#so far i just know about the FGC

[hunkydorkling]

Haha... yes, I think I need to look for a new job to land, actually

[remy2fang]

Old art of F.A.N.G mains from 2021 to 2022. Mono, Mortsy, VegaPatch, MetalQueerSolid, DeeAncer, NovaSpec, Rotten Seagull. I wanted to show my support for them because they’re all absolutely incredible. And they are wonderful people in real life too. I find it astounding that many of them mained F.A.N.G as far back as Season 1 for Street Fighter V. A low tier character with an unorthodox design and personality. Like, I know people would be asking why stick to FANG when there are better characters than him? FANG was not strong for the majority of the game’s lifespan, and he wasn’t waifu/husbando material either lol (at least for mainstream fandom). How can people stick to such a character? There are several answers to this. F.A.N.G mains find him fun. They said he has neat tools, his play style clicks with them (many of them prefer charge), they love playing difficult characters, and/or they genuinely love his odd design and personality. I’d say they’re all very good reasons.

And then there was Mono’s CEO 2021 win where he grabbed the #1 spot. That was absolutely momentous. There’s even a fantastic documentary on it too.

There was also Xian that made F.A.N.G work in Season 1. He was so good that he placed at #9 with F.A.N.G at Capcom Cup 2016. Be mindful that I wasn’t part of the FGC back then so I don’t see it myself, but reading about it sounded very inspirational. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if Xian’s performance was one of the reasons why F.A.N.G got nerfed for Season 2 😂😂. That comes to show that F.A.N.G wasn’t a totally bad character just as long as people gave him a chance and lab with him.

I still have more FANG main art, but the max is 10 pictures per post. I’ll make another post on another day, which would include art for Capcom Cup IX because 3 F.A.N.G main’s qualified for that year (VegaPatch, Mono, Mortsy) and VegaPatch placed at #7. Update: Here’s the post:

[lauranthalasah]

I was rewatching the episode, and after Orym tells Keyleth about Imogen's connection to Liliana, Laura or Imogen tells Liam or Orym (I'm not sure) that she didn't meant for him to say that, and Orym answers with "I don't care"... THAT'S HIS ANGER COMING THROUGH! Think about it! He is back home, but his home feels different, people nervous, he is told they might have lost a couple dozen of his people, her leader can barely stand and she is not healing because she has been hurt with the same poison that killed his husband and father, one of her sisters has been missing in an attempt to retrieve a cure for that poison, so he one hundred percent shares Keyleth's sentiment of "we are going to destroyed them all"... and Imogen starts with her, completely understandable from her point of view, wishful argument about the white light maybe saving them... maybe Liliana saving them. Now, first I thought he acted fast over the clear moment in which Keyleth started suspecting Imogen, I still think that in part, but if he wanted just to attack the connection heads on, he could have told Imogen (when she spoke telepathically with him), that she needed to tell Keyleth the truth. Instead he did it himself, and when Imogen tells him, "that's not what I meant" (paraphrasing?) he answered with "I don't care", because I think one part of him truly didn't care at the moment. You see, Orym and Imogen are the two people more biased over the situation at grand. Orym against the Ruby Vanguard because they killed his family just because it was needed for their plans, Imogen in favor of the Ruby Vanguard because his mother is with them (actually, I think now she is just trying to maintain some hope over her mom, not the organization overall, but it was there at some point and Orym doesn't know it might have changed yet, they have not talked that much since being back together). Yet, when discussing the issue before, Orym has traded quite gently, even if he had doubts over Imogen (which he wasn't the only one... Fearne was the one reaching him over Imogen, not the other way around), he still was quite kind over her doubts and hopes because I think he understands the hope for a parent coming back, choosing their child over whatever took them away. But here they are in the present, and it has been one bad news after another, and maybe... maybe if he could have come back to Zephrah inmediatly after the fight his sister would not been missing today, maybe... if A FUCKING WHITE LIGHT HADN'T SEND HIM TO ANOTHER CONTINENT! The same white light his friend is defending right at his side, right in front of his hurt leader. I think his anger is that dismissing of what Imogen clearly wants (to change the subject), because he is also seeing his leader starting to suspect his friend and that is no good at all, so he jumps and tells the truth with little of the tact that he usually uses, trampling over Imogen’s choice, but still manages to explain and also speak in Imogen's favor, because even in anger he knows (or hope?) that Imogen is loyal to all of them. It was a needed move (to tell the truth about Imogen and Liliana), it was a dick move that he didn't let Imogen say it herself, but it was also a dick move on Imogen's part (and FGC to be honest) trying to belatelly defend Liliana given everything going on in that room at that moment. To clarify even more, I think Imogen might be right, I think Liliana might have done the white light and transported all the people that got displaced, BUT... I also think Liliana might have done it to save Imogen and only Imogen, like I doubt she has that much control over it, she didn't care how many people she trasported as long as Imogen was sent away from danger. Because so far, for what I've seen, the plans of the Ruby Vanguard were not affected by this action, they are already in Ruidus and going strong (I might be wrong, of course), so she save her daughter withoug sacrifice to her cause. Nothing changes that Imogen might be right at least in part, nothing changes that Keyleth herself said that the white light might have saved them. What I think caused the problem (anger) wasn't that Imogen might be wrong or right, the problem was that Imogen wasn't reading the room at all! They do have to discuss this possibility with Keyleth, they do! But it has to be once she is healed, once she can think beyond pain and anger. That was not the moment, like it was not the moment to tell her about Vax, and so many other things they have learned, first she needs to recuperate, or at least to start the process. That is the reason I see for Orym keeping quiet about many of the things they’ve learned, but mostly about the figure in pain, because he specially asked Keyleth what she remembered last, he was digging, and when she said how important that person was for her, he kept quiet. First healing, then the news. Which I totally understand... but I still think is a bit dumb, if they all die, a lot of information would be lost, I would have told Leeta at least... but I’m not at the table, and I understand where it’s coming from.

[ntaras]

hi! sorry to bother, and i'm sure this gets asked a lot but i was wondering about some things regarding the mk fandom since i just about caught up with the games a few weeks ago. i know it's a given to have fans be passionate about their favourite characters in the fgc, but it feels more exaggerated in the mk fandom somehow? i get that people are disappointed in the new versions of the characters (me too tbh) but some of the complaints feel a bit... too much. the old games had stellar concepts and character dynamics for sure! but they weren't exactly written well? if they were shown at all for that matter. the story of these games boils down to good vs evil to me and it has always been the case, so it's extra weird to see fans complain about villains being cartoonishly evil when they've always been like that. some side characters barely had personalities in the midway and even nrs era, and while i may not like their current incarnation much potential-wise, i would be lying if i said the old versions had better writing. again, sorry for the dump, i just wanna know what it's like from your side considering you've been here for so long ^^;

hi don’t apologize for asking i don’t mind the ask at all!!!

in my opinion it’s because a lot of concepts have been abandoned and because most (if not all) characters have been rewritten to have stories that don’t really represent who they are/were. i don’t think it’s a good thing to just rewrite the entirety of characters to the point where it isn’t them anymore under the guise of “it’s a reboot”. it’s just an excuse to defend something that still has poor writing and even more poor characterizations when compared to the older lore. the originality is and the ability to create something from what was already given is lazily lost.

i don’t think you can say they’re better characterizations or better dynamics when they’re different characters with different lore and different world building. that’s not to say i don’t like some of the characters (reiko and shang tsung are probably the only characters i REALLY enjoyed and don’t mind their characterizations at all), but it’s not them. even if the characters were always “cartoonishly evil” they still had some nuance or very important aspects to their backstory that is now taken away. key elements of lore are taken away to the point where i genuinely think you cannot have a character without.

the games have just always been a disappointment, and i think every old fan has accepted that. but at least they didn’t stray so far that details couldn’t be fixed or conflicts couldn’t be resolved. mk1 just kinda gives up on the old lore and feels like a “fuck you” to the past. the “new era” characters don’t have what makes them them, and are just a bunch of mk11 sindels to be honest

i get what you’re saying about the exaggeration though- i do it for sure lol. there’s definitely some things people nitpick way too hard on (the biggest one that annoys me is blaming EVERYTHING on liu kang). but at the same as someone who is a fan of the older games it’s just a lot more easier to see what’s wrong with the characters. like i will genuinely get confused on why people like the mk1 versions of some characters because it’s just not who the characters really are. it just feels like they like some random guy from another random game not connected to mk.

and personally my biggest reason is that people are forgetting john tobias. like, he was THE guy in charge of the writing and it feels especially like a big fuck you to him (not that i can speak for him but i just wish his writing was a bit more respected by mk12 and newer fans).

with all that said i don’t think it’s inherently wrong to like mk12 and i don’t think new fans suck lol. like as someone whose first introduction to mk was mkx i won’t blame someone for enjoying the version they first saw. i can see why mk12 would be someone’s favorite game!! i just think in comparison to what mk is, mk12 isn’t good and a lot of older fans feel that way

[sapplejack]

Bloody Roar concept art

Hi guys, a while back I asked a question about whether there were still any Bloody Roar fans. Now that I’ve logged into my Tumblr again, I’ve seen some ppl chime in to say hello! Thus, to keep this fandom (however small it is lol) active, imma post some cool stuff concerning BR; concept art for the first game. *Note that all this info is from Mitsuakira Tatsuta and Shinsuke Yamakawa’s Twitters with some of my opinions and observations sprinkled in 

So, back when the first game was being developed, the character designers had to rack their brains to come up with good zoanthrope designs. Part of the team were Mitsuakira Tatsuta and Shinsuke Yamakawa and they sketched all kinds of beasts at an incredible rate (like, it was a lot). Mr. Tatsuta himself drew about 300 of them and he said there were a bull and kangaroo design he personally liked but those got rejected (we’ll get there). 

The image above is an unused koala girl whom he and the other artists found funny and couldn’t stop laughing at how terrible and dumb it looked. Tbh, they were kinda right lol. Given how slow koalas are, the image of a humanoid marsupial with boobs running towards you is fucking hilarious.

Anteater dude. Probably would have played like a mix between Bakuryu and Busuzima. Mr. Yamakawa thought it looked similar to the former. Speaking of which.......

Early design for Bakuryu. Seems like the mole was going to have ears and a tail. Actually, I’ve always wondered why the Bakuryus didn’t have tails when moles irl do have visible ones. Unless there’s a breed of mole that doesn’t, in which case I’m not aware of. The concept of a 2nd Bakuryu was also apparently already thought up at this time (idk if in the form of a clone, brother, student, etc.) even when Mr. Tatsuta wasn’t involved much in the later games so it’s nice to know that Kakeru/Kenji was not merely an afterthought haha.

Here are 2 very early concept art of Alice. In the 1st one, she looks more mature and edgy. The design/aesthetic may have been recycled into Nagi’s in BR4 (especially the tube top). In the 2nd one, she doesn’t have pigtails since her hair is short and instead wears a giant bow to emulate bunny ears. Very shoujo-esque.

This is the rejected bull design Mr. Tatsuta mentioned and next to it an early bat zoanthrope. The artist had already thought up some ideas on how they were going to fit in the game. The bat was of course used as the basis for Jenny’s beast form later on. There is also the bull zoanthrope’s human form. The character would be Native American it looks like. Bull guy here had been shown before in concept art included in the BR1 game.

A black panther woman (literally lol). It looks like she could have been a black character (probably the first and only in the series unless you count Greg). Also, if this character was approved, we’d have gotten even more cats in the roster.

Squirrel girl, elephant man, and goat lady. The first one looks kinda like a monkey girl (which would be super cute), elephant obvs became Ganesha later, and the goat lady looks more like a demon/satyr to me. This would actually be cool and does fit in with the mythos as shown in the games and the “BR: The Fang” manga i.e., fantasy creatures such as mermaids, dragons, and phoenixes. 

Kangaroo zoanthrope. Mr. Tatsuta imagined him using the Muay Thai fighting style. Eventually rejected as Roger, another kangaroo fgc, had already appeared in Tekken 1-2 years before.

