YCM Weekly Episode 4: A True Hope

[Blake]

[center][img]http://i40.tinypic.com/347wkmo.png[/img][/center]
[center][color=#006400]Welcome once again to the YCM Weekly! I'll be your host yet again, Yuzuru Otonash-[/color][/center]

[center][color=#4b0082][b]That's it! Get him you boneheads![/b][/color][/center]

[center][color=#006400]W-wait, what th-[/color][/center]

[center]*Sounds of a struggle are heard as the screen goes black. When the screen comes back, the logo has changed and a [url="http://static.tumblr.com/pax7cwp/eH8lqm6qz/yurippe.png"]girl[/url] stands where Yuzuru had been*[/center]

[center][img]http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/199/5/2/SSS_Logo_Vector_by_Reigner18.png[/img][/center]

[center][color=#4b0082][b]Welcome to the Shinda Seikai Sensen's show! I'm Yuri Nakamura, and I'll be covering for Yuzuru! He's tied up with important business at the guild, so here we are. So, on to the theme![/b][/color][/center]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8IfVy_0yMQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8IfVy_0yMQ[/url]

[center][color=#4b0082][b]Thank you, Yui and Kanade, for that great start to our show! With that out of the way, I guess it's time for Hideki Hinata to take the stage with some... I guess it's video game stuff? I thought this was Takeyama's area... Oh well, here's Hinata and the beginning of his... LP?[/b][/color][/center]

[center][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NnGs5Ok9rPg"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NnGs5Ok9rPg[/url][/center]

[center][color=#4b0082][b]That's right, the Barnacle Battl- ... *Smacks Hinata hard*[/b][/color][/center]

[center][color=#4b0082][b]Moving on, it seems... Fujimaki is also beign a nerd this week... Really? I guess guys just like Video Games in general... I'll never get why, But, again, please enjoy the Not-Yet-Dead Battlefront's Video Game expert for the week![/b][/color][/center]

[center][spoiler=Review of Persona 2][/center]
[center][color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Today's game to not actually be beaten to a bloody pulp today iiiiiiiiiisssss....[/color][/font][/font][/color]


[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=8][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Persona 2: Innocent Sin[/color][/font][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][img]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51n12NoDfqL._SL500_AA300_.jpg[/img]

[color=#0000CD][size=7]First thoughts.
[size=4]I was psyched [/size][/size]when I walked into that Game Stop in Madison and saw this game was available on the PSP. Well, this game and Persona 1 but I’m talking about Persona 2 here so f*ck Persona 1 for a few seconds. I had finally gotten around to beating Persona 3 earlier that year and had beaten another game on the car ride there. I was pretty much running on out of new games to play. I loved Persona 3 and the Shin Megami Tensei MMO was pretty awesome when I was younger so I just couldn’t help but want to play more of the Persona series. But was the $30 I made my dad pay for it really worth it?

[size=7]Story.
[size=4]I should first m[/size][/size]ention that Persona 2 and 1 take place in the same canon world but there’s no point in mentioning this since unless you’re just the type of fan who likes to play all the games in a series you should not play Persona 1. Anyway, the story centers around...well let’s just call him Tatsuya. Tatsuya is an 18 year old high school student at Seven Sisters High School who has been gaining a lot of popularity lately. His somewhat normal life turns chaotic when simple rumors become dangerously powerful. Rumors actually start to become real. One example would be Tatsuya’s school emblem actually cause people to become disfigured.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Things take an even greater turn for worse when an encounter with the boss of a rival school or what would more accurately be called an invitation to join a band turns into an encounter with the villain known as Joker.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]The story takes many twists and turns that I can’t say I expected and can’t mention due to spoilers and that kind of sh*t. The other stuff mentioned is pretty early in the game or can be read in the game manual so it doesn’t matter as much. Although I may just be stupid when it comes to these things and they were actually super obvious twists so I certainly wouldn’t rule it out. There are also cameos of various characters from Persona 1 but again, f*ck Persona 1 and its characters. Except the main. I actually liked his character desi-*shot for getting too off topic.*

[size=7]Starting up.
[size=4]Th[/size][/size]ank god I’m bullet proof. It’s so god damn useful on the internet. Now where was I? *Reads large ass font I had just put there.* Right…[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]From the main screen you can either start the game or change settings. Oh, and there’s a gallery that allows you to watch video from moments in the game (after you see them in the game of course) or listen to the game’s various background music. Unfortunately, listening to the BGM isn’t an option until after you beat the game and me being me and kind of uncaring for music I have yet to bother with it or that special CD I got with the game. You’re also able to do some data install thingamajig to reduce load times which I probably should have done. I felt like they took 15 seconds sometimes just to get into or out of a fight. At least they aren’t as bad as in Kingdoms of Amalur.

[size=7]Game Features.
[size=4]There is[/size][/size] actually a pretty cool feature that this game has that I haven’t seen in other games. You remember when I mentioned rumors becoming reality earlier? You can actually take advantage of that and spread your own rumors. It’s used mostly for shops but you’re also able to use it to affect the difficulty and quality of prizes from a raffle and various things at your town’s local casino.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Another cool thing to mention is the theatre mode. Theatre mode is basically an extra thing they had added into this version of the game that gives the player a few bonus side quests. Completely optional so you don’t need to worry about achieving the max rank at the theatre that does absolutely nothing. There really is no reward for doing them other than getting to see a small bonus story. My biggest issue with this though is that I was only ever able to do three movies...and I was only ranked as a Black Raspberry which is still a very low rank. Not sure if it was because I need to do a second playthrough to unlock more or that it messed up on me when finishing one and didn’t count it. Either way, f*ck it. I’m too lazy for that sh*t.[/color][/font][/font][/color]


