The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

So I just saw a Tweet KB Toys made several months ago saying "We were always better than Toys R Us anyway." Boo! Never! **hugs Toys R Us.**

I did get to see Geoffrey's Toy Box, and I'm over the moon to have seen any piece of Toys R Us existing! I took pictures of the logo. I did see some stuff I would like, and some other stuff that was sold-out that I'd like to see too, such as a telescope. Mine has always worked funny. Maybe one by a Toys R Us brand would work better. I'm hoping they'll restock, or that another branch will have the out-of-stock stuff.

I also bought a Wreck-It Ralph plushie at The Disney Store. I wanted him when I saw him on my prior shopping trip, but I thought I'd see if I could find a bigger plushie for the same price somewhere else. I couldn't, and when I returned to Disney, that one looked pretty big to me. And he even has real clothes, not just clothes-shaped fabric pieces sewn on! All the attention to detail made me feel the price was worth it (he was $20). So, I got him. It's been fun cuddling with him, although it's not so easy when laying down. My plushies made with the blank plushie bases seem to be ideal for cuddling while laying down, amusingly enough.

I'm having a lot of trouble with the DVD player on the desktop computer. Things pixelate, my Odd Couple discs will rarely play right, and I often have to restart to play more than one disc of anything. I either want to buy a DVD player for my TV or get an external CD drive for my laptop. I'd prefer the latter. Except now I'm wondering if buying one that's around $18 would give me the same trouble as if I tried buying a regular DVD player for that price. I'd be looking at horrible quality if I did that. But if I have to pay $40 for a decent external drive, I'd rather pay $35 for a regular DVD player like the one we have in the living room now.

Duel Links is finally giving us another unlockable DM character, Tristan! He's unlocked if you beat Zorc in this latest incarnation of the Monster World RPG. Manga Yami Bakura has trapped Tristan's soul in a game piece. Free him and you can play as him in the regular Duel Links game! I'm at Area 12 and he's unlockable after passing Area 20. And since I play as Yami Bakura, it makes for an odd situation and reminds me of the plunnie of Manga Yami Bakura getting loose in my anime verse and causing trouble. I consider that in Duel Links, I play my post-series anime verse Yami Bakura, so he's traveling with Tristan while the Manga Yami Bakura is presiding over their torment. I may have to write a blurb, although I think in it, Tristan's soul isn't trapped, but he and Yami Bakura are simply trapped in a life-size Monster World game.

Meanwhile, my current YGO fic has taken various odd twists and turns. The Big Four got back to their bodies thanks to Yami Marik, they've decided they don't want anything to happen to Lector, and Khu is free now as well and wants to kill Lector for possessing him to keep him from killing Mokuba. Of course, this will lead up to hurt/comfort and angsty situations in the climax, with the Big Four trying to protect Lector and all being caught in a blast from Khu's staff. This Khu is more of a loose cannon than the old timeline Khu, but he's still very cunning, cruel, and sadistic. Of course, now that we know P. Seto is a good guy, unlike years ago, Khu has taken on the desire for power while P. Seto is the rational brother. And since they're half-brothers in this verse, Khu's motivation is fury at Ahknadin for deserting his mother and for focusing on P. Seto when Khu wanted power and P. Seto didn't. Khu now wants to prove himself a worthy son to Ahknadin, which will creep the Big Five out when they realize. Deja vu much?

I've rewatched the Big Five episodes so much for fic research, by now I'm really figuring out the various intricacies of the characters. I also watched most of the Lector and Seto duel in Japanese and decided I prefer Lector in the dub. He's angry at Seto's apparent heartlessness in both versions, but he's more emotional in the dub and more devoted to justice. The Japanese version is rather coldly businesslike for the most part. I also had more of a sense that Lector might care about Mokuba in the dub. I also prefer the Seto duel over the Merger duel. If Lector was interested in justice to begin with, I think losing to Seto made him snap, as he seems much more concerned with just getting out of the VR world any way he can after he loses to Seto. He's much more interesting in the Seto duel.

I definitely like how they all seem to be trying to find ways to all get out, instead of being "every man for himself!" They did squabble over bodies in one episode, and yet they all figured they'd each have one. It's kind of refreshing to see antagonists who aren't trying to backstab each other any time they can. I've been noticing how well they work as a team and how they really only have little spats that aren't serious and are likely quickly forgotten. Of course, that makes me want to think they could really care about each other. I was already exploring that concept in the second fic of this trilogy, where they're all shaken by Khu trapping Lector in the darkness once it looks like Lector's been killed and assimilated into it. Them still being shaken over that is partly why they're so determined to protect Lector from Khu in this fic. They know that they do care about Lector, even though now Lector is tired of revenge schemes and wants to try doing something else. I'm planning that they will all decide to try to move on eventually, and they will stay together and embark on a new venture together (maybe making Crump's wildlife preserve/penguin theme park). After sharing so much together, they realize they all want to keep being together. Crump especially considers them his family, since he came from a very dysfunctional family and was introduced to very different interactions when he met the rest of the Big Five.

I also wanted to work with a random angsty blurb where Mokuba and Lector are caught in an explosion and Mokuba wakes up to find Lector seems to be dead. Mokuba is badly shaken, especially since Lector was trying to protect him. Mokuba tries to revive him but cannot. Seto finds Mokuba later and tries to comfort him. Then it decided it wanted to be a fic and not just a blurb and that I should show how the Big Four react to this. Nesbitt impulsively runs off seeking revenge on whoever set the explosion. Of course, Lector will be okay, but probably not before a lot of chaos happens. I won't be focusing a lot on writing this until my multi-chapter is done, and maybe I won't even have the courage to post it if or when it's done, like I'm still having trouble deciding to post that fic about Yami Bakura being swallowed up by the darkness.

I remember I used to occasionally encounter people (usually kids) who liked Lector. I think my reaction to any member of the Big Five being liked was approximately "..." But of course, it figures that eventually I would be sucked in too, since Lector is one intriguing antagonist during his duel with Seto. I am always fascinated by antagonists who seem to be seeking justice for some real or imagined wrongdoing.

I also decided to try making a Lector plush to see if I could do it. I had two plushie bases here, although they were earmarked for other characters. I can replace one easy enough, and considering I had fabric markers to color a plushie tan, plus I had left-over brown fake fur from my Baxter plush that looked like it would be just enough for the hair, I wanted to jump right in and see what would happen. Well, it's been interesting. Especially constructing the hair in the back, as I had to use many little scraps to fill in places. But I don't think it looks too bad, and tonight I got material for clothes. Instead of a business suit, I wanted to make that awesome trenchcoat he wears at the beginning of the Seto duel (or something approximating it, more likely), and I decided that under it he's wearing black pants and a black shirt. I plan to make the fedora too, but Walmart was out of purple felt tonight (and most other colors). WTH.

(I think I'd better always have at least one plushie base on hand from now on, and maybe certain supplies that could be used for multiple characters, like the brown fabric markers and certain hair materials, so I can start plushie projects any time I feel like it. I really want to make pretty much every YGO character eventually. I think right now, plushie-making is my second favorite creative expression, right behind writing.)

I want to draw a picture of Lector standing under a lamppost in the trenchcoat and fedora too. Haven't got to that yet. Maybe I'll try it after I post this.

Seriously, this is not something I planned on happening. I suppose that's the case for any sudden obsession, though. I wouldn't actually say I'm crushing on Lector, but he fascinates me enough to do all this, and from past experience I know it's very likely I could end up crushing on him.

