Category: Blog

The Odyssey is now officially the highest grossing movie in Christopher Nolan’s career. The filmmaker of Inception, Oppenheimer, and three different Batman pictures capped that milestone Sunday when Odyssey crossed $1.1 billion at the global marketplace, topping a benchmark last set by The Dark Knight Rises 14 years ago. In one sense, the scale of […]

The post The Odyssey’s Wild Success Echoes Core Batman Lesson for Christopher Nolan appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Being the President of the United States of America is serious business, anybody in the world knows that. These people are still human, however, capable of being deadly serious as they are of being quite silly. This is why, every now and then, the cameras can catch something completely unexpected.

These images remind us that even the most powerful people in the country have hilariously human moments. So we dug through decades of presidential photography and picked the funniest shot we could find for a few American presidents. History class probably didn’t prepare you for these.

The post 15 American Presidents Ranked By the Funniest Photo We Could Find of Them appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

This article contains The Last House spoilers Louis Leterrier’s The Last House hit the ground running on Netflix, becoming the number one movie on the streaming service in its first week of release. The Now You See Me and Fast X director has swerved away from fast cars and magic for his new sci-fi thriller, […]

The post The Last House Ending and Meaning Explained appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

We often live in a world where we take things for granted, thinking that the great wars, catastrophes and incidents are behind us. But are they really? There are certain areas of ongoing research, particularly in fields like climate or environmental science, where ways the world might meet its demise are studied.

These aren’t predictions that civilization is doomed tomorrow, but rather plausible mechanisms that experts study because of their potentially catastrophic consequences. From rogue asteroids to supervolcanoes and even bizarre quirks of quantum physics, these are some of the most dramatic ways scientists think the world as we know it could eventually meet its end.

The post 13 Catastrophic Ways Scientists Think The World Could End appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Today, we think of colleges as a source of debt and possibly, a way into a job. But back in the 70s and 80s, it was a real gateway into the future, a way to make friends and useful contacts, and of course, the method in which many of our previous generations widened their horizons.

Were those times really that great? Well, a quick Reddit search shows that they indeed were, with young people having fun, fighting for their rights and falling in love. Here are just a few pictures that let us time travel to a simpler time, and seeing how cool it really was.

The post 15 Photos Remembering Just How Cool College Was in the ’70s & ’80s appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Usually, we stare at pictures because they contain something we like, something that calls to us in a meaningful way. This isn’t a set of those images; instead, we’ve gathered a lot of examples of images that make you do a double take. Is what you saw really what’s going on?

Well, it is and it isn’t, and we’ll have to go on a case-by-case basis. There are cases where what you see is literally what is going on, and it’s just hard to process how ridiculous it looks. The other cases are a trick, where the situation isn’t what you saw at first, although that doesn’t necessarily make it better.

The post 15 Photos That Don’t Really Make Sense, But That’s Ok appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey ended up being more than a simple adaptation in the eyes of audiences worldwide, at least if the box office is anything to go by. The movie combines a solemn tone, war-time tale, and horror moments into a surprisingly faithful adaptation of the source material, no matter what accent the actors used.

After seeing it, we at least can’t stop thinking about it. It isn’t that we hadn’t heard, read or learned about the story of Odysseus before, but it was surprising how well the story translated to the screen. Here are what, for us, were the best moments of this unmissable film.

The post The Odyssey’s Top 10 Best Moments appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

A comedy film is all about having a good time, some laughs, and little else. A good movie aims to do multiple things at once, even when having a very defined genre; this is the case with good comedy movies as well, where the laughs might take center stage, but the story and message behind them are of equal importance.

Whatever their approach, the good comedies prove that their genre can be just as meaningful as any drama. If you’re looking for movies that deliver both laughs and something to chew on afterward, these are among the genre’s finest achievements.

The post 14 Comedies With More to Them Than Just Laughs appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through […]

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.

Hollywood friendships can be just as unpredictable as Hollywood romances. While celebrity couples often come and go, some famous friendships have quietly lasted for decades, surviving career changes, public scandals, and life in the spotlight. Whether they met as aspiring actors, co-stars, or even as children, these duos have remained loyal through every stage of their lives. Some regularly vacation together, others constantly support one another’s projects, and a few have become so inseparable that fans almost expect them to arrive together.

Here are 15 celebrity best friends that have lasted longer than your marriage.

The post 15 Celebrity Best Friends That Have Lasted Longer Than Your Marriage appeared first on Den of Geek.

Derrick Baca and Liz DeSilva, founders of pop culture collectible brands Whatever! Makes You Happy and Otonagai, joined Den of Geek at San Diego Comic-Con to talk all things geek. A subbrand of Whatever! Company focusing on accessory collabs with licenses and artists, Whatever! Makes You Happy caters to Gen Z and millennial nostalgia through an offering of bags, charms, blind boxes, apparel, and other accessories. Their collections include IPs like Peanuts, Yo Gabba Gabba, and Care Bears, bringing the fun childhood colors and characters into adult fashion.

