Launching Into 2018 with Christmas Presents of 2017

Guess who? I'm back after my one week break!

Welcome everyone, one and all to 2018! Surprisingly this week’s blog actually falls on New Year’s Day, which is quite the coincidence.

2017 was by far one crazy year, a lot happened in both good and bad aspects. Looking past the negative and the tragic moments there was a lot of positive good that came out of 2017. For instance I actually bucked up the courage to let my artistic urges flow out and onto the canvas, well Watercolor paper that is. Yeah a big part of last year was my journey into art, which actually began when I started knitting in the September of 2016 now that I think about it, considering knitting is an art. I could recap every step I took but that would be monotonous to say the least, let's just say I improved a lot in just one year.

With this journey of art continuing it seems Santa Claus caught onto my antics and got me something pretty awesome. Remember when I reviewed my Mum’s Winsor and Newton Cotman watercolor paint set last year? Yeah those paints were pretty awesome and to my surprise a huge improvement over my Sakura Koi set which are supposed to be in the same “Grade”.

Well thanks to Santa and Mrs. Claus (Hi Mum) I got this incredible Watercolor paint set.

It might seem like a little plain white box but this little white box holds 16 half pan watercolors from Winsor and Newton Cotman, a brand a paints I really wanted to switch to ever since trying out my Mum’s set.

The colors I got in this set are Chinese White, Payne’s Grey, Colbalt Blue, Ultramarine, Turquoise, Viridian Hue, Sap Green, Cadmium Yellow Hue Pale, Cadium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Red Hue Pale, Cadmium Red Deep Hue, Alicarin Crimson, Purple Lake, Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre and Burnt Sienna.

So as you can see I have a pretty great variety of colors, actually this set has all the colors I need for the types of paintings I do. For colors I don’t have I love mixing colors so I’ll just easily make my own, which in fact these colors actually mix quite easily to my surprise.

Got some new colors that I haven’t had before such as Turquoise, a cool blue with a hint of green, which will actually make for a cool lake or river color I believe. Purple Lake is a new color to me, usually I just use violet but this Purple Lake seems to have more reds then blues in its mix. Not sure what the origin of the name “Purple Lake” entails but it’s a cool color regardless. I’m finally happy to have a Burnt Sienna available to me in a half pan. Burnt Sienna was a color missing from my Sakura Koi set so I’m glad to have this color finally.

As you can see I’ve already made up a couple of skin tones which I’ve charted on my color chart, but you can guess who I’ll be painting soon with these watercolors. (Hint: She has honey blonde hair and brown/red eyes… Yeah.)

Actually I have two resources on hand now that will make my human figure drawing, both male and female skyrocket in accuracy. First up Santa got me this wooden artist manikin, which while looking goofy this thing actually will help with basic anatomy, it’s not super accurate and it’s not one of those Body-Kuns you see online but it’s already helped me quite a bit.

The second resource I now have at hand is an amazing app for the iPad, iPhone and I believe Android devices. This app is known by the name of “Magic Poser”. What is Magic Poster? Well Magic Poser allows you to pose realistic (and Manga) manikin models to any pose you can imagine, allowing for an unlimited source of references for your human figure drawings and to my surprise this app is pretty extensive. The manikins have a poser point for every part of the body you would need to pose, with rotation options included. What’s even better about this app is the ability to add MULTIPLE MODELS! Want to draw multiple people in one drawing? Then this app will allow you to pose your people, which will surely ease your soul when actually drawing. 

Does it stop there? Nope! You can change the perspective of your model, change the lightening (Which is a god send for someone like me who has had problems with shading) and for the cherry on top, you can upload your designs as well as download designs made by others.

I do find the controls a bit finicky on my iPad but perhaps it’s because of my big fingers or my lack of having a stylus but other than that it’s a pretty amazing app and it’s already been a massive help. Like I mentioned previously there are options for realistic Male and Female and Manga Male and Female. I actually prefer to stick with realistic but the Manga is a pretty great option for those whose art style is more in line with the awesome art styles from Japan.

Now this app is not free, it does have a 7 day free trial and I believe you keep some of the basic functions when it expires but the full app is going to cost you $4.99 which is not bad all things considered and I’m definitely going to purchase this myself when my trial runs out. You can download the app by clicking the link below!

The next gift I got is more related to the literary side of my art, my novel writing/writing in general. I never knew I wanted a leather covered writer’s journal until I got this incredible beast.

This book is gorgeous and with 192 pages I should get quite a lot written in this book, although I’m still using my Pokemon Journal book I got for my Birthday for right now. I may actually write the actual manuscript for Dream Eclipse Book 1 in this new journal I’m not sure yet.

Gaze at my incredible segway skills as I switch focus to the part of Christmas I love the most, the Pokemon part.

I’ve been crazing these two items for so long and you readers will know if you’ve kept up with the blog in the second half of last year, Pokemon Ultra Sun and Pokemon Ultra Moon!

Yes I finally got a hold of these bad boys and even better is the fact that these come with key chains! Yeah I assumed these key chains were pre-order bonuses only but surprisingly these were being sold at Walmart. Probably should have mentioned this to you guys but I wasn’t supposed to know either for Christmas reasons. You can go check and perhaps they might still be selling them but no guarantees.

