So, due to pre-orders being sent out early a the flood-gates have opened and all of the new info on Black/White has just come pouring in. It was still forthcoming when I left for class at 2pm today, and when I got home about half an hour ago, apparently the entire new pokedex has been revealed.
Bulbapedia seems to be down but Serebii.net has a full timeline of leaked info. I have to say, from what I can see of the new Elite Four, I love them. I'm not 100% on all of the pokemon, but there's enough that I like in order for me to build a good team, and the rest I don't need to worry about.
From what it looks like, this game is just as good as expectations lead us to believe, and I am looking forward to picking up my copy in the spring. Until then, I just need to keep training my SoulSilver team. Which reminds me, I should do that tonight since I"m meeting up with friends tomorrow and we've decided to have a battle or two!
Showing posts with label pokemon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pokemon. Show all posts
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Anime Workshop - Week 1 Response
Last week I started my Anime Workshop class at school. Each week I am required to write a one paragraph response to the assigned readings we're given. This week we were asked to read chapter's one and two of Susan Napier's "Anime From Akira to Howl's Moving Castle" and chapters two and three of Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" (which I have read a hundred times before). I ended up writing a multi-paragraph essay which I thought might be interesting to post here as well.
The first chapter of Susan Napier's book raises some interesting points about anime as a cultural phenomina and how it has managed to stretch to places that it may not have been expected to. I agree that anime's popularity outside of Japan has lead to a revival and expansion of the American animation industry, but the fact that every time Napier mentions of American animation seem to call it “predictable”, only point out it's flaws and seems to look down on it bothers me. This book is not so old that it can ignore American animated shows like “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, “My Life As A Teenage Robot”, “Samurai Jack”, and even “Futurama” and “The Venture Bros.”.
Yes, these shows were very obviously anime influenced, but they are not anime, and deserve credit for what they are – Attempts to increase the audience of American animation. Especially shows like “Futurama” and “the Venture Bros.” which draw minimally on anime and are more influenced by other sources. The same goes for her treatment of American animated films, which have made incredible advancements in catering to older audiences. It is because of these things, which are influenced by anime, that Western Animation is truly capable of advancing, and looking down on it is only making her seem elitist and difficult to read.
Her talk about the “modes” of anime also bothers me quite a bit. Yes these things exist, but I do not think that different anime fall into one or the other, or even switch between them within a series as she seems to imply. I firmly believe that all three, as well as other “modes” (which I would prefer to apply the term 'emotion' to, since 'mode' implies that only one at a time can happen) can not only exist simultaneously, but happen simultaneously more often than they do individually. To try and break things down into one piece at a time can strongly devalue how the other pieces play into a specific moment. Specific examples of my point can be found in episodes 9 through 11 of “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann”, the first two “Pokemon” films, and throughout the anime series “Baccano!” and "Magic Knight Rayearth. (I have offered to write a second essay elaborating on this point. We'll see if that happens.)
McCloud, much more tolerably, acknowledges comics as a whole and simply points out differences between western comics and manga, and their influences on one another (Not just one side to the other!) without devaluing either side. He focuses not only on America and Japan and how they have seeped into other cultures, but on the fact that other cultures have their own comics and sequential illustrations and that those have also influenced America and Japan. In fact, he gives much credit for the birth of comics to Europe.
Though I suppose since McCloud's book is on comics as a whole and Napir is focusing specifically on anime (and by association, manga), I guess it is to be expected that she is not going on about Europe in the 1700's. Still, I feel that Napir is over-analyzing anime and manga and putting it above other forms of comics and animation, while McCloud is simply taking the things we all know about comics, making it easier to understand and talk about, and then expanding on it.
I'm going to hopefully keep posting my weekly class responses here, but it really depends on if I find my responses interesting enough. Hopefully my teacher will want me to write the essay I offered on elaborating points about the "modes" Napier mentions, because I can basically rip that to shreds and that might be interesting.
The first chapter of Susan Napier's book raises some interesting points about anime as a cultural phenomina and how it has managed to stretch to places that it may not have been expected to. I agree that anime's popularity outside of Japan has lead to a revival and expansion of the American animation industry, but the fact that every time Napier mentions of American animation seem to call it “predictable”, only point out it's flaws and seems to look down on it bothers me. This book is not so old that it can ignore American animated shows like “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, “My Life As A Teenage Robot”, “Samurai Jack”, and even “Futurama” and “The Venture Bros.”.
Yes, these shows were very obviously anime influenced, but they are not anime, and deserve credit for what they are – Attempts to increase the audience of American animation. Especially shows like “Futurama” and “the Venture Bros.” which draw minimally on anime and are more influenced by other sources. The same goes for her treatment of American animated films, which have made incredible advancements in catering to older audiences. It is because of these things, which are influenced by anime, that Western Animation is truly capable of advancing, and looking down on it is only making her seem elitist and difficult to read.
Her talk about the “modes” of anime also bothers me quite a bit. Yes these things exist, but I do not think that different anime fall into one or the other, or even switch between them within a series as she seems to imply. I firmly believe that all three, as well as other “modes” (which I would prefer to apply the term 'emotion' to, since 'mode' implies that only one at a time can happen) can not only exist simultaneously, but happen simultaneously more often than they do individually. To try and break things down into one piece at a time can strongly devalue how the other pieces play into a specific moment. Specific examples of my point can be found in episodes 9 through 11 of “Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann”, the first two “Pokemon” films, and throughout the anime series “Baccano!” and "Magic Knight Rayearth. (I have offered to write a second essay elaborating on this point. We'll see if that happens.)
McCloud, much more tolerably, acknowledges comics as a whole and simply points out differences between western comics and manga, and their influences on one another (Not just one side to the other!) without devaluing either side. He focuses not only on America and Japan and how they have seeped into other cultures, but on the fact that other cultures have their own comics and sequential illustrations and that those have also influenced America and Japan. In fact, he gives much credit for the birth of comics to Europe.
Though I suppose since McCloud's book is on comics as a whole and Napir is focusing specifically on anime (and by association, manga), I guess it is to be expected that she is not going on about Europe in the 1700's. Still, I feel that Napir is over-analyzing anime and manga and putting it above other forms of comics and animation, while McCloud is simply taking the things we all know about comics, making it easier to understand and talk about, and then expanding on it.
I'm going to hopefully keep posting my weekly class responses here, but it really depends on if I find my responses interesting enough. Hopefully my teacher will want me to write the essay I offered on elaborating points about the "modes" Napier mentions, because I can basically rip that to shreds and that might be interesting.
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Almost to the release date!!!
Okay, so we've gotten our last big leak of info before Pokemon: Black/White hits it's release in like 5 days. It revealed some information on characters and a big handful of new pokemon. Unfortunately for me, the information on Darumakka has been minimal since he first showed up. But I guess that just means I get to be surprised.
So let's start with the new pokemon and my terrible opinions on them. Prep for a ridiculously long post...
Let's start with these three. Right now we don't have 100% confirmation, but these three, along with their third-stage forms, were leaked a week or so ago, and then showed up again in the CoroCoro scans, though we're not sure if they've been faked. But since everywhere is reporting on them, I'm going to weigh in as if they're legit.
Up top is Janoby, our stage two for Tsutarja, the grass type, then there's Chaobu, Pokabu the fire type's stage two, and finally Futachimaru, Mijumaru the water type's stage two. They all seem fairly standard for stage two pokemon. The same basic pokemon, just a little bigger and stronger. I think Futachimaru is my favorite of the second stages, even though I'm probably still going to pick Tsutarja to start. The only reason I might give in and go to Mijumaru is what I'm going to discuss next...
The monkey trio (from left to right), Baoppu the fire monkey, Yanappu the grass monkey who we have seen from previous leaks, and Hiyappu the water monkey. These three belong to the leaders of the first gym (seen with them above), Poddo, Dento, and Kon respectively. While I had initially assumed that you fought a triple battle against these three, I was apparently wrong.
I assumed this because when rumors of the monkey trio first began to surface it was said that they were created to help demonstrate triple battles (much like how Plusle and Minun came as a double-battle pair). But in the case of the first gym, you do not get a triple battle against three awesome waiters. You get to fight the one that has a type advantage against you. Which I personally find stupid. It removes a lot of strategy from picking your first pokemon, and also ignores a perfect opportunity for us to see the new battle mechanic played out. It also means I have to fight Poddo instead of Dento if I pick Tsutarja. And I have developed a huge crush on Dento.
The monkey trio themselves I am on the fence on. I'm not fond of Baoppu just because he seems to be a rehashed Chimchar. Not to mention we have Hihidaruma, the fire-baboon, to cover our fire-monkey needs already. The other two I am willing to give a little more leeway since they're something we haven't already seen. But I guess if you have two, you need the third, yes?
