Dessa's Ramblings

[nekomittchi]

It's that time of year again! The time of year where I plan out my birthday party, because a) I plan too far in advance, and b) I wanna make sure everyone has time to make arrangements! The theme this year is Disneyland, because, of course, I'm going to Disneyland this year! I'm actually gonna be there on my birthday! And since they say that life begins at 40, that means I'm starting my life at Disneyland! For my virtual party, that one will be Saturday, May 1, 2022, from 1-10pm PST. I'll be hosting it on my twitch channel. There'll be Animal Crossing, Jackbox games, maybe some Pokemon Legends: Arceus shiny hunting. I've done this the past couple years due to restrictions on gatherings, and we've all had a great time. Of course, I gotta have my party for all my friends and BFFs to come to! Now that we can gather again and movies are coming out, it's back to the usual plan. Pizza and board/card games at the Cabana at my complex, and then we'll go see the newest Marvel movie: Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness! Date is May 7, the day after the movie comes out, and it'll be 1-10pm as well! I'll provide soda and cake (ice cream cake!), but it's everyone else's responsibility to get the pizza! As well as any other snacks to share (I might have some, but not sure). Finally, since I'm going to be in Disneyland on my birthday, and I have friends in the area, I figured "what the heck, let's have a birthday dinner down there!" We're gonna meet at Black Tap Bar & Grill in Downtown Disney, so that no one has to worry about getting a ticket and a park pass. That's gonna be at 5pm PST on Monday, May 9. PLEASE RSVP for this one, so I can try to snag enough seats. Now, we all know that it's traditional for the birthday party to recieve gifts. This is in no way expected or required, but is much appreciated. For those attending my birthday dinner who may not know me as well, as I noted on the ticket, Marie, Lokigator, Goose the cat, Grogu, and pins and keys are things I collect. For those attending my virtual party, or who just may want to help out my Disneyland fund, I set up a GoFundMe, located here. Now, don't get me wrong, I can afford the trip, it's just gonna give me a tight wallet and large credit card bills for a while. But any little bit helps.

[edit] A friend of mine in SoCal has graciously offered to allow packages to be sent to his place for my birthday dinner. Please contact me if you would like his address.

[nekomittchi]

