You can stop supporting the exact opposite of which anime dubs I recommend now.
Okay, alright, what am I talking about now?
Okay, I'm not talking about anime products where the Japanese and English dubs are the same (or nearly the same) in terms of quality. I'm talking about the ones where I clearly favor one language over another. I've noticed that "Real" fans, or idiot fans of old, always support the exact opposite of what I recommend.
Here's an example: I can't stand the English dub of Evangelion. I prefer it in Japanese by a mile. And remember, unlike in Japan, here in the States, Eva is a cult classic, not insanely popular. For the longest time, the only Eva fans I ever met were dub haters. Guess I was wrong. There are people out there who prefer the English dub over the Japanese dub, even including the first English dub where Gendo sounds much less intimidating than his Japanese counterpart. I have given you, Internet, including the "real" anime fans I so very despise, free rein to piss all over ADV's versions of Eva all you want, and this is how some of you respond!? Geeze, man, I didn't think that many people could contradict me, especially on this subject. Let's examine it: Eva semi-popular. Semi-popular anime only known by scholars (ie: me and smart people) and otakus (ie: retarded immature nerd assholes.) in America. I say hate the English voicetrack all you want, for I will fully agree with you. I even go in as far as to say that except for the English voices of Ritsuko, Touji, and Asuka, all the characters sound butchered. And yet . . . and yet . . . . so many people think otherwise! And not only that, when I learned that Rebuild of Eva will have the old English voices of Shinji and Misato, [which, if you'll recall, sound completely off to my ears. (please don't eviscerate me, Spike Spencer and Allison Keith! It's not you I hate, it's just that it's impossible to top the Japanese VAs is all!)] I immediately said to myself, "fuck Funi's upcoming dub, if I ever see ROE, I'm sticking with the Japanese voicetrack." I am basically becoming the very thing I hate, a full-on dub hater, even though I'm very selective in what dubs I blast. And how do you respond!? "Oh yes! They brought back the true version of Shinji and Misato!" "Bring back Amanda Winn Lee as Rei!" "I want Tristan MacAvery as Gendo, you fuckers!" WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO MEEEEEEE!?!?!?!?
Of course, there's already been the times I recommended an English dub of something over the Japanese dub, only to see "real" anime fans shoot it down simply because, in their immortal words, "FUCK THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE!!!!" But now you're doing the exact opposite, too!
Here's another example; I've never seen Pokemon in Japanese. I've only seen a few of the older episodes by 4Kids. Yet when 4Kids lost the license and the voice cast was replaced, I saw a bunch of people saying, "WTF! 4kids had good voice-acting!" Well, caught me by surprise, because I had never, ever, seen anyone come to the defense of a 4Kids dub. And good voice-acting in Pokemon!? The first time I read that, I think I experienced an aneurysm. Not only that, one time, I saw some youtube vids comparing the 4Kids and Funi versions of One Piece. I know nothing about OP, but even without the censorship and butchered music, the 4Kids doesn't sound as good as the Funi dub. The 4Kids voices are overly forced and cartoonish, while the Funi version is much more natural sounding. And guess what? Some people prefer the 4Kids version of OP. Why? Why are you always doing this!?
It seems like the only time everyone agrees with me on this issue is that Cardcaptor Sakura sounds better than "Cardcaptors." That seems to be the only exception, but now, now I predict people are getting uppity because I dissed the English version of Angelic Layer. Anyone wanna jump to its defense? Anyone? Say I'm a fool for wanting to watch it all in its original language? I'll take any takers!
Alright. I see what it is you're doing. Next time, I'll come prepared. If I find a foreign show, movie, or game where I think one language sound way better than another, I'll just lie and say the suckier version is better. Reverse psychology, bitches. You'll all be inadvertently supporting the dub I actually truly advocate, and you wouldn't know any better. You'll see what happens.
Friday, May 29, 2009
"Ah, Bach!"
Okay, I have no idea why the title of this entry is a quote from an episode of M*A*S*H. Maybe because I like that quote. Maybe because that was a really funny episode. (In that episode, Radar was trying to woo a woman who was into classical music, even though he knew nothing about classical music. Whenever she brought up Bach, he would respond with that quote, even though he had no idea who Bach was.) Well whatever. I have other things to talk about.
For one thing, remember when I said I was revising a project of mine? I'm finished revising now. I can concentrate on more original material from now on. Of course, whatever scripts I couldn't salvage, I had to delete. I realize I was undoing work of mine, but I had to move forward. Right-click, delete. Right-click, delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete!
DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!
DELEEEEEEEEEEEETE!!!!!!!!!!!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!"
Oh come on! I never got to say sakujo/delete yet! And who doesn't love Mikami, that delightful bishounen psychopath? He made the last episodes of the show entertaining in its own way, even though the plot was becoming really complicated by that point.
In other news,
I've had the chance to read more of Suburban Senshi, the Sailor Moon fanfic I pointed out. Guess what? That series crosses over with Dragonball Z, and in an entirely believable manner, too! Yes, see Professor Tomoe take advantage of Goku's idiocy! And . . . oh, I don't wanna say anymore, it's too good. SS also crosses over with Doctor Who, however, I don't really know anything about Doctor Who. All I know is there's an author-insert original character in SS who's a Timelord, whatever that is.
But what's interesting is SS, like many works of Japanese pop culture, isn't just strictly one genre. It's more than just a comedy. There's also action, mystery, drama, all of which is done well, and usually isn't jarring when transitioning moods. Also, even though it's technically based off the SM anime, there are references from the SM manga. The author said that Hotaru-chan did have something of a sarcastic streak in the manga. Wait, the Hotaru in SS isn't exactly what I'd call a cute girl. Maybe I was wrong. I may have to take her off my list of cute anime chicks. I must investigate this further.
However, SS after a while becomes really convoluted, and after a certain point, I lost track of just what the heck was going on. I think I missed a few episodes, or the series is in the wrong chronological order, or something. Still, there are some bits that are short, standalone stories that are good. For example, the parody of the A-Team was a riot.
And now this:
I think someone beat me at my own game. tvtropes' section on Evangelion has expanded like crazy since the last time I went, and thanks to the tropers, I found two Eva fics that are funnier than my own: here, and here. Just, read them. Don't ask, just read. Also, when I wrote my Chobits fanfic/MST, one of my "associates" reccomended two Eva fanfics that aren't my own; Once More With Feeling, and Shinji and Warhammer 40K. For the first, it's a continuation of the Eva anime. The characters are very true to their original portrayals, and is very, very, touching. Just, one word of warning, in case the author's avatar isn't a big enough hint for you, Once More With Feeling is very much a love story between Shinji and Asuka. Hey, a fellow Shinji/Asuka shipper! Hurray! But, yeah. I know the rules. I haven't read the whole thing yet, (because I'm too lazy) but give it a try if you're bored enough. And now, my thoughts on the tropers' darling that is Shinji and 40K. I'll be honest, that fic is way too long and way too verbose for my liking. I did read the prologue chapter, though. However, my knowledge of 40K is limited to what I've seen in the first Dawn of War PC game, so I didn't get all of the references. But it is well written, for what it is, so if you're crazy enough, give it a try. You might like it.
Still, I know some people get uppity about relationshipping. True, I don't get pissy if, say, someone who's played Tales of Legendia is for Senel/Shirley, and not Senel/Chloe like myself, but I know, this is the internet, and the internet is sirius bidniss, so I gave a fair warning. Hope you all enjoy yourselves, because I must go for now.
For one thing, remember when I said I was revising a project of mine? I'm finished revising now. I can concentrate on more original material from now on. Of course, whatever scripts I couldn't salvage, I had to delete. I realize I was undoing work of mine, but I had to move forward. Right-click, delete. Right-click, delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete. Delete!
DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE! DELETE!
DELEEEEEEEEEEEETE!!!!!!!!!!!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!"
Oh come on! I never got to say sakujo/delete yet! And who doesn't love Mikami, that delightful bishounen psychopath? He made the last episodes of the show entertaining in its own way, even though the plot was becoming really complicated by that point.
In other news,
I've had the chance to read more of Suburban Senshi, the Sailor Moon fanfic I pointed out. Guess what? That series crosses over with Dragonball Z, and in an entirely believable manner, too! Yes, see Professor Tomoe take advantage of Goku's idiocy! And . . . oh, I don't wanna say anymore, it's too good. SS also crosses over with Doctor Who, however, I don't really know anything about Doctor Who. All I know is there's an author-insert original character in SS who's a Timelord, whatever that is.
But what's interesting is SS, like many works of Japanese pop culture, isn't just strictly one genre. It's more than just a comedy. There's also action, mystery, drama, all of which is done well, and usually isn't jarring when transitioning moods. Also, even though it's technically based off the SM anime, there are references from the SM manga. The author said that Hotaru-chan did have something of a sarcastic streak in the manga. Wait, the Hotaru in SS isn't exactly what I'd call a cute girl. Maybe I was wrong. I may have to take her off my list of cute anime chicks. I must investigate this further.
However, SS after a while becomes really convoluted, and after a certain point, I lost track of just what the heck was going on. I think I missed a few episodes, or the series is in the wrong chronological order, or something. Still, there are some bits that are short, standalone stories that are good. For example, the parody of the A-Team was a riot.
And now this:
I think someone beat me at my own game. tvtropes' section on Evangelion has expanded like crazy since the last time I went, and thanks to the tropers, I found two Eva fics that are funnier than my own: here, and here. Just, read them. Don't ask, just read. Also, when I wrote my Chobits fanfic/MST, one of my "associates" reccomended two Eva fanfics that aren't my own; Once More With Feeling, and Shinji and Warhammer 40K. For the first, it's a continuation of the Eva anime. The characters are very true to their original portrayals, and is very, very, touching. Just, one word of warning, in case the author's avatar isn't a big enough hint for you, Once More With Feeling is very much a love story between Shinji and Asuka. Hey, a fellow Shinji/Asuka shipper! Hurray! But, yeah. I know the rules. I haven't read the whole thing yet, (because I'm too lazy) but give it a try if you're bored enough. And now, my thoughts on the tropers' darling that is Shinji and 40K. I'll be honest, that fic is way too long and way too verbose for my liking. I did read the prologue chapter, though. However, my knowledge of 40K is limited to what I've seen in the first Dawn of War PC game, so I didn't get all of the references. But it is well written, for what it is, so if you're crazy enough, give it a try. You might like it.
Still, I know some people get uppity about relationshipping. True, I don't get pissy if, say, someone who's played Tales of Legendia is for Senel/Shirley, and not Senel/Chloe like myself, but I know, this is the internet, and the internet is sirius bidniss, so I gave a fair warning. Hope you all enjoy yourselves, because I must go for now.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
So much for dub hating
Okay you dub haters, I took up a challenge of yours. Now, granted, I'm not much of a Dragonball fan, seeing as how all I like are a few DB games and Dragonball Z abridged. Oh, but you dub haters, I know how you just love pissing on every English dub of DBZ there is. Well, you may not be exactly on the mark. I've had the opportunity to watch youtube vids that play DBZ scenes in several different languages. Here are my findings:
The original Japanese dub is not the best dub. Goku sounds like a ninny, (probably because he's voiced by a woman instead of a man) Piccolo doesn't sound cool, and, while some of the villains sound neat, I can't reccomend the Japanese dub. On the other hand, the Saiyan characters in Funimation's English dub all sound better than in Japanese. Goku is actually voiced by a man! Holy cow! Unfortunately, as we all may painfully know, the Funi dub is not one of their better ones, what with the blatant over-acting and. Awkward. Pausing. Between. Every. WORD!
In my honest opinion, there are two DBZ dubs that are number 1: the Mexican Spanish dub, and the German dub. Yes, by golly, the Mexicans and the Germans not only outdid the original Japanese cast, they beat us Americans as well! In these languages, all of the characters sound their part, and I couldn't detect any over-acting or weird pauses or other errors common in foreign language dubbing. And also, FYI, I can speak a little bit of Spanish in real life, and I can tell they did a really good job with that.
But guess what? There are some languages that sound way worse. Most of the European dubs that aren't German sound worse than both the English and Japanese dubs. The European Portuguese dub in particular not only sounds bad, they took even more liberties with the script than the English dub. Huh. Even if English isn't #1, at least we weren't a total screwup. And for the record, in the recent redub and the newer video games, Chris Sabat sounds much better as Vegeta; he's almost as good as the Mexican and German versions of the character. He certainly beats Brian Drummond's version of Vegeta from the older Ocean dub. (don't worry; I still respect Brian Drummond; he played Ryuk in Death Note, and he sounded a lot better than the Japanese version of Ryuk.)
But wait, what if there are other shows and movies I like that sound better in a language other than English? And better than Japanese if you count anime? There might truth in this; one time I was watching Steamboy, I flipped between the five different dubs (Japanese, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. That's quite a lot for one movie.) on my DVD, and the Portuguese dub sounded really good. (I'm guessing it was Brazilian Portuguese; most Latin anime fans I know say Brazilian Portuguese dubs usually sound better than European Portuguese dubs.)
So yeah, just thought I'd leave you with that bit of trivia.
P.S. I like the soundtrack of Funi's version of DBZ more than the original Japanese soundtrack. Sure, it may sound excessively "American", but somehow, I find it more fitting for the show.
P.P.S. Oh, but it's hard to beat the English voices of DBZA. "Kick his ass, Nappa!" "YAAAAAAAAAY!"
