Award Shows

 

I never cared about award shows. When I was a kid watching them, my interest is mainly the celebrity dresses and shiny trophies. 

There are award shows for a bunch of things, even porn. I was admittedly mildly fascinated by gay porn award shows. 

You wouldn’t see me catching any news on any award shows. 

That happened solely because of the Oscars' category of Best Animated Feature. They made that because Beauty and the Beast should be the only one-time incident but even then, Up and TS3 occurred their nominations in that category too but it shows that it's only Disney Pixar, no anime or Dreamworks or Laika or anybody. It must not happen again and they continue to denigrate animation again and again. The last time I ever watched that category was when Frozen won. Frozen won by the Disney name alone. This didn't even have to do with my feelings with Frozen shouldn't win even though they definitely shouldn't. The anonymous voters said they were dragged there by their kids and animation is basically suffering for them. They won't even watch any of the nominees or see animation as a medium. Just a slog because adults can never understand them. 

Wow, no wonder the live-action Disney remakes blossomed so much when animation was so derided. Even though they know the live-action sucked out whatever the animation had, it's still in their superior mind the better medium or genre altogether. They don't give a shit that animation is a medium that the animation community and whoever uses what kind of animation, 2D or 3D or both, sees animation as something more to tell a story best told in that medium. 

Guillermo del Toro won and let him say that animation is for everybody and a medium. Because the years with animation on the guillotine for tax write-offs and adult animated comedies showing their relative lack of creativity despite the animators basically carrying them, the release of so many good movies and shows showed that animation is still thriving and would not back down to be known as only the kids' stuff. 

The award shows regarding BTS even in their home country exempting the KMAs have always been weird. The Kpop idol industry has been seriously affected by BTS’s success so much that it’s funny. SMA split the main daesang with digital and album until going back the next year, MAMA got the Worldwide Icon daesang, Brits (this one was bad, really bad since I know about the Rina situation and I vaguely heard about the treatment with female artists) took away the international group category, Grammys up in their usual shit, and Oscars only dealing out awards to who knows even when these nominations are deserved. 

The only award show portion that I even bother to watch was the Best Animated Feature. After Frozen's 'win' and the revelation that voters only chose Frozen for brand name power and disdain for animation, I was furious. I vowed to never watch that section again even when Into the Spider-verse won deservingly.

Ugh, Moulin Rouge Broadway shouldn’t have won Best Orchestration. It’s an insult to the movie’s transformation of the music. Going backward to making straight-up covers for belting instead of the timeless songs the movie used and still transforms is an insult. Fuck those belting showcases. Just give me what the movie has done instead of the piss poor Broadway. Outside of a few gems, Broadway was a disappointment. 

No award shows ever receive a full watch from me. Even when award shows deservingly gave awards and a spotlight to people who finally got it after who knows how long for recognition, these award shows still need to catch up on the uptake. 

They were supposed to be the best of the best and even then it's not recognized. Seriously, BTS won again and again but still did not receive the recognition they deserved from the Korean media which had been nasty to them before their rise but even during their rise, and now the nastiness remains because they didn't help BTS. 

But when the Grammys used their name for the viewing power of ARMYs, the Grammys are the villains. Sending back their filmed performance to a later time just for the views because they know after the fiasco with the pre-show award showing, they have nothing, not even Beyonce who was shown. Seriously, after looking like they could win even staying up just for their award nomination, there is not much the Grammys have as after the entire thing showed they want to have their cake and eat it. Seriously, the Grammys is nothing more than what looks like they are the best when they are not. Hence why I couldn’t take the optimistic takes on fanfics that depict the Grammys as this great thing, knowing many deserving artists never got their dues until they submit to the corrupt practices or never had a chance in the first place. Godoka, I want to laugh at the Kpop peers who submit their work without scoring anything on the Top 100 or having enough streams even when they did payola on Spotify but they still have their grimy paws on US attendance award shows. 

These accolades are when they are deserved showed what the award shows could be at their best. 

But when there are negligent and vague rules that can be changed on a whim with the company in charge of the show wanting name power and designate attendance awards to people who came, yeah, they deserve no respect even when putting on a great show. 

The VMAs are a huge example of this. They aren't part of the Big 3 music award shows in the USA. Instead, they make do with wild performances and attendance awards. They don’t give a crap about respectability, just attendance. 

Award shows already have below-average or worse views. These attendance awards no matter how insane the performances are have nothing going for it. 

Hence taking advantage of ARMYs because other music awards saw a huge showing. Not enough to save them but still the largest since. 

I mean with award shows nominations right now aren’t showing anything that is deemed rightful. Snubs have always been painful but what about the nominations that are certainly deserved but the chance of winning is slim? Yeah, I’m not looking forward to any of the ceremonies. 

I won’t even discuss the current nominations. There is enough about them. 

These award shows at face value looked prestigious. 

Because these award shows look prestigious with all the rules to look fair when it’s never been, they maintain the impression of the arbiter of good media they are overseeing. While I’m not expecting them to see greatness or about the future, I do think they should’ve granted recognition to others for achievements than rewarding white performers or whoever owns them or bribing them. I mean Moulin Rouge is still talked about to this day as opposed to some movie crusty white male Academy sees as something that’s up their alley. 

On one hand, it's understandable that most people never heard about the movies. Even to this day, Crash is well-regarded as one of the worst wins over the well-deserved Brokeback Mountain. Despite my misgivings about Brokeback Mountain, I at least know how important it is. At the same time, what the Oscars see as Best Picture is often not what they think not to say that played into it too but often the cultural trend at that time. 

No award show is ever going to reward the flowers to those who broke new ground and proved themselves. That's probably never going to happen but only rarely it does. It's only when they are forced to according to their rules. 

Just imagine having a Grammy in the BTS museum at Hybe would be amazing. 

BTS has a lot of deserving awards. Yeah, they blocked off many of their peers but have a fighting chance against the soloists and bands that aren’t Kpop. Because Kpop is the equivalent of Disney Channel stars over there. Then again those Korean award shows prior to BTS’ wins have always been given to the Big 3 groups with the occasional small groups. I’m not even apologetic remembering that fact. Those award shows are for idols with the occasional soloists and bands who are actually popular on Melon. 

If you think the Korean award shows are myopic, just see the Tonys. I mean Aaron Tveit won against literally no one. It set up a precedent. 

The Tonys are all about Broadway, a very tiny slice of musical theater that only exists in New York. The Great White Way that advertised as the best of the best musical theatre the American musical theatre had to offer. That is a sheer lie. 

The Tonys don't give a fuck about any off-Broadway and any shows that aren't even staged off-Broadway either. Any plays or musicals not produced by the big companies and if they are luckily managed to stage there. Lin-Manuel Miranda got a friend who made sure Into the Heights was staged there making his name easier to get out. 

Sure there are previews outside of Broadway but it's just previewing, not the opening night wherein that night is eligible for the Tonys. 

The Tonys gave away awards to people who didn't have that performance as one of their top fives or just the only viable person or don't have enough eligible nominees for certain categories on a regular basis. Getting awards on people's hands is a far more tangible result than just having a separate category that has only 2 or 20 nominees. 

Besides, as much as the Tonys are myopic, there are good results when they do things right. 

I firmly believe Moulin Rouge Broadway shouldn't have won those awards because outside of the good performances, it's still a bad book and has bad orchestration of its music usage outside of just sounding musically great but in no way transform or keeping the focus on the damn story and characters. Moulin Rouge Broadway only won due to the poor season at Broadway and Moulin Rouge does deserve some but not a lot of it especially Best Musical and Best Orchestration. I wanted to wretch the Best Musical and Best Orchestration out of their hands onto the Moulin Rouge movie's hands. 

Avenue Q deserved the Best Musical than Wicked and Moulin Rouge at the Tonys any day of the week. 

At the end of the day, even when awards at the Tonys can be deserving, at most it's a self-promotion marketing tool afterward. Most Broadway people either stay at theatres or go on to Hollywood. There's a possibility Gaten might've always wanted to be a theatre actor but when he auditioned for Stranger Things, he became famous for the world to know and have doors open for him in both the theatre and screen acting. 

Anyway, as much as Andrea Riseborough does deserve at least an Oscar nod, there’s just too much there as the Oscars are going to keep her nomination anyway. There’s not much that anyone can do but talk. What I would say is that she's a white woman and BIPOC actresses won't even have a chance on doing what they could just to garner it on a grassroots scale. Well, as grassroots as a rich kid using connections than an actual grassroots because a BIPOC grassroots would not be enough. It’s telling white actors and actresses rally for Riseborough when none of these guys spoke about the nuances or even supportive of how Davis and Deadwyler put in so much effort with an Oscar-favorite historical drama with black lead roles only to show it means nothing, just David and Goliath the big bad white male industry. I see Riseborough's reputation taking a hit because of this, regardless of her talent. 

EEAAO is a surprise hit involving Yeoh as the big name. Yeoh deserves the Best Actress award for so long. 

I mean there’s Al Walser who ended up scamming the Grammys. 

I mean even the Razzies are getting criticized now for their mean-spirited categories that are only there for that one movie to be laughed at more. At least the Tonys know that it’s myopic even by award show standards by just not having categories regularly due to not having enough nominees. 

Like, do the Tonys want to end up like the BRITs? Because in combining two categories, they showed their true colors the following year with more male nominees over female and heck even nonbinary nominees because it's a system they like and only changes on a superficial level. 

I mean is the Oscars any better at addressing BIPOC actresses? 

Yeah, award shows are trying desperately to be relevant with all the comedy. Regular PR celebrity interviews are boring enough. It has gotten to a point where I know BTS US interviews are less about their artistry or about them as people but about RM learning English from Friends for example that they brought up constantly. BTS isn’t doing that kind of interview anymore, just ARMY, not the audience at the US interviews, seeing the interview experience they choose as the quiet and introspective ones. 

Hot Ones have been a source of envy for talk show hosts who went to great lengths to make their show exciting. I don’t think BTS wants to do any interviews there anymore. Oh, they’ll submit to more Grammy categories that their peers will follow, but make no question that they are jaded years after going into the US with wide eyes after their US debut in 2017. 

Like talk shows trying to be relevant, award shows have shown they are dinosaurs in a world that sees them as archaic. Sure it is great to see people rightfully awarded and given the time to shine but it’s an award show that heavily favored campaigning and neglected certain genres. 

I love musicals but I don’t like biopics. The rare biopics I prefer are from my high school days. Musical biopics vary in quality but saving graces are the performance. Rocketman is different because at least that one made the songs fun. Movie biomusicals are a different breed from jukebox biomusicals though there are overlaps. When BoRap and Elvis are just bad with the only saving grace being the performances, Rocketman sticks out like a sore thumb for not straight-washing Elton John and his troubles. It was produced by Elton John so that's a plus rather than the clean makeover of BoRap or the irreverent reverence of Elvis because the only way I could take Elvis is that it's in the view of whoever telling the story. 

