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The first extra page of the kickstarter is COMPLETE! Matrix shows off how ramming huge swords into the ground ain’t no big thang, and what’s that in the bush? a Red Ryder bb gun??

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Matrix may be coming to some sort of conclusion to her Ken bashing! Also, I am attempt to get up another page on Thursday as our first of four promised extra Kickstarter updates. We have the Volume 2 books in hand, they look great! I’m in the process of drawing the request sketches for the backers who pledged for that reward. It’s all coming together, friends! Soon we’ll be shipping books out and feeling very smug with ourselves.

I started playing Majora’s Mask 3D on my trusty 3DS (not the NEW 3DS, mind you, as much as I’d like one). I remember back in the day, I was in high school, and I preordered MM and received my N64 cartridge in the mail a day before the game’s actual release! I loved it, for sure. Majora’s Mask was, and still is, a unique Zelda experience, but, oh man, it was a stressful one! Thankfully, internet game FAQs were just becoming a thing, otherwise I doubt I would’ve 100% the game, seeing as how it was kind of obtuse with a lot of its side quests.  And  I only ever played through it once! I mean I think I loaded up and beat the final boss dozens of times because that last boss fight is one of the most epic boss battles in gaming history, but actually playing through the entire game a second time was too much for me.

So here I am, how many years later, playing through the remake, and I have to say, it’s sooo much more fun than I remember. Call me a wimpy gamer, but I do not like games that put me in a situation where I can lose hours of progress (sorry Dark Souls/Bloodbourne, I will never play you). The original Majora’s Mask save system was designed so that if you failed in a task during your three day timeline cycle, there was no save you could load, you just had to start that three day cycle again and redo the whole darn side quest! But this new Majora’s Mask, it doesn’t waste my time. I guess that’s the big thing, I love games, I love gaming, but I do not have a lot of time to waste. I want to experience a game’s content and feel like I’m making progression, and with Majora’s Mask 3DS, I never feel like I finish a time loop without making meaningful game progress. That feels good, it makes the game far more hard to put down than the original N64 incarnation.

A lot of game site reviews have stated that giving MM a standard save system where you can load a save from any point in the 3 day timeline cycle makes it less challenging and fails to simulate the tension that Link himself must be feeling in the game. I totally agree with that, the original Majora’s Mask was an incredible anxiety simulator, and fans of that style of gaming experience should still be able to enjoy the game as it was originally designed. I do wish there was an ‘original save system’ option included for those gamers’ sake, but I’m sure I’d never use it! Anyway, If you’ve got a 3DS and you’ve never played a Majora’s Mask, I recommend it! Just like the rest of the internet!

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We had a great time at ECCC2015! I’d talk about it more but I stayed up late finishing the page, which is already a day late… And now I’m gonna go pass out why not. BUT THE PAGE IS UP and I’m pretty happy with it! Matrix continues to pummel Ken, although she’s switched to using words, HARSH.

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Public Service Announcement: NN4B will be at Emerald City Comicon this weekend! Stop by our table (#1720) and make our day!

Oh Ken, getting Worf’d again! At this point I think we can all agree Ken is maybe not the end all/be all of badasses in the Bushido-verse. But hey, he’s easily the one with the biggest sword! But how long can that last in this crazy work a day world?

I don’t think I mentioned how much I LOOOOVVVVED the Star Wars Rebels finale. Oh, I bet I know what you’re thinking and, NO, my positive opinion is not tied to the reintroduction of a CERTAIN CHARACTER I’ve previously praised from a different Star Wars cartoon, although I did GREATLY appreciate that character’s inclusion in the finale, however brief. What I loved was the pacing, build up, and payoff. It was very reminiscent of the original films. The series has been so laser focused on one planet, with a small set of characters who have a narrow set of goals and challenges, and slowly they’ve introduced new elements over the first season that hint at a bigger universe, which is now mostly unexplored thanks to the jettisoning of the EU. It makes me want them to get involved in bigger conflicts and in the season finale they step in the proverbial hornet’s nest of big conflicts, leaving me pumped for season 2! I also love the arcs Kanan and Ezra complete here, finally bonding as true master and apprentice. I was almost certain they were going to have Kanan lean all Dark Side, but I’m glad the writers didn’t go that route, and instead showed how a Jedi SHOULD deal with a tragic loss without falling down an emotional dark path, as often seems to be the case in Star Wars lore. It was a strong character moment and I loved it! Also, that little maneuver he pulled using Ezra’s saber had me grinning like an idiot.  Anyway, I may write about this finale in more spoilery detail later, because it’s worth the analysis, assuming you’re a decades long SW fan who’s starved for good in-universe storytelling!

