Turn Left Moments

Recently I went to Toronto ComiCon, in my blog post about it I wrote that in “some ways this feels like a ‘Turn Left’ moment for me”. In this post I want to explore further what I meant by that.

In 2008 there was a Doctor Who episode called Turn Left. The episode explored what would have happened if Donna Nobel had turned right instead of left and never met the Doctor, the answer was that things would have worked out a lot worse for everyone. In my opinion it is a seriously underrated episode, very powerful and very emotional.

The basic concept of the episode is essentially that a single moment can change things for a person, that concept has resonated with me for years. Maybe not everyone would agree but I think that there are moments in our lives that change things for us. I sort of think of these as Turn Left moments.

So what are some of these moments for me? Well…

2005 – Watching Rose

·         On Saturday 26th March the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who aired, I watched it, and 13 years later I am still a Whovian. I honestly cannot stress enough what an enormous impact Doctor Who has had on me. Genuinely it has changed my life.

2012 – Starting to Write Fan Fiction

·         I suspect most people might be a little bit embarrassed to admit that they used to write Fan Fiction, I’m not. Writing Fan Fic was the first time I ever really wrote something for myself, and the first time I wrote for fun. Essentially because I was a Fan Fic writer I discovered that not only do I enjoy writing but I’m also pretty good at it. I wouldn’t have chosen the degree I am doing if I hadn’t found that love of writing through my Fan Fic experience.

2012 – Going to Disneyland Paris for the First Time

·         I think a lot of people assume that I have been a massive Disney fan for years and I grew up with the movies I love today. That’s not actually the case. It was a trip to Disneyland Paris in 2012 that really awoke my love of Disney. It is because of that trip that I am Disnerd. This trip also influenced me in another way in that it was responsible for me beginning to get into keeping a scrapbook.

2013 – Grant Gustin is the Flash

·         I bet a lot of people assume I have been a superhero fan for years and years but actually, as with Disney, it is a lot more recently than you’d probably expect. Really it all begun with Grant Gustin being cast as Barry Allen in The Flash. I was already a big fan of Grant from his role on Glee and so when he was cast as the Flash I knew I had to watch the series to see more of him. But getting into the series had another consequence, I got seriously into superheroes!

2016 – I Bought a Tiana Doll

·        Just one doll isn’t going to make that big a difference is it? I was so wrong! One Saturday in February 2016 I bought a Tiana doll, as you probably know Tiana is my favourite Disney Princess. A few months later I decided maybe I should buy dolls of the other Disney Princesses that I really love, but only a few of them. From there it just grew and grew. My love of dolls also developed into making clothes for them and rooms for them to be displayed in. As of March 2018 I currently own 38 dolls!

2018 – Toronto ComiCon?

·         Maybe it’s too early to say right now, but Toronto ComiCon sort of feels like it’s the next of these Turn Left moments in my life. I had such a good time and now I really want to go to more conventions. I also want to get more into cosplaying because it was a lot of fun.

Justice League Review

Justice League is a good comic book movie. This is a movie that is aimed at DC and comic book fans. Don’t go into it expecting a cinematic masterpiece, go in expecting an enjoyable superhero movie.

I am going to try not to give away any spoilers in my review however if you want to watch the movie completely unaware then don’t read any further.

At times the plot is either a bit incoherent or very predictable however this is a movie that is more driven by character and action scenes so I feel I can overlook that a little. Justice League is a relatively standard end of the world apocalypse that the heroes must come together to fight and save the world. The main villain was weak but I don’t mind too much as really this movie is about the heroes coming together and forming the Justice League.

For me Wonder Woman stole the show. This is probably not a surprise if you saw Wonder Woman. DC continue to get Diana’s character spot on and combine the badass warrior with her compassionate nature. Gal Gadot delivers another good performance. It was also nice to see more of her being Diana Prince this time round. (Though she still needs to get the Invisible Jet!)

Finally, once again we have an optimistic Superman! If you know Superman from any other media then this is that version of Superman. The positive hero who stands for hope and justice. He’s likeable, he’s funny and he’s a badass! There’s also a moment during a fight scene where he goes off to save the civilians which is just such a Superman thing to do.

I liked Batman in this movie. This is a Batman with tons of gadgets! He feels very much like the character we know from the comics, but he’s not unrelentingly grim. We get moments where he actually gets some good one-liners!

