Mar
20th
2016
AMMA of Blogardan Has Resolved · 11:41am Mar 20th, 2016
Season 6 begins next week, and Friendship is Card Games will resume along with it. However, that leaves one last Sunday blog before then, and I promised it wouldn’t be Magic-related last week. However… well, I’m kind of low on ideas. So, time for that great fallback of the Internet: Ask Me Anything!
Well, Ask Me Most Anything. I’m not very comfortable sharing some personal details, so I reserve the right to refuse to answer some questions. I know it goes against the spirit of the activity, so I’ll try to keep the refusals to a minimum.
However, if you're reading this now, I'm afraid the question window has closed. Still, I definitely got some interesting queries, and I didn't have to refuse a single one. Take a look at the comments.
What is your earliest MTG block?
What is you rarest card?
What is your favourite block and card (non-tournament ones included)?
You are the Fan of Most Everything, but what are you the fan of most? Your favorite show, game (card or otherwise), movie and book?
3817089
I started playing before the block system. Packs of Chronicles were still on sale, and the most recently printed set was Ice Age. The first cards I owned were from Fallen Empires, and I've since acquired one or two from Revised Edition.
I'm not sure about relative rarity once you hit reddish-gold expansion symbols, and I don't own any Expeditions, but I think my most sought-after card would probably be Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
Lorwyn-Shadowmoor Block did a lot of really interesting things, from tribals to a deep exploration of the possibilities of hybrid mana. As for a favorite card, I've always had a soft spot for oozes, so I'm going to have to say Experiment Kraj.
3817099
Show: Don't really watch much TV anymore. I'm going to have to say Friendship is Magic.
Game: Do I even need to say it?
Movie: Oof. Toughie. Though truth be told, I really did like Inception. I understood everything.
Book: Again, tough, but I'm going to say Good Omens, by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman.
3817101
Good choice on the book. As for the game, no, you really don't.
We all know it's Risk
Are there any notable stories that you liked the ideas behind much more than the actual work of fiction?
What's your favorite book cover/cover art?
Is it true that mustaches have magical powers?
Of all your cards, which would you most like to see printed in a black-bordered expansion?
3817150
I can forgive a lot for a good idea, but the prose has made it very hard for me to get into the Pony POV series.
Anyone who can both write and draw will churn out some great cover art for their own stories, but To See The Light has what I feel is one of the best pieces on the site. As for professional work, I usually don't pay much attention to the cover, though Brandon Sanderson novels often have breathtaking pieces in front.
Some mustaches are imbued with supernatural powers. Not all, but some.
3817154
There have been times when I've accurately predicted cards before they were printed. For example, my original design for Comet Kick, which I made shortly after seeing the first movie, was functionally identical to Fall of the Hammer. In terms of the cards that haven't seen print, I'd say any of the Riggers, if only so we could finally assemble Contraptions.
3817101
Of course you would be able to understand that movie.
Has a story every made you cry?
3817252
Several of them. I'm kind of a softy. Heck, I can't even watch "Magical Mystery Cure" without tearing up a little.
3817101
Good Omens is the best book I've ever read. The dream team I never even knew I wanted to see. I read it before I really had any idea who Terry Pratchett was beyond an awareness that Discworld was popular and allegedly the good kind of weird. Neil Gaiman I was familiar with.
Anyway, questions. Have you ever quit playing Magic, and if so why? Clearly you're back (if you ever left) but most of the Magic players I know have quit and returned in some way.
If you could have almost complete creative control of any franchise other than Magic, which would you go with? And out of curiosity, how much of a control freak would you actually be?
Edit: Also, have you ever read Gunnerkrigg Court? Seems like you'd love it.
What's your personality type and how well do you feel it describes you?
Where do you live? Geographically of course I don't much care about your exact address.
What's your favorite anime?
What's your favorite form of story? ex: books, fanfictions, tv shows, movies, newspaper articles etc...
How old are you? If you don't mind us knowing.
~Leonzilla
Have you ever tried your hand at art or music?
Who's your favorite planeswalker from a story and character perspective, as opposed to a game mechanics one?
Why is Sweetie Belle the best CMC? Will her cooking skills ever improve, or is she doomed to eternally be such a lethal chef that she brews cups of toast?
