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Need help getting some Pokemon part 2
General | Posted 12 years agoJust one other monster I forgot to mention I needed. Totally slipped my mind. Really irritating one to get too.
-Adamant nature Golett with the Iron Fist Ability and and the Ice Punch and Drain Punch move tutor attacks.
-or-
-Golett with the No Guard hidden ability
This one is a serious stretch since Ice Punch was only a move tutor teachable to Golett in Black/White 2 from what I gather. This obviously entails a transfer. It's a serious stretch but Golurk is my favorite Pokemon so if anybody has this and is willing to part with it it would be doing me a tremendous favor. More so than the other requests.
Punch-centric Golurk is awesome. It's like a Pokemon version of Big O. Bit I'll settle for a No Guard version if I have to.
-Adamant nature Golett with the Iron Fist Ability and and the Ice Punch and Drain Punch move tutor attacks.
-or-
-Golett with the No Guard hidden ability
This one is a serious stretch since Ice Punch was only a move tutor teachable to Golett in Black/White 2 from what I gather. This obviously entails a transfer. It's a serious stretch but Golurk is my favorite Pokemon so if anybody has this and is willing to part with it it would be doing me a tremendous favor. More so than the other requests.
Punch-centric Golurk is awesome. It's like a Pokemon version of Big O. Bit I'll settle for a No Guard version if I have to.
Need help getting some Pokemon
General | Posted 12 years agoSo I've been messing around with my mono-steel team for over a month on and off now and am ready to take a breather and move on to other mono-teams. My eventual goat is to have at least six maxed out monsters to fit into every type in the game. Anyway, I'm moving on to my next two favorite types and could use a little assistance obtaining some key monsters with desired traits. Some of these I can obtain with tedious grinding but others are essentially unobtainable to me by my self. The really tricky/essential ones I'll underline while less essential ones I'll leave in regular font.
Please note that if you're willing to help and can easily obtain a monster it's preferable to have them in Premium or plain Pokeballs. I'm a slave to aesthetics sorry to say. Anyway, here we go.
-Torchic with Speed Boost hidden ability that isn't in that hideous solid red pokeball.
-Heracross with Moxie hidden ability and Heracronite mega stone.
-Pancham with Scrappy hidden ability.
-Phantump with Harvest hidden ability.
If you are able/willing to help, feel free to comment. We can discuss finer details via notes afterward. Thanks in advance.
Please note that if you're willing to help and can easily obtain a monster it's preferable to have them in Premium or plain Pokeballs. I'm a slave to aesthetics sorry to say. Anyway, here we go.
-Torchic with Speed Boost hidden ability that isn't in that hideous solid red pokeball.
-Heracross with Moxie hidden ability and Heracronite mega stone.
-Pancham with Scrappy hidden ability.
-Phantump with Harvest hidden ability.
If you are able/willing to help, feel free to comment. We can discuss finer details via notes afterward. Thanks in advance.
Finished Kamen Rider Fourze
General | Posted 12 years agoSo yeah, finished up Fourze last week. I don't know if you noticed, but the time interval between conclusions of Agito and Fourze is much shorter than the one between Kuuga and Agito. If you were one of the guys watching Fourze with me you know exactly why. Lets get on with my breakdown!
Kamen Rider Fourze
What I liked
-Awesome, awesome fights: The battles in Fourze are nothing short of spectacular, in no small part thanks to the whole gimmick of the series belt being modular, having 40 different "Astro Switches" that can be swapped in and out to give Fourze new weapons and abilities. This causes there to be more CGI than usual but it's not terribly intrusive and a lot of the fun in many of the fights is watching Fouze mixing and matching various switches in creative ways to get around the abilities of adversaries. The choreography is pretty great too with some really solid wire-fu stunts. The show also covers its bases pretty well in that not all fights hinge on the switch gimmick. Pretty early on a rival rider is introduced who fights pretty much exclusively with some Bruce Lee style kung-fu. The show offers a little bit of everything in the action department and it's all very satisfying.
-A great cast of characters: I love the main characters in Fourze, especially the main hero Gentaro who is just so dorky and naive yet incredibly likeable. A lot of the characters start of as token high school archetypes like the nerd, the jock, etc. and some start off extremely unappealing but the show does a great job fleshing out the major players and showing there is more to them. Sometimes the revelations are predictable but the execution is so warmhearted and earnest it's impossible to not enjoy. Pretty much everybody has an arc too. Some take more time than others but by series end almost everybody has made a change of some sort. The only exception is probably main protagonist Gentaro. He's pretty static but that's more due to necessity, his unwavering belief in the power of friendship being the glue that holds the narrative together while allowing everybody else to grow. Besides, he has enough quirks and shortcomings to dodge Gary Stu status. On the whole everybody in the Kamen Rider Club becomes a great character.
-The villains are great too: The Zodiarts are the main antagonists of the series and I love them. Aesthetically they're really cool because their theme is based on constellations which results in some very clever yet easily identified motifs. But they're also great characters in and of themselves. Most of the earlier ones are basically high school student who are manipulated into having their ambitions or desires twisted by their own anxieties. It's great because a lot of these underlings get their own little character arcs as a result of our heroes usually trying to understand and reason with them before resorting to the inevitable smack-down. Sometimes they even wind up as friends but there's also some real nasty ones too which are also great fun to hate. The big bad guys are also great too because while their ultimate motives aren't clear for a while, once they are revealed they make sense and are consistent with their actions throughout the series. In a show like this, having a clear antagonist with obvious motives is a very good thing. *Glares at Agito*
-Great, consistent plot: The plot n Fourze was wonderful because it works both in small doses and as a larger, overall narrative. Thematically the whole show is about the power of friendship and the ability of those bond to overcome adversity. Sure, it sounds cheesy and cliche but it's executed extremely well. On a smaller scale it allows from some nice little character arcs to happen while the heroes are also trying to save the day from monsters, but it also works in the longer run, like with the stoic Ryusei's gradual caring for the Kamen Rider club. Very often the friendship theme is part of how to eventually defeat the monster. The plot itself is simple enough that there's wiggle room to try some ideas out there and even have some wonderful twists that legitimately took my by surprise. It's all just very consistent and since the show seems to operate on 2-episode slice of life mini arcs that slowly factor into the bigger picture, there's not much down time in the story up to when plot revelations get much bigger and the show builds to its amazing climax.
-It's very lighthearted and fun with good humor: After coming from the grim, dark and very pretentious Agito, Fourze was a huge breath of fresh air. Seeing as how the story takes place during high school it's not surprising the show would be a bit less dramatic. Even better though is just how willing the show is to be outright silly. Most of the humor tends to come from sight gags but there's a lot of funny character moments too. Either way though, the timing is usually such that it doesn't feel forced either. Basically, the fact the main heroes figure they're mostly just saving the school and their classmates means that nobody acts in a way that gives the show an overblown sense of self-importance or gravitas. Saving the day is a club activity and all and just another part of Gen's desire to be friends with everybody.
-Kickass soundtrack: I don't think there was a single song I disliked, especially among the battle themes of which they are many. The most exciting moments in the show were almost always made even more riveting by the hype soundtrack that would start blasting. The show always seemed to have the perfect song for the situation.
What I disliked
-A slight over-reliance on alternate "States": Throughout the series the heroes get numbered Astro Switches divisible by ten. These extra powerful switches afford new weapons and alternate forms and are generally pretty cool. Unfortunately the tendency at times is to get into these alternate forms as fast as possible. Considering how earlier I said a lot of the fun in fights is the creative use of multiple switches, seeing fights start by going into powered up forms early on is a bit disappointing. Still, it's not that bad because we still see other switches used in conjunction with the alternate states and other times they're used more like "Finishing moves", especially with Magnet States.
-Oosugi Sensei isn't very funny-Oosugi is basicaly the designated comic relief character in a show that has no shortage of humor and funny moments. The comedy in Fourze is pretty funny for the most part because of some juxtaposition or little sight gags or something but with Oosugi it's like they made this entirely unappealing, grating character simply for the sake of us to laugh at because they're unappealing and grating. He gets a little better by series end but he's consistently unfunny throughout regardless.
Conclusion
I loved Fourze like you wouldn't believe. I enjoyed every minute of it. Its flaws are minor to point of being nigh irrelevant in my mind and it's easily my current front-runner for favorite Kamen Rider season. I legitimately cannot remember the last time I felt such pure, simple joy for a show of any kind without so much as a single shred of pessimism or cynicism. The series was just so simple and earnest with it's theme of friendship and it's characters to inherently likable that I just couldn't help but let myself get swept up in the story. I willingly let myself get invested in the emotional scenes and sometimes the action got me so hyped I was bouncing in my chair, giddy. This was a great show through and through. Pure, simple, unadulterated fun.
Next series will be Kamen Rider OOO.
Kamen Rider Fourze
What I liked
-Awesome, awesome fights: The battles in Fourze are nothing short of spectacular, in no small part thanks to the whole gimmick of the series belt being modular, having 40 different "Astro Switches" that can be swapped in and out to give Fourze new weapons and abilities. This causes there to be more CGI than usual but it's not terribly intrusive and a lot of the fun in many of the fights is watching Fouze mixing and matching various switches in creative ways to get around the abilities of adversaries. The choreography is pretty great too with some really solid wire-fu stunts. The show also covers its bases pretty well in that not all fights hinge on the switch gimmick. Pretty early on a rival rider is introduced who fights pretty much exclusively with some Bruce Lee style kung-fu. The show offers a little bit of everything in the action department and it's all very satisfying.
-A great cast of characters: I love the main characters in Fourze, especially the main hero Gentaro who is just so dorky and naive yet incredibly likeable. A lot of the characters start of as token high school archetypes like the nerd, the jock, etc. and some start off extremely unappealing but the show does a great job fleshing out the major players and showing there is more to them. Sometimes the revelations are predictable but the execution is so warmhearted and earnest it's impossible to not enjoy. Pretty much everybody has an arc too. Some take more time than others but by series end almost everybody has made a change of some sort. The only exception is probably main protagonist Gentaro. He's pretty static but that's more due to necessity, his unwavering belief in the power of friendship being the glue that holds the narrative together while allowing everybody else to grow. Besides, he has enough quirks and shortcomings to dodge Gary Stu status. On the whole everybody in the Kamen Rider Club becomes a great character.
-The villains are great too: The Zodiarts are the main antagonists of the series and I love them. Aesthetically they're really cool because their theme is based on constellations which results in some very clever yet easily identified motifs. But they're also great characters in and of themselves. Most of the earlier ones are basically high school student who are manipulated into having their ambitions or desires twisted by their own anxieties. It's great because a lot of these underlings get their own little character arcs as a result of our heroes usually trying to understand and reason with them before resorting to the inevitable smack-down. Sometimes they even wind up as friends but there's also some real nasty ones too which are also great fun to hate. The big bad guys are also great too because while their ultimate motives aren't clear for a while, once they are revealed they make sense and are consistent with their actions throughout the series. In a show like this, having a clear antagonist with obvious motives is a very good thing. *Glares at Agito*
-Great, consistent plot: The plot n Fourze was wonderful because it works both in small doses and as a larger, overall narrative. Thematically the whole show is about the power of friendship and the ability of those bond to overcome adversity. Sure, it sounds cheesy and cliche but it's executed extremely well. On a smaller scale it allows from some nice little character arcs to happen while the heroes are also trying to save the day from monsters, but it also works in the longer run, like with the stoic Ryusei's gradual caring for the Kamen Rider club. Very often the friendship theme is part of how to eventually defeat the monster. The plot itself is simple enough that there's wiggle room to try some ideas out there and even have some wonderful twists that legitimately took my by surprise. It's all just very consistent and since the show seems to operate on 2-episode slice of life mini arcs that slowly factor into the bigger picture, there's not much down time in the story up to when plot revelations get much bigger and the show builds to its amazing climax.
-It's very lighthearted and fun with good humor: After coming from the grim, dark and very pretentious Agito, Fourze was a huge breath of fresh air. Seeing as how the story takes place during high school it's not surprising the show would be a bit less dramatic. Even better though is just how willing the show is to be outright silly. Most of the humor tends to come from sight gags but there's a lot of funny character moments too. Either way though, the timing is usually such that it doesn't feel forced either. Basically, the fact the main heroes figure they're mostly just saving the school and their classmates means that nobody acts in a way that gives the show an overblown sense of self-importance or gravitas. Saving the day is a club activity and all and just another part of Gen's desire to be friends with everybody.
-Kickass soundtrack: I don't think there was a single song I disliked, especially among the battle themes of which they are many. The most exciting moments in the show were almost always made even more riveting by the hype soundtrack that would start blasting. The show always seemed to have the perfect song for the situation.
What I disliked
-A slight over-reliance on alternate "States": Throughout the series the heroes get numbered Astro Switches divisible by ten. These extra powerful switches afford new weapons and alternate forms and are generally pretty cool. Unfortunately the tendency at times is to get into these alternate forms as fast as possible. Considering how earlier I said a lot of the fun in fights is the creative use of multiple switches, seeing fights start by going into powered up forms early on is a bit disappointing. Still, it's not that bad because we still see other switches used in conjunction with the alternate states and other times they're used more like "Finishing moves", especially with Magnet States.
-Oosugi Sensei isn't very funny-Oosugi is basicaly the designated comic relief character in a show that has no shortage of humor and funny moments. The comedy in Fourze is pretty funny for the most part because of some juxtaposition or little sight gags or something but with Oosugi it's like they made this entirely unappealing, grating character simply for the sake of us to laugh at because they're unappealing and grating. He gets a little better by series end but he's consistently unfunny throughout regardless.
Conclusion
I loved Fourze like you wouldn't believe. I enjoyed every minute of it. Its flaws are minor to point of being nigh irrelevant in my mind and it's easily my current front-runner for favorite Kamen Rider season. I legitimately cannot remember the last time I felt such pure, simple joy for a show of any kind without so much as a single shred of pessimism or cynicism. The series was just so simple and earnest with it's theme of friendship and it's characters to inherently likable that I just couldn't help but let myself get swept up in the story. I willingly let myself get invested in the emotional scenes and sometimes the action got me so hyped I was bouncing in my chair, giddy. This was a great show through and through. Pure, simple, unadulterated fun.