Something veeeeeryyyy interesting. This is a pretty detailed design for a character that was going to be Alice’s brother. This guy was also included in the concept art feature in the BR1 game but it was not mentioned who he was supposed to be. I actually thought he was a proto-Yugo or something. Well, if he made it this far into the character creation process (past the rough sketches and onto colored concept art), then there must have been a conceptual storyline for him somewhere along the line. Judging from his appearance and fashion sense (heh), he’s definitely related to Alice.

Additionally, the red eyes and rabbit-like face probably means that he too was going to have a rabbit beast form; maybe even a hare. I guess he was scrapped since having 2 bunnies would’ve been redundant. I wonder how Alice’s backstory might’ve been had her brother existed. Would she have been adopted into the Nonomura family? Was there going to be some plot where she would be looking for him, thinking she lost her family? Who knows. One thing I do know however, is that he’d butt heads with Yugo since he wouldn’t be keen on his sister dating a *gasp* predator.

Now, I think it would be awesome if this character is introduced in a potential reboot/new installment! They could say Alice didn’t know he was alive, or that he stayed away to keep her safe, seeing as she was already happy with the Nonomuras and relegated himself to watching over her in the shadows. Seriouslyyyy the potential is enormous and I’m hoping something will be done with scrapped concepts like this. (Plus, this guy reminded me of the genderbend Alice fanart I did so long ago. I guess male Alice wasn’t too far off after all).

And lastly, Alice in her sailor fuku (human and beast form). Mr. Tatsuta said this was how he imagined she looked like in that costume.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

That’s all for now! It’s really interesting to see all this concept art and trace back where some designs carried over into later installments of the series. After going through all of them, I yearn even more for another Bloody Roar game! A reboot would be great and some of the rejected designs could be used too. Or continuation with new characters and a bigger roster; that would be even more amazing. Anyway, I thought I should share these sketches by some of the original Raizing/Eighting staff and keep the interest in BR going. We may get something; in regards to Konami trademarking the brand name last year, we just have to wait and see.

[june2734]

The Short Lived Golden Age of Nerdy Web Shows

There was a time between the years of, let's say, 2007 to 2015 that I like to call the golden age of nerdy web shows. It consisted of a lot of small low to no budget productions that had a lot of heart, the kind you just don't see very often anymore for some reason. Many of these show have found a dedicated home on streaming services like The Fantasy Network, some have even gained enough steam to be featured on big name services like Netflix and Amazon like The Guild and LARPs The series respectively. I'm not exactly sure why the web show trend died out so hard, maybe the crowds just aren't there for them anymore like they use to be with some many pieces of high budget productions on streaming services vying for their attention. Every once and a while I'll jump onto Google to try and find new web shows that have that same heart and feel but rarely if ever do I come up with anything. As far as I can tell the only place new nerdy low to mid budget web shows or films gets any attention is at GenCon or small streaming services like The Fantasy Network. Who knows if there will ever be another nerdy heartfelt web show created that captures the spirit of those old series I hold so dear to my heart, but regardless if it happens or not I'd like to bring some attention to a few of my favorites. They may be old by the standards of the internet and maybe even cheesy by today's standards, but I really think they were something special and if you give them a shot maybe you'll think so too. If you have any others that you think would fit in with shows like this feel free to let me know.

The Gamers: Hands Of Fate

Zombie Orpheus Entertainment use to be one of my favorite channels for nerdy fantasy related content back in the day. You could always see the quality and passion that they put into every piece of content they out out on their channel. They're still around today but they've shifted their focus to other ventures such as the ever popular trend of live streaming table top games rather then making scripted content. That being said their old stuff is still well worth a watch and The Gamers series, particularly The Gamers: Hands of Fate, is some of their best work they’ve ever put out. The series centers around a group of table top gamers(the same that can be found in most of the other The Gamers creations by ZOE), particularly the character by the name of Cass, as he steps into the world of one extremely popular card game hopes of impressing a woman who's a huge fan of it. But this is seemingly simple premise is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this series. The show also features a secondary narrative that involves the characters that actually exist in the card game as as the players decisions in the real world effect their lives and leads one character, Buckstahue(not sure if I’m spelling that right), in particular to start questioning what mysterious forces are controlling their lives. The show is a real treat filled with twists and turns I never saw coming, it's fascinating seeing how the real world actions of this card game effects the card characters lives as well as question if and when Buckstahue will figure out what strings control her actions. The stories surrounding the other characters in the party might not be as engaging but they are by no means a weak point of the series either, many of their subplots are engaging in their own rights and pay off certain character moments established in proper The Gamers creations. If this peaks your interest then the series can still be found on Zombie Orpheus's Youtube channel or as a movie on The Fantasy Network. ZOE had pivoted more towards live streaming as opposed to the scripted content of their past but I'd love to see more content from The Gamers one day. Source

LARPs The Series

LARPs The Series first premiered at GenCon 2014 and took home the award for Best Independent Series. The year after it was picked up by Geek and Sundry as a part of a push for more scripted content on the channel which was where I and many others first got a chance to watch it. When the short trailer for popped up on the G&S channel everything about it screamed that I was absolutely going to love it, and I wasn’t wrong. The series centers around a 4 man party of larpers (AKA Live Action Role Players) by the names of Will, Brittany, Arthur and Sam and their DM (Dungeon Master) Evan as we follow their lives in and out of the game. The show is surprisingly heartfelt and sympathetic towards the characters involved in this often misunderstood and mocked hobby as it shows how larping enriches their often turbulent lives and connects them all as friends on a deep and meaningful level. These characters felt real and you really rooted for them as they deal with, work, relationships and the many other hurtles of adult life as they wait eagerly to gear up for whatever peril might befall them in their next campaign session. The show was also pretty hilarious, seeing them play out classic predicaments that any party, whether they be larpers or table top roleplayers, have experienced such as one player trying to roll to kill a tavern owner or romances between PCs were always a joy to watch unfold.  Another thing that most will notice right away is how the production value and direction are surprisingly astounding as well, especially in season 2. I was shocked by just how much quality was put into the show from the costumes and sets as well as from a writing standpoint. If you're interested in checking out the show then it can be found on Amazon Prime but they can also still be viewed for free on YouTube or in The Fantasy Network. Beanduck, the production company behind LARPs The series, is working towards a funding campaign in hopes of earning enough to produce a third season so if you have any spare change you might want to toss it their way in support. Regardless if you decide to help or not, LARPs The Series is a show that I think any nerdy individual will enjoy. Source

Glitch

Glitch was another show produced by the team over at Zombie Orpheus Entertainment, but it never seemed to get the same kind of love as many of their other productions. The concept was brilliant: What if one day you woke up and found out your life operated on the logic of video games? Well this is the predicament that a programing temp nicknamed Glitch finds himself in. Most episodes of the show centered around particular game mechanics causing problems in his and his friends lives and how he tries to figure out ways to work around or fix problems they've created. Glitch, Wyatt and Samus were all fantastic characters and it was always fun seeing Glitch trying to work through some real world problem with game logic like trying to flirt with a woman he likes using a conversation wheel like in Mass Effect or figuring out how to "defeat" his boss at work who he see's as an actual game boss. Another thing I liked about the show was how the characters really felt like real people I knew, they played games on the couch, debated about which Sci-Fi starship captains were the best, and they grilled each other in nerdy ways while working in slang from their favorite bits of nerd culture into their daily vocabulary. I always hoped that ZOE would eventually put out a second season but unfortunately for whatever reason that never became a reality. Now days the channel that originally hosted Glitch has changed their name to Burger Orchard and rarely if ever uploads anything, but luckily those original episodes of Glitch can still be found on their. Give it a watch, it's short but sweet and if you really enjoyed the show a lot there are little companion shorts that can also be found on the channel. Source

The Street Fighter

The Game Station was an early find for me back in my early college days, and I'm not ashamed to admit that I shaved away many hours watching all kinds of gaming related content on that channel instead of studying for exams. One production, created by one of the channels founders Layne Pavoggi, which came out in late 2011 and was a cut above much their already fantastic content was a short lived series was called The Street Fighter. The series centered around a single dad by the name of Phil who has just lost his job and decides to take up a short career as a professional Street Fighter player to provide for his son as well as keep his mind off of the stressful and highly competitive job market. This a real underdog story that’s extremely reminiscent of old sports 80s films where the protagonist has everything working against them, with that being said you might think that such a trope filled narrative would make things a little predictable and you wouldn’t be wrong but there’s still plenty to love since this concept has really never been explored with videogame to my knowledge. Phil is a guy you’d be hard pressed not to warm up to, especially when you see him interacting with his preteen son Ryan or his best friend/semi love interest Camile (played by former All That star and all around spectacular person Lisa Foiles). Seeing him trying to make his way into the job market, taking odd jobs here and there just to try and get by while also playing Street Fighter to destress and become better for the sake of winning a competition for money to support his son really makes to root for him through all of it. One aspect of the show that I really this is fantastic is how it feels truly authentic to the FGC (Fighting Game Community) when it comes to talking about all of the technical aspects of play Street Fighter on a competitive level. There are moments when Phil goes into detail about his “bread and butter” combos or talks about different strategies when it comes to taking on different characters compared to his main. The show was short lived but it can still be found on The Game Stations channel, if you’re looking for a heartfelt underdog story then I highly recommend giving The Street Fighter a shot. Source

Versus Valerie

Versus Valerie is a bit of series finale for a fictional character created by Hannah Spear for the character more commonly known as the Sexy Nerd Girl on her YouTube channel. Even if you didn't watch the characters vlogs over the years leading up to the web series I still think you'll find something to enjoy in this extremely charming show. It centers around Valerie Lapomme, the titular Sexy Nerd Girl, as she lives life hanging out with with her best friend Guy, shopping for comic books, going on dates, vlogging, and trying to make something of herself as a mid 20 something living in Toronto. The brilliant thing about this series is how each episode is structured like or makes homage to popular shows, films and games such as Star Wars, Doctor Who, Memento, and The Matrix just to name a few. On top of that the show is surprisingly well produced and written for something that spawned from a fictional vlog series, Valarie and Guy are much more fleshed out and all the characters including them have some really fantastic character arcs and moments in the show. Valerie’s awkwardness and extremely nerdy imagination felt embracingly relatable to me personally since I often imagine different situations in my life in relation to my own nerdy fandoms. What I was often taken aback by when I first watched the show years ago was just how enjoyable all of the episodes were in their own special way, and the pay off of it all really feels like a proper satisfying ending to the strange and imaginative journey we’ve been on with Valerie. If it peaks your interest at all then you can still find the full series on the Veruse Valerie YouTube channel as well as some of the vlogs prior to the series on the Sexy Nerd Girl channel as well. It’s well worth a viewing and aside from the fantastic lead characters of Guy and Valerie the show also managed to grab Mark Meer as a supporting character, aka the voice of COMMANDER MOTHER F^*$(^% SHEPARD BABY!!!  Source

[kastle09]

Believing in Yourself isn’t cheesy, it’s Essential

One of the problems I’ve run into when coaching new players is that while it’s very easy to go through training exercises and passing on character knowledge, I've always found it difficult to teach how to help someone be more confident in their own abilities. 

I have seen many people, good players in a technical sense, fall to themselves because of negative thoughts.  They shut down due to fear of failure, self fulfilling prophecies, and in the worst cases, learned helplessness.

The problem I then face as a coach is not in teaching someone how to get better, but encouraging them to undertake that process at all. 

In doing so I find myself often reaching for that old line “just believe that you can do it”, which is met with a (not entirely unexpected) lack of enthusiasm.

And in this I really want to expand why it’s not just some throw away line that many treat it. I cannot stress to you its importance in order to become a better player. Whether you are about to attend an offline tournament, or play your next ranked set you need to know why it’s important to believe in yourself. Let’s do some Psychology 101

Bandura's concept of Self-efficacy 

“Self-efficacy - A personal judgement of how well one can execute courses of action required to deal with prospective situations"

This concept introduced by Canadian-American psychologist, Albert Bandura, is a measure of a person's beliefs in their own strengths.

The state of someone's self efficacy can give a glimpse on what a person is likely to do in a given circumstance, and their perception of an upcoming challenge. 

For instance a player whose self-efficacy is far below his actual ability, has discouraged growth and skill development. Think about a task as simple as learning to execute a combo consistent, and let’s say they land it 7 out of 10 times.

