kate

A new year, a new Detective Conan game! Looking back at the reviews of previous Conan games, I see they were all posted in May... That's because these games are always released mid-April (to coincide with the annual Conan movies) so add in shipping time and actual playtime, and you see why these reviews appear around the same time on this blog.

Detective Conan Musical Game series (DS/PSP/3DS)
Detective Conan: Rondo of the Blue Jewel
Detective Conan: Prelude from the Past
Detective Conan: Marionette Symphony
Detective Conan: Phantom Rhapsody

Azu Taishou Town is a Taishou period theme park and crucial part of the Azu town revitalization project. The famous detective Sleeping Kogorou has been invited to attend the opening ceremony by local politican (and driving power behind the project Igarashi Kiyoko, who also wants to hire Kogorou to locate a missing jewel for her. But things are not all well in Azu, as several murder cases happen across the town after the opening ceremony. A popular mobile game, Holmes App, and its mysterious developer Luna appear to be sole connection between the otherwise unconnected cases, but as Azu town is sealed off per order of an unknown bomb terrorist and police can't move, Conan and the gang will have to find the person orchestrating these murders themselves in the 2014 3DS game Detective Conan: Phantom Rhapsody.

Detecive Conan: Phantom Rhapsody is the fourth game in the musically themed Detective Conan game series, and the second to be developed by Spike-Chunsoft. Phantom Rhapsody is also a direct sequel to last year's Marionette Symphony, utilizing the same zapping system as its core game mechanic, a system where you need to 'zap' between multiple protagonists in order to help out the other protagonists (see also my reviews of Machi ~ Unmei no Kousaten, 428 ~ Fuusa Sareta Shibuya de and Marionette Symphony for more about zapping systems). Oh, and a fair warning, Phantom Rhapsody refers to the terrorist attack at Clover Hill several times and the big bad of Marionette Symphony appears quite prominently in the story, so you really should play Marionette Symphony before starting with Phantom Rhapsody.

 
As for Phantom Rhapsody's story, I think it's the opposite of last year's Marionette Symphony: Both games featured several seperate crimes which all tied in with one larger storyline, but while Phantom Rhapsody's individual crimes are quite right and it's fun figuring out who did it and how,  I think the overall story has some major flaws. Marionette Symphony on the other hand had a better overall story, but has pretty boring murders. For Phantom Rhapsody, you can expect a locked room murder, a detective vs detective battle, code cracking stories and even an appearance of the gentleman thief KID. Also, Phantom Rhapsody features the very first game appearance of highschool girl student detective Sera Masumi, who ever since her first appearance in the manga has been a favorite of mine! And yes, she solves a murder!

Last year's Marionette Symphony was not a perfect game, but it did manage to do something what few story-based games manage to do: link the story and the game mechanics (the zapping system) in a meaningful way. The moment it became clear why Marionette Symphony featured a zapping system, was amazing and really made an impression on me. This year's Phantom Rhapsody however is mostly just a rehash of the things we already saw in the previous game, just not as good. Only during a handful of events did I feel that a zapping system was needed for this story: most of the time they could have gone with a normal adventure game like the older Rondo of the Blue Jewel and Prelude to the Past.

 
The zapping system, and the information sharing Truth Card system, made sense for the story of Marionette Symphony: everyone was held captive in different part of the Clover Hill buildings with no mobile phone network, so it was natural to have multiple protagonists moving at different locations, each of them getting their hands on information that might help someone else. For Phantom Rhapsody however, the zapping system is not really necessary, as most of the time everyone is actually close to each other. The protagonists are mostly moving in one or two clusters, so why would you need to zap between six characters, if they're all standing next to each other?! Also, everyone can just use a mobile phone here, so why bother with the Truth Card system at all... In short, all the game mechanics that made sense storywise in Marionette Symphony, were just copied for this game, without actually having a good reason for that. Which is a shame, because I really liked Marionette Symphony and was hoping Chunsoft would pull something amazing again with Phantom Rhapsody...


