#The Saga Collection

[the-time-lord-oracle]

In 1998, Hasbro released their Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-wing Fighter (Electronic Power F/X), featuring a new tooling that was larger and more accurate than the former Kenner tooling used hitherto. So good was the tooling that Hasbro went on to use for four subsequent releases; 2002's Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter, 2004's Red Leader's X-wing Fighter(Death Star Trench), 2006's Luke Skywalker's X-wing Fighter and 2008's Wedge Antilles' X-wing Starfighter. These were great toys. I own a 1998 Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-wing Fighter (Electronic Power F/X) and very nice it is too.

[galactic-hunter]

A quickie work-in-progress. I was trying to replicate an old publicity photo using some handy Hasbro and Kenner Star Wars figures from the last 45 years. (Some may be older than me! OK just one may be.) I was trying to replicate an old publicity photo I saw as a kid, see below, of Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi.

The playset is the 2023 Hasbro Boba Fett's Throne Room - but the figures are a mix of vintage Kenner, POTF2, Saga, 30th Anniversary Collection, those 5-jointed Rebels-era guys, The Black Series, The Saga Collection, The Vintage Collection, Power of the Jedi, Saga, The Legacy Collection, and my apologies if I forgot to name-check one.

As you can see, we're close. I probably could've grabbed Hrcheck Kal Fas to stand in for the Saurin. We haven't seen Hasbro try to do the Ugnaughts yet, and I'm not sure who the human creeping in the background is - maybe some guy? I wish we could get a Geezum (Snivvian/Snaggletooth) too.

Looks like I missed Klaatu behind Hermi Odle. Oops. Something for later.

[morganbritton132]

Eddie, posting to Tiktok: Raise your hand if you and your husband had a long discussion about not needing to do renovations to your kitchen every time you’re bored and you both agree that it’s too soon to get new cabinets only for him to get new cabinets anyways. Raise your hand if you’ve ever done that?

Steve: Oh ho ho, Daddy Warbucks, why don’t you tell everybody that your cheap ass has so much money that you didn’t even notice thirty thousand dollars come out of your bank account?

Eddie: You spent thirty thousand dollars on cabinets?

Steve: No…. I spent twenty thousand.

Eddie, accepting facts: When did you even have them installed?

Steve: When your ‘long weekend in Los Angeles’ turned into two weeks

Eddie:

Eddie: Call me daddy again

Steve: No

[viceandmature]

Aziraphale and Crowley + Mature and Vice trophies

[reddpenn]

I got a puzzle for my birthday! c:

[darkenergyslivers]

manas_sum : stunning work by Manas_Iceberg

[dailyfigures]

Konno Junko ; Zombie Land Saga ☆ Good Smile Company

[photosoft0ys]

On Patrol

[geminiwierdo]

My talent

[theconstellarium]

Last Friday, we took in a stray polydactyl cat who had been wandering the neighborhood for weeks with no collar, no microchip, & nobody responding to posts looking for his people.

Well, today he went to the vet & his health checks all came back clean, so he's now an official part of the family! Welcome home, Maruchan! 🥰

(LOOK AT ALL THOSE EXTRA TOES!! BEHOLD THEM!)

[gareleia]

THE KNITTING SAGA BUT HERMES IS A DUMMY

previously: part 1 part 2 part 3

m'kay, so, we've talked about Athena & Telemachus' issues. now let's touch on Hermes, because a Diva™ like him deserves his own post. and also because this had been sitting in my notes for so long i've genuinely forgot about it (i'd say that it's what translating a musical does to you, but honestly my attention span is just shit)

now, as much as I love Soft Boi!Hermes, I even more so love prankster Hermes who doesn't really recognize personal boundaries or the meaning of 'too far'. he's the guy who'll commit to the bit so far, he'll commit mass murder with a Tee-Hee and genuinely wonder what has got everyone so upset.

kid!Telemachus, holding a cup of poison: grandpa, are you sure it's a good idea? I'm scared… Hermes, laughing his ass of in the corner: of course in sure, champ! it'll be hilarious! good ol' game of Ithacean Roulette! now dump it into the wine, let's see who we'll get this time!

at the same time, he's not selfish. he's very keen on doing things for people he likes, and he cares enough to know when someone is distressed. he, as a god, is just so removed from traditional human morality that casual acts of cruelty are perfectly acceptable to him, while, for example, breaking an oath is a horrible sin.

