Maydoka Magica - A celebration of Madoka Magica!

Hello Internet I’m Megumimary- the Transgender gamer girl with a heart of gold and love for all things Nerdy. Welcome to MayDoka Magica. One of my biggest role models on yourtube is someone by the name of PeanutButterGamer. I always enjoyed how much fun he seemed to have in his videos and I really like how he managed to make Zelda Month a thing. I have tried many time to figure out a good Zelda video for November but I digress. I have been wanting to do a theme month for so long and in June of 2019 I had an idea- a month centered around Madoka Magica and the extended Puella Magi Universe. The biggest problem was that the perfect name for such a theme month was Maydoka and it was June. I had been preparing for that month for an entire year and then everything changed when the coronavirus attacked. After a year of being in limbo I am resurrecting Maydoka Magica which is a better fit for this year, 2021, as we are celebrating Madoka’s 10th anniversary! So I really hope you can all enjoy and maybe join in on the fun by helping make Maydoka Magica an annual celebration of the groundbreaking anime series. Use #MaydokaMagica

Last year I had so many videos planned but this year I decided to keep it simple- Three parody reviews and a theory video about where I think the series is headed. Those will be uploaded to my Main youtube Channel over the course of this month. I also did three unboxing videos which will be uploaded to my gameplay channel as the month progresses.

So with all this said it is pretty obvious that I am pretty obsessed with Madoka Magica. I have always been a fan of the magical girl genre having grown up with the original Sailor Moon. I also enjoyed PPGZ and Miraculous Ladybug for their take on 90s Sailor Moon formulaic structure. When I decided to finally sit down and watch Madoka Magica all I really knew was the first 3 episode fake out because the internet thoroughly ruined it for me. What I didn’t expect was an experience that would leave such an immense impression on me. I have watched the 12 episode series more times than I can count- revisiting it every month or two for at least one playthrough. I could watch the series on a loop and still discover new things about the story and universe of the show that surprise me. The storytelling is so incredible with so many different layers to it- even something as simple as what wish made a magical girl has tons of incredible detail put into it. The idea that every magical girl in the entire franchise has special powers based on their wishes was a massive topic of intrigue as I read the extended universe. Mami’s character design placing her soul gem on her head so that not only would the audience understand that she died in episode 3 but also not ruin the future reveal that their soul gems are worth protecting and not their body is so cleaver. 

Everything about Homura is worth of direction and we learn interesting tidbits about how her powers work in the manga that were never actually addressed in the series- which came first. The art style, the music, the characters, the themes, Madoka becoming Pink Jesus in the end- but I am getting ahead of myself. Needless to say that I cannot geek out about this series enough but I will try to get out as much as I can this month on MayDoka.

I will do my best to populate this page with some Maydoka blog posts as well so please check back here for even more of my thoughts on the series!

Top Five: My Least Favorite Super Mario Galaxy Missions

Super Mario Galaxy is by far my favorite Mario adventure and having it on the Nintendo Switch is like a dream come true. If there is one Mario game I will never tire of 100%ing it is Super Mario Galaxy! That being said there’s that collection of levels that really stand out as “not as good” that I find myself dreading on repeat playthroughs- so I decided to write them down and complain about them on the internet! (Such an original Idea!)

So for this list I will be looking at the stars that are not as satisfying on repeat playthroughs for a variety of reasons and I am going to be grouping multiple stars together that are similar or the same.

Number 5: The Bell on the Big Tree

So those gimmicky motion control levels are not the most popular and while there would have been a time when Rolling Gizmos Galaxy’s “Gizmos, Gears, and Gadgets” would have easily made this list those levels have actually grown on me as some of the most challenging stars of the game. The same cannot be said for “The Bell on the Big Tree” in the Golden Leaf Galaxy.

In this level you jump into the pointer controlled bubble, ring a bell, and collect all the music notes… that’s it. It is over way too fast to be enjoyable and if you mess up and don’t collect the music notes before they vanish you can’t get the star unless you revist the mission this star is hidden in or throw yourself into a black hole to die and try again. This is probably the only motion control level that I have gone from liking to actively groaning over because it is too easy and costs a life if you mess up….

