Tag: Periwinkle

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Sadness

POSTCARDS FROM PARADISE

Recently I’ve been traveling off the island quite a bit. The pools have maintained their chlorine freshness with the help of my faithful companion, Cookie. For a few fish and cigarettes a day he doesn’t mind cleaning out the filters and even performs a little Sea Lion show for the guests in the afternoon.

So on these long turbulent flights back home to try to take my mind off of Monsoon season I usually comb through the movie section aboard each flight. Most flights have the same movies and almost all of them are bullshit. They know it and you know it. But what are you going to do? Not watch them? Stare at the suspicious guy two rows over for eleven hours? Sleep? HA! Right.

But on a red eye back to Paradise from Siberia West I found myself basically alone in the cabin with drink in hand and my headphones plugged into the auxiliary jack. I had found an old favorite. A movie that I fell in love with so many years ago. (A movie I actually paid for on Pay-Per-View back in the day). The feudal Chinese fantasy, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Let’s spend this space celebrating Ang Lee’s cinematic achievement, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon based on the novel of the same name written by Chinese author, Wang Dulu.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is actually book four of five in Dulu’s Crane-Iron Series. Crane-Iron being named after the first characters in the first and last installments of the series. The series’ five novels chronicle the struggles of four generations of youxia (simplified Chinese: 游侠; traditional Chinese: 遊俠), often translated as wandering heroes. Each novel contains elements which link it with the others. (Wikipedia)

He did not write the novel for it to become this game

Wang is not only considered a pioneer of the modern wuxia genre but a writer that perfected it. Wuxia is a genre of Chinese fiction that literally translates to, “Martial Heroes”. Usually blending fantasy with martial arts and romance – characters are often from lower social classes and are driven by chivalry or righteousness.

Born Wang Baoxiang 王葆祥 in Beijing 1909 he was said to have written as many as fifty novels between 1931 and 1949. Thirty six of those novels being wuxia novels. Sadly after the Chinese civil war Wang was denounced as “reactionary literarti” by the ruling Communist party and sentenced to hard farm labor where he would die from an unknown illness.

Wang’s legacy in the west was cemented by Taiwanese screenwriter and Director Ang Lee’s adaption of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

Ang Lee OBS is a cinematic powerhouse. Born in Pingtung County, Southern Taiwan he was educated in both Taiwan and the United States. His works have found international acclaim and he is a critically and commercially celebrated writer and director. His notable works include: Life of Pi, Sense and Sensibility, Hulk, and Brokeback Mountain. Aside from winning a multitude of awards he has also been awarded the Order of Brilliant Star – the second highest civilian award bestowed on citizens by the Government of Taiwan.

He did not direct the movie for it to become this game.

In 1995 the LA Times named one man, “The coolest actor in the world”. It wasn’t Samuel L Jackson or Speed Star, Keanu Reeves. It was the face of Gun-Fu. Total-stoic-badass-John Woo-regular, Chow Yun-Fat.

Chow Yun-Fat did not come from nothing to be in this game

Born in Pok Liu island, British Hong Kong, Chow Yun-Fat SBS was raised by his mother Chan Lai -Fong, a cleaning lady and vegetable farmer and his father Chow Yung-Wan who worked on a Shell oil tanker. He grew up in a farming community with no electricity waking up early each morning to help his mother sell herbal jelly and work in the fields during the afternoons.

At 17, he took odd jobs to help the family any way he could. It was around this time his actor-trainee application was accepted by the local television station. He was signed to a three year contract and made his acting debut in 1980. Working his way through TV as a rising star and heart throb and on to the silver screen with John Woo Chow Yun- Fat has carved himself an extraordinary career. Even being awarded the Silver Bauhinia Star – the second highest rank star in the honors system of Hong Kong. Awarded to those who have taken a leading part in public affair or voluntary work for a long period of time.

Starring alongside Chow Yun-Fat in the film is the dazzling, Michelle Yeoh PSM. Ranked the “greatest action heroine of all time” by Rotten Tomatoes in 2008 – Michelle Yeoh – known for performing her own stunts and fight scenes has been dominating screens for nearly four decades.

Behind that smile is a stone cold killer that has already killed the game’s developers and soon me for bringing the game back up.