It’s a hard trek for proper recognition in award shows, not when they are still embroiled with incest with loads of companies in the system they perpetuate. They might look like they could include queer and BIPOC communities but it’s only the slimmest chance. 

There is a chance BIPOC people, particularly women, can get their dues. Seeing how the system still favors white people no matter what, they can't afford to subvert the system, knowing that, unlike Risborough's kept nomination, their nominations would be punished. I don't see Riseborough's nomination process will make things any better moving forward, especially if white women and men will rally for other white leads in indie films than for BIPOC indies with BIPOC leads. Fuck, if they can't even understand the nuance of what happened with studio lead BIPOC leads who done everything right according to their rules and a white woman subverted it so easily and they can't, then what on earth are they going to do?

Who knows what will happen moving forward for these award shows? Some might as well try but others just don't care and reveal their true colors in incidental ways that showcase how much they don't like anybody but the white privilege and those tastes among themselves. 

Gatekeeping Fandom As a Treat

 

Since just how fandom has become mainstream as of late with the Harry Styles pipeline and the content consuming of fandom itself through anything profitable that the original author did not benefit from, it's a mess since the revelation AO3 is backing lore.fm. 

I knew since I got AO3 after seeing that I couldn't easily get past the warnings that I had to have an account and got one. 

I participated in the fandom by creating fandom blogs and curating reclists. There is no right way to be a fully committed community member. 

I love fanfiction. I love anticipating what the author will give. In my upcoming reclist, I went deep into that spiral. 

That's the difference. Instead of respecting the author's time and authorship, these modern fans just don't. 

They act like these free gift stuff are essentially free for-profit and lack any understanding of nuance or tropes. 

Podfics are a thing and essentially dying since there are so few out there. The way these guys are about lore.fm acted more like tech bros and used buzzwords like 'ableist' and 'classist' when they're the ones who are directly profiting from it and didn't have any permission to create an AI system that scraps and make up endings that don't respect anything from the author. 

The author makes fanfiction and gifts to the fandom for free. In the fanzine days that aren't expensive, it's dispersed via cheap paper to reach out as much as possible. 

They don't care about the author's agency and control over their property in the end. 

I have been in the fandom as a lurker primarily for nearly 20 years. I'm so used to waiting for fics to update and often a surprise update is what gets me going. That's why I can wait for a long time for pin makers from samples to ship it to me. As long as it comes from a reliable pin maker that is. But even reliable pin makers can fall from grace like Pin it on Magic whose divorce got to him that his small business shuttered its doors, whose preorders were forgotten in the mess and people just lost money. 

Anyway, fandom clout does not matter when it's outsiders profiting from that clout and not the person inside it. There are famous authors in the fandom. 

On the other hand, I can be assured my fave fics won't suffer the same fate as Dramione fics. Godoka, I don't care much about Dramione fics since I've seen a lot of them in the pin community. 

Even if they are popular fics within that ship's fandom, I don't think they'll be popular enough to be an intro to fanfic. 

Fuck, I don't know how to introduce my cousins to fanfics properly if they want to explore it. I can tell which anime or manga to get into. Heck, those in the know how much I love magical girls that someone who hasn't been in the animanga scene for a long time but has an older sister who is into magical girls as I am knows how much I love them. 

Barring my Pokemon collection (growing consistently with Mamo alone. Really, I'm considering different ideas for my Dark and Light boards regarding the Mamo pins I have. With the last of the Eevee Fusions coming up, I need to finalize. Candlelight is magnificent and will go well with the rest of the dark designs), my magical girl is consistently growing one way or another through Sailor Saturn, Serenity, PGSM, and other magical girls like CCS, Princess Tutu, and Shugo Chara. If I was somehow finding magical girls, it's my brother who finds harem anime. How else would I know about Zero no Tsukaima to the point that I knew what I was getting into when I saw a Pokemon crossover? 

I feel that using fandom as a goldmine for outsiders with the clout of said creation without the creator receiving that clout is pretty bad. 

I respect the fanfic writers’ time and space. Certainly, there are comical stories of the varied lifestyle AO3 writers get into on the notes but I’m willing to wait and even if a fic may not be updated in years, context clues and foreshadowing are helpful tools as well as any comments made in any social media or the comment section itself. 

How else is it to see that in Icarus’ Dilemma's second half, I just know that Lelouch would succeed as the Viceroy with Nunnally as the Sub-Viceroy? I might not know the finer details but I know based on other works, Lelouch and Nunnally will be as beloved as Princess Diana. 

How about Gravity’s Burn where I just know Touya and Keigo are gonna elope? 

Again, might not know the finer details but I can guess. 

These tourist fans see the fandom with its generous gifts and sharing in the love as profit and content. Demanding authors to finish that Wattpad would punish them under readers’ complaints and using AI to make up their own endings are just one of the many disrespectful things done.

The theft had happened before in fandom but this is just too large scale. 

Not helped there is just so much entitlement, puritanical overwhelming simple basics, and poor literary skills all around. 

I know there are many different forms of AI that can be helpful but scrapping fandom and stealing it is not the right way. None of these guys aren’t rightfully getting paid or credited or anything. 

In the eyes of the big corporate from tech bros to tourist fans, it’s all about money and content. They could care less that these writers write in their free time just as artists who run small businesses have to make it work for them in ways that they can still get money with their art. 

I say we gatekeep. 

These people should make an effort to go through hoops just to access them. I’d rather they be forced to do things just to get access to the 'content' they desire. 

Since I usually engage with the media I get into and the fanfiction that comes from it, I don't see these as content. 

Unlike small businesses that are based on art, they have to have new art and run it somehow in long term. It's heavily advised that unless they really want to go into the pinmaking business, understanding customer service and how to make it work for you is best. 

Are you just going to make a sticker club? Or sell only stickers? You can even do acrylic charms beyond stickers. 

Cara is still not known to the wider public so artists who wish to have new customers, they still have to post on Instagram. From what I have seen, it's not like you can create group chats with customers on Cara. Cara is for artists but less so for actually having customers outside of commissions. Yes, there are community members, but I have yet to see a clean transition to doing similar stuff such as creating groups. 

It’s the same on AO3. Despite lore.fm being the head honcho’s idea to assist, the writers having nowhere else to go have to lock their fics. 

All these AI folks will use buzzwords to guilt to get their way. The thing is that just because it’s free doesn’t mean they own it. They aren’t owed anything regarding fandom’s free gifts.

Yeah, it would be great for disabled folks but podfics are limited as they are already. Get permission from the author and make that podfic. 

It’s better that the author gets the profits. 

At least when artists get commissioned to make pin designs (the vectoring is left up to the pin maker and the art proof is up to the manufacturer but always make sure to triple-check everything and I do mean triple-check everything to get everything right. It might even take a while but unless you get a relatively easy file for you to do and them to use, then it's much easier to do from what I heard from Mamo at least. Apparently, Mamo and Nuwa are the best at having the easiest vectors and art-proof approvals), they get a pin version as well as payment. 

Though some deserve better than others when a design of theirs. Man on the Moon and Nyxxi’s commissioned artists deserve so much more than one being stuck as an exclusive. At least David J Brunson is making a killing off his Disney pin designs, being an exclusive artist for two very expensive Disney fantasy pin makers. 

I know Dalton was and still is the most popular Klaine fic. There were YT read-alouds but I never heard it past going beyond some chapters or completion. 

I know some fanmade stuff was sent to the author but I'm not sure if they sold anything to the wider fanbase. 

At least they aren't making money off the Weebly. 

Outside of the fandom itself, the author does not get the clout. They aren't the ones making a profit from their own fics that they write in their free time. 

When authors do make a killing, it's through their own resources such as Patreon that allows them sneak peeks or WIPs of other projects. Sometimes if they are the main mod behind a zine, it will be for-profit. 

Again, the Dabihawks one I got was explicitly for profit. 

They, in the fandom, have clout when the zine becomes a success either through their clout in the fandom or from the popularity of their fics. 

In the fan merch community, they are explicitly open to make anything. I mean I received my Dabihawks pin because of it. 

However, these guys are making a profit on their own. They aren't making a profit from another's gains who received that adoration through their hard work of their free writing that they took in their free time. 

A fanfic writer is always grateful to have their works have fanart and be discussed among their dedicated following or spread elsewhere. They are fully willing to get into discussions of thought processes why each event happens in their fic. I have seen this happen be it through the comment section, Discord, Twitter, and anywhere they are willing to discuss any questions asked. 

Also, I feel since the comment section isn't used much at all, please use them. The fanfic author won't know themselves unless you first comment there rather than discuss where they can't follow, such as a Discord server with no access. As long as they can access those servers, the author will answer your questions and provide anything you ask for barring spoilers. 

Outside of just participating in fandom, whether making a blog of your fave ship, whether it is rare or not, writing, or recommending, you are an active part of the community. 

Making a profit off of someone else without permission or collaboration isn't part of the community. 

There are different ways to be part of a fandom community but being this selfish enough to make money on someone else's free time spent to freely given gift to the overall fandom is bad. 

So News about OPLA....

 

Aside from waking up to the news with a lot of people decrying it as a bad idea and lots of theories thrown out the window, it does seem the original plan of ending at Enies Lobby is still ongoing at this point. 

That's quite a non-sequitur but still I remember reading that the plan was not Marineford but Enies Lobby and end on that note. 

With the fact they are ending on Drum instead, there's a probability that next season or season 2 part 2 will be Alabasta/Jaya and having Skypeia as its own season. 

People arguing that it's best ending on Alabasta when there on itself so big and needed time.

It's disappointing in itself that we will see Lera Abova as Robin for only one episode. Considering we'll see more Coby and Helmeppo this season instead, they should focus on the development on the main cast. 

Of course other than suspense that we haven't gotten a Bon-chan announcement at all. I hope that any transphobic people who tried to decry Bon-chan will be met with the ferocity of the OP fandom who adores Bon-chan and call them out for being fake fans or trying to stir up controversy where there was not and ever was considering how much Bon-chan is loved in the fandom. 

To be honest, we don’t have to worry about the inevitable reactions from reactionaries anytime soon unless they are explicitly casting Bon Clay. Alabasta won’t be until the next. 

Missteps aside from not casting MENA for money, the casting has been spot on. Bon Clay as a fan favorite should be given the same dignity. 

In the other end, while I understand the desire to have Robin be a Hispanic for the whole Ohara genocide, being Russian does not negate that either. Yes, it’s another white woman in the cast and the only two in the Strawhats live action but Arceus, blaming her Russian ethnicity is not enough to not be Robin supposedly. 

The MENA casting is just not there as it’s easily for money. The Russian ethnicity alongside she’s white is just the issue here for people that it’s just stupid to rhyme and reason. 

There haven't been a word about another Season 2 part 2 or even a season 3 at this point. 

Yes, Netflix needs a new flagship series since Stranger Things is ending and Wednesday is overstaying its welcome. Yes, Netflix is going full throttle with the One Piece. 

However, lest we not forget, Oda wanted the series to get newcomers into the manga and it worked! 

