My avatar. And no, I do not look like Aila Jyrkiäinen (nor do I have a daughter) in real life.
Hi there. I've been around in TV Tropes for quite a while now, but I did not have a chance to start a page about myself until February 1st, 2014. I currently live in London, UK. Not very usual for an American to move to the land of the redcoats, but still...
I enjoy many things in life. In addition to working at a startup, I enjoy cooking and writing. I also take time off by hiking, skiing, singing, playing soccer and watching the beautiful game (Come On You Spurs!) and IPL cricket (Royal Challengers Bangalore in particular). I also enjoy watching anime and science fiction movies. Also, I play a lot of games on Mac, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
Song of the month: Heroes
by David Bowie.
Tropes associated with me:
- Berserk Button: Homophobia, Racism and Misogyny are the big three. Also, try not to interrupt me whenever I'm playing a UFO landing mission on XCOM: Enemy Unknown.
- Big Eater: I'm shocked I'm not overweight considering how much I enjoy eating food...
- Caustic Critic: Read my Gundam AGE review if you have any doubts.
- Growing the Beard: Spending 7.5 years as a member has certainly helped me learn the ropes of contributing to this wiki.
- Large Ham: I love getting ULTRA HAMMY in certain entries that I write with MY iPAD PRO.
- Mean Character, Nice Actor: I normally play antagonists in dramas and musicals, but I really don't like to be associated with the traits the characters have.
- Never Bareheaded: Except for sleeping and showers, I wear my Bose headphones everywhere I go. I listen to a lot of music.
- Never Live It Down: Terrible (in my opinion) as Valvrave the Liberator is, I don't think tropers on its forum are going to let me live down my post based on an... overzealous reaction to Haruto's proposal.
- Old Shame: I'm not exactly proud of some of the stuff I wrote back in 2010 and 2011...
- One Of Us: Yep. I'm a student/actor/singer who is also an otaku that loves to watch anime and play games such as XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Left 4 Dead, and the multiplayer for Mass Effect 3.
- Rated M for Manly: Watching Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann might have something to do with it...
- Serious Business: My love for Tottenham Hotspur can be seen as this. You Have Been Warned Arsenal, Manchester United, and West Ham fans.
- Shipper on Deck: I sometimes ship XCOM soldiers with one another. I am also a proud member of fleets including (but not limited to) Tali x Shepard, Adam x Faridah, Aila x Reiji, and most recently Hiro x Zero Two.
- So Bad, It's Horrible: This is my reaction to the following works:
- Anime & Manga: Cross Ange, Mobile Suit Gundam AGE, Oni Ai, Pupa, and Valvrave the Liberator.
- Fan Fiction: My Immortal.
- Live Action Film: Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle and Fantastic Four (2015).
- Live-Action TV: ITV's coverage of the UEFA Champions League, Kamen Rider Wizard, NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games, and Work It.
- Music: The Kooks and Soulja Boy.
- Video Games: Mindjack and Ride to Hell: Retribution
- Western Animation: Delgo and Doogal.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Contrary to what my avatar shows, it's not meat buns (though those are tasty too). Rather, I am almost always found snacking on a chocolate chip cookie.
- Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Guilty as charged. Normally once I've seen something worthy of going on a page I waste no time typing it down, only to find bugs such as typos that I have to edit out.
Stuff I like:
open/close all folders
Anime And Manga
- AKIRA: The movie is truly a bonafide classic.
- Deadman Wonderland: Amazing manga from beginning to the end.
- Eureka Seven: Don't watch the sequel though...
- From the New World: A fantastic series. You shouldn't miss it.
- Gantz: The last arc sucked, but everything else was just awesome (if over-the-top with wanton nudity and graphic violence).
- Gundam: I love Gundam... so I'll give you some recommendations:
- Gundam Build Fighters: A surprisingly hilarious take on a classic franchise. Watch it if you can.
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam: Pure, unadulterated Crazy Awesome. Can't miss.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The one and only original series. The animation hasn't held up well, but the story is well done (if rushed).
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: The first season only. Don't waste your time with the second season or the movie.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: (sniff)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team: One of my all-time favorites. It's a classic OVA that really should come back to American television sooner rather than later.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: While Destiny might have had its problems, the original SEED is pretty damn good. If you don't mind Fukuda's reliance on Stock Footage now and again, you'll like its story, soundtrack, and variety of characters.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: Truly spectacular. A must-watch OVA.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Like many Americans, this was my Gateway Series to all things Gundam. Now, though, it's just okay, but if you want an introductory series then you could do much worse.
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A Magnum Opus from "Kill Em All" Tomino. Nevermind the dated animation and just watch it.
- Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: It takes a while to get going, but it's a nice addition to Zeta that has well-developed characters and interesting plot developments.
