#various ships and random nerd references

[podado-t-memes]

If someone told me yesterday I’d be prepping for my coding final with a Destiel Omegaverse practice question…

I would have thought they were insane…

…But here we are…

(Anyone wanna try to solve it? I already know the output lol)

[simp-ly-writes]

Hii

I dont know if you write for Alex tran ?

If you do could you write one with Alex and reader were the reader also works at smosh.

I dont have a specific idea so i would love if you could just write something cute and fluffy. Thanks

:]

Dating Alex Tran Headcanons

Pairing: Alex Tran x gn!Partner!Reader

─ · · TAGS: gender-neutral pronouns, established couple and fluff... thats about it!

─ · · MASTERLIST | TAGLIST REQUEST

─ · · A/N: Sorry this took awhile, I had to do my research but I hope this isn't too bad!!

─────── · ·

↳ You and Alex were dating prior to you joining him at Smosh when the opportunity presented itself. You already worked in the entertainment industry as a production assistant to a Late Night Television Show but you could image how repetitive that became after awhile so you jumped ship as soon as you could

↳ At Smosh, you and Alex constantly "umm, actually-ed" each other when it came to set days, it became a battle of the nerds and the cast was all ready to grab popcorn and watch. Arguing (lovingly) over game rules and what you both wanted to see happen in the video while also ensuring they kept on track

↳ You combing back his hair in between shoots, you both sending one another memes throughout the day and you both have each other on your phones home screens

↳ Your texts to one another are a mixture of screenshots for work or quoting tweets you found to the latest gaming new albeit board or digital. (If anyone tried to read over your shoulder, they would be ultimately unable to know what the hell you both were talking about)

↳ Going on double dates with Shayne and Courtney outside of work, from going to the arcade, karaoke, or just a simple dinner, you both loved spending everyday together, every hour.

↳ You both definitely plays boardgames together, testing them for the Games channel while also both trying to cheat and get the other one not to catch on. Friendly competition never hurt anyone in your relationship

↳ When the office gets cold, you can often be seen stealing one of Alex's hoodies while running around equipment between sets

↳ You both go to conventions together and buy matching merch for your favourite animes, games, and pop culture references. (You both also fanboy/girl over your favourite voice actors, your walls are covered by photo-ops of you two with them striking various poses)

↳ Don't even get anyone started on your shared Magic the Gathering card collection, it is both your prized possession and you love to show off the books on your coffee table back at your shared apartment.

↳ You both get ready beside each other in the morning and grab breakfast from the cafe down the road before carpooling to the office. You also both grab coffees for one another throughout the day

↳ Everyday when you both go home, you put on random youtube videos to play in the background before cuddling with one another and falling asleep before one of you wakes you both up to move towards the actual bed.

─────── · ·

─ · · TAGLIST: @lisiliely @missflufffanfics

[kinetic-elaboration]

July 17: 2x26 Assignment: Earth

Finally finished up S2 of TOS yesterday. That was... a rough episode tbh. I’m just gonna say it: back door pilots are bad! They’re bad. If I wanted to watch that other show, I’d watch it.

Wow, they’re just really jumping right in, huh? “Here we are, on a routine mission into the past, using a time travel method that we invented nbd.”

Investigating desperate problems in the year 2020...2016.... no wait 1968.

Ooh, Spock in the transport room today. Does he have a whole extra random station there? That’s so weird; I’ve never seen that before. It’s like hidden in the corner.

Cat!! Cat!!

What a good actor. I’m still bitter that wikipedia has a whole section about the casting for “Isis the cat” that talks entirely about the human who played Isis for 2 minutes and nothing about the talented feline actor. Where did they find her? How did they teach her to act?

She has a lot of thoughts about Kirk.

I wrote down “Scully, you’ve got to see this” in my notes and I’ve already forgotten what it refers to lol. Some moment that I thought would fit well with my favorite x-files meme.

Change history, you say? Spock is intrigued. ...Admittedly, Spock is often intrigued.

“What if it turns out you’re an invading alien from the future?” Honestly...let him invade. You’re not supposed to be here anyway.

I’m pretty insulted by this. The aliens went through all this trouble to help in 1968...where are our alien helpers NOW?

The cat straight up attacked his face.

Kirk is so fond of Spock being fond of the cat.

“It’s a lovely animal. I feel myself strangely drawn to it.”

Kirk is way too confused by Seven--an allegedly human person with super-human abilities that he says come from aliens--and yet, he’s met Charlie X so??? Is this not the same?

Kirk’s got the whole crew checking in on zoom.

(I actually do like this sequence of him getting video calls from different parts of the ship.)

“Weren’t orbiting H-bombs a huge problem in 1968?” Looks at the camera like he’s on The Office. Not the subtlest bit of writing in the “social commentary” genre. I do say this with love, though. I always enjoy when they comment on contemporary problems.

“He has a totally perfect body.” Lol don’t distract these two bisexuals.

[soft meowing]

“The prisoner has escaped.” The way this is shot, it looks like he’s talking about the cat.

Hmm, I do love the decor. Very 60s. This honestly immediately feels like a different show, and a much more dated show; even when the Enterprise time travels, it tends not to time travel to... office space.

Love the little sounds the computer makes.

So is Isis supposed to be one of the fancy aliens? It’s never explained but one must assume she is.

Aw, he’s petting her paw.

So I assumed the cats sounds are real, but just dubbed. They’re not lol. Which I guess isn’t surprising: this cat makes a lot of noises! They were provided by a human voice actress.

Damn.... I want a secret bookshelf that turns around to reveal a super computer with a big screen. “Computer... play Netflix.”

That’s what Seven does in his spare time.

The computer is an AI. “Beta 5 snobbery” lol.

Where are OUR alien overlords to stop US from destroying ourselves before WE can mature into a peaceful society?

This is really masterful exposition lol. Not forced or awkward at all.

ST sure does love the snooty female computer trope.

“Get us the proper costumes.” Yes, get Spock his Requisite Hat.

Omicron IV....that’s one of the names they use in Futurama lol. Such nerds.

Another excellent Spock Hat.

I love Seven’s various IDs. Great style. I wish my driver’s license looked like those.

“Who do you think you are?” He hasn’t decided yet. That’s why he was shifting through his IDs.

Seven is not smart lol. Like, he should have figured out way faster that this lady isn’t one of the Alien Overlords. He asks her the code question, she doesn’t understand it, and he... assumes she’s just really in character? Dude, that’s what the code questions are for!!! To help you identify people! Otherwise you could just straight up ask: are you an alien?

Instead he’s like “oh, you silly alien, you’re playing with me,” and then is forced to trap her, reveal his whole mission, and ultimately ensnare her in his plan.

I want that typewriter. Voice recognition typewriter.

"My incompetence has made you aware of very secret devices." Well at least he knows.

Trained cat!

The alien overlords were killed in a random car accident. That’s ironic.

Oh look, a real rocket!

Brown pants + short sleeved shirt + tie is such a Classic 60s look.

This security guard doesn’t think it’s weird that this random dude has a cat with him? Is this part of Isis’s alien power?