A player with low self-efficacy may see that as a failure and think: ”That combo is too hard to get right”. This negativity leads to low motivation and eventually a state where a player feels no amount of effort will make a difference in being able to succeed.

A player with high self-efficacy can see it as a stepping stone to greater success. “Okay great we got 7 lets get to 8”, Instead of Obstacles becoming discouraging, it instead spurs the player on to greater and sustained efforts in order to achieve a goal.

You can see in both scenarios, it displays a player with the same current skill level however the perception they have of themselves has a determination on whether they will continue or give up.

Improving one's self-efficacy isn’t as simple as just telling someone to do it. People seem to get frustrated at the fact when saying “well stop feeling that way, be more positive” doesn’t work. (And as someone who has a history with clinical depression it doesn’t surprise me in the least).

What feeds into your Self-efficacy?

To improve our Self-efficacy we need to understand how it can be affected. Bandura identified 4 aspects that affect a person's Self-efficacy

Mastery Experience – Drawing on your previous successes

People will find every reason to avoid a problem. In Street Fighter it's common to want to blame a character being too strong or my character being too weak for example. 

But if that's all you lay the blame on then what purpose is it supposed to be serving? Does it help you perform better against that character next time? No

The only thing that can help you in a spot like that is knowing what you are going to do differently the next time it happens. Idiocy is trying the same thing over and over and thinking the result will be different because that's how you believe it “should be”, not how it actually is. 

Your only job is to try and perfect within the system you are given. Not constantly blame the system (even if the developers later prove you right with a balance change). What are the things in your control.

If you are afraid of some Birdie player doing EX.Dolphin dive or Karin c.mk then that has to be reflected in the way that you practice. If you are beaten by that, yell at the screen, and then hit ready up again, what have you learned? Absolutely nothing. Training mode is there for you to experience situations on a loop. Again and again, until we know exactly what is going on and how we deal with it. 

Mastery experience is drawing on that which has been achieved previously can be replicated again. This is why as well as taking the time to look over your losses to improve, it's equally important to remember and celebrate success, especially when it’s hard earned. Keep it in the memory to push you forward, and especially in moments that are tough because it is there to remind you that if you push through like you did last time, you can achieve success again.

Vicarious Experience – Seeing others that are able to succeed

Like a lot of Street Fighter 4 Makoto players, I looked up to Haitani as my hero and player to watch and learn from. Having heroes to look up to, especially in esports, is I think one thing that sets it apart from traditional sports.

If I wanted to run around and make a play like Lebron James I might need 9 other people on the court to recreate a play, but the beautiful thing about esports is If I watch someone do something spectacular I can instantly jump into the game and attempt to recreate it myself.

Vicarious experience simply put is the idea of “If they can do it, so can I”. Watching Haitani make pixel comebacks or make picture perfect plays gives me the mindset of “Well if I plan right, and play my cards right, I can make a comeback like that”.

For all intents and purposes while I am not as good skill wise as Haitani, in that moment, to make that play. I need to believe I am.

This can have a negative effect as sometimes people seeing others succeed can be de-motivational, in the sense that you think “Man I can never be as good as that” or sometimes watching someone else you think is better lose to similar things and think “Well if he can’t do it there isn’t anyway I can either”. It is important to be aware when these thoughts occur and how to spin it. For instance being able to see it as a goal to chase or to not repeating the mistakes of someone else.

Social Persuasion – The belief and encouragement from others

Despite the competitive nature of esports, talking and conversing with your peers can be an invaluable experience for you.

Even just having one extra person (a training partner, a coach or a friend for example) can be vitally important in your journey to continue. Yes there is some enjoyment in being able to figure things out for yourself and get to a stage where you’ve learned how to help yourself.

If you ever find yourself at a wall however, don’t ever be afraid to simply ask for help. Especially in a local community it’s in everyone's best interest to get as good as they can possibly be. You don’t have to keep banging your head against a wall to try and work on a problem that has been known and solved long ago.

Something that I appreciate greatly about my Newcastle cartel here where I live is everyone from the newest to the most experienced players are always up for learning, trying something new and helping each other out. There is competition still sure, but the strength of the group as a whole is what we value most.

Physiological Factors - The emotional state of mind

It cannot be helped that sometimes your mind and body want to react in ways to situations that are not always beneficial. Improving self-efficacy is not necessarily about preventing those things from happening, but more how you wish to view what those signs mean.

How many of you for instance have sat down for your first tournament match at locals, you hear the game announcer through the speakers, and your leg will not stop shaking and bouncing. Your fidgety beyond belief, your palms are sweaty. How do you interpret those signs?

If you interpret it as a sign of being ill prepared or lack of ability to handle what's coming next. It can decrease your self-efficacy and reinforce in your mind any faults during a game. Soon to spiral and not play how you ordinarily do.

If you have heard about a player “Oh they are great in casuals but play bad in tournaments” this can be an attributing factor. Someone with a clear amount of skill, but no confidence that they actually have it and can produce it when required.

A person with high self-efficacy may instead interrupt these signs more as something that naturally occurs and are therefore able to separate it from their ability. The signs are now a sign of readiness and preparedness instead of the absence of it.

Conclusion

This article was written in response to the anger and disappointment I have when people fail to be able to see what hard work and skill they have achieved thus far, and consider it obsolete. The come with a thinking that: “Well that’s it, I tried and this is all I can do” As Hemingway wrote “any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.” 

Any player who has lost hope, it is a loss all of us feel. It therefore is also on us, to come together to bring them back.

There is of course no magic bullet or cure all for being mental tough when it comes to performance, but I at least hope in reading through this, you will at least be able to recognise and hopefully steer yourself in the right direction

Welcome to 2021, New year, New Us.

Let’s get cracking FGC. - Krisna “kastle09″ Siv

[gear-project]

Developers, The Community, and Me

With the recent Skullgirls News continuing to make waves... I wanted to get some of my feelings and thoughts off my chest of late:

The truth is, I’ve been a long-time Guilty Gear fan... and there’s parts of me that feels somewhat guilty over current events within the FGC.

Not, in the sense that I had anything to do with what people have done... but in the sense that, I feel like if only I had done something back in the day to change things for the better.

I said this to NeoStrayCat in chat, but.... if it were me... if I had any say in the way tournaments and social events within the FGC were set up years ago leading up to the present.... I would’ve been busting heads a long LONG time ago (like, back in the GGX Y2K heydays)!!!

There were always a certain level of “toxic elements” in the FGC that bothered me, and I had very little power to influence them or change them or even so much as stop them.

I mean... how could I?  I lived in a backwater scene with a dying arcade community.  I barely had any local friends to play fighting games with... I was neither in the East Coast, nor the West Coast.

But even so... I KNEW THESE GUYS (on forums, in chatrooms).... a lot of the people you hear stories about in the news... the people who made their mistakes and caused problems.... I KNEW THEM, I SPOKE WITH THEM!

I feel like.... if I had the ability I could’ve done something.

Whether it was insults, vulgar language, illicit connotations, controversy... WHATEVER IT WAS.... I feel like if I was more involved I could’ve prevented something.

I cannot turn back time.  I cannot NOT become who I am.

But that leads me to the present time.... “I knew these guys”... I knew aspiring game developers... I knew kids who played and loved fighting games and were making waves... both good and bad waves.

They say that “for the world to change, you must first change yourself”.

Maybe it sounds like I’m being a busybody.... getting involved in something when its none of my business...

I said it before, but even someone like Mike Z. was once a Guilty Gear fan...

Heck, even I have my own dark past...

But I don’t wanna give up on anybody.

On my blog, and in my tweets... I try to keep my interactions with people as squeaky clean as I possibly can.... I like polite discourse, it’s what I do.  I don’t use insults, I don’t use vulgarity, I don’t swear/curse... heck, I don’t even drink or smoke!

I’m not perfect, by any means... but at the same time, I feel like everyone deserves a healthy amount of respect and civility.

Even in the game developer side of things: there’s what you call “professional courtesy”... when working with other people, you put aside your own wants and desires, you work with them to get something DONE, often at an inconvenience.

But in no way do I condone taking advantage of that courtesy, or abusing it.

If I am able to impact anyone... I can only impact those around me.

If you have read this far... You know I’m not perfect... but at the same time we are still a community.  We are still a group of people connected together by common interests, common goals, and common aspirations.

Henceforth... if there is SOMETHING I can say or DO... I will do it: if it means preserving the integrity and standards I have come to believe in... as a gamer, as an aspiring game developer, as a writer, as a fan of this community of gamers.

If you see something that needs to change... if you know someone who can do something... if you want something done.. even if the task feels insurmountable... sometimes even just something you want to vent about or get off your chest.

I want to create an environment where it’s okay to talk... it’s okay to feel bothered by certain things... but it’s NOT okay to disrespect others.

Maybe I’m not the best or most skilled gamer out there... but I still bear some of the responsibility that keeps this community going.   I want people to know where I stand, and what I want to see, and what I expect of people.

I expect respect.  I expect polite interactions.  I expect people to NOT use insults, to not insult the games people play or enjoy... I expect civility, even if I cannot always demand it.

Things need to change... even if I have to be some kind of bossy moderator to do it, I will.

[jawbreakers2015]

Player Profile: EGMadness

winner of the Michigan Masters 2019 side tournament and current arcade mode speed running record holder (art by @fridgeot)

What names do you go by?

Robo Bonobo and EGMadness EGMadness has been my tag for the longest time, it's basically my initials with an "-adness" at the end, I thought it sounded nifty at the time. Robo Bonobo is a newer tag I'm transitioning into because I think it's even more clever and it reflects my robot character favoritism.

How did you get into Lethal League?

I believe the original was recommended to me on Steam a loooooong time ago and I just took a shot in the dark with it because the trailer looked sick. Definitely a gamble I'm glad I took.

What’s your current Lethal League experience?

Only 44 hours recorded in the original, but around 160 clocked in Blaze thus far. Won the only tourney for it I've entered (the previous year's Michigan M@sters side tourney, in fact), and I'm floating around 4th Division in ranked this season. I'm currently grinding hard to help me get that pot bonus, though! See me in 1st Div by the end of March.

Who are your main/side/counter character picks?

I'm a Doombox one-trick. I'm too stuck on DB's float movement to be able to use anyone else, flying's just too much fun! I've been trying to learn Dust & Ashes just to branch out, but I have a lot of double jump and glide tech to perfect before that pick comes anywhere close to competitive viability for me.

What are your favourite character outfits?

Eaaaasily Prime Poppa Doombox. Gotta rep the red, white, and blue. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Also sometimes Safety Weapon if I'm really feeling it.

What are your stage preferences?

I like cramped stages like Scrap Desert and Room 21. They really complement Doombox's vertical angles and let me suffocate my opponents easier.

What input method do you use?

Keyboard! Only fighting game where I actually prefer it. Started playing the original Lethal League on it years ago and it just stuck with me.

The tournament is played on PS4, do you have a solution for that?

Whoops! I didn't even think about that, thanks for letting me know! Looks like I'm ordering an adapter off of Amazon tonight. I was under the impression adapters would be part of the officially-provided setups.

Who do you hope to meet at Michigan Masters?

Melleracappeller, my favorite Lethal League player of all time. That man's got the sauce, paper, juice, and clout.

What made you pick up speedrunning the arcade mode?

I saw Buffet Time's arcade run at Awesome Games Done Quick while I was browsing YouTube a while back, and I felt like I could do better. I was just finishing polishing up my world record times on my main speedrunning game (Madness Retaliation) at the time, so I was in a particularly competitive mood as I watched the run; I couldn't just sit there and think that I would do better, I had to know I would by proving it. When I finished watching the run, I decided to open up the game, practice, learn, and really get serious about arcade running. I don't make a claim like 'I could do better' without being willing to back it up!

What other games do you play?

Mostly fighting games. The other big competitive fighting game that I'm grinding at the moment is Super Smash Bros. Project+, a super sick Brawl mod that you should 100% check out if you have a Wii, a copy of Brawl, and a 2 gigabyte SD card on hand. Also Arcana Heart 3 Love Max Six Stars. That game is FIRE. I will shill it until I die.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to the community?

