Hey there! It's been awhile, hasn't it? I'm not going to drag this one out and just cut right to the chase. Valerie and I just haven't found the same magic in blogging that we did originally. We've found Instagram, Twitter, and various message boards to be a better outlet for what we would like to accomplish in sharing our love of dolls. Our time doing this was great, and thanks those of you that supported us almost from day one. If you want to keep supporting us, you can find Valerie at @fairytale_ag on Instagram, @ValerieFanGirl on Twitter, and me at @verathefangirl on both Instagram and Twitter. I am also VeraLovesDolls on AG Collectors if you want to keep in touch over there. All of our previous posts will be left up for reference and/or personal nostalgia. Thanks again, it's been great.
Love,
Vera
Saturday, August 15, 2015
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Age of Ultron Review!!!!
Hey there fellow girls and germs! ;) I got that one from Discord in the new My Little Pony episode. Anyway, I promised a video review of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and I intend to keep my promise. However, I can't get a video out before school ends, and I can't STAND not sharing my thoughts for so long! As a fair and rather obvious warning: THAR BE SPOILERS IN YONDER TERRITORY!!! If you haven't seen the movie and don't want any major to minor spoilers, don't read! As a side note, I'll start by listing things I liked, things I didn't like, and my overall thoughts on the movie. With warnings out of the way, let's get started!
Likes:
-Fun action sequences! Not only seeing stuff blow up, but it was cool to see the team working together. For example, Thor hitting his hammer on Cap's shield to create a giant shockwave, or Iron Man shooting beams to reflect them off the shield. Apparently Captain America won the popularity contest. Anyway, there was plenty of blowing stuff up too, from Hulk barreling through a bunker or the city of Sokovia being leveled. Yeah, about that... (Appendix 1)
-New characters! While the existing characters may not be at their best, most of the new characters shone. Scarlet Witch was by far the spotlight stealer, with her awesome powers and strong personality, I really loved her! Of course, the over analytic in me thinks this may have something to do with one of the film's only other strong female characters reduced to a mere love interest. (WAY more on that later!)
Vision was another breakout star. He may have had few lines, but he certainly made each one count. Paul Bettany seems to be an excellent choice to play the worthy android, and I look forward to seeing his portrayal of the character in later movies.
Quicksilver was a character with a quirky persona that Aaron Taylor-Johnson certainly brought to life. He definently was an attention grabber when onscreen. Plus, he had that hilarious moment when he tried to grab Thor's hammer.
Though she played a smaller role, Dr. Helen Cho was also an interesting character, if only because of her new tech that will probably come into later movies, and her understandable fascination with Thor. Finally, that brings me to Ultron! I...don't really care about him. Unlike most fans, I have nothing negative nor positive to say about the titular villain. He was just kind of... there, and evil for the sake of being evil. Anyway, back from on the fence and to the positive!
-Hilarious humor! That was redundant. Anyway, I'm just gonna go ahead and list some of my favorite jokes from the movie.
Vision was another breakout star. He may have had few lines, but he certainly made each one count. Paul Bettany seems to be an excellent choice to play the worthy android, and I look forward to seeing his portrayal of the character in later movies.
Quicksilver was a character with a quirky persona that Aaron Taylor-Johnson certainly brought to life. He definently was an attention grabber when onscreen. Plus, he had that hilarious moment when he tried to grab Thor's hammer.
Though she played a smaller role, Dr. Helen Cho was also an interesting character, if only because of her new tech that will probably come into later movies, and her understandable fascination with Thor. Finally, that brings me to Ultron! I...don't really care about him. Unlike most fans, I have nothing negative nor positive to say about the titular villain. He was just kind of... there, and evil for the sake of being evil. Anyway, back from on the fence and to the positive!
-Hilarious humor! That was redundant. Anyway, I'm just gonna go ahead and list some of my favorite jokes from the movie.
- "Language!"
- "Jane is better"
- "coughTESTOSTERONEcough"
- "I'm always picking up after you boys"
-Great scenery! The film was shot literally around the world, and the movie really is gorgeous. From the Wakandan mines to the chapel where the majority of the final battle took place, there is always something, pretty or no, to look at.
-Set up for future movies! From the tension between Stark and Cap, to the not so subtle Wakandan location drop, there was PLENTY in this film to get me hyped for future flicks. Especially Captain America: Civil War, which I have hereby dubbed Avengers 2 1/2.
-Development for Hawkeye! While I did and do ship Clintasha (Appendix 3), I can forgive it not happening cinematically because of his adorable family. The depth added to his character by making him the "average Joe" of the team that keeps them together was a great addition. He was the one exception to my aforementioned "existing characters not being at their best" thing.
