Hope everyone out there has been doing well! This past Monday was my 44th birthday, so hooray for getting older and (kinda) wiser.

As some have noticed, I have been *extremely* busy these past 2 years- I got a new job at the start of 2024, and have been trying to catch up on my massive backlog of personal projects and adulting obligations. While I have accomplished a lot in these past 2 years, many things (streaming, art stuff, etc.) have had to be pushed aside, especially comics. While 2026 will be just as busy as the previous 2 years, the good news is that much of it will be dedicated to catching up on various arts/crafts projects. I hope to get back into making at least one finished art piece a month (like I did in 2024) and I reeaaally want to get the current Dragon Gamers story finally done.

As I mentioned before, I have a big announcement regarding the comic- I hope to debut that soon (and I guarantee it's not what you're expecting!) It's a bit of a gamble, but I think it could have a big payoff (creatively, not financially- though that would be nice too!)

Other things I have planned for 2026 are finishing a bunch of props (like those Tetris shelves) I haven't touched in ages, cosplay stuff, level design projects and working on YouTube videos. And once I upgrade my POS computer I plan to get back into streaming again. When 2026 is over, hopefully I will have gotten enough stuff done that things will be a bit more chill. Onwards & upwards!

I'm still alive! Apologies for the lack of art, I've been burnt out the last little while (well, the last long while, but whatever). But I do plan to get back into the swing of things soon-ish.

Speaking of art, I had no idea the last time I posted comics was last August o_0 I know I've been REALLY slacking on them. Actually, I do have a major announcement regarding the future of the comic, and it'll either be a fantastic idea or the worst idea ever. Stay tuned!

The biggest thing I've been occupied with is making a level set for Rise of the Triad, given that it was recently the game's 30th anniversary. Even though the fanbase for that is really small, they've gotten a good reception which I'm quite pleased by. Doom mapping is something I plan to get into soon (I only recently learned how big the mapping scene for it was!), maybe I'll stream making them when I have time.

Lastly, I've been meaning to post links to my other content, but I keep forgetting- so I might as well take care of it now:

https://bsky.app/profile/terryjpend.....on.bsky.social

https://x.com/terryjpendragon

https://www.youtube.com/@terryjpendragon/videos

https://www.twitch.tv/terryjpendragon

Until next time!

It's that time of year again! I have officially turned... er, a year older. Currently I'm recovering from a cold, but I have Monday off work so it balances out. Whee!

In other news, while I am still extremely busy I do have a few pieces of new art to share over the next few months. Once things wind down I plan to resume comics and Twitch streaming again.

Been a while since I made one of these! Apologies for the lack of art and comics lately- I'll do my best to get back into it. It will be a busy year for me since I recently got a new job, and will be moving to a new place sometime in the summer. Fortunately I tend to be more productive when things are busy. I hope everyone is doing well and Happy Year of the Dragon!

My Twitch (temporarily on break):
https://www.twitch.tv/terryjpendragon

My Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/@terryjpendragon/videos

https://www.youtube.com/@terryjpendragon/videos

Not much there at the moment, but I hope to upload many more gaming vids in the future :D If anyone out there would care to like & subscribe I'd be very grateful!

https://www.youtube.com/@terryjpendragon/videos

I am officially 41 today. Yay?

Anyways, not much has changed since last journal, basically job hunting and trying to stay motivated to do more art/comic stuff. Hopefully it will pick up soon.

On a lighter note, I have been pretty active on Twitch ( https://www.twitch.tv/terryjpendragon ) over the past several months (and will be streaming some stuff for my birthday later today.) Last week I was able to finally beat Getting Over It in under 2 minutes, which I'm pretty proud of! An in just under a year since my first playthrough, too.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1651415141

So just a quick update about stuff in general:

Art stuff has been slow lately as I have shingles in my left arm >.< Hopefully it clears up soon so I can get back into the swing of things.
Comics will also resume soon- I got burnt out on them due to stresses with my job, covid and juggling a million different things. I have a bunch of neat storylines coming up, as well as an extra-long epic for the "season finale".

And speaking of my job, I finally had enough and quit last month. I plan to take a few months off working so I can catch up on the projects and art that have been left unfinished, some for at least a year. Since I won't have income for a while I'm thinking about maybe making some adoptables.