Except for the part where it’s a weapon, it’s pretty cool to see all this build up to, like... launching stuff into space. Exciting.

Isis likes to be on shoulders. Just like Little Guy.

New hat for Spock. His outer wear hat, and now his fancy hat. There is something to be said for this ep, and that is Kirk and Spock in suits.

Amazing how they literally launched rockets with computers that old. Like seeing the big bank of primitive computers is totally wild. We put people on the moon that way! Amazing.

“Meow.” Lol, Isis is stressed so she’s speaking like a cat. That’s a pretty funny joke actually.

Seven is so incompetent. If he’d just let the Enterprise help, Scotty could have fixed that rocket issue in like 3 seconds.

Lol everyone’s just pulling Gary through space. Now on the Enterprise. Now in the office.

Why does this computer have a hug black screen if it only displays images on the small white circle?

"Spock and  I in custody. Main characters, doing nothing, knowing nothing, totally useless and irrelevant. I have never felt more helpless." Literally what is even the point of them today? Does Spock even have lines outside of “I like the cat”?

Isis is jealous of Roberta. Is she.. in a relationship with Seven lol?

Uhura is listening to everyone in the world. She probably has a universal translator on, but I do feel like this scene implies she just...understands all the languages.

So now the warhead is armed and heading to somewhere vague... in other words, everyone has collectively made the situation worse.

....Or this was Seven’s plan all along? To scare people into ceasing to be so careful with nuclear weaponry? As someone who knows humans better than this guy, I think this is a dumbass plan.

“That’s why so many people in my generation are kind of crazy and rebels.” Same, sweetheart.

Really this is just a story about bad communication. If Seven had told Kirk his plan upfront, Kirk would have helped him. And if Kirk weren’t so insistent on involving himself in something just because he happens to be somewhere he probably shouldn’t be, we wouldn’t have this issue either. The hubris of everyone.

Overall, just a really forced narrative imo.

Or that’s how it was supposed to be lol. The Irony of time travel. By it’s nature, everything has already worked out.

Kirk and Spock are like “You’re welcome. Peace out.”

Honestly... Isis was the only good part. Such a talented cat actor!! Or trio of cat actors, I guess. Had to do all those stunts and stuff.. .amazing. I also liked the concept of Isis. How she turned into a human later just to troll Roberta. How she’s never really explained--one must assume, an alien? Plus I pretty much never get tired of human + animal teams where the animal makes animal noises and the human just understands and answers in English.

As a stand alone sci fi concept...it was okay. Kinda dated by now. The alien tech was nifty and Roberta could have grown on me. Maybe even Seven, though he left a lot to be desire. That said, the narrative relied a lot on people getting in each other’s way for no reason, which I find very frustrating.

But as a Star Trek episode....no. The main characters were just nuisances on the side lines!! I’m not even sure what Kirk’s mission here was--to try to figure out what Seven was doing? And stop him if necessary? But he never really decided if it was or not, until the point where not trusting him would basically cause a nuclear war? I don’t know, I found it all very frustrating. The melding of the original show and the spinoff was not smooth.

If I were watching this in 1968, I’d feel very cheated. THIS was the season finale? That’s it? I don’t even get a real Star Trek episode and now I have to wait months for anything new?

And what I get after all that waiting is Spock’s Brain?? I’d be tempted to quit. If I had a tumblr in 1969 I’d be writing multi-paragraph rants about how the best show on television has completely nose-dived lol.

But then there’s The Enterprise Incident, which is one of the best episodes... I don’t know, man. It’s a conundrum. I’ve only seen maybe half of season 3 but from what I remember it’s very uneven: some of the best eps (The Enterprise Incident, For the World Is Hollow, Day of the Dove) mixed in with some of the worst (Spock’s Brain, The Paradise Syndrome), plus some that are good concepts but shoddily executed (The Way to Eden). So we’ll see what I think about it when I see it all in one piece, in air date order.

[lethesomething]

DnD bookshop inspiration

I don't know about you, but I'm dm'ing a party full of Nerds and their characters are book hoarders, so I need to Provide, I guess.

You can always stock book shops with expensive scrolls, skill tomes and magic books, but that gets boring after a while. So have some ideas for a more fully stocked shop, that doesn't really require you to actually write all these damn books yourself.

For reference, these are for a world that has an (early) printed press.

Lore teasers

Heavily depends on the world, of course, but these books can provide characters with background information for the world they live in. The idea here is that you can't force your characters to care about the political climate, or to listen to the sage's soliloquy, but you can give them that option.

Think of things like a theoretical tract full of wild speculation on a continent far away that they may or may not visit, a first person account on some recent war whose wounds are still visible in the land and its people, or an in-depth study of a monster that the party has just encountered. The last one is fairly fast to make, since you can probably steal bits from the Monster Manual.

Examples:

Boobs, beers and blackjack, by Callindra A Very Crass guide to the best taverns in various port towns.

Fable or truth? The horrific existence of deep scions and their tragic origins, by Vestnet Press

  Random stories that color the world

Folklore tales, customs, religious tracts, hair tutorials, cook books. Random things that put a little life into the world. If you're the worldbuilding type of DM, you probably know exactly why the Guild wears that particular outfit, and you overthought the significance of that Royal Shield Emblem, but the player characters, much to your dismay, have just ignored such details altogether in favor of smashing things and seducing royalty. This is your chance to bring them into the light again. Some caution is necessary here, since the party may invest in one of these details Too Much and try to turn it into a quest.

Examples:

Fashion as a Cultural Statement, a dossier on the significance of foreign vêtements and their meanings within society, by Meredith Hornsdale Briar

Guided by starlight: An introduction into constellations and making sense of your future, by virtue of the night sky, by Saisin Millet

The man who fell in love with the Sea, by Judith Toussaint The man looked out over the dizzying, glittering, deadly expanse, ever moving, ever changing, And he knew in his heart that he would never belong to another.

This is a published version of what appears to be a local tale. The book is fairly simple and thin, a durable paper cover with a simple pen drawing of a boat sailing on a calm sea. The tale itself is written in rhyme, of an unsofisticated elegance. It tells the story of a fisherman who fell in love with the sea. It speaks of how he would gaze out over the water at night, watching as the moon reflected on the softly eddying waves, until one day he quit his job, said goodbye to his friends and left, alone, in  small sailing boat. His friends waited for him, before finally, they mourned him. Several years later they woke up one early winter morning to see a small vessel loom up out of the rolling mists. People ran out onto the beach to await it and possibly aid this reckless sailor. Inside, they found the man holding a heavily bundled, small child. A gift, he said, from his lover the sea. 

  'Popular fiction'

Let's be real here, if your world has a printing industry, it's gonna have popular press, which is overwhelmingly either the cookbook/almanac variety, or romance novels. The last ones are By Far the most fun to offer up.

Some examples

M/F novels

For straight romances, you can go the full Harlequin route:

In a Sailor's Arms By Firelight Through rough Seas he cometh The Widow on the Shore - with Lithographs The Storm in her Heart His Armor shines Bright Breaching the Countesses' Defenses The Hunter and the Maiden

Prey to the Emperor, by Clara Orchard A story about a young warrior that gets captured by a haughty, dominant king. Slowly, after many verbal fights and more than a few moments of tension, she manages to melt his icy heart. Fairly brutal in execution and style.

