Pinkie's Paradise

Mana Potion or Money Sink? Pinkie’s take on Remakes

When it comes to video game remakes people love to tear it apart. It’s nothing like the classic or it is an easy cash grab move made by greedy people are amongst the most heard complaints. Yet a remake can be so much more. It’s all dependent on what lens we are looking trough. Since we all should stay inside there is no need to put on those pitch black sunglasses. Let’s put on some rose tinted to goggles to give your house and your games a fresh new look shall we?

Evil Corporations

Nowadays we treat Capcom or Square Enix or anyone reissuing anything, as the evil corporations once only depicted in games. The legendary RPG maker is giving us two games (maybe more) instead of one… They want to empty our pockets three times over. They Remake the third resident evil game in the same style als RE2… thats so easy.. it’s just because they want money. While to an extent that might be true it also is not. Gaming has evolved, development is easier and done on a much larger scales. Companies don’t have to pay 6 employees they have to pay 100.

Back in the days not a single developer was like “we don’t care about money.. all we want to do is create good games.. let’s wait a few years and then release the one because it feels right. No! Teams were small, the same squad working on Chrono Trigger would have to be put on the next game as well. That’s why releases where few and far apart. They aren’t more money hungry now, earning money is what they exist for, that would be like calling an alarm clock evil for waking you up every morning!

As it stands there is a lot more money to be made in the industry and would you own the company you would do the same, we all pretend to be better but if we ran a company we would want to get as much profit as possible as well. If we would not we would fail. In fact it is because they gain so much money games have developed so fast. It brought us in the amazing world we are in today. Back in 1996, if I did not like the newest Final Fantasy I’d have to wait for years.. hoping one MIGHT come again.

Nowadays, Final Fantasy XV comes out and it’s not for me..but I know that I will get a game I like in some shape way or form. Few years later I got treated to Final Fantasy VII Remake! I am thirty three years old and I am well into my “been there done that years”, new games do not feel new to me anymore yet thanks to remakes, I can still enjoy modern gaming without it feeling to samesie..because somehow Nostalgia cancels that. That doesn’t sound evil to me that sounds smart.

Magic

I believe each and everyone of us has a saturation point. Bob can play twenty demon based first person shooters before beginning to notice the twenty first really looks like Doom, the first one he played. The twenty second is..surprisingly similar to Hexen. Johny might be a bit more of a sourpuss and will notice Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley after just two games.I believe people reach a saturation point for new IP’s or franchises at one point. The better the originals in a genre the faster it happens.

Take for example the Party Racer (Karting Genre. Mario Kart made such a strong base that only a handful could stand up to them. Crash Team Racing, Diddy King Racing and maybe those Sony and Sega Super star racing games are in general the only ones people think can stand up to the big one. No one really likes Little Big Planet Kart or that Shrek karting game.

I have reached that Mario Kart level, with many genres, I experienced games I found so good, that the new stuff doesn’t impress me as much. This isn’t even because I am cynical, this is because I gamed for over 25 years. Just like people remember their first kiss more fondly than their 37th. While new games and franchises can still be great, they can’t be magical to me anymore.

**The remake of Toad’s Turnpike wasn’t as good! But there was magic.. and blue shells!**

Remakes however still contain that magic, because that magic was never in the game itself.. it is within ourselves, within our minds. We only have so much magical memory to give away, our sense of wonder unfortunately is a finite resource and a good remake or even a half decent one at that can bring back that magic a bit. Within limits, but more on that later. I am happy with a new Pokémon Game because it brings back the memories and that magic, but even though I love my Snom and Falanks encountering them.. never feels like seeing Pikachu pop up in the grass for the first time.

Now as much as I like Red and Blue, Gold was the game I was much more aware of playing. Less overwhelmed more armed for the task. To this day I think Pokémon Heart Gold is the best pokémon game ever.. and with me many people agree. A good remake can not only bring back that magic but amplify it. They keep what work and make it better and maybe.. just maybe they can allow you to gain a bit of magic back to give..it will never be as much as you put into that game.. but by seeing what they did to make our beloved things better, we might appreciate that same more modern mechanic in things we did not believe were magic before.

***Best Remake, Best Pokemon Game, Best Boy Cyndaquil!***

Bob and Sally

Now not all remakes invoke this sense of nostalgia. A lot of the Final Fantasy games for mobile do not work for me, the new Pokémon rescue squad is cute.. but I kinda prefer the original GBA version. This applies to sequels even more. Vice City was the best GTA game in my book and while I still enjoyed San Andreas a bit and Chinatown wars, GTA IV and V did not do it for me anymore. Sequels carry over less magic than remakes, when I see Sobble, Scorbunny and Grookey I am like.. let’s pick the little crybaby thing it’s cute. When I played Heartgold and I saw Cyndaquil in it’s pokéball again I was like “It’s my BOY!”

Like meeting new people at a con is great, but meeting an old time friend you haven’t seen in five years is so much better. Remakes are harder to do right however. While we do not mind a new friend asking a bit of an odd question to us here and there.. with a friend of old we are much less lenient. We are easy to blame them or scold the, for doing something wrong. So how do you make a solid remake?! Well it’s time for another analogy.

*Gotta get some anime girl from these hits in somehow!*

I could explain what exactly we want to see in a remake going in depth in the power of nostalgia. However I do not care for that and instead have opted for another route! We are going to imagine that first kiss again.. or your first crush I mean we are geeks, so no harm no foul if you have never been kissed. Imagine you are 15 or 16 and have your first real romance with a woman named Sally or guy named Bob. You share a magical moment together.. but as time is cruel, you move away.. or maybe they do. Now 20 years later sit in a bistro or walk across the street when suddenly you see a familiar face. Now there are about three to four ways this situation can unfold.

*I did not know this was a thing I just googled the names and this was all that showed up! ALL of it.*

Option A: They are exactly the same!

Oh my Arceus! It’s Sally/Bob! They have aged but you can still recognise them and you proceed to talk with them. Things are just like 20 years ago.. a little to similar. While Sally obviously looks like a 35 year old and wears clothes of the time instead of those colourful nighties neon jumpsuits she still only talks about My Little Pony.. and I am not talking about the Friendship is Magic show from 2010 here! She keeps yapping about the 1986 one and refuses to acknowledge anything beyond that. She also thinks cellphones are a bit to modern so she gives you her home address and home phone number so you can call there within a set time. Bob still has the exact same newspaper route and hangs out with the exact same people as he did in middle school. While it is nice to catch up again, you can’t help but feel they are a little bit sad and wished they would at least get with the time already.

*This image makes sense if you watched HIMYM*

Option B: They are completely unrecognisable?!

Remember Sally?! Well he is called Sander now, that my Little Pony thing they used to talk so much about has completely vanished, they did that to conform to their gender role back in the time, right now they are into dark and edgy stuff. Sander is a Roadie to My Chemical Romance and a blacksmith in real life. While Sander might be a great person, he is in no way that person you kissed twenty years ago. Bob is DECKED out! He used to be a fat kid, who would shyly write you a little poem about your hair being winter fire, January embers, where his heart burns too. Now twenty years later he is a buff billionaire, scrumptious to all the sheeple! He is people magazine’s most eligible bachelor of the year, everyone wants Bob now.. but it is not Bob… sure you might like to sink your teeth into the beefcake regardless.. but it’s not Ben anymore… I mean Bob! That magic isn’t there you just want to jump the bandwagon.

*So After typing my chemical romance typing m behind it was enough* for google to auto suggest this!

Option C: They Added to Much

Sally looks great, she got a facelift, she has plenty of new things to talk about, like a career fitting ot the times. However She now comes with sixteen cats. To be able to “play” with Sally you are going to have to make sure the cats are fed and satisfied. The woman also developed an allergy to bought stuff, particularly that of a rubber persuasion. So to be able to enter the further stages of romance you will have to visit an Native American Shaman in order to craft the items you need to proceed. It really doesn’t fit Sandy to be like that.. I mean it’s not like she crafted all her my little pony stuff back in the day…but now since DIY is hip she suddenly is really into it..and you have to be too. Bob has a bunch of kids, one of each ethnicity and sexual orientation of course. In order to win Bob’s heart you are going to have to go bowling with one kid and treat the other to Taco Bell, the youngest needs you to play hide and seek with them. This is not what you signed up for! More stuff to do is not always better! Even if it’s modern and popular!

***Do tedious things before you can play!*** Objective: Play with Kids

Option D: Bob and Sally Improved.

Sally is a lawyer now, Bob is a well paid male nurse. Both have clearly gotten a facelift, and some Botox. She is wearing a sexy dress that is in fashion and he has opted to go for a more classic look the fiber count in his suit is much better than they used to make it.. making it still feel contemporary. Sally still loves My Little Pony but she went with the time and talks about the actual Friendship is Magic show. Rather than being called on their home phone you can now use modern technology to call them more easily or even send out a casual text message. While some locations you would use to visit when courting them went out of business you will just plan around it and make due with what you got. You might not be able to take them to the Drive In, like in those memories of old.. the new option of Netflix and Chill is pretty solid as well.

***Okay Bob and Sally’s age is incosistent I know! But at least the movie title is relevant!***

Thief

In all cases I described above there is a case of subjectivity though. There is no universal measure for too much of something. There are plenty of people who want a remake to barely change anything, but if it’s to different for them they can still play the original. The remake still will invoke that desire to play that game. If you play the old one or the new one the remake can still trigger horus of fun, even if it is just by proxy bringing back relevance to that forgotten title. Some want to see something significantly different, if they can not get what they want either a new franchise will rise up to give these people what they want (How Temtem caters to a specific demographic of disappointed pokemon fans for example) or someone in the comments will point you towards a game you might like who is similar but still different enough, allowing you to discover things that went under the radar.

***Remakes will always off something! At worst conversation! At best hours of joy!***

Regardless if a remake is good or bad it brings activity to the fandom.It makes your favorite game either celebrated or talked about again. Perhaps a new generation can discover your gem.. even if it has kinda lost is shine to you. While RE3 remake may be to short and to much like RE2 remake it will allow you to talk about Nemesis again. It opens discussion again if Claire or Jill is better. Just by existing regardless of quality. New games don’t do that!
Besides, maybe someone has not played RE2 before so this remake meant less to them than this RE3 remake did! When someone tells you about their first kiss with Sandy you don’t tell them.. Oh it’s Sander now.. you let them reminisce and enjoy. Who cares that you have to pay a few full games to get FF VII’s full story, each part has a lot more content and bang for your buck than many other games. You still have the option to play that story in one game anyway. Some people are thrilled because now they get that magic they got all those years ago.. not once.. but multiple times! Do not hate on remakes for the sake of them being that.. because while it might just be a cash grab to you.. it is magic to some. While if you dislike it you can play the original.. or join a debate instead.. and you get robbed of something that could have been, by being a jerk and joining on reddit to prevent this sort of content in the future.. you might be robbing someone else of magic. I’d say that magic is a much more valuable good.

***Ruin other people’s magic and Nemesis will come for you!***

XO
Pinkie!

Saiyan Slice of Life: Dragon Ball R&R

Last night I watched something on YouTube I loved so much I just have to gush about it! It had to do with Dragon Ball! But not… the Dragon Ball you might know! I am talking about a series that has not been discovered by that many people yet! I am talking about Dragon Ball R&R. That’s a lot of balls mentioned in this opening.

What is Dragon Ball R&R?!

Now I am a sensible little Pinkie and before I gush about the latest episode I shall give you a little explanation of what this series is about..because believe me.. this requires some explaining. When I tell you that R&R stands for both rest and relaxations as well as Ranch and Raditz, I am sure you scratch your head. Raditz isn’t that the guy that was as weak as a Saibaman that got owned within like five episodes?! You know Goku’s brother?! That is right! The point goes to you!

Raditz was killed my Picollo’s Makankōsappō technique. Or how it’s know amongst the dubbers, the special beam cannon. I never liked that name. I mean it always felt so thin… hardly something you shoot from a cannon, also I am not sure what made this beam special?! Well it had multiple colours and swirlies so.. sure.. but the literal translation of Demon’s penetrating killing light gun , kinda sounds cooler…though a friend of mine who lives up north just giggled because I used the word penetrating.

I got a bit of track there! This story is not about THAT Raditz… well kinda… but instead of being killed by the Demon’s Penetrating Killing Light Gun, the guy turned good! You see this series is created by the voice actor of Goku in a little series called Dragon Ball Abridged. On his own YouTube channel he dabbles in a lot of “What If” Stories. Including my personal favorite and long since concluded series. What if Raditz turned good. It explores the scenario where Goku does that thing he does in befriending originally evil characters and turning them good.

He did this a few times when he befriended Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo , Vegeta and to a lesser extend Majin Buu, Android 18 and Android 17. The series of Raditz got so popular it produced a spin off show, that appears on a “it’s done when it’s done schedule on Masoko X (Goku’s voice actor in DBZA) ‘s channel, set in a time of rest and relaxation. The time after the Buu Arc and before the Battle of the Gods movie (the super series definatly started at the Universe 6 arc.)

