For someone not stitching...

I sure do buy a lot of patterns! I've been hitting up the usual haunts again, still on the prowl for the perfect Once pattern. I think I probably should just invest in MacStitch and make my own, but for now, I got three more Tilton Crafts, all by Daniel Kordek - the Limited Edition Aurora (which was odd for me since I didn't care for Aurora in Once, I think I just like all the purple in this):

Emma and Regina from the Wish Realm:

And Zelena:

I'm still miffed he didn't do a Charming like the other boys, but oh well. Nothing I can do about that...Kordek told me himself he "didn't care for Charming", so there you go!

I also got another Regina pattern from KPL Creative XStitch (the same store I got the Once Storybook from):

She had another pattern with Hook and Emma, but it was monochromatic, and I'm already dealing with the monster that is Kordek's Hook on that front, so I declined that one.

Then I cleared out my Etsy queue a bit and got some of the Disney patterns from Awesome Pattern Studio, Cinderella's Castle:

Sleeping Beauty's Castle:

And Spaceship Earth:

I also got a Mandala Owl because, as much as I HATE birds, for some MAJORLY WEIRD REASON, an owl is my spirit animal (and yes, I've taken every spirit animal test I can find and it ALWAYS comes up with owls!), at least this one doesn't look too creepy scary, so I figured I needed to stitch an owl:

That's all I needed, to add to the ever growing stash that will last longer than I have life left, especially since I haven't stitched in months...but there might be a change on the horizon...watch this space for info in the coming days!

Reaction Videos - The Finale

Well, I did it. I went to Liam Duke's Patreon page, since he was the first YouTuber that I watched reaction videos from, and decided to join up for his full reactions at the $5/mo tier. What I didn't realize, once I got there, that, not all the OUAT reactions were there. I knew, via the comments on the front page, that older reviews had been removed for space issues, but I looked at Once BEFORE I joined and it "looked" like they started at Season 1, episode 03. Well, I SHOULD have actually read a bit further down. The first available post was Season 2, episode 22! Considering he is currently on Season 3, episode 16 (on both Patreon and YouTube), that's not a lot of Once.

At first, I immediately dropped right back off of Patreon, but once you've paid for the month, you're there for a month. So, I went ahead and downloaded and watched the videos I had access to (even though I'd already watched the edited versions on YouTube). By about mid-day yesterday, I went back in to Patreon, up'ed back in at the $10/mo tier! Yes, I've lost my mind! I can't really afford it, but I feel like I owe him for some weird reason.

I thought about it like this, although I only watch his Once & Shield videos (but best I can tell, his Shield vids aren't on Patreon), I have followed him since the beginning and, of all the YouTube'ers I follow, he is my favorite and he's the best one! He doesn't make me mad, he doesn't offend me, I have commented on his page without worry (although not very often), so if I'm going to financially support anyone, if SHOULD be Liam! I could care less about the other shows he watches on Patreon, but he has the same reactions to Once that I did the very first time I saw it. He "gets" all the right parts he's supposed to...cries and laughs at the perfect time. They work hard to create these videos and, since I do really appreciate his videos, it's not right that I watch them for free. The other guys have just that touch of annoyance that keep me from wanting to give them money for them (even though I do keep watching just because I'm hungry enough for the content).

And, as a side note, he's as big as a Fitz-Simmons fan as I am, and we're about to finish up our favorite show together next year (now that Once is gone, I don't have a show left after Shield is gone). It's going to be rough on us both.

If I find another person who starts reacting to Once that I feel genuinely "gets" it, doesn't annoy me, then I guess I'll be heading over to their Patreon page too and this time, I won't wait too late to miss the first episodes!

I will say, there have been a LOT of reactors who have started shows and dropped off after several episodes for whatever reason..they don't get the show, they don't realize the hassle that is being a YouTuber, they can't handle the toxic environment that are commenters, they can't handle the pressure of editing the videos, or even get their videos blocked by Disney a lot, etc. It makes it hard to find new reactors and even harder to find that right combination of reactor that can hang in there with YouTube and can appeal to me.

