Late....always late

So yeah, there will be more delays once more, mostly due to my mental health, which has taken another beating these last few weeks. I once again apologise and will try to do my best to get something out before the end of the year.

Wildstar ended and my thoughts soon

So yesterday Wildstar ended and after much thought, I plan to write up something about my thoughts and experiences with the game.

This may take some time, but look out for it soon.

Projects Update - November 2018

And so the great heatwave has begun here in Queensland and thank goodness I invested in a small room air-con as it helps reduce that sickening feeling, though sadly my eyes have been stinging for a week now due to this weather.

Anyway, the Squig Hoppers are now complete:

I am not too happy with the Squigs with stripes as they just don't look right. No doubt I'll go back in the future and either fix the stripes or just erase them and do spots instead. Will update further when I have more to show on the other projects, though at least some progress has been made (probably due to the insomnia brought on with my recent medication change).

......oh yes, this also appeared recently:

Judging by the image of the Bad Moon and the various pointed mushrooms, it is safe to say that the Moonclan Grots will get the next update. This is both good and bad in my opinion. Bad in that I really don't have the kind of money to invest in a full Moonclan army, but good as we may get some new models or rules and I am really hoping that they will give an updated list for Skirmish with more Moonclan options so I have more to have fun games with.

Well see what this will hold in the future.

Projects Update - October 2018

Oh boy, where do I begin?

So yeah, my mental health has put everything on hold and I'm only now trying to get things back on track. Both the ship project and all Malifaux will be on hold for a bit longer, with my first tasks being to finish the 5 Squighoppers and 1 Ogor Maneater. I will hold off on the other 2 Maneaters as the one I do have (the Pirate Captain) will act as an Ogor champion for my Moonclan Skirmish group (as Glibbins' personal bodyguard). I'm giving myself the time limit till November 5 as that is the same week as when Supanova is on and I'll most likely go to it and I need to get prepared for that.

Also, another addition to Glibbins' skirmish crew seems to be a future release, a Shadespire warband called Mollog's Mob:

I love the look of this crew, but while I don't play Shadespire (yet), I can throw in Mollog himself in the skirmish group and count him as a Fellwater Troggoth, just replacing Terrible Stench with Shroom Spores. Certainly would be very thematic for Glibbins to have such a Troggoth in his crew. Might add moss to him too to keep up with the overgrowth theme on Glibbins.

I will continue working on the Malifaux bases, but unfortunately work on the Ulix Nightmare Crew has slowed to nothing due to limited materials and the green stuff not working the way I had hoped for. If I can get those pieces working for the conversion (and more modelling putty) then I'll will attempt to try again to work on them.

Beyond that I can only hope. I have a lot to deal with at the moment and so committing to this will push me hard, so I can only pray I don't go so hard that I stop all together.

Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Wildstar is Ending

This is both sad, but not unforeseen. Most MMORPG's rarely survive these days and even a game like Wildstar was eventually doomed to fall. That said, I still loved this game.

I do hope this isn't the end of the Wildstar brand as the franchise has so much it can offer, both in gaming and in other media. Regardless, I'll probably do a few more short articles on this leading up to the end, but most of all I'll need to jump on to record gameplay footage of my housing as at some point I will incorporate the characters (mostly Finian and Xzarbon) into my own universe (obviously with some name and physical changes in order to avoid some copyright issues).

I hope to more in the future with talking about Wildstar.

Looking into the World of Steampunk

So apart from looking into ship designs and cosmic horror, I have also taken a keen interest in the world of Steampunk. Having looked around the internet, it is quite fascinating to see not only how creative it is, but how people seem to really get into the cosplay of it. A mixture of Victoria Era England mixed with steam based technology which comes of as both primitive and yet more advanced then what we have now, Steampunk has a unique feel to it that I really can't describe, but certainly leaves me excited to look more into it.

I know I've used it as inspiration for one of my characters, but I've been looking into it deeper to see what else I can be inspired by. Certainly the outfits and mechanical limbs and add-ons are something I would like to try out, but I also wonder if it is possible to blend both the mechanical Steampunk aesthetic with the clean Sci-fi appearance together and not make it seem too out of place.

Who knows? Maybe I could come up with a starship Captain's outfit based on such a blend for use as part of that starship model project I'm designing. We'll see.

