Author Archives: dahubbz
Pokemon GOes Mobile: TOP FIVE “Wish List/Questions/Concerns” FOR POKEMON GO!
Okay, so the trend is becoming that #TOPFIVE@FIVE is getting done later than 5pm EST. That is because of the other trend which is discovering something on a Friday that I want to talk about. A few weeks ago, I learned of Pokken on a Friday and had to totally change the top five I was working on. Well, the same thing happened today. Hours ago, I stumbled up Pokemon Go. Obviously, we got to talk about this!
First Impression: Easy. WHY WASNT THIS DONE SOONER! My 7 year old self would NEVER put this down. Heck, my now 20 year old self probably wont put this down!
Reflection: Ehh, I can see some problems arising. So naturally, I am here to do a list of stuff I hope they get right and some questions I have about moving forward!
Its a Mobile App. What does this mean for the story? Is there one? Is this just a simplified version of the games we know and love? The concept of catching, trading, and battling seems like a lot of fun and could hold us over til the next installment, so is it wrong to hope for more features? Are gym battles, day cares, and interactive play sessions too much to ask for? Maybe. It’s Free To Play, so I really wont complain if its just surface level.
Legendary Pokemons. How do we handle this? Are they event based? Location Based? Unlock a boss fight by playing so long, catching so many, or visiting so many regions? It seems Mewtwo has been confirmed, so will there be more?
Speaking of Confirmed Pokemon. How many Pokemons will be in here? The latest generation is 6, which puts us at I believe up to 721 pokemons! The latest installment was a remake of Gen 3. However, upon a second watch of the trailer, I only saw first Gen Pokemon. It’s Free To Play, so yet again, if we only see Gen 1 its not the end of the world. An update could fix this later if that is the case.
Battery Life. I still use a caveman phone, so I do not speak SmartPhones(I just use my girlfriend’s if I want to play a game). Will this game destroy your battery? I heard you have to have GPS among other things turned on to really interact with it. If that is the case, am I confined to wherever there’s an outlet for a charger? Yet again, I am concerned about this, but I don’t speak that language so someone can correct me or confirm me.
Location. Location. Location. Maybe my biggest concern is will they make Pokemon location specific. This idea is great for the 3DS games and makes exploring worth it in the games. Real life, however, not so much. I, personally, can not wake up and say “Oh, I want Jirachi, lets go to Tokyo”. I, and I am sure everyone else, hope we can obtain all Pokemons just by doing our daily lives. I am down with time affecting encounter rates. I am okay with weather affecting encounter rates. I am even okay with spreading them out. I think they should make it where nearly every pokemon is within a range of the user. I do not know how realistic or easy a task like this will be to handle correctly, but I am rooting for them to pull it off. Keep in mind, this is a casual down time app. The majority are not going to want to have to get really dedicated to searching all over the globe for a game they are playing to kill time between class.
Alright, alright. Since this is 3 hours late. I will do two more!
3DS Compatibility. Is there any? Oh, come on. This would be awesome. Being able to move my pokemon’s over to my 3ds game would be great. This would also make it worth playing and could help get the On-The-Fence players to buy in. Also, it could solve location issues. If you do not live in the North Pole, but you want to play with your Delibrd, you could just be allowed to trade him over from X to your phone. Sounds like a solid idea to me.
How long will they support it? I am not app savy, but I assume its running on a server. So my question is how long will they support the server? Especially if it doesnt catch fire with the general public. Basically, will I have time to catch them all?
Recap Time! I would love access to all pokemons and have them relatively easy to find. Capture the legendary experience. Do not throw legends at us, but do not make it impossible to get them. It would be so cool to interact with our pokemon, but it is free to play so I’ll be content with just finding pokemons. Give us the ability to move pokemon freely between our phones and 3DS.
So what do you guys think of it? Any concerns? Any hopes?
Pokémon Golden Age Demo
Video demos of our latest fan made game project
Source: Pokémon Golden Age Demo
Substitute Teaching Class.
So, I’ve been up since 5 in the morning today, but that is okay. I knocked out the first part of becoming a substitute teacher today. The 4 hour class to get certified. In this post I will be talking about what we discussed and other matters I took away from it.
Let’s dive on in.
