I Can't Afford to Lose You

I've had this quick painting floating around my laptop for months now, but I haven't posted it because the full image is kinda a big SPOILER for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. If you have seen the entire show, I'd be extremely happy for you to check out the full painting... it's probably my favorite moment in the show! If you haven't seen the finale, please don't spoil it for yourself!

Wandering the Unknown (Happy Birthday Inhonoredglory!)

Happy birthday, Inhonoredglory! I can't believe I'm sending you a gift after meeting you in person so recently! This art piece is a crossover between Over The Garden Wall and HTTYD. I've got a version without the birthday text if any of you reading the blog would like to have that (It's attached under the read more). I tried to emulate the style the show in this painting, and it was actually kinda tricky to do! I'll give a little commentary below.

Happy Snoggeletog!

Well, it's that time of year again! Merry Christmas, everyone! I had a great Christmas this year; it was awesome getting to be home and hang out with my family! I got a lot of nice gifts (and I think a few are on the way), so I'll show them to you in the post below. If you guys got anything fun and nerdy, please feel free to show them off as well!

New Fullmetal Alchemist Funko Pops!

Well, I about had a heart attack when I saw these! FMAB is by no means a new fandom/franchise, but I only just recently got into it (last year... actually I've been loving this show over a year now!). It climbed the ranks of my favorite stories and now sits as my favorite television series! I had been wondering for an entire year why there were no Funko Pops for such an iconic series, and then just this week I checked online (while I was writing my favorite stories post), and I. Lost. My. Mind! I am so thrilled to finally have a Roy Funko Pop, and I decided to go for all of them since I like the series so much! I'm gonna review all of them on this post, so click the read more if you want to see more photos!

Dsplash History: How the Gemwar Ended

Haha, well, this is my cop-out...

So, I really love the Dsplash story, but I don't think I can fully flesh it out and finish it. There are just a ton of events left, and what with grad school I have very limited time to devote to fandom stuff. I also do have an original story in the wings (that's been heavily inspired by my love for HTTYD and other stories on my top ten list, so I'm hoping the idea is at least half-way decent), so that makes it hard for me to devote time to a fan-fiction that probably breaks every copyright law in the universe!

That being said, I do want to write the last two Chronicles. If you've been following the story and want to see how it ends, this is my attempt to very roughly sketch out the events leading up to the finale. I will have at least two more Chronicles, and I plan to write them in full detail. If you want to know what happens between the last Chronicle I write and those last two, feel free to read this. Sorry for the low quality; hopefully the final chapters will be worth slogging through this plot dump ;)

Christmas Cookies

Our family made Christmas cookies a while back, and since some of the ones I made were nerdy, I thought I would post pictures of them here. It's nothing spectacular, but I'm trying to do as much blogging as I can during the break!! I made a Toothless, Sans, Corrin, and Roy Mustang... and I didn't eat any of them!

My Top 15 Favorite Stories (2018 version!)

Well, another year has passed and I've fallen for some new stories! I want to post my current list of top favorites, and I'd be really interested to see any of your lists as well! Some of this will obviously be repeats from my previous post... but there are few fun changes!

Smash Ultimate Is Out!

I've been playing Smash Ultimate ever since it was released on December 7th, and I thought it might be fun to play any of you who keep up with the blog! I'm gonna post my friend code here, so please feel free to send me a request. You may want to comment on this blog page to let me know... because I don't accept every friend request I get.

My code is: SW-2399-9692-9975

I main Corrin, but I also like to occasionally use other Fire Emblem characters as well as Dark Samus and Ridley!

I got to meet Inhonoredglory and Toothlesslove!

Well this weekend was very special and very exciting! I got to meet my two of my oldest and best friends in person for the first time! After meeting online back in 2013 (if I remember correctly XD), we've been in pretty constant contact and have all three become really close, but this was our first time to actually meet face to face!

My thoughts on the second HTTYD3 trailer

Well, the gifs aren't mine, but I do wanna finally sit down and talk a bit about what we saw in the trailer! I'm kinda short on time, but I'll try and get my thoughts together and have something worth reading!

The new trailer!!!!!

Well, the new trailer dropped! I will be typing out my opinion on this WONDERFUL little glimpse of what we are gonna get, but I don't know whether or not I'll have time to do it tonight! Seriously, it is great!! Feel free to let me know what you guys thought :D

The Chimera: Short Story By Toothlesslove

Toothlesslove uploaded her story, so I'm gonna share a link to it here. I'm really thankful for the shirt story, and I really, really enjoyed it! If you are interested, it is pretty much spoiler free concerning FMAB, and it does a great job portraying Hiccup (seriously, Toothlesslove, they should have you hgelping them write the tv series XD).

