For what it's worth I did watch and enjoy the fallout show. It seems most of the people actually involved in making the old fallout games also did. I'm more intrigued by what they are doing with the New Vegas lore than upset by it. They clearly understood this would need to be addressed, and are going to do so. Anyone who takes 5 minutes to dissect it can see that the chalkboard scene doesnt retcon new vegas, for like, 3 seperate reasons at least. I was scared Amazon would sanitize the themes, but like, almost more than any past fallout game this show has a thesis of "Greed, Monopoly, and Fudiciary Duty are what caused the world to end/be bad in the first place". Every new instance of the series adds new lore, and we don't actually KNOW what's going on with the vials, the last scene, etc. so I don't think getting mad about it is like.. productive? It's well made, well acted, looked great, and the characters have enough going on to intrigue me. I dont really have a thesis here, but I think at this point trying to fight for new vegas (and sometimes 1/2) as some sort of seperate, other perfect game series from 3, 4, and 76 is silly. 76 can just go the way of tactics and brotherhood, it's happened before, and if the next game has the same care and detail the show does it might even be decent.

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6 TIPS-HOW NOT TO COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS

By Rebeah Bailey | December 16, 2020

"Everything in life is easier when you don’t concern yourself with what everybody else is doing.”

Can you imagine what life would be like if we didn’t compare our-self to each other? I think everyone would be happier and a lot more true to themselves. Are you living an authentic life? Or are you comparing yourself to others and being influenced?

I am coming at you with a few thought-provoking questions hey

I have honestly spent enough time comparing myself to other peoples progress in life other people health. Sometimes I don’t even realize that I am doing It.

Sometimes we unknowing compare our-self to others. You may say things like I eat less then she does, but I weigh more. She is 25 and earns more money than me.

Social media does not help with this issue, and When I watch YouTube sometimes, I am taken back by the titles.

Titles such as:

I bought my first house at 19 (lol) Made my first million by 17. The title that sucked me this week was learnt Italian in 7 days, guys I have been trying to learn Italian for years, plus I live in Italy. How do you think it made me feel?

When I investigated the video and watched reviews on it, it turns out that the person who made the video could already speak multiple languages and already had an Italian foundation. Let’s put that aside. I just wasted my time researching a stranger, and I also made my self feel bad about not being able to speak the language.

The best thing to do is train yourself not to compare yourself to others and if you do because we are all human, know when to nip it in the bud. Make a mantra /or memorize one of the quotes that I have written below and repeat it to yourself.

Every time I find myself comparing myself to others, I have to remind myself that I am unique and one of a kind. We are not the same people, and we are all on unique paths.

Please do not be fooled by Instagram. It shows the majority of people at their best. The reality is we do not know what goes on behind the scenes. I am guilty of posting the highlights of my life over on Instagram. Go over and take a look.

I try to mix it in with real-life events when I use stories. I will do a story makeup-free. I will show people that I have lazy days, too; I binge-watch Netflix all day and stuff my face.

People have told me their preconceived ideas of me before actually getting to know me in the past. I had to laugh they somehow thought I have this whole life thing figured out ( little do they know, haha)

In some cases, it can be motivating and inspiring to compare yourself to others, but I think in most cases the comparison can lead to something negative like:

Spending more money than you have to buy things that you can not afford to keep up with others.

Feeling worthless because you don’t have what they have.

It can leave you feeling unfilled no matter what you have.

To put it simply, comparing yourself to others, is just a waste of time.

The facts are there is always going to be someone prettier, slimmer, richer and someone who seems to achieve things quicker /easier than you.

Rather than comparing yourself to them, use them as motivation to push yourself to achieve your dream.

Here are some of the ways you can stop comparing yourself to others.

1. Take a break from social media. You will be amazed at how good you feel after.

2. Change your feed on social media feed; unfollow people showing off or constantly selling a product to you.

3. Build your confidence- if you are constantly comparing yourself to others and it is leaving you feeling very negative about yourself, it could be down to a lack of confidence

Build your confidence by reading self-help books, and you can purchase them on Amazon; here are a few suggestions :

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck

Brave New Girl: Seven Steps to Confidence

The Self Confidence Workbook: A Guide to Overcoming Self-Doubt and Improving Self-Esteem

4. Sort your finances out. You will be surprised how much of a difference it will make. Having a lack of money seems to make everything feel worse. It can leave you feeling powerless.

5. Try to be positive and happy with your current situation, own it and move forward.

6. Remove the idea that people are perfect, nobody is perfect!

Let us talk about how you can meet your goal in life

Think about your dream life.

Sit down for a minute and think about what you actually what from your life? What goals would you like to achieve?

Answer these questions :

What do you need to do to reach your goal?

Do you need to find a job?

Do you need to change jobs?

Do you need to go and study?

Do you need to stop watching TV?

Do you need to pay off a loan?

Do you need to speak with your manager?

Why do you want this?

What stopped you from doing this in the past?

What is your motivation to do it now?

Below I have written out a few quotes for you to read, save /pin them or write them down to remind yourself how great you are.

Remember that you are not lacking in anything, you are enough right now!

What makes Puppet Master so great?

I can't quite tell if this is a "wow, how is it this rad?" or "why do you never shut up about this?" or the middle-of-the-road "I don't see the appeal" type of question so I'll kind of answer each.

The reason I'm not shutting up about it, right now especially, is that I've been writing a book on the entire franchise for three years without much to show for it, a lot of starts and stops and hard work and wondering if it would ever even get finished. Now Puppet Master Complete: A Franchise History is actually coming out and there's pre-orders at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, etc. so I'm both starting to actively promote it and just overwhelmed with relief that it's finally happening. Almost as much as that, though, is the fact that NECA has released new Puppet Master toys that are stunning and are in stores like Target, something I never thought possible, which has tapped into the childhood fan in me, for whom these puppets, movies, and the original toys were my number one childhood obsession.

But to get into the deeper question, I'll tell you right now, that's a big one. It's a lot to unpack. the first three words of the introduction to the book are "Why Puppet Master?" And I think there are a lot of reasons. For me, it was love at first sight literally the first time I saw the designs of the puppets. Both the way the characters look and the stop-motion and puppetry effects by David Allen Productions are probably the biggest reason we're still talking about these little guys so many years later. But there's a lot I think that makes the franchise, and those early films, special. There aren't many, if any other, horror franchises where your iconic characters can be the heroes or villains from movie-to-movie. And as a kid, and even now, I loved that they weren't inherently bad. They were the first "monsters" I ever saw that let the protagonists go at the end of the movie and killed the larger villain. Then a few movies later, they're the full-blown heroes and they've pretty much been that ever since. The early movies are all wildly different from one another in a way they don't get enough credit for. Sometimes even different genres outright. The first is a deeply Italian influenced, almost giallo-esque movie, the second is a dyed-in-the-wool gothic Universal throwback, the third is a war movie, the fourth and fifth are fantasy/sci-fi.

Looking at a larger scale though, it is amazing that this series exists in 2021. Like, holy shit. It is the most resilient horror franchise in the world. It was designed, specifically, to cater to video stores. That was the function of the first movie, both as a film in general and as the first film from Full Moon. This franchise was specifically designed to cater to a booming video store market and it outlived video stores. In 1997, it received its own action figure series which was even wild at the time, because it was a straight-to-video horror movie series that had been around less than a decade. Getting these characters in comic shops, Suncoast, was wild enough, but then they eventually reached Spencer's and KB. And now, two decades later, there are figures again! And they're in Target! They're everywhere! That feels impossible, that should not exist. A few years ago, it got a comic series. A straight-to-video series got a comic that lasted for almost 30 issues! This is unreal stuff. And it’s a great comic, too.

Puppet Master is also, essentially, the only horror franchise that is inherently Jewish. Christian themes and iconography play into horror a lot and are still incredibly popular. And there are plenty of great horror movies that deal with Jewish themes and symbols, but I think Puppet Master is the only film series defined by those themes. Admittedly, they’re set up most prominently in the third entry with the reveal that the puppets are inhabited by the souls of Jewish victims of the Nazis, taking revenge on their oppressors. There is a deeply ingrained notion of post-war survivor’s guilt, perfectly embodied by this image of an old man who literally carries his dead friends with him wherever he goes. Even the original movie sets it up right in the opening scene, with the puppet master Toulon shooting himself and hiding his puppets away before the Nazis can get their hands on them.

And yet at the same time, it’s still just a fun and quirky B-Movie series, wildly ambitious for straight-to-video, and it’s never really lost that creative spirit even as the budgets have drastically shrank over the years. It’s been through a lot of ups and downs, and the budgetary lows are smaller than most other franchises. But there’s still so much that resonates, from the themes, to the concept and without a doubt most importantly, the puppets themselves. There is no other franchise like it. It’s been through at least three or four things that would have killed any other franchise and even though the movies are now made for pennies and shot in four days, it’s alive and (somehow) thriving, in some ways it’s stronger than it’s ever been. I really couldn’t articulate why I loved it when I started writing that book, but now it’s something I think about a lot. I am grateful it’s still here, grateful for getting to grow up with it, and so excited for all the new fans who are going to see those toys on Target shelves and fall head over heels, just like I did.