think blue and orange morality stuff.

telemachus, outraged: …murdered his own family, can you imagine? hermes, equally outraged: I know, right? he gave a blood oath and broke it! disgusting! telemachus: why is that your only concern?!

but don't worry, helping to raise Telemachus and hanging around the same people consistently makes a real boy outta him gives him enough time and insight into humanity to start understand mortals better, and, as consequence, adopt some of their values.

especially the concept of spousal loyalty. Hermes is a patron god of thieves, and at the time taking someone's wife was viewed as an act of theft (because women were property, yeeesh). which is why to him Penelope's situation was less of a tragedy and more of "well, my dumbass great-grandson Odysseus should've seen it coming. snooze you lose! ¯_(ツ)_/¯"

that is, until he gets to know her better. and suddenly she's not a prize to be won or a challenge to conquer. she's a smart, capable person that commands respect from anyone who's got a shred of self-awareness. she's got gentle hands, and a radiant smile, and a spine of steel. Penelope looked Hermes dead in the eyes and told him serenely to keep being a good influence on her son, she does not deserve to be reduced to a token and given away to the highest bidder.

hermes, initially: well, penelope's a rich, gorgeous, basically single queen. I'd steal her too if she was my type. hermes, 10 years later: she's the smartest, ballsiest human woman i've ever met and if she only wants her Ugly Ass Groom then she'll fucking stay single until he comes back.

unfortunately for everyone else, Hermes cannot step in to protect her, because Zeus and Poseidon are both pissed at Odysseus already, and if either of them notices Hermes (and Athena) interfering with mortals on Ithaca, they might take it as an invitation to follow suit, and then it'll be Troy Story 2: Electric Boogaloo.

so he stays his hand, and hangs around Telemachus discreetly, mostly posing as a human. for a god of liars, he's surprisingly bad at blending in for long periods of time. Hermes thinks he's an awesome conspirator. meanwhile little Telemachus didn't even realise it was a secret.

the only people who don't know that [insert alias] is a god in disguise are the suitors, who are notoriously either too stupid, too overconfident or too drunk to connect the dots. the exception is Antinous who pretends to be oblivious and makes sure the gods don't see him as a threat to their beloved little pup (otherwise he'd have killed the prince long ago).

the suitors, however, unanimously agree that they hate this weird annoying stranger, and try to get rid of him in increasingly elaborate ways, from poison to stabbing to wild animals to dropping pots on his head.

spoiler alert: it doesn't work.

hermes, next day: *comes back every morning like nothing had happened, whistling cheerily* suitors: WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!

eventually Antinous convinces them to give up so they don't piss off Hermes.

years pass, Telemachus grows. Athena teaches him strategy and arts of war. Aeolus gradually comes out of the hiding and becomes the resident lovable comic relief side character. and Hermes? he teaches the kid all the good stuff.

and it's not just lying, okay? (though it's a signific significant part if it) music, diplomacy, geography, street smarts, some history. he's a worldly god, had observed and been a part of countless cultures. above all else, he knows people. he may not really understand them, but he knows how to get what he wants from them, how to find common ground and how to spin things to get along with practically anyone.

and girls. Hermes helps Telemachus with girls.

because he's the cool uncle figure that Telemachus admires, the kid trusts him enough to ask the god for advice when he starts growing older and gets his first crush in his early teens.

and, on one hand, Hermes is ecstatic. on the other one…

telemachus, blushing and stuttering: there's a girl I met, she's so pretty, and cool, and, and, and how do I talk to her, do I just come up and say hi, but what if sh- hermes: … hermes: *blue screen of death* hermes: MY BABY-

it's the first time he truly starts to grasp how short the kid's life will be. because in the blink of an eye he turned from a newborn to an adolescent, and soon enough he'll have his own family, and Odysseus had become a king himself at this age, and he's not ready it can't be this he can't just grow old and die

so anyway, he pushes the thought aside and pretends it never came up at all (because that always works, and bottling shit up never blows up in anyone's face, right, Athena?)

he gives lots of advice, from useless macho stuff to golden nuggets like "be yourself" and "show her respect". and, of course, he cheers from the sidelines, hiding 'inconspicuously'.

and it goes surprisingly well. the girl appears to find Telemachus' awkward attempts at flirting sweet and charming, and the boy is on the cloud nine.

