That’s right! I’m here in search of that sweet sweet 80s and 90s media! Right now I’m looking to trade things like VHS tapes, magazines and books for art! So if you’re interested in a trade, please make sure to read below!
The term media is pretty broad, so what do I want specifically? Well I can’t write everything down because, well, there’s just too much out there! But I can give you a broad idea of what I’m interested in. As said, mostly looking for media from the years 1979 to about 2005. Specifically VHS tapes, magazines, books, pamphlets, guides and music tapes. Especially things that are well designed! Things that are just oozing with that vibe. So please, show me EVERYTHING you’ve got! You might not think I’m interested in your “How to Dance the Tango” tape, but I assure you, I am very interested!
I’m not really interested in super popular media though however. Things like the mainstream Disney movies or the Titanic. Though that’s not to say I don’t want any Disney media, on the contrary! There’s loads of things like sing along tapes, Mickey Magazine, making of movie shorts. Just trying to avoid people flooding me with the same 20 copies of Beauty and the Beast. Because let’s face it, we all probably have those tapes!
As for other things like magazines and books, I’m pretty interested! When it comes to books, I’m not interested in novels or things like remote control manuals. I am however interested in picture books, game guides, art design and anything with lots of pictures. Same with magazines! Magazines I’m probably the most loose with. Teen mags, Highlights, Disney Adventures, Nintendo Magazine, Tips and Tricks. You name it, I want it!
Then there’s other things like old Disneyworld maps, travel brochures, pamphlets from schools, yearbooks. Just neat stuff that acts like a time capsule of the past. If it has cool pictures and graphic designs, I am so interested!
If you have anything else you think I might like. Retro plush and toys, vintage Pokemon merch, anything! Feel free to let me know. And please, send me pictures! that will help a ton.
As for the trades themselves, I’m going to be doing a 1 item equals about $5 in art kind of exchange. So if you have 10 VHS tapes, I’ll draw you about $50 in art. There’s bound to be some wiggle room and I’m looking to be fair. If you’re going to force me to draw you something for $5 after I did you a $45 icon from the 10 tapes you sent me, I would just rather you find someone else. This isn’t a “I got to maximize my trade stock” thing. I just really want to start collecting media I can use for my artwork or play during my streams. For that I’m willing to draw something in exchange. I’m not Ebay, I’m not going to give you $200 for Toy Story just because grandma said it’s going back in the vault. This is just a fun little exchange!
Now, here’s some examples of the kind of stuff that has my interest!
It’s the New Year baby! That means it’s time for some New Years resolutions! I know most people either dislike them or assume everyone usually fails to uphold them, but I’m proud to say I’ve yet to fail at obtaining my New Year’s resolutions! Last year I told myself to get out of my terrible old apartment and to start drawing for myself again. I’m happy to say that both were achieved with flying colors! This year, one of my main goals is to spend less time online and more time enjoying things.
I read something on tumblr recently that really got to me. It said how the best New Years resolution they ever made was devouring everything nice in their life. About not saving things for an undetermined future. I really loved that post and it’s something I want to start living by. Use all my stickers, draw terrible doodles in my sketchbooks, take my collectables out of their boxes to be played with. It just all sounds so lovely! That’s why I decided to pick that up as another resolute for this year.
And finally, I want to continue my quest to become a better person. Be kind, even to those who don’t show me kindness in return. I want to be positive and stop with all the negative thoughts. It doesn’t do anyone any good UoU This plus reflecting more on my past trauma and learning to move past it. Removing my walls and softening up! It’s not a hard goal to obtain, but I want to put my all into it anyways! Everyone can do with a little more positivity and kindness.
So there are my resolutions for this year! What about you? Do you have any resolutions for this year?
As a kid, did you ever struggle with understanding the difference between someone who was real and someone who played a character in a show or movie? I mean yes of course we all have, I suppose that’s part of being human huh xD But here, let me give you an example.
When I was a kid, I loooved Pee-wee’s Playhouse. I would watch it almost everyday with my dad and my uncle. But see, sometimes I would also see Pee-wee in other things like commercials and specials. But it wasn’t “the man who plays Pee-wee”, it was just always him in character. At this point in life, I was just beginning to understand that actors and actresses were a thing. So to see this guy in character even outside his show? It really had me befuddled. It was probably my first time ever -not- seeing an actor out of character. At the time I was too young to really comprehend, so I genuinely wasn’t sure if he was real or not.
Since I’m currently back on the hunt to finish my Pokémon collection, I figured I should try making a small, visual guide on the cards I’m currently interested in! If you have any of the cards below, please feel free to reach out to me on twitter or furaffinity! I’m willing to trade art, newer Pokémon cards, or even money to obtain these cards.
To view the cards, just right click them and open in a new tab!
Wanted to share with you guys all the stuff I got while at Frank and Sons!