The original Japanese dub is not the best dub. Goku sounds like a ninny, (probably because he's voiced by a woman instead of a man) Piccolo doesn't sound cool, and, while some of the villains sound neat, I can't reccomend the Japanese dub. On the other hand, the Saiyan characters in Funimation's English dub all sound better than in Japanese. Goku is actually voiced by a man! Holy cow! Unfortunately, as we all may painfully know, the Funi dub is not one of their better ones, what with the blatant over-acting and. Awkward. Pausing. Between. Every. WORD!
In my honest opinion, there are two DBZ dubs that are number 1: the Mexican Spanish dub, and the German dub. Yes, by golly, the Mexicans and the Germans not only outdid the original Japanese cast, they beat us Americans as well! In these languages, all of the characters sound their part, and I couldn't detect any over-acting or weird pauses or other errors common in foreign language dubbing. And also, FYI, I can speak a little bit of Spanish in real life, and I can tell they did a really good job with that.
But guess what? There are some languages that sound way worse. Most of the European dubs that aren't German sound worse than both the English and Japanese dubs. The European Portuguese dub in particular not only sounds bad, they took even more liberties with the script than the English dub. Huh. Even if English isn't #1, at least we weren't a total screwup. And for the record, in the recent redub and the newer video games, Chris Sabat sounds much better as Vegeta; he's almost as good as the Mexican and German versions of the character. He certainly beats Brian Drummond's version of Vegeta from the older Ocean dub. (don't worry; I still respect Brian Drummond; he played Ryuk in Death Note, and he sounded a lot better than the Japanese version of Ryuk.)
But wait, what if there are other shows and movies I like that sound better in a language other than English? And better than Japanese if you count anime? There might truth in this; one time I was watching Steamboy, I flipped between the five different dubs (Japanese, English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. That's quite a lot for one movie.) on my DVD, and the Portuguese dub sounded really good. (I'm guessing it was Brazilian Portuguese; most Latin anime fans I know say Brazilian Portuguese dubs usually sound better than European Portuguese dubs.)
So yeah, just thought I'd leave you with that bit of trivia.
P.S. I like the soundtrack of Funi's version of DBZ more than the original Japanese soundtrack. Sure, it may sound excessively "American", but somehow, I find it more fitting for the show.
P.P.S. Oh, but it's hard to beat the English voices of DBZA. "Kick his ass, Nappa!" "YAAAAAAAAAY!"
Sunday, May 24, 2009
BUT WAIT! WAIT A MINUTE!!!!
Hey, I just remembered; there was another fanfic project of mine I tried to write in the past, then quickly abandoned.
It was 2007. I was 21. I wanted to do a novelization of a video game. Of course, that's not a new concept; those have been around forever, especially considering that there are actual novels based off games sold in bookstores now. Mine would be no exception. Of course, I wouldn't include every single scene from the game; I was going to cut unimportant boss fights out, maybe trim a cutscene here and there, maybe drop a minor character, but I really planned it; I planned to write a novel of a stat-based RPG I liked.
A game you know as Final Fantasy 4.
This, being Final Fantasy, deserved the epic treatment. I wrote it the same way I wrote my (now abandoned) Sonic fanfic. I wrote a prologue, I started the first chapter . . . and then I got Writer's Block. I thought I could do FF4, since it's much more basic than the later FF games, (you try writing a novelization of Final Fantasy 10. Go on. I'll wait.) but even FF4 was too complex for my liking. Still, I tried.
And so, as a treat for you, I'm going to present what little I did print up. Feel free to pick up where I left off, if you dare.
* * *
Final Fantasy 4, the novel version, by xm0123.
Author's note: This is a fanfiction based off Final Fantasy 4. Chances are, I can't ever publish this, since I'm basically converting a copyrighted videogame to novel format. This is just writing practice. Now, as for, "Why FF4?" FF4 has what is probably the most epic premise for a videogame ever. It is the oldest game I know of that tells a good dramatic story. Although I love the actual gameplay of FF4, it is the storyline that sticks in my mind the greatest. True, FF6, FF9, and FF10 have better characterizations, and FF8, FF9, and FF10 have better dialogue than FF4, but I believe FF4 has arguably the best plot in the franchise. Also, FF4's story is much simpler than that of most other FF games, so that's
less work for me. Some scenes are cut out from the game, such as minor boss fights, and stuff that only happens in games, and will focus more on the storytelling. After all, you don't wanna read, "Cecil and his companions walked back and forth just outside of Mysidia, battling monsters for gil and combat experience." do you? Now then, watch as I try to convert a game into a novel.
Prologue: The Dark Knight of Baron.
On a planet that was blue as water and green as grass, there stood a village. It was a small village populated by simple townsfolk, although most of them could wield the arcane art that is magic. For many years, this village was undisturbed by the outside world. Then, on a seemingly ordinary day, a day with a bright, cloudless sky, a young boy, traveling with his mother, looked up into the sky, and saw some things flying. They were unlike anything he had ever seen. They were not birds, and they were not dragons either. He said, "Mommy, what are those?"
"Those" were massive ships; ships not bound to water, but rather ships that travel through the air with massive propellers. They landed outside this village that was populated by wizards, sorcerers, and sorceresses. Men poured out of the airships. They were soldiers of war, wearing bright red suits of armor and yellow helmets. These men carried sharpened swords, anxious to draw blood. The people in the village were not prepared for war, for they wore cloaks, not armor. None of the townspeople had swords. Some may've carried daggers, but it didn't manner, for the soldiers in red were flooding the town, cutting down the villagers like they were sheep. Men, women, boys, and girls were reduced to mangled, bloody corpses within a manner of seconds. A few of the sorcerers tried to fight back with magic, but were killed by the swordsmen before they could get a spell off.
Amidst all the chaos, another man stepped out of one of the airships. He too was wearing a suit of armor, but his was not a bright combination of red and yellow, but rather a subdued midnight blue from head to toe. His helmet covered his entire head, his face could not be seen. He, like the other soldiers, drew a sword, but his blade was not shiny silver, but was charcoal black. He marched into the village, heading straight for what looked like the town center. A villager stood in his way, conjured a fireball in his hands, and shouted, "Be gone, Dark Knight!" The sorcerer's fireball flew at the dark knight with blinding speed. The magic fireball hit the dark knight, but he stood unfazed, as if nothing happened. He pointed his sword at the villager. Waves of black energy shot out of the point of his blade, and sliced the villager into pieces, killing him instantly. The man in dark armor continued marching, while the other soldiers were finishing off any stray survivors.
Somewhere nearby was a room made of crystal. The walls were made from a crystalline material. In this room, high above a pedestal, there floated a crystal, translucent, and radiant. Three figures stood in front of the crystal. One who wore a blue robe, a pointy hat, and a nondescript face save for beady yellow eyes. Another wore a white robe with a red hood. The third wore a black robe and sported a beard. The bearded man said, "We cannot allow the Crystal to fall into the hands of Baron!" Just then, the soldiers in red marched in. The three figures readied magic, but were quickly knocked down by the armored soldiers. Just then, the dark knight came in. He went straight for the crystal. The bearded man, wounded, and on the floor, pleaded, "Please, for our sake, don't take the Crystal!" The dark knight kicked the side of the man's face. The knight beheld the crystal in his hands. He turned to face the soldiers and addressed, "We have gotten what we came for. Return to the airships!" "SIR!" The soldiers yelled in unison. The invaders went back into the airships. The vessels had started up their engines, and lifted into the air, and flew away, leaving behind a pool of blood and a cemetery's worth of corpses. "Those" brought about the death of the little boy, his mother, and the many peoples of the kingdom of Mysidia that day.
Chapter 1: Dissenter in the ranks.
Five airships were flying. Many men were on the airships. The commander of these men, Cecil Harvey, was standing on the deck of one of these airships. Cecil was easily recognizable, for he was the one in dark armor. A soldier went up to Cecil to deliver a report, "Sir Cecil, we will be arriving at Baron shortly." "Very good." Cecil said back. The dark knight seemed to be lost in his thoughts, for he wasn't looking at anyone in the eye. Other soldiers began talking amongst themselves, "Did we really have to kill so many defenseless people?" One asked. Another man said, "And why does His Majesty desire the crystals so much? It's like he's driven mad with possessing the crystals."
And . . . that's as far as I got. Two years later, and I have yet to add anything else. I did actually write up chapter titles for the next four chapters, for I was somewhat organized.
Chapter 2: The Catastrophe at Mist.
Hmm, I wonder what that chapter could be about?
Chapter 3: The Prince and the Father-in-law.
Say, that's not who I think it is, is it? (No, I was never planning to have Tellah call Edward a "Spoony Bard!" I probably was just gonna have him call him a "Stupid bard!" because, well, Spoony as a term has fallen out of favor amongst English speaking people recently.)
Chapter 4: Battle at Fabul.
Title says it all.
Chapter 5: Redemption.
Oh, this must be the part when Cecil becomes a Jed- er, I meant a paladin, heh heh!
But that's as much as I wrote, nothing beyond that. Bummer. If any FF game deserves more praise, any FF game besides FF9 anyways, it's FF4.
So, my latest project, the crossover between my original series and something that isn't my original series, that other series can't be FF4. And it can't be Chobits either, now that I think about it. What could it be? I'll bet you'll go mad just trying to figure out.
It was 2007. I was 21. I wanted to do a novelization of a video game. Of course, that's not a new concept; those have been around forever, especially considering that there are actual novels based off games sold in bookstores now. Mine would be no exception. Of course, I wouldn't include every single scene from the game; I was going to cut unimportant boss fights out, maybe trim a cutscene here and there, maybe drop a minor character, but I really planned it; I planned to write a novel of a stat-based RPG I liked.
A game you know as Final Fantasy 4.
This, being Final Fantasy, deserved the epic treatment. I wrote it the same way I wrote my (now abandoned) Sonic fanfic. I wrote a prologue, I started the first chapter . . . and then I got Writer's Block. I thought I could do FF4, since it's much more basic than the later FF games, (you try writing a novelization of Final Fantasy 10. Go on. I'll wait.) but even FF4 was too complex for my liking. Still, I tried.
And so, as a treat for you, I'm going to present what little I did print up. Feel free to pick up where I left off, if you dare.
* * *
Final Fantasy 4, the novel version, by xm0123.
Author's note: This is a fanfiction based off Final Fantasy 4. Chances are, I can't ever publish this, since I'm basically converting a copyrighted videogame to novel format. This is just writing practice. Now, as for, "Why FF4?" FF4 has what is probably the most epic premise for a videogame ever. It is the oldest game I know of that tells a good dramatic story. Although I love the actual gameplay of FF4, it is the storyline that sticks in my mind the greatest. True, FF6, FF9, and FF10 have better characterizations, and FF8, FF9, and FF10 have better dialogue than FF4, but I believe FF4 has arguably the best plot in the franchise. Also, FF4's story is much simpler than that of most other FF games, so that's
less work for me. Some scenes are cut out from the game, such as minor boss fights, and stuff that only happens in games, and will focus more on the storytelling. After all, you don't wanna read, "Cecil and his companions walked back and forth just outside of Mysidia, battling monsters for gil and combat experience." do you? Now then, watch as I try to convert a game into a novel.
Prologue: The Dark Knight of Baron.
On a planet that was blue as water and green as grass, there stood a village. It was a small village populated by simple townsfolk, although most of them could wield the arcane art that is magic. For many years, this village was undisturbed by the outside world. Then, on a seemingly ordinary day, a day with a bright, cloudless sky, a young boy, traveling with his mother, looked up into the sky, and saw some things flying. They were unlike anything he had ever seen. They were not birds, and they were not dragons either. He said, "Mommy, what are those?"
"Those" were massive ships; ships not bound to water, but rather ships that travel through the air with massive propellers. They landed outside this village that was populated by wizards, sorcerers, and sorceresses. Men poured out of the airships. They were soldiers of war, wearing bright red suits of armor and yellow helmets. These men carried sharpened swords, anxious to draw blood. The people in the village were not prepared for war, for they wore cloaks, not armor. None of the townspeople had swords. Some may've carried daggers, but it didn't manner, for the soldiers in red were flooding the town, cutting down the villagers like they were sheep. Men, women, boys, and girls were reduced to mangled, bloody corpses within a manner of seconds. A few of the sorcerers tried to fight back with magic, but were killed by the swordsmen before they could get a spell off.
Amidst all the chaos, another man stepped out of one of the airships. He too was wearing a suit of armor, but his was not a bright combination of red and yellow, but rather a subdued midnight blue from head to toe. His helmet covered his entire head, his face could not be seen. He, like the other soldiers, drew a sword, but his blade was not shiny silver, but was charcoal black. He marched into the village, heading straight for what looked like the town center. A villager stood in his way, conjured a fireball in his hands, and shouted, "Be gone, Dark Knight!" The sorcerer's fireball flew at the dark knight with blinding speed. The magic fireball hit the dark knight, but he stood unfazed, as if nothing happened. He pointed his sword at the villager. Waves of black energy shot out of the point of his blade, and sliced the villager into pieces, killing him instantly. The man in dark armor continued marching, while the other soldiers were finishing off any stray survivors.
