#Robotech the Role-Playing Game

[oldschoolfrp]

I think we can fit one more gun on there (Kevin Long illustration from ad for Robotech the Role-Playing Game and supplements by Palladium Books, in Dragon magazine 135, July 1988)

[legionofmyth]

Compare & Contrast: Palladium Megaverse Games

Whether you're looking for a new game to play or you're already a fan, you need to check out this complete overview of the Palladium Books Megaverse: • After the Bomb • Beyond the Supernatural • Dead Reign • Heroes Unlimited • The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy • Nightbane • Ninjas & Superspies • Palladium Fantasy RPG • RECON • Rifts • Rifts: Chaos Earth • Rifts: Phase World • Splicers • Systems Failure • TMNT & Other Strangeness • Robotech The Role-playing Game

After the Bomb After the Bomb After the Bomb is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game set in a world devastated by a nuclear war after a virus that led to widespread death and mutation. Created by Palladium Books, this setting features anthropomorphic animals, the result of genetic manipulation, who now struggle to rebuild civilization amidst the ruins of human society. The game is rich with…

[open-hearth-rpg]

#superheroRPGs2019  SuperAge

A supers game from the company with the current Robotech licenses. The also have a big stand-alone fantasy game (pdf is free rn on DTRPG) and a universal system called Charm. SuperAge makes a big deal about the art and illustrations– they do have a lot throughout and it’s pretty good. 

The core book itself is about 180 pages. It’s a d6 based system. Mechanically characters have three primary Heroic Traits: Force, Resilience, and Knowledge. These are usually rated from 0 (Normal Person) to 6 (Galactus level). During character creation players spend build points to buy aspects associated with those heroic traits. These are definitions for what those traits encompass. Some examples they give:

Elemental - Fire: Use fire to make powerful blasts or throw up a defensive wall.

Speed: When skill won’t do, speed might be the key. They can’t hit what they can’t see.

Light Magic: The righteous fury you possess cannot be matched by any worldly force.

Those are modified by trait types (Universal, General, Burst). These aren’t powers– that’s a distinct thing, though it seems to operate in the same way. 

Characters also have some supporting traits: Movement, Luck, and Fury. This last one is interesting as it is a “unique and signature feature.” You have a kind of limit break which gives you access to it.  

Powers are abilities and gain Traits which are like Aspects. There’s some confusion of terminology for me between Heroic Traits and what they’re referring to here. The powers themselves are written very broadly. They have a simple effect in play, colored by your description and definition of what your power does. It reminds me a little of Worlds in Peril. I do like that each power has a brief discussion of how to “re-skin” it for something else. Overall this is definitely a loose powers system, closer to some Fate versions or Masks.

It is a point spend system, but your pool to spend is pretty tight, so it doesn’t feel like it would take a lot of time to create characters. There’s a decent set of example characters given as well. The system seems pretty straightforward, though there is a Maximum Effect Chart. This caps some things out, trading effect out for cinematics results. I have to look closer at the wound tracking system to see how that works. 

Overall it’s one of the more interesting new stand alone games. It finds a mid-point between extremely light systems and “I need a spreadsheet” ones. The setting provided feels pretty generic, but that’s OK. It’s one I’m definitely going to be looking at more closely. 

[misforgotten2]

Robot Ech!

Conan the King #42   September 1987

[bugbearbrothers]

The Robotech Role-Playing Game, published by Palladium Books from 1986 to 1995, is based on the Robotech and Robotech II: The Sentinels series.

The RPG by and large followed the TV series storyline, attempting in its own way to fill in gaps not addressed by the program.

The Robotech RPG followed the general mechanics that all Palladium RPGs follow, but introduced the concept of mega-damage—"super" hit-points that are equivalent to 100 ordinary-person hit points—to simulate the toughness of the heavily armored mecha. This would be used extensively in its sister RPG, Rifts.

As mentioned in previous Palladium posts, one of my favourite elements about the game system is that it is compatible with any other RPG in the Palladium universe. Just imagine playing a Juicer Ninja Turtle in a Mecha, causing all sorts of havoc in the fantasy setting. The mind boggles.

[cosleia]

I think sometimes about the fact that I am not a “fandom old” even though I am physically old, and what that means.

My online life started in the ’90s with chat rooms and learning to build websites. In the early 2000s I was part of a play-by-post role playing game (kind of a fandom, in that it was based on an anime…it was like writing fic) as well as a single regular fandom for a TV show.

We didn’t call it a fandom, though we may have referred to places as “fan sites”. Our activities mostly took place on individual people’s websites and forums.

I wasn’t familiar with fandoms and found a lot of the community norms and behaviors extremely offputting. There were some pretty gatekeepery people who seemed to be “in charge” of the fandom. I think I only participated in that community for a year.

I was also a member of IRC chat rooms about Star Wars and Robotech for many years. Those weren’t really fandoms; we discussed the media, but we also were just friends who chatted about life and other topics. Once I left the RPG and the TV show fandom, I wasn’t part of anything like fandom again for over a decade.

I spent the interim years in blogging communities and then on Twitter. I maintained my own website and read dozens of webcomics and spent a lot of time reading the news and other things of interest via RSS feeds.

In 2012 some guys decided they hated the idea of women existing on the internet, and so they started doxxing them and driving them out. My Twitter usage dropped considerably because I didn’t want to catch their attention. It was a really uncomfortable, unhappy time for me online. Eventually I remembered my Tumblr account, and I came over here more and more.

Then, in 2014, I became part of a fandom again: the Night Vale fandom.

Other than a few bad actors (kids who I have forgiven, as they were kids), this fandom was pretty great. There were lots of fics and art and headcanoning, and it was a lot of fun. I met some amazing people who are now lifelong friends, including someone I ended up dating for six years. It really just felt like a safe, fun place where I could be myself.

I’d loved Star Wars since I was a teenager, around the same time as the original Thrawn trilogy came out but not caused by that I don’t think. So when The Force Awakens came out I was tentatively excited. I didn’t expect much and I didn’t learn any spoilers, except that I got the impression Han died in it. I didn’t see it until after Christmas, so it had been in the theater for a bit.

It meant more to me than I ever imagined it would to see that lightsaber go to Rey, and from then on I was back in a galaxy far, far away. I ended up joining the kylux fandom in January of 2016, and I’ve been there ever since.

So I really haven’t had the storied fandom past others have. While I had a LiveJournal, I didn’t understand it and rarely used it. I read a few fics on FFN here and there, but I wasn’t a regular to the site.

