#they were also selling Barbie dolls for £1

[potter-inthe-tardis]

Not to say something so capitalist as a socialist, but I kind of don't care if the Barbie movie is actually some big ploy to sell more barbies, its been so much fun to see people excited about something that is at its core is made for girls enjoyment, for a traditionally feminine interest to be celebrated not ridiculed. Also at least its propaganda to buy dolls not like military propaganda or something

[princess-of-the-corner]

Again, i would love to see sales reports for QB vs everyone else. Also a survey of the target audience about who their fave character is, their thoughts on the recent seasons, etc.

See all I can imagine is the absolute fandom discourse that was going around re: the most recent bnha popularity poll because there were so many people who were throwing a fit over certain characters being so highly ranked.

But honestly the merch being made is indicative of the sales itself. The fact that Queen Bee merch is still being made and used in marketing despite the *gestures to the show* means that it sells so much!.

like like like.

a breakdown of most merch seen:

Most of it is Ladybug because she's the Main Character and all branding is around her so you have like 30 variations of Marinette dolls.

Next is Chat who is also the main character, but it's also a very Barbie/Ken situation where LB is gonna sell more on the whole.

Then both Queen Bee and Rena are on roughly the same level of merch. If a toy line is going to make more than just LB and CN, it's going to have both of these two.

On the next level you have a few Bunnyx items. They're not super common but they pop up here and there.

after that you have a weird mix of Hawkmoth and the Akumas. Mostly Iconic Season 1 Akumas like Stormy Weather or Lady Wifi. They pop up in the more action figure lines rather than the fashion dolls ofc.

after that? The rest of the Team don't get much. They end up in group shots or things that are all-in but rarely their own doll.

So yeah Queen Bee is on the same level as Rena, which is right below the Main Characters and franchise branding.

[13thdoctorposts]

I just ordered all of Jodie's era on DVD (I'm a physical media lover) and can I say how wonderful and ironic it is to see the thousands of top star reviews for her merchandise and how stuff like certain figurines and her TARDIS figurine are either totally sold out or priced up hundreds of pounds when the haters say she's unpopular and doesn't sell. I mean she even has her officially licensed scarf and everything lol. People love her Doctor.

People seem to take the downward trend of spending during the pandemic as some sort of indictment that 13/Jodie doesn't sell, when in fact in 2018/9 there was a ton of merch that sold just like all Doctor Who merch does, we got the 10inch doll, a barbie, action figures, her sonic, her series 11 funko pop set, 3 novels with matching audio books, 5 YA/Kids books, Comics, games, eaglemoss figures... and thats just off the top of my head and doesn't even include all the generic DW merch... then 2020 came... 13 era merch seemed to vanish... gee I wonder what happened that year that heavily effected the economy, the workforce and businesses, not to mention peoples LIVES? People were losing their jobs, hoping not to get sick, dealing with having sick loved ones and trying to make sure they had enough toilet paper somehow I don't think any shows merch was top of peoples minds, and businesses that were essential to making merch were losing money, making it harder to make things!

I don't believe there has ever been a problem with 13/Jodie selling, unfortunately during her tenure one of the most disruptive events in our generation happened and merch wasn't a priority and even made for fans to buy during that time due to the conditions, restrictions, and economy to know if it wouldn't sell, so its a ridiculous argument.

But as you said theres also a number of items of her merch that are not only expensive if you want one now but you'll be lucky if they even come up for sale because clearly people want to keep them.

For example... 13 Build a Bear, 13 Blush bear from Children in Need, the 2018 SDCC 13 Pop, the 1/5 signature edition Big Chief Studios figure.

You want any of these not only will you have to wait who knows how long for one to come up to buy but expect to be paying a small fortune... However you want a 10th Doctor Build a Bear? They are on Ebay now, more pricey then buying originally from Build a Bear but no where near as much as a 13 Bear when it comes up I've seen 2 come up in 12 months. You want one of the other Doctor Chidlen in Need bears that were release? Yeah you can get them pretty regularly on Ebay too and a pretty good price, head over there now and you'll find them, never seen a 13 one for sale, Big Chief Studios figure? You can find most all the other Doctors, 13 I've seen it come up twice in the last 12 months on Ebay, and only 1 was in its original condition so good luck, and hopefully you have a weeks salary you don't need to buy it if you wanted it they are so expensive, you can still find listings for the 2018 SDCC 13 Pop but you got a spare 250+ pounds to pick it up? Haven't seen any other Doctor pops cost that much if you want to get one.

If Jodie was soooooo unpopular why is she one of the most expensive and elusive Doctors to be able to get merch for when she is technically the most recent Doctor with merch you should just be easily able to pick up.

Jodie also recently had prints of an image she painted sold for charity they were not cheap! There was only 50, they were gone in under 1 day.

Haters are just gonna make things up because the truth doesn't fit their narrative.

[momdusa]

So I was digging into Strawberry Shortcake lore, and though the Strawberry Universe was later created/expanded upon by Muriel Fahrion and AG, I found the original "Strawberry Girl" art by Barbi Sargent (a freelance artist with American Greetings) (Exhibit #3 above) from 1978. It reminded me of Holly Hobby (pic #1 - created in the 60s but was a popular toy line in the 1970s and 80s) and also the Sarah Kay girls (top center), Sarah Kay being an Australian illustrator known for drawing happy little girls in polka dots and pinafores. Very demure. Very cutsey u_u

Got me wondering about WHY these little Prairie Girls were so prevalent in our toys, greeting cards, and clothing in the early 80s. I had a Holly Hobby doll & lunchbox and iirc my mom made a Holly Hobby Halloween costume for me (still looking for pics). My sister and I were gifted lots of little Strawberry Shortcake items (but that was probably due more to the ANIMATION SELLS TOYS form of marketing in the 80s). We had many a ruffled blouse and tiered skirts and lots of calico. One would guess that it came from the very popular Little House on the Prairie series, about a pioneer family, starring the very wholesome Michael Landon and child actor/activist Melissa Gilbert and based on the writings of authentic Prairie Girl Laura Ingalls Wilder. (Sanitized and Romanticized for TV of course).

And it made me wonder- Was this longing to return to "simpler days" a result of, oh I don't know, the rapidly changing world? The conservative push against the Womens Movement? Was this precursor to our current Cottage Core just people wishing we could go back to a time when Men were cowboys MEN and Women kNeW tHeIr PlAcE (and weren't fighting for the right to contraceptives, safe ab**tions, and the right to have their own goddamn credit card?) Were these little Holly Hobbies and Strawberry Shortcakes just... meant to encourage the Trad Wife life??

In this essay I will...

But Wait!

JOKE RUINED !!

!!!!! THEY WERE !!!!

"While the prairie look has its roots in the hippie fascination with all things Victorian and “natural,” I can’t help but think it grew in popularity partly as a response to this labor shift. Looking back at how it was sold, the prairie revival, ironically, appears to be both a conservative fantasy of “traditional” gender roles and a mild resistance to late-capitalism. Advertisements and editorials depict a “frontier” or country life where chores are hobbies and you spend most of your time sitting on wooden fences watching the sunset over a field of daisies."