As for game mechanics, Phantom Rhapsody has some new additions. Besides a witnesses-start-talking-fast-and-you-need-to-pick-out-an-important-statement system (borrowed from Danganronpa and Profesor Layton vs Ace Attorney's mob trials), Phantom Rhapsody also features Detective Battles, a confrontation system with RPG-esque elements (like in Danganronpa): at times you'll need to protect your Logic Points (=hit points) from random anger bursts of the suspects, but you can also replenish Logic Points and do preemptive strikes (with evidence, of course). The system has some flaws, but I have to admit these sections were quite exciting to do. But another new 'game mechanic' is obnoxious slowdown half of the time when you present a piece of evidence! I'm pretty sure that this game can't be that hard on the 3DS's processor...

In conclusion, Detective Conan: Phantom Rhapsody is an inferior sequel to Marionette Symphony. The elements that made last year's Conan game so impressive are not to be found here, resulting in an average, at times somewhat frustrating game. The seperate murder mysteries are okay, but the overall story, and the way it does not tie in well with the main game mechanics kinda hurt the game. By the way, for those interested in these musically themed Conan games, I think the best is Marionette Symphony, then Rondo of the Blue Jewel, followed by Phantom Rhapsody and finally Prelude from the Past.

Original Japanese title(s): 『名探偵コナン　ファントム狂詩曲（ラプソディー）』

It will be a while before I'll see this year's Detective Conan movie (Dimensional Sniper), so today a review of another Detective Conan related movie to pass the time!

Conan, the great detective turned into a kid and Lupin III, grandson of Arsene Lupin and the greatest thief in the world, first crossed paths in 2009's Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan, a somewhat disappointing TV special which should only be remembered for the absolutely magnificent performance of voice actor Kamiya Akira. But the crossover between these two series turned out to be rather succesful, because a sequel was released in December 2013, in the form of Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie. Lupin III and his gang are back in Japan and they are planning to steal a jewel called the Cherry Sapphire which is held at a bank near Conan's home. At the same time, Conan discovers that crackshot Jigen Daisuke, Lupin's right hand, is working as a bodyguard for the popular Italian idol singer Emilio, who will be performing in Japan soon. How are these two jobs related and what is Lupin III really after?

What once started as a funny crossover cameo in Detective Conan - Jolly Roger in the Deep Azure, made possible because both Lupin III and Detective Conan are animated at TMS, has now become a little franchise series and I have to say, I enjoyed Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie much better than the original 2009 TV special. Which was just weird with fake foreign countries and lookalike princesses and stuff. Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie on the other hand is a normal heist movie, which we see from those sides: we follow both Lupin III and the gang slowly setting things up for their heist, as well as Conan (and other characters from the series) doing detectivey stuff. It's what you'd expect from a crossover between a series starring a detective, and a series starring a thief, and it works mostly.


Mostly, I say, because the story itself is actually not very good. The plot surrounding Emilio is quite ridiculous if you stop and think about it and whenever the movie enters Story Exposition Time, you just hope it is over soon. Also a fair warning, it's preferable if you watch the 2009 Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan TV special before the movie: there are no strong links, but references to the TV special do fall out of the sky near the end of the movie, and if you haven't seen the special, it would just be distracting and confusing.

But what is there to enjoy if the story is bad? Two things: action scenes and character interactions. I already noticed that the action scenes in Detective Conan movies have become more spectacular with each movie the last few years (incredible skateboard scene in 2010's Lost Ship in the Sky, incredible snowboard scene in 2011's Quarter of Silence, another incredible skateboard scene in 2012's The Eleventh Striker and... incredible fight and soccer scenes in 2013's Private Eye in the Distant Sea), but because this is a crossover with Lupin III, which is more of a comedic/slapstick action series, you can expect even more over-the-top action (heck, it starts right away with incredible waterboard/skateboard action..). I wouldn't say that Detective Conan is realistic, but sometimes the action does feel a bit too out of there for Conan. But they're definitely fun scenes and whenever several characters of either series are together, you can expect something fun to happen, be it of the action variety, or just character interaction.


Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie is really just something for the fans (duh, it's a crossover), who of course want to see how characters from different series react to each other and this movie delivers in that category, and in a way much better than was done in the original TV special. The stars of the movie are definitely cocky kid Conan and marksman Jigen, who spend some amazing time together as a bickering father-son duo. It's absolutely beautiful (second place goes to the duo Fujiko and Haibara). But a meeting between hardboiled ICPO inspector Zenigata and the somewhat bumbling police detective Takagi works wonderfully well too.

