Hello there people and welcome to some more Visual Novel talk!

So since the last article seemed to be pretty well received I figured I'd go ahead with the whole Visual Novel review idea! The not so small problem with that idea is I'm not really a "standard" reviewer at heart so instead of full fledged by the books reviews I'm simply going to do some short write ups on each game mostly focusing on the good and the bad, then at the end give my final verdict of whether I think its worth playing.

Most likely I'll wait until I have at least 2 games played and probably no more then 5 before randomly slapping one of these together, as it takes quite some time to get through a game in its entirety!

My Girlfriend is the President

So the first game up is the oddly titled "My Girlfriend is the President".

First off the title is a bit of a misnomer, as 2 of the 4 romance-able girls in the game aren't actually presidents, so those of you that would rather have a non-political option can rejoice! Now, when it says "president" , it's not student council we're talking about, but rather the president of  a country.

"Cutest Obama ever! Wait what..."

If that sounds odd to you, that would be perfectly reasonable, as this game is very much an absurdest parody complete with talking pandas, crazy popes, moe spaceships and more then a few other oddities. With that said, a lot of the underlying story telling is very much standard Eroge comedy stuff, so its not quite as wacky and unconventional as it sometimes (most especially at the start) would have you believe.

And honestly, it's that underlying conventional Eroge feeling that makes this a fairly forgettable little title. It elicits some laughs and I quite enjoyed Ell-chans route as well as her character in general, but when it comes down to it the game really never does anything special. The sex scenes are merely all right...the art design is typical Eroge fair...the voice acting is fine...the story is ok. There really is nothing here that I would say is either bad or good. Its almost like they went to great pains to make  the game as accommodating and unoffensive as possible, but considering the game includes parodies of Presidents Obama and Putin as romance-able Eroge girls that seems like a wasted opportunity.

"I won't lie -- the majority of her appeal to me is her likeness of Miku."

I'd say the only genuine problem I have with the game beyond its blandness is the fact that there is no route for the first girl you meet thats at the heart of all of this madness. It just seems like a rather large over sight that they didn't bother allowing you to romance the (in my opinion) most interesting and story centric character in the game? Damn shame that...

Final Verdict: Pass unless you really love generic Eroge. Honestly, there's nothing much here to make you feel like playing the game was time well-spent.

For a second opinion and a far more comprehensive review check out Otaku Study's review (NSFW)

Deardrops

Putting the absurdity and Pseudo Sci-Fi behind us, our next Eroge is quite a bit more grounded. Deardrops was done by the same people who did Kira Kira and carries the same theme of being in a band (As well as having a few Cameos from that game.)

Sadly the game is nowhere near the level of what Kira Kira was and ended up being one of  the biggest disappointments to me in quite some time.

But then I'm getting ahead of myself so lets start from the beginning, shall we? The game uses the standard Eroge gameplay of making choices with the usual static sprites and what have you. While playing I noticed a very strong push towards two of the girls in the game to the point I actually looked up a walk-through just to make sure you could even romance the other two girls in the game. It turns out you can, but you'll soon find out why the game pushed those two...

Simply put the writers don't give a fuck about the other two girls. My problem with Kira Kira is it front loaded most of the good story and left the romances short quickly wrapping them up at the end, but Deardrops has a much different and far worse problem... Basically, instead of having a long common route before you choose a romance they decided to instead completely isolate the romance for two of the characters away from the main plot and shunt them off to the sides while cramming in the "real" story in the other two girls routes.

So what this means is if you want to continue the main story that you were playing for hours up until that branch point you absolutely must pick Riho or Kanade. If you pick either of the other two girls you get some half-ass short little side story romance (Well barely a romance in Yayoi's case) and then the game ends abruptly completely ignoring all other characters, main plot or side plots that had existed before going on to their route. You want to know what happened to the band? What was up with that mysterious guy? The protagonists back story? The guitar picks? Anything else of consequence? Well I hope you like Riho or Kanada cause you sure as hell aren't going to learn ANY of that in Yayoi or Rimu's "routes".

It all just begs the question why they even bothered making the other girls routes. Because they felt they had to? Because two girls wasn't enough? Whatever choice it was, it was dumb as bricks because it means if you like say, Yayoi like me and pick her first well you get to be utterly perplexed and then frustrated to hell when you learn the game just gave you a giant middle finger and told you ya have to romance the other girls in order to actually have a full-fledged story.

Now I've played games where there is only one route but the difference is generally the main character either doesn't outright choose a specific girl like in Deardrops, or he at least gets to sleep with the others plus you also know what you are getting into at the start. This game however gives you hope that you actually will get a fulfilling route with the other girls.

"Yes Riho you are the star because the game says so..."

A good example of this would be in the expansion for Kira Kira -- the game had only one route and I didn't much like the girl so that was it for me. I never played very far into it because I knew if I could only pick her I could just save my time instead of wasting it...But with what they did here I had already become invested in Yayoi and I wanted to know what happened to her and the band so I forced myself to play through other girls routes that I didn't even like to find out.

But the sad truth here is to get the continuation of the actual story the game started your forced to slog through having to watch the protagonist romancing some girl you may not even like! There honestly was no reason why they couldn't have told similar main stories and branched them to adapt to each girl instead of pushing them aside entirely in the way they did...It leaves a very bitter taste in your mouth to put it mildly.

"Want to know what happens to the gang? Well I hope you like Riho!"

I wish I could tell you much about that main story but frankly I was so put off by the game screwing me over I just couldn't get very excited while playing either Kanade or Riho's route. I find Kanade to be a terrible character (Yea, a girl who practically runs and was raised around Live Houses would of course become a generic moe blob shy girl...Whut?) and while Riho isn't quite as terrible she simply isn't my type.

There are some other niggling issues I had like too few songs and the ones they did use mostly played at a muffled BGM like level that made it hard to get excited about the concerts but honestly that pales in comparison to the above fundamental flaw...

Final Verdict: Play the game if you think you'd like Kanade or Riho, but avoid like the plague if you like Rimu or especially Yayoi.

Kamidori Alchemy Master - http://tenka.seiha.org/2012/02/atelier-wil-and-his-pretty-princess-dressup-adventures/

Well so far we've had one mediocre game and one possibly rage-inducing one! Not off to a good start here with this new article series...Thankfully Kamidori is here to save the day!

Kamidori is a Tactical RPG Eroge by Eushully, although unlikeTears to Tiara, the combat is handled via small scenes of pre-rendered sprites wailing on each other as opposed to right there on the map. The combat system uses the familiar elemental rock-paper-sissors system, but this elemental concept also extends to the maps themselves where units can power up on certain types of tiles and different types of terrain may be completely impassable if you don't have the correct elemental movement skills. Thankfully the game allows for easy swapping of skills and equipment mid-game so you can quickly adapt to each map.

