Ah, beautiful day. Yesterday, i was convinced that someone upstairs likes me. I went to the local supermarket to get some stuff, and i discovered that FINALLY you can get Jones Soda in bulk! Yay! I can feed my Cream Soda addiction four bottles at a time (why 4 packs and not 6 packs, i don't know, but i'll take it). Life is good.

A lot of people have been asking me for high rez versions of the Pirogoeth and Megatokyo Memorial images, many of these requests in the same breath that posters are asked for. Like most of the artwork released to the net here at MT and on Fredart, the low rez stuff is all we post. This gives us the option of printing higher quality versions in the future, lets say for posters and for books and whatnot. Its dangerous to release full scale high rez versions of work to the web - by doing so you give up a lot of control over the image (it's akin to releasing the code for a program). For most of my crap, its no big deal - the most work i have into a piece is typically a few hours - i've even given some people higher rez versions of some things. But for high quality works like the Pirogoeth image, merekat has a hell of a lot more time into it - 4 weeks to be exact. So please don't be angry with us for being a little stingy with the high rez stuff.

Just to show that we aren't ALL bad, Merekat has been making a few wallpapers for everyone to enjoy - which gives you a chance to see some of the rather remarkable detailing she's put into the thing. I particularly like the first one she did here... Pirogoeth almost looks candle lit, and almost more aggressive than the first one. It's a good one for your co-workers pause:

Back to the Meandering Otakon Report. So much happened in three short days that it's really hard to remember it all, and having a rather befuddled brain this week doesn't help. I'm working on gathering together all the pics i can from the con - i didn't bring a camera - so, if you have any pictures of anything MT related, please send them to me. ^_^ In particular, i am interested in seeing pics of the people who cosplayed as MT characters - two Mihos, one Piromi, and... not sure what the rumored fourth was. I was only able to see the Piromi and the Miho (I already have the pic from Fansview of one of the Miho cosplayers). I also see that someone cosplayed as Kimiko at AX - i have that picture now too. ^_^ Anyways, i'll put together a MT Cosplayer Sighting report as soon as i have all the info.

The other thing i need to do is sort thru all the fan art and stuff fans gave us at the con. I never did this for Acen, but I'm gonna do it now. Probably the most interesting thing i got was a stuffed, plushie Piro, complete with a little Seraphim on his shoulder (detachable) and a bookbag complete with sketchbook. It's sitting on the TV looking at Seraphim and I right now, and i need to take some pics of it. Someone got a picture of the Largo and Piro Kodama figurine someone showed us - need to find that too. A complete report on this stuff next time around.

Largo and I did get a few minutes to roam around the dealer room on Saturday, and after stopping and buying a little Jiji for Seraphim at Wizzywigs (i don't know why i did that - they're store is right around the corner from me here ^^;;) i noticed a sign that said 'DigiCharat Merchandise Here!' ... so, as you can imagine, i trotted on over to see the goods. It turns out that OmochaBox people were actually fans of Megatokyo, and were eager to show us the opening from the english language version of Digicharat on the little TV they had setup. It was amazingly adorable - even in english. I whispered to them and their parent company Digital Manga that if they could put in a good word to Broccoli so that they don't send us to jail for all the DigiCharat spoofs. ^_^ They assured us that everything would be OK. Very nice people, be sure to visit their store - you can never have enough DigiCharat stuffs. :)

And as for other potential lawsuits... It seems that Bioware liked our Pirogoeth image. They wanted copies, and even linked it on their main page :P. I betya they plan to use them as exhibit "A" when they have us kidnapped and dragged into Canadian court to exact swift and brutal justice on our heads for spoofing another of their games. ^^;; Glad you guys like 'em - enjoy the prints. I, er, don't really live at that address...

I also had the opportunity to show some of my stuff (the posters and the collected MT comics) to Maruyama Masao, the Producer and CEO of Madhouse Studios - actually, Wing Zero talked to him and i attempted to listen (in Japanese). In case you were wondering, Madhouse studios is well know for such great shows as Trigun, Perfect Blue, and Card Captor Sakura. He got a kick out of the "Seraphim Check" spoof, and seemed to get a chuckle out of the Naze Nani Megatokyo spoofs as well. I'd like to thank Maruyama-san for taking the time to look at my material - it was an honor to show it to him.

I also had a chance to chat a bit with the indomitable Fred Perry of Gold Digger fame. What a cool guy. I remember reading Gold Digger comics years ago... you have no idea how weird it is to have someone who's work you respect greatly tell you that he genuinely thinks your work is good. Thanks Fred, it was an honor to speak to you, and I am sorry about my cohorts forcing you to look thru the collected arts for MT. Next time i have to leave them alone with you, i'll bring some duct tape. :)

My goal right now is to REALLY get back on schedule. I might have a chance if i really bust my ass this weekend, so that's what i'm gonna do. Send me those pictures, people, and i'll get the last part of my Otakon report finished and up by Tuesday ^_^