Number 4: The three Find Luigi missions

There’s three missions where you have to revisit a previous level to find Luigi after rescuing him in the Ghostly Galaxy’s first star “Luigi and the Haunted Mansion”. I mean it is a novel way to include Luigi and add hidden stars into the earliest levels of the game but overall these are probably the biggest time wasters on repeat completions as he is super easy to find and you’ll probably spend more time selecting the mission he’s hidden in than actually playing the level to find him.

Number 3: Star Bunnies in the Snow

What does 1600 star bits get you? Just a mediocre “catch the bunny” level.

I think if this was a mission you didn’t pay any star bits for I would not be as annoyed (like maybe even swap it out for the Matter Splatter Galaxy) but that’s not the case and it makes the task of 9999 star bits more annoying when you spend so much on such a lackluster mission.

Number 2: The Two Garbage Dump Stars

Anyone who has played this game knows EXACTLY what I am talking about. The Battle Rock and Dreadnaught Galaxies have a star (unlocked via star bits i might add) where you have a few seconds to use bombs to blow up pieces of garbage. This levels are incredibly frustrating as even when you learn the trick of throwing the bombs on the coin dots on the floor you still have to worry about your throwing aim- something that never feels consistent if I am being honest.

On the plus side at least this is not like Super Mario Sunshine where they would take a life off for each failed attempt for such a challenge… so at least it has that going for it.

Number 1: ALL OF SEA SLIDE GALAXY

You know a galaxy is bad when the most enjoyable star is a lackluster purple coin comet…

You like swimming through hoops and races? You don’t? TOO BAD!

The first two stars are just swimming through the course- one as a race and the other as “prove your worth by swimming through 8 rings”. The hidden star is a rehash of an earlier one off galaxy, and even the comic mario race is un eventful.

At least the purple coin star is a bit interesting with the idea of not touching the water to collect all the coins as Bee Mario/Luigi but again it is incredibly dull compared to the likes of many other purple coin comets in the game…

With all that having been said (or rather typed) I still somewhat enjoy collecting these stars if for no other reason than 1 step closer to 100% of the single best Mario adventure so it could be worse, right?

Understanding Autism: The Computer Analogy

PLEASE NOTE THAT I AM SPEAKING FROM MY OWN EXPERIENCES AND THAT I HAVE NO QUALIFICATION ON THE SUBJECT BEYOND JUST BEING SOMEONE WHO HAS AUTISM

Over the years I have found it difficult to understand what about having autism made me different from everyone else. It’s hard to explain what it is while it is very easy to describe the various ways autism affects day to day life. It’s hard for someone without autism to really understand what it feels like to be autistic.

When I say this I am obviously talking about the emotional, physical, and mental component and not the societal component because that is a whole other can of worms that needs to be addressed on its own.

Years ago I fell in love with a tv show Called “Chuck” and over time it provided me the best possible template to really explain what autism is on a fundamental level. The show regularly compares the human brain to a computer with how it can store and process information and it made me take a step back and consider that if all brains are computers how would autism differ from allistic brains (allistic just means not autistic- fyi).

Consider that every human brain is a computer then consider how a majority of the population are running on iOS and apple devices. The iOS operating system is incredibly user friendly and easy to access and makes routine tasks work with little to no problems at all.

Now let’s say that all autistic folks are running on windows computers. I’m sure everyone has used the windows Operating System at least once in their life and will get what I am trying to say. Windows is very buggy- there’s a million and one background processes going at any one time that slows the whole system down and even causes it to crash.

This is what it is like to have autism!

There’s way too much information bouncing around the brain at any one time and it takes away from other “programs” we might try to run. Sometimes to help these tasks function the brain will shut down “programs” like how one would open a task manager to end tasks that are taking too much RAM. As a result the brain will make stuff unusable- like how a good percentage of us are either totally non-verbal or (like me) prone to becoming non-verbal when stressed out.

It is this over abundance of brain activity that defines our day to day lives. As a result of this we have little to no ability to cope when we are forced out of our comfort zone because it just makes the whole system prone to “overheating” at a much faster rate. Our brains process and use information in vastly different ways from allistics and it is why sensory overload is so common.

In order for us to keep the “RAM” from being a hinderance we tend to focus as much as possible on something. This is commonly referred to as a special interest and it is how we manage to make this overstimulated brain work to our advantage. We devote almost all of our attention on something that can ground us and keep us from noticing the hyperactivity of our thoughts.