I would like to urge anyone with the desire to get the Lethal League ball rolling with their local FGCs to do anything they can to make sure that the game is at events, be it casuals or tourneys. The most important part of scene growth is exposure, so don't be afraid to get your setup moving! I haul my PC tower setup to my university every other Friday just to make sure that the games I want to see played get played. Be the change you want to see in the FGC!

You can watch EGMadness on twitch.tv/egmadness and youtube.

[kur0kvmi]

The Menacing Mind of Felix Lombardi-Act 2

I peek through the door glass one more time, to make sure I’m not hallucinating. Yep. Ami Fujinami in the mother, fucking flesh. 

“Felix? I know you’re in there, open up” Ami said, in between repeatedly knocking

“Yea I’ll open it up in a minute” I said as I frantically searched for a clean pair of sweatpants to wear.

Ami and I have known each other for the entirety of the 2 years I’ve been living at this apartment. She and her Grandma have taken pretty good care of me seeing as I’m not exactly the best at it. 

“Hi Ami, what brings you here?” I asked, trying to push out the conversation with my brother from my mind

“Well, a strange man in a dark blue suit was here yesterday and he gave me 2 tickets to Mysticon” 

And then it call comes rushing back

“Wow that’s weird, well have fun” I said as I tried to close the door on her, only for her to stop the door from shutting.

“He said he was your brother, and that I should ask you to go with me” Ami said, slowly edging towards me like she was trying to get a good look at the reflection in my eyeballs.

“Well, I have no idea who you’re talking about. I don’t have a brothe-”

“Hello? Mr. Lombardi? He said exactly what you said he’d say. Mhmm That he doesn't have a brother. Should I hand him the phone? Ok. Ok. I’ll tell him.” 

Oh fuck.

“He says if you don’t go to Mysticon with me, I should tell Obaa-san to lock you out of the wifi for a month” Ami said, in the most perfunctory tone imaginable.

“First of all, you can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. And to be honest, I don’t care if Mr. Lombardi is your real brother or not, I want to go to Mysticon, and I don’t care who with. So you’re going with me Felix.” Despite the fact that Ami was more or less extorting a date out of me, she did so with the gusto and demeanor of a middle schooler who just won a spelling bee. 

“Why couldn’t you just go by yourself?”

“The deal is, I take you, and I get a free ticket. Mr. Lombardi was very clear about this” 

“So I have no choice”

“None at all”

“Alright. Come knock on my door on saturday”

“It is Saturday, you bum”

“Why aren’t we using your car?” Ami moaned as we exited the building. 

“The train is faster” I said, pulling a pack of cigarettes out of my jacket.

“Mysticon is in Hells Kitchen right?” Ami asked, whilst reaching into her backpack

“Yup, and it’s...3pm, traffic will be annoying, and I don’t wanna worry about driving back if I buy weed.” I said, pulling out my lighter

“What have I told you about smoking when you’re next to me.” Ami said, pulling out a batton, then flicking it to extend it’s length. 

I put the cig back in the pack, whilst prompting her to sheathe her weapon. Throughout the journey my mind is racing. Ami and I hanging out again? It’s not that I like her or anything, it’s just that I kind of missed her. Hey I’m allowed to have feelings aren’t I? I’m sure you’re wondering “but Felix, if you missed hanging out with her, why did you stop talking to her?” Why yes fair reader, that’s a very adequate question, however the nature of our relationship isn’t that simple. Ami is kind of an all around nerd aficionado, she cosplays, she writes fanfics, she draws, she sings anime openings on youtube, it’s kind of scary how much she does all over the place. Recently she’s started to get really famous online, she’s started to devote a lot more time to it, and She started ghosting. Being distant... And you know me, I ain’t exactly a butterfly myself, so we just drifted apart. She should be making money on youtube, couldn’t she just get her own tickets?

“Obaa San wouldn’t let me” Ami said as we reached the station. “She’s against anime conventions on principle”. 

“Is this about a ‘Japan is more than anime’ thing?” I asked, shifting over to the right as I stepped on the escalator so I could walk down past the standers.

“No that’s more my parents. Baa san is a reeeeaaally old school Otaku.”

“Then what’s her beef with anime conventions?”

“She thinks they’re ‘commodified caricatures of otaku culture’ or something along those lines” Ami said as we hopped on the train.

Granny Fujinami isn’t wrong in the slightest.

“So she won’t be mad at you for going?” 

“She’s only letting me go because I’m going with you. It’s aaalways about you with her.”

“Not my fault i’m the grandson she never had” I said while making a mocking face at Ami.

“She only loves you cuz you’re a broken mess she can nurture. You’re like my dad. Ugh, you’re like all men really.”

Ouch.

“Ouch.” 

“Suck it up loser.” Ami said, shifting her direction away from me. 

“You’re so cute when you go all Tsun” I said, pulling out my phone.

“That would imply me having any ‘dere’ for you.” Ami snapped back.

So hot.

[At the Convention]

What’s going on what’s going on going on. Everyone’s looking at us. Well I guess I am walking next to Amura. Yes that’s Ami’s social media name, you try coming up with something better at 12. Mine’s [REDACTED]. This is not what I signed up for. Louis Othello Lombardi you fucking bastard. You knew this would happen. You did your homework on Ami and figured out she’d be a lightning rod for attention. Keep me around her, and I’m bound to be assaulted by nothing. But. Fucking. People.

“OH MY GOD IT’S AMURA!” Two young girls screamed. “But I heard you weren't coming? You said so on twitter :(.“ I swear to almighty Haruhi Suzumiya, if there was such a thing as a frowny face emoji in real life, whatever that girl did was damn close. 

“Well change of plans ^_^” Oh my god, Ami can speak emoji too!

“So what panels are you going to? I heard Gail has a panel about anime piracy” Said one of the fangirls, angling towards it on the con directory. 

“Gail from Crunchyroll?” 

“Sounds fun! Felix, ikimasu!” Whoever this version of Ami was, I wanted NO PARTS. 

“Sounds lame. I’m going to the arcade.” I was putting my foot down

“Ok cool. Hand me your pass then. You can pay on your own.” 

“You can’t do tha-”

“Yes. Yes I can. You want this pass?.” Ami pulled out the 3 day convention pass out of her purse and dangled it in front of me. Obviously I tried snatching at it, only for Ami to move it out of the way. Damn japanese reflexes.

“Gotta be quicker than that. We’re going to the panel. Follow me.” Ami said, tossing me the pass.

“If you sneak off, I’m calling Obaa chan.” she said, in that her perfunctory yet declaratory way.  

“...So what you end up having is an environment where it’s harder and harder for us to justify hosting servers for anime distribution, because they don’t wanna pa- *ahem* because piracy.” Or something to that effect I’m not really listening to this Gail lady.

Anime piracy is a dumb thing to have a panel about anyway, it’s not like anybody in this room even knows how to torrent off wonwons, let alone\ how find the right codec for shows with bad compression. These are a bunch of crunchycores. The kinds of anime fans so hopped up on seasonal hype that the mere thought of an anime older than 12 months makes their tongues run dry, and their eyes wire shut.

“Are there any questions?”

“You got anything to ask?” chuckled Ami. 

“Why are we here. We both know Kissanime is in your bookmarks” I jeered.

“Networking dummy. I talk to Gail after the panel, and smooth out something over at Crunchyroll” For some reason Ami’s eyes did the dollars signs when she said “crunchyroll”

“In San Francisco? You’d hate it there.”

“I’d make it there. That’s the important part. I’d really make it. I’d be in.” 

“In what?” I said with a look of befuddlement. 

“You wouldn’t understand. You’re basically guaranteed a job after graduation” 

“Hey, don’t make it like tha-”

“Don’t make it like what Felix?” Ami snapped, but less with anger, and more a tired expression.

The Panel was beginning to wind down, and folks were getting up to leave. Ami bounced out of her seat and darted towards the stage. 

“Gaaaaaiiiil! Hiii, I follow you on twitter!” Ami screamed, like a schoolgirl seeing a classmate

“Amura! I follow you too! I love your singing” Gail responded in a surprisingly similar manner.

“Thanks so much, ugh. That means alot l love you and Sailor Bee’s podcast ^_^” This whole display was just. The worst. 

I backed off from the discussion, but I knew I wasn’t gonna be able to make it far without incurring that good old Fujinami wrath. Jeez they’re taking forever. Is this a meet and greet? Or a job interview. 

“Felix? Oh shit, how you been bruh?” This voice, I recognized it. 

I turned around, and yup, it was Tyler. 

“Who let riff raff like  you in here?” I said as we shook hands

“Is that any way to treat your one black friend:” He responded dryly. 

“I have plenty of black friends. Unlike you, most of my friends are girls.” I shot back. 

“Yea right, if you ever left your yuppie ass play pad I’d believe you.”

“You’d be surprised how many of em recognize me from Ami’s streams.”

“The streams she stopped inviting you to?” 

“Low blow T.” 

Tyler is a friend from Highschool who runs in the same online circles that I do. We keep in touch through discord and trade merchandise on message boards. He’s been trying to break into the FGC since middle school and recently struck a deal with a team based out of Brooklyn, The Mash Masters. He’s pretty good, quick reflexes, consistent muscle memory, but he lacks patience, and his neutral game needs work. 

“Where you headed to after this? Tryna hit up the arcade?” Asked Tyler as he picked up his backpack getting ready to leave. 

“I’m here with Ami, I gotta check and see where she’s headed to” 

“Whooptish” Tyler said, while making a whipping motion. 

“You know it’s not like that bro.” I shot back

“For her it isn’t, for you it is.” he retorted. 

I told him to wait up for a sec as I went over to Ami & Gail. They were still chopping it up like they’d known each other since band camp. 

“Shoot me a DM on twitter whenever you get the chance, I’d love to get you acquainted with the rest of my team. Maybe even talk bringing you to some other cons around the east coast ;)” Naruhodo, it seems this Gail is also of the emoji Clan. 

“Sure thing! Don’t forget to tweet out the channel link with the picture, and tell Vicky I said hi!” Ami said gleefully. 

“I definitely will, but uhh, she hates being called Vicky. Victoria or Sailorbee are just fine.” Gail responded, with a tinge of trepidation.

“Yea, I made that mistake on twitter once, it wasn’t pretty” I said with a chuckle.

“Oh hello, and who might you be?” Asked Gail.

“This is my friend Felix I was telling you about.” Ami said. Wait, telling her about what?

“Ah yes, the animator. Ami showed me your fan animation of Diebuster. Very interesting to see a Gainax show done with heavy Yutapon vibes” This lady knows her stuff.

“This lady knows her stuff” I said to Ami. 

“Of course I do silly, I work in the anime industry” The smile Gail shot me as she said this wouldn’t be out of place in a Shaft anime.  

“You definitely have some real skills. We’re looking for someone to do a sakuga heavy promo for our new youtube ad. If you’re interested, Ami has my contact info. It was so very nice meeting the both of you, don’t forget to keep in touch.” Gail said in a warm, professional tone as she got up to leave. 

“Well she seems nice” I said to Ami. 

“You’re welcome Felix.” Said Ami, in her usual biting tone. 

“I didn’t ask you for that. If I wanted a job at Crunchyroll I’d have one already.”

“‘Thanks Ami, I really appreciate you showing my work to someone really influential who can open doors in my chosen profession, would you like headpats?’” Ami said, in a mocking imitation of my sultry ciciillian speech pattern. 

“First of all, fine, thank you, that was a very nice thing to do, and I was pleasantly surprised. Secondly, do you seriously want headpats?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, you weirdo” And there’s the Tsun again. 

“I ran into Tyler, he says he’s going to the Arcade, and I was looking to go with. You in?”

“Tyler’s here? Yea sure, let’s go” 

Ami & I leave the stage and head over to where Tyler is sitting when I get a text on my phone. 

[11:58. Text from Lou]: Having fun?

[11:58. You]: Yea

He’s just like mom. 

“Oh my god it’s Amura! Could you sign my Fightstick?” Tyler sniggered, his fightstick outstretched. He’s such an asshole I love it. 

