#four more pieces of promo art to go !

[pluckingstarsoffmoontrees]

https://x.com/clamp_ex/status/1763217703748415588

[thecrowsart]

people: omg we finally get to see hyper! me: omg we finally get to see more angles of kusuriuri's clothes! observations and (A LOT OF) ranting under the cut:

1.)

The inside sleeve design has been revealed! It's pretty similar to the outside design but instead of that four-petal design, it's a gold circle. Also, it looks like the large eye is shared by both sides, but based on how the sleeve looks in other images, it must be really really big..... I guess they can get away with it lol. Like, if you laid out the sleeve fabric, I think it would look like this:

2.)

THE BACK OF HIS OBI. What the hell kinda knot is this actually... like, does anyone here know about obimusubi because I'm not very good at knots but if it comes down to it I will learn how this works. I already thought this based on the promo art but it seems like his obi fabric is double-sided, with purple on one side and the check pattern on the other, with a red trim. That lighter salmon color in the knot seems to be a different fabric, maybe an obiage? It's not tucked into the front so I'm not sure if that's the right term, but in any case it's some kind of extra fabric. If the purple and check are really one piece of fabric, then the knot is like... a hitch? It's some kind of one-loop bow, and it's quite bulky so he might have an obimakura in there. Whatever it is, it's considerably more elaborate than OG Kusuriuri's obi, which was that red brocade just tied into a large crooked bow. Who is helping movie Kusuriuri get dressed in the morning? (I'm sure he can do it himself and I commend him for the dedication to the aesthetic lol).

3.)

His mirror is now kept looped around this thick cord that kind of comes out of nowhere and disappears into his obi. First of all, how is the mirror staying up like that since the string is only looped once. Second, the thick white cord looks the same as the one that comes out of the left side of his obi and loops around his back, but I'm not sure how they would connect. Logically, they probably are the same cord and it goes through his obimusubi somehow. 4.)

This one was actually noticeable in the very first trailer as you can tell, since the second screenshot is from that trailer, but I somehow never noticed it until now. Kusuriuri has neck markings now! In a different frame I caught a glimpse of the part that goes into his collar, it looks like a circle, though it's not visible in either of these screenshots. But from the first screenshot and some other frames I saw, it looks somewhat off-center. I wasn't sure if it was just a weird frame at first, but it looks consistent the few other times (time?) that part of his neck is visible. It looks like the strip of red that leads down to the circle curves off to the left rather than going straight down the center. I didn't realize this before but his neck is actually concealed in most of the promo images.

5.)

A better look at the back of his socks, plus two things that were visible this whole time but I didn't notice: first, his black leggings have this folded layer you can probably see on top. I'm not sure how to describe it and I don't know exactly how it works. It seems weird to me that he would have three sock layers (outer black, inner black, white), so I think the two black layers are probably still part of the same sock. I'm just not sure exactly what's up with it. Secondly, his geta have metal corners on the teeth! I don't think I've seen that on real geta, so maybe it's just a random detail, but if it's a thing on some real geta, I wonder if it's to keep the wood from wearing away there. Also another think I'm just noticing, there's a reinforcing wedge of wood under the front part of his geta that overhand the front tooth. You can see it a little in the second image.

Overall, that's all the new design stuff I noticed. Since I just drew him twice and spent like all day thinking about this, I've realized his design is way more elaborate than the original one. He has a bunch of little doodads, like the ties around his ankle or that decorative tie that comes out of his ohashori:

which still bothers me because I've never seen the back of it. Where are those strings going. And how is it secured in the first place? is it tied or pinned underneath his ohashori, like on the tie under the obi (not sure if there's a name for it)? What is it? Why does he have this here?

These details as well as things like the corners and wedge on his geta, the red trim on the obi and the check pattern, and his elaborate eye make up are all design elements that could never really have worked for a tv show. It's impressive to me even that OG Kusuriuri had that hand drawn brocade texture and the designs on his kimono that he did. It's the type of thing animators usually avoid, lol.

I like the movie design visually, but my god is it a pain in the ass to draw. Due to the aforementioned details of course and the wider variety of colors. Oh yeah, my last (for real) observation is that this Kusuriuri looks a lot less human than our OG friend. His skin is entirely whitish-grey, and he has that white/purple and red hair, and now he has markings on his neck instead of just on his face. (Unrelated but I feel like they made his lip tattoo less prominent and it makes me sad because it's one of my favorite things about Kusuriuri's design). But Hyper, from that very small glimpse we caught of him, looks more mundane than the original. I think it's the combination of his black hair and his markings being red instead of gold. I wonder what the rest of him will look like.... It was interesting to me that his face is drawn differently from Kusuriuri. In the TV anime, they have the same face shape and features, but their hair and coloring is different. And OG Hyper had a slightly different version of Kusuriuri's clothes. We can't see this new Hyper's clothes, but his face is more square looking. He looks like a different person... interesting lore implications.

Okay, I really must stop there.

[genericpuff]

The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere

Alright, so I had mentioned leading up to the release of the newest LO episode that my feelings regarding LO returning were pretty "meh". Not hyped, but not completely back of mind either. Just sort of a weird calm before the storm type feeling that could go either way.

I'm glad I got to have that moment of calmness because good god, this episode was an absolute shitshow. And honestly, I'm not surprised, for several reasons:

Rachel has never been good at maintaining a buffer, even back at the start of the series she only ever had 2-3 episodes ready ahead of her schedule which is NOT an ideal buffer for an originals series.

Rachel has never been good at writing, she's very "draw first write later" and has stated as such in interviews that when she gets 'stuck' on what she's writing, she'll just start drawing and fit the pieces in later.

Four months is NOT enough time to both rest, attend massive conventions, and work on improving a project while also getting buffer episodes ready.

Because of the FP episodes remaining locked over the hiatus, technically Rachel only needed to have ONE episode ready upon return for the newest FP release, not multiple like she'd usually need like in the past during the S2 midseason hiatus or the season finale episodes which would unlock those FP releases like normal - so for all we know, she could have drawn this episode literally last week, especially when the promo material was so last minute. Frankly I think it was REALLY stupid for whoever it was who decided to keep these FP episodes locked (whether it was her or WT, it was more likely WT) but you can read all I have to say about that in my review of the midseason finale episodes.

All that's to say, no, there was never any guarantee Rachel was going to somehow "turn around" the ride we're currently on. I know that many of the critics were hoping for that to happen, but with the circumstances of the hiatus mixed with Rachel's bad habits of putting her best efforts into the procrastination projects that aren't her actual comic (ex. the few original pieces and LO sketches she put out during the hiatus) it just wasn't in the cards. This is where the comic is at and this is where it will remain until it's over.

I want to also point something out about this episode that was... really glaring to me.

As with all of these hiatus returns, LO got priority advertising in the first two banner slots and push notifications AND a popup ad within the app. This is unsurprising, Webtoons is still trying to milk this thing for what it's worth.

I know a lot of people are gonna focus on the art, or the fact that WT is continuing to shill LO, but I wanna point out the part that WT implemented specifically - "NEW SEASON".

This is literally just false. At best I'd like to think some intern just messed up and thought this was a new season, but it's literally not, the episode designation still says "S3". Note that the creators only design the banner art, the actual labels on top are put there by Webtoons.

But at worst, this feels like blatant lying to continue to hide the fact that LO is ending. Mind you, Rachel and Webtoons have still not put out official posts stating that this is the final arc. There is NOTHING from either of them to communicate to the audience that the comic is ending next year. It feels like they're trying to avoid the topic altogether out of fear of losing the fanbase they still have, rather than hyping up the comic's end for those who have stuck around to see how it all wraps up. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, considering they're now trying to funnel the fanbase into Penguin/Inklore with new marketing deals and the whole Rachel Smythe Presents thing. They're trying to make this seem like the beginning of something "new" when it's really just a quiet shifting of management (Penguin House).

But all that aside, let's actually get into the episode. It's one episode after 4 months, which is not standard for LO's hiatuses, typically FP episodes release on schedule (meaning free readers start hiatuses 3 weeks after FP readers do), the only time this has been an exception has been with the 2 week breaks because the whole point of those was to build a buffer (which you can't do if you're going ahead and releasing the FP episodes anyways). For extended hiatuses like these, usually free readers still get their FP episodes, but that wasn't the case here. That means Rachel technically only needed one episode ready for the comic's return, and it shows. It really fucking shows.

FROM HERE ON OUT THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS REGARDING EPISODE 254. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!!

As per tradition, we get a title that means nothing at all. It just says what we already know.

Our collective husband Zeus is dying, no thanks to the poison cupcake fed to him by Apollo. For those who don't remember, Apollo had tricked Zeus into eating the cupcake by making him believe it was from Hebe. We are fully aware that it was Apollo who poisoned him. Remember that for later in this review.

Right off the bat we're off to a hilarious start, both with a cryptid appearance from Apollo in the background (lmao) who is, for some reason, ALREADY returning to the scene of the crime he just committed because... who knows at this point. Apollo and Psyche know it was Apollo at this point, I might add, but I have no clue why Apollo is actually returning to the scene of the crime when he has no idea Eros and Psyche know.

Moving on from that, can we talk about this hilarious dialogue?

"We have to call a doctor! Let's call Asclepius!"

"No, we can't trust him! Gosh darn it, why are we only bothering to think of ONE doctor in this universe where we've seen more than one doctor?? Guess Zeus is just gonna die! What a horribly contrived situation this is!"

And that's literally how I can best describe most of this episode. Contrived. There is a LOT of manufactured drama in this that makes ZERO sense even on a surface level.

And what do you mean exactly, Eros? "What a terrible system!" Is this supposed to be a joke? Lampshading? We've seen Persephone go to the gynecologist. There are non-god doctors who tend to gods all the time here.

Eros just doesn't seem to be that pressed over this, he sounds like Ned Flanders and that's NOT a good way to open up a scene like this... let alone an episode people have been waiting four months for.

Anyways, after a few pointless reaction panels (again remember I have to cut a lot of what I show here for Tumblr image limitations but I promise you, I'm keeping as much important stuff as I can in this, there's just THAT MUCH filler at this point), Eros and Psyche confront Apollo and he is... good god.

There is... so much to unpack here.

First of all, remember those theories about how Rachel was clearly trying to write Apollo as this "secret twist villain" the whole time but it doesn't work because Apollo is simultaneously written as both a 'conniving villain' and a massive dumbass at the same time?

Well, I finally have a more appropriate term for him. He's your average red pill redditor - someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else when really all he does is sit on reddit all day using big words incorrectly in arguments he gets himself into with a bunch of equally-air-headed dumbasses.

"You can't possibly understand the nuances of the Olympian political system," Apollo said proudly, a man who had, ironically and obliviously, run for president in a monarchy. The union of kettle and pot is eternal.

He's the Slappable Jerk but instead of it being a painfully hilarious impression, it's just painful and hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

this is so stupid because it's 1.) Eros pointing out how obvious Apollo's plan was, despite Apollo acting smart two seconds ago with a goddess who, mind you, has been a goddess for ten years, and 2.) patricide isn't even intrinsically linked to politics, there's nothing 'political' about a guy trying to kill his dad except in, idk, a monarchy, which again, Apollo has spent ten years trying to rise to power in as a president which is a completely different form of government.

If I wanted to be really granular with this, I'd like to think Apollo is making some kind of point about the critics who call out LO's whack as fuck political system (especially in the trial arc) - as if he's saying "well you're just a stupid reader and this is fantasy where you don't understand exactly what political system we're using, so shut the fuck up you stupid twig" - but I don't think it's meant to be that deep. I think it's just Rachel trying to write a smart character and then failing at it because she, herself, is not a smart writer. And I'm really inclined to believe that more than the theory about this being some kind of meta-narrative about the critics because this entire plotline is contrived and stupid down to its core.

I did not cut anything out here, that's the pacing. Leto literally just appears out of nowhere and uh oh spaghettio's, she has Kassandra! Remember Leto? The character we were led to believe was truly "pulling the strings" until she disappeared from the story completely after she realized that Apollo and Persephone weren't a thing, even going so far as to call out her own son for being a fucking dumbass? Well, she's back and once again she's being involved as some kind of "double agent" in this whole thing, even though we literally haven't seen her since halfway through S2.