I think, at least for me, what appeals to me most for a Once reactor, is that it is a person who would probably NEVER be the type of person who would probably watch Once on their own without a push, but end up falling in love with the show after the pilot. That's what's so great about "Once Upon A Time". It has this "stigma" of being a "Disneyesque fairy tale"-type show and people think it's a female-driven or kid-type show (and a lot of reactors, especially male, even start out saying such), but they are often very surprised after the pilot. Yes, there are plot issues, certain seasons have lulls, and there are issues that even bug me, but ultimately, it's a show about hope and standing up for what is right even when your actions may not matter in the end, and that's how I'm built internally, which is why I get it and why I love it.

99.99% of my life, my moral compass and my hope gene bites me in the butt, but that 0.01% of the time, when there actually is a payoff, it makes all the negative worth it and it makes me almost forget all the bad (or at least overcome it). It's why Once will ALWAYS be my favorite show and I seriously doubt it will ever be replaced! I just don't think they will ever make another show like it! I will still continue to re-watch it as long as I can and, as long as I enjoy watching others discover it for the first time, reaction videos it is!

If any of you guys decide to do reaction videos (or know of any good ones), let me know! While all this work stuff is going on, this is all I can deal with, but once work is caught up and I can actually stitch again, I have several Once projects in the works (as well as my regular routine projects) that are in DESPERATE need of attention! I MISS stitching! Despite my lack of commenting on your blogs, I have been looking at them (I think I'm just comment-paranoid across the board, even in this safe space).

Reaction Videos - A Follow Up

There is another YouTuber I've been watching, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll be hanging on to him...I'm not really enjoying his reactions to Once like I do the other guys, but not for the reason's you'd think.

I know I've mentioned how I can't see how people think there is a whole "cheating triangle" between David/Mary Margaret/Kathryn...I will ALWAYS see that as, David was married to Snow White FIRST, so anything that happened in Storybrooke doesn't count. For these characters, their REAL world is the Enchanted Forest, not "our world". The entire Storybrooke world was a curse and David spent the entire first 28 years of that curse in a coma (until Emma showed up). If you have seen the show, you'll remember in the Pilot episode, he was mortally wounded BEFORE the curse happened, so he crossed over into our world and probably went directly into the hospital, did not pass go and certainly did not collect $200. When he did wake up, his first encounter with anyone was Mary Margaret and, before the curse took hold of him, MM was who he had feelings for. ALL his "memories" of his marriage to Kathryn were all "cursed" memories...they WEREN'T real and it even took Regina a bit to get those memories to kick in (and, even then, they didn't stick well). The first time he slept with Kathryn was after he awoke from the coma, AFTER he met Mary Margaret and was already half in love with her...so again, I question his motives there.

It's not like the other Storybrooke residents who spent 28 years living a cursed life...yes, Ashley (aka Cinderella) was pregnant for 28 YEARS and NO ONE NOTICED! Time stood still for everyone, so Kathyrn either lived in her house with these cursed memories waiting for him to wake up, or Regina just had her in storage somewhere, just in case she needed back up. David and Kathryn's marriage was a sham from the get-go, just another way for Regina to hurt Snow. There is no telling how many contingency plans Regina had. After all, the entire curse was so that Regina could have her happy ending and, as we saw in later seasons, the day to day of ruining everyone's life, got old very fast, hence adopting Henry.

I kind of wish the show never made such a deal out of the whole affair issue. Even though they never actually really insinuated that David and Mary Margaret did anything but meet up and kiss, it can be safely assumed that they did actually sleep together because in season 4 Mary Margaret tells Regina that "she slept with a married man too". Well, technically she just slept with her own husband and Regina sleeping with a married man was a whole other ball of wax.

I guess the fundamental question is, how much does a curse change who you are and who you truly love. I've seen conversations where people compare it to permanent brain damage...if you are changed and don't remember who or what you are, you've met someone else and married them, even though you may already be married to someone else, at what point does your old family no longer matter? What if you got your old memories back? Now you have two families to deal with...who do you choose? I always thought that was an interesting comparison.

But the real issue I have with this guy's interpretation of the show is that he has major issue with the fairy tale aspects of the show (a show that is half rooted in the "real world" and a land of "fairy tales"). "Things don't happen that fast", "people don't just fall in love that quickly", yada, yada, yada. That's the WHOLE POINT of the fairy tale world! In fairy tales, that's EXACTLY how people fall in love...love at first sight, true love's kiss will break any curse, good will always win...how many times do they say all these things through EVERY SINGLE SEASON of the show? In their world, which is a completely different realm than "our world", that's how things work! So, of course Charming almost sacrificing himself to keep Snow from killing Regina would break her spell and make her fall in love with him again almost immediately. Welcome to the wonderful world of fairy tales. That's why we love them so much! And yes, of course in the real world that kind of behavior would never fly, which is why the opposite behavior tends to happen to David and Mary Margaret in Storybrooke, their story line there tends to go more organically because that's how "real" relationships work (and I use the term "real" in a TV show kind of way). I wish I had a dime for every time he's complained because of how fast things move in the fairy tale world and how "it just doesn't happen like that in real life". Of course not because it's not "real life", it's a fairy tale!