"And for adult women, when you’re living in a culture that demands your labor but isn’t prepared to offer fair pay or equal opportunities (the Equal Rights Amendment died in Congress in 1982) the daydream of dropping out of a stagnant 9 to 5 job to churn butter and watch sunsets sounds pretty good."

"The prairie fashion revival, then, followed a larger trend of nostalgically romanticizing America’s rural and frontier past. But there was more to prairie’s appeal than whitewashing and nostalgia. In the early 1980s, women were entering the workplace in record numbers. A 1986 Atlantic article about how women earned less because they just didn’t want to work as much reported that “from 1890 to 1985 the participation in the work force [sic] of women between the ages of twenty-five and forty-four soared from 15 to 71 percent.” The increased visibility of working women in “traditionally male positions” was both a cause for celebration (1980’s second highest grossing film was the feminist comedy masterpiece 9 to 5) and anxiety (in 1982 that spot went to Tootsie, a movie about an annoying straight white guy who can’t get a job until he disguises himself as a “feisty feminist” woman). "

(some excerpts from the Dismantle Article "What the 1980s Prairie Revival can tell us about Cottage Core" by Sara Tatyana Bernstein)

Anyway, ok, maybe they weren't meant to brainwash us into that lifestyle but still ... >_>

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Hello Anon, this is your Oldie Chinese Diaspora Anon™️. The topic of the “Dream Fairy” dolls by DBS is going to be one of those controversies that will not fully die. There are a lot of grounds to cover here.

One thing I cannot do is to “weigh in” in the sense of putting a line in the sand. I prefer to present the facts as they stand; it is up to the individual to make the decision that they believe is right for them. To the best of my ability, I will run as succinct a summary for you as possible.

Dream Fairy is one of the many lines from DBS (DeBiShen Ltd. A Chinese toy factory.) The company works like a Mattel with different lines of dolls. Each line has the same facial sculpt with the differences focused on individually separate fashion designs. Think “different Barbies, same sculpt”.

This company known to plagiarize other BJD sculpts as the basis of their vinyl/ABS molds. The face sculpts from the 1/3 line is plagiarized from AS’s Liu Ruishi

Dream fairy:

AS:

The face sculpt for the ¼ anime line maybe plagiarized from TF’s Rita

DF:

TF:

The 1/6 lines have been plagiarized from Lina ChouCh0u (DBS Leisure Girl:

, Lina ChouChou Baby Piyo:

And SecretD0ll (DBS Dudu:

, Secret Doll Mong:

The 1/12 blind box seems to have taken their inspiration from Obitsu. But there are no direct 1:1 “original” found, yet.

There are suggestions that the facial molds were “transcribed” from legit BJD to counterfeit BJD into vinyl. Details are scant, however.

The original 1/3 bodies were highly similar to the YeL0Li (Night L0lita) bodies.The original ¼ bodies were most likely original to DBS. The new 1/3 is an enlarged version of the ¼, with minor changes.

The original 1/6 bodies were found from multiple factories. It’s tough to say who came up with it first.The “original” part of any Dream Fairy doll is the ensemble. Since they do not sell their clothes separately, people have bought their dolls for the clothes.

Best considered as “large Barbies”, their price point is a lot cheaper with similar capacity for customization, which is what makes them attractive. DBS’s history of plagiarizing other dolls has been noted by several different vendors and a good number of doll collectors. Since the release of their MT Blindbox series, several proxies have refused to carry them due to DBS’s history.

Sometimes, the decision to not carry their products were instigated by the collectors themselves:

https://x.com/hermeow_shop/status/1667536926080143360

If price point is the hook, there are several Chinese MJD companies that are completely original: Xinyi, Kurhn, YeLoLi and Monst are the examples I can think of on the top of my head that are not V0lks. If the facial sculpt is what you are interested in, there are the resin “originals” at a higher price point available. At the end of the day, whether you want to buy a DBS doll or not, the choice is up to you. They are, just as I’ve suggested earlier, a kind of “Controversial Doll”. They are not totally legit but they are also not an out-and-out recast.

As someone said, whatever you do with your money really is your choice. How other folks in the hobby decide to see you is their choice as well. Legality should never be the bottom line when it comes down to morality, after all.

~Anonymous

[nostalgic-sunflowers]

My Scene Headcanons - Chelsea (Part 1)

In honor of the rereleases for the My Scene dolls, and as a means of fun and stress relief, I've decided to write in-depth headcanons for the original trio- Chelsea, Madison, and Barbie. For context, when I got sick last month, I decided to delve right into everything related to My Scene and it was a lot of fun, I love the vibe of those webisodes and I wanted more. I haven't gotten around to watching the Spanish language exclusive ones yet, but when I have time I will sit down and do so and maybe add more info to these later.

So here are some headcanons for Chelsea based on the webisodes, and the additional diary content that existed on the website back in the day (and is available on the wiki page now).

Age: 23

I'm going to put the My Scene crowd in their early twenties. Yes, I know a bunch of canon content labels them as teenagers and even puts them in school, but come on. They went clubbing for god's sake. I'm going to pretend that any mention of them being in school is actually college.

I don't know, maybe when I'm really bored I can try to fix this into an extended timeline showing the "real" chronological order of the webisodes, for now, just run with it.

Also, I feel like the people in this friend group would be of different ages due to possibly taking gap year(s), working, being rich socialites, etc.

Personality:

The webisodes and her journal don't really give me much to work with so I'm going to speculate/stretch for the most part.

While all the girls are very flirty in the webisodes, she's absolutely the most flirty and just outwardly confident when it comes to guys. She knows what she deserves and will call you out for bad behavior. A real girl's girl, she will stand up for herself and for you as well (she knows that women have to stick together).

She's very extroverted and friendly, she'll talk to anyone really. That's how she knows a bunch of people, seemingly almost everyone

She's not one to be cliquey or exclude people for the heck of it

A huge fan of couture, she pays attention not just to the New York runways but also to smaller indie brands, and other up-and-coming designers like herself in the New York scene. (She meets many people at the weekly flea market where she canonically sells her creations).

She can get really hyper-focused when it comes to her creative work and often can go hours into her projects be it sewing, drawing, painting on embellishments, doing embroidery, leather work with handbags, or any number of things. This is how she's able to randomly alter her clothes on the subway without it being an issue

Her diary basically states that she also carries around a huge sketchbook with all sorts of ideas (and maybe even fabric scraps? I'm calling it) with her constantly.