My Disney Fab 50 Statues

This is my version of the Disney Fab 50 statues for the WDW 50th Anniversary, and why I picked each one. My list aims much more to park history than the official list does. I'll note which ones are official statues by underlining them. These are in no particular order, but organized by park they'd be in. Magic Kingdom 1) Mickey - Obviously, Mickey, being the park and company mascot, needs to be here, and he's on the official list as well. I chose to put my version in his Philharmagic costume. It's got the hat from Fantasia/Sorcerer's Apprentice, which is well known, but tailored more to the park attraction. 2) Daisy Duck - One of the Fab 6, Daisy is also along for the ride. But unlike the official's "standard" outfit, I'm putting Daisy in a safari outfit to represent Jungle Cruise. Since Jungle Cruise doesn't really have any characters, I'm using outfits, like with Mickey, to represent attractions that otherwise would be left out. 3) Goofy - Another of the Fab 6, Mickey's best friend needs to be represented. Like Daisy, he's also repping a character-less ride. This time he's repping Big Thunder Railroad. As an added bonus, if they put him in a conductor outfit, it could also rep Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, but that's at another park. 4) Pluto - The last of the Fab 6 in this park (the other two I'm placing elsewhere), Mickey's dog Pluto. And since the Park Wishables already put Mickey and Minnie in space suits for Space Mountain, let's give Pluto an astronaut helmet to represent it! And, as an added bonus, it doubles as a take-that at Universal, since Disney can't have Marvel in the WDW parks, and Pluto would be a joke on Cosmo (the space dog in the Collector's museum from Guardians of the Galaxy). 5) Sonny Eclipse - The first statue of mine that's not only unique to my list, but also represents something 100% in the park. I haven't been to Cosmic Rays myself, but from what I hear around WDWNT and WIGScord, it's pretty popular. Or at least Sonny is. So he gets a statue. 6) Merlin and Archmedes - Second statue unique to my list, and the first that's for the history of the park. Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom was a scavenger hunt-type game that closed down early this year, and Merlin was kinda your guide for it. The game apparently had a lot of problems, but it looked really fun at the same time. 7) Genie - A surprising omition from the official list, and, unlike DLR, WDW actually has an Aladdin ride. The official list does have Abu, but I feel Genie is much more iconic and representitational of the movie. I'm also surprised that Carpet wasn't with Abu. 8) Pirate Dog - The Pirate Dog holding the keys is my representation of Pirates of the Caribbean. The dog might not be the most obvious pick, but as I'm trying to steer away from realistic-looking human characters, the dog was picked. Plus, they also made a Tsum Tsum and a Wishable of him, so... 9) Big Al OR Henry- This one's a toss-up. Either bear would do, and it's surprising to me that Country Bear Jamboree isn't represented. Of course, we know that it's a "less popular" attraction, so... 10) Madame Leota - The hitchhiking ghosts would also work to represent Haunted Mansion, but I think that having a gold statue inside of an ornate glass orb would look cooler. Plus, it only takes up one character slot, rather than 3. 11) Dumbo - One of the original rides from Disneyland, this classic has to be represented, and Disney agreed. Although I cut out Timothy. Didn't wanna take up another slot. 12) Stitch - Another statue to represent a past attraction, Stitch is here to represent Stitch's Great Escape. He's also, like the official statue, in his 626 form, because there's not nearly as much merchandise for him that way. 13) Winnie the Pooh - Piglet is with him on the official statue, but I think Pooh can stand on his own. Or, at least, eat hunny on his own. I mean, the ride is called "Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh," not "Pooh and Friends." Also, Tigger is way better than Piglet. 14) Mr. Toad - Another surprising omition from the list. Mr. Toad's Wild Ride might not be in Magic Kingdom anymore, but he's still fondly remembered, and they even made a Wishable of him (from the Disneyland 65th Anniversary set, but whatever). 15) Maleficent (Dragon) - The first of my statues that's not for an attraction, but a show (okay, Philharmagic is kinda a show, but shush). And she's also considered the "leader" of all of the Disney Villains, who are not represented at all in the official list, which I think is a shame. Sure, we all love the heroes, but who would those heroes be without their villains? 16) Face Clock - The only non-character in my list, the Face Clock is iconic enough for the World's Fair-turned-park ride. Because if you picked one of the dolls, which doll would you pick?! 17) Elliot - I've never seen the Main Street Electrical Parade myself (unless it was when I was 5), but I'd recognize the dragon float from Pete's Dragon anywhere. Bonus points if they could do the statue in such a way that it looked like the float, too. 18) Tinkerbell - The last of the revealed statues, Tinkerbell has come to represent Disney magic, both within and outside the parks, just as much as Mickey. Officially representing Peter Pan's Flight, I'd like to think that she also represents the Castle, like in the company card at the start of the movies. 19) Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz - Yes, I know I've been trying to avoid "wasting" slots with multi-character statues, but... How could you pick just one of the Enchanted Tiki Room birds?! 20) Cheshire Cat - Cheshire and Mad Hatter both made the list (as separate statues), but I feel that Alice in Wonderland can be represented by Cheshire on his own. Plus, cat. 21) Boo - Monster's Inc Laugh Floor is an attraction that I wish was at DLR, so I could go on it, but even better than Sulley or Mike is the adorable Boo. 22) Jimminy Cricket - Yet another surprising omition from the list, Jimminy is almost as iconic to Disney Magic as Tinkerbell is. The official list has Pinocchio, but Jimminy is so much more "Disney" in general than Pinocchio. 23) Dopey - Seven Dwarfs Mine Train represent, as well as Disney's first animated feature. EPCOT 24) Donald Duck, Jose, and Panchito - Mickey's other best friend, here represented with the other two of the Three Caballeros, as represented in the Gran Fiesta Tour ride in the Mexico Pavillion. Like with the other members of the Fab 6, I chose to put him in an attraction outfit, and since I did, the other two had to come along for the ride. 25) Figment - Journey to Imagination (or whatever the current name of the attraction is) might be "meh" as a ride, but everyone loves Figment. Even Disney, who included him. 26) Olaf - I love Bruni. Bruni is probably my favorite character from all of Frozen. But Bruni isn't even named in the movie, he doesn't need to be on a statue. Olaf can represent Frozen Ever After by himself. 27) Remy - I'm shocked that Remy's not on the official list, given that his ride [officially] opens on the first day of the 50th Celebration, and represents the future of the parks. 28) Orange Bird - OB is on the official list, though in MK rather than EPCOT. All of the merch and such I've seen for him has been for the EPCOT festivals, so I'm sticking him here. 29) Rocket Racoon and Groot - Another statue to look to the future, for whenever Cosmic Rewind opens. Also, unlike the official statue, we are not using the realistic style from the official statue. The fur on Rocket looks so bad. Nah, instead we'll do him smooth, like the cartoons. 30) Mushu - Mushu was left out of the live action Mulan movie, but he's designed after traditional Chinese dragons, so let's put him over by the China Pavilion. 31) Marie - Did you really think that this list was not going to have my favorite character on it? I mean, really? Plus, we've got THREE mice/rats on the list, AND a dog, so we need another cat. Hollywood Studios 32) Minnie Mouse - And here we have the last of the Fab 6, Mickey's gal Minnie! Why is she in Hollywood Studios? Because she's representing Tower of Terror, wearing a cute outfit, of course! 33) DJ-R3X - Remember all those Fab 6 characters representing multiple characters? Yeah, R3X here is doing the same. Not only is DJ-R3X the DJ at Oga's Cantina in Galaxy's Edge, but he was originally RX-24, the pilot for the original version of Star Tours. Much better representation than BB-8 or R2-D2 from the official list. 34) Kermit the Frog - One of the more offensive omitions from the official list. MuppetVision3D is great fun, and the Muppets don't get nearly enough love, even with the Haunted Mansion special coming. 35) Chuuby - Okay, so sue me, I'm obsessed with the little merchandising bird. He's just too cute. 36) Woody and Buzz Lightyear - I know the official statue is Woody and Bo-Peep. But I haven't seen Toy Story 4 (or 3), so I want Buzz there. Disney's Animal Kingdom 37) Chip and Dale - Ya gotta have the little buddies! And who better to be wearing cute little Wilderness Explorer outfits? 38) The Yeti - So, the real Yeti might not work in Expedition Everest, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be represented as a statue! Just make sure it's not realistic fur like that horrible Rocket statue. Stylized only! 39) Simba, Timon, and Pumbaa - Simba is separate from his friends in the official statue, but the trio (Simba as a child) should stick together. Festival of the Lion King is amazing to watch. You'll note a few things on my list: 1) There are no princesses. This was a specific omition on my part. The princesses have their own line of stuff, and are fairly over-used as it is. I wanted to get away from that. 2) As I mentioned with the Pirate Dog, I wanted to avoid realistic human characters. They either look good, or they don't. And I wanted a bit more of a similar style to everything, hence why I'm noting that Rocket should be done in the cartoon style, and the Yeti should be stylized. 3) Everything is tied into an attraction, land, or Disney Magic. Nothing is there solely from a movie. 4) My list only has 3 statues more than the official list. 5) For reference, here are the characters that are on the official list that are missing from mine: Timothy the Mouse (with Dumbo) Piglet (with Winnie the Pooh) Bruni (with Olaf) Bo-Peep (with Woody) Lumiere and Cogsworth Mad Hatter Pinocchio Gus and Jaq Lady and Tramp Abu Dante Miguel Pua and Hei-Hei Joe Gardener Edna Mode Frozone R2-D2 BB-8 Sebastian and Flounder Nemo and Dory Bambi and Thumper Of these, there are no major parks connections for Lumiere and Cogsworth, Lady and Tramp, Dante, Miguel, Pua and Hei-Hei (yet), Joe Gardener, Edna, and Frozone. Edna and Frozone especially bother me, as they're not even the main characters. Why couldn't we get a Jack-Jack instead? And Mr. Mittens and 22 over Joe Gardener? 6) And, finally, here are my statues that are new to my list: Sonny Eclipse Merlin and Archmedes Genie Pirate Dog Big Al Madame Leota Mr. Toad Maleficent Face Clock Elliot Jose, Michael, Pierre, and Fritz Boo Jimminy Cricket Dopey Remy Mushu Marie DJ-R3X Kermit the Frog Chuuby Buzz Lightyear The Yeti

