Angeldevil 040 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
Read it. Read it NOW! It starts off the next story arc. There will be dragons. And psychic duels. And… did I mention the dragons? Okay, only one dragon. But he is a smexy dragon and very awesome. *nodnod*
Anyone going to MFF is welcome to try and find me; if you do, I may drawing you a special something! Look for a sturdy girl with dark curly hair and a shaggy raven puppet, wearing a badge that looks like this:
Rondie's Con-badge by *Agent-Elrond on deviantART
Anyone not going to MFF can console themselves by reading the latest chapter of The Iron Wizard:
TIW Part 52 page 01 by *TheIronWizard on deviantART
Stay sexy peoples!
Happy Halloween 2009 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
Also, apparently, CONVENTION TIME!!! I'll be attending the World Fantasy Con over Halloween Weekend in San Jose, CA, as well as participating in the Art Show. And I'll also be found later in November wandering blissfully about the Midwest FurFest in Chicagoland. Not sure if I'll be in the art show there (probably not) but I may have a table in the Artist's Alley on one of the days… we'll see how tired I am. Because in between cons I'll be spending a week in New York, New York, seeing shows and visiting with relatives with the Sugarauntie, as well as swinging through Washington DC on my way to Chicago. Altogether, it looks like it could get a little overwhelming.
Cheers all, now I'm off to scrounge up some food.
Angeldevil 038 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
On the Art Show front I now have all but one of the pieces I'm bringing complete. The last one is an oil. Gods help me. XP I've also finally completed my "Let's Play" of Fire Emblem 8: The Sacred Sones—next, I do commentary on Roffie's "Let's Play" of Halo: Combat Evolved (on Legendary!). Hopefully this one won't take eleven months!
Keep up with my Fire Emblem LPs at: www.youtube.com/user/ggorondie
The Halo Let's Play will be on Roffie's account: www.youtube.com/user/egoroffie
Pace people!
It's my first art show, and it was juried no less! So being very excited to be have gotten in. Yes. Been picking out which pieces to bring, but also finding myself needed some fresh work. So, time to cram in some masterpieces around pre-existing work on Angeldevil and Iron Wizard—oh, and then there are those commissions that were ordered… heh.
Oh yeah, and I really ought to do some Halloween art for Angeldevil and Iron Wizard… aw gee…
Sometimes I hear horror stories about editors/agents who push their artists with unrealistic deadlines, and while I feel for these artists, I also dare the editors/agents to do their worst when they (eventually) find me. Because I find it hard to believe that someone could push me harder than I already push myself.
Which is a good thing, I think. Which is sort of the purpose of this journal, I guess. To remind myself that, no matter how hectic my life gets, I brought it on myself—which in turn means it is all things that I want to do, or at least get done.
Which makes all this the best problems in the world.
Angeldevil 037 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
Enjoy!
I knew it's a little gruesome for the Winblog, but still.
An AXE!
And then she SHOT HIM!
WIN!
Ladies and gentlemen, the terrorists are in no way winning.
Thank you to Rakhsana Kausar, whose name shall be sung in praise… just as soon as I figure out how to pronounce it! You are an inspiration to us all!
…well, at least to me.
No, the Problem of Firefly is its title. I know this may seem irrelevant or odd or both, but if you look at the Big Two of the SciFi Genre, Star Trek and Star Wars (let's not open up the can of bees that is "which is the best" for now let us suffice to say that these two are the most successful—that I think we can all agree on) a certain theme becomes obvious.
Not that I'm saying that if only Whedon had called it Starfly it would have become a mondo hit—but hey, it might have been worth a try!
Just this morning I was asked who would win in a fight: Warf or Han Solo. To me the answer is neither: River Tam would kick both their asses.
Hey, at least I'm prolific!
Angeldevil 036 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
In other news, I have recently been reading a plethora of FF7 fanfics (my guilty pleasure) (fanfics, not FF7), and what they have driven into me lately is that 1) Sephiroth as a Naga is considerably more sexy and reasonable that the Safer Sephiroth that actually appears in the actual game, but also that that game is a flaming tragedy. I mean, we are all sad Aeris died; I mean, she's like the ONLY healer girl in the history of healer girls who is not annoying as rubber apples, and she died! In game! Bastards! But then, the more you dig into the backstory, well, there's the whole SNAFU with Zack, and then it comes out that he was friends with Sephiroth, who was really just a mind-fucked experiment who went a little batshit from all the said mindfuckery. Okay, so he's supposedly this irredeemable villain (remember the katana meets flower girl incident? Oh, and that giant meteor thing…), but when you stack up all his misdeeds and balance it with what the poor sod had been through he's only about even with Darth Vader, and Darth Vader at least got some closing penance. But no! Sephiroth steadfastly remains the villain throughout the entire game AND the sequel!
