, because the back seat is covered in boxes upon boxes of Star Wars, Marvel, and He-Man collectibles that I’ll be taking to another one of my local shops that deals in used toys.

The other day I was telling my mother about all this I was going to do today, just making conversation, letting her know what I’d be up to. She told me, very emphatically, that I was not to take anything home with me. In fact, she said I shouldn’t even bring any of the items the family asked me to resell into my house for any length of time. Which, even for my mother, is a really weird thing to say. I’ve already got enough stuff of my own, to be sure, but I set aside the SMP Layzner figures, since that was a show JJ and I watched together. (Not to mention, trying to sell built model kits is typically a fool’s errand. People want to build them theirselves!). If I can find them, I might also take the Armored Core kits he had me build ages ago, when I had no backlog and he wanted to customize the final product without the extra steps.

JJ had all this stuff, and almost none of it was out on display. He had one detolf in his bedroom with some nice scale figures, and everything else was in various sized plastic boxes. I think somehow this has actually made the process of sorting and identifying -more- difficult. Took an hour today to not only figure out which Nendoroid went with what accessories, but which display base was theirs. All we had to go off of was the copyright info on the back of the base, which was anywhere from somewhat to completely unhelpful, depending on how many kanji were involved.

We found a selection of animation cels under his bed. Lots of good stuff from good shows in there, it’s a shame they were left like that for who knows how long. Somehow, it was seeing a frame of Gije Zaral from Space Runaway Ideon that made me closer to breaking down crying than I had the rest of the day. Realizing that, I had finally finished watching Ideon, JJ’s all time favorite series, and never got to talk with him about it.

To summarize, I’m feeling a lot of wildly different emotions right now. Missing my friend, most strongly. He wasn’t religious, and most days I’m not either, but I hope he’s found his way into a pleasant afterlife, or at least an enjoyable isekai fantasy type deal. There’s definitely a twinge of “oh no, do /I/ own too much crap?” and some generalized world-weariness as well. But it’s not all bad. I got to pet a lot of cats today, and one of them snuggled with me for long enough that I think I’m wearing more cat hair than clothing now. And tomorrow, after some more sorting and pricing and organizing, I’ll head home and have a nice holiday weekend with my wife and some friends.

I’ve been typing for an hour and have no idea how to wrap this up. If anyone has actually read this far, thank you, it really does mean a lot. I hope you are also experiencing a fluffy cat and maybe a warm blanket. Here’s to a full night’s sleep because it’s way past my bedtime.

[georgeromerosanalcavity]

Need to talk about my Rae Dunn experience as a former TJ Maxx employee for those who don’t know of it.

So if you don’t know what Rae Dunn is, you’ve probably seen it. It’s (usually) egg shell white pottery with a font I recently learned is known as The Skinny. Occasionally they have themed pottery that is a different color or has a themed topper or shape to it but is typically just a very boring set of pottery.

The only thing is, originally before mass production each piece was hand made by Rae Dunn herself before she started mass production (although people still say it is handmade by someone) so the pottery has an allure of uniqueness marketed with it. Because of this and the minimalism craze, people flock to buy these.

The only thing is that Rae Dunn herself has not done personal commissions through her Etsy in some time and has outsourced to mass production, although through certain stores, and while this has not deterred her loyal fans, this means that there are only select places to buy them: Second hand sites and TJX company stores (i.e. Marshall’s, TJMaxx, Home Goods, etc.).

Because of the sudden convenience of your local discount department store selling your favorite bleak vessel for coffee, people didn’t just flock to stores but would stalk them. I remember that, everyday, as we did our morning meet before opening the store, we saw multiple people standing outside watching and waiting, always the same people too, ready to get whatever was newest on the Rae Dunn shelf. It got so bad that, while I’m not sure if this is still practice, for a while the only way to obtain Rae Dunn was in person, because people would take all of the product online immediately. I remember a coworker having to clean the oil off of one of the doors, where a customer pressed her face against the glass and held it there for the entirety of our meeting.

There was also a special colored cart (so we wouldn’t confuse it) that was strictly for Rae Dunn glassware/pottery and we were not allowed to place Rae Dunn glassware/pottery on any other cart. This was because the Rae Dunn cart was always the first thing pushed out onto the floor, hours before opening. We had to do this because while we would push regular products on carts during opening no problem, if we had any visible Rae Dunn, people would pluck entire boxes of Rae Dunn off of it and carry it their merry way. As soon as we opened, what Rae Dunn was on the floor was the Rae Dunn we had on the floor for the day, no restocking period.

There were rules to dealing with Rae Dunn and Rae Dunn customers as well: You were not allowed go say Rae Dunn on the floor in case they heard you. Employees were allowed to buy any product BUT Rae Dunn which was strictly forbidden as several customers would apply entirely to get Rae Dunn. If a Rae Dunner approached you asking about Rae Dunn you could only point them in the right direction and walk away as fast as possible.

You might ask what the allure was besides the very flimsy excuse of “unique” pieces of pottery. The real reason they did this, beyond being hobbyists for these products, was to resell them to other hobbyists for MUCH higher prices.

Btw, as far as memory serves, most mugs and plates were typically $4.99-7.99. (It’s possible that changed but. Again. I cannot look up the TJX online prices lol)

Not to mention, there were certain products that did go together but were never put together in a set. This meant that it would be a hunt to collect the entire matching set, which was the real prize to these obsessive Rae Dunners. It’s so bad that one time while I was going down this rabbit hole, I actually stumbled onto a message board dedicated to tracking shipments of Rae Dunn.

While this could all be centralized to my store when I worked there, I thought it was fucking wild. I saw fights get broken up between Rae Dunners. I saw friendships ruined for Rae Dunn.

[taybatwo2]

MacFarlene Toys Multiverse: “The Question”

I think I’ve mentioned it here before, but I have started collecting action figures. At first I was only collecting the Neca Gargoyles line, then specific characters from Hasbro’s Star Wars Vintage Collection, then I had to have a few from their Black Series, and then I saw Marvel Legends She-Hulk in stores and I JUST HAD TO buy her, and I preordered Undead Unluck’s Andy and Fuuko action figures…yeah, so anyways I’m in deep.

