Fanboys Anonymous

If you are the admin of a fan page on Facebook, you may have noticed the recent warnings that an update is coming soon. Beginning today, the new timeline-inspired design has hit those who opted into it early. Although you can put it off as long as you want, Facebook will make up your mind for you on June 5 when all pages will switch to the new design.

Luckily, cover photos remain mostly unchanged. Your custom design made to fit the dimensions of 851x315 should still fit snugly into place. However, the thumbnail for the designated profile picture is now significantly larger, therefore overlapping more of the cover photo.

Easily redesign your new cover photo by downloading this PSD template and using the tutorial video below.

YouTube just doesn't ever seem to be happy with what it has and feels the need to tinker around with its layout every couple of months. Thus it should come as no surprise that in February 2014, Google has launched yet another change. Although the new look keeps many of the same elements of the One Layout concept that was implemented before, there are some changes that will affect everyone who wants to have a balanced cover photo.

While everyone is scrambling to redo their graphics, we here at Fanboys Anonymous figured we would give you the heads up and do the heavy lifting for you. We present to you a Photoshop template that you can use to make sure you get the right measurements the first time around instead of playing with it and readjusting it a million times.

If you would like to download the PSD template seen below, go to MediaFire here.

Perhaps you're a young excited artist that wishes to develop and create a masterpiece in the strange and wonderful genre of anime! You may think to yourself, "Where do I even start?" Well, sit back, relax, and enjoy my easy step-by-step guide on how to make a successful anime.

Step One: Genre
First things first: We need to decide what genre of anime are we going to go with. Based off history, the easiest path to success is violence! Between oversaturated titles like Dragonball Z, Naruto, and One Piece, we learn that it's the easiest route. But not only are these titles violent, they're ridiculously flashy and over-the-top, leaving you wondering, "Why the fuck would they even do that?" So remember to fill your show with anger, blood, and a whole bunch of over-the-top, nonsensical BS.

Step Two: Art Style
Now that we have our genre, we just need to decide what type of art style we're going to go with. First off, all female characters—even though they're Asian—need to have HUGE boobs. Doesn't matter if they're 14, that girl gets tits the size of her head.

Next, your cast needs really bright colors. It doesn't matter if they're a stealthy ninja or a muscular serious warrior; they need to stick out with bright, in-your-face colors! But why stop there? Perhaps your skilful warriors aren't being taken seriously—they will when you give them huge spikey hair!

Remember: sex, bright colors, and stupid hair styles make your characters connect with 13-year-old weaboos waiting to hand their cash over!

Step Three: The Characters
Now this is the most important step, as your characters make the show what it is. With that said, there is a simple formula to follow to ensure that your anime reaches the pinnacle of success.

Main Character: First off, no character can be beloved without tragedy in their life. If you planned for your lead to have parents and a stable home life, think again! Simply by having your main character's life fall to crap, their struggles and triumphs connect with your audience throughout the duration of your show. Also, an oversized weapon helps…

Love Interest: Of course we know she's going to have giant cans, but your main character's love interest has to have the following. Timidity is a must for her. She can't be confident, and this particular quality can result in getting her into trouble, therefore giving the main character many occasions to run to her rescue. She must blush constantly; it doesn't matter if she's mildly bumped into, waved to, or spoken to in general conversation. This bitch has to blush! Only then will your fan base begin to churn out a whole bunch of badly-written fan fiction about her and the hero.

Look at this moody jackass, that right there, is money! $$$

The Douchey-But-Kinda-Your-Ally Dude: You've seen it all before. He's quiet, he's grumpy, and he's your main character's biggest rival. Even though he's a quiet asshole, the people will love him. His misunderstood persona will allow all the misfits of your fan base to connect with him, to write yaoi involving him and the main character, and to celebrate when he finally teams up with the "good guys" to defeat their foe.

The Enemy: There are many roads you can go down for the enemy. But in the end, he needs to be all-powerful, constantly getting the upper hand so that you can drag your series out just that little bit longer. And of course, have a league of sub-villains that will be a roadblock for our hero up until the end.

Step Four: Filler
For your anime to reach the pinnacle of success, it needs to pull in revenue. Unfortunately, if you just got to the point of the show, then it would be over in a flash. By adding side stories about helping small children, kittens, and elderly ladies, you can drag your series out for another 50 episodes! You hear the saying, "quality over quantity." Welp, for success it's cash over good story development.

Step Five: Vic Fucking Mignogna
I mean really, who else is going to voice your protagonist? This guy is Edward Elric! Not just that, you've got a double whammy; given his past playing such characters as Broly, he can give you a great villain too. Why pay multiple voice actors when you can just overwork one right? 

