Throwback Thursday: The Era of Pokemon

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hello everyone! Happy Thursday!

Photo from fanpop.com

So if you’re a 90’s kid like myself, you should have a special place in your heart for this anime. So what if the artwork and graphics aren’t top notch or that the story line isn’t original?! Whether you were a fan of the phenomenon or not, you can’t deny that Pokemon is one of the most successful and globally known anime from Japan.

I remember I was in the 3rd grade when I watched my first episode. Like many other youngins’, I watched it on Kids WB (which is now the CW). I was so infatuated by these cute little creatures that had these kickass powers, that I wanted MORE of it. So I collected the trading cards, I played the video games (for Gameboy AND Nintendo 64), I collected the VHS tapes, I collected each soundtrack, I went to the premiere of the first movie, and the list goes on and on. I know I’m not the only one who did this, so you better be basking in your childhood too as you read this.

The crazy thing about Pokemon is that the series IS STILL GOING ON til today. That’s insane! If you think about it, most anime shows only last an average of 20-ish episodes per season. If I watched this in 3rd grade, that means this show has been around for more than a decade. Wow. How many shows can you think of that can do the same thing? WITH constant video games coming out, soundtracks, movies, manga, etc? I’d like to argue, not a whole lot.

To me, Pokemon doesn’t only bring out nostalgic memories for me… it represents this culture of nerdy fandom. I’m not ashamed to admit I still play the video games, I cosplay from the series, and I have a bunch of Pikachu plushies. There’s just something about it that doesn’t get old. I’m not a huge fan of all these new pokemon and these new series (I like to keep it old school) but I will always get excited and feel happy whenever I watch an episode from the Indigo or Johto Leagues. Or if I’m playing Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow. Oh and just so you know… I’m down to battle if you are. I trained my Blastoise well.

So what’s my point in all this? My point is that this anime is not just a kids’ show… it’s LIFE and anyone regardless of their age should be able to enjoy it. I remember when I was really getting into anime. I was around 9 or 10-years-old and my mom would just tell my dad, “She’ll grow out of it one day.”

Haha… oh Mother. That’s cute. You couldn’t be anymore wrong.

My feelings toward Pokemon are still the same as my 3rd grade self. I ain’t afraid to say I am a TRUE pokemon fan and I will be a pokemon master someday.

Hopefully it won’t take over 10 years like it has for Ash, but hey, to each their own!

-Alice

Why You Should be Watching My Little Pony

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! Again!

Photo from feminspire.com

So in honor of Youtube’s Geek Week, I’ve been posting some geeky articles to help celebrate this amazing time. But as I thought about it, I realized ALL my blog posts are geeky. Sooo, I guess the only difference between this week and every other week is that I’m just yelling “HAPPY GEEK WEEK!” in every post. Whatever, just celebrate with me, damnit!

So I originally wanted to post this 3 days ago on National Friendship Day (Yes, it exists. Google it.) but that didn’t work out. So here I am! In honor of belated National Friendship Day, I want to talk to you guys about the magicalness that is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.

If you’re a fan of the show, GREAT! Hello my fellow Bronies and Pegasisters! If you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about, well, then this goes out to you.

A year ago at Anime Expo, my best friend Angi cosplayed as Pinkie Pie. I’ll be honest, I really didn’t understand what the hype was about. I mean, MLP isn’t even anime. It’s a children’s show and it’s kinda cheesy. But hey, geeks flock to stuff like this so I guess I couldn’t be too surprised. After AX was over, I decided to watch the show to understand why it was so popular.

I originally sat down to watch ONE episode, but then I found myself finishing the first season. (Thank you Netflix!) This shit was ADDICTING! And anyone who’s addicted to any TV show or anime will understand my feels. When there’s a plethora of episodes and seasons available for FREE (or for $8 a month), you HAVE to watch all of it. You can’t just stop in the middle… who does that?! That’s unAmerican.

My Little Pony is an amazing show that teaches its viewers the magic of friendship. (See what I did there?!) But all corny jokes aside, this show really explores PLATONIC relationships between people..erm.. ponies, which a lot of children shows don’t tend to do anymore. Whether the lesson is about humility, sacrifice, or honesty, the show showcases all these lessons into colorful, fun, scenarios… WITH PONIES! It also addresses the issue of self identity. Each pony has something called a Cutie Mark. It’s a little emblem that appears near their butts (I don’t know how to make that sound politically correct) that define who you are. The six main characters of the show already have their Cutie Marks, but three supporting characters, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle, are on a quest to find theirs. In other words, these three young ponies are on a quest to discover who they are and what they can contribute to this world.