Next series will be Kamen Rider OOO.
Finished Kamen Rider Agito
General | Posted 12 years agoSo I wrapped up Kamen Rider Agito a few weeks ago. It's taken me a while to get around to talking about it because frankly it's something I'd rather forget by this point. I was conflicted on Kuuga before but now that I have a few more points of reference I feel I should add a little summation to my thoughts on Kuuga before tackling Agito in the same way. My previous Kuuga review can be seen here:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5091280/
Now lets move onto the real subject at hand.
Kamen Rider Agito
What I liked
-The series starts strong with a mystery hook: I honestly think this was a big boon for the series. Early on things are set in motion that we don't know the causes or general specifics of. It's a good initial hook because early on we see characters trying to piece together all the information, seeing what all the information leads to and we're right there with them trying to figure out ourselves. It had me engaged in the early episodes, at least until certain other things started cropping up.
What I disliked
-The mystery hook takes so long to resolve it becomes frustrating: Having a mystery to get me interested was nice, but considering all the questions posed were crucial to driving the plot it took WAY to long to get any answers at all. This wasn't a case where the mystery was best left unsolved. We needed answers to move forward in any meaningful way and we didn't even really start scratching the surface until 3/4ths into the damn show. What's worse, many of the answers to the bigger mysteries felt very half-asses and sometimes led to newer questions that flat out didn't get answered at all. It's so overlong and getting actual plot revelations as late as episodes in the mid 30s is absurd.
-The characters are either detestable assholes or infuriating morons: Sometimes they can be both at the same time. I was just sick up to my eyeballs with how irrational people in this show were. Either they were so full of themselves they just strutted about making bad decisions or were too stupid to make good ones. And people in this series love to pull half-baked declarations out of their ass. For example, early on Hikawa, despite having no real reason to think so, firmly takes the position that humans killed by monsters are being targeted because they are manifesting supernatural abilities, a claim that has no proof or anything to really suggest that's the case. Another bad one is later when another character makes the claim to his policer superiors that people becoming Agito will wipe out humans and that they should maybe let the monsters kill humans as they wish, that the police protect the monsters. He even says it's a baseless, hypothetical worse case scenario but his superiors run with it anyway! The hell?
The only real exceptions to this are protagonist Shouichi and his surrogate sister Mana. These two are generally likeable, well rounded characters, especially Shouichi who suffers from amnesia. They have doubts and concerns and sometimes show vulnerability which gives potential for good character arcs but is utterly wasted when they occasionally get super whiny and emo when they learn something they reveals a bit about a mystery, like when Shouichi learned his sister was becoming an Agito before committing suicide and he decides to stop fighting to save lives for...some reason?
-The show is loaded with irrelevant characters, pointless sub-plots and unresolved plot-threads: The core of the narrative narrative I suppose is about solving the mystery of why people are being attacked by monsters and why others are starting to demonstrate superhuman abilities. The show sort of maintains a degree of focus early but by series end there is so much pointless fluff it's hard to even tell what the show is about anymore. Here are some examples.
*Ryou starts as another Agito who looks into the mysterious yet important event that occurred on a boat his father was on to maybe discover why he has his new power. He shortly abandons this investigation and exists solely to have his life shit on over and over to add drama for drama's sake. What made him so important he needed to be brought back from the dead twice?
*Hikawa's primary occupation in the plot is a perpetual dick-waving contest with Hojo over who should wear an armor suit called the G3. He does very little to advance the plot and is rarely, if ever, a vital asset in fights.
*Said dick-waving competition is a subplot that never really goes away. It occupies everybody in the moronic police force. Rather than look into ways to prevent further murders, the police seem more interesting in what to do with this little pet project of theirs. It keeps coming back over and over.
*Why was Hikawa losing vision for only one episode?
*Why was the villain changing a constellation into a cross making people die?
*Why was a vault just lying on a beach? Why did it contain a model for a DNA structure that could be used to make a test tube god baby that seemed to plan to arrive?
*Why was Shouichi's girlfriend at the end suddenly changing into an Agito?
*Why did the boat passengers feel the need to make a secret society instead of informing proper authorities.
*What was Tetsuya's motivation for doing...well...just about anything he did?
I could go on like this for a while.
-The show ends about ten episodes early, never builds to a big finale and fails to end in a satisfying way: After the disappointing reveal of some crucial plot points, in about the early to mid forties there's a big team up which leads to a devastating blow to the series big bad. What happens afterwards is the big bad planks in mid air in a forest doing...something, while everybody else just kind of goes on doing their own things as if the day is saved, just spinning their wheels. There's a fucking time skip for goodness sake. Then the bad guy rears his head and there's suddenly one more fight and things end abruptly and awkwardly.
-The police are assholes: Coming directly from Kuuga, the roaring bureaucratic incompetence of the police force in Agito was utterly staggering and infuriating. At the end these fucks adopt a policy to let the series monsters kill innocent civilians while protecting said monsters. Supposedly out of the vague fear humanity could be exterminated be emerging super beings, the ones they know of having done virtually nothing but protect humans. Ugh...
Conclusion
While I may have enjoyed it early on, I would up despising Agito. I seen this series being regarded fairly highly and I am completely stumped as to why. This series is shit. Kuuga may have disappointed me with a bland hero and its failure to deliver a great ending after great build up but at least it had that great build up! Agito doesn't even have a decent build up to it's shitty conclusion. the last 15 episodes were an unbearable grind.
The reason I don't understand any kind of reverence for this show is because to be the writing and the character arcs are lazy and weak. Beyond that, the main driving force in the plot is the mystery. That's the main gimmick and while it's a good one to start, they stretch so long the series just drags and drags and drags for 30 plus episodes. Unacceptable. What started as intriguing eventually through refusal to resolve progress became irritating, then frustrating, then infuriating. By the time the answers finally came I was o pissed nothing would have satisfied me and the plot had been stagnating for so long I just didn't dare that much anymore unless some major revelations came in rapid fire. They didn't. Shouichi became a chef and the villain was planking in the woods for ten episodes.
Agito was atrocious and this is the new low bar for me for Kamen Rider. It was infuriating, pretentious, and worst of all, boring. I have a hard time seeing any other rider series sinking lower than Agito.
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/5091280/
Now lets move onto the real subject at hand.
Kamen Rider Agito
What I liked
-The series starts strong with a mystery hook: I honestly think this was a big boon for the series. Early on things are set in motion that we don't know the causes or general specifics of. It's a good initial hook because early on we see characters trying to piece together all the information, seeing what all the information leads to and we're right there with them trying to figure out ourselves. It had me engaged in the early episodes, at least until certain other things started cropping up.
What I disliked
-The mystery hook takes so long to resolve it becomes frustrating: Having a mystery to get me interested was nice, but considering all the questions posed were crucial to driving the plot it took WAY to long to get any answers at all. This wasn't a case where the mystery was best left unsolved. We needed answers to move forward in any meaningful way and we didn't even really start scratching the surface until 3/4ths into the damn show. What's worse, many of the answers to the bigger mysteries felt very half-asses and sometimes led to newer questions that flat out didn't get answered at all. It's so overlong and getting actual plot revelations as late as episodes in the mid 30s is absurd.
-The characters are either detestable assholes or infuriating morons: Sometimes they can be both at the same time. I was just sick up to my eyeballs with how irrational people in this show were. Either they were so full of themselves they just strutted about making bad decisions or were too stupid to make good ones. And people in this series love to pull half-baked declarations out of their ass. For example, early on Hikawa, despite having no real reason to think so, firmly takes the position that humans killed by monsters are being targeted because they are manifesting supernatural abilities, a claim that has no proof or anything to really suggest that's the case. Another bad one is later when another character makes the claim to his policer superiors that people becoming Agito will wipe out humans and that they should maybe let the monsters kill humans as they wish, that the police protect the monsters. He even says it's a baseless, hypothetical worse case scenario but his superiors run with it anyway! The hell?
The only real exceptions to this are protagonist Shouichi and his surrogate sister Mana. These two are generally likeable, well rounded characters, especially Shouichi who suffers from amnesia. They have doubts and concerns and sometimes show vulnerability which gives potential for good character arcs but is utterly wasted when they occasionally get super whiny and emo when they learn something they reveals a bit about a mystery, like when Shouichi learned his sister was becoming an Agito before committing suicide and he decides to stop fighting to save lives for...some reason?
-The show is loaded with irrelevant characters, pointless sub-plots and unresolved plot-threads: The core of the narrative narrative I suppose is about solving the mystery of why people are being attacked by monsters and why others are starting to demonstrate superhuman abilities. The show sort of maintains a degree of focus early but by series end there is so much pointless fluff it's hard to even tell what the show is about anymore. Here are some examples.
*Ryou starts as another Agito who looks into the mysterious yet important event that occurred on a boat his father was on to maybe discover why he has his new power. He shortly abandons this investigation and exists solely to have his life shit on over and over to add drama for drama's sake. What made him so important he needed to be brought back from the dead twice?
*Hikawa's primary occupation in the plot is a perpetual dick-waving contest with Hojo over who should wear an armor suit called the G3. He does very little to advance the plot and is rarely, if ever, a vital asset in fights.
*Said dick-waving competition is a subplot that never really goes away. It occupies everybody in the moronic police force. Rather than look into ways to prevent further murders, the police seem more interesting in what to do with this little pet project of theirs. It keeps coming back over and over.
*Why was Hikawa losing vision for only one episode?
*Why was the villain changing a constellation into a cross making people die?
*Why was a vault just lying on a beach? Why did it contain a model for a DNA structure that could be used to make a test tube god baby that seemed to plan to arrive?
*Why was Shouichi's girlfriend at the end suddenly changing into an Agito?
*Why did the boat passengers feel the need to make a secret society instead of informing proper authorities.
*What was Tetsuya's motivation for doing...well...just about anything he did?
I could go on like this for a while.
-The show ends about ten episodes early, never builds to a big finale and fails to end in a satisfying way: After the disappointing reveal of some crucial plot points, in about the early to mid forties there's a big team up which leads to a devastating blow to the series big bad. What happens afterwards is the big bad planks in mid air in a forest doing...something, while everybody else just kind of goes on doing their own things as if the day is saved, just spinning their wheels. There's a fucking time skip for goodness sake. Then the bad guy rears his head and there's suddenly one more fight and things end abruptly and awkwardly.
-The police are assholes: Coming directly from Kuuga, the roaring bureaucratic incompetence of the police force in Agito was utterly staggering and infuriating. At the end these fucks adopt a policy to let the series monsters kill innocent civilians while protecting said monsters. Supposedly out of the vague fear humanity could be exterminated be emerging super beings, the ones they know of having done virtually nothing but protect humans. Ugh...
Conclusion
While I may have enjoyed it early on, I would up despising Agito. I seen this series being regarded fairly highly and I am completely stumped as to why. This series is shit. Kuuga may have disappointed me with a bland hero and its failure to deliver a great ending after great build up but at least it had that great build up! Agito doesn't even have a decent build up to it's shitty conclusion. the last 15 episodes were an unbearable grind.
The reason I don't understand any kind of reverence for this show is because to be the writing and the character arcs are lazy and weak. Beyond that, the main driving force in the plot is the mystery. That's the main gimmick and while it's a good one to start, they stretch so long the series just drags and drags and drags for 30 plus episodes. Unacceptable. What started as intriguing eventually through refusal to resolve progress became irritating, then frustrating, then infuriating. By the time the answers finally came I was o pissed nothing would have satisfied me and the plot had been stagnating for so long I just didn't dare that much anymore unless some major revelations came in rapid fire. They didn't. Shouichi became a chef and the villain was planking in the woods for ten episodes.
Agito was atrocious and this is the new low bar for me for Kamen Rider. It was infuriating, pretentious, and worst of all, boring. I have a hard time seeing any other rider series sinking lower than Agito.
Expansion/Inflation/Macro Comic for Sale!
General | Posted 12 years agoDo you like expansion?
Do you like macros?
Do you like hourglass figures?
Do you like inflation?
Do you like all manners of growth?
If you answered yes to any of these I highly suggest you go check out the page of my good bud
jaeh because he's just posted an almost 50+ page comic follow-up to his original one featuring all these things for the extremely affordable price of $12.50! It's a total steal for how much bigness you get!
Here is the link to the comic page.
Now go! Enjoy the bigness that awaits you! There is no excuse if you love this stuff!
Do you like macros?
Do you like hourglass figures?
Do you like inflation?
Do you like all manners of growth?
If you answered yes to any of these I highly suggest you go check out the page of my good bud
jaeh because he's just posted an almost 50+ page comic follow-up to his original one featuring all these things for the extremely affordable price of $12.50! It's a total steal for how much bigness you get!Here is the link to the comic page.
Now go! Enjoy the bigness that awaits you! There is no excuse if you love this stuff!
Who has an Adamant Ditto?
General | Posted 12 years agoI need one badly. It would assist me like you wouldn't believe.
Pokemon Trade help
General | Posted 12 years agoHey guys. Finally at a point in the game I'm ready to start constructing my ideal team and it's going to involve a fair amount of breeding. I'm not all that concerned with IVs, but Natures have proven to be a royal pain in the bitch-cakes. This is just a call out to anybody who follows me, has a Generation VI pokemon game, and may be willing to help out if they have what I'm looking for.
All I really need are these three things:
-A Ditto with an Adamant Nature
-Any Pokemon from the Monster Egg Group with a Relaxed Nature
-Any Pokemon from the Mineral Egg Group with a Relaxed Nature
As I said earlier, I don't give a damn about IVs or even the monster's level. If it fills the above parameters and you're willing to help, just leave me a comment.
Thanks for taking the time to look! <3
All I really need are these three things:
-A Ditto with an Adamant Nature
-Any Pokemon from the Monster Egg Group with a Relaxed Nature
-Any Pokemon from the Mineral Egg Group with a Relaxed Nature
As I said earlier, I don't give a damn about IVs or even the monster's level. If it fills the above parameters and you're willing to help, just leave me a comment.
