The Two Twilight Sparkles

Wow, it seems like I'm typing something every day now. I hope I can keep up this momentum, the more I type the more people I can get to read this. Anyway, as I mentioned in my first post, I am a Brony. For those who don't know what that means and are too lazy to look back at that post, it means I'm a guy who watches My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Here's a link if you haven't seen it yet: Link to be added later as I am typing this at school and youtube is blocked. In the past few months, more and more people have been becoming Bronies. As of two weeks ago, many (Thousands? Tens of thousands? Anyone have a number?) have been tuning in every Saturday to catch the second season. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. When my friend first told me about the show, I assumed he watched it with his younger cousins or something. When I noticed it mentioned on forums, I thought that this fan base was watching it ironically. That's how I started watching it at least. Now, however, its at a point where any humor from watching it ironically would be gone, so why are we still watching it? Well, because its a great show, and for some reason, it appeals to us.
So, a show targeted at little girls seems to appeal to a male audience. Whatever. I mean, the show was created by Lauren Faust who is known for making some really amazing shows in the past. It doesn't really show a connection to some bigger thing. Or does it? A show that just a few years ago would have appealed only to the stereotypical girl has now found most of its fans in guys aged about 15-30. But that's not all. There is another odd thing happening on the other side.

Question: What is currently one of the most, if not the most, popular franchise among young women today? If you answered Twilight, you probably just read the title of this post, but you're still right. Yes, yes, we've all had our fun making fun of the series, but let's try looking at it for a minute. What is it about? I don't mean all that deep stuff about love and whatever, I mean on the outside, first glance, what is it about? Two species of monsters tearing each other apart in an all out war. Hm. Interesting. Sounds like the plot of a series that, just a few years ago, would seem to appear more to the stereotypical boy.

So, what does this mean? Well, as of now, not much, honestly. Just some observations I made while watching the season premiere of My Little Pony. It could mark the start of a fall of the past stereotypes, or maybe, but not likely, a complete flip of the stereotypes, but not really much else. I mean, Twilight's appeal doesn't come from the all out war, but rather the underlying themes. I don't watch My Little Pony because it's about ponies, but because it's about ponies who fight dragons, mantacores, eternal darkness, and eternal chaos. But this still has the potential to be a gateway into...something. I don't know. If I think of more, I'll right another post about it, but I didn't really have much time to think about it. Eventually I had to turn my attention to the epic battle against Discord.

Super Smash Bros. Universe

Alright, time to start off this blog with a game prediction. At E3, Super Smash Bros. was announced for both the 3DS and the new WiiU. Many fans rushed to make rosters of who they thought belonged in this new installment. I am one of these fans, and now that I have my own blog, I will post it here. So, here it is:

Note: This image was made a few weeks ago. As stated below, my opinion regarding Fire Emblem and the WTF? characters of Diskun and Sheriff have changed.

So, now it's time for some explanations on why I chose these characters and why I didn't choose others. First, there are 55 characters here. I know that sounds like a lot compared to past games, but think about it. There were 12 characters in the original. They added 14 in the Melee (including Sheik) and 17 in Brawl (including transformations. Also, 5 were cut so the count is lower). This roster adds 21 characters to Brawl, none of which have transformations. Sakurai already stated that Brawl was made from scratch, while this game will be made by porting Brawl to the new systems and adding to it. This means there should be more time for adding more characters.

The Mario series is pretty good how it is. You have the Hero, the Sidekick, the Love Interest, and the Villain. There really isn't anyone else you need, nor is there anyone else worth choosing. Toad is a generic species that doesn't really do much. Yes, I am aware that Toad was playable in Super Mario Bros. 2 and Wario's Woods. But if that was enough for him, why was he not added in Brawl? That same argument can be made for Bowser Jr. His big role was in Super Mario Sunshine, back on the Gamecube. Yeah, he has returned in more recent Mario games, but only as a mid-boss. From recent trailers, it even looks like he's being replaced as the midboss by Boom-boom in Super Mario 3D Land. I don't see any other characters in the series that could be considered.

Well. there is one more. Yoshi's series has pretty much disappeared, but he has made a comeback in the Mario Series in both Super Mario Galaxy 2 and New Super Mario Bros.Wii. By Smash Bros. 5, if he doesn't have a new game in his own series, I wouldn't be surprised to him switched over to being a Mario character. For now, he'll probably remain the sole character for his own series.

