Hello Shiquers and welcome back to Nerdy Shique Universe! Now that 2014 is winding down and 2015 is right around the corner, it’s time for my Bests and Worsts of this year! I will remember to put a lot this time since I had the forgot-to-mentions from last year but hey at least I can make it right this time around, especially mentioning the best Christmas gift, which I forgot to do that in the last post!

Before I start this year’s list need to make my disclaimer and that is all things mentioned under their categories are based on opinion! There were things I didn’t see and based it on critics approaches, which they are critics after all, and I make my judgments based off that or on my own. So, I would say please respect what my opinions are because I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have any.

So, first category is…

Best Movie: Guardians of the Galaxy! First up is “Best Movie!” My choice is of course Guardians of the Galaxy! This movie has been one of those based on a small title within the Marvel Universe due to how it wasn’t that very popular in comic form until Marvel Studios brought it to the big screen and gave it a modern look! I liked the cast for the characters such as Bradley Cooper as Rocket Raccoon, Vin Diesel as Groot, and many more! I even liked how the alien characters didn’t get Star Lord’s pop culture references at the points he brings them up! It did break my head in the after credits scene with Howard the Duck showing up and still funny with the Collector in his destroyed home drinking a martini in that scene! Can’t wait what the sequel will hold and how the Guardians will tie more into the movies since due to the success of the movie they did show up in the Marvel cartoons on Disney XD.

Runner Up: Captain America: Winter Soldier! Even though I was happy that one of my fave heroes got his sequel this year, Winter Soldier was a runner up to the fresh team from the galaxy! I did like this movie and the interaction between Chris Evans and Scarlet Johanson on screen, it did give a nice tie in with the Agents of Shield tv series with what happened to the rest of SHIELD during the movie’s events! If you haven’t seen both, I would say watch Winter Soldier first and then the episode showing the events in between of Agents so you can get the better field and it does recap what happened in the movie in that episode in a small montage. I can’t wait for Age of Ultron in 2015!

Worst Movie: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from this year! I know! I know! I know it beat out Guardians for two weeks but here’s the thing though, whoever saw this movie went back to see Guardians after realizing this movie wasn’t as great. I understand the movie was supposed to cater more to the kids but old fans preferred the old movies over this one, even the one they made back in 2009. While Michael Bay at the producer’s chair, it wasn’t as great as a lot of people have hoped and I didn’t go see it since I grew up with the turtles myself and always enjoyed the old series and did like some of the Nickelodeon series, but this newer movie didn’t give me the interest to go and Movie Bob did make good points in how bad it was. After people seeing Guardians again caused this movie be taken out of number one and Guardians regained it. Sorry guys, need to make a better movie with the turtles.

Best Come Back from a Writer: Jim Butcher with Dresden Files Book 15, Skin Game!  I have been a fan of the Dresden Files and wrote crossovers with it and Soul Eater and Fairy Tail, don’t worry not in one story! Seeing that Jim Butcher has finally released the fifteenth book, Skin Game, was a major relief to us since Cold Days ended pretty interesting and now that we got to see Harry leave Demon Reach for one book, now it’s time to work with Nikodimus Archleone and his friends to rob the treasures of Hades! Oh yeah, it did surprise me that Nikodimus is back and this time Harry had to team up with him for a job and was hired by Mab to do it of course! I did like the twists and turns and even the ending when they finally found a new Knight of the Cross, which I won’t reveal here! I am hoping after what had happened here in this book will also lead some unanswered questions into Book 16, such as the stuff he has been doing in between this one and Cold Days unless Jim does another Side Jobs collection, which he has written a story about Molly and how she became to be in Ghost Story. So, will 2015 get another Dresden adventure? Let’s hope!

Best New Season for a TV Series: Agents of Shield! Since Agent Colson and his friends had an interesting and awesome end to season 1, season 2 brought more awesomeness! This season brought on the start of Colson’s step up to Director of SHIELD and has to solve the mystery behind the carvings he has been doing, what is up with Skye’s dad, and a finding of an obelisk that can kill people or let them live! I am a little bit behind on episodes and will try to catch up once I’m off break due to how hectic the holidays can be, this series has gotten me on the edge of my seat each episode! Marvel knows how to bring on the action and with the new mini series, Agent Carter, starting in a week will bring more of Marvel’s amazing writing yet again! I’m hoping the Agents series keeps going because there is more to do with the movies by what I saw for Avengers 2 and knowing what will happen afterwards will probably give new story to add. Still, a great comeback for the show!

