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Pardon Our Dust
What’s up party people. Zeke here, letting you all know that aniRAGE.com is under construction! You may have already noticed the shiny new theme. On top of that, I’ve been working with Kayla to work on a fancy pants new gallery! But in order to do that, we have to download all the old pictures (made some edits and cut some of the chaff) before putting up the new stuff.
So for the time being, our old pics are in Pics, and the gallery is under Gallery!
And fret not, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes that we hope to talk about soon! So stay tuned here to anirage.com and our Facebook page!
-Zeke
aniRAGE Presents: What The Japan? – Holiday Matsuri 2012
At Holiday Matsuri 2012, we did our first ever presentation of Dashi’s own, What The Japan? Well, this awesome guy went and uploaded a good portion of it to youtube, so definitely check it out if you missed it!
Zeke Counts Down The Pokemon Generations
Zeke Counts Down The Pokemon Generations
With the news of the latest generation of Pokemon games being set to release this year, Pokemon X & Y, this would be a great time to look back at the last 5 generations and rank them from my least favorite to most favorite. This is clearly a very opinionated and controversial topic, so I encourage a discussion of why you agree with me in your favorites, or why you are totally wrong in disagreeing when I snub your favorite!
A few caveats before I begin: I’m going to consider all 3 games of a generation as one unit: if there were issues in the first two games that was “solved” in a subsequent “third game” release, I’ll look past them (though I’ll try to still reference it). I’ll also look at remakes as part of their original generation, so FireRed and LeafGreen will be part of Gen 1, while HeartGold and SoulSilver will be lumped in with Gen 2, as opposed to 3 and 4, respectively.
With that out of the way, let’s begin!
Ah, the generation that started it all. This generation is the simplest, as it was the first, but it also has a charm in it’s simplicity. I know a lot of people look back at some of it’s battle mechanics as broken or unfair, but to me, with how casually me and my friends battled, it felt right to us. Most of my favorite Pokemon come from this generation, and I still have my Red and Blue cartridges at easy access for a bout of nostalgia. Yellow was an awesome variation too, with the ability to start off with Pikachu, and gain every starter (something no other generation has repeated, for whatever reason), but sadly I never owned it myself, but I often played it with friends. Generation 1 will go down in history as the games that started the craze, and the nostalgia will help maintain it’s greatness.
FireRed and LeafGreen were an answer to the inability for Generation 1 and 2 games to be traded to the GBA games. They are polished, improved versions of the original games, and they are just as fun as the firsts. I loved the extra areas they added onto the game, with the 1, 2, and 3 islands giving access to pokemon never available in Generations 1, as well as giving some fresh content to a game that was eight years old. As great as the games art, the classic nostalgia of the original Red and Blue make the a little bit better, but that doesn’t take away from how excellent these two remakes are.
Released two years after the originals, Gold and Silver were sequels to the original Red and Blue. Unlike subsequent games in the series, Generation 2 were direct followups to the prior games, with connected story lines, and the yet-to-be-duplicated ability to travel to the prior region in addition to it’s home region. With 100 new Pokemon, a handful of new Legendaries, and a gripping story line, Pokemon Gold and Silver took everything Red and Blue did and improved upon it. The characters just seemed a bit “cooler” too. Crystal added the additional Color functionality of the new Gameboy Color, as well as added the first ever Female playable character. The increased interaction with the Unown gave a new angle to explore, and made the games even more of a “Gotta Catch Um All!” situation.
HeartGold and SoulSilver were hot on the players minds ever since FireRed and LeafGreen. I previously said that the nostalgia level of Red and Blue made them seem more fun, or at least “better” than their remakes, but HeartGold and SoulSilver are without a doubt my favorite games of the entire series. They took all the greatness of the originals, and added some awesome new features. The story line was just as compelling, the characters were improved, and the Pokemon, Gyms, and Elite Four were all given added toughness and repeat challenges, which just made you want to play more and more. Generation 2 includes my favorite games of the series, but even without that, is by far my favorite generation!
