When Ladybug Plays Fighting Games

Fighting games were never a favorite genre of mine growing up. I preferred platformers, strategy games, and puzzle games.

Of course, my main exposure to fighting games back then was Mortal Kombat, which my brother liked and which gave me the heebie-jeebie horrors back then. A lot of the final moves were no, just no.

When it comes to fighting games with favorite characters, however, I’m all in.

The first fighting game I actively wanted to play and liked playing was Sonic the Fighters. I wanted to play every game with Nack the Weasel, and that game allows you to play as him, so of course it was high on my list of desired games. I could do without the Looney Tunes body horror humor, however.

These days, I actively play three fighting games and an occasional fourth, all because of favorite characters.

The occasional fourth is the Ninja Turtles fighting game they came out with several years ago that’s set in the 87 cartoon verse. For some reason, I really really love playing as April in that game even more than the Turtles themselves. It’s such a fun trip and captures the spirit of the 87 cartoon perfectly.

As for the others, well . . .

I really hadn’t planned on buying Super Smash Brothers Ultimate after getting a Switch Lite. It was a fairly low priority since it’s not a favorite genre. But then I suddenly remembered . . . I can play as Sephiroth in that game.

I bought it that day.

Along those same lines, the Dissidia series. I’m still looking for a ROM of the original game, but I did find one for 012. It is a delight to play and honestly, the graphics still look beautiful to me despite the age of the game.

As for Dissidia NT.... The laptop I normally use just isn’t strong enough to play it. I downloaded the whole thing from Steam on a Flash drive, but the laptop just couldn’t handle it. I’ve off and on considered buying a gaming laptop for years, and well, we really needed another working computer on hand anyway ...

I got an HP Victus at Best Buy for $432 on a Black Friday sale. Which is a steal for a gaming laptop. I know it’s not as powerful as some other, way more expensive gaming laptops, but for my purposes, it’s been just fine. Although I find it rather hilarious that the main thing I do with a $400 computer is play a $30 game on it. But it just goes to show how badly I wanted to play that game that I find it completely worth it to have bought a computer to play it on.

I enjoy both Dissidia games for different reasons. 012 has a one-on-one feature that NT doesn’t have. On the other hand, I still haven’t figured out how to set up team battles on 012.

Sephiroth is, of course, intriguing and fascinating in both games. It really seemed like they were trying to develop him in the Dissidia games, which made it rather devastating when he backslid instead in Opera Omnia. In the original game and in 012, which is a prequel, he is trying to reclaim his memories after the gods of World B or Shinryu or whoever took them from him, as they do with all incoming fighters. He seems to be a mix of sane and insane parts of his personality, doing things that only the insane Sephiroth would do, such as targeting Tifa to try to get Cloud to fight him in the hopes of restoring his memories, and saying kind things after battle like the sane Sephiroth would do. Can you imagine insane Sephiroth sweetly saying, “Do not despair” or “You have done well”?

In NT, on the one hand Sephiroth tries to get both sides to work together to defeat the true enemy, Shinryu. But on the other hand, he often comes across more like his insane self during battles and after battles. Gone are the kinder statements, with him instead saying things like “Remember who brought this pain upon you” and “I almost enjoyed myself.” During battle, he will sometimes say things like “Give up your life” when attacking, which somehow sounds way worse than just “Vanish!” in 012. This is strangely contrasted, however, with him being a good team player and talking nicely to his teammates, even humbly acknowledging if he’s made a mistake by saying, “I was wrong.”

Both games feature the Kingdom Hearts Sephiroth as well, but in 012 they weirdly made it so his wing will only come out as an EX Skill, even though KH Sephiroth has at least one constant wing all the time. In NT this is thankfully fixed and his wing is out all the time, as it should be. I just wish he was the KH2 version with all three wings, but I’m happy to at least get one wing properly out. It’s gorgeously blue, as per the KH version, and the detail to the feathers is such a joy. They all look so soft. The KH Sephiroth comes with the base game, but weirdly, you have to pay extra to get KH Cloud. I got him, as well as the Safer look for FF Sephiroth.

Dissidia NT’s Safer Sephiroth is ... something else. Of course they couldn’t easily do his stranger original version of the form, with wings replacing legs, so this Safer Sephiroth has both arms and his legs in addition to the seven wings. The one on his back comes in multiple colors of green, blue, and purple instead of black or red, while the other six are around his waist like a kilt or skirt. They are colored purple with a bit of green, instead of their original white with purple tips. There are also two alternate color schemes, although oddly, none of them match the original colors. I just love the animation for his wings and often get distracted watching them move as he runs. He wears a protective metal loin covering as well as some kind of briefs, the latter of which are very visible if the camera goes wonky and you see him fall at a certain angle. This is contrasted with Terra Branford, who seems to be naked if she’s in Trance mode?! At least it’s Barbie doll nudity, but still, that was surprising the first times I saw her running around like that.

