Ichigeki Hissatsu Issue 1 RB SE.

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Ichigeki Hissatsu One

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Magazine

ISSUE 1 - Rebirth

Back In Your Face - Better Than Ever

ReBirth

Issue 1

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Musings from your Editors Ah-ha, so we’re back with a re-birth issue, weeks before the release of yes, a pre-rAge 2014 Ichigeki Hissatsu, packed with all new awesomeness and content. We’ll be doing a podcast, talking about some of our plans at the expo and you’ll be seeing me in a SasuSaku shirt (more on that in the next issue - but really, were you expecting anything else for me? Haha.)

We decided to release the new issue a little closer to rAge, since that’s where we’ll be talking about the expo, but we always knew we’d have to release the obviously-rushed Issue one. No matter how much we loved it, it was obviously not perfect, so we give you: Issue 1.2.

Have fun. (Notice how I’m talking so much about rAge. It’s pretty obvious I’m excited, right? Ok, shutting up now).

Zana-Lee Xoxo

Odette Nieuwoudt AKA Zana-Lee Ah, So after four years the first edition of Ichigeki Hissatsu makes its appearance. Well, to be honest I’m quite happy its seeing the light. A lot has changed since our first bout with it all those years ago, but, a lot has stayed the same. One of those things happen to be enthusiasm. Which I hope shines through once you start reading it. Aight. You will notice that this is little different from what you are used to, reason for that being, we know are audience aren’t completely idiotic. So I hope you guys get most of it.

So, I’m actually supposed to let you guys know what I’m up to.

Well, except for this baby that’s gonna be keeping me busy for a another few hours, I’m also watching Taxi, a show from the late 70’s. Watch it, trust me, sitcoms lost something somewhere, or maybe I’m just watching the wrong ones. Curb Your Enthusiasm looks particularly good for a modern sitcom.

Also, I’m working on two comics and a novel. More on that a little later.

And lastly, I’m doing Ichigeki Hissatsu, just if you were day dreaming.

And the part after the credits: Everything you read in this Magazine is true. Even the part about the Rape Tapes.

There’s something hidden in the mag that leads to something special. Find it and illuminate yourself with the holy pyramids of Babylon.

Yours truly, JGL Nieuwoudt Love, Spooky

JGL Nieuwoudt AKA Spooky

CONTENTS 8 What’s New 9 News ANIME 12 Naruto & Naruto Shippuuden [COVER Article] 15 Kill la Kill Preview 16 The History of Anime in South Africa 24 Team Recommendations - Anime 25 Craig Scholtz Interview GAMING 37 Old School VS New School Gaming 39 The Elder Scrolls Online Review 43 Brutal Doom Review 45 Skyrim Mod of the Month - Essentials 46 Team Recommendations - Games Index COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS AND MANGA 49 The History of Batman’s Robin 51 Kimmie Kriel Produksies 55 Batman 75th Anniversary 56 Monthly Manga Insert - Gridlocked 82 Interview Monthly Mangaka - Pako Mekute MUSIC AND TV 88 Interview: Katon Black 91 Twisted Review 93 80’s Metal MOVIES 95 Movies May/June 96 Movies You Have To See 98 Spaghetti Western Feature BAKA SPOT 102 Taz Noble Cosplay Interview 108 Spooky’s World 113 Baka Spot Quiz 115 Ask Nurse Joy!

Rebirth Cover Artist: Joshua Klein

IH

Profiles

Zana-Lee

Name: Odette Nieuwoudt Age: 22 Favourite Anime: Naruto/Naruto Shippuuden Favorite Game: Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic Currently Watching: Arrow/Star Crossed Current Obsession: The Bat Family Listening To: The GTA V Soundtrack Reading: The Fault in Our Stars/ Charlotte Profiles Hall

Spooky Name: Kobus Nieuwoudt Age: 24 Favourite Anime: Trigun Favorite Game: Age of Empires 2 / Do om Currently Watching: Taxi/God Bless DanCougar Current Obsession: Spaghetti Westerns Listening To: Electric Angels Reading: Judge Dredd

IH WHAT’S NEW True Blood Releases Teaser for Upcoming Final Season!

Hanamonogatari - New Anime!

2014-05-31.

Sequel to the Monogatari series.

Number of eps: 5.

The new clip (available on YouTube) reveals some major plot points for the upcoming final season of True Blood.

True Blood’s seventh season will air in the USA on June 22 on HBO.

New highly-anticipaed movie Trailers!

We’ve finally received a good look at Godzilla, a very beaten up Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Sin City: a Dame to Kill For and some new footage in the Japanese trailer for the new X-Men movie. There was also a new trailer for The Fault in Our Stars and a first look at the movie adaption for the acclaimed novel - If I Stay.

Head over to YouTube now to have a look!

Nightwing YouTube Series Starts!

Batman VS Superman DELAYED Until 2016!

Rumors abound! The internet went crazy when this news dropped, everything from Ben Affleck’s injury causing the delay, to the casting of Lex causing some script rewrites.

My favorite? That this movie is going to be filmed back to back with Justice League. Yes. It’s happening.

Jesse Eisenberg has officially been cast as Lex Luthor - looking forward to seeing this Social Network actor bald. Gal Gadot will be Wonder Woman and Cyborg has also been confirmed to be a part of this movie.

Other cast members include Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Diane Lane as Martha Kent and Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White.

The delay might actually give them the time to produce an epic, and being released in 2016 - it’s going up against The Avengers 2. Coincidence?

Nightwing: Prodigal is a YouTube series

by Brady Roberts (who also stars as our much-loved Dick Grayson). Batman has gone missing and Nightwing, with the help of Oracle must locate him. The series will showcase an array of wellknown villains, including Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn and The Riddler.

IH

NEWS

Avril Mocks Japanese Pop Culture!

Ka-ka-ka-kawaii! Avril Lavigne’s Hello Kitty music video sparks controversy!

After the much discussed ‘Chinese Food’ video, we thought it couldn’t get any worse it just did.

An angry Chinese guy had this to say: “It is a steaming pile of hot garbage.”

The talk on the net is that this music video is extremely racist. Avril posted on her Facebook page that this song was to say thanks to her Japanese fans. Okay, so maybe not racist, per se. She was just making a mockery of Japanese popculture.

The video features Avril worm-arm dancing, wearing the most horrible Gothic Lolitainspired skirt ever, cupcakes and Avril spewing popular Japanese phrases.

Racist, horrible or just annoying? Have your say on our Facebook page!

(Spooky seems to think the song is OK: “It’s a song about her KITTY ;)”)

Oddly enough, Hello Kitty is no where to be found in the video. Did Sanrio refuse her the rights to use it? Hmm.

Zach Snyder (Man of Steel, Batman VS Superman) to direct.

“It will be a further expansion of the Universe,” Silverman of WB told the Wall Street Journal. “Superman VS Batman will lead into Justice League.”

A script for Justice League is still in development and it is unlikely that the movie will be released before 2018. Silverman would not comment on what members of the League would be joining Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.

The iconic Gameboy turned 25 on April 21st!

On 25 April 1989, Nintendo released their first handheld gaming console, the 8-bit Gameboy. No one really foresaw the impact that it would have on the gaming industry and how it would pave the way for the future.

The Gameboy was discontinued but it certainly opened up the way for some seriously impressive handhelds, such as the 3DS.

Nintendo sold about 119 mil. Gameboy consoles when it was first released and then The Japanese company another 81.5 mil of the wasn’t the first to think next-gen GB Advance. of portable gaming but allowing players to take Sadly, we’ll never be able to have the full favorites like Mario, Donkey Kong and Tetris experience of these but on the go certainly there’s always helped their emulators :) success.

Justice League Movie, Tentatively set for 2018

With Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot already cast as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman in Batman VS Superman, the core members of the League are already cast.

The Original Nintendo Gameboy turns 25!

Would be exciting to see The Flash, Martian Manhunter, Hawk Girl and Green Lantern - the same starting team that the animated series started with.

Who are you excited to see?

IH

Sudani Anime Fan Creates Trandion 5 - Spooky Reports

Trandion 05.

A miracle cure from the barren desert doctors of the great Sudan.

If somebody asked you today through which country the Nile ran, you would most probably answer Egypt, right? I mean, if you had to think hard about it, that would be the most logical response. Well, according to these revolutionary medicine men of the Sudan it does not. Trandion 05 is what they are calling it, a miracle vitae for homegrown goats suffering from erectile dysfunction. For many goat farmers, it is imperative that their stock produce when it is needed from them to, and up until recently there has been a dry spell that has stricken the country depriving it of their main source of milk.

Blue Sam, as he is affectionately referred to by his team, has said that he discovered it by total accident. As trauma surgeon and a recently qualified practicing gynecologist, he spends his limited time off watching Anime. “I was relaxing in the recreation room, smoking some much needed hookah, when all of a sudden it hit me.” He was watching one of his favorites apparently when the idea struck. “I was watching a random episode of Gundam Seed, the one where (clears throat) Flay tries to, (molest) Kira. And then when she was on top of him, and he started to cry, I found it. It just came to me actually, strange, really.” So, he got the team together and, the rest as they say, was history.

“Trandion 05 is basically a testosterone booster spliced with the same elements that you would find in the street drug known as Ecstasy. What happens is, we increase the amount of testosterone the male specimen produces by effectively increasing it's heart rate, thus, he pumps more blood to the important areas and he has minimal problems performing.”

When asked if there was any danger in administering the drug, he quickly responded, “So far the success rate is very high, if it happens, which is pretty rare, that the (goat's) heart does stop, well, then there is another reason to celebrate, because, nobody goes home empty handed.” He said with much gusto.

No word has been given on whether or not the rumors of human experimentation was true or not, he did however say that the drug is strictly meant for the local goats found in the Sundanese area. And that human consumption is not recommended. “A goats heart can handle the strain, ours cannot, you give this to a man, his penis will most likely fall off and he will not survive the night.”

At least Trandion 05 has made a positive change to an otherwise historically war torn country, putting a smile on the face of a milk man or two. Hailed as the reincarnation of the heroically noble Saladin himself, after speaking to Blue Sam, I can truly say that he has the power to lead his people to the promised land with his miracle invention, Trandion 05.

Your's truly, JGL Nieuwoudt.

The Trandion 5 product packaging, designed by mutual friend Joshua Klein

Want to join Ichigeki Hissatsu?

We are lo oking for regular: - Article Writers - Opinion based - Mangaka for a monthly manga insert - Short stories and fanfiction - fan-artists - Cosplayers to be featured in the magazine We’ll need cosplay tips and tricks from those who know!

Don’t want to make a commitment? That’s fine to o!

Submit your work and if we like it - we’ll publish it in the magazine. Write when you have the time!

IH

How to contact us: via Facebook: www.fb.com/IHmagazine drop us a inbox! or email: ichigekimag@gmail.com

IH

Anime

Haruno Sakura DoB: Mar 28 Height: 161.0cm Weight: 45.4kg Blood Type: O Interests: Quiz games, Memorization.

someone who can’t even save one “Can of his friends become Hokage?...What do you think, Sasuke? ”

- Uzumaki Naruto

In the shadows of a turbulent world “walked one hundred thirty two shinobi, whose thread left not a trace. ”

- Naruto, the Official Character Data Book

Uzumaki Naruto DoB: Oct 10 Height: 166.0cm Weight: 50.9kg Blood Type: B Interests: Playing Pranks, Watering Plants.

Uchiha Sasuke DoB: Jul 23 Height: 168.0cm Weight: 52.2kg Blood Type: AB Interests: Taking Walks.

IS

By : Zana-Lee

THE GREATEST ANIME EVER?

RS E L OI P AD S E AH

The Greatest Anime Ever is a term that has been used to describe the likes of Dragon Ball Z, Death Note and even Gundam SEED, but it is definitely a term that is used biasedly from fan to fan.

For me? No other Anime even comes close.

First, let’s take a look at Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden before I get into why no other Anime can compare.

Naruto Episodes: 220 Status: Finished Airing Producers: Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Aniplex, Viz Media Genres: Action, Comedy, Martial Arts, Super Powers, Shounen Rating: P G 13 Naruto Shippuuden Episodes: + Status: Still Airing Producers: Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Aniplex, KSS, Viz Media, Rakuonsha TV Tokyo Music Genres: Action, Comedy, Martial Arts, Super Powers, Shounen Rating: P G 13 Naruto and Naruto Shippuuden follow the story of Uzumaki Naruto, a ninja from Konoha, the Hidden Leaf Village in the Fire Country. A demon fox known as the Kyuubi attacked the village on the night of Naruto’s birth and in order to stop its reign of terror, the Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself to seal the monster inside of Naruto. The first season picks up twelve years after the incident, with Naruto struggling to find a

use my hatred... “ ToI’llturn fantasy into reality!

place in a village that hates him for having the creature inside of him but as the story progresses, finding his place takes a backseat to fighting new foes, saving his village from a deadly sannin, and saving his best friend.

Fast forward three years, Sasuke is gone.

Naruto returns to the village having been gone to train with Jiraiya and Sakura has finished her training under the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade. While they try to save Sasuke from Orochimaru’s snake-like vice grip, they also have to defend Jinchuuriki Naruto from the Akatsuki, a dangerous organization who want to extract the Kyuubi from him - killing him in the process.

The Anime is based on Masashi Kishimoto’s manga of the same name and has been published in the Weekly Shounen Jump since September 1999. Naruto’s anime first started airing in 2002 and continued until 2007. Shippuuden is still currently ongoing.

One of the reasons that Naruto has become such a huge thing is because of the many relatable themes that Kishimoto manages to bring in. Alienation is one big theme during the entire series - how Naruto feels hated and separated from the village and how that has influenced him. This is so relatable to fans because how many of us haven’t felt like that? A lot of us have been bullied and shunned and that is one definite reason why I identify with Naruto as a character, but it’s also inspirational to see how he

”

- Uchiha Sasuke

Deals with this. Naruto doesn’t let it force him down - his main driving force is getting the village to acknowledge him by becoming Hokage. There is really something everyone can take from Naruto, and that’s only one of the reasons why it’s the Greatest Anime Ever.

Other than that, we get: - Awesome, relatable characters and character development.

- The biggest feels ever, you can laugh, cry like a baby or have shed some epic, prideful tears.

- The most epic fight scenes.

- SOMEHOW, Kishimoto manages to humanize every single villain.

- Also, he’s the MASTER of planning ahead.

- Uchiha Sasuke.

- Awesome story arcs - The Openings and Endings are unrivaled!!

- Naruto VS Pain (do I even need to mention any more after this? XD) Despite growing up with Dragonball Z (which will always have a very special place in my heart), I feel that Naruto’s story has a much deeper meaning and holds a lot more intensity that DBZ did.

If you love Naruto Try: Anime: Bleach, Fairy Tail Cartoons: Young Justice Do you agree? Have your say on our Facebook page!

