My Favorite buffy Episodes seasons 1-5 (spoilers)

Back in february, I was browsing netflix and decided to revisit one of my favorite shows of all time.  I began watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997 when it debuted. I was ten years old at the time and it could be easily argued that no other television show has made such an impact on my life. sadly, I have yet to complete the series and have taken to netflix to catch up. I will be starting on season six tomorrow morning.  On May 20th, 2003 the last episode of Buffy aired. In honor of that I would like to post about a few of my favorite episodes in seasons 1-5.

Season 1:

My favorite episode from season one is The Pack. In this episode xander and a group of Sunnydale students get possessed by the spirit of  Hyenas which resulted in the adopting somewhat of a pack mentality.That dodgeball scene brought me back to my middle school days and still leaves me feeling vaguely uncomfortable. Plus, when you factor in that poor pig! scary.I have always had a soft spot for Xander and even got to meet Nicholas Brendon at a convention last year.

Another episode from this season that I feel is worth mentioning is Out of Sight, Out of Mind. As I rewatch Buffy as an adult I am able to pick up on more of the meaning behind each episode. I don't think anyone could argue that they have felt invisible at some point in their lives. This is especially true in middle and High School. I know I had a lot of "Have a great summer" inscriptions in my year book and at the time this episode aired it made me feel less alone. Not that I wanted to be invisible and live at my school,
 that would be an entirely different sort of Hell.

Season 2:

My favorite Episode from season two is Halloween.I kind of enjoyed the idea that with a little magic, a costume could transform you into anyone. I have always resonated with Willow. she was always the super smart and socially awkward one. I remember the way she wanted to wear something a little less modest and then dawning her ghost costume at the last minute. as a young girl I was really self conscious as well. I also really liked that Buffy chooses a "Helpless Damsel" costume only to discover that Angel truly likes her for who she is. Until Buffy, strong teenage girls were barely portrayed in the media. I think Whedon did an excellent job exploring gender ideals by transforming Xander into a military know-it-all. I feel like Xander felt that he did not have anything to offer Buffy until this episode.

Season 3:

The Wish is my favorite episode from season three. I love wishverse Willow. In this episode Cordelia uses a vengeance demon to make a universe changing wish.I enjoyed her little boost of empowermint in this episode. Especially once she gets to the Bronze. Vampire Willow did not take any crap from anyone including  Percy the jock. I also like her catch phrase in the episode. BORED NOW and the scene where the real willow goes undercover still cracks me up! I wasn't too crazy about Anya in the beginning but I really like her now.

Season 4:

Restless is my favorite episode from this season. to be completely honest, I wasn't a huge fan of the Initiative storyline. I'm not a huge fan of Riley, either. I really enjoyed this episode because it gave some backstory to what it means to be The Slayer. I liked that they went all the way back to the first slayer in this one.  also, everyone loves cheese.



Season 5:

As much as it was a heartbreaking episode, The Body was my favorite. It was so eloquently written. as someone who has lost a parent, this episode captures it beautifully. When you lose a loved one a thousand and two scenarios play in your head, "If I had just done this or gotten there sooner." The confusion of loss is suddenly unbearable, I feel like Tara's words to Buffy also cement her as a character and in that moment a bond is made between the two of them.

What are your Favorite episodes of Buffy?

Neopia awaits!

I am finally on summer vacation and that means I can devote all summer to successfully updating this blog with all my  toy conquests and adventures. As a toy collector I really enjoy visiting the toy sections of thrift stores. Usually I can find some pretty good reasonably priced toys from my childhood and since I am not a stickler concerning toy condition aspects. A lot of my toys are opened and displayed on shelves to save space unless they are exclusives, high value, or if I really like the packaging. There is just something magical about opening a new toy and creating a new display or adding a piece to an existing shelf. I manage to  make out pretty well at thrift store or flea ma. However, there are a few things that I watch out for like visible writing and missing clothing.

I am a huge, huge, huge, collector of stuffed animals. 

Fun fact:

The Huckleberry Pie cloth doll next to Rainbow Brite is the first toy I remember owning as a kid. The original was purchased for me on a family road trip at an IHOP restaurant. I remember throwing it out a window sometime later and screaming my head off until my parents turned around to retrieve it. After that, he lived a very long and happy life as a constant companion to my childhood whims, eventually, he got so battered that my mom had to patch him up using one of my father's t-shirts. The one in the picture was purchased as a christmas gift by my boyfriend three years ago.

Recently, I went to a local thrift store and found a treasure trove of Neopet plushies for five dollars a bag. I loved playing neopets in middle school and high school but the toys which were sold at Target and Limited Too were pretty hard to find and pretty pricey for a kid. Most of these even had the tags still attached and they even gave away a Petpet Noil! I think the rainbow Poogle is my favorite. Not pictured are a Pink aisha, and plushie paintbrush Wocky that I found. On previous trip, I found a talking Kacheek. I think my cat thinks he is a little neopet as well.