"Mm yes, you're so stupid, falling into my trap! Even though you had no reason to remember Kassandra anyways because she's literally a mortal woman you just met and you yourself have committed acts of violence against mortals without a shred of care! I'm so smart! My plan is all coming together!"

We've never seen Apollo do anything except cry and poop his pants, the closest he got to being "powerful" was his attempts to murder Daphne (who he seems to have forgotten about in this "master plan" of his) but ultimately he's literally just a piss ant baby and there's no reason to believe that he could somehow outmatch the God of Love who can literally manipulate people's emotions and states of mind with his arrows. But yeah sure go off, you're so powerful and smart.

The worst part is, I can't even buy this as the narrative trying to be like "see how manipulative and conniving he is?" because it's just silly. We've SEEN this man cry with his victim complex, we've seen him say and do the DUMBEST things that don't lend to any amount of "intelligence" he may have, it comes across less as him being "smart the whole time" and more as him trying to sound smart but ultimately sounding incredibly stupid. And I can't even immerse myself into it and buy that maybe that's the point, because it doesn't feel like the point, it just feels like inconsistent writing, he doesn't feel like a 'threat', he's just monologuing.

Bad art and Apollo literally just repeating what Leto already implied so this is a waste of the audience's time.

This is the funniest panel in the whole episode because I can't tell if Apollo is supposed to be in the background (for some reason, despite him literally being in front of Eros and Psyche two seconds ago) or if he's in the foreground and just REALLY small for some reason. This is so off-putting. And of course, it's just Apollo explaining what we're ALREADY SEEING ONSCREEN.

You see, in addition to this episode being contrived, it also talks down to its audience a LOT by explaining exactly what we're seeing onscreen. It's like Rachel saw the criticisms about her not including enough to depict what's actually going on in her head and so she thought the solution was to spoon feed information over pictures that are already doing the job of explaining what's going on. Rachel really doesn't know how to write and even when she tries to implement changes that reflect criticisms that have been made of her writing, she somehow makes things worse because she completely misses the point of what those criticisms are trying to get across.

Anyways, without even trying to resist (for some reason) Eros and Psyche get sentenced to horny jail.

They're now trapped in a basement that Leto somehow has in her home. How do we know that?

HAHAHA FUNNY LAMPSHADING SO FUNNNYYYYYYY

Leto claims that they shouldn't try to escape because the dungeon is "enchanted", but she doesn't even bother to explain what that means. So they literally don't bother trying. They don't try to call her bluff, they don't try to teleport out of there, they literally just go "well shoot", shrug their shoulders, and accept their fate. Just like with the whole "we can't trust the only doctor we bothered to think of" situation, Eros and Psyche are turning out to be some of the stupidest, lowest-effort characters in this comic who literally can't be bothered to try because that would require too much brain power.

Notice how much time we've spent on this and we haven't gotten back to where the cliffhanger of the last episode left off? Well buckle up because there's still more to cover.

So it turns out Hebe was still inside with her dad, in FULL VIEW of what was going on through glass which is somehow COMPLETELY soundproof, and when Apollo steps inside, she just has no idea what happened. She never bothered to even look outside to see what was going on with Eros and Psyche, she's just been sitting on the floor staring at Zeus' dead face for what was likely several minutes, unless Rachel is seriously trying to convince us that conversation and hostage negotiation from earlier only took 2 seconds. The timeline is such a mess at this point that characters basically freeze in place as soon as they're not the focus of the scene.

Apollo rushes inside, acting shocked over the situation, and when Hebe asks where Eros and Psyche are (again, she could have just looked out the window at any time), he's just like "dur idk they just left lol" which Hebe just... buys, I guess.

That's just Persephone but yellow. She's even missing her beauty mark.

See how Apollo put his hand on Zeus' chest/shoulder by the way?

Apparently, despite Mr. Smarter Than Everyone Else trying to pretend it wasn't him, he's able to discern that Zeus is dying from a toxic and rare poison just from touching him. He doesn't even really seem to use his powers, he just touches him and goes "welp he's dead i guess lol don't bother asking me how I know that".

But oh nooo remember that note from before? Well gasp Apollo's gonna use it to frame Hebe! In front of no one else at all!

Hebe of course says she didn't write it, but Apollo continues to try and frame her anyways, even though, again, there's no one else present here, and so it effectively just becomes the most absurd form of gaslighting I've ever seen.

Again, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE IN THE SCENE. He's just trying to claim she did it to absolutely no one at all, in the hopes of... what exactly? That she'll just take the fall for something she knows she didn't do? That she'll somehow be convinced? It's not like Hebe has the same thing going on as Persephone where she has a 'wrathful dark side' he could pin it on, this is just a criminal who just robbed a building pointing at the first person they see and yelling "YOU DID IT!"

All I'm saying is that Apollo would be really bad at Among Us. He'd be the type of player to kill someone, hit the report button, then claim yellow did it which, even if he DID convince the rest of the team, would still get kicked anyways as soon as yellow was proven through the eject to not be the imp and everyone would go "okay cool so yellow wasn't the imp, that means obviously it's purple self-reporting." It's a trick that doesn't even work anymore because of how old it is. Hebe isn't a child here, she's an 18 year old woman who should be fully capable of raising an eyebrow and wondering why Apollo is this quick to accuse her - almost like he's trying to hide the fact that he did it.

But Hebe can't catch onto this, just like Eros and Psyche, she has to act stupid for the sake of the plot.

At first I thought maybe Rachel was trying to do some "whodunit" scenario, but that doesn't work here because we already know who did it. And while there are stories that exist like that that pull it off (ex. Knives Out) the problem with trying to do this the way Rachel did is that the person being framed has to have this thing called motive. The reason why Knives Out and Glass Onion work so well is because the person who was murdered (or conspired against) is someone who is being targeted by multiple people who could all be the murderer. It's quite literally called out in Glass Onion as a form of smart lampshading. "It's like putting a loaded gun on the table, and turning off the lights."

But it doesn't work here because Hebe does not have motive. If you're going to attempt to frame a murder on someone, it has to be someone who would have reasonable motive to commit that murder, even if they didn't actually commit it.

And who among Zeus' children has motive?

What about the war-mongering bloodthirsty god of war who has been regularly sentenced to time in the Mortal Realm to fight in wars in which he's been regularly injured?

What about the chaos-seeking wrathful goddess who would do it to get revenge on the parental figure who cast her aside, or even just for the fun of saying she did it?

Why try and pin it on Hebe, the doting daughter of Zeus who's only had a collective of maybe 20 panels in the entire comic?

But then I realized... it's not Knives Out, it's the fucking Lion King.

Which is just as contrived - if not more - than the assumption this was gonna be some attempt to frame Hebe. It's not. He's literally just trying to keep her from assuming it was him. He could have just as easily played dumb without calling attention to the note but he intentionally went out of his way to try and be Scar from The Lion King , while completely missing the point of why that scene worked in the original movie.

Scar wasn't trying to 'frame' Simba for Mufasa's murder. He was trying to hide the murder, while also attempting to get the only heir to the throne out of the picture, so he passed the guilt of the death onto Simba - a child who, unlike Hebe, wouldn't have the ability to rationalize or realize his uncle his a scumbag - who then ran away from home because he was too terrified to face his family for what happened, assuming that it was all his fault when it wasn't.

That's not how this is panning out here. Hebe is the now 18 year old daughter of Zeus, and not one of his only children. She doesn't even fit into the whole "sons overthrowing their fathers" prophecy like Aries would. Apollo is literally just being a big idiot here by saying "well I'm gonna give you a headstart to run away, because if you stay, I might hurt you" (which btw, should be MORE of a smoking gun that Apollo did it??)

And again, it's all so contrived so that the plot can move forward. "Well I'm going to frame you for this murder, but y'know, you should just leave, I'm not gonna try and press it further lmao"

Again, Apollo is a fucking idiot here, because he just attempted to frame someone who has NO MOTIVE to harm Zeus, to absolutely NO ONE at all who would side with him, only to let her go which would leave her to question why Apollo would try to accuse and harm her in the first place before considering other options. And through ALL this he claims he's the smart one, which I can't even be bothered to "love to hate" because it's written so poorly.

And really it all comes down to how everyone else behaves in relation to Apollo that makes it so stupid and unbelievable. Apollo, you're not smart just because all the characters around you are intentionally being written to be as stupid and non-confrontation as possible. If you can only write a smart villain by making everyone else stupid, you haven't written a smart villain, you've written a dumbass whose victory only happens due to contrived plot convenience. It's not even done well like in Glass Onion, it's just bad writing, full stop.

And who does he call to report this emergency? The satyr police? His son the doctor?

No.

The media. Literally just "hello, the media?? I need your best journalist here stat!"

I need you to understand, even if he were calling a tabloid magazine like The Weekly Nark, you don't just... call a journalist to report a murder. These are not the actions of someone who's trying to absolve himself of guilt, these are the actions of a complete dumbass trying to get news coverage of his trophy kill who would be better off just playing dumb instead of trying to play smart. Even Walter White wasn't this fucking stupid despite all the times he fell on his own sword, Apollo is literally just instigating suspicion towards himself for no reason at all. He's self-reporting so hard and worst of all, you can't even take any of this seriously because of how corny it is. There's no dramatic tension, no stakes, it's just a bunch of characters performing in a really bad stage play and reducing every conflict to "well I guess Zeus is just dead now because no one's bothering to make an effort to stop Apollo or ask questions lmao"

It's truly the epitome of "this plot wouldn't exist if characters would just talk to each other."

But finally, FINALLY we mention the thing this episode is named after, the transition point to Persephone.

Just like with the midseason finale episode, there's a lot to cover here, so I'm gonna get more into it in a part two post.

That said, you can see already this is the messiest, most contrived bullshit to ever wind up in LO. It's trying so hard to be smart and it just comes across as a bunch of toddlers in the world's worst stage play rendition of Clue. None of what was done here was in any way dramatic or tense, it's just a bunch of characters infodumping shit we already know, trying to set up new plot threads that don't make any sense, and allowing one another to get away with what they're doing because they don't bother to even try.

It's completely manufactured, contrived nonsense. It's not "smart", it's not "so dumb it's brilliant", it's just dumb.

[animehouse-moe]

A Suruga-Ya International Buyer's Guide

As Japan catches up with the times, more and more businesses become aware of the potential in overseas business. Because of that, storefronts like Suruga-Ya end up appearing as options for fans of Japanese only merchandise or items.

I am one such fan of Japanese merch and items, so of course I put in an order (with free shipping on a promo!) in. I've since gotten that order and thought I'd provide a bit of a buyer's guide for people interesting. The buyer's guide will include:

How To Purchase From Them

What You Can Purchase

Sales and Coupons

Warnings and Forewords

Shipping and Packaging

My Shopping Experience

So, without further ado, I'll get to explaining!

How Do You Buy From Suruga-Ya?

Link To The Website Here

There's two ways, the "traditional", and the "new" (how I purchased this order). The traditional is purchasing through their JP/domestic website via a proxy, while the new is shopping via their global website.

Now, it might sound like a no brainer for international people to shop via the global site, but as I'll explain later on there's a few cases/reasons where using a proxy is the more reasonable, and even times cheaper option.

Finding Items

Well, it's no CDJapan, I'll say that. Suruga-Ya's global website is propped up by almost exclusively Machine Translation. That means that the translations for some items can be really weird, like Yuta Okkotsu becoming Yuta Otsubone. Similarly, Jujutsu Kaisen gets translated to Sorcery Fight, and the translation struggles with correctly translating names (specifically those that are hiragana/katakana)

Tips For Better Searches

Limit number of keywords (instead of Yuta Okkotuse, just Yuta)

Search for JP names and literal TLs (e.g Sorcery Fight instead of Jujutsu Kaisen) as well

Search using the JP website, find the desired item, copy the item ID and search on the global site using that (more info later)

What Can You Buy?

The answer to that question is, "pretty much everything under the sun". They carry everything so long as it's not illegal to import/export. Models, figures, tapestries, art books, manga, acrylics, keychains, the list just goes on and on. About the only thing that is very clearly absent is R18 Doujins (regular ones are still available).

