#the 3rd book is going to feature some 'big threat' which no one likes

[sprolden]

tsc as a series to me is doomed because despite twp likely not even existing as anything except a list of bullet points rn we can already easily assume dru and ash are going to end up together. they have i think literally one page of interaction in canon but thats enough to give away that they're endgame. this is how predictable this series has become. anyway ill still be reading loyally

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

I know I’ve posted links to these pages before, but not for many months, and I’m now using them again and really need to reiterate how awesome this is. Obviously, a podcast like The Bugle is going to have a fanbase full of the type of people who would go through every episode and catalogue the hell out of it. Obviously. Obviously this exists.

Both those links look like the same thing, but they’re different pages. One is a properly organized list of the first 193 episodes, going through each section of most episodes and noting what was discussed, and listing instances of the various running jokes, motifs, features, recurring characters, etc. The other is a disorganized mess that, for each episode up to 146, lists some key phrases and topics. It is so helpful. It looks like a mess at first, but it’s amazingly helpful that if I vaguely remember some joke or other that was made in any of the first 193 episodes, I can CTRL+F for it on that page, and I will probably find it. Not quite 100% of the time, obviously, but this page has come through for me more often than it’s let me down, when I recall some offhand comment Andy Zaltzman made sometime around 2009 but I don’t know its context, and I check this page for it, and there it is. It’s fucking great.

It’s the sort of thing I’d make, but I don’t have to, because it turns out I fit so perfectly into the demographic of Bugle fans (autistic, the word I’m looking for is autistic) that the other ones are just like me and they beat me to it. It was incredibly helpful when I was making Bugle compilations last year, which I maintain were an excellent use of my time, even the one the ended up being the length, and arguably breadth, of a feature film (it’s the one about John Oliver and Sarah Palin, it was supposed to just be a short audio compilation but it’s 74 minutes long and features enough photos and video to count as a documentary).

Aside from how helpful they are, it’s just really entertaining to read the thrown-together lists of “things that happened in this episode” out of context. The properly organized list is great, but the one that’s an unformatted mess has a charm I hugely enjoy, and creates some amusing out-of-context summaries. To grab a few at random:

37 21/7/08 Obama an the media Dr love/The Slaying of Nigel Obama/VP ideas/Europe loves Obama/ Andy describes badgers/Crazy Belgians/Stalin&Rasputin leading best Russian pole/Warmonger cowboy fancy drees/Batgirl is jewish/HFH: Gulveg the Norse giantess

56 15/12/08 Riggles leaving do/lettuce or fairy wings/Blagoiavic corruption/Obamas 1stspeech Old McDonald/Michael stone claims his attack was art/OJ giving birth/Neither Obama or McCain are eligable to be president/Canada in shambles/Plans to cut down smoking/Names for Andys child/British sportsman of the year/Scottish tennis, "Foot fault f*ck you"

109 29/3/10 US healthcare bill a big fucking deal/Death threat on Twitter/Bullet falls through Eric Cantors window/US Israel settlements talk/British MP's cabs for hire/The American on healthcare & National treasure, thinks he's on the radio, guns in Starbucks/Flipping Vanilla Ice the Bird/Roll call of donors

115 17/5/10 Britains Coalition Gov./UK has only 1 more Female MP than Afganistan/Berlusconnis divorce terms/Grecian economy is fucked/Phillies fan tazered

127 20/9/10 Pope in UK/$80 million to keep tigers alive $50 million given/Tea Pary wins midterms/Christine O'Donnel... hates masturbation, is a witch, cross breeding animals/Sport of shinti

131 18/10/10 John beats Riggle at fantasy football, Riggle threatens to kill him/Sporty Pussycat Doll/Bugles 3rd Birthday/Andy is drunk/Chilean miners get out/Someone throws book at Obama

Fucking excellent. Someone scribbled all these notes and put them on the internet so that ten years later I could easily look up in what episode American comedian Rob Riggle threatened to murder John Oliver. Thank you for your service, whoever made this. This is what the internet should be for.

[maneaterwithtail]

Fangbone PageとScreen

Yep, another at long last, I have a terminal some free time, and some actual encouragement.

Sorry but as these screenshots from me from a hastily web-based editor ... but well I just gotta continue

Shout outs to @badkunrules @brusk-ghost @nubeth @cricketgreens @its-yasleepygal @ghostofawolf300 @vaultpanda101 @rosy319 @cartoonfan7 @tortugadechocolate

And not forgotten the aid of

 @book-series-fandom and @cordset

And any other Suburban Barbarians I missed and I hope you keep with the encouragement or make or share love of your own of the series

Again this is as amateur as gets but hope to have some insights and sometimes, with a web project, its about just keeping it going.  And thanks for the encouragement to do thatl

I updated the last installment for a *brief* look on how the toe ended up in Bill’s backpack and Fangbone ends up meeting him compared to the graphic novel

This is, now that I think about it, really and VERY strongly where the two stories and depictions diverge.  GN Fangbone is sly, wily, and cunning. But with our increased kinetic action.... well

Fangbone accuses Bill, ignorant of everything of theft but the Krakken catches up snatches him yanks him about, to comedic affect and then...throws him

With REMARKABLE Hangtime,

Moreso factoring in the scene where Bill is in his PJs, presumably after dinner being tucked in by his mother, notices glow and effluvium from it leading to the toes discovering presumbling parallel to the above.

Likely screaming and flying some hours in the air 

He does need a nap.

Needless to say this if VERY different from his ‘infiltration’ into class 3-G of the same day

TBF the Forging of Friendship is combination of the Summit of Swords plot, where the Shadowsteppers and Mighty Lizard Clan meet to negotiate their feud to non-mutual extinction levels, AND the flashback to the cartoon’s version of their first adventure.

The change up in pacing as well as circumstances lead for a more dramatic arc and number of action scenes as to the immediate friendship that forms then grows stronger as the stakes get more severeof the GN.  And also illustrate the difference between GN and CN Fangbone and Bill.

Like so,

 as on the next day, and start of the next Flashback framed as Bill reasoning with Axebear on a trampoline and Fangbone with One-Eyed the Slippery at Weinerdogs, Bill is admiring the toe when fangbone attacks

. . .Or tries too

Despite this amazing lack of tactical comprehension and proof of his safety Bill panics and RUNS OUTSIDE where

He is snatched up by a prepared trap, which does show while more obviously buffoonish this Fangbone DOES have his own means and cunning.  In fact this slightly turns around the near constant humiliation and embarrassment that’s been befalling our favorite 3rd grade barbarian.

While STILL insisting Bill is a thief this is where, unable to show you proper with just pictures (please don’t get struck down) 

We finally get their first proper meeting and for all that its got Fangbone raging and being stubborn its actually a nice bit of characterization for both individually and set up for how we can see these two getting along.

Taylor and Colin really deserve a thumbs up for the rapidfire overlap filled with characterization.  As Bill seems more intrigued and gleeful and Fangbone is fronting.  To a degree, he HAS to know this is *his* screw up and he’s projecting some and puffing himself up to assert himself over his plain as day weakness and poor performance and confusion.

Bill does prove not *quite* as foolish as thought, between jumping out of the door it seems he hid the toe in a gambit.

This is sort of the closest analogue in the GN

Eventually Bill is cut down 

questions fangbone and then reveals where hid toe, his locker, 

But then finds it *wiggling* and that means

Heh, the CN REALLY emphasizes action in these encounters as the characterization, buildup, and worldbuilding is in the framing device... and also past episodes. 

 Fangbone is eager to stand his ground and “dance the dance of death”  But Bill, as can imagine, RUNS

This leads to Fangbone being distracted at the fleeing toe and gaining concussion number six or so (this episode) running after pursued by krakken.

As can see we really don’t emphasize the bond with the class this episode or encounter them as the GN was building things up with Fangbone and establishing a more...well I’m not sure mature but as least not the same overaggressive character.  Plus setting, and general sense of boys adventure written and pictured story.

I mean GN Fangbone knows to ask to be excused to “make droppings” During which we get the stranger in a strangeland cliches people can note like this

Also meet Duncan,  he didn’t make the adaptation.  At all.  Not even a hint.

