GAH.

Mar. 16th, 2021 06:49 pm
insaneladybug: (radley)
So I finally saw the Japanese version of what Lawton did to Radley.

MY HEART.

I definitely understand why the dub cut it; it was extremely painful to watch, especially when I'm so nuts about him. And it probably would have been upsetting to kids and got parents upset. First you really see Radley hit in the head with Lawton's gun, instead of it being implied in the dub with the impact not actually shown. And that's just for starters. It actually showed Lawton's Gatling Ogre blasting Radley over and over with 40 rounds of effect damage ammo, one for each 100 lifepoints. He was clearly in pain and screaming; there is something weird going on in that town! When it finished, he said, "That was dirty; how could I have stopped that?!" and collapsed unconscious. Not showing the physical assault in the dub made his collapse look cheesy. Also, I loved that Radley called Lawton out on the unfair one-turn kill in the original.

I promptly cuddled the plush, lol.

I know it's weird to be so disturbed by the scene considering all the hurt/comfort scenarios I put characters through, including Radley, but it's worse actually seeing it. Plus, some scenarios can definitely be more upsetting than others. I would definitely be hurting the same way to see my fic scenario of Radley shocked to death by Malcolm's shock collar brought to animated life, though. (Yes, he comes back from that.)

Since Radley is technically part of the problem in Crash Town, I do struggle a bit with liking him/feeling like he isn't as bad as Malcolm and Lawton/etc. But canon clearly presents compelling evidence in favor of him: he and his group are not actively terrorizing the town like Malcolm's Crew is, we never see their part of the mine, so it's possible they don't even abuse their labor, Radley seems friendly and even tried to reach out to Kalin but was brushed off, he treats his gang like equals and doesn't talk to them like their boss, his gang all seems very nice the few times they say anything, they hang out at a diner in the Japanese and I need to change references to a saloon in my fics.... They just seem like nice young kids caught up in a big mess.

I've been working on a lot of oneshots and a multichapter cross with YGO Classic. Things are mostly going well. The plunnie explosion has been an immense help over the past month; real-life has been dealing a series of blows that I long to escape. I've also drawn some stuff and requested more amazing pictures from ElfBean.

I did finally watch more of seasons 3 and 4 of 5Ds and found a lot I liked, especially Bruno/Antinomy. I've also watched some of 5. I don't like the Japanese ending for the series. Everyone going their separate ways and Yusei being left all alone ... that isn't satisfying at all. It felt contrived and unnecessary, just yet another addition to the current line-up of things that want to show people can still be close friends even when apart. It's a good lesson, but I'm sick of encountering it everywhere. Just let the friends stay together in fiction, for Pete's sake. Is that really going to hurt anything? I bring everyone back together in my fics. I think the dub ending is much more satisfying, even though it eliminates the Ark Cradle arc and tries to have the WRGP tournament as the finale. But I acknowledge season 5 in my fics because I wanted to revive Bruno. He's an adorably precious character and his bond with Yusei is probably my favorite Yusei friendship in the series.

I have the DVD set of the dub 3 and 4. Had to get that set first to have the Crash Town episodes, heee. And I often look up scenes on Crunchyroll to see how they went in the original. I'll be getting the other DVD set soon.

I also finally got the Over the Nexus game. I thought I wouldn't have trouble getting a spin-off game, but wow, was there trouble. It's apparently the most sought-after of the 5Ds games, I suppose because a lot of it takes place in Crash Town and that is a fan-favorite arc. I could have tried to find a ROM, but after the trouble I had with the Nightmare Troubadour ROM I really just wanted a physical copy of the game. I kept following auctions and losing out. The price would always go sky-high. I finally accepted that I wasn't going to be able to get it for less than probably $40 something, so after losing both an auction and a Buy It Now listing in the same day, I sought out someone who was selling a copy apparently more expensive than people wanted to buy and made my highest offer on it. I thought it would probably be too low to be accepted considering the Buy It Now price, but it was accepted, squeee. I was able to pay for some of it with eBay gift cards. It's shipped now and should be here this week. I charged my 2DS to be ready for it. If it's anything like Nightmare Troubadour, it will take a while for the plot to really get underway and I'll have to duel OCs and minor characters for a while. But I'll get to see a lot of Crash Town and Nico and West, so that will be fun. I don't think Radley shows up until around chapter 5. There are 7 chapters. After I beat the main game, I can challenge Radley any time I want, like with the Big Five in Nightmare Troubadour. I do wish the game wouldn't have screwed up his personality, but I'll try to ignore that. Nightmare Troubadour did very well with the Big Five; I'm still giggling over Nesbitt's insult of "You look about as threatening as a water pistol." **snerk.** I have got to use that in a fic. Also, Over the Nexus has a much-needed gender function when picking your OC! Nightmare Troubadour did not have that and my character kept getting called "he" in the script. I wonder which YGO game first acknowledged that girls like it too. Most of the YGO fans I've ever known are female, honestly. Although I have met some guy fans too.

Duel Links has been really fun this month, and the topper is that I think we're finally getting Duke! Ohmygoshsqueee! A new character is coming with the catchphrase "Go Dice Roll!" I'm unaware of any spin-off characters who like dice. If it's not Duke, it will be too cruel!

Yay

Nov. 8th, 2020 03:17 am
insaneladybug: (nesbitt_lector)
I finally got to do my birthday outing, but as I'd figured, I didn't find anything I wanted other than a plushie base, and a nice patriotic shirt when I exchanged a pair of pants. Target was sold out of everything I like to buy there! Aurgh! But I did decide, while looking at a small Disney Store Mickey Mouse that cost $23, that I was going to buy the 25 inch one on Amazon. I got him that night and he arrived two days later thanks to my Prime trial, which they offered to extend for another month. He is sooo soft, both the fur and the huggability. I love him! I keep him on the bed.

I also finally got Build-a-Bear's tuxedo cat to be Oreo. They understuffed her, as usual, and I don't know when I'll be able to fix it since I'm not comfortable going into the store with her right now and I don't trust myself to do it. But she's adorable! Definitely the most Oreo-looking plushie I've ever found.

For Halloween, I put down paper towel on our wall and then put spaced-out candy. We got more kids this year than we have in a while. Go figure. I guess with no trunk or treats, they go back to traditional methods.

I immediately felt like getting Christmassy the day after Halloween and I turned on the small trees. On Monday we got lights for the big tree, since some were about to burn out on it (and immediately did when I turned it on, oy). The new lights are gorgeous. Instead of the cheap brands we usually buy, these are GE. Love it!

I wrote the YGO fic with Nesbitt being tricked into accepting the Orichalcos. I'm just finishing it now. It didn't work to extend it very long due to his unique circumstances and also the fact that I rarely like writing duels, but I like how it came out. Very heartbreaking and very squeeful and I use a lot of my personal feelings and struggles with self-hatred in how I write for Nesbitt. At the end, the problem isn't gone, but he's starting to heal thanks to his friends.

I'm kind of obsessed with the 5Ds character Kalin Kessler. He is a pretty horrible person even before the dark force gets him, and then he completely turns his life around after he's freed. It feels very vindicating. People would tell me I was writing characters wrong if their personalities became different when they wanted to repent. Kalin is a canon example showing it happening. I think his redemption arc was very well-done. I play him a lot in Duel Links. I want to make a plushie of him, and I might use my current plushie base for that. I even sought out some nice, soft material I could use for his hair. I found the right color and everything. Problem is, I could only buy it in a set of a yard and a half for over $8. Oy! The things I do for my crafting projects....

(I also bought a talking Charmander. I wanted him for my birthday, but they sold out, and they just finally got a couple this past week. One disappeared right away and I decided I'd better buy the other instead of waiting to try asking for him for Christmas.)

I also actually want to buy 5Ds. I've seen enough of it to know that I want to see more, and I would prefer to just get the DVDs and watch it that way instead of streaming the episodes on my tablets. I still hate the setting of Domino in the future, but I just love the characters and that's what sells it for me.

Duel Links added Zexal. A lot of fans of it have wanted it, apparently. I honestly think it looks very childish compared to the first three YGO series (yes, even GX). The characters seem to be younger and their cards are out of this world ridiculous. Zubababancho Gagagacoat?! How can anyone take a name like that seriously?! **headdesk.** Maybe someday Duel Links will introduce a character or event that will interest me, like they finally did for both GX and 5Ds, but somehow I doubt I will ever be that intrigued overall. With GX, I love Jesse Anderson and will play as him sometimes, and I'll play as Tyranno only because David Wills voices him, but GX just doesn't enchant me overall. The setting of a duel school is still preposterous and I just can't seem to get invested in the adventures. They're either too slice-of-life, which I can't get behind when I'm not invested in the characters, or too dark. 5Ds, on the other hand, grabbed me with the Dark Signer arc and Carly Carmine, and then I got invested in all the characters and their adventures. Somehow, in spite of the setting of a ruined Domino City and the nonsense of Turbo Duels, it feels like a better follow-up to classic YGO, storyline-wise. (On the other hand, GX still uses familiar cards, which felt so good to see after watching 5Ds. But I was seriously underwhelmed by the GX Paradox Brothers episodes. Not epic like the classic series at all.)
insaneladybug: (nesbitt_lector)
So thankfully, we didn't really need a new modem. Something was wrong outside. A technician came out and fixed it! Things have been fine since then.

I rented Frozen 2 on Amazon, as per Crystal's suggestion, and watched it three times during the rental period. My feelings are ... mixed. I still don't like the ending. I don't think it had to be that way. But ... aside from the ending, I found it a beautiful film and I loved the songs. It was a much higher quality film than the Wreck-It Ralph sequel, as I expected and hoped.

The reasons why I have problems with the ending are as follows.

1, Elsa's powers separated her and Anna for most of their lives. They had only had three years together finally bonding again before the Frozen 2 ending separated them again. At least they're going to visit, but it's not the same.

