The Desk of Chaos

What are your thoughts on the new Star Fox and the leak? Or if the rumors of the other games are true. Feel free to leave a comment here:

If you like what you read and want to support me and MNR, check out our Ko-Fi. You can find the link to it here:

MNR Ko-Fi

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The Dominant Ones

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Links

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I spent WAY too much time trying to find out the teams of the “Twilight” saga; I should have just asked my wife.

Downloadable Content: SF6 Alex

Brandon — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 15:02:50 GMT

Street Fighter 6 has been a fun game, much of it in my mind is owed to the fact that its engine and use of gauge is more in line with Street Fighter 3, one of my favorite titles in the series. What has been somewhat lacking, however, is representation from this game. Sure, we got Elena, but other than that? I mean, yes, it is one more than Street Fighter 1 has gotten, but still, with all this in mind, season three has released its next character, the wrestling superstar that is Alex!

No battle cry, not a Hulk Hogan riff anymore

The Stats:

Platform: PlayStation 5, same as it ever was
Paid: Was acquired as part of the ultimate edition of the season pass, but can be obtained via the use of Fighting Coins.
Played: I played with him in online matches as well as the arcade mode.
TL:DR: Alex is an interesting take on the wrestler trope in fighting games, though his best moves are hidden behind a steep learning curve.

Before we move on, a quick word about C. Viper:

While she did not get her own spot in the Downloadable content format, I wanted to touch on her for a moment. I know some of the other seasons I missed characters, while I played them, there is one thing I should say: sometimes, I don’t do one cause I don’t find them interesting enough to keep playing long term. This is a style choice, and as such, while she may not be for me. She may be, in fact, a fighter you like.

There are things I liked about her style of play. I liked the fact that meter management was actually something you had to pay close attention to. Some of her moves to work normally require some use of the meter to execute, a fast double jump costs you meter, some of her moves actually work like doing a drive strike just in her own way, and are more risky cause it can be overpowered more easily than a normal drive attack.

She’s also speedy, but I don’t like the layout of her commands, and my instincts just do not click with her. However, she is much better than she was on her first appearance in Street Fighter 4. While not a character I revisit often, she is still an interesting one to study and understand.

Enough Zero Hour, how is he?

Alex, like his other appearances, has a style based on “Pro Wrestling,” Though I feel that term is more of a catch-all in this appearance due to past associations. He has moves that fall into that, and he had motion capture done by Kenny (BAGAWD) Omega. That is where I feel the aesthetic ends; in reality, I’d argue he is more in line with a grappling or submission style fighter. This becomes very apparent when you begin to understand how his chain commands work, moves flow into grabs and throws. Especially when in his power stance, which opens up paths for counterstrikes against offensive moving enemies. He can come from under and throw you to the ground, strike from above or from a punch and hip toss you back down, or can even jump at you and reward your aggression with a DDT. Add to this a flash chop to snap dragon or other moves, and Alex, when you understand what he can do, is a deadly weapon.

There are, however, limits to this. In his power stance, you expose yourself to projectile moves and can not absorb them as you would otherwise, requiring you to eat it or time a jump over right and pray you don’t walk into a follow-up. While he has strikes that are powerful, a well-trained user of projectiles will wind up being a nightmare for you to work your way through, still beatable, but it’s gonna be a closer fight than you’d probably have liked it to be.

Getting the championship belt is gonna take time.

To play Alex is going to require a player to actually know how to control him, it’s actually kind of refreshing to see a character who seems more built for the “Classic” style controls to “Modern” I don’t play on modern but I feel while you’d get all the flash moves and can spam them, people are going to run circles around you when they realize they can just hold you back in zone tactics. Alex lives, dies, and thrives in close quarters, and he’s someone you have to learn how to use well. In fact, when I was playing other fighters using him. I discovered there were other moves to learn, which sent me back to the practice mode to find what they are and how to use them. Alex is not a “press button to hadoken” type of character, and he is not the murder machine that is Sagat. But with study and awareness in your hands, he could be one of the trickiest characters to master and use.

Another strong suit is that he’s very strong anti-air with moves that can catch a person mid-flight or mid-air move and slam them back down. It has a wide window to grasp, and as mentioned, his upward strike in his power stance can lead to a new chain, so people who speed around the screen via jumping should be very wary of him.

Finishing moves, flash and substance

Alex’s supers are varied and fun to use. He can take you down with a spear, but he also has other moves to make your life painful if you get caught in them. His second-level super is a nod to the Razor’s Edge, along with a hidden chain that, after a snap-dragon suplex, sets up for his own version of the One-Winged Angel. His level three and critical art are interesting in that they are a leg lock and a sleeper choke, respectively. I found it honestly fun to put others into the critical as it ends not with a big display, but instead a simple tap out. While many may not like this, I think it’s one of the more clever finishers in the game. It is also in line with his character; he can go flash when he has to, but at the heart of it, he uses a simple, effective style.

Hoisting the championship

I was surprised how much I enjoyed learning Alex, while I expected to enjoy him, I found his style and moves more in line with me than I realized, to me it was innovative, and once finding other chains actually made me want to learn more and hunger to master it. In online ranking, I made it after my new challenger status to Silver rank, knocking on gold. He easily fits into my main deck of characters to use. But with his technical gameplay and learning how he controls, he’s still being mastered. As I said with Sagat, in the right hands, Sagat is walking death. While he is not as powerful as he is, Alex strikes in much the same way. Where Sagat is just brute force, Alex is finesse; mastering him has been a rewarding experience, and if you like to get up into people’s grill, you’ll have a great time with him. Just remember that you need to be mindful of people who know how to control the space and learn how to use their moves to maximum effectiveness.

-The Chaos Director

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What are your thoughts on Alex? Is he as good as I feel, or do you have other thoughts? Leave a comment below.

If you like what you read and want to support me and MNR, check out our Ko-Fi. You can find the link to it here:

MNR Ko-Fi

Don’t forget to also check out my ongoing story “The Dominant Ones,” an original story published here on Substack:

The Dominant Ones

And, if you’re looking for me and MNR on various social platforms, check out this link tree and follow me on your platform of choice:

Links

And you can also reach me by email at Magicninjarobot00@gmail.com

Off The Rack NEW #1 EDTION!

Brandon — Sun, 22 Mar 2026 22:33:08 GMT

Welcome to the off the rack, the section where we talk all things comic books. It has been a while since I’ve done a proper post in this series, so I felt it would be best to explain just what to expect when it comes to topics covered.

It is in some ways a review, but I think of it more as I think you should read and why I enjoy it, as opposed to a deep critical dive into something. Reviews to me are more of a start to finish kind of thing; comics are unique in that, in a lot of ways, even if a story ends, the overall plot and character continue under a new writer or maybe a new way of viewing the character, and is often launched shortly after one thing ends.

I also tend to share opinions on series after a story arc or two ends. This is because many comics I read are bundled into trades and have a beginning, middle, and end kind of vibe, and some arcs work better than others. So if I give an opinion, I try to do so after I feel enough is there that, should you take my recommendation, you can find it easily when it comes to your local bookstore. That said, if you can’t wait, more than likely your local comic book shop will have back issues and the newest available, or can acquire them for you in a short period of time. So if you can’t wait, get out and support your local shop. You can use this handy site to enter your zip code and find the shop nearest to you.

So, what exactly do you read or suggest to the mighty reader of small books?

Damn, whoever writes these intro titles is really aggressive...someone needs to check that guy for issues or something…

Anyway, I tend to stick to the more bread and butter kind of books. I read Marvel, DC, and a few indie things, but they tend to stay in the superhero or superhero-adjacent genre.

In this post, we’re gonna talk about a few things: Is the Energon Universe starting to stall out? How the Absolute Universe beyond Batman is actually looking quite good, maybe the X-Men are starting to step out of the shadows. Finally, going to wrap up with some thoughts on the first issues that could be your next fave read.

Energon Universe has been going strong, but there are signs that it’s beginning to stall out.

All the way back in 2023, the first issue of a series named Void Rivals came out that, while beginning its own story, also let loose, depending on your attention to coverage, a big secret: The Transformers were starting in a new continuity, and they were going to be joined by G.I Joe in the same universe. A few months later, Daniel Warren Johnson showed off his take on the giant robots and started a run that lasted up until this year and was a critically acclaimed story that, while self-contained, also laid seeds for other books. They also began a slow rollout of the G.I. Joe license with a more horror-fueled “Cobra Commander” and the man on the run spy thriller “Duke,” each one laying groundwork and more world-building, eventually leading to the official launch of the G. I. Joe book.

A lot has happened since then, and to my surprise, the sometimes off Void Rvials has begun to get some steam, intertwining with the Joe side of things and Transformers in interesting but logical on paper ways. The Joe book proper has been knocking it out of the park, mixing main line plot points with one-shot recruitment issues that work in a B-plot line story that is going to eventually meet with the main plot. Then we get to Transformers post Johnson, and...it just feels so out of step with the rest of the universe. While they advance the plot, they are also now introducing other threads and also seeming disjointed from reality with G.I. Joe, which seems like it’s trying to distance itself from the plot threads as the Joes slowly move towards meeting the Autobots in their own book.

If I were to recommend a book in this universe right now, it be G.I Joe as I feel that it is the more interesting book in terms of development and character, Transformers which has the plot device the universe is named for, while always kind of doing its own thing feels like we’re slipping back into the 80’s tropes and even some old Transformers comic tropes as well, and has begun to feel like an episode of the show with some “darker” edges instead of establishing its own voice.

While the collision of the two brands is going to be interesting, I fear the universe is going to soon resort to nostalgia tactics instead of adding new things to its take, and with the introduction of M.A.S.K., looking and looking like it’s not going to add anything new beyond the toys from the 80s. I may be dropping a few books and sticking to G.I Joe in time. I just hope I am wrong.

The Absolute Universe: There are things going on besides Batman, and they are better!

DC Comics had begun the Absolute Universe in 2024. In the books, it was a storyline that Darkseid had taken an alternate universe and became that universe’s big bang, for lack of better detail, thus everything in this universe was coded with Darkseid; if there were heroes, they would have more of an uphill battle to actually make an impact because of this. While the critical darling of the universe is “Absolute Batman.” It is not the most amazing book; in fact, I’d argue the concept of heroes stripped of their regular tools and assets was largely ignored by Mr. Wayne. Meanwhile, Superman and Wonder Woman have undergone more drastic and, honestly, more interesting changes. Superman is set up as typical alien out of water, but with a more blue-collar vibe to it, and his suit has a built in AI that mimics his classic cape, along with interesting twists on “Ra’s Al Ghul” (I am using quotations cause I am not convinced its him honestly.) and a much more erratic and mad scientist vibe of Braniac that leads to some quite intense plot points and eventual battle of Smallville.

I was working in the lab late one night…

Wonder Woman, meanwhile, has been raised in hell, sacrifices her arm to get Steve Trevor back to the living, rides a skeletal Pegasus into battle against an eldritch horror, and is also more magic-powered than your typical magical girl anime. As Ili said when I made her read the first issue: “This is the Disney princess from hell, and I want more. When does the next issue come out?”

Fight horrors, save people, return the sword to Cloud before five to reclaim deposit.

That is just the opening salvos of this universe; they have since added Martian Manhunter (written by Deniz Camp of “The Ultimates”), Flash, and Green Lantern to the line. Green Lantern even upends much of the lore and powers of the rings. Also, keeping with the thread of evil will always win. The one-shot “Absolute Evil” ends with a big reveal and twist that cements this is not gonna be an easy time for the heroes of this world...if they even are heroes…

The absolute universe, at first, I was not really sold on, but as time has gone on, I’ve become a convert, especially with Superman and Wonder Woman, two characters I don’t even read from the main line, are on my must-read list every month. Everything seems measured, and also feels like there is a real creative freedom and a willingness to take chances in this new landscape. If you liked the OG Ultimate line of books, I would say give this universe a shot; it’s very accessible, and you can easily find out when new arcs begin because they tell you on the book itself, usually. I’m not sure how much mileage the universe has outside of three years, but if they can keep the quality up. It can be a major game-changer.

Oh, and that whole Darkseid thing and the corruption of a universe? That’ll come up in a future post where we talk about the events of K.O. cause that was an interesting tease at the end...

The X-Men may be stepping out of the shadows of mediocrity.

So, I’ll just be up front here before I get to how the X-Books have been lately, the one clear winner is Uncanny X-Men, if you are going to get one X-Men book from this new era make it this one, it is a contestant fun and engaging book every month and largely ignores a lot of the problems I’m about to go over.

Warning: a certain issue of this series will never make you look at the word “bamf” the same way again

The “From the shadows” era began with the ending of the Krakoa era, and if I am being honest, here. We need to grade this arc on a very generous curve. This is like following something huge like Empire Strikes Back, or Final Fantasy 7, not saying those that followed suck, but it’s pretty hard to reach that brass ring a second time. It was a small group of books that ran this, and while it was setting up things, the books were mostly engaging. I mainly read Uncanny and the “X-Men” book. Then, around the holidays, Marvel launched the “Age of Revelation,” an event that was like “Age of Apocalypse” light, just with a lot more mini-series to read if you cared.

The concept was interesting, but knowing it was a one-off event and also the sudden glut of books the universe did in three months stunt felt more like a burnout than an interesting alternate future. Leading to an ending that was a thing, and while one idea from that has made it through and may finally give the “X-Men” book some actual weight to deal with. The rest of the books have pretty much ignored that whole story. For the record, you should also.

That leads us to the “Shadows of Tomorrow” arc, which, again with the main book, gives some weight but also expands the books being released as well as some more interesting one-shots. The book I’ve enjoyed the most of the new ones is “Inglorious X-Force,” because of how nineties the basic idea is. Of the books that started, the always steady “Uncanny X-Men” is still killing it, and “X-Men” now has a villain, and hopefully actually do something besides make Magik and Juggernaut the demolition division of mutants, not that this is a bad thing; their dynamic is actually carrying the book right now.

In a world where the 90s came back…

While it looks like the mutants are finally starting to get some direction again, I’m still cautious on the story in general and hope that Marvel doesn’t fumble the ball as they did for years before Hickman kicked off the Krakoa story.

First Shots: Iron and Knights

Let’s wrap up with some books that are just starting, or are at the end of a first arc that has me impressed enough to give a recommendation.

Iron Man

It looks even better in person…

Iron Man is naturally a popular character, recently relaunched with a new # 1 written by Joshua Williamson, the guy who has been the force behind the current modern G.I Joe comic. The concept is very simple: what if someone tried to recreate the events that pushed Tony Stark to become Iron Man? But then, this person was under the influence of a group or persons that had bad intentions instead of trying to save the world? The first issue gets the basic idea out and also gives a good dose of action and humor as well. The art by Camron Carnero is also stunning, and the action beats are well-defined and easy to follow along, and most importantly, look cool. It’s a good “pilot” comic as I’ve seen in a while, and I’ll be sticking around to see how this is going.

Batman:

Batman, while stuck in the limbo of “Hush 2” because Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb move at the speed of paint drying, had to launch the restart before it finished. Under the writing of Matt Fraction, who is best known for his run on Hawkeye (the one the live-action was based on), as well as runs on Invincible Iron Man, to name a few others. The setting is one that puts old Bruce on a back foot between Vandal Savage, now in charge of the Gotham Police, and Pamela Isely, being the Mayor of Gotham, oh, and Jim is once more a beat cop. Add to that love life and Damien being Damien, and it makes for an interesting personal life. The first arc ended, but all signs are pointing to the pedal on metal and showing no signs of stopping, and also the Joker being in an interesting position, and also remembering some things.

The overall thing I will say about this book is that it is just fun, not trying to be dark for the sake of dark or action for action. This might be one of my recent favorite lines in comic books as of late:

Bruce is tired of his son’s crap.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this book is going, and we might be seeing a seminal run starting.

