Powdermonki Retro Toy Badges Review

I've been an admirer for awhile and after asking some random cute people around the internet all I heard was that the buttons (as we'd call them stateside) were good quality &; worth a purchase.

There are some really fabulous designs available for purchase, but I decided take her up on the offer to make custom buttons using images of my choosing. Well, nothing could have prepared me for the ability, kindness, communication, and end result of what turned out to be about a month long series of emails back and forth.

Do you know me? Hi, I'm Mindy and I love Popples like the vast majority of people love Care Bears. I didn't watch the cartoons as a kid and cannot think of ever in my child life seeing a commercial or ad for them, but you don't' have to try to sell me on Popples. I don't take interest in a whole lot of things, so I got what I wanted when I did ask. I'm not saying I had every Popple as a kid and looking back I realize that my Popples merchandise was, for the most part, practical items. I had the plates, bowls, cups, a tea set, mugs, puzzles, bathroom decor, the sleeping bag, stickers, colorforms, and of course a few plush. Not all that stuff was new: I've been garage sale-ing and thrifting my heart out since I could toddle down the sidewalk. I've managed to accumulate some really cool Popples stuff through my teen and adult years.

When I first contacted Sarah, the creator of the badges, I had only a memory of a Popples puzzle I had as a kid. This is exactly that first communication:
"Hello,  I love your pins &; hear that they're great quality. I was wondering what kind of image you'd need to make one. I absolutely love how Popples merch has popples plush staged &; photographed. I had a puzzle of Pretty Bit &; Potato Chip (i'm pretty sure) playing with a gumball machine that I'd love to have on a badge. Let me know if it's possible.

~*love and light*~

 Mindy"

Her reply was prompt. Actually the same day, but time gets away from me and it was days, maybe a week, before I saw it and replied. I was pretty much floored. Not only had she found that puzzle based on my description, but also sent along a mock up of it as a badge.


Oh my gosh, that's it! It's so much cuter than I recalled, with Pretty Bit sitting in the busted machine with the top on her head. She explained that this is a photo she found after having "a quick look on eBay" and that it's a tray puzzle and will have lines in it. The lines of this tray puzzle are all wavy like you see: that's not manipulation of the photo. I shared that it was more orangey than I remembered and Sarah said and set about looking for pictures on my own. While I was doing that I heard back from Sarah that she'd also put a glaze layer over the image &; that it was probably altering the color, so she'd omit that in the future.

I suddenly realized that she'd just pulled this image off the web and made a lovely badge with it, so I asked if she'd be able to make badges with any image I provided. I have an inordinate amount of pictures of things I used to have, like, or want on my hard drive. Her response was this:

"Hi Mindy, whilst it's true I can use any image you'd like to make a badge from, it's always best to use a larger, better quality image than a small one. So, what I'll do when you email me your images is make them ready for printing and email the sample images back for your approval (I won't add the mock badge glaze to them, so you can see the images better).

How does that sound?

I'm looking forward to this!"

I let her know I was gonna be searching thru my images and compiling a photo list to send her way!

What I discovered is that there are two releases of this gumball Popples puzzle and the color differs ever so slightly from the tray with a red band at the top from the one with the blue. I sent this image along with the explanation of what was goin on.

In going through my files I'd already come up with some photos I wanted to use. The following images are what I sent:

I have the pillow on the right, but getting to things is not easy for me. It's packed away safe, cuz I've kept in pristine condition for 20 years thru a lot a lot of life: it came with when I left my Mom's house.

(side note:she didn't make it for me, per se, but, my friend Lexi made me a fairy kei shirt with the middle pillow. The Popple holding the ice cream cone is my very first Popple & I don't have her. Pretty Bit is my fave Popple I acquired as an adult)
~☆~

The cutie badge top left I have, but it's vintage & branded on the back: not for using. I could not find a better picture or take a picture of that super shiny button, so I sent this.
~☆~

The middle plate was my special dessert and birthday plate. I don't have my plate but it was all scuffed up by the end of it's use from being, well, used.
~☆~

When I went looking for the tea set I realized it was a rare item indeed! The only photo I found was this one. This is so crazy, you guys! Ok, so the couch this set is sitting on is absolutely identical to the one I was sitting on when I opened my tea set when I was four. It's a small photo, but I'm just amazed to be looking at it.
~☆~

 This I made myself, using MS paint and even though it is a little dodgy I still had to show her. I worked HARD on this. See, as a kid I had that Popple I placed in the image in the forefront and she was very special to me. I sang almost constantly & put on dramatic stage performances in and out of my home. I wish I had her longer since I got very much into the punk scene as a teen.