Who is Ranch

To appreciate this series you first kind of have to watch What if Raditz turned good! At least up until episode episode 7! The eight one is where the series goes into the territory of God Ki and R&R takes place before that. While R&R focusses a lot on Raditz it’s main protagonist is Ranch! Raditz what if daughter. She would be the cousin of Gohan and Goten, being fairly close to the latter in terms of age!

She would also be the daughter of Launch, the most forgotten about dragonball character, who had the power to go blond waaaaaay before the majority of the cast did. Launch is either a sweet innocent woman with blue her and a clumsy demeanour or a cold mercenary and thief, mostly known for her appearance through the original series. While this is a major plot point of the “what if series” on R&R the focus really is on their happy family life, and in doing so this series gets a wholesomeness. And even if Ranch started of as a side character to a alternate story of two originally throw away characters, she is an amazing addition to the dragon ball world.

Ranch is a female saiyan done right! While Kale and Caulifla are solid enough characters, mostly Kale is lacking some credibility as she is mostly just nostalgia pandering and fan service towards fans of the original Broly, before he actually became a amazing character. Ranch has much more depth, personality and struggles. You can see some traits of both Raditz and Launch in her and maybe excluding future Trunks ( before Goku Black) the best Hybrid saiyan I have seen. Already great in the original what if that gets deepend more in this show, in a fascinating audio manga that tells us self contained stories centered around her and her Pappa but also is not afraid to highlight and deepen some other characters we know and love.

Rest and Relaxation

Dragon Ball is a bit of an odd series and mainly in the story of Z there were plenty of “filler”. Fake Namek and the Garlic Junior Saga were horrible and did not happen. Yet on occasion the show strikes gold. One of the examples in the show’s original runs is now titled “The Driving Episode” in which Goku and Piccolo try to get their driver’s license. It just was super cute and mundane but still Dragon Ball in a sense. Dragon Ball Super did this once again with the Baseball episode. Another great filler like episode that was just so heartwarming and wholesome that you can not help but to love it.

R&R is like a series of that. “What if Dragon Ball had a slice of life spin off”. Masoko seems to know his OC’s (at this point I am gonna call Raditz or at least this Raditz his OC as well.. because it is not the throwaway token character Toriyama made Raditz but an actually fleshed out guy we can root for) very well and also the other existing characters. He also knows what made the driving episode and the baseball episode work and has captured that magic in this series very well.

While Masoko reprises his role as Goku (as he did with team 4 star) we do not really get the Abridged Goku, we get a take on Goku that is somewhere in between Sean Schemmel’s version and the abridged version. Something that in my opinion is very close to the sub’s original. Serious when he needs to be, but also relaxed and fun loving. As he should be. His voice work in the series .. like always is great but Courtney Meeker, the voice of Ranch and Afghani as the brother of Kakarot both are great talents as well that give this show some great backbone. Amanda Hufford playing Launch completes the happy little family and while her blue Launch can be a bit laid on a bit to thick, I could not help but go Awwww, each time she voices a line.

Lawrence Simpson as Masako’s real name is managed to cast some great and upcoming voice talents and auditions regularly each time a new character appears in the script. Always asking for people to go with their own interpretation so it never feels like someone is trying to much to sound like an original voice actor or a DBZA character. Mostly selecting these characters on the sound of their regular voice instead of their screams pays off as this feels like it’s own thing throughout and really makes the story a joy to follow. After I am done with an episode I do feel relaxed and I still feel I watched Dragon Ball.

Stand Alone Stories

Like mentioned earlier, each episode is very much made to watch as a self contained story, that loosely flows into the next. A great format because these episodes are few and far apart. This once again shows that Lawrence Simpson really knows what makes this type of content work. How to structure these episodes. Because of how low key it is a small teaser of what to come is all we need to wet our appetites for the next episode yet are not turned off by the long wait. Now let’s take a peak at these stories.

Episode 1 : A Fusion of Fancy?! Trunks and Ranch join Forces!

This “Pilot” episode is my second favorite of the series so far..but all episodes make it to my top 5! In this episode we see the kids taking a closer look at fusion. Since there are three now it makes sense that they would. In this episode they hold a fusion contest among themselves to see which makes the best fusion, Gotenks, the classic we all know and love (except when it comes to gacha games) Ranten, the male dominant fusion between Ranch and Goten or Raunks the female dominate fusion of Ranch and Trunks.

Goku and Raditz function as the judge..but in typical Goku fashion he wants to join this measurement of strength and even ends up fusing with Raditz into Goditz. This is the only episode that contains actual Dragon Ball fighting and it is great.. yet lighthearted. A perfect episode toe edge us over into the more wholesome territory. There are some clever fighting moves and intresting combinations of techniques like the Final Friday and the Double Kamehameha that really please each Dragon Ball fan.

Episode 2: The Final Cut Goten’s big decision.

Ranking number 4 out of 5 for me this episode deals with a heartfelt issue that I feel the show itself should have addressed. Goten notices he is the weakest of the Saiyans and feels like he will be left behind. Existing only as a way to boost either Trunks or Ranch, he feels like he lacks a own identity which Raditz confirms telling him he is basically just a little Goku. So he starts to wonder if he should change his hair and his looks a bit. In this episode we see a great performance from Jenna Kathleen as Goten and Amanda Hufford as blonde Launch. It really helps giving some depth to Goten and make him feel like a unique character that has his troubles.

It is a great episode that only is held back a bit because of the feeling that it is kicking in an open door. The advice Goten gets is to “just be himself” and while I get that he is a kid and it seems new for him, it all feels so obvious that it loses just a bit of it’s shine. Still it is sincere and it is nice to see the smaller aspects of the dragonworld addressed. This still is a 7.5 out of 10 for me it just shows how good some of the other episodes are.

Episode 3: A Misunderstanding? Gohan’s Peace Offering

This episode has the unfortunate honour of being my least favorite episode. Number 5 out of my top 5, and I am fairly sure that when episode 6 comes out, this one will not be among my favorites anymore. A 6 out of 10 for me, so it’s still a solid one that I can’t help to find less consistent than other episodes. Ranch gets very upset that Gohan looked away. Feeling said she is not recognised by her cousin makes her run away from home and be upset.
While she is away Raditz flashes back in his past, and Piccolo offers Ranch some guidance. This is one of those Slice of Life tropes I dislike. “The Silly Misunderstanding” and I felt the characters were less consistent than they normally are. Raditz is pretty logic driven and Ranch got a lot of those traits so it seemed weird she would get upset over something as silly as this.

While this episode should highlight Ranch it is actually Goku who takes the spotlight. He fixes this little family problem using his Instant Transmission in the most inappropriate way possible. He just barges into peoples live and snatches them along to further his agenda.. which seems hilarious and quite like Goku. Forgetting that phones exist. Unfortunately by that time we have already lost half the episode in another form of inner crisis. I probably would have liked this episode more had it not directly followed Goten’s inner troubles or had they been inversed in order. Stacey Cotham who protrays Chi-Chi , who is very prominent in this episode just plays her a bit to flat lacking her spunk.. and I think the that is the perfect analogy for this episode.

Episode 4: STRIKE! Yacha’s Curveball! With an 8/10 this was a great episode to me!

Such a great episode! Perfectly balancing the kids and Yamcha in a exciting but still slice of life like episode. Yamcha is about to retire from playing for the Tai Tan’s in baseball when his manager is trying to fix this final match in an attempt to disgrace him and forcing him to stay. While the parents are learning abotu baseball.. and visiting Yamcha’s matches for both the very first and last time, the kids move into the stadium’s catacombs to deal with the manager played by Geekdom101.

Hook the manager is kinda weakly voice acted by this Dragon Ball Youtuber , he just doesn’t seem that believable preventing this from being a 10/10 episode. Otherwise this one is amazing. Stanley Kuschick voices an amazing Yamcha and the story is just really touching. It was so nice to see Puar again and see Yamcha get some closure. He fades into obscurity after he got knocked out by Android 20..mostly being just a cameo in the rest of the show. The story written by Lawrence Simpson and his team here.. send Yamcha off in the sweetest way. Including introducing a potential romantic lead for the guy near the end. You can really feel the love for the character here.

Episode 5: Respect Your Roots, Kiddo! A Glorious Story of the Saiyan Race!!

The currently last and absolute best episode in this series for me! I was really blown back by it. In this episode Raditz tell his three children (yes I forgot to mention he had two sons as well.. but they aren’t really in other episodes because they are toddlers, Daikon and Mooli. Goten and Trunks show up to listen in is as well. As Raditz tells the tale we quickly find out he is not really telling the whole truth but his version of it.. to make himself look better.. as the children comment on the weird twists in the story. This episode feels so in character for every single character.. like how Raditz makes Vegeta look bad in the story every chance he gets and how Trunks calls him out for it it is fantastic. There is so much love for the characters here and also for the franchise.

The way the kids poke fun at the plot holes in Toriyama’s lore feels lighthearted but sharp and like something kids would point out. I laughed at the silliness. Yet this episode moved me to tears. We see Raditz think back on Bardock and Gine, his and Goku’s parents and while Goku completely forgot about them Raditz did not. He misses them, remembering his father and mother say they were proud of him. It ends with the most beautiful family moment and Piccolo and Raditz reflecting on their parents and parenthood! This episode feels like a love letter from a man to his OC and the franchise that inspired it and that is what Dragonball R&R is to me!

With all the what if’s lasting about fifteen minutes and R&R episodes being around the length of a regular anime episode, within a timespan of about four hours you can enjoy one of the greatest Dragon Ball fan fiction series out there! That in some ways feel even more real to me than the orginal! Check out Masoko X’s youtube channel for a very strong series! I shall leave you all with the intro to each episodes! Which will link you to the right channel! Remember I love you all! Keep smiling and let’s make the internet a happier place!

XO
Pinkie

The Problems with the Anime Protagonist

Recently I was listing my favorite anime characters in a discussion with a friend. To my surprise none of these characters actually where main characters. Now I found this interesting and than thought of my favorite characters of western media. Nearly all of them were main characters. So why do I like side characters in anime more?
Is there something wrong with the anime protagonist? Why are side characters almost always better? Today I look into this thing.

The Anime Protagonist is oftenly unrelatable.

Breaking Bad is one of the best tv shows of all time and it is also one of the best examples on how I can relate to a main character. I cared for Walt, even in his darker moments I cared for Jessie even if the way he talks made me cringe real hard. What differentiates them from a plethora of anime characters is how their goals are so much more relatable. They want to do right by their family, try to survive… earn a quick buck. Anime doesn’t oftenly do that. Sure there is the slice of life genre where goals are often a bit low key , but that is oftenly over romanticised still. In the more common genres like Shonen we lose track even faster.

Luffy wants to be the Pirate King, which isn’t even a thing here! Like what the friggin fuzz is a pirate king? How can we relate to this wish? Goku wants to fight the strongest opponents…for funsies. I seriously doubt anyone of us desires to have their ass handed to them just so they can go stronger .. for the sake of getting stronger. LeLouch wishes to see the rule of Neo Britannia on Japan end and wishes to lead a group of rebels to victory and independence. Their biggest wish is often tied in to the McGuffin of the series and can be described in one or two words. What does Goku want? Growing Stronger. What does Lelouch want? Freedom, What does Honoka from Love Live want? Idolhood! Yet all their goals are extremely situational and tied in very much to their series. Their goals are not that interesting because they are also the point of their respective series. They are oftenly huge and not exaggerated and not something we ever could achieve, oftenly their goal doesn’t even exist in our world.

**Apparantly you need a red coat with pauldrons to be a pirate king!**

Now by themselves this would not really matter and it would still work, but since anime often have such a large cast, it becomes a problem. In One Piece, Sanji wants to see All Blue, to behold a spectacle of nature, Zoro wants to be the best in his speciality and Nami wants to do something no one has ever done before.. in making a completed map of the world. While still rather hard to realise in the real world,we understand their goals much more. Luffy’s goal becomes more of an engine to get the others to their goals. In Naruto .. the fox boy wishes to become the Hokage…which again is an engine to make plot happen rather than .. in our worlds perspective .. a real goal. Sakura and to a lesser extend Hinata want love, Sasuke wants revenge heck Shikamaru wants stuff to be less bothersome. Now I do feel revenge is not a great motivation as that on it’s own can be a bit unrelatable but the base emotion is something we can vibe with. Yet no one really of us would , (without a series) dream of being the political leader of a ninja village, to be the one who finds some special pirate treasure which makes you recognized as the pirate king or win a idol girl contest while in school. .. because those aren’t really a thing..

**Why do all these titles come with weird clothes?!**

Anime Protagonist oftenly have flat character arcs.