3817262 is that one of your favorite episodes?
I know it's one of mine, it's the first episode I ever watched, meaning it's the one that got me into MLP.
~Leonzilla
3817284
I did drop out of it for a while, missing the releases of everything from Urza's Destiny through Torment inclusive. It wasn't out of dislike or anything (though goodness knows that Urza's Block had plenty of problems.) It was that the friend who really helped boost my love of the game moved away and, as such, my interest waned for a while. As for why I picked it back up? No real reason beyond wanting to again. My interest waned again for a decent chunk of Mirrodin Block. I seem to have a sense for when the game is getting stupidly overpowered.
The idea of my having full creative control of anything is honestly more than a little terrifying, if only because I can't help but imagine all the ways it could go horribly wrong. Honestly, there aren't many franchises with which I'd trust myself. Still, if it could get another Star Trek series on the air, I'd take the reins, even if there'd be some wonky stuff with the divergent timelines.
Gunnerkrigg Court was one of the many webcomics I read before a personal meltdown. Long story there, but suffice to say, I've fallen off the wagon and have yet to get back on. I really should get back to it.
3817293
Which personality metric?
New Jersey. Insert joke here.
Favorite anime is probably Slayers, managing to blend humor, action, drama, high fantasy, and even some romance into a single awesome blend. Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica all come close. Favorite manga would easily be Azumanga Daioh.
My favorite narrative is one that makes a good use of the medium, whichever medium that may be. I'm not picky, though I do appreciate the greater amount of audience immersion that a written form necessitates.
My age is the sum of two perfect cubes. Which two are left an exercise for the reader.
And my favorite pony episode would probably be "Pinkie Pride," because very little can compete with dueling polka medleys. (I'm actually quite surprised to hear that you started with "Magical Mystery Cure." The culmination of the first three seasons feels like an odd jumping-off point.)
3817294
I can sing decently, and I played trombone in middle school. I stopped when it stopped being fun. As for art... yeah, not so much. Never got beyond margin doodles. Trust me, you do not want to see me try to draw a pony. It does not end well.
Narratively, my favorite planeswalker is a tossup between Chandra and Karn. Karn has history on his side; you can't help but get attached to someone after spending so much time watching him grow. Chandra, meanwhile, seems to be one of the few people still alive who remembers what fun is. Yes, planeswalkers deal with heavy stuff on a frequent basis, but at least she tries to enjoy herself. (Tezzeret can manage it from time to time, especially with the help of Doc Jest, but we haven't heard from him since Scars Block. Plus, he's not quite as compelling as a character learning to balance responsibility, independence, and pyromania.)
Answering your last question based on the understanding that everypony is best pony in one way or another (since declaring any Crusader inherently superior to another is like saying one of the Fates is better than the others,) Sweetie Belle is best Crusader because she's the closest thing they have to a voice of reason, yet still manages to have a blind spot the size of her own head. Her drive to emulate her sister, whether socially, occupationally, or culinarily, leads to most of her problems. Indeed, while each of the dream episodes had a Crusader reflect some aspect of Luna's character, Sweetie's had the clearest parallel, as even Luna noted. She feels overshadowed by Rarity even as she strives to become her. Now that Sweetie understand her purpose, it will be interesting to see her try to define herself by her own merits rather than by how close she is to becoming Rarity II.
That said, it'll take a lot of work for her to stop liquefying toast, especially if her parents keep encouraging her. Doubly so if Spike develops a taste for her cooking.
3817309
Honestly, I was thinking about the 16 factor personality test, but there is also the Occupational Personality Inventory’ which measures 32 personality traits, and The Big 5 personality traits test. Each of these can tell you quite a bit about yourself in the present but certainly not enough to describe a persons character completely. They are just classifications that state the degree of presence of a few predominant traits.
A the newspaper gag manga, funny stuff. I will have to check on Slayers sometime this is the first I heard of it. I hope it's not like Guilty Crown which is kind of a colash of a bunch of stuff that's popular in anime being stapled together clumsily in a high budget good quality animation.
I like this answer so much!
wut?
Also I love Pinkie Pride too.