One thing that's really nice is that they've created "storefronts" for popular brands/titles. Pokémon, Studio Ghibli, One Piece, and Sailor Moon are just a few of the examples present on the website. It can be really helpful when you're a fan of something specific like that considering how challenging searching for something can be.

Deals and Coupons

This is the big one, the make or break for pricing. Suruga-Ya will, more often than not, have a promotional campaign going on for the global site. In fact, in the last 2 months there's been 5 weekends of free shipping. It's a crazy deal, and about the only way that international people will order from them.

If you want to keep up with promotional material though, they only post it on the website as an announcement, or on their Facebook page.

Warnings and Forewords

Buying from anywhere online comes with a caveat, the price is high, the shipping is slow, so on and so forth. Suruga-Ya is no exception to that and features four aspects that potential buyers should be aware of before making a purchase.

1. Commission Fee

All purchases are subject to a commission fee of 500Yen. Not terrible by any means, but it's an extra couple of bucks on an order that you might not have been aware of initially. To put it in perspective, Buyee takes out a "service fee" every time you make a purchase through their proxy service. It's effectively standard practice for these international orders, and you could argue that it takes the place of "tax" when shopping with them.

2. No Protective Packaging/Package Filler

What you see is what you get. This was all that was in box 1 of my order. It does keep the items from moving around too much during shipping, but it still doesn't do anything to prevent damage or any harm coming to the items. It's especially an issue given that Suruga-Ya's boxes aren't super well fitted to the orders that fill them. I think when ordering cheap stuff like I did it's not a major concern, but for stuff like figures or other delicate items it's an issue. I'm hoping that they'll add a protective packaging option at checkout in the future for that reason.

3. Prices Differ Between Websites

Once more, this is a common practice, and this is why proxy services can be worth it. They're not massive differences, but it certainly begins to accrue as a "foreigner tax". Furthermore, item availability differs between the sites. That is, you can find some things on the JP site, but not the global one. I reached out to customer support regarding that, and they stated that they plan to bring all legally importable/exportable items over to the global site, it's just that it will take time.

4. Items Are Used

For people that have done proxy orders before, that's not any sort of surprise. But for some items it's worth taking note of, especially in terms of price. For example, say that instead of 2,250Yen this art book was more like 2,500Yen. Well, as it turns out, the retail price on Amazon Japan for the art book is a hair over 2,500Yen (2,530). In those cases, buyers may want to look at other options for the item in "new" condition elsewhere if they're wary of used items.

However, "used" in Japan is very different from "used" in somewhere like North America. Night and day, really. Later on I'll show what I got, and hopefully reaffirm buyers that "used" can basically mean "like new" with stuff like art books, and that they're absolutely worth purchasing.

Shipping

It's fast, damn fast at that. With free shipping that's great, but for people looking to save money when there's not an active campaign you might struggle as DHL and EMS are the only shipping options offered by Suruga-Ya. No surface or sea mail to save a good chunk of change, so definitely be aware of the cost of shipping when making an order without a promo to cover the cost somewhat.

Packaging

I got two packages (because I ended up making two orders, also please ignore the weird stretch Tumblr applied to the image), and these are my short form thoughts on it:

Boxes are not sturdy/solid and have caved and dented in a few spots

Items are secure, but not necessarily safe

Box sizes can be too large for some orders, allowing them to move around too much

No reinforcement to corners isn't great

Overall, you get what you pay for, and for free shipping it's not the worst. Certainly not what I'd want to be paying for when paying shipping though.

My Purchases

As per usual, I largely got art books and some JP manga I've been collecting. Though more important than that is the elephant in the room. All of these items are used, but for the vast majority you'd never know. A lot of them came in plastic bags that were sealed, rathe typical of JP items which is really nice. Great condition, no signs of wear, and proper storage, it's hard to really call these things "used" all that often. However, there are exceptions.

Used Items

I received two items that could be considered "used" in the typical sense. The first is some volumes of manga that had yellowed due to age or exposure to direct sunlight, and the other is a crease/bend in the corner of an art book. Neither are severe damages or deal breakers (for me) at their price, but they're things to take note of as not everything will be perfect. Another thing to note though is I have no way of knowing if the damage to the art book was there from the beginning or happened during transit due to lack of protection.

My Experience

Keeping it short, I'll summarize my thoughts on the order from start to finish.

Searching and filtering isn't as easy as it should be

Prices are really good, but lack of description (both in regards to content and condition) can deter potential buyers

Checkout process needs some work (can't get a shipping estimate until you provide a payment method)

Shipping is incredibly quick

Packaging is questionable and cause for concern with more delicate items

Customer service is nice, but accessing them is odd (only through apps like WhatsApp or Line)

Stickers placed directly on books is a massive no-no

Overall, I'd buy from them again with conditions.

Why/When To Buy

There's a few requirements to really make Suruga-Ya worth it. Deals, more specifically free shipping (usually), is a must to make the purchase worthwhile. You could probably get away with paying shipping and getting a good deal if they JP prices weren't cheaper than the global site, but they are. Because of that, the "extra cost" can add up quite quick if there's not a sale or something to offset it. Continuing on the topic of "extra cost", their ability between sites (currently) differs. Because of that, the quantity of items you can order differs as well, which can lead to "smaller" order sizes which can increase the relative cost due to shipping. And lastly, there's no order storage. If the product lists were consistent that wouldn't be an issue, but we're dealing with used items, these things come and go quite frequently. Really want an item but can't fill out a full order? Better hope that the item doesn't sell.

So, all in all, the conditions for buying from the Suruga-Ya global site are:

Deals/free shipping

Enough items to meet reasonable order size to save money (if no free shipping)

Pretty simple, but still important to remember

In The End

If you can field a sizeable order from the global website and there's a deal running, it's probably the best deal you'll find (but still check). If not though, look at buying through the JP site via proxy. There's less stress in maximizing the order, you can sit on the items in warehouse, and you can even combine with other sites. You just won't get free shipping. And I really do have to stress that that's the biggest selling point for buying from the global site. So keep your eyes out for those specials!

[ravenstargames]

✦ Lost in Limbo Devlog #2 | 02.28.23

It is time for our second devlog! 💜 🎉 We made it!

Sadly and as we anticipated, February has been a hell of a month, and March is promising to be the same. I'm mostly glad we made it through. We have a lot of work to do as the trimester comes to an end and there's a considerable amount of things due to before March ends in regards to our intensive master. The team and I are a bit on the stressed side, but we'll make it.

Let's see what our overworked and exhausted souls have managed to pull off this month, shall we?

Warning: Seyl is lacking sleep. The amount of typos and oopsies in this devlog may be higher than usual. Apologies in advance!

Raquel started to fix some sprites this month as we had planned, starting with Neela, the second supporting character you'll meet in the demo, who needs a bigger revamp than the rest of LIs. The three characters left without a sprite already have their character sheets and moodboards done, so that's something! We do not want to spoil anything from the character department as we think it's cooler to meet them with their info sheet and with their sprites polished and pretty, so we are hoping we can speed up the process during March!

One of our goals this month was to do some promo art for Valentine's day, and we somehow managed! Special thanks to Raquel who was very excited and invested on this wonderful piece of Xal! 💜

I also worked on the Valentine's cards last minute and just for the funsies, so I really didn't expect them to be as well received as they were! Thank you all so much!

A bit of lore here: Raquel, Astro and I have a class assignment due in March where we have to fully design and render two backgrounds—one interior and one exterior. It's a ton of work, but luckily both Raquel and I have had the chance to orient at least one of those backgrounds to Lost in Limbo.

Raquel is working on Amon's office (and it's looking so great already!) and I'm doing an isometric view of Ara's room. We are always looking for ways to work on the game while doing our master's assignments, but it's not always possible. Hopefuly we can also work on two exterior backgrounds for the demo with this assignment!

A very simple man, Amon is. Can't you tell by how minimalist his office looks already? *cue laugh track*

This is just a sliver of our flowchart's power! You shall tremble!

This month has been more about planning than writing for me. Remember last devlog when I said I wanted to do some tweaks to the demo script? Well, I have at least been able to properly think about it and draft it. The only thing left is writing it down and implement it to the current script to see how it flows. There'll be even more changes (again) because I have some THOUGHTS (again), and I'm really excited about them. It's adding more content of each LI to the demo to balance things a bit.

I have also been doing some cleaning to our lore documents and I have finally sat down to write every little piece of story from Lost in Limbo in 'chronologic order', more or less. It will help me to always have the bigger picture in mind when writing the routes, and I would love to have everything important settled before the demo release. It's a loooooot of information—not only about the characters and their past overall, but about the world, its many systems, its people...It'll be equally fun and stressful!

In the programming department it has been all about adjusting positions, sprites and definitions to make all the characters fit properly in different scenarios as I code more of the script. Solo, with two characters in screen, with three, with four... It has been a ride (and still is, because I have not finished yet) but it's very rewarding to see everything starting to fall into place. I have also tested more things, like the CGs, the animated backgrounds or some cool transitions! I can't wait to implement the GUI when it's done, uuugh!

Just three besties going to the forest in the middle of the night. Nothing to see here.

This month we have an amazing preview of our GUI! It's still cooking, but we hope we can show you the finished version very very soon! We are soooo excited about it, it's looking perfect so far. There's a few changes to make, but we wanted to at least show you a screen so you can have an idea of how the game will look like!

We want to add more options like a dyslexic font, a skip mode that jumps directly to the next choice without having to wait for all the text to be skipped, and more utility / accessibility options!

Lost in Limbo and Ravenstar's color? Not purple, of course. Why do you ask?

This month hasn't been as productive as we would have wanted it to be, but we have managed to still get some progress done. We are begging for March to give us a bit of freedom, specially mental because we honestly need it. It has been difficult to deal with the pressure of our studies and the weight we place on our shoulders wanting to dedicate as much time as we want to LiL. It's frustrating! But we'll get there. Baby steps, as they say!

Exciting things are on the horizon, that is for sure. This devlog has been a bit short and I'm honestly exhausted, so I'll free you! Thank you so much for reading and for your unending support. We are incredibly thankful for all of you! 💜

[samobservessonic]

I’m just going to post this News Zone page in its entirety, because the information we get here is too good to crop…

…It’s Amy Rose!

One of the best-known StC characters being mentioned for the first time, in an article that probably had no idea then how prominent she’d become to the comic. The article mentions four new Sonic games in the works, but is only allowed to talk about two of them at this time - Sonic Spinball and Sonic CD. I’m not sure what “hedgehog-delicious” eyes are and I don’t think I want to know, but the article boasts that Amy is being introduced as Sonic’s girlfriend, though even back then they weren’t sure that Sonic would return those affections This image is all they have of Amy right now and it’s interesting to see that it’s this particular piece of promo art where Amy’s head is angled at a way that make her spikes look like that, since as we all know, StC Amy had that upwards spike style right up until the Sonic Adventure arc at the end of the series. It’s probable that the reason for that was because of this art Another interesting little fact is that Ray is mentioned! Though not that he’s a flying squirrel. The team don’t know what Ray is at this time or if the game featuring him will even reach the UK. Since Ray doesn’t appear in StC and Mighty’s later inclusion is based on Knuckles Chaotix, it seems unlikely that we’ll be hearing more about Ray in the comics. But it’s interesting that he was even mentioned here, since I always thought the StC team just didn’t know about Ray

Lastly, there’s a mention of rumoured characters appearing in the then-upcoming Sonic 3, but nothing about Knuckles just yet

[fwhimmy-week]

i was gonna ask this in messages but tumblr absolutely nuked my sideblogs messaging tab AS i was sending them??? idk ANYWAY

well first of all- how do you get people interested? i was thinking of making an interest check form but have never made one before and was wondering what questions to put on it

oh rip your messaging tab. that sucks.

as for getting people interested: my form of interest check was a poll i did on my main (since i don't mind having people know what events/accounts i run.) it only had four options, all of them pretty general [link here!]

i had two yes's, participant and non-participant, to get an idea of how many people would actually make something, so that's a good thing to put on the form! obviously if the event your running is for a lesser known ship/duo/character, there's gonna be more no's and maybe's then definite yes's, but don't let that discourage you. I even had to tell myself "don't get caught up on the numbers, focus on the fun. focus on if I WANT to do this, not how much attention it will get." before making this event!

