#Steel Dragon 2000

[dav-suburbiia]

did I ever mention that at one point I was going to make a fangan populated entirely by humanized rollercoasters. did I ever talk about that. I don’t think I did. give me a minute

[ under cut ]

This was the protagonist, Suzuho. based on Steel Dragon 2000. I made her an adventurer, because, steel dragon is the longest coaster and thus “covers the most ground”. (also made a mistake on the second image. it’s supposed to say “strong sense of JUSTICE” but I must’ve accidentally deleted the last part)

The Smiler-based guy named Wilbur. decided to go against the typical Smiler OC “chaos demon” protocol and make a polite introvert. the smiler is a very self-contained rollercoaster with a small footprint, plus hypnotists should have calming voices and presences to properly entrance people, so I figured making him more restrained and introverted would be a interesting yet explainable subversion

and this was a beta design for a girl based on Formula Rossa named Laura. Ultimate Race Car Driver obviously

I had an Ultimate ??? based on Kingda Ka in the works, never drew him. I had other characters planned as well, but I won’t talk about them unless people are for some reason interested in the rest of them.

that’s all though. just wanted to let you know about a weird project I was working on for a little while

[haveyoubeenonthisrollercoaster]

[vikenticomeshome]

Carl's Cool Kids and Hardee's Cool Kids Meal Toys (part 1/?)

Hello all,

Not too long ago, I made a post about the Cyberchase toys that were available from Carl's Jr. and Hardees back in 2003. This was a tiny part of the Cool Kids promotion that was shared between the two restaurants. The Cool Kids promotion itself lasted about 18 years, based on the archives that I have seen. It started with a "Cow and Chicken" promotion back in February of 2000.

The last promotion is unknown, as the links for November 2017 through April 2018 are missing their graphics, and their target pages are broken. The last one that has its image archived was an August/September 2017 promotion for "oddbods".

For the most part, I am going to stick to the "past promotion" pages, as those give us images and names for all of the products all in one image. If this is missing, then I will attempt to use the set of images from the "toy closeups" page. However, I will need to skip some of these promotions entirely, as I was unable to find images from them.

The year 2000

For February and March of 2000, we have a set of toys from the legendary old Cartoon Network show "Cow and Chicken". I remember watching this sometimes when visiting my grandma, who had cable. I don't really remember it though.

For April and June of 2000, was have "Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot". I have never heard of this before. It ran on Fox Kids in 2001, so I am a bit surprised that I didn't see it alongside other shows I watched back then.

For June and July of 2000, we get a version of Tom and Jerry that was airing on cartoon network. What can I say about these two that hasn't already been said? I remember watching a few incarnations of Tom and Jerry. I think this is the one with William Hanna and Joseph Barbara. It doesn't look like the Chuck Jones variant from what I remember.

For July and August of 2000, we get some superheroes from DC. One thing I notice about these toys is that they don't have a consistent art-style. Wonder Woman is a particularly obvious outlier. They don't seem to be associated with a particular cartoon incarnation.

For September and November of 2000, we have "Brothers Flub". My only opportunity to watch Nickelodeon was visiting my grandma. I don't think I ever saw this show. Apparently the brothers are space couriers.

For October of 2000, we get "Monster Buckets". This picture is grainy, so I cannot make out all of the art. I wonder if this was custom-made, or if this was pre-existing art.

For November and December of 2000, we get "Tiny Toon Adventures". I've only seen bits and pieces of this myself. I know it has a huge following that endures to this day.

For January and February of 2001, we got toys for "Godzilla: The Series". This is another one that aired on Fox Kids back when I watched that channel. However, I don't remember ever seeing this series.

For March and April of 2001, we got "Max Steel". I had never heard of this series before. Apparently, this kids gets attacked by the villain and nearly killed by nano-bots. In an effort to save his life, he is given T-Juice, which saves his life and gives him superhuman abilities.

For April and May of 2001, we get "Monster Rancher". This is not a franchise that I am familiar with, but it is apparently pretty big and ongoing.

For June 2001, we get Crash Bandicoot. He's kind of a big deal. And Spyro is here as well.

For July and August of 2001, we got Wallace and Grommit. This was before the "Curse of the Were-Rabbit" film, which was probably my introduction to the franchise.

And now, we reach a gap. In September 2001, there was a Nascar promotion. And then, in November and December of 2001, there was an "Olive the Other Reindeer" promotion. I couldn't find any official photos for these promotions.

2002

In January and February of 2002, we got Phantom Investigators. I find this promotion fascinating. The series only ran for 13 episodes, between May and August of 2002. These are probably the only toys that were ever released for the series. They may be the only merch of any sort released for the show. I need to sit down and watch it, as the art style is something really special.

For February and March of 2002, we get a Pokemon promotion with little cups topped with Pikachu, Totodile, Mewtwo, and Charizard.

For April and May of 2002, we get the legendary magical girl anime Cardcaptors, based on the manga Cardcaptor Sakura.

And now, we get another gap. I couldn't find any official images for the June 2002 Spider-man promotion.

For August 2002, we get some Digimon toys.

For September 2002, we get "Jackie Chan Adventures". I loved this show growing up. I didn't get to see it very often, but it was good.

For October 2002, we got some Spider-man Halloween buckets.

For November and December of 2002, we go back to the classics for Peanuts, specifically "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

2003

Before we get into the 2003 promotions, let's bring back Cyberchase for a moment. While surviving bags of the togs show that they were released at Carl Jr's and Hardees in 2003, we don't know exactly when they were out. They were never given a promotion of their own. Instead, they were the backup toys when the currently running promotion was sold out. I'm not sure why they didn't give Cyberchase its own promotion.

For January and February of 2003. we got a promotion for the original Ice Age.

