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#i may be misremembering this but my copy is on the other side of the room and i'm lazy
lastchancevillagegreen · 10 months
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Thursday, 1 June 2023:
The Wind Warren Zevon (Ship To Shore) (Released on Record Store Day 22 April 2023; original album released in 2003)
This was wrapped in it's own wrapping paper inside the box of four CDs and I completely overlooked it. I thought it was merely padding to protect the four previously mentioned CDs and I cast it aside before noticing that a specific part of "the padding" was not the color of normal cardboard. It was strategically placed inside and wrapped so that when I opened it I would see the back of the album cover. I'm not familiar with this album (I've never heard it beyond whatever Zevon may have performed on David Letterman and even then I couldn't tell you what it was so I recognized none of the song titles; I actually believed there was a song called The Wind all this time and obviously, that isn't the case). I was quite excited to see Zevon staring back at me because I have attempted to locate this numerous times and the cost just kept me from ever picking it up. (There were guys on discogs selling it for $25 and they were serious scam artists, I contacted one of them in a humorous one sided exchange that I'm sure disgruntled Mr Scam Artist.) Above you see the cover and the back of the album.
Below you will find the note that was attached to the cover of the album that awaited me when I turned it over.
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When I couldn't find a copy of this the day after RSD, my brother sent out feelers to his friends. One was in Wisconsin and he went searching for it without success. My brother told me he contacted Paul who was in Arizona first and then later in Boston that day (I may have that slightly misremembered). I've spent RSD with Paul in Chicago when my brother worked at Laurie's Planet of Sound for RSD (and I've attended one of my favorite shows in Chicago with my brother and Paul--VV Lightbody and Ohmme at Thalia Hall) so it isn't as if we are strangers. When I get to Chicago next, I owe Paul my thanks for tracking this down! Below, you will find close ups of the other hype stickers on the cover. The first being the Record Stores price tag, followed by the true hype sticker.
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This album includes a booklet with it. This is not just a CD sized booklet as many companies do (but do it exceedingly less these days), but a decent sized booklet, not quite as big as the album cover, but still, big enough for you to not have to be dainty about reading it! Below you will find the front and the back of the booklet.
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This entry closes out with both sides of the labels.
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It is hard to believe that Warren Zevon has now been dead for two decades (come 7 September of this year).
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t4tchucky · 4 years
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luther going feral in the comics is so fun. like he’s rlly out here like “i have this comically small gun and the ability to punch people with my man-sized hands, I’ll Be Fine” bhvjgvhcyu
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siriwesen · 2 years
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You will enjoy this. -Ethersea Short,
cw: mind control, abuse, dysphoria
Contents: Devo La Main while still being a member of the church of Benevolence, interaction with the Hand of Guidance.
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"Devotion?", he heard the Hand of Guidance say his name as she entered his chamber. Shortly after, she knocked at the door frame, as if she wanted to request permission to approach him, despite already having entered and interrupted his meditation.
"Yes?", he opened his eyes and slowly and controlled eased out of the meditation pose taught to all children of Benevolence.
He got up and let his gaze meet Guidance's feet, as to avoid eye contact and show proper respect.
He was not sure how he compared to other children his age, but he was still smaller than Guidance and from what he could tell, based on the other adults around him, Guidance was not tall in statue.
"I have great news, you will love this!" Guidance hugged him, then released him and had her hands rest on his shoulders. Now their eyes met.
Curiosity sparked within Devo, as he heard Guidance talk about what was to come. "Sooo- as you may know, Dolores is guiding a few children to follow in Benevolence's path and we just had a chat about your progress with the Psalms of Devotion, how befitting of your self, I must say. Anyways, I told her that you would love to spread the Psalms to her group and read them to them!"
"I- er.. I would?" Devo did not like public readings. At least, when he was the one who had to perform in front of others. It wasn't that he was bad at it, he just.. did not usually not like what came with it.
"Why yes of course you would! You love sharing your devotion to Benevolence with our community."
Now that she had said it, Devotion remembered. It was actually quite fun to share knowledge and passion with others on stage. Reading from the scripture and re-iterating the known readings related to the Psalm. He felt light and could not understand why he had this feeling of dread within himself mere seconds ago.
The child's face lit up and he smiled. "I will do my best, so Benevolence's wisdom reaches their hearts."
"I'm glad you agree, now that's the Devotion I know!"
She released his shoulders. Guidance turned towards the small wardrobe within the room that held the very curated selection of clothing, meant for Devotion.
"I have scheduled the reading for this afternoon, an hour before dinner and the evening appell." She opened the dresser and took her time inspecting every single hanger with very similar cut outfits. Some were more decorative than others, those were meant for special occasions. She took out a dress that was very modest in appearance - not that Devo had had any fancy dresses.
"Would you look at this? It's perfect for the occasion, you will want to wear it for the reading.", she held the Hanger in front of Devo, expecting him to take it from her.