Somewhere nearby was a room made of crystal. The walls were made from a crystalline material. In this room, high above a pedestal, there floated a crystal, translucent, and radiant. Three figures stood in front of the crystal. One who wore a blue robe, a pointy hat, and a nondescript face save for beady yellow eyes. Another wore a white robe with a red hood. The third wore a black robe and sported a beard. The bearded man said, "We cannot allow the Crystal to fall into the hands of Baron!" Just then, the soldiers in red marched in. The three figures readied magic, but were quickly knocked down by the armored soldiers. Just then, the dark knight came in. He went straight for the crystal. The bearded man, wounded, and on the floor, pleaded, "Please, for our sake, don't take the Crystal!" The dark knight kicked the side of the man's face. The knight beheld the crystal in his hands. He turned to face the soldiers and addressed, "We have gotten what we came for. Return to the airships!" "SIR!" The soldiers yelled in unison. The invaders went back into the airships. The vessels had started up their engines, and lifted into the air, and flew away, leaving behind a pool of blood and a cemetery's worth of corpses. "Those" brought about the death of the little boy, his mother, and the many peoples of the kingdom of Mysidia that day.
Chapter 1: Dissenter in the ranks.
Five airships were flying. Many men were on the airships. The commander of these men, Cecil Harvey, was standing on the deck of one of these airships. Cecil was easily recognizable, for he was the one in dark armor. A soldier went up to Cecil to deliver a report, "Sir Cecil, we will be arriving at Baron shortly." "Very good." Cecil said back. The dark knight seemed to be lost in his thoughts, for he wasn't looking at anyone in the eye. Other soldiers began talking amongst themselves, "Did we really have to kill so many defenseless people?" One asked. Another man said, "And why does His Majesty desire the crystals so much? It's like he's driven mad with possessing the crystals."
And . . . that's as far as I got. Two years later, and I have yet to add anything else. I did actually write up chapter titles for the next four chapters, for I was somewhat organized.
Chapter 2: The Catastrophe at Mist.
Hmm, I wonder what that chapter could be about?
Chapter 3: The Prince and the Father-in-law.
Say, that's not who I think it is, is it? (No, I was never planning to have Tellah call Edward a "Spoony Bard!" I probably was just gonna have him call him a "Stupid bard!" because, well, Spoony as a term has fallen out of favor amongst English speaking people recently.)
Chapter 4: Battle at Fabul.
Title says it all.
Chapter 5: Redemption.
Oh, this must be the part when Cecil becomes a Jed- er, I meant a paladin, heh heh!
But that's as much as I wrote, nothing beyond that. Bummer. If any FF game deserves more praise, any FF game besides FF9 anyways, it's FF4.
So, my latest project, the crossover between my original series and something that isn't my original series, that other series can't be FF4. And it can't be Chobits either, now that I think about it. What could it be? I'll bet you'll go mad just trying to figure out.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
In the Name of the Moon
Oh yeah. I think it's safe to say that my metamorphosis into a Sailor Moon fanatic is complete now. For one thing, I read manga chapters and enjoy it more than many other Japanese franchises that are popular with "normal people." Not only that, I'm collecting images and wallpapers from both the SM manga and anime, not for masturbation purposes, god damn it! But I am collecting images of SM now, which would obviously mean the series has earned my respect in some way. And I watch Sailor Moon Abridged religiously. It is my second-favorite abridged fan dub, behind only Dragonball Z Abridged by Team Four Star.
It was one last thing that cemented my transformation into a serious Moonie. And no, I don't mean Minako-chan's boobs either! (although, for the record, she is seriously cute.) That one last thing was pointed out by, yes, a Troper. tvtropes is seriously ruining my life now.
Suburban Senshi.
It's a website managed by a group of Moonies that have chatroom discussions about whatever. But, there's also a fanfic section. I'll use the intro I read on tvtropes, "When Setsuna fails to predict the Enron collapse, the Outer Senshi are forced to sell their mansion and abandon high-class living for middle-class life in the suburbs. Epic hilarity ensues." It focuses mostly on the Outer Senshi, but the other characters pop up here and there. It's based off the anime canon, and the characters are more simplified: Haruka is a hothead, Michiru is a vain artiste, Hotaru is a Goth snarker, and one villain is to Haruka what Newman is to Jerry. ("NEWMAN!") It takes place in "real-time", as in, the Senshi saved the world in 1997, when both the manga and anime series ended, and Suburban Senshi starts five years later in 2002, when the first episode was written. There are still new episodes coming out even today, so there's a lot of material to cover.
So, what's so special about SS? I'll tell you; although not every episode is awesome, and although I haven't read that much yet, I'll say right now, this is one of the funniest things I've seen on the internet. This is definitely the best SM fanfic I have ever seen. I mean, it makes fun of a lot of things, not just SM stuff, but anime in general, lemon fics, sitcom tropes, the works. This may even be as funny, or even funnier, than Red Vs Blue, which I declared the most hilarious thing I have ever seen on the internet. Is that true? I don't know, I wanna read more and find out.
Oh, also, the main SS section has links to blogs managed by the characters of SS, written in character, and good for a laugh. Oh man, this is too much fun!
Dude, imagine if someone tried to pitch this to a publisher:
"Okay, so it's about these two women, and they're lesbian lovers, one of them is a manly woman, the other is a womanly woman. The masculine one is a race car driver and a pianist. The feminine one is a painter and a violinist. Naturally, the two of them clash. They also have an adopted stepdaughter, who's into apocalyptic literature, and has a holier-than-thou attitude towards everyone. They share their home with a woman who used to be able to see into the future, but can't anymore, and is dealing with a mid-life crisis. By the way, all of these women, as well as their friends, are retired superheroines. I say 'retired' because they already Saved Thuh Werold(tm) several years prior to the start of the series. They are living in peace, but still retain their powers. Oh, and their friends! Their friends include a dumb blonde, a pink-haired girl who can't physically and mentally age beyond the age of eight, at least one of their former foes, a mad scientist . . . and Tuxedo Mask."
No one would publish it, because it would be too much awesome for them to handle.
It was one last thing that cemented my transformation into a serious Moonie. And no, I don't mean Minako-chan's boobs either! (although, for the record, she is seriously cute.) That one last thing was pointed out by, yes, a Troper. tvtropes is seriously ruining my life now.
Suburban Senshi.
It's a website managed by a group of Moonies that have chatroom discussions about whatever. But, there's also a fanfic section. I'll use the intro I read on tvtropes, "When Setsuna fails to predict the Enron collapse, the Outer Senshi are forced to sell their mansion and abandon high-class living for middle-class life in the suburbs. Epic hilarity ensues." It focuses mostly on the Outer Senshi, but the other characters pop up here and there. It's based off the anime canon, and the characters are more simplified: Haruka is a hothead, Michiru is a vain artiste, Hotaru is a Goth snarker, and one villain is to Haruka what Newman is to Jerry. ("NEWMAN!") It takes place in "real-time", as in, the Senshi saved the world in 1997, when both the manga and anime series ended, and Suburban Senshi starts five years later in 2002, when the first episode was written. There are still new episodes coming out even today, so there's a lot of material to cover.
So, what's so special about SS? I'll tell you; although not every episode is awesome, and although I haven't read that much yet, I'll say right now, this is one of the funniest things I've seen on the internet. This is definitely the best SM fanfic I have ever seen. I mean, it makes fun of a lot of things, not just SM stuff, but anime in general, lemon fics, sitcom tropes, the works. This may even be as funny, or even funnier, than Red Vs Blue, which I declared the most hilarious thing I have ever seen on the internet. Is that true? I don't know, I wanna read more and find out.
Oh, also, the main SS section has links to blogs managed by the characters of SS, written in character, and good for a laugh. Oh man, this is too much fun!
Dude, imagine if someone tried to pitch this to a publisher:
"Okay, so it's about these two women, and they're lesbian lovers, one of them is a manly woman, the other is a womanly woman. The masculine one is a race car driver and a pianist. The feminine one is a painter and a violinist. Naturally, the two of them clash. They also have an adopted stepdaughter, who's into apocalyptic literature, and has a holier-than-thou attitude towards everyone. They share their home with a woman who used to be able to see into the future, but can't anymore, and is dealing with a mid-life crisis. By the way, all of these women, as well as their friends, are retired superheroines. I say 'retired' because they already Saved Thuh Werold(tm) several years prior to the start of the series. They are living in peace, but still retain their powers. Oh, and their friends! Their friends include a dumb blonde, a pink-haired girl who can't physically and mentally age beyond the age of eight, at least one of their former foes, a mad scientist . . . and Tuxedo Mask."
No one would publish it, because it would be too much awesome for them to handle.
Friday, May 22, 2009
GRENADE!
Remember that analogy I told you? The one I read on a messageboard? "Merely posting your opinion on the internet will offend somebody. Your opinions are like grenades, and your anonymity is like your personal bunker." I wanna get back to that analogy.
Also, keep this in mind; when I was young(er) and foolhardy to play online games, one I played was Team Fortress Classic for Half-Life. Now, I know, TF2 is now the game of choice, but at that time, if you weren't playing Counter-Strike, you were playing TFC. My point is, I remember trying out all the different grenades in TFC.
Good thing, too, because my opinions vary on their "deadliness."
For example, whenever I say, "FUCK SLAYERS!" I'm lobbing an imaginary incendiary. Those things are dangerous, man, they explode on contact. (I would know; I got caught in incendiary blasts in Resident Evil 4.)
But, if anyone can be offended by an opinion, even a positive opinion, then that means I must have a shitload of opinionated grenades stockpiled here in the "bunker" that is my blog. Yeah, I mean, my favorite fighting game of all time is a PS2 game licensed from Naruto.
"NAIL GRENADE!"
(Nail grenade hovers a few feet off the ground, shoots nails, then explodes.)
And not only that, but I'm still pissed that animenewsnetwork is hosting only the dubbed version of Angelic Layer, when the original Japanese voicetrack is much better.
(concussion grenade explodes.)
Oh. That was only a stun grenade, probably because I said something that dub haters would agree with. But it's true; I saw a snippet of AL in Japanese on youtube, and it sounded better. It sounded like they actually tried.
(Sting grenade explodes)
Ah, see? Another stun grenade. They won't do much if the majority of "real" anime fans agree with me. Okay, better change field of work now; it's true when I said Morrowind was one of the worst games I've played on the original Xbox.
"CLUSTER BOMB!!!!!"
(Cluster bomb explodes; five more grenades appear)
Not only that, but its most popular games, namely Halo and Halo 2, are perhaps the most overrated games of this decade.
(Cluster bombs explode)
But then again, people will back me up on that one. Too bad I can't find many people who agree with me when I say Metal Gear Solid for the PS1 is one of the most overestimated games of all time.
(A steel grenade, as in the kind the German army used during both World Wars, explodes.)
Oh, a German hand grenade! I didn't think I still had those. And, even though neither game approaches perfection, I'll admit, I like Sonic Adventure more than Super Mario 64.
(A hallucinogenic gas grenade falls out of my hand and erupts.)
Yeah, score one for Sega! Hey, wait, why's everything getting blurry all of a sudden?
(looks down, and sees the gas grenade going off.)
Ah, fuck! YOU FOOL! Now I'm in a drunken haze! A purple haze, no less! *stumbles forward, as if he were struck from behind* Shit! Did someone just hit my back with a tire iron!? And, is someone playing a Led Zeppelin song in the background? Sounds like it. Whoa! *duck and covers* Dude, did you see that guy with the minigun!? He just unloaded a volley in my direction! Jesus! It's getting crazy in here! Hey over there, is that, Kirby? Hey Kirb, what brings you back here all of a sudden? I thought you didn't leave Dreamland at this time of year.
"You are a fool, xm0123! You negelcted to mention the fun times you had when you played Kirby's Dreamland 3 and Kirby 64! Those were good games too!"
Yeah, but,
"FALCON PUNCH!"
WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
Good god, man, even Kirb hates me. Hey, wait, everything looks clean again. *phew* Okay, I'm gonna lay off the opinionated grenades right now.
Also, keep this in mind; when I was young(er) and foolhardy to play online games, one I played was Team Fortress Classic for Half-Life. Now, I know, TF2 is now the game of choice, but at that time, if you weren't playing Counter-Strike, you were playing TFC. My point is, I remember trying out all the different grenades in TFC.
Good thing, too, because my opinions vary on their "deadliness."
For example, whenever I say, "FUCK SLAYERS!" I'm lobbing an imaginary incendiary. Those things are dangerous, man, they explode on contact. (I would know; I got caught in incendiary blasts in Resident Evil 4.)
But, if anyone can be offended by an opinion, even a positive opinion, then that means I must have a shitload of opinionated grenades stockpiled here in the "bunker" that is my blog. Yeah, I mean, my favorite fighting game of all time is a PS2 game licensed from Naruto.
"NAIL GRENADE!"
(Nail grenade hovers a few feet off the ground, shoots nails, then explodes.)
And not only that, but I'm still pissed that animenewsnetwork is hosting only the dubbed version of Angelic Layer, when the original Japanese voicetrack is much better.
(concussion grenade explodes.)
Oh. That was only a stun grenade, probably because I said something that dub haters would agree with. But it's true; I saw a snippet of AL in Japanese on youtube, and it sounded better. It sounded like they actually tried.
(Sting grenade explodes)
Ah, see? Another stun grenade. They won't do much if the majority of "real" anime fans agree with me. Okay, better change field of work now; it's true when I said Morrowind was one of the worst games I've played on the original Xbox.