2, It's Anna's mother and culture too, and she should also get to explore and learn about the past. Of course, somebody has to watch Arendelle, but I think it would have been much more satisfying if Elsa and Anna stayed a bit to learn about their mother and mother's family and Elsa learned more about her powers and then they both went back to Arendelle. Maybe Anna could still be queen so Elsa could be "free," but Elsa would mostly live in Arendelle and travel to the forest when she felt like it or if there was trouble. The four spirits are the guardians of the forest, so it doesn't seem like Elsa has to be there. Elsa does seem to have an adventurous side, understandable when she was cooped up so long, afraid of her powers. But that shouldn't have to equate living apart from Anna.

3, One reviewer on YouTube commented that she thought Elsa had to live in the forest so she could unleash her full powers without hurting anyone. That would just be sad if that's the reason. And it goes back to what I said about her learning to control them even better while there, but not having to stay there. Elsa does love the forest and seems more at home there than in the city, but then that's because the writers wanted it that way. Maybe some of the fans would have different images of Elsa or feel like she would be happy in the city getting to be with Anna and not be afraid of harming her. Or maybe everyone decides to move Arendelle closer to the forest so everyone can be more connected to each other. That would have been satisfying too. But basically, Elsa learning the full scope of her powers should really make her feel free, and how would it make her feel free if she has to live apart from the city for fear of harming them with said powers? That is not a happy ending. Of course, it's just that reviewer's opinion that that's why Elsa decides to live in the forest. I don't think that was what Disney intended.

Really, though, the original Frozen had the perfect ending already: Elsa learning how to start controlling her powers and the kingdom realizing she isn't a monster and them all being accepting and happy together.

All that said, the Show Yourself sequence is just incredible and my favorite part of the sequel. And I thought Olaf's sequel song was better and funnier than In Summer. I liked that they toned down Olaf falling apart. Waaay too overdone in the first film. I think I loved all the songs in Frozen 2, whereas in the original I was enthusiastic about maybe three or four. Frozen 2 was also less crude. So ... a mixed bag. But definitely worth seeing. I'll probably want to own it someday. I definitely want the soundtrack.

I've thought a lot lately about how much I can relate to Elsa on some things. I love both girls, but I definitely find Elsa the most relatable, struggling with herself and what she is and worrying about concealing her true self. (And also relating to having a bit of an adventurous side, although at the same time I wouldn't be comfortable doing anything risky, heh.) I know a lot of lesbians gravitate to her and wish that Disney would make her a lesbian, but I wish Disney would make her asexual. :) Oh, one of my favorite lines in Frozen 2 is in the childhood flashback. Anna is obsessed with romance and Elsa's reaction is, "Anna, kissing won't save the forest!" ROTFLOL. I love it. I would love to have a Show Yourself moment and finally feel free to reveal my complete self to everyone.

Gansley did indeed come on the day I was thinking he would! It's pretty awesome to have all five members of the Big 5 in G. I. Joe form now. I wish I could think of stories to act out with them, heh. Mostly I play with them by picking them up and moving them around. There are lots of cute hugs with Lector and Nesbitt.

(Also on that day, which was Dad's birthday, my brother wanted to get him a birthday dinner. He ordered KFC. Yuuum! I'm having a lot of trouble with tomato intolerance, which is really frustrating me lately. Of course, the most upsetting thing is when it affects my pizza intake. I'm considering having fried chicken for my birthday this year.)

The price of the Wreck-It Ralph Elsa and Anna dolls finally came down on Amazon, so I bought them with a gift card. They came on Monday. They're slightly disproportionate, sadly, and hollow plastic instead of solid, but they're very cute and I'm happy to get them at last. It's fun seeing them in modern clothes. LOL, Anna's shirt has a sandwich.

And my three-foot Elsa arrived on Friday! It was an amazing day and really felt like Christmas, heee. I woke up just before the delivery and was able to immediately get her inside. I needed more sleep, so I got her out of the mailing box and brought her into my room. I thought I'd be too excited to sleep, but I finally dozed off, and I had an amazing dream, one of the haunted house dreams I have such fun with. And it plunnied me for a fic at last! I hope I'll be able to develop a whole plot from it. I'm thinking that Noa buys a house because he wants a big one for him and his mother to live in. But weird things start happening and they end up calling the Big Five and Yugi and company for help. Then they have to try to solve the mystery of what happened in the house and why the ghosts are angry. I suppose that unlike Evangeline's house, which will always have some mysteries, I'll need to try to solve this one. My house dreams never do solve the mysteries, though. Lol. There's lots of wandering through all the rooms, and there's bedrooms with all of the past tenants' stuff and the feeling of ghosts lingering and being angry. In the dreams I always want to take some of the neat stuff and use it myself, but I never feel free to because of the eerie feeling. This dream had a huge bathroom with spa and a room with a stage, and rooms filled with stored furniture that felt haunted. And all of this stuff was on the basement level. Usually it's higher levels.

I probably won't try buying much of anything for a while, except a picture here and there by ElfBean. I'm pretty happy right now and want to play with all the lovely things, hee. I feel like I've been having my birthday shopping spree since April.

I finally finished my interview fic and got it all posted. I hope it looks alright. Johnson's was the hardest for me. He's my least favorite member and it's the most difficult to get into his mind.

I also kept being pestered by my original Purple Avenger plunnie, where Lector becomes a vigilante because he feels betrayed and abandoned by his friends. I finally had to pen it, and I wrote it as taking place in another verse. But it's a misunderstanding created by Dartz, who was hoping someone would give into their inner darkness. Everything gets resolved and there is squee.

Frozen 2 also provided plunnies. I love the line in Kristoff's song "You're my True North, because without you I am lost in the woods." I had to adapt the line for a squee scene with Lector and Nesbitt. It may or may not be part of my next mystery fic. It looks fine as a stand-alone, but I know I get a bigger audience for the ensemble fics. I'm not sure it fits the tone of this upcoming house fic, though. So I'm still thinking about placement for that.

Then Anna's heartbreaking song The Next Right Thing, where she thinks Elsa is dead, provided inspiration and I had to draw a heartbreaking picture: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com I'm planning to color it, but haven't yet.

I also want to draw Lector swinging on his grappling hook as the Purple Avenger. I love that concept of Lector as a vigilante way too much.
insaneladybug: (lector)
So I heard about the latest goings-on in the IDW Sonic comics and I got mad. Didn't like what was happening with Shadow and I also didn't like that the comics were getting so dark in general. I was so excited when I heard about the Archie comic stopping and Sega wanting something closer to the games, because I thought that meant we'd be getting something more light and fun instead of so dark with such a complicated plot and so many characters to keep track of. But the IDW comic is just going really dark too, and out of utter frustration I decided to do the unthinkable: try Boom.

I looked up an episode guide and found an episode that sounded hilarious, where Eggman wants Sonic to Friend him online. ROTFLOL. I watched that and really was amused for the most part, although I thought the "humor" with that old monkey character getting hit by the car was in horrible taste and not funny at all. And of course, I didn't feel characters were exactly IC. But I can't deny the basic plot was funny, especially when Eggman kept sending Sonic stuff every two seconds. I can relate.

Then I saw a clip from one of the Shadow episodes and decided to look at it, since I'd read about them worrying about writing for Shadow in a way that wouldn't make him look silly or goofy. Well, there are other ways to be OOC. Shadow came across more like Bass, concerned about his pride above all else, and when he accidentally demolished something Sonic and company had been working on, he said their shoddy craftsmanship was a blight on all hedgehogs everywhere, or something equally preposterous and insulting. I also looked up more detailed information on his Boom incarnation and in his other appearance, he gets so upset at indignities happening to him that he decides to blow up the world. **repeated headdesk.** Really? This isn't Shadow at all. And while I can appreciate the writers were trying, I feel like they were just as insulting and unfair to Shadow as if they had written him goofy. Really think about Sonic Adventure 2's climax for a minute, not to mention Shadow's choice to still be a hero and save the world from the Black Arms in the climax of his self-titled game, and tell me they didn't absolutely demolish Shadow's character.

Shadow in the Boom games isn't quite so horrible, but his continually trashing friendship seems really shallow and lame, especially given his backstory with Maria. Of course, Boom Shadow has no known backstory yet, but knowing of the backstory from every other Sonic verse, oh gosh, this is such a trainwreck.

I probably will look around and see if there are other Boom episodes I might find enjoyable, but the Shadow episodes certainly aren't among those, and I highly doubt Boom would ever be satisfactory for me as another verse I could fully immerse myself in. I guess for me, the games and Sonic X are still the only verses I love enough to really consider canon.

Ugh.

Mar. 16th, 2019 04:23 pm
insaneladybug: (lector)
You know, I think Monk is a very polarizing show. Episodes are either extremely good or extremely bad; there is no in-between.

I forgot I didn't like Mr. Monk Fights City Hall and we ended up watching it last night. The councilwoman's aide really was kind of a dolt, but Mr. Monk was a jerk to her during the reveal of the bad guy scene. What's sad, though, is that he just doesn't have good people skills and honestly didn't even stop to think about what he was saying until it was too late. And of course, she was indignant and decided to change her vote about helping him keep the parking lot where Trudy died instead of voting to tear it down. And all of that was played for laughs, like "Ha Ha, Mr. Monk is such a jerk, now he gets what he deserves," and yet then the epilogue immediately following is serious and sad as he looks at the spot where Trudy died and then leaves the parking lot with Natalie (and at least we see the new playground will be named for Trudy). But seriously, the tone shift doesn't work. First we're supposed to laugh at him and feel like he deserves what he's getting, then in the next instant we're supposed to feel sad for him that he's losing something so dear to him because of a split-second slip-up? Not to mention, first it's supposed to be funny that he loses the parking garage and then it isn't? Make up your minds, people! It doesn't work both ways.

It's amazing how well M*A*S*H and other old shows worked as comedy-dramas. Sometimes I really don't think Monk grasps how to do it properly. But then we see a great episode like Mr. Monk is Underwater and it becomes clear that the writers do know how to do it (although I do question them deciding to use Monk's coping mechanism of pretending Dr. Bell is there as something humorous, but at least there it was a more gentle humor and not played nasty). Perhaps some writers get it and some don't. Or sometimes a good writer has an off-day. In any case, ugh, I detest episodes like the city hall one.