Runner Up: Sleepy Hollow! Even though I do like Sleepy Hollow, the actors are pretty much the ones who get a lot of credit in bringing the story of the 1700s into a modern era! I did like with season 1 in how Ichabob had a hard time fitting in since he was brought back to life in 2013 and he came from over two hundred years ago, with this season, on the other hand, it brought a different awkwardness since he still had to get used to the time he’s in now. I find it funny how he played video games and cursed out in his own words against the trolls.

Best Fan Fiction Come Back and Christmas Present: Fairy Tails: Fan Fiction of the Dresden Files Hitting A Lot of Hits! Yes, finally mentioned this here! If you remembered how I done a fan fiction rant here and talked about ending Fairy Tails due to how many people have been nitpicking? Well, all thanks to a reader, I started it up again and wanted to give it the ending it deserved. They also helped me to give something to progress the story with and right now I’m penning Chapter 27 by the looks of it! All the thanks to the come back, it hit over 5000 hits within that amount of time! If I hadn’t continued I wouldn’t have gotten that far! This has been my most enjoyable fic I’ve written and so far longest since a lot of things take place and I am writing it in the Jim Butcher first-person style with different character point of views, which if you haven’t read stories like “Back Up” or “Aftermath” where those tales took place from Murphy’s and Thomas’ point-of-views then you should because that is where I got the idea from the most. I am happy and considered the hitting the hit mark the best Christmas present since it happened this month!

Best Album: TIE! Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold and Black Market by Rise Against! It was hard to choose but I have two best albums of 2014 when it came to music! Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold and Black Market by Rise Against! Avenged Sevenfold has been a fave metal band and this album is a really good one. I think I prefer it more than the two albums I have by them overall! Even though they have a Metallica-like feel for some of their songs but at least they made it a tribute towards them in their own way and there are times when I want to hear “Hail to the King” or “This Means War.” While Black Market, on the other hand, was a fave like with the Sufferer and the Witness that Rise Against had put out. This newer album that hit stores a few days after Metro made me feel better hearing that they made a new album and one of my fave songs off this album has become a single!

Best Interview At a Convention: With Eric Stuart! I know I had great interviews this year but the one that made me happy the most was doing it with Eric Stuart. Why? Not only I tried out a new media platform in doing video but I always wanted to meet Eric since I was a fan of Pokemon during my middle school days and made it even better when I found out that I was interviewing him closer to the convention. It was an honor to interview him and ask him questions about Pokemon, reprising Gourry in the newer seasons of Slayers, and of course his music! I did get a comment on the video, well it was posted on part 1 since it was in two parts, that I did a good job at it and that Eric is a nice guy and he is! I am also happy to get my items signed by him and will cherish my interview with him forever!

Runner Up: Troy Baker! I know this should’ve been the best but interviewing Troy Baker was another honor for me since he has been popping up everywhere, including in the new Far Cry game! I did have fun talking to him and got to meet him in person finally! It even made me smile that I surprised him with my copy of Glass Fleet. And still won’t forget how Gondras and him sang “Just a Friend” by Biz Markie after his acoustic performance and still kind of kicking myself that I didn’t play “What I Got” by Sublime. Always next time!

Best Cosplay: .hack Variation Designed by Me! If you saw my pics of me with Dante Basco and Richard Epcar with those interviews, I was wearing my newest cosplay design and it was for a .hack vs Sword Art Online group that kind of got cancelled, well the photoshoot and turned into a debate. Still was mad about that but hey, at least people liked the costume, especially Mary Elizabeth McGlynn when I told her that I designed the thing myself. It took a lot of thought after having Helba’s costume described and then Leafa’s until all thanks to Vivi suggesting make my own, then got the kitten in the hamster wheel running! It took my spring break during my final semester of college to get the parts I needed from the Thrift Store and then from Michael’s and EBay and it turned out to be what you saw in my pics. I even got major props from Nolen North for the twin blades Gondras had made. Oh yeah! Go me! And yet the costume was heavy as hell, it was bitching! Oh by the way, did I mention the body markings? All done with my silver Maybelline color tattoo shadow! Still, go me!

