berserker barrage (not a marvel update)

So, as promised to those who give a crap about my Berserk collection, I have an update today on the progress of my quest for epicness.

Skull Knight on Horse II

I think this was the first statue I saw that made me want to collect Berserk. It feels weird, knowing that I've finally obtained my "grail" statue. The proclaimed "best statue ever produced by Art of War" indeed lives up to its name. The detail on this sculpt is astounding, and the majestic aura that shrouds the piece definitely makes it one of my most prized statues. If I had one word to describe it: classy.

Meet the REAL grail statue

Well after commissioning Joa to paint my HEADLONG Armored Berserk back in June, we are finally nearing completion. I have to give props to Joa, because he has so far exceeded my expectations in virtually every way. I don't think words are enough to express how I feel about the statue, so I'll just let some pictures do the talking.

As for other things NOT Berserk, we have a major Legacy tournament hosted by Starcity on January 3rd. Expect me to be there with tendrils. Still deciding between ANT, ANT/DD, and NLS, although I have a good feeling I'll just be taking regular ANT to save myself the headache of trying to come up with Doomsday piles during an 8-round tourney.

My 21st birthday is in 2 weeks!

bloody hell (a love affair with dragon age: origins)

So upon my return, I thought about playing World of Warcraft again.

I THOUGHT ABOUT IT, BUT DID NOT ACTUALLY GO THROUGH WITH IT OKAY? STOP JUDGING ME.

Anyways, I was doing my usual rounds around skullknight.net (one of the world's primary Berserk fansites) when I came across a Dragon Age: Origins thread. I remember the previews for this game, and I also remember not being impressed...at all. In light of recent reviews and a SLEW of screenshots that Aazealh (one of the site's mods) posted, I was utterly convinced otherwise. The primary reason? This game is single player. I had originally thought it to be another failure MMO trying to penetrate an impossible market that is already bloated with night elves. With single player, I can move at my own pace and ignore the bustling about that is required for success in an MMO. So, I downloaded the deluxe edition on Steam, and began playing it. What started as quite an awkward experience trying to adapt to a rather odd "RTS-RPG" quickly turned into adoration. The game was challenging, in some respects, but that's not really its selling point. The true charm of Dragon Age is in the choices and flow of the game. Much like several other popular RPGs (like Knights of the Old Republic and Baldur's Gate), your decisions in the game will ultimately affect multiple facets of your party and the outcome of the story. I find that fact extremely intriguing and worth tons of replay value. Being able to pause the game also means that you are able to make decisions without the stress of a time constraint and at the same time react to certain situations, evaluate, and act accordingly. The freezing also promotes screenshot happy people to break their print screen keys. I know I already have; check it out.

Meet Skuru. She don't fuck around.

Dual Wielding is totally my thing.

Another day in the life of.

Here, let me seal that wound for you.

Right in the nuts!

Meet my awesome team. Yes, all four of them are wearing plate, including Morrigan, my caster.

Alastair, my tank, doing werk.

Do you do dragons?

Not a problem.

This one is for Pat. Winged helms much?

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Vanity shot #6794.

Moonlight romance. I totally hooked these two up.

Also, before I close this post out, I must mention a little something about my Berserk collection. By mid-December, my collection will be pretty much complete. I managed to FINALLY find a decently priced Skull Knight on Horse II, after looking for about two years. I don't have it in my possession yet, but both Joa's Headlong kit and my SK should be here before November is over.

Coming soon!

Anyone that wants to come with me to Vegas for my 21st, let me know! It should be during the second week of December!

in nippon (an otherworldly journey)

OGAWA~!

So after my month in China, I was given the privilege to visit Japan! For the third time in my life, I'd be returning to my oddly distant home, where several of my hobbies are born from. I only had five days to spend in wonderland, so I had to make haste.

Mikado Arcade

The first night I arrived, I checked in at my hotel and was filled with a sense of immense gratitude. The bathrooms were CLEAN! The toilet paper wasn't THIN! The attendants were POLITE! What a fucking godsend.

My hotel room at the Shinagawa Prince!

Bathroom - it's clean!

