It hasn't been officially announced by Mattel, but an upcoming Barbie series has been leaked and pictures are being shared online. The theme? Ugly holiday sweaters!
"Holiday" in this case not just meaning Christmas-themed but without being specific, because the set does have a Barbie with a Hanukkah sweater.
I wanted to mention this even though the release hasn't been officially announced by Mattel yet because this would be the first Barbie who isn't in the likeness of another person who is themed around Jewish traditions or culture. 65+ years in the making!
Hope you don’t mind me screenshotting your tags to provide a bit of an answer!
First off the fact that it’s only May is no doubt why this hasn’t been officially announced by Mattel yet and is still in the realm of sneak previews in unofficial channels. The lead time on design and development of Barbies is pretty long but they won’t want to announce them officially until closer to the holiday season. (Not all the way in December would be my guess, but at least when the holiday season is realistically on the horizon.)
As for whether it’s really the first official Barbie to represent a Jewish cultural tradition or holiday — yep. There’s been some Barbies in the likeness of Jewish celebrities or fictional characters, but that’s all. It’s virtually unfathomable to me, but there you go. Barbie has even been banned in some countries for being Jewish (Saudi Arabia I believe? But I am not in a situation I can factcheck that right now) but it’s never been an official part of the Barbie brand or lore, even as a special occasion release.
I did fact check this and to say she was banned for “being Jewish” is a bit of an oversimplification but she was referred to as Jewish by the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in their warning statement.
Also she was banned in Saudi Arabia but is no longer. She is however still banned in Iran.
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Over on twitter, while reaffirming that the video on the faza situation is still being worked on, Aji (Toshiko's VA) is asking everyone to sign this petition in order to get Faza blacklisted from one the biggest international studios, so I'm sharing it on here for more reach. Go read and go sign, if you can.
you know what i think Mirabelle deserves to get a little fucked up freaky in how she processes learning about Siffrin’s loops post-canon. for fun. as a treat
thinking about this line in particular and stretching out the implications like taffy
this is a more romanticized, cutesy facet of her interests but she’s still framing Siffrin’s situation through storytelling. so like. What If.
i mean. this woman loves horror and gore and monsters and horrible things happening to innocent people. IN FICTION. in fiction!!! obviously!!!! and it’s beyond terrible that something even remotely close to any of that happened to her real friend in real life!!
BUT.
maybe. maybe sometimes, if the conditions are right, she gets a little too wrapped up in her imagination about the bloody, awful poetry of it all. maybe Siffrin tells a joke that's a little too dark and gory for anyone else, borderline or full-on Concerning, but she latches onto it without thinking about the Implications and plays along with increasing gruesomeness because FINALLYYYYY someone will play with her in the Horror Space (like Isabeau does in the romance space!!) and then. OOPS. the implications!!!! and she has to recalibrate out of Fun With Fiction mode into Oh No, My Friend Underwent A Horrifying Ordeal mode.
but being able to joke about things, even the awful things, is...kind of comforting, to Siffrin. makes them feel less like they're being babied and pitied and more like what happened was something...normal, almost? something that doesn't have to feel like the end of the world all over again every time it's mentioned, at least. so he tries to reassure her, and Odile and Isabeau have to go “actually can you PLEASE not joke about dying horribly it’s freaking us out and also might not be the Best for you? mentally???”
maybe Mirabelle will get a little Too Into trying to weave meaning and symbolism into the scant details that Siffrin gradually reveals, like she’s trying to finish the orange poem all over again, or eagerly meddling with the romantic reunion of the two actual people in the House with undelivered bonding earrings, writing their story for them without their input.
it’s easier to justify the tragedy of it all when it has a purpose, isn’t it? finding the beauty in the darkness, the love powerful enough to end the world. romanticizing the horrors until her friend can talk about them without shutting down.
and she feels guilty about hearing something and immediately thinking “ohhhhhhh this is JUST like Blorbo From My Novels,” because she should treat Siffrin’s situation with the gravity and care he deserves!! they’re a real person, not a character who exists for entertainment, to represent the ~themes~ of some story.
but if she admits as much…maybe Siffrin is safe to admit that he had started seeing the rest of them as actors, endlessly reciting their lines. maybe that’s just how people process things sometimes, grasping for metaphors when unfiltered reality gets to be too much. maybe it’s okay to talk about that part of it all, too.
Siffrin: You don’t want to explain stars to them again. You tried before, way before this all happened, you remember that. And they didn’t care.
Isabeau during friendquest: And I noticed you know stuff about the sky! You talked about planets once, and the sun, like you really knew what you were talking about.
Isabeau in the observatory: Haha, weird joke, Sif!
rolling this over in my mind. Isabeau recognized the significance of stars/the sky to Siffrin pre-time-loop, enough to do research about it and get the idea for this date/hangout. he’s the one who knew what telescopes are. he’d heard of constellations.
