Impulse Purchases.

So I'm a bit of a 'My Little Pony : Friendship is Magic' fan. You know, in a respectable twenty something, never going to grow up kind of way. I collect the trading cards, the toys (where is all the Big Mac merch?!), blind bag figures, etc. But then I saw the dog tags. DOG TAGS. What? Where the heck did this 'trend' come from? Is there a market for dog tags covered in technicolor ponies? Apparently so. I really tried to not want them (heck, I still don't really want them), but after a couple of Youtube reviews (Bins Toy Bin, I'm looking at you) something inside me snapped and the need to run to my nearest Walmart rushed into me. I still don't know exactly what happened, but here's what I ended up getting on my trip out.

So. The dog tags. I still don't really get it. I think I'm more excited about the vinyl decals that came with the package than I am about the plastic tags. The packs were $2.97 each and they came with a random dog tag, vinyl decal, tattoo set, and a checklist in case you want to collect everything in this series. I'm not sure if I will purchase any more of these, but I may try and track down the Discord option, as he is my favesies (hello, Q!). There are also Adventure Time dog tags, and a whole slew of other options so I guess this is a popular thing right now. Crazy kids these days.



I also stopped by the Dollar Tree and picked up some My Little Pony Series 2 Value Packs and some super retro (Seriously guys, I think this shit is from 1998) Pokemon tattoo sets. Why do they still have these available? I mean, it's super cool and you have NO IDEA how stoked I was to get classic Pokemon merch in 2013, but what the heck?

So that's what I picked up today. Thank you to YouTube for infiltrating my brain. I love you always.

First Impressions - Heavenly Guardian for PS2

A week or so ago I picked up a few video games for fairly cheap at a (semi) local trade shop. Okay so it wasn't local at all, but when you live an hour away from any proper shops you take what you can get. Anyway, one of the games that I purchased was a PS2 title named 'Heavenly Guardian'. It was very cheap (about $2.50) and the back of the case promised adorable, anime shooter goodness so there was no way it was not going home with me. Of course it's taken me a week to actually sit down and play it, but that is way besides the point.

In it's One Player mode, Heavenly guardian is about a Snow Goddess (and her majorly cute Snow Rabbit) who are trying to save a boy who has been cursed, and is now in a comatose state. Our main lady, Sayuki, is pretty fond of this kid and runs off to find a bunch of ingredients so she can counter the curse and save the lad. Naturally, it's not that easy and you have everything from mummies, witches (who look very similar to YuGiOh's Dark Magician Girl), and ghosts with fancy hats trying to get in your way. It's a run and gun, shoot 'em up game with cuteness everywhere. PLUS it has a 2 player mode, which is exactly the same game but with a slightly different storyline.

 

image from ign.com

Heavenly Guardian has a gorgeous anime style, bright colors, and catchy music. It starts off fairly easy to play, but once you beat that first boss and move on to stage 2 the difficulty raises considerably. Needless to say I died pretty quickly, but with this game you just want to keep hitting continue to try and get further in the stage. The bosses are pretty straightforward with easily patterned attacks, but they are enjoyable nonetheless.

image from gamestop.com

Reviews for this game were (and are) horrible. Personally, I really enjoyed it and think that if this had been a Super Nintendo release (an earlier version was originally supposed to be a sequel to the SNES game 'Pocky & Rocky') it would have had much higher praise. But for a PS2/Wii release, it wasn't retro and/or innovative enough to be given much of a chance.

Overall, this game won't make you wet your pants, but it is a very fun way to pass some time, shoot some monsters, and enjoy all the Snow Rabbits. <3