But I guess that's the main objective of a crossover like Lupin the 3rd VS Detective Conan The Movie. Pander to the fans. I know both series quite well, so I enjoyed seeing the two series blend together in this movie (in a manner done much better than the 2009 TV special), but I wouldn't recommend the movie if you have never seen Detective Conan or Lupin III. But then again, I can't imagine anyone would want to see this movie if not already familiar with at least one side of the crossover...

Original Japanese title(s):　モンキー・パンチ　（原：『ルパン三世』）、青山剛昌（原：『名探偵コナン』）　『ルパン三世VS名探偵コナン』

ghostdeer:

Shibas: secret cats

Here’s the other screen print collab I recently did, this time with Nina Matsumoto. Who doesn’t like Shiba Inus?

⇢ CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE ⇠

p.s. if you want to order both a Shiba and a Bone Bestiary print and not get charged for shipping twice, email me at brittch[at]gmail.com.

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Don’t let dragons eat you. Eat dragons instead. Since the scales can be kinda tough to get through with our delicate human teeth, I recommend dragon cupcakes, like the ones made by Fernanda Abarca Cakes. They also made Frozen desserts, and how is that Elsa made of fondant? How?!

(Fernanda Abarca Cakes on Facebook, via That’s Nerdalicious)

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A woman attacked with acid. A teenager stabbed to death. A woman raped and beaten. Women smashed in the head with bowling balls and glass bottles.

Those are real life examples of violence that women have experienced after they rejected the sexual advances of men — when they refused to flirt with them, dance with them, go on a date with them, or have sex with them — being collected by a new Tumblr page called “When Women Refuse.” The recent mass shooting in Santa Barbara, which was perpetrated by a young man who wanted to punish the women who weren’t attracted to him, is the latest example of a tragedy that fits this profile.

“We still don’t view gender based violence as a large cultural issue — we tend to think of these as isolated incidences,” Deanna Zandt, the co-founder of the digital strategy group Lux Digital and the feminist activist who started the Tumblr, explained in an interview. “We still don’t view it as a larger problem within rape culture.”

After news broke about this weekend’s shooting rampage, Zandt said that many of the men in her social networks were quick to assume that the perpetrator, Elliot Rodger, represents an extreme outlier. She wanted to do something to help people realize that what happened in Santa Barbara is actually all too common, thanks to our culture of violence and misogyny against women. So when she noticed the writer Kate Harding collecting similar news stories on her Facebook page, Zandt decided to house them on a public site, and “When Women Refuse” was born.

The site took off. Twitter users were quick to share it under the hashtag #YesAllWomen, which has emerged as a space for women to share their own personal experiences with violence and misogyny in the aftermath of the shooting.

“There’s been a really positive reaction from both men and women,” Zandt said. “I think it’s been really eye opening for many people. The most common response has been — ‘oh my god, I had no idea.’ ”

Thanks to the online tools that are now available to feminist activists, social media users are increasingly taking the opportunity to drive conversations about victim-blaming and gender-based violence. Earlier this year, feminists used Twitter to amplify women’s experiences with rape culture — a concept that was once relegated to the feminist blogosphere, but that has recently gained recognition in more mainstream circles. Now, the coverage around the Santa Barbara shooting has put a spotlight on the “Pick Up Artist” (PUA) community, which has a long history of treating women like objects that men are entitled to.

“The fact that this conversation is happening now is a huge indicator of the structural connectivity work that online feminists have been doing for years,” Zandt noted. “We’re in a different place than we were five years ago… We’re creating a space for these discussions.”

The post Chilling New Website Documents What Happens To Women Who Reject Men’s Sexual Advances appeared first on ThinkProgress.

Story by Trigun's Yasuhiro Nightow of New York in a bubble with supernatural creatures

mirai-e-jump:

プリキュア10周年

プリキュア オールスターズ New Stage 3 永遠のともだち

ふたりは ― ハピネスチャージ

「完全な品質のための新しいタブで開く」

Pretty Cure 10th Anniversary

Precure All Stars New Stage 3: Forever Friends

Futari wa - Happiness Charge 

(Open pictures in new tab for full quality)

Check out this huge Lego version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man about to trash a minifig scale city. The impressive diorama was created by the Korean building team OliverSeon as a set to the Lego Ghostbusters Ecto-1. I know, I know—I love those guys too.