On the left, from top to bottom, we have Buffalon, Dangoro, and Mebukijika. Buffalon is obviously a buffalo, though Suri insists on calling it "Afro-Tauros", which is also pretty funny. I'm not a big fan of Dangoro just because what the hell is it? It's like a rock-Oddish except less cute. I am not impressed. I do like Mebukijika though. It's enough to make me train a Shikijika so it will evolve into CRAZY PLANT-ANTLERS DEER. He looks like an ass-kicker.
Down the right we have Tabunne, Monmen (exclusive to Black), Churine (exclusive to White), and Tamagetake. Tabunne seems to be our replacement Chansey, which I am okay with. It is pretty cute and if it evolves, I bet it's evolution is really pretty. I'm iffy on Monmen, but I really like Churine. It disappoints me that I want to get Black (because I like Reshiram better than Zekrom) but then have to get Monmen instead of Churine, which I like much better. I just find Tamagetake to be dumb. I could see it being implemented interestingly on the overworld map, but I just don't like it's giant pokeball mushroom thing.
So again, down the left we have the two versions of Basurao (which are different between the two games), Yorterri, and Choroneko. The only one here that I'm really digging is Yorterri. I'm not a big fan of Yorkshire Terriers (because Suri's is a huge bitch), but it is super super cute, and again I'm picturing it having an awesome evolution. Basurao is okay but we've had piranha before, haven't we? I do like that it's different between games though. I think that is pretty cool. Choroneko just seems to be a rehashed Glameow to me. I like it more than Glameow, but I mean... our past three cat pokemon (Meowth/Persian, Skitty/Delcatty, and Glameow/Purugly) have all been vastly different from each other and I'm a little disappointed that Gen V didn't seem to follow suit.
On the right are Desukan, Ononokusu, Denchura, and Doryuzu. I do not like Desukan. It is interesting, but I don't think it really fits in the context of what we've always had for ghost-type pokemon. It is something very solid and I'm bothered by that for some reason. I like Ononokusu's design, but not quite it's color scheme. Puke-yellow doesn't look good on anything, Nintendo. Denchura is an interesting type combo (Bug/Electric) but it looks too much like a recolored Ariados for me to really get into it. But I've always been picky with my bug-types. Doryuzu is just terrifying, even if I do see him pulling off some cool drill moves. There is just something about serrated blades that makes me uneasy.
We also got a look at our evil organization leader. Leading Team Plasma is Geechisu (left) and his enormous skirt. Definitely space-knights. Given that they have similar motives and that they look similar, I'm putting it out there right now that Geechisu and N are related soemhow. Father and son would be the most typical, but I'm also willing to accept uncle/nephew or ridiculous clone. N apparently also has a choroneko, which solidifies his place as the game's token asshole.
And finally we got some new information on the Dream World...
It also had some cute new art of Makomo. Though I am getting kind of jealous that Makomo seems to get way more face-time than Araragi. Especially since you get your starter pokemon as a gift from your parents instead of from Araragi. But I assume she still at least gives you the pokedex and explains ho to be a pokemon trainer.
But Araragi is at least recognized as the Regional Professor, which makes her cooler. And I'm hoping that SHE is the one to visit me when I beat the pokemon league.
So let's start with the new pokemon and my terrible opinions on them. Prep for a ridiculously long post...
Let's start with these three. Right now we don't have 100% confirmation, but these three, along with their third-stage forms, were leaked a week or so ago, and then showed up again in the CoroCoro scans, though we're not sure if they've been faked. But since everywhere is reporting on them, I'm going to weigh in as if they're legit.
Up top is Janoby, our stage two for Tsutarja, the grass type, then there's Chaobu, Pokabu the fire type's stage two, and finally Futachimaru, Mijumaru the water type's stage two. They all seem fairly standard for stage two pokemon. The same basic pokemon, just a little bigger and stronger. I think Futachimaru is my favorite of the second stages, even though I'm probably still going to pick Tsutarja to start. The only reason I might give in and go to Mijumaru is what I'm going to discuss next...
The monkey trio (from left to right), Baoppu the fire monkey, Yanappu the grass monkey who we have seen from previous leaks, and Hiyappu the water monkey. These three belong to the leaders of the first gym (seen with them above), Poddo, Dento, and Kon respectively. While I had initially assumed that you fought a triple battle against these three, I was apparently wrong.
I assumed this because when rumors of the monkey trio first began to surface it was said that they were created to help demonstrate triple battles (much like how Plusle and Minun came as a double-battle pair). But in the case of the first gym, you do not get a triple battle against three awesome waiters. You get to fight the one that has a type advantage against you. Which I personally find stupid. It removes a lot of strategy from picking your first pokemon, and also ignores a perfect opportunity for us to see the new battle mechanic played out. It also means I have to fight Poddo instead of Dento if I pick Tsutarja. And I have developed a huge crush on Dento.
The monkey trio themselves I am on the fence on. I'm not fond of Baoppu just because he seems to be a rehashed Chimchar. Not to mention we have Hihidaruma, the fire-baboon, to cover our fire-monkey needs already. The other two I am willing to give a little more leeway since they're something we haven't already seen. But I guess if you have two, you need the third, yes?
On the left, from top to bottom, we have Buffalon, Dangoro, and Mebukijika. Buffalon is obviously a buffalo, though Suri insists on calling it "Afro-Tauros", which is also pretty funny. I'm not a big fan of Dangoro just because what the hell is it? It's like a rock-Oddish except less cute. I am not impressed. I do like Mebukijika though. It's enough to make me train a Shikijika so it will evolve into CRAZY PLANT-ANTLERS DEER. He looks like an ass-kicker.
Down the right we have Tabunne, Monmen (exclusive to Black), Churine (exclusive to White), and Tamagetake. Tabunne seems to be our replacement Chansey, which I am okay with. It is pretty cute and if it evolves, I bet it's evolution is really pretty. I'm iffy on Monmen, but I really like Churine. It disappoints me that I want to get Black (because I like Reshiram better than Zekrom) but then have to get Monmen instead of Churine, which I like much better. I just find Tamagetake to be dumb. I could see it being implemented interestingly on the overworld map, but I just don't like it's giant pokeball mushroom thing.
So again, down the left we have the two versions of Basurao (which are different between the two games), Yorterri, and Choroneko. The only one here that I'm really digging is Yorterri. I'm not a big fan of Yorkshire Terriers (because Suri's is a huge bitch), but it is super super cute, and again I'm picturing it having an awesome evolution. Basurao is okay but we've had piranha before, haven't we? I do like that it's different between games though. I think that is pretty cool. Choroneko just seems to be a rehashed Glameow to me. I like it more than Glameow, but I mean... our past three cat pokemon (Meowth/Persian, Skitty/Delcatty, and Glameow/Purugly) have all been vastly different from each other and I'm a little disappointed that Gen V didn't seem to follow suit.
On the right are Desukan, Ononokusu, Denchura, and Doryuzu. I do not like Desukan. It is interesting, but I don't think it really fits in the context of what we've always had for ghost-type pokemon. It is something very solid and I'm bothered by that for some reason. I like Ononokusu's design, but not quite it's color scheme. Puke-yellow doesn't look good on anything, Nintendo. Denchura is an interesting type combo (Bug/Electric) but it looks too much like a recolored Ariados for me to really get into it. But I've always been picky with my bug-types. Doryuzu is just terrifying, even if I do see him pulling off some cool drill moves. There is just something about serrated blades that makes me uneasy.
We also got a look at our evil organization leader. Leading Team Plasma is Geechisu (left) and his enormous skirt. Definitely space-knights. Given that they have similar motives and that they look similar, I'm putting it out there right now that Geechisu and N are related soemhow. Father and son would be the most typical, but I'm also willing to accept uncle/nephew or ridiculous clone. N apparently also has a choroneko, which solidifies his place as the game's token asshole.
And finally we got some new information on the Dream World...
The Dream World is accessed via PC, and you play mini-games there. If you do well at them, you can bring the Dream World's Pokemon back to BW with you. Aerodactyl, Lotad and Magikarp are pictured as examples of terrain-specific Pokemon in the Dream World, as the latter two are in ponds while Aerodactyl is in the sky. Also, it turns out that you don't need to catch Munna to access the Dream World - Makomo lends you her own.- Via Psypokes
It also had some cute new art of Makomo. Though I am getting kind of jealous that Makomo seems to get way more face-time than Araragi. Especially since you get your starter pokemon as a gift from your parents instead of from Araragi. But I assume she still at least gives you the pokedex and explains ho to be a pokemon trainer.
But Araragi is at least recognized as the Regional Professor, which makes her cooler. And I'm hoping that SHE is the one to visit me when I beat the pokemon league.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Just checking in at the moment.
So, the newest Pokemon games, "Black Version" and "White Version" come out in Japan in less than two weeks. The influx of leaked info has been minimal lately and mostly confined to info about the new anime arc, "Best Wishes". I am debating actually watching it because I have developed a huge crush on Dento and I want to see more of Araragi.
