#i had nick looking like a ps2 character

[kori-senpai]

drawing Nicholas to rip myself out of my art block by the throat

[saiyef]

Spoilers for the Yakuza Series

So, the Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth Bucket List Trailer dropped some really juicy reveals which longtime Yakuza fans will happily eat up, that being RETURNING CHARACTERS FROM PREVIOUS GAMES! Which is a big deal for the longtime Yakuza fans because, while Yakuza does bring back characters semi-consistently, the series also has a tendency to completely shelve and forget characters from game to game without even a mention (notable examples being the playable characters Tanimura from 4 and Shinada from 5 and longtime recurring character the Florist of Sai who after Yakuza 5 just disappears without any explanation). It’s also a big reason why fans disliked Yakuza 6, with it being touted and marketed as the ‘End of Kiryu’s Story’, it featured very little of Kiryu’s friends he met along his long journey and instead took place in a new city Onomichi and focused more on characters introduced in 6.

We got Kiryu returning to the classic Yakuza series location, the graves of Nishiki, Yumi and Kazama, where he of course meets Date.

Then we have Kiryu walk into Survive Bar and gets a blast from the past through finally meeting the bar’s bartender, Kashiwagi (he actually did go to Survive during Like a Dragon Gaiden but it was right when Kashiwagi was out).

Next, fresh off his surprise reappearance at the end of Like a Dragon Gaiden, Taichi surrounded by gaggle of hostesses. Gaiden reveals Taichi got a job as a firefighter, but it looks like he acquired some major money somehow. Maybe he achieved his childhood dream of becoming a pro-wrestler between 2019 and 2023/2024?

Next, we get Yuya, who RGG Studio has given an actual human-looking face to; after he had previously kept his weirdly-shaped uncanny PS2 modelled head that had his cheeks concaved in.

Then, of course, we have the man, the myth, the legend, Shun Akiyama of Sky Finance (don’t know about you guys, but I personally believe Nick Ogata in 7, who is a character I do like, was created as a fill-in character for Akiyama and Akiyama was originally written to do all the things Nick did in 7, being this enigmatic financier and sheltering Daigo, Majima and Saejima).

And, yet another major surprise, Kaoru Sayama who was major character in Yakuza 2 and famously unceremoniously leaving the series to move to America finally returns to the series after a 14/15 year absence; leaving fans especially flabbergasted considering she became Kiryu’s love interest in 2 and she never even gets talked about (in fact, I’m fairly sure the RGG team tried to pretend that their romance never happened as the recaps of Yakuza 2 put in the sequels to fill in first-time players never mention their romance and the Yakuza 3 character sheet on the start menu which denotes characters’ relationships with each other says “Just friends” with Kiryu and Kaoru). But, based on a teaser where Kiryu tells Ichiban he did in fact propose to someone before, it seems it might have been Kaoru. Plus, it seems that Kaoru is still single (I was thinking she might have been married with kids) and the dub trailer made Kaoru sound bitter about staying loyal to Kiryu.

An Ono Michio keychain. Wondering whose bag it’s on. I think maybe Haruka, Haruto or Hiromi (Kiyomi and Someya’s daughter from 6). Perhaps a hint that we might return to Onomichi and see the old Hirose Clan.

We even get a return of Yuki and Koyuki, who have seemingly kept Club Four Shine going, plus it looks like Saeko and Seong-hui are joining in. Sadly, the story hostesses from 0’s Cabaret Club Czar and Kiwami 2’s Cabaret Club Grand Prix don’t seem to be returning. Yeah, I think that characters that were played by AV actresses (i.e. almost all of the hostesses in the Yakuza series) will not come back; which I’m really disappointed by as I really liked each of the 0 hostess’ substorys. Also, that sadly means that Eri from 7 is probably not coming back as she was also played by an AV actress.

Kiryu also reunites with another old friend from all the way back since Yakuza 1, his old trainer Komaki. Infinite Wealth will stick to the RPG-style battles and job systems, and even before then the games have more-or-less moved past Komaki and other trainer characters teaching you new moves in favour of Kiryu just levelling up a skill tree on the menu, but Kiryu meeting his old master who he owes much of his acquired strength to is still great to see.

And, of course, 1 out of 4 of Kiryu oldest still living friends since 0 (the others being Daigo, Kashiwagi and Majima), Pocket Circuit Fighter; still having that photo of the two of them together that he pulls when singing Baka Mitai in Kiwami 1.

We also hear Haruka in the trailer, who I’m fairly sure was also replaced from her original English voice actor from Yakuza 1 Debi Derryberry, the voice of Jimmy Neutron. I don’t want to get into the whole voice acting controversy but, considering that Bill Farmer reprised his role of Date from Yakuza 1, I feel a little sad that all the characters who first appeared from Yakuza 1 have gotten replaced (Kiryu: Darryl Kurlyo -> Yong Yea, Majima: Mark Hamill -> Matthew Mercer, Kashiwagi: John DiMaggio -> David Hayter and Gary Buster Holmes: Gary Anthony Williams -> Isaac C. Singleton Jr.)