For all its flaws, the goal was met. 

Even if the discord for OPLA is disappointed whereas everywhere was welcomed that news with open arms or at least hesitation

I have zero expectations about the second season. Even before or after this announcement, it does not hurt me as a fan of the source material. I know the gains of getting new fans when even Oda knew they aren't likely to go beyond pre-time skip at best. That's a pipe dream. 

As much as we would like to see Yamato and the Elbaf giants, time skip will be so much of a pipe dream. 

Best case scenario, we get to Enies Lobby or even Marineford. Maybe if we’re lucky to even get Wano…I doubt getting time skip so much hence pipe dream. I’ll just happy to even get Enies Lobby as my favorite arc. 

Impel down would be great with Inaki Godoy, Jeff Ward, and David. Jeff preparing to fall fail upwards will be amazing even if he’s more adaptational badass this time around. 

With even more news of the casting including Indian casting for two MENA characters, apparently, there was a mix of things that went wrong behind the scenes for the casting. It seems they wanted to go through but in the end money talks. 

If Cobra's casting is this much, I fear Vivi's casting announcement officially even though everyone knows by now who it is. I just worry about the reactions from there from the more worrisome members. 

Also I cannot believe I have to spell this out: JUST BECAUSE MARTY ADELSTEIN TURNED OUT TO BE A BAD PERSON DOES NOT MEAN THAT OTHERS ARE LEFT TO ROT. 

We need the show to do well to even get near Marineford or at the very least Enies Lobby. Boycotting because of an attachment no one on the show didn't think would occur is stupid stuff. Matt Owens and everyone else is passionate about OPLA and being respectful. Be angry at the unexpected connection that nobody asked for when we should be supporting what could've been done in the first season where the cast couldn't promote it the way they wanted. 

Honestly, look forward to the press tour rather than the actual show. What little we got during the strike was so good: the fashion, the chemistry, the everything. 

Again, I don't know how much this is true of whether or not the execs want to skip arcs altogether or Netflix being finicky even though they need a new flagship show long enough to secure another flagship show alongside it. 

Again, no expectations from here. I know some live-action onlies are probably looking forward since they have lots of big names or moderately popular ones getting added to a cast of relative unknowns. 

I do worry about momentum but so many factors goes into making a show. Considering how much people don't see how long an anime creation can take, it's gonna take awhile. Considering how people do not understand on all fronts regarding the production of a show of any kind, animated or live-action, it's going to take a while. 

At least we got future Strawhat interactions to look forward to regardless. I still love the scene of the Strawhats sailing before running into Garp after Syrup Village in the live action. Can’t wait to see more of that coupled with much needed development for both live action Sanji and Usopp.

I would love to see Taz act the shit out in Whole Cake Island. I would love to see Inaki go Gear 5. I would love to see Inaki punch a Celestial Dragon. I would love to see Morgan’s Coby be the great marine he wanted to be and react to Luffy’s titles. I would love to see Jacob become Sogeking and God Usopp. I would love to see Mackenyu get Shusui and Enma. I would love to see Jeff Ward’s Buggy fall upwards with Alvida and Mr. 3 beside him in the chaos. I would love to see Steven John Ward’s Mihawk go crazy in Marineford and future Cross Guild interactions with Buggy. Fuck, I would love to see this version of Mihawk slash a frozen tsunami. I would love to see the Strawhats leave with happy citizens waving them off. For the love of Nika, I would love to see the Strawhats learn about the Road Poneglyphs and how to reach Laugh Tale. The faces of the live-action Strawhats are marvelous in my head, all their awe and joy. I would love to see Inaki Godoy's Luffy's first Conqueror's Haki or instances thereof because I can take what I can get. Godoka, I want to see the crew in-universe sing Bink's Sake! 

Can we at least see the flashbacks to Buggy and Shanks' time as cabin boys on the Oro Jackson? We didn't get that in the first season and we need that at least. Show that on Loguetown at least so that live-action onlies can get the taste of the mysteries we fans have been fed with for years and now only missing two last pieces of the puzzle. 

Arceus, seeing all the known Strawhats declaring that Luffy will be the Pirate King will be an arrow to my heart. Love to see Jacob be the first to air that out not that soon but hopefully in a few years in the Alabasta arc. I will be screaming to see that in live-action. 

There are scenes in season 2 I'm already looking forward to such as Drum and entering Reverse Mountain. 

Honestly, I just hope to see the Roger Pirates flashback with young Buggy and young Shanks considering they did cast them. Can the live-action onlies get the Rogers Pirates teases and the mysteries that we got, please? 

I'm freaking screaming just thinking of the raw moments of emotion that will definitely get newcomers and general audiences teary-eyed and feeling so wiped out from the emotion. 

Godoka, if Transformers One was able to convince on one iteration or a few considering there are only so much iterations in the public sphere (hey, just as not everyone know every Pokemon that ever existed or that Yugioh is still continuing its anime), they can at least know the iteration and what inspired it if they bother to look it up. 

Honestly, the very fact Matt referenced Cross Guild that went over the heads of LA-onlies is very funny. I got it but they don't. 

I would've love to see who would play live action Law and so many more. Ah, Vegapunk whom we were teased since forever, if we ever going to make it, their experience of waiting to see their faves again and the long game foreshadowing would be magnificent. If we have to suffer so long so does the newbies. 

I know Taz has stated they don’t want OPLA to go on too long. Obviously, they don’t want to be zombie shows like Supernatural but they can be long-term writing shows like Criminal Minds. Again, not as long, just enough to fulfill a story that can best end on its own terms while allowing live action onlies to go and complete the story in the intended medium it was meant to read. 

One Piece has an endpoint. We're in the final Saga for Godoka's sake! 

Again, it’s unlikely we’ll ever reach post-time skip. It’s a pipe dream. 

I would love to see Lera Abova actually tackle the famous I want to live scene. It was the audition after all. Godoka, I hope that just win gold everywhere in award shows no matter how award shows just aren't doing it right. 

Narratively, it makes sense to end things after Marineford but Enies Lobby will do great. Heck, after Enies Lobby, you can just show the rest of the crew future where they are and future with showing of everything without context to live action or lies to figure out when they finally read the thing. 

For what's its worth now, all we do now is cross our fingers that OPLA's chances to be at least long-term enough to reach Enies Lobby are better than normal. Hopefully, they can secure an S3 with Alabasta since they are going hard with Crocodile and Robin even if their true names haven't been revealed yet to the wider public that doesn't know shit about OP. 

Speaking of, what is with the entitlement regarding a short break Oda took to Cape Town? He always wanted to visit the set first season around so he finally got the chance to see it this time. Not to mention, he deserved a break and taking a break would not compromise the quality of the final saga. 

Oda took breaks longer than those two weeks. I distinctly remember a one-month break. Why are these guys in an uproar over a short break that will not hurt anyone? 

Fuck, the hate towards OPLA for supposedly compromising the quality of the manga is stupid. Oda gave his okay to what goes into the live action as he understands the difference between the medium and the chance to expand to new eyes who wouldn't look at his work otherwise. Elbaf wouldn't be ruined just because of a two-week vacation, not when there are theories on how it will play out with Vivi's message and Loki and so on. Are they really unimaginative about seeing how the story might play out while anticipating that Oda will throw you for a loop? 

My cousin wouldn't have looked at One Piece had it not been for the OPLA. 

Whether or not these stupid purists think, the point of OPLA was to reel in new people who wouldn't look at the source material either because of its vast depths or another reason altogether. 

I know my cousin wouldn't even though she's pretty much a newbie when it comes to anime. They know I'm the watcher and still keep up the news on it. The fact she even considers watching the anime at all is a feat even though she found OPLA Luffy annoying. 

We will always have the original source material. The OPLA is there to reel in new people. If OPLA bothers you in any capacity, just remember that Oda wants the general public to know and really know the story and heart of his story. There are OP creators who make no noise about OPLA or largely ignore the adaptation, but at least they are far more understanding in just shutting up and not mentioning to not bring down the negativity and gloom on the normies who were brought in by the live-action adaptation. 

Please, a two-week vacation is just nothing compared to years of hiatus that other people have to deal with their beloved mangas. 

One Piece fans have been spoiled so much with a manga going on its final saga, the anime with all its flaws, specials, movies, remasters, and a live action adaptation bringing in new fans. 

Having a life outside One Piece is a thing, y'know. I have dedicated a part of my life to One Piece due to falling down the rabbit hole but I have not forgotten my other loves in my life. I have loads of OP merch but my love for magical girls is transcendent. Sailor Saturn is basically the only thing growing the Sailor Moon portion whereas I desperately want more CCS but the ones I do find are either too expensive or just can't find the more affordable ones at the sizes I want with having three Princess Tutu pins. 

Pin Collecting and Collecting as a Hobby

I keep getting myself into expensive hobbies. Gunpla, figure collecting, manga, books… Thankfully, they aren’t the first edition. 

Since I’m a veteran collector, I have seen complaints raised against pin makers that aren’t about money fulfillment of orders or updates about anything. It’s about quality and quantity. 

I know my limits. Heck, the Thanatos figure was a grail for a long time that it relied upon they rereleased it for the anniversary. 

I know that at this point in time, I don’t have enough speed to get anything that doesn’t have PayPal/Shop Pay. 

I know by now I cannot hesitate when it comes to drops. Mamobot trained me well with that lesson when I got cart swiped and paid more for it when preorders went up after it sold out. 

I know that I’m better at limited-time preorders than LE preorders. I cut my losses pretty naturally. I mean I can try to attempt but if it's like a pickup for a convention, it's a tossup if they can get it before sellout. Heck, I made my peace I didn't get one. 

No amount of guilt-tripping should have a pinmaker send personal copies to these guys. Listen I get you want the item but you are no more special than anyone who trying to buy the pin you wanted in question. 

If that was the case, they probably should've known how the pin community worked by now or arrived at a drop late. 

Not to mention drop buddies are a maybe, not a demand for satisfaction. I haven't drop buddy for anybody since I'm wary of my own money and that needs to go to necessary orders I want to keep. Still so happy with the pins I got in. 

Heck, I wasn’t expecting to get my beloved Pokemallow Dragonair at all. I was just one of the many who wanted the AX exclusives and I was lucky enough to get mine. She’s forever homed, my fave of all faves. 

I did not ask my pickup buddy for more than asked for and was willing to compensate if they had managed to snag that one. They didn't and it's fine. I didn't think I was deserving of it more than anyone else who was there. Heck, I managed to get it later even if it hasn't shipped at all at the time of writing. 

With scouring around reliable pin makers and their grading systems alongside people's experiences with the said grading system, I know reliable preorders that I will get the pin and the grades that aren't flawless because they're handmade. 

I know that pin makers have varied standards. There were lower grades that looked like it doesn’t have a flaw and there were those that people couldn’t believe it’s that bad. 