If you know me you know that I am a massive Flash fan, therefore it probably isn’t a surprise that I have very strong feelings about the Flash. I was against the take on him that the DC Cinematic Universe has been doing from the initially casting but I really wanted to be proved wrong. I wasn’t proved wrong. The Flash was good, he is quite likeable and has some decent one-liners but he is not Barry Allen. For me this version of the Flash feels like a weird hybrid of Wally West and Spider-Man which just doesn’t work. As a Flash fan this is annoying because Justice League is likely the first time that a general audience will be seeing the Flash and they’re going to be seeing a character who just is not Barry Allen’s Flash. Grant Gustin is still the best live action Flash.

I must admit that I really don’t know much about Aquaman so I’m not sure how much I can judge him. However I sort of felt like they were trying too hard to make him cool. But there’s moments which seem promising for setting up his solo movie. (Also he swims wearing jeans. Who thought that was a good idea? As anyone who has ever worn jeans in the rain can tell you, denim and water are not a good combination!)

I like the take they’ve gone for with Cyborg. He’s right at the start of his journey and he’s not yet the more fun hero he will later become, it’s an interesting set up that is clearly intended to be followed on from in later movies. Also, he gets to say his catchphrase Booyah!

There’s a lot of moments and lines in Justice League that are there to be fan pleasing. These sort of moments don’t take away from the main plot but they’re there to be spotted by the geeks and things like that make me smile. There’s also several appearances from the main hero’s supporting casts of characters. We see Lois Lane, Jim Gordon, Mera and Henry Allen, maybe these appearances weren’t entirely needed but they were definitely something that helped to round out the heroes and give another fan pleasing moment.

I saw Justice League in 3D because the 3D showing worked best for my schedule but honestly I would say that it was actually worth seeing in 3D. Wonder Woman’s action scenes are definitely worth seeing in 3D!

Stylistically I would say Justice League felt more like watching a comic book than any other superhero movie I have seen. For example there’s a scene near the beginning set in Gotham that honestly felt like it had been lifted straight from a comic.

A few things I would like to have seen are…

·         Hal Jordan (Green Lantern), even if it was just a brief appearance I really feel like Hal should have been there somewhere.

·         The Invisible Jet, I’m not going to stop talking about this until Wonder Woman gets her Invisible Jet.

·         I would have liked Jim Gordon to have referenced his daughter Barbara. I know that’s a very specifically geeky one but given a Batgirl movie is in production it would have been nice to get a little reference to Barbara Gordon.

But overall I enjoyed Justice League. It is a good, but not exceptional, comic book movie. Certainly I think DC fans are going to like it. Personally I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in the DC Cinematic Universe. 

“You do know I’m gay?”

One of the strangest things I’ve found about being a gay student is the question of when should I come out to a new group of people. I have no problems anymore being open and honest about my sexuality, it’s just a bit weird to figure out when is the right moment to tell people.

In first year I remember that for the first few days I was panicking a little about how was the right way to come out to my flatmates. In the end I decided that the best option was to just leave a note on the fridge announcing that “Oh and by the way I’m gay.” I think that is probably still my favourite way that I have ever come out so far!

In classes I will often end up coming out if the module has an LGBT week, looks at themes of representation or talks about prejudice. Usually I end up sharing part of my own story and then in the process of sharing inadvertently end up coming out to the group.

Some people guess before I say anything that I might be gay, usually they won’t say anything about it until I actually say that I am gay. I wouldn’t say it’s the most obvious thing to guess about me but I think there probably are signs and things which indicate that I’m gay. Plus if someone has heard me speaking about Grant Gustin then it’s probably pretty obvious that I have an enormous crush on him!

One of the most recent occasions when I’ve come out was just saying “You do know I’m gay?” the other week whilst having a wide ranging conversation with a group of friends from my floor. It doesn’t always come up casually in conversation but when it does I often find it kinda funny.

Overall I don’t really mind having to come out. Being gay is just as much a part of me as having brown hair. I just find it interesting the way that coming out changes for me each time based on who I’m talking to and what the situation is.

Bargirl’s Batcave – A Doll Room Craft

I’ve made another doll room, this time its Batgirl’s Batcave made for my DC Superhero Girls Batgirl doll. As always with my doll rooms, I was part inspired by My Froggy Stuff on YouTube.

Sometimes a project will just no longer work quite as well as it used to. This was the case with the Superhero Hang Out doll room as since I made that my collection has expanded massively. However rather than just throwing it away I decided to repurpose it into a Batcave for Batgirl. I cut the Avenger’s half of the original room off. I then covered the rough edges with a navy paper to neaten them. I also changed the floor with a dark wood grain paper.

In cutting down the Superhero Hang Out the room had lost some of its size. I took a cereal box and cut one side and one larger piece off it so that I could attach it to the original box and expand that amount of space in the Batcave.

