DocHaus

@zomgfruitbunnies: Simple: they won't. They'll save the juciest bits for the blurays.

Still not sure how the manga-ka went from Me and the Devil Blues to this, but considering Prison School literally won a Kodansha manga award it's a good question as to whether this story was the one he wanted all along, or just something that started as a "fuck you!" to the people who wouldn't support his previous work and then grew more popular than he expected.

In other news, finished the Rolling Girls. That sure was a series of Blue Hearts cover music videos all right, not sure I'd watch it again.

@cat_herder: with regards to 2D fighters at least, yes, there is plenty of overlap with the base mechanics (spacing/footsies, move canceling, fireballs/projectiles, "50/50 mixups" to name a few). Anime-fighters are just really fucking fast with them and sometimes throw a few extra mechanics on top (air dashing, xfactor burst/cancelling, extra meters for certain characters), but if you can build up the base then figuring out these extra factors should be easier. At least it was for me.

@themangalist:

"this that anime will stop existing."

The writing was on the wall for AV when Gia Manry and John Martone were kicked out, essentially leaving the site in a state of leaderless anarchy. Still, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did. Tom Pinchuk put up lots of video content (and will continue to do so, from what I hear), @takashichea did the thankless work of keeping the wiki up and the community together with a few other mods, I even managed to keep a semi-monthly community podcast going for just over a year before I got bored and handed the reins to my co-hosts (look up the "Bravo Whiskey podcast," they did a better job archiving that one than I did for its originator). On a smaller note, it also convinced me to finally sign up for Giant Bomb and I made a few more "internet friends."

Having said that, a common refrain I heard from third parties (especially after Gia and John were gone) was that AV wasn't quite sure what it wanted to be: A wikipedia for anime/manga? There were already plenty of sites for that. Maybe it could've worked as a detailed episode guide site but there were too few people willing to cover that angle for nothing more than fake internet points, especially with regards to less-popular anime. A place to discuss anime/manga? Unless you were there to roleplay/battle there wasn't much discussion going on in the forums. As for user/community reviews, MyAnimeList has that stuff on lock (for better or worse). An anime/cosplay photo gallery? That led to some serious disdain from GB as well as getting the site blacklisted on several internet filters after several users abused it for...darker ends. At least until our former backend wizard Ethan stepped in (then when he left, the creepers came back).

Tom, bless his heart, tried to keep up the video host/personality side of things on the site after it was used as a dumping ground for GB interns who were literally copy-pasting Funimation video ads on the site as "content." Even so, the videos were/are pretty lo-fi compared to the previous taped stuff, let alone what GB has now, and they're lucky if the youtube hits ever break into the thousands. Maybe it'll change now that he's become the self-appointed Shogun of what remains of AV, but I don't know.

Wow, that was a lot of words. In short, AV was another cool idea that got knocked off course really early and never quite found its way back, especially after the Whiskey Media split.

I feel bad for all the suckers who paid to see the Argentina vs. El Salvador friendly at FedEx Field. Having gone there with family to watch the Washington NFL team play years ago until my dad had enough of their bullshit, I could have told you it was going to be a shitshow. To recap what I've read in the Washington Post:

• $40, cash-only parking with no guarantee on vacant spaces because Dan Snyder hates you.
• Ice-cold winds blowing through the area, making everyone miserable.
• Someone mistaking the Isle of Man's national anthem for that of El Salvador
• People almost getting crushed to death in the stands next to the concrete pillars, including children
• Lack of competent security/staff, leading to the above.
• Messi not doing anything but sitting on the bench the whole game

Argentina won 2-0, so there's that I guess. But c'mon people, if the words "FedEx Field" didn't scare you off immediately, then hopefully this will serve as a lesson the next time anyone advertises an event being held there.

@bigjeffrey: Wait until you reach episode 7, that's where it starts going super-fucking-crazy!

Yep, pretty much.

SPORTS

Maybe I can use this as an excuse to learn the basics of Ren'Py. Problem is I'd need help with the art side of things or just slap up a public domain background and ride it out that way.

One thing that annoyed me about FM4 compared to FM3 was that the system in 4 pigeonholed your characters into specific roles with its skill points system. You could customize them however you wanted, but that would require spending a metric buttload of time grinding experience for each character. At least in FM3 all you had to do was shoot/smash enemies with a certain type of weapon to gain experience for each character.

Having said that, I thought the story of FM4 was a bit better, though looking back both had their share of cheesy JRPG tropes. The story path you take in FM3 is wholly dependent on whether or not you follow your bro to a construction site at the start of the game.

Also, fun fact: before the European Union officially existed (when the series was made), the EC was a real thing (if split between three different economic communities). Now it currently exists as the executive branch of the EU.