Walter White started out as a soft , nervous good willing man who evolved.. or devolved depending on you look at it into a hardcore drug Kingpin, who played mind games and wasn’t afraid to murder. Throughout his series he evolved. Anime protagonists oftenly don’t do that. The best example of this is Goku. While he does learn things and he does grow.. he never really changes. Way back in the earliest series of Dragon Ball, Goku wishes to fight strong opponents and get stronger. Right now he still does. While he matured a bit… at times , he has not experienced significant change because his goals are the story engine.. it keeps on going. Enter Vegeta in the equation and let’s add some of his wishes to this. He wishes to surpass Goku and prove he is the true elite.

Now Goku’s goal will always proceed without to much hinder.. as it makes the plot possible. Vegeta’s goals.. clash with this. This creates a tension in a character like prince of all saiyans. He can’t reach his goals… so he has to react to it. His path is not a straight line from A to B. In the Buu Saga.. and even a bit in the Cell Saga already, he discovers he can’t surpass Goku.. or the potential of future saiyans.. he discovers the importance of family, having something to protect. His journey starts out as an A to B type of situation, but in the end we see him strive for C instead, and only after getting it return to try and reach B. Such characters gain more dimensions, Gohan not wanting to fighting but having to embrace he has to is another one of these types of situations.

Lelouch never truly wavers from his goal no matter how much friends or loved ones he loses. The goal established in episode 1 still is the goal in the final episode. He is more hurt and more scarred, but his journey has never changed from A to B .. at least not really. Main characters age, but not change. Even when they do their allies change faster. A good example of this is Hunter x Hunter. While Gon does grow, accepts responsibility and consequences of his actions basically everyone arounds him grows faster or more significantly. Killua is a great character that gets so much development he completely blows Gon out of the water. We see him change some of his core values, his status quo and his beliefs as he learns and discovers. The same can be said for characters like Kurapika and even Hisoka. In the case of Kurapika we see him reinvent his goal of vengeance to a certain extent. We see him adapt , in the case of Hisoka we see that a lot of things we thought we knew where not true, or a shift in his position in the world. So obviously these characters will have a more interesting narrative.

*Look at how happy he is that I think he is cooler than Gon!*

We know to much of the Anime Protagonist

Now let’s move away from your standard shonen a bit and expand our look a bit , because there are issues with main characters in other genres as well.. not that Love Live is Shonen..but still. One of the weirder things that make an anime protagonist less interesting stems from the original media, the manga. Now I am gonna make a cardinal sin here and compare anime to comics.. because both of these have something that makes characters way less interesting when they carry over in other media. Thought Bubbles. Bloom into You was a great anime but throughout the series we hear Yuu’s thoughts. We can tell exactly how she feels not because we can relate to her ..but because the voice in her head tells us what she feels. Touko and Sayaka do not get this same effect so we have to guess what they feel, based on the look in their eyes, the inflection in their voice and possibly their posture.

Sayaka creates a tension when she talks to Yuu because we do not know how she feels.. we guess. We get hints and have to puzzle the whole thing together. We can not take everything face value. While for Yuu we have to put zero effort into knowing her feelings. The standard shonen protagonist shouts out their feelings and your average magical girl protagonists again has thought bubbles again or keeps a journal which they use to recap the last episodes. We so rarely have to wonder what motivates an anime protagonist or what they are feeling it is as Kevin Sorbo is acting out their script! For those not in the know.. he once read the emotional descriptions of a scenes tone as part of his lines..and that somehow made it into an episode. But that is exactly how the overly narrated protagonist can feel like.

While this is more a flaw with anime in general than with its main person this post is not meant to say all anime protagonists is bad, because they aren’t… I just rather have Gohan over for Coffee than Goku. I’d rather interview Sakura than Naruto. The episodes of Crime Scene Investigation that are best are the ones where you have a chance to get who the killer is in the first or second act by simply finding links.. Oh that character’s mother died in an hospital.. the murder victim was an orderly.. perhaps they could not save his mother and he took vengeance. If we could hear the thoughts of all characters , we would know who the killer is right away… and the character itself becomes much less interesting. Like how a random bit of trivia on some paper is less stimulating than a riddle.

*See this is the most interesting thing in my entire post! Desu Nee?!*

We need the protagonist

I could totally see Breaking Bad kill off Walt in the third season after which we suddenly strictly follow Jesse, or maybe see Gil take over, it would have made the story less but in a way Walt as a protagonist stood apart from the major events happening in this story. Gus and Tuco would still do their thing , Jesse would still do his. The world is in motion despite of the characters interaction. In plenty of anime this is not true. Without Zero, Neo Britannia would not be the same. Without Goku virtually non of Dragon Ball Z could have happened and Sword Art Online is basically just a collection of games Kirito plays, with the exception of the Rosario arc, which was one of the only SAO bits I actually liked. Without Honoka , Muse would have never been founded and it would not easily continue without her either as her enthusiasm drives everyone.

While anime is not afraid to let important characters die, rarely do they kill of golden goose. Which the same thing can be said for Western Media but compared to anime , these characters feel more killable. Would Yuu not show any interest in Touko at all, Bloom into you could not happen, so in essence Bloom Into You .. is Yuu. As a result Yuu HAS to develop some feelings , she HAS to overcome. It removes suspense once more because without progression there is no story. Some protagonists suffer from this worse than others.

Kirito from Sword Art Online is one my my least like protagonists ever and that is all in the way he is written. Kirito in almost every season.. for some reason just “gets” stuff. The plot has to get moving. The Dual wield skill just appears, in Gun Gale he figures out the plot out of the thing air and he gets a sword again for no reason, a particular model for no reason and so on. He needs the swords to beat the bad guy in a cool way, he needs the sword to still feel like Kirito , he needs to figure out the plot then and there to save Sinon. We need him to do the stuff that he does.. and as such it can feel unearned and insincere. Achievements main protagonists reach are often in service of the main story, while side characters achievements feel like a side story.. so while I would contribute Asuna’s accomplishments to her as a character.. Kirito’s I’d count as the plot of Sword Art…

*Aww, he seems bummed I don’t like him…he will somehow grow a skill for that I guess*

Great but Never Number 1

Except for Kirito I like all the main characters I mentioned but because of all the reason above I never would name them as my favorite. I favor L over Light, Matt over Tai, Kai over Tyson, Megumin over Kazuma and Rem over Subaru and obviously Kamina over Simon. While plenty of them are well written and truly satisfying to look at, the way anime depicts their main characters differs from how western media does it. It uses fantasy in another way and because it creates such unique worlds their main characters are always the least interesting thing about them.

Western Media is like muscle cars.. we all want it to be red and have a big engine with plenty of V thingies. We care about how hard it goes Vroom. Walter White is the Engine of Breaking Bad. In fact all Protagonists are the engine of their respective series..which are now cars! Anime however is like a concept car. It has such a weird body that we know little about what kind of engine should be in there.. so as long as the car moves.. the engine is fine. We are more interested in the fact that they added glowing wheels, augmented reality windows or bubble doors. Midoriya just has to punch stuff and eat other peoples hair to make the plot go vroom, but by adding their Bakugous and Todorokis this car will show some unique features. There is nothing wrong with buying a car for it’s cute interior.. I sure would if I could drive!

*See I like how white the chairs are before I worry about the engine!*

Do you generally prefer anime protagonists or do you favor secondary characters like me? Why do you feel that way? Let me know in the comments and remember I love you all!
Stay smiling and keep positive!

XO
Pinkie

I Love The Darkness: Pokémon Reborn

When we think of Pokémon we think of a colourful world full of creatures to befriend. We think of lighthearted stories or in the case of Sword and Shield.. barely any story at all. We think of happy clefairies dancing and lickitung sushi eating minigames. Yet what if we look at pokémon in a different way? What if we go darker? This is what the amazing Rom Hack, Pokémon Reborn is about.

Terrorists and Hookers

The game begins rather uniquely. You can choose a gender, including non-binary and up to six avatars regardless of what gender you choose to identify with. A nice touch, now you can play as whatever avatar you like best. After that we get a wholesome train scene. Some guy talks to you about the Reborn region and the gym challenge there. Then it starts. A mysterious incident happens on the train.. and while you drive into the train station of reborn city, the train explodes. Terrorists have struck! While you arrive at the station you encounter a happy and bubbly girl, who was fascinated by the explosions.. she claims to be the first gym leader and tells you to meet her soon. At this moment you get control and you can walk around. Normally there is this guy who tells you that science is amazing explaining new features of the game. That guy is also walking around here! I decided to talk to him. “You were on that train?” He asks me? “So was my wife”. We all know what happened here and it hit me like a truck!

When we exit the screen we get a cut away scene, to a policeman who captured the terrorist responsible. The terrorist is tied in a small room, cuffed to a metal chair. When he refuses to talk the policeman takes out his torkoal and tells it to super heat the chair. With the screams of the terrorist we are told we aren’t playing any random pokémon game. We are playing Pokémon Reborn. We get taken to a building where we get one of 21 starters. All the pokémon up to gen 7 are in this game and you can choose each starter. I chose Piplup a choice I came to deeply regret. As soon as we leave the pokémon lab we can battle a few trainers. These are all hoodlums or hookers. The hoodlums use your standard Team Rocket Esque pokémon while the hookers named Doxies, use baby pokémon who use charm and attract. When you win.. you win 3 or 4 pokédollars…because these people don’t have any money. After a few battles I encounter a group of ruffians who are bullying a zigzagoon (but it can be a bidoof as well if I am not mistaking) they are scaring it and threatening to toss it off a bridge. I call out Piplup to school them! Piplup has a bad nature ..(for now) and I end up losing the fight. When I return to them to save Ziggy.. it is gone. It was tossed off the bridge. I then find out the water is acidic in Reborn City, and the zigzagoon died. I can’t live with myself and reset the game.

A real Gym Challenge

It is time for a new run, I choose my main boy Bulbasaur instead. This game is hard and I will need it’s bulk! Zigzagoon is alive again! Unfortunately .. the wife of the technology guy… is still dead. This time I know what’s ahead and I grind a bit, I even manage to catch a bidoof to assist me. We win. When healing up I see someone selling pokémon for 500 bucks! Sure I will allow myself to be Magikarp scammed! I’ll use a Gyarados! Unfortunately this is not Pokémon..this is Pokémon Reborn.. I basically get robbed of my money and end up without a pocket monster! However I’d advise anyone to buy that pokemon as it will grant you a side quest that will encompass a fair few hours as you get revenge and go find your promised pokémon. After exploring the first ward in the city I got a hand full of okay pokémon. Bidoof already evolved to Bibarel and I think this is the perfect time to take on the first gym. I was dearly mistaken.

**This is like a** ***Pokemon Game where all leaders are Whitney!***

Pokémon Reborn treats gym leaders like actual competent people. Every single gym leader (which includes gyms for each type) uses a full team of six Pokemon. Not only that each gym leader uses actual tactics. The explosion loving girl is the electricity type gym leader, and while you can not really find any ground type Pokemon to counter her.. her move sets are made to compensate any flaws in her team. Bulbasaur can take electricity fairly well… so virtually every single Pokemon on her team has a move that can hurt it normally. Not only does this apply to the gyms it also seems to apply to wild monsters to an extent. It seems as if Pokémon in this world have developed better defenses against this hostile environment.

To distinguish gym battles from regular battles though, all gyms are hosted on special fields. These are like the terrains in Pokémon Main Games but more complex. For example during the steel type gym fight, the entire room is covered by mirrors. Every beam type attack is powered up. Every special attack.. when missed is reflected off the wall and has a second chance to hit..if they dodge that.. you need to dodge as well. If you miss with a physical attacks some of the mirrors shatter and those who miss take damage of glass shrapnel. The Dark type gym is shrouded in darkness.. which empowers dark type moves..but by using electric moves you can turn on the lights weakening dark moves instead. Using electricity again will power up your electric move but short circuit everything out going back into darkness again. Those are some deep strategies! Now this is a challenge.

Suffering and Sorrow can be great!

Now you might think you can just grind levels and overpower your enemies one by one.. but no you can not. You see in Reborn pokemon and human are further apart, so when something is overleveled it stops obeying you regardless if it is traded or not. Essentially this means the Gym Leaders ace is always the strongest pokémon and you can NOT outlevel it.
Now your monsters can still gain xp and it would be a shame to lose your pokémon because it because unresponsive so the makers made a clever new item. The common candy, an item that brings your pokémon down a level. This way you can still always focus on your team. The fact that I do use these things a lot is a testament of how easy it is to actually level .. and that is a good thing.. because you might have already figured this out if you read between the lines… the gym leaders use a full team of six that can benefit from their fields. Essentially this means that you have to have a solid team to face them each gym. You can’t just pick Bulbasaur and hope to steam waltz through everything.. you can not waste a slot on Bulbasaur in a psychic or fire type gym. You are going to need a team made for your next challenge. Gone are the days of coasting you need to work to be a master in this game.