Watching Snyderverse Part 3 - Zack Snyder’s Justice League

After BvS, I was honestly not particularly looking forward to Justice League. For me, it was obvious that Snyder’s versions of these characters and his overall doom and gloom approach was not something I was particularly enjoying despite some promising elements in both MoS and BvS. Then we saw exactly how JL production went down. Despite the happy face they tried to paint, the fact that there was going to be a 2 hour mandate, the fact that Whedon basically reshot a bunch of Snyder’s film with the film being a mishmash of two directors who couldn’t be any more different in their sensibilities, and that that the actors, specifically Ben Affleck, looked like they couldn’t wait to be done with this movie and this role, made it obvious that the movie wasn’t going to turn out well. So my expectations were rock bottom for the theatrical cut. As it happens, that was a good thing. The theatrical cut of JL is a thoroughly unremarkable movie. I don’t abhor it but it is so obviously a patchwork job and a studio mandated film that there is no passion or vision in the movie at all. I mean, I didn’t like BvS much at all, but there was a vision there. Theatrical cut of JL seemed like a film that felt like WB just felt they had to put out there and then move on. And then years later, we get Zack Snyder’s full version of Justice League. I watched it in one sitting, which was maybe a mistake because it is heavy viewing for 4 hours. Without a doubt it is a better movie than the theatrical cut. Its a little tough to judge this film because this is no way a movie that would have been released theatrically. But its also impossible to judge on what it may have been if it was edited down to a 3 hour length. So best to just judge it on its own merits.

Firstly, the positives. This is definitely a more coherent and clear movie. The plot is not rushed and every sequence, be it a character moment or an action sequence, is fully realized without any weird edits. The film does have some more humor than the previous two Snyder films. Mainly courtesy of Ezra Miller and Jeremy Irons. And the humor is not awkward like in the theatrical cut. Ezra Miller in particular benefits from that because some of his cringey lines from the theatrical edition are cut. The special effects are largely impressive and definitely an improvement over the theatrical edition. On a character level, definitely Cyborg gets the most benefit out of all the characters. As we get a full and thorough backstory for him. We get insight into his relationship with both his parents. Steppenwolf also gets significantly more screen time and his motivations are definitely more clearly defined in the movie than in the theatrical. Miller and Momoa also get some more scenes to flesh out their individual characters. What does surprise me is that the film contains a lot of scenes which are essentially just alternate versions of scenes from the theatrical cut. The film isn’t radically different from the theatrical version, but the scenes included in this version feel a little more real. Like a scene with the entire League discussing Superman’s return in the theatrical cut made it obvious that the actors weren’t in the same room together, whereas the original scene in this movie has them clearly in the same physical space. The Superman scenes are also infinitely better without the CGI upper lip. Thankfully, Snyder doesn’t do what he did with the previous two movies and gives some breathing room between action sequences. Probably a bit too much time, but that’s better than no time at all. the tunnel action sequence and the climax set piece is definitely pretty cool. Flash actually having an active role in the climax was a big improvement. My favorite action sequence is still the Superman vs the League because it shows just how powerful Superman can be. Also, the color palette is a lot more consistent and better than the weird bright and red color palette that is used in the theatrical cut.

When it comes down to the performances from the cast, nobody really stands out. They are all fine, but unlike in BvS, where Affleck stood out. Everybody here is just motoring along. In the theatrical cut, Affleck looked completely checked out. I was hoping the original cut would beef up his performance. While it is slightly better, he’s still just a bit too restrained in the role and doesn’t leave the type of impression he left in BvS. Everyone is at their most dour self. Gal Gadot’s WW is more serious and therefore does not get to show her more radiant side in Patty Jenkins’ movies, Momoa is also similarly more dour and serious and not quite as fun as he was in Aquaman. Ray Fisher is decent but its a role that requires him to be very robotic for large chunks of the film. So its a little difficult to assess his performance. Cavill is in far too little of the movie to give much of a performance. He’s perfectly fine in the handful of scenes he has. Miller is probably the best of the lot, even though he’s still more Peter Parker than Barry Allen. Some of the supporting cast actually fare a little better. Irons is a delight whenever he’s on screen and Affleck is also at his best when they have scenes together. That dynamic works. Joe Morton is surprisingly affecting as Silas Stone, as is Billy Crudup in his brief scenes as Henry Allen. Its always nice to see more of Willem Dafoe, Diane Lane, Connie Nielsen, and JK Simmons. Simmons as Gordon was great casting and its a pity we won’t get to see more of him in that role. Amber Heard for some perplexing reason has a British accent in this film as Mera. Given Dafoe and Momoa both speak in their normal voices, that must have been a choice. It did feel a bit funny. Jared Leto and Jesse Eisenberg are back as Joker and Lex and neither of them particularly improve on their performances. I mean, they have a scene each so its no harm done, but the Joker scene particularly drags on for too long. Amy Adams has a small role and she does manage to make to get some emotion out of a handful of scenes.

The film has more than its fair share of issues. Firstly, it is just way, way too long. The pacing is glacially slow at times. And I mean that in the most literal manner. There is so much slow mo in this movie, its crazy. I swear, if you removed the slow motion, you might lose 20 minutes of the run time. Snyder is clearly in desperate need of an editor here. The film has the exact opposite problem of the theatrical cut. Whereas in the theatrical cut, it always felt that every scene was just edited a little too short, in this movie there are scenes that are going on for far too long. There are some very strange edits. Like an entire scene where women in the village are singing hyms when Arthur leaves and smelling his clothes. There is a meet cute between Iris and Barry which is completely unnecessary and is frankly slightly creepy where Barry is caressing her face while she is in the process of being thrown out of her car. Some music choices in these scenes are also a little bizarre. Everything involving the Martian Manhunter is not necessary. I mean, his involvement in a crucial Martha and Lois scene actually takes away from the emotion of that moment. And then he has a very tacked on final scene which is kind of awkward. The Knightmare scene also drags for a bit too long, especially given they are supposed to be in danger while being out in the open. We still have no more clarity as to why Bruce is having these visions. The slow pace does make things boring at times as well. While I am glad that Cyborg’s backstory gets beefed up, there is a bit too much of Cyborg being angry at his father. After a while, it gets monotonous. The film takes too long to get the team together and the first JL action sequence doesn’t happen until over 2 hours into the movie. The film should have spent a bit more time with the team interacting with one another. That’s what made the Avengers movies work and some of the best parts of this movie are also the team together. There are some Snyder tone deaf moments as per usual. While WW’s entry action sequence is very cool, I do find it funny that they have her comforting a girl and the girl wanting to be just like her after she basically obliterates the terrorist into dust. Given her abilities shown in that sequence, there is no reason she wouldn’t have been able to disable him. But instead she just obliterates him. Its all very Snyder. I do also have to wonder about that sequence. I still don’t get exactly how terrorists feel that blowing up a few city blocks will bring down the modern age. I thought this was a weird Whedon thing but it turns out to be a weird Snyder thing. Also, for all the hype about the black suit Superman, its really nothing more than an aesthetic choice for no rhyme or reason. I honestly prefer the Blue and Red if the black suit doesn’t have a point, like the restorative factor from the comics. Also, for all the blame people put on Whedon about the skimpy outfits on Amazons and the weird backside shots of WW, turns out they were all Snyder. There are a few select things that the Whedon cut did slightly better. For example, there is no real major debate or conflict within the team other than minor objections from Arthur over the implications of using the mother box to bring back Superman. Also, a sequence in the theatrical cut where Bruce admits that Clark was more human that he was, is a better version of a similar scene in this movie. Also, while not perfectly executed, the theatrical cut did acknowledge that Bruce was a human fighting amongst superpowered individuals. Also, most importantly, while Steppenwolf is an improvement over the theatrical cut, this is still a movie where the plot involves a villain trying to find three boxes. Steppenwolf is still pretty boring and the main story is not interesting at all. The Darkseid angle of this story is also overhyped since he’s barely in the film. 

In the end, it feels that there is a pretty decent 3 hour movie hidden in an ok but dragged out 4 hour film. I’m glad the Snyder fans got to see it. I have had my issues with Snyder’s vision. While I feel he has grand ambitions and a sense of scale and scope, he hasn’t really got the sense of story and script to really make it work to a degree where the audience at large would appreciate it. I have seen his old storyboards and read his recent interviews about what he was going to do. It sounds very grand and very cool, but with a big potential of being a gigantic mess. Who knows what will happen in the future but at least it right now seems that they are moving on from Snyder’s vision. For this film, I am right now landing at about a 6/10, which is the highest mark out of all the Snyder DC movies. I’ve only watched it once and watching it again is a big endeavor so I won’t do it anytime soon, but maybe revisiting it will make me either like it more or less.

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Grease 2

So, this movie kind of slaps in the worst way ever. You have to watch it with the knowledge that it’s terrible, it makes it a lot better. The songs are pretty underrated, a lot of them are low key bops and I would probably listen to them without watching the movie. It’s a product of its time so of course it’s aggressively heteronormative even though the main guys are very queer coded just like most 80s movies. The main girl is a fine singer, but her character is kind of boring and really just an ass most of the time. She also has no business being in a movie about the 50s (or maybe the 60s it’s not very clear) she is so obviously a quintessential 80s chick from her hair to her leather pants, she’s basically Sandy’s makeover as a person. In my opinion the main love interest could have done a lot better. He spends the whole movie doing the reverse of the first movie, going from geek to biker??? Yeah, they all ride motorcycles now, but they’re still called T-Birds which really doesn’t make sense but nothing in this movie really does. Oh! And Frenchy is in it, she came back to high school to complete her chemistry credits?? The whole movie is a mess but honestly, I enjoy watching it. I’ll watch it again, I already have.

Basically it’s the first movie but gender swapped and with a talent show and biker gangs.