“Knock it off, I’d actually sign it if I didn’t know you’d just flip it on Ebay” Ami sneered, arms folded and head angrily tossed to the side. 

“Aww don’t be like that, I really did want your autograph. You’d be surprised how many Blazblue players would pay good cash for one” Tyler said, packing his fightstick back in his backpack. 

“If anyone’s gonna make money off the Amura brand it’s gonna be ME!” Ami retorted viciously.

“Now that’s just anti-black business” I said, chuckling as Tyler dapped me up. 

Ami rolled her eyes as heavy as she could roll them and stomped out of the conference room, and we sheepishly trailed after her.

By this point in the day I’d grown used to Ami being a lightning rod for attention. My camera skills must have leveled up big time from all those pics I had to take, of her with fans. Just getting to the Arcade area of the convention was a whole 20 minutes of photo after photo with weeb after arrested developed weeb, and to be honest I was practicing some big time restraint to not just walk out of the center and catch an Uber home. But surely enough, through fire by force, we found ourselves at the-

Boy was this the kind of place I wanted to be. The whole area was what you’d expect from a high profile convention in a big city. What seemed to be at least 30 TVs all hooked up with consoles spanning an entire auditorium. This wasn’t an arcade, it felt more like a Bazaar crossed with a colosseum. You have your old reliables for the boomers like Street Fighter, MK, ok that’s neat, there’s Melee, 64, Ultimate, Smash 4, oh even Brawl, full house, that’s impressive. As we moved through, you could imagine that there were furrowed brows due to the smell, but in all honesty it wasn’t as bad as most invitationals I’ve been to. We couldn’t find the game we were here for though; Blazblue. Tyler directed us to the kiosk so we could get directions. 

“Nigga where the Blazblue at?” Tyler said to one of the convention attendees, 

All the way at the back, by the Under Night” The Attendee responded.

I was just about ready to dart over there when Tyler said: 

“Nah hol’ up real quick bro, I got a question I gotta ask you” uh oh, I hear the Brooklyn leaking out. 

“Yea? Is there something wrong?” the attendee said, with a befuddled expression.

“Y’all always hide the anime fighters, what's up with that?” Tyler said blankly, almost with no life at all. 

“It’s not my decision where the games are set up-”

“That’s not what I asked bro. I’ve done conventions fam, I sat where you sat. NYCC 2017, bigger con than this, and from what I know about my time there, y’all have a meeting to coordinate where the games are set up. Correct?” Oh my god, Tyler what are you doing. 

“Yes correct” The attendee responded. 

“So you were in the room when the decision was made, correct?” This is so wacky

“Yea, but like, I didn’t have a choi-”

“Nobody’s asking about a choice, I’m asking you, what was the reasoning behind the decision?” Should I stop this? Or?...

“They didn’t want the anime stuff turning folks away” Oh no, here we go

“There it is” Tyler said triumphantly as he began to walk off. 

“Hey, I think it’s bullshit too ma-” t

“Yet you said nothing. You and all your boys said nothing. Aight, I see you fam. Haruhi’s watching you” Tyler said, his back already turned and walking away.  “Let’s go guys”

“Did you have to make such a big hoopla you maniac?” Ami said laughing her ass off. 

“Because I have Principles Fujinami, you should try em some time” Tyler snapped back. 

“That was the FUNNIEST shit I’ve seen all day, I’m so happy I knew to record that” Ami said, still cackling. 

“Wait you recorded that?” Tyler said, shocked

“I uploaded it. Enjoy being a meme” Ami said blankly.

“Not again…” Tyler sighed.

We finally make it to the Blazblue section, and it’s about as serviceable as you’d expect. Two TVs both hooked up to PS4s playing Central Fiction. There wasn’t much of a crowd, about 5 or 6 people, all looked to be around college age, couple on the boomer side though. All guys. 

“This game is so hyperactive…” Ami said, in a tone betwixt judgement and bewilderment. 

“Not every game gotta be Street Fighter” Said Tyler. “Ey yo, who got next?” Tyler asked a portly asian fellow playing Taokaka. 

“Uhh, I dunno, anybody got next?” the Taokaka player asked. The crowd shook their heads. “I guess it’s on you bro after this.” 

Nobody else noticed, But Tyler’s killing intent began to spike. I get you’re excited kiddo, but you haven’t even chewed the scenery yet. 

The game was pretty hype. There it was Taokaka vs Valkenhayn. Both characters with adequate rushdown capabilities and heavy damage. The Valkenhayn was an even match, but the Tao was just catching clutch reversals at every corner. It felt like seeing a tiger beat a lion by leaving a bigger gash every time they left the scuffle. Tyler, ever the professional, was quiet as a mouse. A mouthy prick like him? Quiet? I know right? But he gets like this when it’s Blazblue. The data collection phase. See if Street Fighter is Chess, then Blazblue is Mahjong. The same level of depth, but a wider variety of dealing with situational disadvantages and advantages. Tyler sees what I’m seeing and he’s analyzing, putting his pieces together, he’s not here for fun. This is off the job training. 

“FINISH” 6 red letters on the television screen. Read em & Weep. 

“My turn now right?” Tyler asked the Taokaka player. 

“Yup. What’s your name?” said the Tao player

“Tyro, and you?” oh yea I forgot that was his FGC name, everywhere else he’s Tyrilla. He sucks at names yes I know.

“I’m Yiao, nice to meet you.” Yiao said, pushing his glasses up.

The character selection screen pops up and… Wait don’t tell me he…Oh boy, Tyler’s picking his middle school main. Hazama. Yiao on the other hand started mousing over Tao then over to Litchi. Come on pick a character already. After more mousing, his cursor finally landed on Mai... From rushdown to range spam. Just all around bloodthirst.

Both of them sat in silence as the loading screen started up, until Yiao broke that silence.

“I’ve heard of you, Mash Master Tyro. To be honest I was hoping we’d meet. I have this Mai prepared just for you.” said Yiao. Yawn. This happens all the time. Tyler’s probably got him scoped already too.

“Yiao, third runner up at Anifight Staten Island. Three. Years. Running.” Yup, knew it. Tyler lives for this shit.

“You wanna know why HowRite was able to beat you 3 to nothing last year?” Tyler said, deadpan staring at the screen.

“THE WHEEL OF FATE IS TURNING” oh shit the round is starting.

“Cuz he knew if he lost, he’d never get to face my mentor in the finals”

“But wait. Ulysses isn’t on your team?” Yiao said confused, the backstory here is really weird, I’d be confused as well to be honest. 

“REBEL 1” 

“Ulysses is my stepdad.” 

“ACTION”

Told you. 

End of Act 2. 

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Cross Tag Battle

So I already did an Under Night In-Birth Rambling a few months, and I don’t feel like retreading that game again for the sake of another half-baked Rambling like the Persona 4 Arena one. No, I’ll talk a bit more about Under Night In-Birth and it’s Light Novel elements another day when I actually have the drive to do so. Instead, I’ll  jump straight into talking about about Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, namely, expanding on my initial thoughts of it. 

I had a chance to play the beta of the game when it was available, had a lot of fun playing it, and left it feeling confident this game could sell well, but a bit uneasy as well. 

But first before I get to explaining that...

The DLC Issue

It wouldn’t be my Rambling unless I got out of the elephants in the room straight away, now would it? 

So... that DLC, huh?

I’m not gonna’ bother defending this, but I’ll say this much in its defense. The season pass and the game is about 70 US dollars all together. That’s 50 bucks for the game 1 dollar for every extra character. That’s not a bad deal on paper. Let’s be real here, Dragon Ball FighterZ has more expensive DLC than this and much more expensive season pass combo pack, Blazblue Central Fiction had more expensive DLC than this, and several other fighting games have done worse practices. Dead of Alive has cosmetics that total up to hundred of dollars. From what I’ve seen and played Street Fighter 5 has a handful of costumes can only be purchased with cash rather than the in game fight money, among a few other practices I’m not cool with. And we can probably go on and on about EA’s DLC practices. Worse has been done, and if an extra 20 buck for 20 more characters on an already decent rooster seems bad to you, then... well I think you haven’t been playing fighting games that long to not see this coming.

However, that’s on paper. In context, this is just flat out shady and I’d even say exploitative.

I’m not going to pretend that what Arc System Works is doing is okay. Let’s be real here, a lot of the assets we’re seeing are being ripped and reused from each character’s respective game save for some new animations, the gameplay itself is very simplified, and the fact that they announced such a large amount of DLC before the game was even released is already shady business. I hate it when companies do that, and Arc System Works shouldn’t get a pass for it either. 

Not to mention the fact that a portion of their EVO line up is DLC characters. That just kills me a little. I’ll admit that I have a negative opinion of the FGC and competitive fighting game community as a whole, and I’ve already talked about my opinion of EVO in the past, but I really don’t think this game deserves to be in the EVO line up when it only has a little over half its full cast in the game for competitive play, with about a fifth of that cast being DLC. That means you need to shell out at least 6 extra dollars just to have an idea of certain match ups and playstyles, or worse, play your main. That’s no where near fair on a competitive level, that’s a scam and I hope someone more familiar with the competitive side of the fighting game community calls Arc System Works out on it. If your main is locked behind a paywall then you have a right to be angry and even go as far as to boycott this game for this kind of practice. 

I’m not happy with the idea of paying to just to play as Orie and Naoto, but as I’ve said, worse has been done in the gaming world. If you aren’t buying this game for the reasons I mentioned, then I respect you’re opinion. However, I’ll also ask you to at least try and get this game on sale otherwise, as there is a good fighting game here, just one that needs to shake off a bad first impression. 

Ah, and speaking of the game...

This Game is Simple

Like I said, I took some time to play the Beta, and I have to say this game is a little too simple for my liking. Not that I’m some genius fighting game player that could tell you all the frame data and hitbox nonsense, but I feel like I’m grasping this game’s controls a little too fast for someone of my skill level. 

Let me explain. 

In the majority of fighting games I play I usually maintain a 10%-20% win rate, so I usually win 1 out of 10 matches. For a casual fighting game player that’s not bad considering I’m usually fighting competitive players, but with Cross Tag Battle I left the beta with a 50% win rate. That’s... quite a jump, but I don’t think that’s due to my skill, but how simple it is for someone that’s familiar with fighting game mechanics to understand the system. Now I’m also keeping in mind that everyone was learning the ins and outs of this game along with me during the beta, but this still.

This simplicity isn’t a bad thing. It works in the game’s favor and makes it much easier to grasp how all these characters works, which is needed for a tag-team style game, but it is something that makes me wonder how long this game will be popular. This game has two auto combos, for every character, and all the characters that aren’t from RWBY have a diluted moveset of their original game. It feels like you know everything about a character in about an hour of practice.

I had similar feelings about Dragonball FighterZ, all the character felt too similar to each other outside of some special moves. Cross Tag isn’t as simple and not all characters feel the same, but one of the big appeals of a fighting game is being about to learn a character for months and still find new techniques and strategies with them. Cross Tag Battle doesn’t feel like a game I’ll be able to do that in.

 Again, that’s not a bad thing, but it’s just something that has me wondering about the direction fighting games are taking... or maybe this is just a product of team-based fighters. That simplicity might be needed for the sake of everything meshing well. I mean, if Ragna could do all his rushdown stuff and have an assist to reset combos he’d be a nightmare to fight against. And Nu... don’t get me started on Nu.

 But then again, Skullgirls has a good balance of complexity, and the potential for 3-on-3 combat. All their characters feel and play in very unique ways too, so maybe my worries are founded in some ways...

But speaking of...

How Characters Play/Feel

Like I said, this game is very simple. These characters only play slightly like their original games. I've only played with a few people, namely my mains, but Yosuke doesn’t feel like the Yosuke P4A with his 48 mix-up tools, Linne and Hyde feel like themselves, but with less combo options than in their original game. Sadly, none of my Blazblue mains are in the current roster, so I can’t say much about them, but Ragna feels like a watered down version of himself at the very least. I think that goes for most of the cast. They all feel very watered down. This isn’t bad, it’s just different, and I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. 

I’m excited to know I’ll have Orie and eventually Izayoi in the game to play with, but I’ve seen gameplay of Orie, and she doesn’t play the way I play her in UNIEST. I get the feeling a lot of people are going to be playing around with the cast for the wrong reasons.