Yesterday evening, I was checking Walmart’s action figure section, and saw my FAVORITE character from the Justice League Unlimited series: “The Question.”

I grabbed him up without a second thought (I had never bought anything made by McFarlane toy’s before). I unceremoniously opened him up right when I got home and started playing and posing him. Of course I had to google if I could get a Huntress to go along with him and what other people thought of this figure.

I couldn’t find any other in box reviews! And lo and BEHOLD….he’s rare?!?! People are reselling him for HOW MUCH on eBay?????

I could not believe my luck in finding him! And at MY little dinky Walmart?!?

Okay, story time over. How about an actual overview of the guy in Question? Ha!

-all under the cut-

Here’s what’s left of his box (I swear I usually don’t dig into them like this, but I didn’t have any scissors on me at the time).

Here is the little “platinum sticker” that I completely missed the first time around (apparently they are randomly put in cases and sent out and may only be about 3,000 of them….? But that could be incorrect).

Here is the barcode.

And the back.

Now for his accessories.

He comes with a stand that has one peg for the holes in his foot (that works pretty darn well),

and this bio card

aaaaand the back of it. Dang, that is a lot to take in.

He stands: 7” tall and is pretty weighty. Let’s look at his articulation:

His head can look

up and down,

left and right, with a little bit of tilt.

I really like the dark shading they did to his upper face. His hat is not removable. 

This is how far up his shoulders will go up and how far out. There is no butterfly joint.

His elbows have a double joint and have hinge/pinned joints (I don’t know if this is the correct terminology, I’m still new to this collecting community). There is a pivot joint right under the shoulder ball joint (shown here in his left arm).

He has one hand that looks perfect for tipping his hat, or onto part of his coat, or a gun….which he did not come with (is this common for DC figures?).

Or maybe peaking over a tub of ice cream to check if there ARE more than 31 flavors. 

His other hand is squarely for punching people or politely knocking on doors maybe.

Or a faux super hero pose.

They don’t have a ton of motion. 

His left hand (while well sculpted) has almost less mobility. They both can swivel all the way around.

He has a little bit of crunch movement in his torso. 

He also can tip his torso side to side.

And twist all the way around. His pelvis is pretty rubbery too.

How far he can kick up and back.

He can’t really rotate his legs out (his right leg) or in (his right leg).

He has double jointed knees, and they are also hinged/pinned joints.

Almost done with this post, but ran out of photo room. See my reblog for the full review!

[figurecollection]

Hi! I was wondering if you knew anything about the figures that come from CultureFly. They’re made in China but are they legitimate? I’ve run into a Nezuko one in my local Target but couldn’t seem to find any information.

CultureFly are legitimate; they're a New York based merch company that make all of their figures in-house and have access quite a few big Pop Culture licences like Disney, DC, Marvel, and Nintendo. I've checked their site and they are the ones who have produced the Animal Crossing Collectors Box that I've seen a few times on Instagram. They make all of their figures from vinyl, combined with them modelling their own figures.

But as you mentioned, I can't find much on their Nezuko figure. I did a basic search and found a couple available on ebay.

As I mentioned earlier, Culturefly only make vinyl figures, so the vinyl part checks out. She also has a bit of a bonked face, which is characteristic of some of their figures.

lol. Looking closely, her box has quite a few copyright credits, which I assume having them on there was part of the licencing deal, and their twitter claims everything is officially licenced, something you do not lie about when your base of operations address is 1 click away, lmao

She's not part of a collectors box, since all their box items come in one package with one barcode and she has her own separate code, and you mentioned you saw her at Target. I had a quick look and it looks like Culturefly actually do some Target exclusive merch that isn't available on Culturefly's main site. So I think it's a Target/retail exclusive item, possibly being in store only (not sure how Target works I've never been to the US lol) and wasn't listed on their site. This is backed up by the fact I can't find ANY stock photos of it, only photos people have taken to resell, and every listing is American, meaning she wasn't sold internationally.

So to answer your question: It seems she is legit, possibly a physical retail exclusive of some kind, and not exactly rare, since there's a fair few ebay listings for reasonable prices, just... Cryptic. I messaged Culturefly to see if I can get any more info on her, so I will let you know if they get back to me.

[fuck-customers]

tldr: creepy asshole bulk buyer stays 40 minutes after closing, cause the world revolves around him.

So I work in a blue and white body store outlet and since we, for the most part, have better sales than the regular stores, we get a lot of bulk buyers who buy retired items at 50 or 75% off and resell them. We have two that come in fairly often. One is a middle aged woman who is incredibly nice, considerate of other customers, polite, just a great person. She knows all of us by name. Once when I was ringing her up I happened to mention that I live on a farm, and now she always asks me how my animals are. Like I can’t say enough good things about this customer.

Anyway we aren’t here to talk about her. We’re her about S (it’s the first letter of his name but also stands for shitface). This guy is just a dick. He’s extremely rude to us and the other customers, and he seems to think we’re there specifically to serve him. He always brings 2-4 people with him, so he’ll spend $3k-$5k on just sale items. We have a $999 price limit, and he always tries to get the newer cashiers so they’re more likely to mess up his transaction so he can go over the limit. And the guys he brings with him are creepy. Most of my coworkers are female, and we’re always on edge around these guys.

Last Tuesday (2/16) he rolls in at 6:30 with two guys and says “Sorry I’m late girls!”. We close at 7, he knows this, but he can do whatever he wants. Right away the two guys grab bags and just start pulling everything off the 75% table. And he’s asking if we have all this different stuff and when we tell him no, they start going through our understock drawers.

This night in particular he was pissing us off more than usual cause we were doing a partial floorset and were scheduled until 10. Now not only do we have our floorset to worry about, we have to refill all the shit this guy is pulling off the tables.