See?! Aren’t these themes just so relevant in life?! I think this is an amazing show for ALL AGES! A lot of people criticize the fact that the viewer demographic has an abundance of males ages 12-35, but who the hell cares?! Those guys are awesome for watching the show and I bet you anything by learning these timeless lessons about friendship, these guys probably treat everyone with respect. WHICH IS WHAT THE SHOW IS ABOUT!

My Little Pony has become such a phenomenon and has such a loyal and crazy fanbase that the fans have given each other names. I used them earlier, but let me explain. There are Bronies and Pegasisters. I mean, that’s as straightforward as you can get… Brony meaning fanboy and Pegasister meaning fangirl… but amongst this amazing community sparks a controversy in title. Before the name “Pegasister” came along, we just had the name “Brony.” So everyone, females and males, referred to themselves as Bronies. Some fans feel the term “Brony” should be gender neutral and we shouldn’t even be using the name “Pegasister.” I know this sounds crazy, but this is actually a big deal because this delves into a bigger, deeper rooted issue… gender binaries! Do people not want to be classified into “boys” and “girls”? Why does the term “Brony” sound better to some? What’s wrong with being classified as a female fan?

Well, I honestly don’t have the answers to all these questions, but here’s my short 2 cents about the topic. The term “Brony” CAN’T be gender neutral because it’s derived from the word “brother.” I thought about this a lot yesterday and I have to admit I’m a subject of pushing the boundaries of gender binaries. I mean, I use the word “guys” a lot, to indicate that I’m talking to EVERYONE. But in reality, the term “guys” is NOT gender neutral… the word “guy” implies males. The reason it seems to be gender neutral is because we live in a patriarchal system.

So what does this all mean? I basically just threw some shit at you to think about, obviously. Well for starters, I think I need to start using a different term in my blog posts. Does it make me sad? Eh… not really. If anything, it’s making me consciously think about my word choice. And I’m honestly not one of those people that’s gonna get all anal about it, but if anything, I hope I inspired you to think about these word choices: Brony vs. Pegasister. Does one connote more power and respect? Or are we thinking too much into this?

But to reiterate my whole point, you should be watching My Little Pony. And if you have kids, you should DEFINITELY be showing them this show. There’s not a lot of good content for kids nowadays that won’t kill their brain cells. This show actually has thought-provoking concerns and issues that will teach our future generation how to be… Oh I don’t know… GOOD PEOPLE.

And we need more of that in this world.

-Alice

We Need More Female Super Heroes

Posted on August 6, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey guys! Happy Monday!

Photo from indigograce.wordpress.com

I recently read this article from xojane.com about how a fellow fan was so captivated and moved during a panel at this year’s SDCC. The panel featured actresses involved in Marvel movies and they spoke about something a little out of the ordinary to address at conventions: sexism. When the moderator asked, “what was the most egregious example of sexism you’ve seen on set?” EVERY actress had a story to tell.

And for this, I’m glad. Mind you the audience for this panel was 85% white males who obviously can’t identify with this kind of discrimination in the workplace. After reading this article, I felt so proud to be a woman and I felt so compelled to write this post.

If you’ve kept up with my blog thus far, then you know I’m a proud Geek Girl. If you don’t know what a Geek Girl is… well… let me fill you in. We’re the minority in this fandom. Why? Because this fandom is still being controlled by men who feel this is still a “Boys-Only-Club.” Now I’m not trying to say EVERY man is this way. I’m just stating that most are and it creates a schism in our community. A community that’s supposed to be welcoming and open to everyone, regardless of ethnicity, sexuality, gender, and age. But alas… here we are in the year 2013 and we still see this shit happening.

Photo from videogamesblogger.com

I’m not trying to say that I hate all the females in comic books, I’m just merely saying we need more female LEADS. For instance, take Lara Croft here. She’s one of the few successful female leads in a video game series. I admire her, as I do with my other favorite female super hero, Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games. We need more females characters like THIS! Strong, determined women who tenaciously achieve their goals. Now that’s a story worth writing.

And why do we need them as the LEAD versus just another supporting character? Because the whole series/video game surrounds the main character’s life! You get to understand the complexity of the character and see that character’s vulnerable points, which is what makes that character so human and relatable to others. You don’t get those kinds of connections with supporting characters. I mean, why do you think people love Captain America so much? Because he was that scrawny kid from Brooklyn that had a heart of gold and wanted to protect others. A lot of people can identify with that.

So my fellow readers… this argument I’m making ties in with the ever-going topic of “Fake Geek Girls.” That topic alone is for another time, but I’d just like to leave you with this – be open and welcoming to your fellow geeks. Don’t you fcking judge them if you don’t personally know them. Don’t we get that enough as fellow geeks? How many times do non-geeks look at you like you’re an alien when you start ranting about the latest video game releases or the latest comic books? And don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about! We need to stick together and support our love for the fandom.