The T-Birds really make this movie, they’re the most interesting characters in it. Their leader Johnny is funny and likeable despite being a dick, he has very obvious vulnerability and growth during the film which makes the audience not hate him. His goons are hilarious, they have some of the best lines in the movie and I actually laughed out loud at some of the shit they said. I could do without the gratuitous sexualization of high schoolers but what can you do. I don’t really understand why they have beef with this 20-person biker gang of full-grown adults that apparently have nothing better to do than antagonize 4 teenagers but hey I get it they need a common enemy. I also get that they were going for anger and jealousy when Johnny looked at Michael every time he was being his sexy mysterious biker persona but maybe they should have told him that because that definitely isn’t what’s coming across in his face. He has the biggest man crush I have ever seen I swear.

Michael, who is apparently Sandy’s cousin even though he’s British and she was Australian, really drives the story; everything happens because he wants to date Stephanie even though the only real conversations, they’ve had are just him being nice and her being a dick the whole time but I guess she’s pretty? So he becomes a biker to be what she wants because she wouldn’t date a hot smart guy with a British accent, no way he’s a loser. I guess. So instead he spends the whole movie trying to live up to her standards which is more than a little infuriating but lets be honest the plot isn’t really why you watch this movie. It really only starts happening in the 3rd act anyway, most of it is taken up by talent show hijinks and motorcycle themed music numbers. And a surprising amount of bowling. I wasn’t expecting the coolest kids in school to have their own bowling league but that bold choice did lead to a very confusing but fun musical number in which we see that Johnny sings high sometimes because he’s basically Danny in even tighter pants (somehow) and Paulette (a pink lady played by Judy Garland’s daughter) has an amazing voice that doesn’t get used enough in the songs.

There’s a lot of odd running gags in the movie that really don’t need to be there. Rhonda’s obsession with her “huge nose” even though it’s really not that big. The random teacher that had a nervous breakdown and keeps almost dying. The teacher whose whole gimmick is that she’s hot and maybe sleeping with her students? But definitely sleeping with the substitute teacher. The fact that Johnny’s right-hand man’s name is Goose? A reference to a movie that hadn’t even come out when this movie take place? I think anyway, like I said it’s really hard to pinpoint when this movie is supposed to take place. Also the T-Birds are on the football team I think? Or they’re running drills during PE which also doesn’t make sense with their characters. I don’t know man the whole movie is so strange they say stuff and then never bring it up again.

The ending is where I think the movie really lets you down. After a very weird talent show scene Where Steph has a very boring song and is all sad because she thinks Michael is dead, they have a party. And the party is a Luau and it’s quite possible one of the whitest things I’ve ever seen its so embarrassing. They have a long song about how they’re having a Luau and then they have a bunch of shirtless guys carry Steph and Johnny into a pool on a big throne/raft thing? And then the biker gang bursts in because they have nothing better to do and everyone’s screaming and throwing things it’s very chaotic. The continuity errors in this scene are absolutely outrageous. Then Michael shows up out of nowhere and Johnny literally quivers when he sees him (yeah he’s straight) and he singlehandedly kicks out all those hardened criminals. Then there’s a very long and awkward moment where they initiate Michael into the T-Birds even though school is basically over at this point and then Steph and Michael make out. One of my most hated scene tropes in movies, the very intimate confession and make out in the middle of a crowd. And then finally we have the last song of the movie in which Steph and Michael start off with a duet and their voices sound terrible together (it’s a sign and I refuse to believe otherwise) and then everyone else joins in and they try way too hard to tie up all the character’s storylines even though as the audience you weren’t really all that invested in greaser number three and pink lady number three’s sex life and most of these things didn’t really need to be sung out loud they were pretty minor parts of the movie. And oh, okay, everyone now ends up in a relationship even Paulette’s younger sister who I thought was in like, middle school but now I guess she’s dating the dumb guy from the T-Birds but they’re all seniors?? Okay…yeah, the ending fucking sucks it’s the worst part. The song is long and boring, and the choreography is bad but then they recap a bunch of the better songs during the credits and it’s all fine again!

Overall, the movie isn’t nearly as bad as I’ve heard other people say, I’ve seen much worse. And the thing is, the bad parts are kinda what makes it great in the first place. It’s kind of like when they made mean girls 2. It’s not really a sequel because non of the actually important characters are in it (except for Frenchy but she’s only there for like 10 minutes tops). It’s a cash grab but not the worst one. The songs are fun, and the characters are pretty fucking funny if you ignore how weird it is that they’re all like 30. I’d say watch it if it’s free to stream, don’t rent it. I probably get more out of it than a normal sane person because I read into character’s and their emotional connections way too much I basically am rewriting it in my head. I doubt anyone would be interested but I definitely broke down all the characters and their motivations and tried to figure out their actions, also known as me trying to create queer characters off of very unstable reasoning. Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. Anyway, the people in this movie are pretty hot and most of the songs kinda slap so even if the plot is questionable other things make up for it.

As of now this movie is available for streaming on Amazon prime.

Final Verdict:

On my scale 7/10

Actual good movie scale 4/10

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character study: reyna ramírez 

—    basics.

▸     is    your    muse    tall    /    short    /    average ?

she’s just under 6′ she’s my tall girl and i love her so fucking much.

▸      are    they    okay    with    their    height ?

totally! i don’t doubt she could be just as intimidating and commanding if she was average height, but having a few extra inches on most people definitely helps. it also gives her some advantages when it comes to fighting, so there’s that.

▸     do    they    spend    a    lot    of    time    on    their    hair     /    grooming ?

reyna is my fav femme lesbian. she’s busy as hell running camp and looking after a hundred and some half-godly teenagers, but she still makes a point to put time into her appearance. she’s super into skincare, to kind of balance out how frequently she wears makeup. she has her daily/nightly routines and is committed to them with the exception of when she’s on quests. reyna is also dedicated to hair care; her hair is almost always pulled back in a braid, but it’s sleek and shiny and she’s very mindful of the products she uses because she wants to keep it healthy. also, reyna with her hair down is an absolute wonder to behold.

▸      does   your   muse   care   about   their   appearance   /   what    others    think ?

she’s in a position of great power; naturally reyna cares about her appearance. she cares immensely because she knows that her appearance is a reflection of the legion as a whole. she knows she has so many people looking to her, expecting so much from her and if she falters for a second, they’ll eat her alive. so in relation to her position as praetor, it’s important that she look and act the part of strong, unshakable leader. it’s important for morale and maintaining authority. she couldn’t care less if people disagree with her/don’t like her ideas/don’t like her/whatever else they make think about her, so long as they listen to her.

—    preferences.

▸     indoors    or    outdoors ?     outdoors. ▸      rain    or    sunshine ?    sunshine. ▸     forest    or    beach ?      beach. ▸      precious    metals    or    gems ?      metals. ▸      flowers    or    perfumes ?     perfumes. ▸     personality    or    appearance ?     both. ▸      being    alone    or    being    in    a    crowd ?     being alone. ▸      order    or    anarchy ?   order. ▸      painful    truths    or    white    lies ?     painful truths. ▸      science    or    magic ?     science. ▸      peace    or    conflict ?     peace, thought it’s a rarity. ▸      night    or    day ?     day. ▸      dusk    or    dawn ?     dawn. ▸      warmth    or    cold ?     warmth. ▸      many   acquaintances    or    a    few    close    friends ?      a few close friends. ▸      reading    or    playing    a    game ?      reading.

—    questionnaire.

▸      what    are    some    of    your    muse’s    bad    habits ?

by far her worst habit is completely shutting down the minute her emotions get too messy to understand. when they can’t be tucked away neatly in a box, it infuriates her to no end so she pushes them away. out of sight, out of mind, you know. and she flings herself into her work as a distraction, which is another bad habit of hers, overworking. it’s leftover from when she was running camp jupiter by herself and had so much on her plate and felt she had no one to really turn to. also i don’t know if this counts as a bad habit, but reyna is competitive as hell and can get a little too into what’s supposed to be friendly competition.

▸      has    your    muse    lost    anyone    close    to    them ?      how    has    it    affected    them ?

for demigods, it’s a fact of life; you’re going to lose people you care about, people who are close to you. reyna has a handful of people she considers “close” and she’s fortunate enough that they’ve all managed to ( sometimes narrowly ) escape death. but she is constantly losing comrades and even worse, reyna often feels directly responsible for the lives lost. she’s the one leading them into the battle. she’s the one calling the shots, choosing tactics and making the big decisions. every death of every solider in the legion falls on her shoulders and it weighs down on her like a ton of fucking bricks. never mind the fact that they are all children. she’s leading children to their deaths and she can barely be considered an adult herself. i think overall, it’s made her into a very self-sacrificing individual. she puts the needs of others far above her own and she’s more than willing to take on dangerous tasks in place of others. but she also recognizes that, as a leader, this is her duty. and she bears it, so others don’t have to.

▸      what    are    some    fond    memories    your    muse    has ?

finding camp jupiter. after passing up the amazons and the chance to stay with her sister, after going through lupa’s trials, even the difficulties to adjusting to life as part of the legion, reyna finds it all to be worth it. the moment she realizes she wants a home more than she wants power or family or control, more than she wants anything else, and finding that home in new rome is one of the happiest moments of her life. being elected praetor is a fond memory, as well; it speaks volumes that she was voted into the position by her peers despite only being part of the legion’s ranks for a few years. despite the circumstances, reyna definitely looks back on her date walk with annabeth around new rome very fondly. maybe it was a bit tenuous, but annabeth basically poured her heart out to reyna who just got to sit and listen to another girl with too much on her shoulders, someone she could really relate to. 