Born in Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng PSM to Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian Teik, a lawyer and MCA politician respectively. At an extraordinarily young age Yeoh was keen on dance and began ballet by the age of four. In her teens her parents and her would move to the United Kingdom where she would attend UK’s Royal Academy of Dance.

A natural beauty at the age of 20, Yeoh won the miss Malaysia beauty pageant and even move on in competition to win an international, “Queen of the Pacific” pageant. But she is hardly a delicate flower. She has cultivated a reputation for a legendary work ethic, and expertise in choreography. She would become world renowned not only for her acting prowess but her physical capability as well.

I was going to go even further on about the lovely accomplishments of both Zhang Ziyi and Chang Chen but do we even have to? Did either of them work their entire lives only to have their likeness exploited in this dumpster fire on disc?

The answer is no. No they didn’t and none of these people deserve this. These are real human beings with real feelings and aspirations. They don’t deserve this. No one does.

FANCY VIDEO INTRO

There really isn’t that much I can say that I haven’t already said about really sad games before. What is extra infuriating about this game is that:

1.) It’s actually based on a good movie. Most aren’t.

2.) The movie’s fight scenes are breathtaking. The movie literally has done everything for you. All you have to do is take a super entertaining movie fight to watch and add buttons.

I mean.. HOW can you fuck this up?? They’re like three back drops in the entire game.And yes I understand that a majority of the film takes place in the same area but is it so absurd to ask a room full of writers – whom I would have assumed enjoyed the movie (before I played the game) to use their stupid imaginations and get creative with the game’s plot??

Instead of playing the same exact three areas with three different characters like nine times maybe we could branch out a bit? Like say I don’t know – make the game about Jen’s eventual trek to Mount Wudang? Boom. There ya go, guys! Make a game about that. Fucking idiots.

But fine – say they had to follow the film to a tee. That’s fine to. Just do a better job at it. When the game begins it doesn’t introduce anyone – or anything. It assumes you already saw the movie and thrusts you into a hoard of stupid AI ninjas that constantly swarm and overbear you because the controls are fucking impossible.

Even when you do somehow learn how to defend yourself and awkwardly jump from wall to wall – none of it is remotely fun. I spent hours with this game and aside from mounting frustration I felt absolutely nothing at all. I’ve had more fun sitting at the DMV next to crying children.

In fact this game was so bad – I have felt nothing since. It has taken all of my abilities to feel anything away. Maybe it’s for the better.

SHOP TIL YOU DROP

If a general overwhelming sense of sadness isn’t quite your enough then fear not! Like most things the internet also has overpriced copies of the game – the perfect way to find yourself on that long road to financial ruin completing your self loathing sadism.

But really- the game can be found at bargain bin prices – around $3-5. The insane part to me, however is the DVD of the movie itself can be found even cheaper! Which is a crime against humanity.

If you absolutely must – I suggest buying the DVD of this film and holding a game controller while you watch it.

DESERT ISLAND SONG

PERIWINKLE’S LOWING HANGING FRUIT PUNCH INGREDIENTS

1.) A small chunk of fur from Parka (Cold Winter)

2.) A thimble of Jack Bauer’s sweat (24: The Game)

3.) A can of Reservoir Dog Food (Reservoir Dogs)

4.) A handlebar mustache (American Chopper)

5.) Blood of a Backstreet Boy (American Idol)

6.) An impossible to control Q-Tip (CSI)

7.) The tooth of a terrorist (Fugitive Hunter)

8.) One Mona Lisa Smile (The Davinci Code)

9.) One Copy of, “Night Rocker” by The Hoff (City Crisis)

10.) One blood stained trucker hat. (Silent Hill: Origins)

11.) One handful of crushed Peony petals (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon)

For survival horror, retro sports and more shit check out my site or spam me on social media!

Sunny’s Five (or so) Bestest Video game (or video game adjacent) Writers

Regardless of what you may think, much of the time that you THINK Sunny is just sitting on the beach, holding a fishing pole and gazing at the horizon he is actually THINKING. At least, that’s what he wants you to think.