  M/M romances

Fighting for Booty, by Vestnet Press A tittilating novel about a handsome pirate boarding the ship of an easily impressed merchant. The young men get shipwrecked together on a small lifeboat. There is only one bed roll.

  F/F romances

The Mermaid, By Unknown This one is hand written and heavily thumbed through. It tells the story of a female deckhand that falls in love with a mermaid. Soft writing, but with a tragic ending.

My Queen, My heart, By Unknown Speaks of a forbidden romance between an empress and one of her female bodyguards. Slow burn, with a spectacular pay-off.

  'Other'

Choosing Love, by Cyna Biruda A choose-your-own adventure. The unnamed protagonist is a commoner, called to the Royal Court as a lookalike to the royal hair, who is bedridden. Their job is to take over some of the tasks while the heir recovers, without the public knowing. Shenanigans ensue, but the protagonist also gets the chance to find love. Notable interests are the Royal Guardsman, a strict man with a heart of gold, the Kitchen Maid, fun and innocent, the Courtesane, who is beautiful behond belief but perhaps not to be trusted, The Blacksmith, broad shouldered and mild mannered, and the Foreign Princess, a reserved and studious but very gentle soul harbouring a secret anxiety.

 Porn If you wanna go there, erotica novels have been a Thing since people knew how to write. In an early printing industry, they would be illustrated with lithographs, some crude, some true works of art. Examples of titles:

The obscene youth of Mary May A book of 'vignettes' from the life of a milk maid who is rather inquisitive and keeps losing her clothes for some reason. Humorous, albeit pretty blunt in its execution.

The conquests of Zan Yi The young mercenary Zan Yi is notable for his wit, his charming smile, his rapier and his… other rapier. The novel lists down his many adventures as he fights and seduces his way through the land, from a lowly sellsword to the highest courts. Surprisingly well made for how clichéd the stories are. The lithographs are of exquisite quality and this book is on its 36th edition, proving quite popular.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

For your Friday night wine and murder mystery ask: random Flambrown headcanons?

Friday night wine has turned into Saturday morning coffee. 

Ah! Flambrown! The sweetest of all ships to sail. 

I firmly believe that Flambeau’s first confession of love would happen during confession. He goes in all “forgive me father for I have sinned, it’s been a million years since my last real confession” etc. etc. then as he’s detailing his many, many sins (Brown does ask him, “have you realized that all of this is caused by maybe two root sins you should work on?”) out slips “and I’m in love with a priest” and Brown is like “ah. hold up” and Flambeau just barrels on head first like the reckless man he is. 

Flambeau “courts” with presents stolen from various churches, art galleries, private collections and the like. They become increasingly greater in holiness and value. Brown always has them returned but he is never not delighted when one shows up. Mostly because he wants to nerd out over them for a day or two before returning them. 

Brown excuses any sort of Situation that may Arise between him and Flambeau with lots of Jonathan and David references. Misuse Of The Bible. Flagrant Disregard For Church Doctrine. All of this and more, brought to you by Father Brown trying to find a workaround. 

I believe that Father Brown is a truly devout man, a truly good religious man who believes in the Trinity, in Christ born of the Virgin Mary, of God and the holy Spirit, in the apostolic Catholic church etc. However, the Church as an institution isn’t much to his liking 80% of the time. So there are some doctrinal rulings that were done very much as political maneuvering in the Church’s past that he sort of…disregards since they were not informed by true communion with Christ and the saints so not really real to his mind. 

At least, this is what he tells himself on the regular. 

It takes Father Brown longer to come around to Flambeau’s way of thinking because he is a devout man and takes his calling seriously. And for him, it truly is a calling. I’m not sure if they would ever have physical relations because of Brown’s devotion to being a priest and following through on what all that entails. But in terms of emotional intimacy and romantic connection - I think he’d come around eventually. Father Brown does love love, after all. 

Bunty figures it out and thinks it is HILARIOUS. Bunty is also a Top Tier Lesbian and Sid is a Top Tier Bi (I’m an odd one out I think in that I ship him more with Valentine than Sullivan). 

:D :D I have more but that’s a good start I think. Thank you! 

[orthographewrites]

pls do john and nate for your awesome platonic ship meme u_u

THE PLATONIC SHIP MEME: (aka the best new thing!)

Which one is the responsible one and which is known to be reckless? How do they deal with situations the reckless get caught up in?

Oh man, I mean… they’re both kind of wild??? Like to do dumb things and get yelled at by their partners how lovely. But in the context between the two of them, I do believe Nate is one step above John in terms of being responsible as he owns the ability to think before he acts omg. Nate has never given John an earful though, as they sort of tend to flip the situation on its head and instead it becomes a long running joke. 

Any personal memes or jokes in between them?

Plenty! Most of it would be gamer related, stuff they come up with at 2 a.m whilst co-oping some random stuff they found on steam or on PlayStation network. They’re the type of guys who make their avatars ridiculous and probs have staple names they often go with. It wouldn’t even surprise me if those names are each other’s caller IDs. Then there’s the case of their brotp name ahem. I can’t fully remember what they were talking about at the time, but it’s a forever running joke. 

@rookiedreams 

Is any of them prone to throw around compliments like a breeze? How does the other react?

Oh, yes indeed! I would even say both are? Nate, being a teacher, has that coming naturally and John is overall the type who just wants to spread some joy and watch his friends be happy. (They get hella sappy whilst drunk okay and can spend a good half hour just telling each other they’re beautiful and loved.)

Who likes hugs and connection the most?

Once again: both. They’re bros. Real bros hug!

How about endearing or ridiculous nicknames? Is there a story behind them?

I mean, besides what’s up there I could also kind of see them call each other Alpha and Beta for some reason? Just these random code names they made up during another late night session. Sometimes they like to pretend they’re communicating over a walkie-talkie and thus refer to these nicknames. 

Do they trust each other with deep secrets and thoughts?

I would say they do? They at least have it in them to sit down and talk about things, even if John’s attention span isn’t the overall greatest. They mean a lot to one another and that’s the tea for today. 

Do they share a deep secret together?

However, I don’t think they’re sitting on something no one else wouldn’t already be aware of. The worst secret is probably John’s… backstory and you know… his old ways of wrecking lives but haha I feel like that secret belongs to Erin and Kenna. He’s moved on. 

Who would win in a roast? How about a prank war?

Ohhh I think John could come on top during a prank war, due to his head being in constant move and having the speed to excecute the idea – mostly. He’s a creative fella and, not to lie, a little machevious when times call for it. Nate seem more able to roast people and would have more jabs against John lbr. 

How do they show each other support? (Heartbreaks, loss, dreams, achievements, etc.)

The bros are with each other through thick and thin! I mean, even if Nate betrayed John by moving to another country and dumped him for another, he will forever push Nate in his needs and wants – with Nate being much the same. John probably even wish he could have done more after Nate’s break-up with Eileen but recognizes that sometimes all you need is a change of pace. Whatever makes the other happy is the key! They know what to do during most situations. 