Another good question would maybe be the timing of the event? Especially now that we're in the latter months of the year. (Summer break is ending for any American still in school, the holiday season is getting closer, etc etc.) A lot of things are either gonna be giving people more time and other things giving them less time. This was probably a question i should've asked myself, in all honesty. Do try to make it happen at a time that's both good for you AND others. Don't be afraid to delay or push the event back a week, either. Life often gets pretty unpredictable

You could also ask for inputs on theme! Especially if your like me and suck at this stuff. Or you could be like fwhimmyweek #1, and just have daily themes based off the character(s) themselves.

I would also asks what type of art is most likely to be created, assuming you allow multiple types. Bigger events (think treebark week) are more likely to get more varied stuff (writing, stimboards, webweavings, etc) while smaller events like this one may only get art and a few fanfictions here and there

I would also leave an open response question, for any ideas or suggestions people have!

Actually getting people interested is the hard part. All i can say is promote the hell out of it, on here, in any discord server you can, with friends if you can too; but sometimes that only gets you so far. I saw an increase in followers and mentions of this event when it actually got going. (And it was, a little amusing to be honest, seeing mcytblrsource and other accounts in my reblogs post-event.) Sometimes just running it once will be what gets more attention.

(if you don't know what mcytblrsource is: they keep track of fandom events. i'm not sure what tags they check, but it's probably somewhere on their blog. Or they might allow asks. Getting them to see it, sooner or later, and tagging with #mcyt event could also work in your favor)

also! promotional images leading up to it! post your full event pfp and header, if they're both original pieces. my promo posts for the week before the event helped a little, and the header art is like the most popular post on this blog. so they both definitely did something.

that's all i can think of right now, hope it helps!

[flarekitti]

*new comm post time!

*if you need more references to my art style, my art tag is #ace art and my art- only blog is @ace-art ! So either click to go to the blog or click the tag on this post :]

*feel free to dm me wherever you are most comfortable! I am open to most things but I do have a TOS that details what I can and cannot do that you must read before I can accept payment.

[ID: Four pages of information.

First page says "Flarekitti's commissions" with my fursona, a peryton, winking holding a tablet pen.

Second page says that unshaded bust is $21, halfbody is 24, and fullbody is 27. Shaded bust is 24, halfbody is 27, and fullbody is 30. The furry is a dalmatian.

Third page has icons, refs, and illustrations. Icons are $24 unshaded, $27 shaded. Minus 3 for either pride or Halloween themes. Refs start at 30, and Illustrations start at 60. Ask for a quote.

The icons are a Halloween version of my sona and an American badger and a pride version of my bugsona, a Gooty tarantula. The reference example is my fursona, which has a front and back, closeup on face and hooves, name and other identifying info, arrows pointing to details, accessories, and potential outfits. The illustration example is a piece where a sea emolga is surfing while being watched by a lapras. The details are concentrated on the water.

The last page has pixel art. Bobbing icons are $24, extra animation is 27. Mini icons that bob and name move are $18, extra animation is 21. Full animation loops start at 30. Ask for a quote. Blinkies that are just text are $12, anything else added is 15.

The three large icons are a multi eyed alien, a butterfly winged skull dog, and a red panda. The mini icons are a cat opening their dragon wings, a two tailed fox, and a water dragon. The full animation loops are a canine turning and smiling, a dog flopping and sticking out their tongue, and a unicorn dipping its head and turning. One blinkie is a promo for my website, two are quotes from a minecraft song, one is a cat wanting soap, and the last one says "I'm a liquid stick baby!".

End ID]

[appears]

NEXT LEVEL

It's Ayumi Hamasaki's birthday on October 2 and we're extending the celebration in true ego-maniacal, splashy celebrity fashion, by drawing out the festivities for an entire week! Each day I will briefly discuss a totally random item chosen (not by me) from my Ayu collection. Prepare for praise, disappointment, and controversial opinions backed by love and respect as we take a casual look back in this blurry snapshot of her career. Happy Birthday to our Party Queen, Ayumi Hamasaki!

If you had been following the singles leading up to Ayumi Hamasaki's 10th original studio album NEXT LEVEL, you probably wouldn't be able to guess the direction it would eventually go in. One of the drawbacks to the Japanese-pop style of releasing music is that singles are written and released independently over the course of a year or more, before an artist or band goes in to round out the collection with extra songs. This usually leaves the idea of "concept" albums or "overarching themes" to independent, and other non-commercial artists who eschew the practice for the more Western-style of composing an entire piece of work as a single, interconnected unit, rather than a loose anthology of work. And so, we got singles like GREEN/Days that while great, didn't sound like anything that NEXT LEVEL would become. However, by this time, Ayumi was releasing singles less and less, so the only other single preceding NEXT LEVEL was Rule/Sparkle released one month prior, and "Sparkle" at least, gave us a big hint, by jacket cover and sound, about what we could expect.

When NEXT LEVEL was first released in March of 2009, I was skeptical: I hated the cover art and I didn't particularly like the "edgy" style of the "Sparkle" PV (besides the opening 80s idol-parody, which is really great -- the reference is so specific to the Japanese music industry in a way that Ayu had never done before, while still echoing the criticism of fame omnipresent in her work. The message is clear: this is what you want from me, and this is what you are getting. Deal with it). While I soaked in the album, an overarching theme emerged, one focused on a more electronic-rock sound compared to what had already been a pretty hard-rock focused album like GUILTY. But the promo songs with accompanying PVs were further confusing, since songs like "NEXT LEVEL" and "Curtain call" weren't anything like "identity" and "EnergizE."

In the end, I was left with an album that sounded like the pieces to about four different cool puzzles, each composing a little square of interesting work, but connecting to nothing around it. They're all facets of Ayu's musical personality and style, but it also presented as indecisiveness. Nothing summarized this better than the rampant use of one-minute instrumental interludes that had always been a staple of Ayu's albums but by this point were out of control: the first two out of three songs are interludes, and there are several more scattered throughout the album that don't do anything except date this album even further, as interludes like this made more sense several years prior in the context of peak CD as a new-and-improved format with an extra running time and were now already (and rightly) seen as pointless filler. Some of Ayu's interludes are really great, and something like "Mirrocle World," which was expanded from the interlude "Mirror," are now as good as anything in her catalog, but none of the interludes on NEXT LEVEL pull that off. They are mostly extraneous noise.

That makes it sound like NEXT LEVEL is a terrible album, and while that was my first overall impression, it grew on me over time. I still don't think it's one of Ayumi's best albums, maybe not even in the top ten, but there are some really great songs on here, as out of place as they might be. For example, "Rule," which is one of Ayumi's best late-stage hard rock songs, used as the theme for the Dragonball Evolution film. The title track, "NEXT LEVEL," is a breezy, optimistic song in the vein of a "Greatful days" or "July 1st" (though it always bugs me that the title track is the one that is most misleading as to how the rest of the album sounds). And the electro-rock songs that are the album's guiding bread-and-butter, like "LOVE 'n' HATE" and "identity" are super fun. "GREEN" and "Days" are both strong ballads, though again, they don't really belong on this album. Overall, NEXT LEVEL just tried too hard: too hard to keep Ayu "relevant" with ascending pop styles like Perfume, too hard to have it all ways with newer sounds and more traditional Ayu headbangers and ballads and a cushioned track list. Even the album artwork seems like it's trying too hard, though in hindsight, this is actually one of the last creative album covers Ayu would ever have (in terms of creativity, I think Rock'n'Roll Circus was the true last one, after which we just got muted, diffused-glow head shots): NEXT LEVEL's jacket is more bright, fun, and colorful than the album that was actually later called COLORS!

This album was released in several different versions, including CD-only, CD+DVD, 2CD+DVD, and (a first for Ayu) on a USB flash drive. It was later released as a PLAYBUTTON as well. The first-press edition of each version came in specially color-tinted jewel cases: green for CD-only, pink for the 2CD+DVD, and blue for the CD+DVD (again, imagine if COLORS had done something like this!). The DVD included PVs and short making-of features for six tracks off of the album, and the 2CD version included an extra CD with audio from the PREMIUM COUNTDOWN LIVE 2008-2009 A Live.

[heytherejulia]

Rude ~ Harry Holland

pairing: dad!Harry Holland x mum!reader

warning: angst but ended with fluff, probably some swearing, harry being mean to his child

summary: Harry is overworked and snap at his daughter

word count: 1,8k

Harry was overworking himself. He worked too much, too long, and too hard, and it all made him feel nervous, stressed out, and mad at the whole world. The number of tasks on his to-do list continued to grow. As soon as he managed to finish one thing, five more appeared in its place. Working with Tom on the script, editing photos from the last few sessions, editing a promo video for Tom's new movie. If it wasn’t enough, he was working from home that was constantly loud because of the little child and the dog that lived there and it was driving him mental.

Harry loved his family the most in the world. He loved his little girl the most in the world, but today he simply was too distracted and angry with everything to take care of her. There still were many more things he had to do, and the day was only twenty-four hours long.

Hattie was an adorable four-year-old. She was always happy, loud and full of energy, yet a very polite girl. She always knew how to behave, was kind to everyone and was never a trouble for adults.

But Harriet was definitely Daddy's girl too, and on that particular day she needed her dad to pay attention to her, even for a few minutes. She had just finished drawing her little work of art for him and was very proud of herself. That's why she took her drawing in one hand, and in the other a juice box, which she adored as much as her Uncle Tom.

The brunette quietly entered the room where Harry was working, in case he was on the phone. When she noticed that her dad was not talking to anyone, she ran cheerfully to his desk.

“Look, Daddy! I made a picture for you.” The girl pulled out a piece of paper in front of her with a charming gesture.

It featured their family, Harry, you, Harriet and your dog Flakes. These were preschooler's scribbles, but were really heartwarming to everyone who saw it on your family Whatsapp group chat. Especially for Dom and Nikki.

But Harry was too busy with whatever that was on his laptop screen to even look at his daughter's work. The girl looked at him with sad eyes that were a reflection of his own, but he didn't notice it either.

“Daddy, will you open a juice for me, please?” After a while the girl's voice broke the silence.

“Harriet, stop disturbing me. I’m working and I don’t have time for that.”

Hattie looked at him with teary eyes and quietly ran out of the room. She was really hurt and didn't understand why Daddy was suddenly so rude to her. Yet Harry did not even notice how harsh and mean his words were to the four-year-old.

Still crying, Hattie ran into the kitchen where you were cooking dinner. You smiled as you heard the little brunette's footsteps in the room, but the smile faded from your face as soon as you saw your little girl.

"What's the matter, princess?"

The four-year-old only walked closer to the kitchen island where you were standing and handed you the juice box.

“Can you open the juice for me, mummy?”

“Oh, of course I can. Is that why you cried? Because you couldn't open your juice?”

Harriet didn't answer the question, just took the juice box from your hand and thanked you and then went straight to her room.

You didn't think too much about it, again focusing on the recipe Sam had sent you. Only a few hours later, when Hatt did not leave the room, not even once, you decided to check how your baby was doing. Throughout the day, you checked several times what she was doing and how she was doing, but each time she replied that she was fine and that she was busy taking care of her dolls.

You were a bit worried about your daughter's sudden change in behavior. Your baby had always enjoyed the company of other people while playing, but you thought that maybe Harriet was now going through a phase of playing by herself. So, taking advantage of the peace, you did a lot of cleaning in the house and did a few things you had to do for your work.

Hattie was surprisingly quiet and peaceful today, which is why you decided to use the free time you had left after finishing all your chores to read a book. In the meantime, a little brunette entered the room carrying a pencil case and a drawing pad.

“Can I sit here with you and colour, mummy?”

“Yes of course. Do you want to sit next to me?”

But the girl shook her head as no and sat down on the floor at the small table that stood in the living room.

When Harry entered the room a few hours later he saw you wrapped in a blanket, book in your hands and your little daughter lying on the floor with crayons. He was in a way better mood than he was in the morning, and he definitely missed his girls. He walked over to the couch and lay down on it, pressing his face against your belly. You chuckled at his behavior, because it was identical as the toddler’s sitting at the table, and began to comb his curly hair with your fingers.

“Are you okay, love?

“Yeah, I'm tired, but I'm fine.”

