With Dragon Ball Super having officially started, okay well yes it has started but it really hasn't "started". You get what I mean? I mean it's begun but it hasn't exactly taken off. Okay let's just say they're making the last two movies in episode format, and Super won't really commence until it reaches the Universe 6 arc, right after the Resurrection F arc, the arc that precedes the current arc, Battle of Gods. However, not before going into a transition arc between these two arcs. Unless it’s the manga, because in that case, the Resurrection F arc is skipped and followed immediately by the Champa arc, which will debut before the universe arc. Did that make any sense to you? No? Well that's okay. Basically Dragon Ball Super just started, it's got major changes from the movies, and we don't know where it'll go from there. It's like being in the 1990s when you didn't know shit about DBZ, even if you were “super” into it. You may have seen some toys of characters that had yet to be revealed, and with your crappy dial up internet connection you could have sworn you've seen some blurry pictures on the Internet of some blonde dude in Goku's outfit. Who was that, a Super Saiyan? According to your friend Jimmy on the playground, it was Goku's lost brother Nail. Who were you to disagree, it's not like you were the one with the pirated untranslated VHS episodes. You had no choice but to agree with your liar of a friend. But what about the stuff your buddies couldn't explain, like that cross between Vegeta and Goku you saw on some fan site? What did you do? You speculated of course. Which is what we're doing today. Much like the American DBZ fans of the 90s, we are about to reach a point where we have no idea where the Dragon Ball story will be going. So I thought it would be cool to speculate which forgotten or obscure characters could possibly appear in Dragon Ball Super. Or at the very least bring upon some salty desires for characters who were recently confirmed not to appear (sigh). So without further ado, this is the top characters that should appear in Dragon Ball Super....(I know, original title, right?). Android #17 (Lapis) The last time we saw 17 was towards the end of Z when he supplied energy to Goku's Super Spirit Bomb, while working in a nature preserve as a Park Ranger. (No seriously, that wasn't just some throw away gag that TeamFourStar came up with; it all comes from new interviews conducted with Toriyama himself!) Not only was 17 now revealed to be named Lapis, a Park Ranger, but it also turns out he has a wife and three kids who visit 18 and Krillin from time to time. For Toriyama to put that much unseen detail into 17's expanded back story, he more than likely has a plan for him in Super. Yajirobe and Korin So Battle of Gods was basically a family reunion for DBZ fans, you had pretty much all of the z fighters, as well as some of their friends and allies. Even characters who weren't at Bulma's birthday party made appearances. Except for a certain few, most notably Yajirobe and Korin. But you know when it comes to a movie there's only so much you can fit into the run-time, hell there was even an extended version made just so some of the lower tier Z fighters(Yamcha) could get more lines. So with this new series retelling battle of gods with extra padding and filler, who did they add to the party? Turtle. THE TURTLE?! Are you kidding me?! What has Turtle done compared to Yajirobe and Korin. Did Turtle train Goku to beat Tao, supply Goku with the divine water kill Drum in one sword slice, or cut of Vegeta's tail?! And who delivers the senzu beans to the Z Fighters? The goddamn bean daddy Yajirobe! I don't hate Turtle or anything; he was useful for introducing Master Roshi to Goku after all, not to mention he's necessary straight-man to Master Roshi's perverted antics. But the fact that it's been 9 episodes without the Fatman-Catman Duo is starting to worry me. Sigh... I miss my Bean Daddy. Tarble2008 was an interesting year for dragon ball fans; it was the first time in 11 years that Dragon Ball got new content. This new content came in the form of an OVA special called “Son Goku and his friends return”, and in it came the new character Tarble, who was Vegeta's brother no less! What's that?! Vegeta has a brother?! And what's that he never mentioned him before, man it's like the story of Dragon Ball is just making things up as it goes along! Sarcasm aside, Tarble showed us something interesting that was never shown before about the Saiyans. Some of them can suck. I don't just mean low class; I mean some of them absolutely can't fight. And some of the Saiyans like Tarble outright refuse to fight, unless it's completely necessary, a trait once thought to be exclusive for half Saiyans. This makes Tarble an interesting character. Plus with him being mentioned in Battle of Gods, Tarble is now considered canon. Also, he has a cute wife. Nuff' said. Launch OK, so obviously this is some wishful thinking on my part, but can you really blame me? Alright so she was absent from the Z portion of the manga, save for a special Christmas chapter, and was placed in some filler in the anime. But she was still part of the main cast! Not to mention she has that weirdly awesome sneezing power, that