#there is so much cool old merchandise and posters and stuff included in it so i may scan more in the future

[fedorahead]

i'm so sad nerd culture has been corporatized because it's so accessible that it's been cheapened.

i don't mean this in a gatekeepy way; if i wanted a poster of fanart of, say, welcome to nightvale, i'd have to order it from the artist or buy it at a con or draw the damn thing myself.

now, fanart is still being made but i can log onto any of the various chinese sites (including amazon) and get a poorly manufactured print of someone's art without ever having the artist themself involved or paid. and i'll have a low quality wall hanging. and because it's so accessible, i can do this 50 times. cover a wall in it. overpay for something i could make on my home printer, get none of the satisfaction or human experience, but cultivate the aesthetic of that particular wall.

and it's completely loveless

there's no joy to the discovery of cheap crap on amazon that will fit the ~vibe~ i'm going for. there's no passion when i order a stack of ten arts that go together because they scream "nerdy" and use catchphrases that were played out in 2010.

i go to events and see people reselling stickers they got off wish for a dollar apiece, when the 50 pack was a dollar.

it's all so soulless

so when i say nerd culture sucks now, i don't mean "aaaa too many people i don't like have discovered that cool stuff is actually cool" like people love to pretend is the problem (though we can discuss the neurotypical invasion and subsequent ousting of autistics from traditionally social-reject circles later) the problem is that capitalism has sucked the joy out of it. 42 isn't an in-joke, it's a brand slogan at this point. everything is "wibbly wobbly" now. merchandise featuring d20s is some of the most popular cheap shitgifts you can get for holidays. everyone has seen how dragons consider you good with ketchup.

it's exhausting. none of the cheap crap is special. the market is oversaturated.

and now when i say i like xyz show, even though i liked it for 20 years, people do the whole "name three of their songs" type shit because they expect fandom to be so commodified that we have to be experts on every nuance if we've enjoyed something (or even loved it passionately) for so long. i haven't seen much doctor who past matt smith, but i've seen a shitload of baker and davison. being weird at me because i don't have an opinion on clara when i've only seen her twice is just obnoxious. because now, everyone's experience with a show or fandom is supposed to have some kinda alignment. when i was coming up, some of us had seen episodes others hadn't because they were still missing, or had to be torrented, or we went out of our way to find them, so every fan had a personal and unique relationship with the franchise. that just makes you out of touch now. if you haven't got all the info the youtube digests feed viewers, or the tiktok trends spread, you're a poser. if you don't like 5th ed d&d, you're boring and old. if you enjoy THAC0 you're a weirdo; but in a few years when the hipster zoomers discover it you can bet that my inability to calculate it myself will mean that i'm the poser.

i want the experience of having to order my specialty weeb shit from japan. i miss finding the vhs tapes of episodes of shows that didn't air anymore. yeah, that shit was more expensive back then, but it also meant that there was less drive to consume for all of it. each individual item i found was a special treasure, and that's just not the case anymore.

[hypmicscenarios]

Anime Attraction

3.K words

A/N: High School au. Fic with ichiro, you two slowly falling in love over the span of a 4 day convention and bonding over the fact that you’re closeted weebs. (So he would like tdd era ichiro) And again! I use neutral pronouns! hope you enjoy~

Day 1: You were very excited, happy, elated, every happy word in the book! This year, you were finally going to your first anime convention. Unfortunately, you were a bit of a closeted weeb. People knew you watched anime….just not your extreme obssession with it. Maybe extreme was too harsh for you case, but you were sure that would be the situation if they ever saw your room, filled with anime posters, merch, etc.However, those were all bought online or in stores….youve never actually been to a convention.

Online, you heard many good things about it, and that people there, for the most part, were friendly. You smiled as you got off the train, an empty backpack on your bag, besides essentials, inside an empty tote bag for you posters. You had planned for this for months. Saving up all the money you could from your allowances. Your wallet, besides money for the train and food to eat, was going to be completely emptied by the end of the day. Finally, you took your jacket off, revealing a ( favorite anime) anime shirt on your person. One of your favorites. You could never choose. You could talk about it for days. However….it was Under rated. It was also a bit old...and you were late to watch it, so the fandom dwindled down.

You were amazed as you saw many cosplays, a bit too nervous to ask for pictures, or even compliment them, but you hoped they received your compliments in spirit….something like that. It was….also really big and crowded. You got too into your head, overthinking a bunch of things, that you didn’t see the larger man in front of you, hitting his back.

“O-oh im sorry, I wasn’t paying attention,” you said, bowing quickly. You looked up at the man, gulping, quickly taken aback by how pretty he was, different colored eyes, red and green. It almost seemed like he was in cosplay, but he was just wearing a naruto shirt with black jeans on, a naruto headband around his forehead.

Ichiro blinked and smiled,”no need to apologize, I was kind of standing here in the middle of everyone anyway,”his eyes went down to your shirt and his eyes sparkled,”wait….thats a (favorite anime) isnt it! Whose your favorite character?”, he asked. You were taken aback about how eager and happy he seemed, but it definitely managed to make you relax a bit.

“My favorite character is [     ],”you said, stating your reasoning,”oh- sorry….I didn’t mean to talk that long,” Ichiro chuckled,”thats fine, I love them too! For mostly the same reasons, theyre kind of cool. This is my first convention so Im excited its going off to great start, thanks.”

Oh? It was his first time as well? “Its my first time too, I came here alone, I didn’t expect to be this big, theres so many people.” Ichiro nodded,”Im here by myself too, are you here all four days?” You nodded. “If you dont mind it, we can walk around together, ah! Sorry if thats a bit too forward….”,he trailed off. To be honest, Ichiro was a closeted weeb. So he had no one to talk to, let alone drag to a con. “Oh no, Um, its fine. I would like that...even though I know everyone here loves anime….”,you trailed off, the guy, whose name you still didn’t know, finished your thought,”because theres so many people conversing and being you feel like everyone already has their own cliques and you realize youre alone.”

Well. That. Yes that. You smiled,”Yeah, its that, and my nerves and anxiety.”

Ichiro stuck his hand out,”Yamada Ichiro, 2nd year high school student in Ikebukuro. Nice to meet you.”

“ l/n, f/n, also 2nd year in a high school located in yokohama, nice to meet you”m you said and shook his hand. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

Day 2:

The first day, the two of you had walked around, played games, went to panels together, learning much more about each other. You agreed to meetup at the same place in the morning. Of course, you were even more excited than you were yesterday. You were dressed in more casual clothing, but backpack was now decorated with buttons you found. Soon, you heard your name being called out and waved your hand,”Good Morning Yamada-san”, you said, greeting him.

Ichiro smiled and spoke,”Morning! Did you sleep well?”, he asked.  You shook your head in disagreement,”I barely got any sleep, I was excited for today.” Ichiro laughed,”so did I, so what should we do today?”,he said, taking out the convention program guide. “Hmmmm, theres a bunch of panels,”you said, going to the side of him and looking at the program,”how to successfully master naruto hand signs….”,you trailed off. They really….had a panel for everything.

Ichiro’s face lit up,” that sounds cool, want to go? Although I already know a couple…”,he said, and you laughed,”what? You going to become the next hokage Yamada-san?”, you teased a bit, but he went along with it, of course he did. You found out about this from yesterday. That he was like this. “I am gonna be next hokage, just believe it!”, he said.

“Thats naruto’s punchline you cant just steal it,” you said, watching Ichiro as he thought, then spoke again, very excitedly,”Im going to be next hokage, because I said so!”, he said, putting out a thumb. For some reason, it had you laughing a lot,”b-bbecause you said so? Ahahaha, well, you sure have a passion like naruto, I think thats all you need, its cute”, you said, realizing that you had just called the other cute.

Ichiro blushed and put his hand behind his back,”Sorry...I just cant be like this a lot in real life without getting teased for it, so its a bit refreshing,”he said and you nodded,, understanding completely.

“Well, lets go learn some jutstus even though they wont help against a gun but who cares, because its an anime convention, and we’re doing what we love,”you said confidently, more confident than you would expect from yourself.  Ichiro nodded,”Dattebayo, lets go!”, he saidm turning around and walking. You were really having too much fun. Being attracted to him went way over your head for now, simply enjoying the time the two of you spent together.

Later on in the day, the two of you found an anime photo booth, Ichiro dragging you by the arm towards it,”for memories!”, he said. The two of you got in and hit the naruto theme poses. Of course, you indulged him, he was cute when he got his way. And, you didn’t have to worry about poses. Instead, they gave you poses to do.

The first was a naruto sign for any jutsu, the second peace signs, the third you had to stick your tongues at each other, seeming annoyed, and the last one….got you. It was only a hug, but they way Ichiro hugged you quickly and tightly, pushing both of your faces together, eft you shocked, and you were sure the picture didn’t turn out well. Once you got out and looked at it, Ichiro pointed to last one,”its like you were trying so hard not to blink, but we’re cute, arent we?”,he said and you laughed:yea we really are”, you replied, more focused on the current pace of your heart...beating very rapidly. You paid for two copies so you could keep it. The rest of the day, you two kept up your shenanigans. It was tough leaving, but you were going to come back tomorrow and, hopefully, your heart would learn to behave.

Day 3:

The two of you sat down to eat lunch on the third day, already having gone through a couple activities.

“Theres Jiro, then theres Saburo, and Saburo is the oldest. We’re all pretty close but Saburo and Jiro always fight a lot, typical sibling stuff…..and a lot of the times it includes me. I keep telling them I dont have favorites but they never listen,”Ichiro sighed with a smile on his face. It wasn’t an exhausted sigh though, he was used to it, it was just how they worked.

You smiled as he rambled on about his brothers. It was very clear that he cherished the both of them dearly and would do anything for them. “That must be nice….Im an only child so I could never relate to these type of things. Thats why I got into anime really, theres was no one that I could play with at the snap of a finger if I wanted to-oh Im not sad about it or anything, I love anime, it was really there for me in trying times, plus the internet.”

Ichiro nodded and then spoke,”Well, you have me now too, and you can be as passionate as you want, no holding back. You have my number now and its already fun texting you when we’re not at the convention.”  He was right. After you guys left, you were quickly texting each other at home before you went to sleep. You sent each other memes,pictures, and talked about a bunch of different topics, that often you had smiling or laughing at your phone.

At that point….you knew had a crush. It was only two days but he was just so…..it was the little things really, not just the fact that you had anime in common. When you were walking through the convention center, going through a massive crowd, he told you to hold onto his jacket, so you wouldn’t get lost. Or how he quickly offered to help hold your stuff when you were buying merchandise. Or even him talking about how much he loves his brothers. Rather than weird, it was insanely cute to you.

It wasnt love per say…..well. Lets be real. You were a sucker when it came to love. Honestly, you dont even feel like counting how many crushes you had but none of those ever came to fruition.  You should just focus on your anime boys but the moment some other boy is even the slightest bit kind to you, like helping you carry books, your heart falls. Despite that though, you felt like this was different. More than just a couple simple acts of kindness.

“Im really enjoying our time here, we’re going to the cosplay masquerade today right? We still have some time to kill, want to go to the game hall?”, you asked,”then we can see which one of us is better at dance dance revolution.” Ichiro smiled and nodded his head,”Yeah! Youre on!”

After that, the two of you managed to spend all of your time in the hall. Ichiro was by a claw machine and you commented,”I suck at these things,”then looked inside, seeing what plushies they had. “I think im pretty decent,”Ichiro said, walking up,”sometimes I won stuff for saburo when I was little...he grew out of it though,”Ichiro said with a laugh.He wanted to try it.

“Good Luck Yamada-kun!”, you said, cheering him on. You were amazed by how focused he looked. “Do you want anything specific?”,he asked you. “Wait, me?”, you said, trying to clarify. Ichiro laughed,”I think you’re the only l/n here,”he said. That...kind of caught you off guard. But you walked up and placed your hands against the glass. “Ummmm, that cat in the middle is kind of cute.”

Ichiro nodded. The first time, he managed to pick the plushie up for about three seconds before it fell, but that was better than what you could do! The second time, he managed to grab it again, your eyes wide in anticipation as you followed the claw and plushie to the drop off slot. “Oh my god, you did it!”,you said, going to high five both of Ichiro’s hands but, instead of letting go, he held them and put them down,”Yeah I did! Guess I didn’t lose my skill after all.” “Yeah...youre amazing”, you said, trying to not comment on the fact that he was still holding both of your hands. God….your heart was a mess. There was no denying you fell for him. At most, it was very high like at this point.