The rather impressively large amount of skills on characters makes for a fairly deep and interesting combat system that I'd rank as one of my favorites for an Eroge. Beyond simply beating up things there are also other gameplay mechanics like needing to manage your store and craft items to sell as you are no mere warrior, but instead an alchemist. While none of this is too terribly deep I found it an enjoyable distraction and added a nice bit of flavor to the usual dungeon crawling antics of similar games.

Moving past the combat though the game boasts a very large and diverse cast of characters that is typical of most games of this type, almost all of whom are recruitable. Each of these characters has very distinct character designs and personalities that play to the strengths of their archetypes...the stoic angel, the mischievous fox, the mysterious devil and many others can be found in the game. While these types of characters are nothing original in and of themselves the way in which thier character designs, voices, and general demeanor are handled elevates them above the norm for me helping to draw you into the wonderful world of Kamidori.

"Haku is made of awesome and win! Also fire...Lots of fire."

Even better then this is the fact that many of them form bonds and relationships with one another that have nothing to do with the main protagonist. These are not simply cardboard cutout characters lazing around waiting to be knocked up by the main character (although he does do that) but instead fully fleshed out characters with their own desires and views on life. Its this varied amount of point of views on life that forms the core message of Kamidori where it explores the different ways in which non-humans go about their lives in a human dominated world.

Many of these characters start out as antagonists but eventually through one turn of events or another the protagonist befriends them. Make no mistake though this is not Nanoha...The protagonist does not simply go in swinging his hammer as his main tool of diplomacy. In this world  there are a great many equally terrible and wonderful creatures that go far beyond a lone human's strength and it's your constant attempts to understand these living gods that makes Kamidori's story so compelling. You want to know what such a being with so much power could possibly think...You find yourself wanting to explore and to understand the many wonders to be found among the ruins and various locations doting the map. In that way the game does an excellent job of making you care about what happens to this fictitious world.

"Suina's innocent charm is rather infectious"

One thing that helps is this is not the first game to use this setting and indeed there are several cameos from other games in this world that gives you the sense that you're only seeing just a slice of what there is out there to see. Kamidori doesn't really have a central conflict so much as its a game about discovery. There are final bosses but honestly they feel rather inconsequential in the end because by the end its more about the companions you've gathered and come to know over the course of the game.

Lastly unlike many other SRPG Eroge this one has actual heroine routes. Sadly there's only 3 (several of the girls I think would have made great main heroines.), but unlike Deardrops each one is afforded their own fully fleshed-out story. While the side quests remain the same, the main quest changes greatly and allows you to get to know each heroine-specific people far better (the elves, the neighboring empire, and your own city respectively). Of the three I enjoyed Serawi's the most by far, as I found the loli character a bit too childish and stoic swords-women have never been my forte, whereas Serawi's constant endearing understanding and loving support made her stand out from most Eroge girls as being an actual woman that I genuinely enjoyed the company of. The fact that these relationships continue well beyond the confession and all have satisfying endings is a welcome change as well.

"Two of my favorite characters sharing a quiet moment...Doesn't get any better then that."

Final Verdict: This is one SRPG Eroge journey worth taking! Wholeheartedly recommended.

And there you have it the first article of what will hopefully be a new series!

I have to say playing these games with a critical eye instead of purely for fun can be quite exhausting, but enjoyable nonetheless! Hopefully next time the bad to good ratio of games will be a bit kinder on me as plowing my way through an uninteresting game is akin to pulling teeth...

Hello all! It's been quite some time since I've posted on the blog hasn't it? Although sadly this is not a figure review (I will get back to those in the future -- honest!), it is about something that's just as near and dear to my heart...Visual Novels!

You might be more familiar with the term Eroge and really the only difference between it and Visual Novels is Eroge is used for games that contain sex (aka ero) so you'll probably see me use both terms in the article.

So what exactly is this post all about? Well, I guess you could call it a recommendations list of translated VN's. While highly enjoyable, these games can take a significant time investment and as someone whose played...well let's just say a considerable amount of them, I thought I would offer this list as a way to help ease people into the genre in the least painful way possible!

Now a few caveats before we start...For one this list is highly subjective. Now I know opinion in general is by its nature subjective, but to me VN's invoke this more then anything else. So just because something isn't listed here doesn't mean I think it's bad -- tather it's just wasn't something to my liking (Kara no Shoujo is a good recent example of this). Also I don't touch games before they've been fully translated so something like say...Little Busters (still waiting for the Ecstasy content to be translated) or Steins:Gate (still waiting for the translation to be properly edited and a few other things to be translated) so that would be why a few games you might know and love aren't on here as well!

This list is going to be in alphabetical order and I will provide a link for each one to its respective VNDB link that can provide you with all the info you'd need (genre, story synopsis, places you can buy and/or translators site). So lets get to it, shall we?

Chaos;Head - VNDB

If you only know this title from the anime then you have my sympathies. Thankfully, unlike the terrible anime adaptation, Chaos:Head the VN is an incredible game in many regards. It sets you squarely in the mind of a paranoid NEET who has all sorts of delusions both pleasurable and horrific. The game is highly atmospheric and extremely immersive using several clever game mechanics like false computer screens as well as some beautiful visuals (much love for character sprites with mouth movement) to achieve this.

The downsides are it has no traditional "routes" for the girls only different endings. The story also gets a bit outlandish towards the end, losing some of the delicious psychological edge the story starts with, but these are minor flaws in an otherwise wonderful game!

Crescendo - VNDB

This is one of the first Visual Novels I played and still holds up as one of the best that I've experienced, even after all this time. The basic story is a fairly simple school romance setup, but the characters and their relationships with one another are extremely well written and deep, adding a very real human element to the story in a way that you rarely see in most stories of this type (aka generic harem with a spineless male lead).

Theirs very little if anything bad I can say about the game aside from the visuals being slightly dated and I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to just about anyone aside from maybe someone just looking for a straight up fap game.

Edelweiss - VNDB

While great drama is all well and good, occasionally a game like Edelweiss is a nice change of pace with it's strong emphasis on comedy (although it does have a fair few enjoyable dramatic moments during the course of each girl's route). While it does work off a school setting said school isn't exactly your everyday VN, and again the strong focus on comedy helps set it apart from the pack.

That said, the comedy is of the low-brow variety and the somewhat fratboy antics of the protagonist's friends (pictured above) might put some people off, but if you're looking for a game with fairly interesting romance routes and a good laugh, this is a great game to play!

Ever 17 - VNDB

Ever 17 is...unique, to put it mildly. To go into more detail about this uniqueness would spoil things greatly unfortunately...I suppose the best thing to say is don't take anything at face value in this game. Putting the non-standard elements of it aside the characters and writing in the game throughout are just superb with several very memorable and touching moments.

