Featured Cosplayer: PippiStix

While at Wizard World St. Louis I had the opportunity to meet and talk to PippiStix! She was one of the many amazing cosplayers at this years event and she was more than willing to send us some of her recent cosplays photos and tell us about them! Here is what she had to say! 

Our official Gearbox/2K Borderlands: Pre-Sequel group photo by Photography by Darshelle StevensMoxxi is CnidariumWilhelm is Stupid Sexy RobotNisha is Sam SkylerClaptrap was made by Black & Nobo CosplayJack is Ryan CrypticAthena is meeeee!!!

Our official Gearbox/2K Borderlands: Pre-Sequel group photo by Photography by Darshelle Stevens

Moxxi is Cnidarium
Wilhelm is Stupid Sexy Robot
Nisha is Sam Skyler
Claptrap was made by Black & Nobo Cosplay
Jack is Ryan Cryptic
Athena is meeeee!!!

It was great to run into you. Haha! Again, it's pretty cool you're interested in my nonsense. I love chatting about cosplay and gaming, sharing tips and tricks, and all that jazz...

I mostly do game characters because that's what I'm most passionate about for sure. BioWare and Gearbox are my babies. Lol! They are also amazing to their fans. I normally do a new costume every few months or so. I don't get to attend as many conventions as I would like due to finances, but we normally get out to one also every few months or so! I think my next one will be PAX Prime, unless I can some how magically squeeze Gen Con in.

Here are some of  my cosplays from Wizard World and also just a few of my favorites in. ;}

This is what I wore Saturday and it was thrown together in four days. My lovely gal pal and I both fell in love with Mad Max Fury Road, so thought doing this last minute was a fine idea. Weeeeee!!!! I'm dressed as Capable and she is the badass Furiosa! Her name is Fox Smith.

Photo by Toochie (he's my friend and doesn't have a page or anything and he hates the nickname Toochie, so imma roll with it.) Mwhahahaha...

Photo by Toochie (he's my friend and doesn't have a page or anything and he hates the nickname Toochie, so imma roll with it.) Mwhahahaha...

I was Leliana from Dragon Age: Inquisition on Sunday. I've loved her since the first Dragon Age and was actually challenged by Allegra Clark (the voice of Josephine in Inquisition) to make her chainmaille ensemble, so I had to! 

My favorite costume that I've done is my Demon Hunter from Diablo III. It was my first time using the thermoplastic worbla and also had the most rewarding end result. I won Best Female Hero with her at Wizard World STL last year.

Photo by CosIt Photography

Photo by CosIt Photography

Photo by Kurtis Ohse

Photo by Kurtis Ohse

Aaaand lastly, before this turns into a giant novel!!!! I entered a contest for Gearbox/2K and actually won for my character. I won a trip to PAX Prime last year and got to officially rep as Athena from Borderlands:The Pre-Sequel. It was pretty damn amazing and something I shall never forget. I made some amazing friends along the way!!! I also got to shoot with Darshelle Stevens, which was pretty insane.

Okay, I've rambled enough! Weeeeeeee!!!

I just wanted to take a brief moment to thank PippiStix! It was great meeting you and even better that you took the time to send us some of your cosplay's! Be on the look out for more PippiStix featured here at LivingTheNerdLife.com in the future we have some big things planned!

Thanks again! -Joe

Monstrous Review

Monstrous: The Game Of Mythic Mayhem is a light strategy card game featuring terrifying monsters from greek folklore being sent down by players acting as vengeful greek Gods seeking to increase the faith of the masses. The game allows for 2-5 players to compete in quick paced, action packed combat for the prayers of a terrified populace and roughly takes about 30 minutes to play.

During the game players will be throwing their cards at different locations based on ancient greek cities and mythic locations like Athens, Thebes, and Mt Olympus. Each of these locations have special effects when they get attacked by a monster and give the person attacking it “faith points”. The person with the highest amount of faith points wins the game.

The gameplay of this game is very interesting and is something that I haven’t seen in a strategy/territory control card game. In most games of this type you would take a card with some certain abilities and tactfully choose what base to play it on in a battle of wits. This game takes that and makes it insanely challenging, risky, and very thrilling. You see, in monstrous you are throwing these monsters down from the heavens literally. To play a card you must throw it at a small cluster of locations from outside the table. Which is way more difficult than it looks, especially if you have a slick table! This can lead to some very well layed plans going horribly awry as the wrong flick of your wrist causes your cyclops to go sailing over the great city of Thebes and straight into the underworld.

As the game goes on the play area starts to get crowded with all sorts of monsters that can potentially trap, harm, or block your throws causing you to have to make judicious use of what monster you are willing to put in harms way and ramping up the pressure to make a perfect toss. There were so many times in this game that a misplaced throw actually wound up working out way better with crazy unpredictable results causing a chain reaction of mythic proportions that changed the game entirely.

