The LIGHT has now DAWNED upon me

Terrible pun aside, welcome back. It's been 5 months since my 100th post and my yearly birthday post needs to be made.

During the past 5 months, I've been happily giving in to whatever inspirations hit me and making videos out of it if I deem it sensible enough. I am particularly fond of a Bust a Groove and Pokemon parody video I made. It just seemed so perfect in my mind and I'm thankful the anime and 2000 movie provided me with just the right amount of scenes to make my vision a reality. 

 Ash and his EZ-Mouse (Parody of Shorty and the EZ-Mouse) 

Now I guess I should explain why I titled this post the way I did. It's because Dawn/Hikari is now the center of my attention. Misty is all but banished from my thoughts and I am really being honest here, as in I look deep inside myself and ask myself if whatever I felt about Misty 5 months prior is still there, it is now GONE.

She just has so much to offer!

I can't exactly tell you when it happened but when I tried to remember what the trigger was, this post came to mind.

http://noodlerama.tumblr.com/post/127004437576/ive-noticed-misty-dawn-and-may-all-have

Which lead to this post,

http://noodlerama.tumblr.com/post/117668567641/how-exactly-is-dawns-character-i-always-see-her

And I believe from there, I started going through all the Dawn related tag and I really enjoyed what I read and saw.

Now my full on rant about why I love Dawn and all my thoughts toward her will be for another post. This post is just the normal ranting I write when my birthday rolls around. It's honestly kind of easy to rant around this time of year because another Kamen Rider season has come and gone so I'll always have something to rant about, assuming I keep watching that is.

I watched every episode of Kamen Rider Drive. I even have his figuart and he looks amazing btw. I don't think I can really say whether a toku series is good or bad plot wise, I really don't give much thought to that. I can only tell you if I enjoyed it and if it kept my attention. And I did. It was an enjoyable series. I did not flat out drop it like I did with Gaim early so that's a good sign it was doing something right.  I liked the protagonist Tomari Shinnouske, I actually think I could pull off a cosplay of him.  Gou started out as really energetic to watch Rider, with his extravagant henshin debut and his cool guy after henshin pose. By midway, he completely changed and I was saddened, but at the end of the story, I understood it and was glad. I really didn't like the fact that Chase became the 3rd Rider especially when his suit design looks too similar to Kamen Rider W in my eyes.  I sincerely thought he was shoehorned in and was written in to become a Rider due to his popularity. I'll never know. But as time passed, it was obvious his story will be the classic machine trying to understand human feelings type deal. And this development actually produced one of the most memorable scenes in the series. He pulled it off well in my eyes and I applaud it.  Gold Drive seems destined for an exclusive figuarts release and darn it, I actually want one.

If you watched the episode, you know what happens

For reference if needed, this is Episode 43

I'll miss all of them but I'll probably miss Gen's wackiness the most

As for Kamen Rider Ghost, I still think Toei is blatantly cashing off of Deadpool's popularity. From what I've seen, I'm leaning towards the idea that they are trying to make Wizard V2. His fighting style looks similar to Wizard's. The main character even looks like Haruto a bit.

Though the longer I look, the more I'm beginning to like

Random pic much? But I just love the design

Ninninger has definitely improved. Whenever I set about watching the current episode, I was always not that excited. Like I knew it just wouldn't be all that great in terms of story. But the new ninja rival school arc and the conclusion of Star Ninger's character arc made the show feel better. I now appreciate the heroes' personalities now more than ever although not all the time.  It is nearly time for the announcement of the next Sentai and seeing as the 40th anniversary is just around the corner, I'm really excited to see what they come up with next. And oh, WHY OH WHY do we still not have news about figuarts for this team!

Takaharu could be a lot better though

 Toy wise, I've been bargain shopping old Kamen Rider Figuarts whenever I chance upon a sale online. I got Fourze Base and Magnet States for a steal as well as Gaim Orange Arms. Now I really regret not getting Kachidoki Arms when I had the chance. I also got Marika Peach arms, blame the pink color for that. My Riders are now 1 figure away from matching my Sentai figures. And I told mysel when I started I'd only concentrate on Sentai, "palm to forehead!"