power being able to turn Launch into the Legendary Super Human. The blonde haired warrior of legend, full of rage and badassary. Who, was unfortunately made obsolete by that uninspired Super Saiyan Clone. So naturally it is for this very reason that Toriyama had to write her out of the story, that way fans wouldn't pick up on the resemblance. OK that last part isn't exactly true, he actually just forgot about her. That doesn't mean us fans haven't, right? I know I haven't. Miss Buu Hey kids remember that time when Buu read through Mr. Satan's pornographic novel collection, and through loneliness and frustration created a female Majin for himself to love and to also engage in pornographic activity with? Yeah, I'm surprised too, who knew Buu could read? Wait, what's that? You don't remember Dragon Ball Online. The MMO, which had heavy involvement from Toriyama himself, greatly expanding the Dragon Ball Lore for everyone who lived in Korea, Taiwan, in Hong Kong? The same one that was shut down four years ago never to released in America or Japan, WHAT THE HELL NAMCO BANDAI!!! Anyways Miss Buu was in fact Majin Buu's waifu. Yeah that was a thing, remember when Majin Buu released Evil Buu from his body? Yeah, that's how she was made. Look I don't really get it either, and there's a lot of consistencies with that explanation, but whatever. She's a sexy blue female Majin Buu, I'm sold. Not to mention she's also the precursor to the entire Majin Race, that same race that became playable in Xenoverse. So, yeah she's kind of important to the history of Dragon Ball. It would be really cool to bring her into Super, I mean not only would that bring in a nice family dynamic to Mr. Buu's character, but it would also bring in the number of relevant female fighters up to a 1. Progress. King Cold Here's guy who was introduced solely to make another guy look more powerful, not to mention cool. That is to say as cool as you can make a guy with poofy pants, pink hair, and a high cut women's leather jacket. Getting back on topic, the much hyped King Cold was more a plot device than an actual character. Talk about wasted potential! Come on he's Frieza's father, the actual leader of the Galactic Trade Organization, and probably capable of more transformations. Unfortunately we'll never know. Why couldn't Trunks be nice and let the villain transform, like all the other heroes do? Well if trunks won't let Cold transform, maybe Super will. With all the changes padding they made to the Battle of Gods story line, I sense something like this will happen in Super. A picture in a scenario where instead of the Pilaf Gang wishing for a million zeni, Frieza's henchman Sorbet takes the second wish and brings back King Cold. Leading into a battle between freezing cold, father and son, to decide who rule the organization. Lines will be drawn, loyalty will be tested, new transformations will be unleashed, and Frieza will ultimately win because Resurrection F says so. But it would still be fun, wouldn't it? There are still many characters within Toriyama's pantheon of works, who could make appearences. There are still many characters within Toriyama's pantheon of works, who could make appearences. However these characters don't particularly fit the narrative at the moment, or won't be born for at least a few years. So for now let's close this chapter until Super's next story arc, when more speculations will begin to arise. Or at least until Toei needs a new uninspired fanfic character for Dragon Ball Heroes. (Serioulsy, Super Saiyan 4 Broly?).
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When the idea of giant robots kicking a monster or evil robot's butt comes to mind, we are awe-struck. But what about when the foe is too much to handle? It's time for the fusion of Transormers, time to form Voltron, or at least combine to form the Megazord. At this point, I would suggest playing The Touch by Stan Bush to get a true feeling for this article. But why do these mechs hold our interest? The transformation process captures everyone's imagination. Here are three reasons why Old Dog thinks they still hold up, even today 1. Teamwork is part of a good show. It plays a substantial role in a lot of things. It's why I think The reason they combine is that the odds are so impossible, it's their last option that can best the villain of the week. That's why this appeals to us humans. When we put our heads together, we accomplish more than if it were just on person. 2. These parts where they combined are usually filled with a lot of lights and sound. It makes he viewer stop and go “Wow!” 3. The last reason is the fact that we anime fans wanted or had friends who wanted to make a Megazord or robot that combines (It's okay to admit it) The idea of Robots combing and forming one giant robot is pretty fascinating. It's something that's been done for years, but there's something there that people keep coming back to. It may be they just want a good mech anime or maybe they want to relive their childhood for old times sake. It's just one of those things that's not going away anytime soon. Japan realizes that people will always love mechs and it's one of their staple genres that people love for a lot reasons. Article written by Old Dog.
