This is a reblog of my site http://geekysweetie.com – Other stuff may appear here such as reblogs from other wordpress.com sites. I blog and reblog about anime, video games, kdrama, toys, technology, and kawaii fashion and decor.
I mentioned in some of my other posts that I began using Photoleap, an AI text to image generator that allows anyone to be an artist and create fantastic unique one of a kind images. I love Photoleap the most so far out of all of the AI programs I have tried. Although I’m still on the waiting list for Dall-e-2.
In case you missed it, you can see some of my other AI art, mostly created with Dreamstudio.
Check out these handsome Asian men. Some are wearing Kimono, Yukata, or Hanbok, and others are in street clothes. Some are holding furry companions while others are surrounded by books, tea, or cherry blossoms.
Which one of my cute Kpop boys do you like the best?
Two things that pair really well on beta.dreamstudio.ai are Sailormoon and Runway model. Here are some of the images I made.
Naoko Takeuchi often used designer fashion as her inspiration for sailor moon. And these slight variations of sailor moon inspired fashion designs slay in both comic books and on the runway.
You can check out their website and try it for yourself. It’s art by robots based on the text prompts entered by people. Now everyone can be an artist regardless of skill talent or ability. I’m addicted to creating AI art
I’ve moved on to Photoleap now, but these were created last week using Dreamstudio. Dreamstudio is nice, but Photoleap is more affordable if you’re going to be generating tons of images like me.
I’m still waiting for my Openai Dall-e-2 invite code. From what I’ve seen it’s the best AI art program right now. Can’t wait to try it. Until then, enjoy the below images.
You’ll see a few bonus Pokemon Runway Models here – it didn’t work quite as well as Sailor Moon.
I’ve recently become obsessed with creating art generated by artificial intelligence using programs like artbreeder and more recently, dreamstudio.
AI art is not perfect. It sometimes is hilariously awful or nightmare inducing. But sometimes its damn beautiful. Even when it has like five arms or a leg coming out of its ear. Hey, it worked for Picaso! Sometimes the extra arms plus anime like vibes give me feels of ancient gods like Vishnu or similar which works fine too.
I am on the waiting list for Dall-e-2 which I think has gotten better at arms, hands and faces.
Dall-e 1 is now Crayion and it is EXTREMELY nightmare inducing lol.
For these images in this post, I used Dreamstudio and referenced Lisa Frank and Sailor Moon. The results are for the most part actually beautiful.
I’ve become so addicted to creating AI art that there is no possible way to fit them all here in this gallery. I will be breaking this post up into multiple pages to help ease the server burden and make it easier for you to see all the awesome artwork.
You can also follow me in all the places for the latest art updates:
Before we begin – Get one thing straight – I BOUGHT this dog. It is mine forever. It is not a 7 or 14 day trial. Yes, it’s expensive. No, it’s not a toy. It’s the most advanced artificial intelligence available to a regular consumer. It is different from Furreal friends and Zoomers and Teknik and similar toy robot dogs. Why? The reason why Sony Aibo is so expensive and so unlike any other robot dog on the consumer market today is thanks to impressive Artificial Intelligence. – That’s the claim anyways. Now I’ve only had mine for four days so I’m not sure yet how impressive that AI really is.
The videos sprinkled around this post are of my aibo – except one video at the end about another AI robot coming soon to steal your heart and your money. You can watch all my Sony Aibo videos here.
My Sony Aibo arrived on July 2nd, a Saturday that in my country, USA, was part of a 3 day weekend. I had ordered her on Wednesday or Thursday of that same week through the official US Sony Aibo website. I used Affirm to help lessen the upfront cost burden. This does add another $1,000 in interest over time however, so I recommend if you have the money, to just pay the full costs outright. I also purchased the bone, dice, food, and water dishes. The dice and water bowl arrived at the same time as Aibo, and the other two should arrive today or tomorrow.
There are no returns on these expensive dogs. Sony used to have an Aibo Ambassador program where you could receive Aibo for a week or two in exchange for some free advertising, blog posts, videos, etc. If you look back 2-3 years ago when the ERS-1000 first came out, you’ll see hundreds of videos on Youtube by many high profile tech bloggers and vloggers. Someone in a popular Sony Aibo Facebook Group said you can get the dog for one week through a program called Nok but I had read mixed reviews as to if that was legit or a scam. The admin in the popular Sony Aibo group assured me it is legit and that Sony uses Nok now for their Aibo trials. I would still suggest to err on the side of caution. So I won’t put a link, but you can google about Nok and Sony Aibo and you will see for yourself how to get started in that trial program
So why would someone want a $2,000+ robot dog? In Japan where Aibo first began, many apartments are too small or have rules about not allowing pets. Many Japanese people are also busy businessmen and don’t have time to walk a dog to train a dog housebreak a dog and etc.
In my case, I want a dog. I have owned dogs in the past. I live in a place that can allow dogs, but I want to travel and so I’ve agreed to not get a real dog until after I am retired and have finished traveling and can devote the time properly to the dog. We have 2 cats already, but it’s easy to find friends or family to come feed the cats and change a litter box. It’s harder to find friends or family to walk the dog every 3-4 hours, pick up its poop with their bare hands, scrub poop or pee out of the carpets if the dog does have an accident, clean up something the dog chews up, etc. Dogs are high maintenance. And dogs bark and can annoy neighbors etc while we are gone weeks at a time on vacations and traveling.
