wimbearn

Wolf Fang Fist!

2025-11-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Total time: 2 hours

Date started and completed: 11/5/2025

Colonel Violet

2025-11-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

Quick drawing I made last night of this underrated Dragon Ball character from the original series.

Date started and completed: 11/3/25

Hercules and Xena

2025-11-03T14:27:00.000-08:00

Date started and completed: 11/2/25

I finished these two shows (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess) and boy, they have been a long binge watch for me due to their episode length. They're really good and fun live-action shows... it's rare for me to get into live-action shows.

Ula vs. Tentais

2025-11-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

Based on chapter 13 of my indie comic, SaGia, this drawing features two of my characters: Ula and her rival, Tentais. I've been mostly drawing Jikiru and Haido, so I decided to take a break from those two and wanted to draw someone different. After looking at some Toriyama illustrations on Wednesday and getting inspired, I felt the drawing mood come back and started this drawing on Thursday 10/30.

For this drawing, I decided to take the digital watercolor approach. I had some Ken Sugimori brushes I found online in Procreate, so I used those. First, I sketched the idea in my sketchbook. I pictured a serious looking Ula coming up to her rival, while Tentais is big in a square next to her while being behind a dark background, smiling. She originally was going to show her teeth, but I changed it to an open mouth.

After finishing that in my sketchbook, I took a photo of my sketchbook drawing on my iPad and transferred that to Procreate. I lowered the opacity and traced and adjusted using a G-Pen. When I started Tentais, halfway, I changed the G-Pen to the Studio Pen brush (the left side of her helmet is drawn using a G-Pen; the rest uses a Studio Pen brush). After finishing my ink lines, I made a new layer at the bottom and started using the Sugimori brushes. I used a wash brush for the colors.

I thought this would take me two days to complete, but this actually took me one day to complete. I draw really fast. I'm proud with how this drawing came out. Will I do more like this with the Sugimori brushes? Absolutely! I love using watercolor. It has that old school feel and charm to it that I like. I'm considering making this a print in the future.

Date started and completed: 10/30/25

Working on SaGia Merch Designs.

2025-09-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

While I’m still on break away from the dreaded place known as social media, I’ve been working on several SaGia merch designs. I plan to get some of these designs printed next month since I’m almost low on money and that I regret all the spending I did on my birthday on other stuff. That’s why I have a goal set up on my Ko-fi on getting SaGia merch funded and I had shared it online. But, I just feel as if people like and move on, forgetting about the post, not even sharing it. I even tried to push out fanart to see if someone would commission me but that didn’t work out.

This image you’re seeing above is a teaser for one of the designs I had finished up yesterday. I have plans on putting this design on a tote bag and shirt.

I also had finished up two sticker designs: one featuring Jikiru and the other featuring Lain, Lass, Haido, and Rena. I’m starting out small with the merch. Once I have enough money (most likely after my third event in November), I will use it to get shirts, more stickers, and prints printed. I realized that shirts are expensive to get printed out, and I had talked with my dad about it and he suggested to put the shirts off to the side.

I already have several print designs made and another design for a shirt. I don’t know if I will be getting the prints printed for my next event happening in November, the Grit City Comic Show in Tacoma, WA.

Besides the designs, I drew special artwork of Lain and Jikiru that will be a cardboard cutout standee that I may bring for some events that people can take photos with. I’m thinking a 7-foot tall one.

I’m never giving up. I’m doing things the hard way by myself, with my parent’s assistance. At least one person on my Ko-fi has been donating to me monthly, which is a good thing. If you want to help me achieve this dream of getting SaGia merch out there (help me expand big), you can always support me on Ko-fi. A simple donation (one-time or monthly), commission, or just buying a copy of SaGia via my Ko-fi shop helps me a lot as a small artist.

Sweet 23!

2025-08-26T06:17:00.000-07:00

Happy birthday to me! Original drawing by me.

Happy 1 Year Anniversary to my comic, SaGia!

2025-08-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

Today is the 1 year anniversary of my indie comic, SaGia! For those who have read it, thank you for supporting it. SaGia forever! 💛

I also drew special artwork of Haido meeting her past self (her old design seen in Chapter 1).

Art Commission - Clément

2025-07-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

I want to thank Marie-Luce for the line art commission last week. She was so nice and really loved my drawing of her cat, Clément.

As a bonus, I made her a doodle of Jikiru from my comic, SaGia. Again, thank you for being a reader of SaGia and being an awesome supporter!

Want a commission? Go to: ko-fi.com/wimbearn/commissions

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/contact/

Make a Terrible Comic Day 2025

2025-06-24T13:13:00.000-07:00

Wait, Make a Terrible Comic Day exists???

WA State Summer Con 2025 - Photos

2025-06-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

First time at this convention and I had fun! Met a lot of voice actors.

I gave this drawing I did of Aisha Clan-Clan to Lenore Zann and she loved it!

Anyways, here are some photos from the con. I didn’t get too many photos of cosplayers and artist alley stuff cause I was so hyper fixated on meeting the voice actors. Enjoy.

wimbearn Voice Acting Demo Reel

2025-06-19T22:07:00.000-07:00

Looking for a tough girl or a voice actress for your next project? Hire me! I'm looking for voice acting work.

For business inquiries only, contact me via my WordPress blog and I will get to you as soon as possible.

Dragon Ball: Gekishin Squadra Android 18 Character Spotlight trailer but A18 is voiced by me!

2025-06-16T19:46:00.000-07:00

June 2025 Voice Audition Submissions!

2025-06-16T05:00:00.000-07:00

This month, I submitted 10 voice auditions. I'm starting to feel confident submitting an audition for a casting call.

But to be honest, getting rejected is hard. It's like... is my voice not good enough?

I submitted 10 so that I can have some speaking lines. My first real voice over role (outside of Haido from my own comic SaGia in some projects I've done with her) is just... 13 seconds of laughing for some animated project. It might be overlapped with everyone else's laughing, sadly.

And recently, I submitted my demo reel on Instagram for a casting call for someone's indie animated project last week. They ghosted me for 2 days and the reply I get back yesterday? "Sorry, all roles have been filled". Are you kidding me? 😔

Well, enjoy, I guess. I'm gonna do a voice over for fun later today. I need a break from auditions.

Launch (Dragon Ball Legends) - Alt. Battle Color

2025-06-05T00:25:00.000-07:00

Made a render of Launch's alt. battle color since changing the battle color on the character status screen doesn't change the illustration; you can only see it when you enter battle.

Plus, images of her two win screens:

And a bonus image I found not related to Dragon Ball Legends; a Settei! :)

Chibi Chibi Con 2025 Poster Contest Entry

2025-05-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

This was my entry to their poster contest and sadly… I didn’t win. I knew that the odds of me winning were low. Maybe it’s my art style that they didn’t like… I don’t know. I aimed for a manga look with some digital watercolor for their mascot. When I was at the con on Saturday, I didn’t want to look at the posters posted around the campus because it made me have negative thoughts about losing this contest. I’m entering in a better art contest next time. Will I enter again? No. And only two of my questions were answered because I really needed help since I was confused in some areas; I emailed about 5 or 4 questions. But hey, on the positive side, it gave me good practice!

Chibi Chibi Con 2025 - Photos

2025-05-10T23:51:00.000-07:00

Met the original voice of Lucy from the Peanuts and so many amazing cosplayers!

Gave Melanie this drawing of Lucy :)

Photos are in backwards order since I’m posting through my phone. Too lazy to rearrange them :p

Haido commission by Eva Bonita (evabonita_art)

Mental Health Comic (The Rough Times of Mental Health)

2025-05-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is very fitting for me to finally share this comic since May is Mental Health Awareness Month. I made this comic back in 2022 for one of my English classes at my college. I believe the assignment was to make a proposal.

This comic was originally going to be in my college's literary magazine, Una Voce. I believe I submitted in 2023 and got accepted and picked up a certificate at the college and met this really nice lady who was behind the magazine. However, years has passed and I never heard any updates or seen anything recent on the college's website. I assume that the magazine had been quietly cancelled. And then, I heard even worse news on 4/22 after research and seeing a Facebook post from my college. The lady who was behind the event had passed away in January of cancer. It was very heartbreaking to hear the tragic news this late and it had me in tears (didn't help that I was feeling depressed for days).

It's finally time for me to share this comic to all since it's been sitting in my iPad for years. I myself am currently in a dark place and facing this battle with mental health. Yes, I am seeing a counselor and it's been helping a little bit. I've been taking a lot of breaks away from social media because every time I scroll, the depression hits me.

Since this comic was made in 2022, there is some outdated information, especially with Joe Biden no longer being president, Twitter now being X, and the pandemic being over with.

Enjoy. 💙

Samurai Pizza Cats Fanart!

2025-03-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

This morning, I found out about the Samurai Pizza Cats' return. Kinda... sorta. They will be having a video game coming out next year and I might play when it comes out. They said it's going to be on Steam, but I hope for a Switch port. I'm very late though since this was announced two weeks ago (February 20th).

I'm so excited since I really enjoyed the series last year.

Being Prepared! (plus other ramblings)

2025-03-07T19:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've last posted on this blog.

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Hello, cool cats (if you don't mind me calling you that)!

Man, I am so excited for next Saturday because for the first time ever, I will be selling & signing copies of SaGia Volume 1... in-person! I've already posted on my socials and on the official SaGia website and blog about it, but I will be sharing the above poster here if anyone lives in Washington state and is interested. After the event, I might make a post of how it went. I'm nervous as heck... drawing a SaGia character and signing on the inside front cover in front of people... I already tested out my sharpies and they are still holding up well.

And also, I've made 62 doodles on pieces of paper from 3/1-3/6 that has my Linktree and Ko-fi on the back that I will be giving away to people (I don't have a business card yet, so I'm going low-budget 😂). Making these doodles using ink was fun. I've done a couple of Dragon Ball and other anime ones of course, but I decided to do some realistic characters (like Star Trek) and some cartoons of my childhood. If people happen to like these, I might do this in the future when people place orders for a physical copy of SaGia Volume 1 and beyond.

Oh, by the way, I was previously rejected by Olympic Cards & Comics last year when I wanted to get my books in the place. After feeling that rejection, I was sad and took a pause working on Chapter 9. The invite to the Spring Art Market was unexpected! It made me happy seeing that invite because I finally get a chance to sell my books in-person.

Saturday 3/8, I will be bringing over six copies of SaGia Volume 1 to Mighty Moose Comics in Bellevue since the owner gave me good news over the phone last Friday saying they were all sold out and I'm going to be paid. I literally said in a Ko-fi post on the 26th that I was worried that they weren't selling well since the owner hadn't called me. I guess God really has my back. I also said in that post I'm never giving up. And I'm still not giving up! Like my mom says, "think of the positive".

Finally, SaGia Volume 2 is almost finished! Currently working on chapter 12 and my estimated date that I'll finish on is 3/17-3/25. Chapter 12 is the longest chapter of SaGia to date since it's 30 something pages. If I happen to finish that chapter, I will immediately start on the last chapter. I also finished a Volume 2 teaser trailer yesterday and I have plans on posting that later this month.

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As for other ramblings...

I'm late to the party, but I saw the teaser trailer for Shrek 5 on a Wednesday night. I didn't even know it was out because I'm on break from social media for of my mental health, but, I saw a screenshot, and thought it was fanart. Nope. It's a real thing.

I was surprised to see the updated looks of Shrek, Donkey, Fiona, and the others. And also, we got Shrek's daughter voiced by Zendaya! Pinocchio however, looks... off. I overreacted seeing that trailer comparing the looks of the characters to the art style of Illumination movies (which is funny, because Universal co-owns Illumination and owns DreamWorks). And I'm not the only one... other people were complaining about the updated art style from what I read. Even Universal Studios Donkey made fun of it saying "Donkey looks homeless".

But, it makes sense to change the look of the characters because we haven't had another Shrek movie in years. I guess people wanted a Shrek 5 because of the memes going around. From what I've also read, the studio that worked on Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (that movie is really good and I love the animation in that!) is working on this movie. Hopefully, I'm correct. I'm excited to see this movie next year. I hate how everyone online is still negative talking about the art style, but, I'm not complaining anymore like I did on Wednesday. For people out there who are binging the previous Shrek movies, it's gonna be jarring binging the four movies and going up to Shrek 5 because of the updated look of the characters. Just saying.

Enough Shrek talk... I want to talk a little bit of Dragon Ball Daima since it ended on the 28th. A little bit of spoilers, though. It was okay in the first half, but it gets better in the second half. As soon as Goku transforms during the final fight, I said, "yeah, this is GT 2.0" and even the producer confirmed it was a GT reboot. Before Daima even came out, I had plans of watching Dragon Ball GT but I still haven't yet. I need a break from watching old anime because of my comic. The beginning half of Daima did give me some OG Dragon Ball vibes, with Goku's power pole returning, but I think they dropped that power pole later on and replaced it with the Saiyan transformations. I wish it had more original Dragon Ball vibes and references. I understand, the first Dragon Ball series isn't as popular like Z and this story is based more on the Buu arc.

If they did something like a "Dragon Ball Kai" (a Dragon Ball fan actually did that!) by taking episodes of OG Dragon Ball and removing the filler and making it more faithful to the manga, that would be amazing. Or, remake original Dragon Ball for the manga's anniversary. Or at least, reunite the original cast together, like bring back Launch! Speaking of Launch, missed opportunity to add her in Sparking! Zero when she's a playable fighter in Dragon Ball Legends and Dokkan Battle, but sadly, both are mobile games. Dragon Ball: The Breakers and Ultimate Butoden doesn't really count since for the former, it's not a fighter, but she's playable in that game and for the latter, it's an unlockable outfit for Android 18 if you S rank a "What-If?" mission (which I did after so many tries), but it is the closest thing to having Launch playable in a fighting game, minus her guns.

Overall, I still recommend Daima, if you're a Dragon Ball fan like I am. It's sad that we lost Toriyama last year and I wonder what the future of the franchise will be like without him. Will it drop in quality? If we ever get a "Dragon Ball Super 2 anime", will it lose that charm? At least the manga is going on, however, I don't read it. Thank you Toriyama-sensei for this amazing franchise.

Boy, I have more things to say, hah hah. This post was supposed to be short but I just have a lot more! On Pokémon Day, I didn't really watch the Pokémon Direct. I'm tired of waking up in the morning, watch a direct or new trailer, and then feel disappointed with the new stuff. I used to wake up early in the morning and catch a Nintendo Direct just to see the next Smash Bros. fighter and I did it with the Sparking! Zero fighter reveals to see if Launch made it in, but not anymore. I did look at what was new on the Pokémon website and of course, it's about the new Legends A-Z game. I didn't see the trailer for it, but judging by the screenshots on the website that I've seen, it looks impressive! But as they say, "never judge a book by it's cover". In other words, "never judge a screenshot or trailer by it's cover".

When Scarlet & Violet were first revealed, I was impressed by the updated models of the Pokémon. However, when the game released, it suffered from glitches and bugs. Every time a Pokémon game comes out, I always see people complain about it. Playing through my copy of Scarlet, I started to lose a bit of interest in future mainline Pokémon games because of the issues present in that game such as lag. I still go on the game only to do the events, however, I haven't finished DLC part 2 since it came out. I think the double battles turned me away since I'm not a fan of double battles and the double battles reminded me of competitive Pokémon, which I'm not into.

For the Pokémon Direct that happened last week, I was hoping they would do a "classic collection" where they re-release Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, etc. but nope. What I read and seen was actually called a leak and it came from some website that's known for their clickbait. This is a reason I don't read gaming journalism or sites like ComicBook or Game Rant anymore. I miss the good days of reading from a Game Informer magazine from GameStop. Or if you're older than I am, Nintendo Power.

Well, I don't want this post dragging on for so long, so I'm gonna end it here. Thanks for reading! ;)

(at least there are mods to add Launch in Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Credit: Matheus Nerd)

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Follow me on my socials: https://linktr.ee/wimbearn

Donate & Commission me: https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn

20 Years of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi! (Watercolor Drawing)

2024-11-19T00:00:00.008-08:00

Happy 20th Anniversary to this awesome Cartoon Network show that I barely remembered as a kid! I started on this watercolor drawing on 11/6 and finished on 11/7! I watched all of the series at the beginning of November from 11/3-11/6 and enjoyed all 3 seasons. Wish there was a fourth, but the series was cancelled in 2006.

Donate or commission me at: ko-fi.com/wimbearn

I got interviewed for the first time!

2024-11-08T10:00:00.005-08:00

I was interviewed about my comic, SaGia! Go check it out and thank you, Comix Well Spring!

At 1:07, I said Draken. I meant Drakenoids! I easily get the 2 mixed up. If you want a better synopsis, it’s on the official SaGia website. ;)

My brain was all over the place during this interview! I was nervous, but luckily, the interview was short!

These plushies rock! | Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi Rock Out Plushies Review

2024-10-22T12:28:00.001-07:00

I barely have any childhood memories of Puffy AmiYumi, but the only thing I remember was the CN logo after the end credits (it will show up in Japanese then switch to the regular CN logo). I was in high school, and I was watching old Cartoon Network promos. And PAY was in the collection of promos. I was like, “do I remember this show?”. So, I watched the first episode. And immediately loved it. I searched for any merch out there and discovered the Rock Out Ami plush.

I haven’t watched the rest of PAY, but I plan to start over and get a refresher on previous episodes I’ve seen since I haven’t watched it for years after high school. I’ll start watching it after I finish up Code Lyoko. If you don’t know this show, I’ll give you a brief summary: this cartoon series is based on a real Japanese duo called PUFFY. They sang the theme song to Teen Titans & TT GO. I guess the only thing I remember is that they go on crazy adventures with their band manager, Kaz on a tour bus. Despite only lasting 39 episodes, this series had merch, video games, the girls had walk-around mascot costumes (look it up! ^_^), and even appeared in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. HHPAY is a bit obscure, but there are people out there who remember the show. Yumi has appeared as a cameo in OK K.O. and I’m not sure if this will happen, but the duo (with their original voice roles returning) is supposed to appear in an upcoming Jellystone (haven’t seen the show much) special with all the CN characters of the past, if that’s true coming from someone on Twitter.

Anyways, I still remembered the Rock Out Ami plush years later… so I searched on eBay last week… and there she was along with Yumi.

Wow. These 2 might be the best plushies I own. I sadly had to do an impulse buy before they were gone due to my anxiety! These are hard to find, and someone online said that these were never released in the US, but rather in the UK; the person brought these plushies at a con and they attracted some people.

Both Ami & Yumi play the HHPAY theme song, but they have differences: the second song that they play is different (Ami plays "Friends Forever" and Yumi plays "Planet Tokyo") and each of them have different phrases. I’m not sure if the songs (except the theme) appear in the show (UPDATE: After watching all of the episodes from 11/3-11/6, I can confirm that both Planet Tokyo and Friends Forever do appear in the show).

The quality of the plushies is really good! Well, about the material for the hair, the eBay seller that I got these plushies from said that the hair from Ami was breaking/coming loose due to age (these came out in 2005). Not a fan of that material, but I get why they used it as Ami & Yumi have shine in their hair, and I guess they’re trying to replicate it with that material.

The plushies even have their original VAs. Hopefully, they’re not imitators (gosh, I’m thinking about the Twilight Sparkle toys that don’t even sound like Strong).

When you push the left hand up, it’s in concert/rock out mode. Sometimes, Ami/Yumi will screw up. That’s why you need to go to practice mode by pushing the hand down. After 4 tries or more, go back to concert mode and rock out!!!

(plushies in try-me mode!)

While Yumi works fine, Ami… has a bit of trouble (noticeable in try-me mode). While she moves her arm on the guitar backwards and bobs her head up and down fine, the part where she’s supposed to move her hand and bobs her head intensely like Yumi won’t move. It could be due to age of the motor or an electronic part getting fried (not a battery issue as I replaced the old batteries)… but it doesn’t bother me much. I don’t want to take her apart and repair her, as I don’t want to mess her up.

Yumi’s phrases had me laughing a bit: she’ll say baby in her sentences (she only says it in 2 phrases), when left idle, she’ll be like, “5, 6, 7, 8… (I forgot the rest!)”, when she screws up, she makes a comment about stepping on a cat, and my favorite, “…ENCORE! ENCORE!”. She has a lotta energy and I love it.

I want to show off the packaging because it’s awesome! If you get both Ami & Yumi, it’s supposed to make a picture when the boxes are put together (except the back). They do look cool in the box, but I’m not keeping it.

(an error: Yumi doesn’t say anything about a big show, only Ami does. Also, notice that they have decals on their guitars; probably a prototype or it was supposed to come with stickers originally?).

If you like HHPAY, good luck finding these because the duo will cost you a lot due to their rarity. Just note that their motors may/may not work! Hopefully I can try to fix Ami (she 98% works), but, I’ll still play with her.

Also, be careful with using these on a desk because when I played with Yumi and she was moving, she almost fell on the corner of my desk. I had to hold her by her boots.

And as a bonus, I got their cool cats! The markers surprisingly still work, but I’m not using it. The info for these cats said they’re supposed to have lenticular eyes, but they don’t.

Anyways, I’m gonna rock outta here. See ya! 🎸🩷💙

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Instructions (for archival):

Rock Out Ami/Yumi:

Doodle Cats:

My thoughts on AI as a whole: I don’t like it.

2024-09-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

October is almost here, I recently purchased an ISBN for Volume 1 of SaGia, and while I finish up Volume 2 of SaGia (now working on Chapter 9 as I was finished with 8 yesterday), I want to make a short post about AI and my thoughts about it as an artist, voice actress, and author.

I previously talked about this in an old post of mine, but, I’ve been mostly quiet about it after that post until now. Why? Because I’m afraid of talking about AI due to it being controversial. I was inspired by a post I read on Saturday.

I feel like some social media places have been ruined due to AI. I’d say that Instagram or any other Meta platform is the worst offender because I remember hearing something about Meta using your data to train AI a while back and some artists that I follow have left Instagram or no longer post and moved to a place called Cara. I’ve joined Cara as well because of some of my art friends being on there, but to be honest, it has issues and bugs sometimes and I regret going on the hype train. And I rarely post there; I post my original art (mostly SaGia). Also, Google. Dear gosh, I don’t want to call it Google anymore; more like AIoogle because every time you search for something now, you always get an AI result at the top of the page, with no way to turn it off as of the time of this writing. Maybe Bing has a similar thing too, I don’t know. A way to avoid it is to use a filter in Chrome to only show Web results or just use a different search engine without the AI.

AI art and AI voices… I just don’t care about them at all. Do you want a soulless robot replacing a real, human being that put in a lot of effort into their hard work? No. I’ve seen people quitting their jobs because of AI.

If the AI helps correct grammar (like Grammarly), I’m fine. But an AI to automatically write your story or essay for you? Heck no. Just to be clear, I DO NOT use AI for drawing, writing, or creating the characters of my original comic SaGia. I’ve been working hard on it since 2021.

AI art (or videos) scares me. It roars like a lion at me. I’m not giving up, though. I’m pushing hard as I can with art and commissions. So far, I haven’t gotten any recent art commissions. It’s a struggle. AI is getting scarier and more powerful like a Dragon Ball Z villain.

My final thought: If you’re an artist, grab a pencil and paper or a digital tablet and draw. If you’re a voice actor, grab that mic and talk! If you’re a writer, keep on writing! Don’t let this soulless robot replace you.

Anyways, that’s all of my thoughts on AI. I’m against it (except for if it’s used in a positive way like correcting grammar). I’m fighting this battle, this war of robots.

Take care. Maybe check out the post I linked above.

Today was a good day.

2024-09-18T16:10:00.000-07:00

I just posted on my Instagram about it, but I got my diploma in my email. I’m just waiting on it to get mailed to my address!

And finally, hours after that email, I saw that my artworks were displayed at an art gallery (circled in image) as part of a Black Contemporaries project: the Tacoma Urban League! It’s my first time getting accepted at one. I thought I would be rejected, but nope! I will link the website below because I am on there.

https://www.energizetacoma.org/blackcontemporaries

Have a nice day! :)

TOMY does it again! | Pet and Talk Terapagos Review

2024-09-16T14:41:00.000-07:00

When I checked TOMY Japan's website to see if there was another talking Pokémon plush similar to the Sprigatito and Fuecoco plushies released last year (which I own), I saw a talking Terapagos based on the anime (which I've never seen when it the series came out but I've seen an image of Liko holding her Terapagos)! I was hoping that they would release Quaxly, but sadly, they never did.

Based on the translated description of the website, it acts similar to the two plushies. Basically, if you talk, it will respond, has a special voice command and it has a special feature on the plush (Sprigatito's feature was "petting" it's head (I tried saying it's Japanese name because some sites claim that if you say its name, it will react in a special way but it doesn't) and Fuecoco's was rubbing it's stomach and it had two commands: Hogeta (JP name for Fuecoco) and Hinoko (Ember in Japanese)).

I bought it from an eBay seller as a pre-order instead of Meccha Japan (since I dealt with their slow shipping when I bought Sprigatito) and when it was the 14th in Japan, the seller shipped it out fast! And I managed to get it in the mail through FedEx on 9/16 (who never rang the doorbell... shaking my head).

Terapagos takes 3 AAA batteries. This plush is very cute and I love the materials used but I have some cons that I will get to later.

I turned it on, and my gosh, its voice is adorable! The glow on the back is nice. I'll share a photo of the glow in a dark room.

You talk to Terapagos and it replies. TOMY's site said the more you talk to it, the more it will respond. You can pet the back of it and it will react! Also, if you say its name, it will react to it! I think when I used its Japanese name, it reacted in a special way vs. when I used its English name through Google Translate.

Now, I will get to the cons.

I'm not a fan of the battery pack. I thought there was no on/off switch, but when I looked at the side of the box, it showed where the switch was. I thought it would be like the Sprigatito and Fuecoco plushies where they had a hard battery pack (to hide the mechanisms). Here, it's just a loose voicebox with the area where the lights are (to show it glowing). If the lights were hidden inside the plush while the battery pack was connected through wires (like the Electronic Pikachu plush from the 90s), that would be great.

My second con is the petting feature. I had trouble trying to get it to react to me petting it on the back. Maybe it could be the sensor of the voice box or the material of the back, I'm not sure. I wish it was a button instead like with Sprigatito's "petting on the head" feature. When I did take its voicebox out and petted it on the sensor twice, it did sing but then I did it again for a video on this blog and it wouldn’t do it.

Update: turns out, you’re supposed to stroke it. Still, I had a hard time triggering it to sing.

Third, similar to Fuecoco, when it shuts off/goes to sleep, you have to turn it off and on again. When the Sprigatito plush goes to sleep, you could easily wake it up by pressing its head. I wish you could wake it up by pressing its back. Also, it seems to shut off after it begs for you twice. After the second try, it falls asleep.

