The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

After a discussion on Sailor Moon with someone last Friday, I felt like getting out my DiC dub DVDs and watching some. Usually I watch Sailor Moon in Japanese, but honestly, I still love the DiC dub. The characters' voices had a lot of heart and those were the voices I heard when I first tried Sailor Moon in 2002. I'm very sentimental about the DiC dub.

I felt like watching the end of R, so I pulled it out Saturday morning. After the first two of four climatic R episodes, I was thinking, "Sailor Moon season climaxes are really downers." I remembered getting depressed the last time I watched the end of S. Even in the DiC dub, the R climax kept most of its dark elements. It doesn't try to cover up Sapphire and Diamond being murdered. Sapphire's last episode was especially heartbreaking. But then the other two R episodes had a lot of squee and hope (in spite of the downer of Diamond's death). (And no, I didn't watch that silly thing after the end of the arc that was basically a clip show as everyone argued who should lead the team (or star in the show, as per the Japanese, heh). I saw that once, maybe twice, and that was enough. I rarely like clip show episodes.)

Seeing those episodes left me with some serious nostalgia. Even though I didn't see Sailor Moon in first run, the whole feel of the dub and its added Sailor Moon Says segments were so very 90s. I love the 90s and I miss their relative innocence compared to today's cynicism. The 90s, at least the early to mid 90s, were kind of an extension of the 80s in some ways. Both were lovely decades to enjoy as kids, with fun, cheesy, and wholesome shows. (And you know, honestly, I liked how most of the Sailor Moon Says segments were tailored to each episode. It was clever how they found a moral in each one that they could use. I was disappointed when towards the last of the DiC run they stopped trying and just reused old segments.)

Then I watched some YGO. I did see it in first-run, and I had nostalgia about 2002. Those years when I discovered YGO and watched it in first-run were among the happiest years of my life. Not just because of that, of course; my real life was very good then and I wasn't cynical and weary like I am now. I often long for those happy days again. Not that I don't have happy times now, and my real life is still good, but there's a lot to be said about the days of relative innocence. Evanescence's Field of Innocence sums things up pretty well (although thankfully I don't feel as despondent as the person in that song).

Later that day, I had the urge to try Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog again. I grew up with it, and as I recall, it was my first introduction to Sonic. (Either that or I saw the comics before I saw the cartoons. Now I don't remember the order.) Netflix has a few of them, so I thought I'd watch the one where Sonic tries to find Tails a new home after deciding it's just too dangerous for Tails to be with him. I last saw it ten years ago and I thought I remembered that there was only one instance of physical humor in that episode, involving something in Robotnik's eye. I had completely blocked out all the rest of the Warner Brothers humor in the climax. Sigh. As a kid, I could watch that sort of thing without batting an eye. As an adult, I have to look away and I'm still in horror anyway. And unlike Darkwing Duck, which was a really strong show that I still love in spite of that horrible Warner Brothers humor, Adventures definitely didn't have the same lush animation and storytelling quality to mean more than the violence. (Although the storylines aren't always bad; the one I watched is pretty moving, barring all that physical humor. And this line from Tails is absolutely beautiful: "Family just means the people who care about you more than anything else!" It fits perfectly for the friends as family concepts I love to write. I also loved that in spite of Sonic's obnoxious behavior, he wasn't too proud to say he loves Tails.)

Other things I noticed about Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog:

- The opening theme song, with everything forming "Sonic," is so very obnoxious.
- Sonic himself is too.
- Mobius looks weird, lol. It's always so surreal. I guess that fits the tone of the show, but it's so minimalist that it seems more sloppy and unimaginative than anything else.
- They use a bit of game music, which is awesome.

I wish they had styled Mobius like the games. Then it would look lush and gorgeous!

I'm glad Sonic isn't portrayed quite as frustrating as he was in those old series. All Sonics have a bit of an obnoxious streak, but I definitely don't remember it being that bad in Sonic X, or in the games. If Knuckles ever met Sonic from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, he would probably not be able to refrain from punching him in the face.

