Mimikyu-SeeeeeeMeee

Welp, thank Christ that 2023 is done. That was by far one of the worst years of my life- the only true good thing that happened was finally getting a job. Speaking of work, my manager who I worked with since I started has decided to transfer to another location beginning once she recovers from a stomach bug. Therefore, I will eventually have a new manager and will be working under their thumb until the time comes to finally move back in with my hubs. However, that won't be for another three months at least. Despite all this, we are very close to being able to start making a move onto our next chapter, which we have promised each other that we will accomplish for this year as our main resolution.

In the meantime, I will be preordering the Apollo Justice Trilogy once I get my next paycheck, with the game serving as an early birthday present. My birthday is actually not for another six weeks, but it will be released roughly three weeks before then. Also I wonder if the remake for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door will have its release date revealed by that point (around my birthday, not later this month)? I still would like it to come out on July 22, 2024, the 20th anniversary of the original's initial release.

But yeah, I am happy to know we're into a new year and I can see things finally starting to improve in my favor. I definitely will do anything in my power to ensure that me and my hubs will never have to face living separately ever again. I also never want to have to live without a pet again either, especially that my resentful stepmom won't allow one. I'd like to be where I could face therapy from the two cats hubs and I cherish together on a daily basis. With that, I'm just gonna continue being inactive with art otherwise until stability returns on my end. I just haven't been able to accomplish really anything, particularly after my dad lost his license back in August where I have had almost no privacy since. Hopefully this month will mark where he can at least keep a hardship one to be able to work again, thus allowing me to recuperate during times when I get the apartment to myself. So that will be all for now, probably until my birthday arrives.

Actually, let's talk about the former first- Princess Peach's Showtime. After seeing the trailer, the first thing that comes to mind, and as a Mario baddie fan, is for the first time since Terrormisu from Wario: Master of Disguise (yes, you did read that- I am also counting the main villains/final bosses from character spinoffs), we FINALLY get a new main female antagonist. Some may argue that Hellen Gravely from Luigi's Mansion 3 was a main female villain, but she only was the SECONDARY antagonist. Anyways, I wonder what kind of villainy this newcomer Grape and her crew will give us. Will it be something decent or is she gonna wanna take over something like most of the franchise's villains have done?

In regards to Princess Peach getting another game, as much as I'm not a fan of her, her getting a game that isn't simply a role reversal is very welcome. This can potentially showcase more of her as a character, which we have rarely seen outside of her ass getting kidnapped. I am definitely picking this up around release date or maybe a week after. Any new game that is a character spinoff is usually something worth trying out.

Now the latter...Oh help me. Yes, Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door is getting the treatment Super Mario RPG is receiving- a remake. For years now, I have gone through posts around the internet with people outright begging for some sort of remake/remaster of this and now the fanbase has gone wild. Now I will tell you: the game IS great, but for a long time now I have considered it to be way too overhyped. I still stand by this. I will admit, however, that some of the new content shown has gotten me a bit excited. The main example is seeing more character expressions and back sprites for the partners. That scene with the Excess Express was...Wow. Just simply beautiful.

This may also come as controversial, but I honestly rather see Vivian the way she originally was in English and German releases. Even 20 years later, LGBT is still a very taboo subject here in the southern USA. One reason she wasn't a femboy/transgender to begin with was because it would've hurt the E-rated ESRB rating. It not only would do the same for the remake, but I can see this feeling that Nintendo would be accused of "wokeness" (much like Disney) and the game would be boycotted just for that.

There are two changes I'd like to see in the remake the most. One would be being able to skip certain cutscenes, especially the ones involving the Shadow Queen. When I did a 10HP run for the game earlier this year, it took me THREE tries to beat her, and for every loss was sitting through 15 minutes of those cutscenes (this is almost as long as my walks to work and back). And this is also frustrating for others who have struggled with her, regardless of how they leveled up. The second is partners NOT using up your Life Shrooms. If the remake adds a partner variant of the item (although this DOES take up space in your item inventory) or just one partner dying and you're forced to finish a fight with someone else, then you can keep those just in case Mario is in danger and not worry of losing them and potentially getting a game over.

Lastly, I would like this game to be released EXACTLY 20 years after the original's initial (Japanese) release: July 22, 2024. Even if it releases sooner or later, it's not a big deal, but it would be a nice tribute.

If I have anything else to say about recently revealed titles, I still am getting strong Warioware: Smooth Moves vibes of the new Warioware that's coming out in a few weeks. I may just get both that and Get it Together! just so I have them to add into most of the other Warioware games I have (otherwise the only ones I do not own are Warioware Inc. (the original GBA version), D.I.Y., and Game & Wario albeit that's actually a spinoff).

Now I will go complete the first DLC Pokedex of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. I already finished the story, now I need to wait until the second DLC to continue.

A couple of days ago was my six-month anniversary of holding my job in Subway. Now I know people who have been part of fast food joints for two decades, but as someone who never had a real job (both my mom and Covid were a big part of why I waited for so long), I felt a sense of accomplishment. Late last year was definitely where I felt so low that I didn't want to live anymore, especially after the eviction that resulted in me moving back with my dad and my fiance into a hotel. I still take the blame for why my fiance and I were evicted in the first place- at that point people were already back at work since Covid happened and I still feel horrible for not working when we desperately needed money. In addition to that, it was how we were forced to put one of our cats, Ody, into a shelter.

