Being on holiday messes with my internal calender...

Take it away Rebecca:

Oh, expletives.

It's FRIDAY?!?!

  All I have to say is thank you to the friend that pointed out to me that it was Friday and I had not updated. Because I was about halfway through a post about how I was so good for updating on time. Yes folks, I have managed to reach 3 in the afternoon believing that it was Thursday, when it is in fact Friday. That is it, I am setting reminders in my phone! Because clearly I can't be trusted to keep track of the days.

Sorry, Pikachu.

I WILL REMEMBER NEXT TIME. I SWEAR. Actually, that's a lie, as I'm not going to be in the country (and therefore lacking Internet access) for my next update day, but I WILL REMEMBER THE TIME AFTER THAT.

In other news, on this day, which is definitely not a Thursday I have finally preordered Black 2. Bring it on - I care not that it will be the new university term. I'll be too busy going on a Pokémon adventure.

Today's post is a quick one just to show you a cool thing I found when I was at Alcon:

Pokémon Lollipop!

It's the coolest Dib Dab ever. And not just with sherbet. It's friking popping candy. I've actually discovered that Japanese popping candy is way way superior to it's abysmal English counterpart. Anyways, this is what the lollipop looks like:

There's something not quite right about this...

 Yeah, not sure it's such a great idea anymore. There's just something a little off about Pikachu being so thrilled at the prospect of imminent consumption. But it did taste delectable anyway.

Ok, so for clarification, no update Monday, BUT DEFINITELY ON THURSDAY.

Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm listening to: The sound of my own stupidity (it sounds a lot like The Script's new album)

It is most definitely still Monday...

....That was a good start. So, I may have forgotten to update yesterday. I had the drawing ready and everything, and then I forgot! D'oh! And then the scanner wouldn't work this morning because it wasn't on the new Wi-Fi network, so this post is just generally a fail.

My bad....

Anyway, I hope you can forgive me Internet. I was having a bad day. My super-special-awesome exam induced RSI is playing up again, and as such I have only a line drawing to offer you this time around.

Everyone's favourite attention seeking brat of a Pokémon.

Yes I am aware that Wigglytuff looks frikin' possessed. Moving right along. I can't be the only one who remembers Jigglypuff's starring role as the standard comedy fall back in the TV show?

This is my mad face.

Ah, Jigglypuff, your artistic skills with a sharpie are without rival. Battle skills? Not so much. Why can't I get rid of you in Pokémon conquest? You are so annoyingly useless. And taking up a slot in my team. I have to drag you everywhere around with me, and frankly, We Are Not Amused.

Short and sweet today chums, but fear not I will remember when Thursday is and be back here. Pinky Swear.

Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm Listening To: A random selection of Nicki Minaj's atrocious music. Before you judge me, I like to listen to this when I'm feeling crap because it reminds me that it could be worse. I can still speak in full sentences that make sense. Someone, please, tell me what the hell a "hoop-de-hoop" is. Actually, on second thoughts, I don't want to know.

I went to a convention!

Like the title says, my recent silence has been because I've just been to a convention. I went to Alcon at De Montfort University in Leicester last weekend. This was my first convention, and it was a good'un. We saw a lot of awesome cosplayers aand lots of panels involving the UK Abridgers. If you haven't seen the work of these guys (Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged, Yu-Gi-Oh GX Abridged, Nullmetal Alchemist to name a few) then go look it up on YouTube. Now.

 Now that's out of the way, here are a couple of the Pokémon cosplays I saw while I was there:

First panel of the weekend, and we spotted Raichu and Pikachu

Zubat, Ho-oh and Butterfree

There were also three people rocking some rather awesome Pansage, Pansear and Panpour outfits, but unfortunately I hadn't mastered the art of asking randoms for photos by that point.

One panel we went to was called How To Start a Webcomic. It was a little surreal being told about internet comics by The Joker but he was quite amusing and had some good tips. One that I think I can apply here is that you should update regularly. And so, I've decided that I'm going to choose my update days as Monday and Thursday, provided that when I go back to university it doesn't all go to pot, which it may well do. But for now that is what we are sticking with. Monday and Thursday, ok?

Finally, a quick art update. This is a card that I made for my friend who I went to Alcon with. It was her birthday the day before:

Cosplaying Pikachu!

Pikachu likes to cosplay too! This con was the first time I cosplayed (as C.C. from Code Geass if anyone is interested), so I decided that Pikachu would want to cosplay as well. But he's a noob like me, so he's forgotten the tail!