PRAISE BE TO STONEBACK (and his prophets Simon Racioppa and Richard Elliott)  But seriously ANOTHER character difference

Like night and day.  Part of it is the style choices in the artforms.  Fangbone even when gesticulating never seems that out of it.  And he handles this challenge smoothly and like he knows what he’s doing.  whereas, admittedly because unlike this one which hasn’t have a different battle (aside from a rusted scrapheap) we haven’t seen him fail or tricked yet.  In fact he’s, more out of luck but still, being the clever one.

This is even more of a divergence.  See In the GN Fangbone is very focused on mission and life.  While it is here at long last we see monsters, though some were in a narrated flashback to the class, attack Fangbone and see the writhing of the foul footfinger macguffin of Morg

And the attack of the first of three monsters

the Dirt devil trio

Admittedly not the most clever or involved of fights but they indicate Bill’s quick wit and how this will contribute to Fangbone and Bill’s friendship and battles.  At first Bill thinks Fangbone is cool and has obvious vulnerabilities. They talk and interact.  Bill sees fangbone triumph over things big to him that are as nothing to Fangbone.

And Fangbone sees the immediate benefit to Battle in bill’s awareness, dovetailing with his ambitions to build an army, making him remarkably more controlled and yet less obedient or drone like? Less a model barbarian?  Its just something that stands out.

Also this leads to a feature of both series, what every adventurous duo needs hideouty/digs

Cavebania is found and was introduced to Fangbone by Bill.  This is a touch that’s put aside in the Forging of Friendship but a similar scene could be 

afterwards with Bill freaking out at home somehow ditching Kraken and Fangbone by bus, hoping he doesn’t know what one is and then.  okay damn

Again after the near humilation conga of incompentence Fangbone is proving himself more than the buffoon he’s played as the closer his and Bill’s worlds meet.

What happens is the series taking advantage of motion and set up action scenes happening so fast aren’t robbed of threat or excitement.. even if the direct confrontation is ended 

Because fangbone impaled his sword at a door and Bill pulled out a cheap plastic light up toy that scares him.

But then bill *gets it* Fangbone “isn’t from around here” and this is the scene it feels they genuinely calm down and commiserate.  Fangbone finally being allowed to chill Bill returns the toe .. then it writhes

Fangbone actually suggests luring it to Bill’s room as believes it will trap and confuse and scare it like it has him.  But instead...

Another opening image shout out

As they pedal away to better ground as Fangbone awkwardly rides in back swording off arms in desperate attempt to avoid attack.

Really the differences is this is more near the end of the series and giving us a lot of charming firsts, made all the moreso with the framing device, how we see Fangbone can be loudspoken and childish but plenty focused and consider even wise, to a degree, as to overly severe and fruitless.  Bill is more childish but more...socially aware and intrigued.  And that exchanging of names works to get them on the same page and already cooperating and appreciating each other more.

The GN is building the concept and characters from ground up  Taking its time.  It also gives us more sense of two pals growing closer as to a whirlwind happenstance slamming them together.

But the snappy action and turn and reversals in such short time is efficient in the television series, while the more casual development of a regular day of a refugee also trying to see to his objectives is also nice in the graphic novel.

And the Graphic novel has even more encounters, including the more... involved bit about Fangbone and Bill’s developing friendship along with Fangbone’s with 3-G.

[awwishfulthinking]

A Look at Galaxy Angel II/3rd Manga Vol. 4

A bit of background info:

The Galaxy Angel manga series is comprised of three manga collections/stories in all--Galaxy Angel (five volumes), Galaxy Angel Beta/2 (three volumes), and Galaxy Angel II/3rd (six volumes). Galaxy Angel II/3rd covered the basic plot of the GA II game series, and features a new set of girls and a new male main character.

The entire Galaxy Angel manga series was being translated by Broccoli Books USA. Unfortunately, while they were in the middle of translating the Galaxy Angel II manga (called Galaxy Angel 3rd in Japan), the company was dissolved. So as of this date, only the first three volumes of this particular series exists in English.

It took me a few years, but I eventually managed to get a hold of the remaining three volumes (in Japanese) from the Mandarake online store. I’ll showcase some photos and make an attempt at some sort of summary for these last few volumes...

Starting with volume 4.

(As a note, all of my future posts relating to these volumes will be tagged with “galaxy angel 2 manga” on my blog.)

I am not going to make dedicated posts to the first three officially translated volumes (because I don’t have the time for that); but I’ll give a brief summary here because the manga’s story is significantly different to the game in some parts.

Volume 1:

Most of the former Angel Troupe/Angel-tai members have either retired or moved on to other military positions and are now spread out over Eden and Neue--with Neue being a new galaxy that was just discovered.

Eden and Neue are connected by a space called the Absolute, and that is connected to a Gate (appears as a giant ring in space) that has to be opened by a gatekeeper--who happens to be Milfeulle.

The people from Eden are trying to restore Neue, and bring more advanced technology to its people.

Kazuya (a Neue native) has been picked randomly by Milfeulle to be a member of the new Angel-tai/Angel troupe.

He’s the first male member to the team and is welcomed aboard the Luxiole by Apricot.

The next few chapters deal with Kazuya meeting the rest of the crew that are currently on the Luxiole (Nano-nano, Kahlua/Tequila, and the mechanics, medical staff, and other staff).

The Angel-tai’s main goal currently is to find other gatekeepers--as Milfeulle is the only known gatekeeper and is thus trapped within the Absolute for the time being (in a structure called the “central globe”). Apricot and Takuto (who is officially Milfeulle’s husband in the manga), really want to free her from what is essentially a prison.

Anyway, Kazuya is the designated pilot of a ship called “Braveheart,” whose purpose is to merge with the other Angels’ ships and boost their power levels.

Anise makes her debut by stealing the Braveheart and Nano somehow gets kidnapped as well in the process.

Volume 2:

The Luxiole gets an S.O.S message from Milfeulle but it cuts out before she can really say anything.

Anise and Nano are rescued from a fleet of enemy ships commanded by a woman named Dieta--and the Braveheart is taken back. Takuto commands the Luxiole to head towards the planet of Seldor, which is the planet closest to the Gate and the Absolute that Milfeulle is in.

The next two chapters following this scenario focuses on how Kazuya is beginning to develop feelings for Apricot and how he wants her to see him as a man (as Apricot currently just sees him as a replacement for her older sister, Milfeulle).

The next chapter after THAT has Anise becoming an official member of the Angel-tai to pay off her huge debt to Mint.

We get a sneak peek at Lily, who still has yet to join the rest of the Angels onboard the Luxiole.

Volume 3:

The volume begins with Forte staging a coup d'etat. She has taken both the Absolute and the planet Seldor (and King Soldum), and claims that she’s doing this because the Neue citizens have been “babied” for too long. Because Forte's attacking them with her fleet, Takuto and co. have to make an escape using chrono drive.

At Anise’s suggestion, they all resolve to visit the planet Magiic to gain supplies and allies.

En-route to Magiic, they need to make a stop at planet Pico and Femto to heal up Nano-Nano, who used up all her nanomachines healing people in the aftermath of Forte’s attack.

They manage to pick up Lily, also enroute to Magiic. She explains that Forte led the coup to prevent casualties to the hostages: the planet of Seldor and King Soldum.

Kahlua’s past is hinted at in this volume.

The gang make it to Magiic safely; but while they are touring a city on the planet, Dieta indirectly causes a building fire. This triggers traumatic memories in Kahlua and she has to be sedated and put into an emergency pod.

Now that we’ve gotten those out of the way, it’s finally time to delve into Volume 4!!!

DISCLAIMER 1: I do not know Japanese at all so a lot of these “summaries” will be based on info I’ve gathered from the translated volumes that were officially released; as well as the Galaxy Angel fan wikia. I don’t claim any sort of plot accuracy in these posts, I merely wanted to give a brief run-down (as best as I can) of what happens in these volumes.

DISCLAIMER 2: I do not want to scan these volumes for fear of damaging the binding, so I’ve only taken photos. I’m not a professional photographer and don’t have a nice fancy camera so these photos are not so great. Due to my work schedule and life stuff that I need to take care of, I don’t have the time to touch these up beyond resizing and cropping them. Sorry.

