Another year has gone by!

Hello again (*insert sheepish look*). Yet again I've neglected this page; I'm afraid I have no real excuse, save for the fact that life just... got in the way, I guess. I've been REALLY busy and just couldn't find the energy to maintain this site. I guess you could say a lot has changed in the past year - it doesn't feel that way to me, I guess because I've been living it, but when I went trawling back through some of the older posts here I realised how much I've grown as a person.

I seem destined to periodically forget this blog; no worries, because at least I come back to it! The same could not be said of my previous sad attempts at blogging (I've discussed this in detail before, but let's just say I wasn't great at the whole process). I've written more on here than I've ever written about my personal interests in my life! Keeping a physical journal doesn't appear to work for me, despite numerous attempts at various styles of journalling. Also, if I fuck it up, you can't erase it the way you can online. Just a simple edit and it's like it never happened. (We could talk about how your digital footprint remains forever and nothing is ever really gone from the internet, but I doubt anyone really cares if there are spelling mistakes on a random blog site in the deep dark web.) I've definitely noticed a pattern in my updating; it is easier to keep on top of posting when I don't have to juggle my personal life, my work and university all at once - university is such a big time suck that I don't really have much space to breathe between studies and work, so I tend to leave this alone in favour of those 'more important' things. Perhaps I ought to set update reminders for this blog...

What has changed for me this past year? Well, a lot, I'd say. Work has gotten a lot more challenging and more rewarding, so I've been kept very busy by that. I'm still a support worker for the same little boy, and I absolutely love spending time with him; I never ended up doing PA work at his mum's office, which is totally fine because there's plenty of paperwork and organisation to keep on top of at home. Personally, I've been pretty much the same, though I have had a couple hair disasters that involved me going platinum for a while before trying (and failing) to return to a dark blonde colour. I'm close to my natural colour now, and plan on leaving it alone for a good while if I can (because I bleached the ever-loving shit out of it, the hair doesn't want to hold colour anymore, so it fades quite fast after being done at the salon). I'm doing really well at school - my grades were good enough to warrant an invite to the Golden Key International Honour Society, which I accepted as I would be stupid not to, and I have also been invited as a member of that group to attend an international diplomatic relations workshop later on this year. I'm pretty chuffed at this - it's nice to get a little recognition for hard work, though I have to admit I dislike talking about it in public (I think most people who aren't twits have the same hang-up about boasting though). I did my first professional teaching practice last year; not the glowing triumph I hoped for, but not the crash-and-burn catastrophe I was expecting. I passed with very good commentary and useful critiques, and I hope to do better this year. I was VERY nervous at the prospect of teaching kids who, in reality, aren't much younger than myself (they are also all taller than me, which intimidated me more than a little), and that affected me a little bit. Towards the end of the practical I started getting the hang of it though, and I was quite sad to leave, actually.

In terms of collecting, my tastes have changed pretty dramatically. Reading back on these posts made me cringe a little, actually, given how much I've contradicted myself in my purchasing habits over the past year. Reading back will tell you that I am die-hard against any Star Wars figure scale but 3.75" - well... I'm a 6" junkie now. I know, what a hypocrite. My dislike stemmed from the pretty poor likenesses Hasbro delivered for the line, particularly Rey (my favourite character, and I will fight you for her honour if necessary) - when they re-released Rey with the lightsaber in 6", the figure featured a MUCH better paint application. It went from uggo-man to somewhat-like-Daisy, and I caved. I bought it. And then I compared it to 3.75" scale. I really felt like I was getting the good shit with this new 6" figure, and wondered how the hell I had cheated myself of this revolutionary experience. What quickly followed was an acquisition of Kylo Ren (unmasked), Finn, Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor, followed by a HUUUUUUGE love of Marvel and Marvel Legends (I have too many MCU Legends figures for my tiny room, and I regret NOTHING), quickly followed by Leia and Luke from the 40th Anniversary line. More recently, I got Jedi Training Rey, Poe Dameron, Maz, Darth Vader (40th) and Ahsoka Tano.

Despite my clear love of the line, I was kinda let down by the likenesses of the Hasbro Black Series figures. Some of the characters didn't matter so much to me, but my one need was a definitive action figure of Rey that ACTUALLY looked like Daisy Ridley. The Hasbro Jakku version was only okay; when they stepped up the paint apps with Jedi Training Rey the figure was pretty, but not Daisy-pretty. My obsession with Rey led me to purchasing the S.H. Figuarts 6" scale action figure of her in December last year. Holy fuck. The figure was UNREAL, with brilliant articulation, a creepy-good likeness and a really solid quality feel. Now, I'm really into the Figuarts line. My poor, poor wallet. I just couldn't help myself. They ARE expensive, especially when you're shipping them internationally (and especially when you're in Australia), but the quality is so worth it. The great thing is that they don't look awful standing next to the Black Series figures; they're all more-or-less in scale with one another (the Figuarts tend to run a little shorter than their Black Series equivalents, but only by like a millimetre or so). Obviously, the Black Series does look a little cheap in comparison, but they can be utilised together. Figuarts has a more balanced range of figures compared to the Black Series (barely any prequel love there), though the Black Series is the only one who has attempted to represent the various alien races that are a part of the Star Wars universe. Figuarts only have Chewbacca. Nonetheless, I do ultimately prefer the Figuarts line to the Black Series line, though I will be jumping between both as I feel like it.

Ah! Bewwwdiful :)

Now that the Black Series has begun phasing in photo-realistic face printing, the gap between Figuarts and Black Series has become much smaller. That being said, the tech used by Hasbro leaves their faces looking waxy and blurred, whereas the Figuarts line appears much sharper and much more realistic. Also, the Figuarts joint system appears to be more advanced, and the plastic is an overall better quality. Not to mention that each figure comes with at least three extra pairs of hands, and usually at least two other accessories (such as alternate portraits or weaponry), whereas Hasbro only has two or three accessories at the most. I do feel you are getting your money's worth more so with Figuarts than with Hasbro, but that is just a matter of personal preference; Hasbro figures are plentiful, cheap and readily available internationally. The introduction of new technology for Hasbro is a great thing for lovers of both lines, as it will allow for easier integration of figures in display. I do not yet have any of the new Black Series figures with this printing (I have no desire for the Rey as I feel I've got the ONE with Figuarts' Rey), I've got my eye on a couple that have recently been previewed at NYTF and am hoping these go into production soon.

I hope to update more frequently from now on; that is, I hope that the gap between updates is less extreme than the gap between this and the previous post. I will continue to post the content I've always done, such as reviews, personal commentary, discussions and anything random I can think of. This blog is a great way for me to get thoughts from my head out into the universe - I hope you can find something interesting on this page while you are here. Thanks for reading!