I can be VERY defensive of this show and I know it's not for everyone, but there are very OBVIOUS reasons why things happen the way they do...like in ANY show. But if you're watching a show about fairy tales, Disney fairy tales for that matter, then you should realize that Disney characters will be involved, fairy tale elements will be everywhere, and yes, it will be sicky-sweet at times. Welcome to the wonderful world of Disney! Ultimately, the message of the show, as the writers, the actors, the creators, and just about everyone involved in the show always said, was about hope. And it's kind of like the Disney World/Disneyland moto..."For those that get it, no explanation necessary, for those that don't, no explanation possible". I just wonder how much longer the guy will carry on with his reviews because he's clearly NOT getting it (although I still have hope that he eventually will).

But for some weird reason, I keep watching his reactions, keep screaming at him on the screen (like he could actually hear me), get mad, and then anxiously await his next episode "hoping" he FINALLY starts to get it. Yeah, I know, that makes me super weird for even wasting my time. I would be better off not watching at all, but there just aren't that many people out there doing reaction videos (or following through with them, I should say), so my options are limited! Despite everything, I still do love reaction videos and I will watch any new ones that come up.

Reaction Videos - Praise and Rants

I LOVE reaction videos, although I'm not sure why. I only typically watch them for Once Upon A Time and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., shows that, I myself have watched probably a 100 times a piece. So what is so fascinating about watching other people watch shows I can literally quote line by line and know exactly what is going to happen during every second? Probably because I can NEVER get anyone around me to watch these shows and I kind of live vicariously through complete strangers watching them. Maybe I kind of feel like I'm "sharing" my shows with these people and it bonds us in this weird way.

I have been on YouTube since the dawn of it's inception, and I've gone through about every YouTube phase, although my favorite will always be fan videos, but reactions are now slowly topping out my history lists more than fan videos lately. But they seem to have their pluses and minuses. Most started out in their entirety on Patreon and, as much as I'd LOVE to watch entire reactions, that could just get too expensive for me. Besides, watching an entire episode with someone talking over the ENTIRE thing would probably drive me insane (one of the reasons why I rarely listen to the commentary that comes on discs). Ten minutes of edited video and a discussion at the end is good enough for me, so YouTube it is!

Obviously, I started out with Liam Duke, who got me on the kick when he started Once (and he's a HUGE S.H.I.E.L.D. fan, so that helped) and then added JayPerView, who also does both shows, although he lags a bit with S.H.I.E.L.D. I think my fascination started with both those guys because, at least on the Once front, it's not typically a show that men would typically like, and I loved the fact that these guys seemed to get very attached to Once very quickly.

Then I started looking out for other viewers, but I found out that a LOT of people start shows, but never finish them or drop off of YouTube for one reason or another. There is also a lot of copyright issues with reaction vids and, if they aren't handled just so, a lot of them get blocked. The Normies is another really great channel for S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions, and they are almost caught up in real-time, so that's been a fun journey with them, especially considering they weren't really jazzed about the show to begin with, and now they love it!

I also don't comment a lot on YouTube (rarely ever) because I do have social media issues, but I've noticed that YouTube commenters make Facebook ones seem like small potatoes when it comes to being HORRIBLE! I started a new channel, Shelley Davis, and I started commenting there, and it went well, so I started commenting over at Liam and Jay's pages as well...not a lot, but gently and very carefully.