The later parts of it do get a bit...Well let's just say even after you finish it you'll probably be left with more then a few headscratchers haha...But all in all its an experience worth partaking in!

Fate/Stay Night - VNDB

Much like Chaos:Head, if you've only experienced F/SN through the anime your doing yourself a grave disservice. I think almost everyone reading this knows of this series in one way or another, so all I'm going to say is if you want to play one of the finest eroge there is look no further.

Galaxy Angel Series - VNDB

Now this is an odd beast of a series. While they do include traditional VN elements such as individual heroine routes chosen through text choices, it also incoporates 3d space combat missions as well. These missions aren't the hardest things in the world, but they can get hectic towards the end of each game and are extremely fun to the point that they'll make you lament the lack of space combat games released anymore!

(Skip to the 3 minute mark for Combat)

The characters themselves are wonderful and while the writing might not be the greatest (The overall story lines in particular grow weaker with each progressive game) spending time with your chosen girl and blasting space ships out of the sky never gets old~

Katawa Shoujo - VNDB

Ah Katawa Shoujo...This one here is the only game on the list made by a western development team. But don't let that dissuade you its story. writing, and art are far better then a great many forgettable Japanese titles I've played over the years I can assure you of that.

It takes place in a school that caters to the specific needs of the physically handicapped. You and all of the girls that you can possibly choose each have a condition that brings them to this place, but the story is concerned with more than merely exploit this unique premise and does an admirable job of making you care about these characters beyond simple pity for their situations. Truly an excellent VN, although due to how it was made some routes have far superior art/writing than others and of course, being made by a small western independent group, it lacks voice acting .

Kira Kira - VNDB

Ah Kira Kira. While a few joked that it was "K-On! The Eroge" it really has little in common with that show aside from school kids playing in a band. More specifically, these kids actually go out and do things beyond playing in the clubroom and having tea. One thing in particular that stands above the rest of the elements in this game is the music! The OST alone is worth playing the game as it is just that damn good!

Beyond good music, the characters are all fairly well developed and the story is fantastic. The one major flaw of the game is the fact that the "Common route" aka the one you go through before you can even begin romancing a specific girl is extremely long, but its also the best part of the game. Once the game settles into the actual routes and romancing the girls, it sadly loses a great deal of steam. So yea, play this one if you want to hear fantastic music and enjoy a great story, but don't go expecting any amazing romances. The game is very much about the journey and not the destination.

Planetarian - VNDB

Play this game...Now...do it do it do it do it Now!

But seriously Planetarian is just an incredible game. Its fairly short and it has no routes (Key calls it a "Kinetic Novel), but it is just oooohhh so good~ Play it. Now. Do it!

(CHAG HIJACK) WTFBBQ, that's the best thing you can do, Ashotte? UNACCEPTABLE. Anyhow, Planetarian is my quite possibly the best piece of media that I've ever interacted with. True, I may have a thing for robo-girls and I do love post-apocalyptic settings, but I truly think this is something that'd appeal to anyone who reads this blog. It is a very allegorical story that combines the great heights and depraved lows of human potential. Between Yumemi, a malfunctioning robot in an abandoned planetarium, and the blasted ruins of civilization through from which the protagonist scavenged for his entire life, the story creates a poignant contrast that cuts deep into your heart. The environmental message at the core of this brief ~4 hour long story is more effective than any guilt trips and stat-dumps that I've ever come across. If you are to follow any recommendations

Princess Waltz - VNDB

This is another Eroge that injects other game play elements beyond just simple text choices in the form of a card like battle game. While the system is fairly simple its also extremely fun to the point that I lamented the fact that there wasn't more chances to battle with your cards.

As far as story goes, this is another game like Kira Kira where the common route is extremely strong and very memorable, but when the time comes to get into each girls actual route it feels very generic and all too short. But the game does have some of the most brilliantly written battles I've had the pleasure of reading since F/SN (ironic, since a lot of people call the main girl a Saber clone.).

Quartett - VNDB

Quartett is another unique game not so much in story but presentation. It's really hard to explain without seeing it for yourself, but instead of seeing static sprites of characters on static backgrounds each scene is a series of hand drawn pictures sometimes over lapping one another. I included a short video below to demonstrate how this looks in-game.

It really is an exquisite game in every respect. The aforementioned system is incredible and acts as a giant showpiece for artist Ooyari Ashito's artwork. The story isn't quite as unique but its told in a pleasant manner with characters that have personalities that go beyond the standard anime/eroge stereotypes. I would say the only downside to the game is after you play it you may be sad to go back to the boring static graphic presentation of other Visual Novels, ahah.

Saya no Uta - VNDB

Honestly the best way I can think of to describe Saya is its a very Nitroplus game but for someone new to this genre of game that doesn't mean a whole lot haha...Ah...Saying basically anything about the story feels like it would be a spoiler. Lets just say it's a very big mind screw that is incredibly well written in every respect (It was written by the same man who did Madoka and Fate/Zero).

It isn't a story of happy endings or really happiness at all (Again guy did Madoka haha...) but it is one that will stay with you long long after you've finished it. Highly recommended unless you have a very weak stomach for horror and some gore.

Sengoku Rance - VNDB

And now for some raunchy porn! Ah yea Sengoku Rance more then anything else in this list revels in the "Ero" aspect of Eroge. Its protag specifically is as far as you can get from the average male anime harem lead and it's an enjoyable change of pace to be play a character who knows what he wants and goes all out getting it! You basically control him on his glorious goal to have sex with pretty much every woman or otherwise in a fantasy version of feudal Japan.

To assist in this conquest the game has a substantial game play component in the form of a Risk-like territory conquest system that, while not that graphically impressive, is EXTREMELY addictive! I can't remember how many times I would play until the sun came up without even noticing the passing of time. Aside from that the story mainly blends comedy and healthy amounts of sex with not all of it being consensual, so if that sort of things bother you then this game is probably not for you sadly.

Tears to Tiara - VNDB

Tears is another combat heavy game (noticing a pattern in my choices yet?) this time employing a SRPG-type system that is surprisingly good. Aside from the interesting combat system the game also has one of the better male leads I've seen in recent memory, being a character with enough appeal and charisma to actually make the amount of women who fall for him feel plausible for a change!

The game like some others in this list doesn't have traditional routes for each girl sadly, instead opting for the one path approach. Even though it does have a lack of choice to influence the plot, the story that you do get is quite excellent even including one of my favorite "Villians".

Utawarerumono - VNDB

Utawa (or Underwater Ray Romano for some) is an earlier game made by the same people as Tears to Tiara. Again this game shares many of the same strengths and weaknesses of Tears. Just like Tears there is only one route but it is fairly well written...The male lead actually has a personality...Fairly enjoyable strategic combat.

