Friday, November 17, 2017

New York Comic Con 2017 Haul

This is over a month late, but better late than never! Hah. Even though New York Comic Con was a while ago (first week of October), I still wanted to make sure I shared my NYCC haul especially because I really love everything I purchased. This haul was much lighter than previous cons which made me really happy because it means I (probably) spent (wasted?) way less money. Whoo!

I'll start with the Funko Pops. We put our names into the random drawing for the NYCC Funko line, but didn't have any luck. Mickey, being as resourceful as he is, took to Twitter to ask if any fans who DID win the drawing would be willing to help us out with our Pops if they weren't already buying them for themselves. Long story short, he found somebody and we were able to meet up on Friday (albeit while we were very hungover) and got a hold of the below Pops! Thank you so much, kind stranger. As you all know from my SDCC post, not all Funko collectors are so nice! This is yet another reason for me to love Twitter (check out this previous post for all the other reasons why I love Twitter). I'm sad because this person didn't get to buy what he wanted since his preferred Pops were all sold out, but I'm definitely grateful that he was still nice enough to help us buy what we were looking for.

Among the things he helped us acquire was this black chrome Batman Funko Pop. I wasn't able to purchase the (much more popular and now much more expensive) blue chrome Batman Funko Pop from SDCC earlier this year, but definitely loving and appreciating the sweet black chrome finish on this one. Look how shiny and reflective!


The 2nd (and surprisingly last) Pop I purchased from NYCC this year is this blue 8-bit Batman. He's absolutely adorable. When I looked at these 8-bit characters online, they did not seem very appealing at all, but being the Funko Pop sucker that I am, I bought one anyway and it's actually so much more adorable in person. Funko announced additional Batman characters in this 8-bit design so I've already set aside some space on the shelf for those. You just know I'm going to end up with them somehow.


Mickey didn't leave empty handed. He was able to purchase Sailor V (aka Sailor Venus before she joins the squad). I'm lightweight swooning over the giant glasses and giant bow. This one's for the Sailor Moon fans! Including Mickey and me.


Lastly from the Pop haul, the baddest bitch in all of Westeros, Lyanna Mormont. They got her haaaaair. Look at it! She's so cute. I don't think I know any Game of Thrones TV show fans who don't love Lyanna Mormont.


Among all the Pops are other NYCC goodies. We visited our favorite artist, Dustin Nguyen, in artist alley as usual. If you're not familiar, he works for DC Comics and is the very talented person who painted our proposal painting. You can see the gorgeous painting  in one of my previous blog posts. It's been a while since I've taken a photo with him, but what better time for a selfie with him than when Mickey and I are super hungover on Day 2 of comic con. 😂 If you're reading this, Dustin, thanks for always being so welcoming and nice to us every time we come say 'hello'!


I own dozens of prints from Dustin, but I always want the new ones. These were the two I walked away with this time around. The Batman Beyond with Joker scribbles is framed and ready to be hung! I need to buy a slightly larger frame for the Harley Quinn print, though, so that one is waiting patiently with some (read: many) other Dustin Nguyen prints I also need larger frames for. In the mean time, I'm admiring the water color background and use of negative space on this Harley one!


When we planned on attending NYCC, I knew I was going to purchase AT LEAST one item and it was this "Be a dragon" shirt from Jordan Dene. I had my eye on it for months seeing as how I was born in the Chinese zodiac year of the dragon and I love the Game of Thrones reference (the shirt is a quote from Olenna Tyrell to Danerys Targaryen). If you love this nerdy print, you'll definitely love her other stuff. Check it out. This shirt comes in a long sleeve, too!


Then after I purchased this shirt, I turned a corner, saw this Batman flask, and whipped out my credit card so fast, I don't even really remember it happening. This was definitely an impulse buy, but I regret nothiiiiing! A Batman flask has been on my mental shopping list for a long time so it really worked out in the end. What better way to put the whiskey in "Batman and whiskey"? I know the answer to that. It's whiskey. Actual whiskey.


Hope you enjoyed the haul! Let me know if you attended NYCC and what your favorite purchase or find was. It feels so great to get this blog post out there! I've literally had my NYCC haul piled up for a month knowing I wanted to blog about it eventually so here it is. I've got more ideas for content coming up so hoping I won't stay away too long this time.

Until then, have an amazing weekend, everyone!

Thursday, November 16, 2017

Throwback Thursday: National Fast Food Day / Taco Bell x DC Comics

Happy National Fast Food Day, y'all!

I thought, on this particular day, it would be appropriate to share some throwback pictures I dug up of the kids' meal and "toy" that Taco Bell was giving out for DC Comics' 75th Anniversary back in, I believe, 2010.