~Chapter 16~

Following directly from the events at the end of volume 3, volume 4 opens up with Dieta infiltrating the emergency pod Kahlua was put in. She exposes Kahlua to some sort of powder (I’m assuming it’s some strong alcohol-based chemical), which turns her into Tequila. Dieta then curses her by marking Tequlia with some sort of magical rune.

Ranpha (who the other Angel-tai members met on Magiic) finally meets up with Takuto and they have some kind of conversation; most likely relating to negotiations with the Magiic forces. Ranpha is now the ambassador on planet Magiic, so she would be the best person to convince the Magiic forces to ally with the Luxiole.

MEANWHILE, Kahlua/Tequila has been transferred to the Luxiole’s infirmary. She’s currently unconscious and everyone’s worried about her. The Angel-tai eventually leave so that Kazuya can watch over Tequila alone, as he was the one who saved her from the burning building.

Kazuya begins talking to the unconscious Tequila, apparently musing about how he saw Tequila (or some kind of apparition of her) appear to protect Kahlua when they were trapped in the fire. I think Kazuya also wonders about the bond between Kahlua and Tequila (or about how the split personality developed).

Tequila suddenly wakes up! But the curse Dieta puts on her activates and Tequila loses control of her powers and starts burning everything, including Kazuya.

Mimolette (Kahlua/Tequila’s cat familiar) jumps in at this point to place a protective shield around Kazuya... and an apparition of Kahlua materializes. Kahlua and Tequila converse, and Tequila somehow manages to calm down and overcome the curse put on her. Her clothes got burned off in the process, so Kazuya lends Tequila his jacket. Apricot walks in on the two in a... very compromising position and immediately walks away, much to Kazuya’s distress.

~Chapter 17~

Suddenly, everyone gets called to the Bridge--Dieta’s fleet has appeared and everyone gets ready to fight. Kazuya and Tequila arrive with Tequila still naked with only Kazuya’s jacket covering her, which causes Apricot to glare angrily at Kazuya.

Anyway, Kazuya and the rest of the Angel-tai fly out and prepare for battle. Dieta formally introduces herself to Takuto and co. (The weird cropping here is because Dieta’s outfit is super fanservicey and I don’t wanna get accidentally flagged.)

Kazuya’s ship merges with Tequila’s Emblem Frame (the Spell Caster) and there’s a big space battle. The merged ship is able to basically take out Dieta’s flagship (which Dieta is on). Tequila briefly remembers her magic battle with Dieta on planet Magiic. I mostly just took a photo of this page because it shows off Tequila’s cool outfit.

Tequila shows absolutely no mercy and completely obliterates Dieta’s ship... Everyone is happy that this threat is now gone, but Kazuya seems kind of shocked by Tequila’s actions. (Probably because it was so violent?)

Sometime later after the battle, Kazuya goes to the Luxiole’s park to relax. He meets with Tequila there, still wearing his jacket. Kazuya asks for his jacket back in annoyance, and the two somehow get to talking. Tequila reveals that Kahlua suffered a traumatic moment in her youth. She had tried to show off some fire magic to a friend named Mimolette (yes, it’s the same spelling as the name for her cat familiar); but Kahlua ended up scaring her friend away because of how powerful she was.

After this event, Kahlua was so mentally distraught that she developed a separate personality (Tequila) to cope. This personality ended up being the only one capable of using Kahlua’s magic well.

Back in the present, Tequila still seems upset about something (probably worried that people are scared of her because of her magic powers) and Kazuya reassures her. Tequila then jumps on top of Kazuya (as he’s lying on the grass) and teases him... but then suddenly transforms back into Kahlua, who does not remember anything that happened. Apricot again catches the two in a compromising position, but this time Apricot beats up Kazuya for it.

~Chapter 18~

Somewhere in the Luxiole, Croix and Coronet (the mechanics) end up finding some kind of fancy looking white Emblem Frame. (I have no idea where they found it or how.)

The story then switches right into a dream that Apricot is having. She dreams about her older sister Milfeulle baking sweets... who then transforms into Kazuya. Kahlua and Tequila then appear by his side, and Apricot wakes from her dream with tears in her eyes. She begins to wonder about how she really feels about Kazuya. Does she still think of him as merely a replacement for her sister?

Everyone gets called to the Bridge where Takuto reveals some good news: Ranpha seems to have managed to convince the people of Magiic to lend their aid to the Luxiole.

(And she also looks beautiful on this page)

Apricot and Tequila end up talking things out, while Kazuya and Anise hang out in the hangar to marvel at the fancy new Emblem Frame. Kazuya suddenly feels compelled to touch the ship and it reacts to him, opening up to reveal an injured girl.

She’s taken to the infirmary (where I assume she’s healed up by Nano Nano) and Takuto calls everyone to the briefing room to talk about the girl and the mystery ship. Nano Nano says some things about what she’s found out about the mysterious girl but I don’t understand any of it because I don’t know Japanese.

SUDDENLY Tequila and Apricot show up, in switched outfits/hairstyles. I’m assuming this is all Tequila’s attempt to pull Apricot out of her funk or get Kazuya and Apricot together. Tequila uses her magic to shove Apricot onto Kazuya and that goes about as well as you would expect.

~Chapter 19~

Mystery girl has woken up and is now hiding out in the park. For some reason surrounded by piggies.

Judging by the sudden increase in complex shading, this is most likely a colored page in the magazine (that this chapter was originally published in) that unfortunately got reduced to a grayscale printing in the volume release. Anyway I did find a color version of this picture on some sort of trading card thing so here you go:

(It’s more apparent on a later manga cover, but mystery girl’s hair is silver--and her eyes are red.)

Anyway, we switch perspectives to Takuto and Kazuya. Kazuya is being grilled by Takuto because Takuto is curious about who the younger man likes. Takuto (correctly) guesses that it’s Apricot and Kazuya gets flustered and leaves.

Kazuya still feels bad or guilty (somehow) about the unfortunate circumstances with Kahlua/Tequila before, and decides to make some apology treats for Apricot. He finds her in the park, where Apricot has found the mystery girl sleeping.

Kazuya and Apricot talk to each other about... something. They accidentally wake up the mystery girl.

*insert a SCENE CHANGE here*

Honestly, from here on out I barely understand what’s going on because this whole sidestory is a manga original story so. Bear with me here.

Mystery girl does some magic techno stuff before formally introducing herself to the Angel-tai. (And she looks really cool doing so)

Her name is Mimoza and she’s supposedly a gal from the past... and I only know this thanks to the next manga preview blurb at the end of volume 3, for the never officially translated and released volume 4.

I think Mimoza starts telling the Angel-tai about her history and her travels or something... Anyway she mentions aliens. Not sure if she met with them or if she actually worked under them.

She then dramatically points out Kazuya because he’s special or something. And they are linked to each other through the Braveheart. Or something. I have no idea.

While Kazuya stays behind in the hangar to talk some more with Mimoza, the rest of the Angel-tai regroup with Takuto who asks the group if they consider Kazuya to be an important part of the team.

Mimoza then pushes Kazuya off the ledge either for funsies or for *dramatic effect* because she immediately saves him afterwards.

~Chapter 20~

(I hope tumblr’s resizing doesn’t destroy the quality of this photo further)

Without informing anyone, Kazuya and Mimoza fly out in Mimoza’s Emblem Frame to a nearby planet (Planet Cocoon)--which also coincidentally happens to be Mimoza’s home planet from I think 600 years ago. The entire planet has become a desert with some ruins scattered about.

After Kazuya brushes some sand off the ground, he manages to activate some sort of magic circle or portal.

Back on the Luxiole, I think the rest of the Angel-tai finally realize that Kazuya is missing. They also come to realize that they do consider Kazuya to be an important part of their team. And so they head out in their respective Emblem Frames to find Kazuya.

Back on the desert planet, Kazuya and Mimoza find themselves in an underground cavern.

