The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

Nikki arrived and she's awesome. And I found a G. I. Joe to be Nesbitt! I knew it would be too strange if there weren't any that looked like him, because honestly, his character design looks like a G. I. Joe, lol. I found several possibilities and decided on Wheeler Field Pilot. I bought one on Amazon and I think he'll be here tomorrow! Meanwhile I was set to buy the Hawk River Lector G. I. Joe and then an auction popped up. I ended up going through with the Buy It Now listing anyway. I hope I won't regret not following the auction. I was concerned about someone else getting the Buy It Now and the auction suddenly spiking into a bid war and then I wouldn't get either one. That probably wouldn't have happened, but I didn't want to take the chance. Plus, I didn't want to wait 9 days for the auction to end.

A friend had some TaleSpin cereal box figures that she sent me. They're so cute! And it's almost the whole set of them; I just need Baloo, and I'm sure I can get him at the antique mall. And she also included a neat thing about Louisiana since I periodically write fics set there, and ohmygoshsqueee, a surprise item: an autographed picture of Boba Fett! She got it signed by Jeremy Bulloch in person years ago. I was over the moon and exclaimed aloud when I opened the package!

Monday we finally got to do an outing I've been hoping for for ages and it was one of those amazing days where things actually went right. Weirdly enough, both that Monday and one I still hold fondly from about three years ago or more involved getting paint at Hobby Lobby. LOL. I got a color that I hope will be good for painting Lector and also grabbed some black paint for Johnson's hair, since I don't know when I'll get back there and I thought I should just have it around even though I probably won't have Johnson for a while. It's always fun to explore there. Such a huge store! I wish they closed at 9 instead of 8. I was hoping to see some Halloween decor, but they had harvest coming in and that was a good compromise. Strangely, they still had some aisles of Easter stuff.

Then we went to Joann's and they finally had plushie bases back in stock. They also now have WiFi! And squeeee, they actually had the fake fur I needed for Umbra's hair! Since they don't have a whole rainbow of colors, I do wonder why they specifically had turquoise/teal/whatever it is. Is there a lot of demand for that color? Whatever the reason, it's awesome! It's super expensive by the yard ($29.99!), so I asked for the smallest piece and that was only $3 and change, and more than enough! I have a ton left over.

Then it was on to Kohl's to see if I'd have any better luck with my merchandising credit than before. The fitting rooms are closed and I didn't want to risk getting any more pants that didn't fit, so I focused on toys. I didn't really think they'd have Stacie, and I was right, but they did have a doll that I think and hope is Renee. Why don't they print character names on the boxes anymore? But I got her.

At Target I found Stacie! I also saw the new Yami Bakura and Yami Marik combo deck set they put out. I want it for Yami Bakura, but I couldn't afford it right then. If it was any other kind of Yami Bakura merchandise I wouldn't have been able to resist, but since I don't have anyone to play with I drag my feet on cards. I definitely plan to get that deck for my Yami Bakura collection, though!

At Walmart I got some muslin for the plushie ears. I still don't understand why they aren't made with ears on in the first place.

I waited several days for possible germs to die before starting the plushies. On Friday I made the ears and expressions. I copied Umbra's from a screenshot and I used Lumis's excited expression from Duel Links, even though I'm doing anime verse and not manga verse. The expression is just too cute! Saturday night into Sunday morning I worked on Umbra's hair. It's always hard dealing with fake fur hair and my finger is sore from pushing hard on the needle. But I love the results! Since they're not Rare Hunters anymore, I'll probably dress them similarly to how I depict them in my fics, in basic dark pants and purple tops. I have a progress picture up: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

I also figure I'll need to sew clothes for the Joes. I can't find anything that looks canon-accurate around, and a blog I found this morning warned that a lot of clothes don't fit Joes because some of them have big hands. I don't think mine do, but I can't be sure until they show up. I was going to use Luke to help me make clothing patterns today, assuming that the Joes and the Star Wars figures have the same bodies, but since Nesbitt is coming tomorrow, I think maybe I'll wait and have him help me instead. Nesbitt probably is a pilot, so it wouldn't look odd for him to sit around in the clothes he comes with for a while. I learned that some Joes and Star Wars figures have the same bodies, but I can't find out if the highly articulated ones do. I'm not sure Nesbitt has bendable knees, though, so his body might be more like the 1996 Star Wars ones that didn't bend the knees. But I'm not sure, because his hands are amazing and the FINGERS bend! I love it!

