Artsy Fartsy Time: Expandable Cards

 Hey crafty friends,

Today we're bringing you a segment I haven't done in a minute, Artsy Fartsy Time, because I am artsy and fartsy. Yes I know a woman who's admitting it, it's unheard of I know, but here I am.

So today's Artsy Fartsy surrounds expanding cards I made last month.  So last month was Valentine's Day and my Mom's Birthday, and at some point prior to these events that I saw a aPasos' Easy Love Expandable Card. Both cards featured today use these instructions. I love cards like this, and it looked super easy to make. Since it had been posted for Valentine's Day I thought why not make one for Fangirl for Galentine's Day? So I did, but my card is less cutesy, and more Supernatural. I thought I'd warn the squeamish it does show what's suppose to be a bloody heart, but you can't tell it really what it is with my mini drawing skills, not good at drawing little things. Fangirl is a big fan, and the reason I gave the show another shot.*see this post for more on that*. So I decided to go SPN with hers:

Fangirl's Supernatural Expandable Card

 When you take the card out of the envelope it's flat like this. It's a black card with some anti possession symbols on the pull tabs, since this is a SPN themed card. The first picture is a drawing of my friend that says "All I need is your warm, kind, sweet heart for Valentines":

Pull the tabs to expand and reveal the inside of the card, which features a were wolf me with a heart meal that says "Thanks for the pick me up Galentine! Love ya!", and then I finished with my artist signature:

 

Did she she like the card, yeah but between her being half asleep and the crappy miniature drawings, she didn't get it at first.

Mom's Birthday Card

My second card of the week was for my Mom's birthday. I went more cute with this one. I used my Mom's favorite colors of red, white, and blue for the color scheme. We have a cake made to look like her favorite cake, strawberry flavored. It says "Happy Birthday!" at the bottom  :

Upon expansion you'll see a drawing of me holding my arms out for a hug. It reads "I Love You Mom!" with the date and my artist signature:

Now every car need an envelope so I took to Pinterest (check out my Pinterst page link. It's in my links section the right *points*). I found a pin that led me to this Mini Envelope Pin tutorial, I sized them up and presto easy envelopes:

A Purple Envelope for Fangirl's

 

I gave my Mom's card a white one

Yeah they look wonky, but they worked, and it's the thought and your attempts that count right?

And so we close out today's post. Hope this inspires you to make your own cards if does let me see it in the comments or one of my socials. I hope you have a good week, craft on, and God bless.

*Thrifty Geek*

Thrifty Geek's Library- When We're in Tough Situations

Hello Friends,

How's the weekend going? I hope all is well for you guys. So today I decided to hit you with a long overdue Library post. Of course I've not had many books to write on lately, but I've finally managed to read enough to warrant a post. I'll go in more depth about that later. Today's post is themed around people in the tough situations. 

 

Getting Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next Book Two) by Jasper Fforde

So I'm continuing the Thursday Next series now that my digital library provider got book two! We once more go into the alternate 1985 universe of Thursday Next, where extinct things have been brought back to life, airships are common, and time travel and going into your favorite books are possible. Well you can go into your favorite books if you have the skill, or your uncle makes a device to do so. Well Thursday finds herself dealing with old foes and relatives of foes from the first book. It's a mess and their all out to kill her, or at least make her life a living nightmare. You know usual day in the life of a heroine. Well Thursday has had her husband taken from her for ransom, and her father warning that the world is going to end, all of which she's gotta solve.
I love how we get to see the world of books, basically how our favorite classic characters live when their not being read. We have a whole group in charge of keeping the literary world running smoothly. I love how the author breaths life into the written word. There's actually a funny battle between two characters in the real world that takes place in like a black Friday of book sales. I love this world has people who are fanatics of books and/or authors. I mean peoples lifestyle and looks surround their favorites.\Now I know this is a series and you leave some things open to keep the series going, you can do that with a series, but in my mind there was two main problems our character faced that I figured would be solved this book, well one was, but the other wasn't. Plus the end of the book ended with the main character still kinda in the middle of the adventure we've been on this book. I mean like in the first book we had illusions to more minor mysteries that you feel would play bigger parts in future books, but all the main issues for that book were tidied up and given a proper book ending. With this one I felt like this book was just part one of the story we were on.
Another thing we have a minor event that gets brought up off and on in the book, then suddenly during the last fifty pages or so we find out that event is actually a major problem, then next chapter we're fixing it. I just felt like it all just happened too quick. Seems like that background event and the true problem it involved should have been introduced earlier then made part of the mysteries needed to be solved in the book, not tossed at us toward the end of the book after we're getting to were we should be solving the problems that have been in the books already, I mean it's okay to do if it is part of surprise twist and it turns out it's part of one your stories problems all along and didn't know it, but this twist didn't really have anything to do with the problems we've been trying to solve in this book. I mean awesome twist, but I felt like it didn't really do anything to the big events that'd we'd been working on in the story, just  this atmospheric event, is that a thing?
But if you love book based literature check this book out. I'll definitely be continuing the series, because I gotta see it she fixes things, and mainly cause it's a great series.
 

A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher

I'm not sure how this one ended up on my radar, and I didn't know it was a children's book, well older children's book until I started reading it. It's the story of Mona a 14 year wizard baker who's powers only work with bread products. The story opens with Mona discovering a dead body in the kitchen of her aunt's bakery when she comes in to work one morning. Soon Mona finds herself in a plot to rid her city of all magic people and to overthrow the ruler.