I’ve already begun my journey on Ultra Sun with Litten by my side and I can say this game is definitely not a carbon copy of Sun and Moon, yes the events taking place are similar, it’s not a sequel by any means and instead an alternative universe but it’s not a copy and paste situation. I’ve already come across a lot of parts in the first two islands that have shocked me. I think I’ve fallen in love with Mantine Surfing, which is a minigame you unlock after beating the first Kahuna, allowing you to surf to the other islands instead of taking Professor Kukui’s shabby looking boat. I’ll be discussing this game further in depth as we go forward into 2018, hopefully covering the game better than I did Sun and Moon.

I finally got myself a new Pokemon Card folder/binder. Admittedly my old folder that I’ve been using for many years now has gotten a little on the stuffed side, I mean it was holding over 6 generations of cards I really should of gotten a new card folder by now.

This new folder has got my all time favorite Pokemon on it, Pikachu and is surprisingly made by the same people as the card sleeves I recently purchased, making everything a perfect fit. I don’t know how long it’ll be before I get another folder as I’m buying cards quite often recently. (I may start doing card unpacking blogs again but I’m wondering whether I should be doing videos instead, as videos would be more interesting.) I’ve put all my Sun and Moon/Generation 7 cards into this folder as a clean slate start of sorts.

Speaking of Pokemon Cards the brand new Sun and Moon Ultra Prism Expansion Pack comes out Febuary 2^nd so keep an eye out! These new cards are supposed to be some of the best.

I got four new Pokemon Manga books to continue the two series I’ve been reading so far which are Pokemon XY and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.

Sadly these two XY books are actually the last in the series and have wrapped up the awesome storyline that’s been running throughout the XY books. I’m actually going to review the series as a whole later but I can safely say I dived right into these last two books. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is a series I picked up last year, it’s a sequel to the original Ruby and Sapphire series which I’ve never read but it actually coincides slightly with XY. It’s a great read regardless and I’m not feeling lost not having read the Ruby and Sapphire books so it’s all good. I haven’t read these two yet but I’ll be sure to let you know my thoughts on them later. Until Sun and Moon starts releasing on May 8^th over here in America I’ll be just left with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire but I’m excited on what stories come from Mr. Kusaka.

My filmmaking just got a brand new ally in the form of this compact and overall awesome Tripod I got.

Yeah you’re reading that right; this is an Amazon Basics Tripod. Didn’t know Amazon had a brand of products? I sure didn’t know. This Tripod is actually really great, it’s not super tall but I didn’t exactly want nor need a super tall Tripod. This thing is compact enough to carry on trips unlike my other large tripod (Which isn’t much taller than this one anyway) but still has all the features I prefer, such as adjustable panning, the level meter, a pan handle and telescoping legs.

Another plus of this Tripod is I can actually do dual and even triple perspective videos now! With this in mind my sister and I can start doing more duo videos like our art videos we’ve done previously with an actual decent set up. So yeah, thanks Santa… Aka Mum and Dad.

Finally the last present I want to showcase is possibly one of the greatest presents I’ve ever gotten.

A Velvet Box!

Yup, it’s a velvet box. Great huh? Absolutely, it’s soft and plush and quite sturdy, but what is it holding exactly?

Did you gasp? I sure did. This velvet box opens up to reveal two incredible devices that a writer such as me knows much about. This box contains a Cross Ballpoint Pen and a Cross Mechanical Pencil. I’ve wanted one of these pens for so long and getting it in this box, with an inspiration quote to boot is a pretty awesome surprise. I’ve already tried this out in writing my novel of course so I can say this pen feels incredible in my hands. I haven’t tried out the mechanical pencil just yet but it probably feels just the same.

So other than some other things here and there that’s pretty much the gist of my Christmas haul, I know that makes me sound like I care only about getting but I actually gave quite a lot this year so I’m just bragging.

With that all said that ends the first blog of 2018 but I’m not done talking about the future just yet! Next week I plan on discussing some movies I’m excited for in 2018 as well as some more looking forward to what 2018 holds. So no more looking back, it’s time to look forward to a brand new year with new changes to come to the blog, hopefully some improvements.

Happy New Years Everyone!

See you next week!

Oh yeah… This was ZAK Entertainment. 

New Harry Potter AR Game, Early Man Trailer, Introducing Addi Flexiflips Knitting Needles and Pokemon XY Evolutions TCG

Hello fellow wizards! Last week was quite busy but I’m finally working on my novel again. Anyone else here writing a novel? I actually regret the weeks I went without writing anything due to how busy I was, well I’m not even sure if that’s much of an excuse, I guess I just had a writer’s block. A vlog almost came out along side this blog actually believe it or not, my sister and I went on a little trip Friday. Sadly my sister and I were told we couldn’t film in the location we were at so you guys will have to wait even longer for another travel vlog. I’ll try and find someplace nearby where I can actually vlog without getting in trouble. Anyway today’s blog contains once again a wide spectrum of topics once again. No major Pokemon news was dropped so you guys can feel relieved until the release of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon this Friday. (Yes I’m aware of the leaks, I don’t discuss leaks.) I do have something Pokemon related later in the blog but it may be more on the TCG side of things… Anyway for now let’s roll into the first topic!