The move off Tumblr to Twitter was DEVASTATING to me because I’d never gone through something like that before. I didn’t, and still don’t, like the idea of performing fandom for a global audience, which is how Twitter makes me feel. I like little communities of friends sharing things, which is probably why I tend to feel like a fandom old while not actually being one.

Now it looks like Twitter might radically change or just stop working entirely. And there really isn’t a place to go from there. Lots of people hate Tumblr, and the various new social media sites and services that have popped up all have problems. There’s no clear solution, and I hate it. I’m in the interesting position of being very emotionally affected by this, unlike fandom olds who seem to just be very “oh, this again” about it. But I am much older than the other people who are upset. I kind of feel alone.

But! I will just wait and see what happens. I’ll use Tumblr more, continue to use Twitter, and see if something else comes along that actually works for us. Fingers crossed. Hopefully the tired assuredness of the fandom olds will turn out to be correct.

[themollyjay]

Transhumanist Ideas In My Work

A theme I’ve noticed is common in my work is transhumanism.  For those of you who aren't familiar and don't want to fall down the Wikipedia Rabbit Hole, transhumanism is the idea that we will use technology to improve our lives and overcome the inherent limits of the human condition.

In a lot of ways, we've already begun the moment into transhuman space.  These days almost all of us carry a smartphone.  A device that allows us access to near infinite knowledge and instant communication across vast distances.  But really, that's just the first step.  Wearable tech like smartwatches are still in their infancy, but eventually, they'll become as ubiquitous as the smartphone.

All of that's nice, and can lead to a lot of really interesting conversations about the pros and cons of the always on communication that comes with that level of technology, but I want to leave that behind for a bit, and look at the future of transhumanism, why it appeals to me, and how in shows up in my work.

My first exposure to transhumanist ideas was in the cyberpunk genre.  Growing up, I was really into role playing games, but it was never really Dungeons and Dragons for me.  I mean, yes, I have spent a lot of hours as an Elf wondering around the various DnD worlds, but Robotech, Star Wars and World of Darkness were a much bigger deal for me.  But the game that took the cake, the one that I played more of than any other game was Cyberpunk 2020.

Cyberpunk 2020 is the table top role playing game CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is based on, and I'll be honest, I have mixed feelings about it.  I spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours in that world, and I loved a lot of it, and hated a lot of it.  I hated the grimness, the pessimism, the surety that humanity had reached its peak and was in an unstoppable moral and social decline.  I much preferred a more hopeful take on the future.  

But, and this is a big 'but', I loved the idea of a world where humanity and technology blended together.  I loved the idea of being able to fixe lost and broken body parts by going and getting replacements.  I loved the idea of being able to reshape your body into what you wanted it to be.

I had problems with the ideas as presented.  There was a mechanic in the game that insisted that replacing part of your body with technology would inherently rob you of your humanity.  I never liked that idea, because it never felt right or true.  I think a large part of that was because I despised my body the way only a trans kid can.  The idea of being able to just go down to the local body shop on the corner and buy myself an entirely new body, one that felt right, that reflected who I was, had an enormous appeal.  I have long, detailed arguments on why cybernetics could actually increase a person's connection to their humanity.

I'll spare you the rambling, because it would be rambling.  There's a lot of personal things in those arguments.  But the ideas stuck with me, and they've become a recurrent theme in my work.  Particularly in my science fiction.

In Mail Order Bride, Sam, the main character, has to receive a number of cybernetic implants in order to live on the planet Talamh.  Talamh is a heavy world with a high metal content, so same needs muscle and bone implants to tolerate the higher gravity, and she needs implants in her respiratory and digestive system in order to filter out environmental contaminants that would slowly kill her without the implants.

She also gets a device installed in her head that serves the same function as a smart phone.  The device, called an Augmented Reality Implant is an incredibly sophisticated computer wired directly into her brain that can talk to her, overlay sensory input to let her see, hear, touch, taste and smell things that aren't there, and can record and play back her experiences.  Sam takes it a bit further than most, and installs an AI which she names Pixel in her Aug, and Pixel becomes one of her closest friends though the course of the store.

Why is this important?  Because it goes back to why transhumanist ideas appeal to me so much.  I'm a disabled trans woman who has spent her whole life being socially awkward and isolated.  The goal of transhumanism is to use technology to overcome limitations, and to improve our lives.

Is it any wonder that in Mail Order Bride, I created a protagonist who needs technology just to survive in her new home, and who finds one of her closest friends though that same technology?  A friend who only exists because of that technology?

I don't think it is, and I can tell you now, as I work on other books, that Mail Order Bride won't be the only book I write where people use technology to step beyond their limits.

[sugarcomatosed]

On Miyuki Inaba and Macross:

I’ve heard nothing but love for wave 2-10 of destruction; but I’ve realized that the scene loses some of its magic for western audience because they don’t know it’s a shout out. 

So today I want to break down for you today the biggest reference in 13 Sentinels you most likely missed out on; Miyuki Inaba, Lynn Minmay and The Super Dimensional Fortess Macross.

Join me under the cut for massive spoilers for Sentinels of course, and a nearly 40 year old anime you’ve never seen.

I think everyone knows Sentinels is chock full of sci-fi shout outs. From War of the Worlds, to Terminator, The Matrix, heck even GroundHog’s day, the list goes on and on. Most western audiences will be able to spot the bulk, so why haven’t you heard of Macross?

Simply put, copyright battles. In 1985, Hamorny Gold stitched together three unrelated animes to create Robotech. One of the anime series involved was Macross and Harmony Gold has kept a tight leash on the copyright preventing the series from ever getting a real proper English release ever since.

...so what is Macross?

Well, in super blunt Wikipedia stolen summaries:

Macross (マクロス, Makurosu, English: /məˈkrɒs/) is a Japanese science fiction mecha anime media franchise/media mix, created by Studio Nue (most prominently mechanical designer Shōji Kawamori) and Artland in 1982. The franchise features a fictional history of Earth and the human race after the year 1999, as well as the history of humanoid civilization in the Milky Way. It consists of four TV series, four movies, six OVAs, one light novel, and five manga series, all sponsored by Big West Advertising, in addition to 40 video games set in the Macross universe, 2 crossover games, and a wide variety of physical merchandise.

If you asked me to boil the series down to it’s three staples I’d pick the following three elements. Big robot fights, love triangles and music, usually all interplaying together to make some of the most exciting fight scenes in anime.