"Yes." He accepted it. He did not really love it, this one in particular just made him feel uncomfortable. Guidance must have read his mind or something, as she went:
"Now what's with the face, Devotion? You love that dress, remember?"
He inspected the dress in his hands again and true, it was really nice. It was probably perfect for the reading. It was a really nice piece of clothing after all with exquisitely woven fabric. How could he forget?
"Get yourself ready, darling and meet me downstairs in the lobby. Remember to bring your copy of Benevolence's Psalms. Wash your hands and you want to freshen up your face a little." With these words Guidance left the room.
The Door remained open, to be fair, there had never really been an actual door to begin with, just a curtain which was constantly tied open to the side.
Devo felt like at some point there probably had been a door, but he was not sure and was to ashamed to ask wether he misremembered or not.
It wasn't that he had poor memory, he could quote verses from Benevolence and scriptures nearly flawlessly, even with only his 12 years of life experience. He was proud of that. But sometimes... especially when talking to his mentors, he seemed to forget how he truly felt about things. He was glad that his teachers never seemed to be upset about it. They were patient and kind, reminding him of his true nature.
He sat on his Futon now, still holding the dress. He stared at it, there it was again. This feeling of... unease. Discomfort. Of course he was able to wear this. He knew how to wear it and how to make it look the part. But among all the compliments, and the cheerful support from Guidance, there was always that feeling, as if he was acting?
But Guidance was right. He.. loved the dress. After all, he was her little girl. Her Devotion, which she had raised.
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theanimeview · 4 years
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Theory: The True Voice of Yusuke Urameshi
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By: Casea Mhtar, @madamekrow​
Yu Yu Hakusho is ultimately my favourite anime, to the point where I can’t bear the thought of liking an anime more than it. For example, Berserk (1997) will be my “number 1” while Yu Yu Hakusho has exceeded the list altogether because its pedestal is just that high. That is the length I must go to secure a strange sense of balance for myself and stave off yet another identity crisis for a different reason. So you can probably imagine how much chaos was thrown at me when I found out that Yusuke Urameshi’s voice actor is completely different than the one I vividly recall when I found myself rewatching the series a few weeks ago. I have a memory of my sister and I watching a single episode she had taped on VCR and we would specifically watch the credits nonstop. We were trying to memorize the song (with great success, I might add).
At the time, there was still no means of listening to the ending theme anywhere other than its source. YouTube wasn’t really a thing, and even if it was we didn’t have access to the same databases we have today. So we watched that part over and over and over again. I remember etching each image into our minds, every lyric into our internal roster of songs as it played on repeat. The names kept popping up just as they did before the last and the voice actor of Yusuke Urameshi, my favorite character, was none other than Yuri Lowenthal.
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I distinctly recall thinking “Yuri, that’s a cool name” to myself as his name came up again and again. Not to be rude, but “Justin Cook” just isn’t exactly a name that would elicit such a thought from me and, indeed, never came to mind since I am certain it wasn’t in the credits of my beloved Yu Yu Hakusho VHS. 
So, in my rewatching of the show, present-day me had the initial assumption that what was going on here was a perverse version of the Mandela Effect. However, looking into it now, I feel that completely waters down my experience and doesn’t actually explain what happened. 
I mean, I can’t simply ignore my recollection as being a false memory, as every Mandela Effect is reasoned away with. No. I needed to find true reasoning for this madness. 
For the sake of convenience and for the lack of a better theory, I will settle on there being an unexplained dimensional shift. Certainly, any reasonable person could argue that I made a mistake. I simply misread the credits, maybe even pulled that name from somewhere else. Or perhaps Yuri was Yusuke’s voice actor from a different dub! But that isn’t the case as seen in this YouTube video comparing EVERYONE who has voiced Urameshi. 
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So... Let’s say this was all a misunderstanding on my part. BUT THEN it didn’t just end with me incorrectly reading names in the credits over and over. I didn’t wrongly perceive the Funimation dubbing as being someone else and then call it a day. I was validated in my belief for a long period of time by outside sources.
.Hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth (2006)
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The overall series of .Hack// is a subject I will certainly indulge in more in the future, but for the purpose of staying on-topic, I shall restrain myself. The reason I bring it up now is because in 2006, when .Hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth was released (I will always say it in full!), the protagonist--Haseo--sounded so familiar. I couldn’t quite figure it out until I saw who was credited with the voice acting. Out loud, in front of witnesses (if you count my birds), I said, “Yuri Lowenthal?. . . Wait, is that the voice of-”
I looked up his name to find he was-at that time-credited as the voice of Yusuke Urameshi. Quite a mistake that is since officially he is unlisted in the series yet multiple people around the world think otherwise, the same as me. Not only that, but updating all of Lowenthal’s pages to be credited with Haseo in addition to Urameshi. Many people had to review those pages, many people happened upon those pages and never bothered to correct them. That’s what really gets me. Sure, if my Ego was backed into a corner then yes, I can perhaps admit that my eyeballs had failed me and that’s all you’re gonna get out of me! Yet there is no copy I can find of him voicing the character online.
