11/3 - Firelands Clean-up

We only had 3 bosses left to down on Thursday.

Baleroc

Majordomo Staghelm

Ragnaros

The plan was to get in at 9:00 PM and work on Baleroc Heroic til 11:00 PM when we'd blast through Majordomo Heroic and Ragnaros Regular. 

Unfortunately the other tank, Lexxor , had some real life problems that had to be dealt with and we didn't actually get started until 10:00 PM. We still got in some solid attempts on Baleroc Heroic but there just wasn't enough time or energy to put towards him that night and we ended up steamrolling him on regular mode. 

I'm going to gripe for just a minute about the Tank Shield that Baleroc supposedly drops. Shard of Torment is the only shield available to me in The Firelands and out group hasn't seen it drop even 1 time in all of the months that we have had Baleroc on farm status (easily killable). I understand that Blizzard doesn't want a relatively narrowly useful item like this to drop all the time and I also understand that random loot if random but this is getting ridiculous!

Majordomo and Ragnaros went down without a struggle and we were done for the night.

Patch 4.3 is now on the background downloaders so that means we are less than 2 weeks out from the next raid and for me it can't get here quick enough. I am excited to be able to share our group's experience plowing through normal modes of The Dragon Soul with everyone who reads this blog and I'm hoping it will be infinitely more interesting than what I've had to say so far. 

Thanks for reading and, as always, you can find my on twitter @rexplode to share any thoughts, questions or comments. Please pass the site on to anyone you think may be interested in it!

11/1 - Firelands

We schedule raids from 9 PM to Midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Usually Tuesday is when we work on new stuff and then we just blaze through everything on EZ MODE Thursday so we can all get some sleep.

Yesterday we piled in on time and cleared trash, something that has gotten a lot easier as we've all become more comfortable with the raid. The first few weeks clearing trash was extremely time consuming and didn't leave much room for error, thank goodness Blizzard removed some of the more aggravating groups of enemies!

A couple of folks were running late and so we didn't actually kill the first boss until around 45 minutes in but both Shannox and Lord Ryolith went down easily on heroic mode. I was pretty excited to finally get my Best in Slot Belt from Shannox, I won't have to replace it until well into the next raid!

The rest of the night we spent working on Baleroc Heroic, he's one that we haven't been able to clear just yet and I think we may be reaching a point where too many of us are too bored with this boss to put in the effort required. We had some pretty good attempts but a combination of different screw ups left us never getting him below 35% health.

We cleared Alysrazor and Beth'tilac quickly and then called it for the night. Beth'tilac was kind enough to drop a pair of fancy new boots for me to wear when I'm forced to DPS so that was another highlight.


I'm getting to the point where I am far past being interested in killing these bosses, no matter what items they may drop, and I am only showing up to the raid because of the fun I get to have with the friends I get to play with. While it's definitely a good thing that I like the members of the group it is a bad thing that I am having so little fun playing the game itself!

Thursday night we plan to down Baleroc on Heroic so hopefully I'll have some good news for you then!

My Name is Jonathan and I'm a Goblin Warrior

I've been playing World of Warcraft off and on now for going on 4 years. 

I don't have the actual start date right here in front of me but I know that's pretty close.

My first character was a Troll Shaman name Rexplode. I named him after one of my favorite comic book characters (Robert Kirkman's Rex-Splode, my misspelling) and I leveled furiously to try and get to the max level which was 60 at the time. 

I played Rex for what seems like years, through the end of The Burning Crusade which was the first expansion for WoW. I healed for the most part and dealt damage(dps'd) when I was allowed to but I was never really very good at the actual theory or math behind the game. I mashed buttons and things didn't die (healing) or they did die (dps). 

At the end of the expansion, just a little while before The Wrath of the Lich King, I started to learn to tank.

Tanking usually involves rounding up all of the enemies and convincing them to hit you instead of your friends and that's a play style that really appealed to me.

I dug right in to the mechanics, I read helpful websites like Elitist Jerks and Tankspot and I ran any instance got a chance to as the tank. I got really good, really quickly, and next thing you know I was the main tank of the guild I had been in since the beginning. 