For starters, if you have taken an education class, or you were previously a teacher, this is going to be some of the most boring hours of your life. We talked about code of ethics, managing your classroom, and how to handle the new environment. This is stuff I already learned about during my first education class last semester. It was a nice refresher and I did learn some new tricks, but for the most part it really was like they just took a whole semester class and cramped it into 4 long hours.
So what was the presentation like?
The first 3 hours was spent by all 40 of us telling our life story of how we ended up here. It’s not as dreamy as it sounds. Out of 40, I dare say only about 6 or 7 of us were aspiring teachers. The majority? Stay-at-home/retired moms who wanted to go be around their kids at the school. I am not a parent, so maybe I am biased, but I am definitely torn on this. On one hand, as an aspiring teacher, I feel like we should be put on priority(Of course there is nowhere on the applications I filled out that ask what my goals are). We want experience, we would like to have a paying job that we can actually use on a resume. On the other hand, I think it is very important for parent involvement! So substitute teaching is actually a pretty nifty way to do that.
Here’s a fun little game called “Stuff Future Substitute Teachers Say”
“I want to get my feet wet.”
“I am trying to get my foot in the door”
“I have four kids”
“I am here for the income”
“I was a [..] I got tired of it. Now I am here”
“I retired… I’m back”
I show you these quote to segue into our next topic. Who goes to these things?
Most common? Stay-at-home moms made up a majority of the people. Second Most? I use to do […]. I got tired of it. I want to try this. Third? Aspiring Teachers/Other college students. Fourth? Retired Teacher/Administration.
We had four hair stylist who wanted something new. We had a retired cop who wanted to be an Ag teacher. We had a guy from Denmark who worked up north and then came down to coach soccer. We had a kid who had his bachelors in history and was wanting to be a teacher despite not having a background in education. There was only one other person aside from me and my girlfriend who were actually studying education in college.
Here’s a rundown of useful tips:
Meet your neighbors! Talk to the teachers around your classroom. They can help you if you need it. It’s also just a good way to network yourself.
Make business cards! All teachers have mailboxes inside the school. Show up early and put your card in their boxes.
Get their early! For reasons 1&2 and more I am sure. Just get their early and get to know the classroom.
When it was over, we were all given our certificate. No general test, no state level test. Nothing to sweat there. Along with the certificate, you need to get an application for the school system you want to substitute in. You need to already have references and then you need to make copies of that certificate. Some schools will want a copy. Turn the application into a a principle in the system. They will check your references and select rather or not to add you. If you survive this process, your name gets sent to a person in charge of subs for the county. At this step, you will receive a phone call asking you to come fill out some paper work and do a background check. Once it comes back, Congratulations! You are in the system.
I have turned in my application. I am just waiting on a phone call now. Fingers crossed!
Not everywhere is the same.
The county I went to take the class was just a neighboring county maybe 20 minutes away. There you have to go in front of the board for an interview. In my county, that part does not exist. However, I am pretty sure you are required to get certified, get approved one way or another, and than have background checks. I could be wrong though.
Interested? How do you get stated?
In the U.S.A., there is an organization called RESA(Regional Education Service Education). These people are your best friends. Check to see when they are holding one of these substitute teaching classes. Sign up and pay whatever fee there is. That should be all there is to it. Just attend class on your selected day and figure out your county’s protocol.
So! Does your county or state or county do things differently? Leave a comment. I’d love to hear about it. Anything specific interest you and you want to hear more? Well leave a comment for that too.
I will be sure to update my adventure as I go along.
MANGA MONDAY: Noragami Vol 1!
Noragami was made by Adachitoka and published through Kodansha Comics. It debuted in 2010 and did not come stateside until 2014.
Spoilers: Minor
Plot: Noragami tells the story of Yato, the shrine-less god, on the hunt to gain fame, and Iki’s struggle as a half human, half ayakashi. Something I noticed was that each of the three chapters seemed to have a new main character. Chapter 1 centers around Mutsumi. Chapter 2 centers around Yato. and Chapter 3 centers around Iki. The whole premise of the manga is that Yato is on the bottom of the food chain as far as gods go. He also has no people skills(Which could say a lot about why he has no followers). His Shinki, or divine weapon of the gods, leaves him due to his lack of compassion. The rest of Vol 1 is about his hunt for a new shinki. Iki wants Yato to fix her problem(See characters for more details). They end up fighting an ayakashi, creatures living on the middle shore. The shores are basically this story’s version of the human realm and the afterlife. Naturally, the middle shore is out of sight of humans and the creatures are not quite as strong as gods and such. In chapter 3, we meet Yuki, so I have reason to believe he will be the subject of chapter 4 in the next volume.
