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.

I Had The Best Time At Toronto ComiCon

From Friday to Sunday I was at Toronto ComiCon, I was there for the full three days and I had a fantastic time.

I was not entirely sure what to expect in all honesty, I knew that it was a relatively big convention and that was sort of it. As cliché as it sounds, it sort of felt like coming home. I am a massive geek – we all know that – and getting to spend the weekend with other geeks was a great experience. There’s just such a positive energy and a great vibe from everyone that’s sort of hard to properly describe, but I hadn’t really ever felt anything like that before, these are my people.

I’m sure people are wondering who I got to meet/see. I saw Megan Follows (Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables), John Wesley Shipp (Henry Allen/Jay Garrick from The Flash), and Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi from Star Trek). All of them were great people and I am definitely glad I saw their panels.

I bought quite a lot of stuff whilst I was there, but I was prepared to buy quite a bit. Might do a haul to show what I bought.

Toronto ComiCon reperesents two firsts for me. It was the first really big convention I have ever been to. It was also the first time I have ever really properly cosplayed. I cosplayed Nightwing on Friday, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan) on Saturday, and 90s Superboy on Sunday. Probably out of the three of them I enjoyed being Nightwing the most.

In some ways this feels like a ‘Turn Left’ moment for me. One of those moments where because of one choice things change for me, like going to Disneyland Paris in 2012, Grant Gustin being cast as the Flash in 2013, or buying a Tiana doll in 2016. I sort of feel like things might be about to change for me because of Toronto ComiCon. I really want to go to big conventions again and I want to get into cosplay.

If it’s not obvious from the amount of positive adjectives I’ve been using throughout this post I really enjoyed myself! I had a great weekend. The time flew by and on Sunday afternoon I was sad to be leaving Toronto. I love going to Toronto, it’s a great city, so I am truly glad that I had such a fantastic convention experience in a city that I love so deeply.

My Haul – First Toronto Trip of 2018

So I went to Toronto on Saturday, you can read all about that in this post. But here is My Haul to round up what I bought…

Eaton Centre Mall

I bought a few things whilst I was in the Eaton Centre.

Hallmark

If you’ve read any of my previous Toronto Haul posts then you’re probably expecting that I bought an Itty Bitty or two. Well once again I got two more Itty Bitty’s.

The newly released Pocahontas, she’s the last of the Disney Princesses to be released and the last one I want (for now). Pocahontas is one of my favourites and at this point I have a small collection of different versions of Pocahontas but I think this one might be one of the nicest.

I also got one of the 2017 Kitten Super Bowl Itty Bitty’s, it was on clearance with 50% off and I thought he was just too sweet to refuse.

Disney Store

I added another princess to my collection with the Elena doll. I had been considering her for a while but decided to only get her if I could find her on offer, well Disney had a special offer on, all dolls reduced to just $13 which is good value for a Disney Store doll. I am really pleased I bought her as I think she looks fantastic.

Black Canary

In the comic coffee shop I bought two comics. The latest volume of The Flash DC Rebirth series I have been reading and a Batwoman comic I got for 50% off due to some damage on the back cover.

My Haul – First Haul from Canada in 2018

I’ve been back in Canada for a bit now and so I thought it was about time for me to do a My Haul post where I round up of what I have bought so far.

Jynn Erso was only $4 in Dollarama. This is obviously a good price and an even better price considering that this version of Jynn seems to be becoming increasingly rare back in the UK. I am glad to add her to my growing Star Wars collection.

Disney Happy Places, these are blind boxes of mini Disney inspired food and home items which are the perfect size to be displayed with Disney dolls. I am hoping I can find the Beauty and the Beast inspired tea set.

I have a Porg! She is adorable! I wanted a Porg as soon as I saw The Last Jedi. Since the movie was released Porg’s are selling out in most places as it seems that everyone found them adorable and wants one but I managed to track one down!

I love colouring in books. I love the Flash. How was I not going to buy this colouring in book?

So that’s what I have bought myself so far since being back in Canada.

My Haul – Christmas Decorations from Canada!

It’s the first of December! That means it’s the start of advent and officially (if you haven’t already) it is finally time to get the Christmas decorations out!

In the spirit of getting out the Christmas decorations I thought I would do a My Haul post to round up all the Christmas decorations that I have bought since I have been in Canada. I am going to be organizing this post in the order I bought them.

The first decoration I bought was an Adipose from Doctor Who. The Adipose are adorable blobs of fat and one of the strangest Doctor Who aliens ever. I’ve never actually seen Doctor Who Christmas decorations before but when I found this one I had to buy it!

I talked about my collection of Disney Princess Christmas decorations and how Rapunzel is my princess for 2017 in the Haul post about when I bought her in Toronto.

The Starbucks Christmas cup! Does this count as a Christmas decoration? Well it does to me! I have a collection of Christmas coffee cups which I have been gathering for the past few years, this year’s Starbucks cup is the latest addition and one of my favourites.

I love Raccoons, they are my favourite animals. I couldn’t resist this cute little raccoon skiing and wearing a Santa hat.

A Dollarama find! I got a pack of 8 mini disco balls which have ended up going in front of my doll display.

Anna in her outfit from Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, I mentioned her in the haul post from the trip to Toronto when I bought her.

How perfect for me is this Flash Christmas decoration? I knew I had to get him for my Christmas tree as soon as I saw him in Walmart.

I have loved the Peanuts comic strips and the Charlie Brown cartoons for years, Woodstock is my favorite character. Technically this one isn’t for me, Woodstock is destined to go on the family Christmas tree, but he’s too sweet not to include on this haul post.  

Wonder Woman stocking! Probably one of the coolest stockings you will see this Christmas. I knew I wanted it as soon as I saw it.