Basically if you enjoyed Tears you will like Utawa or vice versa.

Yume Miru Kusuri - VNDB

And last but by no means least Yume! This game is just...Oh god so damn good. At the start it feels like your typical school romance Eroge, but as you dig deeper into the story you start to get a sense of how much depth there is to the characters and story in general. Even something like the Ero is treated as an integral part of the story as opposed to simple fan service.

Beyond sex the game also tackles subjects like drugs, bullying, and the various other mundane insanities of the characters lives and personalities. In addition to the fantastic story, the game has some really lovely heavily pastel colored art. Their really isn't anything bad I can say about this one. Some of the subjects are handle in a fairly real manner and might hit close to home for some people but honestly its worth playing through any mild discomfort some of the subject matter might cause you.

And there you have it!

As I said this is not meant to be a comprehensive list by any means, but simply my own biased opinion on what the best English language visual novels are right now.

If there's anything that you don't see here and you would like my opinion on by all means leave a comment below asking about it and I will be more then happy to obliged!

Also going forward I wanted to solicit the opinion of the readers as to whether any of  you would have any interest in me possibly doing more full fledged visual novel reviews on the blog? This wouldn't conflict with any future figure reviews or anything else since I play these games already, so it theoretically wouldn't take too horribly long to do some write-ups of them.

So yea, is that something anyone is interested?

• 01:34 -- Cheerful Japan Miku
• 09:37 -- Alter's swimsuit Fate
• 13:08 -- Max Factory's Luka
• 17:33 -- Orchid Seed's Nurse Sonico
• 21:21 -- Banpresto's prize event
• 34:23 -- Chag badly struggles to wrap up the show

Remember that livecast idea we mentioned last time? Well, it’s actually going to be a THING now! During this past weekend Ashlotte, Ohnoraptors and I decided to try doing a non-live recording with the three of us to test the waters, and the result is this, here in completely unedited form. I figure that since we’ll be doing the future episodes live, it’s only makes sense to give you a taste of what to expect. Yup, this has nothing to do with me reaching Battlemaster on SWTOR and wanting to grind for some of that new pvp gear at all -- honest!

But in all seriousness, this was our first and only go, and I think it turned out pretty well! Sure, there was some awkwardness in the beginning, but as the episode progressed, we all became a lot more comfortable. Personally, listening to Kiki just puts a big smile on my face. Between Ashlotte’s grumpiness and my awkwardness, I often worry that we don’t come off as enthusiastic about the plastic ladies as we really are. That’s why when I hear Kiki gush about the Homura’s little bow or talk about the colours of Luka and Miku’s panties, I can’t help but to smile.

So, what do you think, and more importantly, what should this newly-assembled thing be called? I thought about the logical extension “Triple H”, but that just sounds like a porno. So yeah, give us ideas, or this podcast will be forever named “Hot Glue”. Best name ever, amirite?

As for future plans, we’re going to bang our heads against the technical side of the livecast this weekend, and if all goes well, we will be starting on the weekend after that. When we decide on a time and place, I’ll let you all know through the blog, YouTube and Twitter. In the meantime, start coming up with those Q&A questions, because I have a feeling they’ll be hilarious when answered live.

We’re back! After 4 months we’re finally back to yakking about figures over Skype and posting it on the Internet. Of course, given our generally abysmal work ethic, it takes a damn good reason to get our asses back in gear, but I’d say the biannual occasion that is WonFes more than qualifies for a “good reason”. Unfortunately, my annoying speech quirks are also back in full force, but I suppose you’ll just have to DEAL WITH IT as we give you the lo-down on what we think is hot (or not-so-hot) at the event.

• 01:40-- Hagenai stuff!
• 09:18-- Chara-Ani's Erio and Fear
• 13:28-- Alter & Max Factory's Menma
• 17:49-- Max Factory's Luka
• 20:47-- Madoka stuff!
• 24:23-- Ash bitches about the continued absence of Mikan (Orchid Seed Yui)
• 26:32-- Native stuff!
• 30:15-- Persona 4 stuff!
• 33:27-- FREEing's fortress Nanoha
• 36:19 -- Stocking, Mass Effect, Chag's Nendo temptation & BRS stuff

Is it just me, or has our tastes grown pervier since last time? With all this emphasis and tits and/or asses, this may be the end of our “good taste” as we know it. In any case, what did you think of this Wonder Festival? What were your biggest hits and misses? Let us know in the comments!

(By the way, while we might have said that we're doing away with the weekly updates, Ash and I do have some a potentially cool alternative planned for the near future -- we're thinking of doing a weekly figure livecast with our good buddy Ohnoraptors. The idea is still very much in its infancy, but when we settle on a concrete plan and start date, I'll be sure to let everyone know -- whether they want to or not! >=D)

Lobo and his loyal crew.

Yep, it's a new post.

Nope, it's not anything remotely figure-related!

Ash and I have been playing a lot of Star Wars: The Old Republic lately on the Republic side of Juyo. Both of us have leveled at a character to 50 (the maximum level). So since I’m in a rantful mood, I figure I’m going to write a tl;dr post that's probably completely irrelevant to the interests of most of you! I suppose this is kind of a review (though admittedly my last "real" MMO was Burning Crusade in WoW), but also kind of an update post -- now you know what Ash and I have been wasting our time with instead of blogging about figures!

WTF is The Old Republic?

TOR is Bioware’s big entry into the MMO market. Backed by Electronic Arts, this Star Wars game is rumoured to have cost anywhere from $80 million to $300 million to produce. The game is heavily story driven and features fully voice-acted dialogue, boasting over 200,000 lines. Though the gameplay is very similar to World of Warcraft (as people often call it “WoW in space”, one might say it’s the bastard child of a traditional MMO and a single-player RPG. What do I mean by that? Well, read on~

The Setting

The story of TOR takes place 300 years after the events of Knights of the Old Republic (a game both Ash and Ohnoraptors has bugged me to play) and 3,500 years prior to the events of the Star Wars films. The Sith Empire has returned, and after an initial wave of open aggression, the two opposing factions are in a state of a barely concealed cold war. Neither sides are committing acts of open aggression in the form of all-out war, but there are plenty of under-the-table dealings and skirmishes on various worlds in the galaxy in a bid to tip the balance of power.

Ashlotte = big bald man. Chag = little bald man. He may have the height advantage, but I have DEPTH PERCEPTION.

Each faction has 4 mirrored classes: the Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior, the Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor, the Smuggler/Imperial Agent, and the Trooper/Bounty Hunter. Each of these classes has two separate advance classes, and each of these advanced classes have three different skill trees, so there’s plenty of variety to be had. I play a Gunslinger, a long-range damage class that stems out of the Smuggler, while Ash plays a Vanguard, a ranged tank class that’s a variant of the Trooper.

