Make it Soap!

 Happy New Year! Enjoy some fun pictures I got to share.

I was surprised one day with an unexpected package; someone just randomly sent me this bar of Jean-Luc Picard's Make it Soap! I couldn't stop laughing! Amazon is saving paper and not including packing slips, so this was the only thing in the package. Yet I knew right away who sent it. I'd get all sappy describing how this cheered me up; I think random package deliveries should be a new trend.

Saw some more Disney Park exclusive merchandise at the Outlet Store in New Jersey. Although technically this is not really Disney Park exclusive, as it comes from the planet Pandora, if we are we going to play along with the theme-ing.

Saw this new style of dolls there, and they looked really cute! I don't collect dolls, but if I did, these would be tempting to get them all. Check out Murder's curly hair! (We call her "Murder" on account of that's the way it sounds when the characters say "Merida" in the movie.)

That Ahsoka is adorable! Neat that they included her in with the other Disney Princesses. She's got a lot of stories to remember about, but I don't think she's been a princess at any point.

There's very little merchandise for the movie Elemental, so seeing these was cool. Er..... hot? Ember is made of fire, so she's not cool. I mean, she IS cool... metaphorically.

It's a Small World Xmas ornament! Let's take a moment to appreciate how the Disney rides get merchandise. You'd think the rides would be based off of the characters, and some are, but there are rides themselves which have become successful properties on their own!

No spoilers for the movie, but this scene from Elemental makes a super-perfect Xmas tree ornament!

I didn't want to take pictures of EVERY ornament, but this one with Daddy Darth Vader with his (spoiler alert?) kids was hilarious. Notice the -Death- Star on top of the tree!

I don't know if these are Park exclusives, but we did see them at the park last time we were there.  Chip and Dale as falafels? I like some garlic sauce, sure!

Zootopia is another thing that is oddly rare to see merchandise for. Here's Judy Hopps on a Chinese Year of the Rabbit sweater! Perfect! Every year could be Year of the Judy Hopps.

More merch we saw in the park. These art deco figures were in the fancy art store in Epcot. I remember getting pictures of them before so it was neat seeing them again.

If I had the resources, I'd totally be into collecting all the holiday-themed Star Wars astromech droids. R7-FNG looks like a vampire! How would that work exactly? Well, there is a real term for all the things you leave plugged in draining your power, so this droid could totally be an "energy vampire"! Notice the crazy Sith throne in the artwork from episode 9!

I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but this Lego knock-off brand is using the same shapes as the Lego bricks, but much smaller! Like, it's been zapped with a shrink ray! Super bizarre seeing this in person.

Regular-sized Lego copiers. These looked adorable, and when I checked the price they were only $7 each! Of course I picked up all three. I know some people don't think it's good to support the other companies blatantly profiting from Lego's brick designs, but those cute characters are new and unique, so they gotta get points for that, right?

Did I already take a picture of these Shin Chan not-Lego brick figures? Eh, I'll take another picture if I can use it to promote this funny show. You might be hesitant to watch it because of the wacky art style, but it's a really funny show, the jokes are solid.

This won't really spoil anything, but there's a scene in the Spy Family anime where he proposes to his fake-marriage wife with a grenade pin as the ring. It was a silly-epic scene, how cruel of them to put one in this capsule machine. I was tempted to try and get one though, it was a great moment in the show.

No fair! How does Japan get Ice Cream Kit Kat!? Is this a trick? It's not some kind of squid-flavored ice cream, is it?

How did Doctor Who get cards for Magic: The Gathering? I get that there are fans of one thing which might like the other thing, but Doctor Who is all about science, isn't it? Unless Magic: The Gathering HAS been science all along? Whoa!

I don't have anything to add to this. It's a funny-great shirt. That's all.

The 90's design of the outfit on this Rilakkuma lets us know that's an original fanny pack, and not the kind of tourist accessory it's been recently associated with. When they first came out, the fanny pack seemed immediately amazing but then almost immediately after that it wound up looking totally ridiculous, and vanished for a good while.

This little Anya Forger was adorable! I've seen this style of figure before, but this is the first one that I totally wanted! Just to put her somewhere happily looking up! But... it was $45! Ouch! Did "sticker shock" ever prevent you from getting anything before? We got hit with the sticker shock that day.

Nothing like relaxing in a stranger's house! No... I'm at the Ikea store! They have stranger's houses all over this store!

Now I'm starting to think they are making up these Swiss word-names on purpose. The screwdriver set is really called "Fixa"? Is that a coincidence? All the other words seem like such nonsense. (no offense!)

Wacky alien art! Sure, I'll get a picture of that to share.

I like the odd lighting coming from the translucent window panels, which does a great job of making it look like a real window. Also notice this fake laptop has all the keys popped off! Ha! Bored kids, maybe? That's what you get dragging them to the furniture store.

Oooooooooohhhhh! What do they mean by "exciting things" happening behind that curtain?! Nah, I'm just being silly.

What a crazy picture to show on that TV display! Is that a movie? A video game? I don't recognize it from anywhere, it that from a thing?

It's the classic Ikea bag that you'd buy in the store, but made into a bucket hat? Mind-blowingly silly! I got a good laugh seeing it.

Did I notice this employee break area before? Pretty sure they are not going to let customers on the roof like that. There's be railings up, you think? Now I'm wondering if I can get over there somehow.

The Ikea in central New Jersey is right across "the street" from the giant airport, so you get a show while you eat. I say "The street" because that's not really a street, it's the New Jersey Turnpike which is a little more than a regular road.

Random spin wheel thing! I don't know why I wanted one. It looked like it would be so much fun for.... something. Could it be the noise? You know the noise these types of things make.

Adorable space suit animals! Before you say it, nobody cares that the ears are outside the helmets.

Little alien characters! I have a friend who is a fan of them. Here's a whole bin full of 'em!

Well look at this! My friend finally bought a new bed pillow! Ikea has a pretty good variety of pillows, so if you can figure out what kind you like, they probably have one for you. It's always going to be very awkward switching from a pillow you've been so using for so many years, but he's been using it for a while now, and so far it seems okay. 

HA! Funny for nobody but me. In Animal Crossing, one of our animal neighbors, Jay, is a bird with a big red circle on his head. So we gave him a big red circle carpet in his house. Like that one! Where's Jay at?!

Protip: Ikea has a damage'd area where you can buy kinda-damaged but maybe-good furniture for cheaper. They also have blank panels of wood! I have no idea what kind of prices these are versus the regular hardware store, but if you need some random wood pieces for anything, you might want to check the Ikea? Or maybe if your Ikea shelf broke, you might find the exact part to replace it with!

Awwwwww yeah. Gotta get the cheap but tasty ice cream cone. That's almost the whole reason we came here! Oh yeah, we did get a pillow this time, too.

Had to get a picture of the sky as we went out, it's got a weird slice of sky through the clouds? It made the sky look like some kind of giant blankets! Imagine giant blankets in the sky? There's a plane up there trying to escape!

Nothing to worry about. Nope. You're not driving through the "bad" part of town that has the giant billboard ad for the "Gentleman's Club"... Will this traffic start moving again, please???