Her Relationship with Hudson, Friendships with Barbie and Madison:

She went to high school with Barbie, Madison, and Hudson

This is my attempt at consolidating canon (there's one episode where Hudson's being a jerk to Madison and then he gets shoved in a locker. No one said it had to be chronological)

Let's steal one thing and only one thing from Masquerade Madness and say that she struggled with geometry and math in general, but was really into humanities stuff (Especially english and history) a lot. She was into Bio too, but hated organic chemistry

She was considering becoming a teacher at one point

loved dissecting different stories, she loves being able to tell different stories and also writes a lot of poetry and random short stories but is too shy to show them to anyone

Barbie and Madison had a longer history/friendship, but instantly hit it off with Chelsea when the three attended the same high school

Chelsea doesn't hesitate to compliment people on their outfits (even with complete strangers on the train) so that's how she first started talking to Madison, and then Barbie, who even in high school had fits that were on point.

Chelsea's style wasn't quite as y2k my bling bling chic yet, but she was introduced to that because of Barbie and Madison's influence

But also, she was already into it even if she didn't dress like that herself with a love of music icons like Cher and Diana Ross

Her style really focused more on being sort of an amalgamation of more casual dresswear from the 1970s and late 60s as well as the 90s. Basically, I see her being inspired by both Selena and Jane Birkin at the same time

She and Hudson dated on and off during this time, but broke it off after they both wanted to attend senior prom with other people and have been more like bros than romantic partners since.

He's like the annoying brother of the friend group who occasionally tags along with the trio basically.

I don't really ship her and Husdon, and to be honest, Masquerade Madness didn't help with this. It's just not interesting to me for a relationship. More on Chelsea's romantic life later.

Family:

Delancy and Chelsea are second cousins.

They seem distant enough in relation that of course they'd be weirded out by their moms trying to set up a hang-out for them when they're adults

But their moms would have to be close enough to think it was a good idea, so I'm calling it, their moms are the ones who are related. (Not their dads). They were first cousins who were close friends, and wanted to see their daughters also have that type of friendship.

This makes sense to me.

Delancy is Irish-Italian according to the wiki, so I thought that their moms had Italian heritage.

When I was a kid, I always thought that Chelsea was Latina, since she had the same name as a childhood friend of mine (and even sort of looked like her)

So I honestly think it fits for her to be Puerto Rican on her dad's side.

You're allowed to imagine her as just a brunette/red-headed/auburn girl from a number of different places, this is just what's in my head from the vague descriptions that are provided to us

Compared to the rest of the friend group, Chelsea grew up upper-middle class. So still very comfortable financially, but her family wouldn't spend like crazy or purposefully flaunt their wealth (which is why she's jealous of Delancy's family being able to afford a lot of things like a quick move to New York or a whole mansion in Jammin in Jamaica)

She's always been obsessed with high fashion and with couture - stuff her parents would never let her buy

So she saved up money for a sewing machine and got down to business- she learned how to from her Nonna, who also taught her some basics for drawing and painting and even bought her

(Chelsea learned a lot of other things like embroidery and leather work through her other connections in the smaller indie fashion scene, and also through taking various classes)

Love Life:

The webisodes always hone in on this for the girls, so how could I leave it out?

At the moment, she's single but happy with where she's at. Very much Cher, "A man is like a dessert, absolutely not a necessity"

However, Chelsea doesn't miss the opportunity to flirt with a cute guy if they seem single and available. (If they're not, she wouldn't do another woman dirty like that)

She does want something lasting though in the long run, even if she has fun with these guys

Her type is artsy, expressive guys

She canonically dated Enrique from Madrid with a nose piercing and went to galleries and coffee shops with him so

Her diary on the wiki said that she had a crush on River. So I honestly kind of vibe with that more than the canon couplings (please don't come after me)

It fits so much better than the girl who is into artsy soulful thoughtful guys to ends up with the singer and main songwriter of an up and coming rock band rather with a jock who pulled Madison's hair

She'd be a lot less jealous than Barbie is and it would make more sense for her to make clothes for the band then- she knows how important image is within the music industry even if she's a pop girlie

She'd never be like "wow Madison is cheating with him" when Madison is the band's manager and the brains of the logistical operation

There's not a lot of reasoning for Barbie and River to be together other than they both find each other hot. Same for Chelsea and Hudson.

Barbie fully says "And did I mention that Mads is sweet on Sutton? They’ve spent some serious quality time together. But…hmm…I’m still not sure about River. I think we may be better off as friends – at least for now."

So they're not convincing to me

And then after River rejects Chelsea the writers do a hard pivot and have her say "I guess I'm into Hudson now" No it was not properly built up

"I never really noticed before, but Hudson is one babe-alicious boy!"

Yeah no.

She and Hudson do actually hang out one-on-one according to the diary entries and she's intrigued by how quiet and (I suppose) sensitive he is

Yes I'm aware this was a webisode series designed to sell dolls I don't care this is for fun. I think that this was sloppy in the diary entries.

My headcanon is that Chelsea would eventually be a fashion designer heavily associated with the band as a muse (which they would first try and hide and say that they're purely professional because River would be against it and want the relationship to be private, but the tabloids are vultures so eventually Madison leverages it for PR)

The fashion designer and the rock star

She'd so be like Alexa Chung but more behind the scenes on the fashion side of things

River would be kinda pretentious about his taste in rock music and she'd make him respect pop

also through her love of literature and poetry I think she'd give him more creative ideas for lyrics, at least inadvertently

A lot of people would be curious about this mysterious woman with red lips and dark eyes that he keeps mentioning in his songs

Chelsea actually knows a lot of rock music through Madison, it's just not her favorite

Unless it's like No Doubt in which case she's obsessed

Don't worry, I have other shipping ideas for Barbie

Misc:

Favorite decorations: Her apartment is filled with various CDs of pop icons and corresponding posters and album art

It's also crowded with various projects, sketches, and clothes that she's altering

Favorite random topic: She loves art history almost as much as fashion. Almost. She will geek out to you about the surrealists, even their more meandering works

Favorite music: Cher, Selena, Stevie Nicks, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, ABBA, No Doubt, Mary J. Blige, finds Ricky Martin to be catchy but overrated, she finds JLO to be in the same boat, Madonna, the Cardigans, Diana Ross, Celia Cruz, her mom would not stop playing Adriano Celentano so she unfortunately also picked it up, begrudgingly some reggeaton though not all of it (granted if someone plays Gasolina she's coming onto the dance floor no matter what)

I'm trying to keep this to artists that existed in the 90s/2000s but I feel like she'd vibe with both Sabrina Carpenter and Kali Uchis

Favorite perfumes: Marc Jacob's Daisy line

Favorite hot drink: latte, nothing too strong. She prefers more milk in her coffee

Favorite book: Anna Karenina because of the amount of political and psychological themes that Tolstoy included

Favorite drink: she likes fruity cocktails in general but especially a Long Island iced tea

Favorite lipstick: MAC's Ruby Woo

Her dog's name is Mambo and not Churro. I think it's cuter with the original name. It's apparently supposed to be a combination of Madison and Barbie's names who seem to have inspired this adoption, which again, is cuter than "I renamed the dog when Madison brought Churros one time and asked him if he wanted one"

Her parents instilled a love of partner dancing in her, it's brought up in her diary that she's forced Hudson to go salsa/cha cha/rumba/tango lessons

She takes the subway because it's the fastest way around the city, Barbie and Madison are picky and prefer not to (one diary entry mentioned that they once had to take the bus and the two of the looked very out of place. There's no way those two take the subway).

