The Intangible Starslip Is Complete!

Well, the story is finished! Here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/11443191/chapters/25645737

I just want to thank everyone who helped and supported this project, as well as those who have made fan art of Starslip. Thank you to my proofreader N. Harmonik, my LSBFF Teagan (little sister best friend forever), Catherine, Ben, Tim, Christy and Jeff (not me, different Jeff, lol), my GF Unbeatable Emmy-chan, Arkle, Chloe, Nikki-Lee, Rob, Ian, Jeremy, KoalaTheArtist, UniComicRN, EverydayBattman, EverHobbes, artisticamara, Jiubeck, delightfully-drawing, and JonasLull. And my thanks to anyone who might do fan art of Starslip in the future.

Also, I want to thank people who helped inspire this endeavour. Thank you to Bryan Q. Miller, Scott Snyder, Gail Simone, K. A. Applegate, and you guessed it, Lewis Lovhaug. Thank you all for being the outstanding people you are.

How To Drop The Ball In Comics: All-Star Batman And Robin (It’s Miller Time)

Sometimes, comic book companies will try different ways of getting new readers who might be interested in their characters and stories, but are a little intimidated by years, even decades, of continuity to go through. One method that seemed to work pretty well for Marvel was the Ultimate Universe, which was basically taking those same characters, distilling them down to their core traits, and retelling their origins in a modern setting. DC attempted something similar with the All-Star comics, and the greatest of them was All-Star Superman, a story that, while possessing elements that one could criticize, nonetheless presented the main protagonist and his greatest elements in a story where the reader didn’t need to know everything that ever happened in his history. This…is not that comic.

Welcome to the newest installment of How To Drop The Ball In Comics. Say… … … It’s Miller Time. ^_^

With the final issue of All-Star Batman And Robin reviewed on Atop The Fourth Wall, and the adventures of Crazy Steve and Dick Grayson (Age 12) forever put away, I figured now’s a good time to discuss my own thoughts on the comic and exactly what went wrong. So…yeah, this is really just me giving my own thoughts on ASBAR, after having watched reviews of every issue on AT4W, on my blog as opposed to filling up poor Linkara’s comment section with my ramblings. lol But, for the sake of those who have never heard of this book, let’s do a quick recap of the concept.

What Is It?: As I alluded to earlier, DC was trying to cash in on the same success that Marvel was having with the Ultimate Universe. As such, they laid out a plan wherein they would do something similar with the characters of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and Batgirl (the latter two series being cancelled when the All-Star line ultimately went belly up). For reasons that are best illustrated within the pages of All-Star Batman And Robin, though, I’m not sure that the intent was for these books to all exist in the same universe, but to each be their own unique take on the characters in question without being bogged down by three-fourths of a century’s worth of continuity. And while the All-Star line did eventually become cancelled, we now have a similar line-up of books entitled Earth One, although these ones are graphic novels only. And while I haven’t read them, I will admit that at least Superman Earth One addresses certain issues I’ve had with Superman’s back story (namely how the Kryptonians were seemingly so advanced and yet still died with their planet), and is clearly popular enough that it warranted not one but THREE graphic novels.

How Did It Have Potential?: Well, like I said before, there DO exist people who would like to read comics, but because their stories have gone on for so long, there’s so much information to go through. Granted, most of us on the internet can look this stuff up, which makes the necessity of stories that have all past continuity stripped away a little pointless if that’s the point behind doing it, but not everyone has that time. And while some of us might scoff at the idea that retelling the same origin story with a few tweaks will result in a well-selling story that people will buy, let me again remind you of the success of Ultimate Spider-Man, a story that set off a chain of events leading directly into stories that are STILL being told to this day, nearly 16 years later. However, the thing is, that’s because the overall quality of the books and the storytelling in them was so good that the success far exceeded anyone’s expectations…which of course leads to…

How Did It Drop The Ball?: Well, for one thing, because Jim Lee’s schedule is kinda funtastic, the book was outright PLAGUED with delays. In four years, they only managed to release TEN ISSUES. However, whereas that would usually be enough to kill a book, that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what went wrong. The rest? Two words: FRANK MILLER. Yes, Frank Miller has written some great works for Batman that, while having points one could take issue with and point out as being problematic, were at least well-crafted takes on the character. However, that was a while ago, and since then, Frankie’s pretty much become one of the most sexist, bigoted, racist, appalling, homophobic, classless, and downright moronic HACKS to continue to get work within the comic industry to this day. The same man who once had Batman rescue a cat in the middle of a firefight was now using words like “retarded”, taking glee and beating up thugs and damned near (if not outright) killing people, was cruel to the people who cared for him, and was pretty much Batman in name only. Or, as the memes refer to him, “The Goddamn Batman”. We who watch AT4W prefer to refer to him as “Crazy Steve”, crazed hobo/escaped mental patient/potential pedophile with homicidal delusions who found Batman’s costume and a winning lottery ticket, and decided to become the Dark Knight. But, as horrible as that is for anyone who considered Batman their childhood hero, that’s not all that went wrong. The pacing is awful, the dialogue repetitive and stupid to the point of hilarity, every single female character is written to be either over-sexualized or inspired by Batman to the point of near-cultism, and the Justice League are included and written as being completely ineffectual so that Crazy Steve is the only seemingly competent superhero among them, even though he pretty much, in every way, violates what it means to be a hero, or more specifically, what it means to be Batman.

