New Account+New Chair

Things are going to be different.... sort of.

That's because I finally set up my CARA account...

Also, I've got a new chair for my computer desk.....

Which I had to assemble and I wish I had photos to show it off but alas, I forgot to take the photos with my iPhone.

Oh well, I did take a photo of my chair after it was assembled.

Doug & the 90's Nickelodeon Funko Pop Shelf

Normally I'm critical of those who spend their money on nothing but action figures or model kits instead of essentials like food or computer parts if some of the posts from some friend's credit cards are concerned during these hard economic times.

But when it comes to Funko Pops, I can't seem to get away from them.

Probably because I own one Funko Pop which is of Frieza from DRAGON BALL Z.

It's amazing that the Funko Pops continue to be hot sellers. And I mean that in a good way.

Anyway, I was browsing through my iPhone's photo gallery and I came across this photo.

If you haven't guessed, this shelf is representative of Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1996 so it has the likes of 

DOUG, RUGRATS, ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE, AHH REAL MONSTERS,

and HEY ARNOLD.

Sort of wished there were Funko Pops of REN & STIMPY on that shelf to complete the package but I really like the fact that the DOUG Funko Pops are at the very top of the shelf which is indictive of that fact that it was the absolute very first Nicktoon to air on that fateful August 11 1991.

One gripe I have is that the DOUG Funko Pops are using their DISNEY SERIES designs.

No offense to Jim Jenkins and Mouse House Fans but using Disney Era DOUG Funko Pops feels anachronistic and out of place for a Nicktoons Funko Pop Shelf.

Plus, what would the Nickelodeon Series elitists say?

"You bought the wrong Funko Pops Funnie!!!"

I understand the costume choice is due to the issues involving rights holdings between the Slime Factory and the Mouse House, but...

While Billy West doesn't seem to mind the Funko Pops bearing the current designs as he actually autographed a box of one,

sources point out that he still prefers the 1991 Original Version over the later 1996 version that he lost due to mid-90s Salary Disputes.

That and the fact that he doesn't accept roles that prioritize Actor's Signature looks over actual raw talent so that means he turns down major offers from Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, Illumination, etc.

.... 

But at least Doug's not going to pick a fight with a certain Sea Sponge or a White-Haired Kid with 10 sisters to overwhelm him.

Unless you mod Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl for PC just so you can have all your Doug vs. SpongeBob vs. Lincoln Loud DEATHMATCH fantasies fulfilled.

"I bet you $15 Million I'd kick SpongeBob's ass like there's no tomorrow! 

So mod me in the game will you!"

By the way, the photo of the Funko Pop Shelf is not mine. It was just something I pulled from the Internet I think back in Summer 2023.... so there...

The Return of Ranma 1/2 + A request for both Takahashi-Sama & VIZ MEDIA.

Looked at my Facebook Feed yesterday,

As it turns out, Ranma 1/2 is rumored to get a remake in a similar vein to the URUSEI YATSURA remake from 2022.

Whether or not DAVID PRODUCTIONS will helm the remake or not, this is great news as I'm a big RANMA 1/2 fan, next to DOUG.

Just ask one thing to Rumiko Takahashi and to the producers in Japan:

BRING BACK ALL THE SURVIVING ORIGINAL ACTORS!!!

I'm slightly sore about the fact that all the major characters in URUSEI YATSURA were recast in the remake. Sure, Lum and Ataru's original seiyuus returned as different characters but it just doesn't feel the same to me.

To me, Ranma should always be both Kappei Yamaguchi and Megumi Hayashibara instead of whatever the balls David Productions did with Both Ataru and Lum.

And to VIZ MEDIA, who I know is going to helm the Localization, If you do bring back all the surviving actors of the ENGLISH DUB such as Richard Ian Cox, Kelly Sheridan, David Kaye, Angela Costain, Michael Donovan, etc., 

MAKE SURE THE DUB IS PRODUCED IN VANCOUVER!!!