Characters: For now, I will only talk about the two main characters. Yato and Iki
Yato- People Skills? Nope. Compassion? Nope. Southern Charm? Nope. Shinki? Maybe. He does not have that much going for him. Even as a god he mentions an ayakashi would not even acknowledge him as a superior without his shinki. He is not the most flawed character ever, but he definitely has a ton of room to grow. That does make it interesting to see what he will end up like.
Iki- She does make the manga more interesting. She was hit by a bus. No no, this does not take an awesome Yu Yu Hakusho turn. Instead, she comes back alive without having to save her body. She is now a form of ayakashi. Randomly, she will pass out and go into a spirit form. Her spirit form has a tail. No no, this does not take an even more awesomer Dragon Ball turn. Instead, if her tail is cut, she will no longer be able to return to her human form. Essentially, this makes her a liability in combat.
Cannot wait to see these two grow.
World: Okay. So, if you are into spirits, afterlife, gods and demons, you’ll probably like this world. I am really not sure if other gods will come in or what(I do not look up spoilers or any information. Most of my reads are blind reads of books that catch my eye). But there is definitely one god floating around, Yato. Ayakashis are here too. They do not do too much from what I’ve gathered. In chapter 1, the negative stress of all the students creates a huge ayakashi that encourages the kids to bully Mutsumi. In chapter 3, one challenges Yato and they fight. The themes do incorporate supernatural mythology. I am into it.
Recap: A good story that does not try to confide itself to one genre like action or romance, but blends a lot of genres into a supernatural world.
Action: Used sparingly.
Romance: No romance or love plot lines jumped out to me so far.
Plot: Very solid. Is a good telling of gods, demons, and other supernatural matters.
Characters: Yato does not stick out to me as much as other main characters, but he is still enjoyable to say the least
The World: Standard human world with supernatural elements thrown in.
Humor: Nowhere near the funniest of mangas I’ve ever read. With that said, it still has hilarious parts thrown in. So yeah, it is good for a few laughs, for sure.
Verdict: You can recommend this book to a lot of people. There is action, but it doesnt lean on it, there is comedy and most of it is clean if I remember right. It is a solid read.
Score: 7.5 out 10. Even with all the good things I’ve said. This is volume 1 and you can tell this is just the beginning. It is a positive read with a lot of strong points, and it sets up the world right. It explains to the audience what the demons are like, what the gods are like, so on and so forth. I expect volume 2 to be even better.
Buy it here: Buy Noragami Vol 1
About Manga Monday
Manga Monday will be up tomorrow! Time has totally gotten away from me today. I will be reviewing Noragami Vol 1 tomorrow. So be on the look out for it tomorrow!
See you guys then!
Top Five Pokemon I want as Support Characters in Pokken
Following up our top five characters we want added as fighters, its time to talk about our top five wanted support characters.
But First, Confirmed Support Characters: Emolga, Fennekin, Snivy, Frogadier, Eevee, Lapras,Whimsicott, Jirachi
#5- Clefairy- Think back to the days where teams of 6 clefairy with only metronome as their move set was a thing. We can bring that back! Clefairy could show up and use metronome capable of using any move from splash to hyper beam. That would be insane. Honesty, this is probably my favorite idea, but it is not likely, so I am slotting it in at 5.
#4- Cresselia- Her goal would be to pop in use Light Screen, Reflect, Recover, or something like Psychic or Moonblast. When she appears she would use one of these moves based off who you are fighting and what the fight is like. Say you’re versing Machamp, she could use reflect to make his moves weaker or if you’re losing she can recover your health some. I am pulling for Cresselia, but there are a million pokemon’s with that move set. I could even root for Latias or Latios to promote ORAS. Whoever it is could really help swing the match or help you get back in it at least. It’s a solid idea.
#3-Mew- If were rooting for Mewtwo than we gotta be rooting for Mew! I don’t even care what the angle is. Mew is an awesome pokemon who could do a lot of cool stuff if you give him the spot. If they had finishers like in smash or mortal combat, it would be cool for mew to come in and help Mewtwo. I do not know how likely this would be since Jirachi is already confirmed and they could always use Celebi or any of the other base 100, but my hopes would be on Mew.