Adios Pokéfans! See you Monday!

What I'm listening to: Soundtrack from The Girl Who Leapt Through Time <3

They're Finished!

I have an announcement to make. They are finally finished!

YAAAAAAAAAY!

 
My ridiculous desire to create Hama bead Pokéballs has finally been sated! I'm not gonna lie, these took an awful lot longer than I was expecting. And 26 is an awkward number to arrange into a nice shape.

Ta-dah!

Can you name them all? If not, I'll help. From top left to bottom right we have: Pokéball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, Master Ball, Safari Ball, Level Ball, Lure Ball, Moon Ball, Friend Ball, Love Ball, Heavy Ball, Fast Ball, Sport Ball, Premier Ball, Repeat Ball, Timer Ball, Nest Ball, Net Ball, Dive Ball, Luxury Ball, Heal Ball, Quick Ball, Dusk Ball, Cherish Ball, Park Ball and Dream Ball. Phew!

In other news, I've discovered that Nintendo are giving away Keldeo in Game in the UK. Just to spice up Pokémon Black & White before they release Black & White 2. I hope a nearby store to me is doing it...I don't have the time to travel halfway across the country!

Pokémon Conquest is going well - I've got some slightly more intimidating warriors now. We are on our way to taking over the world. Well, I'm less dependent on Jigglypuff now. Baby steps, baby steps.

Now that the pokéballs are done, I'll be able to get back to the drawing. I think I may have lost my ability to even hold a pencil. but we'll see.

Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm listening to: I'm currently watching a ninja anime called Nabari No Ou, which has the goddamn catchiest opening song ever called Crawl (link here). It's also very satisfying to shout "Sha La La" at the top of ones lungs while wailing alone. I watched far too many episodes today while I was finishing the Pokéballs. In my defence, I thought they were going to kill my favourite character!

MOAR TOYS!

As the name suggests, I have MOAR TOYS to show you. Well, not really toys. Part of my ever expanding Pokémon team really. And my gosh are they super cute!

New additions are Emolga and Musharna :)

I now nearly have a full team. Not that I have any choice of who is on my team. You see, the person who I am commissioning to fetch these from the shop in NYC has not a clue about Pokémon and so just picks at random from the many on offer. He has, quite amusingly, started being recognised by the shop staff, and last time had to explain that they weren't for him but for his relative's collection. Seeing as how he seems to have friendly banter with the staff now, I'm considering sending him with a bit of paper with the URL of this blog on. Publicity in the Nintendo shop can only be a good thing right?

Anyway, I feel that now is a perfect time to have an Emolga related rant. When you arrive in Nimbasa City, totally pumped to face Elesa, every single person you talk to is like "You know I've heard that ground type Pokémon are good against electric type" which everyone knows anyway. So, you train up your Sandile and are all super ready to go, when you come up against one of these chuffing things. It's flicking Electric/Flying. I was just like:

Screw you.

Seriously. Not impressed.

Anyways, an update on the Pokéballs. They are mostly done, but it has been about 30 degrees C here the past few days and there is no fliking way I am going near an iron in that temperature. I can barely function as a human being, much less have the dexterity to deal with Hama beads or use an iron without melting. However, the weather is forecast to be rubbish for the next few days so they should be done soon :) Hoorah!

I also have recently acquired Pokémon conquest. Which is fliking awesome. Although, at the moment I'm trying to rule the world with an Eevee and a Jigglypuff. Yeah....I'll get back to you on that one.

I should probably go to bed now...I have been forced into signing up for a 7am training session with Craig the Terrifying PT tomorrow morning. If I survive, I will regale you of the hilarious (as in, you can laugh at me) story of how that happened.

Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm listening to: New Owl City album, The Midsummer Station, came out yesterday! EEEEEEEEEE Fangirl everywhere! In all seriousness it is ridiculously catchy and upbeat. I'm especially loving Embers <3

A Fetch Quest Worthy of Skyrim

It has been over a week since I last posted here, and since then, as the title suggests I have been on a fetch quest of epic proportions in search of the mystic black beads of Hamaland. These magical items are, of course, vital in the progress of my Pokémon journey, as without them I will be unable to progress with my manufacturing of Hama bead Pokéballs and that would just be no fun.