I'm going to fast forward ahead to now because this is getting a big long but I'll be happy to run through my experiences in more detail in future posts. I want to get the point so you'll know what to expect from this blog in the future.

Currently I'm in a guild called Reign , I play a Goblin Warrior named Slugfest and we raid 2 nights a week on average. We've been pretty successful considering our time invested, we've got 3 bosses down on hard mode and the rest easily defeated on normal. I'm proud to say that we killed Ragnaros, the final boss in The Firelands, a week before he was weakened significantly (nerfed). 

I'm one of 2 Main Tanks for the 10 man group and I have a lot of fun killing digital monsters with these folks. I've gotten to know all of them well and my goal on this site is to share with you guys, whether you play WoW or not, some of the good and bad times I share with these friends. 

I hope you'll have fun reading along as we work on hard mode bosses in The Firelands but I'm really excited about the new raid, The Dragon Soul, that's set to come out in the next month or so. 

A New, Nerdier Direction!

I haven't been very good about posting  for quite a while now and I want that to change.

From here on out I'm going to be keeping two blogs, one for each of my nerdy hobbies.

This blog, Rexplosions , will be about my experience in World of Warcraft as the main tank for a 10 man raiding guild . I'll update it at least 2 times a week following each raid. I'm hoping it'll be as much fun to read about as it is to be a part of. I'm also hoping Blizzard will release a new raid soon because I am tired of killing Ragnaros and his wimpy buddies every week.

My other blog, Stangg's Twin ,is going to follow me as I attempt to play Magic: The Gathering competitively after being out of the CCG scene for several years. I'm hoping to update that a lot more often as I stick my toes in to Magic Online and eventually jump in to the deep end of actual, real life tournaments. I'm going to try and be honest about how much money I sink in to this hobby in the hopes that shame will prevent overspending.

As always you can follow me on twitter @rexplode for all the updates and yes, I do realize this may be one of the nerdiest single blog posts in the history of the internet.

Pub Zero

Adventure Time He-Man

Here's a design of Finn and Jake from Adventure Time as He-Man and Battle Cat

Lemmy Dungeonmeister

Larfleeze, Lantern of Avarice

Are You My Momma?

My first attempt at digital coloring

WoW Firelands Sketches

Shannox

Alysrazor vs. Xynas

Beth'tilac vs. Xybaby

Lord Rhyolith

These are some really, really rough sketches of a few of the bosses in the new Firelands raid in World of Warcraft.

The Wrecker

Larfleeze, the Orange Lantern

Superman and Elvis team up for lunch!

Some of the Trading Cards getting sent out!

Artist Trading Cards!

I'm working on an ongoing series of Trading Cards.

Each card is 2" x 3" smooth bristol paper, a standard trading card size.
I'm doing original pen and ink drawings of things that I like, could be anything.

The idea is to get these into people's hands, no matter who they are, because I want to share my scribblings with anyone who will look.

So, if you're interested in one of these cards, here's what you have to do.
Send me an e-mail (lilsluggy at gmail dot com) or find me on twitter (@rexplode) with the subject "Art Card Request" and we'll go from there.

I'm going to pick the card for you myself from the assortment, sorry no requests, but if you like the pictures I've posted on my blog and around the web I promise you'll like the cards.
Every one will be unique and while some subjects may repeat no 2 cards will be the same. 
First come, first served, but I will continue to make these things until no one wants them.

Imaginext Toy Review up @ Infinite Hollywood

Hey folks! I've got a new toy review up at Infinite Hollywood of an Imaginext Lion Knight and a Gryphon. Please head on over there and comment if you like. Spread the word, IH has all kinds of awesome stuff going on all the time even if you ignore my AMAZING reviews. I know, hard to believe, right? It's true!

BAT Army pen and ink

A Tale of Magic and Woe, set in an Arby's Restaurant. Part 1

It had been a long day at work and Clarence the Sheep was exhausted. He'd spent the last 4 hours combing through page after page of calculations looking for a $45 accounting error and then, just when he'd found the problem, his boss had announced that the cost analysis department declared solving the problem was "NCE".
Not. Cost. Effective.

