#product review

[its-yours-truly]

Predicting Lunchly's downfall and why.

There's a lot of reasons why Lunchly's downfall will happen. From the 'beef' between the creators and reviewers, to the controversies, and to the ridiculous advertising, I'll lead you through all of that today.

So what I'm first going to talk about is the 'beef' going on between the creators of Lunchly -KSI, Logan Paul, and Mr. Beast- and other big YouTubers -Dan TDM, Tommyinnit-. A lot of people have ruled out buying Lunchly because of how KSI was treating Dan TDM over valid criticism, saying this is like a money grab. KSI then posted to X -formerly Twitter- a YouTooz of Dan TDM as if to say he's 'money grabbing' as well. KSI as well has a YouTooz made. A video of Dan was also linked onto X of him reviewing snacks as if to say he was a hypocrite. It was revealed the video was sponsored and he never told his audience to go and try these foods. A lot of fans thought that it was bullshit that KSI was trying to find ways to 'call out' Dan TDM because he made a valid point. The three stooges made a product that child fans can buy and buy again, which is something you can't do with merch.

A few weeks or so after the KSI vs. Dan TDM drama, Tommyinnit had mocked Lunchly, and Logan Paul was not having it. So he began to pull out screenshots from past conversations, and tried to find things on him people would 'hate' Tommy for. The internet sided with Tommy in this, including Jacksfilms.

I also think this product will eventually flop because of the controversies surrounding Mr. Beast. Parents and adults are not blind to what's going on. If you don't know, Mr. Beast is facing multiple allegations, from having child predators hired onto his team, from treating people's safety on the set of 'Beast Games' horribly. A YouTuber by the name of DogPack404 has been covering this drama along with 2 other platform creators, Rosanna Pansino and Jake Weddle. They've come out with their experiences, as well as reviewed videos, proving parts are faked. Mr. Beast not responding to these allegations is not smart because it shows he must be guilty of some -if not all- of these allegations, or are trying to make them go away.

Lastly, the design and creativity is horrible. It's an exact knockoff of Lunchables, with little to no difference besides a Prime and a Feastable. They have no new or fun products, the designs on the packaging are bland, and the colors contrast too much. If you look at the Lunchables packaging, they have warm and bright colors, and sometimes have characters on the packaging, like Transformers One characters. Lunchly has red and blue packaging with big text. Nothing cool. And they only have 3 products while Lunchables have at least 4, with multiple pizza, nacho, and stack'em variations. They also have other products, like dip'ems, kababels, and even grilled cheese and sub sandwiches. I will admit, having 'actual cheese' rather than a cheese product is great, but the marketing is awful. Mr. Beast, KSI, and Logan Paul did not know what they were getting into when they started to make this product. No amount of 'Thick Of It', marketing, or 'Lotteries' will get me, and many others to buy this product.

[tiffyfoundsomething]

So I ordered one of the Lord of the Rings Miniverse balls.

Affiliate link: https://amzn.to/46PpgQA

You might remember the whole Miniverse line was recalled recently, and these have a different resin that's supposed to comply with regulations the older resin did not comply with. So they already knew before the recall.

I've been warned this new resin does NOT cure.

It's supposed to come with a tip for the resin bottle and a micro funnel because the mold is itty bitty and nearly impossible to fill otherwise...

Finger for comparison... My nozzle was missing, so I didn't even try to work with the resin it came with and used my own. The tiny crucible resin bottle looks like a coffee pot or edgy tumbler.

The mold is EXTREMELY difficult to fill because it's so small and narrow and I struggled with my thicker UV resin.

I got "Elven Dagger" which is rather generic, but it did come with two hilts so I could try twice and this little box of tiny tools which are, IMO, the best part of the whole thing. The "file" has sandpaper glued to it so it actually works, and the vial is metallic powder.

I'm starting to think no one at MGA actually knows how UV resin works because the instructions say to coat the inside of the mold with the silver powder, fill it, plop the hilt on the top, and cure.

With the already too-opaque mold coated in powder and a cap over the only area that ISN'T coated in powder, there's no way for UV light to get to the resin.

So I didn't do that.

What I did do was mix up some glow-powder and mica into clear resin and cast that.

The piece is so thin and narrow that even after curing it was bendable. There were two large air bubbles; one right at the tip of the dagger and one near the hilt. I tried to patch them in but had some trouble...