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Doof’d again! come on, Ken, all these ladies keep smacking you the face. Stand up for yourself, you’re an independent entrepreneur!

So I’ve been watching classic Sailor Moon on Hulu, and I just want to go over Prince Endymion’s recap of ‘future history’ to the time travelling sailor scouts, purely to illustrate how hilariously nonsensical it is. See, I’m at the part in the series where the evil Black Moon Clan is trying to corrupt Tokyo with dark energy (apparently a common theme in each story arc). The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask have discovered, through Chibi Usa, that the Black Moon Clan have devastated Crystal Tokyo, the 30th century version of Tokyo that she’s come back in time from. So Chibi Usa opens some gate of time thing and they go into the future where they end up encountering a hologram of Prince Endymion, who reveals (SHOCK) that he is the future incarnation of Tuxedo Mask! And that his wife, Princess Serenity, is, in fact, the future incarnation of Sailor Moon! Of course this is all PAINFULLY obvious to everyone watching the show, but even the super hyper intelligent Sailor Mercury didn’t see it coming. Anyway, Endymion then tells everyone the events of the future.

So there was apparently an ice age, and for ten centuries the Earth was frozen. But Princess Serenity, who, I suppose, was not frozen, used the silver crystal to unfreeze the Earth, magically create a newer, more crystally Tokyo, called Crystal Tokyo, and reign supreme as benevolent dictator. But then, I guess evil creatures attacked, or something? And Serenity banished them to the 10th planet in the solar system (well, 9th now since Pluto’s no longer a planet, sorry Sailor Pluto…). The creatures then evolved (surprisingly quickly!) to become dark energy beings who call themselves THE BLACK MOON CLAN. The BMC then attacks Crystal Tokyo with their evil Crystal Ships, and the future Sailor Scouts have to encase poor Princess Serenity (who, for whatever reason, is unable to repel the BCM, even though she somehow had the power to banish them to another planet originally, as well as END AN ICE AGE)  in a giant crystal block of carbonite. Also, Serenity and Endymion’s daughter, Chibi Usa, having heard stories from her father about the invincible, totally rad SAILOR MOON (who he neglected to mention was also her mother), decides to run away to the past to get Sailor Moon’s help in saving her mother, who is also Sailor Moon! Confused yet? Well, it’s not confusing, it’s mostly just ridiculous.

ANYWAY, I just set that all up for the purpose of pointing out this bizarre thing Endymion decided to do. So he is somehow able to telepathically contact both his younger self AND Serenity’s younger self. It’s not explained how, but he sends scary prophetic visions to Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon showing how if they get together the world will be brought to ruin, in an attempt to scare them apart from one another. LUCKILY (or perhaps inevitably) Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask decide to stay together,but only AFTER a lengthy segment where Tuxedo Mask breaks up with Sailor Moon for no given reason, causing her untold amounts of emotional trauma. I guess Tuxedo Mask didn’t feel like Sailor Moon needed or deserved an explanation? Well, whatever, because their true love overcame! And this was apparently Endymion’s intention because he needed to be CERTAIN that their love was strong enough to overcome the eventual challenge of facing the BMC in the future.

WAIT WHAT? Okay, so Endymion needed to know if HIS PAST SELF had the the proper level of true love for Sailor Moon necessary to fight the BMC? Why would HE need to test for that in his past self? Wouldn’t he already know if his past self were ready, seeing as how he lived it? Or is this a reincarnation thing where he doesn’t have those memories, even though Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon have memories of their past selves? And if Endymion DID know that his younger self was ready, was he doing it because he remembered it happening that way and therefore he had to do it again? WAIT, BUT IF HE DIDN’T DO IT isn’t it possible it might change the future for the better since he now has a for sure way of altering the future by not taking action on something that could be potentially bad? OR MAYBE HE WANTED TO GET HIS YOUNGER SELF TO BREAK UP WITH SAILOR MOON so that he could prevent this evil future, except that the Black Moon Clan’s origin didn’t in any way connect with their relationship and therefore breaking it off would only ensure that Chibi Usa wasn’t born BUT MAYBE THAT WAS THE PLAN because Chibi Usa is an awful child that would be the embarrassment of any parent! But then she wouldn’t be able to go back in time to pull Sailor Moon and company into the future to fight the BMC!!!

