Squee! ^O^

[ladybug_archive]

W00t! X3 Picture up! http://www.setsunakou.com/ufo/elliottkermanufo.jpg

It was an awesome day. ^O^ And the celebrations will be extended; the shopping part will be on Monday.

Crystal and I are doing an RP of the Duke undercover thing, which is definitely giving me more ideas for the possible fic version. X3 We did a lot of that in the morning and some in the evening. I've also been RPing with Kaze and chatting with her and Lisa.

I got two Clair Poulson novels (my favorite author, a local one who writes suspense), the Sonic X DVD set with the first 13 episodes, and new, soft sleepwear. X3 I also got some awesome cards from family and friends. And a pizza. XD

My aunt sent a gorgeous multi-tiered necklace that reminds me of falltime. *___* And a computer dictionary and thesaurus program! **squees!** So useful! She also sent a check, which I plan to put to use this coming week. X3

I got some wonderful digital gifts, too! Crystal wrote me a mystery fic! *___* So awesome. It was just like a Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys story in the Carmen verse!

Lisa made me an amazing Dissidia Cloud and Seph colorbar (which is on my profile; go look)! ^O^ I haven't played in that verse too much, but it's still so intriguing. "Legendary Love" is a perfect tag for it!

And Kaze sent this squee-worthy Sonic X bag! Ohmygosh, it's got my three favorite characters on it: Knuckles, Sonic, and Shadow! And matching pins! ^O^ She also sent an awesome frame thing with the saying "No road is long with a good friend" and our picture in it. X3 Plus a CD of all the pics she took over our three days together in August when she drove up for the concert. ^O^ Which I still need to do a write-up about!

My camera was doing weird things during that time, and her parents just got digital cameras after that and were getting rid of their manual ones. Kaze had asked to have them, and since there were two, she wondered if I'd like to have one since my camera had been acting up. X3 So that came too! **anxious to try it out.**

In addition, my birthday present to myself arrived on time (LOL): four Sonic comics. I've been buying Shadow issues like crazy. In the past few weeks I've accumulated Sonic Universe #1-#4, Sonic X #40, and the regular Sonic series #124, #149, #161, and #171. I have plans to get more. X3 Plus I still want that Sonic Select compilation with the early Knuckles stories! The four that arrived yesterday were Sonic Universe #1, #3, #4, and Sonic #161. Also, a survey check came. X3

I also started drawing a pic of Duke breaking down after killing the assassin. o.o His pose is actually coming out really well; the hard part is getting the right intensity in his expression. And drawing the assassin face-down on the floor. I have to do that, or the picture won't have the full impact.

And Dad borrowed a VCR! **squees!** I've been watching YGO episodes. #85 (the one where Shadi saves Tristan and Duke), some Noa's Arc stuff (and totally loved Duke even more after watching the three-way duel against Nesbitt), and some Doom stuff (I'd intended to watch Yami Y vs. Raphael, but I ended up watching Joey vs. Mai instead. XD;). LOL, some of those dub lines are hilarious! Like Duke's comment after Shadi pulls them up: "That was *not* fun." **snarks.** And 4Kids recycled that line for Sonic X; Cream says it after one of Bokkun's bombs goes off.

Also, I totally forgot about Valon's hilarious snarking during the duel against Mai. Like when Joey merges Helmos and Time Wizard: "Run! It's a croquet hammer with wings!" LOL! And when the numbers appear above Mai's monsters: "Thanks for the counting lesson, mate! Next time maybe you can teach me the alphabet!"

I just love Duke in the three-way Noa's Arc duel, as I mentioned. He was so logical and practical while trying to save everyone. I doubt Tristan would have lost if he'd trusted in Duke's plan. But he seemed to think Duke was only looking out for himself, and since Nesbitt had forbidden them to discuss their strategies, Duke couldn't explain. ;___;

I'd forgotten that Duke was the first to be turned to stone by Noa. o.o I'd also forgotten that Tristan is the only one shown reacting. (In the dub, at least, not even Serenity is shown or heard reacting, whereas she does audibly react when it's Tristan.) I need to see that scene in the Japanese, just for curiosity's sake. Tristan and Duke really are intriguing. I haven't done a lot with them solo, but in the mystery fics they were often in scenes together. And of course, the conflict between them in Life After the Tears, when Duke seemingly goes rogue....

Why didn't Duke ever go rogue in canon, BTW? It was always Tristan being mind-controlled. I would have liked to have seen it be Duke, even once....

And ... guess what? The dub made Duke sound a lot worse in #85 than he was really supposed to. XD; Dub version has him telling Tristan girls like men of action and Tristan isn't one, he's just a pathetic cheerleader. Original version has him say that since Tristan isn't related to Serenity and isn't her lover, he's got no right to question Duke's motives in connection with her. And he thinks Tristan should just tell Serenity he likes her, though he's sure he knows what her answer will be. (And of course, the physical fight itself was cut too. XD; Even though all that happened was that Tristan threw a couple of punches that Duke dodged, and Duke elbowed Tristan in the stomach.)

But in spite of all its flaws, dub YGO is still the real deal for me. XD; I can't think of one voice I prefer in Japanese over English, unlike with Sailor Moon (where I also started with the dub and then saw the Japanese version). And I love the instrumental scores. *___* The only character I still refuse to call by the dub name is Rishid. XD; And that's mainly because for the longest time I never knew his name had been changed, so when he suddenly was called Odion it was an immense shock to me. Oh yeah, and I always use Miruko instead of Mikey. But other than that, it's dub names for me! And the silly in-joke of Duke's undercover name....