Day 4:

Ichiro was excited to see you again. Well, half-excited and half-sad. He really liked hanging out with you. More often than not, he found himself thinking about how you look best when theres a smile on your face. So, he always did dumb things to make you smile, no matter how stupid it may have looked. Maybe it was because you didn’t think his obsession was weird. When you guys talked, your interests lined up more than he thought they would. It was perfect.

Of course, he eventually figured out that he’d want to see you, in a more romantic context, that it is. He knew his feelings towards you were different. Honestly, he even weirdly got a little bit jealous when you mentioned how hot a specific anime character was. Ichiro didn’t necessarily plan on confessing that day….but who knows how things would turn out. Yes, it had only been three days, but he felt like he knew you already. Really, you guys always messaged each other.

The conversations would go dull for an hour or so but one link to a meme and that sparked a conversation that continued for a while. It was great. He had never felt so validated.

“L/n-san! Hey, morning!”,he said as he walked up to you. You looked like you were thinking hard about something, but Ichiro didn’t comment on it.

In fact, you were. Thinking about how you wouldn’t be able to see him so frequently. It made you….sadder than you expected. Granted you could travel to see him, but it was also due to the fact that it was the last day of the convention. Here, you could be yourselves without glancing over you shoulder every couple seconds in fear that someone you knew would spot you.  It was so much fun, especially because of him!

Its for the best though….your funds were just about dried out. You couldn’t help but smile as you saw him though,”hey, good morning to you too, ready for the last day?” Ichiro laughed,”Yes and No because this has been very exciting.” You nodded in agreement,”it has, it does suck that we cant experience this everyday.”

“well!”,Ichiro clapped his hands,”lets not worry about that and focus on having fun, okay?” Your smile got wider,”yes, okay!” Ichiro spoke,”Datteba-”, then he pointed towards you,”Yo!”, you said, the two of you giggling. This had become your thing now, apparently, but you two werent used to it, hence you laughing off you embarrassment.

You went to the artist alley and exhibit hall one last time, taking a lot more pictures together than usual, even with cosplayers! Ichiro helped you out a lo with expressing that you wanted pictures with them and that was yet another thing that you loved about him. Without even asking him to do so, he just did it on a whim, and that made you incredibly happy.

A bit later, it was closing ceremonies. It wasnt much really, but anything to just spend even a little more time with Ichiro. However, that ended sooner than you expected. And you didn’t know what to do with yourself.

The two of you sat outside on a bench.

“So, I suppose this is it…”,you said. You had to get back early today anyway. Yet, you really didn’t want to. You looked up as Ichiro spoke,”no, its not it. We still have each other’s numbers, we can make it work, I-well….these past few days have been really fun for me,”Ichiro blushed, placing his hand behind his neck. Was he going to confess? If he didn’t do it now he knew he’d procrastinate on doing so forever. He didn’t necessarily have to make sure you were his in this exact moment, but his heart wanted an answer as soon as possible, before he got in too deep.

“The thing is….I want us to be more than just friends. I just….the more we talked, the more I found myself drawn to you. Like I can tell you anything. Its really easy to be myself around you, l/n, I want...to get closer. So, would you go out with me? Or not now, I mean you can think about it but...yeah.”,he said, face blushing. He had only confessed once in his lifetime and that was during elementary….he was quickly shut down.

You….couldn’t believe your ears. Did you really manage to find someone who was interested you at an anime convention. Well, you were sure there were more interesting stories but this was still way out of your league. You even thought he was way out of your league.

“I….we can date. I feel the same, about you, I like talking to you. And I think whats making me so sad is that I cant see you...not the convention part,”you said, looking towards Ichiro and seeing his grow excited. He grabbed your hands quickly and held them,”really?! Thats great.”,he said, letting go than hugging you. Oh. This was happening. It took you a couple seconds to process the hug before you reciprocated it.

Ichiro pulled away, looking down at you, a smile on his face,”when I talk with you, I feel like the happiest and luckiest man in the world. I know love is too strong of a word right now, but I want to do my best to make you happy.”

You were so flustered that you made no response, even more so when you felt his hand on your cheek and saw him leaning in. It all happened quickly. You closed your eyes and suddenly his lips were on yours. No movement, but it lingered for a moment, before he pulled away.

That was your first...kiss. You didn’t mind that it got taken by him but still….it was so much to process. Ichiro brought you back to reality,”Ikebukuro isn’t too far from Yokohama on the train, maybe we could meet in the middle on weekends, or switch up, ah, well I guess we can talk about this letter, getting ahead of myself,”he said and chuckled, which only prompted you to let out a soft laugh. He was like an eager puppy that you wanted to pet. Weird how he so easily calmed your nerves by the sounds of your laughs.

“Datteba-”

“Yo!”

[theamazingsallyhogan]

Let’s talk about ReBoot: The Guardian Code. I had this big plan to write up a long essay about whether an audience can separate behind the scenes drama from a piece of art. After all, we as the audience aren’t supposed to know about any of that stuff. It was going to be awesome. I’d keep calling the show “Guardian Code” and then at the end say “Guardian Code” was perfectly average Canadian kids TV but it wasn’t ReBoot.

I was going to talk about why that was the case and what it means about remakes in general. Some nostalgia talk was going to be thrown in there. Probably would have made an easy Ready Player One joke. I’d delve deep into ReBoot’s place in pop culture and that a Robot Chicken sketch is really the only proof anyone outside hardcore fans remember it.

...

These days though I try not to just drag shows. It’s way too easy to write 800 words why a given episode of say, Power Rangers Ninja Steel, is terrible. Although once you’ve been writing reviews like that for four years it gets old. So instead I try to break down what a “bad episode” means for the franchise or just TV as a whole. It’s less me dunking on a show and more trying to figure out why it ended up the way it did. After all, no one sets out to make a bad episode of TV… right?

Season 1: Episode 10 of ReBoot: The Guardian Code, “Mainframe Mayhem” purports to be a tribute to classic ReBoot. Several voice actors return, they recreate the old sets, and even toss in a few catchphrases. In the lead up to this episode I had a pretty good idea what it would be like.

They wouldn’t resolve “The Hunt” cliffhanger of season four. The characters would make a few pandering references. There would be an attempt to make it seem like The Guardian Code is somehow in the continuity of the original ReBoot (which it would bungle.) The whole “Users as Gods” thing would be forgotten or glossed over.

All of that happened. Was it awful? I mean, yeah. Bob delivering his monologue from the old intro is incredibly ham-fisted. The lines about Hexadecimal not seeing Megabyte in a long time try to acknowledge season four maybe happened at one point but don’t fit. The intriguing idea of Bob, Dot, and Enzo basically meeting their gods is treated as just another wacky day at the diner. But that was expected.

It was a way to try and placate the hardcore fans so The Guardian Codeproducers could have a talking point in interviews about how “this isn’t just a reboot of ReBoot.”

I was prepared for that.

What the summaries and leaks didn’t reveal was that The Guardian Codecharacters and Bob would go inside a game. Okay, cool. Nice little throwback. The problem is that we see the User who’s playing this game and it’s… a  thirty year old neckbeard living in his mother’s basement surrounded by classic ReBoot merchandise. There’s a poster for ReBoot: The Ride. The first art book. He even has a giant statue of Mike the TV.

This guy has been waiting for the old Mainframe to come back online. Yeah, somehow the Mainframe from the old series is locked in a cabinet in the new Guardians lair. I won’t even bother talking about the implications that has for the original series and how it doesn’t jive with what we saw in the third season. There’s something bigger to tackle here.

“And mom said all this time in the basement was wasted.”

That’s an actual line from the episode as the "User" gains the upper hand in the game. His whole life revolves around ReBoot, so much so he still lives in his moms basement. This is where the original idea for my essay fell apart. How do you defend something that so blatantly mocks not just fans of ReBoot but fan culture in general?

I can see where this came from. Ever since the summary for The Guardian Code was released fans were in an uproar. Many went to extreme lengths to make their displeasure known. A lot of it went too far.

No matter how much you don’t like how your favorite franchise is handled, endlessly posting on social media about it and publicly insulting the people making the show is a waste of time. I can imagine discussions in The Guardian Code creative team offices now.

“Why can’t they understand TV is a complex business and we couldn’t sell the show they wanted? Why can’t they just leave us alone? This show isn’t for them.”

That’s a very generous reading of it but hey, not trying to dunk on anyone here. They had an IP and wanted to make a show. I get that. Getting anything made in this business is incredibly difficult. Slapping the name ReBoot on it meant it was more likely to get sold. Sure, fine, it’s understandable.

“And mom said all this time in the basement was wasted.”

This is where any sympathy fades away from the creative team. If this User character hadn’t been included I could have understood (but still not been a fan of) why ReBoot: The Guardian Code ended up the way it did.

A fat nerd living in his mom’s basement is an old stereotype that’s long been played out. By utilizing it the creative team seems to speak directly to its loyal audience and say,

“This is what we think of you.”

It wasn’t necessary. They didn’t have to stoop to the level of making fun of fans, even the ones who take their passion for the franchise too far. A good series shouldn’t engage in that kind of petty dialogue with its audience. It should rise above it.

If ReBoot: The Guardian Code did have something to say about fans that are too devoted to media? If it had been a meta commentary on reboots in general and fan reactions to them? That could have had some merit, especially if it had the clever writing of the old series. Instead we got…

“And mom said all this time in the basement was wasted.”

That doesn’t even sound like something a human being would say. It’s a caricature the creators of this show painted to disregard any negative feedback of The Guardian Code.  When fans would rightly point out, “this sounds nothing like the ReBoot I love”, “it looks like a bad Code Lyokoknockoff”, or “hey, you guys endlessly promised us the original show would return. What gives?” this is the image they went for.

A fat guy who has no life.

The User character in “Mainframe Mayhem” slaps the audience in the face at the same moment it’s trying to bestow them a gift from on high with the return of the old characters and voice cast. It makes even the genuinely delightful moment of Enzo tackling Bob feel tainted.

“Here’s your references, nerds. Now get back to your basement,” it says. That’s not only a horrible message for its older fans but also for its new younger ones.

This is why ReBoot: The Guardian Code doesn’t work as a reboot of ReBootor even as perfectly average Canadian kids TV. It could have been a series that, while saddled with the name of a known IP, strived to be more than what zealous hardcore fans portrayed it as. It could have been fun on its own, divorced from its roots.

That’s the show I would have been fine with. I wouldn’t have been a fan but it could have led to an interesting discussion.

“And mom said all this time in the basement was wasted.”

I can’t separate the series from the behind the scenes drama because it actively parades it for everyone to see. It stoops to the level of the hardcore overzealous fans it attempts to make fun of. In that, “Mainframe Mayhem” is one of the worst episodes of television I’ve ever seen.

[heromngmnt]

London has been a stop on my journeys a lot. I can’t avoid mentioning how many cool things you can discover there. Things that most of the tourists actually are not aware of. Especially by using some fancy and expensive guidebooks or, even worse, prepared trips by some company. Being indoors of Buckingham Palace was never my ambition. I’d rather jump in some huge bookstore. Or in some unknown place that is not completely overcrowded with tourists. I can absolutely relate to Claude Monet who despised tourists while being one. These people are nuts.

So here’s my pocket travel guide or things that geeks and nerds might find mind-blowing. Nothing much, just some hints I’ve discovered by myself. Because trust me, whenever I am in this city, it is completely different. I had believed that after this trip I would have most of my “To-Visit” list checked. Well, I’ve found even more fun stuff to discover!

  Platform 9 ¾

This one’s cheesy, I know. I’ve been a Potterhead my whole life but my trips have never got me there. Took a few pictures of this damn trolley but wasn’t exactly eager to wait in this huge queue to get a picture of me. Well, not a fan of these anyway. It seemed fun though. You get a wand and a house scarf of your choice. Not sure if you have to pay 10 pounds for your own pictures but it sounds quite ridiculous to me.

