could not fall asleep last night, doodled my ocs being fancy on my ipad instead :^)

You know what since we’re still in quarantine and i have nothing else better to do, i need to obsess over ACOTAR. I don't like a court of frost and starlight. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why I didn't like it. I aggressively read the book in maybe a day and I closed it feeling frustrated and annoyed. My version had A Court of Silver Flames preview so that definitely contributed to my annoyance greatly.

It's because it felt too perfect. Everything that had happened -- after the entire war was fought and won, they just go back to their normal lives? Yes there were hiccups and yes there were still aspects that made every IC character feel like their problems aren’t solved yet...but it didnt feel right. yes i enjoyed the snowball fight between the bat boys, feyre + rhys sexy time, and those little comfort moments too, the slice of life type things and seeing feyre accomplishing her goals and how hopeful the future seems BUT its too fast. the good parts of the book did not offset the bad parts of it.

Feyre literally accomplished pretty much every single goal she made back in ACOMAF just like that?? within a span of what a few months? a year?? She really came back from an entire war -- probably the first war of many since she's immortal and just like that, after her 21st birthday: she gets a whole entire estate, wants to start poppin babies, opens her art studio and starts teaching kids and then acting like she can rule an entire court?? the timeline is sooo short esp since its been brought up over and over again how everyone is literally 500 years old and have a super “messy” history and their changes seems to come super dupe slowly. but feyre, who has only lived 0.000000002% of her fae life, is out here thriving just fine???

the war devastated thousands of illyrian soldiers where its changing the politics of the illyrains and the faes, all of whom feyre has responsibilities over too as high lady. the mortal queens are still at large who left the humans on prythian to die which is why feyre was willing to go to war in the first place! what about the rest of hybern and their land and residents?? they wanted to enslave humans for social and economical reasons! then what about integrating humans w deep hatred and fear with deeply prejudice fae??? there’s also spring and summer court who are literally in ruins. thats literally so much. so idk how feyre is just chillin???? she gonna let rhys do all the hard work???

like feyre sit down. u should not be having a baby. esp since it took u literally a 700 pages to heal from those 3 months UTM. ur telling me shes gonna whole heartedly bring in a newborn in a war devastated world, with civil unrest (illyrains, other courts), with the messiness of human and fae integration, with trauma u and rhys will have to continue to overcome esp after THIS war??? even helping ur sisters w their traumas??

this is a personal opinion on this subject (and maybe my thoughts will change on this later on; opened to other thoughts) but when i read the part about how that weaver/seamstress artist who made that dark quilt that feyre loved talked about how her mate of 300 years didn’t come back from the war and her biggest regret was that she didnt have a kid to remember him by i just thought ur kid isn’t some sort of memorabilia. don’t have a kid to keep the memory of ur mate alive; have a kid cuz u want a kid purely for the sake of having a kid. ur memories and photos and shit will keep their memory alive but its not having a kid. some primitive need to keep the genes alive maybe?? but the way it was phrased and then in turn how feyre was like oh i need  a baby pronto cuz rhys might die in the next war and regret not having a kid with him didn’t sit right with me. also the other couple were together for +300 years and have a rich life together, while shes been with rhys for literally two years THATS NOTHING IN FAE YEARS. thats still the honeymoon phase and also ur problems arent even close to being over!!!

everyone was shitty to nesta. in ACOMAF, we saw how much the IC went through and still did all they could to help feyre. what made them not think nesta deserve the same welcome? nesta is mean as a defense but did no one try to figure out what would help (amren got close but shes so under developed)??? feyre knows nesta feels too much and yet she continued to be shitty. continued to flaunt her wealth, her status, her familiarity/borderline know-it-all attitude about fae/night court, her ~estate~. forcing nest to the solstice party when nesta was literally like i dont belong, im looking at everyone through a window type of thing; the fire cracking triggering her, etc. what kind of power play was that when she made nesta come to her estate, where nesta could SEE how ~homey~ and how suscessful feyre is and fully see all the lovely paintings of everyone feyre loves that explicitly exclude her to tell her to fuck off to a war camp?? bro???? cas was a dick too and elaine was rude. i think a lot of his actions were meant to make her angry since anger keeps u fighting (as was the method of rhys for feyre in ACOMAF) but what he said was stupidly shitty and i demand that he apologize properly. elaine could have done more to help her sister but whatever. mor was definitely an ass too (and im upset for how little her character growth is). 

Lucein. that man can’t catch a break tbh. im happy that hes w the band of exiles cuz he is whole heartedly accepted there. feyre was definitely an asshole to him even tho he helped as much as he could throughout the books. he tries so hard w elaine as well and it did hit my heart a bit when she was like gloves to work in my garden?? no ?? i use my bare hands see oNly aZiReL sEeS mE fOr WhO i Am. and at the same feyre is like flaunting her mate status to lucein which is mean as shit. its like this man can’t find love in prythain. then tamlin sending him his box of his things??? thats for sure brutral. tam was literally his partner through it all; savior of sorts even. no love from IC, no love from elaine, no love from feyre, no love from tamlin, no love from autumn court rejected everywhere! also HIS TRUE FATHER?? HEllo??? 

then on tamlin. i pity the guy! was i suppose to feel that way??? it felt like he is allowed to get a redemption arc and maybe i’ll even root for a redemption arc??? i was absolutely excited for freysand in ACOMAF but after ACOFAS, im like tamlin is....not completely bad??? his relationship w feyre was bad and the controlling parts were very much a no-no. i dont truly understand the dynamics of an abusive relationship but i can understand that it can be insidious and its the little things that hurt the victim. and i felt  feyre through ACOMAF and rooted for her to escape her abuser! but then it felt like i dont think he was doing any of those things out of malice. ill say tamlin is a bad leader and doesn’t know how to run a court outside of what he sees his father do. his understanding on everything is based on the traditions of the past which i think fueled most of the things he did i.e. not telling feyre she was in danger since maybe his mom didn’t do those war planning things. ACOTAR showed how he truly cared/loved and took good care of feyre and her family. he even talked about how he didn’t believe in the enslavement of humans! i think that tam wanted to preserve what he thought was the good (aka feyre + her love of painting) and get back a sense of control that he and his entire court lost while chained to amarantha. but at the same time, i think he truly thought feyre wasn’t safe. he knows rhys can crush minds and knows feyre can’t read/write so when he got that letter telling him shes safe of course hes gonna flip shit and made a deal w the devil (although those temper outbursts were DEFINITIVELY not ok!!!). he also didn’t listen and has sense of he knows best when feyre was not the type of person. but feyre destroyed his entire court. he lost all his sentries who literally went out to die for him during amarantha’s reign. he lost lucien too; his trusted right hand man. his people were cursed for 50 years and then continued to suffer UTM and was in the process of rebuilding too!  but just seeing spring court, WHO BORDERS THE HUMANS, be in ruins where his subjects left him, his people left him and hes all alone in the manson?? that was sooo sad. so im like why does what feyre did not feel satisfactory????? im mad that it didn’t feel right??? maybe there wasn’t a point where feyre talked to tamlin -- like really talked to him esp w her new found voice and power, etc. anyways, i dont hate tamlin and was like oh shit i think feyre fucked up a bit there.