“like you really knew what you were talking about,” he says. “haha, weird joke,” he says.
in Siffrin’s memory of that time he talked about the sky to the party pre-loops, “they didn’t care.” none of them. you could say it’s Siffrin’s selective memory/unreliable narratorness at work honing in on the negatives and filtering out any potential positives, or just generally over-simplifying what really happened, but we literally have an example of the exact same situation happening and all of the adults joining in to dismiss what he said. Isabeau included, even though at this point we know he should have known better.
i think there’s a combination of things at play here that i’m struggling to wrangle cohesively so you’re getting bullet points instead
- general conflict avoidance.
speaking up would put him in a position of having to potentially Defend A Stance—either the content of what Siffrin is saying (which to all of them sounds completely absurd), or the fact that Siffrin was serious about it (would the others believe that? would Siffrin want that, if he caved and agreed it was a “joke” after Odile and Mirabelle interrupted?) it’s easier to play along with the direction the others took the conversation. don’t speak up, don’t make waves, don’t make anyone uncomfortable by making it a Big Deal if Siffrin’s not. let the topic pass. it’s what everyone wants, right?
- avoidance of challenging Odile specifically—someone he admires and respects, and also, she’s The Smart One. the alleged academic of the group, stubborn and self-assured, and in this case bluntly close-minded as a result.
if he really wanted to argue the point, how much of himself would he have to reveal? “hey i don’t think this is as outlandish as it sounds, i know this because i, the Big Goofy Dumb Guy, read books and did some research about it and i think they maybe actually know what they’re talking about based on what little info i could find”?
if he tries to maintain the clueless persona, he’d risk being shot down by Odile’s confidence in her understanding of the world—obviously Siffrin is joking/lying, everything he said was nonsense, you’re only taking his side because you’re gullible/blinded by a crush. how much would she dig in her heels if Isabeau tried to challenge her more seriously and say, no, actually, i think you’re wrong about this? how much would he have to let the cheerful mask slip? how much could he actually say based on whatever partially-remembered information he’s learned?
- potential other factor is….how much does Isabeau really believe in what Siffrin is telling them?
he knows they take it seriously, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually factually accurate. mythology and fairy tales vs science and research. he knows about telescopes and people turning scattered dots in the sky into pictures, that doesn’t mean those dots are giant flaming balls of gas in real life. but they’re saying all that to Bonnie like it’s fact. how confident would Isabeau be in speaking up in defense of something he isn’t sure is real, even if it means something to Siffrin?
- “we can address that Later.”
tying into the conflict avoidance, and also the past incident vs friendquest—no support in the moment, no speaking up in front of the others. but maybe he plans to say something in private later to say “hey i know this actually means something to you”…without risking conflict or confrontation within the group. like the confession, like the talk at the dinner after the King that never happens—“i’m noticing/planning something Now, but i need to wait until the exact right moment to do anything about it.” it’s not the right time. it would cause more problems than it addresses right now. awareness, but delayed action.
thinking about this scene in contrast to the cloak scene, where Isabeau notices Siffrin’s distress—he’s observant, gentle, and subtle in how he grounds Siffrin when they start to spiral, and how he draws the party’s attention away from the visible vulnerability in their expression. the emotions in the telescope scene aren’t as raw and obvious, but his expression and tone are much more serious than we typically see from him in casual party conversations, let alone setting up jokes. i don’t believe that Isabeau genuinely thinks Siffrin was joking in that moment.
but if that’s the case, and he really was playing along, taking the path of least resistance in spite of that knowledge…he really let Siffrin feel alone in this, for a second time, without understanding how deep the hurt goes.
it’s just a really interesting scene because of how little Isabeau says, and in conjunction with his Big Flaw being “cowardice.” too afraid to speak up and cause conflict even when he “should” know better, and in doing so he allows discomfort and distress to fester in much more subtle and severe ways.
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"DROP DEAD!"
It's Darumi Amemiya, everyone's favourite killing game fan~!
Wanted to try my mosaic style out for some Hundred Line folks, and I finished some Darumi heavy endings and figured she could use the special treatment!
This will be available as a print at future cons and shop openings~!
less “I have these [traditionally masculine skills/interests] because I was the only girl and I have 17 brothers” more “we 17 brothers have these [traditionally feminine skills/interests] because we wanted to understand our one (1) baby sister better”
#'yeah i learned to knit so I could make clothes for her :)' #'jimmy crocheted her a blanket' #'adrian learned to sew because he wanted to make her Halloween costume (she wanted to be Belle) #'grant has extensive knowledge of Victorian etiquette. Yeah he's usually on tea party duty why do you ask' #'rocky got really into beauty YouTubers and stuff because she really wanted a certain look at her middle school dance' #'oh. and dave figured out that patisserie was his life's calling because she was super into eclairs for a while. yeah he runs a bakery now'
#'also we all know martial arts. no not for self defense it's just--she REALLY liked the karate kid movies #and we wanted her to think we were cool' (via)
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