The difficulty can be somewhat relentless at times, you are constantly fighting a battle against the unknown. The evil organisation in this world is experimenting with forced mega evolution and augmenting or mutating pokémon, which means you never fully know what to expect. Fairly soon in after the game I encountered a street that was fully torn up.. huge rifts torn in the streets.. a girl crying as her boyfriend just fell to his death by this event… the reason for this is a giant weaponised tangrowth who the evil team is using to tear the ground asunder to unearth something they want to find. You have to navigate across these chasms by bursting through gang territory, by raiding warehouses and saving a popplio from dissolving in acid. The game while difficult encapsules that atmosphere.. you are not meant to make this in one go. You need to push as far as you can.. retreat to a pokémon center and lick your wounds. You need to adapt.. say goodbye to the pokémon you want to use.. and take that one that offers you an advantage. We are not in Agatha’s ideal world… the stakes are real this time. At times it can feel “not fun” it can feel like you are struggling and suffering..but that in a way is the point. In Reborn you shall not feel powerful.. in Reborn you make due.. and try to get by the skin of your teeth.

Hey no fair!

Reborn is one of my favorite pokémon fan games ever, even if I have yet to complete it. (Updates are brought episodic and I am not sure it is fully finished yet, but at least there are 18 gyms already so safe to say you are good for a solid while). The feeling of this world is so unique and gut punching real that it is truly a sight to behold. We all wonder why people alway play by the rules in pokémon right?! Well in this world they don’t. At one point you challenge a sick fighting master. Yet the evil team is on her trail. She battles with the leader and when she is putting up a good fight, the team leader uses his garchomp, not to attack her pokémon but to cut her in half. Her distraught pokémon promptly tossed in the volcano and dies as well. People use pokémon as weapons in this world not as friends and somehow it manages to balance it’s difficulty to reflect that. While I loved my Pokémon during my runs of the game, I had a team of about 20 that I had to use. So I did not bond as much to that one pokémon in my party.. as in this game you should really not do that.

***Cause Bulbasaur can’t do *censor peep* against huge Steelix!***

This world feels cold.. and sometimes victories can feel hollow. For example a certain gym leader upon his defeat will get so depressed by his defeat that he ends up committing suicide by taking jumping of a bridge. One of the next gym leaders, his daughters best friend witnesses this event as she lives right next to the place where he landed. The sprite of her house even shows stains indicating where he landed. As a result this girl is traumatised and put up in a mental ward. Which uses Electabuzz to experiment with electroshock therapy on children. You have to rescue her from these experiments which leads to an even bigger story line that will have you flee reborn city for a while. Trying to keep this vulnerable kids safe. Never do you feel in control though. Never do you feel like the champion, you feel like you are being chased and as such this game gets a bit of survivor horror genre vibes. Which resources do you use.. do you stay there and gather or do you try to push on. Which battles have consequences and which reset you? Pokémon Reborn doesn’t feel fair.. it’s not about winning, it is about surviving.

Amazing design

Obviously a game with this tone can not really use the original soundtrack assets from pokémon. It would not fit theme wise..so the soundtrack has been very overhauled and it is truly amazing. The songs in this game feel broody and dark, dystopian. Gym battle themes feel like you are facing someone truly powerful and boy are they powerful. I managed to beat about 7 gyms so far (like official badges..not including any invalidated ones) and while they changed it up a bit in the more recent updates I can say nothing but praise for this soundtrack. Each area is so memorable. Simple decisions can be super effective. One gym leader..who feels barely human has the gym leader theme others have played backwards, causing you to feel very uncomfortable. The sound mixes so well with the theme of this game that I would think this is an official product. Very little about this feels ..fangame to me!

While it uses GBA style graphics and to an extend borrows from the original pokémon tilesets it goes completely it’s own way. From the water that is a rusty disgusting brown to all the derelict graffiti covered buildings. From the ash covered beaches of a volcanic island to a toxic wasteland that has it’s grass turn into a sickly purplish shade due to all the chemicals leaking into the ground. This is pokémon like we have never seen before. The boss pokémon look a bit less official with some sloppy sprite work here and there but they do feel properly twisted for this story. The game also features increased shiny rates and many shinies have received customisations that look absolutely stunning. On one of my attempts, I managed to get a Golem (you can get an item to get trade evolutions) whose core had a magma-ish glow while it’s rock have been darkened I squealed in excitement. Shinies in this game look absolutely amazing and with the higher encounter raid they made the much needed grind quite a bit more exciting.

Not Pokémon

This game is definitely not going to be for everyone. There is a steep learning curve, and I mean steeeeeeeep, but for those who like a challenge this game is truly excellent. The writing feels somber but not needlessly edgy..well maybe a bit..but at least it’s consistent to the entire world so never feels out of place. There are plenty of lighthearted bits as well to make it all tolerable and digestible! It has a pretty great story that does feel like it respects what pocket monsters can truly do. It respects the power that inside. Yet at the same time this did not completely feel like a Pokemon game to me. It feels like a JPRG more akin to Final Fantasy VII or Nier. It feels as if the pokémon are a mechanic .. in a non franchise game.
I’d say they more take on a role more similar to the concept of “magic”. A mage in one game is not persé like a mage in the next. These creatures are not your pets.. and there is no one to evaluate your pokédex and give you shoulder pads. These are your shoulders and together you fight to survive.

Pokémon Reborn is free to play and is fully made in RPG maker. It features online trading and online battling (though I would not expect to much out of that) and to any gamer who likes darker RPG’s I say definitely check this one out. At a certain point it even gave me Chrono Trigger Vibes (especially in the future bit) . There are a handful of colourful locations as well but to the pokémon fans who are in love with Pokémon Go and Let’s Go, I’d say.. this is not like that at all. Puzzles are as hard as the battles and require you to actually require you to read some dialogue. However unlike in other fan games where you can get quizzes that need you to look up stats of pokémon or so on the internet.. or know them by heart ..this game does offer you all the right tools. While hard and grindy it never really asks you to EV train.. or breed… like some of the more hardcore fangames do. This one is all about strategy … and surviving… and I love it dearly for that.

For those interested you click here to get Pokémon Reborn yourself!
Let me know if you decide to play! Remember I love you all! Keep Smiling and Stay Positive! Even darkness can be amazing!

XO
Pinkie

Five More Geeky Things You Did Not Know About Me!

In the ancient times I had a lot of big ideas for my blog! There was happiness, love and geekiness with a personal twist and it was good! But everything changed when Corona attacked. My dear island guests, the last weeks I have been struggling with depression or at least some severe complaints of somberness. I did not shine and I have been neglecting you all and for that I am sorry! This week I am trying to improve! I am fighting back… so it is time for some cute geeky stories! A long time ago I told you five geeky things about me that you did not know! … Here are some more!

Geeky Fact Number 1
I love to cook and I have implemented a few Shokugeki no Soma methods in my cooking.

Now Cooking Wars as this show is called in English I believe used to be one of my favorite shows to watch, up until it got all gloomy and depressive in season 3. Yet this show left me with a few techniques I use on a regular basis. I am just a poor girl so when cooking beef I am usually limited to using the lesser quality cuts. However by covering them with chopped onions , honey or even pineapple juice I can make them more juice and tender. These are techniques Soma used in the first season and they stuck with me. Also some knowledge that is fairly uncommon here that garlic isn’t really used in a lot of traditional japanese meals, is something I have since implemented in my modus operandi when cooking japanese.

I even competed in a friendly cooking competition with the Chaliapin Steak from .. I’d say episode 4 but it could be another one entirely..where a steak gets covered in onions for a while while they soak up the meat juices the enzymes in the onions tenderize the meat. It got a lot of compliments. They ended up not naming a winner in the end though because everything tasted good they say…. Well nobody got naked or had orgasms so in my book we all would have failed! Oh I also tried the frozen fried egg thing……I would recommend you do not try that one at home.

My steak never sprouted rose petals either. Kinda wonder.. if that is a bad thing though! Stuff growing on meat doesn’t seem fresh!

Geeky Fact Number 2:
I once did a workshop on a convention

Not one of my proudest moments I am afraid, but I once did a workshop on using Japanese Pay cards to be able to purchase Japan only games. It was a sucky workshop that had me basically had me sell Japanese .. play store/e-shop and others cards telling you how you as a European can access these shops. Now, the company I promoted this for tried this several times with several different co-bloggers and well.. it never really went all that well. It involved making a synopsis of our websites stories and adding in some jokes. The only problem was.. this was my first con ever.. so I did not know the language to speak at it was english and not dutch. So it ended up as a bit of a disaster. The first round people left quickly , the second round people stared at me like I was the devil … and the third time I got a bit more of a response by doing it a bit more sincere. After all the workshop had been given a misleading name to draw in a crowd.

The problem with this workshop is… I had to tell my story to people who can’t read Japanese because the people who can.. are smart enough to figure out how to access the shop by themselves. So it was a workshop in the nature of.. in the playstation store.. click the third button from the top.. then pick the second button and fill in an address. Google for one in Japan.. Than pick the first button in the left corner to confirm. It was dreary and dreadful and most people who can’t read japanese aren’t all that interested in playing Japanese games. I at least got my heart a good workout!

The third time and final time I had to present that stuff I winged it and mostly ended up talking about weird japanese games like Cho-Aniki. Making it more interactive if people knew other games having them tell about it and on what platform it was. I told them of the appropriate subsite they could order the cards for to play that game and showed them the tutorial and handed them all some promotional material on which I scribbled info specified for them . Because people don’t really take notes during cons. I was told to have audio visual support and I did not.. I could display a flew slides but all audio support was not there so even my beautiful presentation did not work out. A few conventions in though.. I discovered that at least in the Netherlands .. that is pretty much how most workshops go though.

*Me when discovering all I had prepared could go in the garbage bin! Before I learned to accept the chaos of the con!*

Geeky fact number 3:
I once tried to make an EMV using a popular dutch children’s show song.

At Dutch AnimeCon 2017 we attended an event called the XMV-Competition. An Adult only late night event where you laugh at either hyper violent gory AMVs set to cute music.. or watch EMVs. Not to arouse but for the sake of comedy. However … most entries were very bad. Or at least nothing special. Now being as asexual as I am , this competition meant nothing for me but I was friends with the champions of the first edition and the runner-up of the second year. The first year they used the song “Song for a Squeal Happy Whore” by James Gunn’s PG porn, which landed them the victory..and winning all the girls underwear they found at the con of the previous year. The next year they participated with Pink Fluffy Unicorns..but where passed up in favor of someone who did the exact same thing they did that year before… theme wise. After that second year the show dropped in quality and my friends kept being invited because their videos would show in the highlights.

So I came up with an idea that would actually win….destroying everyone’s childhood. You see in our country we had a show called Bassie en Adriaan. A show about a Clown and an Acrobat who solve mysteries throughout the world and deal with a bunch of criminals like an evil Baron and his silly henchman. In their best know series they would travel Europe, to find mysterious parcels hidden in each country. Each episode they would sing the same song teaching you about the languages on this world. It followed a format akin to “Guten Morgen, that means Good Morning, Guten Abend that is Good Night, Lachen that is laughing, weinen is german for cry’ and so the song would go on. Now I used karaoke versions of the song on top of the original to mute the foreign languages and edited in anime girls moans and cries. On the line where they say what language this is .. “Listen very good to this cute song.. and you learn “German” real well” I muted German and had a girl shouting out hentai edited in. Now I wanted to find a hentai with clowns and acrobats for the images but that did not work..and while I worked on finding the perfect images I noticed how hard I found it to stomach hentai for this long. As soon as we heard the completion might not happen that year I pulled the plug on it! I was not gonna risk feeling this anxious and uncomfy for nothing. I might get back to it when the competition returns though.

Geeky Fact Number 4:
I had a huge video game crush on Jeanette Voerman from Vampire The Masquerade Bloodlines.

Once at elementary school a teacher asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I answered .. a vampire! My fascination for the bloodsuckers has never passed away fully. If the romanticized form of vampires were real I would immediately sign up to be one to this day. Being painfully aware of my own mortality due to whatever plagues me.. made the love for them bigger.. an ultimate escape fantasy. Then I was introduced to the Vampire Masquerade universe and in particular the Malkavians… I was hooked. These vampires are cursed with madness.. but also a weird form of clarity, they see the world differently see things other people do not see. While being blind to the masks people put up. Another emotion I kind of relate to. I see people pretend to be better than they are.. pretend to care for people while they really do not.. they just want to be perceived as good persons! I also see the beauty of a person who just isn’t afraid to be themselves… who doesn’t follow the trends and thinks they have to be happy with themselves.. While these people are often outcasts and oftenly do not bask in the common beauty.. because than it is harder to develop these traits.. i see their beauty and I see the ugliness of that model that doesn’t really want to look as thin..but wants people to adore her over what she wishes for herself.

