Saturday, May 10, 2014

New Logo, New Me!

Old Me.  2008 - 2014.
For years the online persona known as Blue Highwind has been represented by a little photoshopped image from "Final Fantasy III DS"*, originally drawn by Akihiko Yoshida.  I loved that little creation as the little Luneth Dragoon with some color correction was everything BH needed to be.  I like FFIII, Luneth was my favorite character there, and Dragoon was my favorite class.  But now thanks to my dear friend TacticAngel, admin on the Final Fantasy Wiki, and wiz with art stuff, things have changed.  He's drawn a fantastic new form for me, because he is very good at drawing, and I am merely average.  He is also fantastic at coloring and I am brutally terrible.  More impressively, he got these professional quality images done in a single night, all without pay!  Because he's that awesome.

And we also have a brand new logo!  With a floating space monkey on it!  That's you by the way, you're Space Monkeys.  You float though space oblivious to all, having no connection to civilization beyond my own magnificent blog posts or Youtube rants or if you're into the classics, my FFWiki Walkthroughs.  ...Or well, that's what seventeen-year-old would say back when I lost most of my connection to reality and became a prisoner on these wonderful interwebs.  Modern me is more modest and possibly more mature, but you're still Space Monkeys, and you better press what buttons I order you to, or no bananas!

Anyway, here's the old logo.  Old Planet Blue Logo:  2009 - 2014.  You will be missed:


And after the break, I have a small gallery of TacticAngel's absolutely brilliant, magnificent, and completely hyberolic work.  Thank you so much, dude!  (He was also one of the best commentators on that Final Fantasy VIII Let's Play I did last year.)


TA's artwork of Internet Me.  I color-corrected the eyes and hair to be more similar to real-world me.

Color corrections:

Really rough sketch I sent to TA as inspiration.  Brilliantly captured with a potato camera:


You guys, a Space Monkey:

Finally, us together:

And that is that.  I've been meaning to change my Internet persona image for years, since stealing from Square Enix official artwork was bound to result in a lawsuit eventually.  This is much better stuff.  Enjoy the new, cooler me.  (Though I'll keep around the old me for smaller icons, just because I'm really sentimental about that past.)

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* The increasingly misnamed "Final Fantasy III DS", now that it has been ported to the PlayStation Portable and is soon to be out on Steam.

11 comments:

  1. Nice :)
    I really like the new logo, it looks really professional/brightly fun.
    Just two things:
    1.I will miss your old avatar, I know you don't use him as much anymore, but he was so adorable :).
    2.I notice in the banner no mention no mention of politics. I always loved when you looked at hot button politic topics. Please don't tell me that's going to stop all together :(.
    Otherwise love the change.
    Sword Of Primus

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    Replies
    1. I haven't really done a Politics post in about a year. Ultimately it seems inappropriate for a blog that mostly covers pop-culture to deal with hot button issues, especially when, honestly, I just don't care that much any more. In order to care about politics you need to have a certain amount of constant anger, which I cannot keep up with. It is exhausting to be mad all the time.

      However, I can't promise politics will disappear altogether. I'll try to link in larger social issues into blog posts whenever possible. I really liked what I did with Captain America a few weeks ago. I just can't really promise Politics on the front page without making it a focus of the blog, which it isn't anymore.

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    2. Fair enough I suppose. Its just for all your rage and anger you used to have, in your posts on politics you came from a position of logic, which I always respect.
      But yeah like you said it happens so infrequently that it doesn't make sense to have it on the banner if you almost never use it.
      Sword Of Primus

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  2. Man, the new look is so............individualistic! It befits you, and I'm totally down with that!
    And I don't mind being a space monkey, since this is your party, and the Doctor says to always bring bananas to parties.
    Way to go!

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  3. Well, the monkey has captured my general looked of dazed confusion, I will be happy to co-exist with the new and improved Blue for many moons to come.

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  4. I like the new look! It suits you. Also the space monkey is adorable. Which I always wanted to ask: where did you get the saying from? I remember something similar being said around that same time, but I'm not 100% sure where I heard it.

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  5. So happy to see the Space Monkeys/Space Monkies (that's how you used to spell it right? along with Space Monkees for a time too I believe) back. Way to remember your roots, even if they are from 17-year old Eric. Always happy to be a fan of your super opinionated, yet insightful and intelligent commentary. Your new image not only looks cool, but super professional in a creative sense.

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  6. Wow, that's perfect! I've been following your blog since way back when you reviewed episodes of Bleach, and your walkthroughs are really handy. It's hard to believe it's been so long since way back then, huh? Keep going, man. You're pretty good.

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  7. I LEAVE FOR A BIT AND THIS HAPPENS. Nah, Along with everyone else, I love the new look! Hopefully, since school's over soon, I'll be coming back here more often!

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  8. You can refer to it as Final Fantasy III 3D remake.

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