Dissidia games are great if you want some more serious battles, or to hear Steve Burton and George Newbern as Cloud and Sephiroth. If you want more lighthearted fights and the Japanese voice actors, Super Smash Brothers Ultimate is the game to play. It is cracky and silly, with items like Super Mushrooms and soccer balls and calling upon other video game characters to help, like the Pac-Man ghosts. Cloud and Sephiroth fighting while Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde roam around is an experience like no other. I love when Pokeballs appear and an Eevee hops out. And the different stages can provide other hilarity. Some of the Mario stages require actually playing through them. Where else can you find Sephiroth hitting question blocks and fighting Mario enemies like Birdo? Much love.

While I try to take the Dissidia games into my headcanons for FF7 and they’re actually hugely important right now in how I’m trying to develop insane Sephiroth during a particular era, I don’t think I will ever try to say Smash Ultimate has also happened in my verse. There’s too many wacky power-ups like shrinking and growing big and a couple of weird transformations, all things Sephiroth is immune to in the regular FF7 canon. Plus I don’t like to picture him really suffering the indignity and the humiliation of being swallowed by Kirby or Yoshi. (Yoshi already frustrated me because of how hard he is to play as in Super Mario 64 DS, and this most certainly doesn’t help, heh.) Still, I love just playing Smash Ultimate for fun. Ever since I got Cloud unlocked, I pretty much exclusively set up fights between Seph and Cloud unless I’m playing against a real person.

That brings us to the Online modes to play against real people. Smash’s Online mode works just fine, but I have unfortunately been having problems with Dissidia NT’s. I remember years ago people talked about how difficult it was to use Steam’s online servers. I would have thought the problem was fixed by now, but it doesn’t seem to be. Any time I attempt Online mode in NT, everything starts running ridiculously sluggishly. It’s fine as long as I do Offline modes.

One thing I like about all the fighting games I’m currently playing is that none of them are realistically bloody. Sephiroth and Cloud do things with their swords that they could not do in reality or even in their own games without a lot of blood being spilled. It’s much more pleasant that way.

Overall, as strange as it sounds, Dissidia NT is my main comfort game right now. I love the graphics, being able to play as two different FF Sephs and also the KH Seph, and that the game is not brutal (in spite of some of the characters’ disturbing comments, Seph’s included).

So in the end, fighting games can be pretty fun and I can be pretty passionate about them if I’m given a reason to be. Another nice thing about fighting games is that it’s easy to just play a few matches if you really don’t have much time for a longer video game session. Matches can be as short as 2 minutes and 30 seconds in Smash. Matches in NT start at 1 minute and can be as long as 10 minutes. Even when I don’t have time for a full-blown JRPG session with Final Fantasy 8 or Kingdom Hearts, I can usually always grab a few minutes for a few fights.

Play Arts Kai Advent Children Sephiroth figure

I have been having a fun time acquiring my favorite characters made from the Final Fantasy VII Play Arts Kai line. Mostly I’ve been focusing on the Remake branch and got the Sephiroth from that line first thing, but me being me, I really wanted the Advent Children Sephiroth too. Wiiiiing! I am obsessed with wings in general and his wings in particular.

Of course, the problem with acquiring AC Seph is that he is, of course, one of the more expensive of the Kai line, probably both because of being older and (presumably) out of print and because of the wing. I’ve been watching various listings for a while and nearly got one cheaper one, until a close examination of the pictures showed that he seemed to be damaged around his neck and chest. That is not acceptable in any case, and especially not if I’m putting down a lot of money!

There was another listing that seemed promising, although I initially ignored it thinking it was a bootleg because he was in a black plastic container and black plastic for Remake figures is a signal it’s a bootleg. When I learned, however, that the official AC line was in black plastic, I took another look. He looked perfectly fine. The seller deals in flawed and damaged merch, but the only damage there seemed to be to the plastic itself, and the fact that the box was missing. It also said I’d bought from the seller before, although I haven’t been able to get it to tell me what I bought from them before. But I decided to get him.

Shipping was very fast. He went out Monday morning and arrived on Thursday, which was my birthday. To my annoyance, I would need to sign for him—a logical precaution to take when he’s expensive, but frustrating since I was unaware of it and the door didn’t get answered. I had to chase him down at the post office. Luckily, items can be acquired there the same day if one goes in the afternoon after the delivery person has returned. I got him with no trouble and he traveled with us on the birthday excursion to get mini shelves and an Eevee family canvas picture.