She dyes her hair with Henna so that's why it's red sometimes

Career Aspirations:

To become a fashion designer, but not for fame or fortune, out of a legitimate love of what she does

She has so many concepts for different designs and how to make clothes that are upcycled and insanely stylish

At the moment, she's attending design school

Her handbags have been taking off for their eccentric, yet practical designs

Ex: she has taken old cigar boxes before and refurbished them into usable handbags (this is canon based on her diary)

She wants to start a sustainable upcycling business, rather than always buying a bunch of new materials every single time. There's something cool about the creative challenge of taking an existing piece and adding to it

[thenewwei]

I saw 3 films on the plane to Athens, Greece, and since I woke up in the middle of the night here in Naxos, let me give you some thoughts:

1. Barbie—honestly, I thought it was awful. It fails on nearly every barometer—conceptually it made no sense, and while I know little to nothing about the Barbie universe, it seemed very dishonest in terms of its examination of its source material. The beginning ode to Planet of the Apes about mothers and baby dolls-huh? Why is there a “bigger Barbie” and why is weird Barbie like 40 and looks like she’s 60? (I understand there were some Barbie variations later on with older and career-oriented characters, but still?) Aren’t we supposed to examine a world in which Barbie is a thin white blonde Cali teenager with a stereotypical surfer boyfriend, where there’s maybe one (or two) black best friends (Christie? Later Grace?) just like in the typical Hallmark movie, which by the way, are still being made and mostly still dominated by the same racial and sexual formulas? Is there actually an Asian Ken? And I still don’t understand why stereotypical Barbie had to go into the real world to see why she suddenly had feelings—because a real world girl was having problems? And which problems? The real world girl ends up being a know-it-all over-educated Cali teenager (a Hispanic one—triumph!). Even from a feminist perspective, I felt it failed. Okay, so the Barbie world is supposedly ruled by women, while the real world is supposedly ruled by men, and Ken has a euphoria moment when he goes into the real world. Both are highly exaggerated and utterly ridiculous, but even so, I don’t see what it has to say about sex relations that isn’t obvious. And while the America Ferrara speech about double standards about women was spot on, wouldn’t it have been even more subversive to have Ken rant about all the double standards that exist for men (like for example, how society expects us to be aggressive, insensitive and dominant, and then punishes us when we are?). Instead, it’s all just typical, dumbed down stuff for the “universal” audience. Which brings me to why this film was so high-grossing, despite being utterly boring, badly made and intellectually idiotic (even sadder because I really liked Gerwig’s previous film Lady Bird). For the same reason they are making Total Recall remakes—because people are drawn to brands and what they are familiar with. The more original Margot Robbie vehicle Babylon, meanwhile, though also sourced from typical silent movie world info, was an utter flop. Maybe it is time to stop watching overly-marketed movies.

2. American Fiction—this was much different than what I expected, but in its own way, very dishonest too. It was more of a family story about a wealthy African-American man from an upper crust New England family who needs to make sacrifices while dealing with a series of family crises. To get money he creates a “ghetto” black book that suddenly sells, versus his literary books, which are only known to literary circles and marketed in African American Studies sections simply because he’s a black author (this part is funny and spot-on). This is a side narrative, but utterly untrue to reality. Black books that go “Ghetto” these days (and for the past 20 years or so) are immediately shoved into the Urban Fiction section of a highly regimented publishing industry and are unpublishable except to be self-published or distributed by Urban Fiction labels. They certainly would not get this kind of interest from the major publishing industry. The one exception to this is Junot Diaz (remember there can only be ONE), and that’s only because he became big in the 1990s, when we had a real indie grit lit sphere, with Sapphire etc. Yes, this whole scenario could have been plausible in the 1990s and very early 2000s, when indie lit authors had agents and were working through the now bogus traditional model (only reserved for the upper class, apparently), and the original book Erasure (2001) was published by Graywolf (and is nearly impossible to get now because of this) but it’s utterly untrue now. The celebrated black authors are upper crust Colson Whitehead, he of Black Sag Harbor vintage, or people who rant about (and make boatloads of money and endorsements through) anti-racism and reparations platforms. Otherwise, to have a “black” lit book published you have to be a well-educated Nigerian, and God help you if you are born in America! “Ghetto” black authors, subjects and books continue to be discriminated against, despite the fact that they actually depict (if in a steretypical way) the majority of the black experience today. In fact, the class and race dichotomy is worse than ever! Even my own book, Good Americans, a short story collection, won an award in the Urban Fiction category (because it has the “n” word in it?) but bombed in all the short story categories, because it dares to explore the class divide. And my ambitious new book Bad Americans seemed doomed to self-publishing for the same reasons.

3. The Holdovers—this was by far the best film structurally and in terms of impact, although not at all original. It’s the typical story about a teacher stuck with wayward students over a school break and how two become close despite their differences and of course there’s the black cook too, and isn’t it nice that there’s no racism mentioned except that her kid was the only one who died in Vietnam. We learn things about the teacher and we can ponder what being a good teacher means and about the nature of honor and dishonor. At least it was coherent and somewhat moving, unlike almost everything else being produced today.

[bmpmp3]

I FINALLY watched that barbie movie that came out, i watched it last night! it was cute and pretty solid i thought. and then immediately after finishing that i watched the 1989 found footage tv movie ufo abduction/the mcpherson tape?

barbie was mostly very funny (that smallpox joke is inexcusable tho) it seems aimed for maybe a tween-teen kind of audience? i havent heard of many big huge movies aimed at that demographic recently so thats really nice

you know i was worried id be insufferable to both barbie movie fans and barbie movie haters because i have 1) a doll hobby 2) too much interest in doll history and 3) a complete lack of trust and respect for mattel as a company in the past decade and i figured you wouldnt be able to talk to me about it without me um-actually-ing every two seconds BUT it wasnt as egregious as i expected in regards to doll history myths

im especially glad they didnt call stuff like happy family midge and earring magic ken like "recalled" or "banned" or whatever 'cause thats just one of those myths LOL BUT discontinued is a weird term... yeah they were discontinued but like. all dolls are some day. from what i can tell both those dolls werent even like prematurely (heh) discontinued or anything most reports seem that happy family midge sold okay (although there seems to have been controversies at least with the wedding ring and cardboard cutout husband situations) and earring magic ken probably didnt sell well. because hes ken. the earring magic barbies in the line probably sold better LOL i guess a better term could have been like. controversial barbies? infamous barbies? sugar's daddy ken is true and hilarious tho, although if i remember correctly it was like a collectors doll meant for adults that just never got released in the first place