#2- Delibird!- Now this is almost as awesome as the metronome. He would play off his present move. He would have a set number of items from a Sitrus berry to sticky barbs. There would be a 50% chance he would give you the present and 50% chance he gives the opponent the present. He could add some randomness that would be fun against friends. I doubt this very likely either but it is a fun idea.
Honorable mentions: Muk, A stampede of Toroses, Any of the three birds, Any of the three lake pokemons, I’d say any of the eeveelutions but we already have Eevee, and Togepi, Chansey, or Arceus
#1- Bulbasaur- Come on, he’s the OG of pokemon(And thats coming from a Squirtle fan!). He has access to all the moves you would want from a support. Stun Powder, this could either slow your opponent down or make it where they can’t block. Sleep powder would wreck your opponent. Poison powder could drain life from them over an allotted amount of time and than something like Synthesis could gain you life depending on the weather of the stage.
I think Bulbasaur and the Cresselia option are the best as far as support goes. They aid you well and can hinder the opponent. Delibird and Clefairy are really more of fun ideas. Mew might not make it because Jirachi is already added.
Who do you want? Leave a comment and let me know!
Check out The Top Five Pokemon I Want As Fighters!
Spread Awareness
Today, were discussing something a little serious, Prostate cancer.
If the stores around your area are like mine, you will never see that little blue ribbon. That’s a shame. September 3 and there’s already pink Breast Cancer Awareness ribbons and shirts set up in some stores, which is great. I discovered this last year when I was working at Dollar General and we started selling Breast Cancer Awareness pens at the counter at the start of September. I asked the manager on duty why don’t we sell Prostate Awareness month merchandise. She did not know. Again this year, I see no Prostate Awareness Month merchandise. I understand breast cancer is huge, and according to Cancer.org 231,840 new cases of breast cancer occur every year, and that 40,290 women a year will pass away due to breast cancer, but we have to raise aware about prostate cancer(and all the other cancers for that matter).
Prostate cancer is the most common form of cancer in men in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death for men in the U.S according to cancer.org. About 1 in every 7 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. The statics and the information are out there.
Educate yourself about all the cancers and catch them while they’re early. My mom has tumors in several parts of her body and has to regularly go get them checked up on. Shes had them for 6 years and, thankfully, they are not cancerous.
Other cancers spotlighted this month are:
Childhood Cancer
Gynecologic Cancer
Hodgkin Lymphoma
Luekemia
Lymphoma
Ovarian Cancer
Thyroid Cancer
I got my information from Key Stats on Prostate Cancer and Key Stats on Breast Cancer
Here is what the ribbon looks like:
Light blue ribbon as symbol of prostate cancer awareness, Graves Disease
If you cannot donate to a cause, than spread the word. Write your own post, share this post, or make pins or bracelets, take an elder man in your family to get a check up, anything helps.
Life Update: Heading into September.
Hey guys. Nothing too exciting this weekend. I was busy and forgot it was even Friday yesterday, so there was no top five. I have a couple planned though, just got to sit down and type them up.
Anyway, September is next Tuesday. I’m going to try to make it my most productive month of blogging yet. I’m hoping to put out 4 Top Fives, 2 Manga Monday’s, 1 Trip Down Memory Lane, start Comic Book Reviews, And put out a ton of anime reviews.
I’m also going to start substitute teaching classes and job shadowing, so I might blog about that process and other aspects of college if there are people interested in that.
I am also hoping to launch two new projects(Separate from the blog). If they go as planned, I’ll have one in September and one hopefully by next year.
Lastly, does the new Home page layout make it easier to Navigate and make the site look neater? Any feedback would be nice.
Enjoy your weekend guys,
DaHubbz
MANGA MONDAY! BLUE EXORCIST VOL 1
Today on I am reviewing Blue Exorcist Vol 1 by Kazue Kato released through Shonen Jump Advance and Viz Media and started in 2009. Blue Exorcist made it stateside in 2011.
Spoilers– Only spoilers that set up the plot(nothing in the long run)
Plot– Rin Okumura is living at his father’s monastery. Suddenly, his demon form awakens when a gang of other demons attack him. His father, Fujimoto, rescues him and informs him he is actually the child of a human woman and none other than Satan. Satan takes control of Fujmoto and Rin runs away from the monastery. Once he runs away, he meets Mephisto(Mister Faust). Mephisto enrolls him into True Cross Academy. It’s here his adventure as an exorcist begins!