While new info is slow now, I'm expecting it to explode in two weeks when the games finally get released. I'll do my best to keep up, but since I'm heading back for my final two semesters at SVA on the 7th, and will therefore have classwork to keep up with, I don't know how much info I'll be able to give.
On the upside, my first Senior Series class is "Anime Workshop". This is a class on exploring different types of anime and it's influences. So we'll be watching a lot of classic anime films ("Akira", "Naussica", ect.), and I'll have those to write about while I'm in the class. The whole "Aizen is a total psycho" arc of Bleach also seems to be hitting it's final stretch, so once that ends I am sure I will have a long and meaningless post to write about that. I'm predicting I'll have some things to say about Bakuman again in the near future as well.
So stick around. We've got lots coming.
While new info is slow now, I'm expecting it to explode in two weeks when the games finally get released. I'll do my best to keep up, but since I'm heading back for my final two semesters at SVA on the 7th, and will therefore have classwork to keep up with, I don't know how much info I'll be able to give.
On the upside, my first Senior Series class is "Anime Workshop". This is a class on exploring different types of anime and it's influences. So we'll be watching a lot of classic anime films ("Akira", "Naussica", ect.), and I'll have those to write about while I'm in the class. The whole "Aizen is a total psycho" arc of Bleach also seems to be hitting it's final stretch, so once that ends I am sure I will have a long and meaningless post to write about that. I'm predicting I'll have some things to say about Bakuman again in the near future as well.
So stick around. We've got lots coming.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Blogging about everything today.
Yeahhh.... I've been slacking off this week guys. Sorry. I've been out doing things pretty much every other day, so it's understandable right? But while I've been at ti I've watched more K-On, some clips from Hetalia, listening to the soundtrack from "The Road to El Dorado", and started reading "Yankee-kun to Megane-chan", which is absolutely hilarious. I'm still a long way from caught up, but it's fantastic, so far so I'd recommend taking a look at it if you've got some time to kill. I also went to a family reunion in there somewhere.
In pokemon news, we got another new pokemon revealed -- Yanappu.
A grass-type monkey is a weird combination to me, and I'm not totally sold on the broccoli growing out of his head, but I suppose he could be an interesting grass-type to work with if you're into that sort of thing. However, he's probably not going to be on my B/W team.
This pokemon isn't actually a reveal so much as a confirmation. We got a picture of a figure of this pokemon back in July, but up until now it wasn't confirmed as an actual pokemon in the games.
I've been playing SoulSilver again, finishing up some things that I've left hanging, such as chasing down roaming legendaries and doing the spiky-eared Pichu event. Suri's been helping me shuffle pokemon over from my copies of Platinum and Diamond to help me finish my pokedex. I also got a Japanese Wigglytuff over the GTS that has pokerus, so I've been infecting my pokemon with that slowly but surely. This is the first time I've ever had pokemon with it, so that's kind of exciting for me.
On a complete shift of subject, this week's "Bakuman" reminded me just who the team working on this was -- The pair who did "Death Note".
Mashiro and Takagi are currently planning a five-chapter story are in "Perfect Crime Party" that involves a rival trying to expose the club. Listening to them plan it out, it sounded a lot like the rivalry between Light and L, but with a lot less murder. Not that this is a bad thing. "Death Note" was written very well, even though I never finished it. I'm really excited to see how the next chapters play out and if "Perfect Crime Party" can beat Iwase and Eiji's crossover between "Crow" and "+Natural".
If you're not reading Bakuman yet, now is the perfect time to start. VIZ's translation has just hit stores, so the first volume is available. Go pick it up, and then catch up to the scans. then in November we can all go out an pick up volume 2. Especially if you're into the process of making comics, the physical volumes are worth picking up because VIZ has thrown in a little something extra for us -- Ohba and Obata's thumbnails for some of the pages! Getting that little something extra between chapters really sealed the deal for me. With how important the thumbnails are for Mashiro and Takagi within the story, getting to see Ohba and Obata's made it all the better.
Ahaha, I guess I managed to write a decent blog entry after all. I'm pretty impressed, since I didn't intend to. I'll try and do another update soon. It will probably be about Scott Pilgrim since I need to finish reading that and go see the movie.
In pokemon news, we got another new pokemon revealed -- Yanappu.
A grass-type monkey is a weird combination to me, and I'm not totally sold on the broccoli growing out of his head, but I suppose he could be an interesting grass-type to work with if you're into that sort of thing. However, he's probably not going to be on my B/W team.
This pokemon isn't actually a reveal so much as a confirmation. We got a picture of a figure of this pokemon back in July, but up until now it wasn't confirmed as an actual pokemon in the games.
I've been playing SoulSilver again, finishing up some things that I've left hanging, such as chasing down roaming legendaries and doing the spiky-eared Pichu event. Suri's been helping me shuffle pokemon over from my copies of Platinum and Diamond to help me finish my pokedex. I also got a Japanese Wigglytuff over the GTS that has pokerus, so I've been infecting my pokemon with that slowly but surely. This is the first time I've ever had pokemon with it, so that's kind of exciting for me.
On a complete shift of subject, this week's "Bakuman" reminded me just who the team working on this was -- The pair who did "Death Note".
Mashiro and Takagi are currently planning a five-chapter story are in "Perfect Crime Party" that involves a rival trying to expose the club. Listening to them plan it out, it sounded a lot like the rivalry between Light and L, but with a lot less murder. Not that this is a bad thing. "Death Note" was written very well, even though I never finished it. I'm really excited to see how the next chapters play out and if "Perfect Crime Party" can beat Iwase and Eiji's crossover between "Crow" and "+Natural".
If you're not reading Bakuman yet, now is the perfect time to start. VIZ's translation has just hit stores, so the first volume is available. Go pick it up, and then catch up to the scans. then in November we can all go out an pick up volume 2. Especially if you're into the process of making comics, the physical volumes are worth picking up because VIZ has thrown in a little something extra for us -- Ohba and Obata's thumbnails for some of the pages! Getting that little something extra between chapters really sealed the deal for me. With how important the thumbnails are for Mashiro and Takagi within the story, getting to see Ohba and Obata's made it all the better.
Ahaha, I guess I managed to write a decent blog entry after all. I'm pretty impressed, since I didn't intend to. I'll try and do another update soon. It will probably be about Scott Pilgrim since I need to finish reading that and go see the movie.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
My Recent Nerdy Purchases
So I felt the need to finally update again. It's been a few days, and I haven't really been doing anything nerdy since I've been apartment-sitting. But I did buy a few things last Sunday when McLovin, Suri, and a few others came up to visit so we could run around for McLovin's birthday. So I can talk about all that I guess.
But first, man guys... Look at my visitor map...
I hope all of my international visitors, who probably came looking for something else, at least found something they could enjoy for a few minutes while they were here. From what I can tell form looking at my stats, a lot of people have ended up here recently searching for pictures of Alcyone cosplays and finding our picture we took of Super Cosplay Kazoku's Alcyone and Lantis. (Which, again, were just stunning.) While I'm on the subject, drop by and give them a look if you're into cosplay. They're really fantastic, and I hope to see them again at future conventions.
Okay so onto the stuff I bought on Sunday. At one point we ended up at Forbidden Planet, a great NYC comic store (one of several) and went upstairs to their manga section. I was surprised to see that VIZ had released a translation of the Bleach "Official Bootleg" book. A while ago, Downtown Otaku had bought me a japanese copy, and I've always been curious as to what all of the little bonus comics were about.
It's probably just been released in the past few weeks (it was on FP's new releases shelf) but if you've got a decent manga section at your local Borders, B&N, or other bookstore you shouldn't have a hard time getting it. And if you can't find it there, it's already up on Amazon.com. If you're a bleach fan, and you're like me and can't be bothered keeping up with all of the communities that translate supplementary material like this (and therefore haven't read it yet) it's definitely a worthwhile addition to your collection. The color comics are pretty hilarious and there's some other good general info included in the book.
The other book I bought was Let's find Pokemon! Crystal, which is basically "Where's Waldo" but with pokemon. It's all Gen II art, and is apparently the third in a line of "Let's Find Pokemon!" books.
I've already sat down and found all of the pokemon I was supposed to find, but it's also fun sitting down and seeing what other pokemon are in the scenes, and I love the Gen II artwork. When McLovin showed it to me I just took it from him and was pretty much set on buying it. It wasn't much of a question. Because I love me some Gen II pokemon stuff.
So I've still got a few more days before I go back to New Jersey. Hopefully I'll manage one more post before I head home and get back to my usual nerdings. Take care, ya'll!
But first, man guys... Look at my visitor map...
I hope all of my international visitors, who probably came looking for something else, at least found something they could enjoy for a few minutes while they were here. From what I can tell form looking at my stats, a lot of people have ended up here recently searching for pictures of Alcyone cosplays and finding our picture we took of Super Cosplay Kazoku's Alcyone and Lantis. (Which, again, were just stunning.) While I'm on the subject, drop by and give them a look if you're into cosplay. They're really fantastic, and I hope to see them again at future conventions.