Well, that will do it for this edition of off the rack. Anything you’ve read lately we should be checking out? Let me know in the comments below, and I’ll see you all soon.

-The Chaos Director

Thanks for checking out this post. If you like what you read, please subscribe at the button below. You can also leave a comment or share this post at the respective buttons below. If you want to reach me directly by email. You can send us a message over at Magicninjarobot00@gmail.com

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Buy MNR a Ko-Fi

I'm live this time I promise!

Brandon — Sun, 15 Mar 2026 21:24:53 GMT

This was an experiment to see how it would work on Substack. I more or less go on a tangent about the proposed “Firefly” continuation, and well, just watch the video for more on that.

This was on the cuff and (very obviously) not rehearsed, also, just a stream of conciseness that is now on the internet forever to mock me.

If you want to see more of these, let me know in the comments. If you just found this and want to see what I write, don’t forget to subscribe also. I’ll see you all maybe in the next one…if I’m allowed to post again after this…

The Dominant Ones Substack

If you have any questions or need to get in touch with us over at MNR, please send any emails to Magicninjarobot00@gmail.com

Available for iOS and Android

Magic Ninja Robot

Brandon — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 14:02:43 GMT

Hello everyone who still gets these emails/reads on Substack.

We have had a lot of new people checking out here lately. If you have not checked it yet, you may want to check out this post, where I go into more detail about what the desk of chaos is about, since I am the one who posts on it the most.

For today’s post, we are going to cover what Magic Ninja Robot is, some of the history, where you can find like-minded projects, and a general sense of things. This is going to be posted under the “editorial” tab so it can be referenced in the future, along with some other things that have been posted about MNR and the guidelines I run the desk by as a whole.

So, without further padding, let’s get into this…

We have a logo and everything!

What is Magic Ninja Robot? Is it some form of Voltron-like combiner that smites evil and wins the day?

Well, I mean that sounds cool, but it’s nothing that impressive, sadly, and depending on who you ask, maybe we’re the monster of the week that needs to be smiting.

Magic Ninja Robot (or MNR) was started roughly in August 2022. It began life as my wife wanted to stream on Twitch, and wanting my input. What followed was trying to come up with the name for the channel, and enjoying things that should not go together. I said the three words. They all kind of clicked as we like all three. For those who prefer the deep dive:

Magic: Ili is more into supernatural and horror, also a fan of magical girl anime and those types of things
Ninja: I’ve been doing martial arts for years, and well, I do like ninja games if looking into the backlog of reviews.
Robot: I mean, everyone digs robots…I’ve heard even chicks dig them.

So we had a silly name, and we have a talented artist. We began life as a simple twitch podcast. By simple, I mean Ili made PNG tubers, a background, and all kinds of crazy shit.

Hey baby, I hear the blues a callin’…

As time went on, we also added gaming into the mix, using said PNGs as avatars. We were joined by two others at the start, but as time went on, the channel was having a lot of behind-the-scenes issues I won’t go into here. Ili is still the head of the group, as it was her idea, and we decided to part ways with the other two we had in our group. So ever since, MNR has been a duo.

We have since slowly moved MNR from only doing streaming to more of a collective name for myself and Ili to work under projects together, as streaming was always meant to be a start, but we slowly moved into other ventures that we wanted to do. Today, we use the logo for our projects and anything MNR usually has Ili and me involved.

So what are these things you do together?

Well, at this point, it’s more or less anything with a creative drive. The desk, as mentioned, is an MNR project, and sort of the written version of MNR stuff. Ili has posted on here occasionally. However, she also has her own space on Substack that can be found here: .

Ili is actually a rather prolific artist in her own right, long before she met me. If you want to look at some of her stuff, you can do so at her mentioned Substack, or check out some of the characters over on Unvale.

Ili on Unvale

As mentioned, we also have a Twitch channel, we use to do a podcast there, and eventually I plan on doing some gaming streaming there also. Anyway, if you want to check out some of the stuff there or want to follow in the future. You can check this button and give us a follow. We also have a YouTube channel, but there is nothing really there that is not archive of other things. So yeah, we’re more likely gonna be on Twitch than there.

MNR on Twitch

As for on Substack, well, we actually have another one: We are working on an original story created by Ili and me. I do the words, she does the pictures. It’s called “The Dominant Ones,” and the next part is launching soon. So if you want to read the first act to catch up or re-read cause it has been a bit. Follow this link and subscribe today. It’s all free for everyone now, even the world-building stuff!

If, for some reason, these were not enough links, or you want to check out our various social media pages. You can find them here:

MNR's LinkTree

Is Ili available for commissions?

Indeed, she is. Just because she’s doing the art for 2 Substacks, a story, and a Twitch channel does not mean she won’t help you! You can message her on Substack or me to get hooked up. You can also send us an inquiry through Email at Magicninjarobot00@gmail.com

Her rates are reasonable, also, and she has done graphic design for a lot of people and places. But, I’d let her tell herself more about that. But if you need, say, a logo, a PNG done, or want a fan art done by her, just drop us a line, and we’ll see what we can do to set you up!

You seem like an interesting duo, and you seem to be able to stand upright for long periods of time without falling over. Is it possible you could collaborate with us?

I think we can do this, but as for availability, I only speak for myself right now. Sadly, we also need to make what some call the “human monies” to pay rent, power, and all that. Also, we got to feed the pets; the last time we didn’t end in a standoff that required police intervention…who knew cat eyes could turn a swat team?

So for me, it’s pretty simple, if you want to collab on something or want me involved in helping you with a project. Today, I am announcing that the Desk of Chaos will now have office hours. I have an office now, so I guess I need an hours sign also, right? Hours are on Eastern Standard Time in the United States, and are going to be on the following days:

Tuesday through Thursday: 5 pm to 8 pm

Saturday: Afternoons and evenings, by appointment

Sunday: Mornings and Afternoons, closed after 8 pm

Monday and Friday: Closed

These are the times I’d be able to collaborate with streams, maybe want me on a podcast or whatever. While I am rusty at it. I also did play-by-play of fighting games back in the day. So if you need a person to do so or just an announcer, I can do this also.

Yeah, think you can rock a green suit from the ‘70s? I didn’t think so.

I am open to a lot of things, so if you’re thinking of me for something, just send me a message on Substack or by email, and we’ll talk and see if it works. I should also mention hours can change, but I’ll try my best to update here if they do in fact change.

General inquiries about Ili and me for collaboration should be made through the MNR email, so we can see them. If you want me, message me, and the same goes for Ili. But, if you want us both, I’d say send it there so we know it’s both of us you want.

Well, what if I just want to give you money just because I like what you’re doing?

Man, I could really use friends like this guy…free money, why not?

We do a lot of this stuff cause we like to do it, but we also have to turn attentions towards things to make a living. We generally don’t ask for money, but we also are not gonna turn down any if it came our way. We used to have The Dominant Ones with multiple tiers, but that got to be a headache to manage, to be honest. So we have instead opted to see if you like what we are doing and can do so. We would ask you to consider donating via our Ko-Fi.

The money will go towards improving our work; any money we get gets funded right back into MNR as a general fund for right now.

19-84 needs some help…so coffee?

MNR Ko-Fi

I hope that helps out with explaining a bit about what Magic Ninja Robot is in general is about, its history, and how you can help us if you can do so. The one thing everyone can do that is free is even easier: SHARE!

Sharing links with us can go a long way; for one, it shows that you like what we are doing and want to show others something you like. We take great pride in that; it can also be a way of sharing our projects that maybe, if not for you. It could be for someone else. We also like to see our community grow beside us as well. You’ve seen I have recommendations here on Substack; if we are growing, I want others to grow with us as well. It takes a village to make big things; it takes an audience as well as people to collaborate with and also grow into something bigger and better.

We try to give a good product that you feel comfortable sharing with others. If I see a post about us on notes or social, it usually is something positive, and I take great pride in that. So, if you’re liking what we are doing, share this Substack and other projects we have as well.

That’s all we got for this. Thanks a lot for reading, and again, for any questions, you can send an email over to MagicNinjaRobot00@gmail.com We’ll be seeing you all around.

-The Chaos Director

Ghost of Yotei

Brandon — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 23:00:53 GMT

She’s gonna take you back to the past

Ghosts of Yotei is a game that, when it was announced, I thought was interesting, but I never made it a priority to get it. I figured I would get it at some point, but it just slipped past my radar. I enjoyed the first game, Ghosts of Tsushima, but did not finish it as it felt like it was a rinse-and-repeat kind of game loop. Those are normally not a big deal for me, but if I don’t have a reason and the game’s story is just not pushing me forward. I tend to move on from these types of games. So when I did get this game, I had to be honest: it looked good and even fun to me. But I just did not expect much from this one. Well, boy, was my face red as I got sucked into this game, cause what resulted was one of the best games I’ve played in the PS5 era, and also one of the games to best realize a lot of the features of the PlayStation 5 in general.

The Stats:

Played on: A basic PlayStation 5
Paid: This was actually a gift given to me, so I spent nothing.
Bought at: The world of dart boards (they like the color red)
Played: Finished the game’s story and a whole lot of side quests.
TL:DR: Yotei delivers on the classic revenge story trope through its good use of gameplay and immersive atmosphere that carries a simple story and delivers a very unique and engaging experience.

The Revenge plot trope

To kick some Yotei Six ass

Ghosts of Yotei follows the exploits of Atsu, who we learn in the opening scene is hungry for vengeance after her family was massacred by a group of people known as the yotei six, like some sort of samurai era legion of doom, they plan on taking over the Ezo region and make the leader Lord Saito a shogun of the people, using propaganda and promise of being made into samurai to fill recruitment...you know writing this, does sound very topical...and that worries me…

That is really all you need to know about the plot, the rest unfolds and look I won’t say it was a clever reinvention of the wheel here, you can see a lot of twists coming if you pay close enough attention, and it does add some layers to the plot with characters that are well written, the ending will leave a satisfying yet bitter feeling in you, which is a good thing, it does make you question just how far a person should push and also the consequences of choices those people who take this path take. While also showing you how maybe an outsider sees the person who just killed a bunch of people, all in the name of revenge for people who, at the end of the day, will not be remembered, and the selfish mentality vengeance can give a person.

What this game also excels at is the little stories told along the way; many side quests have a weight you rarely find in a game like this. The small ones, while small, do have a narrative ending like a short story. While some side quests that feel unfinished creep back up later in the story and add layers to a character, that can happen in a war situation. Every character feels like they have a purpose in the story, even down to the inventory and store NPCs. It all feels organic and purposeful beyond unlocking a new resource or weapon.

Bounties even feel like big events, which makes beating them all the more wonderful; it feels like something you’d see in a movie or show. Even some bounties go differently than you think, which adds to the unpredictability. Some even have a possible supernatural element to them. As for as world building narrative, no stone is unturned, even weapon skins you acquire have a story behind them, all in just a few sentences.

Visual storytelling that works when it works, but it does get tiresome.

The visuals are a mixed bag in this game. Yes, it is true that a samurai or even stylized Japanese game in this day and age actually does have an odd standard to live by. Though what makes this game stand out is that the design is more of an old-school style samurai aesthetic than it is a modern anime take in a visual medium. This is very much a western developed game. The style does not hide that and also makes it stand out in a very crowded field of stylized manga and anime-influenced stuff we normally see from Japanese-based games, so in that way, it can be refreshing.

It’s not Sin City, but it looks cool

When you first arrive in various locations, they look amazing, and traversing the cold plains of the ridge does feel like you’re actually in a snowstorm with the wind blowing snow, and also, the higher you get, the colder the atmosphere becomes. After a while, the visuals begin to get repetitive. This, however, is countered by the character designs, armors, and other aesthetics you find in your journey, allowing you to craft looks and play styles as well. I had one build made exclusively for combat, but I was also able to make a build that allowed me to bring silent death and clean out a location from the shadows that was both challenging yet satisfying when I finished my quiet death march.

For those who want to add some extra style to the game, there are many filters that can be applied, from the Kurosawa black and white filter to even a stylized one based on the creator of “Cowboy Bebop”, Shinichiro Watanabe. While they are fun distractions and can even be set up in the photo mode to be used. I felt that constant use would slowly turn these into an annoyance, well, maybe not the black and white mode, but the others were just fun one-offs.

Immersion on the next level

Another neat little effect is that Atsu, at times, will be able to sit and take in picturesque scenes where she will sit down and paint. This allows the PS5 controller’s touchscreen to shine as you are using your finger to paint these vistas, adding to some immersion into the world, and also using tech that I’ve found many games tend not to use effectively, and also in new ways. When you upgrade your stuff, you are using the controller to hammer and feel the haptics as you hit the blade you forge.

Earning your belts

Unlike the first game, where you were pretty much stuck to various styles of the katana, Ghosts of Yotei allows you to use up to five different melee weapons. There is actually a very clever rock, paper, scissors, or weapon triangle kind of vibe that works a lot better than it should. Everyone has a counter weapon against it, though I felt a few of them were kind of phoned in, as katana vs katana doesn’t seem exactly like a counter. Though it is not rigid like other games that use a system, and you can easily use a weapon fitting a play style more, that will work, or rather than constantly switching up, you can mow through a few baddies before you have to change it up.

It also brings up story elements in the game. What is fun is the fact that you have to “learn” how to use the weapon in a way very similar to if you were actually training to use this in life. When learning to use the dual katana weapon, you spend the first part of it using the left side. The reason is that your dominant hand is fine, but to be effective, you have to strengthen your left as well. Which makes total sense, and the slow training once you do finish feels more satisfying than just learn by hitting a few buttons in a rush and being done. Aside from the bow, every new weapon has a story element that makes it feel like you are achieving growth instead of unlocking a new weapon. I wish more games actually took this route, as it does add to the already impressive immersion of the game.

If there is one downside, I would say the parry system does need some work; maybe I’ve been conditioned by other games. But, I felt my timing was either totally perfect or totally off at random, even before I saw the flash coming when one worked the next time I got my ass kicked, forcing me to restart entire battles.

As far as upgrades and other things, you have plenty to pick from; every weapon has a skill tree, and plenty of other ones to play with, also. The wolf stuff is tied to the story and finding wolf caves, but like all the others, when you reach the end feels satisfying. Though the wolf is very picky about when to help you, even when maxed out.

Samurai music intensfies

Honestly, you should play this…

This is a game that I felt at the end of the year got missed by a lot of people, which is a shame because my time in Ezo mowing down the yukaza of doom was a fun ride with good gameplay, and while the visuals could at times be meh, the style and detail kept pushing me forward. Adding to that, a well-written narrative and characters who don’t stick around more than needed, and a great way of introducing weapons. Made me keep coming back for more. I know a lot of people want to hold indie games and underdogs as heroes of the industry these days. However, Sucker Punch showed their skill and also a great awareness of the system they were working on and what to take advantage of as a result. This proves that while AAA games often feel like money grabs, some developers are here to craft engaging games and stories. So, support these guys so we can get better games like this instead of a lot of the slop we’re currently getting. Vote with your wallets, not with your comments.

This horse saw things, and surprisingly helped bury many a body…

-The Chaos Director

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Things I wish I knew when I was younger...

Brandon — Sat, 07 Feb 2026 05:00:27 GMT

I’m writing this post a day before my birthday; it’ll be published on said day. I guess as you get older, you start to think of the things you wish you knew. Or maybe the things you thought you knew but really did not at all. So, this post is a bit more looking back and sharing some thoughts about life I’ve learned in my forty-one (yeah, I’m that old, kids) years on this planet. If some of this is good advice, great, I hope it works well for you. If it does not, well, hey, thanks for reading, and as a birthday gift, how about subscribing to this publication? Look, I even got you a fancy thing to sign up for right here:

Learn to be comfortable with yourself above everything else.