Could this be an example of lost media instead then? Well, no. Apparently not. Most anyone I’ve told about this believes I am confusing him with someone else. They may not remember “Justin Cook” at the top of their heads, however they are adamant about Yuri Lowenthal never, ever voicing Yusuke Urameshi. Because he didn’t... in this dimension.
Perhaps I truly am mixing him up his voice with a different character? Yuri Lowenthal is also famously the voice actor for Sasuke Uchiha in the english dub of Naruto. An extremely popular character from an anime that is surrounded by an enormous and ever growing fan base. The problem with that is, I’ve never watched Naruto. I didn’t even know Lowenthal was in any way a part of Naruto until I was somewhat adjusted into adulthood. When explaining my entire theory to a friend, I asked them if they can imagine the essence of an other-dimensional Yusuke within the voice of Haseo. 
“All I hear is Sasuke from Naruto,” They bluntly said.
I’ll be honest... That hurt more than it should have, but I swallowed my pride and looked into it since I’ve never actually heard what Sasuke sounds like.
What I begrudgingly find is that my friend was right. Again, this was the first time I had ever heard Yuri Lowenthal as Sasuke and I didn’t know that he was the voice actor until a few years prior. This entire ordeal leaves me feeling unnerved that there are so many loopholes being found in the False Memory Theory. It can’t be completely dismissed as large scale misinformation or misremembering. That is why I had to settle on the theory that there was some strange dimensional shift, even with how outlandish that sounds.
The Discovery
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I don’t know when it occurred and I’m not sure how I missed it, but it happened. You would think being thrust out of your prior dimension, or being crammed into a different one, would have some sort of impact. Maybe that’s why I developed back problems during my teenage years, I can’t really say. All I can recall is the feeling of my stomach hitting the floor through the bottom of my feet when I finally found out. I was watching the DVD box set of Yu Yu Hakusho that my friend lent me and I could immediately tell something was not right. Yusuke didn’t sound anything like I remembered, the voice--the tone--was weird, his inflections were way off, it was all wrong! WRONG, I TELL YOU. So, to the internet I went only to find someone else being credited...
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“Justin Cook this” and “Justin Cook that” appeared all over. There was even a video of him yelling “spirit gun” for a fan and I was still in disbelief! There was no way! This wasn’t possible! 
Apparently, in this dimension it is though, and that is a fact that I will have to live with for the rest of my life... or until reality throws me back to my own dimension. The knowledge that I will look crazy whenever I tell this story, as well as the reality that there could be more dubs out their with voices unknown. Not just voice actors, but entire animes—maybe video games, even people I thought I knew! Who knows what was left behind with Yuri Lowenthal as Urameshi! I don’t care to think about it too much. My heart is wounded enough I tell you. I already have a crippling fear of one day finding out my whole life is a lie—I don’t need to rack my brain about all of this as well.
In Conclusion,
Yuri Lowenthal was fantastic as Urameshi and I wish I could somehow put my memory into an audio clip for everyone to hear. Not so much to prove that he was better, but to solidify why my experience is very real to me. Though, if you did hear the Yusuke that I knew, I truly believe you would think it was pretty good at the very least. (Not that Justin is bad... just that it feels wrong to my beloved memory... sorry Mr. Cook.) On the bright side, Lowenthal is plenty successful and I am always rooting for him regardless. Sure, Justin Cook is my “number 1” Urameshi in this dimension, but the Yuri Lowenthal rendition that doesn’t exist in this world has exceeded the list all together in my heart. His pedestal is just too high.
What about those of you reading this? Do any of you have a similar experience? Maybe you also remember Yuri Lowenthal as Yusuke Urameshi! Let us know! (Let ME know! Please--I beg someone to find a copy if one exsists in this world. 😭) 
Happy Wednesday. I guess. Bye. 
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disasterhumans · 5 years
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Do you have any advice for dealing with people who directly insult the stuff you love? One of the people in my dnd group said at our last session that critical role wasn't real dnd and that Matt was a bad DM because he doesn't follow the rules, and normally I just let things go as other people having opinions but the way he said it had an implied comment that I wasn't a real dnd player because I play like critrole does and it still really stings.
I’m so sorry that happened, anon. Even knowing that people are going to have different opinions and enjoy different things, it still feels shitty to have the things you love insulted or disparaged.
Above all, the point of D&D is to tell a story and to have fun. If the way you’re playing the game is helping you experience the game in the way you want, you are playing the game “like a real dnd player.” 
I imagine that “playing like critrole does” means you appreciate leaning into the RP side of things–if that’s not something this other player at your table really connects with that’s also okay. If one or both of you aren’t getting what you want from the game, you should speak with your DM so that they know what parts of the game are important to each of you, so that they can tailor things according to both of your interests.