I'm not saying that he should miraculously survive and live happily ever after with [insert your fangirl partner here], but really, they should have given us something… Like, coming 'round at the last minute to save the world and then dying. As it is the ending, with him off brooding in the Lifestream making apparitions and strange diseases is utterly dissatisfying. It's like Jenova won after all… a little bit… too much.
It is my opinion, founded on my own experiences writing and reading stories, that sometimes you can't just kill the villain—you have to redeem them first. Because bringing a bad guy back to the side of good is SO much more satisfying that simply offing them. It is not always enough to beat someone, especially when that someone had good tendings, or at least not-insanely-evil-just-mixed-up tendings at one point. Then you have to get them to see that you are right. And if a hero can't do that, then who can?
So the problem of Sephiroth still itches at me. It feels like someone wrote up this villain, and then someone else went behind their back and wrote a sympathetic backstory to him without the first someone knowing, and then a third someone with no story-telling aesthetics came along and mushed them together and called it good. Which, considering the way a lot of games are written, but not be far from the truth.
Not to rag on games or game writers. Any writer can fudge things up, even when the have the best of intentions. Even if they are very talented and have written wonderful things in the past. Take the Problem of Jet from Avatar: The Last Airbender…
…wait, no, that's a rant for a different night.
Iron Wizard Part 50 cover by *TheIronWizard on deviantART
Oh, the excitement!!!
For an uninitiated, check out the Chapter Index!
CLICK THESE WORDS!
The book includes some original bonus art, and Chapters 23-33—that's over 200 pages of awesome! For just under $20.00. And for those of you who are completely broke—you can download the entire pdf free of charge!
You can also read all the chapters at AngeldevilManga.deviantART.com
Go forth, my minions, all three of you. Do your part to help me take over the world!
Angeldevil 035 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
And in case you missed it, here's Chapter 34:
Angeldevil 034 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
Rock on peeps.
Okay, so I've known about it for several years, but I hadn't watched any of it until last week, and now… now…
…now I'm pretty sure I have a thing for giant robots.
But it's an interesting watch; since its an older anime I'm seeing the seeds of what have become many a stock anime character (or perhaps the sprouts, really; who knows where these character archetypes really came from). Also of note is the sound effects: they are ringingly familiar with those from the early Miyazaki movies, particularly Nausicaä and Castle in the Sky, its as if all these studios were working with the same sound samples. XD
But man.
Build me a Gundam.
I want one.
I will use it to squish Relena, bitchslap Heero, and kidnap Duo. Then everyone will be happy. Except maybe Duo. *hurrhurr*
Speaking of Duo; I read a comment once complaining how of the five pilots he is the goofiest (I object to that: Wu Fei is hysterical. Really, he is. :| ) and how this must be representative of the Japanese iconography of us Americans. Now I have to note that of all the main characters Duo is the one who most resembles the later anime heroes such as Inuyasha, Naruto, and even Ichigo. And if that's how the Japanese want to see us Americans, I'm fine with that. But honestly I think it's stupid to connect a whole nation's personality with one character, and really, all of them feel very Japanese to me. :/
Now, off to the shower.
Had a quiet day at home with the family, brightened by opening up for commissions on deviantART and Fur Affinity and actually having people order them! Woohoo!
Thanks for out to all my lovely internet buddies who took the time to send well-wishes *massive fluffle huggles you all* Also, best wishes to all the other August B-dayers out there,
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
2_gryphon and askerian and everyone else I am either forgetting or not aware of. ^^;Seeyas, and take care!
(I am also fairly certain that Brian has some Vulcan blood in him. Just a little.)
Moving on.
One thing that made the road trip rather more stressful than it needed to be is that I have this friend. You know the type of friend, I'm sure. The one that you don't really get on with that well. The one that you keep at the safe, arm's length polite distance where you are never angry at them to their face, never tell them that they are being an asshole, and as a result your friendship never progresses beyond a state of mutual toleration and you are left to complain about them to your other friends (the ones whom you've gotten mad at, and subsequently resolved matters, and come out being better friends for).