Clarence'd headed straight out the door the minute his shift was up and made a bee-line for the closest artery-clogging fast food he could find. Arby's. He decided Arby's would be his Grayhaven, his shelter from the last 8 hours of hell he'd spent rifling through stacks of paper with his aching hooves.

Clarence considered dropping into a liquor store on the way to the roast beef menagerie but a split second before he clicked the turn signal on he saw a familiar car in the Arby's parking lot. He couldn't put his hoof on it but something inside of Clarence told him his day was about to get better. It hit him only seconds before his eyes took in a wonderful sight: That was Ferdinand's car!

Ferdinand the Monkey had been Clarence the Sheep's best friend at his previous job and it had been almost entirely because of Ferdinand that Clarence had stayed at the little framing shop for 3 years before moving on to his current work place. Almost every day, pulling into his personal parking space in his company car, Clarence had questioned if the extra pay and perks were worth the loss of his best friend.

"Ferdy!" Clarence tried very hard to sound as if no time had passed since they'd last seen each other. In reality it had been almost 3 years and had felt like 10. A full 5 seconds passed before Ferdinand, an impish grin on his face, turned around and launched himself onto Clarence with his arms wide open. The sheep in a suit had shed 3 tears before he realized what was going on but Ferdinand the Monkey was kind enough not to point them out. The truth was he'd cried 4 tears himself in the 5 seconds between Clarence calling his name and the mighty monkey-hug they'd shared.

The less time he spent thinking about crying the less likely he was to re-open the floodgates.

A Tale of Magic and Woe, set in an Arby's Restaurant, part 5

His mind spun as he tried desperately to comprehend what had just taken place. One minute Clarence and Ferdinand were distant friends trying to catch up where they'd left off years ago; seconds later a screaming duck named Fauntleroy was taking aim with a freshly reloaded shotgun, intent on claiming a chocolate turnover, Ferdinand's life, or both.

Clarence reached to the small of his back and felt the comforting shape of the enchanted Narnian dagger that his sister had given him for Hanuka a couple of years ago. She'd worked as a set dresser on "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" and had snatched it from James McAvoy's dressing room while he was in makeup with the intention of selling it as memorabilia. She'd been disappointed when it wouldn't show up in pictures making it impossible to list effectively on ebay. Charlene (Clarence's sister) had gifted it to Clarence with a note that said simply "cause you're a nerd". He had kept it on a shelf for a while next to his Sonic Screwdriver until he discovered, completely accidentally, that it was enchanted to obey the commands of it's owner.

Fauntleroy seethed with anger and the twin barrels of the shotgun shook visibly. The angry duck's face was covered by a death mask of frustration, madness and sloth bits. Clarence knew he had only seconds to act, to diffuse the situation. He also knew that if worst came to worst he wouldn't hesitate to use his magical dagger on the fowl who'd been the cause of so many of his life's problems. He lifted the back of his shirt and whispered "hover" to the dagger which smoothly lifted itself out of the sheath strapped to his back. It hung in the air silently, awaiting instructions from it's master, while Clarence prepared himself to "talk down" the fowl who was threatening his friend's life.

"Fauntleroy." Clarence said calmly. The duck shifted his aim violently towards his former employee and snarled "Have you ever heard of a sandwich shop that didn't have pickles of any kind?". Clarence didn't know what to say so he ignored the question. "What do you want Fauntleroy? What can we do to make this ok?" Clarence hoped he could get Fauntleroy to calm down, to listen to reason, but he knew deep down that the only likely resolution would involve more bloodshed.

"I only want what was promised to me." Fauntleroy motioned towards the brown paper bag Ferdinand held close and snorted. If Clarence hadn't been watching it happen he'd have sworn an angry bull had made the sound and he had to stifle a laugh despite the tense situation. Ferdinand immediately thrust the bag towards his boss, wanting nothing more than to get out of the situation with his health intact, but the sudden movement startled the elderly duck. His trigger finger tightened, both hammers fell and there was a crash of noise loud enough to deafen a god. Clarence blinked away a pair of involuntary tears. Where his best friend had stood there was only a slowly dissipating cloud of shredded brown paper, pastry crust, burned beef and bits of brown fur.