I DID love tanner's inclusion. i love that stupid shitting dog so much i wanted it so bad as a kid but i didnt care about the barbie so it would have been a waste of a playset

speaking of not caring about the barbie so like. i didnt really like barbies as a kid. i didnt really like dolls. i was a furry i only liked animal shaped toys LOL i did have one barbie i picked out myself, fairytopia kindlee who i loved and adored and lost and i dream about her forever. but yeah nothing less interesting to me both as a child and as an adult than a default face sculpt blue eyed blonde barbie toy, which is, as most adults interesting in the modern day toy industry can attest, the reason for our disdain for mattel HFJDKHFDJS actually its more than that - weirdly inflated prices for cheaply made clothes and low quality printing, strangely dated fashion, the weird all or nothing either bare minimum 5 points of articulation or full out double jointed mtm bodies (where is single jointed elbows...i miss her....), THE DECADE LONG REIGN OF TERROR OF THE GLUE HEAD (although we're finally past that), why are those collectors dolls so expensive they look the same quality, why did they make that collectors mermaid ken white from the brown guy in the concept art, in canada the pricing and availability is wacky so i imagine its even worse everywhere else outside the US, this is a personal thing but why does every mattel doll ive ever owned like combust at its joints randomly. am i cursed? do i have a mattel curse? ive been thinking about this for years why does the plastic just disintigrate the second it enters my home what god did i anger. what plastic god did i anger. help me my bloodline has been cursed by some sort of polyvinyl based deity beyond my comprehension

anyway as i was saying it was a little sobering watching a movie with a good fashion and prop and set budget do a take on the memories of what barbie dolls used to be and then thinking about that absolutely dire state we're in rn. bro i kept looking at outfits like modern mattel would never. theyre too busy making half printed t shirt dresses with a random ruffle attached on the side <3 but vintage mattel would also not be as diverse. although neither mattel has an actually fat doll so. um. thats the saddest um-actually im gonna do :(

ive been joking to myself for years that barbie is the name of the species, ken might be some kind of subspecies, so it is funny to see the brand in both real life stores and also this movie lean into that. barbie really is a species. they do move in herds. wait im getting distracted anyway years ago barbie had a big refresh where they leaned into the idea that anyone can be barbie - everyone is barbie: they brought out new body types (standard, tall, short, and slightly curvy) which was a big step, a bigger range of skintones and all kinds of new face molds and screenings, also theres like bald barbies and barbies with prosthetics and wheelchair barbies are made way more often. and all this is fantastic. but unfortunately the blonde blue eyed millie sculpts still haunt most non-fashionista releases.... stereotypical barbie u dont know what u are.... its a shame they didnt reference the millie sculpt in the movie i woulda died LOL

but i always thought it was pretty wack that they made all these cool dolls and then relegated them to wear t shirt dresses for eternity. i like that the budget line is so diverse and i dont even mind the lack of articulation that much (although i do miss basic 9 point articulation where are my elbows and knees) but GOD those outfits. can be ROUGH. and WHY do they never put like half of the diverse dolls in other playsets WHY cant basketball barbie be bald WHEN will i get that prosthetic leg barbie as a fairy like youve put all this effort into all this diversity and then ur doing NOTHING with it mattel im begging u. im begging u. make a fantasy wheelchair barbie i know you can do it. i know you can do it

im not even talking about the movie anymore sorry im just complaining about barbie dolls even tho im not a huge barbie collector JFKDHJRKF i was just picky about toys as a child and i want kids nowadays to get cool dolls too. i think a kid deserves a nice thing to play with that looks like them or like their family or other people around them that also allows to imaginative play you know

okay. okay in the context of the movie its fine and makes sense but lemme tell u. being so deep in the current state of mattel hearing america ferrera's character suggest "ordinary barbie" made me fucking jump out of my seat and point at my laptop screen i almost said outloud "YOUUU" jgekfjfd it was her.... she did this.... jk jk its a sweet message in the movie but just so u know in mattel's mind "ordinary barbie" translates to overpriced cheaply made sack dress barbie. orz

wait back on topic back on topic its a nice movie, im glad it resonates with a lot of people. the plot was a little strange but i dont mind, the sets and outfits and everything was so good anyway, i loved that big huge chunky necklace as a touch, its some fashion brand symbol i dont remember sowwy but i like how huge it is LOL also the music was pretty great, i liked the needle drops and the music composed for the movie was fun too, what was i made for is fantastic but i knew that already its been a hit for a while now and i heard a vocal synth cover of it that sounded nice so i was already on board HJKDHJKFDS sometimes the. racial aspect of the movie was. jarring? they really only mention race like thrice (one of those times being the aforementioned awful smallpox joke) which. you know sometimes i get a little annoyed with a lot of contemporary movies and shows bringing up race just for little quips and jokes here and there while completely ignoring anything substantial about the topic, i know this is a tween movie with a two hour run time and they wanted to focus but i dunno man. it always feels like they're making a joke about elephants while the ignoring the elephant in the room staring u down. but whatever. i'll just lock someone into an unskippable cutscene conversation about history in regards to race and dolls irl later LOL cute movie tho. i like when movies have cool sets and outfits

NOW to the second half of that very odd double feature i gave myself last night UFO ABDUCTION its basically considered the first found footage horror movie, as a tv movie from 1989, and lemme tell u IT IS hard to watch LOL not because its like scary but like. because its a little bit bad <3 but its okay i dont mind, the main character behind the camera got pretty insufferable near the end (would not shut up and made it hard to hear the other actors orz) but it was only an hour and had like no budget - plus i love seeing where so much of the genre came from. im glad to know people screaming at the main character to shut that damn camera off has been here since the very beginning. i also loved the stupid alien costumes its such a shame theyre only in there for like 3 scenes they were the best part: genuinely kind of creepy at the first sight at the ufo landing because theyre so far away and low quality, and also really silly and goofy when they walk right up to the camera <3 <3 <3

i truly madly deeply genuinely without a shred of irony adore found footage so im always happy to see more! even when its bad :) i like it when cameras shake and people scream OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT

[alma-amentet]

6 Questions

RULES: answer the questions then tag someone you want to get to know better/catch up with.

Tagged by  @sheirukitriesfandom Thank you for tagging me! 

I don’t know who’s done this already, so not tagging anyone: feel free just to take and 

1. Last Song: Mike Bell and the Belltones - Dark Side of the Moon

They also have a song called “Loretta” on that same album 😉 Of course that was the first one I checked out.

If you look down to the bottom of my archive, you’ll find a lot of rockabilly / 50s stuff - there was a time I liked it really much. Recently I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic, so I turned that on.    

2. Last Show: Does All for One count? (that’s an absolutely awesome Australian DnD webseries, highly recommended). 

If no, then Westworld 3, and I didn’t bother to watch season 4... Not a big fan of shows in general. I watch them quite ocassinally and I’m usually very picky.  

3. Currently Watching: Elden Ring lore videos... as usual.

Been thinking about watching \ rewatching some good cartoon show... 

4. Currently Reading: Betty Edwards - Drawing on the right side of the brain. I don’t think I’ll practice all this course, but will use some techniques. For now I’m only reading, getting acquainted with it. 

 And some fanfiction.