Best Gift I Gave to a Guest: My Extra Carla Plushie to Brittney Karbowski! I bet you’re wondering, “Shouldn’t you have given that to the voice of Carla?” Nope! Reason being is that I thought it would be nice that the voice of Wendy would have her Exseed with her. The thing is that I ordered a Carla plushie for myself at the beginning of this year since I had Happy and then did the same with a Panther Lily to have the three main Exseeds. So, I got Panther Lily first and not Carla and found out that she was missing in tracking and had to contact the seller. The seller was glad to send me another one and I thought that one came since it was coming all the way from Hong Kong. I was happy that she came and then a month or two later came around and Carla Numero Dos came in the mail and was like “Crap!” I didn’t want to contact the seller about it and it was a hassle to send things back to Hong Kong, which I remembered years ago that a seller from there falsely advertised a short, pink wig to be long and when I saw it it was bob length and had a bit of an argument and asked for my money back and was sending it back. I remembered my dad telling me that the post office didn’t know HK meant Hong Kong either. Still ticked that I had negative feedback in the end. Anyways, I kept the extra plushie and remembered Brittney Karbowski was returning to MetroCon and had a lightbulb moment! I decided to give it to her as a gift if I ran into her at the dealer room or in an autograph session if I was lucky and at least this year the line wasn’t crappy, I was able to meet up with her at her table in the autograph line! I had her sign my copy of Fairy Tail Part 5 since that was the debut for Wendy and then I said, “I have something for you!” And presented the plushie! She thought I wanted it signed but told her it was a gift and then she went around her table and was a few meters away and Nerdy Shirts told me that I was going to be hugged but knowing from that distance it was more than a hug and gave him my cane and then held my arms out and was GLOMPED! Knowing her, I think I made her weekend! I am glad I gave her that plushie since now she has a Carla like her character!

Best Guest Rememberance: Grant George Remembering Me Because of the Wedding Theme! Yes, had to mention this as a best of this year! So, Grant George and his wife, Jessica, were guests at Omni Expo this past year and I thought he wouldn’t remember me from MythiCon the previous year and how I told him that mine and Gondras’ wedding will be Disgaea themed. I did remember how he asked if we will have a Prini ring bearer and when I told Gondras, he and I are going to make that happen by the looks of it. So I was hanging around his table to get Gondras’ copies of Disgaea 1.5 and 4 to get signed by him at Omni and then when he saw me he recognized me! I was surprised that he would despite being out of cosplay and just wearing a pair of blue kitty ears, a bell collar, and my Pacific Rim/Eva shirt. Grant still remembered how I told him about the wedding theme and then his wife told me how he told her about it! It was awesome talking to them and hoping they do come back to Orlando for a convention since they were really sweet and understood that it was hard for me to be blind. They also wanted to see Gondras but had to tell them that he was working all weekend. Grant did like the “Prini Rights” shirt the next day as well. So, a great thing for a guest to remember me by!

Best Panel: The Attack On Titan Q&A Panel and Bennet the Sage’s Meet Bennet Panel! Yes, another tie and it was for both the Attack On Titan Q&A panel during Omni and Bennet the Sage’s Q&A panel during MythiCon. Reasons are that they are both hilarious! Originally I was going to do the transcript of the AOT panel but due to some of the things mentioned during that were either gross or hard to hear on the recorder. It was fun hearing Matthew Mercer and Kyle Hebert going back and forth especially with their stories about recording their audition tapes at home. While Bennet the Sage’s, on the other hand, it was way too funny since he answered questions about his show and what anime he would review or not, he even was asked about Violence Jack review and I did enjoy his talk about Jessu Otaku from Channel Awesome as well and her love for Digimon. If you guys want to see his panel, you can find it on YouTube. I even asked a question about Attack On Titan and you do hear me and Gondras in the back and the first question is from Nerdy Shirts btw.

