Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On

 The follow-up series from Hot Girls Wanted (which I still have to see btw), this series is now streaming on Netflix.

And I must say, it went more dramatically as the episodes progressed.

While the first episode is about how women want to make adult content for women, to break the industires taboo of abuse, the second one is about a Tinder addicted C-grade celebrity (he was in Big Brother once) that used women's feelings as a fast food throw-away good.

It then gets up a notch, as it follows someone that gives advice to novice actrices into the industry, and how one of them derails on a life of partying and drugs so they cut the ties (though the actress is still active today).  Episode four sees through the eyes of a budding producer and the work that goes with it, this was actually a pretty intresting and "human side" episode, perhaps even the most honest one of the series.

 

The next episode follows a friendship between a camgirl and one of her best viewers, but as she goes over to visit him it does end in the expected heartbreak.

My one issue with the 5th episode is that her boyfriend is "just a photographer" in the industry and painted the picture of the innocent bloke, but he is an actor that worked for more extremer labels like Kink and the likes.

The last episode however goes far beyond the previous ones, as in a hunt for more likes on social media, a young girl films the rape of her friend, without calling the police or trying to stop it.  This leads to a huge media fall-out, and even though the truth was more nuanced, she has been burned on the online stake.

These where intresting mini-documentaries, and worth the watch.

Sakugan

 So, it is only normal I took this mecha anime as the letter S, because in the Super Mecha Champions videogame I have both the mecha as well as the main characters skins active.

But let's actually view this series, that was a bit of a break-out hit when it came out.

It takes place in the far future, where humanity lives in an underground world called Labyrinth, and with several colonies that have severe circumstances to live in.  Memempu is a curious 9-year old that lives with her father, a digger called Gagumber.  

But when they set out to look for her mother, they meet a huge creature, but the map her father has is worth an awful lot due to the dangers of making it outside the colonies.  But they go on the journey none-the-less of the dangers involved.  On board their mecha, Little Tony, they set out beyond the colonies borders, exploring the surrounding area.

 

She learns as how markers like her dad travel from base camp to base camp to recharge and how to read maps. Stubborn as she is to follow her own map, she jumps in a chasm and is soon attacked by monsters, but Gagumber arrives to save her in Little Tony.  They escape, but are greeted by the excentric Merooro of the Control Agency.

As they stay at his base, Gagumber goes out to the bar, ending up flirting with a beautiful lady when he is stopped and reprimanded by Memempu.  But a heist suddenly takes place on the bar, and Gagumber faces the crooks, before being knocked out and taken along by them.  In captivity, he learns the girls name is Zackletu, a wanted criminal.  She helps him escape, before saying her goodbyes.

Merooro takes them along to an old machine created by the ancerstors, revered as the God of Wind, while showing sights of the landscapes nearby the other colonies.  Memempu figures out the machine on the map she has, and they start crossing the landscape.  They encounter Yuri and his men, who thinks they are villains.  They want to take out the corrupt ruler of the colony, and Yuri wants to do it harshly but is stopped thanks to Gagumber.  But they had infiltrated the videospread, bringing him down that way.  Yuri decides to join them in their journey through the Underworld.  

 

 

Memempu saves them from poisonous flowers they had unknowingly picked up along the way, as Memempu sees it in a dream.  Gagumber learns that Zackletu is actually the younger sister of his former partner Rufus, "Zack" whom he always though was a boy, and she blames him for what happened to her older sibling.  This leads to a serious confrontation, Gagumber being gravely injured. They manage to set their differences though and move on together on their adventure.

 

Merooro returns, saving them from a plant induced stupor, and expunges the criminal records of Yuri and Zackletu.  He tries to bring forth his own agenda, but Gagumber doesn't like him, opposing his request.   But the base is being attacked all of a sudden, Memempu being the target as she is referred to as the Rainbow Child.  Together, Merooro and Gagumber manage to bring her into safety though, the former getting injured in the process causing Gagumber to be grateful to him.

