FUCKING EMOLGA

Emolga (Japanese: エモンガ Emonga) is a dual-type Electric/Flying Pokémon introduced in Generation V.

Emolga is a rodent-like Pokémon, primarily white in coloration, that most resembles a flying squirrel. It possesses facial features similar to Pachirisu’s, such as its eyes, tiny nose, and yellow cheek patches. Its ears, positioned at the top of its head, are rounded in shape and black in coloration, with yellow and white sections of coloration in the inside of its ears. Emolga sports a vaguely hood-like patterning of black around its head, with a spiky extension of the pattern above its face. Emolga possesses winglike, yellow-colored flaps connected to its three-fingered arms. Its feet are white-colored and fairly small and its black-colored tail is in a jagged shape.

Similar to Pikachu, Emolga can store electricity on its electric sacs located on its cheeks. When threatened, it releases this electricity to fend off other Pokémon. Emolga lives in the treetops and glides from tree to tree using its cape-like patagium, sometimes discharging its electricity.

This fucking thing. Oh my god, THIS FUCKING THING.

Emolga is the worst possible thing to come out of Pokémon in Generation V. It’s Electric/Flying dual typing gives it immunity to it’s primary weakness: Ground; and instead replaces it with a weakness to Rock and Ice. Normally this is fine, as the only other Pokémon with this typing are either legendary (Zapdos, Thundurus), or only acquired the typing in Gen V and aren’t available in Unova anyway (Fan Rotom).

However the primary problem with this thing is the fact that it appears so early in the game, and when it does start to appear, it appears in force. Through a combination of it’s 103 base Speed, Static ability, and early access to Double Team; this is the most annoying Pokémon you will come up against, especially if you lack the necessary tools to be able to dispatch it.

Part of the problem lies in the fact that Emolga appears prominently in the Electric-type Gym of Unova, in Nimbasa City. It is the 4th Gym of the region, which differs to the other Electric Gyms in Vermilion (3rd), Mauville (3rd), and Sunyshore (8th).

Another part is the lack of availability of Electric-types in general in Unova. At that point in the game only Blitzle/Zebstrika and Emolga are available, and as such the Gym also features only those two evolutionary lines. The other Electric-types of the region: Tynamo/Eelektrik/Eelektross, Joltik/Galvantula and Stunfisk all appear after the 5th Gym.

And finally, the lack of viable counters. The Ice-type does not come into play until the next town, which you cannot access before the 4th Gym battle. As for the Rock-type, there are a few more options, but unless you already have them, it may be too “out of the way” to bother with. Pokémon-wise, there are Roggenrola/Boldore/Gigalith or Dwebble/Crustle. Both have a high physical Attack and Defense, but suffer with a lack of Special Defense, opening them up to Volt Switch. Also, their lower Speed means getting an attack off before a Double Team is nigh impossible.

As well as that, the available moves aren’t great either. Smack Down is the best as it renders them vulnerable to Ground, but requires that it actually hits, which may be a pain given Double Team. Rock Slide requires a higher level, and has less accuracy, as does Rock Tomb from TM39 found in the desert.

In general, these fucking things were designed to make you tear your hair out, swear profusely at your DS, and to rage-eject the game cartridge before running it over with your car. Add to this the annoying strategy they employ with the Gym Leader (Double Team, then Aerial Ace in case you try the same, and Volt Change to GTFO to Zebstrika when the going gets too tough).

FUCKING EMOLGAS.

PS: On my Facebook page, you can find an album of images with other people’s expressions of anger, with regards to these little rodents. Also, feel free to express your anger at these things in the comments, or rant on Twitter with the hashtag #fuckingemolgas.

Been spending most of my time working on more videos for my YouTube channel. Hopefully all this effort will pay off soon, as right now I feel like I’m putting a ton more work in that several high-profile YouTubers who dapple in the same subject areas as I do, who are still more popular and gaining even more views and subs every day, whereas I’m sitting here just hoping that even a few hundred people will watch it.

Maybe I’ll rant something about the weather soon.

Oddly it actually has nothing to do with the BBC… But hell, I’ll go for it.

