Trading Cards: Geeky or Cool?

Trading Cards: Geeky or Cool? Cool when you can put your OWN photo and art in them, but pretty geeky if you are a 'collector' and keep them in pristine plastic sleeves and never play with them.

I know some people that have more than 10 binders FULL of Magic cards. I never really got into that game much, but the art was cool. Maybe I'm too much of a 'dice-roller' gamer for Magic.

But I do have a few small stacks of comic book art trading cards that I'm certain will eventually get sold when I'm sick of lugging them around from place to place. Thankfully, that collection never reached the obsession level of action figures. Of which I still own around 50...speaking of geeky.

I think I'll use this handy Flickr Toy Page to create more cards like these (see photo) of my friends. That's MUCH cooler than going out and buying cards to make Wizards of the Coast rich. Because I'll be using my IMAGINATION.

Oh, TSR, how I long for the days when games had to be made up in our heads. When stats were all contained on one huge, double sided character sheet, written with the tiniest print possible, to cram as much as you could onto the page. When lead figurines ruled. When GM's spent hours, nay...DAYS making maps and puzzles and dioramas for their campaigns. Where is the devotion like this in card games??

Serenity Puppet Theatre

Seriously. Some people have waaaay too much time on their hands.

But now I want my OWN Serenity crew hand puppets. Then I don't need a sequel. I'll just make my own.

Rogue Camp Debauchery!

rogue map
Originally uploaded by anachronista.

I'm still awaiting the photos many people took of last weekend's semi-SCA event, Rogue Camp. I myself took no photos, as I got there to find my camera battery had died. Ah, well. So much for evidence.

I arrived Thursday night to find that I was NOT the earliest to arrive this year. Huzzah! "Cutthroat Island" was the entertainment for the evening, as there was nothing going on on the island yet. So we all slept in the cabin.

Friday dawned HOT and buggy. Really buggy. I'm still covered in welts, actually. After setting up Talan's tent, and then my own, and helping several people get thier stuff onto the island, it was time for a frosty beverage. Mmmm...beer.

I seem to have lost a few hours, because the next thing I remember, it's dark, and there's a bunch of people (yes, including me) in the treehouse all splattering opened glowstick juice on each other. Boy, you haven't lived until you are covered in non-toxic glowstick goo. Wrestling with about 20 other people covered in it. Drunk. 15 feet off the ground. Kind of a recipe for disaster, no? Fortunately, no one was injured. But I had some fabulous bruises the next day.

Speaking of the next day, after sleeping off that star-spangled hallucinatory experience, I found many Rogues battling in the meadow with a great selection of finely crafted boffer weapons. Ever see a bunch of grown ups acting like five year olds? It's great! I didn't get into the action until much later, after the toys had all been brought to, you guessed it, the treehouse.

I was on the defending team, trying to hold the fort, while the enemy team clambered up the nets and trees to attack. We really shouldn't have given them so many resurrections, as they just completely creamed us over and over. Ooh, sweaty. Time for more frosty beverages.

Saturday night was a musical spectacle that took my breath away. Also, taking the boys' breath away, was one of our dancers who has a set of fire fingers...that was really hot.

Sunday. What's the best cure for a hangover? Hair of the dog. My god, I think I'm actually sick of beer. Of course it all tastes like bug spray at this point, so that could have something to do with it.

The copious amounts of DEET that I had to bathe in did not affect the taste of the food (which was pretty much constantly shoved in my face whenever I went anywhere near the kitchen) and I ate like a queen. A greedy, fat queen. Mmmmmm...burgers.

Just for the record, I resisted all attempts by the wandering Darbucket crew, and didn't fall out of the treehouse. I'm sure the two are connected somehow.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to next year already. Thanks to Justin and Lisa for hosting such an amazing time, and thanks to Cookie for well, being Cookie. And to all you Rogues, Pirates, Fairies, Indians and Lost Boys, thanks for making my year.

Female action figure parade

Way back in the early 90's, I started an action figure collection. But only female figures, because they are usually rarer and have better details. Yeah, that's justification if I ever heard it.

When I finally hit 100 figures I knew I had a problem. Since I'm already a pack rat, this didn't help my ever-growing storage problems. At one point I did manage to have every single one of them displayed, but they literally covered all the wall space in that room. I've since sold off some, but I still have 70 left.

They are all still in thier original boxes, with minimal damage to the backboards. There are some real gems in here, like the Platinum Angela from Spawn, and the green Orion dancer from the original Star Trek series.

I would rather sell 2-5 figures at a time, to cut down on trips to the post office and packing supplies. I'd really love to sell the whole collection at once. I am working on a massive spreadsheet with all kinds of things like serial numbers, paint variants and accesories, plus current retail values.

This is a collection any geek would love. Just please don't make them all captives of your GI Joes.