Ditto saves Selena Gomez – Part 1
I was traveling in Wizard City and heard a call from Professor Balestrom, the storm school professor. It turns out Selena Gomez, an actress on ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ – as well as a great singer – was kidnapped and taken down a sunken part of Wizard City called ‘Crab Alley’… In the first part of the quest I have to collect pearls from Scarlet Screamers to make a cool water breathing potion. It’s really a fun and enjoyable quest series, and the underwater elements are fun and look really good!! I’ll post more of my daring underwater adventures soon.
Detective Ditto versus Mister Incinerator
As part of my new spell quest for Professor Falmea, I had to go to Chelsea Court and find ‘Mister Incinerator’, a crazy creepy storm boss who burns things in his belly… I was feeling confident, until I realized I was fighting a 1000 health and a 2000 health storm boss… This was a very hard fight and I’ll admit, I was unprepared and I fell victim to my own overconfidence. One problem was lack of heals – I think I only had two in my deck, and only the lower end pixie, not the higher cost Satyr.
I did beat him on my THIRD try (I didn’t film it, sadly, I just wanted to get it done…) and got my less than useful Fire Minion – though admittedly the fire minion might have been useful in this particular duel, ironically…
Ditto gets to Chelsea Court!
Detective ditto here! So I finally made it through Hyde Park, and though we did not recover the informant Baxter, we have apparently made great strides in uncovering the whole nefarious scheme! I’ve spoken to Sherlock Bones and I’m heading off to Chelsea Court to further track down these criminals, who are apparently in league with some strange metal men… Lets hope I can find Baxter before it’s too late!
Ditto fights Gearhead – take 2!!
So after our intense first matchup, I return to face Gearhead again. This fight goes much better and thanks to skill, cunning, and more than a dash of luck, I am victorious!!
I have to say, the duels are getting more and more intense, especially these storm bosses. I”m going to have to be on my A game from now on!!
My current games
So I’ve gotten into a few new games lately, and while I’m not recording myself playing them, I thought it might be fun to give a little update for each and to see what other people are playing. These are pretty much all family and kid-friendly (With one notable exception, which is much more ‘teen’ oriented) free to play games easily accessible to people, so if something sounds fun and interesting to you, you can give it a try…
Wizard 101
Of course I’ll start out with Wizard 101, my favorite game! I just hit level 30 and am making my way through the depths of Chelsea Court in Marleybone now. I’ve got multiple videos coming for Wizard 101, so I won’t talk too much about it – since that’s what pretty much this whole site is usually devoted to. I am still having a LOT of fun and I’m really, really looking forward to Celestia, which sounds like it’s coming pretty soon!!
Backyard Monsters
This is a Facebook game, and while I normally don’t get into these I have to say, I’m pretty well addicted to this one. I started playing because, well, it’s about monsters, and I’m a monster, so it seemed a good fit.
The premise is simple – you create a backyard ‘habitat’ for various little monsters. You have to harvest resources to build structures and defenses, like Starcraft, you have to plan out defensive towers and structures like a typical tower defense game, and you plan attack strategies to raid other backyards and take their resources.
I’m level 31 now, almost level 32, and my strategy has been all about resource production and protecting those resources. The only buildings that an enemy attack ‘scores’ on are your resource harvesters and silos, so if you’ve got them well guarded, someone coming in and knocking over your monster academy or even monster housing doesn’t really count against you, it’s just annoying. Make sure you build up all your turrets, and use the yard planner – it shows you a great overhead view of your yard and – most importantly – shows your turret ranges so you can verify you have adequate coverage.
Ditto's backyard in 'Backyard Monsters'
School of Wizardry
This is another Facebook game that I’m only playing now because of serious puppet-related OCD I think. I’m level 112 and every day I log in for five minutes, do all the current missions I can, cash out my real estate money, put it in the bank, and I’m done. I think I’m only playing now because I want to get to the ‘end’ of the game – get through all the last quests. I’m on the last quest in the ‘Wizard World’ section now, and about to start the ‘closure’ section, which is for levels 100+. It was a lot of fun in the beginning, but I’ll be honest – it’s gotten boring.
Lord of the Rings Online
So yes, I have a LOTRO account now, a level 10 dwarf named Ditto. He has furry orange hair and a bushy orange beard, he’s great!