As the rules state, bold for completely read, italics for partially read. I may add other comments too.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
   

   Despite the fact I really don’t like the series, I did start reading the book. Probably because there’s three copies in the house…

3. Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series – JK Rowling (1-7)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations – Charles Dickens
11. Little Women – Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles – Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
    

    Think it was a class project in primary school at some point, to read this.

17. Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch – George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
    

    Never actually read the book fully, despite the fact I love the movie.

26. Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
    

    I think I did, much younger, but I can’t say for sure…

31. Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis
34. Emma – Jane Austen
35. Persuasion – Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
    

    Again, I think I have, ages ago when a kid, despite the fact I don’t like the entire set…

37. The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41. Animal Farm – George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
    

    It’s around the house, so I’ve read snippets.

43. One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45. The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50. Atonement – Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
52. Dune – Frank Herbert
    

    I think I’ve read some of this from one of those really old Reader’s Digest compilation books. Really should read it though, given how much I love the RTS games of the same series.

53. Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62. Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72. Dracula – Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett
    

    Sister had to read it for school, so inevitably, I had to read parts as well.

74. Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses – James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal – Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession – AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94. Watership Down – Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet – William Shakespeare
    

    Such a pity we did The Merchant of Venice in Junior, and King Lear for the Leaving :3

99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables – Vict

Well, I’m not very well read, I suppose

I really need to remind myself to write about it.

Maybe in the morning, when I can think properly.

I just need to remember to do so…

• Shower cubicle leaking even more than before, now affecting downstairs.
• An Post apparently not even bothering to deliver a massively huge parcel containing two pictures, it being so big it wouldn’t even fit in the car and so the boot had to be left hanging open with my sister squashed in behind my seat and the picture.
• Finding the hammer that was supposed to be in the cutlery drawer in the toolbox with the other hammer. When sliding the toolbox out to get it, something fell in behind it and so when having to take everything out of the cupboard to lift the thing to slide the toolbox back in – which I think was the massive extension cord – something fell out and left a huge gash in my left foot.
• The last Lucozade bottle of the pack, after my sister had been at them getting one for herself, practically exploding on me at my desk.
• While attempting to remove the address from the parcel to prepare for recycling, after removing the bit that was taped on, to find a part-written address underneath on the main layer.
• A very weird dream in which all of a sudden my relationship with the rest of the UKCS TF2 admin team takes a massive nose-dive after I join a game around half 9 in the evening, spawn as Pyro and literally 2 seconds later die to a Sniper headshot, before uttering “What the flying FUCK?” in the presence of Funky, Odgor and someone else, causing them all to suddenly turn on me. Even this one doesn’t make sense to me.
• Going to bed before 11 after almost falling asleep while watching another one of my YouTube subscriptions, finding myself lying awake in bed at half 3, and unable to fall back asleep for the next hour, hence me getting up and finishing this off.

FML

So my plan for Eirtakon in October this year is to go as Sora from Kingdom Hearts 2. But not just in his plain self, I’m going to go as him in one of his “Drive Forms” – basically alternate coloured costumes. However, I can’t pick which one, so I’m asking for a little help with this

All five of his Drive Forms can be found here: http://www.finalfantasyworld.co.uk/khextreme/kh2/kh2_drivemode.php

There are the three more basic options in the Valor, Wisdom and Master forms.

However, there’s also the more complicated choices in his Final form, and finally the biggie – his Anti form.

Any ideas what you think would go well? I’m not going to say what one(s) I think would work best until a bit further down just in case it influences your decision

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Right, this should be far enough.

While I would love to try Anti form, it’d be too much work, especially with the all-black might mean the character is unrecognisable!

Personally, the two I’m thinking of doing one of are firstly Final form, and if that doesn’t work out Wisdom form.

Either way, I seriously hope I can get this sorted for October. It might seem like ages away but it’s closing in really fast

Usually I don’t mind being under the weather, but what with recently been trying to make more gaming videos, and this massive coughing fit rendering me completely incapable of doing so, lest my commentary be broken off every minute or so as I feel yet another tickle in my throat.