Okay so onto the stuff I bought on Sunday. At one point we ended up at Forbidden Planet, a great NYC comic store (one of several) and went upstairs to their manga section. I was surprised to see that VIZ had released a translation of the Bleach "Official Bootleg" book. A while ago, Downtown Otaku had bought me a japanese copy, and I've always been curious as to what all of the little bonus comics were about.
It's probably just been released in the past few weeks (it was on FP's new releases shelf) but if you've got a decent manga section at your local Borders, B&N, or other bookstore you shouldn't have a hard time getting it. And if you can't find it there, it's already up on Amazon.com. If you're a bleach fan, and you're like me and can't be bothered keeping up with all of the communities that translate supplementary material like this (and therefore haven't read it yet) it's definitely a worthwhile addition to your collection. The color comics are pretty hilarious and there's some other good general info included in the book.
The other book I bought was Let's find Pokemon! Crystal, which is basically "Where's Waldo" but with pokemon. It's all Gen II art, and is apparently the third in a line of "Let's Find Pokemon!" books.
I've already sat down and found all of the pokemon I was supposed to find, but it's also fun sitting down and seeing what other pokemon are in the scenes, and I love the Gen II artwork. When McLovin showed it to me I just took it from him and was pretty much set on buying it. It wasn't much of a question. Because I love me some Gen II pokemon stuff.
So I've still got a few more days before I go back to New Jersey. Hopefully I'll manage one more post before I head home and get back to my usual nerdings. Take care, ya'll!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
More New Pokemon Black & White Info
So it's time for more leaks and new information on pokemon and characters from the new Black and White games. This news came to me a little suddenly, and surprisingly via a commented on DeviantART.
As you all may remember, I got excited about Hihidaruma entirely because of the prospect of a little rolly fire-breathing daruma doll as a possible pre-evolution. Those who keep tabs on me elsewhere may even remember me drawing up "Daruhi", a made-up 'this is what I hope we get'.
In several palces I declared that I would totally give up on fire types if there wasn't a little daruma for me to love and cuddle and burn things with. I was do dead set on this pokemon happening, that I was almost completely convinced that it wouldn't. Because that's the kind of luck I have.
Well, this morning, I woke up and checked my messages on DA, to find a comment left with a link to this:
This is Darumakka. A little rolly fire-breathing daruma doll.
Thank you, Nintendo.
It's not quite Daruhi, but my design was based a lot on Hihidaruma. Darumakka seems to be a lot more red, and to have ignored the idea of appendages entirely. Which I am okay with. I think Daruhi is a little cuter, but Darumakka is still adorable and I will be catching one as quickly as I possibly can and never letting it evolve.
I guess while I'm here, I should talk about some of the other new information too shouldn't I? Okay, but only because I love you guys so much.
Emonga is that flying squirrel on the top left. Typing is, obviously, electric/flying. Which seems contradictory. It's ability is static, which is always handy. My first thought was "Oh look a flying pikachu." It seems to be following in the tradition of Plusle/Minun and Pachirisu. Unnecessary, but cute.
Below that is Gigaiasu, the high pressure pokemon. I'm not sold on this one really. It seems like Heatran and those "chromastone" aliens from Ben 10 had a love child. I'm sure some people will like it, but it's not a pokemon I'd have on my team. nice to see a rock type that isn't brown/grey for once though.
Then there's Victini who I have already covered in the past, but since we have a little more information I thought I should take another look at Butt-Wings here. It's official typing is Psychic/Fire, which just seems weird to me, it is the "Victory Pokemon", and it's ability is "Victory Star". Clearly this is why it is made of V's. It does not, however, explain the butt-wings.
To the right of Victini is Shikijika, who doesn't have a species type yet, but it's elemental typing is normal/grass, and it has the ability "chlorophyll". Apparently, in different weather or climate or something, Shikijika will change colors. It reminds me a little too much of Shaymin for me to be totally okay with it. I'd be more okay if Shaymin wasn't a legendary, but I want to believe that, for some reason, Shaymin is a rare mutation of Shikijika that further somehow mutated a sky forme and flew off to Sinnoh or some reason.
On the bottom are a still unnamed swan and caterpillar pokemon. The caterpillar seems to be yet another poor-man's Caterpie, but I'm hoping it will turn into something that is not just another poor man's Buttefree. I am a little excited about the swan, just because I can name it "SodeNoShirayuki". I'm hoping it's got an Ice typing instead of just water, but I find that doubtful. However, it is very pretty, and I could see it having a gorgeous evolution or a super cute pre-evolution. (Maybe even both? Eh, Nintendo? Wink wink, nudge nudge?)
And of course there were some new human characters released...
Aloe is one of the new gym leaders. I'm sorry guys but the first thing I thought of was Aunt Jemima. I am praying to god that no one takes that the wrong way, because I love that brand of products. And I'm sure Aloe is a great lady. But... I mean... C'mon. You see it too, don't you guys?
Then there is Dento. Dento doesn't seem to be a gym leader. there's how Bulbanews describes his anime counterpart (who, I assume, plays the same role in the games)...
Honestly, that sounds pretty awesome. And he walks around dressed like a waiter? C'mon, Nintendo. Are you trying to win my heart? Because it's working. "Pokemon Sommelier" is my new favorite job right after "Treasure Hunter" in this series.
And then we got the grunts for our new pile of bad guys, Team Plasma, who look like they are trying a little too hard to be medieval knights in outer space. I'd be far more receptive of this outfit if it didn't have the ridiculous hood, but guys that just totally killed it for me. I will never be able to take these guys seriously. I hope their executives and boss at least don't have hoods like that. Then maybe they'll be a little threatening.
So, more and more, this game is looking pretty great. I'm still not excited for it like I was with HeartGold and SoulSilver, but it looks like it's going to have some great stuff. And I cannot get over Darumakka and how much I want it forever.
As you all may remember, I got excited about Hihidaruma entirely because of the prospect of a little rolly fire-breathing daruma doll as a possible pre-evolution. Those who keep tabs on me elsewhere may even remember me drawing up "Daruhi", a made-up 'this is what I hope we get'.
In several palces I declared that I would totally give up on fire types if there wasn't a little daruma for me to love and cuddle and burn things with. I was do dead set on this pokemon happening, that I was almost completely convinced that it wouldn't. Because that's the kind of luck I have.
Well, this morning, I woke up and checked my messages on DA, to find a comment left with a link to this:
This is Darumakka. A little rolly fire-breathing daruma doll.
Thank you, Nintendo.
It's not quite Daruhi, but my design was based a lot on Hihidaruma. Darumakka seems to be a lot more red, and to have ignored the idea of appendages entirely. Which I am okay with. I think Daruhi is a little cuter, but Darumakka is still adorable and I will be catching one as quickly as I possibly can and never letting it evolve.
I guess while I'm here, I should talk about some of the other new information too shouldn't I? Okay, but only because I love you guys so much.
Emonga is that flying squirrel on the top left. Typing is, obviously, electric/flying. Which seems contradictory. It's ability is static, which is always handy. My first thought was "Oh look a flying pikachu." It seems to be following in the tradition of Plusle/Minun and Pachirisu. Unnecessary, but cute.
Below that is Gigaiasu, the high pressure pokemon. I'm not sold on this one really. It seems like Heatran and those "chromastone" aliens from Ben 10 had a love child. I'm sure some people will like it, but it's not a pokemon I'd have on my team. nice to see a rock type that isn't brown/grey for once though.
Then there's Victini who I have already covered in the past, but since we have a little more information I thought I should take another look at Butt-Wings here. It's official typing is Psychic/Fire, which just seems weird to me, it is the "Victory Pokemon", and it's ability is "Victory Star". Clearly this is why it is made of V's. It does not, however, explain the butt-wings.
To the right of Victini is Shikijika, who doesn't have a species type yet, but it's elemental typing is normal/grass, and it has the ability "chlorophyll". Apparently, in different weather or climate or something, Shikijika will change colors. It reminds me a little too much of Shaymin for me to be totally okay with it. I'd be more okay if Shaymin wasn't a legendary, but I want to believe that, for some reason, Shaymin is a rare mutation of Shikijika that further somehow mutated a sky forme and flew off to Sinnoh or some reason.
On the bottom are a still unnamed swan and caterpillar pokemon. The caterpillar seems to be yet another poor-man's Caterpie, but I'm hoping it will turn into something that is not just another poor man's Buttefree. I am a little excited about the swan, just because I can name it "SodeNoShirayuki". I'm hoping it's got an Ice typing instead of just water, but I find that doubtful. However, it is very pretty, and I could see it having a gorgeous evolution or a super cute pre-evolution. (Maybe even both? Eh, Nintendo? Wink wink, nudge nudge?)
And of course there were some new human characters released...