The series is going strong in Japan ever since its 1982 release, with the most recent series Macross Delta’s newest film “Absolute Live!!!!!!” getting its first teaser trailer days before I sat down to write this post. It’s insanely big in Japan and you’ve probably seen a half dozen Macross references if you’ve watched a sci-fi anime before. Most likely the signature missile blast.

Sentinels pulls specifically from the 1984 film: the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross: Do You Remember Love? The story is largely a shortened version of the first tv series which aired in 82 and is considered in canon a film retelling of the events.

The film focuses on a colony ship adrift through space suddenly being attacked by an alien race called the Zentardi, it’s both a war film and a very quiet drama all tangled up in the three central characters of Hikaru Ichijo, the young pilot, Misa Hayase, one of the bridge officers and then Miss Macross herself; Lynn Minmay.  An idol singer aborad the ship who has during its journey become a huge celebrity after starting as a simple waitress at her family’s restaurant. 

Minmay is considered something of the face of the series and while other characters may never come up again in its extended universe, the story of Lynn Minmay is akin to legend in later entries in the seires. 

When mankind was faced with these invaders, there was one simple thing that managed to send the enemy into disarray, the music of Lynn Minmay shocked the Zentardi who had no concept of culture and music. They end up capturing her and the other two leads during the course of the film and while the others manage to escape; Minmay is trapped behind with the Zentardi.

They eventually ask her to look and exam a relic they’ve kept on board their ship, and Minmay discovers it’s of all things, a song.

So, if isn’t obvious enough by this description alone, Miyuki is modeled after Minmay. It’s not a 1 to 1, but the curls in her hair and the style of her outfit make it even more obvious.

They have a lot of the same general vibes too, Minmay over the course of the film becomes a tragic melancholic figure and a symbol of the war effort against her will. Her sweet dreamy smile and glittering energy become subdued as she faces set back over setback. She remains strong up until a point behind her facade of confidence until she discovers Hikaru now has feelings for Misa. Culminating in the finale of the film where a despair filled Minmay refuses to sing because it all seems pointless.

Miyuki foils this of course with her journey from the plucky Tomi Kisaragi of a prior loop to a ghost in the machine; a somber beautiful figure but a changed person. She only has this role she’s taken on in the end. All she can do to impact the out come of this fight is sing and hope Shu hears her.

In the finale, Minmay is given a wake up call and asked by Hikaru to sing her song and try to save the lives of everyone left aboard the macross. Roused from her despair, Minmay agrees and the final battle is set to the tunes of the song the Zentardi had shown her, now with lyrics Misa had translated. At long last reaching them and halting the conflict.

This is of course, what 2-10 is a direct reference too. Miyuki sings Seaside Vacation until she can’t be heard any longer.

Even if you’ve never seen the film, the clip alone is a treat in itself. It’s a lovely piece of animation 

But Macross’s influences go deeper than just Miyuki and the original Macross. In Macross Plus, the primary idol is the artificial intelligence Sharon Apple. She is also it’s major villian as her AI becomes destabilized during the course of the film.

With the illegal modifications installed in Sharon takes control of the capital of Earth with her music and nearly destroys the city. Miyuki’s character is all Minmay, but her role in the story is a heroic Sharon Apple.

And outside of Miyuki, Macross references and influences can be spotted in Tomi’s story in which she and Nenji are trapped in 2025 and he begins to fall for her mirrors the arc that occurs between Hikaru and Misa after they escape the clutches of the Zentardi. The pair find themselves trapped on a mysterious planet, which turns out to be Earth rampaged by the Zentardi. Misa and Hikaru’s hostility towards each other fades as they try to come to grips with this truth. They spend a long time alone in the ruins and eventually fall in love before eventually being saved by the Macross. Which, is roughly what occurs in Tomi’s story between her and Nenji.

Shu’s story as well, with the minor focus on his confusion of his feelings towards Tomi and Yuki are also arguably a tongue in cheek reference towards the series many Love triangles, which aren’t always true triangles but always remain a corner stone of the series. 

Does Shu actually have feelings towards Tomi? No but she’s showing up everywhere and it’s left him a little out of sorts and plays into the misinformation sentinels feeds you, leading you to think there’s a triangle of some sorts:

Maybe they’re stretches, but considering it was stated in an interview the film was a huge inspiration for the game, I wouldn’t be shocked. I found the interview on twitter back in November but can’t track it down now and I’m v. sad

There’s also the matter of the Protoculture.

The Macross is a massive colony ship, sent out into space with the goal of returning to earth after a long space voyage to insure humanity’s survival, much like the probes the 2188 colony sent out. Misa and Hikaru return to find this was the only thing that’s had prevented humanity from being wiped by the Zentardi.

While on earth, Misa and Hikaru manages to discover a set of ruins of a highly advanced civilization that had created both humanity and the Zentardi. The protoculture.

The logs they manage to Find reveal that their inventions grew too great and they have all but disappeared from the universe, but humanity in the end are aliens as well. The invading Zentardi were just tools used by the Protoculture to wage war on itself and contributed to the death of their people.

The song Minmay sings is a relic of the Protoculture, an ancient highly advanced civilization from thousands of years ago.

Now Hm. Why does that sound familiar? What was it Fluffy said about 2188 and the Deimos code....

They’re obviously not 1-1 references, but Sentinels was such a labor of love that pulled from so many genres it’s nice to see such an iconic series get a well thought out reference. 

I hope this was something of a fun read and gives you a better love of Miyuki and 2-10.

I don’t know if I’d recommend getting into Macross if you liked Sentinels, but if you’re interested send me an ask and I could probably give you a helpful breakdown. I love both series so much and consider them my top two sci-fi! 

[mr-double-downer]

the continued existence of robotech is kinda baffling to me but I guess there’s Kickstarter for an expansion of a role playing game I didn’t even know existed.

[zerochanges]

Robotech: Unboxing + Rant

Anime licensing and localization has come a long way since the dark ages of the medium where you had to track down old fan subbed VHS tapes or hope you can catch some heavily edited version of a show on one of your local networks before cable was even a thing. The latter describes the place in history that Robotech holds, and for many it was a landmark experience and a gateway into anime--and that should have been its legacy whole stop but well, corporate greed is a bitch. I’m sure I don’t have to sit here and explain the myriad of ways license holder Harmony Gold has more or less been super scummy. From downright patent trolling, to blocking any attempt at localizing certain series and even preventing video game releases; they have become infamous in the anime fandom--so much so to the point where I just don’t want to talk about Robotech anymore. 