Harry looked at the little girl sitting on the floor, who hadn't said a word since he entered the room.

“Hattie? Time for a daily hug?”

The four-year-old frowned and looked at him. She didn't want to cuddle with her dad, since he'd been so mean to her before. So she answered a short "no" and went to her room.

“What has just happened?”

“I think Hattie is entering the big-girl phase, because she has been sitting mostly in her room since the morning.”

Harry thought about it for a moment, but ignored the thought that maybe his little girl was sick or had some kind of a problem, and snuggled into you, making you comfortable too.

Later that day, Harriet called you for a bedtime story. You entered the cream-colored room and found the little girl already lying in her bed, waiting with a book in her hand.

“So what, Hattie? Do we read "Winnie the Pooh" today?”

Little girl nodded and snuggled into her Spider-man plushie. Yes, a gift from Uncle Tom. As soon as he found out that his little brother was going to have a baby, Tom’s purpose bacame spoiling the kid with a Marvel merch.

You hadn't even finished reading half of the chapter, and the brunette was already deeply asleep. You leaned over and kissed her forehead and turned off the light, leaving only a tiny bedside lamp on.

***

When you left the four-year-old girl’s room, you met your husband in the kitchen with a mug of very milky tea.

“She didn’t have any troubles falling asleep?”

“Nah, she didn’t. I haven’t even finished reading the chapter of "Winnie the Pooh" and she was already asleep, and she never does that until I finish reading.” Harry frowned.

“She fell asleep that fast?”

“Yeah. She had a really tiring day full of taking care of her toys.”

“What about you? What did you do today?” He asked, walking towards your bedroom.

“Mostly cleaned the house. I did a few things for work. Nothing big.”

"It sounds like a pretty big deal to me, darling." He said, looking at you as you changed into his T-shirt and sleeping shorts. You smiled at his words and lay down, covering yourself with the duvet.

“You don’t want my cuddles too? Is it “no hug for Harry” day? He pouted at you.

“Aww, of course I'm cuddling. I always do. Even if I'm mad at you when I'm awake.”

“Good night, love” He said, pulling you to him and kissing your forehead.

***

Hours later, Harry was awaken by Hattie's crying. He didn't want to wake you, so he got up quickly and walked towards the girl's room. He entered the room, turning on the light, and saw his baby sitting in the middle of the bed rubbing her eyes. He walked closer to the girl, sitting on the edge of the mattress.

“Aww, munchkin, what’s happened?" He asked, reaching his hands towards her to pull her against his body. Harriet pushed him away from her crying even more. Harry frowned at her behavior.

“Hattie, sweetie, tell me what's going on.”

“I want to see mummy.”

She sobbed softly. Holland nodded, standing up from bed and reaching out to her so he could hold her in the way to your bedroom, but she pulled away from him again. His heart broke at the thought that his little girl no longer felt safe in his arms.

Harry, however, said nothing and followed the girl to your bedroom. When he entered the room, Hattie lay contentedly in your arms. He lay down next to you, looking at the love of his life and your daughter, thinking about how lucky he was in his life.

"Hey, Tie," You said, stroking the little girl's head "don't you want to cuddle up to Daddy too?"

A soft "no" came out of her mouth, breaking Harry's heart into a million pieces. You looked at him, noticing the sadness in his eyes, then looked back at the little girl lying on your chest. You leaned over her ear and asked.

“Why don't you want to, darling?” The four-year-old leaned close to you.

“Daddy was a meanie today. And I just wanted to show him my drawing.” She sniffed.

“Ohh, honey.” You stroked the little girl's back in steady rhythm. You turned your head towards your husband. “Why was Daddy mean today, huh?”

The realization came down to him like a ton of bricks. He wanted to hit himself with a golf club for making his little girl sad and so hurt that she didn't even want to hold his hand. He looked at you in the eyes and quietly asked if he could touch the baby in your arms as he moved closer. You nodded.

"Hattie, honey, Daddy didn't want to be mean today. You haven't done anything wrong. I was just stressed about the work but I shouldn't have yelled at you and I shouldn't have said you're a trouble. Sorry, sweetpea.” He said in a low tone, stroking the girl back.

Harriet looked up at Harry with eyes identical to his own. She held out her hand to wipe off one tear that escaped from his eyes. After a while she left your side and climbed onto her dad's chest, hiding her face in the crock of his neck. Harry let out a soft laugh, feeling the girl's curls tickle his skin. You looked at them with a smile.

“I love you little one. And you too, darling.”

“We love you too, Daddy.”

[my-plastic-life]

Creating Sango Part 1: The Doll

Sango is in the house! Making her wasn’t nearly as difficult as Kagome and Miroku. Once I’d found a doll brand with the perfect anime head for a Barbie Made to Move body, I was so psyched I bought multiples... with other intentions in mind but I just had to take the plunge and make at least the main group of Inuyasha characters!

Looking at pictures of Kagome and Sango, the two are very similar in terms of face and eye shape. And again, these are dolls, not sculptures, and I’m not a professional, but I knew a second head from the same Sakura Wars doll would suffice for our original demon slayer.

First up was, of course, another reroot. Because the blue hair HAD to go! Thanks once again to ParadiseDollDesigns for her amazing work in styling the hair and finding the perfect color!

My figures of Sango all have her sporting black hair like Kagome. But it can be seen in episodes, promo photos, and even fan art that she’s usually depicted with dark brown hair. It’s lighter than Kagome’s, but still dark. I knew that was what I wanted for Sango to help distinguish her between Kagome. After all, the two dolls were going to have the exact same head!

Next up was Sango’s outfit. She’s always wearing one of two outfits - her kimono and her demon slayer outfit. Deciding which one I wanted should have been easy lol. Well, honestly, it was. I based my decision on availability, props available, and my diorama scene. So I decided to go with her signature pink kimono. For one, I knew the same friend who made Miroku’s robes would be able to make this kimono because that’s her specialty. So thanks to FabHat for this beautiful work!

Of course, there is more to the kimono than just the yukata (pink dress) and hakama (green skirt). Sango is still technically wearing her demon slayer outfit, because she always had it underneath her kimono for whenever it was necessary to leap into action. That was simple enough - just find some black pants and a matching black shirt in Barbie size. Woo! I started with these items from the very talented elenpriv, and while they were perfect, I was having a hard time getting those gloves made.

The gloves are basically extensions of the sleeves that end in a point around the middle finger, which has a ring securing them in place. Because when you’re battling demons, you don’t want any wardrobe malfunctions like a sleeve flapping around. The bottom of the glove is just plain white cloth, as seen in that photo. So I contacted Elena and asked her if she could modify one of her shirt designs to at least extend the sleeves into that point and maybe add white elastic that would wrap around a doll’s hand. She said yes! Good, then I didn’t have to worry about making the gloves. I’d tried sewing fabric, gluing, etc., and it wasn’t going well. Probably because I was using fat quarter fabric, which has a tendency to fray very easily. But I’m not a seamstress so I don’t know what the best fabrics are, and I wouldn’t need a lot so fat quarters are much more cost-effective for me.

When the shirts arrived, Elena had put tiny elastic rings on the ends to allow it to go over the doll’s fingers. Awesome, considering she’d soon have one hand with spread fingers! :D That still left me with the white palm part, and I thought of how I could pull that off. I went back to my trusty bias tape and tried to slide it over her hands/fingers and up through the sleeve. Well, that wasn’t quite working, so, creative liberties had to be taken:

Yep, I took the shirt off and pulled the bias tape through the sleeves, then put it back on, got them wrapped around her hands accordingly, then trimmed the ends and closed the shirt back up. I kept them pretty long though in case I ever need to make adjustments (hopefully I won’t have to because then I’d have to remove the kimono as well to get to it LOL), so there are four bias tape pieces plastered against her back!

Anyway, on to the shoes. That’s easy - Barbie flip flops! Just paint them brown and done! Sango’s shoes have a strap on the heel as well, so using some tiny twine-like string I found at Walmart, I was able to attach that to the shoes to give the proper effect.

Next up was painting the face. I’d watched some tutorials on how to paint anime eyes, and I used that technique on Miroku. I liked how it turned out so much that I used the same technique on Sango. In fact, I even went back and redid Kagome’s eyes as well so they’d match, and I’m much happier with the result!

Sango also has her signature pink eyeshadow, and I was excited to apply that! This doll face has a mold where the eyelashes are, so I can’t really change the shape of the eyes like I did Miroku (I made his eyes bigger/taller to hide a black line that I didn’t want to show up), but I think they’re okay overall. I then added some small lashes and her face was ready! Kagome has two eyelashes that are the same length, whereas Sango’s eyelashes seem to shift from one larger and one smaller to one big one (I think meaning to be the two grouped together). I debated doing just one big eyelash but decided I liked the look of the two better. I was still wary of keeping her distinguishable from Kagome in the face since these heads were exactly the same. But I think I pulled it off!

But it took some time... Sango has thin eyebrows, and because of how her hair is styled, they’re more visible than Kagome’s. Kagome’s eyebrows are mostly hidden by her bangs, whereas Sango’s bangs have a split. So I thought I’d try to thin those eyebrows down. Well, let’s just say I wound up removing them completely with acetone and spending two hours redrawing them, trying to get them to be the right shape AND even.

Yeah... I can’t draw. That’s why I can’t use dolls with blank faces. I have to have an outline to follow LOL. The eyebrows still may not be completely perfect, but I think they’ll work! All that intensity caused the hairstyle to get messed up, so I had to apply some of my special doll hairspray and mousse to get it restyled appropriately, and I even had to redo her ponytail! Trying to tie the perfect knot with that ribbon was super fun, let me tell you.

The final step was the hands (well, it was going to be, but I wound up swapping them earlier so I could get a better measurement for the hand wraps, plus the Barbie hands got stained from the black fabric lol). Once again, I swapped the doll hands and made an ultimate hybrid doll LOL. These hands originally belonged to Supergirl from the DC Super Hero Girls line, and I thought they were perfect for Sango in her kimono. She can hold the strap to her Hiraikotsu and the other hand is hanging freely with spread fingers, which matches the Inuyasha doll and even the body I used for Miroku. Yay for consistency!

This was also another reason I decided to have her displayed in her kimono instead of her slayer outfit. My dolls aren’t displayed in a battle scene, and at the time the only Kirara I had to go with Sango was a second Toynami one, and that’s not her battle form. So ultimately I’m glad I went with the kimono. I know her signature look most of the time is her slayer outfit, but I love her kimono too!

And there we have it! Sango, the original demon slayer (to me anyway - I’ll always prefer her over the new Demon Slayer series lol), in one sixth scale! What - or who - is next? I don’t know... I really just wanted to make Inuyasha’s main group, but I may get some ideas for other characters in the future. But definitely most likely only female due to the lack of male anime dolls available. We’ll see where this takes us... for now, I’m super happy with this collection! Can’t wait to show it off in all my doll collector groups!

CREDITS: Reroot by ParadiseDollDesigns Kimono by FabHat Slayer outfit under kimono by elenpriv Transformed Kirara by Sammy’s Anime Crafts Face repaint by me Shoes customized by me Hiraikotsu by me (with help from hubby!) Kirara figure by Toynami

[tadashi-builds-stuff]

A Few Words On Grant Imahara

As a Chinese Japanese American growing up in the late 90s to early 2000s there were really only three influential asian american male role models on television and film: John Cho, Jackie Chan and Grant Imahara. But if you were also a shy awkward kid that felt out of place except the science of making and building robots, Grant Imahara was your role model.

Watching Grant on the original Mythbusters figure out a physics or engineering problem was like watching a pro-athlete play their best competitive game. As the "Geek" and smartest member of the build team, he would explain how much fulminated mercury it took to destroy an office, or describe how a robotic surfer to catch waves from an explosion. The man was in his element when he was behind a workshop and the joy he had building was infectious. Being a nerd, I couldn't relate to others excitement discussing talks about high school dating, prom dances or getting driver's licenses. But seeing a guy construct insanely dangerous machines and laugh maniacally at others reactions to him- that I understood.