Aloe is one of the new gym leaders. I'm sorry guys but the first thing I thought of was Aunt Jemima. I am praying to god that no one takes that the wrong way, because I love that brand of products. And I'm sure Aloe is a great lady. But... I mean... C'mon. You see it too, don't you guys?
Then there is Dento. Dento doesn't seem to be a gym leader. there's how Bulbanews describes his anime counterpart (who, I assume, plays the same role in the games)...
"With an abundance of knowledge and experience, Dento is a "Pokémon Sommelier", who checks ("diagnoses") the compatibility between a trainer and their Pokémon, gives them advice on how to become better friends. Is the actual condition what is expected?"
Honestly, that sounds pretty awesome. And he walks around dressed like a waiter? C'mon, Nintendo. Are you trying to win my heart? Because it's working. "Pokemon Sommelier" is my new favorite job right after "Treasure Hunter" in this series.
And then we got the grunts for our new pile of bad guys, Team Plasma, who look like they are trying a little too hard to be medieval knights in outer space. I'd be far more receptive of this outfit if it didn't have the ridiculous hood, but guys that just totally killed it for me. I will never be able to take these guys seriously. I hope their executives and boss at least don't have hoods like that. Then maybe they'll be a little threatening.
So, more and more, this game is looking pretty great. I'm still not excited for it like I was with HeartGold and SoulSilver, but it looks like it's going to have some great stuff. And I cannot get over Darumakka and how much I want it forever.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Otakon 2010 - Saturday
Day two of Otakon 2010 was a good time. It consisted mostly with trips around the dealer's room and artist's alley, and one long trip outside. Suri and I went around watching cosplayers until we met up with my friend Amber. She gave me things to give to Downtown Otaku, and gave me a cat-earred hat that she made for me (complete with a hole in the back for my ponytail!) and a pink collar with a green bell that she got for me at another convention.
Once we separated from Amber, we planned to go to the AMV Contest. Of course, that was when fire alarms started going off and everyone was told to leave the building. 30,000 nerds were suddenly sent out onto the streets of Baltimore, not knowing what to do. The area around the convention center probably sent the regular residents into a panic. We were out there for maybe an hour before they let us back in.
While we were out there I found a Prof. Birch and asked if I could take a picture with him. He let me and then offered Suri and I pokemon cards of Mudkip, Torchik, and Treeko. I laughed and picked mudkip, and Suri picked torchik.
Once regularity had resumed, Suri and I went back in and took a spin around the artist's alley. I picked up a few things for Cass. I also got a cute poster of Kamina, Simon, and Nia, a Raichu postcard, and my friend Kyle bought me a bookmark with Italy from "Axis Powers Hetalia" on it. I also hung out with the dudes from Studio Painted Blade for a while. They are really cool dudes, so you should totally check them out. I think they have a webcomic going, and they just generally have fantastic work from what I have seen.
When we were done there we went back down to the dealer's room. There wasn't much for me there. I bought a few more of those Bleach cookies, a DBZ blind box for Downtown Otaku, and a little Hetalia figure since I'm apparently going to be watching that due to my love of ridiculous accents. We then went with Kyle to the Dr. Who photoshoot, and while they were busy with that I found a trio of unexpected Magic Knight Rayearth cosplayers...
I found Lantis, Alcyone, and Caldina. I spotted Caldina's cape and then noticed Alcyone next to her and needed a photo. Alcyone is, and has always been, one of my favorite Magic Knight Rayearth characters and I have never seen anyone cosplay her before. I expressed my excitement to the woman cosplaying and then we went back to the Dr. Who shoot.
After that, Cass came and picked us up. Dinner consisted of nachos and ice cream, and we watched some of our favorite episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender". I have no plans to go back Sunday. I'm out of money and there are no panels I want to go see.
As I said yesterday, all of the pictures from this weekend are up in their own album on Photobucket, and there were some absolutely stellar ones, so you should definitely check it out. This was a fantastic convention, and I'm so glad I got the chance to go for another year.
Thanks so much to all of the attendees for being such great company, and an extra special thanks to the con staff for putting on such a great event and for handling a small emergency like total champions. It was a great year and I cannot wait for Otakon 2011!
Once we separated from Amber, we planned to go to the AMV Contest. Of course, that was when fire alarms started going off and everyone was told to leave the building. 30,000 nerds were suddenly sent out onto the streets of Baltimore, not knowing what to do. The area around the convention center probably sent the regular residents into a panic. We were out there for maybe an hour before they let us back in.
While we were out there I found a Prof. Birch and asked if I could take a picture with him. He let me and then offered Suri and I pokemon cards of Mudkip, Torchik, and Treeko. I laughed and picked mudkip, and Suri picked torchik.
Once regularity had resumed, Suri and I went back in and took a spin around the artist's alley. I picked up a few things for Cass. I also got a cute poster of Kamina, Simon, and Nia, a Raichu postcard, and my friend Kyle bought me a bookmark with Italy from "Axis Powers Hetalia" on it. I also hung out with the dudes from Studio Painted Blade for a while. They are really cool dudes, so you should totally check them out. I think they have a webcomic going, and they just generally have fantastic work from what I have seen.
When we were done there we went back down to the dealer's room. There wasn't much for me there. I bought a few more of those Bleach cookies, a DBZ blind box for Downtown Otaku, and a little Hetalia figure since I'm apparently going to be watching that due to my love of ridiculous accents. We then went with Kyle to the Dr. Who photoshoot, and while they were busy with that I found a trio of unexpected Magic Knight Rayearth cosplayers...
I found Lantis, Alcyone, and Caldina. I spotted Caldina's cape and then noticed Alcyone next to her and needed a photo. Alcyone is, and has always been, one of my favorite Magic Knight Rayearth characters and I have never seen anyone cosplay her before. I expressed my excitement to the woman cosplaying and then we went back to the Dr. Who shoot.
After that, Cass came and picked us up. Dinner consisted of nachos and ice cream, and we watched some of our favorite episodes of "Avatar: The Last Airbender". I have no plans to go back Sunday. I'm out of money and there are no panels I want to go see.
As I said yesterday, all of the pictures from this weekend are up in their own album on Photobucket, and there were some absolutely stellar ones, so you should definitely check it out. This was a fantastic convention, and I'm so glad I got the chance to go for another year.
Thanks so much to all of the attendees for being such great company, and an extra special thanks to the con staff for putting on such a great event and for handling a small emergency like total champions. It was a great year and I cannot wait for Otakon 2011!
Friday, July 30, 2010
Otakon 2010 - Thursday/Friday
So we didn't do anything Otakon related on Thursday, but it was a good day, so I'm going to shove it in with Friday's activities.
So Cass picked me up around 1, we grabbed Suri, and headed down to Baltimore. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch, and then headed down to UMBC, where we're staying in Cass's apartment on campus. We got ourselves settled in, and then headed over to the local Safeway to pick up some food/snacks for the weekend.
I made steak sautéed in olive oil (I am the most Italian), a box of white cheddar & broccoli Pasta-Roni, and a bag of frozen broccoli for dinner. Cass made a box of cupcakes for dessert. It was the most delicious. For those of you who didn't know, I absolutely love to cook. So getting to cook dinner for my friends (while wearing an awesome blue apron!) was great.
Suri played some Twilight Princess, I played some Cate West: The Velvet Keys, and we made a lot of jokes about mangos being 100 cents, Death Note's "Take this potato chip... AND EAT IT!!!", and various other things we all found funny over the course of the day. Just being out of the house is nice, and I enjoyed hanging around and just being kind of nerdy and awesome with two of the most important people in my life.
Friday rolled around and Cass dropped Suri and I off at the convention center. We picked up our badges and began heading around the convention. We met up with friends and took pictures of cosplayers until it was around time for a Q&A panel with Jerry Jewel, who voices Vino/Claire from "Baccano!".
The previous Q&A for Todd Haberkorn was still going on, so we sat in in the end of it and figured out that he voiced Firo from "Baccano!", which was pretty cool also. They are hilarious men, and will also be voicing Italy and Russia (respectively) in the dub of "Axis Powers Hetalia" with crazy accents. I've never been too into Hetalia, but I do love crazy accents so I may watch it just for that.
After that, Suri and I made a few round in the dealer's room and artist's alley to scout out things we might want to buy and what booths had the best prices. While doing that, we also found some of my favorite cosplayers of the day.
Once we'd made a few rounds, we went back and started buying things. I didn't figure there would be much I wanted, but I managed to find a good handful of Nia figures to buy, plus a few other little Bleach things that I couldn't resist.
The "cookies" are actually zipper-pulls/keychains. They are really really cute. The "decorated" cookies are of Abarai Renji and Hitsugaya Toshiro, the two square cookies are of Kuchiki Byakuya and Hirako Shinji, and the chocolate cookies is just squares. I don't really know what it is. If I can find the booth again, I may buy a few more tomorrow and see what else I can get.