Read more...

Sekaiichi Hatsukoi, Junjo Romantica, Hakkenden manga to switch to new magazine

It's another ensemble of the various incarnations of Link, from The Legend of Zelda franchise, over the years. This one is just a little more cheeky than others.



See more: The Many Faces of Link

I wrote a comic about my Tesla Model S.

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There’s a lot of quasi-scientific imagery in this first full trailer for Interstellar but only a hint of a plot. Maybe that’s the way all of these promos should be.

A few pointers, nothing overly explained…

Click here to view the embedded video.

First Full Trailer For Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar

On Wednesday [1], Microsoft reported about the Xbox One's failure to Kinect. Eh...? Microsoft now plans to release an Xbox One carrying a lower $399.99 price tag, but without the Kinect along for the ride.

Is this a smart move, on Microsoft's part? Well, it definitely can't hurt.



See more: Magic Smartglass on the Wall

The good news is that the Frank Quitely art book is finally coming out! It’s called Graphic Ink: The DC Comics Art of Frank Quitely and its out in June.

The bad news is…well it isn’t really bad news. It’s just Robin letting his inner catamite out again. And if you think I’m wrong just examine the look on Batman’s face.

In case you’re wondering, the book was announced long ago with a different look:

Not final cover. Indeed.

Another earlier version of the cover added more of Robin’s knee, making it a bit less…brief-tastic. Traditionally, as shown by covers and splash pages, many superheroes have a tendency to enter a fight crotch-first, I guess to frighten their enemies? A lot of our animal pals use similar techniques—the mandrill’s swollen red butt being a notable example. In that case, Quitely has done it again, with an image that rouses all kinds of allusions and echoes the primal nature of the superhero conflict. Maybe Kate Willaert will take this on in a future By Its Cover column?

[Via Facebook.]

Laura Hudson has a well-researched piece from the print Wired called Curbing Online Abuse Isn’t Impossible. Here’s Where We Start and I think it’s a seminal piece that suggests that bad behavior ISN’T inevitable on the internet.

The good news, though, is that Internet harassment can be combatted and reduced. While the problem is far from solved, a few online communities—especially in the world of multiplayer gaming, which has long struggled with issues of incivility and abuse—have come up with some innovative techniques to deter harassers and sometimes even reform them. If Facebook and the other social networks were to take a page from these approaches, they could make huge strides in turning the Internet into a less toxic place for everyone. But embracing their lessons would also require a whole new way of thinking about online behavior.

 

Hudson focuses on some gaming communities that took steps to weed out abusive behavior…NOT by simply banning trolls or ending anonymity, but by actual setting community standards that lessened an atmosphere where abuse could take place:

Some of the reforms Riot came up with were small but remarkably effective. Originally, for example, it was a default in the game that opposing teams could chat with each other during play, but this often spiraled into abusive taunting. So in one of its earliest experiments, Riot turned off that chat function but allowed players to turn it on if they wanted. The impact was immediate. A week before the change, players reported that more than 80 percent of chat between opponents was negative. But a week after switching the default, negative chat had decreased by more than 30 percent while positive chat increased nearly 35 percent. The takeaway? Creating a simple hurdle to abusive behavior makes it much less prevalent.

The piece brings up something that I emphasized in my own piece on the recent troubles: is it up to the community to develop and set standards for behavior. That’s how civilizations generally work. The internet has gotten a free pass for a long time because…it isn’t part of society? The internet IS our society now, and the same rules of courtesy and respect should be applied.

This is not a free speech issue, as many people still contend in the comments of Hudson’s article. It is surprising to me how many people (mostly men) are so devoted to having public places on the internet as their own personal thought toilets. The internet is a huge place and if you want some place to be a wackadoo, there are many places you can do it without crapping on other people’s lawns. And yes, I know that some social situations tend to run hot, like playing a real time video game, or certain city council meetings. Or Taiwanese legislatures. Elevators containing the Carter/Knowles family. It’s human nature. But it’s time to reel in the abuse. The internet is real life, and who you are here is reflects who you really are.

And it’s time for the REAL MEN out there to be real heroes and say this is enough. Because no one likes a big pile of crap on their lawn.