Anyway, my point is, Sailor Moon doesn’t make any sense. It is hilarious, though, so it gets my personal recommendation! Honestly, though, the animation holds up super well, and, man, that groovy soundtrack!!

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I like how this page turned out. So now we’re gonna have some good ol’ Matrix/Ken time! Look forward to it, why not.

Let’s talk about anime! I’ve been watching Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. Fun show, love the character designs! It’s the same guy who designed Samurai Champloo, one of my fav anime. Also, Bahamut has some pretty darn great animation. The story?? Well, it’s ok, it’s FINE. The characters are funny and energetic and I definitely get a bit of Slayers nostalgia, although maybe with more melodrama and a little less slapstick. What I love about the show, and this seems to be a general trend in anime, is how it’s a a 12 episode long series. That means they keep the plot moving with kinetic energy! Another anime I saw recently that I liked quite a bit (despite a number of less likable anime cliches) was Beyond the Boundary. It had a really palpable otherworldly atmosphere, beautiful animation, and built to an emotionally impacting if not totally logical ending.

For a long time I pretty much stopped watching anime altogether because I got fed up with a lot of the shounen shows I used to watch. They were just drawn out to a disgusting degree! Even 26 episode long series often felt padded in the middle. This new breed of anime, half season long shows with tightly paced story telling and great animation, feels so refreshing, and it’s getting me back into anime again! Gods know Sword Art Online would’ve benefited enormously if it’d just stopped at episode 15, AMIRITE?? (See, because the second half of that show has got to be the most egregiously offensive ‘hero saves the captive princess’ plotline I’ve watched in recent memory.)

I may check out Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works (what a mouthful!) after I’m done with Bahamut. I don’t really know anything about the Fate/Stay Night franchise other than it’s got a lot of fighting, and this most recent incarnation is like a retelling/reimagining of the original story canon. It also looks to have a lot of swords, so I’m ON BOARD.

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What’s Cho know that we don’t know?? Matrix seems to know that Cho knows what we don’t know, but I dunno if I wanna know, ya know?

Let’s talk about Jupiter Ascending! I really liked the part where Mila Kunis said she wanted to sleep with dog people, I think it was the one time I laughed at something the movie intended me to laugh at! But let’s just go into spoiler here. SPOILERS, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED!! 

So there are a couple things in this movie that don’t make sense…Why would five heavily armed black clad commandos break into some lower middle class couple’s well lit apartment to steal their wallets and a telescope?? Who are these guys? Why not try breaking into an apartment that looks empty if the goal is to steal things? They certainly were willing to murder for about fifty bucks in change and a kind of expensive looking telescope. I kept waiting the whole movie to get an explanation about who the main character’s father was, and what he did to get a hit put on him. But APPARENTLY, it’s just common in Russia to have commandos murder you and steal your wallet.

Why, in a society that can literally control genetics and make all these different half human species, do they need to harvest innocent people to get some blue glowing goo that makes you young again? I mean, is there any science to that? What liquidized part of a person is able to rejuvenate you? And is there any reason this super advanced society can’t just replicate whatever the blue goo is made of without having to harvest planets full of people? Also, why keep the blue goo that’s so valuable in easily breakable glass containers? Just seems like common sense to keep them in plastic containers or something.

Why build a huge, sprawling cityscape in the middle of Jupiter’s red spot hurricane if it can be so easily destroyed by a single small object breaking through its shield? Seems like a really dumb place to build a huge sprawling city if it’s so easily annihilated. Heck, I’m not even sure if Channing Tatum did it intentionally or was just trying to get into the city and inadvertently destroyed it! Either way, wouldn’t wanna live there, is all I’m saying.