What would a typical hangout look like? Do they share some common activities?

Their typical hangouts are the chill kind, very much a basic bro one where they kind of just meet up somewhere and do whatever the hell they feel like. They’ll go bar jumping or spend a whole day camping inside, playing some new release they’ve anticipated for months now! They won’t be seen for at least 24 hours. 

If they do not already live together, what would their lives as roommates look like? Do they split chores or is one more prone to take control whilst the other slack around?

They do not live together but John might as well pack his bags and move to Canada as well, like Nate will just come home one day and find John raiding his fridge or having a bath. It’s inescapable! But omggg neither is really messy, however John’s ADHD makes it hard for him to prioritize tasks so Nate would definitely have to push him on to have him remember the basics of surviving – sometimes to even turn off his games and go have something to eat. They would split their chores, or try to at least, but work do keep them busy and their place could end up rather messy for a month or so with just the general cleaning to make sure they don’t trip over their mail. They would throw the dopest of parties thoooo! 

Would they ever adopt a pet together? If yes, what kind?

Why can I see them finding some hurt animal along the road one day and decide it’s their baby now and very much treat it as such while they nurse it beack to health?? Don’t know what it would be, we can headcanon that together. 

If either suddenly found themselves caring for a child but lacked the support to properly aid for them, how would the other react, or chose to deal with the situation?

Much like the finding a wounded animal and dubbing it their child, I feel they’d end up in a similar situation here as well? They’d take turns with babysitting, slowly train the child to co-op with them, take them out on activities or even pick up from daycare etc. People would mistake them for a rainbow family, even if they’re just two bros caring for a little one. It’d be a sadface moment when the one with the kid ends up finding a partner (as they don’t have one yet in this scenario) as they’d become the proper parent instead but I also think they’d still be equally as involved and ready to jump the boat if needed! 

What’s a memory they both hold dear?

I’m just gonna say it: these two visits comic con every damn year and it’s one of few events they plan for a year in advance (so basically on their way home from comic con) and their first ever visit is one of their most treasured ones. It consisted of a road trip to San Diego with plenty of stops along the way, making sure they got the best out of it. Sadly, they didn’t cosplay, as they were more about experiencing the magic first time around, but has since done some ‘couple’ cosplays from various games. Meeting new people who are nothing but massive nerds, watching other cosplays, buying merch... yeah not much can beat the feeling of that. (John has even had some run in from people who watch the shows he co-writes for these days and some that have read his one and only published book. They all end up hanging out for a while and it’s always a blast.) 

[oddeyecadia]

plance youtuber au

a headcanon-ish fanfic-ish crack-ish (idk what this is seriously but it’s kinda long) thingy for plance au week: free day. i'm posting this early cause why not?

___

pidge

- channel: pidgeon

- has over 2 million subscribers and growing.

- posts mainly gaming and commentary videos

- not afraid to say whatever the fuck she wants

- shits on fortnite

- shits on instagram comedians, unfunny ex viners (esp lele pons and king bach, oh she hates those), musers, and almost all the cursed things on the internet

- "MONIKA DID NOTHING WRONG: DDLC Part 4"

- 👏 TECH 👏 REVIEW 👏

- gets demonitized every 2 seconds

- "this video is sponsored by best fiends... link in the description i'm on level 50 go try and beat me dipshits."

- hates vine refugees but uses too much vine references in her vids

- frequently collabs with asap science - posts cartoon/anime reviews sometimes cus she's a nerd with a lot of opinions

- cried when she got sponsored by crunchyroll - people love her hilarious snarky comments on everything.

- and her puns. liza koshy who?

lance

- is part of this youtube collab channel with almost 4 million subscribers, "voltron" along with keith, hunk, shiro, and allura

- they're like o2l but with more diverse members who makes various types of content

- with this gorgeous man named coran as their manager

- he has a solo/main channel tho but it's not very active. and it's full of meme videos.

- lance mainly does vlogs on voltron tho

- but like the ones that would always give his friends a heart attack

- he'd literally do anything for a good vlog

- from buying hunk a hundred gallons of orange juice to pranking shiro and keith with a fucking crocodile

- got srsly injured once bc of a stunt for a vlog

- his first words were "GET THE CAMERA" and then he vlogged all the way to the hospital

- sometimes he would post "skin care routine", "how i style my hair", and all that beauty guru stuff randomly out of nowhere and it would confuse his viewers but they'd watch it anyway

- did a song cover once. it broke the internet.

___

- their story started when pidge posted one of those smash or pass; youtuber edition, requested by some of her viewers. "i'm running out of video ideas for sat down saturday so instead of doing the boring old qna, let's do this instead. matt's here to help me."

- matt behind the camera: can you do date or pass instead?

- pidge: this ain’t girl defined, matthew.

- matt started saying random youtuber names and pidge carefully chose who to smash and to pass with her reasons. "the paul brothers?" asked matt. "kill" she answered with a blank face.

- "keith?" "smash" he then mentioned every single member of voltron and pidge confidently chose to say smash for all of them.

- except for lance that was.

- "what!?" matt exclaimed. "but he's hot!"

- "well yeah he's cute but he's kinda annoying. i don't know i just– he flirts with literally every girl in his vlogs, especially allura which is very obviously not interested. that's an automatic turn off. plus, he's obnoxiously loud."

- cue lance's offended gasp when he watched it while making his "reacting to people who smashed or passed me." video

- "well, i'm sorry for always drinking my appreciating women juice."

- pidge was the only one who said pass on him. literally. he tried to watch every smash or pass youtuber edition video out there and none of them ever said pass for him. for lover boy lance. does this girl had any taste?

- curiousity (and salt) haunted him, causing him to stalk all of her social media accounts, watching every single one of her videos (which entertained him but he wouldn't admit that)

- lance's salt didn't let him sleep that night

- pidge saw lance's video of course. her fans made sure to send that video to her in every social media. apparently, the whole internet was freaking out about their "beef." appreciating =/= flirting. she tweeted and ignored all the shit that came after.

- though it didn't stop lance and the internet to start a war.

- fast forward to vidcon. hunk and lance shared a room. hunk and pidge decided to do a collab for the two nerds had been fans of each other for a long time. lance saw pidge. pidge saw lance. they stare at each other in horror. hunk is best boy for not telling pidge that he and lance shared a room and for not telling lance that he'd be doing a collab with the girl who found him really obnoxious. hunk and pidge filmed their collab as lance sulked behind the camera, judging her every move. an idea then came to his mind.

- lance: that's it. we're doing a collab too

- pidge: dude wtf

- thus, lance went full shane dawson and the video "meeting my hater" was born

- it was basically lance trying to save his self esteem by asking pidge some questions

- "why do you hate me so much?" he asked. "i don't. i just find you annoying. i find a lot of people annoying." he still wasn't satisfied.

- pidge hung out with hunk for the rest of vidcon and became really good friends with voltron. she wasn't sure about lance though. he tried to befriend her yeah but in a "i'm trying to show you that i'm not that annoying" type of way, causing him to be more annoying.