We've been watching some Star Wars movies and I had to write a bizarre blurb where Nesbitt is frozen in carbonite and Lector is able to release him (thankfully after a short period of time, unlike poor Han). I doubt I'll post it in any story, and maybe it won't even make it to 31 Days. But it was interesting to write. So far I gave no explanation for how it happened or why such a thing exists on Earth. I might if I flesh it out more. I'd certainly have to if I ever plan to really use it in something.

I also decided to look up Jason Wingreen, who voiced Boba Fett, and Jeremy Bulloch, who played him physically. I somehow stumbled on a hilarious interview where he said that in rehearsal he tripped on Darth Vader's cape and they both fell down and got tangled up, **snerk.** And then he flubbed a line and said "Put Captain Cargo in the Solo Hold." I've been giggling about that all day. I still wish I could get a 12 inch Boba Fett to match my Star Wars figures, but he still remains one of the hardest to get in the set. I should have tried to get one years ago, when they were first out. I remember watching my brother bring home his electronic Boba Fett with goggle-eyed interest. There's an electronic one on eBay for not too bad a price, but the Try Me button doesn't work. If I'm buying an electronic figure, I expect it to talk to me! I'd be fine with the Collector Series one too, even though I like the electronic one better, but it's also very elusive.

Since I've been having so much trouble finding out things about Barbies, like whether they're hollow or solid, or what characters they are, and this new problem about G. I. Joes and Star Wars figures, I'm slightly considering doing a blog on Blogger or somewhere talking about my collecting and things I've discovered on my own. Surely I can't be the only person who wonders things like this! It would be nice to be able to pass on my knowledge in case anyone else is having problems about such things.

I hate winter illnesses. I hate sore throats. I hate sore throats that go away and then come back with a vengeance and actually make it hard to sleep. As miserable as they are, I've hardly ever had that problem. But I sure did the last time I tried to sleep. Oh please don't make it come back again and do it some more.... It really feels like it might....

Had a really weird dream during the minuscule time I was sleeping where I went to see a play that Richard and Joseph were both in and then visited with them for a while afterwards. Richard left after a while, but I stayed hanging out with Joseph, and then we went to Joseph's place and found that Richard had gone there (WTH). A really odd dream and I'm leaving out some of the odder details, but overall it was really nice. I love dreams where I get to hang out with favorite celebrities!

I did end up drawing that picture for the Control Freak redo I was musing on. Aside from Pikachu once again looking terrible, it's one of those pictures where everything went right. I love that. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com Of course, it did go behind a Mature Content warning. That was inevitable. And there are eight characters in it: five human, three Pokemon. I love when I can get many characters into a picture without it somehow looking super crowded. Debating whether I might go back later and add the background of the old temple they're in. That would be a lot of gray, though.

I also want to draw a couple of other pictures from the scene: James collapsing, the mask shattering as Jessie breaks free of the control, and Jessie either trying to remove the staff or just sobbing over James' body. I'm not sure if I can properly illustrate that she's trying to pull the staff out instead of pushing it in, but we'll see what happens.

And my poor YGO art folder is tearing. I had to use some more patches of tape on it tonight. But overall it's really full and I need a new folder. I saw some old Pokemon folders with Team Rocket on eBay a couple weeks ago.... Wonder if they're still there....

It's so strange, but I've hardly seen any character folders in stores this year. I saw notebooks, but most of the folders were generic. WTH? I wanted some Turtles folders for my fics, but I couldn't find any.

Also have the problem that I really want to work on the Control Freak redo fic. I did two scenes in the morning. But it seems like I should put up something lighter before doing something this dark (and with more James hurt/comfort). But I'm still iffy on exactly how my human catboy Meowth vignettes are going to work, so I don't feel ready to put any of that up yet. And then the other thing I've been working on is the downfall of Team Rocket as an organization fic, which ... has hurt/comfort with all three of the trio. I guess at least with the mask fic, Jessie is the center focus until the climax, so that's something different from a mostly James focus. Dunno how popular episode redos are in the fandom, although I've seen some here and there. And lots of random oddball stuff. Seems like everyone pretty much writes whatever they want, which is nice.