Niantic is Taking the Wizarding World to Augmented Reality!

Pokemon GO was a international phenomenon hands down and was played by millions and millions of Pokemon Trainers all over the world. Being able to capture Pokemon in real life on your smart phone? It was crazy but it worked. Of course it isn’t as popular as it was anymore despite the new updates rolling out recently but it’s still holding up. It seems a few other companies have taken notice of this phenomenon and one of them has contracted Niantic to produce a similar game for a completely different IP… Harry Potter. Yes believe it or not Harry Potter is receiving a Pokemon GO like game in the form of Harry Potter Wizards Unite.

Announced on Niantic’s official blog they discussed how Harry Potter: Wizards Unite will play, which is of course similar to Pokemon GO but how exactly is it going to play out? They described the game as allowing players “that have been dreaming of becoming real life Wizards” finally being able to experience the the Wizarding World everyone fell in love with. Quoted from this blog also Niantic wrote “Players will learn spells, explore their real world neighborhoods and cities to discover & fight legendary beasts and team up with others to take down powerful enemies.” While it sounds like an incredible magical experience I’m not sure if I’m grasping how they will actually implement that into a AR game similar to Pokemon GO and Ingress so I can’t wait to see some gameplay of this new Niantic mobile title.

This new Harry Potter game is actually the first to be announced under a new sub brand from Warner Brothers for more Harry Potter games that are soon to arrive. This sub brand is named “Portkey Games” and will feature games for mobile AND console, which means they could be bringing some expansive Harry Potter games to the consoles, hopefully the Nintendo Switch as well as Xbox One and PS4. This announcement is quite exciting as Harry Potter if done right should transition to Video Games quite well. I’ve never played the original Harry Potter games for the Gamecube/Wii so I’m not sure what those were like but I can’t wait to see what this new sub brand has in store for us Wizards and hey you muggles can join in too, just let me know what the function of a rubber duck is and we’re good.

You can read more here on Niantic's Blog: https://nianticlabs.com/blog/wizardsunite/ and Pottermore: https://www.pottermore.com/news/new-augmented-reality-mobile-game-harry-potter-wizards-unite-announced .

Moving on I got a new movie trailer for you guys and this time it’s for an animation, one that is instantly going on my must watch list. 

Bronze Age kicks down the Stone Age's door in Aardman's Early Man Movie Trailer!

Everyone knows Aardman Studios, right? These guys have created some hilarious and awesome claymation/stop motion animation such as the hit Wallace and Gromet series and one of my personal favorite animated movies, Chicken Run in which probably deserves a retrospect review at some point in the new future. Well it’s been in production since 2016 (Announced back in 2007 believe it or not) and now finally Early Man is here with a new trailer. The animation is so nostalgic for reasons possibly pertaining to Chicken Run so check out the trailer below! (Or by clicking this link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRiPQ8YNrVs)

This animation takes place in an age of ancient humanity, the Stone Age. Well more like the end of the Stone Age. Seems the story is centered on a caveman by the name of Dug (Eddie Redmayne) and his tribe, you know, doing cave man stuff. Everything seems normal until suddenly their Stone Age door is kicked in by the Bronze Age led by Lord Nooth (Played by Tom Hiddleston). Dug gets dragged into a medieval world filled with bronze machinery and humans much more advance then him and his tribe.

This movie looks like absolute fun and is glowing with the Aardman spirit. Will this usurp Chicken Run as my favorite claymation/stop motion animated movie? Is Aardman about to drop another classic? Am I a huge nerd for stop motion animation in general? Most likely. This movie is going to be releasing on January 26^th, 2018 in America but I’m not sure when Summit Entertainment plans on releasing it over here in the states.

Early Man is directed by Nick Park who you should all know as the creator of Wallace and Gromet and Chicken Run as well so the magic from those movies and Nick Park’s genius is running strong in this movie. I can’t wait to watch this movie so it’s only a matter of waiting.

When was the last time I even mentioned knitting? I know I know I’m a really poor excuse for a knitter lately, with a million unfinished projects and ideas that I haven’t even started yet I’ve really been slacking on the knitting. While I’m really sorry about that I haven’t lost interest in knitting and the great people at skacel collection, inc. and addi Needles has just announced a new kind of knitting needles which have really caught my eye. 

Introducing the Innovative Abbi FlexiFlips Double Pointed Knitting Needles.