Another reason for groaning is after noticing how packed up my calendar is looking over the next few months, which is likely to get worse as more things are arranged over the next few weeks. Especially all the few weeks leading from mid-June through July…
If you really want to, the public view of my calendar (encompassing college, gaming, and selected public events – but only showing my free/busy status of personal events) is viewable on the contact page. And then you too can groan with me…

At least you don’t have to see my view of my calendar, which also shows public holidays, Facebook events, Facebook birthdays, sporting events…

Will probably write something soon, especially as I found a bunch of pictures on my old camera’s memory stick that I never took off of it and looked at.

Also really need to do that “A Bear Mind” I told myself I would.

Argh, I blame my shitty calendar (see the Contact page for my embedded shared Google Calendar…)

Tomorrow, yes?

Only real issue is that I have no idea what to talk about. So, I suppose maybe I could go on about some of the odd mugs that Crispy has dotted around his room somewhere, that he never uses.

So, this first one is his Sylvester shaped mug. Not sure when he got it, but I know it was from some store in Liffey Valley, and was definitely at least 6 or 7 years ago, because at this stage I was still his sister’s bear.

Crispy's Sylvester Mug

Next up is this odd little mug that is apparently from Crispy’s christening. Thus making it at least 19 years old, almost twice my age! On the back it says: “Bunnykins celebrate your christening”. I have know idea who Bunnykins is, and I definitely don’t think it’s Baby Bunny.

Crispy's Christening Mug

And finally there’s his mug from Gaelcon 2008. Himself and Seán from college went and bought a pair of mugs, of which only 72 were made, and each one is numbered. Since they went so early they got some of the best choices of witty numbering systems. Crispy settled for number 3, while Seán got number 42 – and I think you can figure out what is written on the bottom!

Crispy's Gaelcon 08 Mug

Crispy's Gaelcon Mug Number

So, ummm, yea. We can haz Blacknight mug nao, kthxbai?

Just go there, and watch how everyone willingly shows how they are a fucking moron by making a mockery of our national holiday by thinking it’s all about drinking, and by spelling it wrong.

Eejits, the lot of them.

And while you’re at it, tag everything you write today with that hashtag. Hopefully then that’ll help to get the word across.

Don’t judge me, just… do whatever.

Alright, maybe it’s more about the one plan – meet up again with many people, reconnect and chat away. But after the bear’s "Wall of Fame" last year and his trip up to Rick’s host platform, I’m wondering about what sort of party pieces I’ll make him do this year

I want to get some feedback from everyone, mainly since you’ll all be involved in it with the bear. How about I make some sort of video where everyone comes up, holds the bear, and says something to the camera about him – maybe something along the lines of "Hi, I’m xxxxx, and I wuv Baby Bear!"

Or possibly send him all Mission Impossible style up to the mic or into the slideshow (if there is one this year) just so that he can be in plain view of everyone. And maybe plug his Twitter account as well!

One more thing – what’s the general plan for getting there? Is everyone driving themselves, or is there a mass exodus on the train? Or are you all getting the plane again?

So I’ve decided to run a little contest for people – or at least those who actually read this…

At with most people I tend to acquire a bunch load of small change from the shops, which gets gathered together at home and eventually – and I mean eventually – gets changed into proper, more usable forms of money. Right now I’m using a ziploc bag in my room to hold my change until the time comes.

So here’s the contest. See that bag? Guess how much is there. The bag is about two-thirds full, and filled only with coppers – 1c, 2c and 5c. At some point in the future I will either get it changed into proper cash, or I’ll set aside an hour or two and tediously go through it myself so that I have some highlight of my day to talk about.

I don’t know myself how much is there. Could be very little (although that’s not very likely given the sheer amount of coins in it), or it could be a lot. Since I’ve nothing better to offer, whoever guesses closest to the actual amount in there when I get it changed – and bear in mind, I could still add my day to day coppers to it between now and then – gets the total donated to a charity of their choice.
As long as I can do it online.

So ummm, go nuts!

EDIT 16th Feb @ 06:04 – Here’s an extra video to go with it

Unless you’ve been under a rock and haven’t been noticing the Fantasy Premier League this week, you’ll have noticed Rooney’s scoring in both the first match, and his quad in the second match. Those combined with all the bonuses, and most importantly captaincy, resulted in this:

Bloody brilliant. Except for the fact that just-about everyone in the game did the same…

Then came the finding out of the news that the HeartGold and SoulSilver arc for PokéSpecial has been announced as actually going to happen! Just as bloody brilliant as well – GSC is my second favourite arc of the series (after RS of course!) and Gold is one of my favourite characters of them all. It will be interesting to see what happens, especially if he and Silver are now both coming of age – seeing as they were thirteen in their last appearance in the Emerald arc, and now they’ve taken on the qualities and facial structure changes as what Red looked like in FRLG when he had turned sixteen.