Whilst traversing the caverns, Mimoza tells Kazuya about how she was separated from (I’m assuming) someone she was in love with; due either to a catastrophe or due to some invading forces. And she ended up (I guess) in some kind of time warp which sent her to the future.

Kazuya and Mimoza eventually discover a ship in the depths of the caverns, that looks almost exactly like Kazuya’s Braveheart. Mimoza is saddened when she finds the cockpit empty.

Mimoza and Kazuya then part ways here, as Mimoza decides to use this newly discovered ship to try going back to the past.

Kazuya then tries to make his way out of the caverns only to be chased by some kind of fearsome monster--which gets obliterated by Tequila.

The other Angel-tai members appear and there’s a happy reunion scene as they all return back to the Luxiole together.

Annnnd volume 4 ends there.

Bonus illustration page featuring Mimoza:

I will hopefully be able to get the posts of volume 5 and 6 out soon. This one was a beast of a post but only because I had to get all of the background info out of the way first.

See you next time!

[lichlairs]

Checkout our new post over at https://lichlair.com/5-official-alternate-rules-to-better-your-game

5 Official Alternate Rules to Better your Game

Let’s start of this article by reminding ourselves that Dungeons and Dragons is one of the few games that places a lot of emphasis on using our imaginations. As such, pretty much everyone behind our favorite game has always made a point of saying that any and all rules found in the official books and supplements aren’t set in stone and can be changed by a group of players as the see fit. Here at the Lair we strongly support this sentiment, but for today’s article we will be focusing solely on alternate or optional rules that can be often overlooked but can definitely be found in the official material.

Cleaving Through Creatures

If your player characters regularly fight hordes of lower-level monsters, consider using this optional rule to help speed up such fights. When a melee attack reduces an undamaged creature to 0 hit points, any excess damage from that attack might carry over to another creature nearby. The attacker targets another creature within reach and, if the original attack roll can hit it, applies any remaining damage to it. If that creature was undamaged and is likewise reduced to 0 hit points, repeat this process, carrying over the remaining damage until there are no valid targets, or until the damage carried over fails to reduce an undamaged creature to 0 hit points.Source: DMG, page 272

This rule’s true potential lies on large scale combat and I would definitely not recommend it for standard encounters. That said, what could possibly feel more heroic than having your character carve through several enemies with a single attack? Granted, chances are that if you’re using this ruling your party will most likely be fighting goblins, skeletons, or pretty much any low threat monsters. Not only will your players feel like the true heroes that they are, but, as stated in the book, it should also serve to speed up combat quite a bit.

Crafting a Magic Item

Magic items are the DM’s purview, so you decide how they fall into the party’s possession. As an option, you can allow player characters to craft magic items. The creation of a magic item is a lengthy, expensive task. To start, a character must have a formula that describes the construction of the item. The character must also be a spellcaster with spell slots and must be able to cast any spells that the item can produce. Moreover, the character must meet a level minimum determined by the item’s rarity, as shown in the Crafting Magic Items table. For example, a 3rd-level character could create a wand of magic missiles (an uncommon item), as long as the character has spell slots and can cast magic missile. That same character could make a +1 weapon (another uncommon item), no particular spell required. You can decide that certain items also require special materials or locations to be created. For example, a character might need alchemist’s supplies to brew a particular potion, or the formula for a flame tongue might require that the weapon be forged with lava.Source: DMG, page 128

This is definitely an optional rule every Dungeon Master should at least consider adding to their campaign. Let’s go through the positives and negatives: For starters, your players will have a little more agency and input on the items they acquire for their characters, but it’s also a great addition for DMs as well; this rule opens many doors for side quests and extra content for your players to explore. Got some downtime? Why not work on some items? Sure, you run into the possibility of having too many magic items, but that’s why the collection of ingredients, blueprints, and what not is extremely crucial.

Alternate Healing

These optional rules make it easier or harder for adventurers to recover from injury, either increasing or reducing the amount of time your players can spend adventuring before rest is required. Healer’s Kit Dependency: A character can’t spend any Hit Dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer’s kit to bandage and treat the character’s wounds. Healing Surges: This optional rule allows characters to heal up in the thick of combat and works well for parties that feature few or no characters with healing magic, or for campaigns in which magical healing is rare. As an action, a character can use a healing surge and spend up to half his or her Hit Dice. For each Hit Die spent in this way, the player rolls the die and adds the character’s Constitution modifier. The character regains hit points equal to the total. The player can decide to spend an additional Hit Die after each roll. A character who uses a healing surge can’t do so again until he or she finishes a short or long rest. Under this optional rule, a character regains all spent Hit Dice at the end of a long rest. With a short rest, a character regains Hit Dice equal to his or her level divided by four (minimum of one dice). For a more superheroic feel, you can let a character use a healing surge as a bonus action, rather than as an action. Slow Natural Healing: Characters don’t regain hit points at the end of a long rest. Instead, a character can spend Hit Dice to heal at the end of a long rest, just as with a short rest. This optional rule prolongs the amount of time that characters need to recover from their wounds without the benefits of magical healing and works well for grittier, more realistic campaigns.Source: DMG, page 266

You know, sometimes you don’t really think about stuff until someone presents it to you. I must say that the Healing Kit alternate ruling makes complete sense to me. Not to mention that it also turns what’s usually a “meh” item into something that you need and will seek out; a good investment too.

As for Haling Surges, I feel like there are other ways in which you could provide a healer-less party with adequate amounts of healing, but this is certainly one way to go about it. My one comment is that doing this will render the Fighter’s Second Wind a tad less useful.

Last but not least, Slow Natural Healing is probably a great idea for those of you looking to run a more challenging campaign. Might be a good idea to test it out in a one shot before jumping the gun, though.

Initiative Variants

This section offers different ways to handle initiative. Initiative Score: With this optional rule, creatures don’t roll initiative at the start of combat. Instead, each creature has an initiative score, which is a passive Dexterity check: 10 + Dexterity modifier. By cutting down on die rolls, math done on the fly, and the process of asking for and recording totals, you can speed your game up considerably—at the cost of an initiative order that is often predictable.Source: DMG, page 270

This is one to consider if you’re running a game for a big group, or even a particular encounter that involves many moving pieces. The beauty of it is that it lets you plan ahead to a certain extent and frees up plenty of game time. The downside is that, depending on your group, your players might find ways to cheese it, or simply grow bored with the repetitiveness.

More Difficult Identification

If you prefer magic items to have a greater mystique, consider removing the ability to identify the properties of a magic item during a short rest, and require the Identify spell, experimentation, or both to reveal what a magic item does.Source: DMG, page 136

This is actually a rule I have been using for my own games for the longest time. There’s a certain charm that comes with the unknown and I find it’s better to let your players wonder just a little longer.

I could write on this topic for quite a bit, and definitely do expect a follow-up part two with some other rules I had to cut out, but for now… thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article and don’t want to miss out on any of our future ones, make sure follow us on our social media to be informed whenever we post new articles. We write new content every day!

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Session 6.5

A half-elf conwoman (and the moth tasked with keeping her out of trouble) travel the Jewel in search of, uh, whatever a fashionable accessory is pointing them at. [Campaign log]

Last time, Looseleaf and Saelhen fought their way to the top of the evil torture tower of the evil torture wizard- only to find out that the guy's been dead for at least a year, and that a dragon has apparently been squatting in his tower. Not content to wait another week to find out what this means, we had an off-schedule mini-session wherein the party finished exploring the unexplored nooks and crannies of Lumiere's Tower.

The first thing to deal with is the thing blocking their return down the stairs- there's a weird big metal coffin-looking dealie that waddled up to the stairs on the fourth floor, but couldn't chase them any further. Going back down, though... they could take a window, but they figure there's no way this thing could be a serious threat. It can barely move, after all- they can probably just push it right over!

Looseleaf pokes it with a stick, and its front splits open down the middle, revealing a giant maw of horrible spikes which snaps at her threateningly.

So it's an iron maiden! Adorable! Still doesn't have legs, or arms, so it's fine, right? They can just stand on the stairs and

whoops nope it's got animated canvas straps inside it that shoot out and ensnare orluthe like a chameleon tongue. okay. so maybe this monster is dangerous actually.