A lot of people will tell you that you need to learn to be comfortable with society and interacting. I would argue, in fact, you should go before going too much out in the world. Learn about what you want. You are at the end of whatever path you go down, and the one who has to deal with your actions, will some people be around? Probably, but most of them are not going to be focused on you, even if they say they are; most of the time, it’s going to be what benefits them. This is not a bad thing; it’s human nature and a survival instinct. But when you are by yourself in life, you have to entertain yourself, not others.

So, if you are a person who enjoys 80’s pop blasting at the max in your car, enjoy it even if others are complaining. If you like it, well, if they put you in charge of the music, that’s their fault, and if you were going to do it by yourself anyway. Why not just do it with people around? This is but an example, but you should live your own truth. People tend to go towards people who know who they are more than people who are following trends. So, just be you...speaking of that…

Fun fact: Alanis was inspired to make this video after Joey Gladstone blasted “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” for 9 hours, going to San Francisco. This is also the real reason she wrote “You Oughta Know.”

Let your freak flag fly…

So it’s a continuation but also something different. Remember those things you did when you were a kid, you had so much fun with that society, and friends told you it’s time to grow up? Well, you may find as you get older that those things are still just as fun as you remember it.

I played with Legos as a kid, and I sort of stopped as I got older, and now, I am back into them. I still play video games and all that stuff, too. While people still look down on collecting figures and watching cartoons, well, you might find some fun in going back to it (or in my case, you never really left, but it somehow did not bother me) Don’t close off things you did in your past, you may find as time moves on you’ll revisit these hobbies or items and find ether a renewed passion or another perspective on it now that you are older, it’s okay to go back to things as long as you understand you can’t get the past back. Take it in the moment and enjoy it, remember the good times, but also forge new memories or adventures with what is here now.

Sure, people will probably look at you and think it’s not a thing you should be doing, but this goes back to what I said at the start: you only have one person you have to please at the end of the day, and they look at you in a mirror. Of course, if you’re married or have kids, they are important also, but show them the best version of you, which is the one your comfy with being.

Pop culture is fun, but it is not everything in your life.

It’s very easy these days to be absorbed into a fandom or group, and if the group is healthy and helps you grow. Well, that is not a bad thing; the problem is when most of the groups focus on negative things. It’s alright to say things are bad, but I have found most people online who tell you how bad things are, well, they just are engaging in these thoughts for the exposure. You’d be amazed how many actually believe their own bullshit.

But if they do, that is in a lot of ways even worse, living and dying by a genre of movies, a comic book, a tv show, or anything is not good, you can have passion, but it must be balanced out with other things. Intense devotion leaves a person rigid and unable to accept different views because they are the only person who is right. Anyone who has to tell you their milestones of being a fan with phrases like “I’ve been here since…” or “You weren’t there when…” to “You don’t know anything, this is why…” is probably not a person you want to associate with. In fact, I’d advise those people to go out into the world and look around. When someone looks back and says, “it’s not as good as,” does not want to see growth; they want things kept in a pristine bubble or in a perfect little capsule forever in that moment. That sounds like Brainiac from Superman, doesn’t it? Don’t be Brainiac…

Don’t be this guy…SERIOUSLY DON’T BE THIS GUY!

The only way to know for sure is to follow your own path

A lot of people in life are going to tell you there are things you must do, you must do x, or y, or z, and that is the path you will walk. I’m here to tell you right now, don’t...just don’t…

Experience is the best teacher you will have. For some people, those paths are great, but that does not mean they are good for everyone. You will grow, you will learn, and maybe that path you wanted to go down did not end well for you. So, you go back to the three paths I mentioned earlier, that’s all good if you want to eventually get on those paths.

But when you get there, you will have the experience you learned from doing it your own way. The most important thing you’ll learn is that maybe those things people tell you are not the way you should do things. If you want to get married, get married. If you don’t and just want to live with a person, do it. There is no “right” way to live, those things are what is expected, but if you are feeling it’s not right than maybe well...it isn’t right for you, and that is alright.

Take advice from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks…when they could still be in the same room together….

Final Thoughts

As I wrote this, I saw a pattern forming: the only person who knows what is right is that person, or in other words, you. Society may say X is bad, but maybe it isn’t. I can tell you that if it involves violence or hate against your fellow people, it probably is bad. But if people tell you to do something cause it’s “the correct way,” that is the perception they have. If you think it’s different, try it. The most important thing I can say I learned in my time on this planet is very simply, be myself and do things I want to do. If it works well, people will circle you, you will find people who will be like-minded with you, and maybe challenge your ideas and thoughts in a way to nurture growth instead of squashing it. But don’t follow what others tell you to follow if it does not feel right, cause most of us have a good sense of what is right and wrong. But it gets lost in all the pressure and overstimulation of our world. So learn early to listen to that voice. I will serve you well if you do.

-The Chaos Director

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Good Idea/Bad Idea Fighting Games

Brandon — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:03:40 GMT

Anyone who reads this stack knows I like fighting games. I admit this is mainly restricted to the 2D realm. However, I have noticed as of late some trends and thoughts that seem both like good thoughts and also some bad ones. Companies also seem to be taking some of these and doing great, or totally pooping the bed. So for today’s post, we’re gonna go the old route of Animanics and talk about good ideas and bad ideas that have developed over time from the fighting game world. Sadly, we don’t have money for Ben Stein to narrate this. So, use your imagination and think the dull, flat tones of the guy we wanted to win money from in the late 90s is doing this.

GOOD IDEA: Embracing your past…

Depending on the series, the fighting game genre has had a lot of legacy series that have stood the test of time. From the defining game of the genre, Street Fighter, to the groundbreaking use of the third dimension with Virtua Fighter. To even the surprising in-depth and well-developed characters of Mortal Kombat.

With all that legacy behind you, it would be a shame to just throw it out all the time. But, you also don’t want to be riding that past, and not providing anything new. Street Fighter has surprisingly balanced this with the use of its older music and some costumes that are classic. They will, on occasion, swap out moves in different versions of games, like Ryu’s side kick, which was introduced in SF3, but had not come back in official games until SF6.

Fatal Fury and KOF also recognize this and have done similar to what Capcom did, swapping out moves, but also leaving easter eggs all over that reference the past and also add some personality to the world for eagle-eyed fans. The little bit of continuity while also moving forward is never a bad thing, and striking that balance so newer players come in, but also in a way thanking older players for sticking around.

Speaking of newer players, if you’ve read my reviews, you know where this is going. So, let’s just rip the band-aid off…

BAD IDEA: Modern Controls

I don’t think I’ve made it a secret how I feel about modern controls; they can go by other terms like “Smart Style” or whatever other bullshit they use, but let’s just call it what it really is: Automatic Mode.

If you’re thinking, “What the hell is he talking about?” Well, back in Marvel Vs Capcom 1, there was a selection that made use of terms Manual (or normal method of putting in commands) and Automatic. Automatic was the Modern control of its day, but I have to give credit where credit is due here. I used that back in the day, but it did something Modern controls did not: it made me actually learn how to play the game.

I am not against the concept of teaching new people controls; I actually think it is necessary to evolve the genre. What I have an issue with is the way it has been implemented. Instead of teaching you, it makes you hit buttons instead of inputting the motions. Making it “easier” and more “accessible,” But the issue is, it does not teach you. In fact, it has become grounds for an all-out spamming of moves, this is saying something when you can just hadoken a lot in SF and it’s one of the most basic commands in all of fighting games.

So the concept is not where my issue lays, it is with its execution, another thing they should do is cap the modern control players, keep them in the lower ranks, cause if I have to listen to some person complain about frame data all the fucking time, it’s clearly important part of the game so why should people be able to use easy street stuff? If you dropped me into a CoD game, and there is some secret trick to be better than everyone does is there a simple control for that? No, I am most likely expected to get good, as the kids say, or just become a jobber for the match everyone can get easy points off of.

So, when people complain that fighting games are too hard to learn, I just simply say, “get good.” We all had to back in the day. Why should you get special treatment?

GOOD IDEA: Embrace the Pro Wrestling Aesthetic

When Street Fighter and other series started, it was in the 90’s when ninjas and other such things were still cool (and they still are just different now.) So when plots revolved around tournaments and the fate of the world, and old martial arts movie tropes. It worked well, but moving forward, fighting games have embraced another way to tell stories that has slowly evolved in the background: the big fight feel.

Come on, imagine if you could throw the fight into the crowd…

Tekken has honestly accelerated in this; they have stages with crowds and explosions and big epic screens for all to see, and a ring. Other games have slowly added these types of arenas to their stage list. Does any of this sound familiar to you, reader? It should, cause every week you can turn on a channel and find it, it’s called Pro Wrestling.

Tekken, to me, seems at its best when it throws away its edge lord level story (look, it dragged on enough as it is, and it is needlessly grim dark) in favor of the let’s settle this in the ring vibe of Tekken Tag sub series. Street Fighter and SNK Games have slowly added more pro wrestlers to their games that range from the original tank of Zangief to the speed machines of Cook and Mexican luchador of El Fuerte. Often having the steady eddies of Clark in KOF and Alex or Hugo in Street Fighter. Tekken has made luchadores almost main characters in King and Armor King, respectively. Even having Murder Grandpa Minoru Suzuki doing Mocap for them in Tekken 3. Virtual Fighter has had Wolf as one of its mains since its inception as well.

With the new arena of online play, I actually like this as it makes the game more fun and maybe a bit more self-aware instead of just running with a B-Movie level plot as the backbone of the fighting. This is also not to say that it is bad, but I think the fact that the bigger series are willing to embrace and even take some of the quirks of this style of entertainment is a nice change in tone that I’m not against going forward with.

BAD IDEA: Guest Characters

This one is kind of complicated, we’re gonna focus on the bad first more because I feel there are some legit good ways of doing it. But there are some bad ways it’s been doing it, also. Two of the offenders are Tekken and Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, Tekken, because while it started interesting with crossovers of Geese and Akuma from Fatal Fury and Street Fighter, respectively. It took a nosedive once they started including characters outside the genre. Did we really need Negan and Great Value Cloud from Final Fantasy XV? Also, why is Clive from XVI in 8? I was baffled by those choices cause it’s not like there is a character who actually uses martial arts in one of the biggest games in your series! Tifa gets looked over but would transition quite well into Tekken 8, but nope, let’s go with Great Value Cloud and Totally not ripped off Mutant from X-Men Clive.

As for City of the Wolves, well, the Dj dude who I don’t remember who he is (or care to look up), is, I admit, in a goofy way, kind of an “alright, let’s just roll with this,” kind of vibe. I feel we could have just used Duck King, but sure, whatever, I guess. But why is Rolando even in this game? AND WHY IS HE USING MICHAEL JORDAN’S BALLS FROM HIS 16-BIT GAME? Cause that was my second thought, my first one was why is this guy even here to begin with? I’ll level with you all, I thought this was the same guy who was in The Simpsons years ago, and he was just not when I watched. No, I only learned who he actually is as I had to type “bald Brazilian soccer player Simpsons” into Google to bring up the clip and realize it’s a whole other person. So, that’s my cross to bear, and it also shows how effective putting that person in was for most fans.

However, if we are going to talk about bad use of guest characters, both these games bow before the just sheer awful execution of Mortal Kombat. It stated innocent enough, let’s put in Freddy Krueger? I mean, I thought it was kind of odd, but hey, we got some returns and also a new interesting character, so sure. We get to MK X, and now we have Jason, the Predator, and...a Xenomorph...well, at least we’re finding a type here.

But going into MK 1 (or 11 for those of you devoted to keeping continuity) They seem to swing for the fences of guests. Suddenly, it went from looking like adding filler to a carefully researched marketing program designed to follow a trending tab on social media. I don’t think we needed Peacemaker Cena and Homelander in these games. Homelander barely passes the adult violence test, and both again really feel like WB went to Ed Boon and said, “You can make the game, but these guys must be in there.”

GOOD IDEA: Guest Characters

To end this positively, I also have to say some of the better executions come from both games I just ripped into and surprisingly (cause Capcom has a tendency to Capcom.) Street Fighter, when they have a character from another fighting game. It seems more organic, and when it comes to the Capcom and SNK side, it actually does feel a bit like a shared world. Also, when Tekken did Geese and Akuma, they also felt like they’d just been hanging out in the back for years watching things. But I also feel like they are just very much teasing a third edition of Capcom Vs SNK 3 that will never happen. Simply because I can see the companies going, this DLC was the spiritual continuation, or some bullshit like that.

Guest Characters can provide an incentive to keep playing the game, or could make people groan and walk away, also. If these games focused more on their past roster or introducing new characters that maybe they are not sure about, but would like to see if it works. It goes back to what I said about using the past earlier; in bursts, it can be effective. But you also don’t want to make it your entire purpose. So it is a tricky tightrope to walk.

Wrapping it all up

These are just some things I’ve noticed over the last few years; there are many other things I could include in this list. However, I felt I should keep it this set of things, maybe down the road I’ll do a volume two of this subject. I wanted to show the positives and the negatives of things at the moment, there are some good things like evolution via the pro-wrestling aesthetic, to the negative of if guest downloadable content is decided in a boardroom. But also we can improve on somethings like making fighting games easier to learn without it feeling like “push button for quick time” controls.

However, I will ask you, the reader: what are some things you think are working well in fighting games right now? Also, what could be better, or should be dropped like a bad habit altogether? Leave a comment below, and if there is another edition of this, I’ll be sure to include your thoughts and give credit where it’s due. Until then, thanks for reading

-The Chaos Director

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If you want to reach out to myself or Ili, you can drop us an email at Magicninjarobot00@gmail.com

Metroid Prime 4: Beyond

Brandon — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 13:30:05 GMT

The Metroid series has always had a distinct outsider vibe to it, even after helping to create the genre known as Metroidvania. At the same time, many games take inspiration from it when it comes to the game itself. It is not one of Nintendo’s hotter properties, often in the top five but not in the top three (and even then, depending on the year and the console, it sometimes even slips into the sixth slot). When a Metroid game comes out, it is instantly put on the back foot because of one game in the series in particular: Super Metroid. A game often so well-renowned that anything that even tries to reach the heights it did will fail just because it is attempting to.

There is another game in the series that is as much, maybe depending on your age and introduction to it, even more beloved than this game. That game is the original Metroid Prime. It is a very good game, one of the best in the series, though I feel it does not quite reach the heights that Super did. It brought Metroid into the modern day of 3D and even managed to keep the spirit and other things of its 2D forebearers. Also, as well managing to spawn its own little sub-series of the prime games. Today, we’ll be looking at the latest of these games: Metroid Prime 4 Beyond. How is this outing compared to the last ones, and what about that really annoying guy everyone seemed to hate? Well, let’s get into it, shall we?

The Stats:

Bought: Got it on the internet via Target
Paid: 63 dollars
Add-ons: I also got the Sylux and Vi-OlA Amibo (more info down below)
Played: Finished the game on normal
Platform: Switch 2 (Part of the Switch 2 control group)
TL:DR: A solid game, that if you played during the Gamecube and WII years will feel right at home. Which is also part of its problem.

Switching over

I played this game on the Switch 2. I also bought the version for the game, which, if you are unsure, is for the Switch 2. The title screen will remind you IN VERY BIG LETTERS! I am happy to report that it does, in fact, have the game entirely on the physical cart. All I had to do was a quickie day one patch, and I was off and running. As far as load times, seeing videos online shows just how much of a difference load times are on a Switch one and a Switch 2. The graphics also look great, and the HDR is rather impressive. The worlds look impressive when you first encounter them, and everything just clicks. I noticed no real issues when playing with the game, except for one minor gripe that just might be mine. But I’ll cover that when I get to the Amiiibo section of the review.

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun world…

So what the hell is going on here exactly, and why is everything powered by psycho energy?