[remzarci]

A Creepypasta about something that TOTALLY HAPPENED GUYS!!

Once upon a time I was hungry so I decided to go to Tiffany's for a bite to eat.

As I drove from Tiffany's I saw a yard sale. Not wanted to pass up some neat bargains I parked my car and walked over. As I looked over the wares this old man had I saw a box of old Video Games! I took a look and found SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. And I was his with a wave of nostalgia!

I turned to the old man and asked him how much. He had a sad look on his face and told me I can just take it! And then limped away back to his lawn chair. I felt bad so I took out my phone and began to to record him. Making HIM the main character of real life for a little bit! He didn't do anything particularly interesting outside of selling someone a DVD boxset of Friends. Anywhosen, I got back in my car and drove home! Funnily enough Ocean man was Playing but it was kind of off.

What I could make out was:

Ocean Man, let go of my hand, I don't understand, leave me on the sand

ocean man, the journey to rock bottom's bus station is a real trip

Probably nothing but it was strange.

then I got home and was getting ready to play my FAVORITE childhood game. So I dug out my Wii and started plugging things in. But then I noticed my conkeldurr sitting cuties plush was crying what I thought was blood but in actuality was Mountain Dew Code red, for FOUR minutes and TWENTY seconds!

I didn't think much of it as I continued to install my ps2

once my Wii was ready I placed the game cart in and got ready to go down memory lane.

But the title screen was strange. It looked worn and dusty. and spongebob looked a little too high def. Also Tiny Tims Tip Toe thru the Tulips with Me was playing at 1/10th speed.

And then things took for a turn.

Once I started the game...A GHOST CAME OUT OF MY TV AND STARTED PUNCHING ME IN THE FAAAAAAAAACE!!!! it just pucnhed me the face repeatedly! I tried to get away but the ghost was far too strong! Just as I was losing hope the Door swung open and there stood Markiplier!

his face wore an expression of extreme rage. his eyes were red and HYPER REALISTIC!

And then he darted over and began to stomp me in my pancreas. The ghost markiplier combo continued to beat on me as I wailed in pain! Just then Jeremy Pascal came in. And then joined in on the beating!

"Why are you all doing this to me?" I asked painfully! Then all three of them threw me into the tv where I fell sixty-NINE meters!! I watched as the ground quickly approached me and all I could say was "AW THIS IS GONNA SUCK!!" But before I could hit the ground The song The Time is Now blared as an unseen force rescues me in the nick of time!

I then awoke in a hospital bed. Sitting in the corner was the old man I turned into the main character. he told me that game belonged to his late grand-niece-in-law who, while watching a cursed looney tunes episode, died from having an anvil dropped on her and now the game is cursed unless I eat a spoonful of cinnamon without coughing it up, to cleanse the game of it's horrible curse. of summoning people to beat me up!(edited)

So! against the wishes of my nurse and doctor I limped to the store and grabbed a thing of cinnamon and went back to my house! There the trio were there ready to beat me up! But I took a HUGE spoonful of the stuff! God it was awful but through my tears I saw the Ghost get sucked back into the tv, Markiplier got weirded out and just left and Jeremy Pascal? uhhhh he just vanished. The deed was done! The game came out of my PC and I placed it back in the case. you know, it could be the brain trauma I'm suffering but I think I lesson is to be learned here and that lesson is:

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get. -Me, Just now

So I sent the game off to sea. thanking it for such a profound lesson.

Thank you SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab. Thank you

This has been a Crappypasta written with friend. thank you for reading!

[queen-of-my-goofball-army]

"The first film you remember seeing in theaters leaves a big impact on your childhood. It becomes one of your favorite memories and something you rely on for comfort. Especially if it's in a category you already love." (Me.)

Growing up in a family that loves films, of course I have a lot of comfort films. Most of the time they're animated but because I am doing comfort characters all throughout the month of July I thought that for the last week of June I would do the films that I watch for comfort. I love a lot of very different kinds of films but I thought where else to start than the beginning. And for me going back to the beginning of when I started to love film begins when I was five years old with the lovable duo of Wallace And Gromit in their theatrical film Wallace And Gromit & The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit.

This all starts, like most things with my love of film, with my dad and a three year old me. For as long as I can remember Wallace and Gromit have been a huge part of my childhood. So when we found out that they were releasing a theatrical film my dad promised me that would be the first movie that I ever went to. I was six years old on October 14th 2005 sitting in the movie theater. I vividly remember what that experience was like. I remember crying my eyes out and having to leave the theater during Wallace's transformation into the Were-Rabbit nearing the end of the film. I remember cheering from Gromit when he was fighting for his master at the end of the film. So much of my childhood was built around this experience and what that was like for me growing up. The only time that I have ever sat through the Oscars was in 2006 when I heard that Nick Park and Steve Box were contenders for Best Animated Feature. When they won the award they brought some of the clay rabbits that they used in the film up onto the stage with them. I had the old school PS2 video game that I would play with my dad constantly growing up, he was always Wallace and I always played as Gromit.

