BOY MEETS WORLD…

…and the greatness of Trini! Our latest Spectare review is mostly a critique of “Boy Meets World”, but we also pay tribute to Topanga’s quirky best friend… who appeared in all of two episodes. And look! Video clips!  (8/26/07)

Okay, I admit it — and I hope it isn’t too obvious — this article completely derailed somewhere in the writing process and only partially resembles my original plan/vision for it. So much so, in fact, that I’m tempted to hold off posting it until I’ve gotten some sleep and had a chance to revise it more fully. Why am I posting it, then? Because, honestly, it reminds me in many ways of the old school Scary-Crayon articles, which more/less wrote themselves. Recent articles have been somewhat more structured and organized due to the way I went about writing them: first I took the photos and/or screencaps for the article, placed the specific images that I wanted to use on the html template, and then wrote the article around the images in accordance with what they depicted. Back in the day, however, I’d collect the images, then write the article off the top of my head — and usually late at night, when I tend to be at my most creative (if a little unhinged) — and finally place the images in accordance with the text. With Boy Meets World and the greatness of Trini, however, I started with no screencaps — save those used as the preview images for the video clips — and sort of (but not really) used them as a rough guide for the article text. As you can see, the piece still kind of got away from me as I penned the latter half of it in the early AM, but I’m okay with that. After all, this is Scary-Crayon, not “Boy Meets World”. Just be glad I spared you the tangent in which I blamed Cory for Trini’s disappearance and potential murder! After all, he was the last person to see her alive…

And yeah, do let me know what you think of the video clips. I saved them at a relatively low quality setting in order to keep the space down. They’re still roughly 4MB apiece, but if you think the quality is too low for them to be enjoyable and would prefer that they be larger, do post a comment to that effect below. I’m not saying that I’ll necessarily follow along, but I do take suggestions and stuff into account. Also, how do you feel about the combination clips — the ones with multiple scenes compiled from a single episode. Do you prefer this format, or would you rather have several shorter clips? And even though you readers of the SC blog have likely already seen it, do comment on the philosophy class clip as well. 🙂

OH! And before I go, I wanted to plug a couple of pages — Popho.com, which is kind of like an E/N review/commentary blog of sorts, and Warehouse8, a kickass new (well, not that new, really) gaming site. I haven’t included them in the links yet because I’m super anal about those columns on the main page lining up, but yeah. Check ’em out!

Mmm’kay, lates — and apologies for any typos. I’ll correct them when I’m more awake. No extensive editing of the core text, though! 😉

DUSTY PLASTIC HELL #6!!!

Yes — at last — it’s Dusty Plastic HELL #6! No — alas — it’s not the continuation of Krang’s quest for a body. Batman and Robin are here, though… and they’ve just returned to find some unexpected visitors in the Batcave.  (8/18/07)

Can you believe that the last “true” episode of Dusty Plastic HELL took place way back in 2005?! That’s insane! So, by almost completely arbitrary decree, here is — at long last — Dusty Plastic HELL #6. Before you go getting excited (or apologies if you already read it with high hopes that were cruelly dashed), it’s not the continuation of the ancient and unfinished Krang saga. As mentioned previously, I’m probably going to end up reshooting that one with real backgrounds, as using the Batcave for this one truly did save me quite a bit of time. Instead, here’s a comic explaining why future Transformers comics will likely take place in the Batcave and the generic abandoned factory that serves as a generic hideout for Batman’s manifold foes. (Unlike many toy lines that required you to buy playsets for both the heroes’ and the villains’ respective headquarters, the Batcave playset actually includes both — along with Wayne Manor to boot. Much appreciated, Kenner!)

This just in: my laptop just rebooted for no apparent reason, but I didn’t lose any of the above paragraph because WordPress had apparently autosaved my draft. Once again, WordPress gets my recommendation and appreciation for sparing me a great deal of frustration. Accept no imitation(s). Hurray for initially unintentional and then drawn-out rhyming. (more…)

A Crayon Haiku #66!