I'm still sore over YASHAHIME: HALF-DEMON PRINCESS being dubbed at BANG ZOOM instead of OCEAN PRODUCTIONS

despite bring back most of the original dub cast of Inuyasha...

Barring the unfortunate death of Kirby Morrow in November 18 2020.

In my opinion, VANCOUVER, BC is the true home of any DUB of works made by RUMIKO TAKAHASHI.

Happy Fathers Day Reuben Martinez

Sorry I missed out on your 50th Birthday last January, Reuben.

Fortunately, I can at least dedicate this entire blogpost to you: the one and only Father Figure of mine.

Believe it or not, my father is the one who spurred me into the creative artist that I am.

Because he was always supportive of my creative endeavors, unlike some Executives that I know of.

But it's not always about my art that he was supportive of, it's also the paternal support that I've craved for many years.

Plus, the best thing about a paternal figure is that you know he's got a steady job to the point he can spoil me with the best gadgets there ever were. 

We need more of that in today's economy!!!

This is me and my father playing SUPER MARIO ALL-STARS for the SNES 

on our vintage 1980's Woodgrain Tv even though this photo is dated 1999.

And it's not just that SNES at the top photo that he's spoiled little me with. 

He blessed my family with 3 Computers.

The first was our COMPAQ PRESARIO 5477

Next was a personal favorite, the VOBIS HIGHSCREEN SKY

And another personal favorite: the MDG Horizon 2400.

But really, it's the artist in me that my father really started to take notice.

Of course, I can barely find all the drawings I did back in the day

(Some were thrown out, others were stored heavily in my house).

But he knew the moment I laid my eyes on DISNEY movies on VHS as well as seeing me sneak out of my room to watch THE SIMPSONS & KING OF THE HILL on Q13 FOX, he knew there was a side of me that screams:

"I WANT TO BECOME AN ARTIST!!!"

Plus, he was a great story teller too.

I still remember vividly the story of MOKIMOKI, a little character he came up with to entertain 6 year old me when we were living on this nice Blue House in Myrtle Street in Burnaby, BC.

Is that where I came up with the idea for the Hayden Brentwood character?

"Doubtful."

Speaking about Myrtle Street, the house was jokingly referred to as 

THE BIG BLUE PAINTING HOUSE 

Probably because my father was constantly painted the interior. 

Plus, it smelled like paint.

Also, my father was fond of animals too.

Here is a photo of Papa Reuben letting my previous cat PEACH sleep in front of his Dell Laptop

Here's a little something for my father:

"Papa Reuben. If you're reading this, it's to let you know that I'm always remembering you for the way to helped inspire the creative in me. Thanks for all the support. Hope we can see each other in person again."

The last time I was my father in person was somewhere around 2015 or so....

about 9 years ago at the time of this posting.

But I don't have a photo of that so instead, here's a photo of me with my father taken during my 15th Birthday on December 13 2012.

Quite the familial resemblance. Also, this was several years before I grew my beard. 

New Fractal Cases.

Back in June 2024, I was keeping a close watch on the state of New Cases released from Fractal Design

The reason is because this is a Company I respect and I actually use a case from them which is the POP AIR Mid-Tower Case.

anyhow, after the March 2024 release of the North XL Case

I'd thought that was a bit enough for at least one year since that's sort of Fractal's strategy but nope.

Fractal has two new cases.

One Brand new and another a refresh.

The first is the MOOD Case

This is a case that's not only small but also is meant to compliment the Modern Clean Apartment aesthetic of today's gamers which explains the Speaker/Air Purifier design of the case.

Did I say AIR? Well of course Fractal knows that Air Flow in a PC Case is a must.

Otherwise you'd end up pissing off Steve Burke of GAMERS NEXUS because that man is obsessed with Air Flow in a case.

The other case that's new is a Refresh of an old case.....

The ERA 2 Case.

This is Fractal's second attempt at this particular Case shape after the disastrous 2020 release of the original ERA ITX.