So S has our newest manager ringing him up as his guys bring bags of shit up, two coworkers running back and forth bringing him boxes of stuff so he’ll maybe leave our tables alone, and I’m trying to get a start on the floorset and he keeps coming up to me asking if we have more of all these other random things. Listen pal, you already have two people helping you, you can see that I’m busy, you’re just being obnoxious. Leave me the fuck alone.

They were in the store until 7:40!!! That’s over an hour after they got there and forty god fucking minutes after we closed! And he knows how angry we are, he’s constantly laughing about “guess I should probably let you girls go home”. Fuck off!

And then...and then! After my poor manager finally got everything rung up S tells us he appreciates us staying open so late just for him (we don’t have a choice!) and he’s gonna go get us pizza. We thought he was joking but he actually did come back with two pizzas. I told my coworker he could bring us filet mignon and I wouldn’t touch it. I’m not eating shit from this guy. We ended up throwing the pizza away.

We were scheduled till 10 that night and would have made it out on time if it wasn’t for this ratass. We ended up getting out at 11:45.

[the-lady-writes-what]

Authortok (author tiktok) is weird right now. Everybody’s minding their own business until someone mentions that returning books to a bookstore after reading them is kind of a shitty thing to do to authors. There’s one creator who’s bending over backwards to justify this and saying it’s not stealing to follow a store’s return policy. They should know, they “work in the publishing industry.” 

And they turned off the comments in their videos where they discuss this. So, instead of listening to other people or take criticism for what they say, they just block all other voices, including authors and writers. I read one comment from someone else that said the person who’s going around saying that there’s nothing wrong with returning books, blocked her because she asked them if they work for free since the latter wants ALL books to be free. Just fuck the author over and don’t pay them, I guess? I mean, this is the same person who doesn’t want to pay for books to begin with, at least they’re consistent.

Let’s be clear. There isn’t anything inherently wrong returning a book if it’s a gift, one you bought already, or you don’t want to support the author because you find out that they’re racist, anti-semitic, or homophobic. Returning books isn’t going to hurt Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million. However, it DOES hurt authors. When you buy a book, you’re not just giving money to the store, you’re helping to pay the content creator as well as the distributor, publishing house, etc. When you RETURN the book, you’re taking the money back from the author. The distributor, publishing house, bookstore, etc. won’t be taking a hit; they’ll still have billions of dollars. The average author, on the other hand, is not in the same boat. This particular creator who sees nothing wrong with returning a book is using a gaslighting defense and saying that we should take it up with the publishers instead. Yes, that is indeed gaslighting because you’re putting pressure onto the consumer for not paying the author and blaming the publisher for trying to run a business, both are excuses to just get free content. 

There are loads of legal ways to read FREE or affordable content without ripping off authors. Libraries are a good example. If you’re in a community that doesn’t have a library or has a very, very small underfunded library, there are collections and archives online run by public libraries, universities, and other public institutions that have online catalogues you can borrow from or digital copies, which are also FREE. Returning a book to a bookstore might not be ILLEGAL or necessarily morally wrong, but it is a pretty shitty thing to do when the average author isn’t going to have millions of dollars stashed away somewhere. It is a very first-world problem to justify hurting content creators for free stuff because you feel privileged to demand FREE works of art that hurt the creators you’re supposed to support. Returning books to bookstores is pirating with a few extra steps.

And here’s the thing that gets me, most stores have a two week return policy, right? If you’re reading a book in that amount of time, just to return it, are you even finishing it? If you finished a book and didn’t like it, why make it harder to restock that book and not pay the author? You can just resell the book, give it to a friend, donate it to a thrift store, or put it up at a garage sale. Returning a book in the maximum two weeks time is the equivalent of fast-fashion, which a lot of people are seeing as unsustainable. Maybe I'm just old and I'm a slow reader, but does anyone just READ anymore. They’re always hopping on the latest trend or buying as many books they can just to return half of them. It’s not sustainable as people can get burnt out and authors have to keep producing more and more books and keep up with trends in the same way we treat fast-fashion. It’s unhealthy.

In conclusion, please think about your authors when you’re buying from stores and consider doing something other than returning it to the bookstore unless it’s an author you don’t want to financially support (cough, cough J.K.Rowling cough, cough). Thank you for coming to my TED Talk

[break-slash]

Puzzleship JP & KR Fancomic Recommendation List

UPDATE (19-12-2020): Added two more artists and two more titles on the Japanese lists!

I don’t consider myself as someone very tidy and organized, but I just like making lists of the things I love, somehow. Hence this post. I haven’t been in the fandom for long but I thought I’d share some of my favorites primarily from two sites: pixiv and postype. Most of the postype ones are behind paywall, and I will mark them differently.

Some of my favorites come from the same artists, so I’ll also link their pixiv profile on top of my favorite work of them.

(I actually bookmarked a lot and picking them isn’t an easy task, so I will update this step by step. If you see only a link of an artist, that’s the reason, but I can guarantee you will love their works! Feel free to recommend me yours through reblogs or DM as well!)

Japanese

Artist: CYHGM

She is a Chinese and is more active on Weibo (she posted tons of puzzleship there, but my Mandarin is beyond rusty so I could only cry in despair lmao), but she has two fancomics that I absolutely adore of. Those two mentioned fancomics are:

The Past and The Future. You can check my translation for this one here. It tells about Atem who gets transported to 3000 years later before his coronation, and that’s where he met post-canon!Yugi. Just... everything about this comic is so wonderful. I teared up at the last page, not gonna lie ;_;

The Pharaoh and The Fairy: An Ancient Egypt-slash-fantasy AU featuring the S0/TOEI casts. The fairy Yugi was saved by Atem, and it’s an obligatory for fairies to grant their savior’s wishes. However, Atem doesn’t exactly have something he wants of, and this confuses Yugi on how he should repay him back. Pure undiluted sugar, and fairy!Yugi is just so cute.

Artist: Fushitas

Arguably one of the most popular Puzzleship fanartists in the JP fandom (look at their number of followers on Twitter, man), but maybe it’s also due to the fact they were in AoT fandom too. They’re mostly active on Twitter, and if you also watch Zexal, they draw tons of Yuma-centric pairings too. They have released lots of books, and their prices on the reseller sites are... well, let’s just say, unbelievable. Just to show how famous they are. 