The Freedom Fighters in Sonic Petition Video

Oh boy, as a Sonic fan, in regards to this I have really been out of the loop on this one lately (in fact, I'd actually forgotten that I signed this petition some time ago). I must say, this one was a well researched video, but I'm deducting points due to having an image of Tony Abbott (here in Australia we don't speak of him, we don't acknowledge him. He is, in my opinion, probably our worst Prime Minister ever).

But enough of that political nonsense and into another. I have to agree with most of this video and now must re-evaluate my opinion of Sega at this point. I was under the belief that they had tried to distance themselves from the Freedom Fighters as much as possible. I would like to see much of the Archieverse of Sonic & Co return and certainly done by people who actually have a passion for it.

That's not to say the IDW comic is bad. Heck, you want a franchise done right then hand it to IDW cause from what I've read from them, it is done fairly well (with even nods to other versions within the same franchise as the Ghostbusters one did). They even did great with Beebop and Rocksteady in their TMNT version, giving them their classic 80's style stupidity, while making them seem more badass then ever before and some of the MLP stories had some deep and dark moments that felt appropriate. As for their Sonic comic? I'm enjoying it so far, but I'll wait to see what happens further down the road before giving a full opinion on it (of course, there is no reason a spin-off with the Freedom Fighters couldn't be done, but as I have agreed with the video and give it to someone who actually cares for the characters and canon)..

As for which versions of the Sonic universe is better, I think the best way to see it is through what the Archie comic introduced into the series, the Cosmic Interstate. In simpler terms, the multiverse. I see each media and universe as it's own and that all are equally valid, but also all acknowledged. I don't see why we have to keep having the whole Amy vs Sally debate when they can both exist, just in separate universes. The last thing I want to be reminded of within the fandom is the blasted Amy vs Sally forum wars we had (the ones that lead to full on death threats left, right and center. Seriously, this crap is unacceptable).

As for a future appearance in games? Unless it's something like a Sonic Chronicles RPG style, I don't see them ever appearing in a game as Sega has enough trouble trying to do stuff with the characters they do have (and lets not get into just how limited the character designs in Sonic Forces was). I think that if anything they would have to have their own game universe much like Sonic Boom and then it would have to be more of the mentioned RPG style to really incorporate them all in it.

Still, this video has opened my eyes up to possibilities as well as updating me on certain people that I didn't have much of a proper insight into. Do look forward to seeing what people create from this.

Update:

OK, so been thinking about this and I'm going to be honest, this one has actually changed my view on a few things. I have already mentioned changing my view on Sega, but I feel it's more those specific people that the video addresses. That said, I was very surprised to see their views and it is great to see they still have that passion for Sonic and Co and that even issues with people like Penders can have their redeeming moments (Although the that part about Sega and their issues with Sonic's relationship status on the who Sally/Amy thing is interesting, if not somewhat confusing).

I think what got me more was those who actually worked on the comic series. I blame myself for not looking into who was working on the IDW series, but was more concerned about the opinions of these people when it comes to the characters and the community. I sis have concerns about some of the story lines and character personality changes back when they worked on the Archie Sonic series, but seeing their view points now, it seems to make sense now. They clearly didn't have the kind of passion for many of the characters and it obviously shows in the work.

Perhaps with more time I might be able to put something together better explaining my thoughts on all this (that and maybe a thought series on both the comics, shows and games of the franchise), but until then, I'll try to do my best to keep myself updated on all this. 

Update 2:

The more that I've looked into some of these people, the more I worry just why they are in charge of a book which, to be fair, is marketed towards kids to young teens (well, Sega prefers to focus on them in regards to the way they are focusing their games). Unfortunately, trying to find a more civilized discussion on any of this is also very difficult to find as the aggression is just unacceptable. It's sad when I can't tell who's side is the worst.  

I must also now re-evaluate my opinion of IDW as well. Given some of the stuff that people have said and shown (though screenshots etc) I really have to wonder why no one has been reprimanded or fired. Even when contracted, you still represent the company through your actions and as we've seen on sites like Twitter more recently, anything you put up on social media is such a reflection and people have lost their jobs over it. Maybe game developers are more stricter then comic book companies, but I would assume that given the financial nature of the comic book industry, keeping on good terms with fans (at least in regards to the actions outside of the books themselves) would be at least something they should consider.

A shame how the further you look into something the more disappointing it becomes.