here's the trailer for anyone interested!

okay, lots to break down. a new main character... it's all so exciting. The new MC is the daughter of a character from Resident Evil outbreak, so that's super exciting. i'm hoping for the 30th anniversary next year they announce a whole bunch of remasters and ports, i'm so excited but also nervous. i was really hoping we'd get a few more remakes before re9, mostly because i went them to finish reworking the lore and get all their ducks in a row before... adding more.

oh my god... seeing the aftermath of raccoon city is so strangely emotional. first time seeing RPD in the light of day. I've been wanting to write a leon character study fic and seeing RC like this really inspired me.

As per usual, there's a ton of speculation about whats going on and where the other MCs are. i will say if it's leon we will be popping the BIGGEST BOTTLES but i don't ever believe a single one of the RE leakers(had all of them blocked when i was on twt LOL) and i'm not gonna get my hopes up. i'm just gonna take everything with a grain of salt and hope that i'll be pleasantly surprised the more we find out about it! which i hope will be soonish because the release date is feb. 27th 2026 which was WAY sooner than i was anticipating. hoping it will be belated bday present worth waiting for!!

it seems like every time we go on a whim, we find one really cool thing we've had our eye on for a crazy good price. this time it was the advent children cloud and fenrir figure for an insane deal and well below what he's going for online! click images to enlarge ^_^!

it's so weird how their pricing works at book off because they also have the cloud and hardy daytona figure for a whopping $400?? he's been there for six months and at the time we found him, that figure was still in stock on square enix's website for like $250. he's also currently going online for about $200 as well. like... be fr!

when we got him home, i realized he'd literally never been taken out of the box. all of his inner packaging was still sealed and i had a crisis about if i should take him out or just leave him be. unfortunately, his box is huge, otherwise i probably would've just kept him in it. so, out he came.

idk if it was his paint, where he'd been stored or what but he smelled of gasoline something awful. like sometimes even walking by him i get a whiff of it, it's that bad. he looks great though, fenrir is so cool and very heavy. he's a little difficult to pose and his buster sword is a bit unruly and too heavy for him to really keep held up, which is a bummer. but he's an older figure so i really don't want to put him through the pose ringer. maybe one day i'll be able to get my hands on one of the new play arts figures and compare the two.

a very cool piece for my very first FF figure and i'm glad we got him for such a steal!

dutch found some really good deals on some newer leon merch items and very kindly got me some as well!

we found a super nice seller on ebay that had everything really fairly priced. when the package arrived the seller had even thrown in some freebies(a death island sticker and a capcom exhibit keychain!!), the capcom store bag, and the capcom exhibition pamphlets. dutch dm'd him to thank the seller for their generosity and they very kindly offered to get some more items from the capcom exhibition for us the next time they went! so we have a few more items OFD today... i hope we can continue to build a relationship with this seller, they're very kind!

when i found out the capcom exhibit had these really cute transparent leon photocards, i was so excited. i love taking pictures and i always want to bring a little leon with me but i'm always so scared that something will happen to them. this photo card is perfect! i've got it in a photocard holder from daiso, on a nice unbreakable keychain rn, so i can always have it on my purse!

the little leon uniform charm is very small, i was expecting it to be much larger. if you're thinking about getting this charm, i wouldn't spend anything over like. 15-20 USD max on it. it's not worth the 40-50 USD prices i've seen it going for...

i gave dutch the kigu leon plush keychain i got last year because it looked so cute with his weskers... he very kindly got me one of my own! it's so cute... i love this so much, they're releasing an ada soon and we're really hoping we can find her for a good price!! hoping they also make a wesker so we can have all three of our faves!

my leon collection keeps growing and i'm so lucky to have a butch like dutch that is always spoiling me!!

i was browsing neocities today and came across a site that had something like "i will automatically disregard your opinion on a game if you've only ever watched a let's play." with some cutesy emoji after it in their about. across their page were multiple "i actually played *game*" stamps and the like. like jesus christ. they will be handing out your gamer medal of honor any day now, babe. of that i'm sure.

aren't you embarrassed? don't you think that is an embarrassing opinion to have in the year of our lord 2025? like ur 30, be so for real with me.

