Kris' Ramblings

So, as usual, the end of Fandom Stocking marks the last of the holiday season. *sniffle* All the decorations are down, and everyone's gone home. But, it was a good time. I got into my cooking groove again, making gingersnaps, two batches of peanut butter fudge (one for giving away), and my first solo batch of regular marshmallow cream fudge. The part where it had to boil for some minutes while I stirred frantically was nerve-wracking, but the results were delicious. And, besides the food, I received many awesome presents.

My fandom stocking was stuffed with many lovely things, including greetings, images, icons, and so many nummy-sounding Italian recipes. I look forward to trying them out! There was also this gem of a fanfic gift from enemytosleep set in the FMA mangaverse with more of Team Greedling's antics while they were on the lam, something I never get tired of.

Otherwise, I now have a load of movies to watch and re-watch. This was the year of nostalgia as I got a copy of "The Neverending Story", which I haven't seen since I lost my VHS copy, and the lovely 30th anniversary edition of "Transformers: The Movie" on blu-ray. Besides those, mintysage hooked me up with the Voltron: From Days of Long Ago thirtieth anniversary book. And then, for a bit of more recent nostalgia, jordannamorgan found me this in the box. ...I confess I left it in the box for quite a while just to savor probably the last bit of Inuyasha merchandise I'll ever get to unbox. Especially as I had no idea these little statuettes existed despite, obviously if you look at the photo, collecting the Toynami figures.

So, thank you so much to everyone!

So, I've now watched the first, triple length episode and the second regular episode of the new "Voltron" series from Dreamworks and Netflix. Thus far, I'm absolutely loving it! The characters are fantastic, and I love that we're getting to see them meet and bond as a team this time. And, I love that the staff chose to keep in the old sequence where the pilots first zipline then ride in small vehicles to board their lions. It's a little long. It's a bit impractical. But, you know what? It looks cool. All these years later, it still looks cool. As does the forming Voltron sequence. Naturally. And, just like boarding the lions, the staff kept it. Every time. The full sequence. And, it still makes me want to jump up and cheer.

Well, another birthday has come and gone (a couple weeks ago; I'm late as always), and I think mbimomma gets the "most unexpected gift" award. She found me a Voltron T-shirt. I never even had a Voltron T-shirt when I was little! So, I've decided to show off my new shirt... and all of my old Voltron stuff that I could find. Behold! I'm still miffed that I couldn't find my Keith figure. He was my favorite back in the day too! Figures. And, here's a closer look at the coloring book, activity book, storybook and figures. It's a little dark, but the flash kept bouncing off Voltron.

And, as a bonus, while rooting around in my old toybox that doubles as a time capsule of the 80's, I found my Rubik's cube. But, I still can't solve it.

Random Personal Chatter: Sage and I got to reminiscing last night and took a little trip down memory lane (and the internet), recalling some of our favorite '80's cartoons and movies.

Anyone else remember:

The Mysterious Cities of Gold? I want to see this series again. I want to see the last episode for the first time! It was the most infuriating thing. I saw the series all the way through several times and, every time, something came up on the day they were going to air the ending, and I never saw it! (No, I couldn't tape it. At that age, the vcr was off limits on pain of death.) Sadly, at present, the only DVD offered seems to be in French. Just French. No English subtitle option even. Poo.

Update 10/5/2014: The entire series was released on DVD with the English dub a few years ago. I snapped it up and am glad I did as it's since gone out of print. However, the complete series is available on Amazon Instant Video.

And, Voltron: Defender of the Universe? Wow, I used to obsess on Voltron. I still have my toys. Well, I have the lions, though the green one's head is missing. And, I've managed to find most of the figures again. Oh, and my coloring books! Heh, and I learned something new last night - Voltron was originally an anime called... GoLion????. I think renaming it "Voltron" was a good idea. I think having Sven just leave abruptly after one of the first few episodes so they could cover up that he died in the original anime was a dumb idea. I always used to wonder where on earth he got to.

Watership Down? - Awesome movie, awesome book. Didn't even know the book existed until seventh grade when I found it in the school library... and then discovered shortly after that it was in the library because my English teacher had her students read it every year. The reading and discussion of one of my favorite stories in class was awesome. Except I thought the teacher sucked some of the fun out of it by over-analyzing and the other students, having read the book first, didn't, in my opinion, properly appreciate the movie... but whatcha gonna do?

Danger Mouse? - I used to think this show had the best theme song ever. I also liked Count Duckula.

Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs? I've never seen this one myself, but this is an old favorite of Sage's.

And, lastly, how about Mom's favorite old cartoon memory (yes, she kinda got into the conversation too) - The Mighty Orbots? I never saw this either. Apparently, it came on just after Mom had packed me and my brother out the door to ride to school with Dad. Mom wants to see it again. So, if you ever see any copies for sale (that aren't $50 like what I found on Ebay last night - Gah! Fifty bucks for one VHS tape still in the packaging that might not even work?! Guess it's because it's so rare...), drop me a line!

Trips down memory lane are fun.

Quote of the Day: "He fell down the stairs and stabbed himself with a leprechaun." (Misheard off some soap opera playing back in my grandmother's room while I ate lunch. The line was repeated and I realized it was a "letter opener" not a "leprechaun"... but a leprechaun would have made it better.)