See, here’s the thing that Frank Miller has clearly forgotten about Batman, and I know I’m getting on a soap box for the sake of a fictional character, but just hear me out. Yes, the phrase “I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!” can make him sound harsh, dark, and cruel, but the real Batman knows how to temper those things with the ideals of justice and compassion. Yes, he is the man who engages in brutal, bloody fights with thugs, recruits teenage sidekicks over and over even after one of them got killed, and keeps hidden contingency plans for shutting down the other members of the Justice League, his friends and allies, if need be. However, he is also the man who is always there for his city and his friends when they need him most. He is a man who fights day in and day out, pushing himself past his natural limits, not for the sake of inflicting pain, but for the sake of a world where no other 8-year-old child will ever lose his parents because of a punk with a gun. And, and this is the big one for me personally, he is a man who once sat on a swing next to a little girl who was dying, and held her hand until her time came. Above all else, for his faults, Batman is not just a crusader, or a detective, or a ninja, but ultimately, he is a hero. Crazy Steve is not.

So, what would I have done differently? Well, the heart of this story was very clearly supposed to be about how, in a city that was so cruel and corrupt that it took a young boy’s parents and didn’t care, there was one man who was there for him. One man who, while tortured, was compassionate for that boy, saw himself and his own trauma in him, and offered him a chance to join in his crusade, while also letting the boy’s youth and optimism keep him grounded. If you are seeking to distill Batman and Robin to their most basic formula, THAT is the story of the Dynamic Duo to me, and what should’ve been the heart of the story. And there ARE times when it delves into that. See, while issue 9 is overall abysmal, with Batman and Robin painting themselves and a room yellow and making Green Lantern out to look like a complete tool (and even I don’t think Hal Jordan is THAT big a moron), the ending of that issue, where Batman recognizes he never gave Robin a chance to grieve over his parents’ death and takes him to see their graves, was perfect. Even the last few lines of the book, which usually is badly written in nearly every way, perfectly captures the moment: “We mourn lives lost. Including our own”. If we had more of that from the very beginning, and the book focused on Batman and Robin without adding the Justice League, Batgirl, Black Canary, and a bunch of other mischaracterized characters, it’d be a much better story. Hell, I wouldn’t even mind the change of making the Joker the man behind the Grayson killing if it kept to the themes and character motivations of everyone involved. Towards the end, you could see how it was at least building towards SOMETHING, that there was a point they were trying to reach. The problem was, by that point, nobody was left to care, and the reason is that, if that WAS the heart of the story, then clearly, Frank Miller forgot that. He forgot WHY Batman is, as he once put it, “as good and pure a superhero as you can find”.

But, I have to be completely fair on this. If I’m gonna judge Frank Miller for what went wrong, I have to be equally judgmental of Jim Lee. While his artwork in this book is gorgeous at times, except when he has to depict stuff like Vicki Vale seemingly literally talking out of her ass, his schedule ultimately hurt the book as well. He seemed to get back on schedule after a while, but much of that came from making splash pages and two page spreads that, while a visual marvel, could’ve been used for advancing the story, or what story there was. And I suppose I should also point out that Bob Schreck, the editor for the All-Star line, was seemingly all too happy to let most of the content of the books through, with the only exceptions being stuff like swearing…which is hilarious, when you consider what happened with issue 10. lol

Bottom line, for various reasons, this series is pretty much the epitome of what it means to drop the ball in the realm of comic books. Or, if I may borrow a phrase (and why not at this point), as we say in my favourite corner of the internet, “This comic sucks!” If you’ve got your own opinion on the book, feel free to leave it below. Or, if you wanna know more about the book and what went wrong with it, as I’ve said numerous times, Linkara has now officially reviewed all ten issues, so feel free to go to his website and check ’em out, plus his reviews of similar Frank Miller titles like The Dark Knight Strikes Again and Holy Terror. Ja né!

More Things I Would’ve Done With Power Rangers Megaforce

So, because it’s been a year since the end of Megaforce, and Linkara just posted a History of Power Rangers retrospective of it, I thought I’d go ahead and share some more ideas I had for things that could’ve been done differently for Power Rangers Megaforce/Super Megaforce. Bear in mind, not all of these ideas could all work as a whole, and some of them aren’t even my ideas to begin with. However, because I’ve heard many good ideas of what could’ve been done differently with the 20th Anniversary season(s), I felt I’d share them because…well, I think they’re really good. So, let’s start off with one that occurred to me while watching Mr. Lovhaug’s newest episodes of HOPR…