I also found this poster in the artist's alley. While making my rounds, there wasn't really a whole lot that I wanted. There were things at the tables of friends that I'd planned to pick up (and will go back for tomorrow since I didn't get to today), but there wasn't much I wanted to buy. Then I saw this Bakuman poster by Rikyo (of Studio Painted Blade), and just stopped dead in my tracks. He asked if I saw anything I liked, I pointed at it, and said "That." I paid the $10 for the poster and we had a brief conversation about how great Bakuman is.
After that we caught up with Cass and headed back to the apartment. I made chicken, corn, and chicken-flavored rice-a-roni for dinner, and now we're all hanging around unwinding after a full, very eventful day. Tomorrow we plan to take another spin around the dealer's room and the artist's alley and then see what happens.
All of our pictures from this weekend can be found in this album on Photobucket. It is full of fantastic cosplayers, so do go take a look!
So Cass picked me up around 1, we grabbed Suri, and headed down to Baltimore. We stopped at a rest stop for lunch, and then headed down to UMBC, where we're staying in Cass's apartment on campus. We got ourselves settled in, and then headed over to the local Safeway to pick up some food/snacks for the weekend.
I made steak sautéed in olive oil (I am the most Italian), a box of white cheddar & broccoli Pasta-Roni, and a bag of frozen broccoli for dinner. Cass made a box of cupcakes for dessert. It was the most delicious. For those of you who didn't know, I absolutely love to cook. So getting to cook dinner for my friends (while wearing an awesome blue apron!) was great.
Suri played some Twilight Princess, I played some Cate West: The Velvet Keys, and we made a lot of jokes about mangos being 100 cents, Death Note's "Take this potato chip... AND EAT IT!!!", and various other things we all found funny over the course of the day. Just being out of the house is nice, and I enjoyed hanging around and just being kind of nerdy and awesome with two of the most important people in my life.
Friday rolled around and Cass dropped Suri and I off at the convention center. We picked up our badges and began heading around the convention. We met up with friends and took pictures of cosplayers until it was around time for a Q&A panel with Jerry Jewel, who voices Vino/Claire from "Baccano!".
The previous Q&A for Todd Haberkorn was still going on, so we sat in in the end of it and figured out that he voiced Firo from "Baccano!", which was pretty cool also. They are hilarious men, and will also be voicing Italy and Russia (respectively) in the dub of "Axis Powers Hetalia" with crazy accents. I've never been too into Hetalia, but I do love crazy accents so I may watch it just for that.
After that, Suri and I made a few round in the dealer's room and artist's alley to scout out things we might want to buy and what booths had the best prices. While doing that, we also found some of my favorite cosplayers of the day.
Once we'd made a few rounds, we went back and started buying things. I didn't figure there would be much I wanted, but I managed to find a good handful of Nia figures to buy, plus a few other little Bleach things that I couldn't resist.
The "cookies" are actually zipper-pulls/keychains. They are really really cute. The "decorated" cookies are of Abarai Renji and Hitsugaya Toshiro, the two square cookies are of Kuchiki Byakuya and Hirako Shinji, and the chocolate cookies is just squares. I don't really know what it is. If I can find the booth again, I may buy a few more tomorrow and see what else I can get.
I also found this poster in the artist's alley. While making my rounds, there wasn't really a whole lot that I wanted. There were things at the tables of friends that I'd planned to pick up (and will go back for tomorrow since I didn't get to today), but there wasn't much I wanted to buy. Then I saw this Bakuman poster by Rikyo (of Studio Painted Blade), and just stopped dead in my tracks. He asked if I saw anything I liked, I pointed at it, and said "That." I paid the $10 for the poster and we had a brief conversation about how great Bakuman is.
After that we caught up with Cass and headed back to the apartment. I made chicken, corn, and chicken-flavored rice-a-roni for dinner, and now we're all hanging around unwinding after a full, very eventful day. Tomorrow we plan to take another spin around the dealer's room and the artist's alley and then see what happens.
All of our pictures from this weekend can be found in this album on Photobucket. It is full of fantastic cosplayers, so do go take a look!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Slightly behind on poke-news again.
So I've fallen a little behind again on presenting the forthcoming news on Pokemon Black/White. I'm here to rectify that today and get myself all caught up before I head to Baltimore this weekend for Otakon 2010 (which you can expect a full report on when I get back). So strap in kids, this one's going to be a little long...
So let's start with what's fresh, shall we?
This is Victini. It's the third legendary pokemon for Black/White that's been revealed so far, and has #000 as it's Isshu pokedex number, which is a first. Otherwise there's nothing we really know about it.
Except that it has butt-wings.
God just look at those things. How does it expect to fly with those? Upside down?
I'm not really sure how I feel about Victini at the moment. As far as being the "cute" legendary, I think it falls short of what Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Shaymin have been. It reminds me more of Rotom, since it's very pointy. And I really wasn't a big fan of Rotom for some reason...
Still, if I ever end up with one, his name will be "Butt-wings". I'm a jerk like that.
Okay, we're gonna go left->right/top->bottom with these.
Gochiruzeru - The Celestial Body Pokemon
More like the Apathetic Pokemon, judging by that face. I'm not really 100% on it, since I can't tell much about it, but it would make a super cute gijinka. I don't know why most psychic pokemon have to have this serious, unplayful design like their whole lives are such serious business. Of course there re exceptions... Though Gochiruzeru really looks like it should have some dark in it's typing, and it bothers me that it doesn't.
Kibago - The Tusk Pokemon
Kibago seems to suffer from "Gen III" syndrome, as I call it, where some of the pokemon just seem like they're taking the place and being the "poor man's" version of a pokemon from another generation. Kibago seems to be the poor man's Larvitar. Of course this could easily be rectified by having it not end up as something that looks like Tyrannitar. We'll have to see.
Rankurusu - The Amplification Pokemon
One of the exceptions to the "serious business psychics" is Rankurusu. This thing honestly looks like the biggest bundle of fun in the world, and depending on what comes of it, it may be my new default psychic. Seriosuly, it looks like a huge bean bag chair that I want to cuddle forever.
Koromori - The Bat Pokemon
This is right up there with Giaru for me. We really didn't need a "poor man's Zubat". Zubat was frustrating enough. And I'm just not sold on the design. Hopefully it will evolve into something totally kick-ass to make up for it.
Wargle - The Valor Pokemon
The kick ass pokemon with the silly name. Warrrrgle. I could say that forever. I want to catch one and name it "Uncle Sam". I'm glad to see an eagle-like pokemon finally instead of a bunch of falcons. Variation is good, folks. Wargle with "brave bird" on it would probably just make my life.
Minezumi - The Lookout Pokemon
Minezumi looks like it's taking the place of Rattata and Bidoof, which is a shame I guess? But he's got a very classic "pokemon" look to him. I just wish he wasn't apparently so bipedal. I think he's kind of like Bidoof and Hoot-Hoot got genetically spliced.
Musharna - The Trance Pokemon
Okay, so I said I was on the fence about Munna, but it evolves into this thing which is super cute. Not to mention you need to have one of these pokemon in order to use certain cool new features in the game like the Global Link and the Dream World, and I refuse to miss out on features like that.
The Global link allows players to either battle on line or have access to the Dream World. The Dream World, from what I can tell seems to expand on what the Pokewalker did for HeartGold/SoulSilver.
I can see myself wasting SO MUCH TIME on this. It sounds insanely fun, and I think it's a clever way to bring in pokemon from other regions without having to do massive amounts of trading from other games.
Plenty of other new features have been announced too, and on the whole they sound totally fantastic. A feature called "Passing By" allows players to "seamlessly and instantaneously connect with nearby players", though I'm not entirely sure what what would consist of. "Live Caster" allows players to video chat, though I could see this feature turning ugly pretty quickly. And then there is "Feeling Check" which measures "Compatibility between players". There's some mini-games involved and it just seems like a cute idea.
And then of course there is the new feature of Triple Battling. I'm on the fence with this. Bulbanews has a great article from their "Looking Forward" column on the subject of triple battles, and I find myself agreeing pretty solidly with it. It could be an amazing new feature, it could be a mess. Right now we haven't really seen it in action so we'll just have to wait and hope for the best.
And now, finally, we come to my favorite part... New characters!
On the left is Cheren, your responsible, dependable dude friend who wants to be the new Champion. On the right is Bel, your excitable derp of a gal pal who's going out into the world against her father's wishes. These are your two best friends. From what I can tell, they seem to play the same role as Barry in D/P/Pt, except now you get two of them. Bel, on the whole seem to just be a female Barry.
Then we have "N", playing the role of the antagonist, much like Silver in the Gen II games/remakes.
This leads me to believe he's kind of like Cyrus from Gen IV, and therefore is totally out of his mind. I am hoping that I get to beat him up and tell him he's an idiot at some point in the game, because the female player character totally looks like she could kick some ass.
And then there is my favorite new addition to the cast...
Mokomo, the other Isshu professor.