At home I opened the box and took him out, then settled in to get him out of the plastic. He seemed fine and completely new, even still sporting the plastic strips that get put around the figures when they’re new. But I quickly discovered to my bewilderment that I had no idea how to attach the wing. There was no visible hole and no peg, like the other figures have one or the other of. I tried pulling and prying everywhere that looked like might be a panel, but nope. So then I panicked thinking maybe I had a defective figure and that was why the previous buyer returned him.

I immediately started looking up YouTube videos on unboxing the figure. Most of them did not really explain how to attach the wing. One mentioned a panel, but didn’t show step by step what to do. I searched and searched and found a photo review that finally showed details of the panel, both before and after removing it. I’d suspected that was the panel before, so I tried harder to pull it out. Finally it came! Oy, that was an experience. But at least the wing’s on and is very sturdy and secure. The wings on some of the figures have given me a lot of trouble and required superglue.

Here is the panel, if anyone else is having trouble. This is on the right side of his back and it may be very difficult to remove or mine may just be unique in that aspect. But keep trying if it’s hard! It will come out eventually.

I haven’t needed stands for the Remake figures, but I do for this one because of course the wing throws him off-balance. I gave him one of the Remake stands since I don’t need them for those figures and he doesn’t seem to come with a stand.

Now, the next challenge, which I have not seriously tackled yet: how to switch hands. Almost all of these figures bizarrely have fists as the default. The hands are really hard to change and I always worry I’ll break something. It looks like they are harder to get off on the AC figure than on my Remake ones, and those were hard enough! So for now, I haven’t had the courage to fight with it much and the Masamune is on one of the shelves next to him.

While I adore all of these Kai figures, I do think this one may be my favorite. He is definitely my favorite of the many wonderful things that showed up on my birthday. It is hard to fully express my excitement and happiness over him. The deboxing was magical, despite the worries over if he was defective. I was in awe when I saw how big the wing is. And the figure is very hefty and sturdy. I love that these figures are apparently solid plastic and not cheap hollow plastic, as many figures and dolls are these days.

The Return of the Trolls!

I realize I’ve been neglecting this blog lately. I’ve mostly been focusing on YouTube and my dream of being a successful Vtuber—a dream that I have not been terribly successful in achieving thus far. I need better equipment, like a microphone! I have a Ko-Fi, if anyone likes my content and wants to donate towards better equipment (as well as towards getting new things to review, heh): https://ko-fi.com/luckyladybug Every little bit helps!

Two weeks ago I made a discovery in Wal-Mart that was extremely exciting for me. My long-awaited desire to see Trolls return finally came true! I discovered three new large Trolls and several assorted smaller Trolls, all looking very much like the Trolls of the 1990s that captured my imagination and my joy. While I am grateful to Dreamworks for breathing new life into the brand in America, the movieverse Trolls are not “my” Trolls, and I was highly disappointed when the 60th anniversary Trolls five years ago seemed to take a lot of cues from the Dreamworks movie Trolls. Perhaps that feeling was fairly universal and that is why this time around, the anniversary Trolls look like the ones most older fans will remember.

I have always been fascinated by franchises with multi-colored beings. My Little Ponies and Care Bears are two other such interests from all of my life, especially the Ponies. Trolls are right up there too. I was enchanted by them from the first time I knew they existed. Unfortunately, my dad was not a fan and it was very difficult to obtain Trolls merchandise as a kid. I did have Trolls stickers, a Trolls sticker book, a demo of the DOS video game, and a Trolls keychain figure that I managed to dress in a long strip of rag. Then when I was 9, I discovered Trolio Troll plushies at Smith’s! I was over the moon excited, especially as I had some gift money from my aunt and could get one or two. I chose a cute green-haired Troll in a yellow dress with matching bow. Next week, I decided to get another. By then I only had one choice, a red-haired clown Troll, and I was happy with that. Those plushies are still very beloved by me.

Somehow Dad actually did finally buy me one Troll figure, a rainbow-haired sailor Troll for Christmas one year. I also received a set of three cheerleader Trolls from another aunt. One year I also found a small green-haired Troll figure on a pencil. I treasured them all. I didn’t have any more Trolls until 2006, right after the original creator Dam regained the U.S. license and immediately set to work putting out many wonderful Trolls in the States. I obtained a blue-haired messenger Troll in a smaller size, as well as a white-haired angel Troll and a yellow-haired ladybug troll in a larger size. Of course, I would have to get the one cosplaying a ladybug! ;) Then those disappeared and we haven’t had proper Trolls again until now.