- they found out that pidge's apartment was fairly near the voltron house, causing pidge to hang there quite often after vidcon, mostly for hunk but she also liked talking to allura as well as keith and shiro's company.

- lance? he took this opportunity to start some type of series, vlogging whenever pidge was near.

- here's a playlist:

meeting my hater

trying to make my hater like me

hater buys my clothes

target with hater

surprising my hater with a snake

surprising my hater with a puppy (an apology sequel)

beating my hater's ass at mario kart

- and so on

- the two then started to hang out more, not just for the sake of lance's series, but because they realized that they actually had a lot in common and they liked each other's company. a lot.

- eventually, pidge and lance did become really good friends.

- their dynamic was surprisingly a great one. they helped each other to grow as a person and as a youtuber.

- fans even noticed how lance slowly started to flirt less and less with every fucking girl he'd see because of how focused he was on trying to impress his "hater." until he wasn't flirting with anyone at all, even with allura which was a total shocker for everyone.

- they thanked pidge for that (they shipped pidge with lance because of that *cough* what?)

- lance would even be the one to visit her sometimes

- he would find himself talking to pidge whenever he would feel homesick for she was the one who understood this the most because, unlike the members of voltron, her family wasn't just a few drives away.

- lance took care of pidge. he was always making sure that she wasn't stressing herself out with too much work and too less rest like she'd usually do before she met him.

- pidge felt terrible for thinking so poorly of him.

- "i'm sorry." she said when they were watching a movie at her apartment. "for what?" he turned to her and their eyes met. when did they become this close? she could almost feel his breath on her face and it made things in her stomach flutter. "for being a 'hater'" she chuckled at the word. "i mean you're still kind of annoying for being too loud and wanting to kiss like a hundred girls but you're actually pretty amazing." his lips formed the sweetest smile and her cheeks burned. "thanks, hater. though, just so you know..." their faces moved closer and he continued "all i really want is to kiss one snarky girl one hundred times." and he did.

- lance then added a new video to his hater series "my hater loves me now and i love her more."

[saltineofswing]

DRELLINGTON

Full Name: Drell Hartford, Cleric of theMatrivalan Beltane

Gender andSexuality: Male,Straight

Pronouns: He/Him

Ethnicity/Species: Drell is a Matrivalan, which isn’tquite human and isn’t quite elven but is sort of similar to both of thosethings. Note his weird ears and magenta eyes with big sideways-oval pupils. Hisblood is also violet-magenta.

Birthplaceand Birthdate:Drell was born under a Scythan Moon in the month of Samhain, year 77 in the Ageof Orbits. He was born in a Beltanic Monastery in the south of the Matrivalancontinent, and was given up to the Order of the Matrivalan Beltane as is customfor firstborn children of certain families.

GuiltyPleasures: Drellhas a bit of a sweet tooth, which he indulges very often despite being on a ‘diet’of sorts. He loves to line-edit schlocky romance novels in his spare time, ahabit he picked up while aboard the Incandesca (Usually books provided to himby Fee, who would then secretly read the edited versions). He’s alsouncompromisingly fond of 60’s-70’s era rock of all sorts, like America, SteelyDan, 10cc, ELO, and ESPECIALLY Queen, which – probably the guiltiest pleasure –he enjoys singing very loudly.

Phobias: Drell actually has a pretty solid head on his shoulders;there isn’t a ton that he’s afraid of. He seems like the kind of guy who wouldbe kind of a pushover, but he can be very firm and doesn’t balk at a lot. Plus,Drell was barely 18 when he began to undergo the rites required to bind theWitherwound to him, and was only just in his early 20s when he left to go onthe Hunt, so he had to come to terms with the likelihood of his own death at anincredibly early age. Drell is, however, terrified that some day theWitherwound’s inability to filter the magical energy she absorbs at all timeswould lead to her overloading before Drell could allow her to work enoughenergy off; the resulting explosion would be theoretically powerful enough toeffectively destroy whatever poor planar system he happens to be inhabiting atthe time. Not to mention it would atomize him. He was terrified of theWitherwound when it was first bound to him, too; he has since overcome thisfear, but he is still flinchy around large dogs or any other big predatorycreature.

What TheyWould Be Famous For:As with every member of The Hunt, Drell is technically famous in a way.Unfortunately, Drell isn’t the ‘attraction’, so to speak; he isn’t even billedin the roster as Drell Hartford, his name is completely left out of it and heis only known as ‘The Witherwound’. 99% of the people familiar with the Huntfor whatever reason don’t even know his name. Plus, Drell was not exactly theshining beacon of positivity and faith that he is now; his binding to theWitherwound caused him an extreme amount of chronic pain, 24/7, as his bodybecomes the transient medium for the Witherwound to absorb ambient magicalenergy. It was only when the Witherwound was ‘fixed’ by the home team thatDrell was able to think clearly enough to regain some of his ‘true’ personality.In the meantime, Drell has been a sickly, fatigued man barely able to take careof himself for the past couple hundred years of the Wild Hunt. The Witherwoundis famous for her high-speed, hardcore, merciless kills. Drell is famous forthat Threnghelleon YouTube Compilation Of Times He Vomited.

Otherwise,Drell would be famous for being an influential and acclaimed Cleric for theMatrivalan Beltane; Drell is the model that other Clerics would aspire tofollow, honestly, and is probably one of the best people – in a ‘quality ofperson’ kind of way – in the whole campaign. He is currently trying to rebuildthe Matrivalan Beltane around the Witherwound instead of the goddess she usedto be, and so he may actually be famous one day for founding a new religion onThe Road. 

What TheyWould Get Arrested For: I literally cannot think of a single thing that Drell would getarrested for. He’s an ordained Cleric, for god’s sake. I think the only reasonDrell might get arrested is by association with someone else who did somethingwrong, or maybe in a shitty dystopian world where people can be considered ‘illegal’and that classification then permits a wide variety of atrocities to becommitted against them (looks at camera flatly), for harboring fugitives orinterfering in a law enforcement investigation to find said fugitives.

OC You ShipThem With: FEEFITZSIMMONS!!! They have really good chemistry and she’s one of the like twentypeople (out of a couple hundred thousand) on the Glorious Incandessa who knewhis name and liked him. She’s a really stalwart person and one of the fewpeople Drell doesn’t have to worry about wrangling at any given moment, andsomeone Drell doesn’t technically outrank. He is constantly taking care ofother people, and he really doesn’t need to take care of her. Aside from Fee,as Sal said I guess I could see people digging Iona and Drell, but Drell is oneof the people who helped her put her brain back together after the trauma sheexperienced at Apocrypha’s hand, and now that she’s joined the MatrivalanBeltane he is her direct superior so there are some yucky vibes IMO. Butreally, anybody who can tell Drell to chill out for a few minutes when he’soverworking himself and refusing to acknowledge it and actually get him to doit would probably have at least a little chemistry with him.