I can trust PSS’ B-grades for instance given the praise from people who bought from her hence I can buy off her that way without guilt. With her BOGO, she tried to match it with the pin you bought. I know somebody in the pin server I’m in got a Zelda freebie with the Xiao pop she got so I got an idea. Given I’m pretty much buying Genshin and HSR off her, yeah. 

If they can understand that pin makers have varying eyes for standards, then they should be able to make peace that it wouldn’t be perfect. 

I perfectly understand if a pin doesn’t have an art proof at ready by presale or you want to see a sample, hell if it weren’t for the fact that I needed to snatch a spot, then I wouldn’t be preordering as much. Sometimes preorders might be the only chance to get it. 

If people are unable to get past they won't be getting flawless pins completely and utterly, pin collecting isn't the hobby you should be in. All pinmakers including the bad ones outright said that they're handmade and thus prone to errors during the process. 

It has gotten to the point that I have seen a reliable pinmaker and popular one too forced to add mixed grade mention to any big three more pins, a size that should get more flaws with the more details it gets, or a pin set that will be prone to human error like hand mixing pearl or painted by hand.  

If they are forced to add that much detail albeit brief or even showing examples of what counts as each successive grade in their book, then maybe these complainers shouldn’t be in this hobby if they all want perfection. 

I won’t collect C-grades unless it’s my own chance for the pin or if I can trust people’s experiences. 

Even a detailed grading system is needed considering another maker had to try to set up a new one. 

No pin is ever flawless. The maker will try to quality check for the best ones to send out for preorders and won't ever send out their worst grades to those who preordered, those who waited for months. The worst grades are typically at a discount or explicitly said; if they are willing or don't care about it as long as they have it, they can have it. 

I don't know why these people are this mad about flaws even regarding standard or A-grades in general. I only collect lower grades if I can trust others to deliver or if it's the only chance I can get it. I got my Moulin Rouge pins at a B-grade. At the point in time, I really don't care as long as I have it. 

Now this is about the quantity. Depending on their lives, they can have open preorders or not. More often or not, they are often LE with the occasional reruns. 

Mamo and Nuwa leave their preorders open for a week with some going on for a few days. There are people who run on the higher ends that have extended preorder limits in the same way as they do such as Witchxing and Abigeyedowl. 

Not every pinmaker can make every pins they have open preorders. Maybe within a limited timeframe sure but limited nonetheless. 

LE is simply easier on what these pin makers can do. They might increase the numbers with more interest than they thought. 

Participate more if you want the numbers raised. If you want the number raised, comment. 

If you want the LE, go practice with the website, just don't press buy at the moment. Just click the buttons as fast as you can without buying the practice product. 

Practice makes things easier for you. It's how I managed to secure some of my snags for LE pins and gacha that sells out within a minute or two. 

After getting cart swiped which is not a great feeling, I know I have to have no hesitation. Actually, it was amazing that I wasn't cart-swiped with the Neuvi and Meg preorders I got probably because of the Shop Pay. 

Again, know your limits and if you want it, practice your speed with the preferred method of payment. 

Nobody is entitled to enamel pins, a hunk of metal. You can ask how to purchase but at the end of the day, ISO is there and given the right help, the pin might come to you. My Espeon Pokemallow was this. 

Now, I pay for keeps. I don’t preorder as often as I have seen others do in a month. I'm pretty sure people spend at least a thousand a month. I barely cracked 500 on my worst spending months. I already warned my wallet in July 2024 that it would experience pain. 

Sometimes there are preorders that came up that threw me off course from my intended budget for the month. I know this feeling all too well. Either it's pins that have been on my list forever, surprise art reveals, or characters I never intended to collect but will make an exception for this one. 

I wasn't intending to make a Disney collection by any means. I saw Nuwa Evil Queen and I fell down the rabbit hole. It does help that the Evil Queen was threefer (love the classic Disney Princesses as I watch it all the time as a kid so it's a great symbolism for that era, my love for villains, and it's a beauty). I saw Nuwa Mali and wasn't that interested but I'm awaiting her Lady Tremaine. 

I always planned to start an HSR pin collection but it kept pushing back until May. ORV is still pushed back due to budget reasons. If it weren't for the fact that Penacony finally pushed me into buying it, who knows how long it would take to get that into gear. My misgivings about the final execution of the entire Penacony in its totality aside, it's still the final straw for me to finally collect it with Aven being the main drive. 

I didn't intend to get a Jing Yuan in any case but the Midnightmoon Purple Chrome variant did the job for me and I made an exception for getting him. I do not plan to get the Minty Jing Yuan anyhow. 

If Sunday is indeed a makeover with black clothes, oh I'm so tempted to get him that way. That's an if. There’s one Sunday but I don’t know. Again, my primary focus is on Aven, Ratio, Acheron, and misc characters at this point. 

I'm honestly waiting for Abigeyedowl to release the Ever After pin set because, unlike others, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna get hers and put it on my Cinderella board. If she does indeed make the other Cinderella such as Ella and Kit, then I'm a goner. Again, the only exception for a Disney Princess I will collect will be Cinderella. Witchxing is on the radar for that alone for her Girl with Sword series which I made the exception of getting Punzie. 

All in all, a hobby should make you happy. Pin collecting is just one of the many expensive hobbies I partake in. Concentrating on a hobby makes you money rather than making you happy wouldn't make anybody happy.

Singularly focusing on a pin and nothing else isn't really good for the psyche and maybe they should take a step back from the hobby if they are that happy for not getting a pin. 

Because of my previous expensive hobbies, it's no harm done if I don't get the pin immediately. Fuck, I still haven't gotten to the Real Grade Gunpla my brother bought for me for my birthday because I don't feel that I'm not at that level yet. 

It’s simply for the peace of mind that I get the pin at preorder. 

Heck, I easily let pins I won't be able to get pass through me once I see I have no chance and maybe one I might possibly get it. 

What I won't let pass me are Mamo's preorders because from what I heard from him, the second wave of the Eevee Fusions have in-hands but for some of them, there won't be in-hands at all. Thank Arceus, I snagged them all. 

I understand if a maker won’t make extras or can’t. I have a bunch of miscellaneous men from Genshin and Honkai that I can sufficiently make an ita bag day for it if I feel like it. If I’m feeling Pokemon Chandelure one day then hot Hoyo guys next then Cinderellas next, who knows. Though with abigeyedowl I’m refusing to let that out of a shadowbox if the Cinderellas would ever be released for presales. 

My Yugioh collection is tiny. KHR, GX, Digimon, and even CCS suffered from being on the back burner. Been trying to get in the groove with my fave animanga CCS by getting a pin at last for it after so many Sailor Moons. 

It's also fine if art doesn't jive with you. I passed on a few artists because they simply aren't for me. Some styles just don't do it for me and it's okay. Honestly, given how many hours passed since then, I was able to live with that and didn't suffer any FOMO. 

I passed on several that won't ever have restocks again or have limited extras that I know will sell out quickly. Though some had been pushed to buying need once I saw the full art. God, I got a Kaveh at last to balance out the Aven now in time for Kaveh’s birthday too. 

If Pris.pins is doing her half of the HSR pins which includes the Ratio Chibi I needed, I will cry. I've been waiting for that Chibi to be in my possession one way or another. Putting Aven and Ratio next to each other is so nice. 

Again, I think my main problem was the temptation. So once the temptation solidified after months wait, yeah, it's going on the list. There had been solidified choices that made my wallet cry in terror. 

There are common themes to my collecting: As of note, I don't have traders usually. I would offer the pins I don't like that I either have to buy to get. I was able to offload one now even if I got it in presale. I have yet to sell the Link I have as I decided not to collect LOZ. 

I’m pickier than most people but my budget will balloon if something I had been eying have a surprise drop and I somehow snagged it. I knew July was gonna be a big spending month but it ballooned my budget through surprise drop and designs. Ugh, I’m pretty sure what my ballooned budget doesn’t even touch others and even my cousin’s combined budget for both gacha and her love for board games whether through kickstarters or bargain. She has two petting Sprigatito dolls. 

• Fave characters from a series that I have major love for in the past 10+ years 
• Fave characters from recent series that have my heart or still feel love even after not getting into since then only through the peripheral grasp of other means 
• Purple - depending on the design, I have to get it. If it’s one of the two variants, so far I picked those two already. I didn’t intend to collect Jing Yuan but have a purple variant nor do I intend to collect Punzie but have Witchxing Girl with Swords purple variant. I don't collect all characters who have the motifs of purple in them such as Raiden Ei or Punzie. I much prefer Sailor Saturn or Kafka. At least I’m collecting the purple characters I like. 
• Pretty art that is up my alley. See Witchxing Girl with Swords Punzie purple variant and so much more. I do not collect Apothecary Diaries yet have one. I’ll likely get PSS Sunday but Aven will remain a priority with Acheron and Ratio due to being buff as he is going to be in the limited ones like Haitham. Maybe get Minty Sunday but since I wasn’t a fan of the Minty Kafka design, I’ll stick with PSS topper for the preference that the Pop didn’t entice enough with the purple. I'll just gift these Sundays to my cousin after a while of displaying and keeping them for a bit for the art alone. 
• Encapsulation or telling a story - I'm a sucker for stories so it's a given if it's an encapsulation of say foils or relationships to an extent, I'm more driven to get it. Hence the only MHA and AD pins I will ever own. Nuwa's recent series The Landscapes is up my alley in these terms but I'm not feeling a need, only temptation.

From what is above, do not compare your collection to others. You do not need artists and pinmakers' pins that are out of your reach if it's out of your budget or another. 

For example, I'm still wary of spending 100 on a pin and that's without shipping. I can spend if it's just a little over 100 only if the shipping goes over that. I can spend over 100 and even some 200 on a set and that's because it's a set. 

I struggle to think of spending over a hundred for a pin so that's why I prefer to buy presales from Witchxing than in-hands or aftermarket for her to keep it down. 

Just know the limits of your budget and yourself and decide what matters most to you in your collection. You know your collection and comparison aren't good for your mental health, be it jealousy, cockiness, or another negative emotion. 

Staying in pin clubs especially when I previously missed out on exclusive drops for said pin club is what I know I want to do. I refuse to step out of Mamo and Nuwa's pin clubs because what if I missed an exclusive drop that is for Patrons only?? 

I’m attempting one and hope to Godoka and Arceus I snag it. I need the Neuvi for my board and I’m so happy I snagged it. The beauty would go great on that board. The colors would do well even if I put my Childe on there or heck my Suicunes. 

I followed Reylo shipper pinmakers. The ship itself is more of a pesky fly than something I prefer not to see in my feed hence me unfollowing any maker even making a mention about EndHawks. Sorry, that ship gives me psychic damage whereas Reylo is an annoying fly. Honestly, lucky them because I would’ve avoided the hell out of more great artists if Reylo became the level of avoidance for peace of mind that only one ship had. NaruHina a popular ship in the pin-making community just make me sigh and move on while I try to out that movie out of my mind, and worst case feeling uncomfortable. I don’t want to unfollow these artists. 