I was actually more interested in the Potter shop there. It was everything and nothing I’ve expected. There were damn owl cages stuck to the ceiling and people saying “There’s a ghost in that section” whenever some things fell or something. I felt magical there. But the shop itself is magically overpriced. I need to buy my scarf eventually but maybe not there since it is over 30 pounds. At least books are quite all right.

Anyway, it’s a necessary stop for Potterheads and, to be honest, it is amazing even if you’re not exactly a fan of the series.

Details: it’s not on the actual platform which is kind of sad but luckily there’s no need to enter to the platforms which you know… costs money. If you’d like to run between 9th and 10th platform be my guest but muggles will get you down soon enough.

  House of Minalima

Getting not so far from Pottermania, this one is so damn cool. I wouldn’t have found it without my Londoner friend and I’m so glad. It’s a house made by Potterheads for Potterheads. It is a shop on the ground floor, but everything else is amazing. It has a chimney with the letters falling out of it, a lot of film props and a nice small corridor with Wanted wizard posters. Not necessarily a very fancy place but definitely a pearl in this huge city. This is something that may be easily overlooked if you don’t have a clue about it.

Details: Soho

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Soho

I find nothing fancy in there but anyone enjoying any kind of Asian culture would get a nice vibe. You can buy all kinds of stuff from Japan or Korea. I assume anyone visiting London knows about that place already so it’s just a mention.

221B Baker Street and Sherlock Museum

I am still unable to accept how many great things London has because of… Scots. Arthur Conan Doyle was one of them and here I am discovering his greatest fictional characters interiors in the centre of London. I felt a little off being there and I wanted to shout that Sherlock was never really here, but it seemed plenty of people got that weird belief he was an actual person. Well, Sherlock fame may be a little low at the moment but it is not making him less popular.

The museum itself is lovely, though. It has small interiors with a lot of Victorian-era items which are real and were actually used back then. And the rooms are incredibly detailed. Obviously, everything is based on the books themselves. So there’s that skull, Victoria bust, make-up set and everything else Sherlock used. You can find a lot of resemblances between these and the series with Benedict Cumberbatch. I was always amazed how detailed the series is and how they tried to create Sherlock to be true to his Victorian self. The film with Robert Downey Jr is fun but it does not have these similarities. It’s not, you know, very British, to be fair.

Then there’re also a bunch of wax figures that shows the famous characters themselves and a few people from the most popular cases. Obviously, Moriarty is there, too. What I enjoyed was also plenty of things connected to the cases as well. A painting of hounds might be my favourite but there’re a few more I’ll let you discover on your own.

Details: 15 pounds entrance; You need to buy a ticket in the store next to the 221B door; Baker Street

Film Museum

It was not what I’ve expected. Well, I might have hoped for something more but apparently, the exhibitions are changing quite often. So for me, it was rather a James Bond museum than a Film one.

It was incredible nonetheless. There are actual cars used in the films and a lot of props I couldn’t believe were reachable. I was happy to see an ID for Ben Whishaw’s Q, but it’s me. I guess a lot of men (generalizing here) would be happy to see the actual Aston Martin. I’m a complete ignorant of the cars subject but I know my man was in some kind of heaven. And not only Bond’s cars are there. A lot of villains models are there as well. Do not ask me which. Car ignorant. But good looking ones.

Furthermore, there were a lot of other vehicles including boats and planes from the Bond films, too. Apart from these, if you’re not interested – tuxes. Not necessarily ones with bullet holes or something but the sharp and handsome ones.

Details: 15 pounds (concession 9.50 for students); Covent Garden

SIS Building

Being in the Bond subject there’s MI6 building I find cool to see. You know, the one from the films. It’s literally a Secret Intelligence Service building. And it’s actually easily reachable while strolling next to the Thames. Just hope for a nice weather.

There’re plenty of other secret agencies buildings throughout London if you’re only eager to search for those so good luck there. Maybe they’ll appreciate your secret skills after such search, eh?

Shopping time!

Forbidden Planet

This is my go-to place whenever I’m in London. Usually, I visit it a couple of times not to miss any deliveries. This is literally my heaven. You get two floors of geek stuff. The ground floor is full of figurines of all kinds and other collectables. Oh, and there’s a huge glassed exhibition with most beautiful figures (and most pricey). So just dive in the world with all kinds of stuff your heart might desire.

The basement is more of a brain desire. It’s full of comics and books and everything paper. You can find a cute bargain only by making a research in their older comics or find a book you’ve been looking for. Personally, I still love their special stuff such as Fight Club comic with Chuck Palahniuk autograph. Pricey, but damn, worth it. There’s very small count of times I leave Forbidden Planet empty-handed.

Details: Covent Garden

Disney Store

You can find everything on Oxford Street. And Disney store is the one you really want to enter. Even just for a quick look, it’s worth checking out. There’s even that damn carriage from Cinderella. And obviously, everything that Disney has rights to, which includes Marvel merchandise. Who knows, maybe it’ll include all Fox-related stuff as well?

Anyway, it’s a fun shop to enter. If you’re in need of a Funko related to Disney then it has quite normal prices. And there’s some stuff only available in their stores so it’s worth checking just to be sure.

Details: Oxford Street

HMV

Recently HMV got worse than ever with their prices but old love forgives a lot. I’ve been checking out this store since my very first London trip and it has changed greatly with time, especially since there’s not many HMVs left now. But if you’re in need of some culture related item it’s worth checking out, especially since it’s right in front of Disney Store.

WHat’s in there? Everything and nothing, actually. They used to have only music and films, but right now there’re also shirts, Funko Pops and other geek gizmos, plenty of books and comics and so on. So basically if your needs aren’t covered anywhere else, it’s worth checking. Sometimes they have some bargains you could enjoy.

Details: Oxford Street

Lego Store

It’s a new one. I mean, I’ve just seen it this year. But damn, it’s almost like a small Legoland. There’s everything Lego, you can check out the bigger sets come to life on the VR and see quite a lot of cool constructions. These include Millenium Falcon, Hulkbuster, Shakespeare, Telephone Booth (1:1 size) and so on. Of course, you can build something yourself… If you’re cool with sharing with kids. And if you find a place to yourself.

But if you need a rest and level up your sugar there’s also M&Ms store right next to it, so feel free to wonder there as well.

Details: Leicester Square

Porgs!

Foyles

Everyone loves four storey bookstore! If not then you might be on a way to start. It has tons of books, comics, stationery, art albums and tons of other stuff that may just get you curious. On the top floor, there is a cute little cafe and some adorable stuff. So just don’t lose too much money there.

Camden Town + Mega City Comics

This one I haven’t visited for a while now. But I’ll hold a special place for this part of London. This store was the one I spent my last money on my very first ever comic book. That’s a kind of things you don’t forget. It was the very first sheet of Avengers vs X-men and I recommend this story from the bottom of my heart. And the place as well.

Camden Town is actually something else. It’s a place where all the possible “weirdos” get together. There’re a lot of shops for every possible subculture and it’s so damn incredible. You can find there very dark and gothic houses, a lot of punks with their mohawk being almost as long as their arms and so on. I loved it there. Everyone’s so friendly, most of them are fine with taking pictures with you. So go ahead and take a look around. Oh, and don’t forget that a lot of booths wants you to make some deals by some trading. Not my thing, actually, but just to be aware.

Is that it?

No, not really. While researching the subjects I’ve noticed plenty of other fun museums or places I’d like to visit. I’ve been hearing that WB Harry Potter tour is worth its high price so next time I might just check it out. And well, nothing stays the same, so hopefully, I’ll make a new post on the subject after my next visit!

PS. Also, this post was getting so long I decided to leave a few things for the next round. Cheers!

London for geeks London has been a stop on my journeys a lot. I can’t avoid mentioning how many cool things you can discover there.

[idontlikesummer]

Japan 2017 Trip 1.2 (?)

Yeah, it’s fast, haha. But I had to rush back to Japan because of a family event at the tail-end of July. Buying a plane ticket for a trip the next day is literally the most spontaneous thing I’ve done in my life. This 6-day trip is a lot less exciting than the previous one because we’re not technically there on holiday, but it was still somewhat of an experience. I traveled with my family this time—mainly my brother and mom, since my dad couldn’t make it to Tokyo with us. I won’t be including as much details here as my previous trip, since it really was a rushed trip! But if you’re still interested in some undiscovered parts of Tokyo and my ramblings on childhood, feel free to read on!

This is my first time taking a transit flight! We went on Thai airways for the first time! Stopped at the Bangkok for an hour, hehe.

We sat near the window seat! I was really nervous at first since I’m really bad at enduring turbulence, but this was hands down the BEST ride I ever had. Forget about the turbulence, the plane didn’t even SHAKE. Regardless, my anxiety just wouldn’t allow me a night’s rest, so I didn’t sleep for one night! 

I also ate garlic pork rice in the morning! It was really good! The first time I ate in a plane for ten years, I think. After touching down, we rushed to Ueno to take the shinkansen to Sakudaira station, where my paternal family lives.

We always take Asama line to my family’s hometown. It used to be a white bullet train with blue and red lines, but now they changed it to gold and blue ;w;. My brother and I were lamenting since the colours we associated with our childhood is gone.

To those interested, this is how the old train looks!

Chicken bentou at the Ueno station! It seems to be a very child friendly bentou.

View of the countryside where my paternal family stays! It rained a lot the few days we were there, so in spite of it being summer, the weather was very cool and pleasant. There was also a lot of fog! We used to play by a river near this area as kids, but it seems that there are a lot of plants creeping around the area this time and it’s hard to reach the river, so I couldn’t really get a picture of it. I feel a bit wistful and poignant staring at this scenery, since I haven’t been here for years. I hope I can come back more often from now on. It really is a very lovely village.

More pictures! I was fascinated by this signpost because it seems that a lot of people living in this village have the same surname as the words on the post.

Apparently, my aunt told me I was named after this flower! It was in full bloom when we arrived

Some really NICE dinner at the event. Most of the food here was sashimi! We ate sashimi for three straight days

There was a slug in the bathroom HAHA. It didn’t really move so I didn’t mind it much.

We went back to Sakudaira station soon after three days. These boxes of tomatoes were relevant to my interests! One whole box only costs 80 yen which is REALLY cheap!! They are really big too, just in case you’re wondering!

So we took the train all the way back to Tokyo again! And we docked at Shimo-Ochiai station, where we rented AirBnB! THIS PLACE IS SO GOOD. Would highly recommend if you’re staying in Tokyo! It’s a two-storey house with really homey décor! And the host (who is really friendly and professional!) lets you pick one of three rooms. We decided to pick the Japanese style room on the third floor! You can find the link to the AirBnB here!

This is how it looks! You can exit the doors on the right to go to the balcony!

The kitchen and dining area! We sat here to have supper every day while we were in Tokyo!

I caught a sticker of Yayoi Kusama’s pumpkin on the door!!

Naturally, since Shimo-ochiai was a stop away from Takadanobaba, I decided to drag my family to the polar bear’s café!! They are having a different sale right now. It seems that they are having a panda fair atm!

Now they have calendar coasters!

When I found out that they were selling a limited edition cappuccino with coffee art of panda disguising himself as polar bear, of course, I had to go get it

LOOK AT HIM.

I had the salmon stew that Polar Bear made Grizzly in episode 25!! It was REALLY good!! My mom got the same thing, and my brother took the katsu dish!

Now they placed hats on the life sized penguin and panda HAHA

We went to eat at a sukiyaki restaurant with Belle!! (and no we didn’t order what was in the picture because we couldn’t finish that). It's called 木曽路 (Kisoji) and to anyone interested I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT because of the quality of its meat and its generous portions!

THE MEAT IS TO DIE FOR.

In sukiyaki, after cooking the meat, you’re supposed to dip it in raw egg. It sounds intimidating but it’s really delicious!!

VEGETABLES (that my brother refused to eat because he doesn’t eat his veges)

TOMATOES

Lok at all the vegetables sizzling in the pan. The onions were my favourite!

And they served the udon last before the dessert! It’s really quite a lot of food! But it’s all delicious so thank God that we could finish everything

I didn’t manage to get a picture of the sizzling meat in the pan so have a look at it on the restaurant menu.

THE FOOD IS REALLY GOOD. Literally everything here, especially the beef, was melt in your mouth heaven.

NEXT DAY (Harajuku and Shibuya)

We headed straight to Harajuku to eat since we left the house later than planned today. The first vegetable juice I drank in my life is Pokemon vegetable juice!