Mama Mia....

I should be getting my gift cards this week, and I think I know what I want to use them on. I'm thinking I'll probably get the blue 8GB Fire tablet and the Charlie's Angels boxset, the latter of which I've wanted since it came out. Right now the price is only $23, and I hope it will still be at that when the gift cards come. I just love that cheesy show of detective goodness and friendship squee! Then I'll have some more gift card money left over, and I'm thinking I might get the It's a Miracle boxset that Netflix doesn't have. We all loved that true story show on PAX TV and we rewatch the episodes we recorded a lot. We saw the DVDs Netflix has and I've wanted to get this other set that was released. Also, I see Amazon Prime has episodes for streaming. I wonder if that's full episodes or just random segments, like the discs are. I hope it's full episodes, not that we'd ever get Amazon Prime Video.

And I was trying to look up stuff about that Kelly Garrett figure to compare it to the 1970s figure and I learned that Mego will release all six Angels eventually. And I saw a picture of Kris Monroe, who's supposed to be out this week. I'm over the moon; she looks way more accurate than the Kelly doll! Of course, I probably won't be lucky enough to find her while out this week, since stores around here are so slow, but I'll hope. And I'll probably get Kelly even though she doesn't look quite right, because I'd be sad to collect all the others and not have her. I hope she'll still be around and I'll have the chance to get her. And I wish they'd make Bosley too. I love him.

I also saw what the old 1970s dolls look like via eBay. Mego did some incredible Farrah Fawcett ones. The Hasbro one I wasn't as impressed with. And then I can't seem to see any Mego versions of Sabrina or Kelly, just the Hasbro ones. I wasn't terribly impressed by their Hasbro dolls either, although the Kelly one looked mildly more accurate than the Mego one. Why is Kelly so hard to get right? I hope modern Mego's Sabrina will look awesome.

I've been working on a YGO version of Bad End Night, that popular Vocaloid story where the characters are trapped in a nightmare world that repeats over and over again whenever they fail to save Miku from dying. My YGO version takes what I love about the story and inverts things I either didn't like so much or had thought would be told differently; for instance, while I like the novel and manga's approach of following the last time reset and revealing through it about all the past resets, it feels very detached and far away that way. I felt at least some of the failed attempts should be shown, which I'm doing with my fic. Of course, I worry that it will look ludicrous to show too many, but I try to switch things up by having different characters die each round and sometimes having a failure from simply time running out or going down the wrong path, like how puzzle games are. I keep trying to find a place to timeskip, but every time I try, I feel like I'm being too hasty and that there's more I can show. Some of the best parts have been coming out from me expanding instead of skipping. By this point, I'm wondering if it will turn into my next 20 chapter epic!

I just love my Yami Bakura figure so much. I knew I wanted him badly and was so thrilled to finally have a chance to get one. Then I wondered if he would really be as big as I was picturing, worth the price, etc. The box came and it was big. I opened it and the figure box just fit snugly inside. It was bigger than I'd thought, and so was the figure in the box! It just felt so exciting, so exhilarating, to open that box and lift the figure box out. I felt like when I was a child getting something special and long-desired in the mail or for my birthday. I haven't felt that particular thrill in a long time, although I felt it three times this year, once with him, once with my Darren McGavin figure, and once when I bought my tablet in April.

It took us a bit to get used to each other; I was a little rattled by how intense his expression really is. No pictures online can prepare you for what he really looks like! And while I certainly concede that maybe the following was my imagination because of being rattled, sometimes I believe that to some extent, the Eastern inner life theories must be true; I and others have had strange experiences with certain objects that really seem eerie. I don't believe all of these experiences are simply products of the mind, especially when it only happens with certain things and not everything a person owns. Luckily, the two oddball objects I've had (Yami Bakura and a My Little Pony named Merriweather) haven't done anything worse than give me weird feelings. They don't knock things down or do the creepy stuff some people's toys reportedly do. With Yami Bakura, I had the sense he was upset that his previous owner sold him and he wasn't sure what to make of me. He didn't seem to like me petting his hair or touching his left arm. I know how bizarre this sounds, but it's pretty mild compared to the tales others have told. After a couple of days of this awkwardness, since I still felt weird, I was desperate and hoped I didn't have a possessed figure, because if I did, I'd want to get rid of it. So I decided to approach things as though he wasn't possessed, but alive in his own inner life way, and tell him about how much I'd wanted a figure of him since I was 16 and how excited I was to finally get one when I thought I would never be able to. The other people I've talked to who have strange objects have said that they make things feel better with positive energy, or with things like burning rosemary, which is supposed to chase away negative energy. I didn't want to try burning rosemary, but I hoped that I could generate positive energy just from my love. A friend of mine was able to do that with a figure of a horse that was giving off strange vibes. And I think my Yami Bakura figure did start to like me after that little talk. And he seemed to like when I gave him a little tuxedo cat figure I have and figured it could represent Oreo. I have to admit, I also prayed and asked God if there really was anything wrong with the figure and I felt like I was told that no, there wasn't, and that I could relax. I think he's my favorite piece of merchandise I have from anything; getting a figure of him really meant a lot to me. I like to pick him up and just hold him sometimes, or lay down and play Duel Links while holding him. And yes, he's much more accepting of my affection now.

Happy 1st Meteorological day of Fall! It will always be the real first day of autumn to me.

I got inspired by ThickerThanLove starting a 30 Day Dragonball Challenge to look for YGO ones. I found a neat one, and as usual, I answered everything more or less at once. I've been tinkering with it and revamping it a bit for the last several days and debating whether or not to post it all together as I prefer to do. I decided I'll post the whole thing here, but I don't know how I'll post it on Tumblr (or if I will at all).


( YGO 30 Day Challenge )

So, after I posted about being nostalgic for Sonic, I ended up nostalgic for Mario. I started trying to find out the prices for the S.H. Figuarts Mario and Luigi, since I thought those were the only movable ones. I learned that the bigger World of Nintendo figures move too, and then I was really frustrated with myself. If I had paid more attention to them instead of thinking they didn't move at any size, I might have found some at Toys R Us. I started trying to find some, and also trying to use a Build-a-Bear coupon for $15 off that they sent to everyone in their rewards club to make up for having to close the lines on a new event they were trying. Every single outing over a period of nearly a month failed in some way, either by not getting to go or going and not finding what I wanted. On one occasion, Target's website said a particular Target had Luigi, and when I went, they didn't. I hate that.

The most bizarre thing happened, though. Because all those outings failed, I ended up with enough money available that when one of those gorgeous Yami Bakura figures popped up way cheaper than they've been going for lately, I was actually able to get him. I know I probably shouldn't have, but I was afraid I'd never have another chance. They were starting to list for $200 and $300! Mine was listed for $75, and then eBay sent a coupon for one day only that knocked $11.25 off the price, and well, that clinched it. I thought I'd gotten over wanting one, but the longing kept coming back, and I finally conceded that there probably wasn't anything else I would really want as much as that, considering I'd longed for one for 16 years. I'm guessing mine was cheaper because he was pre-owned and missing one of the pieces, the five cards stuck together that can be displayed in his hand. I hardly cared about that piece being missing.

He showed up on Monday, bigger than I'd been thinking and highly detailed and gorgeous. The pose is very dynamic! I'm hoping to take a picture of my entire Yami Bakura memorabilia collection. It's grown quite a bit this year. And seeing how gorgeous the Kotobukiya figures really are, I do long for some others. But I highly doubt I will ever be able to have any more. It's incredible I got one, and I know I really shouldn't have spent the money.