I’ve only used Double Pointed Needles a few times in my knitting career but always found them to be awkward, cumbersome and just hard to use. Any other knitters feel that way? The way you have to have four needles clunking together and poking you in the hand just doesn’t work for me, thus I resort to using the magic loop method of knitting. Out of all the knitting needles I’ve used over the past year I have to say Addi and Addi Turbo are by far my favorite, Addi Turbos were the needles I used on my very first pair of socks and they made the process so much easier. Actually if you remember that far back I actually switched to Addi Turbo needles on those socks after struggling for the first 15 rows using DPNs. Well these newest Addi needles dubbed the Addi FlexiFlips look to be a silver lining for those stumped by DPNs, this newest video from skacel below will explain a lot. (Click here if the link doesn’t work: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcNK0xCFXNc )

Pretty incredible huh? They’re kind of like the love child of magic loop and DPNs. Instead of dealing with four needles it’s actually two needles with a third needle for working the stitches. You can see they still operate like four double pointed needles but each needle has a plastic cord conjoining the two needles, forming one needle. You’ll use two flexiflips to hold your stitches on and one flexiflip to work your stitches, the second needle of the flexiflip will allow your stitches not to fall off as easily, which is a godsend to me. So basically you’re only going to need three Flexiflips which I believe is what each set comes with. Now there’s one more part of these needles that I need to point out are the actual needle tips. One Flexflips needle actually has two different needle tips. One end has the Addi Turbo needle tip and the other has one they call the “Rocket” tip. I’m actually not aware of what the benefits of the Rocket tip is but they offer two different tips for different scenarios in your knitting journey. I am concerned that I’ll get the two tips mixed up when knitting and use the wrong tip, in which might change my knitting gauge but I’m not sure if the tips will change the gauge or not.

Really want to get a hold of a set of these to review for you guys but for now I have a place that you can buy these from. Ewe Count is a knitting store based in Cheyenne, Wyoming and is one of the first stores to get a hold of these awesome needles. (Which seem to come in US 0 up to US 8) First of all if you’re in the area please go check this awesome store out! I really wish I could get up there myself but she currently has these needles available to purchase in store as well as shipped to you for those not in the area! You can visit this store by visiting 819 Randall Avenue Cheyenne, WY 82001 and contact her via phone at 307-638-1148. (Long distance charges may apply on landline phone calls.)  You can also check Ewe Count out at ewecount.com for more information and follow her on Facebook here. (@ewecount) A set of these will cost you 24.00 USD which is not bad for a 3 needle set; it’ll be all you need to get started on a project. 

These needles are probably a go to DPN alternative for someone like me so I can’t wait to get a hold of a set of these. Imagine how easier these will make casting on, knitting socks or even for finishing off beanies. For now I’m going to try to get back knitting because with winter coming up I need a new pair of fingerless gloves so who knows you may be seeing a new project in the near future, as well as hopefully some finished projects.

Check out more information at http://www.skacelknitting.com/addi-Flexiflips/

Well that’s pretty much it for the blog today, or is it? I’ve been teasing it for two weeks but it’s time for another Pokemon TCG unboxing! I’m actually ahead of myself on the packs to be honest. This week’s unpacking is of a pack I bought two weeks ago and the one I bought this week is actually out of the new Crimson Invasion series so you’ll have to wait to see what the new card pack has in store. (This way it won’t be spoiling the surprise for you guys too early, go grab yourself some Crimson Invasion booster packs!)

Getting Nostalgic with a Pokémon TCG XY Evolutions Booster Pack.

This week’s unpacking is going to be pretty nostalgic as I’ve picked myself up a XY Evolutions booster pack. Yeah believe it or not you can still buy XY TCG series packs and actually I’ve seen some packs as old as Diamond and Pearl still floating around so who knows I may go hunting for one of them.

This isn’t my first time unpacking a Pokemon XY Evolutions TCG booster pack as I actually unpacked three I believe last Christmas on a video. Now while that video isn’t a great quality (Lightbulb in the room I was filming went out and it was night time, go figure my impatience would get the better of me.) you can go watch that video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFo5Sr_ecmw . This XY Evolutions series brought back cards from the ORIGINAL TCG Base Set from 1997 so this series is by far one of my favorites as I never got to get any base TCG cards as a kid. For this pack I’m hoped to get a different lot of cards then I did on that video and boy did I ever

First up is 47/108 Gastly and yeah this is a duplicate of one I got before, oh well. Not the greatest kick off but hey this is still a cool card and sometimes duplicates can come in handy if you wish to trade cards with another. (Hit me up via email guys I’ll take anything I don’t have in my collection) This is actually one of two duplicates I sadly got this pack, the next one is this card.

This is 48/108 Haunter and yeah this is another duplicate but hey it matches up with Gastly. Was hoping to get a Gengar card but beggars can’t be choosers.

Now we’re getting into new cards for my collection this card is 3/108 Caterpie and I swear I’ve seen the original version of this card somewhere before in my lifetime. I think a kid on a school bus trip had one or something I do remember this card from somewhere but I can’t put my finger on it. Love this original Ken Sugimori illustration of Caterpie despite it being a common card.

This next card is 33/108 Magikarp. This is a cool illustration, I don’t get Magikarp often, actually I’m sure I’ve only ever gotten one before.  This is a common card but the nostalgic illustration makes it a welcome addition to my collection. (Which I should probably show off at some point when I figure out how without bogging everyone down.)

You know who’s cool? Seel. What’s even colder is this 28/108 card of Seal. Sporting Mr. Sugimori’s illustration of Seel this common card is pretty cool. I would love to actually get Dewgon in this set as well.