As far as addressing this player goes, I have two different answers to your question.
Answer 1:
Next time you have a game, you can simply say something to the effect of, “Hey, I know you don’t like Critical Role, and that’s okay, but I really enjoy the show, and it hurt for you dismiss something that is important me.” 
If the player is still rude/dismissive toward you in response you can also add something to the effect of, “The point in playing this game is to build a story together, and in order to do that, we need to respect the way everyone plays.”
Answer 2:
You can get pedantic.
In the Preface to the PHB Mike Mearls writes:
Above all else, D&D is yours. The friendships you make around the table will be unique to you. The adventures you embark on, the characters you create, the memories you make–these will be yours. D&D is your personal corner of the universe, a place where you have free reign to do as you wish.
Go forth now. Read the rules of the game and the story of its worlds, but always remember that you are the one who brings them to life. They are nothing without the spark of life that you give them. [emphasis mine]
And on page 4 of the DMG, in the Introduction to the book (which provides an explanation of what the DM is and does), you have this:
The D&D rules help you and the other players have a good time, but the rules aren’t in charge. You’re the DM, and you are in charge of the game.
On page 233, the first page of “Chapter 8: Running the Game,”
Rules enable you and your players to have fun at the table. The rules serve you, not vice versa. 
Table Rules:Ideally, players come to the gaming table with the same goal: to have a fun time together. This section gives recommendations for table rules you can establish to help meet that goal. Here are some fundamentals:
Foster respect. [emphasis author’s] Don’t bring personal conflicts to the table or let disagreements escalate into bad feelings. 
If you have physical copies of the books on hand, open to the pages and point out these sections.
Furthermore, the accusation that Matt Mercer does not follow the rules is absolutely ludicrous. Matt homebrews a lot, but there is literally an entire chapter on homebrewing in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. It is Chapter 7, titled “Dungeon Master’s Workshop.” (And even if there wasn’t, this would still be within his rights as DM.)
As the Dungeon Master, you aren’t limited by the rules in the Player’s Handbook, the guidelines in this book, or the selection of monsters in the Monster Manual. You can let your imagination run wild. This chapter contains optional rules that you can use to customize your campaign, as well as guidelines on creating your own material […] (p. 263, DMG).
Matt also sometimes makes rulings that another DM might not if he thinks it serves the story better. All of the above quotes support him doing this, but it might also be helpful to note that the DMG describes the DM as a “referee” (on page 5). It is Matt’s job to make calls based on his judgment in difficult situations. It’s also his job to make sure his players are having a good time, which means that the game and world he’s creating may not look like the game your fellow player wants to play. And that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with Matt as a DM.
Matt definitely also makes mistakes and forgets or misremembers rules sometimes. I’m going to venture a guess an say that’s because Matt is human.
Above all else, D&D is a game based on collaborative storytelling, and what works for one table won’t fit another. Matt clearly knows and understands his players and crafts a story and game that works for them. It’s quite easy to see that the entire cast is having a great time, which means they are all playing the game exactly right.
P.S. If you don’t have the physical books on hand, feel free to print this response out so you can provide them with the direct quotes and page numbers.
Go forth, and happy gaming.
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duhragonball · 5 years
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Dragon Ball 102
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Last time on Dragon Ball... OH FUCK KRILLIN’S DEAD
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He had gone back to the arena to fetch Goku’s Nyoibo and Four Star Dragon Ball, and then Goku found him and the World Tournament Announcer laid out on the floor.   The Announcer, at least, is okay.   He explains that some monster barged in and took the Four Star Ball and a copy of the Tenkaichi Budokai roster.   Krillin tried to fight the creature, but it was just too strong.  
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Goku is livid.   A lot of people have asked why Goku didn’t just turn Super Saiyan right here.   Personally, I think there’s more to turning Super Saiyan than the emotional shock of your best friend getting killed.   For one thing, Goku wasn’t there when it happened.    I think there’s a difference between finding Krillin’s dead body and watching him get slaughtered while you’re powerless to stop it.  Also, Goku isn’t nearly as strong now as he will be on Namek, and I think that has a lot to do with it.
Nevertheless, this scene has a lot to do with Goku being a Super Saiyan.    It’s all well and good to talk about Goku “transforming” into a Super Saiyan, but you can argue that he always was a Super Saiyan, since he eventually figured out how to tap into that form.   And this righteous fury we see from him is what sets him apart from most of his species.   Nappa and Raditz never felt this way in their lives, or they never allowed themselves to feel this way.   Goku has this capacity throughout his whole life, and so when he’s finally strong enough to cross the threshold, he has the emotional intelligence to carry him to the other side. 
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He grabs his Nyoibo, asks Bulma for her Dragon Radar, and rushes off to hunt down Krillin’s killer.   Roshi tells him to wait, even orders him to stop, but to no avail.   After all, Goku’s hungry and tired, and any monster who could beat Krillin so easily would probably be too much for Goku while he’s less than 100%.