Then I ponder on the psychiatrist question. I loved Dr. Bell from the moment I saw him years ago, but the more I re-watch his episodes, the more I wonder if I actually like him more than Dr. Kroger. It really seems like Dr. Bell is more personable and friendly and maybe actually likes Monk better than Dr. Kroger did. But I suppose it's just different personalities and different methods; Dr. Kroger had some really poignant scenes, like the one where he tells Monk that he would never write in a file that a patient is beyond hope; he always believes there's hope. I do really like that they write the characters differently so Dr. Bell isn't just a carbon copy of Dr. Kroger.

And I'd forgotten how nasty Natalie was in her very first episodes, especially that crack about Monk being the Prince of Darkness because murder always finds him. I don't even think Sharona would have said something like that in her worst moments. I'm really glad they decided not to make Natalie nastier than Sharona and instead decided to make her less abrasive.

On Thursday I finally got to go see about a gift certificate I had for Build a Bear. It expires next week, but I wanted to go this week because there was a sale I wanted to use with my certificate. I got this gorgeous blue bear for $10 on the sale, and that was the exact amount of my certificate, so I didn't have to pay anything. LOL. It's the bear they designed based on Thomas the Tank Engine; I've wanted it since I first got the announcement about its release. I just adore all shades of blue! Then I found that Target had finally got in the new wave of the retro My Little Pony re-releases and I brought home the pink Twilight (who was a partial inspiration for Twilight Sparkle, and as it is, Twilight Sparkle's mother is designed similar to Twilight). I have been so happy to have Twilight, more than I even thought I would be, and I think I figured out why. She looks very similar to a Pony called Milky Way, only in person Milky Way isn't the color she is in the pictures, and as a kid all I had were the pictures and I dreamed desperately of owning that Pony. I think she was my second biggest grail after Sugarberry. When I finally got Milky Way, I loved her dearly, but was a little sad she didn't look exactly like the pictures in shade of pink. Twilight does, and I think that woke up the little kid in me who wanted the Pony who looked like that. I am just squeeing all over to have her. I set her on the desktop monitor that's behind the laptop, so I can look at her constantly while at the computer. I'm so glad I didn't buy that original Twilight years ago with the loose washer rolling around inside her. I never wanted to buy a Pony in that condition, but I waffled on that because it was a good price and since I'd already expressed interest in her, but I was relieved to not have to go through with the sale when I learned about the loose washer. It is sooo much better to be able to buy the 1980s Ponies new! I hope the releases will keep coming.

(LOL, I still haven't switched back to the desktop once since getting my external DVD-ROM for the laptop. I've meant to, and I need to in order to watch movies since the laptop doesn't have enough power for the external to run on for anything that takes a lot of memory like a movie, but I just far prefer using the laptop and I haven't been able to make myself switch since the external runs good enough for TV show episodes, which is what I usually want to watch.)

Subtleties

Feb. 23rd, 2019 03:40 pm
insaneladybug: (Default)
Sometimes I feel like Fluttershy. She's good at scaring her friends for Halloween, but she found she really doesn't have fun doing it. In that twisted fic I was talking about, I was going to do a mind-screw on the readers and confuse them as to whether Lector was really being mutilated. I found I couldn't do it. I added some stuff so it's clear to the readers that Lector is not being hurt in that way. I did, however, decide on rating it M.

I went and looked at Crystal's Monk entries, as I vaguely remembered she listed episodes she liked and I wanted to see if there were any I liked listed that I'd forgotten about. I found a couple, at least; I still definitely prefer the first four seasons, when it seemed more like the show just had comedy elements and wasn't trying to turn everything into a comedy.

I also remembered again how much I dislike Lee Goldberg's take on the characters, and some other writers on occasion too. Things like Sharona putting in earplugs so she won't have to listen to Monk talking all the way to Mexico. She wouldn't do that. I can't decide whether Lee Goldberg really thought she would or if he just threw it in as a cheap gag. I didn't like that episode in general; I think the only thing I enjoyed was the scene where Monk was thought dead and the others react to it, gah. Then they hear that the guy dragged himself through the mud and Sharona is so relieved because she knows Monk wouldn't do that. LOL.

I was also reminded of a bit in the season 8 episode with Sharona where she and Natalie disagree on what to do when Monk doesn't want to use the elevator. I don't recall the context, but I wasn't sure I liked the writer's take on Sharona saying Natalie should force Monk to use the elevator. If it was a situation where they had to in order to catch a crook or something, that would be one thing, and yeah, she'd probably do it then. But if there was no real rush, I don't know that she would. She did try to get Monk to do things he was afraid of in order to get over his fears; she was hired as a nurse and was trying to help him. But she did recognize when pushing him to do something was not going to work and she wouldn't do it those times. She honestly indulged Monk's eccentricities more than some people probably remember she did. So offhand the scene sounded like an awfully simplistic approach that may or may not have been IC in the specific circumstance.

I think characters like Sharona and Monk have so many nuances that it can be hard for some writers to really see the whole picture with them. They may focus on a trait and exaggerate it, like Lee Goldberg latched onto Sharona's more negative traits and expanded them in a way that was not IC, or how he exaggerated Monk's need to not be alone by having him chase ... I think it was Dr. Kroger ... overseas. He wouldn't do that. If he was going to do that, he would have done it when Sharona left. (Not that Sharona leaving the way they wrote her doing was IC either, because it wasn't.)

Of course, even when the characters are written IC, I don't always like everything they do. I knew there was something about Mr. Monk and the Panic Room I didn't like, and I couldn't remember until I saw Crystal's more detailed summary of it. I remember not liking the monkey throwing up on the wall (although it was kind of funny when Sharona tried to say it was Benjy, LOL). And I didn't like her leaving the monkey in Monk's apartment. Although if I remember right, circumstances were extenuating and she was so desperate to keep the monkey from being put down because she was so sure it didn't kill anyone and that was the only reason she did it. She ended up getting arrested for taking it. I did like that she loved an animal so much that she was trying to save it, so in that circumstance I'm torn on what to think because I didn't like her actions but I liked her motivation.

In any case, I still like Natalie better than I did before, which I'm happy about, but I'm wondering if it's because I'm trying to mostly stick with the earlier episodes and it was mostly in the later ones where she was kind of a ditz sometimes. That would fit with how they tried to turn the show into a stronger comedy vehicle later on. I guess we'll find out, because eventually I'll have to put on some more later ones too....

Regardless, as much as I discovered I hate the episode about the Frisco Fly, I did find the scene of Monk crying/whimpering in Natalie's lap adorable. And Julie was pretty sweet in that scene too, which was nice. Honestly, in a lot of these episodes, she kind of seems like a brat. I know, fairly normal teenage behavior, but I don't think Benjy would have acted out in the ways Julie did. Julie does have her moments, though; the epilogue of Mr. Monk and the Astronaut was so sweet and adorable.
insaneladybug: (lector)
So I found that season 4 of Monk is way better than season 6, although of course there were missteps there too. (Ugh, I'd totally forgotten how much I hate Mr. Monk Goes to the Office.) I think now that season 5 is probably where things really went wrong. Mr. Monk and the Actor was awful. I'd only remembered the hilarity of the movie casting a girl to play Randy, and how the real Randy and the Captain were just staring in slack-jawed disbelief over the movie Randi and Captain being romantically involved. ROTFLOL. And the nutty actor who got way too much into his parts. I'd forgotten that he went so completely nuts that he thought he was Monk and had to catch Trudy's killer, and stopping him caused Monk to have a horrible setback (which of course wasn't mentioned in any other episode). That wasn't funny in the least, but it felt like they were trying to play it as funny because he felt he had to see Dr. Kroger every day. That was heartbreaking, especially since at the beginning he actually felt ready to take a weekend vacation and by the end that was all shot! Ugh, that was just so cruel of the writers. I think it was also in season 5 where Harold and Monk had some dumb argument about who loved Dr. Kroger most, and then at the end Harold takes a bullet for Dr. Kroger and it's coming in at cheesy slow-motion and it was all so ridiculous. **rolls eyes.** Pretty much any time the show does slow-motion, I cringe.

We seem to have exhausted all Netflix discs that Dad and Mom would like to see, so since I don't like ordering discs if I'm the only one who wants to watch, we switched back to Streaming. Unfortunately, it's different than before; there's barely any classic TV anymore. We probably won't be keeping it for very long, so I'll have to soak up what I can of the wonderful kids' shows I want to see. With Streaming, I can definitely watch things that only I want to see.

First I watched a bunch of My Little Pony season 8, which I'd had trouble finding. I still have a little more of it to watch. Then I remembered they have The Real Ghostbusters, and I've been having a ball watching a lot of those. I've also watched some of the Miraculous Ladybug episodes I hadn't seen yet.

It didn't take long to remember about the Carmen Sandiego series, so I gave that a go. I was pretty lukewarm at the idea of reinventing her as a Saint-type character who only steals from the bad guys, but when I actually watched the show, I fell in love with said show. Now it's hard to think of going back to verses where Carmen is a cold-hearted criminal. (She is pretty one-dimensionally bad in World, honestly.) I still have three episodes to go on their very short season, but I love the show, the reinvention, and I want more. My only complaint is that the theme song is boring as heck.

Somehow I wandered into an anime Netflix dubbed called Glitter Force (or Smile PreCure in Japan) and decided to try it. I spotted so many things that were references to Sailor Moon (I assume in a love-letter way), but it was cute and sweet and fun and I've found myself watching quite a lot of it. I also might try to look up the eight episodes they cut for silly reasons (mostly that they couldn't figure out how to localize them, it seems). Honestly, I kind of love that it's localized, though, even with dumb episode removals. It makes me nostalgic, thinking of Saturday morning anime on broadcast channels. I miss those days so very much. Heh, even back then, I would far rather watch a cute magical girls show than something darker and depressing.