Alright with those cards out of the way I’m now coming up to the two greatest pulls I may have ever done in my lifetime of pulling Pokemon TCG Cards. I’ve probably said this before but Pikachu is by far one of my favorite Pokemon, I have a million different toys, plushies and even a million ingame Pikachus in my 7 generation spanning collection of Pokemon games. I also really love getting Pikachu TCG cards and out of this pack I got the one card I always wanted as a kid but like I said never got the base set cards, this is 35/108 Pikachu.

You should have seen the look on my face when I got this card, I don’t care if it’s common I have ALWAYS wanted this card and here we are. Even more incredible is the fact it’s a HOLO FOIL version of the card! I don’t mean to make you cringe or anything but I sure felt like a giddy little kid when pulling this card.

Now XY Evolutions also included some new cards as well as reprints of older Base TCG cards, mostly super rare EX and full body artwork cards. Why am I bringing this up? Because the next card I pulled was this incredible card right here, this is 103/108 Mewtwo EX!

I have to admit I was absolutely speechless when pulling this card. I don’t know why but my luck with cards seems to be getting better as of lately and this card is proof of that. This full body artwork card of Mewtwo has a different texture then ordinary cards (Although I would never actually touch the card, for mint condition reasons) and Mewtwo is sporting a snazzy gold outline in this illustration. Funny enough it looks like he’s coming out of an Ultra Wormhole despite this being XY. Maybe the recent announcement for Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon has brought this to mind but it really does look like that. This is a super rare card and I’m happy I got this card, now if I could just get some full body artwork cards of the Kanto Gym Leaders.

The last three cards are the following.

A Thunder Energy Card which I seem to get one energy card per pack lately, maybe that’s intentional.

82/108 Pokedex which as the name implies is a Pokedex card of the original Dexter himself. Always loved this version of the Pokedex and its cool how this card can help you pull the right card from your deck on the exact turn you want it to.

Finally here’s 77/108 Energy Retrieval which is always a useful card for those shorthanded of energy cards.

This is by far a favorite unpacking of mine and it’s added so many cool cards to my collection. I do want to get more XY Evolution packs but with 4 different packs of these in my collection I’ll be risking more duplicates, we’ll see how that plays out.

Next time I’ll be doing Crimson Invasions so I’ll be seeing you guys in two weeks!

Don’t forget while you’re buying some packs to stop by Gamestop and pick up your Shiny Silvally code card! I’m pretty sure today is the last day so make sure to not miss this. Not sure what the next event will be it seems we’ll be on break from the events for a while.

Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon come out THIS FRIDAY! The next Pokemon Journey awaits and I can’t wait to kick some Team Rocket booty once again while traversing the new and improved Alola region.

Until then however I’m going to leave you guys for the week. Be sure to enjoy it! As for what to expect next week, well you never know but I’ve been avidly watching RWBY Volume 5 so perhaps it’s time I discuss that.

This was ZAK Entertainment

See you next week!

Preparing For Trouble With Mario & Luigi and Pokemon Guardians Rising TCG Pulls

BOO!

Welcome back to ZAK Entertainment with a breath of fresh air! (It’s also the pre Halloween blog but I’m not really doing Halloween… There is something kind of spooky later though so stay tuned) Well maybe not for you guys but for me it definitely feels like it. As of right now ZAK Entertainment is now being written on a brand new COMPUTER! Yes I finally updated my computer after I believe 4 or more years of using my Windows 8.1 Laptop. So now I’m running on Windows 10 Creator’s Update trying to figure things out it seems similar to Windows 7 with the Applications from Windows 8 carrying over and some really cool new features such as the Windows Game Bar which allows you to record gameplay without the need of external programs such as FRAPs, which is INCREDIBLE I may actually start doing gameplay of PC games for you guys if it interests you, or just because I feel like doing it.

Windows 10 is a lot faster than Windows 8.1 by a long shot and with my more powerful processor and graphics chip I’m actually able to do a lot heavier work on this new computer so fingers crossed on maybe being able to do more videos! Editing was getting near frustrating on my old Laptop which is why I’ve done very few within the past few months.

Really I’m still learning a lot but when I do get familiar with everything I may start doing little walkthroughs of Windows 10 and it’s features for the blog that would be a cool segment.

A lot has happened in this past week so expect a mega blog today because a new computer may of not been all I bought this past week.

For now however I got some huge news regarding Pokemon, it’s probably spoilers but it’s still an official announcement in Japan so it’s worth mentioning because of how insane this reveal is.'

We're Preparing for Trouble and Make it Double In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon

Remember the motto? It’s forever etched in my memory. Jessie, James and Meowth were my introduction to Team Rocket through the Pokemon Anime series and while these three are a bunch of goofballs Team Rocket itself has a lot more to it. (Even though Jessie and James are still the best… Even if they’re the worse.) Led by Giovanni Team Rocket mainly sought out to steal Pokemon and profit from them, building a criminal empire as well as divulging in some top secret and forbidden science resulting in a certain clone Pokemon we all love. Giovanni’s plans were thwarted by the protagonist of the Red and Blue games (Canonically named Red, funny enough.) as well as Ash on many occasions in the anime and Red along with the rest of the Pokedex holders in the Pokemon Adventures manga series. (A blog for another time)

Team Rocket attempted to revive themselves three years later during the events of Pokemon Gold and Silver/Heart Gold and Soul Silver led by a band of Team Rocket executives seeking their former boss. Once again they were squished by a kid and left to dust while Giovanni continued his secret training, only making a minor appearance during the World Tournament in Black 2 and White 2.