rhys is a dick to nesta. which made me think, if feyre wasn’t his mate would he extend the same love and care to her???  i loved how he tried so hard to make sure feyre was ok. made sure she wasn’t breaking! all of it! but for nesta, he had the audacity to use his high lord voice and be an ass overall. even tho he can see how cas is fucken in love??? even just how he talks to cass feels off too. 

i’ll even go as far as to say because of how terrible ACOFAS was, it created this intense divide within the fandom. i remember reading the first three books and was absolutely 1) rooting for freysand  2) curious about the sister relationship and how it will be mended 3) i definitely didn’t hate nesta nor did i hate elaine either -- but i was adament about them talking it out with feyre for those tough times 4) saw a more realistic and charming healing arc 5) was rooting for feyre to be a stronger voice and grow into herself 6) love the dynamic of the inner circle + feyre

but after ACOFAS, I have this intense need to defend nesta and was super mad at how she was treated after the war and in turn a deep dislike for elaine for both her lack of agency, lack of grit that made all the other characters interesting, and lack of care for her sisters (who showed how much they would risk for her). i dont hate rhys but i was extremely not happy with him and his attitude and behavior. feyre became more arrogant and was acting like how asshole rhysand would act. like her life is perfect now and i was not rooting for her anymore. freysand didn’t feel like they have complimenting qualities that made them interesting in the first place but rather they are merging to become the same person but in a bad way. that mind reading thing was cute in the beginning but it became insufferable since all thoughts were shared so seamlessly it made reading feel weird. 

anyways those are my thoughts on ACOFAS. it was a 1/5 stars for me and im mad those events transpired. reading the other books made me excited to know what was gonna happen and i was truly ready to accept the characters as flawed and nuanced as they are. im not mad about character not liking each other but i am mad that everything felt off. ACOFAS just felt regressive in some parts and forced in other parts. i know not everything ends in a nice tied up bow but this book single handily ruined what i thought about these characters in the worse way possible. this book wasn’t suppose to wrap up all the problems that exists in the other books but it didn’t feel hopeful like i thought it would. it didn’t feel wrapped up and didn’t feel like i should be excited about the next books. theres so many missing pieces i feel that i think need explaining and at the same time, i think it introduced too many problems at once which made it feel like its jumping around everywhere. although im still excited for ACOSF because i love nesta, and nesta deserves so much better and i want to have hope that this bad ending will either make sense later on or it was just a blimp.

Paul’s Birthday

Pairing: Tommy x Paul, Gene x Eric. S

Rating: T

Author’s note: So I’ve had this silly little fluffy idea in my head for about a month. I wasn’t sure if I was going to finish it in time, but I have some awesome friends to thank for that. Thank you @ashestoashesvvi  for offering me valuable art tips and suggestions for this story.

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Tommy looked forward to all special occasions. He adored gatherings, celebrating milestones with his loved ones. However, there was one special occasion in particular that the guitarist had been prepping for months: Paul’s birthday.

The Spaceman would be the first to admit his infatuation with The Starchild. Who could blame him? Paul was the whole package; smart, sexy, kind, and talented. The two had spent a lot of time together, bonding over their shared love of painting, and Tommy cherished every minute of it. He adored any chance to be with Paul, really, but there was something special and intimate about their art sessions. He had taught Paul a few tips here and there, and Paul took to it like a natural. 

Paul wasn’t just painting a canvas; he was baring his soul. His radiant smile sent butterflies a flutter throughout Tommy’s stomach when he mixed his paints. There was a childlike wonder that twinkled within those beautiful chocolate eyes as the brush met the canvas ever so delicately. Paul was soft and vulnerable. It was a side of himself that he shields from the world out of fear and that made Tommy sad. Paul was at his most beautiful whenever he could let go and create. And Tommy was determined to help set him free.

As the party guests were busy mingling in Paul’s living room, Tommy was busy setting up his grand gift display in the art studio. Gene and Eric distracted Paul while Tommy meticulously re-arranged the color palette to be perfect. Nothing was too good for his Paul. He smiled as he observed his display.

“Hey Tommy, if you want any cake you better hurry before Gene monopolizes the sweets table,” Eric announced, walking into the studio with a glass of champagne. “Holy shit! How many cans of paint did you buy!?” he exclaimed, nearly spilling his drink all over the floor.

“Seventy-two,” Tommy replied with pride. “All seventy-two colors of Liquitex Professional Acrylic Paint. It took me weeks to get every single color to complete the collection,” he gestured to the colorful pyramid display in the center of the room.

Eric blinked, completely gobsmacked at the impressive rainbow pyramid before him. “Of all the things you could’ve bought Paul, you spent weeks buying various fingerpaints!”

“This is the highest quality acrylic paint on the market. All of the great artists use this brand. It’s in very high demand!” Tommy blurted out, explaining his reasoning to the skeptic drummer.

Eric squinted his eyes. “Oh yeah? What’s so special about it?”

Tommy carefully pulled a red bottle down from the display. He opened the top to show Eric the buttery red consistency inside. “Each color is uniquely formulated to bring out the brilliance and clarity of the individual pigment. It’s perfect for color mixing.”

Eric still couldn’t see what was so great about this overpriced paint. It looked like regular red paint to him, but he knew Tommy went to a lot of trouble to get it for Paul, and he knew how important it was for his friend, so he tried to be as cordial as he could, “Yeah, that red is…very red,” he smiled, patting Tommy on the back. “I’m sure Paul will love it.”

Tommy smiled back at his friend. “Paul is an artistic genius! He only deserves the best.”

Eric scratched his head while observing Paul’s latest painting titled, “Doors Of Perception” in confusion. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far…I mean, this door looks more like a window!”