Mine is storytelling. Almost everything I like is an extension of my passion for storytelling- even this analogy is the result of a tv show I watched. I see things within stories and narratives that tend to be overlooked and why I also tend to have eyebrows raised at me when I say something like “The Star Wars Prequels are good” or “Book 2 of Korra is underrated” because I notice things about the characters and narrative that most don’t even consider- in fact the original premise of my critical analysis series was to explain why I like something that is commonly hated. It’s also why the MCU became a massive obsession because it had so many narratives playing off each other in unique ways for a visual medium.

But I digress- The point I am trying to make is that being autistic just means that we run on a different operating system- very user unfriendly and prone to crashing but once we learn to work with the program there’s no telling what can be accomplished!

Confessions of a Writer: The Hilltop Scene and the Soul of Storytelling

DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN INFINITY WAR AND ENDGAME!!!!

I love the MCU! Just gonna make that blatantly obvious as this post is essentially me gushing about a scene in the MCU- well two scenes actually. First HUGE ENDGAME spoilers so if you haven’t watched the movie turn around now and do so. Endgame was a masterpiece and going in with as little info as possible made the whole experience one of the best movie going experiences I’ve ever had.

So let’s talk about the “H” in the THANOS Theory! For the uninitiated this is a reference to how each of the six infinity stones were located in objects that spell THANOS. Tesseract for space, Aether for reality, Necklace for Time, Orb for power, and Scepter for Mind. The “H” as it turns out is the Hilltop of Vormir.

By far my favorite scene in Infinity War is the Hilltop were Thanos and Gamora meet Red Skull and learn what the price of the soulstone is. This scene is perfection, from the history behind these characters, how this was the last of the infinity stones to be found in the MCU, The acting, the music, the effects. I could gush on about this but there’s one aspect in particular I want to draw attention to: Thanos throws Gamora over the side for the sake of Duty. He willingly throws his daughter over the edge to serve the greater good (or at least what he perceives as the greater good). Gamora says it herself “This isn’t love, this is madness.”

Now let’s jump ahead to my favorite Endgame scene: The Hilltop! This time we see Natasha and Clint make their way to the top to meet Red Skull and learn the price of the soul stone. This scene is similar to Infinity War’s as the two learn this truth and there’s a sad realization about what’s going to happen.

By far what makes these two scenes so perfect is that it the the striking parallels we see between Heros and Villans. Where Thanos, while somewhat reluctantly, sacrificed his daughter we now have two characters who love each other like siblings fighting to keep the other alive. The tension is not just felt between the characters but the audience as we have an established emotional connection to both of these characters- even if they’re not the more popular fan favorites. 

The fact that these two were sent together is honestly the only way it would have worked. Their relationship is established in the first Avengers movie as it was Clint being taken by Loki that caused Natasha to Join the Avengers. She never thought herself a hero and if it wasn’t for Loki taking Clint she probably would have refused to come in like Culson wanted.

Then on the other side we have everyone’s least favorite member of the team. Hawkeye has really gotten the short end of the stick: He’s beaten up by Thor, Put under Mind Control, Thrown into a battle with robots on a flying island while he’s just a guy with a bow, Arrested, put under house arrest, becomes a vigilante after having his family turn to dust in the snappening. It’s always felt like that until now nobody really knew what to do with him but honestly there’s other priorities when you’ve got a 22 movie story going on.

So now we have these two trying to keep the other from dying while trying to be the one to make the sacrifice. These two would rather be the one to die for the greater good than see the other die. This is the perfect parallel of what separates heroes from villains! While the villains are willing to hurt others for what they see as right the heroes are willing to be the ones hurt for what they see is right. A perfect representation of good and evil in two separate scenes in two seperate movies that mirror each other while showing the conflicting elements.

It’s the small details that make me such an avid fan of great story telling and this scene is a pivotal moment in both movies. I also like how this is the last scene before the final confrontation/building an all powerful mcguffin in both movies which just further establishes why it leaves the impact it does.

While we don’t get to see something devoted to the soul stone in one movie or another like with all the other stones we have two scenes that represent the Soul of filmmaking and storytelling. And i couldn’t be happier with what we got!

WELCOME TO THE OFFICIAL SITE FOR MARY TESMACHER!

At long last I finally created my own webpage to provide a clean and easy way to showcase all of my projects across the internet! I also hope to write blog posts here so I won’t be posting 20+ twitter posts of something on my mind (lol). I hope that you can enjoy this site and I will do my best to keep on top of it!

Wish me luck….