Before launching Whatever! Makes You Happy, the married duo worked at Loungefly as senior vice presidents of creative/innovation and were part of the team that grew the brand into a major player in the apparel and accessories scene. After departing Loungefly, the couple took a year off, searching for the right place to start their own imprint, and they ended up finding themselves in familiar territory.

“The company that we’re working with now [Whatever! Company], I actually knew the owner 20-plus years ago, and we almost went to this company before we went to Lounge[fly]. It just was a matter of timing and place, the stars aligning and all that. We always kind of joked that we wanted to work with each other,” says Baca.

The husband and wife’s creative chemistry is undeniable, as Baca handles creating the storylines for their Otonagai blind box characters and the descriptions of their products while DeSilva handles the aesthetics and design around the accessories and characters. 

Both aspects of their creative process, along with help from their artists and employees, ties their nostalgic collections together. The couple also emphasize how important it is for them to provide their employees with an environment that stimulates their creative processes, “We believe in remote [work],” Baca says. “We believe people do better when they’re in their environment, especially artists. Because I always thought that most artists, their worst thing is to go into this office and they put their headphones on. They want to turn the light off. They just want to be in their zone.”

Since their addition to the Whatever! label, which launched in August of 2025 with Miffy and Strawberry Shortcake collections, Baca and DeSilva have rapidly expanded their company in its first year of operation and have created their own nostalgia accessories branch. This includes a long list of impressive and exciting collaborators that the duo shared excitement for. 

“We’ve got almost every studio license there is, except for Disney — we literally work with almost everyone . . . we have probably over 150 licenses,” Baca says. 

Adds DeSilva, “We have Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount, Viacom, Sanrio, Domo, Snoopy, Cupy, Nickelodeon, Hasbro, Mattel. . .There’s a lot.”

The duo even gave Den of Geek exclusive looks at upcoming projects, including a batch of accessories surrounding horror franchises Universal Monsters and Terrifier that just launched August 6.

While they prioritize feeding fandoms with desirable merchandise, they also work with their own IPs. Through their second company, Otonagai, they have launched 15 different IPs, including their works with independent creators from around the world. This includes the artist So Lazo, located in Berlin, with whom they recently collaborated. 

“We’re trying to make merchandise and get merchandise into specialty retail shops accessible for  artists who can’t afford to bring in inventory and pay to manufacture goods,” DeSilva says. “So what we do is we sign them on almost like a license, and then we give them a royalty. Derrick and I work with them to get like new assets every quarter to create these like collections, and we sell them to Hot Topic, Box Lunch, Besters, Urban Outfitters.” 

Despite helping numerous artists and working with over 100 licensing partners, the pair still seem to never run out of ideas. 

“I’ve been in the business almost 30 years,” Baca says. “I’m old. I’ve worked with Nightmare Before Christmas for almost all those years, and you think to yourself, ‘How can you do it differently again?’ We did at Loungefly. Every year was a challenge. “Like, ‘OK, same Halloween properties. How do we make them different?’ We probably did 200-300 [Lilo & Stitch] bags. And just when we thought we would have no more ideas, we’d have another one, and it would outsell the others.”

According to the spontaneous duo, one of the keys to finding inspiration is traveling.

“We travel. We trend shop. We’re constantly out because sometimes, we go to the mall, or we go to an antique store, and we’ll see something that will spark something totally random and unrelated to that, like a vintage item or home goods, or a ‘Oh yeah, we love that.’ That gives us a million ideas,” DeSilva says.

Despite their ample flow of creativity and upcoming collaborations with high-end collaborators, they are determined to stay affordable for their consumers. 

“All of our bags are under $75,” Baca says. “That’s a big thing. We’re trying to make really fun bags at a price point that people can still afford to buy groceries. We want people to be able to celebrate their fandoms without breaking the bank. It’s hard, but we’re trying to keep our stuff low,” DeSilva says. 

Bacca and DeSilva are making nerdiness affordable while also serving underrepresented areas of nostalgia evident in their Yo Gabba Gabba! and Care Bears collections. The Yo Gabba Gabba! collection that they mention retailers being not so certain about, since it isn’t a show with years of big merchandising sales behind it. Despite this, they are determined to listen to the nostalgic desires of millennials and Gen Zers that populate the internet. 

“We pay attention. We watch what’s cycling in terms of what people are recollecting. We were watching the fandom groups, and we were like, ‘OK, we believe in this,’” DeSilva says. 

While adults may be too old to play with toys, no one ever gets too old to wear them. 

The post Whatever! Makes You Happy: Meet The Married Couple Crafting Nostalgic Accessories for Gen Z appeared first on Den of Geek.