The hilt popped right out of the resin while I was attempting to demold which was a pain, but it did cure.

Anyway, here's my messed up elven dagger, which is even more messed up because I ended up coating it with some UV builder gel to keep the tip on and THAT didn't feel like curing all the way, either, so I rubbed mica on one side to get rid of the persistent stickiness that was JUST on that side.

The hilt popped out again even though I tried reattaching it with more resin. That would be irritating if it didn't mean I can try again as many times as I want.

The end result is underwhelming and took an hour longer than the whole project needed to, but the little crate of tools is really fun.

[galoogamelady]

Promise this isn't an April Fools thing lol

I had a chance to try some @huiontablet products for the first time! This is my review + the usual speeddraw on the side. You can find the finished drawing here!

[andsewingishalfthebattle]

SiliNOT! Testing and Review

Since I run a lot of casting workshops, I've had several people in the costuming/maker community ask me my opinion on SiliNOT!, a relatively new product advertised as a budget- and eco-friendly moldmaking alternative to silicone, urethane, and other single-use materials.

I finally bought a couple of bottles to play with, so I did a test project. My experience and findings are below! (It's not a recipe blog, but if you want to skip the play-by-play and get to the TL;DR, it's under the big "In Summary" header near the bottom.)

First, if you aren't familiar with this material, SiliNOT! is a remeltable, reusable medium for making molds. Though its exact ingredients are not disclosed, it purports to nontoxic, food-safe, and compostable. It melts in a household microwave or double boiler and solidifies at room temperature (or in a refrigerator/freezer for faster results). The website is https://silinot.com/.

(I am not an affiliate, and have no connection to this company apart from having made one retail purchase from them. I just have a lot of casting experience and like trying out new products.)

The Positive Original

I’m still in the middle of a Vincent Valentine build, so I decided to test the SiliNOT! on his custom buttons. My original is a stack of various nonporous materials: an antique (probably Bakelite) coat button, an epoxy resin dome I cast using a mold I already had in my library, and some engraved Worbla’s Pearly Art for the raised detail. The button shanks won’t be added until the final casting, so the original can be mounted flat for the moldmaking process.

Sample Worbla on the left; completed button stack on the right:

The Mold

I built the mold container the same way I do for silicone pours, with the flat back of the button fixed to a styrene plate and a cylinder (actually a small paper cup with the bottom cut off) surrounding it for the walls. The lip of the cup is sealed all the way around with Monster Clay to prevent leaks.

Heating and Pouring

The SiliNOT! didn’t take long at all to heat up; I did maybe four or five 20-second bursts before it was completely fluid. The bottle does get rather warm, so hand protection isn’t a bad idea. If you have heat-resistant gloves, you can use those; I was working in my kitchen (yay for nontoxic stuff!), so I just grabbed an oven mitt with a silicone grip.

The melted SiliNOT! looks a bit like Luke Skywalker’s blue milk. It’s about the consistency of a yogurt smoothie and likes to pour in a thicker stream compared to silicone. While silicone can be stretched into a thin ribbon for delicate pours or chemically thinned with solvent for really tricky jobs, SiliNOT!'s viscosity is dependent on temperature and never seems to get quite as thin as silicone.

I’d automatically made my mold compact to conserve material (not really a concern with a reusable moldmaking material like SiliNOT!, but after using silicone for more than a decade, I’ve trained myself to be as efficient as possible), so the walls of my mold container were only about half or three quarters of an inch from my object. Because the target was so narrow, I found it difficult to accurately fill from the lowest area of the mold with the SiliNOT! The heavier pour also means more air can get trapped in or under the material.

Bubbles are one of the areas in which SiliNOT! is decidedly inferior to silicone. SiliNOT! has higher viscosity, so bubbles don’t want to rise to the surface without vigorous tapping, which can distort the mold edges or affect leveling depending on your mold container. The bubbles that do make their way to the surface are difficult to pop, even when poked with a sharp implement. Heat gun degassing doesn’t have much effect.

Since the bubble surface cools and skins over quickly, I actually had to use a tool and scoop some large bubbles completely out of the mold to allow the surface to level. Critically, the SiliNOT! is opaque, so you can’t spot bubbles clinging to the surface of your original. (This is why my first mold was a reject, and I had to repour. More on that below.)