While I won’t go too much into details, I will say the game is probably as disconnected from a Metroid game as you can get for a Prime game. While the opening is typical crazy and introduction, you also get to see the elusive Sylux being flanked by Metroids. Who, by the way, now don’t suck energy they possess things and corrupt them? Also, for some reason, a bounty hunter is leading Space Pirates, which is one of the most confounding things about this game.

It gets even more disconnected once you get sent to the world of Viewros, where I guess they read about concepts of psycho power by M. Bison, and liked the idea so much they based everything on psychic powers. While some of the things, such as the control beam and psychic visor, open up some interesting ideas of what can be done with the game and genre. The sad thing is, the control beam, after some minor mini-boss battles and aside from one part of another boss battle, is forgotten in favor of other items from previous games, just now with “psychic” in front of them. Part of the fun of Metroid, to me, was always finding those new items and seeing what you could do with them. But here, it’s a grapple beam...powered by psychic energy. Honestly, I’d have been more interested in seeing Samus learn the Psycho Crusher instead, which would be a change from the screw attack anyway.

There really is not much else to cover plot wise its like following a checklist of past games, but without anything interesting and also very bland if I am being honest. Which is a shame, as if we’re going to compare it to the OG Prime, offered a world of interesting ideas from spectral to augmented Metroid nightmares. It almost feels like this game was playing it too safe for its own good when it comes to the story and equipment.

The song sadly, remains the same…

I think the biggest issue I had with Prime 4 was not the game itself but its format. The open world part, where you ride the light-cycle like Vi-Ola, is fun for a bit, and actually very well integrated into the Volt Forge level. But beyond that, it just is dull, and you spend most of the time on it going from one location to another, almost like you were riding a horse…

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of an alien automobile

This is where I started to realize that the world of Viewros was starting to remind me of another game: The Legend of Zelda. In those games, there is an overworld that connects everything, and you usually go from location to location, beating temples. In this game, you do the same, just instead of it being temples. It’s Science-Fiction archetypes instead. Metroid was always considered a forerunner to open-world style games, which, while it often had an overworld. Felt like an organic and natural transition to the location you’re going to. You can see it in the OG games, transitions from Brianstar to Norfair, to the other prime games, which also had larger worlds with organic transitions into smaller sections, to even Dread and its climb to the top of the world adventure.

That is one knock I have to give the game, it’s just not very interesting after the first view. Volt Forge was the only world that made me drop my jaw with its H.R Geiger inspired visuals. But the rest fall into basic tropes like the frozen-in-time ice stage that eventually thaws out. To the mine that you slowly descend into, all beings towards the end of the game blend into the same stuff. Even most objects are summed up by simply “get to the bottom of the area,” and cue boss fight, rinse and repeat.

You may find yourself in a beautiful world, with a beautiful Waifu, and you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

The boss fights are fun, and usually almost make up for all the time you wasted getting there, aside from the final boss fight that turns more into a Fire Emblem heal-athon. They don’t overstay their welcome and also give the game just enough oomph to keep you going. Another problem from Prime’s past also appears: the endgame collectathon, though if you go through the brown world simulator and run into enough green things. It is not as annoying, but man, the reward is a letdown.

And now a word about Miles and the friends we make along the way

So, for many people, when seeing the previews, one thing that, for whatever reason, seemed to annoy the people who get to preview games was Miles. A guy in glasses techie who never shuts up...supposedly. While you go through the game, you do encounter other characters that, even as I was playing could not remember the names of. Miles was the least offensive of these characters. In fact, super Sargent hard ass was more annoying than anyone cause you had to wait for him in moments when you could just go by yourself.

That’s the problem with the game going back to the story, for the ending to work, you have to feel invested in them. When I got to the end, and the ending happened, I felt more like shrugging than actually feeling anything. The characters really added nothing to the game beyond just existing for plot reasons. Metroid Prime 3 handled this aspect better because of what you had to do in the game; in this game, the ending happens, and you just think, “Oh well.”

And you may tell yourself, “This is not my beautiful Waifu.”

One other thing that Miles was accused of was never shutting up, even when he wasn’t around, and that was actually correct. But the thing is, all he does is what every other prime game has done. If you are lost or not sure of the objective, you would get a text from the game more or less telling you, “hey dumb ass, go this way!” It was kind of subtle and somewhat annoying when you just wanted to go explore and see what shit you could do with the new toys you just got. The difference between that and Miles is simple: it’s just an audio version of it. Also, you can turn it off if it bugs you that much. So for me, it was more white noise than an annoyance. I’d say, at best, it’s a commentary on just how lost gamers are in a game like this if they don’t have an annoying sound guiding them.

And you may say to yourself: “My god, what have I done?”

The Amiibo factor

As with many Nintendo games, they released a few figures related to the game that you can put on your device and get bonus perks from the game. This one, however, might be the first time people could have something of a reason to complain. At the top of the list with complaints was if you did not get the Samus one for this game. You were locked out of hearing music on the VI-Ola as you drove along. If you got the figure with the bike, putting it on would activate an odometer that, when you reached certain milestones, would unlock skins for the bike. These two were not that annoying to me, more what you’d have done if you wanted digital content. It was also not mandatory to beat the game, and it does not affect the game in any way other than vanity things.

The Sylux Amiibo, though, does have some things. If you don’t want to 100% the game, you could buy this one, and once you finish, you’d see the cut scene you’d get if you did finish the game to 100%. But, it is not something you won’t get if you don’t get it, and can be gained for free by finishing the game completely, so it’s like the whole pay-to-unlock DLC bit, just you get a figure as well out of it.

While it could be annoying and frustrating, it does not affect gameplay other than some audio and visual perks, which are not required to beat the game. I did get the Sylux and Vi-Ola ones cause I just thought they looked cool, and they do sit on my bookshelf along with the other ones I got.

And the days go by…

Final Thoughts

I don’t know how my writing of this review will be seen; I can see this looking very negative, and it is in some aspects. But I enjoyed my time with this game so much that I don’t feel cheated or let down; I just don’t want to do the stuff the original Metroid Prime did so much better in a barren, more Zelda-like setting than Metroid. This is a good game, but not an amazing one, which is what I expected, as I felt after Prime 3 the Prime series would become played out. A lot of the ideas and thoughts of Prime 3, especially, have evolved here, just not enough to feel new or interesting. I feel that after years in development hell, Nintendo just wanted to get this thing done and move on to other projects. Given the meh vibes this game gave me, I can see why. If you like Metroid Prime, you will not have your time wasted, especially if you just want more of the same. But if you want to see this series evolve or move forward, all it does is let the days go by.

Same as it ever was…

-The Chaos Director

Please allow me to introduce myself

Brandon — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 14:03:09 GMT

Hi there, person who checks this site/gets the emails. It has been a bit since I’ve really taken to talking on this site we call Substack (or the stack is that a thing? Can it be a thing maybe, I think it sounds cooler like Slack or something… no, not that slack, the Sub-genius Slack.) As life and all things took up most of my last year. I wanted to take a moment in the calm of the storm and introduce myself properly. I mean, should I have done this before, yeah, probably. But, we’re working with what we have, so now we’re gonna do it right...kind of.

Who are you? Where are you going?

To answer the second part first, I’m not going anywhere; if anything, I hope to be here more.

My name is Brandon. I use the little handle/nickname Chaos Director for a couple of reasons. First of all, when I started going to the Magic Ninja Robot channel on Twitch, I was pretty much making sure the trains ran on time, and everything was going alright. After that, it was also the same on an old podcast I used to do, where I was just trying to keep the chaos in check and direct it more functionally. Secondly, it sounds cool and a fun fact when I was in a story, I saw a name thing you put on desks that said “Chaos Coordinator,” which also works, but I felt I worked hard enough, so I promoted myself to a director (or maybe a dictator, that is debatable).

All of that said, however, I generally just go by Brandon and use the director thing as a secondary thing or screen name on games, in other parts of the net I am also known as an ambassador of madness and in Mexico I wrestled under the name El Gringo...okay that last part is kind of made up, I didn’t wrestle down there. I also work on another page on the stack called “The Dominant Ones” with the artist and my wife, , who also has her own Stack as well. You can find links to those stacks here:

The Dominate Ones

Ili's Stack

I have been writing off and on for a long time, though to what degree of success, that is a very good question. I mean, everyone has posted blogs and other things, as long as the internet existed, I always found it fun to write, as I can paint pictures with words, it sure helps with the story above, though it is nice, I have an actual artist on there who is talented as well. But my resume is pretty small outside of a Zine I did in college, and some started but never got anywhere beyond a few chapter things with some other creators I’ve known in my life.

Okay, yesh I didn’t need your life story, so what is this desk thing then?

Wow, okay, rude much, I mean you asked after all…

The Desk of Chaos began as a written companion to the Twitch and is now a sort of creative engine that is Magic Ninja Robot. At the time we had a podcast, I wanted to share thoughts on things I may not have been able to get out on the podcast. The reason it is called a desk is, well, it’s nice to paint an image when you see it, isn’t it? Also, usually my desk is a cluttered mess of things, so I just kind of went with it.

Is it still a companion to MNR? Yes, as my wife and I do still stream on occasion, and I kind of like having Magic Ninja Robot more as a creative force than anything. But as I mentioned, Ili has her own stack, mine covers things I enjoy. Another reason it is chaotic is that while it is “mainly” gaming-focused, I like to explore other interests. I collect action figures, and I review them to an extent. I also am an avid comic book reader, and will post my thoughts on those occasionally via the “Off the Rack” section of the site. If I feel the urge to just tee off and go on tangents about things, those fall into the “Ramble” section; those are more commentary-focused posts that can range from gaming to that annoying neighbor I don’t like. Finally, we have the “Zen Dairies of Chaos” section, which is for longer-form posts about things in my past or thoughts in my life in the moment.

I also do reviews, you can find those in the “Review” section, naturally, those cover games, and well, whatever at this point. Reviews do follow some form to them; there is a criteria and a process done, you can find more about that information here. That said, if you are looking for up-to-date and timely reviews, I suggest checking out some other stacks. I tend to work on a it’s done when it’s done mentality, more info about this can be found in the link already shared.

Oh, right, you said other Stacks?

So you are reading this, well, I mentioned other projects of mine. But I’d be remiss if I did not mention a few others I know about.

First of all, most likely where you found me, I am proudly a part of the Reconnect group, and you can just check out that feed as well as other stuff for other writers who probably post more timely than I do, and also it is a great way to find different and independent voices for gaming on the Stack. (Yes, I am dying on this hill now.)

Someone else on here who covers independent games is , someone I met on Twitch, and she is probably more in tune with indie gaming than I ever will be. You can find her reviews and other things on her Crimson Console Stack, just be aware that if you say the word “Tekken” she might attack you, just a heads up.

Oh, and if you’re into the history of gaming, stop over and check out here on the Stack. They are preserving the past of gaming history via magazines and other neat finds that they share often. Preserving game history is important. So do check them out and support them if you can.

So you’re a gamer, huh? I want your resume and all details about who you are as a gamer, and other information I have no right to ask you about.

...I think the person asking these questions has issues, guys…

But fine, you want some cred for gaming, I guess that is fair. I’ve been gaming since I can remember. I was going to arcades as a young child, and around five or so, got a Nintendo Entertainment System. So yeah, I’ve been doing this for a bit, I have had (and have) many consoles throughout my life. Some of my favorite genres are fighting games, Metroidvanias, action games, and RPGs, though I try to keep an open mind on games in general, those are where I tend to wind up landing. If you must know, some of my favorite games are:

Super Metroid: This game is in my mind 2D perfection, everything about this game still hits to this day and has stood the test of time better than many games that came in its wake.
Breath of the Wild: I played and liked a lot of Zelda games, but few games since Ocarina of Time took my breath away like this one. It’s a game that gives you the basics and turns you loose in a world that is built to explore.
Uncharted 2: There are not many games I can say I beat in two days, while that doesn’t sound like a big deal, the game kept me hooked from start to finish, and I still went back for more.
Street Fighter 3: I like Street Fighter 2, but in my mind, 3 was the best in the series (though 6 is giving it a good run). I just like everything from the art style to the combat to the music. It’s just a damn good game, honestly.
Spider-Man (PS4): I’m not a completion type of guy, but I damn near did this one. As a comic nerd, it was one of the most absorbing games I ever played, and the combat was awesome and also allowed me to just swing around New York endlessly for no reason other than cause it was just fun.

So there is a small resume, that is off the top of my head, though, I’m sure I missed some games and will remember them after posting this.

Well, I think that about sums up this Stack. If you are new here, I hope I’ve enticed you enough to stick around. If you have been here before, I hope it paints a better picture of me and what I plan on doing here. The only thing I will say is that anything can be posted here, but I hope that nothing else. I got your attention, and you’ll see what comes up next here.

-Brandon (The Chaos Director)

One Year Later...

Brandon — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 12:26:29 GMT

The last time I did one of these things was to chronicle a trip from one state to another, and the shock of coming back to a place you once knew. It has been a year since that post. So I decided to wrap up the year with another sort of life update and also explain why maybe I have not posted nearly as much or been able to find as much as I was in the past. So with that in mind, let’s get into the Desk of Chaos personal life wrap-up show!

Ohio, the frozen tundra

When we last left our heroes (or villains, depending on how you view Ili and me), they were staying with a sibling and also readjusting to a new place that also looked familiar at the same time. I think one thing the two of us are still shocked by is how much the area has grown in five years, as compared to where we were living in that time frame. Not sure if it was because we were in a big city or just the fact that there was more space to develop. Whatever the case, it still kind of takes me back to the stuff that blew up here.

Though the more things change, thankfully, the more they have also stayed the same. One of the things we did before moving a lot was go to the movies. We’d often just plan a day around a movie, go out for a bit, get dinner, take the movie in, and go from there. Having moved a little closer to the city, we plan more with the movie and mind and stuff as an afterthought, but it is also nice to be able to go and take in an IMAX screening close by again. I enjoyed the SDX, but if I am going to a movie, I want the experience.

Well, the first movie we saw when we came back was Sonic 3, and not in IMAX, but hey, I was broke at the time, and we just wanted to go and enjoy a movie, and it was good, just man, a lot of commercials before the trailers. Also, with the growth came other things. When we went to the theater, we knocked around the nearby area and found, to my surprise, a Lego store. My wallet soon screamed in agony, realizing how close the temptation was.

No Lego, Denied

Another thing, that as hard as it is going to hear, if you live in said climate, is the cold. I don’t miss snow on the roads, don’t get me wrong, there, but something about the cold was a nice feeling and still kind of is. Having lived in the perpetual Groundhog Day of sun and heat with occasional rain, it’s nice to actually have seasons again; it’s also a lot less draining on the mind. Too much of a good thing is really a bad thing, I learned. So yes, I will endure the cold and snow if it means I get some variety and appreciate the sun a bit more.

Brandon got sick, and it was miserable.

I am not one who often gets sick, but when I do, it tends to hit me like a semi-truck with a load of explosives for good measure. Such was the case in late January; I felt fine in the morning, but as the day went on, I got worse and worse. Something Ili knew was bad was going to dinner, and me not being able to finish my food. I went back to the house and instantly alerted my sister to avoid me and locked myself in the room for the rest of the day, and slept and generally felt like shit. I think I set a record for how many fevers I broke in those forty-eight hours that was the worst. I remember being woken up by Rouge licking me, confused for a bit until I realized the fever had broken.

I was going to take Ili to work the next day, but it was quickly shut down, and my niece took her instead. According to her, we had a conversation about it that I don’t remember much less recall a vague exchange, I was saying something about going to church, she was wise to do what she did.

Whatever it was that I had, it drained me almost totally of anything; I could barely move or function. I had a job then (more on that in a bit) and called off, even my boss when I went back said I sounded like shit, and at that point it felt like everyone was watching me like a hawk and even telling me not to work too hard, but they still let me drive heavy machinery for that day I should point out…

A better driver than me that day, (Also, does anyone actually get this joke?)