Characters– The characters are wonderful. Rin and his twin brother Yukio work really well together. Yukio is very smart and a great exorcist, whereas Rin is lazy, but is very driven to protect those he cares for. Mephisto does not really shine too much. He is in a minimum amount of scenes, but is well respected and talented. He also runs True Cross Academy. Father Fujimoto is a great character. I only wish he could have seen more action than one chapter, but he is the ignition for Rin.
World– The world has demons all around it. Most of the demons need to trick humans to roam the Earth. The exorcist are their counterpart. Rin is the first exorcist to also be a demon, or as he says “I am not a demon, but im not exactly human either”. The world will be filled with epic battles between the demons and the exorcists. Pretty exciting!
Verdict: Solid action, good humor, enjoyable characters. My only complaint is I dont have Volume 2 to keep reading. Guess I’ll have to change that soon!
Score– 8.5 out of 10. Not quite as good as The Seven Deadly Sins, but still very awesome. I read it one sitting. I definitely recommend it.
Havent read it yet? What are you waiting for? Buy Blue Exorcist Vol 1!
Looking for more Manga Monday? Check out More Manga Monday!
Top Five Pokemon I want added to Pokken Tournament!
With Pokken Tournament recently announced to be coming stateside, now’s a better time than ever to discuss future Pokemons to be announced. I’ll leave my top 5. You guys feel free to say who you’d like!
The current roster: Pikachu (Pikachu Libre), Machamp, Gengar, Charizard, Lucario, Gardevoir, Weavile, Suicune, and Blaziken.
#5- Nidoking- This guy is awesome and could be a tanky character. He’s dual type and hes built like a fighter. His moves could range from a projectile sludge bomb attack, to a close range earthquake. I think the potential is there to work him in.
#4- Breloom- Breloom seems like a prefect fit. He is fighting so he has an array of fighting moves like focus punch and dynamic punch. Since he is grass he would be a versatile fighter. He could use moves like leech seed or mega grain to steal hp to add to his own. He also has access to moves like sleep powder, so he could be a very obnoxious troll character. He was also famous for substitute into a focus punch back in the day. We could bring that back.
#3- Scizor- Come on. This seems like a no brainer. The Scizor family tree is a fan favorite and could work very well with either one of them in. Neither Bug or Steel are represented on the rooster, and scizor is a great way to change that. I am not sure all the mechanics(Like can you raise attack and defense mid fight). If this were the case, Scizor could use swords dance and iron defense to beef up and than mega evolve to be unreal. Just a thought. A game thought
#2- Dragonite- This would be so insane. Dragonite is amazing and the OG of dragons. He has access to hyper beam and outrage and a surprisingly large amount of electric moves. He could drop a thunder down from the heavens. On top of that, he has extreme speed to close the gap before seguing into Outrage. He wanted to keep some space between himself and the opponent, he could use twister to damage them and then push them back. He would than follow this up with hyper beam. He is also flying, so he would have a hover side to him. His aerial game would be on point. Him and mega Charizard would have some insane sky fights. Now tell me you wouldnt want to see those two duke it out in the sky.
Honorable mentions- Blastoise, Metagross, Aggron, Primeape, Regirock, Deoxys, Heracross, Sceptile, Any eevelution
#1- Mewtwo- Of course its Mewtwo. Who else could it be. Mewtwo is awesome and, in a way, is a face of the pokemon world. I would say just as many old school Pokemon fans who do not keep up with it anymore know Mewtwo as they would Pikachu. Mewtwo would be a great reason for an old fan to rediscover pokemon in this brand new way. Sure we have Gardevoir, but its safe to say Mewtwo could do some different things. In my mind, Gardevoir would play like a wall. She could use reflect and light screen to block attacks, while Mewtwo would boost his offence with calm mind and bombard his opponent with psychics and he is faster. I dont know if there is a story mode for this game, but Mewtwo would be the perfect final boss. I could imagine a boss fight mode where you have to beat the two mega evolutions for Mewtwo. Now that would be amazing.
These are just MY opinions on game mechanics and future characters. Go watch the trailer and than comment on who you would want to see!
Da_Hubbz 