From everlasting to everlasting: Set after DSOD. A mysterious figure appears in front of Atem, claiming to be his queen. Everyone in the after life somehow acknowledges this person, which makes him even more confused because he’s the only one unaware of this. On the living realm, Yugi who is on the way to his home got hit by a truck (isekai much??) and when he woke up, he suddenly plays the role of Atem’s queen. I’ve always adored Fushitas’ drawing, and this is no exception. The story is pretty simple, but is still good! The ending of this comic is everything I’ve always wanted from the canon lol. 

The King’s Guest: Ancient Egypt AU. The councils are starting to get worried because Atem shows no interest in marrying someone, so Shimon opens up a “chance” sort of for civilians to become “someone for the Pharaoh to talk with”. The civilian Yugi takes this chance right off the bat, and stuff happens? This one is just so sweet and the misunderstanding later in the story kinda cracks me up. I really love the way they build the two’s chemistry in here.

Artist: usi 

They only draw two puzzleship fancomics, but both are so good and explores the themes I’ve loved from the pairing.

The Lotus’ Devil: Set post-canon with a flashback. It tells about Yugi’s regret in the past where he wanted to show Atem a small pool supposed to be full of lotus flower only to arrive seeing them not blooming. Fast forward to the post-canon, he found out that there’s actually a monster residing on that pool. I really, really loved the ending scene of this one.

Who’s The Detestable, Fortunate Guy Here: I think this is set sometime in the canon story, although the exact timing is unclear. It’s a short comic of Yugi asking Atem to pretend to be his date and go on a “dating practice”. A very pleasant hurt-and-comfort kind of story, and who doesn’t love a story of them dating anyways? :”D

Artist: Houzuki Anzu

She doesn’t draw much YGO, but she has some Arc-V and 5D’s fanarts too if you watch the series! 

Hourglass: Sets after the Memory World arc. Yugi keeps hearing a strange sound inside his mind, and he finds out there’s a huge hourglass standing there, guarded by the will of Millenium Puzzle. Apparently, the hourglass is linked to Atem’s remaining time in the living realm? Anyways, the ending of this comic might look like a cliffhanger, but I personally think it isn’t. I love the theme this comic picks to explore and the way it is presented.

Present: Same setting with Hourglass, but this one focuses more on Atem sorting out his feelings about the Ceremonial Duel and what he has learned from Yugi in general. It’s a very nice extra detail that the canon slightly lacks of, and I just love... bittersweet stuff in general haha.

Artist: Chiriko

Are you the type who wants puzzleship to be full of happiness and fluff and nothing else? Well, she has a number of comics to fill that need! I actually love all of her works, but if I have to pick, these two are my favorite:

...Don’t Ever Leave Me Again: A short story about Yugi having a nightmare of where he was stuck in the fire accident at Otogi’s store. Well... this isn’t a fluff sort of, but it’s... a happy ending still? /shot

[Untitled]: A dialogue-less comic, but this is the sort of post-canon what-if that I really, really like. Atem stroking Yugi’s face while sleeping is just... so soft man....

Artist: Komori Nea

Their art style was one of those that’s very noticeable and has a certain charm on it. They are pretty active on Twitter, and even draws puzzle comics once in a while that haven’t been uploaded to pixiv (which is why I recommend you to check their twitter gallery too haha)

The Soul Stays Awake: Post!DSOD. Atem comes back from afterlife in hoping that Yugi would be as happy as he is, but months after, Atem’s existence still hasn’t been registered on Yugi’s life just yet. Another post!DSOD take that I like which involves the fear of another farewell and uncertainty, but this is a good hurt-and-comfort. I swear, it’ll hurt you just... for a while. :”)

The Attack’s Aim: Set during the canon series. A short comic mostly portraying Yugi’s hidden strength but also the tenacity of duelist that is not only targeted toward the opponent, but also to Atem, without the person actually noticing it. The last page of this one is so... soft and gentle I had to put it into this list.

Artist: caf

Often draw with S0/TOEI style, characters and characterization in mind. Their coloring in illustrations is so soft, plus artists who specialize in S0/TOEI style can’t be found so easily. Their comic style is not a manga-like one and they write the dialogues with handwriting, but if you can read hiragana and write and understand how kanji works (so you can write it on translation machine), their comics are easy to understand!

magenta: S0/TOEI AU where Yugi and Atem are two separate person. A short comic of Yugi lying under the rain as Atem searches for his whereabouts. I really love the way they portray the rain and the atmosphere surrounding the scene. Or maybe I’m just biased with rains in general, ahahaha.

Yuugi and Mao’s Stay Home: Same AU as above. Our two boys has to face the same shit we do IRL in this comic, which is quarantine. Atem offers to cook something for Yugi since he can’t eat outside. You love seeing Yugi eating stuff? This is a perfect comic for y’all. 

Artist: Kkyut

Artist: Kayu(i)

Others:

Gemini: As Atem comes back to the living world, Yugi faces the dilemma of having being separated by “his other self” physically and mentally. A short comic, but the lines the artist used are so... beautiful. Like, the way they describe Yugi’s loneliness?? Just hits the park so much. 

Until The Hourglass Runs Out: Set after the Memory World Arc. As their farewell day goes closer, Yugi decides to give Atem a full control of his body at school so he could spend his time with Jounouchi and the gang more. However, things don’t go as smooth as Yugi had expected. If you like that little teeny weeny pain before the Ceremonial Duel, this comic perfectly suits the taste. 

see you sometime: Post-canon. Mahaad offers Atem a chance to meet Yugi in the living realm one more time, but with several conditions. Firstly, he could only stay for a day at maximum. Secondly, Yugi won’t be able to remember who he spent his time with after Atem hangs out with him. Thirdly, Yugi will not be able to “recognize” this Atem; he will only be registered in Yugi’s mind as a new classmate. A bittersweet comic in whole, but seeing the two having fun like a normal teenager would just makes me grin.