5. Current Obsession: Elden Ring. My own headcanons and stories.

6. Unrelated Obsession: Fashion dolls. Since my early days, the only toys that got me interested were “dolls with tits” (c) mom - I didn’t like stuffed animals much and just hated baby dolls back then. Only Barbie-like dolls. They were my best friends, so then I became an adult doll enthusiast. I had many different dolls in my life. They helped me to meet some real friends (fellow collectors) and even earn some good money (by selling them, working with various doll businesses, making OOAK doll clothes). 

I like to joke that only in my 30s I’ve finally moved from childhood to teens: almost quit doll hobby and switched to videogames 😆

[littlewalken]

nov 13

Self, you got to slow down as much as possible on the plastic crack. It's okay to have one out of curiosity, got the black forest cake on the second try with the one food thing so that can stop, you already have older Hello Kitty bento (got the breakfast cereal), and the second baby was yet another buggy only in green. At least it looks more like Eloise.

Did come home with a King of the Hill t-shirt and what are called zodiac dice which I'll put with the RPG ones. A set of those at Five Below was a good find, they're black and glowy green swirly. the haunted castle set if you managed to see them.

When the body recovers form using it all day yesterday we've got to scootch the dollhouse, finish setting that up, and now that all of them are in the same place at the same time go thru the non rement mini food and everything there's more than 2 of goes in the trading bag, any of which is fair game to have an eye screw put in to it to be worn as a charm.

Most of my stumbling blacks just have to do with organization which came with the brain injury.

The next big task is photographing and somewhat cataloging the dolls, I have also once again managed to lose track of the tags on strings but I know where they should be, and seeing which dolls can go.

Long time readers may inquire about a set of Moxie Teenz, I have a boy and girl, along with whatever outfits and accessories there are for her. I'm not completely sold on selling them but if it were to another doll person that would be different.

Then it's things like thinning the 1/6 ranks, there's some I basically had only for my old website or turned up cheap in an unusual place that I haven't touched except to move them. There's extra Hasbro Jem, if not all of those and cutting it down to just the two Darci, and second hand Barbies who found their way here.

I'd trade the whole batch of Sunset Malibu including PJ and Francie for a replica Francie full set. Basically I want someone with a Francie body because I have some of her clothes and things.

Another batch I need to decide on is the Trent, Madra, and remains of the Gene doll. Putting her head back on is nothing, it's the chipped knee and discoloration. She's make a good base for an art doll which I still might do.

It's always good and healthy to have these wort of doll thoughts even if you never act on them.

Going to try and finish Venom 3 today, it better get better or we'll just al pretend it ended with Let Him Fuck Carnage. At least the only "woke representation" has been the blonde woman and her thing, won't spoil, and that's a realistic thing you're more likely to encounter. Magic the Gathering guy is like only there to give Marvel fanboys who haven't showered since Tony Stark died something to quote. The first scene with the critter on earth better be part of its character development and if I don't see it on someone's side at the end fuck that whole story line.

I'm saving Beetlejuice 2 for after Venom, I started it by accident but the few minutes I did see were already going somewhere. I can put up with building to something, Plainsong and Just Like Heaven anyone, but FFS make it pay off. Deadpool loves Wolverine has pacing issues but it did pay off.

[nettchan02]

Body Changes Beauty? Questions

Copy of Plastic Surgery Animation (youtube.com)

Cartoon Movie - plastic surgery (youtube.com)

Evolution of Looney Tunes Theme (youtube.com)

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days are the 8th - 9th of October (youtube.com)

How comes every single time in art life, drawings, animation, cartoons or? Any other specific character wanted to see in the main character lead has to be thin blonde just. Has to be like outstanding beauty. They had like beauty golds, actually. How come it is always on the classic cartoon or any cartoons? Or could it be Disney presenting the woman? This has to be sexy, and it has to look sexy and like the moderate look. Has to look thin and? couldn't be chubby. Couldn't be none of that. How come it is just only dusty. It could only be the main character. How come when we do live drawings When we do live drawings. Or characters' forms and figures could be just only 10 or could be like any figures in form as it seemed. When I started a live drawing at the beginning, I thought that only males would sketch, but it seemed to me we were sketching both of them, males and females, and it seemed like we were experiencing more figures of the body. We're experiencing not just the thin triangles or the thin rectangles I am experiencing. Circlers of the body are also present, not just the thinness of the body. It's also essential now that every single time I see an animation, a classic 1, it's just like presenting the woman like Betsy Boot has to be the flatter. Types of character. How come we only have to see that And why do we need plastic surgery? Woman need plastic surgery when their bodies are healthy. It's many questions about plastic surgery to be fair, and to be fair, plastic surgeries come back again in the form of the distortions of feelings. When we see our favourite characters on the TV V. Channels, we want them to look like them. We want it to look like dizzy princesses, or we wanted to look like our Barbie dolls. It's actually distorting our minds to be like them have comes if the metal don't sell the chubby based of dolls. How comes it just has to be thin, thinner Barbies? Maybe they're telling us that we must be healthy and look like Barbie if we want to be healthy. But how come if the person is good at losing weight and, they are. Feeling significantly affected by seeing Barbie as a childhood toy could distort that person's mind. And how come of the look of the beauty is we were. We wanted to do plastic surgery when we didn't have any issues or genetic problems or any injuries we needed to fix, just like all these are healthy. It's just like we were born with a different face type, and we wanted to be confident, or we wanted to try a new look or like we wanted to maybe experience. The freshness and youngness are a bit longer. Why do we a need it when we do not need plastic surgery when we don't have any specific injuries because? When I mentioned about like plastic surgery, many. Some of us are very skeptical about like saying it might need plastic surgery because someone might have got injured might need surgery because someone might. have some genetic issues or it has some problems, or someone got injuries they want to get rid of now they got Sean's rid of it. How much could it be also a salary on the doctors pay in any other country if they do have these issues, and why do woman need plastic surgery especially the actors because I see so many celebrities doubling themself off to be like again but with a unique look when they are young, and they are not really needed to why were the buttocks essential for the body.

It’s like ridiculous to not send the matter due to different body types of Barbie going to seem like different hair colour and skin colour Barbie, but we never seem like a different body type of Barbie, and it’s not always that we could see like many artists just like to create like a Barbie, even if it’s not really I could see on the video of the stretch my phone Barbie but come on Matt is nothing is about like we making fun of the actual body figures. It’s just like the feelings of like having Barbies is like, expressing the bodies how much boundaries has especially of the woman’s bodies is also important especially if woman has after pregnancy like the stretchmarks the dark circles exhaustion just when they presented from the movie of the ugly Barbie does the children’s decided to destroy it could be better if the movie is also presented like is also a woman who is after her pregnancy is about like decided to be her like since after pregnancy like exhaustion feelings and her Barbie is that reminding her of her ages when she was a child person thing that it’s also could be like the movie could go well if they are also presenting some kind of Barbies like that and also the movies could be got like levels up and goes up like just try to be presenting the Barbie had been done from their children’s and only presenting the beauty and fiction or more like presenting beauty I was proud of that is about like that part is like solving one part is about like it was done succeed because every single Barbie movies or the Barbies just showing about like what could be succeeded and it’s a could be presenting those kind of figures and form like if you’re being a true beauty or just blonde or you’re a Barbie‘s friend you could be succeed that kind of present the things if you when I was seeing Barbie but when I was seeing the movie it was giving me like so many questions but like I don’t think that’s gonna be a good movie for me but was seen that part is about like now I see is like Barbie don’t succeed that’s the one is I wanted to see how far if now twisting this things I should like sometimes Barbie don’t succeed because that’s also part of life but the body figures also like I wanted to see something of it like more often like the body figures of the Matt creating or try to be presenting like peoples body figures or something something like that that kind of thing is I wanted like just only the one part but I wanted to see how was it like it’s a bit of a chubby Barbie was taking apart.