Two weeks ago, I stood looking at the new display in excitement and awe. I chose a blue-haired rockstar Troll in the larger size. Of course I wouldn’t leave without one! I am quite determined to collect all of them in this special anniversary line. Who knows when we’ll see more like this! Maybe if the line is successful, they will keep making classic Trolls.

Last week I was determined to get a pink-haired larger Troll with white shirt and blue jeans. The shirt says “I Love Trolls.” Or “I Heart Trolls,” if you want to read a heart picture literally. Then I realized that Troll looks almost entirely like the Troll in my beloved DOS video game! His hair is purple, but he’s dressed the same in a white shirt and jeans. There are hair color power-ups in that game, and although I’m not aware of a pink one, I decided to say he’s the Troll from the video game with a pink hair power-up.

I also realized that, as the Trolls were selling quite well, it would be foolish to not also get the smaller ones I especially liked right at the time. I haven’t had success finding the line anywhere else, even at other Wal-Marts. They had a green-haired one and a purple-and-blue-haired one, and I grabbed both up. I also particularly hope to find the blue-and-white, pink-and-purple, and purple ones. I am contemplating the idea of saying the small ones are the babies from the video game, especially as the ones in the game all had green hair. Perhaps I will get several of the green-haired one!

Tonight they had one lone Troll left, the other larger one. This one has pink-and-yellow hair, a combo I haven’t ever seen before, and she says “Material Troll.” She’s dressed very 80s or 90s, making for quite a nostalgic look! I brought her home but haven’t de-boxed her yet.

So how do these new Trolls hold up compared to the old ones? Well, as others have noted, they’re not quite as well-made. I can feel some kind of odd mesh inside the hair, which was not the case with the old ones. And on the small ones, the glue around the gems can be clearly seen. Both my and a YouTuber’s green-haired one shed hair, weirdly. I wonder why that would be the only one to be afflicted in that manner. But I am still ecstatic to finally see Trolls return as I remember them and hope to see more!

What is Build-a-Bear doing?

Build-a-Bear has been making adorable Pokemon plush for years now. For a long time, they have generally followed a standard formula of one Pokemon release or re-release per month. It was slow going, but predictable, and a good way to let customers catch their breaths between each one, especially if they’re forced to purchase online bundles just to get them.

Now, suddenly, they’re practically throwing the re-releases at us. In October came Umbreon, with a new release happening around the same time. We’ve had Mimikyu and Mudkip. For Black Friday, they re-released Glaceon, Mew, and Alolan Vulpix without even announcing it. At the same time, they re-released Flareon and did announce it. Now, merely a couple of weeks later, it’s Espeon.

It’s exciting, overwhelming, and concerning all at once. These online bundles are not cheap. How am I going to get them all? I missed Glaceon because of the lack of announcement, but I managed to get Umbreon and squeaked by with Flareon. I don’t know if I can afford Espeon before he might be gone. Glaceon vanished in a few hours on sale. The full-price ones usually stick around longer, but there's no guarantee of it. Umbreon sold out last Christmas at full price.

I’d like to believe this new strategy is just to get as much business as possible for the holidays. But is it? Or could there be a worrisome reason, like that they’re about to lose the Pokemon license and want to get as much out of it as possible before that happens?

As far as I know, they’re doing really well with the license and losing it seems unlikely. But there are strange stipulations that go with it, such as that they can’t restuff any Pokemon plush or put a sound in if it wasn’t originally purchased with one. If it’s that hard to make Pokemon plush, maybe losing the license isn’t such a far-fetched idea.

Hopefully this thought is nonsense and there's nothing to worry about. But regardless, it does present a problem. Unless one is made of money, collecting this flood of new re-releases is going to be almost impossible without going into debt. Espeon and Vaporeon, judging from their prices from individual sellers, are the very most popular of the out of print releases. Espeon has literally sold for hundreds of dollars. Now Espeon is back, so Vaporeon and likely Jolteon can't be far behind. From Build-a-Bear's track record lately, we may see both of them before the month is out. I will be very surprised if we don't see at least one of them very soon.

Elusive Jazwares Eevees

Eevee has long been one of the most beloved Pokemon. She certainly is my favorite. And while I’ve obtained many wonderful Eevee things in the last couple of years, a bit of merch eluded me for some time.