YUZU RAMEN. This is the craziest ramen I’ve ever eaten! It was not bad!! Apparently, it’s one of the more popular ramen joints in Harajuku. It was already jam packed by the time we arrived!

If you ever get the chance to eat Kakuni (braised pork) in Japan, DO IT. I promise you a slice of heaven

We went to Meiji Jingu just like last time, and we shopped a bit in GAP! Before long, we were hungry, and since my brother and mother couldn’t walk so much, we decided to go to Doutour coffee soon after shopping at GAP.

Don’t let the cheap prices of this joint fool you. Doutor coffee is everywhere in Japan and for GOOD REASON. Honestly this was the best BLACK COFFEE I’ve ever had. I think they roast their beans really well!

We went to Marion crepes after that! It's in the middle of takeshita street, so we had to walk a bit to get there. I also managed to shop at this place called good day! It sells the best clothes in the entire street in my opinion!

Life is good. A toast to marion crepes

We walked quite a bit after that! My brother went to do some shopping in Adidas, and we walked to Shibuya from there. Once again, on the way, I stopped by Alice on Wednesday, a quaint little shop which sells Alice in Wonderland merchandise! My family was really tired from the walk, so I decided to bring them to eat cow tongue rice.

It is as GOOD as ever. By the time we finished, everything in Shibuya was closing, so we had to go home after that. But the adventures of the day don’t end there!

It turns out there was a mini supermarket at the place we were staying. I got really carried away looking at their meat! I MEAN LOOK. All these are perfectly red and they only range from 200 to 800 yen!!

Their bacon and ham are to DIE for. But that’s enough excitement for the day. I bought some roasted pork to eat for breakfast the next day (but sadly I didn’t take a picture of it)!

NEXT DAY (Shibuya)

There was a melon bread shop near the shimochiai station! Apparently they specialize in melon bread with CREAM

This is a mini model of the melon bread. I’m excited already

The REAL THING. This is the best melon bread I have ever eaten HANDS DOWN. I love how you could just randomly walk around in Japan and go to a random shop, and everything you try is delicious.

I want this vending machine in my house

We decided to look around in the Tokyu Shibuya supermarket since my mom always talks about what nice food these supermarkets have. True enough, look at these omg

I REALLY WANTED TO TRY THIS

They didn’t have a price tag on these watermelons so I assume they’re not for sale. Pity!!

I am literally screeching at how fresh these prawns look

From the roof top of Tokyu!

We went to a Tempura restaurant at the top floor! I was really carried away looking at this thing while we were waiting for the food

IT WAS SO GOOD. I ate the set at the bottom! It was really refreshing and thirst quenching, since it’s cold noodles! They also used wild vegetables for the tempura (they didn’t have the typical stuff like sweet potato and pumpkins), so it was a really pleasant surprise! I didn’t know what I ate I just ate them all

I decided to eat kakuni again! I really want to try making this back at home. It’s such a good dish I’m obsessed

Immediately after we went back to the basement to have dumplings. Travelling with family is always about eating

Kimi no na wa posters outside the Tokyu building! It seems that the bluray just got released! We walked around a bit after that and visited the shops my family wanted to go. Including Loft

In the meantime I got carried away taking pictures of graffiti outside the shops lmao. Halfway through, my family decided to take a rest at Starbucks, while I went to Shibuya 109 in the meantime. They had clearance sales all throughout the building so I managed to snag some really good deals from this shop called Ingni!

Before long it was time to eat (AGAIN). If you’re ever in Shibuya Tokyu please eat at this restaurant! It’s called Maisen, and it serves tonkatsu (Fried pork cutlet). I think this is the best tonkatsu I’ve eaten all my life. Usually I only get the air-flown version of the food here, so eating it at the restaurant itself was a GREAT experience!

SO TASTY.

TOPS cake! It’s a chocolate brand in Japan that my entire family adores! I’m not one for chcocolate but even I loved this! It’s really worth a try if you’re in Tokyo! We ate this with our host, and we had a great chat!

Of course I’m a glutton so I ate extra things for dessert.

NEXT DAY (Shinjuku and Shibuya (Don’t we always go back to Shibuya?))

Arrived in Shinjuku! Apparently this shop is a Singaporean brand! Fancy seeing you here!

SHINJUKUUUUUUUU. I came through this exit about five years ago with my father! It really brings me back to the good old days tbh

Remember this guy from my previous trip? I saw this whole stash of Totoros at tokyu hands in takashimaya, so naturally I put my own totoro in the middle of them to snap a shot HAHA.

After this we went to meet up with my cousin who was in Tokyo! We travelled the day with her after that! First, we needed to eat, so we had to take the big lift up to the highest levels in Takashimaya. I had a bad experience with lifts before, so I excused myself and decided to take the escalator.

We ate tempura again! The last tempura was ice cream, if you’re interested! It wasn’t bad! But I did prefer the tempura from yesterday.

After this, we decided to look around in Shinjuku! We went to Tower Records, Don Quijote and Gap! And after a while we decided to go back to Shibuya again (lol)

Now I actually managed to get a proper shot of the Shibuya cityscape! I love this place so much.

We went to the basement of seibu to try out some food! Most of the shops close at 8pm, but the restaurants close later. We went to this Western buffet restaurant, and I took pictures of some of my more presentable salad plates. Lmao. Everything else after these three plates was just chaos.

Some of our mini-main courses!

After this we had to go back home ;w;. We said goodbye to our cousin and went back to Shimo-Ochiai! She was very nice to send us off at the platform despite holding so many things in her hands. I haven’t seen her for 8 years prior to this, so I hope we can see her soon again!

But the day hasn’t ended yet! Our host was very kind to buy us tarts on our last day! These cheese tarts are from a company called BAKE—which is apparently one of the most famous producers of cheese tarts in Japan. The quality of the tarts are REALLY good!!

FINAL DAY Departure

Nothing much to say other than us going back to Singapore! We left the house before peak hours so we didn’t manage to say goodbye to our host for that one last time ;w; The trip to Narita was mostly uneventful and I slept a little on the train..

Last meal in Japan at Narita airport! Porridge is great because I get quite airsick easily, so I can’t swallow too much oily food before a flight!

LOOK AT THE DECORATION. I love all the attention to detail tbh

Half an hour before the flight, I decided to swallow this down. It’s not bad! I wanted to save it for when I touched down in Singapore, but it seems that they don’t allow water on planes

BONUS:

This is just a little tidbit! But my grandma used to make us this thing called Matsutake gohan (it’s basically mushroom rice, but the mushroom they use is a special kind that only grows on mountains in autumn)! My aunt made this for us to bring back to Singapore so I was really happy and touched. She gave us enough to feed my family for three meals!

Also, I managed to eat the cup noodles I got from the cup noodle museum in my previous trip! Look at all the Hiyoko-chan narutos!!! I really hope they sell the original cup noodles in Singapore soon. It is my favourite flavour of Nissin cup noodles!

But yeah, that’s about it for now! This trip was really rushed so there were lots of things I didn’t take pictures of. But thanks for reading all the same!

[rex101111]

What would class 1-A react when they finally see Hero Merch of themselves??? And What kind of Deku merchandise willOchako secretly buy ??

I think they would all really love it! To varying dagrees at least. I mean, they all grew up with some kind of hero merch, so them having merch of their own would feel like they really “hit the big time.”

Izuku would be over the moon. Considering how much All Might stuff he’s bought over the years, the first time he walks into a shop and sees Deku Merch would be amazing. He’d probably call his mom with a picture of a Deku plush with the caption: Mom look at this!! (she’d do the same if she found it first, and becomes the biggest collector of Deku merch in no time at all)

Ochako probably made sure she would get the lion’s share of the royalties from her Uravity stuff. She’d send most of it to her parents along with whatever new thing that gets released. Her parents have a whole shelf of Uravity merch. She herself is really happy with it too! (she also makes sure there are plenty of extra cheap stuff for kids whose parents can’t afford some of the higher end things)

I’m guessing the Iida family has kind of a “line” of toys based on each member of the family, with the same toy company making the toys for a few generations now. Like, when Iida becomes a full fledged hero his parents take him to the office of the company CEO so he could have a bigger say in how his merch is made. He cries a little when a special edition figure of his gets released that includes him posing with the previous Ingenium, his brother.

Bakugou is really smug about his merch…on the inside, like hell is he going to go out and actually say that he’s happy about it. He’s a bit pissed that they’ve made a few plushies of him though. (sqeeze them and a high pitched “die!” or other related Bakugou-isim comes out) He’s a bit cooler with it when a few kids walk up to him with those plushies asking for an autograph.

Kirishima is fucking pumped the first time he sees Red Riot merch. He actually poses for a lot of the figures and posters. Whenever a fan shows up for an autograph while wearing his costume he makes a point of posing with them for a picture too.

Tsuyu just smiles the first time she sees Froppy merch. She buys a few figures for her little brother and a plushie for her little sister, but other wise she’s actually rather chill about it. (then she hears about the body pillows some are making in her image and comes down on them like the wrath of God. The less said about what happens when she hears about the body pillows people are making of her friends, the better)

Aoyama inspects every single piece of Can’t Stop Twinkling Merchendice that comes out, every single one, even some of the racier stuff. Bootleg stuff of his is really easy to spot because it doesn’t shine as brightly as possible. He releases a Japanese-French-Japanese dictionary under his name, barely anyone buys it.

Mina is giddy as all hell whenever she sees Pinky stuff. Her most popular items are fake horns and black contacts. Her personal favorite is a squirt gun that colors the water like her acid, she uses it all the time in pranks and such.

Ojiro probably releases a bunch of Tailman brand “Karate lesson” discs and such. As well as Gi and gloves and such. More or less all of his stuff that isn’t figures or plushies (an infamously popular plushie that was just his tail haunts him to this day) are sports equipment. He’s probably the least hyped about it, he’s happy, but mostly he considers it to be purely buissness.

Kaminari has a bunch of stereotypical cool stuff, like skateboards and roller blades and shit. Also he has a bunch of Chargebolt brand shit. Chargebolt shampo, Chargebolt hair dye (to put some charge in your static!™), Chargbolt soda, you name it he’s allowed his name to be put on it.

Kyouka has more music stuff with the Earphone Jack name on it then is probably possible. Like honestly. Obviously the most popular item are ear buds shaped like her Jacks. Some of the other basic stuff, like figures, are kinda embarrassing to her honestly.

Kouda has a punch of pet products with his hero name on it. A lot of pet stores and animal shelters have his image on the front with him surrounded by animals along with the caption, “Animal loved, Anima approved!” Obviously a lot of shady places have this banner up without his premission, which brings out the very rare angry side of him when he finds out.

Sato has a bunch of cooking and baking stuff with the Sugerman logo on it. He’s really happy the first time he gets a letter from a kid who bought one of his easy-bake ovens that said he’s inspired the kid to be a cook.

Shoji is pretty damn happy to see kids running around with a bunch of fake tentacles strapped to them. His figures are actually some of the cooler ones, with really dynamic poses using all of his limbs. Otherwise he’s pretty chill about it.

Sero is kinda miffed that the first piece of merch he has is…a tape dispenser. It takes a long time for him to get any actually shit made of him and when they do finally make some cellophone merch, he ecstatic.

Tokoyami does not like the fact that his most popular item is a plushie of dark shadow. Honestly, there are a bunch of cooler stuff, like figures of him in a fighting pose are posters of him and dark shadow beating down their enemies, and the one thing people buy more then anything else is this 300 yen black bird toy that goes, Ay-o!, when you squeeze it? Some people honestly…

Todoroki only really has figures of him in cool poses. He likes it but he thinks its getting a bit old. The first time he gets a plushie made of him he actually smiles because finally something that isn’t him looking cool! 

As for Tooru…gloves, that is literally it. Just gloves and and boots. It really bums her out. She actually almost stopped Tsuyu from getting rid of her body pillows because at least that’s something. 

Momo loves every single thing made of her, plushies, figures, you name it. She even buys some of the rarer and expensive stuff for herself because she thinks they did a really good job on it. She put out a few Creati brand study guides for every grade from grade school to senior year in high school that sell like hot cakes.

Grape juice brand grape juice. That’s it. Mineta is outraged, his class is not surprised.