“I think it looks like a waffle.”

Tommy and Eric turned their heads to see Gene propped outside the door, munching on his cake.

Tommy shook his head. “You guys aren’t looking deep enough into the emotionally charged compositions. It’s Abstract Art. It’s not supposed to be realistic. The colors and shapes represent aesthetic ideas instead of natural forms.”

Gene and Eric gave each other a puzzled look with arched eyebrows before turning their attention back to their supposedly art connoisseur Spaceman.

“Then how do you explain this one?” Gene asked, pointing his fork to a canvas covered in brown smudges with a hint of blue and green along the edges.

Eric chuckled. “Let me guess…it’s supposed to be a window into the troubled soul of a starving artist,” he overdramatically stated, prompting a deep chuckle out of Gene.

Tommy rolled his eyes. “This one is not finished yet. Paul has been working on this piece for days now.”

Eric blinked. “It took him days to just randomly slap some brown, blue and green onto a canvas!?”

Tommy sighed. He honestly had no idea why he bothered trying to explain Abstract Art to these two unappreciative buffoons.

“Tommy? Are you back here?” Paul asked from outside the door.

In a hurry, Tommy put down the red bottle in the middle of the floor and scrambled to the door just before Paul could set foot into the room.

“Hey Paul,” he asked breathlessly, trying his best to block Paul’s view from his surprise.

Paul cocked his head curiously. “There you are. I’ve been looking everywhere for you! I thought you left,” he said sadly, twirling a nervous finger around his necklace clasp.

“No! Never! I would never leave you…err… leave the party,” Tommy fumbled, shaking his head. Eric snickered behind him. Tommy resisted the urge to swat at him.

“What are you all doing in my art studio?” Paul asked, noticing Gene and Eric standing behind Tommy.

Before Tommy could speak, Eric blurted out, “Tommy has a surprise for you!”

“Oh!” Paul’s eyes lit up, and there was that joy that Tommy loved so much. “You got me a surprise! You didn’t have to…but I am glad you did,” his grin blossomed into a huge smile, melting Tommy’s heart on the spot.

Paul reached out and grabbed Tommy’s hand, pulling him out of the room. “We’re about to open presents in the living room. I didn’t want to start without you,” he said softly. Tommy blushed and followed Paul’s lead eagerly, ignoring Eric and Gene’s playful taunts the entire way back.

Once inside the living room, everyone gathered around Paul as he opened up his various exquisite gifts from Rolex watches to fine silk bed sheets.

“Alright, this is from Gene,” Paul said, picking up a random present from the table.

“Ha! Oh, this is going to be good,” Eric snorted, smacking his gum loudly. Gene gave Eric a stern look, which the Catman only gave a cheeky smirk in return.

Paul unwrapped the present, only to find a box. He opened the box and saw what looked like a wooden knife block with a knife in it. Paul pulled the knife out, dropping it in horror.

“Ah! What the hell, Gene?”

“What? It’s a Nesmuk! Didn’t you say you wanted one?” Gene crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow.

“Yes, I did, but why the hell is it stained red?” Paul asked in disgust.

Everyone eyed the suspicious red substance all over the knife blade and then looked up at Gene with weirded out expressions.

“What? It’s just strawberry jam. Eric didn’t wash the dishes so I had to use the knife to make a sandwich,” Gene explained casually.

“So, instead of just washing a butter knife yourself you just used the expensive fine German cutting knife?” Eric laughed in between loud gum smacks.

“Uh, yeah, it’s still a utensil!” Gene defended abrasively.

“Well, um, thanks Gene,” Paul said with an obvious forced smile. He then reached for another gift in the pile.

“This one is from Eric,” Paul said, reading the tag.

Eric grinned in excitement as Paul unwrapped his gift.

“It’s a Nick Fouquet hat! By why is it flat?” he pouted, examining the squished black hat with a few dented blue feathers on the side.

“Gene accidentally sat on it,” Eric replied with crossed arms.

Gene merely shrugged as he continued munching on his chocolate cake.

Paul put the hat aside. “We should all head up to my studio. Apparently, Tommy has a marvelous surprise for me that I’m just dying to see,” he grinned at Tommy.

“I wanted to save the best for last,” he whispered in Tommy’s ear, causing the younger man to blush as he led the group up to Paul’s art studio.

Everyone oooh’d and ahhh’d over the beautiful acrylic paint display, but no one was more intrigued than Paul, of course.

“Is this the entire Liquitex Professional Acrylic Paint collection?” Paul asked in awe, circling around the magnificent seventy-two canned pyramid like an excited child on Christmas morning. “You got all of this for me!?”

Tommy couldn’t stop the large grin from spreading across his face even if he wanted to. “Yeah, I sure did.”

Without warning Paul pulled Tommy into a tight loving hug. “Thank you so much, Tommy! I love it!” he cheered, kissing Tommy on the cheek. “He taught me how to paint!” the birthday boy bragged to everyone in the room. Tommy’s cheeks burned hot as he leaned closer into the warm embrace. He wished he could stay in this position with Paul forever.

Breaking away from the hug, Paul still kept his arms around Tommy. “I want to test the colors out on a blank canvas,” he smiled, turning to grab a clean canvas.

As Paul was carrying a large canvas over, Tommy noticed the lone red paint can he had left in the middle of the floor carelessly. Quickly, he rushed over to retrieve the can to prevent Paul from tripping over it, but, unfortunately, Tommy’s foot caught a nearby easel causing him to lose his balance. Everything happened so fast. Before Tommy could get his wits about him, his arms, hands, the floor, and the unfinished painting were covered in red paint.

Surprised gasps filled the room as everyone grew quiet, staring down the clumsy guitarist.

“Nice fall, Grace!” Eric bellowed out loud, breaking the awkward silence.

“Did you have a nice trip?” Gene chimed in, making the already embarrassing situation ten times worse!

Tommy’s face flushed red. “I’m s...so sorry!” He stood up wobbly, looking around for some paper towels. He felt delirious as if he was trapped in some sort of nightmare.

“My painting!” Paul cried out, dropping the new canvas to rush over to inspect the damage done on his precious art work.

That precious glimmer in his eyes had dulled. That beautiful radiant smile had become a frown. That look of disappointment plastered on his face would forever haunt Tommy in his dreams. Several nosy bystanders had snapped out of their trance, rushing over with paper towels to help clean up the mess.