Then I decided that one episode of that series at a time was more than enough to break my brain. I wanted to mend it, so I decided it was the perfect time to play a Sonic X episode and hear David Wills voice Espio. I'd wanted to do that ever since learning that he played Espio. He also plays Nesbitt, you see. My favorite Sonic X episode, where Eggman actually saves Sonic's life, also features the Chaotix. And it's one of the few episodes I have on DVD.

I definitely got a kick out of David's performance. Even though both Espio and Nesbitt have deep voices, they still sound completely different. I'd never know it was the same guy without having looked it up. I want to draw a silly picture of them staring each other down, neither very impressed with the other.

(I wonder if I'm able to draw Nesbitt recognizable. It's hard to draw him without him resembling Tristan, I discovered, since he also has a piece of hair sticking out on his forehead. Of course, with him it's more realistic and not bizarre-looking like Tristan's. LOL.)

Man, season 3 of Sonic X is dark. Of course, I always knew that, but it hits even harder when I'm not always able to deal with darker things these days. That episode is still so absolutely awesome, though. I love Eggman, totally prefer him over the Robotniks of the old 90s cartoons, and I loved that Vector figured out that Eggman was really trying to warn Sonic about the Metarex's plans instead of bragging and gloating like he said. I feel like watching the episode again.

I remember when Sonic X was coming out, I wondered if I'd be able to get used to Eggman after all the Dr. Robotniks. Well, I got used to him just fine with the first episode and enjoyed every moment of it. I wish I had more of the Sonix X episodes. I have the very first DVD, with I think 12 or 13 episodes, I have the season 2 DVD with the Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 adaptations, and I have the season 3 DVD with the last 13 episodes. I may have a few more recorded off of television. Well, I know I do, but I don't recall if any of them aren't also on those DVDs.

I wonder if I'll ever try overhauling my fic idea of doing a Sonic X version of Shadow the Hedgehog (the game). I was typing a chapter and suddenly realized, "What am I doing?!" All the alien invasions were dark for me and, I realized, too dark. Plus, to follow the game there'd be entire cities demolished later. I didn't feel I could write it. I wonder if there'd be a way to do some elements of the Shadow game while keeping the lighter feel of the first two Sonic X seasons. Probably not.

And even though I've never liked that Great Eastern doesn't make their Sonic plushies furry, I wish I'd gotten their Espio plush. Now it's out of print and GE lost the license for a while, so prices went through the roof. I heard they got the license back, and I wonder if they'll make Espio again since there's clearly a heavy demand for him.

I want to get to GameStop and see if I can find that Uncle Scrooge plush Funko made. I can't find out if it's furry, and I'm not sure how big it is because I keep hearing different sizes, so I'd like to see it in person before I decide whether to get it. I've wanted a Scrooge plush for years. He was always my favorite character on DuckTales. I did see a Scrooge plush for the reboot at Target, but I'd rather look into the classic plush from Funko first.

I also want more G1 My Little Ponies. I had a dream about going to get another one and having trouble deciding between all the new ones released. And there are a lot of new ones! In addition to the wave I just started being able to find recently, there are at least two other waves coming out! Squeeee. It's so amazing to be able to find G1 Ponies new in stores again! The inner little girl who longed for them so badly is overjoyed. It's nice that the original Ponies can still be found used from other collectors, but nothing compares to being able to get them new!

I'm also wanting to get the movable Yami Yugi and Yugi figures with Amazon gift cards. It's a struggle deciding who to get first, though. Yugi's release is tied to The Dark Side of Dimensions, so he might go out of print first, yet I really am excited about the Yami Yugi. But I'd hate if I couldn't ever get Yugi, even though I'm disappointed the duel disk can't be removed from his arm. I kind of doubt Yugi would go out of print between now and the next time I'd have enough gift cards, but you never know. But for that matter, Yami Yugi could suddenly go out of print even though you might think he'd be around longer.

