Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Penny Dreadful: A Real History





Penny Dreadful, in Wizard101, is a character who we meet in the Commons who needed our help with "A Dreadful Situation." She was lost on what to do or where to go since her teacher Malistaire was missing and her Death classroom is ... destroyed. In the end, we do get to help her find her way and get her settled in.

Now while digging information on Penny Dreadful, I have come to learn that Penny Dreadful is actually a real thing in the real world. Back in the 19th century, there was a British Publication that they called "penny dreadful" because it cost a penny and they had dreadful stories about vampires, robberies, romance, criminals and more.

But, interestingly enough, highwaymen were popular heroes in those stories! A highwayman was a thief who would prey travelers on horseback. One of the most popular highwayman story was called "Black Bess or the Knight of the Road" which lasted for 254 episodes! It was based on imaginary stories of real life English Highwayman Dick Turpin. I can't believe that they thought highwaymen were heroes? Today, we would think of firemen and cops as heroes. That says a lot about how people thought back then.

Penny dreadfuls were often reprints or rewrites of stories that were already known. The most famous penny dreadful stories were "The String of Pearls: A Romance" where "Sweeney Todd" was introduced in. Also they were inspired by "The Mysteries of Paris" which was rewritten it into "The Mysteries of London." "Varney the Vampire" was also a favorite! I can't imagine calling a vampire Varney though.

Working boys could afford them because well, it cost a penny! They liked reading penny dreadfuls because they were fun to read. We know that stories like penny dreadfuls offers an great escape when times are hard. Over time, the penny dreadfuls evolved into magazines. To this day, they say since they were so cheap and produced cheaply back then, it is rare to find one today.

So next time you pass by Penny Dreadful in the Commons, you will know something cool about the origin of her name. If you want to tell your friends a cool fact, tell them about Penny Dreadful!



The Wizard101 Fishing Spots I'd Like To Have



What kind of fishing spots we could have in other worlds? Do all worlds have some kind of a pond? Watering hole? Something we can fish from? So I set off to visit each world that does not have any fishing and took pictures of possible fishing locations in each. I have tried to be creative. I didn't want to be limited to water ponds. But why not swamps with purple water, green water? Or even lava ponds?!


DRAGONSPYRE

The Atheneum, Dragonspyre

CELESTIA

Base Camp, Celestia

Floating Land, Celestia

Floating Land, Celestia

Floating Land, Celestia


ZAFARIA

The Commons of Zafaria

Stone Town, Zafaria


AVALON

The Commons of Avalon

The Wyrd, Avalon

The Wyrd, Avalon

Wildwood, Avalon

Caer Lyon, Avalon


AZTECA

 
Mangrove Marsh has quite a LOT of water spots where we can fish.

Mangrove Marsh, Azteca

Mangrove Marsh, Azteca

Mangrove Marsh, Azteca

Again, Saltmeadow Swamp has a lot of spots where we can fish.

Saltmeadow Swamp, Azteca

Saltmeadow Swamp, Azteca

Saltmeadow Swamp, Azteca

Cenote, Azteca

Cloudburst Forest, Azteca

Floating Mountains


KHRYSALIS


Bastion, Khrysalis

Secret Market, Khrysalis

Last Wood, Khrysalis

Moon Cliffs, Khrysalis

Crescent Beach, Khrysalis

Crescent Beach, Khrysalis

Sardonyx, Khrysalis

Kondra Desert, Khrysalis


Wysteria does not have ANY water pond or any kind of pond which is disappointing. I would have loved to fish there. But I am hoping that they do expand Wysteria and add ponds!

But I'd like to mention one area in a world that already has fishing - the Well of Spirits in Krokotopia. 


Imagine fishing in that neon green goo? The fish we could get? Imagine this - neon fish? Spooky type of fish? Glowing fish? Gooey fish? Oooh the possibilities!


So what do you think? Comment away with your thoughts.


Thursday, February 19, 2015

A List of Benefits Gained In-Game


There are so many wonderful things about Wizard101 and Pirate101 especially what you do gain and benefit from them. Let me list a few.. Errm.. 11 of them.

1. Friends, of course! Because of that, my friend list is always full. The Fire Tower is always hopping on a Saturday Night. It's a perfect meet and greet party spot. If you are bored or need someone to talk to, just head in-game!

My name is Kelsey, what is yours?

2. It forced me to use math, which is a subject I hate. Ok, ok, 1 plus 1.... 3? Just kidding! But seriously though, you do get to use math while figuring out how many snacks you'd need to level up your pet or how much xp left to level up your character or figuring our how much power your spells have when you add enchantments and shields, etc. Omg, so much math that it's giving me a headache... Hey, at least at the end of the day, you can still say "I know how to use math!"

3. I get to explore worlds without leaving my home. I'm a natural explorer. Just call me Kelsey Columbus! And my three ships that I travel throughout the Spiral with are named.. KingsIsle, Pirate101 and Wizard101!


4. There's always a party somewhere in the Spiral! Wanna have fun? Just find a party and in no time, you're doing the Funky dance with old and new friends.

Everyone loves a PvP Party!

5. Girls know what I'm talking about. We can have as many clothes and you can change your clothes as well as dye it as often you want to without spending real money. It's like going to a free mall! You can feed your fashion bug here without spending a penny. Make your character look as fierce as you can! *snap*

Well I need decent boots...