IH

Anime

By : Zana-Lee

Kill la Kill Episodes: 24 Status: Finished Airing Producers: Aniplex, Kodokawa Shoten, Aniplex of America, Trigger Genres: Action, Comedy, Ecchi, School Rating: R 17+ (violence & profanity)

From the makers of FLCL, Gurren Lagann and Panty and Stocking.

The name Kill la Kill came with some seriously high expectations, having the same writer and director as the hugely popular Gurren Lagann.

Many thought that Kill la Kill wasn’t going to be nearly as good as Gurren Lagann, fortunately - it seems they were wrong.

Kill la Kill follows female protagonist Ryuuko Matoi, a school girl searching for the truth behind her father’s murder and this has led her to Honnouji Academy, an elite school where a certain group of students are given Goku Uniforms that grant them special powers.

One of the most note-worthy things about Kill la Kill is the “dirty” animation style, that really gives the anime a unique and recognizable feel. The color work and backgrounds have such a startling array of contrasting colors that it’s hard not to take notice and adds to the overall feel that Kill la Kill is trying to achieve.

Kill la Kill is entertaining but not the most extraordinary or revolutionary anime ever, but it is attention-grabbing and filled with suspense and comedy. Unfortuantely, it also has a lot of still frames to the point where you wonder if they had a full animation team or not.

The anime also showcases some serious fan service and over-the-top battle scenes, but if you can look past this - the show really entertains you to the last episode.

Watch this if you liked: Dragonball Z, Gurren Lagann

IH

Anime

The History of Anime in South-Africa.

History of Anime

Van houtkabouters tot Kamehameha Waves.

History of Anime in South-Africa.

Spooky here, how you guys doing? You guys wanna know a secret? Momentous so. Your parents, if they had TV in the late seventies, and they watched what was on offer, (who am I kidding, they sat through everything, am I right?) They grew up watching anime. Yes, that's right, baby. It might not have been that moe crap you guys love to drool over today, but it was anime.

Case in point:

The first wave as I like to refer to it, The age of Heidi.

Truth time. A lot of the shows we grew up with, if you are of a certain age, well, if you are young enough to remember MTV actually playing music, then you are of a certain age, are in fact actually anime. Now as a kid, no let's clarify, as an Afrikaans kid, I was lucky enough to be able to catch some delightful shows such as Pinocchio and Heidi, among others. And, like my parents, I loved it. No kidding, I actually cried when Heidi ended, no lies, manly tears like Ken used to cry back in the day. ( “Something will grow here because “he” lies here...”) And my love hasn't changed for it at all. Now I hear you kicking and screaming already, Heidi and Pinocchio does not count as anime, bru (Don't ever, speak to me, again...) Protest as much as you like, Heidi was the first show the guy behind Howl's Moving Castle worked on. Yeah, the man behind himself, the legend, Hayao Miyazaki. He also worked on a slew of other classics back in the day most of you still hasn't seen or even heard of.

Now, for another shocker. Heidi was so popular in SouthAfrica, that she ended up being the first ever Animated character to be featured on the cover of South-Africa's longest running magazine, Die Huisgenoot. That's right, an anime character was featured on the cover of a magazine adults mainly buy. Not only that, Heidi inspired dozens of artists of the time to record her theme song and it sold like hot cakes, it was even played on mainstream radio! That's right people, your parents probably made that happen, it was on the hit parades of the time. Imagine one of Bleach's themes or Naruto's theme songs playing on the Top 40? Unimaginable?

Probably. Our country was experiencing Heidi mania.

Just to think about it right now, the very first animated shows that aired on our humble television sets were in fact of Japanese origin. Damn straight.

“Just think about it right now,the very first animated shows that aired on our humble television sets were in fact of Japanese origin.

Damn straight.”

Now, Heidi wasn't the only show with some oriental ties that aired in the 70's, nope. We had Pinocchio as well. Now, it's not hard to imagine why these shows were chosen above say something like Mazinger or Raideen, or Getter even. ( I want to say, damn you Italy, but, I won't.) And I could go on for days why I think it were pretty obvious choices, but then again, this is just an overview.

Now, once the 80's finally rolled on, and it rolled on hard, South Africa started expanding on it's animation.

The 80's are remembered for Anne of Green Gables, although, I'm not really sure of when it aired, I just know it did. Also, except for Brakenjan and Dawie die Kabouter, which were both euro-jap co-productions, we got one of the most well thought of shows ever to reach our shores, and in English as well! America had some choice pics in the 80's. Most of them butchered to the point where it became a whole other show, but choice none the less. Among these were things like Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato), Getter Robo G and Gaiking.

They also had Queen Millennia and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (A show which would have done extremely well over here.) , edited together as one single show, which even by today's standards is pretty weird. Now those two weren't the only shows that got that treatment, and luckily for us, we got this one. Harmony Gold, some of you remember these words right? How about Robotech? South-Africa's first taste of mecha. Two shows edited together as one. Macross combined with Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA to form the ultimate show.

“Harmony Gold, some of you remember these words right? How about Robotech? South-Africa's first taste of mecha.�

Next we got the 90's. We got reruns of all those wonderful shows that aired in the late 70's.

And, we met the lovely Moomin family (Sing it with me now!).

Now I'm not sure when this aired, but, this is a show everybody should check out, I only caught it in about the mid 2000's and I was bowled over by it, took me some time to figure out what it's original title was, all I had to go on was the strange but beautiful Afrikaans title, Liefde en Elende.

And, that it was an anime about the French Revolution. As a teen I recognized how good it was, and I hope they re-air it some time. It's a shoujo, but even so, it's good. The Japanese have a way of dealing with European history that's always been more entertaining than the way they seem to do themselves. Its Japanese title turns out to be The Rose of Versailles. And I promise you, if you watch one shoujo from the 70's, you should choose this one.

(And this is coming from somebody who's favorite anime's include, DBZ and Speed Grapher.)

The 90's: Or the age of Pokemon: (I'm leaving out Power Rangers, on purpose ( Troll Face.) ) Oh yeah, The 90's also brought us two very successful franchises. Pokemon and Digimon. Everybody knows Pokemon, so I'm going to say check out Digimon, it's a childhood favorite of mine. Season 1's dub is good, two is crap, three is brilliant. Also, if you don't like Adventure (Season 1) skip to Tamers (Season 3) it’s more mature and they tried to put a realism spin on it, or well as much as you possibly could. (As a bonus, the dub features music from the Matrix lol, or very similar sounding music.)

Four has the digidestined combine with their Digimon, like, that's when I stopped watching.

“That anime is the Rose of Versailles. And I promise you, if you watch one Shojo from the 70's, you should choose this one. ( And this is coming from somebody who's favorite anime's include, DBZ and Speed Grapher.)”

Alright. Now we get to the Mother, we only got this baby like 13 years or something after it aired in Japan, but, like , who cares right, in 2003, this was new to us. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the height and the fall of the anime market in South-Africa. The 2000's:

Everybody I knew was crazy about it, we drew pictures, collected Tazo's, my friends had the games. We were infatuated. On another note, young me seemed to have picked strategy, or luck in the case of the Pokemon Tazo's over girls? Or was it cards, I can't remember, all I saw were tears and the need to be loved by me as much as I loved watching kids yell out, “I believe in the heart of the cards!” guess I have that to thank then for turning me weird and getting me 0 face down time with any sexy nubile teenage girls, okay, maybe I'm lying it wasn't 0, but my crew weren't exactly Motley Crue either. Luckily for me, I drew my god card soon enough, and drew it I did. Bam! So yeah except for DBZ, there was Mew Mew Power, (Which I watched, I guess.) and a few others, but SABC 2 got the drop and that was where it was at. I'm guessing except for CN and Disney, SABC had a large role in finally pushing the stake through KTV's heart. (RIP Sweet Prince.)

Because, except for DBZ, DB and DBGT. They had a monster of a franchise. That rivaled even the mammoth, that is Pokemon. It was known as Yu-Gi-Oh! Now, I guess, this is where most of you come in, that is to say that everything I wrote previously is all news to you. Battle City was the bomb! The Bomb, man, I still have fantasies where Johannesburg CBD is transformed into Battle City and we end up on a moving tripple decker bus at the end. Man, that shit, that shit would be fine. Saving the world with trading cards, battling reincarnated malevolent crazy haired Pharaoh’s, damn straight! Who knew you could sit through more than 200 episodes of people playing a card game an it could be so entertaining?

Dragon Ball Z. You may hate on it now, (not in front of me though, cause, like, you think that Sword Art Online is the shit, and that alone shows me that you have no taste, or, alternatively, get your ass kicked. What? I'm a violent man, I grew up with television and video games, I'm the stereotype they warn you about on the news...) but you have to admit, there was a time that you were entranced by it. This, for many of us, was the time we found out about the term “ANIME” and also, almost broke our legs to get to our TV's just to see Gohan kick Cell's behind. (“Stay tuned for Dragon Ball Z, coming NEXT!” you got chills, right? Yeah, me too!) DBZ started something in South-Africa that all could relate to, White, Colored, Black. And all the rest, that came here in the late 1800's in search of fortune and fame and found the barrel of a large gun ( or spear, for a while.) pointed at them instead. Also, this ain't a place to come for your holidays, you want the sun, go invade the Bahama's or some place else...

Remember that one show about the kid with the spirit in the dress playing Chinese Checkers or something?

(Hikaru No Go.) Yeah, that wasn't Battle City. That was nothing like Battle City. Man, even the Gameboy Advance game was insane. I love me some Heart of The Cards. (Damn, this guy must be an idiot, that Chinese Checkers show was so cerebral and ten times better than this mainstream hogwash, poop, poppycock. Has he been parted with his brain or some such? “Sword Art Online...”)

Hey bro, that’s cheating!

Ah yes, so Yu-Gi-Oh became monumental. And so, Sony brought a channel to South-Africa called Somy Entertainment Television. And they had some great shows on there. Like, Just Shoot Me and Fresh Prince aaand News Radio. God I loved it all. And then they started showing interest in bringing and anime channel to our third world country. Which was a mistake, cause the hipsters hated on it, those same assholes who was cheering for a channel, destroyed it in the end. So, they gave as Animax. And they didn't show Samurai Champloo, like they did in other countries, cause, apparently it won't work here?

It’s time for pizza!

Now, unlike SABC of the 70's who actually did research on the shows they wanted and they brought them over for a reason and they were awesome, (unlike the fiasco that is SABC today. You think SABC of the 70's would have aired Naruto Shippuuden like that? Nope. It's called quality control for those wondering.) Sony seemed to have picked shows at random from a hat and just through them out there to see which would stick. We all know what worked in the past, right? Franchises, things like Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, DBZ. They gave us Najika Blitz Tactics. I swear of all the early shows I think .Hack was the closest to what we were used to.

Shows that would have worked: Full Metal Alchemist.

Naruto Samurai Champloo One Piece Dragon Ball Z Remastered ( Uncut.)

Given that most of these shows are all licensed to Funimation, those are the shows that would have worked.

Now, from a fan's perspective. I liked half of the things they gave us in the first run. Late night offerings were good. Things like Speed Grapher and Tenjou Tenge were cool. Reminded me of Sci-Fi channel's late nights. ( Ha, you thought I forgot?)

Things like Bubblegum Crisis. A.D. Police. Cowboy Bebob would have fit right in.

Lonely way!

Solti Rei, was also cool. Samurai Seven, was okay. What else? Eureka Seven. And worst show they could have shown? Earth Girl Arjuna.

What the heck was that? Jeez. Oh and Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex was cool.

Not long and they changed their line-up. They added things like Bleach and Black Lagoon to the mix.

When anime didn’t suck.

What was that you said about Duran Duran?

What, so Bleach is cool, but my list is not? You could see who their target audience was at this point. They started showing shows with subtitles and in Japanese audio. It was aimed at the fansub and purist community. Most of which have seen most of these things years ago already, “Oh man, I so want people to see this shit in its original Japanese dub, I mean, America is just gonna fuck it up in anyway with their Shitty dubs, break the shows, tear them apart. Man, Ocean Dub, Gundam Seed.

Man, Kira is my favorite, but Shin, Shin, Man. America dropped the Atom Bomb, Man! Conspiracy!

Man, you want to smoke another joint? Or should we go back to bed and watch Nozoki Anna? Your choice?”

“Now, from a fan's perspective. I liked half of the things they gave us in the first run. Late night offerings were good. Things like Speed Grapher and Tenjou Tenge were cool.”

I smell nudity!

If they wanted to succeed they would have checked what came first, they would have ignored the haters and rolled out with something more accessible. But, soon Animax, like MTV, became a reality TV channel. And I'm thankful for that, cause, KENNY VS SPENNY! Ninja warrior and Takeshi's Castle in part. But, KENNY VS SPENNY! ( “Oh, It's the old Tiger on the skate board bit. Classic.”)

I like anime, but I love comedy, so comedy always wins. So there you have it.

The things I do for love...

The 2000's can be likened to the comic book depression of the 90's. Especially in America, but, we felt its effects as well. It started off wonderful and it ended horribly. We all know the factors, the reasons why it went bad. I mean come on, Tokyopop closed it's doors in North-America, that's how bad it was. New Type Magazine also closed it's eyes for good.

Today, all we have left is SABC 2. The last bastion of Anime in this country, and although they are blundering it all up, at least we know that in ten years time they will still be showing anime, because its the poor kids who need it the most.

BDSM...it’s not for everybody...

Mein puppy...

"Sword Art Online...Pearl Harbor...

Motherf*ck#rsssss....” I blame the Internet. Now you know why we can never have anything shiny anymore.

IH

Anime

Team Recommendations If you’re feeling: Epic Fist of the North Star Genres: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction, Tournament, Martial Arts, Post-Apocalyptic In a post-nuclear future where guns are a distant memory and martial arts is the only weapon a man can count on, Kenshiro - the successor of a deadly martial arts style known as Hakuto Shinken, which gives him the ability to kill his enemies by using the human body’s secret vital points - often resulting in a violent and gore-filled death.

If you’re feeling: lonely Bleach Genres: Action, Comedy, Shounen, Super Power, Supernatural Kurosaki Ichigo (15) has always been able to see ghosts. One fateful day he encounters Kuchiki Rukia, a shinigami who saves him and his family from an attacking hollow.

However, she is injured in the battle and has to transfer her powers to Ichigo. In the aftermath, she is unable to continue her shinigami duties and allows Ichigo to take on the role of shinigami in her stead.

If you’re feeling: brave

Legend of the Galactic Heroes Genre: Drama, Sci-fi, Space, Military

For decades, the Galactic Empire and the Free Planets Alliance have been in an interstellar war. Two new commanders enter the conflict: Admiral Reinhard von Lohengramm and the Free Planet Alliance’s Yang Wen-Li. Watch as they are tested through the war and changed by the reality of it.

If you’re looking for a feel good anime:

Skip Beat!

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Shoujo The story is about a girl named Kyoko who goes to Tokyo with her childhood friend, Shou, as he persues his dream of becoming an idol. She later discovers that he’d only been using her as a maid and to cover his living expenses. Of course, Kyoko is furious and vows to take revenge by beating him at show business.

ee Zana-L his! loves t

IH

Interview

Craig Scholtz: The Rage tapes.