Ody meant so much to me after my Manx cat Shokora passed away- hell, when we got him she was at her last few months of life and spent her days teaching him how to be as affectionate and therapeutic as she was since I rescued her back in 2010. When Shokora left, he filled that void and I saw him as her successor. Now that he's been adopted off since the eviction, a silver lining came along in the form of our remaining two boys, Frost and Ghost, who were able to keep him in their spirits. Also, as I'm typing this, this would be the 18-month anniversary since I lost Shokora. Even her spirit lives on in those two.

Now back to Subway, many ups and downs have happened since my first day there. There were times I felt like quitting thanks to some previous employees failing to do their job, but there were also times I would build relationships with my coworkers. For the most part, my current coworkers are pretty decent. At the moment tho, with my manager (she's the one I work with the most out of anyone) out of town for a few days, this might change for the better or worse.

And since I started working there, I never ate so much Subway in my life. Previously, the only time I did was when my mom used to bring in a few sandwiches for dinner on occasion. My dad never went (until I was employed), my fiance never went, nor did my exes or their families go while I was present. On the plus side with this heat wave, given that I'm still living in Florida (remind me to save money to go back up north), bringing a free soda or water during my 15 minute walks back home is always welcome.

As far as other things go, such as art or video games, I haven't been on my Switch much nor have I been trying to really draw again. However, I have found some inspiration in returning to making some Tugs art. Eventually, I would like to make some coloring pages or activity sheets as the activity books made for the show are expensive now and hard to find (the 1990 Annual, Coloring/Cut-Out book, the Japanese coloring book, etc.).

I seriously need to consider drawing more Mario baddies again, particularly some of them from Super Mario RPG to promote the remake coming out this November. Plus, I haven't forgotten the nightmare fuel bosses that the Wario platformers have.

...And that's about it. And no, I am not dead, just awaiting a better drawing tablet than this 13-year old one that needs better pen pressure. I also want one with a screen- my sketches come out like crap when I am looking at my desktop.

So a few days ago, a rerelease of the first three Etrian Odyssey titles were launched on the Switch and also on Steam. Dating back to the Nintendo Direct in February or March, I have waited and waited impatiently for these. Why? Well, for one thing obtaining a copy of the third game is a HUGE pain in the ass because nowadays it is overpriced on Ebay. Second, my local used game stores not often have someone donate any of the titles, even the 3DS ones. It was back in January that I got even lucky that I got a cartridge of the original game at the store a mile away from my house. However, the original Etrian Odyssey did suffer what was a "First Game Syndrome" in some ways, although it was still a fun experience overall.

But yeah, I've been taking a small break from drawing again because I wanted to spend some time experiencing these games in HD. And I've actually been drawing some mature content, so of course my recent art isn't gonna be on here but rather on FurAffinity. I probably COULD edit to make some of the pics SFW, but I'm unfortunately too lazy to do so.

As for how work is going, I've been at the job going on for almost four months now. Hell, I'm even a bit surprised that despite my social anxiety that I haven't been significantly penalized or even fired. Providing customer service is still rather new to me, along with having to put up with even some assholes every now and then. To be fair, as long as I'm getting some business and tips, I feel ok.

To be honest, I did not have that many major issues when it came to the bugs and performances in the game. Yes, they are still there and I do believe for the sake of others who dealt with worse that they should've not been an issue before Gen 9 was released. In defense of Pokemon Scarlet though, I kinda enjoyed it. Well so enough to where I almost want to repurchase Photoshop again and submit an art of a new OC I've been working with.

I also did not expect one of my all-time favorite Pokemon, Bisharp, to garner a new evolution. In all honesty, it was one of the LAST Pokemon I even expected GameFreak to pay any further attention to given a lot of people love bitching at humanoid Pokemon. I digress, Kingambit also became another firm favorite from Gen 9 and I already trained one up to help with the everlasting Tera-Raids.

Some of you may know I already have uploaded a few pictures of Deyanira, my main Bisharp OC. I will be blunt here- I am not evolving her into a Kingambit. In my personal headcanon, given the delinquent and brains persona she has, she lacks the nobility and brawn to even come close to the kind of character her own father is, who ended up evolving.

Back to Pokemon Scarlet, I still will never understand the continuity of rivals not only picking starters weaker than yours, but this time around, Nemona just CONSTANTLY brings up battling. It goes so far that I ended up getting worried I would face her pretty much every encounter. Not cool, man. I know recent rivals have been pretty nice with you, even giving you stuff to help on your journey, but does every conversation need to involve battles?

I don't think she's the worst rival in Pokemon history, but for the love of Christ, don't get me worked up.

The Tera-Raid battles don't hold up to the Gigantamax ones last gen. Part of the performance issues I DID experience ended up coming from these. Take yesterday when I finished a fight with a Froslass in hopes of getting at least one of each Herba Mystica. Right before I could get the chance to collect my rewards, the fight ended up stopping. It also could've been someone running away in the end or their connection fucked up. It made me pretty mad considering it was a close fight at that.

I initially was just going to buy the game used given the problems it suffers. However, my local used store had no copies and although reluctant, I still wanted to give the game a chance. Now that I have completed it in its entirety (apart from DLC) and managed to finish grabbing at least one of every Herba Mystica, I can say this game could've done so much more. It was an open world title like Zelda's Breath of the Wild, but the end result was still executed poorly with the bugs and all. Goddamn it, Paldea was a huge-ass region too.

And about Team Star. Anti-bullying propaganda. That is all.