[nekomittchi]

Feelstember

So, to counter all of the angsty Prompt Months for fanfiction, I decided to start "Feelstember," for softer, fluffier prompts. Since October is Whumptober, I went with September. There are 30 prompts, but not in any particular order. Do what you want when you want them, and skip over any you don't want. The list was written with Star Wars Rebels specifically in mind, but feel free to use them for whatever else. 1) Warm 2) Fuzzy 3) Cuddles 4) Animals 5) Kiss 6) Touch 7) Food/Drink 8) Sleep 9) Lessons 10) Art/Music/Crafts 11) Birthday 12) Joy 13) Tears 14) Numbers (people, occurrences, etc) 15) Family/Parents 16) Sick 17) Role Reversal 18) Body Swap 19) Clouds/Stars/Sky 20) Sight/Sound 21) Names 22) Live 23) Soft 24) Hero 25) Freedom 26) Peace 27) Hope 28) Blankets 29) Found 30) Time Travel

[nekomittchi]

Help Needed

Yesterday, Mom's car was broken into overnight. We believe that she accidentally may have left the door unlocked, and prowlers took advantage of it. Luckily, they didn't grab much. However, what was grabbed, Mom and I can't easily afford to replace. The main items that we need help with are as follows: R2-D2 USB Car Charger (from ThinkGeek, $30) External Phone Battery (this one specifically [in purple; $8], but, if possible, I'd like to get her this better one instead [also in purple; on sale for $12]) A 4-way USB hub (don't have a specific model, but they run fairly cheap) USB-to-3DS Charging Cable (we got it at Daiso, but I don't know if they still carry them) USB Phone Charging cables (also fairly cheap) If there's any way you could help with us, DM me on Twitter (same handle) and I can send you my paypal.

[nekomittchi]

FFV:FJF - Ffffff--what?!?

Summer is a big time for gamers. The biggest industry events of both the US and Japanese industries (E3 and Tokyo Game Show, respectively) bookend the summer, in June and September. You also have the two biggest anime conventions in the US, which have, in the past few years, also had gaming announcements, Anime Expo and Otakon. You also have SGDQ, Summer Games Done Quick, a charity marathon of speedruns. And you also have FFV:FJF. That's a lot of letters (mainly Fs), but what does it mean? It stands for Final Fantasy V: Four Job Fiesta (commonly called the Four Job Fiesta, or just "Fiesta"). The Fiesta is a community challenge, raising money for the Child's Play charity. For those unfamiliar with FFV, it's got a pretty decent history to it. Originally released for the Super Famicom (that would be the SNES in the US) in December of 1992, it was thought to be "just not accessible to the average gamer," and never released in the US (legally). The first time it was available in English was the Playstation 1 port, part of Final Fantasy Anthology (along with FFVI), though this version had... problems (to say the least). I personally have tried playing it via PS2 (which causes more problems), and, at times, it's near unplayable. A better release came on the GBA, and it was also ported to iOS and Android. The story itself is pretty simple. Wandering adventurer Bartz ends up meeting up with Princess Lena and "random old guy" Galuf, and the three of them, as well as "totally a guy" pirate Faris end up teaming up to try to protect the 4 crystals that protect the land. Along the way, they're given "jobs" (classes, if you've played later games) that better equip them to fight the evil tree bent on destroying the world. No, really, the final boss is actually a tree. Hmm... four characters, and "jobs,"... could we be getting close to what the Four Job Fiesta is? Yup. In normal gameplay, once you unlock a job, you're free to use it for one or all of your characters, and mix and match jobs to best suit your needs. In fact, there are bonuses for maxing out jobs, so the more jobs you max the stronger your characters become. But what's the fun in that, huh? With the Four Job Fiesta, you get 4 jobs. And that's it. You get 4 jobs, and you HAVE to use all 4 (once all 4 are available) at all times. And you're not allowed to use any other job. Just the 4 you're assigned. The event is run by twitter user @revenantkioku, via Gilgabot (@FF5forFutures). Users register and receive their random jobs (how random depends on which "flavor" of challenge you're doing) by tweeting commands at Gilgabot. Now, I mentioned that this is for charity. How is the money raised, though? The first, and easiest/most obvious way, is through pure donations. The second is via "The Run." The Run is done by speedrunners (sometimes a single, sometimes multiple as a race). Participants in the Fiesta can vote on which classes they want to see The Run require. One vote is free, after that, you can donate to boost your votes. There's additional incentives for various extras the runners must complete during The Run, up to $5,000. As of this writing, with less than 24 hours since voting started, over $6,500 had already been raised. The third is via changing your own jobs. Don't like what you got? Buy a different job. Different jobs cost varying amounts (based on how useful they are), and once your donation is confirmed, you can start using that job. Some people also give themselves personal challenges. "I'll donate $x if I beat the game, $y if I fail," or similar. In total, $19,365.61 was raised for Child's Play last year, with a goal of $18,000 (or beating last year) as the goal for this year. I myself will be running, with a "Pure Chaos" run (instead of only jobs from the Crystal you just cleared, or only jobs you have available, ANY job can be assigned at ANY time). I'm also considering making use of the #FifthJob command, if I don't like my fourth ^^; I'm going to try to stream the whole thing, too, so if you'd like to watch, follow Nekomittchi on Twitch, so it'll notify you when I start.