I’ll preface this section by saying that, while an amazing game in many ways, I am not counting this as a ‘Kid/family friendly’ entry, simply because it’s so realistic, and because it doesn’t look like there’s much in the way of a chat filter. Naughty words definitely slip out pretty often in OOC chat, from what I’ve seen. It’s OK for a furry orange monster, but I sure wouldn’t let a five or eight year old sit there and watch me play. That’s my opinion, anyway. Your results may vary…
The game is beautiful at average graphics settings and breathtaking at the highest levels, the sounds and music are amazing as well, and I think that’s part of my problem. When one of my first quests was to kill wolves, the wolves were beautifully rendered, well animated, and the super-realistic ‘hurt puppy’ whimper they made when I hit them with my axe was heart-breaking. When you defeat the wolf, it lays there on the ground, very obviously dead. There’s no blood, but still… It’s not like a gobbler falling over and melting through the floor when you defeat it in a duel. I think that the game is just so real, it certainly earns it’s ‘Teen’ rating.
Ditto the Dwarf in LOTRO
Clone Wars Adventures
Yup, jumped into this one too. I’m trying to get the name ‘Ditto Monster’ for my avatar but all custom names have to be approved, so for now I just have a placeholder name.
The game is amazingly cute and cool if you’re into Star Wars/Clone Wars, but it’s definitely NOT an ‘MMORPG’ – not that this is a bad thing, I just think some people assumed it was more ‘MMO-like’.
What you get with Clone Wars is a cool character avatar who can run around a space station and chat with other people, meet Star Wars characters, and play some really fun Clone Wars themed mini-games. That’s about it. The mini games are great, and some, like ‘Saber Strike’, are down right addictive, done in the style of classic Pop Cap games like ‘Peggle’.
I’ve only just started Clone Wars, so I don’t know a lot about it yet, but it’s very kid friendly and the chat seems pretty safe so far, though again, I’m still a new. Installing was fast and straightforward too.
My Clone Wars dorm room - very empty right now!
Zombie Pets
Another Facebook game, I tried it because some of my FB friends were playing and it seemed interesting. Well – I don’t get it. Maybe it’s a Fabricated American thing, but this game confuses the fur off of me… It’s like you have dead pets and if you don’t feed them they get… deader? And if they ‘live’ you can, um, sell them to buy more pets to… yeah, I just don’t get it. Probably won’t be doing much with this one.
So that’s it – my current games, what I’m playing right now. Naturally 70% of my time is spent in Wizard 101, it’s still my absolute favorite, but there are some other really fun – and free – games out there you can try. I’ll probably be giving some general updates on the other things I’m playing in between my Wizard 101 daring adventures and exploits!
Until next time – PLOX!!
Ditto fights Gearhead – part 1
So I finally made it to the final boss fight in Hyde Park, Gearhead, a storm boss with 1000 health! This fight was pretty intense, and sadly, did not end well for me. This was another one of those great, intense Wizard 101 duels where, thanks to random chance and inopportune fizzles on both sides, I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen until the very last turn. Overall a great fight and I learned a few things…
Ditto’s Video Blog – Sept 14th
So here is my video blog for this week – finally! I’m talking about Wizard 101, of course, plus Lord of the Rings and Clone Wars, which I’m very excited about!! Next up – finishing Hyde Park!!
The Daring Adventures of Ditto – Episode 10!
So here it is, the wonderful and amazing Episode 10 of ‘The Daring Adventures of Ditto’, as originally heard on Ravenwood Radio, Episode 24! Hear our daring and furry hero – me – and trusty sidekick Madame Jasmine as we battle to clean up the streets of Marleybone! Can you believe it’s been ten episodes already? Wow, me either…
The Daring Adventures of Ditto – Episode 10
Enjoy!!
Finding Baxter – Now What??
So after searching all the safehouses looking for Baxter – and being ambushed by thugs in each and every one – Mrs. Conrail now thinks she’s got another informant who can tell us where Baxter is. The problem is that we apparently have to ‘convince’ him to tell us the location. Why is it that I suddenly see a number of meteor strikes in my immediate future… It’s hard being a detective in Marelybone!!
Sponsor Ravenwood Radio for Extra Life!!
As people may or may not realize, Fabricated Americans have had a long-standing tradition of helping kids – It’s just something we like to do, it makes us feel good. Personally, I like reading stories to kids and teaching them good life lessons, that sort of thing – it gives me a ‘warm, fuzzy’ feeling. Even warmer and fuzzier than I am normally…
So last night on the awesome Ravenwood Radio show, Leesha and Steve announced that they were doing something wonderful to help kids in need, in honor of a young wizard named Emma, and need people to help donate to the cause. They are going to be participating in Extra Life, a 24 hour charity gaming marathon for the Children’s Miracle Network. The money donated goes directly to hospitals to help kids, something I believe in strongly, and so I’m going to do what I can to help spread the word, too, because it’s a good and important cause and they definitely have my support!