Naturally, this glorious find revamped my love for the little digital pets. sadly, I could no longer access my old account under an email that I have not used in years. Thus, I made a new one. I love playing Spellseeker on my foldable laptop because it has a touchscreen. This time, I made a Uni!

What is your favorite Neopet? do you still play? What are your favorite games?

Arendelle just got a bit colder!

I just had the pleasure of viewing the new Frozen short and Cinderella on the big screen. Naturally, I wanted to show up in style and show that I  have come down with a case of  Frozen Fever!

One of the many souvenirs I brought back from my trip to Disney World in January was this Olaf pin. I normally keep my pins on my Pin Trader lanyard or on a button curtain that I made from a piece of Dumbo fabric. However, occasionally I use them to accessorize outfits, so I pinned it to my black denim jacket. I thought this pin would be perfect because Anna and Elsa's  costumes in Frozen Fever are so bright and adorned with flowers.  

In addition to the pin I also wore my supper comfy Anna dress that I bought from Hot Topic around Christmas time. Although, I still love Elsa, Anna is my favorite sister. This is largely due to the fact that we both love to shove chocolate in our face and also because her name is similar to mine. we also tend to ramble a lot!

The short itself is really cute and I loved the new song. I am really hoping Disney store makes little plushies of Elsa's new creations. I think I might just have to buy the them in threes. I have been snatching up the new merchandise as I see it but have yet to display the pieces I purchased.

first I found these dolls at Toys R Us. When I purchased them they were roughly 17 dollars a piece. Their arms and legs appear to be pretty stiff but I love the hair and intricacy of the outfits for the price range. They also had a more expensive two pack featuring Anna and Kristoff but I did not have the money at the time.

However, I do have lots of plans for the next set of dolls that I purchased. The Disney store currently offers a two pack featuring Anna and Elsa and it is stunning.  The first thing I noticed was the fact that this set of dolls was ball jointed which makes the dolls easier to pose. I am thinking about buying a Japanese model kit and setting up my own version of Anna's birthday party with Cake!
The paint detail on the facial features of the dolls are fantastic. Look at Anna's natural blush! I  also love the tightness of the bun and the way her bangs fall just right. It was well worth the price. I am really torn about opening the package for these two.

Check back tomorrow for my thoughts on  the live action Cinderella and some pictures of the new Cinderella merchandise I picked up!

Rockin' In My Roadster (Jem Collection)

I am on spring break this week so that means that I can use my time off to catch up on blog posts. If you have ever meet me in real life you already are aware that I love anything 80's especially toy wise.  as a kid, one of the cartoons that I found truly outrageous and totally rad was Jem and the Holograms. I am really excited for the live action movie and also for the new comic that IDW is coming out with. I have already ordered the first issue box set all of the various covers from Collected Comics in Fort Worth and have set up a subscription service as well.

Jem was also one of the first characters I ever Cosplayed at a convention. I bought the already made costume from Halloween city. The costume came with her signature earrings, a spandex dress, microphone, and the belt that you see pictured. I paired it with pink legwarmers,  pink fishnets, and glitter filled bangle bracelets that I already owned. I wore pink flats because it is difficult for me to wear heals and I try to be as comfy as possible. 

My makeup consisted of bubble gum pink lipstick and the pink triangle-shaped eye makeup that I drew on with Halloween makeup crayons.

I also had to buy the wig separately and styled it myself. It was deliciously 80's and I had lots of fun. I was actually surprised at how many people recognized and loved the character.

As far as the toys go, I have been collecting them for some time. I started with the Glitter and Gold Comic Con Exclusive and received several complete dolls for Easter two years ago.  My boyfriend also collects toys and insisted that if I were to get any of the original dolls it would be best to hunt them down individually so that they had their clothes, shoes, and instruments. Previously, I owned a Kimber that we found at a Thrift store and she was a little worse for wear and missing everything BUT Kimber was always my favorite and I have the fatal flaw of never passing up a lonely toy.

 After some searching he purchased several dolls off of E-BAY that even came with the cassettes. Oh, if I still owned my little pink walkman circa 1992! Seriously, I would be jamming to The Misfits right now because everyone knows their songs are better.

For Valentine's Day this year my collection grew even bigger with the addition of a Rockin' Roadster. It was purchased off of E-Bay and shipped all the way from Holland. It was opened but came pretty much mint with the plastic casing still on the roadster.

The seller even said that the FM Radio still works. It is common for the roadster to be missing the headlights, hood ornament or removable convertible top but mine is complete.

 Jem had to take it for a spin but Rio was unavailable. Thankfully, our new Starlord Hot Toys figure was more than willing to take his place!

What toys do you collect? What was your favorite 80's Cartoon?

