My interests are quite varied.

I will talk about obscure stuff others might not care about. Just laying it out there.

[pabsterthelobster]

Okay, so I've made a few posts about crossovers between Godzilla and Evangelion in the past, and I'm currently in a Godzilla mood due to some recent ongoing developments regarding the mobile game Godzilla Battle Line, so here I am with another info drop.

So there's this collectible card game called Battle Spirits. It's jointly developed by Bandai and Sunrise, has been running since 2008, and has been adapted into multiple animes, mangas, and video games. It mostly does its own things, but a game that lasts as long as it has is bound to get offers to collaborate with other properties. In 2015, the game had its first collaboration with the Godzilla brand, adapting its iconic monsters into the Battle Spirits system, and in 2021, the same would be done for Evangelion, but it wouldn't be until 2023 in which they released a card set explicitly based on the Godzilla vs. Evangelion multimedia project, and that's where this guy comes in.

This is Jet Jaguar -ver.JA02-, a fusion of the Godzilla character Jet Jaguar with the Evangelion mecha Jet Alone. Quick rundown for those who don't know, the former is an advanced size-shifting robot created by a human scientist who gained sentience and decided to become a superhero, defending the Earth from the evil kaiju Megalon and Gigan alongside Godzilla. The latter is a lifeless autonomous mecha developed by Japan Heavy Chemical Industries, a rival to NERV, that operates without a pilot and runs on its own internal nuclear reactor, its only major weakness being its lack of an A.T. Field.

What's fun about this is that Jet Alone is based on Jet Jaguar, it's name being a mixture of JJ's final and preliminary names (his preliminary name being Red Alone), so him being repaired using pieces of the Jet Alone and wearing it like a suit... the reference comes full circle. What's also interesting about it is that this design has not appeared in any story-based media regarding the project... yet. I mean I said the same thing about both Shiryu and Beast "G" Unit-02, but then they appeared in the sequel to the pachinko machine I talked about, so maybe he'll appear again down the line.

[pabsterthelobster]

Anyone else remember the Super Mario Bros. Super Show made back in the day by DiC Entertainment?

...of course you do, why am I even asking that question? Without that show, we wouldn't have YouTube Poop as we know it.

Well, a few days ago, internet artist @theycallhimcake revealed to the public a 1-to-1 recreation of the Mario Bros. Plumbing basement set from the show's live-action segments as a world in VRChat, and so the series has been on my mind lately. I only ever saw the show and its sequels on DVDs we got at grocery stores during our youth, and for what they were, they were pretty fun. What's cool about this world is that there are VHS tapes you can interact with that let you watch every episode from all three series. All 65 episodes of SMBSS (including the 13 Legend of Zelda cartoons that would air every Friday in place of a Mario cartoon), all 26 episodes of SMB3, and all 13 episodes of SMW. Plus some other bonus tapes hidden around the room.

Anyways, being in this Mario mood, I went to the wiki pages for the shows just to look through what facts I could, and here's an interesting one: the Italian and European Spanish dubs of the show didn't use the iconic "Mario Brothers Rap" as its opening theme song, at least not initially, instead opting for a new theme song simply titled "Super Mario", and was performed by Christina D'Avena in Italian and by Soledad Pilas Santos in Spanish. The song itself was composed by Mediaset composer Massimiliano Pani while the lyrics were done by Alessandra Valeri Manera. Now, I think it's a pretty good song, though I'm remiss to say it's better than the OG rap. I mean, come now, it was used in the movie for Pete's sake! But I haven't really been able to get it out of my head since I heard it, so that should say something at least.

Now, there's more I could bring up about the show's international broadcasts that can be found out there, like how the South Korean version completely replaced the previous live-action skits with Lou Albano and Danny Wells with new ones performed by local South Korean actors, or maybe the fact that the Danish version of SMB3 apparently added live-action skits to that show despite it not having had any skits to begin with, but that kinda stuff isn't as well documented and is more-or-less semi-lost media at the moment. Maybe in the future.

[pabsterthelobster]

For the past year and a half, I've been semi-regularly contributing to a Fandom wiki dedicated entirely to documenting crossovers between fictional properties. In my time contributing to this wiki, I've gone down rabbit holes I never thought I'd go down and learned connections I never even knew about. Everything is connected in one way or another. Give it a browse if you're curious.