Well in the game canon I’m pretty sure it’s been at least 8 years since Team Rocket was thwarted, thus why Red and Blue/Green were so much older in Sun and Moon. With this in mind no one expected Team Rocket to make a return to the games… But here we are. Its official guys! Team Rocket will be making an appearance in Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon with a slightly new look. These two Japanese download cards for the two games give us a very vague look at the new Team Rocket.

These two cards give us a look at the new male and female grunts of Team Rocket and while they look pretty similar to their usual Team Rocket outfit from Red/Blue/Gold/Silver if you take a closer look the R pasted on their shirts are not Red but a multiple of colors, similar to a rainbow, actually identical to one to be honest. You can see this Rainbow R more clearly on the first card which appears to be a huge Team Rocket mansion.

This is insane news, does this mean we have four different teams to deal with this time around? Team Skull, Aether Foundation (This is Sun and Moon spoilers, oops), Ultra Recon Squad (I’m only assuming they’re bad guys) AND now Team Rocket?! What on earth is happening in Alola? 

The big question is why is Team Rocket back? Has Giovanni finally finished his training and is now reviving Team Rocket himself? Also why does this Rocket mansion look striking similar to the Aether Mansion from Sun and Moon? I did have some odd ideas that Team Rocket and Aether Foundation were linked together in some shape or form so maybe I was right after all.

(Thanks to Serebii for getting these images out there for us.)

Whatever the case is this is some insane news I’ve always wanted Team Rocket to make a return in some shape or form despite their love for low level Rattatas and Zubats. Now I may be asking for too much but can we have Jessie and James in these games? Please? They were in Pokemon Yellow so they have to be canon in game somewhere. I guess that’s too much wishful thinking.

That’s all the information we have as of right now but there’s apparently a big announcement happening next week so we may see these guys in action in a trailer next Thursday November the 2^nd.

These games come out November 17^th so we’re coming to the finish line on announcements. We’ll have to wait and see what they have in store Thursday but you can be sure I’ll discuss it next Monday on the blog!

Mario Sets Off on an Odyssey!

Still on the subject of Video Games… A certain Red Capped Plumber has been making some big hits this year and possibly his greatest adventure yet has just released… Super Mario Oydessy for the Nintendo Switch! Super Mario Oydessy makes a striking return to Gameplay similar to that of Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine but takes the open world feeling to a whole new level. This game will feature many kingdoms all across the Mushroom World with a lot of exploring to do in each to find the Power Moons hidden in its wake. Whether you’re climbing buildings or apparently playing stack the Goombas you’ll have to search every nook and cranny to find these Power Moons which power Mario’s new form of transportation known as the Odyssey.

Super Mario Odyssey introduces a huge new gameplay mechanic in the form of Mario’s Hat, yeah I’m not kidding. A Hat Ghost by the name of Cappy has now possessed Mario’s cap and is helping our plumbing hero thwart Bowser once again and stop him from marrying the Princess. You can throw Mario’s hat now to defeat enemies, grab coins and even get a jump boost. Mario’s hat can also do one more thing, allows Mario to control certain items, enemies and apparently a poor pedestrian. Yeah not sure how this works it’s something to do with cappy but it gives everyone a snappy Mario cap, mustache and allows you to control them so it’s pretty awesome. 

There’s a bucket load of stuff to do in this new Mario adventure so check out your local store or if you’re interested in buying the game from online be sure to check out this Amazon link!

 

I sadly do not have the game as of right now, I would of jumped to buy it (Mario puns) but I don’t actually have a Nintendo Switch as of right now and as I just paid out for a brand new computer I’m not going to be able to get one for a little bit. I was however to buy a Mario game that means just as much to myself…

Returning to the Beanbean Kingdom

Yup! This is Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga + Bowser’s Minions and I picked this game up a few days ago. I’ve been a huge fan of the Mario and Luigi games since 2003 and even though I’m missing two games in the series (Partners in Time and Paper Jam) I absolutely love this series. This game specifically means so much to me and is already my favorite in the series. Why you ask? Well this just so happens to be a re-mastered version of the original Mario and Luigi of the same name. (Minus the Bowser’s Minion part.)

Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga is one if not my all time Gameboy Advance game of all time. This game is an RPG but with a Mario twist. You don’t just press a button and watch the action happen, no with Mario and Luigi teaming up you’ll need some good button timing and a lot of Syrup to get through this game. Attacks have action commands which when timed perfectly racks up quite a bit of damage and in this game allows for Mario and Luigi to attack twice in one move. 

Outside of battling this game incorporates some pretty awesome puzzles (Albeit sometimes frustrating) you’ll encounter as Mario and Luigi traverse the Beanbean Kingdom which is inhabited by bean like people and some new enemies lurking around every corner. Well they’re not really new at this point this game originally came out in 2003.