▸     is    it    easy    for    your    muse    to    kill ?

the amount of times reyna in the fucking books is like “we should’ve executed this kid it’s a shame he got away” or “let us execute you it might solve the problem” and just. the fact that she killed her father out of rage because she thinks he killed hylla........... leads me to believe that, yeah, it’s not difficult for her to kill when she sees the killing as just. she doesn’t kill for the sake of killing, without reason. reyna firmly believes in justice and sometimes death is the suitable punishment. maybe it’s harsh or cruel, but it’s also kinda the roman way. and reyna kills monsters without batting an eye, so.

▸      what’s    it    like    when    your    muse    breaks    down ?

it’s all done in private. reyna will keep it together right up to the moment she’s finally alone, and only then does she let it all out. only then does she allow herself a reprieve from that mask she wears so well, allows herself to be weak for just a moment. it’s a lot of fingernails digging crescents into the palms of her hands, hot tears streaming silently down her cheeks, jaw clenched so fucking tight she should be worried about breaking her teeth. hands shaking as she rubs her temples and fingers through her hair. and then there eventually comes a point where the dam breaks and she just starts... fucking sobbing. and she’ll just cry until she’s tired herself out and falls asleep with aurum and argentum curled up next to her. this made me really sad to think about i hate this actually.

▸     is    your    muse    capable    of    trusting    someone    with    their    life ?

to some extent, she has to. she much more used to having people put their trust in her, to being the pillar that everyone else leans on, but everyone has to trust someone. and it definitely takes a while for reyna to trust someone with her life. it takes time, it takes an individual proving that she can trust them. it’s not very easy to earn her trust, even with her dogs there to alert her when the truth is being told, but it’s possible. reyna is just accustomed to the politics of CJ being a den of fucking deceit and she’s felt abandoned by very important people in her life that it really takes a lot for her to trust someone to such a huge extent. 

▸     what’s    your    muse    like    when    they’re    in    love ?

there’s this... change in her disposition, you can tell she’s a lot more content. more relaxed, not so uptight. she’s not running around camp all starry-eyed and silly, but she just seems to be more at ease. getting to show someone the parts of herself that are usually kept hidden, getting to be tender with someone, it elevates reyna to this level of happiness she’s never had before.

she’s a distinguished lesbian, disaster adjacent so she’s still beyond awkward at times especially during those first few weeks. love, like everything else, has a learning curve. but reyna eventually figures it out, finds how love and maintaining a relationship fits into her routine, and she surprises herself with how much of a romantic she really is. there’s a balance to be kept; she’s still praetor with a boatload of responsibilities, but the reality is when reyna is smitten, there’s very little she won’t do for her gf.

tagged by : @sunbruise​ <3 tagging :    anyone who wants to!!!!

You analyzed audiences in the past, right? Is it true we're hitting the lowest ratings ever in these recent episodes or it's just an exageration? I know ratings seem to be a science on themselves so I would like your opinion on the subject. Also, is there somewhere I can read that "Profound bond" book? Or at least part of it? I love GA stories.

Oh god here we go. And that’s not at you, it’s “Shut the fuck up Cereal Club, you’ve already had literal executive producers explain this shit to you and you deny it” – not your fault but it sure is theirs for continuing to circulate it.

Okay so first note – I’m going to be shorthanding this. ALL RELATED DISCUSSIONS AND CHARTS CAN BE FOUND ON THE #RATINGS HASHTAG.

TLDR: It only sucks like that if you think *literally the entire television universe is collectively having the lowest ratings ever*

TV has been on the decline since… like, TV started. Because one channel became 2 and then there was about 50/50! And then 2 became 4, and it was 25! And then 8! And then cable! And the 2008-9 digital mandate enaction Misha somehow kept this show from falling in the toilet over while show cancellation rates doubled in that period while TV figured out what the FUCK was going on and why THEIR ratings were falling. That’s HOW Supernatural vaulted so much and finally entered top like, 100 discussion on the regular and very quickly by S5 top 50. And then DVR! And then digital! *Digital doesn’t even track by Neilsen methods*

Here have a chart of nielsen ratings average since TV started.

Why yes, there WAS a time when Nielsen was regularly clocking a 40.x average. By the time people were watching TV around Y2K it had dropped beneath 10. By 2005, 10 was a hit. And so on. Q3 of 2010 with the digital boom/smartphones, you name it.

The unilateral ratings collapse is so bad that some networks have *said they’re going to stop reporting Live+SD ratings on certain slots or products by 2020*. CBS has had pissing matches with Nielsen over if their services are even worht putting money on anymore. The average ratings on thursday nights across the board in the general primetime slot, if you remove sports which the nation still DOES watch live, is averaging like a 0.7 right now. 

That may sound like greek, but basically, the average back when SPN started was like… 6. Which is why the show was in so much jeopardy all the time.

In terms of performance with the rest of the world, S15 I don’t have an average on yet and I’m just far too tired to go through that before even midseason, but I can get you a chart of the last 14 years as compared to the rest of the world’s loss, including from other shows in the same time period.

Obviously follow the legend at the bottom.

CW has always been a small network. The above works on making aggregates of all TV ratings by year and using it to make a median of what qualified as average performance on the year. But the thing is, you go look at Grey’s Anatomy? It started at was a 9.x. It’s now like “YAYYYY WE MADE A WHOLE 1.2 TODAY GOOD WORK GUYS T_T” -- and if you haven’t noticed THEY ARE ONE OF THE LEADERS IN LIVE RATINGS RIGHT NOW.

SPN looks stable from this size, but when we come to realize that it’s USED to running about ¼ the ratings of other shows, let’s like, take this into perspective without being shrunk by Big Brother Networks

SPN’s performance currently is *roughly* in the areas of seasons 4, 5, 8. And frankly, this was almost a matter of time thing with fewer and fewer people willing to hop into a show this late.  The amount of “high” Dabb has managed to keep SPN riding, which since S11 has been at performative base with the high buzz premiere season (that… quickly dropped as you can see). There’s also that S9 success bump I told you about, and LOL S7. You’ll notice it inarguably still performed better than S2, 3, 6, and 7 (and frankly, the back half of 1, but that’s rounded up due to Shiny New Show Buzz early before the ratings dropped in half)

If you explore my ratings tag, you’ll see a lot of talk about this history, be it on the show or just general ratings worldwide. But if you google something like “TV ratings falling” you’ll easily come across things like THIS (x)

There’s expectations that we’re going to lose 55million+ people from the TV universe by 2022 right now, or at least live TV, because digital. Also, as just about every historic projection since 2010 has been wrong and they’re like “EXCEEDED EXPECTATIONS” that could very easily end up being like, 60+ million. Cuz. Boomers+ that don’t use their phones and get confused by computers are kinda dying out, and numbers rarely calculate like “rate of death of people confused by gmail”. To put that into perspective, Nielsen TV universe estimates 305.4 million heads across 119.9 million houses. That not-quite-3-heads-per-home base right there, we’re talking about like 1/6th of viewership, entire homes are digitizing, fuckin’ smarthomes are being built with walls that are TVs that don’t hook up to fuckin… Charter unless you LITERALLY are part of their desperate marketing where they’ll literally fund a smarthome renovation JUST to keep you in their TV universe. 

Nah fam. Alexa turn on Netflix alexa play supernatural *washes dishes to imax shit*

Anyway, back to center (because yes, this still IS the shorthand version, if you wanna find the source material, you can navigate the years of posting)

If we were to take seasons 1-14 and modulate them in reverse to the rest of the TV universe curve, S1 etc would look like this in order:

The highs and lows are part of the respective average performer across networks. 100 is always “average”. However, “Average” on the CW is always a different affair.

25-34: Marginal for CW35-44: Solid for CW45+: Hit for CW

So… lowest ratings ever? Lmao no not unless you yell that at the whole TV world. But declined a bit in scale? I mean, yeah. Live, mostly. Digital calls, AFAIK, are still doing fine.

Even still the live ratings dropping that sliver wouldn’t… dramatically… matter. As you’ll find if you actually do dig back in my blog, on average performing TV shows, digital and +3 DVR viewing is already more than 4x the volume of any given show’s ratings on *average*

And… SPN isn’t average. It’s been in the top 20 digital leaders in the likes of Walking Dead and Game of Thrones and a bunch of DC properties since about S11~ (positions 19, 18, 16 S11, 12, 13 – I haven’t dug up 14′s yet but I HIGHLY doubt their digital call just *STOPPED and bounced 100% in reverse* lmao)

Realistically, the volume of SPN’s calls puts its digital audience S11-13 at about 20x the mass of its live viewership. Netflix, hulu, amazon, the CW app, *gestures off into the distance* Digital ways to make ad revenue that aren’t clocked by nielsen, but are measured in other ways. So for every 0.3 you see in a live rating, there’s basically a 6.0 equivalent running online. Whereas the average show, even if it has a 1.0 rating it’s managed to hold onto (which is something literally even the biggest shows have to fight to break past these days), it’s more likely to be closer to a 4.0 equivalent online. SUPERNATURAL CRUSH SUPERNATURAL STRONK.

CW has been AGGRESSIVELY marketing to convert people into their digital universe, because they’re digitally focused. Whether that holds out now that the Netflix deal broke, we’ll see.