That said though...

The RWBY Characters

The RWBY characters play the best too me, but that should be obvious. They were made with this game in mind from the ground up. As such their combo animations are smoother than the rest of the cast, their sprites are a little nicer, and I can really see a lot of love went into make them feel and play like how they are in the show. The references and callbacks are great as someone that’s a fan of show, and I honestly think their voice acting improved a little in this game... then again, I’ve been hearing their voices for a few years now so I might just be a bit numb to how they’re directed in their series, but I’m surprised how well they mesh with the overall cast. I can see the shipping possibilities and fanfics already. I’m definitely going to have Blake in one of my presets when the game comes out, probably pair her up with Linne or Hyde.

Speaking of voice acting...

The English Dub

Thank God we have a dub again. It’s great to hear Patrick Seitz as Ragna again, and the rest of the cast as well. The Under Night In-Birh cast sounds great too, my favorites being Linne and Gordeau. Seriously, the UNIEST cast sounds great and their voice actors really capture their character well from what I’ve heard so far. It really makes me wish we got a dub for that game so those overlong light novel portions didn’t feel as long. 

I did little blurbs about voice actors when Elsword and Persona 5 voice actors were announced, and I’ll definitely do the same kind of blurb for Under Night In-Birth once all the voice actors are known. This game gives me hope that the next Guilty Gear will have a dub and then I can finally care about the story again.

But moving on...

The Roster (AKA Allen Gloats About Being Right)

So we know the full rooster of the game thanks to data miners (the buzzkills), and it looks like I can safely, confidently, and haughtily state that I was right with a few of my calls when I made my speculations. For the sake of maximum gloating I’ll give you all the breakdown from my Rambling on the matter.

Charge Characters

Mitsuru 

Kagura

Vatista 

Puppet Characters 

Carl

Relius 

Chaos 

Ken

Required By Popularity

Tsubaki

Adachi

Yuzuriha

Required by Tier List

Izanami

Margret/Elizabeth

Seth/Merkava

ArcSys’s Persona OCs

Labrys

Sho

Looking back, I wish I stated Nine instead of Izanami, but Izanamis were kicking my ass by the time I wrote up my speculation and I was very salty about that. I also wish I added Mika into my curve ball list instead of my wishlist, but... well, I can’t predict everything. Speaking of that wishlist, a few people made it like Izayoi, Hakumen, and Akihiko, but that was my personal wishlist and not a speculation, so I won’t count those.

Anyway, I got 5/14 right. I’d consider that pretty good for pure speculation.

My Hopes

I’m just gonna’ list these down, as now we’re getting into my unorganized thoughts.

A simple, fanservice-y story mode. Like I originally said, this game is Arc System Works fanservice incarnate. Frankly, trying to tell a serious story with all these properties, while possible, will just be a giant mess, especially trying to deal with all the quantum mechanical, timeline jumping, dimension hopping nonsense of Blazblue, so I really hope this story will be more like Super Smash Bros. Brawl’s Subspace Emissary where the story is simple and more fanservice for fans of all these series and just see everyone interacting with some fights in between. From what we’ve seen of certain cutscenes CGs being released this just might be the case.

Free DLC. I already bought the Season Pass because I’m a degenerate, but I really hope this game does what Skullgirls did and have all their character packs free on at least the first day of their releases. I have major issues with this kind of business practice and completely understand if you guys don’t buy this game because of it. I’m hoping Arc System Works will realize this and make all the packs be free for at least their day-one release to try and dowse the flames a little. And hey, the first pack and the rest of the RWBY team is free for the first while, so I think that’s exactly what their doing.

...

...

... 

I’m gonna’ feel like a chump for waste twenty buck if that’s the case, but hey, I do like the series.

A Good Single Player Experience. I know it’s a fighting game and all, but I hope it’ll have something that’ll make this game fun three years from now when the online community is dead. Something BBCP’s Abyss Mode (because CF’s is garbage) or Persona 4 Arena Ultimax’s Golden Arena Mode. Something like that. I doubt that’ll happen, but it’s a hope for a reason.

Overall, despite my mixed feelings, I hope the best for this game. And as we count down to the final days before release, I hope you all enjoy this game as much as I will.

Unless you roll out with Team UNGA. If you do, then fuck you, fuck your family, fuck your house cat, and everything you stand for.

[kideraxpride]

Now that the episode is out for everyone with a free account, I can talk about this.

Why the hell did they have Ruby and Oscar fight each other? It literally makes no contextual sense in the long run. It's ridiculously stupid.

If Ruby is as bad at hand to hand combat as they're saying, then Oscar, who was FARMHAND AND LIVED A QUIET LIFE, probably isn't much better. In fact, he's probably worse. Far worse. So then, Ruby bests him, but then Ozpin takes over.... and she gets obliterated.

So you have a situation where: 1) Ruby is adept enough to hold her own because her opponent is inexperienced and she at least has the combat basics down, and she learns/gains nothing from it. 2) Ruby is too inept to fight the opponent she's fighting and gets utterly fucking destroyed, with no chance of winning whatsoever. Of which, she learns NOTHING from that either.

As a person that plays games in the fighting game community, that is not how growth works, my friends. You don't gain any experience by destroying someone that is way weaker than you, in fact, it's DETRIMENTAL to your skill because you basically turn off your brain and do basic textbook things that ALWAYS work because of the skill gap between you and your opponent and they have no idea how to beat it. We call that 'auto-piloting' in the FGC.

On the other hand, fighting someone that is WAY out of your league and getting obliterated by them, is not growth EITHER, because you don't know what's wrong, what you did wrong, what's happening and so on. Even though Ozpin did say one thing wrong with Ruby's stance (which is a problem in itself, which was explained in another post-- Ruby shouldn't have stance problems with launching herself off with the wrong foot because she wields a god damn SCYTHE, which is bigger than SHE IS, and requires great balance), she isn't learning anything by getting bopped by Ozpin all day.

With that said, why the HELL isn't someone like Ren teaching both of them the basics first? Yes, he's not a teacher, I get that, but with Ozpin's GUIDANCE (which is what he's supposed to do), he can teach them what's wrong with their stances (even though Ruby shouldn't have any, but whatever), teach them what's what and have them train against someone of their age and skill level -- not throw them (or rather, her) against someone that's WAY better/WAY worse than her so she can get curb stomped or absolutely destroy them.

More on that, all it seemed like it was ANOTHER god damn chance for them to shove this disgusting Oscar/Ruby shit down our throats because 'lmao'. Like Oscar hit Ruby in the face and of course because he's well mannered, he gets apologetic about this and promptly Ruby fires up and fires back because the battlefield has no gender, obviously. Like they're so intent on shoving this disgusting shit ship in our faces instead of UTILITIZING the characters we have present. Ren took out a King Taijitsu BY HIMSELF in V1. He would be GREAT for this.

On the positive side of things, I'm proud of them just flat out explaining or telling us what a person's semblance is without having it be vague or up in the air. Like how Raven's semblance is Bond Portals, and we're finally told what Ren's semblance is... Masking Emotions.

Ugh.

Okay, I said I would be pissed about this if it came to be, and rue the day, lo and behold, here it is. The problem I have with this semblance is the fact that it's something that EVERYONE in the damn show should be adept at if they're in ANY hunter school, because having distressing emotions attracts Grimm. We know this. But EVERYONE else's semblance we've seen has had SOME battle application. Ren's is literally the only one that doesn't, outside of fighting GRIMM, which... SUCKS because we've been told numerous times this season already that it's not just GRIMM they're dealing with: it's PEOPLE. ACTUAL PEOPLE. WHO AREN'T STUPID. Like it has a merit when it comes to like babies and stuff because they can't control their emotions if it happens, but otherwise, this semblance is downright wasteful and stupid.

This semblance is so disappointing and upsetting. Why couldn't it just be like blanket invisibility? Would've been so much better.

Other than that, this episode wasn't bad. Weiss and Yang reunion is adorable as hell, but because people take things way too far, it's gonna make shit in the fandom explode I feel. I do wonder how Raven is gonna explain the situation to those two. I feel like she's gonna lie or spin it to discourage them.

Either way, I'm interested and looking forward to it. Unfortunately, I feel like this week is gonna be a World of Remnant probably, so...

[lostsummerdayz]

Lost Summer Sunbeams #1 Player Spotlight: Deezee Kujaku

by: Nay Holland

Hello! It has been a while since I last covered FGC content, so what better way to follow up with last year’s Winter Brawl 3D coverage than another one!

This year’s Winter Brawl 3D concluded as yet another success. Ever since the event started to follow the formula of placing emphasis on 3D fighters such as Soul Calibur 6, Tekken 7, and Dead or Alive 6, the competition across the board has been nothing short of explosive.

If anyone wants a definition of explosion, look no further than the Top 16 into Top 8 matches for Tekken 7. Some of the largest upsets and runs were established late into Sunday evening and everyone played out of their minds.

However, despite the “3D” in the title and its emphasis, Winter Brawl supports a wide range of titles under their name. It wouldn’t be a Big E event without it’s diversity after all.

2020 is looking to be the year of yet another anime fighter renaissance. With the release of Granblue Fantasy Versus, the release of Season 3 for Dragonball FighterZ, and the release of the latest update to Under Night In-Birth all within the same month, February proved to be a month of new beginnings.

What better way to usher in such a new beginning with the victory of not just a good friend, but a fellow team mate of mine as well?

I’d like to take the time to introduce a new series I’m working on with Lost Summer Dayz named Sunbeams. This segment is meant to highlight either up and coming players, underdogs of the FGC, or those who are just a delight to the community.

The FGC is a vast ocean of talent waiting for the sun to beam down upon them, so I want to cover players who I feel are key players of interest in my eyes into the public’s eye.The past weekend’s rays certainly shone bright for this lad.

On Saturday’s Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late cl-r tournament, the connoisseur of bad bitches himself, Deezee Kujaku, managed to win first place without dropping a single set.

Arguably the “baddest bitch” in the series, Hilda was the character of choice as he swept through winners in a climatic mirror match finish against an earlier opponent.

The following day I wanted to ask him a few questions as I spent the majority of the prior day congratulating him for his huge accomplishment. With the blaring atmosphere of the Soul Calibur 6 finals in the background, Deezee gladly offered a few of his words in not just his victory, but who he is as a player as well.

So, as a Lost Summer’s first of many to come, I present to you Kick Punch Block’s very own, Deezee Kujaku in this exclusive player’s spotlight!

Nay: I just wanted to say, once again, congrats on your big win yesterday. I see you rocking the medal you won yesterday! First I wanted to start by asking how long have you been playing fighting games? Starting from the origins down to the moment you started heading out to events.

DZ: I’ve been playing fighters since I was a kid, like, 1996. I didn’t really start competing until 2008. Went to a small local event and got washed, but it made me want to grow and start getting better at these.

DZ: I’ve played all kinds of fighting games and over time a few clicked while a few didn’t. Still, I’d like to try them all to see what appeals to me the most.

Nay: Which game do you think clicks with you the most?  It’s safe to assume that Under Night is one of those games. Knowing you a bit more, I understand that King of Fighters and SNK games are a huge staple as well.

DZ: Right now, King of Fighters and Under Night really click with me the most out of everything I’ve played. However, I do have a fondness for other games like the Tekken and Marvel series. Most of my skill lies in the former two games though.

Nay: What do you feel those two games [King of Fighters; Under Night In-Birth] have that click with you more than other games you may have an interest in? What sets them apart from the rest?

DZ: It’s the colorful cast of characters honestly. A lot of players pick their characters based off of their archetypes like “I play grapplers or I play zoners,” etc. I just play a character I like. If she happens to be a grappler I’ll play that or if she happens to be a zoner I’ll play that. In King of Fighters and Under Night in particular, there are a lot of characters I enjoy, even those whom I don’t play. DZ: I’m a huge fan of many characters even if it isn’t Hilda. Honestly to get me to play a fighting game or any game, if the cast of characters are unique or interesting, it’ll make me gravitate towards it.

Nay: It’s funny you mention [grapplers and zoners] because Hilda is a zoner and Shermie is a grappler, so they couldn’t be any different from each other naturally.