Thanks for taking the time to look! <3
3DS get...Yay?
General | Posted 12 years agoSo yeah, if you want to exchange friend codes and I know you, feel free to note me. =3
Why DC's New 52 Sucks: Part 1
General | Posted 12 years agoAbout two years ago DC pulled a little marketing stunt in which they were cancelling all their ongoing titles and wiping the slate clean, rebooting their continuity and launching 52 new ongoing titles all starting at issue #1. Commercially the intention was to increase revenue via increased readership by giving new readers a good jumping on point free of decades of continuity. While it has, financially, been a success, it's quite common to disparaging remarks about it, especially from comic fans. If the New 52 was such a financial success, why do people seem to hate it so much?
I hope to answer that question in detail in this journal. I've noticed lots of people saying "The New 52 sucks" or other similar comments without really saying why. I myself have done this and I hope to shed some light on the details of why I, and surely many others, believe the New 52 to be terrible. Keep in mind these are my opinions and they come from the perspective of a fan and consumer of comics. My concern is of the quality of the books, not how many are sold.
Also, keep in mind I do believe there is still some fun to be had reading DC comics, but that's fun in spite of the New 52, not because of it. There's always some diamonds hidden among towers of garbage.
It fails to be more accessible to new readers while simultaneously alienating long term fans.
When I see people interested in reading comics, the greatest hurdle for them to overcome is figuring out where to start. The perceived burden of jumping into a story without knowing years of continuity makes starting comics more imposing. While I personally believe this is an entirely unfounded notion, the reality is that it really is a factor preventing new readers from jumping on board. In that capacity I can understand why DC felt erasing all old continuity would erase the burden on new readers and why they went through with completely rebooting their comic universe.
Except they didn't. Not really.
The current narrative is that all super-heroic activity has occurred strictly within a span of five years and nothing that happened before a story called Flashpoint actually happened. Yet rather than totally commit to that idea, DC has essentially been cherry picking what is in and out of continuity. Events that happened over the span of a lifetime now supposedly happened in the span of a half decade. Batman still has had about four Robin sidekicks. Near as I can tell, Green Lantern's continuity is almost completely untouched. Major arcs like Emerald Twilight, the Sinestro Corp. War and the Blackest Night all supposedly happened in the span of 5 years.
This doesn't really relieve the burden of continuity to new readers at all. If anything it's an even bigger hurdle now because in addition to there still being potentially years worth of continuity, now the new reader has to sort what is and isn't part of the New 52. Not to mention there's a new burden of continuity on the new reader that's more prevalent than ever: the crossover event. For those who don't know, the comic book crossover is a sales boosting attempt in which characters from separate ongoing titles interact with each other for a bigger ongoing story. The thing about them is in order to get the whole picture it's often necessary to read most all the books involved. This is fine when characters and books are established, but DC starting doing crossovers before some books were even a year old. Teen Titans was victim to this. Justice League America was arguably building up to the Trinity War before it even had it's own story to tell. Some books seem to be in perpetual crossovers. The four Lantern books had a crossover that ended only about 5 months ago and already they're starting another one.
If DC was trying to relieve the burden of continuity on the new reader, the constant crossovers aren't helping. Now instead of readers feeling they need to buy older issues to catch up, they're instead feeling like they need to read several current books just to keep up. It's a burden of continuity that, while different, really isn't any better than what was going on before.
And of course the semi-elimination of old continuity has done an amazing job of pissing of long time fans. The old guard has to struggle with sorting out the new continuity just as badly as the new reader, but they have to cope with having the stories they loved essentially thrown out the window all for the sake of reboot meant primarily to boost sales. Regardless of whether or not you're a stickler for continuity (I'm typically not) the biggest danger reboots carry is altering the traits of things we like into something we don't. In this case, it's the heroes themselves. When you've invested time in a hero that you enjoy, it always hurts to all their accomplishments and character development thrown out the window because it runs the risk of the rebooted version ceasing to be the hero you liked in the first place. This leads to my next point...which will be covered in the next journal.
This is a large topic and one I'd prefer to cover in parts. This was probably the biggest failing to cover. Stay tuned for the next installment!
I hope to answer that question in detail in this journal. I've noticed lots of people saying "The New 52 sucks" or other similar comments without really saying why. I myself have done this and I hope to shed some light on the details of why I, and surely many others, believe the New 52 to be terrible. Keep in mind these are my opinions and they come from the perspective of a fan and consumer of comics. My concern is of the quality of the books, not how many are sold.
Also, keep in mind I do believe there is still some fun to be had reading DC comics, but that's fun in spite of the New 52, not because of it. There's always some diamonds hidden among towers of garbage.
It fails to be more accessible to new readers while simultaneously alienating long term fans.
When I see people interested in reading comics, the greatest hurdle for them to overcome is figuring out where to start. The perceived burden of jumping into a story without knowing years of continuity makes starting comics more imposing. While I personally believe this is an entirely unfounded notion, the reality is that it really is a factor preventing new readers from jumping on board. In that capacity I can understand why DC felt erasing all old continuity would erase the burden on new readers and why they went through with completely rebooting their comic universe.
Except they didn't. Not really.
The current narrative is that all super-heroic activity has occurred strictly within a span of five years and nothing that happened before a story called Flashpoint actually happened. Yet rather than totally commit to that idea, DC has essentially been cherry picking what is in and out of continuity. Events that happened over the span of a lifetime now supposedly happened in the span of a half decade. Batman still has had about four Robin sidekicks. Near as I can tell, Green Lantern's continuity is almost completely untouched. Major arcs like Emerald Twilight, the Sinestro Corp. War and the Blackest Night all supposedly happened in the span of 5 years.
This doesn't really relieve the burden of continuity to new readers at all. If anything it's an even bigger hurdle now because in addition to there still being potentially years worth of continuity, now the new reader has to sort what is and isn't part of the New 52. Not to mention there's a new burden of continuity on the new reader that's more prevalent than ever: the crossover event. For those who don't know, the comic book crossover is a sales boosting attempt in which characters from separate ongoing titles interact with each other for a bigger ongoing story. The thing about them is in order to get the whole picture it's often necessary to read most all the books involved. This is fine when characters and books are established, but DC starting doing crossovers before some books were even a year old. Teen Titans was victim to this. Justice League America was arguably building up to the Trinity War before it even had it's own story to tell. Some books seem to be in perpetual crossovers. The four Lantern books had a crossover that ended only about 5 months ago and already they're starting another one.
If DC was trying to relieve the burden of continuity on the new reader, the constant crossovers aren't helping. Now instead of readers feeling they need to buy older issues to catch up, they're instead feeling like they need to read several current books just to keep up. It's a burden of continuity that, while different, really isn't any better than what was going on before.
And of course the semi-elimination of old continuity has done an amazing job of pissing of long time fans. The old guard has to struggle with sorting out the new continuity just as badly as the new reader, but they have to cope with having the stories they loved essentially thrown out the window all for the sake of reboot meant primarily to boost sales. Regardless of whether or not you're a stickler for continuity (I'm typically not) the biggest danger reboots carry is altering the traits of things we like into something we don't. In this case, it's the heroes themselves. When you've invested time in a hero that you enjoy, it always hurts to all their accomplishments and character development thrown out the window because it runs the risk of the rebooted version ceasing to be the hero you liked in the first place. This leads to my next point...which will be covered in the next journal.
This is a large topic and one I'd prefer to cover in parts. This was probably the biggest failing to cover. Stay tuned for the next installment!
Finished Kamen Rider Kuuga
General | Posted 12 years agoSo thanks to some friends and good acquaintance at the comic shop I've taken a dive headlong into the Kamen Rider series. After doing a little research I decided to start at the beginning of the Heisei era relaunch and just go down the line. As the title says, I just finished the first installment, Kuuga. While it definitely has me hooked on the Kamen Rider concept, the series on the whole has me rather conflicted. I guess I could say I enjoyed it for what I liked but there was a lot of stuff that annoyed me too. I guess the easiest way to break it down is by what traits I enjoyed and which ones I didn't like so much.
Keep in mind this is my first Kamen Rider series I've ever seen so I have no basis of comparison to other parts.
What I liked
-The fights and stunts were generally pretty awesome: I, like a lot of kids growing in the 90s, watched Power Rangers a lot. I still love the Mighty Morphin' stuff. But when you expect fights to have lots of flips and lasers and explosions and stuff it was pretty rad to watch Kuuga and end up seeing some comparatively brutal action scenes. The fights in Kuuga were usually short and sweet but they were so in-your-face and no-frills that I really got into them. Motorcycle stunts were awesome as well.
-The supporting cast is really solid: Most all the main hero's friends and acquaintances feel like fleshed out, three-dimensional personalities with their own quirks and flaws. Ichijou is the best example. Some of the best moments were seeing these characters dealing with their own personal crisis among the mayhem caused by the villains. It added a certain down to earth quality I liked.
-The police are competent and proactive: When the villains start killing en masse and the police start confronting them they are grossly outmatched. Early on when Kuuga starts defeating them they have the good sense to sort of passively assist him and eventually, as he proves his good intentions, working alongside him. Even as they hand off the heavy lifting to Kuuga they continue to try innovating new ways to defeat the monsters themselves, if not support Kuuga. Seeing police that actually have brains and don't actively impede the hero like ignorant pricks is such a breath of fresh air.
What I disliked
-The main hero is a Gary Stu with virtually no character arc: This is my biggest issue. Godai Yuusuke is a likable enough character. He's good natured, kind of goofy and and brimming with optimism. When he becomes Kamen Rider Kuuga his motivation is states as "fighting to protect everybody's smiles". Okay, that's fine. Problem is, around halfway through the series he's still the same character with the same optimism despite the stakes getting higher. Every time something bad happens or Godai may end up being in a very dangerous situation, no matter how bad it is he basically always waves it away by smiling, shooting a thumbs up and saying "Don't worry, everything will work out". Only by the end of the series when murders are in the thousands and he's facing the possibility of his belt dehumanizing him into a mindless living weapon do we see any semblance of this facade breaking. He'll do a slightly sad face before going back to his old routine. That a good chunk of conversations that happen when Godai is around ultimately gravitate to them talking about all the impressive stuff Godai does or is doing, doesn't really assuage the notion he's a Gary Stu either.
I get what they're trying to do. They're trying to portray him as this guy who puts the well being of other before himself to a fault and is trying to hide the pain but we barely see that portrayed until near the end of the series and even then, just barely. It's not even really a fault. Saying a character is too self sacrificing is like saying somebody is too beautiful. He never fails in any particularly meaningful way and we never see his convictions challenged or see him grow and change personally. By series end he's the exact same character in the exact same position as in the beginning of the series. In the end it just makes him boring and it just gets harder to care about him everybody around him is developing more.
-The main villains are kind of stupid and have vague motives: The main villains are called the Grongi. They're like an ancient species revived who start killing people in large quantities early on for reasons we don't entirely understand. It's hard to understand because for the most part they talk in a language that's total gibberish. This got annoying really fast to me because sometimes there were protracted conversations among them and we have literally no idea what the hell they're saying. Eventually we do find out that the whole point of these killings is all of them are playing a game,trying to improve their ranks and killing in certain ways is how they accumulate points. Some think this makes them intimidating because it's chillingly dehumanizing and demonstrates how cold they are. I think it's just stupid because it relegated them in my mind to essentially a bunch of assholes playing Halo and trying to be the MVP.
Take away the whole "winning the game" element and what do you have left? Essentially nothing demonstrated in the show. Only one of the bad guys has any real personality because he show's ambitions that go beyond simply winning. Every other Grongi's personality is defined entirely defined by this laughably shallow motivation. You have motives and then the actions to pursue those motives. The Grongi are so dull their motives and actions are the same. They're killing people because they want to kill people, and that's all there is too it. God that's dull.
-The main baddie is over-hyped and the final fight sucked balls: A bad ending can totally fuck over everything that came before it. It wasn't that bad in Kuuga but it was still pretty bad. The primary villain was called Daguva, supposedly some super high level Grongi who was so bored waiting for other Grongi to compete that he just starts killing them to pass the time while a worthy challenger arrived. They keep building him up as this obscenely powerful opponent until the penultimate episode where after unlocking a new form, Kuuga gets is ass handed to him in a fight that is never seen and only alluded too. Okay. Then the final battle happens. Godai potentially forfeits his humanity to become his Ultimate form to face down the ultimate evil.
So the scene is set. Grey sky, no music played. Tension between both participants it's tangible, shit's about to get real. What happens next is... a 2.5 minute fight half of which is them in human form just punching back and forth. It ends with the two cross-countering each other...in human form...FACKIN BOOLSHET! Way to totally blue-ball everybody in the grand finale. This is among the worst fights in the series. What's orse, the actual last episode is basically 20 minutes of everybody catching up with a good chunk of Godai praise sprinkled in.
-The pacing is really slow sometimes: For 49 episodes there's a lot of personal drama among the supporting cast. I like this for the most part but sometimes there's just so much drama on display that we get episodes where there is very little, if any action. Obviously I like some drama and character development but this is ultimately a tokusatsu show and my primary reason for watching it is to see costumed heroes fight evil. Sometimes it felt like the show was more drama than action. Sometimes it felt like it was just spinning its wheels, like showing us frequent discussions among the Grongi that we can't understand at all. This got really grating in hindsight as the further I got in the series I started to learn how utterly inconsequential some of these characters are and how them dealing with their own personal crises had absolutely no relation at all to the driving threat and occurrences of Grongi killing people. It made these moments seem completely pointless except to maybe this vague narrative theme that sacrifice is hard and being a good, happy person is good...I guess. Honestly I'm kind of having trouble pinpointing the overall theme of the narrative.