#1 – Play Up The Noah vs Argus Rivalry More

This was mostly skipped over in the retrospective, and I honestly don’t even blame Lewis for this, but there was a small rivalry that was hinted at between Noah and Argus. This is because Argus’ Sentai equivalent in Gokaiger was actually an old friend of GokaiBlue, but was rebuilt into a robot and had his memories wiped, save for his skill as a swordsman, and the two were forced into a rivalry. Here, though, when Noah is the one to destroy Argus, there’s no real weight to it, since they only came to blows once or twice. So, what would I have done differently? Well, in Goseiger, there was actually a GoseiGreen in the back-story who died saving GoseiBlue’s life. So, what if, prior to the enlisting of the team in Megaforce, there was a Green Ranger who was chosen a long time ago and had been acting as a lone operative, but then seemingly sacrifices himself to save Noah. However, it would then turn out he was found by Vrak, who rebuilt him as a robot, and had him sent back to the Armada to finish reprogramming, which would result in him joining Vekar’s elite guard. Suddenly, you could have this tragic rivalry between Noah and Argus, the latter of whom seemingly gave his life to save the former’s but now needs to be taken out. Then the episodes that highlight Noah’s self-confidence issues would make total sense. Hell, you could even bring Jake into that plot, by saying his Super Mega Mode Key was meant for Argus, and having him see himself as a weaker replacement for the Green Ranger. Sure, it lifts ideas from the two Sentai shows being adapted, but in ways that make sense, forward the story, and grants character development for multiple characters. And speaking of, no one needed more story added to them to explain and give us more reason to be invested in them than the next guy on this list…

#2 – Have Troy Be A Robot

…Hear me out. Yes, I’m aware that this has been done before. However, looking at everything in hindsight, it’d be the best explanation for everything that was going on, and would create some interesting development for Troy. Essentially, he’d be akin to the Blue Senturion, where he was sent back into the past to warn of a major threat to the world. However, in the process of being sent back, his memory was damaged, and he thinks he’s an actual teenager. This way, his dreams are explained as events he’d previously seen, his connection to Robo Knight is a bit more obvious since they’re both robots, and it would make Andrew Gray’s…well, let’s be perfectly honest, robotic acting a bit more bearable. Plus, it would be interesting to see how this would affect someone like Troy. Think about it: In the first episode, he makes the speech about how humans can do anything working together. Being human and his pride in being human is the most important thing to him. Now imagine him realizing that everything that was most important to him, the center of his character, was a lie. Suddenly, he’d need to find something new to believe in. Maybe his friendship with his fellow Rangers and humanity could be a new motivation for him? But what about the threat? Well, therein lies what could’ve been a much better ending…

#3 – Vrak Is Back Redone

Basically, make it so that Vrak doesn’t make his move until after the death of his father, and move Orion’s decision to leave Earth to after the ACTUAL defeat of the Armada, during which Vrak kidnaps him, and uses his connection to the Ranger Keys to cut the team off from Legendary Mode. In addition, he could create copies of the Legendary Rangers from their Keys, which would lead to the Megaforce team telling them not to get involved for fear of what could happen to them. After all, it’s been established that the Morphing Grid can’t handle more than one individual drawing from the exact same powers before one of them has to go. Suddenly, you’d have this situation where the team is left without most of their Zords (just say that all but the Mecha Zords were destroyed in the battle with the Armada), they can’t go Legendary, they’re having to fight copies of said Legendary Rangers, one of their sixth Rangers has been kidnapped while the other is fighting against them, and there’s the realization that everything they’d just been through, the massive Armada fleet that had come to destroy them…was all just a diversion to keep their eye off the real threat: Vrak. It’d be far more chilling to see his plan unfold in such a manner, and to see that Vrak was willing to sacrifice his own family to see their plans come to fruition, as well as to gain revenge against the Rangers. Plus…let’s be honest, his last stand had a bit more grandeur to it than his dad’s. That said, there IS one other possible final threat that’s been suggested by fans…

#4 – Gosei Is The True Villain

Here’s how I’d pull it off: Basically, Gosei had secretly been a student of Dark Spectre, manipulating events to where all of the previous Rangers were in the same place at the same time. Once done, he could drain their powers into the Keys to create his own massive army of evil Rangers. It would be his ultimate revenge against Zordon, all Power Rangers throughout history, and their entire lineage. However, before he could take the power from the Megaforce team, Tensou could cut them off from the Ranger Keys, leaving them as the last hope to stop Gosei. As such, it would be one last valiant struggle against Gosei and his army of Ranger copies, with Tommy and a few others, even the side characters for this season, fighting without their powers to try and give the team as much of a chance as they possibly can. It would be one grand, final stand against evil’s most sinister plot to destroy Earth and conquer the universe. But hey, enough of the big changes, here’s some of the smaller stuff they could’ve done…

#5 – Proper Music During The Legendary Ranger Battles

Yeah, I’m with Linkara on this one: Having the proper music play over the battles where the team goes Legendary Mode would be an impressive improvement all on its own. Y’know how I know that? Because I’ve seen the fight scenes with the proper music playing, thanks to YouTubers like PRUnreleased and hunterkiller1440. I refuse to believe it’s a budget issue, because Go Go Power Rangers has been reused for the past five years, and there were TINY hints of previous themes in the background music produced for Super Megaforce. And honestly, given how little Disney seemed to care about Power Rangers, I have doubts that they’d wanna hold onto the rights to the music. So yeah, would’ve been nice to see…erm, hear more of the old music used where appropriate. And lastly, there’s one more thing I wanna talk about…again.