I contact Sam (aka Raviloli on Dustloop) and ask him if we could meet up for dinner and then some. He responded rather quickly and we meet up at the Shinigawa JR Station (which was conveniently right across the street from the Shinagawa Prince).

Shinagawa JR Station.

We chit-chat a bit before finally deciding to eat at Denny's. I had not spoken so much English in over a month - it was quite a relief. Sam is from North Carolina and used to be a GG player (Potemkin), but has since then moved on to SF4. He plays Dictator, so we instantly connected.

Look at that classy Denny's menu.

We conversed, over a course of quality Japanese Denny's dinner, about the fighting game scene in the far east and then set off to the highlight of the night - Mikado. For those of you non-otaku, non-weaboo folk reading this, Mikado is one of the major arcades in Tokyo, Japan that places emphasis on Guilty Gear. They hold weekly tournaments, and ALWAYS have competition playing there, no matter which day you choose to show up. The JR ride was slightly unpleasant, as I became a human sandwich. I felt even more sorry for the women. Upon our arrival at Takedanobaba and a quick turn around the corner of the station, I finally arrived at the place that I had been longing to visit for years.

Mikado.

Guilty Gear everywhere. In other words, heaven.

Just fucking wow. That's SIX head-2-head Guilty Gear Accent Core cabs, WITH a projector and HD TV broadcasting the feature matches. Every person playing was seasoned and at LEAST as good as America's more solid players. Let's not even get me started on the famous players that I saw that night, including Misturugi (ZA) and Taku (SL). I put my coins in, rather unsure of how the rotating process works here. When someone loses, they'll usually get up, look around to see if there are any challengers, then open up their purse, and put in another coin. Being the greedy American that I am, I just kept putting coins in. I'm going to fucking feel the might and burn of Japan at my fingertips, so deal with it.

After about 5 hours of mashing, I walked out of Mikado, electrified. The level of players here is beyond the comprehension of America. Those people, who think they're hot shit here, have absolutely NOTHING on Japan. I consider myself about a level 7 (of 10) GG player in America. In Japan, I consider myself a level 4. That's below average, folks. These people have lived and breathed the game, every weekend of their lives, for the past three years. They constantly compete with the best players in the world, of every character in the cast, and dedicate tremendous amounts of time to the mastery of their matchups and technique. How can America compete with that? They can't. The convenience of riding a 20-minute JR line to the nearest Ogawa is non-existent.

"So did I do well?" you're asking. Well, the short answer is no. Against the average/scrub players over there, I can trade games. Against anyone slightly above average, I will get beat up bad. Against anyone pro level, I will get destroyed. These guys won't let you breathe, won't let you poke, and won't let you make ANY mistakes. I think one time I missed a run-dashing j.K on a K.ball seisei oki and I died for it. I managed to play against Misturugi and Taku that night as well. Mitsurugi wouldn't let me touch him, and his mixup and poking game were FAR more advanced than any Zappa I had ever encountered before. I kept getting beat out left and right - the feeling was a black, disgusting despair. Against Taku, there was a different feeling. I'd spend an entire match zoning him out, trying extremely hard to outpoke him. He'd be relaxed the whole time, even when I began using non-conventional mixup. Then, one counterhit, one DoT FRC and I'm dead. Happened for about 10 games in a row. The level of execution and matchup knowledge here is sick. I think I woke up in cold sweat cause I dreamed of Taku 5HS counterhit a wakeup backdash. Scary.

Akihabara

The haven of nerds. I had finally arrived in the place where all of my interests meld into one. To save you the headache of my week-long endeavor, I will just post some pictures and caption them. Yes, I spent four days here (including the last day before my flight) and I still don't think I covered all of it.

English for the noobs.

Crowded as hell.

Big ass posters on the side of buildings. In this case, two favorites: Bakemonogatari and Kara no Kyoukai <3

Not just a Korean MMO.

Evangelion Pachinko!

This is for Joa.

I found the Berserk!

Kenshiro at his best.

This Saber figure is HUGE and BEAUTIFUL.

MTG in Japan!

Food ordering machine.

Amazing beef bowl. The secret? Add a raw egg on top.

