Sonic Whammy

Caught up with my main two shows over the last month or so. Finished Cobra Kai (and saw the movie now in the aftermath), loved what happened to that one influencer (sorry for the spoiler) Last year's season of Only Murders In The Building, the trio that will never know peace where they live. When I'm not watching game shows (took a while to finish Pop Culture Jeopardy, too), it's tough to find a show that grabs me, but I try.

So, I'm a 47-year-old that's been hosting anime-centric game shows for 17 years, and have admittedly not watched a lot of anime in the process. That said, I will never consider myself too old for anime because: I'm always researching anime past and present for trivia material, which will sometimes lead me to check out a clip or two, and maybe even an actual show. My 16-year-old (and co-host) has been watching more and more anime, and some she brings me in to watch for company, make private jokes about, etc.

"They told me I'm not supposed to look straight at the sun, but it's such a cute ball of warmth, I can't resist it."

Wet Noodle

I have to stop fading in and out of this place. Life, yes, but still. So, to preface this since it's been a while, I've been hosting recreations of classic game shows at fandom conventions for 17 years. A strange combination, but it's been an amazing time where I've met so many fun people. I am reviving a game that I first hosted in 2012, Card Sharks. This game requires me to survey lots and lots of anime fans, as all the questions are based on a poll of 100 people. And since it's been 8 years since I last hosted this game, I have to start a whole new series of surveys. That's where you come in. So, if you're a fan of anything and everything in fandom pop culture, be it anime, cosplay, video games and more, we at The Game Show Goombas (yes, that's our name now) want to hear from you. Take our initial surveys right here, and feel free to submit one of your own. It would help us out a lot. (Seriously, it will, otherwise I can't host the game.) https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1D27PvA8248s7twat5UIOJTVoY5haGXxwND9afEiSXRE/preview

I'll throw in mine: Mike and Ike Almond Joy Sweettarts Laffy Taffy (and it should rank higher) Lemonhead My son offered his 5 as: Trolli Jolly Rancher (yes, "Hershey" meant just classic chocolate bars, not the entire conglomerate) Smarties Fun Dip Laffy Taffy Keep em coming , what else ya got?

OK, need some help on this one for a fast one that I'm setting up over in YouTube land. Name and rank 5 favorite Halloween candies. However, you CANNOT pick any of these as part of your 5. (Yes, there's a reason) Reese's (cups or pieces) Twix Kit Kat Snickers M&M's (plain or peanut) Milky Way Crunch Butterfinger Starburst Sour Patch 3 Musketeers Junior Mints Skittles Baby Ruth Hershey's Nerds Swedish Fish Airheads Warheads Candy Corn Tootsie (Pop or roll) Gummy Bears So what else do you all like?

Hey hey! For the past year plus, since my son got a PS5, he heavily enjoys playing the WWE 2K games. We're wrestling fans in general, but he got the games for me at first because he knows I enjoy watching Austin Creed & Tyler Breeze play MyGm mode on the UpUpDownDown channel. We play against each other in that now, including now on my math YouTube channel, but he plays the game itself, is constantly involved in community creation, all that stuff. So, just wondering, who around here plays? (And as a bonus, since this is an anime forum, has anyone downloaded or made an anime-inspired character for the game? I've seen them.)

This is a very fascinating read. And as a longtime moderator of a Japanese Culture Club in the school I've taught at, I at least have an answer to this now should it ever come up in the future. Admittedly, everything you were pointing out about Japanese versus western ideologies made sense as you pointed them out. I would say as a minor counterpoint that these days here in America, there are some who will publicly band together and very strongly advocate what it is seen as virtuous to the point that it becomes political. This often leads to a pushback from those who don't want such virtue to be forced upon them or everyone, in part because of the concept in our Constitution of "separation of church and state". The general idea of being "virtuous" largely remains among everyone privately, but the ones who call for it the loudest are not as celebrated as one might think. As for myself, I see it, and sometimes it's just there, and other times it's emphasized for both comedy and/or sexualization. And I react on a case by case basis, but I don't think too much about it. Again, great read. I'll remember to come back to this whenever anyone asks about this.

OK, so this question is going to be very unusual, so I apologize in advance, but I really need some creative ideas. As I've talked about here and there, I run game show events at anime conventions. For my most popular game, Press Your Luck, I do something a little strange to tie into it. Scattered around the board are different "prizes" that the contestant can win. However, most of these are not your typical prizes that you'd see on normal game shows. Instead, I went around the anime and video game worlds to see what things and places would make good "prizes" if they existed in real life. Some examples include: From Pokemon: Pokeballs, a Pokedex, and a Gyarados Sub From Sailor Moon: a Moon Transformation Wand, a Rainbow Crystal Pendant and a trip to Crystal Tokyo From One Piece: A Striker boat and a Going Merry Cruise From Mega Man: A Mega Buster and Roll's Maid Service for a week For my new series of shows, I want to look into some new "prize" ideas based on more recent anime and games, as I have not updated my prize list in 12 years. I'm long overdue. So the question is this: If any universe from all of anime and games existed IRL, what iconic items would you want to own from it? What exotic or crazy places from that universe would you want to visit on a trip? I hope you all can offer some ideas. I thank any and all of you in advance.