As I recovered, it took me a lot longer than normal to recover. I am one of those a few days and back up and running in a few days. This one was one of the few times that it took me a while to get back to normal. I was trying to start things, but had to delay them for a few months its how bad I was. I don’t think I even really felt myself till the end of February, so a while ago I got preemptive and got my shots. Let’s see how that works out for me. But it must have been a combination of adjusting to the climate and getting sick, but 0 out of 10 stars. Would not recommend to anyone at all to do that.

Back in the saddle, and not too shabby either

One of the things I was planning on doing was getting back into Martial Arts once more. Once I got back, I went to my old stomping grounds and was greeted warmly. Still, the whole exchange of services for money was a thing, and on top of that, I think something we were all wondering: just how much did I actually remember or be able to do?

After my little sickness, I decided it was time to rip off the band-aid and jump in. One way to find out if you can still do it is to simply, well, do it. Asked where I wanted to start, I said at the bottom, and let’s see what I remembered, turns out I remembered A LOT more than I thought I did. The best way I can explain it is like something is in your head, and it’s just out of reach until something clicks and suddenly it’s like you downloaded the entire information set you’re missing, as if it was in cloud storage.

Knock on the sky and listen for sound? Nah I’ll hit things instead…

Since then, I’ve been re-learning and learning new things, it has been fun and also cathartic for me, I know Ili is happy cause when I had nothing to do and excess energy, I was virtually bouncing off the walls. It is also a great way to decompress after a week and just learn something new, and hit things, it’s always fun to hit things…

From one job to a break, then another

One of the more important things I had to establish pretty quickly was employment. I was throwing my application to any place that would stick to, and after a bout a week or two, I got a hit, there was just one little catch to it all: the place was closing. When I found this out, I was kind of skittish; they were offering a plan that paid you out in installments as part of the regular pay. But the fact that I would have to in about three months or maybe less have to find a new job was not appealing to me.

When I spoke to Ili about this, I was not really planning on going through with it. When I mentioned the part of the extra pay, she pretty much asked me how stupid I was, and I should take the damn job. Prospects were not lining up, and she made a pretty good point. So, I decided to just commit to it. The job itself was pretty easy, and since it was closing, people slowly began to give less of a shit. I was even out most of the time before noon. I did not have many bills at the time, and most of the money from said bonus was going right into savings.

Later on, it dawned on me that maybe this was probably the way for me to ease back into life here, job not too stressful, and able to just do my thing, was a good way to transition out of life in the Lone Star State and back to here. I was one of the last hires and just went through the motions. I’m pretty sure if it wasn’t for the closing, I’d have been climbing the rungs, at first it was nice, but reality set in quickly when I was bombarded with reminders that the closing was imminent.

When they talked about closing, this is what I felt like I heard…(if you know, you know…)

About a week or so before I was dismissed, they held a job fair. I once more threw my resume at anything that stuck and got an interview at a place. I went in dressed nicely, took a walk around, went to the HR office, and more or less got told, due to walking and standing upright, that I was hirable and offered a job.

Me, at my interview

I took it, so my total time of unemployment between these two jobs was about thirty minutes. There, however, was one little rub to the whole taking the job: I would not start till a month later, and would I be okay with this? I mean, a month off from work and I had some money to float on, who wouldn’t take that option?

How to lose your mind and drive everyone insane

So, a month off, it was fun...for the first two weeks…

It was after this that I found myself getting bored, this lead me to suddenly clean my sister’s entire backyard up, do work around the house, and generally drive everyone nuts in the process. A stationary Chaos Director is a very annoying Director, I learned. My wife was even starting to look at me with this look of “how many more days of this?” even though she was saving money on trips to work cause I was able to pick her up. Eventually, all good things (and nuisances) must come to an end, and I felt like everyone was probably happy I was not sitting around anymore.

A place for our stuff

So, jobs, hobbies, and other things were rebuilt, but one thing was missing: a place to call our own. Mind you, my sister was great to hang with, but all things must come to an end eventually, including our staying in her place. Ever intrepid, Ili was on the hunt for a place, given the fact that we came from a one-bedroom place. We had a few demands as we found places more affordable here. Those things were:

Accepting both cats and dogs
had a garage
more than one room
willing to tolerate us

We actually quickly found a place, it was just getting a hold of them to set up a tour and other things. As we waited, we kept looking, finding to our surprise that having both dogs and cats was going to be a problem. This surprised me, as in Houston, that did not seem to be an issue, but here, for some reason, it was. Well, at the end of the day, everything worked out, and we got all we wanted in a nice little townhouse.

Thus began moving and getting stuff in place. I spent the 4^th of July relocating all of our stuff in a marathon run of trips back and forth to my nephew’s place to set up shipping and receiving in my very patient sister’s garage. As usual, I organized and planned this move out like some sort of odd tactical master. The last few times we had moved had been at best haphazard, fed up and feeling a little control freaky, I decided to take charge and plan it like our move out of Ohio to Texas. I had everything set up in phases and plans, and all to be done within one weekend. I am happy to report that, by and large, I had succeeded in this gambit.

echoing trumpet

The area we moved to is surprisingly nice and mellow; it was kind of odd to have windows open and hear baseball games across the street, or in general, kids just playing outside. A far cry from what happened in Texas, where being outside resulted in spontaneous combustion as well as other things. While it is not the isolated little fortress we used to live in, there is a sort of sense of peace that has come over us that feels nice. A home should feel like a sanctuary from the world when it gets too intense. For now, at least, it feels like we have that.

Life can be good...but it can be better!

This brings us up to the present, we’re in the middle of the Christmas blitz, to which Ili decided this year to just go all in with. Any past money limits we had have been blown up, and we are getting what we want. My job has been stable, to the point it feels like I actually matter, and also the insane time off and other little things have helped in that matter. If I have been quiet, I think it has simply been because I needed a rest after what felt like five years of non-stop bombardment and fighting tooth and nail to survive. I know there are people still dealing with that; not everyone can get into the positions we got into. But it can be done; if anything, we are proof of just that.

We are still moving forward, and I am working on plans for the new year. We’ve sort of adopted the phrase I used as a title as a mantra. We’re good, but we can always do better and improve. Some things you will stumble at and maybe even fail at. But if you are not trying, you are not improving. We still have a ways to go and plans we want to do, and also flex creatively. I am enjoying the place I am currently in, but it will not last. So I am taking the moment to recharge and gain some solid footing for the next fight, whatever it is, maybe it’ll be minor. Maybe it’ll be big, maybe it will be simple if we are lucky. Whatever the case, mentally I feel more here than I have for a bit. It wasn’t easy, but if life was what would be the fun in all the chaos?

With that said, if you’re reading this, I hope your year was good, and I hope there are good things now and in the future for you. If not, don’t stop trying to improve, if this post is anything, I hope it is a positive confirmation that even dark things will pass. Until next year, everyone…

-The Chaos Director

Off The Rack Special

Brandon — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 01:21:47 GMT

Well, now we have video here…

This video is an edit of the live stream we did on the Magic Ninja Robot Twitch account. I unbox the Kickstarter exclusive edition of the released Transformers: Till All Are One Compendium and all the goodies inside.

I admit, the video is not the best, and maybe you don’t see all the details me, and Ili did, still working some kinks out in the process. But I wanted to share this nevertheless.

If you like what you saw, check out our Twitch page and the button below:

Magic Ninja Robot Twitch

If you enjoyed this post, click on this button to subscribe here, and also don’t forget to check out .

And also, any thoughts you have, feel free to leave a comment, and we’ll see you in the next post.

Impressions: Nintendo Switch 2

Brandon — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 14:03:15 GMT

I’m using this here for the cover page really…

So, we’ve hhaa new console in our house since about August…

A wild Switch 2 has appeared!

This was something we were talking about for a while, getting a Switch 2; we always went back and forth on whether we were going to get one or not. Also, the fact that finding one at that point was proving to be something akin to finding a unicorn driving a tank with Jimmy Hoffa as its co-pilot and narration by Orson Wells blasting out of a PA system announcing what was going on as you watched…

How is that for an image in your head?

I always thought my wife and I would have an intense discussion about it in the electronics aisle. Turns out all that really had to happen for the stars to align for us was my wife being at work, telling me there is one, a phone conversation, and walking out with it. I mean, it kind of happened the way I thought, just with extra steps. Whatever the case, we now have it.

So how does it feel to have it, well, I’d be lying if I did not put this, but having a Switch 2 puts you into a special class...a class that is above even the highly vaunted PC Master race, and so it is because of that I can say proudly…

All joking aside, this post will focus on a simple question: Is it worth getting? I am gonna try to be as thorough about things encountered and other musings of the system and overall experience. While this will go under the review section of the desk, we will also have some games that I consider “control tested” for the system. These games are played on the Switch 2 in all manner of ways. Digital, physical, and downloaded in Switch 1 format. As reviews go live, this page will update with links to said reviews.

For now, though, let’s go through the stats and explanation about the price will be explained below them.

The Stats:

Purchased: Switch 2 Mario Kart World Bundle, which includes the Mario Kart World game as a digital copy.
Bought at: Target
Retail Price: 499.99
Paid: 427.00
Played: I’ve played multiple games on it since August and messed around with a bunch of features.
TL:DR: The Switch 2 is an impressive console, but this feels more like the “Pro” version rumored for years, just with a 2 on the side.

A note about pricing and just getting the system:

For those of you who are looking at this from outside the United States, I wanted to take a moment to explain what the hell the reason we got this and the pricing situation. If you don’t care, you can skip down to the next section.

Due to the tariffs going on in our country, prices have been going up. I know this is an obvious duh. But, with Nintendo, there has been talk of possibly raising the price of the Switch 2 later in the year to offset the tariffs. They have already raised the price of the original Switch console and some accessories, and are possibly raising the price of the Switch 2. So with all this in mind, my wife and I decided to just go ahead and get it at the time we did.

We also had the benefit of a tax-free period in the state we live in, where anything below 500 dollars was not applied a sales tax. So, for those in the future who may have similar ones in their states. Yes, 499.99 counts as under 500 dollars. We also get a rather nice discount on stuff from the store we purchased this at, as well, so this is why the price dropped as it is. Once more, it pays to be elite.

I normally don’t go into the fine details of a purchase cause it kind of I feel it is self-explanatory, but I also wanted to point out that the tariffs were a deciding factor and accelerated the purchase. I normally wait longer, but given what is going on, it made more sense for us to do this. I and anyone at MNR are not paid or given free copies of things as of these posts, so to keep up with things, this comes out of our own money.

Okay, that’s done. Time to get back to the main focus…

The games tested:

The system has to come with games, duh, and it did, but in the first few weeks of owning, we also got a few other things. For this section, the following games were played and completed to my satisfaction for review on the system. As of the original posting, these games have not been reviewed yet, but in order to help you with your decision, these games will be reviewed in the future and linked here as well as noted in the reviews themselves. They were tested on the Switch 2.

The games:

Mario Kart World
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Shinobi: Art of Vengeance (Actually, this was reviewed)

These games were selected due to their nature of being what many consider the “killer apps” of the launch, as well as a game that was made for the Switch 1 but runs on Switch 2 when played. Please check back here when they are finished for links to the reviews.

Setting up a console

I spent way too long looking for this image for such a niche joke…If you get it, please subscribe!

The Switch 2 comes with several accessories: the console and Joy-Cons, a power plug for charging, and a dock for playing on TV. Let’s take a moment to discuss the dock and then the console.

The Dock:

The dock has some new features if you have moved up from the original Switch, chief among them it has a network port so you can plug it directly into your router if you so desire. The plug that it comes with is also a bit smaller than the one used for the Switch 1. The backing comes off, and once you put the wires on and try to close it, it can be very annoying to seal up once more.

The Console:

The actual console looks like an upgraded Switch; the Joy-Cons are now attached via magnets, which connect easily and also, with a push of a button, come off smoothly. You can also feel the difference in weight compared to its progenitor.

If you flail around a lot when playing, take care, these things might actually be brass knuckles with the weight.

The one thing I will say about both the dock and the console is while visually it looks very strong when you put your hands on it, it actually feels very fragile in your hands. Not a feeling I expected when I got a hold of the console, and I wonder if we’ll hear complaints of people breaking the console in two while playing Elden Ring or some other intensely hard game due to rage. The Joy-Cons, on the other hand, feel rather sturdy, and for the price, they feel right.

Setting up the system once you get the wires in place is pretty easy; the guide is very succinct and to the point. It is almost clinical how routine this has become. If you have an older Switch 1, you can also transfer save data to the console via your home network, provided your systems are facing one another. The times I’ve read vary, but most of my information was done in about ten or so minutes. So if you are setting this up for a holiday purchase in the future, you can do it pretty quickly, maybe even the night before, to be safe, as the saved data copied may not stay on the Switch 1 once you transfer it. It is Nintendo at the end of the day, and they have to do something Nintendo-like in this. Also, if you don’t know your password by the end of the setup and transfer, you will by the end of this, as it felt like I got asked a dozen times to verify it.

Accessories: Hey, my old shit works! Oh, and I guess the NSO thing...

When it comes to new consoles, they all have their own unique features. In this case, the Switch 2 has a game chat button that lets you fire up a Nintendo variant of Discord at the push of a button. Along with other items, and to generate revenue, various accessories are available for the Switch 2. The new Micro SD Express cards are used for data instead of the Micro SD cards on the switch. I was pleasantly surprised to find that a lot of things work from Switch 1 to 2.

If you have a Pro Controller for the Switch 1, you can use it on the 2 by simply setting it up like you did on your OG model. The only downside is that you can’t hit the home button to boot up the system, and also no Game Chat button. While I will eventually get a Switch 2 Pro Controller (if they make a Metroid variant, especially). I like the fact that old stuff works on this rather seamlessly. Games play just as they did with it, and the Switch 2 games work very well with it.

The work horse goes a little longer….

Another thing I got with the console was the Nintendo Switch Online access. I got the family pass for myself and my wife. While the Game chat is currently in a grace period/beta. You will eventually need NSO to use it. At the time of posting, I have not had anyone to try this out with on Switch 2. That said, I feel the value of the NSO account is insanely worth it. Of course, you get the older games, and the expansion pass allows you access to Nintendo 64 and Gamecube games, along with Gameboy Advanced and...the Sega Genesis for some reason, man Ninten-does what Sega don’t, huh?

You also get access to the Nintendo music app on your phone, it’s like a Nintendo Spotify, isn’t that enough of an explanation, and why have you not downloaded it yet? I say all this cause for the price of one year of PS Plus, I feel I get more value out of this than their own plan. Individual membership can range from 20(!) to maybe 50 bucks max, and already has more value. That is just my opinion on the matter, however.

A word about the mobile app and Zelda upgrades

Nintendo has also updated the OG Switch app; this now has a link to the system, which, while it seems trivial, can unlock some cool little side features, so far mainly in the updated port of Breath of the Wild, which...wow.

If you still need or want a review of BOTW at this point, take a rock, throw it, and follow it to a review. Long story short, if you have somehow not played this yet, and just happen to get a Switch 2. STOP EVERYTHING YOU ARE DOING AND GO GET IT NOW! The game before was stunning, and now on 4k...look, you’re welcome.

Upgrading to the next level and Game Keys

Nintendo has also done some things, as mentioned with the two Zelda games, and a few others that are going to come over as “upgrades” to the Switch 2. The real kicker of all this, however, is what it always comes down to: price and worth.

Let’s take our two Zelda games, for example, you can upgrade each of them cost you 10 bucks if you own or buy the OG Switch version. You can also go and get the Switch 2 versions, which are pretty much the same as the Switch versions, just now with pretty red boxes. If you have NSO, as mentioned, you can just get the expansion, and the Zelda games are free. I feel some other games down the road will go this way. But as always, it will be tied to your NSO account, and if you don’t pay, they won’t play. Also, while yes, it is a digital upgrade, if you bought these games ages ago, just spend the extra 10.