Of course, the irony is I am writing dark and depressing things sometimes. Did I mention the twisted abduction fic with Lector being taken by some nut who wants to get back at Gansley for firing him, and the nut then proceeds to send Gansley severed limbs claiming they're Lector's? Of course, they're not. Lector is physically alright, but he's being drugged and probably psychologically tormented. The Big Four, meanwhile, are going out of their minds. Eventually they find Lector safe, naturally. I wrote several scenes weeks ago when the bizarre urge first struck me, and in spite of worrying I'll traumatize whatever fanbase I have left, I have finally written a bare bones first draft of the whole story (minus epilogue stuff). I also want to insert scenes of the Big Four struggling to deal with this and maybe some flashbacks to when they each met Lector. If I really post this fic, I'm wondering if it should be rated M for thematic elements. I also wonder if I should have rated Taming the Darkness M.

Then there's me actually getting interested in an AU scenario that doesn't involve bringing back dead characters, which is a pretty rare thing, honestly. AU normally doesn't interest me in the least. But I started thinking of how Crump and Tea were both being frozen in their duel, and hence, it seemed like when Crump lost, he should have been frozen. Of course, that would have complicated things too much, and it might have seemed too dark for the good guys to leave him like that, but I started wondering what would happen if Noa insisted on enforcing it after Yugi and Tea left. He would probably make Crump freeze while in human form too, so he'd really suffer. Then the others would try to rescue him upon realizing he was missing, and Noa would tell them that if they won the Merger duel, he would free Crump and let them take the kids' bodies. But they lost, and Noa refused, and they tried to free Crump anyway, so he froze all of them as punishment. Then he went to duel Seto, and the duel with Yami Yugi happened too, and while Noa was trying to possess him, Yami Yugi saw the Big Fives' fates in Noa's mind, and why it had happened, and he wanted them free. Noa initially refuses, but when Gozaburo likes what Noa did and then promptly abandons Noa again to go blow up the world, Noa snaps and frees them to spite Gozaburo. And I'll be rewriting some of the last three Noa's Arc episodes. I want Lector to help Mokuba somehow, but I'm not sure how, because of course I still want Noa to possess Mokuba and Mokuba to resist and for that to be what gets Noa to try to save everyone instead of blowing them up. And I want someone to rewrite the program so Tristan will realize he still has his human form, instead of continuing to be tricked into thinking he's a robot monkey. I always hated that twist, and for some time I didn't want to re-watch the arc beyond Nesbitt's duel because of it. I've mellowed enough that I can tolerate it due to wanting to see other things that are going on, but I still don't like it. I had thought Noa or Nesbitt should give Tristan his body back, but maybe it should be Lector, or Lector and Nesbitt together, considering how Lector refused to give back the body after losing the Merger duel. That was probably his lowest moment.

I also got intrigued by the thought of What if Lector had found out that Gozaburo was abusing Seto, and Lector adopted both Seto and Mokuba to keep them safe? I probably wouldn't write that AU, as I kind of have my usual idea of "What's the point? Why should I work with AU when I could work with canon?" But on the other hand, it's so adorable to me that I might have to tinker with it a little bit. It makes me squee all over just thinking about it.

Back in my main timeline, I think I'm going ahead with my idea of Manga Yami Bakura falling into anime verse and putting some of the characters in a life-size Mario game. I'll probably do it as the next big fic after I finish posting the New Orleans one. Just one more full chapter and the epilogue left.

We have awesome movie gift cards given by my aunt and we decided to try seeing Mary Poppins Returns last month. There wasn't anything else in the theatres that sounded safe/like something we could all enjoy. I was lukewarm, since I rarely like musicals and wasn't particularly crazy about the first Mary Poppins film, but I ended up loving it. I keep playing the soundtrack over and over on my Amazon Music trial, and I'll want to buy it once the trial runs out.

I got two more plushies on that outing so I could make Crump and Johnson. I also got the Sabrina doll from Charlie's Angels and a Chachi doll from Happy Days. Squeee! I'm not big on Happy Days, but I love Scott Baio, so Scott Baio merchandise must be mine!

I have the Big Four plushies semi-made by now; I have everything done but their shirts (and suitcoats and ties, if I feel like going all the way making suits). I used the black velvety material I used for Duke's scalp on both Crump and Johnson, and a scrap of leftover black fake fur for Crump's mustache. I gave them clothing scrap ponchos so they can be around, especially since I'm really dragging my feet on the shirts. I really hate sewing anything with sleeves. I have Gansley's shirt largely done, though, so I need to finish it and move on to the next one.

I also finally found a giant ladybug plushie at Walmart again! They only come out for Valentine's, and I haven't seen them in years. We tried so hard to get one the last time they did it, but they sold out within days. This time around, there have always been some there since they first showed up. But I didn't think there'd be money for that, and I didn't have money to spare to buy it, only I woke up Tuesday morning thinking, "What am I thinking? I don't want to pass that up when they finally have them again!" So I went to Walmart to try to get one ... only the only two I could find left were both torn, WTH. I was about to give up when I remembered that I'd seen some getting randomly put where they didn't belong, in some big basket bins and boxes of animals. I started looking through those and finally saw a flash of red in one. To my delight, it was another ladybug, and one that wasn't torn anywhere! I bought it. Then to my further surprise, Dad noticed and suggested that he buy it from me and give it to me on Valentine's Day. LOL. That was great with me, since I really couldn't afford to spend the money.

...

Feb. 10th, 2019 05:12 pm
insaneladybug: (Default)
So Dad finally got around to complaining about Sharona's low-necked clothing. I'm surprised it took him so long. So I started trying to find some later episodes he might like. We're not watching in order, since most episodes don't really need it (and since we've seen the majority more than once in the past). Last night we saw a couple of season 6 episodes.

I'm torn. On the one hand, I liked Natalie a little better than I have in the past, although I still found her pretty perky and honestly a little ditzy sometimes (which is fine, you know, but in comparison with Sharona ...). But on the downside ... I realized that it seems like the show became even funnier/more like a downright comedy after Sharona left. When she was there, it was more serious, for the most part. Funny things happened, but it wasn't overkill. Then you get the other seasons and there's that Harold Krenshaw weirdo and Monk acting immature a lot because of him and really obnoxious episodes like the one with people thinking Harold is a daredevil (and my most-hated episode, the one where Monk gets shot). Even the episode where it looks like Natalie's daughter Julie is in danger is treated like a big comedy romp outside of the moments of serious concern for Julie's safety. Even Natalie's fear for her daughter's life is given humor as she messes up the poor Captain's car. I'm pretty sure if that episode was done in the early seasons and it was Benjy's life in danger, it would have been much more of a dramatic episode instead of trying to insert so much misplaced nonsense into it to lighten it up. Some of the car stuff might have still happened, because Sharona is a crazy driver, but otherwise, I really think it would have been more sober.

(And I still really don't see the Randy/Sharona pairing happening. I don't feel it or support it. I think any romantic interest is one-sided, on Randy's part. Nor am I sure Randy is really ready for a job like Chief of Police. If it's a small town, maybe not much will happen, but I wonder if Randy would really like living where nothing happens after being part of so many high-profile cases....)

I don't know.... I'm really starting to remember more now why in many ways Monk was not one of my favorite shows (and why in general I kind of find USA Network shows to be preposterously cheesy), and I am not looking forward to seeing most of these later episodes again....
insaneladybug: (lector)
Even though I've had the climax of my current fic ready for a while, it just hasn't felt right. Sunday morning I finally realized what was wrong and how to fix it. The climax went from being seriously ludicrous to seriously beautiful. I just adore it now! I did cringe a bit that I felt I couldn't split it up and had to post its 17-page self (eeek!) all in one gulp. Hopefully it will be so entertaining that people won't notice the length. I also decided that the next chapter, where they have to solve the other of the two mysteries, needed more stuff, which I'm putting into it now.

One thing I really want to do in the New Orleans fic is a scene based on this awesomely creepy scene in a Hardy Boys two-parter called Voodoo Doll. The boys end up at this voodoo ceremony and are tricked into believing that voodoo is killing them, gah. (They're really just being chloroformed.) They wake up laying in open coffins in a cemetery while a band plays When the Saints Go Marching In. The coffins even have their names on them! It's probably my favorite scene in the episode. I'm thinking something similar happens to some of the YGO characters, probably Joey, Tristan, and Bakura. And I must keep the creepy lady calling, "Where are the children?" at the ceremony. For the fic, I think I'll either leave it up in the air as to whether it's really voodoo or I'll say it is, rather than chloroform. But it's still just a knockout tactic meant to seriously scare them. Everyone else is panicking looking for them all night, including the Big Five. Events in the current fic seem to indicate that they will be considered part of the group by the end.

One thing I have to be sure of is to have good voodoo and bad voodoo people, and to emphasize that only corrupt people are going to use it for evil purposes. And I need to restudy the differences between vodun and hoodoo; I suppose most of what I want to do is more hoodoo. I haven't looked that up since I was writing for Mignon Germaine, so probably about seven years or so.

I've also been preparing with atmospheric media. I have a wonderful Nancy Drew game set in New Orleans that I've been enjoying. And I was given $5 in Kindle credit and got several books with it since I have the Kindle app on my Fire Tablet. One was a Nancy Drew parody set in New Orleans.

I am so frustrated with that book. It started out kind of adorable, with the characters really the Nancy Drew characters in everything but names, and even then, the main character is still Nancy (with a surname of Keane, ha ha). And Bess is still Elizabeth, but called Beth. George is called Hannah. I guess that was just a way to keep Hannah Gruen remembered, since she doesn't have a counterpart in the story. Otherwise, it would have made more sense to call George Georgia or something. So anyway, it starts out cute, and definitely is like a Nancy Drew book, just with Nancy's abilities being stretched more to slightly WTH levels. There was some nice New Orleans atmospheric goings-on. And I was slightly amused by turning some tropes on their heads, like instead of the girls meeting strange boys who are really nice, they meet some who aren't and have to flee.

But what I didn't like was that the more I got into the book, the more it seemed to emphasize the naughty side of the city and the characters and often seemed to have passages and adventures that were clearly there for no other reason than to be adult. What's more, even though the book is called The Ghost in the Plantation, they've barely visited the plantation or the ghost. A real Nancy Drew book totally would have that plantation as a main setting! There's really not much voodoo content even though it looked like there might be some, and I'm getting sick of Nancy and other characters taking the Lord's name in vain. Plus, it's mostly devolved into chasing down corporate creeps who are after oil and getting very technical and it feels like it could be set anywhere. It is so aggravating. I only got the thing for the New Orleans setting, and honestly, the only thing I can really take away from it to help my fic is for Lector to warn the kids not to go to Bourbon Street.

