Star vs. the Forces of Evil - What is it?

Created by Daron Nefcy, a former storyboard revisionist for Wander Over Yonder, Star vs. the Forces of Evil is set to be the first show created and run by a female showrunner on Disney XD.  ...This WAS going to be a Disney Channel original, but since Disney REALLY wants that network to stick to it's dumb tween image (as evidenced by moving Gravity Falls and Wander Over Yonder to Disney XD), we're getting it on the other channel.  I would have been annoyed by this, but honestly, with all three of these shows, plus Phineas and Ferb (if that IS still any good, which I honestly don't know, since I don't watch it) and The D7 (which is being run by Tom Ruegger, the creator of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs), I'd say Disney XD is starting to become a new home for some of the best (or at least some of the better) shows in animation, kind of like Disney back in the 80's and 90's.  Heck, if I recall correctly, Disney XD used to be Toon Disney, which I watched all the time when I was growing up, so it's almost a return to form...  sort of.

But anyway, back to this show in particular.  The basic premise is this: Star Butterfly is a a magical princess from outer space who, as the title of this show implies, battles the forces of evil.  She soon comes to Earth to live with the Diaz family, and while on Earth, she continues to battle the forces of evil while also going to high school (ho boy, here we go again) and also figuring out the powers of her magic wand.  The premise, I'm not going to lie, sounds INCREDIBLY cliche, especially the whole "high school" aspect, which I'm so sick to death of...

But seeing this teaser made me reconsider.  I really like the design ove this show.  The way the characters are drawn feels really similar to certain other shows I've seen, though I can't exactly think of which ones, other then the obvious one (Wander Over Yonder).  I also like the designs of the monsters she fights, it's a cool juxtaposition of being cutsie while also being scary and/or gruesome, kind of like how The Powerpuff Girls used to be.  Other things about the teaser, like the guy accompanying Star (I'm assuming that's Marco Diaz, the teenager son of the Diaz family).  He seems relatively competent (he knows karate after all), so hopefully he won't just be dead weight whenever Star fights evil.  Also, they seem to travel to all sorts of places and meet all sorts of neat characters.

You know what, I'm suddenly reminded of Steven Universe, which is another show that's created by a female showrunner.  Mystic, otherworldly powers, self-discovery and character growth, simplistic yet expressive character designs...  That reminds me I REALLY need to catch up with that show, I'm like way behind...

Anyway, this seems like a cool show, and yet another one to look out for when it finally airs in 2015!

Hex Heroes - What is it?

A party/real-time strategy game for PC, Mac, Linux (whatever, I don't even...) and most notably, the Wii U!  With music from the wonderful Grant Kirkhope, and the the key designer having worked on another title, The Bridge, that received...  decently good reviews.


The game appears to be meant to be played as a group, with one player, using the Wii U Gamepad, commanding and directing up to 4 other players, who use either Wii Remotes or perhaps Pro Controllers(?).  There are a variety of modes, where it's to fend off enemies, search for enemy strongholds, or going on a journey together.

But what caught my attention was the fact that certain indie developers have approved of cameos of their characters in the game!  These cameos include:

-Alicia from Heart Forth, Alicia (I haven't played it, but it looks really good)
-Zoya from the Trine series (never played, but heard a lot of good things about)
-Juan from Guacamelee! (featured in the intro trailer; have yet to play, but it's on my list!)
-Max from Mutant Mudds (featured in the intro trailer; sweet game overall)
-Shovel Knight from...  well, yeah. (featured in the intro trailer; if you haven't played it yet, GET IT NOW!)
-Rusty from Steamworld Dig (featured in the intro trailer; fantastic game, even though I've yet to finish it)
-Lady Faye IV from Rogue Legacy (REALLY want to play, but I'm computer-retarded when it comes to PC games, and don't have any PS systems)
-Subject W from Parasite Lost: First Contact (dang, this game looks really cool)
-Cyrus from Wizorb (OH MAN, I've heard of this game!  I think I might actually have it on my Xbox 360 and forgot about it!)
-The Drifter from Hyper Light Drifter (said to be a combination of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo... interesting)

But the biggest thing that caught my attention?  Egoraptor and Danny Sexbang, also known as the Game Grumps, are going to be featured in the game as well!  ...Oh, and also Ross from Steam Train (and his cat, Dr. Orpheous).

Anyway, the Kickstarter is over, but you can visit their page here:

Hex Heroes - A Party RTS for Wii U/PC/Mac/Linux by Prismatic Games LLC --- Kickstarter

And you can visit the developer's Facebook page here:

Prismatic Games - Facebook

Please support this game.  Being a Wii U owner, I know I will!

Gravity Falls season 2 blogs: Scary-oke & Into the Bunker

So I guess this is going to be my regular thing now, until My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 5 starts airing.  I try to do the same with Adventure Time and Wander Over Yonder, but I either don't have to proper motivation to do write-ups on those, or not enough people comment or are interested in discussing those shows (not that I regularly get comments on these blogs, but whatever)...  I should catch up with those shows, actually, I've fallen behind quite a bit.

...ANYWAY, season 2 of Gravity Falls.  Before I watched the season premiere (and the second episode of the season), I was kind of nervous...  Mostly because after the cliffhanger at the end of season 1, I was afraid the series would return to the status quo.  After all, before I watched it, I did see some sneak peek clips of the first two episodes, one of which was of, to avoid spoiling for those who haven't seen it, essentially reversing something that happened in the season 1 finale.  I remember hearing on a Nerdist panel interview with Alex Hirsch that something happens in the season 1 finale that made writing season 2 difficult, and I assumed it was the thing that happened in said episode. Since this turns out not to be the case, I kind of assumed the worst and that they copped-out, and there wouldn't be that much change this time around...