I dedicated a chunk of my budget to Witchxing Girl with Sword Punzie which I know is a need. Nuwa, as the one who careened me into collecting Disney with her beautiful Evil Queen, is tempting me with the Kiss the Girl Landscape in particular but if she had done Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, I would've bought it. Again I only collect Disney if they are villainous, Cinderella, or if it's misc, then it has to be something that I really love for my collection. As someone who loves Sleeping Beauty art, I would love that. Again, Nuwa only with misc hoping to Abigeyedowl and Witchxing. Maybe Mamo would have continued the Fashion Disney because I would've purchased the Yzma. I joined Nuwa's patreon mainly for her FTD though I did get her Sakura once a spot opened up for her but with FTD expanding to others than just Disney, I'm happy enough to hope one day to get an FTD of the others she's drawing that is not Disney if the design drives a need. 

For budget reasons, I have to pick and choose. For example, in August, since between a series I like and a character I love, it’s the one design of a character I will love forever that gets me. I had to choose. It’s for the sake of my wallet, I’ll go with my collection than something I promised myself I can’t collect. 

I collect Disney very casually for peace of mind. If anything, my wallet is mainly screaming in pain due to the magical girls, Genshin, and HSR purchases. Hence, I reserve my Disney purchases to Nuwa mostly with special occasions going to Witchxing and Abigeyedowl. 

I've been trying to look for Sailor Saturn filler pins so I've been on the lookout for LavenderxSilvy Outer Senshi filler pins and Cutematter's Kickstarter which I know will feature Saturn. I know that with any upcoming Saturns I will get, filler pins are the way to go at this point should I get the board that satisfies my favorite scout. 

I know I'm switching between an ita bag or a board or both for my Kaveh collection. Aven has the same amount too. 

Saturn exceeds the number but nowhere near others’ collections. Even my Pokemon collection which far exceeds Saturn in number has different Pokemon with the only Dragonair getting 3 and Mimikyu 4, Psyduck at 2. By number, Pokemon is my largest with magical girls coming in second with my Sailor Moon purchases inching it closer. By individual characters, Saturn won by a long shot with Kaveh and Aven coming close behind at 4 each. Serenity, Sakura Kinomoto, Cass Cain, and so many more sat at 2 or 1. In the case of Zhongli, Chiori, Acheron… it’s nothing even though I want to collect them. Ironically, despite not wanting to collect SatoSugu as an exclusive OTP, I got 5, technically 4 since it's a variant so about the same length as my fave sailor senshi... I'm stubbornly going to put together an OTP board so SatoSugu is not getting a board of their own I refuse. 

Compared to my cousin's spending on her hobbies, I'm more restrained even when I spend close to 3000 in the course of a year, it's nothing compared to her addiction to her gacha games and her board games addictions. She spent more in a year than I did in a single year of my pin-collecting hobby. 

Just putting down what I want in future presales barring any surprises just makes my soul go up in smokes. I got my credit card but a slight decrease in paycheck might hinder if I plan everything right barring a few surprises. I’m still considering any Mamo Moon Prism Project Serenity and that’s it since I collect Blonde Serenity (white haired Serenity isn’t my thing or at worst a shade of gray that isn’t in the original art so forgive me I want the blonde ones more) only as well as eying a variant about FTD Neo-Queen Serenity. Again, I turned into a Serenity collector by an artist and it was so slippery that I utterly refused to do that again with other characters of any media I love. Fuck, I am stopping myself at 4 Sundays, literally zero chibis. Luckily, I found almost nothing regarding PGSM pins so I have to wait to see Dark Mercury again from Mamo. At least unlike Serenity, there is almost zero Darkury I can choose from. 

At least with Disney, I allow myself to have all except Frozen, Pocahontas, Wish, Raya, and Brave. I'm open to everything but those. Because it's still under the Disney umbrella, I can collect pins from Nuwa. 

I do not have enough props at home to make pin pictures. Just showing it in bags and shadowboxes is enough for me to decorate. I still have to make my shrines and boards because that's far more of a priority than having a pin pic with a background I barely use. Giving shrines to my fave characters and fave designs is enough to push me through the pin box purgatory. My pins are stuck in boxes and I really love to decorate them. I have so many ideas for my beloved Saturn, Kaveh, and Aventurine boards or at least interchangeable swapping from board to ita with Kaveh in particular. I do not have it in me to have that many pins to flex more or less. Even my one of my insta highlights became a pin mail but it's not all of them. I was too lazy to take pics of then pin mail and only used the pics I had in my photos at that time sent to people who knew my hobby. Some individual pins will get their own special singular board. I have some ideas for some already but I have to spice up the board a bit. 

I can do work-in-progress photos of pinboards and ita bags that I will just end up putting on the walls or bookshelves whereas pin mail would just be photos that I had sent to others that I later used for stories. 

Funko's Problems

 

Despite my problems with Funko, I don't have any problems with people collecting it. 

There's news of Funko restructuring and laying off employees due to the debt they accrued. 

If nothing else, they need to go back to the basics that made them famous in the first place.

What Funko needed to do was:

• Drop the 3-liter Sodas
• Scale down the regular Sodas to make them limited and obscure. Be more creative with the Chases. A 10k or less than 7k count is best and Sku counts need to drop. 
• Throw away the Blockbuster Rewind completely. It has the potential but its size is less than a regular Funko pop negating it. Make them con-only if you want to keep them. Keep them only if you want if limited.
• Throw away the Big Pins too. Standard pins are fine but big ones are a big waste. 
• Scale back the Pop announcements at conventions. Stick to at least 20. Drop sku count and introduce limited pops again. No big announcements every year, just go back to the March lineup announcements and smaller ones throughout the year. 
• Sell stuff better in certain countries
• Have products that people want and love rather than have millions of commons with Chases and other unique Funko varieties here and there. 
• Spend more on licenses that Funko never had like Top Gun, Roadhouse, Days of Thunder, etc. 
• Tighten up the licenses too per year especially with flexibility with movie/TV tie-ins when a project is delayed 
• No puzzles and board games
• No more Deluxe Albums and Gold figures
• Be more selective with Comic Covers so that way it would make the price reasonable for the right one. Keep them con-only if you want to keep them. 
• Drop Battle Scenes and Sports Cards too. If want to keep, limited only. 
• Drop Snaps and Poppsies 
• Keep commons limited to a few for each license. 
• If you are redoing a character, do them once and move the fuck on. 
• New pops for big licenses like MCU shouldn't be full and do people need like ten pops? If it's a character that hasn't been done before, do that and if a character has been done before, keep it limited. 
• If it's a big franchise, go for obscure references while the movies and TV should get smaller lines. 
• Get rid of 25k legacy pops and die-cast
• Drop or keep NFT pops limited at con-only.
• No more ornaments and plushes. I understand that a seller, they needs to diversify to attract those who want the same thing but something else. Again, for the ornaments, keep them con-only or holiday releases only if you want to keep them. 
• Drop the Pocket Pops. 

The itty-bitties pops are doing fine and no need to change there. Keep the minis and keychains. 

A basic problem was just words exclusive, limited, and common that Funko lost sight of due to greed and their want to be the next Hasbro and Mattel, not knowing those companies succeeded due to focusing on several licenses and doing it well. Fuck, Pokemon and Magic of the Gathering was able to recover post-pandemic. Funko is doing well or decently but they are throwing anything at the wall and hoping it sticks. A major problem is oversaturation. Largely, they need to trim the fat.  

They are already pulling back on ten-inch Funko pop production. Keeping it limited and for larger characters would make more sense than having every character have this. Well, not every character but enough to have Funko cut back. 

In stores, pops might as well warm the shelves before going into the clearance section. That's brutal. 

I applied to a recently open Funko store in the mall and it’s a lot of pops in there with a life-sized Luffy Gear Four Funko at the window beside the entrance. At this point, I didn't care I would be near Funko as long as I was working a full-time job. 

I know at the cashier were the limited ones or the autographed ones I think because the back of the cashier showed autographs on the plastic for the respective pop. 

As for other stores, I remember in one shop that sells Japanese items, the pop section had actually sold pretty well as I recall only a few on the back by the time I was exploring the shop. The Funko pop shelf in that store is the only pop shelf there that has considerably sold. The anime figures section is still relatively big with those going up by a lot. The plushies were still considerable too but those are fairly expensive. Then again, it's a huge retailer that is primarily Japanese products that for someone who loves Japanese products with the occasional Korean products says a lot. If I get a job at the mall, then during my breaks outside of eating would totally go into the Japanese shops to buy. 

Those pops are exclusively animanga though I did see some Marvel then and there. 

Anyways, the oversaturation means that the bigger franchises would be staying on shelves for a long time. Do we need that many Darth Vaders and Spidermans? They are popular IPs and characters surely but not every Funko collector would pick them up because they're common and neither will the casual or the impulse buyers who just like the product. 

Making them limited again would not put them into the clearance section or worse a landfill. 

While anime figures are coming over here with too costly a price for prize figures and while popular figures should have the same price as the ones sold in Japan typically, I'm usually wary about it since I'd rather pay how much it would cost typically than more than I should have. There is still a variety in prize figures though regardless of the cost here. 

In Funko, differences are so minuscule that a regular person would wonder why they want to buy another when they could have the figure anyway. Why do people want a repeat figure with little change regardless of glitter or chrome? 

I know commons have been argued as a point for why Funko was able to make so much money but at the same time, too many commons for too many figures cannot be offset by that. The issue is that they are making too many pops that nobody wants and it's wasting away on shelves and clearance. There has to be a line. 

Funko has licenses that not every license will dole out to others hence its accessibility. Commons made that work because now everyone can have their own figure from their favorite show that won't likely be made in other merchandise. 

Do people expect figures made for Twin Peaks or genres people don’t expect merchandise from? Considering Squid Game’s merch goes against the themes and messages, capitalism overtakes anything. 

Funko is easily the most accessible thing to make figures of. I am not hammering them for having figures for licenses that people didn't expect too much merchandise from. If anything, that's a boon when Japanese figures that do have DC and Marvel figures that are high quality are often relegated to the higher tiers of figure making; very rarely do I see prize figures made for the DC and Marvel figures because I know Q Posket is often a prize figure that I do see but I don't see outside of that. My Hawks figure is about the approximate cost for those DC and Marvel figures I see often in the Japanese figure makers on the side of things. 

Funko just needs to trim the fat of what's not working and focus on what they do best with limited to several per license per year announcements big and small. 

I can't believe I'm advising a capitalistic company that, unlike the artists I support through their small stores, wants money hence all the problems they have. 

If nothing else, if fans of Funko want to have them without the newer ones taking up too much space and costly and too many that it's warming the shelves rather than have customers actively buying, then have at it. 

Funko, what you are running isn't the Disney Pins trading business. Disney can release pins every single day and not suffer any setbacks because it's a Parks activity just as much as Figment remains strong. Even outside the parks, Disney pin trading still happens with people buying Disney pins from various companies such as Loungefly and BoxLunch. 