It wasn't planned, I just stumbled into the episode by chance while I was on YouTube and was amused by it's antics. Then I got curious about how the show had changed over time so I went to watch the first episodes while I was doing that part fo me wondered at which point the show had started adding four five songs per episode. (because as far as I knew back then, that was the norm by the final episode of the third season)
So I just kept watching.
Oh but let me retract myself, that wasn't actually my very first episode, that was the first episode I watched online. I had already watched I think three or four episodes before that on the hub/xfinity on demand, sporadically, many months before, never really got into it tho until I watched Magical Mystery Cure. That the YouTube videos, Ask Tumblers, and Fanfictions were what truly finished cementing me into the fandom.
~Leonzilla
3817326
I forget who first gave me the idea that Spike would appreciate Sweetie's cooking (Spike tries some of Sweetie's spaghetti... The taste is indescribable), but it's a glorious one. And yes, everypony is best pony (except for Season 4 Pinkie, but she got better). Sweetie is totally my favorite avatar of destiny, though.
Do you ever print out any of the custom cards you come up with and play them?
What is your opinion on the pun and wordplay in general?
Do you think Princess Spoilerface's Wings will keep their proportional hugeness as she grows, or will they grow more slowly than the rest of her body? What would be the implications of the former scenario?
3817372
I've never playtested my custom cards.
English is my favorite toy. There's just so much to be had with it!
As for the Infernal Spawn of Infernal Spawn of Marketing, I want to say that she'll grow into her wings, but the idea of an albatross alicorn does amuse me. Even if that could end... poorly.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/evangelion/images/e/e1/Wings_of_Light_(Adam).png/revision/latest?cb=20120212154736
3817358
Slayers is awesome, but it's still coherent. Oh, and I took the sixteen factor test:
Warmth 2.2
Reasoning 3.6
Emotional stability 2.6
Dominance 2.1
Liveliness 2.3
Rule-consciousness 2.5
Social boldness 1.4
Sensitivity 3.3
Vigilance 1.6
Abstractedness 3.2
Privateness 2.7
Apprehension 2.2
Openness to change 3.5
Self-reliance 3
Perfectionism 1.5
Tension 1.3
3817398 Actually I got confused and meant the 16 personality type, my bad.
Now I will also be taking that test I gave you so that I understand what your results mean.
Are you much of a fan of any other TCG ex: Pokemon, magic the gathering etc?
~Leonzilla
3817416
I played the Pokémon game for a few years after it came out... Well, I say play, but really, I just collected them. After a point, I saw little use in spreading myself across two games and decided to focus on Magic. I'm familiar with the rules for Yu-Gi-Oh! and the Enterplay MLP game, but I don't have any cards for them.
Also, took the test you meant. Got INTP-T ("The Logician,") though as is usually the case when I take Myers-Briggs tests, the division between thinking and feeling was nearly even.
What is your favorite:
quote?
color (and I don't mean in MtG)?
mythical animal?
musical instrument?
onomatopoeia?
3817486
"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity."
—Albert Einstein
Orange
The Sphinx. I think.
Theremin
I like all onomatopoeias, so long as they really do look like they should sound.
3817435
On Myers-Briggs I usually register as INTP or INTJ, depending on my mood that day. The TF distinction is usually pretty slight, but consistently slightly favors thinking over feeling. I want to take that 16 factor test now, too, between my odd love for personality tests and wanting to know what the heck your results mean.
What is your favorite color in Magic? What is your favorite color pairing? Your favorite color trio? Also, what color(s) would you say you are? I think of myself as being Esper, since I have a ruthless drive to achieve through outmaneuvering others, but it's tempered by my love of order and for my fellow beings.
Are there any mythical (or perhaps real but amazing like the broadclub cuttlefish) creatures that you'd love to see crop up in MLP that haven't been explored there yet?
3817309
HEllo fellow Slayers fan!!!!!
Now, for questions.
1) why do you smell like bacon
2) Favorite fanfic outside of the fandom.
3) Least favorite fanfic (besides mine of course)
4) Most horrifying fanfic you found outside of Vengance chronicles, My immortal.
Who is your favorite Elder God and why?