Conclusion
The best I can say about Kuuga is that it entertained me but it's a bit too flawed in crucial areas for me to really say I completely liked it. I didn't hate it but I was really disappointed in it. The biggest reason is despite the main protagonist being a blatant Gary Stu, there was quite a lot of good build up to a final confrontation that completely failed to deliver. Coupled with a tendency of the plot to spin its wheels and Godai's general blandness it just felt like for a time I was simply enduring boredom to get to big payoff that never actually arrived.
Still, the first half was really good and the show still had notable strengths, particularly the quality fights, the excellent bike stunts and a solid cast of supporting characters, the most impressive being the wonderfully intelligent and competent police force. I can't emphasize how great it is to see competent cops who are proactive, efficient, helpful and likable in a show with monster fights. These traits are the primary reason Kuuga is at least bearable.
Keep in mind this is my first Kamen Rider series I've ever seen so I have no basis of comparison to other parts.
What I liked
-The fights and stunts were generally pretty awesome: I, like a lot of kids growing in the 90s, watched Power Rangers a lot. I still love the Mighty Morphin' stuff. But when you expect fights to have lots of flips and lasers and explosions and stuff it was pretty rad to watch Kuuga and end up seeing some comparatively brutal action scenes. The fights in Kuuga were usually short and sweet but they were so in-your-face and no-frills that I really got into them. Motorcycle stunts were awesome as well.
-The supporting cast is really solid: Most all the main hero's friends and acquaintances feel like fleshed out, three-dimensional personalities with their own quirks and flaws. Ichijou is the best example. Some of the best moments were seeing these characters dealing with their own personal crisis among the mayhem caused by the villains. It added a certain down to earth quality I liked.
-The police are competent and proactive: When the villains start killing en masse and the police start confronting them they are grossly outmatched. Early on when Kuuga starts defeating them they have the good sense to sort of passively assist him and eventually, as he proves his good intentions, working alongside him. Even as they hand off the heavy lifting to Kuuga they continue to try innovating new ways to defeat the monsters themselves, if not support Kuuga. Seeing police that actually have brains and don't actively impede the hero like ignorant pricks is such a breath of fresh air.
What I disliked
-The main hero is a Gary Stu with virtually no character arc: This is my biggest issue. Godai Yuusuke is a likable enough character. He's good natured, kind of goofy and and brimming with optimism. When he becomes Kamen Rider Kuuga his motivation is states as "fighting to protect everybody's smiles". Okay, that's fine. Problem is, around halfway through the series he's still the same character with the same optimism despite the stakes getting higher. Every time something bad happens or Godai may end up being in a very dangerous situation, no matter how bad it is he basically always waves it away by smiling, shooting a thumbs up and saying "Don't worry, everything will work out". Only by the end of the series when murders are in the thousands and he's facing the possibility of his belt dehumanizing him into a mindless living weapon do we see any semblance of this facade breaking. He'll do a slightly sad face before going back to his old routine. That a good chunk of conversations that happen when Godai is around ultimately gravitate to them talking about all the impressive stuff Godai does or is doing, doesn't really assuage the notion he's a Gary Stu either.
I get what they're trying to do. They're trying to portray him as this guy who puts the well being of other before himself to a fault and is trying to hide the pain but we barely see that portrayed until near the end of the series and even then, just barely. It's not even really a fault. Saying a character is too self sacrificing is like saying somebody is too beautiful. He never fails in any particularly meaningful way and we never see his convictions challenged or see him grow and change personally. By series end he's the exact same character in the exact same position as in the beginning of the series. In the end it just makes him boring and it just gets harder to care about him everybody around him is developing more.
-The main villains are kind of stupid and have vague motives: The main villains are called the Grongi. They're like an ancient species revived who start killing people in large quantities early on for reasons we don't entirely understand. It's hard to understand because for the most part they talk in a language that's total gibberish. This got annoying really fast to me because sometimes there were protracted conversations among them and we have literally no idea what the hell they're saying. Eventually we do find out that the whole point of these killings is all of them are playing a game,trying to improve their ranks and killing in certain ways is how they accumulate points. Some think this makes them intimidating because it's chillingly dehumanizing and demonstrates how cold they are. I think it's just stupid because it relegated them in my mind to essentially a bunch of assholes playing Halo and trying to be the MVP.
Take away the whole "winning the game" element and what do you have left? Essentially nothing demonstrated in the show. Only one of the bad guys has any real personality because he show's ambitions that go beyond simply winning. Every other Grongi's personality is defined entirely defined by this laughably shallow motivation. You have motives and then the actions to pursue those motives. The Grongi are so dull their motives and actions are the same. They're killing people because they want to kill people, and that's all there is too it. God that's dull.
-The main baddie is over-hyped and the final fight sucked balls: A bad ending can totally fuck over everything that came before it. It wasn't that bad in Kuuga but it was still pretty bad. The primary villain was called Daguva, supposedly some super high level Grongi who was so bored waiting for other Grongi to compete that he just starts killing them to pass the time while a worthy challenger arrived. They keep building him up as this obscenely powerful opponent until the penultimate episode where after unlocking a new form, Kuuga gets is ass handed to him in a fight that is never seen and only alluded too. Okay. Then the final battle happens. Godai potentially forfeits his humanity to become his Ultimate form to face down the ultimate evil.
So the scene is set. Grey sky, no music played. Tension between both participants it's tangible, shit's about to get real. What happens next is... a 2.5 minute fight half of which is them in human form just punching back and forth. It ends with the two cross-countering each other...in human form...FACKIN BOOLSHET! Way to totally blue-ball everybody in the grand finale. This is among the worst fights in the series. What's orse, the actual last episode is basically 20 minutes of everybody catching up with a good chunk of Godai praise sprinkled in.
-The pacing is really slow sometimes: For 49 episodes there's a lot of personal drama among the supporting cast. I like this for the most part but sometimes there's just so much drama on display that we get episodes where there is very little, if any action. Obviously I like some drama and character development but this is ultimately a tokusatsu show and my primary reason for watching it is to see costumed heroes fight evil. Sometimes it felt like the show was more drama than action. Sometimes it felt like it was just spinning its wheels, like showing us frequent discussions among the Grongi that we can't understand at all. This got really grating in hindsight as the further I got in the series I started to learn how utterly inconsequential some of these characters are and how them dealing with their own personal crises had absolutely no relation at all to the driving threat and occurrences of Grongi killing people. It made these moments seem completely pointless except to maybe this vague narrative theme that sacrifice is hard and being a good, happy person is good...I guess. Honestly I'm kind of having trouble pinpointing the overall theme of the narrative.
Conclusion
The best I can say about Kuuga is that it entertained me but it's a bit too flawed in crucial areas for me to really say I completely liked it. I didn't hate it but I was really disappointed in it. The biggest reason is despite the main protagonist being a blatant Gary Stu, there was quite a lot of good build up to a final confrontation that completely failed to deliver. Coupled with a tendency of the plot to spin its wheels and Godai's general blandness it just felt like for a time I was simply enduring boredom to get to big payoff that never actually arrived.
Still, the first half was really good and the show still had notable strengths, particularly the quality fights, the excellent bike stunts and a solid cast of supporting characters, the most impressive being the wonderfully intelligent and competent police force. I can't emphasize how great it is to see competent cops who are proactive, efficient, helpful and likable in a show with monster fights. These traits are the primary reason Kuuga is at least bearable.
JoJo Soundtrack Faves
General | Posted 12 years agoJust because I'm digging the new All-Stat Battle game. In particular I'm really enjoying the soundtrack. Not necessarily because it's good per se but because it's so deliciously cheesy in that Japanese guitar riff butt-rock fashion. I haven't heard a soundtrack this enjoyably corny since Bloody Roar: Primal Fury. So I thought what the hell, I'd share my three fave themes from the soundtrack so far.
For the record, my faves thus far are the ones to seem to best fit the character and are also catchy.
Hermes Costello
https://youtu.be/A1qWyrUFGkI
"Bites the Dust" Yoshikage Kira
https://youtu.be/gAH9W2zhOJQ
Funny Valentine
https://youtu.be/jWZQc7Dg0Ck
You know what? What the hell, enjoy some crazy super moves too while you're at it.
https://youtu.be/2yzssyGcKYk
For the record, my faves thus far are the ones to seem to best fit the character and are also catchy.
Hermes Costello
https://youtu.be/A1qWyrUFGkI
"Bites the Dust" Yoshikage Kira
https://youtu.be/gAH9W2zhOJQ
Funny Valentine
https://youtu.be/jWZQc7Dg0Ck
You know what? What the hell, enjoy some crazy super moves too while you're at it.
https://youtu.be/2yzssyGcKYk
Top 10 Favorite Comic Characters (And how they got fucked)
General | Posted 12 years agoComics are a delightful medium that I enjoy very much but they aren't without problems. One major one is consistency. As creative teams shift and characters come and go in books you can get lots of different takes on many different characters, some great, some not so much. A new writer in particular can add a new spin on an old character and I'm hard pressed to think of a character whose initial portrayal was considered the best.
However it just occurred to me that within the last decade pretty much every character I love has made great strides in development only to get utterly fucked over and ruined for one reason or another. I'll still love them and their definitive runs, but for now, things kind of suck. This is all up to date to the best of my knowledge and the bigger travesties will obviously be longer.
In no particular order, here are my top 10 favorite comic characters and how they've been royally fucked over.
Nova (Richard Rider)
Initially debuted as a space-faring, wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker. Didn't do so well. Relaunched several more times as a wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker. These attempts failed to ever connect. Relaunched again for the Annihilation event with a new direction and finally comes into his own as a bonafide badass with real depth and power.
Get's killed unceremoniously in Thanos Imperative and is eventually replaced by a new Nova, a Gary Stu names Sam Alexander. Sam is a wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker but this time with daddy issues. This travesty is made worse by every single character who died in Thanos Imperative inexplicably coming back to life except Richard Rider. He is the only one still dead.
Martian Manhunter
J'onn J'onzz is the heart and soul of the Justice League and has been its one true staple member for over 40 years. The last surviving martian, J'onn was a firsthand witness to the extinction of his people, including his wife and child. He eventually by accident ended up on Earth where he came to like its people and has since committed himself to protecting his adopted home so nobody will ever have to suffer the loss he has. Though initially seeming to be stoic, J'onn is really a big softy. Kind and compassionate, he respects life and will virtually never resort to extreme violence. He also has an adorable addiction to Oreos.
After the New 52 reboot, J'onn's characterization has done a complete reversal. He got into a huge fight with the Justice League and quit which is an even that hasn't been properly explained yet. New 52 Martian Manhunter is stand-offish, bitter, vengeful and violent. He operates in the shadows and has made threats. He says he'll protect Earth at any cost and considering he's casually mind-wiped more people than I can count offhand and extracted information from a criminal via mind rape, it seem like this interpretation the type who thinks the ends justify the means. No apparent respect for life and not a single Oreo eaten yet.
Moon Knight
One of the most formidable and arguably the most terrifying street level hero in the Marvel Universe, Moon Knight fights crime and maims the guilty, if not to appease Khonshu, his patron god of vengeance, to atone for his past sins. Vengeance is his religion. To assist in this he has developed alter egos to fit certain roles in society. However maintaining these alternate personalities stresses his psyche and his grip on reality, leaving others to question his sanity while he tries to keep his life from falling apart.
Completely reworked so he's crazy on a ridiculous level. He hears the voices of Avengers in his head constantly and sometimes these Avenger personalities take over, making him emulate fighting like them. Also sometimes cosplays when these personalities take over. He at one point wears a Spider-Man costume over his Moon Knight costume. Also something of a joke that nobody takes seriously or even remotely fears. His god Khonshu is utterly absent.
Booster Gold
Booster Gold was never initially a hero for the most benevolent reasons. A man from the 25th century, he came to the past with advanced technology, engaging in super-heroics, in part a least, to make himself rich and famous. Often portrayed as an excellent comic relief character, Booster all the same made great strides as a hero over the years and really came into his own in "52" where he had to get over his ego in order to save the entire space time continuum and all existence. This locked him in as basically a protector if time itself. Best part is he can still be funny because a his role is well served by people believing he's an incompetent glory hound. As such he tries to maintain his infamous reputation. He's has Batman's respect. That says something.
Once again that darn New 52 reboot rears it's head as all of Booster's character development, especially the stuff from "52" onwards, is all thrown out the window and he's brought back to square one. Once again he's a guy from the future only this time he's not funny and the glory-seeking is grossly downplayed. He's designated the leader of the Justice League International for god knows why, and he proceeds to run it into the ground through his own incompetence. By the end of a pathetic 12 issue run, half the team's members are hospitalized or dead and Booster fades from the time stream after seeing Superman and Wonder Woman making out like teenagers. He has yet to return.
Deadpool
Originally a pastiche of super-macho, anti-hero types prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s, A ruthless and rather talkative mercenary Deadpool developed significant in his own book being portrayed as the classic case of a clown that laughs on the outside while crying on the inside. While still managing to be funny, it delved more into his horrific past and explored his issues of codependency, self-loathing and depression as well as his genuine desire to try to be a better man despite all of it. During this time word of mouth perpetuates the notion of Deadpool as a purely satirical character. Over time he does become a bit more comical and lighthearted but his emotional issues are still largely intact.
Come 2008 the perception made out of ignorance that Deadpool is an unrelenting parody is as bad as ever and an oncoming tidal wave of terrible Deadpool books, spearheaded by the godawful ongoing by Daniel Way, completely surrender to this preconception and do nothing to assuage it. The video game, also written by Way, makes it even worse. Deadpool, once among the most capable, interesting and fleshed out anti-heroes to ever exist, is now likely cemented into the role of incompetent walking punch-line for many years to come.
Thanos
The Mad Titan is one of the most formidable villains in the universe. A being of great power and intellect, Thanos has bested everything from men to gods whether by might or wit. His ambition is boundless. He desires power in order to commit genocidal acts and win the heart of his eternal love, Death itself. He's attained godhood on a couple occasions and while he's also died a few times he's always come back likely always will so long as Death can use him as her herald.