The ensuing fight makes heavy use of a mechanic in D&D called "called shots", where you can take disadvantage on an attack roll in exchange for inflicting some kind of injury on the opponent by hitting them in different specific body parts. They don't want to let Orluthe get shut inside and take a fuckload of stab damage, so they jam Looseleaf's quarterstaff in the doors, slice up its canvas straps, and by force of numbers manage to render nearly all its appendages impotent. The poor torture instrument has disadvantage on all its attack rolls after the called shots go through, and it can't land any more hits! The party eventually wears it down, and Looseleaf lands the finishing blow by scrambling its spirit.

All that's left in their way is the translucent red barrier blocking off the 3rd/4th floor stairs. Not finding anything on the fourth floor to shut it off, they just go via the window like before. Back down on the third floor, Looseleaf uses her spirit sight to notice that the barrier is connected magically to some runes inscribed on the central pillar- it looks like there's some sort of creepy puzzle involving stabbing creepy dolls with creepy doll-sized knives.

Not interested in risking whatever the consequences of solving the puzzle wrong are (given that they already have a way up and down), they move on.

While they're there, Saelhen decides to take another crack at the trapped chest she couldn't open earlier. Rather than risk the trap, she first spends some time expertly disarming the trap built into the lock, before working on the lock itself. A couple good rolls later, and they acquire the treasure! Which is... 60 gold pieces, and a piece of paper with a list of words.

Saelhen fails her Nature check, but Looseleaf recognizes the words on the paper as... the names of craters and other geographical features of the moon.

[WAR_FLASHBACKS.jpg]

No one's quite sure why a list of moon landmarks would be locked up in a highly-secure chest protected by a poison needle trap, but no one rolls high enough on Religion to puzzle it out.

Moving on down, they reach the second floor, which appears to be a laundry room of some sort. The sort where the irons and ironing boards and scrub brushes are alive, and appear to be washing the same clothes over and over and over to the point where most of them have been reduced to sparklingly clean rags. Seems like these animated household objects have been stuck on a loop for a good long time!

There's what appears to be an intact magical cloak hanging on a clothesline in there, but the party opts not to try and take it- doing so would likely provoke some protective laundry automatons.

Saelhen's plan to lure the scrub brush away from the washtub (for... reasons??) fails, since the brush doesn't seem to want to leave the tub- and it's visibly disappointed when Saelhen gives up.

So, they head down to the first floor, finally! As they head down, they're noticed by more animated knives... but it seems these ones have been tasked with cooking a delicious meal, which they happily serve up to the tower's guests! The wheelbarrow from before is there, too, supplying the kitchen with food. The only question is... who's been eating this stuff? Why is the table not covered in rotten, uneaten banquet, if the wizard's been dead? Who's been putting grocery money in the wheelbarrow?

Other things of note in the room...

Benedict I. (GM): The shelves around the center seem to be festooned with various trophies and awards. Looseleaf: trophies. what, like, participation trophies??? school trophies? piano recital trophies?? Benedict I. (GM): These would actually be somewhat recognizable to most of you- you've seen similar things in trophy cases at school. The plaques beneath them seem blacked out in various places- a lot of [REDACTED]. Looseleaf: warball champions of the 1034 school year? Benedict I. (GM): Often built into the plaques. Saelhen du Fishercrown: huh who redacts a plaque Benedict I. (GM): Like, there'll be a flat section of the plaque painted black like it was engraved that way

Looseleaf, with a 20, Investigates a bunch of pertinent information. For instance, a diploma:

Hal Lumiere, PhD in [______]. Blacksky University, Department of Restricted Arts

It appears Hal Lumiere was an alumnus of Blacksky's School of Restricted Arts- the same place Vayen is from. Lumiere was apparently something of a darling there, considering all the awards- but no one in the party has ever heard of him. Except maybe a certain someone who's not telling.

Looseleaf also finds some unopened mail! One is illegible, written in Abyssal, the language of demons.

(Lore note on demons: demons are just like other monsters- evil things that come up from below the mountains and cause trouble. They aren't generally aware of their origins beyond waking up in a deep cave, usually, and aren't motivated by much except causing conflict and hurting people.)

Another letter is written in Common, with just plain awful handwriting:

"hey Lumes why tf arent you home today u fuckin flake ass fairyboy. who am i supposed to get that dank good ouch from if youre off on magic adfentures. this months number shits are: 14.3 6755 304° and then the little bar thing was on the green side but wobbly. now gimmeeeeeee"

It's a bit of an enigma- but even more enigmatic is the third letter Looseleaf finds, written in a hand Looseleaf recognizes. Looseleaf knows who this letter was written by.

"Dr. Lumiere- find enclosed the new spirit hollowing diagrams and the corrected sigil of Aaaaaaagh. This should satisfy our agreement, so I'll leave you with a warning: the lesser gods are not to be trusted." "Yes, their revolution is our best shot at the Project- that much is obvious, barring a road to apotheosis. I understand we need to work with them. I doubt we'll have further contact, so I won't ask you not to reignite this argument- but insofar as it's at all relevant to you in the future, I favor your approach over Kron Green's." "But again, they are not to be trusted. The enemy of our enemy wishes mainly to supplant them, and despite their alliance, not all of them share the same aims. In particular, the one you've taken an interest in seems utterly hostile to the Project. " "If we are to impact the cosmic boardstate, we must play the game. Trust is the abdication of discovery. Choose your allies carefully." And then it is signed with a mark. The mark is of a book, facedown in the way that ruins the spine, sort of shaped to look like a skull. And the initials "Y.T." Looseleaf: youtube. the villain of our story, youtube. Saelhen du Fishercrown: trust is the abdication of discovery, what a goddamn motto Looseleaf: oh my god she's being so edgy well, that is characteristic of her.

She also finds what appears to be a trophy- but the trophy is shaped to look like a globe. Not of the Jewel, but of the moon. Obviously, they take it.

Some experimentation with the moon trophy seems to indicate that the locations marked on the paper from the chest draw out a sort of connect-the-dots pattern, which might be used elsewhere for some purpose. Whatever the pattern is meant to be used for, there's no indication of it here. All that can reasonably be inferred is that it has some connection to the School of Restricted Arts.

Meanwhile, the bookshelves have a few more things of interest. Amidst textbooks on neurology, magic, and speculative religion on a lower shelf, they find a hand-bound book that seems out-of-place.

Benedict I. (GM): Inside, it appears to be a diary. "i m choss n ths iss MY BOOK," it begins.

It appears to span several years of diary entries, from year 259 to 266- ending seven years before the current date, 273. The handwriting gets progressively less atrocious, and the entries are very sporadic- riddled with apologies to the diary for forgetting to write in it.

Benedict I. (GM): Choss, apparently, is a little girl who grew up in this tower. Initially she was very fond of her dad, the owner of the tower. Looseleaf: initially, huh. that's... a... great sign. Benedict I. (GM): Dad is a cool wizard who does fun magic all the time, which she helps with! She is very proud of how much pain she can withstand, and she's developed this sort of self-image as a connoisseur. Of pain. Saelhen du Fishercrown: hell Saelhen's face is getting progressively... stiffer, as she reads. Not angrier, per se, just... flatter. Benedict I. (GM): She helps out with the experiments except for not being allowed to take the hoods off the subjects in the lab. Looseleaf: Lumiere what the shit. Benedict I. (GM): And when there's no subjects, she fills in, and does a very good job, the best job. There's an entry describing how she designed a security system for her dad- she made some dolls and dad enchanted them so they open the door if you stab them right! She's very proud of it. You now know the order of stabs to disable the barrier. Anyway, the later entries seem to represent... entirely standard teen angst. Looseleaf: Hmm. Benedict I. (GM): Dad is being boring and not letting her do the experiments she wants to do and not letting her visit the towns and ugh dad. She gets fed up with him, and the last entry is about how she's leaving to go start her own life in Wheat. Looseleaf: REALLY NOW. Saelhen du Fishercrown: WELL. Looseleaf: ...god, maybe those rumors about wheat being full of insane murderous murder-os weren't, wrong. Saelhen du Fishercrown: if she is in fact a baby dragon Looseleaf: which is not at all guaranteed, by the way.