Sometimes, he’s just thinking – I wonder if I still have any bait on this hook? Or, is that a nibble? He certainly is NOT thinking about putting out every other light at the tiki bar and then hiding the ladder to drive Kuro and Periwinkle crazy. And he knows nothing about that enormous Grouper that was in the pool yesterday. 

No, he’s been considering which writers he wants to sing the praises of to answer Periwinkle’s video game writer challenge. Because Sunny can either think of way more than five, or less than two, because he tends towards video games that lack any real story. Mostly. But there are some very notable exceptions, and here they are. Oh, and one writer who is video game adjacent but he really loves this writers work so he’s shoehorning it in here. 

For instance, speaking of more than five, there is the cooperative of writers who created Katawa Shoujo all of whom are listed on the link. Katawa Shoujo – which can be downloaded at the same website, is a beautiful, kind, compassionate, understanding and open visual novel about a young man who develops a heart condition, and is transferred to a boarding school that specializes in accommodating young people with disabilities. Of course, he meets a number of beautiful young women each with their own talents and abilities, and oh, a disability as well. Sunny hasn’t dated all of them yet, because he’s fallen madly in love with Lilly Satou and no matter who he sets out to win – he always ends up with Lilly because he can’t resist her. 

Npckc is the writer of one night, hot springs, a VN which is also downloadable at the writer/developers website (linked to their name there) or on Steam. It is very short, but very sweet, and very kind. It is focused on Haru, a Japanese transgender woman, who was invited to the hot springs by her old friend Manami to celebrate Manami’s upcoming wedding with all her girl pals. All Haru wants to do is to enjoy being with everyone else, but because she is transgender there are special considerations to be kept in mind. It’s a beautiful story, well written, and thoughtful about situations transgender people deal with every day in every country with grace and forbearance and in this case, with the kind support of her friends.

Choice of Games is a sort of central webhost/developer/sales for a number of people writing text based adventure games. Sunny is super hooked on these games and has played a few of them over and over and over. A special treat has been Night Road, a game written in the Vampire the Masquerade world and even though they haven’t yet added his favorite Malkavian clan for it, he’s sure they’ll get around to it. The writer is Kyle Marquis. He does a fantastic job of holding onto that noir dystopian feeling while still providing plenty of adventure and choice. You can purchase it through Google Play or on Steam along with all later updates adding various clans. You can find out more about them here. 

Evan J. Peterson wrote Drag Star! For Choice of Games and it can be found on Google play and probably other places. It’s a quick, fun romp at being a contestant on a game show verrrrrrrry similar to RuPaul’s Drag Race. You can be campy, comedic, avant garde’, or classy or any combination. Be catty and mean or sweet and peace making (Sunny, of course, is always a sweet peace maker – as far as you need to know). This is a short game, but don’t worry, you’ll probably play it more than once. Kudos to the writer for capturing the fun and flair of drag stars! Mr. Peterson has his own website here and does quite a bit of writing in many forms!

Sunny likes fun and humor in his text based games – and Fox Spirit: A Two Tailed Adventure serves plenty of both, with a little dose of Japanese style fairy tale and fantasy setting. Amy Clare Fontaine is the writer and she spins a story you won’t soon forget – and you’ll want to see all the endings. She also writes articles and books, her website is here.

Now for that video adjacent writer – D.Rus writes the Play to LIve series on the Kindle. It is finished, with seven volumes. If you watch Isekai anime, you are familiar with the set-up here. However, the background story is very well thought out science fiction, going into how people end up “perma” in games and the reaction of the world’s governments. Unlike many Isekai, in this series becoming “perma” – that is stuck in a game for good, is often done very much on purpose to escape from some situation in life – like immanent death from a brain tumor. Some governments figure out this is a great way to empty the jails… This story is from a Russian point of view which adds another layer of interest. The game story is also well thought out and thoughtful – not just an overpowered hero hacking and slashing his way to fame and glory. Max (the protagonist) takes quite a different route from Necromancer, to a follower of the Fallen One  (an abandoned AI that remained in the game past the developers “removal” of it) and he makes his fortune with a clever use of alchemy to invent something sadly missing in game – cigarettes! It’s fun but also very profound at times. You can find D.Russ author page on Amazon here.