In the second Vampires Video Game , in Downtown LA we were introduced to the crazy Jeanette. One of the two daughters of Janus.. sharing a body with her alternate persona Therese. Jeanette.. was way to sexual for me.. way to aggressive..but for some reason… I loved her to bits. That voice, the look in her eyes, that outfit, the tone and the way she pronounces words. This was before I knew I was lesbian, yet romancing her hit me so hard. She was in my mind a lot! She became a definition of what I thought was sexy. The way she called me duckling lingered in my head. I never liked a pet name as much as duckling. Now in true me fashion.. seeing her frail and vulnerable… and seeing the sweet woman behind the facade was what really made me love her. It took me a fair while to shake of that video game crush and even now I would love the thought it someone called me duckling.

Geeky Fact Number 5:
I write Disney Spoof Songs on a fairly regular basis

By now you should all know I am Dungeon Master of many games. I also roleplay bards a lot. I like musical elements in roleplay even though I can sing about as well as a Dragon Ball character and I am way less audible than them. Still those little moments I can shine for a bit and squak my songs I feel so happy. Since I am such a poor singer though, I really need to pick some very familiar songs.. and since I really hate top listed music I usually stick to songs everyone knows. Disney Songs are the greatest to edit because of their flow. “Be a Man” works so well for bardic songs of inspirations, “Gaston” is a great song to boast, Under the Sea works great for exposition songs, and then there is of course Let it Go, that rebranded can be just about everything. You can write a spoof and everyone enjoys it because this is enjoyable to everyone no matter who they are.. it is something we all know.

So oftenly I dabble in writing a new song for a campaign or sometimes just for funsies. There is a simplicity to Disney Songs where everyone can understand the emotion, and due to it’s musical nature it can also convey a lot of different messages. When listening to common-folk music , everything or at least almost everything is about love.. lost, gained, positive or negative.. it always tells about that significant other and about a dependency or feeling those others invoke. It’s boring and bland. Plenty of Disney songs are not about that. Even a whole new world is more about freedom than it is about love. Okay Kiss the girl is pretty obvious but it mostly is encouraging in tone… I for example made a version called “loot that corpse” and later rebranded it to “find that trap” and it worked perfectly. There is this..familiarity that can boost a nicely written song and because a melody is so familiar people can hear it when you just sing at the rythmn. Had I had a friend who could sing some of these songs would probably be on a youtube channel.. but alas! Now this strictly for my D&D players and those who can read a song and pretend it to be sang!

Now it’s time and prepare my D&D game for the day! No songs in this one though! Just a fight with Loki commanding an army of Eldritch abominations! Remember that I love you all! Keep smiling! Stay trough to your heart!

XO
Pinkie

Pinkie Gets Anime Powers : YuGiOh

We all have done it, wonder how our life would be inside of an anime?! What powers we would get. How would we work in an anime world? The past few weeks I have been asking myself that questions a few times. With the world in its current situation I think it’s the perfect time to resort to this form of escapism once again as this time we travel to the world of Yu-Gi-Oh

Duelist: Yuni “Pinkie”Cohn

Character Name:
Yuni Cohn
Duelist Name:
Pinkie
Age:
24, but she has silver hair though she is often seen as much older.
Role:
Main Character
Relationships:
Pegasus Niece
Quirks:
Converses with her cards, seems oblivious to what is real and what is not, keeps quoting cartoons and anime. Doesn’t like if people call her madam or “that older woman” Sweet Tooth.

Every Yugioh main character has got to have a name that begins with Yu. At least if you watch the sub…. I am looking at you Jaden!…. Since I bet I would sound much cuter in Japanese than I would sound in english.. a name starting with Yu it is. We use this series to introduce Yugioh back into the main world of the show.. and while we are at it.. let’s make this a legacy show! I believe we are very close to the 20th anniversary so let’s create a world that can highlight some of the shows greatest moments. In order to achieve this feeling we are going to combine the latest show with the first season of the classic show for maximum callback.

Set somewhere between GX and 5d’s ..but with all the newest card rules intact. This anime fully takes place inside virtual reality. Using technology similar to that off YuGiOh Vrains. Our story borrows a lot of concepts from Ready Player One. Pegasus is retiring having reached the age of 65 he has decided to pass his company Industrial Illusions on to he or she who can become the next king of games, Thus the story is set about 40 years after Season 1.Pegasus will entrust his company only to someone who can beat his “video game” Duelist Kingdom 2.0. A completely virtual world. In this game he created several “bosses” based on actual duelists of the old world.To challenge one you have to pay starchips which you can acquire from challenging other players. If you defeat a boss, you gain a golden millenium item card. The first 8 who show up at the pharaoh’s tomb with all the 7 items can duel each other in the finals for a change to beat the true king of games. If you beat him…become Pegasus successor.

**I based a game on my favorite book yu-gi-boy!.. Yep Defo can see Max do this sort of stuff.**

Yuni lives with her adoptive family in poverty. Pegasus is her last known surviving blood relative and all pleas for help to his address have so far been unsuccessful. Too poor to even own a deck, Yuni spends what little surplus money she has, on sweets. Her owner of her favorite sweet shop, and older lady named Ryndia one day invites her to share some tea with her. She explains that she has been invited to the tournament..but can’t. No one will look after the shop.. and her old bones would ache in the vr pod. She tells Yuni she knows she is Pegasus niece and offers her a chance to finally be acknowledged. Handing her her own personal deck as well. Yuni agrees.. thinking this could save her family and finally make her connect to blood, as she would enter the virtual world of Duelist Kingdom 2.0.

***I did not feel like hours of photoshop today so instead we get a rough depiction of how she would look like more or less.***

Taking the duelist handle of Pinkie in the virtual world, she is a bit of an odd girl. Unlike other YuGiOh characters she starts completely alone, so Yuni starts to talk to her cards and begins to develop a friendship with them. Giving them personality and voices in her head.
This way we can bond with the cards a lot more… which can help card sales.. it’s YuGiOh after all. Throughout the series we see Yuni develop her own “heart of the cards” ideal, where she relies on her friends to come through for her. As her bonds grow, she also begins to feel this world is more real. Going into a bog to save a drowning animal, risking herself for holograms. However this often results in her finding new cards.. as if the world rewards her for caring. Her weird approach to this..makes her hard to befriend as people think of her as delusional.

The Deck: Madolche Archetype

The deck that Yuni would use would reflect her love for sweets and look cute. After all I have to stay on brand for my blog. Desu Nee? The archetype I have chosen to use is the one of Madolche. Which is a combination of both sweet and viable. It also works well because of Yuni’s belief that these cards are her friends and would never abandon her. Now this is not a tutorial on how to Madolche but it is an extremely powerful deck with One Turn Kill possibilities and insane combos. Madolches get send back to your deck instead of your graveyard when destroyed by your opponent and help each other be summoned or revived should you tribute them. They work together to banish the opponent’s field while striking with 5 or six of them combined (yes six is possible now if you follow master rules 4.0 … long story)

As in all my powers, there is a theme of love and friendship somewhere and I believe Madolche can produce the idea of this feeling. Of course for the anime this deck has to have a lot added to it to provide a new gimmick of the week…but hey by completing quests in the duelist kingdom or beat some holographic minibosses… like Weevil or Rex , Pinkie obtains new cards. So at least it will be way less male-cow-manure like than 5d’s or Zexal where cards magically poof into your hands. Pinkie’s signature monsters still would be the current deck aces. Madolche Queen Tiaramisu has the power to banish monsters from her opponent’s field. Pinkie would imagine her as a Tsundere or as she jokingly calls her Tsundessert. Her “bestie” would be Madolche Puddingcess Chocolat-A-La-Mode.. and if you think think that is a mouthful.. her card effect is almost longer than this post. She can use XYZ materials to summon friends though.

For those who do not know… and I assume that is just about everyone reading this XYZ cards are a special summon from your extra deck by stacking two or more of the same level monsters on top of each other. After summoning the player can than remove those stacks from the card to conjure up powerful effects.

Link summoning will also still be a thing for our heroine’s deck. Link summoning is like a complex form of tribute summoning..which do not have levels but ranks, (equal to the number of creatures used… or creatures used + any older rank card used) these blue cards have arrows and whatever the arrow is pointed at can be targeted for effects. During Master Rule 4.0 you can only have 1 special summoned monster active…BUT you can also special summon into zones your Link Monsters point at, which sounds way complexer than it is. However in the upcoming format that rule should go away. As this paragraph hopefully made clear.. it’s kinda hard to explain how such a deck would work..besides in YuGiOh we need the power of flexible rule interpretation anyway.

Screw the Rules , I have imagination!

As is custom in these YuGiOh series your main protagonist has to have some super powers. We have seen Yuma turn super saiyan to create new cards (like the character actual becomes blond and super powered) .. we see Yusei turn gold and launch his motorbike into space.. where he finds a new card and Playmaker literally can surf… (yes they surf in the newest yu-gi-oh) into a storm to pick up a new card mid duel… like an item box in Mario Kart. I do not want something as stupid for Pinkie, it will only happen once and with reason, but more on that in the next paragraph. Pinkie just talks to her deck and she asks if a certain card can come out to play. We see a animation of her reaching for a card and then the right cute confectionary girl or critter takes her hand and the duel proceeds. It’s heart of the cards..but cast with love and friendship instead of hope or trust.

New cards can be obtained at the end of an episode..but each yugioh series introduces a new form of Kuriboh as well. Kuriboh, Winged Kuriboh, Kuribbon, Kurainbow and others have been introduced to the show in various weird ways, or they have been used to cheat… a lot. Since Pinkie’s deck is sweets based her Kuriboh variant would be called Kuribonbon, which basically looks like a chocolat Kuriboh. By banishing it from your hand it can negate any chosen action of your opponent’s turn . (Negate an attack, negate a summon, negate a trap card activation, Negate a magic card etc, in trade your opponent can not gain any battle damage… but Kuribonbon can only be played on your opponent’s turn). She will find this card by eating some candies while dueling when suddenly one talks to her and turns into a card. She is dealing with a card cheater at the time so will use it still but later out tells it to never cheat again.

The Power of Harmony

Each new season has a new summon mechanic ..which she will all use..(except for maybe pendulums.. in which you set two level scale monsters in your spell and trap zone and than can summon EVERYTHING, that falls in between those level increments from your hand ..and even graveyard in certain conditions) as this will be a legacy show. Fusions, rituals, synchro, links, and xyz will all feature. I guess I will include pendulums as well or I would feel bad for them.. but just in an episode or two! Of course Yuni also needs a new summon mechanic of her her own. I chose for a technique I shall dub Harmony summons.

It is a technique that is quite like the classic fusions. Where you need a very specific combination of cards to tribute. Cards that harmonise with another. For example this could be having Madolche Queen Tiramisu, Madolche Puddingcess and Madolche Puddingcess Chocolat A la Mode on the field and tribute them for Madolche Grande Dessert. (No idea how it would look yet) A bright red card (Pink is taken unfort) that functions as a sort of boss monster. All materials needed get placed under the card like overlay materials however instead of using them to trigger effects, sending one to the graveyard can prevent the monster from being destroyed or send back to the hand.. these are monsters you are going to need to hit multiple times.

Their effect at base is a useful combination or at least themed similar to the cards that are used to summon it, however their effects increase as their life cards are lessened. For example cards gain 300 attack per life card that got send to the graveyard, or per card send to the graveyard they can lock up an opponent’s spell or trap zone, maybe even a monster zone. When a Harmony monster is destroyed you take triple battle damage that turn. I think the concept of using boss monsters could really work well in YuGiOh, especially in the anime. It’s a mechanic we do not have yet, while plenty of other card games do use this trope. Cardfight Vanguard and Pokémon amongst others.

Playing your cards well

All in all I think this could make for an interesting anime show, the risk of having a lonely protagonist could make battles stale, but of course we will occasionally see a battle of the rivals some she will be rooting for others she won’t. Secondary characters oftenly exist to lose or function as an inferior to the protagonist. As a result a great many of these duels become throw-away and inconsequential. By focussing on Pinkie as a solidarity character we can focus on others when it’s their turn to shine.. the other characters have their own fight and should not be written in a way just to assist the main character. Sometimes path cross and we can harmonize.. cheer for each other to give each other strength to make it to the next battle..or we see how are battle styles do not match and how they would use the game for evil!

All in all I think this could be a solid concept for a very different YuGiOh show. Instead of focussing on some characters that aren’t going to make it far we focus on one girl and her cards, making those cards matter as well. In the virtual world we could bring back some homages as well, such as bringing back Deck Master duels, from that Noah Arc.. in the middle of the Battle city finals. We can young Kaiba functioning as one of the key holders.. while old Kaiba makes his return to finally own both Kaiba Corp and Industrial Illusions.We can bring back other main characters from unconnected series simply as programmed bosses… “Master of this technique”or so and we have plenty of opportunity to make this show as long or short as we want depending on how many cards we want to introduce! So Konami if you are reading this…let’s talk! I am cheap!

If you want to talk more about anime powers, write me! Remember guys and gals I love you all! Keep smiling and stay positive!