This movie is something that has become a big part of who I am today and what has shaped my sense of humor. It's very much this combination of sarcastic with actual jokes that are extremely smart. The movie is about of course, Wallace & Gromit as they run a pest company. But something has been going wrong with the pests lately. They seem to be doing things that do not seem likely for just rabbits to be doing. There is something supernatural about it. As the movie progresses you learn more about what exactly happened that night everything started going strangely.

Wallace and Gromit is the brain child of one of my favorite creators in animation Nick Park. He has been one of the biggest inspirations to the way that I look at animation in general. Stop motion is one of my favorite forms of how it can look even though it takes for literally ever as a form of animation I still have this immense admiration for the final product. The idea of this duo is something that is cemented into my DNA practically with my dad teaching me the proper way to sketch Gromit as a little girl, quoting The Wrong Trousers or A Close Shave again with my dad, and having a poster for Curse Of The Were-Rabbit in my childhood bedroom all gave me the immense love that I have for the dynamic duo that I still have to this very day.

Wallace & Gromit to me, they mean childhood. They mean rewatching this movie every Halloween and laughing with my parents. They mean movie quotes that only we can understand. Every year that we rewatch this movie I feel like it's very similar to a warm hug. It's everything that was good and pure about my childhood. Curse Of The Were-Rabbit was my first experience going into a physical movie theater and it's one that I still watch religiously every single year for Halloween.

[shochmonster]

84 Questions

original: https://fuckyeahsurveys.tumblr.com/post/61049002526/84-questions

Put your music player of choice on shuffle and list the first 10 songs Guns of Brixton - The Clash Holiday in Cambodia - Dead Kennedys  Chainsaw - Nick Jonas California - Joni Mitchell Make It Wit Chu - Queens of the Stone Age This Woman’s Work - Kate Bush The Bad Thing - Arctic Monkeys Between the Bars - Eliot Smith Drown - The Smashing Pumpkins Different People - No Doubt

If you could spend a week anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? Would you take anyone with you? I’d take @duoloopo to the UK. I’d like to see places other than London.

What is your preferred writing implement? (eg. Blue pen, pencil, green pen)  I use my iPad stylus the most, but I have this heavy mechanical pencil I really like for drawing. 

Favourite month and why? October. I just love the fall vibe. 

Do you have connections to any celebrities (even minor)? List them. I went to undergraduate school with Rebecca Sugar. We used to ride the bus between NYC and DC together on holidays. 

Name 3 items you could pick up from where you are. Can of seltzer, pencil case, stack of bills

What brand logo is closest to you currently? REAL Skateboards

Do you ever play board games or other non-computer games? Got any favourites? I love Small World and Munchkin. 

A musical artist you love that isn’t well known Laura Stevenson and the Cans

A musical artist you love that is well known Red Hot Chili Peppers

What is your desktop background currently? Thomas Barrow on the beach in the Season 4 Christmas Special

Last person you talked to, and through what you talked to them @duomaxwell02 with my face :O 

First colour name you can think of that isn’t in the rainbow White

What timekeeping devices are in the room you are currently in? Two wall clocks, though one is very old and doesn’t wind anymore. I also have a clock @duoloopo ‘s dad made for me. It’s on the piano. 

What kind of headphones do you use? JBL Bluetooth, noise canceling 

What musical artists have you seen perform live? Foo Fighters (3x), Incubus (3x), Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Justin Timberlake, Troy Sivan, Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, Queen (but with Roger Daughtry, not Freddy... for obvious reasons.). Probably a whole bunch of others I’m blanking on. 

Does virginity matter to you? Not really. 

What gaming consoles do you or your family own? PS4, PS2, PS1, XBox 360, N64, Gamecube, Wii, NES, SNES, various Gameboys, Nintendo DS, PSP

What pets do you have? What are their names? Two cats, Hemingway and Renji

What’s the best job you’ve ever had? I like freelance art gigs the best. As for ‘normal people jobs’, I once was a sign painter for Whole Foods. That was pretty fun, minus the work drama. 

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had? Food service. 

What magazines do you read, if any? I’ll pick up Time once in a while

Inspiration behind your URL? My classic original URL was LinkWorshiper and had been since AIM first existed. I picked it because Zelda was the first fandom I ever joined. Now I’ve changed all my handles (except on AO3) to reflect my actual name, as my literary agent thinks it’s more professional. 

Inspiration behind your blog title? Mean Girls. I always chuckle imagining Thomas and Jimmy as some Edwardian version of the Plastics. 

Favourite item of clothing? My Downton livery waistcoat. And the stiff bosomed shirt and collars I have to go with it. 

Are you friends with any exes? Nah. By the time I felt comfortable enough to possibly try, I also didn’t care enough to. 