Here is the link: The Chimera

(Here is my short commentary on the story that I first wrote on the bday post) This story was really, really fun. Beautifully written, excellently paced, and it did a really, really good job at balancing two heroes in the limelight. It featured Hiccup meeting my favorite character from FMAB, Roy Mustang. Honestly, I find it tricky to have heroes meet, especially if they butt heads on certain principles ideas, and to not have it feel like a competition on who is cooler. I also think it is tricky to balance Hiccup against someone so powerful and commanding in combat as Roy, but Toothlesslove did a brilliant job making both of my favorites shine. It really did explore some beautiful themes, and most of all... it felt so, SO in-character. I know she hasn't had the chance to finish the show, so it was shocking to see how accurate the depiction of Roy Mustang was! Seeing him and Hiccup interact in the story felt really genuine, almost like it was canon! Also, man, the way the story ended made me extremely hooked to the notion of this cross-over... because it almost ends on a cliffhanger! I'd love to see more interactions between Hiccup and Roy. It felt so rich, and the storyline screamed potential! Thanks so much, Toothlesslove! I'm sure this took you a ton of time, and I really, really loved it!

I'm Twenty Four (sigh... and now Hiccup is YOUNGER than me!)

Whew, so today was my birthday. Boy was it LONG. I went into work a little early (7:40), but I didn't wind up leaving until 10:20 PM. Ah well... I'm hoping the experiment I was working on turns out ok. I did get to stop and spend an hour with my family who drove up to see me, and my old buddy/roommate came too! I've only gotten a few gifts so far, but I've been told by several people that more are being shipped to me, so I'm excited about that! I'm gonna post what I receive below and try to properly thank the people who gave them :)

New (Somewhat Panic Inducing) Developments!

So, we have some new HTTYD3 news, and it is causing a bit of a stir in the fandom (as far as I can see... it has kinda spooked me as well!). So, you might could have picked this detail up when you watched the trailer, but I'm still gonna give you a spoiler warning! Continue reading at your own risk.

Dragonvine! (Graphic Novel Review)

Well, the new Graphic Novel (written in part by Dean! Yes!) came in today. I should probably be focusing on the mountain of work I still need to do... but I couldn't resist! I read the whole thing, and now I want to give you my thoughts!

My top 30 Favorite Protagonists!

What does a colossal nerd do when he finally gets a free evening? He uses a spreadsheet and a scoring system to try and rank his all-time favorite heroes!

I've been wanting to do this ever since I ranked my favorite stories, but with characters, I knew I would have a much longer list (I mean, seriously, great stories often have at least two or three really, really great heroes!). Because the list was going to be so massive, I felt I needed a system to help me be somewhat objective in how I scored everyone. This seemed like it would be a lot of fun, but I was also kinda worried it wouldn't be accurate. I was rating blindly, not comparing between characters for my first time around, and I felt sure the math would show things that weren't necessarily true. However, I was surprised to see how well this system reflect how I feel! There was even a big surprise for my two HTTYD heroes.

So, if you're interested, please click the "read more"!

Light and Dark: Happy Birthday Toothlesslove!

Happy birthday, Toothlesslove! Man, I barely finished this in time! I've been super, super busy recently (I'm presenting at St. Jude tomorrow, and I'm super nervous!), but I just HAD to make you something! I don't think it's as nice as what I managed to do last year, but I'll blame that on my time constraints! Anyway, if you want a version of the image without the birthday message, as well as to read a little bit of commentary about the art piece, click the "read more"

Roy Mustang Nendoroid: Review

Welp, I've gotten my third Nendoroid from FMAB! This one is Roy Mustang! He's my favorite character, so I'm very excited to have him. I've also preordered Riza Hawkeye, but she won't arrive until December. Anyway, click more to see more photos and read my short review.

HTTYD2 Fourth Year Anniversary!

Well, it's been four years since HTTYD2 released! I'm gonna celebrate it by watching the movie this evening! I'll post a few pictures of the "private screening" as well... and once I finish the film, I'll come back to more fully edit this post (explaining the few other things I did today to celebrate). Ok... bracing myself to cry.

HTTYD3 Spoiler Policy

Ok, so after seeing/reading TONS of info that Dean or the other creators of the film have been giving us in interviews, I think I may need to start avoiding spoilers. I really do LOVE talking about the third film and speculating what will happen, but I also don't want to be able to predict it completely. I still want to be shocked and moved when I go, so here is my spoiler policy for the blog.

