Lawrence M. (WingedRegent)

Gotcha gotcha! I'll send ya something on Discord for your information then.

Yooo I had no idea you'd be coming around Brooklyn too! What're your plans looking like around NY?

Ayyy welcome to NY!

Master Zhuge upon hearing this news:

Along with GOTG and Midnight Suns, there's Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 on the Switch. I enjoyed it. It has its flaws, but it's a solid game IMO.

Khalil_ - Twitch [Sign Ups Open] ParagOnline SF6 Ladder! | !ladder !matcherino

Joining @phonthelegend.bsky.social for some SF6 commentary for @paragonfgc.com! Paragon's partnering with Winter Showdown, so the stream's being held over at www.twitch.tv/khalil_, so come join us for some SF6 as we begin the approach to Alex's return to the streets!

Would be pretty funny, but I wonder what would cause it. Something to do with Spider-Man I think.

Also, yes, I would very much like to talk about all of the happenings of Evo somewhere I have many words on the matter kthx!

An excerpt from my article on Journey as part of the "AI Could Never" series on Skybox. It reads: "What is Journey? An allegorical take on life and death. An examination of the monumental struggles people experience with depression and anxiety. A treatise on the fear of loss and the strength to “let go.” A clear-eyed look at the terror of loneliness and the remedy of companionship. Could an algorithm make that? Could the plagiarism machine craft an experience like Journey, one conceived as an “act of rebellion” against the other art of its age? No. AI could never."

An excerpt from my "Fighting Game Preservation and the Tyranny of Choice" article on Skybox. It reads: "The history of fighting games is as varied as the methods used to preserve it, a tyranny of choice that impacts which games and even how these games see new life. Video game preservation is a common talking point with the growth of digital marketplaces, but fighting games specifically struggle with proper methodology in preserving their history. Games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter have already punched through the glass ceiling into mainstream acceptance, but the genre’s true history lies in the bright lights of the arcades rather than Hollywood. As fighting games grow, that history is scattered in some places and left behind in others, leaving us with an incomplete picture of various revisions and re-releases. But it doesn’t have to be that way. "

Screenshot taken from the interview rounds during the release of Jujutsu Kaisen 0. At the top left is Lex Lang, the voice of Suguru Geto. Top right is Kaiji Tang, the voice of Satoru Gojo. At the bottom is me.

A highlight of the article I remain most proud of during my time at Screen Rant. An Exclusive on "How the Fighting Game Community Remains Active During COVID".

Looking for work here! General game journalist/critic/interviewer/essayist. I've done features, essays, reviews, previews, and interviews with a focus on fighting games and pro-wrestling.

Most of my work can be found here: muckrack.com/lawrence-mal...

Reach me at lawrence.a.maldonado@gmail.com

this is my local community member ludovic.

he came to every xanadu local.
he helped coordinate carpools to get other people to the venue for street fighter.
he represented DMV at majors.
he respected all TOs.
he IS fgc personified.

if you don't have the funds to donate, pls just repost & share.

I'm not going to let all of this take away from my enjoyment of a genre and a passion that I've fostered for commentary in the field. Evo's a bygone wish for me, but there's still sooo much more to see. And I'm wanting to see any and all of it that I can in the coming years! And so, we move. :)

The FGC has so many other events that I feel I'd be doing myself a disservice in disowning it entirely due to the decisions of suits and business men above the lot of us in the community. I love the games. I've truly enjoyed the community. I'm grateful for the people I've met.

When it comes down to it, I have enough people in my life that I consider buddies or friends in the FGC that are LGBTQ+ (primarily "T") for me to consider Evo going forward because I would just not be able to look them in the eye if I did. Conversely, the FGC is not *just* Evo.

So, where do we go from here? Well, first thing I do is spit the awful taste out of my mouth and move on. There are other events. Other venues. Online Commentary. So many other ways to engage with the genre and the community that don't involve having to be at the "biggest show".

It would've been fascinating to have made it out to any of the Evo events had the opportunity presented itself, or if I applied and were accepted to be on the mic, but... everything about it now feels incredibly unsavory. Improving my craft, and the meal at the end is rotten. The Dream Is Dead.

...And now, it's shed off to Qiddiya City's RTS. The foul taste is back. I sit here and simply... don't feel comfortable chasing that goal anymore. I'll never have gone to an Evo, and for as much as I can write it off in my head (oh it wasn't going to be *that* great anyway!), it hits hard.

Then... everything with Mr. Wiz came to light, and there's a foul taste in my mouth. But hey! Sony and the Cannons buy it up alongside Pokimane, and the vibes were back. Memes were fun about Pokimane being the "FGC Savior", Evo gets a fresh coat of paint, the soundtrack to Evo is amazing...

When I first started doing FGC Commentary in 2020, one of the dreams I had in the back of my mind was to, one day, make it out to Evo either as a spectator or as a commentator. I knew it'd be expensive (traveling to Vegas from NY?! Gotta save up), but... it was a goal. Bucket list item. Dream. W/e.

I think that is a very broad stroke statement as some of the US dealings with Saudi Arabia were handled by both parties + you'll find plenty of people on the Democrat side finding ways to twist themselves around into justifying it. I don't think it's as cut-and-dry as that.

Oh it was an hilariously naked attempt at using the WWE to sportswash their government in the early going. That's also not getting into how several wrestlers started backing out of going to the shows due to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi at the time as well.

My favorite one was during their first Saudi show, they talked about how progressive they are by...

*checks notes*

...parading around that women were newly allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

There's a new mod for Smash Ultimate that apparently improves the netcode that requires a modded Switch, and my immediate thought is "Did we not learn from SF5?"

The game that unbeknownst to me at the time introduced me to From Software. Really loved the first game. Wound up 100%'ing it and completing the card collection way back when.

ParagonFGC - Twitch Supporting the FGC.

About to go live to do some commentary for @paragonfgc.com ! Doing SF6 today with @phonthelegend.bsky.social, so come join along for a Valentine's Day slugfest!

www.twitch.tv/paragonfgc

This might be one of the cleanest edits they've done when it comes to wildlines. You can usually hear the edited line in some fashion, but it was clean here. Probably helps that Jericho really tried to deliver the line in the same style/cadence of the promo, so it was kept really in tone/sync.

Since Ibushi called NJPW a "black company", the company has lost:

Ibushi
Okada
White
Ospreay
Cobb
TJP
Tonga x2
Hikuleo
Naito
Bushi
EVIL
SANADA
Hiromu
Finlay
Kidd
Connors

With Tsuji's words last night. I think we've gone from Ibushi being "wild" to what was the start of a 5-alarm fire.

It was soooo good~ I think you'll love it.

Gotcha gotcha. I had a blast with the Xbox original for years before I even heard of the RCM and what have you. It's a great game in its own right IMO.

Vanilla version or with the Restored Content Mod?

Quick side-note, but are they named after the character in Breath of Fire III?