"CLUSTER BOMB!!!!!"
(Cluster bomb explodes; five more grenades appear)
Not only that, but its most popular games, namely Halo and Halo 2, are perhaps the most overrated games of this decade.
(Cluster bombs explode)
But then again, people will back me up on that one. Too bad I can't find many people who agree with me when I say Metal Gear Solid for the PS1 is one of the most overestimated games of all time.
(A steel grenade, as in the kind the German army used during both World Wars, explodes.)
Oh, a German hand grenade! I didn't think I still had those. And, even though neither game approaches perfection, I'll admit, I like Sonic Adventure more than Super Mario 64.
(A hallucinogenic gas grenade falls out of my hand and erupts.)
Yeah, score one for Sega! Hey, wait, why's everything getting blurry all of a sudden?
(looks down, and sees the gas grenade going off.)
Ah, fuck! YOU FOOL! Now I'm in a drunken haze! A purple haze, no less! *stumbles forward, as if he were struck from behind* Shit! Did someone just hit my back with a tire iron!? And, is someone playing a Led Zeppelin song in the background? Sounds like it. Whoa! *duck and covers* Dude, did you see that guy with the minigun!? He just unloaded a volley in my direction! Jesus! It's getting crazy in here! Hey over there, is that, Kirby? Hey Kirb, what brings you back here all of a sudden? I thought you didn't leave Dreamland at this time of year.
"You are a fool, xm0123! You negelcted to mention the fun times you had when you played Kirby's Dreamland 3 and Kirby 64! Those were good games too!"
Yeah, but,
"FALCON PUNCH!"
WAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!
Good god, man, even Kirb hates me. Hey, wait, everything looks clean again. *phew* Okay, I'm gonna lay off the opinionated grenades right now.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
"Sequential Art"? Dude, that's even more pretentious sounding than graphic novel!
So, volume 18 of FMA is supposed to be out in English now. Volume 21 of Tsubasa is supposed to come now next week in English. Looks like I may have to save up more allowance.
So in the meantime, I went back to onemanga, and guess what? There's a new chapter of Sailor Moon up! And I learned something very important today; don't fuck with Sailor Venus. Seriously, don't fuck with her. Sure, lots of fans see her as nothing more than eye candy, but believe me, in the original manga, she is not to be messed with.
Man, I'm still surprised as to the quality of the SM manga compared to its anime. It's almost like a whole different franchise! Sailor Mercury is useful, Sailor Mars isn't a mean bitch, and of course the aforementioned fact that Sailor V(enus) is not to be trifled with. And, I actually find the relationship between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask to be . . . believable. My gawd! I'm seriously turning into a hardcore Moonie, aren't I!? This, despite the fact that the franchise has been inactive for several years? Well, word of advice; if all you know about SM is from watching the anime, do as I say: forget everything you know about SM, and Read The Fucking Manga Already!
CHIBI REI COMMANDS YOU!
Like that? It's from the manga.
In other news, tvtropes pointed me to something. I'm too lazy to link it, but go to So Bad It's Good Fanfiction, and look up Half-Life: Full-Life Consequences. You should find some youtube links to some vids that mock HL:FLC. Dude, did I just abbreviate a sucky fanfic? Guess I did.
In even other news, you know what's a good new movie? Slumdog Millionaire. That movie is epic.
So in the meantime, I went back to onemanga, and guess what? There's a new chapter of Sailor Moon up! And I learned something very important today; don't fuck with Sailor Venus. Seriously, don't fuck with her. Sure, lots of fans see her as nothing more than eye candy, but believe me, in the original manga, she is not to be messed with.
Man, I'm still surprised as to the quality of the SM manga compared to its anime. It's almost like a whole different franchise! Sailor Mercury is useful, Sailor Mars isn't a mean bitch, and of course the aforementioned fact that Sailor V(enus) is not to be trifled with. And, I actually find the relationship between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask to be . . . believable. My gawd! I'm seriously turning into a hardcore Moonie, aren't I!? This, despite the fact that the franchise has been inactive for several years? Well, word of advice; if all you know about SM is from watching the anime, do as I say: forget everything you know about SM, and Read The Fucking Manga Already!
CHIBI REI COMMANDS YOU!
Like that? It's from the manga.
In other news, tvtropes pointed me to something. I'm too lazy to link it, but go to So Bad It's Good Fanfiction, and look up Half-Life: Full-Life Consequences. You should find some youtube links to some vids that mock HL:FLC. Dude, did I just abbreviate a sucky fanfic? Guess I did.
In even other news, you know what's a good new movie? Slumdog Millionaire. That movie is epic.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Fanfiction Junction
Yeah, that's right; at one point in my life, the greatest work of fiction I had ever written for leisure was a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic. Go on, say it. Say, "LOL! Furries!" I dare you, I double dare you, motherfucker.
"Not this time, xm."
But yeah. Before that, I had only written two works of fiction for the fun of it. The very first piece of "literature" I ever wrote for myself and not for school was this article I wrote over nine years ago; I was fourteen. This story starred me, yes, me. The plot itself was a bizarre conglomerate of every game I was playing at the time. In the story, I singlehandedly defeated a band of terrorists with a Glock 18, a number of Pokemon, and James Bond-like gadgets. It was so implausible, it was awesome. Sadly, I don't have that piece saved anymore.
The second piece preceeding my Sonic fanfic was a science fiction short. I was fifteen now. It had an original setting, and original characters. Of course, if you looked real closely, you could see I was clearly ripping off Star Trek, Star Wars, System Shock 2, Starcraft, Blade Runner, Alien, and the X-Com series all at once. It was an action-adventure tale . . . chock full of sci-fi cliches. However, it didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. I even had dreams about this project! Sadly, my actual writings weren't as good as the dreams. That's too bad. I'm sure if it was ever published, it would be lampooned in some form by Futurama. Luckily, I had the decency not to steal from Futurama.
And now, the Sonic fanfic. I was sixteen at the time, and I was ambitious. I got an idea to do a rewriting of the story of Sonic Adventure, NOT Sonic Adventure 2, mind you. However, I wanted it to be bigger, and more original, than my muse SA. It was going to be epic. I planned 20 chapters. I outlined everything. I mapped out the past and future of the major characters. By now, this should be what made me famous, but no. What went wrong?
It started off great. And mind you, unlike my 'fics here on this blog, my Sonic 'fic was written like a novel. Not a light novel; a full-blown novel. I was aiming high. So yeah. It started off great. It was like Sonic Adventure, except it wasn't SA! It was technically its own canon, not tied to the games nor comics nor cartoons; my fanfic was made to please fans and non-fans because of this. And not only that, this was the best thing I had ever created thus far.
Then, chapter 6. It was even more awesome than the preceeding chapters. Then 7. Then 8. It just kept getting better and better. That's when I finally ran out of creative juice. I got the worst case of Writer's Block I ever had. On a good day, I would write up a paragraph. After this, I would manage maybe one sentence. A week. It just got so hard describing everything in vivid detail that it took a toll to my brain. Not only that, the last 3 chapters I had written were so much higher quality than the first five; it was almost like a totally different person took over the writing. I tried everything I could think of; I skipped ahead to later chapters, (I already had the ending mapped out) I revised earlier chapters, I decided to add some characters, drop others, et cetera et cetera. I started writing this when I was 16. I officially "nuked" my Sonic fanfic when I was 20. At the very end, I had completed maybe 40% of what I had originally intended. Since you'll never see it, here's the ending: Robotnik goes to jail, the evil robots die, Sonic and Tails become heroes, Knuckles returns to the Floating Island, Amy Rose gets tired of Sonic brushing her away so she eventually hooks up with a different hedgehog, and Chaotix made some serious profit that year. And no, Sonic and Tails were not gay for each other. The only "Shipping" was Amy X Random Hedgehog Boy That's Not Sonic, that's it.
Now then, go back to when I was 19. Almost out of nowhere, I get a creative spark. I write a short story, this time in script, hoping it would be less daunting than the Sonic fanfic. It was almost like the story wrote itself. I did more scripts, they wrote themselves too. Forget my reimagining of Sonic Adventure; this was gonna be my magnum opus! This project had the best plots, the best characters, the best dialog, and was the least hackneyed. Oh sure, there were references to games and tv shows I liked, but it didn't feel like a ripoff. It was original. This, combined with an inability to write anymore Sonic is what compelled me to kill off my Sonic story by the time I was 20. However, my new series wasn't perfect. There were a few plot holes, as well as inconsistencies. I did rewrites, but that complicated things. Eventually, I realized that my series, "awesome" as it was for being by me, was mutating into something that I was losing control over.
Flashback to last year. I'm 22, and I have this blog. I decide to experiment. I wrote a script that wasn't tied to the canon of the "Main Series", but was rather an "Alternate Universe" script. It wrote itself. Guess what? More "AU" scripts came. And guess what? The "AU" series is even better than the older "Main" series! I even managed to write a scene in my "AU" series that can move me to tears! Okay, provided I'm playing the appropriate background music, but yeah. I eventually "nuked" the "Main" series, but I still have it backed up on a flash drive, just in case I want to re-use a piece of dialog for one of the characters. So now the "AU" is the main canon; amazing, is it not?
Now then, two months ago, I was 23. Oh wait, I'm still 23. I get this brilliant idea to write a crossover that crosses my "AU" series with one that is known to the world. This crossover is written like a novel, much like my Sonic fanfic of old. However, it's more of a light novel, because I'm laying off the purple prose. (Yes, you can describe the Egg Carrier with Purple Prose. Believe me, it's possible.) Anyways, my crossover isn't "Laid Out" like my Sonic 'fic was. There are scenes already in my head, but I don't have any length in mind, I still haven't decided the names of some of the characters yet, and I'm still working out plot details. However, as of right now, I have 3 chapters that are more or less completed, and a few more on the way. The crossover itself is about as good as my original "AU" series. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
However, as you know, I can't disclose what my fanfic is cross-bred with. All I'll say is this: It's not Sonic the Hedgehog, (not doing that again) it's not Evangelion, it's not Tales of Legendia, and it's not Death Note. I've already covered those. Your only other hint is it's a franchise that I am knowledgeable on. As for what franchise is, it could be anything. It could be something I love, it could be something I hate. It could be a game, a movie, a tv show, a radio drama, a one-act play, a novel series, anything. I can't tell you, though. The world is not ready yet.
Are you excited yet?
"Not this time, xm."
But yeah. Before that, I had only written two works of fiction for the fun of it. The very first piece of "literature" I ever wrote for myself and not for school was this article I wrote over nine years ago; I was fourteen. This story starred me, yes, me. The plot itself was a bizarre conglomerate of every game I was playing at the time. In the story, I singlehandedly defeated a band of terrorists with a Glock 18, a number of Pokemon, and James Bond-like gadgets. It was so implausible, it was awesome. Sadly, I don't have that piece saved anymore.
The second piece preceeding my Sonic fanfic was a science fiction short. I was fifteen now. It had an original setting, and original characters. Of course, if you looked real closely, you could see I was clearly ripping off Star Trek, Star Wars, System Shock 2, Starcraft, Blade Runner, Alien, and the X-Com series all at once. It was an action-adventure tale . . . chock full of sci-fi cliches. However, it didn't turn out as good as I thought it would. I even had dreams about this project! Sadly, my actual writings weren't as good as the dreams. That's too bad. I'm sure if it was ever published, it would be lampooned in some form by Futurama. Luckily, I had the decency not to steal from Futurama.
And now, the Sonic fanfic. I was sixteen at the time, and I was ambitious. I got an idea to do a rewriting of the story of Sonic Adventure, NOT Sonic Adventure 2, mind you. However, I wanted it to be bigger, and more original, than my muse SA. It was going to be epic. I planned 20 chapters. I outlined everything. I mapped out the past and future of the major characters. By now, this should be what made me famous, but no. What went wrong?
It started off great. And mind you, unlike my 'fics here on this blog, my Sonic 'fic was written like a novel. Not a light novel; a full-blown novel. I was aiming high. So yeah. It started off great. It was like Sonic Adventure, except it wasn't SA! It was technically its own canon, not tied to the games nor comics nor cartoons; my fanfic was made to please fans and non-fans because of this. And not only that, this was the best thing I had ever created thus far.
Then, chapter 6. It was even more awesome than the preceeding chapters. Then 7. Then 8. It just kept getting better and better. That's when I finally ran out of creative juice. I got the worst case of Writer's Block I ever had. On a good day, I would write up a paragraph. After this, I would manage maybe one sentence. A week. It just got so hard describing everything in vivid detail that it took a toll to my brain. Not only that, the last 3 chapters I had written were so much higher quality than the first five; it was almost like a totally different person took over the writing. I tried everything I could think of; I skipped ahead to later chapters, (I already had the ending mapped out) I revised earlier chapters, I decided to add some characters, drop others, et cetera et cetera. I started writing this when I was 16. I officially "nuked" my Sonic fanfic when I was 20. At the very end, I had completed maybe 40% of what I had originally intended. Since you'll never see it, here's the ending: Robotnik goes to jail, the evil robots die, Sonic and Tails become heroes, Knuckles returns to the Floating Island, Amy Rose gets tired of Sonic brushing her away so she eventually hooks up with a different hedgehog, and Chaotix made some serious profit that year. And no, Sonic and Tails were not gay for each other. The only "Shipping" was Amy X Random Hedgehog Boy That's Not Sonic, that's it.