While there is trading in Funko pops and pins, commons do not afford much trading. At least pins are made limiting numbers due to cost. Popular activity yes but it’s not so common even as a regular site in the parks and other certain communities. 

At least anime figures aren't that common as it's regarded as an otaku activity just as much as any train otakus. Funkos unfortunately have the problem of commons whereas prize figures are typically won via game or retail for a low price. 

When most of their stuff is going into landfills whereas anime figures are getting distributed even if it's upped for a slightly unreasonable price in some places, doubling what it would cost in Japan originally, it says a lot that while Funko does have to go back to the basics given its oversaturation. 

Moving it into landfills because it's not selling says everything about capitalism really. Instead of donating it, they filled up trash with these plastic and cardboard boxes. Sure, it can be funny like the case of the ET Atari game in the landfill incident but it's still pretty bad to just dump it like that instead of dumping excess into charity for positive PR than for the cost. 

That’s getting into a conversation about capitalism and the larger aspects. 

While we are discussing a capitalist company with their capitalistic desires, that doesn’t mean they are the true evils of the world, the lesser evils against extremist nazis. I’ll take Disney’s side over Ron DeSantis because one wants money but the other wants me dead. Criticize we will about Disney but taking the side of a Nazi who wants us dead in the end will kill me and other people like me. Capitalism wants our money but would you take the side of people who wants the queer community dead just because you are criticizing the choices of a mega multimillion company with the current CEO trying to fix his own mistakes and decidedly anti-SAG-AFTRA and anti-WGA strike (it’s the summer of strikes heading into autumn but I’ll rather have Hollywood shut down until these guys get their dues, no competition who gets the worst treatment or deserve more because it feeds into the Hollywood narrative when the visual medium demands so much collaboration in the first place)? Hell no! I’m admitting I’m taking the side of a capitalist in the fight against nazis who are targeting them now or at least Disney but if Disney is using their scary lawyers then what about the others? but I’ll never side with Bob Iger on the strikes. This is the issue vs broad activism again that people in the strikes are combating with the leader of SAG-AFTRA being anti-vax. We are fighting for better pay and treatment but we won’t agree on other particular issues. 

Well, you know my piece on that without a huge post about it. I’m not part of either nor am I pro-Hollywood. Hollywood going woke and Oscars So White are the symptoms of the larger systematic injustice but at least they’re trying even if their tries tend to be toothless and at worst perpetuate stereotypes. I can ignore all the remakes even though they are stirring up worthless controversies. Again, I question people trying to stir up controversies over the live-action Disney remakes given its track record. The Snow White after the Little Mermaid is repetitive at this point. 

Mini-Review: Penacony 2.3

 

Mihoyo isn't that terrible with writing. They have great ideas but on the rate of 10 stars, the execution is often at a 4. 

I just wish they didn't focus on the waifu writing so much. It's downright expected given their audience for Honkai 3rd. 

They are fully capable of writing complex women. At least Arlecchino and Furina do impact the story. I'm not collecting either as that would ruin my budget for other stuff. Maybe if PSS makes a Arlecchino Tarot, I'll think about it. 

For Penacony 2.3, it's an epilogue but an epilogue with little substance. What substance it does have are character moments and interactions. 

If 2.2 was just misogyny in full, since Robin is literally a plot device for Sunday and little much is done to Firefly,  Acheron only managed to escape the misogyny. 

Acheron was so good. Her writing was consistent and grew in each patch. 

Robin has a little better this round alongside Firefly. Robin lost her sibling relationship with Sunday, now eternally separated due to her giving up her precious memory to Jade to free him. What little we have is just a little better than what we got. 

Firefly got to be the girl rather than the girlfriend this time! I enjoyed her with the rest of the Stellaron Hunters and so much more. It's disappointing that in the past patches and even in the new event, they're still pushing her as the waifu, especially with whatever depths are in promo material rather than the actual story. What little we got here is probably the least interesting part of the entire patch. The third death was just weird. 

It would've been better that the TB having lost memories had vagueness regarding Firefly. Firefly probably knew TB since they were created but nothing was done there. 

Aventurine wasn't there much and what he got was adorable. The problem is that his relevance to the story of Penacony was not much there if at all. Old Oti didn't even react to Jade and Topaz telling him Aven's part in the whole thing making me think that 2.1 as beloved as it is just not that relevant. 

In attachment to Robin and parallels to Aven, Sunday took the spotlight of 2.2. Aven should've been there at that fight and beat the fuck out of him for what he said. This isn't the case of Akechi in Maruki's reality. Why? Because Akechi was our foil and thus have no need to fight Maruki in this case when he's an illusion. 

We should've seen more of the true reality of the dreams if they are just gonna throw that away. Nihility but death seems like the case at first until nope. 

I mean people can die now in the dream. I mean they can be hurt if Aven not appearing much is the case. 

What's worse about this other than the lack of connective tissue is that the relevance of things like Aventurine's part of the story, Dreamflux Reef, Argenti, Firefly, Sparkle, Boothill, and the whole Ena/Order is not given its dues and depths that it should've gotten. It felt like it was thrown out now. 

The goodbyes are very nice. The chatfic nature is cute and funny. Argentill and Golden Ratio are so much fun. 

At least Oswaldo plot point will be given at some point when Aventurine and Boothill wanted him dead. It's disappointing that we don't see it at all, just what it's implied. 

Sparkle's actions make sense but it felt like it was there for Firefly's part in the end which felt unnecessary. 

2.3 has some fun parts and some parts that I do care about but it's just nothing of much overall. 

I mean 2.3 is just the opening ceremony of the Charmony Festival. 

It just feels weird if the 2.4+ leaks are true. Either way, the writing takes a blow and it would've been better had Penacony be extended just a little bit more considering how much it does need rewriting. 

The crew in charge of HSR's writing has a major problem with giving relevance from character stories to the overall story, connecting tissue cohesively. 

It was unsatisfying how they ended Aven's relevance to the story. 

Is it bad that I just want depths and connective tissue? 

While we aren't done with Penacony completely, there are loose ends that we're probably coming back but in the immediate, these loose ends felt like it's there. 

If only two worlds are left whereas we still have areas to explore in Teyvat, I think the intention for this story is more self-contained to these worlds. 

Loufu's problem was just vagueness. While written by the same guy who did the Inazuma arc, at least the female characters are done decently whereas Jing Yuan and Dan Heng IL are the main characters. 

It seemed like people trusted Shaoji. While there are some great parts, HSR’s problems remained marketing of hype characters first and whatever dominos fall afterward. 

HSR might seem like Mihoyo cared more about the feedback than Genshin but all their games regardless of its newness is still suffering one way or another and not because of surface level evaluation that somehow one have more care than the other. Both of these games have their own problems regarding storytelling and Mihoyo's focuses on them. 

Genshin has every character being part of a cog of a machine that is the larger storytelling. Even in their worst stories, you can't say that Sigewinne isn't unimportant. It's lore-heavy at the expense of the gameplay and what people have been asking for years to the point that it's hard for newcomers with the overwhelming lore. 

This is the total opposite of HSR where characters' stories balance with the overall stories prioritized differently based on the marketing. 

That’s so big a problem that it’s interfering with the story and its execution that overall the score remains 4 out of 10 but when they pull off the 10, it's great. Boothill was so useless and Aven and Argenti’s relevance was nil in its weight. 

Yes, I will still grip about that when by comparison while Loufu suffered from vagueness and digging deep whereas Belelog is just okay with the male characters as window dressing, Penacony suffered so much when it built up to something that should be reasonably satisfying. 

I understand plot threads should be extended such as the whole Oswaldo thing but my Arceus would the foils of Sunday and Aven be satisfying at this point? When Aven’s weight was nil?

This is why I raise my eyebrow toward anyone who said Mihoyo cares more for one game than another. Honestly, Tears of Themis is just chill overall for them and I’m pretty sure that despite any outward facade of care, there will be problems, especially in regard to Mihoyo. 

I have my preferred character types (Hawks, Kaveh, Aventurine, Satine, etc) whereas my cousin has her husbandos in TOT. 

I commend Camden’s first outing as a VA. His voice acting as Aventurine was very star-making just as Zeno’s role as Hawks. The potential for future roles beyond other Mihoyo games is strong here as he’s an actor who didn’t choose the route of television. 

Voice acting for video games and anime is really low-paying in the States. They aren’t treated like celebrities in Japan and do not even have a role in the biggest movies to showcase their talents. Only animated shows and video games are the future roles here. 

He’s still a beginner VA playing off experienced VAs. Even his future convention appearances rely entirely on conventions banking on him via fans asking. 

He shows a deep love and appreciation for the character and the art of voice acting. If he keeps at it, he could build up quite a resume. 

Yes, he has a big game under his belt but it’s his first and only role so far. We don’t know how many auditions he sent in for multiple others at the moment. For right now, he’s only known in the Mihoyo circles as his acclaim is getting around worldwide in the niche even if it’s just thirsting and cuteness going around.

Maybe in the future, he’ll get roles in anime, western cartoons, or video games as long as he’s under the guidance of the voice actors he collaborates with. 

I mean he sure is commissioning artists, spending on anything Aventurine he can get his hands on, and spending a whole lot on HSR gacha pulls. 

He has a Twitch as well as a YouTube so I guess it’s some additional money. 

All in all, Penacony and overall HSR have much-needed work to make something great out of it. 

That's not to say they aren't bad storytellers or have great characters. There are so many flaws in the finale of this part of this story, the story that gets more eyes on them than anything else due to word of mouth for incredible characters. Even if overall the Penacony has more problems than just the finale. 

It's just that either that potential is not fulfilled in the same way that it should've been done or not at all due to the insistence of waifu. Even if that was lightened in the finale just a tad, there was still the Firefly dating event. 

For all the love the characters have from the writing team, the writing suffered a lot. 

It's par for the course for Mihoyo games that the writing will be mediocre for all the character writing. Gacha games rely heavily on the characters. Heck, Twisted Wonderland has some 30 characters compared to Gacha games with stories and worlds that involve over a hundred playable characters. 

On a side note, the boycotting Mihoyo for the Natlan rep is just… You understand that these people won’t affect the bottom line, right? It’s better to attack that because, for a multimillion business, Mihoyo is more swayed by their Chinese community than their overseas, especially for Genshin. There are good intentions for the boycott but it’s not as easy as that. If that were the case, then that HP game would’ve suffered far worse. I don’t think these people who have good intentions are going with a clear mind of what to do than boycott when they should’ve understood the nuances that it’s not as easy. I refuse to support HP in any capacity as I know the money will go to the face of a hate movement they fund and successfully harm the trans community. Mihoyo based in China has so many issues with colorism but Natlan shouldn't have been the ticking point. For fuck's sake, Aventurine is basically Turkish-Romani and the depiction of the Romani equivalent isn't greatly handled at all at any point in the actual canon so to have Natlan be the last straw is just crazy. People know well before Sumeru that Mihoyo has issues with colorism and that no boycott is going to stop a multi-billion business. Why the fuck isn't Aventurine's Romani heritage didn't have this much response?? Honestly, with how many people were anticipating Snezhnaya, Natlan wouldn't stop the train for that region people have been anticipating forever. 

