Weekly Panda Roundup – Snipperclips Finale & Why I Love Anime Conventions

Welcome to another Weekly Panda Roundup! How was your weekend? Ours was busy, but fun! Crystal Dragon and I spent another weekend out of town for an anime convention! After many weeks of teasing a post about why we go to cons, I’m happy to finally share the reason below. We also have some videos to share, including the Grand Finale of our Snipperclips playthrough! We have a special thank you message for everyone who’s supported us in this series, and some news for the future of our channel.

So without further ado, let’s round ‘em up!

What’s Next for Pandas at Play – Special Announcements & Thanks

Our YouTube Channel, Pandas at Play, will be going through some changes, but we’re still going to strive to bring you quality Nintendo focused videos with our fun, quirky selves! With our Snipperclips playthrough reaching its finale this week, we wanted to share some words of gratitude and announcements for what’s to come.

First of all, my sincerest thanks to all of you who have been following our Snipperclips adventures and my heartfelt gratitude to anyone who has been following our channel! All of this is only made possible because of your support, your viewership, and your kind words that keep us going. And I truly mean that. There have been times when I’ve honestly considered prematurely ending the Snipperclips series, and it was your kind words and my wife’s loving support that kept it going to completion.

As the channel has progressed, we’ve been evaluating what actually brings us fun from this. And while we love to play games together, playing it for a video brought about too many changes from the kind of leisure time we wanted. You see, we’re no masters of gameplay, no Games Done Quick speedrunners, and definitely not pro EVO tournament fighters. We’re just a couple who loves games, and the last thing we want is to no longer desire that. The reason why Snipperclips worked out so well for us is because it’s such a friendly game, open to all despite skill. For that reason, we recorded our playthrough and loved every moment of it. Snipperclips is seriously a special game, and I hope it’s visible from our videos.

Much love to you for supporting our video series!

We’ve decided that moving forward, we’re looking to do more on-camera discussion alongside our review content as opposed to straight playthroughs. I apologize for anyone looking specifically for let’s plays, and I hope our other content is every bit as meaningful and entertaining. If there are any special games that would be great on video, we’ll definitely consider uploading a single episode of it, but otherwise, we’ll be shifting gears. I believe us simply talking to you about the games we love will help us establish closeness with our audience, and we’d love to discuss any topics you might find interesting.

As we are in a time of transition causing a lot of stress right now, our future on-camera content will be on hold for a while. I will still be posting weekly video reviews, but we hope you can patiently await for our full-fledged discussions to start! If there’s anything you’d like to see, please let us know!

Thank you from the very bottom of our hearts for your support! It means the world to me, and it helps drive us forward to continue bringing you fun Nintendo video content!

• If you haven’t yet seen our videos and want to see what we’re all about, you can check out the links below! We sincerely hope you enjoy!
• Our YouTube channel link is here! https://www.youtube.com/mrpanda2002
• And if you’d like to subscribe after watching our videos, please click here! http://bit.ly/2oaYX1r

Thank you – from the Pandas at Play!

Snipperclips Co-Op Part 12 – GRAND FINALE!

This is it! The Grand Finale of our co-op Snipperclips playthrough! We’ve gone through many puzzles, snipped ridiculous shapes, and cut it out, together! And now we come face to face with the final challenge, putting those blobbies to sleep! Come give us your energy for this ultimate brain stumper and stay for the surprise heartfelt ending!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Please be sure to read the first couple of paragraphs above for news about our playthroughs going forward. And also check out our special message here:

We would like to extend our sincerest thanks to all of you who have been following our Snipperclips adventures, whether you started here or were with us from the beginning. We’re humbled every day that you come watch our silly playthrough and even engage with it. You’re the reason we kept going, and we’re incredibly happy to have our full completed series on YouTube.

Look forward to both a Snipperclips review and a highlights video showcasing our best (worst) “clips!” If you’d like to see more of this kind of content, please let us know! And again, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You all are the best!

AND CUT!

 

 

 

 

 

Now that the series is over, now’s an excellent time to find the full playlist starting at Part 1 – “Stabby Sticks” here: http://bit.ly/2nFmc5v

Death Squared (Switch) Review

Here’s my video review for SMG Studio’s Death Squared, a cooperative puzzle game starring colorful cube robots who must push switches and avoid deathtraps. How do the cubes stack up to other Switch puzzlers like Snipperclips? Crystal Dragon and I played a lot of this game together, and I’m excited to share my thoughts!

 

 

 

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild DLC Review

And earlier, I also uploaded my review video for the first DLC pack for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, entitled “The Master Trials” AKA hard mode with cosplay! Is the DLC Expansion Pass worth your time and money? I look at the Trial of the Sword, the harder Master Mode, and other new unlockable costumes including Majora’s Mask, Midna’s Mask, and Tingle’s Outfit. Tingle Tingle Kooloo Limpah!

 

Anime and Comic Conventions – Why I Love Them

Aside from games, one of my other major hobbies is anime. I’ve loved anime since I was a kid, and have seen many series since. I do my best to catch up with anime every season now, and engage in numerous events to support my fandom. One big way Crystal Dragon and I celebrate is by attending anime and comic conventions a year, sometimes traveling a good distance away. They’re usually fun times, with panels about the anime we love, game shows that test our knowledge, lots of merchandise to purchase and peruse, and lots of people in costume (cosplay). It’s a great way for us to meet others who have the same hobby.