-Avengers caring more about civilians! They actively worked to get all innocent citizens out of Sokovia before it was leveled, unlike some superhero films. *coughSUPERMANcough* Random and doesn't really matter, but eh. I want to numerically represent how much I love this movie, despite its shortcomings.
-Avengers caring more about civilians! They actively worked to get all innocent citizens out of Sokovia before it was leveled, unlike some superhero films. *coughSUPERMANcough* Random and doesn't really matter, but eh. I want to numerically represent how much I love this movie, despite its shortcomings.
-I left the theater feeling good! It's hard to explain, and while I may be VERY critical about my dislikes, I want you to know that overall, I enjoyed this movie. Slightly random, but I have come up with a theory: when you love something so much, you are more critical about it, because you want it to be at its best. For example, I pick apart more wrong in the Avengers, but not Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies. It's generally agreed upon that Avengers is a better movie, but I don't care as much about the Hobbit, so I don't think as critically about it. Randomness aside, brace yourselves, fair citizens. Winter is coming. I'm readying the big guns.
Dislikes:
-Brucetasha. Brucetasha. BRUCETASHA!!! No. No. No. NOOOOOOOO!!!!! Alright, let's get this over with. Bring me a soap box, fair audiance. Thank you. Ahem. The short answer to my opinion on their relationship is as follows: JOSS WHEDON WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING NO NO NOOOOO DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TEARS WERE SHED WORLDWIDE? YOU COULD FILL THE ATLANTIC OCEAN! Now, to explain my opinion: It just doesn’t work. I shall present my points in a scholarly manner.
Point #1: Everyone ships Clintasha or Romarogers. Of course, Hawkeye has a family, so I’ll just ship them in some of the comics from now on. But that didn’t make it any easier wen I first saw the trailers. Plus, Nat don't need no man. (Appendix 4)
Point #2: Mark Ruffalo is 47 years old and Scarlet Johansson is 30. Heh. While it might not really matter, their apperance shows the age difference. The 17 year gap just makes their flirting scenes that much more awkward.
Point #3: There was no previous chemistry between their characters. Some could argue that there was that scene when she went to recruit him, but if we're judging by that, Clint and her had LOADS more flirting and interaction.
Point #4: It’s just super awkward! Their scenes are not well written! They are really forced! It’s terrible and we should just kick Joss Whedon out of the franchise for this! (Appendix 5) Oh wait, Marvel already did. The Russo brothers are doing Infinity Wars. I’ll pretend they did just because of this. Carry on! Ok, you can have your soapbox back. I’m done for now.
-The film's lack of strong female characters. We have Scarlet Witch, whose UH-MAZING, Dr. Helen Cho, who was a cool woman who created groundbreaking synthesizing technology, and Agent Hill, who spent the whole film at a desk job. Then, of course, Black Widow, who gets her own ranty point. Out of the four present female characters, only two actively fight with the guys. Dr. Cho is helpful with her tech, but Agent Hill is kind of just there. Not to mention Nat's weak characterization. So, that's one strongly characterized female character who fights with the guys. Yes, I understand mysogeny, "only guys can be heroes", blah blah BLAH! But with such an extensive catalog of characters to pull from, at least Marvel could introduce a few more female fighters!
Point #1: Everyone ships Clintasha or Romarogers. Of course, Hawkeye has a family, so I’ll just ship them in some of the comics from now on. But that didn’t make it any easier wen I first saw the trailers. Plus, Nat don't need no man. (Appendix 4)
Point #2: Mark Ruffalo is 47 years old and Scarlet Johansson is 30. Heh. While it might not really matter, their apperance shows the age difference. The 17 year gap just makes their flirting scenes that much more awkward.
Point #3: There was no previous chemistry between their characters. Some could argue that there was that scene when she went to recruit him, but if we're judging by that, Clint and her had LOADS more flirting and interaction.
Point #4: It’s just super awkward! Their scenes are not well written! They are really forced! It’s terrible and we should just kick Joss Whedon out of the franchise for this! (Appendix 5) Oh wait, Marvel already did. The Russo brothers are doing Infinity Wars. I’ll pretend they did just because of this. Carry on! Ok, you can have your soapbox back. I’m done for now.