So please, check out their web page at Ravenwood Radio, read about the charity and about Emma, and then click on one of those ‘donate’ buttons – or have your parents do that – and give just a little, because if everyone gives just a little, in the end that’s a whole lot, and the good it can do will grow even bigger than that!
Thanks all – I’ll see you in The Spiral!!
PLOX!
Wow – Welcome to Wizard 101 Selena Gomez!!
so I wake up this morning and find out the big news in Wizard 101 is that Selena Gomez, from the very fun show ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’, is now going to be having a role in Wizard 101! I actually like ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ because it’s a very cute show and in past episodes I believe they have employed Fabricated American actors, so I salute that!! Anyway, this is very fun and exciting news and of course will mean lots more new student wizards in Wizard 101!!
Of course along with the big announcement we got to see NEW STUFF!! Yes, in the video introducing Selena we get to see a shark mount in action, some CRAZY new spells, like a genie and a big Egyptian Horus-looking monster spell, as well a Selena dancing with what looked like moles? Not sure about that one, but I am one very excited furry orange monster this morning!!!
And if you haven’t seen it here is the video from KingsIsle’s YouTube channel with the big announcement and new in-game footage!!
Finding Baxter Part 3
Yes, Ditto has found yet another ‘Safe House’ where Baxter might be hiding – of course he’s not there and your daring furry orange monster is once again jumped by vicious thugs! These safe houses really aren’t very safe… You know, there sure are a lot of thugs and criminals lurking in the shadows of Marleybone.
Finding Baxter – part 2
So I located the second safehouse in Marleybone looking for the elusive Baxter. Of course as I expected, I didn’t find Baxter, I found more angry thugs. This was actually a much more exciting fight than I expected and I was pretty happy to get out of it alive!!
Happy Birthday Wizard 101!
So Wizard 101 – as well as my friend Christina Icedreamer – had a birthday, and they gave out these fun transformations as presents! I jumped into game and turned into a Ninja Pig!! So much fun!
Ditto’s Video Blog – August 30th
Wow, today’s post is my 80th video and my 120th post! I’ve been a busy little orange monster! So this week I talk a little about finishing Sunken City solo, my amazing Ferris Wheel ride, my latest twitter follower, and I finally discuss what it means to me to be a Fabricated American. Spoiler Alert – is has something to do with being in America and being made of fabric…. So enjoy and I’ll see you in the Spiral!!
Plox!!
Sunken City Survivor!
So I had a bit of time to jump in the spiral today, but I didn’t have time to set up and film my adventures, so I didn’t want to do the next things in Marleybone I had scheduled. Looking at my quests list I saw that I still had Sunken City to attempt. I didn’t see anyone from my immediate friends list on, but I figured I’d do the crazy thing and try to solo it – worst case scenario, I can’t do it, I try again later with help.
Well what an intense dungeon! Right off the bat I’m dueling three enemies, all elites. I’m able to buff up a meteor strike and take all three out, and I realize that with proper planning and strategy I can probably solo the whole thing. Without meteor strike or some other ‘hit all enemies’ spell there was no way I could have done it, but with meteor strike and buffs I figured it was possible.
My strategy for getting Marla through the initial gates was always the same – either for street fights or tower fights I would cast two fire blades and, if the boss was big enough, a WyldFyre. Follow with a meteor strike and you’re on the the next round – after gobbling up red wisps, of course.
Norton’s tower was the first serious challenge, as there were multiple levels of fights that got harder and harder, and Norton had 800 health! I was able to do it though, and headed to Grubb’s tower for the final showdown!
I will say that if Grubb’s tower was a multi-level like Norton’s, I would have quit, mostly because I didn’t have a ton of time left to play, but also because I had zero potion bottles left full. Thankfully, Grubb was right there, all glaring with his 1000 health points, and of course to make it just THAT much harder, his minions were FIRE, so they were able to resist all of my pyromancer’s charms. I tossed some prisms in my deck to try and handle them but it turns out the way things played out they weren’t needed – or at least I never saw them come up…
The ultimate epicness came at the end of the Grubb fight and is something that only the randomness of Wiz101 could have provided. I was last in the turn order, always a big disadvantage, especially against three opponents. I had hit all enemies with one meteor strike that took them all down to below 300 health, and had shielded and cast pixie to get my health back up and prepare for another meteor strike. They got in a VERY good round that had me down to 33 health, but I had enough pips for another meteor strike (and didn’t have a pixie handy), so knowing that would end the game I went for it. Fizzle! I figured that was it and had already accepted defeat when…
Next turn Grubb casts death trap on me, then the two scarecrow minions both fizzle!! My next attempt at meteor strike is a success and I take all three out! I finished Sunken City solo with only 33 health left – needless to say I was really happy and didn’t even care that Professor Snape Drake only gave Marla an A minus….