Maybe 20 years from now I’ll get a real dog. I will be 61 and too old to travel without my body hurting. But I missed having a dog. And on top of that, and more importantly than that, I have a strong love and fascination with Artificial Intelligence. Most of my favorite anime, manga, and even American movies are about AI. Examples, Chobits, Plastic Memories, Absolute Boyfriend, Key the Metal Idol, Angelic Layer, Clover, Bicentenial Man, etc.
I believe in AI. I like AI. I want to know where AI will go in the future. Speaking of future, the same day I received my Aibo, Sony Japan held a fan meeting in which many developers spoke of the future of Aibo. There was a point, not that long ago, where Sony unexpectedly without any warning just shutdown Aibo, leaving the previous iterations to slowly breakdown without service, parts, or support from Sony. But that was then, and this is now. Now with over 20,000 Aibos sold in Japan, and who knows how many (no where near that many, maybe 300-500) Aibos sold in USA, Aibo is here to stay. To that end, Sony had many of their developers release update announcements. Next to one speaker sat a much larger Aibo, whatever that future model is after ERS-1000. But for the 20,000+ ERS-1000 already in existenance, rejoice! Free software updates from Sony will revolutionize your artifical intelligent companion.
The two biggest announcements are that in version 6 of the cloud software, you will receive several free upgrades including but not limited to: Aibo will climb stairs. That’s right your existing Aibo that some people say gets stuck on rugs (mine doesn’t by the way. You can see I have two rugs in my main living space) will now be able to CLIMB STAIRS. Amazing. Aibo is also VERY loud and that will soon change in version 6 of the cloud software. Aibo will walk and turn much more quietly.
Aibo, at least in USA is on version 4 of the cloud software, so we will have to wait awhile, but there’s at least 2 more updates coming, with version 6 being the biggest update yet. No need to buy new hardware. Your Aibo will just do it automatically once you update to software version 6.
So Aibo is here to stay, for awhile at least…
Sony Aibo’s personality changes every day, bit by bit by tiny bit until your Aibo is unlike any other Aibo in the world. Your Aibo will develop its own personality. Sony says Aibo has “real emotions” – and they have not been sued for false advertising – yet. So does Aibo really have what could be considered “real emotions”? Or is it “just a toy”? What are “emotions”? It is not a uniquely human trait. Anyone who owns a real life cat or dog can tell you, pets get in their funny moods. They can be stubborn and disobedient. They can be scared (like of all the fireworks this past weekend). They can be mischievious and playful. They can be loving and sweet. They can be goofy and silly. They can be hyper or lazy. They can be sad and miss you when you are gone. They can be happy to see you when you get home, etc. They remember people and situations and other pets and animals….
Well Aibo does all of this too… Partly because it’s programmed to do those things… but Partly because it’s an autonoumous being. Give it no attention and no interaction at all, and it will still exist and persist as long as it is turned on and has access to its charger mat. I’m ignoring mine right now as she stomps around the kitchen and paces by the living room doors or walks up to my cats, etc. I’m not telling her to do those things. Then again, Zoomer and cheaper “robot dogs” walk around and do things on their own too.
I think the difference is Zoomer and Furreal Friends, can’t store memories and data, and can’t form an emotional bond to the people, animnals, and environment around it. Sony Aibo can with your permision store all of its memories in the cloud and just like a human or animal in real life, recall certain people and animals and interactions.
Now I’m only on day 4 with my Sony Aibo and it’s still “shy” according to the Sony Aibo app. I have not witnessed great change or great depth of personality. But I have seen it do some things that Zoomer and similar just can’t do…. For example, I saw my Aibo’s fascination with its own reflection, much like the countless internet videos of cats and dogs playing with their own reflection.
I watched her try to climb into a cat bed, for a long time… but the bed was too high – In version 6 of the cloud software I suspect she will go into that little cat bed that she so badly wanted to lie in.
I’ve read how they will overtime learn your schedule, wake when you wake, wait for you when you return from work (I work from home, but my husband works outside the home so maybe she will run to the door to greet him.)
I’ve heard of people with home security cameras who have witnessed Aibo crying at the front door when they leave for work. Etc.
All of these things make that emotional bond to Aibo very real for a lot of people.
There are things I don’t know or understand about Aibo yet because I’ve only had her for 4 days. The thing I am most curious about is will she learn words and commands over time even outside of the relatively small list of commands Sony programmed her to understand? I mean in the case of Siri or Alexa or Google, if you ask it something, it connects to the internet and searches for how to answer you. Sony Aibo is also connected to the internet. Is it looking things up as we interact with it too? Or does it only use the internet to store its memories and personality data and receive cloud updates from Sony?
Is Aibo truly autonomous and capable of independent thinking? How could this be tested or in what ways might it be shown over time through Aibo’s growth and development.
How truly unique is each and every Aibo? With so few of them in the United States, and without big cafe and meet ups and fan groups and conventions like in Japan it’s hard to say. Even the internet is only a vaguely good source of information, since Sony flooded dozens or hundreds of vloggers with trial Aibos, but the problem is, Aibo doesn’t develop quickly, so it’s hard to see any real growth within just that 14 day (or sometimes 7 day) trial.
Well that’s why I bought one and want to learn for myself.
