Hishgraphics

Those Stories About What Happened...

I might have overdone it with the "Those Stories About What Happened" meme adapted from the latest Star Wars The Force Awakens trailer, pertaining to West End Games' Star Wars The Roleplaying Game material. It probably what Han would tell these kids about the Galactic Civil War shenanigans as played by Star Wars D6 RPG players.

First, here is a general flavour of memories of role-playing games as a general, not just limited to Star Wars.

Then, there was that one time Sila stole Zardra's stun cloak during Tatooine Manhunt when she and Puggles Trodd launched an attack on her party when they were asleep.

Disclaimer! I've never actually played Starfall:

Not to mention the exploits of the Black Curs team.

And finally, from Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments From The Rim, a gag written by a tabloid-esque news outlet in the Galaxywide Newsnet chapter of the book:

Addendum (27/10/2015): Don't forget about the Rabid Mynock swoop gang!

Star Trek Hybrids

So, I drew some cross-species hybridization as Star Trek aliens are wont to do. For example, Spock is a Human-Vulcan hybrid and K’Ehleyr is a Human-Klingon hybrid.

A Tholian-Vulcan hybrid! I only remembered the pointy eyebrows after I finished drawing.

A Horta-Cardassian hybrid. No space beneath the silicon-based body for a Gul Macet-style mutton chops. And think of the amount of hairspray needed to keep that 'do in shape.

A Tribble-Andorian hybrid. How is this even- I- Never mind. Everyone go home. Nothing to see here.

Strikeforce Enteague The Movie?

Once upon a time, Shanna Toarinar the bounty hunter stole a captured A-Wing Fighter from the Empire. Soon after, she was recruited to be the first member of the Strikeforce Enteague. Thus begins the Star Wars RPG campaign - using West End Games's D6 system - that lasted for 10 years in real time as well as game time.

Today Lucasfilm released a cast photo of their new Star Wars film: Strikeforce Enteague the Movie*. With Felicity Jones as Shanna Toarinar, Diego Luna as Ace Browning Crossfire and Donnie Yen as Ben-One-Howel. Download the Worlds of the Enteague Sector D6 pdf supplement that I made here!

* Sigh. I wish. Sigh. But seriously, doesn't the Rogue One cast photo looks like someone's Star Wars D6 (or an Age of Rebellion) rebel commando party? Sigh**.

**Siiigh!!!

(Just in case this needs to be said: Yes, that is a promotional photo from Rogue One with names of characters from my own RPG campaign. No, there is no and will never be a Strikeforce Enteague film. Probably. Maybe.)

Random Encounter

It's not every day my tweet gets a reply from Joss Whedon.

Addendum: Follow-up post created.

Driving a Juggernaut

Kuat Drive Yards HAV/w A6 Juggernaut drivers seem to have an enjoyable and rewarding job.

Because they look like they don't have a care in the world.

Also, roadkill just wipes right off.

Also, you can just run uppity asshole bikers off the road and break their stuff with impunity.

 Post script: Well, yes, obviously I'd been visiting some Toys R Us somewhere in the city.

EX-TER-MI-NATE! EX-TER-MI-NATE!

I chased Irfan down two aisles at the supermarket with a toilet plunger saying. "EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

I was sad that the egg beaters weren't close by.

Irfan's Imperial Entanglements

So the other day, Irfan was in a blaster shootout with some Imperials - perhaps CompForce troopers.

Click here to check out the video.

Return of the Fart Zombie

Fart zombies are back, thanks to my joining of the Art Jammers group on Facebook. Last week, the theme was the undead.

Seriously... who really knows what vile gases are being produced by the innards of a shambling, undead being.

Holy Crap! Star Wars DVD to Blu-Ray Comparisons!

IT'S AN OUTRAGE!

Star Wars: The Complete Saga blu-ray set has been released and I have compiled a comparison of five screenshots between the DVD and its corresponding scene in the Blu-ray version. In each image, the DVD version is the top half and the Blu-ray the bottom half. Here follows a commentary on the abovementioned screenshots.

The Opening Crawl

As you can see, the opening crawl in the DVD when viewed in Blu-ray looks so much worse. The blackness of space seems to have been greyed out and smudged in a shape that could be a mountain. Seriously? Someone thought a mountain would look good in space? Even the text font has been changed, perhaps to accomodate extra details about some "Purple Death", which I believe refers to General Tagge's underpants.