I didn’t get to tape any of this, sadly, but I now proudly wear my ‘Sunken City Survivor’ badge…
The Daring Adventures of Ditto – Episode 9!
Here it is, Episode 9 of the Daring Adventures of Ditto, as originally heard on Ravenwood Radio episode 23! Follow Ditto and Madame Jasmine into Jolly Old Marelybone and NOT get into daring battles and adventures!! so very exciting – you don’t want to miss this one!!
Ditto Rides a Ferris Wheel!
Yesterday Miss Narrator and our friends went out to a place called Edaville Railroad, so my roommate’s son could ride on Thomas the Train, and I decided that it sounded like a lot of fun, so I tagged along.
Well, first of all, I was in an amusement park that featured Thomas the Train, so I was surrounded by about ten thousand preschool children – and apparently I was the only Fabricated American in the park. As you might imagine this caused a bit of a stir, so I wasn’t able to get a lot of video due to being surrounded every time the camera came out. Probably a bit like how Steve and Leesha feel every time they step into Nightside in Vampire Realm, actually…
I did get a bit of video the first time I rode the Ferris Wheel, which was a vintage ride called ‘Big Eli’ that was built in 1953! That was really cool and amazing – I can’t believe how high up we were! I was a little scared, but I did have fun and I LOVED the feeling of the wind through my fur, it was nice. So here’s the video – I hope you like it!
Finding Baxter Part 1
After my ambush I was sent to the first of several safe houses to find the elusive informant Baxter. Of course as I expected, ‘safe house’ #1 wasn’t particularly safe. Enter thrilling duel and Ditto’s heroic win!
Ambushed in Hyde Park!
So I was exploring around Hyde Park and found the very nice Mrs. Conrail, who works with the hilariously named Sherlock Bones. She had me looking for an informant named Baxter, which sounded about as exciting as looking for potted plants, but then as I was looking for him I was actually ambushed!! It looks like someone didn’t want me sticking my nose in their business – which is funny, since I don’t actually have a nose!
Ditto and the Silver Chest
So I was exploring in Marleybone and came across a silver chest – now, I know what a wooden chest is, but I wasn’t sure what a silver chest was. It turns out you need to unlock them by playing a clever little game called ‘shock a lock’ – it was very exciting! I only got 42 gold, but it was really fun and exciting, I want to play more!
Ditto begins his adventures in Marleybone
So now that I’ve made it to jolly old Marleybone, what adventures await me? Maybe an airship ride, or thrilling battles, or… searching for flowers? Well, it will certainly be an amazing adventure in any case!
Friday special – Ditto’s Bloopers
So sometimes, when I’m making my various videos, things don’t go exactly according to plan… And sometimes (well, most of the time really) the cameras are still rolling, so here are just a few of the goofs and bloopers that I caught while filming that were edited out of the actual videos that I had posted (or in some cases, still have yet to post)
I hope you enjoy!
Miss Narrator’s Chocolatey Walnut-Brownie Bread
I can’t believe I am doing this on my blog, but the lovely and talented Miss Narrator asked me to post the recipe to her amazingly yummy Chocolatey Walnut Brownie Bread, so here you go:
This is a bread machine recipe so you should use a bread machine to make it, I guess. I’m not a cook – I can’t even get too close to the stove or else my fur could singe…
| Ingredient | Regular Loaf | Large Loaf |
| Water | 1/3 Cup | 1/2 Cup |
| Milk | 2/3 cup | 1 cup |
| Unsalted Butter | 5 tablespoons | 7 tablespoons |
| Salt | 1 teaspoon | 1 1/4 teaspoons |
| Dark Brown Sugar | 1/3 cup packed | 1/2 cup packed |
| Unsweetened Cocoa | 5 tablespoons | 8 tablespoons |
| Bread Flour | 3 cups | 4 cups |
| Dry Yeast | 2 1/4 teaspoons | 1 tablespoon |
| Chopped Walnuts, lightly toasted | 2/3 cup | 1 cup |
| 12 slices | 16 slices |
1.All ingredients must be at room temperature. Liquid ingredients should be approx. 80 degrees F. Cut butter into small cubes. Add ingredients in the order specified in your bread machine owners manual. Walnuts can be added 5 minutes before the end of the last kneading cycle.
2. Select white or basic bread type and light crust.
3. Remove baked loaf from the pan at the end of the baking cycle and cool on a wire rack at least 1 hour before slicing. (Apparently this is so the amazing smell fills the whole house for an hour and makes everyone really really hungry…)
Ditto Monster's Bloggy Thingy 