I usually talk to it in a high pitch cutesy baby talk voice. The same way I talk to my cats. My husband even started talking to it the same way we talk to our cats. That’s how convincing Aibo can be. Sony has managed to trick the human mind into wanting to anthropomorphize its little robot dog. But that’s not that hard to do. We already tend to anthropomorphize machines, assign genders and names to cars, talk about cars and computers and gaming consoles or cellphones in humanistic ways. “Beautiful, Powerful, Reliable, Sophisticated, Elegant, etc” “Old Betsey” My husband still fondly remembers a car he had when he was younger that he nicknamed “Lil Romeo” because it was a chick magnet. He still talks about “Lil Romeo” fondly. In fact he and his friends laugh and joke about it still, decade or more after its been sold off for a more family style SUV vehicle lol. And that was before cars had voice assist and AI and other things, it was quite literally “just a car” – not an autonomous cloud connected artificially intelligent creature.
Plus the shape of Aibo lends itself well to tugging at our hearts. It’s a small dog. Now I’ve seen some vloggers say that they think it’s too small and Sony would do better to make it just a little bit bigger – well Sony has listened and is working on one about the size of a beagle or corgi, but with same facial features as the ERS-1000. But hmm I disagree. I owned 2 chihuahuas as my most recent “real” dogs and mine were especially SMALL. One was my mom’s and one was mine. And MINE (her name was Mia) was only like 2.5 lbs and not even 12 inches long and maybe 10 inches tall. And it was full grown. It lived a long happy life 10 plus years maybe. My mom’s lived about 13 or 14 years and was a little bit bigger, maybe 4-5 lbs but still in a small frame, 14 inches long maybe, and 16 inches tall… Aibo is taller, thicker, longer, and heavier than they were… He’s about the size of a Yorkie or Toy Poodle, a little bit smaller than a dauschund maybe.
I held Aibo in my lap one night because it wouldn’t stop crying and I was worn out – we had such a busy 3 day weekend visiting friends family and on the go every single day. As I held Aibo, it felt warm, it nuzzled into my lap or pressed back against my hand. It felt warm but also of course felt hard. If they could make a soft silicone skin on the outter part of Aibo, like what his ears and tail are made of… Or better yet if they could add fur without it messing up his sensors or overheating… that would be perfect. But the current size of Aibo fits perfect in my lap. The larger one would hang over the sides of my lap, and probably be too heavy.
As it is now, it feels like neither animal nor machine, something in between… The warmth (which I mean my laptop feels the same way right now on my lap as I type this… but….) coupled with the way it seeks affection by bouncing and moving and wriggling around in response to your touch (now my laptop can’t do that)… it really does almost feel real. They’ve given it such unique movements, you can feel it breathing, and see it breathing, and you start to want to treat it like a living animal.
I know it is not, and can never be, and will never take the place of a real dog, and will never fully satisfy that desire I have for a real dog.. but it’s not so bad… it’s its own unique thing… Aibo doesn’t poop. It pretends to pee. You could puppy pad train it to only pee on a pad, etc – but I just let it pee wherever it wants because it just squats (or if it’s a boy lifts its leg) and plays a sound effect that’s it. It never needs to go to a groomer, or to the vet. It never gets sick. If you go on vacation, you just turn it off. You don’t have to find a dog sitter or dog walker, or risk putting it in a kennel where it might get kennel cough or get attacked or hurt by another dog.
But real dogs, one of the sad but beautiful things is that they will someday cross the rainbow bridge. Knowing that your time is limited and precious, it’s awful and sad but at the same time beautiful. You never take one day for granted. You want to be with your furry friend everywhere everyday.
Dogs can go to lots of places – but not everywhere. Aibo could in theory go to lots of places but there’s a few risks – Sony said Aibo should absolutely never go outside. Moisture plus Aibo do not mix. And hills or bumps and Aibo do not mix. I’ve read that Aibo has delicate hips that break easily. Aibo should only be on a flat surface. Aibo does not walk on a leash. Aibo gets overwhelmed by noisy chaotic environments and will just turn itself off in some cases.
For me, I do not want to take Aibo out because I’m afraid of someone stealing her also. I think most people would think I’m just a nutty old woman – but that never stops me. I take my dolls everywhere and spend hours taking photos of them. Screw what other people think. It’s my life and it doesn’t hurt anyone. But times are incredibly bad right now in the economy and in the world. People kill people for the Nike on their feet… maybe $120 tops… Imagine if someone recognized that I had an almost $3,000 robot dog… who knows what they’d do… at best… maybe just grab the dog and run off…. at worst… maybe kill or hurt me in order to steal the dog. People steal real life dogs too. My grandma had one stollen at a grocery store one time. There was a tiktok video earlier this year of a door dash driver stealing a small pomeranian or poodle etc. 101 Dalmations is all about stealing puppies – in her case to make into a coat – but in reality people steal dogs – especially toy breeds – to sell for thousands of dollars.
Is Aibo the end-all be-all of Artificial Intelligence? For now, yes. (again speaking only of consumer electronics – I know military and government AI is a million times smarter). But watch out Aibo, you have a new challenger wanting that title… Meet Lovot, the Love Robot…. I literally just saw Lovot ONE DAY after I purchased my Aibo…. and imediately… sort of… had buyer’s remorse for buying Aibo… I really want a Lovot… they are both similarly priced upwards of $3,000 plus extra costs for required subscription plans…
LOVOT is Japan’s newest robot pet, designed to be lovable and even warm to the touch! Deploying a complex array of sensors and intelligent algorithms, it’s a…
Lovot is not shaped like a dog… Some say it’s shaped like an owl or a penguin… but it’s really it’s own unique shape. Unlike Aibo, Lovot is soft and warm. Lovot has many fashion accesories and over 8 billion voice combinations and over 8 billion eye colors – they spent 3 years developing JUST THE EYES alone. Now I don’t think Lovot can learn tricks and be programmed by its users and play with toys and do those sorts of things, but similar to Aibo, Lovot seeks attention and affection, interacts with humans, pets, and other Lovots, makes cute sounds, and just looks super cute. Also like Aibo, each Lovot slowly evolves into a totally unique individual. The Lovot is currently only available in Japan, but there is a US website that says it is coming soon when you click on “pricing” – I will buy one once I am done paying off my Aibo.