[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD][size=7]Gameplay.[/size][/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Typical turn based RPG, right? Well not exactly. Still yes but no at the same time. To get this little back and forth over with I’ll get to the not so special point. Basically you pick the actions of all your characters and then everybody goes. Both the characters you’re controlling and the enemy go based on what I will assume is agility but I’m really not so sure since it never seems to change. Sitting through all that would just get boring after a while. Notice how I said “would”? And no, it’s not some sort of innuendo because it sounds like wood would is metaphorically a d*ck. Yeah, I know what goes on inside that gutter you call a brain. It WOULD be pretty god damn boring if it weren’t for the fact that you could just simply press the start button and just get to the damage dealt. You also have the ability to replay everything you did in the previous turn or just do a bunch of basic attacks much quicker than actually selecting what each individual character does.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]The main[/color][/font][/font][/color][color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD] basis of combat is revolved around Personas. Personas put simply are kind of like pokemon created from your mind that by using your SP (or mana in other games) will be able to do various skills to attack or debuff enemies or heal or buff allies. They don’t take the damage for you though and you’re able to use normal weapons to attack and you also have items to do a bunch of things that items do. Terrible way to describe it but I always have been bad at this kind of thing but I’ve already done this much and have no better ideas for this week so I’m continuing this sh*t.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]You know what’s always cool in games? Fusion attacks. Not being sarcastic or anything. I think attacks in which multiple characters combine their attacks to create super powerful attacks are awesome and should be used more. Persona 2 fortunately does this.[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][img]http://www.capsulecomputers.com.au/wp-content/uploads/persona-2-innocent-sin-01.jpg[/img][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Unfortunately, Persona 2 doesn’t do a very good job in doing this. For starters even obtaining fusion skills is annoying. You have to use certain skills in a certain order hoping you may randomly get one in which it’ll just go ahead and use even if it’s fairly inconvenient and changing the order can be somewhat annoying. Ekichi (the cool mother*cker with the blue hair in the pic above) is super slow and letting him go first pretty much automatically allows all the enemies to get just because you wanted to put him first to try and get some cool skills. That’s not even my real problem with them. They’re incredibly weak. Seriously, I’ve had attacks with three people only being slightly stronger than an attack from one of them even if it was supposedly super effective. In most cases I find it more worth it to just not use them and use individual attacks instead. And by most cases I mean 90% of the game. If used enough they also apparently allow you to mutate some personas but the normal personas you gain just because of the story were usually enough for me to own a good chunk of the game.[/color][/font][/font][/color][color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD] [/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Now as an RPG game this game does have weaknesses and resistances based on elements. A lot of elements. Well not exactly elements. I don’t feel like typing all the different ‘elements’ there are. Instead I’ll get more into weaknesses and resistances. To put things simply there are six ways that attacks effect the target. They’ll either be normal, weak, strong, negated, repelled back at the attacker, or drained to give the target health. In the second half of the game the enemies become such d*cks as to have resistances to pretty much everything. Although Maya’s unbalanced repel to anything not physical later in the game kind of evens it out...not enough though...[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Another thing I’d like to mention before I end this portion is how much I love the game’s map. It’ll highlight in yellow everywhere you’ve been. This is useful because of course it’s just not going to hand you the map of a whole floor right off the bat. It shows you the exact roots you’ve traveled before. Now you’re probably wondering how this is really all that useful. Well this game has an incredibly terrible amount of warp panels all piled up into a few incredibly annoying sections. Warp panels are of course those things that’ll either allow you to progress or send you far back in the game. Well with this tracking it’ll actually show you which panels you’ve already fallen prey into since there’s pretty much no way you’re actually going to be able to remember all of the many ones you have already stepped on.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Fujimaki, you sh*t for brains, you didn’t mention the negotiating and summoning system.[/font][/font][/color][color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD] [/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Oh f*ck, do I really have to?[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif]Yes, it’s a huge part of the game.[/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Fin[/color][/font][/font][/color][color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]e…well another a huge part of Persona 2’s gameplay is the negotiating system. In combat instead of attacking the enemy you’re able to talk to them. Doing this is actually pretty entertaining since you can get some funny interactions between the characters to achieve the goal of either making the enemy happy or eager. By doing one of those the enemy will either give you cards or form a pact with you and then go away. By making a pact when you negotiate with that same type of demon later you can collect blank cards but I’ll get a bit more into this later. The thing is though that it’s also possible to make the enemy angry or scared with the former of the two being the single easiest thing to do in the game. In most cases you’re just going to be randomly picking an option hoping that the demon will like the thing you just did more and therefore not piss it off…or piss it off anyway…sometimes it gets pretty inconsistent and what would have worked against the same demon may not work the next time. Anyway, if a demon gets angry it’ll just attack you or if it gets scared it’ll run away. Making it run away is of course always the better option than getting the sh*t kicked out of you.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Now I’ll get into the summoning system. By entering a place in the game called the velvet room you are able to create more demons using the cards collected from negotiating with demons. There are various types of cards used to create the different types of demons. By simply spending a certain amount of a certain type of cards you can create a new persona. As mentioned before there are also blank cards. Blank cards can be turned into whatever type of card you need to create a certain type of persona…did I really say that again…? *Sigh.* There I go again with my lack of variety of things to say. See? I’m even making that same joke again. I’ll just continue this crappy review now…so yeah, blank cards are pretty useful for when it’s hard to get a certain type of card…and believe me…it is…but once I actually got a lot of cards I didn’t even need any more personas and quite frankly a few of the different types of personas were useless since every character would be terrible with them.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD][size=7]Graphics.
[size=4]Originally[/size][/size] being a PS1 game the graphics are nothing to praise. They’re not so bad your eyes would be bleeding though. Nah, in fact I wouldn’t even say bad. They’re okay. Don’t really know what else to say. I’m really not an expert to get too detailed. Basically, the game doesn’t look great which is to be expected of a game that is actually pretty old but it doesn’t really do anything to hurt the game.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]The characters look pretty good in most cases. There are certain points when I don’t like how a character is looking and then there are others where I just love the look on their faces.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=7][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Overall.[/color][/font][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]I found it to be an entertaining game to spend my lunch hours at school playing and worth the money I paid for it. Although, that could just be because I wanted to get more into the roots of the first few original Persona games and if you don’t care for the series then you may not like it as much but it was still a good experience.

[b]The Good.[/b]
-Theatre Mode
-Story
-Skipping Battle Animations[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]-Map

[b]The Bad.[/b]
-Lack of Theatre Mode Content (or at least content it hands out in the first play through)
-Useless Fusion Skills[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]-Useless persona…seriously…why even put them in the game?
-Outdated graphics[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]-Load Times[/color][/font][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]-D*cky enemy resistances

[b]The Ugly.[/b]
-Warp panels…something actually worse than Persona 1…
-Not many scenes that actually have any voice acting…just a few lines snuck in at a few key battles which only make you want more.[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]-Negotiating is mostly just trying to get lucky or remembering various personality traits and what sometimes worked with them.