Finally, I thought it would be big, but it appears to be it's actual size in the anime/games. I don't think it deserves to be in a big box. Never judge a box by it's cover or size.

I'm not being too harsh on this plush because Terapagos is adorable and it's still worth it if you're a fan of the Pokémon. When its normal form was revealed before the DLC, I wasn't a fan of its design. But I've gotten used to it and liked it after looking at it again. I haven't encountered it in game because of how far behind I am in part 2 of the DLC. I guess this might be the most disappointing TOMY Pokémon plush released based on the recent anime to me? I wish it had some electronics in there like blinking or moving besides the glowing, but nah... just a voice box with a light on top.

Here's my rating on this plush: 4.5/5 - despite my cons, it's adorable. Again, the voice is super cute and I bet that there are Terapagos fans out there who would love this plush.

In order of TOMY Pokémon (2022) plushies from best to eh...:

1. Sprigatito

2. Fuecoco

3. Terapagos

I plan to re-review the plushies I already reviewed on my channel (Sprigatito and Fuecoco coming soon) and future plushies here (if TOMY manages to release another plush similar to the 3, I will review it here).

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed, consider donating to my Ko-fi page. It helps a lot.

Terapagos plush website (TOMY JP) (Archive) | Not even joking, on TOMY's Japanese store, it's almost gone!

Dr. Slump Tamagotchi Instructions!

2024-09-10T10:29:00.000-07:00

Last updated: 11/4/2025

Dr. Slump Arale-Chan Tamagotchi Instructions

Unofficial instructions by wimbearn

Packaging images aren't mine. [Source]

SaGia Volume 2 Cover Art Reveal!

2024-09-06T13:42:00.000-07:00

The official cover art for the upcoming volume of SaGia is coming soon!

7 chapters, new adventures, new Sagians! Also, the book size will be different from volume 1. People who bought a copy of volume 1 have told me that they are looking forward to reading volume 2.

You can see the status on the official website (scroll to the bottom).

Buy a physical or digital copy of volume 1 here: https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn/shop

Note: If you live outside of the US and is interested in a physical copy, please message me first for shipping price before buying.

Dr. Slump Tamagotchi - Yes, it exists!

2024-09-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

There are already "instructions" on how to use this thing. I will copy and paste here for archival.

This is not the official instructions for Dr. Slump, It's just what we've been able to figure out. They are pretty accurate though. These are the half-decent instructions for Dr. Slump:

Pull tab or hit reset first.
First, you get a screen with a flashing month and day. Put in YOUR birth date.
Then you get a screen asking for blood type (you can leave it as ? if you don't know). Then you pick gender. I don't know which option is boy or girl. :0\

Next, you get a screen to set what year it is. After that, you set the
actual date. Set the time, and push the last button to see the little
angel fluttering onscreen.

This is when all the fun starts to happen! The first icon looks like an
egg that's just hatching. You press the first button and enter it by
pressing the second (middle) button. You get that flashing month and
date and then you enter somebody's birthdate, blood type and gender, and
press the middle button. You see the little angel and three JP
characters go down the left side of the screen. After they do that, you
press the little antennas (hold one of those buttons down for a full second. Then the screen goes negative.

Then this little dancing rice cooker / space ship appears and out of it springs one of the little characters. He dances around for a little, and then you press the first button and choose the top option if you want him to hang around for a while. You can tell him to go or replace him with another one by choosing the bottom option. It also shows you a compatibility rating (as a percent).

The next icon looks like a smiley face who's surprised. This has the
love-power-total ratings meters. You have to press the antennas after
the three JP characters go down the left side of the screen. I can't
seem to keep the angel happy with these, though it doesn't seem to
matter as far as the life of the game goes. (It looks like there's a
small lightning storm on the left side of the screen when any of the
characters or the angel aren't happy.)

Then the next icon shows the meters for the character you got. Looks
like a baby bottle with an "A" on it. Happy hearts, smiley
faces and showing the compatibility rating. You can seem to improve the compatibility rating by playing a lot with the character! Kind of like
real life, huh?

The icon that looks like sparkly stars is the one where you give the
character happy hearts. You press the middle button and three JP
characters go down the left side of the screen while the character is
doing his thing. Press the antennas and after the screen goes negative,
he gets the sparkly showers down the left side of the screen and gets
all happy. Sometimes the angel character gets the sparkly showers, but I'm not sure why? Doesn't seem to affect the game.

The next icon is the heart game. You press the middle button and your
character moves offscreen and this little talk balloon with three hearts
shows up. They're either all dark, all light, or some combination of
dark and light. You use the first two buttons to try to replicate the
hearts in the balloon. I've found that if you play long enough, you can
make the smiley face meter fill up even though I'm really, REALLY bad at this game. I like that the game is unique, but it's hard to win.

The one after than is the bullhorn icon. Every so often, you see a head
shot of your character. Then you have to press the button to get the
two options that will make him restore to his usual look. I keep
pressing both randomly until this happens, because I don't know what
they are! When he's happy, he turns back into the whole character and
does the happy dance with a smiley face in the upper left corner of the
screen.

The next icon is the sucker icon. He asks for this by dancing around
and having this upside-down question-mark looking thing in the left side
of the screen. Press the button and he eats the sucker and is very
happy!

The last icon is the attention icon. It lights up when he needs to be
taken out of that head-shot condition and when he asks for a sucker. If
he needs to be played with, he'll ask for a sucker a LOT.

My friend Lynn figured out Dr. Slump.
Thanks Lynn!

I don't know the story behind the pet. So I don't know why you are getting the characters or what the deal really is with this pet. Understanding more than the functions would make this guy much more enjoyable.

[Source]

So you want to make a original indie comic/manga, huh? (advice)

2024-09-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

This one has been sitting in my drafts since July and it's time for me to finally post this.

When I got a comment on my SaGia promo post on Threads about starting a comic for the first time, I gave them some small advice (I was typing at night and I was tired). Then I decided to expand on it through one of my long Threads. Even though not enough people saw it, I think it might've been helpful for those who want to start drawing comics. But, after thinking about that Thread for days, I've decided to expand on that topic and also the mistakes and frustrations I went through making SaGia.

It's been a while since I've made one of these "tips" posts.

Before I begin, let me introduce myself. Hi, my name is Arnezia W., author and illustrator of my own original manga series, SaGia. Yes, that's me in the photo.

Happy 22nd birthday, me!

2024-08-26T00:00:00.000-07:00

Original drawing by me. I have nothing to say much.

SaGia Volume 1 - OUT NOW!

2024-08-05T00:00:00.000-07:00

My very first original comic/manga, SaGia, is finally out now to buy to the public!

I am offering digital and physical copies of volume 1.

$15 - If you buy the digital version, you will get a PDF file. I recommend reading as one page instead of a two page spread and zooming in.

If you buy the physical version, you can choose up to 3 options:

$20 -No signature

$25 + shipping -Signature with SaGia character

$25 + shipping -Signature only

You can see more info on buying an autographed physical copy through my Ko‑fi shop. NOTE: I may close autograph signing at any time. In the future, I may live stream autograph signings if possible. If you live internationally, please contact me first before buying a physical copy. Prices may change at any time.

Those who were on my Google Docs list early got to buy a copy first; since I started out with 75 copies, copies may be short. There will be 25 unique copies (white border/black border) that will be event only. Once they're gone, they're gone for good.

If there are any issues with the shipping of your physical copy, the copy itself (pages out of order, messed up pages, duplicate pages, etc.), or any issues with the file of your digital copy, let me know through message. If payment through Ko-fi isn't working, I also accept Apple Pay, PayPal, Venmo, or Zelle.

Thank you for the support and helping me achieve my dream. Volume 2 is currently in the works!

💙💚🩵

-wimbearn

Taking care of business.

2024-07-30T12:29:00.000-07:00

SaGia isn't out yet to the public, but only for the people on my list. But man, I was not expecting SaGia to sell enough copies last week! I did a lot of book signing and shipping. How did I do with sales? Pretty awesome! I made a lot of money.

My books arrived last Tuesday and I was so excited. Most of the sales were from my mom’s friends and my family. Everyone wanted a signed copy from me. Some ordered more than 1 book. For real, I was not expecting this. I had to take breaks from signing a lot of books!

Link to Instagram post

Saturday, I went to the post office to ship out some books in flat rate envelopes for the first time. I was nervous, but it was simple and easy. And yesterday, I shipped out 4 medium flat rate boxes.

Once I take care of everyone on my “pre-order” list (maybe not everyone if they don’t pay after a couple of days), I will make an announcement on my other socials and a post on this blog on SaGia being available to buy (digital and physical). Just note that autograph signings may close at any time!

Also, the original 25 copies that I previously liked but don't (which have a white/black border) are almost gone. They will be exclusive to in-person events in my area and won't be sold online. Once they're gone, they are gone for good.

Starting August 1st (my birthday month!), the official SaGia website and blog will launch.

SaGia release date: July 23rd, 2024 (for the people on my "pre-order" list)

Estimated SaGia release date to the public: August 2024

Please read my recent Ko-fi post, because I have a lot to say.

Art Commission - Felix [OC]

2024-07-20T13:46:00.000-07:00

Sketch commission for Yawatta. My first sketch commission!

Art Commission - SpongeBob & Sandy

2024-07-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Full color commission for Tony.

SaGia is almost here!

2024-07-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

I am super excited to announce that SaGia might release next week, as my physical copies from Comix WellSpring were finished printing Wednesday and are currently being shipped out!

If you are interested in a copy early before anyone else, the last day to ask me is 7/22. You will be on a Google Docs list and I'll make sure to remind you that you can buy.

Thanks for supporting me through my tough times and journey!

Haido ink drawing by me. Finished 4/9/24.

Jikiru and Lain. Ink Drawing by me. Finished 4/10/24.

W.I.T.C.H. McDonald's Books!

2024-07-08T20:18:00.000-07:00

I own all 6 of the W.I.T.C.H. McDonald's toys, so why not archive all of their books here? I'm sorry if these scans aren't good, but oh well. I don't know if anyone else archived these books already. I'm pretty sure they ripped the artwork from the actual comics, not sure.

Click on the image for a better full screen view!

W is for Will

I is for Irma

T is for Taranee

C is for Cornelia

H is for Hay Lin

Elyon

Help me keep SaGia running! Ko-fi | Artistree

Replaced

2024-07-01T19:37:00.000-07:00

I made this drawing to show my recent frustrations with social media as a small artist. I put love in my artworks… but… not enough people really see. I always get nothing but bot messages in my DMs. That’s why I’m rarely on social media. No one wants to commission me. Finding a job IRL is gonna be hard.

Dragon Ball Launch Collection!

2024-06-28T00:46:00.000-07:00

Last updated: 9/26/2025

Launch (ahh...choo!) Collection!

Did you know that I'm a huge fan of the Dragon Ball character, Launch? Yeah, I'm not even joking. Out of all of the DBZ characters, Launch is my favorite. I've been a fan of her since high school; my first introduction to the character was in the OG Dragon Ball manga that I checked out at my library. Since then, I did some research after reading her debut chapter and fell in love with her after watching clips of her on YouTube. I used to draw fanart of her a lot back in 2020/2021, but slowed down with doing that.

Then, I started collecting merch of her. No, I'm not gonna collect everything Launch related. I just collect what interests me, even fan made stuff! ~~I'm still waiting on Funko to release a POP of her someday.~~ UPDATE: FUNKO CONFIRMED!

Honestly, I feel so sad for Launch because she doesn't appear in Super and she rarely appears in spinoff stuff; for example, Dragon Ball The Breakers as a skin, she's playable in DB Legends and Dokkan (which are mobile games, remind you), and in one of the episodes of Super Dragon Ball Heroes (she doesn't have any speaking lines, sadly).

I don't think she's "forgotten".

And before you ask, is it Launch or Lunch? Well, in the Japanese version and in some merch, she's called Lunch. But Funimation and in other merch calls her Launch. I prefer Launch because that's what I'm used to calling her, and plus, it's fitting.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK IF I AM SELLING THESE. THESE ITEMS ARE NOT FOR SALE.

Official

Figures

Banpresto Q Posket Launch

WCF Treasure Rally Vol 3 Launch Figure

The bigger one could also be official. I got it at an anime store at a mall. I don't know... it feels bootleg, but I still love it.

SH Figuarts Launch

Popy Plex Launch (2007)

CHARA PUCHI FIGURE

The Dragon Ball below her is removable. She's supposed to be on a 4-star one, but I don't mind. Still cute!

Giant Ape Launch Collectible Figure

I got her at a good price. Most of the ones in the box cost a lot. I think I got her for about $60 + tax. I think she's my very first figure in my collection. I rather leave her in the box.

Launch Dragon Ball 2" PVC Collectible Figure 1995 Bandai

I’ve been looking for this one everywhere - so happy that I got my hands on one! She looks better in the package. On the back, here’s an oddity: Launch is wearing her normal outfit, but her pants and shoes are different. Maybe it was a prototype or an error? Her outfit is based on the one she wore during the Red Ribbon Army arc. Another weird thing, this was released in the 90s despite her episodes never being dubbed. I do find that strange.

Dragon Ball Snap Figure Lunch

I spotted this figure last year on Meccha Japan’s website and see if they sold this figure somewhere else. They did! Saw it on GameStop and bought her at a later date. I don’t know why they had to put her in a big box with bubble wrap around, but after assembling the figure, I put her up on my dresser with my other Launch stuff and she looked nice! I rarely collect anime figures because of how big they are and they take up space in my opinion, but this one caught my eye.

Launch/Lunch Funko POP! Animation Vinyl (2025)

I waited years for this to finally happen. And the wait is finally over! I have two Funko: one to keep in the box and one to take out.

Ichiban Kuji Dragon Ball Assemble Collection Son Goku's Childhood (2025)

These figures are so cute! They based Blue Launch’s pose off of an official piece of Dragon Ball artwork where she poses with the rest of the OG cast!

Stickers

B-Side Label Launch

Dragon Ball Super Broly Promo Stickers

In Japan, if you went to see the Broly movie in theaters, you would get stickers with screenshots of a random DB/DBZ/DBS movie. The one on the left is from the 2nd OG Dragon Ball movie, while the one on the right is from the 3rd one. No, I am not gonna use these as I'm keeping them as collectors items.

Keychains

Unknown Rubber Launch Keychain

It's similar to one of my Launch figures, except the Dragon Ball below her isn't removable. I'm not sure if this one is official.

Banpresto 2005 Dragon Ball Z Love Pair Twin Figure Keychain Tenshinhan & Lunch

The very first Launch related merch I bought. I wish Tien and Launch were together.

GASHAPON HG LAUNCH

Same figure, but in keychain form. I think this one came from France?

Funko Pocket Pop! Dragon Ball Lunch Vinyl Keychain

Funko thought the vinyl POP was so cute, that they made a keychain variant of it! No Chase (Blonde) version exists, sadly. I also have another one, in the box.

Misc.

Figpin Launch

Blonde Launch is a chase variant.

Launch Can Badge (Pin)

I think I own a rare Launch pin/item cause I can’t find this anywhere else on Google.

Ichiban Kuji Dragon Ball Dragon Ball Snap Collection E Prize Mug (2024)

My new tea mug, perhaps? 🤔

Fan Made/Unofficial

Custom Launch Plushies by Momorio-Botan!

This was my very first plush commission I bought.

Dragon Ball R&R Raunch Plush (Makeship)

I don't know if I count this one since this fan character is the daughter of Launch and Raditz. I'm not sure if this plush is a bootleg... I did get it off of eBay since I missed out on getting one on Makeship. But, she's still cute. I haven't watched R&R in a while... and I don't usually get merch from YouTubers.

Enamel Pin

I found this pin at Walmart. I got it as a birthday gift.

Posters

Posters of her Legends artwork and the other is someone's fanart that someone on eBay stole...

Shirts!

Ozzy Da Vyrus did the art here! I got this shirt at a convention.

I drew the WANTED poster back in 2020 in Photoshop. Someone at a mall puts designs on a shirt and sweatshirts, and when my friend gave me a shirt with my art on it (not this one), I wanted to try them out. It turned out nice. It's still holding up as of the time of this writing.

GrilkaPress Long-Sleeved Shirt

According to the Etsy listing I got this from, it’s limited! This is such a cool long sleeved shirt! Although it may be big (especially in the sleeves), it still fits me well. The downside? Some of the paint is coming off after my dad washed it when I wore it to my first in-person event selling my books back in March.

It’s Launch Time by Simone Green on Redbubble

Unofficial Custom LEGO Minifigures

Oh heavens no they done turn mah girl Lanch into a minigfigure…

Okay, what I said there is a reference to a meme called Spunchbob/Spunchbop.

Blue Launch was hard to find but I luckily found her on a site called Minifigure Outlet. They’re legit! I was worried on getting scammed or something. I found blondie on Mercari. I haven’t tested it out, but I’m wondering if I can remove their heads and swap them. 🤔

Update: confirmed! You can swap/move the head!

Jet Tag/Keychain

The seller who gave me this item also gave me free Pokémon stickers. :)

The only thing I don’t like about this tag is the top part of Blue Launch’s gloves being blue instead of gray (like Blondie).

ACEO art by KuddlyArt

David Baker Toon Launch Pin

I didn’t buy this from David Baker’s shop or anything (never heard of the guy until I looked him up when I saw this pin), some guy on Mercari was selling it. I found it cute, so I bought it. I saw that there’s a Blue Launch variant of this pin, but I think the blonde version looks better.

Painting by Pafuwu

I had this seller bookmarked for months because I ran across this painting on Google! When it arrived, the seller gave me a drawing of her, a note, and 2 stickers (one of Kid Goku eating ramen and the other of Chibiusa). It literally looks like an animation cell transferred on a painting.

Launch Naughty/Nice holigraphic stickers by Paincaked on Redbubble

iPhone 14 Phone Case by trheewood on Redbubble

Autographs!

Autographs from her VA, Meredith McCoy!

I met her all the way back in 2022 at Kameha Con. She's so nice and we talk every now and then; we're cool with each other. If you can't tell by my profile pic on Instagram and Twitter, that is me and Meredith! 😁

Autographs from Kameha Con 2022!

Signed Funko Pops! I got them signed via frostline_signatures on Instagram (she did one of those mail-in signings)! The quote on blue Launch comes from episode 15 of Dragon Ball while the quote on Blondie comes from Dragon Ball Legends!

Video of my unboxing + reaction:

Some old voice acting stuff.

2024-06-27T18:35:00.000-07:00

I don’t have much to say… enjoy these old voiceovers I did.

These last two were done for my voice over class from last year.

Graduation.

2024-06-15T20:22:00.000-07:00

Just graduated college!

What next? I don’t know. I do have one more class to take over the summer which is painting and then I’m done. I… almost bursted into tears walking in the graduation ceremony.

The entire crowd reminded me of an episode of SpongeBob: “Band Geeks”.

As said in another post… finding a job is the scary part for me. But, I’ll still be working on SaGia.

Check out my art portfolio here! It's a mix between my academic works from my college and my personal works! https://arneziaarts.weebly.com/

Help me keep SaGia running! Ko-fi | Artistree

Alone

2024-06-06T16:07:00.000-07:00

Title: Alone

14 x 17 inches

Medium: Ink

Date: 6/6/2024

Sometimes, I feel alone. I don't know what to do. When I scroll on social media, I feel alone. When I'm sitting in the house with nothing to do, I feel alone. I want to capture that emotion in this drawing.

I'm doing okay now. I know that I have friends and family that are there with me.

Inside the broken heart, I wrote down random quotes I found online about loneliness. I also used one of my dry ink pens for the shadow behind her.

Help me keep SaGia running! Ko-fi | Artistree

Electronic Pichu Plush! Finally got my hands on this thing!

2024-05-31T17:08:00.000-07:00

My real Pichu (right) with my Pikachu!!!

Yes!

I first discovered this plush through Bulbapedia where they list every Hasbro Pokémon plush, including the talking/electronic ones.

So, before I finally got my hands on this plush, I sadly fell for a bootleg back in 2021. At the time, I thought I got a legit plush. Until I noticed that the plush was coming from China.

It made these awful, cursed Togepi noises (the same ones from the electronic Togepi plush but sped up and high pitched) when the hands were pressed and the cheeks barely lit up. I was upset.

I kept my eye on finding a real one until... May 23rd. I found it.

My anxiety and blood was rushing, so I quickly bought it on eBay before anyone else did. And the good thing? The was shipping was free. This time, it came from Japan.

And now, it's here, in my hands. A real, legit, electronic Pichu plush that I've been hunting for so long... and it's over.

The plush itself

The only disappointing things about this Pichu plush is that it only says 2 different variations of its name and doesn't let you know to play with it (instead, its cheeks light up for a split second to let you know it shut down if you don't play with it; the light sensor function is off until you press its hands, kinda like the talking Celebi I own where if it shuts down, the light sensor and noise detector is off until your press its hand).

I do have so many positives!

The light sensor! It's similar to the Hasbro Electronic Pikachu, Mew, and Togepi plushies I own.

It's super cute and HARD TO FIND! Also, I heard this plush got released in other countries... but the reasoning for this plush's obscurity is that it probably had a limited release, as shown on Bulbapedia (it had an April 2001 release). And it can be easily confused for some other TOMY Pichu plushies (notably, the talking one without the mechanics; I'll get to comparisons later). Someone on Reddit mentioned this plush and was thinking if it was official.

I remember seeing this plush in a box for the outside of Japan release (the colors are similar to the talking Marill's UK release (?)), but I can't find it anymore since it's been a while. However, I have seen this plush in a Japanese box which I will archive here. The way the box is shaped is similar to the box for the talking Pikachu, Mew, and Togepi plushies released by Hasbro.

Update: 4/11/25: Found one in a International box, however, it's in a different language and I can only find the front of the box. (From this website in the Netherlands; I archived it just in case as well as the image via the Internet Archive Website Archive |Image Archive).

Comparisons

If you're looking for an electronic Pichu yourself, I have made comparisons to save you time!

Tomy Talking Pichu vs. this Pichu

Tomy Talking Pichu (left); electronic (right)

The most obvious is the positioning of the cheeks and the black tuft near its face.

Tomy Talking Pichu:

-sometimes comes with pink bowtie depending on who's selling the plush

-no electronics; only voicebox

-the mouth is curved and is a bit up

-plush looks lighter color

-black tuft near face is bigger

-ears look separated

-plush is common to find (when I was hunting for an electronic Pichu, I kept seeing this plush and got tired of seeing it). In the box, it costs a lot.

Electronic Pichu:

-cheeks are closer

-mouth is straight, not curved

-does not come with bowtie (when I saw on WorthPoint of this plush, someone said it originally came with one but they are wrong; they thought it was the regular TOMY talking Pichu)

-has electronics (ears & mouth move, light up cheeks and sound)

-tuft near face is shorter

-fur is different (maybe darker material)

-ears look closer to each other; non-bendable

-rare to find; in the box will cost you a lot.

Real vs. Bootleg

real (left); bootleg (right)

I already made some comparisons on my Insta story about it, but just in case another bootleg of this plush shows up, I want to make a comparison.

Bootleg:

-dark cheeks

-material looks and feels like it's made out of carpet

-tail faced to the left (I said right, but I meant left)

-has odd Togepi noises (reused from electronic Togepi plush) if you press hands a certain way

-ears are bendable

-yes, Hasbro did officially release this electronic Pichu plush outside of Japan, but the tag is incorrect (it says Pokémon basic plush)

-the black tuft is loose (not glued/sewn in)

-cheeks barely light up (sometimes if you quickly turn it on and off, the mechanics move a bit but doesn't work)

-buttons on hands feel off

-light sensor doesn't work

-it feels like they used the same mechanics as this plush, but hacked it or something.

-fur is lighter

-looks a bit bigger than the real plush

-shape of bottom (where battery pack is at) is different (notably, the velcro)

-RED FLAG: COMES FROM CHINA. Check the country before buying.

If your Pichu has any of these things listed, it's most likely a bootleg. If it makes any other noises that isn't "Pichu" then it's a bootleg.

Avoid this seller: nicegustos (the one who sold me this bootleg)

Real:

-lighter cheeks

-soft material

-tail is faced to the right (not left as said in the image)

-black tuft is glued/sewn in

-ears aren't bendable (?)

-says "pichu!" 2 different ways

-has light sensor

-can have either the TOMY or Hasbro International tag (make sure it doesn't read "Pokémon Basic Plush"); Japan sellers will have the plush with the TOMY logo. Anyone else (except China) will probably have the Hasbro tag on there.

Good luck hunting and finding an electronic Pichu plush!

Update (6/5): Here's a French eBay seller who has this plush with the Hasbro tag.

3 original drawings.

2024-05-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

I made these 3 traditional drawings Monday. I was going to post these on my other socials yesterday, but due to my anxiety getting worse (I have a hard time sleeping all of a sudden), I had to cancel posting them. However, they will be posted at a later date. I will be posting here early and it's also on my Ko-fi page.

I hope to recover soon.

Love and Coffee

Love and Coffee

18 x 24 inches

Ink

I don't like coffee, but I wanted to draw a woman enjoying her cup of coffee.

Panic

Panic

14 x 17 inches

Ink

This drawing is based on my current battle with anxiety. Recently (it started last week), I felt my heart pump fast and I had a hard time sleeping. This anxiety is affecting my life.

Hero vs. Goose

Hero vs. Goose

9 x 12 inches

Watercolor pencils, ink

One, this is a homage to Dragon Quest 1's Famicom box art. Two, geese are my least favorite bird. We have some geese at my college's campus but dear gosh, I'm afraid of going near one. I don't trust them at all and I'm afraid of getting attacked. Luckily, I am almost finished with college anyways.

Also, quick SaGia update! My 2nd proof copy is on its way and once I approve, they will work on my 75 copies! I'm so excited. Click here if you are interested. | Characters + Synopsis

Help me keep SaGia running! Ko-fi | Artistree

Chibi Chibi Con 2024 - Photos

2024-05-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

So many amazing cosplayers and people!

Support these amazing artists!

Collection!

2024-05-19T19:58:00.000-07:00

Showing off some photos (mostly plushies). This is for a WordPress post as I'm using the url instead of uploading the images which takes up storage.

I like collecting plushies. I own a couple of some Pokémon, Dragon Tales (a childhood show I grew up with), Shinobu from Demon Slayer (I mostly collect plushies of her), etc...

I'm only gonna share what's in my workroom. I have plushies in my closet as well but I rather show you my favorites.

I also own a complete plush collection of an obscure anime I enjoy called "Magical Taruruuto-kun". I hope there's no more out there besides the ones I own because these are rare plushies and hard to find! They're all so cute. I might sew myself one of the characters named Raivar (or Rival according to the fansubs) because he lacks a plush (probably due to his black (evil) color scheme).

I am working on my Dragon Ball Launch collection, but I've been so sidetracked and distracted that I haven't finished it yet. However, I have made videos showing off my plushies and I made a video of my Launch collection last year.