- ∀ Gundam: A decent series beefed up by a vivid art-style and one of the most beautiful soundtracks you will ever hear in your life. Want sensory bliss? Watch Turn A.
- Hataraku Maousama: Another hilarious show that I can't get enough of.
- Anything from Hayao Miyazaki. Princess Mononoke in particular was what got me into anime in the first place. Thanks Hayao.
- Outlaw Star: This was the show that got me hooked on Toonami. Not only that, I just love its balance of comedy, sci-fi action, and mystery. Having stellar characters such as Gene Starwind and (my personal favorite) Aisha Clan Clan doesn't hurt either.
- Psycho-Pass: Words can't describe the awesome settings and character development of this show.
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica: Frightening deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, but excellent stuff nonetheless.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: One of the greatest shows you'll ever see. Don't you dare miss it.
- Wolf's Rain: If there's one series [adult swim] absolutely has to re-air, it's this one.
Live Action TV
- 3%
- 30 Rock
- Arrested Development
- The Bridge (US)
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Burn Notice
- Doctor Who
- Downton Abbey
- Entourage
- The Following
- Game of Thrones
- Hannibal: Great show, but it can get really disturbing at times. Then again, it's Hannibal Lecter we're talking about here...
- Heroes: Season 1 only.
- Homeland: Seasons 1-2. It goes downhill afterward.
- House
- House of Cards (US)
- How I Met Your Mother: Don't watch the last four minutes of the series finale though. It is an epic, no, a Legendary Fail.
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Justified
- Kamen Rider: The original, V3, Amazon, Black, Kuuga thru Blade, Dragon Knight, W thru Fourze, Gaim
- Life on Mars (2006)
- Life on Mars (2008)
- The Office
- Prison Break
- Torchwood
- Westworld
- White Collar
Music
- Alicia Keys
- The Black Keys
- Bruno Mars
- Childish Gambino
- Civil Twilight
- Coldplay
- Daft Punk
- Deadmau5
- Deftones
- Eminem
- Jay-Z
- John Legend
- Kanye West
- Kendrick Lamar
- Macklemore
- Maxïmo Park
- The Notorious B.I.G.
- Oasis
- Radiohead
- R. Kelly
- Talib Kweli
- Tupac Shakur
- Wu-Tang Clan
Video Games
- Amnesia: The Dark Descent
- Most of the Assassin's Creed games. There's a reason why my former tagline was also "Nothing is true, everything is permitted".
- Bastion
- Bioshock and Bioshock Infinite. Bioshock 2 never existed.
- Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!
- Child of Light
- Dark Souls
- Dead Space 1 and 2. Dead Space 3 not so much...
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (hate the latter's "Breach" mode though).
- Doom (2016) on Switch is my candidate for the Most Triumphant Example of a Polished Port. Nothing quite like chainsawing through demons while riding the train.
- Far Cry 3
- Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
- FTL: Faster Than Light
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
- Grand Theft Auto V
- All of the Halo games. I especially love Halo: Reach and Halo 4.
- The Hitman series, especially Contracts and Blood Money.
- Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2
- Mark of the Ninja, which so happens to be the first game I ever got all of the achievements for (on Steam).
- The Mass Effect trilogy.
- The Metal Gear franchise is really good. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker in particular are the best of the bunch.
- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is one hell of a game too. Yeah, it's more hack-and-slash than stealth, but it is probably the most fun I've had in a video game in a long time and saying it's So Cool Its Awesome would be an understatement.
- Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.
- Sleeping Dogs
- Super Mario Odyssey blew my mind. It's a must play game for anyone owning a Switch console.
- All of the Splinter Cell games. Absolutely play Chaos Theory and Blacklist if you haven't already.
- The original Thief trilogy.
- Titanfall
- Transistor
- The Walking Dead
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown and XCOM 2
Western Animation
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: A stellar series and one that proves that the West can make cartoons epic. I'm a bit mixed on its sequel though.
- Batman: The Animated Series: THE definitive adaptation of the famous Batman franchise. With brilliant writing, interesting characters, and awesome storylines, it's no wonder why it has since heavily influenced the franchise's comics, films, and games.
- Over the Garden Wall: An unbelievable gem that has a well-written story, well-developed characters that are easy to attach to, and an unexpected yet cool twist to boot.
- Rugrats: I grew up watching Nickelodeon and this series was my favorite of the bunch at the time.
CM Watch List (updated as of 7/27/14)
Currently on Watch
- Date A Live
- Sir Isaac Ray Peram Wescott (Decision pending; de-facto qualifies)
- Ellen Mira Mathers (Decision pending)
- Kamen Rider Gaim
- Ryoma Sengoku (Decision pending)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Thanos (Decision pending)
- "If a bullet should enter my brain, let that bullet destroy every closet door." - Harvey Milk