Overall, I give this game a:"[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]7.5/10[/color][/font][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][color=#0000CD]Now if you’ll excuse me I have to find all those bullets that were probably shot at me. But first I'd like to thank Takeyama for letting me use his video game review template that he had also let Naoi use but since I'm not a douchebag I remember to give credit where credit is duel[/color][/font][/font][/color][/center]
[center][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][/spoiler][/font][/center]


[b][color=#4b0082]...That was... Interesting I guess? Yeah, that's the right word! [sub]Yes! Operation TV show is a success so far![/sub] Thank you for that great review of some video game, Fujimaki, we couldn't have done it without you![/color][/b]

[b][color=#4b0082]We have one last article before the show hits its midway point, so why don't we get all this stuff out of the way for some actually interesting stuff in the second half, okay? So, here's Takeyama with a Random Manga Spotlight.[/color][/b]






[center][spoiler=Random Manga Spotlight][/center]
[center][color=#696969]I'm Takeyama, and I told you to call me Christ... *Sigh*[/color]

[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=5]Christ's[/size][/font][/color][color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=6]HowManyTimesDoINeedToHitRandomAtMangaReaderUntilIFindSomethingInteresting Manga Spotlight![/size][/font][/color]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90VHv59GEPw&feature=player_embedded"][color=#696969][size=1]Click for an enhanced experience[/size][/color][/url]

[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]This week’s spotlight?[/background][/size][/font][/color]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=6][url="http://www.mangareader.net/tonari-no-kashiwagi-san"][color=#696969]Tonari no Kashiwagi-san[/color][/url][/size][/font]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://s2.mangareader.net/cover/tonari-no-kashiwagi-san/tonari-no-kashiwagi-san-l0.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Genre/Tags - [/background][/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.mangareader.net/popular/comedy"][color=#696969]Comedy[/color][/url][color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)] [/background][/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.mangareader.net/popular/romance"][color=#696969]Romance[/color][/url][color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)] [/background][/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.mangareader.net/popular/school-life"][color=#696969]School Life[/color][/url][color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)] [/background][/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.mangareader.net/popular/shounen"][color=#696969]Shounen[/color][/url][color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)] [/background][/size][/font][/color][url="http://www.mangareader.net/popular/slice-of-life"][color=#696969]Slice of Life[/color][/url]
[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I think I hit random about…5 times, maybe?[/background][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]“A guy named Yuuto (an otaku) is interested in a web artist known as ''Sayane'' , recently a girl at school named Kashiwagi Kotone over-heard a conversation about Yuuto liking the web art of Sayane, but it turns out the Sayane is Kashiwagi!?! Yuuto hasn't figured that out yet..but he got a job at his favorite anime shop and caught Kashiwagi in that anime shop....” – Copied from Mangareader.net[/background][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Yeah, they mangled a few parts grammar wise, but whatever.[/background][/size][/font]
[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Anyway, basically, it’s the story of an Otaku and a beautiful closet Otaku, and what happened after the former discovered the latter’s secret. Also, the latter has a sort of scary friend.[/background][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#daa520][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]…Yes, it’s a romantic comedy. Normally, I’m the type of avoid these types of manga, mostly because they’re over done to a whole new level (gimme something new dagnabbit). And this was is no exception. I don’t know why I decided to check this one out…but I did. And honestly, I’m glad I did. It has a certain charm to it that I found rather appealing, with plenty of those “oh wow the protagonist is an idiot” and “I would’ve handled that in a completely different way” moments. It managed to hold my attention long enough that I am completely caught up, and I have it bookmarked, eagerly awaiting the next chapter. The characters, while not deep and compelling, have enough personality to be interesting, and the scenarios are actually rather humorous at times. You can expect plenty of awkward moments, misunderstandings, and humor in this little bundle of charming-ness. I would, in fact, recommend this to anyone looking for a good manga to pass the time with while waiting for others to release.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=5]I give this manga a corn husk.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://www.dagiftbasket.com/images/chusks.jpg[/img][/size][/font][/color]


[color=#696969][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Note: All of the Goldenrod is my opinion. If you disagree with it, you can jump in a hole. If you’re persistent, you can kick a mole.[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]
[center][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][/spoiler][/font][/center]

[center][color=#4b0082][font=arial, helvetica, sans-serif][b]... huh, I'd honestly expect something about a lovey dovey manga from Kanade or Yui... Then again, you never know people by their skin. Anyways, that's all for the first half of the Shinda Seikai Sensen's shows, so here's a commercial break! Come back soon! [size=3][sub]And where the hell did TK run off to, he wanted to do this, not me...[/sub][/size][/b][/font][/color][/center]

[center]-------[/center]

[center]Aaaand now it' time for the Weekly riddles! Like last week, we have both a Member and Anime Riddle, so do your best to answer both![/center]

[center][spoiler=Member Riddle #4][/center]
[center][color=#ee82ee][b][size=4]This week's member riddle - LOVERHOLIC MORPHTRONIC ROBOTRONIC MORPHTRONIC[/size][/b][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]*insert Shinee – Lucifer here (not that the song has anything to do with it)*[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]If you hadn’t noticed yet, the member we’re looking for this week likes Morphtronics (whatever that is, got that from a second source)[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]He (or at least so says the profile x3) is interested into Anime/Manga as well as games.[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]His username starts with a lowercase letter.[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]He’s also a Canadian maple syrup oh well, just Canadian.~[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[center][color=#ee82ee][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Alright, that’s all you’ll get this week. Popularity-wise, it’s a sort-of-well-known member, although not part of the absolute top-tier popular guys. But you’ve probably seen him in one of the YGO TCG sections and possibly Fanfics.[/background][/size][/font][/color][/center]

[/spoiler]
[spoiler=Anime Riddle #2]


[center][color=#006400]Blood, blood, so tasty, every form yearns for you.[/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]Still, a gentleman am I, manners come before the lust.[/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]I must please madam, or I shall incite her wrath, much like mine to hoodlums.[/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]Clothing? All black. Human, insect, demon, the form matters not.[/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]Each of them are still targets for the widow, though I need not fear.[/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]Overall, nothing excites me... But I must impress my queen![/color][/center]
[center][color=#006400]So try to last a few seconds, as I grace you with all my forms.[/color][/center]
[/spoiler]

Just remember, PM the answers to Cinammon Star and Yuzuru Otonashi, respectively! Now, back to the show!