It wasn't until I got older that I realized how far reaching Grant's involvement was with the Maker Community even outside the show. The man absolutely loved animatronics and robotics outside his day job and I would sometimes find him on the pages of the R2 Builders group, BB-8 Builders group and Project 842. The sheer amount of builders that are also showing off photos with him demonstrate not only that Grant was a television icon but also went lengths to get involved with the community, be excited and openly collaborate with them. He was a Maker's Maker.

I only met Grant once during a shoot for Singularity University. They were doing a promo piece on Human Robot Interaction and wanted our lab's Pepper to "interview" Grant during the shoot. I had the enviable task of scripting out the robot's conversational dialogue, accurately programming the triggers and then getting it to work on command. After a week of strenuous tweaking (and an excessive amount of coffee), I got it so Pepper could respond to phrases on command. Day of the shoot, Pepper was literally carted from SJ to SF using Uber Max, and the entire team is ready to go. Grant is on set (much like the image below) and I'm on standby with my coworker Elle. Cameras are rolling, everything is starting, director indicates to Grant to start:

Grant: "Hi I'm Grant Imahara! Many of us have wondered what the future of robotics might be like. Will the be the scary AI oppressors from the Terminator movies? Or will they be friendly and sociable, like my friend Pepper. Hello, Pepper!"

Pepper:"........"

Grant:"......Hello, Pepper!"

Pepper:"........."

Grant:"....mm, You see, Pepper is a four foot humanoid ro-"

Pepper:"HELLO GRANT, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU!"

Grant and Pepper (before realizing what he stepped into)

See what had happened was, Pepper's conversational dialogue relies on a Nuance, a cloud based API, to trigger all voice recognition and in order to sift through so many dialects the program had to pull a lot of data. This worked fine in the lab where internet speed was fast, but On Set during the shoot, the robot had around 7 seconds of delay from listening and responding. Grant would try to talk to Pepper, Pepper kept missing it's cues, and Grant would keep his cool and keep going.

This shit went on. For twenty agonizing minutes.

After the shoot was done, I was horribly embarrassed went up to Grant and apologized profusely. "Don't worry about!" Grant laughs "These things happen all the time. I've had so many problems with Geoff before we started filming!" We start riffing more and droid presentations, he talks about his experience with R2 building and I discuss BB8 building and within seconds my embarrassment is gone and I'm just talking to a regular maker fair visitor.

From Right to Left: Elle, Myself, Pepper and Grant

When I think back on that day now several years later, I don't think of the embarrassment or frustration at myself but instead of the friendliness and professionalism that was Grant. Before the shoot I had mentioned to him he was my favorite Mythbuster and I always looked up to him as a kid. He grinned and said he did miss it but had moved onto other exciting projects (White Rabbit). He then said the world needs more Asian representation on media and arts- and he was right.

Grant Imahara's young passing isn't just another celebrity death. He was the redefinition of the Hollywood Asian Nerd stereotype and seeing him on screen helped inspire many others to pursue careers in engineering, special effects or acting. He loved his work and was passionate about sharing it with others and his absence has left a void that won't soon be filled.

BB-8 Panel signed by Grant Imahara, 2016

[kingstylesdaily]

Paul Roberts: How he taught Harry Styles his gloom-busting Kindness moves

When the Harry Styles video for Treat People With Kindness was released it became an immediate hit. Its choreographer Paul Roberts had created dances for One Direction - though with 1D there was no Phoebe Waller-Bridge to consider. So how did Roberts combine the two stars' talents to create the energy-lift which people have been craving in the Covid gloom? 

Styles' video for Treat People with Kindness came out on New Year's Day - though it was shot in London in February 2020.

Choreographer Roberts had worked often with Styles in the One Direction years. Roberts says the timing of the shoot, at the art deco Troxy in Stepney, east London, turned out to be fortuitous.  

"We had a great time but we didn't know how lucky we were. Looking back it was about three weeks before the world started to burn. Maybe that's partly why people are loving it now - the video has such a carefree sense to it."

Roberts has had 20 years as one of the UK's most in-demand commercial choreographers. He created dances for the 2019 Spice World tour and has worked with everyone from Katy Perry to Sir Paul McCartney. 

He devised work for the dance group BalletBoyz and, as well as stage work, he choreographed One Direction in videos such as Kiss You, Steal My Girl and Best Song Ever.

"So when Harry got in touch to say he wanted me for a new video it was a thrill. The only definite thing was it would be a song from the album Fine Line - but we didn't even know which song would be chosen."

With One Direction, Roberts spent six years working with a hugely successful boy band whose members insisted dance would never become a major part of the act.

'Waiting for 10 years'

Wasn't that a choreographer's nightmare?

"It was always really interesting working with One Direction. I knew very early on that there was a magic about them and I could see they had other skill-sets aside from being this very good-looking five-piece - and then four-piece - band.

"In personal moments you got to see them flourish. They'd mess around doing silly dance moves but I'd think, 'Actually if you wanted to dance really well you sure as hell could do it.' 

"So when Harry contacted me and we spoke about doing a video with a lot of dance I was like, 'Well I've been waiting 10 years for this.'" Styles knew he wanted Phoebe Waller-Bridge to have an equal presence.  

"I believe Harry went to see Phoebe in the West End when she had her success with Fleabag. They went out to dinner and got on really well. That's when Harry started to think how they could  work together in some way."

Before shooting began there was a five-week rehearsal period - far more generous than most projects ever get. But a lot of the time Styles and Waller-Bridge weren't in the same room or indeed country.

"I was with Harry in a dance studio in London and we had all kinds of music to try out from modern alternative stuff to old school big band and Glenn Miller. We were exploring. Only on the third day did we begin to apply what we'd done specifically to the Treat People With Kindness track.  

"Meanwhile Phoebe was in Canada working on the James Bond script. But fortunately I had a brilliant assistant on the project called Jared Hageman so Jared flew out to work with Phoebe. And eventually Harry needed to be in LA so I went there.  

"He was amazingly devoted to the whole thing. He'd be shooting the Watermelon Sugar promo in Malibu and they'd wrap at 8pm but he'd get in a car and come to the studio and we'd rehearse moves until gone midnight."

Roberts says by then it was clear the choreography would at least nod to the Hollywood of an earlier age.  

'Dance language'

"The directors Ben and Gabe Turner sent me a link to a black and white movie from 1943 called Stormy Weather. There is a justly famous sequence in it with the Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, called Jumpin' Jive.  

"I think it's the greatest dance-sequence ever filmed and Gabe and Ben and Harry all wanted our video to have some of the same feel.

"I think in Harry's head he wanted to push himself to the absolute limit of what he was capable of.  We were never talking about just an average soft-shoe shuffle.

"So the reality was that I and Jared would talk constantly and exchange material from thousands of miles part. And of course Phoebe and Harry would also pitch in ideas.  

"We wanted to find a dance language that would take things as far as we could possibly go with Phoebe and Harry, without it becoming comedic. 

"Actually my big worry was practical - that they'd both start out with massive energy but that as the weeks progressed you'd have these two incredibly busy people with no time for everything needed to make the project special. But neither would give up, not for a moment."

Nostalgia for better times

He says it was important the dancing had a contemporary edge as well. "Harry and Phoebe are modern artists and very intelligent. They're fashion forward-thinking.

"I find that once you've stopped giving artists their steps it's often quite nice to step back and just watch how they interpret the music. Sometimes little gems can be grabbed and put into the mix.

"It was discovered very early on that both Harry and Phoebe had huge potential. The delight came from their energy combined with the talent of the film-makers plus the extended period of time we had to rehearse.

"I work in a world where budgets have shrunk considerably so it was a big investment for managements and Harry's label."

Roberts remembers the two stars finally came together for little more than the last week of the project, including the shoot. But there was still time to bring in a ballet dancer to give guidance on "port de bras" - how to hold your shoulders or extend an arm gracefully.  

"Harry and Phoebe are both decent and generous beings. So we all kept it fun, despite the blood, sweat and tears which had gone into the preparation.

"When finally we were together they could layer on little side-eyed glances or maybe some tiny movement of the face which the camera would pick up. Above all we wanted a sense of style [no pun intended] and panache."

He says the fact most of us feel a real lack of either style or panache in our lives has given Treat People With Kindness an impact as a video it might not otherwise have had.

"The whole thing has a nostalgia for a time where you could be in a club and socialise with friends with no social distancing. I think the chemistry Harry and Phoebe have together just oozes joy. And for most people joy is in short supply."

via BBC.com

[johngarfieldtribute]

ART IS UNIVERSAL! (11th post on foreign movie posters)

Julie was on loan to MGM for his 15th film role, TORTILLA FLAT. This was his first time making a movie for a studio other than Warner Brothers where he was under contract.

He starred opposite Spencer Tracy and Hedy Lamarr in this adaptation of the John Steinbeck novel. The Spanish promos translate to something like: Life is So, Life’s Like That, or Such is Life. Check out Julie and Tracy singing these very lyrics in the film.

A U. S. movie poster is above.

Italian translates to: Cheerful People.

An Italian lobby card above.

This Turkish movie book has a translation about Neighborhood Edge.

A U. S. promo piece from MGM Studios.

The promo piece features art by Old Hollywood caricaturist, Jacques Kapralik.

This theatre ad above is from a Dallas, TX newspaper.

French magazine from January 28, 1947, L’ecran francais. The date is interesting because the movie opened at Radio City Music Hall in NYC on May 21, 1942 nearly four years earlier.

Much of the movie is filled with character stereotypes that were unfortunately more of the norm back then. Neither Tracy, Lamarr or Garfield were of Latin origins. But the plot manages to also portray them as gentle people going about their lives. This scene is one of Julie’s most tender presentations of his film career!

Lamarr was even more intelligent than she was beautiful. That’s saying something! She counted Julie as one of her favorite costars. Read more about her (4th photo down in post) and think of her when you are using Bluetooth🤓.

[hlupdate]

When the Harry Styles video for Treat People With Kindness was released it became an immediate hit. Its choreographer Paul Roberts had created dances for One Direction - though with 1D there was no Phoebe Waller-Bridge to consider. So how did Roberts combine the two stars' talents to create the energy-lift which people have been craving in the Covid gloom?

Styles' video for Treat People with Kindness came out on New Year's Day - though it was shot in London in February 2020.

Choreographer Roberts had worked often with Styles in the One Direction years. Roberts says the timing of the shoot, at the art deco Troxy in Stepney, east London, turned out to be fortuitous.

"We had a great time but we didn't know how lucky we were. Looking back it was about three weeks before the world started to burn. Maybe that's partly why people are loving it now - the video has such a carefree sense to it."

Roberts has had 20 years as one of the UK's most in-demand commercial choreographers. He created dances for the 2019 Spice World tour and has worked with everyone from Katy Perry to Sir Paul McCartney.

He devised work for the dance group BalletBoyz and, as well as stage work, he choreographed One Direction in videos such as Kiss You, Steal My Girl and Best Song Ever.

"So when Harry got in touch to say he wanted me for a new video it was a thrill. The only definite thing was it would be a song from the album Fine Line - but we didn't even know which song would be chosen."

With One Direction, Roberts spent six years working with a hugely successful boy band whose members insisted dance would never become a major part of the act.

'Waiting for 10 years'

Wasn't that a choreographer's nightmare?

"It was always really interesting working with One Direction. I knew very early on that there was a magic about them and I could see they had other skill-sets aside from being this very good-looking five-piece - and then four-piece - band.

"In personal moments you got to see them flourish. They'd mess around doing silly dance moves but I'd think, 'Actually if you wanted to dance really well you sure as hell could do it.'

"So when Harry contacted me and we spoke about doing a video with a lot of dance I was like, 'Well I've been waiting 10 years for this.'" Styles knew he wanted Phoebe Waller-Bridge to have an equal presence.

"I believe Harry went to see Phoebe in the West End when she had her success with Fleabag. They went out to dinner and got on really well. That's when Harry started to think how they could work together in some way."

Before shooting began there was a five-week rehearsal period - far more generous than most projects ever get. But a lot of the time Styles and Waller-Bridge weren't in the same room or indeed country.

"I was with Harry in a dance studio in London and we had all kinds of music to try out from modern alternative stuff to old school big band and Glenn Miller. We were exploring. Only on the third day did we begin to apply what we'd done specifically to the Treat People With Kindness track.

