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Apple Bloom

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  1. Apple Bloom

    Pony Ears!

    By Apple Bloom,

    I posted a status a while ago about buying some Apple Bloom pony ears. Well, they finally arrived! Here is a little unboxing/review I put together:
     
    So, as you can see on the box, I bought them from Panda Kitty Studios on Etsy.
     

     
    They were wrapped in pink tissue paper.
     

     
    And here they are!
     

     
    Here's what I look like wearing them. (I didn't feel like taking a picture of my face, so this is all you get)
     

     
    The headband is a bit small for my head but it stretches easily and it's covered with a cloth material so it looks good and doesn't scratch my head. The ears are decently sized and great quality. They seem to be made out of felt and have some kind of rigid support inside them so they're not floppy. The whole thing is sewn together except part of the ears which are glued. Overall, I love them and I'd recommend Panda Kitty Studios for anyone who wants great quality and decently priced cosplay accessories.
  2. Apple Bloom
    So uh... I was going to post this in the "Post Your Collection" thread, but it's not really about my entire collection and it kind of turned into a crafting tutorial of sorts, so I think it fits better as a blog entry.
     
    Anywho, I've posted my current collection in the above mentioned thread, and if you've seen the pictures, you may have seen some MLP beach towels laying on a table. Well, that's not where I wanted them to be. I wanted to display them properly, but towels aren't like posters. You can't just hang them up on a wall, so I came up with a solution. For anyone else who has any of the MLP beach towels, if you've wondered how to display them, here is what I did.
     

     
    Basically, I have them attached to clips and hanging from wooden rods on my doors, kind of like tapestries. If you're interested in how I did it, see the instructions below:
     
    Things You Will Need (and where I got them)
    Small wooden dowel rod - $0.50~$1- Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts
    Medium size binder clips - $1~$2 - Walmart
    Clothes hanger - $0 - My closet (or over-the-door hangers if you can find some that are the proper shape)

    Tools You May Need
    Needle-nose pliers
    Wire cutting pliers
    Razor knife

    Instructions
     
    Bend the clothes hanger straight. Start at one end and using a pair of needle-nose pliers, bend the hanger into the shape of a hook. Make sure it fits snugly over the top of the door and has a loop on the end just big enough to hold the wooden rod. Cut the hanger with the pliers (or wire cutters) once you have the desired length. Bend a tiny loop in the very end of the hook (opposite of the rod) so it won't scratch your door when you put it on or remove it. When you're done, it should look something like the the picture below. You'll need to make two hooks for each door.
     
     
     
    Measure the width of the door and cut the wooden rod just a bit shorter so if it slides a little, it won't catch the door frame. To cut the rod, lay it on a flat surface and using the razor knife, press the blade against it while rotating the rod to create a scoring line. After going all the way around, press deeper and rotate a few more times. Now, depending on the diameter of the rod, you should be able to break it off. Cut off any remaining splinters to make it smooth. Sand the edges if desired. When done, you should be able to hang the rod on the hooks like so, and you should be able to open and close your door.
     
     
     
    Attach binder clips to the towel and slide them onto the rod. Hang the rod on the hooks, and you're done!
     
     
     
    You can also use this same method to hang them on a wall. You'll just have to find a way to hang the rod, possibly by attaching a string to both ends and hanging it on a hook or nail.
  3. Apple Bloom

    WeLoveFine Bags

    By Apple Bloom,

    I haven't posted a blog entry in quite a while, and since this doesn't really constitute a forum post, I thought I'd share it here.
     
    So, I recently moved into a new house and as some of you may know, I have tons of pony merchandise... like, enough to fill a room... so that's exactly what I'm doing. I have two bedrooms; one I'm actually using as a bedroom, and the other I'm using for everything pony. I'm affectionately calling it "The Pony Room".
     
    The only problem is, I'm not much of an interior decorator, so it takes me forever to unpack stuff and as a result, most of it has remained untouched for weeks. Well, today I finally decided to tackle the job and after unpacking a few boxes, I found these:
     

     
    I forgot I even had them and now I have no idea what to do with them. They look awesome (in my opinion) and I want to display them somewhere, but I have no idea where or even how. They take up so much space and the only way I can think to display them is to somehow hang them on a wall.
     
     
    So, if anyone actually reads this, what do you think I should do with them? Do you have any bags like this? If so, what do you do with them?
  4. Apple Bloom
    WeLoveFine. I'm sure you've heard of them. They're the de facto place to buy pony shirts. Well, three weeks ago I ordered a couple of shirts from them and after two weeks of "In Printing" status and one week of shipping, they finally arrived.
     
    I actually bought them not just because I wanted the shirts, but also because I wanted the poster that came with them. At the time there was a promotion where you could get a signed poster from the "My Little Pony Project" screening event that took place on May 12. Supposedly if you acted fast enough, you could get a poster signed by some of the staff that work on the show.
     