When Ash brought the game to my attention, I was immediately dubious of the premise. As the vast majority of MMOs are set in fantasy settings, I wasn’t sure if the swords & magic model of MMOs would be appropriate for the lightsaber-swinging world of Star Wars. So does it work? Well, kinda.

The Old Republic takes full advantage of the vastness of the Star Wars setting. From the Toxic swamp world of Quesh, to the sleazy metropolis of Nar Shaddaa, to the frozen expanses of Hoth, the world of TOR feels truly vast. Personally, I have never been a big Star Wars fan as I was too young/illiterated when I watched the original trilogy, but even without picking up all the allusions and throwbacks to the movies and KOTOR, the planets of the galaxy far, far away were satisfying to explore.

Good ol' Tatooine -- it's every bit as dry and vast as you'd imagine.

However, as we have been introduced to the Star Wars universe through the films, there are a number of contradictions that ultimately break the immersion of the experience. The issue of lightsaber lethality is especially glaring: because of the needs of game balance, lightsabers are no longer these awe-inspiring weapons that can cut through steel like a hot knife through butter. When you see people swinging them through enemies repeatedly, they feel a lot less like hyper-lethal weapons and more like big shiny glowsticks.

Am I the only one who thinks Hutts are cute? Look at dem stubby arms...dawwww.

Asides from the lightsabers, there’s also the issue of shoehorning of MMO mechanics into the Star Wars universe. Most MMOs need special abilities outside of the swinging of swords and axes (i.e. magic). In the case of TOR, these abilities translate to force and tech powers. For the non-force using glasses, these abilities boil down the miniature droids and other gadgets that the player calls out of #hammerspace. The commando class calls down miniature droids and heals the target with a scan of some sort and throwing around globs of healing agents. The mercenary bounty hunters heals people by scanning them and shooting people in the face with hypodermic needles. As a gunslinger, I have some gadget that farts out a electromagnetic pulse that bounces enemies away from me. Not only have we never seen this sort of technology in any of the Star Wars movies, they also seem a little out of place in the universe as a whole.

The Jedi gets their own version of Force choke called "Force Stasis". I think I'll stick with Force choke.

The force users have a easier time since their abilities are more closely related to magic, but even for them there’s a lot of shoehorning -- what the hell is “dark healing” anyhow? Also, the Jedi consulars have an ability that is meant to mirror the Sith sorcerer’s force lightning which throws a torrents of pebbles at the enemy...ooo, scary!

Anyhow, the point is that TOR had to bend a few lines in order to make the Star Wars universe into an MMO, and I really can’t fault them too much for that. It’s Star Wars, but it’s not quite the Star Wars you know and love.

The Road to Fifty

"First one to make fun of my hat gets the business end of my blasters!"

The journey of Captain Lobo Vore began when a backstabbing douchebag stole my spaceship, which was loaded with a shipment of blasters due to be delivered to a particularly ill-tempered gangster called Rogan the Butcher. Thus began the endeavour to take back my ride while fighting off hitmen from both the dirty thief I’m pursuing and the less-than-pleased gangster. Of course, the story ultimately becomes intermingled with the fate of the galactic republic, and before I knew it, I was committing heists, having affairs with senators and taking down Imperial fleet admirals.

I wonder what my wookie is doing in my vision quest. Good thing blasters still work on vision-beasts.

Asides from the overarching class quest, each planet the player visits has its own main quest line, as well as a slew of side quests. The main quests vary in quality, but they tend to be more complex and creative. I especially enjoyed going through the vision rituals of the Voss natives and storming the Sith-occupied Parliament of Corellia, mowing down Sith lords left and right. Other quests, such as the diplomatic mission involving particularly cryptic protocol droids drove Ash and me bonkers.

The side quests are more or less standard MMO fare, i.e. doing chores for strangers that usually involves mild genocide. On the plus side, all the quests are fully voiced with multiple conversation options (and sometimes even alternate completion routes). The voiced dialogue gives context to why I’m killing 10 space boars for these people, which is a nice touch. Still. while this feature is a good thing, after going through 30 or so levels, my interest in the more obviously menial task descriptions started to falter, especially when playing in the wee morning or late at night.

Thankfully, there are more than enough quests to do in the game that one could simply skip the less interesting ones without worrying about having to resort to hours upon hours of mob-grinding.

Some of your companions have romance options. I ended up choosing the muscle-bound mercenary with teeth sticking out of her head. Deciding to choose her over the other decidedly more vanilla option wasn't easy, but Baldy's personality reminds me a lot of Saber Alter, and Saber Alter is the hotness.

Throughout your journey you will welcome 5 companions to your crew (plus a ship droid!). These companions can either fight alongside you or be sent off on missions to gather resources and craft items. As you complete quests with them and give them gifts, they will gain affection points (which improves their gathering/crafting proficiency) and unlock additional dialogue and quests that unveils more of their backstories. I don’t know how it is for other classes, but between a chivalrous adventurer, a noble slave, a streetwise informant, a vengeful mercenary, and a bumbling Jedi dropout, there is plenty of incentive for me to get to know my crew.

This is the bounty hunter alt that I'm probably never going to level. Ugh, I should've rolled a female character to begin with instead of...

The conversation system of TOR is very much similar to that of the Mass Effect series, albeit more linear. In any given scenario there's usually a nice guy response, a neutral response, and a dick response. The fact that my character has a voice made it easy to roleplay; asides from the obvious trash side quests, I like listening to my character talk, and I like trolling NPCs with my mean-spirited and sarcastic quips. But in the end, as hard as I try to be a total greedy dick, I still soften up and do the right thing (most of the time, anyways). Above all else, I think ease with which one can meaningfully interact with both the game world and other players is TOR's greatest strength.

...THIS. What was I SMOKING?

The choices you make affect the affection ratings of your companions based on their personalities, as well as you morality score during the occasional marked choices. Sometimes I feel like I'm power-gaming my decisions to raise my morality/affection scores, but the very fact that this bothers me shows how strong the characterization in this game is.

You have to wonder why these hover bikes don't have seats installed.

Overall, I had a lot of fun leveling up in SWTOR. The first 20 levels was a whirlwind tour with Ashlotte, and after that I mostly leveled solo (though I did have some help from Ash and Ohnoraptors for some group quests), which was also very satisfying. Sure, I was not plowing through everything like before, but the added challenge gave some juicy tension to the combat.

End game

After you reach level 50, the current end game of SWTOR boils down two two things: flashpoints/ops (dungeons/raids), and PVP. There’s a bunch of repeatable daily quests that yields commendation tokens which can be traded for some decent gear, but that’s not really worth mentioning.