Boba Fett found a friend!

Mecha Turtle and Co.

This is a really rough sketch of Mecha Turtle, a couple of Mousers and Krang.
I did it for Infinite Hollywood's Freschetta Pizza contest but I didn't have any ink to finish it up!

Mighty World Ken's Kayak Adventure Review @ Infinite Hollywood

Hey guys, I've got a new review up at Infinite Hollywood .
Click on over and check out the cool stuff there and tell your friends!

Guinewoks

(see full image)

Guinea Pig Chewbacca

MOTUC Catra Review @infinitehollywood.com

Hey friends, I've got a new Masters of the Universe review up at Infinite Hollywood .
Please go check it out even if you're not into toys, I think it's a good read and at the very least you can laugh at the pictures (I hope).

A Tale of Magic and Woe, set in an Arby's Restaurant. Part 4

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU DON'T HAVE ANY PICKLES!!!?!?"

Fauntleroy the duck practically shook with anger, frustration and hunger. It was a testament to just how packed with these emotions he was that they were still visible from behind him where Clarence and Ferdinand watched in horror. "How can you serve sandwiches without even a gherkin available?" Fauntleroy questioned the terrified and trembling Sloth.

"I'm very sorry sir, Arby's is a franchised restaurant and we can only carry the foods that the parent corporation supplies us with. If there is anything at all that I can offer you from our variety of products please let me know!". Clarence was surprised at how smoothly and eloquently Matthias the Sloth handled the feathered powder keg. Clearly this was not the first case of pickle rage that Arby's lack of crunchy dill treats had resulted in.

"Very well Mr. Sloth, I am very sorry to have raised my voice. If you will provide me with a chocolate turnover free of charge then I will be happy to forget about your company's reprehensible bias against pickles and be on my way." Fauntleroy the duck looked expectantly at Matthias who suddenly broke out in a sheen of sweat all over his furred forehead. "I'm very sorry sir, it's just..." "Spit it out you imbecilic arboreal nincompoop!" Fauntleroy interrupted him, clearly beginning to lose patience with the apologetic three-toed leaf-eater. "We're all out of chocolate turnovers sir, I'm afraid I sold the last one to the customer just before you. Maybe he'd be w."

BLAM.
BLAM.

Two explosions in quick succession rang out, interrupting the cashier in mid-sentence, before the occupants of the fast food establishment could comprehend what had happened. Clarence's mind spun as he tried to connect the disturbing sounds with a memory he knew was hidden in the depths of his consciousness. Before he could find the long lost experience his eyes locked onto the answer. A double barreled shotgun smoking, a horrible mess behind the counter and a wild-eyed Fauntleroy the duck who was slowly aiming the firearm at Clarence's best friend.

Princess Leia Guinea Pig is NOT your sister.

Wonder Woman Guinea Pig fights for truth, justice, carrots

Detective Guinea Pig and the Terror of the Sierra Padré

I have an Etsy store!

I opened up an Etsy store to try and sell some of my original drawings.
A lot of the stuff up there has been posted here, you can scoop some of them up if you want to!
Click the link here to check it out!

last of the Robo Force

more Robo Force

Robo Force sketches

Stri-dor in Stri-de

Thundercats are loose!

A Tale of Magic and Woe, set in an Arby's Restaurant. Part 3

The clerk smiled shyly at Clarence, he was a middle aged sloth with a name tag that said "Hi, my name is Matthias", and opened his mouth. Before he could say even a single letter Clarence cut him off, he knew what he wanted after all, by saying "Gimme a Big Montana, and don't try and tell me you don't have anything called that, just because some high muckity muck decided to change the name it doesn't mean you don't have a Big Montana. Also a large diet coke please." The clerk's smile got a little bigger as he rang up the order.