Meeting the legendary voice of Pokemon’s Ash Ketchum, Veronica Taylor

But that’s certainly not the only reason we go. Otherwise, why would we travel so far for these? One of the biggest draws for me is getting to meet voice actors from my favorite anime and games. Just like many follow actors/actresses from popular TV shows and movies, I specifically love the actors behind characters in animation. My admiration began back when the original Pokémon anime was first broadcast. No doubt I fell in love with the voices after listening to them everyday, like many of you probably did when you first heard them.

Had to post one of Crystal Dragon’s favorites – Us with Ray Chase – voice of Final Fantasy XV’s Noctis

What fascinated me most about the original Pokémon voices was none other than the wannabe Pokémon master himself, Ash Ketchum. I was surprised when I first learned that he was voiced by a woman named Veronica Taylor. It’s a fairly common practice for women to voice young boys (Bart Simpson voiced by Nancy Cartwright, for instance), but the concept mesmerized me back then.

My prized Pokemon VHS (that’s right, VHS) signed by Veronica Taylor (Ash)

Ever since, I fascinated myself with learning about all the actors in Pokémon, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and other shows I was watching. Nowadays, there are plenty more new and coming actors, but years ago, there was a limited pool, so many voice actors were repeated from show to show. And for some reason, I loved that. I liked to recognize voices and figure out who was whom simply by listening to them. Just like many look up to celebrities in sports and films, I did so with voice actors, and the list of people whom I was a fan of only grew over time.

Lots of fun things to do at cons, no matter what you’re into! We crashed this Yu-Gi-Oh! championship tournament during a con! It’s time to d-d-d-d-d-d-due!!

Fast forward to the first time I ever attended a con over a decade ago. I had the opportunity to meet two voice actors from the Meiji-era swordfighting anime Rurouni Kenshin: Sandy Fox (opening theme singer) and Lex Lang (Sanosuke). Having no merchandise from the show at the time, I had them sign my shirt. Though the autograph has washed away over time, my fondness from meeting them has not. Although I stopped going to cons for a time, those memories persisted, and I had always wanted more opportunities to meet more of my favorite actors.

Front left to right: Brian Beacock (Monokuma from Danganronpa, Takato from Digimon), Colleen O’ Shaugnessey (Sora from Digimon, Ino from Naruto), Steve Prince (Ken from Digimon, Shino from Naruto). We got to have a one-on-one with Steve, which was an awesome opportunity!

Moving towards the present, having married my best friend and fellow anime/gaming fangirl Crystal Dragon, we started attending more cons as our marriage hobby. Before I continue my story, I’ll add that our home is filled to the brim with wall scroll (posters) from my favorite anime. It’s a quite colorful abode, and in every direction you look, there is an action-packed image of anime characters. We thought that it would be fun to try to fill these large wall scrolls with autographs. It began with our pirate anime One Piece wall scroll, which we wanted to fill with each of the main characters’ signatures. We sought out nearby cons just to meet the nine core members of the cast. Eventually, we decided to open it up to anyone who’s ever worked on the show, and also started bringing more wall scrolls from other shows with the intention of collecting autographs.

Meeting the voice of Mario, Charles Martinet, was a huge moment in my life!

Thanks to our hobby and travels, we’ve been fortunate to meet many of the people who were important to me from my childhood. Some of the most wonderful people I’ve met are Charles Martinet, the voice of Mario whom I had previously written about here, Steve Blum who is the voice of Tom from Toonami and Spike from Cowboy Bebop, and Veronica Taylor, the voice of Ash whom I had admired since childhood. Meeting her was one of the most encouraging moments in my life, strengthening my resolve to make things better in my life and follow my dreams. Every one of these meetings have been meaningful, regardless of how short. Although we travel to collect autographs, we’d never do so without also personally meeting them, because it’s these interactions that have meant so much to us.

We got to meet the nine main crew members of the pirate anime One Piece!

At present day, we still go to cons, having fun geeking out while seeking our favorite voice actors. Thanks to three years of congoing, we’ve completed a lot of our goals, including meeting every single one of the nine main cast members from One Piece and filling over a dozen other wall scrolls with multitudes of autographs. Even though we’ve seen a lot of these people multiple times now, we’re still starstruck that we get to meet childhood heroes along with new, amazing talent. At the same time, we’ve grown to know some of them as people, having gotten some extended time with some of them.

For you Final Fantasy VII lovers – an Advent Children playmat signed by Steve Blum (Vincent) and Beau Billingslea (Barret)

Congoing and autograph hunting is now a big hobby for us, and we will continue to do it as long as it’s fun and rewarding. If you ever see a couple with a large pink armchair bag that holds wallscrolls, say hi because chances are it’s us autograph-seeking pandas! Thanks for letting me indulge you into something so meaningful in my life, and please be sure to let you know if you attend any geeky cons (anime, comic, Star Trek, game, etc.) and if you have a fascination for voice actors as we do!

See you space cowboy. Bang. – with Steve Blum (Spike) and Beau Billingslea (Jet) of Cowboy Bebop

Next Time…!

Thank you so much for reading this week’s roundup! Look forward to another video on Thursday! And look forward to a special Snipperclips “Best Clips” video coming soon!

Have a great week everyone! Until then, see you next time!

How was your weekend? What games are you playing?

Have you ever been to any kind of fan convention whether anime or otherwise? Do you have any favorite voice actors/actresses? Have you ever gotten the opportunity to meet any of them?

What did you think of our Snipperclips playthrough? Any favorite episodes, puzzles, or moments? We’re putting together a highlight video of our best “clips,” so let us know!

What are your thoughts on the 1^st DLC Pack for Breath of the Wild and/or Death Squared, whether you’ve played it or not? If you’ve played either, do you have any favorite moments?

Please share any thoughts or questions you have in the comments section below! Thanks for reading and watching!