Flashpoints

Cowering from afar while Ash takes the heat -- that's how I roll.

The dungeons in this game are 4-man encounters. Like the rest of the game, they are laced with dialogue and moral choices. The boss fights more often than not have a unique trick to them that you have to figure out to succeed as opposed to the standard tank & spank. Some of these conditions are pretty unforgiving to newcomers and don’t seem to be appropriate for these entry-level encounters, especially for pick-up groups. There was one boss in a renegade droid compound that virtually one-shots anyone standing outside of his melee range, and immediately dying to a unforeseen attack right off the bat without knowing the reason for is pretty frustrating. But as frustrating as some of these encounters may be, figuring out the tricks to these bosses and succeeding for the first time is a very gratifying experience.

It'd be cool if there were more bosses like this. Ganging up on fat people isn't very heroic.

One complaint I have about these flashpoint encounters is that more often than not, your party will be beating on some standard humanoid enemy, and half the time the enemy is a fat dude with a big gun. Now, this is mostly a limitations of the setting, but it really isn’t as exciting as, say, killing a dragon/ogre/anything that looks large/intimidating/exotic. I wish there were more fights like Imperial boarding party on Mandolarian Raiders -- that fight pitted the player’s party against an opposing 4-member NPC party. It was brutally difficult before the patch, but not even 6 wipes could discourage our party from overcoming the obstacle. The upcoming patch is introducing a flashpoint full of SPACE ZOMBIES, which sounds like it would yield adventure of the spicier variety.

A raid in a pit of lava? Gee, I sure have not seen this before!

Tanking lightning bolts. With my face.

Thankfully, the 8-16 member Operations seem to offer more exciting enemies. I was pretty impressed with Eternity Vault, and I’m particularly excited about the upcoming patch that’ll pit players against a Hutt in a giant robot walker.

PVP

The shining star in the end game for me right now is undoubtedly PVP. And by PVP I mean the warzones, as open-world hasn’t been properly implemented yet. There are 3 warzones in the game at the moment:

Civil War is your standard control point mode that’s in the same vein as WoW’s Arathi Basin. Voidstar reminds me of Call of Duty’d Demolition mode in which the attacking team must plant a bomb in one of two locations (Ash and Hamstercorp tell me that it’s a clone of WoW’s Strand of the Ancients).

Ashlotte loves balls.

The most interesting of the trio is undoubtedly Huttball, which is American football...with lightsabers and guns. And fire traps and acid pits. Yeah.

The good thing about being a ranged class is that I don't have to be apart of the clusterfuck I'm shooting into.

While overwhelming at first, I’ve come to love Huttball. This is largely thanks to Ash and Ohnoraptors, who make an unstoppable team as ball carrier and healer. I try to do my job to mow down pursuers on their tail, but oftentimes I lose track of of them simply because of their mercilessly efficient pace. Though we haven’t been PVPing together for too long, the name <Voidstar Velociraptors> is already becoming known on the server. Personally, I can’t wait for the eventual implementation of group ranked PVP, because it’s been a blast thus far.

Ninety-Nine Problems

Believe it or not, this is what top-end gear looks like for Jedi Guardian and Sentinels. Thank God for customizable gear.

As with many MMO titles, the post-launch period has been fraught with problems. In the case of TOR, the game has picked up a lot of negative attention. The short explanation would be that the game is simply not finished. The game is not optimized very well, and people are reporting poor frame rates in Warzones and capital fleets. As a direct consequence to this, Bioware has removed high-resolution textures from the launch version of the game and have been getting a lot of flak for it. Predictably, a lot of people are up in arms about this withdrawal of graphics fidelity -- some are even filing false advertising lawsuits. While I've never been a graphics whore, the difference between medium and high setting textures is quite significant, and I really hope this PR disaster gets resolved soon.

There's space combat in this game, which is pretty much a Star Fox clone complete with barrel rolls. It's not terribly deep, but it's a fun distraction.

What bothers me more are some of the other issues that directly impedes one's progress in the game. A number of the hard mode flashpoints are currently bugged, meaning that if you're unlucky, your group's evening would suddenly become a big waste of time when the final boss decides to spaz out. The Legacy system, a feature that encourages people to make more characters, will not be implemented for another 2-3 months. Similarly, updates to the currently barebones guild system will also have to wait. There is currently a myriad of small bugs and annoyances in the game: the UI sometimes breaks, companions randomly die on elevators, taunts not working, etc, etc. Mind you, Bioware has been releasing patches left and right to make people happy, but the fact is that the game feels obviously rushed to fit the holidays release window. Considering the amount of resources and manpower that went into this game, I think it's real pity that the game is slipping up during the vital early stages of the game, because people will unsubscribe when these small thing end up snowballing.

Conclusion

Don't mind me -- just looking awesome on my dope-ass 1.5 million cred ride.

So after everything's said and done, would I recommend SWTOR? The short answer is "yes", and the long answer is "yes, but take your time leveling your character", because it's going to take some time before Bioware fully fleshes out the end game experience (unless you love PVP).

Most of the flight path transports in this game are speeder bikes and taxis, but there are the occasional exceptions.

I don't think this game is going to be the "WoW-killer", but I do think it will end the virtual hegemony that WoW has enjoyed for so long. While the game mechanics may seem familiar, the overall essence of the game is very much original as it successfully transplants the feel of a single-player game into the MMO genre. Admittedly, the game is rough around the edges, but I am enjoying the game and look forward to future updates, as potential of this game is as vast as the galaxy it's set in.

The PVP rewards in this game come in the shape of randomized prize bags. I just so happen to have fiendish luck and assembled my full set at least twice as fast as Ash. BEHOLD, ALL DEM PURPZ

What's Good

• Immersive storytelling through fully-voiced dialogue and conversation options
• Varied and interesting companion characters
• PVP is a blast
• A game world that feels vast

What's bad

• Game is rushed. (post-launch bugs, glitches, texture nerf, etc.)
• Immersion-breaking issues (lighsaber lethality, out-of-place technology)
• Borderline bullshit flashpoint encounters

So, almost a month has past since the second anniversary post, and Hobby Hovel still hasn't resumed regular operations. By this time you're probably driving in the last nails into our coffin, but I beseech you, be not so hasty with thy mallet -- for here comes a filler post!

For those of you who don't know, the fifth Wonder Hobby photo contest invited figure collectors worldwide to submit their photos to have a shot at internet glory (as well as a bunch of nifty prizes). It garnered 1,598 entries, 322 of which belonging to foreign contestants. The winners of the contest were announced at the winter Wonder Festival 2011 over a live webcast. All the participants were given a commemorative Nendoroid display stand, and the top 200 contestants were given photo books featuring their work.  I was fortunate enough to place within the top 200, and I was really excited when I first heard the news. Sadly, I didn't win any other prizes asides from the photo book and the nendoroid stand, but I gotta say that having this tangible commemoration of my little achievement isn't shabby at all.