The original Era ITX looks like this little guy show below.

Fractal knew that after so many delays, this original version of the Era ITX was so bad that for the 2nd revision, they didn't contact INTEL because they knew that having Intel on board with case designs like this conflict with what today's gamers actually want.

So is the Era 2 an improvement?

Woodgrain Top Cover now having Air Vents like It should, I think so but I'll let you builders be the judge of that when you build your PCs with this baby.

Fractal also announced their line of Chairs and Headphones under the Refine and Scape names.

The Refine chair I could take, I'm going to debate whether the Scape Headphones will offer a price that's better than what Beats or Apple are offering with their Headphones.

But for me, It's going to be PC Cases all the way.

But regardless, I ask one question exclusively for Fractal Design... actually for every PC Case Manufacturer:

"Can you please take it easy with the bag packaging? I still remember the static charge I felt after touching the Fractal North when I did the Streaming PC Build for my Church."

And Jayztwocents himself is sick of when manufacturers packaging gives him static shock in the channel.

When I originally posted this, he recently unboxed a Big-Ass tower but that also gave him static shock.

Fortunately, he didn't curse Fractal for that but still.

Since posting this, Jason Langevin has uploaded a new Video of both a DEEPCOOL case and a Lian Li Case.

I can confirm he got his coveted static shock from the Styrofoam.

 

Hopefully the North XL, Mood, and Era 2 Cases will not give me a static discharge when I do my eventual builds on those cases..... for my friends or organizations anyway.

Maverick PC Builder's Insider 03-Another Church Build? Oh My!+Intel's Stability Woes Update

The El Redentor Streaming PC is about to get a younger brother.... 

Just a figure of speech....

But seriously, that's what I've heard from a member of my congregation.

So basically what's going on is that one of the Corsair Carbide Builds my church was using for running the projector slides for our sermons as well as text is also on it's last legs.

You know what that means right?

That means I'm going to be called up to build a new Computer for the Congregation.

However, unlike the El Redentor Streaming PC, it's not going to be a relatively high-end build because really, you don't need a high-core count for a PC that's dedicated only to Slides, Web Videos, MP4s, or what-not.

For those wondering, how does it even project to places like YOUTUBE OR FACEBOOK?

It's actually connected to a splitter which in turn is connected to the DeckLink Capture Card on the Streaming PC.

But the Projection PC will still be based on an AMD Platform.

That seems to be a theme for my PC BUILDs which are all AMD-Based when it comes to CPUs.

The reason I haven't done any INTEL Builds is because of INTEL's Anti-AMD Snake Oil comments as well as a botched reception of their 14th Gen CPUs.

So even if I wasn't soured by the Snake Oil comments, Intel 14th Gen isn't worth it as it's probably going to be the end of the LGA 1700 Socket Support.

Because by the time 15th Gen is released, it'll have moved on to the LGA 1851 Socket so if I want to do an INTEL BUILD for my Church or my friends, I'd rather wait until the new 15th Gen ARROW LAKE CPUs are released because the newer the Socket, the better the support and upgrade path.

Not for my personal Builds though.

Reason I switched to AM5 is because AMD supports their Sockets longer than INTEL's and AMD has just extended support for AM5 to 2027. 

That's some awesome commitment.

Speaking about Commitment, I've also heard that AMD is extending their support for the 5000 series line of AM4 CPUs with their new XT Variants.

But for me at this point, there's no point for me to stick with AM4 Anymore since it's just a refresh of a previous generation.

For me, I'm more excited for the 9000 series of Ryzen CPUs which are on the AM5 platform.

Debating if I should get the First Ryzen 9s available on the new CPUs or just wait until the x3D Variants are released in January 2025.

Update as of August 1 2024:

Turns out the projector PC is using an AM4 motherboard.

I have said before, AM4 is long in the tooth for 2024 despite AMD's commitment to support the socket for a little longer.

But still, I'm glad it's AMD and not Intel.