After The Rain: A dialogue-less comic, so everyone would be able to read this right away. A short comic of the two, but still very cute and wholesome!

The Tropics of Horus: Post!DSOD, Atem has to chase Kisara who lingers around Kaiba’s soul and he needs Yugi’s help to bring Kisara back to afterlife, but he has his own ulterior motive. This manga is so dialogue-heavy and might be hard to dissect especially if you don’t understand JP grammar and context, but the time spent trying to understand the meaning behind every words will be worth it. That much I guarantee. Just... everything about this comic, and how Atem’s “ulterior motive” connects to our boys’ adventure in canon series are so well planned. You can also purchase the R18 version in a form of the book here (toranoana)

Christmas Day: S0/TOEI puzzleship hint (dark puzzle???). There’s something in store for Yugi in Christmas, but this one might surprise Yugi a lot. It’s not that the prompt of “Atem gets separated from Yugi temporarily” is uncommon, but it is still a sweet one and makes you smile throughout the pages. 

Korean

All titles mentioned here are not free unless mentioned otherwise. Also I don’t understand Korean except being able to read Yugi and Atem’s name, so my story interpretation might be wrong. If you understand Korean, I’d really love for you input! ;_; 

You can check out on how to buy comics from postype here

Yugi’s 2020 Birthday Anthology: Rain and After End

This is an anthology consisting of four titles, but they share the same (or similar) setting where Atem is reincarnated, but he doesn’t remember his past (or has not yet, depending on how the story portrays it). Some are age-gap (adult!Yugi and high school student!Atem), so you might want to consider that if it’s not your cup of tea.

To Like Someone is to...: Age-gap setting. Mostly tells about how Yugi deals with his feeling as the reincarnated Atem in front of him turns out to have a feeling on him. I like how the story’s conclusion is that Yugi will sort it out slowly while also teasing Atem how he’s “too early” to date Yugi w.

In A Circle: A story about how the two met through an online chess game. Iirc Yugi works in a game company and Atem is sort of a famous e-sports player in this setting. There’s a lot of dialogue in this one and the app sometimes can’t process them very well, but I liked what I can understand from it! not very convincing is it haha i’m sorry i shouldn’t have done this

Familiarity: Age-gap setting, where Yugi becomes Atem’s caretaker. The comic mostly focuses on how Atem notices how kind (or too kind) Yugi is sometimes, but there are times where he feels distant. The plot where Atem gets into a fight with the other kid in his school because the kid mocks Yugi, and how Yugi just... accepts it even when Atem doesn’t want to say his reason of punching the kid is just.... god... I love this kind of age-gap setting like this I guess ;_;

Touchdown: Age-gap setting, but Atem is older in here (university student). The two goes to Atem’s university festival and they think about their own feeling when they got separated. On their way to drop Atem off, he confesses to Yugi, but Yugi is still unsure on his overlapping feeling between the reincarnated Atem and the Atem he knows. Make sure you play Motohiro Hata’s Rain and Aimer’s After Rain during the car scene to make the “rain” mood works even better :”)

Others:

Try For Point: A continuation of Touchdown, where Atem (like, the one from the past) visits Yugi in his dream and helps Yugi in sorting out is his feeling toward his reincarnated self. Atem’s advice is so sweet and there’s one certain line from this comic that I remember very deeply - there’s a part where he says, “If you don’t pull out the card, you won’t know what card it is, right?” to help Yugi clearing out his hesitancy ;w; at this point, I curse myself for not being able to understand Korean

[kicksaddictny]

Kicksaddict Sneakerhead PROFILES Interview Series: @CHINNIE1380

We’re back, again. Today we rock out with the good brother from the home of Biggie And Jay, Hector Gonzalez Aka Chinnie! He’s a respected OG in the sneaker game! Check it!

You're an OG in the sneaker game. I been peeping ya feets for a very long time. What got you in to collecting kicks?

I will have to say 2 things. Growing up a Knicks fan and seeing them play Mike & the Bulls often. I was always in awe on what Mike was wearing. So as soon as I got my first real job at 18. I told myself I won’t miss another Jordan release And 23 years later. Nothing has changed.

Do you always double up?

No I don’t always double up. Nowadays I double up if I can cause I know how hard it is to get any shoe. So if I have a chance to double I will.  And could also now mean it can be profitable for me. But that was never my thing. I just wanted to be fresh and have the flyest shit.

You're from old school Brooklyn. You came up from under thorough cats. I can tell just by the way you move. Did they influence you at all?

We always had that hustler we knew from the hood who was always fly. Who always had the new kicks, gear, car. So I definitely wanted to be fresh like that. So that definitely influenced me. But I never sold drugs in my life.

What part of Brooklyn you from?

  Prospect Heights !

What’s your favorite sneaker and why? 

Bred 11…why? Because when I saw Mike in the Concords. I told myself I know playoff time he wears the black & red. So if that shoe comes in black and red forget it. Long behold. Playoff time comes. He’s wearing them. And I fell in love. The best sneaker in the world to me.

Do you collect just for collecting or do you collect and rock?

WEAR YOUR KICKS!!! I could never be that person to buy kicks and not wear. I also can’t buy kicks that’s not my size. But times have changed. I still want to be fresh. But some kicks are so profitable now. I be like damn!!! Do I flip it? That’s whole other conversation!

What sneaker got you into the sneaker game?

I would say the first pair I ever bought wit my own money got me into it. So it will be the white & red OG Jordan 14. When I was 18 years old.

You rocked Diadoras back in the day?

Never owned Diadoras But Raekwon’s purple tape joints are wild fire !

I know you're a die hard Knick fan and met fan, how does sports and kicks play a role in your life?

I honestly don’t think sports and kicks go hand to hand wit me. Mainly cause my star on my teams didn’t have fly kicks. Although I owned Ewing’s before.

Does the resell game bother you?

No…my answer is deep for this. Some answers will be better if I told u on a podcast or on the phone.  Let’s chat! (Podcast coming soon)

Having good sneaker plugs is a plus, how do you build those relationships?