XO
Pinkie

Previously on Pinkie Gets Anime Powers:

My Stand
My Zanpakuto
My Digimon

Next time:

Pinkie’s Guilty Movie Pleasures: The Room

Usually I have this column for movies that are great, but are never talked about in favor of those Oscar bait pretentious ones we pretend to love. Our secret favorites.. because they would be to “pulpy” otherwise. However you could look as my guilty pleasures also as bad movies I love. One of these, I have mentioned plenty of times on my blog , I crossplayed as the main guy, we went to special viewings, I haven’t sent mail to the director.. who never sent anything back unfort… and It’s tearing me apart!

***Now.. to keep this blog life for five years!***

A spoonful of horribleness

The Room is a movie directed by the infamous and mysterious Tommy Wiseau and saw a theater release..for three days or so.. in 2003. It is described to be the best worst movie ever and rightfully so. In this movie we follow protagonist Johny (who never gets a last name) who sees his wife Lisa slip into the arms of his best friend Mark after being denied a promotion at the bank. We see a positive and dog loving man, change into a tortured shell of his former self. Trapped in despair…. or at least that is what it seems this movie is about. In actuality I think this is a dramatic retelling of the old TV-Show “Third Rock from the Sun” about aliens visiting earth, because the characters in The Room are far from human. From casually saying they have breast cancer to having sex on your friends couch for no reason at all. All emotions in this movie are crooked and wrong. From moving into a serious talk towards a casual “anyway how is your sexlife” to tossing a football in costume at a very inappropriate event. I think it’s aliens!…Vampire Aliens to be exact.

During the opening credits we see the name Tommy Wiseau pop up a lot. He written, directed, produced and starred in this movie..among other things. The deuteragonist being played by his (former) best friend Greg Sestero. Juliette Danielle playing the female lead and Philip Haldiman complete the main cast. It’s almost completely set in one or two homes , Greg’s and Tommy’s with a few scenes like a park and a flower shop. Yet this movie costed a whopping 6 million dollars to make. Which you never see in this movie. This movie was almost entirely self funded by Tommy and where the money comes from is a big mystery. When you see this movie, you will also wonder where that budget went. This does not look like a six million dollar movie. It looks bad, it sounds bad and the green screen doesnt look ever look right. It’s written horrible, it’s acted atrociously bad and now it also looks and sounds horrible?! How can this movie be good than? Well this is not just a movie.. this is a phenomenon.

A spoonful of mystery

Strictly as a movie, this movie already definitely falls under the “so bad it’s good “ category. Yet to watch The Room like that ..almost feels like a shame. Because there is so much more to it. The best way to watch this movie is to either watch the movie “the disaster artist” soon after, or read Greg Sestero book that movie was based on. It gives this movie a “mystical” quality. How did this ever see the light of day? Two reasons why you can really see Tommy was in over his head are also important reasons why this movie cost so much. Each scene was shot in two camera formats for example. Because Tommy did not comprehend the difference between camera’s he just got both main types and had them running at the same time. Instead of renting these camera’s as is customary in Hollywood he just bought them.
He also rented a billboard to promote his movie..which he ended up keeping for five years..even though movie was not running anywhere during regular screenings. How could he make a movie like that?

***His actors frequently wondered how he could as well.***

The plot thickens when Tommy Wiseau tries to be mysterious about his age and origin. He’s probably polish but he might be from space as well. In this movie we get to take a peek in his mind. How does he see people?! Philip Haldiman who plays Denny for example never knew his character had a mental disability.. while Tommy Wiseau says he written him as that. Suddenly a few scenes begin to make much more sense.. yet his drug abuse scenes suddenly make less sense. Tommy also wanted to reveal his character is a vampire at the end…”He would do this by adding in an effect that Johny’s car would lift into the sky and fly over the San Francisco skyline .. as a closing shot. This action would reveal Johnny’s true nature as a vampire?!…How does flying car say vampire?! Yet somehow I love it. When you see The Room, knowing this .. you pick up little hints to maybe allude to this yet “not really”.You get into his head-space for a bit.. taking you on somebody else’s LSD trip sort of speak.It’s like looking at a molten jigsaw puzzle.. it sorta fits together.. but it doesn’t make a lot of sense.

**How about we play football instead of making puzzle?! Ahaaha!**

A spoonful of hidden wisdom?

What does The Room mean? Clearly Johnny and Tommy are the same person, just watch any interview, their mindset is nearly one on one. Tommy Wiseau even talks extensively how fun tossing a football.. a thing Johnny and his fellows do A LOT in this movie. Most of the times it doesn’t make sense. For example in one talk Johnny and his best friend go to the park to talk and toss the football? Like who does that?! That sounds like some 50’s styled utopia..alla fallout minus the nuke. Is there a deeper meaning to the football? Or is it just Tommy bleeding over into Johny?! The alledgeded polack is clearly clever enough to get six million somewhere, so could he really be so alien in this? On set his 400! crew and cast members gossiped about the woman which had scored Tommy to make him write this story…but I do think his Mistress is of another kind. I think his cruel mistress is Hollywood.

Johnny is a man of honest intention, a hard worker who tries his best as is passionate and cheerful. Clearly Tommy sees himself as that person. Lisa tears Johnny apart by feeling he is not good enough for her! She wants someone who can do better.. who has that promotion.. or just something new. I think , Tommy’s Lisa is Hollywood. In the Disaster Artist movie, we see Tommy get rejected by everyone in Hollywood, he could not find a job. Eventually he decided to do it himself. He got fed up with not being good enough for others so he took his faith in his own hand. Just as Johnny wil never be good enough for Lisa .. so will Tommy always be laughed at by Hollywood. Tommy has old values.. so Mark.. are Tommies peers, the younger generation he met in acting class who now outdo him to those jobs. Now I just need to figure out how a mentally disabled drug abusing neighbour boy who wants to join you in the bedroom, and a mother in law who is casual about her breast cancer fit in. To me this movie is about taking control of your own destiny creating your own path and setting yourself free from those who old you back…….that is if I really try to think from Tommy’s perspective though.. when you just look at the movie itself… there is no way that wisdom will show.. nor might it ever have been intended.

***At least they do the drunk japanese headband thing! 10/10 movie!***

A spoonful of charm

As someone who watches bad movies for fun with some friends, this one has something many others don’t. While I clearly laugh at this movie and think it’s ridiculous, there is also something pure and adorable with it. The scene in the flower shop for example… this is actually a flower shop and the woman behind the counter is an actual florist, which is why her line delivery is so bad. The “Oh Hi Doggie” scene never was scripted.. Tommy walked in the store and saw the dog sitting in the back, unnoticed by the rest of his crew because of how silent it was. Fascinated and endeared by the little creature.. to why it was so silent (it was very old) Tommy wanted to put it in his movie. Such an iconic scene from this movie just because of a man taking a liking to a dog at random. There is a sincerity to it.. which does NOT stem from the acting. There is a love for the craft.. and it’s all Tommy. Well him and the role of Claudette, Lisa’s mother. When she tells Lisa about how good of a husband Johnny is and talks about his qualities I can hear Tommy from behind the typewriter going “Hey Hollywood can’t you see this! I am a good person! Love me”! I find that thought immensely endearing.

***It is a pretty adorable dog ! Hi Doggie indeed!***

Seeing how Johnny needed 38 takes from his “I did not Hit her… I did naawwwwt, O Hi Mark” scene in the Disaster Artist makes the scene that much better. “This is as good as it is going to get” feels like the attitude in this movie. This doesn’t feel like a bodged Hollywood project such as Nine Lives or Cats , this is a passion project come to life because a sense of grandeur and the idea that being sincere and yourself would be good enough to enter Hollywood. Never felt I closer to a writer/director putting himself on the plate.

A spoonful of warmth

This is not just a movie about infidelity.. this movie is like Tommy’s hilariously bad resume. It’s like reading a resume in Comic Sans and there it shows “guild leader in Neopets” as leadership experience. Under skills they mention they can recognise tractors by engine sound (while they apply for a grocery store or something). It’s hilariously awful but when you read that resume you know it was made by such a sweet honest person.. that unfortunately is not fit for you. So you laugh and put it at the rejected pile…but that night when your job finishes you go back to home and think about that one resume again.. hoping that person will be off well.. you wish them the best.

The room is the equivalent of watching your own children perform a school musical. The Acting sucks , the sets are cheap, everything is off key, jokes are dumbed down and the writing is stupid and nonsensical. Still when you see your kid.. dressed up as that flower run up on that stage and blurt out their lines all wooden by nerves you still can’t be helped but to feel super charmed by it all. Except for me since I hate kids but meh. The Room is like this. All the stories make Tommy our little baby boy..and there he is on stage… being the best tree he can be with his skills. Somehow he managed to cast himself in every other role as well. It makes the play even worse… but all the more charming. Like the most adorable trainwreck ever.

Precure Pinkie (Part 2) Futari Wa Precure Midway Review

Hello Island Guests, last week I finally managed to reach the halfway point of Futari Wa Precure, the first series of the Precure Franchise. It took me waaaay longer than I expected to get through 26 episodes. Does that mean I think the series is bad? Not Really… However it’s one of those shows I have to watch leisurely or else it does come crashing down hard.

A Cure Best taken in Moderation

While the first episode and the subsequent four, thoroughly entertained me I began to struggle enjoying this show at around the sixth episode. Mind you that Episode 2 through 6 I watched in one long haul. The show starts with VERY low stakes and that Edgy Guy I described in my first review was called Pisard. He is not the main villain of the series instead he is one of five henchman of the Dark King. He summons this demon called the Zakenna which possesses an object each episode for about 8 episodes I think creating your standard monster of the week. At the end Pretty Cure holds hands to do their ultimate technique the “Pretty Cure Marble Screw” and Pisard is either blown away.. like team rocket.. or flees the seen as his new monster is destroyed.

In itself this is perfectly fine and to an extend I do enjoy this trope. I loved Power Rangers when was young and this basically is the same. Like Sailor Moon even.. yet feeling somewhat more “mundane”. The biggest issue I had with the show stemmed from binging the first 12 to 15 episodes or so. PreCure is very self away and uses the tropes of the genre to a maximum. However when consuming 10 episodes a day… seeing that same transformation sequence 10 times.. and seeing that exact same opening, that exact same special attack animation for that many times in a span of a few hours something breaks.

The transformation sequence is fun.. but it’s not special enough to be fun 10 times in a row. The Pretty Cure Marble Screw.. which follows the exact same animation and dialogue doesn’t have enough oomph to it to justify it seeing it on repeat so many times within a few hours.However when I started watching 2 episodes at lunch , 2 at dinner.. my troubles vanished and I got to enjoy the show a whole lot more.

**Once or Twice every episode.. even if they do it twice.. the animation and dramatic posing repeats!**

A cure with the sweetest after taste

Medicine usually has a bitter after taste, however with this season, the bitterness comes around the time the first henchman is defeated. The second and third antagonist suffer from a lot of weird speed ups. A few episodes feel like they just happen because they happen.
While the episodes with Pisard function as a sort of tutorial for Precure with enough exposition, the dumb ogre that is next.. and poisonny.. the vampiric looking woman just function as “episode instigators” It results in a hit or miss kind of scenario when it comes to episodes. The Dumb Ogre guys episodes , I can’t even remember his name .. all are sorta meh. With 2 nice episodes to his name, and a few stinkers I cared for him the least.

Poisony has a few amazing monster of the week scenarios but that happens because of the fourth antagonist actually forming bond with precure. It’s a slow build up to something very nice.All in all Poisony had a few nice episodes and challenges to her name.. but her coolest one.. where she traps Pretty cure in a dark dimension and eventually a mirror .. when she is about to shatter them gets completely Deus Ex Machinad.Pretty Cure faces certain death and suddenly.. they are not.. it’s never explained.. we just see a the good guy bad guy shown from behind making a smiling hmph! ish noise and we are supposed to be… “oh he saved them”. Even Poisony doesn’t bring it up anymore the episode just ends on a whimper.

**Is it weird that I really like her?!**

This stuff happens a lot in the middle part of the show. For some reason PreCure decides not to hold hands and beam their enemies to death until they noticed kicking doesn’t work…which it never did…the middle part has a LOT of stuff happening because it needs to happen and I almost gave up hope… and than I reached episode 18.

Boy does the quality of this show skyrocket after that episode. We get so much great stuff. We get to see the build up of the fourth antagonist story. I was wrong about Honoka possibly being a lesbian character because she shows chemistry with fourth Dark Zone member, Kiriya. It was done quite well, with him becoming more human and trough their final fight being able to grasp what the side of light was all about and choosing to believe in them. I wonder if he will be back, we never saw him die. So anything can happen there and I am actually curious to find out.

The fifth warrior the face Illkubo is truly menacing and he actually has a plan. There is shift in the status quo multiple times and it feels great. The way he is defeated makes a lot more sense than how they did it with.. Gekidrago.. that’s the ogre guys name I remember now! Where they just “hold hands harder” We get introduced to the Garden of Light… which is kinda like any other magical girl series world of goodness thing.. which is fun and charming and it just fits the tone of the show so well with all the cute creatures yelling something-po. I even started to binge a bit again.

