Blast from the Past: Pokémon!

This is for all those ten year olds back in the late ‘90s who were addicted, and maybe still are, to the Japanese phenomenon that took America and the world by storm, Pokémon. I remember when I was in fifth grade, and we used to trade those little pocket monster cards like they were currency. If Pokémon cards were currency, many of us would have been some of the greatest entrepreneurs in existence! But as with most things from childhood, the cards and video games get thrown away, lost, or packed away in some shoe box in the attic. However, my cards from over a decade now, have remained on the bottom level of my bookshelf that my little brothers like to look at occasionally.

While on a trip to St. George, Utah, my brother and I were arguing over the finer points of Avatar: The Last Airbender compared to Naruto. . . In other words it was a geek brawl, which is always a good way to spend an evening. Anyways, we were going on with that when we got onto the subject of Pokémon. We began talking about how the critters “could” be real and what a movie would be like with “realistic” Pocket monsters. We got talking about it again last night and I decided I wanted to draw some sketches of a few Pokémon with realistic characteristics. Below are five Pokémon that I drew up combining animal concepts and draping them over the basis set up by the Nintendo creators, along with card comparisons of each one. 

 The first I drew was Bulbasaur because he is the first on the list of Pokemon. When making Bulbasaur I used frog, lizard and even elephant concepts to make something as close to the card as I could.

 When I finished Bulbasaur, I realized I needed more of a challange, which is why I decided to try Diglett out. In the cards, video games and cartoon, all you ever see of Diglett is his head popping out of the ground. So here's my interpretation of Diglett in his entirety. I based him off ground hogs and prairie dogs with a more canine nose.

 Of course Pikachu had to be in the mix somewhere. Even though the card depicts him as a 'mouse' Pokémon, I had always seen him more as a cross between a rabbit and a ferret. His tail was dificult to create a realistic version of so I came up wit hthe idea that his tail is normally soft and fox-like unless electricity is surging through his fur, then it takes on that more lightning bolt look.

My first Pokémon card was Charmander and he has always had a place in my heart ever since. The reptilian features was a no brainer but I also based his build on the pachycephalosaurus, or in other words, those head butting dinosaurs.

 Now here was a challenge! Humanoid Pokémon like Mr. Mime I knew would be a problem since Pokémon are animals, not people. So I based him off a chimpanzee and a baboon. I put color to this one so that I could better picture what he'd look like.

So that's all the pics for now. I'm going to try and draw a more complete version of the three starter Pokémon in the first games, Charmander, Bulbasuar and Squirtle. Until then, give me some feed back if you'd like. Critiques are always welcome! 

The Legend of Korra

From nearest to farthest: Avatar Korra , Pabu the fire Ferret, Bolin,
his brother Mako and Master Tenzin.

So the first two episodes of The Legend of Korra were just released earlier this night online for a limited amount of time which will then be gone until April 14th. They were so good that I ended up watching them both twice late into the night!

Avatar Aang from the second sea-
son of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

For those who don’t have a clue as to what I’m talking about, The Legend of Korra is the follow up to Avatar: The Last Airbender, a television show that takes place in a world with four major civilizations: the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads. In each respected country you can find people who can “bend” or manipulate the elements using movements inspired by traditional Chinese martial arts. In Avatar: The Last Airbender or ATLA, the story centers around a young airbender named Aang who also happens to be the Avatar (While normal benders can only bend one element depending on where they come from, the Avatar has the ability to learn all four elements. Also, the Avatar power is reincarnated with a new host after the previous Avatar dies, passing on the experience and wisdom of all the past Avatars). For a hundred years, Aang was frozen in an iceberg, sustained by the power of the Avatar spirit. When he is awakened, he finds out that during that time, the Fire Nation has been at war with everyone else and that his people, the Air Nomads, had been wiped out.  So it becomes his duty to learn the rest of the elements and defeat the Fire Lord to bring balance back.

The first promotional art for The Legend of
Korra that was released nearly two years ago.

The Legend of Korra takes place many years after the defeat of the Fire Lord, in which time Avatar Aang passes away and a new Avatar is born in the southern Water Tribe named Korra. Korra shows a natural talent with water, earth and firebending at a very young age. Years later, Korra has mastered the previously mentioned elements but must still learn air. So she travels to Republic City to learn from Tenzin, the son of Aang who is the Master of Air Temple Isle off the coast of the city. This new municipality is very different from anything before seen in ATLA. Whereas in ATLA, the time period could be comparable to the 1800’s, (only with the exception of guns and an increase in mechanical technology) Republic City is pretty much the booming 20’s. You’ve got amazing music that is best described as Chinese jazz, towering skyscrapers with great zeppelins souring between and “Sato-mobiles”  being driven all over the place! Another thing that I absolutely loved about the city is that it was inspired by two real life cities: Shanghai, China and Vancouver, Canada. Last year I visited Vancouver for a week and I love how it's integrated so well with the design of Republic City. The mountains by the sea and the layout of the bustling metropolis makes me almost feel like I was back there.