OC MostLikely To Murder Them: At this point, probably The Helmsman or Ethem-Cailo or Glory. Theproblem with trying to kill Drell is, good fuckin’ luck chump! There’s a dragonon his back and she can move faster than the eye can see and her claws andteeth are made of pure arcane energy! And, the thing is, Drell is her fuckingfavorite, so she will and has turned people into meat ribbons of her ownaccord if she feels like Drell is threatened. So, the only people who could laya finger on him at this point are the high-level Gods on the Hunt who could andwould do something nasty to him or that are just powerful enough to laugh theWitherwound off.

FavoriteMovie/Book Genre:Anything suitably dramatic, honestly. He won’t turn his nose up at a good documentary,of course, and he prefers books to TV and movies anyway, but he loves reallywell-crafted drama, fantasy, and thriller material. He also has a deep, abidingrespect for encyclopedias, guides, journals, and other similar record-stylebooks. The Matrivalan Beltane revolves predominately around the act of makingbooks, so Drell is actually a talented bookbinder and makes his journalshimself, and so he has a really keen eye and appreciation for those kind ofdetails.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Any cliche or trope that has todo with the cleric, holy man, priest, or otherwise religious leader is adirtbag and uses his power for his own gain. Not necessarily because itirritates him, but rather because he recognizes that there is too much precedentand truth in the real world behind these cliches.

Talentsand/or Powers: AsI mentioned, Drell is a very skilled bookbinder who has made at this pointhundreds of tomes. His Order requires its Clerics to craft their own HolySymbol, which for the Matrivalan Beltane are Grimoires hand-crafted andinscribed. Members of the Beltane are expected to read any of various tomesthat suit their interests and pick one to transcribe into a personalized tome,and are encouraged very strongly to include their own research, notes, andunique flourishes to the material to build on what has come before them. Drell’sGrimoire, the Treatise of Simon the Magician, is perfectly crafted and isenchanted at Drell’s own hand with a series of spells that allow the book tomagically self-inscribe with a broad variety of arcane and occult knowledgefrom whatever society he happens to be in. So, basically, nerd that he is,Drell made himself a book that he can read over and over again that will neverget boring.

His Grimoiredoes contain, at all times, a series of Clerical Orison-prayers designed tolead the Witherwound through her different divine natures – when he needs tocalm her, excite her, heal her, or subdue her, he can read the appropriatepassage from his Grimoire. In addition, so long as he is on the same plane asthe Witherwound (which, you know, she’s attached to him literally so he alwaysis), he has access to a set of spell Orisons that he can use to attack anddefend. Drell would predominately be a utility/support fighter, were it not forone thing: The Witherwound.

As I mentionedbefore, the Witherwound is basically a super-fast super-pissed dragon made ofpure arcane power, capable of literally shredding anyone who comeswithin range and constantly dragging in magical power from the world aroundher. The Witherwound usually whips herself into a frenetic frenzy, racing backand forth at lightning speed in random angles that turns a the area aroundDrell into an inescapable death trap, referred to as the titular Beltane. TheWitherwound can widen this radius, and increase the intensity of her speed andpower, creating an ever-widening field of Pure Fuck that grows more deadly withthe passing seconds. In game mechanics this equates to a passive AOE abilitythat deals damage in stacking d20s until you manage to escape the ever-wideningradius of the attack. It ramps up very fast and is fucking brutal. TheWitherwound’s other natures mostly augment Drell’s magical abilities, but shehas a couple other beefy powers she can trot out if need be.

Why SomeoneMight Love Them:Drell is an earnest, good-hearted and indefatigably positive guy who is AMAZINGat giving advice, AMAZING at navigating interpersonal relationships, and is anAMAZING listener. He’s not good, he’s not great, he is The Best Listener. He isvery introspective and self-aware, and has always been very mature for his age.He’s patient, empathetic, easy to talk to, and is devoutly faithful to his god.He is willing and eager to share his faith but is critically un-pushy, and bythe nature of his religion is highly interested in and excited about most otherreligions outside of his own, welcomingly incorporating other deities into histypical worship which makes him a capable Cleric for whatever deity anybodyneeds to interface with. However, Drell isn’t a pushover; he is very firm and doesn’ttake shit from anybody, and isn’t afraid to tell somebody off (albeit verypolitely). If you need help, he will possibly literally work himself to deathto help you.

Why SomeoneMight Hate Them:Man, some people just don’t like any of that.

No, butseriously, religion isn’t for everyone. And Drell is inseparable from hisfaith. To some people, he’s just that annoying person who won’t stop fiddlingwith their personal religiously-affiliated jewelry and has to praise Jesus orBuddha or whoever. Plus, he lived in a monastery dedicated to making books outof raw components (AKA animal skin) and cataloguing + storing arcane power; histales of his home have provoked more than a few ‘It’s Not A Cult’ explanations.Drell could be seen as an off-putting individual for his relentless (at times abit forced) optimism and positivity, and could be seen as a patronizingknow-it-all. Drell is very patient and extremely careful about proselytizingwhere it’s not wanted, but if somebody needs help in some other way? Sure,Drell could be a little annoying about trying to help someone.

How TheyChange: As tendsto be the case with people who join the Hunt (whether willingly or not) andthen decide to defect and reform, Drell’s arc is sort of up and down. Beforethe Hunt, Drell was being groomed as the ‘Chosen One’. When the Wild Huntshowed up and completely fucking ruined his entire planet and the attachedplanar system, the leaders of Drell’s clerical order went ‘GUESS THIS IS WHATYOU WERE CHOSEN FOR’ and explained to him that if he wanted anything, anythingat all, to be left of his home and what few were left of the people he knew andloved after the Hunt swept through, he would have to have the Top BananaGoddess of the local pantheon (who, to remind you, is at this point a crazyperma-mad dragon made of lightning) TATTOOED INTO HIS BODY. And all of this atage 18. So Drell was forced in short order to come to terms with: The deaths ofmost of his friends and family, the destruction of his Clerical order, thedeaths of 9/10 of the Supreme Deities of his homeworld, the oncoming apocalypseas the planar instability of his home threatens to drag Matrivale intooblivion, the fairly high likelihood that he will ALSO die, and then also thefact that this crazy thing that might kill him is the only way to deter theapocalypse. AND THEN, after ALL of that, he was told ‘Actually you can’t stayhere, because we don’t want to die, so go join those guys who just killed allyour friends’ (The Wild Hunt stuck around after winning that hunt to stabilizethe planar system and keep Matrivale from just imploding).

That’s prettyheavy. So, accordingly, Drell wrestled with a lot of stuff in those first fewhunts: hatred for his Clerical order, hatred for the god that was now tattooedto his skin, hatred for himself and his circumstances. He was laid low forbasically a couple hundred years by the constant, overwhelming pain that theWitherwound inflicted on him just by the virtue of existing; whenever theWitherwound wasn’t burning through her excess energy by slaughtering things inthe Hunt, he was suffering alone on the Incandesca. He eventually came to termswith his situation, but it turned him into a solemn, quiet, sickly guy withoutmuch optimism to spare. He connected with the Witherwound, seeing both her andhimself as two beings who had been forced one way or another to do thingsagainst their will, and found his faith again. By the time the current Huntrolled around, though, Drell had consigned himself to eventual death byflash-obliteration when the Hunt encountered a world that was too magicallyrich and he failed to find a suitably tough foe for the Witherwound to wearherself out on.