I haven’t ever quite understood the appeal of sleeping plush, but they certainly seem to be popular. I’m sure the game Pokemon Sleep has only fueled that interest. I decided some time back that I wanted the adorable Jazwares sleeping Eevee. But to my utter exasperation, Eevee alone seems to be almost impossible to get unless one is willing to pay a much higher price than the others in the line cost! She is continually selling out on Amazon while the others stay in stock. And while the others typically cost between $29 and $34, Eevee alone can often go for $57! She also doesn’t seem to be available at either Walmart or Target, and when Target seems to carry every other sleeping character made, this is a huge frustration. Thankfully, I finally managed to grab one when Amazon had her for the $29 price, after trying for eight months! In September, Amazon said over a thousand were sold that month. In October, the last number I saw was 800+.

She is definitely adorable and cuddly and soft. And to my surprise, she is very hefty! I would have thought she'd be lightweight for kids to carry to bed. Perhaps the heaviness is to mimick how heavy bodies can be while asleep. I think she's heavier than the 24-inch plushies!

Another item that is highly popular is a costume accessories set. I’ve watched it sell out at Amazon and Target.com, and at various Targets. Of course, it wasn’t available where it was convenient for me to get. Apparently many people were Eevee this Halloween. I wish I could have seen some of them.

There is also the strange tale of the mysterious Kroger Eevee. While searching for some Eevee or another about a month ago, I accidentally found a picture of an adorable Jazwares Eevee, 12 inches and sitting down with a happy smile, on Smith’s website. To my frustration, I couldn’t ship her and the only store around that had her was some distance away. Running a search on the UPC turned up the same Eevee on Kroger’s site, but other sites said the code didn’t exist. I wondered if this was a store chain exclusive. How strange, though, for a grocery store chain to get a special Eevee!

After a while I saw what seemed to be a Chinese bootleg on Amazon, but still no other stores had the official item. Finally someone appeared on Mercari selling one and I bought her along with the Jazwares Shiny Eevee (who doesn’t really look like a Shiny, but is adorable all the same). Right after purchase, I finally saw one in a toy store. So she’s not a Kroger exclusive.

Kroger certainly loves her, though! Apparently she’s a part of a Christmas promotion across Kroger stores, and now that Halloween is past, she’s starting to pour in at other Smith’s. Mine got her this week. And even though I already have one, I couldn’t resist bringing home a twin for her. I think it’s the first time I’ve deliberately got a double because I wanted two of a particular item. There are enough subtle differences that I can easily tell them apart, as I always could when I ended up with accidental doubles.

She seems smaller than 12 inches, though, unless that's measured to the top of the ears. But in any case, she is adorable! Smith's and other Kroger stores are charging $17.99 if you have a Fresh Values card, as opposed to the full price at stores between $30 to $36, so if you have a Kroger family store and want this Eevee, definitely see if they have her! She is precious.

Two Coyotes

I have, in general, been more of a Disney girl through the years. The movies and cartoon shows are endlessly magical to me and I never tire of them. However, I do have a definite fondness for some Looney Tunes characters and have sometimes enjoyed the cartoons, although mostly I prefer the sweeter and cuter books to the often sadistic and mean-spirited cartoon romps. The books are hilarious and adorable, with plots such as Bugs and Porky investigating a haunted house, Bugs’ birthday, Bugs and Elmer making a carrot machine, and the Road Runner family (yes, it’s a family in the books) visiting Wile E. Coyote when he’s sick and saying “We’ll be happy when you’re more snappy!”

I have also always had a tendency to root for the underdogs and some of my favorite characters are Wile E., Sylvester, and Elmer. On the other hand, I also like Bugs and probably prefer him to Daffy since even though I understand Daffy’s jealousy and feel he was mistreated by the writers and other characters, it didn’t justify him trying to murder Bugs. My other favorite is Porky. In the books I like Petunia and always wondered why she didn’t appear much, if at all, in the cartoons.

Elmer and Wile E. are probably my top favorites. I have two Wile E. plushies, and the acquiring of each is a story.

In my church, people are baptized when they’re old enough to understand the principles instead of being baptized as infants. It’s always a big deal and a grand celebration for the ones being baptized. Many kids are baptized around age 8. I was too, and it was an amazing and beautiful and spiritual day. I received several lovely gifts, some religious and a few monetary. I ended up with $25, more money than I’d likely ever seen as mine in my short life up to that point. I wanted to celebrate, and for an 8-year-old toy-loving kid in the 90s, that meant Toys R Us!

As I recall, we went to the Toys R Us that was arguably the closest to us at that time, in a fancy shopping center on the East Side. After looking around a while, I found one of the most glorious things for me at that point in my life: a two-foot (or more) Wile E. plush! This was November 5th, 1994 and a very good time to be a Looney Tunes fan. The cartoons played on ABC every Saturday. Figures and plushies were common in stores. I had hoped to find some merch, but I had never dreamed of anything so big!