And then there’s Mila Kunis’ complete passivity throughout the entire film. She does virtually NOTHING at all other than fall off buildings and get rescued by Channing Tatum. I was wondering if the scene where Channing’s saving Mila from a wedding a la ‘The Graduate’ was the finale, but NO, there was a whole other plot sequence where Channing had to save Mila from signing a contract!  IT WAS THE SAME SCENE! They should’ve just combined them so she had to get married AND sign the contract at the same time, would’ve cut the movie down by half an hour, which I’d have appreciated!

The Wachowski siblings are film creators whose career I follow with continued disappointment, much like George Lucas, or M Night Shmyaamlina. I want to give these guys the benefit of the doubt because they’ve all made movies I love to death but, WOO BOY, what a bunch a stinkers they keep giving us!! I’d still watch Jupiter Ascending over a Star Wars prequel, though.

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Matrix is doing her best to get under Cho’s skin! Metaphorically, I hope.

We’ve done another big archive update with the reformatted pages, 220–273! If you post any grammatical errors that need fixing on the new pages, we will put your name in the printed Volume 2 book giving credit to beta readers! Email or tweet up Joe with a name to credit.

I watched a fan edit of The Hobbit trilogy that cut it all down to a four hour long movie. I thought it was better, keeping the film very Bilbo-centric. Just after I watched it, two more fan edits cut the whole trilogy down to THREE HOURS! These fan edits remind me of the excellent The Phantom Edit that manages to make Episode 1 a watchable film. Still, I find myself wondering why I keep rewatching these inferior prequels when I have the originals films just waiting to be rewatched anyway!

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Matrix confronts Cho! Where could this be going?

Volume 2 progress report! It’s quickly moving to completion, we want to have it done and ready for the printer by the end of the month. We’re still uploading the reformatted/rewritten pages to the site’s archive, so anyone who wants to help look for grammatical errors, post them in the comments to let us know! The pages we’ll be printing for Volume 2 start at 111 of the archive and currently go to page 198. The actual final page of book will be 324. We’ll be uploading more pages throughout the week!

Now let’s talk about Nintendo and the many ways it frustrates and delights! You see, I am absolutely getting a New 3DS,but, GEEZ, could they have given it a more confusing name? I mean what if some mom wants to get her kid a 3DS and she goes into a store and asks some less-than-knowledgeable clerk “I want to get my child spawn a new 3DS!” And instead of ending up with a ‘New 3DS’ she just ends up with a new 3DS! How could Nintendo not see that potential problem? And let’s not forget the surprise any unsuspecting customer will get when they end up with a product that they can’t charge because the New 3DS does not come with an AC adapter! There’s also the little issue of save games and transferring files between a device that uses SD cards and a device that uses micro SD cards! I hear it’s complicated.

Having said that, I’m still totally buying one, because I really want that second control stick! I’m also looking forward to sinking 100+ hours into Xenoblade Chronicles when it comes out. And, sure, I’ll be able to play Majora’s Mask and Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ on my current 3DS, but that second stick! Full camera control! Also, the face tracking 3D stabilization intrigues me.

But then there’s the Amiibos!!! Nintendo’s making, like, 50 of these! Who has the money to collect them all?? At one point, I had the notion to do so, but I quickly abandoned it and compromised down to just getting my favorite characters. But even that’s expensive! And despite all this amiibo expenditure, they’re not even capable of holding two saved game states per figure! Apparently if you use your Mario amiibo for Smash Bros, you have to erase that data to use it again for Mario Party 10! Sure, it may be compatible with both games, but losing data is an awful compromise.

And, I mean, that’s the most frustrating part about Nintendo news as of late, everything they announce seems to come packaged with fine print that makes it more complicated than it needs to be. Erg, it’s so frustrating! But then again, the games…THE GAMES ARE GREAT! Take my stinkin’ money, Nintendo, you wonderful blood suckers. I MEAN DID YOU SEE THAT FIRE EMBLEM TRAILER??

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Yori just wants to go home! If only everyone there he cared about didn’t want to kill him. But, you know, family!

I want to throw out a reminder that we’re updating the archive with the reformatted/rewritten pages that will be in our printed Volume 2 book! Those new pages start here at page 111, and are currently updated to page 141. We’ll continue to post new pages to the archive throughout the week, so keep checking back. Since they’ve been so heavily rewritten (for the better), it’s kind of like getting 5 or more updates a day, NICE!

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