As a result of said fetch quest, I can only conclude that members of a certain department store where I live must now think that I am insane, or at the very least have strange ritualistic OCD tendencies. I say this because for the last week, at about 11am every day I have been walking into their store (always adorned in my work garments) and standing in front of their stock of Hama beads before carefully examining it for approximately three minutes in the hope that they will have restocked since I was last there. Unfortunately, a week has passed and they have not, although I am tempted to continue just to see how long it takes for someone to ask me what the hell I'm doing.

Therefore, I turned to the biggest fetch quest aid of all - the mighty Internet. It answered my call almost immediately, and although I was initially reluctant to pay postage that was more than the cost of the beads, I eventually caved and.....*insert LoZ opening chest music here*

Duh Duh Duh DAAAAAAAA!

Yay! Fetch Quest Completed! LEVEL UP! You may now proceed to complete Pokéball Quest! Huzzah! As you can see, I bought colours other than black, in the hope that I will finally get around to making some sprites too.

In other news, I haven't just been freaking out shop staff, but also doing some more drawing. Behold, Magnemite and Magneton:

For me, these Pokémon will be forever associated with the phrase "Dimensional analysis is your friend!" There is a long and complicated story behind this, but the abbreviated version is that I could only communicate with one of my supervisors this year by the medium of Pokémon doodles with speech bubbles, and "Dimensional analysis is your friend!" was Magnemite's protip.

Now, I feel here that I need to bring up an issue about these two Pokémon. First of all we are going to refer to a fact that appears in Magneton's Pokédex entries across the generations.

It (Magneton) is formed by three Magnemite linked together by a strong magnetic force.

Ok...well, that sort of makes sense. Next a couple of stats:

Magnemite's weight: 6.0kg

Magneton's weight: 60.0kg

Wait, WHAT? What is this witchcraft? Magneton is clearly three Magnemite linked together by some magical electric force (which seems to only be attractive from what I can see). Three times six is EIGHTEEN not sixty. Maybe I'm being exceptionally blonde here (and if I am I'm sure people will correct me) but how on earth is that possible? It also bugs me that Magnemite appears to have its magnets on the other way up to Magneton, but that is just me being pedantic I think.

Anyway, I'm gonna go see if I can spot some meteors now - keep your eyes peeled for further progress in my Hama bead quest.

Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm Listening To: Small Bump by Ed Sheeran. The most calming song ever. Even if the ending still sideswips me every time.

Art and craft skillz (z for emphasis)

So, today was my day off and I woke up all like "HAMA BEAD ALL THE POKÉBALLS". Because I like to be productive on my days off. And nothing says productive like spending all day doing the arts and crafts that you used to do when you were six. Except obviously now I'm much more skilled than I was when I was six.

Like I said, the plan was to finish up and make all the 26 pokéballs today, so that I could have a complete collection and calm my OCD tendencies. However, this was not to be because I HAVE RUN OUT OF BLACK BEADS. Please bear in mind that I bought a box of ten thousand Hama beads, so I am not best pleased. Damn you Hama, and your cleverly calculated ratios. Now I'm gonna have to go and spend more money.

Anyway, I have successfully created 9/26 and here they are:

My current collection (from the top, left to right): Poké Ball, Great Ball, Ultra Ball, Master Ball, Safari Ball, Level Ball, Lure Ball, Friend Ball, Premier Ball

In other news, I've spent a lot of time procrastinating on the Internet recently, to the extent that I decided the other day that it would be a good idea to clean out my facebook likes. This was the first time I've looked at all the accumulated crap that I've liked on facebook, and I was quite surprised by the amount of Pokémon related likes I have. A comprehensive list follows:

- Pokémon (obviously)
-"Hey bro wanna come to the gym?" "Dude, I've got all the badges already!"
- Making it through a patch of grass without getting into a Pokémon battle.
- Sometimes, I just wish I could be a Pokémon trainer. It'd be so much cooler.
- Being emotionally attached to your starter Pokémon.
- If this is another Zubat I'm going to throw my gameboy across the room...  
- Dinosaurs were lies, fed to us to cover up the existence of Pokémon.
- When Ash from Pokémon turns his hat around, you know shit's about to go down.
- "Hello, welcome to the Pokémon Centre" - *rapes A button*
- Always be yourself. Unless you can be Pikachu. Always be Pikachu.


And this is why the Internet is a wonderful wonderful thing. Because it allows us to express all those little things we truly appreciate about the greatest video game series ever, with just a click of a button. Genius!


Adios Pokéfans!

What I'm listening to: Big in Japan by Martin Solveig. So. Catchy.