[nekomittchi]

Picross Tutorial (part 1)

So, since I keep being asked for help in Picross, I figured I'd make a tutorial, see if I can explain it a bit better than the in-game tutorials do (partially, I think this is because they use too small of puzzles). This will be part 1, which has a puzzle in full. I'll do more parts for more specific tips and tricks in a later post. To start out with, let's take a blank puzzle: Now, let's turn on those useful hints that tell you when there's something to do in each row: Now, we've got a bunch of things we can do. But see how Row 3 and Column 10 each have 10 spaces, and 10 filled blocks. So we can do those right away. Because we filled in one of the sides, we can also fill in all of the clues attached to that side (since the edge has to be the start of the set). So let's fill in those as well: Before we move on, let's see how this affects our overall puzzle: So, as you can see, we have one row that we can still work with, and a number of columns. However, see columns 8 and 9? We can mark off the first 2 and the final 1 on column 9, and the final 1 on column 8. Plus, there's only 2 open spots left on column 9, which has to be the middle 2. So let's fill those in: And now let's check the updated puzzle: So, we've got something interesting going in the first 3 columns now. In columns 1 and 3, the first clue is a 2. Since the third row is filled, the first row can't be filled. Likewise, in column 2, the second column can't be the 1, so we can mark that one off. Let's do that: Now, when we check the puzzle again, we'll see a couple interesting things: In row 1, we have a single open space. Since our first clue is 3, it can't be in that space. Furthermore, since the remaining space is 4 wide, we know that the 3 has to be either the first 3 or the last 3, with an overlap of the middle 2. So let's mark off the space in column 2, and fill in the 2 middle spaces: With what we have now, we have 3 columns that we can work with. In column 4, we have the same situation as with row 1 in the previous step. Since 8 from the top will cover rows 1-8, and 8 from the bottom 3-10, we can fill in rows 3-8. Likewise, with columns 5, we have the 1 discovered already, and can fill in the 3, and in column 6, we can fill in the four. Let's do so: And now we'll check where we're at: As you can notice, row 4's 3 and row 5's 2 are already marked, so we can cross off the spaces around them (and before, in the case of row 5). In rows 6 and 7, we can mark off column 7 next to the 1s that are sitting in column 8. Additionally, we can mark off row 7's column 3 and 5, to block out that 1 in column 4: We've narrowed down a few things. You should notice that we can do things in rows 5, 6, and 8: In row 5, we have 1 open spot, and a 1-space clue left. Obviously, this gets filled in. In the opposite manner, our next clue in rows 6 and 8 are 2s. In row 6, there's a space of 1, not wide enough for it. In row 8, we have 2 spaces before the filled space, so column 6 can't be filled in. Let's fill in row 5, and mark off rows 6 and 8: And an update to the puzzle: We now have quite a few different things going on. So let's look at each of them, and fill them in. Bear with me, there's a lot going on in this step, so I'll try to explain as clearly as possible. In column 3, the first clue is 2. We have a filled space in row 3, with row 4 blocked and an open space in row 2. Likewise, in column 7, we have rows 2 and 3 filled, 4 blocked, and 1 open, for a clue of 3. So row 2/column 3 and row 1/column 7 get filled. Since row 1/column 7 gives us a set of 3, we can mark off row 1/column 4. Secondly, in column 6, we have a single spot open. Since we've got our 4 already, and a start to our 2, we can mark that one off as well. Furthermore, since row 7 is marked off, the 2 has to be finished in row 10. Finally, in column 5, we need 2 1-spaces. Which is exactly what's left open. Let's fill all of that in: And an update to the puzzle: Now we can do some things in rows 2, 6, 8, and 10, as well as column 2. In row 2, we only need to mark off the remaining spaces, since we've found all of the clues. In row 6 and 10, we have a start to the next clue, so we can finish those clues off. In row 8, we already have the clue, so we can mark it off: And our update: At this point, we can finish off rows 4, 6, 8, and 10. No reason not to: This leaves us with only columns to work with at the moment: We've finished off columns 1 and 3, so we can mark them off. We can also finish off column 4, since the one open space will complete our 8: At this point, all we have left is rows 7 and 9, and column 2: Since we have 1 space and 1 clue left in the two rows, and 2 spaces to make a 3, and 1 3-space clue left in column 2, it should be obvious how to finish the puzzle: And there we go! If there's anything you didn't understand, or other things you'd like me to explain (like Mega Picross, I hate those, too), just let me know, and I'll make additions to this tutorial series.

[nekomittchi]

Birthday Party 2016

It's that time again, time for info on my birthday party! Date: Saturday, May 7th Time: 2pm-whenever* Place: The cabana at my apartments (let me know if you need directions) *The party can optionally start earlier, for whomever wants to join me comic shop-hopping for Free Comic Book Day The Plan After raiding comic book stores for free crap in the morning, the party proper starts at 2pm. If everyone brings a few dollars to chip in, we'll get pizza, and there will be cake, and board/tabletop games to play. (note: two children have been invited, so keep it clean!) After Angie can join us when she gets off work, we'll be carpooling to downtown Edmonds, to go see Captain America: Civil War at The Edmonds Theater (it's a really awesome place). Tickets are $8, HOWEVER, if we can get 20+ people, he said he'd give us the matinee price of $6. So even if people aren't interested in the party, but want a cheaper ticket, they can come with! After the movie, we'll come back to the cabana, and play more games. I'll bring down my TV and Wii, so we could play Mario Kart Wii or Fortune Street or Mario Party 2 (hey, I play RPGs, I don't have many party games), or more tabletop or whatever. PLEASE RSVP, so I have an idea on what we'll need pizza-wise, how big of a cake I'll need, and how close we'll be to the group discount.