Been nostalgic today, remembering a shopping trip from nine years ago. I was looking for Ninja Turtles and Sonic merchandise. Maybe other stuff too, but that's mostly what I remember. I went to Big Lots, Rite Aid, Toys R Us, and maybe F.Y.E.

At Rite Aid I saw a Turtles plush, but it was made out of a really annoying non-furry and non-smooth material that catches fingernails. And it was of Michelangelo, who at that time I didn't like. He annoyed the heck out of me in the 2003 series, which was my main focus at that time. But he'd always kind of annoyed me; I remember thinking he was an idiot in the one Archie Comic I had. I wish I'd been able to see some of the other Archie Comics they did for the Turtles, because I've since learned that Michelangelo really had some powerful storylines! I think it was only a couple of years ago when I really began appreciating Michelangelo, both because of how he began developing in my fic verse and because of the long conversations I had with ThickerThanLove, a devoted Michelangelo fan. Hilariously, he's now my second favorite Turtle in the 87 verse. Haven't revisited the 2003 series much, so I'm not as sure how he stacks up there now, but I did rewatch my DVDs of the first few episodes a couple of years ago and only found him super annoying in the first one. I'm glad I didn't get that plush, though. I've found much nicer Turtles plushies of all of them.

At Big Lots I saw the game made for the TMNT movie. I seriously considered getting it; it looked like a blast. But from the system requirements, it looked like it would probably only work on Dad's computer, and I didn't think he'd appreciate that much. And I wasn't crazy about the thought of being downstairs to play it, either. At this house my computers have been upstairs, and I like that much better.

At Toys R Us I found a DVD of Sonic Underground with all four Knuckles episodes gathered together. Those were the only episodes of Underground I really wanted, so I was thrilled and bought it. That ended up being my only purchase of the trip, although I may have seen some other things I liked. Those are the memories that stand out the most for me.

I've been in a bit of a Sonic mood tonight. I meant to install Sonic R and Sonic Heroes on the computer in the hall, but I haven't got around to it yet. I switched the computer that was first in the hall with one that was downstairs that has more memory. I want to use it as a gaming computer. But I've only played Duel Links for my gaming sessions since I finally got to have it, so all other gaming projects have been on hold.

I've also thought a lot about Toys R Us. Of course, how could I not? I haven't been able to fully accept that the U.S. stores are now gone. Part of that may be because I didn't see it at the last. I was last there when I bought Sailor Mars, and they still had a lot of stuff. Maybe in the future I'll regret not seeing them at the last, but right now I'm fine with it. It makes it easier to remember it as it was. But it also helps to know that the store lives on in Canada and overseas. Even though I'll likely never visit any of those locations, it's just comforting to know they're there. The brand isn't dead, like my beloved Borders is.

The brand has certainly changed, though. It's been years since the days when I could almost always find something there I wanted to buy. The last several times, even before the liquidation, I wanted desperately to help give them business and I just couldn't find the things I wanted. I think the last thing I bought there before the liquidation was the Baxter figure I turned into Barney, and that was in February 2017. I did see Miraculous Ladybug stuff I wanted, and I remember wanting to get in on a BOGO half-off sale on dolls, but there was only one Marionette doll and nothing else I could combine her with. Now the dolls and figures aren't anywhere to be found except online, and usually for bad prices. But after hearing how the dolls often fall apart, I am horrified and think maybe it's for the best. But seriously, WTH Bandai? You're a big name brand. Where's your quality control?

There are so many happy memories of Toys R Us through the years, starting from around age 5, when my brother discovered it after my beloved Play World went out of business. I was skeptical that any store could be as good as Play World, and I think I was initially lukewarm to Toys R Us, but it didn't take long and I warmed up to them and loved them. It was my favorite place aside from home. I was always asking to go there, especially if we were out doing other errands. I remember one time Dad needed to talk to some guy about I think a computer problem, and the guy was really nice and let me play these fun arcade games he had set up while I waited. Afterwards, I asked to go to Toys R Us and we went to the one East of us.