**Clearly that black orb thing.. sucking in this light did not know Skittles are a thing! Way easier!**

A Cure that works fast

Episode 25 , the official midway point is…. a bit mediocre due to the same speed up, deus ex machina mechanics the middle of the show uses.. albeit at least a bit more cleverly. It felt kinda rushed. In one episode the Pretty Cure wipe out the Dark King… using the same normal attack they always do…although boosted by an ally this time. It took takes them 5 episodes per villain (on average) to defeat the others.. but the Dark King is one shot?
I kinda like it… it felt anticlimactic but it was that type of villain they could not do a lot with.So in PreCure style it is dispatched and replaced.

**Pisard and the Dark King…. I spoiled myself looking for this image!**

I cried when Nagisa and Honoka had to say goodbye to Mepple and Mipple their adorable companion creatures.. even though I knew there were going to be like 50 more episodes with them or so…(counting other seasons to follow as well) so I did form some bonds. I had this same experience in caring for Honoka’s grandmother.. or feeling bad for her when here parents had to work on her birthday and even though she got kept a hostage.. did not get to see her parents that much and was in life peril .. it was her best birthday ever. Even simple stories as a classmate loving a painting or a science club friend of Honoka discovering their invention was named after her managed to touch me! So it does play on the heart strings.

Still I can not escape the fact that a lot of stuff is glossed over. We never get explanation what that Zakenna actually is.. what those cute apologetic star guys are..it’s just a cute exit animation? It’s a show where stuff happens because it needs to happen for the majority of what I watched so far. The Garden of Light and the hero side gets highlighted pretty well and feels pretty fleshed out but the counter part.. kinda is just there to have some semblance of a plot. It’s something I hope to see improved in the future. Having watched episode 26 .. the first one into a new story arc.. it seems hopeful, it was much better paced even though it was still fast. This enemy also seemed a bit more menacing. Still the show skips a lot of time and in doing so it often misses a lot of details.

***Mepple and Mipple with the True Love Doctor..a device they made a big thing out of.. but then..it’s gone!***

A Pretty Cure

Overall I definitely had a pleasant experience.. but it’s one that will not necessarily stick with me. I like the cute elements, which in later series seem to have been boosted and I like the visuals even if there is a lot of repetition. While the transformation scenes are static.. any condition is transferred over to them… like if they are held by tentacles..(hue hue) that carries over in that samesie transformation scene any damage and such will show.

I like how transformation scenes come over as cute and don’t emphasis the “naked” body growing clothes as much as some of their peers. There is a fluidity in this show I really like and a certain type of retroness..that makes it more sailor moon like to me. Except for Geki-Drago I really enjoy the character design. Everyone feels unique and the monsters have that “power ranger campiness” to them that makes me really enjoy them. The evil vaccuum cleaner, the possessed legendary armors, the museum coming to live. As forced as the plot progress goes, so natural feel the situations. (with the exception of both accidentally going to the same summer camp). The choice of monsters and situations.. even if very trope like is done well. The way characters fit into these tropes really worked for me and their transformation gimmick is unique and caters to those tropes.

Honoka and Nagisa can only transform ..and do ultimate attacks by holding hands and with a tricky set up like that, you are going to have to make some weird leaps.. to actually separate them… as well as get them back to being together. Setting wise… episodic wise they do this fine. However it also means this show feels more like Power Rangers.. as Sailor Moon.. as in “half of the fight” can feel pointless because we all know the monsters is going to grow and they need the megazord to finish things. Pretty Cure..always goes in kicking and tossing their way ..getting hit a few times before firing a beam. Would it have been explained that they have to “weaken” a monster first before finishing it off with the signature attack.. I would have been perfectly fine with it…but as you may expect by now this has been glossed over.

It’s a pretty show that I might be just a bit to old for, but just because it is made for younger people doesn’t mean your writing doesn’t have to make sense. There is a deep love for the genre in this show though that keeps it quite infectious. I’d say the first 17 kinda feel like as if the show is being told to me by an adoring fan.

“Have you Seen Pretty Cure it’s amazing.. in the second Episode Honoka and Nagisa have to fight Pisard again.. oh yes he is revealed to be Pisard by an evil guy named the Dark King..and he uses a Zakenna to possess a vacuum cleaner that sucks up all the electricity in the town! It’s amazing!.. so they kick it and punch it but it has a really long neck and goes woosh..and swwwwwwwsh and then he tries to suck Nagisa up.. but Bam Honoka saves her with some weird throwing technique .. but than she is in trouble and Babaf.. Nagisa Kicks th vacuum right in the mouth”

It feels like the show is that kind of story telling turned into a show, which means it is full of energy and flavor, but it takes a nosedive in cohesion. Great for a leisurely watch, but if you are not drunk, fourteen or younger or for some reason have only access to half of your brain, I would not recommend binging it. I was thinking of dropping this one and moving three series ahead to see if it picks up… but the last 7 episodes or so got me back supporting this squad. I will back with you in 24 episodes! Go Go Pretty Cure!

Remember that I love you all, keep smiling and stay positive! I will see you all for more PreCure when I get to it! Despite it’s flaws I am still excited!

XO
Pinkie!

**Pinkie hates WordPress newest Block Editor!**

Previously on Precure Pinkie

Futari Wa Precure: First Impressions!

Next time:
Futari Wa Precure: Full Season Review!

Pinkie in Love? The legitimacy of online bonds!

Hey Island Guests, I am sorry for closing the island down for nearly an entire week but I was in rough shape. As you might know I try to make love and positivity an important element of this blog and I felt I could not bring that to the table. A talk shook my believes and destroyed something beautiful I sorta had..without having it… Now I wonder.. can strictly online based feelings.. of either love or friendship ever be real?

Only Real is Real!

A Covid-instigated-depression came and completely wiped me for a bit. Luckily I could chill with Animal Crossing while I dealt with my issues..but I got this seasonal switch energy drain alongside it.. so the past few days have been a bit hazy and sad. I am a weak person, healthwise so I am kind of scared for this virus.. which got me into conflict with one of my best friends. He wants me to use public transport, go with him to fun places where there are people… and basically do anything the doctor advises against. Me being a frail little person with a weak heart and damaged lungs… prefers to listen to the doctors. I told him we could hang out online and voice chat and such… and he told me that online bonds are never real you have to see someone face to face…. somehow that got stuck in my head…. and completely floored me… what in my life is real.

He then blamed me for thinking that I could sustain a friendship online. He did not want some “bug” to water down our friendship. I would happily travel to him to have dinners with him if he would not break all the Corona rules himself.. he keeps travel to friends all over the place, hugging them, being super close to everyone. It’s not like I blame him either, he is young and healthy and will not have a lot of trouble so I don’t disapprove of it.. just because he does it I can’t hang out with him or risk the 1 hour by public transport trip for two hours of company. I rather phone, chat or whatsapp… but he told me it all isn’t real. Plenty of people think like this and it kinda messed me up. Am I wasting my time looking for online friends? I wasn’t sure for a bit. I was still pretty sure that I made some valid friends…. then a series of unfortunate events put some cinder blocks on my feet and threw me into the deep end of the pool.

Ce-Web-rity Crushes

I am not a very passionate person, I love people to bits but always in a very platonic way. I haven’t had a major crush since 2016. Yet the past few months I suddenly felt happier than I ever did. My new online lifestyle suited me and I felt I connected to people. On youtube (as a viewer) on Twitter and even more “locally”..on my main hangout here! The were 3 separated people I had “feelings”for. Now I would not say I was completely smitten with any of these three (alleged) women but I just felt happy to interact. I would say they would more qualify as people I really wanted to be friends with and would not mind being more than friends with. The latter in a really weak sense of the word though. Youtube , Twitter and WordPress personalities don’t always have to align with how someone is so .. it felt like picking a Waifu that is a fictional character inside an anime.. Like two levels of fiction… Still it was a nice and innocent fantasy to have. It made me happy that I felt this again.

The youtube personality hit me hardest, you see an actual person. However what made me want to be her friend was the way she edits her videos. The first videos I watched of her where so perfect… like I would edit them in the exact same way and if I wondered why she missed a reference it would pop up a second later. She is a (inactive) Lolita youtuber that visited Japan and vlogged her adventures. Not too pretty (being too pretty is like a turn off to me.. if you look like a hollywood actor I am NOT gonna be attracted to you) but cute as a button, a mind similar like mine and she introduced me to some fascinating things I all really enjoy. Our mindsets are super compatible. I followed her and interacted with her on Twitter, again showing that we are mentally on the same page.

She’s straight so I knew it was never going to be more than friendship. She was going to play Animal Crossing and I hoped that one day we could play together…arrogant as I can be. Her channel doesn’t have that many followers (somewhere between 500 and 700 I think) so I thought there might be a chance. She explained she would only play with mutuals and actual friends though… which is fine and completely understandable. However this happened on the same day as the prior incident… so suddenly this happy bubble of “what if” popped for me. Again I completely understand her.. but the phrasing and timing felt like a gut punch.. reality can be a female dog.

Social Media Deception

Through this you tuber I got to know one of her friends on Twitter. Playing Dungeon and Dragons, quite pink, loving many tv shows I did. Again we talked a bit , though nothing to special, but hey interaction is interaction and it made me happy again. I learned stuff about them , got to show some support and we played a few of those “social media games” I normally tend to avoid..because hers looked like fun to me. Now that doesn’t mean I hate the other games.. but I don’t listen to music on my phone and most of the pictures I get on there are either of people’s pets or stuff I use for my blog.. so those “share the last” thingies I just don’t do. Tell about yourself in 3 vampires.. feels a lot more personal and interesting and doesn’t require me to break trust of other people or listen to music to fill a list.
Getting of topic here.. she was just someone I loved to interact with. Her low follower count, made me feel like .. I mattered.. in a way. Which is a bit of a deception.

Just because someone on YouTube or Twitter or WordPress doesn’t have a lot of followers doesn’t mean that they see you as an actual friend. Friendship is a subjective term and it’s important to keep this in mind. Just because Twitter says you follow someone and they acknowledge you doesn’t make them your friend yet. I am well aware of this and do not consider this person as a friend yet..but I felt there was friendship potential. However .. (I told you before I get really unlucky) around the same time I went through my crisis this person went to hers. It basically invalidated what happened before. A reset button of sorts was pressed. Other than me a few real friends reacted to messages and from the way you talk, you can tell I am just a follower. Both ways.. which i fine and again I do not really expect to get anything more out of it…yet it’s like you get new shoes. You proudly show them off to your friend and than all the other girls at the party take out their phones and show off complete new outfits. No matter how happy you are with your new shoes it pales in comparison. Social Media has all sorts of weird rules.. which aren’t true. People only care about you if they are mutuals is not true, because both the above appreciate my words they just choose to keep their Twitter feats as clean as possible. There are people that matter more to them or things they rather keep of their pages. In their own way they do appreciate and evaluate me… but just like those shoes.. due to having access to other dialogue it can all seem pale and empty.

WordPress Friends

Does that mean however that online friendship can’t be real? Because we always look at things from different angles? I do not think so. I have a few online friends who I actually think of a friends. I have a few people in my online D&D game that I think the world off, even though I haven’t seen any of them in person yet. There are some bonds that I made through role playing in video games that will last and I really hope to achieve that on WordPress as well. You know the “ lets talk in DM’s on Twitter” or add “me on discord” kind of friends. I am not there yet, though I do think I am beginning to know a few of you very well. I think I might have spotted some unspoken things about a few of you. I may be wrong..but I see patterns, I see when people act different than they usually do and that makes me feel that we are actually forming actual bonds. Some people begin to trust me and open up to me, others just ramble against me like it’s perfectly normal.. like in a way you would talk to a friend. So WordPress really does make me happy.

Yet because of the words of that friend, I began to worry. I began noticing the “dark things”. I see cliques forming. “Islands” as it were of a cluster of bloggers. For example there is the OWLS bloggers, but the clique is very centered at the original members. Than there is the Jon Spencer Gang, a lovely bunch but something I could not really connect to as our angles are to different. I feel to shallow or bubbly to fit in there. I feel like a sweet lolita with a pink sparkly pen.. writing among monk robed scholars writing with goose feather pens and east Indian ink there. The underachiever in the room. I felt really bad and could not mesh with the tone so I left his chat silently. There is also the Island of Lita, which tone wise I connect closer too but experience wise I am way behind. Anime is one of the things I care about but It’s one of the things I do spend less time with, simply because I don’t have a great set up to watch it as comfily as I can.. watch a movie on tv. I feel too inexperienced to follow their conversations most of the time. I also followed Hikari’s channel but it was heavily focused on Manga and I am just not that much into manga. Way less than I am into anime. Anime and Manga are a bit of a hassle for me to obtain and for the first one I do think the effort is worth it for the second not so much. I feel like I am adrift between islands. I am there and I am recognized.. but I am not sure if I belong.