It says in the summary that it's written for Baby Boomers who fondly remember the Nancy Drew books. Honestly, if they love the Nancy Drew books so much, chances are that they would like to see a book that's like the Nancy Drew books instead of having all of this unnecessary adult junk thrown in. The great thing about Nancy Drew books is that they're clean!

By contrast, the real Nancy Drew in my game brings everything I wanted for the New Orleans atmosphere: a creepy house, a huge cemetery, a voodoo shop, weird stuff going on.... I am so in love with this game. And also stumped; I'll probably have to get out a walkthrough. I generally have to at some point with these games. I always go as far as I can on my own at first, which may or may not be far depending on the difficulty of the game. (And I'm playing at the easier level, oy.) I'm not very good at puzzle games, but I love them.

Then tonight I watched a really intense Mod Squad episode about a kidnapping and I decided I am still going to do that story about Gansley, but I will probably have it known as a kidnapping outright instead of Portman trying to make the others think Gansley is dead. They'll have to try to get the ransom together and be agonizing over whether the crooks will kill Gansley anyway. And I'll still keep Gansley giving his captors Hell, because of course you know he would. **snerk.** I love him. Although naturally I don't love him being so sadistic with Atem and Yugi in canon; that was disgusting. But it will help with characterization for this fic; he can put that sadistic streak to good use.

I started wondering what would happen if Gansley ever snapped. Considering he's the level-headed one and is almost always calm, it would probably be very bad. I wrote a blurb where he snaps and starts beating Yami Marik with his cane (and I swear it's darker than that description seems to make it sound, lol. I mean, a cane can be a dangerous weapon). Yami Marik is taunting him and brings up all the things the others have endured in these fics and says that maybe he'll hurt them some more. That's when Gansley snaps. Crump finally stops him, worried about him and not Yami Marik, and he and the others try to comfort him.

And I was also thinking, oddly enough, canon redeemed the Big Five years before I ever had the thought of trying. Okay, game canon, not anime canon, but still an official canon. Reshef of Destruction does feature them having apparently crawled back to Seto and he has them working as an acting troupe, putting on shows for kids as their Duel Monster Deckmaster characters. I had thought those people were just random actors, but considering that Crump is specifically identified in the script bothering Tea at one point, it's definitely them. (He's not named and he's still in costume, but from what he says, it's absolutely him. He wants to build Penguin Land and goes on about penguins and numbers.) Even though the animators were too lazy to give them proper human form sprites. It's kind of adorable at the end; Crystal showed me this scene where the kids are all scared about the worldwide danger and Roland is insisting that the Big Five help him calm them down and inspire them, and they get fired up and agree, lol. Aww. So apparently whoever made that game felt that they weren't beyond redemption. I had thought only Lector was really deserving of it, but I like the idea that they all are. One thing that is certainly true is that they haven't committed worse sins than some of the characters who did get redeemed, like Marik and Mai and the bikers and Dartz. I love how one of YGO's main themes is clearly redemption and another is forgiveness. It fits in perfectly with the kinds of stories I love to write.

Of course, one problem I ran into is that I made some of them do things arguably worse than in canon during Static Code Analysis, and had I known I was going to end up falling in love with them and wanting to redeem them, I might not have done some of those things, especially since they didn't go that far in canon. (One could technically argue that Gansley wasn't trying to kill Mokuba, since it was virtual reality and not real; he knew Mokuba would still exist. It was still horrible, though. And we don't know what Nesbitt was going to do with Mokuba in season 3. He definitely went after Seto with kendo, but what with virtual reality it's hard to say what he was going to do.) But Mokuba comments on Marik being able to find redemption even after the abominable things he was trying to do to innocent people, so I'm trying to work with that concept and figure that they, even Nesbitt, can still be redeemed in my verse.

Other interesting things of note: Pegasus came to the Big Five on his own in the original and made them feel like aligning with him was the only way to save KaibaCorp. They planned to dismiss Seto from his position, not to hurt or kill him. Of course, then we have the sticky problem of the game. In the original, they make it, and seemingly without anyone's knowledge, so they were planning it for some time and perhaps intended on trapping Seto in it before Duelist Kingdom happened. In the dub, Seto made it, and it is possible that they panicked and rewrote the ending only after Duelist Kingdom, once they knew Pegasus had lost to Yugi. Since I combine dub and sub and kind of like Seto making the game, I might go with the latter.

I was pondering the other day on who did what with the game in the original. Nesbitt animated it, no doubt. Maybe Crump did character designs. I wonder which one of them mocked Mokuba by making Adina look like him.

Can't recall if I mentioned it, but I think the plushie bases I have are going to be used for other purposes yet again, lol. Of course, I would end up feeling like I wanted Lector to have his friends. The smaller-framed plushie can be Nesbitt and the stockier one can be Gansley. I'll have to go back for more plushies to make Crump and Johnson. I'll need another material for Crump's hair too. Right now I have materials at home to make Gansley and Nesbitt, especially after picking up some fabric last week. Haven't had a chance to work on them yet. I'll probably make them concurrently, like I did with Ginger and Lou.

I did get a picture finished: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com
insaneladybug: (duke)
I decided to do something I've wanted to do for a couple of weeks and get out some of my Japanese YGO music. I have all the albums for the classic series, save the one with all the openings and endings on it. I'm pretty sure most, if not all, are bootleg copies. (Ooops.) My favorite album was always the one for season 4. I still love the early tracks on it especially, including the themes for the individual bikers. Each one fits so well. I still think, however, that the dub vastly improved on the Seal of Orichalcos theme. For Dartz, I like both themes.

I also tried some of the Battle City soundtrack. I love the tracks Warmth and Serenity's Feelings, and there's some fun things like a Millennium Ring theme. And Joey has a pretty good theme. But when it comes to Seto and Marik ... honestly, I think the dub themes are better. And then I got a little bored with the tracks that came after Seto's theme, so I turned my attention to looking up more dub scores on YouTube.

Then I got out my YGO Handbook that they released in 2016, probably to promote the movie, and looked through it for a while. I love it, especially since it's the kind of book I longed for while the show was running and couldn't seem to find. However, there really are some bad typos in it and I wonder why on earth they weren't caught before the book went to press. They stuck a blurb about Jack's Knight in the space for Obelisk the Tormentor, which was really WTH material. Worse, Tracey West didn't seem to have the Marik and Yami Marik problem straight and she wrote that Yami Marik was the one inhabiting Marik's body straight through after his first appearance. **headdesk.** Yet in other parts of the book, she correctly lists Marik as the one starting the Rare Hunters and performing some of the acts such as mind-controlling Joey. And her blurb about Alister wasn't very nice, whereas she was nice to the other two bikers. It was truthful, I suppose, as she talked of the airplane duel and that Alister didn't care if everyone onboard was either harmed in the crash or caught by the Orichalcos, but what she made no mention of was that Alister was under the spell of the Orichalcos at that point. In fact, I don't recall anything in the book at all about how the Orichalcos changes personalities by darkening hearts.

(And a totally superficial complaint, but I object that there were no pictures of Thief King Bakura, even though he was repeatedly mentioned. But at least there were lots of pictures of Yami Bakura.)

While listening to the music, I was also working with Dragons at Dawn, going over the remaining chapters and adding stuff where needed. I expanded a conversation between Dartz and Alister and I really love the results. I hope to have the whole story posted before long.

I also plan to write a story involving Valon taking place shortly after Doom. Someone on Tumblr made the rather disturbing observation that while everyone else's personalities noticeably change after being poisoned by the Orichalcos, Valon's alone does not. They theorized that Valon has accepted his darkness while the others are denying theirs and that hence, the Orichalcos has no hold on Valon. That ... rather makes him sound darker than anyone else, even Dartz, if he's doing all of these dark things without being corrupted. When watching the episodes, I have to admit I didn't notice much, if any, change in him during his duel with Joey. In the Japanese, however, Valon tells Mai that she saw the awful side of him, which could mean different things, but I wondered if that was any indication that the Orichalcos did change him after all and it's more apparent in the Japanese version. I thought I might tinker with this problem a little.

More than that, though, I'm leaning towards the story maybe being a little friendshippy and maybe being a basic redo of On My Way Home for the current timeline. The bikers are all separated at the end of the arc, but I'm sure Raphael, at least, might try to find the other two, and I'd like to explore their thoughts and feelings and how they ended up reunited, as many fans like to believe they were. On My Way Home is a well-written piece, but it has some ideas that I'd rather tweak around now that I'm contemplating some other personality details. I'd like to explore Valon's feelings of fighting for himself and not caring about others, and how Mai and Joey changed that, and how he might feel about the possibility of friendship and the other bikers. And I'm contemplating Alister working at a broken-down theatre while looking for the other two and Valon maybe finding him there. And they probably have a clash, not understanding each other well and Valon maybe not ready to admit yet that he does care about Alister, at least. He's probably more willing to accept caring for Raphael.

... Also, the official spelling really does seem to be Rafael, but I don't think I could ever spell it that way. I never have and it's too ingrained in me to spell it the more standard way. (Plus, I thought Rafael was a Mexican/Spanish variation, and this Raphael is French. Hmm.... Yep, Raphael is how it's spelled in French. But in Japanese, it's Rafael, so I guess that's where it's coming from. Interesting.)
insaneladybug: (duke)
I watched the YGO movie over the weekend, hoping for enough inspiration to start the fic. It worked.

It was interesting contrasting the YGO movie with the second Pokemon movie, which I followed it up with. The YGO movie is dark and creepy, but with awesome friendship squee. The Pokemon movie, despite the dire situation of the whole world in jeopardy, managed to be lighter and cheerier in tone. And of course, it also has friendship squee. The different tones were kind of a shock; it's been years since I watched Pokemon and YGO practically back-to-back.