The card throwing mechanic is a great game balancer for kids and adults to enjoy and is great for bringing a small group together. As you throw you can move around the table, visit with other guests and laugh and have a great time as you get to throw things to wildly different results. Since it is pretty tricky to get a card to land on a certain location gameplay is unpredictable and very enjoyable for a casual crowd.\

But just because the throwing mechanic can achieve some random results don’t think that this game is without any strategy. Each monster card is double sided. One side has a common power that all monsters share which is to gain 1 faith per hit monster and location and one side has special powers that have different effects depending on which target it hits. One might score more points based on the monsters it hits, one can be rethrown if it misses a location, while another can work as a trap and score you points whenever a monster lands on it. Smart choices on which cards you throw can give you a huge advantage in the game.

Which locations you target can also be a big strategic factor. You can choose to go for a target that gives you big faith points but doesn’t have a very attractive bonus effect or you can aim for a location that has a bonus effect that triggers well with your special ability to create amazing point generating combos. The people that can see these combos are often the ones that win the game.

Gameplay is surprisingly very simple considering how much variability there is in this game. Each turn you throw a monster card, resolve the effect of landing on a trap monster, activate and monster and location powers, gain faith from landing on a location, take an extra throw if you have earned one, draw a card and end the turn. Play is fast easy and fun and it makes for a great filler game and an even greater end of the night game when people have had a few drinks and are making some sloppy plays, the cards really start to fly then.

The game also scales in complexity and offers advice on which locations to include in your game based on how complex you want to get. You can have a simple straightforward game of throw, score, pass. or you can have complex games with lots of redraws and retrieval from the discard pile to extend the length of the game. There is also a Legendary ruleset that will allow you to release the mighty kraken that gives every player a chance to destroy a ton of monsters with it’s many giant tentacles. The sample version has really cool clay pottery artwork on the legendary monster cards which will be replaced with and even more amazing set of cards that match the art style of rest of the game. What’s even cooler is that there is a stretch goal for new kraken art. The kraken cards will then be able to be put together to create a large picture depicting mass mythic destruction!

I can’t talk about this game and not mention the artwork. The designers went all out finding the perfect artwork to depict their mythical world and the game benefits greatly from it! Each card bears realistic depictions of mythic monsters and locations and they draw you into the game with their beauty. It feels like you’re throwing around a piece of fine artwork and the table looks amazing and terrifying when you see a bunch of these cards strewn about. I played a prototype version of this game and if the art is this impressive for a sample print I can’t imagine how amazing it will be for the final production copy. Huge kudos to the artists for their spectacular work.

Another thing I love about these cards are their feel. They used thick core card stock with linen to give it a great grippable and durable feel. This game will last you through a lot of throws and still come out looking great. Most companies would not go through the expense to put out such great components and I’m glad that this game has them!

The designers also had a great idea to include some very helpful player aids. Each player will get a card that details the phases of each turn to assist with scoring as well as a large playmat to not only help differentiate their monster decks from their underworld discards which can be confusing since all cards are double sided but it also gives valuable information on each monsters special ability as well as the special abilities of each location. In a game where very important text can be difficult to read when covered up by other cards these player aids are a very valuable addition.

The game is not without a few flaws however. Since this is a dexterity game, and a challenging one at that, play strongly favors the experienced. If someone has mastered the game to a level where she can effectively throw a card and hit whatever she aims at she will absolutely trounce a group of inexperienced competitors. It is best to play this game with people at a similar skill level to prevent frustration. A good thing that the game designers thought up was a rules variant to allow for younger gods to compete with older ones. Using these rules with newbies could help in game balance.

The faith tokens are also a little bland. For a game that prides itself so highly on amazing artwork, settling for very cartoony flames with generic looking bold numbers does not look very exciting. A huge opportunity was lost in not giving these tokens equally great artwork. The theme would also be greatly improved by adding a Greek styled font to the numbering. It just doesn’t feel very exciting to get these points which is kind of sad considering that they are what you’re supposed to be desiring in the game. Hopefully they correct this in the final release.

Finally the borders that denote which cards belong to which players are challenging to distinguish. Each players set of cards has a simple border with a different design on it. The problem is that they are hard to tell apart. Especially in dim lighting. Since each piece of artwork has a tendency to overlap these borders along with them being covered up by other cards landing on them it can be very difficult to distinguish whose cards are whose. 

If you are looking for a great light strategy game with a cool theme and very unique gameplay I would strongly suggest backing this game on kickstarter. The play is so varied and crazy that no two games will ever be the same. It is also a joy to look at. $29 will get you a copy of this game with all shipping included and all of the stretch goals, though not a tremendous deal considering you are only getting some cards and cardboard it is definitely a fair price for what you get. The price tag is most likely at the higher side of most card games mainly because you are paying for a much higher level of artwork and card quality than is seen in most games.

If you want to back Monstrous and get your own copy of the game check it out on kickstarter at : https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1960349413/monstrous-the-game-of-mythic-mayhem

Or check out Secret Base Games at: http://secretbasegames.com/

 

As always thank you very much for reading this review! For more in depth board game reviews and quick kickstarter previews as well as news and reviews on all things nerdy, geeky, and awesome check out livingthenerdlife.com!