You've got to understand that I cannot photoshop my way out of, into, or on top of a paper bag. Sarah was very understanding of this and after I sent those to her she gave me the information I needed to collect images that could be made into badges. She told me, "Ideally the bigger the image the better. Ideally no smaller than 600px square. I can't use the image you created in Paint, but I've re-created it using my own images. Punkity's image is now much clearer, but I don't have a bigger image of them both to use for the background"

I was NOT at all expecting this!

I think we'll all agree that this looks oh so much better. I don't have fuzzy feelings for the other Popple, so don't care that it's not clear and the gritty feel suits the scene. They are punks on stage and the audience is throwing tomatoes at them. I also wasn't able to salvage the tail in my paint version & now it's back & u can still see both the guitarists eyes.=^-^=fur joy

"I brightened up the puzzle image, so maybe the background changed colour a bit. How about this:

The one I emailed you before is on the left, and the less orangey one is on the right."

 The one on the right matches my memory better and when you see them side by side like this I feel like the untouched image is too bright and the shadows to deep. The touch up is perfection and I told her so.

After getting that info about most of the images being unusable I found images of those things I could in a more suitable size. I was determined to do the hunting myself & this is what I did every time I was able: sometimes all I'd do in a day is search for Popples or email Sarah. Not because I thought I'd get my head bitten off or anything. In fact, she said, "the best thing to do is for you to send me the images you want made into badges and if they aren't big enough for me to use I'll see what I have saved or can find on the internet and we can take it from there!" I'm just nice and considerate of the fact that other people have RL lives to live, I guess.

I really wanted a Cool Times Barbie button. The buttons she has already up for sale are really cool and there's a great variety, but as you may already gleaned from this blog I'm getting these badges made in order to be able to, in a way, have my most beloved toys with me once more. Truly this is better that finding a mint in box Barbie, though cuz as an adult I can take these with me everywhere and share what I love with the world. All the pictures I found of Cool Times, and there are many merch images and prototype photos floating out there, had her clothes wrong or her hair not in pigtails like mine was. I looked and looked but never found anything that, to me, looked like Cool Times Barbie. Since I was blown away by how well she'd recreated that punk scene for me I asked if she'd be able to another custom for me. This time, of Cool Times Barbie. I wondered if she'd be able to take put a picture I took of my own Cool Times' one remaining earring on a photo of a boxed barbie I found. No Barbie of mine got played with more than Cool Times, which is why she's ruined today. I still have her, which is actually sayin a lot, cuz I'm a pony girl~in my pony world: let's go play My Little Po-nies!

I sent these images:

Sarah got back to me and said she needed the images without the circles now that she knew what part of them I wanted on badges. I did that and also asked if she'd be able to use a picture of the actual Cool Times earring I still have, since the earrings can't be seen in the image I found...any image I found.

The screencaps I painstakingly caught from my own Jem avis are esp awesome. That's Kimber (in signature outfit) with Jem's pink hair. Catching lazy/crazy artists flubs on Jem is lots of fun. Sarah warned me the quality of Kimber wouldn't be great, but it's the best I could do. The Misfits looks fabulous cuz it's the whole screen. It's from the first time they meet Tech Rat.

The lengthy process wasn't due to powdermonki: it was my fault this was March 22 to mid April.

It took me even longer to make this blog, so I can't wait any longer to show you the results of all this fantastic collaboration.

















The first three are smaller ones she designed and made herself. 

blurry from my pic~crisp image in real life

That's my Cool Times earring*!* OMG~so happy
~☆~

It is lower quality..but then again I grew up with BETA, sooo I love it*!*

~☆~

The smaller crafted ones she made have metal back, but the regular retro ones have plastic backs.

Fun badges are a great way to personalize any outfit, purse, or hair bow. I wore my Furrever Friends badge in the button hole of a silk shirt & entered a a fairy kei contest.

~☆~

If you're questioning whether or not to order from Powdermonki, then I assure you, you will be SO happy you did. She adds new badge designs regularly & working with her is a dream come true. Be sure to check out all the categories for much retro fun. I doubt you'll be left wanting for much. There's Lady Lovely Locks, Fairy Tail Birds, Keypers, many Barbies & Care Bears, Wuzzles, Cupcakes, and Rainbow Brite..to name a few. You can even pick up your own Misfits split screen badge cuz my custom request is now a regular shop item.