There's a trope in anime/manga that the main characters are always gonna be fine no matter how high the stakes. In Attack On Titian, the characters are getting swatted at and nearly eaten alive yet no one important ever dies. Are you tired of the same old rules? Well, Akame Ga Kill has exactly what you're looking for! Now, just to clarify things, I'll be talking about the manga. I know the Anime takes things in a different direction, so I just wanted to make that clear. Tatsumi is a country bumpkin warrior who heads into the capital to become a soldier so he can help make his home town a better place. Things don't go how he expects and he soon gets taken in by family of nobility. It's strike two as he learns about the capital's dark secretes and eventually joins a motley crew called the Night Raid. Their job is to take down the evil around them in the peaceful-looking capital and act as a sort of Robin Hood type agency. The main goal Night raid is striving for is to start a revolution and create an entirely new nation, free of any corruption. Night Raid fights with a set of weapons called Teigu. These are powered by the energy of the user's soul and they only form a bond with the person if they have a good first impression. But there's a catch to using a Teigu. When a teigu user goes up against another Teigu user, there can only be one survivor. This small detail gives the series an unbelievable amount of depth. It's at that point you realize that none of the characters are safe and that there's no cushion of “main characters can't die”. This acts as a really interesting plot device, as it makes you question whether you should get attached to any of these characters or not.
Article written by Rubicks. A lot of shooters these days have very little thought that goes into how you play. The usual fare is aim your sights, shoot, kill, and repeat. Don't get me wrong, I like playing Call of Duty. The thing is there's little strategy that goes on, making it repetitive. Splatoon is a shooter that breaks the mold and offers a refreshing spin to the genre. The objective of Splatoon is simple: if you see an area that's not covered with your team's color, spray it full of ink. You can also kill...er, I mean “splat” your opponents, but that comes second. To help maneuver around the map, you can turn into a squid and swim through your team's ink. It works well for hiding and ambushing people, but most importantly, you have to swim through your ink to recover ammo once it gets low. The only catch is you can't swim through the opposing team's ink or it'll slow you down and turn you into a sitting duck. First let's tackle game modes, of which there are two. You have the story, which mainly serves to teach you the ropes and prepare you for online matches. It's fun, but it's not really why you'd get the game anyway. Online is what you'd expect: Jumping into matches as well as ranked matches (at level 10). Ranked matches are really intense, objective based modes whereas the regular matches are just covering as much of the map as your team can. Thanks to the August update, players can now create private matches and play with friends.
Article written by Rubicks Hello there fellow listeners, do to unforeseen curcumstances the release of new episdoes of "PODDOUKEN" will be postponed until further notice. We're hoping within the next month or so that we'll be back on track. Thank you so much for your understanding and we look foward to continuing our show and your participation.