So that ends my guide on how to create a successful anime that will put cash in your pocket! I hope it was an enjoyable read for you. Let me know your thoughts in the comment section below. If you enjoy anime, then check out Addicted to Anime. We have a great community and a monthly podcast.

Also, check out Unanimous Decision MMA on Facbook and Twitter for all your MMA needs and podcasts.

And unless you're a douche, Like For Kittens.

Grand Theft Auto Online has been plagued with glitches. Some are good, some are bad, while others can just make the game flat-out unplayable. Well, with a little searching, I was able to find a glitch that can make any low-level street rat a millionaire within minutes.

Enclosed is a tutorial guide on how to utilize this glitch for your own nefarious means!

1. Use your phone and call Gerald for a job.

2. Have your friend bring down a high-level car. I used the Benefactor Schwartzer Sports.

3. Accept the job from Gerald with both of you sitting in the car.

4. Play the job alone. Do not invite anyone!

5. Instead of doing the job, place the car in your garage. Once that's done, kill yourself and go to free mode.

6. Take the car to San Andreas Customs and sell it. The second after you sell it, click on start at the same time.

7. Go to swap character.

8. You will now have the car and 100k in your garage.

9. Rinse and repeat.


If you're interested in checking out some of my playthroughs of GTA, check out TheNerdGenious on YouTube.

Maybe "rookie" isn't exactly accurate, as I've had work published in other companies over the years, but as far as being in the majors (Marvel and DC) I'm practically a newborn and a rather lucky one at that.

I'm Joseph Silver and I have the distinction of being able to say that I'm a freelance comic illustrator published by DC Comics. I can't begin to tell you how many years I've been waiting to write that sentence (or one like it, Marvel's name would be just as awesome here) and have it actually be true. But, with the Animal Man annual #1 hitting the stands last year, I became just that: a pro freelance inker.

Animal Man annual #1 page 24. Pencils by Timothy Green II. Inks by Joseph Silver

But once that happens, there are a lot of realities you need to be aware of that you would likely have no way of knowing otherwise:

Understand the reality of self employment

I have worked in the retail industry most of my adult life, so getting an opportunity to work my dream job was not only a dream come true but also a complete change in the way I made money and my work environment. I was not ready for that change.

If you're not accustomed to self-employment, you don't really understand how hard it can be to work from home. This means being productive in the same environment that you generally relax in and to work around all the stuff you bought to be comfortable. After all, that's what home is—your comfort zone. Many artists work out of studios with other artists because working at home can be too much of a hassle if you live with family or have made a family of your own.

Another one of the trickiest parts of the process of being a comic pro, though certainly not the only one, is that you file taxes quite differently. This means there is no one deducting taxes from your check, reimbursing you for supplies, or often as you're starting out, paying for you to get to conventions to promote your work and do more networking. You have essentially become your own business agent, tax preparer and travel agent.

Stay ahead of your current project

Until you've built a base of customers (in this case editors) and creators that want to work with you once an assignment is done, you have to have more work to maintain a regular income. You have to be looking for work as you're doing assignments, regardless of how much you love working on it or how solid your creative team is. Creative teams turn over in comics on a very regular basis and if you can't adapt to the environment, you will starve.

Work with your editor, not for just yourself

Regardless of the public perception, the comics industry is very much a business, and the editor has one of the hardest jobs in that business: keeping artists on a monthly schedule. This is in addition to maintaining the story plots in numerous capacities. It's about creating synergy with all parties (writers, pencillers, inkers, letterers, and colorists) and when an editor gives the new guy a chance, he's taking a risk on his title based not just on the quality of your work, but how reliable you are. This isn't to say disagreements and such will never happen with an editor, but it should never be a reflection of an inability to do the work. The more you can be counted on and the easier you are to work with, the more opportunities you will be afforded. The editors are the people you need to deal with when looking for work.

So I guess what I'm saying is….

It's not just about how good you are

Obviously, to even get a foot in the door you must be a capable storyteller, illustrator and have a solid grasp on working from a script (or writing one as the case may be). But everyone already in the business already has talent in those areas. When you get into comics, you're competing for work with everyone else and they have the benefit of a working relationship with others in the business. In many cases, they have many years of a head start. So when you land that first assignment, ask yourself how well you communicate with your team. How well do you understand what is being asked of you? And most importantly, how well can you make that deadline? Reliability in comics is your lifeline and can be a huge part of your reputation.

These are the things an editor will want to know about you as you're working on that first job. It will make or break you, regardless of how well you draw. You have to be at least as reliable as every other person on that book.