Hardening

Once the surface had set, I carefully moved the mold into the refrigerator to cool faster. Here’s another area where some types of silicone can have an advantage: I typically use fast-curing Smooth-On products (because I always have random quantities left to use up after our casting workshops), so I rarely have to wait more than half an hour for a silicone mold to cure, regardless of its size or mass.

The SiliNOT! has to chill completely before handling, though, and discharging that amount of heat requires a fair amount of time even in a cool environment. My mold was pretty small, maybe 2 1/2” wide by 1” deep, and it still took around 40 minutes to cool completely. A larger, deeper mold could hold considerably more energy in the center, and might have to be left in the freezer for a couple of hours before use.

Demolding the Original

When the mold was completely chilled, I removed it from the refrigerator and popped it off the plastic plate I’d used for the base of the mold. The texture was very different from what I’d expected: Unlike other meltable materials (Monster Clay, et al.) that have a firm surface when cool, the SiliNOT! remains tacky, which means it promptly collects any debris that crosses its path. In my case, this meant I had to pick dog hair off the surface throughout the casting process (and I don’t want to think about what would happen if glitter had contaminated the work space).

I’d used a paper cup for my mold walls, which usually works fine with fast-curing silicone. But the SiliNOT! must have a high oil content, because the cup absorbed some of it:

Lesson learned; use only nonporous containers with this stuff.

The SiliNOT!! really wanted to cling to the edges of my original, so I had to go slow at first to avoid tearing the thin flanges of the mold off. However, it did demold nicely from the smooth surfaces, and preserved texture very well. You can see the Worbla pebbling and the engraving channels clearly in the mold (as well as some dust and dog hair, because I made the mistake of setting it down briefly):

Unfortunately, as you can see, a large bubble had stuck to my original and created a pit in the mold, so I decided to do a second mold pour. I figured I’d tear up the failed mold and put the pieces back in the bottle to remelt… and discovered I couldn’t. The mold would stretch and twist, but not tear. It also seemed to return to its original shape relatively faithfully. Here’s a video of me manhandling the mold:

As you can see, the SiliNOT! has much better stretch and recovery than many silicone products (there are silicones that stretch well -- some of the Dragon Skin products come to mind -- but they’re not typically marketed for moldmaking). This means it’s likely well suited to casting objects with moderate undercuts or oddly-shaped bits that need the mold to stretch during demolding.

You can cut the SiliNOT! easily with scissors, which is the recommended method for getting it back in the bottle when you’re ready to remelt.

Take Two

Using what I’d learned from the first pour, I did the second one inside a hard plastic ramekin. This gave me a bit more room to pour into the floor of the mold, reducing the bubble risk, and also eliminated the porous paper cup that had absorbed oil. I still had the issue with bubbles that didn’t want to pop, but there were fewer of them this time.

The ramekin made for a much cleaner mold, buuuuut there was ANOTHER BUBBLE right in the middle of the design. >.<

Take Three

Lather, rinse, repeat. Or in this case, melt, pour, chill.

This time I heated the SiliNOT! as much as I dared and did the absolute slowest, narrowest pour I could manage, giving the air extra time to escape as the mold was filled from the bottom. The risk with stringing out the pour like this is that in a thinner stream, the heat escapes faster, leading to uneven viscosity as the liquid fills the mold. I don’t think that’s a major problem for this particular piece, but it’s something to pay attention to as regards leveling and degassing, especially for larger molds that will take longer to fill.

The result of pour three:

/siiiiigh/ Well, at least the bubbles are smaller, this time. They may not show up enough to matter in the final cast. I’ll give it a try.

Casting

I had leftover workshop resin that was getting on toward the end of its shelf life, so I used Smooth-On Smooth-Cast 300 for my initial resin trial. It’s an opaque white resin with about a 10-minute cure time (the fast turnaround is why we use it for workshops).

Before pouring, I had to do a little mold cleanup where the SiliNOT! had managed to sneak under the edge of the Worbla (I think I’d loosened the corner of the star from prying it out of so many molds), but since the SiliNOT! stretches so well, it was pretty easy to invert it to get little scissors down into the bottom of the depression.

For the first cast, I didn’t use anything but the resin in order to get a baseline. Ideally I’d like to cold cast or dye the resin so I don’t have to worry about paint chipping, but since I’m doing a trial here (and need multiple buttons anyway) I figured some plain white extras wouldn’t hurt.