For March and April of 2003, we got a promotion for Cubix. This was a South Korean production that got a 4-Kids English dub. I don't remember it.

For May and June of 2003, we get a promotion for Dragon Ball. I hope I don't need to explain what this is. It's kind of a big deal.

For July and August of 2003, we get a promotion for "The Martians".

Now, hold on a second, I don't remember a cartoon called "The Martians" from back then. And I cannot find a cartoon by that name. Wait a minute...

Yeah, I guess Carl Jrs. and Hardees weren't comfortable with the original title of "Butt-Ugly Martians", so they renamed it to "The Martians" and re-did the logo. I couldn't find anything on the Wikipedia page about the show being renamed for different broadcasters or countries, so this may have been just for this toy release. How bizarre.

For August and September of 2003, we get a promotion for everyone's favorite mummy movie.

[posthumanwanderings]

Simple 2000 Series Stream Pt.4 (D3 Publisher - PS2 - 2000s)

0:00 Pre-Stream Jams (Love Upper!) 7:00 Street Golfer 1:11:55 Love Smash! 1:43:55 Snowboard Racer 2 2:21:55 Come on Baby! 3:37:55 Yakuza Fury 3:56:30 Metropolismania 2 4:26:50 Love Mahjong! 4:41:20 Love Mahjong! 2 5:07:55 Taxi Rider 5:27:45 The Maid Clothes & Machine Gun 6:05:20 Love Songs 6:27:30 Runabout 3: Neo Age 6:35:20 The Fire's Fighting Banchou 6:49:10 The Men's Machine Gun Base 7:19:20 Intermission 7:30:00 The Japan Special Forces ~Violent Crime Archipelago 7:41:45 Steel Dragon Evolution 8:14:20 The Meoka Pichi Trap Book ~Oharu-Chan GOGOGO! 8:31:40 Let's Go By Train! 3 9:16:15 The Let's Talk to Aliens! What is Uchu-jin?~ 9:50:50 Monster Attack / Earth Defense Force 10:20:35 Demolition Girl / The Daibijin

[roseofhybrids]

Dang, Greenland got the pee sharks?

It makes me happy when they listen

[toptenknowledge]

Top 10 Fastest Roller Coasters in The World

Top 10 Fastest Roller Coasters in The World: Roller coasters have been a popular form of entertainment since the late 19th century. They have come a long way from their humble beginnings as simple wooden structures with minimal safety features. Today, roller coasters are some of the most complex and technologically advanced amusement park rides in the world. One of the most exciting aspects of…

[ohmovie]

BLOOD & STEEL & LONGING

Hannibal (2013–2015)│Fallout (2024 – present)│Shadow 影 (2018)│House of the Dragon (2022 – present)│Princess Mononokeもののけ姫 (1997)│Dark (2017–2020)│Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)│Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 臥虎藏龍 (2000)│Hero 英雄 (2002)│Dune: Part One (2021)│My Country: The New Age 나의 나라 (2019)│Inception (2010)│A Brighter Summer Day 牯嶺街少年殺人事件 (1991)│The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

[kessyathena]

Kessy's Recommendations

A little while ago a friend who's into Little Witch Academia asked for recommendations and I immediately suggested Magic User's Club. It's one of my go to's and a great show, but it's pretty obscure these days. That got me to thinking about all the other great OVA's I've seen that everyone's forgotten. So here's a selection of my favorites from the golden age of OVA's (1980's -2000's). If you're looking for a thread that connects these, my personal tastes run to character driven stories. I've tried to emphasize titles that are easy to access, mostly ones that are free on Youtube.

Assemble Insert: 1989, 2 eps.

comedy, superhero, idol, mad scientist, police

The city is being overrun by a mad scientist and his mecha equipped gang, so what's the overworked underpaid police force to do? Obviously, hold a competition for the next big idol! Err, I mean superhero to save the city. Wait, is there a difference? Maron really wants to know, since she's the (un?)fortunate winner of the competition.

All Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku (Bannou Bunka Neko-Musume): 1992, 6 eps.

comedy, catgirl (sort of), android, superpower, evil corporation

Ryuunosuke just wanted a pet, so when the minions of his overbearing mother accidentally kill the stray kitten he'd picked up his father does the only sensible thing: transplant the cat's brain into the experimental android body he's got in the back seat of the car. Ryuunosuke's new "big sister" is cheerful, energetic, able to bend steel beams with her bare hands, and overly fond of fish and sunbeams.

Nuku Nuku got a TV reboot and a second unrelated OVA called Nuku Nuku Dash, but the original OVA is definitely the best version.

Dragon Half: 1993, 2 eps.

comedy, fantasy world, WTF am I watching?, dragon girl

Mink is the child of a dragon mother and a human father. (Don't think about it too much.) Her father was formerly the champion of the evil king, who still bears a grudge. So there are evil minions, a guy named Dick Saucer who can't decide if he's a singer or a swordsman, a princess who's half slime, the finger water squirter of DOOM, and Beethoven! Don't wait for it to make sense, just enjoy the ride.

Plastic Little: 1994, 1 ep.

action, scifi, space opera, fanservice, yuri subtext

Tita and her galant crew make a living in the pet shop trade, capturing exotic animals in their planet's ocean of clouds for export. One day Tita runs into a beautiful young woman being pursued by a group of uniformed goons. Impulsively deciding to help the stranger, Tita and her crew are drawn into a military conspiracy to wreak havoc on the colony. Naturally, there's a caped villain, high speed chases, battleships, and ridiculously unsafe walkways over a vast chasm.