[nekomittchi]

Review: My Nintendo PICROSS: The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess

It's been available for a week or so now, so I figure I'll give a review (because yes, of course, I've already cleared it. Everyone should know about me and Picross/Picross-style puzzle games by now). To start with, it's a complete game, like the eShop Picross games. There are no microtransactions, there is no timer/gague/limited number of tries. It's a full game. Speaking of the eShop Picross games, let's take a look at them, for a moment, so we can compare. Picross e - 150 puzzles total; Normal Rules (penalties for errors) are in all puzzles outside of Free Mode. Picross e2 - 343 puzzles total (193 of which are 5 Micross/multi-puzzle giant puzzles); Normal Rules (penalties for errors) are in all puzzles outside of Free Mode. Picross e3 - 150 puzzles total; Normal Rules (penalties for errors) can be turned off for any puzzle. Picross e4 - 254 puzzles total (89 of which are 2 Micross/multi-puzzle giant puzzles); Normal Rules (penalties for errors) can be turned off for any puzzle. Picross e5 - 269 puzzles total (104 of which are 3 Micross/multi-puzzle giant puzzles); Normal Rules (penalties for errors) can be turned off for any puzzle. Picross e6 - 405 puzzles total (105 of which are 3 Micross/multi-puzzle giant puzzles, and 135 of which are duplicate puzzles with a different clue style); Normal Rules (penalties for errors) can be turned off for any puzzle. Of these, Picross e6 has the most puzzles by far, but if you remove the ones that are duplicates (with a different clue style), and condense the Micross puzzles down to the overall puzzle (the individual puzzles are painfully easy for the most part), all of them come down to 150-168 puzzles in each, for $5.99 per game. My Nintendo PICROSS: The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess, on the other hand, is free. However, you need 1000 points to buy it from the My Nintendo program. Still, if you had pre-registered, been a former Club Nintendo member, and linked your Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, you'd have enough points in a few days. Without those, just using Miitomo, you can totally get enough points in a few weeks, with dedication. Zelda Picross (which I'll refer to it from now on, the title is too long) has 45 normal puzzles, 45 Mega Picross puzzles (which are the same puzzles as the normal ones, just with the different clue style), and 1 Micross puzzle (unfortunately, I don't have the number of individual puzzles in it, because you have to repeat the entire puzzle to view the grid again). So that's only 46 individual puzzles, a little less than a third of the puzzles in the eShop games. Don't let the smaller number of puzzles deter you, though. The puzzles are still fun (and, again, free with a little work), and they're Zelda, which gives an added boost to trying to figure out what they are before they're revealed. Finishing the puzzles also gives you a stamp of that puzzle to use on Miiverse, if you're so inclined. One interesting bonus is that when you've cleared the sections, the title screen will show you your total time on each section. I need to do some experimentation to see if lowering your times on individual puzzles will also lower your time listings for the section, or if you have to redo all of the puzzles. (Just FYI, my times are 01:48:16, 02:25:27, and 00:42:55, for a total of 04:56:38) Overall, the only two complaints I'd have would be the small number of puzzles (especially since most of them you have to do twice to get your :C:!), and that the settings aren't fully explained. Still, it's a solid A- letter grade. (For reference, the settings are as follows: Answer Autocheck will tell you when you get something wrong, and penalize you 2 minutes for every error. This can only be changed in the settings menu. Hint-Number Autocheck will light up the clues in any column/row that you have something definite you can mark. If you have it set to on/off in settings, you can switch it by hitting the ? button in the upper right of your puzzle screen. Hint Roulette will randomly give you one column and row filled in. Turning it on in settings will have it pop-up an option at the start of each puzzle. Turning it off in settings will have that option (and the Roulette itself) not show up at all. ? Navigation controls if the ? button is there or not. If turned on, the ? button will be there, and you can toggle the Hint-Number Autocheck. If turned off, the ? button will not be there, and even if you have Hint-Number Autocheck turned on, the hints will not be lit up. Hint-Number Autocheck is the only thing this affects.)

[nekomittchi]