-------

[color=#4b0082][b]And welcome back to the show! We're sorry about that, we only had a video tape on record for the Advertisements, and nothing but... So, we had to make do. But, now that you're back, we can make up for it! ... With another video tape, this time with Otonashi![/b][/color]

[spoiler=Archetype of the Week #4, Card of the Week within]
[color=#006400]Wait, why are we recording this...?[/color]

[b][color=#4b0082]Um... On the off chance you get sick when the actual episode comes up! [sub]Yeah, that's it...[/sub][/color][/b]

[color=#006400]... Sure[/color]


[img]http://i47.tinypic.com/344qfyw.jpg[/img]

[color=#006400]This week, I’ll be covering the infamous Unfairnities! Er, I mean, Infernities! Yeah, that’s what I meant… Anyways, this deck is based around a number of different things, depending on when they were use. When they first appeared in the Anime, they were predominately based on generic demons, as well as a Hell H- cat? and a dwarf. They appeared with their initial boss, though not actually part of the deck, [b]Hundred Eyes Dragon[/b]. When they appeared once again in the anime, they had a predominately western theme as well as a beetle and a shaman, alongside their next boss[b], Infernity Doom Dragon[/b]. Finally, they premiered in the Manga with a medieval times theme, along with a slight purgatory theme and a third boss, [b]Void Ogre Dragon[/b].[/color]

[color=#006400]Kalin’s/Kiryu’s deck is heavily loop, Graveyard, and Synchro based, trying to make tons of beaters and/or advantage while having no cards in your hand. It was dubbed the “Handless Combo” in the Anime, and rightfully so, considering how well it does its job. The deck is infamous for not only having its own format but also for having a ridiculous of infinite loops with [b]Brionac, Dragon of the Ice Barrier[/b] plus either [b]Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier[/b] or its possessed corpse, [b]Evilswarm Ouroboros[/b]. The deck has a lot more potential in this area than the average archetype, due to a series of absolutely horribly designed cards contained within the Infernities. The deck also tends to run a significantly higher spell and trap count to monster count.[/color]

[color=#006400]Infernities have only a few key players in the deck despite their fairly expansive archetype. First up are the maindeck monsters. [b]Infernitiy Archfiend[/b],[b] Infernity Necromancer[/b],[b] Infernity Avenger[/b],[b] Infernity Beetle[/b], and [b]Infernity Mirage[/b]. Archfiend is the searcher of the deck, and it can search Spells and Traps as well, making Infernity loops all the more possible. Necromancer is a walking +1 that revives any Infernity in the Grave and sets off Archfiend. Avenger is a Level 1 Tuner that can serve as a semi-wall should you ever be in a corner, and the fact that it’s a demon cowboy is all the more hilarious. Beetle isn’t really used for its effect, more for the fact it’s a Level 2 tuner. Last, but certainly not least, is Mirage, a shaman-esque monster that revives two Infernities by tributing itself. In addition to the main variant, there is also Randomizer Control which uses [b]Infernity Randomizer[/b] as a draw engine.[/color]

[color=#006400]Next up, we have the Spell and Trap support that you will see in use: [b]Infernity Barrier[/b], [b]Infernity Break[/b], [b]Infernity Inferno[/b], and [b]Infernity Launcher[/b]. Barrier is basically a “Solemn” trap card, negating any effect that activates. Break is a trap that banishes an Infernity card in Grave and kills a card of your choice. Inferno is a trap that lets you discard (Remember Fableds? Yeah, don’t mention them here) up to 2 and send the same number of Infernities from deck to grave. Finally, we have the evil crux of the deck, Infernity Launcher. This continuous spell lets you discard 1 Infernity from your hand, once per turn, provided you want to. Yet, that’s just an effect that wastes hand advantage unless you need it to finish setting up. The real power is the fact that it can send itself to the grave to revive 2 Infernities from your Graveyard. Yeah, it’s like Infernity Mirage as a spell. So why run Mirage? This is at 1 and Mirage combos with Hundred Eyes. When this was at 3, it was “Unfairinity Format” because of how you could end the turn with 5 Level 8 Synchros, and other ridiculous fields. That is, if you ENDED your turn.[/color]

[color=#006400]The final set of cards are those that reside in the Extra Deck, though only 1 of the the bosses of the deck is an actual Infernity, but all of them are dragons. They are [b]Hundred Eyes Dragon[/b], [b]Infernity Doom Dragon[/b], [b]Void Ogre Dragon[/b],[b] Trishula, Dragon of the Ice Barrier[/b], and [b]Red Nova Dragon[/b]. Hundred Eyes is the main boss of the deck, able to make loops with Mirage, and set you up for bigger plays. Doom is a monster with solid 3000/2400 stats, that can blow up a monster and deal damage equal to half its ATK to the opponent in exchange for no battle (Provided, you have no hand), and being an Infernity makes it a target for Launcher, Mirage, and Necromancer. Void Ogre is basically [b]Legendary Six Samurai – Shi En[/b] as an Infernity boss monster, fitting the handless theme. Trishula is a Level 9 boss to oppose the 3 Level 8s, and is a great way to end the looping in Infernities, though it’s banned now. Finally, Red Nova is not really a boss of the deck, but if you want to run a fun Variant, Infernities are possibly the best deck at getting Red Nova out without trying too hard.[/color]

[color=#006400]Now, to address this loop I’ve been talking about… Get a Hundred Eyes out, have a Mirage in grave. Banish Mirage for Hundred Eyes, Tribute Hundred Eyes, get back Necromancer + Archfiend, search Launcher/Barrier or Mirage if you can still normal summon, set/activate that, revive Avenger with Necromancer, tune for ANOTHER Hundred Eyes, (Potential Mirage here), repeat until you have used up your Mirages. They can be returned with [b]Leviair the Sea Dragon[/b], as well, to allow more combos while spice provides.[/color]

[color=#006400]With all that said, Infernities aren’t really that good modern day. They suffer from many issues, such as the inability to run “Hand Traps” like Effect Veiler, Maxx “C”, and D.D. Crow, their death to hand traps, and the lack of more than 1 Launcher. They can’t keep up in the game, but if you ever play them against someone other than a friend, chances are that they will at the very least RAEG at Unfairnities, especially if you get their biggest play off. It’s a powerful casual deck, but that’s about it. Cards like [b]Dark Grepher[/b], [b]Tour Guide from the Underworld[/b], and Staples help the deck out a lot, as searchers/deck thinners/etc to set up your plays. That’s Infernities in a nutshell, so thank you for reading, and I hope this helps. Comments are appreciated.[/color]