Elf Princess Rane (Yousei Hime Ren): 1995, 2 eps.

comedy, WTF am I watching?, magic, yuri subtext, idiot protagonist

Well, there is a plot to this one, but describing it would take too long, make no sense, and miss the point. Rane is a frenetically paced, gag after gag wild romp into hilarity and the absurd. There are fairies from another dimension who only speak an unintelligible language, a scheming corporation, a large group of identical sisters, and a protagonist so obsessed with treasure hunting he sees it everywhere to the point of being oblivious to what's in front of his nose.

Magic User's Club (Mahoutsukai Tai!): 1996, 6 eps.

comedy, romance, school life, alien invaders, magic, unrequited love, yaoi

The Earth has been invaded by aliens! However, the aliens are content to sit in their giant spaceship while observing humanity with robotic probes. So when Sawanoguchi Sae joins her school's club of neophyte magic users and the club president declares that they're going to defeat the aliens with magic, she's nothing but enthusiastic. And a massive klutz. What hope do they have considering that the rest of the club consists of Sae's best friend who only joined for Sae's sake, a vice president whose main interest is his crush on the president, and a freshman who frequently skips club activities to go on dates?

There is also a very good 13 episode TV series which is a direct continuation of the OVA featuring the same cast and hijinks but with a change in tone, not the least because the aliens are gone.

Birdy the Mighty (Tetsuwan Birdy): 1996, 4 eps.

action, school life, undercover aliens, conspiracy, gender bender, body sharing

Tsutomu is your average school kid out for a stroll one evening when he runs into a man running for his life from… something. The man turns out to be an alien in disguise and the something, well let's just say it radically changes Tsutomu's life as he's drawn into a conspiracy involving interplanetary criminals. A Federation Officer named Birdy Cephon shows up, but due to reasons he winds up having to share his body with her.

The series got a TV reboot called Birdy the Mighty: Decode. In my opinion, the original OVA is better.

R.O.D: Read or Die: 2001, 3 eps.

action, superpowers, secret agent, yuri subtext

Yomiko Readman is your average substitute teacher… Okay, no she isn't. She's absolutely obsessed with reading: her home is filled with stacks of books. She also has the ability to manipulate paper in any way she wishes, turning ordinary stationary into shields, weapons, giant flying paper airplanes, and so on. And she has a side job as a secret agent. So when a group of superpowered villains threatens the world, agent "The Paper" swings into action. Immediately after one of the bad guys steals her book!

ROD also has a TV series that has the same setting but completely new characters and plotline. The connections to the original OVA only gradually become apparent.

Murder Princess: 2007, 6 eps.

action, fantasy world, action girl, body swap, yuri subtext, lost technology

Alita and Faris are from such different backgrounds that you'd never expect them to meet. Alita is the princess of the kingdom of Forland and has lived a sheltered life in the capital. Faris is from a tragic background and survives on her wits and her skill with a sword as a bounty hunter. However, one night there is a palace coup and Alita is forced to flee for her life into the dark and dangerous Ellend forest, where Faris is hunting monsters for the price on their heads. The two literally run into each other and straight off a cliff. During the fall, the shared near death experience causes them to switch bodies. They're forced to reluctantly team up to defeat the coup and uncover the forces behind it.

Electromagnetic Girlfriend (Denpa-teki na Kanojo): 2009, 2 eps.

drama, mystery, romance

(Note: "Denpa" literally means "electromagnetic wave," but is colloquially used to mean "crazy" in much the same sense as "tin foil hat.")

Juuzawa Juu is a high school delinquent. One day a girl he's never met comes up to him and declares that he is a reincarnated king and she is his servant and knight. Despite Juu's best efforts to get rid of her, she continually follows him around. As if this wasn't enough, there's a serial killer stalking the town, and Juu suddenly finds himself caught up in the case when he's the one to find the body of the latest victim: one of his own classmates.

[theoutcastrogue]

8 Fancy Pocket Knives

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Silver / mother of pearl Victorian fruit knife, England

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Inlaid Toledo knife, Germany

Silver-plated fruit knife, USA

Damascene Toledo knife, Spain

Etched pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

Mother of pearl pocket knife from Eskilstuna, Sweden

@victoriansword [details after the cut]

1) Swedish pocket knife by EKA (Eskilstuna Kniffabriks AB), c. 1980-2000. Model 6 GS (1967-2010), with main blade, bottle opener/screwdriver, pen blade, and nail file. Tang stamp "EKA / SWEDEN" (from 1967), etched handle, 7 cm closed.

These were very popular in the 2nd half of the 20th century as gift knives or advertising knives. They were manufactured by many cutlers in Eskilstuna, and widely exported. The decorative pattern appears, with variations, on Swedish knives from at least the 19th century, and is inspired by Norse / Viking art, which often features twisted serpents/dragons. The interlacing perhaps also borrows from Celtic knots.

2) English fruit knife by Martin Bros & Co, 1848. Silver blade with 4 hallmarks (for Queen Victoria, the year, sterling silver, and Sheffield) and maker's mark, mother of pearl scales, 9.5 cm closed.

This is the posh version of what used to be an incredibly useful tool, a knife (and sometimes a multi-tool knife and fork) for eating on the road. The fancier ones were also status symbols, and very popular gifts – millions of silver fruit knives were manufactured in Britain from the 18th to the 20th century, mostly in Sheffield, Birmingham, and Edinburgh.

3) Spanish Toledo knife, as it's sometimes called, a damascened penknife of recent manufacture. Two pen blades, tang stamp "TOLEDO", 6.7 cm closed.

Not to be confused with Damascus blades! The handle is damascened – decorated with gold inlaid into oxidized steel (see here for details). Reminder that gold is a highly ductile metal (you can stretch it real thin before it breaks), so that impressive aesthetic result comes from a tiny amount of gold. It's a cheap knife, is what I'm saying, for tourists basically.