Sailor V and Sailor Venus Figuarts Review

So, in Bluefin's bid to release a Figuarts of every possible significant Sailor Moon character, we have come to Sailor V. For those who don't know, Sailor V is the role that Aino Minako had before she joined the group as Sailor Venus. Sailor V was well known, and video games were made of her. She was also Usagi's hero. Sailor V isn't the first "duplicate" Figuarts they've done in the Sailor Moon line. Sailor Moon herself was duplicated in the Original Anime Color variant (same figure/accessories, just adjusted color scheme) and with Super Sailor Moon. Super Sailor Moon did have some differences from the standard (other than asthetic), since she comes with a different staff, the Holy Grail, and some significant changes to the sculpt (such as the longer bow, the sleeves, and the ornamentation). There's also the "Imposter Sailor Moon" (Zoicite in disguise), which is basically a repaint of the original. So, going in, I figured there'd be a lot of similarities between Sailor V and Sailor Venus. But I wasn't expecting them to be THIS similar. The boxes and the packaging being the same I can understand, since every SM Figuarst has had the same box and packaging. With the exception of my Kamen Rider Cyclone Figuarts (who doesn't have a window in the box), all of the Kamen Rider Figuarts have the same box style, too. The stands, also, are the same, which goes for all of the SM Figuarts (at least they come with stands! The Kamen Rider ones don't!) The stands are probably because with high heels, you'd never make them stand otherwise. So, let's look at the figures themselves. Something of note here: Sailor V cannot make the same pose as I have Sailor Venus in. Her shoulder pad/sleeve/whatever doesn't move, and so you can't raise her arm up that high. It really limits the posability. As you can see, with the exception of the middie blouse vs leotard, as well as the aforementioned sleeves (or whatever they are), the sculpts are virtually identical. The only other difference is that Sailor V has a painted Crescent Moon (as she was posing as the Princess), and Venus has her normal tiara. Of course, since the faces are interchangeable, you could totally remake that episode between meeting Venus and finding out she's not really the Princess, by using V's faces with Venus. Speaking of faces... It's not the greatest image (my flash kept reflecting off teh plastic when I tried getting better shots ^^;), you can tell that the faces are the same (the two faces that don't match each other match the default ones on the figures). Sailor V does come with 2 extra hands (the "V" for victory pose), as well as an extra bangs/mask set where you can see through the glasses. Not pictured, but Venus also comes with Artemis (he's in an earlier picture). I'm not surprised at it, but I am a bit disappointed by the accessories. Moon and Chibi Moon come with theirwands, and the Outer Senshi come with their weapons, but the Inner Senshi are stuck with nothing (actually, Mercury may come with her visor, I'm not sure). Surely they could have made Venus her Love Me Chain belt? Especially with these being released for the anniversary, and Crystal coming out, she has it as part of her costume in every version of the story other than the original anime. They could have done it as a belt, that could be popped open and held, even if they don't go as far as for her attack. Sailor V, also, is missing her Compact, that they could have had in both closed and open forms, so that you could pose her attacking with it. Speaking of attacking, it's really hard to get good attack poses with them. High kicks and "graceful" and ballet-style moves are a large part of Sailor Moon. But, like with V's inability to raise her arm up, none of them can do a high kick, either. None of them can really kick or knee at all. This is pretty much the range of their movement, for their legs, and for V's arms. With Gokai Yellow and Gokai Pink (and I assume other female sentai characters who have skirts), we got alternate skirt pieces so that you can pose them better. I'm not sure why we couldn't have those with these. Overall, they're not bad figures. I do like V a little more than Venus (other than the arm thing), because the sculpt seems a little stronger (Venus' neck is slightly long), like they made some edits other than the needed changes. They're not as nice as the Kamen Rider and Super Sentai Figuarts, but bare skin is a lot harder than a full suit, especially with the KR ones being very armor-esque. I also have the Sailor Saturn Figuarts, and Sailor Pluto has been ordered. After Pluto, I think I'll be good on the SM ones, unless they come out with Sailor Cosmos, who has always been my favorite (bonus if Cosmos and Chibi Chibi are a 2-figure set!).

[nekomittchi]

Gamer Craft Gifts

Hey, guys, working on some gamer crafts, and opening up sales if anyone wants to buy any for Christmas/holiday gifts! Note: Prices do not include shipping. Shipping is based on your preferred shipping method and will be calculated at time of shipping. Fairy Jar lights: Based on the Fairy Bottles from the Legend of Zelda games! Each light has either a clear/white (pictured) light or a rainbow light that cycles through different colors (note: the white one is much brighter). Batteries are replaceable. $15 each Potion Candle: Based on the potions from the Legend of Zelda games. Candles come in red, blue, or green. $10 each, or a full set for $25 Custom 3DS Cases: Cases are custom made based on preferences. Here is a Charmander one and a Pikachu one that I made last year. I've also done a Wario one (sorry, no pics) and I'm making Legend of Zelda/Hyrule Warriors-themed ones right now. $25 each If you are interested, please email me at scdessa[at]gmail[dot]com, with "Gamer Crafts" in the subject line.

[nekomittchi]

Try4ce and Until Dawn

Okay, Try4ce is gonna play Until Dawn on Halloween. Here are my predictions on who will survive and who won't. This is also assuming Try will make his own decisions, and not base it on chat's encouragement and/or the percentages of choices as shown in the game. Ashley - Death Chris - Unsure Emily - Skill-dependant Jessica - Death Josh - Survive Matt - Death Mike - Unsure Sam - Survive

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Sword Art Online II Episode 24: Remembrance