[spoiler=Feautured Card of the Week #4]
[img]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110603160431/yugioh/images/thumb/0/04/Trishula%2CDragonoftheIceBarrierHA04-EN-ScR-1E.jpg/300px-Trishula%2CDragonoftheIceBarrierHA04-EN-ScR-1E.jpg[/img]

[color=#006400][i]1 Tuner + 2 or more non-Tuner monsters[/i][/color]
[color=#006400][i]When this card is Synchro Summoned, you can activate this effect to remove from play up to one card each from your opponent's hand, field and Graveyard. (The card in the hand is chosen at random.)[/i][/color]

[color=#006400]Behold, the ultimate deity of the [b]Ice Barrier[/b], Trishula! This dragon, from the Duel Terminal Storyline, is powerful enough to freeze the world over! Yes, seriously, it flash freezes the world the moment it’s awakened. Well, I guess it’s the Fabl- I MEAN THE WORMS’ FAULT.[/color]

[color=#006400]That said, let’s move on to the card itself, which got banned not quite 3 months ago after being limited for the longest time. Why did this behemoth get hit? Because it turns any card advantage you have into damaging your opponent and getting a beatstick for it. Trade 3 monsters for it, kill 1 card from each of their hand, field, and grave, resulting in a +0 summon WITHOUT factoring cards that further maintain advantage with Synchros. That’s an absolutely ludicrous ability. Add to that, decks like the aforementioned [b]Infernity[/b] archetype can loop this thing and destroy card advantage completely, though the Trishula loops were crappy and relied too much on a lesser dragon of the Ice Barrier.[/color]

[color=#006400]Remember the card design lesson last week? That comes back into play here. Technically free beatsticks with effects like this are an example of terrible card design. There’s absolutely no reason for something like this to come out of thin air and get you the upper hand by crippling your opponent in exchange for a few weaker monster. The real reason THIS was when it was banned is because Konami was trying to push Xyz, but it did deserve the axe. It just took a long time to get it because Konami was pushing Synchros heavily and it was still making them money.[/color]

[color=#006400]Not too much to say on usage, because it was a Synchro staple, so lesson ends early this week. And with that, I only have one thing left to say… *Looks left, then right* Trishula is dead, post Fabled Poni- *shot offscreen*[/color]
[/spoiler]
[/spoiler]

[color=#4b0082][b]I forgot Otonashi was doing that... So, I guess, it's up to the last 3 to get this right! *Runs off screen, comes back dragging a small, silver haired girl* Alright Kanade, you're up, and make it quick![/b][/color]

[spoiler=The Pokemon Alphabet: A]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][size=5][size=6][color=#00FFFF]A is for Abomasnow![/color][/size][/size][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://sprites.pokecheck.org/i/460.gif[/img][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://sprites.pokecheck.org/s/460f.gif[/img][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Typing - [color=#00FFFF]Ice[/color] / [color=#008000]Grass[/color][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Games - Black and [color=#D3D3D3]White[/color][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Tier - Overused[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Stats[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]HP - 90[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Attack - 92[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Defense - 75[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Special Attack - 92[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Special Defense - 85[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Speed - 60[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Abilities[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#00FFFF]Snow Warning[/color] - Summons Hail that doesn't fade, can be replaced by another Weather Condition.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#696969]Soundproof [/color]- Unaffected by moves based on Sound.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]It's looking preeetty bad, isn't it? Between the subpar Defense stats and the less then stellar Typing of Ice / Grass, it leaves a lot to be desired. It has a total of SEVEN weaknesses and only four resistances. So why does this see use?

Simple, Hail. Soundproof as an ability doesn't matter, Snow Warning does. One of the biggest things in the game is Sandstorm. It can up the Speed of some Pokemon and the Evasion of others. Due to things like that, it's nice to have the outs that not many teams would have otherwise. A lot of balanced teams have been running a Choice Scarf, which boosts the Speed of the Pokemon but restricts it to a single move, Abomasnow to counter the Weather teams that have been roaming around. To add to this, this is the only fully evolved Pokemon that can have the ability Snow Warning, which gives it the use other Pokemon could only dream of having.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Hail Stall is the main home of this Pokemon, as it sets up everything the team needs. One of the most important things is to never let Abomasnow die if possible, because if they have their own Weather summoner of their own, it could lead to a struggle on your end.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]So, we've discussed a bit about Abomasnow's characteristics, what about movesets? There are two main sets for Abomasnow, Choice Scarf and SubSeed. I'm gonna start with Choice Scarf myself.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#FF0000][size=6]Choice Scarf[/size][/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Item - Choice Scarf[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Ability - [color=#00FFFF]Snow Warning[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Nature - Hasty (+Speed -Defense)[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]IV's - 16 Attack / 252 Sp. Attack / 240 Speed[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Moveset[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#00FFFF]Blizzard[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#008000]Grass Knot / Wood Hammer[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#FF0000]Hidden Power FIRE[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#8B4513]Earthquake[/color][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]The biggest point of this set is to take advantage of his lackluster Defenses and use them to up his Speed. With Hasty, he's faster at the cost of his Defense, and with Choice Scarf he increases his Speed by 50%. In Hail, Blizzard has a perfect 100% accuracy, along with a base Power of 120, not counting the Same-Type-Attack-Bonus. You COULD replace it with Ice Beam, but if you're using Abomasnow, then Blizzard is the better choice as it has the same accuracy in the guaranteed Hail that Ice Beam has normally.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Grass Knot is the preferred option over Wood Hammer, since it does heavy damage to heavier foes without recoil damage, allowing Abomasnow to switch into battle more often.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Hidden Power FIRE covers the Steel Type Pokemon such as Scizor and Ferrothorn who resist Abomasnow's STAB moves entirely.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Earthquake is to cover Heatran and Magnezone, but due to the fact that these two often hold the item Air Balloon, which makes them untouchable by Ground-type moves until they take damage, they have to take a preliminary amount of damage first.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#008000][size=6]SubSeed[/size][/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Item - Leftovers[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Ability - [color=#00FFFF]Snow Warning[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Nature - Calm (+Sp.Def -Attack) or Sassy (+Sp.Def -Speed)[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]IV's - 252 HP / 172 Defense / 84 Sp. Defense[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Moveset[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#696969]Substitute[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#008000]Leech Seed[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#00FFFF]Blizzard / Ice Shard[/color][/size][/font][/color]
[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#696969]Protect [/color]/ [color=#006400]Wood Hammer[/color] / [color=#FFA500]Focus Punch[/color][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]As you can see, this set is almost ENTIRELY different then the last one. This one focuses on buffing up Abomasnow's Defensive stats so that he can try to stall his opponent's out due to hail. Substitute and Leech Seed are what makes the set work. Substitute halves his HP, but makes it to where HE doesn't take any damage. After that, he sets up Leech Seed so that he gains 1/8 of his opponent's HP a turn, along with 1/16 of his own through Leftovers.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Ice Shard is priority move similar to Quick Attack. It can be used as an alternative to Blizzard on this set to take out frail Pokemon weak to Ice quickly.[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]The last slot is mostly personal choice. Focus Punch and Wood Hammer are there in case you feel as if you need an extra attacking move, but Protect is my personal choice. It gives you an extra turn to revive from the HP loss of the Substitute you set up, and prepares you to set up another one as well.[/size][/font][/color]
[/spoiler]