Bonus: There’s a super rare Deku plush of him in his very first costume. Nobody really knows how the people that made it knew how it looked it, since he only wore it once when he fought Bakugou before it got nearly destroyed, but those who were there can tell it is completely accurate.

Ochako has actually bought it right under everyone’s nose. She keeps it somewhere safe where nobody can find it. Every now and again if she’s having a bad day she takes it out and hugs it as she sleeps.

[biofunmy]

Ahoy There, Mommy! Family Sails Around World on YouTube

NEWPORT, R.I. — They met in Ios, Greece: locking eyes across the town square, both in their 20s then. (She had noticed his distinctive mustache.) Elayna Carausu was playing guitar and singing for a travel company; Riley Whitelum was living on the sailboat he had bought with money saved from working for years on oil rigs.

When he told her had a boat, she thought it was a pickup line.

Luckily he had learned a few things in the months before that encounter. Despite having grown up, like Ms. Carausu, mostly in coastal Australia, Mr. Whitelum had no sailing experience before he bought a barely used 43-foot Beneteau from three bickering Italians.

Ms. Carausu was, thank heavens, not on board the night it nearly sank. It was moored off Dubrovnik, Croatia, slowly taking on water from a hidden leak, when it was swamped by the wake from a fishing boat.

Mr. Whitelum had kept the bilge pumps off to save electricity, a rookie mistake, and he awoke to a cabin awash in water. After pumping it out, he turned to Google: “My boat is sinking, what do I do?”

Google responded, koan-like. “‘All boats are sinking,’” he recalled reading. “‘The main factor is how fast. Don’t panic. Find the source of the leak.’”

Six years later, Mr. Whitelum, now 32, not only no longer has to ask Google for help, he and Ms. Carausu, 26, have also become YouTube stars for their adventures at sea.

More than a million people subscribe to their channel, Sailing La Vagabonde (the name of their boat), which has chronicled their life aboard in endearing, instructive and sometimes terrifying videos: two Atlantic and one Pacific crossings; maggoty trash; broken equipment; storms and becalmings; scaldings and other injuries; the boredom of weeks offshore when you’ve read all your books; would-be pirates; and this year, a stowaway, their 10-month-old son, Lenny.

There are many, many sailing YouTubers, including Brian Trautman, a former Microsoft analyst, and his brother, Brady. Their channel, named for their boat, SV Delos, has almost 356,000 subscribers, and patrons can apply to be crew online.

And there are many attractive people exploring beautiful locations clad only in their bathing suits, as Ms. Carausu and Mr. Whitelum often are.

But in this sprawling universe that also covers the shred guitarists, the dadaist live streamers, the haul girls, the van dwellers and the extreme eaters, the couple stands out because they are good television; escapism without the queasy aftermath. Joshua Slocums for the digital age, they offer a view of life in authentically challenging circumstances, in contrast to the manufactured dramas the medium typically invites.

Since they began posting in late 2014, Ms. Carausu and Mr. Whitelum’s videos have become more polished, thanks to a drone, multiple cameras and editing help. “Our Morning Routine Onboard,” posted at the end of May, has nearly three million views.

Maybe what compels is simply their competence and equanimity. There is no whinging on board La Vagabonde.

Or maybe it’s the accent, shown off when Mr. Whitelum, for example, reads David Foster Wallace, his favorite author. It is doubtful that any member of the badly behaving crews on “Below Deck,” the Bravo reality show about life on megayachts now in its seventh season, is passing around copies of “The Pale King.”

Trading Up

On a recent Saturday, the couple were at home on their catamaran, which was docked at Gurney’s Newport Resort & Marina. Lenny was gnawing an apple and playing with a USB cord. He has barely any baby gear, and fewer toys: a Jolly Jumper; a baby seat; a stick, a triangle and a pair of tiny cymbals.

“To explain the obvious,” Mr. Whitelum said, “boat living is enforced minimalism.”

The boat’s engine was broken and they had been in town waiting for parts for over a week, guests of Sean Kellershon, the dock master at Gurney’s.

Mr. Kellershon has been following their adventures for years; when he saw that they were heading north after months in the Bahamas, he offered them a spot at the marina. “They just seemed like really cool people,” he said.

Mr. Whitelum was wearing what looked like a Star Wars T-shirt, except that Mark Hamill’s face had been replaced with his own; Carrie Fisher’s with Ms. Carausu’s; and under Darth Vader’s helmet was Lenny. Designed by a fan, it’s La Vagabonde merchandise, $29, made by an ecologically conscious company in Los Angeles.

The couple sells shirts, hoodies, totes, sailing guides and cookbooks they have written from their website, mailed in compostable envelopes. But they make most of their living from patrons: about 3,500 subscribers who pay $3 to $10 for early access to the videos and other perks, like the chance to meet the couple for dinner and a sail, perhaps, if La Vagabonde comes to their town.

Ms. Carausu and Mr. Whitelum’s living costs are moderate. Ms. Carausu estimated they might spend $400 every two weeks on groceries in places they can catch their own fish, and $400 every two months or so on diesel fuel. They run their engine as little as possible, and charge their batteries with solar and wind power.

Still, boat maintenance is expensive. Conventional wisdom says that once a boat is more than two years old, it costs 15 percent of its purchase price every year. Their elegant and airy new boat, a 48-foot Outremer, is about two and a half years old, and lists for about $780,000.

After having seen one in Los Roques, an archipelago off Venezuela, Mr. Whitelum wooed the company, which built a boat designed specially for the couple, and arranged a lease they could pay monthly at a slightly discounted rate.

On forums like Reddit, fans have debated the couple’s good fortune. Had they sold out? Were they still relatable? Could you learn from their videos if they were sailing such a high-end craft? Was their video making work anyway?

But as one poster noted, “ … people think that just anyone can get a GO PRO and do a YouTube Channel, get on Patreon and make hay. It just does not work this way. It actually takes quite a bit of onscreen talent and editing skills to get viewers … I’ll admit it. I just like these people.”

Mr. Whitelum and Ms. Carausu did not set out to be YouTube personalities. Mr. Whitelum skipped university and started a business digging trenches for Australia’s phone company before going to work on oil rigs for eight years. Between three-week shifts, he backpacked around the world, intent on saving his money.

At the start of a trip through South America, he broke his neck in the surf at Copacabana beach in Rio. The surgery temporarily paralyzed his vocal cords, and he couldn’t speak or work for six months. Though he had sailed only once, a miserable three days beating into the wind off Southern Australia, he said, it was his dream to buy a boat and learn how to handle it.

“‘O.K., so you’re going to be alone forever then,’” a friend predicted darkly.

‘What About the Sharks?’

Ms. Carausu had been a tomboy with two older brothers who learned to ride a motorcycle before she ever got on a bike; she learned to drive a motorboat before graduating from high school, where her curriculum included marine studies and aquaculture.

Afterward, she worked as a dive master in Queensland, Australia, living in a Kia van she painted and fixed up until the fateful trip to Ios. A travel company had hired her after seeing her in videos she had posted on Facebook, and she quit two weeks early to go sailing with Mr. Whitelum.

They had known each other barely more than a month when he said, “It would be great if you’d sail the world with me.” Ms. Carausu decided to sell all her belongs and go for it.

“I had always hung around guys who didn’t have any goals and here was this sailor guy who just got stuff done,” she said. “I knew he was going to go far, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

“‘What about the waves? What about the sharks?’” Ms. Carausu remembered her mother saying. “Deep-ocean sailing for her was a combination of ‘Jaws’ and ‘The Perfect Storm,’” which was one reason Ms. Carausu began posting reassuring footage of their trip, using a Canon Power Shot.

The first videos are very much like home movies, charting progress south from the Mediterranean to Cape Verde, and then across the Atlantic. “I saw something good in what we were doing,” Ms. Carausu said, “and I thought people would be interested. I wanted to put them up on YouTube, but Riley wouldn’t let me.”

But by Malta, a month in, he had relented. Within a few weeks of its posting, their first video had over 70,000 views. “She was flipping out, and I was like, ‘Cool, but what does it mean?’ For five months it was still a hobby,” Mr. Whitelum said.

After their first Atlantic crossing, funds were low. By Grenada, they were broke. As they prepared to fly home to work, having hauled the boat out of the water there, they announced their plans in a video to let their community know that would be the last for a while.

Subscribers turned into paying patrons by the hundreds. It took some time, however, for Mr. Whitelum to wrap his head around the idea of being crowdfunded. “That was really hard for me,” he said, “taking money from strangers.”

The filming process typically takes three days; after Lenny’s birth, Ms. Carausu hired an editor to make the initial cuts, though she puts the finishing touches on before posting. They hope to keep sailing, boat-school Lenny and continue to make videos, Kardashians-like, but wholesome and afloat.

Ms. Carausu has designed a line of swimwear she calls Vaga Bella Swim, made from recycled, ocean-harvested plastic trash, and plans to donate the proceeds to a charity.

“I’ve always been dreaming of the perfect bikini,” she said. “Something that looks a little bit sexy, but that you can spearfish and dive in without having a body part fall out.” The couple is also hoping to turn the boat into a vessel with zero or low emissions.

Once their engine was fixed, they rode a nor’easter to the Annapolis Boat Show in Maryland, surfing 30 knots of wind for three nights and four days, to meet up with hundreds of patrons there.

Currently they are sailing to Charleston, S.C., where they will leave the boat with friends for two months so they can return home for the Christmas holidays. Then they’ll take the boat through the Panama Canal, and across the Pacific to Australia, a first for them, and circumnavigate their home country, with all the challenges that will bring.

“One year on a boat is like 10 on land,” Mr. Whitelum said. “Now it’s as if we’ve been married for 50 years. If you’re not sure about a partner, take them sailing.”

Sahred From Source link Travel

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[recentanimenews]

Anime NYC 2018, Day Two

Yesterday was light to nonexistent. The same for tomorrow. But today? We had ALL THE THINGS! Starting off with the joint Kodansha and Vertical panel, which was in a nice big panel room and there was no line. A good start!

Ben Applegate was there from Kodansha and Tomo Tran from Vertical. They talked about all the giveaways they had at the booth, with Summer Wars stickers, After the Rain music download cards, Devils’ Line stuff, Pop Team Epic “shitty merchandise” (nicely done), and some of the Monogatari art exhibit being available to look at. Vertical then announced a new artbook from VOFAN, the artist for the Monogatari Series novels. This is actually a collection of his non-commercial art, so it should be far more intriguing than just another collection of stuff you’ve seen before in a larger size. It’s coming in Fall 2019.

Kodansha ran through some of their titles currently being released, including the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, and mentioned the Sailor Moon musical is coming to NYC and DC. They then got on to new titles, though one is a collected edition: Princess Jellyfish is getting a Complete Box Set! Given at one point they weren’t sure they’d even finish the series, this is terrific news. Tales of Berseria is a three-volume series from Ichijinsha’s Comic REX, and is a fantasy title based off of a video game – I think it has an anime as well.

Fate/Grand Order gets its first manga adaptation license with the mortalis stella series, a 2-volume manga that is also Ichijinsha, from their Comic Zero Sum. I believe this stars Mash. Lastly, Kodansha is doing a new Cardcaptor Sakura edition with all the bells and whistles – hardcover, some new covers, new translation – the whole nine yards. I was a bit surprised by this, given it wasn’t too long ago that Dark Horse had re-released the series, but I’ve heard this will be worth the repurchase.

There were also two new digital announcements, coming out the first and second week of December, respectively. Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice (Akazukin no Ookami Deshi) is a Betsushonen title with Little Red Riding Hood as a beast hunter, and it’s supposed to be amusing. And on a more ridiculous note, we have Crocodile Baron, a Weekly Morning title that is three volumes long. Kodansha emphasized that the synopsis was irrelevant because there was a crocodile in a top hat on the cover. They’re not wrong.

After this there was Q&A, but I had to leave right away to get to the debut panel for Denpa Books, run by Ed Chavez (ex-Vertical) and Jacob Gray (ex-Fakku). They had special guests at the panel, though they quickly had to leave, so weren’t the focus – Range Murata, character designer for Last Exile and others, whose futurelog artbook is out next month and has ALL the bells and whistles – seriously, I could not believe how tricked out this artbook is. Hiroyuki Asada is known here for Tegami Bachi, but is putting out a more experimental title via Denpa, PEZ.