If you recall from a few sessions back:

To speak with a dragon is to be condemned to some sort of great misfortune, brought about by your own hand. You know the Simurgh from Worm? Listen to its song for too long, and you become sort of a sleeper agent of self-destructive carnage? It’s like a diet version of that. Whatever path your conversation with the dragon puts you on, it’s invariably bad for you, somehow. The metallic dragons, who’re ostensibly “good”, will still ruin your life in some way just by talking to you, even if your immolation does some good for the world on the way out. Nobody wants to talk to a dragon.

Also discovered in CHOSS BOOK is a brief account of a time she had to go to the basement, using the secret entrance underneath... something. Looseleaf almost immediately checks under the table they're sitting at, and finds... yep! A trapdoor leading to the basement!

Next time: the basement awaits!

[mcclanahan82fowler-blog]

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[recentanimenews]

Manga the Week of 12/20/17

SEAN: Are you ready? 3-2-1 let’s jam.

MICHELLE: *cracks knuckles in a preparatory fashion*

ASH: Get everybody and the stuff together, because there’s a lot of it!

KATE: There is SO MUCH MANGA that even I had to chime in.

SEAN: We start with Bookwalker, who has the second volume of their light novel The Combat Baker and the Automaton Waitress. I felt it was a good series for them to pick up (certainly better than their other LN series), and will be getting this volume.

J-Novel Club has the 4th volume of Arifureta: From Commonplace to World’s Strongest, which remains the top choice for those who like overpowered isekai and take it Very Seriously Indeed.

Kodansha has many, many things, both digital and print, which I will tackle alphabetically, starting with a 4th All Out!!.

MICHELLE: Woot!

SEAN: Attack on Titan has a big change coming with the 23rd volume, one that (like everything Attack on Titan has ever done) has gotten a mixed reaction.

Cardcaptor Sakura remains one of CLAMP’s most beloved franchise, despite age, appalling Nelvana dubs, and Tsubasa World Chronicle. Now we finally get a sequel with Clear Card, which apparently picks up where the old series left off. I will give it a shot, though I warn you I’m mostly reading for Tomoyo.

MICHELLE: This has been available digitally for a while, and I read it in that format. It’s a cute start, and I loved seeing Kero-chan again.

MELINDA: I’m obviously on board for this.

ANNA: I enjoy early CLAMP, and am leery of recent CLAMP. That being said, due to my love of Cardcaptor Sakura, I will check this out.

ASH: Same! I really do love Cardcaptor Sakura, though.

SEAN: DEATHTOPIA has its 7th and penultimate volume coming out next week.

And there’s also a 4th volume of Elegant Yokai Apartment Life.

If you haven’t yet picked up Ghost in the Shell’s hardcover deluxe editions, why not get them in a handy box set?

We’ve caught up with Japan for Happiness, so it’s nice to see a 6th volume drop.

ASH: I need to catch up with this series, myself!

KATE: The last volume of Happiness had a big time jump and shift in emphasis — something that worked surprisingly well, and and promoted one of the most interesting (and resourceful) supporting characters to a leading role.

SEAN: Inuyashiki comes to an end with its 10th and final volume. It’s always been a bit too weird for me, but then I felt the same way about Gantz.

Kasane has an 8th volume of suspense and horror.

The digital debut next week is The Prince’s Black Poison, a Betsufure romance that honestly sounds like exactly the sort of title I avoid, but what the hey. Recommended for those who like handsome manipulative men. It’s by the author of Gakuen Prince, which was also very much filled with those.

MICHELLE: Oh dear.

ANNA: Feeling sort of meh on this.

SEAN: And Real Girl has a 9th volume of whatever it is Real Girl does, besides remind me how many of these Kodansha digital titles I have yet to sample.

Say “I Love You” has come to its 18th and final volume. Despite the occasional overdose of melodrama, I greatly enjoyed this series, and am happy to see the conclusion after a long wait (we had, again, caught up with Japan).

MICHELLE: I’ve been awaiting this release for a long time!

SEAN: If you haven’t picked up A Silent Voice’s 7 volumes, Kodansha has a box set for you! (Both this and the Ghost in the Shell box are clearly meant for Christmas purchases.)

Speaking of the author of A Silent Voice, we’re getting a 2nd To Your Eternity next week as well.

ASH: Definitely picking this one up. The first volume was very good and surprising in ways that I didn’t expect.

KATE: What Ash said; To Your Eternity is definitely on my short list of Best Sci-Fi manga of 2017.

SEAN: A 6th Tsuredure Children has more 4-koma romance.

And Until Your Bones Rot has a 3rd volume of what is, let’s face it, NOT 4-koma romance.

Seven Seas is next. Arpeggio of Blue Steel is up to its 12th volume, and I’m still really interested in it, which is surprising given it’s about a bunch of cute girls who are really boats.

There’s also a 3rd “not Alice in the Country of Hearts, but the next best thing” series Captive Hearts of Oz.

Unlucky it may be, but the fact that Magical Girl Apocalypse has gotten to Vol. 13 means it’s popular as well.

Seven Seas is starting to pick up light novels that aren’t J-Novel Club print editions, and we begin with Monster Girl Doctor, whose title speaks for itself, though I’m not sure how this falls on the scale between ‘fetishey’ and ‘spooky’ monster girls.

And if that’s too millennial for you, how about a series from the 1980s? We get the first in the Record of Lodoss Wars novels, The Grey Witch, in a fancy hardcover edition.

MELINDA: It’s hard for me to dismiss something from the 80s…

ASH: It really is fancy! I’m looking forward to giving the Lodoss novels a try.

SEAN: Chi’s Sweet Coloring Book is a spinoff from Vertical featuring lots and lots of pictures of Chi to color.

Speaking of cats, Nekomonogatari (Black): Cat Tale is the first of a two-part set in the Monogatari series that finally resolves most of Tsubasa Hanekawa’s ongoing issues.

And there’s also a 4th Flying Witch.

Viz gives us a 3rd Golden Kamuy, which I suspect will have a bit less cooking and a bit more life-threatening violence this time around, but who knows?

ASH: I plan on finding out!

KATE: I seem to be stalking you through this week’s column, Ash! I’m butting in to say GOLDEN KAMUY IS AWESOME. I think Asirpa deserves her own damn series. Heck, it could be a cooking manga and I’d read it.

SEAN: If you want to get someone something terrifying for Christmas, you absolutely can’t go wrong with Shiver, a collection of stories selected by the author, Junji Ito.

ASH: I’m always happy to see more Ito being released! This collection should be great.

KATE: Nothing says “Deck the halls” than a little Junji Ito, I always say.

SEAN: And if you want to give some yuri manga, there’s a 2nd Sweet Blue Flowers omnibus.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ANNA: Behind on this already but I’m gonna read it!

ASH: You absolutely should! I’m so glad this series is finally getting the treatment it deserves in English.

SEAN: Lastly (for Viz only, trust me – we’re not even halfway), we have the 2nd Tokyo Ghoul: re.

And now on to Yen Press, pausing only to scream until our throats are raw and we are coughing up blood. (pause) There we go. Onward.

First off, we have the digital-only titles. Aphorism 13 is the second to last volume, and is for fans of survival manga.

Corpse Princess is up to its 14th volume, but it still has a long way to go. It should appeal to fans of fanservice and zombies.

And Saki 13 means we’re close to catching up, but that’s an ongoing series, so no worries there either. Recommended to those who like mahjong and breasts, not in that order.

On the Yen On side, we finish the digital catch-up for Accel World (9-11) and Irregular at Magic High School (5).

There’s also a new digital release of an older, pre-Yen On title. Kieli was a 2009 series of novels about a girl who can see ghosts, and it had an associated manga as well. Yen now has the digital rights to the novels, so we get the first one next week.

There are also a GIANT number of ongoing and new light novels in print. We get a 12th Accel World, which is in the midst of Haruyuki dealing with another mysterious threat.

The Asterisk War’s 5th volume wraps up its tournament arc, I believe… or should I say, it’s first tournament arc.