It should be noted, other games are getting upgrades as well that don’t cost money. You can check this website, which will show you have games you will play, and if you need to pay.

The other thing that a lot of people are not too thrilled with is the use of Game Keys. In other words, if you buy a box at retail, you don’t get a game; you get a cartridge that has a code that starts the game, and you can trade in said box for value if needed. In other words, you bought a physical object for a digital download key. Just like Doom: The Dark Ages, you feel pissed off that you wasted money on an empty box.

Imagine you got this on Christmas day…don’t be that person okay?

Look, we all know every company wants to move to a digital world, only model, direct, and all that stuff. I am not against this, if the price came down cause I don’t think its a valid marketing tactic to charge 70 dollars for a digital good that doesn’t requite things like a CD, Box, Boxart and other such things as well as marketing in stores that justifies a full price for a digital good that could go away at the snap of a finger. So, I would say avoid game key cards at all costs and do some homework before running to the store to get something. Once more, here is another guide some people made up to help you with this.

Okay, so should I buy this thing or not?

It’s why you came for my opinion, isn’t it? So this is a question I have been wrestling with for a bit: was this worth getting and trying to track one down, as well as is the upgrade to a new model justified? This is a loaded question; I’ll try to answer all three parts.

1. Was it worth it for me?

For me, that is a yes for a stupid reason, Ili loves Mario Kart, so after setting up the machine, getting it all working, I handed her the controller and said Play, She had a smile on her face as big as I’d seen in a bit from booting up Mario Kart World. So, for that alone, it was enough for me to justify it.

2. Is it worth upgrading?

Eventually, yes, I think it will be, though, unless you want the latest and greatest or you just want to buy it like I did in case tariff shit happens, I’d actually advise you to wait, as while a few great games are here and coming. I don’t think it’s at the point yet where it is worth investing in it as a primary machine to play games. I think maybe in a year or even worst case year and a half we’ll be there, but if you don’t have the money now, hold off, it will be worth it at that point.

Wrap-up

The Switch 2 is a nice little device, but this is very much the “Pro” model a lot of people wanted, the upgrades, while substantial at the end of the day, don’t feel like a massive leap that you would think with a number 2 beside the console name. The price is steep and makes it feel like the upgrade you think you're getting, and depending on what you play or what games you enjoy, it is worth it and also the fact older controllers work with it, backed up with a good and generous online service make the blow a little easier to take, more games in the future will hopefully use game chat features, which have potential to be fun little things to make a good game great. Though I feel we are beginning to see the twilight of physical games, with game key cards being a thing that is stupid.

There is enough here to say I’d cautiously recommend the update, but do your own assessment and ask yourself if it’s worth it now, and maybe if it isn’t, check back in a year, then you may actually find some stuff that justifies the upgrade. The future is bright for the Switch 2, but like any sunrise, it takes a bit to cover the field to truly see a good thing.

-The Chaos Director

Shinobi Art of Vengence

Brandon — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 15:45:54 GMT

Sega has a long history of making good games, even before the days of the Genesis (or Mega Drive, as some of you knew it as). They were considered an arcade powerhouse. One of the early titles that helped with this pedigree was a title called “Shinobi,” which was released in 1987. For its time, it was considered good, but today, if you played it, especially if your first real introduction was Shinobi 3. You would find the game’s pacing and speed unbearably tedious. But, when it came out, it was neck and neck with a similar Ninja game dubbed Ninja Gaiden.

After this, many different games came out, some with a dog, some with more of the same, but in 1993, they released the previously mentioned third game in the series. For many of us this was probably the first real Shinobi game we played, and it still holds up to this day having just played it recently myself, other games have followed since including ones on the ones released for the PlayStation 2, and even one that came out for the DS, which honestly while I think I was the only person who heard of it (or bought a copy.) It was pretty good for what it was.

After this, there was a long time of nothing; clearly, our Ninja hero Joe was content chilling in the shadows watching other ninjas like Ryu of the aforementioned Ninja Gaiden do his thing. Maybe he was in the background watching Raiden do his mecha ninja thing in Metal Gear Rising Revengeance. Or he was just chilling at his house, taking a long rest that was deserved and felt no need to supervise, that is, until 2023.

In late 2023 at the Game Awards, Sega paid the pope of all things salty money for an ad and announced several new games were in development. Chief among them, a new Shinobi game, then, like any good ninja after announcing intent, it got quiet until around 2025 when a full trailer was shown and a title given to the game. Taking the title “Art of Vengeance,” Joe was back, and at this point, if you see a ninja coming, you’re probably fucked. Thankfully for us, Joe went right past and started kicking ass, and we got to play the game that resulted.

I mean, how could I not show this off?

The Stats:

Platform: Nintendo Switch 2 bought on digital
Paid: Bought the deluxe edition when it was on sale for around 30 bucks
Played: Finished the main game and did a lot of exploring, total time of gameplay for me as of this post is
TL:DR: Art of Vengeance succeeds in bringing back a classic series while adding new elements that push it into new territory.

Don’t believe your eyes at first glance.

I want to get this out of the way now. When I saw the trailers, I was a bit nervous. Trailers are meant to promote something, and they used nostalgia hard, evoking some visuals and enemies that I worried were going to be just a straight-up rehash of the third title. As I played, however, it was clear the visuals were simply just that: nods to the past, some old enemies appear and play similarly to how they did in earlier games, but it is not so much the same for the rest of the game. This is why sometimes, when you see something, you should play the whole thing and see if it is a valid concern or not.

A note about Switch 2 performance:

This game and a few others I have been playing are being used as a basis for the eventual Switch 2 update I am planning. This game is running on the Switch, but can be downloaded onto the Switch 2, and is still considered a Switch 1 title.

I played a demo of this game on the Switch 1 and found the game to be a bit sluggish for my taste, and even before buying the 2, I was considering getting it on my PlayStation 5. I can say, though, if you have a Switch 2 playing this game on there is a dream, load times are less than 15 seconds, and between level screens are nearly non-existent, and I found no slowdown or lag as I played. As a download, it also runs great and was easy to get access to (aside from not getting the 3 days early access.) So if this is a game you wanted to get on a Switch but are going to get a Switch 2, I’d say it would be good to get, but if you can play it on the 2, as the speed makes the game so good.

Updating and respecting visuals

Shinobi has always had a distinct style of an 80s movie kind of vibe. A ninja may be in a secluded little village away from the modern world, but when they come in, they have zero problems working in that world. Adding to this was always a bit of a quasi-futuristic vibe that other series like Ninja Gaiden often went more for a mystical approach; the bad guys usually used science more than mystics to combat Joe. Art of Vengeance takes this idea and amps up the sci-fi a fair amount.

While you start the game in a remote village, as the game moves forward, it kind of takes the old late 80s/early 90s anime aesthetic of making everything in the future Japanese in architecture. Several levels take place in cities where it has that old school vibe, and other levels will have you storming a lab right out of a Saturday morning villain’s base of operations. Complete with giant mecha and experiments breaking out of cages.

The developer clearly put a lot of love into the graphics as the perspective changes and moves on you, in the second stage chase you see a giant monster in the background slowly getting out of your grasp, in another place a giant mecha fools you in being all over the place as you anticipate it to become part of the battle when nope, it’s just there for visual flair (which is honestly, kind of a shame.) Even execution moves have a brutal beauty to doing them, and using the ninpo arts and other special moves breathe life into the scene. This visual style is accented by gameplay as well.

What happens when a Ninja shows up on Zebes

Shinobi’s main gameplay is very simple and classic: Run from left to right and slash and kill everything that is in your way. It is what is done to accent this that shows how the game has evolved since ‘93. In older games, the kunai was your main weapon, and here it is now secondary to the Katana you wield. Accenting this is the combo system put into play. As the game progresses in the shop, you can purchase new moves and combos with money earned. This slowly grows your combos, and it takes the first steps of the Metroidvania stereotype into play. As you visit levels again after gaining more moves, you will make once hard enemies die at the draw of your blade.

You do this more than you think, and nearly die as a result also…

Along with this, every level is interconnected by a map; from there, each level becomes its own little metroidvania. Going off the path leads to new challenges or even rewards and perks as a result. While not connected in any way other than an overworld, the stages all have a distinct feel, as mentioned, and are rife with goodies that allow you to grow stronger or unlock more powerful items/ninpo spells.

Speaking of the Ninpo spells, there are two levels; the main one you’ll be using allows for a powered-up attack of a certain element at the cost of one cell. The stronger versions drain your ninja energy but do massive damage or can heal you. Though to regain the power of both requires you to cut down your enemies and get hit to refill, respectively. While I did not like using the higher-end ones, I had to at some point to finish battles, but I did not feel like I was cheating.

All this circles around one another for a very addictive loop that keeps pushing you forward to the next fight. Going into combat is fun as hell, as is the various platforming challenges the game presents (particularly some of the Anku rift ones, those are some insane visuals and challenges going there.)

When you need to get your item from the ports, but can’t pay the tariff…

Bosses, and other odds and ends

The bosses in the game are a challenge in a good way and make good use of the old tricks you had to use back in the day of reading and striking when right. While I did die quite a bit, I always felt it was cause of something I did in a twitch gaming moment or just being stupid, but never the game’s doing. It challenges you, but it doesn’t put you into something you can’t handle, which is refreshing cause I feel these days many of the newer games using classic tropes make it harder than it should be to say it’s challenging, when really the only thing holding you back is the AI being cheap. In this game, if I fucked up, I fucked up, and that actually was more fun to overcome than just grinding through the game to finish it.

Some extras can be unlocked, they range from cosmetics (honestly, it’s like go-go shinobi rangers at that point, cause it feels all like the ninja rangers) to unlocking new weapons to even having a hidden secret retro boss, which is fun if you’re from the old school of the series. There are some mini-game stages, but they don’t really do anything other than bridge to other, more interesting stages and just seem tacked on.

Final Thoughts:

Shinobi: Art of Vengeance is one of the best games I’ve played this year. The visual aesthetic, combined with deeply satisfying gameplay that is easy to learn but never feels repetitive, meshing with exploration into levels themselves instead of an overworld, is a refreshing change of pace for the metroidvania genre. The game is both challenging and very open to new players, not slamming you hard out of the gate. Aside from the mini game elements and a very meh story, this game is something you should not miss.

If anything, this takes many elements from the original games and expands them and modernizes them into a new game that respects its past but also looks forward to the future. Sega has something good going on here, and the plan to revive old franchises looks like it might have some legs if this game is anything to say about it.

-The Chaos Director

Thanks for checking this out, if you think someone you know is on the fence about buying this game. Why not share this review with the button below? While you are here, don’t forget to subscribe too. Did you play this game yet, and what did you think? Share your thoughts below.

You need to get off the internet...

Brandon — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 13:02:50 GMT

So, I have been watching various things lately, whether it's social media, YouTube, or something else. Something I’ve been noticing is...a lot of people don’t exactly understand media anymore, do they? I see more people on YouTube talking about conspiracy theories and spreading doom and gloom about life in general. Honestly, if I were a person constantly online, I could see how depressing the world can be.

What I don’t quite understand is why people seem to want to embrace this. I understand you can get locked into the whole cycle of doom (i.e., doom scrolling) and how it just keeps you going. But even the media we are ingesting right now is making us this way. Everyone is against you, the world is not what you think it is, and even if there is nothing you can do to prevent the eventual downfall of life as you know it.

So, today on this post, we’re gonna tackle just that: what the hell CAN you do about these things, and how maybe, it’ll help you improve your life if you let it.

This post is actually for your mental health…really…

Everyone is against you:

So, I’ll save you some time if you don’t want to read further: No, they are not in fact; if you took a look around you, I’d argue there is more unity than we realize. Granted, that is both good and bad…

The Good:

The good is pretty simple; it’s usually the people you don’t even realize are there. This is often how things like this are perceived: the world doesn’t care about you or what you think. Take co-workers, for example. These are people you spend a lot more time with than you realize. I mean, stop for a second and think, these are people whom you see for up to forty hours a week. Think about that, forty hours of your life every week is devoted to this group of people. Unless you’re in a job that you know is going to intentionally isolate you, that’s a lot of time with a group. I’d argue it’s the second tier after family and friends.

Now is everyone we work with gonna gel with us? Nope, that’s just a law of averages at play, but still, you’re gonna talk to people, and if you actually listen and pay attention, you may find common ground.

Another thing, and I’m kind of speaking from experience, when someone dies at a job, it can shake people. I had an incident at a job where a person died. I had not been there long, and I did not know the person who passed on. But it shook everyone around me. A lot of them did not know how to react or respond other than in shock. Some wondered aloud about what happened and even lamented not reaching out. But they had no idea what was happening in their life.

Even if you have a rough family life, and don’t have friends (which I’d argue you, the reader, do, and just don’t realize it.) People you work with you’ll find will care, and some will notice when you’re off. If they come up to you and ask things, it’s not that they are nosing in, a lot of times they just wanna make sure you’re doing alright.

If there is one thing to take from this, it is this: You are not alone, unless you let yourself be

The Bad:

So, do you have those people in your life who, no matter how things are going, will find something to make it negative? Those are people you should be stepping away from.

People like that are in a lot of ways what the media is right now, and people who are lost or in pain, they fall for it. For whatever reason, when it comes to content or just connection, we as humans seem to want others to be as miserable, if not worse than us, and I feel that is what is causing a lot of problems going on right now. The vibe of “my life sucks, yours should too” echoes in a lot of heads, I feel, and they will do their best to bring you down or make you think things are awful. What do they gain from it? Validation of the mentality and depending on the media product VIEWS, I’d bet a lot of people who say the stuff they say online don’t think this way really, but sense that if they say it, people will tune in more. Positive things don’t sell, but negative ones can buy boats.

The world is not what you think:

I hate this one the most, cause it is also the most easily, when people are telling you the world is not what you think, don’t want you to do one thing: Go outside…

I mean, yes, the world isn’t great right now, I could argue as a result of all these people’s doom sense going on. However, I took a walk to a gas station about twenty minutes ago., I walked out in broad daylight, passed by several homes, and saw people walking around, some to the same gas station. I was not mugged, I was not stalked by robots bent on making me buy new cryptocurrency, though I did hear some screaming kids, oh no...is that...oh wait...THEY WERE PLAYING BASEBALL AT THE BASEBALL FIELD!

People who think the world is shit don’t want you to interact, unless it is in some form of a video game or collective pain cycle you choose to participate in. I mean, life is life, you worry about bills and a roof over your head, and yes, there are much bigger things going on. I subscribe to the focus on what you can in front of you, talk to people, be nice, and just do what you want done to you. Odd, I think there was some rule that said that golden no less, was it made by wrestlers or something?

Another thing you can do to remember things is not bad is to just ask obvious questions. I call this the paper punch method. If the thing you hear sounds like it does not make sense, I’m gonna bet it probably doesn’t, and you just ask the simple question. Something I have heard for years now is that China has a lot of debt that is owed by the US, and that they can just call it at any point and move in. So, let’s apply the punch to it, shall we?

First of all, the simple question is “why not sooner?” Cause I mean, yeah, you can charge interest, but also, you can take one of the largest powers out of play, and suddenly you are like number one.

Secondly, why would you keep talking and doing trade with someone who you’re not making money off of? Yeah, I get it, you keep the debt, but China is not exactly rolling in it as much as you think; they have bills and debts also.

Third, we have possibly the worst negotiator in the white house right now, who, if the offer were a golden colored idol of himself the size of the Statue of Liberty, he’d sell the farm. I mean, everyone just hoped when he talked with Russia, he’d not give up Alaska, that’s how the bar is.