A statue of Avatar Aang stands at the entrance of Republic City

Though there are major changes that have been made between ATLA and Korra, there is still that same energy and incredible art/animation that won me over in the beginning. If anyone is interested, check out http://www.korranation.com/. The episodes will stay on the site until Sunday night so if you want to get your geek fix in before April 14th, I suggest you hurry and check it out!

John Carter of. . .Who Knows?

So I found out a while ago that the new John Carter movie has flopped in the box office and the worst part is that it was a really good movie! Sure there were some cinematic corners cut to fit the first book into a two hour movie, but it stayed true to the source and had everything needed to deliver an outstanding film…except for the title.

                I was disappointed to see that the show was called, simply, “John Carter” using bland, block font without any real hook to grab people’s attention. I mean, if I’d never read the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, I wouldn’t have had the foggiest idea of what this movie was about. It’s like painting gold nuggets brown and throwing them in a rock quarry. Everyone would pass them by not knowing the worth behind the paint, which is exactly what happened with this movie. You had action, romance, an amazing tale from a master storyteller and cutting edge CGI, but the first thing people see is John Carter and they end up confused; not intrigued or curious, just confused.

     If I were at the reins of the advertisement for this movie, here’s what I’d have done differently: First off, instead of calling it John Carter, I’d have gone with "Barsoom: A Princess of Mars". In case you haven’t either read the books or watched the movie, Barsoom is the name of Mars in the Martian language and is the title heading of the chronicles written by E.R.B., while the first book of the series was A Princess of Mars. Both parts of the name would draw much more curiosity and intrigue than John Carter ever could. Would you have been just as interested in Pirates of the Caribbean if it were called Will Turner? And, of Course, I’d change the font into something more captivating and, dare I say, Boisterous instead of a font that figuratively hides back in the corner.

                Secondly, I would have republished the first three books of the Barsoom series a year in advance to gain a following with the newer generations. Look at how Harry Potter and, more recently, The Hunger Games, have driven such a devoted fanbase. Republishing those first three books (A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars and Warlord of Mars) would have completely changed the game opening weekend.

                 Another thing that ought to be considered is that movies based on older books don’t always do well at the first go because there isn’t a huge fan base accumulated yet. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Ring, though did very well in theatres, was completely eclipsed by the following two films because of the inflated fan base. Then again, New Line Cinema rereleased the trilogy in bookstores which helped to bolster fans, unlike Disney who’ve seemed to turn a blind eye to the concept entirely with this movie.

Monster Mash

You know when you have an idea and you just can’t seem to get rid of it until you put it out on paper? Well I’ve had this idea running through my head for about two weeks now that I’ve been sketching and creating story for whenever I got the chance. It’s kind of out there, but it’s been bouncing off the walls of my skull for a while now.

Until I come up with a better name, the idea’s called Monster Mash, yeah, like the song. You’ve pretty much got the entire pantheon of Halloween characters existing within a fictitious city called Walgrimm (name also in the works). The story revolves around four kids. Here's some descriptions and sketches I've made for it.

Franklin- The first and main character is named Franklin. He is a flesh construct or ‘golem’ created by the eccentric scientist, alchemist and Kabbalah practitioner, Doctor Barone. Unlike golems created by past alchemists, Franklin is self-aware and, with the exception of his sown on body parts and above average strength, is your typical twelve year old who loves baseball and making friends. Another fact about Franklin is that he was named after Benjamin Franklin and not Frankenstein.

Jezebel- Unable to remember hardly anything of her past life, Jezebel is a quiet yet dangerous vampire without pity or remorse. She is part of a sect of vampires making an “existence” in Walgrimm. She is a skilled fencer and attends a private school for girls where Mistress D’Agonia—leader of the Vampires in Walgrimm—poses as principle.

Natilee- Only eight years old, Natilee has already begun to feel the effects of her ancestral curse. Her father is a werewolf and so was her mother before she was killed by witch-hunters two years ago. Leaving the dangers of their homeland behind, Dmitri Volkov brought his daughter to Walgrimm to begin a new life. Unfortunately, the trauma Natilee experienced awoke the wolf within her early on causing trouble for both of them as well as the people of Walgrimm.