That's right. This region is full of lady professors, running around and doing crazy pokemon science. This game is amazing. I want a game just about Araragi and Momoko, the pokescience-pals.
Professor Mokomo seems to play a role similar to Mr. Pokemon from Gen II. She's a friend of Professor Araragi's and eventually gives you the "C Gear", which is Gen V's pokemon trainer multi-tool, after you do her some kind of favor. A favor which I hope includes Araragi somehow. These two look like they would be the most ADORABLE best friends. I could see them growing up together and following around pokemon and studying them.
So that's things as they stand currently. Right now this game is looking like it is going to pack more awesome than I can handle. There's apparently going to be big differences between the two versions, so I'm going to have to play both. This bothers me a bit because it will take forever.
So let's look forward to it all together!
So let's start with what's fresh, shall we?
This is Victini. It's the third legendary pokemon for Black/White that's been revealed so far, and has #000 as it's Isshu pokedex number, which is a first. Otherwise there's nothing we really know about it.
Except that it has butt-wings.
God just look at those things. How does it expect to fly with those? Upside down?
I'm not really sure how I feel about Victini at the moment. As far as being the "cute" legendary, I think it falls short of what Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Shaymin have been. It reminds me more of Rotom, since it's very pointy. And I really wasn't a big fan of Rotom for some reason...
Still, if I ever end up with one, his name will be "Butt-wings". I'm a jerk like that.
Okay, we're gonna go left->right/top->bottom with these.
Gochiruzeru - The Celestial Body Pokemon
More like the Apathetic Pokemon, judging by that face. I'm not really 100% on it, since I can't tell much about it, but it would make a super cute gijinka. I don't know why most psychic pokemon have to have this serious, unplayful design like their whole lives are such serious business. Of course there re exceptions... Though Gochiruzeru really looks like it should have some dark in it's typing, and it bothers me that it doesn't.
Kibago - The Tusk Pokemon
Kibago seems to suffer from "Gen III" syndrome, as I call it, where some of the pokemon just seem like they're taking the place and being the "poor man's" version of a pokemon from another generation. Kibago seems to be the poor man's Larvitar. Of course this could easily be rectified by having it not end up as something that looks like Tyrannitar. We'll have to see.
Rankurusu - The Amplification Pokemon
One of the exceptions to the "serious business psychics" is Rankurusu. This thing honestly looks like the biggest bundle of fun in the world, and depending on what comes of it, it may be my new default psychic. Seriosuly, it looks like a huge bean bag chair that I want to cuddle forever.
Koromori - The Bat Pokemon
This is right up there with Giaru for me. We really didn't need a "poor man's Zubat". Zubat was frustrating enough. And I'm just not sold on the design. Hopefully it will evolve into something totally kick-ass to make up for it.
Wargle - The Valor Pokemon
The kick ass pokemon with the silly name. Warrrrgle. I could say that forever. I want to catch one and name it "Uncle Sam". I'm glad to see an eagle-like pokemon finally instead of a bunch of falcons. Variation is good, folks. Wargle with "brave bird" on it would probably just make my life.
Minezumi - The Lookout Pokemon
Minezumi looks like it's taking the place of Rattata and Bidoof, which is a shame I guess? But he's got a very classic "pokemon" look to him. I just wish he wasn't apparently so bipedal. I think he's kind of like Bidoof and Hoot-Hoot got genetically spliced.
Musharna - The Trance Pokemon
Okay, so I said I was on the fence about Munna, but it evolves into this thing which is super cute. Not to mention you need to have one of these pokemon in order to use certain cool new features in the game like the Global Link and the Dream World, and I refuse to miss out on features like that.
The Global link allows players to either battle on line or have access to the Dream World. The Dream World, from what I can tell seems to expand on what the Pokewalker did for HeartGold/SoulSilver.
There is a 'Dream World' where Pokémon have their own rooms to play in, and are able to play mini-games with other Pokémon. If a Pokémon is befriended in the dream world, it is able to be taken back to the player's game. Hence, this allows Pokémon not native to the Isshu region to be obtained. To send a Pokémon (the Pokémon must be placed in in the PC box) to the world of dreams, the Game Sync feature (part of the C Gear) is used.- From Bulbanews's article on the Coro Coro leaks.
I can see myself wasting SO MUCH TIME on this. It sounds insanely fun, and I think it's a clever way to bring in pokemon from other regions without having to do massive amounts of trading from other games.
Plenty of other new features have been announced too, and on the whole they sound totally fantastic. A feature called "Passing By" allows players to "seamlessly and instantaneously connect with nearby players", though I'm not entirely sure what what would consist of. "Live Caster" allows players to video chat, though I could see this feature turning ugly pretty quickly. And then there is "Feeling Check" which measures "Compatibility between players". There's some mini-games involved and it just seems like a cute idea.
And then of course there is the new feature of Triple Battling. I'm on the fence with this. Bulbanews has a great article from their "Looking Forward" column on the subject of triple battles, and I find myself agreeing pretty solidly with it. It could be an amazing new feature, it could be a mess. Right now we haven't really seen it in action so we'll just have to wait and hope for the best.
And now, finally, we come to my favorite part... New characters!
On the left is Cheren, your responsible, dependable dude friend who wants to be the new Champion. On the right is Bel, your excitable derp of a gal pal who's going out into the world against her father's wishes. These are your two best friends. From what I can tell, they seem to play the same role as Barry in D/P/Pt, except now you get two of them. Bel, on the whole seem to just be a female Barry.
Then we have "N", playing the role of the antagonist, much like Silver in the Gen II games/remakes.
He regularly challenges the player in order to confirm his ideas of justice. He calls Pokémon "friends", but one of the screen shots shows him saying that he wants to split humans and Pokémon and divide them to create a black and white world. He has the unique idea to set Pokémon free from people, and looks for the power to bring his idea to reality.- Again, from Bulbanews's article on the Coro Coro leaks.
This leads me to believe he's kind of like Cyrus from Gen IV, and therefore is totally out of his mind. I am hoping that I get to beat him up and tell him he's an idiot at some point in the game, because the female player character totally looks like she could kick some ass.
And then there is my favorite new addition to the cast...
Mokomo, the other Isshu professor.
That's right. This region is full of lady professors, running around and doing crazy pokemon science. This game is amazing. I want a game just about Araragi and Momoko, the pokescience-pals.
Professor Mokomo seems to play a role similar to Mr. Pokemon from Gen II. She's a friend of Professor Araragi's and eventually gives you the "C Gear", which is Gen V's pokemon trainer multi-tool, after you do her some kind of favor. A favor which I hope includes Araragi somehow. These two look like they would be the most ADORABLE best friends. I could see them growing up together and following around pokemon and studying them.
So that's things as they stand currently. Right now this game is looking like it is going to pack more awesome than I can handle. There's apparently going to be big differences between the two versions, so I'm going to have to play both. This bothers me a bit because it will take forever.
So let's look forward to it all together!
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Get To Know Your Blogger
Hey guys. Before I do anything else, I want to thank the awesome folks at Ramenbox.com for passing around links to the reviews I wrote about them. I ended up with 105 hits that day, as opposed to my usual... 8-ish. Thanks guys! Stay awesome!
Sorry I kind of vanished from the internet there for a while. It's been a rough however long it's been, and then I was out of town for a few days visiting Downtown Otaku and just living my life. I read straight through "The Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer" up to current, and I'll blog about that once my life settles down again.
I don't know how many of you remember the... one time Suri wrote for this blog before I removed him as an author because he never posted. But we're still dating. It's been over four years now. Shit's rough sometimes, but we always come out the other end spouting nonsense and being crazy. We're kind of ridiculous like that. He's supportive of all my nonsense and he puts up with shit from me that I wouldn't even put up with. He's basically a saint.
Speaking of life, how about we talk about we all get to know each other a bit? I've been posting a lot without letting ya'll get to know me and that's probably a mistake when blogging. And lord only know that little bio thing over on the side will only go so far.
So hi. I'm Sono.
I wear wigs sometimes. Not because I don't like my hair. I just really like wearing wigs. Also because I'm really into dressing up as people that aren't me due to anxiety issues. This mostly takes the form of dressing up as anime/comics/video game characters. Though sometimes I just walk around in wigs because it's awesome.
I'm also an art student, majoring in cartooning at the School of Visual Arts.
This means, pretty much, that I draw comics. I'm looking to make a career out of it. I am improving constantly (as seen above) through ass-loads of work. I'm hoping, by this time next year, to have one of my projects live, finally. Next summer is also when I graduate and have to be an adult. Suckkkk. I'm so nervous about it. But I'm looking forward to trying to make a name for myself in the field.
I don't know how many of you remember the... one time Suri wrote for this blog before I removed him as an author because he never posted. But we're still dating. It's been over four years now. Shit's rough sometimes, but we always come out the other end spouting nonsense and being crazy. We're kind of ridiculous like that. He's supportive of all my nonsense and he puts up with shit from me that I wouldn't even put up with. He's basically a saint.