First things I managed to snag was this old Puppy Brite plush as well as a decently intact MLP carrying case! It has a few creases since it’s really just some printed cardboard with a thin, plastic casing, but I’ll take it! Got it for I think something like $30 which isn’t bad. About the same price online. Puppy Brite however was both cheap and in great condition! Just a barely visible scuff on the nose.
Yesterday my partner Nano and I took a trip to a local place called Frank and Sons. They’re more or less a giant collectables expo that’s only open a few days a week. And it’s hecking AWESOME! They have pretty much everything you could think of there: games, VHSs, toys, cards, posters, and even pop figures. Seriously it’s so amazing and I have a blast every time I visit. This time was no different!
Last night I had the wildest dream. Basically it started off involving my friend and I going for a shopping trip to the mall. We picked up some cute outfits and I grabbed a ton of stickers. After we had our fill of shopping, we stopped to grab some lunch and headed back to her place. In the dream, I was feeling down about my weight and my looks. About how I didn’t feel attractive and I thought people looked down on me. My friend Melissa ended up sitting down with me and having this huge heart to heart about how my body isn’t what makes me attractive and how she thinks I’m amazing both inside and out. Was super touching. Then all the sudden we were cuddling on the couch. It was implied, but never mentioned, that we had feelings for one another.
See, in my dreams, I have a very good chance at being somewhat aware of the fact that I’m dreaming. If I nap during the day, I can almost always lucid dream. This wasn’t quite that, but I was aware that it was odd that my friend and I would have feelings for one another, even in a dream. I didn’t have much time to think about it however, because I ended up waking up not long after. The dream must have really shaken me because when I went back to sleep, I awoke (slept?) in a weird continuation of my previous dream.
In this dream my friend was a Victorian royal, or at least some weird, parallel fantasy version of a Victorian royal. A little steam punk, a little fantasy, and a chunk of realism. I however, was more like an upper-middle class woman. I wasn’t so well off to be held at high regards, but I wasn’t so low that I wouldn’t be allowed to be near my friend and her family. But even though we were still close friends (and held secret feelings for one another), her parents looked down on me. The would make comments about how I wasn’t good for their image and that Melissa wasn’t taken seriously among the royal court because I was with her. They’d say it in front of me and tell her to give up our “silly” friendship so she could finally be a proper royal. Melissa would scold her parents and we’d always end up storming off.
That wasn’t the only reason she disliked her parents though. Her mom was royal by blood you see, but her step dad (like irl) was married into the royalty. He basically used her mother to climb the social ladder. He wanted to be a high ranking royal so that he could carry out this idea he had that was okayed by the king. Basically he wanted to spread this super poison that he had made to kill off all animals and plants in the kingdom. They thought the “wild” was dirty and that it threated to take us back to caveman days (rikki tiki tiki). Melissa and I realized though that this was going to end up killing everyone in the end though. Clearly we needed animals and plants to stay alive. That and obviously we didn’t want anyone or anything thing to hurt because of this poison. So to stop his plan, we became vigilantes of sorts.
Sadly how we did this wasn’t explained in my dream very well, but we ended up crafting our own disguises/costumes. I took on this role/costume of a macaroni style royal. I had this ability to charm and entrance people when I walked into a room. Had all eyes on me kind of thing. Then my friend had an awesome, steampunk style, ironman like suit. It had these vents in the back to create a jetpack like effect and long, sharp claws. The whole thing looked vaguely catlike and was mostly this deep red color.
The plan was, I’d go into the club (royal palace place) and just distract people with my powers. Melissa’s parents just saw it as me suddenly being super popular and they hated it. Because now I was getting seen all the time while their daughter was “nowhere to be found”. Then while I distracted, Melissa would climb into the poison storage areas and would take out all their machines and ruin batches of the poison. At first her costume was made to get in and out quickly. The claws being used to climb the walls and stay out of sight, but eventually she had to use it to fight off guards. She even became known among the people as the “Scarlet Woman”.
After a while, it was getting hard to fight, and people were becoming sick from the poison. The royals never noticed because they were never near it, but everywhere else, people were dropping like flies. That’s when we knew we had to get serious. So we went to the town, where all the “poor people” lived, and made a huge speech. Melissa lead the speech, talking about how we needed to rise up and fight together to make things right again. Then Melissa boldly announced she was the Scarlet Woman and put on her suit, inciting cheers from the now massive crowd that gathered. Once she put the costume on, this whole freaking riot broke loose. Together with the people of the kingdom, we went to storm the royals and their castle. But before we went off, Melissa and I had this passionate kiss and promised to be together after the battle. It was so cheesy but I loved it.
Annnnnd then I woke up. Real buzz kill that I didn’t get to see what happened in the end, but wow was it ever an amazing dream. I’m still shaken from it.
So when I was a kid, I had this friend. Let’s call her Kayla. But you see, it wasn’t just me and Kayla. We also shared two friends named Mike and Joey. So Kayla, Mike, Joey and I were all super close. We mostly grew up together; from the ages of seven to well into high school.