As I mentioned earlier no clue this was a children's book, but it actually proved a good book to get me back into reading. In the latter half of 2020, my attention span due to my anxiety, or we are thinking could be ADD/ADHD, started falling off. I missed my Goodreads goal that year. I started with a goal of thirty then I lowered it to twenty went I saw I was struggling and missed completing by one. Then last year I tried 20 again and only managed five books. So this was a good book to ease me back in to the swing of things and remind me of why I love reading.
This was a really good book. It was Funny, thought provoking.  I was making notes of so many great quotes. I definitely recommend this for an older child, or the young at heart. My only thing was the fourteen year old protagonist kept referring to herself as a a child... I could see her saying she's a teenager, but not a kid, I mean what parent hasn't had the being called a kid argument? But that's just me. Though this could be cause they want to keep this aimed at kids. I definitely had some Shrek 2 vibes with the wizard being able to animate bread.
But it was a short sweet read, definitely gave me confidence and hopefully the willpower to try to focus my attention to reading again.

The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling

You know how they say the first line should grab your readers? It's very true, especially this book. When I read the first line "Never mix vodka and witchcraft", I knew I was in for a good time with this book. It is the story of Vivi,  one of the magical women of the Jones family of Graves Glen, Georgia. Vivi is going through a break up with Rhys Penhallow, a magically gifted man from Wales who's ancestor founded the town and made it a haven for witches, apparently all magical people, men and women, refer to themselves as witches, the term warlock for men is only used by older generations, specifically Rhys's father who refuses to let go of the old ways.
Well, Vivi and her cousin Gwyn the night Vivi breaks up with Rhys, decide to make a vodka induced decision to "hex" the guy. It was never meant to be an actually curse, no real magic, as Gwyn would say, was involved, more like just a bunch of mumbo jumbo to help Vivi feel better. Of course, they'll learn why their matriarch's advice of never mixing magic and vodka is very true, especially when Rhys returns to their town nine years later and they learn how fake drunken spells can lead to magically drunken consequences.
I'm happy to report this book was a good time. It hit all my marks magic, romance, and saving the world, well town. I love the characters, they made me smile as I read it. I couldn't put the book down. I now see why there was a waiting list at the library to get this book. I love magical families who have a long history, like Charmed, Practical Magic, or The Good Witch, this book fulfills that nicely. It also fulfills my love of strong magical women families.
There were great memorable quotes in this book that made me laugh. I always love a good book you want to remember the words from. I'm totally adding this to books to add to my permanent library, because I'll definitely want to revisit it in the future.

I'm So (Not) Over You by Kokoso Jackson

This is the first contemporary romance by the author. The book book follows the escapades of Kian who is approached by his ex of three months Hudson to go to his cousin's wedding. Seem he's neglected to tell his family they'd broken up.  Hudson sweetens the deal by offering him a glowing recommendation to a job he recently had been looked over for. What could possibly go wrong.
I had to give this a three on Goodreads. It wasn't like Robin Sloan's Sourdough that was just average and kinda forgettable. It was more of mixed bag of feelings about it. I liked the main character was a fellow North Carolinian, and suffers from similar mental health issues I do. I also loved when his geeky side came out. There was parts of this book that made me laugh so hard I had to tell my mother about it.  It also had very humorous and humorously quotable moments.
That being said I don't know why but it was hard to warm up to the characters. I sometimes found that they grated on my nerves for some reason. It was hard to love them, even the ones we're suppose to like, such as the main character. I get having an irritating secondary character, or a villain, but when a good portion of the characters, including the main character has me cringing in annoyance most of the time, yeah hard to really enjoy. Keep in mind though this is just me and how those personality types came of to me when I read. It could be you read them and will find them delightful, so don't pass the book up just because I'm not crazy about the character types.
If you love a gay Romantic Comedy I totally recommend it. It's funny, has a gay leading couple, and a hint of the geeky, we love the geeky here. If that sounds like your thing then give this book a read.

So we came through those tough situations to reach the end. I hope the rest of you weekend is good, read a good book, and God bless.

*Thrifty Geek*

Legend of Vox Machina Part 3: The Review Part 2

Hey Critters,  

Percy's demanding I finally finish this post

Happy 7th Anniversary Week of Critical Role, well a couple days past it! At long last I've gotten around to try to finish this series of posts, and I find it fitting it's done during their anniversary week, or at least started to write it then, will see if my anxiety and internet cooperates. So if you haven't already read parts one and two, so you're no lost here, and let's get this wrapped up! As always I'm trying not to do major spoilers, but some minor things will be talked about, so if you want to be completely spoiler free on even minor things skip this post.

Scanbo-

The De Rolo kids at school. I was bored in class like Cassandra but still a good student like Percy myself. Though none of my teachers made me worry they we're plotting my demise.

Inspiration from dreams. I've been inspired by dreams too, though if one for a weapon comes calling may be wary.

Keyleth and the Sun Tree, wish Matt could have done his Sun Tree for this, that was the best part of her talks with him, also wouldn't be attempting to put a fire out with ale make it worse, or am I mistaken on that front.

Poor Scanlan, sucky thing about being the funny guy of the group, no one takes you seriously when you have a serious plan. Uh poop shot, followed by Scanlan saying the word over and over, gross yet funny. Plus him coming across guards playing Dungeons and Dragons it seems. 

Talk about your burning indigestion. I can't remember if that's how the fire happened in the original, and we have Triceratops Scanlan!!!! I was getting worried at first when it hadn't happened I thought they weren't going to do it and they did! So happy! I also love the magic hand to sword combat.

Scanlan is the example for everyone that you can be the hero no matter who you are. All people are vital to an operation, even the small, wise cracking, sex driven ones. 

 

A Silver Tongue-

I think this is a great example of why we school need to keep the teachers of the world happy.  Can you imagine all of them suddenly turning against society? *insert Gir from Invader Zim's "Doom Song"*

Don't you guys just love witty banter between enemies? You know before you have to take them out or be killed. Grog being the tank man, amazing. He may not be able to read, but he is a magnificent fighting force, just add ale.

Beautiful animation on Keyleth's morph into Minxie form, I think I spelt that right, and bless her trying to take out the living armor. 

Can we talk about the professor's tongue action? I've heard of a golden tongue, but silver. I cringe when he moves his tongue like he does. Reminds me of a frelling jerk back in high school who would do tongue motions similar to that. It was disgusting. Plus that tongue of his can charm you to kill you friends... another reason to loath it. Although I thought half elves were immune to being charmed? 