Another one for the family Christmas tree. My Dad, my Mum and me all loved Zootropolis (or Zootopia as it’s known in North America) and when I spotted Judy Hopps I knew we needed her.

Finally (and appropriate for today) is my advent calendar. This year I have decided to go for the Star Wars one, mainly because it has Rey front and centre where she should be.

Well that was quite a long post! I’ve been collecting all of these for a number of weeks (since the end of September) and I am very pleased with what I have added to my collection of Christmas decorations.

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. 

My Haul – Heroes and My Favourite Villain in Toronto

At the weekend I went to Toronto. If you know me than you know that I cannot go to a big city without buying something so here’s a haul post detailing what I bought.

Last time I went to Toronto I bought Itty Bitty’s from the Hallmark in the Eaton Centre. I did the same this time. Maleficent is my favourite Disney villain, I just had to get her Itty Bitty given how fabulous she looks.

I didn’t like the Rey Itty Bitty that was released for The Force Awakens, however now the collection for this years The Last Jedi has been released and I think that the new Rey looks a lot better than the previous one. There wasn’t much question about adding the second best Star Wars character to my collection (we all know Leia is the best).

In my last haul post I mentioned that Tsum Tsum lip balms are now a thing. In Toronto I was able to track down Maleficent’s!

In my post about my day in Toronto I mentioned that I visited a comic café. From there I bought Volume 3 of the ongoing DC Rebirth Flash series. So far this series has been really good so I’m glad to add the latest instalment to my collection, especially as it was from somewhere so cool!

Every year Disney Store releases a collection of Disney Princess Christmas Ornaments and every year I buy one princess. I limit myself to only one of the princess decorations because otherwise I’d end up with hundreds of Disney Christmas decorations. I was really torn about who I wanted to buy this year but when I noticed that Belle and Tiana had already sold out I decided to take the plunge and buy Rapunzel. I really like how detailed she is and I love how they made her usual dress look a little more winter ready. Now in years to come when I get out my Disney Princess Christmas Ornament Collection I will look at Rapunzel and think of how I bought her in Toronto during my year abroad.

That’s what I bought this time during my visit to Toronto.

My Haul – Star Wars, Superheroes and Tsum Tsums

I’ve bought various things since I last wrote a My Haul post and I thought it was about time that I did a roundup of some of the stuff that I’ve bought recently.

Star Wars dolls are a thing now, this is awesome. However, despite the fact that they launched over summer I have only just bought my first one. This is Sabine Wren (she’s from the TV series Star Wars Rebels), she’s a cool character and she was really hard to find, however I managed to get her for a reasonable price online. She’s currently displayed with my Mulan doll (who I bought in Toronto), Sabine looks like she’s recruiting Mulan for the Rebellion.

I picked up the latest DC Superhero Girls comic from my local comic store. I’ve loved DC Superhero Girls since it started but I think this is possibly my favourite volume of the comic series so far.

Tsum Tsum lip balms are another thing that’s available. I have quite dry lips and so I use lip balm regularly therefore these are collectibles that are actually useful! I’ve got two so far, Olaf and Dory, however I know there’s more available.

It’s not winter just quite yet but fall is starting to set in and the need for warmer clothing is becoming increasingly apparent. Therefore when I saw that Walmart were selling Flash hoodies I obviously had to get one!

Today I went out to the Thrift Store. Last time I went I found the Supergirl DC Superhero Girls mini doll. This time I found Batgirl! Hopefully when I next go I can find the other three girls released in this collection.

So what I’ve bought over the past fortnight or so. I’m pleased with this lot.

My Haul – Of Course I Bought More Superhero Stuff

I think it’s time for another haul of stuff that I’ve bought since being in Canada. As you probably guessed from the title I’ve bought even more superhero stuff since last time. I also have decided to continue the new formatting that I introduced in my last haul post.

Value Village Thrift Shop

I’ve been to a proper North American thrift shop! It’s a lot like what you’d expect them to be like. They’re absolutely enormous. From my experience I’d say that the biggest difference between a Canadian thrift shop and a UK charity shop is just the sheer volume of stuff. If you know me you will know I often have good luck in charity shops (like my 1997 Hercules doll for £1 or my Princess Jasmine plushie for 50p!) and my luck at finding stuff has followed me across the Atlantic.

I found a Supergirl mini doll. The DC Superhero Girls mini dolls were originally Happy Meal toys but we never got them in the UK and the postage made them too expensive on eBay so I was glad to find Supergirl over here.

Dollar Tree

This is a different dollar store to Dollarama which I went to in my last haul post. Dollar Tree is a lot more like the UK’s Poundland.

In Dollar Tree they had a whole selection of Disney mini figures. There were so many, however I wasn’t too impressed with how some of them were painted but of course I had to get my favourite villain Maleficent.

The Comic Store

I really love the comic store here. I know I mentioned this last time but it’s so true. It’s just such a cool comic store and they have a great selection of stuff.

They had a special offer on this time, back issues were only $1 each! That is really good value. I managed to stay (relatively) restrained and only buy 6 comics. Knowing me it’s no surprise that the Flash and Wonder Woman are both there! I also picked up my newer favourite Green Lantern. As they had quite a few issues of Grayson I decided to buy some, that’s Dick Grayson (the original Robin) once he leaves Batman I’ve wanted to try some of his comics but I’ve been unsure where to start but a dollar per issue seems like a good way to get started!

I have very little control with soft toys, though it took me about a week to cave in and buy Wonder Woman bunny! She’s very cuddly and as you can see from the pictures she’s the same size as the Flash bear I bought last time.

And that’s my haul for this time, of course I bought more superhero stuff. I’m interested to find out what I will buy next time I go shopping…