-The film's lack of strong female characters. We have Scarlet Witch, whose UH-MAZING, Dr. Helen Cho, who was a cool woman who created groundbreaking synthesizing technology, and Agent Hill, who spent the whole film at a desk job. Then, of course, Black Widow, who gets her own ranty point. Out of the four present female characters, only two actively fight with the guys. Dr. Cho is helpful with her tech, but Agent Hill is kind of just there. Not to mention Nat's weak characterization. So, that's one strongly characterized female character who fights with the guys. Yes, I understand mysogeny, "only guys can be heroes", blah blah BLAH! But with such an extensive catalog of characters to pull from, at least Marvel could introduce a few more female fighters!
-Natasha's characterization. Yes, she gets her own point. So, in short, Nat spends the whole movie fawning over Dr. Banner or locked in Ultron's prison. She does fight in most of the action scenes, but that doesn't negate the fact that her character was reduced to the whimpering damsel in distress. It really hurts me that the previously only female Avenger was weakened in character because another girl was brought in. I also would like to take this opperitunity to go on a small tangent. Now, I was reading reviews of this film to help prepare my own thoughts, and see if there was anything I missed. I ran across one post, https://avengersfangirl.wordpress.com/2015/05/02/✰avengers-age-of-ultron-review✰/ , that raised an excellent point. To paraphrase, Joss tried to improve Nat's character to have some of her inner struggle of believing she's a monster. But instead of being a monster for killing thousands of innocent people, she's made to be a monster for not being able to have children. I appreciated the perspective from that post, as I had not thought of that before. Go read her review and her thoughts on that topic, because I completely concur. Done yet? Good. 'Cause those are the rest of my opinions on Nat's character in this film.
-Most of my dislikes points are related to the way the female characters are portrayed or the lack of them. This is just sad Marvel. By the way, if you haven't already, go watch THIS SNL skit by Scarlett Johansson snarking at Marvel's lack of female driven movies. It gives me life that there are signal boosts like this and the hashtag #WheresNatasha to let Marvel know where they need to improve. Back from the tangent, time for my overall thoughts.
Overall Thoughts: I. Loved. ALL OF IT!!! Well, most of it. The action was great, the humor was on point, and while it didn't quite live up to the hype, I went in not expecting it to. My main issue is with the characterization of the few female stars, and the direction Joss Whedon chose to take the plot. Just read appendix 5 for extra rantiness. Anyway, if you're a Marvel fan and haven't already seen AoU, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! I mean, go see it! If you're not a Marvel fan, watch the other ten movies and then go see it. You can thank me later. ;)
Love,
Vera
Appendix:
-Most of my dislikes points are related to the way the female characters are portrayed or the lack of them. This is just sad Marvel. By the way, if you haven't already, go watch THIS SNL skit by Scarlett Johansson snarking at Marvel's lack of female driven movies. It gives me life that there are signal boosts like this and the hashtag #WheresNatasha to let Marvel know where they need to improve. Back from the tangent, time for my overall thoughts.
Overall Thoughts: I. Loved. ALL OF IT!!! Well, most of it. The action was great, the humor was on point, and while it didn't quite live up to the hype, I went in not expecting it to. My main issue is with the characterization of the few female stars, and the direction Joss Whedon chose to take the plot. Just read appendix 5 for extra rantiness. Anyway, if you're a Marvel fan and haven't already seen AoU, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! I mean, go see it! If you're not a Marvel fan, watch the other ten movies and then go see it. You can thank me later. ;)
Love,
Vera
Appendix:
- Set up for Civil War is brutal. It mostly involves stuff being blown up, citizens dying, and the government taking the heroes to court.
- We're all band geeks, so we came up with this: "Band is to Jane as Strings is to Pepper. Both are good, but Jane is better."
- I have a crazy head canon theory I'll be posting sometime on tumblr when I have the time. (By the way, go follow my tumblr at verathefangirl.tumblr.com.)
- In an interview for the first film when asked why Black Widow was not involved in any romance, Johansson responded "There's no time for romance. We've got (stuff) to avenge." Have I mentioned that I ABSOLUTELY LOVE HER!!!
- He ACTIVELY FOUGHT against Clintasha just to make fans angry. Don't believe me? Look it up. He REALLY did no favors for this film. Well, you can only catch lightning in a bottle once.
Thursday, May 14, 2015
A Springy Photoshoot
Hey there! It's been a while, hasn't it? Did you miss me? ;) This is a photoshoot I promised a while ago, and have finally gotten around to posting. I've used some of the shots on my Twitter and our Google+ feed, so this will be a mix of new and old shots for some of you. Not to brag, but I think this is one of my most gorgeous yet. First, I shot Pinkie Pie at a garden center, then her and Ashlynn at a stream in downtown. I won't really commentate on the pictures, so enjoy the shots!