... Oh, coming to think of it, I do have one other fic I was working on, but I wasn't sure I was actually going to post it. It's just a little follow-up piece to the one with religious content/Joseph's priest character, where Ash goes back to tell Professor Oak everything that happened at St. Matthew Beach and reveals that he's angry at the Pokemon who attacked and killed James when James was trying to protect Ash and Ash told the Pokemon that they didn't mean any harm. It was interesting to explore the idea of Ash badly shaken by what had happened and going through the psychological effects of being angry at a Pokemon, something he thought would never happen. But I wasn't sure how receptive the fans would be and I hadn't quite finished it.

I also plan to do another story set at St. Matthew Beach and heavily involving the starfish Pokemon, but at the moment my mind is so locked into Team Rocket mode that I don't have a lot of plunnies for that one. (Plus, I'm wondering how to work that story with the one where Ash goes back to talk to Professor Oak, since I think the latter would come first, yet I don't see the characters going all the way back to Pallet and then all the way back to St. Matthew Beach for this fic. Although maybe they would because of seeing how upset Ash was about things.... Or hmm, maybe I could have Misty and Brock call Professor Oak and ask him to come out there because they see how upset Ash is and feel he should talk to his mentor....) Maybe I could try writing a random scene of Misty talking with my character Emma about starfish Pokemon. The fic is mostly them bonding over that and the starfish Pokemon getting to shine. And Team Rocket still puzzling over what to do due to everything that happened in the prior fic.

Then I tried to ponder on where the different regions are for Classic Era, since I go with the dub localization to what is apparently the U.S. I had tentatively set Kanto in the Midwest, but I realized that can't work because it's fairly near the ocean, since they're at the ocean in episodes 15-19. And I have James' estate pegged as in Georgia. So then I picked the Southeastern States for Kanto. Maybe Kanto is around Tennessee or something; haven't quite picked that yet. Orange Islands are the Caribbean area. Johto I'm torn on. I want to say West, because they visit a Beverly Hills-ish area and talk about the stars' homes. Only I thought I remembered it being said that Johto is North of Kanto? I'll have to look at that episode again. But North would make sense with the Whirl Islands and Bluefinland/Newfoundland, LOL.

Last night I finally capped the shot from the season 1 opening with Jessie and James, because I just adore it. I originally wanted to have an icon of that, but Meowth wasn't in the shot and I wanted him in the icon too. I think I love the season 1 shot especially because it turns up during part of the "You're my best friend" line. They didn't time things quite right, as I assume it really should have been a line or two down to show that they're who the world is supposed to be defended from, LOL. But I love the way they did it. Hey, who knows, maybe it even was deliberate to show that the antagonists are best friends too. Not sure what to do with it now that I've capped it, though, unless I do an icon of it after all. Or unless I randomly stick it on my profile page....

Ended up buying the Meowth figure on eBay this past evening. I'm pleased on the one hand that I waited, because the price came down a smidge. On the other, I'm not terribly pleased that my total ended up coming out to $6.66. **headdesk.** I am not superstitious about most things, but that is one number I am honestly not crazy about and try to avoid when I can.... But of course, I'm not so bent out of shape about it that I would refuse to buy the figure because the total came out to that. That would be ridiculous. Hopefully he'll get here soon after Jessie and James. Gotta have the whole team together! Then I'll work on getting Ash and Misty. I can get them from the same seller I got Jessie and James from. Not sure yet how to get Brock....

The Jessie and James figures are guaranteed delivery by Monday. The post office site thought they might be here Friday instead, but that fell through. As of tonight they're not far away, though. If today wasn't Sunday, they'd probably get here today.

And the first of the remaining darlings has passed. https://parkavenuebeat.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-memoriam-richard-anderson.html

This has not been a great week. Or maybe month would be more accurate. And not just for me, either; gah, that horrible tragedy in the U.K....

On top of the things stressing me that I've mentioned in locked entries, now some of our closest friends in town are moving and Roger Moore is dead. I know I never quite got to where I liked him as much as other darlings, but he was still very special to me. I have a figure in his likeness and a Persuaders! picture on my wall. And a lot of DVDs. I really admire the work he did for UNICEF; that was very special, as is the fact that he considered it his crowning achievement over anything he did in the entertainment industry. He had a great sense of humor and I really liked his stance on some things, like being totally against hunting animals for sport. I also learned from reading articles today that he was actually a shy person. I can certainly relate to that. There was a lot of good in him and I am very sad to lose him. I feel so sad for his family and friends. The tributes I've been reading have been very moving and very sad.

I dread what's going to happen next.