“Paul, I’m sorry,” Tommy’s voice cracked, staring at the other man helplessly.

Paul didn’t even look at him. He just stood motionless, staring at the ruined painting in silence. Tommy couldn’t bear it anymore and rushed off to the nearby bathroom, turning on the water faucet and pumping lots of soap into his hands. With a sad sigh, he scrubbed his hands and arms in the soapy water with fury. He wanted nothing more than to erase the evidence of his great blunder. The bright red paint residue mixed with the white soap had turned into a hideous pinkish color stained onto his skin. Who was he kidding? It would take days for this accursed color to come out. Just another painful daily reminder of how he ruined Paul’s birthday.

Tommy held his head down in shame, feeling completely ashamed and angry at himself for what had happened. He knew Paul had worked hard on that painting. All those relentless hours down the drain and all because of one careless mistake.

Paul knocked on the bathroom door before entering. “Tommy? Are you alright?”

Tommy took a deep breath and faced Paul. “Paul, I’m so sorry I ruined your painting. I just feel awful for what I did.”

“Ruined it?” Paul blinked at him. “You just made it even better.”

Tommy looked over in confusion. He wasn’t expecting that kind of response out of Paul. “What do you mean?”

Paul grinned, putting a plaster tool in Tommy’s hand. “Come on, we both started this, let’s finish it together.”

Tommy followed Paul back into the studio and observed the painting. The red and brown had mixed into a gorgeous burgundy color with hints of blue and green on the edges. The guests were buzzing around the painting like bees to honey, commenting on what a superb color that was. Gene and Eric stood dumbfounded, unable to figure out what everyone was so excited about. Gently, Paul put his hand on Tommy’s hand, guiding the plaster tool onto the canvas. Everyone watched closely as the two men moved like one. In one swift motion they had melded the gorgeous deep reddish colored form into a heart shape.

“Beautiful,” Paul whispered, his eyes surveying the gorgeous masterpiece.

Tommy nodded in agreement. “Beautiful,” he agreed.

Paul looked up to see that Tommy wasn't looking at the painting but at him instead. The two leaned in closer, sharing a gentle kiss.

~There are no mistakes, only happy accidents~ Bob Ross

Promare is GAY AF

and you can’t change my mind.

Gonna ramble some spoilery thoughts under the cut!

I have seen this movie three times now, and while I remember a lot of it, I might fuck up in some places, so forgive me. But my point is, I paid attention to different elements on each rewatch, and I’ve given a lot of thought to everything in it over the past week.

But basically? Trigger knows damn well what they did, and they did it with all the intent in the world, because they made deliberate decisions that could have very easily gone different ways:

The Promare being rendered as pink triangles. Why pink? Why triangles? Burnish flares get rendered in a variety of neons and angular shapes, but the very first visual of the Promare itself, and every representation of the base Promare “life force” is pink triangles.

For those of you young’uns who’re missing out on your queer history: the Nazi concentration camps used a variety of different colored triangle swatches as badges to denote why the prisoners were in the camps, and pink triangles were used for homosexuals. The queer community, of course, took this and turned it into a badge of pride, because that’s what we do. It’s ubiquitous enough (or at least, it was in the 90′s and 00′s) that pink triangles were used to mark queer safe spaces.

Here’s the wiki article for more info, but basically, there’s very little chance that the writers didn’t know what they were using, especially given all the other themes in the movie.

Galo’s entrance. It’s easy to miss on the first watch because there’s just so much going on, but the FDPP trucks are only flashing red and blue lights. But when Galo’s pod-thingy is deployed, it’s accompanied by a whole rainbow of lights. So...here’s this inexplicably shirtless guy with an undercut and some weird strap across his chest, loudly and proudly emerging from this rainbow-rave-light thing...

Yes, I know the strap is from the sleeve for the burns on his arm, but it didn’t have to be like that. The animators didn’t need to add that strap across his chest, but they did. And black leather chest straps are just Gay Culture, okay?

You can argue with me that his hair is a mohawk, but I’m pretty sure it’s an undercut since the short parts aren’t shaved bald. And undercuts are Gay Culture.

The scene with Vulcan at the pizza place. This is a small detail, but given that it’s Studio Trigger, it’s kind of significant? When Aina joins Galo in trying to get Vulcan to stop, she is on top of him, literally with her boobs on either side of his head. And Galo? Galo isn’t blushing or drooling or anything - he’s annoyed that he’s getting smashed between her and Vulcan! I’d maybe ignore this from any other studio, but I’ve seen Kill la Kill, I know they’re not shy about making characters drool over other characters doing inadvertently sexy things, nothing would’ve been taken away if the brief shot of Galo’s face was of a stupid drooly grin instead of a very annoyed grumpface. But they went with grumpface.

The frozen lake scene with Aina and Galo, and I’m not just talking about him dropping her on her ass. There are several small cues in this scene that paint them as similar, but ultimately out of sync.

One of the wide shots shows Aina pushing off to skate closer to Galo, only for Galo to push off a second later to skate further away from her - not deliberately, even, he just simply doesn’t know what she’s doing.

As they turn, talking about their shit, they’re both alternating between light and shadow...opposite from one another. Yes, they’re going through similar things and relating to similar experiences, but at different times, in different ways.

Galo is completely oblivious to the position he catches Aina in. She’s completely flustered, and he’s just like “oh, you fell, lucky I caught you before you conked your head on the ice,” and then all awareness of her and her proximity to him is completely gone when he spots the Burnish Flare.

Also, thinking about it, I’m not even sure Aina is all that into it? Like, yeah, she’s completely flustered and embarrassed, but at the thought of Galo kissing her, she...makes a face like she’s holding her breath like a child would when they have to endure something they dislike. There’s no imagine spot, no attempt at kissing him first, no nothing. It’s clear that she she has some affection for him as a friend and coworker, but that seems to be it. Whether she’s not sure of her own feelings, or she thinks Galo is in to her, is up to interpretation, I guess, but there’s no reason for her to have made that face if it didn’t mean that she felt like kissing Galo would be something she’d have to endure, rather than something she would enjoy.

The Promare life-force transfer. Look, it’s magic, and Trigger could have had it function literally any other way, but they deliberately chose to go with the CPR/“kiss of life” method.

Not to mention, that when Lio tries to revive Thyma, the focus is on the life force. The shot changes angles multiple times, and Lio does, at points, pull away and try again - closer to the actual mouth-to-mouth CPR method. It’s deliberately set up as being akin to something Galo is trained to do.