I have a friend like this. I don't see her that much, and usually it's in the company of other friends whom I do care for very much, and doing things that are really fun. However, even with this caveat I had some trouble with her on this latest trip, mostly triggered by the fact that she is one of the most overwhelmingly self-centered people I have ever met. I came to this conclusion after a full weekend spent half in tears complaining about her to my mother who quite naturally assumed that this friend was pure evil, to which I had to admit that she was not evil, just self-centered. Which is almost as bad. It's really bad, because it's hard to tell if you yourself aren't becoming a little self-centered (a lot of my complaining sounded like: "And she doesn't seem to care how I feel about this, or how it might sound to me and I think blah blah blah…").
So I've come up with a list of questions to ask myself to see if I really am becoming a self-centered asshat. If you are having misgivings about your self-awareness, perhaps you'd like to put these questions to yourself as well. Award yourself the relevant number of points for each questions you answer "yes" to.
1: Is everything always someone else's fault?
(5 points)
2: Are waitresses, bar tenders, park ranger, police officers and HWY patrols unfailingly rude, unreasonable, stupid and uncooperative?
(10 points)
3: Doing you borrow people's things and then conveniently "forget" to return them?
(5 points)
4: When given the option, do you always choose the one that makes this easier for you, regardless of the circumstances?
(7 points)
5: If you answered "yes" to no. 4: Do you feel perfectly guilt-free and righteous about your decisions?
(10 points)
6: Do you only offer people assistance if there is something in it for you?
(1 point)
7: Do you feel justified in dawdling about because something interests you, even though this makes the group you are with late for a certain activity?
(5 points)
8: Aren't people who get snappy at you just completely unreasonable?
(3 points)
9: When you donate to a charity, do you only do it because it will make you look good?
(5 points)
10: Do you feel the need to harp extensively on other people's short-comings to make yourself feel better?
(15 points)
11: (be honest here!) Do all these questions, though at first they seem to fit you, really don't because you are a perfect person and therefore flawless?
(33 points)
How to score:
0 = You are a self-aware and well-rounded person. Here's a cookie, and have a nice day.
1-4 = You are reasonably self-centered. Not a saint, but then who is? Go have a nice day.
5-20 = You're kinda self-centered, you know? Maybe you should go work on that.
21-51 = Jesus, open your eyes already! Do you realize what you've been DOING?
52-67 = I am surprised you have any friends. You need to take a serious look at yourself if you don't want your actions to bite you in the ass one day.
100 (max) = I hope you walk into an open sewer and die.
I hope this is of use to someone… out there.
But enough of that. There are Iron Wizard pages to be sketched! And speaking of TIW, did you know the book is out now? No? Well, GO GET IT!
The main character, I should elaborate, is a bald, generically top-heavy, testosterone charged male by the name of Kratos, who runs around in what is essentially a ragged loincloth with some swords chained to his arms. You get to see quite a lot of this running, as the game is in third person and there are no vehicle segments. And while he was running (and jumping, and climbing, and kicking, and pirouetting about with his swords) I couldn't help but come back to the fact that Kratos has really smashing legs. Like, Hugh Jackman would be respectful of those legs. And thankfully the game developers had the sense to give him a high-cut loincloth, so we can get a nice view of those elegant thighs.
I'm not going to mention his chest; it is the stock "Male Hero" chest, and entirely unremarkable… but those legs!
*whistles*
So I can say that watching him dismember hordes of hapless monsters (and occasionally civilians) was made rather more palatable by this.
And then another thing I noticed: that of all the enemies in GoW, it is the female ones you have to watch out for. Sure, you can slash your way handily past minotaurs, cyclops, three-headed Cerberus knock-offs, and skeletal sentries with ease, but when you run into the Sirens you are screwed. Like, beware the singing lady with dangly boobs, bitch! Not to mention the gorgons…
All this leads me to think that God of War is being unintentionally appealing to women. Probably not the ordinary sort of woman, but definitely the sort of woman who would enjoy playing a game like this.
Unfortunately for the developers, it's a PS2 exclusive game and I detest console controls (no camera controls? what's up with that?). But I AM very fond of Kratos's legs.
His personality is another matter: the man seriously needs to be bitch-slapped, and perhaps a run-in with Alucard. Afterwards, they can share their favorite methods for dismembering people. Good fun for all.
But I mentioned gorgons! Since when are they all perverted naga? The description of them in all the myths I read was that of women with brass talons and snakes for hair the sight of whom could turn people to stone. No mention of being half-snake anywhere! But now I have run into the half-snake variety in two very different games (GoD and Fire Emblem 8) and I'm beginning to wonder if I've missed something.
