HereComesTom

Time for another item from my List of Things Hasbro Won't Let a Brony Do in a Fangame:

5) I may not base the guards of any castle in Equestria or beyond on the playable characters in Castle Crashers.

Also, fun fact:  the spell checker didn't like the word "brony" and recommended "crony" as an alternative

I've begun to watch the movie 2010 on tubi.

For those of you who don't know, an author named Arthur C. Clarke had a novel series that he wrote in the 20th century that started with "2001: A Space Odyssey" and ended with "3001: The Final Odyssey".  They had plenty of space travel in them, and the sequel to 2001, was 2010.

The funny thing is, years numbered 2000 and higher seemed so futuristic and mysterious to us back then, full of wonder and promise, with our heads full of ideas of space travel and scientific discovery and (at least in the 90s) optimism.

Now it's 2024, we've been in that century that looked to be full of promise for about a quarter of it, and now those expectations feel like a bad joke.  2001 was when the World Trade Towers collapsed, setting a dark tone for the new century.  And while things probably aren't getting worse and worse objectively speaking, it keeps feeling like they are.  Maybe it's social media and the news media focusing on the negative that makes it feel that way---if it is, they're doing a thorough job of it.

At least we can look back and say that one remarkable thing happened in 2010:  G-4!

Yet another one from the List of Things Hasbro Won't Let a Brony Do in a MLP Fangame:

4)  No matter how common they are in real-life horsemanship, or how funny their high-pitched voices would be, I may not have geldings in the game.

I sure hope that's not too off-color...!

Another one from the List of Things Hasbro Won't Let a Brony Do in a Fangame:

3)  Pinkie-Swears aren't the kind of things I should need to bleep over.

I've been sitting on these for years---I think it's high time I started posting the List of Things Hasbro Won't Let a Brony Do in a Fangame:

1)  When naming OCs for the Canterlot Royal Guard, the following names are off-limits:  Cannon Fodder, Red Shirt, Brown Pants.

Well, shoot---registration is open for Whinny City Pony Con, but I'm suddenly finding myself wondering if I want to spend over $550 to go to a fan convention for a show I haven't watched in I-don't-know-how-long.

It's a sobering feeling:  I really did like G-4 while it was on; they did an excellent job with the characters, and I'm still working on my Weather Factory Meltdown fangame.  I cried back in 2019 when the show had its finale, simply because it was all over.  In a lot of ways, the show is a part of who I've been since 2010.

But...is it still a part of who I am today...?

After weeks of waiting for my Capcom Legacy Arcade1up cabinet to arrive, and about two super-sweaty hours assembling it, I discover a sad truth:  I suck at the games that're on it :/

...At least it looks pretty good in my man-cave!

Well, apparently this glitched and left me a blank status update.  I'll see if editing it helps...

I think I said something about the latest episode of MYM in here; Izzy...she has no respect for other ponies' property.  That's a pretty big flaw, and makes Pinkie Pie's inability to respect or conceive of boundaries seem small in comparison!

But they had a joke in there that would've sailed over kids' heads when Izzy was examining a stallion's key ring...!  The fact that they're putting in humor only adults would get feels like a major reason for hope for G-5, though they should probably scale it back a bit...!

I've been playing Shups, and it seems like I never progress to level six, even when I've been in level five long enough to progress.  The enemy level got up to 166 before I was foolish enough to try to fly through a cloud of red projectiles to evade the beam-turrets' fire.

Is there a Stage 6, or is Stage 5 coded to keep throwing enemies at the player until the player makes a mistake like mine?

Just put out some wood, hardwood, softwood, iron, stone, clay, bamboo, and tree branches---they're over on the west side of the island, in the grassy area that's kind of northwest of the store.  Dodo code is still DW9JL if you're interested; IIRC the nook store needs some of those materials to open.

I don't know if you're still keeping an eye on the forum, but I hope you are---we're looking forward to the new series coming out soon!

Just tried out Rikifive's prototype game---it's got a lot of promise, but obviously has a long way to go, as well:

Merry Christmas, all!

...Saying that from 11pm Christmas evening in the USA means that it's already the 26th on most of the rest of the planet by now, so...it's belated.  But it still counts!!!!

Wow.  I've been playing a lot of Animal Crossing New Horizons, and I found this:

I don't have this villager, but the animation and music are impressive!

I think I might need to log into Facebook so I can see Facebook Marketplace.

I took a long hiatus because it was...well, so political.  But looking at some of the deals on the marketplace for arcade1up stuff...it's the best source for cabinets at reasonable prices, I think!  I hope to get my hands on a cabinet that either is empty, or that is very cheap and only has games that I already own, so I can take the guts out of it and do a custom project with it.

Facebook got so political for me that, months ago, I decided to stop going to Facebook.

And today is the one day I decide to log in and see if there's anything worth seeing---and it's down!  How can one of the biggest social media platforms in existence be down?!

