Lantern7

I'm commuting to an anime con. I got KLK reference material for sketches. So far, I got Nonon and Uzu. ETA: Got Ryuko and Gamagori today. ETA2: And I just realized that Senketsu isn't really visible in the Ryuko sketch. My bad for not pointing that out. Should I get another Ryuko sketch? Maybe just Senketsu?

I went to AnimeNEXT today. Saw a KLK panel. Turns out the anime is deep as all hell; sadly, in the heat and walking I did, I forgot most of it. There's references to old Japanese writing, archetypes, and all sorts of stuff. Oh, and I got spoiled on a few things. The rest of the anime should be interesting to watch. ETA: The guy running the panel also showed this AMV set to Lady Gaga. Apparently, the con it was originally intended for disqualified It for showing too many butts. Oh, and there might be spoilers. ETA2: I was spoiled on Ragyō Kiryūin bitch-slapping her daughter . . . okay, the one she knew about. And I was spoiled on Ryuko being the lost daughter. But damn, that was some jarring anime right there. Ragyō would probably qualify as a monster even if she didn't come back from decapitation. Y'all think Gendo Ikari checks under his bed to make sure Ragyō isn't there?

Just checking to see if anybody else was watching the episodes. Surprisingly, Toonami threw in the opening credits (the show's third set) a few eps ago. It's fun to make up English lyrics to it. "It's filler! It's filler! Don't mind it." Seriously, is anybody in the Leaf going to remember Sora and the Fire Temple once the ordeal is over? There's not going to be flashbacks, and that included a friggin' zombie invasion. Also, Sora wigging out on the Nine Tails' chakra. It's insane, it's memorable . . and there's probably never going to be a reference to it. Ever.

Are we going to get a fitting finale, or is there going to be stuff open for future projects? And what will you miss about the show? *deep breath* "SIT, BOY!!!" The time Sota dressed up like Conan Endigawa. Rin putting down Jakken. Jakken's general cowardice. The various modes of Tek . . . Tets . . . InuYasha's sword. Kikyo and Kagome doing the archery thing before Hawkeye and Katniss made it cool. Miroku's lechery. Sango's ability to put up with Miroku. The time InuYasha got his hand stuck on a boulder. The movie where Naraku got defeated, except not. I could be wrong, but wasn't Miroku's VA the one who did Teru "DELETE!!!!" Mikami from Death Note? The way Kaede would randomly slip a "Ye" into conversation, as if we didn't know this was supposed to be Feudal Japan. Kagome's one-dimensional friends. The fact that Kagome probably had to invent at least six kinds of illness in order to go on adventures. The poor wolf demon guys that always lagged behind Kōga. And, once again: "SIT, BOY!!!!" I would have totally abused that.

Heads up . . . the Ninth Doctor comic will be continuing with its second issue next week.

I went to Special Edition NYC this past weekend. I came prepared with AoU references for sketches, and I managed to get it all used. Here's Quicksilver (with a distant cousin), Vision (with a bit of spoiler), Ultron (with Attack on Titan thrown in . . . it makes sense in the description), and Scarlet Witch (banged out in about twenty minutes).

The only title I got today was Section Eight. As somebody who wasn't enthralled by recent nostalgic visits (James Robinson on The Shade, Priest & Bright on Q2: Quantum & Woody), I didn't feel that Garth Ennis and John McCrea hit the highs of Hitman with their first issue. Also, I don't know what's more annoying: the Twix ads that halve two pages, or the tie-in to continuity from the five-page preview in Convergence: Harley Quinn. And the moment with Batman probably works better if you ignore recent continuity. Then again, Ennis & McCrea never gave a crap about that on Hitman, so why start now?

1602 Rocket Raccoon? For real? I can buy a 17th Century Groot, but a humanoid varmit? It would make up for how "blah" 1602 was when it came out. I peeked through Ghost Racers. No Zero Cochrane, so I didn't buy it. Lots of Robbie Reyes, if you're into Ghost Rider-sans-bike. Also: Centaur Ghost Rider, because why not?

Is anything more sucky than seeing a team you vaguely like get no-hit? Friggin' Mets. I caught the tail end of it . . . why were the last two strikeouts on called strikes? Swing, dammit!

Mighty Kacy struck out. Can we get back to our lives now? Yeah, like I should talk . . . I couldn't ace the Quintuple Steps if I had to. I figure she'll get a wild card, even though she probably couldn't complete the course in a set amount of time. Damn, being a ninja must entail having a Twitter feed. Lots of @'s out tonight. In other news . . . man, how bad does it suck to be the Human Panther? Failed the fifth obstacle the same way he did it last year. Good thing the course wasn't burnt out too bad, so he made the top 30 for the next round.

Update: I wound up spending four hours on line yesterday at Special Edition in order to get access for NYCC in October. I'm thinking of reevaluating my approach to conventions in general, because I feel wiped out after two days of pounding pavement . . . and I have a three-day con in AnimeNEXT coming up next weekend. I'm contemplating not going anywhere big this year like I did with Toronto in 2014. There's a Doctor Who-themed con in November on Long Island that I might hit up, but I should start thinking of taking it easy, con-wise. Here are my pics and sketches from Special Edition.

Another Japanese-fuel adventure, with One Piece characters stuffed in it. Anybody else oddly amused at Wanze smiling for the "camera" twice? At least he didn't pour ramen out of his nose.