4) German pocket knife, confusingly also called Toledo, by Hartkopf. With main blade, pen blade and nail file. Brass handle inlaid with oxidised steel. Tang stamp "Hartkopf&Co / Solingen", 8cm closed.

It's "damascened" in the broad sense of inlaying, hence the name "Toledo": it supposedly emulates the Spanish style, and perhaps pretends to be Spanish, but both the metals and the geometric patterns are different. Knives of this type were popular in Germany all through the 20th century as gifts and advertising knives.

5) American fruit knife by William Rogers Mfg, made in Hartford, Connecticut c.1865-1898. Main blade, seedpick [also called nut-pick or nut-picker *snickers*], silver-plated nickel silver, decorated with flowers and apples. Tang stamp: an anchor logo and "Wm ROGERS & SON AA", 8.2 cm closed.

Sometimes fruit knives like this were bought by fruit shops/groceries (relatively fancy ones, presumably) in bulk, and sold or given to customers as gifts.

6) Spanish Toledo penknife (another one). With pen blade and damascened handle, different pattern, probably a bit older. Tang stamp again "TOLEDO", 6.8 cm closed.

7) Swedish pocket knife by Emil Olsson, c. 1920-1950. Blade, pen blade and corkscrew. Tang stamp "EMIL OLSSON / [star logo] / ESKILSTUNA", 9.2 cm closed.

Another etched serpent pattern on the handle, though by now you have to squint to see it. This knife has seen some shit. Until ~1940, pocket knives were widely sold and used in Sweden because they came with corkscrews, and all the bottles had corks, and everyone needed to open bottles. After the war, bottle caps replaced corks for everything except wine, and the pocket knife's utility plummeted, and cutleries started closing. There used to be hundreds, and by now only EKA's left. So statistically, if it's from before ~1950 it saw a lot of use, and if it's after ~1950 it did not, it was a gift or something.

8) Swedish pocket knife by EKA, c.1935-1965. Model 38 PB, with blade, pen blade, flat screwdriver, and corkscrew. Handle with mother of pearl scales and nickel silver bolsters, tang stamp "E.K.A. / ESKILSTUNA / SWEDEN", 8.3 cm closed.

The corkscrew is a quirky one, known as Gottlieb Hammesfahr patent: it pivots on the pin and opens perpendicular to the handle, not pulled downwards as in most pocket knives.

[graysonnightwing]

pink-tinged days

@dailystobin -> stobin week day three: favorite au -> QPR marriage

(this is a continuation of my platonic marriage series! the only thing you really need to know is Birdie is their adopted daughter.)

Chapters: 1/1 Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Additional Tags: Dungeons & Dragons, Marriage, Adoption, Found family, Fluff, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, POV Robin Buckley, Post-Season/Series 03, Stobin Week 2023 Summary: In 2000, Erica is home from law school for Christmas Break, and Scoops Troop reunites for a game of D&D.

It’s late when Sir Stephen of Hawkwing’s Realm finds the witch’s hut nestled deep in the darkwood. An owl hoots noisily overhead; the thick canopy hides the stars and the moon. Sir Stephen lifts his lamp higher.

Her hut is buried in overgrown brambles and creeping ivy. The thatch roof is nearly clouded in smoke pouring from the chimney; the shimmer of warding magic glimmers in his lamplight as he approaches. The shining eyes of an animal watching him catches the light, and he swings his lamp quickly in its direction to scare the beast away. Just a raccoon, more than likely, but there are far more dangerous things in these woods and he’s ill equipped at the moment for an encounter.

His sword and shield are tucked away against a nearby tree. The miserable crone back at the village’s instructions for getting past the wards were clear. “You must carry no weapon and no defense.” His shining steel plate armor, embossed with the symbol of the ancients to whom he pledged his life, is also leaning against the tree.

He approaches the hut in his loose silk tunic and tight linen pants, his boots treading softly against the grass. He reaches his lamp through the ward first, testing, before the rest of him follows. 

It’s warmer on this side of the ward, but Sir Stephen still approaches the door with caution. The firelight in the glazed windows flickers and burns as he raised his hand to rap on the door.

It swings open, and on the other side is a tall, willowy elf, with dirty blonde hair cropped just below her ears and piercing blue eyes. She’s leaning against a dark, gnarled wizard’s staff, well worn in the middle where her hand grips.

“Come,” she says, her voice high and accented.

The house is warm and cluttered. Spell components lay in nearly every direction he can see—a jar of pickling newt eyes, drying herbs from every corner of the globe hanging from the ceiling, dragon claws and hippogriff beaks lining shelves, wet black squid tentacles in a bucket in the corner. Glowing potions, sparking magic items and shimmering mage’s robes are thrown all over the place.

Still, the stew bubbling in the cauldron above the fire smells divine, and she’s made no move towards him. She goes back to the cauldron and points to the table, where a teenage human girl sits waiting. 

“Sit,” the witch says. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Sir Stephen sits. The teenager watches him closely, but doesn’t speak.

“I’m in a hurry,” Sir Stephen says. “If you could hear me out now—”

“You can’t rush good soup,” the witch replies.

Sir Stephen huffs and leans back in his chair.

The teenager next to him clears her throat. Her back is straight in her chair and she’s looking at him intently.

“Hi,” he says. “I’m Sir Stephen of—”

“Daddy,” Birdie interrupts, laughing. Birdie’s laugh is Robin’s favorite sound. “You can’t play with your own name. It’s supposed to be pretend.”

She’s eight and learning how to have an attitude from both her Uncle Dustin and her Auntie Erica, who she’s currently sitting in between. They’re at Steve and Robin’s, huddled around the kitchen table, finally introducing D&D to Birdie while Erica is home from law school on Christmas vacation. She’s DMing and starting them off with Steve’s paladin. It’s supposed to be a short arc, just a few hours here and there during Erica’s break.