I am a big fan of Dragon Ball's Launch that I started collecting figures of her. I even own custom plushies from a user named Momorio-Botan on DeviantArt. The user lives in Italy or France, and I believe it took so many months to get her (most likely because of the pandemic).

I also like collecting autographs from mostly voice actors... I have 5 autographs from Launch's English VA at a con I went to back in 2022; I'm a big fan of her voice and meeting her in-person was always my dream which I achieved thanks to some people that commissioned me and donated on my Ko-fi + my parents.

Before I even got into collecting plushies, when I was in elementary school, I was fascinated with collecting rocks. I would secretly sneak them in and made sure my dad wouldn't notice. When he did, he would throw the rock across our backyard fence. But he's changed now... that was years ago. I no longer collect rocks anymore. I remember nicknaming my rock collection, "crystal rocks" because they're white and sparkly (some aren't even sparkly but regular plain ol' rocks), but coming back to that name, it sounds like a drug and it makes me cringe a bit hearing it 😅. I still have a heavy bag of those rocks in my closet! But the bag is faded and dusty.

Well, that's about it.

Help me keep SaGia running! ko-fi.com/wimbearn | artistree.io/wimbearn

Misty

2024-05-17T23:27:00.000-07:00

There’s a reason why I wanted to draw Misty.

Her original English VA, Rachael Lillis, is battling through cancer. I pray for her recovery.

Sorry if this post is short. I forgot to share this drawing earlier. Lillis was a part of our childhoods, voicing Misty and Jessie in Pokémon (and other roles besides that anime). It will be really sad if we lost her.

Currently, there is a GoFundMe up (which has already met the goal!) but donate if you can.

Original Manga/Comic Book Reveal! The wait is over!

2024-04-24T23:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's me!

On April 24th, my proof copy of my original manga/comic finally arrived.

I am happy to announce that the title of my original comic is titled "SaGia"! More details coming soon. If you want to see the short reaction, it's up on my Instagram @wimbearn. The full reaction of my unboxing is up on my YT channel! Thanks to my mom's permission, I can finally show my original characters that I've been working on in private (even while I was taking so many mental breaks away from social media). I have been working on SaGia since 2021! Holding it in my hands for the first time... almost made me cry.

I recently approved of my proof copy and the physical version will be printed out by Comix Well Spring. I haven't worked on the digital version yet. In my full reaction, I said that the bleed is showing on the front and back covers (white and black borders). I did use their manga template provided but I guess they adjusted it based on the size of my spine which affects the size of my front and back covers. I don't know, but I don't want to go back and adjust all 140 pages! I'm not bothered much by it, though.

If you're looking to get your original comic or manga printed, I highly suggest these guys! Their print quality is so good! And when I talked to them over the phone, they were nice.

Thank you for the support! Here are photos of my comic (also in the full video at the end):

Don't worry, this is from Chapter 1; no spoilers. Just showing an example of the inside.

Alis Landale Fanart

2024-03-24T16:12:00.000-07:00

Alis from Phantasy Star. Took me 2-3 hours to complete.

I'm gonna take a break from social media and this blog as I return back to college 4/1. I'm gonna be really busy Spring quarter. I may rarely post if I need to. This will be my last drawing for March.

Social media isn't worth it anymore... even Tumblr hates me as I was trying to upload my drawing process of Alis there and it took forever to process and now, I can't upload videos anymore because the previous video is "still processing". Contacted help desk and instead get a AI response. I have a feeling they won't fix my issue. A workaround was to embed my YouTube short. Update: The Alis drawing w/ my video process is up on my Tumblr after so many frustrations and delays. I think it's my old computer's fault. Tested on my phone and it seems to post fine. I also found two of the same post under my drafts and it was playing the video.

Every platform I'm on is ruined by AI or AI generated art. DeviantArt, Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram. Not even Google is safe as if you were searching for something, you may get AI generated results in the images (unless you filter it out). I'm frustrated, having a bit of a breakdown, and I'm done. Taking a long break. Bye.

Short version:

Donations and art commissions: https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn

Or, I now take commissions over at: https://artistree.io/wimbearn

Voice Acting Warmup/Practice #1 and #2

2024-03-17T23:21:00.000-07:00

Voice Acting Practice #1 was done last year.

Voice Acting Practice #2 recorded 3/17/2024 around 10 pm PST.

Original Art: Savannah Pride

2024-03-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

For this drawing, originally I was going to do a lion. But it ended up turning into a cheetah with wings. When I drew this in my art class last week, my professor said "the Lion King!" and she also told me she had never seen the movie, which surprised me. I used watercolor pencils for the color and before I applied those, I sketched out my drawing first.

Finished this yesterday. This isn't an assignment for my advanced drawing class since I'm 100% done, this was just for fun.

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Help me reach my goal: https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn

I now take commissions over at: https://artistree.io/wimbearn

Goodbye, Akira Toriyama (Tribute Drawing)

2024-03-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

If you want to hear my thoughts on his passing, I made a video on my channel about it.

This really hurts because he influenced my art style (mostly my unpublished original comic) and I'm pretty sure he influenced your manga or art style as well. I met a lot of nice people in the Dragon Ball community.

Thank you, Toriyama for creating such an amazing series and awesome (and sometimes goofy) character designs and world.

If you want, check out my post on Toriyama: Artists I'm Inspired By Part 4

Fanart Sketches #1

2024-03-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

4 random fanart sketches I did today because I need a break from original art.

1. Brooklyn (Gargoyles)

2. Charizard

3. Lum (Urusei Yatsura)

4. Flamedramon

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Help me reach my goal: https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn

I now take commissions over at: https://artistree.io/wimbearn

Traveling (Original Art)

2024-03-06T12:43:00.000-08:00

Just an original drawing I made for fun yesterday while I was at my art class. I was just staring at this piece of paper while it was blank because I ran out of stuff to draw. This isn’t an assignment or anything since I’m all done with advanced drawing.

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Help me reach my goal:

Drawings #7 and #8 (Final Advanced Drawing Class Assignments)

2024-03-01T12:59:00.000-08:00

The final two drawings for my advanced drawing class. That's it! I'm done!

I've definitely have seen some improvement with my drawings. I hope to use these improvements (based on my professor's feedback) in the future.

For drawing #7 (top drawing; green alien girl), like drawing #4, this drawing is based on an old drawing that I did on my iPad from 2021. I used watercolor. I added blue and white acrylic paint for the stars. I messed up with the right side of her jacket (where the orange circle is located at) and I was afraid of making a hole in the drawing so I tried my best to cover it up by adding some more watercolor on top.

Original drawing from 2021 (I remember saying she looked like an alien version of Android 18 XD):

I chose version 1 (no pupils) for drawing #7. Transferring a digital drawing to traditionally was difficult. I did sketch it in my sketchbook and tried to replicate that sketch to the big drawing. To be honest, I liked it when I did this drawing digitally. But using watercolor made it so vibrant (that's why I love watercolor pencils!).

For my last drawing, I combined some of the materials from previous New Media drawing assignments. I used gouache for the yellow tower in the background, oil pastels for the water, and watercolor for the sky, petals, and tree. The cats in the front are black and white using Sakura and Faber-Castell ink pens (Sakura being used the most). You might notice for drawings 1-7 I’ve been switching between color & black and white. I remembered my professor’s suggestion on combining both for the last drawing, and that’s what I did here. I kept the colors vibrant for this piece.

I almost ran out of ideas for my last drawing until I sketched a random cat in armor in my sketchbook. I was getting “Samurai Pizza Cats” vibes from drawing the cat (if some of you know that show/anime; I watched all of it last month and loved it and I have plans on watching the Japanese original).

For those who have been keeping up with my drawings, thank you.

I only have 4 more classes to take til’ I get my Associates of Arts w/ Art Specialization degree. I’m gonna be really busy next quarter (Spring) as I’m taking 3 classes instead of the usual 2.

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A recap:

New Media #5 and Drawing #6 (Advanced Drawing Class Assignment)

2024-02-22T12:27:00.000-08:00

For context, see my posts New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing #1

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This New Media drawing is my final one. I haven't painted in a while, so using gouache in class was very satisfying.

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And here's the next drawing. Only two more to go.

This one, I was afraid of wasting ink, so this is the best I could do! I first did a quick sketch in my sketchbook and made a master copy on this big piece of paper. I used white acrylic paint around the people standing at the beach.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

2024-02-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Original sketch:

And no, she isn't related to my previous drawing.

Drawing #5 (Advanced Drawing Class Assignment)

2024-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

For context, see my posts New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing #1

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I got nothing much to say, but this time, I used watercolor pencils instead of colored pencils (my favorite to use) and wow, this turned out nice. And a pretty fitting drawing for me to submit as this week's drawing assignment because Wednesday (2/14) is Valentine's Day which I forgot about when I started this piece last week. Wish I made her eyes pink.

Her sword is inspired by "The Three Musketeers". I'm getting Zorro vibes.

The X-Files: Animated Series (Fanmade Concept)

2024-02-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

Disclaimer: These are just fun little fan made concepts I did and not “lost media” or “real screenshots”. I do not own the X-Files! Again, this is all just for fun and it's all fan made.

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What if… The X-Files had a 90s/2000s cartoon?

I call it: “The X-Files: Animated Series” or "The X-Files: The Animated Series".

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The X-Files: Animated Series or The X-Files: The Animated Series is an American sci-fi cartoon series based on the X-Files created by Chris Carter. It ran from 1998 to 2000 on Fox Kids. Most of the cast return and David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson reprise their roles as Fox Mulder and Dana Scully, respectively. The series is much milder than the original X-Files series, as it contains less blood and violence.

Like the original, the duo investigate various X-Files. Some episodes are a “Monster of the Week” format and some are story driven (or two-parters). In the series finale, Mulder saves Scully from an evil alien group. They then kiss each other and walk out in the sunset.

The series spawned some merch including action figures and T-shirts. A video game was released in 2000 for the Game Boy Color.

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I don’t know what synopsis I came up with. 0-0

Imagine someone accidentally falling for this. And spreading it around…

First off, I don’t know much about the X-Files; I wasn’t born in the 90s. I’ve only been watching cable reruns on a channel called COMET. But maybe someday, I might give the series a chance; some episodes I’ve seen made me uncomfortable but not much. I can’t remember that one episode where they played the same darn sound effect over and over (it sounds like those reality show sounds) but it got annoying when I kept seeing it in reruns and it led me to muting the audio.

Update (3/13): The episode is titled “Oubliette”, Season 3 Episode 8. That’s the episode I’m referring to with that one repeated sound effect.

So, this is different from my usual anime art style that I do. I’ve been having this idea ever since I discovered a clip of an obscure cartoon called “Eek! The Cat” that had an episode where Dana Scully and Fox Mulder make a cameo appearance.

(Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2VuffjHXeQ)

And I already know about their appearance in “The Simpsons”.

Besides that, what led me to draw these concepts? A cartoon series called “Men in Black: The Series”. One of the characters, Agent L, her design reminded me of Scully. And that's when I began sketching.

I also created the logo. I took the regular X-Files logo, moved “The” above the X, and added “Animated Series” below. The words spelling out “Animated Series” were made using a font generator.

Dana Scully

I used reference images of Agent L for the face and pose of the mouth. As for the hair, I had a tough decision between Scully’s appearance in “Eek! The Cat” and “The Simpsons”. When I was looking at Scully’s hair in “Eek!”, I didn’t like the spikiness on the front of her hair. I decided to go with her appearance on “The Simpsons”. I did reference a bit of Agent L’s hair too.

While doing the sides was easy, drawing her hair in the front view was tough. I looked at reference images of Scully and I said “screw it”, and drew it on my own without reference. For the palette, I used the Simpsons colors for her hair and lips. For her eyes, eyelash, and skin (although I’ve been altering the colors of her skin in some drawings), I used Agent L. Her outfit’s colors come from her appearance in “Eek!”

Fox Mulder

I started with Dana first because I knew she would be easy for me. As for Mulder, he was tough. But, after looking at an image of Agent L, I decided what character I’ll use as reference: Agent K. However, I altered his appearance because I didn’t want Mulder to look like an “old man”. I also noticed Agent K looks different in some images; does the agent’s appearance (or character design) change in each season or episode? I haven’t watched the series in a while; the last time I did was on a channel called the Hub (now Discovery Family).

For his palette, I used the Simpsons for his hair, and outfit. His skin palette comes from Agent K and his eye palette is borrowed from Scully’s eye color, just changed up a bit by me. His outfit palette I believe comes from a cartoon called "Extreme Dinosaurs" where there was a parody of Mulder and Scully while the blue comes from The Simpsons.

Now it’s time for the fun part…

The fake screenshots and posters!

Let’s start with the fake promo posters first.

Promo #1

I picked FOX Kids because… why not? The X-Files aired on FOX. Originally, the date was gonna say “10/13” (referencing the production company and Chris Carter’s birthday) but when I did research, I couldn’t find a 10/13 on a Saturday. But luckily, I found “11/21” on a Saturday in 1998. So I picked that date. I found out that 1121 is a number that commonly appears in the show. I was nearly gonna put “Special Preview 10/13 on Fox” but nah.

The top originally said “I Want to Believe”, a reference to Mulder’s poster in his office. But I changed it to “The Truth is Out There”, which references the saying in the opening credits of the theme.

As for Mulder and Scully’s poses, I used this image as reference. I did trace over it though because I was having a hard time doing the pose. I hate tracing, but I had to do it.

This promo poster would be reused in one of my fake screenshots (seen above and below).

Promo #2

This one is my favorite.

It is based on this promo image:

I used different colors for the outline so I can have that “old school VHS look”. By the time I added shading, I was blown away about how good it looked. And it made me think, “why didn’t we get an X-Files cartoon series back in the day?”.

Some cartoons have poked fun or referenced the series. That would’ve been so cool to be honest: the series would’ve been story driven or something like, I dunno, “Archie’s Weird Mysteries”. I can think of one mature rated show that has a cartoon spinoff: Tales from the Crypt. Although I’m not that much familiar with the Crypt series, Tales from the Crypt is a dark, not-for-kids TV series, but it has a cartoon series titled “Tales from the Cryptkeeper” that’s made for kids!

We nearly had an X-Files cartoon without Mulder and Scully (and it was gonna be a comedy) but it’s not moving forward. Good. And then they’re bringing back the X-Files again without Mulder and Scully and to make it more “diverse”. We already had an ending… I swear, these modern companies bring back old IPs and ruining them (looking at you, upcoming CG Gargoyles revival…) -_-

But enough complaining, let’s continue with the fake commercials.

We’ll be back after these messages…

So for image #1, I took a photo from a YouTube video and edited it to include the X-Files. The image originally came from a “Space Goofs” promo. I kept the Fox Kids logo and the “All New Saturday!” sign. However, I edited the time to say 9:00 am instead of 9:30 am. I added Scully there to show that she’s talking to the viewer, announcing the time and day. I added some noise and a VHS overlay.

Same with image #2. The image originally comes from a Ultimate Goosebumps promo, ripped from a YouTube thumbnail I found on Google. This image I actually made first before the Scully one just to see what a “X-Files Animated Series” Fox Kids Promo Ad would look like. But basically the same thing, just the logo is centered and not moved.

For both, the colors of the logo and background reference a promo poster.

…And now, back to the show!

Screenshot #1

This is (kind of) a redraw of a screenshot from MIB: The Series. I did what I could with the background’s colors.

For this scene, I’m imagining Scully looking at an X-File or talking to Mulder about a case. Or not believing what Mulder is saying, lol.

Screenshot #2

The “TV-Y7” is ripped from some Goosebumps episode airing on Fox Kids; it came from a YouTube thumbnail.

Again, the art is reused from Promo #1 except I added the logo below it. This one was a test screenshot, as I was curious what the show’s opening would be like when it starts. I can picture the X-Files theme playing, but a bit remixed?

Screenshot #3

Another redraw of a MIB: The Series screenshot.

I want to show that Scully is in danger here.

Oh, and I realized that gaussian blur exists in Procreate, so I used that to blur up the line art a bit.

Screenshot #4

A redraw from a MIB: The Series screenshot.

Not sure what to caption this one. I guess they are at someone's house investigating. Mulder seems surprised.

Screenshot #5

You get it... another MIB: The Series screenshot redraw.

I wasn't sure where this would take place, so I decided that this "final scene" of an episode should take place in an elevator. Scully comes up to Mulder and asks if they want something to drink together after a successful case.

My brain forgot about how tall Mulder is supposed to be here; let's pretend he's leaning a bit or that the "animators" made an error. I finished an Anthropology midterm last week, bear with me. I get easily distracted and forget stuff.

The X-Files Animated Series… on the Game Boy Color???

But wait… there’s more?

This is a fake box art concept for an X-Files Animated Series GBC game. Guess what made me create this idea. If you said Men In Black, you’re right!

The Men in Black cartoon had 2 GBC games, but I always keep thinking about the first one with the full motion video for its intro (the music is not great except for one level).

This cover is based on the promo image shown above; I said I used it for the commercial’s background and logo colors.

I’m betting you play as Mulder trying to free Scully from evil aliens. That’s my guess. And after you beat it, you get to play as Scully saving Mulder. Just like the PS2 X-Files game where you play as both Mulder and Scully.

But what about-

Yes, I know you’re gonna say it. Where’s the Cigarette Smoking Man? Where’s Walter Skinner?

I’m only working with Mulder and Scully for now. Sorry if I can’t do the other characters. I’m just a busy girl focusing on college and college is important to me. I drew these concepts because I needed a break from all the reading in one of my classes and to relax my mind.

This was fun and I hope to come back to the X-Files Animated Series concept in the future.

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Let me know what you think! If you like these concepts, consider donating (or commission; message me first before commissioning me) at:

It helps me as a small artist and I will be using the money for good things such as buying art supplies or saving my money for self-publishing my original comic (which hasn’t been out to the world yet).

Favorite Candies!

2024-02-08T21:10:00.000-08:00

Just quick (and bad) doodles I made for a daily prompt WordPress post.

New Media and Drawing #4 (Advanced Drawing Class Assignment)

2024-02-06T17:03:00.000-08:00

For context, see my posts New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing #1

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2 new drawings I completed this week for my advanced drawing class. I am halfway through the quarter! I only have one more New Media assignment to go and 4 more drawing assignments left (I believe there's a total of 8).

For this New Media drawing, I used watercolor pencils. I have previously used it before (if you've seen a post on this blog or on my Instagram/DeviantArt/Tumblr/Twitter) so I am very familiar with using them. I've gotten much more experimental. I didn't bring my giant drawing pad to class so I borrowed one of my professor's paper that was already sitting on my desk (it's actually for the beginner drawing students for an assignment they're doing). However, she forgot to give me Bristol paper but this drawing still turned out nice on regular paper.

So originally, this was gonna use some yellow colors (I was gonna draw a sunshine type female character; I was thinking of Little Miss Sunshine) and I told my brain to not draw another water goddess like Drawing #3. But I ended up doing it again. I guess I like drawing water goddesses now 😂. The ears reminded me of the Pokémon Vaporeon. Like Drawing #3, I used a blue palette with some yellow thrown in.

Drawing #4 is a redraw of an old original drawing I did in 2021. And it's an improvement!

Original drawing from 2021.

I made her eyes much smaller this time to match my current art style and made them crossed eyed. In my sketch, I was gonna have her look at the viewer but ended up looking somewhere else. This drawing is very manga like; when I went to a art museum in my state and showed one of my characters from my original comic to someone working there, they said it reminded them of Akira Toriyama and I said, "yep!" (wish I can show my character to ya'll but I'm putting it on hold until I can get my comic published!).

You know, I really wish I didn't cut off the top part 😣. I was telling my professor last week, "should I start over?" even though I went far. But I said screw it. If I had bigger paper, then I would show more of the leaves in her hair.

For both drawings, I wish I considered more negative space. I tend to draw my characters centered (I mostly do this when sketching in Procreate or in my sketchbook) and after hearing my professor's feedback in class, I was like "yeah...". She likes the way I draw my characters, but I need to show more negative space in both. Hopefully for Drawing #5, I hope to improve on that.

Back then, I had a hard time accepting constructive criticism on my art, especially online. Sure, it feels like someone is stabbing you in the heart (that's what I feel when I get constructive criticism), but as I'm reading the feedback from my professors, I'm realizing constructive criticism is actually a good thing. It helps you improve as an artist or writer. I sometimes look at my art and critique it myself.

When I took my first voice over class last year with VA Chuck Huber (voice of Android 17), I was anxious as heck. But near the end of the class, I accepted the feedback from him and some of my voiceover friends. I haven't done voice over in a while (I've been mostly posting old voice over practice), but I'm slowly getting back into it. I'm slowly learning.

And although I hate hearing about the topic of AI art (so sorry for bringing this up), the only thing I can say is.... just grab a piece of paper and a pencil and draw. That's it. We don't need robots doing our work. I've been seeing it on my socials (especially DeviantArt) and it's been bothering me. Not even Redbubble is safe (I recently discovered AI art on that site last night). And Google isn't safe from it either if you're searching for, let's say, "80s anime art style" unless you use advanced search or filter by date or year.

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Well, that's it. Take care.

Donations and art commissions at:

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Interesting videos:

(timestamps 0:24-17:51, 23:51-27:20, and 1:05:07-1:07:15 interested me the most. I haven't watched all of the 90s Sailor Moon anime except for the 1st episode in high school anime club and some clips, but I read all of the Sailor Moon manga when I was in High School)

A legend.

(Original Art) Walking in the Past

2024-02-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Another digital original drawing complete. I finished this on Sunday.

I first did a sketch in my sketchbook after completing my Space Gal drawing from Saturday (I'm really proud of my Space Pirate girl drawing for real!). I felt like sketching something using my imagination. This sketch was quick and just a thumbnail.

I then put the sketch in Procreate and extended the canvas. I moved my photo of my sketch to the right a bit and added more background details.

What led me to do these two drawings (this and the Space Pirate girl)? I've been watching documentaries from a YouTube channel called Archipel and their content is interesting (I added them to my resources page Friday). Their videos, "Alternative Paths to Manga" and “Acky Bright”, got me into drawing more original art because I haven't been in a drawing mood due to college (except drawing for my art class that I'm currently taking). And I’ve been watching animation documentaries; one that interested me was from Simpsons creator Matt Groening; it’s called “My Wasted Life - Matt Groening” if you’re interested.

If you haven't read all 4-parts of my "Artists that I'm Inspired By" series, I suggest you check it out. But to keep it short, I'm inspired by old school anime/manga artists such as Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball, Dr. Slump, Sand Land) and Ken Sugimori (Pokémon). And an animator who worked on the Dragon Ball anime, Minoru Maeda.

I know people are gonna come up to me and say, "you have an old school taste". And I do, but I don't hate modern stuff. I watch modern anime such as Demon Slayer and My Hero Academia. As of the time of this writing, I'm currently watching a show called Samurai Pizza Cats and I'm loving it so far (although it's a gag dub like Ghost Stories). I discovered the series through a website called "My 90's TV" which I will review in a future post (or video).

But anyways, take care! See ya! Have any questions? Let me know in the comments. Or head on over to my WordPress blog and send me an ask via the new ask box page.

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Donations and art commissions:

(Original Art) Space Pirate Girl

2024-02-03T14:39:00.000-08:00

In my post, Drawing #2, I said I had this idea of drawing this space pirate girl for my next art class assignment. But the drawing took a different direction instead. And if I were to draw a black background, that would waste ink.

Today, I finally got to draw my space pirate girl idea (as a non art class assignment). Originally, she was gonna have an eyepatch on her left eye (right eye) but I scrapped it and let her hair cover it up.

I sketched the idea in my sketchbook and finished the rest in Procreate. This turned out nice!

Welp, that’s all I have for now. See ya.

Process below!

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Donations and art commissions at:

Looking at the Future...

2024-02-01T00:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to February.

So, this is big and exciting: I am almost finished with college! On the road to graduation. I only need some more classes to take.

And when I'm done... what will I do next?

Finding a job and working in public is what I'm afraid of. My dad really wants me to find a job. I have the worst anxiety and I don't get along with others sometimes. I don't make eye contact with other people. I'm just... a quiet and shy person.

The world is a scary place to me. The internet is scary too (mostly Twitter which I'm not on much anymore because of my timeline being so negative). It's why I'm mostly introverted and I have some trust issues (I don't trust other people online unless they've been truly kind to me). I like to do my own things. Draw. Voice act. Where do I do those things? In my room, with my door closed.

The only time I'll go out is at a convention to meet cosplayers and voice actors or to the movies or if I find an event interesting. Speaking of conventions, although I didn't go to none last year, I plan to go to one I always go to in my state this year.

I have fears of catching that virus... I don't want to hear about it either... but I'm still safe and masked up; I even hand sanitize. I try to avoid the news because it brings my mental health down. And I get shaky and scared when I hear the virus' name. My mom had it last year, but she's recovered from it.

Another thing, my own comic which I copyrighted last year, I still have no idea when it will be released. I can't give out characters and stuff just yet. I'm working with my auntie who is also an author but she has been super busy which is causing it to get delayed. It's been making me anxious and impatient... I don't want another person to ask me when will my comic be released. I'm still typing the transcript to volume 2, but I'm holding off from illustrating it in the Procreate app on my iPad. This is my first time self-publishing. I rather not give away my characters to some random company because I'm afraid of losing creative control and rights. I don't know what they'll do: make spinoffs of my characters or prequels and making so much money off of it. I have so many ideas for my own IP.

Self-publishing has been a struggle so far. It's gonna be a lot of money for me to save up and have a company print out the pages of my comic. That's what I heard from my auntie so far. But I've been distracted spending it on other things, mostly for college, which is tough. I try to push art commissions and donations on my Ko-fi but that never works (I even link my Ko-fi at the end of my posts). I don't know what to do. It's frustrating. And since this is original art, people will leave because they only care about the fanart I draw.

It's like I'm in a sea of bigger artists. I'm the smaller fish surrounded by big fishes. I don't like to compete with others though... but whenever I see someone with so many likes, I take a break away from social media. I know they say not to compare yourself to others, but it's tough.

As for voice acting, I really haven't been posting much. I always tell myself, "my voice isn't good" because of how deep it is; it's hard for me to do higher, girly voices. But I've gotten advice from voice actress Elise Baughman on her Facebook page and took notes of her advice as one of my goals for 2024 and watched some random documentaries on animation (some which includes voice actors). So I'm gonna plan on practicing more voice acting. I really want to do voices for projects and stuff.

More goals for me: not to get distracted and to keep focusing on the things I love. Focus more on my own original IP and characters. And to complete college. Also, get into sewing more because I'm making something for myself.

Finding a job or running a business... I don't know. It's scary especially with me having Asperger's and anxiety.

Well, that's all I have to say. Take care.

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Writing prompt:

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

Perfect writing prompt for this post. I rarely do these.