Name at least one book you loved as a child. His Dark Materials (the trilogy by Philip Pullman). I still love them and am jazzed that he’s writing more these days. 

What’s your native language? If that language has distinct regional variations, which variation? (eg. AU English, US English) US English, mostly a northeastern dialect/accent

What email service do you use? Gmail

Is there anything hanging on the walls of the room you are currently in? So much stuff. I have a mood board full of Downtons stuff over my desk, various DA posters and memorabilia, plus some artwork I’ve done, and some of my JC Leyendecker collection. The aforementioned wall clocks, a San Francisco cable car bell, Sailor Moon and a few other little knickknacks, like my hamsa. To name a few lol. 

What’s your favourite number, and why? 212 because it’s Manhattan’s area code and also because it used to be the notation for one of my favorite ships in an old fandom. 

Earliest moment in your life you can remember? Sitting under the table and looking at my grandma, who was wearing a Cruella Deville dress she’d knit herself. Like, it had the actual Disney character on it. Pretty cool to a little guy, I guess!

What did you have for dinner yesterday? Quesadilla 

How often do you brush your teeth? Whenever they feel gross

What’s your favourite candy/chocolate? Lately, I’ve been into Junior Mints. 

Have you had other blogs on Tumblr? Do you have any other blogs currently? This blog used to have my old handle, linkworshiper. I did a small Whole Foods blog when I worked with them, but it never went anywhere. 

If you were suddenly really hungry, what would you choose to eat? Sushi

What fandoms would you consider yourself a part of? Downton Abbey, though lately I’ve been crazy busy and not as active as I once was. Casually still poking at old fandoms like Zelda and Gundam Wing to name a few. 

If you could study anything, what would it be? More art education can’t hurt. Maybe some formal history education. 

Do you use anything on your lips? (eg. Chapstick, gloss, balm, lipstick) Chapstick 

How would you describe your sense of humour? Seinfeld 

What things annoy you more than anything else? Mouth noises

What kind of position are you in at the moment? Sitting

Do you wear much jewellery? Nope

Who is the leader of your country, currently? Any other levels of government with leaders? (State, region, province, county, district, municipality, etc) Three supposedly equal branches of government, currently being run into the ground by a clown 

Last 3 blogs on your dashboard, not including any of your own @halcyondaze @mab1905 @lavender-hued-melancholy

What do you carry your money in? I try to never carry cash, but I carry a small wallet 

Do you enjoy driving? Why or why not? I like it but sometimes it feels like a chore, especially during a commute. @duoloopo thinks I’m a shit driver so she tries to drive whenever she can, which has pluses and minuses. 

Longest drive you have ever been on? Savannah GA to San Francisco, CA in a UHaul

Furthest away from home you have ever been? Germany 

How many times have you moved house? God, I don’t even know. More than ten. 

What is on the floor of the room you’re currently in, not including furniture? Cat toys, unused canvases

How many devices do you own which can access the internet? Phone, computer, iPad, various game consoles 

Is there is anything that is guaranteed to always make you happy? Thomas and Jimmy <3 <3 

Is there anything that always makes you sad? Thinking too hard about being a failure

What programs do you currently have open? I just rebooted, so only Chrome, Spotify and Photoshop

What do you associate the colour red with? This line in the Kate Bush Song Blue Symphony, which goes, ‘I associate love with red, the color of my heart when she’s dead.’ 

Last strong smell you can remember smelling? The Greek food I ordered in for dinner

Last healthy thing you ate? Roasted veggies

Do you drink tea or coffee, and how much per day? I prefer tea, and I drink coffee for energy, though sometimes I think it just makes me crash harder. 

What do you associate the colour blue with? The sky

How long is the closest ruler you can find? 12 inches

What colour pants/skirt/etc are you currently wearing? Dark blue

When was the last time you drank water? About a minute ago

How often do you clear your browser history? Rarely

Do you believe nude photos can be artistic, rather than erotic? Yes

Ever written fanfiction for anything? Oh God, yes. You can still find it under Link Worshiper on AO3, though some of my ‘classics’ have been removed since I turned them into original manuscripts 

Last formal event you attended My cousin’s wedding

If you had to move your birthday to another date, which one would you choose and why? Maybe inch my birth year up just by two so that I’d stop being called a damn millennial. At my age, I really just don’t relate to the generation even though technicalities make me a part of it. 

Would you prefer to be at a beach or in the countryside? Beach

Roughly how many people live in your town? 52,000

Do you know anyone with the same birthday as you? Leonard Nimoy :D 

Favourite place to shop? Can be a certain store or a place where there are multiple stores I haven’t really gone shopping since the pandemic. Right now, it feels like the only place to buy anything is Amazon XD

Do you have a smartphone? What kind? If you don’t, do you want one? Samsung. It’s not a Galaxy but is a new model and a fraction of the price. 

What is your least favourite colour, and why? I don’t think I dislike any colors honestly. 

