Greetings once again dear island guests! I tried to have another game finished the week I am writing this, but unfortunately , Pokemon Rejuvenation ate all my gaming time! So instead I decided to dedicate a post on an idea of what type of gamer I am! With my top 5 of game types I like to play! I will use categories in the broadest sense of the word, since I like variation! Per category I will specify how much I like certain sub-genres. Each category will also feature a game I really want to play!
Honorable Mention: Party Games
I love playing games with friends, but since it is more of a social experience than a gaming experience I shall keep this down to an honorable mention. I will include the Lego games into this format because they are hilarious and super casual to play with friends! I have plenty of these games and recently tried playing the Harry Potter ones, which weren’t nearly as good as the Pirates one, my absolute favourite or the Marvel one.. which I think is a tad to big.
My favourite Party Game is Use Your Words, a game I discovered through YouTuber BrentalFloss. It is best compared with Cards against Humanity. Make a funny subtitle for a movie clip, make a newspaper headline or complete the sentence in a funny way. However all the answers are filled in by connecting to the game using your phone. No standard answers just your wit! This does mean however that you can have as clean of a game you want or as insensitive as you can get! You decide what is funny thus avoiding it’s rivals greatest weakness! It’s cleaner and funnier! The game I really want to get in this genre is Overcooked 2! That is great fun to play in a group!
Favourite Genre #5 Point and Click Games
Ever since I was a wee little Pinkie, I had an obsession with the Point and Click Genre. The first one I ever completed was Simon the Sorcerer, but I also played a lot Myst with my parents. All of us had notebooks and explored different worlds and we would compare hints together. It did not take me long to find other games. I adored the Monkey Island Games, I played both Discworld adventures, loving Discworld Noir’s atmosphere! Grim Fandango is one of my favourite games of all times.
I have a lot less love for the hidden object subgenre yet I always raced mom in these! That was still kind of fun! The stories are usually cringily generic but there are actually a few good ones as well… unfortunately the titles are generic as well so I can’t remember those. Another subgenre is the whole telltale games thing! I deeply enjoy those, but nothing beats the charm of Simon hurling at the Swamp Creatures Piece de Resistance.. his swamp stew. In this genre I have been planning to pick up the game Deponia. I played the demo once and loved it.. but back then the game costed way more than I could afford! Now however I will probably pick it up soon.
Favourite Game Genre #4 Horror Games
I am a big horror fan, from games like Little Nightmares, to the Resident Evil games. From Spooky Jumpscare Mansion to Layers of Fear. I consume these games on a regular basis! I loved the Evil Within and my favourite Horror Experience was Alien Isolation in VR! I dont have a VR headset so I can never complete that.. but it was the coolest thing! My actual favourite Horror Game is Dead Space, the first one, there is just something to space horror that works for me. Lust for Darkness was my biggest letdown.. not even sure how I got that one.
Another game that seemed super cool but I could not get into was Darkwood. Top down survival horror is not my thing, nor is the whole, master these boss paterns gameplay of Soulsborne games. Rembering attack paterns in modern games is a big no no for me, I want to be emersed, so it sucks to focus on mechanical parts! This is also why I dislike MMO’s gameplay in general. However even though these things are not for me, I can still have some fun with them. Horror games I really want to play are Evil Within 2 and Soma…and Alien Isolation on a VR headset..but that is a bit out of range right now
Favourite Game Genre #3 Turn Based RPG’s
Taking the third spot is what I think most of you would think its my favourite genre, but no! I do count Pokémon in this genre, and sure collectable creature games is my favourite subgenre. Pokémon Gold being my absolute favourite, yet this genre also comes with a lot of tedious qualities! The gaming high during the great moments may be highest but this genre also comes with a lot more lows. For every great story beat there is a clunky crafting system, for every amazing boss there is a grind! It’s all worth it but it takes more effort. The Tales of series is among my favorites in RPG’s having overtaken Final Fantasy by a fair amount.. the latter peeked at part 6. My favourite RPG however is Chrono Trigger..aside from Pokemon Gold.
I hate the modern final Fantasies, Part XV was horrible for me, pretty, yet it had nothing to do with the series for me anymore. I want to play the VII remake but only once the full story is out and I already hate the counter combat system. Final Fantasy XIII is flat-out one of my worst hated games ever! Don’t get me wrong I think Lightning is an amazing character but the gameplay I found absolutely atrocious. Luckily games like Tales and Dragon Quest don’t try to innovate what I fell in love with. I still need to play Tales of Beseria so that is on my wishlist! However Mallow also warmed me up for Nexomon Extinction so even more to add to my wishlist. Though I never use my Steam Wishlist! I remember what I want .. I just miss out on sales.
Favourite Genre #2 Adventure Games
Darksiders and the Legend of Zelda games are the best examples of this genre to me. Yet my absolute , without a doubt , favourite of the Genre was Beyond Good and Evil. The later Jak and Daxter games also veered a bit into this genre and away from platforming. Another game in the genre I hold very dear is Omikron: The Nomad Soul. There is something about roaming a world freely, experiencing aspects of the world, talking to people, getting items taking quest and the likes. While arguably more and RPG Fable still hit that feeling for me while Skyrim doesn’t.
There is something about having several layers of gameplay that captures me. I love just to go fishing in Ocarina of Time, go to a fighting tournament in Omikron or take pictures as Jade. Getting the good bee in Link to the past feels like an achievement and finally getting bombs in the Wind Waker and going back to your old home to check that mysterious spot feels so good! I love exploring in this way and it offers something more whimsical and variaring than action rpg’s. Games I have my eye out in this genre are Link’s awakening on the Switch but even more so Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy on Steam.
My Favourite Genre: Platform Games
Platforming was my first love and it will forever be my favourite game genre! Even if I can’t rank high in Mario 35 and even if I don’t like the insane difficulty of Super Mario Maker. I love platform games. Ducktales was my first, Donkey Kong Country was the first game I was super proud of beating.. and it’s amazing. Never do I have so much fun as with a platformer. It is one of the few genres where I really like Indie games. I slighty prefer 2D platformers over 3D ones but with games like shovel knight and the sublime “The Messenger”. Can you really blame me? I slight get more thrills from getting from A to B rather then finding all collectables.
That being said I adore 3d platformers as well. Yooka Laylee is so good! Super Mario Sunshine brings sunshine to my life..but my absolute favourite, A Hat in Time! That game is so good it even kicks Banjo Kazooie’s sitting-meat for me! When I play a platformer I blossom. I am not to keen on Kaizo platformers though and I do prefer games without long jump strings, my slight spasms make games like Celeste and Ori and the Blind Forest nearly unplayable for me. I can control the spasmsn or at least predict them enough to hold on a small platform or ledge, but when you have to execute a two minute string of jumps I am bound to misclick, twitch or spasmn just a bit at least once so I prefer trickier single jumps over longer jump challenges. Eagle Island the game is something I want to play but I really really REALLY have my heart set on Yooka-Laylee and the impossible lair! It’s a spiritual successor to Donkey Kong after all!
When The Dog Bites, When the bee stings, when I am feeling sad! I just play some of my favourites games…and I won’t feel bad! Tell me what type of games you love in the comments and do remember, these are just my opinions, if I don’t like your favourite game.. it’s just my opinion.. I just quoted Julie Andrews to close off a post about games! Clearly my judgment isn’t all that!
Finally after a long time I could pick up Flip Flappers again. Of the shows I am watching Flip Flappers has been one I have constantly liked the most. It’s themes while often obscure resonate with me , in one way or another and whether or not that if it’s intended way doesn’t really matter. It is a show that made me laugh out loud, squee with glee or cry. This episode managed to chill me… I felt so much empathy I felt horrified to find the truth of Cocona’s story. And then came in the other emotions.
The Summary
Episode 11 is a surprisingly down to earth episode …. for Flip Flappers. Cocona has now become possessed by her mother Mimi, who finds herself trapped in Yayaka’s organisation. She wants nothing but to keep her daughter safe.. so she transforms the enemies into clovers and daisies which seemingly kills them; it even disables their killer robots. From there on out she makes her way to the Headquarters of FlipFlap which now is destroyed by the attack of the Amorphous children. The third one Nyunyu has a lot of fun hunting it’s last remaining members down.. but she is stopped from killing anyone by Yayaka. Mimi is offered to rule the world with the “evil organisation” but she refuses.. she cares for nothing but Cocona and ends up meeting with Salt.. who holds her at gunpoint. By this time I am completely gonna assume he is Cocona’s father as we flash back to the night of Mimi flee FlipFlap. We see a grown up Papika …I think.. or everyone is just really small.. talk with Mimi about the pregnancy…well we don’t see but it is implied and to Salt they do not mention anything either but tell they want to escape.
He allows them to escape.. after blamining them for a failed experiment beyond that red portal thing.. ruining his father’s mind. Seemingly bitter he does allow the organisation to search for them and bring them back. Papika and Mimi are returned and Salt finds out the woman he is in love with has a daughter named Cocona. We briefly flash back to modern times and Salt tells Mimi she isn’t protecting Cocona like this.. she disagrees and she uses her reality warping powers to easily defeat both him and Papika. In more flashbacks we see her embracing an evil side of her to keep Cocona safe, killing many people within FlipFlap.. the dark side of Mimi is the one in control now as well and her only goal is to keep Cocona safe. As an incredibly over protective mother she keeps Cocona safe in Pure Illusion.. however both worlds now begin to fuse and reality is at stake. Given an Amorphous shard by Salt, Yayaka convinces Papika to join her to save Cocona from her mother.. who meanwhile tries to build the perfect world for her daughter..even if it is at the cost of reality.
The Positives
While I am not completely sure if Cocona is an actual human or a manifestation of Mimi’s mind, I am fairly sure Salt is her actual father.. though he does seem to care for Cocona very little, we still need pieces of this puzzle..but little by little we get more and more answers and I like it. The whole idea of what Mimi has been put through and it leaving scars or her sense of reality.. by spending so much time outside of it really works for me. We get a “reap what you sow” kind of situation. Even if they made the best of a bad situation.. the damage was still done. Showing friendship and smiles don’t always fix everything.. which I think is a need element to add in a magical girl show of all things. I also very much like the implications it has on Cocona. We have seen the main girl of the show always struggle with making choices in this series and in this episode we see why. She has a hard time making choices.. because everytime she is making such a choice she wishes she could ask her mother. She never had such a bond that can shape a person and is left without it…. and now she gets offered the exact opposite. The chance to never make a choice again.