DZ: Well, see the thing about that is Shermie’s a hybrid. Mainly if you consider Orochi Shermie as more of a zoner. I do use some of her tricks in Under NIght and vice versa. Sometimes I think “Hmm, I wonder if Shermie can do something similar to what I can do with Hilda,” as a way to make people more defensive. There is a little correlation, but at the end of the day there’s no real relation to the characters. I’d like to say I’m adaptable. If I love the character enough, then I’m willing to play and learn their style regardless.

Nay: Do you think that the opposite is true? Your experience playing Shermie and O. Shermie translating well into Hilda thus allowing you to play at a high level?

DZ: It helps a lot with my spacing. Shermie has unorthodox normals in her game and the same goes for Hilda in her game. So I have to see how each normal works from which distance. There’s other characters who I play such as Athena, Chris, and Blue Mary that I also use as a base for experience. I also like to watch other high level players play [Hilda] so I can understand what it is they are doing that I can use in my style and gameplay.

Nay: You also mentioned that your Winter Brawl victory in UNICLR is your first major win?

DZ: First major and tournament win in general actually. I’ve come close in several other tournaments. I’d get a 7th place here a 5th place there. I’d even get a 2nd place victory, but I never got first. I’m really excited for my win even though it was a small bracket. The few players that were there were really good players so it felt great to come out on top and win against my demons.

Nay: Bouncing on that and being your first tournament win, what would you say to those who have been playing just as long, even longer, or the newcomers who feel like they are also struggling to reach the grand prize? Those who may feel discouraged?

DZ: Don’t give up. Don’t give up. I understand it’s intimidating to newcomers and it’s frustrating to those who have been playing and you don’t feel like you’re good compared to others. Only one person can win, after all. However, the way I see it we all went 0-2 at some point. Eventually you’ll get to 1-2, then you’ll break even, then you’ll go 3-2, and suddenly you’re in top 8.

DZ: Don’t think because you didn’t make it out of pools or you did less than what you anticipated, you didn’t play well. Combo Breaker for example got 200 people. If you make it to 49th, even if you didn’t make it out of pools, you’re still in the top twenty-five percent. So take each loss in stride.

Nay: Are there any closing comments you’d like to say to anyone reading this right now to bounce off from what you’ve said?

DZ: Travel. Travel a lot. I know everyone is pushing the “support your locals” agenda which I agree with, but there’s a wider range of competition outside of city limits. You go to your locals to get comfortable in playing a specific game a specific way within the bracket. Once you feel comfortable enough, travel out to Combo Breaker or Big E events. If you’re West Coast then NCR/SCR or whatever major tournaments there are within your region.

DZ: Most players have a major within their region of the country so even if you don’t want to travel too far, there’s still always something close by at least several times a month. Just go out there and see how you do. You’re never going to progress if you don’t try and give it a shot. The worst thing you can do is lose and even then you try again.

Due to the nature of these tournaments in specialized events, the bracket was small. However, it was by no means a deterrent to his win as Deezee had earned every win and every victory leading up to the first place medal. After I’ve finished recording, I chimed in my own thoughts of “small tournaments vs large tournaments,” and in most cases the smaller brackets are the most dangerous. 

The smaller bracket ensures that you’ll come across a concentrated group of people, all of whom may be really amazing at the game. The larger the tournament, the larger the density for various skill levels across the board. No matter how big or small, a W is a W! One should always feel proud of their accomplishments!

As this year is just beginning for Deezee, we of the Lost Summer Dayz thank him for his time in humbling our questions and we cheer him on as he surely places in more tournaments throughout the year! Congrats once again Deezee!

To view the tournament in its entirety, in which screencap credits are also credited to, check out this video by the KombatNetwork below!

Follow Deezee on Twitter

Photography credit for Header goes to Photography by Dstyles

[thestarcutter]

i started going to local FGC meetups and yesterday i finally played GG with some folks. godddd it’s a world of difference 1. playing with people and 2. playing with people who know how to play the game and don’t mash

none of them were venom players but two of them were like “venom is the coolest character in the game” and i was just like “YEAH I KNOW”

FGC folks have been so welcoming and patient and kind so far it’s blowing my mind. fighting game people really do just want other people to play fighting games and they’ll help you however they can. like i kind of interrupted these two dudes’ game to ask questions and they jumped to help me out even tho neither of them played venom ;__; i’m still emotional about it and i learned a lot

[hatsunemikuvevo]

gamedragonify replied to your post: Are you one of those "I want Capcom to fail" types

So you’re a cancer on the community and a selfish prick?

OH SHIT BOYS, A MEMBER OF THE CAPCOM DEFENSE FORCE HAS ARRIVED

I would consider myself a cancer on the “Capcom can do no wrong, all hail Capcom, please shit in my mouth Capcom-sama” community, yes.

You do realize they announced six DLC characters before we knew even half of the roster, right? (No need to bring up other games with DLC characters, announcing DLC before we even know the full roster is bullshit no matter who does it) Or that half the characters look like they got run over by a fucking truck? Or that they think we’re all too dumb to do a forward, down, down forward motion in the year 2017, 30 years after that motion was created? Oh, and who can forget the completely underwhelming roster, despite reusing assets from UMvC3? (I’m not going to complain about reused assets in general like some people are though, anyone complaining about that is a fucking moron because Marvel 3 is the only game in the series without them) The story mode is also shaping up to be a joke (TAKE MY GUNS RAWKET) but who gives a flying fuck about the story in a fighting game? (Other than the audience Capcom keeps trying and failing to get)  You can say “graphics don’t matter” but why the FUCK does the game look so bad? It’s a crossover with a fucking DISNEY IP and they can’t scrape up the dollarydoos to make the game not look like shit?

And as far as gameplay goes, people say the demo is fun, you gotta play the demo, but I played the demo CAPCOM GAVE ME and it sucked ass. Oh, gee, I couldn’t afford to fly out to fucking E3 just to see if MvCI wasn’t actually shit, shame on me. The majority of people that are gonna be buying this game ain’t going to E3, and they ain’t going to fighting game tournaments either, all they have to go off of is a shit story mode demo. So you can go ahead and blame Capcom for that. (Even though Capcom can do no wrong) If a demo is shit why even put it out?

You can call me cancer or whatever the hell else you’d like, it’s not going to change the fact that Infinite is a fucking rush job and spits on the legacy of the franchise. It’s also not going to change the fact that I am NOT the only one who feels like that. Also, you better be calling me a cancer on the MvC community or the Capcom community, because if I’m a cancer on the FGC, then so are all the people who shit talked the man face bullshit in NRS games, the “PS2 graphics” in King of Fighters XIV, and the people who completely shut down anime games (even though marvel is an anime game, mechanics-wise) for being dumb weeb bullshit without ever having touched them. No one ever gets pissed and up in arms about THAT shit though, because it’s not Capcom. All hail Capcom, Praise Be to Capcom.

[priparaplayer]

i☆Ris, King Of Prism, and some really good Ramen

Sup. This is my report on this weekend. It was pretty cool.

Huh? You want more than that? Okay

This was my birthday weekend. Coincidentally, Pride the Hero was coming out. And there was an  i☆Ris concert an hour away. And those were on my actual birthday. The initial plan was to see Pride the Hero in the morning before the  i☆Ris concert (and obviously go to both sections. It was my birthday, after all). However, when I saw the 5.5 hours (!!!!!!!!!!!) Pride the Hero midnight showing I knew I had to go.

So, Friday I had the most incredible King Of Prism/Pretty Rhythm experience. Saturday I saw i☆Ris again. Sunday I planned to go to Akiba to play some DFC and go to a cheering section that night. 

In this post, I’m gonna start by talking about fighting games because it’s short. Then I’ll talk about  i☆Ris. I’ll finish with KoP. That way the KoP spoilers will be below everything else.

EDIT: This came out way longer than I thought it would. My b. If any of you actually read this whole thing, ty <3 I really appreciate that you care enough to do that <3

After going out two days in a row I decided to skip going to Akiba and just stay home until the cheering section. I ended up playing Xrd netplay with my American friends. I’m not a huge fan of Xrd (See me in +R though), and the connection with America on my trash LeoPalace wifi was pretty bad, but it was still fun to play my friends and talk to them on voice chat. I’m playing on my keyboard, which kinda sucks. It feels okay though because it’s buckling spring. I was planning to build a stick after my next paycheck, but I also want to buy a ton of PriPara and KoP and i☆Ris merch, so that might have to wait lol. Priorities.

i☆Ris  was amazing, as usual. Before coming to Japan I’d seen all their concerts on blu-ray. Seeing them live on April 9th (right when I got to Japan) was the most magical experience. This time was pretty different, because I’d already seen them once, and I’d been practising the calls with the blu-rays. This meant I was focused on them a lot rather than on actually watching and enjoying the performance. Fortunately I fixed this in the second performance.

I left early enough to play a couple of games of PriPara at the station and then get to the concert an hour early to pick up some merchandise. Didn’t get anything cool when playing PriPara. Still need Yume rare accessory and shoes... And the onepiece for the June bride coord... So I can do pair play with me and Laala wearing it...

Unfortunately, there were a ton of delays on the Yokohama line (apparently due to signal inspection?) and rather than arriving an hour early, I arrived two minutes late and came in just after the start of the first song. Fortunately my seat was in the back row of the first floor so I didn’t have to make anyone move to get in it. Just jumped over the back. Unfortunately I couldn’t pick up any merchandise before the first showing, but I already had most of what I wanted from the April 9th show. I never took photos of it back then, so here you go

After the noon showing I picked up the other stuff I wanted. Got the pamphlet (I was curious what it was about)

It wasn’t really that interesting though. It had various photos of them, and talked more about the photo shoots. It also had short interviews. The fan club magazine was a lot more interesting and also had some photos from the photo shoot for the pamphlet. Overall not worth getting the pamphlet. Fan club magazine is pictured below because I wanted to take a picture of it.

The main thing was about a foreign fan named Julian meeting them (idk if he was actually a fan, but it said he was). All that really did was make me super duper jealous of him. Does he have any idea how much many I’ve spent on Skyping with Himi? And he just gets to hang out with them? Granted, I “justified” it by saying it was my way to practice Japanese with a Japanese speaker. But we all know that isn’t why I was doing it.

I also picked up a Himi B2 Tapestry (they didn’t have these at the performance in April)

None of you are probably aware of this, because I don’t really talk about it much, but I think Himi has the most beautiful singing voice I’ve ever heard. Ever. And I’ll probably never stop believing that. (She’s also incredibly beautiful, which is nice too). I mean her actual voice btw, not her Laala voice (although I do also enjoy her Laala voice).

In between shoes I wanted to play PriPara, but couldn’t find any machines in walking distance. I used this time to read the pamphlet and then play Golden Sun (yay Japanese practice). Overheard some guys talking about how they haven’t seen someone using a Gameboy Advance in ages lol. Glad I’m positively influencing the Japanese. Eavesdropping is also really good practice... as long as you’re not eavesdropping on Menardi and Saturos...

Both performances started and ended the same way. Got their usual songs, and got a few different ones than in April. I hurt my leg in one of the jumps during Make It. Oops. But it was all super incredible. I can’t believe how amazing iRis is.

The lunch section had small ensemble performances. They did a lot of covers I really enjoy (e.g. 1000% sparking), and also performed some of their regular songs in the ensembles. It was all super great.

The evening section had solo peformances. Some of these were the same as April (Himi doing her polka dots song and Yuu doing Voice for You), but the rest were different. Saki wore the same dress as in April, and it still looked incredible on her.

After the performances was the encore. It was the same both times. They did the standard hachamecha strike. Also had the new song Saki, Yuuki, and Azuki are doing together (title TBD). Saki put on her Sion voice and made a joke about them being Dressing Pafe. The song was pretty entertaining though.

Overall, it was an amazing experience. I’m glad I went to see them again, and glad I went to both showings. Definitely glad they were so close by. Although let’s be real here, I’d probably travel pretty far to see them on my birthday if I needed to.