Where's Pinkie Pie? ;)
Here she is! :D
This is my FAVORITE picture! :D
Last but not least, my favorite Pinkie picture! :D
Thanks for reading! Again, Valerie and I will be a little sparse in posting until school is out. (Three more weeks!) Thanks once more for sticking with us, and I'll "talk" to you later!
Love,
Vera
Saturday, April 18, 2015
From The Dolls perspective- 13 (Courtney)
Well... Hello, I guess? I'm kind of new at this so I'm going to give this my best shot:
Hello everyone, I'm Courtney Lynn and I am the newest doll in Valerie's collection. She said she has been saving up for me and now I'm really excited to be joining the family! I have long wavy red hair and green eyes. I also love animals, the outdoors, and I am a die hard vegetarian! GUESS WHAT?!?! Apparently I came at the perfect time because not only was she saving up for me, but she also saved up for a plywood. This is because she and her dad made a dollhouse! It's almost finished and It looks great! It has 6 rooms and I will be sharing one with Sierra. Violet is with Lydia and Carmen is with Amber.
I haven't been around long, but everything around her is so interesting. The night I arrived was Sierra's big flute performance and she nailed it! Her tone was beautiful and she hit all the notes wonderfully. My dog, Junior, hit it off with Carmen right away. They play fetch, catch, soccer, and basically everything involving a ball together!
So, I guess that's all! Wait... mom is telling me to type this for you guys:
Valerie- Hey everyone! Valerie here. Sorry if there has been a little less activity then usual. Things have been really busy for Vera and I with Finals coming up. Not to mention curricular activities! I have lots of stuff lined up to post and I can't wait. As Courtney said, she is the newest addition and is #61 from American Girl. My father and I have been building a doll house together so there will be that too. See you soon!
Love,
Valerie and Courtney
Hello everyone, I'm Courtney Lynn and I am the newest doll in Valerie's collection. She said she has been saving up for me and now I'm really excited to be joining the family! I have long wavy red hair and green eyes. I also love animals, the outdoors, and I am a die hard vegetarian! GUESS WHAT?!?! Apparently I came at the perfect time because not only was she saving up for me, but she also saved up for a plywood. This is because she and her dad made a dollhouse! It's almost finished and It looks great! It has 6 rooms and I will be sharing one with Sierra. Violet is with Lydia and Carmen is with Amber.
I haven't been around long, but everything around her is so interesting. The night I arrived was Sierra's big flute performance and she nailed it! Her tone was beautiful and she hit all the notes wonderfully. My dog, Junior, hit it off with Carmen right away. They play fetch, catch, soccer, and basically everything involving a ball together!
So, I guess that's all! Wait... mom is telling me to type this for you guys:
Valerie- Hey everyone! Valerie here. Sorry if there has been a little less activity then usual. Things have been really busy for Vera and I with Finals coming up. Not to mention curricular activities! I have lots of stuff lined up to post and I can't wait. As Courtney said, she is the newest addition and is #61 from American Girl. My father and I have been building a doll house together so there will be that too. See you soon!
Love,
Valerie and Courtney
Catching Up: Part 2
Hey guys! It's been awhile, hasn't it? Valerie and I have been swamped with school work and after school activities, so the blog's been a little dead lately. Well, at least that's my excuse for the first week and a half of absence. The past few days' absence may or may not have been due to the creation of my Twitter account (Send help!). Anyway, I'll try to fill you guys in on the "important" stuff that has happened lately in my life. ;) Let's get started!
1) My second YouTube video!
Click above if you want to hear me ramble on about the My Little Pony season premiere and look at my pony collection. I might make one for every episode, but if that's the case, I'm behind. :}
2) New photoshoot coming up soon!
Not to brag, but I think this one's gorgeous! I had the opperitunity to shoot near a small river, and the lighting was perfect! Here's a few pictures to tide you over:
3) My Twitter account!
You probably already know that I got a Twitter account, but it's newsworthy anyway. ;) If you have one, please follow me at @verathefangirl or follow Valerie at @valeriethefangirl. I'm not the most prolific tweeter (I prefer to read others), but that's where I'll pop in with a quick update or two every now and then, and retweet plenty of fangirliness.
4) An apology:
Circa my first "Catching Up" post, I said that I would upload my Funko POP! review video soon. Well, it might not happen, because I may have lost some of the video, and the fully edited version was about ten minutes long, and the rest of the family has to use the internet too. ;) So, in short, sorry, but the review won't be uploaded soon, and probably never will. :(
5) An idea:
Lately, I've seen a lot of Q&A vlogs from bloggers and YouTubers. I would like to know if we have enough followers to possibly do something like this. Leave a comment below about what YOU think we should do, and if we get enough of a positive response, I'll make an official post for questions and such. :)
That's all for now! Thanks for sticking with us, and I see you in my upcoming photoshoot! :)
Love,
Vera
1) My second YouTube video!