And Duel Links is running a Monster World RPG event, hosted of course by Yami Bakura. It's a blast! It's also given me a possible plunnie I'm debating working with. I might or might not, because it would entail the manga Yami Bakura falling through a dimensional rift after Zorc's defeat and ending up in my post-series anime verse. Angry and confused, he traps everyone in a life-size game, either a Monster World one or something similar to Mario (only without being able to grow big, heh). It might end up being an exploration of the similarities and differences between the Yami Bakuras and a possible attempt to eventually start the manga one on a path to redemption. He is so much more twisted than the anime one, and I'm slightly afraid I might end up manga-bashing without meaning to, so I hesitate for that reason.

Somehow I find it distressing that when picking up the threads of a fic that stalled 12 years ago, I can't make any of the remaining chapters anywhere as long. Crescent Blue has always loved my story Until You Find the Answers and I've always tried to think of a way to finish it since she wanted to see that happen so much. I finally got it rolling again, but all of the other chapters are shorter. She's fine with it, but I'm frustrated with myself. I mean, the first chapter was 10,000+ words! Then, picking it up again, the other three chapters are getting progressively shorter: 7,000+ words, 6,000+ words, 5,000+ words.... That's like, half the length of the first one by the end! I guess it's just changing writing styles and not having as much to say with the other chapters, but it feels like I've failed and I just didn't dig as deep.

The story was a psychological thriller with the corporate businessmen being attacked one by one, and having to figure out something about themselves in the course of the disaster. Siegfried's chapter was first, and he was easy. I had so much to say and explore. I guess it doesn't hurt that canon only gave us glimpses, though, so I was filling in a lot. Then Pegasus has honestly never been a favorite character and having to do a chapter for him is what stalled the story for 12 years, LOL. I finally did come up with something. Dartz I like okay, although I prefer other characters. And it seemed like I'd already explored him quite a bit. Ditto with Seto, as far as exploring him goes. Not to mention, canon explored him a lot as it was. Maybe, possibly, that's why the Seto chapter is so blinkin' short, because between canon and myself, it seems like his mysteries have mostly already been exposed.

I'm really happy to have the story done and out of the way at last so I can feel free to move on to other projects. Once I revived it, I had this OCD need to finish it before starting my next multi-chapter epic, LOL. Although the Seto chapter may be important to the next epic, in which case I really had to finish this one first. Hopefully I won't have to keep feeling so distressed about the differences in chapter length. I keep trying to think what more I could say and my mind is just a blank. But I keep feeling like I didn't deliver as well as I could have and I didn't make the wait worth it when the other chapters don't match up to Siegfried's in length and intricacies. Still, I guess if Crescent Blue is happy anyway and doesn't see a problem, that's the most important thing.

Also, I kept feeling like Yami Bakura was so awful to do what he did to Bonz and company and that was one of the nastiest things he did, etc. etc. ... but this morning I re-watched Arena of Lost Souls. I don't know how I managed to not really think about it before, but Bonz and his friends all quite willingly trapped Yugi-tachi in that cave. And unless they knew there was another way out, as far as they knew they were sealing them in there to die. WTH. And there was no indication they weren't thinking exactly that. Somehow that seems especially disturbing when they're relatively average, normal people (i.e., not hardened villains, etc.) and Bonz is a kid (or a teen whose voice hasn't broke yet). And then, when I watched the Yami Bakura vs. Bonz duel afterwards, it was ... honestly hard to feel that badly for Bonz and company. Not that I'd want them to be trapped wherever (Hell, the Shadow Realm, take your pick) forever, but I think they deserved a good scare for what they did in season 1. I have them get free after Yami Bakura's defeat later that night, and they're pretty shaken up. Don't know if they tried turning over new leaves, though. I'll probably get around to exploring that soon.

I also got a plunnie that maybe Yami Bakura will reveal that he wasn't just tormenting Bonz and company for the heck of it, but because he was furious they tried to harm Bakura. Judging from the manga, that's actually a canon reason why he will attack people. Of course, manga and anime verses are different, but there's never any real indication that the anime version doesn't share that trait, especially since he protected Bakura against Slifer in both verses.

Awesome friends and family helped fix the attic, I found a tablet, and I've been playing Duel Links!

I wanted to go Best Buy to see if I could find a tablet shown on their website that they were clearancing. I don't think I found it, unless it was a different price in-store, but I found one cheaper than the Fire tablet because it was on sale (normally it's more expensive than the Fire). It's 8 inches and it's an Android system. I really felt it would be smarter to get one that already had Android stuff so I could know for a certainty things would work. I'll probably need to get a micro SD chip for it; I rather suspect by now that the stats I saw for the Steam version of the game are true for the mobile version too. On Steam it said 4GB of storage was the minimum, but 8GB was better. Which means if it is the same, it could technically fill up the whole tablet, it seems. There's a way to format micro SD so it can be part of the internal storage, so that would definitely help even if I could only get a 2GB chip. Right now the only thing I'm using the tablet for is Duel Links, which is just fine with me. Clearly I badly wanted that game since I was willing to pay $40 to get something to play it on. And since I find it completely worth it.

Wednesday was a very long day. I had insomnia, was super exhausted all day, and I have to go back to the dentist for more work. But one nice thing is that I've never been afraid of dentists since two of my brothers are dentists and I go to them.

Toys R Us ... honestly, I felt blank. They're only charging 10% off of most everything, which just makes me go WTH. K-Mart was doing 30% by now. And there was no Ladybug stuff. But they say they restock with stuff from their warehouses each day, so maybe later they'll get awesome things. Borders did that too; they had a much better inventory towards the end than they'd had for years, sadly. I'm hoping maybe they'll bring in some of the Sailor Moon figures, since they sell some online. But they'll have to bring the prices down more than 10% to make it worth it to me! At the nearest store especially, barely anything seemed to be gone. Maybe it still doesn't feel real yet, or maybe it's that for ages it's felt different than the store it was years ago, but I couldn't seem to work up any emotion while I was there.

I felt I needed to visit both Toys R Uses before deciding what to do about other things, so we went to the one an hour away after the dentist and then came down to the closer one. Best Buy was across the street and I spent a long time trying to find the tablets and then trying to decide on the best tablet. When I saw the sale price on the one, I was astounded. At first it looked like they didn't have any, but then the guy and I found one stuck in the wrong slot. I debated between it and the Fire and finally chose it for the reasons stated above. I had to wait a long time to get checked out, but everyone was really nice and so far the tablet has been really good. Hopefully it will continue to be, especially since I'm really only using it for that one thing. A 16GB would have probably been wiser, but I just couldn't afford that. As it was, I was only able to get this tablet right now because Mom was able to help me with the cost. Squeee.

My Target coupon came in right before we needed to leave, and then I couldn't get Dad's computer to cooperate to print it. But the nice lady at the dentist office let me print it there when she heard us talking about it! Since I'd already bought a tablet by the time we got to Target, I decided to check Target for the retro My Little Ponies. They were out, but I saw they had one copy of The Dark Side of Dimensions for the exact price of the gift card. I was extremely tired, hadn't seen anything else there I wanted, and I have been wanting to see that after all, for curiosity and completion's sake if nothing else, so I decided that was a great way to do it and it came home with me.