Already said it, but just going out in public with a lot of people unless it's a fun event or a convention. I prefer a smaller convention with less people. I've already been to two cons with plenty of people. As long as I'm masked and safe, I'm good.

Drawing #3 (Advanced Drawing College Art Class Assignment)

2024-01-30T12:19:00.000-08:00

For context, see my posts New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing #1

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Wow… this drawing turned out nice. And it’s exactly how I pictured it.

So, here’s a backstory. I was feeling sad last week and I had an idea of a water goddess crying. I came up with a name for this drawing: “Sea of Tears”. I wasn’t really crying last week, just some depression kicked in.

I used different blue colored pencils and Micropens.

I’m getting Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride vibes from looking at this drawing (probably because of the colors I used?). Man, I forgot about that movie.

Let me know what you think! Take care.

Dragon Ball Daima looks awesome.

2024-01-28T19:40:00.000-08:00

Title says it all. I’m excited for the series. The designs are decent. Not a fan of the giant green guy and Mr. Satan’s design.

Looking forward to watching in the fall!

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What if Launch appeared in Dragon Ball Daima?

2024-01-26T11:53:00.000-08:00

Just a joke, but that would be so funny if she actually did this. If Launch was affected like the others turning into kids, I wonder how well she can use her other weapons 🤔.

Made this comic last night because I was bored and kept thinking about the "A knife" kid video.

Happy Friday!

New Media #3: White Pencil on Black Paper

2024-01-25T14:32:00.000-08:00

For context, see my posts New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing #1

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Just a quick and pretty short post.

From my Instagram (@wimbearn):

"I got to experiment with black paper using a white pencil.

I’m not used to drawing on different colored paper except white. But it took me some getting used to.

This dragon character reminds me of a mix between Pokémon’s Charizard and Dragon Tales’s Zak. One of my friends in class even said that it reminded them of a Dragon Tales character."

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Drawing #2 (Advanced Drawing College Art Class Assignment)

2024-01-23T12:43:00.000-08:00

If you want context, see New Media #1 and New Media #2/Drawing 1.

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Well, this original drawing took a different direction than I imagined.

I was picturing a space pirate woman with a black space background behind her (I was thinking of the anime the Slayers (I have watched some episodes of that anime but it's been a while and I'm planning on getting back into it) and maybe Outlaw Star).

But when I worked on this drawing, it turned into a western theme or something. Speaking of having a black space background, coloring most of the background black would take up a lot of ink on a giant piece of paper (I'm glad I have extra ink pens as backup)! Maybe I might do it as a non art assignment instead, I don't know.

I was experimenting with different patterns as well. I got a little creative and very experimental and my professor liked my drawing in-person; an improvement over the first drawing from last time. This is the best I can do with it before it's due on Friday. I had to take care of some Anthropology (jeez, so much reading) assignments online first and finished this one as quickly as I could although I still have enough time. I just like doing my work early; my anxiety is just like, "do the work early before the due date!" and "rush!", lol. Let me know what you think! Take care.

Also, I want to note, on most of my drawings, usually I would put my online username/artist nickname "wimbearn", but for this one (and some of my old drawings if you dig through my DeviantArt) I'm using my real name as my signature (also seen in Drawing #1). I'm using my real name because I'm in college and I find it weird using my artist nickname, I don't know. I use my artist nickname for just posting fanart online and stuff. I used to sign as "AW" but I was sticking with wimbearn since I'm more used to it. :)

Unposted Voice Acting Recordings from 2022!

2024-01-19T22:37:00.000-08:00

I have nothing to say. Just enjoy.

New drawings for my art class: New Media #2 & Drawing #1

2024-01-16T13:18:00.000-08:00

If you haven’t seen New Media #1 yet, do check it out for context.

——-

This week, I bring you some new original art. I feel like people won’t care about it since it’s original art, but I put some love into these drawings. I don’t understand why fanart gets more attention; maybe because of how recognizable the characters are (like Mickey Mouse); I made a post last year about Original Art vs. Fanart.

For New Media #2, I worked with dry pastels in class. It was messy and got all over my pants and shirt! Also, dry pastels are fragile and if they hit the floor, they shatter/break.

I didn’t create one. I made two dry pastel drawings!

Finally, for my first drawing assignment (at-home) for my art class, I made something up in my head. A student in the class said that they should be named Gary and Sabrina. My professor said that the duo should have a tv show or comic.

I used artist ink pens and color pencils for the color. I tried to get good lighting for the photo (I took these photos last night). But, oh well. If I get enough time, I’ll get better clear photos of my drawing. For now, these photos will do as I submitted them after taking these photos (I included closeups).

Here's my course direction for this advanced drawing class that I typed up (it was a required assignment); this original drawing (plus the rest after this one) follows that paper:

“ For this class, what I want to pursue this quarter is to make sure my drawings have that comic book look. I know I haven’t explained my introduction in class that much and I didn’t want to make it go on for long, but when I drew my first original comic, I did it digitally on my iPad and I was aiming for that Japanese manga cartoony look as I love reading manga. If you aren’t familiar with manga, it’s a Japanese comic which reads from right to left. The only time I’ve done a comic traditionally was for my high school art class. For my materials, of course, I’m gonna be using art ink pens. I could include color if I like; I might use watercolor pencils since I love using that or regular color pencils.

I mostly do human character designs and for my characters, I do some hatching techniques on a character to show that there is a shadow under their neck or just for details in closeups. For my drawings, I will incorporate some hatching techniques to give my drawings life and depth. I think that’s all I can think of for this paper. My entire goal for this quarter is to make sure my drawings show that black and white comic/manga look (color optional) and just to have fun and get all experimental with it. I also want to work hard on backgrounds as I am still practicing.”

Let me know what you think of these drawings that I did for my art class! Take care ;).

ko-fi.com/wimbearn

Demon Slayer Shinobu Collection!

2024-01-12T22:20:00.000-08:00

Last updated: 3/12/2026

Shinobu Collection!

The insect Hashira! Shinobu is my favorite Demon Slayer character and I want to share my collection of her so far (mostly plushies). Why do I like her, you might ask? I just like her design and colors used on her design. I think she's adorable!

PLEASE DO NOT ASK IF I AM SELLING THESE. THESE ITEMS ARE NOT FOR SALE.

Plushies!

Shinobu Kocho Big Plush (Furyu; year unknown)

My very first Shinobu plush!

Banpresto 8" Shinobu Plush (year unknown)

She hangs on my door :)!

Shinobu 30cm Nesoberi Plush (Sega; year unknown)

There are two versions of this plush! One has open eyes and one has closed eyes!

Lay Down EX Vol 3 Plush - Shinobu Kocho (Sega; year unknown)

Otenori MP Plush V4 (left; Sega; unknown year)

Volume 7 Keychain Plush (right; Sega; unknown year)

Ignore the stuff in the back!

Talking Shinobu (Bandai; 2022)

For this plush, she has voice recognition! I got her last year on a website called Tokullectibles as a birthday gift. Problem: sometimes her mic isn't that great and she can't hear you and you need a good knowledge of Japanese to understand this plush, which I lack.

From Tokullectibles:

"This talking Shinobu doll features 4 modes of play and voice recognition so that she can respond to your words (in Japanese of course!)

Story Mode: Shinobu will respond to a predetermined list of phrases like "Good evening" etc.

Word Game: You can play a word game with Shinobu using the included word table.

Sound mode: Shinobu responds to sounds rather than dialogue

Dialogue: Shinobu will speak dialogue from the show."

The word game is a Japanese game called Shiritori. I can't play this mode because like I said, I lack Japanese skills.

But out of all of the plushies of Shinobu, this one is the most high quality. Her hair is soft!

To switch modes, you press and hold this hand. Demonstration below!

Shiritori Word Table:

Box:

6.5” Plush Asst Series 1 (Bandai; year unknown)

I saw her at my local Barnes & Noble and I was originally not gonna pick her up because of her expression/face.

But, I ended up picking her up before leaving 😂. She’s cute!

Plush w/ suction cup (Unknown year and company; bootleg)

This plush was super soft. I had to get her. Found it at a store in a mall. I usually stay away from bootleg plushies due to them looking off from official designs, but… this bootleg plush is so cute, looks close to Shinobu's actual design (no messed up face!) and it has a suction cup. The cute smile and face made me want to buy her. Even though it’s only made to be put in your car, I sleep with her. Her forehead is really big though… reminds me of the foreheads you see on the characters in Code Lyoko (Yumi is the most common people make fun of for having a big forehead).

Figures

Funko POP! Animation: Demon Slayer Shinobu Kocho (2023)

Yay! I finally got my hands on this Funko after missing out last year. It's so beautiful and the seller I bought this Funko from on Mercari put a protective case on her. Got her at a good price and I had to double check to make sure she isn't a bootleg and it's a legit POP. Why did you have to make her exclusive, Funko? This is my first Funko store exclusive POP. I found this video that talks about Funko exclusives and he says that once they're sold out, they won't restock which made me mad.

...and then Funko gets lazy and makes the same mold but Glow-in-the-dark. I'm good if they make a glow in the dark variant. I don't need two of the same Funko POPs. -_-

Funko POP! Animation: Demon Slayer Shinobu Kocho (SDCC 2024)

Originally, I wasn’t going to get this one… but ended up getting her after thinking about it for months. It’s a disappointing Funko than the 2023 Shinobu Kocho but it’s still cute. Someone on Reddit said that they weren’t going to get it because she looked depressed and I have to agree 🤣. I got this from a website called Ozzie Collectables. Never bought from them before and I never bought anything from Australia, but she arrived safely (and I had to sign for the parcel). And she came in a protector.

Funko POP! Animation: Demon Slayer Sumi-Ink Shinobu Kocho (Entertainment Earth Exclusive; 2026)

Aw man, here we go again with another exclusive Shinobu POP 2 years later. This one is actually beautiful and I love the detail around her eyes!

Seriously Funko, please stop making her exclusive. This is the third time...

Although this one is exclusive to EE, this is also on the Funko shop as an exclusive (she appeared when she was released; before that, for some reason, when Funko did pre-orders for the Sumi-Ink Demon Slayer POPs, Shinobu was featured in their image on the homepage of the site but wasn't available to pre-order). And this is the first exclusive Shinobu POP to have that dreaded exclusive sticker with the pointless QR code on it.

Other

Socks! (unknown company and year; bootleg)

My granny bought these socks for me last year as a late Christmas gift. Besides Shinobu, it came with Tanjiro, Zenitzu, Inosuke, and Nezuko. Link

Blanket (unknown company and year; bootleg)

I guess this would technically count as being a part of my Shinobu collection because it has Shinobu on it. Just like with the socks, my granny got it for me last year.

FIGPIN Demon Slayer Shinobu Kocho (2021)

Got her at a good price on eBay (around $12).

New Media #1: Oil Pastels

2024-01-09T13:54:00.000-08:00

This is my first time using oil pastels for my advanced drawing class. Although it’s muddy and messy, the colors are vibrant.

For my advanced drawing class, this assignment is called “New Media” and we experiment with different materials. This is the first one; I have four left to go!

As for my other assignment titled “Drawing”, I said in my one page paper that I’m aiming for a comic book “manga” look (similar to my original comic although that is digital not traditional), so I’m gonna be using ink pens. There are a total of 8 drawing assignments I have to do.

Basically for this class, I get to draw anything I want! I am the only advanced drawing student in the class while the rest are beginner drawing students (I’m taking it in person in the mornings Tues. and Thursdays). My professor gave me a gift today: more art supplies because she said I’m the best student in class 😊. She's super nice; I took her beginner drawing class last year.

Free Eeveelution (+shiny) Profile Pictures!

2024-01-01T11:49:00.000-08:00

To start off 2024 strong, I've made free profile pictures of each and every Eeveelution! I also finished shiny versions of them as well. Feel free to use as long as you don't profit off of them or repost without my credit (please do credit me if using as profile pic; it helps me out a lot). I put some love and effort into drawing them; Vaporeon is my favorite I've drawn.

I recommend using them for Instagram as it's the size I've picked but you can adjust the size for other social media (Tumblr, Twitter, etc.) in Photoshop.

I'm going back to college Wednesday so I'm gonna be busy but I hope to push out new art and maybe make future free profile pictures for ya'll if you like these Eeveelution drawings!

Donations are optional (you can also commission me) at: ko-fi.com/wimbearn

Magical Taruruuto-kun Plush Collection!

2023-12-20T16:52:00.000-08:00

Last updated: 8/19/2024

Plush Collection!

I don't remember when I got into this series; I think somewhere around February 2023. The first time I heard about it was in a random Shonen Jump game for the Famicom. When I saw that the series had gotten fansubbed, I got curious and checked it out. And immediately after a couple of episodes, I fell in love. I fell in love so much that I bought plushies of the characters. I do recommend the anime, but do note that it may contain some naughty stuff, but it isn't that bad, I guess? I hope it gets a western release. The series is created by Tatsuya Egawa, who also did Golden Boy. It's sad that there's no plush of Raivar (or Rival as the fansubs call him).

All of these plushies are super rare and hard to find on eBay, but you might use a Japanese proxy service like Japan Rabbit to get them.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK IF I AM SELLING THESE. THESE PLUSHIES ARE NOT FOR SALE.

Taruruuto Plush (Bandai; Year Unknown; possibly 1990 or 91?)

Based on the looks of this plush, this might've been made when the series was airing at the time and could be one of the first Taruruuto plushies. He looks so goofy and I love him. Originally, I wasn't gonna get him because of his condition (yellowed plastic eyes), but changed my mind. I am not sure what year this plush came out since he has no tag. Even if I try reverse image searching, I don't get any good results.

Here are the eBay listing images for archiving purposes:

Update: This plush I thought it was made by Banpresto, but nope! It's a Bandai Little Kid Plush according to this listing:

Update (8/19): Got him in the mail!

かわいさあまって/Kawaisa Amatte (I love how cute it is) Taruruuto, Mimora, and Niruru (1990)

Taruruuto and Mimora, I found together in sealed bags on eBay and bought them as a late birthday gift.

Not my image, but this was the image shown in the eBay listing (now deleted). Archiving it, though!

These guys are super cute and big too! Their head and hat are hard though, but they stand so well. As for Niruru, the little "rabbit" thing that's Taruruuto's friend? I randomly discovered it through a Japanese Google search to see if there were any Taruruuto plushies I missed. And luckily, I found it in stock on Mandarake via reverse image search. I didn't know what to do and how to buy it until I ran across Japan Rabbit. Guess how much money I spent on this plush? $40. Yeah, shipping was expensive because I wanted it to arrive fast and safely, but it was worth it! And the cute thing is, he squeaks and has the tag. Although he doesn't look like the show (missing the big pink paws on its feet) and is small, it's still cute and goes well with Taru and Mimora-chan!

Archiving this Mandarake listing image:

Niruru's tag:

Taruruuto and Mimora's Tags (both aren't my image!):

I also saw open eyed versions of these plushies (Taru and Mimora only, which are very hard to find), but I prefer the closed eyes ones.

Update 2/22/24: I found ads of the plushies (see left side)! [Source 1] [Source 2]

Taruruuto 14" Plush (Year Unknown; possibly 2015?)

By far, this is the best plush out of the four. It has more details than the others and I think they're replicating his manga look than his look in the anime, I'm not sure. His eyes and mouth are embordered and he's huggable! Although, the downside of this plush is that he had a weird smell (kinda like hair grease but not hair grease?) and I don't know where it's coming from. I don't want to ruin a cute plush though! He sits on my desk sometimes and when new fansub episodes of Taruruuto come out, I watch the episodes with this plush on my lap. If I ever cosplay as Honmaru (one of the main characters from the series) in the future, I would love to bring this plush at a con with me... if anyone even knows about the series, lol.

The eBay listing image for archiving purposes:

I hope you like the collection! Do check out Taruruuto-kun if you can! And also, check out the Genesis game (which recently got an EN translation), it's fun and developed by Game Freak (Pokémon guys!). To be honest, they should've made a talking Taruruuto plush because his voice actress Tarako when she does the voice in the anime is super adorable.

Update (5/1) (B2 Poster; BONUS!):

This B2 poster came in the mail and I want to show it off as a bonus! Took forever as I ordered it at the beginning of April.

I think it will go along with my plush collection very well. It almost has all of the characters and I love the colors on it. Too bad it costed me $200. I will be getting it framed.

Here's the poster in full from the seller:

Cassie (Dragon Tales) Watercolor Drawing

2023-12-14T16:57:00.000-08:00

Dragon Tales Plush Collection!

2023-12-06T22:55:00.000-08:00

Last updated: 1/5/2026
Plush Collection!

Dragon Tales is one of my favorite childhood shows; my #1 favorite actually. And I miss it a lot; wish it came back but I guess Sesame Workshop doesn't care about the show anymore. Back in November of 2023, I decided I wanted to buy plushies of the dragons and document them here; 3 of which has never gotten documented much on the internet until now thanks to me! I have 3 Cassies (favorite dragon!), 2 Ords, 1 Zak & Wheezie, and 1 Quetzal totaling to 7 plushies!

2026 update below - 2 more plushies to my collection now totaling to 9 + a vent.

PLEASE DO NOT ASK IF I AM SELLING THESE. THESE PLUSHIES ARE NOT FOR SALE.

Talking Dragons (Light Up Dragon Badge) (1999)

Cassie Status: Common

Ord Status: Common

Zak & Wheezie Status: Rare (?)

These guys are the reason I got into collecting Dragon Tales plushies of the dragons (same with the Shake and Dance Cassie plush)! I love the glowing dragon badge too... so cute on all 3. Each one has 5 phrases and takes 2 AA batteries. No on/off switch, though. For Zak and Wheezie, note that one of their badge glows depending on who's talking except for when Zak says their dragon badge is glowing (if Zak is talking, his badge glows and if Wheezie is talking, her badge glows). Also, my Zak & Wheezie plush doesn't stand well.

Cassie's Phrases:

"I'm Cassie!"

"I could be your friend."

"Wanna hold hands?"

"*giggles*"

"Look! My dragon badge! It's shining!"

Ord's Phrases:

"Hey little buddy!"

"I'm starved!"

"You betcha! *laughs*"

"Mmm... yummy in my tummy!"

"My dragon badge! It's shining!"

Zak & Wheezie's Phrases:

Zak:
"We're working together!" (2)

"Our dragon badge! It glowed!" (4)

Wheezie:
"🎵Love it! 🎵" (1)

"Okey dokey, artichokey!" (3)

"See ya later, alligator!" (5)

Also, I spotted a bootleg! At first it looks official, but Playskool only released the main 3 dragons (see the commercial for them).

This plush is just Cassie colored blue/light blue, has the eyes flipped (notice that the eyes aren't connected to the eyelashes), her dragon badge is purple, and has Ord's purple hair/scales. The sellers according to WorthPoint, says that it's Ord when it's not. I tried reverse image searching but got Ord plushies instead. Maybe this dragon could be based on a character from the show, but still, it's a 100% bootleg. I have never seen a Playskool or Hasbro plush get bootlegged. I do want to get my hands on this thing someday, but it's unlikely that it will show up. I'm curious if it has Cassie's voice or some random music (think of those weird bootleg/mirage Pikachu plushies that do that). [Link 1] [Link 2]

What they look like in the dark!

Update (5/23/24): I was looking for this everywhere, but on the back of this box for a talking Cassie plush, there's an error with Zak "playing the theme song" but he doesn't and Wheezie's "See ya later, alligator" quote is missing (due to the plushies saying 5 phrases). They fixed it on later releases of these plushies (maybe this error was present when these plushies came out).

Quetzal (2000)

Status: Super Rare (HARD TO FIND)

Sadly, my Quetzal plush is in used condition (his horn is torn and one of his eyes isn't looking great) but I got him at a good price on Mercari (about $70 + tax); I’m not bothered much by his condition. I don't know why he's super hard to find; I guess he wasn't mass-produced or is limited quantity compared to the other dragons. I love the wrinkles on him and the curled up tail. He is non-talking and is the only plush in my collection that doesn’t talk; there is no talking plush of him. Wish there was one! But, he goes along well with my talking dragon plushies!

…although he’s shorter than the others.

Shake and Dance Cassie (2002)

Status: Rare

🤩 wimbearn’s favorite! 🤩

This is my favorite Dragon Tales plush I own! And I mean, favorite favorite because I've been pressing her left hand so many times and trying not to waste her batteries XD. Cassie’s singing voice is adorable.

She has never been documented that much on the internet (no videos of her) until now; thank me for it! Super cute too and I love the materials used to make this plush; her wings are shiny and perfect, the skin is also shiny, and her hair/spikes are transparent and nice. Although, I wouldn't say she's cuddly due to her hard head, the material, and the mechanisms at the bottom. I also think that the material used for the pink skin is similar to the Hokey Pokey Elmo toy which also came out in 2002 (or 2003) by Fisher Price. When I put the batteries in and pushed her hand, her speaker is loud and it caught me off guard for the first time; I didn't want my dad hearing it XD. She takes 3 AA batteries and her on/off switch is located below the battery pack (at first I thought she had no on/off switch!).

The only info about this plush was that it was Toys R Us exclusive; no commercials of her or nothing. It also came with a VHS tape! Mine doesn’t have one though.

Cassie talks, sings, and walks. She sings "Shake Your Dragon Tail" from the show! I've never heard this song before until I got this plush. Just note that she might fall down on carpet and if your carpet is dirty or has some crumbs, stuff can stick to her feet :(! I recommend putting her on a smooth surface like a table. I was messing around pressing her hand during the song, but if you do press it while she's dancing, she will say a phrase! I thought she would just restart the song (similar to what some Elmo toys do) but nope! :)

The plush in action!

Phrases before dancing:

"Come on everybody! Let's shake!"

"Let's shake our tails!"

"Wanna shake?"

"Come on everybody! Let's shake our tails!" (not shown in the demo video below but shown in the second video)

If left alone for a couple of seconds (at least 20 sec.):

"Goodbye!"

Lyrics (her voice is muffled since this plush is from 2002 but the song is based on the one from the show):

Shake your dragon tail (x2)Just feel those ants in your pantsAnd move on down the trailCause if you're looking to have a good timeYou know it never failsJust stand right up and strut your stuffAnd shake your dragon tail

Some of her phrases when her hand is pressed while dancing (accidentally found this out):

Phrases (so far, I counted 10):

"Shake!"

"*giggles*"

"Shake it up!"

"Shake it high, shake it low!"

"Shake your hands!"

"Come on and shake it!"

"Shake everywhere!"

"Shake your toes!"

"Shake your fingers!"

"Shake it everywhere you go!"

Help, I can't get Shake Your Dragon Tail out of my head! Thanks, Cassie.

I found a thumbnail from some random website on Google (which I won't link because it looks like one of those spam websites). It looks like there used to be a YouTube video of this plush but no longer exists. I tried looking it up and got nothing. Not even reverse image search helped. I guess I'm the only one who truly has documented this plush!

Sparkle and Glow Courageous Cassie & Fearless Ord (2002)

Courageous Cassie Status: Rare

Fearless Ord Status: Super Rare (HARD TO FIND)

Just like with the Shake and Dance Cassie plush, these two plushies have never been documented until now (again, thank me!). Cassie and Ord are very similar to the 1999 plushies (both lack an on/off switch and have almost the same phrases but the 2002 ones only have two (Cassie's phrases sound way different from the 1999 plush)), just with different materials, size and looks. I love their dragon badges as well. They also were Toys R Us exclusive and have no commercials. Also, they came with a growth chart. They use the same material as the Shake and Dance Cassie plush (except the pink/blue skin) and they are different from their regular 2002 non-talking plushies (the eyes for the talking ones are embordered while the non-talking ones are painted on; I haven't seen a 2002 non-talking Fisher Price Ord plush that similar to this Cassie shown below).

Left: Talking Cassie (note the embordered eyes and different material for her pink skin. She's also about 10 inches)

Right: Non-talking Cassie (she's smaller; from research she's about 7 inches and her eyes and blue spots are painted on and the material is different except the hair/scales and wings)

While Cassie is common to find, you might be asking, how did I find Ord? Well, I was on WorthPoint and found the plush there, did a reverse image search and low and behold, I found an eBay listing! He was bundled with two other random plushies (I kinda like the angry looking octopus) but when the seller said the plushie worked in the description, I had to buy it. Ord is super hard to find and there are no images of him in the box. I guess the reason he wasn't bought yet is because it doesn't say "Dragon Tales" in the title of the listing. And they called Ord a dinosaur... 😅

But my question is... why no Zak & Wheezie? Unless they do exist but have never been released? Lost media?! Nah... but had Fisher Price made a Sparkle and Glow Zak & Wheezie, it would be called “Teamworking Zak & Wheezie” or something like that. Both Cassie and Ord take 3 AA batteries. Don't know why they take 3 and not 2 like the 1999 plushies.

When I got Ord in the mail, he had really bad battery corrosion and I was worried he wouldn't work... but when I fixed him and got rid of some of that corrosion off, he worked like new! Yay! I thought I would be ripped off.

Also, I noticed a difference with the Cassie plush. Some of the ones you see on eBay have her eyes looking off while others have the eyes looking to the right (your left). The one I own doesn't have the eyes looking off, but it's still the same plush. Maybe an error or something? I don't know.

Phrases:

Cassie:

"I'm Cassie!"

"*giggles* Look! My dragon badge! It's glowing!"

Ord:

"Hey little buddy!"

"My dragon badge! It's shining!"

What they look like in the dark!

1999 vs. 2002 Comparison

Cassie

Ord

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2026 update:

Hungry Hiccuping Ord (1999)

Status: Rare

Originally, I said I wasn't going to get him, but changed my mind years later. He seems to appear very rarely sadly, I swear, he used to be common.

My Ord has a blemish on his left eye and only comes with 1 food piece. I didn't really care about his condition or getting all of the foods, I just wanted this plush.

Here's his commercial:

Jumbo Cassie (2000)

Status: Super Rare

Got her at Mercari for $50. She's very big - maybe a rare find! She's similar to the talking Cassie from 1999, except without the talking//light up portion, she's bigger than that plush and that her eyes is embroidered instead of plastic. Look at the difference here:

I also seen a giant Ord via Worthpoint, but he's so hard to find and if someone lists him for a very high price (which I will get to later through a vent), then I'm not getting him.

And I guess that ends my Dragon Tales collection. Years later, coming back, some of the plushies I own are starting to become hard to find and getting scarce - and I guess it's my fault when I showed off my collection back in 2023 when I was 21 (I was that age when I made this collection post too) - people kept viewing it than my other stuff, one person messaged me on Instagram last year asking if my Zak and Wheezie plush was on sale - it was starting to bother me that I privated it and I began to despise that video. Maybe another reason is because people still have a nostalgia for this show and there are a lot of people on the internet that still like these old kids shows from the 2000s that they try hard to find merch for it. For example, Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat merch is rare and expensive - crazy.