Accessory reading:“Parrot Analytics’ Global TV Demand Report Finds Netflix Captured 62.6% Of Worldwide Demand For Digital Original Series In Q2 2019“

Thoughts leading up to series 12

Happy holidays, friends! I know, I know. It's been a while. I would love to sit here and say I have been away doing important things, but really I've been hibernating. The results of that awful election, mixed with the holidays had left me feeling a bit lethargic as of late. That being said, I had a nice Christmas. Being an immigrant, I don't see my family on holidays. My boyfriend and I spent the day piecing together a Babylon 5 jigsaw puzzle. I made my pal Gerry a celery for his 5th Doctor cosplay and he gifted me a replica of the Li H'sen Chang poster from "The Talons of Weng-Chiang." It was a very Doctor Who Christmas! Sadly, there was no Doctor Who Christmas episode!

Alas, it hardly matters, as new Doctor Who is mere days away! As I did last year, you can expect weekly coverage for each new episode. I'm looking forward to getting back into the groove of consistent writing. Usually, the fandom is more abuzz when the show is actually airing, so please remember to check in with this blog, as I will be watching along with the rest of you!

If you recall, prior to series eleven, I made a list talking about some of my hopes and expectations for the new TARDIS team and the new production team. Seeing as series twelve is just days away from premiering, I thought I might do it again. Let's get to it, shall we?

The Thirteenth Doctor

Seeing Jodie Whittaker back in the TARDIS for another round of adventures has me massively excited. One of the downsides to Christopher Eccleston's run is that we never really got to see him develop the role of the Ninth Doctor. I'm hoping we'll get to see more aspects of her character. Seeing as I don't expect her to regenerate any time soon, there's still much of her personality left to explore. We've met the friendly adorkable Doctor, now let's see her bend a little.

One of my primary complaints about Jodie Whittaker's portrayal as the Doctor was that I didn't think she got scary. While I love her bravery, running headlong into danger, I would like to see a shade or two of her dark side. Up to this point, she's been too friendly to be scary. I know I'm not the only person with this complaint, so it will be interesting to see what a year of hiatus and refocusing will do for her. Honestly, I hope they don't change her too much, as she's pretty great. I'd just like to see them flesh her out a bit.

Other than her personality, I'm also hoping to see some costume variations. The trailer for the new season does give us Jodie in a bow tie, which I am all for. I've also seen a picture where her trousers are black. I'm hoping they continue to tweak her costume here and there, as watching the Doctor's costume evolve over time has always been one of my favourite things about the show.

Chris Chibnall's return

Was there anyone from series eleven that drew more ire than Chris Chibnall? Sure you got the people who hated Jodie solely because she was a woman, but on the level of legitimate concerns, Chibnall was up there. I myself threw a bit of mud in his direction, and I don't feel as though it was without good cause. The general management of the show seemed a bit aimless, despite many promising elements.

Something about the way series eleven was received gave the BBC pause to reevaluate the show's trajectory, and I have a distinct feeling that Chibnall was at the heart of a lot of it. From his lack of a season-long story arc, to the villains being a bit shit, to an overly dour tone, his first year as showrunner left something to be desired. The fact that we didn't even get a single webisode during this gap year shows me that they're still not 100% sure what to do with Doctor Who.

However, having said this, Chibnall's core TARDIS team is one of the most exciting aspects of series twelve. I can't wait to see more from this great line up of characters. And if the exciting trailer for this new series is anything to go off, we're in for quite a ride. Chibnall's most recent endeavour as showrunner was last year's "Resolution," a much-needed bit of classic Who villainy in the form of a Dalek. I was left feeling optimistic that Chibnall was capable of delivering solid storytelling. And that's the operative word- optimistic. As long as he doesn't get needlessly gritty, I'm cautiously optimistic that this year-long hiatus has yielded positive results.

The Companions

Like many other viewers, my chief complaint about the companions has to be Yaz. She really got shafted on the level of character development last year. When you have someone as talented as Mandip Gill, it's a shame to waste her. I know the fandom was quite vocal about this fact, so I fully expect to see the show give her more time in the spotlight. I don't know anyone who disliked her character, which is a good sign that the fandom wants more of her.

Ryan and Graham were two characters that I felt got a great bit of character development. The moment when Ryan finally calls Graham "granddad," was a truly exciting moment for two characters we had grown to love. The logical next step, at least in my mind, is to test the boundaries of this new relationship. I'd really love to see Graham meet a new love interest. Introducing someone into Graham's life would make Ryan have to broaden his definition of family even further. It might also be a catalyst for his own personal growth.

I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't also see one or more of the companions depart from the TARDIS. My gut says it would be Graham, but I wouldn't be surprised if all three of them left at the end of the series. As much as I love the current companions, I would love to see what energy a new companion or two might do for Jodie's Doctor.

The Villains

Prior to series eleven, I was feeling very optimistic for new Doctor Who. That is until I read an article where Chris Chibnall announced there would be no returning villains. Other than the announcement that Chibnall would be showrunner, nothing had made me more concerned for the show's future than "no returning villains." It's not that returning villains are a must for Doctor Who. It's actually a rather brave thing to attempt. The reason it's brave is that if you're going to leave out classic baddies, you've got to justify your decision by crafting new classics. And I'm sorry, but some Slipknot dude with teeth in his face is not classic.

From what I've seen of the trailer and promotional stills, we're looking at at least three returning creatures from the Whoniverse. We've all seen the picture of Jodie staring down the Judoon. If I am completely honest, those have left me with the least amount of hype, as they weren't ever even full-on villains. I've always found the Judoon slightly hokey, so I could take or leave them. The plus side is that there is still plenty of room to develop them as a species. Are there non-Shadow Proclamation Judoon? Are there evil factions? I'm curious if nothing else.

Another familiar face is the Cybermen. While I feel like both the RTD and Moffat eras used the Cybermen ad nauseam, they're still a classic baddie with a solid track record. It appears they'll have something to do with the finale and that "timeless child," storyline I'm uninterested in, so fine, sure, ok. The real alien species I'm excited for is the Racnoss! Much like the Judoon, the Racnoss are also underdeveloped. I wasn't a big fan of them the first time around, which is why I'm excited for more. I'm curious to see what depth can be found in these campy arachnids. If nothing else, the makeup is fun.

The Guest Actors

Series eleven treated us to a surprisingly tender performance from Lee Mack in "Kerblam!" We got a decent turn by Mark Addy, working with not a lot to go off as the underwritten Paltraki. But without a doubt, the best performance came in the form of Alan Cumming's King James. Not only was he as hilarious as he was loathsome, but he also elevated what could have been a more straightforward performance, by finding that sweet spot of camp and contemptible.

That being said, with actors like Stephen Fry, Lenny Henry, and classic Doctor Who alum Robert Glenister joining the show, I'm hopeful we'll get at least one memorable performance out of the lot. I've not followed many of the ins and outs of the storylines, so I have no idea who anyone is playing other than Goran Višnjić as Nikola Tesla. That being said, the addition of Tesla to the series seems an obvious fit. He was an eccentric man who was a bit weird about his pet bird. I expect his story to be one of the stranger ones we'll enjoy this year, or at least, it had better be.

The BBC's involvement

I'm hoping that in this last year, the BBC weren't just reevaluating Chris Chibnall's direction for the show, but their own involvement as well. They got rid of Bake Off and Formula One, Top Gear's audience followed Clarkson over to Amazon. All that's left are partisan news coverage, QI, Countryfile, and Doctor Who. Oh and I guess "His Dark Materials," but I don't know anyone who's talking about that show. As I said earlier, it's been a year of nothing from Doctor Who as a series. Other than comics and a less than perfect VR game, we've gotten nothing from the Thirteenth Doctor and the fam. Not even a novel or webisode to tide us over. How hard would it have been, while filming series twelve, to shoot a quick little skit on the TARDIS set? The Moffat era did this a lot, and it was always nice to see a little bit of Doctor Who while waiting for more episodes.

As the last vestige of the BBC's once-great television empire, you would think they might start to give a shit about Doctor Who. I know it's a crazy concept, but perhaps shelving one of your best shows for a year wasn't the best option. It would be nice to see them put more money and effort into the show. It would be a welcome sight to see them also put more money into the budget for things like merchandise or extended universe media. We've got three books for the current Doctor and that was last year. David Tennant had over thirty novels, while Matt Smith's Doctor appeared in over 15, and Capaldi only appeared in nine. Do you remember the last time we got a Character Options figure that wasn't a repaint of another figure? The most recent one we got was Harry Sullivan, and I'm pretty sure the only new element to that figure was his head. I've seen previews of the new companion figurines, and they're great, but I want more.

Perhaps I sound a bit spoiled. Many shows never expand beyond their allotted episodes, but this is Doctor Who, a show with a broader reach than your telly. It seemed last year that they were finally giving the show its dues. There were billboards of Jodie's face everywhere. The hype was palpable. Now, it's just four days from series twelve, and I've not even seen a bus ad for the new show. A woman I see out on dog walks was surprised when I told her the show was returning on the first of January. She had no idea. This is the Doctor Who audience that they're failing, not people like me who count the days like an advent calendar. The BBC needs to decide once in for all if they're going to give Doctor Who the respect it deserves, or sell it someone who will.

And that's it for now, friends. I hope you're all just as excited as I am to be back in the blue box. If all goes as planned, I should have a new review up the day after each episode. I'm optimistic that I'll have some great things to say!

20 things I learned before I turned 69.

By IHB Tom Petty

Tom: According to my birth certificate I'm turning 69 today, which is odd because part of me still feels like 30 while the other part of me feels 149 but my current age (until the clock strikes 12) is actually 68 and it's 2019, people have said that sharing is caring so here's 20 lessons that I've learned.

One: I learned to read contracts carefully.