“Your dad always plays as Stephen,” Erica says with an eye roll. “He’s uncreative—don’t let it rub off on you.” Birdie nods solemnly, her eyes wide. She takes everything Erica says so seriously.

“He’s played a paladin or a knight every. single. time. we’ve ever played,” Dustin adds.

“At least your mom is branching out,” Erica adds. “She’s always a bard.”

“I happen to like bards,” Robin says haughtily. “Everyone else is just jealous because they can’t play any actual instruments when they play a bard.” Robin remembers ten years ago, playing with Erica and Dustin and busting out her trumpet whenever she needed to cast a spell.

“Whatever,” Erica says. “If you bring out that trumpet again I’m throwing it away.” 

Robin laughs.

“No more talking,” Birdie complains. “Let’s play.”

“Alright, alright,” Erica says. “Where were we?”

“I’m Sir Stephen of Hawkwing’s Realm,” he says. “I’m here to ask the witch for a potion.”

“I’m Princess Lily-Daisy and I’m from Roseland,” the teenage at the table says. “I’m here to—wait, why am I here?” Birdie asks Erica.

“You need the witch’s help undoing a curse on your kingdom,” Erica explains, and Birdie repeats it in the British accent she’s been practicing with her uncle Dustin all week. It’s so exaggerated that Robin thinks it might actually be bordering on offensive to the English, and she hides a smile behind her hand. Birdie was nervous enough about it, which is why Robin’s doing her silliest voice, high and accented with Robin’s worst French accent, the same one Steve uses when he impersonates his mom.

“Princess,” Sir Stephen says and flourishes his hand into a bow. “What curse has befallen your land?”

“It’s always nighttime,” Princess Lily-Daisy says. “It’s cold and dark and my people are all asleep.” Birdie peaks over at Erica to make sure that’s okay, and Erica gives her a thumbs up.

“A sleeping kingdom?” The witch says. “I believe we will need to travel to your land to lift that curse.”

“My potion first, witch” Sir Stephen says with a snarl.

“You may address me by my name, sir paladin,” the witch says. “It’s Sparrow.” 

Steve next to her the table laughs, so loud and sudden that Dustin nearly jumps. 

“Hey,” Birdie says smiling. “That was almost my name.”

“Sure was,” Steve says and winks at her, which always makes Birdie giggle.

“And thank God they changed their minds,” Erica says, leveling a look at the two of them. It’s funny now to think how their Birdie was almost their Sparrow.

“You’re Birdie,” Dustin agrees. “Definitely not Sparrow.” 

Birdie’s nose wrinkles, and she shakes her head. “Definitely not Sparrow,” she agrees.

“Anyway,” Erica says and continues her narration.

Sir Stephen waits for Sparrow to finish her stew before she sets bowls in front of the princess and the paladin.

“Now,” Sparrow says. “You will get your potion Sir Stephen, but only after you’ve helped me lift this curse on the Princess’s realm. I think we’ll need the ancients’ help for this one.”

Sir Stephen agrees, and the three wait until morning before leaving the witch’s home. The sunrise filters in through the darkwood’s canopy overhead as Stephen puts his plate armor back on and secures his sword and shield. Princess Lily-Daisy retrieves a bow and quiver, slinging them both across her back as they make their way towards Roseland.

Half a day’s walk into their travels, they crash into a fleeing man, who says, “Run!” They all race down the path after they hear a monstrous roar behind them as a horde of Kobolds emerge from their cave and give the heroes chase through the forest.

Finally, the paladin and witch stop and face the horde, the witch casting shielding spells as the paladin cuts through the Kobolds. The princess deals the final blow to the horde with an arrow through the eye of the leader.

The witch traps the man in an unbreakable hold as the princess turns to interrogate him.

“Why were they chasing you?” She says.

“No reason,” the man says, voice tinged with the same Roseland accent the princess has.

“I’m your princess—tell the truth or I’ll throw you in prison.”

“Woah,” Steve says next to Robin, looking at Birdie with an amused expression. “No trial or anything? Just straight to prison?”

Birdie smiles and looks up at Dustin. “If he doesn’t tell the truth! I’m the princess and I can put whoever I want into jail.”

Erica laughs next to her. “As a law student I have to say that’s not fair,” she says, “but as your auntie I say that makes perfect sense.” Birdie snuggles into Erica’s side and sticks her tongue out at Steve.

Princess Lily-Daisy interrogates the man until he finally confesses to stealing gold from the Kobolds. 

“For your crime, I sentence you to helping us,” the princess says as the witch releases her bonds on the man, a rogue they learned is named Radcliffe. 

“Very well, my princess,” Radcliffe agrees. Dustin next to Birdie stands and gives her a deep, dramatic bow. Birdie smiles, and everything turns pink, like the room is glowing with the love Robin has for these people beside her. Robin lays her head on Steve's shoulder, watches as Birdie laughs at her Uncle Dustin, still cuddled up into Erica's side.

“The party sets out,” Erica says, “as the noon sun beats down on you and the realm of Roseland waits for rescue.”