Keyleth's sky writing is cool, even cooler is when it happened in real life, the look on Marisha's face is priceless.

I like the Everlight's words about walking the path true to you, and in doing so that'll being righteous to you. 

Hate when your trying to warn people and you can't get your words out, even worse when they assume you're talking dirty.

The Tide of Bone-

The villain backstory that adds a bit of humanity to them, or I guess in this case how one became inhuman, although how much humanity Lady Briarwood has left in her is questionable too.

So yay more scarily animated undead... really don't like living dead, cause they are hard to defeat and just keep coming at you, sometimes even when they're in pieces.

I see we have thry intense back to your wall looks like we're going to die situation, but does it meet the check list?

Big Bad We Surely Are Going To Die Battle Checklist *WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS*

1.Hysterical Character getting slapped to snap them out of it. Check.

2. Characters asking someone to speed a plan up. Check.

3. Beloved character dying horrible death. Check. 

4. Impassioned speech to rouse the masses. Check.

5. Ill timed love confession. Check.

6. Character getting peeved at ill timed love confession. Check.

7. Epic miraculous rescue. Check.

8, Oppressed people getting their revenge in a disturbing way. Check.

Why is Percy blaming himself for leaving his sister, he thought he saw her die by that arrow. If that had happened to me I would have thought that too.

Depths of Deceit-

Talk about your inner demons, Percy's really have manifested into a scary thing. Speaking of scary things, nothing worse than having to fight the undead, worse when their your family, even more worse  is your friend dancing in a shower of their broken remains.

Yes! Heavy metal Scanlan, playing in a magic hand over and acid pool, while a stark naked Grog dives into it. There's you a rock show

 

Whispers at the Ziggurat-

 The Ziggurat looks beautiful, but creepy. That green glow effect is amazing. 

 My sister and I have had some cut throat sibling rivalry, but these siblings take the cake.

Scanlan's heart dice eyes are so cute when Pike saves him. Grog fighting with his eyes shut, I think he did that at one point in the original series, I seem to recall it. So Grog.

Keyleth's epic light shown is another example of the beautiful animation in this series. I know I've mentioned that so much, but I can't help it, it's so amazing.

So yeah Ziggurat glowy, eerie, beautiful, green outside, dark creepy den of death and purple glowing eyes inside...

The Darkness Within-

 So I feel there's a lesson on the timing of things here.

Scanlan's incantations are as hilarious as his songs.

Ah the inner struggle with an inner demon, I know that pain well. I really sympathize with the guy having a dark force kicking your butt.

Eh seeing a death from the dying perspective unnerving.

And we end as many season finales do with a cliff hanger... 

 

Final Conclusions:

This show is amazing. It captures the heart and sole of the campaign. It was beautifully animated, voiced, and soundtracked, I know it's not a word, but it is now. The only faults I give it is that some of my favorite parts didn't make it, but I understand sometimes you gotta cut your darlings, especially when you have 300 hours to whittle down in 12 episodes. If you find yourself aching for more, or are curious about the original material then I highly encourage you to watch Campaign One. If you don't want spoiled for what I'm almost sure will be season two, just watch the episodes that lead to the point we left off in the animated show. If you find you can't find the time to watch it, then try the podcast they offer, especially good if you have a long commute to work.

I do hope you have enjoyed my Vox Machina posts. Sorry it took a minute for this one, but I'm glad to have done it. I hope your week is good, adventure on, and God bless you!

*Thrifty Geek*

Monthly Randoms: Of Gals, Cakes and Sandwich Boards

 Hello Friends,

I was hoping to start posting regularly again, but I'm very rusty, and the usual issues with the, which saying it at this point is making me a broken record, Mental Health Hydra B----. Well today I'm bringing you the late February Monthly Random. I know it's very late, but at this point I feel like I'm scrambling to do everything cause I feel like I'm behind on everything. I also know what your thinking: Where's the third part to the Vox Machina post? Sorry I over estimated that project a bit, I know I said I'd do it last week, but yeah I had crap happen. So that will come out at some point. Hopefully soon, but no promises. But I did want to go ahead to get this Random out instead of doing a combined February and March one. So here is the Randoms of February.

Random Name Change:

Did she change the blog name? Why yes I did change the name. When I moved my blog here it was called "Once Upon a Bologna Sandwich". I forget when I decided to change it, I had fallen out of love with Bologna sandwiches and changed it to Backwoods Geek. Well sometime this year, I felt the name of my blog was too boring, and I missed the whimsy of my first name. So I revamped it with a sandwich I never have gotten tired of and now it's "Once Upon A Turkey Sandwich".

Random Doings:

Week of the February 14th- 19th-

I was going to make a post about this last month, but then the Vox Machina posts took precedence.  So I'll start with Valentine's Day. I spent this day of love with the fam, cause I got no man to speak off. I gave my folks a parents' Valentine's with three pieces of candy each, the rest of their gifts came after I went out with Fangirl the next day. I received a card, a box of chocolates, and a bag of assorted Hershey's™ candy. Mom baked us a heart cake:

The frosting is strawberry. The cake is a plain cake.

 

Galentine's Day and my Monthly Granny Outing-

Fangirl and I hung out on the 15th, which became our Galentine's Day. I gave her some flowers and made her a Supernatural themed card. We hit our usual haunts such as Morgan's Comics in West Asheville. Morgan the owner is an amazing artist, not only does she sell her art, but you can find it around the shop like on her Sandwich Board:

Grogu is so cute!

 

I ended up coming across another cute sandwich board while I was out with my Granny the next day at Vale123Pizza:

Mom's B-Day-

The week rounded out the 18th with my Mother's Birthday. For the celebration my Mother made another cake:

 

It was Strawberry all the way through, my Mom's favorite. I know what your thinking: Didn't you just have cake four days earlier, yup. Still had some of it left too when this was made. Mid-February is the time of Strawberry flavored cake. You're also probably wondering why my Mom baked her own cake. Well my Dad I don't think knows how to back and I'm not allowed to. There was a Mom birthday cake related baking disaster when I was 16 my Mother has yet to fully forgive and definitely not forget.