Since it's a verse all its own, not anime or manga since it contradicts both, I was able to view it as a separate entity and enjoy it for what it was. I was a little disappointed not to hear the classic gravelly Yami Bakura voice in the flashback, but I was happy to see him at all, even though it was a seriously disturbing scene. Gah. And the best line was when Yugi pulled out these weird Apple and Lemon Magician Girls and Seto exclaims, "You're fighting me with fruit?! You're mocking me!" ROTFLOL!

I found it interesting that Atem never speaks. He had so little screentime, but it was pretty epic when he showed up. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the Millennium Puzzle and everything to do with Yugi collapsing at the point of death. And I'm actually not sure that Seto went to the afterlife to see him at the end. I think now that maybe the original assessment that he went to the past is more accurate, because Atem was wearing the Puzzle, and he wouldn't have been wearing that in the afterlife.

If anyone is curious, here is what I found that contradicts the manga:

- Shadi teaching a bunch of kids about love and peace, yadda yadda. Shadi was a messed-up guy, as shown in the early manga, and he didn't understand about love and friendship. Yugi had to teach him.

- Bakura's father is not dead in the manga. Yami Bakura says in the final arc that he's the owner of the museum and that's why he, Yami Bakura, was able to get in.

I thought Joey was kind of mean to Tristan about the Duel Disk, when he starts yelling that Tristan broke it and he wants the new one. He knew that he'd asked Tristan to fix it, WTH. So it apparently wasn't broken by Tristan. But I loved the scene where Joey's memories are fading and then his memory of Atem is still there and that brings him out of the villain's world and back to reality. Very powerful! That is one of my favorite Joey scenes in any verse, I think.

I liked that it showed how the Ring warped personalities. I think that's canon to the other verses and it definitely makes Yami Bakura more sympathetic. However, what was weird is that the way they presented it, it almost looked like they were saying that the Ring only changes people but there isn't a separate entity there possessing them. We know that Zorc was in the Ring and that's why Thief King flipped out even more than he already was, and the other verses make it very clear that Bakura is being possessed by Yami Bakura; it's not just that Bakura is being corrupted by the Ring. After Zorc was destroyed, it's curious that the Ring is still a problem. I guess dark essence like that doesn't leave so easily. I'm frankly not sure Zorc can ever be destroyed, since he's the personification of the darkness in people's hearts, but that's a discussion for another time.

To be honest, even though the creator wrote the movie, it felt like a fanfiction. Things were so hand-wavy, like the contradictions with other verses and the stuff with the Ring corrupting everybody even with Zorc gone. But I had fun watching it and there were things I liked, and I'm happy to accept it as another verse. The main anime, the Toei anime, the manga, the video games, and this movie are each a separate verse. Of them all, I like the Toei anime the least, but I do remember enjoying Bakura and Yami Bakura's episodes and I should try to dig those up again.

Anyway, I'm glad I got it. I'm happy I was able to use the gift card for it!

And Duel Links.... Oh wow. So I had to wait to try it until the tablet charged for the first time, so I took a short nap out of exhaustion and then it was ready. Duel Links took a while to download and install, but they showed pictures and blurbs of all the characters and that was fun to look at. I'd had so many disappointments that I couldn't let myself believe it was really working until I logged in for the first time and got the game going.

I picked Yami Yugi as my starter, because I'd learned I had to beat Yami Bakura with him as part of the requirements for making Yami Bakura playable. And if I hadn't started with Yami Y, he wouldn't have become available until after Yami Bakura, so I had to go with him. But I was just as happy to, since Duel Links is definitely more manga-based and Seto is, hence, even more of a jerk.

It's all so fun! Most of the Standard OC duelists are okay, although I'm not crazy about Andrew, Josh, or Christine; they are very arrogant. The really little kids are adorable, especially Bella, and I like Daniel, Meg, Hailey, and ... is it Ashley? And there's one called Jess who's really nice. My favorite, though, is David. He looks like Duke's store manager, except he doesn't wear glasses, and I've headcanoned that he is Duke's store manager, wearing contacts. LOL. I haven't seen him for several Stages now. I wish he'd come back.

Things got much more interesting when canon characters started to become available, of course! I got Joey without too much trouble. Tea took a bit longer, and Mai took a lot longer. But I got to duel them until I met the requirements for making them playable.

The goal I was working on the whole time was getting to Yami Bakura, of course, although I wanted the other characters too, especially Tea. I've had a blast playing as her and Mai, and Joey too. One of the most epic duels was where Tea beat Seto in like five turns! I accidentally unlocked the GX world and Jaden, but I have no interest in that side of the game and I'm kind of glad that they're separate, LOL. I don't consider GX canon. I have nothing against the characters; it's just that I don't like the concept of a duel school and I don't like what the show did with the original characters when they popped up.

So, Yami Bakura. I wondered if he even would show up at Stage 13, because only two sites were reporting he would and other ones were still saying he was event-only. I wonder why they don't update. But to my delight and relief, yes, he was there, and so were a lot of other characters! Including Yugi! Squeee. I thought Yugi was still event-only!

My first duel against Yami Bakura was incredible. Not just because I'd longed for it for so long, but because it came out so well. I saved it and I hope to record and post it to YouTube. One requirement was to play against him using no spell or trap cards. Gah. Another was the Yami Yugi one, and I had to play with Yami Bakura being at Level 20 experience. I did both of those in the same duel, and for the first time I was able to play Slifer the Sky Dragon! It was incredibly awesome. Later that night, I had a duel with Tea playing against him, and that ended up fulfilling the requirement of winning against him with 2000 lifepoints or less. I was really wondering how to achieve that one, since you know, I wouldn't know how to go about deliberately losing lifepoints. As it turned out, I didn't have to do that deliberately, LOL. I also saved that duel.

The hardest requirement was dealing out 3000 points of effects damage to him, thankfully not all in the same duel. I have a starter card that deals 300 points, and that certainly helped, but I needed more. I got a bunch of card packs and found a couple of cards that really seemed to help. There was an awesome dragon that deals out a lot of damage if one is sent to the graveyard and you have another copy of it available to play. I built Mai's deck up with the express purpose of dealing effects damage to him. He and she had several interesting duels where they toyed with each other, dragged it out for ages, and finally Mai would get in some damage here and there when the right cards came up. The deck also worked on Joey, but Mai had very little luck using it against the Standard duelists or The Vagabond. (I'll have to change her deck around now that it's served its purpose.) Then tonight, Tea won Fire Sorceress (or is it Sorcerer? It's a girl, but it might be Sorcerer....) and I was able to give that to Mai to deal out the final points I needed! Eeeee. It was so exciting to at last see the message that he was unlocked! It is totally manga verse, as he delivered one of his creepy manga lines, but I will just pretend he didn't say that and it's anime verse instead, since anime voices are used and anime is my favorite verse. I played my first duel as him after fixing up his deck (all the characters come to me with really bad decks I have to fix), and he won! So much fun. I can hardly wait to play as him some more. I also want to unlock Ishizu and Rishid. I've been actively working towards that by playing Light cards and traps.

Oh, interestingly, people were saying that it was obvious Yami Bakura was a character Seto created for his VR world, but I actually had the impression that it was the real one. All he says is, "Memories.... Virtual Reality.... I see, Seto Kaiba." That sounds like Seto got the real one and somehow stuck him in there, and he was aware that it was a world based on memories of what happened. If he himself is only a memory made to move around, he would hardly be aware of that, LOL. I will continue to believe that Duel Links is augmented reality, as depicted in the movie, and the real people are just all in there. Joey certainly indicated that he was real and had been plopped in there when he showed up. Tea too.