And yet, when he’s faced with the necessity of the same method, he not only does not follow Proper Mouth-to-Mouth CPR Procedures, he doesn’t even follow the method Lio used on Thyma!

You can argue that, in-universe, Galo maybe didn’t really remember what was supposed to happen and just panicked and was trying to transfer the Promare in any way possible, but that doesn’t work on a meta level.

There is no heterosexual explanation for holding that shot for 15 whole seconds with that lighting and that background music. It did not need to happen like that unless Trigger was trying to make a point that it means something. It was shot and framed differently from Lio and Thyma because it is different from Lio and Thyma.

Galo’s freak out. This gets its own point because the fake-out is built on a super popular “no homo” joke, where a guy freaks out about “kissing” another guy in the midst of performing CPR. They absolutely, deliberately make it seem like that’s where it’s going with Galo, but then veer into “you made me light a fire!”

And I mean, yeah, it’s funny that a firefighter is flipping out over having lit a fire, but on its own, it’s a bit over-the-top, even for Trigger - and that’s the point. It has to be considered in the context of the trope its mocking, because Galo considers “lighting a fire” to be of more concern than “kissing a boy.”

Plus, in-universe? He’s a first-responder, a trained EMT - he’s probably performed (actual) CPR on guys before. Big whup. As silly as it is to have him flip out over lighting a fire, it’d be even more implausible for him to have flipped out over locking lips with a guy for medical purposes.

Yeah, I said for medical purposes, because in-universe, that’s what it was. But only in-universe. Because nothing about how that scene was planned and framed and shot was “for medical purposes,” and anybody with half a braincell can see that.

And the HEART. You know, just to drive the point home that this is love. They didn’t have to do that! It didn’t have to be a heart! It could’ve been anything else! It realistically should have been anything else! But it’s a HEART. Trigger did that.

Anyway, I’ve probably missed some other things, but this is what I remember thinking. Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

2019: Wait whoa what

The year began quietly with a lot of research and education; teaching workshops, playing with new technology, and a few concepts I couldn’t get out of my head. The momentum of client work began to pick up as I traveled to New Mexico, Japan, and NYC. 

The balance of personal and work life has been something I’ve not often shared about, but have written extensively on for myself. In late February I went through a breakup, at the same time I was the busiest with work that I’ve ever been. A flow of success combined with inner turmoil led to pressured feelings resulting in me not posting much online, despite having the most productive and gratifying year yet.

Halfway through the year I had completed about 15 projects and was ready for a hiatus when The Neon Museum brought me on as an experiential consultant for the upcoming Tim Burton exhibition. I then found myself brought on by Tim Burton to lead design for the exhibition and the rest of the year was a blur; living in France, Malibu, and Las Vegas, working with Tim to bring his vision of many new artworks to life. 

Here's a look back at my work from 2019, followed by a look forward to 2020.

Light Capsules

During Portland Winter Light, I added three of my favorite ghost signs to my growing series that began during my Adobe Creative Residency.

Light Capsule No.032 - Sam Moy & Co. Light Capsule No.033 - Say it with Flowers Light Capsule No.034 - Talbot & Casey / Ford Garage

Teaching More Workshops

For the past few years, I’ve been teaching projection mapping, focusing on MadMapper and showing the potential of new platforms like Lightform. I started off the year with a handful of workshops at PNCA where I’ve been an occasional adjunct faculty / research fellow, but later taught in New Mexico, and at LetterWest in Salt Lake City.

New Mexico Highlands University

NMHU brought me in as a special advisor, mentoring their students on an exhibit at Jemez Historic Site with New Mexico Historic Sites. Using the cyc-wall in their campus production studio, we created an actual size projection to mockup their design.

While visiting the site, I captured the San José de los Jemez Mission Church with drone photogrammetry. This tool continually inspires me and led to exploring new pre-vis techniques throughout the year, integrating with platforms like Disguise One, and The Wild.

Winchester Mystery House Concepts

I was commissioned to conceptualize ways to improve or augment their visitor experience. I won’t go into detail about the secrets… it was an incredible opportunity to explore and develop ideas for such a notoriously historical estate.

Pre-Visualization in Disguise One - under NDA

Bear with me for the vagueness on this one, but it’s worth sharing as it was a significant benchmark & success! I introduced a pre-visualization content pipeline that uses virtual reality and photogrammetry to get a more realistic sense of a surrounding environment for wayfinding, large scale projections, and digital/physical interfaces. Wow, so cool.

Oxfam America - Behind the Barcodes at SXSW

One of the proudest moments of 2019 put my skills to use with Oxfam. We staged an incredibly impactful guerilla projection from over 400ft away on Whole Foods HQ. Two more light installations targeted a large wall just before you drive up to their HQ, and a store in the suburbs. Find out more about the campaign at Behind the Barcodes. 

‘Line Break’

Created for the Design Week Portland party curated by Kamp Grizzly, it was time consuming but therapeutic to create. I brought back one of my favorite materials from one my earlier installations “Light Fall” back in 2015. Designed to be site-specific to fit the space, (and cover-up doors) it is a focus on self-reflection, looking forward/outward and backward/inward, simultaneously.

Tokyo Letterheads

A very timely mental reset, my first trip to Japan was incredible. During Tokyo Letterheads I stayed dedicated to the newbie sign painting room, practicing the craft of sign painting. The following week I explored Kyoto and Koyasan. A very much needed solo trip.

Believer Festival - Featured Artist

I had the pleasure of collaborating with José Orduña on a three-part performance, projection mapping the surrounding him at Ne10 to augment his spoken words. I also created an ambient animated version of their branding, built into a projected backdrop that added life but didn’t distract from intimate performances on the opening night stage of the the literary Believer Festival.

Ready Made - POWER TRIP

Chosen as one of 5 featured artists, I was given the opportunity and creative reign on a warehouse space, reflecting on what power meant to me. I performed a live-mapping of the stage backdrop while it was being painted by Charlie Hudson, and made a DIY laser array that cast throughout the space.

Champlain College Commencement 2019

I had the honor of working with the office of The President of Champlain College to help lead creative direction, stage design, content design, and experiential flow of the commencement. 

KOBE - for Ren 03: Philadelphia

A secret project carried out in one night. I teamed up with photographer Kyle Hannon for Ren Quarterly to create three site-specific projections mapped various memorable locations from Kobe Bryant’s childhood, created using rare source images from Kobe’s high school years.