So, my first cast…

…smacked into a big problem, which I probably should have seen coming: The resin I’m using is a fast cure formula, which means it discharges a fair amount of heat as it's going through that rapid chemical reaction -- enough heat to melt the SiliNOT!, as it turned out. When I tried to demold it (after giving it a few extra minutes beyond label time to be sure it was done), the surface of the mold had melted to the resin and even embedded itself in a few places. It’s difficult to see the resin detail in the photos (my camera went into white balance panic mode with all the shades of white and blue), but you can see how pitted the formerly-smooth mold surface is.

In fairness to the SiliNOT!, the bottle does say that you should put the mold in the freezer for half an hour before casting high-temperature materials. But I assumed high-temperature material was something like candle wax or melted chocolate, rather than ordinary resin. (And the mold had just come out of the refrigerator.)

So, on to pour FOUR of the SiliNOT! mold…

Take Four

NGL, this is getting a little old. >.<

Fourth mold definitely needed some cleanup around the edges, and there are still a couple of tiny bubbles I can’t seem to get rid of, but it’s good enough for a test. (I’m starting to despair of using these for actual production, given how many times I’ve had to redo the molds because of bubbles...)

Deep in the recesses of my basement, I found some transparent epoxy resin with a 24-hour cure time -- much slower and lower-temperature than the Smooth-Cast. Since it cures clear, I went ahead and mixed in some metallic powder pigment on the off chance that I get a usable button out of this one. I had excess resin after mixing, so I poured that into my first mold, which has a bubble in the design but is otherwise fine. Two test pieces are better than one, right?

Results

Here are the results of the slow-curing resin out of mold #4:

Finally, a (mostly) clean cast!

As you can see, the detail reproduction is excellent -- certainly on par with the pulls from the silicone mold I ended up making while waiting on this set to cure (purely for time reasons; I couldn’t afford five days to cast the buttons using slow-curing resin, and with a silicone mold and fast-curing resin I could get them all done within a couple of hours).

However, you can also see a few spots where bits of the SiliNOT! embedded themselves in the final cast. Part of that may be due to design flaw in the original; I didn’t want to glue anything permanently to the antique button, and that resulted in a tiny gap between the button and the resin hemisphere. Silicone has enough strength to resist tearing out in that kind of area, but apparently the SiliNOT! doesn’t. The bits of mold around the outer edge seem to have stuck just to be difficult, as there was no structural reason for those to have become embedded in the resin. This means the mold could be damaged by successive casts, reducing its usable life and accuracy.

Still, the mold definitely produced decent results for a first cast, and a different shape might not have had as much of a problem with tearing off mold parts. The slow-curing resin is a bit of a limitation, but not a unique one (I use this same epoxy resin for any glass-clear casts I do, and only use the Smooth-Cast 300 for opaque items or things I need very quickly). I don’t personally use UV resin, but I’d be curious to learn how it performs with the SiliNOT!

IN SUMMARY:

Here’s the TL;DR on SiliNOT!

Pros

Cost effectiveness. This is the most obvious advantage of SiliNOT! over silicone; it’s (theoretically) infinitely reusable, and even with natural attrition/inevitable contamination from use, you can likely get over a hundred pours out of a bottle. That's a lot cheaper per use than silicone.

Non-toxicity. SiliNOT! is touted as food contact-safe, so you don’t have to panic if you get it on your skin or kitchen counters. While platinum-cure silicone is also relatively harmless (some varieties are labeled for food or life casting), other common moldmaking materials such as tin-cure silicone or urethane are not. (NOTE: Since the company is very hush-hush about what actually makes up the SiliNOT! secret formula, I do not know if it might release any vapors or fumes that would be irritating or harmful to pet birds. In general, I advise not doing any kind of casting around birds.)

Eco-friendliness. This is the biggest draw for me personally: Given the number of casting workshops I run and all the things I sell commercially, I have constant guilt about the amount of waste I generate for creative projects. In most areas of life I’m an aggressive reduce/reuse/recycler and try to use organic materials instead of synthetics whenever possible, so a mold that’s reusable and compostable is very appealing.

Ease of use. It’s honestly pretty hard to mess this up -- just microwave according to the directions and pour. No measuring, no A/B mixture, no concerns about chemical contamination from latex or sulfur, etc.