~Ferdy the Nerdy~ Just wanted to tell you guys some special announcements. Hope you enjoy~ Here in America, the most recognizable character has to be Mickey Mouse, right? Well, In most of Asia, they have someone a bit different: Doraemon! This is a series that's been running since the 1970s and it's widely popular in that part of the world. Doraemon revolves around this boy named Nobita who doesn't have the best life. He gets bullied, gets bad grades, and he's overall a huge klutz. Then one day, a futuristic robot cat named Doraemon comes into his life to help him avoid making poor choices. But he's not any ordinary robot cat (as if there were anything ordinary with that to begin with). Doraemon has a fourth dimensional gadget pocket that houses a myriad of gadgets that help Nobita with any problem he has. From there, a lot of hi-jinks ensue and the viewer is taken along for the ride! Even though Doraeon may be for kids, there are many things the older audiences can enjoy as well. For one, Doraemon doesn't talk down to kids like a lot of kids shows. Nobita's mom is often shown as very tough and very disciplinary. Doraemon himself shows quite a lot of sarcasm towards Noibta's plans and when he gets angry (albeit very cute) he gets pretty salty. The way Nobita gets picked on gets to the point where you feel bad for him, but it shows some of the realities of being a child. It's not all sunshine and rainbows and it's nice to see that in an anime like this. While Doraemon does a lot right, there a few faults. What I mean is it seems to get into a sort of rut. Every episode has a format it goes by, but it never seems to bring it down. What's this format I speak of? Well here it is: 1) Nobita runs into a problem 2) Doraemon! You have to have a gadget for this! 3) Doraemon presents him with a gadget, warns him of something but is ignored 4) Nobita goes to show it off and messes somethig up 5) Doraemoooon! Heeelp meee! 6) Problem is fixed but nothing is learned. Rinse and repeat and you have Doraemon! It's not a bad thing though, but it's definitely worth mentioning. It never takes anything away from the comedy and somehow, every episode feels fresh and fun with a new gadget featured. If you're someone who's into retro anime, you owe it to yourself to at least check out Doreamon. It may be simple and childish, but the writing makes it top notch. Since 2014, Disney XD has been airing dubbed episodes of the newer Doraemon series. For what it's worth, the dub is pretty good. The voice acting is really good (featuring Johnny Young Bosch) and nothing much is really tampered with except for a couple things here and there, but it's barely noticeable. So get your fourth dimensional website pocket, pick a legal streaming site, and check out Doraemon! Article written by Rubicks
Usually in manga, the reader typically follows the hero(es). But, what if I told you there's a series that follows a criminal? Lupin the Third does just that with a hint of James Bond and a sharp wit to go with it. Lupin (Loop-on......apparently it's a French name) is a master criminal who can disguise himself as anyone he wants and gets the best of everyone. In doing so, he can drive anyone to the brink of madness with his doppelganger shenanigans. His criminal acts are so well know, he gets hired to help people with whatever they may need, whether it be killing someone or helping keep an inheritance from being split with someone else. This manga follows his adventures through self-contained chapters that end in a punchline. For being made back in the 60s, it does some rather edgy stuff in term of humor and language. Let me say this right0 now.: This isn't an all ages manga by any means. There's sex scenes, nudity, the whole nine yards. But that should be expected from something that's a humorous take on James bond. Other than that, the comedy is always on point. A lot of it comes from sarcastic remarks that practically jump off the page. It's always a difficult thing to convey sarcasm through text alone, but here, it's done flawlessly. The art is something I really want to address. I went from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (which I also reviewed) Right into Lupin the Third. Jojo has a very rich art style, so going to something like this took a bit of adjustment. The art looks like it was drawn on a napkin, but that gives it a lot of charm. The only thing is it can be hard to tell what's going on at times. In one panel there was a flamethrower being fired and it took me a couple pages to realize what it was when it was being explained. Things like that can get a bit weird, but for what it is, there weren't too many times that happened to me.
