Saturday, January 24, 2015

UNBOX-KING #1 5e D & D: DUNGEON MASTER'S SCREEN!


After randomly getting my Dungeon Master's Screen in the mail and thinking up the "unbox-king" pun, I quickly got up, threw on some shades, and made a thing. Is this the sort of thing you'd want to see more of?

P.S. The other two purposes of a GM Screen are to provide some anonymity to the GM's actions while still allowing him to see everything that is going on and to create some ambiance with the item's presence.

P.P.S.

Friday, January 23, 2015

MIXED BAG. PRESENTS LOOT CRATE JAN 2015: "REWIND" REVIEW!

MIXED BAG. PRESENTS
LOOT CRATE JANUARY 2014 
"REWIND" REVIEW:
"RETROACTIVELY RECCOMMENDED"

Alrighty then

You need a reminder as to what a Loot Crate is again?


Loot Crate is a subscription based service where members pay a fee (based on their subscription plan) to receive a themed mystery box every month in the mail (last month's theme, pictured above, was "Villains") filled with nerdy products from companies like Nintendo, DC, Marvel, Capcom and much more. The contents of the box usually contain things like exclusive figures, a t-shirt, a magnet, pin/s, posters, comics, books, toys, and pretty much everything you can think of from "dragon-flavored" Jerky in April's "Dragon" Loot Crate to Deadpool socks (pictured above).

This is the perfect surprise for self-professed nerds that love cool stuff and weird stuff alike.

If you're lucky, you might even be the lucky member to get the monthly Mega Crate which always has a value of $750 or more!

And so, for as low as $11.67 + $6 SH, you can become a Looter too! Plus, if you use any of the various codes you can find online, you can get discounts. 

This is my sixth Loot Crate review. If you wanna check out last month's review for DEC 2014 "Annivesary" Loot Crate, check out the link HERE.

This month promised a retro theme with a collectible figure, a shirt and a comic with gear promised from retro games, Star Wars, and Voltron. I am a pretty big fan of Star Wars and even have a soft spot for Voltron (and duh, I like video games). I'm totally hyped!

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

WTF WED! GAME GRUMPS ANIMATED IS STILL A THING!


The official Game Grumps animated playlist has some of the best animations on youtube.

For example, Max Gilardi, who I featured before to much rejoicing and much reviling, really took it to a new level with the bizarre mix of styles in the extremely detailed cartoons I've seen that proves that animation is an artform that is only limited by time and talent (I guess everything is but animation just allows for so much freedom of expression!).

And some people would say that these artists are wasting their talents by just animating the commentary of the Grumps. I clearly disagree but let me elaborate why: if by jumping on the bandwagon, AKA animating this popular content, saves them time, allows them express themselves and exposes them to an already somewhat captive audience, then more power to them. I have discovered a lot of animators thru Game Grumps, which makes sense considering it was founded by Egoraptor and features Rubberninja. And I think a lot of other people do too.

Let's take a look at some animators that haven't been featured officially but often go above and beyond many of the featured artists.


Tithinian may not necessarily have the prettiest or cutest or cleverest designs, but what Tith does bring to the table is blinding speed of production that uses his assets to produce something that is funny and unique.  His expressive animation style lends itself well to the manic outbursts of the Grumps and I can't wait to see how he continues to grow as he uses the Game Grumps as a stepping stone towards animation of higher quality. (Seriously, this guy is a machine!)


The other mass producer of Game Grumps content that manages to just destroy my high expectations with his work is the adorable and clean doodling of Brandon Turner; his art style lends itself extremely well to these simple and cute animations that makes me jealous of the composition's cohesion throughout so many animations. I'd love to see more professional work from this artist.

And then there is Corax who's works titilate my eyes and brain in a way that few online animators can really match. Seriously.


Tuesday, January 20, 2015

WORD OF THE DAY! 1/20/15!

formicary/formicarium [fohr-muh-ker-ee/fohr-muh-ker-ee-um]
noun
1. An ant nest.

EX. Who is Ant-Man?

Ant-Man as portrayed by Hank Pym (alongside his often parter-in-heroism, love interest and/or wife (or estranged ex) The Wasp as portrayed by Janet van Dyne) is a founding member of the Avengers in the Marvel Universe. He has no super powers. So what does he bring to the table when you have a god, a guy in a robot suit, a super patriot and The Hulk are already sitting at the table? While Tony Stark is a brilliant scientist, Hank Pym is probably an even more brilliant, though as you'll find out very tortured, scientist.