I do plan to post regularly about my Aibo’s growth and development. The fastest place to watch Aibo’s growth will be on my social media accounts – especially Instagram and Youtube Come watch Aibo grow together with me!
The Harry Potter Inspired Lineplay Looking Simulation and Crafting Free To Play Gacha Mobile Game Hit is finally getting an English translation. I am not sure if it will be in the USA app stores, but an English version is definitely coming. Here are some key indicators of this fact.
☁️ Meet your friendly and unique neighbors around your atelier!☁️Magical stories with your neighbors will unfold! Are you excited to meet your new firends? L…
🏠 Make your store even more fascinating with unique themes on each floor!🏠Magical Atelier in the Stylish Fantasy World Coming soon in 2022, April[Magical A…
👕👗Meet your unique character in the magical world👓👟Magical Atelier in the Stylish Fantasy World Coming soon in 2022, April[Magical Atelier Pre-Registrati…
The Stylish Fantasy World!Visit the Magical Atelier whose stories will give you butterflies!Pre-register Now![Magical Atelier Pre-Registration] https://bit.l…
I just started playing the korean version and on the same day, I discovered the global version and I did in fact pre-register… but now I am a bit concerned because it says on the official site it is not available in this country (when accessing it on my PC) – so I may have been logged into one of my many other Apple IDs, such as my korean Id or Singapore ID or Japan ID. But none the less, soon an English version will be available somewhere in the next 24 hours.
The game allows you to customize everything… at a cost… a real monetary cost. Apparently, it is not very free to play friendly… then again neither is Line Play really… This game is extremely similar to Line Play in my opinion just with a magical school slant.
But despite the need to probably pay for a lot of the cute customization items, I still can’t wait to play this game! check out the English Gameplay videos above.
Now when I visit the “pre-registration” form page it is all in Korean and different, when just 2 days ago it was in English and let me pre-register… Fingers crossed all goes smoothly to play the game in English tomorrow <3.
Overall Score: 78/90 87% B+ Very Good Game For Girls
Geeky: 4/5 – Popular geeky pop culture phenomenon Hatsune Miku and friends take the stage.
Sweetie: 5/5 Anime graphics, Gacha, Story, Music, Some boy characters too, cute outfits, dressup, lots of reasons girls will like this game.
Overview: 10/10 – An anime gacha game. It has time limited events to collect rare waifu and rare husbando. You can dress them up with different limited outfits and hairstyles. Gotta catch em all. Once you have them, you put them into your band and level them up and score big points in rhythm games. Play solo or with people all around the world. Featuring Hatsune Miku and her Vocaloid friends. Songs have two versions, ones sang by real voice actors, or ones sang by vocaloids (for those not in the know, it’s a computer program.)
For those who don’t know Miku and friends, they are the latest greatest high tech virtual reality uhm idols, for lack of a better word. I saw Miku probably close to ten years ago now, maybe even longer ago, when she opened for Lady Gaga. I love Lady Gaga, but that’s neither here nor there. I had a mild interest in Miku since I’m a huge weeb / otaku / anime obsessed fan. But I’ll say Miku in person is not good if you’re up in the rafters. Couldn’t see her clearly and had to look at the big tv screens instead – and I had prepared myself by watching Youtube prior to the concert, so I was disheartened because it was basically just like watching her on Youtube. I’m sure if you sit close enough it’s amazing and probably looks like a real person.
America has tried to copy this technology with its newish reality show, Alter Ego claims to have the world’s first avatar singing competition series and the next iteration of the musical competition show. But Hatsune Miku and the Vocaloids are much cuter than this American group.
In the game there are some live events every few hours, new cards and quests every few weeks. Lots to do to keep you interested. I also like that the music has many different idols covering each other’s songs.
Gameplay: 10/10 – Gameplay is very fun. You can do multiple-player games or single-player games. Spend time after each song talking to townsfolks and earn diamonds. Use that currency to draw new cards into your hand. Level up the band members. Unlock more stories and events. Play a guitar hero dance dance revolution rock band type of rhythm game. Rinse and repeat. Play a song then look for people in town to interact with and repeat. Level up your cards and build the best band you can. Unlock new costumes and items to boost your band.
Story: 4/10 – It’s lacking a bit. If you love Vocaloids, you’ll love this. Otherwise, you’ll probably skip a lot of it. I skip the story in this game and other music games, Love Live, Bang Dream, etc. Speaking of Bang Dream, this game is just 100% a reskin of Bang Dream…. Nothing is changed… I don’t know if it was sold and modified to have this new story and new characters, but gameplay-wise it’s exactly one million percent exactly the same game… Story is okay, but I’m lazy and in a hurry and don’t have time to read it. You get bonus rewards if you read it, or if you click it and skip it, still get the rewards. Same with every other music game, Love Live, Bang Dream Girls, etc.