The Batcave is always hidden in plain sight and this was something I wanted to reference in my doll room. I covered the side of the box that would be on the front of the outside with some of the box art from one of my DC Superhero Girl’s dolls. I then added a strip of paper across it and some red paper around it to create a backdrop that should resemble a room with a large window.

Batgirl has always been a techie and so I knew that I needed to make sure she had several computer monitors in her Batcave. I made a printable of various computer screen using images of some of my favourite superheroes – yes, there’s Grant Gustin as the Flash! I glued these screens onto card and cut them out so that they had some depth. I stuck the six screens that I chose to use onto a piece of black card.

With the screens mounted I then decorated the wall that would be on the inside of the Batcave. I used a brown paper for the top section, I covered the bottom section with the same navy paper that I’d edged the other half of the Batcave with to visually link to the two parts together. I then stuck the mounted screens onto the wall. With the inside wall completed finally I could attach the two sides of the Batcave together.

The desk was important to make properly as it is main piece of furniture within this room. I started with a tea box that I marked up with measurements based on the Batgirl doll. I then cut the box based on my markings and reinforced the sides with left over of card. I also hot glued some ice lolly sticks to further strengthen the sides of the desk. Next I covered up all the joins with paper – this helps to neaten the overall appearance but also gives the desk a bit more strength. I kept the legs of the desk white and then used the navy paper that I’d used elsewhere with a yellow trim to cover the top part. I finished off the desk with a piece of card covered in wood grain paper to create a dark wood top to the table.

Before I could finish making and begin begin decorating the Batcave there was one last detail I wanted to add. I hot glued the ring from a bottle into one corner of the box and then pulled a length of black tulle through it. This creates a curtain that adds a little more depth to the Batcave and also gives a touch of black without making the whole appearance of the room too dark.

Now I could move things into the room. The desk fits in well, I used a chair that’s actually a phone holder I found on Amazon to go with the desk and I made a cushion for the chair. I placed some techie items which are actually printables from My Froggy Stuff on the desk along with a few doll accessories.

And that is how I made a Batcave for the DC Superhero Girls Batgirl doll. This was a surprisingly labour intensive project but I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Another Semester Is Over!

Well another semester has come to an end today. It really doesn’t feel like it should be time for me to be typing this already, it feels like it was just the other week that I was writing about coming back after Christmas!

Spring is always seen as the season of change and this spring semester is no exception. Thinking back to where I was when I started this semester back in January and where I am now at the end of it in March a lot has changed. I feel like I’m constantly reflecting on how much I’ve changed but it’s true. University is often seen as a massive period of personal change and growth, I think this is one of those clichés which is actually true.

I think in many ways this has probably been my most academically challenging semester yet. Obviously education always steps up a level but there has been some times this semester that I’ve felt really down, both mentally and physically when I got a quite nasty stomach bug. However I am someone who does try not to dwell on the negative aspects of life and instead search for the positive stuff. And I try to get through most things by drinking copious amounts of coffee!

These past few days have been really good and I’ve been feeling pretty upbeat and positive lately. Of course I’m happy at the moment, I’m going to Disneyland Paris very soon! But I also had my birthday recently, which was great. I saw Mamma Mia which I loved! And there’s been all the good stuff that I shared in my post on how March is speeding by. The other day I also made a little Lego DC Superheroes stop-motion animation (which you can watch on YouTube here) and that’s something which I’ve wanted to do for a while so I’m glad I’ve finally done it. On a slightly random tangent I also want to share that I’ve been listening to Super Friend from the recent Flash/Supergirl musical crossover episode which is a really fun song that’s had me smiling a lot.

It’s certainly strange to think that the end to my second year at university is now on the not too distant horizon. I’m trying not to stress about what the future holds for me, however there is a certain sense of apprehension when I think about what my story holds. But on a personal level 2017 has been off to a great start and I’m sure it’s going to keep being a good year for me.

My Haul – DC Superhero Girls, Disney and More

It’s time for my fourth Haul post this time featuring DC Superhero Girls, Disney and more.

I found Jasmine’s Disney Infinity figure in TK Maxx for just £3.99. I never played the Disney Infinity game but I collect the figures (Jasmine is my 12^th one). I usually find them on offer and they’re just really nice figures of the Disney characters.

Another Barbie accessory pack, I first figured out that these work well with Disney dolls in one of my previous hauls. Since then I’ve been keeping an eye out for other packs that might work well with my dolls. This baking set is going to be perfect for my Tiana doll, especially as I plan on (eventually getting around to) making a bakery for Tiana.