but Hermes isn't. because, unlike the prince, his judgment isn't clouded by a puppy crush and he can see that the girl is actually a lying bitch, who's playing Telemachus like a fiddle, hoping to become the next queen of Ithaca. and he won't stand for it.

except Telemachus, for some reason, doesn't seen thrilled when Hermes tells him to dump the girl. he flat out refuses to believe that, because love is blind and so are sheltered insecure teenage boys.

so Hermes, in his infinite wisdom, decides to prove to his naive little charge once and for all that the girl is just using him and doesn't actually love him. now, what's the first example of true selfless love from a woman that comes to mind to the god who had spent the last few years hanging out with the royal family of Ithaca? right, Penelope. and the one thing that characterises Penelope is her unconditional loyalty, even into the face of countless threats and temptations.

hermes, to himself: so, if I show the kid that the bitch will leave him as soon as she finds better prospects, he will definitely admit I was right all along! and dump her! it's a perfect, easy, foolproof plan! I am so smart! what could possibly go wrong!

another spoiler alert: everything goes wrong.

the girl does happily jump into his arms as soon as he hints that he's a god/demi-god/just a cooler prince or something. she does it right in front of Telemachus, in fact, so there's no way he'd be able to deny the obvious.

on the bright side, Hermes immediately outs her as a lying bitch and publicly shames her, embarrassing her family and ruining her prospects of marriage and causing her to suffer for the rest of her life ('disproportionate revenge'? what's that?).

on the down side, for some unfathomable reason, Telemachus doesn't seem very grateful??? what???????

hermes: and so, AS ALWAYS, I was right. telemachus: hermes: but please, hold your applause! telemachus: hermes: I did it all for you, out of the goodness of my heart! telemachus: hermes: and please, don't apologize! you were wrong, I get it! no need to- telemachus: *bitch slaps his smug face and runs away, hurt and betrayed* hermes: *shocked pikachu face*

thing is, Hermes doesn't understand what he did wrong. in his mind he did a rather good deed: showed the liar's true colors, and spared the kid a lot of heartache down the line. he doesn't understand the feelings of betrayal from having someone he trusts explicitly outing him as a naive fool in front of everyone he ever dreamed of earning respect from. doesn't get the pain of having been cast aside by someone he liked in favor of a god, with whom he could never compete. can't imagine living in the shadow of someone he had never even known and being constantly reminded of all the ways he's lacking.

telemachus: I'm not a stupid child, hermes. I could've handled it. hermes: but you didn't listen to me, maybe you'd have never seen it on your own- telemachus: and maybe I would've. maybe I would've had the opportunity to find out myself, and maybe I would've learned from it, but you never gave me that choice, did you?! did you think i'm that dumb?! hermes: oh, come on, kid, you're not dumb- telemachus: THEN WHY DO YOU TREAT ME LIKE I AM?! WHY DON'T YOU EVER TRUST ME?!

aaaaand there's the core issue. Telemachus had spent his whole life being babied at best and looked down upon at worst. constantly compared to Odysseus and his more vicious peers, always shielded from making tough decisions and proving himself. he feels like he will never amount to anything, because no one ever lets him really try. as soon as it looks like he's going to make a mistake, someone (usually Athena, Aeolus or Hermes) swoops in and 'fixes' everything for him, just like they used to do when he was an accident-prone toddler. which he isn't anymore.

and Hermes doesn't understand that. to him, ten years is basically nothing. the kid can't have changed that much in ten years. because if he did, then he'll change a lot in the next ten years, and the next, and very soon he won't change anymore, because ten years are nothing and so are human livespans.

ten years are nothing, because to admit otherwise would force Hermes to face the fact that Telemachus, no matter how precious, is just as mortal as any other human. which amounts to basically losing him already. and Hermes can't.

he held that boy as an infant. he fed him, helped to teach him walk and talk and make silly faces. he can't lose this child to time, the one thing even gods can't really protect humans from.