Favorites From My Socials:

Reddit has some great video game themed artistry last month that got my upvote. This first was this Samus Metroid 3D Artwork that u/Wizyakuza created, you can purchase it here. The next piece of art is this cute crocheted Celeste, from Animal Crossing, done by u/EntertainTheDog. Lastly u/Shinamus shared this Uncharted fan video by Allan Ungar, which stars Nathan Fillon! 

There was strong  musician vibes last month on Instagram. Firstly, is from SJ Tucker, showing off a birthday present made for her from her song "In The House of Mama Dragon". It's a great song about this woman Sooj knows, even if you're not Pagan, you'll love it, I'm Christian and I love it. Second one is from Patti Smith featuring this beautiful spiral stone.

Doctor Who started Black History Month on Twitter with a throwback to their episode "Rosa", it was a powerful episode, one of the best not only of Whitaker's but I dare say the whole series. @KP11Studios shared this nerdy meme that totally explain why I am the way I am, and since Supernatural is part of that, you shouldn't be surprised I liked Chester the 67 Impala.

The like I'm showcasing from Tumblr was posted by What Greater Gift Than The Love Of A Cat called Snow Lovers. Reminds me of that snow scene in Garfield's Christmas Special from the 80's.

The cat content continues with TikTok. I follow 3 Southern Cats and Momma, and her cat Willow is a huge Reba McEntire fan. In this video, Willow gets a surprise when a certain red head songstress comments on a post.

Things To Watch:

I love the YouTuber LaurenzSide. As all her fans know she is a fan of bread. She is, after all the bread queen. Well Lauren discovered canned bread recently. When I saw the title I thought of Squidward in that one Spongebob Squarepants episode. Even Lauren mentioned that episode. I actually remember after seeing that show wondering if that was a thing, well apparently it is. 

Things I Wanna Get:

So this past Christmas my Great Aunt, in her generous nature, put together a bunch of gifts for me. Well one of those gifts was a box filled with assorted bags of candy. One of those was a candy I'd never tried before Andes Cherry Jubilee. I figured it was going to be Cherry flavored chocolate, but it was all that and better. It tasted like those chocolate covered cherries my Dad used to get at Christmas, but easier to eat.  

Things I've Found:

1. Since I heard about Maya Angelou's Quarter I wanted to get it when it was released. Well while I was out with my Grandmother she got two of them in some change she got back. I'm so happy to have gotten one. 

2. While out the same day I was perusing the Easter section, which I guess is utilized for Ostra too. I saw a selection of different light up eggs. I guess night egg hunting is getting big. The ones that caught my eye were these unicorn eggs:

 

My Mom would love these, she loves unicorns. I think they're cute.

3. I came across this shirt abandoned in Wal-Mart:

I feel like this is a good reminder we all need to try to do if we can. I said try, even I'm not nice all the time. 

4. So I was Mod the Sims looking for some Sims Custom Content, and I came across this custom lot designed to look like a Monopoly board. That alone was funny, what is even funnier is the description of it. I downloaded it, don't know how I'll use it. 

5. I think the Captain is responsible for this next, she shared this on her Facebook wall.  It's an article form Media Chomp entitled "Apparently People Don't Know How to Boil Water". It's talking about a  comment thread that starts with a discovery about hot tea, that leads to a debate about how to heat water. Now all this is all funny enough, but the cherry on top of it is the last comment where someone turns the thread comments into a Shakespearean play... I encourage you to read this guys, it's great.  

Well that is February's Randoms completed. I hope Your week is well, try to be kind, and may my God bless you!

*Thrifty Geek*

The Legend of Voxmachina Part 2: The Review Part 1

 Bidet Critters,

 

Well today, as promised, I'm gonna bring you my review of The Legend of Vox Machina. As I mentioned in the last post I've been so excited since they announced they were making an animated series to campaign one of Critical Role. I found myself imagining if my favorite scenes would make the cut, what they might look like, and wondering what would be changed. So to fully give you my thoughts on the season we'll take this episode by episode. I'll give my thoughts and observations for each one, and then end with an overall review. Now originally there was just going to be two parts to these Legend of Vox Machina posts, but as I was writing this post, I realized it'd be a monster post doing all 12 episodes in one, so I'll do the first half of the episodes in this post then finish in a third part. Sound like plan? Okay let's get at it! 

Warning if you haven't seen it, there might be some spoilerish things here because I'm writing it as if you've seen the episodes, I'm going to try not to do any major spoilers though if I can help it. So if you don't want to know anything about it, may want to skip this post and the next.

The Terror of Tal'Dorei Part 1-

OK, so right off the bat I think you'll realize this is an animated series not suitable, for work, children, or the squeamish. Lot's of language, gore, and adult thingds.  Yeah so there's your warning. 

Can we just fan over the fact David Tennant, 10th Doctor and Good Omens' Crowley, is doing a voice for this show. When I first learned he was going to be in this, one I freaked, and two I'm like how'd they rope in this talent for their show, I didn't even know something like this be on his radar, until you remember him and Sam Riegal worked on the new Ducktales together, which is also an awesome show. 

The first scene with Vox Machina, which had been one of the sneak peeks we got of the show,  I think just sets the tone for this group, and campaign one in general. I love the exchange between Vax and his antagonist. Love that moment you make your big winded enemies mess up beautifully. The ensuing fight was so hilarious. Although I will admit the projectile puck to the mouth, made me cringe and wanna gag, I got a thing about puke a bit, but still a gross yet effective way to throw off your assailant even if it was accidental.

I love we have a part where Scanlan is peeing on a Matt Mercer looking character, voiced by Matt Mercer. I'm just wondering who came up with that bit the writers or the original cast? Is this commentary for those times the players in game has peed on Matt's plans for a campaign. DM's know what I'm talking about.