And a reminder: I'm on Twitch! Once my arm feels better I plan on streaming more with a variety of stuff, and maybe some James Bond games since the new movie has come out (depending on how lazy I am with getting my capture card setup!).
https://www.twitch.tv/terryjpendragon

So after Rare was sold to Microsoft, one of their projects was a remastering of Perfect Dark, which was released on Xbox Live Arcade a while back. However, and this is something I had only heard about recently, they were also working on a GoldenEye remaster. It got most of the way done before MGM/Eon pulled the plug, and was destined to never see the light of day, aside from short preview videos. There were rumors of leaks, but those remained just rumors. Until this video was released:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0GinqO4lhU

How this was leaked will remain a mystery, but this is nonetheless big news! The game itself is still not publicly available, but we've been told it will be unofficially released later this year.
While this is just pretty much the original game with updated graphics, it's still pretty awesome to see, with more details and no fog. The main character models are off, but I think that's due to licensing issues. Being incomplete, some bits are missing (like the water in Frigate), but all the levels are completable. Nice!

So 30 minutes ago I officially turned 39 (oooof). Not thrilled about inching towards 40, but I have the day off work so I'll get over it. (for now)

I might lose power since there's supposed to be a wind storm in the morning, but if there's not I may do a Super Metroid Twitch stream. I'll make a separate post if it goes forward.

Other than that, nothing much exciting going on. I've got a bunch of art, comics and other projects in the pipeline, but not enough time in the day unfortunately!

I decided to give streaming on Twitch a try. I think I've set everything up right, so I'm doing some tests.

https://www.twitch.tv/terryjpendragon

For the next little bit I'll be trying out some games- if you can, let me know if everything goes OK.

(TLDR: I want a change and am asking folks who have gone to art college if it's worth it)

Over the past few years (and coming off of the most disappointing job experience ever) I've been very mid-life-crisis-ey. I'm not happy with how my 'career' is going- I really need a change, and I'm not getting any younger.

There are two main issues: My education (electronics/telecom) is something I lost interest in a while back (not to mention it's mostly out-of-date by now), and my work experience (mainly factory junk) is all stuff I really don't want to do anymore. I need more of a creative outlet. While getting a career in an industry where I can do that is difficult, I figure I might as well try.

So lately I've been considering going to art college, and BC has a lot of good ones (like Emily Carr). Also, there are plenty of different areas to study- if illustration isn't my thing, I could try 3D modelling. Lots of flexibility.

One very good thing is that because of my heritage, I have Métis status- meaning that I can get government money to pay my tuition. My brother did that when he got his HVAC training.

There is one big problem, however- Most of these colleges are in downtown Vancouver, which is about an hour away from where I live. The commute would be a nightmare, and public transit would take too long. The other option would to find a place there, but that would be super expensive. This is the biggest hurdle for me.

So- I know everybody's situation is different, but if anyone reading this has actually gone to art college, is it worth it, or would I just be wasting my time?

I almost missed it, but today marks a decade on this website (at least it is in my time zone as of posting)!
It's pretty late, so I'll just give a quick thanks to all the friendly folk who have viewed, faved and/or commented on my stuff over the past ten years.
This website and community gets its share of flack, but the low moments are insignificant compared to all the positives.
Thanks all!

I hope you all are doing well during there trying times. It's hard to know how serious this is, with all the conflicting information out there. The consensus is that we're almost past the worst of it, and that in a month we should see things noticeably improve. But you never know.

I haven't as much as much free time to do art stuff as I had originally planned, mainly due to the company I work for not shutting down during the virus. I'm puzzled as to why they think elevators are an essential service- but fortunately they currently have strict cleanliness and social distancing procedures, and they are giving all employees a nice bonus for staying.

Also, as pretty much everyone else has experienced, most of the 2020 events I was planning to go to have been cancelled, including the Portland Retro Gaming Expo. The one silver lining to that is now I have much more time to make my new costume (which I hadn't even started yet). It will be another Metroid-related costume, which I will post progress pics of once I actually start it.

So SmackJeeves recently updated its look and functionality, and many people (including myself) don't like it at all. That, coupled with SJ's decreasing relevance means that I will likely no longer upload comics there.

However, I will still continue to upload at Tumblr (https://dragongamers.tumblr.com/) and Webtoons (https://www.webtoons.com/en/challen.....itle_no=288239)

I will also still be uploading them here, but lately I've considered starting a new FA account just for the comic. Thoughts?

In December 2009, I was looking forwards to the future, thinking that the 2010s *had* to be better than the 2000s. Boy, was I wrong.

Everyone loves lists, so here are the WORST things of the past ten years, followed by some of the rare non-bad things. I guarantee at least a few of these will be controversial, so buckle up.