Craig Scholtz, a man most people seem to know by now. Friend to the people, trend setter and dreamer.

He is the kind of guy that puts his mind to something and within six months of its creation, he turns it into a franchise.

Some say he’s still just a kid, but that makes it all that more impressive.

These are the transcribes of the fabled Rage tapes that were stolen in January 2014. Most of it’s here.

The rest? Lost forever. I present to you, Craig Scholtz: The Rage 2013 Interview.

And so, when rAge finally came around I was ready and willing, pen and paper in hand, okay no pen and paper, would have been cool though, right? He would arrive on the Saturday, so the whole off Friday I ran around waisting a ton of money, mostly on useless shizz, but I did manage to get me some Red Dead Redemption, baby.

Saturday came around, I dressed up like an 80's Rock God, even went all metro and wore eye liner, tight jeans (really tight, I kid you not.) and an open button up shirt with the most messed up moosed hair you can think of, yes, I tried to cosplay, didn't work out that well. So my first job was to find this guy, rAge had worn thin on me so it wasn't like wow anymore, and all I really wanted was to get this over with. I made plans with him earlier that week, we'll meet up and go out for some lunch. He seemed fine with it, so off I went. After asking about half a dozen vendors and Cosplayers, I finally found him.

I got pretty pissed off cause most of these high up Cosplayers looked at me like I was this guy that just wandered in from the street. I wasn't, okay... one girl even remarked that I looked like a male hooker (her words - not mine, I'd have said whore or prostitute, sounds less classy but way more laughs would have been achieved.) I then proceeded to offer her my services, but she unfortunately declined. Given that she was there for the boobs and not the sausage cart like the other girls were. (She musta been, right?) So I push through, and finally make it to the middle, and I finally spot this guy, The Craig, as he is known, hiding somewhere within this large crowd of people. To be honest, I'd probably never have seen him if it wasn't for that Naruto cap he wears like a flag. And there he was, surrounded by all these super fly girls (terms the kids use today. They were foxy, okay.)

Signing autographs, and taking photos. Some girls even jumped in and stole a few kisses.

Okay, so this guy is obviously a rock star right, I mean he's nothing like I imagined him to be.

The things we chatted about, he always seemed so reserved, but that was not the case. So like any respectable guy that's just been called a man whore, I had to put a stop to this (plus I could barely hear myself think over all the high pitched voices yelling out 'THE CRAIG' at the top of their beautiful lungs.), so I picked my hand up reached in and klapt his Naruto cap down onto his nose. Right then I was pulled to the ground, by what I can only describe as Bebob and Rocksteady themselves.

Guy had security with him. I thought it better not to argue or fight with them and they pulled me back up. A groupie (what else can you call them? InSA fan girls?) then proceeded to spit at me, for what reason I'm not completely sure (might have been a Friendly Fury.), luckily for me, Craig recognized me from FB and the group and told his security (and strangely rabid fans) to stand down.

If he hadn't, I would have probably been locked up right now, working out in the gym like a mother and looking on getting enough lube (or drugs) so I could squeeze my way to freedom through the toilet in my cell. That's kind of contradicting, but whatever. Craig then commanded Rocksteady to wipe the spit from my face, which I'm thankful for, although it didn't stop me from getting a mild case of herpes, I'm on antibiotics so it's cool, honey.

He apologized and I put out my hand, he refused it and rather came in for a hug. I respect that somewhat, I have to admit. We got the formalities out of the way and finally headed, to the dismay of his fans, to the restaurant. So, it was Craig, myself, Bebob and Rocksteady and two groupies. None for me, unfortunately. I knew that things might get crazy so I packed a pack of condoms just in case, which again, seemed unnecessary as the day wore on.

So finally we reached the place, he wanted to go to a fancy restaurant, I chose Spur. So we went, and we sat down and we ordered, and Bebob and Rocksteady sat at a different table but not very far from us, and for 15 minutes I watched The Craig feed his groupies with not only his hands but with his mouth as well. He was bird feeding these foxes, and every time I wanted to go in a direction that would lead to my exit, he'd stop me by saying, “Eat something, you're a big guy, you need to eat.� So after our plates were cleared, I finally got the chance to ask the man behind InSA some questions.

What follows is the transcribe of what happened that afternoon.

Spooky: Dude, what the hell was that?

Craig: What?

Spooky: Why are you acting like you're some kind of Rock Star?

Craig: Because, well, I am kind of one, ain't I ?

Spooky: Well, up until today I expected you to be this geeky guy with glasses.

Craig: And? Spooky: You've turned out to be that geeky guy with glasses that gets all the, excuse the expression ladies, pussy. I find it quite disconcerting that you've been masquerading as this evil genius, somebody like Mandark for exampleCraig: Mandark? You must be kidding me, I never pretended to be anything I am not.

Spooky: Don't interrupt me, this down to earth guy who's everybody's friend, and it turns out that you're (expletive) Diamond David Lee Roth (expletive).

Craig: Dude, look, I think I get where you are coming from, even though I have no clue who you are referring to, is he some kind of wrestler or something Spooky: No. Craig: My online persona is toned down bro, I'm chilled when I have off time. The me you know, just so happens to be the chilled me.

Spooky: Whatever, lets get on with the interview shall we, my plate is finished and I don't want desert so I think I can start right?

Craig: What if I want desert?

Spooky: You want ice cream?

Craig: No, I'm in the mood for something alcoholic. Ladies what do you say? Want to party a little?

Spooky: Have alcohol if you want to, just answer my questions at least, also, are they going to be staying here?

Craig: Who? Spooky: These girls?

Craig: Yeah, why not. A man needs his distractions, these happen to be mine, they're with me.

Spooky: Okay, then. Now, Craig, would you please elaborate on how the InSA brand came to be?

Craig: You really gonna read it off a piece of paper like that?

Spooky: Ye, yeah, I worked very hard on these, why?

Craig: No reason, please continue, Mister President.

Spooky: What's that supposed to mean?

Craig: Nothing.

Spooky: Come now, what?

Craig: It's just I find it kind of insulting.

Spooky: What?

Craig: I fly down all the way from Cape Town for this interview and you aren't even prepared, that reflects poorly not only on yourself, but the magazine as wellSpooky: Okay (expletive) it! There I threw the paper away, you happy? (Expletive) the questions, I'll just wing it.

Craig: Good, that's much more professional.

Spooky: Craig Schults.

Craig: Scholtz.

Spooky: Craig Scholtz, you are the man behind inSA correct?

Craig: You know this already.

Spooky: Where do you think your brand will be in five years, given it's phenomenal growth?

Craig: Why are you leading with that question?

Spooky: Just answer it, okay.

Craig: Okay, look all I want from this brand is to grow. But more importantly I want to empower the community with it. In five years time, if it's the biggest anime brand in South-Africa, if my InSA pages are synonyms with anything Anime in SA, if I am all over the magazine covers, when songs are being written about me and films are being made. In five years if I'm up on a little girls' wall, if my pages aren't doing what I'd set out to do, I'll ask that little girl to take my poster from her wall, no actually, I'd ask her to put up a poster of Naruto himself, because all I am is a student of the great Uzumaki, you know.

Spooky: You're here to serve the community?

Craig: That's all I've always set out to do. Not only to serve, but to enrich as well.

Spooky: And? Do you think your groups has served their purpose thus far?

Craig: Sometimes. Sometimes I don't.

Spooky: You think they aren't?

Craig: You know, sometimes I feel, sometimes I feel like deleting them all. There are some people out there, “The Haters� as I like to call them, that sees these pages as quite the opposite as to what I'd like them to be.

Spooky: You mean the Anime Fans guys, the older groups.

Craig: Yeah, I don't know why, but whenever they get the chance they put me down, trying to turn others against the InSA brand, I don't want that.

Spooky: Well, it makes sense.

Craig: What does?

Spooky: They've been around since the Otaku Mag days, before you came along they had no competition. It's like a street right, with a Spar on it, and that's the only convenience store in the area, and even though they don't have everything, they have most things, right.

Craig: Right...

Spooky: And this Spar, it's run by these old men and womEn, they are pretty old right.

Craig: Right...

Spooky: And up until this point they haven't had the need to do anything special, I mean it wasn't a circus or anything, they were the old stable, tried and trusted, everybody knew them and they were like, like the old guard. Now, all of a sudden.

BAM! Here comes the poraCraig: No, that's racist dude, just saySpooky: Here comes the souty, (expletive) in hand with only a cart of fruits and vegetables, and he places himself on the corner, not giving a damn about the no hawking signs posted all over the neighborhood.

Craig: And that's supposed to be, Naruto in SA right.

Spooky: Yeah, and you're the Souty.

Craig: Okay, continue.

Spooky: Okay, now at first, they don't give a damn about you. You see they have they leave you alone, under this arrogant pretense that you're just having fun, come on, it's a fruit and veg cart going up against a franchise. They're letting you play on their corner man, letting the fat whore walk the beat, just because they are under the impression that all the men are after attractive ones.

Craig: Are you allowed to say that?

Spooky: What?

Craig: You know, whore?

Spooky: Dude, why only at whore you say something? After all I've said thus far?

Craig: I dunno, this word seems like it could slip through, you'll probably censor the rest.

Spooky: My editor will sort it out, okay so, they let you play, right. And then all of a sudden you start playing music and throwing these kick ass block parties.

Craig: What kind of music?

Spooky: I dunno, early Beastie Boys? What does it matter?

Craig: Dude, I dunno who that is even, what about Blink or Eminem?

Spooky: What about Sum 41, what the hell does it matter? In my head No Sleep till Brooklyn is pumping okay, leave it at that.

Craig: Whatever man.

Spooky: Okay, SO you become the hip kid on the block, and all of a sudden, your cart becomes a cart and a stall. And pretty soon that cart becomes a stall as well. The porra is becoming a boss.

Craig: Souty, not porra.

Spooky: Yeah, right. So, pretty soon only the regs are shopping at Spar and all of the cool kids are coming to your block parties. Pretty soon, Spar starts getting bitter, because you are growing and they are not. Pretty soon you are bigger than they are and you get the Beastie Boys to play live at one of your parties and they are still walking around with a boom box replaying ads from their glory days.

Craig: What are you getting at?

Spooky: The reason they hate you and your brand is because you, my dubious friend, just so happens to be the cool kid on the block, plus, you are an underdog, you represent underdogs, and they represent the elitist pricks that look down on others while you embrace everyone.

Craig: For real?

Spooky: Yeah. And if you keep growing, logically speaking now, pretty soon you will devour Spar and all it's assets and become as big as Mordor itself.

Craig: SO you're saying that I will eventually become the people that despise me?

Spooky: If you continue on your way up, yeah.

Craig: I dunno about that now.

Spooky: It's bound to happen, dude.

Craig: So how do I stop it?

Spooky: You can't. You let nature take it's course. And instead of fighting against the next young lion that comes along, you join forces and become allies with them. This way you don't become stagnant, you are still doing what you've set out to do and you'll still be growing, with the new guy. It's like Goku teaching Naruto the Kamehameha. Exactly the same.

Craig: And in my case all Goku want's to do is give Naruto an atomic wedgie.

Spooky: Yeah.

Craig: I see, I kind of like young lion analogy, dude.

Spooky: Yeah, that's exactly what you are bro. Now, Craig Young Lion Shultz.

Craig: Scholtz.

Spooky: Right. What are your thoughts regarding our community? Positive, or do you feel we need a change?

Craig: Right now? I feel like there's still a riff separating us. There are two widely used terms which I despise.

Spooky: Yeah?

Craig: Yeah. Noob and Elitist. It's like you said we have to help each other. Right now, one side wants nothing to do with the other, and the other are all banding together and growing as a unit. While the Elitists, they don't even like each other that much. It's pretty screwed up. I mean, come on, up until a couple of years ago, even I was new to this. Now I was lucky enough to have a bunch of friends that were into anime and manga, so they helped me out. But there's a certain demographic that wouldn't do shit for the new kids.

Spooky: Yeah, that's pretty lame.

Craig: And then you get those assholes, that look down on anything that becomes successful. I mean come on, if you were a mangaka, I guess you would want your book to reach the same heights as One Piece and DBZ right, or am I wrong? You want everybody to fall in love with it, nobody goes out there to be moderately successful. Nobody wants that bitter audience they represent. It's (expletive) weird man, that's all it is.

Spooky: Oh, that's been around for some time now. People have been like that for ages. They don't want to be a part of a collective. They don't want to let go of their individuality, the alien aspect of it all. It's pretty lame you are right, because those things become successful for a reason. I mean, yeah, I'm not ashamed to say it at all, DBZ is still the greatest anime I have ever experienced, even at this age. I have found nothing of that epic in nature since then. I mean come on, you would have to be either gay or an asshole to disagree, maybe those scenes with EVA01 in Evangelion, yeah. You know, an anime is really good when it gives you chills. And also don't come here with the bullshit, oh, DBZ has to be respected because it's the grandfather of modern anime and all that. They're like, you have to respect the things that came before. Screw that. You respect DBZ and Toriyama, not because of what it archived you respect it because it's (expletive) cool! That's why you respect it, cut the pretentious bullshit and get it together.

Craig: Exactly. There are too many pretentious monkeys in the scene, we need to weed them out before they infect the young ones. #TheCraig Spooky: What's your thoughts on the Cosplay community?

Craig: Aww, man. I love those guys. Especially the Cape Town guys. I don't know about the guys this side, but over there. I always support them man. I feel like we should go at it as a team. How do I feel about the current state of Cosplay in this country? I feel, uhm, that it's not getting the attention it deserves, yeah, I want us to have bigger cons, where Cosplayers from all over the country can come and compete. Better their craft.

Spooky: Last Question.

Craig: Okay. Sure.

Spooky: How's rAge been thus far, it's your first time here isn't it?

Craig: You should have lead with that question, doofus.

Spooky: Doofus? What is this, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?

Craig: No. But still.

Spooky: I have a reason for asking these questions like I do, now shut up and answer it, will you?

Craig: Will I what?

Spooky: Let me take one of these ladies into the store room.

Craig: What, how do you even know there's a store room here?

Spooky: I don't. It's called wishful thinking.

Craig: Okay, say I do give you one of these ladies.

(Who's responses have not been recorded, for prosperity. Besides. I think they were high as kites in any ways. Hulle het gesweef...)

Spooky: Yeah.

Craig: What then? You take her into the kitchen, and you have some fun there or are you a bathroom kind of guy?

Spooky: You mean in a tight, cramped space, like a bathroom stall?

Craig: Would you?

Spooky: Yeah, why not?

Craig: What if it stinks in there?

Spooky: Then I use a different stall, you gonna give me one or not?

Craig: You are a sick man, Spooky.

Spooky: Is that a yes?

Craig: No. They are all mine.

Spooky: You're mamma never teach you to share?

Craig: She did.