Click above if you want to hear me ramble on about the My Little Pony season premiere and look at my pony collection. I might make one for every episode, but if that's the case, I'm behind. :}
2) New photoshoot coming up soon!
Not to brag, but I think this one's gorgeous! I had the opperitunity to shoot near a small river, and the lighting was perfect! Here's a few pictures to tide you over:
3) My Twitter account!
You probably already know that I got a Twitter account, but it's newsworthy anyway. ;) If you have one, please follow me at @verathefangirl or follow Valerie at @valeriethefangirl. I'm not the most prolific tweeter (I prefer to read others), but that's where I'll pop in with a quick update or two every now and then, and retweet plenty of fangirliness.
4) An apology:
Circa my first "Catching Up" post, I said that I would upload my Funko POP! review video soon. Well, it might not happen, because I may have lost some of the video, and the fully edited version was about ten minutes long, and the rest of the family has to use the internet too. ;) So, in short, sorry, but the review won't be uploaded soon, and probably never will. :(
5) An idea:
Lately, I've seen a lot of Q&A vlogs from bloggers and YouTubers. I would like to know if we have enough followers to possibly do something like this. Leave a comment below about what YOU think we should do, and if we get enough of a positive response, I'll make an official post for questions and such. :)
That's all for now! Thanks for sticking with us, and I see you in my upcoming photoshoot! :)
Love,
Vera
Sunday, April 5, 2015
Valerie reviews "The Cutie Map 1 and 2"
So, like many others, my Saturday was spent fangirling over the new season premier of my little pony. In this post I will inform you on my opinions, gripes, and favorite parts about the episodes! Hope you enjoy!
The beginning 5 minutes are spent focusing on the magical 3D map that pops out of the floor. I found the start very forced and a little stupid... I can't quite put my hoof on it, but the beginning could have been much better. When they do enter the mysterious town, I was all alert. I love how the writers are now, more than ever. Catering to their older audience as well. I think the underlying tone of communism and dictatorship was a very satisfying easter egg.
As you probably know, I was very excited to see if my conspiracy theory was correct. It was frustrating to find out that not much was reviled that proved my theory. Another thing to prove my case though, is Starlight's secret cutie mark:
The beginning 5 minutes are spent focusing on the magical 3D map that pops out of the floor. I found the start very forced and a little stupid... I can't quite put my hoof on it, but the beginning could have been much better. When they do enter the mysterious town, I was all alert. I love how the writers are now, more than ever. Catering to their older audience as well. I think the underlying tone of communism and dictatorship was a very satisfying easter egg.
As you probably know, I was very excited to see if my conspiracy theory was correct. It was frustrating to find out that not much was reviled that proved my theory. Another thing to prove my case though, is Starlight's secret cutie mark:
The star in the corner looks a lot like the star on Twilights, right? Fortunately, since we were left with a cliff hanger regarding Starlight's defeat, I'm sure there will be future episodes that address Starlight.
Another thing I didn't like about the premier was the fact that the pacing was all wrong. They stay at that ONE table in the town for almost a 5th of the episode!
I also noticed throughout the video, and shared lots of laughs with my little sister; Virginia, that Pinkie Pie was almost always making the strangest faces!
Over all I thought this was not My Little Pony's best work. While it was still funny and the plot very original, I don't think It reached it's full potential. I would have rather had the rebel group of ponies do more. Party Favor was made out to be such a pushover, and his fellow members of the rebellion did nothing to even try to help him or the main six. I may not have liked the premier all that much, but I am very excited for the rest of Season 5!!!!!!
Love,
Valerie
My First Official Fanfic!
Hello dear readers! Happy Easter, if you celebrate. Today is very exciting for me, as I published the first chapter of a fanfiction on fanfiction.net. My user name is VeraLovesFanFics, and I'll start posting my stories over there as opposed to here. Fics already posted here will stay, but any new ones will now reside on my account. What is the first uploaded fic, you ask? None other than A Derpy Tale, the backstory of our favorite gray mare. I have only uploaded the first chapter, but am working hard on the next two. I think there will be five chapters, but there could end up being more or less, depending on how I feel. ;) Enjoy what's left of your weekends, and I'll see you all in my video analysis of the My Little Pony season 5 premiere. :D
Love,
Vera
Love,
Vera
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