Which is a damn shame! Robotech is legitimately a fairly fascinating and well crafted attempt at bringing over anime for its time. The writing is sharp, the voice acting holds up surprisingly well--and it is some of the earliest known roles for a bunch of now prolific voice actors in the anime dubbing community like Tony Oliver and Wendee Lee. Most importantly however the material is treated with respect, and while a bit clumsy at times, there is an obvious love from the staff being put into the work. It’s easy to see how generations grew up with this Frankenstein of an adaptation and became lifelong fans of anime. 

For me personally Robotech will always occupy the same part of my heart that loves the work of Ted Woolsey and other earlier localization figures who took a mess of bland too literal translations (sometimes ones that didn’t even make sense in English) and reworked them with a lot of character and charm despite some really insane restraints of the time. It’s not for everyone, but I do enjoy these early localizations for what they were.

Sadly it seemed Robotech would only be remembered in infamy for Harmony Gold and its (very well documented) downright criminal powers-that-be. Until this past April, where out of nowhere anime fans’ prayers seemingly have been answered. Now the agreement between the three companies is still not fully understood, and it’s hard to say for sure where this will go but for now I like to have goodwill that things will be different from now on. Which is what I want, I easily do love Robotech, and this new agreement brining new Robotech blu-rays is great, but I also want Macross blu-rays too! Hell, I don’t want just that but also Southern Cross and Mospeada releases too, even if they have to be on SD-BD. Over the recent years we have seen blu-rays for all kinds of tangentially related Robotech properties: Megazone 23, Zilion, Orguss, it would be great to have all of Macross as well as the main three series that comprise Robotech to go alongside with them on my blu-ray shelf.

With all that out of the way, I will stop ranting now and show off the most recent Robotech Collector’s Edition from Funimation as well as some comparisons to a past set I posses. 

The box itself is absolutely gorgeous and the contents inside of high quality too. The asking price may be a bit steep but for fans it really does pay off. 

I was especially impressed with the figure which I had no real interest in (and will still keep stuffed in the box lol) but was shocked to find out it can indeed transform between the three iconic forms of the Veritech fighter.

The blu-rays themselves are housed in a nice sturdy chipboard box and each set has unique art separate from the standard retail release.

Anyone familiar with Funimation’s previous release of the anime series Zillion will easily notice the similar “retro” (or maybe even VHS???) look of the packaging. 

I was somewhat annoyed at this graphic design choice when Zillion came out. I love older anime art and want to appreciate it for all its worth. I get how the vintage VHS look is a fun idea but still! Despite saying that however I ended up really liking it for this latest Robotech set. Probably helps that the o-cards aren’t made of the usual glossy paper stock and are instead really heavy and thick cardboard giving them an almost old book type feel. 

The interior art for the amaray cases as well as the disc art are all great looking. I was especially impressed with the art used for the Masters Saga set which opted to feature protagonist Dana instead of a mech.

The earlier mentioned chipboard box. The entire set looks great in it but it does lead to my major complaint for Funimation about the packaging; it’s all Macross. Yes, the Macross Saga is great, hell it’s a common sentiment amongst fans that “The Macross portion of Robotech is the best part”. But really what makes Robotech what it is was the mixing of multiple shows. Really bummed out that Southern Cross or Mospeada got no love this time. 

The Collector’s Edition blu-ray standing next to the 2013 A&E DVD set, which was the only one I could really find laying around at the time of this writing. 

The first of these two images is a screenshot directly taken from the 2013 A&E DVD set, and the second of the two is a screenshot taken directly from the 2021 BD from Funimation. This pattern will be followed for all subsequent comparison shots; DVD on top then BD below it. 

The colors really pop when the image is done right--with darker frames advantaging the most while brighter ones are too oversaturated.  

Overall there is greater detail and the colors presented better reflect the original animation work in the BD but it isn’t too uncommon for it to look a bit garish and oversaturated at times too. 

I’d still say this BD upscale is a noticeable improvement at least from the 2013 DVD set I had on hand but well any fan of DBZ will know the song and dance with Funimation and how they remaster old footage. The similar issue of them working off a copy of a master and not the original film itself probably also is equally in play here as it is for their many botched DBZ sets. I’d also argue this set is a bit too heavy on grain (and I say that as a huge lover of grain) but the oversaturation may be the true culprit behind that feeling. 

Overall Funimation’s BD is a nice upgrade but I don’t see myself dipping any more into Robotech unless they actually can recreate the show from the original film master, by this point any more work will just be negligible.

It’s a steep price tag, and the entire series is fairly easy to stream now too if you have a Funimation account, but for the right kind of fan it makes a great piece for your collection. Until next time, let us all hold out hope for potential Macross, Southern Cross, and Mospeada blu-rays.

[princessbilliam]

Otaku Nation: Anime's Effect on American Pop Culture

The modern age of Anime arrive in Japan in the 1960s, and within the course of the following decade or so prospered to the giant robot, distance battle genre bender that we would soon realize as the anime of now.

Evolving within the next 30 years or so, it reached a summit where it could start to overtake and eventually become an essential component of different cultures, similar to the Hollywood of the 1930s quickly grew to encompass the remainder of the planet and inform their pop culture. In precisely the exact same fashion, American pop culture becomes increasingly informed by the trends and cult reaction to anime.

On the other hand, the national awareness as to where these shows came from as well as the poor marketing of the shows made them forgettable and rather than a jump in point, they behave as a nostalgic reminder. Know more NaijaVibe is a pop culture and entertainment website

When Speed Racer came, the beginnings of a true understanding that Japan was producing something fresh and exciting started to install. The prevalence of Speed Racer was never that of its American contemporaries, but it created at a established fanbase the openness to devour newer offerings in the future in Starblazers and Robotech (a convoluted perversion of multiple animes, but nevertheless a comparative success in the countries ). Nonetheless, the effect was largely underground.

From the 1980s, the addition of Beta and VHS made it possible to join together with friends and watch more varying forms of anime. When Akira arrived in 1989, the effect was real. People who knew of Akira were lovers for life, eagerly awaiting their opportunity to partake more and more of the developing tendencies out of Japan.