Much like the responses on Jeopardy, A Crayon Haiku #66 takes the form of a question. Like certain answers and Daily Doubles, it also refers to an image. Will you be able to answer it? That was also a question.  (8/11/07)

Yep — just a quick little something to tide y’all over until the next update. 🙂 Contrary to what I wrote last time, though, the next update (which may go up as soon as tomorrow or Monday) will likely not be an article, as I’ve gone back to experimenting with some of the more ancient toy comic techniques that I used to employ on the site. See, during one particular break when I worked at the bookstore, I picked up a Batcave playset at Toys ‘R’ Us on clearance for $13 in the hopes of someday using it as a backdrop for Scary-Crayon toy comics, and now — after I spent a couple of hours the other night assembling the blasted thing — that time is almost upon us! Granted, using “real” backdrops isn’t as technically impressive or attractive as the screencap backgrounds I’ve inserted more recently, but doing comics this way should save me quite a bit of time with them… which means I should be able to post more of them! These next two will pretty much be test runs, but then after that it might be time for Krang to finally make his long-awaited return to the site. I actually already photographed that comic with a standard white background, but since then I’ve gotten better with that so I’m not even sure I’d want to keep those shots if I wanted to do it the other way. Anyway, WE SHALL SEE!

Regarding today’s haiku, feel free to post your guesses in the comments — though I don’t imagine anyone will have a hard time with this one. It’s so obvious, especially if you’ve seen the live action film! I really do like the sculpt on this guy… I may have to go back to Dollar Tree and pick up a few more of them for potential painting projects. Speaking of which, do y’all have any action figure customizing and/or painting tips for me? I’ve found information regarding the basics — I’m mostly interested in how cheap I can make things. Frex, I’ve heard that Testors and Tamiya acrylic paints are excellent, but they’re $2.50 per small bottle. Not backbreakingly expensive, mind you, but Michaels own acrylic paints are $0.50 for a bottle two times the size of the smaller ones. So if I could get by with the cheaper stuff, I’d definitely use it! Considering that the T-Rex guys are only a buck each, I may get at least one more of them and some of the Michaels paints and test them out on it. Yeah, I’d be blowing $1.50 (I’d only need like three colors) if it doesn’t work out, but if it turns out okay I can use the same paints on my more involved knockoff Transformers painting projects. 🙂

All for now, then — ’till next time, minna-san!

FACE FLIPPIN’ CHRIS BENOIT!!!

Over the weekend of June 23, 2007, Chris Benoit shocked wrestling fans by killing his wife, his son, and himself. Yet in 2005, the Face Flippin’ Chris Benoit figure prophetically depicted the two sides of the late WWE star.  (8/7/07)

I know, I know, I always say this — but again, apologies for the lengthy period in between Scary-Crayon updates. I always say this too, but I do have a bunch of planned content for the site, so hopefully I’ll have more content up here in the near future! I still want to get the Shanghai article done at some point, but I’ve also got a planned featurette on “Boy Meets World”, a retrospective concerning this year’s Otakon anime convention, and tons of reviews of knockoff Transformers toys. Seriously on that last one — I went insane last week and spent nearly $80 on the things — so the only way I can even remotely justify that is by using them as review fodder for the site. In fact, although I’ll probably lump multiple figures into the subsequent pieces, the very next SC article will probably focus exclusively on bootleg Megatron. But more about that when the time comes.

Today’s feature is another toy review — this one of Face Flippin’ Fighters Chris Benoit. I hope that it doesn’t net me a bevy of hate mail and angry comments, as I genuinely did enjoy Chris Benoit’s matches and respect him as a performer. I was genuinely (if only momentarily) saddened when I heard the news about his death. But I admit that I was also genuinely amused once I recalled that, in addition to being a gifted wrestler in real life, he was also a psychotic and brutal bastard on television. So let’s not pretend that I’m super sick for some of the comments that I make in this article — if Anthony Hopkins murdered his wife and ate her liver, you know damned well you’d have something sarcastic to say as well. 😛

All for now then, minna-san. See you next time — which will hopefully be sooner than later!