Now I'm listening to a lot of the unreleased YGO score music and thinking that the dub musicians were geniuses. Some of the music is so beautiful, like the friendship and duel triumph leitmotifs, and some of the themes, like the Orichalcos and God Card themes, I still like way better than their Japanese counterparts. I also love Duke's and Marik's themes. I wonder how the composers came up with such awesome music.

I think I'll watch a few favorite YGO episodes tonight. I only have a few on DVD. I haven't been very quick on getting the DVDs since I have VHS copies of all episodes. Those can only be watched in the living room, though, which is always awkward since I hate getting interrupted and that can often happen there. I'd kind of like to watch the Noa's Arc duel with Tristan, Duke, and Serenity, though. Maybe I'll have to try watching the original Japanese version on CrunchyRoll. I'll always prefer the dub names and voices, though, despite my dislike of the dub cutting things out. I doubt much, if anything, was cut from those episodes, however. And I always find it interesting to see Duke's and Tristan's different duel strategies and how they're each trying to save everyone, but it looks like Duke is only thinking of himself and Tristan just doesn't trust him, and since they can't discuss things, Duke can't make his motives clear. But I always think that if Tristan had just trusted him, he wouldn't have lost the duel and ended up kicked out of his body.

I never have understood the fans' tendency to pair them up, especially given that they're both obviously straight and nuts about Serenity. And also the fact that hey, Tristan really doesn't seem to like or trust Duke. It's true that he gets distraught if anything happens to Duke, but hey, of course he would, because he's a good guy. He doesn't want to see an ally get hurt. Maybe he likes Duke a bit in spite of himself, but the fact that he doesn't trust Duke and thinks the worst of him speaks volumes to me. Duke's feelings in turn are unknown, especially since the dub made him more of a jerk on some occasions than he really was. (Episode #85, anyone?) But I think it's safe to say he doesn't feel particularly close to Tristan, or any of them, really. The manga makes that pretty clear, but the anime is more up in the air. Of course, shippers often take things like Tristan's feelings as their cue to pair characters up, because of course, if they don't like or trust each other, it really means they want to bang each other! **rolls eyes.**

I've always liked touching on the tension between Duke and Tristan in fics, and sometimes Joey and Duke too. I don't think the mystery fics did it so much, since I mostly tried to have the group as a happy family in those, but the old oneshots and blurbs did stuff with the tension, and when I finally got a better handle on Duke and ended up with plunnies for him, the later fics like Lead Me Through the Fire and Close Your Eyes, Clear Your Heart did a lot with it. Of course, in spite of the tension, Joey or Tristan would certainly go out of their way to help Duke if he needed it, and vice versa. And there does seem to be some level of friendship there, possibly deeper than it might seem on the surface. I touch on that in some of the fics too.

The fic is moving along very nicely so far, but up to now it's been the set-up and some character interaction stuff. Now I'm going in to Mokuba's fantasy worlds, and I am wondering if I'll be able to dig into his mind well enough to come up with stuff he'd dream up. The first scene is floating through a sky zone with Blue Eyes White Dragons flying around. I may have to cheat a little and have some areas designed more by the Unown, especially since these are supposed to be renegade Unown.

Team Rocket has indeed entered the fic and they've largely been interacting with Marik. That's been a blast, LOL. And I decided that instead of the crack of the YGO characters being completely baffled by the Pokemon characters and culture, they are aware of them to some extent. I realized Marik would no doubt know of Team Rocket because of his time in the criminal underworld leading the Rare Hunters, so that gets brought up. And the Ishtars and Solomon know of the Unown, and Pokemon in general. They're just not very prevalent in Domino City, but they definitely exist.

When I first started the fic, Seto and Mokuba flowed easily but I worried whether I was writing Marik alright. It's been years since I tried, and of course, we only have bits and pieces of what he's like in a normal frame of mind. After I let the fic sit a bit and came back to it later, everything seemed alright, so hopefully it is. I know I used to write Marik a little more like his fake Namu personality, albeit with a bit more snap to it. Later I switched to more snap, and that's what I've got here. Although with Mokuba he has a friendship not unlike Baxter and Michelangelo's, and I do hope he doesn't sound too much like Baxter. Favorite characters of mine do sometimes have speech pattern similarities to some extent, although overall they're different.

It's also fun writing for Duke and David again. I do bring up the issue of Duke not really feeling included in the group, as I like touching on that and it's been a while, so people might not remember. So far Bakura hasn't appeared and maybe he won't, because things are awfully crowded right now. But he's mentioned, and The Pendulum Swings verse is referenced.
insaneladybug: (snakes)
So we got to go out today, which is awesome because it was the last day of my Barnes and Noble coupon and the last day before things are supposed to start acting like winter around here. I think the East Coast is having their winter plus ours this year! We need some more moisture or we'll probably have a drought come spring and summer.

Anyway, Target did have some of the Ponies! Squeee. As I half-expected, Bluebelle and Blossom weren't there. Neither was Butterscotch. But I was happy to get Minty! I wondered if I should have got Snuzzle too. I wanted to save money and hope to have a chance at getting Bluebelle and Blossom later (and Butterscotch), but really, I want all six. I kind of wish I'd gotten Snuzzle too. But I needed to check Toys R Us to see if they had any, so I opted to just get Minty. And really, I'm glad of that, because I met a guy there who was absolutely chuffed to see 1980s Ponies back and he was excited hoping to go buy some with his paycheck tomorrow, so I really hope Snuzzle and Cotton Candy will both still be there for him! Toys R Us doesn't have any yet, but they're being shipped to the warehouse, so maybe in a couple of weeks.

I also saw the Mutagen Canister figures back at Toys R Us, but they only had two Raphaels. Honestly, he seems to be the worst seller of the set. The Wal-Mart I visited later didn't even have a place for the Mutagen Canister figures anymore. Now I'm a little worried that maybe I won't get to buy another Baxter to fix into Barney for my dA friend....

I didn't end up going to Build-a-Bear because I felt I wanted to save the money for more Ponies, but Mom asked twice if I'd gone there and now that's making me nervous wondering if I should have. I have a month to use that coupon, but the time will likely go by quickly.

At Barnes and Noble I was considering getting the book on Legendary Pokemon, but when I saw it, I wasn't impressed. It told some of the encounters from the series and movies, but it didn't seem to want to talk about Pokemon Classic much at all and refused to mention movies 2 and 3. WTH.

I saw the new Equestria Girls book and it said that Sunset's friends fell under a spell where they only remembered the bad things about her. I'll probably want to read it since it is an original story, but that sounded sad and I knew I'd probably spend the whole book feeling bad for her, so I decided I didn't want to get that right then either.

Then I looked in some other Pokemon reference books and ended up hopping mad. I thought that book about Ash's journey from Kanto to Kalos was bad in their descriptions of Team Rocket. I found way worse! One reference book out and out lied about James' past. It said he got bored of the rich life and ran away because of that. No mention of being engaged to an abusive girl his parents were forcing him to marry. Maybe they felt that was too dark for kids to hear about, but why make up stuff?! Just say nothing like the Kalos book did! Then a book about the movies slanted it so that Team Rocket's unselfish acts sounded selfish. True, they did try to say that they were only helping to save the world because if it was destroyed there wouldn't be anyone to steal from, but their later sacrifice proved that was just talk. They thought they were going to die, which they outright said and which the book outright didn't say. Ugh. It's one thing to want to make sure the kids don't want to emulate the antagonists, but making them sound worse than they were and even lying about them is not the way to go about it.

I ended up supremely ticked off and bought a Nancy Drew book instead. There was one classic Nancy Drew that they had that I didn't. And heh, oddly enough, the few Nancys and Hardys they had were on the bottom shelves, just like in my dream. They weren't on the bottom shelves the last time I was there.

All in all, a fun little outing and I discovered an amazing Darren figure modeled after his character in A Christmas Story! I couldn't get it right then, as it was $30, but I'm going to keep monitoring it for a price drop! I must have it!

I just hope I won't regret not going to Build-a-Bear....
insaneladybug: (snakes)
So I finally started writing that story I talked of where Jessie is hurt and James is initially blamed. I wrote the entire first draft before I started posting it, because I was stumped at one point and I didn't want to risk stalling on it after it was already going up. I've been adding scenes to some chapters after some of them turned out way shorter than others and I still need to flesh them out more.

It's interesting, because Team Rocket is ending up going through the same sort of thing that happened with the fictional Rockapella in their stories. There are like three different ways to have one's true self taken away: possession, mind-control, and corruption (a la One Ring style), and the different members each went through one of those (with the fourth also undergoing possession). It wasn't even part of the original story plan for this Team Rocket story to involve mind-control, especially since canon already used that one, but everything just started falling into place like that while I was writing it. Which means that each Team Rocket member is also going to have to deal with one of those ways of losing their true self in the fics.

James: Possession
Meowth: Mind-control
Jessie: Corruption

But then there's the sticky problem of both James and Meowth aware to varying extents what's happening to them and struggling to fight it, while Jessie is not aware of what's happening to her. I'm thinking of showing scenes from her POV, with the mask talking to her and other creepy things, to try to explain better why she is unable to fight against this. Or maybe I'll show that at the beginning she does object and fight, but the mask manages to silence her every time. Because I can see her arguing with the mask in her mind, at least at first, and then it gets a stronger hold, silences her will, and its will creeps over her. Very disturbing. There's a fine line between possession by an evil spirit and corruption by a sentient object, and I think this situation will probably blur the line at times.

After doing a role-play version of the storyline, I'm also planning to move the setting to New York City instead of keeping it in the abandoned village. I really liked the idea of Jessie running loose in a big city corrupted by the mask and taking control of Pokemon left and right. So intense! I'll have it, probably, that the staff was dug up in what was New Amsterdam or an even older settlement in New York and that thus, New York City is the boundaries of its power. I'm also considering that Meowth wakes up in time to see the final outcome of the confrontation between Jessie and James, because in the role-play he saw it and it was very chilling and heartbreaking. I don't think it will be one of the Turtles crossover fics, though. I think this one will work better just as a Pokemon fic.