Journey into Pin Collecting

 

I never expected to fall down this rabbit hole. 

After experiencing things that are normal to pin collectors in the community, I'm still learning. This glossary here is useful. If I never need help regarding designing pins, I refer to this to achieve the best I want.

While I spent over a thousand at this point, I considered myself still pretty decent. I think I gave up a lot of potential pins because I could live without them or put them off till later. 

Honestly, with the pin collecting, I’m getting to know myself as to what themes I subconsciously lean-to. 

I love Nuwa’s art but I wasn’t intending to get any Disney fantasy pins at all until I laid my eyes on the Evil Queen. It's too lovely not to have and now I’m building up a Disney Villain board with Nuwa Yzma being my first FTD preorder. I mean who wouldn’t get Yzma? 

I still like glittery diamonds enough. I still like light designs of my favorite designs in a particular series. 

However, I noticed I tend to pick the goth and dark designs even with the cute and girly designs is a theme even with the theme of characters representing darkness death, and destruction. 

My first Patreon reward was Nuwa Sakura for November. My second and third were Mamobot Dragonair and Califlair's new theme series that will be delivered in February. I refuse to leave those three pin clubs particularly not letting go of Califlair's pin rewards after seeing the two so far. My third was Califlair’s Angel & February reward. 

FTD Yzma is my first ever FTD preorder whereas my first ever Patreon discount was the three Fashion Gardevoirs I've wanted. I haven't exactly had a true Patreon early access preorder from Mamobot just yet. Moon Prism Project Saturn is my first Patreon exclusive preorder as all I seen from the series it’s all in the pin club shop. I don’t think it was ever in the public shop. 

Neuvi Tarot is my first PSS pin whereas the Childe PoP I refuse to give up is my second PSS pin, both preorders. 

My first-ever group presale is the Silvy Moonie Saturn and I need to buy it the moment it releases. I do not know how many spots are there but it’s probably 40-ish given the previous full presale; surprisingly only two so far managed to get full: Riftan and Saturn. I scored a spot as soon as I got the confirmation of the group formation and now awaiting the date. 

I have seen the Mercury presale and already taken off after the first day and probably all of the group members paid already. I have seen early access members paying by other means than this. 

As much as I will be in pin jail for that, as long as I don't spend way more than I'm expecting, I'm okay. Honestly, as long as Mamobot doesn't fail me now by releasing the Eeveelution Crossbreeds Wave 1 in February, then I'm fine. 

Thank god I mostly stick with Saturn and Moon, but the only sometimes is because there is so much that I would buy at one point. 

Getting access to pin clubs is like getting crack to be honest. Nuwa's FTD series and Mamobot releasing early access Patreon open preorders are so bad to me but I know when to pick and choose. I feel like I'm being forced to pick and choose the Eeveelution Crossbreeds but I have to get the ones I know I need as February will be the hardest obstacle to get over. 

Because I'm actually spending not that much by comparison to others, in fact, I think what I'm spending in February alone is comparable to one of my cousins spending on a Kickstarter bundle that included add-ons of specials, I'm only focusing on designs I wanted. Sure I follow over a hundred artists on Instagram, but I'm only focusing on what I can do right now. Heck, I haven't spent anything on Mamobot in January other than getting the monthly reward. 

I'm investing in Califlair as I plan to stay all year. I'm staying in Mamobot and Nuwa's Patreon for obvious reasons. I don't plan to join any Kickstarters even for any ita bag once I manage to scrouge enough to buy an ita bag for my liking. I only joined a DC Kickstarter once and I've fallen down the rabbit down to not join a Kickstarter at the moment. 

Even if the creators are now limiting the LE so as not to create any dead stock, creators are still upping their game all over the place. I have seen pin designs that are just so good and there are some I know I can't pass up comes the preorder date like Silvy Moonie Saturn that I refuse to let go. 

Sure there are some stray pins I'm eying like from PSS and if a design I really love pops up in Discord Instagram or Patreon, it's all up in the air. The only designs that I know I want are up on Mamobot 

And I was right. Mamobot threw my intended budget out the window with the release of Eeveelution Fusions Wave 1 and Moon Prism Project Saturn. I was just lucky I only spent 109 previously including the pin clubs I stayed in but Mamobot revealed the Jirachi one and I really like this reward.  

In February alone, I will wound up preordering two Saturns, one from Mamo and the other from Silvy. They are going to look great in my Saturn shrine anyway so no regrets. No regret buying Wave 1 either. 

I already have two boxes at this point with the Wave 1 plus Saturn and the other was six of Wave 2 Fashion Gardevoirs. I'm pretty sure my 212 order that comes with a freebie pin and a free Mamocard essentially brought up the total to 15 items in total all of which are two inches with one 2.85 with the card being a card so it has to be a Mamobox. 

The start of February and the tail end of January already have been one bad financial decision after another. But those are designs I don’t regret. I cannot regret the upcoming Childe PoP that I have been waiting a long time for. At this point, after February, I’m gonna stick with planned purchases. 

Though with Mamobot’s sets I’m eying, some surprises that would set me off to get the earliest and cheapest pricing I can get. The Saturns could be counted as impulse purchases but they are also planned ones as I told myself that I only want Moon Prism Project Saturn and that PoP. I told myself Saturn and maybe Moon and haven’t stepped out since. 

I prefer to get them at the early bird price rather than later. I’m still spending badly but less. 

Since my budget is way off now, I will see if the Dabihawks zine leftovers and Dark Miku will be released in February to budget for the reward and the other Saturn. Honestly, I also need to see Nuwa's March reward and her FTD release to be sure too. At least I'm gonna score the Childe PoP. 

Mamo and Nuwa usually do open preorders for an entire week with an early bird discount is what I will try to get even after work. PSS always did a 48-hour preorder period only extending if not getting preorders to justify production; she only recently did the IF series as a week-long to have more than one character per month. I hope to see Itto and Kazuha even Tomo. 

I also have to take into account future waves of the Eevee Fusions because I need to buy them as well as Wave 3 of Fashion Gardevoir. I already completed Moon Prism Project Saturn, I just need to focus on Pokemon for Mamobot. I can’t afford another Moon Prism Project when the Eevee Fusions are calling me; I promised myself Saturn and that's it on the Moon Prism maybe with the possibility of Moon/Serenity. 

Again, other than Mamobot and Nuwa, I’m looking at PSS and hopefully, Zupins, the latter of which I hope to open an OP for a design I really want. 

There might be stray designs that would come up that are going to be hard to pass up on my budget. Silvy Moonie Saturn ended up being that and Nuwa Yzma. 

I know PSS will be plenty hard on my budget and no less following over a hundred Instagram accounts when it pops up a design or an in-hand sale I've been wanting for a while. 

To save as much money as I can, I have to see what Mamobot aka the Dark Miku and Nuwa aka the FTD and the monthly reward have to offer as well as any news on the Dabihawks zine leftovers to get certain designs such as PSS' Zhongli while still retaining one paycheck for a design I joined a group for. Mamobot already threw me off budget. Though after the eyeliner weirdness on the finished IF one, I’m wary and now aimed for a Zupins OP. 

I want the Zhongli but have to give up the Jirachi and if Mamobot releases the Dark Miku in February, I would likely have to give up the Zhongli for the time being or even look forward to the in-hand release of it or find another Zhongli. Again, it all depends on so many factors at this rate that the only thing I know I can spend on is the Silvy Moonie Saturn and IF Childe PoP. I refuse to give up the Dabihawks pin and now a Wriolette pin. Those will do great on my OTP board. 

I can give up that Zhongli for Midnightmoon Zhonglis. If there is a Zhongli open preorder for Zupins, you bet I’m gonna buy it. I mean there's a new series supposedly with Kaeya open preorder in January, I don't know what is coming next now that I finally followed her at last. 

Push comes the shove, I have to sell some pins. I'm considering the freebies I don't like and impulse purchases. I'm only going to sell some of my personal collection if I'm gonna make something from it. I'm likely going to sell the Nuwa Cinderella and focus entirely on villains for Nuwa. 

I can just sell the Nuwa Link and Nuwa Cinderella next month or this month for some quick cash. Unfortunately, I have to sell them but it’s for funds and I can part with it. 

I didn't want to sell the Nuwa Link after seeing the sample but if I have to. 

I am cautious about Silvy now, especially after seeing the Sakura, Syaoran, Venus, and maybe Riftan. Pluto did turn out great as does previous turnouts like Luna and Serenity. The skin for Sakura and Syaoran turns out too dark and the coloring is off from the original art so it didn't translate the shadowing and bright lights as it should've done. As for Venus, the hair splays to the side whereas the flowers on the left are on two levels. 

I know pins are artistic interpretations of the original art and aren't one-to-one but at least try matching. The worst I saw was somehow just changing the colors outright and UV printing exclusively to the exclusion of everything that could be done to make look good. I have no idea what happened to that pin in particular because it's so changed and so disappointing that it didn't try to match. 

Mamobot is great with Pantone and his pastels always turn out great. 

All I know about Sakura is that when presale buyers in the group noticed the darker skin, it was too late to ask her to change it because she already put it into mass production at that point. What I can say in the end, the pins are pretty but overbaked or have slight inconsistencies that might detract if noticed just enough. 

They are still pretty pins but I just hope that she doesn't stray too far from the original art to match it in some way in her later pins. I have not seen a production sample of Mars yet.  

Her style of shadows and bright lights can work but not always so I hope Saturn turns out great. I know that she always uses effects to raise the price extremely that she and her business partner exclusively sell expensive pins. 

At least her other series are doing fine. 

Pin mails have been a pick-me-up treat. Finally receiving the first pin mail of February certainly makes me happy. I’m waiting for the Dragonair and Fashion Gardevoirs to arrive especially putting the Dragonairs side by side. In March, it’s the Nuwa Link and Califlair again. Unless the largest Mamobot preorder comes in late March, I’m happy. In April, there would be a lot of packages. 

Again, preorders and pin rewards. 

I don’t know about in hands yet but I hope I get the Dark Miku and Dabihawks pin. Those are priorities at the moment as in hands. Maybe the Wriolette pin but that’s not a priority. 

Future preorders would be Eevee Fusions Wave 2 and 3 complete sets (since there are 9 in total, there’s gonna be three waves about 185 at early bird pricing so two more to go) and Fashion Gardevoir Wave 3 some pins (I must get Mew and Florges). It’s very rare for me to want to have the whole set and the Eevee Fusions put me over the edge because every design is too good not to have. 

I knew one of these days I would be spending close to 200 or just a little 200 on Mamobot as I will use the discount codes when I can if only to save money. 