How do you spell grey/gray? Grey. I’ve got too many British online associates to ever go back. 

Go to your dashboard and describe the image shown in the radar section (below the “Find blogs” link) It’s Umbrella Academy fanart of Klaus. He’s in black and white with this hands over his eyes and the background is red. It’s very graphic. 

What difference is there between how many followers you have, and the number of blogs you follow? 736

How many posts do you have? 8,859

How many posts have you liked? I can’t find the stat D: 

Do you post mainly reblogs, or your own content? Mainly reblogs but I pepper in my own content when I can. Lately, I haven’t had time to do as much fanart though, and I kind of feel like it’s not worth bothering to post my original stuff. Nobody follows my blog for that. 

Do you track any tags? No. 

What time is it currently? 7:33 PM CMT

Is there anything you should be doing right now? Waking up @duoloopo. TIME TO JUMP ON THE BED. 

tagging, if they feel like it: @abbys-little-whippersnapper​ @bumblebarrow​ @irrationalgame​ @downtoncat​ @mab1905​ @duoloopo​

and everyone who I’ve forgotten

[awkwarddannyphantomphotos]

I have something a little bit special to share tonight, a tale that begins a while back when I was hanging out with some friends. 

We had gone to an old box computer (just like the ones in older movies) they had downstairs to play some old computer games that don’t run on current computer systems (Sonic Schoolhouse I’m looking at you) and started playing some.

We had a great time, us 3 who are finished high school, playing preschool math games.

That’s when I spotted it... A DVD game. Quickly we put it in the computer but it didn't run, so we had to play it on a TV. And when we finished with it my friends told me I should take the disc or they would end up throwing it in the fire pit.

That game...

Was THIS...

So anyways I’m gonna talk about this poorly made Scene it game now. This one’s a long one so strap in.

The inside... there sure are a lot of ghosts whom I don't recognize in here.

Loving the Danny Phantom centric theme going on here, but when was Danny ever a shadow of himself? It doesn't sound like it’s referring to over-shadowing, and Danny doesn't act like a shadow of his former self unless you want to count the bad timeline in The Ultimate Enemy.

Alright, the main menu... feels... kind of barren for a Nick thing? This lighting feels off. Anyways, party play it is.

aaaand before I have a chance to read a screen with some options on it I’m whisked away. No, I do not know what those boxes with JPEGs on them are supposed to be.

I’ll tell you right now I’m going to skip a lot of this game because we are only here for the Danny Phantom stuff, but rest assured. The emotion this thing in full inflicted on me and my friends sure was something both funny and something we will not be repeating. When I return the disc to them I might need to update you all on their reaction to seeing it again.

(I have a feeling it will be along the lines of “no, get that out of here before I burn it.”)

Ok, I mean, they might be able to throw a curve ball here-

… I think the only people who will get this wrong are the people who never saw the show.

Wow, that even more distorted then what I usually find!

and the image is... Isn't that from when Ember hypnotized him to be in love with Sam?

Was this the best Mr. Lancer picture they could get?? They actively looked at this and figured yup, that the one we want.

oh no, they’re going to dunk me in the PS2 slime, why does it look worse then everything else?

Jazz, what have they done to you?!

Of all the images, the took them all in the middle of a lip flap. And Jack is really close to being perfectly lined up in those two pictures!

Again, these are the best photos they have apparently.

And that is it. There are some “Chose from a line up” type questions that are not Danny Phantom related but have characters as an option but other then those I got them all! And the only time we see Danny as Phantom was one of those ones!

There is barely anything on this disc, When the questions are done there is no indication that it finished. It just loops back to the same questions. In the same Order. With the same answers.

Lets see what the one other mode has then

Danny take your hand out of the slime.

It’s... the exact same but now it tells people to move pieces across a board (that... It doesn't come with???)

My recommendation is don’t buy this. Even if it’s a single penny don’t buy this.

It’s not worth it.

Misleading on the amount of ghosts you get based on the cover, I wish I had a haunted game instead of this one. 0/10

[pokefreakguide]

Competitive Battle Team ; Pt. VII: Choices

Links: Pretext ; Pt. I ; Pt. II ; Pt. III ; Pt. IV ; Pt. V ; Pt. VI

This is the last article for my competitive team! And in this article I’m going to explain the pokémon I chose, why I chose them, and summarize their nicknames. I called this team the Kitelike team because the reason I chose all of these Pokémon is because I liked them and gave that precedence to the actual competitive viability (p.s. my name is kite, hence kitelike) First up:

Scolipede ; Atari 

I chose Scolipede because centipedes have always been one of my largest fears since childhood, and through my life, I’ve found the best way to conquer my fears has been to study them. So, one day I set out to learn everything I could about centipedes and became fixated. I adore them now, and though they certainly still freak me out a bit, I had to add Scolipede to my party. In addition to this, I love poison type pokémon. Centipedes are the harbingers of bad news and the symbols of death. I chose the name Atari as a deviation of the word Ataraxia because of the song Centipede by Wisen, in which the artist speaks of receiving ataraxy. Ataraxy is an extreme serenity, a peace. I thought this name would be cool because of Scolipede’s attack. It adds an almost sinister element. Calmly, cooly, killing you. 