(BTW, these are things that have *personally* affected me, otherwise the list would be made up of wars and natural disasters and the like. This list is more about entertainment and people's interests in general.) So here it is:

**** The Top Ten Worst Things Of The 2010s ****

10) How To Train Your Dragon

OK, I might as well start the controversy right away. The movie isn't terrible, but it's certainly overrated. The story is cliche and the dragon designs are awful. One of the biggest things that annoys me as a True Dragon Fan™ is how something mediocre will succeed if dragons are somehow involved. I'm never going to get a good dragon movie/game/TV show if people keep supporting the crap.

Also, this happened right at the beginning of the decade, which gave me a bad omen as to how the rest of it would turn out. I was right.

9) Pony Drama

I know everyone wants to forget this stuff happened, but I think it serves as a good life lesson- if you see a group of people acting stupid about something trivial, don't react by acting WORSE than they are. All it does is add fuel to the fire, which was exactly what happened.

8) Celebrity Deaths

Usually I don't concern myself with celebrities, but even I was taken aback by the sheer number that passed this decade. Rik Mayall and Bob Einstein (aka Super Dave)'s deaths really affected me because of how big a part of my childhood they were.

7) 2010s Music

Pretty self-explanatory. My eye twitches every time I enter a building with the radio on, knowing that Despacito could invade my brain at any time.

6) Disney Ruins Everything

Again, pretty self-explanatory. From buying every media company to pointless live-action remakes to ruining Star Wars (I mean, more than it already has been), who knows where it will end up?

5) Remakes, Reboots and Rehashes

Don't get me wrong- there are some things I'm glad to see return (Red Dwarf, the Invader Zim movie, etc.), but do we need to bring back EVERYTHING? Some things died out for very good reasons (ie Bubsy). This whole thing just reeks of laziness, and the fact that this never gets called out really shows modern audiences in a bad light.

4) Extreme Politics

Politics is something that really interests me, but given the current climate, I'm afraid to say ANYTHING even vaguely in the political realm. In fact, I think I'll just move on to the next item.

3) Indie Game Craze

The theme of the past decade was definitely "bandwagon". And indie games are the perfect example of this. I get why people would be drawn to them, given how bad AAA games have been lately, but are they REALLY that good to justify their popularity? I'd say no.

Think of it his way: If FNAF were originally made by Sony, would it be as popular? Personally, I don't think so. Half of these games just recycle existing games, while the others use weird art styles to distract from mediocre gameplay. I'm probably being too cynical about it, but regardless I haven't enjoyed having them shoved in my face every day.

2) Wii U Era

Nintendo has had bad times before, but nothing compared to this. In five short years their main console tanked, the Amiibo/Classic Mini shortage was a PR disaster, Paper Mario was ruined, they issued endless copyright strikes, and had arguably the worst E3 presentation in history. And throughout all this they acted like the fans were the ones with the attitude problem.

And yet somehow, their next console was one of their biggest successes. Am I the only one who finds this comeback completely undeserved? This is just one of the many things I don't understand about modern gamers.

To me, the Wii U era was one of the biggest middle fingers ever and I doubt I'll support them again. But on the bright side, it makes their classic era look even better by comparison.


And with that, finally - in my opinion - the Official Worst Thing Of The Decade IS...

1) Game of Thrones

All I can say is: F*** this show.

F*** this overrated, overexposed, overpopular, over-everything lowest-common-denominator piece of yak excrement.

With everything else on this list, I can at least see some of the good in them. But I don't see GoT as anything else than mass-market garbage.

At least the final season was considered by many to be awful, so at least I can get a bit of schadenfreude from that.

---

So, enough negativity. As much as I didn't think it was possible, here are the things I actually liked about the past decade:

**** The Top Ten Best Things of the 2010s ****

10) P.A.D.G.

I realize that putting something *I* made on this list is a bit cheeky, but I had a hard time thinking of ten things to put on this list, so here you go.

I've always wanted to make a comic, but I lacked the idea and artistic talent. Now that I've (mostly) got those things, it's been a lot of fun bringing it to life.

9) Ten Years on FA

I joined this site in 2010 and I've encountered awesome artwork and equally awesome people. I know this site and the fandom in general gets a lot of flack but overall it's been a great experience. Thanks guys!

8) Luigi's Mansion 2

This is my favorite game made by a major gaming company in a long time. As soon as I finished it I started a new playthrough immediately- something I NEVER do. "Charming" is a word I hear a lot when people discuss the game and I think sums it up pretty well. The atmosphere and music really bring the different mansions to life.

