Yesterday turned out pretty well. I had a productive meeting with my research student, at least one of my ecology students is excited about doing the independent project....and I got the lawn mowed and edged yesterday afternoon. (For a while it looked like it was going to rain me out). I put flags in where the flowering stalks of the orchids are so I could see to avoid them, and I just left them in on the grounds of if the person doing the mowing next door decides to cross my yard again with their tractor, MAYBE they won't run over the flowering stalks and cut them down. (I debated pulling the flags - out of concern that if I left them someone might spot the flowers and decide to pick them. And yes, that's happened - people have picked daffodils out of my front garden. I don't get that. There are some people who have NO boundaries, I guess, and figure everything is theirs to take if they want it?)
I ran to Mart of Wal this morning - didn't need that much, and also, don't have time to go to Sherman. I did take my typical quick furtive run down the toy aisle to see what was on offer. Apparently they're FINALLY getting some new stuff in; they had a lot of things on clearance and they had rearranged the aisles a lot (and apparently, like everything else in the store, they are pivoting toward selling their own house brand instead of national brands. That might be fine for canned corn and frozen pizza - though sometimes it is not, because the quality is lower - but for toys of licensed characters, it doesn't work, because most kids won't want Generic Dog Toy instead of Dog That is An Actual Character on Their Favorite Cartoon.)
But there were a few things from "major brands" (lots and lots of Disney stuff, more than they had in the past.) But they did have some MLP stuff - the newest wave of blindbags (the Rarity wave) that I've seen (and yes, I bought a bunch, and might open one or two today and save the rest - I feel pretty happy right now so maybe it's good to save some for when I'm NOT, as a pick-me up).
And I found this:
Photo Finish, in her Equestria Girls form.
I'm not a HUGE fan of the EG franchise - the first and second movies were fine, but the later ones seemed to go a little off the rails, and Mary-Sue-d the characters (in the "she can do EVERYTHING" sense) and also I am concerned that eventually they'll just shut down Pony-as-Pony and go to 100% EG, all the time. (I also feel like the demographics on it are younger, ironically, than for the Ponies - it's aimed at little girls craving to be grown-up and "sophisticated" and high-schooly, and those of us who are tired adults looking at high school in a distant rearview mirror mostly remember WHY we were glad to leave it behind. Even those of us, like me, who had a better-than-average experience)
But the little "mini" dolls are undeniably cute - and I LOVE the ones that come accessorized (I also have, of course, the Hair Salon Pinkie Pie). Photo Finish comes with a camera on a tripod - which can be removed from its tripod, and the strap can be unhooked so you can hang it around her neck. AND THERE IS A TELEPHOTO LENS YOU CAN SWAP OUT FOR THE REGULAR LENS.
"Click-click, dahhhhlingk!"
There's also a pair of scissors and a "yearbook" with the Mane Six (plus Sunset Shimmer, and of course plus Photo Finish) and a little stand for her.
The detail on these things - on the accessories - is just so fun. Definitely not small-child friendly (the scissors could easily be poked up a nose or in an ear) but for older children (or "obsolete children") they are certainly fun.
Though it is weird - in Pony-world, I always imagined Photo Finish as being slightly older than the Mane Six (already well-established in her career, apparently) but here she's just a high school girl like them, it looks like....
I want to get the "Principal Celestia" one but only if I can find her for a good price (things like this on Amazon tend to have inflated "what the market will bear" prices and I dislike that)
(Opened one of the blindbags. Got Prim Hemline, who was fundamentally an antagonist (and who cheated! And took advantage of Rarity's generosity!) in that one episode. There's a character in need of a redemption arc....)
Second blindbag was "Beaude Mane," apparently a background stallion. Is his name a pun on something? (Maybe from "Mad Men," IIRC, the Manehatten episodes had Mad-Men styled background ponies. I watched "Mad Men" but little - I found it kind of depressing - so I'm not familiar). Apparently Beaude Mane and his "friend" Don Neigh like fashion shows, so, I don't know. Beaude looks a little excitable...
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