Spooky: Then what's the problem?

Craig: Well, a friend of mine organized a hotel room, right.

Spooky: Right?

Craig: And, well. He's bringing over a few girls, and another friend, he's bringing over three others, I'm supposed to bring two.

Spooky: And then?

Craig: And then the door closes and it stays shut until the next afternoon.

Spooky: Ah. Craig: Yes, my Johannesburg friends wanted to treat me.

Spooky: So you have to take two girls?

Craig: Yeah.

Spooky: Why didn't you browse a little?

Craig: Dude!

Spooky: What? Look at them. They are barley alive. That one is licking her place mat. Nee, hy. Dis nie vir eet nie.

Craig: So, they're a little different, and what's up with you having a problem now, a second ago you wanted to have bathroom sex with one of them in a dirty stall.

Spooky: Dude, I was at the sexpo last week, I left with a bag of condoms, there's only so much you can do with a condom around the house.

Craig: Haha, let me guess, you made balloons didn't you?

Spooky: Yeah, I made like two whole refuge bags full.

Craig: And? What did you do with them?

Spooky: I dropped the bags off at some child care thing. Now when I drive past all I see are condoms flying. It's supposedly upsetting the neighbors, but, at least those kids are happy.

Craig: So now you still have many left, or not?

Spooky: Dude, if I wanted I could start selling them online. They pass that shit around like its Christmas at Zuma's house.

Craig: Oh my God, Dude, Christmas at Zuma's house.

Spooky: You know how they like to pay for it.

Craig: Haha, yes.

Spooky: Enjoy your visit, man. And thanks for the sit down.

Craig: No problem.

I cannot help wonder, what with all that's happened recently, especially with the cosplay scene, whether Craig's answers would still be as positive as it was back then, Love, Spooky

Don’t worry Your Sam will get you back to the Action Figures, Statues, Collectibles

Mister Frodo.

Shire and it will be just as we remember it. and Comic Books. As far as the eye can see. Your Sam will..

IH

Gaming

Old School VS New School Gaming

I'm not all that clued up when it comes to gaming anymore, I'm not really ashamed to say that as well. I mean. Why should I be? Gaming, for me, is dying a slow painful stupid death. The golden days are over my friends, now everything has gone to hell.

Look, the only “real” console I've ever had before the PS3 ( damn you RDR...) was the PS2. I still play PS2 games when I get the craving even, and, there's still a bunch I'd like to have, things like (okay I'll keep this anime related.) A.C.E 3 and Battle Stadium D.O.N looks epic. Now, awhile back I went to a gaming shop, Games R Us, you might have seen their stall at rAge, looking for some ps2 games, since they don't sell many pc games. So I look their stock over, they have some great titles, but never the ones I want, so I walked over to the tiny pc games section they do have. Now, you have to see this from my point of view, when I was a kid, back in the 90's the most I paid for games was, like, R190. Prices went up and one day I walk into a store and BAM I see a price tag for R500. That was still fine compared to this because unlike the cheap looking plastic box I picked up here, the previous game had something inside. I almost flipped out completely. I mean, wtf was this? Almost R700 for an empty fricken box? That's excluding the price of downloading this baby, and of course, we are living in the digital age (Hallelujah! Bitches.) so we are probably going to have to download up to 5gb of game fixing “patches.” You know, when I was a teen, I'd pay R300 for a brand spanking new game, all the feelies included (manual, poster, registration forms) and then I could play it out of the box! I know that sounds alien to most leet gamers of today. I mean you guys all have to deal with Steam, empty boxes, DRM (Starforce lol), NO out of the box multiplayer, weekly patches. Now I'm not saying we never had to download patches, I mean sometimes our gfx cards or sound cards were incompatible so we quickly connected and downloaded a fix. A fix. Not for gameplay but for compatibly. Most AAA companies lived up to their names. If you had to download anything else, it was for a game from a smaller studio.

Heck, I played the hell out of Stronghold, didn't even know there was a problem. It was hard as f... but I played it. Remember the days of Counter Strike? Many of you still play it, even if it's an OLD ass mod.

Back then you had one copy, you installed it on all of your friends' pcs, ran it through your lan, (It was a weekend thing, or week, if it happened to be the holidays.) All had tons of fun. Hell Yeah! Not today homos, today everything is f-d. You know Elder Scrolls Online Imperial Edition is gonna cost you a thousand bucks? I hope that one comes with a statue or something, cause then at least your kids will have something to play with when one day the game becomes useless. It's an online game. You think their servers are gonna run forever? No? Okay then. How about these single player games you have to be connected to the Internet to play? What happens in ten years? Thank God for pirates. Cause I'd have to download a crack just to relive my favorite game. I bet in ten years time you'll still find people playing Unreal Tournament, Counter Strike and even DOOM 1 and 2.

“OMG dude, those shitty graphics just gave me an STD.” “Yeah well at least its been ported to maybe over a hundred systems, it's super compatible. Ever seen BRUTAL DOOM?” “OMG, like, that is seriously not YOLO, at, like all. Get away from my face loser.” “ Yeah, go, I think Teen Mom is on or something, suck a D, Belieber.”

Yeah that's right, I'm still playing DOOM, man. And you know why? Because it's been on every pc I have ever owned, it's worked on every operating system since DOS and it's been ported to a few consoles. DOOM 2 is so intense, even by todays standards (lol what standards?). Get your best Battlefield player in here, boot up Brutal Doom 2 and watch him pee his pants. Games today are linear. They make you stupid. That's why RPG's are doing so well, western I mean. That's why Skyrim sold so well. I played it, yeah, was cool. Wanted me to install Steam? Had a retail copy. Screw that. Installed it without Steam. Look man I get it, piracy kills developers. Home taping is illegal, I know the story. But, I don't know why they go to all these measures for an unfinished game? Why they expect me to pay all this money for nothing? I still haven't played Bioshock. I can't install it, without downloading half the files from the net? What did I pay for then? Only half the game? And now you have to pay for extra keys? So lets say in five years time, you find stuff you lost during a move in a box, right, we all knows this happens, and it's cover less. Who even still has an entire collection of complete psx games? It's just discs on spindles, most people's pc games are the same. Oh flip, what now, I feel like playing this, but I have no key? So you go online, and buy a new one for the price of a new game. Screw that. Oh yeah, here's a nice one. Sony has the right to brick your console if they feel you have violated their terms of agreement, that means, the console, which you've just paid almost 10K for is not yours. So if I hack my PS3 so I can run my PS2 retail discs with cfw (have a new slim PS3) and I decide to play some GTA Online, and they find out by using their commie spy satellite's way up in space, they can nuke me. Oh thank you, Sony.

But you guys knew all of this already didn't you? NOW, don't get it twisted. I love that there are platforms like Steam. Because. Well. Indie Games. They kick ass. And Indie Developers need as many platforms as they can possibly get. You know why Indie Games rule the gaming world? Cause they love the craft. You have to be original if you want any kind of foot in the door, and it's exciting. I mean, anybody can make a game these days, and effectively become the next Bitmap Bros(!). Indie games kick AAA developer output's ass. And I'm not just saying that because I'm gonna enter that world pretty soon, and become Darth Vader in the process, meh, it's a living.

Now a little anecdote: It's the simple matter of old school MTV vs New school MTV. Pretty soon, you wont be hearing any music but the package will look the same.

“Oh yeah, you mean those movie games the kids play today, yeah, I paid like 80 bucks man to watch my kid sit there like a fool while the game plays these long ass movies. I'm telling you for 80 bucks I could have gotten him an entire series, man. He'd be yelling green ranger or whatever, instead. I thought I'd like go an sit down and watch him play. I thought damn, man, HD gaming, now that beats my old SEGA any day, but damn, man. My kid did nothing for an entire hour. He just sat there and watched as these white guys talked. And then the game was over. What the hell. I took the game back, man. Attendant tried to give me trouble, yeah, man. I told him to keep his dumbass movie game, he yelled back something about me being a hater. I kicked his fool ass, they had to call the cops, spent the night in jail, man. Yeah. I found my old SEGA, and I slotted in my old GUNSTAR HEROES. Mother's hand eye coordination went through the roof. He's playing for the Chicago Bulls now, man. He's the youngest player they ever had. 8 years old. Made me so proud.�

I'm guessing that's how the older generation feels. 0 feels for you though. Cause all you're used to is second best.

Love, As always, Retro-kid Spooky.

IH

Gaming

The highly anticipated Elder Scrolls Online is finally here. Ler’s have a look at what’s great about it, not so great and how it differs from the epic Skyrim.

-Zana-Lee The Story The events in TESO is set about a millennium before the events of the Dragonborn in Skyrim and around 800 years before Morrowind and Oblivion.

The often-mentioned Deadric Prince Molag Bal appears as the antagonist as he attempts to meld the plane of Mundus with his realm of Coldharbour. (There are some awesome videos of this on YouTube.)

The Game Most of Tamriel is playable, including Skyrim, Morrowind and Cyrodill, all remastered as it was 1000 years ago. A lot of places are still locked off for expansion content, though.

You have the choice of joining one of the three factions at war for the throne of Tamriel as one of the nine playable races (Imperials are only available if you purchase the collectors edition): - Ebonheart Pact Faction Races Argonian, Dunmer, Nord -Aldmeri Dominion Faction Races Altmer, Bosmer, Khajiit -Daggerfall Covenant Faction Races Breton, Orc, Redguard

2 Major Differences Between Skyrim and TESO - Environments Instead of the giant sandbox that we’re used to in Skyrim, TESO have the usual mmo travel system by use of wayshrines that transport you from one entrance to another, with a more story based approach to traveling and a wide variety of different locations instead. Techinically, it IS possible to travel the entire world - if you don’t mind dying, unlike Skyrim where the monsters are scaled to your level - the ones in TESO are not.

- Character Progression In Skyrim you got certain bonuses that were racespesific but could focus on whatever skills you wanted, your skills improved as you used them and whenever you leveled up you could ad perks to skill trees to gain access to new abilities.

There are four classes in TESO - Templar, Dragonknight, Sorcerer and Nightblade. Each of these come with a trio of class-spesific skill trees.

Weapons and Armor can still be heavily upgraded however you like.

What’s good about it?

It’s multiplayer, has excellent character progression, big world, interesting quests.

What’s not so great?

It’s an mmo, combat feels linear and floaty, subscription.

If you don’t mind paid games, and you’re a Skyrim fan, this is definitely for you!

Thanks to both my friends Luddy and Jaco for endless hours of talking about this.

S

IH

Gaming

MORE violence, MORE blood, MORE rip and tear.

Brutal DOOM, takes the greatest First Person Shooter video game ever made, and makes it even better. John Romero once said, if Brutal Doom had to have been released instead of DOOM. The video game world would have crashed.

SGT Mark IV brings you an experience you will never forget!

The world wide mega hit, DOOM, just got even more crazy.

With the Brutal DOOM mod (18th Cacoward winner and winner of the Moddb 2012 MOTY Editors Choice of Creativity Award) , it becomes an entirely new game.

Faster Enemies, harder Bosses, epic new weapons, more blood.

Modern fps conventions that are taken for granted such as area damage, weapon kickback, reload animations and head shots, all here.

Destructible environments, movable objects, new moves such as Kick straight from Duke 3D! The Chainsaw now cuts enemies in half, for that ultimate experience! Emulated Ragdoll physics.

Added Realism with modern lighting to resemble Doomsday Engine.

New additions also include the ability to summon and or rescue ally marines.

These marines are bad ass, and it’s best to stay out of their way when they fire.

Another cool thing is of course, they communicate with you. “OMG, did you see that flying skull.?” Says one.

“That was f*cked up!” Murmurs another.

This is probably the thing most play this game for: Third person executions! This is where the Berserk packs changes things a little. Once you pick one of these up, you have to switch to your fists. Once you engage a demon or an zombie watch the magic happen.

IH

Gaming

This month, we’ll be looking at some essential mods that any Skyrim PC gamer needs to add to his/her game for a better and enhanced gaming experience.

Project Reality - Climates of Tamriel (if you want realistically dark nights) The Unofficial Skyrim patches (they're essential because they fix a LOT of bugs and stuff that the official patches never fixed) Frostfall (for immersive weather effects and camping/survival stuff) Abot Fires Hurt (ever notice how when you stand in a fire, nothing happens? This fixes that)

DVA - Dynamic Vampire Appearance (adds visual effects to your vampire when certain things happen. Example, using night vision makes your eyes glow, drinking blood adds a blood spatter around your mouth and being hungry makes your eyes look bloodshot like the vamps in Vampire Diaries) Pumping Iron (adjusts your character's weight, aka muscle as your combat skills increase) Predator Vision (gives you hotkeys to toggle night vision and heat vision if you're a vampire or werewolf) Moonlight Tales (Some nice werewolf related features) Better Vampires (An absolutely essential mod if you want to play a vampire. has many customizable features in the mod configuration menu)

Skyrim Redone (very good mod that improves tremendously on the game's broken/useless perks system. Be warned, depending on which options you install in the nexus mod manager, it can make battles difficult as it improves enemy ai and other such things. I personally love the increased difficulty. note to read all the instructions for this mod cause they're very important) The Choice is Yours (stops quests from starting automatically because that's really annoying) Tougher Traps (so that getting hit in the face by a log will actually kill you) BFT - Better Fast Travel (adds carriages to towns and small settlements, as well as ships that can take you between Windhelm, Solitude and Dawnstar)

Realistic Needs and Diseases (for immersion, adds hunger, thirst, alcohol drunk effects, etc)

Skyrim Mod of the MonthThe Essentials Guide

UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul (some stuff related to followers. improves the system a bit. I just use it so I can have more than one follower at a time)

BFS Effects (adds a burnt, electrocuted or frozen visual effect to enemies killed with elemental magic)

SGHair (Google, it's not on Nexus - adds more hairstyles)

The Dance of Death (killmove-related mod. I use it to disable the last enemy requirement, meaning you can use killmoves even if there are still other enemies around)

DSAMG (just a little animation mod to make the dragon soul absorb look cool) A Matter of Time (ui add-on for clock, date, etc) RaceMenu (gives more sliders and options in character creation) SkyUI (required by practically every mod out there, plus it makes your interface look nice and more keyboard friendly. it also adds the mod configuration menu which you will need to customize the options in many mods) ApachiiHair

Equipping Overhaul (lets you see all favourited weapons on your character instead of only the one you have equipped. also has a few other options you can try out) Convenient Horses (Improves horses like making them run from fights so they don't get killed and cost you a load of money.)

compiled by Jaco Grib

Skyrim Unbound (gives you options for starting in an alternate location when starting a new game. You get options for dragon-related stuff if you want to have the main story enabled or not. you have to get this mod from the Steam workshop) lastly, just remember to install all the requirements for mods, I didn't list those cause not all requirement thingies have esms or esps

IH

Gaming

Team Recommendations If you’re feeling: Epic Skyrim Genres: RPG, Action As the fifth installment of The Elder Scrolls video game series, Skyrim doesn’t disappoint. This time you are the Dragonborn, and the game follows your efforts to defeat the dragon Aldiun.