The other spin-off series, on the other hand, should be separated from Mario by adding characters that have only appeared in the spin-off series. Donkey Kong gets King K. Rool, the main villain of the series. Despite his absence in Donkey Kong Country returns, he still gets a spot for being one of the most requested characters in both America and Japan. If another Donkey Kong game comes out, I would be shocked to see him missing again. Dixie is a close second, but for now I don't see the series getting 4 characters. It is possible that she will fight Tagteam with Diddy.

Wario had many characters to choose from. On the Wario Land side, we have Captain Syrup, the main villain of the series. For Wario Ware, we have Mona, who seems to be Wario's only friend, Ashley, a powerful witch, Kat and Ana, twin samurai kindergarteners who already appeared as an assist trophy in Brawl, and Orbulon, an alien who usually appears at the end of the games as a sort of "Final Boss" character. However, my vote goes to 9-volt. This is a game for Nintendo's biggest All Stars and 9-volt is the biggest of them all. He's rescued the Princess, found the Triforce, and caught 'em all without leaving his couch. He could be given a moveset to represent the classic series that can't really have good full characters to represent them, such as Balloon Fight and Excite Bike.

The Legend of Zelda stays the same. There really aren't that many recurring characters anyway, and finding one that is important is really difficult. Vaati could get in if rumors about him being in Skyward Sword are true, but that's only a rumor, and if it isn't true, he really doesn't have a chance. Tetra seems to be the most likely, but her appearances seem to be over now. By the time this game comes out, Phantom Hourglass will be fairly old, as will Tetra.

What's that? I do have another Zelda character on my roster? No, silly, Tingle represents his own series. Tingle is very popular in Japan and infamous in America. So much that he was not only an assist trophy in Brawl, but also that he got his own series released only in Japan. As long as he keeps appearing, he has a very nice shot at getting in.

Metroid is due for another character. Yes, Zero Suit Samus was nice to have, but we need another full character, and Ridley is perfect for the job. A recurring boss in the series, Ridley is the one responsible for orphaning Samus. He is also a very highly requested character. In the past, Sakurai didn't think it was worth it to try to make it work, saying he would be too slow, but the fanbase may convince him otherwise and we will probably see him at last.

Sakurai loves to promote his own series (see: the roles of the Kirby characters in Subspace Emissary). His new revival of Kid Icarus will probably urge him to throw in  a second character. The three options are Medusa, Palutena, and Magnus. I eliminated Palutena from the options because of the three, she seems to be the least of a fighter. We currently know little about Magnus, but if he ends up being a very important, interesting, and (assuming there are more games coming) recurring, he could take the spot. For now it goes to the last of the three, Medusa. Or Eggplant Wizard can take it. I mean, he's iconic enough to be one of the main villains Captain N.

Takamaru is a highly predicted and requested choice for a classic character, being that it is the "sister" series to Zelda, as Kid Icarus was to Metroid. That's about the only argument for it, but it still seems pretty likely. Oh, and Takamaru also had a comeback in Samurai Warriors 3. How good was that game anyway? Is it worth buying?

Kirby just got two great new characters last time, give the series a break for now.

Louie would be a clone. Olimar's fine by himself.

Animal Crossing DOES deserve a rep, and I don't want to hear that he's not a fighter. Neither are Peach, R.O.B., Captain Falcon before SSB64, and many characters commonly suggested. Plus, the guy carries a f***ing axe. Remember when you were working for Nook and you had to deliver the axe and Nook said that he saw that glitter in your eye? The Villager is just itching to use that axe to slice someone, and now he finally has his chance.

Starfox should work on fixing what it already has before it adds more characters. Yeah, I know they aren't really clones, but they're all still too similar. Just mix it up a bit and you can have Krystal or whoever in the next game.

F-Zero's been dead for a while. Captain Falcon is seen by many as a Smash Bros. character more than anything else. He's fine alone.

Ray MKIII is from a series that is greatly under represented in Smash so far. It has a pretty large fanbase and Ray would be a very interesting character.