[lunaticobscurity]

ok, @posthumanwanderings asked me about my favourite simple 2000 games, and it'd be easier to format this as a text post than as a private message. so here it is:

vol 37: the shooting ~double shienryu~ - released in europe as steel dragon ex, this is the excellent arcade shooting game shienryu, along with a newly-made sequel. the ps1 port has a ton of weird extras, but this port has a whole sequel.

vol 50: the daibijin - released in europe as demolition girl, this is about attacking the supermodel riho futaba, who has become kaiju sized, for some reason. contains the iconic phrase "breast acquisition data". when it came out here, it had some brief infamy as one of the games unfunny hacks would play and exaggerate how bad it was, for the purposes of alleged "comedy"

vol 64: the splatter action - released in europe as splatter master, it's a cute, gory beat em up, in which you control a little pumpkin man with chainsaws

vol. 73: the saiyuutou saruden - possibly released in europe as monkey king, but i'm not sure if it actually happened. i wrote about it here

vol 81: the chikyuu boueigun 2 - released in europe as global defence force, i'm sure you all know what this is. iconic, era-defining, one of the best games on the entire ps2, not just in the simple series. i'm not joking.

vol. 95: the zombie vs kyuukyuusha - released in europe as zombie vs ambulance, it's post-apocalyptic horror crazy taxi with boss fights. you'll probably get bored after a few stages at most, but the novelty of it is compelling for a while at least.

vol. 101: the oneechanpon ~the neechan 2 tokubetsu-hen~ - the early musou-style oneechanbara games are rough to go back to compared to the more modern character action-style games, but if you're going to play any of them, this is probably the most interesting. it's got a bunch of guest characters from other simple 2000 games!

vol. 104: the robot tsukuuruze ~gekitou robot fight!~ i wrote about this one here

vol. 105: the maid fuku to kikanjuu - a beat em up where you play as a heavily-armed maid killing evil dolls and shit

vol. 112: the tousou highway 2 ~road warrior 2050~ - i wrote about this one here

[initial-dream]

Nagashima Spa Land

Ok, so, this'll be the first post in (what I hope will be) quite a few smaller posts covering little translation oddities or localisation changes. I find these quite interesting, and its interesting to see what errors/changes were made in different versions and how or why they came to be.

I'm going to start with a lesser known one from the Tokyopop and 2019 Kodansha releases. In Chapter 16 in Volume 2, before Takumi takes Iketani on the downhill run in the Eight-Six, Iketani says a rather innocuous line about waiting to get on a rollercoaster at Nagashima Spaland, a theme park in Mie Prefecture.

I remember reading this while working on a page for the wiki, and thinking nothing of the reference, however I remember looking into it regarding the note at the bottom, which mentions a roller coaster by the name of "Steel Dragon". Ever interested in fact checking Tokyopop on absolutely anything they say in their release, I check the fact, and it absolutely was true at the time (although Tokyopop did get the name slightly wrong, as it is actually called "Steel Dragon 2000").

While the fact is true, mentioning Steel Dragon 2000 at all clued me in that the citation might have been added by Tokyopop, as that rollercoaster wasn't even announced until 4 years after this chapter was released originally. I thought nothing of it (hardly surprising they would put a citation for something that their target audience of teenage Americans would be unlikely to know) but I thought I'd have a look regardless. Unsurprisingly the citation is a new addition, but what is interesting is that the page doesn't say "Nagashima Spaland" at all.

It says ディズニーランドのスペースマウンテン. Space Mountain at Disneyland. Presumably the one in Tokyo.

Now this one confused me. I'm a British man, and I've never so much as stepped a foot into a country with a Disney park in it, but even I know what Space Mountain is. The USA has not one but two Space Mountains, so I think it would be likely that the target audience would understand this reference. All of this makes me believe that this wasn't done so the audience would get the reference, but to avoid getting told off by Disney. But why go through the effort of making it Nagashima Spaland (other than it being the fourth most popular amusement park in Japan) and having to explain that to their audience? Wouldn't it make more sense to just make it generic? Just "feels like he's waiting for a rollercoaster"? Very bizarre, but an interesting little titbit I think.

[coastermaynia]

Coasters on Previous Years' Lists

List of coasters on the prompt lists from 2020-2023, alphabetical by park name!

Adventureland

Dragon (2021)

Monster (2022)

Outlaw (2023)

Alton Towers

Galactica (2022)

Oblivion (2021)

Smiler (2020)

Wicker Man (2023)

Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Icon (2021)

Busch Gardens Tampa

Cobra’s Curse (2022)

Iron Gwazi (2021)

Kumba (2020)

Montu (2023)

Busch Gardens Williamsburg

Alpengeist (2022)

Pantheon (2021)

Verbolten (2023)

California’s Great America

Gold Striker (2020)

RailBlazer (2023)

Canada’s Wonderland

Bat (2023)

Behemoth (2022)

Leviathan (2020)

Yukon Striker (2021)

Carowinds

Copperhead Strike (2020)

Fury 325 (2021)

Nighthawk (2022)

Cedar Point

Corkscrew (2022)

GateKeeper (2023)

Millennium Force (2020)

Steel Vengeance (2021)

Chessington World of Adventures

Dragon’s Fury (2022)

China Dinosaurs Park

Dinoconda (2021)

Dollywood

Lightning Rod (2020)

Thunderhead (2022)

Dorney Park

Steel Force (2023)

Drayton Manor

Shockwave (2022)

Efteling

Baron 1898 (2021)

Vliegende Hollander (2023)

Joris en de Draak (2022)

Energylandia

Zadra (2020)

Europa Park

blue fire (2023)

Silver Star (2022)

Wodan (2020)

Farup Sommerland

Fonix (2022)

Ferrari Land

Red Force (2021)

Fuji-Q Highland

Do-Dodonpa (2020)

Eejenika (2022)

Fujiyama (2021)

Takabisha (2023)

Fun Spot Atlanta

ArieForce One (2023)

Hansa Park

Flucht von Hovgorod (2023)

Karnan (2020)

Heide Park

Colossos (2022)

Krake (2023)

Hersheypark

Candymonium (2020)

Skyrush (2021)

Wildcat’s Revenge (2023)