"Meanwhile Phoebe was in Canada working on the James Bond script. But fortunately I had a brilliant assistant on the project called Jared Hageman so Jared flew out to work with Phoebe. And eventually Harry needed to be in LA so I went there.

"He was amazingly devoted to the whole thing. He'd be shooting the Watermelon Sugar promo in Malibu and they'd wrap at 8pm but he'd get in a car and come to the studio and we'd rehearse moves until gone midnight."

Roberts says by then it was clear the choreography would at least nod to the Hollywood of an earlier age.

'Dance language'

"The directors Ben and Gabe Turner sent me a link to a black and white movie from 1943 called Stormy Weather. There is a justly famous sequence in it with the Nicholas Brothers, Fayard and Harold, called Jumpin' Jive.

"I think it's the greatest dance-sequence ever filmed and Gabe and Ben and Harry all wanted our video to have some of the same feel.

"I think in Harry's head he wanted to push himself to the absolute limit of what he was capable of. We were never talking about just an average soft-shoe shuffle.

"So the reality was that I and Jared would talk constantly and exchange material from thousands of miles part. And of course Phoebe and Harry would also pitch in ideas.

"We wanted to find a dance language that would take things as far as we could possibly go with Phoebe and Harry, without it becoming comedic.

"Actually my big worry was practical - that they'd both start out with massive energy but that as the weeks progressed you'd have these two incredibly busy people with no time for everything needed to make the project special. But neither would give up, not for a moment."

Nostalgia for better times

He says it was important the dancing had a contemporary edge as well. "Harry and Phoebe are modern artists and very intelligent. They're fashion forward-thinking.

"I find that once you've stopped giving artists their steps it's often quite nice to step back and just watch how they interpret the music. Sometimes little gems can be grabbed and put into the mix.

"It was discovered very early on that both Harry and Phoebe had huge potential. The delight came from their energy combined with the talent of the film-makers plus the extended period of time we had to rehearse.

"I work in a world where budgets have shrunk considerably so it was a big investment for managements and Harry's label."

Roberts remembers the two stars finally came together for little more than the last week of the project, including the shoot. But there was still time to bring in a ballet dancer to give guidance on "port de bras" - how to hold your shoulders or extend an arm gracefully.

"Harry and Phoebe are both decent and generous beings. So we all kept it fun, despite the blood, sweat and tears which had gone into the preparation.

"When finally we were together they could layer on little side-eyed glances or maybe some tiny movement of the face which the camera would pick up. Above all we wanted a sense of style [no pun intended] and panache."

He says the fact most of us feel a real lack of either style or panache in our lives has given Treat People With Kindness an impact as a video it might not otherwise have had.

"The whole thing has a nostalgia for a time where you could be in a club and socialise with friends with no social distancing. I think the chemistry Harry and Phoebe have together just oozes joy. And for most people joy is in short supply."

[calpops]

falling facade | c.h.

part nine: falling fires

part one: falling flowers | part two: falling freedom | part three: falling fears | part four: falling failures | part five: falling fame | part six: falling feelings | part seven: falling forces | part eight: falling fractures

5k words

Copyright © 2020 calpops. All rights reserved. This original work is not allowed to be reposted on any platform in any format (translations included).

<< >>

“I told you,” Arden whispered when morning came and the storm the paparazzi brought was drowned out by filtered sunshine. “Just needed to rest it.”

Calum was relieved to find she was moving about with much more ease than the night before; her fall on the sidewalk swarmed by flashing cameras looked much worse than it really was. Calum now figured part of the problem was shock; the unexpected growing crowd and being closed in had shaken her much more than the fall or the twist of her ankle. She woke before him but Calum had to wonder if she really slept at all after the debacle. He had held her close the entire night, had drifted and woke when she shifted. Now she stood at the edge of his bed with her hair piled on top of her head and one of his sweatshirts stolen and hanging off her frame for the morning.

“Why don’t you keep resting it and I’ll get us some breakfast?” He asked and sat up, rubbed at his tired eyes then used one hand to pull her close and hoped it would coax her back into bed. “Can swing by the diner and get your favorite.”

The promise of a cinnamon roll was enough to get her to settle back in. Duke clamored his way to her from his perch at the end of the bed where he liked to keep a lookout out of the door. Calum slipped on some decent clothes and bid them both a goodbye with kisses to their foreheads and left with a smile as they snuggled back in together. The morning felt much lighter than the night though new weights hung over their heads. Calum would have to negotiate with management to make his promise to Arden come true. No more paparazzi walks. He’d propose more social media posts to even the balance. He didn’t hold his breath or his hope that they would go for it, but he had to try. He made it to the diner and relished how quiet and calm it was compared to the club. He ordered at the counter but let his gaze flicker over to their booth where a crayon drawing had been created. It was still stuck to his fridge. After ordering his phone began buzzing, notification after notification pouring in. His eyes couldn’t keep up with the flickering screen but key words and names jumped out at him.

He went stiff and silent as he pieced it together. An interview they had done during their week of promo was exploding on its online publication. His words were plastered across headlines and taken terribly out of context. They were glaring and put a pit in his stomach. The crowd last night, the article going live along with cherry picked photos of Calum “leaving Arden in the crowd” and the timing of them all put together reeked of management. With numb hands he pocketed his phone, accepted the order from the kind waitress and headed back for his car, all the while fearing what Arden would think and if she might understand his words weren’t real. They were twisted and contrived into something he would never mean. He ran for the door as soon as he was parked in the driveway. He was about to rush to the bedroom with food still in his hands but stopped short when Arden was on the couch, Duke held to her chest and a despondent look capturing hazel.

Calum tossed the breakfast on the counter and went to her. She pursed her lips and though it seemed as if she was harrowed by his words and the way they were used against them, she reached for him. Discarded her phone and was thankful to see the article disappear as it locked.

“You know I didn’t say that right? Not like that. They took it all and twisted it. I’d never—“ Calum began but Arden shook her head and cut him off.

“I know you wouldn’t. I’m not stupid. And I trust you. Fuck, I was probably even there when you said what you actually said”—she shifted up and made room for him to settle in beside her—“I know we haven’t defined what we really are but… you wouldn’t say or do that.”

At first she was certain. Voice steady and breathing even as she rationalized and talked through the words that sank low in Calum’s stomach. And then she fell into the spiral and let it sway her certainty and fray her thoughts.

“Would you?” She asked and Calum could see the regret flash across her face the moment the words left her lips.

“No,” Calum was quick to put her small doubts to bed. His fingers trailed her jaw and coaxed her to look at him. Reminded her with a gentle touch of all that they were and all that was fake. “We’re together, Arden. I’m not waiting to start touring to see how things pan out. I’m not gonna leave you behind.”

“Together?”

“I thought it was obvious,” Calum said with a soft smile and easy glide of fingertips along her soft cheek. She pressed into the touch and let out a sigh, kept questions in her gaze and begged him to further explain. “I’ve wanted to be with you since the kiss on the dance floor. I thought it was decided that afternoon at the art gallery. I guess I never officially asked though.”

“No, you didn’t,” Arden responded and twisted the fake ring around her finger. For a second it didn’t feel so fake. For just a heartbeat Calum could picture it being real.

“Will you be my real girlfriend inside of our fake engagement?”

The question got Arden to giggle and it was music to Calum’s ears. The mood was lighter as she pretended to contemplate.

“Well I don’t know about that,” she said around a laugh and silenced when Calum kissed her, reminded her of why she should know. “I think my yes is obvious. Ever since Vegas. Especially since the art gallery.”

Calum couldn’t cut back the grin that consumed him or stop himself from leaning in to steal another kiss. She was supple and sweet and calm worked its way back through them. The chaos of the past night and morning was starting to shatter and for that Calum was grateful. Arden knew the headline was contrived. And now they both understood each other and the way they were defining what was between them. A real relationship veiled by a fake engagement. There were still hurdles to surpass, still truths that needed to be told, still forces that needed to be fought. But for now they had each other unquestionably.

“Why now?” She wondered aloud as the kiss ended and another notification lit up her phone screen discarded on the coffee table in front of them. “It has to be management. They’re starting the split aren’t they? It’s only been five months. I thought we had more time, why now?”

Calum shook his head, pressed a gentle kiss to her neck and rested against her shoulder. “I don’t know.”

Her fingers found purchase in his hair and lightly ran through it, the motion calming for both of them. “They’re making it seem like you’re not interested anymore. I thought it was supposed to be mutual. I thought we had an entire year before we had to worry about it. But now that we’re real…”  

“We’ll talk to them tomorrow,” Calum decided; he’d put an end to the flames, make sure paparazzi walks were a thing of the past, the truth was a fleeting thought in his mind but it was squandered by fear they may use it as ammunition against them. “We’ll get it figured out. I’m not going to let them ruin us.”

Calum felt a nod from Arden and the way she settled her chin on the top of his head. She was warm and her arms were comfortable. Rarely did Calum seek out such a form of affection and comfort; so used to being the one to hold his arms open, her embrace and hold was refreshing and reassuring. Calum remembered her whispered plea to go home during a promo day—to Calum’s place—and realized that right here, in her arms, with lips pressed to her skin, was home for him. She was his comfort; the certainty to the questions and the calm to the chaos. Two different four letter words he hadn’t felt in a long time. One was here. Home. One sat heavy on his chest and burned in the back of his throat. Love.

There was a fear that it was too soon; they were moving too fast and Calum was merely blinded by the lights and mixing realities. Then there were the years they spent coexisting. The remembrance of things past that only highlighted everything he felt in the present. Paintings in hallways and teasing initials and nicknames in melodies and nights spent in her bed. Maybe, it really was love at second first sight.

***

Once headlines were forgotten and Calum had words with management; an agreement reached to lean back on time with paparazzi and some expletives over the twisted words, Calum and Arden found alone time together once more. The diner brought back blushing memories and a sense of normalcy and ease. Hair fell in her face as she scribbled on a menu once more and words of a painting sat on the tip of Calum’s tongue but he held them back and enjoyed the subtleties of her happiness. A slight smile upturned the corners of her mouth and the backlight of the sun set her in a glow that made her a work of art.

Calum’s phone rang on the laminate table top and Arden only spared a second to glance over as he rolled his eyes at the device and silenced it.

“Anyone important?” She asked and ducked back down to her work in progress.

Calum sighed, the sound was tired and a bit exasperated. “Not really.”

“That doesn’t sound convincing.”

He rubbed at his jaw and contemplated how to tell a truth, not wanting to leave Arden in the dark or omit anything. As many lies as they lived Calum needed honesty between them to even out the balance.

“It’s just…” he began and felt trepidation dance up his spine. She looked up at him, arched eyebrow and a gentle gaze telling him he could share. “An ex. She’s texted and called a couple of times since that headline came out. I thought she’d get the memo when I ignored them all. I’ll block her.”

“You don’t have to,” Arden said around a laugh and reached for his hand. “You know you could just talk to her and tell her some form of the truth. I had to with Brett.”

“Brett?” Calum asked, the name jarring something inside of him, setting something at unease. “Your ex? Who dumped you? Married your best friend in Vegas?”

“All of the above,” she confirmed and rolled her eyes—a huff leaving her in the same second.

A sense of protectiveness and perhaps a bite of jealousy ran through Calum. “He’s married.” His tone carried messages of what does a married man want with you and stupid Brett all in one.

“Was married. Guess they called it quits a month in. Maybe he had the same idea as your ex once that headline hit,” she explained, thumb running over the back of his hand to say words she hadn’t spoken. “I told him it was taken out of context. That we’re happy. He hasn’t called again.”

Calum warmed at the happiness part, felt his heart flutter and four letter words come back full force. He bit his tongue, pocketed his phone and decided to deal with both of those situations on another day.

“Good,” he said and regretted the word as it was laced with obvious disdain for the man he only knew in passing. But Arden’s airy giggle and lit up eyes told him his distaste was funny and he could maybe get away with being so openly against him. “I’ve never liked that guy.”

Calum knew the statement was outlandish as ‘never’ didn’t have two legs to stand on. Never was only Vegas. Only a ceremony and a passing moment at the reception. But from Arden’s words he assumed never could be from the moment she and Brett met. During their relationship when she’d find places like their diner to get away and not be with him. He wondered if they’d been in touch during those lost years if he truly never would have liked him.