I love Scanlan's music, that was one aspect of this I was wondering how it'd be done. In the original web series Scanlan's songs were the best, but they usually were parodies of main stream songs, I was hoping they'd find someway to leave that element in, of course I knew they'd have to create it from scratch, and I have to say it doesn't disappoint.

Now, this first episode and it's second part are an adventure we never saw in in the original web series, this adventure took place in the home games, we only hear about it in the gang's remembrance when they have to revisit it later.

Then of course there's the end of the episode that pulls at your heart, that you hate to happen, but you know for story and character progression purposes has to happen to get this unlikely group to come together to whip evil's butt.

The Terror of Tal'Dorei Part 2-

In this episode we have Felicia Day voicing the Captain of the army, which not surprising given her involvement with the show, and sad to say not surprised the outcome for her character. I feel like I've seen so many of her characters end up like that. 

In this episode is where we seen the opening used for the first time, which was another sneak peek fans got before the show. Is this similar to the tune they eventually would use for their campaign one opening? I think it's beautifully animated. The animation on this whole project is amazing, and in some cases very grossly disturbing, but that's how you know it's well done when animation can leave you awed and grossed out.

I love Scanlan is is unfazed by royalty. He is himself no matter who is standing before. I respect that. I also love the little mini bear cuddles scene. Trinket who is vicious in battle being cuddle like a living teddy bear. I love it so much! Trinket should have all the cuddles.

This is the first episode we see the glorious Gilmore in all his glorious...ness? One of my favorite NPC characters from campaign one. When he is around his energy just makes you smile. The shop is more beautiful than I could ever imagine, and for those who are familiar with campaign two, did you see the book? I know! Awesome little nod to the Might Nein era!

Vox Machina versus the door scene, another sneak peek we got. I love how they took a joke from like midway in the campaign, and made it an official thing through out the animated series. For those who are new to this world who are wondering did Vox Machina really have this much trouble with doors in the web show, yeah at some point doors became the real enemy of this group.

These episodes have actually helped refresh my memory of elements of the series. It's been three years about since I've seen campaign one, and I've only had the pleasure of one watch through. So I love how my fuzzy memory has allowed some moments to be a mystery up to the "oh yeah that happened" moment. 

This dragon fight scene is amazing, and the blue dragon alone is a work of art. Dragons often can be some of the most beautifully done beings in a fantasy animation, and this one is amazing. I was just staring at it like what a animated master piece.

We have first look at the Briarwoods. I don't know why I get a kick out of the scene where Lady Briarwood is calmly sipping her tea in the foreground while her husband is in the background dealing with the ruffians. Yes, my humor can get pretty morbid at times.

The Feast of Realms-

I enjoy the little scene in the morning. The gentle chaos of it that really gives sense of the bonds these guys have: from their jokes, to not batting an eye when Keyleth's birds land on the table as she makes her perky entrance, even their bickering shows their a tight knit group who's become accustomed to each other's eccentricities.

The gang's entrance at the ball is great. A rag tag team trying to be "dignified", and you can tell Percy is the only one who truly in his element. Scanlan's codpiece totally puts me in the mind of the voice actor's costumes from the live shows. Yes he lit in up on occasion.

I'm happy that Jenga's still the safe word of the group for when their in trouble. I'm so glad that made it to the animation from the web series. I also smiled when I saw Vax's snake belt, I forgot about the little guy. I'm not even a fan of snakes and I find this little guy cute.

I feel so bad for Percy in this episode, first nightmares, then seeing the people responsible for them. Talk about dinner nightmares, it's always so awkward when they set you across from you family's murderers. Even worse when they have tainted your family legacy. The Briarwoods are amazing villains though are they not? Dark, calculating, and deadly, but refined. Silas is the ever classic, sophisticated vampire complete with a blood thirsty blade that's black as his soul.

I find it interesting the juxtaposition of the dark, bloody battle taking place outside to the ridiculous, funny performance of Scanlan's going on the inside. We finally see an even darker side to Percy, and his plague doctor chic. Those new to the realm can see why he earned the fan title of "No Mercy Percy".

Shadows a the Gates-

In this episode we find the party under house arrest in their keep, as result of their actions in the last episode. Confining this lot to one space... yeah what can possibly go wrong there? Nothing much just some middle finger battling between Vax and Scanlan, a brilliant, but batched escape attempt led by Percy, and oh yeah an army of undead trying to murder them for an old creepy tome... Any one else have a scene from the 90's The Mummy pop in your head.

We have Jarret in the series for the first time, who is elevated to the role of a Captain. In the web series is one of their keeps' guards Vox Machina hired. Either way he guarding this lot, so his character's essence is still similar .

I think Grog eating the ashes of Pike's ancestors in his search for food is one of my favorite bits of new humors material that has been brought to this version of the story. I enjoyed the exchange between Pike and Grog, really one of the sweet moments in this series that showcases how close they are as friends and also shows Grog displaying a rare moment of profoundness. 

Anyone else in the scene with the napping guard get some Ghostbusters Dana be taken by Zuul vibes with that? Am I the only one? Plus I'm also getting like some like The Exorcist or other movies involving possession notes during the battle. *shivers*

Ok, the undead in this is creepy as all get out. I mean they look terrifying and plus seeing what they can do to a body. I'd go as far to say if your easy to scare and/or have an overactive imagination, don't watch this episode at night by yourself. If you do I recommend watching something lighthearted and fuzzy afterwards to nullify it before you go to bed.

The end of the episode of course has the group splitting with a couple members of the party. Pike I was expecting due to the fact for a portion of this game play Ashley Johnson was very scarce due to her job on a show, which of course took precedence, so they had to creatively come up with a reason for Pike's absence in the original game play. Then there's Trinket, while I love the bear with all my heart, I know why they left Trinket behind, because I remember in the game the mobility of Trinket was such a difficult thing for the party, and since we've yet to reach that point in the story where they find something to aid that, I guess everyone decided for story flow sake and party traveling ease to leave him safely behind. I'm not sure if that was what they originally did during this journey in the web series.