#6 – Megaforce and Samurai Team-Up

…No, really, I have no idea why the hell they didn’t do this. In a season that is clearly out to burn through as much Sentai footage as possible, there is no excuse for why they didn’t do this team-up. After all this time, there is no possible explanation I can think of for why they didn’t do this team-up. So, because Saban didn’t do it, here’s a look at what could’ve been. Big thanks to the aforementioned PRUnreleased and hunterkiller1440 for making these two videos.

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. Once again, lemme know in the comments section below if there are any you’d add that I didn’t think of. Ja né!

700th Blog Post! + Jyger’s Favourite 5 – Memories of Five of My Most Viewed Articles

Hey guys! It’s the 700th blog post!!!

So, after 700 posts on this blog, I’ve naturally assembled a lot of memories over the years. And, for some reason, several articles I’ve done on here seem to get way more views than others, still getting viewed even to this day. In fact, I wanna show you something. Here’re the ten most frequent search engine terms to lead people to my blog…

…and here are some of the highest viewed articles on my blog.

So, given some of the obvious preferences for some of these posts by my fans, I thought I’d go ahead and look back on five of them, my memories of them, and if my overall thoughts and feelings on the topics of each one still hold up. So, let’s start off with probably the most infamous article on my blog…

#1 – “…Is Elesa Really THAT Hot???” from Feb. 4th, 2012

Oh my God, this frigging article. XD I honest to God go back and forth in my mind on a regular basis if I ever should’ve opened my big mouth and asked people why there was so much hentai out there of this character from Pokémon Black and White. And, because I posted an article with the words Elesa and hentai in them, naturally, it led to a lot of people coming to my site specifically to look for it. It got to the point where, two years later, I finally snapped and decided to post another article discussing it, figuring I’d either quell it for good or get a shit-ton of views for it. Given that it’s the internet…I really shouldn’t have been surprised as to which ended up happening, and I don’t even think I need to tell you which one it was. Still, speaking of Pokémon articles where I go back and forth on if I should’ve ever brought it up…

#2 – “Ash’s Best Team of 6 Pokémon” from Feb. 10th, 2013

I am shocked, absolutely SHOCKED, that I didn’t get death threats from fans, considering how many people argued my point of not having Charizard on the team. Like, you’d think I’d killed their pet and made them watch as I did it. lol But yeah, looking back on this article, I will say that… … …yeah, Charizard probably should be on there. In fact, I’m actually planning on doing a revised version of the list in the near future, as soon as a certain rumoured Pokémon becomes part of Ash’s roster. Still, what was it that changed my mind? Well, surprisingly enough, it was when Charizard rejoined the team near the end of Best Wishes. Yeah, the arc that turned me off to the anime, because it nonetheless managed to redeem Charizard for what I thought was an absolutely astonishingly pathetic last showing beforehand. Still, expect to see Infernape and a few other of Ash’s better Pokémon on a list of honourable mentions when the revised list comes out.

#3 – “What’s A Paladin Rant” from June 10th, 2012

I can only imagine what it must be like for Noah Antwiler, who must STILL to this day get people asking him what a Paladin is, when even I’m still getting people checking out that article of mine discussing the matter. But I do get why. It’s just one of the dumbest things you’ll ever hear someone say in a video game, when you factor in everything that everyone in-game knows at this point. Seriously, roll my vid again.

Oh, and because I like tooting my own horn, I’d like to once again point out that I was the first to use homjakilla’s song in that video. lol But yeah, one of the stupidest fucking lines in a video game EVER… … …BUT, at least it led to probably the most badass line Spoony’s ever said.

#4 – “N. Harmonik’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Oggy and the Cockroaches Episodes” from Dec. 30th, 2013

…There was an idea. The idea was that, because N. Harmonik had done so much for me, proofreading damned near every article I’ve ever written, and a lot of my stories, that she should have her own article on the blog. So, basically, this was a late Christmas present to her. Plus, while I personally was not that big a fan of Oggy and the Cockroaches, I nonetheless saw the potential it had as a show and how many people liked it that I thought it deserved some additional exposure. As such, I had Aibo (I call her Aibo because it means partner) do not one but two articles about the show. And because her articles have gotten so many views by you all, I’ve decided to go ahead and give her some space here to say thank you. 🙂

I thank all of you for reading these two articles I created, whether or not you’re OatC fans! Oh and please check out my fics: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/632668/

#5 – “Zelda Chronology: Ghirahim is just CREEPY!” from Jan. 27th, 2012

Lastly, an article that was part of my short-lived Zelda Chronology series. As one of the articles from my first year as a blogger, I suppose it makes sense that it’d also be one of my highest viewed, and considering the subject matter…yeah, not shocked it’s this one that gets all the attention. I still maintain that Ghirahim’s oddity as a character is what makes him so memorable, though, and am glad to see him return for games like Hyrule Warriors. And really, no one should be shocked that I connected him to Lady Gaga when you consider that he’s a demon from Hell and is going to kill us all. XD Unfortunately, because of YouTube copyright laws, the video in the article had to be taken down, and will never be posted on there again… … … …The good news is, I decided to post it elsewhere. ^_^