So, tomorrow night will be the Toonami airing of Sword Art Online II Episode 24, the final episode of the second season. Have you seen it? No? Go watch it tomorrow night, and come back. You have seen it? Then did you hear about what happened that made news the same time as it aired? Yes? Then read my older post on it You don't know what happened? Then keep reading. On Saturday, December 20th, 2014, the episode originally aired in Japan (so sometime on Friday, US-time). On Saturday morning US, the episode was put up to air on Crunchyroll, and viewers in the US were able to watch it. I worked that day, but when I got home, I settled down on the couch, pulled up my laptop, went into a friend's game stream, and got ready to watch the episode. I'd read spoilers, so I knew what was going to happen, and I knew I'd likely cry, but I was ready to watch it. Then the news broke. I never knew Codex Vahlda. I never knew Yggdrasilly. I never knew Tai. But I have friends who knew him, who'd played with him. I had close friends, who considered him one of their best friends. They'd played together for years on FFXI. Some played together in FFXIV, some didn't. Regardless, they'd kept in touch. I was in the stream chat, I was on Skype co-hosting with the streamer. And then tweets started coming in. "Is he gone?" the tweets were asking. "What happened?" others asked. And as more information and tweets came out, the picture was made more clear. In SAO, Yuuki had AIDS. It was past the point of doing anything but making her remaining life more comfortable, and letting her live freely via video games. But her time was coming to an end. From what I have been told and understand, Tai had kidney disease. People told me he'd seem healthy at times, and others would be really sick. His brother had offered his kidney, and they were waiting on a surgery date. But that date would never come. Tai was found unconscious in his apartment, his kidney having failed, and him believed to have been without oxygen for 24 hours. In SAO, Yuuki entered the game one last time, so that she could gift Asuna with her signature move. She had made a name for herself, and was well known in the game. When players across the game heard that this would be her last log-in, they came, by the hundreds, to kneel down in silence, holding vigil in her final hours. Sadly, Tai did not get that. But though he was not physically in the game, he was there in spirit, as his friends said goodbye. His free company (guild, basically) held a vigil for him, knowing that while their friend was, in essence, already gone, his body was being kept alive on life support, allowing his family and those who knew him personally to say goodbye in person. Those who were bards played music, and others knelt in silence. Like in SAO, people heard what was going on. People who knew him, joined in at the FC's house. People who didn't know him, but wanted to show respect, they came as well. A livestream was started, so that people who weren't there could join the vigil. A friend in the hospital with him, set up a computer so that Tai's friends and family could see the support that was being offered. Friends who were on other servers, gathered at communal areas to hold their own vigils. People who never knew him, on other servers, did the same. People, friends and otherwise, who didn't even play FFXIV, found their own ways to honor him. Some sat in silence in other games. I couldn't watch the episode. I didn't know exactly what happened, but I knew that Yuuki died. I'd never known Tai, but instead of watching the episode, I watched the vigil. I offered music suggestions of songs I knew that had helped or touched me after my father's death. And I read the comments on the episode. Most comments were very respectful. They thought it was a beautiful send-off for a wonderful character. But some weren't. Too much melodrama, they said. Ridiculous, that so many people, most of whom had never met the character, would come to kneel in vigil. Manipulative of our feelings. That this would never happen in real life. They didn't know Tai. But neither did I. And how could you say that, about something fictional, something meant to evoke emotions from us, when the exact same thing was playing out in real life, at the same time? I lashed out. I typed angrily at those people. I told them that it wasn't ridiculous. That it WAS happening in real life. It wasn't the first time it happened. Sadly, it likely won't be the last, either. I've made no bones about my feelings toward SAO. Entertaining it may be, and I enjoy watching it, but I don't "like" it. I have major problems with it (a device capable of murdering people being released as a toy, and the author's reliance on attempted rape for drama being foremost among those). But for all my problems with it, and as ridiculous as the contrivances to get things to happen the way the author needed it to for Kirito to come and save the day, that episode, that single episode, was the most realistic thing in the entire series. I never knew Tai. But I look at my friends, the ones who knew him, the ones in pain over his loss. I look at Pattmyn, whom I'd never met, but who was a good friend of Tai's (I suspect it was him playing the livestream of the vigil in the hospital), and that I've been speaking to and met because of Tai's passing. I look at the Backloggery, and our goal to finish the games that Tai had failed to complete before his passing. I see how Tai affected all those people, how much he meant to them, and it affects me as well. This man I'd never met, that I never would meet, was helping to shape my life, through the lives of those he'd already touched and shaped. I won't be watching episode 24 when it airs tomorrow night. I won't be catching it On Demand, either. Nor will I pull up the subtitled version on Crunchyroll, nor either on Netflix, when it inevitably ends up there. Because watching it unfold in real life imprinted its story deeply enough that I can recall the emotions without it. But for those of you who are watching it, who may be thinking what those other people did, that it was ridiculous, that it was unrealistic, I hope you read through this to the end. Because what was fiction for you wasn't for others. And sometimes, fiction helps us to accept reality.

[nekomittchi]

Birthday Party Finalized Info!

Okay, here we go! When: Saturday, May 16th Meet-up time: 3:30pm Where: Regal Thornton Place Stadium 14 @ Northgate Mall (if you don't know it, it's south of the mall, near the park & ride) What: Seeing Age of Ultron (3:50 showing) and going for dinner after. The movie is at 3:50, and tickets are $9.75. Tentatively I'm thinking Red Robin for dinner, but we can decide then. After the movie and dinner, we can figure out where to go from there. I'll see if I can get the cabana at my apartments for cake, at least. If need be, there is crash space at my place (yes, really, it's big enough now!)

[nekomittchi]

Birthday Party

As usual, using tumblr because it would take too many tweets. My birthday is May 9, but, being the day before Mother's Day, I figure people will be busy with family stuff. So instead, my birthday party will be on Saturday, May 16th, the following week! The plan is, is that we all go see Avengers: Age of Ultron, and then go for dinner after. I don't have an exact time yet, because a) I don't have my schedule [I requested to be off by 1] and b) the movie schedule isn't out for that week yet, but I figure probably about 2:30-3pm-ish? That'll get us out of the movie about 5-6ish, which is perfect timing for dinner. Then, if we want, we can find something else to do after dinner. Not sure which theater yet (it'll depend on which ones get the movie and/or times), but I'm looking at either one of the two by Alderwood Mall in Lynnwood, or Northgate Mall in North Seattle. And then we can go to dinner. I'm tentatively thinking Red Robin, but we can make a group decision after the movie. Please lemme know on twitter or IM or something if you're able to make it, just so I can get a rough idea of how many people will be there.

[nekomittchi]

Backloggery/Sakura-Con Thursday Night Dinner

Okay, guys, figured this would be easier than twitter. Walu's flight gets in at 3, Shwan and Lady Krile's at 3:20. I'll be meeting them at the airport, and, theoretically, we should be back to Seattle by 4:30, whereas I'll leave them to be getting their badges, as I go do staff stuff. My staff stuff should be done by 6, so why don't we plan on meeting up then, and we'll figure out where later. My idea for dinner was to go over to Mod Pizza, since we can all get exactly what we want there. What do people think?

