Sonic Whammy

Hey gang. In my short time here, I haven't really run across anyone yet that's openly discussed attending anime conventions and things like that. So I was wondering if anyone here does. Part of the reason that I ask is because my team just did a podcast last night with some friends reporting on how last weekend's Katsucon convention in the DC area went, and wanted to get more feedback from others that went because we like to hear people's stories. So, who we got out here?

Mine isn't from anime technically, but from DBZ Abridged. I started my kids years ago on the goofy habit of turning me and them into Napa & Vegeta when we go places. "Are we there yet?" "No..." "Are we there yet?" "No..." "Are we there yet?" "No..."

See, I don't think the butt shots cause as much of a reaction as seeing up the skirt. I think it's the whole seeing what you're not supposed to see thing. Natural reactions and stuff. And agreed on the goofiness of the bathhouses scenes. If there IS anyone out there IRL who's legitimately had that kind of interaction with other women, I think I'd easily be more shocked than anything else. I'd still want to hear the story, though.

Oh ho ho... always a fun question. And I must ask, Oakmi, may I ask if you kept count of the responses you got, because I would like to use this question in my Card Sharks surveys for a future game on the con circuit. (I'd need 100 answers.) It's a very simple but interesting question, and to date I haven't asked it. You will be credited, of course. As for my own opinion on it, for what anime I've watched, because I admit that I haven't seen a whole lot (I'm working on it), I've stumbled upon some fanservice/ecchi stuff while trying to find something I'd be interested in watching. Yes, it gets old after a while in those shows, and as much as you try to come into the shows trying to follow the plot, you know you have to turn your brain off at the same time, because you know the nudity or super innuendo is coming at least 5 times an episode. It's actually a surprise when a fanservice anime manages to NOT infuse it into an episode, or at least puts honest emotion behind it. And that's the big hook here. One of the first anime my wife and I tried together was Ai Yori Aoshi. And I think that anime succeeded in striking a balance between when to do outright fanservice, a physical awkwardness, and when to exhibit honest romance, an emotional awkwardness. And that made it feel more genuine. There was no outright nudity, just a few teases, but I think even if there had been, it was written smartly enough that its appearance would have made sense. So there IS a way to strike a balance, however difficult. If more tried for it, it would probably be a bit more accepted. (In all this, I'm realizing we're all fixating on the chest. Not one mention of upskirts.)

6 years ago, when I first started doing Card Sharks as one of my convention games, this was one of my first polls. Am I allowed to add the 100 answers I got for that poll into this set?

@Rudilla, @SleepyLeoulf, if you want to really add the rain to that list, I'm not always a fan of it, but this catchy old song makes it sound totally awesome.

I have one for this, but it's a little bit of a reach. Probably our most popular game show that we do at conventions is Press Your Luck. For those not familiar, the villain of the game, the Whammy, takes away your money every time you land on him, and you're subject to a little cartoon short. He often adopts some type of character when he does this, so we carried that concept over and (with the help of some friends who drew them) had him act as various anime and game characters. In this episode of our game, you can see all but one of the Whammies we have so far, (Dirk the Daring from Dragon's Lair is a game over Whammy for us) and we're looking for help to get more made. Volunteers?

It's such a catch-22 about literally making him weak all over again like that, though. He might as well BE a new kid, then. And it doesn't say that just because he wins one league means he suddenly "has nothing left to prove". He didn't stop when he won the Orange League or conquer the Kanto Battle Frontier. He knows that to prove himself a true master, he'd have to be the champion anywhere and everywhere there was a league. It's a never-ending quest. You can't just win one and say it's all over, because someone else will come along and say, "Hey, you're the champ there, I'm the champ here. You want to prove you're the master? Knock me off my throne." So, if he won ONE game league, it would not break the show.

