To Be Myself Completely

The Misadventures of Mike Eaton, Angel of Death.

[markrosewater]

I attended a small standard tourney last night at an LGS with my wife. We unfortunately left after the second round because of the hostilities she was experiencing because of her gender. Do you find on your end you hear much regarding the issues of non-male treatment in Magic? Do you feel it's improving?

Let me use this question to say something I’ve been wanting to say.

Every time you are unkind to another Magic player, be it in a game, online or through whatever interaction, regardless of your reason, you are hurting the game, you are hurting the community, you are hurting the store you play in, you are hurting the place you gather - most of all, you are hurting other people.  

One of the reasons I love the Magic community is because of the kindness they show one another. Don’t be the person that makes Magic something ugly for someone. You love how the Magic community has opened up for you and made you feel welcome. Well, pass that along. 

Just imagine that every interaction you have with someone new is the interaction you would have wanted when you were new. A lot of people are attracted to gaming because it is somewhere they feel welcome when there are many other places they do not. Please, please, please do not take that away from people.

Be an ambassador of the game.

Be someone who makes others’ lives better rather than worse.

Be the better person.

[stevencrewniverse]

Confused about when to watch Steven Universe on your TV? 

Ask yourself, “Is it 6:30?” If the answer is yes, TUNE INTO CARTOON NETWORK AND WATCH STEVEN UNIVERSE!!!!

SU is now on TV at the same time every day. It can’t get much simpler than this! It makes too much sense!!!

[andrewscaife]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer as a LucasArts point and click adventure game

This was a lot of fun to do. Particularly in thinking about which scenes to draw and also realising just how suitable the Buffy stories are to this type of game. There are so many objects and puzzles to solve. It made me think it would be a good writing exercise to take your story and see if it would fit into this type of game. If it can’t then I suspect it’s probably lacking a little narrative propulsion. 

There are many, many other scenes I could have chosen (I’d still like to do 70s Spike on the subway car) but I thought one for each season was nice.

Some I chose because I wanted to show a specific location. Some I chose based on a gag that I thought would be funny e.g. Cordelia’s spatula and Willow’s broken crayon.

Here’s each episode I used as reference:

Season 1 - Welcome to Hellmouth

Season 2 - Inca Mummy Girl

Season 3 - Homecoming

Season 4 - Hush

Season 5 - Triangle

Season 6 - Grave

Season 7 - Touched

I’m going to be at the Bristol comic expo this weekend selling some prints.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Journey Into Nyx - And I'm Staying! - Play Unplugged

Play Unplugged's Mike Eaton journeys into a box of Journey Into Nyx. Will he come out of the starry expanse in his right mind or enchanted?

This is where I gush about some Journey into Nyx cards, because I think this set functions amazingly. I actually might have to make that Theros cube I keep considering, because some of the uncommons in this can't go unplayed.

[ruckawriter-deactivated20200128]

Contents Under Pressure

I rarely use this to just blog. I’m going to just blog now, so you can all just ignore this if it’s not to your liking.

Warning. Contents under pressure.

Read More

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Rucka. Holy shit. I love some Greg Rucka. "I am listening, and I am taking names." And so should we all.

[thisfeliciaday]

The other day I posted this tweet:

"Wait they cast a white chick for Tiger Lily in the new Peter Pan? Did they not remember Lone Ranger last year? Or, you know, racism?"

(If you didn’t hear, Rooney Mara is supposedly playing Tiger Lily, who is a princess of the “Native” tribe, in the...

[mikeatonjr-blog]

My Review of Love Letter: Legend of the Five Rings Edition

Have any of you played Love Letter yet? It's a fast, fun and charming card game in a box.

This version is set in the world of Rokugan, one of my favorite fantasy settings of all time, making it extra special to me. Check it out, then check out the game! 2-4 players, and every turn is fresh. And you can sleeve it up in Magic sleeves if you like. (I did.)

[mikeatonjr-blog]

This title is arguable

WUTUP TUMBLR Since I was (in the speaker's mind) poked-fun-at (but actually derided based on a legion of stereotypes and old data) for being a "Tumblr user," I thought I'd take to the streets today to talk about toxic conversations. I argue a bunch. I don't know why. I'd like to know, but I'm afraid to know. You know? It might be because I think I can change minds. Now, since I've never really been good at that on the fly within an argument, that would be some mid-level arrogance that I don't want to espouse. If that's all there is to it, I don't want to argue anymore.