[b][color=#4b0082]*Sweat drop* Even she did something like the guys... Maybe getting that fangirl out here can help! Next up is Yui, the resident Girls Dead Monster, or GirlsDeMo for short, wannabe groupie and lead guitarist now that the original guitarist has, er, passed on.[/color][/b]

[spoiler=Aspects of K-Pop]

[color=#666666][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][color=#dda0dd][u][b][size=5]The 5 worst aspects of K-Pop (female artists version)[/size][/b][/u][/color][/size][/font][/color]



[color=#dda0dd][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Korean pop is one of the music genres I’ve really gotten into during the last few months. There are both many reasons to like it and just as many occasions that make you go wtf just happened?. Now since rants are usually easier to write and more entertaining to read, I’ll start with the creepy, bad, somewhat irritating aspects of the music genre.[/size][/font]
[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Do note that this is NOT a proper summary of K-Pop as a whole and not a representation of South Korea. It is mainly about how the whole pop culture presents itself and the most extreme examples I’ve picked are mainly for entertainment reasons, not necessarily representative for the entire fandom.[/size][/font]


[b]5) Lack of variety (both music- and image-wise)[/b]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://i50.tinypic.com/rcqye0.jpg[/img][/size][/font]
[i][size=2]Look oppa, I can be cute…[/size][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://i46.tinypic.com/1z4wi8p.png[/img][/size][/font]
[i][size=2]…and I can be sex-ey~[/size][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]First of all, if you’re a female Korean girlgroup/singer, there are 2 things you can be: a cutesy forever-15-year-old-looking girl or a sexy/mature woman (or a sexy-cute or cute-elegant mixture, also happens). There’s little room inbetween and the fact that a group like 2NE1, who are going for more of an Electro/Hiphop style both music- and concept-wise, is considered revolutionary in the eyes of many Koreans already speaks for itself. I don’t have anything against the 2-parts-rotation between innocent-cute and sexy-mature, but that leaves us with a huge hoard of girlgroups who do the cute thing (with child-like vocals and really high pitches) and a huge hoard of girlgroups who do the sexy-mature thing. If you expect to find something else among Korean groups, eh…good luck to you.[/size][/font]


[b]4) Ethnic prejudice (and downright racism)[/b]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]It’s well-known that K-Pop, Japanese fashion and all these other fine things have a taste for what they consider the West to be like. From make-up/surgery to « retro French/English » fashion, many young women strive to look as much as possible like how they imagine Europe and the US to look like, although not always admitting it.[/size][/font][/color]
[color=#dda0dd][i][i][size=2]WE REGRET NOTH- Although wait...[/size][/i][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]YET, why is it that in K-Pop, whenever a Caucasian girl is shown or mentioned somewhere, she’s almost always portraited rather negatively? In every music video I have seen so far, the Caucasian actresses take the roles of the « loose », wild women with low morals, as opposed to that innocent-flawless virgin Korean girl the lead actor chases after. Whenever groups need someone to touch and get own with, hey, let’s get some Caucasian girl in there! [/size][/font]
[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]There are a few positive examples too, but they’re really far and few in the middle of all the negative ones. And of course, don’t even expect black or Hispanic people to show up, they don’t exist.¬.¬ As we all know, the entire Western population is made of Caucasian people, right?[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Although waaait, there ARE exceptions…[/size][/font][/color]

[color=#dda0dd][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]…I want to be from Mars now.[/size][/font]


[b]3) That capitalist machine[/b]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]And it is. The K-Pop industry is led by large companies who leave nothing to coincidence. Every move, choreography, public appearance, « reality show » is planned unto the detail and all points towards one goal: making money. Of course, this is something you will find in most music industries, but there's being obvious about it and trying to at least conceal the facts. One thing that has worried international fans too and that confuses me all the time is the way the artists are treated. There have been numerous accounts on over-worked singers fainting on stage (again something that happens everywhere, but not always as frequently). It’s well-known how much importance Korean culture places on working hard and not complaining, and the K-Pop industry isn’t making a secret of the fact that it’s pushing the concept. Oh and just for reference, the members of the biggest, successful girlgroup that has won the largest amount of money so far (SNSD / Girls Generation) live in dorms that are about as big as mine. Not in villas on the US coast, but shared dorms. While I do consider this a positive aspect on one side, it’s also obvious that almost all the money goes to the company and the artists get little from the whole work.[/size][/font]


[b]2) gah, certain fans...>.<[/b]
[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]One thing that has bothered me since the start is that many K-Pop fans are really psychotic. I mean, really. I consider myself part of several fandoms too and am not ashamed to say it, because what’s wrong with liking something and being passionate about it? BUT. This world really lacks psychiatrical hospitals sometimes.;-;[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]Some examples: fanwars, fans driven to suicide, K-Pop artists leaving the country because see title, « OPPA IS MINE AND ONLY MINE~ » (yes, according to some fans, especially male artists are « owned » by them, also the reason why most have to keep their relationships hidden from the public), « G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥[/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ [/background][/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]G-DRAGON [/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON ♥ G-DRAGON », just look up any Youtube video really.[/background][/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]There’s also that other type of fans that you see in every music genre and that consists of people mainly shoving how deep and musically cultivated they are under everyone’s nose. As in, THEY are the only ones who know what good music is like, what groups and group members are the universally most talented and their taste is basically the end of all cultivated music taste.[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]As for the really worst examples and something creepy that the world hasn't seen yet, t[/size][/font][font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]here were several instances of fans who wrote…letters to their favourite group members with their own blood used as ink. But not only the blood coming out after cutting their own wrists (which I already consider quite insane), but also…that kind of blood that only comes up every cycle of 28 days. Often accompagnied by really detailed words and sometimes a bunch of…hair. But not the kind that grows on your head.[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]...The hell happened to your mind?[/background][/size][/font]
[i][img]http://i1243.photobucket.com/albums/gg544/luzcyfer/Meme/jackie-chan-wtf.png[/img][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3](I can’t really tell what was the worst thing of that particular case: the letter written with the blood of her tralala or the fact that to prove the fans what she did, this crazy fangirl posted a proof picture of her…used things.)[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]K-Pop, you never fail to entertain me.[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]Now, what is worse than crazy screams and blood letters?[/background][/size][/font]