And that’s my 700th article, everybody. Thanks for reading along, and be sure to continue to do so as we venture into the future of more escapist fiction and absurd reality. And lastly, I just wanna thank everybody that has gotten me to this point. Of course, N. Harmonik, my wonderful proofreader who has appeared in some of my vlogs. DorkynProudofit, who did the Man of Steel vlogs with me. PinkRangerWannabe, who co-wrote ‘Lewis Lovhaug Is Not Your Slave’. Morgan Meryl, who did the logo for this blog years ago. Emmybomber, who suggested I talk about moms in comics. And I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot more, but lastly, I wanna cover a lot of people who have inspired me in different ways throughout my various endeavors over the years: Scott Snyder, Lewis Lovhaug (AKA Linkara), Emile Rosales-Birou (AKA Chuggaaconroy), Gail Simone, Charles Sonnenburg (AKA SF Debris), Rosen Rose of the Poison Ivy League, Doug Walker (AKA The Nostalgia Critic), Diane Darcy (AKA helenawaynehuntress), Paul Heyman (no, seriously, lol), G. Willow Wilson, and Justin Carmical (AKA the late great JewWario). Thank you all for being the people you are, as it helped me to be who I am. Ja né!

Just Imagine YOU Creating The DC Universe (Comments Requested)

So, this month on Atop The Fourth Wall, Linkara is reviewing issues of Just Imagine Stan Lee, wherein the man himself, Stan Lee, gave his own takes on legendary figures in the DC Universe. Specifically, Linkara will be checking out Lee’s takes on Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, and The Flash. Now, he’s already looked at Superman and Batman, and thus far, we’ve got a miss and a hit respectively. Still, even the miss had good ideas, albeit not executed that well, and while Superman came off as a jerk…well, a lot of Stan Lee characters come off as jerks initially, but then develop into better people (or don’t, in the case of Reed Richards and a few members of the X-Men).

Anyway, the point is, looking these over, it’s actually interesting to think of what these characters would be like if they were first put to paper by different people. Sure, we’ve all done alternate universe takes of characters (I’ve done several, actually), but they ultimately wind up bearing resemblance to their mainstream counterparts. What Stan did, though, as far as I can tell, was take the bare bones concepts of the characters (Superman being an immigrant from outer space, Batman being a crime fighter in a batsuit, etc.) from when they were first conceived and went his own way with them. Although, while I say that this isn’t meant to just be another Elseworlds version of them, the map shown in Grant Morrison’s The Multiversity reveals that the characters of Just Imagine are the heroes of Earth 6 of the current Multiverse, but it’s still a radically different take on the characters. So, with that in mind, I wanna ask everyone reading this to just imagine if YOU created the DC Universe. What if YOU were given these simple descriptions of heroes and the ideas behind them, and how would you develop them? No preconceived notions of the characters beyond those concepts, no previously used continuity, just those short descriptions, and maybe some concept art to go by and their civilian names (optional). For now, let’s go with probably the five most iconic of all DC heroes, who started in the Golden Age and are still going strong today: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Green Lantern.

Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Superman, and Batman

• Superman: An immigrant from outer space with powers beyond human beings now having to live among humans.
• Batman: A wealthy man who is secretly a crime fighter wearing a dark, bat-like costume to scare criminals.
• Wonder Woman: A princess and emissary of a race of warrior women who wears bullet proof bracers.
• The Flash: A person (not necessarily a man, since many Flashes have been female) imbued with the power of superspeed.
• Green Lantern: A person (again, not necessarily a man) with a ring powered by a lantern that can conjure green constructs of anything the wearer can imagine.

And that’s all there is to it. Lemme know what you’d do with any of these heroes based on those basic concepts, or if there are any others you’d like to see added to this list. Ja né!

How Would I Do A Homebrewed Pokémon Game? (Or Just A New Pokémon Game In General) + What Am I Gonna Do For Blog Post #500?

So, I’ve been watching along with so many others as Linkara plays the homebrewed Pokémon game, Pokémon Omicron. It was made on an RPG Maker (and speaking as someone who used to have one, I can tell you that’s damned impressive), and while it’s still technically incomplete, it apparently has about 80 hours of playtime to it, and only requires some post main game content to be finished. As such, I decided to pick it up myself, and have been rather enjoying the game. It has the occasional visual bug, and the story suffers from some emotional whiplash at times since it tries to be like other Pokémon games while injecting darker content, but it’s good nonetheless. And, while I personally chose not to use this, the game also comes complete with special options for Nuzlocke Challenges. So, if you ever wanna pick it or its other version, Pokémon Zeta, up and play, by all means, click the image below and check it out.