Dodger – A mischievous poltergeist with a flair for the dramatic, Dodger is the result of a séance gone wrong where the medium couldn’t control the summoning and accidently manifested the ghost of a thirteen year old boy into the physical world. Able to interact with the physical world, Dodger has been having the time of his after-life zooming around the city pulling pranks.

Right now I’ve been working out the bad guys to this idea. A society of witch-hunters is one idea that I will be using later on, but for now I’d like to focus more on Franklin’s story, his history and the source of his consciousness. My idea for the first bad guy will be another alchemist like Dr. Barone, only he wants to steal Franklin and dissect him to find the source of his self-awareness.

I want to try making this an online comic. I really don’t have a whole lot of experience with that but I’ll try drawing up a few pages and see how it goes. 

Also, I really hate the set up on Blogger. I can't get these pictures organized to save my life! 

The Great American. . . Conundrum

Ugh!...I’ve been chewing on some serious writer’s block recently. Last week I sat down and wrote down a blog entry that was nearly a thousand words only to delete it all because it was barely coherent and jumped around aimlessly. Hopefully I’ll be able to lay out my thoughts a little better this go and maybe even say something that'll make you stop and think.

Today’s topic: The United States of America. I read a post from a friend’s blog a while back which got me thinking on my own views of the country I live in. When I was little I saw America as the greatest country in the world, as a teenager I saw it as the most corrupt, hypocritical nation in existence. Nowadays, I know that the truth lies somewhere down the middle.

Anyone who grew up in the States has learned in school of the great good that the U.S. has done since its declaration of independence in 1776. We won our freedom from the subjugation of Britain, fought against slavery in the civil war, tamed the west, were victorious in not one but two world wars, and now leading the fight on terror worldwide.

However, there is a dark side to all of these glorious conquests that have, on the most part, been ignored by history. For instance, the guerilla warfare the fledgling nation used against the British in the Revolutionary War is similar to what terrorist groups now use in the Middle-East today. When I was in the American South, I heard a completely different take on the Civil War. In this version, the South had been hammered by multiple laws that restricted rights and trade for years and that slavery was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Supposedly, Robert E. Lee, later to become the most noted generals in the confederacy, followed the law and released his slaves when the law was passed but Ulysses S. Grant, later general in the Union army and president of the United States, kept his slaves until authorities demanded the he released them or face charges. Horrible atrocities were committed against the First Nations as they were pushed from their ancestral lands and forced into reservations where treaties were constantly made up and broken by the U.S. The First World War was pointless for all countries involved, while during the Second World War, our allies called for our full support over and over but it wasn’t until we were attacked that we decided to get our hands dirty. And during the cold war, Korea and Vietnam were proxy battles with the Soviet Union.

Now before you go all out on how horrible and wrong this country is, let’s try taking a step back and look at it from a worldwide view. In comparison to other countries such as Great Britain, Russia and China we’re pretty average on the good/evil meter. The British held the second largest empire in history (that’s not counting the oceans and seas they claimed) and subjugated everyone they came in contact with. During the Soviet era of Russia, Stalin created work camps called gulags where around fourteen million people were sent to and somewhere between seven hundred thousand to millions died. And finally, Mao’s regime in China took over Tibet and ravaged Nepal when the government was coming into its own.

Once again these are just a few examples. Every country around the world has both good and bad, it’s just human nature. The most we can do is take an active part in the happenings of our countries. Vote, let your voice be heard, do what you think will help your homeland progress and become a better nation. As for me, even though it is far from perfect and there are many things in my country’s laws and history that I do not agree with or support, I can honestly say I am proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. It is the place where I was born and where the many of my ancestors immigrated to find opportunity they couldn’t elsewhere. 

Dragon Rising

The year of the Dragon is almost upon us. Even though we celebrated the Julian New Year six days ago, the Chinese New Year doesn’t begin until the 23^rd of this month, so it is still the year of the Rabbit until then. For me, the year of the dragon holds a special significance whereas it was the year in which I was born. This’ll be my second cycle through the Zodiac and in another year I’ll be at the quarter century mark. Not that big of a deal really, but it does represent a good point in time to look back and evaluate one’s life so far.

