Captain’s Log (transcribed for all viewers from my vlog, reposted to tumblr), February 12th:
Hi, everyone, it’s Amy. I’m checking in for my regular updates. I’ve been trying to post twice a month with reasonable luck so far, give or take real life getting in the way at times.
So, my friend Dan and I were talking about our favorite action heroes and I thought I’d talk about the ones I picked. At this moment, I really appreciate Deadpool! He doesn’t take anyone seriously and has an entertaining, badass way of breaking the fourth wall regularly in the comics. It’s so rare and I love it.
I also like Spiderman because he’s such a scrappy character!
And I have a serious soft spot for Agatha Heterodyne just because of her tenacity. You know, I think that’s a pretty central characteristic for any comics heroes or fictional characters that I really like: they keep trying and don’t give up. I love that.
So, because Batman is the only DC character I really like, my answers do skew towards Marvel’s characters. Speaking of Marvel characters, I haven’t read her comics yet, but I absolutely loved Black Widow in the ‘Avengers’ movie. She kicked alien butt, faced her fears in that scene with the Hulk, and hitched a ride on a hostile alien hoverboard full of eels. Oh, and those two interrogation scenes! They clearly showed that she’s a master spy, and the picture of competence. I can’t wait to read more about her.
That’s my brief response before I get back to doing some more work for class. How about you? Which action or comic book heroes do you like the most and why?
Signing out until next time,
Tardistoast
Captain’s Log (transcribed for all viewers from my vlog, reposted to tumblr), February 28:
Hi, folks, it’s Amy. I need to vent a little bit. I’m going to take this time to talk about something that happened this week. Dan, the friend I mentioned in my last video, came by to play video games after class. It’s a rare break, between the courses I’m taking and papers due, to just be able to kick back and enjoy some pixilated mayhem.
We were hanging out and catching up on what we’d missed since we saw each other last time. We were talking about maybe going to a convention in the spring and what might be fun to do there. Then, while talking about the usual life stuff, it happened. I started to say there was someone in my writing class I liked when he exploded on me.
He said he was the first one to say hi to me when I was new on campus and started, like, listing all the things he did for me since then. And he was mad that I had a crush on someone else and not him because, apparently, he’d liked me for a while now.
I didn’t know that. He certainly hadn’t said anything about it to me or our friends. It came out of left field. So Dan accused me of putting him in the friendzone! I didn’t like how the conversation was going, so I kicked him out and we hadn’t talked since.
I’m wondering, has this happened to anyone else before? Were you accused of friendzoning? What did you do? I’m feeling crummy because he acted like I owed him something sexual for being my friend, while not acknowledging that it was a two way street. I mean, I’ve helped him study, been there for him during some rough spots and late night study sessions, as well as the fun times. I’ve been as much a friend to him as he’s been to me. That’s why this is such a surprise. I’d like your input here.
As ever,
Tardistoast at your service
Captain’s Log (transcribed for all viewers from my vlog, reposted to tumblr), March 5th:
Hi, all. It’s Amy. To catch you up, last time I talked about accusations of friendzoning and asked for your thoughts. I want to say thank you to all who talked with me, with a shout-out to my awesome roommate Leah. Also, friends from tumblr and the couple of supportive YouTube comments I got. You rock.
You guys sent me links to rants about the concept of friendzoning and I particularly appreciated Shaun0726’s video. I was expecting him to take those nine minutes to complain about how it sucks so much to be friendzoned. Instead, he very clearly pulled apart the arguments for such a thing actually existing. That helped a lot!
The quote of the night goes to the awesome tomipuff’s “You just got friendzoned!” video: “Women are not machines that you put kindness coins into until sex pops out.” You’re awesome, lady!
I did some reading about the ‘zone, got righteously angry, and decided it was time to send Dan a message as we hadn’t talked since the last time. We’ll see how that goes.
In the meantime, for anyone who replied, if you’re going to be at AwesomeCon, I’m pretty excited to see Phil LaMarr and Noelle Stevenson, but I’m even more excited to see you! Who’s going to be there? Would you like to meet up at some point? I’m thinking of either going as Nick Fury or Hellboy, so I will probably be recognizable either way.
Anyway, I have good things to look forward to, even if Dan and I reach a standstill of “You’re so unfair!”/“You’re a douchebag!” It would really suck to lose a friend, but it might have to be that way. We’ll see.
Live long and prosper,
Tardistoast signing out
Captain’s Log (transcribed for all viewers from my vlog, reposted to tumblr), March 18th:
Hi! It’s Amy. Just wanted to let you know that I read your replies from a while back about heroes, and enjoyed the variety of answers. I’d totally forgotten about Kitty Pride! And, y’know, Storm and Captain America are awesome, I admit, but my heart is still set on Black Widow.