Futurama POP! Vinyl Review

Who else here is a Futrama fan?! I know I am. It’s been one of my favorite cartoon series for years. Somehow, I liked it more than The Simpsons. Yes, I said it and will probably receive hate mail for it. But no matter, this isn’t about the show itself, but about the Pops! I recently added the whole line up to my collection (got them very reasonably off Ebay for anyone who’s looking for them).

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These Pops almost seem the most fun out of all the ones I have. Let’s break each one of them down:

1. Fry – I think what he’s most noticed for his is hair flip in the front and his red jacket. Both details present and accounted for. However, he seems so basic. Nothing TOO special about his detail.

2. Bender – Bender is great! Oh Oh oh OH Bender is great! Admit it, you sang it because he does. I like that they gave his eyes a little attitude, as he’s always made in the funniest ways and wants to kill all humans. Plus, the beer bottle is a nice touch. If you watch the show, then you’re aware robots need alcohol to sustain life (don’t we need the same thing as humans to sustain sanity while in the work force?).

3. Leela – Not an Alien! She’s a mutant! Remember?! Anyway, has her signature white tank top, purple hair and big boots. However, just like Bender, she also has her one eye in a position that shows she’s not amused with your antics.

4. Robot Devil – One of my favorite characters. He’s supposed to be evil, yet Funko put the grin on his face. I think that’s the best feature on this one. He’s one of the happiest, evil characters I’ve ever seen!

I really love the details that go into Funko as a whole. Hopefully they do more of the Futurama characters. Frankly, I’d like aFunko Pop of Scruffy The Janitor. What do you think? Who from Futurama would YOU like to see?! Don’t forget to add me on Instagram - @lorneondrums – for more Funko fun!

Gamers On The Go #15 | Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

World 8 Podcast host and proud member of KC SRK, AJ Hurst, returns to GOTG to talk about one of the true classics of the Game Boy: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

Tune in to hear what SML2 has in common with Animal Crossing, how Wario became the face of Nintendo on handhelds, and listen to our random discussion of why handheld fighting games are terrible.

Geekly Podcast #97 | Forgot about DJedi

Host: Melwheezy , (Xbox LIVE Melwheezy 
(Twitter) @melwheezy
Co-host :TechDre (Twitter) @Geekly_Tech_Dre
Co-host : D_Jedi1 (PSN) (Twitter) @d_jedi1 
E-mail geeklypodcast@gmail.com 
www.geeklypodcast.com

Geek Headlines
- Jon Bernthal aka Shane will play Punisher in Daredevil Season 2
- Final Jurassic World Trailer Review
- Geek Tyrant Loves Jurassic World

Interview - Chris and creators of "Iggy's Egg Adventure"

Break Song - Awolnation "Sail(Unlimited Gravity Dubstep Remix)" by Active Melody Dubstep

Everything Games
- Iggy's Egg Adventure Impressions
- Tech Times did a NBA2K15 Finals simulation that said the Golden State Warriors win the Finals in six games
- Splatoon full review
- Razor in talks to purchase OUYA
- Reboot Rachet and Clank looks really good
- Wireless adapter coming this fall to us Xbox One controller on Windows 10
- Samsung TV's get Playstation Now game streaming service
- Hyrule Warriors is coming to 3DS

Tech w/Tech Dre
- iPhone 6S rumors
- Apple Watch getting same anti-theft feature as iPhone
- Apple Music launches on June 30 
- New Square reader to accept Apple Pay and other NFC payments and cards with chips
- Apple brings side by side multitasking to iPad in iOS 9

Ending Song - "Daredevil Theme(Netflix)-Styzmask Remix" by Styzmask

Mobile Game of the Week: ZOMBIEBUCKET

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Game: ZOMBIEBUCKET

Seller: ONE MORE LEVEL S.A.

Version: 1.0.3

Size: 28.9 MB

Rating: 9+ for the following: Infrequent/Mild Cartoon or Fantasy Violence

This week I bring to you another mobile game that helped get me through some down time while on vacation. Last week I brought to you a review on RAD Boarding, this week: ZOMBIEBUCKET! ZOMBIEBUCKET is like any other "Connect the same color/shape/object" game but with a bloody zombie killing twist. Your phone screen is your bucket and your bucket is envaded by hordes of zombies. Where these zombies come from is anybody's guess but it sure is fun killing them! The object of the game is to connect like-colored zombies to destroy them. The more you chain together the bigger the blood bath.  

Here are my positives and negatives about the game:

 

Positive:  

Gameplay // simple and enjoyable easy to pick up and play for a quick fix

Graphics // chubbie 8-bit square zombies that you pop or collect nothing that will blow your mind but it is easy on the eyes

Freemium // this is a free game with in-app purchases

 

Negative: 

Freemium // running out of lives was the only downfall for me but I could have paid for more

 

What did you think about ZOMBIEBUCKET? I thouroughly enjoyed this game and too my surprise so did my wife. In fact on the flight back to Missouri she played it more than me. This is where my one negative about the game came in, running out of lives. Anyways I would love to hear what you thought about the game, let me know in the comments below. 

 

SUPER HOT! Zombiebucket update coming soon!