Now, we can get back to fishing and petting sea monsters.

pokemon amie-Mantyke - YouTube

Pinkie’s Fantastic Five: Video Game Writers

Hello Little Lights, and Periwinkle in particular, today I got tagged in a top five by my pool guy. In Mallow spirit he tagged me in a regular post that isn’t really meant to be a blog tag I think?! But I am not sure.. so at least from me , I won’t be tagging people but I will encourage people to take on this challenge themselves. You see this is an interesting topic for me. Video Game Writers.. neither in anime or video games or even movies for that matter I worry too much about the back office.. I enjoy the bigger product.. as an experience of everyone…in most cases. But who are responsible for some of my favourite works? Today we find out!

<Disclaimer>
This post is not an official top 5,  there is no ranking nor do I claim that these five are my absolute favourites. I do not like ranking people and telling one is better than the other, so these can be put in any order and in no way are meant to invalidate YOUR favourite writers!
<End of Disclaimer>

Jonas Kaerlev

So immediately I started with someone who was the subject of some online scrutiny.  However, whether those accusations are true or not does not reflect on his work. They say our guy Jonas stole the work of an artist and when they struck back he tried to defame them or something.  For some this may be a reason not to buy a game but for me this is something that happens anywhere in the world. It’s up to the people involved to resolve this. So him being a potential meanie-bo-beanie to his staff, doesn’t affect his skill. I would not be able to buy a lot of food if I had to boycott every dickish boss.  So.. by now you may wonder, who the heck is this Jonas Kaerlev person?! See I got you interested in him at least?! … Well he is the writer of A Hat in Time and Ceo of Gears for Breakfast.  As a lot of you may know:   I LOVE A HAT IN TIME SOOOOO MUCH!!!!  The writing is ON point.

Lil old Jonas , is a gamer and he has a love for cute cynismsn and that just oozes out of this game. Which gives it such a personality!  It is cute as buttons, but it has so much sas. Much like Kazooie from Banjo., but in Kaerlev’s work it feels much more genuine. It fits these characters so much and there is a crude irony that some of these characters discover about themselves near the finale or during the game that makes these things so incredibly fun. A Hat in Time’s characters feel so unique and vibrant and the mission structure tells a story while also keeping this video game whimsy about it.  The story is largely irrelevant yet you really get to know these characters and you know what is happening still, feeling both retro and modern and for this writing I adore it.

Yuji Horii

I could have easily fitted this list with just J-RPG writers, but that felt a bit cheap.  However mister Horii can not be omitted from this list. He started out as a journalist for something called “magazines” which are like very old fashioned blogs… but offline?! Weird huh!  (Yes I am writing this so people in the future may enjoy it as well).  A random contest issued by Enix led the man to develop the concept for a game called Love Match Tennis. He won the contest.. among others and this inspired him to start making video games.  His game Portopia Serial Murder Case is one of the games that is creditted by Hideo Kojima as the thigns that got HIM into making video games…. see now my post and Perwinkle’s are linked! Sugoi Sugoi!  Yuji Horii would then move on to be one of the creative aspirations behind a little franchise called. Dragon Quest…or Dragon Warrior if you are an old school American! 
WhileI absolutely adore Dragon Quest, especially part VIII ,  that is not the reason he is on this list. No Horii is on my list because he is the writer of Chrono Trigger.

When I did the powerful female tag, I put Celes Chere as a woman who has been trough a lot , mentioning she might be one of my favourite JRPG characters of all time.Yet there is one character that comes to mind even stronger and that is Frog from Chrono Trigger. And no his real name is not Frog and he is not just a frog.. there is a huge backstory to that featuring a powerful sword and evil mage and time travel, yet that is not even the main plot of the game, it’s a “side-story” integrated in the bigger picture. Chrono Trigger has so much story it is insane and it is perfectly interwoven into each other, the very monstrous Lavos as a villain is quite different from what we normally see. JRPG villains tend to be , what I like to call “Frieza Variations”. I know he wasn’t the first.. but he is well know. A charismatic ruler, of immense power that will transform a few times as you fight him. Usually very cold hearted and a megalomaniac.  Chrono Trigger went a very different route, and our journey was different from what we are used too! And while Horii was not solely responsible.. he started it all!