Recently there has been a mini series delving into the origin of Thanos and it's like Anakin Skywalker all over again. The origin tale is diminishing his larger than life presence and gravitas by showing us a story that somewhat conflicts with canon and didn't need to be seen to appreciate his character. Rather that convicted he's insecure. Instead of a genocidal tyrant he's a homicidal serial killer. Rather than kill en masse to impress Death out of affection, he kills en masse because he needs to get off and he's lonely. Worst of all the origin insinuates Thanos, the genius intellect, is in fact so hopelessly crazy that his interactions with Death have all just been hallucinations created by his own addled mind. Thankfully the upcoming Infinity event may yet salvage the Mad Titan.
The Question
The Question is a street level hero. He's an inquisitive, master detective with a zen philosophy angle and an all around cool guy. At one point he was succumbing to lung cancer and before passing took the then depressed and alcoholic Renee Montoya under his wing, helping her overcome her demons and passing on the mantle. His passing was a very well done and emotional death by comic book standards. Either way, the Question is a character rooted in reality, philosophy, and fact.
And once again here comes that darned New 52! All previous characterization and development is thrown out the window. Now The Question is a spooky magical entity and a member of the Trinity of Sin, some band of bad people from history. This Question is some unnamed historical tyrant whose name and face were literally erased by wizards. They also cursed him to wander the land, questioning everything he encounters. No, I did not make this up.
Black Adam
Black Adam is a character that has been steadily making great strides in characterization. Once being a simple evil version of Captain Marvel, Black Adam has since gained a great deal of depth and ambiguity. His personal morality and philosophy on the responsibilities have him often walking in various shades of grey and his heroic actions are always at odd with more dubious ones. His methods are brutal and he has a tendency to rule in absolutes. While he may have liberated his home country, he also wiped another one completely off the map with nothing more than his bare hands.
It's hard to say where he stands as of now since he made only a brief appearance in the New 52 Shazam! story. His character seemed intact though he was "killed" in his first appearance. Not a good start but solicitations show he's back so I'll just have to wait and see.
Thor
Thor is a rare case of not really getting royally fucked up in any truly permanent way. He is an A-list hero and such characters are passed around to so many creative teams that their publication history will doubtless have high points in the stratosphere as well as low points at rock bottom. Thor is no different in this regard.
Insofar as the last decade, Thor lacked a solo book for some time thanks to Ragnarok happening but he got a very nice relaunch after the Civil War event, complete a stylish new look. It was a short but sweet run followed up by new ongoings written by Gillen and Fraction after that. These runs were horrible and dragged the name of the God of Thunder through the mud with garbage like Siege and Fear Itself. Since the Marvel NOW relaunch, Thor has received a new ongoing subtitled "God of Thunder" and it is easily the best comic Marvel is putting out right now. Like I said, peaks and valleys.
Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
Guy Gardner is the Green Lantern that never used to get any respect but he's still my fave of the bunch. Initially a grade-A asshole, Guy was mostly played for laughs and being the butt of everyone's jokes which was fine. But over time writers added more depth to Guy's character and history, revealing his hostile demeanor being the result of an abusive childhood and that before being a superhero he worked in some rather self-sacrificing jobs as a social welfare caseworker and gym teacher for children with disabilities. Now he's portrayed a jerk on the outside who deep down has a heart of gold.
Amazingly enough this second stringer Green Lantern is the only character on my list to actually have improved over the last decade. His character has just perpetually been getting better and better. He may not be a flagship character for the Green Lanterns but you'd be hard pressed to find one more reliable. Not even the New 52 messed him up much. His history is slightly changed but his characterization is intact and he's still getting better. Just recently Guy beat the crap out of the Red Lantern Atrocitus and is now the unofficial leader of the Red Lantern Corps. This is a triple whammy of coolness. First, Guy finally has his own book to shine outside the shadow of Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns. Second, we're watching him work out his anger and basically become Space Punisher, cracking down a little harder on injustice. Finally, Guy managed to get me to actually care about anything that actually focuses on the Red Lanterns.
However it just occurred to me that within the last decade pretty much every character I love has made great strides in development only to get utterly fucked over and ruined for one reason or another. I'll still love them and their definitive runs, but for now, things kind of suck. This is all up to date to the best of my knowledge and the bigger travesties will obviously be longer.
In no particular order, here are my top 10 favorite comic characters and how they've been royally fucked over.
Nova (Richard Rider)
Initially debuted as a space-faring, wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker. Didn't do so well. Relaunched several more times as a wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker. These attempts failed to ever connect. Relaunched again for the Annihilation event with a new direction and finally comes into his own as a bonafide badass with real depth and power.
Get's killed unceremoniously in Thanos Imperative and is eventually replaced by a new Nova, a Gary Stu names Sam Alexander. Sam is a wise-cracking teenager in the same vein as Peter Parker but this time with daddy issues. This travesty is made worse by every single character who died in Thanos Imperative inexplicably coming back to life except Richard Rider. He is the only one still dead.
Martian Manhunter
J'onn J'onzz is the heart and soul of the Justice League and has been its one true staple member for over 40 years. The last surviving martian, J'onn was a firsthand witness to the extinction of his people, including his wife and child. He eventually by accident ended up on Earth where he came to like its people and has since committed himself to protecting his adopted home so nobody will ever have to suffer the loss he has. Though initially seeming to be stoic, J'onn is really a big softy. Kind and compassionate, he respects life and will virtually never resort to extreme violence. He also has an adorable addiction to Oreos.
After the New 52 reboot, J'onn's characterization has done a complete reversal. He got into a huge fight with the Justice League and quit which is an even that hasn't been properly explained yet. New 52 Martian Manhunter is stand-offish, bitter, vengeful and violent. He operates in the shadows and has made threats. He says he'll protect Earth at any cost and considering he's casually mind-wiped more people than I can count offhand and extracted information from a criminal via mind rape, it seem like this interpretation the type who thinks the ends justify the means. No apparent respect for life and not a single Oreo eaten yet.
Moon Knight
One of the most formidable and arguably the most terrifying street level hero in the Marvel Universe, Moon Knight fights crime and maims the guilty, if not to appease Khonshu, his patron god of vengeance, to atone for his past sins. Vengeance is his religion. To assist in this he has developed alter egos to fit certain roles in society. However maintaining these alternate personalities stresses his psyche and his grip on reality, leaving others to question his sanity while he tries to keep his life from falling apart.
Completely reworked so he's crazy on a ridiculous level. He hears the voices of Avengers in his head constantly and sometimes these Avenger personalities take over, making him emulate fighting like them. Also sometimes cosplays when these personalities take over. He at one point wears a Spider-Man costume over his Moon Knight costume. Also something of a joke that nobody takes seriously or even remotely fears. His god Khonshu is utterly absent.
Booster Gold
Booster Gold was never initially a hero for the most benevolent reasons. A man from the 25th century, he came to the past with advanced technology, engaging in super-heroics, in part a least, to make himself rich and famous. Often portrayed as an excellent comic relief character, Booster all the same made great strides as a hero over the years and really came into his own in "52" where he had to get over his ego in order to save the entire space time continuum and all existence. This locked him in as basically a protector if time itself. Best part is he can still be funny because a his role is well served by people believing he's an incompetent glory hound. As such he tries to maintain his infamous reputation. He's has Batman's respect. That says something.
Once again that darn New 52 reboot rears it's head as all of Booster's character development, especially the stuff from "52" onwards, is all thrown out the window and he's brought back to square one. Once again he's a guy from the future only this time he's not funny and the glory-seeking is grossly downplayed. He's designated the leader of the Justice League International for god knows why, and he proceeds to run it into the ground through his own incompetence. By the end of a pathetic 12 issue run, half the team's members are hospitalized or dead and Booster fades from the time stream after seeing Superman and Wonder Woman making out like teenagers. He has yet to return.
Deadpool
Originally a pastiche of super-macho, anti-hero types prevalent in the late 80s and early 90s, A ruthless and rather talkative mercenary Deadpool developed significant in his own book being portrayed as the classic case of a clown that laughs on the outside while crying on the inside. While still managing to be funny, it delved more into his horrific past and explored his issues of codependency, self-loathing and depression as well as his genuine desire to try to be a better man despite all of it. During this time word of mouth perpetuates the notion of Deadpool as a purely satirical character. Over time he does become a bit more comical and lighthearted but his emotional issues are still largely intact.
Come 2008 the perception made out of ignorance that Deadpool is an unrelenting parody is as bad as ever and an oncoming tidal wave of terrible Deadpool books, spearheaded by the godawful ongoing by Daniel Way, completely surrender to this preconception and do nothing to assuage it. The video game, also written by Way, makes it even worse. Deadpool, once among the most capable, interesting and fleshed out anti-heroes to ever exist, is now likely cemented into the role of incompetent walking punch-line for many years to come.
Thanos
The Mad Titan is one of the most formidable villains in the universe. A being of great power and intellect, Thanos has bested everything from men to gods whether by might or wit. His ambition is boundless. He desires power in order to commit genocidal acts and win the heart of his eternal love, Death itself. He's attained godhood on a couple occasions and while he's also died a few times he's always come back likely always will so long as Death can use him as her herald.
Recently there has been a mini series delving into the origin of Thanos and it's like Anakin Skywalker all over again. The origin tale is diminishing his larger than life presence and gravitas by showing us a story that somewhat conflicts with canon and didn't need to be seen to appreciate his character. Rather that convicted he's insecure. Instead of a genocidal tyrant he's a homicidal serial killer. Rather than kill en masse to impress Death out of affection, he kills en masse because he needs to get off and he's lonely. Worst of all the origin insinuates Thanos, the genius intellect, is in fact so hopelessly crazy that his interactions with Death have all just been hallucinations created by his own addled mind. Thankfully the upcoming Infinity event may yet salvage the Mad Titan.
The Question
The Question is a street level hero. He's an inquisitive, master detective with a zen philosophy angle and an all around cool guy. At one point he was succumbing to lung cancer and before passing took the then depressed and alcoholic Renee Montoya under his wing, helping her overcome her demons and passing on the mantle. His passing was a very well done and emotional death by comic book standards. Either way, the Question is a character rooted in reality, philosophy, and fact.
And once again here comes that darned New 52! All previous characterization and development is thrown out the window. Now The Question is a spooky magical entity and a member of the Trinity of Sin, some band of bad people from history. This Question is some unnamed historical tyrant whose name and face were literally erased by wizards. They also cursed him to wander the land, questioning everything he encounters. No, I did not make this up.
Black Adam
Black Adam is a character that has been steadily making great strides in characterization. Once being a simple evil version of Captain Marvel, Black Adam has since gained a great deal of depth and ambiguity. His personal morality and philosophy on the responsibilities have him often walking in various shades of grey and his heroic actions are always at odd with more dubious ones. His methods are brutal and he has a tendency to rule in absolutes. While he may have liberated his home country, he also wiped another one completely off the map with nothing more than his bare hands.
It's hard to say where he stands as of now since he made only a brief appearance in the New 52 Shazam! story. His character seemed intact though he was "killed" in his first appearance. Not a good start but solicitations show he's back so I'll just have to wait and see.
Thor
Thor is a rare case of not really getting royally fucked up in any truly permanent way. He is an A-list hero and such characters are passed around to so many creative teams that their publication history will doubtless have high points in the stratosphere as well as low points at rock bottom. Thor is no different in this regard.
Insofar as the last decade, Thor lacked a solo book for some time thanks to Ragnarok happening but he got a very nice relaunch after the Civil War event, complete a stylish new look. It was a short but sweet run followed up by new ongoings written by Gillen and Fraction after that. These runs were horrible and dragged the name of the God of Thunder through the mud with garbage like Siege and Fear Itself. Since the Marvel NOW relaunch, Thor has received a new ongoing subtitled "God of Thunder" and it is easily the best comic Marvel is putting out right now. Like I said, peaks and valleys.
Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
Guy Gardner is the Green Lantern that never used to get any respect but he's still my fave of the bunch. Initially a grade-A asshole, Guy was mostly played for laughs and being the butt of everyone's jokes which was fine. But over time writers added more depth to Guy's character and history, revealing his hostile demeanor being the result of an abusive childhood and that before being a superhero he worked in some rather self-sacrificing jobs as a social welfare caseworker and gym teacher for children with disabilities. Now he's portrayed a jerk on the outside who deep down has a heart of gold.
Amazingly enough this second stringer Green Lantern is the only character on my list to actually have improved over the last decade. His character has just perpetually been getting better and better. He may not be a flagship character for the Green Lanterns but you'd be hard pressed to find one more reliable. Not even the New 52 messed him up much. His history is slightly changed but his characterization is intact and he's still getting better. Just recently Guy beat the crap out of the Red Lantern Atrocitus and is now the unofficial leader of the Red Lantern Corps. This is a triple whammy of coolness. First, Guy finally has his own book to shine outside the shadow of Hal Jordan and the other Green Lanterns. Second, we're watching him work out his anger and basically become Space Punisher, cracking down a little harder on injustice. Finally, Guy managed to get me to actually care about anything that actually focuses on the Red Lanterns.
I need some advice from commssioners and working artists.
General | Posted 12 years agoSo,a friend of mine is in a bit of a conundrum with a series of bad elements at play involving commissioned work from a relatively prominent artist. I'm going to keep things anonymous for now on benefit of both parties because I don't want any drama. I just need some sound advice on behalf of my friend because I myself have never been in a scenario like this. Let me explain the situation.
It happened last year at a convention. As is typical of such events there are artists selling commissioned work. My friend approached an artist and made a rather pricey transaction for the cost of $160 for work to be done shortly in the future as the artist's workload at the con itself was rather large. The payment was made at the time in cash. There is no paper trail or written contract to prove the transaction occurred. It has been over a year now with absolutely not art to show for and next to no corroboration on the part of the artist. Efforts at communication have been made but the artist has not responded often and when they do they claim the work is done but has yet to show the product
At this point my friends is looking at reimbursement or at least finding out what the immense delay is about. However attempts at communication haven't been fruitful and without a written confirmation of the transaction the artist basically has my friend by the balls. They could just say my friend never paid for anything and absolve themselves of any obligation period.