But! He got asecond chance at the hands of Daigh, who pulled some dangerous Ether-MagicFuckery and stabilized the Witherwound’s mind, ‘fixed’ the existential woundthat prevented her from regulating her energy intake, and finally gave Drellthe opportunity to stand up to the Wild Hunt once more. Now, Drell has bouncedback; he’s a lot more measured and has in a way had part of his childhoodrobbed from him, but he has joyfully taken the opportunity to get back to beinga Cleric and helping people again.

Why YouLove Them: Ithink the amount of affection I have for Drell caught me by surprise, in a way.As sometimes happens with characters, he didn’t really click until oneparticular interaction in which he stood up for himself – calmly but firmly – againsta guy who was kinda just lashing out because he was upset. After that it waspretty much all downhill from there; he’s like a reminder to be decent ineveryday life, and in-game he is kind of the linchpin that keeps the group ofdefectors from the Incandesca stable. He’s such an unrepentantly good dude andhe’s had some really genuinely interesting interactions that I don’t thinkeither of us were anticipating. He’s a genuinely stabilizing influence on theother characters in the game, and his warmth is infectious. I think there’s justnot a whole lot more to it than that, honestly; he’s kind of an uncomplicatedcharacter to interface with and I think that’s really nice. He’s a verywholesome person, perhaps a little bit more of a typical fantasy character thanI am used to running but that’s not a bad thing because it’s fun.

[matchbox-fighting-furies]

The Matchbox Fighting Furies Adventure sets and Packaging

The Matchbox Fighting Furies action figures of the 1970s were originally launched with their own range of six Adventure packs, featuring brilliantly detailed costumes and “disguises” for the two pirates to enjoy jolly japes no less!

Amongst today’s collectors, due to its relative scarcity on the collecting market, the most popular Adventure pack appears to be the Spanish Main Adventure no doubt for its distinct and striking uniform (representative of the 16th and early 17th century) and for its inclusion of a treasure chest and treasures, but the addition of a working cannon (which uses an internal spring) also makes the One-Eyed Sailor pack valued for its equal contribution to Fighting Furies display props. The rarest outfits are now undoubtedly the two European exclusives – the Buccaneer Captain and Spanish Officer disguises - and collectors’ resort to purchasing used figures accompanied by random assortments of clothing which sporadically include elements of these Disguise packs, such as the uniquely striped breeches of the Spanish Officer and his unusually coloured brown boots (only shared with the near identical Spanish Main Adventure outfit).

Packaging:

The figures and their separate adventure outfit packs were all merchandised in wonderfully colourful and highly decorated cardboard packaging and all with their own large window to view the products directly inside and as described in the American trade catalogue as “full-color window display boxes” [sic]. All Fighting Furies carton designs were novel and cutting-edge for their time and awash with beautiful 70s era artistic illustrations of pirates in action, mainsails, and open seas; with the pièce de résistance being the brilliantly painted artwork on the reverse of the main boxes showing the action figures, in hand, demonstrating their “press action sword fighting” prowess.

The national U.S retailer, Sears, also retailed the figures as well as the six adventure packs but their preferred own brand functional packaging couldn’t have been more different to that used elsewhere. Quite why the Sears versions required the extra effort of being packaged in miserly unadorned white boxes emblazoned only with rudimentary black outline cartoon artwork, remains elusive but is presumed to have offered benefits relating to mail order and domestic shipping (and miniscule cost savings for simplified mail order packaging where colourful promotional packaging would be irrelevant). Bewilderingly even the adventure packs – with their clothing and accessories still painstakingly laid out in full display formation and nimbly attached to pale blank inlay cards – were also housed inside solid and plain outer sleeves, identically sized to the ones they replaced and again with the same minimalist and functional carton labelling?

In a curious example of the U.K and Europe perhaps being more equal opportunities conscious the outer retail packing for the ‘Hook’ figure in the U.S.A ensured that he was only ever known as “Hook” [it has been suggested this was to avoid copyright infringement with Disney], whereas in Europe and elsewhere his retail box gave him instant promotion to the status of “Cap’n Hook”; although within the text of the accompanying adventure booklets of both versions – and as supplied in all territories - he continued to be addressed only as ‘Hook’ and was merely acknowledged as a “leader of pirates”. After possibly consulting with his agent, “Hook” managed to get his rank eventually upgraded to “Capt. Hook” in the states if only in official U.S Matchbox trade and consumer catalogues and as a bonus for his ego, he was consistently referred to as the “dynamic ‘Hook’!” on packaging globally; but this did little to resolve the continued confusion caused by Hook being described simply as Peg-leg’s “first mate” in the original U.S 1974 Matchbox trade brochure!?

Similarly, Cap’n Peg Leg’s [sic] European moniker was also a subtle shift from his original U.S version where he would always continue to be labelled as “Capt. Peg-Leg”; with the European alternative for both figures alluding more towards linguistic speech; as in “aye, aye, Cap’n!” This in turn misleadingly implies that their ship’s crew were made up of recruits from the British Cornish coast. More confusingly however, on the reverse side of both retail packs throughout all sales territories the marketing spiel continued to refer to Cap’n Peg-Leg as “Capt. Peg Leg”. In the U.S, Peg-leg was even renamed again as “Captain Peg Leg” on his plain Sears branded packaging and to top it all off, U.K Matchbox literature referred to Pete as “Captain Pegleg” [sic] and at least one U.K advertisement referenced both the leading men by their U.S titles: “Britain is about to be attacked by Capt. Hook and Capt. Peg-Leg”?

All in all, there were at least 4 separate print runs of the windowed cardboard packaging to retail the mountain of pirate figures stock. Some of the European packaging includes a tiny printed statement at the base on the rear advising that “Specification and colour of contents subject to amendment”, but which are also copyrighted 1974 and identical in every other way, while yet another variant also included this statement but more prominently uniquely adds a black key line (outline) to the letters of the large promotional text – “Fights! with his cutlass [...]” – on the front of the packaging; improving its clarity. This could indicate that the later print runs would potentially produce packaging in excess of the remaining original stock and were intended to also cover a second production run of the figures (which never happened). The practice also reveals that relevant packaging was being printed responsively to where the figures were selling best. A hidden detail unique to the original run involves small American flags printed on the hidden fold over flaps at the top of the box for the U.S editions. A further nerd fact also records that some of the European inner trays – which the figures were attached to inside the outer packaging – while being identically printed with the same seafaring vista did not feature, or cater for, the three-dimensional folded pop-out block at the feet, used to keep the figure’s legs splayed and helping them adopt their usual ready-for-action pose!

Presumably because young American children liked to put small plastic toy accessories in their mouths and thought about swallowing them, the boxes for America also featured a warning concerning small parts and that they weren’t recommended for children under 3.