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Oolong finds a piece of paper on the floor with a mark on it.  
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And once Roshi sees it, he realizes that he knows who’s behind all this.
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King Piccolo.  
Okay, so here’s my perspective on this.   I watched DBZ first, and it was pretty clear from casualy watching the early episodes around 1998 or so that Piccolo was the bad guy before Z got started.  All we really knew about him was what little the edited dub revealed in flashbacks or exposition.   Goku said that he wanted to take over the world, though he never understood why, and it was pretty clear that Goku had been the only thing standing in the way of that goal.    While the early sagas of DBZ involved the good guys having an uneasy alliance with Piccolo, it was clear that no one really trusted him, and they were terrified of what he might do if left unchecked.
All of this led me to wonder just what Piccolo had done as a villain.   I think he struck me as a sort of Dr. Doom or Skeletor archetype at the time.    He wanted to conquer the planet, which suggested that he probably pulled some schemes that might have almost worked if Goku hadn’t come along and punched him in the face.   Yeah, he was super strong, but he must have been fairly restrained if the world was still in one piece.
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Then I finally get to the first episode of the King Piccolo Saga, and it turns out to be way, way worse than I ever imagined.   Krillin’s dead, and that’s just for openers.   Piccolo had once terrorized the world a long time ago, and he had a horde of demonic creatures helping him kill innocent people right and left.  
This is one of the best filler scenes I’ve seen so far.   While Roshi tells the story of King Piccolo’s first reign of terror, we’re treated to this horriffic sequence of scaly green monsters flying around, blasting energy beams out of their mouths, stalking frightened humans, and crushing any and all resistance.  
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This monster was about to descend on an innocent woman, until some guy tried to beat him up with a pipe.   But the pipe just bent around his body like it was nothing, and then the monster mauls him instead.    Now imagine that the entire world is like this, and you start to understand the horror of King Piccolo.
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And through it all, King Piccolo’s just enjoying the whole thing.    Why did he do all of this?   Why turn the whold world into a charnel house?   We never really get an answer to that.
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Piccolo’s monsters eventually came after the dojo that Master Roshi and the Crane Hemit used to belong to.   He doesn’t really mention why this conflict happened, but my guess is that that Piccolo’s creatures were just going after everyone.    There was probably no strategy to it at all.
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I’m pretty sure these are Roshi and the Crane Hermit, although I have trouble telling which one is supposed to be which.  The one on the left looks a little more like Roshi, though.   
I’m not sure when this was supposed to have happened.   I’m pretty sure the Funimation dub established it was fifty years ago, but that doesn’t make much sense.   For one thing, of all the characters Roshi is telling this story to, only Tien has even heard of King Piccolo, and he hasn’t heard much.  If King Piccolo had been around only fifty years ago, then Bulma’s parents would probably know about him, since her grandparents would have surely lived during that time.
Also, Roshi is well over 300 years old, so if he looked this young fifty years ago, he must have aged really badly since then.   So I’m pretty sure Funi goofed, or I’m misremembering something.   It makes a lot more sense if the King Piccolo crisis happened a lot longer ago.   Two hundred years, minimum.
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Whatever the chronology, Roshi and the Crane Hermit were only able to beat back Piccolo’s minions, and never King Piccolo himself.   Not even their master, Mutaito, could stop Piccolo, although he swore to oppose him with all his power.   
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Piccolo wounded the guy, but he managed to survive, thanks to his superhuman vitality.   Only, he left Roshi and his other students before he was healed, and he promised to return one day.
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Roshi thinks that the magnitude of the Piccolo crisis was what turned the Crane Hermit into the villain he is today.   That’s pretty heavy stuff.  Piccolo is so evil that he inspired other evildoers to turn to evil. 
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Getting back to the story, one day, years later, Mutaito returned, having finally mastered a technique that would save the world from King Piccolo.
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So he went right up to King Piccolo and zapped him with the Mafuba, also known as the Evil Containment Wave.    It didn’t kill Piccolo, or even hurt him...
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Instead, it directed him into a vessel, which could be sealed with a sacred talisman.   I don’t know why he picked a rice cooker, but his options may have been limited in those days.
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The only downside to the Mafuba is that it kills the user.   So it was up to Roshi to deal with the imprisoned King Piccolo.
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So he dropped it into the bottom of the sea.    The only way King Piccolo could possibly have returned would be if someone found the jar and opened it.   Tien and Chiaotzu wonder if the Crane Hermit might have done it, but Roshi says that he never would have dared to unleash such horror again.   So the question is: Who would be dumb enough to find King Piccolo and set him free?     What sort of colossal idiot would... oh, who are we kidding?   It’s Emperor Pilaf.
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Worse, Pilaf told Piccolo about the Dragon Balls.    He thinks King Piccolo would want to wish to rule the world...