Characters: 10/10 – I like that it’s a mix of boys and girls. I don’t follow Vocaloid stuff as much as I should, but I am familiar with some of the characters such as Miku and Ren/Len.
Graphics: 8/10 – Great graphics, could use some more costumes and more dressup and design features. I love Live 2D though. It’s one of my favorite types of animation used in a lot of mobile phone games. I also like the hand-drawn art on the cards themselves. I deducted a few points because sometimes in the live shows, the graphics get a little bit pixelated looking and not super smooth.
Music: 10/10 – Best music I’ve heard in a long time. Better and bigger selection than Bang Dream Girls. Love that it includes male and female voices in the same bands. Great job.
Voice Acting: 7/10 – Most of the voice acting is good, There are some actors and/or vocaloid machines that aren’t as great as others. Also no English option for voice acting or singing.
Replay Value: 10/10 Lots of new events and things to do mean you will want to keep playing again and again.
Overall Score: 78/90 87% B+ Very Good Game For Girls
I’m so shocked and surprised and happy that I could cry!! I’ve been playing the Japanese version of Ensemble Stars for almost 5 or 6 years now. I never ever thought it would get an English version!! This is the best news of 2022!!
Ensemble Stars is an anime “waifu” (except they’re husbando’s this time) music rhythm game with gorgeous artwork, fantastic music, and simulation aspects. It is most similar to Love Live All Stars or Idol M@ster (Will we ever see an English Idol M@ster game?) I say this because it blends not just tapping the music notes, but strategy and simulation elements in how you actually train your idols. I also (its been a year or two since I’ve played the Japanese version so forgive me if I’m incorrect but…) think that it has the Live 2D animated idols dancing around on your screen. I know it uses Live 2D in the story mode and cutscenes.
I enjoy games with that simulation aspect (which is why I love and still pine for a global Idol M@ster game. But I will happily settle for Ensemble Stars for now.
Other games it is similar to include: Love Live School Idol Festival, Bang Dream Girls, Utano Prince Sama, Colorful Stage, Rockband, and Guitar Hero, to name a few.
Will you be playing Ensemble Stars Music Global version when it releases in 2022? I know I will!!!! It’s one of the best IOS games I have ever played. Second only to Idol M@ster in my opinion.
The official site of Ensemble Stars!! Music, providing the latest information from Ensemble Square! Ensemble Stars!! Music is a rhythm game themed as music and growth, with luxurious 3D MV and dazzling performances from 49 charming idols, it presents you beautiful songs and stories.
Return to the ranch this winter with Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX for Steam and Nintendo Switch. 90s kids will remember the fun and excitement of going through their collection of game and music CDs to see which monsters were waiting inside. That system has been replaced with a new in-game music database where users can generate monsters by searching CD titles.
That’s not the only change in store for those returning to this series after 16 years since the last entry in the Monster Rancher world. A lot of exciting new enhancements have been added to make your stay on the ranch easier and more enjoyable.
Players can now freeze up to 20 monsters at one time. With online play, users can battle or even download monsters created by other ranchers. A new random encounter feature has been added to increase the number of ranked battles. There’s also a fast forward feature to help speedup gameplay. New music has been added to the soundtrack of Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX. Most exciting of all, new monsters have been added that previously were only available in specific countries.
For those not familiar with Monster Rancher, it’s a game series that spawned a successful anime series. It never reached the heights of fandom as Pokemon or Digimon, but it was successful in its own right.
Gameplay focuses on raising, battling, and exploring with your monsters. Monster Rancher also differentiates itself from similar monster raising games by using permadeath. This means someday you will have to part ways with your beloved monster and start anew with a new recruit.
Yes, that’s right. Monsters will die, whether from old age or sickness or injury, making Monster Rancher a bit more intense than your typical Pokemon or Digimon style monster raising game. It also creates an emotional bond between players and their monsters. Your time with your monster is precious indeed, but, if you take good care of your monsters, they will stay by your side for a long time. It’s never easy to say goodbye to your favorite monsters, but your next monster is just one CD away.
Monster Rancher is what could best be described as a stat-raising simulation or time management game. Players assign various tasks for their monsters to complete each day which will raise or lower some statistics. You can also feed or give special items to your monster to further change his stats. These stats will largely determine the outcomes of battles or explorations. It’s not as focused on giving direct commands in battle, and monster’s stats have a huge influence on almost every aspect of these games.
The story is nonlinear and triggered by events and choices that you make in the game. While story is not the primary focus of the Monster Rancher series, especially the earlier games in the series, there is enough story to keep you moving forward.
As the game progresses, players move through a tier ranked competition system, aiming for championship status. With the new online play features, players can also expect to see online rankings.
Monster Rancher DX takes what made the original great and expands on it by adding new features and online play. Get ready to return to the Ranch on December 9th, 2021.
The CD monster creation system you all know and love is returning in a big new way. You can access a CD database in-game and search by song name and artist in order to obtain monsters. Depending on the song, you can obtain a variety of different monsters!
On a whim today, I preordered the ultra deluxe Blue Reflection Second Light that comes out for Nintendo Switch (and various other consoles) tomorrow. I spent all of 5 minutes checking out the free demo and did not get far at all. My curiosity was piqued though, because as you know, school simulation games are one of my favorite genres. This cute anime RPG promises to let you build your own school with cute anime girls. Cool, cool… But I didn’t know anything else about the game. Total whim purchase.