It was a whole plush line, in fact. I want to say there were at least four in the line, but I can only remember Wile E., Bugs, and Sylvester for sure. I cannot remember the fourth. There was only one plush of Wile E., and he had no price tag. I believe the others in the line were $24.99, so I could have squeaked by getting him at that price. But with no tag, we took him to Customer Service to find out how much he cost. It seemed like ages we waited and waited. At one point the clerks played around with Wile E. and Sylvester. Finally they brought the incredible news: he was $12.99! Perhaps he was on Clearance? Or perhaps they were just being kind to a little kid who clearly wanted him badly. In any case, starry-eyed me immediately bought him and he sat beside me in the car on the way home.

Here he is. Isn’t he wonderful?

I always wondered why the hair tuft was black instead of the accurate brown, but that is such a minor thing. It never mattered to me.

I eventually fell out of love with the cartoons because I really do not like body horror and finally stopped trying to pretend I found it funny. But I still loved the characters and Wile E. has always been special to me.

Flash forward to last week. I saw a Wile E. plush in the back of a claw machine at Smith’s. This one is very small, but he’s smiling adorably and I was attracted enough that I decided to try to get him. This was a very foolish decision, as claw machines, of course, are notorious for not working right for people and my one other attempt to get something from one as a kid ended with me in tears because it didn’t work. This time, I tried five times and failed to get Wile E. There was another plush in front, so the claw couldn’t seem to really get a tight enough grip. I thought of removing that plush and trying again, but I couldn’t get the claw around the other plush. I gave up.

This week, I found the plushies had been rearranged and Wile E. was in front! Well, that was enough encouragement to try again, so I stuck four more quarters in the slot and attempted to get the claw to behave. And ... it actually did. I would have liked to have seen my expression of shock and happiness as it gripped Wile E. tight enough to lift him up and moved back towards the opening. I was tense, wondering if something would still go wrong. It seemed too amazing a thing to happen to me. But then, incredibly, it dropped him down the reward slot and he was mine!

This one is made by Toy Factory, a company that does prizes for machines and carnivals. They have a lot of Pokemon plush. I wondered if their Eevees weren’t furry, because they don’t really look it. But maybe they actually are and just have very short, fine fur like my new Wile E.

Here is a size comparison of the two.

I also wanted to show the tails. While the new one’s is arguably more accurate, it’s just a strip of cloth! My childhood plush’s tail is fully three-dimensional.

After actually having some success at a claw machine, it makes me want to try on occasion to see if I can get any other characters I like from them. I saw a Bugs I’d like to try for two towns away, if he’s still available. We shall see.

Let's Talk About Encanto Merch

Well, Disney got back to me. One email, which seems to be a form email, tells me how to return merch. The second one is more personalized but may also really be a form letter. They are sorry for the mishap and are sending a replacement! This message says to donate the original item to charity. I suppose it's the second one I should consider as the one to follow, instead of the first? I don't know that I will actually donate the first Luisa, though. When she's messed up, why would I want to donate that to some poor kid who probably doesn't have many nice things anyway? I would probably be more likely to try reselling her on Mercari and see if some collector wants her despite the flaw. I suppose whichever I do, I will hang onto her until the second one comes. For all I know, it won't be much better. I've heard horror stories where people are sent two or three replacements and none of them are right.

Regardless, I am very grateful they answered kindly and are trying to fix the problem! I was really hoping they would feel that way about it despite the return window being closed.

So let's talk about my Encanto doll set. Here they are deboxed! Aren't they wonderful?

I can't believe I never really noticed all the theme details to Pepa's attire before. I saw the sun earrings, but didn't really grasp the sun collar or the raindrop dress. Look at the little lightning bolts on the hem! Her shoes are sun pattern too. And she's so cute! I love all the little freckles and her long braid.

Camilo also has a theme thing going on. See all the chameleons on his poncho? I love it! Of course, I imagine most fans have already picked out all those little details and I'm the odd one out just catching up.

Felix fascinates me. I have never seen a doll with his body type before. He is very hefty.

Dolores seems to be identical to the individual Dolores that was released last year. At first I didn't think there was anything relating to her gift depicted, but now it looks like I see soundwaves on her dress. Cool!

Antonio is indeed different. Side by side, you can see the new one doesn't have any hair touching his forehead and his eyes are lighter. After looking at pictures, it seems to be the first one who is more accurate.

In spite of those minor differences, all of them look like they just stepped out of the movie screen!