Clarence paid for his food, took the ticket and shuffled off to wait for his comfort food to be ready. He knew it was going to take a few minutes, after all there's something like 14 pounds of roast beef on one those things, so he headed towards the condiment bar to round up several packets of Arby's Sauce and some Horsey Sauce for good measure. Clarence sometimes thought he could sit and drink Arby's Sauce, it just tasted like pure sin to him, but the thought that something that good had to be bad kept his saucey lust in check.

While the sheep hoarded his white and red treasures Ferdinand stepped up to the counter to place his order. Ferdinand waited patiently for the clerk to greet him, there was a moment of awkward silence as the be-furred cashier tried to decide if his new customer would interrupt him like Clarence had, and then smiled as the sloth smoothly rattled off his practiced introduction. "Welcome to Arby's sir, would you like to try our brand new Chocolate Turnover? They're only available for a limited time!". Ferdinand had been waiting to hear exactly that. "I'll take 6 Turnovers, a Giant Beef & Chedder and a large Banana Milkshake."

It only took one look into Ferdinand's eyes for the clerk to know he wasn't kidding about the turnovers. The clerk rang up the order quickly and Ferdinand paid with a smile. He knew as well as Clarence that he was in for a bit of a wait but the giant paper bag waiting next to the order window made any wait worthwhile. That bag would soon be filled almost to the top with delicious, flaky turnovers, filled themselves with melty chocolate goodness. In the meantime Ferdinand could spend a few precious moments out of earshot of Mr. Fauntleroy to catch up with Clarence.

"I see you're still addicted to Arby's Sauce, I guess it's nice to know that some things never change no matter how many hypnosis sessions you attend!". Clarence smirked at Ferdinand as the monkey sidled up beside him and began to pull napkins from the dispenser. "I've been off the sauce for almost 2 years now, thank you very much, I'm just doing a little backsliding. It was a really crummy day at work so I decided to test Madame LeFarfuche's work." Ferdinand laughed with genuine amusement and replied "Clearly she was as good as she proclaimed to be, do you have her business card on you?".

"Listen" started Clarence. "I'm real sorry I left you with that horrible old man, things really weren't so bad and it's obvious he's gotten better if you're willing to eat lunch with him." "You're crazy! If you hadn't left when you did I'm positive the two of you would have been at each others' throats with framing knives and I'd have been the poor fool left to clean up the gizzards!" Ferdinand, ironically, looked sheepish as he talked to Clarence. "The only reason I'm out here with him today is because he threatened to take away my lunch break entirely unless I brought him with me. The old coot's lost his mind, do you know he wants me to design a frame made entirely of bread?!"

Clarence laughed out loud but immediately reigned in his guffaws, the last thing he needed was to get his best friend in trouble with Mr. Fauntleroy, and then glanced worriedly in the direction of the counter where the old duck was engaged in a heated debate with the shy sloth cashier. The sheep and the monkey knew this scenario all too well thanks to their years working for Mr. Fauntleroy and they were torn by a desire to save another sentient being from this pain and an equal need to avoid a lunatic's wrath.

After watching the verbal duel for 30 seconds it was clear to Clarence that he would have to intervene if he ever hoped to enjoy his lunch. He reluctantly placed the Arby's Sauce packets in a pile on the counter and took three long steps towards the counter, Mr. Fauntleroy and salvation for Matthias the Sloth's mortal soul.

Wolverine

Battle Cat sees you

Guindalf is Never Late

A Tale of Magic and Woe, set in an Arby's Restaurant. Part 2

As Clarence the Sheep and Ferdinand the Monkey's friendly embrace came to an end there was a rough, annoyed cough from the other side of a large, artificial plant. The cough carried the kind of wetness that would cause any loved one to question the health of the person from whom it had originated. Clarence tried to see through the plant, tried to see who was surely dying of the consumption, but the plastic fronds blocked his view.