[b]1) « If you get old, pretend that you don’t or gtfo » - K-Pop's beauty standards[/b]

[i][img]http://i46.tinypic.com/akh2xs.jpg[/img]
[i][size=2]Pretty girl, but admitted herself that she got stuff done on her face.[/size][/i][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]I’ve been reluctant about the first 2 places, but then decided to give it to this one, simply because it’s so visible and does cause a lot of harm to the general population.[/size][/font]
[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]From the high amount of plastic surgery (which is often considered a gift for graduation in South Korea, so it’s not even a big deal), 50 kg being considered a really fat weight for female artists (regardless whether you’re 1, 50 or 1,70 m, that is), to the whole obsession with looking like 15-year-olds, the beauty ideals of K-Pop artists is a fascinating category on its own. If you pay attention, you will also see that the singers who are over the old age of 30 can be counted on one hand. And even then, half of them have been stuffed under the surgery table in order to look younger…[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3][img]http://i49.tinypic.com/2435fuv.jpg[/img][/size][/font]
[i][size=2]Two 14-year-old in this group...yet people were less concerned about that than about the fact that they're, see point 4), "bi-racial".[/size][/i]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]The whole K-Pop industry basically screams that as an artist, you have to be, act and look perfect. If you’re a singer and take up a bit of weight/don’t show perfect manners somewhere/don’t do your stuff well enough, the media will be all over you. Some really ridiculous small things have been into « scandals » (oh, also another funny part: the censorship in Korea!) and before you ask, yes, several Lady Gaga and Rihanna videos are banned there.:’D[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]And it furthermore does affect me on a personal level as well, since I just so happened to be of Korean descent, and seeing all these Koreaboos who have only seen Asians from dramas or magazines and look at you like you’re coming from some primitive tribe, isn’t really that enjoyable. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a girl who likes make-up and dressing up myself, and having beauty ideals isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Every country and music genre has them. But my point is simply that you can only go so-and-so-far to push irrealistic ideals upon everyone’s face and no matter how, any entertainment culture affects the population it is based in. People get surgery done or otherwise try to look like those pretty girls they see because it’s so anchored in their culture that this is the only way to be worth looking at. There have been associations made between K-Pop culture and South Korea’s rather high suicide and depression rate, and to be quite honest, it wouldn’t surprise me.[/size][/font]

[font=tahoma, helvetica, arial, sans-serif][size=3]You may ask why out of all these negative facts, so many people, myself included, are still big fans of the music genre and keep following it. Well, that’s going to be the second part of the K-Pop series, the awesome aspects of K-Pop! Until then, stay tuned~[/size][/font][/color]
[/spoiler]

[color=#4B0082][b]... I guess that was normal enough. Alright, that means we have only one more person up before the show ends! That would be TK with hi- ... Where the hell is TK?! Weren't we doing this so he could pass on?! Find him! *Runs off screen*[/b][/color]

[color=#006400]*Looks left, looks right, sneaks back on screen* Wwwell, that's all for the weekly this week. Our time was eaten up by these guys, so... We should be on a steady week schedule after the next couple weeks, and we ACTUALLY pulled it off this week, so yay. Also, please welcome Mako109, Alice, and KingBUSCUS (Creator) to the cast, officially! And honorable mention to Aggro who was simply too busy to get anything done this week, but wished us the best.[/color]

[color=#006400]We'll see you next time on the YCM Weekly, with a new host this time![/color]

EDIT:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Iiikpj15i84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PChUEyZTQuM&feature=player_embedded#!

[color=#006400]Vids for Opal's 3rd Aspect.[/color]

[CinnamonStar]

The sort-of racist videos belong to point 4, just saying.:3

And it was a fine job this time too, well-done! And I forgot the *whatever Anime* reference, although could've pulled it somewhere in there.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='Cinnamon Star' timestamp='1337650814' post='5944560']
The sort-of racist videos belong to point 4, just saying.:3

And it was a fine job this time too, well-done! And I forgot the *whatever Anime* reference, although could've pulled it somewhere in there.
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]Opal, I've told you. Only Creator or I had to do that so he could hit one of us. Creator decided to be the one to take it like a b*tch. I assume he's already planning his revenge.[/color]

[color=#0000CD]Edit:[/color]
[color=#0000CD]Oh, and again good job, Black.[/color]

[Sploda]

Very nice set up Mr. Otonashi, yet you know I don't like being smacked around.

*bicycle kick which bifuricates Otonashi, causing his favorite item of the skull variety to land on his face*

Don't touch me, ever again.

Aside from that, I'm pleased with the way this turned out.

[Blake]

[quote name='KingBUSCUS' timestamp='1337652321' post='5944579']
Very nice set up Mr. Otonashi, yet you know I don't like being smacked around.

*bicycle kick which bifuricates Otonashi, causing his favorite item of the skull variety to land on his face*

Don't touch me, ever again.

Aside from that, I'm pleased with the way this turned out.
[/quote]
But I didn't hit you ._.

Yuri did, so hit invalid.

[Sploda]

@Black
Contrary, you allowed her to subdue you by not fighting hard enough.

Not my fault Yui took over your post, you should've avoided posting it until she was asleep or something.

[Blake]

[size=7][b][color=#006400]Kanade is leaving it up to the Viewers to choose a Pokemon that starts with B for the next article. GOGOGO.[/color][/b][/size]

[Sploda]

[size=4][size=5]I would also like to mention the following:[/size][/size]

[size=5]I need the audience to name my pet Bear.[/size]
[size=5]I also need the audience to decide if I should add an intro to my videos.[/size]

[Yang Xiao-Long]

[quote name='Yuzuru Otonashi' timestamp='1337653288' post='5944603']
[size=7][b][color=#006400]Kanade is leaving it up to the Viewers to choose a Pokemon that starts with B for the next article. GOGOGO.[/color][/b][/size]
[/quote]

Braviary.
Because he fights for his friends.