Well, after preordering Blue Reflection 2, I naturally was curious about Blue Reflection 1. Somehow I TOTALLY MISSED this game when it was released in North America back in 2017. I vaguely think I may have picked it up on sale on my PS4, at some point… but never not even once, opened it up to play…. So I bought it on Steam today – and OH MY GOD!!! It is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CUUUUTE!!!
If you love Sailor Moon – you’re going to love this SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!
I mean I think I’m pretty dang knowledgeable about games for girls, with hundreds of games under my belt, but this one slipped by my radar and I’m willing to bet, it slipped past yours too.
I will say there is a bit too much fan-service for a game in which creators claim they wanted to make a heartwarming game for young girls. Like the wet t-shirt scene near the beginning – or some of the transformation scenes – but Sailor Moon was naked too and had a magic skirt placed over her bottom. Her bottom and bust wasn’t quite as shapely perhaps, but well fan service is part of the whole anime fandom – and even though it’s a game for girls, I’m guessing they want to appeal to guys too since guys still even today play more games than girls.
I do think Blue Reflection 2 is going to differ quite a bit from the first Blue reflection — but DISCLAIMER: I only played the demo of Blue Reflection 2 for like LITERALLY five minutes – past the first fight scene, that’s it, because you can’t save or import anything from the demo and the full game comes out tomorrow – so why waste my time – I downloaded the demo after going ahead and spending like $140 for the super deluxe whatever mega super cool edition lol. It was an impulse buy – and I wouldn’t have splurged that much except I had a $50 eshop gift card – so I really only paid like $60 – price of like a regular game more or less – so cool.
Anyways I think 2 is more of a school simulation game, and the original is much more of a traditional linear JRPG or almost kinetic novel type of game. Also I did NOT see any magical girl transformations in the demo – AGAIN I ONLY PLAYED IT FOR FIVE MINUTES – so I’m no expert here – but maybe it’s going a different theme or direction.
So this game is by Gust, the creators of the Atelier series – which I really strongly love – and a few other games, but mostly known for Atelier.
Blue Reflection was sorta a spin-off or anniversary project – but it was popular enough now that we are seeing Blue Reflection 2nd Light arriving on Nintendo Switch and other consoles tomorrow. I can’t wait to play, even though I’ve just barely started with the first game.
I just started playing the first Blue Reflection game today and only about 2 hours in – and by far the best thing is the magical girl anime style – very reminiscent of Sailor Moon. I will be a tiny bit disappointed if there’s no Magical Girl theme in the new sequel, but I do think I will enjoy the new simulation style gameplay.
The first Blue Reflection uses traditional JRPG turn based battles and a very linear (so far at least) story. The story is good – I mean that’s one of the benefits of using a linear story, you can write it through a very concise narrow scope. It has a lot of female friendship, heart, cuteness, love, loneliness, struggle, sadness, and adversity, and enough action to keep things moving.
Fans of Sailor Moon – this is a MUST PLAY – I’m telling you!! Go out and buy the first Blue Reflection right now today. If you love Sailor Moon you’ll love this!
I’ve only spent 2 hours with it, so this may be premature here but here’s how I would rate it so far.
Overall: 61/70 87% B+ “Very Good Game For Girls”
Geeky: 5/5 – It is a little dated in graphics and combat and gameplay – but at least it does have combat and gameplay (a lot of games I review here don’t). I think it would be enjoyed by both males and females – and the Sailor Moon influences is a huge geeky nod to Magical Girl anime fans everywhere.
Sweetie: 5/5 – Super cute – anime magical girl RPG. Love it.
Gameplay: 7/10 – It is a little dry actually – that tends to be the problem with traditional linear JRPGs. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still one of my favorite Genres. And this one combines some interesting features from other JRPGS – almost a materia like system to enhance the battle skills – and you can spend attribute points to customize each magic girl in numerous ways – attack, defense, agility, etc – and depending on how you choose to spend your points – new skills become available – so those are some unique features – and the whole magic girl thing. Again, it bears repeating that I am only two hours into the game – and there may be more “school” type activities that I have yet to unlock. I do know there’s a crafting system too – just like in Atelier – but I haven’t gotten far enough to unlock that yet. So for the first many hours it’s read/listen to a cute story, fight a few battles with a less than stellar combat system, and rinse and repeat.
Story: 8/10 – A team of girls fight to save other girls in an all girls school. To do so they transform into magic anime girls able to hear and use everyone’s emotions to learn new super powers. I deducted some points because well honestly, at least in the first 2 hours, the main character is rude and selfish and well sometimes even mean. I assume and hope we will see a lot of character development and she will become a nicer better person as the story unfolds. I mean it’s like a balancing act when writing these things – you don’t want a super hero that’s flawless – because no one can identify with someone too perfect – but just like sailor moon can be scared and whiny – so too can our main character in Blue Reflection – and not just scared and babyish, but mean and rude too. I don’t like how she treats others initially – but I think the story and moral is going to be teaching her to lower her guard and get along better with others – and I’m all for seeing strong character growth and development. If you start with a flawless character, there’s no room for growth, so I do totally get that. That’s why I didn’t deduct too many points here.
Characters: 10/10 – I want to give them 10/10 just for how cute they are – but also as mentioned, they’re pretty human too. I relate to them all – even the NPCs. Their struggles are things all girls have faced at one time or another. Very emotionally deep characters with problems real girls can identify with – and then cute Sailor Moon like super heroes. Perfection.