They meet Sina, the diva of Dream Colony who flees from her rigorous life with Memempu, doing misschief in the colony before she must return to her former life, thankfull she could live a day without her obligations, just doing what she wanted.  But Shibito has followed them here, attacking during the concert of Sina and abducting Memempu to show her her real father.  She is told she isn`t really Gagumber's daughter, nor that she is human.  But Gagumber sticks with her, and together they face their peril and escape.  

So this was an enjoyable series, even though it's story hasn`t finished for a long time.  I hope there will be a second season, because this was fun stuff to watch...

 

 

Liar, Liar

 Okay, the "cover" for this series gave off a No Game No Life vibe, so I started watching it as soon as it came out.

And put in on my Summer Fantasy Anime League...

Reading the synopsis, I guess I can expect a love child between NGNL and Kakegurui, with a school where games decides the rankings of the students.  Except Hiroto Shinohara isn't that skilled, and by sheer accident defeats the "Empress", the Seven Star of the 3rd District, Sarasa.

His District 4 headmistress decides to make an elaborate rouse, putting him in place as a Seven Star himself, even though it is all build around a big lie, and he discovers the Empress was actually a double for her.  He is supported by The Company, who help him out to win his games and retain his position, by picking out his games and influencing them.

The headmistress reveals her plan to have Hiroto defeat the owners of Unique Stars, that way he can raise his level never the less, while being actually maxed out as part of the lie.  And as such become the first multi-coloured Seven Star.  But for his next challenge, he must face not only his servant Himeji, but in a game that is seriously stacked against him, a game created by Akizuki, one of the Six Stars on campus.  But his faith in Himeji is absolute, so the game ends a draw.

He soon faces his next challenge, a tabletop treasure hunt.  Akizuki is a tough opponent though, but using his cheat skill abilities, and the help of his team, he manages to swiftly catch her thanks to a ruse using the airconditioning system.  But she uses the Alter Fate skill to make the answer never happen, but thanks to Pinch hitter he had changed the conditions of who she'd beat, and infected her with curses on her device instead.  

He realises the girl was forced, and goes to the office of her headmaster, confronting him.  He and Akizuki are the last ones standing for the event, and the final game is one between teams of each division that they are still a member off, meaning that Hiroto not only has to deceive his enemies, but his allies as well.  But then the true Empress turns up again, challenging her placeholder to defeat Hiroto to keep the name and the position.  

At the gathering of the finalists of each dorm house, he meets a variety of opponents, all with their known strentghs.  But he is challenged by the "real" Empress in a virtual reality game.  He faces Kurugumi, and when he corners her, she uses a special skill to escape though.  But for some scheme, he eliminates himself from the game, telling his team this will work for them to obtain victory.  During a pokemon like game, he needs to square of against Shiina, a young playful girl he met earlier.  

But he has managed to gather more players to his alliance to face off "miss Hundred Faces", as he develops a plan to bring her down once and for all.  To that end, he needs to add the Demon Maiden to his list of allies.  But facing off her final champions, top stars from other academies, he also loses some of his friends down the line.  So on the final day, he and Saionji need to face her by themselves.  He concocts a plan forcing the other's to protect him in a game of Crossboards together with Shiina.  

 

He corners Kurahashi as a result, tracking him down and sending Himeji and all the others to confront him in his office and taking the victory.

To be honest, while I thought this series started fun, it rapidly dwindled to a rather average affair unfortunatly.  So while it has it's moments, it won't be a series I'll be remembering for a long time I fear.

Unboxing Saint Cosmo Memoir Seiya

 The latest addition to my Saint Seiya collection, this was another figure won over at the TokyoCatch crane game app.

So when it arrived, I went to unbox it of course, so let's have a look at the little video clip.