All dolls have the basic articulation of shoulders and legs and neck. And oddly, Camilo alone has a different type of "skin" on his arms that's rubbery and feels a litle more like actual skin. The others all have normal hard plastic.

I still don't know what I will do with the duplicate Dolores. Perhaps I will try to sell her in a lot with the first Luisa plush? When the Antonios are so different, I rather think I will keep both of them, probably.

Behind the family, you can see a 4 inch Princess Peach figure. I found her at Walmart! Apparently they finally at long last re-released her! I am so thrilled to at last have her to put with the guys. I will give her her own post later.

Ahsoka and Luisa plush

Among my lovely birthday offerings, I picked up the Ahsoka plush and the Luisa plush. I was so stoked for both of them, I had to buy immediately and not wait for a sale. That was unfortunately a mistake, as had I waited, I could have got Ahsoka on free shipping several days later. And Luisa, well ...

First, here is the lovely Ahsoka. She is perfect! I have seen several Ahsoka plush and none have struck me as much as this one. Despite being for the live-action series, her expression captures everything we love about the original version. She looks much happier here than she ever does in the live-action.

Luisa is gorgeous, but there is a glaring difference between her and Disney's advertising. Here is a link to Disney's page for her. See the stock photo? Luisa is depicted as most human plush are made, looking straight-on. There is an image of a kid holding her where the head seems turned a little, but not really that much.

Then, the actual product.

Um....

This is completely different from the advertising! It's apparently not defective, as I found someone on eBay selling one that looks the same. (Unless a whole batch was affected, but since one picture on Disney's site shows a very slightly turned head, I doubt it.) Disney is advertising this plush as looking straight-on when she's just not.

Honestly, it's unique. And I'm not as disappointed today as I was last night. I was actually considering trying to sell her, since the return window has passed. But I probably won't. I am, however, still disappointed enough that I wonder if I'll really get any of the other Encanto plush, even on sale. (I probably still will.) I wonder if I should still complain to Disney anyway, even though the return window has passed. Since she was a gift, I naturally hadn't opened the box until yesterday.

(Update: I did contact Disney. This is just preposterous. We'll see if they have any mercy. I want a replacement, not a refund, so maybe ...)

Okay, aside from that jarring experience, let's look at the positive. Both these plush are incredibly soft. The skin "fur" is almost velvety or minky to the touch. It's paradise. They're also very huggable. I held both while watching the Ahsoka season finale. And of course, the details are top of the line. Disney doesn't skimp on those. Ahsoka's vest even feels suede-like! And Luisa's attire even includes her knee-length underwear as seen in Surface Pressure!

One thing I'm not sure whether is good or bad is that the legs are stiffer. It's not as easy to sit them down as it was before. I rather like being able to do that with my Frozen and Cinderella plush.

In any case, I'm thoroughly thrilled with Ahsoka but am still unsure what I think of Luisa due to the strangeness of how her head is turned in contrast to what I thought I was getting.

Let's Talk About Encanto Dolls

Like many other people, I love Encanto. And when I love something, I must have merch! Plushies and dolls and figures are my go-to merch in general, and boy, was I excited when Encanto started generating dolls of all kinds! I was eyeing the beautiful gift set with Luisa ever since its release, as she is my favorite and the set seems to be the only way to get her. Last Christmas, Azalea542 made me a lovely present of this set, to my delight.

Also released around last Christmas season were Dolores and Bruno dolls. I was especially surprised Bruno got a doll, since male characters often don't, and especially adult males. I bought both and hoped for more characters to release.

This year, I was surprised and amazed to see a set with Pepa, Felix, and Camilo, as well as Dolores and Antonio. I was expecting Camilo would get a doll, but I wasn't sure the other adults would. Unfortunately, this set doesn't seem to be selling as well, at least here in town. During Wal-Mart's summer clearance sales, it reduced to $33.99 from $49.99, and then the final copy was reduced further to $11. By contrast, on Mercari people have been successfully selling it for $100! So it would seem people do want it, even if it's not popular here in town.

I bought it at the $33.99 price point and put it away for my birthday. I was rather sickened to see the other copy left reduced to $11 before it sold. It's worth so much more than that. Plus, I desperately want to see Mirabel's parents get dolls, and if this set is having so much trouble selling, that may not happen. I am hoping the difficulties are only local and that it's far more successful everywhere else.

One thing that did puzzle me was why Antonio's parents got dolls ahead of Mirabel's parents. Then the answer came to me and it was so obvious: because they sang the wildly popular Bruno song.