Communication: Excellent

Quality: Excellent

Shipping Time: Excellent

Packaging: Excellent (with color invoice & all badges secured to the page it's bloody brilliant)

Over-all Satisfaction: Exceeded Expectation at every turn

Would I refer a friend or shop here again? *!*!*!YES*!*!*!*

Leave a comment to let me know which ones you plan on getting *or* share your own experience with Powdermonki.

Powdermonki Retro Toy Badges

Happy Friday the 13th ^_*

Lounged around all day in mah hellbounds. Hey, if Friday 13th aint teh occasion, then I don't know what is.

Since these came today I decided to gift em right away. As you may or may not know I'm all about special dates and stuff. I got my boyfrin and I his and hers pill pendants cuz we're each others drug. It was esp meaningfull comin off this mostly horrible week, too. 

*♥*

New Sailor Moon

Just when I think life isn't gonna get better, it does. It goes right ahead and creates MORE NEW Sailor Moon. This could mean a whole bunch of things for me. Cosplay and figmas, hot topic trips and a plethora of merch. On a weekly basis I stumble over items I could mayhep add to my collection. But I resist for the most part & my collection is modest.

I will definitely make a photoshoot with the stuff I have. I just added this adorable crisis heart pendant necklace to my life in June...my money helped aminals.

When I woke up much earlier than expected and Sean bounded into the room to share the news with me I seriously had to ask if I was dreaming still. It's just so insane and awesome. I never finished watching Stars in English. I saw it when it aired in Japan thanx you to KaZaA. Mind you I was high a lot and anyway don't reacall most of what I saw since I don't speak a word of Japanese. I couldn't bear to live in this world if I completed the experience of the television series, tho I have it on DVD. And now there's gonna be more Sailor Moon*!!* I'll finish up the series I have now, teehee. Having put off a sorrow and believing and being part of this amazing multiverse has made it so that sorrow won't exist when I, at last, finish my most beloved Sailor Moon.

Today I wondered how many tumblr pages I have. I tried and I think failed at creating tumblr to post a Sailor Moon image I'd edited together with Winx Club...appresh for them being an obvious extension, if somewhat hollow from localization from Italian to English.

You may have thought me childish for liking Sailor Moon and no doubt subjecting you to it, perhaps in some cases (no definitely) as I demand control of your TV upon first meeting, when it came on Toonami. Or maybe we were kindred spirits in our love for the beautiful imagery and intricate storylines. Either way, however little you ever knew of me you knew I liked, loved, breathed for Sailor Moon.

The anime was diluted for kids. Unless I was there providing you the inside info, the Neptune and Uranus relationship was probably confusing. But they're a lesbian couple. They weren't the only gender bending thread woven into the tapestry that is Sailor Moon. The last season, Stars, was never localized for TV here because of the transgender trio of performers central to the plot.

I shudder with joy to think of what villains will be. Sailor Moon has had some of the most twisted and frightening enemies as well as some of the silliest. Their inhuman nature allowed for some large bare breasted ladies to come up against the Sailor Scouts time and again. The recurring masters of darkness are some of the most beautiful and alluring women to grace an anime. It's sometimes hard to watch because you don't want Sailor Moon to win and wither her opponent.

She does win, though. With love and support from friends. A quality of this anime that I ever adored...friendship and love....though outside of fiction I didn't believe in either. So many times the show brought me to tears or made my day. That I've had the chance to share that joy with the few I have and those memories I hold dear. Evidence that parts of me as I am now have always been. If I can set aside hatred or apathy for Sailor Moon?! A significant event.

I woke up at 5 to watch the show on Crew 62, sacrificing food and developing a quick and effective way to brush my teeth. I taped every episode on toonami, cuz I got home at 4:20 and the show began at 4. I used to run around the house with my best friend. singing & playing Sailor Moon, after school. I painted Sailor Moon onto my gym shirt with acrylics. When I wrote notes in school I put SM characters for people's names. I still have the Sailor Moon gifts I got from Sarah...must've been in 10th grade. In the mental hospital I drew characters from the show on the dry erase board every day and taught people what anime was. A guy there did the same for Dragon Ball Z and we traded drawings..I have a Dragon Ball Z drawing & he has Sailor Moon & senshi. I only went to prom cuz I found the perfect green shimmer high neck Lita dress. I wore black gloves that went to my elbow. For my senior video we were told to write what we wanted to be when we grew up and the sign I'm holding says, "Sailor Moon" ~I have video proof....also proof that Jaylyn is a beautiful flower.

