Branch (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchifer) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
longestnight2023-10-07 06:01 am
branchifer) wrote in longestnight2023-10-07 06:01 am
Entry tags:
Fandom's Come Knocking
Okay, did you guys know people in this world make stuff of some of us? Apparently the yetis make toys of us on their own if none exist but also imitate ones that do exist if kids want them.
[Branch is hopping along a table of merch that is meant to mimic exactly the merch of him in stores. A lot of it is actually bigger than he is. He shows off the dolls with his tiny little wrist comm. They look even weirder at that perspective.]
Now that I know they're not ritual effigies, the toy thing is kind of funny. Weird, but funny.
Look at this. Look.
[He holds up his comm so the camera picks up some absolutely hideous toys.]
Like, who is this guy? I wouldn't even know who this was if it wasn't labeled with my name. Like, some random guy from the village maybe. I've never dressed like that in my life.
[He points the camera at another.]
This one is the closest to actually looking like me and it still has the random skull symbol hair thing. What's up with that? [A pause as his face comes back in view. It screws up in thought.] ...Okay, actually I don't hate it.
[Because even though he's a much happier person than he once was, he's still slightly an edgelord. Just slightly.]
[He looks upward and similar skull designs suddenly appear in his own hair, thanks to his ability to change its color. Maybe that explains why some of the dolls have black hair and some have blue (if manufacturing inconsistencies aren't to blame).]
[(It's actually not but he's not about to explain the subtleties of troll coloration when it comes to emotional state.)]
Seriously, you should check it out, and see if the yetis made stuff based on you. It's hilarious.
[ooc: If none exists IRL, people can make up imaginary merch, though all merch at the Pole would be for kids or teens. The stuff made purely by the yetis would largely be decent-looking and accurate, uglier stuff would be based on designs existing in the game world because well, that's what the kid pointed at in the store. Googling themselves would produce other merch for other demographics, as well as let people find out about any internet fandom. People can feel free to thread hop a lot because the point of this is probably going to be a lot of pointing and laughing.]
[Branch is hopping along a table of merch that is meant to mimic exactly the merch of him in stores. A lot of it is actually bigger than he is. He shows off the dolls with his tiny little wrist comm. They look even weirder at that perspective.]
Now that I know they're not ritual effigies, the toy thing is kind of funny. Weird, but funny.
Look at this. Look.
[He holds up his comm so the camera picks up some absolutely hideous toys.]
Like, who is this guy? I wouldn't even know who this was if it wasn't labeled with my name. Like, some random guy from the village maybe. I've never dressed like that in my life.
[He points the camera at another.]
This one is the closest to actually looking like me and it still has the random skull symbol hair thing. What's up with that? [A pause as his face comes back in view. It screws up in thought.] ...Okay, actually I don't hate it.
[Because even though he's a much happier person than he once was, he's still slightly an edgelord. Just slightly.]
[He looks upward and similar skull designs suddenly appear in his own hair, thanks to his ability to change its color. Maybe that explains why some of the dolls have black hair and some have blue (if manufacturing inconsistencies aren't to blame).]
[(It's actually not but he's not about to explain the subtleties of troll coloration when it comes to emotional state.)]
Seriously, you should check it out, and see if the yetis made stuff based on you. It's hilarious.
[ooc: If none exists IRL, people can make up imaginary merch, though all merch at the Pole would be for kids or teens. The stuff made purely by the yetis would largely be decent-looking and accurate, uglier stuff would be based on designs existing in the game world because well, that's what the kid pointed at in the store. Googling themselves would produce other merch for other demographics, as well as let people find out about any internet fandom. People can feel free to thread hop a lot because the point of this is probably going to be a lot of pointing and laughing.]
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Huh. Nancy does look like me. Except the hair and the fashion sense.
Also, there are worse reputations to have than "babysitter". It's an important role; nobody wants to see kids get hurt.
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Look, important isn't the issue. It's not even the label. I kick ass at babysitting. There's just more to me than that. I've got like-- interests. And friends. [ He does not name interests or friends as examples but he has them, dude. ] I've fought monsters and been to hell dimensions and helped find secret Russian bases and shit. I'm like, is that not in this show? How could it not be in the show? What the hell are we doing here?
no subject
[Branch had felt that personally now, during the time he and the others had been forced to cower, waiting for the Bergens to kill them all, before Bridget freed them.]
[And he thinks about the Trollstices where they hid him and the other children away but the adults stayed out knowing they couldn't hide too. Some had to be taken or the Bergens would look for where they were hiding and find the kids.]
[And he thinks about monsters.]
I don't know how it is for humans but back home protecting kids is seen as one of the noblest things someone can do.
Especially since, for a while, it was always so hard for my people to manage.
Most of those designs have you posed in a heroic way. If you're protecting them from terrible monsters or whatever, it could just be that people really admire you for that.
Who cares about bases or going to...wherever? When it's compared to one of the most admirable things someone can even do?
It might not even be the only thing they admire you for, just the one they admire you for the most.
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Branch's response is enough to soften his tone out, at least. ]
Hey, man. If I didn't think that shit was the most important thing to take care of, I wouldn't keep trying to do it.
[ Trying. Steve has to add the qualifier at this point, keep trying. Because he has to think about what happened to Max and Lucas and Erica when he wasn't there last time. What happened to Dustin and Eddie when he wasn't there. He has to think about every time he's screwed up keeping his collection of weirdos safe: wrong place, wrong time, wrong fight to pick, whatever.
'It could just be that people really admire you for that.'
Cool. He doesn't deserve it. ]
Guess it's better than four shirts about me being a dick, anyway.
no subject
Yeah, see? It could be worse.
Apparently, when I'm not a stuffed animal for small children, being a cranky jerk is what I have a rep for.
[It takes some doing for him to figure out how to do it but he links a few t-shirts. Being cranky seems to be his brand.]
[He's colored bit grayer in them than he currently is. Has to be a printing thing, right?]
You're not known for being a jerk, count your blessings.
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That only half-counts because you're, like. Adorable.
no subject
I mean, if you're doing all that hell tripping and finding Russian bases with the kids, I assume it still counts as babysitting. Can confirm that "monster fighting" absolutely gets counted as babysitting for me back home, at least.
no subject
[ Jaw shaving... do people say that? Like, he shaves his face, but that's whatever.
At least he's been validated that Stacia looks like Nancy and it's not that he finally got one too many concussions. ]
Jesus. Can we get one reality where "monster fighting" doesn't count as babysitting? We're basically even doing it here!
[ ARE THERE WORLDS WHERE KIDS ARE LIKE. SAFE FROM THE HORRORS??? ]