Now, it might be because I want to make my opinions clear and don't want to be misjudged based on faulty perceptions of myself! But since I've never really been good at that on the fly within an argument, that would make the whole endeavor a waste of time. If that's all there is to it, I don't want to argue anymore. I can't think of any other reasons off the top of my head, because I'm filled with too much anxiety and rage! Yesss . . .

The thing about multi-party text arguments -- the kinds on forums and on Facebook -- is that they're so often toxic. And what I mean by that is, they only foment differences of opinion, and not understanding. There is occasionally a seeming understanding after the fact, but so often, it amounts to, "Oh, you're a small-minded asshole! I understand." But you don't. Because you didn't just learn everything you need to know from those strings of text, because people *are not good at representing themselves there*. And we all just get mad, defensive, and aggressive, but not necessarily in that order. Now, you may be sitting there saying, "I'm always perfectly calm in these situations, and if you're not, you clearly have some kind of deficiency to work on." Well then! Fuck you. I go, now -- to pare down my Facebook interactions. I'm going to, instead of working on my arguments, work on remembering to say things like this: "Do you believe there's no such thing as societal privileges, and that we're all super equal and full of sunshine and equality? You do? Oh, I'm done." "Do you believe that either ONLY faith or ONLY pure logic or ONLY empirical evidence is acceptable? You do? Oh, I'm done." "Is your definition of freedom, 'Don't make me do anything I don't want to do?' It is? Oh, I'm done." . . . And things of this nature. Ideally, I'll think of a less snippy way to ask these questions, so as to get straight answers. But really, I'd rather piss someone off for thirty seconds making it clear that their worldview is irrelevant to me than wasting upwards an hour gabbing opinions back and forth, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[markrosewater]

It's a little suspect that Nissa Revane is the only non-Lorwyn 5 to be getting an action figure... so I'm going to assume she's making a Huey appearance, being a 5 year old PW with only one card. If not, was she really THAT popular? She like... blew up Zendikar practically.

I can only say that we have some plans for Nissa.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Welp, this is the best news I've heard all day. Although, I think we all already knew this.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Hufflepuff Pride in the Workplace

This seemed like the only appropriate venue to mention that someone at the store where I work was wearing a Hufflepuff sweatshirt the other day, and it pretty much made me happy the rest of the day. That's a decision you make, my friends -- to choose the least glamorous house, with no good characters, which even its author basically disparages, because you recognize the inherent love for honor and community within. Also, badgers.

[noordzee]

More Mythology-lady valentines! Less monstrous, no less dangerous. Well, except for the Graeae, they’re just old and creepy. Like last time, HERE is a full sheet of all four, print away, freefreefree!

So this time we have an Amazon, a Maenad, half-crazed worshipper of Dionysus, the enchantress Circe, and the Graeae or Gray Sisters, who are NOT the Fates, Disney… Again, I referenced artworks for their appearances. The Graeae are not very well-represented in the greek canon, though, so I drew from that delightful genre of Hellenistic art: Statues Of Decrepit Old Ladies.

First set is here! Thank you everyone, by the way, who have supported that first set! I hope you like this one, too!

[mikeatonjr-blog]

This is so good.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Born of the Gods. Twice. - Play Unplugged

In which I chat with Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, about the Magic: the Gathering Born of the Gods Prerelease. I loved this one. Please check it out. Unless you're that one person who follows me on Tumblr who gets ill around Magic cards because of That One Horrible Guy We Knew, and then that's OK.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Wizards of the Coast at the Movies

Play Unplugged's Mike Eaton discusses Wizards of the Coast's latest foray into film and his recent Kaijudo play.

I, for one, do not fear that the Magic: the Gathering movies will be awful. They've been doing fine work understanding the audience in other media (comics, TV, other games) and I have high hopes. Check it.

[imakeshinythings]

One of my lovely customers sent me a message today with this link.

And here is my United/World of Love line:

My heart sank a little bit. The World/United States of Love line that I created is one of the reasons that I was able to quit my full-time job. They even stole the...

[mikemaihack]

A new Batgirl/Supergirl comic for Halloween. Because candy.

More BGSG Comics

[mikeatonjr-blog]

I would actually like Halloween if this happened more often.

[mikeatonjr-blog]

Ambition

As 2013 began, I bought a day planner from Moleskine that says, "Do, or Do Not. There is no Try." Excellent quote from Master Yoda. Anyway, the idea was that I would look at this every day, use it often, and get myself to Do, and not to Try and forget a whole bunch of stuff. Predictably, I lost it for months at a time and, mostly, Didn't. But I remind the universe: I have it right here, now, and it's not even November yet.

[mikevdesign]

Disney Princesses vs. Capcom