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But no.    Conquering the world is easy for him.   What he wants is eternal youth, so he can have the vitality and longevity to rule the wold forever!
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Pilaf tries to suggest that Piccolo should share half the world with him in exchange for all of his help.    It was Pilaf who found Piccolo’s jar, released him, set him up in this cool airship, and he told him about the Dragon Balls and the Tenkacihi Budokai.   Piccolo replies that he’ll think it over.
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As for the Dragon Balls, Piccolo has one of his goons named Tambourine looking for them, and he’s on his way back with one right now.    What the Pilaf gang doesn’t understand is why he had Tambourine steal the tournament roster while he was at it.    Piccolo explains that it was a martial artist who sealed him away for so long, and so he considers martial artists to be the only possible threat to his plans.   Any one of them might possibly know or reinvent the technique that sealed him away, so he plans to kill them all, and the Tenkaichi Budokai roster makes a nice list of strong fighters to kick off his purge.
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Back at the arena, Roshi has reached the same conclusion.  
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Meanwhile, Goku, who knows none of this, has finally caught up to Tambourine. 
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thearkhound · 5 years
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Hideo Kojima interview with MSX Magazine (2005)
The following is a translation of an interview with Hideo Kojima that was published in a special commemorative issue of MSX Magazine published on May 12, 2005. At the time, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on the PlayStation 2 was the latest entry, while the MSX2 entries of the series, Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake, had just been ported to Japanese feature phones, although they would later be given an international release a few months later through their inclusion in the Subsistence re-release of Metal Gear Solid 3.
In this interview, Kojima talks about his involvement with the MSX development department of Konami and how it shaped him to become the game developer he would become later on and also discusses some of the other MSX games put out by Konami. The original Japanese interview can be found here, which also includes an interview with Metal Gear 2 sound designer Kazuhiko Uehara, which I might post a translation at a later time.
EDIT (2019/6/8): I completely revised the translation of this interview, since I’ve noticed quite a few mistakes that slipped by me after the initial posting. I’m much more satisfied with this version of the translation. I’ve also uploaded my translation of the Kazuhiko Uehara interview, which can be found here.
Disliking The MSX At First
We brought you a present, Mr. Kojima (an MSX Game Reader, an adapter that allows users to play actual MSX cartridges on a PC with an emulator).
Hideo Kojima: Oh, cool! This is truly amazing, isn't it. Nice! (opens box). Are they still selling this?
Sorry, but we're currently sold out. Of course, that one is yours.
But you can't put two cartridges at the same time. [TL's note: Most MSX computers had two cartridge slots. Some Konami cartridges had special features that would be unlocked when played together. For example, playing Gradius/Nemesis with TwinBee on the second cartridge slot would replace the Vic Viper with the actual TwinBee.]
Actually, you can. You'll just need to buy another Game Reader.
Is that so. (while looking at an issue of MSX Magazine) MSX... How nostalgic. How are things going with the MSX?
We were not sure how many copies of the first issue we would sell, but it went beyond our expectations. There are many passionate fans.
There are many developers who came from the MSX. Even in Konami there are many people who would tell me that they joined the company because of Metal Gear. But the truth is that I actually hated the MSX when I joined Konami. (laughs)
Huh, is that so? Now that you say that, there are quite a few people who came to the MSX without ever getting a Famicom bought for them.
But in the end, we would only use it to play games on it... Everything else was done in BASIC. Nowadays I like playing games on it, but I don't use any of its other programs. It's way too complicated for me. But back then there would be many people who would try making stuff on their own.
Why did you hate the MSX at first?
Back in my college days, I thought about joining the game industry since I spent most of my free time at the video arcades. But the MSX hardly crossed my mind. When I joined Konami I was only thinking of doing arcade and Famicom games and I had many ideas for those platforms, but for some reason I was assigned to do MSX games instead. It was difficult (working on the original MSX) since sprites would disappear when you line them up next to each other and the graphics were monochromatic. It was pretty painful.
Did you had to design things yourself too?
It was that sort of era. The development tools were made in-house and after our meeting was over, we would go to a place that was like a design department to use them. The arcade and Famicom departments would also have their designers nearby.
It must had been pretty difficult under those circumstances.
Essentially the MSX couldn't surpass the arcade nor the Famicom. At least not in terms of graphics and sounds. Therefore you had no choice but to be focused on your work. So when it came to the planning, level designs and playability, you really needed someone to be a planner. The MSX division was the only Konami department that had planners. Although a planner is not what you would call an actual profession, they generally served double duty as designers. I started my career as a planner and thanks to the excellent seniors who were there to guide me, I was able to acquire experience that allowed me to make unusual games such as the original Metal Gear.
Using Hardware Limitations To Your Benefit
What brought upon the existence of the original Metal Gear?
