The Batlord

Deleting the Magneto article and reposting it in my comic book journal, since that's where it should have been posted in the first place.

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The Batlord

Just sent an email to Varg Vikerness for kicks. Will update if he replies.

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The Batlord

Okay, so, a few months ago I got StarCraft 2, and I'm kind of really getting into it, and would like to start a new series in this journal to sort of give myself some kind of motivation to counteract my normal tendencies toward gloriously self-defeating laziness. I'm hoping that documenting my progress in the game (especially the multiplayer aspect), giving my thoughts on the game, gushing over some of the things that I've already discovered, uploading replays to Youtube and posting them here (if I can figure that out), and just in general creating a timeline for my journey into Starcraft 2, will "keep me on track" or some such bull****.

Since this is an introduction to this series, a bit of self-indulgent historifying is in order...

I've been mildly interested in StarCraft 2 for a little while, but it had certainly never dominated my thoughts to much of any extent. Most of my curiosity came from a love of Real-Time Strategy games (if you don't know what that is then you probably don't care, but they're basically games about fighting large scale battles by controlling non-player units). However, due to my introduction to the genre being from Red Alert 2 and other Westwood Studios RTS games -- combined with a lifelong propensity for stubborn, nerd tribalism -- I generally scorned Blizzard's WarCraft and StarCraft games, despite the fact that they seemed to get more love. They just weren't my games, and so they were the enemy (though not nearly so much as Star Trek, for example, due to my history as a rabid Star Wars fanboy).

But that was all in the past, when I was a high school kid, still with a working computer (which I do again, after nearly a decade, thank Kerrigan). Westwood Studios is now defunct and their IPs are the property of mother****ing EA, who is predictably running their franchises into the ground of mediocrity -- so no real point in continuing a rivalry I probably never actually cared about in the first place -- whereas StarCraft has become a phenomenon, with legitimately professional players and tournaments, which are even televised in South Korea, the spiritual home of eSports and StarCraft in particular.

Seriously, South Koreans are crazy about StarCraft. I've seen a video filmed around the time that SC 2 was just about to come out, and there is a giant, electronic billboard, like you'd see in Times Square, advertising the game, and just a minute later, a bus with a SC 2 ad go zooming by. It was kind of crazy. Not surprisingly their players generally dominate the tournaments...



I was still only vaguely cognizant of StarCraft until sometime around the summer/fall of last year, but that all changed with my discovery of Day[9]. Oh my god how I love this man, this charismatic uber-nerd who reminds me a bit of Joss Whedon, were his hint of smarmy ego not obviously tongue-in-cheek (I love Joss, but he does come across more than a little self-satisfied).

Day[9] is a StarCraft commentator who originally made a name for himself as a pro player in his own right during the days of the original StarCraft, and then transitioned to self-made "Dailies" on Blip.TV, Youtube, and his own Day9.TV.

Each Daily consists of Sean "Day[9]" Plott sitting in front of his computer and giving in-depth analysis of replays from others' online StarCraft games, with a level of expertise which, combined with a heavy dose of humor, has made him one of the biggest figures in the StarCraft community. Often this analysis is directed at an audience already very familiar with the game, but his Newbie Tuesday entries have provided me with some of the most invaluable advice I have ever received in any video game, and Funday Monday adds a delightful dose of irreverent silliness to the mix by Day[9] challenging his viewers to play games while restricted to often outlandish rules -- such as imploring players to never attack -- and then "analyzing" the replays sent to him.

This is a personal fav of mine, as it really just takes the piss with the game, while making it fun and introducing unique challenges one would otherwise never face by playing "normally".



Probably the aspect of Day[9]'s videos that have resonated most with me is his unbridled passion. Sean is often giddy just to be talking about his favorite game, and regularly goes on at length for over an hour, yet I never tire of watching him, despite the fact that I'm so green to the game that I can only take so much away from his lessons.