If you’re feeling: lonely Lollipop Chainsaw Genres: Action, hack and slash Play as Juliet Starling, cheerleader and Zombie hunter in a fictional California High School.

If you’re feeling: brave

BRUTAL Doom

Genre: first person shooter Brutal Doom is a mod that works with Doom 1 and 2, its most notable feature is more blood, you can shoot off body parts and special illuminating effects on projectiles and pick-ups.

If you’re looking for a feel good game: Any Sonic Game

Genres: Platform, Racing, Puzzle, Sports, Party Run around as Sonic, the blue Hedgehog and his friends, collecting rings, fighting Doctor Eggman and doing your favorite sports.

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s ’ n a m t a IH The History of B Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

The Acrobat

The Female

Stephanie Brown

Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson

The Marksmen

The Detective

Jason Todd

Timothy Drake The True Son

S R LE I O D P A S E H A Damian Wayne

Robin first debuted in April 1940, as a character that would appeal to younger readers - to be Batman’s sidekick. They are commonly referred to as The Dynamic Duo or Caped Crusaders. Robin received such an overwhelming response that Batman sales doubled.

The first Robin was Richard John ‘Dick’ Grayson. He was part of an act called The Flying Graysons for a traveling circus. After witnessing his parents murdered at the hands of a mafia boss, Dick was taken in by Bruce Wayne and later joined him as Robin.

Stephanie Brown, initially a villain, starts seeing Robin (Tim Drake) without knowing his identity. While Tim is away, she is approached by Batman, who reveals Robin’s Identity and offers to train her. Of course Tim isn’t happy about Batman’s betrayal and it drives a wedge between them. In one issue Alfred Pennyworth asks Batman if having Stephanie become Robin was a temporary thing and an attempt to lure Tim back to him. Batman never truly answered.

“Was I ever really Robin?” - Stephanie Years later, Dick gets shot by The Joker - and asked before she died. following this, Batman ends his career as And Batman answered, “Yes.” Robin. Dick travels around and joins the Teen Titans. Batman tells Dick that if he isn’t going to be his partner then he can no longer In 2006, it was revealed that Batman and Talia al Ghul’s drugged night had be Robin. So, eventually, Dick Grayson held some consequences. Damian becomes Nightwing.

Wayne, who would later become the fifth Robin - after the events in Battle The second Robin, Jason Peter Todd, first for the Cowl, where he subsequently appeared in March 1983, and was initially takes the title from Tim...by force. popular with fans, but following a story arc written by Jim Starling his popularity fell to Of course, being trained by The League of Assassins, Damian was exposed to the point where DC polled fans on whether he should live or die. Jason was killed by The death at a young age which caused tension with his father - because Joker on a vote of 5343 to 5271, which Batman had a firm policy of not resulted in some issues thereafter focusing on Batman’s guilt over not having prevented killing his enemies. So, how did Damian go from a self-important, Jason’s death. bloodthirsty, bratty kid to one of Dc’s most beloved heroes?

In 2005 there was a story arc titled “Under the Red Hood” where Jason was resurrected, Readers believe it was the strong and become the Red Hood. An anti-hero that father-son bond that developed after is much like Batman, except for the fact that Bruce Wayne’s return that slowly began to change Damian and he uses lethal force. everything really came to a point when Damian sacrificed his own life.

Timothy Jackson Drake was the third “He saves the world,” writer, Grant character to take up the Robin mantle. Tim Morrison said, “He does his job as was present the night that Dick’s parents were killed, after seeing the Flying Graysons Robin. He dies an absolute hero.” in action. Later, he connects Robin’s “Mother may have given me life, but acrobatic style with Dick Grayson and you taught me how to live. deduces that Bruce Wayne is Batman himself. Although he kept the information to Love and Respect himself, seeing Batman overcome with guilt Your Son Damian.” over Jason’s death pushed Tim to act. He contacted Dick/Nightwing for help and was recruited as the next Robin. Later, he becomes Red Robin.

IH

Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

In July of this year Kimmie Kriel Productions was found by Jacobus Gideon Louis Nieuwoudt II. The reason for her foundation was so that he had a publication house for all of his various projects.

That was her purpose at birth. Today Kimmie Kriel Productions is out to become one of the biggest and most well known digital publication houses in South-Africa and soon the world.

Kimmie Kriel was born out of a need. That need has not disappeared as time went on, as the face of their company she represents the change which they hope to bring with their various groundbreaking projects.

A positive change which they hope will change not only their beloved country for the good but the market as well.

They are made up of several artists and two head writers.

Now, the time has come to meet that revolutionary team!

IH

Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Artists!

Joshua Klein is an artist, graphic designer and DTP operator from Cape Town. He very much enjoys comics, graphic novels, manga and draws inspiration from them to create his own works.

Although his actual job consists doing DTP and a bit of design, his love is with the illustration which he does on the side.

a u h s oJ

Bra im no-one....just a 20 year old colored boy who loves filming, games, cartoons and drawing.

Llewellyn Breda

n i lK e

IH

Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Okay, so my name is Pako Mekute. 22 year old dude living in Durban at the moment and I am currently a student and amateur artist. The nickname Spidey Sticks is a mixture of two nicknames I got in high school and university respectively.

Pako Me kute

I'm basically a teenager with a manga/anime infested dream. Throughout my 16 year old life, I've always admired different forms of art, though animation was just one of those things that made one of the greatest impacts on my skills. If its not school, I'm either working on my manga STIGMA, skating, watching anime or just passed out on the floor (due to the immense laziness that is caused when you wake up at 5am to go to school on a Saturday). Oh and yeah, my friends call me Kira, because I was placed 2nd on the top 10 at school (I lost to this chick named Elle DX).

y d d e R a r a i e K

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Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Writers!

Growing up, writing has been one of the greatest escapes for me. At 22 I’ve written one novel, various short stories and a few multi-chaptered fanfictions. My influences include music, art and various cultures. I enjoy watching anime, reading books and manga and, naturally, gaming.

Odette

Zana-Lee I like to write. A lot. I write Kommando Jan, Zombie Bill, Prelude to Blood, Spooky’s World and soon Pirate Nigger Highwayman. Did I metion that I write Spooky’s /watch?v=W0hs380XvVM World?

Yes. And I’m the man behind the woman. Heil Kimmie!

i o R e l y k o o Sp

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Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Review

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Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

Manga insert

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TO BE CONTINUED IN THE NEXT ICHIGEKI HISSATSU

IH

Comics, Graphic Novels and Manga

The interview

Incoming transmission

Spooky: Okay, so. We're featuring you kinda, sorta in the magazine so be cool.

Gridlocked. Chapter 1.

Lets talk about that for a second. Okay no wait, these people don't know anything about you, tell them about yourself for a minute Pako: Okay, so my name is Pako Mekute. 22 year old dude living in Durban at the moment and I am currently a student and amateur artist. The nickname Spidey Stick is a mixture of two nicknames I got in high school and university respectively. Very chilled guy and yeah… I am not really sure what else I can say about myself.

Spooky: Gridlocked, is this your first manga you have ever done? Reason I'm asking is, it's pretty polished, and a lot of our readers would probably like to know where all started.

Pako: With regard to Gridlocked, it’s not the first manga I have done. I started doing comic strips in 2004 if I’m not mistaken. It was not very good, and most of them I threw away. The first real manga I can say I worked on was Soul Searcher Ranmaru ( called it Ranmaru 911 back then) in 2006. After that I had a basketball manga, and a few smaller ones. Then I tried Soul Searcher Ranmaru again last year, but that was my first attempts at doing manga digitally and it didn’t turn out so well, so I scrapped that, but I will definitely go back to it once I better my skills.

Spooky: Take us through your process for a bit. Tell us how you start on a page, what are the things you need to begin on project.

Pako: Well, my working is a bit weird to be honest. I don’t do any planning or a name etc. the only thing I do is think of how I want the story to go and draw. I know that’s not a very good answer, but all I do is just think of how I want the characters to interact, and draw it. I don’t like planning because I tend to change my mind constantly and I can decide to do something totally different at any given moment so don’t commit to any pre planning. I don’t even script the things I draw, I just think of dialogue on the spot (which is why there are quite a few spelling and grammatical errors in my writing).

Spooky: You use a tablet then?

Pako: Yes. I started drawing on it in 2012.

Spooky: Is it easier to draw on a tablet vs a traditional pen / pencil and paper?

Pako: No. Drawing on a tablet helps with regards to colouring and adding tones and effects, but it is much easier to draw traditionally.

Spooky: How long does it take you to finish a page, just talking pencils and inks here.

Pako: Well, that depends. A page can easily take me 40 minutes to an hour, even two hours depending on what I have to draw for that page. Another thing is that it’s hard for me to sit and draw for the whole day so I will probably work on a page or two, then leave it for a while. Sometimes just getting one page done would take more than one day, mainly because I wouldn’t be too sure on how I would want to draw a certain thing.

Spooky: I see. What inspired you to do Gridlocked?

Pako: Gridlocked was inspired by a few things. The main thing was facebook, and the kinds of relationships one builds on facebook. I changed the whole idea before starting on it, but it’s basically the same. I just thought of it like “what if we were actually in facebook?” What I mean by that is like what if the real world for us was facebook, and you live your life on your own page and you can start pages with other people, which can be seen as a business etc.

The idea isn’t solid yet, and even in the 2nd chapter, the plot and the universe haven’t been elaborated on, so there is still room for improvement.

Spooky: Tell us how your workspace looks, I know a lot of artists keep references nearby, things like action figures, graphic novels, art guides and diagrams of the human body. Any of that ring true with you?

Pako: Nope. Ha-ha I can’t really say that I have a workspace, nor do I need one due to the fact that I work mostly on my tablet and laptop sometimes. When I need to reference I will just go online and search for something to help. Then I just try and draw it as best I can. I don’t use a lot of references when it comes to stuff like anatomy, which is my there are some major errors when it comes to that, but I like the way it turns out more often than not so I just stick to what I know.

One thing I still can’t get a good grasp on is backgrounds, but all in due time I guess.

Spooky: How do you fit your projects in with the rest of your school work and such? I know you are busy with multiple projects so, let us in on your secret.

Pako: I don’t. Well I try and do as much as I can, when I can.

It can be a bit tiring and tedious at times, but it’s not like I’m doing things I don’t enjoy so that helps me stay focused.

Spooky: What are your plans for the future, you mentioned something about Korean girls?

Pako: Future… well the one thing I’m sure of is that I want to practice law. Not sure what field yet though. That’s my future plan, but during my twenties, the one thing I want to do is pursue the arts, be it drawing or otherwise. Ha-ha and not Korean girls, just Korea. I have fallen in love with the way Korean people do things. I think that there is a market there that has yet to be discovered by the West as a whole, especially with the music scene there, (don’t bring up Gangnam Style, because that is not the only kind of music you get in Korea) which is why I plan to spend a few years there once I finish studying.

Spooky: Who or what inspires you? Music, film, nature or just the flow of things?

Pako: I get inspired by many different things, but the one thing that gets the creative juices flowing is music. It is very hard for me to explain how it happens but music evokes certain emotions from me, and it motivates me to create. One good example is with a novel I am working on called Caged Animals. It was motivated solely by a song of the same name by a band called The Ambassadors (X-Ambassadors). The first time I heard that song, was amazing. It just flooded my mind with so many different images. Another thing I love about music is just the power of lyrics. A few words can make the difference between a hit and a mediocre song, and I like how varied it is. When it comes to the kind of music, I don’t have a specific. I am a big fan of Korean music, obviously, especially the hip hop scene. There artists like Choiza and Gaeko (Dynamic Duo), Simon D and E-Sens (Supreme Team) and other artists like Zion T, Moon Swings and so many others that are just as good, if not better than some of the famous western acts that we listen to. I feel like the kind of music I listen to is not yet what people are into, and I like that. I feel like its my own little island of weird sound. If you want to hear some of the songs that have influenced me, here is a few: Dynamic Duo – Three Dope boys Dynamic Duo – Lee Dae Ho Supreme Team – Dang Dang Dang Ambassadors – The whole Litost album Moon Swings – Bulldozer Gaeko – Rhythm is Life Taeyang – Ringa Linga EXO – Wolf

-

Celtic Woman – Scarborough Fair Celtic Woman – Black is the Colour Celtic Woman – Ave Maria Moon Swings – Falling Everything from Maverick Sabre and Plan

Spooky: Lol I need more Zombie Bill art, where are you on that front?

Pako: Zombie Bill is still going a bit slow, mainly because I haven’t had any motivation on that front. I try and so as much as I can, but if I’m stuck creatively on one idea, its hard to get out of it… which is why it takes me so long sometimes.

Spooky: Do you have any recommendations or tips for any young padawan's looking to take up the force?

Pako: Words of wisdom, well all I would say is you should not try to conform. I am one of those people that is not a fan of traditional when it comes to art.

Being traditional means following, all you can do is better an already good thing. I am more into creating something new altogether. Try to make your mark as an individual. I’m not saying that you have to disregard other people, just don’t be moulded by what others think.

Spooky: Where can we find you at? You have anywhere we can watch your progress?

Pako: You can find me on almost all social networks. I have Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Wordpress, Google Plus, DeviantArt and I post my manga on Inkblazers. All you need to do is search Spideysticks and you will find me.

Thanks man, I appreciate your time and effort in this great interview. And it's truly an honor to be hosting such a great talent in our magazine!

Spooky 2014

This is our logo.

IH

TV and Music

Katon Black

THE INTERVIEW

“I am an outlaw. I make music for outlaws, an artist can understand that sentiment.”

DJ Katon The Club Doom Sessions.

Spooky: Sup man, how are you Kat : hey brother!! I'm good thanks man how you doing? Nice to have you down here finally!

Spooky: Yeah, sorry I'm late, tried to skip on E-Toll wound up way off course in Zulu Land somewhere.

Kat : Hahaha..GPS bro..*facepalm* definitely worthwhile!

Spooky: You laugh, it was like Indiana Jones out there.

Kat : what the hell with em Whips an stuff too eh?! :D hahahaha!!

Spooky: Nah, I'm kidding. So how are you man?

Kat : I'm doin great bro..been hard at work..work is good..

Spooky: Nice. So you know why I'm here, lets get to it, shall we?

Kat : Yea most definitely..I'm itching to get cracking!

Spooky: So, Mister *Black*, tell us a bit about yourself. Yeah- yeah, we have to start somewhere.

Kat : Alright well in summary..25 years of age, plays 8 musical instruments and 1 xbox controller! :D hahaha , currently durbans no.1 electronic music producer..been producing for the better half of the last 8 or so years..massive gamer (biggest halo fan), and as you would already know, one of the admins of Anime Fans and Otaku of South Africa, the country’s biggest anime community.

Spooky: Ah, So have you always wanted to be a Producer/Dj? Like as a kid were you listening to Robert Miles, I've noticed there's some industrial and drum and base flavor in there as well.