I started another new channel, After Show Reactions and, although I watch both her Once and S.H.I.E.L.D. reactions still, I got burned VERY early on by leaving comments (trying to be nice mind you, but it went south VERY quickly). I didn't think I was being spoiler-y (I try not to do that), my first comment was basically a "hey, I really love reaction vids and I'm looking forward to yours since Once is one of my favorite shows" (or something to that effect) and how amazing the character developments were. She had questioned in the first episode whether more fairy tale characters would appear, so I believe I did mention that other characters were coming, but that WOULD be spoilers, so I would leave that info out. Someone commented about how they quit watching after a while because of "certain" events that happen by series 7...which, yes, I did goof here because I was responding to another commenter and not thinking about spoilers at that point and mentioned that, even though it was hard on the "OG Oncers" for the show to change so much, by the end of Season 7 I was starting to get into it and would have liked to see it go on, but the show literally ended on the best possible note it could have and it was the truest of love letters to the fans they could have given us. And that's where I screwed up I guess. Obviously, others had made spoiler-y comments too, but I noticed that my comment had disappeared. I have NEVER had a comment removed before! By episode 3 of Once, she was making comments in the video about spoiler comments, so I kind of freaked out a little bit and re-read my comments (which is when I noticed my second comment was gone) and I went back to re-read my first comment and further down on that page on another obviously spoiler post was a comment from someone that read that hit me like a ton of bricks (and it's a direct quote, so the bad grammar and spelling issues stay):

"i completely agree with you about spoilers . some overexcited fans can't help but give hints , i hate that , and when you confront them they give disingenuous reasons why this or that is not "technically" a spoiler . cant wait for your next OUAT reaction. i wish there wad more than one episode a week , but i'll tale that gladly :)"

I'm sorry, "disingenuous reasons why this or that is not technically a spoiler"? And the girl who runs the channel supported this commenter and, not only agreed, but swore she was removing the offending poster's comments as she was reading that (shortly after was when my second comment disappeared according to time stamps). I immediately deleted my first comment after reading that (even though I had several likes and comments following it). For the record, I haven't commented on another reaction video since (hers or anyone else's). My removed comment has since turned back up, but I went back in and deleted it myself just because I didn't care for the overall attitude.

Yes, I am a DEVOTED Oncer and it is hard for me to explain the show without giving away spoilers, especially since I've seen it SOOO many times and it's like second nature to me. I try to be careful, I just slipped a bit responding to the other commenter. I didn't mention names or characters, but I sometimes forget that not a lot of people follow even general entertainment news like I do so, even for shows that I don't watch, I know the gist of what goes on behind the scenes. Almost the entire cast of a show getting replaced and then that series getting cancelled, would have flagged up on my radar, whether I watched it or not. It starts out with "all the fairy tale characters you know, or think you know" and since there are like 10 in the first episode, one can SAFELY assume in SEVEN SEASONS more characters are going to show up, so mentioning that isn't "disingenuous" at all! Most people who know enough about Once to watch it, know Captain Hook is a big part of the show, but he doesn't appear until Season 2. Hey, there's a spoiler for ya!

Then there is the issue of how deep people's Disney knowledge goes. People who call themselves Disney fans, I often find don't actually know that much about Disney! I am a Disney purist and Once is the only exception to that rule and I completely allowed them to break it every single week, but I've watched reaction videos where they don't know the difference between Snow White, Cinderella, or Sleeping Beauty, but claim they are "Disney fans". This bugs me too. If you don't know Disney, then fine, but don't spend the entire reaction video asking questions that any basic Disney fan would know and then get pissed when someone answers you in the comments. I hold off on doing that because I don't want to sound too snotty, but come on! Again, "these are the characters you know...or THINK you know", so if Maleficent has blonde hair because the actress does, GET OVER IT! (and yes, I can't believe this Disney purist just said that).

Like I said, I do still watch her channel because I do like her reactions, but I definitely stay away from the comments completely now. I can't deal. I also can't really handle how some of the commenters respond to commenters who are just trying to help (or who are really just answering other viewers of the show who know what is happening...kind of like a private conversation between two old Oncer friends...despite the channel owner not knowing what they are talking about.

The whole situation has made me want to start up a reaction channel of my own, but maybe one where I watch Once or S.H.I.E.L.D. with someone who has never seen it before...me with my extensive background with the show, and them with no knowledge whatsoever, and I can (possibly) keep quiet while the episode is playing and we can discuss afterwards. My comment section could be as spoiler-y as people want to make it (since it would be among fellow Oncers) and it would be as friendly as possible! Who knows! I just have to find a willing victim that I can tie to a chair and make them watch it with me...which is the reason why I have to watch reaction videos because no one in my "real life" will! Oh well.

Do you guys watch reaction videos? If you do, why do you watch them and what do you think?