In any case, in defense of Medusa before Aphrodite fucked her over; gorgons are, or at least, were not inherently evil creatures: they were beings with powers of defense and protection, which manifested in being able to turn the things they looked at into stone. Why do you think Athena had their heads on her throne and her breast plate? And Medusa was originally a great beauty, who Aphrodite caught getting the dirty on in one of her temples with randomguy, so she turned her into a gorgon as punishment. Makes you feel kind of sorry for her, really. But the Greek gods were always doing crap like that. I mean, look at poor Odysseus!
The Greek gods were jerks, this is a fact. Except for Hestia, who was nice and is no longer an Olympian for it. This is one thing the writers for GoW got right, especially in GoW 2 when the gods turn around and give Kratos the metaphorical god-finger. I remember watching when Zeus got around to betraying Kratos there was this general shock from both the player and the viewers while I'm sitting back going: "Duh! He's Zeus! I'm surprised Kratos isn't a newt by now!"
Except they don't, quite. Because at the end they have Athena die to save Zeus which is just. Not. Right. Athena might be the goddess of wisdom and warfare and generally one of the less-bitchy of the gods, but she's not some noble saint. That's what they had heroes for! No, Athena would do something incredibly clever and crafty that the writers of the game obviously couldn't conceive because she is the damn goddess of wisdom and crafts and they aren't!
Furthermore, what's with the unity of the Olympians? At the end of the second game when Kratos starts his assault on Mount Olympus, they're all clustering around Zeus like he's Aragorn, or the Master Chief or something. If you'll pardon my language: Jesus! If Hades doesn't show up first thing in GoW 3 pledging his undying support of Kratos yet secretly planning to take over Olympus himself afterwards thus setting up the fourth game "God of War 4: Wrath of Hades" I shall be… well, not surprised, but disappointed and smug: because this is what you get when you try to re-write things like the Greek myths. This isn't yesterday's romance novel, guys; there is a reason these stories have endured for so many thousands of years, and once you start tinkering with them you'll find that it takes a much greater amount of skill to handle them that it first appears.
And what's with Zeus trying to kill Kratos because he's his son? Isn't that Hera's job? But I guess that would have made the game too difficult, since we all know how hard the female enemies are in those games.
That's enough rambling for now. I really need to sleep.
I think I shall dream of Kratos's legs.
Angeldevil 033 - page 01 by *AngeldevilManga on deviantART
Yes, Rondie is now officially a fur.
Bite me. XD
I'm making a completely awesome audio review of my trip, complete with funny voices and singing, which I'll be linking here as soon as it's done, but until then some quick fax:
Furs rule.
2 is actually a dear sweet man and I would kill puppies for him… okay, maybe not puppies. Hamsters. I'd kill hamsters for him.
Uncle Kage kicks ass.
Did I mention furries rule?
I got to meet several amazing artists, including Ursula Vernon and made several new friends, all of whom ROCK! Also Jibba, Spazfox, and Rona Dolvi (heart to you!)
Now trying to regroup and get back into "real" life: the final chapter of Angeldevil Volume 3 goes up tomorrow, so you can look forward to that. I also get back to work on TIW which will hopefully continue on track now.
That's all I got for now, since I really ought to get to bed.
Toodles, and remember (in the immortal words of Jibba at 2:00 in the morning): "DON'T GET RAPED!"
Mwaha, my rafting booklet it is complete! You can download it for free or purchase a copy of your own right here.
Also, my brother Roffie and I will be first-time attendees at this year's Anthro Con in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. Though we don't consider ourselves full-blown furries *coughYeahRightRoffiecough* we are huge fans of 2 Sense and furriness in general. The main hurdle will be navigating the flight to Pittsburgh, after that, we plan on thoroughly enjoying the con with out the impedance of parental help.
I'm throwing this out there in case any of my 'scibers/friends/watchers here know me from my 2 Sense cartoons, because though I won't have a table in the dealers room/artist's alley, I will be doing FREE sketches to anyone who catches me at the con.
Some restrictions apply: only one sketch per person, backgrounds added at artist's discretion.
Roffie and I will be there Thursday through Sunday… and yes, we will be attending 2's live show.
KITTENS.
We has KITTENS.
Three of them, to be precise: they are wonderfully annoying and furry and cuddly. They do make it difficult to paint with watercolors, however. :/
And as a parting shot from AC (go Loituma!)
Profile
- elrond_rambles
- Agent Elrond
- deviantART: Agent-Elrond
Syndicate