As a result, I started thinking: How would I do a homebrewed Pokémon game? Now, keep in mind this is all hypothetical, I could NEVER do this game by myself. That said, if you like some of the ideas I post, feel free to use ’em, though try to at least give credit where it’s due, eh? lol Anyway, let’s start with…well, the start.

#1 – Different Starters

 

While I like the idea the creators of Zeta and Omicron had, having three different Pokémon from the norm be available as starters and changing the methods and levels required for evolution, I gotta say, I don’t see the point then to have them be the standard Grass/Fire/Water choices. Personally, I would go with one of two things: Either have the player choose between Magby or Elekid (and by the way, Magby already IS the Fire-type Starter in Zeta & Omicron), or have them start off with Eevee, and incorporate the shards from Pokémon XD (with a few others to account for the newer evolutions) to allow the player to have whatever type they want as their starter, and your rival just gets something strong against it as one of their strongest Pokémon.

#2 – The Rival

First off, I’d have the rival’s gender as something the player can choose. Second, I’d go back to basics and have the rival be your final opponent at the Pokémon League. And that’s not me saying I dislike what Zeta & Omicron went with, by having the player’s mom be the champion, since I LOVE it when the mom does awesome stuff. This is just what I personally would do. And finally, I’d have them be encounterable at least once per town. Maybe not in a battle, but that you at least bump into them in every town, and there’s always this feeling like they’re one step ahead of you.

#3 – The Gyms

I dunno if many people do this anyway, I know I do, but I’d make all Gym Leader Battles so that you HAVE to use a set number of Pokémon, namely the same number as the Gym Leader. It just makes things more challenging for the player, and let’s face it, a bit more fair. The Elite Four is fine, though, since part of the point is being able to survive all four without being able to go back to a Pokémon Centre. Also, I’d make a fugging DARK-TYPE GYM. I cannot stress this enough, people. In fact, I’d make it the first Gym, since only one of the Eeveelutions has a specific type advantage to Dark. Likewise, I think I’d make the last Gym Rock-type, and have the Gym Leader use fossil Pokémon.

#4 – NO FREEBIES

One thing that has driven me crazy as of late about the newer games is just how easy they are because of stuff that’s given away without having to be earned. I’m sorry, but back in the day, wasn’t like that. As such, while I’d be fine with including items like the Lucky Egg and Exp. Share, I’d make them items you need to earn, either via catching a certain number of Pokémon, gaining a certain number of badges, or just accomplishing side-missions.

#5 – The Evil Organization

As for the evil team, we’ve had the thieves, the eco-terrorists, the psychos out to destroy the world, a group of PETA wannabes, and a group wanting to forcefully remake the world. I think I’d want a team that’s focused on trying to make Pokémon feral, believing that humans tame them from being the wild creatures that they believe they’re meant to be. Rather than specialize in types, though, like many teams in the past (there HAS been an overuse of Normal, Dark, and Poison by evil teams), they’d focus primarily on Pokémon from the Monster and Dragon Egg Groups.

Anyway, that’s all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for checking this out, feel free to leave a comment, and let’s see what new kinds of homebrews are made in the future. Ja n-……………..Say, it seems this was the 499th blog entry, meaning the next one makes 500. Wow, time sure flies. So what can I possibly do for such a huge milestone in my blog’s history…?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…………….Okay, what the hell. Let’s review Bible Black.

I knew you’d eventually see things my way…

History of Power Rangers Jungle Fury – Unofficial Companion Piece

Merry Christmas, one and all!…Okay, I don’t normally do this. I feel as though doing companion pieces to reviews is kinda stepping on the toes of the reviewer. However, something odd happened after watching today’s History of Power Rangers. For those uninitiated, History of Power Rangers is a show done by Atop The Fourth Wall host, Linkara, that talks about…well, the history of Power Rangers, season by season. It’s generally a broad overview of each season, keeping only the important details in. And, in that sense, today’s HOPR, which focused on Jungle Fury, did exactly that, and I really enjoyed it…With that said, for some weird reason, a lot of details to the show that I felt were overlooked kept popping up in my head. It was made worse when, after I was done watching, I brought up Netflix and decided to watch some episodes, and these details seemingly increased in number. Now, admittedly, a lot of this could be seen as pointless trivia, but I really like it. So, I thought I’d get it all out by compiling a list of details that either weren’t covered for whatever reason, or just helped explain them when they were. Obviously, though, you’ll wanna watch HOPR FIRST before reading this, in case you haven’t done so already. And I figure we might as well start off with the first thing we saw in the review…

#1 – The Strike Rider

While the Strike Rider IS shown in the beginning of the video, primarily so Lewis could make a snarky comment, there was one thing about it that I wish he’d talked about. See, up until now, every season since In Space had a Battlizer, an American-made powered-up form for the Red Ranger, usually in the form of some advanced armour. However, Jungle Fury doesn’t really have a traditional Battlizer. Instead, the Strike Rider, and the armour that comes with it, are often considered by many to be the Jungle Fury Battlizer. Now, not everybody is in agreement over that point, and anyone reading this is free to make their own call, but personally…yeah, in my opinion, it kinda is. It gives Casey an advanced form, it’s unique to him, and he’s even seen using it at times after the team gains access to Jungle Master Mode. It’s not really anything vital to go over, but I thought it still could’ve been brought up.