            When I was still in Jr. High School, I already knew what I wanted to be and what I was going to become. Fast forward ten years and, sadly, I haven’t accomplished anything I dreamed of when I was a kid. I had fully expected that by now I would be a published author. Yet the only thing I’ve ever published outside of cyberspace has been a poem I wrote back in High School. I wanted to see distant lands and learn languages from every corner of the world; but the only place I’ve visited outside the States has been Vancouver, Canada and the only language I’ve been able to pick up has been Spanish; and I’m not even fluent, barely conversant even. 

This was taken a small ways from Vancouver, Canada when
I was walking to the UBC museum of anthropology.

   

Now, I’ve this horrible tendency to blame all of my failures on external factors. But when I really open my eyes, I see that the root of the problem is entirely internal. When I fall, I have a hard time picking myself up and I end up reverting into my own world, cutting off myself from everything else; and I’ve fallen quite a lot since finishing high school. Whether it be school, work, friends, girls, I can’t seem to succeed with any of it. And though I’ve given into despair numerous times, I have to keep trying. As the great Chinese philosopher and religious leader, K’ung Ch’iu- later known as Confucius- said: Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in getting up every time we do.

            This year, it is about high time I pick myself up again, dust off the failures of the past and give it another go. So here is a list of goals I want to achieve before the year of the serpent comes in twelve months time:

      1. Get my EMT.

      2. Begin learning to play the Violin.

      3. Publish two short stories and or a book.

      4. Read through the Standard works.

      5. Overcome social anxiety/ make some friends.

      6. Become at least conversant in Japanese.  

      7. Go to Japan. 

      8. Get back to school in the fall. 

      9. Read fifty books

     10. Have a full journal written

             

           These are just my year round goals. I've also made daily ones and other short term goals to help me reach the above plan. So why publish my list on the web? Mainly because I heard that if you write your goals down and put them up somewhere people can see them that you have a better chance of doing it. So here’s my test on the theory and, throughout the year, I’ll post what I am working on or accomplished.

The Krampus Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas and I had been bad,

How was I to know that Santa might get mad?

The house was locked tight every door and every sill,

The fireplace closed shut to ward away the chill.

The night was all dark and I slept peacefully at ease,

Until my window blew open by some strange breeze.

I awoke with a start and went to close the panes tight,

Imagine my surprise as to what caught my sight.

From on high came a jingle and the crack of a whip,

I glanced up for a moment and nearly bit my lip.

Aloft rode jolly St. Nick on his reindeer drawn sled,

And below clung a creature with eyes that burned red.

The elf landed on my roof but stirred not from his seat,

Instead he drew his pipe and stomped with his feet.

“Krampus, oh Krampus, go forth you little blight,

And remind this young fellow to do what is right!”

Amazed I watched by the light of the moon on the lawn,

As the fiend crawled away with fangs that were drawn.

Like a shadow of shadows he edged to the smokestack,

And head first stole down the shaft, ready for the attack.

My first instinct was to hide and bar the door shut,

But I had to do something though I knew not what.

Between my door and the wall leaned my old baseball bat,

And thus an idea shaped to deal with this sneaky rat.

Quick as a flash, I took up my weapon of war,

And, clothed in my blue silk robe, I made for the door.

I flew down the stairs and alit upon the inglenook,

Waiting and watching for the beast to take the hook.

A moment passed with shaking knees and head that spun,

Yet neither claw nor soot fell from the hearth, not a one.

Then I saw it, charcoal footprints of the strangest sort,

Dread filled my soul then behind me came a snort.

I whirled about, brandishing my bat in the air,

Instead I was knocked off my feet, caught in the snare.

And then the thing pounced with animal ferocity,

Though I fought back with all my might and audacity.

As we grappled and clashed upon the fireplace rise,

I could not help but see those glowing ember eyes.

He was covered in oily black hair from head to toe,

And with large curving horns he delivered a blow.

I swayed where I stood but returned again to the brawl,

Lashing out like a madman I threw him at the wall.

The creature’s strength was that of three full grown men,

But I held my own as we sparred throughout the den.

Battered and bruised I strove to my very last breathe,

And fell to the floor awaiting my coming death.

For a moment I lay then opened my eyes to see,

A tattered and beat demon sprawled beside me!

“Good show my young friend, we’ve come to a stalemate,

I’ve never been beaten until this very date.

So I’ll give you a warning, one you should heed,

If you are naughty again the Krampus will succeed!”

Like a smoldering flame, he then vanished without a trace,

And I vowed that next year I’ll bring some aerosol mace!

To all you bad children, I have but one thing to say,

Beware the Christmas Krampus on this festive holiday!

- T. A. Nicholas