A few years ago, I did a pair of surveys for my Card Sharks game shows I do at cons that played along these lines. The questions we posed to 100 Pokemon fans were: 1) Do you think that Ash should finally win a league that is featured within the games? 2) If he were to finally win a league, should the Pokemon anime end at that point? The results: 82 said he should finally win, while 32 said the anime should end when he does. The fun part was we got to reveal these results when Michele Knotz was there to participate. I forget what her reaction was, it's been a couple years. I'll have to ask her.

I once asked a survey for my game shows about if people discovered the anime world on their own or through friends. This seems like the next logical question. In my case, though I don't have a lot of anime under my belt (but I'm trying when I can steal moments), I was brought into it by a few friends I already have, one of which led me to my first anime con 10 years ago this past weekend, and the beginning of my presenting game shows at cons the year after. I've continued to make friends through those games because it's helped me get some interesting stories from the people and contestants I meet, both about their fandom and life in general. And I wouldn't have met 3 people who I consider my best friends today without it. Say, Mirror, would it be OK if I added this question to our next wave of Card Sharks surveys? I really like this and want to bring it to the masses.

OK, that was... out of nowhere. That makes two such things I've seen tonight. What else have you guys got?

Are we able to post examples here? I'd like to see one of these.

Hey, gang. So, I host a monthly podcast for anime, games, and other pop culture, and we're coming up on our final show of the year this Friday. I decided we want to have fun with memes. In this sad, depressing world, I find that a quick way to make you smile and forget your troubles is when someone makes a meme joke. To that end, I want to run a little contest. I'm looking for any and all memes that you saw for the first time this year that gave you a good smile or laugh. Leave them here, and on Friday night, my team will look them all over and decide the best of the best to crown the Meme of 2017. I hope that you guys can offer some really good suggestions. Make me laugh!

There... any reason they're pinning each other in a bathtub? Anyway, staying on topic, I'd be curious if an anime version would make their character traits better or worse given that some personalities are a little more extreme in anime form. As long as it doesn't make Twilight even more of a jerk like she was in the movie...

The only one of my parents that has really expressed any opinion regarding anime is my father in law. He's just very traditional and sees it as another form of cartoon that "little kids" watch, not grown adults with families and responsibilities and all that. We've had conversations about anime before to broaden his understanding, and he gets it, he's just got that traditional part of him that just holds on to being an adult above all else. It's cool.

Growing up, I was never much of an athlete. Never got anything to click until Tae Kwon Do came around in college. The pinnacle of bad, though, was when I tried out for the cross country team in high school. I was so way for behind, gassed and disoriented on the trial run of the home course that I lost all sense of direction. In my point of exhaustion, I wound up recovering in my situation in a liquor store on the other side of the street from the course, which luckily unbeknownst to me was being run at the moment by one of the people I saw at church every weekend, so someone knew me. She gave me Gatorade to recover. But that's not the embarrassing part. While I recovered, the woman let me try to call home to let me folks know the problem. I proved that when exhausted I had no right mind whatsoever, because all I left on the message was the indication that I was lost and simply to come find me without ever saying where the heck I was. Fortunately, a few minutes later, the rest of the team happened by the store because they were sent on another run after I didn't come back. So there ended my attempt to run, but I stayed on anyway as the official timekeeper for the team. Still get picked on for that phone message to this day. Less frequently, but still.