First things first, though, I want to get this out there right now, my top fast food chains are:
  • Jack in the Box
  • Taco Bell
  • Wendy's
As of right now, Jack in the Box is #1, but Taco Bell and Wendy's have both held that spot for me over the years depending on what phase I'm going through. Jack in the Box has been more readily available for me lately so I'm currently all about their sausage croissant sandwich, onion rings, and even their egg rolls. Hah! I'm an Asian girl who likes Jack in the Box egg rolls. No shame. I also need to add that this list doesn't include In-n-Out. As an admittedly biased Bay Area girl, I consider In-n-Out a step above your usual fast food chains. It's just more fresh! It's alsooo probably fair to note that even after living in Austin, TX for over 4 years, Whataburger hasn't quite made the list for me. I like the food, but it's not an absolute favorite or go-to like it is for a lot of (probably more senior?) Texans. If you don't know what Whataburger is, give it a chance when you're in Texas and let me know what you think!

Now that I've gotten the whole fast food part of this blog post off my chest, I can get to the DC Comics/Batman part. With their kids' meals, Taco Bell offered either Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, or Superman goodies. I ordered a kids' meal (even though I was 22) and specifically asked for the Batman version of the "toy." It came with a mini comic that I believe also folded out to a 3-D poster complete with 3-D glasses and a DIY Batman pop-up stand-up cardboard poster.

These first couple of photos show how it was packaged. I can't imagine this flat "toy" package being very exciting or impressive for younger children.



The unpackaged photo below has everything laid out. You can see the 36x24(-ish?) 3-D poster, corresponding 3-D glasses, and the unconstructed DIY pop-up cardboard image I mentioned.


Here's what the pop-up cardboard poster looked like after it was put together! It was a little bit smaller than a standard letter size. I wish I took photos of different angles of this so you can see the various layers. If you compare this to the last photo, you can see all the different parts that came together to make this what it is.


Overall, a bunch of paper items you can easily toss, but it was some quick fun for a Batman nerd like me. I'm also almost 100% positive I kept all of these items somewhere because, as mentioned in previous posts, I'm a hoarder... especially when it comes to my Batman stuff.

Hope you enjoyed the very random Batman goodies on this fine National Fast Food Day! I would celebrate today by grabbing some Jack in the Box, but I'm currently doing this fit challenge at my boot camp and I should really be better in general about what I'm eating. I haven't been trying very hard when it comes to my nutrition. Oops! There's always room for improvement as they say, right?

That's not to say you can't use today as a reason to go hit up YOUR favorite fast food place! Hah. Am I a bad influence? 🤔😬

Thursday, August 31, 2017

Throwback Thursday: Back to School Special

In honor of the new school year starting, I've compiled an array of old and recent photos of some very old Batman school (and office) supplies I acquired a long time ago. Some items I've used, some I've never touched.

I scoured my old room in my parents' home to see what things I could still find and then grabbed the rest of the photos from my old (now hidden) Facebook album or old blog posts (before I converted it to Batman and Whiskey).

We're starting with my Batman book covers from high school. I so wanted to continue using these in college, but they were getting worn down and warped to the point where they just wouldn't fit anything right anymore. These are old photos, but from way after high school. I put the covers on some books for the photo and I think I threw them away soon after because they were just laying around unused, dirty, and battered. RIP my old Batman book covers. How I loved you. I want to say I purchased these at the Target Dollar Spot, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were from a Staples or Office Depot or somewhere similar.


I believe I received this little The Batman backpack as a gift. It's so tiny! Hah. Because it's made for elementary school children not high school / college work loads. 😏  This is another old photo. I can't remember where I stored it in my old room so didn't get a chance to get a new, better photo. I was never a huge fan of The Batman. A friend told me the story telling wasn't bad, but I couldn't get over the Jackie Chan Adventures art style. Let me know if you've ever watched this series and what you thought.


This next item is one of my FAVORITE Batman items that I've ever purchased. I bought it so long ago I can't remember where I got it, but I definitely bought it in person likely at a local comic book shop. It's a Batman tin storage container that opens up like a book so it fits nicely on your book shelf. Batman✔️. Organizing✔️. What's not to love? I used to keep my middle school notes from friends and tickets stubs in it, but I've since purged a lot of things in an effort to be less of a hoarder. Since then, I've used it as more of comic book storage. I might find a better use for it in the future.


At work in college, when it was slow, I would sometimes make things for myself such as this bookmark. It's really just a trimmed down laminated Batman image, but it gets the job done. The back is identical. This is probably my favorite panel by Jim Lee ever. I ship Batman and Catwoman so much and this kiss between them just seems so romantic and passionate. It fills me with the feels every time I see it.

Fun fact, though, if you see recognizable comic book art in stores on magnets, etc. and it isn't officially labeled as DC Comics merchandise, it's likely boot legged. Granted, I didn't know this when I bought all my current magnets, but I'm going to be more cognizant of it in the future because I want artists to be properly paid for their work!