Courageous Cassie used to be common but now, she's hard to find - as of this writing, there is one listed on eBay in the box - for a high price. Not worth it unless you're a collector. Most of the plushies are now so expensive - especially some obscure Dragon Tales plushies that I can't do it anymore with buying Dragon Tales plushies or any vintage plush. As of this writing, one of the talking light up Ords that was recently listed is $95. Ridiculous. I started to have this change in buying vintage plushies or retro video game stuff on eBay or Mercari thanks to a YouTuber by the name of Heckin' Steve and I learned about people flipping prices on video games.

Also, I have enough stuffed animals - my room is just filled with it and it's due to my overspending and depression. I've slowed down with it now since I now have a business and I'm taking care of that.

Vent over. Anyways, back to 2023 me below:

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Anyways, I hope you like this collection! I try so hard to document plushies that have less or no info about them on the internet! With these old and obscure plushies, they barely have info.

*sigh* And now I'm broke... kinda. Time to resave my money all over again. This is what I get for doing some early Christmas shopping for myself -_-.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2023-11-23T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." -1 Chronicles 16:34

I wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for my family, friends, the food, and of course God.

For my Thanksgiving feast, I'm just gonna eat turkey, Honeybaked Ham, mac and cheese, and Hawaiian rolls! And I'm gonna be spendin' time with my dad.

For this drawing, I made a sketch in my notebook first, then did the rest in Procreate on my iPad digitally. I use the watercolor brush with some airbrushing. As for the lineart, I use a G-Pen and a bit of the Syrup pen tool.

Sketch and process below! :)

December is almost here!!!

A Bunch of Sketches!

2023-11-19T12:46:00.000-08:00

These are some unposted sketches I had left sitting in my sketchbook. I haven’t sketched for days, but these sketches were done back in September. Enjoy.

About this one… the only sketch I like on this page is the mountain in the background I tried doing. But this page was left unfinished since I didn’t like my other sketches.

The page next to this one is of my original characters from my comic and I love how it turned out. I did use reference images for them. But, that sketch will be for a future post as I want to keep my characters private.

Have a wonderful Sunday. Stay happy and see ya! ;)

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If you're an artist and ever need some help with poses, here are some resources (just a heads up some reference images used in some of these sites might have people that aren't fully clothed but there might be an option to have only clothed people):

QuickPoses - I used this site for my sketches shown here

PoseMy.Art

PoseManiacs

JustSketch.Me - you can pose the female/male model. There are poses and models that are locked that requires you to pay but I haven't spent any money to unlock it.

AdorkaStock

I also highly recommend Taco1704; look them up on Google.

Future resources or some I haven't listed will be linked in a "Resources" page.

Go Dragon Ball Go! | Original comic/manga based on CN series MAD

2023-11-02T16:37:00.006-07:00

I had left this one sitting in Procreate for a while. I started drawing the comic in October 2021 and completed it in October of last year. I had an idea of turning one of Cartoon Network's MAD skits/shorts that I remember watching as a kid into a manga/comic: "Go Dragon Ball Go!".

And now, I will be putting it out there for you to read. And no, this is NOT my original comic that I had gotten copyrighted last month. I will save details later as I am working on self-publishing.

I decided to keep Diego, Swiper, and Baby Jaguar's design as they looked in MAD, but I changed the Dragon Ball characters to look like their official designs rather than the bootleg, copyright-free versions MAD used. Enjoy!

Note: Reads right to left like a manga.

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Thanks for reading! Enjoyed this comic? Donate or commission me (you don't have to, but it helps me as a small artist):

Daniel Kevin Harrison's IMDB

(Original Art) Over the Edge

2023-10-25T17:04:00.006-07:00

This is an original art piece made by me. This one I made because it's about so many things going on with me.

In this piece, I drew a girl sitting sadly. Alone on the edge of a cliff. I want to capture something like a creature engulfing her or something. Something sad and depressing. Notice that she's glowing; she is the light and she is slowly fading away. This one I just used my imagination with.

I have thoughts of just giving up my money. I push hard with my art and voice acting stuff and while I love what I do, social media has been driving me off a cliff. No one cares if I make a new video; I guess they like it but don't interact with me. No one cares if I make an original art piece. And no one cares commissioning me on Ko-fi. That's why I've been spending a lot this month (and also last month). And today, dad was questioning what I spent my money on when I was done with classes: a stuffed animal that was Japan only (Mandarake) and I couldn't find it on eBay, which led to me using a service called Japan Rabbit to help me. I spent $22 on their service to buy it for me, while I paid $25 for FedEx shipping. It's like my money has gone down the drain. I'm trying my best to not to overspend and save it for other stuff like art supplies but I give up with my life and money spending. It reminds me of how I spent a lot of money back in 2021 on eBay Pokémon plushies and I was almost broke. I can't do this anymore and I rather spend it on good things that will help me with my art or voice acting career.

With my videos, I work with limited equipment. Like, I now record on my new computer which sadly lacks a back camera but I no longer use my old one because of storage issues. And plus, my old editing software crashes a lot. I now edit in CapCut. With one of my videos, "I Tried Pokémon Sleep!" I don't have a screen recorder and someone suggested I should use one. Instead, I used an animation webcam which isn't that great but I tried to capture my iPhone screen. That video was 40 minutes long and was a pain to edit. It's why I don't make videos that much and I feel like retiring again.

I found more success with real life. Last week, I got my copyright certificate for my original comic and I am working on self-publishing it (which is why I am not revealing details yet), and recently for my college I will be in a digital writing magazine; I got my certificate yesterday.

But... life is hard. And I give up. Sorry for this depressing piece.

Quick Dragon Ball NYCC 2023 Panel Livestream animation.

2023-10-12T20:58:00.000-07:00

It makes fun of the livestream that announced Dragon Ball Daima, but the darn stream hid the trailers and stuff. It was the worst and it was terrible waking up early just to get a pink screen in front of my face.

Interview: Voice Actor Daniel Kevin Harrison (Voice of Gokudo)

2023-09-28T15:12:00.002-07:00

In today's interview, I have successfully had gotten in contact with another voice actor! And it's been a while since I've interviewed one.

For those who don't know, last year, I interviewed voice actress Marcy Goldberg, who plays Daisy in the obscure Dragon Quest anime Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha Densetsu. In the English version, it was known as Dragon Warrior and the dub sadly lasted 13 episodes. It's one of my favorite anime and to get in contact with Daisy's English voice has been amazing. It was my very first interview with a voice actor.

Today's voice actor is Daniel Kevin Harrison. If you have heard of the anime Gokudo the Adventurer and watched the English dub, you might know that he plays the main protagonist Gokudo Yuccot Kikansky. Gokudo is an amazing old anime that I recommend checking out and it's another one of my favorite anime. His other roles include Hiroshi Nakano in Gravitation, Don the Repairer in K.O. Beast, Seishinjia in Madara, and Muryou Subaru in Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars.

How did I manage to find Daniel? I had a hard time trying to see if he had any contact information but I nearly gave up. However, I had some luck as I found him on a website: voices.com. I made an account since you need one to message people and waited. I thought: if he doesn't reply, I might just give up and deactivate my account. But I was happy when he replied on 9/23! He was happy to do the interview with me on the site.

Enjoy! It's pretty short.

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Me: How did your voice acting career start?

Daniel: Heh. I wouldn't call it a career, but…

I was working on a movie when one day a friend of the director showed up. The man's name was Joe Digiorgi and he ran a sound studio in New York which, according to some people on set, did dubs for Anime titles. I had NO idea what Anime was, all I knew was that Joe 'made cartoons' and I had three young sons who would be VERY impressed if they heard Dad's voice in one. Every time Joe would come to the set, I would make a point of physically putting him on the ground, sitting on his chest, and yelling, 'I have children who want to hear me in cartoons Joe! Hire me! Hire me!'

This went on for the length of the shoot, and after we had wrapped, Joe got in touch with me and asked if I would be interested in voicing this character Gokudo. I was very interested, so I went down to New York, got in the booth and started. It was a gloriously fun experience and Joe hired me for several titles after that.

Me: That’s awesome! Do you have any memories working with the cast of Gokudo or playing the character?

Daniel: Tons! I have told these stories so many times at cons..and I love them all!

Bill Timoney was the director of Gokudo, and was really the only other person (beside Joe and a couple of other engineers) that I interacted with. When you do a dub, generally you come in and work for as long as it takes to dub in all your lines. Unless you are a major character, you could be done in as little as a couple of hours. The cast doesn't all congregate and work together, it's just one person in the sound booth. Because I had so many lines in Gokudo, it took me several eight hour sessions to get all my lines in, maybe five or six days all together.

When we first started, it was important to find Gokudo's voice. Joe, Bill, a soundboard engineer and I were sitting at a table in the studio, trying to come up with one and were getting nowhere. It got to be lunchtime and Joe said that we should call in takeout order from this great deli nearby. We each said what we'd like, and my order was a roast beef with cheddar cheese on wheat bread. When Joe called it in, the deli said that they didn't have roast beef, and asked if I'd like something else. Well, I had never heard of a deli that didn't have roast beef sandwiches, and I was hungry and upset. 'No roast beef!!??' I said (loudly). 'What kind of a shitty sandwich shop doesn't have roast beef!!??' Bill Timoney spun around in his chair, pointed at me and said, 'THAT is Gokudo's voice! He is pissed off because he wants a roast beef sandwich and the deli doesn't have them! THAT is the voice I want you to use!!' So, from then on, whenever I wanted to get into character, I would say, 'No roast beef??!!' just as I had said it that day, and I would be back into Gokudo's head.

The dubs were released as we finished them, not all at once, and Joe would give out a few copies as they became available, so I was able to give them to my boys and let them watch them while I was still in the process of dubbing the later episodes. They loved them and would invite their friends over to watch. For a while, I was the neighborhood rockstar.

Me: Wow! That's hilarious and awesome, Daniel! My next question for you: is doing voice acting a lot of work for you? Or is it simple and easy?

Daniel: It was never hard, but I took it very seriously, so I wouldn't call it simple and easy. It was a performance, not just a reading, so it took effort and focus.

Me: Any fun memories at a convention? Have you ever gotten any gifts from fans?

Daniel: I have some beautiful artwork from fans and I made a lot of friends at the cons. Occasionally I would bring one of my kids or my wife and we'd have a fabulous weekend somewhere while I got to feel like a celebrity for a few days. I really loved the inclusive vibe and culture of acceptance at the cons, I've never experienced that anywhere else. PortCon in Maine was my first, and I think I went there for 5 or 6 years. Julie and her crew ran a fabulous event.

The most surreal con experience was in New York. We were having a cast-wide panel for Gravitation in a ballroom that held hundreds of people. The show was going to be released in six months or so, but that ballroom was FULL, and the first seven or eight rows on both sides of the center aisle were taken by cosplayers. The whole place screamed every time one of us said anything! It was like being in the Beatles. Just crazy.

Me: That's so awesome! Speaking of beautiful artwork, I'm an artist myself and I would love to draw you Gokudo! Although on this site [talking about voices.com], I can't send images sadly. Do you still continue to do voice act to this day for other projects? And do you still appear at conventions?

Daniel: I haven't voiced any anime for a while (years) now, nor have I gone to a con in over a decade. I recently retired from my work, and would love to get back into acting, but I have a few things to do first…perhaps then I will start to explore old contacts and see what is what.

Me: If Gokudo ever had a sequel or made a return, would you return to do the voice of him?

Daniel: Absolutely!

Me: Yeah!!! Do you have any advice for me as a beginner voice actress and for those who want to start voice acting?

Daniel: Read out loud for at least 1/2 an hour every day, and record it. Play it back and listen. Hear if your voice is interesting, or simply a droning monotone. Work on putting inflection and an interesting quality in your voice. Go to a con and sit in on panels with VAs and ask good, intelligent questions, not typical fan questions. Ask about their work, their process; be informed about their body of work and let them know that. They will appreciate the genuineness of your interest and may be approachable after the panel to talk one on one. Research the studios in your area, see when they have auditions or casting calls.

Me: Only two more questions left. Do you have any social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, etc.)?

Daniel: I'm on Facebook, but not as an actor. Not on Twitter or Instagram.

Me: And finally, do you have any questions for me?

Daniel: No, but I wish you well! It was a pleasure talking with you.

Me: Yeah! Thank you so much, Daniel!

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And that's it for the interview! If you enjoyed this interview and want me to do more voice actor interviews, let me know!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day! :)

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Voices.com Profile

Interview: Whirlwynd (artist; creator of 20 Galaxies)

2023-09-08T00:00:00.001-07:00

Today, I bring you another interview! Last year, I've interviewed a voice actor from Canada: Marcy Goldberg. I would love to interview more voice actors, but I had a hard time reaching out to them either due to their big following on social media or them not checking direct messages, so I gave up. So this time, I have chosen to interview an artist! Meet Whirlwynd (or Geminic Blue), artist and creator of the 20 Galaxies comic.

I’ve randomly discovered her works Monday night in a YouTube playlist. The video I watched that made me check out their channel is this animation from 9 years ago:

So, I chose to interview her because I was scrolling on Whirlwynd’s Tumblr blog and I was amazed by her artworks! I typed up all of the questions on my phone during my hair appointment Tuesday. I had a hard time coming up with some questions 😅!

I was worried that she wouldn’t reach out, but Thursday, she was kind enough to reply and answer all of them. Thank you Whirlwynd/Geminic Blue for the interview!

If you like this interview, let me know if you want to see more small (or big) artists get interviewed by me! Or maybe small voice actors.

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Me: Hello. My name is Arnézia and I am an artist and future animator. I discovered your channel yesterday and I have to say… you are amazingly talented! I do have a couple of questions for you; kind of like a small interview. I would also like to feature you on my WordPress blog if you don’t mind. I’m also making my own original comic as well but it’s currently private since I’m planning on protecting my works by copyright.

Whirlwynd: Hi Arnézia! Thanks so much for checking out my work, I’m glad you like it 🙂 I wouldn’t mind at all being featured, and if you ever wanted me to give your work a shoutout when it does come out, let me know. I don’t have many visitors these days but I would do what I can!

Me: What software do you use to make your animations? What software do you use to draw in?

Whirlwynd: I use Photoshop Elements to draw the frames, OpenToonz to string them together, and Premiere Elements for effects and compression. Or if I’f just making a short GIF, this site: https://ezgif.com/maker

Me: The animation that led me to check out your YouTube channel is 20 Galaxies Episode 1 Part 1 (found it in a playlist). Your comic is also featured on your WordPress blog, but only book 1. When did 20 Galaxies start, how did you create it, and are you still working on 20 Galaxies currently? Is it your first comic?

Whirlwynd: 20 Galaxies is a very old project, definitely my first original work. I started it for a class assignment way back in 1992 — we had to write a journal entry every day, and I started writing stories based off of my dreams. I’ve been working on it intermittently since then, but I restarted it way too many times and never really got past the first book. I am actively writing the second one, though.

Me: Do you remember how the 20 Galaxies animation (episode 1 part 1) was made (how did you get voice actors, music, etc.)?

Whirlwynd: When I first worked on and released that episode I was participating in a small community of amateur animators so I think that’s how I got a lot of the voice actors that time. The community isn’t active anymore, unfortunately, but it was a good resource exchange. A lot of the music I made myself with my now broken-down keyboard, some of it came from incompetech.com.

Me: Besides 20 Galaxies, any other original projects or comics you’re working on?

Whirlwynd: I’m working on a series of short stories called Dreamcrashers! It’s a high fantasy/comedy about a group of adventurers that have to jump into people’s dreams to save them. And probably the world, of course.

Me: Are there any artists that you are inspired by/influences your art style?

Whirlwynd: Naoko Takeuchi and CLAMP were my biggest influences early on, more recently Lynne Triplett (Engelbaum webcomic)Me: When did you start drawing and when did you get into making comics?

Me: When did you start drawing and when did you get into making comics?

Whirlwynd: I remember drawing stick figure comics and making little notepad animations when I was 10-ish years old. I wish I still had them. I do have some of the 20 Galaxies comics I made in 1996.

Me: Besides Tumblr and YouTube, any other social media platforms? I saw that you have an Instagram but it hasn’t been active since last year. I would also love to promote your Ko-fi and Patreon.

Whirlwynd: That would be so nice of you! I’m on a bit of a break from social media at the moment, but when I’m around I’m most active on Tumblr.

Me: Any advice for me as a small artist and beginner animator and for all of the other small artists and animators out there?

Whirlwynd: If I were to give advice to my younger self, it would be to start on smaller, short projects before working up to the longer-form ones, especially with regards to animation. I would have thought it was just me, very much underestimating how much time and effort a project would take, but it seemed to be a common theme in that animator community I was in 😅

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If you're interested in checking out Whirlwynd's works, I will link all of her socials, Ko-fi, and Patreon below. Whirlwynd is mostly active on Tumblr, but I will link her DeviantArt and Instagram just in case. Thanks for reading and thanks again, Whirlwynd for the interview!

https://geminicblue.com/ - you can also submit your own independent website to be featured on there as long as you follow the submission guidelines!

https://www.tumblr.com/blog/geminicblue

https://www.youtube.com/@geminicblue

https://www.youtube.com/@WhirlwyndsWanderings

https://www.pillowfort.social/Whirlwynd

https://www.instagram.com/geminicblue/

https://www.deviantart.com/whirlwynd

Donate/support at:

https://www.patreon.com/geminicblue

http://ko-fi.com/whirlwynd

Sweet 21!

2023-08-26T00:00:00.001-07:00

Man, I never felt this happy to turn 21 years old today. I don’t have much to say on this blog post, but here’s a drawing I did last night!

Fansub Nitpicks and Pet Peeves that I have!

2023-08-08T00:10:00.012-07:00

(Originally, this post was titled: "You know what grinds my gears? Certain Fansubs")

This might be a short post on certain fansubs and what not to do when making them. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy anime getting subbed by fans like Dr. Slump or Magical Taruruuto (the group is currently slow at subbing Taro).

But there maybe certain groups or unknown groups that don’t do the subs correctly and it irks me or I get a bit nitpicky. And it started with Cat’s Eye Season 2 when the fansubbing group started switching and what made me write this blog post. I’ll still watch the anime with bad subs but if the subs is all a mess, I drop the anime completely until there’s proper or official subs. I'm not hating or being mean to the groups, I get that these subs are old or that the software that they're using isn't that great. It's a post to maybe show what not to do when fansubbing; note: I am not a fansubber.

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I’m gonna take episode 62 of Cat’s Eye. The red underline for some screenshots is the dialogue while the yellow highlight is a translation of a sign, poster, or song.

One of the characters, Rui was speaking her dialogue. But as the camera pans over to the football poster, the translation of the poster gets jumbled up with Rui’s dialogue and I had to go back and pause to read what she’s saying. It made it look like it’s one sentence and it can be confusing. They could at least put the translation of the poster above the screen or on it and have Rui’s dialogue kept below.

It even happens during a song near the episode… put the lyrics at the top of the screen! Or at least color code the subs. >-<

(pink: a guy is talking offscreen

green: Rui's dialogue - this part is where I started noticing this issue and what led me to write this blog post)

(green: Hitomi's dialogue; pink: offscreen guy's dialogue)

(yellow: translation on the newspaper; green: Ai's dialogue)

(I want to point out the different font used in episode 40 for this translation for comparison. At least they used different font but it would be better if they put the translation above the Japanese on the paper; as the camera moves on screen, so does the font)

One episode of Cat’s Eye 2 (episode 57; above screenshots) was bothering me the most with this issue where they make it look like it's one complete sentence even though 2 people are talking at the same time and it happens MULTIPLE times.

But what’s funny is… this part from episode 62… whenever another character is talking, they actually split up the dialogue so it doesn’t look like it’s one sentence… you do something correctly but can’t fix the other issues. The only problem is that there's no dashes to indicate another character is talking. The top is Rui's dialogue while the bottom is Ai's dialogue.

(worst example is episode 65 where there's too much subtitles on screen and at 13:07, some of it disappears super quickly.)

Another nitpick with fansubs is the anime, Ghost Sweeper Mikami. The subtitles got off sync during dialogue when I watched the first episode and I had to switch to Toei’s official subs on YouTube. Problem is, Toei’s subs is also offsync or poorly timed with the dialogue at times. Despite these issues, I still finished GSM.

(It should say Toshi's or Toshi is)

Back to the fansubs in Cat’s Eye 2. Some words shouldn’t be capitalized unless it’s the name of a group or person, missing punctuation or grammar errors, or sometimes not spacing words. If the person is from another country, I get that there might be some errors here and there and that they have a hard time with English.

Title card is inconsistent at times. I guess the group gave up with putting episode numbers at the top as I got further in CE2 - the previous subbers for season 1 put episode numbers at the top and I believe that the font was consistent. Also, sometimes the font will match the title card's but other times it's plain boring. For comparison, I will post examples below.

Episode 1 - Different Subbing group

Episode 37

Episode 38

Episode 41 (up to 45); notice the hashtag before the number 41.

(and then they give up halfway starting around episode 46)

Episode 47

Episodes 62-71 (no episode number :( )

Another thing is, as I got further, they stopped subtitling the ending theme for CE2 but left the opening subtitled! I guess they couldn’t keep it in anymore. They truly gave up.

When I hit episodes 72 and 73, the subbing group switched and while the episodes are low quality, the group at least does everything correct than the previous group. What a relief. Too bad it’s the final two episodes.

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Two final things is with the anime City Hunter. After my binge of all 4 seasons plus all movies last month, when I watched the first movie, I noticed that instead of Ryo's catchphrase "Mokkori", it says "Nookie" during one scene - sure it's fitting, but I'm more used to mokkori; also, don't even look up what nookie or mokkori means 😅. At least the official subs and the fansubbing group Mokkori Fansub kept it in but I'm not sure which group subbed this movie. Just a small nitpick.

Speaking of the fansubbing group, Mokkori Fansub, sometimes their subs will be big and bolded, but only with certain letters. Not sure if this is some formatting error?

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But to conclude this post... I still love subbed anime and fansubs. I usually don't care about translator's notes sometimes since it's distracting to me unless I'm interested in learning what that food is or what that Japanese word means. For example, a recent subbed episode of Dr. Slump (143) mentions the food manjū and the TN explains what a manjū is; at first I nearly misread it as the word manga.

Fansubbers, keep subbing obscure anime or new ones! Keep working hard! As long as it isn't something like "Just according to keikaku - (TN: Keikaku means plan)" for example or if you're subbing for the first time don't make these errors above! I'm not mad or don't like being mad at other people or even arguing/having a debate with others, I still care about the hard work these subbers put into.

I'm fine with some Japanese words over English unless it's something like Pokémon or the above mentioned keikaku; I get that they're being respectful but I'm more used to the English names of the Pokémon than the Japanese ones, but it made me curious about some of the Japanese monster names for some when I watched the English subbed version for the first time, however I stopped watching the subs halfway since people were streaming Journeys episodes on YT and although I didn't understand the dialogue since it was in Japanese, I only cared for the action and Ash's journey so that I wouldn't be spoiled while waiting for the dub.

Again, keep it up and don't make these above mistakes! Sending encouragement! Keep subs consistent!❤️

-----------------------------------

Update (8/13): So I visited an anime store in my local area today and turns out, they have complete DVD collections of City Hunter and Cat's Eye! Didn't buy them because I already finished both but man, why didn't I buy the actual official DVD's instead of watching the fansubs! Oh well. 😅

Artists that I'm Inspired By FINALE: Akira Toriyama (+ Minoru Maeda)

2023-07-27T10:00:00.262-07:00

This post will also be on my WordPress blog scheduled to post on July 29th since I rarely use my Blogger because as mentioned in one of my posts... botted views mostly coming from Singapore. It might have more words and stuff than this post and some corrections. This post on this blog might not be updated much since I'm rarely using my Blogger.

When my WordPress post drops on Saturday, I will link it here.

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2023/07/29/artists-that-im-inspired-by-finale-akira-toriyama-minoru-maeda/

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Now, it's time for the moment you've been waiting for!

Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daa, Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daa, Da-da-da-da-da-da-daa Da-da-da-la-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daa, Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daa, tssshh Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-daa-da-da-da-da-daa, Ti-ta-ti-ti-ta-ti-ti-ta-ta-ta-la-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-da-la-ba-ba-ba-ba-da-la-ba-ba-baa, Ti-ta-ti-li-ta-ti-li-ti-taa, Ti-ta-ti-li [gasps] Ti-ta-ti-li-ta-ti-li-ta-ti-li-ta-ti-li-ta-ti-li-ti-ta-ti-ti-ta-ti-ti-taaaaa!

The man... the legend!

Artists that I'm Inspired By: Akira Toriyama

(+ Minoru Maeda)

So you might be asking me, why did I include an animator and character designer for this last part?

Well, I remember running into a Tumblr blog post that showed different Goku designs from different animators and one of the designs of Goku was drawn by Maeda. He has worked on Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball and according to the wiki, he is known for his rounded designs. And he does a good job emulating Toriyama's style! I'm okay with the sharp designs used in Z and Super but I still miss that bubbly look of OG Dragon Ball or Dr. Slump.

But I will save him for last. I want to cover Toriyama first and break down his works!

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Yes, you already know who Toriyama is. Famous for Dragon Ball Z, character designs in Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger, or Dr. Slump (which isn't that well known or popular in the West, maybe?; you already might know who Arale is due to her cameos in Dragon Ball).

There are so many other works from Toriyama that I am curious about such as Sand Land (I am excited for the upcoming movie!) or Blue Dragon. And I have to discover them all! Well, maybe don't talk about Lady Red because the ending is uh... I won't talk about it.

I did notice that there seems to be an art shift in his art, I believe? For example, I own a Dragon Quest art book and the artwork does evolve as I go page by page as the games go up. It goes from a lighter watercolor (similar to Ken Sugimori's art) to more detailed, shaded, and modern. I'll show what I'm talking about below.

(Comparison: DQ 1 artwork to DQ 8 artwork. Source: Tumblr (DQ 1 Image)/CFC)

I will pick some of my favorite Dragon Ball art first. Of course, it's his most popular series, so why not start with it first?

(Source: Kami Sama Explorer Museum/Flickr)

Found this and I thought of posting here. :)

Note: Some of the below images mostly come from the Character Design References site or Kami Sama Explorer Museum!

Of course, I include Launch! For those who don't know, she's my favorite Dragon Ball character!

If you find any good Toriyama art, let me know!

Next, I will be picking out some Dr. Slump artwork.

Next, I will be picking some of my Dragon Quest favs.

He also did character designs for one of my favorite Dragon Quest anime: Legend of the Hero Abel!

I saw this Chono Trigger image and I love it!

Finally, I will be picking random works or images from Toriyama! I won't be commenting much or citing my sources since most images come from the above sites.

The original Dragon Ball: Dragon Boy!