Most of the titles talked about have been mentioned before in some way or another. I was most interested in Invitation from a Crab and Maiden Railways, both of which seem to come from Hakusensha’s Rakuen Le Paradis, as well as Dining with the Emiya Family, for Fate/Stay Night fans who know what the most important thing in the Fate franchise is – FOOD.

The new titles included Super Dimensional Love Gun, a Shintaro Kago title that Fakku had previously released, but this is a nicer edition. It contains the usual Shintaro Kago warnings – if you aren’t a fan of his, you’ll likely be grossed out. Heavenly Delusion (Tengoku Daimakyou) is a brand new seinen series running in Kodansha’s Afternoon, and Denpa managed to license it before the first volume was even out in Japan. They’re super excited for it – it’s post-apocalyptic slice of life, a popular genre lately. The creator may be better known for SoreMachi. The last Denpa title was Pleasure and Corruption (Tsumi to Kai), from Square Enix’s Young Gangan. Honestly, it feels more like a Fakku title than a Denpa title, but it’s being sold to those who liked the sort of dark sexuality of Flowers of Evil. Expect BDSM themes.

After eating lunch, I had a choice: I could go to Viz, or go to Vertical’s Katanagatari panel. I chose the latter (sorry, Viz, I always seem to miss you at these events). Vertical’s panel had the translator, Sam Bett, who walked through some of the things they’re doing with the title – the footnotes, which are half gag and half serious, as well as the hardcover omnibus editions. Given its author, you can imagine how much sword wordplay and how many sword puns there are. Most of the audience has already seen the anime, but Sam was quick to note that even given the novels are short (each is approximately 100 pages in English, meaning the omnibus is 300), there is a lot the anime had to adapt or leave out.

Even leaving aside that it was Nisioisin, translating it could be difficult – these are not “light” novels, and there’s lots of obscure or archaic Japanese terms that need adapting. He also explained why he used “mutant blades” rather than “deviant blades” – he felt the latter made them sound more evil than they really should be seen. It takes him longer to do Nisio’s translation than other titles, but not a LOT longer – about 20% longer, on average. He said even a Japanese reader might find themselves reaching for a dictionary to look up words with this one.

Despite not being at the Viz panel, I will be looking at their announcements anyway, at least the manga ones. My Hero Academia SMASH! is a 5-volume comedy series that ran in Shonen Jump +, and is, as you might have guessed, a wacky 4-koma take on the popular series. This license was obvious, but I am quite pleased nevertheless. Komi Can’t Communicate (Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu) was a very popular license announcement, being a Shonen Sunday title with a lot of buzz. Komi is the cool, aloof beauty according to the school, but in reality, she’s just bad at communication.

Beastars is a Weekly Shonen Champion title (nice to see Akita Shoten stuff out over here in a (mostly) post-Tokyopop world), and it’s an award winning manga about anthropomorphic high school students. It’s 11+ volumes, and looks dark but cool. Lastly, Haikasoru has a new sci-fi novel announcement with Automatic Eve, that seems to be a steampunk title.

I was lurking waiting for Yen Press, so I checked out the GKids panel. They’re a group that puts out a lot of the “anime movie” series we’ve seen recently, the most recent varieties being Mirai and Fireworks: Shall We See It from the Side or the Bottom?. They’re also now in charge of the Ghibli line, with nice handsome DVD/Blu-Ray releases of those titles. They are clearly cery excited about getting these releases into theaters, and the trailers for the movies looked exciting and fun – I particularly liked the Miyazaki documentary.

My last panel of the day was Yen Press, but they also announced the most titles – easily. The panel room filled up rapidly, being near standing room only 15 minutes before, but I think everyone who wanted to get in was able to. Announcing for Yen were Kurt Haessler and Tania Biswas, as well as Carl, Ivan, and Anna, who sadly remained last name-less. Unlike all the other panels I went to, Yen knew it had a pile to announce, so did not do a run-through of any recent releases – through they did have some poster giveaways, including Psycome, much to my surprise.

We began with the novel of Wolf Children: Ame and Yuki. Yen had previously released the manga, but they now have the novel adaptation of this popular movie. (Anna spoiled a death when describing the plot, which Kurt mercilessly mocked her for.) Whenever Our Eyes Meet is a yuri anthology a la Eclair, but this time the protagonists are all adult women, for those who are tired of the usual high school girls. Speaking of yuri, we also have Killing Me!, a one-volume title from Comic Cune about two high school girls who are a vampire and a vampire hunter. It looks very much like a “yuri for guys” series.

Also one volume is Little Miss P (Seiri-chan), an Enterbrain series about an anthropomorphic period. As in menstruation period. The audience was taken aback, but Yen clearly really enjoyed talking about this one, and think it will be great fun. Last Round Arthurs: Scum Arthur and Heretic Merlin is a brand new fantasy title ��� brand new in Japan too, so there’s not much info about it. The author did Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor, the artist does Index. It seems to be about an Arthurian tournament, and is two volumes to date.

On a darker note, they have both the novel and the manga for Torture Princess (Isekai Goumon Hime), whose artist has also done Black Bullet. It’s a Media Factory title and is apparently quite violent, about a man who is reincarnated in an artificial body and the demon hunter who wants his help. The German subtitle is Fremd Torturchen, and the manga runs on Kadokawa’s Comic Walker site. We also get an Enterbrain light novel called The Dirty Way to Destroy the Goddess’ Hero (Megami no Yuusha wo Taosu Gesu na Houhou). No, not that kind of dirty. The demon lord just wants to eat tasty food, but heroes keep trying to kill them. So… they summon their own hero.

Back to manga with The Monster and the Beast (Bakemono to Kedamono), a BL title from Asuka Ciel, about a nice monster and a nasty older man, and their budding relationship. Yuri Life is another yuri title, this one taken from Pixiv artist Kurikurihime, and also features two women in their late twenties, not late teens. It’s very sliec-of-yuri life. For fans of Beasts of Abigaile, we have a title from the same creator. Kaiju Girl Caramelizer (Otome Monster Caramelize) runs in my old nemesis, Comic Alive (pauses to shake fist at sky), but looks good anyway, and is about a girl who has an affliction that when she gets upset, her body parts “monsterize”.

More light novels with Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki (Jaku Chara Tomozaki-kun), a Shogakukan title (in other words, expect print-only for this one) about a loser gamer guy who thinks the world is awful, and a winning gamer girl who shows him the “cheats” to help him succeed at life. It gets points for not being a fantasy title, I’ll say that. The artist is also pretty fly. (I’m so sorry.) Back to manga for God Shining Moonlight Howling Moon (Mahou Shoujo Flaming Star), by the creators of Trinity Seven and High School of the Dead. Given that combo, you know there will be breasts a plenty. It also runs in Bessatsu Dragon Age, which sort of clinches that, and is about a Magical Girl called upon to save the Earth… but is she one of the good guys?

The last one is another light novel, The Hero Is Overpowered But Overly Cautious (Kono Yuusha ga Ore Tueee Kuse ni Shinchou Sugiru), a fairly recent Kadokawa series. A fantasy world is in desperate straits. They need a hero. They get a really strong one… but he’s far too wary, never wanting to attack unless he knows he can win. What makes this interesting is that the book is from the POV of the goddess who summoned him, and she has to find a way to make him do what needs to be done. It’s five volumes in Japan. After that came Q&A, but honestly, let’s just move along now.

And with that, I wrapped up my second and busiest day of Anime NYC. Again, I was pretty happy. The staff was nice and knowledgeable, the crowds were large but reasonable, and I got to see everything I wanted. Tomorrow I have no panels I want to see, so will take in Artist’s Alley, and may also scope out the AMV contest.

By: Sean Gaffney

[myongfisher]

How to build a strong corporate identity

When you’re starting out as an entrepreneur or startup, having a corporate identity sounds a bit, well, corporate. But don’t let the word deter you. It’s incredibly important to consider how your company is seen by the outside world and to develop an identity with intentionality and focus.

But what is a corporate identity? Is it the same as corporate design? And how do you create a strong corporate identity that sets your business up for sustainable success? Read on to find out.

What is corporate identity? —

A corporate identity is not just for big corporations. Design by Dudeowl.

When you hear ‘corporate identity’, you probably think of logos, letterheads and business cards—and that’s definitely part of it. Your corporate design is all those things you’d typically associate with a company’s visual identity, including logos and taglines, colors and fonts, stationery, flyers, web design, social media and all that jazz. It’s also your office décor, employee uniforms and any graphics that cover your company cars and trucks (if you have any!).

Corporate design for The Curious Kitchen by Project 4.

However, corporate identity is more than just design; it’s who you are as a company. So it includes those corporate design elements on the one hand but also your culture, your values and your internal and external communications.

Corporate identity is also different to brand identity. Consider a big multinational company like Procter & Gamble: the company has one corporate identity—one logo, one set of values and company culture—and then it has hundreds of brands underneath that corporate umbrella—Gillette, Pampers, Pantene—each with an individual brand identity.

Even a smaller company with just one brand (for now) can still make a distinction between the customer-facing brand and the overall corporate identity.

Why is corporate identity important? —

Shaping your corporate identity is crucial for your business—so make sure you get it right! Design by BATHI.

Whether you know it or not, you already have a corporate identity, just like you have a brand image, whether or not you manage it actively. It’s just a matter of whether you want it to be left to chance—with a logo here, a social media cover there and whatever else creating a hodgepodge over time—or if you want to create something that will support your business objectives.

It’s also important to consider both sides of corporate identity: your design, yes, but also your culture and personality. If you want a warning example, just take a look at Uber. In 2016, Uber launched a new corporate identity—remember when they moved from the old black-and-white ‘U’ to two new icons that represented the ‘bit’ and the ‘atom’. (Err… right!) Not only was the new design criticized but more importantly it ignored deeper issues around brand perception along with a disjointed culture and an unfriendly work environment that later led to sexual harassment charges. Creating a holistic corporate identity means taking into account all aspects of your business—and fixing what isn’t working.

Kick ass startups need a kick ass corporate identity. Poster design by rcdesign91.

You may think that all this is too big and unnecessary for a small startup like yours—it might seem silly to talk about ‘culture’ when it’s just you and a co-founder—but it’s far more effective (and easier) to get things right from the start than to have to fix things later on.

Proactively building a corporate identity will:

  Ensure that you’re consistent and coherent in all your communication;

  Allow you to differentiate yourself against your competitors; and

  Help you engage effectively with customers, employees and investors.

Convinced yet? Let’s look at what makes up a good corporate identity.

What are the elements of corporate identity? —

A complete corporate identity consists of many elements that should all work together. Design by duwi.sleman.

Culture and personality

Your corporate identity is more than just design: it’s who you are. It’s everything you stand for, inside and out. That includes…

Your vision and purpose

It’s not enough anymore to be selling a high-quality product. Companies need a bigger ‘why’ for people to get behind. Via Ken Treloar.

It all starts with your reason for going to work every day and why anyone else should care. As Simon Sinek famously stated, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.

Companies like Patagonia, TOMS or Lush who have a powerful and, importantly, genuine mission are able to get not just customers but also employees fully engaged and committed to what they do.

Your values, culture and behavior

A company’s values and culture are crucial in shaping corporate identity.

The 99designs team in Melbourne.

Google is legendary for having a fun office environment and in 2018 was named the tech company with the best corporate culture. But it’s about more than the much-hyped ice cream trucks and table football and includes things like flexibility, space for creativity, shared values and trust. A company’s culture is embodied in its leadership (that’s you!), in its policies and procedures and in each and every hire it makes.

Design

All this vision and purpose, your core values, your culture and behavior—it all needs to be role modeled by you and your team, it needs to be embedded in everything you do and it needs to be brought to life in your corporate design. That’s where your design comes in. Yay!

Your logo

This logo uses two filmstrips to form the shape of a heart in a simple and memorable representation of the Noble Heart Films brand name. Design by Chris Kay.

Nothing is more associated with a company than a logo—think the Nike ‘swoosh’, the golden arches of McDonald’s or the red script of Coca-Cola. Done well, it becomes an iconic symbol for your company that inspires positive emotions and represents everything that you stand for. Easy, right?! Take a look at this article on how to design a logo, to learn how it’s done.