Kat : Yea definitely, Robert Miles (I've got a track based on his genre,long hectic name haha).. Yea my styles vary so much man..I try to throw as many different styles together between 3 to 4 minutes..I love it crazy..I'm the type of artist that likes to dig deeper and bring out that experimental feel to my tracks ya know? The genres I cover go far beyond just 'Electronic Dance music' though, I also write scores for video games, OST for anime,etc Spooky: Sure, ever thought of adding more guitar to your tracks then?

Kat : Hahaha funny you should mention that well I originally started out as a lead guitarist and singer playing metal (much like "Skrillex") and just threw myself at what I knew (computers "like Deadmau5") and here we are..some sort of hybrid..but really you think?

Spooky: Of course you can. Never heard of Depeche Mode? If you wanna use guitars, use guitars.

Kat : haha I thought you would have at least thrown a better name like Killswitch Engage at me! :D yea definitely, not live recorded but some electronically written ones have been used, one of my OST tracks "Signature" is just that hey!

Spooky: I see you've entered a competition on Facebook, elaborate if you will.

Kat : alright well the Equinox competitions vary every year and run on different months so its hard to exactly sayyy? If you know what I mean..but yea..these competitions are 'DJ mixing' competitions..I have a definite advantage with combining well known tracks with my spin on them..so you're gonna hear great ones like my KatonBlack remix of 'Clarity' and stuff..I've been doing the equinox since well..before producing even came along hahaha..

The other competition is one I'm writing hip hop music for, I'm a judge on this competition though, its called the Diamond Dance Revolution..check it out on Youtube!

Spooky: Yeah I can see how that could help. So, I'm guessing this could be considered your hungry years then, your pub days if you had to compare it to rock groups. Have you started doing any gigs as of yet?

Kat: Yea like when you first start up these things can really eat up your sense of time and it just goes without you realising and then when you sit down for interviews much like this one its one of those in the back of your head things, ya know? Like '10 year shi....' Hahaha..ahh well compared to the rock groups today, you really aren't hearing a lot of em hey? The best ones will most definitely stand out..but people are making a scene outta these edm events now..its currently the 'trending fashion' and so its best to make best with that..gigs I've done a few..nothing majority yet..producers job is to sit in more and work the tracks that djs 'mix' ..they're dead in the water without us really..

Spooky: Yeah, it's hard work. Do you think South-Africa's market is more forgiving to new artists than say other's like America and the UK for example?

Kat: Just as harsh..like in terms of producers? I mean real ones? There really aren't many OR any good ones in the market..it’s a hard job..every single sound needs to be created, scored, mixed and then mastered with precision..but I've already had airplay in various countries like Canada,Australia,France,the US, even had my stuff played at the Universal Music Offices in London :P In 'Dj' terms..you're finding every little hipster kid with nerdys and a pocket full of swag trying to 'be a dj' these days..it’s easy to press play and pause on a set of decks..I think real djs have lost the art of 'mixing' somewhere..there are a few good ones here..but they really come rare and a few..

Spooky: Well, I guess so. So, how do you feel about the new tracks you’re currently working up? I mean you have a lot, considering the market and all, being dance-centric. If you are English you are likely listening to Dance Music, even mainstream artists have tried to adjust before, just look at what happened to Linkin Park.

Kat: Linkin Park let's not even go there haha..they should have stuck to what they were good at..yea man I've got a few really wicked ones coming up, ones already out and its called 'It Doesn' Take Skrill' hahaha..some sort of hybrid blend of eastern/dubstep/industrial/TechHouse/Electro..the latest an untitled track with singing sensation Khalil Mansura is a wild blend of Dubstep/Rave/electro and hard house, sorta the thing that one would go crazy for..but yeah adjusting is kinda the name of the game..

Spooky: Wow, fierce. Got any plans for the year? Any gigs or singles you looking to do?

Kat: Well in terms of gigs yeah I'm looking at hitting a select few toward the end of the year..I've got a 6 track EP coming out soon which is video game based..pretty much all the other singles released will be EDM..oh and don't forget my monthly show will start at the end of march, the Katon Black Podcast Show, or Kbps!

Spooky: hmm. SO, which genre you think has more groupies, Rock or Dance?

Kat: Definitely Dance..won't deny that..haha Spooky: Well. With the club scene being as big as it is.

Kat: It’s expected bro..the times they have changed oh so much hahahaha Spooky: Grand ma, Grand. Anything else you'd like to talk about? I heard you were in a racial altercation the other day.

Hahahaha man I see you left the juicy bit for the end!! Yea man, actually a couple of weeks ago..it’s sad what's going on with the whole race thing right? Remind me not to go off broadcasting without checking next time..yea man..this one chick had at me cause she was frustrated with some business related thing, completely not even related to me, no idea why she thought I was the owner of this business or something..it’s all just hazy now man..I forgive and forget quickly..

Spooky: Gracious, thanks man, that was crash. All the best, and set those dance floors on fire hey.

Kat: Gnarly bro..*fist bumps* yea sweet I'm on it.. My pleasure!

IH TV REVIEW TV and Music

The Trio Together

Twisted Starring: Avan Jogia, Maddie Hasson, Kylie Bunbury Originally aired on: ABC Family Genre: Teen Drama/Mystery-Thriller Episodes: 19 Short Summary: 15-year-old Danny Desai returns home after spending five years in a juvenile detention center for the murder of his aunt.

After watching the first episode, I wouldn't say I was excited about the series, but to be fair it would take nothing short of something akin to Arrow and Game of Thrones to get me excited about a show again, nonetheless I decided to continue on to episode two and I'm glad that I did. The series picks up and builds tension quickly, leaving viewers doubting and rooting for Danny Desai at the same time. Many shady twists and turns have you wondering just who the hell you can trust. Overall, the series (that finished airing in the US recently) has gotten good reviews and built up a solid fan base, but will it be renewed for a second season?

Last year, ABC started airing three new shows Twisted, Ravenswood (a Pretty Little Liars spinoff series) and The Fosters. Ravenswood, sadly, has since been cancelled and The Fosters has already been renewed for a second season. I would be surprised if Twisted doesn't get renewed, when the pilot aired for the first

million viewers, VS its lead-in show, Pretty Little Liars, which drew 2.47 million viewers.

Twisted's ratings picked up when it started airing in June 2013 and fell again quickly, but ABC family ordered ten more episodes anyway.

Ratings continued to fall, hitting an all-time low during the second half of the series with just 726,000 viewers. Ravenswood was cancelled with a higher viewership.

The first half of the season really drew me in, and I would have preferred if the show ended there, on a high note. It felt like with such a set plot what else could be done without making it seem like it was dragging on? The second story line that was introduced was good but paled in comparison to the main plot of the story.

What I liked: Avan Jogia's performance as Danny was great, especially in terms of comedic timing making Danny likeable, yet suspicious at the same time.

Rico's (played by Ashton Moio) little pop culture references!

Music.

A compelling bad boy.

What I didn't like: Another TV love triangle. An awkward but not plot consuming one.

Redundant extra episodes and expanding plot line featuring Charlie. I found it a little boring, compared to the first part of the season.

Watch Twisted if you like: Pretty Little Liars.

Maddie Hasson as Jo

Maddie Hasson as Jo and Ashton Moio as Rico

Kylie Bunbury as Lacey and Maddie Hasson as Jo.

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TV and Music

1984 the greatest year in metal!

30 years Since heavy metal took over!

IH Movies Coming Soon Movies

9 May A Haunted House 2 Devil’s Knot Heaven is For Real Lone Survivor Tokarev

16 May Godzilla - 3D, IMAX, 2D Filth The Last Days on Mars 23 May Legends of OZ: Dorothy’s Return - 3D, 2D X-Men: Days of Future Past - 3D, 2D Grace of Monaco Under the Skin Wall of Shame 30 May A Million Ways to Die in the West In Love with a Church Girl The Railway Men Transcendence 6 June Maleficent - 3D, IMAX, 2D Kill Your Darlings The Fault in Our Stars The Inevitable Death of Mister and Pete The Quiet Ones 13 June Fading Gigilo 20 June How to Train Your Dragon 2 - 3D, 2D In Secret Think Like a Man Too 27 June House of Magic - 3D Transformers: Age of Extinction - 3D, IMAX, 2D Locke

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Movies

Movies You Have to See IN 2014

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY PART1 Release Date: 21 Nov 2014 Director: Francis Lawrence Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Elizabeth Banks, Woody Harrelson Katniss Everdeen is back, District 12 is no more and Peeta is in the hands of the Capitol. What will she do?

22 Jump Street Release Date: 13 June 2014 Director: Phil Lord, Chris Miller Cast: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube 21 Jump Street has moved across the street - to 22 Jump Street. The boys are back and this time, they’re going to college.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For Release Date: 22 Aug 2014 Director: Frank Miller, Robert Rodriguez Cast: Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jaime King We welcome back much of the original cast in this too-long-inthe-making sequel, with the same signature back and white visual style and intertwining stories.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Release Date: 8 Aug 2014 Director: Jonathan Liebesman Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fitchner, Whoopi Goldberg Our favorite Ninja Turtles are back, with Megan Fox as miss April O’Neil. Let’s hope this movie brings back what fans love most about our green heroes.

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies Release Date: 17 Dec 2014 Director: Peter Jackson Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Evangeline Lily, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom Previously known as, The Hobbit: There and Back Again.

With the closing of the trilogy, we are excited to see how The Hobbit leads into The Fellowship of the Ring.

Son of Batman Release Date: 6 May 2014 Director: Ethan Spaulding Cast: Jason O’Mara, Stuart Allen, Morena Baccarin

Maze Runner Release Date: 11 Sept 2014 Director: Wes Ball Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Will Poulter

Batman learns he has an unruly, bloodthirsty ten-year-old son, raised by his mother, Talia al Ghul, and the League of Assassins.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world where a group of boys have no memories of their past lives and must escape a deadly maze filled with deadly creatures.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 Release Date: 13 June 2014 (SA Theaters) Director: Jean DiBlois Cast: Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Cate Blanchette, Gerald Butler The sequel picks up five years after the first movie, in which Toothless and Hiccup managed to unite the dragons and the Vikings. Astrid, Snoutlout and the rest of the gang encounter a secret ice cave - home to hundreds of new dragons - and a Dragon Rider. Suddenly, the two friends find themselves in a battle to protect the peace.

Guardians of the Galaxy Release Date: 1 Aug 2014 Director: James Gunn Cast: Benicio del Toro, Bradley Cooper, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana Guardians of the Galaxy must be Marvel Studio’s riskiest project to date. Not only are they taking the Cinematic Universe into space, but they are doing this will an all-new set of heroes and villains.

Excited to see how this pans out.

X-Men: Days of Future Past Release Date: 13 May 2014 (SA Theaters) Director: Bryan Singer Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Hugh Jackman, Nicholas Hoult, Patrick Stewart Days of Future Past serves not only as a sequel to X-Men: First Class, but also as a follow-up to the original trilogy that brings almost every hero and villain back. Days of Future Past will be a time travel story that will potentially fix many continuity errors and spark quite a few spin-offs.

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Movies

So you wanna get into Spaghetti Westerns do you?

Heres a helpful guide on where to start!

( For more detailed info go to the best site on the net: http://www.spaghetti-western.net/ ) First: What are Spaghetti Westerns?

Spaghetti Westerns are gritty/ realistic/ cinematic “cowboy” films that were made by Italians in the 60’s the late 70’s. Some of them were co-productions with other European countries and many used American Actors and Spanish as well.

Second: Dude...did you just say 60’s?

Yes. But PLEASE, don’t let that scare you. Just because something’s old does not make it obsolete. Trust me on this, if you loved Django: Unchained, you’ll love these movies.

Third: Where do I start?

Start with the best: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, by Sergio Leone. That name is important, remember it.

You can also start with the first two films, A Fist Full of Dollars and A Few Dollars more. These are known as the Dollars Trilogy. And well, Stars: Clint Eastwood, Lee van Cleef and Eli Wallach. All superstars of the Genre. Or, you could start with the Trinity films: They Call me Trinity, Trinity is Still My Name and My name is Nobody. The last one was produced by Sergio Leone. These are all considered comedy films, and did extremely well on their release. There’s a couple of these movies that star the very famous duo : Terrence Hill and Bud Spencer. Terence Hill is also well remembered for his portrayal of Lucky Luke.

Spaghetti western

Fourth: How do I choose?

Director, Actor, Composer. You watch by either those three. And then you choose plot. Ennio Morricone is the master of the genre when it comes to composing, and you’ve probably heard some of his pieces in Quentin Tarintino’s movies such as Kill Bill, Inglorious Bastards and Django Unchained among others.

You can’t go wrong with any of the above good and we all know about there are six of them. Corbucci, Solima, Then lastly: Go for the famous Films.

mentioned actors. Anything by Lee van Cleef is Clint Eastwood. Directors:: Go for the Sergio’s , Leone and Garrone are the best of the six.

If you had to ask the great Quentin Tarintino to compile a list of his favorite films at the end of each week and Then e-mail it to you, it would probably be a different list each week. This is not a man that you just put in a box and close the lid. He is complicated and particularly brilliant. Perhaps, the greatest film maker of our generation? So, given that this is our birth issue, and with the whole recent Hatefull Eight business, I thought it good to take a look at one of those lists. And so, without further ado, here it is, Quentin Tarintino’s list of the 20 greatest Spaghetti Westerns.

-Spooky.

1.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, Sergio Leone (1966) 2 FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, Sergio Leone (1965) 3

DJANGO, Sergio Corbucci (1966)

4

THE MERCENARY, Sergio Corbucci (1968)

5 ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Sergio Leone (1968) 6 A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, Sergio Leone (1964) 7

DAY OF ANGER, Tonino Valerii (1967)

8 DEATH RIDES A HORSE, Giulio Petroni (1967) 9

NAVAJO JOE, Sergio Corbucci (1966)

10 THE RETURN OF RINGO, Duccio Tessari (1965) 11 THE BIG GUNDOWN, Sergio Sollima (1966) 12 A PISTOL FOR RINGO, Duccio Tessari (1965) 13 THE DIRTY OUTLAWS, Franco Rossetti (1967) 14 THE GREAT SILENCE, Sergio Corbucci (1968) 15

THE GRAND DUEL, Giancarlo Santi (1972)

16 SHOOT THE LIVING, PRAY FOR THE DEAD, Giuseppe Vari (1971) 17

TEPEPA, Giulio Petroni (1968)

18

THE UGLY ONES, Eugenio Martin (1966)

19

VIVA DJANGO!, Ferdinando Baldi (1967)

20 MACHINE GUN KILLERS, Paolo Bianchini (1968)

“I’m white and I think The Boondocks is a funny show, does that make me a racist?”

Adspace

-Yes Unknown.

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Cosplay

Taz Noble:

Cosplayer Interview

The Interview:

Spooky: Hello Taz, would you be so kind as to introduce yourself to our readers, seeing as they will be in your hands for the months to come.