I think too much about things.... While watching Yami Bakura vs. Yami Marik again, I started pondering again on the shadow left in the Millennium Puzzle. He spoke like he was fully Yami Bakura and knew what was going on, but he was left in there before Battle City ever began. How did he know about the duel? Since he is part of Yami Bakura's spirit, does that mean Yami Bakura is aware of everything he does and thinks? Or did he not know of the shadow's adventures until they merged at the beginning of season 5? It's always confusing to me when characters in media can split off pieces of their spirit, because of that perplexity. Is it the whole person, as far as personality and memories go, or is it only a part? Was Yami Bakura with Bakura in the Shadow Realm while the other part of him was in the Puzzle? I write it as such. And I got a weird plunnie of him running across a part of his spirit he'd left somewhere and forgotten about, and what would happen if that part didn't want to be good and they had to face off. Weird stuff, but the whole concept of splitting off parts of your spirit is weird anyway, so it lends itself to weird ideas.

I also got an idea for another hurt/comfort picture and I finally had the chance to sketch it out tonight. It came out mostly exactly as I'd pictured in my mind. It has Bakura embracing an extremely limp Yami Bakura around the upper torso and burying his face in the thief's shoulder while crying. Yami Bakura is in his classic form. His head and neck are falling backwards, his visible arm is very limp, and it's all in all a rather curious pose. It's hard to really describe it. One reason I like hurt/comfort art (besides the obvious reason of exploring feelings and interaction) is that it allows me to practice drawing all sorts of strange poses.

Last night I was watching Cannon, an episode where he investigates a girl's death from doping up on drugs and then falling out a window, and got a plunnie where Yami Bakura finds Bakura at a schoolmate's house, completely drunk from being tricked into drinking spiked drinks and swinging in a window in his underwear. Yami Bakura is horrified and outraged. Bakura falls and Yami Bakura catches him, and then he enacts punishment on the creeps responsible for getting Bakura into such a state. He makes them feel the hangover Bakura will feel and also have the sensation of falling over and over. It's not a permanent spell, but he says it will last until they regret what they did to Bakura. Even when Yami Bakura tries to be good, he can end up acting like Yami Yugi in the Toei anime and the early manga volumes. And he doesn't see anything wrong with that. He feels he's enacting justice. Makes sense to me, since what he wanted in ancient Egypt was justice, before Zorc got hold of him and warped him the rest of the way. He will probably always have that dark streak; that's one way I keep him quite the character! I have the first draft of the ficlet written and I quite like it. I need to re-read it and see if it's done. I also need to get the next chapter of the multi-chapter finished. I'm having a little trouble with this segment and am getting easily distracted. Hence why I'm writing epistle entries instead of working on it!

I may have figured out how to have my OC Khu have a connection with P. Seto in my new timeline. Maybe he's a friend P. Seto made after he and his mother went to the village to hide. He and P. Seto could have become close like brothers, but then went their separate paths when Khu wanted to start a revolution and P. Seto wanted to serve the Pharaoh.

So I'm rewatching season 5 episodes again and I also skimmed through the manga version for comparison. Honestly, aside from the deep conversations Thief King Bakura brings to the palace, I prefer the anime. (No surprise.) The pacing is much better; the manga moves too fast. There's more time to develop things. I prefer Seto being along. I love him helping to defeat Zorc and how he protects everyone during the climax! Most importantly, though, it seems like the manga didn't properly emphasize how horrendous the Kul Elna massacre was. Both versions of the anime did. Even in the dub, they had Ahknadin think on how if Yami Bakura was the sole survivor, his rage would be immeasurable. I don't remember that in the manga, unless I didn't see it. Seemed like Ahknadin only wondered how Yami Bakura knew of the village. And the manga didn't have the part where Atem said that if their positions were reversed, he would feel as hateful as Thief King does.

Then there are curious differences. The anime says that Atem only knows how to wield the Egyptian God Monsters because of the present-day. Therefore, that implies that he didn't use them in the original past. Maybe in the original past, they really did decimate Egypt.

The manga seems way more low-key when it gets to the revelation of the Shadow Game. They're just playing in the back room of the museum. I prefer the anime version of them playing in the Shadow Realm. It's just so much creepier seeing the table suspended in mid-air. And there are many more scenes of them talking in the anime. It's so much more intense.

Then, the Mahad and Yami Bakura duel is way different. (Yeah, I'm just going to keep alternating the names, since to me it's the same person.) In the manga, Yami Bakura activates the traps. In the anime, Mahad does, and it seemed rather dirty the way he did it. First he magically hid the traps and caused Thief King to back up into a bear trap. Those things have got to hurt, gah. He's lucky it seemed to clamp down on the ankle bracelet he was wearing. Then, while he was unable to move, Mahad brought down the pendulums and apparently had every intention of cutting him in half! Of course, once the things were there, Yami Bakura took advantage of them, which wasn't nice either, but I found it interesting that it was the protagonist, the character we're supposed to root for, who was pulling most of the underhanded stuff in that fight. In the original Japanese, when Yami Bakura realizes he's been sealed in, he comments that it's a dirty trick. But the dub has him say something similar later on, when Mahad uses the Shadow Ghoul (which Yami Bakura also then uses to his advantage later).

I actually find Mahad more interesting in the anime. Apparently he's so determined to protect Atem that he's willing to do dirty tricks and doesn't see anything wrong with it. Of course, it's alternately possible that the Ring was starting to corrupt him, as Crystal pointed out. It doesn't seem like he'd be immune to its evil forever. But either way, yeah, I prefer that fight in the anime. I watched it twice in a 24-hour period. I like it both because I find Mahad's characterization more interesting and because, well, I have to admit, I like seeing Yami Bakura not being the one pulling a lot of the underhanded stuff. The anime version of the fight is pretty fun for those like me who like Yami Bakura, but would rather not see him always being utterly sleazy.

Of course, when he takes Diabound and rampages the city, that was probably the most despicable thing he did. But something to keep in mind there is that it happened after he got the Ring and Zorc was starting to poison him. Prior to that, he seemed to focus on just going after the Pharaoh and the priests, which, while not right, wasn't like deliberately trying to harm all the innocent people in town. I'm still not crazy about all the Zorc mess, but I do like that it makes it harder to determine who did what and leaves some hope that maybe Yami Bakura wouldn't have done some of the things he did if Zorc hadn't been getting control of him.

I'd forgotten that strange comment in the manga where Yami Bakura's shadow says that the thief's soul in the Ring senses the location of the Pharaoh's name. That certainly sounds on one hand that in the manga version, the thief is separate from Zorc and Yami Bakura is only Zorc. But there are plenty of other things that indicate otherwise, including the fact that they laugh the same way. In the manga, each character has a unique laugh, and Yami Bakura's is this oddly endearing stutter. In the past, the same laugh is heard from Thief King. So I still think Thief King is part of the entity too. Actually, the fusion of Thief King and Zorc is never really stated in either anime or manga, yet for years it's been accepted as canon, so I assumed it was something the manga-ka said. I came up with the concept that it's really Thief King who is Yami Bakura, but Zorc fused with him and has been poisoning his mind for so many years that now the poor thing thinks he is Zorc. Makes sense to me, and anyway, if Thief King isn't part of the entity, where the heck is he in the anime version? It seems clear that they're the same person too when you notice how really similar their faces are. The expressions, even the way the bangs fall, it's the same. And the Japanese ending has that intriguing clip showing him transforming from present-day to past forms, outright demonstrating their similarities.