For Japan's role, this age was a period of major expansion, a veritable boom in the company. The 1980s saw the success of shows such as Gundam and Dragon Ball overgrow the national consciousness and become runaway sensations. The explosion of the manga sector before hand, with serializations of works by Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo in the early 80s simmered in the childhood of Japan and finally seeing the commercial possibilities of those functions, creating in the process a major conglomerate of companies in the Akira Committee to bring the huge funding of Akira to fruition.

By the 90s anime was the mainstream in Japan, and the result was that the ramping up of production and increased output of shows. In part because of the simple, streamlined art style, multiple artist were able to work on a single project and create episode per week for years at a time, leading to monumental runs such as the case of Dragonball (156 episodes) and Dragonball Z (276 episodes). The ability to serialize and turn a story into something that millions of youths would tune into each and every week made firms billions (of yen) and secured the sorts of industrial sponsorships and funds necessary to undertake extraordinary jobs that would require huge sums of cash to finish.

Back in America, a few executives were starting to see the impact that these shows were having in Japan. Slowly and very carefully they began taking the hottest, Dragonball Z and Sailormoon by way of example and finding timeslots first in the afternoon, before the daily retinue of American cartoons, testing the waters of marketability. In 1995, the trickle of anime into the states was only that, a relative trickle. Sailormoon aired every morning in syndication, but sliced and missing key seasons to relate the endings of significant storylines. Dragonball Z ran an equally mild run early on Saturdays in syndication that was abruptly cut when the rights to the show have been lost by the initial company and bought by Funimation.

All the while, works from Japanese specialists like Hayao Miyazaki were being overlooked, passing undetected through limited release in the countries, while making him a God of his own craft in Japan. All the while firms like Manga, Funimation, and Viz were buying up licenses and releasing small known, untraceable reveals that no one knew the origin of. The shows were treated badly, often dubbed and cut up to accommodate American audiences. Viz even launched the very first Anime magazine in 1993 using Animerica, primarily reviewing their particular products but still giving a view of this civilization that nobody knew anything about.

Butin 1995, the release of the shows in the Usa along with the premiere and rave reviews of Neon Genesis Evangelion at Japan, Otaku curiosity abroad began to spike. Otaku is a bid of a misnomer as it is a little bit of a insult in Japan, a mean spirited way to call someone a nerd. Here though, it normally signifies a purveyor of Japanese pop-culture and with all the Otaku so in fashion right now it's less of an insult than the clique. The early 90s was a time of massive growth of interest from the little known import of Anime however, and the American marketplace was not slow to react.

In 1997, tv programs made broad sweeping moves to bring displays to the mainstream. The Sci-Fi station had always needed a small market in its own latenight line up for cult classics like Vampire Hunter D, but Warner Bros finally brought the genre to primetime. And in 1998, a small known video game for the Game Boy exploded at the American market, bringing along with it its whole arsenal of marketing ploys, including the childish, but enormously popular Pokemon anime. Finally, kids throughout the nation were gluing themselves to the tv series as earnestly as their Japanese counterparts had for nearly a decade earlier hand.

Miyazaki's new film played to better reception, receiving a proper release through Miramax. Princess Mononoke has been a success in the terms of the time, even receiving the coveted two thumbs up (let alone an overview whatsoever ) out of Siskel and Ebert. Movies started to arrive in America more liberally, still finding small release, but release at least. And the shows started to pour into. At the time, the fansub scene was more or less the only way to get access to some of the more obscure titles being released in Japan. But since the market thrived, so did the licensing by major companies, and it really started to become prohibited to fansub certain shows since they might be published by a company eventually.

Thus began the closing and full assimilation of Japanese pop culture into American. The DVD format sped up the process, as more episodes of a series could be packaged into a disk than a VHS and production prices plummeted, removing a lot of the financial threat of an untested foreign product in the American marketplace. Cartoon Network surfaced its Toonami afternoon cartoon slot, in which they showcased anime that had been in existence for just a time, but was able to appeal to a much larger demographic and spread the word about these great narrative driven cartoons from throughout the ocean. An whole generation grew into the expanding popularity and became entranced by the epic storylines, amazing storytelling and capacity to show in a cartoon what many considered adult topics and much more mature perspectives on matters like competition and personal success. The Japanese ability to cross genre as well as the extremely higher production values which started to enter displays made in the late 90s and outside supposed amazing shows that appealed not only to children but to adults and outside.

What began as a crossover, gradually began to actually alter the manner in which American's promoted their tv to kids. Shows with more adult articles appeared, and in some cases emulated the Japanese structure. The authors at Pixar crafted brilliant, more maturely themed animations with no ridiculous musicals of Disney ago, and Disney even dissolved their attempted format in favor of much more adult, stories that were complete. The devolution of American quality in animations though as they attempted to match the output signal meant even more Japanese entries in the market. Now, if you flip on Fox kids in the morning you'll find more than half of those shows on are animes. And Cartoon Network nevertheless presents multiple entrances themselves, with much more adult offerings in their Adult Swim block late at night.

These days, you will find anime oriented t-shirts anyplace, an entire aisle devoted to DVD releases at Best Buy (compared to the 1 row only seven years ago) and the achievement of this Anime Network, a channel solely devoted to Anime programming. Magazines like Newtype, a Japanese trade magazine to the Anime sector is now translated and released in America every month with previews of new shows, and American directors like James Cameron are looking to direct live action versions of manga like Battle Angel Alita.

Now, we view new releases from Japan within seven weeks, and the fansub community has to scramble to keep up with what is legal and what's not legal to offer through their services. The internet itself has made it a huge community, in which a show can be recorded on Japanese television, ripped and subbed, subsequently uploaded within a couple hours for the entire world to view. There is no place over, and new displays are immediately available. And it's evident in the universities too. Japanese is one of the most pursued languages, filling up instantly with a lawn long waiting list each year, and much more segments being added each year.

[nomadicism]

I read that one posts. I agree with Sol. I think it's more likely that Dreamworks crunched the numbers, figured it wouldn't be profitable and just canned the project than them cancelling it because of a very small section of the internet. p1

“p2 Mecha is just a dying genre as a whole. Even in Japan, isekai has taken it's place and there are hardly any new mechas outside of Gundam. That's in Japan! In the west, mecha is even more niche of an interest and general audiences don't gravitate towards it. I don't think that any mecha movie wouldn't do well at the box office. I'm even worried about that Gundam movie bombing at the box office.”

Hi Anon, thank you for the Ask!