It was one of life's hardest lessons about being a musician that I have come to learn is reading a contract carefully and understand what everything means. Understand what publishing is, know how much you should be paid to make your record and when in doubt, file for bankruptcy, write a song about it, go on tour to pay for legal fees, don't give into the big business guys, if you're recording a record during this whole ordeal and the court they start to imply that they have the right to come and seize anything you're working on, get someone to switch the names on the master tapes and have them hide it where no one can find them after you get done recording. So if you're asked in court where the tapes are..you don't know. And be sure to have drills to see how fast you can get them out of the studio.

Two: Being a snakecharmer to dogs comes in handy. From carrying treats on you to learn how to read the body language of a dog. Being a dog charmer is quite the catch.

Three: Playing pranks on your kids is the best form of entertainment. When one of your daughter's ex boyfriend's accidentally leaves a pair of his underwear at your house, It's a free for all. Put them on her car, put them in a box, wrap it up and leave it under the Christmas tree for them to open on Christmas morning. It'll be talked about for years and years to come. Trust me.

Four: Payback from your kids is the worst. Sometimes the result of pranking your kids is the worst you could experience. Okay that's a little far fetched but it definitely isn't pleasant. I couldn't tell you how many times AnnaKim bugged me about buttless chaps...all chaps are buttless AnnaKim.

Five: Know the difference between fin and not fun. Being on a tour bus and mooning people while they drive by with your drummer as the rest of the band looks on in shock? Fun. Getting chased by your bassist's cat while your trying to eat because they want your dinner and everyone else is laughing? Not fun. Buying a bunch of hash in a country where it's legal? Fun. Getting pulled out of line while you're trying to get to your flight on time because they found some residue on the pipe your drummer has in his suitcase and then missing rehearsals for a TV  show you're supposed to be on? Not fun. Seeing your bassist eating a whole chunk of hash while customs is questioning said drummer? To be honest I'm not even sure where to put that one. For me? Not fun. For him? Fun. Lighting fireworks on the fourth? Fun. Putting a bunch of bottle rockets next to each other in a straight line and then lighting them all off? Not fun. We almost burned down our old house.

Six: If you're moving, get a U-haul. We would have had way less trips to make between our current house and our old house if we just rented a U-haul.

Seven: Recently, I discovered command tape and Blu-tack, and I would definitely have less holes in my walls if Howie mentioned it sooner. Thank you Howie, thank you command tape. And no this isn't paid advertisement, they're just great products.

Eight: There are times where tough love doesn't work, and you lose the people you care most about because of it and there are times where it does work but that's not always the case.

Nine: Don't get too close to the front of the stage. After getting ripped down the first time I've learned the hard way not to get too close.

Ten: Climbing on top of the roof isn't a good idea either, after we got done doing that episode of incorrect heartbreakers it took almost four hours just to get me down from the roof. We had to call the local fire department.

Eleven: Some modeling clay can be put in the oven while others are not made to be baked all together. Earlier this month Howie wanted to test some random modeling clay he ordered off of Amazon, so he handed me a piece and had me put it in the oven to see if it would bake. Needless to say when I checked on it not even five minutes later it turned into a puddle.

Twelve: Take your driving lessons seriously, back when I took my first driving lesson I didn't take some things the instructor was saying into account. I didn't pass the first five tests. I'm still not good at driving after all of these years either.

Thirteen: Just because you don't think it's a good idea to put a new song on a greatest hits album doesn't mean it won't do well. When the greatest hits album was due I really didn't like the idea of doing it let alone putting new songs on it. But the album sold 12,000,000, was certified 12x platinum in the US and the only single released from it went number 1 on the US Billboard album rock tracks, so what do I know?

Fourteen: Breaking your hand is not a way to resolve things you're struggling with. During the recording process of Southern Accents, I broke my hand out of frustration due to my own fault. I wasn't in the right mind and if I was I probably could have avoided the whole thing.

Fifteen: Fashion is all about playful experimentation. If you don’t look back at pictures of some of your old looks and cringe, you’re doing it wrong. See: Marcus Amphitheater, 2001 and Bridge school benefit, 2002.

Sixteen: Everyone deserves to be treated equally. From a very young age I was always enraged with injustice. As the years went on and I learned more and more I took every chance I got to stand up, voice my opinion and I think every person should.

Seventeen: A very more recent one, always have band-aids on you, in every room possible, in every suitcase and in your pockets in general.

Eighteen: Never judge someone until you talk to them one on one. I took this one from a friend after having a two hour conversation over the phone. You never judge someone until you talk to them one on one.

Nineteen: Love isn't forever, I've had my fair share of breakups and heartaches. But the one thing that I have learned from it all is that love doesn't last forever. People grow apart, feelings change and so do people. And sometimes it's for the better.

Twenty: if you see it bubbling after you get done heating something up, don't touch it. Another recent one as I just made myself my own birthday cake, I decided to put caramel on it and I touched it, thus burning my fingers. At least it tastes good.

Bonus: if the instructions say 3 tablespoons add more, if it looks well still like nothing but powder keep adding what the recipe calls for until it looks right. And if you add too much. Pour some out, it'll be fine. Or add in more flour or mix.

DC Superhero Girls 2019 Bumble Bee Doll Review

Hi all! I thought I’d do a review of the new line of DCSG’s dolls. I per-ordered all 7 new dolls several months ago, and they were suppose to come out June 1st, but seeing how there were no new pictures of them anywhere online and the Amazon listing that I had used to order them in the first place kept saying they were unavailable I wasn’t sure if I was actually going to receive them or if the release date was pushed back and they just never updated their listing; but nope! Here’s Bumble Bee! Almost 2 weeks late, but at least she came. My account was charged for the other 6 dolls as well, and I’ll try to do a review on them when they finally show up. (That could be another week or two...)

But anyway, Let’s get to it:

Here we’ve got the back of her box, featuring a very short blurb about Bumble Bee/Karen Bleecher and the rest of the dolls in “wave 1″.

Here she is straight out of her box with everything she comes with; just the doll, which tbh I kind of figured she wouldn’t come with anything else.

Now we have her back side straight out of the box.

Both her wings can rotate 360 degrees and they have sparkles inside the plastic. They can’t be removed.

The googles on her mask can move up and down. Her helmet is kept in place with plastic ties and clear rubber bands which obviously weren’t put on straight as her mask is crooked. You could probably get it to fit better if you undid the ties, but I’m not going to.

In this closeup of her face you can see that her-right/our-left eye has some very noticeable paint smudges; there is a black mark coming out from the middle of her eye and some white paint off to the side of her eye as well as her-left/our-right eye having some green paint running down her face. With three decently sized defects on the face of the doll it’s a wonder how she made it through quality control. Seeing how this is the first doll to arrive and thus my first impression of the line this is not a great way to start. If you’re really picky about these types of things I’d recommend waiting to try and find them in stores and hopefully they’re not all this bad.

Otherwise, she does have a pretty face.

Her hair is a mix of brown, lighter brown and electric yellow streaks. It looks like it has a slight wave, but that’s probably just from being in the box. I doubt they attempted to actually give their only curly haired doll, curly hair.

Her boots can come off to reveal her super tiny feet. She can stand on her own while wearing the boots, but not without them. Her feet aren’t perfectly flat and to have a slight incline. (She could wear the world’s shortest heels.)

Her “gantlets” can be removed too, to show that she does have wrist articulation. I’m not sure if her hands are suppose to be removable or not, she doesn’t come with instructions and the box didn’t say you could remove them, so I’m not going to risk it. Her wrist joints are actually pretty good. It’s a shame that she didn’t have elbows or knees. She also has one molded “gripped” hand and one “free” hand. Gen 1 Bumble Bee had this hand set too and I’m not sure why because neither of them come with anything to hold.

Her outfit is made out of REALLY CHEAP feeling material. I’m not an expert on identifying fabric, so I have no idea what it’s called but it feels like the type of material you would find on a dollar store or bootleg doll.

Her outfit can be removed to show her skin colored torso. Unlike the Gen 1 dolls, the Gen 2 dolls (or at least Bumble Bee) don’t seem have molded on underwear.

Her outfit has two Velcros in the back with a hole for her wings.

Just for fun, here we have my Gen 1 Bumble Bee next to Gen 2 Bumble Bee. Gen 1 is quite a bit taller than Gen 2, as well as having painted accessories, a full outfit, full articulation, a student ID card........

Now here’s a side by side of their faces. You can tell that Gen 1 was going for a much more realistic look, while Gen 2 went for a more cartoonish style. I have to admit that I prefer Gen 2′s lip color.

I’m not quite sure if you can tell from these pictures, but Gen 1 is actually a few shades darker than Gen 2 which was something I was wondering about given how Gen 2 Bumble Bee is lighter in the show than Gen 1 is, so I was wondering if it transferred over to the dolls, which it did.

I was also wondering about the differences in their hair, they both have a mix of brown and lighter brown hair but as you can see Gen 1 Bumble Bee doesn’t have the additional electric yellow streaks. Also while her hair isn’t super curly, Gen 1′s doll at least put some effort into giving us the curl that the character has in all other forms of media, unlike Gen 2 which put in no effort what so ever to get her hair looking anywhere close to the way it looks in all other forms of media that she is in, including the box art of this very doll.