So… don’t fck it up. Just be cool with everyone.

-Alice

Day 17: Someone You Would Want to Switch Lives With for a Day

Posted on August 4, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey guys! Happy Sunday Funday!

Hope your week has been swell and if you were one of the lucky thousands to be at VidCon this weekend, fck you.

Just kidding. But if you went to VidCon this weekend, let me know how it went! 😀

Anyways, today’s challenge is about who I would want to switch lives with for a day and why. I’m going to tweak the challenge a bit and instead of switching lives, we’re going to call it “Take-Your-Fan-to-Work Day.”

When it comes down to it, I don’t want to “switch lives” with someone, even if it was for a day. I like who I am and I couldn’t imagine being someone else. In all honesty, I would probably fck up their life in those 24 hours. (C’mon… I’ve seen Freaky Friday.) So I’d rather be given the opportunity to hang out with them for 24 hours. Like, let’s be best friends for 24 hours. Doesn’t that sound much better?! Then you can instagram that shit.

The person I’d love to be best friends with for 24 hours is the one and only… Jenna Marbles.

Photo from http://www.fanpop.com

So for you unfortunate and sad souls who don’t know who this awesome girl is, Jenna Marbles is one of the top Youtubers today with over 10 million subscribers. She’s got a brash, tell-it-like-it-is personality that I can’t help but love and admire. She mostly does vlogs, which is why I aspire to be like her. She’s super funny, down-to-earth, and helloo… she’s beautiful!

The reason I would want to be her best friend for a day is because of how awesome she is. If you watch her videos, she’s so likable. She has this personality that’s infectious and it’s hard not to laugh at her jokes or want to be her friend. Or bang her. But in all seriousness, I feel like my humor is similar to her’s, so if I ever had a conversation with her, we would be able to hit it off.

What would we do with our day together? Well, I’d let her decide.. after all, it’s “take-your-fan-to-work day.” But after she was done with whatever business she had to handle, I would just love to buy some pizza, mass amounts of hot cheetos, and two 6-packs of beer and just have a movie night. Or play video games. I don’t know what video games she’s into, so I’m okay with just watching movies. But it’d have to be ridiculously funny movies that we can make drinking games to.

So that would be my day with Jenna. Fun fact, during last year’s VidCon, she stopped by my Starbucks. I UNFORTUNATELY wasn’t working so I had the displeasure of hearing it from my coworkers. And they’re not even big fans of her’s, so I was like “WHY FATE WHYYY?!” Fate trolled me so hard that day. As it does every other day. Le sigh.

Question of the Day: Who would you switch lives with?

In case you didn’t read yesterday’s blog post, Happy Geek Week! It’s Geek Week on Youtube and there’s going to be awesome nerdy content being uploaded everyday for a week! WOOO! So check that shit out.

In honor of Geek Week, I, too will be posting some geeky articles for you to enjoy. I already started yesterday with my post “10 Reasons to Date a Geek Girl” so check that out if you haven’t already. 🙂

-Alice

10 Reasons Why You Should Date a Geek Girl

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Alice Vega

Hey guys! Happy Saturday!

Photo from inkbluesky.wordpress.com

So in honor of Youtube’s Geek Week, I decided to compile a list of reasons why dating a geek girl is the best decision you could possibly make in your lifetime. Because let’s be real… we’re the shit.

1. She can help you with your homework. Whether she’s really good at science, math, or literature, she is savvy in her area of expertise and can help you pass that class, yo.

2. She is a walking, living, and convenient encyclopedia. Chances are she’s a huge fan of something – whether it’s anime, video games, sci-fi, comic books, etc, and she will know EVERYTHING there is to that genre. Need a new video game to play? She’ll know what the latest releases are AND the reviews. Bam.

3. She ain’t afraid to walk into a comic book store. Fck those comic book staff that judge her. She’s still gonna buy the latest issue of Spiderman.

4. Video game nights make the perfect date.

5. You can have an enlightening and riveting conversation with her about almost any social issue since she’ll be up to date with current events.

6. Fan meet ups, cosplay gatherings, video game tournaments? Yeah, she’ll not only accompany you, but she’ll participate in them.

7. COSPLAY. Enough said.

8. She is up to date on the latest technology and she’ll have a well thought out opinion on different products.

9. You now have someone who can make terrible puns with you and think it’s hilarious. Han Solo? I think you mean, Han TAKEN!

10. Again, COSPLAY. Enough said.

Think I missed any? Add some more reasons in the comments! 🙂 Happy Geek Week! Check out Youtube this week to watch some awesome videos.

-Alice