The scene where her mother and Cocona are in the boat and her mother starts enforcing hairstyles and dress-styles on Cocona and making choices for her , remind me slightly of my own overprotective mother.. While obviously nowhere near as toxic as Mimi I do see similar elements here. Even at a later age. “Wear your hair like this.. people will like you better” .. while actually meaning .. she likes it better but also genuinely being afraid that by making a choice that is not hers I make the wrong one. I sometimes see a mother that wants me and my sister happy and nothing else in the world would matter.. not to the extent of the anime .. but enough for me to feel like I know Mimi. This one just has a dark side she can refer to for all those things she would otherwise feel conflicted about. Because this episode is mostly set in their reality.. it also feels very concrete , the Pure Illusion elements that feature in this episode still back to that moment in the past, where things were alright. Showing something of perhaps.. regret.. and it keeps everything very real. I really do like this episode.
The Negatives
Apparently this is the episode that a lot of people begin to hate this show, saying it is where it jumps the shark. I honestly do not see that, I feel this has all been pretty well set up from the first episode. From little things such as the fact that Cocona can’t make choices all the way to that first Pure Illusion adventure she had such an impact to reflect her love and fondness for Papika. The latter could be shoehorned in.. but all other worlds would have made less of a visual impact to occur in the real world.. it would have felt more out of place. I do however feel that the evil organisation wasn’t really needed all that much. It could have been another cell in Flip Flappers.. it still might be but since most of the organisation is wiped out I am unsure if we will see any answers on that front. The killer robots in reality might be a tad much… then again.. hover surfboards are a thing. It does push the boundaries of forcing an event.. and I can hear it creak..but for me it never really broke.
Yayaka getting a new hover surfboard and her learning to fly it without fault is a bit of a bigger issue and seeing no resolve with Nyunyu felt strange so the episode does make a few missteps but I am honestly not that bothered by it. Nyunyu is not very consistent in behaviour by character so I can see her just losing interest and pursuing other things. I think we will see what made Papika younger in the next episode.. as that episodes should be centered around her but I would have loved to see a bit of an answer in this episode. Some things were left just a little bit too much in the middle for me.. but that makes me very eager to watch the next episode to see if I can get answers there.. so I am not sure if it is a negative yet.. if I do not get these answers in hindsight it will be but for now I trust them.
The Score
This is one of those exposition episodes that is done well, I think they have done plenty of foreshadowing towards this and it feels earned and sincere.. I felt compassion by what Mimi had to endure and I could see how her mind would snap from something like this. I can see how someone who really has nothing can get obsessed with that one little thing that it becomes her entire life and consumes her. I can also see why it makes her the bad guy.. and I think it offers an interesting struggle for Papika in the next episodes to deal with this. So despite what I saw people complain about in their reviews I think it was done well. Other people called out the over designed elements of this episode and it’s characters.. and I would like to ask those if they have seen the rest of the show…. that is very much how this show is… and that works for me because this show .. teaches us we are shaped by our choices for better or for worse.. we become more unique through the choices that we make so I think the “overdesign” is to an extent intended.
I do get how suddenly all the domino’s coming down to spell out this message may seem out of place as before we only had single lines of bricks falling and now we move to something so much more intense.. yet I really can not say I mind this… I might have preferred to see some elements be built up just a bit more.. or other elements giving some equal attention but this is great as well. Like if you want a chocolat desert of your favourite brand but it’s out of stock and then picking a brand that hits the exact same notes! It might not have been what you wanted but there is no reason to complain either.. and since there is nothing for me to really complain about that means.. we get a very high score.
Hell once again my dear Island Guests! Most of you may know that I recently moved into a new place! A better place! However I bet a lot of you wonder… IS it a PINK place! …Well today I decided to let you find out by giving you a bit of a virtual tour down my new home! I need to wait for my vacuum-cleaner to arrive before I can drill holes in my walls to hang up most of my paintings though! so far only one got done!
<Disclaimer> Some parts might be blurred out or editted a little to prevent people from being recognisable in my art/pictures. <End of Disclaimer>
The Dining area and Entry
I am not showing my basement, shared garden and other shared locations with you guys because .. I can not really make that my own so it doesn’t really tell you anything about me! So we go straight to my apartment and as you enter the door you might notice something straight away. I do not have pink walls. Later on I might want a pink wall somewhere but for the time being I decided to live in a white apartment. There is a couple of stairs in my apartment which makes painting that wall pink a hassle.. and other walls I will wait till I know a bit how the light makes things look! For now all walls are white to keep things nice and spacey.. as I do like crowded decorations. Right at my door I built a little go station! A cabinet for my keys, face masks and other disinfectants.. a small bag for my groceries.. disguised as a pink little pig, a trolley for heavier groceries and of course a pink little umbrella for when it rains. There is also air freshener there.. which of course is in a pink little container. There is also a pink travel brush in there, to tidy up my hair after a windy walk or comb everything a bit loose to go to the store after a day of laying on the couch! I also have a unicorn on my keychain that features some pink! All in all.. a not that pink entryway
By taking about one step ahead, you will step into my dining area. It is a simple Ikea Diner table with four chairs called Thomas. I forgot the table’s name but I gave them different names. The table is called Tamara Table, or Tamara for short and the chairs are called Percy, Gordon Henry and James. Percy and James being the chairs furthest from the wall and the ones I tend to use the most for now. Gordon and Henry will see use in a little while. Tamara is decorated with pink Placemats and some white and pink plastic flowers as well as a little pink jar with light! Normally there are also pink scented candles on there.. but the white ones came with a meal I ordered. The stone chalice is something I got a castle party my uncle threw for his companies 25th birthday.. I got drunk a lot that day.. so now I use it as a candle burner that reminds me to not over indulge. There are gray cushions on my chair.. because as you will see black grey and pink will be a theme. On the wall is a big painting that holds some posters from Japan and a promotional poster of the first blog I ever joined and what introduced me to the geek community! Of course that blog no longer exists and I edited it out of the image.. it is a big life changer for me though so I display it there for me!
The pink intensity begins to pick up as soon as we reach my window! While it is not showing right now there are pink roller blinds that I can put down if I want to avoid peeping eyes! Then there are more pink flowers on my windowsill and another of those pink light pots! The whiter flowers are in pink pots and there is a ute little pink light I turn on at night if I want a cosy atmosphere. Then there are two painted wine bottles my friend Bean made for me! Of course they feature a heavy dose of pink.. with some sky blue for some colour variation. The view is your run of the mill street
The Living Room
Next we go and take a peek in my living room! Let’s focus on my coffee table here and my tv cabinet. The Table is from my old home.. It is called Lak from Ikea and I wanted it in Wenge as this one came from my old apartment and is a bit damaged by years of it being the only table I could use. However Lak Wenge was sold out so for the time being Lakitu is still with me.. he will be replaced by a darker variant however sometime soon! Lakitu will most likely move to the ready other side of the ready cabinet to function as a sort of shoe shelf. The tv cabinet has loads of decorations. Including my figurine of Lala from To Love Ru, many Board games and a small selection of pop figures. My favourite one is Bob Ross with Racoon.. or as I call it Pop Ross. My consoles and board games are all there as well. Also yes I do have a pink background and theme on my laptop! My windows bar and mouse pointer are also pink!
Then we have my couch Hugo. I bought Hugo from the original owner of the apartment and we have been best friends ever since. I put a pink fuzzy blanket over Hugo so when I am laying on the couch I just can grab Blanche the Blanket and wrap myself like a Burrito with pillows. Howard the Duckslipper is a two foot slipper I usually wear to keep my feet warm. My floor is a bit creaky so I prefer to walk with fluffy slippers or barefoot. Howard is there for those barefoot moments! The window behind Hugo is decorated with Sake glasses and sake containers as well as a Budha.. I used to have Budha sit next to my Mani Neko on Steve the Tv Cabinet ..well I mean they sat next to each other in my old house.. but they are split up now, yet the two did not get along and gave off a strange vibe..so now they feel much better. Budha also has two mini charms next to him and a scented candle in one of my favourite scents for winter. Apple Cinnamon. My second favourite is wild berry.. which is a pink candle! I also have a pink gold clock which since has been mounted but hey I write these early and did the prep work early!
The Kitchen
The kitchen is one of the hardest rooms to pinkify! Yet I think I did a pretty good job! i have mostly pink dishware, I have pink dishware, pink dish soap, pink sponges, a pink brush for my dishes and Pinky from Pacman is on my improvised little bar! Right now I do not have a bottle of Rosé to put on there as I am more of a Red Wine person.. but I have lots of Sake and some other products. I also have a peach wine..but that turned out a lot more orange. Other than that it is a bit of a regular kitchen. I have a white board my friends like to draw on but I use mostly as a daily planner. There is a little cabinet that holds tools, cleaning stuff, medicine and other stuff. On top are some paper plates, paper cups and bowls used for a spontaneous party!.. Not that those are relevant these days.. but hey I had a lot of disposable stuff left over from living in boxes.. now when I really want to keep stuff clean they can come in super handy! I have a neat little table shelf that I use for an oven and microwave and I have a combi thing that might be broken! I am not sure! There is now a blanket on my fridge.. because.. I wanted it in my freezer!
Frankie the Freezer is a bit sad as he had to leave his friend Coolio behind in the old apartment. Now I have one of those.. build in cabinet fridges. I haven’t bonded enough with it yet to give it a name we are close.. I think it feels more femine and happy than Coolio. I am thinking to name her Chrissy.. but that might still change. The kitchen has a lot of extra storage space so there are a lot of things not really belonging in a kitchen as well.. such as my collection of big shoppers, all my cleaning supplies and my non electric tools. That way they are always at hand when I need them without me having to climb the stairs or exit the apartment or exit the apartment! I also have some dog treats here for my landlords Pomeranian Bobo! He is adorable! … Not my Landlord.. but Bobo!
There is more kitchen to behold as I skipped a whole other corner.. but there is a LOT of things I have there with some personal info so Imagine a kitchen dresser, with a black supply shelf.. with some pink jams sitting on top. A White Board with a drawing of a cheeky girl and my appointments and some notes.. my little ledger and stuff like that!
The Bathroom
I did not have the budget for pink bath tiles but if you go upstairs in my apartment you can go to either my bathroom done in an anthracite floor tile with white glossy wall tiles. I have a little wall build with some glass blocks that contain my shower with flappy doors. In front of my shower is a pink little rug and inside is my pink unicorn sponge and of course some pink showergel. I dry myself off with pink or anthracite towels with matching washcloths at my sink for some make up removal and minor fixes.. and of course I have a pink toothbrush that is sitting in a pink container. The rest is mostly white furniture .. to match my laundry machine and dryer. There was no pink toilet rug so we went with a grey one.. because Ikea sucks when it comes to having matching sets! But since my colours in house are pink black, white and grey.. it still works. There are two little garbage bins in baby blue in the bathroom which are just hand me downs but I will replace them whenever I encounter something better… no rush though!