Gaining some XP with Marvel. The Marvel Expierence

My 28th birthday was on Monday and in true nerdy fashion I wanted to celebrate it with some of my favorite heroes. I had wanted to check out The Marvel experience at Fair Park in Dallas, ever since I heard it was coming to Texas.  I thought that my Birthday would be a good excuse (like I *REALLY* needed one anyway) to see the interactive exhibit starring the likes of Captain America, Spider-Man, Hulk, Black Widow, Wolverine ,Thor, and a certain billionaire philanthropist. Iron fist and She-hulk also make appearances as well.

The experience begins by allowing you to make your own S.H.I.E.L.D. Identification card  S.H.I.E.L.D which stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (pretty official sounding, huh?) is lead by Nick Fury and often teams up with The Avengers to fight various villains. After you create your badge the computer will send it to the email you provided but you can also buy hard copies of it in the gift shop, I thought this was super cool and probably one of the neatest souvenirs I have ever gotten.

Isn't it awesome? I am  5'1,  so I am really short. the computer screen was actually two high up to take a picture of me. thus, my boyfriend actually had to lift me up ballerina style to take this photo. It says superhuman because Mutant was not an option. My goal is to one day become an X-Men, seriously.

Next you enter a series of domes and are briefed by several heroes. Stan Lee can even be spotted. Once inside the major doom there are lots of interactive activities, like "hulking out with hulk" and posing with your favorite superheroes on the big screen. The Hulk one was really fun because you stand in front of the interactive screen and throw punches as big green, himself. to summon your favorite heroes, you had to stand on mini platforms and make certain poses.

This was difficult because many of the poses required both hands which is difficult for me because I have to maintain balance with my walker.In truth, a lot of the interactive activities were difficult because they were designed for able bodied people in mind.  I could not enjoy the activities like climbing up a rock wall with Spider-man or the Black Widow Agility maze which I totally understand but my walker hindered things like flying with Iron Man and pretty much everything in the interactive area. this confused me because I had read that the Marvel  Experience was accessible. I did however get to do the blaster training which was so fun we did it twice,

At the end of the interactive portion you are given a shield charm fr the wristband you are given  in the beginning. from here, you enter a transport where you are attacked! I thought it was really neat to end the experience with a simulated ride,  However, it would have been super cool if we were given fake blasters in this area. It would have allowed visitors to use the "training" we received and made this part interactive,

This section conveniently lead into the gift shop which had various items featuring the superheroes from the experience but overall it was slightly disappointing for the serious marvel collector, I did however buy a hard copy of my badge, I wonder how many times I will accidentally hand that to someone instead of my ID? It was fun regardless of the setbacks I experienced but it could use improvements to accommodate everyone.

I can feel it in my code....time for an update!

oh, wow. I haven't updated my little part of cyberspace in forever! Lots of things have happened since my last update in march including, summer internships, semesters of college, hospital stays, Disney Vacations and of course conventions and lots of toy buying. I have been meaning to get back into blogging for a while now and wish to share my adventures with you!

 I feel like I should start with a general update and post pictures and slightly embarrassing completion stories of my Vanellope cosplay,  which I did manage to debut at Dallas Comic Con!

This cosplay was the very first costume I ever completed from scratch! It gave me a whole new level of respect for the hard work that goes in to cosplaying. My costume was by no means perfect but I loved the process and the final product. I want to break down the individual pieces before posting the final product. 

Vanellope's hoodie was VERY hard to find. I searched thrift shops relentlessly. I finally found a teal hoodie that matched Vanellope’s but it was a zip up instead of a pull over. Sometimes you have to work within a budget and with what is readily available to you. I used yarn to add the licorice hood strings and embellishments. The flash unfortunately distorted the colors a bit so you may get a better idea from the final product photos.

The Leggings were just as tricky to track down and duplicate. Thankfully, I found a pair of teal/ mint colored tights at my local target. I do not remember the price but I know they were pretty inexpensive. Target is the place to go for Tights if you are looking for slightly oddball color choices. At this point, I enlisted the help of my friend Kat for panting the stripes. This is largely due to the fact that I have very little artistic talent and frankly, she would be painting the tights while they were on my body.  This act of true friendship, resulted in standing backyard on a warm day while singing Disney songs (badly on my part but Kat has a wonderful singing voice) at the top of our lungs. She expertly wrapped the stripes around my legs using a Martha Stewart fabric paint with a small paint roller.  Once the paint dried ( in like 20 minutes) she used a purple sharpie to add detail. Could we have found an easier way? Yeah, probably but where would the fun be in that?

We also coated candy pieces in Mod Podge to add to the wig I bought from ebay but I failed to take pictures of that process. Now, on to the finished product. It was imperfect but for my very first Cosplay it was not Bad! 

The second is my favorite photo because a racer is still a racer regardless of what galaxy she is in. Sometimes you just feel it in in your code!

I have lots of other cosplays planned like Lydia Deetz and a school girl version of Madoka from Madoka Magica. Plus, a blog about my recent trip to Disney World!