BFFs ♥

In the end, she was only 10$ and if she had a better face paint and actual curls, I’d be ok with it. As it stands however, I don’t know if I’d recommend her. It feels like Mattel just tried to do the bare minimum, and couldn’t even do that given the fact that they thought it was ok to send customers products with very visible paint defects; and if you add on the fact that Gen 1 Bumble Bee was retailing for only 3-5$ more and has curls, painted accessories, good quality fabric clothing, a removable wing backpack, full articulation (plus she has that “athletic” muscular body) and adding on the fact that I also bought my Gen 1 Bumble Bee online and she has no visible paint defects... I’d honestly recommend that you try to pick up one of her instead while you still can if you’re interested in a Bumble Bee doll. She’s going for under 15$ right now on Amazon.

Necessity (Legend of Korra AU Snippet)

Korra glared at Azula with all the power she could muster. It had absolutely no effect.

“How pathetic,” Azula drawled. “Even your predecessor could glare better than you and he was a vegetarian who tried his hardest to be a pacifist until reality convinced him that sometimes you have to break a few eggs if you want to make a decent omelette.”

“You’re a terrible person, you know that right?” Korra grumbled. The teenager was half-buried under a pile of books and pieces of paper. “I’m the Avatar. I can understand the torture you call training, but do I really need to know how modern banking, taxation, and economics work?”

Azula poked Korra in the side with the cane she used whenever she had to fake being a helpless, old woman for a mission. “Money, Korra, makes the world go round. You might the Avatar, but you are only one person. Do you know why the Fire Nation did so well against the combined might of the Earth Kingdom, the Water Tribes, and the Air Nomads?”

“Because you guys were really good at setting stuff on fire?” 

“Apart from that, Korra.”

“Uh…” Korra had learned the hard way that the look on Azula’s face right now meant that she had better give a decent answer or her afternoon training session was likely going to involve the wonders of lightning and what it did when it struck Avatars who were too slow to dodge or bend it away. “Industrial capacity?”

“Hmm…” Azula gave Korra a thoughtful look. “That’s actually not a terrible answer. Yes. In simple terms, the advanced technology and greater industrial capacity of the Fire Nation gave us a sizeable advantage. However, it was our economic strength that truly allowed us to crush our enemies.”

“I see…” Korra did her best to imitate the expression Tenzin had whenever he said anything particularly wise. Alas, her lack of a beard to stroke really ruined the effect.

“It’s obvious that you don’t.” Azula sat down opposite Korra. “Logistics is the key to war, Korra. Armies need food, equipment, shelter, and other supplies. Whoever can provide those things the most efficiently across the largest possible area will be victorious. The Fire Nation was the first modern economy, and it was built on the industrialisation of production. Machines, primitive automation, mass production - all of these allowed us to outproduce and out supply our opponents. Moreover, our stronger economy allowed us to either buy out or pressure independent factions, forcing them to join us or removing them from the field of battle.”

“You make it sound like the Fire Nation should have won.”

“In all honesty, we would have if my father hadn’t been an idiot and if I hadn’t been insane.” Azula chuckled grimly. “The Earth Kingdom was on its last legs, ruled by a well-meaning but utterly incompetent man. The Water Tribes were essentially non-entities in terms of military strength outside of the polar regions. The Air Nomads, well, you know what happened there. Your predecessor and his allies rightfully identified that removing the Fire Nation’s leadership was the best chance they had for victory, and my father obliged by picking a fight with Avatar Aang while I…” Azula’s lips twitched. “I was in such a poor state of mind that I actually lost a fight to my brother. Honestly, if I’d been in my right mind, I would have beaten him easily. Oh, well, I can’t really blame him. Had the roles been reversed, then I’d have done the same. Attacking an opponent who is too mentally unstable to fight properly is the intelligent thing to do.”

Korra winced. Azula could occasionally be quite candid about her past, and it was not a nice past. “And this relates to my current assignment…?”

“You are the Avatar,” Azula said. “When you reach the height of your power, I doubt there will be a single person who will be able to best you in battle. I will make sure of that. But the world is a big place. Can you be everywhere at once? Can you fight everyone’s battles for them? You may not see it now, but the world stands on the precipice of change. Machinery continues to improve, the divisions between benders and non-benders grow, and discontent is rising.”

“People keep telling me that,” Korra murmured. “But I hardly ever get to leave this place.”

“I will see what I can do about that,” Azula replied. “A naive Avatar will likely end up a dead Avatar.” She grinned. “Believe, I know. But back to the matter at hand. The truth, Korra, is that most people are not interested in high minded ideals, honour, or anything like that. What they want is simple: a roof over their head, money in their pockets, and nice things for their family. Can you, as the Avatar, give that to them?”

“Not to all of them,” Korra replied. “Maybe some, but not all.”

“Yes. You’re powerful… not omnipotent.” Azula nodded at the books. “But as the Avatar you will be incredibly influential on the rulers of the various nations. Economic policy will be key to establishing long-lasting piece. If people are content, well fed, and wealthy, they will not go to war, nor will they look upon their neighbours with envy and discontent. As the Avatar, you will be called upon to settle conflicts. You need to understand which side you should be on and what recommendations you should make.”

Korra nodded slowly. Years ago, she’d believed being the Avatar would be simple. The more she learned, the more she realised there was always more to learn. “That can’t be your only motive, can it?”

“The White Lotus are not your friends,” Azula said. “They are using you. In a way, everyone wants to use you. After all, you are the most powerful piece on the board. Keeping you isolated here removes your ability to form political alliances and amass monetary wealth. Once you take up your duties, though, you will be travelling a great deal. If you are wise, you will make political alliances, and you will spot investment opportunities.”

“You’re teaching me how to make those investments…” Korra paused as a thought occurred to her. She reached for a book and began to flip through it. “And you’re teaching me how to hide any money I make!”

Azula smiled. “Very good. If people know where your money is, they can take it or cut you off from it. The White Lotus has eyes and ears everywhere. But if you have money they don’t know about, they won’t be able to plan against it, and they’ll be caught off guard once you use it. Feign weakness until you have built up your strength.”

“To buy an army?”

“If you need to.” Azula shrugged. “But there are many other reasons why you might want to have money at your disposal. Bribes are essential throughout much of the world. Some coin here and there can preserve the peace temporarily while you look for a permanent solution. And promising individuals can be helped to reach their potentials if you have sufficient funds. Money, Korra, matters, and it is simply another form of power. You need to learn how to use it.”

“How much money do you have?” Korra asked.

Azula told her.

“…” Korra’s eye twitched. “Are you serious?”

“I have made many fine investments in my life, some legal and some… less so. Over time, those investments have paid off handsomely, and I have diversified my portfolio to ensure my fortunes are protected from downturns in any single area. How do you think I fund my spy network and my other endeavours? People don’t work for free, and threats will only get you so far.”

“You could buy better instant noodles then,” Korra countered. “You always get the cheap stuff!”

“If I started spoiling you with premium instant noodles, you’d get soft.” Azula smirked. “And what makes you think I’m not keeping the premium instant noodles for myself?”

“You wouldn’t…” Korra trailed off as she realised that, yes, Azula totally would keep premium instant noodles. “You have!”

“Of course.” Azula smiled sunnily. It was terrifying. “And now that you know about them, I can use them as a reward.”

“You might be the most evil person I know,” Korra said seriously.

“Oh, Korra, you have no idea.”

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Author’s Notes

Korra’s naivety when it came to matters of economics in the show was mind-boggling. She might be the most powerful person in the world, but her naivety in certain critical areas left her woefully underprepared. Indeed, it’s difficult to believe it wasn’t intentional since keeping her naive would make it very easy for the White Lotus to ‘advise’ her in a manner that allowed them to use her power for their own ends.

You can find me on fanfiction.net, AO3, and Amazon.

Do you think we will ever learn why Lucifer really ends up in S5? What is your expert opinion on the reason? Thank you.

First, it would be presumptuous to claim expertise on that but I’ll try to give my opinion on why this happened. 

 It will take a long time before we have an actual official answer and at the same time, it might never happen what is certain though is that Sandman is not to blame. 

The main problem is that Netflix is focusing on new content especially on the content that can either draw new subscribers or make the existing ones stay. Think of it like the most popular sitcoms out there. What do they have in common? A main theme but different stories each and every time. Friends, How I Met Your Mother, I Love Lucy, 30 Rock, The Big Bang Theory. 

All of them are short and introduce a new story in every episode. The same also happens with Black Mirror that makes them an engaging product for a prolonged time. This does not happen however with procedural series like Lucifer. Yes, it is popular but require a different kind of audience. That means that the series of that kind has a burnout period but also an increased production cost & success risk each year. 

Lucifer costs a lot, around 70-80 million back in S3. For S4 they had a similar average cost per episode like in S3. For a streaming service that spends hundreds of millions to obtain or keep series like Friends, this is not a small expenditure especially since something happens from season to season. As I’ve said the cost each season rises and that is why most of Netflix’s originals are shot in Canada to lower the costs. Lucifer not only is shot in Los Angeles but also requires the biggest Warner Bros stage which is rather expensive so no matter the tax cuts it still is a very costly series to make and it becomes even more so every year.  

To all the above think that the cost of making the series does not include the global promotion, adapting it to other languages like subs and dubbing etc. 

So what do all the above mean?

Netflix will not spend a lot of money to keep series that can replace easily with a lower cost. Although Sandman’s pickup has nothing to do with Lucifer’s axing the truth remains that Netflix simply found a cheap new product to replace what they have cancelled. The same happened with Sense 8, One Day at a Time and The Santa Clarita Diet. So cancelling a series even a successful one it’s a business model. 

Lucifer will have 5 bingeble seasons and Netflix loves that. They will have the sole right along with some regions of Amazon Prime to provide it for the years to come and the Home Media of S4 and S5 will be probably be delayed in order for people to be forced to have an account to watch it. So in a sense, it was a good business move. Save a series provide 2 seasons and an ending but also keep the series short enough to be binged and be kept in the platform while Netflix enters the streaming wars in 2020-2021...