These dolls are all made by Jakks Pacific. They are absolutely beautiful and spot-on in their designs. Everyone looks like they stepped right out of the movie screen! Their clothes are also highly accurate, although I am very sad that all the details are simply printed on rather than being 3D. Isabela, for instance, doesn't have the actual layers present in her dress. Wouldn't it be so amazing if she did? Instead, it's just one solid layer meant to look like her multiple layers. I believe the set made by The Disney Store does feature real layers, but that set's price was just too much. I'm perfectly happy with the Jakks set.

These are the dolls I have currently opened:

The other set will be opened on October 3rd. At that point I will make another post to show them loose, but for now, here is what they look like in-box:

The Dolores seems to be identical, but there are slight differences in the Antonios. The one from the Mirabel set has cute bangs brushing against his forehead. Unless the one in box just looks this way while trapped in plastic, he doesn't have bangs. Also, the eye color is different. The one in the newer set has lighter brown eyes.

I have not decided what I will do with the duplicate Dolores and Antonio. Since they are more common, they do not seem to sell well on Mercari by themselves. Also, since I am a terrible sentimental softie, I am wondering if I will not have the heart to sell them, especially the duplicate Antonio. Look how cute they've packaged him, right there by his mother and father! Anyway, with the Antonios having slight differences, that might make it worthwhile to hang onto both for now. Who knows, one of the variants may become valuable later for the differences! (Or maybe not, but it's a possibility.)

On the plush front, Disney released Mirabel and Antonio some time ago but seemed to show no indication to make more. That made me reluctant to get them, thinking it would be sad if they couldn't have their family members around them. Now I am kicking myself for not getting them on some of the sale prices they were on, because Disney has released Isabela, Luisa, Dolores, and Bruno! And I doubt Mirabel will be on sale again any time soon. Antonio is no longer on Disney's site, but he is on Amazon.

As soon as I saw the new plushies, I couldn't resist and immediately got Luisa. She will also be saved for my birthday and I will review her properly soon after.

Who Are You Eevee

So for months, ever since learning what the Who Are You? plush actually are, I’ve wanted one to try out the unique gimmick for myself. For those who don’t know, they are mysterious plush that come tightly packed in a furry ball. You have to put it in or under water to uncurl it and see who’ve you got, hence the name. There is a Pikachu version, but of course, my interest is with the Eevee variety. There are three possible Eevees you can end up with, including one with the female tail.

After earning some gift cards that could be redeemed on eBay, I decided it was time to get one. There are some wonderful deals there from Japanese sellers. I bought one last week and it arrived yesterday!

Then came the debate of whether to save it to open up until my birthday. Usually packages that come around now I save for my birthday. But it’s not really a birthday gift since I used gift cards I’d earned. I decided not to wait.

First, I took some pictures of the box from every angle. It’s bigger than I thought it would be, which is intriguing. It also feels very nostalgic in its pictures and design. It reminds me of toy boxes from the 1980s and 1990s.

Also intriguing is this side picture, which seems to show a Caucasian girl instead of a Japanese girl. I do wonder if they were planning to release it internationally but then didn’t for some reason.

Here is a video of the unboxing and displaying everything just the way it comes. I love the collar and nametag! It reminds me of Pound Puppies.

https://youtu.be/cY_k1MsDG58?si=sp1HBaFySFK76Y3E

And here is the video of the uncurling. It was a fun experience! I’m glad I got to enjoy it. Since they are expensive, I highly doubt I’d buy any other new boxes. But I might get the other two Eevees already uncurled from other sellers.

https://youtu.be/3u7muIpLd80?si=KrtbE0_fGOk93cnI

I was going to make a third video to discuss my feelings, but I think I will just write them out here instead.

I would have been thrilled with any of the three Eevees, but I must admit I’m particularly excited I got the female one! I was secretly hoping I would get her.

I do wish the face didn’t seem to have such a pushed-in characteristic about it. I was hoping drying her might change that, but it doesn’t seem to have done so.

I put her on the low heat setting of the dryer for faster drying. Other videos mentioned it taking many hours for drying. She is almost completely dry two hours later, except for the inside of her ears and under her ruff. I dried the ears with a fan. I realize the dryer is not a recommended solution, but I was very careful and checked every few minutes.

She comes with two Berries, which I was afraid to put in the dryer for fear of them getting sucked into the lint tray. I’m drying them with the fan too, to great success.

Her fur is very long and fluffy. She isn’t really stuffed very much, naturally, due to the curled up gimmick. If I was more confident in my abilities, I would open her up and stuff her more now that she’s uncurled. However, I do not wish to do that.

Here she is all dry and fluffy. What a cutie!

Overall, it’s a super cute gimmick that I think kids will enjoy. Big kids too. I’m happy I got to experience this interesting and unique plush!