Holiday Park

Expedition GeForce (2021)

Holiday World

Voyage (2020)

Indiana Beach

Steel Hawg (2021)

Islands of Adventure

Velocicoaster (2022)

Kennywood

Phantom’s Revenge (2020)

Steel Curtain (2021)

Kentucky Kingdom

T3 (2020)

Kings Dominion

Intinidator 305 (2020)

Twisted Timbers (2022)

Volcano (2023)

Kings Island

Beast (2020)

Mystic Timbers (2021)

Orion (2023)

Racer (2022)

Knott’s Berry Farm

GhostRider (2022)

HangTime (2020)

Silver Bullet (2023)

Xcelerator (2021)

Knoebels

Impulse (2022)

Phoenix (2020)

Kolmarden

Wildfire (2020)

Liseberg

Helix (2020)

Marineland

Dragon Mountain (2022)

Motiongate

Dragon Gliders (2023)

Nagashima Spa Land

Hakugei (2021)

Steel Dragon 2000 (2020)

Nanchang Sunac Land

Coaster Through the Clouds (2022)

Oakwood

Speed (2021)

Parc Asterix

Toutatis (2023)

Phantasialand

F.L.Y. (2023)

Taron (2020)

Winja’s (2022)

Plopsaland De Panne

Ride to Happiness (2023)

PortAdventura Park

Dragon Khan (2022)

Shambhala (2021)

Sea World Australia

Leviathan (2023)

Sea World Orlando

Ice Breaker (2020)

Mako (2021)

Sea World San Antonio

Texas Stingray (2021)

Silver Dollar City

Time Traveler (2020)

Silverwood

Aftershock (2023)

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

Dr. Diabolical’s Cliffhanger (2023)

Six Flags Great Adventure

El Toro (2022)

Jersey Devil (2021)

Kingda Ka (2020)

Nitro (2023)

Six Flags Great America

Maxx Force (2021)

Six Flags Magic Mountain

Full Throttle (2023)

Goliath (2020)

Twisted Colossus (2022)

X2 (2021)

Six Flags Mexico

Medusa (2021)

Six Flags New England

Wicked Cyclone (2022)

Six Flags Over Georgia

Blue Hawk (2022)

Thorpe Park

Colossus (2020)

Nemesis Inferno (2022)

Stealth (2021)

Swarm (2023)

Tobu Zoo Park

Kawasemi (2022)

Tokyo Dome City

Thunder Dolphin (2020)

Universal Studios Florida

Rip Ride Rockit (2021)

Universal Studios Japan

Flying Dinosaur (2023)

Walibi Belgium

Kondaa (2021)

Walibi Holland

Untamed (2020)

[posthumanwanderings]

Steel Dragon EX (Warashi / D3 Publisher - PS2 - 2003)

[newgabeorder]

Cut the U-PICK, uh!

Here are the lineups for November 2024:

011124 (T3 Express)

All Times Pacific

E/I: Educational & Informational

2:00P - SAILOR MOON ("Ice Princess", E/I)

2:30P - SAILOR MOON ("Last Resort", E/I)

Wild & Crazy Kids

3:00P - Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte (Episode 1, Series Premiere)

3:30P - NARUTO (2002 series, Season 2, Episode 35)

"Fearless"

4:00P - GHOST STORIES (2000 series, Episode 1, Series Premiere)

4:30P - TIGER & BUNNY (2011 series, Season 1, Episode 11)

"Lucky Ending"

5:00P - X-MEN

5:30P - SMILING FRIENDS (Season 2, Episode 10, Season Premiere)

5:45P - DRAGON BALL Z ABRIDGED (Episode 23)

021124 (Saturday Morning Animation Cram Session)

All Times Pacific Daylight Time

E/I: Educational and Informational

6.0A - Bartender (2006 series, Episode 3, rerun, E/I)

6.5A - Laid-Back Camp (Season 1, Episode 4, E/I)

Dark Prince's Favorite Cartoons

7.0A - Pokémon Master Journeys

7.5A - BLUE EXORCIST (Season 1, Episode 1, Series Premiere)

Trails of Cold Steel

8.0A - SONIC X (Season 2, Episode 31)

8.5A - KEY THE METAL IDOL (Ver.1, Series Premiere) Promo OK

SHONEN JUMP

9.0A – ONE PIECE

9.5A - BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS

SHONEN JUMP

10.0A - DRAGON BALL Z KAI

10.5A - Rent-A-Girlfriend (Season 1, Episode 1, rerun, Series Premiere)

HAIKYU!! Double Dose

11.0A - HAIKYU!! (Season 2, Episode 45, E/I)

11.5A - HAIKYU!! (Season 2, Episode 46, E/I)

081124 (T3 Express)

All Times Pacific

SAILOR MOON Double Dose

2:00P - SAILOR MOON ("Tuxedo Unmasked" E/I)

2:30P - SAILOR MOON ("Sailor Venus' Past - Mina's Tragic Love", E/I)

Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte Double Dose

3:00P - Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte (Episode 2.0)

3:30P - Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte (Episode 2.5, Musical Episode)

Ninjas & Heroes

4:00P - NARUTO (2002 series, Season 2, Episode 36)

4:30P - TIGER & BUNNY (2011 series, Season 1, Episode 12)

"Lucky Ending"

5:00P - X-MEN (Episode 28)

5:30P - SMILING FRIENDS (Season 2, Episode 11)

5:45P - DRAGON BALL Z ABRIDGED (Episode 24)

091124

All Times Pacific Daylight Time

E/I: Educational and Informational

6.0A - Bartender (2006 series, Episode 4, rerun, E/I)

6.5A - Laid-Back Camp (Season 1, Episode 5, E/I)

Dark Prince's Favorite Cartoons

7.0A - Pokémon Master Journeys

7.5A - BLUE EXORCIST (Season 1, Episode 2)

Trails of Cold Steel

8.0A - SONIC X (Season 2, Episode 32)

8.5A - KEY THE METAL IDOL (Ver.2) Promo OK

Amazing Fantasy

9.0A – Mashle: Magic and Muscles (Episode 1, Series Premiere)

9.5A - ONE PIECE

SHONEN JUMP

10.0A - BORUTO: NARUTO NEXT GENERATIONS

10.5A - DRAGON BALL Z KAI

Oh yeah. Here We Go! SPORTS TIME!!