#2 – The Wolf Ranger Costume

Okay, I’m not gonna debate costume fashion sense here, but I think there’s a theme present in RJ’s morphed form that I think Linkara may have overlooked: He’s supposed to look like a Muay Thai kick-boxer. Even the Wolf Morpher itself has a little ring bell switch to it. Why? Because in his morphed fights, he’s constantly employing that style of martial art. Granted, I would’ve preferred if he used that style a bit more unmorphed, so it was more clear when the time came that the suit was made with that combat style in mind (having kick-pads and whatnot), so I suppose I can see where Lewis didn’t recognize that.

#3 – The Shark Sabers

Alright, admittedly, this is probably one of the lesser points to bring up, but I just find it kinda neat. If you watch the show (and if you don’t, I don’t know why you’re reading this), you probably noticed that the Shark Sabers look kinda…flimsy. In that, they’re VERY flimsy, resembling HORRIBLE props. However, and I admittedly only know this because I watched Gekiranger, where this point was actually specifically covered, that’s actually part of the design. Think of the blades like if the edges of rubber were sharp. They can bend and flop around, but they’ll still cut. This way, while swinging them around, anything that gets close to them is getting sliced, and they’re also harder to get around, making them every bit as good as defensive weapons as they are offensive. Again, kinda pointless trivia that only the most geeky of people would care about, but…well, what can I say? I excel at being a geek. lol

#4 – The Wolf Zord

Getting back to RJ for a sec, I thought I should bring up how his Wolf Zord works with the others. Basically, it replaces the Cheetah Zord as a new right leg for the Jungle Pride Megazord, and uses its bladed tail to improve kicking power. Again, RJ mostly uses kick-boxing in the field. However, the Wolf can’t combine with the Zords that form the Jungle Master Megazord (or, if it can, it was never shown to be able to in either Jungle Fury OR Gekiranger). Instead, when the others are piloting the Jungle Master Megazord, RJ can project copies of the Tiger and Jaguar Zords to form the Wolf Pride Megazord, which functions exactly like the Jungle Pride Megazord with Wolf Power, only usually piloted by RJ on his own. Although, one cool thing about having the two Megazords usually working together that they never fully took advantage of was the fact that the Elephant, Bat, or Shark Zords could each combine with one of the two, so they could power up even further, although that could require them splitting up between the Megazords, so not sure if that would work or not. Whatever, still cool to think about…at least more-so than the last thing I need to talk about…

#5 – The Pai Zhua Masters’ Spirit Forms

Okay, this one is actually more about confirming a suspicion Lewis had. Yeah, the spirit forms of the Pai Zhua Masters were from Gekiranger. In fact, it’s what their Sentai counterparts each looked like. I’d say that it makes more sense in the Sentai, and it does, but rather, I’ll instead just say that, after a while of watching, you kinda got used to them. HERE, however, I have NO idea why they used them. It’s not even a thing where they were used so that certain shots from the Sentai could be adapted either, since their appearance in Jungle Fury was ALL original footage. So…Yeah, I don’t know. lol

Anyway, that’s all I really wanna talk about. I hope that Lewis Lovhaug understands that I don’t necessarily want to step in on his show. It’s just…I dunno, I guess Jungle Fury, and Gekiranger for that matter, left a pretty big impact on me. As such, I’m gonna NEED to reel this in, because as anyone who knows me personally can tell you, I LOVE Power Rangers RPM and Engine Sentai Go-onger, which are next. Hopefully, I’ll keep a better thumb over my need to exposit more needless details and trivia. In the meantime, though, here’s one Ranger fanatic who can’t wait til March. Ja né, and Merry Christmas. 🙂

THE GLITCH LIVES – The Original Pokémon Glitch Is Back, WITH A VENGEANCE

Beneath the seas, beside the flames
Off the coast, where the lost beast came
To bring the world misery and shame
A piece of the world is Missing.

The path you should have never crossed,
The Beast exacts a heavy cost,
The number of the Beast is lost,
You will know it by its hissing.

The bones from hell you cannot tame,
Devour your life and all your fame,
That is the price to play its game,
And all while you’re reminiscing.

The poem you have just read was created for the popular web series and comic book review show (that I could not shut up about to save my life), Atop The Fourth Wall. In the series, the main character, Linkara, learns of an Outer God called The Entity that has infected the world, even making people disappear as they are absorbed into its being. What he later discovers is that The Entity is actually MissingNo., a glitch in the original Pokémon games, that became an Outer God in an alternate universe. In reality, MissingNo., or Missing Number, is just a glitch in the old games that was rumoured to be something of a game-breaker if encountered and captured. There’s conflicting information on just what it can and can’t do, and just how it works, but I suggest you look it up on Bulbapedia. It explains a lot better than I can.

Well, recently, there was a bug discovered in the Pokémon X & Y games, located in Lumiose City, also believed to be a game-breaker. It was apparently dealt with…However, recent images have revealed THIS!