Baccano! starts a new 2-volume arc taking place in 1933 and subtitled The Slash. This first volume will show us what happened to that Mexican stereotype of an assassin from the Drug & the Dominoes book.

The Devil Is a Part-Timer! 9 has far less part-time work than expected, as the devil has returned to his homeland to rescue Emi and Alas Ramus.

Goblin Slayer 4 will feature what sounds like a collection of short stories judging from the description. And probably goblins being slayed. The Irregular at Magic High School’s 6th volume starts a new arc called the Yokohama Disturbance Arc, which I think was the final arc adapted for the anime.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? asks the same question again, only this time it’s Monsters. Bell says no, others think differently. Vol. 10 drops next week.

KonoSuba’s 4th volume has the inevitable Hot Springs arc.

Rokka: Braves of the Six Flowers has a 3rd volume, and I must admit if the storyline is “who’s the traitor” I may bail.

The first light novel debut is The Saga of Tanya the Evil, which is another isekai. A Japanese HR manager with a cold, ruthless reputation is killed, and then reincarnated by God. Not with the best intentions, though – God dislikes his logical attitude and so puts him in a world where magic exists and there is constant warfare. Oh, and he’s in the body of a little girl.

Sword Art Online has reached a dozen volumes, and we’re still in the midst of the epic Alicization arc. We finally see Alice again, but is she brainwashed? Can Kirito and Eugeo save her?

The other light novel debut this month already has its manga coming out from Kodansha, and is the 2nd of the three ‘ridiculous’ light novels Yen licensed recently. That Time I Got Reincarnated As a Slime arrives next week.

We’re nearly at the end! Only 28 more titles to go! And they’re all Yen Press. We start with a 6th volume of spinoff Akame Ga KILL! ZERO.

Angels of Death is a survival manga with psychological overtimes, which comes from the oddball Comic Gene. I’m not sure what to think of it.

An 8th Aoharu x Machinegun is shipping next week.

And a 5th Bungo Stray Dogs will give us literary references galore.

Light novel adaptations galore! Starting with a 4th manga of Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody.

Dragons Rioting has a 9th volume, which is also its final volume.

If you like the idea of Goblin Slaying but hate prose, I have good news, the first volume of Goblin Slayer is for you.

I know little about Graineliers except it’s from GFantasy, it has two male leads, and it’s not BL but feels like it should be.

MELINDA: Did you say GFantasy? Count me in!

ASH: It’s also by Rihito Takarai (of Ten Count fame) so I’m very curious to see how this series develops. If nothing else, the artwork should be great.

SEAN: Manga based on an unlicensed light novel, part one: the 10th volume of High School DxD.

Manga based on an unlicensed light novel, part two: the 8th and final volume of How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend.

After a year’s hiatus, the Kagerou Daze manga picks up again with Vol. 7, and should be arriving more regularly from now on. For light novel fans, the story here is different from the LN (and indeed the Mekakucity Actors anime.)

A 5th Kiniro Mosaic gives you vague yuri galore.

If you liked the idea of Magical Girls dying tragically but hate prose… well, you know. Magical Girl Raising Project, now in manga form.

The 11th Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi-chan is the last, which I’m pretty sure means there are no current ongoing projects for this franchise, be it anime, manga, spinoff manga, spinoff anime, or the original novels. We should take off our hats and mourn the end of an era.

My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong as I Expected gets a 7th manga volume, though I’m not sure which novel volume it’s adapting.

No Matter How Much I… sigh. WataMote gives us an 11th volume. Sorry, I’m exhausted.

Of the Red, the Light and the Ayakashi ends with its 9th volume, though I believe there is a Volume 10 with side/after stories.

ASH: Another series that I’ve been enjoying but need to catch up on!

MICHELLE: Aha! I had been thinking it was complete in 9, and then recently noticed there’s actually a tenth. Nice to have an explanation for that!

SEAN: One Week Friends is a Gangan Joker title about a cute friendship and the amnesia that threatens to tear it apart.

Re: Zero finishes its adaptation of the 2nd arc with the 4th A Week at the Mansion volume.

Rose Guns Days has a 2nd volume of its 3rd arc.

School-Live! does not come to an end with this 9th volume per se, but I think the series is on hiatus right now, so this may be the last for some time.

And a 3rd Smokin’ Parade arrives as well.

I enjoyed the first novel of So I’m a Spider, So What?, though am curious as to how a book that’s half internal dialogue will translate to manga. We’ll see with this first manga volume.

Strike the Blood’s manga has a Vol. 9, which, like the light novels, has Yukina and only Yukina on each cover.

Sword Art Online has the manga adaptation of the Calibur arc complete in one volume. It’s a great arc if you like the supporting cast, who all play a role – for the last time to date, in fact.

If you feel that yokai manga have gotten too serious lately, you should enjoy A Terrified Teacher at Ghoul School, a GFantasy title that is terminally ridiculous.

ASH: Yokai comedy, you say? Count me in!

Umineko When They Cry begins its 7th arc, Requiem of the Golden Witch. Battler is nowhere to be found. Nor is Beatrice. Instead meet Kinzo’s heir Lion Ushiromiya. Oh, did I mention this first omnibus is 826 pages?

Lastly (yes, I promise, we are at the end), there’s a 7th omnibus of Yowamushi Pedal, which should be SUPER EXCITING.

MICHELLE: Yay!

ASH: I know I’m excited!

SEAN: (falls over) So are you getting everything on this list, or just most of it?

By: Sean Gaffney

[rattycatcat]

Last week I took part in the Autumn Fair at the NEC (3rd of September until the 6th.) I feel like I should write about my experience, because I met so many incredible people and had so many great things happen to me whilst I was there. It wouldn’t be right for me to write about it without over analysing it though, would it? So here it goes…

The Autumn Fair is one of the UK’s largest and best known trade shows. It is a wholesale gift and home trade event, showcasing ‘amazing brands, new products, retail insight and bucket-loads of inspiration.’

I signed up on a whim because I had just got back from holiday and wasn’t feeling any pressure. Because I don’t work well unless I’m totally stressing out, I thought that it would be a really good way to push myself to make new stock and to move myself and my business a little bit further. I wasn’t expecting much though, I just wanted to see what the next stage of Rattycatcat might look like.

Rattycatcat Stand at Birmingham NEC Autumn Fair

I researched a lot into the do’s and don’t’s of trade shows, but struggled with finding any advice on exhibiting at a trade show with a creative brand. The only stand references I could find by brands that I felt I could relate to were: A) much bigger than mine (at £200-and-something odd a sq. metre these things aren’t cheap!) and B) dare I say it – not particularly inspiring or different. For a while, I worked on the basis that my stand would look like the others that I had seen, which were very linear and simple, with neat clean branding and not much else. This didn’t sit right though, and I found myself getting demotivated. So I scrapped my original idea of keeping everything very straight and neutral, along with all of the advice that I had read online and decided to go with my gut feeling of making up for what I lacked in stock and experience by making a display that stood out.

I created a display based on the concept of a 1950’s chaotic kitchen. This is because I print all of my cards, books and prints using a vintage laundry mangle, and I wanted to take that with me to really draw people into the fact that everything I make is truly handmade.  I’ve learnt from organising craft fairs that people LOVE a process – once they can see it for themselves they’re instantly drawn in to the work that you produce.

I sourced bits of 1950’s furniture and household objects and sprayed them all to match my dress (and that AMAZING wallpaper I’d found online.) I used a record player I already owned which was coincidentally the same colour, and obviously I took the mangle up with me to demonstrate exactly how I made my cards. I arranged my stock so that it was jumping out of the toaster and the vacuum cleaner. I purposely did this so that I wouldn’t have to rely on shelves to display everything – by this point I was trying to create the exact opposite of everything that I’d seen other brands do with their trade show stands.

Walking past stand after stand with their perfect shelves and their tiny pieces of retail perfection on the set up day was terrifying. Every stand had digitally printed cards in meticulously placed rows, most stands with various ranges in different styles aimed at a different company to ensure that there was something for every buyer. (If I was going to be obnoxious then I’d suggest that an awful lot of them had gone for quantity over quality but I’m not.) It was extremely intimidating setting up, I could feel the eyes of the seasoned exhibitors watching every prop being put into place and I felt as though I was being judged. But anyway, the set went up and we thought it looked pretty good.

