Disney Princess Street Fighter

Disney Princesses Street Fighter: Dragon Punch with a Fairy Touch

Our post  about sith Disney princesses is one of the 10 most read and most successful. And I bet this post will also be. For some reason, Disney princesses turned into attractive warriors is a proven formula for success.


We already saw these beauties with a lightsaber in hand, and we thought princesses couldn't be more badass than that. We were wrong. Never underestimate human imagination, this is the lesson we learn at each fresh new look on the princesses.


This time, artist Josh McMahon brings these beauties to the world of Street Fighter IV. Definitely, these modern Disney princesses are willing to take the struggle for happiness in their own hands!


Anyone who has ever played Street Fighter know that every fighter has a unique style and story, a personal reason to fly around the globe, fighting for the title of World Champion, and these princesses are no different. Indeed, in their Street Fighter versions, they remain true to their principles and goals, but the difference is that they are definitely not willing to wait for their prince charming to fight for them. In fact, any prince charming would look like girly weaklings next to these girls.

Our first street fighter princess is Cinderella, turned into a ninja warrior. No brooms and mops for her, only deadly blades. I bet the ugly sisters and evil stepmother won't bother her anymore...

Snow White is tired of crying and being a victim of the world. The sweetest and most innocent of the princesses is now a genuine "bad girl". According to Josh on his own site, she is inspired on Lisbeth Salander, and the seven dwarfs are now the Seven Drug Lords.

The trident fighter Ariel is my favorite princess street fighter. The sea-themed armor, apparently made ​​of sea animals skins and shells, is a master touch. According to Josh, Ariel sold her voice to the sea witch to become a great warrior.

Here is Jasmine, a deadly desert warrior. The choice of scimitar as a weapon is quite adequate, and Jasmine seems quite comfortable with it, ready to strike a blow faster than the eye. Here the princess of the desert entered the Street Fighter tournament to prove to her father, the Sultan, that she is able to govern her own kingdom.

The next street fighter princess is Belle, in my opinion the most beautiful princess, and now also the most beautiful street fighter. Belle is now a Muay Thai fighter. Maybe she learned to fight in one of those books she is always reading?

Pocahontas is the street fighter princess who literally fights for nature, a descendant of a great Powhatan warrior. Greenpeace could surely make use of such a good warrior in their ranks.

Tiana, from The Princess and the Frog, is now a military whose goal is to prove that she is able to command her own unit. Her clothing is an excellent camouflage amid the swamps of Louisiana.

And on this side of the ring we have Aurora, a professional wrestler, who adopted the professional name of "Briar Rose". A beauty who can put you to sleep ... on the ring floor!

Mulan has always been a great warrior, but now with new styling, inspired by fighters like Kitana from Mortal Kombat and her colleague Chun-li, few can face her in a fight. To top it off, she became an assassin and disguise expert. And above all, she is now more beautiful than ever!

The last princess to join her fellow street fighters is Rapunzel, a sorceress who was imprisoned for a long time. Apparently, she must have a lot of repressed anger, and it is fantastic that so much stress has not made her lose hair. Highlight for the staff with a chameleon on the top, I wonder what powers it has? Maybe powers of illusion? Say what, Josh? Well, never mind, this is also one of my favorites.

Visit Josh's blog for more of his amazing work!

A Gift from Liliana

Liliana comes to new year's eve, bringing along not spirits from beyond, but the very spirit of Christmas.

Nothing more appropriate, since, at least in this humble blog, the dark mage definitely established herself as the medieval fantasy muse of the year, among many others. And now she comes to reclaim the title, with the blessings of her talented portraitist, Steve Argyle.

Congratulations, Steve, you sure knew how to translate the whole mix of beauty, magic and mischief involving our muse.

In 2012, we look forward to discover what lies behind the veil of Liliana, and we count on you to capture and reproduce this moment.

Real Disney Princesses

Disney Princesses in flesh, bones and beauty.

Like a fairy godmother  armed with a magic wand, a skilled photographer with powerful lenses can turn dreams into reality, peasant girls into princesses, with the touch of a finger.

Our princess series has been a success, presenting different views on the muses of our childhood, but it was clear that the more grown up and fetishists missed their dream actually coming true, ie, the princesses materializing in flesh, bone and pure beauty.

It was up to the photographer Ryan Astamendi to make this dream come true. Do you like gorgeous women? So you have to check his portfolio!