There isn’t to much more to tell about my bathroom, there are a lot of pink close in my hamper. The unicorn sponge is called Crenshaw. Crenshaw the cleaner. My Washer and Dryer were a hassle and a half to get up there. I lack the physical strength to achieve such a feat so I had to pay some people a bit extra to carry it up! Then we found out the dimensions printed on the box were wrong and the washing machine would not fit. So I had to take out a door, and the lifting people had to do some sort of tumble shenanigans! However I am super happy with my bathroom! It is one story up from my other rooms.. aside from the bedroom. Which means I can take late night showers without worrying that I wake people up! I will fall down the stairs one day because I showered to hot and got dizzy.. or I will slip!.. I know I will but if I fall correctly I can land or Hugo!.. I need to nudge myself off a wall first though!
The Bedroom
Finally the bedroom! I have a single one, but that is enough for little old me. The bedroom is easily the pinkest room in my house. Pink rugs, pink bed linnens, pink plushies, pink lights, pink figures such as Halloween Chan and a Pinkie Pie toy! Of course my unicorn neckpillow Sir Ebi Neckjoy is there as well.. because muscle spasms often cramp up my neck and back. So I have a whole nightstand filled with electronic heating lights, massages and other stuff. Yet Ebi Neckjoy is the easiest tool to use. I fairly reguarly cramp up when I get stressed and it can make sleeping hard but with sir Ebi Neckjoy it all isn’t that bad. I have a very simple bed but I like that. It isn’t overly large so I don’t feel lonely and I can squirm around plenty! I might get another one day but I like the fact that it is is a simple white one, it matches well with my Kalax Ikea cabinet. It is the home for my plushies and handheld games! I put my Wii U in the cabinet as well because I gave away most of my books. I read them and would not read them again.. so it kinda felt like weight I did not want to take.. resulting in an empty cabinet. Old consoles solve first world problems!
One of my most precious possesions is my Sylveon rug! A friend gave it to me and I love the stained glass look.. even if the pokeball has some weird discolouration! The Pink Parasol was from a Yukata cosplay I did for a con once. It was amazing and fun and it looked super cute to walk with it besides my friend. There is lots of shelf space which holds my power tools, the boxes of my figures and consoles I want to save. Now I have two power tools. A Bosch Ixo and a drill I found somewhere that still worked. Offscreen there is also a cabinet for my linnens, and a closet that holds my iron and ironing board. It also holds my suitcase if I ever will end up going on a vacation again. Then there is a big two door closet that holds all my clothes. On top of it and underneath my bed are my purses, hats, and other stuff. Some weird stuff I have are a Tommy Wisseau Football and a little parrot plushie I rescued from the trash. I have a small box of memorabilia and lots of it are unwanted toys I rescued! So I bet that in a while my Bedroom will look like a lost toy orphanage.
Now as some time passes I want to upgrade my home a little bit! In a corner I want to put a little desk with maybe a pc instead of a Laptop! For a bit more of a focused blogging workspace. As well as a tool to potentially expand into YouTube or other endeavours. So this has now become our new coffee project! If you want to support the evolution of Paradise, please consider supporting my Ko-Fi! You will become a Coconut, which will provide you with a coconut avatar with it’s own bit of lore, a link of your choice, for example to your own website and you will always be nominated for all my blog tags by default. If I do more give-aways all Coconut entries will also count double!
Thank you all for reading this blog and I hope to see you all in the comments!Let me know what I should make pink next!Do you think I do have enough pink stuff? Do you name your tables?! Let me know!
Very few Isekai shows feel as wholesome and whimsical as Slime to me! The episode we feature in today’s Animini to me shows exactly that “feel good” vibe I love this show so much for.. yet it also shows some of the shows weakest points for me! A great episode to be the first to break off from my bulk Sunday review!
The Summary
This episode picks up right after establishing the great Jura Alliance. Gazel Dwargo gifts Rimuru the scientist “Vesta” whom we have seen earlier in .. I think it was episode 4! But I am too lazy to double check! The asshat guy .. now redeemed becomes a scientist for the village. We also see the Lizard Folk join Rimuru City and finally Gabiru’s sister is named as well.. which transforms her into a very humanoid person with a little dragon fang and some wings. Gabiru evolves further and gets some wings while he is being made a herb farmer down in some caves. Vesta is made the village scientist charged with making potions from those herbs.. like we saw Rimuru do in the very first episode of the show. The village proserpours but it also seems to have gathered some unwanted attention from the demon lords. A pink haired girl in particular takes interest in Rimuru , the Great Jura Alliance and the absence of the great Dragon Veldora and rushes over.
We quickly find out that she is the first person that is stronger than Rimuru. Even while holding back she has 10x the magicules he has. When the ogres attack the Demon Lord known as Milim she quickly beats them without much effort prompting Rimuru to join the fight. Knowing he does not have a chance he decides to feed her honey instead to appease her. Bribing her to give her some more.. as he discovered she has a very childish nature. He also notices she is flat.. probably because she is so kid like! Milim likes the honey and the two start talking and Milim asks Rimuru to become a Demon Lord, which he tells he has no interest in. This prompts her into believing he has more fun than Demon Lords who just can fight strong people.. and she joins the village proclaiming herself to be Rimuru’s bestie.. and she gives Gabiru a proper asswhooping.. Finally! She decides to live in the village which Rimuru’s council tells him might invoke the wrath of the other demon lords.. but Rimuru is mostly glad he subdued this powder keg of a woman.
The Positives
Overall this was a very fun episode that featured a lot of callbacks, easter eggs, call references and I really do like the character of Milim.. She has pink hair so that already is a plus and she is a type of person I really like. A super strong character but lacking the right persona to actually take full advantage of that strength. I really do like these types of characters as they allow for character growth without powers spontaneously manifesting. In last week’s episode I also mentioned how I liked the growth of the town that once again is given some proper attention. The idea of making the potions one of their main trade goods is great and really ties in with the person Rimuru is. Plus what we have seen before.. it feels well established and earned. Having Gabiru fail miserably at the task makes it funnier. Vesta being involved in the potions feels like poetic justice.. so from a writing perspective this episode does really well.
The brief moment of action was also very appealing to me, from Milim’s aura being something very monstrous and explosive to the fake out with Rimuru doing his honey summoning technique. My favourite bit was when Milim punched Gabiru in the face. That hit felt so viceral and the powerful glow she gets in her eyes makes her feel strong.. and similar to Rimuru in a sense.. there is a sense of a tale that still needs to be told surrounding that. I do like the human rendition of the lizard folks as well..I have a weakness for girls with tails or fangs, and while it is a bit of a shame to see them not depicted as Lizards anymore the whole Lizard look lacked the personality they can put into these humanoid forms. I am not sure I agree with the idea of making her human as a concept.. but for me it did work. I have been known for not liking Lizard people too much though so that may be personal bias. I do like lizard elements. All in all I say this episode made a few clever choices that brought a lot of flair and persona to the table for some characters.
The Negatives
I dislike .. a lot.. that Milim wears a barely anything outfit… I dislike that they made Shion’s boobs jiggle in the hottub and I dislike that every female surrounding Rimuru has to be hot and judged by their breast size. I get this will appeal to some people who like that kind of stuff but I found it obnoxiously present. If Milim is indeed so childish why not reflect it a bit in her outfit as well .. give her a more kidlike outfit.. Why does she have to show so much skin?! It seems to conflict with everything else about her. There is a hot tub scene where Rimuru is alone with the ogre girls and Milim and it feels odd. Shuna seems more uptight.. which makes sense for a princess ..but before she was depicted as more shy and very forgiving yet for some reason she is a real stickler against a demon lord swimming in a hot tub..it felt a bit forced to produce a boob joke later on.
While the storytelling of the episode is great and the visuals are mostly nice, I do think the second half of the episode drags on a bit. That is because this episode does a few “false endings” .. Rimuru says some words in conclusion of a situation that feel like an ending “And that is how a Demon Lord joined our village”, “So I became besties with a Demon Lord” and the likes after which we mostly get just casual conversations between characters that do not really add anything. I do not mind the idle conversation but I would have placed the Hot-tub scene BEFORE the big speech so we can end on a high note. Now I ended up checking the timeline twice to see if I had much longer to go because in the end I got bored and wanted the episode to end.. not because it’s a bad episode persé but because they concluded the episode at the 16 minute mark and the final 7 minutes just give it episode length. It could have been mixed a bit better.
The Score
In the end I have a bit mixed feelings about this episode. In the end I think it is a fine episode because it very much did keep me entertained for the majority of its runtime. It just blew the final few minutes and I honestly felt there was too much of an emphasis on fan-service in this episode. I wonder what the little slimes were around Rimuru when he was in the tub. Are they actual slimes or where they like bath toys? I am not sure! It’s perfect light entertainment but it is also an episode that does not hold up when exposed to a more scrutinous eye.
As this episode most likely is aimed to introduce us to the known villains for the rest of the season we also saw too little for it to have properly done that. Yet despite those flaws I had a lot of fun with new and old elements being reintroduced. The fact that Rimuru doesn’t always need power to defeat someone is great and the fact he has met someone stronger than him makes this world feel more alive. So if you are watching the show still by episode 16 I do not think any of these offences it makes are unforgivable.. it just could have been done a bit better, which I know because the show has been better many times over. It does get a positive score from me.. but of the “good” scores it is in the lower range!
Hello island guests this is my second Animini review! The series that used to be Saturday Anime Adventure.. but now in small parts! Today we pick up where I left off with Samurai Flamenco before my move started and that is episode 17! I was not disappointed.I have learned however that I should never play a Sentai in real life! I will get in way over my head! Poor Masayoshi!
The Summary
Masayoshi is welcomed by Goto who knows the police will soon strike to arrest Masayoshi so we are immediately plummeted into some action. Using some weaponised stationary he and Masayoshi manage to escape! Given a new suit Masayoshi is brought to the “base” of the resistance. Mr Justice as well as Kono are there and tell Samurai Flamenco that he has to stop the Prime Minister right now or every other Sentai will be locked up forever due to a new “Anti-Hero” act coming into effect. So Goto and Masayoshi try to disrupt his final speech! Going back to the stationary gadgets of old as well as a new Flamenco suit to get the job done!