The Tatooine Desert

The picture quality is so bad after a transfer to 1080p that some of the characters on screen looks nothing like they did in the DVD (and theatrical) release of the movie. Even Obi-Wan appears to have lost his beard and wears a Conehead hat. Must be a new digital alteration! Bah! Thankfully See-Threepio looks somewhat the same.

Millennium Falcon

Everyone's favourite YT-1300 now has a design which looks futuristic and better than before. However, in the high definition conversion, the image seems to have lost a bit of saturation. Again, the background is so blurred and smudged that Cloud City looks like a bunch of rocks. This is unacceptable!

Cloud City Duel

In the first Luke vs Vader duel, the print is so horrible that you can't see the lightsaber blades at all! And there seems to have been more digital alteration done to Vader's helmet so he looks more like the Marvel superhero Thor. Another example of how the Blu-ray producers caved to current popular movies (in this case, this year's Thor) and altered something so it'll look like it's "in with the times"!

Boba Fett

A fan favourite character, Boba Fett is now digitally altered so it would look less armoured, wearing slacks and - what are those - loafers? Also, whose idea was it to digitally insert rocks around the Pit of Carkoon? Now it totally looks fake! Blasphemy!

Disclaimer: Yes, fake article is totally fake; and no, I haven't bought the Star Wars blu-rays yet because, man, they're expensive from where I'm sitting. Blasted conversion rates. All hail the classic Republic Serials! Commando Cody in that last black and white image has even appeared in this blog once before!

Gamera Moves Into Town!

And there goes the neighbourhood in Pandan Indah.

Well, not really. Recently, I had Irfan's Gamera toy with me in the car, so wherever I drive and I find a photo opportunity, I'd take an impromptu photo of the toy in forced perspective with the surrounding buildings in view. So, here's what I've managed to come up with so far. Mouseover the images for the original tweets about them.

They ARE Zombies, After a Fashion

After reading Gary's Facebook status last week, I was inspired to draw this three page preview of a fake comic book.

The Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator

Do you wish to write and be as successful as bestselling authour of titles such as Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code, Dan Brown?

Don't fret, because now you can thanks to Slate.com's The Interactive Dan Brown Plot Generator. All you have to do is to select the city and then the arcane organisation whose devious plot drives the story, and voila! You have an automatically generated plot which can serve as a blurb for your back cover!

I chose "Dallas" for the city, and for the ancient and mysterious organisation I picked the Kiwanis Club:

An ancient puzzle at the heart of Dallas.
A ruthless cult determined to protect it.
A frantic race to uncover the Kiwanis Club's darkest secret.

The Forgotten Mark

When world-famous Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned to the Carousel Club to analyze a mysterious rune—imprinted on a gold ring lying next to the mangled body of the head docent—he discovers evidence of the unthinkable: the resurgence of the ancient cult of the Quintinistas, a secret branch of the Kiwanis Club that has surfaced from the shadows to carry out its legendary vendetta against its mortal enemy, the Vatican.

Langdon's worst fears are confirmed when a messenger from the Quintinistas appears at the Texas Theater to deliver a grim ultimatum: Turn over the archbishop, or one cherub will disappear from the Sistine Chapel every day. With only three days to foil their plot, Langdon joins forces with the statuesque and quick-witted daughter of the murdered docent in a desperate bid to crack the code that will reveal the cult's secret plan.

Embarking on a frantic hunt, Langdon and his companion follow a 800-year-old trail through Dallas's most venerable buildings and historic churches, pursued by a one-eyed assassin the cult has sent to thwart them. What they discover threatens to expose a conspiracy that goes all the way back to Joseph Prance and the very founding of the Kiwanis Club.

That's the plot. Now all I have to do is to write the prose and change Langdon's name. Watch me go to the top of the New York Times bestsellers' list! Woo!

365 Days of Stormtroopers

Thanks to the Official Star Wars Blog, I've come across the photo-adventures of a pair of hapless Imperial Stormtroopers on Flickr, TK-479 and TK-455, as they undergo a series of entertaining adventures.

The photos are taken by Stéfan Le Dû, who will release one photo a day for a year.