What do you guys think is the best course of action? I think a lot of this could be resolved if the artist would just communicate but that's where the trouble is. Should my friend lash out publicly to force a dialogue? I don't know what the best thing for him to do at this juncture would be and hoped others here might have some advice.
It happened last year at a convention. As is typical of such events there are artists selling commissioned work. My friend approached an artist and made a rather pricey transaction for the cost of $160 for work to be done shortly in the future as the artist's workload at the con itself was rather large. The payment was made at the time in cash. There is no paper trail or written contract to prove the transaction occurred. It has been over a year now with absolutely not art to show for and next to no corroboration on the part of the artist. Efforts at communication have been made but the artist has not responded often and when they do they claim the work is done but has yet to show the product
At this point my friends is looking at reimbursement or at least finding out what the immense delay is about. However attempts at communication haven't been fruitful and without a written confirmation of the transaction the artist basically has my friend by the balls. They could just say my friend never paid for anything and absolve themselves of any obligation period.
What do you guys think is the best course of action? I think a lot of this could be resolved if the artist would just communicate but that's where the trouble is. Should my friend lash out publicly to force a dialogue? I don't know what the best thing for him to do at this juncture would be and hoped others here might have some advice.
Expansion/Macro Comic for Sale!
General | Posted 12 years agoDo you like expansion?
Do you like macros?
Do you like hourglass figures?
Do you like inflation?
Do you like all manners of growth?
If you answered yes to any of these I highly suggest you go check out the page of my good bud jaeh because he's just posted an almost 30 page comic featureing all these things for the extremely affordable price of $10.
Here is the link to the comic page.
Now go! Enjoy the bigness that awaits you!
Do you like macros?
Do you like hourglass figures?
Do you like inflation?
Do you like all manners of growth?
If you answered yes to any of these I highly suggest you go check out the page of my good bud
jaeh because he's just posted an almost 30 page comic featureing all these things for the extremely affordable price of $10.Here is the link to the comic page.
Now go! Enjoy the bigness that awaits you!
Martian Manhunter is in!
General | Posted 12 years agoI know this is old news but I'm still hype as hell for it. So much so I've watched it several times just to try to figure out what moves he's doing. Yes I'm a nerd. Shaddap. I'm mostly writing this to share my hype and also see how close to correct I am when he comes out.
Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, here's the trailer.
https://youtu.be/ziOGh4eooC8
Here's the breakdown of what I can see. Also, I may reference Mortal Kombat 9 to help illustrate. X3
-His trait looks like it at the very least increases the range of all his normals. It may also switch up some of his special moves similar to Raven's Demon stance. At the very least it doesn't appear to have any activation animation, like Bane's Venom trait. Instant footsies!
-He has a teleport attack that appears to track like Noob's. It looks like if you use it in the air it drops above and the ground version works like Sektor's telepunch. No idea what levels they hit at. Seems you can combo off both.
-There are telekinetic bombs he can place at different distances. To me this looks like it has great potential for wake-up shenanigans and that makes me feel all tingly inside. <3
-He has a projectile of some sort that comes from overhead, similar to Green Lantern missiles. The MB version shot three at once. We saw the regular version shot only one. I suspect like missiles it has three potential distances it can travel.
-He has a ground shockwave that pops enemies up. Kind of looks like Shang Tsung's ground fireballs. He comboed after the MB version making wonder whether that one bounces them higher or if it has other properties.
-He can double air dash by burning meter. Yay mobility!
-There's a move he does once early on that looks like a dash punch that teleports the enemy to the other side. I suspect this is a special and it looks like a MB version too. Don't know what the normal one looks like, assuming it's even a special at all.
-There's a move something like a psychic palm strike that I first thought was a normal but now I think may be a special. I'm really not sure though. It looks like it normally just knocks them away but I swear I saw him meter burn it later into a sort of in the air slam punch. Really hard to tell. The palm might be the last hit of a string and the slam punch might actually be the normal version of the above dash punch.
-There's this one move that really confuses me and make me wonder if his trait alters his specials. It's that two handed overhead slam move. I'm not even sure if it's really a special or not. The first time he did it it resulted in this flurry of stretchy punches. At this time trait was activated. The second time trait was off and it looks like it went into a low grab that he meter burned. This makes me wonder two things: if the earlier punch flurry was a normal string or not and if it is, does that mean he has a low grab? The whole sequence confuses me. XD
-One the whole by looking at the trailer J'onn seems kind of similar to Black Adam. He's high mobility and footsie centric but doesn't appear to have much in the way of mix-ups. Almost certain I didn't see any low normal combo starters. However where Black Adam is a capable zoner in his own right, MMH seems more focused around anti-zoning.
Man, I can't wait to get my hands on this guy and start kicking ass with the big green Buddha. =P
Anyway, if you haven't seen it yet, here's the trailer.
https://youtu.be/ziOGh4eooC8
Here's the breakdown of what I can see. Also, I may reference Mortal Kombat 9 to help illustrate. X3
-His trait looks like it at the very least increases the range of all his normals. It may also switch up some of his special moves similar to Raven's Demon stance. At the very least it doesn't appear to have any activation animation, like Bane's Venom trait. Instant footsies!
-He has a teleport attack that appears to track like Noob's. It looks like if you use it in the air it drops above and the ground version works like Sektor's telepunch. No idea what levels they hit at. Seems you can combo off both.
-There are telekinetic bombs he can place at different distances. To me this looks like it has great potential for wake-up shenanigans and that makes me feel all tingly inside. <3
-He has a projectile of some sort that comes from overhead, similar to Green Lantern missiles. The MB version shot three at once. We saw the regular version shot only one. I suspect like missiles it has three potential distances it can travel.
-He has a ground shockwave that pops enemies up. Kind of looks like Shang Tsung's ground fireballs. He comboed after the MB version making wonder whether that one bounces them higher or if it has other properties.
-He can double air dash by burning meter. Yay mobility!
-There's a move he does once early on that looks like a dash punch that teleports the enemy to the other side. I suspect this is a special and it looks like a MB version too. Don't know what the normal one looks like, assuming it's even a special at all.
-There's a move something like a psychic palm strike that I first thought was a normal but now I think may be a special. I'm really not sure though. It looks like it normally just knocks them away but I swear I saw him meter burn it later into a sort of in the air slam punch. Really hard to tell. The palm might be the last hit of a string and the slam punch might actually be the normal version of the above dash punch.
-There's this one move that really confuses me and make me wonder if his trait alters his specials. It's that two handed overhead slam move. I'm not even sure if it's really a special or not. The first time he did it it resulted in this flurry of stretchy punches. At this time trait was activated. The second time trait was off and it looks like it went into a low grab that he meter burned. This makes me wonder two things: if the earlier punch flurry was a normal string or not and if it is, does that mean he has a low grab? The whole sequence confuses me. XD
-One the whole by looking at the trailer J'onn seems kind of similar to Black Adam. He's high mobility and footsie centric but doesn't appear to have much in the way of mix-ups. Almost certain I didn't see any low normal combo starters. However where Black Adam is a capable zoner in his own right, MMH seems more focused around anti-zoning.
Man, I can't wait to get my hands on this guy and start kicking ass with the big green Buddha. =P
Your thoughts on Deadpool
General | Posted 12 years agoHey guys. Just a quick journal with a quick question. I was hoping you guys could answer it to help me with a future journal. Here is the question.
How would you describe the character of Deadpool to the extent you've seen him? Try your best to describe his character without describing how he looks or what his occupation is. Describe him as if you're introducing him to a person that knows nothing about him. Also please tell how familiar you are with the character. Which of his comics you've read, games you've seen him in, etc.
All feedback is appreciated. And this isn't exclusive to fans of the character. Anybody is free to help with this regardless of how much or how little you're familiar with the character.
Thanks for helping.
How would you describe the character of Deadpool to the extent you've seen him? Try your best to describe his character without describing how he looks or what his occupation is. Describe him as if you're introducing him to a person that knows nothing about him. Also please tell how familiar you are with the character. Which of his comics you've read, games you've seen him in, etc.
All feedback is appreciated. And this isn't exclusive to fans of the character. Anybody is free to help with this regardless of how much or how little you're familiar with the character.
Thanks for helping.
List-O-Rama!
General | Posted 12 years agoBehold! Here are some various lists based on things people said in a previous journal. I basically picked the ones I was most intrigued by plus one of my own. Might do more later. If you want elaboration feel free to ask. Also, these are in no particular order.
Top 5:
Characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adenture
-Dio Brando
-Joseph Joestar
-Jean Pierre Polnareff
-Gyro Zeppeli
-Weather Report
Comic Illustrators
-Jerome Opeña
-Frank Quitely
-Ivan Reis
-Esad Ribić
-Daniel Acuña
Comic Book Heroes
-Nova (Rich Rider)
-Deadpool
-Moon Knight
-Booster Gold
-Martian Manhunter
Voice Actors
-Cam Clarke
-Michael Bell
-Simon Templeman
-Daran Norris
-David Kaye
Most disappointing games this last console generation
-Soul Calibur V
-Bayonetta
-Dark Void
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Marvel vs. Capcom 3
Top 5:
Characters from JoJo's Bizarre Adenture
-Dio Brando
-Joseph Joestar
-Jean Pierre Polnareff
-Gyro Zeppeli
-Weather Report
Comic Illustrators
-Jerome Opeña
-Frank Quitely
-Ivan Reis
-Esad Ribić
-Daniel Acuña
Comic Book Heroes
-Nova (Rich Rider)
-Deadpool
-Moon Knight
-Booster Gold
-Martian Manhunter
Voice Actors
-Cam Clarke
-Michael Bell
-Simon Templeman
-Daran Norris
-David Kaye
Most disappointing games this last console generation
-Soul Calibur V
-Bayonetta
-Dark Void
-Metal Gear Solid 4
-Marvel vs. Capcom 3
I need "Top 5 (insert here)" topics
General | Posted 12 years agoI'm in a list mood. I want to ramble off opinions in list format to share my opinions of stuff. Please give me a few topics you'd like to hear my opinions on. The nerdier the better. I may pick and choose. I won't give my mini essay rationale. Not at first anyway. Just want to ramble off some stuff.
Thanks guys.
-Edit-
Just to clarify, don't make your own list of topics. I want you dive me things to make lists of. Example: Top 5 Favorite whatever.
Thanks guys.
-Edit-
Just to clarify, don't make your own list of topics. I want you dive me things to make lists of. Example: Top 5 Favorite whatever.
Question for MST3K fans.
General | Posted 12 years agoSo in between my livestreaming the entirety of Hokuto no Ken we've been taking breathers with intermittent dips into that wonderful show known as Mystery Science Theater 3000. Well, we've watched a few and while I love the series and have seen a fair number of episodes, I believe the show had a run of nearly 200 episodes and I'm ignorant to many.
So with that said I was hoping you guys could recommend a few while also sharing your personal faves in the comments. Keep in mind we've already watched 3 of my personal faves. These are what we've sat through in my streams so far.
-Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
-Space Mutiny
-Manos: The Hands of Fate
-Future War
What are some of your own personal faves you feel I should stream in the future.
So with that said I was hoping you guys could recommend a few while also sharing your personal faves in the comments. Keep in mind we've already watched 3 of my personal faves. These are what we've sat through in my streams so far.
-Overdrawn at the Memory Bank
-Space Mutiny
-Manos: The Hands of Fate
-Future War
What are some of your own personal faves you feel I should stream in the future.
Injustice: The DLC Line-up is STILL Garbage
General | Posted 12 years agoSo yeah, I'm a little calmed down after first hearing this. Calm enough to complain about it and remain semi-coherent. Anyway it was revealed Scorpion from Mortal Kombat is the third DLC character for Injustice. Look for yourself.
https://youtu.be/kRoxp_Wg8Qs
FUCK
.
.
.
THIS
.
.
.
SHIT!
Now let me just say I like Scorpion and I like Mortal Kombat. However when I bought Injustice I was buying it for the express reason that it was a fighter starring the heroes and villains of DC comics. If I wanted to play Scorpion you know what I'd do? I'd fucking play him in Mortal Kombat 9! I sure as shit wouldn't put down five dollars to have him plopped into a game where he doesn't belong. Even if I didn't have MK9 that five dollars could pay for about 33% of that game since it's dirt cheap right now. I want to give NR more money and support them for a job well done but when they pull shit like this not only are the ensuring they get none of my money but it also disappoints me to the point of anger.
This is just such a huge goddamned waste. I mean, Batgirl was also a waste in my opinion since she's yet another Bat-characters but at least she's a fucking DC hero. There's such a huge Pantheon of characters NR could have used but instead they phoned it in and used Scorpion. According to the official Twitter page htey have "good reasons" for including him. I call bullshit. There is NO reason to justify p
Other than just being pissed at this as a matter of principle, objectively it's just lazy. Almost all his moves and animations look identical to those in MK9. Assets were obviously recycled. Besides that his outfit is just hideous. He looks more like Noob than Scorpion to start, he looks nothing like a ninja or a samurai and the shapes of those swords are beyond stupid looking. Jim Lee's design just sucks in my opinion.
The only good thing about the trailer was a possible tease for Martian Manhunter being revealed some time in the future...maybe. Otherwise this DLC can go to hell. If you agree with me feel free to dislike the video and maybe bitch a bit in the comments.
https://youtu.be/kRoxp_Wg8Qs
FUCK
.
.
.
THIS
.
.
.
SHIT!
Now let me just say I like Scorpion and I like Mortal Kombat. However when I bought Injustice I was buying it for the express reason that it was a fighter starring the heroes and villains of DC comics. If I wanted to play Scorpion you know what I'd do? I'd fucking play him in Mortal Kombat 9! I sure as shit wouldn't put down five dollars to have him plopped into a game where he doesn't belong. Even if I didn't have MK9 that five dollars could pay for about 33% of that game since it's dirt cheap right now. I want to give NR more money and support them for a job well done but when they pull shit like this not only are the ensuring they get none of my money but it also disappoints me to the point of anger.