Now then, go back to when I was 19. Almost out of nowhere, I get a creative spark. I write a short story, this time in script, hoping it would be less daunting than the Sonic fanfic. It was almost like the story wrote itself. I did more scripts, they wrote themselves too. Forget my reimagining of Sonic Adventure; this was gonna be my magnum opus! This project had the best plots, the best characters, the best dialog, and was the least hackneyed. Oh sure, there were references to games and tv shows I liked, but it didn't feel like a ripoff. It was original. This, combined with an inability to write anymore Sonic is what compelled me to kill off my Sonic story by the time I was 20. However, my new series wasn't perfect. There were a few plot holes, as well as inconsistencies. I did rewrites, but that complicated things. Eventually, I realized that my series, "awesome" as it was for being by me, was mutating into something that I was losing control over.
Flashback to last year. I'm 22, and I have this blog. I decide to experiment. I wrote a script that wasn't tied to the canon of the "Main Series", but was rather an "Alternate Universe" script. It wrote itself. Guess what? More "AU" scripts came. And guess what? The "AU" series is even better than the older "Main" series! I even managed to write a scene in my "AU" series that can move me to tears! Okay, provided I'm playing the appropriate background music, but yeah. I eventually "nuked" the "Main" series, but I still have it backed up on a flash drive, just in case I want to re-use a piece of dialog for one of the characters. So now the "AU" is the main canon; amazing, is it not?
Now then, two months ago, I was 23. Oh wait, I'm still 23. I get this brilliant idea to write a crossover that crosses my "AU" series with one that is known to the world. This crossover is written like a novel, much like my Sonic fanfic of old. However, it's more of a light novel, because I'm laying off the purple prose. (Yes, you can describe the Egg Carrier with Purple Prose. Believe me, it's possible.) Anyways, my crossover isn't "Laid Out" like my Sonic 'fic was. There are scenes already in my head, but I don't have any length in mind, I still haven't decided the names of some of the characters yet, and I'm still working out plot details. However, as of right now, I have 3 chapters that are more or less completed, and a few more on the way. The crossover itself is about as good as my original "AU" series. Can't wait to see how this turns out.
However, as you know, I can't disclose what my fanfic is cross-bred with. All I'll say is this: It's not Sonic the Hedgehog, (not doing that again) it's not Evangelion, it's not Tales of Legendia, and it's not Death Note. I've already covered those. Your only other hint is it's a franchise that I am knowledgeable on. As for what franchise is, it could be anything. It could be something I love, it could be something I hate. It could be a game, a movie, a tv show, a radio drama, a one-act play, a novel series, anything. I can't tell you, though. The world is not ready yet.
Are you excited yet?
Vacation time! WOOOO!!!!!
I'm going to Reno next July. I have relatives there. I haven't been to Reno in over six years. I'm looking forward to it.
In other news, let me tell you something: I am a writer. I also have been writing my own series on and off again for the last five or so years. I've been writing scripts for shorts I would like to produce something in the future. About a year ago, though, I basically started all over. I "nuked" all of my older scripts, and basically started the series over. Oh sure, I used the same characters and most of the same plots and settings and twists, but yeah, it's been crazy. On the plus side, since I restarted, it turned about better than before! I've become a much better writer in that time, it's incredible.
However, I cannot give you too many details about my franchise. You see, I don't want anyone stealing my ideas. I worked a long time to dream up the things I have. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll have these works published, maybe I'll even make a Flash series out of the scripts like I originally intended. Who knows?
Well, even more recently than a year ago, I started writing another fanfic. This fanfic, though, is not like the ones I have published on this blog. All of my 'fics here are only one to two chapters in length. My current 'fic, when it is completed, will be the length of a novel. This is my second "epic" fanfiction, my first being a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic I tried to write back when I was a teenager but never finished. I got Writer's Block after finishing a few chapters of my Sonic fanfic, and then I started writing my own original series, which even then turned out better than my Sonic fanfic. So my Sonic story is deleted now. Too bad for you. Yeah, and my "reformed" original series? Yeah, kicks Sonicboy to the curb.
But anyways, back to my newer 'fic. From what I know, many works of fanfiction are frnchise crossovers. They exist because fanworks can circumvent licensing issues. Also, as I have learned, lots of people seem to have a fetish for crossing over works of fiction. Maybe not a sexual fetish, no, but they are obsessive over it.
Normally, I do not like crossovers. The only crossovers I love are Tsubasa Reservoir Chornicle, and Alien Versus Predator. (And no, I don't mean the AVP movies either. AVP games for me.) However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they suck.
My latest "epic" is a two-way crossover. Of what? Unfortunately, I can only tell you one of the franchises. It's a cross between my own unpublished franchise, and a franchise that is available to the public. My own series crossed with something else. What is that something else? I cannot tell you. It's part of the surprise.
Maybe someday in the future, when my franchise is published, maybe I will unleash my crossover then. However, I can't do it now. I can't even give you a hint as to what it is. I will say that it is something that I am knowledgeable about. But that's it.
Yeah, people are strange like that. Or should I say, humans are so . . . interesting!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!"
Okay, okay! That's the last time! But, can I still do Light's Kira laugh?
"Sure."
Cool. Anyways, when I do unveil my epic crossover, even though that may be many years down the road from now, I predict that this is what will happen.
[xm0123] I present my latest masterpiece, a crossover of (name of my original franchise) and (name of published franchise) *cue Light's Kira laugh*
[The Fans] OH MY GAWD! HE WROTE A CROSSOVER OF (blank)!!!!!! NEVER IN A THOUSAND YEARS DID I IMAGINE HE'D DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!
[The Real Hardcore Fans] I JUST HAD A JOYGASM!!!!!!!
[The Fan Dumb] OMGWTFBBQ (blank) AND (blank) R NOW ROO IND 4 E VURRRRR!!!!!!!!!
If it ever happens, it will be quite the spectacle.
In other news, let me tell you something: I am a writer. I also have been writing my own series on and off again for the last five or so years. I've been writing scripts for shorts I would like to produce something in the future. About a year ago, though, I basically started all over. I "nuked" all of my older scripts, and basically started the series over. Oh sure, I used the same characters and most of the same plots and settings and twists, but yeah, it's been crazy. On the plus side, since I restarted, it turned about better than before! I've become a much better writer in that time, it's incredible.
However, I cannot give you too many details about my franchise. You see, I don't want anyone stealing my ideas. I worked a long time to dream up the things I have. Maybe sometime in the future, I'll have these works published, maybe I'll even make a Flash series out of the scripts like I originally intended. Who knows?
Well, even more recently than a year ago, I started writing another fanfic. This fanfic, though, is not like the ones I have published on this blog. All of my 'fics here are only one to two chapters in length. My current 'fic, when it is completed, will be the length of a novel. This is my second "epic" fanfiction, my first being a Sonic the Hedgehog fanfic I tried to write back when I was a teenager but never finished. I got Writer's Block after finishing a few chapters of my Sonic fanfic, and then I started writing my own original series, which even then turned out better than my Sonic fanfic. So my Sonic story is deleted now. Too bad for you. Yeah, and my "reformed" original series? Yeah, kicks Sonicboy to the curb.
But anyways, back to my newer 'fic. From what I know, many works of fanfiction are frnchise crossovers. They exist because fanworks can circumvent licensing issues. Also, as I have learned, lots of people seem to have a fetish for crossing over works of fiction. Maybe not a sexual fetish, no, but they are obsessive over it.
Normally, I do not like crossovers. The only crossovers I love are Tsubasa Reservoir Chornicle, and Alien Versus Predator. (And no, I don't mean the AVP movies either. AVP games for me.) However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they suck.
My latest "epic" is a two-way crossover. Of what? Unfortunately, I can only tell you one of the franchises. It's a cross between my own unpublished franchise, and a franchise that is available to the public. My own series crossed with something else. What is that something else? I cannot tell you. It's part of the surprise.
Maybe someday in the future, when my franchise is published, maybe I will unleash my crossover then. However, I can't do it now. I can't even give you a hint as to what it is. I will say that it is something that I am knowledgeable about. But that's it.
Yeah, people are strange like that. Or should I say, humans are so . . . interesting!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!"
Okay, okay! That's the last time! But, can I still do Light's Kira laugh?
"Sure."
Cool. Anyways, when I do unveil my epic crossover, even though that may be many years down the road from now, I predict that this is what will happen.
[xm0123] I present my latest masterpiece, a crossover of (name of my original franchise) and (name of published franchise) *cue Light's Kira laugh*
[The Fans] OH MY GAWD! HE WROTE A CROSSOVER OF (blank)!!!!!! NEVER IN A THOUSAND YEARS DID I IMAGINE HE'D DO THIS!!!!!!!!!!
[The Real Hardcore Fans] I JUST HAD A JOYGASM!!!!!!!
[The Fan Dumb] OMGWTFBBQ (blank) AND (blank) R NOW ROO IND 4 E VURRRRR!!!!!!!!!
If it ever happens, it will be quite the spectacle.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
I only write this because I am bored
I never gave a proper conclusion to my "review" of Lunar: Silver Star Story. Here goes.
SO THEN they all live happily ever after . . .
OR DO THEY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
NAH! JUST KIDDING WITH YOU! EVERYONE DOES LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
This is xm0123 saying . . . . CHAAAAAAAANGE!? YA GOT CHAAAAAAAANGE!? AH COME ON! HELP A GUY OUT, WILL YA!? COME ON; CHANGE! WELL COULD YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME AN ISO OF LUNAR 2!? I HEAR IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE AS GOOD AS THE FIRST!
Geeze, I could do that for just about everything I've seen, read, played, or listened to. Imagine if I did a review like this for the anime version of Cardcaptor Sakura.
AND THERE'S THIS GIRL NAMED TOMOYO, AND SHE'S TOTALLY HOT FOR SAKURA! No, they don't ever get it on. AND THERE'S THIS BOY NAMED SHAORAN, AND HE'S HOT FOR BOTH YUKITO AND SAKURA! AND THERE'S A GIRL NAMED MEILING, AND SHE IS SHAORAN'S COUSIN, AND SHE'S TOTALLY HOT FOR HIM! Good god, just about everyone crushes on magical people in this series! Of course, the series, being kid-friendly, portrays all the crushes as being romantic but non-sexual in nature. I see it that way too, but most anime fans I know on the internet seem to think otherwise.
MAN, ANIME FANS ARE SUCH PERVS!
Or what about Slayers?
THERE'S THIS GIRL NAMED LINA, AND SHE'S A COMPLETE NARCISSIST! AND (unable to continue due to my hatred of Slayers and lack of knowledge on the franchise.)
Or how about Rescue Me?
THERE'S THIS GUY NAMED TOMMY, AND HE'S AN ASSHOLE! AND HE WORKS AT A NEW YORK FIREHOUSE, AND HIS FIREMEN BUDDIES ARE ALSO ASSHOLES! AND THEY ALL HAVE SERIOUS ISSUES! TOMMY IS AN ALCOHOLIC AND A MYSOGINIST! FRANCO, ONE OF TOMMY'S FIREMEN BUDDIES, IS A SEXOPHILE! JERRY, THE CHIEF IN THE EARLIER SEASONS, IS A HOMOPHOBE, AND A GAMBLING ADDICT! AND MIKE IS NAIVE AND IGNORANT! HURRAY!!!! AND I'M JUST SCRAPING THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG HERE!
Yeah, a lot of dysfunctional personalities on that show; hence why I love it so much.
I'm gonna go places tomorrow, maybe hopefully alleviate my boredom. I might come back with a new report soon.
SO THEN they all live happily ever after . . .
OR DO THEY!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
NAH! JUST KIDDING WITH YOU! EVERYONE DOES LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER!
This is xm0123 saying . . . . CHAAAAAAAANGE!? YA GOT CHAAAAAAAANGE!? AH COME ON! HELP A GUY OUT, WILL YA!? COME ON; CHANGE! WELL COULD YOU AT LEAST GIVE ME AN ISO OF LUNAR 2!? I HEAR IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE AS GOOD AS THE FIRST!
Geeze, I could do that for just about everything I've seen, read, played, or listened to. Imagine if I did a review like this for the anime version of Cardcaptor Sakura.
AND THERE'S THIS GIRL NAMED TOMOYO, AND SHE'S TOTALLY HOT FOR SAKURA! No, they don't ever get it on. AND THERE'S THIS BOY NAMED SHAORAN, AND HE'S HOT FOR BOTH YUKITO AND SAKURA! AND THERE'S A GIRL NAMED MEILING, AND SHE IS SHAORAN'S COUSIN, AND SHE'S TOTALLY HOT FOR HIM! Good god, just about everyone crushes on magical people in this series! Of course, the series, being kid-friendly, portrays all the crushes as being romantic but non-sexual in nature. I see it that way too, but most anime fans I know on the internet seem to think otherwise.
MAN, ANIME FANS ARE SUCH PERVS!
Or what about Slayers?
THERE'S THIS GIRL NAMED LINA, AND SHE'S A COMPLETE NARCISSIST! AND (unable to continue due to my hatred of Slayers and lack of knowledge on the franchise.)
Or how about Rescue Me?