One of the things about being America's most beloved comic book critic is that strange things tend to show up on my doorstep. Sometimes, it's a Power Rangers Fan Club kit from 1994, and sometimes, it's a copy of the comic book adaptation of Space Jam, and it happens often enough that I didn't think I could be surprised when it came time to pop open a box anymore. And then I opened one up to find two boxes of X-Men themed Twinkies resting on a bed of glimmering golden Easter basket grass.

Yes, those diabolical bakers at Hostess are marking the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past with two new flavors for everyone's favorite golden sponge cake, complete with the somewhat unfortunate name of EXtreme Creme, in Strawberry and Blue Raspberry. And I have eaten them.

Continue reading…

After a poorly worded explanation of why same-sex relationships had been left out of the upcoming life simulation game Tomodachi Life, Nintendo has issued an apology on their American site. The original statement — “We hope that all of our fans will see that Tomodachi Life was intended to be a whimsical and quirky game, and that we were absolutely not trying to provide social commentary” — implied that the exclusion was deliberate. The follow-up is more reasonable: the oversight can’t be patched at this point, but they’ll do better next time.

We apologize for disappointing many people by failing to include same-sex relationships in Tomodachi Life. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to change this game’s design, and such a significant development change can’t be accomplished with a post-ship patch. At Nintendo, dedication has always meant going beyond the games to promote a sense of community, and to share a spirit of fun and joy. We are committed to advancing our longtime company values of fun and entertainment for everyone. We pledge that if we create a next installment in the Tomodachi series, we will strive to design a game-play experience from the ground up that is more inclusive, and better represents all players.

If we lived in a parallel universe in which this statement had been the first thing Nintendo said, I think it would’ve been a quieter week on the internet. I obviously can’t speak for everyone, but if I were to ask a developer why people like me and my partner weren’t included in a game we were looking forward to, and the answer was, “Oh, wow, we’re sorry. We can’t fix it now, but we’ll make it happen with the next one” — I’d be cool with that. Would it still be disappointing? Yes. But in my book, knowing that there will be future progress is almost as good as having the benefits of said progress in the present.

Now, whether there will actually be another Tomodachi game is unknown at this point, but hopefully this is something Nintendo will keep in mind for future titles as well. If nothing else, I think publicly recognizing that they have fans for whom this really matters is a good step.

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comicblah:

X-Men #10 cover art by Jim Lee and Scott Williams

This is the issue that features the X-Men turning into funny/parody Wizard of Oz versions of themselves, so Wolverine is this meek wimp who got beat up in school and the best he does is cower, Beast talks like Scooby Doo, Cyclops turns into :negativeman:, Rogue can’t touch anybody, and I guess Psylocke, Jubilee, and Gambit are just evil flying monkeys. There’s a weird Maverick story in here, too.

Anyway one of my most favorite and beloved bits from the entirety of comicdom is in this issue. Mojo has Psylocke, Jubilee, and Gambit all tied up as prep for act two of his latest production. “My faithful viewers ALWAYS enjoy X-Men battling other X-Men!”

“As if you don’t got ENOUGH footage o’ that?!” shouts Jubilee.

“Jubilation,” says Gambit.

“Why,” says Jubilee in a small font, “does everyone say my name like it means ‘shut up’?”

Code:Breaker creator's story of high school band of odd characters

Carl’s Jr? Check. Hardees. Check. Axe? Check. So sure, why not X-Men: Days of Future Past Twinkie tie-ins? EXTREME CREME!!!! 

Just a bit more ridiculousness from Facebook…

I demand to know when we’re getting a feminine hygiene superhero movie tie-in.

(via That’s Nerdalicious)

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Talented violinist? Check. Sheik cosplay? Check. Majestic scenery? Check. Yep, this one’s good.

This rendition of “Bolero of Fire” isn’t the only video game music Taylor Davis has in her repertoire. Her YouTube channel is full of themes from games and geekery, and she sells cover albums as well. I can also recommend her cover of Mass Effect 3′s “An End, Once And For All,” if you’d like to start your Sunday feeling like someone’s punched you in the chest.

Previously in The Legend of Zelda

• Zelda To Join Super Smash Bros.
• Which Part Of The Triforce Is Most Powerful?
• A Legend of Zelda Wedding Ring

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Yesterday was a huge day for DC Comics TV news, now Marvel and ABC have a big, surprise announcement of their own.