You are on the ground level

I am going to say this as nicely as I can: no one owes you anything just because you landed a job in the business. When you finally get that first break, it is your responsibility to make the best of it. To make the absolute best first impression you can. If for whatever reason you don't immediately start getting more work, it in no way reflects whether you deserve an assignment or not. The first thing you have to realize is how competitive this business is. People that have been doing this professionally for years don't always land the assignments they want, and as this is work for hire, you really are only as good as your last assignment and the reputation you get as an artist.

The most successful guys—regardless of your opinions of them—worked their asses off in the trenches sometimes for decades to make the careers they have. Greg Capullo, Mark Bagley, Mike McKone, Paul Pelletier…these guys worked a long time to get the distinction and reputations they have in the business, and rightly deserve them.

You have to be at least as hungry as they were to get in and stay there. And at least as respectful of the business you're entering. It is in no way easy, and not everyone gets to be a star. Make the most of your first opportunity and be ready to work like never before.

Your laptop has crashed and refuses to boot the OS. The only option you have is to reformat the drive, losing all your non-backed up data in the process. Thankfully you have a external enclosure for your SATA drive. However, when you try to access the files you find out they're inaccessible due to being registered to the non-bootable laptop. How do you get around the problem? This tutorial will teach you.

First things first. Connect the SATA drive (drive A) to your backup computer. Or, if you have another drive (drive B) laying around, put your OS on that and use it to boot up the previously mentioned laptop. Once you have a working laptop, attach the SATA drive (drive A) you wish to get the files off of and find the folders you wish to copy over.

Straight copying won't work, nor will trying to access to the folders. You'll need to right click on the folder you wish to gain access to then select "Properties" from the drop down menu. Now, go to the "Security" tab located on the top of the new window.

Step 1

In "Security" click on "Advanced". A new dialog box should open. In this box go to the "Owner" tab where you can see the current owner registered to this specific folder.

Step 2

Click the "Edit" button which will bring up a new window where you can see the current user who has control of the folder as well as any other available user.

Step 3

Click the user account you wish to give permissions to. Make sure the check-box next to, "Replace owner on sub-containers and objects" is selected. Click apply and a dialog box should open which will give permissions to all the files within the folder/location you which to access.

Once this process is done, you'll be asked to close the properties window then reopen it to view the changes made. Do this to verify if the permission we're successfully changed to the new laptop user. From here, you should have complete control over the folders you wish to access.

Step 4

Find this helpful? Have any horror stories about losing data due to your computer crashing? Please share in the comments below.

Hello again readers! My name as you may or may not know is Chris Jester I have written a few articles here on Fanboys Anonymous before but this is the first article I will be writing on the Pokemon Trading Card Game!

For those of you who already know how to play the game, this is less for you and more for the people completely oblivious to the rules and its history. Still, I encourage you to read anyway, as I am sure there is something in there you will enjoy.

My backstory in regards to the Pokemon Trading Card Game

I started playing the Pokemon TCG pretty quickly after it came out when I was in about the 4th grade. A classmate of mine noticed I had a Charmeleon notebook and gave me a Base Set Charmander card. My interest was piqued and I had my parents buy me some of the cards. At school, some of the kids would trade cards at recess. An older kid convinced me to trade him one of my first holographic cards (a Victreebel from the Jungle set) in a somewhat lopsided deal. This unfortunately happened frequently to many kids, so after a number of complaints, the school banned Pokemon cards. One day I brought my binder anyway with all of my rare cards and my teacher took it away. I was upset and my parents had to go later and pick it up for me.

My interest in the cards kind of died down a bit, but that is because I always thought they were just for trading! I had no idea there was a game you played with them until I found out my local Toys R Us ran a Pokemon Trading Card Game league. They ran ads for it on TV and in the store since it was a pretty big deal. You could collect badges just like the characters in the show and could even challenge the league gym leader. That went on for a few months and I learned how to play the trading card game from kids there and our league leader. Once she became pregnant and couldn't run the league anymore, it closed down and I stopped playing shortly afterward.

I ended up playing Yu-Gi-Oh! for a couple years and getting really into that. I can thank Yu-Gi-Oh! for sharpening my skills into a competitive card player. I have played numerous strategy games since then and I think if I never got into Yu-Gi-Oh! I probably would have never gotten back into Pokemon. So I quit Yu-Gi-Oh! after a couple years because I grew tired of it.