Zeke’s Year In Review – Wrestling (WWE Edition)
Zeke’s Year in Review – Wrestling (WWE Edition)
2012 Wrestler of the Year – Daniel Brayn.
2012 Tag Team of the Year – Team Hell No
2012 Pay-Per-View of the Year – Money in the Bank
2012 Match of the Year – The Shield vs Team Hell No & The Ryback (TLC)
2012 Underutilized Talent of the Year – Zach Ryder
2012 Story of the Year – The Shield
They’re Getting The aniRAGE Bump! – True Geek Radio
This past month at Holiday Matsuri, we had the pleasure of sitting down with True Geek Radio for an interview. These guys are all awesome, and it was great meeting each and every one of them. These guys are Certified aniRAGE Awesome, so definitely add them to podcast repertoire!
And while you’re at it, check out their interview with us, as well as geek-rap sensation Richie Branson, at their website HERE! Our interview starts about about the 1-hour mark, but the whole show is well worth a listen!
Stay tuned for more of my Year In Review tomorrow! And as always, check out our videos and like us on Facebook!
-Zeke
Zeke’s Year In Review – Gaming
Zeke’s Year in Review – Gaming
2012 Console/PC Game of the Year – Borderlands 2 (PC/360/PS3)
2012 Mobile Game of the Year – Punch Quest (iOS)
2012 Disappointment of the Year – Diablo 3(PC)
Zeke’s Year In Review – Music
Zeke’s Year in Review – Music
2012 Song of the Year – PSY: Gangnam Style
2012 Album of the Year – Muse: The 2nd Law
Zeke’s Year in Review – Movies and Television
Zeke’s Year in Review – Movies and Television
2012 Movie of the Year – The Avengers
2012 TV Series of the Year – Sherlock
2012 Episode of the Year – Doctor Who: The Snowmen
My Favorite Sailor Scout? Not so easy!
I’m not quite sure what it was about Mars that first attracted me to her. I think I was going through a long, straight hair phase. There was something about her fierce, devil-may-care attitude. She was a bit more selfish and a bit more “look out for number one” than Venus, and she had that fiery personality that went along with her element. That tough exterior and icy heart were just asking to be melted, and I wanted to be the guy that showed her that while fire could burn, it could also warm the heart.
For the longest time, Mercury was my least-favorite. I didn’t like her shy, quiet personality, especially when compared to many of the other boisterous personalities that the other sailor scouts had. But soon I started really liking that quiet, calm nature that she had. She was an intellectual, a characteristic that gets much more appreciated as you mature. While she wasn’t as “stunning” or “gorgeous” as the others, she was definitely cute, and could definitely have that “sexy librarian” look that is so appealing. Mercury definitely grew on me.
I’ll admit, for the longest time, I hated Sailor Moon. She was selfish, annoying, loud…no thanks. Now, here’s where I admit, it wasn’t really the character that flipped that switch. Sure, I grew to not be so annoyed by her, but that wasn’t what did it. What was it? Cosplayers. That’s right, cosplayers. For some reason, I saw so many awesome Sailor Moon cosplayers, and my heart melted. All of a sudden, I found myself liking the character more and more. So you can thank your favorite Sailor Moon cosplayers for turning me to the moon side.
I’m not sure why it took me so long to come around to Sailor Jupiter. Maybe it’s because, compared to the other characters, with their outlandish hairstyles, zany personalities, or fiery personalities, she is very plain. But that ended up being the very thing that drew me to her. She has that “girl next door” look to her. A tomboy at heart, she’s the type of person who you’d have to hold back in a fight, if someone dissed you. She seems so fun-loving and energetic, the type you’d never have a dull moment with. In the end, the thing that makes her at first not stand out, is the very thing that makes her unique!
& Uranus:
These two are often found in pairs, so I’ll talk about them in pairs. Of course the whole “lesbians” thing is insanely hot to any red blooded male, but individually they both have strengths. Neptune I’ve alwas found attractive, and I believe it has to do with her wavy blue hair. Maybe it just reminds me of Bulma (someone who I could write a whole seperate article about), but I always found her very attractive.
Uranus, on the other hand, never really stood out to me. However, like Sailor Moon, I saw a wide variety of very attractive cosplayers that quickly changed my mind. At first I thought that it was just because most of them were paired up with the already attractive Neptune, but after seeing them solo, I realized that the character, despite not fulfilling some of the tropes or stereotypes that I usually go for, was a very strong, attractive character. As a package they are awesome, but that doesn’t take away from their individual awesomeness.