One thing I noticed is that Thief King is usually unhinged while in the present-day, he as Yami Bakura is usually calm, cool, and collected, until towards the end of season 5, when he is clearly losing it. I would say the fusion with Zorc caused the change in personalities and maybe Zorc calmed him for a time, but near the end of the series when it finally looks like he will achieve his goal, it becomes obvious that he is still out of his mind. The manga calls him The Mad Tomb-Robber, interestingly enough.

I like that the anime, even the original anime, wasn't crazy about how the manga version really is a killer. He is definitely not the same person between verses; the anime version likes to steal souls, or send people into the shadows, but those things can be reversed. I think that even if one subscribes to the original anime version of what he did to Bonz and company, it can be reversed. In all the media I've known, characters who get dragged to the underworld both body and soul can be saved. I go with the dub version, but yeah, I think they can be saved either way. Of course, the anime version is still a sadistic little creep, but the things he does are definitely different from his manga counterpart.

I do regret that we don't see much interaction between Bakura and Yami Bakura in the anime, but on the other hand, that gives way to imagination and the possibility that they interact differently in the anime than in the manga. I do like that in the manga Yami Bakura outright says he likes Bakura, something I'd forgotten, and that he granted the boy's wishes. Of course, he did it in twisted ways, trapping souls in game pieces so Bakura would never be alone, but it was sweet in a creepy way. And I love when he got protective of Bakura after the gym teacher was so mean. I keep the protectiveness for my anime verse, and although Yami Bakura doesn't seem to be as twisted in the anime, it's always interesting to me that he fully believes Bakura will help him with his first plot and is shocked when Bakura refuses. Possibly he thinks Bakura is too submissive to refuse, but it's interesting if he thought Bakura would help for another reason. And then there's the intriguing comment he makes in season 5 that Bakura promised to help him get all the Items. That was never explained. Why would Bakura promise that? Interesting mysteries to think about.

In any case, whoever and whatever Yami Bakura is, I must unashamedly say I love my post-canon verse where he as Thief King survives Zorc's destruction and is helped by Bakura. All of his goals are gone, so he has to come up with new ones, and Bakura's kindness and compassion, which has been slowly working on him all along, finally soothes his hate and his insanity and he is able to start a new life for himself and get a second chance with the Infinity Ring. Since canon never really says what happened to him, and I don't take the spin-offs or Dark Side of Dimensions as canon, I insist on believing that my version is what happens after canon. :) That's the fun thing about such fanworks; no one can really be wrong since canon has stopped. The continuation can be anything one wants it to be.

So it's pretty much always been accepted that Yami Bakura is masochistic. Just kind of a standard thing that everyone knows.

Only now that I've run through all the anime episodes, I'm not sure at all that's true for the anime version. Forget about Toei, since it has no bearing on the main anime. I know, stuff could have been cut out, but reading through Yu-Jyo, I don't recall stumbling on anything cut that would fit that description. I'm wondering now if when I chose to reference any masochistic tendencies here and there, I was either getting mixed up thinking of the manga or thinking I had to count Toei, because apparently in the past I thought I had to.

Anyway, point being, if he actually isn't that way in the anime verse, it's not particularly a trait I'm keen on giving him. He does have a high tolerance for pain, which I imagine he would (and which certainly isn't the same thing as getting pleasure from pain). But since I've already included the references here and there, it's not so easy to remove it from my verse!

The only possible thing I can think of in the anime that someone could point to as masochistic is when he voluntarily gives up so many lifepoints in the duel with Yami Marik. But that was in the hopes that he would eventually win, and anyway, apparently fading into the shadows doesn't cause pain in the anime verse, at least, because he didn't even notice anything was wrong until Yami Marik pointed it out. (And I firmly believe the missing pieces are still there, in the same space, just having passed to a different plane. Otherwise, the person affected could hardly keep moving about naturally. Yeah, I know, it's fantasy, but I always have to apply logic somehow.)

I suppose one might decide to take his laughter and wild smirk when Slifer attacks him as masochistic, though. To me it seemed more like he was just thinking, "Okay, you've won this time, but that won't last." But I suppose there could be multiple interpretations. Maybe I'll just leave things as they are. In any case, I've never indicated that he's as masochistic in the anime as he is in the manga.

Other interesting things of note: it's debatable that he liked the taste of blood until Zorc fused with him. I don't recall that he did anything unusual with blood when he's bleeding in the past. He just spat it out or wiped it off. Seems like it's only in the present-day when he decided he liked the taste of blood.

Also, my fic's moving pretty well right now, and it looks like Tristan's continuing problems with him are coming to the forefront of things. Of course, then I go into the debate of wanting them to reach a better understanding yet at the same time not wanting the conflict to stop because it's interesting. Always a tough dilemma.

Also interesting is that even though Joey still doesn't like Yami Bakura either, he's actually being sympathetic in this case because he's been mind-controlled twice in canon and once more in my verse, and he doesn't think it fair to blame Yami Bakura for what he did while under Yami Marik's mind-control, since Joey's friends never blamed him when it happened to him. Sometimes Joey has awesome moments of maturity in the series and I love to highlight that. I did that in Lead Me Through the Fire as well, where Tristan is upset with Duke for his undercover charade and Joey is too, but is a little more understanding than Tristan and tries to get Tristan to calm down. Normally it would be the opposite, but when it's a character Tristan is more likely to get upset about, Joey gets to be the rational one. I remember one reader didn't like that I did it that way and felt it was OOC and Joey should always be the hot-headed one and Tristan always the more rational one, but canon showed that sometimes it can be different. Although with Duke the situation is sticky, since both Tristan and Joey can be upset with him about Serenity.

I'm making the Yami Bakura plushie, because I couldn't resist the pull of the artistic challenge. In addition to styling the hair, there was needing to figure out how to insert an elastic into the T-shirt. Both worked, despite much nervousness and anxiety over whether the elastic would really work with a non-stretchy material! I am so geekily proud. http://meromeroyui.deviantart.com I'll probably start making the blue jacket later today.

I struggle a bit, as usual, with the fact that I like both forms of the character. I've been focusing mostly on the Thief King form lately, but re-watching episodes and making the plushie makes me think more about the classic Yami Bakura form. And then while I'm focusing on that, then I feel guilty and miss the Thief King form.... Such a complicated mess! Which wouldn't need to happen as much if both forms were identical save for skin color, as is the case with Atem. But the forms are different enough that it is very easy to miss one form while focusing on the other. I hadn't thought he'd switch to the classic form again after White is in the Winter Night, but I think he's going to after all. I do like that I gave him the power to do that with the Infinity Ring, so I don't have to say Goodbye to either form, LOL. But it is so awkward to miss whichever form I'm not focusing on!

Then I think I made a mistake to have the Atem's return story be the same as the Rare Hunters go after Marik story, because honestly, I can't think of details of what, exactly, the Rare Hunters are doing to Marik and his loved ones and I'd rather focus on Atem and Yugi and the Bakuras. I know later Tea and Marik get kidnapped, but I think that isn't one of the first things. I wonder if things start small at first. I was going to open chapter 3 with Ishizu at the museum. Maybe she gets a creepy threat or something. I also somehow wound up with a plunnie of Yami Bakura getting mind-controlled, Tristan sure he's betrayed them, and Bakura insisting something is wrong. That may or may not go into this fic. I don't know how the Rare Hunters would get hold of mind-control stuff, although I know Bandit Keith would probably find that the crowning glory of his plan, so maybe I should try to think of a way. And I'll also have to make it sufficiently different from the Neo-Orichalcos problems so it hopefully won't look like too much of that in a row.