Taz: Hey guys, first I'd just like to thank you guys for this opportunity. It really means a lot to me. Introduce myself, well my name is Taz Noble. I'm 26 years old. I was a tom boy most of my life haha. I lived overseas in the United Arab Emirates for four years of my life. I was born in Cape Town but moved to Johannesburg with my folks. I love anime, cosplay and all forms of art.

Spooky: How old were you when you first started showing interest in Cosplaying? Most people start in High School, was it the same for you?

Taz: I was a late bloomer when it came to cosplay. In all honesty I wasn't much of a huge Anime fan. I knew it existed but when someone said "Anime" my mind went straight to Pokemon and Dragonball Z. I felt that both were for boys. I started cosplaying at the age of 23. I wish I had known cosplay existed in high school. I'm sure if I was a cosplayer in highschool, it would have made my life a lot better haha.

Spooky: Who was it that turned you on to this for the first time?

Taz: There really wasn't anyone in particular that said "Look at this cosplay! LOOK! It is awesome!" haha. A guy friend provided me with Naruto and quite a few episodes of Naruto Shippuden too. At this stage I didn't really want to watch it because it just didn't catch my eye. Haha, fast forward a few days later, I was plastered to my laptop with a huge grin on my face and a heart full of hope to the Anime world. The friend that had given me the Naruto episodes had told me I reminded him of the

Spooky: Who was it that turned you on to this for the first time?

one character, Sakura Haruno. So, I started watching Naruto to see what this Sakura girl was like. Pink hair, green eyes and a bad ass attitude. I instantly fell in love.

Only to realise she was teased for having a large forehead, something I was teased about too haha. Along the way I eventually googled Sakura Haruno to see if I could get awesome images to save on my PC. Image by image I began realising that there were girls out there who dressed up as Sakura and would go to these cool conventions! That was when I decided I want to dress up like Sakura and this was when my love for cosplay was born.

Taz: There really wasn't anyone in particular that said "Look at this cosplay! LOOK! It is awesome!" haha. A guy friend provided me with Naruto and quite a few episodes of Naruto Shippuuden too. At this stage I didn't really want to watch it because it just didn't catch my eye.

Haha, fast forward a few days later, I was plastered to my laptop with a huge grin on my face and a heart full of hope to the Anime world.

The friend that had given me the Naruto episodes had told me I reminded him of the one character, Sakura Haruno. So, I started watching Naruto to see what this Sakura girl was like. Pink hair, green eyes and a bad ass attitude. I instantly fell in love. Only to realise she was teased for having a large forehead, something I was teased about too haha. Along the way I eventually googled Sakura Haruno to see if I could get awesome images to save on my PC. Image by image I began realising that there were girls out there who dressed up as Sakura and would go to these cool conventions! That was when I decided I want to dress up like Sakura and this was when my love for cosplay was born.

Spooky: Are your parent/s supportive of you cosplaying as a serious hobby?

Taz: Well, my dad passed away when I first started trying out cosplay but I like to think he supported me because he'd always let me borrow his "priceless" camera to go run in the veld to take pictures of my cosplay. My mom was a bit sceptical at first because the first ever Con I went to

Was KinCon hosted by Morgane T Leleux. I cosplayed as Neliel from Bleach. All my mom saw was me leaving the house with a green wig and a skull on my head, and nothing but a torn tshirt to cover my body, no shoes on my feet and a sword in hand. When my mom asked more about the cosplay and why I did it, I said "it makes me happy". I think when she realised that i was spending money on a hobby where I was creating amazing outfits and weapons, she was happy that I wasn't going clubbing every night and wasting my money on partying.

Spooky: With the still very much traditional sets of values being practiced even today in some households around the country, would you say it's easier for men or woman to get into cosplaying? Taking into consideration the views still being expressed by some regarding the different sexes and what is expected of them in these different roles.

Taz: I don't necessarily think it matters what gender you are that makes cosplaying difficult to understand in households. I think it more lies on what values your parents holds and how they brought you up. I can imagine it being easy and difficult for both genders. Parents will understand that their son likes Anime and Games, so him dressing up as these heavily armoured soldiers wouldn't be out of the norm. Then again if their son is dressing up as a female or any out of the ordinary looking character, it might be a bit difficult to understand.

For females, parents would understand again that their daughter likes Anime and Games so her dressing up as a Disney Princess is normal. The downfall and where it might be difficult to understand, is when a parent sees their daughter leaving the house Neliel from Bleach or dressed as Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. Parents don't know the character and haven't watched the anime. All they see is their daughter in bright neon yellow spandex with thigh high white stockings. So I would say it depends on the values and rules your parents hold.

Spooky: What are your thoughts on the state of the South-African cosplay scene and community? Do you feel that there is some kind of caste system in place where some consider themselves above the rest and as such look down on some of their fellow cosplayers?

Or are there no conflict to speak of?

Taz:I love the South African cosplay community. Considering a little bit of a newby in the community, from what I've seen, we have grown so much! I feel like the cosplay community is my family and going to conventions is like going to my home away from home. I feel there is a bit of a caste system but it would fall more into place where we have older and more respected cosplayers who have been cosplaying for much longer and are much more wiser opposed to the younger and newer cosplayers who seek advice.

Spooky: Do you think that established cosplayers are a bit averse to non cosplayers and casual cosplayers?

Taz: . In the South African cosplay community, this does not exist. Everyone is willing to help other cosplayers, whether it be a personal or cosplay related problem. I could possibly see this happening with international cosplayers. I have on numerous occassions messaged international cosplayers asking for help and either received a rude response or no response at all. That being said, people are busy and have got lives. So I feel it best to seek help within my community because I know everyone is so helpful and caring. I have personally experienced bad attitudes of some South African cosplayers who might feel they are better than others because they have better skill and are prettier. This kind of attitude will get you no where in our community as bullying and negative attitudes and comments are frowned upon heavily. I believe we are community who are constantly breaking new and better boundaries. We are a family and are always willing to stand up for each other.

Spooky: Tell us how do you deal with criticism on the net and at conventions and so forth? What advice do you have for others going through harassments or the fear of such?

Taz: I normally deal with criticism well. If someone has something negative to say, I am able to laugh it off or turn it into my own personal joke. If the criticism is intended in a rude manner, I turn it into a joke. If the criticism is constructive, I use it and better myself with it. Advice for other who feel they're being harassed- ASK FOR HELP! Never be too afraid to ask someone to give advice or to help in a difficult situation. Like I said, we are a family and if we see a family member being bullied, we're there quicker than Flash Gordon.

Spooky: Lets go back to Rage 2013 for a bit, if you can recall there were some back lash on the net following the event for some days to come in regards to what some perceive as unfair treatment by most of the public that day, especially the males in general. What are your thoughts on this? Does it concur with your fellow cosplayers, that a female has the right to show an abundance of skin because it empowers them? Or does it come down to, just because you have money to spend doesn't mean you should walk around in a dark alleyway with a string of dollar bills hanging from your pocket?

Taz: Hehe, I remember this. As far as I know, the community has no set rules for who you are allowed to cosplay and who you aren't allowed to cosplay.

Taz: Hehe, I remember this. As far as I know, the community has no set rules for who you are allowed to cosplay and who you aren't allowed to cosplay. We have rules that any society would have i.e. don't degrade other cosplayers, don't give the community a bad name by flashing your boobs and saying you did it in the name of cosplay haha. I take my hat off for three cosplayers I know personally who wore very revealing yet awesome cosplays for rAge 2013. Their names are Samiegh Domingo, Hannes Roos and Ray Whitcher. They are three men whose energy radiate off of them and it reflects in their cosplays. They aren't afraid to wear the skintight suits in order to cosplay Deadpool and they aren't afraid of showing a bit of skin haha.

Spooky: I see. Do you believe that South-Africa is open minded enough for that level of cosplay? Would you say that Cosplay should be treated as an art and that there should be no limits as to how far an outfit should go? In some forms of art nudity isn't frowned upon but is embraced. Do you think that Anime, Manga and video games in particular lends itself to be judged that way, especially taking into account it's portrayal of both men and women?

Taz: I do definitely believe South Africa is open-minded and ready for that level of cosplay. We are fun-loving people, especially in our community, we know when to take a joke and when a cosplay is done for the giggles. I do believe that Cosplay should and is seen as form of art. The outfits and weapons and prosthetics that are made by some of my fellow cosplayers is absolutely jaw dropping and amazing. I believe that certain forms of nudity can only be used so far until it is just unacceptable. For example, if someone had to cosplay Mystique from X-Men, we know the character so it would be acceptable for a woman to cosplay her as we can appreciate the cosplay and character. It goes too far when someone puts on a wig and lenses and takes a photo without any clothes on. Yes, this is still a form of cosplay but falls more toward Hentai which is a whole different group of cosplay.

Spooky: Okay, if you'd permit I'd like to ask some more serious questions. I know most interviews try and be as superficial as possible, and in most cases there's nothing wrong with knowing such variables as your blood type, bust size and astrological sign, but that's not what we'd like to go for today. SO, I do hope that these next couple of questions does not offend you in anyway, its purpose is merely to gain some insight on the inner workings of a cosplayer.

-If we look at this on a psychological level, business aside, competition aside. Why do you think that people still like to dress up as some of their favorite characters? Or does that have nothing to do with the choice you finally make once you decide to choose a project?

Taz: I feel that every cosplayer has their own personal reasons as to why they make outfits, put on a wig and lenses and go to conventions. My own personal reasons is because I love the way I feel when I'm with friends who are all in cosplay. I love the energy and excitement I get when going to a convention whether it be to hang out with cosplay or non-cosplay friends. I feel like I have more power and courage when in cosplay. I feel braver and I feel like I'm the person I want to be, the person who isn't allowed to show her face at work or at home. I can finally be the hero, the warrior, the princess, the bad guy, the wizard, the jedi, the bounty hunter or just the shy girl next door. I feel empowered when the wig goes on, the lenses go in and the final pieces of armour are on.

Spooky: Would you say Cosplay could be considered as therapeutic?

Taz: Personally speaking, I believe cosplay is therapeutic. When I'm having a bad day, I've had an argument with a friend or just not feeling one hundred percent; to be able to come home and work on cosplay is a priviledge. Going to conventions makes me forget about the stress from work and makes me forget about the friend who says what I do and watch is "weird" or "childish". Cosplay is the place I go when I have no one else to turn to.

Spooky: Okay, so awhile back you were attacked on your Facebook page by someone for no reason. If I remember correctly she said that you looked like a man ( Or “dude� as she so eloquently put it.) Now, do you think that the reason they feel they have the right to say things like this is because you are putting yourself out there in the public spotlight? And in some cases even, with the amount of interaction and public attention most cosplayers get, that you are transformed into some kind of celebrity status?

And as such they feel the need to break you down because as with all these cases, it's easier to hate than to love, or, to rebel against something bigger than yourself somehow makes you a hero. With the advent of the Internet its become so much easier to interact with people you would 20 years ago never have even come into contact with.

Now, today, everyone can be famous. Many cosplayers making it onto the world stage even, Do you think that there are ways to cull this kind of attitude or is it in fact just a symptom of your celebrity status? I mean, it's obvious that girl was jealous, but to lash out on a public forum in hopes that she would get cheered on, makes it so much more poignant.

Taz: I do believe that these things are said because I have put myself out there for thousands of strangers to see and to criticize whether it be good or bad. I wouldn't say so much a celebrity status, but more of an idol. Nothing makes me feel better than dressing up as Tinkerbell and watching little girls eyes light up as the little fairy they see on TV, come to life and that they are able to interact with this imaginary person. You will get people that with say bad things just to start a negative wave reaction and because they are seeking the attention but on the other hand you will get someone who says something negative because they are just speaking their mind and don't know how badly it will affect other people. Unfortunately there is no way to completely stop this negative type of attitude toward cosplayers. There will always be people out there who have had a bad day or just have an bad personality and lash out on those that are better known amongst crowds. I can't be too certain as to what her intentions of her comment were. I normally expect those types of comments on cosplayers personal pages but when comments like that are said on public pages, it takes the negativity to a higher level because you have now gone and publically bashed someone. I feel the only way to cull this sort of attitude is for our community to frown upon it and to ban or remove these negative people from our community as negative attitudes are not needed.

Spooky: Going back to your incident, you almost stopped entirely if I'm not mistaken?

Taz: I did want to give up on my cosplay. Her comment was a heavy blow and I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I've had worse comments said to me before. This one comment went straight to the heart though.

Spooky: Why is that?

Taz: It was a negative comment on my first ever cosplay which was Sakura Haruno. I was so proud of that cosplay. I had worked so hard on the outfit. I think this is where the problem lies. You will get certain people that don't cosplay and will comment utter rubbish about a cosplayers photograph, not realizing that the cosplayer is a human being with feelings. We are people too, our feelings do get hurt and our dreams do get crushed. Advice on the subject, if you don't have anything nice to say...don't say anything at all. Keep scrolling.

Spooky: You have done a lot of crossplaying in the past, most of your most known works has been as male characters, ( I'm just thinking of Itachi now, for example.) would you say its more socially acceptable to crossplay than it is to cross dress for example?

And, do you think that there is some sort of sexual gratification or empowerment that occurs when you, for example, do a project like Itachi or Tai? Especially considering that most of the time you hope to appear as such in front of not only a panel of judges but an audience as well.

Taz: I personally feel it is more acceptable to crossplay than it is to cross dress. When a woman cosplays a male character or a male cosplays a female character, we know the character and we are familiar with who that character is. It has come to the point where cosplayers have become so good at what they do, that people who don't know that cosplayer on a personal basis won't realise that male cosplayer is actually a female. I don't feel so much empowered when I cosplay male characters, but more a sense of freedom. I don't have to act like a lady at conventions, I can run around and sit like a man. I'm not constantly worrying about a bra-strap showing or if my make-up is ok. I am free to be a man haha. With certain male characters I do sense a bit of empowerment because when that cosplay goes on and I look at myself in the mirror, I suddenly feel completely bad-ass because I realize the power I hold as this character.

Spooky: What are your aspirations as a cosplayer? Where would you like to go? What would you like to achieve?

Taz: My aspirations as a cosplayer is to get as many people aware of the cosplay community as possible. I want all the cosplayers who might be too scared to cosplay, to realize how amazing it is and to just do it! I don't really intend on going anywhere with cosplay. It is a hobby that I love and it will remain a hobby. I just hope to become better at it and I hope to grow as a person. Thank you again for this opportunity for sharing my insight on cosplay with you.

I want to thank you Taz, for a wonderful interview.

Sushibunny Cosplay Find her on Facebook!

IH

S

Baka Spot

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Take O O K Y

It from me, buddy.

Things are about to get a Little dizzy.

Welcome to my world, Spooky’s world.

Episode 1: world Furries,Spooky’s Satan , sex and fur.

The scandalous truth behind the dark side of the south-african cosplay community.