Toxicroak ; Redlight 

Toxicroak was always one of my favorite designed pokémon, primarily because of its neat raptor-like claws. I have also, since childhood, loved frogs, and though my fixation has since faded, it’s a good ol’ call back to when I was 13. Generation IV is also one of my favorite generations, so had to pay homage. I chose the name Redlight for multiple reasons. First, Toxicroak looks very naughty at first glance and Redlight has connotations of naughtiness due to its association with the red light district. Second, it gives thoughts of a red traffic light, which is an indication to stop- like a directive to faint, a stop to your game. 

Hydreigon ; Gwendolen

It took some getting used to, but when I finally understood Hydreigon, it swiftly became one of my favorite pokémon. I wish it had better stats, because it’s seriously an awesome character. Its two auxiliary heads are actually arms, when I understood that, it changed my opinion on the pokémon, entirely. I also had a revelation that its covered head as Deino and Zweilous, peels back to form its mane as Hydreigon. It’s truly a disturbing design, and with Dark as one of its two types, I had to have it. Hydreigon reminds me of artist Nick Bantok, whose art has influenced me a lot throughout my life. Again, like centipedes, I started off being very afraid of Bantok’s artwork, but came to love it. Should my Hydreigon have been male, I would have named it Bantok. However, it wasn’t: I chose the name Gwendolen because of Queen Gwendolen of 11th Century BC Britain, who fought a battle against her husband, the king, and defeated him. She took his throne and became the first Queen Regnant (meaning she ruled alone). I chose this name because I really wanted a male Hydreigon, I had the name picked out and everything! But I landed on a female and decided I would roll with it. She took him down. Gwendolen is my second 6 IV Hydreigon, the first I named Itzpapalotl (meaning “obsidian butterfly”). I bred two because the first has a weird spread and questionable nature. 

Porygon-z ; ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ

Ah, here we are. Porygon-z says more about me on this list, than any other. It’s my star. I can’t get enough of it. When I was younger, I used to love Porygon. I used to think it was really cool, but as it evolved I never really paid attention and didn’t have the knowledge, nor attention span to appreciate what was going on. I didn’t know what “dubious” meant, I didn’t know anything about computers or graphics, and though I loved Generation IV, I mostly loved it because it took place in a snowier region, Sinnoh. However, as I grew older, some naivety faded. I got massively into Glitch art culture as I grew older. I became an avid fan of Alva Noto, a glitch/minimalist musician. I love glitch digital sounds and artwork more than I can even describe, it shaped me into who I am more than any other type of music/artwork. I dowloaded VC Red about a year ago. I played through it, purchased my Porygon at the Game Corner, and had a good time. But when I transferred my Porygon up to Pokémon Sun and Moon and evolved it into Porygon-z, it all hit me. I had no idea that Porygon-z’s design was to be based off of a glitch/virus, until I saw the frantic manor in which it moved in Sun and Moon. The Dubious Disc now made sense. A bootlegged up-grade gone awry. If you pay attention, it could even be argued that Porygon-z’s head is simply Porygon2′s head, detached and flipped upside-down. The pokémon is literally a whacked out version of it’s preevolution and that. That. Is RIGHT up my alley. Everything from its cry to its physicality is exceptional thinking. Of course, I had to give it a proper name, so I named it after the harrowing ZZAZZ glitch in Pokémon Red and Blue. I didn’t name it “ZZAZZ” because in the glitch, when in battle, your opponents name contains the characters ZZDZZAZZ4ZZIZZ9 and so on. I shortened it to ZZDZZAZZ4ZZ so I could justify calling it “zaz” verbally. Regardless, I mainly chose the name because this glitch corrupts your save file, destroying your progress, again, making an allusion to destruction. 

Houndoom ; Niko

Back when I was younger, I used to play Monster Rancher 4 on the PS2. It’s ... such a good game, it’s fun, makes collecting species fun, and includes battling and training, much like pokémon. I used to have a Tiger/Zan mix (Nightfang) that I named Niko, after my grandparent’s Samoyed dog. Niko was a staple in their house when I was a child, but died when I was still young. SO this nickname is a massive homage to several bits of myself in a more nostalgic sense. I’ve always liked Houndour/Houndoom and have definitely raised them before, but never with the intent of being a party member, and with all of the increased interaction we’re seeing with pokémon via Pokémon Refresh, I HAD to have a Houndoom. I want to pet it and love it <3. 

