5 party member archetypes.

By no means am I an expert in gaming. I could barely call myself a gamer, if at all. However, I have noticed several overused game character archetypes, especially in RPGs, so I created this post to present my findings and to serve as a reference if I ever decide, for whatever obscure reason, to somehow create my own RPG. Do keep in mind that these traits are also common in anime and manga too. 

As always, this list of character archetypes is not the be-all-and-end-all, but the types listed here are so common it's not even funny. Or maybe it is funny. I dunno.

1. The Hero (a.k.a "You")

hey, sexy lady.

Now, I don't like to boast, but in case you haven't noticed, the ladies of The Lost Aria are really, really goddamn beautiful.... So much so that I didn't feel like my joining the group would do them (or my self esteem) any good. 

I remember hanging out with Nocturne one evening during my pre-cosplay days; she showed me a bunch of pictures TLA had taken in the past, and I distinctly recall myself going home that night and brooding over how I would probably never look that good.

But enough of that. The point of this post is that I am now surrounded by a harem group of gorgeous ladies, and recently I've had a chance to (maybe?) join the ranks with my cosplay of Deathnote's Amane Misa!

Herein lies a photodump of some of my favourite TLA cosplays that ooze femininity and all sorts of loveliness:

5 shows that shaped my childhood.

Do you ever wonder how you turned out the way you did? I do. Very often. And I've come to the conclusion that the shows I watched as a kid have greatly influenced my taste in various things later on in life, even my teenage and adult years. Here are five of my fondest, most nostalgic shows, all of which were watched before I turned six:

1. Power Rangers

To be specific, I am referring to Power Rangers of the Mighty Morphin' variety. Having been brought up in Kiwiland, especially having had little interaction with other Asians up till that point, I remember being extremely chuffed when I knew that Yellow Ranger was an Asian girl. Later on I realised with amusement that Black Ranger was an African American guy, Pink Ranger was a pretty, goody-two-shoes cheerleader, and Red Ranger was the footballer. Still, while I was an innocent child, naive to the ways of the world, I was always highly entertained by the eternal struggle of good and evil, terrible special effects, and superfluous explosions.

cosplay marathon.

Last weekend, Lullaby and Requiem came to town. We stayed at Symphony and Fantasia's place, where there was much wig brushing, fangirling, eyebrowing, and general mayhem.

While I can't show any official photos, I have plenty of photos from my phone, taken with little or no artistic sense. So here they are in all their noisy, unedited glory...

akihabara.

That's Akihabara station. I know it's not obvious, but that's what it is.

This one deserves a whole post to itself. We probably spent more time here than any other place in Tokyo. The bulk of the stuff I brought back home was also stuff I either bought from a store in Akiba or won from a UFO catcher or Gashapon machine. 

5 childhoods worse than yours.

I think all kids go through a phase during which they think their lives are so difficult. I certainly did. But whenever I was about to complain about it (and I am being totally serious) I'd think about how much worse it could've been. There's always someone worse off. Knowing that makes me a little more grateful for the mundane struggles I face every day.

Here we have five fictional characters who have had it pretty bad when they were kids. This time I'm counting down, because it gives more impact that way. :P

5 uke attributes.

No, this isn't a summary of the anatomy of a ukelele. We're talking uke characters from BL games, or certain (most) series with BL potential, or just any old anime/manga that happens to have any percentage of yaoi fangirls.

Note: I could've called this 'How to Spot an Uke', 'You Know You're an Uke When...', 'Become an Uke in Five Easy Steps', or something to that effect, but I like keeping in theme. x3

Another note: Though I'll say 'you must', this list is by no means exhaustive and there are no hard or fast rules to being an uke ('hard' and 'fast' are more a seme's specialties after all xD /shot), so take it all with a grain of salt and (hopefully) have a giggle.

5 sweet tunes.

While I'm still in a lovey-dovey kinda mood, let's list some wonderful lovey-dovey songs!

Funnily enough, no English ones. :O

5 BL favourites.

Okay, so this is a guilty pleasure of mine - BL/yaoi/shounen-ai/whateveryouwannacallit. I suppose this stems from the fact that I've never really liked female characters (with only a few exceptions) - they always seem so unnecessary. So when I started getting into the Gundam Wing fandom around the age of 14/15, it dawned upon me, what with all the slashfics out there, that the female characters could simply be taken out of the equation...or at least, be removed from the spotlight. 

After having discovered fanwork with BL themes, I began to branch out into series in which BL was canon. Actually, this only really started a couple of years ago when I found a pic of Kau (Togainu) in a thread on /y/. By the way boys and girls, never go to that place, it's full of unsavoury characters. xD So I guess you could say I'm something of a newb when it comes to BL?

Anyway, here are the few BL-related works I've seen/read/played for myself. No doubt this list will grow in time.

1. Togainu no Chi (Visual novel/manga/anime)

Ah, TnC. I think the reason why I didn't read/watch/play BL stuff for a while was because I thought it was all sappy love stories where the artist could've used a girl instead of the uke, but decided to use the uke because it's that much cooler. Then I played this. It was good - the plot was interesting but not so complex that I couldn't understand anything at all (since I don't understand much Japanese to begin with p:), although I laughed at the predictable 'everything invariably leads to sex' thing. But you know how you can tell if a BL plot is good or not? Take out the buttsex and see how it goes - they've turned it into a manga and anime, and even an alternate game, all without the BL in it, and it's still a good story. :3

Still, no matter what version I play/watch/read, Keisuke always scares the hell out of me.