“You don’t even know him,” she said but kept her smile and a fondness in her tone. “It’s okay though, I’ve never liked him either.”

Her nose crinkled to show her own distaste for the defenseless man and now it was Calum’s turn to laugh.

“Then why’d you date him?” The question slipped out before Calum could think better of it.

“So he would dump me and marry my best friend, thus making me need a date to their wedding and you giving me the pity I wanted. Why else?”

“An elaborate scheme,” Calum declared and brought her hand up to kiss. “I’m impressed.”

Arden licked her lips and pushed her newest place mat drawing towards him, tapped her fingers on the tabletop and launched into a serious explanation he wasn’t expecting. “I was really lost in university. I lost touch with Michael and my parents. I guess… he was just there when I pushed everyone else away. It went on way longer than it should have, he kind of ‘encouraged’ it, kept me busy and away from them. The only times I really talked to them was through phone calls in diners when I got away from him. He dumped me when I told him I was leaving university and I might go home. But I didn’t. I guess I just couldn’t face them yet. Tried to warn Viv about him, guess she learned on her own.”

Calum felt winded. The new information about her escapes left him heartbroken. It answered questions—why she never visited, why Michael didn’t talk about her much, why there was a strong disconnect between her and her parents. He could see she was trying to mend fences, build back what they had and find herself in the process. Find her family and where she fit into it. Calum knew Michael and her parents would always leave a spot for her. She just needed to reach for it. The fear of disappointing them made more sense than ever. Calum was going to tell her that opening up to them as she did with him would be a good starting point.

“You know,” she said suddenly and broke the solemn mood that befell them at her Brett explanation and stopped Calum from voicing things he didn’t have a say in—she needed to find her own way back to them. “You haven’t told me anything about your ex.”

Calum scoffed and waved a hand through the air to try and downplay it. “It was ages ago. Hardly anything to tell.”

“Oh come on, there’s got to be something. I just spilled my heart out. Your turn.”

He shrugged. Realized he had been keeping his previous relationship bottled up; his first true heartbreak still sat heavy with him at times. But it was Arden and the light that followed her that took the weight off him, made him question if it was really even love and if it wasn’t, then how could it be heartbreak?

“Things just didn’t work out between us. I think we both tried but it wasn’t right. I had to make the choice to end things before we came to resent each other. I don’t think she understood, I probably didn’t give her enough closure. I just needed to be done. I needed to move on.”

Arden nodded and broke her hold on his hand, picked up the crayon again and mumbled, “I think you have a call to make.”

“You don’t mind?”

She shook her head and spared him a glance. “Once you give her the truth and some closure I have something to give you. It’s back at my place.”

Calum smirked and excused himself to call her back. He stepped outside and braced himself as the phone rang. It came as a surprise when she answered and understood and wanted him to be happy; whether it was with her or with Arden. He told her it was Arden. He told her they ended because things weren’t right, something was missing and moving on to try and find it was what was best. After a moment she agreed. Thanked him for the call and wished him well. Arden came out of the door when he ended the call, offered her hand and a sympathetic smile. He pulled her into his side and held onto what he knew was right, to all the missing pieces he had been searching for. Calum felt his heart ease at the closure he could give and the colliding paths that found each other.

“You said you have a gift for me at your place?” He asked with a tilted smile and arched eyebrow.

“Don’t get your expectations too high. It’s just a little something.”

***

A little something was presented to Calum under secret circumstances. Arden rushed to her room and kept him out, came back out with her hands behind her back and a bitten lip. Calum cocked his head to the side and approached her slowly as a faint blush captured her cheeks.

“It’s actually two things,” she amended and presented one to start with.

Covered in cloth and rectangular Calum had no guesses  before his hands enveloped it. The first touch told him all he needed to know, a grin grew on his face as he removed the cloth and stared down at the sunset. The same sunset that was in the Clifford’s hallway. The original work of art that sprinkled renewed memories through Calum’s mind and made him realize he had always known and understood Arden, even in fleeting moments scattered through their childhoods.

“This is the real one?” He asked, just to ensure his assumption was correct and his memory was reliable.

“My mum sent it. I figured it’d be better off with you than tucked away into the guest room.”

He took a moment to admire it and relish in the memories it so vividly painted in his mind. Arden edged a bit closer to him, let her own eyes peek at the paint and quietly brought her other offering out from around her back.

“It isn’t much. I haven’t painted in years but you and your blank wall were begging for something.”

Calum chuckled at her remark and took her words in jest as he swapped with her and uncovered the new painting. His breath caught in his throat and eyes fluttered back up to her as she swayed back and forth, weight from one foot to the other as she watched his reaction. The canvas was painted with what was real to them. The diner was abstract but recognizable. Silhouettes in the windows represented them and Calum lost his words in the meaning.

“If you don’t like it I could paint you another beach,” Arden murmured, a note of panic and apprehension cracking her voice at the end of her sentence. Calum quickly shook his head, wanting to put those doubts at ease as soon as possible.

“It’s perfect,” he said and felt honesty fluttering his heart, moving him to set it on the coffee table and pull her close instead. She did the same with the waves on canvas and welcomed his embrace. “Like you.”

A giggle left Arden in a breathy and unbelieving way. Calum knew his words were cheesy but he also knew if she wasn’t perfect then she was perfect for him. Those four letter words came crashing back into his being and the tip of his tongue at the taste of sugar gracing him. He’d never tire of the sweetness.

“I’m ready to tell my parents,” she said as a whisper against his lips, her soft hands gliding through his hair and down to the tops of his shoulders. “It’s my turn to give the truth, isn’t it?”

Calum minutely nodded, felt the brush of sweetness against his lips again. Let shadows dance behind closed eyelids, the low lighting creating intimate images. The day had faded and nighttime crept up on them in a full moon and one window to cast slight light through to them.

“How about in the morning?” He mumbled, eyes still closed and seeking sweetness, a want for something else lingering between them.

“Okay,” she said and lifted herself to the tops of her toes, smirked into a kiss and set out to discover more pieces of each other.

His hands found her waist with ease, hers settled feather light on his jawline and footsteps carefully backed them away from the living room and toward her bedroom door. It was a trip made many times before, one that Calum knew like the back of his hand. The small distance to her bedroom had been walked before but there were still lines that had yet to be crossed. Calum felt electric with her touch, familiar with her warmth and the way her body fit so nicely against his. Her back hit the bed and he hovered over her, kissed places he already knew and wandered to ones that were exciting and new. She was pliable in his hold and receptive to his every touch, he savored every second as the night slipped by in needy sighs and new highs they had never reached before. And in the morning when they woke between the sheets with tousled hair and purple painted skin Calum nearly let one four letter word slip out.

He bit his tongue and tasted her, held his breath as she rolled over with contentment written on her face as her eyelashes fluttered. He was met with hazel in new light, a smirk that replayed the feeling of her lips against his skin and a sigh that sounded reminiscent of his name and more wrapped around it. When her hand roamed back to his hair and her fingers brushed through his messy tresses he could almost feel the pull and reveled in the attention. He noted the marks on her skin, the way they clashed with delicate ivory and painted a retelling of the night before. Calum grinned when she pouted and leaned in to say good morning in a way he usually did.

With his lips pressed to her forehead he asked, “Breakfast?”

She made a noise of agreement and slowly sat up, the sheet covering her reminded Calum of a panicked morning in Vegas. Except this morning was calm and cloudy, hazy with leftover lust. She reached for his shirt that was sprawled out on the end of the bed. It was the only article of clothing that didn’t end up on the floor.

“Can I borrow your shirt?” She asked with wide eyes and a playful smile.

“Nope,” he laughed and sat up with her. He kissed her shoulder. “Topless breakfast.”

She turned with a fake glare and grabbed the shirt anyway. “You go topless this time. I will next time.”

“Alright, but I’m holding you to that,” he promised and reached around to help button it. “Say, tomorrow?”

Arden laughed and shook her head. “You wish.”

As she vacated the bed Calum called after her that he did and waited a second—a little too wrapped up in his own thoughts and finding his pants thrown into the corner—before chasing after her. He met her in the kitchen where his shirt hung off her smaller frame and made him glad she had asked to borrow it. Though he still felt his idea would be even better. She pulled out cereal and offered him some.

“I’m gonna call my parents today, when it’s good their time,” she said around a bite then nervously moved her spoon through the bowl. “You don’t have to tell yours at the same time but it’d probably make sense to. I’m sure they’ll be in touch with each other after anyway.”

“We’ll do it together,” Calum offered, as he had since the very beginning. He was elated she was ready. “We can Group FaceTime them. Tell them we have a secret surprise.”

Arden let out a short breath and set her spoon down to clap her hands on the countertop. “We’re not just taking our time with the engagement. It’s not even a real one. It was just a drunken joke that management made us stick with. Surprise!”

Her words were sarcastic and Calum played along. “We’re not really engaged, that’s our secret. But we are really together. That’s another secret. Don’t tell Michael. He only knows about the fake engagement.”

Arden chuckled and shook her head, hair falling into her face. “This is going to be awful.”

Calum pursed his lips and nodded. “It’ll be okay, we’ll just take care of it one set of secrets at a time.”

***

Surprise fell on Calum and Arden at the reactions their parents had to the truths they told. They decided to start with Vegas and the fake engagement; wanting to wait to reveal their true relationship a while longer, feeling they owed it to Michael to tell him first. Mali merely said “I knew it” around their parent’s sheer shock. Gasps filled their end of the line but support and understanding followed quickly thereafter. Calum kept his eyes on Arden, noted the subtleties in her responses and the way she began to get quieter as the conversation went on. She became reserved; sunk back into the couch nearly out of view of the camera and let Calum take the lead. He wrapped it up when he turned to look back and saw she was biting her lip, gazing despondently out the window and worried she wasn’t okay.

“We’ll talk to you guys later,” Calum said with finality before hanging up with one last wave and smile for his mum.

He turned to her, hand going to rest on her knee in a form of comfort for her and a reassurance for him. She came back from her state out of the window and gave him a timid smile.

“I’m really glad we got that over with,” she admitted and sighed. “And I’m sorry that I even made us lie in the first place.”

Calum softened at her apology and understood the meaning; though he didn’t agree—she hadn’t made him do anything—he didn’t argue, knowing that the apology was just as much for her as it was for him.

“They took it well. Feels much better to get that out in the open,” he agreed and dipped down to rest his head against her shoulder, the automatic reaction of her leaning into him and accepting his presence made his nerves and hurt flutter in tandem. “We’re almost done.”

All that was left was telling Michael the fake engagement had blossomed something very real between them. And then they would circle back around to their parents and Mali who would likely have another “I knew it” in store. Calum trailed his hand up her thigh and found her hand, felt the cool ring on her finger and felt a fall of pressure on his chest. Soon enough there would be no more ring. No more reason management would want or allow them to be together. It was another bridge they would have to cross.

“It was almost too easy,” she said, paused and shifted to throw her legs over his lap and have him look up at her. Her hand came up to rest against his chest and he once again wondered if she could feel his heartbeat. Someday he would have to ask her about that. “I hope Michael will take his surprise just as well as they did.”

Calum huffed out a small and sarcastic laugh and took up the game they had played in the kitchen during breakfast. His voice screamed sarcasm. “Hey Mike, you know how we’ve been pretending to be together? Well that’s not entirely fake; we’ve been sneaking around. Surprise!”

Arden also let out a sarcastic laugh and threw her head back into the plush cushioning of the couch. “You were right. He is going to kill you. Or at least try.”

“You’re worth it,” Calum assured but panic was rising, twisting his stomach and doubt inching its way in.

There was a part of him that wished it could stay the way it was just a while longer. A lingering need to have her to himself, a selfish want to postpone the problems that were still left to be faced. What Michael didn’t know wouldn’t get Calum killed, what they didn’t tell Michael couldn’t possibly get him hurt.

“I’m ready whenever you are,” she said and left the ball in his court.

His selfish desire spilled out. He couldn’t help it. He had a plan, an admission and declaration Arden needed to hear before Michael came into the equation. “Let’s wait awhile.”

“Whatever you want,” she promised, tapped her fingers lightly against his chest in a slow rhythm and brushed her lips against his cheek. “You’re worth it.”

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