I don't plan on getting a Switch so I may not play LM3, but I hear good things so you never know.

7) Pilk

6) Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast

As Old Hollywood gets more and more forgotten, this podcast gives the people who were there a chance to tell their stories. There have been a wide selection of guests from Dick Van Dyke and Adam West to Chevy Chase and Steven Wright, covering every genre and every age.

5) Pokemon Black & White

Pokemon first got big around when I started losing interest in video games, so I never played it. Eventually in 2009 or so I started coming around and picked up Platinum for the heck of it. I thought it was pretty good. So when Black/White hype started building in 2010/11 I really started getting into it.

Some of my favorite designs come from Gen 5, so it's a shame that a lot of people focus on the bad ones (ie "the gears" and "the ice cream"). I love the Unova area (and the different seasons) and I think it had the best story and great characters. The sequel wasn't as good, but I was happy to have a continuation of the story.

X&Y seemed like a rehash of Diamond/Pearl's story (A brooding bad guy wanting to create an ideal world using a Legendary), and Sun/Moon seemed like a mess with a LOT of bad designs. I probably won't play Sword/Shield. But, at least I had fun with the franchise while it lasted.

4) Norm MacDonald Live

It's hard to find online since Netflix took over the rights, but if you like comedians shooting the breeze for an hour and politically incorrect humor, I really recommend it.

Clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2XawdY22Ek

3) MLP:FIM

I'm putting this here mainly to troll the haters, but it really was a breath of fresh air from the crap the animation industry has been churning out since the late 90s. With a well-rounded cast, vibrant visuals and fun stories, it's not surprising it took off.

2) Taskmaster

When I first heard the concept - five comedians competing in random tasks - it didn't really sound very entertaining, but I was happy to be proved wrong. It can be hit-or-miss at times, but when you have five different people doing something strange with plenty of room for lateral thinking, you're almost guaranteed to get comedy gold.

The video that sold me on the show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeR5GdVCRLQ

And here we go: the Official Best Thing Of The Decade IS...

1) Another Metroid 2 Remake

Have you ever experienced something great, thought "this couldn't get any better", and then it does? And then it happens again? And again? And yet again? That's exactly what happened when I played this game.

When the early demo was released, I hadn't played it yet and heard people say it was on par with Super Metroid, which I dismissed. Boy, was I wrong. Everything about it is perfect.

Everything- from the surprise Torizo battle, the new area and its music, the cute remote-controlled robot, the energy spheres, the Power Plant escape sequence that gets turned on its head, to the Queen's brutal power-bomb death is perfect.

You know that scene in "Ratatouille" where the critic eats the food and is transported to his childhood? That's basically what happened while I was playing it. The game may have suffered a DMCA death, but I'm grateful it got finished and will continue to live on.


So that's my summation of the past decade.
Here's to a better ten years!

So today I am officially 38. Obviously I'm not too thrilled about approaching 40, but at least physically, I feel pretty good. Nonetheless I've been making an effort to take better care of myself. Over the summer I went on a diet and dropped from 168 to 152, so I'm happy with that.

In other news- I haven't done a lot of non-comic artwork this year due to a bunch of other RL stuff and projects (including the Ridley costume), but fortunately the majority of that is done so I can get back on track again. Like in 2018, I hope that 2020 can be another "Getting it Done" year.

So after a couple months of unsuccessful job hunting, I finally got a new one at a company that makes elevators. Currently I'm assembling/wiring the ceilings, which isn't too difficult. The pay could be better but I get good benefits (full medical/dental after 3 months), am entitled to vacation days right away, and the factory is only 10 minutes away from my house.

Now I can finally replace my laptop, which over the past few months has been slowly crapping out. I usually buy cheap computers but I almost always regret it. I don't play a lot of PC games, but I'll probably get a gaming computer just because I'm tired of low RAM and overheating.

The Ridley costume has been going pretty well (I just got the fabric for the legs and arms from Joanns) but I'm a bit burned out on it, so I'm taking the rest of the month off to focus on other stuff. New PADG comics will resume at around the same time.

I missed the turnover, but my FA page officially has 10,000 page views! Hooray! Thanks to everyone who has commented & faved over the past nine years.

I haven't had much time to make any NSFW stuff lately, mainly due to working on the comic and new costume, but a lot of my free time has been taken up by home renovations that never seem to end. But once the current PADG storyline wraps up, I'll see if I can get some more saucy stuff up.