Me being the person I am allowed me to meet some good people in the sneaker game and in life. I’m a humble dude, wit good vibes. That will take you a very long way.

If you could wear only one sneaker for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Bred 11!!

What advice would you give as far as storing and preservation of your sneakers?

Take the paper out, store in zip locks, never in a hot room. And always clean the bottom of your shoes after every wear. Especially icy bottoms.

What is the most you’ve ever spent on a pair of sneakers?

$450 and it was recently on my Off White Air 5 Sail pair.

Have you ever waited in line for a pair of kicks?

Absolutely!!! Plenty of times I did the lines.

As a father, are you introducing your kids to the game? or will you just let them make that decision?

My daughter don’t care for kicks like me. She just likes nice kicks. I let her pick her own. My son is still young. But I do got gems in better sizes for him for when he gets older. We’ll see what he thinks about kicks in a few years.

Top 5 sneakers of all time?

Sheesh…ok I’ll try. Bred 11, Black Cement 3, White Cement 3 , Bred 4 ,White Cement 4

I got some honorable mentions Royal Blue Penny foams, LEBRON south beach 8

Top 3 celebrity Sneakerheads?

DJ Clark Kent , Wale, Fab

I troll you online, I live for it. These next few questions you HAVE to answer.

LOL!!! Ok cool I’ll answer

Biggie Or pun?

BIG

Ready to die or capital punishment?

Ready To Die

Infrared 6's or Cement 3s?

Cement 3′s

Bo Jacksons or Huaraches?

Bo’s!!! The orange and blue LOL!!!

Polo Sweaters or Coogi?

Coogi

Knicks Or Nets?

Knicks

Hakeem Olajuwon Dream Shake On David Robinson Or Iverson Crossover On Jordan?

A.I  crossing Mike!

[boxboysandotherwhump]

Unboxing

Content warnings: Mention of past abuse, scared Box Boys, mention of illness, slavery typical for the Box Boy universe,

  Amal’s ice cold fingers pressed the cellphone closer to his ear, hoping he might have misheard his sister over the traffic noise. 

“Are you serious? You got me a god-damn Box Boy?! Why in the world would-“ 

His sister’s angry voice crackled through the speaker, stopping him short. 

“Yesterday was the third time Ama. The third time you fainted this month alone! God! I’m just glad it happened at work, where I could take care of you. I don’t even want to imagine what could happen when you collapse at home! All alone.” 

“I have roommates,” interjected Amal dryly, a headache building behind his eyes. “And I’m not fragile! Just a bit overworked, is all. Once the exams-“ 

“But your roommates aren’t at university with you! Aren’t they?! Or on your commute?! Or when you go grocery shopping?! Anything could happen-“ 

Amal heaved a slow breath, pressing a cold hand against his throbbing forehead. 

“How, how did you- How could you even afford that?” 

“Oh don’t worry about that. He’s a refurb and one of David’s Friends sold him to us for pretty cheap.” 

He pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to calm his breathing. His sister knew perfectly well that he didn’t want anything to do with David’s so called ‘friends’. 

“Is that even legal?! If we get dragged into some shady shit because of David, I-“ 

“Of course it’s legal. A lot of people resell their BB’s privately. You just have to register him at the closest WRU-Store. I made sure he has all the required paperwork.” 

Amal bit back a retort, knowing his sister would not tolerate any further arguments. He silently promised himself he would return the boy as soon as he could. 

She wasn’t a stubborn woman, per se, but when it came to Amal’s health, she was incapable of taking no for an answer. He suppressed a wry smile, burying his nose deeper in the soft yellow wool of his scarf as he listened to Taina ramble on about the basics of Box Boy care and ownership. 

______. 

The boy in the box shook, desperately clutching his thin linen shirt. His body was trembling so violently that he faintly wondered why his box didn’t shake alongside him. 

At least it kept the sleet out. Endless tapping filled the darkness as he waited. 

He silently prayed for a merciful new master, someone who would take him inside and maybe, just maybe, even give him a blanket. 

Numb fingertips traced absently along his scar, a big red angry mark carved into his forehead. 

Hideous. 

Disgusting. 

An abominable shit stain on his face. 

He banished the delusional idea of a blanket from his mind. 

Please just take me inside. 

At the sudden rattling of his box lid, the boy’s numb limbs started to twitch involuntarily. 

Useless thing, can’t even control his own body. 

Thump. Thump. Thump. The drumming of his heart was loud, unbearably so. He felt like his skull would split open right along his shit stain scar. 

Then the lid was gone and two brown eyes peered down at him. Big eyes, eyes opened so wide that the white was visible all the way around those dark irises. His new Master appeared flushed from the cold, red cheeks a stark contrast against pale skin and curly green hair. 

“Oh shit.” 

The boy froze, his heart nearly stopping. 

This wasn’t good. 

This couldn’t be good. 

His new Master must be disappointed. 

No one wants an ugly used Boy. 

He was a disappointment. 

He tried to turn his face and hide his right side, but the sudden movement of his Master's hands made him freeze. He watched the hands rise, tearing the yellow shawl off his Master’s shoulders. 

“You're half frozen. God.” 

Master wrapped the soft wool around his trembling shoulders, before he unzipped his jacket, shrugging it off his shoulders with his backpack. Only as the heavy black leather settled over the boy’s numb back did he dare speak. 

“I- I’m sorry, I- I’m supposed to, to wait in the box, for my new Master.” 

An uncomfortable expression flitted across the young man’s face as he rummaged through the yellow backpack. 

“Yeah, that’ll be me I guess. Just call me Amal, though.” 

Suddenly, everything slowed. Time stretched on like an old, too big rubber band before his master's voice snapped him back into the present. 

“Let’s get inside. C'mon, before our feet stick to the ground.” 