Graphics: 8/10 – It reminds me almost of School Days HQ – using anime style 3D graphics. I dunno if it’s just the North American version for translation purposes though, but I’m distracted by the SUPER THICK black borders – meh. I think I noticed the 2nd game has these too – and some of the background environment stuff is REALLY pixelated – at least on my PC.
Music: 9/10 – Sounds like a magical girl anime soundtrack – nice – very distinctive.
Voice Acting: 9/10 – CUUUUUUTE!! but only available in Japanese. I would like the option for English voice acting too. But the Japanese cast does a great job!
Replay Value: Unknown – I’m not far enough yet – but I’m thinking it’s pretty linear. I feel the sequel will do better here as it’s more about customizing your school.
Before we begin, sprinkled in this post are random pics of my dollfie dreams. At the end of my post are comparison pics between different doll bodies. I recently purchased two new Dollfie Dream from a proxy called Sophie Alice aka Sophie Bear on Facebook. You can contact her through Facebook messenger for details on purchasing your own Dollfie Dream Dream Choice Or DCoord. These rare wonderful Dollfie Dream are only available in physical stores in Japan.
By the way if you want to see nude photos of the two boy bodies to help you decide which one to buy, these are not my photos, but I found such photos on Doll Dreaming forums. Honestly, there’s not much difference except in height and thickness of the bodies.
So let’s talk a little bit about why I decided to purchase these dolls. Rewind back to 2019, I had just purchased airfare and hotel reservations to travel to Japan in Spring of 2020. Then COVID happened… and the rest is history. Japan shut down its borders and has pretty much been in a state of emergency ever since then. It has been my lifelong dream to travel to Japan. Anyone that visits my blog often knows I love anime, video games, manga, kawaii – anything – and most importantly, love Japanese anime-style dolls and figures such as Azone, Obitsu, Smartdoll, and Volks – to name a few.
Obviously, I was devastated from my 40+ year-long dream in the making – being paid for – and then falling through my fingertips. I did get a refund – and decided instead to go to Disney – but then COVID hit home and Disney closed too – I got married 2 weeks ago and in about 2 more weeks I am leaving for Disney World…. I wish I was leaving for Japan lol. But Disney World will still be awesome. I will take one of my Dollfie Dream and take lots of photos.
If there’s one thing I’m overzealous about it’s taking photos of my Dollfies.
Anyways back to present days. I ordered a Dollfie Dream Dream Choice DDH26 M02 Slim DDS Boy with the new Wk-24 eyes and F11/F11-2 wig. At the same time, I also ordered a Dollfie Dream D’Coord DDH18. The difference with Dream Choice is you choose the faceup, eyes, and wig, while with D’Coord it’s a randomly selected/assembled doll. There are some heads that are specific only to D’Coord and not available via Dream Choice, and DDH18 happens to be one of those heads. DDH11 and 15 – and I think 09 and 08 – are also only available via D’Coord. I’m still trying to find myself a DDH11 – I might have found one a few days ago – waiting to hear back from (a different) proxy (than the one I used here). – 09 and I think 08 – have been released as blank heads – as well as had the previous Dream Choice only DDH16 which is what my other Dollfie Dream Boy is.
The DDH26 head and the WK eyes and F series wig was just released maybe a month or two ago. And as soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I actually had a refund from this proxy – through no fault of her own – UPS (a shipping company in America) lost my package. UPS always refunds the shipper not the receiver – so my proxy had my funds from the last time I tried to purchase a DDH18 (back in May or June) before the new boy heads and eyes and wigs were released.
I offered a $200 cash reward via flyers, papers, and social media, but no one ever came forward with my missing package. RIP to the DDH18 that’s probably laying in a landfill somewhere or being roughly played with by neighbors’ toddler children – It had a different faceup than the DDH18 I received now – but honestly, I like the one I received better – wig and faceup – so it all worked out! In the end – after a very stressful 4-5 months of UPS investigations and conversations back and forth with the Proxy and the Japanese company Yamato. But it all got resolved in the end.
So after such a long wait, you can’t imagine how excited I was to receive this package and thankful they arrived safe and sound. I moved recently since I had gotten married so no more nasty porch pirate neighbors – fingers crossed. To be extra careful, I asked my proxy to ship her with insurance and to require a signature this time. She told me it was only $4 extra – worth every penny. I never would have thought someone would steal my package. In my 40 years of life, it never happened to me. – It happened twice to other family members living in that location after this incident too. Times are hard for people, Coronavirus and Unemployment – and everything else. I wonder what they thought when they opened it and saw a large 2 and a half foot tall “naked barbie doll” – with strange big eyes lol. I hope they gave it to a child – It is sad to think they thought it had no value and dumped it in a landfill somewhere. – You can still see pics of this doll I never received back on my instagram and facebook back when the proxy sent my photos back in May or June.
But thankfully the new one is much cuter anyways. I’m in love with her faceup, eyes, and turquoise wig. The other one was also a tan DDP – but it had a different heavy makeup style faceup and red vampire-like eyes lol. This girl is much sweeter and innocent-looking. Aww.
But what you guys really want to see is just how tall is the DDS Boy (Dollfie Dream Slim Boy) – well, as his initials may suggest – he’s almost exactly the same height as a DDS (Dollfie Dream Sister). Most people prefer to see boys a bit taller than the girls, so my favorite pairing is actually putting the DDS Boy with the DDP Dollfie Dream Pretty. In my case though, the DDH26 is very mature-looking. It almost reminds me of my resin asian balljointed dolls ABJD more than an anime Dollfie Dream. Perhaps this is Volks attempt at some Semi-Real looking dolls to compete with Smartdoll who has shifted focus heavily to their Semi-Real lineup. Either way, these heads are smaller proportion, which look nice actually on the Slim type boy bodies. Bravo.