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challen.....itle_no=288239

Started another gallery in an attempt to reach more people. I sadly don't have much of an audience on SmackJeeves, but a quick look on their forums pointed me to Webtoons which apparently is the hot place to be. We'll see.

Webtoons has its peculiarities- they only take JPG formats, and the max. width is only 800 pixels, so I need to resize all my comics by a weird amount (1.6x smaller) which is taking forever. Plus, you're required to put a custom thumbnail on each submission (which isn't too bad, actually) and you can't divide groups of comics into seasons/chapters.

On a related note, I didn't lose any followers on Tumblr after their NSFW purge, which is great.

As I mentioned a while back I have been planning a gallery clean-up, getting rid of a bunch of old art, scraps, and stuff I just don't like anymore. It'll be going on during this month, so if you like it, save it! I know a lot of folks don't read journals so I'll make a pic announcing it as well.

In other news- as most know by now, the new Pokemon games have been announced. I usually do some art of at least one of the starters, but I haven't- mainly because I don't really care for any of them, to be honest. It seems like after Gen 5 (my favorite) there have been fewer and fewer PKMN designs I've liked (I'm struggling to come up with even 5 good Sun/Moon designs).

After being disappointed with Gen 6&7, I've been wondering if I want to continue with the franchise at all, especially considering I still have no interest in getting a Switch. But we'll see.

On a lighter note, it's Renamon month- I plan to take part, so if anyone has any suggestions I'm all ears.

https://www.cameo.com/v/97WhbVefD

Couldn't resist! ;)

Here's to a good 2019!

A few points:

-I'll be getting rid of a bunch of old art from my gallery later this month; if you like it, save it! I'll probably mention this in a submission for those who don't read journals.

-My PADG SmackJeeves is now up-to-date with all old strips added. My Tumblr traffic hasn't yet been affected by the NSFW purge, but it's good to have an alternate gallery.

-The 'getting it done' year of 2018 hadn't been as productive as I would have liked, but at least I exceeded the minimum amount I set for myself. I'll try to keep the momentum up for this year.

-And Summer 2019 will mark 20 years since I graduated High School. Oof.

*UPDATE DEC. 29: All past comics have been uploaded!*

There's not much there at the moment, but I created a SmackJeeves page for my comic:
http://dragongamers.smackjeeves.com/

I'll be gradually uploading all the old strips and hopefully that'll be done before the end of the year. New strips should start sometime next week.

I'll still continue to upload the comic here as well as on Tumblr- even though people are forecasting doom-and-gloom, I doubt that site will be going under anytime soon. But it's good to have another mirror site nonetheless.

In other news...

I still have yet to get my hands on a Ridley Amiibo, since apparently they can only be found online (in Canada, at least). I've ordered two, but I'll be lucky to get them by Christmas due to the large backlog caused by striking Canada Post employees (again). Oh well, First World Problems.

As many of you may already know, Tumblr will no longer be allowing NSFW stuff on their site. Now, this doesn't affect my comic due to its relative cleanliness, but I'm still concerned about people refusing to use Tumblr or even the possibility of the whole site going under. So, I'm looking for alternatives.

There's Twitter, which is great for sharing, comments, etc but not so great for browsing older strips. Facebook may work better for that but still not perfect. Both these have the advantage of a lot of people using them.

There's also dedicated indie comic sites, but I'm not too familiar with them and still need to do my research.

Finally there's making my own site, but that costs money and I can't (yet) do web code that's compliant to modern standards.

Thoughts?

So today I am officially 37. Joy.

Fortunately I don't physically feel much different than my 20s- a bit more achey-ness, a bit less hair (OK, maybe more than a 'bit') but I still feel good. Nevertheless I'm really starting to consider more exercise and a better diet. Let's see how far that lasts.

In other news, I recently quit my job- even on my first day I thought "Hmm, I may have made a mistake", and it's been mostly downhill after that. There were some good things- pretty good pay, a four-day work week, learning some new skills- but the company was so poorly run I couldn't take any more. In the 13 months I worked there about 30% of the workforce quit. I haven't found anything better yet- although it's good to finally have some time to myself to catch up on artwork/comics and finish some outstanding chores.

Speaking of art, my 'getting it done' year obviously hasn't gone quite the way I had wanted, but at least I had a productive Winter/Spring. Let's see what I can get done before the new year. Sometime in December I want to get more PADG comics going again.

Since I'm between jobs I hope to get some commission work- if you know anyone looking for art please let me know or spread the word!