Your website

This web design by Mike Barnes communicates a simple message with minimalistic design for a cohesive corporate identity.

The website sits at the heart of any modern-day company ecosystem. It’s the hub for all your content and product information, it’s the one place online that you have full control over and it’s where most of your customers will eventually end up, at some point along their shopping journey.

Social media

Another company targeting males (we hope)! Design by BryanMaxim for High West Beard.

After your website, the next most important online platforms are likely to be your social channels. Whether you’re focused on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, or on the latest trendy network, you’ll want to make sure you’re projecting a consistent corporate image across each channel.

Packaging and merchandise

These KONA nutrition bars bring to life the playful spirit of the company while using colors and images that capture the cues of the category. Design by Martis Lupus for KONA.

In all this excitement over online materials, we mustn’t forget the offline world: your packaging, if you have a physical product, as well as any merchandise and marketing collateral like mugs, flyers, pens and other fun stuff. These all need to fit with your corporate identity and tell a cohesive story as well.

External corporate communication

This luxury brand consultancy uses all the right cues, with its black-and-metallic color choices, its script font and its high-end materials. Design by smashingbug.

Who writes letters anymore? Well, if you do, you’ll want to think about your corporate design! This includes your letterhead and envelopes, ‘with compliments’ slips (you know those little pieces of paper with a quick message of ‘Thanks!’ or adding a personal touch to a gift that you’re sending) and any other company communication as well as your business cards.

This liquor business is all about modern style paired with cool simplicity and communicates this beautifully in their slide deck. Design by smashingbug.

More likely, you’ll be spending a lot of your time on presentation decks as you try to convince investors or partners that you’re the next AirBnb or Instagram. For that, you’ll want a beautiful template for something like PowerPoint or Keynote that lets you present your company professionally and consistently every time.

Office décor, uniforms, vehicles and everything else

A lot of us run online businesses but, at some point, you may grow your organization and create a proper office space, or you may have a street team out promoting an event, or you may need to make deliveries. Your corporate identity extends to your physical office or store as well as how your employees and other people representing your company present themselves too.

How do you develop the right corporate identity for your business? —

Okay, so you know what it is. How do you go about crafting one for your company?

1. Consider where you’re coming from

Sometimes, you have to look back to move forward. Via Kalle Kortelainen.

You started this business for a reason and it’s important to not lose sight of that reason as you grow the business. Spend some time reflecting on:

  What were your motivations for starting this business?

  What was your vision and purpose?

  What was your plan for how it would develop?

Although of course the business can and should evolve, having your initial motivations and plans clear upfront will give you a strong foundation and ensure that you build the business you dreamed of.

2. Find out where you are

It’s a good idea to work out where you are today before you try to get to your destination. Logo design by trinitiff.

Before you start to look at where you want to get to, you’ll want to work out where you are today. Take the time to do some research to answer questions like:

     What do your existing customers think of you?

     What about your employees?

     What impression comes across in your current company materials?

You may find some really positive feedback and keywords that you’ll want to keep but you may also find areas of improvement. You can use both positive and negative input to build your corporate identity of the future.

3. Look outside the company

Look beyond your own company to see what’s going on around you. Logo design by DianDrago.

Developing a corporate identity is a delicate balance between playing by the rules of the category and mixing things up so that you stand out. Do some more research now on who your competitors are and see:

     What can you learn about the corporate identity of your competitors?

     What do you like and what don’t you like?

     What do you think makes one company successful and another not?

Make a note of the insights you get—again, both positive and negative—so that you’re aware of these distinctions as you craft your own identity.

4. Create a vision for the future

Having a clear vision will help you end up where you want to be. Web design by RAZS.

A corporate identity takes time to build and so there’s no point in developing something for where you are today—it’ll be out of date before it has even had an impact! Instead, you want to be looking ahead to where you’re trying to get to with your business, let’s say over a five-year horizon:

     Where do you want to be with your company in five years from now?

     What will your internal structure and team look like?

     What new products and services will you be launching?

Looking ahead like this will help to ensure that the identity you’re developing now will not only be relevant in years to come but will even help you get there.

5. Develop your corporate identity

Ta-da, we got there in the end! You know where you’ve come from, where you are today and where you want to get to; you know what your competitors are up to; and you’re now ready to craft your very own corporate identity! Remember that this means both the design aspects and the culture and personality side of things.

A full corporate design for food company Nibbla by goopanic.

Here’s how to get started:

Learn more about how to develop your branding strategy—this will take you through the important elements of your purpose, your core values, your brand personality and your positioning.

Learn more about developing your brand identity—this goes into the details of your brand design including typography, color palette and form as well as how these will be brought to life in your logo, website, business cards, etc.

Learn more about creating a brand style guide—this is where you’ll keep track of all those elements of your brand identity in one handy reference document.

Notice how we’re suddenly talking about brand again and not corporate? Well, when you’re a small company with just one brand, your company will effectively be based just on that one brand. There may still be differences between how you present your brand to your customers and how you present your company to investors and other corporate—but the process is the same!

Want to get your corporate identity into shape?

Let our designers bring all this to life for your company.

Yes please!

The post How to build a strong corporate identity appeared first on 99designs.

How to build a strong corporate identity published first on https://www.lilpackaging.com/

[susaanrogers]

How to build a strong corporate identity

When you’re starting out as an entrepreneur or startup, having a corporate identity sounds a bit, well, corporate. But don’t let the word deter you. It’s incredibly important to consider how your company is seen by the outside world and to develop an identity with intentionality and focus.

But what is a corporate identity? Is it the same as corporate design? And how do you create a strong corporate identity that sets your business up for sustainable success? Read on to find out.

What is corporate identity? —

A corporate identity is not just for big corporations. Design by Dudeowl.

When you hear ‘corporate identity’, you probably think of logos, letterheads and business cards—and that’s definitely part of it. Your corporate design is all those things you’d typically associate with a company’s visual identity, including logos and taglines, colors and fonts, stationery, flyers, web design, social media and all that jazz. It’s also your office décor, employee uniforms and any graphics that cover your company cars and trucks (if you have any!).

Corporate design for The Curious Kitchen by Project 4.

However, corporate identity is more than just design; it’s who you are as a company. So it includes those corporate design elements on the one hand but also your culture, your values and your internal and external communications.

Corporate identity is also different to brand identity. Consider a big multinational company like Procter & Gamble: the company has one corporate identity—one logo, one set of values and company culture—and then it has hundreds of brands underneath that corporate umbrella—Gillette, Pampers, Pantene—each with an individual brand identity.

Even a smaller company with just one brand (for now) can still make a distinction between the customer-facing brand and the overall corporate identity.

Why is corporate identity important? —

Shaping your corporate identity is crucial for your business—so make sure you get it right! Design by BATHI.

Whether you know it or not, you already have a corporate identity, just like you have a brand image, whether or not you manage it actively. It’s just a matter of whether you want it to be left to chance—with a logo here, a social media cover there and whatever else creating a hodgepodge over time—or if you want to create something that will support your business objectives.

It’s also important to consider both sides of corporate identity: your design, yes, but also your culture and personality. If you want a warning example, just take a look at Uber. In 2016, Uber launched a new corporate identity—remember when they moved from the old black-and-white ‘U’ to two new icons that represented the ‘bit’ and the ‘atom’. (Err… right!) Not only was the new design criticized but more importantly it ignored deeper issues around brand perception along with a disjointed culture and an unfriendly work environment that later led to sexual harassment charges. Creating a holistic corporate identity means taking into account all aspects of your business—and fixing what isn’t working.

Kick ass startups need a kick ass corporate identity. Poster design by rcdesign91.

You may think that all this is too big and unnecessary for a small startup like yours—it might seem silly to talk about ‘culture’ when it’s just you and a co-founder—but it’s far more effective (and easier) to get things right from the start than to have to fix things later on.

Proactively building a corporate identity will:

  Ensure that you’re consistent and coherent in all your communication;

  Allow you to differentiate yourself against your competitors; and

  Help you engage effectively with customers, employees and investors.

Convinced yet? Let’s look at what makes up a good corporate identity.

What are the elements of corporate identity? —

A complete corporate identity consists of many elements that should all work together. Design by duwi.sleman.

Culture and personality

Your corporate identity is more than just design: it’s who you are. It’s everything you stand for, inside and out. That includes…

Your vision and purpose

It’s not enough anymore to be selling a high-quality product. Companies need a bigger ‘why’ for people to get behind. Via Ken Treloar.

It all starts with your reason for going to work every day and why anyone else should care. As Simon Sinek famously stated, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.

Companies like Patagonia, TOMS or Lush who have a powerful and, importantly, genuine mission are able to get not just customers but also employees fully engaged and committed to what they do.

Your values, culture and behavior

A company’s values and culture are crucial in shaping corporate identity.

The 99designs team in Melbourne.

Google is legendary for having a fun office environment and in 2018 was named the tech company with the best corporate culture. But it’s about more than the much-hyped ice cream trucks and table football and includes things like flexibility, space for creativity, shared values and trust. A company’s culture is embodied in its leadership (that’s you!), in its policies and procedures and in each and every hire it makes.

Design

All this vision and purpose, your core values, your culture and behavior—it all needs to be role modeled by you and your team, it needs to be embedded in everything you do and it needs to be brought to life in your corporate design. That’s where your design comes in. Yay!

Your logo

This logo uses two filmstrips to form the shape of a heart in a simple and memorable representation of the Noble Heart Films brand name. Design by Chris Kay.

Nothing is more associated with a company than a logo—think the Nike ‘swoosh’, the golden arches of McDonald’s or the red script of Coca-Cola. Done well, it becomes an iconic symbol for your company that inspires positive emotions and represents everything that you stand for. Easy, right?! Take a look at this article on how to design a logo, to learn how it’s done.

Your website

This web design by Mike Barnes communicates a simple message with minimalistic design for a cohesive corporate identity.

The website sits at the heart of any modern-day company ecosystem. It’s the hub for all your content and product information, it’s the one place online that you have full control over and it’s where most of your customers will eventually end up, at some point along their shopping journey.

Social media

Another company targeting males (we hope)! Design by BryanMaxim for High West Beard.

After your website, the next most important online platforms are likely to be your social channels. Whether you’re focused on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, or on the latest trendy network, you’ll want to make sure you’re projecting a consistent corporate image across each channel.

Packaging and merchandise

These KONA nutrition bars bring to life the playful spirit of the company while using colors and images that capture the cues of the category. Design by Martis Lupus for KONA.

In all this excitement over online materials, we mustn’t forget the offline world: your packaging, if you have a physical product, as well as any merchandise and marketing collateral like mugs, flyers, pens and other fun stuff. These all need to fit with your corporate identity and tell a cohesive story as well.

External corporate communication

This luxury brand consultancy uses all the right cues, with its black-and-metallic color choices, its script font and its high-end materials. Design by smashingbug.

Who writes letters anymore? Well, if you do, you’ll want to think about your corporate design! This includes your letterhead and envelopes, ‘with compliments’ slips (you know those little pieces of paper with a quick message of ‘Thanks!’ or adding a personal touch to a gift that you’re sending) and any other company communication as well as your business cards.

This liquor business is all about modern style paired with cool simplicity and communicates this beautifully in their slide deck. Design by smashingbug.

More likely, you’ll be spending a lot of your time on presentation decks as you try to convince investors or partners that you’re the next AirBnb or Instagram. For that, you’ll want a beautiful template for something like PowerPoint or Keynote that lets you present your company professionally and consistently every time.

Office décor, uniforms, vehicles and everything else

A lot of us run online businesses but, at some point, you may grow your organization and create a proper office space, or you may have a street team out promoting an event, or you may need to make deliveries. Your corporate identity extends to your physical office or store as well as how your employees and other people representing your company present themselves too.

How do you develop the right corporate identity for your business? —

Okay, so you know what it is. How do you go about crafting one for your company?

1. Consider where you’re coming from

Sometimes, you have to look back to move forward. Via Kalle Kortelainen.

You started this business for a reason and it’s important to not lose sight of that reason as you grow the business. Spend some time reflecting on:

  What were your motivations for starting this business?

  What was your vision and purpose?

  What was your plan for how it would develop?

Although of course the business can and should evolve, having your initial motivations and plans clear upfront will give you a strong foundation and ensure that you build the business you dreamed of.