This is just such a huge goddamned waste. I mean, Batgirl was also a waste in my opinion since she's yet another Bat-characters but at least she's a fucking DC hero. There's such a huge Pantheon of characters NR could have used but instead they phoned it in and used Scorpion. According to the official Twitter page htey have "good reasons" for including him. I call bullshit. There is NO reason to justify p
Other than just being pissed at this as a matter of principle, objectively it's just lazy. Almost all his moves and animations look identical to those in MK9. Assets were obviously recycled. Besides that his outfit is just hideous. He looks more like Noob than Scorpion to start, he looks nothing like a ninja or a samurai and the shapes of those swords are beyond stupid looking. Jim Lee's design just sucks in my opinion.
The only good thing about the trailer was a possible tease for Martian Manhunter being revealed some time in the future...maybe. Otherwise this DLC can go to hell. If you agree with me feel free to dislike the video and maybe bitch a bit in the comments.
Going to sell some Berserk Manga (and other things)
General | Posted 12 years agoI've got some miscellaneous things I was planning to sell to make a little extra pocket change. I was going to post them on ebay within 24 hours but I figured I'd post here first to see if anybody was interested in one item in particular.
I know a fair number of my friends are manga/anime nerds of some capacity. Well, I have the first six volumes of Berserk in like new condition and I plan to sell them as a bundle. Just wondering if anybody here was interested in them.
Here's all of the stuff if anyone is curious.
-Berserk Vol. 1-6
-Halo 3 Legendary Edition Master Chief Helmet
-Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Collector's Edition Harlequin Jack-in-the-box and art book.
-Nova Vol. 5 Trade Paperback
-Moon Knight: Shadowland Hardcover
-Devil May Cry 1 and 2 light novels
-Devil May Cry 3 manga vol 1 and 2
-Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Xbox 360)
I plan on selling old strategy guides as well after sorting through them. and picking out the ones I don't care to keep.
Leave a comment if you're interested.
I know a fair number of my friends are manga/anime nerds of some capacity. Well, I have the first six volumes of Berserk in like new condition and I plan to sell them as a bundle. Just wondering if anybody here was interested in them.
Here's all of the stuff if anyone is curious.
-Berserk Vol. 1-6
-Halo 3 Legendary Edition Master Chief Helmet
-Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood Collector's Edition Harlequin Jack-in-the-box and art book.
-Nova Vol. 5 Trade Paperback
-Moon Knight: Shadowland Hardcover
-Devil May Cry 1 and 2 light novels
-Devil May Cry 3 manga vol 1 and 2
-Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (Xbox 360)
I plan on selling old strategy guides as well after sorting through them. and picking out the ones I don't care to keep.
Leave a comment if you're interested.
Injustice: The DLC Line-up is Garbage
General | Posted 12 years agoIf you know the news, skip to the part after the video.
So guys, Injustice was very forthcoming about doing DLC characters in much the same way as in Mortal Kombat 9. "Fine by me" I thought because the season pass was a fair deal and aside from the odd inclusion of Freddy I thought the picks were excellent. Fast forward to Injustice: Gods Among Us. A little while ago it was revealed Lobo was going to be the first DLC character. Not a bad pick. People like him. But then a nasty rumor started circulating. A rumor that the remaining three characters were going to be a bunch of characters next to nobody asked for. The remaining characters were going to be Batgirl, General Zod, and Scorpion.
"No way." I thought to myself. "Nobody was asking for those guys. Nobody could be that stupid." I kept telling myself. Lo and behold, this leak happens, just like with Lobo.
https://youtu.be/IMuuH7Y7RB4
Personally, it pisses me off that in a game that has a quarter of its roster comprised of Batman characters, they decided to add another. What gets me even more pissed is that this lends credibility to the idea that the leaked list was true, that Zod and Scorpion are the next additions.
This to me is just pure utter bullshit. I'm aware I may be acting like a whiny, entitled consumer but dammit, if you go on any forum anywhere talking about this game and the potential DLC and you'll find next to nobody asking for any of these three characters. Bottom line though is it just seems like a lose/lose scenario. Boon said he can't say for sure this it will be it for DLC and there could potentially be more. This DLC needs to sell in order for it to be worth it to invest in more DLC. People, like me, are livid at the notion of this leak being true if not at least Batgirl being the next addition. Annoyed customers are customers who won't buy the DLC and the DLC won't sell enough to merit more DLC with characters people are actually asking for.
So here's what I ask of any of my watchers who share my mindset and are not satisfied with this reveal. Let the guys know. Tell them how dissatisfied you are about Batgirl. Tell them how dissatisfied you'll be if Zod and Scorpion are added. Make them acknowledge that this is a problem. That way if the DLC sell like shit they'll at least know it was their own damn fault for such terrible choices. Then maybe we have a slim chance of taking another crack at it with heroes and villains the fans actually want.
Here are their Facebook and Twitter pages as well as their Youtube channel. When the Batgirl trailer comes out be sure to dislike and complain in the comments!
https://twitter.com/InjusticeGame
https://www.facebook.com/injusticegame
http://www.youtube.com/user/InjusticeGame
So guys, Injustice was very forthcoming about doing DLC characters in much the same way as in Mortal Kombat 9. "Fine by me" I thought because the season pass was a fair deal and aside from the odd inclusion of Freddy I thought the picks were excellent. Fast forward to Injustice: Gods Among Us. A little while ago it was revealed Lobo was going to be the first DLC character. Not a bad pick. People like him. But then a nasty rumor started circulating. A rumor that the remaining three characters were going to be a bunch of characters next to nobody asked for. The remaining characters were going to be Batgirl, General Zod, and Scorpion.
"No way." I thought to myself. "Nobody was asking for those guys. Nobody could be that stupid." I kept telling myself. Lo and behold, this leak happens, just like with Lobo.
https://youtu.be/IMuuH7Y7RB4
Personally, it pisses me off that in a game that has a quarter of its roster comprised of Batman characters, they decided to add another. What gets me even more pissed is that this lends credibility to the idea that the leaked list was true, that Zod and Scorpion are the next additions.
This to me is just pure utter bullshit. I'm aware I may be acting like a whiny, entitled consumer but dammit, if you go on any forum anywhere talking about this game and the potential DLC and you'll find next to nobody asking for any of these three characters. Bottom line though is it just seems like a lose/lose scenario. Boon said he can't say for sure this it will be it for DLC and there could potentially be more. This DLC needs to sell in order for it to be worth it to invest in more DLC. People, like me, are livid at the notion of this leak being true if not at least Batgirl being the next addition. Annoyed customers are customers who won't buy the DLC and the DLC won't sell enough to merit more DLC with characters people are actually asking for.
So here's what I ask of any of my watchers who share my mindset and are not satisfied with this reveal. Let the guys know. Tell them how dissatisfied you are about Batgirl. Tell them how dissatisfied you'll be if Zod and Scorpion are added. Make them acknowledge that this is a problem. That way if the DLC sell like shit they'll at least know it was their own damn fault for such terrible choices. Then maybe we have a slim chance of taking another crack at it with heroes and villains the fans actually want.
Here are their Facebook and Twitter pages as well as their Youtube channel. When the Batgirl trailer comes out be sure to dislike and complain in the comments!
https://twitter.com/InjusticeGame
https://www.facebook.com/injusticegame
http://www.youtube.com/user/InjusticeGame
Injustice Online: Stop Bitching about Deathstroke
General | Posted 12 years agoTest Your Might posted these videos today and I would really like it if people help to spread them. Get people informed and get them to stop complaining.
https://youtu.be/G9N5OfdBnEs
https://youtu.be/gr2TIiXs6_M
I haven't even gone online yet and I've heard the complaining about Deathstroke. Even when just messing around with him I knew he was going to be the newbie's character of choice thanks to how easy it is to spam his guns and and get results against other new players but I never guessed people would react the way they did. There's been complaints that he's too strong or he's the best character in the game and, in the worst cases, people actually asking him to be nerfed. That's just silly.
The game has been out for a week. One week. It is way, way too early for anybody to be suggesting any balance changes in this game right now let alone be justified in their claims. The meta-game hasn't developed yet. People asking for nerfs are just being lazy and would rather complain than learn. But you know what? Rather than put those people down I think it's best they simply be taught so they can improve and enjoy the game on a higher level.
The game is seven days old. Rather than cry for balance tweaks why not spread a little knowledge instead? The last thing this game needs is some knee-jerk balance patch so early in its lifespan. That already happened in Mortal Kombat 9 and the results were messy.
https://youtu.be/G9N5OfdBnEs
https://youtu.be/gr2TIiXs6_M
I haven't even gone online yet and I've heard the complaining about Deathstroke. Even when just messing around with him I knew he was going to be the newbie's character of choice thanks to how easy it is to spam his guns and and get results against other new players but I never guessed people would react the way they did. There's been complaints that he's too strong or he's the best character in the game and, in the worst cases, people actually asking him to be nerfed. That's just silly.
The game has been out for a week. One week. It is way, way too early for anybody to be suggesting any balance changes in this game right now let alone be justified in their claims. The meta-game hasn't developed yet. People asking for nerfs are just being lazy and would rather complain than learn. But you know what? Rather than put those people down I think it's best they simply be taught so they can improve and enjoy the game on a higher level.
The game is seven days old. Rather than cry for balance tweaks why not spread a little knowledge instead? The last thing this game needs is some knee-jerk balance patch so early in its lifespan. That already happened in Mortal Kombat 9 and the results were messy.
Super Street Fighter 4 AE: 2013 Wishlist - Part 2
General | Posted 12 years agoWas planning to write this a little bit sooner, but go figure, Injustice came out and it's a total blast so far. Anyway, here are my wishlist changes for my other main, Bison. Keep in mind these are perhaps a bit more unhinged as it were partly due to me not using him as much as Hakan and being biased by nostalgia. Also I'm irritated that Bison has been pretty much nerfed since vanilla when honestly he was never a dominating character to begin with.
M. Bison
-Improve the hitbox and/or priority of Hell Attack. This would help Bison immensely. It doesn't need to be amazing but at leas make it it doesn't get beat by every goddamn air normal in the game. This would give him an anti-air option and a more reliable way to land an ultra to increase his comeback potential, both areas Bison is lacking.
-Either change Psycho Punisher's input back to the quarter circle motions or make it fast enough to to be usable with the charge input. In Super is was decent without being brain dead but now it's utterly useless. The charge telegraphs your intentions, it's easy to bait and it's too slow to reliably punish on reaction.
-Damage buffs all over the place or at the very least some really good stun on his combos. I'll get more into this at the end but I'll just say that when I heard they gave Roundhouse different damage properties at different parts of the leg I was just dumbfounded.
-Give Headstomp good tracking. There's already a plethora of ways to counter this move. Taking half a step forward or backward should not be one of them. Headstomp should force them to take action or block. Currently the move is as good as giving the other guy a free punish. While I'm at it, make the Skull Diver follow-up actually hit consistently too.
-Give Headstomp to the Skull Crusher followup and the Devil Reverse their old Super Turbo cross-up properties. It helped with his linear game plan back then so I'm sure it could help him now.
-Make c.HP aster on start-up. The idea is to make it usable as an anti-air. Right now you have to be a damn psychic to anti-air anybody with it. I don't even know if the hitbox is any good because I never land it. Even if it means nerfing it in some other way at least make it a usable option.
-Make Devil Reverse all or nothing EX. Right now the move is a two part move and both parts cost a bar to make EX. This is just stupid because it could potentially be 2 bars for only one attack and absolutely nobody is going to use EX punch follow-up after the first part of a vanilla Devil Reverse.
Overview - Yeah you read that right. I suggested pretty much nothing but buffs for Bison. Here is why. I'm about to break a long believed myth by some people, mainly the newer players. Bison really isn't all that good. At best he's a mid tier character. But I can understand why the uninformed may believe Bison to be fine as is. For starters they probably never used him enough to understand his shortcomings. Secondly, Bison's strengths at a glance seem pretty intimidating to those who don't know how to cope with his offense. Bison has a respectable command of horizontal space with Scissor Kick and some fantastic pokes. Also, his Scissor Kick pressure with intelligent application can be very oppressive. It feels overpowering when you just start but as a player skill increases it just gets harder and harder to win.
Let me tell you every weakness Bison has right now. He has mediocre defensive options, poor anti-air options, no reliable way to land ultras giving him poor comeback potential, no particularly noteworthy reversal, he has no overhead, he has a poor mix-up game, the nature of throw teching in this game damages his tic throws he has virtually no options after FADC or reasons to do it anyway and his damage is poor. What all this basically means is Bison is a character with a painfully linear plan of attack that revolves around getting damage primarily by cross-ups, frame traps or by applying strategic pressure through Scissor Kicks and pokes to chip away at life. He can't force openings like, say, Ryu or Viper. Surely you'd think maybe to compensate for this Bison would get a greater payoff for the effort of landing a hit, but he doesn't. Bison's go-to bread n' butter combo contains two links and barely exceeds 200 damage and all the work to get that meager damage can be utterly ruined by one bad read into a reversal. The above mentioned Ryu and Viper have combos just as strong as Bison's if not stronger, ways to combo into ultra and a plethora of mix-ups and options to open up opponents and they aren't even the only ones. How is this at all fair and balanced? People still want Bison nerfed?
You see, Super Turbo is the bar by which I judge all other Bison interpretations because I believe it set the best and most exciting precedent for his character design. Bison is raw offense with no defense. He doesn't have crazy mix-ups of easy defensive options but if he lands a hit he can fucking murder you. I'm fine with Bison lacking in other areas for the sake of constant, oppressive offense, but in a game with such powerful defense there simply has to be a better trade-off for the ridiculous amount of work has to do just to land a hit. His BnB's need to do enough damage people actually need a reason to fear him landing them or at the very least he needs to do enough stun that dizzy state is actually attainable for him with some degree of regularity. There may no longer be any "Touches of Death" but that doesn't mean Bison shouldn't be able to at least send opponents reeling after a couple solid combos.