However things are not as easy as they may seem! For the Prime Minister is not just a regular prime minister! It is revealed that much like From Beyond Flamenco .. he is a Flamenco too! The government building is on his side and creates a monster for him to combine with! Turning into a sort of Buddha Sentai! The power of his suit increases along with the support he has as a prime minister, thus getting 100% would give him the ultimate power. As he seemingly fights the terrorists the public recognises him as a strong leader and the suit goes stronger. Easily defeating Masayoshi and Goto! However in his final speech he confesses he fooled the public and it is revealed Kono filmed it all with sound.. and thus he quickly loses support. A half unconscious Masayoshi defeats his foe. Then it is revealed that they were all fooled! Mister Justice is actually “Alien Flamenco” an evil force that has took over the world leaders and a 100% powered Prime Minister seemed the only thing standing in between him and world domination! Can Masayoshi clean up this new mess?!
The Positives
I love this episode! I really really really REALLY do! It brings back that old classic Samurai Flamenco with the weird gadgets and the humanity behind the hero. Yet it also managed to combine it with the wackiness of the Flamenger part of the series, as what happened here was absolutely absurd. A roller coaster of plot twists keep the episode interesting and it is backed up with a pretty good fight! A fight that shows Masayoshi with his true friends and hits just enough callback buttons to old episodes to be super satisfying. The Flamen-girls join the fight and we see an improved Mari who willingly takes down the henchmen, finally showing the character has evolved. Moe has a cute moment of not doing anything which suits her very well but it is called out and I am grateful. Seeing Masayoshi and Goto fight the Prime Minister together is also very satisfying.. Even Goto saying he is a Flamenco Policeman felt great.. he finally is an official part of that team and I have been waiting for that.
The conclusion of this fight is also great. We don’t see the classical “hero finds more strength” trope that often accompanies this type of fight. Instead we see the enemy get taken down by a politician’s worst foes. The Press.. and Hubris. Of course Masayoshi still gets his finishing move but the Prime Minister already was done for through other means and that really works in this episode’s favour, sometimes you just have to be the smartest , not the strongest. The fact that there are many Flamenco in there and it has some deeper meaning reaching even into outer space gives some John Wick or Saints Row vibes.. where the plot in following installments keeps getting more and more ridiculous! Kind of like Machete and Machete Kills as well. I really like when a franchise/series has fun with their IP and I do really enjoy that vibe with Samurai Flamenco as well. Where the Flamenger part strayed too much from the core message this storyline is much more akin to the series core identity! So I am a happy little girl!
The Negatives
I don’t have a lot of negatives with an episode that I loved this much, let that be clear. If anything I would have to fault some of the music choices earlier in the episode. While the music during the fight is really great … The music leading up to the fight did not match the scene at all. In fact it fit so poorly that I found myself checking if maybe somewhere an add had opened up. It isn’t mixed in that well sometimes even overpowering the dialogue. The fight of the Flamen girls also seemed a bit sloppier in animation than what they used to be.. as if it was the rushed part of the episode. It isn’t bad but there is a lack of “impact” in their hits. When compared to Masayoshi’s fight or the earlier fight with Goto against the cops.
These are small gripes though and do not really affect how I feel about the episode. I am not sure if I like Alien Flamenco’s design.. and I know I dislike his spaceship’s design which are slightly bigger gripes but it would be something I just have to get used to. It’s a sligt bit “too” alien and too square. It doesn’t really remind me of a sentai villain. If anything I’d say it would be more fitting to one of those newer Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Series. I will probably get used to it but for now I find it a bit meh and generic.
The Score
This is definitely among the better episodes of the series for me! It had some really great moments so far and this episode is almost constantly great, except for maybe some elements I do notice but do not care for THAT much. The show goes into , what I would assume it’s final story arc, super strong and I look forward to seeing the show conclude on a similar level as this.
I do think with five more episodes there might be still a bit to much show left to let this Alien encounter linger for THAT long, so there might an arc where Masayoshi has to live without being a hero after.. but I do not know. I look forward to seeing the show conclude as I think the show is reaching its zenith, I am a bit worried about how things will be wrapped up as the show can’t keep up this Formula 1 tempo it has going right now so while this episode does take a risk for the future on it’s own I was very entertained! Highest score in my orchard.
Hello again my sweet island guests! Yes this will be my second post of the day! As we will do that now!.. Not always but I am for it! While I try to do an animini each day I will also try to keep up my regular content…with the option to more freely skip one of my bigger posts here and there! So strangely one to two posts a day is most likely going to be less work! Those hours saved I can invest in this Pokémon Fan Game I have been playing! Pokémon Rejuvenation.
Pokémon What?!
Pokémon Rejuvenation is a HUUUGE pokémon fan game from the creators of Pokémon Reborn.. that Pokémon game with hookers, suicides, murders and pokémon being tossed into acid. While I loved the game for it’s dark tones, in hindsight Pokémon Reborn might have been a bit needlessly Edgy. Having a criminal team member cut a gym leader in half is fine and all.. but tossing her pokémon in the volcano and forcing her bisected upper half to watch her pokémon melt.. was a bit much. Seeing a gym leader lose it all after alianating his daughter is fine.. and then him commting suicide ..does bring awareness that these are actual humans sure… but having his corpse plummet into the room of his daughters best friend, who then goes catatonic and put into an Asylum where she recieves Electroshock therapy by electric pokemon torturting her… might be overdoing it a bit.
Rejuvenation gives us the pleasure of having a slightly more “contained” story. There still are deaths….but they are more so implied. The game brings some elements of magic to the story. People using the power of Arceus for themselves, people finding abilities through ancient spells to compete with pokémon a bit and people utilizing the more advanced technology and pokemon powers more into their everyday lives. Thus this game becomes more like a classical Pokémon story but made for an adult demographic. You play a main character that is significantly older than 10 years old as well and more in 16 year old to young adult range. In this game your mother gets kidnapped by a cult and the ship you are on gets sunk by the evil Team Xen. This attack seems to tie into you or your mother.. but you have no idea why! There is also a connection to a sacrificial and apocalyptic cult that sends people to Arceus..for this world is certainly doomed. A young girl is trapped to relive this cycle of being sacrificed over and over again…but maybe in your generation she fights back.
Like in Reborn you can choose your own prefix and He/Him, She/Her, They/Them , separately from your avatar. This is always nice, though only important characters will really address you as the correct gender. Most characters will address you Gender neutral… which is still better than the endless being called him of other fan games. The game also has another big advantage over it’s older brother and that is… EASY mode. Yes I know. .. that sounds like a babies way out but if you ever played Reborn and like me do not want to have to IV and EV train everything and carry 18 different teams and level them up.. this is a godsent.. and while the game indeed is easy compared to Reborn, next to the official Pokémon games easy mode still provides more than a challenge. With many special field types like in reborn affecting your attacks.. it still provides plenty of chances to be tactical for you and your enemies. With some confidence I can say that this is THE Pokémon Fan game for Adults…maybe next to Pokémon Fire Red Rocket Edition.
The Trainers
That is a lot of praise for me to give to a game I haven’t even completed yet. However after spending over 60 hours in the game, and probably over 70 by the time you read this, I have a fairly good impression what this game is about. one of its major strengths are it’s characters. During your journey you encounter a lot of trainers that seem to be based on the archetypal pokémon characters. For example there is one boy who really wants to be the very best.. like no one ever was… but he doesn’t really have the skill to back it up. As a result he gets into a lot of trouble and is disillusioned and somewhat bitter. We encounter him a few times and we have to make choices…at one point we face a Gymleader of a xenophobic town.. she staged a play to show that outsiders can be powerful and inspiring.. right before the battle we face and defeat him and get a choice whether or not to let him face the gym leader before us. However there is too much at stake.. an entire town might never trust outsiders if we let the boy go first. So we have to step on his dreams.
Then there is the poison gym leader called Venam. She is a brash girl living with her mother..but she is extremely loud and a bit Tsundere, we see how in a way she is similar to the character of Misty but instead of being an anime character we do get a lot of exposition on why she is the way she is. We get motivations that interest us in her as an adult. She tries to break free of her mold.. but that results in her mother kicking her out. She has to deal with things like an adult.. like how is she going to survive and pay for food. All of it contributes to her character. We also have a battle girl whose father works for the criminal team. We see her believes being shaken and see her go on a journey that fits someone who is on such a journey…much more than just doing the gym challenge she is doing her journey as a little soul search. Then there is you as the character. While you do not have THAT much development the way your journey across the gyms is being done is great. You are facing an evil organisation..of tremendous power.. you do not take the Pokémon Journey to be the champ.. no you use that journey as a measuring stick for your abilities. To see if you are good enough to face those who wronged you!
The game offers you a few moral choices which influence the world around you to an extent. Most of it is by experiencing the story but the game also offers you a subquest system. For example you have to deliver a love letter from one guy to another.. and include medicine.. However if you are like me and are too poor to do the quest at that time you end up seeing them becoming friends rather than lovers. A psychic girl who has powers akin to those of trainers in the main games.. can’t help but abuse her powers, they corrupt her to an extent.. not into a bad person.. but into a different one all the same. Each location you visit and all important people you encounter have logic behind them. A city close to the woods is built from Lumber, a city worshipping Giratina over Arceus has found themselves being the subject of religious persecution in the past.. however while the rest of the world grew up.. and grew past their old bosses these people never could. We really get a WORLD we treat trough.. not just a map! We even get Shadow Pokémon you can snag and purify! So it just about brings everything Pokémon ever offered in a single cohesive world as well.
The Pokemon
This game uses the classical pokémon up to generation VII , so no Galar Pokémon… right now.. the game is still being updated so who knows they might arrive soon! Some Galar music already made it into the game. Much like Reborn the game introduces some new Mega Evolutions and their own variety for story events called Breach Pokémon. These are pokémon from a different Dimension that function like boss encounters throughout the game. Movesets of Pokémon have been slightly altered to be less “broken” and not give you access to anything overpowered early game. Sometimes enemies get their own signature moves. For the most part though they do remain the same. This does mean that to an extend you can use Serebii to help you build a team to encounter some obstacles. However that is not the way I like to play it.. because this game also has custom shinies. These are VERY well done shinies and almost all are unique and vibrant.. you’ll WANT to see a shiny and you can.. because shiny encounter rates are at almost 1/100.. compared to 1/8192. So I play this game using only shines.. I only hunt the first I find per route and then I have to move on.. easy mode allows me to play this way and I am having a blast discovering these new forms.