Dipping briefly into real life updates, Dan apologized. I ended up chewing him out after showing him some of the links I’d bookmarked about how the idea of friendzoning is just wrong. It was kind of like the Hulk taking Loki and smashing him into the floor a bunch of times, which, if we’re following the comparison, he totally deserved.
I ended with an olive branch, telling Dan if he wanted to continue our friendship and value it for its own sake that I still want him to come with me to AwesomeCon, with an invite to work on cosplay ideas in a couple of days. We’ll see if he’s willing to start over.
In the meantime, now that I’ve mentioned that scene with Hulk and Loki, I’m going to take full advantage of this study break by going to the textsfromthe-avengers tumblr page and enjoying myself for a few more minutes before going back to my flash cards.
Here’s hoping it all works out. See you!
Tardistoast
Captain’s Log (transcribed for all viewers from my vlog, reposted to tumblr), April 24th:
Hey, there. Still Amy. I’m sorry I haven’t posted lately like I’d intended. Between my classes starting to wrap up and changing my work hours, I haven’t been online as much as before. The topic of the day is redemption.
AwesomeCon is burdened with having to live up to its name, which it did. Here [holds up prints and postcards] are the things I took home with me. And here are a couple of shots of me in character as a Rule 63’d Hellboy. Check out the big hand holding a bottle: that took some effort!
It was so much fun! There were awesome costumes all around, including a fantastic Deadpool.
The best part of cosplaying for me is when you see someone else either in a cosplay from something kind of obscure that you really love, or who is in the same universe as you and then you play off each other. The first time that happened for me was on Halloween in high school. I dressed up as Captain Jack Sparrow because I had the hair for it at the time and I saw someone in the hallway dressed as Severus Snape. That moment when we passed each other and said by way of greeting, “Professor,” and “Captain,” respectively, was the best! It felt like we stepped into a parallel, secret world.
It’s like that times forty when I’m at a convention!
I want to backtrack a bit and give you an update on what happened since I gave Dan the ultimatum. He went as the 10th Doctor in part, I suspect, because he already had the red sneakers. But, really, he knows the show far better than I do and pulls off a pretty mean David Tennant. We made for some odd company, a time lord and a red demon.
He did end up joining me for costume crafting. He said he was sorry, we talked about it, he trounced me in Mario Kart and then I clobbered him in Smash Brothers. It was a cognitive recalibration, to quote Black Widow.
So Dan made the choice to be friends and I’m going to hold him to that. Crafting the costumes was a little awkward at first but by the end of it we were both having a good time. And what happened at AwesomeCon cemented that.
It was, for the most part, awesome. But it was almost ruined by an attendee at the con who very noticeably looked me up and down. He muttered something I couldn’t catch entirely, which definitely contained the words “poser” and “geek.”
Dan and I were standing pretty close to the guy. Before I knew it, Dan was pointing his sonic screwdriver at Condescending Dude and telling him off.
He said that the dude didn’t know the first thing about me or my interest in geek things, then veered into talking about all the things I was passionate about in fandom. Dan said I was way more of a geek than even he was, and that it didn’t matter anyway because I wasn’t there for the guy’s approval or entertainment. I was there for my own sake.
He said almost exactly what I would have, in his own way. Condescending Dude didn’t have any comebacks, and our day progressed onward, with perhaps a little more ranting from me on “fake geek girls” and how ridiculous and awful it is that people think like that.
It was during our drive back to campus that Dan spoke up and said a bit shyly that he had a lightbulb moment at the con. He explained that telling Condescending Dude off for assuming I needed some kind of credentials to be there, that because of how I appeared he felt entitled to judge me. And Dan said he realized he could slightly relate to Condescending Dude when we had the fight because he felt entitled to date me, to demand I like him back. That it was all about him. I reminded him about kindness coins and he nodded.
That was a really big deal. I mean, he listened to what I said when I was the one explaining why friendzoning is b.s., but it means a lot more that he had this revelation on his own. I hope it means he’ll go forward with that awareness in mind.
Because it’s true.
I don’t care how skimpy my cosplay outfit might be (because let’s face it, male comic artists are the ones putting the heroes in oh-so-useful bikini armor to begin with) or whether I’m into a certain fandom because I ship the characters or got into it because I loved the movie first. I don’t care if my presence ruffles the boy’s club feathers and they feel like I’m intruding on their turf.
I’ve been into comics, into video games since I was a kid. I’m not doing it for anyone else. It’s because I like it. I want to enjoy it and share that enjoyment with others. If you don’t like it you can go back to your Frank Miller miasma of misogyny and leave me to enjoy myself with the bronies and Whovians in a welcoming, fun party.
Sorry, another Hulk smash moment. Maybe I should cosplay as him next time!
Anyway, things are looking up: it feels like I have my friend back; I’m almost done with my first year of college; and with Season 3 of BBC Sherlock that much closer to airing, yes, love is in the air. Thanks for helping me get here, guys. I don’t think I could’ve done it without you.
Signing off for now, yours truly,
Tardistoast