I think it can be told now. At the time there was a popular arcade game by Capcom titled Commando, so I was told to make a game similar to that, but on the MSX1. [TL's note: For some reason Kojima mentions the MSX1 specifically, even though the original Metal Gear was released on its successor, the MSX2. I'm guessing he's either misremembering or he's talking about a prototype version that ran on the older hardware. It’s hard to tell.] Back then I think you could only move in six directions. Six directions was going to be impossible, but even reducing it to just four was too restricting. We had no choice but to make a game that could be done without enemies. And that's what allowed me to develop Metal Gear.
Metal Gear's gameplay system used the MSX’s hardware limitations to its own advantage.  It’s noticeable during gameplay that there aren't that many bullets on-screen.
They wouldn't come out horizontally either. There were five function keys, so we thought about using each of them. The F4 key for example, would bring up the transceiver. Simultaneously pressing one key and another was unthinkable on a controller.
If I remember correctly, the original Metal Gear didn't cause much of an impact at first, but afterward it started getting a following as word of mouth spread. It was a difficult game to understand at first, but then people ended up acquiring a taste for it.
That's because the company didn't interfere with us too much. At that time, arcade games were still pretty popular and the Famicom boom was in its peak. While the MSX was also popular, we were selling less than the other departments, who were selling millions. But because of that, we were given more leeway to do what we wanted. At the company's cafeteria they would post the five best-selling games for each platform on a board. When it came to the MSX, the top five titles were all games published by Konami. We were proud of that fact, but our salaries were never raised.
We're going to interview Mr. Uehara for this issue too. Did you two work together on Metal Gear?
We worked together not on the original Metal Gear, but its sequel, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. I had the most joy in my life during that period. A contrast from the original Metal Gear, which was the most difficult for me. We did Metal Gear 2 for most of 1989, but it wasn't released until 1990. It took a while to come out since our team had to assist in the development of SD Snatcher. It ultimately ended up becoming the last MSX game we ever released.
And then it evolved into Metal Gear Solid on the PlayStation.
When I heard there was going to be a home console capable of 3D polygon graphics, my first thought was "we can finally do a true hide & seek game". We kept the bird’s eye view so far out of reluctance, but I was curious if we were capable of doing stuff like hiding under desks or inside lockers, so we were going to make Metal Gear Solid with a simple set-up, but contents of the game ended up being almost identical to Metal Gear 2. Stuff like “searching the back of the game box [to learn a certain character’s frequency number]”.
Metal Gear Solid was a huge success at the end.
Yes, but the MSX version [Metal Gear 2] was the most interesting.
Konami’s Golden Titles
Snatcher was another memorable game for us.
After I've finished working on Metal Gear, the way people saw me within Konami changed. My status was raised quite considerably, but my salary was still pretty low. (laughs) I didn't know what to do next, so I took a one week vacation and drove to Awajijima with a friend. At that moment I felt like I wanted to make an adventure game like the Portopia Serial Murder Case, a game I was into during my college years. Also, if it was an adventure game, I would've be the one making the vital decisions during development. Working for a game company that specialized on arcade game was tough, since they prioritized programmers.
The original version of Snatcher was the one for the NEC PC-8801.
While planning out Snatcher, Enix put out another game titled JESUS. It was a great game, wasn't it? When I saw [JESUS], I was convinced that I had to develop [Snatcher]for the PC-8801 or it wouldn’t be good. Konami’s condition was that I would also develop an MSX2 version of the game, but I was extremely pleased with that and thought “alright.”
It was the first Konami game developed for the PC-88.
That's right. We had quite a lot of pressure, since we didn't have the tools nor the sales channel. It was ultimately released a year and a half behind schedule. After that happened, we couldn't make the sequel anymore [TL’s note: The PC-88 and MSX2 versions of Snatcher ends the story on a cliffhanger at Act 2. The later console versions added Act 3 as a conclusion, but originally Kojima wanted to do a Snatcher sequel that picks up from where Act 2 left off.], so we ended up going back to the MSX.
The game afterward was SD Snatcher.
That's right.
I wondered at the time why it became SD.
I thought so too. I wondered myself why they were developing such a game. Nevertheless, nobody would’ve known how the story of Snatcher would’ve ended if we didn’t include the rest of it. It would’ve been an awful story.
Space Manbow [a side-scrolling shoot-'em-up released by Konami for the MSX2 in 1989] was another game that we were passionate about.
Initially the game was going to be titled "Alphard" if I’m not mistaken, which didn’t seem like a very marketable name. The game itself was excellent in terms of programming, but something about it didn't seem too interesting. That was when Mr. Akihiko Nagata [the head of the MSX department, who would end up becoming the executive producer of the original Metal Gear Solid.] loudly proclaimed something like "Space Manbow sounds good, doesn't it"? The Manbow [otherwise known as a Ocean Sunfish] was a popular fish back then. The title was decided after everyone said "huh?".
I heard that they had to replace all the characters in the game in around a month.