That was... a lot of photos! But I just adore Toriyama's style and there are a lot of good Toriyama artworks you can find online! And I mean plenty!

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Now for Minoru Maeda. I already explained who he is, but I will be picking some of my favorite artworks from his and put them down below. I won't have much commentary, but I still adore his rounded designs seen in Dr. Slump or OG Dragon Ball.

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Conclusion - why is my art style inspired by theirs?

For Toriyama: I adore his cartoony look. Any Toriyama anime also does a good job with translating it well especially with expressions! I only like Toriyama's old watercolor art, but I think some of his modern art is pretty good.

For Maeda: Already said it above!

If I were to say how much of my art style is inspired by theirs, I would say 50-60% maybe.

Thank you so much for reading all of my Artists that I'm Inspired By series! This finale was pretty long, but it's mostly images. I'm doing this series just to share what artists I'm inspired by. If you've seen some of my original art, it might look like some of the artists I mentioned! Again, thank you and take care!

- The End -

Artists that I'm Inspired By: Honorable Mentions

2023-07-20T10:00:00.381-07:00

This post will also be on my WordPress blog scheduled to post on July 22nd since I rarely use my Blogger because as mentioned in one of my posts... botted views mostly coming from Singapore. It might have more words and stuff than this post and some corrections. This post on this blog might not be updated much since I'm rarely using my Blogger.

When my WordPress post drops on Saturday, I will link it here.

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2023/07/22/artists-that-im-inspired-by-honorable-mentions/

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Before my last and final part drops next week, I decided to do some honorable mentions on more artists that inspire me. This might be a short (or long) post since I don't have much to say on images I pick or if the artist I mention is obscure or doesn't have much character reference sheets. I will be picking favorite images I find.

So let's get into it, shall we?

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Tatsuya Egawa

So... uh... I'm quite embarrassed on showing or talking about him because a lot of people know this man because of Golden Boy. I have never watched that anime but the only thing I like about him is his art in Magical Taruruto. When I first watched the series (some fansub group started subbing the series which is sadly taking very long to sub either because they are working on other projects or real life stuff), I wasn't expecting it to be in that genre. But for the art in that series, it's very cute. Taru's voice is very cute and in one episode (I believe it was 14 or 13) I was just squealing with cuteness in one scene where Taru was invited to a birthday party.

(Source: Twitter/@JumpCovers)

I first heard of Taruruto through a random Japanese search a while back. I saw that he had some Japanese stage show. Besides Taru, there's also some pink haired girl who looks like Taru and I'm curious on when she shows up in the anime.

But looking at the backgrounds and art in the anime, it gives me warmth and comfort. As a matter of fact, any image of Taruruto you find, it looks very colorful.

(Source: IMDB)

(Source: Retromags)

(Source: Aucfree)

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Miho Shimogasa

You might know her for Sailor Moon or PowerPuff Girls Z, but I like her designs in the Gokudo anime. When I was watching Gokudo for the first time, I was curious on who did the character designs for this anime. And when I looked Miho up, I can see that her designs in Gokudo look either Sailor Moon like or PPGZ like. The original creator of Gokudo is Usagi Nakamura while the illustrator is Takeru Kirishima, but I like Miho's designs better.

(Source: nicovideo (thumbnail only))

The only thing I'm focused on is her designs in Gokudo, mostly the main protagonist himself because I love his over the top facial expressions - and man do I want to rewatch this anime sometime this time English dubbed.

(Source: Tumblr/animenostalgia)

While finding some artwork of Gokudo that Miho has done, I found this above artwork. You will love the Gokudo anime - it's hilarious. Literally any image or frame you see in the anime (mostly with the protagonist) has either a hilarious facial expression or a cute one as I said earlier.

(Source: Japamart)

(Source: Mandarake)

(Source: Twitter/@amazake0301)

(Source: Twitter/@aoba_1986)

I was lucky to find model sheets from this website!

(Source: Myday)

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Yoshiyuki Sadamoto

I was thinking of FLCL for this mention and I actually didn't know Sadamoto did character designs for Evangelion - both are animated by Gainax! Pretty cool. And not just that, he also did Summer Wars! His designs in NGE is good but I think FLCL stands out to me the most. I also own a FLCL art book that I picked up at Barnes & Noble.

I'm just gonna pick my favorites I find below. It's mostly gonna be Haruko. You can find more here or the FLCL art book I mentioned.

By the way, I know about the new FLCL seasons coming soon to Adult Swim and just saw the teaser on Tuesday; I actually didn't know there was a teaser. I was not expecting it to be 3D. -_-. Not a fan of the changes they did to my girl Haruko (mostly on the lips)... but hopefully the new series will be alright.

(Source: FLCL Fandom Wiki)

I love FLCL's expressions, as seen in this above image! Look at all the squiggles! ~~~~

There's so many images I love from this anime but I'm gonna let you look it up yourself.

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Hiroshi Fuji

Not much is known about this man but he did the character design of Valkyrie for Namco's Valkyrie no Bōuken or the Valkyrie series. I had brought up this game in Part 1, where Ken Sugimori (Pokémon) worked on a Valkyrie manga! There is an interview which I will link here, but I wish Valkyrie was more recognized in the west. She's one of Namco's obscure characters. And I like obscure characters and stuff.

(Source: Twitter/(@FUJIHIROSHI_)

(Source: shmuplations)

(Source: magmix)

(Source: Famitsu)

(Source: Some Japanese Image Site)

(Source: Mercari)

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Tsukasa Hojo

This is the last artist/author that's on my list.

I enjoyed the first season of the City Hunter anime and I am currently watching the second season and have plans to watch Cat's Eye. But I like this man's art in City Hunter but only when characters show expression. I also like the City Hunter manga cover art as well; I just like light colors and watercolors. I don't draw realism much... I'm more on the cartoony anime side. I won't be commenting much, but I will be picking my favorites.

(Source: City Hunter Wiki)

(Source: Flickr)

(Source: invaluable)

Note: Although he did character designs for CH, I'm pretty sure these are different animators or people working on the anime - the anime has a bit of a mix between realism and cartoony at times; I'm not sure.

(Source: Tumblr/Artbook Island)

(Source: Flickr)

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Well, that's about it! Stay tuned for the final part next week! Some of you - if you follow me on social media had already guessed who my final favorite artist is that inspires my own art style!

Artists that I'm Inspired By: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru

2023-07-13T10:00:00.251-07:00

This post will also be on my WordPress blog scheduled to post on July 15th since I rarely use my Blogger because as mentioned in one of my posts... botted views mostly coming from Singapore. It might have more words and stuff than this post and some corrections. This post on this blog might not be updated much since I'm rarely using my Blogger.

When my WordPress post drops on Saturday, I will link it here.

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2023/07/15/artists-that-im-inspired-by-katsuyoshi-nakatsuru/

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Artists that I'm Inspired By: Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru

I found this man because I was curious on who did the Digimon human designs and ran across this image.

(Source: Facebook/Universo Digimon)

This translation - it is a bit poor due to the post being in Portuguese:

Now, uh... this one was tricky because I'm not sure if he did the human designs for the Digimon anime. There's seems to be not that much information, except when I checked MyAnimeList. He has done character design for Digimon Adventure up to Frontier. When I looked him up, Nakatsuru didn't just do Digimon, but Dragon Ball as well. Maybe I can confirm that he did the human designs for Digimon, and there is some evidence. Joe and Izzy's eye designs look a bit Toriyama like, this Wikipedia page of the first Digimon movie mentions him, and this interview mentioning one of his old (and early) character designs and Hiromi Seki bringing up that he did the designs but that's all I got.

(Source: The Digi-Lab)

But I'm not focusing on his Dragon Ball designs. I'm only gonna focus on the Digimon human character designs only in Adventure/Adventure 02 and why does it inspire (maybe partially inspire) my art style. His style used in Tamers and Frontier is alright, but I prefer his designs used in the original Adventure series. This post won't be as long like the Ken Sugimori one.

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(Source: Vande @ With The Will Digimon Forum Stuffs/Tumblr)

I'm not sure if this is Nakatsuru's drawing here, but I love this Sora line art. I love the different expressions... the bottom right one where she looks very shocked is my favorite; the position of her teeth, how skinny her eyeballs looks and how raised her eyebrows and eyes are. I love how expressive that is.

(Source: Zerochan)

Mimi! Probably my favorite Digidestined. I'm not sure how many episodes where she had the hat off... it's been a while and I should give the series a rewatch sometime. But this is Mimi without her hat. Notice her hair is drawn with so many lines. When I draw my original characters with hair like that, I don't draw that many lines like Mimi's hair.

I also love her pose on the left. On the right, it looks like she's gonna fall or she tripped on something!

Probably my favorite part of Mimi's design is the extra eye shine in her eyes. It makes her design more cuter along with her dress and hat.

(Source: Danbooru)

And here's her hair in a ponytail. The expression/pose on the left is adorable. It's like she's hiding a laugh or a small giggle.

I would talk about Mimi's designs more, but I'm gonna focus on more designs besides her.

(Source: @grimcatician/Twitter)

Heck yes, Tai!

The pose on the left really strikes out. His shoes are closer to the camera, making it look like he's leaping or jumping in the action! As for the pose on the right, I might've seen colored, but his pose looks like he's ready to battle.

(Source: @grimcatician/Twitter)

This looks like his design used in the movies (by the way, I am excited for the upcoming 02 movie). I do like the style that's used in the movies better than the anime's.

This is Davis from the 02 series. This is similar to Sora's sheet I showed above. I just adore these expressions. The expression on the bottom left, it looks like whenever Davis is shocked at something, he gains some pupils to show that shock. The face on the bottom right (next to the eye), I love the rosy cheeks and his warm smile that's moved to the bottom of his face. It's also shaped like a moon.

(Source: Sakugabooru)

(Source: Danbooru)

Something that you might notice with Nakatsuru's designs is that these humans are drawn with giant hands and feet! I guess the second image I found is a "how to draw like Nakatsuru", lol. But the way their hands, legs, arms, and feet are drawn reminds me of those old rubbery hose cartoons - especially when some characters have gloves on.

I'm gonna find one more piece of concept/character art/model sheet and then I will wrap up this post.

Okay, so it was hard to find me a good one but this will have to do. Like I said, there isn't much good Digimon Nakatsuru art for me to find unless you guys send me a link or image.

(Source: Land of Animes/Tumblr)

Not much to say about this one, but, I'm only focused on the top. I like the hair on Matt and Sora. It does give them that older, teenager look as well as how tall they are.

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Conclusion - why is my art style inspired by his?

Although there is lack of Digimon images and more Dragon Ball designs from him, the reason why his style inspires my style is because of three things: the eye design, pose, and body shape.

Just like I said in my Sugimori post, the eye design might be applied to some of my own original characters. The pose is what gives me inspiration to create some of my own poses, and body shape, well, I rarely draw giant feet like Nakatsuru (XD), but some of my characters might have giant hands and a rubbery hose like body, similar to the Digidestined designs shown in the model sheets.

If I were to say what percent of his style is in mine, I could say the same thing just like Sugimori's. About 5%.

Well, that's about it. If there are any good Nakatsuru Digimon images, please let me know! I could do a follow up, if possible.

Next week, there may (or may not) be an honorable mentions post. The week after will be the finale to my Artists that I'm Inspired By series! Stay tuned! ;)

(Source: @JP_Excelsior/Twitter)

One more thing: the watercolored backgrounds in Digimon Adventure, mostly when they travel to the Digital World - I love those.

Artists that I'm Inspired By: Ken Sugimori

2023-06-29T23:59:00.013-07:00

This post will also be on my WordPress blog scheduled to post on July 1st since I rarely use my Blogger because as mentioned in one of my posts... botted views mostly coming from Singapore. It might have more words and stuff than this post and some corrections. This post on this blog might not be updated much since I'm rarely using my Blogger.

When my WordPress post drops on Saturday, I will link it here.

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2023/07/01/artists-that-im-inspired-by-ken-sugimori/

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Artists that I'm Inspired By: Ken Sugimori

I have been watching a lot of Pokémon videos today and last week, I had an idea of making a series of artists that inspire me or inspires my art style.

Today, I will be taking about Pokémon artist Ken Sugimori. He served as the Pokémon art director for generations 1-6. According to Dr. Lava on Twitter:

"After serving as art director for Gens 1-6, the original Pokemon designer Ken Sugimori stepped down in Gen 7. For Sun & Moon, he only directed the Alolan Form designs -- a fitting role, since he was responsible for the Kanto Pokemon they were based on." (source)

Very sad that he stepped down. I thought he kept working on some of the designs and maybe I can see some of the decline in the art style or designs. The Galar and two of the Paldea starters' final evos are too humanoid. Some of the newer Paldea designs are fine and there are some that are eh... like Flamigo or Palafin's Hero form. I have seen people's take of some Gen 5 up to the current gen Pokémon by drawing them in the Gen 1 art style.

(You've probably seen this image floating around on the internet. I know this came from Reddit but I can't find the OG source)

But I'm not here to talk about or criticize the modern designs. No. So many people has done that already and I'm not one of those people who like to criticize harshly like that. I'm gonna focus on Sugimori's old art, mostly his beautiful watercolor drawings (mostly Gen 1 and 2) and why his art inspires my art style. I'm gonna find some of my favorites. And also, most recently, his artworks is in high quality which is pretty awesome (and you will see it a lot in Google's search results when you search Sugimori which is annoying for me; I mostly filter my searches)!

And I'm not just gonna look at Pokémon; I'm also gonna look at other works he did. I will be picking my favorites that I see. And if possible, I might make a part two. I'm also trying to be careful of some fan works/fan art because sometimes their art looks super close to Sugimori's official art; if you notice that I picked someone's fanart, let me know.

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(source: Reddit)

This photo, from Reddit is edited but I still chose it because of how beautiful this is. Sugimori's watercolor works are just nice to look at for me. I love how expressive and well posed the mons are including Charizard, Scyther, Meowth, any Pokémon that's in this image. In the center, the Flareon sitting on Tangela and looking into the sky... I love its smile. I can picture the wind blowing and Flareon's tufts moving in the breeze.

(source: Twitter /@VGArtAndTidbits - although this same image can be found on other sites)

Wow, early designs here. Clearly that pink creature is supposed to be Hitmontop. That turtle thing in the back looks more like a snapping turtle (before Chewtle and it's evolution Drednaw existed!). I also like how T-tar is looking. Looking at the pose of the unnamed female trainer in the front and studying her facial expression, it looks like she is ready for a Pokémon battle!

A couple of black and white sketches. Also, early Lapras design above! Maybe early Blastoise design above (1st image)?

(source: Twitter/Hi-Res Pokémon)

The thing that stands out to me in this drawing is definitely Charizard. He looks very intimidating (stares at the viewer). You might notice, that Charizard appears to have one horn on his head and it's also shown in another artwork seen below, unless it's just hidden behind his head (probably that.)

(source: Twitter/Hi-Res Pokémon)

I'm gonna pick one more Pokémon Sugimori artwork here. I might save some for a part 2, if you want to see that.

(source: Tumblr/Hi-Res Pokémon Art)

Of course, I had to pick the Mew duo.

First image: When I saw that Mewtwo image, I was like, "wow". I love how evil and menacing Mewtwo looks here, mostly with the eyes and how big his right (or is it left?) hand is close to the camera. His pupils are very small and his eye color is red, while his hand is reaching out, ready to either grab Mew or unleash his psychic attacks. The background is very dark and spooky (and it could also look like Mewtwo is charging his attack) and Pikachu watches in horror in the background.

Hi-Res Pokémon's info: 1998, Ken Sugimori’s illustration for the Jumbo Pokémon Trading Card Mewtwo Strikes Back (ミュウツーの逆襲), available as an insert with the May 1998 issue of CoroCoro Comic.

Second image: This Mew drawn by Sugimori is super adorable. I actually prefer Mew with it's feet and tail a darker pink. Wish they kept that for future gens. It looks like its getting ready to fall asleep on the rock here. Or maybe it's playing around, messing with other wild Pokémon. I adore Mew.

Hi-Res Pokémon's info: Mew by Ken Sugimori, Promotional card art released in the February 1997 issue of CoroCoro Comic.

Now, I will be moving out of Pokémon and I will take a look at his other works.

(source: ZeroChan)

I didn't know a Valkyrie no Densetsu manga existed until I ran across this thread. Some person mentioned that Sugimori worked on it and I checked Wikipedia and they are correct. If you aren't familiar with Valkyrie, she is a Namco character. Her series started off as a Famicom game.

I actually found one page of the manga digging deep and I can confirm that this is his art style! It came from a thread talking about Valkyrie!

User gsk says: "oh and anyone who owns the Ken Sugimori Works has probably at least flicked past some of this material, but for the unaware, Game Freak’s Ken Sugimori drew this particular Valkyrie manga—it’s an isekai with a girl who gets hit by a motorbike, wakes up in Marvel Land and ends up assuming the role of Valkyrie:"

(source: Insert Credit)

If anyone has scans of this manga, please let me know. Or maybe upload said manga to the archives (archive.org) - unless it's on there.

The next series I'm gonna look at is Quinty or in the US, Mendel Palace.

(source: Otaku Magazine)

(source: Namco Wiki)

I don't have much to say here with these two but this Quinty artwork below is my favorite.

(source: Twitter/Lewtwo)

I don't want this post to drag on for so long, but I'm gonna wrap it up with one last series, Pulseman.

Wow, have I found the holy grail of official Pulseman artwork thanks to this fansite! https://pulseman.co.uk/

(source: Amino Apps)

The designs here give me Mega Man vibes. Also, the girl character, Rice or Beatrice's hair reminds me of Blaziken's design - maybe mostly through her colors. I know that Pokémon probably has referenced this game or that there are Pokémon elements in the Pulseman game before Pokémon existed. Actually, some of the staff that worked on this game would go on to work on Pokémon including Sugimori and composer Junichi Masuda.

Here's the entire Ken Sugimori drawing playlist. It's in Japanese sadly. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJd91O3LbcwQFc-YFO8_LH6wOMyHydBFk

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Conclusion - why is my art style inspired by his?

Now, to wrap this post up, I picked mostly his watercolor artworks. Gen 3's and further gens art is alright and some of it looks nice but it looks too clean and loses that watercolor charm (of course digital art). I've read some people saying that they prefer the old, watercolor art or miss it. This one Reddit comment from this post, I can agree with.

User oaskf:

"I vastly prefer the old watercolor art, though Sugimori is wonderful in any style.

With the old art style, the Pokémon seem more real to me - my imagination runs wild. Perhaps it has something to do with how fluid the watercolor look feels as a medium.

With the new art style, Pokémon strike me as a bit plastic, glossy, and rigid. I can understand why the art and design changes were made - Pokémon that "pop" with bright colors and more complex designs could be thought more likely to draw the attention of a child.

There are many factors at play, but in my opinion I feel the design changes were a decision for the worse in the long run. The first generation or two of games had terrible graphics and the designs were simple, but arguably captured the most hearts. Though not solely due to the artistic changes, the ability to invoke imagination is a powerful one that has diminished in Pokémon over time. Many are quick to lash out at perceived "lazy" first generation designs such as Voltorb. But for all of Voltorb's simplicity, it exists (chosen over many other rejected/pushed to G2 designs) because it fits into one of the deeper themes of Kanto - the dangers of meddling in advanced technology (what a Pokeball actually does to a creature is frightening) and the possibility that this technology could take on a mind of its own.

TLDR: All generations of Pokemon have brought something to the table, but the art style of the early games was better equipped to invoke the power of imagination and capture the heart of the player, IMO." (source)

I could make a part two someday, but this is where I will be stopping at. The biggest question is:

why is my art style inspired by his?

The answer? The eye shape and maybe some of the hair designs. I'm also getting into watercolor. I have watercolor pencils from a friend who sent it to my house as an end of quarter gift. Unfortunately, I don't have watercolor paper, so I need to buy it myself.

About maybe 5%, 15% or 20% of my art style is inspired by Sugimori's. It's a guesstimate for me. But I'll see when I continue to draw more and more.

I started Pokémon with the X and I still love the designs and franchise, but for the games, I feel like stopping as Scarlet, while having an awesome story, it suffers from performance issues and glitches (looking at you Tera Raids -_-). And I feel like some of the mon designs are gonna be worse as we continue into a new generation.

By the way, I do want this Ken Sugimori art book but man! It is expensive on Amazon! I'll probably get it on my birthday if I can find a cheap copy, who knows.

Anyways, if you made it to the end, thank you for reading! Take care! :)

Quick update/post.

2023-06-13T23:32:00.003-07:00

Typing this through my phone at night. So, I notice that I finally had gotten some comments on this blog, from an anonymous user… I guess they read my blog post back in March about how I felt like quitting and stuff.

I forgot that I turned on moderation. Those comments were posted on June 8th.

To that anonymous user: thank you for reaching out to me. That vent was old but I am doing okay. I actually updated that post on my WordPress talking about how I don’t like people checking it out.

But I have been going through tough times and posting those tough times through my WordPress blog, which I still continue to use. I’ve also been uploading on my YT channel. I don’t know when I will return. I’m about done with my Spring quarter classes - it did put a lotta stress on me and I did have breakdowns here and there.

Anyways, see ya.

Why I'm rarely using this blog.

2023-05-05T08:29:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted anything on this blog since April. I've been mostly using WordPress.

This post might be a bit short, but the reason I have been rarely using this blog is because, well, I've been getting botted views.

View count doesn't matter to me, but there is no way I got 90 something views this month - maybe I accidentally clicked a link back in March (?) although I opened the link in a private tab just in case. And when I check analytics, those numbers don't show. Most of the bot views are from the United States. That's why I've been mostly using WordPress.

I'm not gonna quit using this blog. There may be some posts that will be posted here instead of my WordPress and this blog might serve as an archive for videos and more. Also, I might not be talking about off topic stuff or the fandoms I love anymore, but that will be rare on this blog. For now, I will be posting original drawings, maybe fanart, I don't know. The original drawings will also be on my WordPress, but not the fanart.

Also, about my original comic. I had made a Blogger for that back in 2020, but who knows when that will be public since my comic has yet to get protected by copyright. When it does, I will announce it here and on my WordPress blog.

Anyways, see ya.

What if... Pokémon Bank had voice acting?

2023-03-30T07:00:00.007-07:00

This was a quick voice acting thing I did yesterday because I start my next two college classes next Monday. Enjoy! It's also up on my YouTube channel, but this blog might serve as an archive for some of my videos in case my channel is deleted.

Rest in peace 3DS/Wii U eShop.

Tera Raids are the worst.

2023-02-28T19:42:00.008-08:00

Last night, at 12am today, I FINALLY caught Walking Wake with my Lv. 100 Gardevoir after so much frustration and attempts. And I did it solo because I don’t have Nintendo Switch Online. I was lucky to have an NPC with an Arboliva who has the Seed Sower ability and not get burned from flamethrower. I used Clear Mind when I needed it and then spammed Thunderbolt. When I terastallized into Psychic, I used Psybeam but it barely did damage. I used Clear Mind again and kept using Thunderbolt until his shield was down and finished it with Thunderbolt. Before the fight, I used one more PP Up on Thunderbolt and maxed out Gardevoir's stats with Hyper Training.

Yesterday, it was Pokémon Day and I was excited. When they announced the Walking Wake raid (which is exclusive to my version, Scarlet), I wanted to do it.

So, I updated my game and visited the event den. When I started, I knew that things would go downhill. WW kept spamming Hydro Steam, which annoyed me. And then flamethrower. And Noble Roar, which lowered my attack. I did research and put the clear amulet on my Gardevoir, which did help. I had to replace Moonblast with Clear Mind which raises my Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense. But everytime I tried, he would just knock me out (and the NPC’s Pokémon) which cut time fast. And then the shields. Oh boy, the shields. Worst part was that I almost had him but time ran out.

I had vented my frustration on my main Tumblr blog and I announced that I am taking a break from the game, social media, fandoms that I love and fanart. Which I am still doing. I’m taking a break from fanart because when I see talented artists online, it makes me sad and depressed. I try to push my commissions out there but still nothing. I have done 7 total. I almost teared up yesterday from reading comments on other people appreciating the person’s art that I put up my phone. I was planning on drawing Walking Wake, but there have been so many artists that already drew him and the nightmarish tera raid fight that I can’t do it. And for Twitter, it’s hard for me to share my art to others because I’m a small artist and all the site cares about is drama. I realized that for those who don't have a Tumblr account, you now need to sign up just to read the full post (luckily I put a TDLR at the top).

After that Walking Wake fight, I am never doing Tera Raids ever again. Not even the 6-stars and 7-star ones. The animation, the bugs (which I hoped for GF to patch and fix but still didn’t), the timer, the burning/poison animation wasting time, the tera animation wasting time, everything about Tera Raids made me step away from it (and maybe future PKMN games if they keep doing it). I swear, if they announce a mythical Pokémon (or one for Scarlet/Violet) having a Tera Raid, I’m not doing it. But I don’t think it’s possible because mythical Pokémon always come in distribution codes.

While I was fighting WW (I used a different Pokémon), I saw this bug…

Seriously, I thought this update would fix these Tera Raid bugs but nope. It ruins the fun. Although I hate to say it, the Max Raid Battles from SW/SH are better than this, but the only disadvantages is that the NPCs aren’t great and sometimes, a Pokémon will escape out of a Pokeball even worse if it’s an event that has higher stars.

The reason why I rarely play video games is because I tend to feel anger. I feel like those angry streamers online (which I now stay away from and I also stay away from popular YouTubers online and animation reviews because YT is just about clickbait and drama). And my Dad kept bringing up my anger today because yesterday he heard me shouting at the Walking Wake raid. I wish I could forget about it. It annoys me that I never want to touch my Switch ever again unless I want to play Animal Crossing. I almost ruined my Dragon Quest Slime controller because of it; a controller that I’ve always wanted and I got as a Christmas gift back in 2018/2019.

I’m also keeping away from the fandoms I love because every time something new gets announced (especially like with the Pokémon Presents thing yesterday), I try to quickly talk about my hype on Twitter or Tumblr. And I post gifs on Tumblr for everyone to see… but I’m trying to control it. I can’t get into hype anymore. Sure it pumps up my adrenaline but I’m staying away from it because I know it’s not a race just for likes (or reblogs on Tumblr). I was planning on making a YouTube video this week talking about why I rarely play video games, but I’m saving that for later.

I just don’t have time to continue on with Pokémon Scarlet… I don’t have the motivation to continue with fanart… maybe voice acting (I could do that if I have time and motivation). I rather focus on college, my life, my original art and characters that I’ve always wanted to share but can’t because I need them protected by copyright.

I need a break for now. I need to be alone. I won't be answering DMs, as I have turned off banner/sound notifications on Instagram and Twitter on my phone and I won't be answering Tumblr or DeviantArt DMs.