...Leave it to Alex Hirsch and his crack team of writers, storyboard artists, etc. to prove me wrong and show me why I got into the show in the first place!  Not only are the first two episodes of season 2 Gravity Falls excellent, exciting, and hilarious, they also continue Mr. Hirsch's trend of showing that this show progresses and that we should have stakes in what's going on!  Two major things happen in both of these two episodes, and while I'm going to discuss them in further detail, I just want to say right now that I'm glad they did what they did here at the beginning of season 2, since it pretty much addresses two problems (or rather, a problem and a minor annoyance) I had with season 1!  It's so fantastic, I really don't know where to start...

Just a fair warning, anyone not familiar with what I did with my My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic blogs, or heck anything I talk about in general, there will be a LOT of text, because I tend to talk in detail about a lot of things.  If that intimidates you, or turns out off, that's fine, just don't bother pointing out that my post was "too long" and you "didn't read", okay?

Oh, and another fair warning, spoilers for the first two episodes of season 2 are in this post, obviously, as well as some profanity here and there.  See what I thought, after the break.

Operation Murasame Ca$ale

So here's a tale about a Japanese game titled Nazo no Murasame Jō (which can be spelled a number of different ways).  It was a relatively obscure game for the Famicom Disk System, a peripheral for the Famicom, Japan's equivalent to the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), that stored games on floppy disks.  Many other popular titles had games for the FDS, including Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.  In the case of Nazo no Murasame Jō, though, it was moderately popular, though not too popular, and because of the Japanese flair, it was considered too niche for a Western audience and never saw a release outside of Japan...

Until recently anyway; after years of mere cameos in various other games from Pikmin 2 to Samurai Warriors 3 to NintendoLand, having bit parts like being a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and being one of the many forgotten Nintendo characters featured in the other Japanese exclusive game Captain Rainbow, Nazo no Murasame Jō is finally seeing a release outside of Japan, under the name of The Mysterious Murasame Castle!  On the Nintendo 3DS, players in both Europe (as of May 29, 2014) and North America (as of August 7, 2014) can finally experience the highly obscure cult classic for the first time!  Heck, such an announcement, plus the amount of attention it was getting at events like the San Diego Comic-Con and the aforementioned cameos over the years, made many, including myself, think that he might be playable in Super Smash bros. for 3DS and Wii U!

...Turns out, that wasn't the case, as he is a mere Assist Trophy in both games.  Many have lost faith that this is all Takamaru is ever going to amount to...  But perhaps not!  A new movement has started known as "Operation Murasame Ca$ale", where the goal is to make The Mysterious Murasame Castle popular in the West!  Why?  Well, for a number of reasons: for one, it'll bring attention to a pretty sweet, classic game.  For another, it can show Nintendo that people clearly have an interesting in this classic IP, perhaps enough to make a long-awaited sequel out of it.  Heck, the same thing happened to Pit and Kid Icarus, not to mention Saki Amimiya of Sin & Punishment, who similarly was an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and had a game available on the Wii's Virtual Console and subsequently got a sequel known as Sin & Punishment: Star Successor!  Heck, who knows, perhaps Takamaru will be like Little Mac, in that he'll be an Assist Trophy, get a new game that draws more attention to his franchise, then become playable in the next Super Smash Bros.!  There certainly wouldn't be any harm in trying the game out, and letting Nintendo know via Miiverse or other means how much you like the game and would like to see more!  For more information on the game and the movement, check out this tumblr blog:

Operation Murasame Ca$ale tumblr

...Oh, and apparently Digimon Adventure is getting a sequel series following Tai as a 17-year-old high schooler.  Yay~!

Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U Maximum Roster Speculation

I love the Super Smash Bros. series.  It's kind of where I got my name.  It's a serious that's all about Nintendo and it's various video game franchises, getting together and battling it out!  The latest games in the series, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, are going to be released soon, and my excitement can't be contained!  I feel like I'm a bit overdue when it comes to making a post about Super Smash Bros., honestly, so now's as good a time as any to making on about it, since I just made something I wanted to share!

On my own downtime, I've been doing some number crunching with the characters who have been confirmed to be playable for this gam, and possible characters to be confirmed, and I felt like sharing my results.  Hopefully I'll be able to present this in a way that make sense...

Check after the break to see what I've read.  Warning, there is a LOT to read through...  also, some spoilers regarding The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but I'll let you know when that appears.

Shigeru Miyamoto asks Kotaku what games Nintendo should make

A while back, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, etc.) was interviewed by gaming journalism website Kotaku (which...  you know what I won't even talk about it), and posed a question towards the readers of Kotaku: what kind of games do you want to see for the Wii U?

http://kotaku.com/shigeru-miyamoto-has-a-question-for-all-of-you-1593754129

After collecting a variety of opinions, Kotaku finally gave Miyamoto an answer:

http://kotaku.com/shigeru-miyamoto-we-have-an-answer-to-your-question-1597993025

I'll talk about what I think of these ideas after the break.

Wander Over Yonder blog: The Hero and The Birthday Boy

So, it's been a while since I've seen and talked about Wander Over Yonder...  I guess now's a good time to talk about it, since new episodes are going to air on Disney XD in a few days.  Oh yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, Wander Over Yonder moved from the Disney Channel to Disney XD, for what I can only assume are completely asinine reasons...  Either way, I feel like I should get caught up with the series before new episodes premiere, which isn't that hard, since there were only two episodes I hadn't seen yet, namely "The Hero" and "The Birthday Boy".  So here I talk about those two episodes.  Check after the break to see what I thought of them.