I love his uniform, albeit it only featured briefly in the series (basically, only in the first half of the first episode) before he changed to his traditional blue jeans and red shirt outfit, yet that training styled figure has something, I don`t know how to say it, powerfull about it.

 

So, probably one of the last figures of the year to be honest, as I have nothing lined up beyond him in pre-orders for now.  Though you never know what the gacha gods might throw in my lap...

On the Painting Desk 247

 Onwards we go, as we tackle the final stretches of the tournament army.

Well, final is perhaps a bit of an understatement...

 

But with the Lord nearly done we can start on the warriors, the last unit to round out the army for now.

 

 

After that?  More Chaos Dwarfs of course, but I will also be tackling a warband for Underworlds in order to get out and play on a friday evening for example. 

But that is far off music, let's get some good progress in on those warriors first now, shan't we.

Prepare for Orktober with Wayland Games

 With the arrival of the new book, Wayland is running it's usual pre-order promotions with up to 20% discount.

And as it is all about Orruks and big beasties, this is right on time for Orktober!

So take a peek, and if you want to be so gentle, do so by going there with the banner on top of this blog and help this little affiliate out a little!

The Haul Report 373

 Last sunday, in a blistering heat, there was a garage sale market near my mother's house.

So together with Thorin and his grandmother, we did a tour (quickly, as it was already 31 degrees at 10 o' clock), scoring some good things for the little man like two boxes of Duplo and some V-Tech cars.

But I also found something nice for myself, namely a Big Zam prize figure, which over time I`ll be repainting and basing for MechaTop!

And finally, a little Etsy order came in with two printed Chaos Dwarf Merchants, who will become crew for the Naptha Cannon...

So an excellent week all round for certain, but now we are going to dwindle back because the holiday season is slowly approaching, and I don't want to buy up my christmas list beforehand...

Huzzaaah, the 100th beer discovery of 2023

 Okay, so I had set the bar at 50 new discoveries to make this year, but some trips abroad and a beerfestival smashed that number already by july.

And now, I have officially "tapped" my 100th new beer on Untapped for this year.

The honour goes to:

 

 

Let's call this one a tribute to Noshi! 

 

And not only is this a year goal milestone, it is also the 5000th post on this blog!!!!

Money Shot: The Pornhub Story

 Announced as a sensational investigation documentary into that one site nobody knows but pops up in your browser as soon as you type the letter P, what you get is what feels like a corporate video.

A dull one to boot as well...

The thing is, there are two red lines through this documentary.  On the one hand, how both adult stars and amateurs alike make now gazillions of dollars by uploading content to digital platforms... and the fact that since Donald Trump signed the FOSTA / SESTA law, Pornhub, and it's parent company MindGeek, cannot be held responsible for the content that is uploaded.

First of all, the money thing is very relative, because not everyone makes the millions as the adult stars that are brought to the fore like Siri Dahl.  Secondly, when they come to the tale of an exploitation from a young girl when her ex uploaded a nude video of her, it gets painfull.  Even more painfull if you google Serena Fleites and the parts of the story that aren't shown in this "promotional documentary".

The rest of the documentary follows the regular pattern of these days: interviews, snippets of social media articles, and comments on those without really going in any deeper on given subject.  It also follows the rise of MindGeek / Pornhub, and the fallout for the executives when some christian organisations out to ban porn alltogether from the internet come into the mix, including the burning down of a mansion from one of the CEO's.

It also follows how an article written by Pulitzer price winning journalist Nicholas Kristoff set the ball in motion on how Mastercard and Visa withdrew from the platform, and the panic it brought as OnlyFans also declared (for a whole week before coming back on it) that they would ban adult content of the site.  But the incomes of the site come from banner adds, so it missed the ball and hit mostly the content creators instead of the platform.

All in all, it was a documentary that said a lot without actually saying anything, and I can imagine it got watched so much and talked about so much due to the subject, and not the content.  Like it tricked me into watching this, and it won`t be remembered for long...