Fate's Journey-

Here we have the gang at Gilmore's shop really taking the just really taking the concept of showing up at your besties' place and just cleaning them out of stuff to a new level. What is more sad Gilmore doesn't even look surprised to find them doing so and despite trying to steal from him he just let's then saty and carry on like normal.

Grog missing Pike is so sad, yet cute. You just wanna give him a big hug.  As for the big scary dog like creatures. If it wasn't for the fact their creepy beyond reason and full of dark magic I'd say there's you some guard dogs. Then there's poor Scanlan giving a new meaning to getting tongued; which anyone else surprised in the scene with them revisiting their strangest kills that Scanlan's involved a romantic encounter? Me neither.

The bit at the end with the warning at the sun tree for Vox Machina. I forgot that happened and uh hit me harder I think than in the web series. It's always really hard too after they show the people living their lives or having happy moment, then you see horrible things befall them. It rips at your heart even more.Then if that wasn't bad enough the credits have this sad music with the sound of the weighted rope swaying in the breeze, which just makes it all eerie. 

Spark of Rebellion-

This episode finds Dominic Monaghan voicing the rebellion leader Archibald. I have a friend who loves the actor who might decide to watch the series for that alone. That was also one of the surprising voices I found being part of the cast. I also was delighted to find Gina Torres (Zoey from Firefly/Serenity) playing Keeper Yennen, an excellent choice for that.

I like in this series we get more glimpses of what Pike was doing in her time apart from the group. In the original we'd only see her on and not see really a lot what she'd been going through on her end.

I found the group's ridiculous plan's of rescue complete with cute, crude doodles a nice light moment in all the darkness. I really love Scanlan the Revolutionary, with his beret. That drawing is just cute and funny, it just makes me smile.

Percy with Bad News on the roof with that coat billowing in the breeze... I don't what it is just loving Percy in this series. He was my second favorite character in the web series. Vax being first and being tied with Vex, but in this season of this show, Percy is shining for me. Now in later seasons, which really hoping for more seasons, that may change, but for now, loving the stoic, brilliant aesthetic Percy is projecting, you know when not being overtaken by darker entities.  

I don't know what it is, but I especially in a fantasy world, love story lines where we see these hidden factions of rebellion in a secret hide outs plotting the down fall of evil overlords, then little by little start bringing them down.

Whew, that's a lot. I basically just relived college. As film student we watched movies where our teachers would pause it every few minutes to point out something or another. Well since I was writing each little write up while watching each episode, I had to stop the video a few times to be able to get all my words out so I could focus. Doing six episodes in such a fashion, yeah takes a lot out of you, because I've been working on this for a couple or so days feels like. So I'll end it here and get back with  part three hopefully sometime this week. Gonna take a day or maybe two to recharge and not work on a blog post and just rest. So I'll see you all in the next one.

*Thrifty Geek*

The Legend of Vox Machina Part 1: Origins

Bidet Critters,

So for the last month my fellow critters and myself have been watching The Legend of Vox Machina, the cartoon adaption of Critical Role's first Campaign. The last episodes of the season just dropped this past Friday, so I decided to do this write up about it. I was going to do it after the first episodes came out, but I struggled once more to sit and be motivated to write. But better late than never. So since there's so much to discuss I decided to break it into two parts. This part will be introductions and my personal story, and part two that will be my review of the show itself.

Vox Machina POPs have gathered to aid me in this writing...**

Introductions

Now there are those of you who I'm sure are sitting there going Vox Machina? Critical Role? What is this madness? Let me explain, and it's best to start at the beginning.

A decade or so ago, some voice actors decided to get together regularly and play Dungeons and Dragons. They'd been playing for a while when Felicia Day (cue the geeky heavenly choir) told them they should do a show of them playing their game. Well in 2015, on the Geek and Sundry channel, I think on both the Twitch and then YouTube, the show Critical Role premiered, and they just kept going. The first campaign of the show follows the adventures of Vox Machina, a group of friends and heroes of different races and classes kicking butt and taking names in the world of Exandria, often in unorthodox and hilarious ways. Plus, did I mention there was a cute bear?

Our Characters:

Dungeon Master- Our game is led by the talented Matthew Mercer. With his story teller's flair and voice acting Mercer creates this amazing world for our cast to traverse, and fills it with equally memorable and lovable NPC's that are as recognizable to fans as the main characters themselves.

Vax- The half-elf rogue, voiced by Liam O'Brien, who's masterful hands can make quick work of a locked chest, and your coin purse. He's stealthy, charming, but be wary lest he "Dagger, Dagger" you. He also has a caring heart if all the rest wasn't awesome enough for you. 

Vex- Vax's twin sister and a ranger/rogue, voiced by Laura Bailey. Don't worry if you mix up the names for a bit, we all probably did that our first time here. She's protective, good with a bow, and armed with a sassy wink. She's the treasurer of the group who loves her coin, and knows how to haggle. 

Grog- He's a goliath barbarian/fighter with a giant love of ale, who's voiced by Travis Willingham. His not the brightest of the team, but he is the strongest. May his rage never fall upon you. He takes great joy in bashing in heads. He's also proud of his impossible beard, long story.

Percy- The human gunslinger, voiced by Taliesin Jaffee. Hailing from Whitestone, something he takes pride in. He's a bright man who designed and built he's own gun, well with a little questionable inspiration. He seeks to reclaim he's family home from those who took it and his family.

Keyleth- a half-elf druid of the Air Ashari tribe, voiced by Marisha Ray. She's going through her Aramenté, a rite of passage that she has to complete to become leader of her people. Gifted at her nature based magic she is often found changing into amazing beast, or chatting up chill sun trees.  She's also on a mission to locate her mother, who went missing during her Aramenté.