MissingNo. in Lumiose City

…So yeah, MissingNo. is back, apparently with a vengeance…I can’t wait for Lewis Lovhaug to hear about this on Twitter. I know I’ve already tweeted him, but I’d be willing to bet he’s gotten at least a couple dozen others. Knowing my luck, he’ll integrate it into the story on his show to bring The Entity back…and I still haven’t gotten the horrifying scream The Entity let loose when it died the first time outta my head!

…Anyway, discuss, feel free to share your own MissingNo. stories. For now, I’m just gonna go hide under blankets with a Poké Ball in one hand and a Lightsaber in the other…Ja né!

Related articles

• How to avoid Pokemon X / Y’s save glitch in Lumiose City (joystiq.com)
• Holy Crap. Has The Famous Glitch, Missingno, Returned In Pokémon X & Y? (kotaku.com)
• MissingNo: The Most Influential Video Game Glitch (knowledgepod.wordpress.com)
• Pokemon: 5 nostalgic memories from Pokemon Red and Blue (o.canada.com)
• Thoughts on Pokémon X (chrisgeorgegamedesign.com)
• Pokemon X short game review (hjwbarberablogs.wordpress.com)
• Pokémon X and Y Review – Among the Very Best (technobuffalo.com)
• Pokemon X & Y Review (goodkindofgeek.com)
• Pokémon X & Y bug breaks saves, is triggered in Lumiose City – report (vg247.com)
• The Pokemon X and Y Lumiose glitch, and a potential fix (destructoid.com)

Lewis Lovhaug’s Funniest Moments Vol 2

Well, since we’re coming up on the 5 Year Anniversary of Atop The Fourth Wall, I thought I’d post some more of my favourite moments from the star himself. This is Lewis Lovhaug’s Funniest Moments Vol 2.

Footage belongs to AT4W and Channel Awesome. Music is The Ballad of Linkara by Vincent E.L.

Related articles

• The Dawn of the Funny Critics (twainstudios.com)
• Heroes and Villian (halftangible.wordpress.com)
• How I would have defeated the Entity (rtgomer.com)
• Here’s What Maker Studios Is Going To Do With Blip (tubefilter.com)
• News About Youtube. (luketheblog.wordpress.com)
• 3 Ways to Change a Bad Attitude on a Run (myownrunningstory.wordpress.com)
• My Top 5 Youtubers List (violetliicious.wordpress.com)
• “Andy’s Awesome Adventures” YouTube Travel Channel Celebrates One Year Anniversary with 100th Video-Seen in 130 Countries (prweb.com)
• Some People Are Good (inkends.wordpress.com)
• Internet Stars and Series to Watch 3: WeeklyTubeShow 2 and ¨Dub of the North Star¨ (streetwriteralfa2.wordpress.com)

Linkara Headed To Florida For Convention, This Will Not End Well (NOTE – CONTAINS A FICTIONALIZED NEWS ARTICLE)

So apparently, Linkara is headed to Orlando for a convention called Mythicon. This should prove to be quite the event, and as always, I look forward to seeing what comic he decided to review for the live show. But as we were reading this, PinkRangerWannabe and I decided “Wait, wait, there’s a joke to be made here”. And I tweeted most of what we came up with, but I realized a ways in that it was simply too much for a series of tweets to contain, so instead I decided to write it up here. So, while this is a parody of a news article, and therefore you do not have to do this for realsies, kindly imagine yourself downing headache medication, as we we open up the fictional file of…

So let’s get right to the headline that I would piss myself laughing if I found myself reading it…

Tourist Is Arrested After Punching Out Police Officer, Witnesses Claim He Said “You Might Be The Law…BUT I AM A MAN!”

“Orlando police responded to a disturbance at a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant located on Colonial Drive, apparently started by a tourist from Minnesota who had traveled down to Orlando for the upcoming Mythicon convention. The accused was said to have been demanding free chicken tenders after a teenager working in the kitchen got his order wrong. A yelling match and a fist fight lead to an employee calling the police. The man is said to have been threatening to unleash an army of Cybermats, a fictional insect-like cyborg from the popular British television series, Doctor Who. Said Cybermats turned out to be plushies, which the Minnesotan made himself, that several women on the force have decided to ‘confiscate’.”

Oh wait, people, it gets better. “The man was apprehended and taken into custody, but became violent again after kicking over a lamp at the OPD. When asked why he did this, he proceeded to simply grumble to himself about the shape and colouring of said lamp, and refused to comment further. After failed attempts at questioning him, the Minnesotan was placed in a jail cell, following a phone call and a request for reading material. 4 hours later, a man who looked surprisingly similar to the arrested man arrived to provide bail, but had to be detained as well because he had brought a tommy gun into the police department. Both men were forced to remain at the OPD until the next morning, when they were bailed out by the first man’s mother and what appeared to be a blue robot made out of cardboard.”

…Yeah, Lewis is gonna murder me for this one. XD Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first ever fictionalized Tale of Dumbassery, and lemme know if this is something I should ever try again. Ja né!