#yea starters definitely inspired a bit of this story

[dovewingkinnie]

YES PLEASE GIVE US THE VICTINI STUFF 🙏🙏 (not forcing!!)

(WOOAAHHHH INSANE ANON FACE REVEAL???!!!)

i managed to find these designs.. the plot was that victini ran an underground pokemon fighting arena because fighting was banned in their world, and one day emolga comes in (a literal child actually) and wants to fight.. so victini is like Haha yea right like im gonna let a child fight! (he lets the child fight and continues to profit off of it) the grey one (i forgot the name sob) was emolgas friend who was trying to get her out of the situation but ended up being dragged into it that was the basic plot of it all!! victini does try to commit actual child murder in this but its fineeee

[muthaz-rapapa]

Possible Precure Concept # 4

Phantom Thieves

As promised, here it is.

The idea popped into my head a few months ago. Can’t remember whether or not Yuni made her first appearance at that point yet but whatever.

So! Picture it. A Precure team completely composed of kaitou who go about purifying corrupted artwork/valuable treasure and fighting villains aiming to “taint” the world in desolate colors or something like that (is that too Smile-like? that’s too much like Smile, isn’t it?).

No, you are not wrong. It takes inspiration straight from Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Saint Tail and maybe even a little bit of Persona 5 even though I’ve only watched like the first 6 episodes of the adaptation and never played the game (I can see why it’s so popular, though).

Anyways, I just thought it’d be cool to see Precure’s take on this concept. I wasn’t even deterred when StarPre brought out Blue Cat because it’s not like Toei doesn’t recycle stuff from past seasons.

However, there are several things I believe that can keep it off the consideration table. Like...

1) The one or two people who think it might suggest to kids to become criminals.

......Honestly? Honestly, if you steal only from the dirty rich, then I am absolutely FINE with that. Seriously, have your fun and EAT THE RICH!!

Ok, j/k, j/k except not really but the thing with phantom thieves (besides the fact that they are largely fictional) is that...there’s a sense of romanticism that sets them apart from other types of outlaws. At least the ones I came across, they mostly use trickery and cunning (and their charm) but rarely do they ever resort to violence or worse to get the job done.

And in some cases, the thief may have a noble motive for committing the crimes (like how Yuni did it to reclaim the resources for her home planet but donated everything else to the poor). I think that’s why phantom thieves are so compatible with the magical girl genre.

Because you know the MC is actually a good person performing a heroic deed but at the same time they’re operating well outside of what’s legal. And that’s what makes the story all the more thrilling to follow.

You want them to escape the police. You want them to steal the target. You want them to succeed because at the end of the day, they are not the villain.

That’s exciting, isn’t it? :D

...but hey, y’know...if the writers are afraid of the wrath of a few individuals who take a children’s anime way too seriously then that’s their call. :P

Pretty sure there’s no one that paranoid though...maybe... I dunno.

In any case, we can all agree it’s an interesting pitch, yea?

Yea. Next concern then.

2) It’s already been done.

On top of that, old favorites like KKJ and Saint Tail have the edge of nostalgia supporting them which will inevitably lead to the silly argument of “who did it better”.

Not that that’s ever stopped us before. I mean, look at KiraPre. At the start of its run, it drew tons of comparison with Tokyo Mew Mew but still became a very successful and beloved season among Precure fans.

So really, there is no issue there (in fact, the more magical phantom thieves, the merrier) because the story is likely always going to be different.

Which brings me to my next point...

3) Narrative

Among the majority (or perhaps, the more traditional?) of magical girl series, the plot is usually “normal girl obtains magical powers to fight evil and save the world”.

The plot is simple. The story isn’t.

The story is how you tell the plot.

Which makes comparisons between different series almost kinda pointless because no story progresses the same way as another does nor would they have details that are exactly alike.

Especially if Toei one day decides that it wants to take a shot at this idea for their cash cow franchise, then they already have a striking appeal the two aforementioned titles don’t: a team of phantom thieves.

Granted, that’s easier said than done.

Even though I’m proposing it, I can’t deny it might be hard to pull off well.

I dunno. I’m always under the impression that phantom thieves work better alone (their non-action accomplices aside). Less things to worry about on their end, less things to trip them up.

But why not take on the challenge? If you can manage to get a bunch of colorful personalities and/or headstrong egos to cooperate on big “heists” together, that would be pretty impressive.