I am, as I have made obvious, a huge nerd. I love pokemon, cartoons, some video games, music, and food. I will ramble about these things until daybreak if you let me. Thus why I started this blog. It's a good outlet for all of my rambling and hopefully some if it is useful to you all.
If there's anything specific ya'll want me to talk about or check out just let me know and I'll do my best to get around to it. Otherwise I'm just going to keep rambling about things that no one cares about except for me.
I hope this was some kind of interesting for you all and that you now know me a little better.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
It's like being the nerdiest fashion designer.
As you can see from RTQ's header, gijinka pokemon are sort of a guilty pleasure of mine. I totally fell in love with the idea of designing a look based on the endlessly different pokemon designs, though it wasn't until last halloween that I actually took a swing at it.
I'd had to throw a costume together at the last minute and found a pair of long white gloves that I didn't know I owned. That's when it hit me -- Gijinka Lugia. I had a white sweater, pants, scarf, and a blue tanktop. So I threw it all together, made some blue bows for Lugia's back and tail and got my blue wig from my Simon cosplay and put it all together.
It came out pretty nicely I think, and I enjoy running around pretending to be a Lugia since it's one of my favorite pokemon. I had told a friend about the costume, but didn't have pictures at the time, so I drew a picture for him. And then I ended up drawing a couple more just for fun... And then she sort of developed a life of her own.
I began planning a comic based around the plot of the second Pokemon movie, except more Lugia-centric. For a movie originally titled "Revelation Lugia", that movie did not have a whole lot of Lugia actually in it. But the longer I've kept her around, the more I've thought about her "storyline" from beginning to end and I think there's the potential for something more than that in there, specifically with the possible relationship between Lugia and Ho-Oh.
So I've been kind of working out plot and I think if I do a pokemon gijinka comic, I'd focus it post-movie and around the "feud" and estrangement between she and Ho-Oh. that way I could also include the other legendary birds AND the legendary dogs. Becuase they would all be incredibly fun to do designs for.
While Lugia and Ho-Oh are my favorites, I have taken a swing at Absol and Raichu.
Suri and I have a bit of an ongoing story about my Raichu and Absol, Amphy and Marsche, and they are kind of an item. Because it's cute. Marsche ended up looking kind of "90's Bishonen", but it only serves to emphasize the fact that he is a total dork. I've since hatched their egg, and need to come up with a good name for their Pichu, but what I'm really glad about is that I only had to draw Amphy pregnant once. That was way more difficult than I'd assumed it would be.
I'm part of The Gijinka Club (Which accpets gijinkas for all things, not just pokemon!) and Pokemon Gijinkas on DeviantART, and I've had fun submitting to both of those since I started this. Pokemon Gijinkas is still very small, so I've enjoyed that club a bit more, but both have been great to be a part of.
So if you're an artistically inclined pokemon fan, give it a shot. Even if you're not into pokemon, maybe try applying the concept to something else you're into. It's a fun way to stretch your creative muscles a bit. Especially since there's not really any rules.
You can take liberties and still give your gijinkas wings, tails, or animal ears if you want, or if you'd rather not you can find some other way around it. I like keeping my gijinkas as human as possible and turning their other apendages into articls of clothing or part of their hairstyle, or anything else I might be able to think of. (Like Lugia's scarf-tail, or Amphy's rat-tail haircut!)
So take a swing at it if you're so inclined. You might find you like it.
I'd had to throw a costume together at the last minute and found a pair of long white gloves that I didn't know I owned. That's when it hit me -- Gijinka Lugia. I had a white sweater, pants, scarf, and a blue tanktop. So I threw it all together, made some blue bows for Lugia's back and tail and got my blue wig from my Simon cosplay and put it all together.
It came out pretty nicely I think, and I enjoy running around pretending to be a Lugia since it's one of my favorite pokemon. I had told a friend about the costume, but didn't have pictures at the time, so I drew a picture for him. And then I ended up drawing a couple more just for fun... And then she sort of developed a life of her own.
I began planning a comic based around the plot of the second Pokemon movie, except more Lugia-centric. For a movie originally titled "Revelation Lugia", that movie did not have a whole lot of Lugia actually in it. But the longer I've kept her around, the more I've thought about her "storyline" from beginning to end and I think there's the potential for something more than that in there, specifically with the possible relationship between Lugia and Ho-Oh.
So I've been kind of working out plot and I think if I do a pokemon gijinka comic, I'd focus it post-movie and around the "feud" and estrangement between she and Ho-Oh. that way I could also include the other legendary birds AND the legendary dogs. Becuase they would all be incredibly fun to do designs for.
While Lugia and Ho-Oh are my favorites, I have taken a swing at Absol and Raichu.
Suri and I have a bit of an ongoing story about my Raichu and Absol, Amphy and Marsche, and they are kind of an item. Because it's cute. Marsche ended up looking kind of "90's Bishonen", but it only serves to emphasize the fact that he is a total dork. I've since hatched their egg, and need to come up with a good name for their Pichu, but what I'm really glad about is that I only had to draw Amphy pregnant once. That was way more difficult than I'd assumed it would be.
I'm part of The Gijinka Club (Which accpets gijinkas for all things, not just pokemon!) and Pokemon Gijinkas on DeviantART, and I've had fun submitting to both of those since I started this. Pokemon Gijinkas is still very small, so I've enjoyed that club a bit more, but both have been great to be a part of.
So if you're an artistically inclined pokemon fan, give it a shot. Even if you're not into pokemon, maybe try applying the concept to something else you're into. It's a fun way to stretch your creative muscles a bit. Especially since there's not really any rules.
You can take liberties and still give your gijinkas wings, tails, or animal ears if you want, or if you'd rather not you can find some other way around it. I like keeping my gijinkas as human as possible and turning their other apendages into articls of clothing or part of their hairstyle, or anything else I might be able to think of. (Like Lugia's scarf-tail, or Amphy's rat-tail haircut!)
So take a swing at it if you're so inclined. You might find you like it.
Monday, June 21, 2010
I Am A Woman Of Science
So this summer I've made the decision to put together a cosplay for Professor Araragi. It's a simple costume and I could get it togehter pretty cheaply. And it is a hell of a lot of fun. I now have all of the pieces, though I still need to actually assemble a few things and figure out how to get my wig to sit right.
We ordered the skirt off of eBay and I was really worried it wasn't going to work out, but it is actually totally perfect. It is EXACTLY the right green and it fits me really well. It's a little big, but it came with a little belt that I can wear that will make it sit right.
We got an inexpensive white t-shirt from K-mart, and some simple slip-on shoes from payless. then we hit up A.C. Moore to get things to alter the shoes and make the earrings. My ears aren't pierced so I have to get bases for clip-on earrings. I bought magnets but unfortunately it isn't working. I'd planned to just buy clip on bases but they didn't have any. But we'll see what happens.
The thing we're really trying to figure out right now is the wig. It didn't hold up very well over the course of the day. A wig cap should solve some of the problem (the only one I have is blue, so it's not useful for this wig), but there's still hte matter of getting her up-do right. Mom bought those Goody "Spin Pins" so she's going to let me try them, and if it works she's going to buy me a set so that I can use those.
The biggest truggle right now is actually playing the part of Araragi. Since she is new and the information we have on her is minimal, her personality is still a very elusive factor. I was sort of making it up, playing off personality details inferred from the one image we have of her and how I think a woman in her profession might act.
All of the photos from the shoot are available here. It was an incredibly fun time and I' like to give it another test run sometime in July before Otakon to make sure I've got things down right before I hit up Otakon with a costume that isn't ready.
We ordered the skirt off of eBay and I was really worried it wasn't going to work out, but it is actually totally perfect. It is EXACTLY the right green and it fits me really well. It's a little big, but it came with a little belt that I can wear that will make it sit right.
We got an inexpensive white t-shirt from K-mart, and some simple slip-on shoes from payless. then we hit up A.C. Moore to get things to alter the shoes and make the earrings. My ears aren't pierced so I have to get bases for clip-on earrings. I bought magnets but unfortunately it isn't working. I'd planned to just buy clip on bases but they didn't have any. But we'll see what happens.
The thing we're really trying to figure out right now is the wig. It didn't hold up very well over the course of the day. A wig cap should solve some of the problem (the only one I have is blue, so it's not useful for this wig), but there's still hte matter of getting her up-do right. Mom bought those Goody "Spin Pins" so she's going to let me try them, and if it works she's going to buy me a set so that I can use those.
The biggest truggle right now is actually playing the part of Araragi. Since she is new and the information we have on her is minimal, her personality is still a very elusive factor. I was sort of making it up, playing off personality details inferred from the one image we have of her and how I think a woman in her profession might act.
All of the photos from the shoot are available here. It was an incredibly fun time and I' like to give it another test run sometime in July before Otakon to make sure I've got things down right before I hit up Otakon with a costume that isn't ready.
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