[firespirited]

Oldest doll would be my 12y/o car boot sale Sparkle Eyes Barbie head but she got lost in a house move. I bought one in better condition and put her on a fashionistas body. Oldest by date is Barbie Quick Curl Kelley.

Most recent doll is Rainbow High Emi Vanda

Fave type: By numbers, it's Bratz as I collected them the longest. I'm attached to any design that's got sympathetic faces and built to last. Aesthetically, it's probably Barbie.

Least favourite : I don't keep dolls in the collection unless they're just right but there are a couple who are falling apart from bad design decisions like Barbie Extra asian Grace or Monster High Gigi who needs another glue treatment. That diminishes their shine.

There are almost 300 at last count, of which 100 bratz.

I try to not think about dolls i regret selling and put them on a wishlist for finding second hand maybe someday. I do wish I 'd kept a few more of my customs and bought more customs from friends.

My wishlist is split: various dolls not sold in stores anymore to find on the second hand market and G3 Venus.

The prettiest doll? Probably Amaya and her white hair with rainbow streaks... that's a really tough question, Shani a recent fashionistas is also beautiful.

Ugliest would be Beauty Cuties Glamalina who looked ridiculous on a tiny gumby body and has huge cartoony proportions.

Biggest: Rainbow Surprise Skye, Amethyst, Pixie Rose and Dream at 45cm. Gayle the knockoff 1/4th and Shibajuku is also 45cm and oogly in a cute way.

smallest + cutest is the plapico dragon by Eileendolls.

Who is worth the most? I don't know, maybe the space angelz nevra or an early Poisongirl pullip repaint are worth 300$ now.

Dolls I'll never buy: never say never but Barbie with the pixelated shiny makeup that can't be photographed, collector dolls that are much too expensive for what they are. The Paris Hilton doll.

Strangest doll is probably Gayle, she's a bunch of doll parts and experiments that somehow has an attitude. Another strange one is monster high inner monster, they have a push changing eye system and translucent skin to show the skeleton: I love that those got made.

Biggest doll related regret: not buying more customs and not buying dolls that were available because I was too rigid with my spending.

The most important aspect is the face design for me. It has to convey something slightly serene that draws you in and makes the doll have character that changes when posed or in different light. I think 80% of that is eye design.

I started collecting dolls as an adult as an act of 'frivolous' 'useless' fun, restoring dolls is the biggest part of the hobby for me.

Biggest pet peeve (aside from doll companies undermining good design work for corner cutting) would be making the eyes too light. More dolls with normal eye colours!

Asks for Doll Collectors

What is the oldest doll you own?

What is the doll you got most recently?

Favorite type of doll? 

Least favorite type of doll?

How many dolls do you own?

What is a doll you used to have and wish you still did?

What does your wish list look like?

Prettiest doll you own?

Ugliest doll you own, but love anyway?

Cutest doll you own?

Biggest doll you own?

Smallest doll you own?

What doll in your collection is worth the most?

Doll you’ll never buy, and for what reason?

What is the strangest doll you own?

Biggest doll-related regret?

What’s the most important aspect of a doll, in your opinion?

What’s your doll-related pet peeve?

When did you start collecting dolls?

Have any doll-related stories? Such as, did you ever have to fist fight someone in the aisle at walmart for a doll?

[golvio]

There’s a box set of 1/6 scale blind box ball-jointed dolls I ordered a while back that I’m really looking forward to getting in the mail once they release. They’re plastic instead of vinyl, so their knee joints are chunkier than non-blind box bjds like the YoSD series, but they have a good range of motion and a surprisingly good paint job for a solid plastic BJD. Their inset eyes seem to be higher quality than the more expensive TinyFox brand the website also sells. They’re decent enough quality that you could probably swap out their sculpted plastic hair pieces with an actual wig cap you’d see on a higher-end BJD and it wouldn’t look too out of place.

What I’m most excited about, though, is that based on a video I saw demoing the prototype’s range of motion, the body itself seems so sturdy and well-balanced that they’re really good at freestanding even if you cross their legs in a very loose approximation of a ballet style plié pose. Of course, the hair pieces and the clothes might shift their actual center of gravity a bit, but they seem bottom-heavy enough that I don’t think a little extra weight on their heads would make them tip over like some of the Penny’s Box dolls. They seem like they’d be lots of fun to pose for photo shoots. If I was more ambitious as an animator, I’d take advantage of their ability to stand in order to do some stop motion photography with them!

I only have two complaints. First, in the motion demo video, there’s a gap that appeared where the upper thigh connected to the pelvis when the demonstrator extended the doll’s leg all the way out in front of her. Not sure if that’ll be there in the final product and it doesn’t necessarily interfere with the overall range of motion, but it looked awkward. Second, I don’t like how short the skirts on the outfits they come with are. I wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with the skirt length if these blind box dolls didn’t have a tendency to not include underwear with their default outfits. 😬 I wish the skirts were either closer to knee length or their traditional/historical-themed outfits were cheongsams instead of a two-piece shirt and miniskirt set. I ended up buying some color-coordinated Curvy Barbie yoga pants in advance to give them some (hopefully) matching leggings to cover up with.

Someday I’d like to get practiced enough at hand sewing that I could take these gals’ measurements and make them some simple bike shorts or even some frilly bloomers. I’d love to design some cute layered casual outfits for them if I can ever work my way up to drawing my own patterns for miniature shirts, jackets, pants, and hats. Maybe if I get confident enough and learned how to embroider or glue embroidery onto the hems and collars, I could buy some small squares of really nice patterned silk and make them some proper dresses?

[alsjeblieft-zeg]

067 of 2024

The Pink Survey 🩷

by joybucket

1. Do you like the color pink? 🩷 Yeah, I do. But mostly paired with black. They look so good together.

2. What is your favorite shade of pink? Neon pink, hot pink, champagne pink, tango pink, Mexican pink, paradise pink.

3. What is your least favorite shade of pink? Solid pink, silver pink.

4. Are you wearing anything pink right now, and if so, what? One of my bracelets is light pink.

5. Have you ever taken a ballet class, and if yes, what did you think of it? 🩰 No, I haven't.

6. List three things you can see in the room you're in right now that are pink. Pencil case, boxes with stuff we sell, index notes.