Club Sega

Located in the center of Akihabara, Club Sega features 100yen 3/5 GG games. The competition here was more fierce imo. I saw many more strong players and even met Ogawa! Probably the highlight of my fighting game trip, I took a game off Ogawa. It wasn't sheer luck either, I had some good oki setups, annoying evasion, and little eddie poking. One game, when he was at about 5% life left after a knockdown, I did my Carcass Raid charge > cancel > dash throw trick. Of course he had the reactions to jump, but motherfuckin 5S.c OPTION SELECT FOR THE WIN. 3rd hit connects, j.P j.S jc.S j.D victory.

The place where Americans get destroyed.

"Hay guys wat u wanna do after werk?"

Taku owning pretty hard.

Coincidence with Tiffany!

It must have been pure chance that Tiffany would be visiting Japan at the EXACT same time as me. She came to see Laura, a junior high school friend of hers. It was pretty chill, as we spent the day in Akihabara (big surprise). We ate at GO!GO! CURRY and then shopped around for the rest of the afternoon. After we visited Art of War, we had dinner at Denny's (again), before having to say goodbye. Unfortunately I don't have the picture we took together, as it is on her camera, but just check out her Facebook after she uploads it.

Pigout.

GO!GO! CURRY sign, live-trace gorilla included.

That was one fucking huge plate of katsu curry.

Art of War

Being the Berserk fanatic that I am, I of course had to visit the Art of War headquarters. It took Tiffany and me about an hour of aimless walking to find the place, as it was underground in some office building in an area full of banks. We spent about an hour there, chatting about past, present, and future products with Songe Lee, the international agent. I even got to see a few statues in person! I now have to obtain a Skull Knight on Horse II.

Wasn't supposed to take this pic, but I'm a sneaky bastard.

Songe Lee and me! (that rhymes)

Back Home

It rained hard the last day. I spent the entire morning in Akihabara looking for COSPA and doing some last minute shopping at Animate. Check out some of my spoils from Japan!

From left to right: 3 keychains - Berserk Beherit, Kara no Kyoukai Eye, Evangelion Unit 02; Ryogi Shiki Nendoroid; Unit 02 Revoltech figure (2.0 movie edition); Saber Lily Nendoroid; Rin Tohsaka coin pouch; Evangelion NERV headphones; and Fate / Stay Night Metal Charm Collection - Azoth Blade (used by Rin Tohsaka).

OMG - Ryogi nendoroid is TOO cute!

Around 2PM I got on the bus headed to Narita Airport. My long, long journey was finally coming to end. I felt kinda sad - something I wasn't expecting to feel. My time here in Asia was something to be treasured.

Of course on my arrival, the first thing I did was eat some fucking amazing breakfast foods (that were definitely more oily than I remember). And when I got home, I unpacked my 20th Anniversary Armored Berserk. What a fucking beauty.

So I'm back and I have a lot of crap to catch up on.

-Joa's buildup of my kit will be coming in about two weeks-ish. Meanwhile, I bought a steel track with lights to install on my ceiling and give my whole setup an epic appearance. Expect a pretty picture heavy post when that happens.

-While in China and Japan, I spent a lot of time researching Legacy (cause I was freaking bored). I've been fishing a new storm combo deck called NLS (Next Level Storm), and am probably going to the Knightware tournament on the 22nd. Doomsday is fucking rad.

-Anime I've been watching FYI: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Darker than Black - Ryuusei no Gemini, Bakemonogatari, Kimi ni Todoke, Kampfer (please don't shoot me), and Fairy Tail. Considering a few more, like Letter Bee, The Sacred Blacksmith, and Book of Bantorra, but not enough time.

-I have about ~7 weeks before school starts again. I will be spending this time at MEDL Mobile and working on several side projects that I have. This includes revising my book pieces, improving old stuff to put into my book, finishing branding myself (already have the idea, just need to execute), designing the package for a friend in China's wine company, designing the labels for my dad's herbal product, revising my dad's business cards, and researching art lounges / galleries for when my aunt comes to America and plans to set up a store. Good shit.

-While watching Darker than Black 6, I was in the middle of eating a Chipotle burrito. When I found out it was YIN in the box, my jaw dropped and a bunch of burrito innards fell onto my carpet, which my dog then ate.