Pokémon Scarlet Quick Thoughts. [Spoilers]

2023-02-25T21:19:00.000-08:00

Note: This is from my main Tumblr account, except for the spoiler section.

Finally beat Pokémon Scarlet today after getting behind due to college and stuff. The story and final battle was amazing! So far, my favorite story in the mainline Pokémon games.

Although there are issues such as lagging (which will later get patched out), I still enjoyed this game. The Elite 4 and champion wasn’t even that hard… I was expecting them to heal their Pokémon if their mon was low on health… but nope. But the final final battle which I won’t spoil gave me a challenge… my Gardevoir almost fainted!

Now, I gotta hunt down the 4 legendaries in this game. Hopefully, when I get to battle them that my team doesn’t accidentally faint them due to being overleveled (my team is in the 80s). I think you could catch them early in the game, which I didn’t know you could.

[SPOILERS]

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The final battle with Sada was amazing and I enjoyed the music. Professor Sada being an AI caught me off guard and gave me a bit of chills.

I don't know if I will do the post game where I rematch the gym leaders, which is required to unlock 6-star raids.

#realvoiceactors matter. [AI rant]

2023-02-14T07:00:00.001-08:00

So, I had stumbled across this article from Kotaku about AI generated voices copying real voice actors without their consent. And after reading it, it made me mad. I think last week, I had found a similar article.

First we have NFTs from last year or 2021, now artificial intelligence is taking over this year. Do we really need robots to do the work for us? Heck no.

It's not just AI generated voices; art too. And as an artist myself, it hurts. I remember saying to myself that what if someone pays for a commission, only to get scammed - they get AI art instead.

AI is hurting artist's career. Even voice actors. Maybe even musicians/composers, I don't know.

It's time that we should support real voice actors and not use this robot bs cloning our voices and making the voice say not safe for work stuff. I'm almost about to be a part of the voice acting community and I'm scared that someone is gonna clone my voice (heck, maybe even do a deepfake) of me and make me say NSFW stuff that will cause people to hate me. I'm just gonna cease and desist.

Also, support your favorite artist by donating or commission them; it helps them feel happier. I also take commissions if you're interested in my works - message me on social media or on the contact page if interested.

This was a short rant. I'm gonna link to the articles I've read below. This is just... not okay. I'm just sick of hearing the topic of AI replacing voice actors or AI generated art. It's everywhere.

Happy Valentine's Day.

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"Your Favorite Voice Actors Call Out AI Sites Copying Voices Without Consent"

"Disrespectful to the Craft:' Actors Say They're Being Asked to Sign Away Their Voice to AI"

I might move to WordPress.

2023-01-20T15:54:00.004-08:00

Yes, I said it in the title.

No one really reads or cares about my Blogger. Every time I share a post, no one gives a darn.

I might use WordPress more because more people use it. Even one of my friends use it too. I'm not abandoning this blog, I will still use it, but not much.

This post is really short, I'm just gonna put this message out here.

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/

My top 9 drawings from 2022!

2022-12-31T02:16:00.002-08:00

Just like with 2021, I will be picking my top nine drawings that I enjoyed making! I don’t agree with my Instagram top nine - it’s mostly reels that people liked. I have made and improved than last year and there’s so many great drawings I did!

I realized my one from 2021 had 10 drawings, not nine. Whoops. But it’s fine.

Best of 2021: https://wimbearn.blogspot.com/2022/01/my-top-9-drawings-from-2021.html

9. Sonic SATAM

This was an experiment on not using a black outline and I have to say, this one turned out pretty good! I also made some Pokémon drawings with the same experiment. I hope to make more like this.

8. X-Files in my Art Style

I don’t watch the X-Files, but there’s a channel I watch called Comet that plays it. I thought of drawing Mulder and Scully in my art style. I was also gonna do Buffy in my art style since Comet also plays that show and promotes it too much (same with X-Files) but I never got to that. I also hid an alien in this drawing - I hope you can find it! 👽

7. Pokémon Journeys Serena

When Serena returned to the anime, I knew that Ash X Serena/Serena fans were blowing up with excitement all over Twitter although I have been avoiding social media. I’m not into shipping stuff much (well, except for Launch X Tien and Launch X Raditz from Dragon Ball) and don’t talk about it online o draw shipping stuff.

I adore her outfit. I wish she had fully met Ash and Goh, but sadly she met Ash at the end of the episode which quite disappointed me. But the episode was good, she got to talk to Chloe.

6. Super 17

I don’t have much commentary on this drawing, but I found a image of Super 17 with this pose and had to redraw it badly.

I think I used airbrushing for the shading.

5. A Nice Relaxing Day

Again, not much commentary, but this is one of my favorite Launch drawings so far! I also made a black and white version.

4. Goku vs. Vegeta

This one was for my dad! He gave me a request and if I competed it, I got paid. And so I did. In one day! I’m not a fan of how I drew Vegeta, but hey, I still love this drawing.

3. FUTURE

This one was a what if Future Trunks started a rock band or something. I tried to make it look vintage looking and included a fake signature from Trunks (as seen on the right).

2. All of my Sonic Movie Drawings!

I think I was experimenting with the round brush in Procreate. I also did some airbrushing.

I might do Super Sonic next - I was gonna work on him this month but I had lost motivation to draw so I never got to that yet.

Honorable mentions:

An original drawing by me: Space Dragon!

GT Pan! This was for a voice actress!

Majin Buu! This one was for a friend!

Lum Invader! This is from the 2022 remake/reboot.

Gohan Beast!

This drawing was a tribute to the Dai no Daibouken 2020 anime! I will 100% miss watching this every Friday.

GulusGammamon redraw from Digimon Ghost Game.

This one was an idea in my head! What if the Pilaf gang went to Starbucks?

Koraidon and Miradon from the recent Pokémon games, Scarlet and Violet.

Ranma 1/2. I also made a black and white version.

Relaxing in the Flowers. Another Launch drawing that I loved making! This one was a redraw of some DBS card game thing I found and that card is based on a filler DBZ episode where there was a scene with Launch playing in the flowers (which I adore!!!). I had found only one image of it, but I would love to get that Launch card if I find it.

1. Ash Ketchum Tribute

Of course, this is #1 on my list.

My biggest and longest drawing to date! Everyone seems to love it on my DeviantArt. I will miss Ash and so will everyone else. It took two days for me to complete this - it took forever to figure out where to put Ash’s Pokémon at.

Congrats, you are getting the best drawing award of 2022!

And that’s it! This one was a hard list!

2023 is almost here. And I’m excited to make new drawings. Thank you for reading!

https://ko-fi.com/wimbearn

Merry Christmas!

2022-12-25T11:33:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas! Here’s my awful Skeletor impression.

About my dad.

2022-12-20T10:03:00.001-08:00

Note: This was part of a WordPress daily prompt thing. You can read the post here:

https://wimbearn.wordpress.com/2022/12/20/about-my-dad/

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"Talk about your father or a father figure in your life."

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I might keep this one short. Usually, I don't do WordPress daily prompts since my blog is about art and anime (well, rarely anime since I talk about most of it on my Blogger), but this one is interesting.

My dad has always been there for me. When I was little, his shouting used to scare me or I used to be afraid of him. And my mom knew this.

As I grew older, he has changed. He is now a nice dad who cares about me and wants to make sure I am protected. He worked in the Army but he is now retired and still does work (I'm not sure what his job is) to this day. Yesterday, I was having a breakdown about something and dad and I had a talk but we had gotten through it. I thought he was going to shout at me, but nope.

I love my dad and I will continue to love him. Thank you dad. God bless you.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for a flight to Georgia to see my Granny and cousins. I hope Dad and I will stay safe.

Ash Ketchum Tribute Fanart.

2022-12-19T23:02:00.001-08:00

My longest and biggest drawing to date. I will still miss Ash. Process below. It is shortened to 30 seconds because the process is super long.

Goodbye Ash... [Spoiler Warning]

2022-12-16T03:19:00.008-08:00

And that's the end of Journeys. And the end of Ash. And Goh. Well, not really as there is supposed to be 11 special episodes starting January 13th, 2023. And guess what? Ash, Misty. and Brock are back, baby!

If you haven't read my post on SPOILERS: Ash winning the World Championships, you can click here.

You know, I thought "Pokémon! I'm Glad I Met You!" was the final episode, but nope they made another one.

I was worried that Ho-Oh wouldn't appear, but he sure did!

And then, after the credits and the announcement of the special episodes, they announced: a Scarlet and Violet anime. But there is no Ash. No sign of him.

Instead, we have 2 new protagonists replacing him: Liko and Roy, according to Serebii.

But I don't know... I just don't think I will watch the new Scarlet/Violet anime. I just feel like it won't be the same anymore without Ash. I might watch one episode but I don't know. Maybe Ash might make a cameo, but who knows. I just feel like stopping at Journeys/Pocket Monsters. I'll probably watch all of Journeys on Netflix, English dubbed because I haven't watched the dub in a while after the end of Sun and Moon and I started watching the series (Journeys) in Japanese because spoilers were all over my Twitter and I didn't want to get spoiled while waiting on the dub. I'm not sure if the movies won't have Ash anymore.

To see Ash go this far and become World Champion while Goh finally meeting Mew, it's amazing. But now I feel sad. It's over. I look forward to watching the 11 special episodes next year! And I hope to collect the rest of the English dubbed DVDs... if Journeys ever comes on DVD I will buy it up to Master Journeys. Again, I might not watch the SV anime, sadly. I feel like they're gonna do a Beyblade Shogun Steel thing (Shogun wasn't that great) in my opinion.

I grew up with the anime. I first got exposed to it when I think DP: Battle Dimension aired on Cartoon Network back in the day. And then some of Black & White: Adventures in Unova. The episode of B&W I remembered was the Zoroark fog episode. I also remembered watching the older Indigo League episodes on Boomerang and Netfix. I fully didn't get into the anime until Disney XD aired the Volcanion movie and Sun & Moon. I watched all of the series up to X&Y and movies up to Hoopa back in 2020. I love the anime and as I said, to see Ash go this far, and to see all of his old Pokémon cheer on Pikachu during the Leon battle (that part made me cry badly) is amazing.

Goodbye, Ash. Thank you for being amazing! You truly are a Pokémon master.

I might make a follow up post when the specials come out next year.

Disenchanted was amazing.

2022-11-18T23:54:00.002-08:00

Enchanted is one of my favorite Disney movies of all time. From the 2D animation to the songs, it blew me away. I own the DS game which I beat at night (secretly playing my DS and making sure my parents wouldn't take it away cause there were few save points and I was at the end of the game) and a GBA game, which is a prequel focusing on Giselle in Andalasia.

I remember Giselle used to be a Disney Princess and that she used to be on the Disney Princess website. And I also found out that Giselle used to be at Disney World (I WISH I MET HER BADLY). But they sadly removed that status because according to the Disney Princess wiki,

"She was first to be considered to be an official Disney Princess, until Amy Adams said no because Disney has to pay royalties of their likeness of their role of their characters and also use their images only if they have the actresses permissions in order to include live action characters."

Kinda sad. I wish she was permanently a Disney Princess because if she was, then we would see some merch out of Giselle such as dolls. And she would probably appear in Ralph Breaks the Internet along with the other princesses. Speaking of dolls, I was almost gonna have a doll of Giselle in her pink dress because I saw an ad on the back of the Enchanted DS game's instructions but then I didn't. The dolls and some merch are rare now.

Now, I told myself that I wished that Enchanted had a sequel. I used to look at fan made images of "Enchanted 2" and I would cross my fingers.

And then, the news hit.

Enchanted 2 is happening!!! And I would frequently check the news for updates. Finally, Disney drops the trailer for it this year and my happiness and nostalgia level rises up.

And now... here it is. Finally on Disney+. Was it worth the wait for me?

WARNING: THIS WILL CONTAIN SOME SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I'll try my best to explain some parts of the movie by memory w/ the help of Wikipedia.

So, we begin the movie and we see Pip, with what appears to be 2 children (could be his)? It's so cool to see Pip in his full 2D animated glory again. He explains that Giselle lived as a baby (something not seen in the first movie), with Pip explaining the rest of Enchanted. He then says, it's not over.

Giselle, Robert, and a teenage Morgan (not played by the same actress) are living happily, with Giselle having a baby named Sofia. Giselle decides to move in to a new town called Monroeville and so they do. Morgan has a hard time fitting in school and Giselle comes up with an idea. She sets up a festival to make people vote for Morgan as the ball's princess, but Morgan ends up getting embarrassed that she calls Giselle her "step mom".

Giselle steps outside, reunites with Pip, uses the wand (that King Edward and Queen Nancy gave her earlier) and wishes that her family's life would be a fairy tale. And so it does.

Now, I had told my dad this before they even said it. I remembered earlier that Morgan got embarrassed and called Giselle her "step mother". Yep. Giselle slowly turns into an evil stepmother, with Pip turning into a cat. Now that I wasn't expecting until I remembered what happened earlier and that Giselle started acting weird when she looked at the clock the second time.

Later on in the movie, Giselle is out of control, switching between good and evil, and her normal side pushed Morgan into the well because she says to stop the wish or to save her family. Giselle has become evil and Morgan is now in Andalasia, 2D animated. Andalasia isn't holding up well as there is a giant hole in the sky. Giselle's tree of memories is dying and then there is a song between Morgan and Nancy. This part almost made me tear up seeing the 2D animation. Idina is amazingly talented with her singing.

Remember earlier in the movie where they had this drawing of memories (a tree)? Well, they use it and finally arrive to where Giselle is. Giselle grabs the paper and tears it up, causing so much magic to come out of it, returning her back to normal. However, it isn't over as Malvina has Morgan into vines and Giselle drops the wand, while Andalasia is slowly dying. Giselle sings one more song and she dies (as well as Pip and several other Andalasia characters). But, Robert and Tyson stop the clock (before it strikes midnight and the wish becomes permanent) and Morgan wishes everything back to normal.

The movie ends with everything back to normal with one last song, and Pip leaving his room and a firefly winking at the viewer with "The End" on screen.

This movie was worth the wait for me.

-END OF SPOILERS-

Wow. The new music, the acting... I'm in love. Alan Menken did an amazing job, as well as the original cast.

Now, I noticed that there are some news articles that said that it loses the charm of the original movie. It even has a 47 (or lower) on Rotten Tomatoes. I can understand why, but I adored this movie. The only thing that I wanted to see more of is more 2D animation, mostly showing Prince Edward and Queen Nancy. By the way, as I said earlier, I watched it with my dad and he doesn't like musicals, but I wanted him to watch it with me anyways!

I hope to see more from the Enchanted franchise. I want to see Giselle get a Funko Pop. More dolls of her. Heck, make her a Disney Princess again and bring her back to Disney World! I'm not the only one:

(article)

I have such a big heart for Enchanted and I'm am so happy that this sequel did great. 9.5/10, will buy on DVD in the future.

What are your thoughts on Disenchanted? Let me know in the comments!

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Bonuses:

By the way, check out this amazing fanart from ArtMakerProductions on DeviantArt that I randomly found on Google. I wish the movie originally did a Roger Rabbit with Giselle, the Queen, Pip, and Edward being 2D drawn in the live action sequences.

#1: https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerproductions/art/Disney-s-Enchanted-What-if-913082089

#2: https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerproductions/art/Disney-s-Enchanted-What-if-2-926015366

#3: https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerproductions/art/Disney-s-Enchanted-What-if-3-926062722

#4: https://www.deviantart.com/artmakerproductions/art/Disney-s-Enchanted-What-If-4-927196224

This person did an amazing job staying in character as Giselle during some Halloween party thing at Disney World in 2014. I guess this is a "what if" Giselle stayed at DW forever without the whole Amy Adams situation as mentioned before.

Here's an official Giselle meet and greet thing from 2007 when she was at the parks- too bad there's only music in this video and the meeting is short (this makes me want to meet her so badly!):

Coolio Tribute.

2022-11-16T15:56:00.001-08:00

This is a tribute drawing of the rapper Coolio, known for Gangsta’s Paradise. I think I drew this last month and my mom suggested I draw him. May he rest in peace.

I usually don’t draw realism, but he turned out nice when I finished him.

He. Did. It. [Spoilers]

2022-11-11T03:09:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to avoid off topic stuff on this blog but I want to talk about the recent Pokémon episode that aired. I have never felt so hyped and nervous... but Ash finally did it. He beat Leon! And now he is the champion.

The part what made me cry the most is where Pikachu passes out and all of Ash's old Pokémon show up to cheer him on. To see him go this far and to grow strong... wow. I have never cried that hard at a Pokémon anime like this.

Congrats, Ash. You've done it! The champ! 🏆

The titles for the upcoming episodes has me worried about the future. With the first episode being titled, “Pokémon, I Choose You!”, the series’ final episode will be “Pokémon! I am Glad I Met You!”. Will this be the end of Ash? Or the Pokémon anime as a whole? And if it’s the end of the anime as a whole, then I’ll cry real badly. There will be a follow up post when the “Seizing the Future!” airs and that they show the preview for the final episode.

Space Dragon!

2022-11-06T12:36:00.001-08:00

An original drawing I made a while back and that I’m proud of. Process below.

I also made a Three Headed Dragon, but it wasn’t as good as this one.

My Voice Acting/Voice Over Compilation!

2022-11-05T15:33:00.002-07:00

Here's a compilation of voice acting stuff I did from July-October. Enjoy!

1. Jill Sandwich - Done in July when I was taking a break from social media; posted in August. My first voice acting thing posted on social media.

2. A fun voice acting challenge I came up with. For this one, I tried to do an impression of my favorite Dragon Ball character, Launch, but it sounded a bit bad - mostly when I did her Blue side. For some reason, people on my Instagram loved this one a lot. Is it because I'm showing my face?

3. Fake Nike commercial - done on August 13th; posted on the 28th.

4. A voice acting challenge I did. I don't have a Tik Tok - I despise that app; I edited this in CapCut on my iPad.

5. Skeletor! Okay, I said that this was my worst impression of him and yes, that is true but I had fun with it and I might bring him back 🤣

6. Launch in Family Guy - this is based on an old drawing I did back in 2020 where I drew both sides of Launch in the Family Guy style. I drew Launch A LOT that year. I still draw her, but not much.

7. And finally, this is when I hit voice acting block so I did another Family Guy voiceover thing.

Let me know your favorite in the comments! Hire me for voice acting, lol. I've always wanted to be a voice actor for anime and cartoons. Maybe video games as well.

Happy Halloween!

2022-10-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

This is a drawing of my OC, Aiza, flying in the sky dressed as a witch with her pet cat (which I have yet to give a name). You can view the drawing process below! Stay spooky today.

How I felt making a new friend.

2022-10-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

Today, I want to tell a story on how I made a new friend… a best friend to be exact. His name is Joe and he runs a podcast on YouTube called Da Bois Podcast, where he interviews voice actors and actors and YouTubers. His channel is JZProductions26. I started supporting him when Meredith McCoy, voice of Android 18 & Launch in Dragon Ball, posted something on her Instagram story: it was an interview. By the way, I’m good friends with Meredith and she’s my favorite voice actress of all time; I had met her at a convention in Texas called Kameha Con back in April.

I watched his interview with her and I had to comment on his video and subbed to him.. and he replied to me with a nice comment. I then supported him with more comments as he uploaded more interviews with VAs and actors I’ve heard of and never heard of.

Then on Thursday, October 20th, I hopped on my Instagram and I get a DM from Joe.

“Hello :(” the message said.

I told him that are you okay and he was like someone that they thought he was their friend was being mean and was bullying them + their friends bullied them. I felt very sad. He was really down.

So I wanted to cheer him up. We chatted and talked about voice actors and what interviews I wanted to see on the channel… then we formed a friendship. We exchanged phone numbers and thus, we are best friends… legendary best friends to be exact because we call ourselves legends.

After we exchanged numbers, his mom called me and said, “thank you for supporting my son” and I almost teared up… I have never made someone happy… this is my first time doing something like this.

Hey, I could end up on Da Bois Podcast in the future! And if I do, I’ll post the video on this blog (as a separate post) and my WordPress blog (which I rarely use). I wish we could meet in real life.

Go show Joe some support! He deserves it. I will link his socials below.

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVXxO1F-3iKzn3jr_Z87w1A

Website: https://joeyzito.wixsite.com/jzproductions26

Twitter: https://twitter.com/GamerJoeZ26

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joe_zito_26/

Interview with Canadian Voice Actress Marcy Goldberg (Video - AUDIO ONLY)

2022-10-01T13:33:00.011-07:00

Note: video is split into two parts because Blogger only allows 15 minutes of video. I have no plans on uploading it to my YouTube channel, as I have quit uploading there and I made my final video on August 26th on why I stopped.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Wow! This is exciting! This is my very first interview with a voice actress. Boy, I was nervous talking on the phone, but I did it!

So I wanted to do something. Before I started college, I wanted to reach out to every one of the cast who did the English dub of "Dragon Warrior". If you don't know what the anime is or why I love it so much, click here.

It is a dub of the Japanese anime, "Dragon Quest: Abel Yuusha Densetsu", which ran for 43 (42 if you don't count the original broadcast airings of 32/33). Sadly, the English dub didn't last long as it ran for 13 episodes, with the last episode ending on a cliffhanger. The reason why it is titled "Dragon Warrior" is because back in the day, Dragon Quest was already trademarked and Nintendo wanted to avoid confusion until 2002. This anime is very obscure and not as popular as the Dai anime (the Dai reboot is almost about to end). Even Screen Rant put this as #3 on their ranking of every Dragon Quest anime which I knew it would be the third one on the list. Maybe the rumor of Toriyama (who did the designs of this and the DQ franchise) suing for not being credited could be true?

I haven't discovered the dub until I saw a deleted Wikipedia article on the anime and I found the episodes on YouTube back in 2020 and watched them all. That's how I fell in love with the series. A character that I really liked is Daisy, who is a swordswoman and is afraid of mice! I looked up the English dub cast and I wasn't familiar with some of them but I got to learn more of their roles.

I did some research, sending some of the cast members an email. I did send Marcy one last year, I think. But she never responded. However, I tried a second time, thinking that her email isn't active. But I was... surprised! A day after I sent the email asking for an interview, she sent me a message. I was squealing to myself. The rest... well, they never responded. But I could reach out to them in the future, but it will be difficult.

Marcy hasn't done voice acting since 2018 due to an injury but she is slowly recovering from it. Her last role is Auntie Applesauce from MLP: Friendship is Magic.

When I brought up Dragon Warrior to her, she says that she vaguely remembered the role, so I sent her an episode uploaded on YouTube.

We made plans on when and what time we would interview and on Thursday, September 27th at 10am, I called her and we talked. She was amazing and I told her I always wanted to be a voice actress, so she gave me some advice. I am still preparing, learning more on how to really get into it as I have been practicing voices and uploading that practice on my socials, and people seem to like it. It's not great, but I am working on it!

I hope you enjoy this interview. I recorded the audio from my iPad as I have been dealing with computer issues (I have been using this surface since 2019 and the bottom of the screen has been flickering every now and then, plus Chrome has been freezing and crashing rarely), so I apologize if the quality of the audio isn't good. Again, I was nervous to call her, but I faced my fears!

And it's been a while since I've done an interview because the last time I did one was in High School, where it was a requirement for my English class. Boy, I didn't like it but fast forward to now... I might do more interviews in the future. Heck, you can interview me if you like and ask me voice acting or artist questions!

Apologies as I have been busy this week with my English and History online classes. My blog has been dying and I have been trying to push my posts out there. I've also been coming back to my WordPress, but I despise that site because you need to pay... I don't feel like paying, but a lot of people use it than this site.

If you enjoyed this interview, feel free to donate, ask for an art commission, or simply comment! Comments help me a lot as I have gotten 0 on my posts. Thank you for the support, and kudos!

I'm so happy that I got to talk to Daisy's English VA!!! Sending some prayers for her to recover. 💙

Marcy isn't active on social media. She does have a Facebook and Instagram, but both are inactive. It is explained in the interview near the end.

Donations and Art Commissions

Update: Forgot to update this post last week. I did a drawing of Daisy for Marcy and she loved it and said that I'm very talented! 🤩

Update (3/27/23): I updated the videos to match the video that I will be uploading on my YouTube channel in April - this might be a back up in case my channel is gone. They now have subtitles! Part one had personal info, so I edited it to now censor the information. Still, enjoy! Note: auto subtitles might not be accurate.

Something Rare and Cool: Commercial Bumpers for "Dragon Warrior" and "Dragon Ball"

2022-09-30T00:14:00.004-07:00

Happy Friday! Here's something cool I found back in September (forgot what day). Rare commercial break bumpers for Dragon Warrior (the warriors being a typo). I know that the Dragon Warrior dub has like 0 promos, but this is the closest thing we can get. I had posted these videos on my Twitter and Tumblr and wanted to share here as well.

I randomly found this, and all credit goes to this YouTube channel: RetroCCN

Also, bumpers for Harmony Gold's Dragon Ball on the same channel. Uploaded by the same person!

Hope to see more commercials/promos for Dragon Warrior, but I don't think there are more out there.

Also, off topic, I have been going back on all of my posts and I had updated some of them with new images, this time adding them from my computer and removing YT videos that had been deleted. In most of my posts, I always take the image from the URL so it is easier than downloading. But I figured that downloading the image is better since I guess it's an archive in case the image gets deleted off the internet.

wimbearn’s DVD Collection! Part 2.

2022-09-23T09:30:00.002-07:00

And now, your feature presentation: part two of my DVD collection!

If you haven't read part 1, feel free to check that out. https://wimbearn.blogspot.com/2022/09/wimbearns-dvd-collection-part-1.html

Let's continue the collection, shall we?

Totally Spies Seasons 1-3

I got this DVD when TS was on Netflix. If you're looking for this collection, well, it's out of print and Cartoon Network no longer airs the show.

I have yet to finish this up. I forgot what episode I stopped at. But Totally Spies is one of my favorite childhood shows. Wish this set included the movie. And I wish people stopped calling it a fetish show.

150 Cartoon Classics

This DVD has a lot of classic cartoons such as Popeye, Betty Boop, Woody Woodpecker, and more!

Barbie as Rapunzel

A childhood movie. Even Cree Summer voices the dragon, named Penelope, I think! I used to have a plushie of that dragon that talked but it scared me as a kid :P

Casper

Doc McStuffins

I don't know when I got this DVD, but I remember watching the very first episode of Doc when it premiered on Disney Junior. I remember having a doll version of Doc as well. And I remember the episode where Michelle Obama showed up (that episode isn't on this DVD).

Brother Bear

Coraline

Man, the glasses in this DVD is amazing. Wish more movies had a 3D option. There is one scene in the movie with the Other Mother's spider web and the tunnel Coraline crawls in.... mind blowing with the glasses on. I even jumped at one scene where Coraline was grabbing one of the orb thingies (?) and the hand popped out and grabbed Coraline.