Rejoice at the work of this lens wizard as he brings fairy beauty into life:

Rapunzel

Princess Aurora (Sleeping Beauty)

Snow White

Pocahontas

Jasmine

Diablo III street art at Gamescom 2011

Diablo III street art at Gamescom 2011

In the video below, you can follow the making of a street art by artist Manfred Stader, with Diablo as theme. The reason for the artwork is the presence of Blizzard at Gamescom 2011.

The piece lies in central Cologne (Germany), Hahnentorburg Rudolfplatz to be exact. Some unsuspecting observers may swear that they risk falling into the pits of the Burning Hell if too close to the painting, but the truth is that the technique used by the artist evokes a 3D hell illusion.

What do you think? Personally, I think the choice of illustration could have been better. Others are of the opinion that the release date for Diablo III could have been included in the painting ... And some christians surely loved it! :)

Innistrad Spoilers - Day and Night in Innistrad

Day and Night in Innistrad

Innistrad spoilers never cease to amaze us. Whether true or not. In the case of two cards that we show here, is not known how far their content is true, but they are there nonetheless and are quite intriguing.

First of all,  let's be fair and cite our sources. The two images, it seems, first appeared on a Spanish website, MagicMadrid.com, and from then on, in Facebook accounts and other Magic sites.

Now, to the images: the first is  "Mayor of Avabruck."

And his "card" version:

(Day) Mayor of Avabruck - 1G
Creature - Human Advisor Werewolf (Rare)
Unknown text,  3/3
1/1

The second is "Howlpack Alpha", and seems to be a token type.

(Night) Howlpack Alpha
Creature - Werewolf (Rare)
Other Werewolf and Wolf creatures you control get +1/+1.
At the beginning of your upkeep, put a 2/2 green Wolf creature token onto the battlefield.
At the beginning of each upkeep, if a player cast at least two spells during the previous turn, sacrifice Howlpack Alpha.
3/3

Legitimate or not (and in my opinion, they seem legitimate enough), it is interesting to note the symbols on the top left of the cards. They are symbols of "Day" and "Night". Apparently this is a fundamental mechanic in Innistrad, and is almost obvious that Howlpack Alpha is the "Night" version of Mayor of Avabruck. It is unclear how this mechanism will be implemented, but is sure to be something innovative and exciting, and this is becoming a trend with everything related to Innistrad.

Innistrad Spoilers - Art for the new Garruk in Innistrad

Art for the new Garruk in Innistrad

Spoilers on the block Innistrad are getting better, and further increasing our anxiety for this that is one of the most anticipated and promising blocks since Ravnica.

After Ral Zarek, we now have material on another planeswalker that will be on the block: none other than the acclaimed "Beast Boy" Garruk. In the last GenCon, we were presented with two pieces of art featuring "Innistrad" Garruk.

The first is this:

We see Garruk without his traditional helmet, dressed in black, striking a quite "conanesque" pose.  Note that his signature axe and buckle are still there. But Garruk is changed. No doubt this is the result of the curse that Liliana placed upon the poor bastard, as seen in the webcomic The Hunter and the Veil, Part 3. That's why our friend Garruk, will most probably be a Green / Black planeswalker, and not just because he's dressed in black. In The Hunter and the Veil we witnessed as the curse of Liliana made ​​all summoned creatures by Garruk become sick or even "zombified" and this certainly will be reflected in the new planeswalker Garruk.

The second art was presented in an UltraPro product:

I must say I did not like this one. Garruk looks like a Hells Angels biker in his forties. The kind that spills beer on his beard. He seems stockier here than in the other art, in which he seems more alert, more at ease, despite the curse that weighs upon him. Somehow, the other art is much more fluid than this, and we hope they use the first art for his planeswalker card. We already had enough with the art for Garruk in the core set  2012 (M12), which makes him look like a big and clumsy caveman. Not to mention his man boobs ... Well, at least in the UltraPro art, Garruk had the decency to cover his large and protruding nipples.

Garruk and his man boobs

Nevertheless, the art for new Garruk adds to the whole gothic horror mood that is being built on Innistrad. Especially the art for Garruk reminded me of the movie Van Helsing (2004), with all that black leather and "vampire hunter" looks.  In fact, I think the R & D staff at Wizards of the Coast has this film as one of their main inspirations for Innistrad, and I'll talk about that later.

Innistrad = Van Helsing!!!

Yōkai in the fantastic medieval Japan - Part 1

Yōkai in the fantastic medieval Japan

Japan has faced, as we know, a great tragedy in recent days, with the earthquakes followed by tsunamis, since 11/03/2011.
 
