I made myself no promises for Blaugust and I still feel like I am failing at it. I started kind of ok, couple of reviews each week, a post on a random topic, this weekly post. But I already “missed” a couple. There was a time when I had dumb high hopes, maybe I still do. I am a big fan of themey days, even if they are not explicit. In an ideal world each day would have like two posts minimum. Monday – Movie, Marvel Legends Tuesday – Transformers Wednesday – Video Game Thursday – Non Marvel/Transformers Toys Friday – Music, Star Wars Black Series (Force Friday) Saturday – Wrap Up Sunday – Grab Bag I also had vague idea about daily quick posts. Figure of the Day, Game of the Day, Music Video and comments, daily Hot Wheels. That sort of thing. Its all probably way over ambitious, which is why it never happens. And its not even getting into the idea before of running two (or more) blogs, like when I had Blogging Intensifies for life stuff, programming, photography and politics. Instead everything gets capsulized into this wrap up post, just to keep the Blogging spirit alive. Movies Last Sunday I went to see Spider-Man Brand New Day. I enjoyed it, I am, mixed on if I thought it was good. It was, not bad. I think my biggest problem.is that it felt very meandering in its plot. There are so many things just sort of, happening, in layers that it felt like none of them really resonated. I don’t want to get into spoilers here, but it just felt too unfocused. I enjoyed all the little parts though. Punisher was really great. The… “villain” was good too, after they actually started the plot going there instead of just back burner simmering. The actual villain villain, not so much. Like definitely they were the “bad guys” just not really, present enough to care. The whole thing looks really good too. Even the Banner cameo part felt alright and less “oh look, Hulk!” It almost felt like, a bunch of “critical comic moments” adapted into one slightly incoherent blob.” There is also kind of too much pre text and too much post text. Like its clearly a lead in for one thing, and almost every plot point needs you to already be aware of something else. And not just “something else from a previous Tom Holland Spider-man.” Music I decided to order one of those random small artist free CDs I get ads for on Facebook. This one was Tarquin Alexandra. The vibe kind of reminds me of Dodie. I did some looking into these free CD offers before hand and its basically just, a way for small artists to promote their music. Plus during checkout they try to get you to do some add ons. Like this one offered me another single and a sticker. If I decide I like her music enough I will just hit up the Bandcamp. The shipping was like $6. And it included a digital download, which I had to convert to .mp3s, because it was wav files. Side note, that MP3 analysis thing is at like 65% done, after almost 2 weeks of running. Top Artists Sigrid — 7 scrobbles dodie — 4 scrobbles Magdalena Bay — 3 scrobbles Taylor Swift — 3 scrobbles Fizz — 3 scrobbles Genius by Pitchshifter — 2 scrobbles Head on Fire by Sigrid — 2 scrobbles Death Is the Only Way Out by Joseph Bishara — 1 scrobbles Two Telephone Calls and an Air Raid by Shaun Imrei — 1 scrobbles Top Albums The Secret To Life by Fizz — 3 scrobbles Mortal Kombat Annihilation by Pitchshifter — 2 scrobbles Mercurial World (Deluxe) by Magdalena Bay — 2 scrobbles Hello Nasty by Beastie Boys — 2 scrobbles Demon Days by Gorillaz — 2 scrobbles Toys A few things this week. First up is this little set of furniture from Walmart clearance. I was hoping it would fit with Nendoroids some but their heads are a bit too large to work with the chair. It kind of works with a Figuarts figure though. Whatever the case, it had some other fun and useful accessories like the Gaming PC, a ring light, a desk microphone, a little rug, and a plant. Plus some other stuff. So even if the desk itself is a little too low, essentially everything else in the set is useful. McDonalds also has stuff I care about in Happy Meals. I need to find a McDs that will just sell me the toys outright. This round is Hello Kitty X Godzilla. They don’t move at all, but they are goofy and fun. Lastly, is the convention exclusive Transformer, Jem and the Holograms X Transformers Blaster. Try saying that three times fast. I was kind of debating on this set, and sat on it long enough it went out of stock. Then I saw some in hand pics and regretted skipping it, and fortunately, it came back in stock. I don’t own any version of this Blaster mold either. The Blaster I am using is the old War for Cybertron version that turns into a space van thing. I just, don’t really care a ton about Blaster. But this toy is very nice looking, plus it has three more obscure cassettes included. Which made the con exclusive price easier to swallow. Its basically a $40 Voyager with $20 worth of cassettes. Which was the retail price. I kind of wanted the big Minotaur looking GI Joe monster or the Date Night Skeletor, but both felt a little pricey for what you get. Also, the box is really shiny and pretty. Lastly, I got my set of mystery ball records for the Mini Brands record player. They are essentially the same idea as the included Bruno Mars player. The 8 I got were… The Mamas & the Papas – California Dreaming (Common) Peaches & Herb – Shake Your Groove Thing (Common) Sting – Message in a Bottle (Common) (x2) Shawn Mendes – A Little Too Much (Common) Smashmouth – All Star (Uncommon) Brick House – Te Commodores Billie Eilish – Birds of a Feather (Rare) It’s probably worth noting, there are two Sean Mendes and Sting albums that look the same, but are different tracks. I checked both my Sting albums, they are both Message in a Bottle, the other song is Every Breath You Take, which has the same cover. I took some photos of opening them, maybe I’ll do a write up. Video Games Fortnite’s new season just dropped. I ended last season around level 500 something. Which is honestly really funny given this wrap up they sent out. Two Matches. TWO! I spent the entire season in LEGO and Droid Tycoon. The new season is heavily video game themed though, which is kind of neat. Sonic the Hedgehog is in the battle pass (which I have not bought yet), and some character from I think Virtua Fighter. Plus a neat customizable “Totally Not Minecraft” skin. In the game there are also a lot of video game things happening. There is some gimmick with game carts but I am not sure its live yet. Sort of like Reboot, where carts come in and change the world I think, based on the trailer. You can get Sonic shoes and spin dash. And a Mega Man buster. Its kind of extra amusing because having these items changes your animations. Like the Mega Buster makes you do that sort of, arm up, bent leg jump thing Mega Man does. There is also this 8-bit shotgun that has a little leader board among friends. There are also a bunch of new Sprites. But boy I just cannot get into Sprites. Doing a Pokemon game in a Battle Royale, where you lose your Pokemon if you die before doing the excruciatingly long extraction process, sounds extremely fucking awful. 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