Balto Movies 1-3

My mom got me the first two Balto movies from of course… bargain bin at Walmart. I loved both of them that I wanted the third one.

Sinbad

Looks like another bootleg. I barely remember this movie.

The rating on this bootleg is PG-13 for “adventure action, some mild sensuality and brief language”. Yeah, I don’t think that’s the right rating.

Curious George Movies 1-2

Charlotte's Web

Movie is beautiful! But the final scene is a bit sad.

Monsters Inc & University

Yep, the Monsters Inc. DVD is a bootleg. The rating is not rated R like the other bootlegs I own, but PG-13 for "some sequences of action or violence".

Doogal

I think Butch Hartman talked about this movie. While this movie flopped, I loved this movie as a kid. Until I found out a video talking about the comparisons to the original UK version of this movie, titled, "The Magic Roundabout" (which I did not know existed until I watched that video). Yeah, the moose farting in this version (the US version) was unnecessary.

Tom Thumb meets Thumbelina/Snow White

I don’t have much to say about this, but it’s one of those low budget movies trying to be Disney.

The Adventures of Pinocchio

When I was a kid, I remember the Pinocchio in this movie used to scare me. I wasn't bothered by the cover of the DVD or the main menu, but I was a bit scared of how he would move in the movie. I didn't scream or cry or anything, but I would watch the beginning of the movie until Pinocchio showed up on screen. Then I would hide behind my parents bed. I don't know if my mom ejected the movie from the DVD player... man I have bad memory.

But re-watching it a couple of years later at like age 15/16 (?), it didn't scare me or I didn't hide behind my bed. The puppetry in the movie is really good and there was this one scene I would rewind a lot: I think Pinocchio was called woody by a bully and the bully punched him and Pinocchio repeated the same thing but when he hits the bully, the bully falls down. It's a hilarious scene.

I'm not surprised that I'm not the only one who was freaked out by this movie's Pinocchio. From what I've looked up, some people said they were scared or their kids were scared of this Pinocchio. Or scared of a scene from this movie. I heard this movie got a sequel. The guy who played Pinocchio in this movie also played Young Simba in the Lion King, which is very cool!

"Pinocchio's face looks like a real face was photographed and then transformed by computer into a wooden dummy. The result is unsettling and even a little creepy, and I didn't like this Pinocchio, which is by the Jim Henson people, nearly as much as the all-cartoon creature in Disney's 1940 movie." (source)

And yes, I know about the live action Disney's Pinocchio. The Pinocchio in that looks kinda creepy. It's why Disney should stop making live action remakes. They're doing it for the money.

Inside Out

Robots

Not gonna lie, I love this cover for the inside and outside of this DVD. I didn’t know Halle Berry and Amanda Bynes was in it.

Oh look, it’s funny football head baby.

The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss

A childhood show I love. Going back to it... well, the CG in some of the episodes aren't that great. And then they switched to a preschool type thing with the cat saying hi to the audience. I highly suggest you check out Defunctland's video of this show. It's very interesting.

My name was written on the other DVD (the left one) cause I brought this to school for the class to watch… I was little.

Anastasia/Pocahontas and Camelot/The Hunchback of Norte Dame

Another set of low budget Disney wannabe movies.

DBZ: Super Android 13 & Bojack Unbound

My ex-boyfriend bought this last year along with my Bojack Bulma cosplay. Yeah, I cosplayed as this movie's Bulma and people loved it. It's my very first cosplay. I really wanted to cosplay as Launch. Maybe in the future.

I’ve only watched Bojack. Haven’t watched Super A13 yet.

Madea's Tough Love

A Madea movie my mom originally kept but gave it to me. This is the only Madea animated movie. Wish Tyler Perry made a sequel.

Shark Tale

A favorite childhood movie of mine.

The Reef

Oh god, this movie. This movie tried to be Nemo/PIXAR so bad but failed. It’s another bargain bin movie my mom (?) bought for me.

Storks 3D

Movie was alright, some jokes were a hit or miss. But the animation is expressive.

Trolls

The Secret Life of Pets & 3 Mini Movie Collection

The Jungle Book

My iPad’s flash was auto on and not gonna lie, the photo above looks nice. I love holographic DVD sleeves.

My opinions on this movie: decent live action Jungle Book, but the original is still better.

Pete's Dragon

This one was really good! I’ve never watched the original Pete’s Dragon before, might check that out sometime. The CGI for Elliot is cute.

The Secret of Mulan/Moses: Egypt's Great Prince

I remember this version of Mulan and liking it as a kid. I watched someone react to it a couple of months ago and looking at it... yeah... it's a musical (same with Moses) and it's not that great especially the animation. But I love the character design of Mulan.

The Moses one, I barely remember it but one of the songs is a bit stuck in my head.

The Prince of Tennis

This one I got from my high school anime club. My teacher was giving away stuff and I picked this DVD. I haven't watched this anime yet, but I'll check it out sometime. This one is just a sneak preview of episode 1, sadly.

Mulan II

Yep, another bootleg! Even the back is holographic. The rating for this is unknown, since Mulan II is direct to DVD, I think.

Sky High

Another bootleg! This one has the correct rating of PG. Is it me or MHA (My Hero Academia) rip off Sky High... just kidding.

Animal Friends 8-Movie Collection

Another bargain bin movie. Haven’t watched this one really. But I didn’t know it came with the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie!

Hotel Transylvania 2

Treasure Island

This, Care Bears, and Quest for Camelot I got from my English teacher at my high school. She was giving away some stuff and I picked these DVDs. I have yet to watch them except for the Care Bears one which I've already watched... as a kid renting it at Blockbuster (RIP).

Care Bears The Nutcracker

Quest for Camelot

I heard that My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic creator Lauren Faust was one of the staff/crew members who worked on this movie. I think she did some animation.

Scoob!

I remember when this movie was announced, I thought it would be a full crossover with other Hanna Barbera characters. That is true in the movie, as some HB characters appear such as Captain Caveman but I guess most of the focus was on Scooby and the gang. An alright movie, in my opinion.

Piglet's Big Movie

Another bootleg. This one has a rating of R for “language and brief drug use”, like the other bootlegs I own that have the dts logo slapped on there. Yeah, I totally remember that one scene where Pooh was high on honey.

Spooky Buddies

Man, I really wish I had that plushie.

Jurassic Park Collection

I got this collection because I love the Jurassic Park movies. Jurassic World was awesome but the sequel was eh. Didn’t really care for the recent JW movie that released this year.

Despicable Me & DM2 Mini Movie 6-Pack

My mom bought this because she is a teacher and I think it was for the kids. She gave it to me after.

Hoodwinked

Childhood movie right here. Remember when Cartoon Network would play this movie? Yeah. Sequel wasn’t that great, but the animation of that movie improved.

I still don’t know who Xzibit is, lol. I didn’t know Patrick Warburton voiced the Wolf in this movie. You may know him as Joe from Family Guy and Kronk.

The Santa Clause 2

Another bootleg. This one has the correct rating however. I recently heard that they’re bringing back the Santa Clause, but as a series on Disney+.

UP

Tinker Bell

One of my favorite childhood movies. Mom got this for me along with a Tinker Bell DS game. I love how sparkly Tink’s wings are on the sleeve. I loved feeling that part!

Also, that hawk is gonna catch Tink.., it’s clearly behind her about to swoop her up from the front cover.

By the way, I love Vidia. She’s my favorite fairy.

Atlantis & Atlantis Milo's Return

Another bootleg and the last bootleg with the dts logo I own. The rating on this is unknown. The DVD cover is double sided and inside contains the DVDs for both movies.

Lilo & Stitch 2

The glitching of Stitch never really bothered me much, but I heard it scared some kids when they watched this movie.

Finding Nemo

Again, I love the holographic sleeves for the DVDs. This one is so beautiful to look at. Finding Dory’s is just bland to look at. They don’t make good DVD sleeve covers like this anymore, I guess.

Steven Universe

I have yet to watch this show! I got this one for Christmas back in 2020. I've been hearing it's good. And looking inside, wow! I just adore the artwork. Love how the DVDs are in a book, but kinda worried they could be scratched (not a big fan of the placement of the DVDs). I’m gonna be careful with this collection.

OG Dragon Ball Seasons 1-5

Now, these DVDs are bootleg. My ex-boyfriend bought these for me on eBay. The reason why they are bootleg is because if you look at the back... Akira Toriyama's name is misspelled (Alita Toriyama) and also it says “Dragon Ball Z” when it’s just “Dragon Ball”. Reasons why you don’t trust eBay.

All of the discs played fine, except for Season 5 disc 1. Halfway, it crashed my DVD player and I had to watch the rest of the episodes that was on the disc on a website.

I adore the original Dragon Ball series. No, not because of Launch (who is one of my favorite characters of all time) but because of the art style, the music, the humor (until the Piccolo arc which gets more serious; Krillin's death gave me some chills to be honest)... everything about it I adore. This is why it's my second favorite anime. Besides the Launch episodes or episode 98 where Launch gets more screen time saving Goku from some guys, there are some filler episodes I love such as the Hasky scenes/episodes and the InoShikaCho episode. OG Dragon Ball deserves some more appreciation than Z.

Dragon Quest: Legend of the Hero Abel & Dragon Warrior (made by me)

Now, I saved this one for last, since this is my favorite anime of all time. If you aren't familiar with the series or understand why it's my favorite, click here.

For the Legend of the Hero Abel anime, I didn't make a DVD menu for both discs since I didn't feel like paying money for services, plus I was dealing with computer issues (I've been using this Windows Surface since 2019 (?)) and it's a time waster for me. I burned the episodes that I found online and put them in separate discs as seasons. I watched the series through to make sure it was working and it did. The last batch of episodes (somewhere around 38-42) subtitles were bad and full of Engrish but luckily, a fansubbing group by the name of Monster Questor Subs completed the series after I finished re-watching it last year (perfect timing). It took lot of work burning the subtitles to the episodes using some software (there were two options: use the original Dragon Quest spell names or Warrior spell names; I used the DQ spell names) and then copying all of the episodes on my previous season 2 disc and putting them on the new disc while deleting the episodes with the awfully translated episodes and replacing them with the MQS fansubbed ones. Yeah, I know how to burn discs without the internet. I wish I could get the episodes from Element7, but they are gone and lost thanks to YouTube's copyright system.

MQS had also subbed the lost/original broadcast airings of episodes 32 and 33 plus some other bonuses, so I replaced the non subtitled episode 32 with the MQS version, as well as a recap of episodes 1-4. The rest of the bonuses I found I didn't bother and just left them unsubbed. The disc that contained the awful subtitles, the unsubbed episode 32 (original broadcast) and episode 1-4 recap is still in my closet in a case.

As for the Dragon Warrior DVD, I made the DVD menu in Adobe Premiere Elements 15. The software is old and crashes a lot, which is why I stopped using it. I downloaded all of the English dubbed 13 episodes from YouTube before Toei or some company took them down. I place the episodes in the software, did some editing (making sure the episode's volume was up and zoomed in since it was captured on VHS quality) and waited at night for the whole thing to burn to the disc. When I woke up, it was burned. I was happy and I was worried. Tested it out on my DVD player and… it works well!

The main menu is just the opening to the Dragon Warrior anime, while the chapter menu plays the theme.

The DVD covers are made in Photoshop by me. The printer ink was low when I printed it out which is why it looks off, so I am planning to replace the covers with better ones if my printer has full ink. The artwork of the Dragon Warrior one is made by some fan and not gonna lie, it looks like it belongs on a VHS cover! “The Complete Series” at the bottom is added by me.

I am keeping these DVDs just for me, and I am not selling these DVDs. Just a disclaimer there. Don't even ask me.

Legend of the Hero Abel contains:

Disc 1 - Season 1 - episodes 1-32
Disc 2 - Season 2 - episodes 33-42 + bonuses that I found from someone who ripped the entire Japanese Legend of the Hero Abel DVD - the only bonuses that are subbed are the original broadcast airings of 32 & 33 and the recap of episodes 1-4. The best moments from the show aren't subbed and if it ever does get subbed, I won't make a new disc + the soundtrack from the series (found on YouTube)

Dragon Warrior Contains:

All 13 episodes of the English dub in 1 disc - with a DVD menu made in Adobe Premiere Elements 15 - this one was a pain to burn since the software is slow and crashes a lot, but the disc works fine.

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And that's it!!! I hope you like this post, and please comment as that helps a lot and helps this blog as I've been struggling with getting this blog out there.

Some DVD's I remember having but lost them or gave it away:

A LEGO DVD that had a Cars 2 thing on it? It was part of the LEGO Club Magazine. Thank god someone archived it.
A Bear in the Big Blue House DVD.

wimbearn's DVD Collection! Part 1.

2022-09-16T21:28:00.003-07:00

I have a lot of DVDs in my room. They are in two drawers since I don't have a shelf or bookshelf to put them in.

It's been a while since I watched something on DVD. The last time I watched something on my Blu-Ray player was last year. But enough talking, let's get on to the collection!

Pokémon: All seasons except for the rest of Diamond and Pearl, B&W, XY and the rest of Sun and Moon + the first 3 movies

Of course I have Pokémon in my collection! I have watched all of the seasons back in 2020 since I was on a Pokémon binge and I started with Sun and Moon when that aired on Disney XD. The rest of the seasons that I don’t have on DVD I watched online. I’m pretty sure VIZ has been releasing more seasons which I might add to my collection once I get more money. As for the first three movies, I am sticking with them and probably won’t add more Pokémon movies to my collection. I did remember seeing a 4 or 2 pack movie collection that had Pokémon Heroes and Jirachi in it and one with a Diamond and Pearl movie collection, I don’t know.

Alvin and the Chipmunks - all 4 movies.

Yep. I know some people hate the chipmunks movies, but I love them. They are my favorite childhood movies! Is it me or are they reusing the same smiling chipmunks on every cover? :/. They could just make new artwork but nope, FOX is lazy and just reusing the same art but altering them. You cannot escape their smiling faces.

But I love these covers. I’m glad I don’t have the version where they have one of the chipmunks artwork slapped onto a boring gradient background. And they did it with other movies like Shrek. It’s so boring! If you know what I’m talking about.

Squeakquel and ChipWrecked came with a sing along. I don’t know if the first movie or Road Chip came with them. But I remember the first Alvin movie came with an Alvin plushie, I think. Sadly I don’t own one.

All Shrek Movies.

How can you say no the Ogre Lord? 🤣

But who else is just waiting for a Shrek 5? Anyways, I own all Shrek movies and the Final Chapter came with a Christmas DVD.

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp

I have never watched the original DuckTales series except for 1 episode when it was on the Disney Channel (now DisneyNOW) app. I found this DVD at my Target and watched it with my mom and dad. If I recall, the genie from this movie returned in the DuckTales 2017 reboot.

The Wild

Aw man, I BARELY remember this movie! But I know it’s trying to be Dreamwork’s Madagascar badly, but failed. I remember having a toy from McDonald’s and it was the Koala character with the torch. Also, Greg Cipes (Beast Boy from Teen Titans) is in this and I didn’t know until I watched a YouTube video reviewing this movie.

Enchanted

I LOVE Enchanted. Hands down, my favorite Disney movie of all time. And it’s coming out with a sequel coming to Disney Plus (which released a trailer a couple days ago and I was unaware of the trailer until today). To be honest, it looks amazing! And if the movie is good, I might buy the DVD if that ever happens.

Miraculous

Ah yes, Miraculous! I remember watching the series when it aired on Nick! But I would watch the episodes on YouTube sometimes. I think the first episodes I’ve watched from the series was the origin episodes. I think around 2020 I started binging the series on Netflix. Still waiting on that new season to come to the US as other countries are airing it still and I want to avoid spoilers since I think I have some people I follow who post them.

I bought this DVD at Walmart and my mom thought Marinette looked liked Violet from the Incredibles. Now I can’t unsee it still.

Descendants

First off, rest in peace Cameron.

But this movie I remember seeing on Disney Channel. It is so amazing and the cast did a good job with their acting. I only care about the first three movies and not the spinoffs. I heard it’s getting a fourth movie (recently announced) but nah, still sticking with the first three.

The DVD also comes with a bracelet which I still have but it’s broken. I was in Middle School when I got this DVD and I remember wearing the bracelet.

Detective Pikachu

Oops, I skipped this one. It was in between Enchanted and The Wild. I watched this movie with a friend in theaters. My friend loves Bulbasaur and when he showed up on screen, she squealed! I still have the trading card in there, never opened since I don’t play the Pokémon TCG.

Over the Hedge

No words here, but one of my childhood movies. :)

Mirror Mirror

The movie was okay, nothing to say here really.

Alice in Wonderland

Another childhood movie!

Beethoven's Christmas Adventure

Movie wasn't that great at all. I mean, it's what you expect from a direct to DVD movie.

All Lion King Movies (except the awful Live Action) + The Lion Guard

So about the Lion King 1 & 2 movies... they're bootlegs. As a matter of fact, I own a lot of movies (mostly Disney) that are bootleg, which I will get to. If it has the DTS logo, then it's a bootleg. And you can tell it's a bootleg cause on the back of The Lion King 1 & 2, it has a rated R rating for language and drug use. When I first saw this rating as a kid, I was like, "am I allowed to watch this?". But don't worry, the movie has none of that, lol. Have you seen any of the characters swear or do drugs?

I forgot that my name was written on the DVD of the 1 1/2 one because I think I brought it to school for the class to watch… think it was Elementary?

As for the Lion Guard DVD, it came with this talking Kion keychain, and like the Descendants bracelet that I wore in middle school, I had this on my backpack, making sure I don't press the button on the back. The battery is dead in it (probably corroded now) and I don't know where I put it at.

The Lion King 1 1/2 has this really cool open flap cover too showing you what’s on each disc. More DVDs should have this!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Love the movie, another childhood movie of mine. The DVD also has a second disc inside and I used to play some of the games on it. Anyone miss DVD games?

The Wiz Live!

Remember when NBC plays like those live shows every December or so? Yeah, I think they're still making more. Besides the Wiz, I watched only two of their live shows. The Grinch one was okay.

7-Mini Movie Collection

I don't know why Illumination put these as separate... they're probably already in the movie's DVD/Blu-Ray. I don't know. From the looks of this, it's one of those Walmart bargain bin movies.

SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

An okay SpongeBob movie, but the first one is better still. I hate how Nick is just still running this show, milking this franchise dry even after the creator's death. I stopped watching SpongeBob after the birthday blowout episode.

Wall-E

Disney being clever with how you open up the DVD case/packaging. Man, are there any other clever DVD boxes or packaging?

Tom and Jerry Meets Sherlock Holmes

I remember seeing the ad for this movie on Boomerang. It’s an okay movie from my childhood. Love the cover and how shiny it is.

Oh yeah, Droopy was in it! I forgot! 😆

Lots and Lots of bootlegs!

Yep! All of these are bootleg! My parents told me they bought these from some country, I think. It’s so funny seeing Mulan paired with Ice Age or Lilo and Stitch being paired with Spirit. But the DVDs are cool, you can flip them over so you can watch that movie (I think this only applies to the 4 pack). But I think the Snow White one in the four pack would act up, I think?

I now realized I have duplicates of the Beauty and the Beast Christmas movie.

Here’s rating for each of them:

Treasure Planet - rated R for “strong pervasive violence, brief language, and a scene of sexuality content”
Mulan/Ice Age - unknown
A Bugz Life and Antz (very funny pair, by the way) - rated R for “language and brief drug use”
The Little Mermaid I and II - rated R for “language and brief drug use” (are we seeing this how common this rating is on these bootlegs?)
Snow White/Hercules/Beauty and the Beast/B&tB Christmas - rated R
B&tB Christmas - rated R for “violence including some gruesome images, and language”
Tarzan/Tarzan & Jane - rated R for “language and brief drug use”
Lilo & Stitch/Spirit - unknown since no cover/cover missing but could be rated R, lol
The Incredibles - rated PG (correct rating!) for “adventure action and peril”

Wow, Disney sure has gotten downhill. I have more, but those will be covered in part two.

Finding Dory

The movie is really good. But what I hate about this cover is how it says "The Biggest Animated Movie of All Time"... it is rare or less frequent to see it on animated movie covers like this. It bothers me. Even those TV ads where they're like, "The #1 movie in the world!".

Paddington

Beautiful movie, even the sequel was amazing! If they ever make a third one, make it good!

My first time hearing about Paddington was when I was watching On Demand and they had some old Paddington Bear cartoons.

Ozzy and Drix: Complete Series

Osmosis Jones was a really amazing film! I watched it in my high school science class. And when I heard that said movie had a TV show with a complete series, my mom or dad got it for me as a birthday gift. I watched a couple of episodes with my friend. Never got to finish the rest.

Fairy Tail

Man, I heard Fairy Tail is good. I watched some episodes on Netflix but never got to finish it. I got these DVDs for Christmas even a Lucy plushie since she's my favorite character. I haven't watched the Blu-rays since I got these in like 2017/18 (?). Might plan to! But I have so much anime on my watchlist.

Lego Movies

I own all of the movies except for the Lego Movie 2. The Lego Movie 3D came with a figure of one of the characters and a 3D Emmet thingy, which I threw away/got rid of.

All Dogs Go to Heaven 2

Oh, I love this movie! Never seen the first one though. This DVD is from some Pizza Hut thing because on the copyright of this disc, it says it's manufactured by Pizza Hut. Let me look this up.

So it was from some promotional thing. According to an article from Pizza Marketplace on June 17th, 2003,

"Pizza Hut hopes its summer sales will sizzle with DVD movie giveaways.

According to Dow Jones Newswires, from June 15 to Aug. 2, customers purchasing any regularly priced large pizza will receive one of four movies -- "Honeymoon in Vegas," "Mr. Mom," "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey" and "All Dogs Go to Heaven 2" -- on DVD.

According to the report, Pizza Hut expects to distribute at least 10 million DVDs."

Wow. I must be holding some rare DVD in my hands!

Wreck-It-Ralph

Pretty good movie. Sequel was okay. Vanellope's glitching used to catch me off guard when I first saw the movie (which is why I didn’t rewatch it after seeing it), but not anymore.

The Slayers

The Slayers!!! I first watched a bit of this anime on YouTube and never finished it. But someday I will get back to it and watch the series in full. I know that most of the 4Kids voice actors such as Lisa Ortiz as Lina are in it.

Happy Feet Two

I didn’t know Matt Damon was in this movie. I forgot what Happy Feet (and this movie) was all about. All I know it’s about a penguin dancing.

Scooby-Doo

Another childhood movie.

The Good Dinosaur

ANOTHER PIXAR movie with something at the bottom with words. Yeah, I don't know about that, Scott. The Good Dinosaur was okay… but not the best PIXAR movie.

Pixels

Movie was hilarious! I can understand why it flopped. Also, you can play through the movie with an app but most people have been complaining that the app doesn't work/sync up well.

Horton Hears a Who!

Donkey Ollie

Now, this is a weird one in my collection.

I have no idea where this came from but my mom gave it to me. They promise "high quality 3D animation".

Yeah, you sure about that bud?

The animation isn't that great at all. Surprisingly, the website and QR code link is is still up.

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And that's it for part one of my collection! Part two will be posted next Friday (or at a later date). Hope you like this post, and do comment, as that helps a lot!

My thoughts on memes and hype for something in fandoms.

2022-09-15T02:07:00.003-07:00

When I was on break from Friday-Monday, away from social media, I wanted to find some videos for my bored self to watch. And then, I stumbled across this video.

"Are Memes Ruining Media" was the title of the video and I wanted to click on it. In the video the man shows the Breaking Bad meme. I have seen that meme and sometimes I never got it, sometimes I did, and also I don't watch the show. But then when he showed the context of the meme, I was like... wow. He even showed other shows such as "The Boys" with the context of the meme scene.

After watching that video, I was really surprised. To see the context of that one Breaking Bad meme surprised me. I don't know why people would take a heartbreaking/sad/tense scene and take it out of context and for people to spread it on the internet.

Which is why I am making this post. To explain my thoughts on memes, plus hype in the fandoms that I'm in but don't want to really get into much.

When I first had access to the internet, I would sometimes be smart and bypass going on to YouTube since my parents would disable Safari/Web Browsing. I used to play on my Kindle and when I had Wi-fi, I would go on this drawing app and wait for an ad to pop up. Then I would click the AdChoices button (usually seen on the corner) and web browse. But my mom or dad would find out later and disabled the Wi-fi for me later on. That was like... when I was in elementary school? But around those times I was exposed to memes such as Bad Luck Brian and Grumpy Cat (rest in peace).

Fast forwarding to now, memes now is just... I don't know. Depending on the meme it can get annoying or confusing plus... loud noises in most of them. It's why I'm not into modern memes anymore. I mean, I don't hate memes, I still follow some people who post memes or share them. I remember seeing this one meme of this drawing. Let me describe it: its head was a circle with black eyes and it had a face like this: 0_0. It had a animal body. The whole body was white. I kept seeing this meme everywhere on my Tumblr timeline and one time, when I announced my birthday, someone replied to my tweet with a gif of that thing. I just don't get it. As explained in the video, the more you see a meme everywhere, the less funny it gets. It reminded me of that SpongeBob episode "Ripped Pants". SpongeBob kept showing his ripped pants to everyone in Goo Lagoon and people kept thinking it was funny. But when he kept doing it, no one really cared anymore and left him. And also, every time I search for something I always get Gacha Life related videos... like why YT?

Now the other topic, hype in the fandoms that I'm in. I hate waking up early at 6am just to watch some Pokémon news (there was news of the Scarlet and Violet games last Wednesday), like can it be at night or something? I remember waking up early just to watch the Smash reveals. I don't watch Nintendo Directs anymore but I always see my friends or others hype for some game or some new anime. And sometimes, I draw fanart of that franchise just to put my art out there. But as I scroll and scroll, I see good fanart which is why I just feel like quitting, but I don't want to. Sometimes hype for something is good or bad for me, depending, and it can depend on how big the franchise is. Just some short thoughts here.

Anyways, that's all I can say for now. College is coming up soon for me and I will be returning to working on online college stuff. I'll make sure this blog becomes more active. I might plan to do a DVD collection that I own and do some reviews on plushies and more. I'll probably return to posting processes of some of my art. Stay tuned.

Rest in peace, Queen Elizabeth II.

2022-09-08T12:45:00.001-07:00

Donations and art commissions are appreciated!

2022-09-07T14:30:00.001-07:00

Hello! I was planning on putting out a normal, long post looking at something but I am tired right now. Maybe later today or sometime.

This will just be a promo post.

If you enjoy reading from this blog or just like my art on my socials, donations or art commissions are appreciated, as it helps me out a lot. I might use the money on either something good, for college, or if I have enough, to help get my works protected by copyright. As a small artist and a yet to be voice actress, it has been hard and has been affecting me mentally which is why I left back in June/July to focus on my own series (since it is private I will not say the name).