They were there through all of my Sonic love up to now. I remember when Sonic and Knuckles was going to come out and they had a banner with the logo and my eight-year-old self overdramatically proclaimed it "Beautiful!" Heh. Then when the game really came out, it was on display and I got to play it a bit. The Loop-De-Loops baffled me. Later, I also played a little of Sonic Adventure 2 Battle there. Probably other Sonic games through the years too, but that's what I remember most. And the Tiger Electronics handheld games. I have two of them and always meant to get the other Sonic one, but never did.

All of my Talespin and Darkwing Duck figures came from there, and my Donatello figure. A lot of my childhood Ponies, too. I remember how proud I was to take my carefully saved money and buy a Magic Meadow Pony when they came out following the demise of G1 My Little Ponies in America.

Of course I went through a period where I mostly wasn't interested in visiting Toys R Us. After I discovered Yu-Gi-Oh!, that all changed. I went there so much again after that. We used to get milk from a dairy because Dad was obsessed with natural products without lots of added chemicals, and I was fine with that. We got to get ice cream cones from the dairy and then go to one of the Toys R Uses on the way back. I loved all the Toys R Uses, but for YGO visits I probably got the most sentimental about that one. We went there every couple of weeks when we needed milk. So many happy memories of those trips....

(And I hardly ever use makeup. Example: I bought two tubes of lipstick around then, when I was 16, and ... I still have some left. Occasionally I still use it. The smell will forever remind me of YGO and those shopping trips.)

I remember visiting a Toys R Us shortly after I first discovered YGO. We'd been to a wedding reception and were coming back and I stopped there and was looking in a magazine. Then we hurried on home so I could watch and record YGO that afternoon, LOL. It was one of the Seto vs. Yugi trilogy from season 1. I think it was part 1, and yet another part of me thinks it was part 3.

I remember calling them asking about YGO figures, and then going and seeing them. Just the small ones then, but I was happy for any. When the big ones came out, I was over the moon. I ordered Seto online, not sure when the stores would get them, and then he arrived on August 1st. We were going out later that day, visited the standard YGO Toys R Us, and I found the figures were out. Heh. Of course. So I bought Yami Yugi that same day. (That winter I found Joey at Walmart and asked for him as a New Year's present. About a year later, after five months of searching, I found the big Marik figure at ShopKo. I wish they'd made more human characters, in both figure sizes.... I don't know why Yami Bakura wasn't made, for instance, since he has always been a very popular character. Now there's a gorgeous figure of him, but it's far too expensive.)

My 16th birthday I usually cite as my happiest one, although I've had many happy ones. That one was my first after getting interested in YGO. I got the board game among my presents, which thrilled me, and on the shopping spree that year I bought my first two YGO shirts, which I'd previously selected as things I wanted to buy. One was gray with Seto and Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon, the other was electric blue with Yami Yugi. Most future YGO shirts came from Walmart (with the exception of my first Marik shirt, bought at Target), but those first two were from Toys R Us. Although I think one was at Kids R Us, so we must have been at the Toys R Us where I recently bought Sailor Mars, as it was the one with a Kids R Us next-door.

Many years ago I started a tradition of wanting to go to Toys R Us on my birthday. I think my 8th birthday was the first year that was done. Later the plan expanded to include other stores. A couple of years I didn't make it to Toys R Us in favor of other stores that had more of what I wanted.

I think the last point in time when Toys R Us had many things I wanted was around 2009, when I was having fun with Sonic stuff. Figures, clothes, fun memorabilia. . . . Then Sonic Boom came along a few years later and pretty much all merchandise was Boom. I still haven't tried Boom; I detest what they did to Knuckles' personality. The changed design was bad enough, but I could have dealt with that if they hadn't ruined his personality. Finally the ban on other merchandise lifted, but I don't recall seeing any Sonic stuff at Toys R Us other than Boom, except the recent classic Sonic plush and maybe one or two other classic design items. Last year on my birthday trip, I was very sad that I couldn't find any Sonic stuff there at all.