As far as I'm concerned, INTEL is not having a good year. 

Not because of the lukewarm reception to 14th Gen CPUS but also because there's a major issue with Intel CPUs right now.

If you haven't heard, INTEL's 13th and 14th Gen CPUs are running into some serious instability issues which pertains to some BIOS settings regarding voltage.

While Intel pledged to fix this problem with a BIOS Update, the damage is already done.

What a major blow to the most important semiconductor company that's been around since 1968.

Hopefully, things will get ironed out when 15th Gen comes out but by then, the company will have already moved on to LGA 1851.

And to illustrate how bad the stability issues are, I hear EPIC Games is concerned about this issue to the point they are asking for FORTNITE Players to fiddle with their BIOS settings.

So I feel like Game Companies are becoming more cautious about the stability issues now to the point that confidence on the newer LGA 1851 socket is pretty much shaken up...

And get this, As of August 10 2024, I've also heard that Intel not only is in trouble with gamers, hardware tech reviewers, etc., but they're also in hot water with shareholders.

.... shareholders.....

Even though I antagonize them, it seems even the shareholders are not happy with Intel's CPU stability problems.

Looks like heightened support for the AM5 platform.

Speaking about AM5, I heard the Ryzen 9000 CPUs got delayed until mid-august 2024.

Allegedly for to quality control reasons.

Considering Intel's stability problems with 13th and 14th Gen right now, I think this is a smart move for AMD to delay the chips until further notice....

*Cough* Early-August *Cough*....

Maverick Quickie-New Portfolio Home Plans

Aw Man. 

I was hoping to not do a Maverick Quickie in June 2024 but alas, I failed.

But this is a great opportunity to announce my intentions to move my Portfolio to CARA.

Why?

Because I'm an artist but there's this movement being done by META for some machine training that artists are fiercely against but Zuckerberg refuses to listen to these complaints because...

SHAREHOLDERS

So as a result, almost every artist wants to get the hell out and move to this new web-oriented art haven called CARA.

I'm considering moving to CARA for my own art sometime later this month but for now, All I've done is just installed the app in my iPhone 15 Pro so please be patient. This move is not going to happen overnight. I'm still working out the kinks to get my Portfolio set up.

But what does this mean for the Maverick Martinez Archive?

NOTHING.

It will remain the same old blog, just with a link to my CARA Portfolio once I get it ready.

Oh the excitement of a new Portfolio Location.

Software that I use for Inking and Coloring

My Teen Titans Post is sort of in the Backburner for now due to my job at the Café as well as switching Motherboards in my PC.

But I went at least one month without doing a Maverick Quickie and I'm not going to do another Quickie filler this month so until my schedule is worked out, here's something that has been in the backburner for the last 7 months:

SOFTWARE I USE FOR INKING.

This piece of artwork above was something I've done on Photoshop.

Back in December 2023, I did a post about Inking, the haphazards, the techniques, and the ideal Wacom Tablets you should buy if you have the money for them.

But what I didn't talk about is the various pieces of Software I use to create my art.

It varies.

I only told half of my social circle about this but I delight in drawing physically on paper.

But sometimes due to the cost of Photocopy Paper as well as resources force me to go digital in the realm of creating my art.

So here are the various pieces of software I use for my art:

First is my tried and true since 2012:

My Nintendo 3DS+Colors! 3D App

After losing my MDG Horizon 2400 PC to a Trojan Horse in June 2011, I had no PC to do my art. So all my art was done with this little Handheld below..... sort of.

Back in 2012, I actually had an original 2011 Launch Model 3DS console.

But what I did buy with my funds back then was this piece of Software:

Believe it or not, I still use this 3DS App even after a decade later after it was put on the Nintendo eShop.

I seriously have a ton of art done with this app but I can't show them all due to not having compiled them all in a single folder.

Maybe I'll show them in the future.

But anyway, for 2 years, This was my primary piece of software.

Then 2 years later, I got my Laptop.....