Also, nice episode you got there. It's a really nice read.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='Yuzuru Otonashi' timestamp='1337653288' post='5944603']
[size=7][b][color=#006400]Kanade is leaving it up to the Viewers to choose a Pokemon that starts with B for the next article. GOGOGO.[/color][/b][/size]
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]Blaziken. Wait, did you say viewers? FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/color]
[quote name='KingBUSCUS' timestamp='1337653608' post='5944608']
[size=4][size=5]I would also like to mention the following:[/size][/size]

[size=5]I need the audience to name my pet Bear.[/size]
[size=5]I also need the audience to decide if I should add an intro to my videos.[/size]
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]Cinnamon. Seriously, do i-GOD DAMMIT! THE AUDIENCE MADE YOU A F*CKING DWARF! THEIR OPINION OBVIOUSLY SUCKS![/color]

[Sploda]

@Desu
If you watch it, I consider you part of the audience. All posts are taken into consideration.

[Kazooie]

[quote name='Desperado of Finale' timestamp='1337654503' post='5944625']
[color=#0000CD]Blaziken. Wait, did you say viewers? FFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!![/color]
[/quote]

You never saw it beforehand, you count. :3

[quote name='-Protagonist-' timestamp='1337653667' post='5944609']
Braviary.
Because he fights for his friends.
[/quote]

So we got one for Braviary and one for Blaziken. If it ends up a tie, I'll just do whatever comes out of a random Number generator.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='KingBUSCUS' timestamp='1337654849' post='5944634']
@Desu
If you watch it, I consider you part of the audience. All posts are taken into consideration.
[/quote]
[color=#0000CD]Watched half. Video needed to buffer too much for me to get much further.[/color]
[quote name='Kanade Otonashi' timestamp='1337655603' post='5944643']
You never saw it beforehand, you count. :3
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]Yayz! >: D[/color]

[Tourmaline]

[quote name='Kanade Otonashi' timestamp='1337655603' post='5944643']
So we got one for Braviary and one for Blaziken. If it ends up a tie, I'll just do whatever comes out of a random Number generator.
[/quote]

As somebody who actually knows the meta, Speed Boost Blaziken would make a bland article, being in ubers and Bronzong>Braviary.

Which is where I'd like Bronzong, for how versatile it is while not being broken. It can fuel Trick Room, Sandstorm and a non-weather based team, the former having Bronzong as a wall or as Hyper Offensive Bronzong.

That's only a bit, but it'd give you an ample amount to speak of, if quantity is a factor.

[Bahamut - Envoy of the End]

Didn't enjoy as much as last episode.

Just nothing really demanded my attention.

Sorry.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='Alice' timestamp='1337689990' post='5944831']
As somebody who actually knows the meta, Speed Boost Blaziken would make a bland article, being in ubers and Bronzong>Braviary.

Which is where I'd like Bronzong, for how versatile it is while not being broken. It can fuel Trick Room, Sandstorm and a non-weather based team, the former having Bronzong as a wall or as Hyper Offensive Bronzong.

That's only a bit, but it'd give you an ample amount to speak of, if quantity is a factor.
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]F*ck that sh*t. Blaziken is boss.[/color]
[quote name='Verz Bahamut' timestamp='1337692453' post='5944848']
Didn't enjoy as much as last episode.

Just nothing really demanded my attention.

Sorry.
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]Well I doubt you ever even bother with my articles based on your response in the last episode so not sure if I should respond with "yeah, I wasn't able to do what I really wanted due to sh*tty laptop but should be able to this week and hopefully that'll be better than a not very good review on an only solid game" so I just won't even though I already did. Instead I'll just say that's quite unfortunate since I did find at least Opal's article to be quite interesting when I read it. Not much of a yu-gi-oh or pokemon guy.[/color]

[Yang Xiao-Long]

[quote name='Desperado of Finale' timestamp='1337723911' post='5945072']
[color=#0000CD]F*ck that sh*t. Blaziken is boss.[/color]
[/quote]

Because Speed Boost Blaziken is cheap as all hell.

...meh. I'll change my Pokemon pick from Braviary to Bronzong.
A Pokemon like Bronzong seems more interesting than Braviary anyway.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='-Protagonist-' timestamp='1337724460' post='5945074']
Because Speed Boost Blaziken is cheap as all hell.
[color=#0000CD]I loved Blaziken before I found out he could be cheap as hell. >: D[/color]

...meh. I'll change my Pokemon pick from Braviary to Bronzong.
A Pokemon like Bronzong seems more interesting than Braviary anyway.
[color=#0000CD]You're just sucking up to Alice. :/[/color]
[/quote]

[Yang Xiao-Long]

Say what you wish, Desu, I don't give a f***.

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='-Protagonist-' timestamp='1337725350' post='5945086']
Say what you wish, Desu, I don't give a f***.
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]A simple yes would have sufficed.[/color]

[Reinforce]

Bronzong for the pokemon

Overall I am enjoying this ycm weekly, but the first two episodes were the best so far in my opinion.

[Kazooie]

Then maybe give reason why? We can't really do much to make it more enjoyable if all people say is "I liked the other episodes more :3"

Doesn't give us s*** to really go off of. :/

[Sploda]

I agree, some feedback on what you liked and didn't like would be nice.

Was an article to long for you to take interest? Do you not enjoy the videos? Did this week's topics just not entertain you?

Details people, it's all in the details.

[Blake]

There's also the fact that
A. Episode 3 was done in a rush because we had to keep it on a 2 week schedule and we basically had to restart with only a week
B. This one was aimed towards fans of Angel Beats!

[Desu the Blue Nerd]

[quote name='Yuzuru Otonashi' timestamp='1337898579' post='5946308']
There's also the fact that
A. Episode 3 was done in a rush because we had to keep it on a 2 week schedule and we basically had to restart with only a week
B. This one was aimed towards fans of Angel Beats!
[/quote]

[color=#0000CD]C. I wasn't actually able to do the article I had planned on that should have been more fun...for you guys at least...so instead I went with one that's more for fans of SMT games. :/[/color]
[color=#0000CD]D. The person who was supposed to host episode 3 left on like...the Thursaday before we posted it? So Black had taken over as host like the day before it was posted.[/color]
[color=#0000CD]E. Where the f*ck is Dharc? Not as big but where did he disappear to? :/[/color]