We have now hit the Simpsons reference quota for this post

So there, I punched three holes into the paper, now am I an expert on geopolitics theory and commerce? Hell no, but if you are, why the fuck are you even reading this? Shouldn’t you be doing more productive things than pointing out how my thoughts are wrong?

Bottom line is this, trust your damn eyes and instincts, you are not gonna know everything, and knowing things like this means you should be using it for better shit than posting on YouTube doom and gloom shit to make ad sense money.

There is nothing you can do:

Actually, there is...in fact, there is a lot you can do, perhaps maybe even TOO much. For starters, if you need to be on social media, go over to mastodon, yeah you can find doomers there, but also discussions about stupid things like physical media or toys, or check out cat and dog photos, maybe even find some like minded people not into the end of the world as we know it (and yes, I feel fine).

Side bar on the Mastodon thing: I am not really kidding about the random things. I posted a thing about Babylon 5 and suddenly got all the info I needed about what version of the show to get and not get…really cool people there just join.

Want to change the world? VOTE. That is a literal fundamental right you’re born with is to vote when you are an adult. In fact, a lot of people who we consider heroes died so we can have that right, so maybe you know, get off your ass and vote for something positive instead of listening to people tell you that you’re vote doesn’t matter. Those people actually don’t want you to vote so things stay the same….

You can also volunteer time and help at pet shelters, food banks what have you, which also helps with the you’re alone thing. If you play games, get some people you know together outside of the internet, if possible, and just sit in your living room playing video games. It’s what I did as a teenager, it’s what we did when we were kids, and I don’t have to worry about lag or any of that bullshit.

Just go for a walk or do something; sitting on your computer looking at a screen and doing nothing is how they win. Or create something and share it online, show your skills and talent, don’t slam someone, help them grow even further. See, this is actually the easiest thing of all to do.

There is nothing you can do to prevent the eventual downfall of life as you know it.

Okay, I mean yeah, but...wow, why are you worried about stuff we won’t be in theory around for? The eventual heat death is like millions of years away, so if you’re immortal, I guess that is a problem?

We can’t control everything; some things are out of our control, that’s why we elect people to do things. It’s why we listen to people sometimes, and we learn things. I’d say as of late in this world, we’ve stepped backward; we’re afraid of things when even ten years ago we were excited for a future. Is it PTSD from COVID? Maybe, is it’s people just recycling what we know we like, honestly, a little bit. But the only person who has control over how your life is going to be is you; who cares if people don’t like it? If you do, then it’s good. Sure, people are gonna comment, but you are the only person who decides if it is going to actually hurt or not.

So instead of accepting things as they are, question not in a way that will change the world, just your world; it doesn’t have to be anything seismic or even affect others. You are the main character of your story...so do something positive about it instead of getting a game over, okay?

I just like the line, don’t take it personally, okay? (also bonus Simpsons reference!)

-The Chaos Director

Do you have any thoughts or suggestions? Leave a comment below, and if you think someone you know needs some advice, don’t be afraid to share the post. Use the links above to help ya share. Until next time

Downloadable Update: SF6 Sagat

Brandon — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:02:51 GMT

Street Fighter 6 has begun year three of its DLC this week with the arrival of the Emperor of Muay Thai, Sagat. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him, and it looks as though the wait has been well worth it, as he brings quite a bit to the table.

Do you know where you are? You’re in the jungle, baby…you’re gonna diiiiieeee…..

Know people who are curious about the DLC? Have them check this out.

The Stats:

Paid: Got the ultimate edition this time, so it was about 48 bucks. He is available for individual purchase in the game store for fighter coins.

Played: I have gone through the Arcade mode a few times (videos in this post were taken at the hardest difficulty).

TL:DR: Sagat ushers in season 3 with a roar of a tiger, with plenty for people to mess around with, and also showing a growth in the character that hasn’t been seen before.

It’s all about the details.

One thing that I’ve been really happy to see with this game is the effort and little touches that the developers have been putting into the fighters, not so much in the personality. Instead, they have seemed to focus on the fighting styles the characters use, and it seems that every time they do something like this. It comes out awesome.

Sagat’s style is Muay Thai, or “The art of eight limbs,” which is a very aggressive style of martial arts; the strikes are often brutal, and the force used can be damn near killing in the right hands. I trained in some of it briefly, and also, you will find some of its stuff in other styles, and a lot of the MMA things you see today. A fun little fact I learned was that the developers of the original Street Fighter game chose this style as they deemed it the most powerful and dangerous style of combat.

Now, for a lot of Sagat’s time in SF, people have feared him, and many have PTSD of hearing “TIGER, TIGER, TIGER!” in their sleep, cause using him mainly involved his tiger shot. As things have moved forward in games, Sagat has stayed the same, being a character who has long reach and heavy strikes at the cost of movement. Sure, he could get into your business, but you can also use your speed and get out of the situation if you know how to do it right.

Well, this new version of Sagat is much more dangerous because of his fighting style being implemented. Mauy Thai has a lot of elbow strikes and kicks, and Sagat’s move set his been updated accordingly. He now has the “Tiger Nexus,” a move that starts with an advancing knee that, with additional inputs, can chain with an axe-style kick up to a heavy knee strike. This also allows you to put some added pressure on the enemy.

The unique moves Sagat brings this time around are more focused on Thai-style kicks. Forward and low kick does an advancing leg strike. Some combos can be done with the unique moves that can cause the other player to panic, as well as push back some fighters, so you have some space. The detail they put into the strikes and movements is impressive. Check out the super at the end of this video to see just how powerful his kick is. The strike is a legit Thai kick.

Director’s note: I was going to post a video in this, but for some reason, Substack is being a pain about it. So I guess all this wonder of AI they are trying is rather pointless when I can’t even upload a video for my posts…

Moving on…

In-game beast

Sagat from my playthrough is a monster of power; in the right hands, he will be a dangerous foe to take on. However, I can also see a lot of people performing the old Tiger mechanics and making it work. I feel he could, once the gap is closed, make someone’s life a living nightmare, but I am also finding that speedier characters can overwhelm him. Mai, for example, was putting me to work (until that ending clip I can’t show you). Also, Cammy was just giving me fits to the point I had to walk away. So, while he looks intimidating, and will be a difficult opponent to conquer. It is doable, but it’s going to be a lot of science to get there. While we will see the usual flood of people in ranked mode spamming to get e-points for themselves. Long term, I feel we will see less of it, as Sagat, I believe, is gonna be a very technical character, who in the right hands will be a destructive force, but in most casual people’s hands a fireball-chucking annoyance.

Regardless of how he is played, he will be, for the foreseeable future, a pain in the ass. It will just depend on whether it is talent or spamming that decides what a pain in the ass he is.

Setting up some future stuff

Sagat’s arcade mode is pretty much a “who’s next?” kind of plot, but the ending does set up some interesting things should SF decide to do something besides the stupid avatar stuff. Some elements that I thought were set aside come back into the plot, and the enemy introduced is obvious, but hints at what they have planned. So instead of being who can beat him, it’s setting up some beats for future things I kind of hope they follow through on, cause it can be a very interesting payoff if done right.

Alternate costume-wise, you get the classic naturally (as I feel all outfit 2s are.) But the detail work is pretty good, I mean, dude has beard stubble as he resists crushing your skull. Hopefully, we will get an alt 3 outfit that isn’t beachwear, as that seems to be the trend right now. But the detail work put into both costumes is impressive, and also, if you watch when he loses, dude might have some other health issues...guess Ryu left more than a mark?

Wrapping up

While season 2 started a bit slow with M. Bison, it looks like with season 3 and the others coming, we got off to a strong start. The emperor of Muay Thai establishes himself and sets a line in the sand for all who want to take him on. Learning him has been fun and challenging, and also, while many will resort to old tactics. In the tight hands and those willing to invest the time, Sagat may prove to be quite a force in the game. The attention to detail on the fighting style fleshes out a strong character and cements him as one of the most powerful fighters in SF lore, and story hints in his arcade mode, I hope get explored more as the game unfolds.

I strongly suggest that if you’re curious to at least do a rental with him, while he may not be for everyone’s style of play. If nothing else, you can study and maybe avoid bigger problems down the road…

-The Chaos Director

We all want a new hat

Brandon — Wed, 06 Aug 2025 13:02:50 GMT

Today’s topic is going to focus mainly on figure collectors, but a lot of the message can also extend to other areas of nerdy/geek things. It’s a long build-up. But, trust me, it’s worth it for the context.

We first need to take a step back and look at how the world was before the nerd was an acceptable place among the ideologies and cultures of the world. While today it is hip and cool to be someone who is into, for lack of better wording, “nerdy” things like comic books, video games, and yes, even toy collecting. There was a time when doing those things in some way isolated you into a small community.

Life before

When I was younger, I remember a lot of people who got into collecting things often were the type of people who were considered to be “going nowhere” and also maybe had not matured yet. This also evolved into the eventual nerd stereotype of a thick-rimmed person who obsesses over things like comics or pop culture. As we grew, it also began to combine with the slacker stereotype, and perhaps instead of a nerd with thick glasses and badly dressed. You could find people who had long hair, facial hair, and often wore black...and also badly dressed.

I will stop for a moment and say that while there are females who do collect, this is also a subculture that is still predominantly male. Like many of the young people today who are looked at as being isolated and alone, collectors were often and still are viewed similarly. The argument could be made that maybe a lot of these people were able to function because of the common thing that brought them together. Sort of an outlet for the isolated to talk about things they were passionate about.

The Fantasy

The classic look of the nerd (circa 80s)

At this point, you usually had the idealistic scenario, nerd meets cute girl, and she understands him, and he grows up and matures. The guy soon cements a relationship with a female, and they grow as a couple now, while he still has his eccentricities of being a nerd. They are not as hyper-focused as they once were. Now they are slowly thriving and also becoming responsible adults. There is one thing here that everyone seems to discount at this point. That is, the guy is still interested in the things he was, but because society as a whole now sees him as “complete,” they just disregard the collecting and fandom because he is “functional,” or if they have kids, they seceded the toys to thus moving forward to acceptable human being.

The reality

Image of 90s nerds, not much more relaxed dress and snark

Now, when it comes to how it works in the real world, well, it is not as clean-cut or even wrong about this. We’ll take it from the nerd/slacker hybrid; they have largely always been around, and yes, they do eventually become functional in society, the person succeeding some sort of functional balance between being a collector or nerd and the expected outcome of being able to function in the world. They just do something that in the fantasy they do not: They just kind of shut up about it. Outside of a few people, they know maybe they have been friends all their lives, or just cross paths, finding they have the same interests. The people just keep it to themselves with occasional smart ass comments from a significant other or child.

Is it kind of the let’s have our cake and eat it too scenario? To an outsider, no because to them it’ll be a sacrifice to conformity or even the world telling, in reality though most of the people who do this don’t care, they found some people they like and they can talk about those things and life goes on as they have work and other things like child-raising and also just life to deal with.

A golden age

With the rise of the internet, a lot of those little groups have grown, and some have fused together, finding various websites and like-minded people. This, for a time, was a very good thing and often allowed for an outlet and also an eventual bowing out from the community when life got complicated or just got tired of the hobby. Some, if not most, would hang out and stay, but as mentioned, now they have life to deal with.

The resurgence in retro-related products will bring in people to any fandom. If a movie of a property is being done, this will also often cause a sort of rush to be in before it was cool from hipsters or people who grew up with it and wanted to see what was new and why this thing they knew as a kid is coming back. Or, how the hell was this still going on, and it’s been a thing. As I said above, for a time this was all very good and by and large we were happy, there was something, however, that was brewing just under that resurgence that has, I feel, since this point taken over many fandoms: gatekeepers.

When the lunatics run Arkham

A gatekeeper is someone who may have been a part of a group or fandom for a long time. They are the ones who may not have matured or grown up, or if they have, they did so in a distorted way; they are still able to function in the world and may have a family. But, they could feel more repressed or even denied that little release these websites allowed people to explore as a group. As people fold in and out of a community, they never leave.

Think of them as that person you knew who just seemed a little too into something, and very, very specific about it. If someone did not agree with them, they were not worth talking to or even acknowledging. Things I have tended to see from gatekeepers include, but are not limited to:

Having a certain era or style that they enjoy
Worshipping a writer or creator who is infallible and anything that follows or is not them is in all ways inferior.
If something is made of it, it must be an almost exact 1:1 replica, unless it improves on it in some way, making it better, it is inferior, yet still is in some way inferior to the original, as it is the best.
Most likely has narcissistic personality disorders.
If you don’t agree with them, you are the enemy.

Let’s also be honest about the intent of the gatekeeper; their intent is, in ways, good, they want to preserve and also highlight a specific thing. It is by no means bad, especially if you have a fandom that often changes and moves to the next thing. I think the concept of a gatekeeper is healthy, but in execution, they have lost the way. Instead of preserving something they consider important, they turn it into a golden idol instead of focusing on the other things.

This has set the stage for them to slowly take over fandoms, and preach their words, and others like-minded or new to the fandoms may listen or be turned by them. The result beyond now making a community toxic is that it also stalls growth and trying new things. This also has an unintended consequence of giving people who create things for the brand to grow. Another problem is, when these people begin to take prominence in the fandom, the companies will pivot to them…

The loud minority

Recently, many executives at companies have been reported to have begun to court these keepers. The thought process from their end is always the same: we want money. The thing they seem to miss about this group is, however, that while they may command respect in a community and even have some pull. They are not representative of everyone in their community. I would argue, a lot are, in fact, the passionate minority, as the majority may at best go onto websites and check news or buy things they want when they see them. So, when they talk to these so-called “superfans,” they are talking to a group that may at best out of a hundred percent, represent at best twenty-five to maybe even less than five percent of the actual fanbase.

The gatekeeper at the end of it all, may actually get exactly what they wanted, but the unintended consequence is they also destroy the market that the company wants, you want that figure that is exactly how you THINK you remember it as a kid just with slightly better articulation, you got it, but it will now also be sitting on the shelves for months on end causing other product, maybe another you worship, or even a new concept that could bring newer fans or even ones who don’t speak up back into the fold because your passion project of whatever has stalled the supply lines.

The gatekeeper working for the minority is great when others are also speaking in a constantly changing thing. When they are the ones in charge, however, it can kill a fandom and even a brand. One example of this is playing out right now in a toy line: G.I. Joe Classified.

Writer’s note: If you want to skip to the toy content, check below this line; if not, and you read it all. Here is a subscribe button for you:

Classified with new hats

First of all, the line had an uphill battle cause it broke the sacred standard, instead of 3.5-sized figures that ruled the mid-eighties and early nineties. This new line of figures was going to be six inches tall. To a lot of you, that probably sounds very minor change, but it is kind of a big one, with a bigger size you can put in more details, and also makes the waves released smaller. If you were to put out vehicles in this line, they are gonna be huge and expensive, also. So you are limiting what you can do. On the other side, smaller waves with better production can work in your favor, especially if you are trying to reboot a brand. They started with characters people knew and added newer things, some may even say modern things to them, like guns or maybe a more science-fiction-based weapon. Duke and others looked different; others like Destro, and even to a degree, Snake-Eyes, have stayed the same. But the majority were newer looks and ideas, hell, perhaps even more “modern.”

Once the line got its footing they were throwing some throw back stuff, and it was okay for a bit but it was enough for the classic fans (or A Real American Hero or the abbreviation ARAH) to be content, but that small vocal group was screaming for more, eventually this resulted in a new line of “vintage” figures, modern sculpt with a retro base. I was not big into it, but I knew there was a market for it, so let it be and let those who want it, want it.

The thing is, once this retro style started, it was, I believe, exclusive (not one hundred percent on that one, honestly). It has slowly grown, and now it has felt like the retro ARAH styled figures are the priority instead of trying new ideas. We have outliers like Raptor or even more experimental like the Mole-Rat; even then, however, Raptor, while new, is based on an older design from the eighties. But it kind of works in that likes take something and put a new spin on it, vibe I like. Now, we just get a version of say Hawk based on...the original one from the eighties, not the one you think, even, that one had a new modern idea to it. This is a straight green shirt style.