I also ended up with a dark plunnie outside of my main timeline, where Yami Bakura apparently returns post-series, only something seems off. Yugi finally figures out that Bakura is pretending to be him and confronts him to find out why. Bakura keeps up the act for a bit, but then breaks and admits he's doing it partially for attention, since Yugi and company seem to have forgotten him again, and partially because he's so lonely he'd rather have Yami Bakura there than no one at all, so he's trying to fool his mind into thinking he's still there. It's a fairly short oneshot and seems to look good as is, but I toy with whether I might write an expanded version later, similar to how I wrote the oneshot I Miss You and later used it to write a big story called With You.

Then I was into my Nightwish songs the other night and suddenly realized that Nemo is a perfect image song for Yami Bakura. People only seem to use it for Atem, probably because of the "one without a name" line, but the song as a whole fits Yami/Thief King Bakura much more, I think. I picture it as being his thoughts sinking into despair realizing Zorc has fused with him and he hasn't fully been his own person for 3,000 years. And maybe just starting to see the light Bakura brings and hoping against hope that Bakura can save him. Also, the "one without a name" line fits him too, really. I notice he never introduces himself by name and denies being Bakura, even though that's his name too. Of course, that could be Zorc speaking, but it definitely sounded more like Thief King in that key first episode when he describes himself with the classic response, "I am a thief and a stealer of souls."

This is me, for forever,
One of the lost ones
The one without a name
Without an honest heart as compass
This is me, for forever,
One without a name
These lines the last endeavor
To find the missing lifeline

Oh, how I wish for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
My loving heart, lost in the dark,
For hope I'd give my everything

My flower, withered between
The pages 2 and 3
The once and forever bloom,
Gone with my sins
Walk the dark path,
Sleep with angels,
Call the past for help
Touch me with your love
And reveal to me my true name

Oh, how I wish for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
My loving heart, lost in the dark,
For hope I'd give my everything

Oh, how I wish for soothing rain
All I wish is to dream again
Once and for all,
And all for once,
Nemo my name forevermore

Nemo, as I recall, in some language means "no one" or something similar.

I'm obsessed with this concept to the point that I think when I get my DVDs*, I'll try to make some icons with lyrics. That may or may not work; I'm notorious for having a terrible time getting text to go on icons in a natural-looking way. I actually kind of would like to make a music video, but since I think Warner owns the song, I'm guessing that would get blocked or removed almost immediately. Ugh. But I have actual image/clip ideas for some lines.... "Walk the dark path" was him in the cemetery, I think. "Sleep with angels" is Bakura laying on a bed at the end of the Battle City duel and the Ring being placed beside him. "Call the past for help" would be a Pharaoh's Memories clip, naturally, maybe when Yami Bakura reverses time or some such. Or wait, when he brings his past self back into the game later. And one usage of "my loving heart, lost in the dark" would probably be him as a child, witnessing the Kul Elna massacre.

*Yep, I finally got a gift card from Valued Opinions again, so I bought season 2 of YGO on Amazon, and then since I needed something else to get free shipping, I got volume 2 of season 5. Now that I've reviewed the season via the website, I decided I want the beginning of the Pharaoh's Memory arc more than I want the Siegfried arc right now. But I intend to get the other two season 5 volumes soon.

Even though I just barely watched season 2 on the website (and watched a couple of episodes more than once), I'm so eager to see it again, LOL. Of course, seeing it with the audio and video properly in sync will make it somewhat a different experience. But it's not just that; I just plain adore season 2. It and 4 are probably my favorite seasons overall. I also think season 2 had the best opening clips.

On Dreamwidth, I'm trying a Kaiba brothers icon. You know, I think it's the first time I've ever used a Seto icon of any sort....

Here's pictures of my two main Marik cosplays, from many years ago. http://cubeupload.com/codes/cad37e

The first two pictures are from the first attempt, a very ghetto cosplay with a blue shirt instead of lavender, but I was ecstatic when I got it for my birthday, both because it was awesome in general and because it was close enough of a color that I figured I could use it for my Marik costume, which was already underway at that point (I'd been planning it since July). You can see the gold foil armbands, which, as mentioned, were very uncomfortable to wear for long. They looked awesome, though! The Millennium Rod was made from a very heavy cardboard cylinder (probably off aluminum foil), a miniature bowling ball, and cardboard shapes, all covered in gold foil and taped together with clear packing tape. The cape was used pretty much only because I wasn't keen on walking around in public in something sleeveless, heh. And behind me you can see my Bakura and Marik commissioned plushies from SetsunaKou. Also, my YGO board game and Star Wars Trivial Pursuit (which I love to play, but rarely do; it's a little embarrassing because I'm so good at it, LOL).

The bottom picture, from the following year, is five together because it used to be on CosplayLab, which has now shut down. Waaah. The accurate lavender hoodie I sewed from a pattern. As I recall, the pattern was for something longer, a sweater or something, and I modified it. (And yes, I used the sewing machine that time, instead of trying to do it by hand.) The middle pictures are from the church Halloween party; the others are of the very small bedroom at the old house. I still have the Balto standee, but I haven't been able to display it ever since we moved. **sniffle.** Of course, clicking on the pictures makes them bigger. I shouldn't have to say that, but it's incredible how many people I've encountered who don't seem to know that.

... Huh, since the bottom picture is labeled 2004, that means the first attempt must have been from 2003. I didn't remember I had both Bakura and Marik that soon; I thought I only commissioned Bakura in the summer! And it takes weeks to get the plushies, although less weeks back then. I don't know; I am seriously confused. Maybe I commissioned Bakura in May and Marik a couple of months later? I will have to think about this.

That blond wig I'm using has got a lot of mileage. I originally bought it to use for my Margaret Houlihan cosplay (yes). I love when I can reuse wigs for other costumes! And I know the wig looks consistently white in the pictures, but I swear it isn't.

I'm amazed at how fast I'm moving along with the Seto plush. Shirt's done and I'm currently hemming the coat. I don't think I'll do any more tonight, but later today I'm hoping to do all the rest, finishing the hemming and sewing the sleeves and attaching them. Then I'll take pictures and display him while I try to figure out how to make the locket. Normally it takes me around a week to get a plushie done. Maybe this shows I've done it enough times by now that it's a swifter task.

The anime and the manga both could have done more with Seto than they did, but in both it really is moving how different he becomes by the end. Especially in the anime, since there you get to see him move past the hate and not just think about it. All of that content is anime-only. The Seto from the first episode could never have been the hero he became in later seasons, or at least, I don't think so. So while he still has a long way to go (and I'll see what I can do about that in my fics), he did come a long way from where he started.

It is sad, though, that the storyline had him get so bad in Battle City at all. In the final episode taking place at Duelist Kingdom, he actually seems peaceful, happy, and respectful. I fully believed he was going to loosen up after that. Instead, he got a thousand times worse than he'd already been! In my old timeline, he is already very relaxed and pleasant with Yugi-tachi in the early stories, albeit still aloof. That was because I believed that was how he would be after Duelist Kingdom. Later on, when I saw he wasn't that way at all, I think I half-unconsciously started changing how I wrote him to match canon more. I remember at least one reader wondering about that. For my new timeline, since it follows canon to the end before branching out, he still has a long way to go. But in Dragons at Dawn, Yugi speculates that Seto does think of them as friends and just can't admit it out loud yet. That was inspired by Ishizu's words to Seto before Atem's duel with Yami Marik. Of course, in any case, I think I've mostly toned down Seto's rudeness to original Japanese version levels. I cringe at how the dub made him sound so much worse than he was on many occasions. When I am displeased at how the dub handled something, I tend to write from the original Japanese version and pretend that the dub mangling didn't happen. But I will always write with the English names, locales, and humor, since that's "my" YGO.