    When I opened the box, the first thing I did was look for the poster. I excitedly unrolled it as fast as I could while being careful not to damage it. I expected to see signatures but instead, to my disappointment, there were no signatures to be found. They must have ran out of the signed posters rather quickly and had to give out unsigned posters for the rest of the orders. Regardless, I am still happy.
     
    I wore my Fluttershy shirt to Walmart and got my first ever brohoof from the cashier. She was like, "Brohoof?" and I was so surprised, all I could say was, "Really!?" It was awesome. I got plenty of brohoofs at BronyCon but that was the first one I ever got in my local area. Hopefully it's the first of many more to come.
  5. Apple Bloom
    First of all, welcome to my blog, everypony!
     
    As some of you already know, I am obsessed with pony merchandise. I am a collector of the official toys. (excluding a few things such as the So Soft Newborns) I also buy fan-made merchandise, posters, clothing, accessories, etc.
     
    I will be using this blog to review new merchandise I get, post info/news about upcoming merch, and of course, show off my collection as it grows.
  6. Apple Bloom
    I have recently become interested in dolls. Yes, dolls... and I don't mean pony figures, I mean fashion dolls. Before you dismiss me as weird, creepy, etc., let me explain.
     
    One of my biggest loves besides MLP is Hatsune Miku. If you don't know who she is, she's a character and voice for a suite of singing synthesis software called Vocaloid. There are several characters, but she's my favourite. Similarly to MLP, people all over the world make music using her voice, both professionally and amatuerly. Well, I also love MLP merchandise, so one day I decided to see what kind of Miku merchandise there was. I like to watch MLP toy reviews on YouTube, so naturally, I looked up reviews for Miku merch, and everything I found was okay, but there was nothing I really wanted... until I saw this:
     

     
    As soon as I saw her, I knew I had to have her. It wasn't just because of who she was, though. There was something about the doll itself. I thought it was incredibly cute and although I've never been into dolls before, even really cute ones, this one just seemed different. Somehow, it looked like it had emotion and life, at least more-so than any other dolls I've seen. My curiousity was peaked so I looked up pictures of the dolls and sure enough, not only were people taking pictures of them, but they were putting them in all kinds of lifelike poses. As I discovered, the dolls are extremely articulated. They have joints in all of their limbs and not only that, but their eyes can be moved left and right and even closed! Besides that, people also make custom clothing for them and dress them up in all kinds of cute outfits. Apparently people take photographing them very seriously because many of the photographs were actually professionally made. I'm not very good at photography, but I love taking pictures and this seemed like something I would enjoy doing.
     
    There was just one problem though... Although I'm open about ponies, I've never expressed interest in dolls and I wasn't sure how people would react. I know I shouldn't worry about that, especially since I'm able to openly wear pony shirts and talk about MLP in public, but dolls are a different matter altogether. People know about bronies. It's almost a commonly accepted thing at this point, but guys liking dolls? Not so much. So, as much as I like them, I've been hesitant to buy one, but then I found something that changed my entire outlook on the subject.
     
    As I mentioned before, I like to watch MLP toy reviews on YouTube. As a result, I happened across a reviewer/collector named Chad Alan. He reviews MLP toys, but to my surprise, he also reviews dolls, and not only that, but he also collects them, as evident by the huge shelf of dolls seen in some of his videos. He mainly collects Monster High dolls, but he also has a Pullip doll, which he did a review on in the video below.
     
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9f7oAkzNKs
     
    After seeing this, I watched more of his videos out of curiousity. (and for the MLP reviews) Eventually, I found out that he (or one of his viewers) came up with a slogan: B.O.L.D, which stands for Boys Openly Liking Dolls. It's kind of a movement and an idea, similar to Bronies, that it's okay for boys to like dolls (or other "girly" things) and it represents being open and proud of being who you are, rather than hiding it. The guy is really cool and he's an inspiration to me. Because of him, I've been able to tell my grandmother (and subsequently, you guys) about my interest in dolls, and I'm planning to get one as soon as possible.
     
    Now, to be clear, this doesn't mean I like all kinds of dolls. I'm not into Barbie dolls, or anything like that, and I'm not even into Monster High. (though I am kind of interested in Ever After High...) I mainly just like Pullip dolls because they're so cute, articulated, lifelike, and full of expression. There is a similar line of dolls called Blythe that I'm also interested in. They look similar to Pullips and have a slightly different facial expression, but they're not quite as good, in my opinion.
     
    So... yeah... that's the gist of it. This blog will be about my adventures in doll land. I'll post reviews, photographs, thoughts, opinions, or whatever I think of related to the subject. As for my current plans, I'm hoping to get the Hatsune Miku doll shown above. It may not happen any time soon though, because Pullips aren't cheap. (that one goes for $140 USD) Also, that one may not be available by the time I get around to buying it, so I may have to settle for something else, though if that's the case, I don't really mind at this point. I think they're all cute and I'm probably going to buy more eventually anyway.
  7. Apple Bloom
    A while back I posted this status update.
     