  The next four days were incredible. We met so many people who loved Rattycatcat and described the stand as ‘a breath of fresh air.’ At one point I burst into tears as three women kept giving me compliment after compliment. One of them was Ellis from Pastel Elixir who makes beautiful cards and badges with gorgeous illustrations on them. Go see.

The number of people who got excited by what I had created made all of the hard work worth it. It wasn’t just about the hard work though – all of the days that I’ve spent feeling sick to my stomach because I don’t know where I’m going or whether I’m doing the right thing by sticking to my guns with the whole handmade thing are now worth it because I was told time and time again on my little adventure that I was doing the right thing, that people were impressed with the cards.

I’d been told not to expect any sales on my first fair, and just to try and gain as much experience as I could. That wasn’t the case though, and I’m still getting sales coming in now, a week later! I also got nominated for an award, got featured on this blog, will be featured in two magazines next month and very nearly got on This Morning!

This isn’t me just showing off by the way. (Okay so I feel proud of myself for the first time I can remember which is amazing, and I’m now super excited about the future of Rattycatcat because I know I’m on the right track.) The reason I’m writing this is because I am a very small person with a small business in a sea of bigger and better businesses who went and exhibited at the NEC and I think that more little independents should be doing it.

I couldn’t find any information online that made me feel better about the whole experience on the run up, and I very nearly pulled out several times. If it wasn’t for my bestie Bob being that goon voice on the other end of the phone then I wouldn’t have gone. She also helped throughout the fair and I couldn’t have done it without her (ta love).

I would like to be a voice that someone accidentally finds on the internet that says ‘DO IT! FOLLOW YOUR DREAMS!’ Because I did it and now I’m looking at Rattycatcat seriously hanging out with the big boys, and I’m dead set on making it work for me because that little voice telling me that I’m being dumb and who even buys handmade stuff anymore anyway has been drowned out by all of those total strangers telling me that they loved seeing something different. So yeah, it’s super scary, and some of the other exhibitors did try to intimidate me, but then, if I wasn’t a threat then why did they bother? Hark at me, being all confident and stuff! It’s addictive, this achieving malarkey.

  Let’s also take a second to talk about Liz and Treeve from Jupp Illustrations. They are a power couple who sell cards which are reproductions of the paintings that Liz makes.  They’re nature inspired and really gorgeous – please go find them and have a look. They became our best friends, we even stayed at their house because our Airbnb was a disaster. I’m wearing the slippers that Liz gave me as I write this. They became our family over those four days and guys, we love you.

Rattycatcat does the Autumn Fair at the NEC Last week I took part in the Autumn Fair at the NEC (3rd of September until the 6th.) I feel like I should write about my experience, because I met so many incredible people and had so many great things happen to me whilst I was there.

[grapsandclaps]

Show 21 of the #80showyear took me to glorious Hindley for possibly GPW’S biggest show ever with the WWE UK rematch of Sam Gradwell vs “The Bruiserweight” Pete Dunne as the shows’ main event. The announcement of this match brought a packed house to Hindley with a more mature audience than usual but still the same family friendly storyline driven show that GPW has become accustomed to.

But before I could actually get to Hindley, transport issues came about due to me and my brother staying on the wrong train and getting the connection to Hindley, which meant an half hour round trip to Moston and back to Manchester. We eventually got to the building around 7pm, which meant we had to forego a pre graps pint in The Bird In'th Hand which sells bitter at £2.20 a pint and is very much worth it.

So onto the event we had the next part in the Sheikh Rizzi Khan challenge to former slave Martin Kirby. The Sheikhs choice of wrestler was Scouse wrestler and Futureshock regular Don Meacho who seems to have gained a sort of Mafia Gimmick with added long coat and fat cigar. Meacho i always thought had potential in his early career as a heel but since then has sort of gone missing from most Futureshock shows. Kirby picked up the win here but got what is the ritual of The Sheikh flogging Kirby with a flip flop.

Jimmy Jackson (british champion) took on Joey Hayes in a very good match till Cyanide came out and interfered which furthered the storyline between him and Joey which started in the fast track 4 way at the last show. Jackson as good as he is for a relative newcomer and is on to look out for, is being booked as a very lucky champion here, which you could tell that the crowd was behind Joey in this match. Joey i also note comes out to a cracking Ian Brown tune.

Cyanide beat “Operamania” Matthew Brooks in the opener. Brooks has a very unique gimmick for me, as far as i know he is a trained singer. He sings his entrance theme and also incorporates the sound of song into his offence. The Singer Splash is as inspired as it sounds. Brooks is getting new bookings all over the shop now, i would recommend seeing him.

The main event between Dunne and Gradwell was as good as you would think it would be with comedy spots including Dunne slamming spectators on Gradwell and even biting his fingers to make him fall off the balcony. Dunne was good in this face role but still doing his trademark sneers, Gradwell looked a star as well. Gradwell eventually got the win after some skullduggery but resident bad ref Mike Fitzgerald was involved so we knew what was coming.

Beer Prices - £3.00 a pint for lager, the Hindley cheap pint name is lived up to again.

Half time photos - £3.00 for Pete Dunne, bargain of the century and as you can see resident camera man Tony Knox did a great job (profile picture)

Raffle - £2 a strip, sadly not a winner this time due to Fitzgerald drawing it out.

Overall this show was amazing fun 9/10, cheap drink, cheap photo, top graps.

Show 22 of the #80showyear was the monthly trip to Progress Wrestling in Camden for on paper a corker of a show was awaiting and this didn’t disappoint.

Usually for these Camden shows i don’t arrive till around 2pm as i dont fancy waiting in the mass queues that Progress has become accustomed to, plus the usual “Ogden Corner” spot is easy to get unlike some other fans positions of the front few rows and the upper balcony. So first port of call was the local Brewdog and The Black Heart which even though you are paying through the nose for a good pint of craft ale, the latter especially plays some good tunes.

This show featured the “Fans bring the weapons” match between Will Ospreay and Jimmy Havoc in which some of the great weapons (sadly no dildo’s or ones made of lego) included pinata donkey, vinyl records, barbed wire and a GRANDFATHER CLOCK!!!. Now having seen many a Havoc Deathmatch/No DQ match recently this was probably the best of the lot but i would like to see him just work a normal match for a change once in a while just to freshen it up a bit, just my opinion.

So as this match went after many a barbed wire shot, dilution of cut fingers, people getting clocked and the sight of Havoc ddt Ospreay through a table. The worst sight was Will (dressed as Colonel Sanders) getting a non gimmicked guitar over his head. Just one almighty THUD was heard around the ballroom. Havoc eventually got the win after a few rainmakers which as per the mid match stipulation in which Ospreay made it “Loser Leaves” meant we wont be seeing Will in Camden or Progress for a while to come.

Other matches that took place was Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews for the Progress title - This was another good match between the two but was tainted by the Dusty Finish that relinquished the belt from Mark Andrews after Chris Roberts noticed a Dunne foot under the ropes. Since the Sheffield main event of ZSJ vs Pete Dunne, the amount of screwy finishes has become prevelant in the main events of Progress, but maybe just nit picking there.

The Ringkampf duo of Axel Dieter Jr and WALTER faced Matt Riddle and Mark Haskins respectively in singles action, both of which were of the top level. Riddle has been very good in his Progress appearances and WALTER is always great value. Just go and watch his matches in the SSS16 last year to see how good a big man he is.

But overall match of the night honours went to Jack Sexsmith vs Travis Banks. If you want a 15 minute match that gets a guy credibility as a possible threat in the SSS16 it was Sexsmith. Banks made a star of Jack here and for the 3rd match on the show came out of nowhere as a great fun match. This match might be still available on Facebook so go out and check this out.

Beer Prices - Still £4.90 for Camden Pale Ale, when will it go over the £5?

Overall top show and way better than the Manchester show the week or so before, definetely in the 9/10 range.

So thats March’s shows over with, next time i will be delving into April with some humdingers of weekends out.