Next is a hodge podge of Batman pens and pencils I've accumulated over the years! I'm pretty sure these are from various visits to Target's Dollar Spot. The #2 pencils on the left aren't even opened. 😂  The next 2 sets you see with the translucent caps are push pencils! Do you all remember push pencils? It was the worst when you lost just ONE little pencil unit because then the whole thing was useless. That actually happened to a few of mine. The ones pictured are the ones that made it through high school and/or college... when I stopped using pencils entirely. Hah. The last sets you see on the right are some very bad quality pens. I bought them anyway knowing what they were. I should probably toss the pens out that don't properly function anymore. Hoarder problems.


Batman mousepad! I rediscovered this and brought it to my current office. Why let it waste away in a dark space in my room? I love buying useful Batman products for a reason, to use them. I actually still see this same product being sold at local comic book stores fairly often.


Does anybody still use USB flash drives? I know I own several, but rarely find a need for them lately. With that in mind, the next photos are of a Batman Mimobot USB drive! These are old photos so sorry for the lack of focus. You can actually find their various Batman flash drives at a lot of retailers across the web. I first ran into Mimobot at San Diego Comic-Con (maybe even at my first SDCC in 2010), but couldn't pull the trigger on a flash drive I knew I wouldn't use much or at all. BUT THANKS TO MY AWESOME FRIENDS, I HAVE THIS AWESOME BATMAN FLASH DRIVE STILL PRISTINE IN ITS ORIGINAL BOX, UNUSED! And I love it. 😀  Are students still using flash drives nowadays?


Sorry for the lack of focus on these old photos as well. This next product is a Batman pencil case or that's how I would use it. It's a Mixo Kooky Kan! It looks like they're still available here at Gemini Collectibles. I also noticed these at a San Diego Comic-Con, but I believe it was either gifted to me at a later date or I purchased it later at a comic book store.


Next are some old (and dark) photos of coloring and activity books! These were gifted to me or purchased from Target's Dollar Spot (again). A lot of them haven't been used much so maybe I'll donate them? They're definitely still sitting on a shelf somewhere.


This is my most recent coloring book. If you're following me on Instagram, you've already seen these photos. It's an adult coloring book featuring panels from Batman: Hush, but I figured I'd include it in this post for completeness since we're talking about coloring books anyway.


I used to have this amazing tear out book of self-enveloped (is that a thing?) stationery. I believe I've used them all since I got them years ago, but I saved a couple of each version of the stationery to keep as part of my collection. In the photos, you can see that you write your note on one side then fold it in half and all around the sides to seal it.

These are old photos, but I still have this giant photo album where I keep a lot of the random flat Batman items from my collection.


I used to have some awesome Batman notepads also from the Target Dollar Spot. Man, makes me realize I haven't found any useful Batman Dollar Spot items in a while. Anyway, these are just the last sheets I saved from the notepads to display in my giant Batman photo album.


Random assortment of Batman stickers? You bet I have those too. I'm pretty sure I still have all of these. I don't really know where to put all my Batman stickers so they just kind of hang around in my collection for years collecting dust. These are more old photos from the photo album I mentioned.


Speaking of stickers, here are some more that came as part of an art pack that I received from my sister-in-law. There are some Batman note/art pads, a push color pencil, some markers, a cute Batman stamp which I'm sure I still own and is dried up somewhere, a stencil, and various stickers. The first is an old picture (from way before we were sister-in-laws), but I took some more recent pictures of some items as well.


I also owned some regular old lined notebooks from Target's Dollar Spot all of which I've used many years ago. I'm a hoarder though so I saved the front and back covers in my giant Batman collection photo album. I'm sure I have more old photos some where, but the last photo in this batch shows what some of the notebooks looked like before I mutilated them (with a surprise appearance from some of my many Target Dollar Spot Batman socks).


I've got some nicer notebooks that I'm either currently using or waiting to use. I like to keep a journal, but I've been a bit lazy over the last few years so these are still waiting for my return to the pen.

This is one of various Moleskine Batman notebook designs. The cover is a Jim Lee design and he actually signed one of the pages inside. This is my current journal! The pages are blank which I love. I'm not much of an artist, but love the idea of no boundaries when keeping a journal. It came with some (more) stickers. I think the black Batman logo stickers are from something else, but I keep them in the back pocket of my Moleskine.


This next notebook was one of my first ever Batman notebooks and I still haven't used it! I love it, though, because the inside page designs are reminiscent of comic books with designs that read "Meanwhile..." etc. The cover is also holographic so Batman moves when you look at him from different angles. I tried to capture that movement in my photos.


Another notebook I've yet to use features the very common blue/gray Batman logo pattern that you've probably seen on a lot of my Batman collection. This has been on my "to use" list of notebooks for a long time! I'll get there... eventually. Below are photos of the cover, inside pages, and inside cover.


Lastly, here is a Batman address book. I doubt anybody still uses these. I know I don't. I own 2 of these and neither of them are in use, but I love them because each page is different.


Whew. I think that's it. That's at least everything I had photos of to share. This post reminded me a lot of my kitchen blog post in that I had a lot more stuff to share than I thought! I hope you enjoyed this post and wishing everyone an amazing school year ahead, students, teachers, faculty alike! Happy back to school! Do great things. 😃