Some of the scenes are downright hilarious. Here is a selection, with mouseover text of their original titles:

Above: This explains the anonymous messages Luke's been receiving. It got so bad that he had to hurl his phone on the far side of Nirauan.

Above: The Imperial fleet could use a few good carrier pigeons if the HoloNet craps out.

Above: You can't go on vacation without an astromech droid to navigate your camper.

Above:  Do you need hats if you're wearing friggin' helmets? You do if you want to get the chicks on the beach.

Cody and Rex, Best of Friends

This is CC-2224, nicknamed Cody. His rank in the Grand Army of the Republic is Commander.

This is CC-7567, nicknamed Rex. His rank is Captain.

There's News, And Then There's News

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city...

KUALA LUMPUR — Amid an excited Malaysian public, Proton today launched the first of three variants of its latest model, the MPV Exora.

The ‘C’ variant (for Cheap) comes without the frills traditionally included by car companies, like engine, transmission, seats, doors, windows and steering wheel. (The other two variants, “Premium” and “Standard”, will be launched next month)

Proton managing director Datuk Syed Zainal Abdin Tahir said that the MPV was designed for families which were conscious about doing things economically. “While the other two variants, with the usual package that includes items some see as ‘basic’ would be sold at around RM80,000, the ‘C’ variant is sold at below RM5,000.

For more news like that visit Nose4news, a clever Malaysian news parody website. "Abominable Snowman seeks name change"? "Loss of Life main cause of death among males, females"? "Crime industry announces 400,000 job vacancies"? It's the Onion website, but with a local flavour.

Where Do These T-888 Infiltrators Go To Eat?

These different models of Tee-Triple Eight infiltrators below: they're a different series of endoskeletons from the T-800 and the T-850 (model 101) from the Terminator movies. 

I might have found the exact place where they all go to eat out.

Classic Conversation

When Shane and I start chatting, we mostly chat geeky. But sometimes it goes way up to epic. It's about time I blogged about my usual chats with Shane

This didn't really escalate to epic level, but it's a taste of how our conversations usually go:

Hisham: Hey... what would have happened if there were no clouds at night in Gotham City?

And Gordon needed to shine the batsignal?

Shane: Wouldn't it hit the atmosphere anyways?

Hisham: Still needs something flat for it to project onto.

Shane: Good thing Gotham is a dark, fictional city

Hisham: With a flat, fictional piece of plexiglass across the sky.

Shane: POLLUTION!

HA!

There!

Axis Chemicals has been pumpin shit into the atmosphere for decades

Hisham: Well, never let it be said pollution was good for nothing.

Shane: This is classic Shane/Hisham convo right here.

That last line? Amen.

Note: Edited for clarity.

Oh, Snap!

My old Boba Fett figure and Irfan's new Hulk figure act out the final fate of the galaxy's most feared bounty hunter.

I Want To Play In This Campaign

PVP Online's latest comic regales us with a description of one of the greatest ideas for an RPG campaign.

Click on the thumbnail to the right to read the entire strip, and to see what I'm talking about.

I believe I'd very much like to play Jesse Mach of Street Hawk in that campaign.

Anyone else willing to be Stringfellow Hawke, B.J McKay, Sheriff Lobo and Colt Seavers travelling the country to thwart the evil plans of an evil Mr. Belvedere? We'd have the Street Hawk, Airwolf and Sheriff Lobo's police cruiser poisitioned inside B.J. McKay's 18-wheeler, ready to be deployed at a moment's notice, like The Highwayman series.

We'll be fighting wave after wave of Melmackian troops led by Gordon "ALF" Shumway, under the direct command of Mr. Belvedere's lieutenant Arnold of Diff'rent Strokes.

"Whatchoo talkin' about, ALF?"

You know you want to play this.

On The Topic Of Names

Because of Wil Wheaton's post at his blog who wished that his name could be turned into a cool analog like Cherie Priest, I decided to check out anagrams of our own names on Wordsmith.com.

So as not to get too short a word in the anagram like "a" or "an" and have too many results returned, I set the maximum number of words to be 2 and the minimum number of letter in each word to be 3.

For my own name I entered "Khairul Hisham" because I get zero results from my full name and I entered Ain's full name without the " binti".