Yeah, I agree with Sol too—and at risk of repeating what I’ve said in other posts about the movie thing—it’s really hard to convey just how incredibly unlikely a property like Voltron or Robotech will ever be made into a live-action movie. It really is about the numbers, as it always has been. Since the 80s, there’s this whole persistent and stupid element of the cartoon industry that continues to delude itself that promises or interest from Hollywood will ever pan out. There are so many scripts sitting in production limbo, that it’s almost criminal.

No one wants to risk money on a live-action movie based on children’s media IP that won’t bring in rated PG-13 or R dollars from adults, and no one wants to risk repeating the 80s He-Man film. The exceptions are live-action films made from children’s media IP that are fully owned by the company paying to produce the movie. I’ve got more to say about the complexities of royalties, but that’s awfully long-winded when I get into it, and I’d rather be long-winded about giant robots. (◕ᴗ◕✿)

The topic of mecha genre dying out is what really interests me here. It’s a topic that I think about a lot, as the beginnings of the mecha genre had a lot of deep cultural time-and-place stuff behind it, even if the stories were just kids and teen boys hopping into a giant robot to beat up other giant robots and monsters, in what were essentially 30 minute long toy commercials.

Isekai will come-and-go as all genres do. It’s not a new genre, but right now the types of themes driving the isekai stories being made speaks to a lot of interesting things happening in the youth of Japan’s relationship with digital gaming and role-play escapism. It’s fascinating, even though the focus of the genre as it’s done today hasn’t really grabbed me in the same way that isekai of the 80s-90s did.

Mecha isekai exists, and it’s only a matter of time before someone either remakes Vision of Escaflowne, or does a more mecha-focused isekai story similar to Magic Knight Rayearth. I doubt anyone would revisit Aura Battler Dunbine, or Super Dimension Century Orguss, but an otaku can dream.

Before we can say the mecha genre is dying, let’s briefly skim over the genre trends of the past +40 years. Every decade or era of mecha anime has a trend that reflects cultural concerns built into it, in a way that I don’t think any other genre of animation can touch (until now, with Digital/Virtual/Fantasy RPG World Isekai).

Late 60s-70s was: Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

Mid-70s – early 80s was: Combining Mecha Sentai Team Super Robot smashes monsters and alien robots

80s was: Real Robot + “how many sci-fi/fantasy settings can we put a robot into?” + the death-throes of Super Robot (e.g. Dairugger XV, Golion, Baldios, Godmars)

Also 80s: What the hell was Super Dimension Fortress Macross about? Cold war tensions of escalating end-the-world arms race meets an alien species whose only culture is fighting. Where songs about love, and the culture of love, are what win the day, not just transforming robots and big guns. Macross is deeper than it lets on.

Fun 80s: GoShogun happened. The first parody-satire mecha anime that still feels more serious than they intended, but is actually hilarious once you get past the dated gender roles humor (which was also kind of intentional satire).

WTF 80s: Space Runaway Ideon broke everyone’s minds.

Still not done with 80s: Gunbuster happened. The first angst-driven parody-satire mecha anime that blew everyone’s minds.

Late 80s-early 90s OVA mecha was a mix of Serious Cyberpunk-influenced Real Robot for older teens and adults + Mecha with Tits & Tentacles for Adults (see also space elf lesbians).

90s was: The Franchises Will Survive With Prettier Pilots, and Super Angst-Bot That Was Way More Influenced By Drugs And Ideon’s Ending Than Anyone Wants To Admit (aka Neon Genesis Evangelion) + “Since Gunbuster was a success, how many parodies of Super Robot and Real Robot can we do?”

Mid 90s isekai gems: Magic Knight Rayearth and Vision of Escaflowne

Late 90s: Brain-Powerd (not a typo) happened and it’s a shame no one remembers it. I’ve seen it’s influence come up in the 2000s – 2010s.

The 00s seem to be filled with a lot of re-treading of everything that came before but with different cross-genre influences and some of it really damn good but hard to remember because it all kind of blends together.

The 2010s-today: I have no idea what’s happening now b/c I can’t keep up with anything that isn’t Gundam. And why bother when there has been a flood of classic 70s-80s mecha releases—many for the first time in the US—to binge watch?

Knights of Sidonia was cool.

Since I haven’t kept up, I can’t speak to what new mecha anime is like, or why it's less popular (though I have an educated guess). It was gonna happen eventually, and I suspect that the kinds of post-nuclear and Cold War existential dread that informed mecha anime of the 60s-80s has moved on as target audiences grew up. Those lates 80s OVAs, where the stories could be more adult, reflect that growing up (and also Blade Runner’s influence).

I see the 90s as very transitional, includes reactions to the prior eras, but also reflects a lot of angst by Japanese teens and young adults caught up in the after-effects of 80s stagnation, and the constant test-studying to get into the best school to get the best job (if it exists) and figure it all out before you’re 14 so you can pick the best school to test into. Also, salary-man dad works 120 hours a week and is never home. Get in the Angst-bot Shinji.

Excluding the stand-out brands that survived their respective eras: Gundam, Macross, Braves series, Mazinger Z, Getter Robo, Evangelion; there’s not much other ground that can be covered right now that would warrant a series. The franchise mecha shows are grounded in their respective niches. It’s kind of odd that there isn’t an isekai mecha franchise, b/c that’s a niche that hasn’t been owned in the way that the other niches have (unless maybe Machine Hero Wataru is still a Thing?)

It’s worth mentioning that Sport Anime has really been having a moment for almost a decade now, and that’s super interesting to compare against isekai. Isekai about dungeon slimes or whatever vs literal horse-girls racing each other like high-school track. Thanks Japan, are y’all all right over there?

A few last things:

The success of Super Robot Wars tells me that mecha genre isn’t dying. Consider the ages of players. How many of them actually grew up watching Yuusha Raideen (aka Yūsha Raideen / Raideen the Brave)? There is an SRW manga anthology series, and loads of gachapon and collector’s grade mecha figures from old mecha anime get released with regularity. Someone’s buying that all that shit.

SRW is nearly 20 years old now, and they are still making video games that do one thing really well: rotate a 40 year old cast of everyone’s favorite robots into a battle strategy game held together by a duct-tape plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The games are fun, and it’s cool to put all these mecha into the same field. It’s really great to see older shows that will never be remade have little cut scenes in a newer animation style that still feels like the originals.