If you have the time or inclination, then I would highly suggest that you give his Daily #100, "My Life of Starcraft", a watch. It's almost two hours long, but even if you don't care about StarCraft in the least, Day[9] is a masterful storyteller, and the sheer level of passion that he exudes while waxing nostalgic about his entire history as a StarCraft player (and StarCraft itself, since he's been playing since literally day one), occasionally even breaking into tears, is the perfect example of the feeling he transfers to his viewers. You just want to go play ****ing StarCraft after watching a Day[9] video. It would just be wasting everyone's time if you didn't, ya know?



I honestly couldn't tell you how much Day[9] I've watched over the past few months, even before I actually bought the damn game. Just last night, after being unsatisfied with my performance in a multiplayer training mission against an AI opponent, I promptly watched two Dailies dedicated to basic economic mechanics of my chosen race (Zerg), and then shat upon the computer much more convincingly. Got my ass handed to me in the final multiplayer training mission a bit ago, and so I'm in the middle of another Daily to figure out a strategy to fixate on until I can get it to work -- one of his lessons is to just pick a strategy you like, even if it doesn't seem to be working, and just do it, over and over and over again, refining as you go, but only doing that one strategy until you've got it down like clockwork before trying something new. I'm thinking early-Mutalisk harassment. Flying units kick ass.

But enough Day[9] asskissing. He's a new hero of mine, but this thread is about me. Me, me, me! Anyways...

So in closing, I'm hoping to keep this journal series going, along with my StarCraft 2 multiplayer career (full disclosure: never even played a single game against a human being yet), as this just seems like a fun world to dive into, and writing about it seems like good motivation. And if I can figure out how to post some replays, and I get good enough to be able to brag like a douche, well then that's just a side benefit.

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The Batlord

I have a habit of saying I'm gonna do something and then never following through, or getting part way and then dropping it like a sack of potatoes. But I'm gonna give this a shot.

Basically I'm gonna do a series of reviews on early punk albums from the seventies. First wave, second wave, borderline post-punk/new wave, proto-punk just on the cusp of punk, etc.

Stay tuned, losers.

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Blank.

That sounds cool. I think I'll follow that.

TechnicLePanther

5 months later: Nothing has been posted, he makes another post like this one.

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Many have tried to destroy it... but... true evil never dies. It is only... REBORN

SUGGEST ME AN ALBUM - I'm probably not going to listen to it but I will if you bother me enough.

The Batlord

Most likely.

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The Batlord

It's been forever and a day since I've really been on an anime binge, but the last couple weeks I've been watching quite a few. I'm bored, getting drunk, and feel like rambling.

Kill La Kill

This show is so ****ing ridiculous and I love it. I mean, I really, really ****ing love it. I'm in the middle of watching the dub a second time, and will of course watch it a third for the sub. If you just wanna watch it for the brilliantly executed action, hilarious insanity, and yes, the over-the-top fan service, then you can totally do that. No matter what other qualities the show might have it's also a big (boobie) honkin' ball of fun.

But if you dig a little deeper there's a surprisingly intelligent show under all the excess. From the 1984 meets Evangelion meets Gurren Lagann plot (this show has a big hardon for Gainax), to the remarkably detailed and creative art design, to (kinda) mature themes about sexuality and nudity that actually justify the fan service, Kill La Kill will win over any anime fan with an open mind.

This is in fact the first series I've watched in a good long while that made me actually want to buy it.




This came out the same year as Sword Art Online, so I'm not sure who ripped off who, but Log Horizon is a fantastic take on real stuck inside an MMO. Rather than simply being about goofy, melodramatic fights (many episodes don't even have action), this show tends to concentrate more on the politics of the game world and repercussions of thousands of people from the normal world being shoved into one with the rules of a video game.

For instance, one of the big plot points of the series is that NPCs are actual people now. They have unscripted thoughts and dialogue, and since they're no longer plot devices they don't give out quests. Cause... who does that? And since the "players" no longer have any quests to fulfill they now have to pass the time however they can, and since video game economies generally consist of paying ten gold to sleep in a bed, when you can raise that money by fighting one monster (monsters still give gold and experience) there really isn't any incentive to do anything with the twenty-three-and-a-half hours in the day they have left.