The display boxes (as like their accessorised adventure outfits) featured a product code order number in bold type, with the first two products in the U.S being numbered ’10 00 01’ for Peg-leg and ’10 00 03’ for Hook, doing little to allay Hook’s understandable insecurities. But as these product codes were used in trade catalogues from the 1974 outset, the peculiar absence of a product represented by a ’10 00 02’ code, indicates that a third figure was originally planned or manufactured, but was postponed.

Other than the European display packing featuring four translations of the marketing blurb into foreign languages on the reverse - French, Italian, German and Spanish - perhaps the most significant difference compared with the U.S version was the prominent placement of the Matchbox registered trademark logo. Whereby on the European packaging the logo appears on the front at the bottom left, in America the trademark is relocated to the very top, sitting upon the main ‘Fighting Furies’ title trademark. The decorative skull and crossbones from the plethora of design assets on the box is then relocated to fill the vacated space at the bottom. These differences might have been inspired by a stronger visual design for the European packaging with the Matchbox logo placed more prominently at the top for the U.S marketing, being interpreted as a valuable asset for brand recognition in this overseas market. However, on the reverse side of the cases the Matchbox logo is again moved to join the Fighting Furies trademark on the U.S versions, encouraging us to speculate that this was in all likelihood due to caution surrounding trademark infringements in the U.S - where the name ‘Fighting Furies’ may well already have been in use - and it was more responsible to avoid any confusion by prepending the product brand with ‘Matchbox’; creating a full product title in the U.S of ‘Matchbox Fighting Furies’. In Europe, where the ‘Matchbox’ brand was strongest, naming the range using the full ‘Matchbox …’ version may well have confusingly implied that the figures were only matchbox sized, as like the toy cars for which they were famous.

Inside the boxes the adventure booklets for each figure varied in layout when comparing the American and European designs, as the states didn’t require the various language translations, but they did still managed to need an additional loose page insert inside the leaflets [the “play action instruction leaflet”] giving instructions on how to use the “press action” button (and which may have been to accommodate the plain Sears packaging which omitted any information).

Interestingly, in the U.S there were the same expected minor design differences as well as some more significant rebadging for all six of the Adventure packs. For the American market, once again the Matchbox logo was relocated to join the main Fighting Furies trademark while the recommendation to “Share the action-packed deeds” is uniquely highlighted in red. The U.S packs also opted to use a more formal language when stating “Adventure booklet inside every pack” instead of the decidedly more relaxed devil-may-care British English of the “Adventure booklet in every pack” version (while most of this U.S packaging also attached the contents to their inlay cards with two textile threads, instead of one). However, U.S consumers were not only exclusively warned about small parts and age suitability, but a third incarnation of the outfit packs designed for the U.S market were inexplicably additionally labelled as a “De-Luxe set”. For example, such a version of The Redcoat Adventure box is labelled on all four sides as “The Redcoat Adventure De Luxe Set” [sic] and is so again, partly as a prominent round purple rondel, on the display box face. This alludes to an anticipation of the forthcoming simpler and more competitively priced blister card ‘Disguise Packs’ (and which ultimately would actually only be released in Europe)? Altogether, with the European version, its U.S variant, the U.S De-lux badged version and the U.S Sears own brand version, there are four variations of Adventure kit packaging in total.

In Europe, 1976’s “The Ghost of Cap’n KIDD” figure enjoyed wonderfully inspired and colourful retail packaging, mimicking the size and dimensions of the Peg-leg and Hook boxes, but with an imaginative repurposing as a coffin! This time there was no plastic window at the front, just a small enticing peephole to see Kidd’s face - if you dare – and the cardboard inner sleeve was cleverly illustrated to represent the lavishly padded inner lining of a conventional coffin. Meanwhile the outer case was illustrated with padlocks and afforded the general appearance of a long wooden chest; leaving us to suppose that an enthusiastic crewman with a conscience had lined the ordinary chest with his best special occasion bedsheets? Children everywhere must also have been impressed by the Arthurian proses of Kidd - if not a little bewildered – and being bluntly introduced to the concept of vengeance and damnation, as the “coffin” features Kidd’s chilling warning from the dead as inscribed inside: “Let my bones lie in the light so that my ghostly skeleton absorbs its power – be WARNED! for I swear to inflict my vengeance upon those who damned me!” Somewhat irresponsibly, this particular warning was not made apparent on the outside of the box, where it would have been easily viewable before committing to a purchase. However, sensible priorities did ensure that any choking hazard warnings were usurped by the much more pressing issue of potential deadly terror. Sparing no ambiguity and in large letters, the outer package exclaims “Be Warned!” and explains that inside this chest lies the deadly terror of the Spanish Main! (Retail staff were unable to explain what “Spanish Main” meant, but everyone got the general gist).

Finally, and with yet another exclamation mark the box excitedly highlights that there are secret instructions inside – plural - but these secret instructions understood their target audience well as they literally consisted of only one short abbreviated sentence: “Let the body lie in the light – to re-energise.”

Curiously, within this same cluster of second-wave 1976 products there was also the Cap’n Kidd’s Treasure (“with working compass”) action pack, accompanied with an illustration of pirates digging up buried treasure chests, with which bore zero relation to any of Kidd’s backstory and would have made perfect sense if this were the Treasure of Captain Blood instead? Thankfully children of the time were prepared to overlook the “long lunches” of 1970s marketing departments. (Although the real-life 17th century Scottish-American Captain Kidd was said to have buried his treasures after a career hired to hunt pirates, only to be hanged for having ‘gone-native’ within the world of piracy).

The additional products – two disguise packs and two action packs – launched on card backed blister packs in 1976 also reveal an unrealised intent to upgrade the main figures with “new gripping hands”, which from the dynamic cartoon illustrations are shown to likely be the redesigned hands borrowed from the new Western Series of figures (also released in 76). With a more semi-clenched handshape - better suited to rapidly drawing single action revolvers – the cowboy hands were different, but never did make it onto the pirate figures as promised; which in turn allows us to venture that no pirate figures were ever actually manufactured after the initial stock intake of 1973/74. (This failed commitment was a particular blow for Hook as he was always keen for any improvement).

Taking onboard the information gleaned from the first product codes, the setting of the series firmly around the Spanish Main (with Peg-Leg seemingly of Hispanic or Mediterranean ethnicity) and the product launching initially in the U.S along with the merchandise renaming for European packaging, there is the potential to wonder if the products might have been conceived by the U.S division of Lesney Products at their 141 W. Commercial Avenue, New Jersey address and not in London as is usually assumed; making the Moonachie offices more than just distributors? Unless of course, these creations were simply conceptualized to have the broadest global appeal in the first place and with a sharp eye on the huge U.S market. Either way, the U.S division had given up on Fighting Furies even before Cap’n Kidd’s Ghost figure was launched and so a convenient deal with Sears the national retailer was arranged for some sell-through.

In the intervening years since, toy figure collecting has erupted and with the help of online sales, many of the U.K/Euro market products have ended up with specialist vintage retailers in the states and vice versa; with buyers unwittingly buying the “wrong” version for their region and private sellers repeatedly sending the alien versions back and forth across the Atlantic.