2. Find out where you are

It’s a good idea to work out where you are today before you try to get to your destination. Logo design by trinitiff.

Before you start to look at where you want to get to, you’ll want to work out where you are today. Take the time to do some research to answer questions like:

     What do your existing customers think of you?

     What about your employees?

     What impression comes across in your current company materials?

You may find some really positive feedback and keywords that you’ll want to keep but you may also find areas of improvement. You can use both positive and negative input to build your corporate identity of the future.

3. Look outside the company

  Look beyond your own company to see what’s going on around you. Logo design by DianDrago.

Developing a corporate identity is a delicate balance between playing by the rules of the category and mixing things up so that you stand out. Do some more research now on who your competitors are and see:

     What can you learn about the corporate identity of your competitors?

     What do you like and what don’t you like?

     What do you think makes one company successful and another not?

Make a note of the insights you get—again, both positive and negative—so that you’re aware of these distinctions as you craft your own identity.

4. Create a vision for the future

Having a clear vision will help you end up where you want to be. Web design by RAZS.

A corporate identity takes time to build and so there’s no point in developing something for where you are today—it’ll be out of date before it has even had an impact! Instead, you want to be looking ahead to where you’re trying to get to with your business, let’s say over a five-year horizon:

     Where do you want to be with your company in five years from now?

     What will your internal structure and team look like?

     What new products and services will you be launching?

Looking ahead like this will help to ensure that the identity you’re developing now will not only be relevant in years to come but will even help you get there.

5. Develop your corporate identity

Ta-da, we got there in the end! You know where you’ve come from, where you are today and where you want to get to; you know what your competitors are up to; and you’re now ready to craft your very own corporate identity! Remember that this means both the design aspects and the culture and personality side of things.

A full corporate design for food company Nibbla by goopanic.

Here’s how to get started:

Learn more about how to develop your branding strategy—this will take you through the important elements of your purpose, your core values, your brand personality and your positioning.

Learn more about developing your brand identity—this goes into the details of your brand design including typography, color palette and form as well as how these will be brought to life in your logo, website, business cards, etc.

Learn more about creating a brand style guide—this is where you’ll keep track of all those elements of your brand identity in one handy reference document.

Notice how we’re suddenly talking about brand again and not corporate? Well, when you’re a small company with just one brand, your company will effectively be based just on that one brand. There may still be differences between how you present your brand to your customers and how you present your company to investors and other corporate—but the process is the same!

Want to get your corporate identity into shape?

Let our designers bring all this to life for your company.

Yes please!

The post How to build a strong corporate identity appeared first on 99designs.

[pamelahetrick]

How to build a strong corporate identity

When you’re starting out as an entrepreneur or startup, having a corporate identity sounds a bit, well, corporate. But don’t let the word deter you. It’s incredibly important to consider how your company is seen by the outside world and to develop an identity with intentionality and focus.

But what is a corporate identity? Is it the same as corporate design? And how do you create a strong corporate identity that sets your business up for sustainable success? Read on to find out.

What is corporate identity? —

A corporate identity is not just for big corporations. Design by Dudeowl.

When you hear ‘corporate identity’, you probably think of logos, letterheads and business cards—and that’s definitely part of it. Your corporate design is all those things you’d typically associate with a company’s visual identity, including logos and taglines, colors and fonts, stationery, flyers, web design, social media and all that jazz. It’s also your office décor, employee uniforms and any graphics that cover your company cars and trucks (if you have any!).

Corporate design for The Curious Kitchen by Project 4.

However, corporate identity is more than just design; it’s who you are as a company. So it includes those corporate design elements on the one hand but also your culture, your values and your internal and external communications.

Corporate identity is also different to brand identity. Consider a big multinational company like Procter & Gamble: the company has one corporate identity—one logo, one set of values and company culture—and then it has hundreds of brands underneath that corporate umbrella—Gillette, Pampers, Pantene—each with an individual brand identity.

Even a smaller company with just one brand (for now) can still make a distinction between the customer-facing brand and the overall corporate identity.

Why is corporate identity important? —

Shaping your corporate identity is crucial for your business—so make sure you get it right! Design by BATHI.

Whether you know it or not, you already have a corporate identity, just like you have a brand image, whether or not you manage it actively. It’s just a matter of whether you want it to be left to chance—with a logo here, a social media cover there and whatever else creating a hodgepodge over time—or if you want to create something that will support your business objectives.

It’s also important to consider both sides of corporate identity: your design, yes, but also your culture and personality. If you want a warning example, just take a look at Uber. In 2016, Uberlaunched a new corporate identity—remember when they moved from the old black-and-white ‘U’ to two new icons that represented the ‘bit’ and the ‘atom’. (Err… right!) Not only was the new design criticized but more importantly it ignoreddeeper issues around brand perception along with a disjointed culture and an unfriendly work environment that later led tosexual harassment charges. Creating a holistic corporate identity means taking into account all aspects of your business—and fixing what isn’t working.

Kick ass startups need a kick ass corporate identity. Poster design by rcdesign91.

You may think that all this is too big and unnecessary for a small startup like yours—it might seem silly to talk about ‘culture’ when it’s just you and a co-founder—but it’s far more effective (and easier) to get things right from the start than to have to fix things later on.

Proactively building a corporate identity will:

  Ensure that you’re consistent and coherent in all your communication;

  Allow you to differentiate yourself against your competitors; and

  Help you engage effectively with customers, employees and investors.

Convinced yet? Let’s look at what makes up a good corporate identity.

What are the elements of corporate identity? —

A complete corporate identity consists of many elements that should all work together. Design by duwi.sleman.

Culture and personality

Your corporate identity is more than just design: it’s who you are. It’s everything you stand for, inside and out. That includes…

Your vision and purpose

It’s not enough anymore to be selling a high-quality product. Companies need a bigger ‘why’ for people to get behind. Via Ken Treloar.

It all starts with your reason for going to work every day and why anyone else should care.As Simon Sinek famously stated, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”.

Companies like Patagonia, TOMS or Lush who have a powerful and, importantly, genuine mission are able to get not just customers but also employees fully engaged and committed to what they do.

Your values, culture and behavior

A company’s values and culture are crucial in shaping corporate identity.

The 99designs team in Melbourne.

Google is legendary for having a fun office environment and in 2018 wasnamed the tech company with the best corporate culture. But it’s about more than the much-hyped ice cream trucks and table football and includes things like flexibility, space for creativity, shared values and trust. A company’s culture is embodied in its leadership (that’s you!), in its policies and procedures and in each and every hire it makes.

Design

All this vision and purpose, your core values, your culture and behavior—it all needs to be role modeled by you and your team, it needs to be embedded in everything you do and it needs to be brought to life in your corporate design. That’s where your design comes in. Yay!

Your logo

This logo uses two filmstrips to form the shape of a heart in a simple and memorable representation of the Noble Heart Films brand name. Design by Chris Kay.

Nothing is more associated with a company than a logo—think the Nike ‘swoosh’, the golden arches of McDonald’s or the red script of Coca-Cola. Done well, it becomes an iconic symbol for your company that inspires positive emotions and represents everything that you stand for. Easy, right?! Take a look at this article on how to design a logo, to learn how it’s done.

Your website

This web design by Mike Barnes communicates a simple message with minimalistic design for a cohesive corporate identity.

The website sits at the heart of any modern-day company ecosystem. It’s the hub for all your content and product information, it’s the one place online that you have full control over and it’s where most of your customers will eventually end up, at some point along their shopping journey.

Social media

Another company targeting males (we hope)! Design by BryanMaxim for High West Beard.

After your website, the next most important online platforms are likely to be your social channels. Whether you’re focused on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube, or on the latest trendy network, you’ll want to make sure you’re projecting a consistent corporate image across each channel.

Packaging and merchandise

These KONA nutrition bars bring to life the playful spirit of the company while using colors and images that capture the cues of the category. Design by Martis Lupus for KONA.

In all this excitement over online materials, we mustn’t forget the offline world: your packaging, if you have a physical product, as well as any merchandise and marketing collateral like mugs, flyers, pens and other fun stuff. These all need to fit with your corporate identity and tell a cohesive story as well.

External corporate communication

This luxury brand consultancy uses all the right cues, with its black-and-metallic color choices, its script font and its high-end materials. Design by smashingbug.

Who writes letters anymore? Well, if you do, you’ll want to think about your corporate design! This includes your letterhead and envelopes, ‘with compliments’ slips (you know those little pieces of paper with a quick message of ‘Thanks!’ or adding a personal touch to a gift that you’re sending) and any other company communication as well as your business cards.

This liquor business is all about modern style paired with cool simplicity and communicates this beautifully in their slide deck. Design by smashingbug.

More likely, you’ll be spending a lot of your time on presentation decks as you try to convince investors or partners that you’re the next AirBnb or Instagram. For that, you’ll want a beautiful template for something like PowerPoint or Keynote that lets you present your company professionally and consistently every time.

Office décor, uniforms, vehicles and everything else

A lot of us run online businesses but, at some point, you may grow your organization and create a proper office space, or you may have a street team out promoting an event, or you may need to make deliveries. Your corporate identity extends to your physical office or store as well as how your employees and other people representing your company present themselves too.

How do you develop the right corporate identity for your business? —

Okay, so you know what it is. How do you go about crafting one for your company?

1. Consider where you’re coming from

Sometimes, you have to look back to move forward. Via Kalle Kortelainen.

You started this business for a reason and it’s important to not lose sight of that reason as you grow the business. Spend some time reflecting on:

  What were your motivations for starting this business?

  What was your vision and purpose?

  What was your plan for how it would develop?

Although of course the business can and should evolve, having your initial motivations and plans clear upfront will give you a strong foundation and ensure that you build the business you dreamed of.

2. Find out where you are

It’s a good idea to work out where you are today before you try to get to your destination. Logo design by trinitiff.

Before you start to look at where you want to get to, you’ll want to work out where you are today. Take the time to do some research to answer questions like:

     What do your existing customers think of you?

     What about your employees?

     What impression comes across in your current company materials?

You may find some really positive feedback and keywords that you’ll want to keep but you may also find areas of improvement. You can use both positive and negative input to build your corporate identity of the future.

3. Look outside the company

 Look beyond your own company to see what’s going on around you. Logo design by DianDrago.

Developing a corporate identity is a delicate balance between playing by the rules of the category and mixing things up so that you stand out. Do some more research now on who your competitors are and see:

     What can you learn about the corporate identity of your competitors?

     What do you like and what don’t you like?

     What do you think makes one company successful and another not?

Make a note of the insights you get—again, both positive and negative—so that you’re aware of these distinctions as you craft your own identity.

4. Create a vision for the future

Having a clear vision will help you end up where you want to be. Web design by RAZS.

A corporate identity takes time to build and so there’s no point in developing something for where you are today—it’ll be out of date before it has even had an impact! Instead, you want to be looking ahead to where you’re trying to get to with your business, let’s say over a five-year horizon:

     Where do you want to be with your company in five years from now?

     What will your internal structure and team look like?

     What new products and services will you be launching?

Looking ahead like this will help to ensure that the identity you’re developing now will not only be relevant in years to come but will even help you get there.

5. Develop your corporate identity

Ta-da, we got there in the end! You know where you’ve come from, where you are today and where you want to get to; you know what your competitors are up to; and you’re now ready to craft your very own corporate identity! Remember that this means both the design aspects and the culture and personality side of things.

A full corporate design for food company Nibbla by goopanic.

Here’s how to get started:

Learn more about how to develop your branding strategy—this will take you through the important elements of your purpose, your core values, your brand personality and your positioning.

Learn more about developing your brand identity—this goes into the details of your brand design including typography, color palette and form as well as how these will be brought to life in your logo, website, business cards, etc.

Learn more about creating a brand style guide—this is where you’ll keep track of all those elements of your brand identity in one handy reference document.

Notice how we’re suddenly talking about brand again and not corporate? Well, when you’re a small company with just one brand, your company will effectively be based just on that one brand. There may still be differences between how you present your brand to your customers and how you present your company to investors and other corporate—but the process is the same!

Want to get your corporate identity into shape?

Let our designers bring all this to life for your company.

Yes please!

The post How to build a strong corporate identity appeared first on 99designs.

via 99designs https://99designs.co.uk/blog/business-en-gb/how-to-build-corporate-identity/