I'm adamant about improving Hell Attack. It needs a buff of some kind. As for the tweaks to his down charge attacks, I just want them to behave like they did in Super Turbo. They were perfectly counterable but they were tricky enough you could occasionally catch opponents off guard if not bait whiffed moves. Oh, to all those morons on Capcom-Unity who say the Scissor Kicks need to be nerfed (yes, nerfed) and the lk version must be made unsafe on block, I have two things to say to you. First, you're an idiot. Second try going balls to the wall crazy with scissor kick pressure on your typical shoto-scrub and see how far it gets you. See just how "overpowered" that move is. Morons.
M. Bison
-Improve the hitbox and/or priority of Hell Attack. This would help Bison immensely. It doesn't need to be amazing but at leas make it it doesn't get beat by every goddamn air normal in the game. This would give him an anti-air option and a more reliable way to land an ultra to increase his comeback potential, both areas Bison is lacking.
-Either change Psycho Punisher's input back to the quarter circle motions or make it fast enough to to be usable with the charge input. In Super is was decent without being brain dead but now it's utterly useless. The charge telegraphs your intentions, it's easy to bait and it's too slow to reliably punish on reaction.
-Damage buffs all over the place or at the very least some really good stun on his combos. I'll get more into this at the end but I'll just say that when I heard they gave Roundhouse different damage properties at different parts of the leg I was just dumbfounded.
-Give Headstomp good tracking. There's already a plethora of ways to counter this move. Taking half a step forward or backward should not be one of them. Headstomp should force them to take action or block. Currently the move is as good as giving the other guy a free punish. While I'm at it, make the Skull Diver follow-up actually hit consistently too.
-Give Headstomp to the Skull Crusher followup and the Devil Reverse their old Super Turbo cross-up properties. It helped with his linear game plan back then so I'm sure it could help him now.
-Make c.HP aster on start-up. The idea is to make it usable as an anti-air. Right now you have to be a damn psychic to anti-air anybody with it. I don't even know if the hitbox is any good because I never land it. Even if it means nerfing it in some other way at least make it a usable option.
-Make Devil Reverse all or nothing EX. Right now the move is a two part move and both parts cost a bar to make EX. This is just stupid because it could potentially be 2 bars for only one attack and absolutely nobody is going to use EX punch follow-up after the first part of a vanilla Devil Reverse.
Overview - Yeah you read that right. I suggested pretty much nothing but buffs for Bison. Here is why. I'm about to break a long believed myth by some people, mainly the newer players. Bison really isn't all that good. At best he's a mid tier character. But I can understand why the uninformed may believe Bison to be fine as is. For starters they probably never used him enough to understand his shortcomings. Secondly, Bison's strengths at a glance seem pretty intimidating to those who don't know how to cope with his offense. Bison has a respectable command of horizontal space with Scissor Kick and some fantastic pokes. Also, his Scissor Kick pressure with intelligent application can be very oppressive. It feels overpowering when you just start but as a player skill increases it just gets harder and harder to win.
Let me tell you every weakness Bison has right now. He has mediocre defensive options, poor anti-air options, no reliable way to land ultras giving him poor comeback potential, no particularly noteworthy reversal, he has no overhead, he has a poor mix-up game, the nature of throw teching in this game damages his tic throws he has virtually no options after FADC or reasons to do it anyway and his damage is poor. What all this basically means is Bison is a character with a painfully linear plan of attack that revolves around getting damage primarily by cross-ups, frame traps or by applying strategic pressure through Scissor Kicks and pokes to chip away at life. He can't force openings like, say, Ryu or Viper. Surely you'd think maybe to compensate for this Bison would get a greater payoff for the effort of landing a hit, but he doesn't. Bison's go-to bread n' butter combo contains two links and barely exceeds 200 damage and all the work to get that meager damage can be utterly ruined by one bad read into a reversal. The above mentioned Ryu and Viper have combos just as strong as Bison's if not stronger, ways to combo into ultra and a plethora of mix-ups and options to open up opponents and they aren't even the only ones. How is this at all fair and balanced? People still want Bison nerfed?
You see, Super Turbo is the bar by which I judge all other Bison interpretations because I believe it set the best and most exciting precedent for his character design. Bison is raw offense with no defense. He doesn't have crazy mix-ups of easy defensive options but if he lands a hit he can fucking murder you. I'm fine with Bison lacking in other areas for the sake of constant, oppressive offense, but in a game with such powerful defense there simply has to be a better trade-off for the ridiculous amount of work has to do just to land a hit. His BnB's need to do enough damage people actually need a reason to fear him landing them or at the very least he needs to do enough stun that dizzy state is actually attainable for him with some degree of regularity. There may no longer be any "Touches of Death" but that doesn't mean Bison shouldn't be able to at least send opponents reeling after a couple solid combos.
I'm adamant about improving Hell Attack. It needs a buff of some kind. As for the tweaks to his down charge attacks, I just want them to behave like they did in Super Turbo. They were perfectly counterable but they were tricky enough you could occasionally catch opponents off guard if not bait whiffed moves. Oh, to all those morons on Capcom-Unity who say the Scissor Kicks need to be nerfed (yes, nerfed) and the lk version must be made unsafe on block, I have two things to say to you. First, you're an idiot. Second try going balls to the wall crazy with scissor kick pressure on your typical shoto-scrub and see how far it gets you. See just how "overpowered" that move is. Morons.
Super Street Fighter 4 AE: 2013 Wishlist - Part 1
General | Posted 13 years agoHey look at this, a Street Fighter journal. Haven't had those in one of a while. I don't imagine many people here will care about what I have to say here but whatever. I feel like talking about it.
A while ago Capcom announced they were going to release a 2013 balance update to Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition. I can dig it. Despite its flaws I still rather enjoy the SF4 series. I just wanted to post my personal wishlist for my two main characters in SSF4:AE. I don't claim these to be the best nor would I expect all of these to be applied but they are generally the most broad and important changes I can think of that could improve a character without being absurd. Hopefully these are more grounded requests than the retarded ones running rampant on Capcom-Unity.
Hakan
-A slight increase in time given by all oil showers. Pretty self explanatory since oil is what makes Hakan competitive.
-Slightly increased range on dry Oil Rocket. Not a big increase though. I want to maintain the dichotomy between dry and oiled Hakan but I also want this throw to at least be usable when dry, even if only the EX version. Currently it's useless borderline useless when dry. Sometimes his arms go right through the other guy without grabbing.
-EX Oil Dive throw invincible when dry. Right now it's only throw invincible when oiled. Hakan has trouble with meaty throws which is what this move would be very useful against, but when oiled Hakan has a better option. Conversely, when dry, Hakan has pretty much no way to deal with meaty throws and changing the DDT like this would at least give him a potential way to deal with them at meter cost.
-Oil Dives fly over crouching opponents consistently. They're supposed to right no but that only really works if the opponent is at point blank range. A little more leeway would be nice to make it a viable corner escape option.
-j.LK or j.MK crosses up. One or the other. Both look like they should but they don't. This is mostly to help boost his air game and offense, especially when dry since at that time what little offensive potential he has is largely shut down by holding down/back.
-Give him a 3 frame normal. This is mostly for the sake of defense. If he had one he could better interrupt strings. As it stands dry Hakan buckles under heavy pressure.
Overview - If one were to check any recent tier list for the game Hakan very often appears at the bottom. This isn't necessarily because Hakan is a bad character. Quite the contrary. Hakan when oiled is easily one of the best characters in the game if not the best, owning defensive and offensive options the rest of the cast lacks. The problem is this is a temporary state and when he is dry he is actually a rather terrible character. The current meta in this game is built around unblockabe setups and mix-up on wake up. Hakan alone is in the unique position in that any time he scores a knockdown he has weigh his options and either forfeit his advantage to stay oiled or press his advantage and possibly dry up. This quality makes him a highly inconsistent character, at least in the tournament sense.
I won't go into detail why oiled Hakan is good at this time because it's really not relevant to my suggested tweaks. You may notice I don't propose any changes to "Oilkan" at all. I think he's fine as is. Why "Drykan" is so bad is much more relevant. The biggest problem is he has grossly lacking defense and totally buckles under heavy pressure. Drykan needs to be buffed but not in a way to make him able to stand on his own so much. in my mind that flies in the face of Hakan's entire design and core goal of oiling up. If you make the dry state competitive you reduce the importance of the oiled state and I don't want to see that.
In order to oil safely Hakan needs a knockdown and that's basically the mindset I took when thinking of ways to improve him. These buffs don't really make Hakan better so much as they give him ways to get breathing room when dry. Currently, against a lot of characters, if you get dry and are under pressure the only way you can hope to get oil back is by blocking and either making a damn good guess or waiting for a mistake. The better you get at this game the less frequently you see mistakes made. The Rocket and Dive buffs would at least him answers to the offense that really shuts him down but it's still a 50/50 so it's still on the player to make a good read. But guess right and you get oil if not a little breathing room.
One thing I want to address is I see a lot of people requesting is giving him an overhead. s.HP is the most common candidate. I don't like the idea in general and I especially don't like the notion of s.HP being an overhead. Right now when oiled he still has a mix-up with his SPD and DDT and the DDT is uncrouchable on wake-up and can catch back-dashers. When dry I think buffing the SPD range a tiny bit or giving him a crossover would help out just fine. Also, if s.HP was made an over head it would no doubt have to be slowed down to make it fair. It's a currently a focus breaking attack that comes out in 8 frames and it has stellar range. The fastest overhead I know of off the top of my head comes out in 15 frames. I get tremendous use out of Hakan's s.HP as a respectably quick poke and I would not want to see that utility sacrificed for the sake of a brain-dead overhead I don't really need.
So there are my thoughts on Hakan. Totally nerded out there. Sometime later today I'll follow up with Bison. In the meantime I'll just listen to the crickets chirping in the comments section. =P
A while ago Capcom announced they were going to release a 2013 balance update to Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition. I can dig it. Despite its flaws I still rather enjoy the SF4 series. I just wanted to post my personal wishlist for my two main characters in SSF4:AE. I don't claim these to be the best nor would I expect all of these to be applied but they are generally the most broad and important changes I can think of that could improve a character without being absurd. Hopefully these are more grounded requests than the retarded ones running rampant on Capcom-Unity.
Hakan
-A slight increase in time given by all oil showers. Pretty self explanatory since oil is what makes Hakan competitive.
-Slightly increased range on dry Oil Rocket. Not a big increase though. I want to maintain the dichotomy between dry and oiled Hakan but I also want this throw to at least be usable when dry, even if only the EX version. Currently it's useless borderline useless when dry. Sometimes his arms go right through the other guy without grabbing.
-EX Oil Dive throw invincible when dry. Right now it's only throw invincible when oiled. Hakan has trouble with meaty throws which is what this move would be very useful against, but when oiled Hakan has a better option. Conversely, when dry, Hakan has pretty much no way to deal with meaty throws and changing the DDT like this would at least give him a potential way to deal with them at meter cost.
-Oil Dives fly over crouching opponents consistently. They're supposed to right no but that only really works if the opponent is at point blank range. A little more leeway would be nice to make it a viable corner escape option.
-j.LK or j.MK crosses up. One or the other. Both look like they should but they don't. This is mostly to help boost his air game and offense, especially when dry since at that time what little offensive potential he has is largely shut down by holding down/back.
-Give him a 3 frame normal. This is mostly for the sake of defense. If he had one he could better interrupt strings. As it stands dry Hakan buckles under heavy pressure.
Overview - If one were to check any recent tier list for the game Hakan very often appears at the bottom. This isn't necessarily because Hakan is a bad character. Quite the contrary. Hakan when oiled is easily one of the best characters in the game if not the best, owning defensive and offensive options the rest of the cast lacks. The problem is this is a temporary state and when he is dry he is actually a rather terrible character. The current meta in this game is built around unblockabe setups and mix-up on wake up. Hakan alone is in the unique position in that any time he scores a knockdown he has weigh his options and either forfeit his advantage to stay oiled or press his advantage and possibly dry up. This quality makes him a highly inconsistent character, at least in the tournament sense.
I won't go into detail why oiled Hakan is good at this time because it's really not relevant to my suggested tweaks. You may notice I don't propose any changes to "Oilkan" at all. I think he's fine as is. Why "Drykan" is so bad is much more relevant. The biggest problem is he has grossly lacking defense and totally buckles under heavy pressure. Drykan needs to be buffed but not in a way to make him able to stand on his own so much. in my mind that flies in the face of Hakan's entire design and core goal of oiling up. If you make the dry state competitive you reduce the importance of the oiled state and I don't want to see that.
In order to oil safely Hakan needs a knockdown and that's basically the mindset I took when thinking of ways to improve him. These buffs don't really make Hakan better so much as they give him ways to get breathing room when dry. Currently, against a lot of characters, if you get dry and are under pressure the only way you can hope to get oil back is by blocking and either making a damn good guess or waiting for a mistake. The better you get at this game the less frequently you see mistakes made. The Rocket and Dive buffs would at least him answers to the offense that really shuts him down but it's still a 50/50 so it's still on the player to make a good read. But guess right and you get oil if not a little breathing room.
One thing I want to address is I see a lot of people requesting is giving him an overhead. s.HP is the most common candidate. I don't like the idea in general and I especially don't like the notion of s.HP being an overhead. Right now when oiled he still has a mix-up with his SPD and DDT and the DDT is uncrouchable on wake-up and can catch back-dashers. When dry I think buffing the SPD range a tiny bit or giving him a crossover would help out just fine. Also, if s.HP was made an over head it would no doubt have to be slowed down to make it fair. It's a currently a focus breaking attack that comes out in 8 frames and it has stellar range. The fastest overhead I know of off the top of my head comes out in 15 frames. I get tremendous use out of Hakan's s.HP as a respectably quick poke and I would not want to see that utility sacrificed for the sake of a brain-dead overhead I don't really need.
So there are my thoughts on Hakan. Totally nerded out there. Sometime later today I'll follow up with Bison. In the meantime I'll just listen to the crickets chirping in the comments section. =P