Wow!  For the first time, someone else streamed my fangame!

If you ever wondered what I look or sound like IRL, this'll tell you!

Well, TrotCon online has started, aaaaaaand...their pixel-ponies chat is dead. 

I'd wanted SO much to promote Weather Factory Meltdown; I rushed and worked hard to get a good update in before the con began, aaaaaand...no chance to promote it!

Well, THAT was stressful and disappointing...

My brother's box spring and mattress were crawling with bedbugs a week ago.  So we put them inside a GIANT plastic bag that is sold with a kind of a poison air-freshener...the idea is that you get the mattress and box spring in the bag, get the bag airtight with the poison air-freshener inside it, and let it sit for seven days.  After the seven days, the bedbugs inside are supposed to be dead, and even their eggs should be destroyed.

...You can tell from the word "supposed" that it's not true.

We dragged the mattress outside, opened the bag, and found there were lots and lots of live bedbugs still in the bag.

What's really crazy about it is that, now that we've gotten it outside and opened the bags...we can't bring that thing back inside; we'd recontaminate the house!  And I just know someone in our HOA is going to complain about it.  I called the HOA first to explain the situation---and sprayed the siding that the whole thing is leaning on with a spray that (I hope) will keep them from crawling back in through the walls.

I'm a bit worried that getting rid of it will be a doozy; no one really wants to get near bedbugs, and I know firsthand why :/

Ugh.  I wouldn't wish bedbugs on anyone!

We have them in my condo.  The main nest seems like it was in my brother's box spring; we've got it in a couple of giant plastic bags, with a poisonous air-freshener-thingy inside that, after a week of being sealed in there, should kill the live bugs as well as the eggs.

On top of that, I set off four different bed bug bombs (foggers?) in four different rooms...and I'm still finding live bed bugs, even in one of the rooms that had the bed bug bombs in them.
 

I guess there is no one silver bullet vs. bed bugs.  You just gotta keep spraying the edges of the room until they no longer come back... :/

Well, my AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade finally arrived, and I spent a good, sweaty hour assembling it!

So far...I like the Arcade1up version of Centipede better :/  There's some audio lag with the Legends Ultimate, plus the visuals...ugh, so hard to tell where the edges of the screen are!  Millipede is fine (it's easy to tell where the edges are due to the area your "elf" can move in being dark aqua), and it's got a lot of crazy titles---I'll find enough to keep me occupied for quite a while!

I'm not sure when I'll try to fix my partycade, but I plan to.  Not sure if I'll give it way, either, since I like Centipede on the partycade more than I like it on the AtGames machine...

Well...what an interesting situation...

First piece of context:  Back in 2020, I struggled to get my hands on a Centipede arcade1up cabinet for my man-cave.  I finally got a Centipede 4-in-1 Partycade, but then something went horribly wrong:  the screen went completely white every time I turned it on, and stayed that way.  Couldn't play any of the games on it!  So I contacted the arcade1up support team, and they gave me a replacement.

Second piece of context:  Realizing that buying arcade1up cabinets one at a time wasn't the most economical way of getting games in my man-cave, I decided to invest in an AtGames Legends Ultimate Arcade, which has 300 games on it.  As it happens, said Legends Ultimate Arcade has all four of the games that the Centipede 4-in-1 Partycade has on it, and it's currently on its way.

Third piece of context:  I just discovered my Centipede 4-in-1 Partycade once again had the white screen of death.  And I'm not sure it's still under warranty; it may or may not be.  I'll find out soon; I've contacted the arcade1up support team again.

So...all-in-all, an interesting situation:  do I ask for a refund?  Do I ask for a replacement when I'm already going to get all the games that're on that Partycade, and then some?  Do they even HAVE any replacements?  Is it even under warranty?  It'll be a close call if it is.

I'm not even sure what I feel about this.  If it's not under warranty anymore, then there's nothing to be done---unless it's something as simple that I can fix myself, like some wires not being connected or something.  In which case I might as well crack it open, since I'll have nothing to lose by attempting to fix it.

THE GRAND LIST OF THINGS HASBRO WON'T LET A BRONY DO IN A FANGAME:

1)  When naming OCs for the Canterlot Royal Guard, the following names are off-limits:  Cannon Fodder, Red Shirt, Brown Pants.

2)  Adding random tie-ins with other Hasbro franchises like Mr. Potato Head are okay.  Making a GLaDOS Mr. Potato Head as a boss is not, until and unless Hasbro secures the rights for a GLaDOS Mr. Potato Head toy.

3)  Pinkie-Swears aren't the kind of things I should need to bleep over.

Just got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine.  My arm's only a little sore, but I'm getting a lot more tired than I usually get in the evening.

I don't know how or if the vaccine will affect me; it could be something to do with my sinuses instead.  Either way, I plan to take it easy tonight!