Plus, let’s not forget that Toei has 16+ years of trumpeting the magic of “friendship and teamwork” under their belt with 50-so episodes spanning each year-long season to boot. Planning and writing fleshed-out character arcs and group development should be their forte by now.

Admittedly, they’re not always perfect at it but the point is, this is not unfamiliar territory for them.

Of course, there’s a lot more to a story than just its main cast and what razzle dazzle effects they can do. You also need good supporting characters, antagonists worth our attention, interesting (and in this case, clever) one-shot fillers, the usual one or two unexpected twists and perhaps most importantly, a solid narrative theme to work with.

“Phantom thieves” are a motif, not a narrative theme.

A motif is something that helps explains the theme (or message) the show wants to convey.

Like “hope versus despair”, loneliness, love (this one’s been broadly overused but yea, it is one), etc. Those are all themes.

Unfortunately, I can’t think of a theme that would correspond well to “phantom thieves” as motif at the moment.

Hmmm…maybe “justice”?

But what the heck, I’m not part of the writing staff. This is their job to think up, not mine! xP

…still, I think it’ll require a good amount of brainstorming if you really want it to turn out good.

Um…what else?

I guess, just smaller things like whether to use “Cure ______” or “Kaitou _____” because a stock trait of phantom thieves series is that they like to announce themselves as “Phantom Thief so-and-so”…so I’m wondering if the Cure title will even matter?

It feels less like a Precure show if the girls don’t actually call themselves “Cures”, doesn’t it?

Uuuuuuhhhhh…oh yea!

For every phantom thief, there is usually always a detective chasing after them and maybe even a rival thief that comes in later during the story.

I think it’d be a fascinating twist if the detective was a girl in the same class as the starter Cure(s) who ends up befriending said Cure(s) not knowing she’s (they’re) the same as the thief(s) she’s trying to catch. Then the reveal happens at the worse timing (ep 30ish) but she makes the decision to protect the Cure(s)…by becoming a Cure herself…and you can guess at what happens next but it’s pretty predictable. She comes to terms with it and drops her day job to become a magical girl and steal for the sake of good.

..Yea.

As for the rival part, I’m still really pushing for opposing Precure teams. Ideally, a two-against-two scenario where they (maybe one-sidedly) compete to see who can purify the most monsters until circumstances push them to see they’re better working together.

…lol, I dunno. It may not work with the principles of Precure in general but I’m just having a lot of fun right now thinking all this up. xD;

So yea, that’s another big one to add to my Precure wishlist.

If it becomes reality someday, I’ll…well, I’ll definitely not stop screaming for the next five years, that’s for sure. xDD;;;

[cocoaswatches]

Cocoa Conversations: Cashmere Nicole

One of the largest conundrums of 2017 is that fact that black women are the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in America and yet they get the least amount of funding. According to a Fortune article, written just a few months ago in June of 2016, “The number of businesses owned by African American women grew 322% since 1997, making black females the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S.” However, this inspiring statistic for black women across the country is harshly juxtaposed against the cutthroat reality of the start-up world. As reported in TechCrunch, “In “The Real Unicorns of Tech: Black Founders Women,” a recent report by #ProjectDiane, you’ll come across several startling statistics, for example, of all venture deals from 2012 to 2014, only 0.2% (24 of 10,238 deals) went to went to black female founders.”

And yet, they continue to rise.

Despite the odds against them, black, female CEOs like Beauty Bakerie’s own Cashmere Nicole continue to push forward and thrive in their respective businesses. I sat down with my fellow girl boss to talk shop (including Beauty Bakerie's amazing branding! Their commitment to the bakery theme is so adorable,) exchange notes, and discuss all things beauty.

Check out some highlights from our riveting conversation below.

On the “beginnings” of their ventures

Cashmere Nicole: I honestly feel as though a company can have several beginnings because in the early stages of going out on that limb and being an entrepreneur, you’re not even sure of yourself. You aren’t even sure if it’s going to become something.

I remember going with my friends on a trip to Miami and we came across a kiosk in a mall for gourmet cupcakes and I think that kind of helped me come up with the name Beauty Bakerie.  At the time, I was like “Oh I need to pray on this, I need to make sure this is what I need to do,” and I just remember feeling this confirmation in my spirit where God was like,

"If you think for one second I’m gonna let you have a makeup company just to have a makeup company, you’re wrong. Better find a way to give back to my people, inspire my people or something.” And I was like OK, got you."

And that’s when I chose to tie my brand to breast cancer and I only chose that because at the time I was being shallow. I was like its pink and I like pink. But, later that year, I found a lump in my breast.