In addition to announcing that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for a second season (rumor had it the show was on the bubble after a rocky start -- or at least a rocky year of CA recaps), they're also promising a new series based on Peggy Carter, the British spy played by Hayley Atwell in Captain America: The First Avenger. She'll retain the role in the new series, and it'll share a title with the Marvel "One-Shot" included in the Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray package, Agent Carter.

Continue reading…

-----Based on our Japanese blog-----

Hi, Shizu Mecha here!
We got a lot of ground to cover so let me jump straight to the point:

Booya! We're going to the Koyobukiya head office in Tachikawa!

Allow me to introduce the power team:

Souhei Yunoki: Planning and development (Left)
Katsuhiko Hori: Sculptor (Middle)
Nobuo: Sales (Right)

The three were kind enough to stop producing amazing mecha for long enough to talk to us about their Armored Core V.I. line of plastic kits. The series has been running for nine years strong and the latest entry puts all their accumulated knowledge to good use:

V.I. Series - Armored Core V KT-104/PERUN Hanged Man Saisen Ver. 1/72 Plastic Model

---The KT-104/PERUN Hanged Man Saisen Ver. is a hotly-anticipated plastic model kit. Kotobukiya is putting a lot of energy into promoting it, even going to far as to display a sample sculpt in stores.

(Production sample display courtesy of Kotobuki! Puramo Labo)

NOBUO： We wanted to promote it from a different angle. Displaying Hanged Man in stores for a limited time allows the customer to experience the magic of the kit first hand.

Hori: I thought it would be easier for the customer to get a feel for the model if we displayed it assembled. We're working with stores throughout the country to find the best way to display it.

--- We're happy to help spread the Hanged Man fever online!
Not everyone has a chance to see it in person so I hope the photos of the painted prototype from this interview will let our readers see what makes it so cool. 

From GAEA to Hanged Man: Looking back on nine years of V.I. history

---Yunoki-san is the planner while Hori-san is the sculptor. Can you give me a better idea of what goes into producing a model? 

Yunoki:  I'm the product planner and producer for the current V.I series.

To explain what Hori-san does, let me first talk about how model kits are produced. You know the plastic parts that come connected to a runner? These materials are cast in a metal mold. But to make the mold first somebody needs to sculpt the individual parts. The in-house specialist who creates these parts is the sculptor--or in this case, Hori.

Development, in a nutshell, involves converting the parts the sculptor created into 3D data and managing the workflow as we use that data to cast the mold.
*The methodology and terms used differ by maker and specialty. 

--- The V.I. series has continued for nine long years beginning in 2005 with the Mirage C01-GAEA. What has been the core concept?

Hori: The main draw of the Armored Core games is that you can create your own custom mecha with personalized parts and paint job. We stay focused on this when creating a kit.

Recently the games have introduced more "hero" mechs so the lineup reflects this. The more models you collect the more customization options you have--just like in the game! We've tried to stay true to this vision from the beginning of the series. 

Nobuo: Kotobukiya has released a number of kits with exchangeable parts, but it all started nine years ago with the GAEA.

Hori: Each sequel brings sweeping changes to the game world, but Armored Core V (Hereinafter "ACV") threw us for a loop by changing the height of the Armored Cores. 

--- The Armored Cores had been 10 meters up to that point. It was quite a shock to have a mecha series shrink their namesake down to seven meters.

Hori: FromSoftware gave us a heads-up and told us that the mechs would be more compact in the next title. Our main concern was the size of the kits themselves.
Would we stick to the 1/72 scale of the V.I. Series, or do something different to accommodate the smaller Armored Cores in ACV?

Nobuo： Oh, we had plenty of internal meetings about the scale issue.
The kits were around 15cm at that point and making them smaller might have reduced their visual punch. It made us unsure about the product. We looked into the possibility of scaling them up. 
On the other hand we wanted the ACV kits to fit into the V.I. Series, so we decided to keep the scale consistent. Once you suit up the ACV kits with all their gear the Armored Cores look as bulky as their big brothers with an amazing amount of detail to match. We're no longer worried about them not looking as cool.

--- The evolution of the game series has a major impact on the model kits. What was different about sculpting the first ACV kit, the UCR-10/L AGNI? 