I didn't do anything strategy game wise for a little while and one day I'm about 21 years old and I'm getting the urge to play Pokemon again. My plan is to just buy a couple theme decks and play with my sister...no big deal. I bought a Steelix/Umbreon deck and a Espeon/Bellossom deck. We played those two decks for weeks. I eventually realized we need more decks to play against and even though I assumed there were no more leagues and the game was dead, one Google search later and it turns out there's a league 20 minutes from my house! This is super exciting and we start going the following Monday. The person who runs the leagues name is Heidi Craig. I find out later her son Orion is a former US National Champion and her other son Eric has gotten top 2 at the World Championships so I guess I was learning from the right family. She helps us with some promo cards of some of the better cards that were legal at the time to help make our decks better because frankly, one of the big problems with people getting into Pokemon is the theme decks are terrible. They don't teach you how to build a tournament competitive deck, you have to almost figure that out on your own. Luckily, I had people at my league to help. One of the days at league I play a guy named Casey, he is playing his Dilagachomp deck, I ask for a game he rolls his eyes smiles and says sure and beats me in like three turns. This motivates me to start building better decks and not get rolled next time.

Why does all of this matter to you?

The reason I am telling you all of this is to show you how great and helpful the Pokemon Community can be to a new player getting into the game and if YOU choose to get into the Pokemon TCG you are surely to run into the same kinds of helpful people. If you want to find a league or tournament near you just go here. Shorten the criteria to what applies to you and check it out. Pokemon events are very friendly to everyone of all ages and I'm sure you will have a great experience no matter what. If you do show up to a league, make sure whatever cards you are playing are legal for the modified format. While you are allowed to play cards from whatever set you like at league, you can not for premier events. Most if not all of the people at the league will be playing modified decks and the game is designed for certain cards to be played with other cards that were out at the time in mind so that one card or combination isn't too overpowered. For example, a deck from today's format would probably dominate any deck from any older format just because the Pokemon have more hp and do more damage than any cards before them. Also if you want to eventually go to tournaments and be competitive (which should of course be your goal) then you need to have a modified legal deck and you need to practice it before hand. There really aren't very many negatives about showing up with at least something at your local league. They'll help you from there.

Finding a competitive deck that fits your play style

You may have been playing an edited theme deck for a bit now and you may think its playable, but tournaments are an entirely different animal. You want to make sure your deck can stand up to whatever tier 1 decks are being played at the time if you want to have a chance at being competitive. You can find out what decks are being played by talking to people at your league and stuff but as well as doing some research of your own. Sites like sixprizes.com, heytrainer.org, thetopcut.net, thedeckout.com and of course here on Fanboys Anonymous are all good resources to learn more about the meta game, get sample decklists, and thoughts from experiences players. You can also connect with alot of people on the forums for some of these sites and that can be great for two reasons. You can connect with new people forging new friendships, and you can make connections so you are a step ahead on that "secret deck" for the next big event. Going to your first event without knowing anyone could potentially be awkward but if you have already made friends online before hand you will have alot more people to hang out with at the tournament and alot more fun when you get there. My first nationals I met quite a few people I had talked to online for the past year and it made the experience alot better. Oh also my friend Justin Sanchez won the National Championships that year as well. Can you imagine the excitement one would feel when you all play this game at such a high level and then a friend wins the US National Championships?! It's an un-real feeling and I was super happy for him. That is a feeling I would have never got to feel if I hadn't started playing this great game.

PTCGO

The Pokemon Trading Card Game Online, or PTCGO for short. Is the best way to play the Pokemon Trading Card Game aside from actually playing with friends in person. The way it works is very simple. You make a Pokemon Trainer Club Account, which you will need if you want to go to league or play in tournaments anyway. The account is free and takes ten minutes to make tops. Then you download PTCGO onto your computer. When it is finished you use your trainer club info to login and are given a starter deck to begin with. Here is where the cool part comes in. Every time you buy a product in real life, whether it is a theme deck or a booster pack it comes with a code for that product on the Online Game. If it's a booster pack you get a pack of the same type as the one you bought with different cards for the online game but nonetheless its two packs for the price of one! So every time you buy a pack of cards for your real life collection you get a pack for your online connection. This is a great way to play Pokemon with those friends you met online through the forums or if you don't have time to meet up with friends in person you can play over PTCGO. It's a really useful tool and it looks great. It also let's you practice the Pokemon Trading Card Game in your free time which is useful as you will need to budget how much time you have for play testing for big events. PTCGO lets things happen on your schedule in case you can't always make it to league or what have you. You can also earn promos for the Online Game from your league as well as earn additional cards and decks by playing through the game's single player mode. There are a ton of things you can do with PTCGO. Soon they are going to implement tournaments. It's definitely the band wagon you want to be jumping on right now.

Some new changes this year

Some big changes were made to the Pokemon Trading Card Game Tournament structure this year and I am going to go over them for you since you are new and may not understand what some of this means.