I was introduced to Heroes of the Storm (HOTS) and it is my very first foray into the world of online gaming. Only this game and it's noob friendly play style will allow me to feel like a badass online competitively. There are the toxic players but that's unavoidable.

That's it I guess, I was really in a writing mood huh. I'll be back next time with Dawn, Kenny, Ash and more DAWN!

     

1 more before 100 (Status Update)

Something wonderful happened during the holidays last. A series of events led me to a new fascination coming into 2015. The reason I actually feel like writing again is because I want to try and see if I could accurately describe what I felt during that period into words. The extreme feelings of that time has subsided considerably but I am thankful for it. This will be the topic for my 100th blog entry.

Hello 99th blog entry. I shall now rant. 

I still watch Sentai and Rider. Only through the sheer convenience of having a smartphone capable of downloading torrents was I able to finish Toqger. I was surprised at myself for finishing it since I tried watching Go-Buster but I could not regularly watch. This was before I had a smartphone though, if I had one at the time, I probably would have watched all the way through. But with Gaim, I had a smartphone and was watching from ep 1. But when Michi turned into Ryugen, I outright stopped caring. It was the absurd light hearted storyline that did it for (fighting for territorial right to dance) Gaim thankfully got better, a lot better as a lot would agree. 

Ok what was I initially talking about? Toqger right.  I tolerated it. The cast grew on me eventually. Akira especially, He was definitely the Ucchi of the show. I loved the bathhouse centric episode with Kagura. The rest of it though is just so... bland. I don't really know what else to say about the story. The color change gimmick was really weird. I enjoyed the novelty of seeing a female red and a pink male but it really didn't add much. They even stopped using it in the latter parts.  The villains design is praised and I agree. Madame Noir is an eye catching design and Zed's monster form reminds me of Dante's Devil Trigger. Grita though can disappear forever and no one will care, seriously, I was so happy when Zed finally absorbed her.

Speaking of Dante, due to the announcement of DMC4 Special Edition, I installed DMC4 again and remembered why I uninstalled it in the 1st place. I get hooked too easily. Having access to Dante's 4 styles plus the Dark Slayer Style and the ability to freely change it anytime in game just open up a ton of possibilities and massive replay value. I am considering getting it once it comes out and I hope it lives up to its hype. I am ready to immerse myself in it again 4 months from now.

My toy collection has stalled. Red sentai figuarts are my main interest and it seems Bandai wants to focus on other franchises for the moment. I'm not too disappointed, I enjoy getting new toys to add but it's not like I need every single release. I do have Vul Eagle on the way to update my red sentai collection.  I also have Kamen Rider Drive and Armored Rider Marika ordered. I just fell for Marika, guess my weakness is pink hehe. Drive is a really nice design and coming of the heels of the massively praised Gaim figuarts, it's safe to assume he will come out okay, unlike Wizard.

Ninninger is 3 episodes old. I am not feeling the cast so far. Ever since I saw their faces, I felt no excitement. Also the 1st episode feels like they are trying too hard to be flashy.  It's like after the blandness of Toqger, this new sentai has to have all this flashy effects and cool poses. The suits are cool enough, don't try too hard.  I want this to be successful because I would really love to own figuarts of these guys. White female senshis are so rare, I was really happy to see one when the team was revealed. I was more overly ecstatic when I realized the team had a white and pink, I was blown away that day. 

Last thing, I've been toying with the idea of buying a Kiryu Monsterart for some time. The price though at the local stores are a bit too steep for me. 

I guess that's it, I feel inspired enough to really pour effort for my 100th blog entry. I hope it meets my expectations, I do want it to be well written enough that I can read it later in life and recall those once in a lifetime feelings.