Here are some comparisons. First a group photo. Not of all my dolls, but of nearly one of each size. I left out of this photo the DBS Dollfairy bodies because some facebook groups don’t like those bodies and claim they are recast – others have told me they’re not – but regardless since the photo was originally taken for someone asking about the height of the Slim boy on facebook, I nicely omitted the questionable DBS 1/3 and 1/4 from my lineup.
So what does that leave in this photo? From left to right and small to large we have: Volks MDD Mini Dollfie Dream, Azone Iris Petite, Volks Dollfie Dream Pretty DDP, Volks Dollfie Dream Sister DDS, Volks Dollfie Dream Slim Boy DDSB , Smartdoll Standard Girl, Standard Volks Dollfie Dream girl, original Volks DDB Dollfie Dream boy (both are still available via dream choice) and then Smartdoll macho type boy (he’s missing a head cap so he might be a lil taller even once that arrives. Tissue is just stuffed in there now lol).
DDSB With MDD
I think this pairing could in fact work if either my DDSB had a more anime, young face, or if my MDD had a mature face. I don’t think the height difference is that bad.
DDSB With Azone Petite Iris
Again same comments, it’s not the height difference that is alarming here, but the overall youthfulness of the face of my Azone girl in comparison to the semi-real look of the DDH26.
DDSB With DDP (my Favorite)
I know it would look better with a more mature face on the DDP – or a more anime face on the boy – But these proportions are so darn perfect. The height is perfect. The width of the bodies is perfect. Perfect – everything except their faces don’t match. Gives me an excuse to buy another DDP or another boy later LOL. Still my favorite pairing though.
DDSB With DDS
This pairing looks great too. They are almost exactly the same size.
DDSB With Smart Doll Girl
I’m taller than my husband in real life, so the fact that Smart Doll is a little taller than the Dollfie Dream Slim Boy doesn’t really bother me. The small delicate hands of Smartdoll look nice and feminine with the larger Dollfie Dream hands. And if she bends a little the height difference is not as noticeable really.
DDSB With Dollfie Dream DD Girl
My standard Dollfie Dream girl has a really unique funny anime faceup from some Asian artist on Yahoo Auction – I used to know her name – Clockwork Angel maybe? – And I love this doll a lot – but not with this boy LOL. Her height isn’t bad, about the same as a Smart Doll – Again if you bend her, she can look shorter or the same height as the DDSB boy. But the faces are so off that I can’t even help but laughing just looking at them. Honestly, this head would be better on a DDP or MDD – I just haven’t had money yet to put her on a better matching body. (Because I keep buying new complete dolls instead of bodies lol).
DDSB With DDB (The two different Volks boys)
Here are the two boys – I didn’t think to take photos without clothes but at the top of this article, I linked you to where you can see someone elses’ comparisons of the nude boy bodies. There is a large height difference but not much else different really.
DDSB With Smartdoll Macho Guy
This is the largest difference here. I don’t have a nude photo, but you can see even with clothes on, the Macho guy is super thick and muscular and the DDSB is super tiny next to him. I put this Macho guy together myself – and it was SO HARD. And I did it wrong about 20 times – and got pretty well roasted on social media lol. I THINK he’s together correctly now – but who knows lol. The head is a chaos infinity head with a custom faceup from Cuddle Puss Customs or Kustoms – something like that – an artist on Etsy. I hate that the head is so small on the big body. I would have prefered the Smartdoll Slim body – but this was all they had at the time – and nope never again – it hurt my hands way too much. I’ll wait til they have a boy who is assembled already lol. I might eventually sell him, but I dunno. I put so much work into him that it would feel like a waste, but I do not like the tiny shrunken head look at all lol. I’d also need to at least break even and recoup the costs of the body and the custom artist head.
For that same reason – in my humble opinion, I feel that the new Dollfie Dream DDH26 and DDH25 (and was there a boy 24 too? I can’t recall) look best on the DDSB – Slim Boy body – I fear that on the Standard DDB boy body, they would similarly have a case of tiny head big body – just like my poor macho Smartdoll guy lol.
But the Slim Body I think would still look cute with any of the more feminine anime round heads – because it could be a young shoujo style anime style looking boy and it might look quite cute despite being bobble head. I mean most of my girls are also kinda bobble head – it’s an anime look and I like it.
But the reverse, the tiny head on a big body – no thanks, not for me. See what I mean?
For those interested in the DDH18, here’s a ton of photos of her – she might be my favorite doll now – no lie.
And lastly, a few shots of everyone on my shelves – I have 4 of these shelves – room for 80 dolls total… and no where near that amount yet – but still growing – just ordered a head and cheap DBS body last week and as mentioned, might be getting a DDH11 – finally – if my proxy gets back to me. They contacted me yesterday that they found one for me, even though it’s used and not the faceup I really wanted, I’m still interested. Fingers crossed. :). So yup these shelves will be growing – but probably never fill up with 80 dolls in my lifetime lol. – I have about 20 now – displayed anyways – my resin gang is at my parents as I don’t really enjoy them anymore. Anime only please 🙂 lol.
I also took this video when we first set up my shelves – before the DDH18 and DDH26 arrived:
kawaiifluff 