Just as Clarence had decided to leave well enough alone a curmudgeonly duck waddled out from behind the faux-fern and into view. Clarence recognized him immediately, it was Fauntleroy, the owner of the frame shop where he and Ferdinand had worked for so many years, and he had to fight very hard not to fall immediately back into the funk he'd been in after work.

In the same way that Ferdinand had been the reason Clarence stayed at "Totally Trimming" for so long, Fauntleroy was the only reason he'd finally left. Fauntleroy had been the definition of "irritable" on his best days and on his worst he'd been as horrible as a Wampa with a frost thorn in it's foot. Ferdinand realized instantly that his estranged friend wasn't happy and flashed the best "I'm SO sorry!" look he could muster. He'd never thought he'd run into Clarence at Arby's but now that he had Ferdinand was caught between pure joy and stark horror that he'd been caught eating lunch with the enemy.

Clarence extended his hoof and said "Mr. Fauntleroy, it's been too long!". He almost surprised himself with how convincing he'd been at acting happy to see the old duck. He noticed that Ferdinand, too, was practically slack-jawed as Clarence shook appendages with Fauntleroy. The crotchety old duck grunted as he pulled his hand away from Clarence, as if any further contact would cause him to lose the wing. "You're looking quite pleased with yourself, Mr. Sheep, you can cease your deceptively happy act this instant. I know you don't like me and we're wasting time better spent chewing."

Clarence held his lips shut through force of will alone and headed towards the counter to drown his anger in roasted meat.  

Mighty World K-9 Review up @infinitehollywood.com

Hey guys, I've got another review of a Mighty World set up, this time it's the K-9 Unit featuring a cop, a dog and fancy Police Truck!

I've really enjoyed checking out these sets and I've got a couple more on the way. If you like it or if there's anything I can improve please leave some comments behind.

Here's the link Mighty World K-9 Review

Handsome MODOK is designed only for Kissing

ED-209 vs Bazooka Joe

MOTUC Panthor Review @ infinitehollywood.com

I've got a new review up at MOTUC Panthor Review .
Check it out and share with your friends!

Samurai Guinea Pig's master is Timothy Hay

Fred Loves Tripwire

Guinea Hulk is cutest one there is!

New Toy Review Up, Mighty World Hazardous Materials Team

Mighty World, Hazardous Materials Unit Review

I reviewed some toys aimed at kids, click on over to Infinite Hollywood to check it out!

Guinea Pig Batman has a plan

Shilling

I don't know if I've really explained what this site is meant for or what all of the links I've been vomiting across Twitter and Facebook are all about.
I want my work to be seen and I want feedback from as many people as possible.
Mostly I've posted my pen and ink drawings but you've also seen links to toy reviews at www.infinitehollywood.com . I'm making it a point to do all of this because it's enjoyable. I already have a job, after all, and it's important to me that I never lose the joy that creating something gives me.
I stopped drawing altogether after I started taking art classes in high school and art began to feel like a chore more than something fun and I don't want that to happen again.

This doesn't mean that I'm above being paid for my creations!

If you've liked any of the drawings I've posted they can be yours for the low, low price of $10 + shipping (where applicable). I'll also do a personalized original pen and ink drawing of whatever you want (within reason, I don't want to be skeeved out by the subject matter) for the same price. Watercolors are $20 + shipping, I haven't posted too many of those but I plan to get more up here soon.

Just send me an e-mail (lilsluggy at gmail dot com) and we can talk.

If you don't feel the need to own any of this stuff I am completely happy to have you enjoying what's here and sharing it with your friends! Follow me on twitter (@rexplode) or facebook (facebook.com/rexplode), give me your comments no matter what they are. I love knowing that other people are checking out what I post and responding to your comments is always a blast.

Thanks for looking!

GI Joe's Dusty as a Guinea Pig

Robocop 2 is addicted to Ice Cream (and Nuke)

GI Joe's Zartan as a Guinea Pig

Robocop v ED-209 (I think I may watercolor this)

Guinea Pig Mr. T pitties the food

Gimli Pig

He-Man and Battle Cat Watercolor

M.A.S.K. Lineup

G.I. Joe's Blowtorch as a Guinea Pig