I've been meaning to share this thing since way back in April, but after having coerced my friend into de-binding and scanning it for me, I realized that not all scanners are created equal, as the quality from his humble desktop all-in-one left much to be desired. Fast forward six months, and I find myself surrounded by expensive printing and scanning equipment at work -- what better way to spend a lunch break?

...But first and foremost, allow me to show you the BEST page in the entire book. Beautiful, ain't it? I wonder how many people actually followed the URL I placed in the notes.

On the left side we have the winners for the grand prize, gold prize and silver prize. The prizes were a MacBook Air, PS3 + BRS OVA bundle and a Nerf machine gun, respectively...yeah, the silver prize winner kinda got the short end of the stick, which is a shame because I really liked that photo. On the right side we have two special category winners. The top photo is the winner of the Good Smile Company prize,  and the bottom the personal pick of Max Watanabe, the boss-man of Max Factory. That photo was shot by none other than Zai from Plastic Parfait, who received a big box of figures (and a scarf!) for her troubles!

Here's the pick of Masaki Apsy, as well as the picks from Type-Moon. Who from Type-Moon picked these photos? Beats me!

Of course, being the conductor to the GSC bloc's recent gravy train, Huke also served as a judge in the contest. However, unlike the Type-Moon judges, he did not exclusively choose photos which feature his characters -- and trust me, there is an overwhelming number of BRS figures in this competition. On the right side we have some people who won a figma Max Watanabe (thank you Luth for the correction!).

...And here's more people who won Max figmas! These are either runner-up picks or the winner of the internet vote. So yeah, if you know Japanese and can read some of these category names, I'd be super-grateful if you could drop me a few clues in the comments (many thanks to Luth for filling me in on many of these categories)! The page on the right shows off the gallery of these top 200 photos at WonFes 13, as well as the winner picked by the attendees.

I won't go over all the pages one by one, but here are a couple featuring the handiwork of two friends. On the left side you'll find Miette-chan's photo of the GSC 1/8 Misaka Mikoto, while Luth's photo of the animation version of Black Rock Shooter is on display on the right.

As you can probably tell by this point, there was a fuckload of nendoroid photos in the top 200, which shouldn't come as a surprise, as nendoroids are both popular and incredibly photogenic. While I personally prefer scaled figures, the creative possibilities with nendoroids and figmas are simply far greater. And besides, nendoroids are so cute that making funny photos with them is a breeze. Hmmm, maybe I should dust off that Nendoroid Saber Lion and do something with it after all...

Here are the scans of all the pages for your viewing pleasure. If you have better things to do than wait for these images to load one by one, you can download a compressed archive of these scans here. Feel free to spread the love and have this contest be known! ...Actually, that would mean there would be more competition next time, wouldn't it? Okay, scratch that -- enjoy these scans as privately as humanly possible. SPEAK NOT A WORD OF IT TO ANYONE.

Jokes aside, I'm not even sure if I'll have anything to submit for the next contest. I guess I'll go with one of the shots in the outdoor World is Mine Miku set, but I'm not terribly confident with those. I actually haven't bought anything new from the GSC bloc in the past year at all. I was supposed to get the Nendoroid Cirino, but then I ran out of money. There was also the figma Michael Jackson, but the five-month delay gave me plenty of time to reconsider. But hey, as long as there's a participation prize, I'm sure I can figure something out.

Hope to see you in the next contest! =)

Whew, another year has come and past, and a what a year it has been! So much has happened since last October that it's hard to wrap my head around. But hey, what better way make sense of it all than to make a tl;dr post of epic proportions? So without further ado, I give you a dense reflection on myself, Hobby Hovel, and everything in-between.

(Artist: はら)

State of the Chag

I hear a lot of people say that the college years are the best parts of one’s life. I, on the other hand, have had no such pleasure. There’s no point in giving out my life’s story of the past four years, but let’s just say it was less than pleasant. Now I’m out of school and working at a community college as a “reproduction equipment operators” -- a fancy way of saying I work the scanners and printers. It sure as hell isn’t a job that requires a degree, yet I’m strangely happy about my current situation -- perhaps too happy. Is it a job that I would want to stay in for the rest of my life? Naw, but it is stress-free, is relatively stable, and pays enough to support myself, so I’d say it’s not a bad gig for given the current economic circumstances. I find that I’m in a much better mood these days without the constant gloom of readings and assignments hovering above my head, so now I’m just going to focus on saving up the money to move out and probably take some courses to transition out of this printing gig when I’m ready.

For those of you who follow Tomopop, you might have noticed the smug mug of a certain hat-wearing guy with a name that’s awfully similar to Chag. Yep, that’s me posting as an associate editor. Writing for Tomopop has been a very different experience. It certainly isn’t as rewarding as working on my own blog, but it’s also an interesting experience in its own right. It’s nice to have an alternative soap-box and a different audience, even if the interactions feel less intimate than on my home turf.

As far as the hobby goes, this year has been pretty quiet, and that’s mainly because of the lack of any recent anime that made enough of an impression to have me for me to suit up and do battle with the horrible yen exchange rate. I enjoyed K-ON!, Bakemonogatari and Madoka, but for one reason or another they always came out just a little short. This is especially the case with Madoka. I may have defended GSC’s scaled figure before, but at the end of the day I still can’t bring myself to buy any of them because the art style still bothers me.

Another factor influencing the slowdown of my collection is my family situation. Once again it’s a story that I don’t want to elaborate on, but doing figure-related things in the house is very hard now. I would have gotten a couple of figures that I mildly want like Alter’s Black Hanekawa, but given the state of affairs, I figured that it just wasn’t worth the risk. This is also affecting my contribution Tomopop, because since I won’t be able to reliably take review photos, I can’t really bring myself to ask for any review samples, which is a big part of the incentive for the position. This means I don’t bring  myself to contribute as often as I would otherwise (not that I'm losing sleep over the prospect of not being able to work for other people).

This is not to say that I’m putting a stop to the figure hobby, though -- there are some things that I definitely can’t pass up. I’ve got that new Aigis from Alter on pre-order, and when the swimsuit Selvaria goes up, I’m going to be all over that as well. Sadly that those won’t arrive until next year, which does leave a gap between now and then. Oh well~

Photography

Over the past year, I’ve begun doing something that I never thought I’d do when I started the blog two years ago -- taking outdoor figures photos. Shooting outside is the double-edged sword for me. Every time I've ventured outside with my camera and figures I've come back with at some photos that I really like. Perhaps it's the novelty factor doing its work, but I can't help but to smile at the outdoors World is Mine Miku and Danbo shots. My favourite of the bunch is undoubtedly the Summer Saber shots, one of which was fortunate enough to not only nab POTD, but also POTW and POTM on MFC. To a novice photographer like me, the affirmation from all that felt like an amazing handjob on my ego. Awww yeah.