Hori: My initial concern was the size of the joint blocks. A smaller mecha means smaller joints. A kit needs a strong enough grip to hold a weapon, or it needs to be designed in a way to maintain structural integrity. There's a lot to think about.

ACV introduced a greater amount of design elements which meant more details to deal with, but when you consider it the natural extension of what I've been working on, there wasn't anything that tricky.

Hori: Kotobukiya started the V.I. line before we knew how to plan for a series. Basically we would produce a kit and try to shoehorn the next one work with the previous one. ACV rewrote the spec sheet so it was an opportunity for us to stop and plan how the series should develop. 

To give you an idea of the workflow, FromSoftware provided the mecha data that we used to plan the parts framework. How can we stay flexible to accommodate future kits? How can we design the joints to hold poses? These are the sorts of questions I asked myself before sculpting.   

--- Instead of producing each kit individually, you had a wide perspective that took future products into consideration.

Hori: The backbone of the V.I. line is cross-kit compatibility, so we always have to keep the entire series in mind. Figuring out where we can make generic parts and joints is huge. You have to approach it like an industrial production line. 

Which is more important: Poseability, or looking good on a shelf?

--- How did you decide which of the Armored Cores from ACV to make into kits?

Hori: We figured out the release order based on the data provided by FromSoftware. The trick is keeping the releases exciting to the end. We have to take the entire line into consideration the same way we plan the parts framework.

Yunoki: When we first spoke with FromSoftware the game hadn't been released yet so we tossed around the idea of releasing parts--torsos, heads--instead of a complete Armored Core. 

--- Being involved before the release must have been a great morale boost even if you didn't know the full scope of the project. 

Hori: For sure. FromSoftware were thorough with their design documents and even gave us work-in-progress game footage. This let us start planning the shape, movable parts, and overall direction of the line.

Yunoki: They filled us in on the setting and concept as well. I remember thinking at the time, "I've never seen an AC title with this many hero mechs." The game was developed to make each player into the main character so I knew we had a hardcore title on our hands. 

Hori: That's part of the reason we chose AGNI to be our first ACV kit. It's not tied to any character. Instead of focusing on a certain character, the game features an ensemble cast thrown into a war zone. The Japanese tagline is “The battleground of nameless mercenaries” so we wanted to stick to that concept. The V.I. series had already released many hero mechs in the past, such as White Glint, so it was time to take it back to its roots.

Yunoki: Going back to modeling, previous kits have stayed true to the original design while adding details or making tweaks, but the mechs in ACV are more detailed to start with so that's not the case anymore. Now the focus is on faithfully recreating the specs from the game. 

The proof is in the packaging--the boxes for AGNI and Vengeance are just as big, if not bigger than the previous series! (Laughs)

--- Even though the kits are smaller they didn't lose any parts. Rather, they're more detailed and closer to the original.

Hori: The in-game models in ACV are more detailed than previous installments so the kits have to pack in more as well. This influences the direction we take the sculpts, such as deciding the joint framework.

There's a few directions you can take a sculpt. For example, you can make it smaller and tweak it to still be fully poseable, but the loss of detail simplifies the part framework so you'll need to compensate by making the parts stronger.

On the other hand, you can also keep mobility to a minimum and focus on sculpting the details to look exactly like the game to make the kit feel more like a weapon. We went with the latter for the ACV series.

---The in-game models are more detailed in ACV than in previous installments. Did this change your approach to sculpting? 

Hori:  Up until AC4 many of the mecha had long, thin arms and legs which looked cool in fight scenes and when posed, but in ACV the mecha are more like humanoid weapons. I needed to change my sculpts to match the new game world.

Why a good sculpt doesn't guarantee a good kit

--- As a sculptor, what areas did you focus on to bring the extra details of the in-game models to life?

Hori: When creating a sculpt you need to take the mold into consideration and work within those limitations while maintaining the original design. This is especially important for the Armored Core series. 

Hori: Hanged Man has curved surfaces with part lines carved into the panels. I was able to maintain a high level of detail by breaking each of these lines into a separate part.

The in-game model focuses detail on the areas shown on screen and cuts corners in others. For example, the original might not have the same level of detail around back as on the front. As a sculptor it's my job to keep things consistent all the way around. This means tweaking things so that the mecha feels real in 3D-space.