The images and the consequences, as we can read in the news, are heart breaking.

But Japanese are tough to beat, as history has proven, and also extremely disciplined. It is no wonder that samurai and ninja originated in feudal Japan, warriors with impressive skills, bordering on the supernatural; warriors that have inhabited our fantasies and pop culture for decades. As a fervent admirer of these people, I have full confidence that they will recover impressively, with the same stoicism, honor and discipline of a samurai, as they did rise from the rubble of World War II to become a technological and economic power.

In honor of this people, I decided to talk about their captivating folklore in the feudal period. In other words, now let's talk fantasy in medieval Japan.

Let's start with an infamous creature from Japanese myth, one that features in legends from the feudal period to the present day: the yōkai.

The yōkai can be defined as a monster, spirit or demon. Actually it can be considered a class of Japanese monsters, since not every monster from feudal Japanese culture is (generally) considered a yōkai - for example the oni, kappa and Yurei. In some sources, however, these monsters will be considered yōkai, like in Inuyasha, a manga / anime which will be further explored in our posts about yōkai. In this manga / anime, all the supernatural creatures, including the three I mentioned above, are considered yokai.

InuYasha

  As a rule, what defines a yōkai is some kind of supernatural or spiritual power. Yōkai with ability to shape change are called obake. Obake examples are:

    * Tanuki (raccoon dog)
    * Kitsune (Fox)
    * Hebi (snake)
    * Mujin (Badgers)
    * Bakeneko (cats)
    * Ōkami (wolf)
    * Tsuchigumo and jorōgumo (spiders)
    * Inugami (dogs)

Tanuki

Stories of tanuki disguised as members of society (priests, for example) are common through the Kamakura period. Other stories are more sinister. In a story called "Kachi-Kachi Yama", a tanuki kills an old lady and serves her as a soup to her unsuspecting husband. A tanuki is also a character in InuYasha, acting as a servant of the monk Miroku.

Kitsune by ~who-stole-MY-name

 While the tanuki is portrayed as a prankster and joker, kitsune stories tend to be more serious, portraying these yōkai as intelligent beings, whose magical abilities increase with age. Kitsune have several tails, up to nine. The more tails a kitsune has, more wise, venerable and powerful it is. In the manga / anime Naruto, a fox of nine tails features heavily in the plot. The protagonist Naruto has one of these creatures within. Here, the creature is portrayed as demonic and destructive, and also a source of power coveted by the villains of the series. Traditionally, however, the kitsune were generally portrayed as Zenko (literally, "good foxes) or yako, malicious and harmful. In folk tales, they acquire a tail every 100 years. By acquiring the ninth tail, they became omniscient and their fur became white or gold. Commonly, they shapechanged into beautiful and seductive women.

Nine-Tailed Fox, from Naruto

Ōkami, bakeneko and especially inugami are prominently portrayed in InuYasha. InuYasha himself is the son of an Inugami, and a Ōkami named Koga is a rival as well a reluctant ally of InuYasha.
 
An interesting class of yōkai are obake tsukumogami, household objects that come to life by completing 100 years of existence. Common tsukumogami can be sandals, umbrellas, jars of sake and teapots. These yokai are also portrayed as pranksters, although they can also gather in droves to avenge those who have spent them or throw them in the trash, without consideration for their feelings. An interesting detail is that, according to the folklore, modern objects can not become tsukumogami, since these spirits are repelled by electricity. Moreover, few modern object last long enough to earn a "soul."

Yu Yu Hakusho. Hiei (left) and Kurama (red hair) are yōkai

  Besides the aforementioned InuYasha, yokai are often portrayed in modern and contemporary popular culture. Examples are also manga / anime YuYu Hakusho. Here we have Youko Kurama, a kitsune, and Hiei, a fire yōkai, born from yuki-onna (snow yōkai). In games, we have the Felicia from Darkstalkers, a bakeneko. Nor must we forget Ōkami, an action-adventure game by Capcom, which is worth being checked for any fan of yōkai and Japanese folklore and culture in general.

Felicia of Darkstalkers: yōkai bakeneko

And last but not least, RPG players, especially Dungeons & Dragons, who are also fans of yōkai and always imagined what would it be like playing one, check out Oriental Adventures, a supplement that provides the option of hengeyokai character (similar to obake).

Coming Soon, Yōkai in the fantastic medieval Japan - Part 2