Today is the 40th anniversary of my all time favorite game show, Press Your Luck. A quick synopsis for those who have never seen the show: Three contestants answer questions to try to earn "spins". These spins are then taken to the Big Board, which has a constantly changing configuration of cash and prizes to win each time you stop the board. However, lurking on the board are the Whammies, who take away all the winnings of those unlucky to land on him. For the past 15 years, I have been fortunate enough to be able to host PYL at anime conventions in the NY/NJ area, and sometimes beyond. Early on in the life of my run, various friends were kind enough to help add to the ambiance of the game by creating some original "Whaminations". They were inspired by the ones from the original show that have the Whammy posing as various characters and celebrities. And many times, the end result sees Whammy getting blown up, flattened, or otherwise humiliated. So, in a fitting tribute, I wanted to share the Whanimations that I've had all these years thanks to my friends' help. Hope you like them. WHANIMATION #1: THE LEGEND OF ZELDA - What goes around comes around AW Link.mp4 WHANIMATION #2: METROID - Overcharged AW Samus.mp4 WHANIMATION #3: POKEMON - Ash catches your Moneymon! AW Ash.mp4 WHANIMATION #4: INUYASHA - Kagome is not amused AW Inuyasha.mp4 WHAMINATION #5: SAILOR MOON - In the name of the Moon, your score will be punished! AW Sailor Moon.mp4 WHANIMATION #6: DRAGON'S LAIR - When you hit 4 Whammies, it's game over. And nothing said "Game Over" better than this. AW Dirk.mp4

Here's one I made up... heh, exactly three years ago today during a food truck festival in our town. And it's fitting for here.

Game shows. It's always been about watching and enjoying game shows. Today I'm especially into it, as today marks the 40th anniversary of my all time favorite, Press Your Luck. I have a couple other small pursuits, but game shows have always been at the forefront.

This was a conversation between game show host legend Richard Dawson and his mom. He was a child seeing soldiers of all colors leaving from his hometown of England on D-Day in World War II, and he was trying to understand seeing people of other colors for the first time in his life. Mom: "God. God makes people. You understand that, don't you?" Richard: "Yes." Mom: "Who makes a rainbow?" Richard: "God." Mom: "I'd never presume to tell anyone who could make a rainbow what color to make children."

Well, that all depends, what's the topic? I'd offer as a starter (and being the resident game show guy) your thoughts on the recent death of Bob Barker.

Our little guy Oreo is going to be with us one year next Sunday. He came to us while we were still grieving from the loss of our previous dog Sally (who you also see here in the still).

Amusing if you're going the famous quote route. How's this for a non-quote: "Dear Diary: I wish he would just die!" Outlaw Star? (Assuming because I don't know of any other Genes. Trying to be careful about not using quotes or character names.)

"Sit, boy!" is easy. This one I'm gonna need some help on.

Also acceptable: Now isn't the time to use that!

So a few years ago, for a couple of the game shows that I ran at conventions, I did a trivia category called "8 Words Or Less". Object, simply, was to guess the anime based on a description of no more than 8 words. Examples: It's Over 9000! (DBZ) You've activated my Trap Card! (Yu-Gi-Oh!) Schoolgirls become the "muse" of song. (Love Live) Boy has girl drink coffee from his mouth. (Ouran High School Host Club) Fast Food Is Hell! (The Devil Is a Part-Timer) Parents eat like pigs. Now they ARE pigs! (Spirited Away) It was a REALLY fun category, and in the one or two times I did it, it was always the first to go. So let's have some fun here. Describe an anime OR game (let's open it up a little) in 8 words or less. (FOOTNOTE: If you can help it, don't limit yourself to a quote from the show, and try not to name a character.)

I have been a huge fan of Heroquest from way back in its original run in the 80's. A couple years ago, I heard about the revival about 3 months too late, so I couldn't get involved in the crowdfunding and the new exclusive stuff, but my wife got me a copy of the original from someone local on Facebook, and ever since I've been getting all the new expansions. Just got the all new Rise of the Dread Moon a couple weeks ago, and already pre-ordered the new Path of the Wandering Monk character set that was shown off at GenCon a couple weeks ago.

Man, I haven't been to Otakon in 11 years. Used to perform the best game shows for them for four years, then my son (who's turning 10 tomorrow) was going to born just days after the 2013 campaign. I stayed back while the rest of my crew at the time kept the fun rolling. And none of us have been back since. After some discussions with a friend of mine when I heard there's NO formal game shows at Otakon anymore, I'm checking to see if next year I can fix that and finally make my return. In the meantime, prepping for the next Puchi Con in the Poconos in late October. Gonna be a whirlwind weekend because I'll only be there on Sunday after being at my cousin's wedding the day before, and I'm not getting back from it until after midnight. But I'm ready, I've done crazier things.

Finally got a chance this summer for the first time in forever to just sit down and see OK, what's everyone saying is the best anime going right now, what's the recent best, all that stuff. It's been way too long since I watched anything period. I've seen all 5 episodes of Zom 100 to date. Definitely not the kind of show I was expecting to get into, but I'm enjoying the suspense. It's funny how every turn, you think you're safe and the next thing you know, oh bleep, there's zombies here too. But it's working so far. The other I started was Komi Can't Communicate. I'm only two episodes in, but I was very intrigued by the first episode that I wanted to watch it with my wife and daughter. My daughter particularly has problems in school and other social settings in recent years where she freezes up and doesn't know how to express herself, so I thought this might give her some peace of mind. Again, we're only two episodes in, but we're liking it so far.

Hey, guys, been a while, I gotta come around here more. I can really use everyone's help. Our Puchi Con convention is going off in 2 weeks up at Camelback in the Poconos, and we are running a Celebrity Family Feud game with our voice actor guests. Please come and join us if you're in the area, but for right now, we need 100 people surveyed and we need 'em fast! So if you can help us with these surveys, you would be so awesome! And remember, if you don't know something, CHEAT! Like anyone's gonna know you looked up something to answer one of these. Thanks in advance, and spread the word to anyone who can help. I promise we'll record the show so that you can see how it all went down. Family Feud (google.com)

Big meal stuffs in the bottom part, extra solids in the middle, got it. So nothing goes in the top part? Also, what about that divider?