Occasionally the dub actually improves on something. One thing I noticed is that in the original Japanese, Marik doesn't seem to acknowledge how badly he treated Rishid. In the dub, he does. And then there's how the dub tried to give Duke more of a noble reason for going after Yugi then just being whiny about not being able to get his game going because Yugi defeated Pegasus. In the dub, he's upset about that, alright, but what bends him out of shape the most is that he believes Yugi cheated to win. So he wants to expose Yugi as a cheat.

(Of course, then there's the sticky situation that I hear in the original, Yami Yugi can actually will certain cards to come up next, which definitely is cheating. As cheesy as the Heart of the Cards thing is, I far prefer that explanation to what's going on in the original. Although in the case of facing Pegasus, I wouldn't begrudge Yami Yugi willing cards to appear to win....)

And I'd forgotten I have so much of the YGO manga. Most of it I bought from Borders because of their awesome 40% off coupons. I have 30 out of 42 total (including YGO R). And I'm confused that I don't seem to have Duelist #19. I was sure I had that one. I must just be remembering reading some of it in the store. I'm missing 1, 4, and 5 of the first seven, and 1, 2, 4, 7, 11, 13, 19, 21, and 22 of Duelist. I have all of R and Millennium World. And the Movie ani-manga. Also, I am still thoroughly grossed-out by all the gratuitous shots of Yami Bakura being eaten by the darkness in Duelist #20. It looks much more gruesome in the manga than in the anime. Of course, it is absolutely horrifying in any case, and I had to look at other parts of the screen a lot while watching those scenes in the episodes, but I see no need to depict it the way the manga did. Give me the anime version any day.

And I still think anime Yami Marik is a way better villain because he's more creative and personalizes his torture. In the manga, he just torments Mai with sickening physical depictions, including one of my most hated tropes. In the anime, he tailors his torture to her insecurities. That was repugnant, but honestly brilliant. In my fic Taming the Darkness, which is of course anime-based despite the manga quote title, he tortures Thief King Bakura along anime-style lines (although he does get manga-style gruesome at some points, as what he tends to torture his victim with are mainly illusions of Ryou Bakura being harmed in all manner of different ways, or him betraying Yami Bakura, and reenactments of the Kul Elna massacre). Taming the Darkness and its predecessor, White is in the Winter Night, are both very important to my current timeline and also the darkest and most disturbing fics I've ever written. Both have a category of Horror, although White is in the Winter Night is mostly psychological horror while Taming the Darkness is a physical/psychological horror mix. Both also develop Bakura and Yami/Thief King Bakura's relationship a great deal, which was certainly necessary when following canon and taking place shortly after it. Yami/Thief King is separate from Zorc at last and trying to figure out who he is, and who Bakura is to him, and Bakura likewise is trying to decide what Yami Bakura means to him, and they get into more than one argument as Bakura finally lets loose with a lot of pent-up feelings from canon.

... Also, manga Bakura seems to either be an idiot or extremely innocently clueless, always wanting the Ring back and not seeming to realize there's any problem with it. I was thinking he remembered there was a problem because of what happened in his manga introduction arc. Maybe I'd better read that one again.

I know I'm down on the manga a lot, but I usually do prefer the TV or movie versions of most things. But I really do respect the manga for being what came first and bringing the characters to life for the first time. And I do prefer Duke's manga intro and some parts of Millennium World in the manga, although I prefer Seto being present for that last arc, as he was in the anime. I'm a little surprised I have so much of the manga since I do prefer the anime, but I think the reason is because I wanted some new YGO following the anime's end and the manga certainly fit that bill in some ways, LOL. Millennium World, as I recall, I happily bought before the dubbed anime version happened ... I think? ("Happily," because I was so eager to see what Yami Bakura was like in ancient Egypt.) Because I remember when the anime version came out and I was disappointed by some things being mostly absent, like Atem and Thief King's intriguingly deep conversations in the early scenes. At least, I think some volumes came out before the English anime version, but it finished up after the anime did. I seem to remember getting some of the volumes at the new house, and we moved when the final season was underway. Then R was the other manga thing I really looked forward to. One of the characters, Pete Coppermine, has occasionally popped up in my fics as Duke's neighbor. I should read R again. As is usual with filler arcs, I loved it.

And I feel somewhat guilty that I've always enjoyed seeing Yami Bakura being villainous, to some extent. Naturally I don't like seeing him hurt people (... usually, although I did like his protectiveness of Bakura against that mean gym teacher in the manga, despite disagreeing with his methods, and I felt his dispatching of the thugs that wanted to kill and rob him in the tavern in ancient Egypt was self-defense), but sometimes I like seeing his schemes and him being smooth and cool, and sometimes I get a kick out of that mad cackle and his sarcastic wit. I know many feel the same way, about him or other villains, but I'm usually not that way. Usually I only like antagonists because of them showing goodness and/or repenting. And I certainly prefer writing Yami Bakura as an antihero rather than a villain. But ... I've always found him a fun and intriguing villain in canon. He was in the first episode I ever saw (The Evil Spirit of the Ring), and I remember hoping it wasn't the only time we'd see him because he was just too interesting. He and Bakura were my first favorite characters and certainly part of what made me so excited about this strange new show. I was hooked from that episode. I've rewatched it so many times, and I even remembered that I watched it in Spanish on my old DVD at least once, just to hear the Spanish voices. And I'd rewatched it so many times in English by then that I think I mostly provided my own subtitles. LOL.

Back to the manga rambles, one thing I've long puzzled over is how to have Duke's manga intro plus the anime thing of mind-controlled Bandit Keith both happen in my verse, since both involved the breaking of the Puzzle and a fire. I tentatively sorted out some of the problem by having Duke's intro involve that creepy Devil's Boardgame go haywire and age the house they're in so it starts collapsing. (Yeah, I'm not going to burn down or collapse Duke's store.) But as for the Puzzle getting broke, I think that still happens in both adventures, unless I alter Keith's escapade so it doesn't happen there. Maybe someday I'll try to actually write Duke's intro as per my verse, which is mostly manga but with the anime inclusions of the store belonging to Duke and not his dad, his store manager "David," and the apology scene. And with my own concept of them being in a house that ends up aging into collapse. And I didn't have his dad turn good, but I still wonder if I should have let that happen. I think I was influenced by a friend who felt he would probably go back to his old ways despite the redemption. For manga verse, honestly, I feel that he did truly turn good. There were glimpses of a good person still there all along and I think that won out. But for my verse, it worked better for him to not turn good and to instead leave off disowning Duke. It gave Duke a lot of issues to work through. Yet I feel guilty about doing it that way, feeling it's not fair to the character of Duke's father. So I continue to waffle about that from time to time and wonder if I should try to redeem him in my verse, either by him coming back after being thought dead or else him coming to Duke as a ghost and wanting forgiveness. (My verse had him die in the collapsing house when he refused to be helped by Duke and Yugi and fell instead.)

I'm rambling again.... I should be working with my fics!