OK, here's one with a long list. 2 weeks ago, Twitch ran a 5 day marathon of the classic 80's game show Starcade. This show was what Twitch & EVO would have been like in the 80's, two contestants trying to outscore each other on classic arcade games within a set time limit. It's still a favorite among fans to this day, and Shout Factory is even looking to reboot the series for today. But here's my question for all of you. Below is a LONG list of all of the games that were ever featured for play on Starcade. I simply want to know which ones you've ever heard of or played before, especially beyond the ones that everyone knows. Amidar, Angler Dangler, Anteater, Astron Belt, Bagman, Bega's Battle, Berserk, Black Widow, Blaster, Blueprint, Bubbles, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Bump N Jump, Burgertime, Calipso, Change Lanes, Cliff Hanger (aka Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro: The Game), Congo Bongo, Cosmic Chasm, Crystal Castles, Cube Quest, Defender, Dig Dug, Discs of Tron, Domino Man, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Jr, Donkey Kong 3, Dorodon, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Explorer, Eyes, Food Fight, Frogger, Galaga, Galaxian, Graplop, Gravitar, Guzzler, Gyruss, Holey Moley, Interstellar Laser Fantasy, Journey, Journey (not a typo, this 2nd one is a weird about about the rock group), Jungle Hunt, Joust, Juno First, Krull, Ladybug, Lock N Chase, Lost Tomb, Mach 3, Major Havoc, Mappy, Mario Bros, Marvin's Maze, Mazer Blazer, Megazone, Millipede, Monster Bash, Moon Patrol, Motorace USA, Mr. Do, Mr. Do's Castle, Ms. Pac Man, Munch Mobile, Pac Man, Pac Man Plus, Pengo, Pole Position, Pole Position II, Pooyan, Popeye, Pop Flamer, Pro Bowling, Pro Soccer, Q*Bert, Qix, Rescue, Robotron 2084, Roc N Rope, Sinistar, Snake Pit, Solar Fox, Space Invaders, Spy Hunter, Stargate, Star Trek, Star Wars, Super Astrofighter, Super Cobra, Super Pac Man, Super Zaxxon, Swimmer, Tac Scan, Tazzmania, Time Pilot, Tron, Tunnel Hunt, TX-1, Wild Western, Xevious, Zoar, Zoo Keeper *whew* You don't think the list it's that extensive until you write it all down...

Loaned a new novel from the library called Meddling Kids. Imagine how the Scooby Doo gang might have ended up after they grew up and went their separate ways. Be warned, it's messed up, and I'm only into the first chapter.

Outside of game shows, my main current shows are The Big Bang Theory (still got it after all these years), WWE (rough as it is to tolerate how they book it a lot of the time) and the new Mystery Science Theater 3000 (was a fan of the original, took part in the Kickstarter that revived it, forever making cracks at shows and movies since). And occasionally, my wife drags me into the silly narrations of the drama on Jane the Virgin, which I wouldn't even entertain at all if not FOR those silly narrations.

Most recent two purchases were a Hunter x Hunter shirt (gotta start watching that again) and a Ryu Funko Pop, to which my soon to be 4-year old says "I'm gonna have Blanka for my birthday." (He knows Blanka because I had to keep correcting him when he thought it was The Hulk.)

Gonna try a different direction for conversation. Lately these days, the "it" thing in music is for people to do Lip Sync Battles to the biggest and best songs. And I was wondering if anyone here has actually done it before. The school I work for has run a competition the past 2 years, and I actually won this year. Truly realized how hard it is to make a sketch and choreograph all of it. Did numbers for Footloose and Uptown Funk. So my question is twofold: 1) Have you ever competed in a Lip Sync Battle? 2) Regardless, what song(s) did/would you perform?

I'm very big on game shows in particular, and several of which we do for the Game Show Megamix at cons. Far and away, #1 on the list is the classic Press Your Luck. If you've never seen it, three contestants answer questions to win "spins", which they then get to take at a giant game board that has all different shuffling amounts of money and prizes on it. It's mainly known, however, as "that Whammy show", because of the red demons called Whammies who are scattered on the board waiting to take your money and subject you (and often himself) to cartoon humiliation. , and to match, . Hope you enjoy.

Just finished re-reading Gladiator: A True Story of Roids, Rage and Redemption by former American Gladiator Dan "Nitro" Clark. (Any fans of that show back in the day?) Read it to my wife, she was even amazed by the story, and that wasn't even her kind of show. And Nitro's doing a kickstarter now to fund his 2nd book.

And upon a quick check, yep, right here: https://trademarks.justia.com/869/29/cosplay-is-not-86929441.html

There is picture proof, I showed it in the video, but I will definitely search a little deeper. The whole thing has been wacky to me since it first came across my desk. Even more so when I actually took a look at the Deviants site and saw the kind of cosplayers they are.