8. Would you rather drink a strawberry smoothie, a strawberry milkshake, or a Pink Drink from Starbucks? Strawberry milkshake. Gotta tell you, I'm obsessed with them.

9. Would you rather eat strawberry ice cream, a strawberry-flavored cake, or a pink Starburst? Strawberry ice cream.

10. Which of these cartoon characters do you like best: Pink Panther, Miss Piggy, Patrick Star, Piglet, or the Cheshire Cat? Cheshire Cat and Piglet.

11. Name three things you like that are pink. Carnation flowers, quartz, cherry blossoms.

13. Would you say you are feminine? Nope. But I have a tendency to get androgynous at times.

14. List five-ten names you like for a girl. Laura, Monica (or Monique), Sylvia, Maya, Victoria, Margo, Juliette.

16. Do you think guys look good in pink? Some do, some don't. It just depends on a person, I think. Same with women.

17. Which of these names do you like best for a girl: Fuchsia, Magenta, Rose, Peony, or Petunia? Rose.

18. Who is the most creative person you know? My sister. She paints, draws, takes photos, composes music and plays various instruments.

19. What is your favorite creative pastime? Photography and photoediting, and graphic design/photomanipulation. Also, creating music mashups/remixes.

20. How creative would you say you are on a scale of 1-10? Why? Maybe 4 to 5. Not extremely creative, but there's some creativity in me.

21. Would you ever dye your hair pink? Yeah, I had pink already.

24. What was the last thing you drank that was pink? Strawberry-flavoured milk.

25. List three things you dislike that are pink. Bubble gum, cotton candy, shrimp.

26. Which of these careers sounds the most appealing to you: fashion model, makeup artist, fashion designer, painter, or graphic designer? Graphic designer.

28. Which of these cartoon characters do you like best: Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie, Princess Peach, Sleeping Beauty, or Hello Kitty? Princess Peach and Hello Kitty.

29. Do you own a pair of pink pants? I used to, but I sold them.

30. Which of these flavors do you like best: strawberry, watermelon, raspberry, dragonfruit, or bubblegum? Strawberries, and maybe raspberries.

33. How many pairs of shoes do you own? Too many. 30 or something?

34. When was the last time you wore a dress, and what was the occasion? Never.

35. How often do you wear dresses or skirts? Never.

36. Would you rather eat cotton candy, raspberry sherbet, or strawberry yogurt? Strawberry yogurt.

38. Would you ever drive a pink car? I don't see any reason why not.

39. Which of these words would you say describes you best: flamboyant, fashionable, flirtatious, vibrant, or playful? Vibrant and playful, maybe.

40. Who in your family, if anyone, has had breast cancer? No one, thankfully.

41. Are there cherry blossom trees where you live? 🌸 Only in gardens, it seems.

43. What is your favorite pink dessert? I'm not big on desserts, but maybe panna cotta.

44. Which of these names do you like best for a girl: Aster, Azalea, Cheri, Lily, or Fancy? Lily. My friend has named his younger daughter Lily and I think it's cute.

46. Which of these names do you like best for a girl: Gloria, Gardenia, Fantasia, Flora, or Begonia? Gloria and Flora.

47. List three things you have in common with a Barbie doll. I'm tall, I lack proportions, I own too many clothes.

48. Did you name your Barbies when you were younger? I never had any Barbies, but I think my sister was naming hers. I don't remember well, though.

49. List three of your favorite things in nature that are pink. Cherry blossoms, clouds at sunrise/sunset, various flowers.

50. What are three pink things you like that haven't been mentioned? Salmon, rose gold, pink pearls.

[black-and-yellow]

I’ve Got Your Number

New tablet, new Loudspeaker.

[charlie-doods]

Op did a good job breaking down what I love about apollo’s posing in aa4, but as the resident 3d art enthusiast, I wanted to explain my problems with aa5 and aa6 and why I think it was more of a skill/experience problem than medium

Game art is an interesting challenge, because it’s usually more limited than film/vfx style work that I specialize in. Everything needs to be optimized for performance, which results in lower polycount characters, simpler rigs, and less rendering capabilities. Stuff like glass and skin is a real struggle in games.

But ace attorney’s art is great because of it’s limitations. And that can be seen in the frames of animation, the limited expressions, the limited use of extreme emotions, and the small cast of characters and environments. The poses are graphic making then quick to understand. The limited scope is great for production too! The artists get to spend time packing a punch with every drawing, and refining every detail.

The 3d ace attorney games suffer a fate that’s pretty common in 3d art. Rigs are usually controlled with with rotation or translations. This makes basic posing similar to posing a barbie doll. The best animators know how to pose for the camera by breaking rigs in way the create appealing poses in from one angle like this Encanto screenshot:

3d that tried to imitate styles that were originally 2d have the added challenge of creating flexible rigs that won’t break and allow animators to create the extreme poses or shapes that would be drawn in 2d. Some good examples of this done well are The Peanuts Movie and Beastars as well as some independent work like below

This is an artist on twitter creating 3d animations based off Ranma 1/2 and it’s a great example of what good posing and timing does to sell the 2d effect!

https://twitter.com/giwono0708/status/1637231593432707073?s=46&t=z_w3T0vIOx5VZ1RjWYNosg

Persona 5 does style and posing extremely well in their all out attacks. This video perfectly summarizes my thoughts, but I also think it’s comparable to ace attorney because of it’s limited camera angles during fights and, at times, limited animation. Joker has no anticipation before performing a backflip but it reads so well!

My main focus isn’t on realtime, and I wasn’t in the industry when a Dual Destinies was released, but I really think that 3d and ace attorney could work. With a very limited budget and team, I’m impressed the game looks as good as it does, but I think with the limited camera angles used in the games there’s a lot of potential for exciting animation in future 3d ace attorney games. I really love apollo as well, and I’d love to see a more accurate to aa4 version of him in 3d (I may or may not try to do it myself when I graduate)

i’ve said it before and i’ll be saying it to the grave, but the switch to 3d in ace attorney is a fucking crime.

when you think of apollo justice, do you see this

or this?

look, i don’t wanna disparage the hardworking animators who did the 3d sprites, but in terms of art medium, 2d animated sprites worked PERFECTLY with this series.

hand drawn animations allow for so much more subtle emotion and character.

for example:

the flared lines on his vest and elbow, the hair on the back of his neck sticking up, and the detailed hand positions help reinforce the emotion on his face.

(once again, not disparaging the animators, this is a problem of medium, not skill) but let’s compare his thinking sprites:

the 3d one is pretty straightforward. cute motion, it’s fine.

but the 2d one? absolute masterclass in illustrating body language. you can see him hunched forward slightly, clearly a little tense. arm crossed in front almost defensively. but even though he looks a bit unsure in posture, his eyes stare forward with determination.

look, in more action oriented games, i completely get 3d animation. it’s a necessity. but for a visual novel type to scrap the beloved, timeless 2d styles in favor of stilted 3d that aged very quickly? fucking unforgivable.