Improved by the awesome beta reader @finder-of-rings thank you really much

[desertdollranch]

Do you have any advice on selling a new in box doll? I have a truly me 79 that's never been opened but I figured I need to mark in down somewhat so it's a better deal than just buying one new from the store lol. Also would you say ebay is the best place to sell? Thank you, I'm a big fan of your blog :)

Personally I think Mercari.com has now become the best place to sell. It used to be that selling on eBay was faster and more lucrative, but I’ve put stuff on eBay that has sat there for weeks while on Mercari it sells the same day. It’s so much easier to find stuff on Mercari without sifting through junk and clickbait listings. eBay has a lot of professional resellers pricing random AG stuff for outrageous prices, and they don’t care if it sells or not. Mercari is average people cleaning out their closets and supplementing their income. 

So a new Truly Me #79 would be selling for $110 plus shipping. Anything below that will get attention. If you’re accepting offers, say so in your listing, and then leave a little wiggle room in the price for that in case you end up needing to accept an offer in order to sell quickly. So maybe start at $91 and be willing to go down a few bucks if the doll doesn’t sell within a few days. 

In your listing, mention whether or not the doll has a ziptie or a neck string.  Mention pierced ears or a hearing aid if the doll has either one. And mention whether or not it has the newer style of downcast eyes, since that can be a dealbreaker for some people. If you aren’t sure, shine a flashlight into the outer corner of the doll’s eye socket and look down into the head. If you see a small white post, it’s the new style of eyes, which many people don’t like. If the post is clear plastic, then that’s the old style or “good” eyes. That can be a hassle to replace, so some people skip dolls entirely that have the “bad” eyes, and dealing with a return is always a hassle best avoided.

As for price.... well, #79 is still so new to the Truly Me lineup that used dolls just aren’t really widely available yet, so people in the market for one will be aware that buying new is the most realistic option to get one right away. But shaving off $20 or so will be appealing to a lot of people. When I sold my #66 on Mercari, I priced her at about $20 under the brand new price, and she sold within the hour. And she wasn’t even in new condition. But she’s still hard to find secondhand! A smart buyer knows these things and knows that they have to act fast when they find rare dolls for a lower price than new.

Including freebies into your listing is also an easy way to get noticed. Throwing in something that customers can’t get from buying a brand new doll directly from AG makes the deal sweeter. My #66 had pierced ears so I listed her wearing a cute pair of Coconut earrings. They cost me barely anything yet it was a major incentive to choose her over a new doll, whose pierced ears would add on an additional $16. It could be just about anything. 

[mahou-queen]

Back at the beginning of quarantine, I got really into watching wish hauls on YouTube. This led me into actually buying some things from wish...in MARCH. The very last item arrived last week so I am finally going to review some of the things I bought. Today's review will be on items I bought from wish specifically for j-fashion. 

For those of you who don’t know, Wish.com is basically a HUGE online shopping mall of cheap stuff (where prices change all the time). However, it’s pretty common for the items you get to either be not what you thought they were, or of inferior quality. This is why wish reviews and hauls have become so popular, so that people know what the good stuff is and what is garbage. Wish also is known for having a lot of replicas and counterfeit items, so you really need to be careful shopping there. 

⚝⚝DISCLAIMER: DO NOT try to buy lolita fashion on wish. As you will see here, I bought some small accessories I plan to wear with lolita fashion, but no dresses, blouses, shoes, etc. It’s just not a good idea. The quality is not going to be good, and you’re very likely to get a replica. Please use a legitimate lolita fashion website or taobao reseller to buy lolita fashion pieces. (I’ll link some at the bottom of this review)⚝⚝

onto the review:

https://www.wish.com/product/5bebf218f8bc936a780b974e?share=web

The first thing I got was this FABULOUS goose purse. I saw this and fell in love. I paid $6.65 + $2.00 shipping for this bag. I am shocked at the quality. The lining is a little crunchy but this bag holds a terrifying amount more than I was expecting. I can fit my entire phone, small wallet, hand sanitizer, eos balm, and my keys in this bag without distorting its shape. It is very cute and I have gotten a lot of compliments on it. Would buy again ★★★★★

https://www.wish.com/product/5df9efcd4f80d40f29c08b50?share=web

This furry heart cross-body cost me $9.00 + $3.00 shipping. I have seen this bag all over amazon for much more money, and frankly it’s not worth more money. When I first got the bag I was very unhappy with it because It did not appear to be heart shaped, however after messing with it I realized it was partially pulled inside itself. After a simple smoothing from the inside it popped out into heart shape so I am much happier now. It is true to color, I know it looks practically white in my photo (my lighting is bad today). The chain however is AWFUL and I plan to replace it. The chain it came with is plastic?? it’s very lightweight and cheap. And the D-rings don’t stay in place. I will be replacing those with O-rings. ★★★☆☆

https://www.wish.com/product/5e8d24215a44df0449af2144?share=web

Next is this black star themed puff key-chain, which I bought to wear on my gold star loris bag with black x gold star themed lolita coords. I paid $2.67 + $3.00 shipping for this. I like to add little details everywhere I can in my coords. This item is actually very nice, the faux fur is very soft and the puff is not misshapen. The hard wear is metal and feels decent and looks decent. Comparable to something you would find at a regular store at the mall or something. Would buy again.  ★★★★★

https://www.wish.com/product/58cb463d33b01a534f5a0e6b?share=web

This white key-chain I bought to put on my purse for my Cinderella bunny coord. Because it’s like a bunny tail, and the pearls go with the pearls on the dress and throughout my coord. I paid $2.78 + $2.00 shipping for this. The puff ball needed a little TLC as it was squished when it arrived, but I was able to fix it. The faux fur is soft, the hard wear is not as nice as the other key-chain I bought. It’s a bit light weight which makes it feel cheap but it looks fine. As you can see, the circular pendant is missing some pearls. I intend to try and glue new ones in. but if I can’t I will just remove that piece entirely.  ★★★☆☆

https://www.wish.com/product/5c73aa943156ff31c5866a07?share=web

I have been seeing these type of earrings everywhere and I really wanted some for some of my lolita coords I am planning. I got these free + $3.92 shipping. They’re pretty nice, they feel secure, they look like the picture. They don’t feel super high quality but they don’t feel really cheap either. I’d buy again. ★★★★☆

https://www.wish.com/product/5e7c06e156076e10cccdbdf7?share=web

This bunny necklace was also bought for my Cinderella bunny coord. I paid $1.71 + $3.00 shipping for this. I was actually expecting this to be unwearable. I thought it was going to be very cheap looking and plasticy. I was pleased to find out it’s not as gross as I was anticipating. It’s definitely wearable, however I fear the enamel will wear off in time. ★★★★☆