[nekomittchi]

For Yggdrasilly

The Power of Video Games, and the Worth of One Life Every day, at any given moment, someone, somewhere in the world, is playing a video game. Sadly, the same could be said for someone dying. Sometimes, the two of them intersect. Often, at least according to the media, this is a negative thing. Sometimes, however, it’s not. Like it or not, video games are a big part of our world. You can hardly look around without seen them, or something about them: huge displays in stores; arcades at the mall; commercials on TV; children and adults alike on the street with portable systems. They’re even in the news, especially when there’s been a violent act that people can blame on them, or the gamergate fiasco that flared up over the summer. With all of the negative publicity video games get, it’s hard for people who don’t play them to understand their benefit. They see the Grand Theft Autos and Assassin’s Creeds, but not the Journeys or the Flowers. Or they say that they’ll “rot your brain”, instead of seeing the hand-eye coordination that games help develop. Or they emphasize on the solidarity of the gamer, ignoring the social aspects of games. For a long time, co-op and vs. play have existed in video games. First in your own living room, then with people all over the world. Sometimes, with online play, you have the option of playing just with people you know, or random people, such as in games like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. Other times, you don’t even know who the random person you’re paired with is, like in Journey. And in others still, you may start off as strangers, but become as close as family. King of this last style is the MMO genre. MMOs, or Massively Multiplayer Online games, are just what they sound like. You play them online, with a massive amount of other players. Sometimes the game is small, and others, they’re so huge that they have to span across several servers. And people interact with each other, and make friends in these games. I never knew Tai (aka Yggdrasilly, aka Codex Vahlda). I recognized his name, having seen him in Backloggery chat, or mentioned in friends’ tweets about Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XIV. For me, he was just another person. But for my friends, as well as other people I don’t even know, he was a close friend, a trusted teammate, and an important part of their gaming lives. When people make friends in games, or come to a game already as friends, they want to regularly play together. In many games, they are allowed to form a group known as a Guild, or an equivalent to it. Guilds have certain benefits, such as being able to share at least certain parts of their currency and items, as well as giving you a group of people you can call on, whether to do quests, or just to hang out. In Final Fantasy XI, the guild equivalent was called Linkshells. Many of my friends played together with Tai in a Linkshell on FFXI. When they moved to FFXIV, many of them ended up on different servers, and in different Free Companies (Final Fantasy XIV’s guild equivalent), but they still kept in touch, and played together when they could. I don’t want to go into what happened, partially because I don’t know all of the details, and partially because it’s not my place. But to explain it as simply as I could, he was found with no brain activity, and was being kept on life support so that his family could pay their last respects before he passed. Wanting to do something for him, his Free Company leader bestowed upon his character the rank of “Immortal Siren” (Codex Vahlda, his character, was a bard). Then people started coming to the front of their FC House, and kneeling in silence and in prayer, or, if they are bards, playing for him. People from his FC. Friends not in his FC. Random people who saw the gathering, asked what it was for, and joined in. It was posted to reddit, and someone started streaming the vigil. More people joined in. People posted their condolences from other servers, both on the reddit and in the stream channel’s chat. People (myself included) who don’t even play the game, who didn’t know him, paid their respects. From what is understood, the video stream was even being broadcast in his hospital room, for the benefit of his friends and family there. Then some of those friends on other servers, set up their own vigils. On one server, a group of people, both friends and others who just wanted to pay respect, set up a Viking funeral. All across numerous servers, across multiple continents, players from all different backgrounds and walks of life were joining together to honor a man that most of them had never met, but that they felt the need to support the family and friends of. Even in World of Warcraft and EVE Online, other online games, people were paying respect to him. For those who both knew and didn’t know him on Backloggery, “Games for Yggdrasil” was started, for people to play and finish the games that he had left unfinished, in his place and to honor him. It was even said that word had made it to the Final Fantasy Fan Festival taking place in Japan, and that people were discussing what was happening: Hundreds of people, all over the world, coming together in a show of support for their fellow players, and one person that most of them had never, and would never get a chance to meet. Video games are all about violence. Video games rot your brain. Video games are only played by solitary people. Look at all this, and just try to tell me that you honestly believe it. One person. One person, taken before their time, who just enjoyed playing a video game, brought together hundreds of people, from all around the world, just to honor him. He may not have touched their lives directly, but the actions of those he did touch touched them, in a way that they might not even realize. Reading the reddit thread, through my own tears, so many people who, like me, don’t play the game, and didn’t know him, are crying. Because he touched someone we know, who in turn has touched us, in a ripple effect. Yes, there are many negative things one could say about video games. But in this internet age with online gaming, it also has the power to bring people together, in ways that could never be imagined even 15-20 years ago. And one person, one solitary person, has the power to bring people together and touch lives, even without having ever interacted with them. That is the power of video games, and one the worth of one life.

[nekomittchi]

Minecraft: Log Horizon's Guild House

So, I've finally finished it (except for furniture)! Log Horizon's guild house! For now, have some shots of each floor, as well as the completed exterior. Once I get a capture card, I can record a video tour (sorry, it's PS3 version, so no easy screen/video captures). Note 1: The guild house is built according to the layout presented in volume 5 of the light novels. While the anime roughly uses this same layout, there are some very explicit contradictions, according to the images presented in the anime artbook. Since I'd already started this when I got the artbook, I continued to use the light novel layout. Note 2: Some of the floor images were changed after I took the pictures (I was having to adjust the size on the fly for the first couple of floors, and I changed the outer wall to mossy stone brick after I'd finished the 6 floors). But I figured it was enough of an illustration, so didn't take the time to go back and re-take the pictures. Floors: Floor 1 (ground floor) Floor 2 (main gathering area, kitchen, Shiroe's office, bedrooms) Floor 3 (more bedrooms) Floor 4 (picture missing), Floor 5, and Floor 6 (spare rooms) Roof (water tank, hang-out area) Note: I left off the leaves of the tree throughout all of this, since it would've blocked view. It was added in after the building was complete Ground Images From Door Angle 2 Angle 3 Angle 4 Flying Images Angle 1 Angle 2 Angle 3 Angle 4