Perhaps they might think twice if they could actually die, but if they're "killed" they respawn at the local temple. Not to mention that all the problems in the world that would otherwise result in a quest are now going undealt with, meaning that unexpected crises are now popping up that are further complicated by the growing political difficulties of... well, I'll let you find that out on your own.

Needless to say I am fascinated with this show and its lovable cast of characters. The show seems to handwave as many issues with people being trapped in an MMO as it deals with, which can be offputting if you dwell on them too much, but otherwise I can't recommend Log Horizon enough.




OMG I'm embarrassed that I'm only just getting around to Fooly Cooly. It's a Gainax show, it's ridiculous, and it's one of the most respected comedys in all of anime. It's seems pretty much tailor made for me. And it is. I binge-watched the sub over one night and then proceeded to immediately start watching the dub. I was also pretty ****ing high at the time, so that definitely helped with my appreciation for the show.

I won't bore you with anything else since you've either already seen the show or know what it's about anyway.




Why the **** is everybody and their mother on this show's dick? If you replaced the "ghouls" with vampires (cause that's really what they are) you would just have a fairly well-written but completely generic show that would be forgotten after a few years once twenty more vampire shows had taken its place. And if you don't agree that Tokyo Ghoul is at its core a vampire show that's trying to fool you into believing it's something different, just ask yourself, if they gave the characters fangs and had them drink blood instead of eating human flesh, would the show be in any way different? Would everything about it still be just as relevant?

Thought so.

But it's not like I hate the show or anything. I'm almost done with it and haven't been bored for the most part. The characters are well-written enough that I kinda sorta care about them, even if the usual anime tropes weigh them down more than is healthy; the plot deals with deeper and different themes than most vampire shows do; but the lack of originality just makes it an above average genre show rather than the horror anime classic so many people seem to think it is.

The uber-anime fight scenes don't help. Why should a sentient zombie need superpowers or weird things that come out of their back that are unique to each character and have the silly name of... I don't even remember, cause all of these animes have some sort of power with some random name meant to make them sound cool but just sound goofy instead. If you removed that **** and just made the ghouls no more powerful than any human it would in no way make the show any worse, unless of course the writers are using fight scenes as a crutch to reduce the amount of actual writing they have to do.

But like I said, it's still good, just not great.




Speaking of vampire anime, this is a pretty great one. Read Salem's Lot? This is basically that, but with better characters (on both sides), and a far better ending (cause Stephen King can't write a good ending to save his life). The slow death of a town being unknowingly overrun by vampires is well-paced, haunting, and very tense. By the end you really end up feeling like no matter what happens, nobody wins.

It also showcases that old trope of humanity being the real evil better than a lot of shows and movies I've seen recently. You end up going back and forth on which faction you empathize with the most, since both humans and vampires are equals parts sympathetic and horrendous.

Wanna watch a good horror show? Watch Shiki. Wanna watch a good vampire show? Watch Shiki. Wanna watch an anime that isn't just a collection of cheesy tropes? Watch Shiki. Wanna watch an anime that doesn't have anybody with purple or pink hair... well you're SOL, but it's not too bad about that at least.

Just watch Shiki.




For the first... half of the series I guess, I was totally into it. The action was dynamic and exciting, the plot was totally generic but in the best zombie tradition, and the characters who actually mattered were engaging and just as likable and unlikable as characters in a zombie story should be. Basically, Highschool of the Dead took no chances but did everything right. Even the absurd amount of fan service added a charming and even hilarious amount of campy goodness.

But after a while the fan service started to become obnoxious, and from what I gather this was due to executive meddling. There was still good stuff and good stories, but since the majority of the characters are girls, and since they almost always are in some state of undress and/or jiggling, it became harder and harder to take them seriously as characters. Or at least the tone of their scenes became too ludicrous for any seriousness to come through.

I haven't finished the series even though I only have a few more episodes to go, but I'll finish it eventually, just to get it out of the way. And I'd like to think that the finale will carry the quality of the good parts of the series rather than the fan service overload of the **** parts.

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Key

Weaboo scum

The Batlord

I have Deadpool and Spider-Woman posters on my wall, not Bleach and Naruto.

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