But you may ask why WB does not step in and interferes with that decision? Well in WB two major things have happened or three actually. First they have two streaming services to look after DC world and the new WB one by 2020 which in the long run will have Lucifer after Netflix’s contract is up but for now, this 5 season product has had it’s run. If you want to remain in the show business you need to be able to come up with new stuff and quickly. 

The second is that WB owns DC and DC owns Vertigo, which was resolved as an entity about 2 weeks ago. Vertigo was the original publishing house of Sandman, Lucifer etc. But what that does have to with Lucifer the tv series? In 2016 a new Lucifer series was released along with the tv series, Gaiman was not involved in the project and in my opinion, it didn’t carry the writing quality of the original series. Yet in late 2018 Gaiman started a new series of not just Lucifer but of a group of comics that were placed in the Sandman Universe and were a continuation of what he had written almost 30 years ago in some cases. 

But still, Gaiman does not own them, WB does. American Gods, Caroline, Good Omens and now Sandman will involve Gaiman directly while Lucifer was based on his work and is more of an AU of Gaiman’s work. This means that Gaiman does not call the shots and that WB after Lucifer’s success seems to be willing to explore what Gaiman created but as small projects if you will. 

So in that plan, always, in my opinion, having a few seasons of a popular product is something that can create a long-lasting revenue through streaming services and future exploitation down the road than making many costly seasons of the same thing. In short, I doubt that Sandman will have a better fate in this era where the recycling of ideas and material targets on a constantly engaged audience through a compact material of a certain regulated cost and deep impact quality-wise. It’s revolutionary but unfortunately leads to a phenomenon of good series being retired very quickly as they are treated as investments and not as an actual product tv and movies were once were. That happens because they never truly die but are used in a different way, the domino effect if we can call it that. 

PS Too much?

Regarding that post of "my friend told me dw is mad about the large female audience" whether that's true or not, what option do you think would be best for DW to take in this position? making another reboot where the messages and writing this audience hated so much can finally be fixed? so they can relaunch their merch and target it more towards women? Or maybe making this reboot more appealing to men and succed with their "boy toys" and "boy property"? (1/4)

Though i just see this last one failing miserably, they already tried it once and it didn’t work. I might be young (and correct me if i’m wrong) but fandom culture seems pretty female dominated to me? Like even people outside of the binary gender (a minority group in the current society) seem to overtake the few men who engaged in the fandoms I’ve been before. (2/4) 

It might be cause I only get into cartoon fandoms and that doesn’t appeal to adult men as much as it does to adult women, it might be cause of the misogynistic “ew! a crazy fangirl” view, probably fandoms are safe places for oppressed groups or they simply have different interests than mine. (¾)

I’m sure there’re more factors at play but whatever it is, DW is just wasting their time trying to appeal to a small part of their audience when they already had this large group (which is pretty diverse in gender and orientation) and they could win us back if they try. This shouldn’t be looked as a disappointment but more like an opportunity (um wtf DW??) But how do you think they should take that step? (srry for the rant, got some strong feelings about this) 

First, can I interest you in a cookie? Maybe get your mind off me writing an entire marketing plan for DreamWorks? 

Before we go into “boys property” - we need to note that brands don’t focus one target market.

When I headed four brands, each brand had primary, secondary, and even tertiary markets. For our main brand, we had six target segments, three primary. Did we care about the others? Yeah, but we didn’t highlight them half as much in marketing campaigns or collateral. 

That means that most likely, Voltron wasn’t a “boys” franchise, so much as one of the target markets DreamWorks wanted to hit were boys, ages 7 to 15. Their secondary market was probably older males who had seen the original series, and either a secondary or tertiary market was older female viewers who also watched DotU.

I need to note - I used to wear Voltron shirts all the time. When I wore VLD shirts, I heard from girls, generally 18-30. Almost all had a favorite character and knew the next season drop date.

When I wore DotU shirts, I heard from guys. When I asked the men, “Hey, do you like the new show?” every single one told me they’d never heard of it.

Now, fandom, as a whole, DreamWorks probably doesn’t care about. No, really. Fandom can make their fanart, celebrate the story, whatever floats their boat; DreamWorks doesn’t care. 

What DreamWorks cares about is sales. (They don’t even care about viewership if they’re distributing through Netflix because Netflix releases no numbers. All DW cares about is that Netflix orders more episodes.)

So are the toys selling? No. Then that’s not working. Are the shirts selling? Yeah? Oh, maybe we need to focus there. Who is buying the shirts?

But it’s actually hard to say for sure what’s working when all we know for sure is what’s not working. We can assume by the sudden increase in T-shirt stock on Hot Topic, especially those in women sizes, that these shirts are selling. We can also assume from Amazon having every single shirt in every single style - men, women, and children - that those shirts are selling. 

I can also tell you from my sister and mom’s holiday shopping experience that Hot Topic says they cannot keep VLD merchandise on the shelf. I’m not sure if that’s factual or just the ramblings of an overzealous seller. 

My point is - from the data we can see, we can assume that women are the majority viewership and it’s women with disposal income, 18-40, or so.

(I also want to note, I actually like the cut of a men’s shirts better.)

However, we don’t know that Voltron isn’t engaging with young male viewers, just that young male viewers seemingly aren’t buying merchandise. And as someone with at least seven different toys from VLD - I can tell you women are. 

So what does that mean for DreamWorks? 

There are a few factors that will determine what DreamWorks will do or has decided to do going forward. Most likely, they are going to want a variety of series, each one with a focused set of primary markets. So whether any new Voltron series will want to hit the “boys market” depends on if any other show in DreamWorks’ hopper is set to hit the boys’ market. I’m sure currently 3Below and potentially Fast & Furious are the supposed to hit those markets, so if they’re looking to making money on toy sales - well, F&F probably has the most potential. 

However, as @nomadicism can tell you in more detail, the toy market is effectively broken, and Voltron did suffer from distribution issues. (The videos from last year’s Toy Fair confirm this.) So I would need to see DreamWorks’ toy sales to know for sure if that’s even something worth pursuing. 

Ignoring that for just a moment - recent thought leadership in marketing is looking at agile delivery methods and strategies. Therefore, if DreamWorks stumbled upon a lucrative target market with disposal income, then yes - they should want to milk that and they should have the infrastructure to switch target markets and merchandise - not on a dime but in an acceptable time frame. And they have.  

However, as @sol1056 wrote earlier this week - it really depend on the person - or demographic - making the decisions, which will say whether marketing and merchandising will want to focus on women as a target market, despite or because of their monetary value. 

After all, Young Justice had a large female fanbase. That was the reason Cartoon Network cancelled the show, and from what I’ve seen from the Season 3 thus far, the EPs focused hard on trying to gain that male market they originally didn’t lure the first two seasons. In doing so, they lost me, at least, as a viewer. 

Going forward - what should DreamWorks do?

Young Justice just started streaming this month, so it’s hard to say if this darker turn will affect the story going forward. It’s hard to say if the darker start can’t be changed by a fulfilling ending to the season. What I can say is - Greg Weisman said earlier this week that the show hasn’t been greenlit for a fourth season. (It’s also on DCU, which no doubt has a smaller viewership than Netflix.)

While women dominate the fandom, the question remains - are they buying? If women really are shilling out dough for VLD merchandise (*looks at her Shiro shirts*), then DreamWorks execs should take notice and decide, “This is where we should throw our lot with any sequel.”

I can’t go much into details without getting too personal, but CEOs are beginning to create strategy from social media, thanks to Millennials. (That’s not to say that letters or calls to DreamWorks aren’t weighed more heavily because they are.)  Millennials want a personalized online experience. They want to engage with media on their own terms, an experience crafted toward their preferences, and they live with a mini-computer in their hands. They live on social media, though that, too, is dominated by women. 

But CEOs see social media posts as not having a filter, and though I have serious misgivings about taking social medias as the only source of research, I’m sure DreamWorks is doing or has done professional market research. They know what products are selling, whose buying them, and what these people want to see, in order to encourage them buy more. 

It’s telling that the only shirts ever produced for VLD, especially their newest ones - 

- all have the paladins and their symbols, after supposedly the lore was discarded after Season 2. 

Ignoring that the lore might be coming back - Marketing has created only a handful of new shirts post-Season 2 with a different paladin line-up - the majority of which were Monster & Mana designs and one shirt with Allura in the split screen. 

NOTHING AGAINST ALLURA. I just mean that seemingly, either merchandising doesn’t think post-Season 2 formations won’t sell or they tested in some way and know they won’t sell. Or they aren’t even willing to try, seeing the fandom backlash from later seasons. 

But if shirts are selling - and they appear to be, by the number of styles - are those numbers or projected numbers enough to forgo a “boys’ market” and focus all efforts on a primary target market of women? 

Considering DreamWorks already made the decision to make Hyperphase Voltron a con exclusive and go from selling less than twenty shirts on HT to more than 100 items, to go from selling few shirts on Amazon to uploading new ones in April and October 2018, and January 2019 - I think the question isn’t if DW should focus on women. 

That’s why I question the anon who said that DreamWorks is contemplating what to do with their series - since DreamWorks seems to have completed market research, selected a new primary target market, and made drastic changes to merchandising in order to reach that target market - women. 

Now, DreamWorks just need to focus on expanding that market, and how do they do that?

With new content that speaks to that market, or y’know, a fix-it sequel.