Tim Schafer

While making this list I wanted to make sure to include people throughout genres and throughout the world, so I was brainstorming on genres in which I really enjoy the story.  The idea of horror came up.. but I realised that was not completely true.  I wanna be scared. I’ll leave the Deus Ex writer for Indigo if he decides to do this tag so shooters were out and western RPGs are oftenly really generically written. Then it came to me.  Old school Point and Click adventures. I often care more about their funny stories than about the puzzles all that much. I love the genre and I love the characters. Yet which game should I pick.. my three favourite point and Click adventure stories are: Day of the Tentacle, the original Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle. So now.. I have to decide which one to pick.. oh nevermind they are all written by the same guy, Tim Schafer. 

I do want to Schafer a slap though for the HORRIBLE ending of Monkey Island 2…. seriously, that is one HORRIBLE video game ending, but his sense of humor is sensible in all of his games. Comedy is hard to put into a video game, it rarely worked in anything other than Point and Click adventures but Tim Schafer to me is the king of video game humor. He proved that it can be done outside of the point and click genre with Brütal Legends and Psychonauts (he also wrote the sequel)  but to me his greatest achievement will be Grim Fandango. The Film Noir and day of the dead inspired the world is so amazing. The adventures of Manny are beautiful.. and the threat of being killed by a flower never felt more real!  It has the perfect balance of comedy, suspense and puzzles that are challenging but feel logical to that world.  Also Tim probably imagined most of the concept for Guybrush freaking Threepwood. Praise Tim!

Hironobu Sakaguchi & Yoshinori  Kitase

Hironobu Sakaguchi

The penultimate slot of this list goes to two people.. and as you may expect by their names, yes they are responsible for a JRPG choice on this list.  So why do I chose two people?! Well because they are co-listed as writers of a few video game gems. Such as Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy VII and of course my all time favourite JRPG, Final Fantasy (ambiguous) VI. I can’t really choose between Sakaguchi and Kitase, because while stories of Final Fantasy games only began to get very good when Kitase showed up (I don’t really care for the story of I through IV) Sakaguchi was the scenario writer for Final Fantasy IX, which might be my second favourite Final Fantasy. So they both made this list. Regardless of what is your favourite Final Fantasy, these two have something to do with it.  Kitase himself says he loves VII the most and his favourite character is Cloud Strife. Now imagine how cool it is to say in their context. HIS favourite character is Cloud Strife. These are THEIR characters. Cloud Strife.. one of THE most Iconic video game characters of all time. It becomes even more epic if you think that unlike Mario, Sonic and even Solid Snake’s design.. who originally just ripped off Kyle Reese from Terminator,  his origins do not stem from just a cool design.. he was probably written first and designed after. Almost none of the other icons will have that feature.

Yoshinori Kitase

So  that already is a testament of their amazing writing prowess, but to me it is still best embodied in Final Fantasy VI. A SteamPunk game that again breaks with a lot of the video game storytelling traditions?!  It created an incredibly complex world with characters that would exist in a world, even if there was no story line. Cecil is an okay character..but without the game there is little to him. The first three games you literally play blank paper sheets or at least their abilities can be traded in. Terra.. without the crown incident would still be interesting, given her heritage. Celes would still feel conflicted about her job without the events  that really drive this game. Edgar would still have his conflict with Sabin. Final Fantasy VI is a great example on how to create a world for me.. the way characters get lost in the woods, do something stupid and end up in more trouble then they bargained for.. it was not just a story that was being told it had it’s characters interact with it. It felt dynamic and is to this day one of my favourite video game stories, and most likely it will be until the day I’d need a Phoenix Down!

Suda51

I know I don’t do rankings, but Suda51 is a top candidate for the number 1 spot on this list.. which is also why I made him my final entry. It is no secret that I like weirdness and randomness and Suda51 is the master of weird. So much so that it can feel convoluted at times, maybe weird for weirds sake. However you just need to see two minutes of a Suda51 game and you will know it is a Suda51 game. His style is on everything.  This can be said for his colleague David Cage, who was on Periwinkle’s list but I do not like David Cage games, they tend to feel a bit preachy at times, there is a heavy bias to certain plot-threads or ways things unfold. Suda51 doesn’t have that for me. Say a David Cage script gets mixed up with these semi-super drama’s like Izombie or the 100, I am not sure I would be able to pick it out of the pile as his work. If I throw Suda51’s writing into a pile of oddball scripts I would still be able to pick out Suda51.. I’d need to throw it into a creative writing course at an Asylum, not to notice it is him.. and even then.. I’d imagine I’d still be able to do it.