Pike- She's a deep gnome who's a cleric, voiced by Ashley Johnson. Her goddess is Seranrae, and she knows her way around magic weapon. Friend of Grog and object of affection for Scanlan; I feel like Pike is the sweet heart of the group.

Scanlan- He's a sassy bard gnome, voiced by Sam Riegel. He is a killer performer, with plenty of inspiration to give to his friends. He loves the ladies, especially his fellow gnome Pike. He also has a bad habit of defecating on things.

Tiberius- A sorcerer dragonborn, voiced by Orion Acaba. He was only in 25 episodes, plus he is seen by Vox Machina in one other episode apart from these. I don't have a lot to say on him cause my memory is fuzzy, it's been almost three years since I did my first Campaign One watch and four years since I saw any with Tiberius, and last few years has been in a pandemic fog. So I promise it's not cause I didn't like the character it's cause I have a crappy memory. Blame the Mental Health Hydra B----!

Trinket- Vex's bear companion, voiced by Mercer. Discovered by Vex as a cub, the two are great companions. He fights by her side as well as gives her massages apparently.

The Show:

The show picks up where the home games left off, with Vox Machina already established in the world with a few adventures under their belts. We come in as their setting out on a new mission for Lady Allura to find a missing friend at the Kraghammer mines. The adventures only grew going across the world of Exandria:  land, air and sea, even under them.

Needless to say, the show proved to be a rousing success. It was so popular that they would host live shows that would be taped at conventions with a full house audience. It spawned fan made content, comic lines, and books. The first campaign ran from 2015 to 2017, with one shots that continued the adventures of this particular group after the dust of the campaign has supposedly settled. It soon grew to be so popular that Critical Role spawned it's own channel. Now the show is in it's third campaign. The following two campaigns also take place in Exandria,but across different continents and two new sets of main characters, though things from Campaign one have found their way into other campaigns. 

Now the latest milestone of the story of Vox Machina is The Legend of Vox Machina, the animated series that will make the campaign one story more, dare I say it, animated.

My Personal Story

I am subscribed to Geek and Sundry. So I'd been seeing this Critical Role show for a while, but it didn't peak my interest until I learned Travis Willingham was in it. I have been a Travis fan since college or there abouts, and I learned his wife Laura Bailey was in it who I was familiar with as well. The only problem was I saw the episode count which was pretty high at the time and each one being about 3 hours or so, and I already had a lot of YouTube I was watching at the time, so it seemed a bit much to tackle then (a common feeling for first timers). I did try one of their one shots to get an idea what it was like. 

Well in late 2017 or early 2018 there was a huge lull in my subscribed videos section on Youtube, I think some YouTubers were on breaks or just not putting out things I was enjoying, so I had a huge chuck of time to fill in my evenings, so I gave it a shot. I. LOVED. IT! It was spell-bounding and funny.  I loved these amazing characters that were funny, epic, and sometimes ridiculous. I watched regularly up until Spring of 2018 then I had my first manic high, and I couldn't sit still for nothing let alone these three hoursish videos. So my watching slowed down. Then that Fall I began to have my first manic low, by December I was in tears everyday. It was a horrible time period for me. Luckily I had this show to provide me with a way to get out of my head, and it gave me the biggest laughs during that rough period. So I thank you guys for that. You gave me respite when I really needed it.

When I heard a animated version was coming out I was excited. I couldn't wait to see things we heard and imagined in these sessions all these years getting brought to life. I was counting it down with them, and getting more hyped as I heard more and more about it. Glad to say it didn't disappoint, but I'll cover that more in part two of this post.

I hope you enjoyed this introductory look at the world of Vox Machina, hope to see you here for the next one. Have a a good day, be weird, and God bless!

*Thrifty Geek*

** Yes I know this isn't all of them. Fangirl, who has gifted me all these guys, is working on getting the twins and Trinket. But I mean in this picture these Funkos seem to be having fun in their own way at my desk as I write. Keyleth is looking like "You got this friend"! Pike is praying for my success. Scanlan looking the way he does is like he's pointing at me saying "YOU. WRITE. NOW"! I'm seriously thing about making him a permanent writing companion. Maybe he'll give me inspiration. Percy looks like he's so fascinated by what I'm doing at the keyboard. Then you got Grog who's like ready to kick my writing demons butts.

Monthly Randoms: Where I'm back From Oblivion and Playing Catch Up

 Hello Friends, 

I know what you're thinking: Where has she been? Or probably not. Probably didn't notice. It's okay I get overlooked frequently. Well according to this it's been right at six months since I posted, my bad. So I decided to start off with a Monthly Randoms that'll cover things for the last six months. So sit back, this one might take a minute...

Why Radio Silence?

So where I have I been? For those who have been here a bit once more the Mental Health Hydra B---- has been making a mess of things. Yes she's earned her B. Why have I decided to make her a female, cause she's frequently PMSing and she's been mucking things up the last few months. So one thing that has been getting worse thanks to her is my ability to focus and sit still. I've been wanting to make posts on things for the last few months, but motivating myself to write a blog post and focus long enough to do it... yeah... Not easy.  See I have anxiety which can cause being unfocused and fidgety, or on the rare occasion it's my Bipolar 2. Well it has been getting so bad lately that my therapist wondered if I had ADD/ADHD. So she gave me the assessment quiz for ADHD and from that she's like well it's looking like it's just this part of anxiety getting worse. Well a couple sessions later I was bemoaning my seemingly worsening state of focus and staying put and she's like "Oh is it you ADD?" and I'm like "You said I didn't have it." to which she replied "That's the problem with these things it's hard to tell." Though in out recent sessions she's pretty sure I do, but she wanted to get my Medication Psychologist to take a look and see if it was. I've had two sessions with him and we haven't breached that yet, I actually don't even wanna mention those sessions, I don't even discuss my Medication Psychologist drama for the last two to three years, it's that frustrating. 