LetterWest Breakout Speaker

I was asked to give a talk at LetterWest and I’m so glad I did. It came at a great time for me, reflecting on past years working independently, that the idea of ‘success’ has many forms, and urging those in attendance to find their own inner weird. Stay giddy, friends.

‘Emerson’s Reflection’ - Love Letters Exhibit

As part of a large experiential exhibit love for letters of all kinds, this 2-month installation immersed you within excerpts from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self Reliance” and “Experience” that really spoke to me, edited to neutralize pronouns. For me, this piece was all about putting the visitor within a reflective space of self-love, shown in an interactive, photogenic way.

Brilliant! System Overhaul

One of the most successful yet unseen accomplishments of the year was executing a complete technical overhaul of our permanent exhibition ‘Brilliant!’ at The Neon Museum in Las Vegas, improving stability by adding an entirely new show controller, lighting control module, and audio testing interface.

Tim Burton’s ‘Lost Vegas’ Exhibition

From the design of a 40ft. tall title centerpiece sign to the artistic styling of a sexy slot machine, I was tasked to work with Tim Burton to rapidly prototype and translate his vision and sketches into polished creations as the 'Lost Vegas' Exhibition's creative director. 

Working closely with Tim Burton for 3 months in France, Malibu, and Las Vegas, with assistant to Mr. Burton Lilah Lutes, and executive producer Sam Kelley, in coordination with curator Jenny He, we were able to bring to life the incredibly ambitious task of organizing the fabrication of a ton of new artworks and coordinating everything for a two-week period.

Each piece deserves its own post to share the process and talented people behind it, but in an effort to keep this 2019 recap tight, here a few of my favorite works: ‘Lost Vegas’ Sign Tower, Neon Grid Wall, the Dome, Landmark Hotel Model Mars Attacks! Projection, Robot Boy And Slot Machine, Stainboy Arcade, Holographic Drawings and Paintings, and the mysterious ViewPorts scattered throughout the boneyard...

The exhibition has been extended to April 12, so don’t miss it. 

CBS This Morning did a great profile on Tim Burton and the exhibition here: Inside "the mind of Tim Burton" at Neon Museum in Las Vegas 

Brilliant! feat. Tim Burton

The icing on the cake for the year. I’m so happy to have been able to collaborate with director and artist Tim Burton on an homage finale during ‘Brilliant!’ for the extent of his exhibition, featuring the track “The Man” by The Killers and iconic footage from Mars Attacks! and Beetlejuice.

‘Brilliant!’ is by far one of the proudest works I’ve created and I’m looking forward to furthering my partnership with The Neon Museum going strong into 2020.

~

In closing 2019, and forward:

2019 was a year that began with heartbreak and a humbling workload, which transitioned into recalibration and self-reflection, was then thrown into a wild mind-bender of work before wrapping the year full circle, finding myself in a quite unexpected new love. 

I found myself focusing on a lot of pre-visualization work, finding new ways to optimize my own workflow and simulate what a project could be, before making it. Leaning into my ability to work rapidly, this workflow smoothly translated a director’s vision through 3D modeling into visualization in VR. 

An ever-growing thread through my work focuses on history, my neverending fascination with bridging the gap between distant past with upcoming technologies to contribute to a more thoughtful future.

As 2020 begins, I’m coming back from a storm starting to hone in on my own voice and what I’d like to accomplish next. As a result of a growing interest in larger-scale immersive works, I’ve begun to assemble the right people/partners for those projects— exploring what ‘scaling’ my studio looks like, while staying nimble. 

Over the next few months, I’m going to spend some solid time auditing my work, recalibrating, and refocusing my studio practice and website as I enter year 7 of this independent venture, and year 10 of this creative career.

And as always, my goal mantra for the year.

2020: Position, Rotate, Scale

Position— Slow down for a studio realignment, audit, assess life balance.

Rotate— Be ever-ready for change, see things from different perspectives.

Scale— Fewer but larger? Hire or partner? Set realistic expectations/boundaries.

Bringing this energy into 2020, I’m looking forward to new work I’ll be able to announce soon that will bring me back to my home state of Maine, as well as what’s next for my work in Las Vegas. I’m also going to invest in Light Capsules again, and get a new road trip project in the books. 2020.