Shelf life. Unlike silicones, which have a shelf life of anywhere from six months to three years depending on storage conditions, the SiliNOT! purports to be shelf-stable. It's compostable, so don’t bury it in your yard, but otherwise it appears that it could be kept on hand for years.

Cons

Bubbles. Honestly the most irritating thing about this stuff for me. I’m used to being able to see bubbles forming as I pour, tap them to the surface, and remove them. The fact that I poured four molds of the same object and never once got one without bubbles is super irritating.

Stickiness. I’m not a big fan of the tacky surface texture, and while I haven’t done any cold casting yet, I can imagine that it would be very difficult to clean out any pigment or mica powder that got where you didn’t want it. I probably wouldn’t use this for any kind of cold casting that required isolated colored areas or changing colors between casts.

Set time. The SiliNOT! may take longer to cool than a fast silicone would to cure when dealing with larger molds, so it’s not ideal for projects with a really tight turnaround. (But cosplayers would never be casting something the night before a con, right? We always plan ahead and never, ever procrastinate!)

Library life. The SiliNOT! may or may not structurally degrade over time the way urethane, latex, and tin cure silicones do, but I noticed even in my very limited casts that it was prone to having tiny bits of the mold (particularly at edges) stick and pull off. While I keep most of my platinum silicone molds for years and reuse them, I don’t feel that the SiliNOT! molds would hold up to repeated casting, and they’re far more sensitive to ambient temperature, so they’re probably best used for short term only. (I also wonder about the possibility of oil leaching out in long-term storage.)

Comparative Ranking

Ranking it against other mold-making materials, I’d place SiliNOT! below platinum-cure silicone in terms of performance, but maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of urethane and tin-cure silicone. It's definitely superior to latex. (Though to be honest, I'd rank Play-Doh above latex. I hate working with that stuff.)

Factoring in cost and environmental impact, it beats out urethane and tin-cure silicone. I'm still not sure if I'd rank it above platinum-cure silicone, though... Silicone costs much more and isn't eco-friendly, but the performance and lifespan is significantly better, so it still makes more sense for some projects.

Alginate is another type of material entirely, but in some ways SiliNOT! is comparable to it -- both are more cost-effective than silicone, both are biodegradable, both are skin safe, and both have long shelf lives. But SiliNOT! is easier to use for beginners than alginate, which has to be mixed to the right consistency and has an extremely short lifespan once poured.

Overall, I would recommend SiliNOT! for:

People who want accurate, non-shrinking molds but don’t have the budget for platinum-cure silicone

People who are committed to eliminating waste from single-use materials, and are willing to trade off a little performance for a more eco-friendly material

Projects with smooth surfaces and no indentations/sharp edges/undercuts where bubbles might stick (e.g. cabochons; simple geometric forms)

Projects where you need only one or two casts of something, rather than many casts from the same mold

Casting oddly-shaped pieces around which the mold needs to stretch in order to demold

Use with slow-curing resins that do not generate much heat

I would NOT recommend SiliNOT! for:

Extremely complex or detailed pieces, or pieces with a lot of surface texture that bubbles might stick to

Two-part molds

Projects requiring many identical casts out of the same mold

Molds that you intend to add to your library for future or repeat casting

Use with fast-curing resins, melted wax, melted Monster Clay, or any other material that emits heat

Cold casting with precise color application

My Overall Opinion

It's... okay? I will almost certainly keep SiliNOT! in my toolkit for certain specific applications. It's MUCH cheaper over the long term, I love the idea of recycling mold material, and there are some projects for which it will likely perform very well (those listed in the above bullet points). I will also admit that three days of working with it does not constitute a comprehensive familiarity with the product, and it might be the sort of thing that you get better at working with after more practice. (Just learning how to eliminate bubbles would go a long way toward making me adopt this for more projects!)

However, I don't quite buy the "better than silicone" tagline. It's definitely more difficult to get a perfect result, and there are some projects for which platinum-cure silicone is always going to be more reliable (e.g. high-temperature casting, mass production, large-scale life casting).

For those looking for a recommendation of whether or not to buy, I'd say look at your project budget and the applications for which you're going to be making molds, and let those factors guide which mold material you go with. People doing some kinds of projects are likely going to find this a godsend, while those doing different projects would probably hate working with it.

