Apple Bloom

The OP can no longer fulfill requests, so this topic is now locked.

We already have a thread for discussing favourite anime here, so I re-titled yours to reflect your last question. In the future, please be sure to use the search feature to check for existing threads before starting new ones.

We already have a thread on this topic here. In the future, please be sure to use the search function to check for existing threads before starting new ones.

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.

We already have a similar topic here, so I have merged yours with it. Unless you are sure a topic doesn't already exist, please use the search feature to check before starting a new one. Personally, I kind of like G1. Not as much as G4, but moreso than G3. Though some of G3 wasn't that bad either, in my opinion. I especially liked Minty, for some reason. (maybe it's her fascination with socks...) Anyway, I haven't watched all of the G1 episodes, and I can't remember enough about the ones I watched to recommend anything. If I was still interested though, I would probably just start at 1 and work my way through them. Even if some people think they're 'dreck', that's their opinion. I'd watch them myself and make my own informed opinion. Sorry, I didn't notice you were watching this thread. I merged it with an older one (by the same name, coincidentally) because they were both discussing whether they should watch G1, though admittedly, the second one was asking for specific episode recommendations and if any resembled FIM. But still, I think it's something they could have asked in the existing thread.

There was a minor server-side issue. The site should be back online now.

I wouldn't mind wearing a kilt, but I've never seen anyone wearing them where I live, so it would still be awkward. Even though they're made for men, people are pretty culturally ignorant here. There would probably be a lot of people who think it's a skirt and even if they know what it is, I'd still get weird looks since it's so uncommon. I don't really want that kind of attention. (says the guy who wears pony shirts all the time... >.>) If I ever wear anything like that, it would probably be for cosplay, though in that case, I think I'd be okay with wearing a skirt since cosplaying as the opposite gender is generally acceptable. (hence cross-play)

I have always been scared of needles or anything that can pierce the skin. I know they don't usually hurt that bad, but I think it's just the thought of it going through the skin. I guess I'm just a little squeamish, I don't know. Whatever it is, I can't bring myself to give blood, get flu shots, or anything that involves needles. There was already a thread on this topic here, so I merged yours with it. Please be sure to search for existing threads before making new ones.

I'm pretty good at English (though I've been learning it for 26 years ) and I'm trying to learn Japanese. So far I know how to read and write katakana, hiragana, and a few kanji, and I know some very basic words. I don't know enough to make many sentences yet, much less carry on a conversation, but I'm slowly getting there. I'm at the point now that when I listen to music (I love J-Pop) or watch anime, I can sometimes tell what they're singing or talking about without reading a translation, and I can usually tell if something's translated poorly. I don't really have any plans for using Japanese in a career or anything. I'm just learning it as a hobby because I love the language. I think it's simple and elegant. I love how you can make so many words out of such a short set of sounds, how words are read exactly like they're spelled (unlike many English words), and how almost everything ends in vowels. It seems very natural to me.

Same here! Women's clothes are just so much better than men's, in my opinion. It's just not fair that they get so many different styles and fabrics and we get so little. That's primarily why I cross-dress. I wear women's pajamas because I like how soft and comfy they are and I wear women's socks because I like how cute and colourful they are. The only problem is, even though I wear those things, I won't go to the extent of wearing a dress or anything really feminine because it would look silly on me. That's why, sometimes... I think it may have been better if I had been born a girl. Then I could wear whatever I want and not only would no one would think anything of it, but it would look better on me too.

If you've read any of my previous posts, you may know that I do a bit of cross-dressing. Well, my grandmother just had a talk with me about it. I've been openly wearing girls socks, pajamas, and clear nail polish on my fingernails. I've also been wearing colored polish on my toenails. I've been doing it for a while and she never really seemed to care. She even found out about the colored nail polish and didn't make a big deal out of it, though she did seem a bit disappointed. Well, recently we were talking and somehow got on the subject. Long story short, she doesn't really approve of my cross-dressing after all. I told her I like cute things and some feminine/girly things. She said the cute things were fine, but in her mind, I'm a man, and men aren't supposed to be 'girly' or wear women's clothing. I told her I've felt this way for a long time, even before MLP. I told her that I've been hiding it and trying to live up to everyone's expectations, but when I found MLP and came out as a brony, I realized it was better to be myself and stop worrying about what others think. It doesn't matter to her though. She has her preconceived beliefs and she blames herself. She thinks she spoiled me as a kid and didn't make me man up... or something like that. The way I see it though, it's a part of who I am. I don't think that's ever going to change and I believe suppressing it will just make things worse. Anyway, she's not happy about it, but she didn't exactly tell me to stop cross-dressing, so although it makes me sad knowing that she's disappointed and worried about me, I'm relieved in a way too, because I don't have to hide it anymore. I can tell her I think something's cute (because she didn't say anything was wrong with that. ) and I can keep cross-dressing to a certain extent. I'm not going to wear a dress or anything like that, of course (except maybe for cosplay...) but let's just say I've already thrown out all of my old socks.