Mandibuzz ; Ulna

If I could be reincarnated as any animal I would want to be a vulture. I love them so much, but, fun fact: I do not like Mandibuzz. I chose several other pokémon beforehand. Alolan Marowak, Dragalge, I tried a bunch of options, but kept coming back to Mandibuzz. I just... do not like it’s design as much as I could. Vultures are so neat, badass, would make an AWESOME pokémon, but instead they made Mandibuzz. As is the norm for me, through my dislike blossomed amiability and I actually grew to accept Mandibuzz as an option for my team, ultimately feeling like the team was missing something when I removed it. And so here we are. One of my massive qualms is its cry, I know, it’s not a real vulture, but vultures don’t make vocal calls because they lack vocal organs, so instead they make raking, guttural, hisses that sound SO FREAKING BADASS I CANNOT TELL YOU ENOUGH. Instead they made it a squawky mess. I also love bones, but the idea of giving this awesome-ass bird a bone .... apron.. . . ? ? //? /? /  because? ? ?it’s a woman?? ? I have no idea, regardless, it found its way onto my team and I appreciate it enough to allow it to stay. Before anyone starts on me, it’s named “Mandibuzz”, implying it might be meant to be a “buzzard”, right?? But my kind fellow, No. It’s named that because here in the good ol’ US of A we call vultures “buzzards” and actual buzzards are unknown to most the good folk ‘round here because they have no clue what they’re talking about. A true buzzard is more like a hawk, but Mandibuzz is clearly meant to be a vulture, much to my chagrin. Another reason for choosing it was all of my childhood reminiscing and glitchy folly, lead me to offensive team member after offensive team member and I needed a good defense option. Instead, I chose Mandibuzz, an okay defense, but a powerhouse if played correctly. I’m really hoping that this pokémon grows on me, and I think... it could. I named it Ulna after the bone in your arm, conterpart to the radius. It took me a while to name this one, but I’m happy with what I landed on. 

I learned a lot through this experience and I’m actually going on to create a more viable team. I’ll do an article on that team, but I won’t draw it out over 7 parts. For now, thanks for reading all this jargon and going on this journey with me. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go raise and EV train 6 pokémon. 

[witty-diagnosis]

Witty review #4: lacks emo dancing

So, as I said I would I'm back with a review, this time of spider man homecoming. As always no spoilers in case you wanna watch it, now for a bit of back story. Spider man up until just before Captain America : civil war was owned by Sony and as such they were responsible for the movies, which is why they shat out spider man 1 to 3 and amazing spider man 1 and 2, none of which being incredibly good superhero films, with Toby Maguire being more suited to voicing spiderman 2 for PS2 and Andrew Garfield being my girlfriends favourite for some apparent reason that I do not know nor can comprehend, because he was shit. Anyway as I'm guessing this is based on the ultimate spider man universe, being peter, played by Tom Holland, is a genius student who is also incredibly immature. Now Tom Holland puts in probably the best performance of spiderman that has been on the screens with him, unlike Toby Maguire, being able to pull off the witty remarks that make spiderman and not some unmotivated 2 bit actor who I haven't seen in the better part of 10 years. Robert Downey Jr plays iron as good as he always does, with him playing a supporting role with this being the continuation of the civil war story arc. Michael Keaton plays vulture, the main antagonist of the story who is actually fairly sympathetic when not being bat shit insane. The only casting choice I don't understand is Jacob batalon as Ned and Zendaya as Michelle, probably because they were made for the film but Michelle is just there, she doesn't do anything and Ned can get annoying fairly quickly. Now the quality of the video I watched wasn't very good but as usual it was a marvel film so the CGI and cinematography was top notch. 5 stars to the suit design as well, the sort of modified Scarlet Spider hoodie looks pretty sweet and I would definitely wear one, and props to Tom Holland for getting super fucking jacked. Now the bad things, now I know marvel were probably after diversity points, but, and this is probably just me, but Liz Allen has always in the comics been blonde haired and white, so why for the first time in all her fictional existence was she cast black, I know it's just a nit pick but its not like nick fury where they had a reason and a good actress to play him, a fucking great one in Sam Jackson, but she wasn't that good, I found the love story rather forced into the narrative, I know she's not Mary Jane or Gwen Stacey so overall she doesn't matter at all, but it was still a time sink in an otherwise good movie, also the fight scenes were sick and the fact it wasn't biological webs, glad those details were in their. So overall I rate this movie 7 1\2 out of 10, Tom Holland makes a great spider man, the action scenes were awesome and the vulture was a really good villain but the fact the love target was a shit actress and they made up 2 characters who did fuck all really did waste time that could've benefitted building spiderman more. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the review, sorry its a bit rushed but thanks for reading, see you soon.

[thehallofgame]

Review: Resident Evil: Code Veronica X

Release: 2001

My Rating: 8

Resident Evil Review Series: 5/11

This will be my last Resident Evil update for a while. I think this is a pretty good spot for a break though. I consider Code Veronica the last entry in what I call the ‘Racoon City’ arc of the series so it’s not a bad place to take a rest before starting the B.S.A.A. era.