Trade evolutions have been fixed and as you go along pokémon get increasingly higher base stat totals. Which means that if you have a new shiny.. you’ll most likely want to put it on your team and some of your old one end up phasing out. With the exception of a few statics here and there ..(which are pokémon you can see in the overworld and can only encounter once) you slowly upgrade your team, your flying bug type vivillon gets traded in for the flying fire type Talonflame. Your Ambipom gets traded in for a Traveller and so on. You are constantly upgrading your team and even though this game features a lot of mandatory grinding the high shiny encounter rate and the fact that you are always upgrading keeps the game fun. With the difficulty on easy you can still use Pokémon you really like..as long as it isn’t Shuckle or Dunsparce ,yet you are very much encouraged to have a team larger than six. You swap out your pokémon, and to facilitate this there are pokémon switching stations everywhere! To help you train new team members or give you a more tactical advantage.
Grinding is made very doable by giving you access to a speed up mode, and high level wild encounters. In fact most wild encounters have higher levels than the trainers you encounter. The trainers however use more solid strategies. Each gym caps your level at a certain point after which in easy you can’t progress and on higher difficulties makes your Pokémon rebel against you…which you can undo by feeding them reverse candy. So you can not over-level either way.While it is pretty doable to level your main team with story content, if you need a specific pokemon or encounter an upgrade to your team you can grind those up within a few minutes. You get the Exp Share early and grass encounters give plenty of XP so the creatures in this world really fit and facilitate the game. Habitats also make sense if you know the pokémon. For example inside cities you will encounter doves, cats and trash eating pokemon, while the wooden cottage type of village has plenty of bugs. It does do better with this logic than the actual games so hey good on them! And if you don’t like hunting Pokémon.. there are a fair few achievements you can hunt to buy battle items for your Pokémon.
The Atmosphere
So this game provides a great and vibrant world,that feels much more like a living pokémon world than most officially produced worlds, with exception for stuff like Twilight Wings for example, and they offer the perfect biological diversity in that world to be exactly the game they want to be. This is Pokémon for adults. This is also reflected in just about everything else. The music is stellar, recomposed tracks from all the other games, but those rethreads are amazing and SO atmospheric. The controls are the standard RPG maker controls that are used for just about every other fan game I ever played, with a few extra conveniences such as a soft reset button and up to four registered items being assigned to the F-Keys. The game expects a certain type of player, someone who is passionate about pokémon and geekdom in general and it facilitates towards that rather than offering full on accesibility. Which is great… this is a fan game.. out on the internet for free.
My Graveler’s shiny pattern for example is based on Steven’s Universe, other shinies refer to some other products geeks will likely have seen or at least heard of. There is a museum in the game and the art on the walls are Gen I sprites of Pokémon. Dialogue has subtle references to movies , anime or other geeky matters without being too obnoxious and in your face. Everything this game does oozes that is is made for people like me. It takes a heavy pro LBGTQ stance with you encountering many gay or bisexual characters and it being made a non issue. We get no Big Gay Al, or a gay couple getting better treatment in the story than other characters.. they are just a part of the world. It all has a great atmosphere, almost as if you are at a convention.. as a geek you understand all these characters, either from a cosplayers perspective or deeper down.
The game manages to use technology in a much more sensible manner than the regular pokemon games. Spinny panels are a thing.. but they exist not as a puzzle in this world they exist as a security measure.. they send you over an electric surface that will paralyse you if you do not know the password to turn it off.. or an alarm tile.. will not just send a pokemon towards you..it will get you captured. Gameplay and atmosphere are interwoven in this game. A puzzle never is there just for the puzzle’s sake. If a pokemon traps you in their lair and you have to do a jump puzzle.. it’s not just doing a jump puzzle.. it’s the collapsed area of an old passage that said pokémon have turned into a place for them to play it’s layout exisits for a reason in game as well. Often the game answers these things right about as questions pop in your head, this game knows the kind of person you are and uses that to deliver a potent package.
The Negatives
The game isn’t perfect, there are a few minor issues such as the fact that during a puzzle with some followers you are able to trap yourself.. if you save it then and there you might have to restart the game. I also experienced slowdown during my shiny hunts if I was watching a youtube video alongside it.. so while it’s not a big issue.. this game really wants you to shiny hunt and not being able to have something to distract you can be tedious with longer encounter strings. The game doesn’t always play fair some bosses see, to use gen I like AI that chose moves based on your input. Gym Leaders often have custom moves that can at times be brokenly OP if you do not have an encounter. Yet these are all very minor issues.
One bigger issue I have though is the lack of a journal. Where regular games are mostly a track from A to B and then to C and so on… this game has a lot of “Did you hear that Venam was training with a new move” kind of hints. Oftenly these lines are only ushered once so if you come out from a battle with speed up on and you miss an important line of dialogue there is NO way to retrieve it and find out where you need to go next. This would be fine if you did not have to backtrack as much as you do. You do visit old cities on a regular basis and thus your next step can be anywhere around the HUGE world map. So it’s best to keep a little notepad lying around if you do not play regularly. Nothing would suck as bad as forgetting you have to speak to this person two towns back next time you play.. and then a week later you forget.
Another issue I did encounter more then once is that some NPC’s are placed in front of objects you need to interact with. I am not sure if this is a part of the puzzle because if you look REALLY well you can just barely make out a few strange pixels behind said character but it would be quite a stretch to call it noticable. There game has a forum where you can search or ask for answers but the player base isn’t THAT big, you could be stuck for a while. Some characters require materials like Shards as payment like the difficulty adjusting guy you can meet in the first town..however it’s not made very clear that he needs shards. He says he can give you a free difficulty change the first time.. so if you think Easy is to simple you can switch..but if you are like me and then realise that Normal is so much harder to a point it’s not as fun for me… you can not change it back until you obtain shards after the fifth gym. Luckily I had not saved since changing .. .but the game can be obnoxiously vague!
The Score
I still think the Rom Hack of Pokémon Rocket Edition is better for the hardcore pokémon fan, the little insights in the official story is much more appealing to everyone, this is much more a do your own thing kind of situation where they basically create a whole new alternative world with pokémon. I do very much enjoy that myself but it is a bit “novel”-like there is a lot to read and not a lot of reading you can skip either. Since these people talk like normal humans they will not neatly end with the line where to go next. They will say bye.. or thanks for helping out last… which will be the line on repeat so prepare to read!
The flaws it has though in no way hold a candle to the great atmosphere it has, the briljant way everything seems to be connected and the almost flawless pokémon/world design.. I mean Pokémon design as in.. who lives where. This is definitely a treat to play for both inexperienced as well as experienced trainers IF you at least manage to comprehend the typing chart a little bit. This game treats you like a gamer.. like someone who is capable of forming a strategy and using their obtained knowledge of pokemon in a meaningful manner. This is a pokémon game for me… and I can even play a girly trainer with pink hair! This is THE game for me! This is Pokémon for adults… playing it does feel rejuvenating.
I am back to my lovely Island Guests! After a short vacation to settle into my new town and home I am back with a vengeance! This post is the start of a new feature on my website called the Animini.. a “mini” review of a single episode of an anime I happened to be watching. Basically.. It’s Saturday Anime Adventure torn to shreds and made into daily anime content with two more shows to follow! But to find out what those new shows are you will have to wait until the end of the week! Until then we pick up my old schedule! Starting With Digimon Adventure Episode 10!
The Summary
Okay that was a really long intro unbefitting of a mini! But hey I had to tell you what it was all about! Speaking about telling you about things, let me discuss what Episode 10 of Digimon Adventure was all about! We pick up after the apparent death of Ogremon at the hand of Metaltyrannomon we saw in episode 9! The group is facing an ultimate and that leaves them up a creek without a paddle. There is no way they can face this behemoth .. yet there is no way to avoid him either. So the group opts for a tactical retreat so they can come up with a plan of action. Koshiro’s laptop and analysis reveals information that leads them into discovering the headquarters that hold the holy digimon! Two major obstacles however remain in their way.
The first is of course Metaltyrannomon With all the Soundbirdmon..(those are the scanny/evil eye digimon that control other digimon for Devimon) make escaping unseen rather impossible so Taichi decides to cause a distraction, using Kochiro’s battle data to find a weakness in the behemoth’s offence. Still failing quite bad! To make matters worse, the rest of the group finds their escape route cut off by a large poisonous bog that you can only traverse if you are tainted by Devimon’s dark Miasma. When the fight between the courageous boy and his digimon with the Ultimate monster draws close to them… he manages to surpass Greymon’s limit and we see MetalGreymon arriving through super evolution! This wipes the floor with their foe and the group now only has to deal with the bog. There are two ways around with no way to tell if one route is better than the others. They decide to split up.. and while figuring out who goes with who the episode cuts off.
The Positives
Overall we had another great episode, though I must say I was less entertained by it than some other episodes. What it did right once again was the pacing, the setting up things and the cause and effect that this show has going on. My favourite moment of this show was the conflict between Yamato and Taichi.. where Taichi manifests more as the standard Shonen hero that would die in a blaze of glory , Yamato takes a different stance. They are the chosen ones… one of them or all of them are the only thing that can stop the evil. If they die both worlds will suffer, so they can not go around and sacrifice themselves willy nilly It brings some stakes to the show, more than before. They can lose one member but not all. This is also why they split up the group in the end.If one route is easier or the right path.. they have to make sure they travel it.. which can be achieved by splitting up. This way all characters can still shine.
And shine they also do in this episode. Everyone save for Sora has a bit of a moment. Joe takes on the roll of group eldest and breaks apart fights, Mimi can’t deal with conflict as it bursts her little bubble thus highlighting the importance of working together, while also providing some comedy this episode needed in not caring for the property of others..tossing Joe’s books into acid to check out if it is really that acidic. Koshiro’s analysing abilities really shine and Yamato’s tactical prowess help flesh out the story and choices this series makes.
The Negatives
While the episode kept me very entertained, there also was a lot of “clunk” in this episode. The show does make a good point in why they should not attack the Ultimate head on but then the show Taichi and Greymon holding their own single handedly against the thing.. which makes you wonder, would the group not have had a chance?! Maybe it’s a risk not worth taking.. but there seems something off about the balance of it all. They do provide a pretty sensible reason. But by stretching out the fight as much as they did.. they remove the intensity of the treat a bit, it doesn’t feel proportionate. It is a bit of a nitpick but it did bother me.
While most of the episode is animated properly there are some very weak moments in the fight. A lot of repeat animations as MetalTyrannomon seems to have a very strict attack pattern. This means a lot of the time we see Greymon dodge the same attack over and over again. The scale being on three levels, Taichi being tiny, Greymon being midsize and MetalTyrannomon being large results in the loss of many details on Taichi’s end which sometimes can be a bit obnoxious. The fight itself is pretty cool, with brains really coming into play over sheer brawn and post Super Evolution the animation has this Dragon Ball level of intensity…but some corners here have clearly been cut making it a bit rougher than it needed to be.