Then I'm also role-playing the human catboy Meowth situation and realized there could be another reason why he stays human for a while: since this mutation is different from any other the characters have seen, Baxter might worry that the retro-mutagen ray gun won't change him back completely. So he wants to run some tests to try to figure out if it will even work right if they use it. So I've edited that into the story and also written some more scenes. If I can figure out how to start dividing it up, maybe I can start posting it. I'm worried about people getting confused over it being a Turtles crossover, though, especially since this will be the first of those posted in the Pokemon category. I already had one reader get flummoxed by a throwaway line in a fic referencing an earlier Pokemon fic, even though it wasn't relevant to the overall plot. What will a sudden crossover do to those readers? I really didn't want to post it in the Crossover category, since less people will see it then. And since Pokemon is really the dominant fandom, with the Turtles characters as guests, instead of both having equal screentime.

Back to the one I'm doing with Jessie hurt, Bonnie and Clyde are back as the antagonists. After I'm able to draw a giftpic for someone for Christmas, I think I might try drawing them, just as a reference to myself. Bonnie has shoulder-length blonde curls and wears a beret instead of the usual newsboy hat. Clyde has brown hair, but I'm having trouble picturing him as more than a recolor of Butch. The truth is that they're both stand-ins for Butch and Cassidy, really, as part of me had wanted to use them in Dead and Alive Redux, but I didn't think they'd spend a whole story trying to kill Jessie, James, and Meowth any more than Giovanni would, so I figured creating OCs was the safest way to go.

I also feel slightly guilty regarding the real Bonnie and Clyde that their fictional namesakes are such screw-ups, LOL. Not that I particularly care for the real people. I never understood how bank robbers and murderers could become folk heroes in the 1930s. Okay, maybe the people were happy that the greedy banks were being shown up, but wasn't their money some of what was being stolen from the banks? Why would they want greedy crooks to have it any more than the greedy banks? And when bodies started dropping, that's a whole other ballgame. Why, why did they still admire the crooks after that?! I guess it's similar in some ways to how people find fictional antagonists fascinating (me included, depending on the character), but it seems so much different when it's real-life.

Also, I am ecstatic that I finally found one of my favorite Christmas songs ever, a rare one that I think is by a local artist that played on a wonderfully eclectic Christmas station we used to have. I miss that station so much. They played many religious songs and some cute secular ones too. Some were more common, but many were rare, both oldies and more recent ones. I also found several other songs by that artist that used to play on that station. I turned them up over a week ago on YouTube, where they were posted by the website CD Baby, apparently, and have been playing the heck out of them.
insaneladybug: (sailormercury)
As much as I love Articuno's design, color, and ice powers, it seems like he and the other Legendary Birds are all really rather jerks. The moment one is taken, the others just want to take over the kidnapped one's territory and have more power. And the way they attack Lugia ... oy. That was brutal. I love when they all harmonize at the end, but I have to wonder if the thing would repeat all over again if one was taken or otherwise disappeared.

(Also, honestly, Articuno is a way cooler name than Freezer, LOL. So unimaginative. And I think I read that Moltres's Japanese name is Fire? Seriously? Boring!)

Then I had the thought of an AU branching off from the movie. Team Rocket is apparently thought dead in the movie, or at least, we don't see anyone acknowledging they're alive except Slowking, and he breaks the fourth wall talking about all the people watching them. ROTFLOL. I know the novelization has Ash and company see them alive, but I don't like how the novelization handled the scene. It downplayed their sacrifice and had Ash saying something about how they'd never change (meaning it negatively). So, I won't accept the novelization version. Anyway, I'm toying with the idea of Team Rocket running with the idea that hey, while they're thought dead, maybe they really will try going into business for themselves like they talked about at the end of the movie. Every time I watch the film, I always hate the thought of things going back to the status quo afterwards. It's just too meaningful to be dismissed that way. Of course, they'd end up drawn into the conflict again anyway, but they'd probably be or end up on Ash's side in it.

I put aside Johto for a while because I was getting frustrated with all the formulaic episodes. I tried one again tonight and got frustrated again. Honestly, the first two seasons had so many episodes breaking away from the formula and having Team Rocket be awesome/show their softer sides/etc. Johto seemed to hardly ever do it. Most episodes were formulaic, with them as the bad guys, and the few times fun things with them did happen, like the Wobbufett Festival one or the one with Articuno saving them (and what's he doing in Johto when the movie says he only lives in the Orange Islands?!), the writers mostly trolled the viewers by having them turn traitor again. Ignorance is Blissey and the flaming Moltres episode are two of the only ones I've really liked so far on this Johto set. They seemed to be pretty rare, breaking away from the usual Johto formula. I have enjoyed some of the others, like the first owl illusion one and the two with the Snubbull, but as far as good Team Rocket content goes, those are about the only season 3 ones I can think of that are good for them. Maybe there's some other nice Team Rocket episodes on the set, but the summaries all sound like the rest are pretty formulaic.

I also watched Training Daze again. It was sweet seeing how they first bonded and how nice James was. I still wish they hadn't changed the dialogue about him running away and such, but I did love the heavy emphasis on teamwork and being loyal to each other. It was cringeworthy that not even Cassidy could say Butch's name right, though. Although it was funny when, after "Hutch" he goes, "That's it. I'm changing my name." ROTFLOL.

The episode really does contradict earlier canon, though. We know from season 1 that Jessie and James knew each other long before Team Rocket. Training Daze heavily implies that they only met in Team Rocket. I like the origin story, so I tried to bridge the plothole by saying that they'd had a falling out after the bike gang and hence, were cool to each other upon meeting again in Team Rocket.

Another plothole not so easily explained, however, is that James clearly doesn't know Butch and Cassidy in The Breeding Center Secret. But in Training Daze, there's no way he wouldn't be aware of them.

One more reason to consider the first two seasons as absolute canon and everything else is nebulous. They were rebooting things as early as Johto!

... Wow.

Dec. 12th, 2017 06:18 am
insaneladybug: (teamrocket)
I wrote an entire oneshot in several hours and posted it. I forgot about an idea I'd had, remembered it in the morning, wrote some of it in the afternoon and then wrote the rest at night. It's dialogue-heavy rather than having a lot of introspection, but still. It's in the neighborhood of 5,800+ words. It's been a while since that happened.

Basically, the idea was "... What if some jerk who wanted Meowth kidnapped him and put another Meowth in his place, a badly hurt Meowth, and Jessie and James think that it's their Meowth and he's been hurt so badly he doesn't remember how to talk?" Then that combined with me wanting to write something involving the instructor from The Ultimate Test episode. I did not like that guy for several reasons. I thought parts of the test were unfair. I didn't like that he was determined to have Meowth, even though he knew Meowth was with Jessie and James and he must have surely thought one of them was Meowth's Trainer. When he's hailed as a good guy, I rather expect better behavior from him than from the antagonists! Then I really didn't like that when he knew his Meowth got blasted off, he wasn't even worried about the poor thing and was only focused on having a chance to get the talking Meowth. So he got set up as the antagonist in the fic. I hope it's not OOC. I definitely based it on those things in canon, but I don't know what the general fanbase opinion of the guy is (if the fanbase has an opinion on him at all).

On ... Sunday, I think it was, I had a very weird and bizarre and unsettling dream that ... seemed to involve Team Rocket discovering that their final fate was being sealed in wax, as statues, and they could not escape it. Jessie even tried a decoy of herself, hoping that would get zapped instead of her and then she could escape and try to save the others, but it didn't work. (There was also some really weird thing about her being older than she looks/never aging, which I of course don't plan to do anything with.) It was one of those dreams that sticks with you and continues to be unsettling when you're awake, and I decided the only thing to do was to blurbize it and write a solution to the problem, because it being their final fate is unacceptable. Haven't written the solution yet, but I did have Ash and Pikachu find them and determine to save them and everyone else the Pokemon has coated in wax in the chamber. It feels very movie-like, so I may or may not try to make a full fic out of it. I'm planning that Ash either tames the Pokemon who hurt everyone or else he finds another one that's willing to reverse the damage (since movies seem to have at least two Legendary Pokemon in them). I'm picturing that the Pokemon releases everyone else first, then comes to Team Rocket and asks Ash if he really wants them released too. Of course, Ash says yes, that even though they cause him so much trouble, he doesn't think they deserve such a horrible fate. And at times they've been helpful, so they have good in them.

I like Ash way more than I used to. I would really get bent out of shape 15 years ago, frustrated with the constant blasting off since he could really, seriously hurt Team Rocket. I still don't like that, but I'm frustrated with Team Rocket for a lot of things too, so overall I've decided the whole cast is flawed, the whole series has cartoon physics and logic on both sides, and hey, let's love the characters and the show for the good in them and try to bring out those sides in the stories instead of having up and down characterization for both good and bad guys. I love having Ash interact with Team Rocket in my fics these days. It's a lot of fun.

On one of my many rewatches of Mewtwo Returns (which got watched, I think, about nine times in two weeks ... I renewed it, but had to send it back for real yesterday and I am very sad about that), I then watched a very early season 1 episode right after. The contrast was quite striking. It was neat realizing how much Ash matured and grew by the time of Mewtwo Returns!

(I also wonder why I never really heard much about it 15 years ago. I was on the lookout for anything that was good to Team Rocket and I would have been all over it. Instead, I really didn't understand what it was. All the different Mewtwo names were really confusing to me. Like, the first movie seemed to be called both Mewtwo Strikes Back and Mewtwo vs. Mew, so that really confused me, and then there was this other thing called Mewtwo Returns. I just wasn't even sure what was what. And then now I've found out there's a female Mewtwo in Best Wishes and I just don't even know what to think. It didn't sound like they did much, if anything, with the Team Rocket organization wanting her back, like they did the first Mewtwo, unless that was only in the prequel episode, and the movie with her sounds like a complicated mess and just a way to try to bring back a popular character without necessarily having a good storyline or reason why. Why not check in with the original Mewtwo instead of creating another one?! From what I read, it just felt so very badly done. Team Rocket would be frantic to get her back after losing the first one. WTH. Of course, they do have the trio trying to catch her, but there's not the intensity of the entire organization after her and such. And I'm glad, at least, that with the trio trying to catch her, it's not the same Mewtwo as before, because in light of Mewtwo Returns I would really get bent out of shape if the writers did that and had Team Rocket turn against the original Mewtwo after their adventures.)