Pink Floaties

It’s not like I am drowning in the open sea because I got a few bloggers that keep me adrift like pink floaties of happiness, giving me the idea that at least somewhere there is a land where I can make new friends. The thought kept me going and keeps me trying new things. Like SMILE-Force was a thing. (And still is going to be ) I got two sign ups ..though one still has to write me about it, and maybe that can be a springboard towards that sense of community. I love the support of some of the people here and the wisdom of some people here and again that keeps me strong enough not to throw in the towel. Yet I do realise that what I wish to achieve with this blog is a community.. people to talk with, to banter and just have fun. Writing does help me deal with stuff as well to clear my head as it were, yet I still feel like I am not good enough at it. This is for example why I never participate in the Jon Spencer Creator Showcase things anymore. I write because I have fun doing it.. not because I am proud of it. Let’s be honest if you actively follow me, you do so because my tone suits you or you like to read something that’s a bit different. I do not produce high quality journalist grade content..so if you are not following me already , I do not think Jon Spencer’s Showcase will convince you to do so.

Which brings me back to the whole adrift in the sea thing! Followers that stick to me, come from places like Irina’s I Drink and Watch Anime and sometimes from Megan’s A Geeky Gal. Along with some lesser active places. Now when I say followers, I don’t mean people who see a tag post and click follow this blog and not do anything about it ever again. I mean people who read and comment, people like Foovay, Iridium Eye (I would use your first names but I opted against it as people most likely will now know who I mean) Fred, Mallow and the likes. Of course if you actively read my blog ..and I have a fair bit of insight in who does and who doesn’t I’d count you amongst those people as well. .I just am not willing to guesstimate this by naming names. However I do notice that some of my articles get less views than they do likes. So I have a fair bit of courtesy followers as well. While a courtesy follow does add some air to my pink little floaties, it doesn’t bring me any closer to finding my island.

All in all I think there is some semblance of community there. Some people I would almost count as friends and for the most of you I would still love to get to know you better! I do think online bonds are real but like actual friendships it needs to be mutual! So I played with open cards here! Now that I am way to many words in I realise I never even talked about how my WordPress Crush crumbled. Well that one kind of faded away due my new realizations. I am pretty sure they are taken anyway. I realised that I don’t need a crush right now.. I have a goal to find my island and find the place where I belong. That means I can not be distracted by singular people! I should be the me who I was… the one that says…. Remember I love you all, keep smiling and stay positive! Thank you for being my pink floaties!

Welcome to Pinkie’s Paradise..on Nintendo Switch

My blog is a fictional island named Pinkie’s Paradise. Today I will tell you about Pinkie’s Paradise… it’s not about the blog! It’s about my little haven in Animal Crossing New Horizon. So we write about a fictional tropical island on a blog that is set on a fictional tropical island…meanwhile I am stuck in a 22m² flat in real life. Which due to quarantine has become kind of an island itself… Islandception.

Creating Paradise

Due to Corona my game was brought to me one day early, since I went with a physical copy! So at least there was this little sparkle of light in these days. I was super excited to get started. Not only because I would be able to play New Horizon for the first time! This was the first time I actually got to OWN a Animal Crossing save. So there was a lot for me to learn! But that was something I was actually looking forward too. The franchise always fascinated me but it was in low supply, or money was short for me..one way or another I always missed this game.. and now it was finally time! This time I could turn a deserted island in my Paradise.

Like everyone I got to pick my name, birthday, hemisphere and favored island layout. A you-tuber I adore named Princess Peachie told me something about optimal island lay out and while I have no idea if it was her preferred layout offers some actual benefits or looks pretty but I made sure to pick an island with a source in the north and two exists on the south of the island. Airport is in the middle so it isn’t exactly like the island she wanted .. but hey I feel that in my paradise blog.. the airport is in the middle as well so this made sense to me!I made sure I had peaches..because they are the pinkest fruit! I made sure I had a yellow airport.. because the colour of sunshine.. and it matches my blogs colour scheme the best.
Other colours are blue, green or orange.. but well everyone knows water landing planes are yellow .. right?!

While the fruits have always been a random aspect . and the island goers are random (though you get a jock character at least) I feel like this game really tried to cater to more online play. Now I have plenty of friends who play this but due to how rng works we might end up with all peach trees unless we spend a while resetting and coordinating. It isn’t that hard to get the fruits other ways but still. I think creating would have been so much cooler if you could band together with some friends, each picking a fruit and hemisphere to help each other out. I have about 4 friends playing this with me..but we might not all be as useful to each other as we could! Which is a shame. Which is about the only negative if I have here.

Tom, Tommy and Timmy

Creating my character feels a bit minimal, I chose to give my character crazy eyes and a buck tooth because it looks crazy and adorable! My Kawaii Trailer trash character lands on her island together with Dom the jock sheep and the somewhat paranoid koala Canberra. She believes she has a great personality but also constantly believes I have twins walking around or hidden camera pranks set up for her! Tom, Timmy and Tommy gather us at a square which serves as the walking tutorial. After that I have to place everyone’s tent. I chose mine to be in a nice forest bit close to the river way up to the north west. Don and Canberra live on the other side of the Nook Plaza at the south east. Just so I can later put Galaxy bear and some pink villagers close by! Don lives by the beach so he can easily run Indeedadaroo. Canberra is in a place with lots of bugs trees and water.. kind of like Australia mate!

As cute as the villagers are, in the beginning they do not do a lot for me! UI can talk to them a few times a day but only the first one will truly offer something new.The ones I really need to rely on is the nook family. After a quick celebration.. a dog playing a guitar tells me it’s time to move into real time and so we begin day 1. It is quickly established that Timmy is how I make and spend Money, Tom is the unlock guy who gives me upgrades, tutorials and “main” tasks and Tommy… he just wanders around town waving a flag telling me to Ganbatté! You can do it Pinkie! I like him the best! He’s so cute!

Speaking of cute.. the sound effects of villagers talking is so adorable that I sometimes just talk to people and see their endless repeating dialogue over and over again just so I can hear those cute voices. I absolutely love this! Tom got me a lot of stuff to play around with…….at a price. Not in his favorite currency this time but in Nook Miles! Achievement hunting is the way to pay them off so let’s get started. Weirdly enough there isn’t really a tutorial for that one you will just have to experiment a bit, talk to people and figure things out! Which is great! I can really go about this however I want…. so what do I do?

Day 1

Time is synced between the real world and my Island so it’s already twilight when I start to play for real.By interacting with Tom I found out I could hand him several types of animals, he has a friend who might be interested in them. He also explains me stuff about his crafting table. From 5 sticks I can make a bug net or a fishing rod… not sure how that works but I guess gauze and wire is freely available. However my tools are flimsy! They break easily..which is to be expected, since if swords break upon a few strikes..surely so would a bugnet. Stil I like how you do not need better tools for better stuff.. it just is less of a nuisance to use better stuff. Thus I do not feel forced to go for the better tools right away! Great!

I enjoy catching bugs a bit more than I do catching fish! Catching fish means casting out my rod depending on where the fish head is located and using the current to make my hook line and sinker float towards him. It feels a bit awkward as the fish can be fickle. Still fun.. but have just looking at the animation of my character using the bug net is so cute.. SQUEEEEE.. I love when she misses or accidentally slaps a tree. Slap that tree…slap slap! Awww my tool broke! After spending about an hour just enjoying the plain esthetics and having some fun I caught a bunch of fish and bugs and Tom tells me a new resident will come tomorrow! Neat! I also noticed how trying everything gets me a lot of Nook Miles. I already nearly have enough to pay of my debt.. just by trying stuff out!

I draw a pink square in the designer app and use it to replace my stereotypical lesbian blouse with a pink tank top like print… that gave me a lot of Miles! I make a new passport photo wearing a cap I just got from Dom! That gives me a lot of miles. I play around with all the apps, do just about everything I currently can do on an island and bam! 5000 miles! Wow that was so easy!.. Tom tells me I can now purchase cool stuff with Miles!… Yay.. that’s why I payed off my debt! I want access to cool stuff plus using achievements is a great way to learn the game. He tells me I can now get a house! Since I picked the Southern Hemisphere.. I know winter is coming so I opt in favor of buying a house! Perhaps it can unlock cool stuff! Tom tells me my house will be ready tomorrow. With my inventory space already full ..and me being to dense I could just put animal cages out in the wild to clear my inventory.. I thought I was played out for the day and I had to wait for the next day.. and since time is synced to your switch clock I could not possibly get progress unless somehow the date on my switch……wait a minute!

***This will pay off my loans!*** *(SC of later in the game..but i needed stuff here)*

Another Day 1

Okay so I cheated a a bit! I wanted more day one content so I did what I had to do! I got a house, an owl showed up who accepted 15 more donations before he would open a museum and I now could spend Nook Miles on precious gifts! Like Hairstyle upgrades.. an improved outfit designer and some neato little decorations! Online play now also was enabled for me! The aiport opened up and I could fly! I even got a Nook Miles Ticket for free.. which took me to a random farming island! Neato!

On this mysterious new island I met a very positive person..whom by the time of writing I cant remember because I might have played it so much that day I was a bit overwhelmed by everything. It was tall hairy.. and super positive! Whatever it was I could invite it to live on my Island! So I did! Timmy was working on a new project to start a store and need 30 softwood, 30 wood , 30 hardwood and 30 iron nuggets.. since I broke all my stones by accident.. it would take me a while to complete that last one! I needed 3 whole real life days!..Mostly because I used some of my iron ore to build a mirror to change my hairstyle. I still had fun gathering up as much materials as I could though.

***Though I might have missed some parts upon inspection later on!***

When I got home after a long day of work I noticed my mailbox was beeping! There was a tree in front of it.. so I could not see the “you have mail Icon” So I ate a Peach.. dug up a tree and finally accessed my mail! I got a nintendo switch to put in my room which I set on a cardboard box.. I had a bundle of hay as my bed. .and a simple lamp! Feeling super content I went to bed.. both in game and in real life.

***She MAAY have went to bed a bit early at some point!***

Day 2 and Day 3

In the following days I learned more about the game..I had set my switch clock back..so time flowed normally once again. I met a pink elephant that said they would come to my island..which made me super excited because it’s pink! However to this day it hasn’t shown up yet…and neither has that positive thing! I even invited a third thing to my island! I think it’s like a geisha anteater.. she talks a lot about love and wore a kimono..so even though she scared the living daylight out of me. I allowed her to come to my island! Because at Paradise we welcome everyone. Now I just wished I could see them arrive and make my island grow.. but the wait kind of has me excited for the next days to come.

By the time that I redeemed 3 days of Nook miles…so my actual second day on the island. I had gathered 90 pieces of wood for Timmy and about ..10 iron. The only way of me getting more required me to gather 2000 nook miles and buy a nook ticket! Luckily the game offers a sort of daily achievements that can be very easily used to get Nook miles.. it involves simple tasks like “catch 5 fish, sell 10 seashells, plant 1 tree” and other stuff like it. So never did I feel unable to make progress… which again is great game design. I managed to get the 15 donations ready but failed to get enough Iron..and yet I closed of the game feeling completely satisfied! I did a good job and did all I could do that day! I had the evening available to me to do other things.. and it did not feel bad for not playing the game either! I was so content.

I even had a blast with stuff I normally do not enjoy! Drawing on a console is horrible! Like it might not be as bad as the LJN Video-Art console but it’s not a fun pastime! However the way Animal Crossing Handled it is great. The design tool works with nice big pixels that are super easy to work with, a 3d model of what you are drawing is updated in front of you as you work along. As such without any effort I was able to create the dress my chibi avatar wears. I can cover my house in custom designs as well however it somehow removes the windows…which is kind of weird.. but okay! No custom design there than! Still it’s super easy to design something cute yourself. Hanging out with friends also was a lot of fun, while not particularly helpful just yet I took a few cherry trees which got me a increased cash flow! While visiting islands is still a tad clunky..it is nowhere near as awkward as that of other nintendo games!

***Chibi Pinkie’s Dress! now in a game!***

Visiting Bean’s island even got me plenty of nook miles! Which took me to a very ore filled island,I bought better tools DIY with miles which allowed me to hit rocks 5 times for minerals instead of 3..and I managed to get enough Iron for a store to be build. I also sold off enough stuff to upgrade my house! I went to sleep like a child before christmas eve.. and I think that is a good place to leave with my first impressions. Each day I felt super excited to play some more the next day! From wondering what gifts will fly by your island the next day.. to what upgrades you will get and what will show up! I am truly in love with this game, I can perfectly leave it for a few hours after I did my grind just to come back happily and just try to catch some different fish! I no longer feel the urge to cheat either. I will get there when I get there.. my dream island will take shape.. and more likely than not I will let you all be a part of this progress. Now I need to see how big my house is gotten!

Remember that I love you all, keep smiling and stay positive!

XO
Pinkie