    Well... that wasn't enough. I loved the painting so much, I had to find out who the artist was so I could congratulate them. Fortunately, thanks to the power of Google, I was able to find the original post on DeviantART, here. I went ahead and fav'd and left a comment, thanking the artist for such a job well done, but then I noticed something in the description; a link to WeLoveFine.com where you could supposedly buy a print. I hadn't thought of that before, but after seeing that, I had to get one. Well, I clicked the link... and nothing happened, or rather, I was sent to the WeLoveFine home page. I looked around the site, even using various search terms including the artist's name. Nothing. In fact, I couldn't find any art prints, as if they just stopped selling them at all. I went back to the DeviantART page, looking for any kind of option to have a print made through them, but nothing.
     
    That didn't stop me though. I was determined to get an art print of this magnificently cute painting, so I messaged the artist, asking them if they sold them anywhere else. Unfortunately, their response was no, but they gave me a high resolution version I could have printed myself. At first I wasn't sure what to do with it. I knew I could have it printed at Walmart or various photo printing services, but I wanted a large, poster size print, and it had to be done well. Another problem was that I didn't have much cash money to spend, however, I had recently invested in Bitcoin and had plenty of it, so once again using the power Google, I searched around for a printing service that accepted Bitcoin. Unsurprisingly, nothing turned up. I was beginning to lose hope, but then I remembered Gyft.com, a virtual gift card service that accepts Bitcoin. Their selections are limited, but I gave it a try anyway and I actually found one, AllPosters.com.
     
    I checked out the site to see what their prices were and surprisingly, not only were they quite affordable, but they had a sale going on too. At first glance, it seemed they didn't offer custom printing, but after searching around, I found a little feature called "My Photos". After looking for the largest size for the most affordable price, I decided on a 20" x 30" print for $22.99. (USD) Shipping was $4.99, but after using the coupon code from the sale, I actually got $5.75 off, which means I actually paid a total of $22.23, slightly less than the cost of the poster itself!
     
    I know it sounds like I'm advertising all this stuff, but it just happened to be what worked best for me, and I wanted to share it. Anyway, it just arrived today, so here are some pictures from the unboxing.
     
    It was shipped via USPS in a triangular poster tube, secured with two strips of tape.

     
    The print itself was wrapped in a sheet of thick paper, long enough to protect it from any damage from sliding around.

     
    And here it is!

     
    Seeing it on a computer screen is one thing, but the detail on the print is amazing.

     
    Needless to say, I am quite satisfied. Though now that I've spent my money on that, I'll have to save up before I can buy a frame for it.
  8. Apple Bloom
    Got home from school yesterday and noticed a strange looking package lying on the sofa. It looked like a square poster tube, so being the only person in the house who would likely order a poster, I thought it must be mine. I picked it up and looked at the shipping label, and to my surprise, it was from Enterplay, the company that makes pony trading cards. I was excited to see what was inside, yet confused as to why they had sent me a package. I didn't remember ordering anything from them, yet clearly inscribed in the return address area was "Enterplay LLC".
     

     
    After a brief moment of just standing there, staring at the label in a state of confusion, I finally decided to open the package and see what was inside. I knew that Enterplay made posters in addition to trading cards, so by the shape of the box, I had an idea of what it must be. Well, I was right... but there was more. What I actually found did nothing but compound my confusion. There was obviously a poster (a DJ Pon-3 poster, not shown), but there was also a pack of series 2 cards and, the most confusing part, what appeared to be an empty envelope.
     

     
    I picked up the envelope, wondering what it was for. Were they expecting me to send something back? Maybe money to pay for something I didn't order in the first place? As I was about to look inside, I realized it was sealed... in fact, it had something in it, so wondering what it was, I held it up to the light and saw the outline of what appeared to be a trading card. I knew that it must be some kind of special card to be put in an envelope by itself, but what I found was something I didn't expect at all. It was the San Diego Comic Con exclusive DJ Pon-3 trading card.
     

     
    At this point I was in a state of utter confusion and disbelief. Why would they send me this? Ideas began running through my head. Maybe it was a special gift for vendors or panelists at BronyCon... No, that didn't make any sense. There's no way they would give away hundreds of cards from another convention, and how would they have my address anyway? I must have ordered it somehow. I searched my email for any kind of invoice and there it was... "Order Date: Fri, Jul 19, 2013 15:35:09"
     
    Aha! Now I remember! It was a one time only "We Missed the Con" sale they had back in July. It was so long ago I had completely forgotten about it. It was a little late... okay, maybe a lot late, but at least it finally arrived and I couldn't be happier.
     
     
     
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