[ephemeral-lace]

By now you've definitely seen these shoes. It seems like everyone is wearing them right now, but I haven't seen a review of them yet. My friend DodotheExtinct asked me how they were and she inspired me to write this review for other curious buyers. 

[maxicorp]

Maxiverse Product Reviews #3

Date Reviewed: 6/4/20

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

And rip through that top I did! If I could give this stuff more stars than 5 I totally would! Biggest piece of advice, if you have a favorite bra or top you WILL tear through it so you should totally grow in something old. Trust me, you'll love the feeling of ripping through a bra as you grow 😘

[disaster-kitchen]

Tinned fish and rice: when you're too sad to cook!

This can came from Barnacle Foods, which is an operation out of Alaska that does stuff (pickles, hotsauce, seasonings, etc) with kelp.

I don't eat much canned salmon usually (more of a sardine girl), so I didn't really have any expectations here. The can was packed full with whole, rolled up pieces of fish. It's packed in hot sauce, but there isn't an overabundance of liquid in the can- I should've taken a picture before I turned it out, it was very pretty.

Has a strong smoky smell, not particularly fishy. Tastes fucking amazing- the hot sauce has a nice kick and great flavor, very smoky and savory tasting. The thicker pieces of fish have a little bit of a chewy texture that you'd expect from canned fish, but the parts right under the skin are like butter. Glorious.

Not exactly an affordable lunchtime can ($12 plus shipping from Alaska), but definitely a great option if you want to treat yourself.

[blueberryfruitbat]

King Dedede first 4 figures statues post!!

To clarify these are EXPENSIVE statues I thankfully had the ability to buy because of saving my commission money. While I do love how great their statues are F4F figures are very costly and I do not recommend them for general collectors of merch. Please be smarter than me with your money, no matter how quality their goods are.

FIRST OF ALL AMAZING BOXES

As you can see I got the deluxe edition for both statues as a bundle. If it wasn't for F4F's payment plan options I would have never been able to get these things, also got the early bird discount as I pre-ordered them over 8 months before production.

Each box basically has the statue's F4F page description on them but it's still a very nice addition!

Even the protective foam they come in is custom made for the statues!

OH LORD HE COMIN'

These statues are CHONKY and I don't just mean that because it's Dedede, but because each are roughly 15lbs, and they are MASSIVE.

Nintendo switch game case for scale.

Overall a great item for the obsessive collector, they come with a gold plated coin that's a solid 1.5 or so lbs on its own and their own identification card to show they're the genuine article! Even if I can't recommend these for the price I'm very happy I have a physical reference of this idiot on my desk at all times now!

[wellappointeddesk]

Marker Review: SHARPIE Creative Markers (Set of 12)

SHARPIE Creative Markers are water-based acrylic markers and feature a felt brush tip. The set I purchased includes all 12 colors ($17.99) in a standard mass market blister pack. The packaging is not reusable or functional so be prepared to have a place to store these markers once you’ve had to destroy the packaging to get to them. The color indications are on the tops of the caps. The pen…

[winke77e]

Hey Guys! Warning for all CAT OWNERS!

There is a Model, a Design, of automated cat litterboxes that is killing cats.

It has a lot of cheap knock-off versions, and the video review by One Man Five Cats on youtube is starting to spread.

I wanted to add photos for people to see because the video is very in-depth regarding just how this cat box kills furbabies. I understand people can't handle that, but information is still important.

The thing is this: The tub of the litterbox rolls backwards. Up and backwards, cutting off access from the front while it cleans. THE PROBLEM is that grey ring around the entrance! It's fixed to the bottom of the box and DOES NOT COME OFF. It is a literal guillotine.

The pics above show Philip using his hand to test the safety features. There is a camera, weight sensor, and sensor on the rotating drum that is supposed to stop the roll. The problem is? It doesn't. It delays the roll, beeps a few warnings, then continues to roll. Now, there has been a software update to correct the issue, but the real threat is the design overall. The tub rolls up, the bottom doesn't move. Regardless of software, the hardware design is the threat.

Philip's hand got stuck and it sounded like it really hurt. It left marks on his hand and he needed to use his other hand to pull back on the drum and free his hand.

Don't even consider this design.