There’s also the old staple that started it all: the tokusatsu genre of live-action Super Sentai shows (e.g. Power Rangers). They’ve been making the Super Sentai Series since 1975, and there’s still fun to be had watching color-coded warriors use special powers/tech to summon forth some combining mecha to do battle with rubber suit monsters from outer-space. The effects are much better these days, but it’s the same formula, year after year and people still love it.

So with respect to mecha, I think what’s died or dying, is that people are afraid to have shameless child-like fun with giant robots. The genre got too serious and too angsty (and too horny without the grown-up edge of 80s OVA Tits & Tentacles mecha). The franchises carved their niches and aren’t going anywhere, while the genre survives in video games and collectables.

A lot of that shameless fun has moved into other genres, because nothing else explains a title like: “Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girl’s In The Dungeon?” or the nearly-ecchi concept behind the sports anime “Keijo!!!!!”. But that kind of fun is less child-like and more self-deprecating or pervy-humor. Both sports and isekai anime have their serious side, but seem to be dominated by stories that don’t take themselves too seriously, or like Yuri on Ice, aren’t afraid to take a concept that no one ever saw coming, and shape it into a good story.

I eagerly await a mecha sports anime (wait, no, I think that already happened), and I’d love to see a knock-out isekai mecha anime again. I think it will happen eventually, but probably not from Toei or Sunrise. If Tatsunoko could get beyond Moe Idols In Space, then the Macross franchise already has everything it needs to do a isekai series. That would be rad.

[legionofmyth]

Kevin Siembieda & Sean Owen Roberson from Palladium Books - (Part 4/4)

Sean vs MaxLiao 🥊 FIGHT! 🥊 Part 4/4: Kevin Siembieda & Sean Owen Roberson join 🐲 RPG Die Gest 🐉 talk about the past, present, and future of Palladium Books. #ttrpg #PalladiumBooks #rpg #DnD #TTRPGFamily #TTRPGCommunity #OSR

Rifts: Ultimate Edition – [PDF]After the Bomb – [PDF]Beyond the Supernatural – [PDF]Nightbane – [PDF]Heroes Unlimited – [PDF]Palladium Fantasy RPG – [PDF]Savage Rifts – [PDF]Kevin Siembieda and Sean Owen Roberson are the dynamic duo behind Palladium Books, Inc., the renowned publisher of tabletop role-playing games like Rifts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness, and Robotech.…

[afreesworn]

Get To Know Me Tag Thing

Rules: Always post the rules. Tag 11 new people you’d like to know better. Whoever wants to do it, I am tagging you! I am super late on answering some of these. But please tag me back so I can see!

Tagged by: @zhauric​ Thank you!

1. Dogs or Cats?

Dogs. I love cats too, but their dander does not love me.

2. YouTube celebrities or normal celebrities?

I couldn’t name any YouTube celebrities off the top of my head so...

3. If you could live anywhere where would that be?

Anywhere where there’s plenty of clouds, rain, and the colors of spring and autumn. Okay, so I guess that’s Oregon or Washington.

4. Disney or DreamWorks?

I know more Disney films.

5. Favourite childhood TV show?

I was really into cartoons. Sailor Moon, Robotech (yes I know it’s Harmony Gold but it’s the version that I came across first!), Transformers...

6. The movie you’re looking forward to most in 2020?

Wonder Woman sequel. 

7. Favourite book you read in 2019?

I am going to bury my head in shame and confess I have not had the time read a book. Do... comic book series count??? Player’s Handbook? Lore books?

8. Marvel or DC?

Marvel. X-men series were my first comic book love affair.

9. If you choose Marvel favourite member of the X-Men? If you choose DC favourite Justice League member?

Jean Grey, because I love the Phoenix storyline. Batman because I love the fact that he is no super human being but elevates himself to the team just the same.

10. Night or Day?

Day.

11. Favourite Pokemon?

I’ve never watched the cartoon, although I did download the Pokemon Go App but... I could not name any others beyond Pikachu.

12. Top 5 bands:

I don’t follow bands religiously, but these are the five bands that I’ve listened to certain albums/songs more times than I can count, and still love them today.

U2, Muse, Coldplay, 30 Seconds to Mars, Duran Duran

13. Top 10 books.

Hmm this is hard. I don’t like to rate books. Just gonna rattle off some books that come to mind in no particular order. 

Storm of Swords

Dragon Prince

Pride and Prejudice

Joy Luck Club

Les Miserables

Hamlet

Ender’s Game

14. Top 4 movies

I do watch way more movies than read books. I definitely have more than 4 but the top... hmm...

Fellowship of the Ring

Star Wars

Gladiator

Avengers: Endgame

15. America or Europe?

America is my home, but in the last few years, I longed for the sensibilities across the seas. Although with the latest election results in the UK... oh WAIT they are not going to be Europe for much long are they?! 

16. Tumblr or Twitter?

For art and writing, Tumblr. For mundane distractions and silliness, Twitter.

17. Pro-choice or Pro-life?

Pro-choice all the way.

18. Favourite YouTuber?

Uhhhhh... I watch Critical Role most reliably on YouTube. But that probably doesn’t count.

19. Favourite author ?

It fluctuated from time to time, currently it’s George R.R. Martin since I am WAITING FOR HIM TO FINISH THE SERIES.

20. Tea or Coffee?

Coffee. Egads I love the smell of coffee. I can’t start the day without it.

21. OTP ?

Where exactly? I have LOTS since shipping is fun! I won’t go into RP OTPs since... well... it’s obvious.

Tohru and Kyo - my favorite in Anime

Scully and Mulder - TV

Elizabeth and Darcy - Books

22. Do you play an instrument/sing ?

Played piano and cello when I was younger but fell out of practice years ago. 

[avoutput]

Mercy || Battle Angel Alita

Many of my manga firsts happened in my middle school library. I think the strangest aspect of their selection, looking back, is how adult some of it was. I can’t recall if there was a rating system to them, but it seemed as though there might have been a list of approved novels, but not a list of approved comics, especially foreign comics. This is how I encountered Battle Angel Alita. The misinformed education system’s ignorance was my bliss. Either that, or some crafty librarian wasn’t afraid to get fired. And in their defense, it wasn’t like the translated manga had a wide breadth of work to offer. Possibly inspired by the success of Akira in the late 80’s, the spectrum of shipped anime was limited to teen serials like Ranma, re-imagined after school shows like Robotech, hard shonen like Dragon Ball Z, and finally violent sci-fi like Sin or Kite. The 90’s American anime scene was dominated by the hyper violent, cyber punk, dystopian scene. Sometimes this would include giant robots or maybe super huge or powerful guns. But the one thing they all had in common was a connection to the fragility of life and the strength of will to sustain that life. Better than most anime of its era, Alita taps into the indomitable human spirit by taking the broken shell of a conscious being cobbled back together by goodwill and an undying belief in the power of life.