Besides, the HGSS outfit is even more win now that I see how manga Gold looks in it. It was badass enough on the in-game Hibiki, but with the youth of the kid… Now though, with teenage Gold, with his same goggles and snooker cue as before…

Let’s just say I now have a fuck-ton more research before Nom-Con…

Also, three-page preview courtesy of Coronis is even more win, despite the fact that there’s not all that much in it, other than the blatantly obvious evolution of Ataro to an Ambipom.

Just. Win.

After last year’s epic fix whereas that "Aloha Arleen" or whatever-you-call-her won in personal over our good friend McAWilliams just because she had exponentially more followers, I say we try an easier category to fix this year.

While I’m aware that the gaming category isn’t an official category, it’s still a fairly significant community category.

So, what are you waiting for? Get stacking that vote for yours truly already!

It really doesn’t help when I have a pretty good Raptr rank achievement-wise either…

Seriously? It’s like why are Subway subs always nicer when you get them toasted, despite them charging an extra 20c for it (except in Westmoreland St. – epic win there). And why are chicken and turkey nicer when roasted?

I’ve had nothing else really to post lately… *sweatdrop*

There’s still stuff here?

Been way too busy recently to get the energy or the drive to write up anything. I blame Eirtakon, the LAN, crummy UNICEF Soc events that didn’t need us for two hours, pub nights, AMS, Games Soc in general, Left 4 Dead 2, and the like.

Remind me to post stuff again soon. Maybe after I finish updating the site with things and stuff. Needs more bear comics, game reviews, links and the like.

Ugh, effort…

Other than the con, there’s also a bit of work we on the Games Soc committee will be doing to get ready for the BYOPC LAN the weekend after. So the majority of Friday will be spent in the Helix checking out the space that we have (which, rather handily, is known as the space ) and just making sure that everything is running fine. Most important thing is to check the Internet connection and to make sure that all the ports are available for use, as we can’t have people arriving with their machines and then finding that half of the competitors haven’t got all their games and Steam up-to-date. And there may also be a general issue of overall room, but that really does depend all on numbers and whether we get them or not. Still it should be a good weekend, as this is the first LAN we’ll have had where I have an actual decent computer. <3 TheAlmightyBear!

If you’re looking for specs of the machine, apparently Xfire has them.

As for the con itself, I should be there for the whole weekend. I’m definitely going to be there Friday night for the quiz (since I’m around campus that day anyway!), although whether you will see me as Hibiki like you will both other days, I’m still not sure about. But yes, I’ll be there the whole entire weekend, from opening Saturday to closing Sunday. How long I spend in the middle is the real question, although I think one of my friends who lives nearby is loaning me his couch for the night so I don’t have far to go after whatever trip out Saturday night, and I can actually make it in on time Sunday morning

I still have a couple of things I need to do for my cosplay, but for the most part things are done. I say for the most part, because I’m not entirely too sure if I can be bothered to finish it off – and it’s not like I’m going for full-blown accuracy or anything. Then again rushed jobs never hurt people. No sneaky previews still (because I’m not arsed trying to photograph myself), but no recoiling in horror when you do see me. One problem with trying to do a circa ten-year-old kid is that your body’s physiology is much different.
Brrr, my legs are cold

One good thing that I did manage to come across yesterday, while in Penneys exchanging down a size for my costume (while the size I had was fine for me personally, it didn’t work too well for the actual costume itself) was in Smyths with a whole bunch of little plastic Pokémon figurine sets going on BOGOF. So, now my con bag is filled with them, just in case people still have no idea who I am. Also, I think Fiona is loaning me her Togepi plushie for the weekend (that she had when she went as Misty for Halloween), which will definitely help! Now, I just wonder whether or not I’m going to make the bear into a Teddiursa or something…