Check out One Man Five Cats online. He does a lot of reviews and highly recommends other, safer boxes. He recommends not buying any new design/model that is less than a year old at least.

Here is a link to his review playlist.

This is a link to the video above. WARNING for blood, graphic pictures, retelling of how two cats died with gruesome details.

[oldschoolvpq]

Kuruntote Review

The very first Tamagotchi Kuruntote (たまごっち くるんとーと) series was released the fourth week of July 2023 in Gashapon capsule vending machines here in Japan, and on August 1, I went for it! 500 yen per capsule is a bit expensive, but I tried twice...and ended up with two of the same design. So it goes.

There's 3 designs total, but the good news is I got the one I wanted. It's rolled in there tight!

Look at the front!

Look at the back!

I'm really loving the vivid colors. The fabric is a bit thin but feels sturdy enough. You may be able to see the packaging for my breakfast in there if you look close enough...

It's just about the size of your standard plastic shopping bag, so it's better suited for a quick trip to the corner store as opposed to hardcore grocery shopping.

You may see a bit of tissue paper sticking out of the bag...this thing was rolled in no less than 3 squares of white tissue paper, most likely to keep the printed fabric from sticking to itself in the intense heat we've been having. As some Gashapon dispensers are stored outside, the contents have to survive the elements, so I get the addition...but I felt like a hack magician at the cash register as I pulled sheet after sheet out of the capsule when I just wanted to bag my snacks...

Anyway, on the inside it's got a cute little pocket! What's it for?

Well, the "Kurun" in the product name suggests that the bag can be rolled up and stored away! (We love a reusable shopping bag, especially since they charge for plastic bags just about anywhere you go in Japan.) Well I'm pleased to report it lives up to the name!

You simply flip the bag inside out, fold the sides in hot dog-style, then rolllll and pop it in the pocket.

Once folded, the size is nice and small - it fits in the back pocket of my skinny jeans as well as my tiny purse.

I'll just show a P1 for scale though. (My butt doesn't belong on this blog.)

I'm pleased to report that this bag further supports the Tamagotchi lifestyle in that there's various ways to integrate your virtual pets!

First is to hang one on the handle.

Second is to use the inner pocket to tuck away your little digital friend. It holds everything from the Nanos up to the Meets/On size-wise...but you're out of luck with the Pix.

Classic 👍 Meets/On 👍 Pix 😬

(Come to think of it I bet the coin purse from WEGO would go really well with this...)

Anyway, cute bag! Practical item! I'm definitely tucking one in my work backpack. Let's see how long it lasts?

[3liza]

product review: e.l.f. brow lift

doesnt work for me at all, it's a sort of thick grease or wax, and is therefore heated up and liquified by my face grease instantly after application, and my eyebrows just go back to what they were doing in under 30 seconds

rating: 0/10

[tiffyfoundsomething]

Lady Doolli

I’ve mentioned before that I like blind box toys and ball jointed dolls and now I’m in trouble because there are blind box ball jointed dolls out there.

Lady Doolli is blind boxed but is NOT a BJD though she’s in a similar style. I’d seen these on Amazon for a while and was curious but only recently decided to give one a try.

There is 1 skintone, 6 different hair styles/colors, and it looks like maybe 2 eye colors.

There are also 6 possible outfits.

The dolls and clothing are separate, but are each $26 and both are in the same listing here: https://amzn.to/3OrhHsk

The box is small and cute with a lot of pictures and writing on it, especially making a point to let you know there’s no second outfit in here and they must be bought separately.

The outfits are packed in a little paperboard box shaped like a garment bag. It says 2022 Spring, so I wonder if there are many other outfit sets that have been released.

To be honest, I don’t care for any of these outfits, really. Figured I should get one to review, at least.

Both the doll and outfit are packed in these silver foil bags inside the boxes. There’s no plastic shell or anything to hold their position in the packaging. They’re just loose in there.

I got dark, long hair with a side part with blue and purple eyes, and almost missed the tiny little bag of extra hands inside the silver bag. She does come already dressed in the pajamas.

I tried to get a good photo of the face screening but my phone is a potato. There’s a good amount of detail with a simple layout. She has eyeshadow, blush on the cheeks, chin, nose, and brows, a little lip line to separate her lips... It’s a cute face, but I do prefer my dolls to not look sad or startled.