11.0A - Rent-A-Girlfriend (Season 1, Episode 2, rerun)

11.5A - HAIKYU!! (Season 2, Episode 47, E/I)

151124 (T3 Express)

SAILOR MOON Double Dose

2:00P - SAILOR MOON ("Fractious Friends", E/I)

2:30P - SAILOR MOON ("The Past Returns", E/I)

Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte Double Dose

3:00P - Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte (Episode 3.0)

3:30P - NARUTO (2002 series, Season 2, Episode 37)

"Fearless"

4:00P - GHOST STORIES (2000 series, Episode 2)

4:30P - TIGER & BUNNY (2011 series, Season 1, Episode 13, Season Finale)

"Lucky Ending"

5:00P - X-MEN (Episode 29)

5:30P - SMILING FRIENDS (Season 2, Episode 12)

5:45P - DRAGON BALL Z ABRIDGED (Episode 25)

As you can see, I snuck in some hidden animated gems before I part ways with Toonami completely for next year's T3 arc. There will be a T3 premiere of BLUE EXORCIST, plus a premiere for Mashle: Magic and Musicles the following weekend. I have decided to leave DRAGON BALL Z KAI on the Saturday Morning Animation Cram Session for the time being. The good thing is that I'm bringing back Rent-A-Girlfriend reruns, but it's just the first season as usual. If you want to watch later seasons of the series, consider subscribing to Crunchyroll for the time being.

Also, here's the update on T3 Express. I also decided to give MORIARTY THE PATRIOT the boot after 11 episodes, since I've always wanted to live-stream GHOST STORIES, despite the objectional content the dub has. Like Rent-A-Girlfriend and SWORD ART ONLINE, GHOST STORIES has been one of my holiday traditions, despite its horror themes. Not to mention I will be adding Nurse Witch Komugi-chan Magikarte to buy some time until it's the right moment to live-stream the 1995 STREET FIGHTER animated series. My dream lineup is to have X-MEN and STREET FIGHTER in the same lineup as a way to attract comic book and fighting game fans alike.

Regarding U-PICK, I delayed the next poll event since I've decided that I will run Bartender (2006) in place of INVINCIBLE FIGHT GIRL. I figured that I would do this since I wanted another program that would play in rotation during the (Winter) holiday season. Coincidentally, the SMACS run of Bartender will end its run the same time as Toonami's run of INVINCIBLE FIGHT GIRL, and this time, I won't perform a write-off marathon incident like with what I did to allow two SAILOR MOON episodes each T3 Express block moving forward.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

maybe the funniest way to resolve the Three Frat Houses AU timeline issues of having characters from Shadows of Valentia (takes place right at the same time as Shadow Dragon) and Awakening (takes place like 2000 years after Shadow Dragon) existing at the same time is to say fuck it and have two suspiciously geographically similar continents, one called Ylisse and one called Archanea. How are the coastline of two separate continents nearly the same. That's weird.

Actually wait would there be two sets of suspiciously similar continents? Do Valentia and Valm exist in tandem, as well? Or is it all just Valentia and Say'ri and Virion have to deal with the Duma Faithful as their neighbors. I think Valm and Valentia have to be separate continents because Valm has a volcano smack in the middle of what would be Zofia, which does not have a volcano next door to its castle.

That's even funnier, honestly. Science in this world knows about plate tectonics but no one has an explanation for Valm-Valentia or Ylisse-Archanea. Naga hit the copy-paste buttons and then tweaked a few things and said "good enough."

Also I know I said that I wasn't canonizing time travel in this AU, but I think actually one person has time-traveled, and that's Tiki. Tiki blurred between parts of the timeline and there is a tiny Tiki in Archanea and an adult Tiki in Valm. Little Tiki has vague awareness of the presence of her future self here in this timeline, but she's not all that worried about it. She has told Bantu and Marth about this, but Bantu is just relieved that Tiki managed to survive to grow up without any more weird cult stuff happening to her, and Marth thinks it's some childish flight of fancy that Tiki dreamed up and doesn't put any stock into it. Big Tiki is not about to enlighten him because Big Tiki is still thematically about the grief of outliving everyone you love and much as she wants to go see Marth and Caeda and the gang, she's still trying to decide whether she wants to burden them with the knowledge of her own future grief. Will her friends be happy to see her grow up so proud and strong, or will they be hurt when they see how she hurts to have outlived them by 2000 years.

Also she figures she's gotta take her time to steel herself for the inevitable point when everyone starts asking her what life is like in the future. There's gonna be so many questions about flying cars. She can feel it in her heart.

So Big Tiki's got some weird existential stuff going on and she's got a bit of a gay thing with Say'ri going on and she still lives in a tree. An icon, really.

"Hey Roddy so if Mila is the goddess of Zofia in Valentia, which is a totally separate continent, why's there a place called the Mila Tree in Valm--" Don't Think About It. Actually do think about it. Make it funny. Valmese legend states that the goddess Mila died and the Mila Tree grew up over her corpse, and they think that Zofia's Mila is an imposter. Papal schism but make it about the church of dragon milf. No, the other dragon milf. No, the other other--