Best Karaoke Moment From a Convention: Matthew Mercer Doing “Tribute Song” by Tenacious D! I will be posting the video for this for you guys because I did post the link but didn’t do any justice, hey decided why not put it up? Anyways, I didn’t know this happened until I came for Omni Day 2 and that was Matthew Mercer sang karaoke the night before and wished I was there for that but due to my ride and my cold that needed the NyQuil shot couldn’t do that! So, when I got to the Marriot, I heard the entire thing that happened and how it happened. Karaoke took place that Friday and a girl dressed as Levi sang and he watched and applauded because she was really good. Then later he came up and chose Tenacious D’s “Tribute Song” and someone video taped it on their 3DS and we watched it in the Sands of Anime room until the vendor’s room opened and man it was good! I even tried texting Gondras to see it. Don’t worry, will be showing that vid here and sorry for any strong language that may happen!

Rarest Find in a Dealer Room: Disgaea 4 Wallscroll! Even though the runner up was a rare find but this was even rarer! How so? Well, it’s the Disgaea 4 wallscroll and why it got this category is because you rarely find Disgaea merch at conventions! Of course you have your Attack On Titan, Fairy Tail, Bleach still, but this! THIS! You can’t find anywhere else and couldn’t let go since the seller who had this was also doing a two wallscrolls for one thing and since Gondras told me about this scroll when he went to get the Lucy with Loke scroll, I told him get it! It did kind of made him sad that when there was merch for the game, we couldn’t find anything including the figurines that came with the special edition version of the game, which he got Fuka in his copy. Hey, at least we found a wallscroll and it’s up on my wall!

Runner Up: .hack G. U. Vol 1! The runner up is of course a video game or sequel to a series that I was looking for and it was the .hack G. U. games! UCF Games was out in Tampa at Metro and decided to ask if they have them and they had all three! Due to the high price points, I only got the first and was happy to get this finally! Even though I have to find other ways of getting the other two if I can’t get to a con that this vendor is at, I was glad to get volume 1 and get it signed by Mary Elizabeth McGlynn on top of it! So it was a double win!

Best Make Up Buy of the Year: Urban Decay Smoked Pallet! Why I have to mention this is because it deserves the best is how it was on sale! The thing is Urban Decay is a popular highend make up brand and they sell their items pretty high like the Naked pallets, which are ever-so-popular, in the $50 range for all three and other items in the $20 range. What made me happy to find as a little sale item is that while in Daytona is that I got an e-mail saying that the Smoked pallet was $20 off, so pretty much half off from its original price of $49. It was worth it bbecause you rarely see a price drop like this and was also lucky to get it since it sold out within that time it happened. Not sure if there’s any left since they re-stocked, at least I got it back then.

Best Ipsy Item: Hello! By Harvey Prince! So last or second to last category of the year, since I have a worst Ipsy item and first up is the Best! Harvey Prince’s Hello scent! I know there were a lot of great items that came in Ipsy from when I have been an official member since August but to me this was the best of the rest in my opinion! I love my sweet, earthy, and citrus scents but this one brings them all into one! It has a nice sweet scent mixed in with a slight earth and citrus kick to it! Even though it wasn’t the full size but I was glad it was a convenient travel size in case I couldn’t pack anything or didn’t spray anything on me and need that quick fix, it’s in my bag! I hope more Harvey Prince scents come in Ipsy or BoxyCharm because I want to smell the others!

Worst Ipsy Product: Pixie Dust by Pixie by Petra! Why does it get my worst? Well, this item SUUUUUUUCCCCKKKKSSS! It is promoted to be a dry glitter topcoat for your eyes, cheeks, and brows but the vial doesn’t contain anything! I did so many swatches with the first and nothing appeared and when the replacement appeared, nothing with that either! I gave it to my mom to see if she had better luck but this item is not my fave!

Runner Up: Paula’s Choice Moisturizer! When I first got my bag I ended up with the Paula’s Choice moisturizer with SPF 15 and tried  it out to see how it goes due to how hot it was and thought I needed the SPF. It did moisturize and did help make up go on smoothly but there were adverse effects and that was it made my skin red around my nose! My skin was sensitive and I mentioned what happened to a girl at Ulta and she told me that some people with sensitive skin can’t use SPF items. As in make up with it! Now I know not to use this if I ever get it again!

Well, that is it for this year’s list! 2015 will be interesting since I’m still looking for a job and also will be sticking to Orlando for this year when it comes to conventions due to finances and well Tampa does eat it up pretty big. Not sure if I will try and get my cosplay ideas out that I’m thinking on, I will have to wait and see! That is it for this post! Happy New Year guys!