THERE'S THIS GUY NAMED TOMMY, AND HE'S AN ASSHOLE! AND HE WORKS AT A NEW YORK FIREHOUSE, AND HIS FIREMEN BUDDIES ARE ALSO ASSHOLES! AND THEY ALL HAVE SERIOUS ISSUES! TOMMY IS AN ALCOHOLIC AND A MYSOGINIST! FRANCO, ONE OF TOMMY'S FIREMEN BUDDIES, IS A SEXOPHILE! JERRY, THE CHIEF IN THE EARLIER SEASONS, IS A HOMOPHOBE, AND A GAMBLING ADDICT! AND MIKE IS NAIVE AND IGNORANT! HURRAY!!!! AND I'M JUST SCRAPING THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG HERE!
Yeah, a lot of dysfunctional personalities on that show; hence why I love it so much.
I'm gonna go places tomorrow, maybe hopefully alleviate my boredom. I might come back with a new report soon.
I will wuss out NO MORE!
It's true I killed a Deathclaw in Fallout 3 and lived to tell about it. However, there's something else; I was playing on normal mode at the time.
A complaint about Fallout 3 I've read is that the game is too easy on the lower difficulty levels. On my second playthrough, this seemed to be the case. I resolved that; now I'm playing on very hard, the highest difficulty level.
At first, it didn't seem that hard, "Oh, I have to shoot Raiders and Feral Ghouls a little more, so what?" But those are generally weak enemies. A baddie's toughness goes up exponentially in the difficulty scale. Namely, a weak enemy won't be much stronger on very hard. A strong enemy? Oh shit.
Then, after changing to very hard,I got killed by Super Mutants. Actually, I didn't just die, I got brutally gibbed, or, as they say on the intarwebz, "gang raped." Oh geeze, Super Mutants are tough on very hard! I didn't switch back to normal, though. I just have to adopt different tactics now.
Here's something you should be thankful for; you cannot become addicted to stimpaks, because you will need them on very hard mode. I'm now tempted to start all over again, but this time, play on very hard from the start, but I want to try to find every location and attempt every sidequest on my current playthrough before starting anew.
Also, I am aware that there is DLC for Fallout 3. Heck, I bought my copy when the newest DLC package came out, but I am avoiding them, because they supposedly are very buggy. I'll just play Fallout 3 as is.
Until Fallout: Las Vegas comes out. Viva, Las Vegas! Viva . . .
A complaint about Fallout 3 I've read is that the game is too easy on the lower difficulty levels. On my second playthrough, this seemed to be the case. I resolved that; now I'm playing on very hard, the highest difficulty level.
At first, it didn't seem that hard, "Oh, I have to shoot Raiders and Feral Ghouls a little more, so what?" But those are generally weak enemies. A baddie's toughness goes up exponentially in the difficulty scale. Namely, a weak enemy won't be much stronger on very hard. A strong enemy? Oh shit.
Then, after changing to very hard,I got killed by Super Mutants. Actually, I didn't just die, I got brutally gibbed, or, as they say on the intarwebz, "gang raped." Oh geeze, Super Mutants are tough on very hard! I didn't switch back to normal, though. I just have to adopt different tactics now.
Here's something you should be thankful for; you cannot become addicted to stimpaks, because you will need them on very hard mode. I'm now tempted to start all over again, but this time, play on very hard from the start, but I want to try to find every location and attempt every sidequest on my current playthrough before starting anew.
Also, I am aware that there is DLC for Fallout 3. Heck, I bought my copy when the newest DLC package came out, but I am avoiding them, because they supposedly are very buggy. I'll just play Fallout 3 as is.
Until Fallout: Las Vegas comes out. Viva, Las Vegas! Viva . . .
Thursday, May 14, 2009
one track mind
You may not believe it, but I did have a few friends back in grade school. One friend of mine was this guy I knew in high school. It was 2002-2003-ish. The Simpsons were coming out on DVD for the first time, and my friend was collecting them. He was also really into Dance Dance Revolution also. (Don't ask me why; I never got into "rhythm" games.) At one point, a friend of his asked him, "What's on your mind?" And his reply was, "Let's see: Simpsons, DDR, Simpsons, DDR, Simpsons, DDR, Simpsons, DDR . . ."
I bring this up because, well, what's on my mind?
Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, . . . . .
IT WON'T STOP!!!!
Oh, and by the way, I've seen the ending of Fallout 3. It was real abrupt, and I did expect a little more. But I did not complain, know why? I started a new game shortly afterwards.
Good god, I am addicted!
Of course, I have a better understanding of Fallout 3 now, so this time, my character is even more of a badass. I never had any real use of Charisma on my first playthrough, and Luck only determines your odds of critical strikes, but I don't like to rely on critical hits in my RPGs. So my second character has 1 Charisma, 1 Luck, 10 Intelligence so I can buff out my skills, and the other stats started off as 7. I can see why some players rely on Charisma, but I'm a little old-fashioned. Because my new character sucks at speech, my dialog options are usually like this:
1 [Speech 3% success] Calm down, partner. Let's not start shooting each other just quite yet.
2 [Strength] Bitch! I will break you down like an AK if you don't shut up!
3 [My preferred response] Well, you may be the badass leader of your badasses, but I AM A MAN!!!!!!! (proceeds to frag Raiders to death)
And since I know where everything is now, I've been able to level up faster and earn a lot more money than on my first playthrough. And I even managed to kill a Deathclaw at only level 7! Well, okay, it was already weakened by some hunters before it killed them and it came after me, but I killed a Deathclaw at a somewhat low level! A FUCKING DEATHCLAW!!!!! And then I stripped the dead hunters for ammo and money. Ain't life in the ruins of D.C. grand?
And now let's move on to Touhou.
I think it's safe to declare that Touhou, as a franchise, has some of the best video game music in history. Of course, I won't compare ZUN to someone like Koichi Sugiyama, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, or Peter McConnell*, but he's pretty good, and so are many of the remixers.
*Peter McConnell did music for LucasArts back in the 1990s. Get some fucking culture already! GAWD! (I'm exagerrating right now; don't get mad at me.)
I bring this up because, well, what's on my mind?
Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, Fallout, Touhou, . . . . .
IT WON'T STOP!!!!
Oh, and by the way, I've seen the ending of Fallout 3. It was real abrupt, and I did expect a little more. But I did not complain, know why? I started a new game shortly afterwards.
Good god, I am addicted!
Of course, I have a better understanding of Fallout 3 now, so this time, my character is even more of a badass. I never had any real use of Charisma on my first playthrough, and Luck only determines your odds of critical strikes, but I don't like to rely on critical hits in my RPGs. So my second character has 1 Charisma, 1 Luck, 10 Intelligence so I can buff out my skills, and the other stats started off as 7. I can see why some players rely on Charisma, but I'm a little old-fashioned. Because my new character sucks at speech, my dialog options are usually like this:
1 [Speech 3% success] Calm down, partner. Let's not start shooting each other just quite yet.
2 [Strength] Bitch! I will break you down like an AK if you don't shut up!
3 [My preferred response] Well, you may be the badass leader of your badasses, but I AM A MAN!!!!!!! (proceeds to frag Raiders to death)
And since I know where everything is now, I've been able to level up faster and earn a lot more money than on my first playthrough. And I even managed to kill a Deathclaw at only level 7! Well, okay, it was already weakened by some hunters before it killed them and it came after me, but I killed a Deathclaw at a somewhat low level! A FUCKING DEATHCLAW!!!!! And then I stripped the dead hunters for ammo and money. Ain't life in the ruins of D.C. grand?
And now let's move on to Touhou.
I think it's safe to declare that Touhou, as a franchise, has some of the best video game music in history. Of course, I won't compare ZUN to someone like Koichi Sugiyama, Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, or Peter McConnell*, but he's pretty good, and so are many of the remixers.
*Peter McConnell did music for LucasArts back in the 1990s. Get some fucking culture already! GAWD! (I'm exagerrating right now; don't get mad at me.)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
"It's so crazy, it just might work!"
Peoples, peoples, may I have your attention?
I have come up with the wildest idea ever. It's not my best idea ever, only that it is my wildest idea ever. Okay, are you ready?
I would like to see a movie based off Touhou. But not just any movie, mind you. There's already two Touhou doujin anime products, and countless Touhou Flashes, but what I want to see is a full-length theatrical feature. Okay, I'm probably not the first person who's interested in a Touhou movie, but, and this is where it gets interesting, I want the Touhou movie to be a comedy. It can have action, (what video game movie doesn't?) it can have drama, (Who does Marisa like most: Reimu, Alice, Patchouli, or someone we didn't expect?) but it will primarily be a comedy. But not just any comedy.
A musical comedy.
Now now, I know what you're thinking, "Japanese animation is renowed and/or abhorred for a lot of reasons, but musicals (or a lack thereof) is not one of them!" But, hear me out before you dismiss me!
You see, the movie's soundtrack already exists, including the musical numbers! Many of the Touhou remixes I've linked sound like musical numbers. And the background music can be remixes of other genres. Now, I don't know if all of the different remix artists would agree to use their music for a movie, but hypothetically, let's assume that they do.
Now, the plot. Uh, I haven't thought too much about this. I don't think it should recycle the plots of any of the games, but, since this is Touhou, this could be a similar kind of plot: something threatens all of Gensokyo, Reimu and Marisa set out to end the problem, they encounter old friends and enemies along the way, they eventually learn that whatever was threatening Gensokyo was just the result of a misunderstanding, and everyone celebrates by drinking tea, or in Suika's case, sake. No new characters should be introduced for the movie, just characters who have appeared in the games.
And now, production values. I'll be a little lenient here; it doesn't have to have fantastic animation. It does have to look decent, though. It cannot look like the anime of yesteryear, where every single character appeared to be missing a third of their animation frames. Since the original games are 2D, I would prefer the movie to be 2D as well, even despite my preference of 3D CGI. Some franchises look better in 2D than 3D, and I'm of the opinion that Touhou would be better off in 2D. It can still be computerized animation, (like a Flash), just, no 3D effects. At least this way, "real" animation fanatics can't bitch about "fugly" CGI.
Now, getting back to the songs, I've noticed most Touhou remixes that could function as musical numbers are "I Am" songs. I can't find any "I Want" songs, any "Villain's Declaration of Evil" song, no "Beautiful Romance" songs, and so forth. So, it seems like most of the songs would be for character introductions. I've linked remixes of the themes of Cirno, Chen, Hong Meiling, and Orin that could be used, (dude, Orin's remix, the one that sounds like Thriller, would bring in many interested viewers) and I'm sure there are others out there as well. The first Touhou song I linked, the remix of Remilia's theme by Innocent Key, should be in the movie, though I can't see how Remilia and Flandre feeling up Sakuya could have any relevance to the plot. Then I realized, all great animated musicals have at least one song that is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment.
BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT!
And that would be my BLAM moment.
"But wait a second, you keep thinking of this hypothetical Touhou movie as an anime, but you're not Japanese. Wouldn't this turn out to be an anime-esque American cartoon if you made it?" Nah, I wouldn't produce this is any way. Most Touhou fans are from Japan, The Man Himself, ZUN, is Japanese, the artwork and some of the music is distinctly Japanese, and the word "Touhou" itself means "Oriental" in Japanese. It just wouldn't feel right if it wasn't made in Japan. If there is an English version, it would be an English dub of the Japanese original, nothing more. Of course, I don't know if the remixers would also allow foreign language dubs of their music, but hey, it can happen.
Would this be high art? No. Will this even be a great movie? Probably not. But I am certain it would have a kickass soundtrack, and be hilarious.
One last thing, this won't be a kid's movie. I don't want any angry parents complaining that they took their kids to a movie that has a vampire commenting on her maid's "Nice, supple thighs!" Though I wouldn't expect a Touhou movie to be any heavier than a PG-13 rating.
I have come up with the wildest idea ever. It's not my best idea ever, only that it is my wildest idea ever. Okay, are you ready?
I would like to see a movie based off Touhou. But not just any movie, mind you. There's already two Touhou doujin anime products, and countless Touhou Flashes, but what I want to see is a full-length theatrical feature. Okay, I'm probably not the first person who's interested in a Touhou movie, but, and this is where it gets interesting, I want the Touhou movie to be a comedy. It can have action, (what video game movie doesn't?) it can have drama, (Who does Marisa like most: Reimu, Alice, Patchouli, or someone we didn't expect?) but it will primarily be a comedy. But not just any comedy.
A musical comedy.
Now now, I know what you're thinking, "Japanese animation is renowed and/or abhorred for a lot of reasons, but musicals (or a lack thereof) is not one of them!" But, hear me out before you dismiss me!
You see, the movie's soundtrack already exists, including the musical numbers! Many of the Touhou remixes I've linked sound like musical numbers. And the background music can be remixes of other genres. Now, I don't know if all of the different remix artists would agree to use their music for a movie, but hypothetically, let's assume that they do.
Now, the plot. Uh, I haven't thought too much about this. I don't think it should recycle the plots of any of the games, but, since this is Touhou, this could be a similar kind of plot: something threatens all of Gensokyo, Reimu and Marisa set out to end the problem, they encounter old friends and enemies along the way, they eventually learn that whatever was threatening Gensokyo was just the result of a misunderstanding, and everyone celebrates by drinking tea, or in Suika's case, sake. No new characters should be introduced for the movie, just characters who have appeared in the games.