I think it is both Cage’s and Suda51’s strength that among games, you can recognise their work for miles. To each goes their own very specific audience and Suda51’s audience is me!  Killer7, Lollipop Chainsaw, Killer is Dead, these all just ooze with flavour and I adore these games. However they do not have Travis Touchdown. No More Heroes is such a unique and strange franchise that really feels like the artists creation. I do not like to do this whole back office thing and look at writers.. but with No More Heroes or Suda51 games, I do not have too.  I know. With all due respect to my four other entries you could tell me another name made them and I would believe it… I can not play No More Heroes and deny Gochi Suda had something to do with it. The way a girl commits suicide by biting down on a grenade.. for losing to Travis, the extremely over the top story that gives room for the strange visuals, the overly cool protagonist that still has to do menial jobs, there is a consistent inconsistency in these games. A way these characters talk to each other that feels larger than life. Larger than normal video games, it’s predictably unpredictable. It is goosebumps and a squee-sounds of joy all over. It’s Suda51!

Like I said I will not be tagging people but I do encourage people in the gaming blogosphere to pick this up and try it themselves.  I don’t think it’s an official tag post and more of a challenge… so I will keep it at that. Challenge yourself to find five other names that are important to you and let’s talk some more video games! Until then, Shine on Little Lights! Oyasumi!

Art by LiciaLurie

The Great Change: A Paradise Story

My dear little lights, the story I have for you today is a new adventure set on Paradise Island, while based in fiction it is also based in reality, just not a whole lot. For the most part this story is just a figment of my imagination..  a springboard for what is to come next. A teaser.. for season four?!  I hoped we could get a few famous guest stars but unfortunately all of them are still locked in their houses due to Covid. Brian Cranston told me he would do it.. but that guy is so overused!  So I passed!

The Beach

The manager of Paradise Island woke up, making some awful wake up sounds, wiping some drool from the corners of her mouth, apparently she bit on her plushy in her sleep again.  Groggily she got up and noticed a feeling of pain and nausea in her system. The dull experience of either a to low blood pressure.. or that sense of uncomfort you get.. just before you get really carsick! Not the  actual sick part.. but that bad feeling you get before. That was her new normal now.  No matter how many vitamins she took, no matter how much walks she would go on and no matter how healthy she ate.. the feeling stayed and it wore her out so often. For days the manager could not get out of bed and she cried. She wanted to make the guests of Paradise happy with all the content cocktails she used to serve before. Yet there simply was not enough energy! Could it be the poison from her own mothiness that kept her down? Unlikely! This problem started slightly more recently.. around the time she started YouTube.. but that dream also gave her so much energy? So what could be wrong.

Doctors could not tell her and explained to her that this might be an advancement of prior conditions. They were trying to help her but no immediate help could be offered, and so yet another day without content cocktails passed on Paradise. The Manager got so frustrated by it that that very frustration made her even sicker. She tried to work.. but for the first time  since she started it all did not sound good enough either. This could not be her glorious return.. and the frustration got bigger and bigger… and because the manager was such a worrywart.. that frustration made her sicker and sicker. Eventually she just lay in bed.. with some lemon tea beside her when she started hallucinating a beach where you encounter all sorts of familiar people…because Grey’s Anatomy did it and it’s really popular now!  So we are doing this.

The sound of the waves were different from that of Paradise island.. and they sand grains weren’t star and heart shaped…which is an actual thing,  no this was not her beach.. this beach was something more akin to that Train Station where Harry Potter met Dumbledore  after he was killed.  As the manager walked on the beach she noticed her footprints left no impressions in the sand.  “The Fudge”  she said.. when someone pulled on her dress. It Design 1 Pinkie.. the Chibi Maker one. “Hi” she said.  “I am the ghost of Paradise past”. 