--- Upon closer inspection of the surface I can see that the parts are separated into plates by lines. There's also additional detail under the rear skirt flap.

Being able to ad-lib is a design skill that is difficult to quantify. How does one acquire a sense for design improv?

Hori: The first model I worked on was the Mirage C04-ATLAS Fox Eye version. During the review process I worked with the mecha designer and the more we communicated the more I was able to find my focus and a tease out patterns. When I brought the prototype to FromSoftware for their check I was able to speak with the mechanical designers and I noticed that they had a preference for certain designs or repeating motifs. Once I discovered the patterns in the original I could include them in my sculpt when I had to make up for missing details.  

--- Each designer has their own personality and quirks. These are the things that fans want to see implemented into a kit.

Yunoki: In the beginning the mold technology couldn't always keep up with the sculpt, so even if we had an amazing sculpt the end product would have to be simplified.
It's a bummer for the sculptor when their vision can't be implemented. So we have the sculptors work with the development side to figure out what shapes work for production. 

Yunoki: As a result, when FromSoftware gives us retakes asking for more detail, rather then a simple "Yes" or "No," we give them options. We can do this sort of detail. It's too hard to carve a groove here, so let's make this part stepped instead. That kind of thing.

The director usually just tells us to "Make it look cool." (Laughs)

Hori: As a sculptor I want to recreate as much detail as possible but I'm aware of the limitations of the mold. I go back and forth with the development team to push it to the limit.

Up until AC4 I kept my internal logic to myself, but starting with ACV I knew that if I didn't share my thought process then the job would blow up in my face. I spend a lot of time with the developers. We've earned FromSoftware's trust over the course of the V.I. series and now they leave us a certain degree of freedom in our models. The director usually just tells us to "Make it look cool." (Laughs) 

Hori: In general the sculptor will create a prototype and then the client will ask for specific details, but for Armored Core I often fill in the details myself before presenting it for check. Sometimes my sculpt is approved right away, so I know I'm doing the right thing. We have a good relationship with FromSoftware.

--- They trust you to ad-lib and you can deliver on that promise because of your strong internal communication. 

Hori: Working closely with the development side has opened the door for new modeling possibilities.  It's not just Armored Core--feedback we get on other titles is shared within the team and we learn new tricks from each other.

Yunoki: In terms of our production line, the molds we have now are much more precise than when we started. The difference is obvious when you assemble the kit and see the clean edges and chiseled lines. By working together we've managed to close the gap between the sculpt and mold. Hori's sculpts look nearly identical to the finished product. 

(To be continued in Part 2)

(C)1997-2013 FromSoftware, Inc. All rights reserved.
(C)2012 BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc.（C）1997-2012 FromSoftware, Inc. All rights reserved.
*Photographs are of a painted kit. This product is an unassembled, unpainted kit.

Dear Abby, 7 May 2014:

DEAR ABBY: I’m the happily married mother of two teenage boys. The other day I overheard my older son (age 17) talking with a friend about “twerking.” I have never heard of it and now I’m worried. Is twerking a drug term? Is it similar to “tripping,” “getting high” or “catfishing”? My 17-year-old is supposed to go to Princeton next year on a sports scholarship, and I’m afraid “twerking” will derail him from his charted path. Thank you for any advice you may have. — TROUBLED MOM IN CONNECTICUT

Dear Troubled Mom in Connecticut,

Twerking, which is a combination of tripping, getting high and catfishing wherein people—usually 17-year-old boys from Connecticut preparing to attend any Ivy League university, but specifically Princeton—take LSD, smoke the marijuana and lie to people about their identities on the internet.

To be blunt: your son is at risk. Luckily, he’s got a mother who cares enough about him to write to an advice columnist asking them to define some words she could have Googled. He’s #BLESSED! If you don’t know what that means, write me back.

While Lorena Rodríguez has created some unusual creatures of her own, it’s her Adventure Time plush dolls which caught our eye. Dressing up Princess Bubblegum would have been right up my alley as a youngster…yes…a youngster, that’s it. Marceline and Lumpy Space Princess after the jump!

See all of Rodríguez’s work on Behance and her Etsy shop.

(via io9)

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Sailor Moon x Arina Tanemura // Part 2