My Jessie and James figures are here! Right on time too. They look exactly as pictured! It's always nice to get exactly what you think you paid for. They're a lot heavier and sturdier than I was thinking, though, which is awesome. I was picturing them being about like my YGO figures. These are way heavier, even though they're around the same size. I love it! With Jessie I did the same thing I did with my Marik figure and wrapped a piece of white cloth around the bare midriff, LOL. One never knows when Dad might wander in and see the figures. Of course, he wouldn't like the short skirt either (nor do I), but the boots come up so high that I usually don't think as much about the skirt. Meowth has shipped and will hopefully come soon!
insaneladybug: (hamilton_shocked)
So ... Mom got the urge she wanted to see the movie The Notebook. We got it from Netflix and watched it tonight.

The present-day story is very powerful, poignant, beautiful, and heartbreaking. I really felt for the couple and could see that their love was strong and true.

But ...

The past story just doesn't measure up. I don't get the vibe that the couple is deeply in love in the past. What I get from the past story is that they're overly obsessed with wanting to climb into each other's pants. Now I know sexual desires are part of a romantic relationship, but if you're not careful in how the story is written, it's going to come out looking like it's lust instead of love. This did not feel like love.

The story in the past as it is is badly cliched and doesn't seem well-written. A standard "two kids from different stations in life are supposedly in love and the parents don't approve" sort of thing. If written well, it can work. But this is just one bad cliche after another. And when it seemed like the only stuff we ever saw was either them arguing or them trying to eat each other up or make out, eh, I just couldn't get behind the relationship. It didn't feel special or real or beautiful at all.

Sometimes it's funny when a couple argues a lot, but it only works if you can tell they love each other deep down. I didn't get that vibe from Noah and Allie. I got the vibe that they did not click together and did not respect each other. At least, I certainly didn't feel he respected her.

Okay, I did like that he remembered everything she wanted done with the house. That was sweet. And I liked the letter bit. Honestly, that kind of sweetness fit the guy in the present. Everything else about Noah in the past ... really did not fit the guy in the present.

Honestly, the second guy Allie meets up with is a much better guy. Noah always came across like a jerk and I never liked him from the get-go once we got into the past. Lon was nice and respectful, save for the first time she met him when he was wounded and he seemed to kind of make a pass at her. Since he was nice every other time, I'd probably say being wounded made him act out a bit. Noah can't have any such excuse.

In the end, I can't help it, I'd rather believe that the guy who loves her so deeply in the present is Lon and that she had him instead of Noah. The guy's personality in the present is much closer to Lon's, and it occurred to me too that when you see the pictures of them through the years, James Garner in the younger pictures of him looks much more like an older Lon than Noah. Part of me wonders if originally it was supposed to be Lon because Noah just doesn't seem to make sense, personality-wise.

In the end, though, heh, Allie wasn't very nice to Lon, running off to see Noah and ending up jumping in bed with him when she was engaged to Lon. Lon deserved better and Noah and Allie probably deserved each other. And I don't mean they deserved each other in a positive way.

I don't know; the past story is just a mess. The present-day story is so beautiful and bittersweet and heartbreaking and I wish the past story really fit it better. From the present-day story, I expected to get a beautiful romance in the past, and honestly, I didn't. I got a lustful disaster.

I don't like to completely bash the story itself, because I read that the book's author was inspired to write the story because of meeting his wife's grandparents, who had been married for 60 years. He wanted to capture the beauty of a relationship that had lasted that long. Maybe the book actually does. I would hope so. The movie just doesn't cut it. And I honestly can't say I'm glad I finally saw it after hearing so much hype about it through the years. The only content I really liked was the present-day story, as well as Lon in the past.

At least I got a little more sewing done while we were watching. I'll have Barney's coat done soon, I hope.

And I did decide to write the funny story next. I think it's almost done. I'm pretty happy with it.
insaneladybug: (hamilton)
So now LJ is apparently making up tags for me? It stuck the number fifty in as a tag and claims there's one usage of it. Naturally, when I click, it goes nowhere since there is no such tag. I deleted it from the list. It had better not come back. Or be replaced by another. I really do not appreciate my journal being tinkered with in any way. I also hate how if you write a number in an entry, it will automatically get linked to a search for it. Maybe that's only if there's a hashtag with it, but ugh, this isn't Twitter! People I know use LJ because it isn't Twitter. Or Facebook, etc. And we liked it better before the changes that started to make it more like them.

But seriously, making up tags? That is inexcusable. Unless it's some kind of a glitch. And if it is, it had better be fixed quickly, unlike how they claimed the extra ads were a glitch yet they did nothing about them until apparently the last mass migration from the site in April.

... Yeah.

Jun. 22nd, 2017 04:46 am
insaneladybug: (baxterstockman)
You know you're probably too obsessed with a character when you feel bad to kill a filthy fly to keep it from getting in the house as soon as the door's opened. But I killed it anyway, regardless of it reminding me of poor Baxter. I wasn't about to fight with a fly in the living room. I would have captured it alive if I could have and turned it loose elsewhere on the property, but I didn't have anything with me to enable me to catch it alive. And of course, I couldn't go through the door to get something or it would have got in. (I could have gone in and out through the garage way, but by then it might have gone into hiding and still popped out when someone tried to go through the front door....)

There's also a giant miller loose in the garage, where I couldn't get to it. Ugh. If that gets in the house, we will not be happy either. I hate moths....

And I've gotta say, as much as I hate humans turning into non-mutant animals, Bebop's line in Bye, Bye, Fly regarding Shredder is classic: "How come we have to take orders from an insect?!" ROTFLOL. It makes me think, of all things, of the utter preposterousness of a BAKED BEAN being the Big Bad in that Xiaolin Showdown cartoon. I always wondered why it had minions that agreed to help it. They must have either really respected it or they saw its plans were working and they'd get rich from it. But seriously, WTH. As much as I enjoy lighter things these days, that is still too out there for me.

Fiddling with the next story, which is a crossover between the 87 series and the 1990s movie verse. And worried about listing it as being for the 87 series since there some extensive flashbacks to things in the movie verse.... Such scenes are far longer and more detailed here than in the Platinum Dunes crossover. Of course, the 87 verse is still the "host" verse and the movie verse characters are guest-stars, but since there's scenes featuring just the movie verse characters, I worry. Still, there's not much else I can do since I can't list both of them like I can on AO3, and when picking one, it definitely seems like it should be 87 verse.

It's times like this when I realize how deeply affected I still am by that WWW reviewer who slammed me for making oneshot characters so important in those stories. Now I'm always worrying about doing something that will make the readers mad in every fandom. Ugh. I still do what I want, but I worry about it.

But on the plus side, FF.net agreed to add both Barney and Z as character choices! Squeee. I made immediate use of both of those options.

Hmm.

May. 25th, 2017 04:41 am
insaneladybug: (scofield)
So I think I've resolved my problem about the apartment versus the house and Baxter will live both places, as he's currently doing, more or less. He'll probably always sleep at Barney's. ThickerThanLove and I figured out where Barney probably lives (I wanted it to be in Manhattan, so probably the Upper East Side, back a ways, maybe closer to the river ... although probably not where the river is actually in sight) and that Baxter, April, and Irma possibly live not too far away in Murray Hill and Channel 6 is probably close as well, so commuting won't be a problem.

Also pondering the idea that Baxter may have studied a lot about biology, as he seemed to have some interest in it judging from his comment in The Killer Pizzas about wanting to study Dimension X wildlife, and then there's the scene where he's examining the fragment of the Eye of Sarnoth and the plant spores in It Came From Beneath the Sewers. Also, he looked so disgusted/repulsed by the green mud stuff he had to wipe off the fragment. LOL. Can't blame him there. Maybe I'll make biology his secondary field.

I adore Baxter so much, but sometimes I feel like Barney is more "my" character than Baxter is, since Barney was only used in one episode and he hence has had to be fleshed out way more than Baxter. Of course, neither of them are really mine, but I often come to feel that the oneshot or recurring characters I deal with are half-mine because of everything I've done with them.

Trying Amazon Prime again, as they offered another free trial and I needed to purchase a digital converter box (AGAIN), so I did the trial to get it here. Then I got Mom's Mother Day present from there. Now I'd like to get something for myself before the trial expires at the beginning of June. Debating whether to get season 2 of The Virginian, which is finally low enough that I feel it's a real possibility, or if I'd rather get a couple of cheaper things (like the non-double-sided disc re-release of season 1 of The Rockford Files that I just discovered exists for $7!). I like The Virginian, but unlike something like Knight Rider where I'm just all into it and adore the show enough on its own that there's no question of whether to purchase, with The Virginian I buy seasons to get certain episodes. I love the show a lot, but I have so little money that I feel I must be very careful what I purchase to make sure I get what I really want the very most. And sometimes The Virginian episodes can be so depressing that I kind of get frustrated. I think there's more that end good than ones that end bad, though.

I just looked at the episode guide for season 2 of The Virginian. I got excited at first, seeing some of the neat episodes in there, and then I saw a couple of the depressing ones and wasn't sure again what I wanted to do. I am so mad that they killed off Molly. I liked that they didn't have her fade into nothingness, but she could have moved away or something. What makes it worse is that The Virginian was just going to propose to her and she was shot dead. UGH. I hate that type of plotline! You don't want the character to be married, okay. I totally get that and usually agree with it. But why make things so freakin' saaad? I know, tragedy, drama, sympathize with the character, yadda yadda. But it's so unnecessary.

Still, though, there's two Joseph episodes and a Darren episode that season, although the only one I was really after was one of the Joseph ones where his character turns out to be a nice guy after all. The other two episodes, the darlings play flat-out bad guys. Then there's an episode where Trampas is reported dead and everyone's grieving and Steve comes, I guess to get the body, and then finds Trampas is alive and needs help. Even though I like Trampas better in the later seasons, that sounds so promising.

I won't decide anything at this point, but I'm going to be thinking about it and weighing the pros and cons. And when I've made a decision, hopefully by later today, I bet the prices will have changed again and not for the better. Ugh.

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