And now, production values. I'll be a little lenient here; it doesn't have to have fantastic animation. It does have to look decent, though. It cannot look like the anime of yesteryear, where every single character appeared to be missing a third of their animation frames. Since the original games are 2D, I would prefer the movie to be 2D as well, even despite my preference of 3D CGI. Some franchises look better in 2D than 3D, and I'm of the opinion that Touhou would be better off in 2D. It can still be computerized animation, (like a Flash), just, no 3D effects. At least this way, "real" animation fanatics can't bitch about "fugly" CGI.
Now, getting back to the songs, I've noticed most Touhou remixes that could function as musical numbers are "I Am" songs. I can't find any "I Want" songs, any "Villain's Declaration of Evil" song, no "Beautiful Romance" songs, and so forth. So, it seems like most of the songs would be for character introductions. I've linked remixes of the themes of Cirno, Chen, Hong Meiling, and Orin that could be used, (dude, Orin's remix, the one that sounds like Thriller, would bring in many interested viewers) and I'm sure there are others out there as well. The first Touhou song I linked, the remix of Remilia's theme by Innocent Key, should be in the movie, though I can't see how Remilia and Flandre feeling up Sakuya could have any relevance to the plot. Then I realized, all great animated musicals have at least one song that is a Big Lipped Alligator Moment.
BIG LIPPED ALLIGATOR MOMENT!
And that would be my BLAM moment.
"But wait a second, you keep thinking of this hypothetical Touhou movie as an anime, but you're not Japanese. Wouldn't this turn out to be an anime-esque American cartoon if you made it?" Nah, I wouldn't produce this is any way. Most Touhou fans are from Japan, The Man Himself, ZUN, is Japanese, the artwork and some of the music is distinctly Japanese, and the word "Touhou" itself means "Oriental" in Japanese. It just wouldn't feel right if it wasn't made in Japan. If there is an English version, it would be an English dub of the Japanese original, nothing more. Of course, I don't know if the remixers would also allow foreign language dubs of their music, but hey, it can happen.
Would this be high art? No. Will this even be a great movie? Probably not. But I am certain it would have a kickass soundtrack, and be hilarious.
One last thing, this won't be a kid's movie. I don't want any angry parents complaining that they took their kids to a movie that has a vampire commenting on her maid's "Nice, supple thighs!" Though I wouldn't expect a Touhou movie to be any heavier than a PG-13 rating.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
details, details
If you're going to doujinstyle's messageboard, for the love of Lorelei, only go to the Touhou and Doujin Soft sections. Stay the fuck away from everywhere else if you value your sanity. However, I just want to add that being threatening to one's sanity is not necessarily a bad thing. Heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
In other news, I rationalized something. The official Touhou games can be bought, but, being the works of doujin that they are, the CDs are of limited quantiny, and you have to import from Japan. Then I found out that you can download these retail copies, free of charge. I rationalized, "What the heck? No one's gonna fault me for this, right?" and truth be told, I actually found an official Touhou game I like.
Immaterial and Missing Power.
Yeah, the first fighting game. Quite odd, because I don't normally like fighting games. The music's great, and, while the game's not as good as Naruto Ultimate Ninja, it's still enjoyable. Just, one word of warning; in the story mode, Yukari cheats. Well, then again, one wouldn't expect a god-like youkai to play fair, right?
Also, I know I should be updating my list of cute (and not-so-cute) anime chicks, but I'm too lazy. And if I was to list every Touhou character that I thought was Insanely Cute, it would make my list pretty one-sided. Well, okay, more like two-sided; it would be a duel between Touhou and CLAMP. (Oh, and by the way, that six year old girl in Angelic Layer with the long straight black hair? She is just so cute!) So, I'll make a separate list here. I present every Touhou character that I think is Insanely Cute, provided you can find a proper image of said character:
Reimu Hakurei.
Marisa Kirisame.
Cirno.
Chen.
Kaguya Houraisan.
Lily White.
The Three Mischievous Fairies (Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire. Man, talk about stereotypical fairy names.)
Tei Inaba.
Nitori Kawashiro.
Ellen.
Medicine Melancholy.
Dang, that list took forever to write up. Yeah, see how two-sided my Insanely Cute anime girl list would become if I listed them as well? Exactly.
In other news, I rationalized something. The official Touhou games can be bought, but, being the works of doujin that they are, the CDs are of limited quantiny, and you have to import from Japan. Then I found out that you can download these retail copies, free of charge. I rationalized, "What the heck? No one's gonna fault me for this, right?" and truth be told, I actually found an official Touhou game I like.
Immaterial and Missing Power.
Yeah, the first fighting game. Quite odd, because I don't normally like fighting games. The music's great, and, while the game's not as good as Naruto Ultimate Ninja, it's still enjoyable. Just, one word of warning; in the story mode, Yukari cheats. Well, then again, one wouldn't expect a god-like youkai to play fair, right?
Also, I know I should be updating my list of cute (and not-so-cute) anime chicks, but I'm too lazy. And if I was to list every Touhou character that I thought was Insanely Cute, it would make my list pretty one-sided. Well, okay, more like two-sided; it would be a duel between Touhou and CLAMP. (Oh, and by the way, that six year old girl in Angelic Layer with the long straight black hair? She is just so cute!) So, I'll make a separate list here. I present every Touhou character that I think is Insanely Cute, provided you can find a proper image of said character:
Reimu Hakurei.
Marisa Kirisame.
Cirno.
Chen.
Kaguya Houraisan.
Lily White.
The Three Mischievous Fairies (Sunny Milk, Luna Child, and Star Sapphire. Man, talk about stereotypical fairy names.)
Tei Inaba.
Nitori Kawashiro.
Ellen.
Medicine Melancholy.
Dang, that list took forever to write up. Yeah, see how two-sided my Insanely Cute anime girl list would become if I listed them as well? Exactly.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Another restrospective
"You once said that there's an insanely cute male character you like who isn't Kero-chan. Who might that be?"
This guy:
OH NO! NOT KIRBY!
That's right! I'm a Kirby fan for life! And yes, I have believed he was Insanely Cute ever since I was seven years old! That's how far back my fandom goes.
Of course, I know, admitting you like Kirby is a dangerous thing to do nowadays, considering how much of today's gamers are anti-cuteness homophobic assfucks. Well I don't care! I love Kirby! In an entirely platonic manner, mind you. But yeah, I like most of the Kirby games.
What I don't like is the Kirby anime. Please don't even get me started on that subject.
But yeah, Kirb and I go way back. Why do you think I had dream where Kirb and I hung out at a McDonald's, where all I had was a burger, and he had one of everything? Good times, good times.
I haven't been able to play any new Kirby games for a long time, since I haven't bought a Nintendo system for years. But still, I have fond memories of Kirby's Adventure for the NES and Kirby Super Star for the SNES. Those were quality games.
I don't have much else to say on this subject. If I go any further, I'll come across as a fanboy, and you know I don't like that. Suffice to say, while Kirby game-wise is not as memorable as Nintendo's own Mario and Zelda franchises, he doesn't deserve to be overlooked either.
And saying you know Kirb only from The Only Nintendo Series Anyone Gives a Shit About Anymore(tm) DOESN'T COUNT, GOD DAMN IT! (okay, so I am gonna sound like a fanboy right now. Whatever.) I was a fan of Kirb years before the N64 Smash Bros. came out. Yeah; I'm that hardcore.
This guy:
OH NO! NOT KIRBY!
That's right! I'm a Kirby fan for life! And yes, I have believed he was Insanely Cute ever since I was seven years old! That's how far back my fandom goes.
Of course, I know, admitting you like Kirby is a dangerous thing to do nowadays, considering how much of today's gamers are anti-cuteness homophobic assfucks. Well I don't care! I love Kirby! In an entirely platonic manner, mind you. But yeah, I like most of the Kirby games.
What I don't like is the Kirby anime. Please don't even get me started on that subject.
But yeah, Kirb and I go way back. Why do you think I had dream where Kirb and I hung out at a McDonald's, where all I had was a burger, and he had one of everything? Good times, good times.
I haven't been able to play any new Kirby games for a long time, since I haven't bought a Nintendo system for years. But still, I have fond memories of Kirby's Adventure for the NES and Kirby Super Star for the SNES. Those were quality games.
I don't have much else to say on this subject. If I go any further, I'll come across as a fanboy, and you know I don't like that. Suffice to say, while Kirby game-wise is not as memorable as Nintendo's own Mario and Zelda franchises, he doesn't deserve to be overlooked either.
And saying you know Kirb only from The Only Nintendo Series Anyone Gives a Shit About Anymore(tm) DOESN'T COUNT, GOD DAMN IT! (okay, so I am gonna sound like a fanboy right now. Whatever.) I was a fan of Kirb years before the N64 Smash Bros. came out. Yeah; I'm that hardcore.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I got nothing
The cable installers came . . . and we couldn't get the new ISP installed.
So we're gonna be stuck with our current ISP for a little while longer. Sucks to be me, I know.
As for now, I got nothing. No Fallout 3 tips, no Touhou links, no nothing. You'll have to wait another day, because I am beat.
LATE EDIT: Man, what a waste. This should've been a Twitter post. Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake again.
So we're gonna be stuck with our current ISP for a little while longer. Sucks to be me, I know.
As for now, I got nothing. No Fallout 3 tips, no Touhou links, no nothing. You'll have to wait another day, because I am beat.
LATE EDIT: Man, what a waste. This should've been a Twitter post. Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake again.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Great! Now I'm Broke!
I just spent most of my allowance on an unopened copy of Fallout 3. Now the madness can continue! And now some more wasteland survival tips:
-Don't shoot 'til you the white of their eyes; works in this game, too. A tactic I like to use is equip the shotgun, encounter an enemy, wait for the enemy to charge at me, go into V.A.T.S., and blast its head off. Of course, some enemies will keep their distance if they have ranged weapons, but some foes will just blindly charge at you. Take advantage of that.
-The minigun is almost useless in V.A.T.S. It's best to use it in real-time. Only catch is, if you do that, you'll eat its ammo up fast. Best to use the minigun when confronted by multiple enemies and you have enough rounds to spare.
-For goodness' sake, don't use the Fatman at close range!
-If a foe is prepping a grenade, you can shoot out the grenade in V.A.T.S. and cause the grenade to splode in their face. Of course, that's a hard shot to make, but it's worth it. Just don't do such a trick shot in point-blank range.
The ISP changeover happens two days from now. I have between now and tomorrow night to score more Touhou MP3's. Be back.
-Don't shoot 'til you the white of their eyes; works in this game, too. A tactic I like to use is equip the shotgun, encounter an enemy, wait for the enemy to charge at me, go into V.A.T.S., and blast its head off. Of course, some enemies will keep their distance if they have ranged weapons, but some foes will just blindly charge at you. Take advantage of that.
-The minigun is almost useless in V.A.T.S. It's best to use it in real-time. Only catch is, if you do that, you'll eat its ammo up fast. Best to use the minigun when confronted by multiple enemies and you have enough rounds to spare.
-For goodness' sake, don't use the Fatman at close range!
-If a foe is prepping a grenade, you can shoot out the grenade in V.A.T.S. and cause the grenade to splode in their face. Of course, that's a hard shot to make, but it's worth it. Just don't do such a trick shot in point-blank range.
The ISP changeover happens two days from now. I have between now and tomorrow night to score more Touhou MP3's. Be back.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Touhou Madness!
I have to assume that I won't be able to use the internet by next Thursday, concerning the ISP switchover that will occur then. So, with the help of Doujinstyle, I have been acquiring Touhou music at an astonishing rate. You could say, everything is going . . .
exactly as planned!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!!!!!!"
Hey, come on, I recently got the second volume of DN on DVD; cut me some slack.
Well anyways, since I am a good samaritan, (and because tvtropes helped out with these) here's some more youtube links to Touhou music I like.
I like this song
Yukari-sama!
Stage 3 of Perfect Cherry Blossom
This song is fucking epic
CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
Flandre's theme in 8-bit
Now for something else Touhou-related:
Touhou is arguably one of the cutest franchises I know. I say "arguably" because it depends on your capacity of finding good fanart. The character designs in the actual games are . . . iffy, to say the least. Some of the fanart is, too. But, some fanart I like. It's really strange. Let's take Marisa for example. One artist's image of her will make me say, "Meh. Just some girl dressed as a witch." And another artist's image of her will make me say,
"OH NO! NOT MARISA!"
That's right, readers. A lot of the girls in Touhou are Insanely Cute! I have to be careful whenever I navigate Touhou imagery, because any one image could give me kawaii overload.
Yeah, who needs gameplay when you've got great music and nice fanart? Oh wait, that doesn't sound like something a gamer would say. Oh whatever. I'm not in the mood to play any game that's not Fallout 3 right now anyways.
exactly as planned!
"STOP QUOTING DEATH NOTE ALREADY!!!!!!"
Hey, come on, I recently got the second volume of DN on DVD; cut me some slack.
Well anyways, since I am a good samaritan, (and because tvtropes helped out with these) here's some more youtube links to Touhou music I like.
I like this song
Yukari-sama!
Stage 3 of Perfect Cherry Blossom
This song is fucking epic
CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!
Flandre's theme in 8-bit
Now for something else Touhou-related:
Touhou is arguably one of the cutest franchises I know. I say "arguably" because it depends on your capacity of finding good fanart. The character designs in the actual games are . . . iffy, to say the least. Some of the fanart is, too. But, some fanart I like. It's really strange. Let's take Marisa for example. One artist's image of her will make me say, "Meh. Just some girl dressed as a witch." And another artist's image of her will make me say,
"OH NO! NOT MARISA!"