KING OF PRISM

PRIDE THE HERO

LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW

PROBABLY

I HAVEN’T WRITTEN THEM YET SO CAN’T CONFIRM 100%

BUT PROBABLY

I took some photos of the theatre on the day, but took some better ones when I went back tonight. Here you go.

Some of you might remember I came across a stupidly good 90% off sale on King of Prism goods in Akiba in May. Although there wasn’t any Alec stuff, so I just picked up a Kazuki bowtie. Obviously I wore it to both showings I went to. Here it is, pictured on my shirt.

There’s an arcade right next to the theatre,so I had time to play PriPara and Dream Festival before the Friday showing and after the Sunday showing. I think I’ve mentioned this a few times, but wow, I really love the Dream Festival music. Wow.

Anyway, a bit about me. To provide some context. I love PriPara. So so so much. Although you probably know that already. I got into PriPara because I liked idols and loved purple, and saw it was an idol anime where the main character had purple hair. Also my friends from the anime fgc told me they were enjoying it a lot. I downloaded it and started watching on the bus to AGDQ. I watched episode 1, and was completely hooked after episode 2. I had planned to sleep on the overnight bus ride, but that didn’t happen. And I haven’t looked back since. Also my friend Puncay won the Super Mario 64 race that year (I think it was that year anyway) and we played DFC together. Good times.

After getting hooked on PriPara, I wanted to learn more about Pretty Rhythm so watched King of Prism. I’ve always been a fan of male idols. Part of this is because I love male singing voices, and part of this is because I had two dreams growing up. One was to be a video game programmer in Japan, and one was to be a male idol. I suppose it’s obvious right now which one of these I ended up pursuing, and which one I ultimately gave up on. But when I was younger I really thought it would be the other way around. I joined the dance club in primary and middle school (I was the only guy). At my high school music was required for the academically accelerated classes, so I ended up doing band instead of dance. I learned to play the Euphonium (which I think I got pretty good at), French Horn, Flute, and obviously learned some singing (can’t be an idol without singing after all). Anyway, a part of seeing King of Prism definitely lets me fulfill this childhood dream. After watching and loving it (especially the EZ DO DANCE battle), I watched Rainbow Live, which was also really good. To this date I’ve only seen a few eps of Aurora Dream and haven’t seen Dear My Future, so there’s probably context stuff I’m missing out on because of that. Really need to fix that some day. Some day soon.

So back to KOP. I’m so glad I watched Rainbow Live after watching the first KoP movie. Because wow, this was a real sequel. Full out. And it nailed it in almost every way.

Getting to see rainbow live again was fun. But wow, it felt weird to go through it that fast lol. 3 hours and suddenly we’re at the last episode. It was great to see Prizmmy again. Although have you seen them these days? Mia looks so beautiful now that she’s grown up. I made an Instagram account just to follow her. I’ll probably never follow anyone else (unless Himi makes an Instagram).

I don’t really need to spend a lot of time on Rainbow Live. It’s Rainbow Live. It’s great. Watch it. I didn’t know I needed to see it in a theatre on blu-ray, but now that I’ve seen that I know there was a part of me that always needed to.

I felt more invested in the Pretty Rhythm characters during KOP than I did when I went to see it on June 6th. I guess that’s because it was so fresh. Not much to say. It’s KOP. It’s also great. Watch it. EZ DO DANCE!

Back to KOP. Thoughts aren’t really gonna be in order they appeared during the movie and more in the order I think of them.

During the cheering section I was careful to not show my bias at all. And by that I mean my second cyalume was only set to purple and I pulled it out of my bag every time Alec showed up. What bias? I don’t see any.

I bought my seat online and picked row H. I ended up being with no one in front of me in the cheering section lol. This sucked, because I wasn’t confident what colours to use for the new characters. Everyone else in the audience had clearly been to a few of the cheering shows already, and they were far more organised than I expected. There were a couple other guys, so i wasn’t alone in that regard. Although obviously no foreigners. A lot more guys at the midnight showing. Anyway, i need to remember that A is the back row. Instead of the front row. I don’t know how that makes sense.

The movie started with pride. It was incredible.

Actually it started with a short drama with Kakeru and Shin. It was entertaining enough, but I don’t really remember what it was about lol. Guess it wasn’t that memorable. Apparently other locations got other dramas.

We saw the new Scwartz Rose boys. Honestly they’re pretty forgettable and only one of them does anything. Oh well.

There’s a lot more stuff, straight from the start, with Rainbow Live characters like Rei. Also Ito shows up and gets a line later on. And she has the most amazing ponytail. It’s so pretty. I wish I could have a ponytail like that.

Kouji is apparently making songs for Scwartz Rose. Hiro heads off to talk to Kouji. Definitely didn’t expect them to reunite so soon into the movie. There’s some super duper amazing English here. I was able to hold myself back the first time. But I chuckled a lot during the second viewing. I’m honestly amazed I managed to keep it to a chuckle, and next time is probably gonna be full out laughter. I just don’t think I can hold myself back a third time.

Shin gets a letter. And they’re like “woah, it could be a love letter. from a boy. watch out for those”. Anyway, Shin goes to meet up with Louis and they do Crazy Gonna Crazy. By now I’m sure you all know that they kiss in this scene. So yeah, I think it’s fairly safe to assume that letter was a love letter.

Crazy Gonna Crazy was like the montage scene of this movie. It had a dance battle going on and some other stuff. So I assume the next King of Prism movie will have Butterfly Effect for the montage performance?

Jin comes to take June and for some reason she goes with him? I don’t think they explained why. Hijiri seems heartbroken. Me too. JUNE </3 </3 </3 During the cheering section I tried to reach out for her like him. I’ll practice it more for next time so I can do it justice.

Kazuki went to King of Prism Fight Club. And bodied everyone. Then trained under a waterfall. What a hero. FREEDOM.

Did I mention Shin and Louis kissed?

There’s a lot of rough stuff that happens and Hiro gets super depressed. His mother talks to him about his father a bit but says she can’t say more... huh? future plot point confirmed? She manages to pull him out of his depression (and he gets some help from a honey apple curry... with a nice shot of Kouji’s butt)

Eventually everyone gets their training done, and we also see Rei Wakana and Ann looking on and cheering for Kazuki under the waterfall. Did he know they were there? I wonder if he could even hear them over the waterfall. lol. Waterfall hype.

Then we get to the cup. The new Schwarz Rose dude does a song, but it barely focuses on it. rip him.

Then ALEC SHOWS UP. AND I WAVE MY PURPLE CYALUMES. the second time. The first time I’m like “I really want this to be EZ DO DANCE... but I also want it to be a new Alec solo... but I really want EZ DO DANCE....” Anyway, it was EZ DO DANCE!!!! YES!!!!! NOW KARAOKE MACHINES HAVE ANOTHER VERSION OF THIS SONG!!!!!!!!

Anyway, Alec was terrifying. In the most incredible way. Like wow. He scared everyone in the audience in the movie, and did a good job making me scared too. Then he starts using his incredible six pack to bomb the stadium (what a six pack). He’s destroying the whole thing. Kazuki looks like he’s about to give us the dance battle we’ve all been waiting for, but Taiga jumps in! I was really hoping this would be close but with Alec’s victory, leading to him and Kazuki battling to a new song. Instead it ended in a draw. I felt bad for Alec. But you know what? Alec, you were blowing up the whole stadium. And scaring everyone. Those are pretty bad things to do. You don’t deserve to win acting that way.

Anyway, they’re going to have to end the cup there (because no stage or anything lol). But Kazuki steps in to save the day, and his performance repairs the entire stadium. FREEEEEEEEEEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!! He gets disqualified. I didn’t catch why. They used some Japanese word I didn’t know. Next time I’ll write it down so I can look it up. Alec shouts out “What!” really loudly after hearing about the disqualification. Note to self: There’s time to shout this right after him. Do it next time.

The stage is fixed. Shin does a performance.It’s really good. Before this everyone in Edel Rose puts there hands together. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. There’s room to shout 8 right after this, so we all did it. Cheering sections really are the best.

Louis wears the most incredible dress. Wow. I wish I could wear that dress. It looks so beautiful. There’s apparently some crazy back story between Shin and Louis. Shin had super cool long hair, and Louis is pretty much confirmed to be a Prism Messenger (I don’t think they specify it’s Louis in this flashback, but I’d bet on it being him).

Then everyone cheers Glorious Schwarz. Including us. GLORIOUS SCHWARZ!!!

Hiro comes out and reveals his magical power to change all cyalumes by snapping his fingers. Then halfway through the song he turns everything into gold, including the cyalumes (don’t forget to change yours at this point!). Oh, yeah, he performed Pride. And made Kazuki and Kouji holograms appear. He didn’t need projectors or anything. Get outplayed Non. But I guess this means Kami Idol Non could do a Triangle performance with no projectors. That would be hype. Anyway, Hiro’s performance is super good, and he becomes King. The issue with him not being able to use Pride gets settled during the performance. It’s implied Kakeru took care of this when he was doing money stuff earlier. Maybe some sort of deal that was part of using his watches?

June leaves Jin and goes back to Hijiri! JUNE <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

And Hiro gets crowned King. He hugs it out with Kouji and Kazuki (I really thought they were going to perform here). Then he shouts “I am the King of Prism” and we go to credits.

The credits song was great... but I’m sitting here like “Wow.. they teased us like that... Over the Rainbow shows up and they didn’t even perform... If this was a cheering section I’d be shouting encore right now...”

Anyway, credits song ends and suddenly we go back to a stage with the audience shouting “Encore”. And Over the Rainbow shows up and gives us what we’ve all been waiting for. During their Prism Jump they kiss girls who look very similar to characters from Rainbow Live. Kouji even calls his girl Cross... huh... must be coincidence. Like the first movie, there are lines you can shout out. After the first showing, I really thought my favourite scene was either the EZ DO DANCE battle (ALEC!!!!) or the Crazy Gonna Grazy performance. But once I shouted out the lines, I suddenly could vividly imagine myself kissing Kazuki and it felt almost like the real thing. So yeah. No scene is going to top my imagination giving me that experience. Sorry other scenes.

After the movie we got film strips. Here’s mine.

We also got to buy pamphlets

There’s a ton of KOP merchandise at the theatre now. Definitely gonna pick some of it up next time I go back. Which will hopefully be when I don’t have a cold. Although I have a job where I work with a billion different little kids every day. I pretty much always have a cold. Given that I want this (and I need to get that May Laala pillow from Prism Stone), I think I’ll have to pass on building a fight stick next month lol. Then there’s the Kazuki daki, which I’d seen at Prism Stone plenty of times but hadn’t bought because it wasn’t Alec. That kiss with him changed my mind though. I need it. Too much money from that paycheck already committed to being an idol fan. Oh, and if I get tickets to the iRis fifth anniversary live I’ll want to buy stuff there. Wish me luck in the second lottery.

Anyway, the movie blew me away. It was so good. Movie of the century for sure. Yes I know we still have like 80 years to go. I’m calling it now. The next 80 years are downhill. Unless the next King of Prism movie tops this. Oh yeah, there was a thing at the end that said “End of youth forever”. So I assume that means we’re done with over the rainbow? Or maybe just their youth? Next movie might be more about Shin/Louis, or it might be a more grown up thing about Over the Rainbow and the Rainbow Live cast? No matter what I’m super excited.

Well, there’s all that Shin backstory. So they’re definitely gonna go into more detail about that.

Can they please do something about the pacing though? Like, this movie was so fast. It probably could have been 2-3 hours long. And no one’s gonna complain about the movie being that long lol.

I know this is kinda insignificant, but it feels really cool that I can understand almost all of this movie. Years of Japanese study paying off. I’m pretty proud of myself atm.

There’s a super delicious ramen place 2 minutes away from my apartment that’s open until 3am. My apartment is about 30 minutes from the theatre, and I was super hungry after the movie, so I stopped by there around around 2am.  Last time I went around 9 and had to wait in line 50 minutes, but it seems like there’s no line at 2am. Treated myself to their super fancy miso char siu ramen. And got a noodle refill. But wow it was so good. Great birthday meal.

Also, it was super cool that after the Rainbow Live marathon and first KoP movie I turned 24. Right in time for Pride the Hero. Best Birthday Ever.

PRIDE THE HERO