I was Rini for Halloween 2001 when I lived with my friend. For the hair I used pink yarn. When I lived with my Gramma all I did, all day, all night, was draw Sailor Moon from the Stars manga she'd bought for me to entertain myself with. I wanted to be an artist and drawing isn't a thing you can just do...it takes practice. I got good, too...really damn good actually. My family didn't understand and my "doing nothing" got me kicked out of there. When I was lithium fat in 2003 I made a Sailor Moon costume to wear to Dish Network where I worked and I still have & use both mirror compacts I painted. I ran all over town to hunt down the Deluxe figures. I have all the chibi keychains MOC and a set of the posable figures MOC and a set open for dis-play. I got the TRU exclusive of Serena and Chibi Moon. In other words, as soon as Mindy had money she spent it on Sailor Moon stuff. It's huge to me, cuz I was homeless and I'd come a long way, longer still. I took the mini fig of Pluto to work with me at GameStop when I was just a GA, to ground me in space and time (globulously) and to talk to. I added Jupiter, completing my inner senshi collection only this year. I had no desire to purchase one from ebay: I wanted her from someone who ran all over town like I did and knew I'd love her to death. Lita's my fave & the last doll I got. I am a hardcore Sailor Moon fan.

Hard to say when I knew Sean was the one. Upon first meeting I think it was there, but I was heart-frozen then and emotion of any kind was easy to ignore. It was when we had a conversation about Sailor Moon during a night shift that he told me he had a Sailor Moon poster hanging in his room when he was in High School. That bend that I feel so greatly nowadays it's positively a swoon.. I felt it then. And I went, oh shit, there goes my policy of keeping underlings at a distance. Sean and I were fast friends. You know you've met your soul mate when you wind up with 2 copies of the Sailor Moon song CD after moving in together.

The only other guy I'd met who liked Sailor Moon did so privately, with some shame. He sat outside my tent for hours while I recounted the events of several seasons of Sailor Moon to a new friend. It's because it inspires such light and love in me that I've ever been able to paint word pictures as beautiful as the anime itself.

My first apartment (sans roomie) I had all my Senshi & Sailor Moon dolls suspended at about a 50 degree angle over my front door. It was *!*awesome*!* and generally people noticed as they were leaving and realized they could have been greeted by sailor panties all in a row.

My love for anime hasn't waned, but my inability to read subtitles has greatly reduced my enjoyment and appreciation of it. I loved Winx Club because it was an opportunity to express appreciation for Sailor Moon. Now all this love and continued attention has brought me & you to a world where there's actually going to be new sailor senshi stories. It's utterly insane...fits nicely with errythang else we got goin on here.

This is the best life ever.

My Week In Pictures-Second to Last Week in June

~*♥*~
Seany Dall loves this shirt & loves it even more on me. And these leggings are s0 dab0mb for 8 bux*!* Long, thin, comfy, and don't they look fab*?*~thanx Target ^_*

 

~*♥*~

Hobbly Lobby is always an adventure. Picking up a few supplies *&* drooling over all the kewt~E~P0P pink stuffs I could have if I had anything more than wall space...or even room for just decorative wall things.
~*I arranged these things myself. I used to get paid for that type of thing, but I'll always do it for free,teehee. Now there's a pop of whimsy on this black/white shelf.
 

 

~*♥*~

The longer line is not light, but strand of web over my eye.

 

It's made an appearance in the corner of my eye, too, now.

 

This one came out relatively easy. It'll obscure my vision for hours sometimes. 

Se the "y" shape? That's because it was around the whole top(under upper lash lid) & bottom(under lower lash lid) & the long part was what you saw in the corner (2nd picture)

~*♥*~

 ~*I've been hoarding these to make sweet necklaces & I LUV to arrange things & take pictures*~

 

~*the kitty is my favee one*~
~*♥*~
I wanted to accomplish a ton this day, but all that got done was these earrings. They don't look great cuz they're clip on & I need to modify the clip. This was how I used Whipple (toxic but of decent quality) for the first time. With practice my candy crosses will look more yummZ*!* I don't have any makeup on, but I felt really cute in my Yum Yums shirt I made.

 ~*♥*~

Sean brought me flowers unexpectedly*!* We had a...not really fight, but an upset, the night before. When he gave them to me he apologized for being a jerk and said that these flowers are to reflect the beautiful growth he wishes to see in himself. It's awesome~!~we've had that same talk every month(I think) for 7 years and he's never brought me flowers on a non-occasion or internalized my feedback about the behavior of his that isn't good for either of us.

 

~*coming to an Etsy near you;D namely mine*~

 

~*this in infinitely easier said than done!!*~

~*♥*~
Bonsai bit off a flower today, so I put it in my hair.

 

 ~*♥*~ 

Miso got up a hairball that she's been working on alll week ^-* We were both busy kitties.