[pabsterthelobster]

Okay, so, before Transformers, there was Microman, a series of 3.75-inch figures made by Takara after the 70s energy crisis made making 12-inch figures not a viable strategy. The story of the toyline was that the figures were actual size, composed of refugees from Micro Earth doing battle against the evil mutants known as Acroyears. This "actual size" gimmick would eventually lead to the creation of the Micro Change subline, where they introduced robots that could transform into everyday objects, like audio cassettes and cameras and such. This subline would be merged with Takara's other toyline Diaclone in the west to become the Transformers, and eventually both toylines would be retired when Takara decided to reimport the Transformer brand to Japan.

Of course, there were brief revivals of Microman every so often, including a few that focused on licensed characters, such as Batman, Godzilla, and even Rei and Asuka from Evangelion. But the one of focus for this post was 1998's Replica Microman, a series of reissues of old figures for the new millenium which lasted for about five years. In the year 2000, they released a figure dubbed "M18X Lady Command Arcee", a white-and-gold redeco that was given out as part of a Lucky Draw contest, with only five of them ever having been released. The name is obviously a reference to the Transformers character of the same name, and what makes this interesting is that this figure predates Arcee's first-ever proper toy in the Transformers line released in 2001 for that year's BotCon.

Of course, the name is just a reference to the Transformers character, and I'm not saying this has any in-story connection to her... but Transformers likes to do callbacks to their roots on many occasions, especially the Japanese side by Takara, so who knows really? And besides, at the same time as Replica, there was also the Powers series of figures, which features new designs that were, occasionally, complemented by pre-exisiting Transformers molds. All I can say is that a modern Arcee toy with this paint job would be pretty sick, right?

[pabsterthelobster]

Happy Goku Day, everybody (or Piccolo Day, depending on who you ask). For today, here's a neat Goku fact you may or may not know already, but I think is pretty nice: when chapter 163 of the original Dragon Ball manga released, a contest was held where readers of Shonen Jump could submit a new gi design for Goku to wear during the 23rd Tenkaichi Budōkai. Designs were sent, and this was the winning design, redrawn by Toriyama himself for the cover art of chapter 173. Goku didn't end up wearing the gi during the tournament itself, though, as he just went with a variation of his previous attire, though I do quite like the look of this one. The two shades of orange, the hexagonal Turtle School symbol, the white belt, the boots with the blue ribbons. I've seen how a number of minor outfits get referenced in video games, but it would be nice to see this gi appear in a game at some point. Maybe in a future update to Sparking! Zero or something.

[pabsterthelobster]

Before the Famicom was brought over to Western markets as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, there was a period during its development where it was known as the Advanced Video System, or AVS. After the Video Game Crash of '83, Nintendo tried to market their device less as a gaming console and more as a home computer/entertainment system, and the AVS was redesigned with a more computer-like design to sell that image. This, in turn, led to the Famicom's different attachments being given more computer-like designs to match. This redesign would eventually be turned down due to how expensive it made the product, eventually begin further reworked into the familiar NES we all know today, but in the process, there are a few interesting what-could-have-beens that we can find in early promotional material.

Compared to the Robotic Operating Buddy we all know and love, this early iteration of the robot had even less color to him, his arms being the same light grey as the rest of his body, as well as the sticker on the base being different (though that's likely as it was a prototype). The only color on the Robot itself was seemingly its magenta eyes, which is a detail that carried over into marketing material of the finished design even when R.O.B. himself was given darker clearer lenses. Meanwhile, the light gun was given a more noticeable redesign, going from a realistic-looking Colt Single Action Army revolver to a combination light wand and gun, with an adjustable handle that could be folded into the controller so that you could use it as a wireless remote that could interact with what was on your television screen.

[pabsterthelobster]

Thank you @queenofglitch and everyone who got me to 1000 reblogs!

[pabsterthelobster]

Before the Famicom was brought over to Western markets as the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, there was a period during its development where it was known as the Advanced Video System, or AVS. After the Video Game Crash of '83, Nintendo tried to market their device less as a gaming console and more as a home computer/entertainment system, and the AVS was redesigned with a more computer-like design to sell that image. This, in turn, led to the Famicom's different attachments being given more computer-like designs to match. This redesign would eventually be turned down due to how expensive it made the product, eventually begin further reworked into the familiar NES we all know today, but in the process, there are a few interesting what-could-have-beens that we can find in early promotional material.

Compared to the Robotic Operating Buddy we all know and love, this early iteration of the robot had even less color to him, his arms being the same light grey as the rest of his body, as well as the sticker on the base being different (though that's likely as it was a prototype). The only color on the Robot itself was seemingly its magenta eyes, which is a detail that carried over into marketing material of the finished design even when R.O.B. himself was given darker clearer lenses. Meanwhile, the light gun was given a more noticeable redesign, going from a realistic-looking Colt Single Action Army revolver to a combination light wand and gun, with an adjustable handle that could be folded into the controller so that you could use it as a wireless remote that could interact with what was on your television screen.