There were other fun times.... One year I had a very Mario birthday. At Toys R Us I bought the Mario backpack plush for $14.99 and a shirt on clearance for $2! And I got a free Mario scarf because they were running a promotion of getting a free scarf with purchase of Nintendo stuff. I felt a little guilty at first to be buying Mario instead of Sonic, even though I'd always loved Mario too. I quickly got over such silly feelings, especially since having a Mario plush was always a dream of mine!

And now I'd probably better close this topic, as I'm starting to get sad really thinking that those times are over and there won't be any more unless that businessman saves the U.S. stores. I'm not even sure if he's still trying, but he said he'd even be willing to get the empty buildings just to save the store. That was some months ago, though.

I did, however, finally decide after days of deliberating, what I wanted most to buy with some of my video conference money. Of course, in the end, what I wanted most was a lot of YGO Hexors that included the Yami Bakura one and a lot of pins that had the Yami Bakura one. Both were a little more than I wanted to pay, especially for the pins, but they really were an amazing price. And at the moment I could afford it, so I decided to do it. No regrets! I am so thrilled to finally have those things that I looked so hard for years ago. I bought as many boxes of Hexors as I could, trying to find the Yami Bakura one, and I went to so many 7-11s looking for the Yami Bakura pin. I'm really happy to have the Mai pin too. It's really nice and I've always liked her since she started to develop around episode 11. I thought the Seto pin was the same one I had, but it's not. The pose is the same, but it's a totally different pin, much sturdier and more collector's quality. Then the Joey pin is neat, and even though I'm not a Pegasus fan aside from scenes of him being awesomely helpful in the movie or setting the souls free because he's a man of his word, I do like his pin. I think I have every pin in the set except Yami Yugi, and I'm hoping to get him to complete it. At the moment, though, just so thrilled to have the Yami Bakura merchandise.

I also decided to make a Bakura plush. I have my cute little one, and so of course I felt guilty to bring in a second one, but that first, commissioned Bakura is in scale with my commissioned Yami Bakura in Thief King form but not with the Yami Bakura I recently made. I thought it was sad for him to not have a Bakura too. So, I made one. Everything went so well! I made most of the plushie on the 4th, and then I did the shirt this weekend. Not sure if I'll make the sweater. If I do, I'll change the design and have it open so the pretty turquoise shirt will still be visible. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com

Actually, after watching Scare in the Air, I'm back to not being so sure that my original story concept of Giovanni trying to kill James is so far-fetched. In that episode, unless the dialogue is different in Japanese, he sounds like he's deliberately sending Jessie, James, and Meowth out in a rickety blimp hoping they won't come back. Eeeek! Maybe I won't ever do anything with revising the story at all, especially if I keep flipping back and forth on that key angle. We'll see.

We had a very nice family outing. One of my nephews was getting baptized. (We believe in baptizing when the kids are old enough to decide for themselves, instead of doing it when they're babies.) He was really cute and very appreciative of the gift and card we had for him. He exclaimed "The letter is the best thing!" and was thrilled that the card's picture had a cat. They have two Russian Blue twins. I saw one of them and he said Meow when he was petted. I wanted to pet him, but by the time I finished eating, he had wandered somewhere in the yard and I couldn't find him. And my brother who owns the cats told us that they're always leaving "presents" by the door. He told a horror story of one time when one of them brought a mouse into the house that wasn't quite dead and they spent three weeks trying to find the thing and being all tense not wanting to take their shoes off with it running around. And then finally he heard the sound of it getting caught in the trap. Relief at last! I do feel sad for mice being caught in killing traps, but not so sad that I don't want to use them. It is horrible having them loose in the house!

They had these yummy big sandwiches with cheeeese, same as the last time we were out there, and I was delighted. They also had some kind of pasta salad that was great and some brownies and other desserts. And lemonade and ice water. I think it must have been powdered lemonade that's mixed up, because I like that but don't really like fresh lemonade because it's pulpy. Once everyone had their fill, I absconded with some leftovers. Good thing I did, as I got hungry before we got home and ate them all.

Another one of my brothers, the one who lives here in town, gave me $20 as a birthday present! Squeeee. That meant I could definitely get two figures! I had been waffling on whether I could, yet really wanting to because of the prices.