The Score
In terms of writing and feel the episode is easily on par with everything we have seen so far. However with some slip ups in the animation and a slight issue in power-scaling result in an episode that is not as good as it should have been. The idea of not needing Crests or some sort of force to go beyond is something I am very much on board with however. It brings things much closer to how they are in the Digimon World games or the equally excellent Cyber Sleuth games, this way there will be less hero gate-keeping and the show can introduce any ultimate whenever they want.
I am a big fan for the group splitting up and the whole.. “If at least some of us survive we may be able to save the world” mentality. It will make it so easy to not offside any of the chosen ones. The failure of this episode seems kinda inevitable.. they reached a bottleneck and something had to give , had they kept the foe stronger it was too strange that Taichi would have survived, had they had the group attack all at once they would immediately ignore and nullify their own strategy.. so they have written themselves in a bit of a corner here and the way it broke.. is the least annoying they could have chosen… that doesn’t make it any less noticeable though.. so I can’t in good faith call it as good as the rest.. it is still a sweet watch!
With the weekend coming up and the upcoming weekend I am once again busy moving so I guess this is a wrap up post for Halloween Month! What have we seen, what have we done and what is next?! And of course this post is mostly to wish everyone who celebrates it a Happy Halloween!
What has Pinkie done?!
Let’s begin with a little look at what we have done! The past month everything I did was a bit in the theme of spookiness! We watched weird Horror movies, we played a bunch of scary games and Watched trough the first half of Yamishibai! I had one more movie and Season the anime planned but the fatigue of moving really got to me! I just wanted to move into a big blanket and stare at the tv a bit for the past two weeks after I was done with all my tasks. Forgive me! Post-wise I have done a few interesting things this month and to some stuff you really reacted well! I will highlight a few! Note that I do not think these are the best! I do not prefer any of my posts over others, that would make other posts cry! I simply highlight a few posts based on my favourite “events”. Click on a cauldron to revisit a post you might have missed.
Halloween-month Started with a personal account of some ghost stories I experienced first hand! It got the most posts this month and had a nice number of audience participation! A really nice post to do and thanks everyone for the support! Another Geeky Lifestyle tag post I really liked was this month’s gadget post. Still I am very happy with the love on the spooky stories post!
This month’s anime tag introduced me to the series Yami Shibai which had its ups and downs but the first season is something I can definitely recommend.
I only wrote one fiction this month which was Halloween in Paradise! A small story set in the fictional universe of Paradise Island where the manager has a small horror adventure! It was great fun making images for that post!
Video games I played plenty! I played some classics like Castlevania IV which is always a pleasure to playthrough! My favourite playthrough thought was Call of Cthulhu, Pinkie loves herself some cosmic horror! Plus a game based on a famous tabletop roleplaying game it was bound to sit well with me.
Movie wise you voted for me to watch some weird movies and I really do think I delivered. Rubber, Hausu and Killer Condom all were quite bonkers but only one post features the entire movie for you to watch! Killer Condom is definitely the best weird horror movie I watched this month!
Finally Pokémon! I did a fair bit of Pokémon this month but the post that got the best response by far was me designing my own Pokémon based on the Dark Universe film monsters. I got so much comments on that post! It was truly amazing and it will definitely bring it back in the future!
What has the Staff done?
Kuro wrote another zinger of a horror story about a village plagued by a very mysterious and powerful evil! If you haven’t checked it out you definitely should!
Sunny did a post about a very fun board game that is like a tavern brawl between D&D like characters! I read it and I certainly want the game after reading! So if you play board games you should super check this one out.
Indigo is sitting on a few big projects so in the upcoming months I am sure we can see a story about his O.C. He also had some ideas of posting in the Warhammer universe! So that could be very cool as well! He did some amazing prepwork and sometimes that is the most important work. Also he kept the resort pretty safe!
What have we seen?
I will be honest! This month I have been short on time so I have not visiit as many blogs as I would like! I tried a few routes which it took very well.. it seems to get a bit lost with the tiles in the middle. There are a few things I would like to highlight though! Click on the pictures to link to the post!
First of all GeekGirlJoy finished a project this month that I am pretty sure I inspired her to do in my quest for the truest pink! So I have been a muse and I inspired something that completely goes above my comprehension of coding but I have used it to find the analogue colour of my avatar and some design elements! Which resulted in a slight shift in colours. The pink on my site used to be #ff87ED and it changed to #ff89CD which is a lot closer to my avatar! Great job joy! I am happy I could be a muse!
Scott from mechanical Anime reviews started this amazing project where he interviews content creators across the net using his reach to shout out there people and unify the community! That is pretty amazing and I really commend him for that! I have seen others do something similar but Scott REALLY makes it about the other content crreator and not so much about himself. An effort I can very much appreciate.
I could not find a real featured image.. so this is how I imagine Scott Imagined this!
Of course Senpai made a great post as well.. but when does she not! For Halloween she discussed Urban Legends in Japan and while I was to tired to comment something insightful when I read it it left a great impression on me! If you haven’t checked it out you should!
Blogging Bestie Summer found a great place to watch old horror movies and in this Halloween month I think that is a pretty amazing discovery, love your classics! So yeah a great homage to movies that should get some tribute in this month!
Naja is a great writer and possibly an even better devourer of Otome games! As my most recent Bubble post I made already showed , monsters and be very sexy! Now she makes a much better case of this then I ever could and it even includes Lesbian Vampires… I like those the best! … Now that sounds much lewder than it is..at least in my case. Great post to check out!
What is next!
So what can you expect in the coming month?! Well I will probably take a week’s vacation from blogging after this post goes live, to settle in in my new house a bit , explore the neighbourhood, show my friends the new place and get a bit of rest in my system. After that November I will return to the usual island content! Watch some movies, play some games watch some anime and what not!
What most likely WILL change is the Saturday Morning Anime Adventure, those reviews I will probably spread across the week. Short write up reviews alongside the regular content! Instead of the entire anime post on Sunday, I instead will use the Sunday to recap the week! It will include a personal life update, a summary of all my posts by genre, Staff posts highlighted and a shout out to al Kofi Supporters of the week . I will most likely also highlight some content of other blogs as well but I haven’t fully made up my mind yet on how to shape it. I think by doing the episodic content this way I put the pressure of content creation a bit for myself and I still get to let people get a nice summary post if that is the format they prefer.. they just need to click once or twice now. Something very close to this post.. with less future stuff!
November will be a bit lighter and looser in content because besides my moving ,there is also my birthday, plus a lot of social and bureaucratic stuff that needs to be done surrounding my move. Within the restrictions of the current society of course! However starting in December I will introduce official theme months for the blog. This can be anything from Retro to Sci-Fi and from Horror (Like this month) to “Pirates” . Staff posts are exempt from the theme but as for me I discovered that writing in a theme , like last month has given me so much joy that I will do it on a regular basis. Whether I will do it every other month, monthly or quarterly remains to be seen but it’s in the works!
Other than that I will see what time brings us and teaches us! For now I will enjoy settling in my new home and taking a short break! Maybe you don’t even notice and content picks up again right after this weekend ( In which for sure I will have no content because I have to throw out the final stuff out of my old apartment then) I do think I will be gone for a week or so though but no promises! I will see you all very soon! Happy Halloween! Love, Hugs and Kisses
Hello again my dear mortals! This week will be crazy for me so content is going to be a bit strange here. I am settling into my new place and while I am writing this I am working a lot on getting the final things packed! EggSandwich being a pal provided me some relief! How? He nominated me for The Bubble Tag! Of course for Halloween Month I am doing it a bit different! My Bubble.. is a strictly spooky one!
The Rules
Lyn the Otaku Author created this tag! It is a great idea and such an orginal tag that provides some good spirits in these strange times! Which people would we lock ourselves in with!.. Well I am fairly late to the bubble party and so.. I am not sure if the people what would be in my bubble can be trusted! So I made a new one! A bubble of people with whom I .. assuming we would befriend each other.. would stand a good change to stay safe! You can’t become sick if you become undead!
Other than giving him credit which I’ll happily do I shall also provide you with another shout out to EggSandwhich who tagged me for this! I will do a monster special version of this tag for Halloween but the actual one I will be tackling as soon as I return from my moving week. Here are the rules for those wanting a copy pasteble thingy
Put ‘The Bubble Tag’ somewhere in the post title and as a tag on the post.
Thank the blogger who nominated you and link back to their post.
Select up to nine people, real or fictional to join you in your bubble.
Nominate five bloggers.
Stay safe.
The Bubble
Thus it is time to craft my bubble. For this specific version of the tag I will only use monsters! Though the word is the biggest sense of the word. Vampires, ghosts, or anything occult goes. If there is some way you can call it a monster, other than in the personality sense.. it is allowed! So here we go! What bubble will we create?! Here are my 9 picks!
Vampire Willow (Buffy The Vampire Slayer)
Let’s start with my most dangerous choice here.. but Hubba Hubba! Vampire Willow is something I am extremely into! In the episode where she gets “isekaid” we see her having some semblance of a redeemable persona.. before she gets killed. Still.. she is undead.. she is a lesbian.. and she does have a facination.. of sorts with pink girls. While I would have to give up on the sun to be with her. it would mean I am in no danger anymore! Can’t get sick if I am undead! She would probably not be the one I’d let me turn.. because.. I do not fully trust her and ..well her vampirism form is akin to dying and a demon living in your body! She is one of the few people in the world I would wrinkle the sheets with and let’s be honest, besides the internet and games there isn’t that much else to do right now! At least not in the Netherlands. While I love gaming.. she is here for variety!
Jeanette Voerman (Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines)
Jeannette would be my ideal sire! She is a Malkavian Vampire which provides a healthy dose of insanity on top of your personality! The Vampire the Masquerade vampires keep their old personality but I’d see the things in a whole new way. I would get incredible insights in how the world truly works. Jeanette is incredibly fun and volatile as well, you never know what you will get around her .. which makes things rather exciting and a whole lot less stale ..also stable which Google Docs suggest to me is the word I was looking for! She would be a great insane big sister type!
Eucliwood Hellscythe (Is This a Zombie)
Having two rather insane vampire chicks that I adore live in my house means I have a high risk of death..with the way the world is right now.. and not just the pandemic.. I also risk death. So it is always good to have a necromancer at your side. Given how Jeanette probabaly never will shut up it is also nice to have a quiet person in the house! I could just draw with her or sip tea in silence! She can bring me back as a zombie.. which is better than nothing! At least I know it would not ruin my magical girl chances!