She does have rooted hair which is silky and smooth. It’s a little stiffer than Kiwi nylon (Rainbow High) while still being soft.

She also has a couple paint spots on her face that look to be from the eyebrow paint.

The rooting isn’t super dense in some areas.

Her head is harder than a Barbie’s head but is squishable to a degree so her eyes could be removed and replaced with some heat and her hair could be rerooted if you wanted.

Hair drop on a new doll head is normal. This looks like a plug or two which didn’t get anchored.

I’m impressed with the posing. The joints are stiff enough to hold a pose but easy to move other than her hips which take a little bit more pressure, and have a high range of motion.

The torso joints aren’t as mobile as the arms and legs, though.

Her head can look up and down or tilt left and right depending on how you turn the neck joint which is a simple hinged ball.

The backs of the knees...

All of the jointing reminds me of Figmas.

Honestly I feel like the body alone is worth the $26 price tag, AND you get a rooted head with quality hair and inset eyes, a pair of pajamas, and an extra pair of hands.

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Neither outfit that I have has any sort of closures or openings so you do need to remove the head and hands to dress her.

Getting the hands on and off is difficult

Turns out there’s a LOT of flash on her wrist pegs. I did go in and clean that off. There was a good sized bit on her neck ball, too.

Heat up the hands, though, and they go on and off pretty easily.

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As for the outfit.

Silver bag again.

I couldn’t get this headband to stay on her hair because it’s satin and her hair is satiny smooth, but it does have a wire in the “ears” so you can pose it as you wish.

......

LOOK AT THESE TINY LITTLE SHOES!

They have stitches, laces, tongues, glued on rubbery soles with IN SCALE texture on the bottom...

They went on a lot more easily than I expected them to OVER her socks. I did need to get a little stick to pull the back of the heel out and over the doll’s heels. Other than that, easy-easy.

I also didn’t even try to extract and tie the laces. They looked really short and I have poor motor control, so I opted to just shove her feet in there with the laces tucked inside.

The outfit came with shorts, a one-piece sweater and shirt combo, and some long socks. The socks aren’t hemmed but everything else is. Again, no closures, not even an elastic waistband on the shorts. The shorts were a little difficult to put on.

All of the fabrics are soft and despite the sweater having a feelable texture, it’s not rough or scratchy so it’s not kicking off my texture-BAD senses.

Action pose! FWIP!

She can’t quite pull of Sailor Moon’s signature pose.

Here she is next to some other blind box BJD (the others really are BJD). They all could certainly share clothes despite Doolli’s longer, thinner body.

From left to right:

Penny’s Box Antu Natural Wonderland - https://amzn.to/3IqKfOz

SimonToy Teenar Campus Series - https://amzn.to/3IlnGLl

Lady Doolli and outfit pack - https://amzn.to/3MiOflA

Come4Free Bonnie Journey of Streets - https://amzn.to/42QlMKG

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While I do feel that the quality of Lady Doolli is in line with the price (all together she costs $52), and am impressed with, basically, everything about her, I don’t feel a need to buy another. Out of all of the blind box BJD I’ve tried (not pictured here is the Penny’s Box centaurs), the only one I’ve wanted more than one of was Bonnie. I have three.

[padded-daydreams]

Sigzagor Adult Cloth Diaper

(grey, large, velcro)

Shipping/Package

The package arrived in a plain brown Amazon package. One of the bulky envolopes, not a box. If you don't know what is in there, it's just going to seem like clothing (which it is). The diaper itself is in a transparent plastic bag inside of said Amazon package. All of this is to say that yes, this product has discreet packaging.

Wearing/Comfort

These are very comfortable and easy to adjust. I don't have cloth inserts, so the diaper wasn't as thick as it could've been, but it was still comfortable.

Overall

I'm not sure what else to put here. This was my first time with a cloth diaper, and I liked it very much.

Thanks to @princeminnow for buying me this item off of my wishlist! Unfortunately, the note was not included in the package, and I don't have a way of viewing it.

[ostdrossel]

I never had binoculars, so when I was approached about reviewing some, I was excited. These guys are tiny and simple but I am having a lot of fun with them. Usually, I would use my Canon to peek out the office window, and this is a lot quicker and easier. You can get them here: https://a.co/d/ahhCIyx and with code EY2SUIAY you get 10% off. Am I a birdfluencer now? 😆