On the other hand, letting loose my power level on the unsuspecting general populace is still something that I'm not at all comfortable with, but given the right context, I can grit my teeth and tough it out, especially if a hiding spot is nearby or if there's a choice shot to be had in the end to justify my efforts. In conclusion: I still think Ashlotte is crazy for taking all those outdoor shots, but now he seems less crazy than previously imagined.

With that said, indoor shooting is still where I’m most comfortable. There’s no substituting the control that and indoor setup grants. As nice as that Saber shot turned out, nature is a fickle bastard. When I came back to the same spot a couple weeks later with Miette-chan and Exilehero, the stream has a shadow of its former self. Plus, given the variables such as weather, time of day and the presence of onlookers, the great outdoors is rather unpredictable, for better or for worse. Yet when I need to crank out a full set of photos for a review, I need that reliability.

But after 2 years of shooting in front of flat backdrops, the shtick is getting old. I’d very much like to play around with a different setup, perhaps with Plexiglas on the bottom and less constrained lighting. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, the problem with graduating out of my trusty collapsible light box is that I would need a dedicated space to put my new setup, and that isn’t happening as long as I live with my folks. The good news is that I already have plans on moving out. The bad news is that plan can’t be executed until next June -- an eternity away. Until then, I’ll be in a rather awkward spot when it comes to taking photos. This is not to say that there won’t be photos, but I’ll have to figure something out first.

Double H

The second year at Hobby Hovel also saw the beginning of Double H, a confused little project that I am ultimately very grateful for. My intention with the show was to add a personal dimension to an otherwise impersonal blogging atmosphere. I often find textual communication is limited, and ambiguities of meaning are commonplace. Yet with an exclusively online crowd like us, text is all we’ve got. That’s mostly the reason why I decided to venture into the realm of audio -- though it, you now have a better idea of what Ash and I are like.

Of course, soon after I started I realized that I’m not exactly spectacular at this whole talking into a microphone thing. This bothered me a lot, because I really didn’t want Double H to become something that our regular readers have to slog through. I tried to improve, and I think I was successful to a small degree. There’s still a lot of work to do in the future to cure my rusty tongue, but I’ll take it as they come.

One of the best thing to come out of Double H is being able to talk to Ash on Skype. This may not seem like much, but the addition of voice was like getting to know him all over again because of how differently people seem on the microphone as opposed to on the keyboard, and I find myself respecting him more now that I know the way he speaks. Also, the connection through Skype also eventually led to us playing League of Legends together, which then brought others like Hamstercorp and Ohnoraptors whom we had the pleasure of playing with and becoming more closely acquainted with. All this coming out of my silly little talk-show idea -- not too shabby at all, I'd say!

My current thoughts about Double H itself are mixed. I really enjoy the Q&A segments because they feel the most conversational. Conversely, talking about pre-orders and last season’s anime are a lot less so. There are plenty of moments where I have a lot of fun goofing off with Ash on the microphone, but the overall structure of it feels like a presentation. I wish we had an audience large enough for a live podcast of sorts where we could interact with the listeners directly, but that’s probably asking too much out of the small niche figure community and my ability to speak off the top of my head. Like the photography situation, Double H is also something I have to contemplate in the coming weeks.

The Current Status

So how’s the blog doing these days, you ask? Well, I’ve got some numbers for the stat whores (you know what you are!): the blog gets around 3000 unique visitors and 10,000 pageviews a month and there are around 75 people subscribed to the RSS feed, along with 50 on the YouTube channel. I actually haven’t checked the stats for quite a while, so I was surprised to see that the numbers haven’t fallen significantly over the slow past month.

You might have notice that the blog has been quiet recently. I’ve mentioned some of my reasons above, and without going into any details, Ashlotte is also tied up with thing in life that he’d rather not be doing. So to put it simply: both of us want to work on the blog, but for our own reasons, that order is proving to be difficult for the time being.

When Ashlotte told me that he had cancelled the bulk of the figures he had on pre-order and is planning to severely cutting down on the figure hobby due to money/space constraints, I wasn’t fazed at all. Rather, after two years of working on the blog and over a year working with Ash, figures have shifted from an end in of itself to a means to a different end. Over the past year I’ve had the pleasure to talk and play with many of you and even meet up with some of you, and in the coming year I’m planning to meet yet more of you. When I’ve had luck like this, would it matter if Ash won’t be putting out as many reviews in the future? Nah, stressing over that seems trivial at this point. What’s important is that though the blog I’ve made one dear friend amongst many -- a friend who lives over a thousand miles away, yet a dear friend nonetheless.

So what happens now? Well, as I mentioned above, there’s a lot of figuring out to do on my part, and Ash has his unpleasantness to deal with as well, so things may remain quiet for a while. I know that’s how a lot of blogs die out, but fear not -- just keep us on your RSS feed and you’ll know when we return to business.

Anyhow, thank you guys for another fun and rewarding year! As my interest shift from figures to the people behind the figures, your comments and tweets have become even more integral to the experience. There’s nothing quite like waking up in the morning to find a bunch of comment notifications in my email inbox, and I have you guys to thank for that. Here's to all the memories made in the past the all the memories to be made in the future!

Chag: I confess: I have a strange relationship to these rants. Oftentimes I would dread editing these, thinking they would be horrible and unredeemable, yet when I actually do get around to putting it together, the rant is always quite a bit better than I gave credit for. I still find myself asking "why would anyone want to listen to these?" now and, but as the YouTube subscriber count climbed to 50 in spite of the neglect, I guess there are all sorts of strange folk in the world!

Anyhow, here's the second Anime Wishlist instalment in audio format. As per usual, Ashlotte has to put up with my meagre watch list. Also, I think I might have dropped my cheap-ass microphone one too many times, because the audio quality on my end was less than stellar. I've bought a new microphone since then, but for this time, bear with it!

The first part has us talking about ancient grimoires, rollcake-dispensing robots, girls with too much money and time, and spunky superheroes.

The second part is about some blonde chick and a loli who loves  playing with balls.

Finally, there's Q&A, which is by far my favourite thing to edit through every time. We have quite the selection of question this week ranging from the serious to the absolute bonkers. I can see myself totally regretting putting this up few months down the road, but since I've never been one to follow sound reason, time to fire away! After this week, I hope that everyone will know that when we say "anything goes", we meant it. =D