A piece of shit Laptop by the looks of it.

It's this HP Pavilion 3560M shown below.

But bad memories aside, there was one piece of software I used in tandem with my 3DS exports.

Paint.net

I'm really a Photoshop type of person but back then, I could not pay for the software, and I didn't know of Krita or GIMP so I turned to this piece of software referred to as Paint.net.

No relation to MS-Paint.

That's also when I sort of stopped drawing BGs and stuck to compositing my draws on separate BGs.

Then 2 years later again, I switched to Photoshop CS6 and I've never looked back...

Not even the migration to Creative Cloud was enough to deter me.

I did install Krita and tried using it but I could not get a feel for the software due to the difference in hotkeys that I'm used to so I stuck with Photoshop.

One would say why Photoshop and not Illustrator.

Photoshop is more versatile in the tools and brushes because it's a raster graphics program. 

Illustrator on the other hand uses Vector Graphics to generate it's artwork.

While Vector Graphics would have been more fitting due to the need to smoothen my inking, it's a pain to use.

I installed Illustrator and tried using it but could not get a feel for it so I've since stuck with Photoshop ever since.

While the inking is spot-on, there's one thing that Photoshop falters at and that's using the paint bucket tool.... sort of.

The nature of Raster Graphics is that it uses Pixels for generating the line art or assets you're drawing. And using the paint bucket has always been a haphazard on single layers.

Whenever we use the paint bucket, the algorithm always anti-alias the surround parts of the line art, making the line art less appealing and less authentic than I want it to be.

Fortunately, I've figure out a way to combat this issue. 

What I do Is create two layers.

The first is a single layer for the Line Art

While the Second Layer is for the color.

After the line art is finished, I go to the Color Layer.

Use the want tool set in STRAIGHT-LINE mode, 

and click away inside the line art.

Once I select the areas I so desire, 

Then I can use the Paint Bucket tool

And that's what creates this beautiful Cel without losing the authenticity of my line art.

As for 2D Animation, well....... 

I used two pieces of Software.

The first was ADOBE ANIMATE.

It was ok to use but I considered it the Poor Man's Toon Boom since it was built to replace Adobe Flash animator.

Once I switched to Toon Boom Harmony Premium, I never looked back.

Sure I had some issues with Toon Boom's Hotkeys but eventually, I got used to it.

Toon Boom Harmony is by far the more versatile of all 2D Animation software on the market.

The underlying tech, whether it's the easy integration with tools, brushes, Swatches, etc, I've been using this software since January 2021.

Sure, it's expensive since it's industry standard but what you pay for in versatility is the best that you can animate.

And you don't need Adobe Media Encoder to create your final export, unlike with Animate.

But what Toon Boom and Adobe Animate have in common is that they both use Vector Graphics to generate their artwork but at least the way they handle Vector Art is better intuitive than Illustrator ever was.

So really, I use two pieces of Software to create my artwork.

One is my 2DS XL and it's Colors! software,

and then there's my PC with Photoshop and Toon Boom.

All you need to worry about is Software features you don't need, a functioning hard drive, or in this case: FUNCTIONING TABLET DRIVERS.

Yes, Drivers are important for your device to work, otherwise, what's the point to spend on a Wacom Tablet Display if the computer doesn't know what to do with it.

That's what Drivers are for, they talk to your motherboard and tell the device what to do.

And for those who are wondering, Yes I did swap out the Motherboard in my PC.

My current specs are:

GIGABYTE B650 AORUS Elite AX V2 Motherboard,

AMD Ryzen 9 7900x3D CPU,

GIGABYTE EAGLE 16GB RTX 4080,

32GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR5 Dual Channel U-DIMM Ram,

1000W Seasonic Focus GX-1000 Fully Modular PSU,

Fractal Pop Air Mid-Tower Case,

3 SSDs for my MOBO.

A 512gb Silicon Power, 

1 TB Samsung 980, 

and a 2TB Lexar NM710.