Originally, Ant-Man's specialties included shrinking and communicating/controlling ants and other insects. These are useful abilities but it is probably obvious as to why he probably had some trouble standing out on the Avengers. Hank Pym's feelings of inadequacy and emotional instability have weighed heavily on him over the years and he tried to rise to the challenge by changing his identity dozens of times: he has been Giant Man, Goliath, a male version of the Wasp, just Hank Pym, the infamous Yellow Jacket and many other personas. He also, contrary to the new Avengers film, is responsible for the creation of Ultron.

Often, his creation of Ultron is meant to be to one-up the robotics skills of Iron Man but, unfortunately, his relationship with Ultron is worse than Frankenstein and his monster. Ultron is one of the most deadly super villains in the Marvel Universe and has attempted to eradicate mankind dozens of times. This is really indicative of Hank Pym's unfortunate fate in comics as he never gets the respect he deserves, despite being one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe (as I said he is arguably much smarter than Tony Stark and often butts heads with Mr. Fantastics for supremacy as super scientist numero uno). He always is the guy who reaches too far or not far enough and winds up creating a problem while trying to be the hero.

And honestly? That makes him a pretty interesting character.

Unfortunately for fans of Pym but convenient for Marvel, since Pym is unfortunately always associated with abusing Janet in the comics despite the fact that was an example of his emotional instability and not really a full picture of the man or the fact that many Marvel heroes have done worse, Hank Pym will be the mentor in this film. The hero instead will be small time crook turned hero Scott Lang, who got his start stealing super science to help him get the help for his sick daughter, and his redemption story should make for a pretty fun film.

Especially starring Paul Rudd as the titular Ant-Man.

Monday, January 19, 2015

MUSIC MON! LET'S GET ANIME AS FAKKU! #1


Sometimes you gotta scrape the bottom of the barrel to share and create content and, in this case, I found a hole in the bottom of the barrel and decided to dip my fingers into the anime can below (which is, also, filled with gooey caramel. Go figure).

Anywho, let's start with something light and sweet and fun with a little collab between some voice actors/singers/entertainers from youtube from anime that I've never watched. Because why not.


And move right into a cover of the anime that everyone who wantys to get into anime or wants to call themselves an anime fan/expert should probably watch, Hideaki Anno's ambitious to the point of madness, Neon Genesis: Evangelion.

I don't love Neon Genesis. I'm not even sure I like Neon Genesis. But the anime's reverberations throughout the anime fan community and medium can still be felt today. The anime mixes intellectually dark and brooding themes of religion, gender, and puberty into something that is often uncomfortable to watch but, thanks to the beautiful animation and style, is something worth experiencing.

Many big names in anime started out on this project and, like I said, you can see it's influence everywhere. If you haven't, check it out. The dub is pretty good (even if Shinji is a whiny brat, so what? Can you really blame him? Really?!).


And now for something completely shallow and potentially divisive with the latest release from the perviest senpai MC on youtube, Hentai Dude.

Dude's name speaks for itself.

So, now that checking out some slightly too otaku stuff is out of the way, let's get pseudo intellectual for a second, again, and personal:

"Never knows best" doesn't mean anything. That's a lie. Maybe the guy who wrote it didn't know what it meant. That's fine. He just thought it sounded cool because he didn't speak much English or maybe he was being intentionally vague and it didn't mean anything. That's fine. It still meant something to me when I was thirteen years old, staying up late, and watching anime on cable.

It doesn't take much to figure out why I was watching anime, because I watched it for all the reasons that a young teen anime fan watches anime. I watched it because I still liked cartoons, but wants to be mature. I watched it because the anime girls caught my interest. I watched it because, at thirteen, I was starting to get cynical as all hell.

I'm not sure what "Never Knows Best" means yet. But I do know what FLCL meant to me. It meant that feeling like you wanna grow up, like your between childhood and adulthood, and like you want to understand how to balance all these weird feelings against the childhood identity. It means learning to take responsibility but also it means realizing you'll never know everything. You think being an adult means trying to be cool or it means serious business. It doesn't.

At this point I'm rambling, but you might be able to dig the profound or presumptious message I'm trying to get across in the wishy-washy fooly-cooly sort of way that I am.

Sometimes, you just need a little crazy. A little Haruko.

Sometime I'll revisit this again when I'm feeling wistful.