1) League Challenges: For those of you who did not play before this season this isn't too important but it is in a way. Before this season the entry level premier events were called Battle Roads. They still mattered to the competitive player because championship points were on the line, championship points are what every player needs to compete in the World Championships, if you hit 400 by the end of Nationals you are invited back to the World Championships. League Challenges will still have championship points but they are replacing Battle Roads, the difference is they will be held at League Locations Nationwide. Active Pokemon Leagues with a Tournament Organizer on Staff will be given the option to run a League Challenge at the end of each league season. League Challenges feature Swiss rounds and no top cut. It is up to the tournament organizer if they want to run single game Swiss rounds or best 2 out of 3. The main reason for doing this I believe is to draw more people into the local leagues to play and get more people interested in Competitive play so if you see one of these in your area. Check them out! You can find out where a league challenge near you is by using that link I provided earlier on in the article.

2) Swiss Match Play and Single Elimination Changes: For this next season of Pokemon and for every season following it for the foreseeable future States, Regional, National, and the World Championships will have Best 2/3 Swiss rounds with a 50 minute time limit. Also due to the changes in Swiss rounds all events will have a Top 8 cutoff. Larger premier events will have a two day split. Players who make it into the second day of play will play additional Swiss rounds the following day to determine if they make the top 8 cut.

3) Tournament Entry Fees: Beginning this season as well Entry Fees will be implemented to any player in the Masters division. Masters division players are 15 and above. Fees will be determined by the tournament organizer running the event and will be posted with enough time prior to the event for the attendees to prepare. All entry fees go to prizes for the tournament and travel rewards later on so don't worry this is a very good thing! Younger players will not have to pay entry fees but will most likely not be open to the same prize payouts.

4) Travel Stipends: Those Championship Points I mentioned earlier? Yeah they are good for more than just an invite to Worlds this year. Finishers in the top 100 of Championship Points after Spring Regionals will be given travel stipends for their trips to Worlds. Payouts are as follows.

1st–16th: Travel Award and a $300 Travel Stipend
17th–30th: $750 Travel Stipend
31st–60th: $500 Travel Stipend
61st–100th: $300 Travel Stipend

These are all very exciting changes for those of us currently playing and has sparked some more fire under alot of the players I know as well. Of course not everyone is happy by the decisions naturally but the majority seem to be and as the saying goes you can't please everyone. This is definetly a very exciting time to get into the Pokemon TCG and I encourage everyone to do so!

But how do I play?

I've given you loads of information about the competitive scene of Pokemon but you still don't know how to play do you? No worries I'll give you the basic rundown and then you can start practicing on PTCGO, they have loads of tutorials and you should pick the game up pretty quickly after that. A game of Pokemon starts with each player drawing 7 cards from their 60 card deck. Then you look through your hand and check to see if you have a basic Pokemon. It will say Basic in the top left corner. If you do place it face down on the field this is your active Pokemon. Your opponent will do the same. If you don't you show your hand to your opponent and shuffle it back into your deck. You repeat this process until you have a basic Pokemon to

place on the field. Then he or she gets to draw a card for each mulligan you had but only after you lay out prize cards. Which is the next thing you do. After choosing your active Pokemon you and your opponent lay down six prize cards, these represent the six Pokemon you carry with you in the video games. When you take six prize cards you win the game. So to recap you draw 7 cards, each of you chooses an active Pokemon, you each place six prize cards, you then resolve all mulligans, and then bench any other basic Pokemon onto the "bench" that you wish. Each Pokemon that gets knocked out gives up one prize card. Unless they are a special powerful kind of Pokemon called a Pokemon EX that gives up two prizes. A game of Pokemon ends when one of three conditions are met.

1.) You take all your prize cards.

2.) You knock out all of your opponents Pokemon on the field.

3.) Your opponent can't draw a card to start their turn. This means they have "decked out"

What's a basic Pokemon?

Conclusion

I would like to thank each and every person who has taken the time to read my backstory and my experiences in the Pokemon Trading Card game as well as all of the information at hand here for how YOU can get into this great game. I urge anyone who has never played the game to at least give it a chance! Make a Pokemon Trainer Club account download the game and play it for a bit. It can be really addictive and you can meet alot of great people if you take the next step to go out to events and meet people. Sign up for forums, follow my articles here as I will have tons more Pokemon TCG related stuff for you guys and if you have any questions please leave a comment below or tweet at me @chrisjester89. Please like the article and share it with your friends and check out all of the other great articles we have here on the site. There is something for everyone. Also if you ever wanna play a game on PTCGO with me again tweet at me. I'm always up for a game of Pokemon. Thanks again for reading!