That concludes my review of some small items I bought on wish for j-fashion looks. I was able to do this because I have been wearing j-fashion for almost 10 years and can discern what is and isn’t going to work due to quality. Also because I watched a lot of videos on YouTube about wish that helped me learn how to shop more safe on that site. If you’re interested in learning more about shopping on wish I highly recommend Prettypastelplease , she has A LOT of wish hauls on her channel. Also if you’re new to j-fashion, specifically lolita fashion. PLEASE DO NOT RELY ON WISH TO FIND PIECES. here is a list of better places to shop:

bodyline.co.jp devilinspired.com clobbaonline.com fanplusfriend.com lacemarket.us store.lolitacollective.com Glittertale  wunderwelt.jp closet child I did a review of spreenow not too long ago, you can use spreenow to buy from taobao outside of China. 

I also have a series called “budget lolita” where I review and recommend items from cheaper shops.

I hope you enjoyed my review. This was not sponsored, I was not asked to review these items. Everything I reviewed here was purchased by me, for me. I was not asked or sponsored to mention any of the other shops or YouTube channels that I did.  Is there anything you bought on wish that was good for j-fashion? I’d love to hear about it. 

please stay tuned for the next installment in my budget lolita series coming soon!

[gothify1]

My mother, like me, believes that it’s the accessories that truly make an outfit, well, an outfit. While she often sticks to more basic clothing that fits within the classic style she’s been honing in on for years, she tends to, as she puts it, “spice things up” with her extras—especially her handbags. While she’s invested in a few designer bags over the years that have definitely withheld their cost-per-wear value , there are a few other silhouettes she’s dreamt about owning. Naturally, I gave feedback on said styles when she listed them off to me. For the most part, I was on board with each designer handbag pick she covets because they’re timeless and, although my mom is 60, would work for anyone at any age. But I wanted to take my insight one step further and provide my mom with some insider intel on the bags that I not only think could be worth it from a style perspective, but could hold their resale value as well (making them an even better investment). To obtain this info I went straight to an expert—Charles Gorra, CEO and Co-Founder of handbag resale Mecca, Rebag . He confirmed with me five of the It handbag styles my mom and I love that hold their value. Keep scrolling to uncover the said designer bags—complete with notes on why mom covets, along with the insights from Gorra. Plus, shop the pre-owned styles, along with other must-have bags worth considering that would work for anyone at any age (because you should wear whatever you love—no matter the year you were born). And while my mom clearly won’t be dropping cash on all of the bags in question, she did mention to me that she’s interested in saving her money to invest in one of the silhouettes to become her new go-to. Hint: It’s the Louis Vuitton beauty below. Nancy's Notes: "I'm not sure I'd actually be able to afford a Chanel bag like this, but it certainly is a dream bag. So classy and chic." Gorra's Notes: "The Chanel Classic Double Flap, which resells for 70-90% of its original retail value, depending on the size, leather, and hardware combination. Not only has this bag remained iconic, but its limited availability, especially in classic color and hardware combinations means that Chanel can alter how they retail this model with little repercussions. For the last several years, the price has increased annually, causing the demand for it on the resale market to increase as well." Nancy's Notes: "I love a crossbody bag for functionality purposes. I have a larger style, but I like that this flap one is a bit smaller, but will hold the essentials." Gorra's Notes: "Its name alone should tell you how much LV fans love this bag. It’s a simply designed flap bag with two strap options for versatility and functionality and is available in two sizes. Louis Vuitton is often sold out of this model at their retail stores, meaning buyers must look to resellers to purchase it." *Note: The Favorite bags are currently sold out on Rebag, but we found a few chic alternatives Nancy's Notes: "I've always adored this sophisticated Dior bag when I spot celebrities wearing it. It's so elegant." Gorra's Notes: "With the long lasting trend of miniature bags, it is not surprising to see this sell well. The Lady Dior has been around since the 1990s, having been renamed from the Chou Chou to the Lady Dior for Lady Diana. Dior has taken the opportunity to combine modern hardware and versatility with the trends of nostalgia and minute stature to update the classic piece to It bag status." Nancy's Notes: "I love the Louis Vuitton Neverfull bag as well, but when I see people with this one—especially out and about or at the airport—it just feels so classic." Gorra's Notes: "The Goyard Saint Louis is a truly elusive bag. Goyard does not offer this bag for purchase in its stores; you must order it and have it delivered, something that takes up to four weeks. They have one of each of the available colors and sizes in their stores, keeping in mind they might not have all available options on hand if they are out of stock, so buyers will need to go to resellers to find the right color and size combination." Nancy's Notes: "I've been seeing this structured tote more and more. Again, like all of these, this would definitely be a splurge and an investment, but I like the cloth material for travel and life in general." Gorra's Notes: "Recently Christian Dior has brought back their 'Dior' printed canvas which was previously known as Diorissimo. Not only is this tote incredibly functional, spacious, and chic, it also brings back a sense of nostalgia—a major trend this year. Since the Book Tote was released, it has flown off the shelves making it harder to find in stores which, in turn, hikes up its price on the resale market." Kendall Jenner is a fan of Staud's zebra-printed bags. Wear this fashion person-favorite It bag as a clutch or a crossbody. The baguette bag continues to reign supreme. A new timeless style you'll use for years and years. Just in case you still want to hop on the itsy-bitsy mini bag trend. The canvas material makes this stunner the ideal spring or summer go-to. The half-moon shape is quite forward. You'll make an instant statement with this updated classic Loewe bag. Fun fact—this is another one of my mother's favorite shapes. So elegant—and will work with anyhting. Next, check out the Nordstrom Items my 60-year-old mom and I want you to buy from Nordstrom right now .