The Manager patted the O.G. Pinkie on the head but then said sternly. “No!, we are not going to do that, I love you and respect you but we aren’t going the Scrooge route with this story it is so overplayed” Chibi-Pinkie sniffled a bit. “Aren’t you glad to see me then?”  The manager smiled. “Of course I am glad to see you, you are always welcome here and if you chibi maker was still thinking I would use yours more oftenly”. She paused for a moment and hugged the chibi. “Look, I know I had less fun with blogging then when I just started okay, I have become disillusioned with a lot of stuff and might be a bit bitter, I am not striving for the community anymore, and in a way that is wrong but realise this, that is not because I do not want to give these amazing people my attention, I just really lack the energy”.

The Revelation

Chibi Pinkie looked sad and asked “But they are your friends, surely they deserve your time” to which the manager nodded. “Of course they are.. but writing and making content is also my hobby, right now when I am done writing something, I need to lay down that’s how easily fatigued I get, I want to try to be there for these amazing people but it is hard to balance it all and I am looking for the balance, as much as I appreciate you, my sweet Chibi self.. I think I need to  find that balance myself, I do not need a vision of how I changed. So tell me who the ghost of Paradise present is okay?”  Chibi Pinkie nodded and said “It’s Periwinkle.. you used to spend so much time on images and now he isn’t even added to the banner yet”  The Manager chuckled.

“Yes.. I was planning to do a new banner.. but this whole story is kind of the reason why that new banner isn’t there yet, there are more things changing so he’s gonna be on the banner that is coming soon, I promise” The manager smiled looking at her former self.. and then had a thought! “Why don’t you stay around for a little.. I might have a job for you if this story is going where I think it is going.. and I should know cause I am writing it. “Soon we will reveal your thing too”  Chibi Pinkie cheered! 

“So who is the ghost of Paradise future” the manager asked after the celebration was over. “It is your best friend in the whole world,”  Chibi Pinkie said.  The manager smiled. “Ah I haven’t seen him since just before christmas”.  She then looked up at the sky and called out it’s name “Tamago Tomodachi, come on out I know you are there” Please come down from the sky and bestow us with your wisdom”. Both Pinkies looked up to the sky as a fried egg descended, smiling.. and smelling. “Yay it is I the ghost of Paradise Future, come with me Pinkie I have to show you a vision of….”  The manager waved it away “Yeah yeah yeah.. we are skipping that part, we know I have to change.. but how… but let me ask you first.. how did you become the ghost of Paradise Future?” .

The Egg pondered a bit and then began it’s tale. “Well You see, this is a Christmas Carol spoof, and when the three ghosts are brought up the third ghost usually is some obscure cameo of a character you saw in whatever franchise does the spoofing”.  Pinkie nodded as it made sense! “And how do I change.. I mean.. the moth stuff kinda seems wrong to me know”. The Egg shook it’s yolk. “It was not a mistake Pinkie, it was a step you needed to take to find your true self, anyway to find out how you become the new you, you first must discover what you are”.

“Find out what I am? I am a Kaijuman , I went over this a few times”. The Egg nodded while closing his eyes looking all smug and wisey. “While this is true, it would  narratively  prevent the development you have commissioned that will arrive in the near future. So nay you are not just a Kaijuman”. The egg spilled some yolk into the ocean as  giant eggplants grew from  that spot. Just to remind the audience this was a fever dream of sorts… maybe?!  “I am VTuber and VBloggger does that have to do anything to do with it?” asked the manager. “Yes , you are a virtual being, only existing in the online atmosphere.. So what would be an other word you could use for this” said the egg, while trying to look like a japanese Kung Fu master, which isn’t easy if you are just egg whites and yolk. 