The reveals at Comic-Con, while good, are still a lingering problem, cause it’s X figure you had as a kid, just made six inches instead of the three. I understand there is a market, but I feel the idea of the line has been lost in the chase of a minority who will collect anything from the eighties. Even more modern takes have to adhere to this idea, like the Iron Grenadier trooper having some modern touches, but had to be dressed in a way that it looked like it did in the eighties, just a different gun...maybe?

It pretty much confirms the joke from “The Simpsons” where Lisa made a competitive brand of dolls, and the makers of Malibu Stacy were flummoxed about what to do to counter the popularity. Eventually, as the people came up, a new Stacy was rolled up with a sticker reading “with new hat.” It’s the same thing as before, just dressed up. Lisa even points this out, and then is trampled as people reflexively wanted the new old thing.

So, in other words, people just want the same thing. Funny how a TV show from the ‘90s sums up pop culture in one joke, but here we are

The other brand did it better.

This is a constant thing I’ve noticed in collecting figures, so much that Hasbro may have gotten ahead of the horse on the Studio Series 86 line being based on the animated movie designs, which, hey, has gotten us some great figures. It also, with some redecoration, brought some figures that maybe you could not get back into circulation, just a slight variant. Isolated inside the line, the main line currently Age of the Primes is now allowed to experiment with everything from bringing back a rather liked version of the fallen to going nuts and creating some sort of centaur Autobot, because why the hell not?

We also have many “retro” styled toys now, like remakes or remasters of original figures, knowingly or unknowingly playing into our perception of the toys we had as kids. A child’s mind is often funny because they perceive things that are there that, when we turn into adults learn are not. The point is was a fanbase there, and companies saw it. There is one issue, though: what happens when we walk away?

The future is scary

This odd cycle we are in, we must relive our past is going to cause a problem, while we have the safety net of memory, that will not matter when the next generation comes along. New concepts draw in new people, repeating the same shit over and over is going to cause a decline cause younger people won’t even want to touch those. This is why it is good again, G.I. Joe; there is new blood in the Energon universe. While I have all the respect for Larry Hamma and what he contributed, and the fact that he has been able to carry a comic over three comic book companies through the years. I feel like we’re at the point where we can just stop. But, the niche is still happy so I guess so we’ll just keep it going until he passes on.

The thing is, we cannot stop time’s march; much as we want to, we have to accept the eighties are in the past. I know it’s kind of hard when the president seems to want to make the decade come back, cause that was his golden age (pun entirely intended). The thing is, looking back, we have a consequence of not looking forward and seeing what is coming. Just rehashing an old toy line and milking the money is not gonna work forever. Other brands will survive, but I am unsure if G.I. Joe could survive a world where ARAH is not at its forefront, instead of taking an established base and playing with it differently. Being so slavish to its golden age, unlike Transformers (though it can be a fair argument they kind of want to), has, in my mind, done nothing but harm. There is a way to respect your past but move forward. I once more point to its companion brand and point out the reinventions it’s done to survive. They tried with the Joes, but it just never took. Is it bad concepts, maybe a bad idea forced down the throats, or a fanbase resistant to any change that can come from it? The answer is all three.

We can grow up and still be allowed to do this.

As we mentioned at the start, a lot of people seem to be able to enjoy a hobby like this and live a good life. This silent majority is what can keep things going, to allow gatekeepers to take the reins, while short-term, probably good, will have ramifications down the road. A balance needs to be learned and not look to the past for a replica of things we had; it should be of what could be coming instead.

The lesson I feel we will learn, but it will be too late if you are someone who clings to the past out of fear. Remember when you were that age, you were wide-eyed and hopeful of the future. You still can be, and the future can still be good. No one is going to take away your stuff, no one can take away the memories you have or made with this. But reliving them like a perpetual rerun will only damage a brand you love and value in the name of a narcissistic habit. It’s not great in the present, but we can always make it better, but first you have to look forward instead of back…

-The Chaos Director

Magic NInja Robot Twitch

Downloadable Update

Brandon — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 12:01:40 GMT

Street Fighter 5 had a strong base start, as well as a very confident though at times middling first season of DLC. We recently received the Year Three list for Street Fighter 6. With classic returns like Alex and Sagat, along with some who could be made very unique in C. Viper and Ingrid, of all people.

So with the future ahead and the past in the rearview, we in the present will be taking a look at the overall look of Year 2 of SF6. While we have individual posts about a couple of the DLC fighters. We will focus overall on whether the package as a whole is worth your time or not, what new things came out, and what other things were missing. Much like year one, we will not focus on gameplay, as most of those are by preference. Also, I did not have online access to the network for much of the year. If you have thoughts on the second year from an online play perspective, I encourage you to share them, if nothing else, to allow others to get a view if they see this post.

The Stats:

Paid: got the basic package at the price of 30 dollars, I also got some alt costumes and other perks with fight money and drive tickets.
Played: Used all the season two characters, and got a few stages and some customization things
System: PlayStation 5, with arcade sticks
TL:DR: Season two improved based on season one, and while some characters felt very meh compared to season one, season two managed to hit it out of the park with all 4 of their entries

Strong cast and some old rivals make a debut.

Well, no one saw those two coming…

SF6 came out swinging with characters after a good though on hindsight middling season one, there were some great highs with Ed and Akuma, but newcomer A.K.I. and Rashid in an odd pendulum effect have become very meh over the course of their availability. It’s a shame, as I feel it discourages Capcom from experimenting with new ones for DLC in the future, but it is what it is.

In contrast, season two came swinging out of the gate with M. Bison making a return and new quirks to his gameplay, with a few new moves and tweaks to older ones. The other return was Elena, while I am not the biggest fan of her fighting style, I have to admit that when it comes to movement, her playstyle benefits, as she is a very busy and constantly in motion style that works well in combat. Controlling her is also a bit complex and challenging, and as of the writing of this post, I still don’t have it down. Though it is something to work towards, which is never a bad thing

This also marked the first time guest characters appeared, but for those, I’ll refer to my more detailed thoughts about them on the downloadable updates they got:

This season also brought us a lot of crossover mania in the form of new challenge screens, outfits for your avatar if you use them. And some new stages in the form of Pao Pao Cafe and Renailia Remains. The two stages fit the characters they debuted with well, though I feel the second comes off more as a DJ part two stage than something unique to Elena.

Got a whole lotta customs

As mentioned, with the season came a lot of new features to make your presentation more unique. At first, it started kind of slow with just Darkstalkers-style challenger screens, but this slowly improved later on as we got some other music and pictures courtesy of the Capcom Fighting Game Collection 2. The new challenger sounds from various games, including the Capcom vs SNK series, and a few others, are now available. Along with those, we got in the last update some new pictures by various artists and styles to get for your online play experience.

Much like the last season, Capcom seems quite willing to hand out drive tickets like candy. When you bought the season, you got about 5,000 with your purchase of the base edition (and of course more if you got the ultimate tier). So much that I still don’t consider the upgrade to the ultimate needed, as most of the things you can get with the drive tickets, like stages and such, are easy to get just by logging in and checking the news. If you are someone who enjoys making yourself stick out in introductions online, this feature has been pumped up substantially for free with classic music and sounds from the series (and a few others) at no cost.

Battle passes also returned, and as it always seems, the good stuff was on the paid tier, which I never bought. Still, if you did, you got some games to add to the impressive arcade setup in the battle hub. I have to say, while not my cup of tea, I respect Capcom for slowly making a retro game package inside one of their biggest games going on at the moment. But wallpapers for my SF6 phone and stickers I never use are not enough to justify that.

So when it comes to customization of presentation, season two has excelled, now as for costumes...

Costume store low on stock

This, I noticed, seemed to pissed off a lot of people, while all season two characters got an alt, there was quite a void when it came to new costumes for everyone else. This seems to make people quite irate, for me, it was not really a deal breaker. Don’t get me wrong, new costumes are nice, and I’ve been known to get a few. But, it doesn’t impact gameplay and does not improve anything; it’s just preference. I will point out later in the season, the year 2 crew got some new costumes which range from good to “hey you got 90s in my 2025 game!”

For some this is a deal breaker, and if it is for you, I get it, and also I am not big on the avatar dress-up simulator that is happening with this game. I rarely wander into Battle Hub and have never touched an avatar battle if my life depended on it. If you were into the Avatar scene, it looks as though your cup runneth over due to the sheer amount of custom stuff you could get. Wanna make your guy look like a member of Darkstalkers? Sure, why not, though not many SNK stuff outside items relating to the 2 guests. So, at the end of the day, costumes are a tale of two tastes. For me, well, it did not click until the end. But for people doing avatars, it looks like you guys have eaten very well this year.

Final verdict

Season Two of Street Fighter 6 in a lot of ways improved on the first season by leaps and bounds, the main meat of the pass the characters was an impressive set that gave the game a lot of new things and styles to mesh with. I would say overall it was a stronger roster than season one cause it felt like they really worked on developing some personality and style with the cast this go around.

As for the extras and other things, it was also strong, with a few new stages and ways to introduce yourself in online battlers. Though the costumes left many people unhappy, unless you were an Avatar, in which case you had a lot to be happy with. I would say if you are looking for one season over the other, season two is the clear winner with a strong lineup of fighters.

Looking to the future: Third time is looking epic

A small little bit, with season three nearing, we are seeing some things come into view, we recently got a gameplay trailer of Sagat, which looks great, and the cast this season is all Capcom vets, with Ingrid looking to be an interesting edition to the game as she was in one of the worst reviewed Capcom fighters. We also seem to be only getting one stage this time, but we are getting some new costumes for characters in the form of the “beach vacation episode” anime trope.

So, while it seems we may get some more surprises down the road, if you have not gotten Street Fighter 6 yet and have been curious about it. I would suggest jumping on now may be the best time, as it looks like the third act is gonna keep the pace from what the preview is showing. Also, come on, think of poor Kenny Omega working his ass off for the announce trailer:

-The Chaos Director

Figure it Out: Megatronus (AOTP)

Brandon — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:02:56 GMT

Many people often remember Transformers for its various properties of television and movies; however, with that well being thoroughly tapped in a lot of ways when it comes to things you’ll remember from your childhood. Today’s review is based on one of those, though not in the version you know the best.

Fire, I’ll teach you to burn…

Magatronus sort of became that odd boggy man/template for evil transformers in the lore of the toy line. It’s actually kind of interesting with a love story and Judas-level betrayal that works. But, we are not here to talk about a story, we’re here to talk about the figure…

The Stats

Bought at: Target

Retail Price: 55

Paid: 40 dollars with coupon

TL:DR: One of the strongest leader class figures to come out in a long time.

Bulk for its price

One thing about this figure you can’t disagree with: this is one big figure, while a lot of the recent releases at the leader tier have felt a bit lacking due to size and or feeling more like a Voyager class with a few extras. This is a Leader class that feels like it has earned the title. Even when you first start messing with it, you can feel that this is not like the ones before it.

The tank mode is an imposing and well, big tank like something you’d not want to be in front of, much less be in the blast radius of its cannon. While not a lot of things you can do with a tank other than tank poses. It’s still got a great evil look it it.

Once you convert it, the size seems to take on new meaning, everything feels tight, the ratchets sound like they are working as they should, giving it the size and stability with articulation shining very well.

Transforming is an involved process, but it all links together. In his tank form, he looks as menacing as you expect him to. I like that for the scale, this is not an easy transformation. Of course, you learn as you go. However, I kind of like that, you paid good money for this, and I like a good puzzle in these figures that you eventually learn to do. So, transformation is satisfying once you know how to do it, as the so-called first Decepticon, he looks rightfully evil and imposing, and massive in both modes.

The fires of hell and the suppressing fire accessory

While blast effects will come here and there with Hasbro figures, this is probably one of the few times that effects add to the character of a figure. Included with Megatronus are flame effects that simulate the demonic power/emo energy/metal cover vibe that he can give off, hence his nickname “The Fallen” I’m happy to say that while the effects look great, if you lose them or they degrade overtime he can still look pretty bad ass without them.

The Fallen of all primes also comes with a blade and mace staff (or blace if you like to fuse things) which looks cool I guess but it looks more like something a wizard would use instead of a weapon of doom, then again maybe that is the point, so what the hell do I know we already got a grinning death machine that can at your command light on fire.

Showing off his posing skills

Megatronus has a cannon or goes to the Transformers Wikipedia page, the “Requiem Blaster,” huh, something so simple I was expecting some crazy name or something, also it has a suppressor or something to both “extend” the barrel of the gun and I guess suppress the sound of a tank round? Sadly, they did not include a loundener to let your neighbors know their impending doom.

Is it a flame, or the start of a loud BOOM! you decide

A big boy that can come off very acrobatic

Despite his build, as mentioned, this guy is full of articulation that also helps the figure shine, you can alter around the flames to set up a variety of poses, or action scenes with effects for the guns as needed.

While he feels big and bulky and the heft to him is more than I would say for the G2 Grimlock release. It all feels right with this figure; it should be heavy, and it should also be able to pose well and allow the personality to show as a result. He will tower over other figures in your collection and feel right at home there.

Wrap up (in fire!)

Megatronus is very much worth your money if you collect, or if you’re a parent and want to get your kid something sturdy, I’d even say this is worth it. He checks all the marks of “evil cool” (patent pending) along with giving you a great little figure to mess around with for your money. While I got this on discount, I was more than happy to pay full price before I stumbled upon the coupons I used.

Age of the Primes is off to a strong start with its original molds. It seems Hasbro has taken the idea of making the Primes legit has been off to a good start. A strong alt mode, imposing look and feel in bot mode, and a strong contender at the start of the year for one of the best of the year. If you see it, grab it, you won’t be sorry

-The Chaos Director.

Don't forget to buy some coffee

Signs of Life

Brandon — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:44:09 GMT

We at Magic Ninja Robot are coffee addicts, so it makes total sense that we’d want to try Ko-Fi also, and that is surprisingly the only coffee joke in this article. Yes, it’s that serious.

MNR on Ko-Fi

Seriously, though, we have had one for a while, and the intent of it, even in the old days, was simple: It’s designed to help us grow and sustain the project.

We are aware that for many, money is tight, and a lot of us are also doing our own thing as we try and establish ourselves. So in this post, I wanted to take some time and explain what the rationale is and what you’ll be helping with.

Reading is AWESOME!

New microphones and recording equipment, including the ability to record in the same room at the same time!
programs for creating art and backgrounds, such as Clip Studio Paint, along with programs for us to quickly make up items for backgrounds. While I’ve used Canva in the past, if people have other options for that, leave a message in the comments as I may have missed something that could be better for us to use.
You will be supporting independent media:
When we say independent media, we mean supporting people who want to do something different, and not having to be held to the standards of other companies that just want to produce the same stuff over and over and over. A good example is “The Dominant Ones.” This is an original project created by me and Ili that we are making in our free time, while we are developing the next act, we also have to put food on the table and pay the bills.

This is really not that far from reality…

We want to give you the best experience we can when you check out our stuff, when it comes to games and things we check out. We will be paying for that, not you. What we are asking for is some help in giving the best we can give you. Right now, we are starting with tips. Eventually, we may expand that into memberships if there is interest from the people supporting us. It’s at that point, you will be our bosses. This is a job a lot of people wish they could have, to be able to create content we want to create, because you, the reader/viewer, support us.

This is the first step in the upgrading of MNR. We have been away for a while, but we’ve been slowly working on what we can do. There are some plans when we come back and add streaming to our arsenal again. We will reveal more about that in a future update. But for right now, if you can support us in any small way, we will appreciate it.

Thank you for your time and attention

-Brandon and Ili

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