[I'd turn the page now, baby <3}

Warning: Sensitive readers may want to skip this: I remember reading an article in an old Afrikaans weekly magazine that was printed in the 90's. It was basically about a group of South-African teens in Kempton Park or Witbank or somewhere that got obsessed with that Tom Cruise movie Interview with the Vampire, and started a cult, did lots of drugs, had wicked satanic sex and drank people's blood. The 90's people, it was 'that' decade (Grab a hold of your mops and dance.) Now, I have to be honest I love the Sympathy for the Devil cover as much as the next metal head but I'm not going to go all Blair Witch Project and run around naked in the bos like Benjamin Komoetie (Ek is Fiela se kiiind!) covered in blood listening to Led Zep's discography backwards and having random sex with insecure goth girls after the credits have rolled on some homo erotic vampire flick.

(Okay, maybe the last part makes it all worth it.)

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pale of water. I don't know what they did up there, but now they have a daughter.â&#x20AC;?

- Worsie.

Now the 90's wasn't all bad, not even if secret government societies want you to believe that it was. But, it did give us something more horrible than Grunge and Boy Bands. It's called Furry Fandom. And it's a rare psychological disorder known as “Anamorphic Wonderland Syndrome.” Thank you Websters, and Wikipedia. What basically happens is, the amount of endorphins that's released into your brain gets halved and you end up digging Raphael more than Casey Jones. Or Alternatively, Feral more than sexy Siryn (Obscure 90's comic book reference. What?) Child obsession evolves into adult lust. And before you know it, you are dry humping a man dressed like Kangaroo Jack in the back of a Fiat Uno. Now, in order to satisfy some of you, I went undercover to one of the very hush-hush secret gatherings as a journalist for a fringe underground pop mag. (Not this one, don't worry. Okay, I used this one to get in, apparently IH is furry friendly. Whatever that means?)

Please note: My video camera was confiscated at some point, don't know why, well, maybe I shouldn't have made that joke about Scooby snacks, Amy Rose and hard techno. Whatever, I'll relay what I remember.

“maybe I shouldn't have made that joke about Scooby snacks, Amy Rose and hard techno. “

So, last Friday, I got an e-mail from a friend of mine that's into LARP (Some other time.) and he said that he had heard that there was going to be a gathering sometime in the next week and that he could get me in. Well, I had told him about this article and he worked it so I could bring in a camera. To bad about the humorless 45 year old who lost it after I said the word strobe light. So Wednesday I got a text with a location, which I cannot reveal, (its some abandoned house off the M1 south. Don't go there, trust me.)

That night, dressed up as Roger Rabbit, (Apparently Batman doesn't count?) I arrived. It's kind of weird, the location, I mean I had to get off the highway and drive onto this dirt road, took me fifteen minutes and then finally I reached an old rusted gate. I had to get out to push it open, scary as it was, I think I heard some hyena's and some freaky sounding birds, I didn't close it after I drove through, Remember those rules? So after another 30 minutes on probably the worst damn road my car has ever had to undertake I finally saw the lights coming from the farm house up front. My camera man finally awoke after we got to the house, he seriously slept through that road?

So, I got out, heard music coming from the house, faintly, wasn't loud like a house party or anything, but loud enough that I could hear it from 20 meters away. The house, jeez, the house, it looked like it should have been condemned, who ever organized this event doesn't know about public halls and non creeper happy locals. Whatever, I was here. One thing though, this place had two floors. Doesn't look like any of my people built it, must be English in design. I thought about not even going on the second floor, but things escalated and I had no choice, once the chanting started and they threatened to hang me things got real. So I approached the house, and was immediately greeted with the sight of what can only be described as what David Bowie saw in the mid 70's when he did all those drugs. It was almost Woodstock in a sense, I felt like a total noob. These guys were frolicking around in the tall grass, but none of them were dressed like an asshole, instead, they all had full on animal costumes. Lions, gazelles, dogs, cats it was like the fricken Lion King, only everybody in the kingdom was rubbing up against each other as if they were on fire. And there was no Phil Collins, which, disappointed me a little, if I have to be honest.

So my camera man, who's asked me to withhold his name, for legal reasons, which, I'll oblige, only for fear of getting sued for a large number of things that happened to him that night. I'll call him TJ from now on. So TJ, he was filming away, remarking how it was so unreal. I couldn't blame him, it was like shooting porn. There's no other reasonable way to describe what we saw that night. Porn, it was like screening Deep Throat to a world that's never seen pornographic material before. It was like Debbie does Dallas. But with people dressed like animals. Like the first time you do acid, but watching Tim Currey carry on about being a sweet transvestite in that red room of his while you are tripping.

So, finally we are greeted, by the giraffe no less. We introduce ourselves, and I tell her, or, I think it was a her, why I'm here and she says that the Master has been expecting us. Master, well, screw me. We follow the giraffe into the house, and we find more of the same, only this time they are actually doing it, Doggy Style, I guess? Monkey Sex? The sounds we heard surely weren't ooh's and aah's. So we pass the Animal Farm and we find ourselves in front of these old rustic winding staircases. And guess who we find in the middle sitting on a makeshift throne? The Master. And this is where I started worrying. This mother was naked. All he had on was this giant goat's head with these winding horns.

Oh my God. I didn't even notice the naked breasts bouncing up and down around him. All I saw were those black beady eyes, and the red, blood. Wine. No, wine, running over his mouth? TJ was pissing himself. He's Catholic and this is where they usually call in the priest, you know. He kept calling me. Dude, Dude, Dude. But I wouldn't look at him. The Giraffe motioned us to bow, and my legs gave way.

Dunno why, guess I was scared. Seen too many movies, read too many accounts. I pull TJ down, and he joins me on the wooden floor. And then he spoke, more of a bellow really. “Welcome,” he said. “My doors are open to the outside if the outside open their doors to my inside.”

Had no clue what he meant so I just awkwardly rose my hand into a Nazi salute, Jesus, now that I think about it, might have been why I was treated so differently. Why the hell did I do that? Anyway, he offered us some fruit and apparently the girls were there to serve our utmost desires, God, I'm not gay or anything, those girls had bodies like I've never seen, but when I'm scared, my Boerewors just refuses to come to the plate. I didn't want to refuse the guy, man, would you? So, I stuck my tongue into a couple of them. Their mouths at least, the doctors say I'll be okay, so don't worry. He told us we could go after we each had a bout five girls, whom all by the way, kept grunting like pigs. I'm sorry, that shit just turns me off. TJ kept praying, I felt sorry for him.

So, finally, through all the whip lashes and neighs, we got to the interviews. I'm just going to put all the questions down here, I'm going to skip the flaying and the almost hanging for TJ's sake.

Spooky: So, I'm new to the whole furry thing, can you please explain to us, how you perceive the movement?

Lioness: Change, freedom from fear, complete disregard for nature, and the complete awakening of the natural desire within us.

Giraffe: (Sighs) yes, the furry inside of me, the Giraffe, is a hungry animal, I like reaching the tall leaves, the tall branches are those that excite me the most.

Spooky: So it's about sex?

Giraffe: No. Lioness: Sex, is a dirty word. What we do here, when I become the prowler, I live. A second life, if you will.

Spooky: Spiritual then?

Giraffe: (moans) Yes...

Lioness: Yes, when we live, we grow, like children, like the earth, we embrace the beatings.

Spooky: There has been ties between your movement and the occult, Satanism in particular, what is your take on this?

Lioness: That word means nothing without the sentence you are using it in.

Giraffe: Master tells us about a different path to your own. The path of Thelema.

Spooky: You essentially follow the teachings of Aleister Crowley?

Lioness: Yes, but we incorporate many teachings from other practices.

Spooky: Why the secrecy?

Giraffe: Because not everybody deserves to hear our sound, to feel our music.

Lioness: Because of silly words in silly sentences. All trivial if you deconstruct it on a molecular level.

Spooky: Do you think that your movement will ever be accepted by society, or alternatively by the world we live in today?

Giraffe: There's that word again, movement, we aren't going anywhere. We move but we are still when we do. We live. We breathe.

We love. We mate.

Lioness: The real question is whether or not we will accept the world we live in, if we will accept society and not decide to hunt them down?

Spooky: What do you think of the term cosplay? Or people that dress up and frequents conventions and gatherings? Do you relate to them?

Lioness: We don't do this to escape, we are who we are, I am a Lioness, not a human that parades around as one. Those people, they act, run around like children playing Cowboys and Crooks. They get old and they remove the masks. We do not.

Turns out they don't like being made fun off. We were lucky to get out of there by the skin of our asses. We were naked, sore and wet, but at least we made it back to the car. I don't think I've ever experienced something like that. TJ hasn't spoken to me since. I can't blame him really, after being put through that, not many people would. He's quit the mag. Quit the business. He's moving to Namibia apparently. It's quiet there. It's warm and it's safe. To bad, cause I could have really used him on the next assignment.

Yours Truly, JGL Nieuwoudt II. (or Spooky to my Mother and my Lovers.)

(At least I didn't swing. Sooo worth it.)

Giraffe: Wow, that was deep.

Lioness: To answer your second question. No I do not.

By this point I was just about ready to leave, but before I did, I had to act like an idiot and screw things up for us.

Spooky: Wanna hear a joke?

Lioness: What?

Giraffe: Okay...

â&#x20AC;&#x153;He who makes a beast out of himself, gets rid of the pain of being a man.â&#x20AC;? Samuel Johnson

IH

QUIZ

What kind of fictional guys are you into?

4. You're driving in his car, what kind of

1. It's your first date, he…. a) b) c) d)

Tells you his life story Propositions you during dinner Let's you wear his jacket if it's cold Doesn't say much of anything, but you like him anyway

2. You're chatting on WhatsApp, what emoticon does he usually use… a) The winking face b) Hearts and kisses c) He doesn't use emoticons. At all. d) Tongue faces 3. He Inbox's you on Facebook, how does he start the message off… a) 'hey, babe…' b) He just starts the message right off and says what he wants to c) Something sappy, but still kind of sweet. d) He doesn't use Facebook, he prefers to call you, or sit in front of your house until you come out.

Results: 1. A 2, B 2. A 1, B 3. A 1, B 4. A 0, B 5. A 3, B Bonus: A

0, C 2, C 3, C 1, C 2, C 4, B

1, D 3, D 2, D 3, D 0, D 2, C

3 0 0 2 1 6, D 1

music is playing on the radio… a) It's a mixed playlist of Marilyn Manson and Classical Music b) The local radio station is on c) Old school Linkin Park and hair metal d) The Fray and Maroon 5 5. You are singing, very out of tune, what does he do… a) Tell you to straight up shut up b) Sings with you c) Records you so he can listen to it later when he's alone d) Kisses you into silence 6. Bonus Question: What is his best quality? a) His ability to listen and give advice b) How he can always tell when something is wrong c) His devil may care attitude d) How he knows absolutely EVERYTHING about you

IH

QUIZ

What kind of fictional guys are you into?

0-5 The Creepy Guy

6-10 The Hero Guy

Orochimaru, Sephiroph, The Joker

Uzumaki Naruto, Son Goku, The Batman

This type of guy is usually perceived as the bad guy, but you know him well enough to know that there's more to him than that. He knows everything about you, down to your blood type and entire medical history. There are no secrets between you and sometimes you even help him in his plans to take over/destroy the world, because that's just what love is, right?

He's funny, charismatic and a definite charmer, but he haS this deep-seeded need to do the right thing. He does what others won't - what needs to be done, regardless of the consequences. Even if it means his own life. You'll always take second place to his mission, it's hard to love him, but not something you can ever stop doing.

11-15 The Sensitive Guy

16+ The Bad Boy

Kira Yamato, Peeta Mellark, Shinji Ikari

Uchiha Sasuke, Arsenal, Vegeta

He isn't afraid to show what he's feeling, whether it's his anger or tears - and you love that about him. This also makes him the perfect boyfriend for you, he's attentive, a good listener and just an all-around sweet guy. Always.

Somewhere really deep inside of him he cares about you, but he'll never show it. He can be mean but you know he doesn't mean it - because that's just how he is. It takes something big for him to ever use the word love, but when he does, you know it's real.

IH

Baka Spot

ASK!

Nurse Joy Dear Nurse Joy,

Nurse Joy,

I was a bit reluctant to write to you A few weeks ago I contacted a chat line because, to be honest, I wasn’t too sure that told me, that shaved heads are in if you were real. this summer and the reason I ain’t getting any is because of my full head You see, I have a problem. I think my of hair.

Need Advice? boyfriend is a SATANIST. The long hair, dirty nails - and lately he's withdrawn Thus far, I’m still in the red. Girls pay and talking on and on about Marilyn even less attention to me now than Contact Nurse Joy TODAY! Manson and some guy called Anton before. And guys have taken to calling Email: ichigekimag@gmail.com Lavey. I’m a little terrified, should I be me wheels/The Professor. or is my fear completely unfounded?

Subject: Nurse Joy Yours, Slightly Terrified (For myself What should I do? It’s hard rocking the and my pets.). disturbed look, I mean I ain’t no Fester Dear Nurse Joy,

I was a bit reluctant to write to you because, to be honest, I wasn’t too sure if you were real.

You see, I have a problem. I think my boyfriend is a SATANIST. The long hair, dirty nails - and lately he's withdrawn and talking on and on about Marilyn Manson and some guy called Anton Lavey. I’m a little terrified, should I be or is my fear completely unfounded?

Yours, Slightly Terrified.

Slightly Terrified,

Adams. Please Help.

Slightly Terrified, Ooh wee, that is a tough one. Well You have to realize that just because he is intrested does not necesarilly make him a threat.

Don’t shy away from him just because he’s into things that you may not understand right now. Your relationship is more important than some trivial misunderstanding. Try to be there for him, he may be going through a tough time, searching for answers. Remember, sometimes one finds answers in the most unlikely of places, and it’s not always on the neatly mowed lawn, but in the long grass that we find ourselves.

As for you and your pets: if that long drive goes out onto a dirt road, start worrying, cause you about to be sacrificed, girl.

Love, as always, Joy.

Hopeless, bald and horny as all hell.

Dear Fester.

Why would you shave your head? Who told you this? Truthfully, us girls, we don’t really care if you are o- natural or clean, it’s all about the swagger. You see, contrary to popular believe we aren’t as superficial as you make us out to be, yes, sure, sometimes we only want to get down with a smoking hot guy. But, normally we want to speak to that guy in the morning as well, so, if you are okay with having a conversation with his abs or golden flowing locks, that’s your prerogative. I on the other hand want a real man, who has the ability to weaken my knees with a kind heart or with just his confidence alone. But, unfortunately, here you are. Look there are many sexy bald men, take Lex Luthor for example, he wears suits to detract from his cue ball, he’s hot.

Wear a suit dude.

Love, as always, Joy.

In The Pre-rAge Issue...

Avatar Special Korra and Aang Feature!

Our plans for rAge 2014

R O S N E C

D E

Skyrim VS Dragon Age The most shocking cosplay interview to date Comics, comics, comics

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