Review under the cut,

Resident Evil Code Veronica X was a strange name to choose for this game. It picks up where Resident Evil 2 left off, featuring protagonist Claire Redfield on the hunt again for her still missing brother, Chris. For all intents and purposes it feels like a main entry in the series, many even saying it’s a more appropriate entry than Resident Evil 3 was, and yet they labelled it as a spin-off and pinned an X on the PS2 release to differentiate it from the original Dreamcast version.

              Naming convention notwithstanding the game feels much the same as the rest of the series. A few months after the destruction of Racoon City Claire Redfield is attempting to infiltrate the Umbrella Corporation’s European offices in Paris when she is captured. Claire is then transported to a remote island testing facility to disappear. Just in the nick of time the facility is invaded by an unknown force and Claire takes her chance to escape in the chaos. Along the way she is joined by Steve, an impulsive and bravado filed young man who was imprisoned in the same lab/prison facility. The two make a great duo for carrying the story. Claire’s protective and caring nature are a great counterpoint to Steve’s brash danger courting behavior and make the two extremely easy to like and care for.

              This entry in the series is centered more on the villains’ story than in the past, however. Alfred and Alexia Ashford are descended from one of the original founders of Umbrella and are embroiled in a decades long battle for status and success with the other branches of the company. It’s ultimately the labyrinth of family history and politics that unfurls across their multiple homes and laboratories that provides the support and through-line to the game’s story as the player discovers one depravity after another buried in the families past. Unfortunately the game plays with themes of gender, mental illness and their interplay and isn’t terribly sensitive about it. I realize this game came out about twenty years ago now and I wasn’t particularly offended by the content but it’s something to be aware of if you’re sensitive to these subjects and thinking of playing this.

              Code Veronica played more with the atmospheric and intimate tones of the PS2 era survival horror genre than other games in the series to its’ great benefit. Boss enemies don’t appear until late in the game, which is structured in such a way so that the player anticipates them long before they appeared. Likewise enemy design was a touch more thoughtful this time around and some of the bosses could have wandered from a Silent Hill or Fatal Frame game. A much closer, tighter camera angle enhances the tight feeling of claustrophobia, as well as a mechanic that allows the player to use the lighters they carry for light in dark spaces. Unfortunately gameplay wasn’t tweaked to account for this. The player still can’t move and shoot at the same time, and with smaller camera angles the distances the player can see approaching enemies at are much shorter. This often led to getting cornered and taking much more damage than in previous entries. Especially as even the basic zombies, that often attack in mobs as they did in Resident Evil 3, seem to happily absorb more rounds than their predecessors before dropping.

              However this could also have been a deliberate attempt to increase the atmosphere of difficulty as I found healing items to be more evenly spaced than in previous games, and while I would often limp around on low health I never quite found myself in a totally untenable position. Likewise the ‘dark rooms’ mechanic sometimes stumbled when in later portions of the game the player doesn’t always have a light source and the areas grow so dark that it’s impossible to see or navigate. In the end I found myself bumping the brightness on my tv quite a lot to get through those areas. Both aspects were good ideas that could have used a more fine tuning to really drive them home.

              The extensive ammunition crafting system of Resident Evil 3 is thankfully done away with and instead only the weakest weapon’s crossbow bolts can sometimes be combined with rare gunpowder rounds to create deadly explosive arrows. It’s a fun tweak that combined with the special non-refillable assault riffles and sub-machine guns encourages carefully choosing and juggling weapons through the inventory throughout the game.

              Gameplay in Code Veronica still follows the same formula as the earlier games, with a heavy reliance on progress-blocking puzzles and backtracking to extend fairly small levels. Code Veronica tightens up the pattern by chaining several small but different feeling areas together and shuttling the player rapidly between them. Moreover about two thirds of the way through the game a new point of view player is introduced who takes different paths through the same areas and visits a few new rooms. This does a lot to keep the game feeling fast paced but still stocked with enough content to keep the player entertained for a decent span.

              For a tittle that came out so early on the Playstation 2, even accounting for it being a port from the Dreamcast, this game made the transition from the earlier consoles more gracefully than most. Code Veronica uses the same style of static backdrops and fully rendered models for characters and enemies as in past entries. The backgrounds are very similar to earlier games and while not as sharp as they’d eventually become in later games were still much nicer to look at than many early PS2 tittles. Likewise the character models have surprisingly well proportioned bodies and smooth, curving lines rather than the jerky polygonal models of the past, though they tend to be composed of flat, bright colors that detracts some from the musty looking aesthetic of the rest of the game.

              Code Veronica is one of the best entries in Resident Evil and was frankly underserved by being marketed as a spin off. It was not only far more interesting than Resident Evil 3 it also had the most interesting and intrinsically unsettling villains of the series to date, and perhaps since. While, as this series that is horror in name only tends to be, this game isn’t scary it is interesting and fun. It also took a more serious tone than previous entries and managed to carry it off. Overall Code Veronica was a solid and fun entry that does a lot more for the over-arching plot of the series than most of the games in the series.