It was actually supposed to be a port of Thunder Cross [another side-scrolling shoot-'em-up by Konami, released for the arcades in 1988], but the developers ended up becoming too absorbed into their work. At the time Uehara and myself would work together until midnight and since my lodgings were located close to him, I would drive him home there while listening to the music he composed for Metal Gear 2 on the car. We usually had dinner together. We would go to a nearby sushi bar or something, get drunk, have a fight and then we would get up early for work... It was that sort of lifestyle.
I get the impression that the entire staff were lodging together.
That's right. The building in Kobe even had a bath and a gym. I once stayed there for 24 hours. But there were no friends around, even during vacations. I had no choice but to travel alongside co-workers during vacation trips. We were an unhappy bunch.
The Reason Why Konami’s MSX Games Were Interesting
We have a strong impression that the content of Konami's MSX game were thoroughly scrutinized before they were released.
That's because we had planners. That's how our development method differed compared to the other departments at Konami. At the MSX department we would do the packaging, catch-copy, design and manuscripts for a game’s manual all by ourselves. We did everything. It brings me back.
The planner system was the key.
There was this sort-of mentality of “making the player have a game over in one coin” that was borne from an arcade origin like Konami, which resulted in simple games. Those kind of game were really rampant when I joined the company, so I would get angry whenever I was told that I only have a day to come up with the backstory of the game’s world. PC game companies, such as Square and Enix, understood what world-building was about, and that’s where planners like Yuji Horii [creator of the Dragon Quest series] came from, since their development infrastructure were completely different. However, in such situation, the presence of unusual markets such as the MSX, is what I think what Metal Gear made possible, which made me who I am now.
The graphics were pretty too.
At the time our in-house tools were pretty substantial. Not just on the MSX, but also on the arcade and Famicom departments. At the time when other companies were using mouses, we were already using stylus pens. But that wasn’t the reason why our graphics were good. You can still draw poorly even while having decent tools. But afterward, our compression technology would be applied and that’s what made it look good.
How did Konami managed to release so many quality games in a row?
The department at the time evaluated the games thoroughly. We had around four teams, each led by a different planner, and they would evaluate each other's works. If one of them was putting out an uninteresting game, everyone would join forces to fix it. Everyone in the other lines would stop their work and help rebuild the game. This accommodation would last around a month. It was interesting.
Games that are made like that tend to be successful.
They all were. Space Manbow and Hinotori both underwent that process. Treasure of Usas didn't turn out to be very interesting though, even though people helped out on it. SD Snatcher was also completely remade when I got involved. That's why we never put out a bad game. You could say that was our corporate or house style.
Emotional Support From MSX Users
It's not unusual for people to buy games because of the creators involved nowadays, but back then we would buy your games because of your involvement.
Back when the original Metal Gear was being made, Famicom games were selling so well that there was a lot headhunting happening. We were told that we couldn't put our names in the game, but we really wanted to. In the end, we ended up doing so and my name appears as "H. Kojima" on the staff roll [TL’s note: They actually used his full name in Metal Gear. “H. Kojima” was used on the NEC PC-8801 and MSX2 version of Snatcher.]. This practice wasn't allowed elsewhere, but we were forgiven since we were doing only MSX games.
That's how we were able to follow your work.
We would receive survey cards asking "is Kojima-san alright?", but since they only saw my name written in romanized characters, they would write it in kana only or use the wrong kanji characters. They didn't start publishing my face and the kanji for my full name until they released the PC Engine version of Snatcher. In terms of sales, we were outclassed by the Famicom division, so we didn't get much praise, but we sold well enough to be kept around.
But we did your recognize your games.
During the MSX1 era, it would take a pace of 3 months to produce a single game and it was the same thing for the Famicom. Maybe 6 months if they realy took their time. In my case, my projects would've taken a year and a half to complete, which wasn't normal back then. Naturally, nobody appreciate that.
They would complain that you were taking too long.
The sales people around me were kind though. After the release date, I would've received tons of FAX where they would sent me everything. Even if we weren't appreciated in a business sense, we were still recognized thanks to the players and sales people around us.
We are happy to know that you received positive feedback.
The survey cards and letters we've received were always placed in the lounge. I would read them over and over again like I was indulging them. We would also receive chocolate around this period. Nowadays we don't get them that often.
MSX users like us would often argue with the Famicom-owning kids at school. For example, we would brag that the MSX version of Gradius had a long laser, while the Famicom version didn't have that.
That's amazing, but no matter how you put it, the MSX was inferior in terms of hardware and it was expensive at that, wasn't it? But since [MSX users] came from a highly intellectual place, we strongly felt we had to implement various schemes to appeal to them.
Your experience with the MSX is what led you to become who you are now.
It was because of the MSX. At the time I thought "Why must I join the MSX"?, but now I'm truly grateful. I believe the MSX department was really blessed, since I haven't been so for a while.
We are looking forward to your future games. Thanks for the interview.
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