Speaking of enemies… The best parts of these games are hands down Cackletta and Fawful. These two partners in crime are the main antagonists of this game. You may be familiar with Fawful from Mario and Luigi Bowser’s Inside Story where he took the role as the sole villain but this is the game he got his start in, by being Cackletta’s underling. Cackletta is a bean witch with a hunger for power and control over the Beanbean Kingdom. For some reason her master plan involves stealing Princess Peach’s voice which in turn wraps Mario, Luigi and surprisingly Bowser into the spotlight to go and save her voice and defeat Cackletta.

In this game you control Mario and the A button and Luigi with the B button and while at first you just jump around later you unlock some new moves that make traversing the Beanbean Kingdom just a little more fun. Speaking of fun oh my lord the humor in this game is hilarious. These games crack me up and actually add a lot of personality to the world of Mario (An aspect of this series I’ve always loved) and his clumsy and sometimes kick butt brother Luigi. Luigi usually takes the cake as one of my favorite characters in these games because of all the hijinks the poor guy gets himself into.

There’s a lot to experience in these games so I can’t talk about the games all that much without spoiling anything. I bet there are quite a few of you who haven’t experienced these games before so this is the perfect opportunity because this remake is so far extremely faithful to the original while adding new features that make the game seem like a brand new game to me.

The music has been wonderfully recreated and the scenery of the Beanbean Kingdom is absolutely gorgeous in this remake and the new mechanics such as the emergency guard feature, which apparently comes from Paper Jam, are welcomed additions. You can actually save wherever you want now (THANK YOU ALPHADREAM) and apparently there are now health boxes scattered around the Beanbean Kingdom, near bosses and entrances to dungeons. Apparently theses health boxes were in the original Japanese version of Superstar Saga for the 3DS but not the English version… Go figure.

I’m currently passed the HooHoo Mountain and on my way to the Beanbean Castle and I’ve just unlocked a part of this game which sets it apart from the originals… Minion Quest. Now I’ve not dived too much into this yet so I have no idea what it’s about but it serves as a separate game almost that takes place during the events of Superstar Saga but instead of Mario and Luigi being the protagonists the spotlight falls to a… Goomba? Yup a Goomba aka Captain Goomba serves as the hero in this story as he seeks to save King Bowser from Fawful. That’s pretty much all I know about this game right now so I’ll keep you guys posted.

In-between playing this amazing game I’ve gotten myself two new packs of Pokemon cards! As I am supposed to be doing this every two weeks I’m actually only going to unpack one booster pack this blog and leave you the next one for next week. It’s kind of because this blog is getting long and kind of because I want to spread things out for you guys.

Unpacking A Pokémon Guardian Rising TCG Pack

This week I got a pack of the Pokemon Sun and Moon Guardian Rising series. Last time I unpacked some Burning Shadows which actually meant I skipped on this series but I’m trekking back to it because, well I have to get at least one pack of every series. As I’m doing this every two weeks (I skipped last week by accident so we’re doing two packs in one blog) I’ll probably be grabbing some older packs so hopefully we won’t get any duplicates!

First up in this pack I got myself a Clefairy which while this is a common card I really like the art of this card and this would be my first Fairy type Clefairy. The last Clefairy card I got was the 53/115 Clerfairy Card from the EX Unseen Forces series, which was a LONG time ago, 2005 to be exact.

Anyway love the artwork of this card, it’s 88/145 of the Guardian Risings set. I now have two Clefairy cards total in my collection; I don’t get Clefairy often apparently. Now I just need a Clefable.

Next up is this nifty Tentacool card! It’s a common card yes but I really love the artwork of this card, it’s pretty colorful and Tentacool looks pretty cool, albeit a bit angry. This makes my 3^rd Tentacool card total in my 21 year old collection. I swear I had more than this but according to my collection my first Tentacool card is this EX Legend Maker Tentacool Card which is 66/92 of that series which came out in 2006 towards the end of Generation three. Apparently this card goes for a whopping 49 cents for the holo foil version on the market, I’m stinking rich. (Don’t worry Tentacool you’re priceless to me… I sound like Misty now.)

My next Tentacool is a more recent one in the form of this really amazingly designed Tentacool (Alpha) Card from the XY Primal Clash series. It’s such a nice card I’m surprised it’s only uncommon. This is 71/160 of that series.

Back to the new Tentacool this card is 23/145 of the Guardian Risings series. I really need a Tentacruel.

Moving on I have this Beldum card! The background of the art is simple and gradient but pretty awesome. Once again this is a guy I don’t get often, this card making three Beldums total. The first Beldum card I got was from EX Delta Species with this Beldum actually being a Beldum Delta Species card with a typing of Electric instead of Steel or Psychic. As a kid I really could not wrap my head around why this card was the electric type but I love Beldum so it’s all good. This is 59/113 of that series and is a common card.

My next Beldum card came 10 years later in this 3D model Beldum card from XY Ancient Origins. Always love these 3D cards. Back in the day they reminded me of Pokemon Stadium but now they seem awfully more realistic, it’s almost like this Beldum was actually photographed… Was he? Are Beldums real? Metagross would be a fun Pokemon to have considering he’s basically a super computer. This is number 47 of the XY Ancient Origins series.