“Fake”? asked manager Pinkie. “You are to sincere to be fake” the  egg said. “Digital?” Asked Chibi Pinkie. “Correct little one” the egg now said. The manager pondered and then gasped. “Wait , I am a digital life form that over my nearly two years of blogging has evolved three times… each form bigger and more powerful than the other… am I a Digimon?”.Tamago Tomodachi smiled and said “I can not imagine we would be allowed to use that trademark..but you are basically exactly the same” The manager then shivered. “Does that mean I have to be shot by my family to achieve my Mega Form?” . Her best friend laughed so hard more yolk fell and  the ocean almost became entirely obscured by eggplants. “No, that final evolution needs something different each time, you need to find an item this time”

The Item

Pinkie was very confused by this revelation, so I am something like a Digimon, but not quite…. because of copyright stuff and such.. and I have been trough my Rookie, Champion and Ultimate form.. and to find my perfect form I need an item?  What is the logic behind that?” The rich buddy of the manager finally stopped laughing  and said “Travel to fictional Japan and it will be clear”.  The manager got annoyed and crossed her arms. “If I leave here Periwinkle will let everyone piss in my pool! Indigo has been gone for  while now, Kuro likes to drink from her own bar and Sunny is Sunny. I can not leave this place alone! I am the manager!” The egg nodded compassionately “And there-in lies your problem, you are to weak right now to work every day… you need to become a ruler of this island that doesn’t need to be here every day, so you can recover and get your strength back” . Both Pinkies crossed their arms “And what type of boss would not need to take care of her staff all the time” they said. Tamago Tomodachi  replied sternly. Go to Japan inside your imagination and find out.  Once you are there you will be given your final clue.

“Guess I can finally use these wings for something,” the manager said while picking up Chibi Pinkie. “Let’s go little one” As the two zoomed across the ocean they both realised they were lucky that the fictional Island of Paradise was located somewhere between Fictional Indonesia and Fictional Japan.. and though the power of Imagination and fueled by laziness and limited energy it turned out that this island was a heck of a lot closer to Japan.  Chibi Pinkie and Manager Pinkie did have a bonding moment though where the little version enjoyed flying on the big version. I Imagine you should imagine something like that scene from the Never Ending Story movie, with the song Bastian’s Happy Flight being covered on the Kazoo.. with just enough difference to not be deemed the same song. Landing somewhere in Tokyo the pair immediately spotted a green little turtle. “Oh look it’s our friend Mallow” Chibi Pinkie said.  Manager Pinkie nodded “How convenient, he is always willing to help, I am sure it will be no different this time”. Chibi Pinki, Mallow and the manager shared some takoyaki together.. because… when in Rome and all that. Mallow had revealed to them that the item they would need was at Sony’s headquarters.

Making their way through town the Pinkie’s wondered why it was Sony’s headquarters. Sony is more a Periwinkle thing.. maybe Kuro and even Indigo. Pinkie rarely even touched her PlayStation… was it that? Was she catering to a wrong audience and tapping into the playstation crowd would save her?!  She still felt more like a Nintendo person and most of the content she had planned for the future would be Nintendo as well!. Inside Sony’s headquarters everything seems odd.. as if everything was a really bad anime. Everything looked a lot cheaper. “Have we run out of budget?”  Pinkie wondered to herself?.  They took an elevator up and Manager Pinkie promised to find a place for Chibi Pinkie by her side as a mascot of sorts. Rantan , her current mascot, kept floating off. When the elevator doors openend the delegation of Sony was ready for Pinkie.. they bowed to her. “Weird? Why are you bowing to me?” The Sony delegation cracked a smile at her. “Periwinkle..puray… baaaad peeeeee -eeesss tuuuuoooo game-uuuh, he spenda… lot of money on.. Pee-essss tuooo. So.. if Paradisuuuu remain…….we…..get money….. so we helpuuu. 

Pinkie pondered and then figured, they could be right. Her “employing”  Periwinkle did lead to someone buying American Chopper on PS2, not many people of sound mind would do that , so in a way she was helping Sony get rid of a lot of unwanted stock, maybe he could tempt people into buying these.. like their own Angry Video Game Nerd.. but.. ..with a lot of urine in her pool. But what item could PlayStation have to make her Non-Copyrighted-Digivolve into something beyond a manager?  Did they have some magic power?!  Was it because they have the best Digimon games? When the president came out with a mysterious box it suddenly dawned on Pinkie… as he bowed in front of her and opened the box and a smile appeared on her face and a sparkle returned to her eyes as she uttered the words. “Yes, I think that will do nicely’