are you not aware of the fact that video games keep getting more and more expensive? older games are even harder to find and prices are through the roof. it's ridiculous and people are incredibly lucky if they can afford the console/pc AND the 70 USD price tag(more if its "retro"!!!) of the fucking game nowadays! like of course they're going to watch a let's play and i don't fucking blame them!

besides, what standing does actually having played the game give you?

i'll give you a hint. it's none.

it gives you literally nothing over someone who "only" watched a let's play. i know plenty of assholes that have actually played the game and they know less than shit about it and their opinions are also. Shit. some of the worst people i know have actually played the game.

i don't understand the impulse to gatekeep or sort people into real fan/fake fan categories based on if they actually played the game. like if you are going to judge someone's "true fan status" shouldn't it be for their interpretations of the lore/characters/whatever? idk. like as long as they know what the fuck they're talking about, shouldn't that be enough??

resident evil fandom, for example, is really, really bad about this. "if you didn't play the games don't call yourself a fan." this same person, who actually (apparently) played the game refuses to acknowledge the eugenics that wesker/spencer/umbrella employ to reach their goals, etc. meanwhile, someone that's only ever watched let's plays is pointing out all the real-life parallels the game uses to not so subtly smack you over the head with umbrella's eugenics ideals and the "real fan" is arguing that it's just a zombie shooter and if they actually played the game they would know its not that deep.

like you can have 2 million hours in a game and still be an idiot about it. people do it every day. actually playing the game for 2 million hours proves nothing, especially if you're still arguing a game about eugenics and biowarfare isn't about eugenics and biowarfare. it just proves you're dense.

like i don't get it, of all the things to judge someone's fan status on, it would not be if they actually played the stupid game or not. you get the same information from a let's play that you do the game because someone is actually playing the game no matter what anyway, so what does it fucking matter!!! stop being a cunt!

p.s: sorry for all the emphasis on actually LOL but i really want to drive home how stupid it looks and sounds

on friday afternoon, dutch's sister came over and we went to a sushi place that we all love. dutch and his sister got a deep fried roll and i got a delicious seared salmon roll... it was so so good. after dinner we went to a local book-off. dutch's sister is really getting back into her haikyuu era so we helped her look for some stuff in the giant wall of charms/pins/smalls that they had. we managed to find some which was cool! i also found some goodies while looking on her behalf, mainly some yakuza and pop team epic things. i also found a little chiikawa mini fig. dutch found me a lil pompompurin suitcase and a chunichi dragons kewpie charm! they're both so cute. everything was about 3.00 USD which is nice because sometimes these smalls on the resell market are... super overpriced! we also found a really cute plush bunny ears charm that we got because i thought it would look cute on my leon figs...

while looking around the store i also came across the pop team epic soundtrack on CD for like 9.00 so i got that as well...

here's my (incomplete) haul! click images to enlarge please! not pictured: kiryu magnet that's on our fridge, a pop team epic charm that's on my purse, and my chunichi dragons charm is on my DS!

after we got some taiyaki soft serve and went home. i've been playing silent hill 2 remake for dutch's sister so we played that until late into the night before going to bed.

the next day we really wanted this local hot pot place. and while i love their hot pots, they have these new really good pepper lunch sizzling plates! we each got one and some milk tea that was also really good.

afterward, we walked off our delicious meal at a book store that dutch's sister also happens to work at. we found the final fantasy vii remake material ultimania(only $20 with dutch's sister's discount!!) AND! on the way to a smile!!! i was so excited!!! i also finally decided to get this book, butter, that i pick up literally every time we go jfghfjkg. i hope it's good, I've been having such bad luck with books lol. dutch also got some books that we were both interested in reading but i was too nervous about fully committing to... v_v;

we went to a few more stores after the bookstore before going to get taiyaki soft serve again... it's so good... matcha ice cream, taiyaki with red bean filling... what more could you want...

we went home and played silent hill 2 for the rest of the evening(and into the early morning LOL) i beat it and got the leave ending, which i think is a good one for someone's first time experiencing the game. dutch's sister really seemed to enjoy it and afterward, we watched the other endings so she could get the full experience.

i had so much fun, i love when we all get to hang out, eat, and catch up. i always look forward to spending time with them!