Pokemon is kind of tricky, with over 600 potential characters. Pikachu and Jigglypuff have their classic 12 status. Plus, Pikachu is the mascot and Jigglypuff was the long time favorite in Japan. Pokemon Trainer stays, but is renamed Red because it sounds better and is the default name. If he isn't called Red, Link may as well be called Hero of Time. Victini replaces Lucario to represent the newest generation. I chose Victini over other new Pokemon because he has more or less become the mascot for this generation. Now, just like the other two series in the Big Three, there are four characters. But, I can't help feeling like there's something missing. What could it be?

Mario gets Yoshi, DK, and Wario. Zelda gets Tingle. Now it's time for the last of the Big Three to get a spin-off character, Pokemon Ranger (Gets a default name depending on which version they choose). Finally, a human Pokemon character who can actually fight for himself. The Pokemon Ranger series is pretty popular among younger fans, which gives him a decent chance.

Little Mac and Issac were both popular choices for Brawl, both got in as assist trophies, and then both had revivals. What more do you need to get in?

On Saki's page on the Dojo, Sakurai comments on how he looks like he belongs there, and he really does. Don't believe me? Look at this:

Andy. Don't have much to say about him. I just think he should be there. Yeah, bad reason, I know, but whatever.

Lip is in as the new classic character and as a representation for the Puzzle genre. She's had an item in for a while, so Nintendo must still know she exists.

I don't know much about Fire Emblem, but I do know that Marth and Ike were popular additions. I also know that Chrome and Liz were shown and one of them could probably get in. They hadn't been show before that picture was made, so consider this a revision. One of them can replace one of the WTF? characters: Diskun or Sheriff. I don't care who replaces who.

Earthbound/Mother is over. Long over. It's fine with just two characters.

Shulk is from Nintendo's newest IP, which has proven fairly popular in Japan and PAL regions. Yeah, North America didn't get it, but we didn't get Fire Emblem before Melee and we never got Mother 3, but that didn't stop Marth, Roy, and Lucas.

Ice Climbers stay as classic characters. I wish the series would be revived though.

Mr. Game and Watch and R.O.B. stay as WTF? characters from the past, along with one new one. As stated above either Diskun or Sheriff gets in, the other gets replaced by either Chrome or Liz.

Sonic and Snake stay because I don't think anyone wants to deal with the backlash that would result from them being cut. 

Mega Man is the next choice for a third party character. If I remember correctly, both Nintendo and Capcom stated after Brawl's release that they wanted him in but they never contacted each other. This time, they'll fix that.

Square Enix and Nintendo have been working together for a long time, and with a Mario/Dragon Quest board-game style crossover coming out soon, I can easily Slime joining.

Finally, Professor Layton. One of the most requested third party characters in Japan, and still requested fairly often here. Also, the one I'm hoping for the most.

Well, that's it for that. Until next time.

Walls of Text! Activate!

Sometimes, I feel like I want to go on a rant about something. Anything. Yet, it's usually something so unimportant and unrelated to most things that I can't bring it up in a conversation without starting a random tangent. So, with this new blog, that will one day be part of a full website, I will rant about pretty much anything I want because I feel like it. Will everything be rants? No, sometimes I'll tell stories. I like telling those two. Sometimes I'll give ideas, just please don't steal them in a way that you will end up making money that should be mine. I may review something (movie, book, videogame, food product, anything. Just remember, I'm not a professional). I can also answer questions, spread news, ask for advice, brag about awesome stuff like the laptop I may get soon. So yeah, let's start.

For this first post, I'll tell you a bit about myself. Internet companions, in the real world, my name is Joe. Real World companions (though I doubt any of you are reading this), on the internet my name is Electromagnet, or Electromagnet427 when regular Electromagnet is taken (42 = Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. 7 is generally regarded as a lucky number, so I just throw them together). Well, that was almost an entire paragraph on just my name, so how about  I give facts in bullet form instead.

My favorite:

• Book Series: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• Comic Book Series: The Defenders
• Movie: E.T.
• Band: The Protomen
• Video Games: Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door, Mega Man II, and Cave Story
• Food: Fried Calamari
• TV Show: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic (That's right, I'm a Brony.)
• Hobby: Building things (usually Legos, but I'm just getting into electronics)
• Animal: Manta Ray
• Extinct Animal: Flying Lizard
• Political Party: None
• Sport: Scuba Diving

And, I guess that's enough to get started with. I hope you all find this blog interesting, because I don't want to be typing for no reason.