How does Battle Angel Alita stand up after being in Hollywood limbo for over 20 years? The first thing I noticed was the bones of a film that could have been made all those years ago. Despite being a computer generated tour de force, you can almost taste the practical effects they would have used all those years ago. In fact, when it comes to the character models, most of whom are computer generated to one degree or another, they so completely clear the uncanny valley, you’d think Evil Kenevil himself made the jump. Even more impressive is that many set pieces are real, tangible objects with a clarity that surpass CG juggernaut films coming from the Marvel camp. Robert Rodriguez has accumulated a talent for directing green screen reliant films from his time with the Spy Kids franchise and fine tuned the perfect mixture of real and fantasy with films like Predators and Planet Terror, both on completely different ends of the spectrum. I can’t think of the last time I was this impressed, but I had mixed to low expectations going in, just to give you a balance.

While the backdrop helped drive the film, the acting really took it home. Rosa Salazar as Alita really drew me in. She was able to balance amnesia, innocence, anger, suspicion, strength, weakness and hope all while standing in the front of this incredible graphic space that wanted to pull your eyes in a million directions. It should go without saying that Christoph Waltz pulled his weight. An empathic delight in any role, even when he takes his turn as a villain in other films. His natural gravity lends strength to his other cast members. Jennifer Connelly’s character Chiren is a little more subdued than her story should allow for, but she still stands out with her signature calmness. The story doesn’t do Mahershala Ali any favors, but he still breaks through and pierces the screen with an icy, villainous stare, though he doesn’t get as much screen time as I would have liked. Keean Johnson does a fine job, but he comes off as pretty boy generic, which is really just a problem with his place in the story more than anything. Lastly, Ed Skrein as Zappa almost feels effortlessly entertaining. He really just chews up his role and plays a line between dangerous and clownish perfectly. I will be coming back to this movie for many reasons, but he is going to make it fun all on his own.

Where the movie becomes a bit muddled is in its tone. But, all good cocktails have “muddle” right in the recipe. And that is exactly what Battle Angel Alita is, a mix of Rodriguez movie making mentality. Its cheeky, gorey, funny, dark, and and totally for and not for kids. This was one of the hardest PG-13 ratings I had seen in years. Decades. I had to double check the rating when I left the theater. Back in the 80’s, the heyday of the blockbuster action-adventure film, they didn’t always have the 13 an older marker. Not necessarily because of that, but nonetheless, films that weren’t intended for children were adopted largely by them. Good examples include Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, and even Aliens (seriously click that link, it’s a 1992 Aliens toy commercial). Battle Angel fills a very similar place, although with a specific misalignment. In Jones and Busters, there is no sense of catering to younger viewers, but possibly in capturing the spirit of Japanese culture and ignoring the western barrier between adult and child, the film adopts a childlike nature in some scenes, and a literal deadly focus in others. This jarring presentation is a unlike anything I have seen in the recent past. It was like they took Terminator 2 and mixed in the Wachowskis’ Speed Racer with a hint of Spy Kids and a dash of From Dusk Till Dawn. Alita is an unbalanced cocktail of childlike wonder and violence that goes down hard, but delicious regardless. 

In a time of transition, where people are unsure of their next paycheck or where they will be in 5 years, Alita’s story offers us a beacon of light. It shows us we can be broken, changed, unable to produce in the way we used to. We can evolve, find our passage, and make change in the spirit of good. Robert Rodriguez also creates a new space for Anime fans. That Anime can be translated to the big screen, altered, and still entertaining and insightful across the border of both time and country. If you have read any of my work, you know I have a special place in my heart for the translation of video games and anime, so this really hit home for me. Like El Mariachi, From Dusk Till Dawn, and The Faculty, I will be re-watching this movie for years because of the ingenuity of everyone involved in all of these films.

~* 9/10 *~

[herbalmedic]

ROLEPLAY HISTORY

The rules are simple! Post ten characters you’d like to roleplay as, have role-played as and might bring back. Then tag ten people to do the same (if you can’t think of ten characters, just write down however many you can and tag the same amount of people). Aside from that, please repost instead of reblogging!

CURRENTLY PLAYING:

Albert Wesker (HIGHLY AU and one of my faves to play ever, over @ cannonfullofcanons)

Rebecca Chambers (naturally)

Brad Vickers (same multi)

Enrico Marini (same multi)

Uncle Iroh (Avatar: The Last Airbender, same multi)

John Hammond (Jurassic Park, same multi)

Grimlock (Generation 1 Transformers, same multi)

Alucard (Hellsing Ultimate, same multi)

Dr. Zed (Borderlands, same multi)

Professor Ozpin (RWBY, same multi)

WANT TO PLAY:

L (Death Note)

Sgt. Tackleberry (Police Academy)

Fafnir (Dragon Maid)

Shigemori Sumimura (Kekkaishi)

Maisie Lockwood (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom)

Riko Saikawa (Dragon Maid)

Kobayashi (Dragon Maid)

Roy Fokker (Robotech)

Haythan Kenway (Assassin’s Creed 3/Assassin’s Creed: Rogue)

Leroy Jethro Gibbs (NCIS)

HAVE PLAYED:

Leon Kennedy (Resident Evil 2)

Ada Wong (Resident Evil 4)

Jim Chapman (Resident Evil Outbreak)

Gambit (X-Men)

Charles Xavier (X-Men)

Wolverine (X-Men)

Luis Sera (Resident Evil 4)

Scrappy (Scooby-Doo)

Oghren (Dragon Age: Origins)

Kenny (The Walking Dead Game)

WILL/WOULD PLAY AGAIN:

Gambit

Oghren

Luis Sera

Wolverine

Xavier

Leon Kennedy

Jim Chapman

Admiral Gloval (Robotech)

Swoop (Generation 1 Transformers)

Ramon Salazar (Resident Evil 4)

tagged by  :  done diddly stole from @verlifo!!

tagging  :   @armedwithaflashlight @m4t-ild4 @unlockedtm @survivedempathy @horrorempathy @survieves @forsaken--lullaby @fortanach @risaen @valkury & anyone else who wants toooo