Britain has James Bond, we have Tom Cruise, and Japan has Lupin the third. It's a series that definitely deserves to be clumped in with the best of the spy genre. There's a great deal of cleverness, wit, and hookups you'd expect from anything of that caliber. Even though it's nearly fifty years old, it still holds up today with its intriguing premise. Volumes of Lupin the Third can easily be found on Amazon if you want to read it. This review will self-destruct in ten seconds.....Wait, it won't? Oh, okay. Looks like you're fine then. Carry on with your day. Article written by Rubicks Pinball's an interesting idea; you have no control of what's going on except for only the flippers to hit the ball with. With that, it's all about luck and how the laws of physics act. Plus, you can't just get good at it right away. Each table has its own rules and it takes a lot of experimentation to get used to an individual table. In the past, there have been quite a few pinball video games, but none like Zen Pinball 2. This game takes all kinds of properties and turns them into pinball machines. These can range from South park to The Walking Dead to a good majority being based on Marvel Comics. Let's launch into the review, shall we? Each table has a large amount of detail with a lot going on. You have the characters talking while you play and if you trigger a mission, it'll be like a comic book fight going on inside the machine. There are a lot of things this game does that a normal pinball machine can't do. Take the Butters table based off of South Park. You have to make this disk spin enough to where you can shoot the ball in the middle. When you do, you can choose which persona (mission) you want butters to take on. From there, you could be taken to a Coon & Friends mini-game table or even get a Hawaiian multiball, among many other things. One thing that's nice about the South Park tables is that even little kids can play them because they don't have the foul language the show's known for. Yet, it somehow manages to work just as fine without it. The Marvel tables are also done exceptionally well. The atmosphere each on provides feels unique to that character and nothing feels out of place. The Thor level feels otherworldly, the Dr Strange level feels mystical, you get the idea. Zen studios knows exactly how to capture the essence of whatever they touch. Let's move on to controls. I'm playing on the WiiU, but things shouldn't be much different between consoles. The L and R buttons act as the flippers and the X button lets you change your view. What, you were expecting something complex from a pinball game? Joking aside, the fact that you can change the view is a really hand feature. Some tables benefit from a closer view where you follow the ball, where others benefit from a wider view. It just depends on your style. The replay value of this game is staggering. There are more than thirty tables to play, with more being added all the time. That means you get hours of potential game play no matter how many you buy. Plus, with all of them being different with their own personality and quirks, there's so much to discover. If you're thinking of getting it, you can download it for free and each table has a free trail you can download. From there, you'll have to buy the tables ($2.99 each) or packs of four ($ 9.99 each). It's really nice, since you can pick and choose the ones you want. Overall, it just depends on how much you like Pinball. If you love it, you'll have a ball with this game........and yes, that pun was intended. Pinball is a fun game, but it can be hard to breath life into it. Zen Pinball 2 delivers the goods and then some with this amazing package. It gives you an insane amount of content and lets you choose what you want to buy. Whether you want to play a fun game here and there or try to beat your high scores, it's perfect for every kind of gamer. If you're looking to get it, you can find it on WiiU, PS3, PS4, Vita, and the Mac and Windows stores. Article written By Rubicks
Let's take out a blender and mix a few things together. Take the fighting of DBZ, the silly foods in that Cartoon Network show “Chowder”, and a pinch of Food Network. What does that get you? Why Toriko of course! Toriko follows the adventures of Toriko, the gourmet hunter and chef Komatsu as they hunt down food to complete Toriko's full course menu of life. Along the way, they bump into wild creatures, each stronger than the last. What makes this gourmet hunter unique are his powers. Toriko uses his arms and legs as a fork and knife to ward off said creatures and gains new abilities through eating rare food. What makes this anime really fun is there's no boring exposition. You get thrown right into the action with episode one and let it take you on a food-filled, action-packed journey. Along the way, the viewer meets Toriko's childhood friends, who make up the four heavenly kings (Toriko included). There's Coco who can see electromagnetic waves and his body is a living encyclopedia of poisons that can create antibodies for any type of poison he encounters. Then you have Sunny, whose multicolored hair has sensors that can feel things like Temperature and pain and is used for attacking his enemies. Last, there's Zebra, the black sheep of the group who utilizes sound and lighting in a multitude of ways to rip his opponent apart. As you can see, the power sets in this series are very unique and unlike anything you've seen. The world that Toriko builds is really quite interesting. Food literally governs every aspect of life, even the world's economic stability. In this world, you have the Human and Gourmet world. The Human World is where all the human live, while the Gourmet world houses prehistoric creatures and dangerous territories as far as the eye can see. To add to the world building, the author creates these dishes that are a play on words, but make you hungry by their very description. It's pretty much food porn when you get down to it Not only that, but the fans send in ideas for ingredients and they're used in the manga and anime, which I think is a neat use of interacting with the fans. Toriko is a really wild anime that not many people know about here in the states. People need to eat to stay alive, so it's not like it deals with a niche demographic. There's something for everyone, whether it be comedy, action, or delicious looking food. More than anything don't go in expecting something super serious. There's an arc where Toriko has a battle over soup. Currently, there is an English dub, but it doesn't cover every episode. Though the food puns are definitely worth it (You soupy son of a bisque! Fork me! Etc). If you watch it, I advise you eat beforehand or at least have something on hand. Article written by Rubicks |
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