In the summer things I felt were good mental health wise, then September came and with the dip of temps my mood. Christmas day wasn't actually bad this year, leading up to it little rough I mean there was the usual holiday stress induced breakdown, a few holiday related anxiety stuff that's bothered me the last few years that my therapist and the Captain finally helped me overcome, plus my TV blew leaving me with no TV now, and the sudden urge to redo my room a week or so before Christmas, which I still haven't finished, boxes are still everywhere in here. Then there was the fact my lack of motivation left me not making a gift for Jesus's birthday as I usually do every year and not wrapping Pop and mine's gifts till early Christmas morning, plus my sleep suffered all the week of Christmas but other than that I actually enjoyed Christmas. The day after my sister and her partner came up and spent the day with us and exchanged gifts, first time in two years we got to have a holiday visit. After that Sunday I assumed like usual after Christmas that week leading up to New Year's Eve would be one full of rest and settling back into normalcy... heh. Sleep apparently got peeved at me and decided to leave me. I started sleeping three hours then I'd wake up and couldn't go back to sleep so get up crash a few hours for another three hour sleep and that's the way it was all through January. The was two days where I'd get six hours in one go and one night of broken sleep, but not enough to make me feel better. My mental health was taking hit from this, plus add in this bitter cold we've been having... the Intrusive Thoughts have been partying. Well last couple days of January I've managed to get some decent sleep finally. Day before yesterday I actually woke up refreshed thought I was gonna get some writing done on my book, which I don't think I've worked on the actual book since Summer, but my anxiety bothered me a bit, and then I crashed for a couple hours, woke up and still bothered me and then I crashed till 1 am yesterday morning, then fell back asleep around noon or 1 pm till 4 pmish. So good I can sleep, but I'm hoping I'm not shifting from the unable to sleep portion of anxiety to the doing nothing but portion of it. 

So yeah that's my issues and how it's fracked in a nutshell. How about we move onto some more fun topics. That good with you guys? Good!

Pumpkin Festival 2021

After a year off due to Covid she was back bigger and better than ever... Quite literally she had the largest population attendance she's ever had, which we, Fangirl and I, as seasoned attendees felt as we safely tried to enjoy ourselves. We didn't get big with our costumes. Like we usually put a year long thought into our costumes, but last year we didn't learn till like halfway through the year I think that the festival was still on, plus Fangirl had medical issues that we didn't know what would come of that. So we decided to just have a chill year at the festival. I rewore my 2019 11th Doctor costume:

 Well Fangirl wore her medieval outfit she wears for her demonstration group at Ren Faires:

We saw a few cool characters around the festival like Angel Ponies and Batman and his Batmobile:

 

 

Fangirl and I usually compete in the costume contest, but do to our lax approach to costumes and the fact Fangirl is unable to stand in the long lines, which was difficult before her even before getting hit with her current medical issue, we just sat and watched from the porch of the Crabtree General Store while playing Pokemon Go. 

Seeing Econut 

 

After the festival we went to see Econut at her job as we always do. Hugging her up was a moment, that's all I can say. It'd been two years almost since I'd last seen my sister in person, it made me so happy to finally give her something as simple as a hug. Didn't want the visit to end even when her quitting time came, so her partner and her invited us back to their place for pizza. I was excited to learn they'd begun watching Supernatural, they'd made it to season four. We talked that a bit, caught up, and exchanged two year worth of gifts. It was a great end to a good day.

Of course it made it even better when the next day her partner texted me saying they had met Chuck and if we could trust him... Well of course I had to lie not spoiling that for them. I still hate myself for ruining Harry Potter for my sibling, not doing that again. They finished the series a few weeks ago. It's been fun seeing where they get to, slowly making fandom posts on Facebook, and both of them texting me lines and parts their at, and the inevitable disgruntlement over the series finale. I'm so proud.

 

Now to our usual sections in these posts. Sadly very poor job of saving things to post here for the last few months, so I'll share what little I have.

 

Favs On My Socials

 

Ok let's share the few things I've faved or the like on my socials:

 

1. I loved this pin on Pinterest involving a Black Panther actress and how it's not too late to go for your dreams. Is this actually true she'd started acting at 88?  

2. I love this Instagram post from The Good Advice Cupcake. It's a great reminder we're all beautiful. I love this Cupcake, she's making me smile. I first discovered through Perpetual Kid, and I'd like that product.

What Am I Jamming To?

At one point I was jamming to Five Days North's- Heaven Hold Us I first heard the song on Becca and The Books blog post. An awesome booktuber you should check her out.

 

Domino bu Jessie J which I found looking for the cover the group Venice did of it that I found watching this Supernatural video. Before you click be warned it is Cockles themed, so if no like no watch, but if you like that be it as a friendship or you ship it, then enjoy.

 

Also jamming to songs from Taylor's version of Red and Fearless. 

Things I Want

I want this beautiful set of Maya Angelou's entire works from Juniper Books. I love they come together to form the picture on the spines. I'd get the blue and red set. I'd really like her complete works, cause I only have her cook book and this collection of four of her poems in a book called Phenomenal Woman, and she was, I gotta say it, a phenomenal woman. I also want quarter which was release last month! I'll have to keep my eyes peeled!

 

Halloween last year Michael's had a nice Moon Phases piece that I would have totally hung on my wall, that's right I'm one of those people who utilize Halloween and Christmas decor year round. It's sadly no longer on the website, but you can view it in this Old Fashion Halloween post. Maybe I'll encounter it on a thrift store run.

 

 Ok, finally done! Ya'll I'm telling you my focus is shot. I use to be able to write post with in a couple hours this took me 24 hours or more. I hope we can do something, cause I feel like I use to be a multitasking master, now nope... Well happy 2/2/22 hope twoday is good, see what I did there, it's also middle of the week so there's a plus. I'll be back soon. I have a couple posts planned for the next few days. So here's hoping I will be starting to post regularly again. Good day, much love, and God bless.

*Thrifty Geek* and Vampire >vv< Kitty