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.

So I've collected so many Gems in Duel Links from events without spending many, and I decided to go try to get a few new cards with some. I'm after Magician of Faith again, but instead, the first pack I open has Robotic Knight on top. The second pack has Paradox Fusion, a Trap card with a picture of the Five-Headed Dragon.

LOL.

I also finally got out Sound Duel 2 and listened to the two tracks that are supposed to be about the Big 5, 8 and 9. 8 I can picture as being for them, although it sounds much more hard rocky than I would picture for middle-aged men. 9 baffled me, because it's apparently called "Anger of the Big Five," but it sounded more like the emotion being expressed in it was sadness. None of the Big Five seem to have individual themes in the Japanese, so chalk one up for the dub there. I love the dub themes for them. I just wonder why the Crump theme on YouTube really doesn't resemble much of what's heard in his episodes, while the other themes are definitely what's heard. I keep thinking the other Crump music must be there somewhere. Every now and then I find more unreleased dub soundtrack tunes there, awesomely.

On a serious note, I drew a picture of Lector and Mokuba that I'm really pleased with: http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

I also figured out what I want to do with the angsty blurb thing. It's definitely going in the New Orleans fic, which will come after the Christmas one. I think the Christmas one ends with Lector getting a telegram from his estranged father, asking him to come to New Orleans. So the Big Five go, and everyone else will too, when I can figure out why they go too. Also, now Lector is visibly alive but unconscious after the explosion he saves Mokuba from in the blurb, and Portman decided to do her grief experiment here and injects him with a drug that makes him look dead. This probably means I won't do the fic with Gansley, but those plans could always change, since the experiment would be different there in several ways: Gansley is the leader, so Portman might like to see what would happen if he was thought dead, and it would go on longer than the couple of hours the drug keeps Lector under.

I also did a very intense and heartbreaking scene where, when Nesbitt goes off seeking revenge, he goes to Lector's father. He believes what happened is that man's fault, because apparently even though the guy disowned Lector, he sent for him to come help with a problem the father got into and Nesbitt thinks the father wanted Lector as a scapegoat and for the man's enemies to go after Lector instead of anyone else in the family, which is what happened.

So the car is not fixed. But my brother (the one who gave me the $20 for my birthday) let us borrow his car.

Traffic was frightening. But everything went well!

Bulbasaur is definitely striking. But I couldn't justify paying so much for him. Plus, honestly, he looked hard to cuddle with. They had all the Pokemon in the store, as I'd hoped, and I decided I really wanted Pikachu the most. But I think I'll get Eevee too at some point. She's so cute!

$28 still seems a lot, but somehow Pikachu seems bigger now than he did two years ago. Maybe that's because since then, I've seen what else is available and how small the other sizes are. And at least I got $5 off the price thanks to the coupon that prompted the entire outing! The Turtles on the last round were $28 too (although I got 30% off on the one I bought on that round, Michelangelo).

While we were out, I decided to check Barnes and Noble on the off chance that maybe a stray Sailor Moon figure was still on clearance. Naturally not; they were all bought up by this point. I'm glad I got to get a couple last month when the sale was on.

I've also wanted to check another Wal-Mart to see if they still had the Pokemon hat I wanted, and maybe The Johto Journeys too, because I do crave some more Pokemon and there are definitely things I like about Johto. The Wal-Mart I tried had both! And I got both. The hat had reached $2 in clearance price! So awesome. I love clearance! I hope I won't regret the DVD purchase. Hopefully there will be enough awesome Johto episodes to make it worth my while. And I'm obsessed with the theme song. Never cared much for season 4's theme, but as soon as I heard season 3's theme years ago, I fell in love with it.

I listened to the Pokemon Christmas album again and found it just as amusing as before. Then I started fooling around on YouTube playing random songs, and I've also decided Pokemon Live is awesome when all the Pokeshipping subplot stuff is omitted. I love another, abridged production I was shown and still need to see in full, and I love the utter, wonderful crack of Dexter being sentient and having a song. **snerk.** That kind of crack is in line with the Turtles' stage show, I think.

Somewhere along the way, I ended up stumbling on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYdRJyFAnMY

I'm kind of obsessed with it too. A bunch of girls and a dad got together and this happened. LOL. Fun times. And I love Meowth's clothes and hair, I think mainly because they remind me of Scott on Carmen Sandiego.

So all in all, I'm having a Pokemon obsessed moment again, like I had last month. It's fun.

I'm also moving steadily along on the Turtles' fic. I think I've reached a snag and I hope it won't last. Snags are annoying and not fun.

Now I'm debating whether to post another Pokemon chapter right away. I think the one chapter a day thing is wearying to the readers, even though they're short chapters and that's usually what I do if a story is mostly written. But I ended up adding more to the chapter because I decided the fight scene needed to be shown more than briefly summarized. I'll need to look it over again before I post it. I'm wondering if I should hold off until after Thanksgiving to post the rest. Many is the year I posted something on Thanksgiving and had very little luck with reader response because of that.

Also debating if Brock will blame himself for James ending up forced to sacrifice himself protecting Ash, as Crystal pointed out how protective Brock is of Ash and Misty. This is Team Rocket, but under the circumstances, I wonder if Brock might think it should have been him instead of James. On the other hand, he might not because of his siblings and how devastated they would be. (And Ash and Misty too, of course.)