4. Wisemon (Digimon)
Wisemon is a powerful digimon that can mess with time! So he is a great backup if Eucliwood fails me.. and my plan backfires. However Wisemon also has the power to be anywhere in time.. so he can get me the good take-away before it’s gone, he can get my Cyberpunk 2077 before anybody else does and he can get me all my shows that will get delayed! It will be a hassle but.. it is something! I am pretty sure he can also reset my internet bundle on my phone so I can use it as a hotspot where-ever my bubble might be! That way I could have a bubble in the woods or on a tropical island!
Mii-kun (How to Keep A Mummy)
Mii-kun is mostly here because it is so cute! Still undead though so it is also perfectly safe to keep it around as well. With 9 people things tend to get crowded so it is best to take this into account. Mii-kun takes no space, isn’t too noisy and is mostly just fun to be around! He will also be a very good distraction for Jeanette who is sure to love the heck out of Mii-kun. I also want to see if I can teach it to hum the Mii-Channel theme! So It gives me a mission.
Ryuugajou Nanana (Nanana’s Burried Treasure)
A “ghost” girl that is into gaming and in return only wants pudding seems easy to please. Sure she has expensive tastes.. but we got Wisemon who can reset my bank account to a moment prior to a transaction. Just by ordering to the front door she would probably rush over to receive those puddings ..and my other groceries! Besides that she is a gamer and I do love to play video games so we could play Mario Party together or bond over some Smash Bros Ultimate. She would be the ultimate partner to finally play Overcooked with! And if I can ever venture into the world she may tell me about some super valuable relics to boot! So heck yeah she is in my bubble!
Brook (One Piece)
I assume at one point humanity will even grow more stir crazy at it is.. so eventually the internet will be done.. luckily Wisemon can connect to the wifi of yesterday and such .. but the monster has to sleep at some point! So we need entertainment for that time and Brook is perfect! his music is catchy and he is Skeleton! So we can use his ribcage as a jewelry cabinet and such! He is no slouch in fending off the looters either. He sings some jaunty tunes and I can see him develop a beautiful friendship with Mii Kun.. and who knows alongside him maybe one day my dreams to become an idol girl can come true!
Dark Magician Girl(Yu-Gi-Oh)
So is this one a monster? Well yes of course she is a monster in the game of Yu-Gi-Oh, she even has her own squad of magical girls as an archetype these days! Perfect opportunity for me to get recruited into the squad. Magician Girl Pinkie! If not DMG seems to love to play analogue games. She might make good Waifu Material as well, in case Willow doesn’t work out! She is like the ultimate 2d! Even in her own universe she is most of the time 2d! Which means she is easy to store in my house! She doesn’t take up space unless I want her to! She has played with capsules/figures/cards and dice so she truly is a pretty good game master, so with her in my deck I never get bored!
Rimuru Tempest
Two Vampires, A skeleton, A ghost a mummy, A witch, A necromancer and an overgrown Jawa! That is some pretty solid squad..I figured I would add a cute little dragon Maid .. to cook and clean for us.. but this would leave me with a few problems. First of all.. it would be to Harem like and I don’t want that. Secondly.. with Tohru present everything would devolve into utter and complete chaos! I am not a great bubble leader! I am a great lieutenant, a second in command but I am the weakest off all of these by far. My leadership would not be accepted and some are to chaotic for me to control! So I need a strong person, that is also a classical monster. Since the Blob is a thing Rimuru would absolutely work as a monster. His special skill besides being super overpowered is making a community out of monsters so tadaa it’s perfect! Our leader will be Rimuru.
To Be Continued
Tohru would be the 10th Nakama we sneak in because DMG is a card and we can hide her and Mii-Kun easily enough! That being said this would not be my actual “real” Bubble.. that one I shall return to when I get back from moving.. that is the one that I will use to nominate 5 people to do this tag. Until then you can self nominate by being a Coconut or by commenting that you want to take on this tag! I hope my Bubble will not burst! Arceus knows that a guy called Murphy is going crazy at the idea of this being my actual bubbl.
Who do you think will be in my real one? Who would be in your monster bubble? What are you doing for Halloween this year?! Let me know in the comments and I will see you all in my next post! This is Pinkie and her Dragon Maid she hid illegally in her bubble signing off!
I have gathered enough power and self respect to self nominate for tags my dear mortals. Tag posts I can do without a brain or without inspiration and are the perfect blog for a zombie to write. Also they are nice content for in the middle of my moving weeks where I am so busy I can barely remember my own zipcode.. mostly since I have to use two now! Still Senpai said it would make her happy if I did this one! So here it is! And I am happy I did it!
The Terms of Our Contract Most Unholiest!
So like most Tags this one has some rules! And of course I followed Senpai’s example and Answered right below said rule! So you can not copy paste! MWUHAHAHAHAHA MWUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Anyway.. here are the rules!
Thank the person who tagged you and link to their post!
I wasn’t really nominated by Irina from I Drink and Watch Anime encouraged me to take on this tag! She is awesome but you all know I have a great amount of respect for her and her style! I haven’t been commenting as much as I would like on her posts.. I don’t know where she finds the time to watch all this anime! Perhaps she is a temporal spectre…. or perhaps she doesn’t have to spend hours per day to make progress in their new Pokémon game and shiny hunt.. it could be that.. but I am going with temporal Banshee here!
Put the rules at the beginning or after introduction!
I nearly went full on anarchist and placed them somewhere in the middle.. but fine after the intro it is!
Answer the 13 questions!
I did! It’s in the next section!
Tag 13 people to do the tag!
No! First of all Thirteen is an unlucky number! I do not want bad luck to decent on those who follow me! I’d lose followers! Secondly, that really is WAAAAY to many people! That’s almost all my active daily readers. At a good day I can get double but no! So since I can’t follow this rule I will follow Irina’s example and nominate no one! All my Ko-Fi supporter/Coconuts are automatically tagged and if you want to join in on the fun fill in the blank in the comments. Spook Scary <Blank> send shivers down your spine!
Delete Question 13, add a new number one question of your own!
But I like question 13! So instead I replace the question: Bobbing for Apples or Pin the Witch hat! Why.. because I have nothing interesting to tell about it.. we don’t do that here! Also.. I’m a witch! We don’t follow all the rules! Plus I like anarchy!
You are free to use the tag image somewhere in the post!
Thanks for the permission I guess! It could use a bit more pink! I do like the image though! Even though it seems like a fire hazard! Anyway thank you for the fun tag Ofaglasgowgirl the great logo and all that! You gave me a great passtime! In the spirit of my senpai though I will have to break a few rules! Hope you understand!
Questions! Questions Most FOUL
And then now it is time to answer the questions. I will not be to much of an anarchist here! I will answer these to the best of my ability! Also the title is only for flavour I do not hate the questions!
What’s your favourite thing about October?
When I was a little Chibi-Me in Fall we would often go to a Bungalow park during school break. Being in the middle of the woods with the autumn leaves like burning embers on the ground. The seasonal shift and the nights becoming darker really gives me a sense of tranquility. To this day I like strolling around in the woods for hours during October. The birds slowly begin to migrate away and there is and this blanket of silence descends upon the world. A short season of bliss before the stressing of my upcoming birthday in november begins and then the holidays. In october I always get a bit of a recluse mood in October.. even though I am fairly busy! It is the month I normally very easily can recharge my mental battery! I can stay inside my cosy house…normally.. and the seasonal food! I really love october!
Are you a big celebrator of Halloween? + How Do you Celebrate it?!
Okay so I might have ended up doing the Irina thing and answer question 7 ahead of time.. so I merged them! See now none of you will know that I messed up and just read this as a double question! Sometimes I am so smart.. my big head makes sense! Should you take on the tag.. even though I post this like.. two days before Halloween.. remember this is two questions…except for when I do it.. I would never mess up! I swear!
That depends a bit on context. You see Halloween isn’t REALLY celebrated in the Netherlands. There is no Trick or Treating there is no Halloween candy and while there are some decorations now.. there never where decorations while I was growing up. In the eyes of the Americans I do not do a lot for Halloween, but as a Dutchie I am probably extremely into it. I normally go out of my way to visit 1 to 3 halloween theme parks , just wander through their scare zones and haunted houses. I am super big on that! For the entire month of October I watch scary movies, I decorate my house and sometimes I even make scary shaped chocolate.. well before i melted my molds two years ago. Whoops! I play a lot of scary video games and I usually also host a tabletop game of dread. That is a Roleplaying game where your players play a game of Jenga each action they do that is outside of their comfort zone they take a brick from the tower and if the tower topples the character dies! It is super fun! I have dressed up but usually that just makes me look like an idiot because that isn’t really done here.
This year however with Covid closing all theme parks and borders (Halloween is best in germany because they can grab you and drag you into cages and stuff which isn’t allowed in the Netherlands) and me moving there is not a lot of Halloween! Which is why I am celebrating it so big on my blog!
What’s your favourite scary movie?
I changed this question a little to what is your favourite scary movie! Mostly so I can make a fun image of this at the end. I LOVE horror movies! There are so many shitty ones but there are also some REALLY good ones. I love the Conjuring movies for example, maybe even the second one more so than the first. I also really REALLY loved Drag me To Hell. Then I really love some classics like the first Halloween and the third Nightmare on Elm Street. Seeing mister Lugosi play Dracula is also always a pleasure..
But if I had to name an absolute favourite I think it would have to be “I know what you Did Last Summer”.. I saw that in one of those aforementioned Bungalow Parks first. I had my semi-first celebrity crush on Sarah Michelle Gellar and in my head she was clearly the main character; she was Buffy after all! Somehow that movie really shocked me.. but I have always found the fisherman to be something really intimidating. More so than Jason’s Mask or Freddies face.. just the way the movie was shot! It isn’t among the all time greats when we look at quality but like I always say my favourite doesn’t have to be the one I think is best! It is the one I can watch 20x in a row without getting bored of it! I know what you did Last summer did that for me! For the same reason I also really like Urban Legend! ….which is even less good but still I had an amazing experience with it!
Would you rather a cosy night in watching horrors or a big night out in a costume?