Did . . . Satsuki just shiv her own mother? DAMN. Did not see that coming . . . though I'm guessing massive blood loss isn't going to be an issue for Mama Kiriyuin.

I got a sketch for my blank-covered first issue. I saw a lot of SW-related issues with blank covers, but I'm holding strong. Those things are so addictive to get.

From ADHD: what happens when Michael Bay gets ahold of Neon Genesis Evangelion? Awesomeness.

ETA: Why do I feel as if the only way I wouldn't be lost is if I was with this show from the very beginning? Let's break it down . . . 1. Martin's gone. He's taken the catalyst comet entity's offer of infinite adventures to Jake for himself. Probably just as well . . . who's itching to see Martin in the next season? 2. Orgalog went from its original shape to an umbrella shade to a phallic-shaped comet catcher to . . . Gunter. Dunno what that means for him/it in the future. Do you try a contain a cosmic baddie, or is having it in a penguin shape punishment enough? 3. The Candy Kingdom voted the King of Ooo. As its princess. Don't ask me how that works. This seems to be sticking for next season, as is Peebles and Pep But's new status quo of not doting on the very people she created. The naïve, dillweed people she created.

Today: Martin escape captivity. Of course, he does it in the most Martin way possible . . . by putting his own needs ahead of anybody else's. I will admit, he does that moves that on par with Finn's. Do moths have nipples? Or is that a question I don't need an answer?

Okay. So . . . you know Gunther? Ice King's main penguin? The one shown to be sometimes sinister? Apparently, he's some sort of cosmic menace named Orgalorg that got exiled to Earth ages ago. I'm not a "myth arc" kind of guy in general, so I'm just rolling with the revelations leading to the finale at the end of the week. Penguin making Martian shapes through woodworking while having an exposed, glowing brain? Sure . . . why not? I mean, "Wenk." Also: Gunther seems to like using sleeping gas grenades to knock out Ice King, so he can host rocking parties with other penguins, snow people, and Lumpy Space Princess. And there's walrus racing. Or maybe it's more of a walrus rodeo, what with the two penguins dressed as clowns. Huge WTF moment before the "Orgalorg" revelation.

If this episode wasn't for you, you'll have to wait three weeks for something new. On the bright side, Amy will finally be getting her show at the top of the hour. Lots of stuff to comment about . . . . Amy as a first-time stripper for a dog bachelor party, a museum to hipster male faux pas that parallels the Holocaust, a bit about male order husbands that was inspired by Ambien . . . oh, and Amy laughs at a guy who got drunk and bought a star. Like, almost to the point of rolling on the ground in hysterics. Poor bastard. Forgive me for being naïve socially . . . is comparing a woman to her mother really a point of no return? Because Amy went to town on those cinder blocks.

In today's episode, Lumpy Space Princess babysits Sweet P. As you'd probably expect, chaos ensues. I'm not sure what to make of the ep. LSP is her usual self: self-absorbed and content to calling Marceline (who's picking nasty stuff out of her navel), while SP runs amok, trying to get Candy Kingdom denizens to perform his usual bedtime ritual. Also, LSP gets into a fight with a raccoon, and I think it gets the voice (the thoughts?) of The Lich, Or maybe I'm projecting that. Also, wouldn't The Lich have better things to do than torment LSP?

Sorry for the delay . . . I didn't know that Cartoon Network would be airing Adventure Time episodes all week, let alone the final episodes of the season. Given this episode and the following ep ("Be Sweet"), I sense we'll be getting unusual team-ups amongst Ooo's finest. This episode: Magic Man and his new apprentice, Betty! Basically, MM tries to trick Betty in a scheme to get the power of his late Martian brother, Glob. I think. Just so you know he's still a jackass, MM snares Finn and Jake, turning them into porridge and an egg, respectively. We get some weird imagery into MM's past, and we see Betty's theory about how Ooo's magic users are consumed with madness and sadness. . . because, duh, her ex is Ice King. In the end, MM winds up being a "normy," Betty seems to gain MM's power and insanity, and Finn becomes a baked bread boy after pouring himself into flour and getting shoved into an oven. Or something. Can somebody fill in the gaps I've not-so-helpfully provided?

Indeed. The gang is all assembled, and Naraku will get his. And I'll admit that I'll probably miss the little things about the show. Like Rin's pudowns on Jakken.

Sign That I Might Be A Horrible Person: Hearing about the guy with the terminally ill wife having to wait on line for eight days. wondering why he didn't just tell the producers about the terminally ill wife. Wouldn't that be a guaranteed way to cut the line? And am I bad for thinking that? BTW, great of that guy to complete the course. Another question: Was this course too easy? Thirty-eight people completed it, which is eight above the usual cut-off. Speedsters? Made it. Wolfpack? Made it. Jon Stewart? Made it, and didn't look like he was going to keel over once. And Meagan Martin? Made it, albeit with the second slowest time. Matt and Akbar didn't orgasm as hard as when she completed the Jumping Spider last year, but I'm betting at least one of them needed a change of underwear. And they're going to need a spare set next week, when Mighty Kacy makes her run.

Dunno where else to put this . . . another take of KLK. For a parody, it does manage to get Ryuko and Mako down pat. No spoilers, BTW.

I checked the promotional schedule of the Brooklyn Cyclones. This is what came up for Seinfeld Night: And what is a "Bobble Beak," you ask? Take a look at this.