Meet the Master Armoursmith - DeserterX

Today we are talking to [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3373573?tab=user+files]DeserterX[/url] a long time member of our Nexus Mods community and author of many incredibly detailed armour mods for Fallout 4 and Skyrim. [img]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/headers/102498_1587894747.jpg[/img] [b] BigBizkit: Thanks, DeserterX, for joining us today: as always, we like to start the interview off by you telling us a bit about yourself.[/b]   DeserterX: Well, I am just a guy with a passion for computer graphics. Recently I discovered I can paint and design clothes and I am very happy that modding is giving me the opportunity to be part of something that I love.     [b]Many people might be familiar with your Skyrim/Skyrim SE and Fallout 4 mods as you’re most well known for creating amazing armours! Would you say that’s your forte and do you have a favourite mod of yours?[/b]   Thank you! Yes, armors is what I love making the most. It is a great challenge every single time to take a nice idea, or a very well done 2D drawing and bring it to life as a 3D model that looks beautiful from every angle. Some times it works, some times not so much, but this challenge always excites me. As for a favorite, every armor I make is my favorite when it is completed. Until the next one that is.     [b]Other than the technical execution of creating the models and textures, in your opinion, what separates a good armour from a bad armour?[/b]   Mainly I think a good armor has to fit the game world it is created for. For example if you make a futuristic armor no matter how good it is, it will fail its purpose if you use it in a fantasy setting game like Skyrim. Also a good armor needs to offer the player play time. A player has to have a role when he/she is wearing it. That being a thief, or a mage, or a vampire for example in a game like Skyrim.   [center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/9278-0-1454331661.jpg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/9278-1-1454331661.jpg[/img][/center] [b]You must be spending a lot of time on your armours as many of them are insanely detailed! Did you ever dive deep into the creation of an armour only to scrap it completely because it just didn’t work out?[/b]   Nope, it never happened. But some armors reached a dead end at some point in the past. When this happened I took a step back to think. There is always a way to turn a disaster to something positive. So I just kept the parts I liked, changed what I didn't and all was well after. Now I base my armor creations on some excellent drawings and real life models of some very talented artists, so the chances of this happening are very low.     [b]What is your main source of inspiration for your work?[/b]   Since most of my armors are meant for a female character, it may sound weird, maybe it is, but mainly it's the woman's body. I like thinking of ways to hide or reveal parts of it to make it look sexy and beautiful. For some time now though, my inspiration comes from looking at the amazing screenshots from a very talented person, dianka33. We met through Nexus by sharing the same passion for beautiful outfits and now we live and work together for about six months. Just exchanging ideas and looking at my work through her eyes is the only inspiration I need.     [b]How did you learn to do what you do and what tools do you usually use?[/b]   I studied design and multimedia a long time ago, after that I was making graphics for a television network, and after that I worked a long time in construction making virtual 3D presentations. So I had an idea of how 3D things work. When I started modding I had to adapt to a new age of software and learn it all over again for an entirely different purpose. Right now I am using Blender to create all the outfits, Outfit Studio to do all the weights and in short make them playable in a computer game, Photoshop for all the texturing, Crazy Bump for my height maps and finally Nifscope to put everything together and preview it as I go.   [center][img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/69138-5-1441536306.jpg[/img] [img width=500,height=281]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/110/images/67595-0-1439974291.jpg[/img][/center]   [b]If you can remember: how did you start your modding journey and how did you find out about Nexus Mods?[/b]   There was this game, X-Rebirth. There was this terrible annoying voice saying "Show me your wares please" every single time you went to a vendor. It was driving me so crazy that I started looking for a way to shut this person up. With a little help from Google I discovered Nexus and downloaded my first mod that made it possible for me to enjoy one of my favorite games at the time. My modding journey started with X-Rebirth as well. Made a modification for the armor of the co-pilot (just a single edit to a texture) and after that I published an ENB preset for that same game.     [b]We recently [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/news/14298]celebrated 1,000 Games on Nexus Mods[/url]. What would you say are your favourite games to play and/or mod?[/b]   Congratulations! It's so nice to see Nexus growing and supporting even more games. Nexus completely changed my gaming experience for the better and I am glad to know that more people can experience the same for their favorite games. My favorite games to mod are Bethesda's games of course. They offer us tools and they were very open and welcoming to modders. At least in the past. That is why in my opinion their games became so popular, and this is why I love modding them. Now to play, I enjoy Bioware's games mainly for the amazing experience of the Mass Effect trilogy.     [b]Outside of modding, what are some things you like to do for fun?[/b]   Spend time with my girlfriend, see movies (with aliens), play computer games, eat chickens, and I like to do driving trips whenever I can.     [b]Having been a member of our site for so long, you must have some other authors whose work you appreciate. Anyone in particular you’d like to give a shoutout to?[/b]   First of all [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/4291759?tab=user+files]Ousnius[/url]. Made all these amazing tools for modders to use and it is amazing how many things he knows and how much time he is spending helping everyone. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/43643027?tab=user+files]Docteure[/url] and [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/84177?tab=user+files]Jeir[/url] because I appreciate attention to details and they never let anything slip by them. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3338235?tab=user+files]Hype1[/url] for all his amazing meshes and realistic textures. [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/3347902?tab=user+files]Tiwa44[/url] with his very elegant modifications to many vanilla outfits that inspired me to start my own outfit creation journey.     [b]Is there anything else you would like to say to the Nexus Mods community?[/b]   To the modders just one thing, share what you make. Modding is based on sharing, most of us start by building on something someone else did before us, at the end, no matter what, helping others helps us all as a whole. To the community in general, ... stay awesome guys! [center][img width=850,height=478]https://staticdelivery.nexusmods.com/mods/1151/images/21162-0-1484654105.jpg[/img][/center][line] A big thank you to DeserterX for taking the time to talk to us! If there's an author or mod project you'd like to know more about, send your suggestions to [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/64597]BigBizkit[/url][/b] or [b][url=https://www.nexusmods.com/users/31179975]Pickysaurus[/url][/b].  Published first at Meet the Master Armoursmith - DeserterX

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/top-marvel-superhero-action-figures-every-serious-collector-craves/

Top Marvel Superhero Action Figures Every Serious Collector Craves

Action figures have been around as long as superheroes, with the most iconic ones coming from DC Comics and Marvel Comics. There have been as many different superhero action lines as there are figures, so one of the hottest contested debates among collectors is which figures are the most prized and which ones aren’t so much. With collectibles, everything is debatable, but in the action figure world, it's been turned into high art. What used to be considered a kids toy has become something that adults take just as seriously as baseball trading cards.

The good news is that geeks can’t be too old for toys. These things just get more complicated, more detailed and more advanced than our kid-friendly versions. We don’t let our spouses see us play around with them and make them fly around the room, but you could both agree that they look good on display. It’s great to go home after a hard day’s work and see these awesome things looking back at us, giving us a few moments to escape reality, and satisfy our inner child as our houseguests marvel at our collections. Since Marvel has been on a huge roll lately both in movies and television, here are the top seven Marvel action figures that every collector is craving.

The Wolverine

"Logan," the Wolverine film may not have been a critical hit nor a fan favorite, but the action figure from Hot Toys looks stellar. This figure is a must-have for fans of Wolverine, fans of Hugh Jackman and fans of the X-Men in general. One unfortunate aspect of this toy is that he doesn’t come with his yellow Spandex or his black leather X-Men costume. He just comes in a black suit and a white tank top as he’s seen in the movie.

Cool features include him having a beautiful metal katana and two sets of claws. He has metal and bone claws here as shown in the film. The metal claws are made of real metal and are quite sharp too. Sorry, they’re not real adamantium though. As expected from the Hot Toys brand, he has some exquisite detail. While he doesn’t look exactly like Hugh Jackman, he's close enough to satisfy the most demanding action figure collector. You can check out the best pricing on The Wolverine here.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Now what would the Marvel Comics Universe aka MCU be without Captain America? He’s not exactly my favorite superhero, but the MCU has done a great job in making him someone that even non-comic book fans can look up to. Hot Toys has released several 1/6th scale versions of the star-spangled hero but the best one that probably epitomizes the character is the Captain America: The First Avenger version. This was his final costume in the film.

The other versions include the Star-Spangled Man and his Rescue Uniform. He looks absolutely fantastic in his final uniform in the film. That and his rescue uniform makes him a realistic hero of the time making use of his traditional colors. Marvel Studios did an amazing job in realizing the costume for the period. He doesn’t look cheesy at all. The film makes fun of that cheesy costume as the Star-Spangled Man… with a plan. Now imagine him wearing that while fighting the Red Skull in the final scenes of the film. Hilarious. Anyway, his costume is absolutely beautiful with the leather gloves, leather boots, and all those straps seem like a lot of work though, but they add greatly to the detail. The shield looks absolutely great. The darkened tone of the colors plus the high gloss gives off a great effect.