See, for some reason I cannot explain, everyone shipped my friend Kayla with Mike. I guess when we were younger, they did have a lot in common. Though that’s beside the point! The thing is, that always made me wildly jealous. I remember being a huge brat about it and how I would always “fight” for Mike’s attention. Telling people he really likes me and not Kayla. I knew I was being annoying and making everyone uncomfortable, but I couldn’t stop.
But today, while I was drawing, I started thinking about Kayla again. Then, it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks. While recalling those memories, it suddenly occurred to me that I never once liked Mike. I was mad, jealous, and wanted to win of Mike over so Kayla would be free. It seems so obvious to me now that I look back on it. I feel so embarrassed. Even back then I was clearly gay!
I’m not upset though. I was just a little kid back then. Luckily I got over myself and we all stayed good friends well into our adult lives. I eventually said sorry about a year after being a butt. Still, it’s crazy to think how hard I was crushing on her back then. Funny, because I’ve had a lot of dreams about her recently. I think it’s because when I get high, I think of my childhood a lot. Since we were so close back then, she comes up in my brain every so often. I think my subconscious wanted me to realize this information for a while now haha. It’s just wild to think I was experiencing being LGBTQ+ even back then.
Glad nothing came of it though. Because then I would have never have met my wonderful partner!
It’s not perfect, but I wanted to make a small, to the point guide on Monster Rancher 2. I’ve played this game almost every year since I was 9, so I like to think I know a bit about it. I hope this guide is simple enough to not scare people off as well as keeping the mysteries of the game intact.
Monster Rancher is a hard game. It’s grindy and there is no real “fast” way to “complete” the game. It’s a Japanese game from the 90s so expect a struggle. In the beginning you need 2 things, to raise your rank and to earn money. The best way to do this is pick a monster and stick with it til it dies. Maybe even repeating this multiple times. So in the beginning, don’t battle until you get its stats up. Start off by feeding it either potatoes or milk only. See which it prefers, it will make a gesture if it likes or dislikes it. If it does nothing, then it’s fine. Once your stats are highish (figure everything above 100, and at least power or intelligence over 200), fight in the IMa official tournament D cup. Win and from here, just do the small battles that give you 2000-3000 gold. This will give you a lot of gold and items you can sell. (I recommend keeping the statue and the pot) Keep a good balance of battles and training. (figure a battle every 3 months) Do not fight in additional IMa official tournaments.
First big thing is pick out a monster you want. The monster you pick will determine on how you should raise it. Some monsters are better geared towards intelligence and others power. All monsters you get will start off with stats in the 60s-100s so don’t waste time trying to find something better. If you want an easier to raise monster though, check it’s monster stats. If you check this and go to the right, you can see it’s likes/dislikes and it’s attacks. More than 2 attacks is good. Bonus if they like potatoes/milk or have a good nature.
Monsters like Pixies, Monols and Suezos are better suited for intelligence. Monsters like Hare, Tiger and Zumms work better off of power. Intelligence determines how much damage intelligence-based attacks do and how much damage you take from intelligent attacks. The smarter it is, the less those attacks damage it. Skill being accuracy, speed being dodge, and life being hit points (nothing to do with life span).
Next there’s 5 invisible stats you really want to pay attention to. Spoil, fear, fatigue, nature and stress. Spoil and fear represent how a monster sees you. Too much of either are bad for your monster. If your monster is even, meaning both spoil and fear are about the same, your monster will listen to you in battles more. You achieve this by making sure you appropriately praise and scold it. My advice is always say no to play or a treat (when it says “I want a ____”), always praise it when it does good and always scold it when it does bad. Nature kinda plays a role in this. Bad natured monsters are more likely to cheat and fail. This will change naturally as you raise your monster, so don’t worry about it much.
After that is stress and fatigue. Fatigue is always going up until you rest a monster. When it goes up, stress goes up. Whenever the game says “____ is stressed out”, that means your monster’s life span has gone down a little. Most monsters will live to 3.5-4.5 years. When they’re too stressed or fatigued, they can run away, get hurt or get sick. In the beginning, most of this doesn’t matter. When you can afford it (at least over 5k gold), buy some mint leaves. Give one to your monster at the beginning of every other month.
Your goal in the beginning is honestly just to farm money. Other things fall in place as you go. Your first big goal is to win either an E rank IMa official tournament or a D rank one. After doing this, on July 1st, you’ll be invited to the IMa vs. FIMBA match at the end of the month. Win this tournament, and you can attend the meet on August 4th. You don’t have to win or lose, just entering it unlocks 4 new monsters. Once you have this, make sure you have a B rank or higher monster and over 20k on May 4th. Do this and a builder will come and upgrade your house. Repeat this again next year and your barn will be upgraded, unlocking 3 more monsters.
From here on, just have fun and play the game! The higher your trainer/monster rank is, more cool things will happen! There’s tons of hidden events and surprises so go out there and find them!
Hungry for 80s, 90s and 2000s Media