Penelope finds Hermes sitting on her balcony with the most human expression on his face she'd ever seem him wear. he's lost, and confused, and full of regrets, and kind of terrified. in that aspect, he reminds her painfully of her husband.

hermes, mumble: he's growing older penelope, sighing: I know hermes: he's not a baby anymore penelope: believe me, I know hermes: but... what do I do now??? penelope: you let it happen. not much else you can do.

she talks him through it.

hermes, rambling: but I will lose him. I'll lose him if he grows old and dies. this is why I don't get attached to mortals, you die too soon. he can't die now. penelope: he's not going to die now. he'll become the king first, he will find a good wife and have children and grandchildren. he will become great, greater that I and his father could ever dream of. and he'll be happy. don't you want to see that? hermes: I do, but- I don't want him to grow up! penelope: then you finally know the biggest joy and the deepest pain of parenthood.

it doesn't fix his fear. doesn't fix his pain, either. but it does help fix his attitude.

because she's right. Telemachus is growing old, and he can't shelter and protect the boy forever. soon he'll become a man, then an elder. and there's nothing Hermes can do about it, short of dragging the prince to Olympus and begging Zeus to grant him immortality, which will never work.

Hermes and Telemachus make up, of course. the latter knows, deep down, that the former is just trying to take care of him. they make up and forget the fight - at least, the boy does.

Hermes will always remember.

and he will count every day, every wrinkle, every grey hair.

the joy and pain of parenthood indeed.

[emmett-mchearty]

Ya know what pisses me off the most? There are dozens, nay, hundreds of books they could be adapting. So many NEW stories. Children of Blood and Bone? Six Crimson Cranes? Winter's Orbit(gay space odessy, highly recommend)? Fuck, they could even try remaking the adaptations that flopped the first time like they did with Vampire Academy and Shadowhunters. Hell, I'd be ecstatic if they finally released the Maximum Ride movie that never got made.

But why mess with success??? Why reboot a series that did well? Twilight and Harry Potter are iconic pieces of media(albiet problematic). They don't need a reboot. Stop remaking things I beg of you. There is a mountain of new content and all Hollywood execs can do it slap together another remake. It's lazy. Stop it. Get some help.

[barbielore]

A number of media properties have had tie-in Barbies - ranging from classic films to current hot media properties. I have spoken about many of them before, but I can't help myself. I will keep going.

Over the course of a 4 film franchise, Twilight generated... like, a lot of Barbies.

Across the collection there were at least three different depictions of lead girl Bella Swan: human Bella from Twilight, bride Bella from Breaking Dawn 1, vampire Bella from Breaking Dawn 2.

Edward himself was also depicted as the awkward boy vampire from Twilight as well as the groom from Breaking Dawn.

None of these are a particularly good likeness in my opinion, but none of them fall to the comical level of Jacob, who they apparently determined was solely defined by being shirtless.

He just looks... well, naked. I wish they had at least given him a shirt to take off or an open jacket or something. He looks fundamentally unfinished.

But naturally the main three were not the only ones to be represented in Barbie form. Especially as the line continued, more and more supporting characters were released as Barbies.

For example, the rest of the Cullen family (such as Carlisle, pictured above).

Villain Victoria.

And Volturi representativeJane, who was really difficult to find because I couldn't for the life of me remember her name and didn't think "Twilight Barbie girl with hood" was a very good search term.

[luckygoblinnn]

new ice cream flavors from ice cream man frost | february 2023

[tampire]

Iori Yagami with his Teams in King of Fighters 95, 96 and 97 Orochi Saga

[velvetjune]

the nursery rhyme puzzles might be one of my favorite parts of game. They’re one of the aspects of Saga’s storyline that early on introduce the FBC and the theme of fiction with reality that would be an entire case for her, and later a major source of conflict. All the whimsical poems and dolls that are soon revealed to have direct correlation to Saga and her worries. Is it all a coincidence? Was the act of making this art already affected by Saga’s role and that’s why some of the rhymes are personal? It adds to the mystery that’ll likely never be fully answered, and makes Saga and the player uneasy.

Then, the final doll!—the father that looks like a certain talk show host in the dark place, holding his child. Specifically contained away from any other dolls and the witchfinder’s station, but never given a reason why. Of course, there’s a creepy poem repeated over the station paralleling Saga’s life, but I love that it speaks of the father, Door, keeping an eye on and trying to protect the hero, Saga.

Naturally, Campbell, the annoying FBC researcher, was listening in and wanted to see Saga face the consequences of opening a threshold and seeing what comes through the “doorway.” Only for him to die (?) instead. Such a classic mad scientist ending; It’s comically funny after the haunting mystery of the station. While it could simply be him being sent or consumed by the Dark Place, the chance that it could be Mr. Door watching Campbell try to sabotage his daughter and opening a door for Campbell to face whatever Horrors of the dark place is. so good. What a conclusion to what seemed like a fairly nonsensical puzzle side quest.