Unlike other metallic accessories of Hot Toys figures, the shield isn’t made of metal as the weight of a metallic one could affect the posing. Plus, his face looks highly detailed, enough that you can feel his determination in whatever mission he’s in. Though you’ll need to be careful with shot angles. The helmet can make him look cross-eyed. This is probably the best version of Steve Roger since they even went back to it in the "Captain America: Winter Soldier" movie. Check out the best ones out there here.

Avengers Black Widow

The best Black Widow figure, in my opinion, is The Avengers Black Widow version from Hot Toys. Although the Black Widow figurine from Kotobukiya looks luscious, it's best to complete an ensemble MCU collection with a Hot Toys version. The Avengers Black Widow version is arguably the best for her hair alone, although I really liked her first appearance in "Iron Man 2." She looks more heroic here though with her zip-up, sexy leather catsuit, and her face is strikingly close to Scarlett Johansson in the film. As it should be.

There’s not much to her by way of accessories. She comes with a couple of pistols, a pair of widow bracelets, a pair of throwing discs, and a Chitauri gun/spear, though she could sure use her own Loki scepter. For fans of the Avengers films, the MCU, or Black Widow herself, this is a must-have. You can check out this version of Black Widow here.

Iron Man Mark III Diecast Production Version

They say nothing beats the original. Well, the original is the Mark I, but his signature costume of the series is the Mark III which we’ll call the production version, as Hot Toys also released a construction version, or just half of the suit suspended in chains. Though Hot Toys has released a lot of Iron Man versions including obscure suits in Iron Man III, this is a collector’s must-have or a must-have for all fans of ol’ shellhead. Simply put, this figure is just beautiful. The paint job and the gloss is just awesome.

He comes with all the weapons as seen in the film. There’s also that spare arc reactor award thing Pepper gave Tony. The chest and abdominal plates come off to reveal Tony’s mesh suit, which I don’t remember seeing in the film, but it’s great just the same. He also comes with a separate head with Tony’s face exposed. This release doesn’t have a separate Tony Stark head yet, but the face does look very much like Robert Downey Jr. The face mask for that can be attached magnetically. The other one has light-up eyes to complement the toy’s light-up arc reactor and hand repulsors. This toy comes with a minimalist base but if you want to complete this, get a Tony Stark workshop; and if you have money to burn, get the Mark III Construction Version. You can check out the 2015 Stealth Version Iron Man here.

Doctor Strange Film Version

I’m as much a fan of Doctor Strange as I am of Ghost Rider. Doctor Strange was one of my first forays into Marvel comics together with Cloak and Dagger in Strange Tales Volume 2. I also really loved the Doctor Strange movie. Doctor Strange toys are pretty hard to come by, but I managed to get my hands on a Marvel Legends version. Hot Toys, however, gives us another reason to break our wallets with their Doctor Strange Movie figure. As it says on their website, this figure is movie-accurate.

Again, something any Marvel or Doctor Strange fan preferably should not be without. Previous action figures just don’t do justice to Doctor Strange, unlike this one. The MCU did a fine job bringing the hero to life, and as Kevin Feige said, Doctor Strange has always been his pet project. Apart from the film-accurate likeness and clothing, this figure comes with the cloak of levitation, which attaches magnetically, the book of Cagliostro, a pair of Eye of Agamotto medallions, several mystical mandalas of light, a beautiful display stand, and a backdrop of the circular windows of the Sanctum. You can check out this amazing Doctor Strange collectible here.

Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze Movie Version

I'm a big Ghost Rider fan here, but again, don’t mistake Ghost Rider’s inclusion here as pure bias. This is one awesome toy, err… 6th scale figure. Among the Hot Toys figures, he has the coolest accessory which is the Flame Cycle. One drawback of the new Hasbro Marvel Legends is the non-inclusion of motorcycles in its Marvel Legends line. As a Ghost Rider fan, I have all of the Toy Biz Marvel Legends figures except for the blue John Blaze variant. I figure one is enough. Fortunately, Hot Toys figured that Ghost Rider wouldn’t be complete without his motorcycle. If they make an Agents of SHIELD version of Robbie Reyes, with the car, that would be one expensive toy and one sought-after collectible that would bump Black Widow off this list. But back to Johnny Blaze. This toy is a bit expensive, but it is a must-have for any Ghost Rider fan. There’s also the Ultimate Ghost Rider from Hasbro which I had and swore to get upon release, but this rather expensive 6th scale figure is much better. For one thing, you can change the flaming skull for Johnny Blaze’s head which is a copy of Nicholas Cage’s head. The skull jaw is also articulated, and the head can be pulled back a bit to allow for those raging expressions. The leather clothing is amazing, and he also comes complete with a chain and two versions of his shotgun. The chain here is real metal unlike the plastic plumb bob chain of the Ultimate version. Also, unlike the Ultimate version, the flames on his motorcycle light up. One complaint some fans have for this feature is that the brightness of the bike and the flames on his skull aren’t consistent. Well, just keep them both off; the figure will still look awesome. My own problem with this Hot Toys figure is the skull itself. It doesn’t look as menacing as with the Hasbro version. They're not so easy to get, but there's still some here.

Iron Man Hulkbuster

Any toy collector and Marvel fan with enough money to burn will be lucky to have the Hot Toys "Avengers: Age of Ultron" Iron Man Hulkbuster. All this Marvel fan has is the old Toy Biz Marvel Legends Hulkbuster which is worth the money for size alone. The same goes for this monstrous masterpiece of toy engineering from Hot Toys. This Hulkbuster Iron Man looks like it was taken from the movie screen and brought to life, as if Marvel Studios shared its CG designs with Hot Toys; which they probably did as part of the film’s promotion. Standing at 21 inches, this figure should bring any man-cave to life. This figure has 30 points of articulation and upon opening the head and chest cavity reveals features a replica of the Mark XLII inside. As mentioned, this figure is taken straight from the film right down to the weathered paint effect, though it would be nice if they had a brand-new edition. The suit comes with a separate arc reactor for each limb, and all of them light up along with the eyes of the Mark XLII. And lastly, all the mechanical details on this figure are just exquisite. You can check this amazing version of Iron Man right over at Hot Toys.

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