One thing that really gets me, that I've noticed about Monster High as I slowly get into the developing fandom, is that both the comment threads on the two scifi blogs that posted about them- Topless Robot and Bloody Disgusting- are full of MALE fans complaining about the line being horrible and "oversexualized" and fearing for the little girls that will inevitably fall in love with them.

To these guys: drop the "oh noes the little girls!" act and just admit, you don't want the opposite sex playing in your sandbox.

The line being unoriginal and Hot Topic makeover Bratz? The only "goth" dolls in the whole line are Draculaura and Frankie. The others are styled like the average high school girl. And the Bratz comment is utter BS and twaddle. The only thing they have in common with Bratz are the similar faces (which makes sense, given they're an anime-esque line) but even then you have MUCH smaller eyes and unique head sculpts and face-up on the dolls, unlike Bratz which seemed to be the same doll with different skin tones.

If anything the dolls have more in common with Japanese fashion dolls (unique face-up, joints, bodily proportions) than Bratz or even recent  Western fashion doll lines like Liv or Moxie Girlz.

As for originality? Right, name one more doll line with the premise of "the children of horror movie characters in high school". One that's an ORIGINAL PROPERTY no less. Any comparisons to Living Dead Dolls are invalid since those were more action figures than fashion dolls in that they were one-off characters and didn't have alternate outfits to dress in.

Oversexualized? I won't deny that the dolls ARE sexualized to some degree- they're fashion dolls first and foremost, after all. But certainly not to the degree that Bratz ever was, and not really to the Barbie degree either, given their relatively flat chests. They have long legs and wear short skirts, yes, but in all honesty they look to have more in common with a lot of shoujo art- their proportions in particular- than anything else. And the Monster High characters are actually fleshed out and have personalities, backstories, and ambitions, to the point they have a diary right in the box to tell you the story behind the character and set up their place in the universe. Bratz had maybe 2 or 3 "main characters" and then just a bunch of throwaway ones for that line. The YouTube shorts have cute little morals, too, like caring for animals, standing up for what's right, and helping friends. Hell, Draculaura (daughter of Dracula) is best friends with Clawdeen (daughter of the Wolfman), despite the animosity between their races, and in her diary she says she maintains the friendship even in the face of disapproval from her father. Overall it's a FAR more positive line than Bratz and shouldn't ever be mentioned in the same breath as them.

It seems like most of this criticism is coming from males who hate the idea of a line that appeals to TEH WIMMINZ and might get a few girls into the sci-fi/horror treehouse they're running. And their manhood is apparently threatened by this. Grow the fuck up. That goes out to you, moron trolling the Facebook group discussion (who prompted all this). It's a big treehouse, and there's room in it for all of us.

I'm going to stop worrying.

Starting tomorrow, I am not going to allow myself to become paranoid, and I am going to start trusting my friends more. The next time I find myself starting to fly off the handle, I'm going to walk away from the computer and do something else, like draw or play a video game, until I've distracted myself from my paranoia.

I nearly screwed one of my friends over as a result, and later in the chat today, and I'm not going to let that happen again. I'm going to stop worrying over everything, because it's bad for everyone and I don't want to end up doing it again. It's only hurting me and I know now it might hurt others too.

I'm posting this here, publically, because I'm hoping that will motivate me to stick to it instead of saying "okay, I'll stop now" to myself or weakly over IM. I'm committing to this, and any support you guys can give me will only help.

Let's see if it works then...

Really. Is there any way to communicate to your cat(s) that however close to the window it may be, my desk is NOT a suitable route of egress?

Seriously. I understand that yes, it is convenient and all, but what's not convenient is my desk is home to my Team Rocket figures, my Rayquaza tin of pens and pencils, and Tracey's stylus (in its handy little holder), all of which are frequently knocked over in their subsequent wake (my James figure already got the little peg on his base permanently lodged in his left foot in this way.)

This is especially annoying sometimes at night when there's thunderstorms and they get freaked out by them and end up running away like the furry cowards they are, usually knocking crap off my little bookshelf as well in their panic (namely, the little vase of fake red and black roses/my cosplay black tulip- thankfully, no long term damage to them has been sustained the three or four times it's been knocked over.)

I mean, really. It's such a pain to have to go back behind my desk and fish whatever stuff they've toppled over back out, or scoop up all the pens and pencils and rearrange them all in the tin so they fit.

And people ask how I manage to write Persian so well in my fan fiction. I have to deal with two of them (the other two kitties like to stay in hiding) on a daily basis, believe me. No wonder Giovanni is always so pissed off.