This new Beldum card takes on a more flat but nicely aesthetic artwork that is number 83 of the series. I actually have a Metang card from EX Deoxys which means this is another 2005 card. I think a lot of my cards come from that year for some reason. This Metang is number 40 of the series.

This next card I won’t be doing any flashbacks with because I’ve never gotten one of this guy before, this is Number 43 of Guardian Rising, Helioptile! A Pokemon introduced X and Y this is a cool card to get, it kind of looks like a screenshot from the Pokemon show for some reason despite it not being that. It’s a common card but definitely a cool one. You know they usually include the evolution in the same series but I never seem to get the evolutions of Pokemon, haha.

Next up is my favorite card from this pull, number 6 Phantump! Just look at this card it’s so eerie yet really awesome and at a second glance you can see this card includes not one but two Pokemon! I may not have a Mimiku card but he’s sure hanging out in this Phantump card.

HERE COMES THE REINCARNATION OF DESTRUCTION IN POKEMOM FORM… IT’S YA BOY GOLISOPOD! I’ve never been able to get one of these guys ingame (His pre evolution is hard to train) but man is this one of Sun and Moon’s coolest additions. This is actually a rare card (Woo!) and is actually a holo foil as far as the artwork goes. This is number 9 of the series… Now I just need to get a Guzma card.

Next up is Alomomola which is number 36 of the series… I really do not know how to pronounce this Pokemon’s name but I will say this guy always confused me, I swear he was going to evolve from Luvdisc but oh well. I did get a Alomomola before in the XY Phantom Forces series.

This one is number 22 of the series. (Does stating this make it easier to find them online? I have no idea I’ve never sold any of my cards before, haha.)

Now we have number 34 Ice Cream! Oh wait I mean Vanillish. This Unova Pokemon is looking pretty cool in this card but I actually got an even cooler Vanillish from the XY BREAKPoint series a year ago. This one from BREAKpoint is number 44 and is a sweet foil card. When I look this card up online all I find is the normal non foil version so is this some weird rare variant or something? Am I rich now? 

These last two cards are actually just trainer cards, which I don’t mind but I’m not always super interested in them unless they’re trainer art cards.

This Is 121 Choice Band

This is 122 Energy Lotto which is useful in playing the TCG if you somehow have an energy card within the 7 top cards on your deck, you can always benefit with more energy cards.

Well that’s the end of that pack! Join me next week as I unpack a TCG Booster Pack which will send nostalgic shivers down your spine. I actually two absolutely incredible pulls on the next pack so it’ll be worth checking out.

Are we done? No of course not! I actually have a piece of art to reveal to you all. 

Unveiling My Newest Digital Art Piece (Haven't done one in forever.)

Yeah remember when I did art? Well I’ve been really bogged down with external life stuff this past two months (As well as a lack of computer to boot… GET IT? I’m full of dumb puns this blog.) but I’ve actually gotten myself situated so I’ve been trying to get back into the things I love doing such as art and eventually knitting again. With my new computer I also got a brand new tablet in the form of the XP-Pen Star 05 Tablet, which I unboxed a few months ago but everyone hated that video so let’s forget I did that. I know I only just got a Wacom Intous tablet from my sister but apparently it doesn’t work with Windows 10 and this XP-Pen is so much more convenient due to its wireless connectivity. Really it’s a lot nicer tablet then the Wacom and to give this baby a test run digitally painted/drew a new art piece of a certain Aeris Eclipse. 

Don’t groan at me I like drawing Aeris, she’s the main protagonist of course. (Probably should make her the mascot of ZAK Entertainment at this point.) With tablet pen in hand and Krita downloaded and installed I pulled off this small digital sketch I’m titling “The Eclipse Girl”.

I used some wet paint brush tools with an ink outline in Krita to pull this off and I’m actually surprised how well this came out, I wasn’t even going to show this off online assuming it would look kind of cruddy but I surprised myself. I’m usually better at traditional art rather than digital art but maybe this tablet is making it easier for me. Going to keep practicing with this tablet and perhaps I’ll be as good as my sister. (Go check out her new blog by the way if you haven’t! You can read it here: http://ladyannavintage.blogspot.com/2017/10/the-autumn-nature-adventure.html)

Writing Dream Eclipse is something I’ve been trying to get back into doing since getting my life situated. I’ve not been able to write more than a couple of paragraphs due to so much else being on my mind I’m afraid I’ve delayed the release of this book even further. (There isn’t a release date to begin with.) So let’s get the ball rolling again shall we? With this brand new computer and a year of blogging behind me it’s time to look into a new year of ZAK Entertainment! Thank you all for sticking with me for this past year and forgive me for not making the one year anniversary more expansive.

Join me next week when I may or may not be talking about stuff that I don’t even know about yet because so much can happen in a week. Enjoy your day and if you’re reading this the day it’s posted or on Tuesday remember this is Halloween so please be careful when you’re out Trick or Treating but have fun of course! If you drive please watch the roads, especially in Neighborhoods because kids WILL be on those roads trust me.

For now I’m going to head on out of here and go back to traversing the Beanbean Kingdom with my old pals Mario & Luigi.

This was ZAK Entertainment

Happy Halloween… Also watch out for dancing Skeletons.