6. You get to read a lot. I mean like.. all of the time! Perfect for bookworms. You get to learn new words too!


Porcine? Oh that means resembling pigs? I learned something new today!

7. Puns here, Puns everywhere! It's heaven for Punners like Alexander Lionheart, the King of Puns. You get to learn new puns. It's a perfect conversation starter!

Fire Puns? YASSSSSSSSSSSSS!

8. There's always something to do. Fishing, Sailing, PvP, Questing, Gardening.. Oh me, oh my, too many things to list! You can stay busy even on a slow day. Errm I know.. I'll get to the plants' needs in a minute. I do need to finish this blog post first...

MAMA, I NEED WATER!

9. You learn about pop culture references. I mean, Blue Oyster Cult? When I saw that as a title for Zeke's MooShu oyster quest in Wizard101, I had to google that one before learning that it's referenced on a real rock band from Long Island, New York where I live. How interesting! It's kinda neat learning about something that is located where I live lol.


10. For those interior and exterior decorators, there's free houses and free furniture and when you mix them.... Yep, you can create amazing house decorations! Build them, they will come via the Housing Tours and drool over your genius. You can be creative as you wanna be!


11. The sense of accomplishment when you level up. Man, you feel so good that you want to jump and shout, pumping your fists in the air.. Umm... Well, yes I have literally done that... WELL I COULDN'T HELP IT!


I'm Level 27! WOOT!

So what did you gain as a benefit in-game while playing Wizard101 and/or Pirate101? Comment away.



Thursday, February 5, 2015

The Bears of Pirate101




While thinking about the fact that both Grizzleheim and Polaris have bear characters, it made me think what if the worlds are closely tied together enough that they could be in the same area.


If you base them off on our own world, Grizzleheim could be central American woods or even central Europe, then Wintertusk as in above America or central Europe and then lastly, Polaris for Russia or the Arctic Circle above that. This could mean in-game, those three worlds could be located nearby each other based off on the climate of their world.


So if we go to the world of Polaris, there could be also a skyway for Grizzleheim/Wintertusk in it or vice versa. Not only that, they all have bear characters, so that would also connect them. There is the Grizzleheim Pavilion in Bestia and the Beastmaster pack which has bear companions which seems to be a huge clue as well that the Grizzleheim world exists... somewhere.


But, there are so many kinds of bears out there, not just Polar Bears, Brown and Black Bears. There's also other bears that you might not have heard of. So I realized, hey what other types of bears that could or should be in-game? This made me curious, so off to Google I went!

First lets start with the well known ones.


Polar Bears are the white bears that live above the arctic circle. They are massive and they eat seals which is a tough thing to do. Seals are a formidable enemy. Hmm, what if we see seal characters?! That'd be awesome. Wait, back to bears. We know that in Polaris, there are Polar Bears as warriors and servants.






American Black Bears are the world's most common bear species. They're the typical black and brown bears we see on tv and in movies. They can come in other colors as white, cinnamon, blonde, cream and tan.





Brown bears has so many types that it's mind boggling. But, the Kodiak Bear in Alaska is the most interesting since it has bears that rivals the Polar Bear in size! They can be up to 1500 pounds and stand 10 feet tall, believe it or not. That's like a bear on steroids. You don't want to mess with them. If you need an army to defeat the Polarian army, use Kodiak Bears! There also are so many different colored bears. They can be reddish with silver tips, yellowish brown, blonde, cream, tan or even almost white too.




In game, I can imagine Grizzleheim having various black and brown bears. Look at the Beastmaster companions, they do come in different colors. The black and brown bears seems quite covered already as well as Polar Bears. But there's more bears that we haven't seen yet!




Everyone knows about Giant Pandas as well, but there's also Qinling Pandas who are smaller and have brown and white colors instead of the black and white like the Giant Pandas. They are the bear species everyone thinks is cuddly and cute. They are, but they're also powerful and dangerous as all other bears are. I would love to see Panda warriors in-game. People have been waiting for Panda mounts. But, I think they would do better as companions or be part of the storyline.



The following bears I think should be included in-game. I love seeing varying kinds of a single animal. The below bears have pretty cool color markings which sets them apart or they have different looks.




Then there's the Sloth Bears in India and Sri Lanka who are a lot more shaggier with beige coloring on their chests. They are also descended from ancient black bears. They actually like to eat bugs and they rarely eat other animals. They are also not slow as the Sloth. Due to their nature, I can imagine them as bear priests, monks, someone who believes in peace and harmony in-game.






Tibetan Blue Bears are not blue, but they are one of the rarest bears in the world. They come in varying shades of brown with white markings around their neck and belly that makes their species easily identifiable. Again, it would be cool to have different looking bears like them in-game to keep it fresh.








Sun Bears are found in Asia and they're also called "honey bears" since they do have quite a taste for honey and honeycombs. Guess Pooh was a Sun Bear! They are the smallest of bears, but they are easily identified by their special color marking on their chests. Want a bear king? Use this one. I can imagine them sitting on their throne just eating from buckets of honey.







Spectacled Bears in South America are the last remaining of short faced bears. They have shorter muzzles and round faces. They are easily identified by the beige or ginger colored markings on their faces and chests. For some reason I can imagine them to be shaman tribe leaders. I can imagine them to be spiritual and wise.



Soooooo, what do you think? Would you like to see various kinds of bears? Does any of the bears above strike your fancy? Have an opinion or idea that I haven't thought of yet? Leave a comment as always. Thanks for reading!


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