(Nicole pushed through the removal of the first lump and a double mastectomy and a revision, while still running the Beauty Bakerie brand on her own.)

CN:

"That saying where people say “Oh, she’s an overnight success,” is false. It took five and half years of working, single parenthood, two jobs: my day job and all the requirements they had for me there. I don’t know how I kept going but I just kept going."

Ofunne Amaka: Wow, that’s really amazing that you’ve been through so much and you still feel like you can give, that you have more to give. A lot of people would just be like, “Welp, I’m poppin’ now, so it’s all good.”

CN:  Yea and I think it’s easy for people to do that.

On that one time Queen B gave Cashmere life

CN: At the time in my life, I had just gone to my first concert, that summer in July which happened to be the Jay-Z and Beyoncé “On the Run” tour. I was just coming out of a tough time emotionally; I felt like I had gone through a little bit of a depression. This was after my first initial double mastectomy, still trying to recover from the body change. Accepting that, while my friends might say, “Oh, you got a free pair of new boobs,” it didn’t feel like that. They were fake, they were not mine. I didn’t have any nipples, I didn’t have anything.

I went to the “On the Run: tour with my friends and I must say that, it was my first concert ever and it really helped me to get over that emotional hump. When I got back home I couldn’t cry if I tried! I was like, “Shoot, Beyoncé must be some kind of anti- depressant.”

Later that fall, a girl that I knew, (I had no idea she was working for Beyoncé,) ended up reaching out to me and telling me that Beyoncé came across my story and read my story herself, because I had a GoFundMe up at some point. I believe maybe she hangs out on YouTube and stuff like the rest of us, and so she came across it.

When the girl contacted me that day, she said look, not only does she love your story and what you’ve been through, she wants to feature you on the site and we need to do an interview. I’m like OK, even though you know I’m drugged up (by now it’s essentially my second double mastectomy.) For some reason that recovery was a lot harder than my first recovery. I don’t know why but I’m thankful that my mom was there, because had she not come to take care of me, I don’t know how I would have made it through that. It was so tough.

The day they called to do the interview, I was on a really high dosage of pain meds. I had two drains out of both sides of my body stitched to me. So, I’m sitting in bed propped up and my friend is calling me and she said “Girl if you don’t do this interview, you won’t be able to get on the site.”

And I’m like “Oh shoot, this is Beyoncé, let me wake up, I have to do this.” So, they called, we did the interview and then she sent a beautiful bouquet of flowers afterwards. I was really happy and I think what that did was allow me to see to that anyone can come across your story, anyone can see your story and be inspired by your story.

Here’s someone that the world looks up to and considers her like the “Queen B” and she’s an inspiration to many but even she found inspiration in my story that day and that helped me to get the fire started again for myself.

If I can reach her, I can reach so many other people and I need to get up, get motivated again and build up that momentum.

On telling your story

CN: I remember going through this period of time where I felt like I was in a spiritual battle; where God was like, “you need to tell your story.” And I was like “Are you nuts?? I will not go and tell people this story.” And I felt like he was saying “How dare you take something that I’m meaning for your good and make it shameful.” There’s nothing wrong with what happened to you. You’ve been made perfect.”  So finally, it took me about 3 months to give in, and make the GoFundMe, which is how Beyoncé discovered my story and Beauty Bakerie.

OO: I can’t imagine going through all of that and still pushing through afterwards. I’m sure Beyoncé was a great incentive.

CN: Yea, Beyoncé was a nice little fire starter. Earlier on, before the brand got all of this momentum, I started putting my personal stories up every now and then, I don’t want to lose that relatable feeling. The cool thing is we have this message that a customer gets after their first purchase, It’s like a message from me and we’ve been seeing people screenshot that and put it on their Instagram and say “Woah, I’ve never gotten a message like that.” and I’m like “Woah, it actually worked. People are resonating with my message.”

OO: Yea, the personalization of brands is definitely important. People want to feel like, “This is brand for me, specifically.” They made this for people like me. And that’s why I focus on black women, not as an exclusion of others but as a focus. Because there are so few platforms uplifting them and putting them up on a pedestal.

While Cashmere has proven the road to success is inevitably a bumpy ride, she is a prime example of advocacy and inspiration to their customers, supporters, and followers. (She is opening a brick and mortar retail store in San Diego! SO EXCITING!)

Keep up with Beauty Bakerie on Instagram.

@beautybakerie