I intend to read no more interviews by the director or other staff unless I deem it absolutely necessary. I will soley be discussing what we get in trailers. I will also probably not watch straight clips from the film, as I feel those spoil the moment.

Please do refrain from commenting on the blog in a way that discusses what is being said in the interviews, or what leaks from the upcoming film festivals (that will be showing a full 20 min of footage). I do want to keep posting, but I don't want to ruin the film.

So, what this means is, I'm basically gonna be blogging blind. I'll be watching the few trailers we get and trying to analyze them... and I'll probably be wrong, and many of you will probably know it! Please just mercifully spare me in the comments, and don't correct me unless you are doing so using footage from a trailer, not info from Dean!

Haha... so, yeah, this is gonna be kinda lame because it will certainly inhibit the quality of my posts as the film approaches, but I think the experience of watching HTTYD3 in theaters will be worth it in the end.

So, you guys remember how Thanos demanded our silence, well... now it's Toothless doing it. And, by what we see in the trailer, I'd say we shouldn't ignore him if we wanna avoid a lightning bolt XD

Random Gif

Haha, so... I made a gif today! I still have lots of posts that I wanna make, but this was just too tempting. Full disclosure: I saw someone else using this gif to have Stan pointing at Levi (a character from Attack on Titan), so the idea is certainly not original to me. That being said, I think Toothless might be more beautiful than Levi :)

Thoughts on the new TRAILER (part 2)

Ok, I have time to continue discussing the trailer! Also, AWN recently had an interview with Dean, and he revealed more about the narrative role of the Light Fury. I plan to write a full post very soon about what appears to be the central theme of this film... and why I was extremely worried about it the night before the trailer dropped. However, in this post, I just want to continue reacting to what we were shown in the first trailer!

Well, isn't this SHOCKING

Ok, I do plan on discussing the second half of the trailer in bulk (like what I did with the first half), but before I do that, I want to tackle this whole Toothless-Lightning-thing! I've never really tried to have a solid, scientific theory on the blue Alpha glow we saw in the second movie. I always thought it was just cool looking... but kinda unrealistic. Now I am going to try and offer an explanation on both that and the electrifying scene we witnessed in the trailer. Granted, this will only be a theory. After all, I haven't seen the third film yet!

Dean DeBlois talks about the third film

Ok, so I am just lifting this info straight from the Grapevine. I haven't been able to really make any commentary on it, but I wanted to post it here all the same! Really exciting stuff! He's such a fantastic director... I'm really hoping this last film will be utterly amazing! So, if you want to read Dean discussing his film, click the "read more"

Thoughts on the new TRAILER (part 1)

So, the trailer dropped this morning, and it was NUTS. I'm gonna try and go into it in some detail below the "read more".

New Images for HTTYD3!

I am losing my tiny little MIND. I've had to spend all day concealing my ballistic excitement as I worked in the lab and took a final exam, but now I'm finally gonna get to discuss these images! We have gotten several gorgeous shots of the third and final HTTYD story, so if you want to see my thoughts on them, click the "read more"

First HTTYD3 Poster is Here!!!

Well, DreamWorks dropped a bomb on us today. I've spent all day processing this poster, and I must say it made my workday feel extremely long!! Anyway, click the read more to here my thoughts on this new poster and new dragon!

To Be King (Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

Ok... I've wanted to write a full-blown analysis post about some aspect of this EXTREMELY theme driven show, but I haven't been brave enough! For one reason, I am super late to the fandom. FMAB started back in 2009, so it is by no means a new series. It is also an extremely well loved and respected anime (as it deserves to be). Add that to the fact that it is over sixty episodes worth of material to analyze, and I honestly worry that my current analysis of the characters will not be a good representation of the show! So... if you love this story and I misrepresent it, please forgive me and don't roast me too badly.

My latest doodles

I thought I'd just post a quick compilation of the few doodles I've actually done over the last few months. They aren't great, but I hope you enjoy :)

Dragon Scales

Alright! Time to discuss the new dragon-scale armor that Hiccup and the rest of the gang are sporting in the newest promotional images for HTTYD3! However, as usual, I think I'm going to go overboard. I plan to not only discuss the armor and what I think of it but also dragon scales and dragon hide as a whole. 

New Images of HTTYD3 Character Designs!

The hype train is leaving the station people! GET ON BOARD. So, the internet recently received a glorious set of photos of a large DreamWorks display showcasing the new look of the HTTYD cast. I'll post some of the images below and give my thoughts.