For me Halloween isn’t just a night, it’s a season. I love to go to spook parks and if I am allowed to dress up I would dress up but well oftenly I can’t so I sneak in a semi witchy dress or something I would not normally wear but that shows me as a bit more “evil’ or vampiry! So I really love to go out! On the night of Halloween itself though I rather stay in with a good horror movie! Those parks are so insanely stupidly packed for Halloween itself that it really kills the fun out of it. You are rushed through the haunted houses, the good food courts in the park are oftenly closed in favour of the fast ones so people can’t complain as much about a long wait and there is always someone else to scare. No on Halloween itself I like to stay in! Talk to the ghost in my flat, watch scary movies and eats sweets! I sometimes do dress up just for myself! That being said I do like inviting my friends to play Dread with me on Halloween.. but usually they have to stay in and cuddle up with their partners and check whatever halloween movie is on tv.
Which has been your most favourite costume to date?
Running around in a costume is a no go here for Halloween, we have Carneval for that, and while in recent years costumes for kids have been making their appearance the whole world insecurities and protections against the real monsters of this world has prevented it from spreading to adults. You can wear a costume in some locations but no face paint, no long dresses, no props, nothing with pins ,nothing too big, nothing was a loose hat. Etc. In other words for safety reason you can dress up, you just have to look like yourself and have nothing on you that can hide bad things like a witch hat.. About two years ago I wore a vampire costume for myself on Halloween, just some good old fun to send a few photo’s to my family. Then the doorbell rang and I kinda forgot I was in costume. A neighbour was there asking me if I heard a noise as well.. He looked at me like I was an idiot! Maybe dressing up by myself is kinda sad but I had fun!
My favourite Halloween monster costume I have seen in one of these theme parks was in a haunted mansion called the dollhouse. It was a magic maze centered around toys. All the fences to guide you were decorated with a lot of plushies people donated.. some made more creepy by colouring their eyes red or nearly decapitating a doll. As we neared the final wall which was super densely packed with plushies me and my company were looking at which ones were cute and which ones were evil when suddenly a part of the wall turned out to be a man! With his back turned to use.. he blended in completely.. his chest with this “The Thing” like make up of a gaping maw with teeth and other prickly things! Scary!
Altered Question: What is your Favourite Horror Monster
I included this question because I know my blogging bestie really likes monsters! Should she feel tempted to take on this tag late.. she doesn’t have to confess she is super good at bobbing apples ! Besides I have never bobbed for apples and would probably drown in doing so and this year I am the Witch so I really don’t want people sticking pins in me to try and edit on my hat which I had to spend a long time on to edit in the first place.
As for my personal favourite I would have to go with Dracula. I like vampires a lot! Like A LOT! Except for when they sparkle or died more often than your average Dragon Ball character. My favourite vampire is the Malkavian from Vampires the Masquerade/ World of Darkness. Krul Tepes is probably my favourite anime vampire and Vampire Willow from Buffy the vampire slayer could be my cuddle buddy despite the danger! I’d still sign up for Vampirism even when I am as old as I already am!
What’s your least favourite horror?
Much like senpai I don’t really know what is being asked of me. So very similar to senpai I will give multiple answers.
My least favourite horror genre is Erotic Horror… I do realise that is both a cheap option as well as a confliction ones as vampire movies often get the tag. I am more so talking about movies like Verotika games like Lust for Darkness or the whole cannibalism sub-genre. That last genre died out a bit but I really hate it if people get naked in horror movies for no real reason.. other than “their clothes got torn off” or this magic ritual requires a naked girl. Usually the cannibals attack with spears.. .jeesz.. what could you be meaning by that and it often leads into body horror. .. I don’t mind a split head or a severed arm but taking a woman apart in such a way so you emphasis her lady parts I find stupid and annoying and has nothing to do with either horror or erotica in my eyes.
My least favourite Horror movie is Guillermo Del Toro’s Don’t be Afraid of the Dark. Katie Holmes plays dreadfully in this movie and the idea of killer pixies living in the fireplace is kinda dumb. Why do they live there.. because clearly they can get out at times. Why do they do what they do? Because they want to collect children’s teeth?! The conclusion is even more dumb and while the idea of Killer pixies kinda sounds badass it’s more like those blue guys in Harry Potter turned evil and grey.. than anything else. It drags on and on and the male lead being an unbeliever after seeing so many strange things is more than a little bit annoying!
My least favourite Horror anime is a toss up between Attack on Titan and Death Note. They both come up when I look for horror but I do think that Death Note qualifies more ..even though it is kind of a thriller. It isn’t a bad show but it has been completely overhyped for me. The moment we switch to that Heavy Metal opening and the moment Light joins L in that super cop base thing I was so done with this show. The hyper intelligent protagonist just isn’t my thing most of the time but it always felt like this story could only end in one way. It did and I did not care for the journey either. I am not sure if it is horror but in naming this I am sure I left a few people in horror so we are good here! I don’t think it’s bad, I just don’t enjoy myself with it. With most bad horror I can still enjoy myself.
Do you have a favourite trick or treating memory?
Like I mentioned earlier we do not really have trick or treating because a few days later we had the celebration of Saint Maarten. A guy who cut off his big red expensive cloak and gave it to a beggar. In his honor we used to make a big bonfire..until those got forbidden and kids would walk across houses with little lanterns and sing a song in his name to get some mini candy bars. I tried to take part once.. but immediately my little lantern broke..which was quite common! I mean the light did not function! I was more upset about my little lantern not having any light as I was worried about candy so I went over to ask my dad to fix it. He did manage to fix it but just as I was about to run away I tripped over a big rock and had a wounded knee! That got me a lot of pity chocolat from people at the bonfire who had some on them to hand to kids who were afraid to visit the nearby houses and I went home satisfied and with a working latern..but a busted leg!
The year after that my bullying started so no one wanted to go singing with me and since there were rumors of a few child abductors in town so I was not allowed to go by myself. The teachers in school knew this so they came over that year and gave me a lantern and a package of chocolats. It was a super rainy day I remember because we would not even go to the bonfire.. even though it was a three minute walk away… so I was quite happy again. I marched in my room with the lantern I got gifted and sang the song and then went to play Mega Man 2 while stuffing myself with candy! My class-mates might not like me but the teachers did and those were more important right?! Those made me smarter! At least that was how I used to think!
What’s your favourite thing about Halloween?
I love the weather around Halloween and the whole theme parking thing I normally do! I love being chased by monsters but I love setting my friends up for scares even more. One year we would go to the most expensive and visually incredible halloween park in the Netherlands. Walibi Flevo or Walibi “Holland” .. I hate that term! .. One of my male friends whom I shall refer to as Fit Phil, has ZERO tolerance for horror. So he always made me go first in the haunted mansions thinking they would scare me .. as a pink feminine person is sure to provoke more reaction then this swoll dude that is a fair bit larger than me and has arms my legs could almost fit in. He was right for the most part.. but I did not scare that much. I even walked into someone because I thought they would move out of my way!
I threw some Green Mushrooms at him.. but that only seemed to make him angrier!
Anyway we came to the haunted house he feared most. The one with the movie villians. I wanted to hear him scream so bad.. so I came up with a plan. When Michael Meyers showed up I pretend to be super scared as he jumped out behind me.. so I pretended to run ahead saying “oh don’t .. leave me alone” and I dashed a few meters ahead.. now I could walk this house all alone. Fit Phil bravely made his girlfriend walk in front of him. So when I entered a room that clearly was based on scream and I saw a cabinet with a huge gap. I held up two fingers.. Second person behind me. I puffed myself up.. “Big guy” and then I made a tiny heart and a shaking in fear motion. The door stayed closed and I walked passed.. My friends were catching up. Girlfriend could walk safely. As I moved on ahead I heard him yelling in fear so loudly! That I had a huge smile on his face. I then told all the scare actors ahead that the big guy with the Dragon Ball T-shirt was the most scared and they all targetted him. Outside he wondered why normally they would prank his girlfriend or me..and he could coast of our scares instead! Then leatherface came out of the house and pretended to saw me in half and then chased away Fit Phil.. how sweet he remembered! I love doing stuff like that on Halloween!
Scary costume or Silly costume?
As long as it isn’t a slutty costume you are golden! Senpai said the best costumes are the ones that do both and I refer to the teddy bear/John Carpenter’s The Thing costume as proof that she is in fact correct about this. I do not mind seeing classics so even a sheet with holes for eyes can be kinda cute.. but those girls who dress up in a latex bathing suit with hooker leggings and some devil ears.. come one guys.. it’s okay to be sexy with Halloween but at least be a bit original. Do what you want but some of these costumes just scream “I am easy”. To me a good costume makes ask.. who is that!.. So Team Rocket for the win!
What’s your favourite Halloween candy?
We don’t really have any! Yet there were these jelly monsters I really liked when I was a kid! We had this tiny little candy store in our town and it was super cute. For about 25 cents of our old currency which would equate to about 5 cents right now I think.. I could buy a gummy bug or ghost and they were very tasty! I oftenly ate myself sick on them! They also had nice white chocolate ghosts on a stick! I loved horror candy so much that for one birthday my mom and dad gave me what is in dutch called “Professor Horribelus, Snoeplab!” It also was issued in America it seems as Dr Dreadful Food Lab! Here you could make your own Jelly Spiders and even some bubbling brain! I really loved the taste of the brain! The jellies had some consistency issues and I had the un updated version.. which fixed some potential health or things not working so who knows it could have tasted better if I got the new batch after I hate the first one. It was a great way to make Halloween candies and I later used the molds still to make chocolates and other things for many years.. of course until my last shapes melted away in a freaky accident. Check out the commercial!
Ghost decorations or skeleton decorations?
Silly question! One should never limit themselves! I mostly use spider decorations in my house for halloween as they are the easiest to come by and our skeletons look kind of tacky at times but I love skeletons as well. I always have this old hot sauce bottle shaped like a skull that I get out as a candlestick older now.. Nowadays it is all dusty and patchy from the wax that went everywhere and I really like it, it gives it a very otherworldly quality. I really like ghoty decorations too. My father used to have a printing store and the last year I had him print a photo of me as a window sticker! But I had made the photo transparent and part of my face was replaced by a skull.. so to the unaware eye it seemed at first as if the window would show me in the back as a reflection but if you looked closer it was actually ghost me!… It did not really work out as well as I had hoped because no one really stares out my windows and I don’t always wear the same outfit as I wore on the window sticker!… But do spooks like you want! And go as crazy as you want! Even trash bags and dolls can be scary!
Tag Done! If you still want to participate you are welcome! All Coconuts are invited by default.. and those who want can participate.. for those who feel like their need to earn it comment Spookly Scary <Blank> send shivers down my spine in the comments and voila! You earned it! Speaking of earned! If you think I deserve some of your throw away cash.. do not hestitate to support me on Kofi! Mwuhahahaha! Comments will do though but if you become a coconut you are tagged for EVERYTHING! Including tommorow’s tag!
Pinkie's Paradise 