I got Chibi Moon, as planned, and then I saw Tuxedo Mask. He wasn't at the closer store. I hadn't planned to get him unless I already had Sailor Moon, but since he's the only male character in the line, he fascinated me. But I debated a long time between him and Pluto. I finally chose him, since I have a Pluto doll and since the Pluto figure is at the closer store. It seemed more logical to get ones I don't have closer access to. Not that I get to the local store much, but I may have another chance at it this month. Not sure, though. And my only other choices at that store we were at today would have been Mars, Super Sailor Moon, or Sailor V. Mars is my least favorite Senshi, so I'm not terribly enthusiastic about getting her ahead of other characters. I have Venus and don't feel the need for V as well, and as mentioned, I'd rather have the Sailor Moon release that comes with Luna. But I might end up getting Super Sailor Moon anyway, because of the price and because now I need to complete the Moon family!

Before we found that Barnes and Noble, there were sad times. We tried to go to a Toys R Us on the west side of the valley and couldn't find it. Finally things looked familiar to me and I saw where it had been. It's gone. The people in a local bookstore told us and then we saw the empty space. They're going to put up some stupid parking lot or something, I think they said. So that's two of my childhood Toys R Uses gone. I'd really be crushed if I still lived up there! It's sad enough just knowing they're gone. I was at that Toys R Us just last year, I think.

Then we couldn't find the Barnes and Noble because the address wasn't informative enough. We had to go ask some girls in a Metro PCS store and then backtrack, as we'd gone the wrong direction. But getting to the store was worth it, as recorded above.

And there was another reason it was worth it. There was a party store in that shopping center. Party stores always have tons of Halloween stuff, and cheaper than official Halloween stores. I went in and looked around. I found a lab coat! It was a little pricier than I wanted, but about the price I'd figured I'd have to pay for one. I couldn't find a wig, though. They were either an okay style but the wrong color or vice versa. But I was ecstatic to find the coat!

There's only one Toys R Us left in the valley now. Dad said we could go to it even though it would require a bit of backtracking. It was nice to see it, but sad too. It had a few things the closer one doesn't have, but overall, the product selection was either the same or worse than ours. And no Miraculous Ladybug dolls at all. It makes me remember my childhood and the three Toys R Uses in the valley and how nice it was to be able to have those different options to go to depending on where we were at the time. The one up East is probably the one I'm most deeply sentimental about, but I love them all. The one West is the one we went to a lot when I was watching YGO in first-run. We'd go get milk at a dairy out there every couple of weeks, drive through a local cemetery and get creeped out, and go to that Toys R Us. I think that was where I got my Team Rocket stickers (and failed to get the gift bag). The one remaining one, in the center yet farther South, is the one I probably got to visit the least, since it was the farthest away.

ShopKo is still across the street from it. So is a Halloween store. I tried the Halloween store for the wig and found the prices more frightening than anything in the store. The wigs that the party store had had too were double the cost in the Halloween store! There were also wigs unique to the Halloween store that were even more expensive. Then I tried ShopKo ... and I found something. It's blond, but it's wild, and a better option than anything else I've turned up. Best of all, they were running a weekend sale and it was 65% off! Plus I had my coupon and was allowed to take off an extra 20%! I got a $25 wig for $6.99! You can't beat that! And with the original price, one hopes it's a good wig. Most people see Baxter with blond hair anyway. It's not fluffy, unfortunately, but I'm not sure they even make fluffy wild wigs.

So now I'm all set! I can play Baxter after all! **dances.**

Then we drove mostly home, stopped to get some vegenaise (vegan mayonnaise) at a health store and picked up a free popcorn sample they have on Saturdays. Yuuum. I only got three and a half hours of sleep and thought sure I'd crash for a nap, but instead I've been wide awake. I'm wearing down now, though, I think, and I want to save the deboxing of figures until I've slept.

But yes, a great day and a great outing! I probably spent a little more than I should have, but that gift money sure helped!