In my blog post about Doll Collecting I mentioned that there was at least three more dolls I wanted to get, one of those dolls was the Supergirl doll from DC Superhero Girls. I wanted to get Supergirl more or less straight after I started to watch the TV series but I struggled to figure out which version of her doll I wanted, then today I found this version for ½ price in Sainsbury’s! Also as I bought a 12” Flash action figure a few weeks back I had to have her recreating the crossover episode with him.

Supergirl wasn’t the only superhero bargain that I found in Sainsbury’s today. I found this Marvel pencil case in the clearance section. Appropriately enough I’ve recently been thinking about getting a pencil case to keep all my colouring pencils in.

I mentioned back in my first haul post that I love Comic Relief red noses and I’ve been collecting them for over a decade. After several duplicates I decided today to get one last red nose and this time I got a different one!

My Haul – A Super Haul

I hope you didn’t mind last week’s haul post because I’ve decided to write another one. So what have I bought this week that makes it ‘A Super Haul’? Well keep reading…

First up, Tiger have done it again with the slightly weird miniature item that looks good displayed with dolls. I saw this mini notebook today and realised that it would make a perfect doll sized coffee table book.

I love Snoopy and Peanuts. I have done for years. I couldn’t resist this plushie of Flying Ace Snoopy. Especially with 20% Off.

I’ve completed one of my collections (for now!) this week. I’ve been collecting the DC Superhero Girls action figures and Bumblebee was the last one that I wanted to get from wave 1. But she has also become one of the hardest ones to find. That is until I bought her today for only £6!

Admittedly the TV Guide is not the most exciting thing to buy. But it has Grant Gustin as the Flash on the cover which I find very exciting (I think I’ve mentioned before on here that I really like Grant Gustin) so I was pleased to see him on the TV Guide and had to buy it. I think this is the first time he’s been on the cover of a UK TV Guide.

As with last week I bought two more Red Noses this week. I now have 5 out of the 10 released this year, I think the Chef is my favourite one so far.

The final item from this Saturday’s haul is one that I’ve been trying to find for a while now. I got a 12” Action Figure of the Flash! To my knowledge a version of the Flash in this scale has not been released in the UK for several years and I’ve been trying unsuccessful to find one. Then when I went grocery shopping this morning I found him!

My Thoughts on The Return Of Doctor Mysterio

Wait… is Doctor Who good again? 

Well I certainly think it seems to be heading back in the right direction based on the 2016 Christmas Special, The Return of Doctor Mysterio. This episode was a fun romp with moments of creepiness and emotional drama that would not have felt out of place in the David Tennant era of the show. I could write a lot about where Doctor Who has gone wrong recently, what I’d like to see happen and why I even liked it in the first place but for the purpose of this blog post I’m not going to dwell on that.

When I first heard that Doctor Who was doing superheroes I was very worried that it would come across as bitter. After all, in recent years Marvel and DC have just become bigger and bigger as Doctor Who has struggled to retain its fan base. But The Return of Doctor Mysterio wasn’t bitter, it knew the tropes of the genre and it had fun with them but not in a way that seemed resentful or insulting to superhero fans. Also does anyone else think it was intentional that The Ghost’s alter ego was called Grant given the Flash is played by Grant Gustin and both The Flash and The Ghost have super speed and have a quiff?

The monsters – Harmony Shoal - might not be new classics but they served the story well. This whole story had the feel of trying to evoke the spirit of noughties Doctor Who and let’s be honest the Harmony Shoal were very reminiscent of the Slitheen. But is it a bad thing to have a monster that’s like a monster from a fan favourite era of the show when you’re trying to relaunch?

To me it’s often felt like Peter Capaldi has never been allowed to reach his full potential as the Doctor. Sure he’s got to do dramatic stuff but a lot of the scripts have required him to be overly grumpy in a not very Doctorish way. In The Return of Doctor Mysterio he was allowed a sense of humour, there were moments that genuinely made me and my family laugh whilst we were watching. Capaldi always comes across in interviews as an incredibly warm hearted and kind person and that’s a very Doctorish trait but one he’s never really been allowed to express too much in the role. However I felt like The Return of Doctor Mysterio finally allowed us to see that, it remained us that yes the Doctor does love humans and that’s why he saves the Earth so many times.

So is Doctor Who good again? I think that yes it possibly is. I think it feels like the show is returning tonally to the run of mostly amazing episodes from 2005 – 2013. I am tentatively excited and if the trailer at the end of the episode is anything to go by then we should be in for another good season of Doctor Who in 2017!