That's right, readers. A lot of the girls in Touhou are Insanely Cute! I have to be careful whenever I navigate Touhou imagery, because any one image could give me kawaii overload.
Yeah, who needs gameplay when you've got great music and nice fanart? Oh wait, that doesn't sound like something a gamer would say. Oh whatever. I'm not in the mood to play any game that's not Fallout 3 right now anyways.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
I need some bucks
Know why? Because I wanna buy Fallout 3. This makes Fallout 3 the second game I have wanted to purchase for my 360. Diligence pays off once again, readers!
Oh, you know what's a good weapon for shooting peoples' heads off? The scoped .44 revolver magnum. It's just like Harry Callahan said; it can blow a bear's head clean off its body!
(Okay, realistically, if you shot someone in the head with a .44 magnum, you'd only blow off a chunk of the head, not the whole thing. And despite what some games may say, *coughresidentevilcough* revolvers are NOT more powerful than high caliber rifles. Thankfully, Fallout 3 doesn't make the latter mistake. Still, the .44 is not a small time weapon.)
The amount of detail in Fallout 3 is astounding. It's too much for a strategy guide to cover. A lot of the things I learned, I learned by trial and error.
Oh, also, my morality right now is very good. However, I have done things to lower my karma. I can't think of a D&D alignment to describe my character. Most of the time, I'm either lawful good or neutral good, but occasionally, I may slip into neutral evil. (Never chaotic evil, though; I don't do bad things just for the hell of it. There's a reason behind everything I do.) Hey, anything to survive in the wasteland. And besides, as Chris in the Morning once said, "Sometimes, you just gotta be bad." (If you know that I referenced Northern Exposure just now, have a cookie.)
Also, the combat system is interesting. If you don't use V.A.T.S., the game plays like a typical action shooter. Using V.A.T.S. though, makes it more like a stat-based RPG. There are situations where it's best to use V.A.T.S., and there are situations where it's best to kill enemies "The old-fashioned way" as I like to say. Now, if I had mouseaim, I could probably kill everything without using V.A.T.S. at all, but there are situations where V.A.T.S. gives you a clear advantage. For example, are you carrying a bunch of frag grenades? Have you encountered a tough enemy, like a radscorpion for instance? Radscorpions are dangerous at lower levels, but they aren't too fast, and they can only attack in melee. Here's something I like to do; grenade spam radscorpions using V.A.T.S. Even if the grenade doesn't land right next to it, it'll still get caught in the explosion.
However, since I won't be able to play Fallout 3 for a while, (at least not until I but it) you'll have to wait before I give you survival tips again.
In other news, I have learned that my family will be switching ISP by next Thursday. So I may have some downtime by then.
Oh, you know what's a good weapon for shooting peoples' heads off? The scoped .44 revolver magnum. It's just like Harry Callahan said; it can blow a bear's head clean off its body!
(Okay, realistically, if you shot someone in the head with a .44 magnum, you'd only blow off a chunk of the head, not the whole thing. And despite what some games may say, *coughresidentevilcough* revolvers are NOT more powerful than high caliber rifles. Thankfully, Fallout 3 doesn't make the latter mistake. Still, the .44 is not a small time weapon.)
The amount of detail in Fallout 3 is astounding. It's too much for a strategy guide to cover. A lot of the things I learned, I learned by trial and error.
Oh, also, my morality right now is very good. However, I have done things to lower my karma. I can't think of a D&D alignment to describe my character. Most of the time, I'm either lawful good or neutral good, but occasionally, I may slip into neutral evil. (Never chaotic evil, though; I don't do bad things just for the hell of it. There's a reason behind everything I do.) Hey, anything to survive in the wasteland. And besides, as Chris in the Morning once said, "Sometimes, you just gotta be bad." (If you know that I referenced Northern Exposure just now, have a cookie.)
Also, the combat system is interesting. If you don't use V.A.T.S., the game plays like a typical action shooter. Using V.A.T.S. though, makes it more like a stat-based RPG. There are situations where it's best to use V.A.T.S., and there are situations where it's best to kill enemies "The old-fashioned way" as I like to say. Now, if I had mouseaim, I could probably kill everything without using V.A.T.S. at all, but there are situations where V.A.T.S. gives you a clear advantage. For example, are you carrying a bunch of frag grenades? Have you encountered a tough enemy, like a radscorpion for instance? Radscorpions are dangerous at lower levels, but they aren't too fast, and they can only attack in melee. Here's something I like to do; grenade spam radscorpions using V.A.T.S. Even if the grenade doesn't land right next to it, it'll still get caught in the explosion.
However, since I won't be able to play Fallout 3 for a while, (at least not until I but it) you'll have to wait before I give you survival tips again.
In other news, I have learned that my family will be switching ISP by next Thursday. So I may have some downtime by then.
Saturday, May 2, 2009
I suppose another introduction is in order
Well well, looks like I found a place to 'acquire' Touhou music. Check it:
doujinstyle
This messageboard has a lot of links. However, to even access any pages, you have to sign up. So I did. I even wrote an introduction post. However, I'm not expecting to actually interact with anyone there.
But, my sig is a link here. So, if anyone from doujinstyle forums is here, allow me to re-introduce myself.
I am xm0123. I am what you would call, a scholar. A scholar of the 21st century. In olden times, scholars read books, books, and more books, and acquired vast amounts of knowledge. That was then, though. There is much more printed media these days. A scholar today would have to do more than just read books; a scholar would also have to watch television, movies, play video games, read novels, both regular novels and graphic novels, and much much more. I do those things.
However, whatever you do, don't call me a nerd. Or a geek. Or an otaku. Because I am not those things. A nerd is like a scholar, but nerds are much more immature, idiotic, and meaner than scholars. Much of my material is my exasperation towards the behavior of the fans of many of my favorites franchises.
But that doesn't stop me from indulging. I love video games, I love works of animation, and I love manga. There's a few other things I like, like melted cheese, rock music, and what have you, but my blog mostly focuses on those three.
Mostly. There's another indulgence of mine I talk about on occasion; cute girls. It's my nature as a heterosexual male, you see. I prefer "cute" girls over "sexy" girls, if you want an idea. There's even girl characters from various works of fiction I think are cute.
NO I AM NOT INTO HENTAI. AND I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE NOR A LOLICON EITHER. I AM INCAPABLE OF BECOMING AROUSED BY MAKE-BELIEVE WOMEN. (No matter how desirable Misato Katsuragi from Evangelion may be, I'll still take a real-life girl over her.) But it's amazing how many girls from anime, manga, and video games are, as they say, kawaii. I am notorious for going into kawaii binges on occasion.
Anyways, right now, I have two obsessions; Touhou, and Fallout 3. Touhou should be obvious; I just signed up for a Touhou messageboard. The Touhou games themselves aren't really games I love, but there's three things about Touhou I love. One, the music. Two, I've read a few Touhou fanfics that were really good. And three, Touhou is full of girls that are just adorable! ^_^
GUMF! You see what I mean!? That's what I mean by a kawaii binge. Anyways, also, my latest game console is an Xbox 360. Right now, I am playing Fallout 3 for the first time. It is love. Fallout 3 is love.
I don't talk about my personal life very often, I just focus on my scholarly studies. And by studies, I mean gaming marathon sessions. Oh, and in case my only post in doujinstyle is my intro, and you're reading this for the first time; congratulations. You have just earned 350 XP for unearthing a wild and crazy weblog.
Just, whatever you do, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
doujinstyle
This messageboard has a lot of links. However, to even access any pages, you have to sign up. So I did. I even wrote an introduction post. However, I'm not expecting to actually interact with anyone there.
But, my sig is a link here. So, if anyone from doujinstyle forums is here, allow me to re-introduce myself.
I am xm0123. I am what you would call, a scholar. A scholar of the 21st century. In olden times, scholars read books, books, and more books, and acquired vast amounts of knowledge. That was then, though. There is much more printed media these days. A scholar today would have to do more than just read books; a scholar would also have to watch television, movies, play video games, read novels, both regular novels and graphic novels, and much much more. I do those things.
However, whatever you do, don't call me a nerd. Or a geek. Or an otaku. Because I am not those things. A nerd is like a scholar, but nerds are much more immature, idiotic, and meaner than scholars. Much of my material is my exasperation towards the behavior of the fans of many of my favorites franchises.
But that doesn't stop me from indulging. I love video games, I love works of animation, and I love manga. There's a few other things I like, like melted cheese, rock music, and what have you, but my blog mostly focuses on those three.
Mostly. There's another indulgence of mine I talk about on occasion; cute girls. It's my nature as a heterosexual male, you see. I prefer "cute" girls over "sexy" girls, if you want an idea. There's even girl characters from various works of fiction I think are cute.
NO I AM NOT INTO HENTAI. AND I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE NOR A LOLICON EITHER. I AM INCAPABLE OF BECOMING AROUSED BY MAKE-BELIEVE WOMEN. (No matter how desirable Misato Katsuragi from Evangelion may be, I'll still take a real-life girl over her.) But it's amazing how many girls from anime, manga, and video games are, as they say, kawaii. I am notorious for going into kawaii binges on occasion.
Anyways, right now, I have two obsessions; Touhou, and Fallout 3. Touhou should be obvious; I just signed up for a Touhou messageboard. The Touhou games themselves aren't really games I love, but there's three things about Touhou I love. One, the music. Two, I've read a few Touhou fanfics that were really good. And three, Touhou is full of girls that are just adorable! ^_^
GUMF! You see what I mean!? That's what I mean by a kawaii binge. Anyways, also, my latest game console is an Xbox 360. Right now, I am playing Fallout 3 for the first time. It is love. Fallout 3 is love.
I don't talk about my personal life very often, I just focus on my scholarly studies. And by studies, I mean gaming marathon sessions. Oh, and in case my only post in doujinstyle is my intro, and you're reading this for the first time; congratulations. You have just earned 350 XP for unearthing a wild and crazy weblog.
Just, whatever you do, don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.
Friday, May 1, 2009
How does one go from Post-Apocalypsia to Gensokyo and back again?
I don't know. One moment, I'm playing an American action/RPG for my Xbox 360 (Also from my home country) and the next, I hit up the intarwebz for demos of Japanese computer games and listen to music from said Japanese games.
And their settings are so vastly different. Fallout 3 doesn't have cute girls with moon-shaped eyes and frilly dresses shooting at each other with elegant magical attacks and sipping tea right afterwards. Meanwhile, Touhou doesn't have distinctly realistic characters roaming a wasteland shooting at giant scorpions with automatic shotguns and drinking whiskey right afterwards.
But for all those faithful readers still here, I have more Touhou music to reccomend.
I don't ship Marisa and Alice, but I love this piece anyways.
This is very beautiful.
Dude, I swear, this is straight out of Castlevania III.
An oldie but a goody.
AWESOME.
So back to Fallout 3:
You know what's cool? If you haven't done this, you should.
The weakest enemies in the game are Radroaches. One hit from anything kills them, and they're more of a nuisance than a threat anyways. I don't like to waste my ammo on them. You know what's really cool? Get a sledgehammer. Equip it. Get right next to a Radroach. Go into V.A.T.S. and attack. You'll get a nice slowmo shot of smashing the Radroach into bug gibs every time! Doing that never gets old.
I've also learned a useful tactic for fighting humanoid enemies: target someone's arm, keep shooting it until their arm is crippled. At that moment, they will drop their weapon. At this moment, you can either keep shooting at them while they're trying to pick up and ready their weapons OR you can simply take their weapon before they do and force them to fight you in hand-to-hand combat, even if you're holding a shotgun to their face. Hey, it works, against Raiders, Super Mutants, and anyone else humanoid.
Tune in next time for more hints on surviving the world of Fallout 3. Later.
And their settings are so vastly different. Fallout 3 doesn't have cute girls with moon-shaped eyes and frilly dresses shooting at each other with elegant magical attacks and sipping tea right afterwards. Meanwhile, Touhou doesn't have distinctly realistic characters roaming a wasteland shooting at giant scorpions with automatic shotguns and drinking whiskey right afterwards.
But for all those faithful readers still here, I have more Touhou music to reccomend.
I don't ship Marisa and Alice, but I love this piece anyways.
This is very beautiful.
Dude, I swear, this is straight out of Castlevania III.
An oldie but a goody.
AWESOME.
So back to Fallout 3:
You know what's cool? If you haven't done this, you should.
The weakest enemies in the game are Radroaches. One hit from anything kills them, and they're more of a nuisance than a threat anyways. I don't like to waste my ammo on them. You know what's really cool? Get a sledgehammer. Equip it. Get right next to a Radroach. Go into V.A.T.S. and attack. You'll get a nice slowmo shot of smashing the Radroach into bug gibs every time! Doing that never gets old.
I've also learned a useful tactic for fighting humanoid enemies: target someone's arm, keep shooting it until their arm is crippled. At that moment, they will drop their weapon. At this moment, you can either keep shooting at them while they're trying to pick up and ready their weapons OR you can simply take their weapon before they do and force them to fight you in hand-to-hand combat, even if you're holding a shotgun to their face. Hey, it works, against Raiders, Super Mutants, and anyone else humanoid.
Tune in next time for more hints on surviving the world of Fallout 3. Later.
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