[pabsterthelobster]

Poker Night at the Inventory: Zombie Edition

The remaster for the 2010 crossover poker simulator Poker Night at the Inventory came out about a month ago already, which is great, as it's both a very in-depth simulation of the real game, as well as a very amusing time when watching these four distinct characters interact with each other over a game of Texas hold em. But there's something I realized last night in regards to the cast of the game in particular: they've all crossed the veil into the realm of undeath in one way or another. What makes it funnier is that in the game's 2013 sequel, there's an unused bit of dialogue where its four players discuss their own encounters with the undead.

[swinecity]

marzipan pigs from wikipedia

[pokeween]

now they can go wherever they want

[pabsterthelobster]

Item: A Box of Bandages Rarity: ✦ Uncommon

What final boss actually broke you?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

I mean, I can't really recall when was the last time a final boss really got to me. I've always been more of a casual gamer, and even those more intense games that I've played, the final boss was never too difficult for me.

Also, this is gonna be the last question I answer for this bot. Weird that this was the gimmick they went for this year. A game of snake that occasionally sends you questions in your inbox as you play.

[pabsterthelobster]

Item: The Wishlist Rarity: ⏶ Common

How many video games are in your backlog right now?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

More than I'd care to admit. There are a number of games I've purchased/acquired over the years that I've yet to play to completion despite wanting to do so for a while. Shovel Knight, multiple Pokémon games, Sonic Superstars and Frontiers, etc. And those are just on Switch. Man... typing this out make me feel all kinds of sad.

[pabsterthelobster]

Item: A Soft Pillow Rarity: ⏶ Common

What's your comfort game?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Oh, I don't know. I guess I like to do a couple rounds of solitaire or in-browser online jigsaw puzzles to cool off and pass the time. But as for actual games? That's a toughie.

[pabsterthelobster]

Item: A Bug Rarity: ⏶ Common

What's your favorite creature from any video game world?

Feed your dashboard by answering my question, blogger.

Oh, well, that's a tough one. There's just so many to choose from for so many reasons. Though since I have a greater preference towards cute things, I'm just gonna say the Waddle Dee from Kirby. Thanks for asking, friendly April Fools bot.

[pabsterthelobster]

Starting this April 1st, this blog will start going through a much-needed refurbishment. Among the many planned changes, my profile pic will no longer be that of the inferior Japanese model of R.O.B. wielding the violent-looking Famicom Light Gun as seen in WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Instead, it shall now and forever be replaced by the far-superior American model wielding the far more child-friendly NES Zapper. Again, this is just the first step. I hope you will be looking forward to the future of this blog just as I am.

[pabsterthelobster]

Okay, so, I just learned about this short stop-motion anime series called Pui Pui Molcar, and it's all about a world full of Molcars, motor vehicles that also happen to be giant guinea pigs. I saw the second episode of the series on Twitter, where one of them was forced to act as an escape car to a trio of bank robbers (yeah, really) and I loved it. I then decided to look up the show to find out more, and it turns out, they crossed over with the Transformers in a commercial for Rise of the Beasts? Yeah, one of the main Molcars of the show, Potato, was even made into an honorary Maximal?! What?! How does that even work?

[smashy-headcanons]

ok but his friendly lil smile though??

[crystallinegazer]

friendly reminder that sakuya izayoi is canon to the sonic universe

her name is stiletto the fox and i love her.

she belongs to @maurofonseca, and if i remember correctly, she's also based on ran yakumo. her outfit also has dio brando's yellow jacket, and the inspiration is especially clear looking at her first appearance in issue #64 with the green heart on her headband. she's usually seen around with piccola the cat, who is likely based on the scarlet sisters and chen (considering her two tails in the concept art) stiletto and piccola's only appearance together after their debut is issue #65, seen behind vector after the chaotix leave back to seaside city.

however, stiletto's most major appearance would have to be in issue #73, seen racing directly next to the babylon rogues during the final event of the clean sweepstakes.

there's concept art that gives a better look at her design here, and it seems to be based on her outfit in the fangame koumajou densetsu with the addition of her scarf from perfect cherry blossom. the addition of her extreme gear being named after sakuya's theme since pofv is also awesome

aside from that, she also appears in a single panel of mimic's story in the annual 2024 comic most recently! she's honestly my favorite character design in the comics (small bias considering sakuya is my favorite touhou character) and i really hope we get to see more of her at some point lol. it'd be awesome for her to become an actual character like lanolin did but that'll likely stay a dream