I really like freebie stickers. It's either of the designs I didn't like enough to get as pins like the two Fashion Gardevoir stickers I have of the original and the Butterfree design. I actually like the Butterfree sticker well enough but does it ignite a feeling of FOMO? Just a little but not enough especially in the month I'm prioritizing certain pins. I've seen the pins I didn't buy in better lighting and it looks good but not enough for me to buy it and keep it for life. To be honest, I'd rather get the Sylveon Fusion with Beautifly rather than the Butterfree Gardevoir. At least that would fit in nicely with the Goth Pokemon board I'm basically designing. I tend to be drawn to the relatively dark designs of Mamo's art because it's for my inner Goth lolita soul hence the Dark type Miku. With some exceptions, I'd prefer some Shiny designs over the original. 

Even if the Dark Miku isn’t going to be released in February, I still have to go and basically practice for its eventual drop so I can grab and go but without buying the practice item. 

Pokemon will always be my biggest collection by far. Again, Mamobot is piling that up. 

I haven’t collected CCS and other magical girls in a while. I’m considering MonocacyBottomPins’ upcoming Syaoran or Tomoyo whereas I bought two Saturns in one month. However, there’s Meg I’m looking forward to. I am keeping my Disney collection as small as I can with Nuwa, Mamobot, and maybe some extras. I’m hoping that Nuwa doesn’t release an FTD I want in February because for Mamobot, I am focusing exclusively on the Dark Miku for in-hand drop whereas focusing on preordering for the ones I wanted even if again it would set me back 185. I haven’t heard anything about the Dabihawks leftovers as the last round of shipping batches has yet to be announced nor have the leftover sales been announced; all I know is they were shorted an item. In fact, I have no idea which item was shorted and there is still no news of delivery batches sent of the remaining packages. 

My Digimon and shounen collection is so tiny. Disney is only inching just as much as Sailor Moon through Saturns and whatever comes up. I'm keeping an eye out for any interesting Saturn/Hotaru Tomoe designs that might come up from reliable pin makers. I love Saturn's OG costume though so I kept an eye out for that too. 

My love for magical girls is mighty but I haven't decided on any CCS lately, only Saturns. Pokemon is my priority more so than anything interesting that might be up for Nuwa's FTD series. If it’s like Jasmine a design I can live without, I can skip. If not, we shall see. If it’s Alice, I’m in trouble because she can do youthful characters. I preordered Yzma so quick as it’s the quickest I did for Nuwa notwithstanding the drops for Mamobot because I will be fighting. I can’t be cart swiped for the Dark Miku. 

Like I collect and love Moulin Rouge, but I don’t collect all Disney crossover with it. I prefer to see Satine and Christian than having characters in those roles.

Thankfully I'm not trying to collect that much Disney, only the designs that interest me though I would love a Yzma from Mamobot. 

Honestly, it helps that I'm already picky so I usually just pick up designs I actually want to keep forever. I aim for preorders from very reliable pin makers who fulfill orders and preorders in an orderly manner. Honestly, Mamo and Nuwa are like machines more Mamo as his customers get preorders earlier, and if something is late, he’ll let us know as it took nearly two months for me to get the Dragonair. Even then, getting the rewards is still timely as we can get it the month of or within one to two months. 

Califlair is also reliable because her pins are tiny and single-layer unless they are on the bigger side. Unless something comes up, she gives news in the newsletter. 

The drama with Different Distractions with Jessica admitting to it was just awful, especially with the rumors against reliable pin makers or those who make so many orders in a month but barely show the manufacturing process. 

In fact, one creator I’m following had a lot of uploads on pins that people haven’t seen yet on the updates. The only thing missing is the Mars pin. 

I don’t follow scammers or those that take years. Unlike Hederahelix who has artisan pins made, they are always on time and never ever take as much time as Man on the Moon or Nyxxi. I would like a HederaHelix pin one day but I feel justifying one hundred for a pin is too much for me. Still, if I somehow scored a preorder because I can trust them, others I feel I can’t lest it falls through as one case I saw where it took a year to refund. Hederahelix can take up to two years for their most complicated pins but will give updates. 

My rule of thumb is to affordable as long as I'm willing and able to be selective for creators. At the moment, I'm a dedicated customer of Mamobot foremost with Nuwa closely behind. I cannot afford Califlair unless I spend a bulk on her once a year so it's best for my budget that I stay in her pin club. 

Most designs I do want are concentrated on Mamobot with some stray designs that are often out there.

I prefer to stay in Mamobot and Nuwa's pin clubs for the foreseeable future as they are often the most affordable and accessible. The open preorders they do are like heaven for a newbie like me. 

Honestly, thank god I'm not a massive Sailor Moon and Disney collector. I never bought from Different Distractions and thank my lucky star I did not when I have been eying others within my budget. I didn’t have any thought of buying from Silvy and Lavender until I saw Saturn. 

Seriously, again Saturn especially if it's a design or a line that I would've like such as Mamobot's Moon Prism Project that is Patreon pin club exclusive then I have to get it. I have zero clues about Mamobot if he's going to release the second wave of the Eevee fusions next month because late March at the very least will be the preorders sent out for Wave 1. 

I know that Sailor Moon, Disney, and Pokemon are enough to create a whole category for pin/sticker clubs. Silvy has a whole Moonie Club while Poroful has Pokemon Food tier club as examples. Noddiart has SM and Disney categories as well as Ghibli is another example of a dedicated fandom club. 

If you really like the artist and you really like the characters of a particular fandom in their style, then go for it. 

Though considering some pin club tiers sometimes have limited spots so there will be spots to essentially fight for. 

Of the creators I'm currently buying, Mamobot and Nuwa are basically crack for a newbie. Again, relatively affordable if you can be selective. I can't afford to stay out of planned purchases now. Nuwa creates great designs so I would like to set aside money for them but it depends on the design. Yzma won over my heart less so her Jasmine Red. I love Yzma so I have to get her never mind that Nuwa drew her absolutely gorgeous. Her art on Alice is nice but no dice in keeping it forever. I can see myself keeping the Evil Queen, Vanessa, and Yzma forever. Yzma has the honor of being my fastest FTD and in general pin preorder yet. To be fair, getting the Moulin Rouge pins was fairly fast too as I want to keep those forever. 

As for ita bags, I’m even more pickier. It was only recently I wanted an ita bag and it was a Mehrak ita bag too. My Genshin pins which are still in the production phase are limited to three. I love Kaveh and it should be appropriate that I should get another Kaveh pin. My first Genshin preorder was Kaveh amusingly so it’s fitting my first ita bag is Kaveh-themed even if it’s gonna be a Genshin bag in the end due to my pickiness even with my OTP pins. Getting Velkia pins is a must and obviously go great with the bag. Now the pins turn three to five with the Velkia pins that I have to get both of. My second Kaveh and first Al-Haitham. I haven’t gotten a Zhongli yet! I don’t know if that’s comical or just haven’t found the right one. 

I still haven’t done up my goth Pokemon board mostly because I don’t have the centerpieces and lots of others. They are Mamobot-only designs. For example, my much-needed Dark Miku and the darker colored Eevee Fusions (Sylveon fusion with Beautifly for example is such a need especially would look great on the goth Pokemon board). I can't build a board just yet without those and their specs. 

The Disney board is what I'm trying to keep relatively small. I have no clue why I had a Disney Villain board even when the Evil Queen started out that Disney collection. Still have no clue how to go about that especially when I don't know if Nuwa is gonna release more designs I like. Yzma was the last FTD I liked so I hope to see more. Again, I'm not planning too big a Disney collection. It was Nuwa who kicked it off. 

As always, there are artists commissioned or otherwise who won’t do certain fandom stuff. David J Brunson, an exclusive artist for the Pin Hut and Pinchantress, refused to do anime after only doing 2 Demon Slayer designs for the former, as he considered the medium perverted; what to note was his outburst to someone asking about them was unwarranted and really shouldn't be said to make anyone feel unsafe in the community so Pin Hut and Brunson apologized in a post acknowledging he knows nothing about anime with the latter taking down the story itself. He took time off after that to reevaluate himself and from what I saw, he doesn't have many stories other than previews of his art. Penguchan refused to do any Hazbin Hotel designs as she dislikes the show. 

Just because they are well-respected artists in the pin community does not mean they will get on every trend or like everything. There are other fish in the sea. 

However, as anime is very popular as well as any current hot topic fandom that arises from anything popular, there are other fish in the sea. If you want detailed hot waifus and husbandos, you can look elsewhere. Heck, some shops have NSFW artwork for pins. 

Just a heads up and really a sensible thing though these artists have to say that. Anyhow, Mr Brunson is the permanent artist for two people so his commissions are coming in great for his profits as he’s primarily a Disney fantasy pin seller. 

I still have no clue why I got myself into an expensive hobby. Combined with ita bag/display case/shadowbox, my spending on pins is considerably less than others. I would know considering the pin discord server I’m in prominently, it doesn’t even scratch the surface. My big money spenders usually goes to four people now: Mamobot, Nuwa, PSS, and MintyxPins now that I joined her HSR club. 

There are designs I simply cannot leave thus it had planned even before my bank account is treading closer below the needed amount that I would have to pay a waiver. 

Sure, there are pin makers I follow so I can get varied art of characters. Been eying a couple Genshin pins from Putorblue. If anything, those threw me off. 

Like Genshin, I’m trying to narrow down characters I like. For Genshin, it’s Kaveh, Childe, Neuvilette, Zhongli, and a little bit of Alhaitham and misc characters. Yeah, female characters in Genshin have potential but it’s really hard to when I’ve been burned too many times by it even when these ladies can be well-written at times. After Signora, I'm just waiting for Arlecchino to get me the bad crazy villain with potential that can be fulfilled. After Raiden Shogun, I felt too burned to get future Archons including Furina and Nahida which didn't convince me enough to collect them. Genshin, can I get my evil villains or morally ambiguous women like Ruan Mei or Sparkle, I'm begging? I don't want waifus, just my villains. 

For Honkai, it’s Aventurine, Dan Heng, Dan Feng, Blade/Yingxing, and a bit of Dr. Ratio and maybe Firefly and Acheron. Again, the ladies can be well-written but it’s just hard after being burned by Genshin’s writing of women and unwillingness to take potential. 

Hunk designs I’m not drawn to since hunks aren’t my preferred type. Any Haitham and Ratio pins are under that many hoops for me to consider. I think what got me was Ratio’s weirdo and fan service combo whereas Alhaitham as a foil got me. 

Choosing to collect ORV after getting the Dabihawks pin is for my sanity. ORV became one of my favorite pieces of literature ever. It’s just best for my sanity and wallet I get it after I get my only MHA pin. 

I'm already planning to collect lots of Honkai pins after all. I'm not collecting Boothill in the same way as I will not be collecting Itto. Genshin has a whole lot of likable characters but I'm going to specifically aim to collect only characters I know I'll keep forever. I'm just hoping to see more Ratio and 

Getting pins of one of my fave books of all time is a thing I need to have because I don't know if ORV is going to get the MXTX treatment with the books translated. The webtoon is made into comic books that you can buy and translate so I would take what I can get.