3817528
Blue is best color. Green-blue is best pair, with blue-red a close second. URG is best trio. SCIENCE!
Not coincidentally, I see myself as those colors. However, I see myself as less Temur and more Riku of Two Reflections, the man who, rather than choose between disciplines of magic, cloned himself so he could master both, making him Magic's version of Dr. McNinja. I possess a blend of impulsive and obsessive creativity, with an unfortunate tendency towards emotional excess when sufficiently pushed.
As for creatures I'd like to see on the show, the standout would probably be the mantis shrimp. In a world where the superweapons are bright and cheery, the harbinger of blood-soaked rainbows would fit right in.
My results on the 16 factor test that was linked here: (scores are out of 4)
Warmth: 2.8
Reasoning: 3
Emotional Stability: 1.1
Dominance: 2
Liveliness: 2
Rule-Consciousness: 2.9
Social Boldness: 0.9
Sensitivity: 2.7
Vigilance: 1.6
Abstractedness: 3.5
Privateness: 1.4
Apprehension: 3.5
Openness to Change: 3
Self-Reliance: 3
Perfectionism: 2.9
Tension: 2.4
I feel pleased with the accuracy of the test. A lot of the ratings feel right. I realize an AMMA not targeting me may not be the best place to post this, so I'll delete it if you want.
Do you ever watch pony episodes with others? Or do you only ever watch them by yourself?
3817547
1. I don't. You're probably stalking the wrong person.
2. Civilization V: Peace Walker, one of the most incredible, improbable crossovers I have ever read, and one of the few narrative Let's Plays that ascends to a full-fledged story. The same player/author did a similar treatment for XCOM more recently. Both are great reads.
3, 4. I don't really look for bad stuff, and when I do find it, I put it out of my mind quickly. Better to focus on the positive.
3817552
Checking Wikipedia shows me that I'm not sufficiently familiar with any of the Elder Gods to pick a favorite. If you mean Lovecraftian entities in general, then Yog-Sothoth, which shouldn't be surprising given my own love of time-space shenanigans.
3817597
You can leave the results up if you want.
I greatly enjoy watching pony episodes with my sister and her wife when I visit them in Brooklyn. It's always fun seeing them independently confirm fandom memes, like how Gilda is acting like a textbook jealous girlfriend in "Griffon the Brush Off," or how Cherry Jubilee really does come off as a brothel owner in "The Last Roundup."
Did it surprise you to finally find a story of mine even you didn't like?
If I were to write an unusually stupid parody of one of your stories which one would it be and why?
Season six episode wish list?
MLP: the movie wish list?
3818430
I can't say I'm too surprised, though. That's where the most everything comes in. I know I have my limits and that not everyone shares those limits, which means there's a region of idea space that I will most likely nope out of no matter who's writing it.
Oh, you wrote that one. Didn't even notice until now.
I'd say the Season 5 bookends of A Mad Glimmer and A Crazed Gleam most deserve the Trampoline treatment.
As for what's to come, I take my ponies the way I take my Magic sets: I may speculate, but I'll accept just about anything they give me, so long as it isn't too stupid. (Note: The MLP comics cross the "too stupid" line with distressing frequency.)
3818488 I was just sad only one person guessed the song title.
3818738
As I said at the time, the Kinks aren't exactly my area of expertise.
3817100
Oddly enough, you started Magic at almost exactly the time I stopped. Except for a few one-offs from later trades, the latest set I own in any quantity is Fallen Empires, and a tiny smattering of Ice Age.
If you ever feel like rounding out your collection with a bunch of vintage stuff, I can cut you a deal. I've got one or two cards as far back as Beta, but mostly Revised and the early sets.
3817547
Maybe you want to stalk this guy?
3821135
Although, maybe I shouldn't tempt myself. I don't know if I've decided yet, but either I'm on a long hiatus or I've outright quit the game 
But keeping the cards for the future... that's a swell idea.
Say... are you only offering to Foamy?
t
Hmm... y'know, maybe I'll just leave you be, eh, horizon?
3847860
As a belated response, I'd like to give FOME first dibs since we've already been talking about this, but if that falls through (and if you're willing to backslide into the money sink again …) I'll drop you a line.