dutch and i went to the zoo sunday! it was a lot of fun, i always love hanging out with him. we found these adorable magnetic plushies of a tarantula and a crocodile and he got them for us. they're so cute and so us :3c he looked so cute looking at all the reptiles with it clipped to his shoulder bag. i love him so so much.

click images to enlarge!

we stuck to one side of the zoo, the bugs and reptiles. we have such a big zoo i love walking it but usually, by noon it's unbearably packed so we dip and go grab some lunch. we went to a local japanese market and i got some of my favorite seared salmon nigiri with gochujang mayo! it's so good i could cry. i got some oi ocha, my fave green tea, and some matcha cookies.

after the market we went to a local book-off, it's a store that buys and sells video games, books, movies, anime merch, etc. their prices can be kinda insane but sometimes we luck out and we find a good deal. we lucked out and found FF7 remaster deluxe edition for a good price, the ff7 advent children movie, re6 deluxe edition guide and a cute tsum tsum costume for leon... :3

here are some close-ups of the artbook and steelbook in the deluxe edition:

after we were done with book off dutch was craving some taiyaki ice cream so we went to a local place. i always get the matcha flavor and whatever it's swirled with that week.

it was a very fun day! i'm so lucky to have a wonderful butch like dutch that spoils me like he does!

as i said, this month was dutch and i's anniversary! an amazing honor and privilege. i love him so much and it's been so amazing to be a part of his journey and watch him turn into the butch he was always meant to be... my darling dutchie... i love you so!

we started our anniversary with a favorite spot, the local zoo! i really love our zoo, we have some amazing animals and very large and beautiful aviaries, insect enclosures, and reptile houses. walking around the zoo and holding hands with dutch and pointing at cute little animals and going "that's you!" or "that's us" when we see a pair cuddling will never get old.

we mostly stuck to one side of the zoo as we were on a bit of a time crunch and couldn't stay as long as we would normally like. we went to one of our favorite sections because it has the reptile house, an aviary, and insects all in one convenient little corner so we could both see our favorites.

i had so much fun... i love the zoo!

we left around noon and made our way to the cheesecake factory... can i just say the decor of this place makes no fucking sense. the cheesecake is so good though... we got the salted caramel cheesecake and omfg.... heaven...!!!

after our delicious lunch we made our way to the nearby theater to see... nosferatu! i loved this movie. the other 6 people in the audience were dead silent after, it was so funny. very good and beautiful film and i look forward to watching it again.

we had a wonderful day, i love hanging out with my handsome butch...

the next day his anniversary present arrived! the beautiful ada 1/6 by master team! she's gorgeous!

my hatred for the soft "seamless" bodies a lot of these companies favor aside, she's gorgeous. for an unlicensed figure i think she's got an incredible likeness to her in-game model and i love her beautiful cheongsam...

she also came with her default re4r outfit and an extra head. dutch's hot toys ada he purchased last year had unfortunately been re-bodied so he purchased her original body on ebay and that left us with an extra that was now coming in handy! I dressed it up and passed her over to dutch. two figures in one was a nice surprise and that meant we both got to enjoy our adaversary ^_^!

sometime between now and march our present toys 1/6 scale wesker's are meant to be shipping out which i hope is true.. i am worried about how i'm going to rearrange my shelves when he gets here tho lol! the master team figures have ENORMOUS stands and it's a little annoying how much room they take up. but for now... my beautiful butch/femme couple looks great on my shelf and are anxiously awaiting their third wheel <3

goals for my website:

-picture a day diary. need to find a media-heavy free code i can use and tweak lol
-game logs for all games i play this year (except games i replay a lot?)
-archive all 2024 diaries and add them to my website map
-finish leon, ada, and wesker shrines.
-make shrines for carlos, jill, medic, isabelle, pompompurin, quiet, and michael myers.
-LEARN MORE CODING!!!!

goals for myself:

-work out more :/. dutch got a walking pad for xmas so i think i can manage this
-draw a leon a day traditionally. i really miss traditional art so. i wanna get back into it.
-finish all the unplayed games in my libraries BEFORE i buy any new ones!!!
-get back into journaling of some sort, digital or physical...
-read more. been on a huge reading kick and i've loved it. hoping i can keep it up through the year

gonna try to hold myself accountable this year and get shit done... fingers crossed!!!