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HotShot Pickleball @hspickleball is Live on @kickstarter

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Pick Your Pickle and Prepare for Puns: Pickleball's Board Game Just Launched. A fast, fun, irreverent board game that celebrates the joy of Pickleball. Fans of silly puns, pickles, and fast-paced games alike have a new game to add to their list of must-haves: HotShot Pickleball. This delightful card-drawing board game is quick to learn and gives a surprising amount of opportunity to lightly strategize as you race to the ball and attempt to hit it back over the net to your opponent. The debut release from indie studio Midnight Trading Co., HotShot Pickleball was made while game designer Robert Gelb was recovering from an Achilles injury sustained, ironically, by playing Pickleball. For those who haven’t heard of pickleball, it's the fastest-growing sport in the world, with over 32 million players last year. HotShot Pickleball is a lively, family-friendly game that combines the fun of the sport with a cast of quirky, pickle-themed characters like Stew Cumber, Kim Chee, and Corni...

Crowdfunding Brings Comic Books for LGBT Youth to Print


I was sent an email about a Kickstarter campaign by Scuttlebutt Ink about a comic that they are releasing geared toward the LGBT teen community. They have already reached their initial goal of $9,000 but now would like to reach $17,000 to create additional material. You can read their press release after the break.



[August 9, 2013] With a week left in their Kickstarter campaign, comic creators Scuttlebutt Ink have raised $10,500 of their $9,000 goal to print their super hero comic for LGBT teens. Now that the ultra-colorful Mahou Shounen FIGHT! will be a printed reality, they are setting a new goal of $17,000 to create plush toys of the comic's cute animal mascot. Which is a scar-faced magical cat, infused with all the knowledge of the universe and a projector in his eyeball to send messages to the boys from their spirit world overlords. Spoiler alert.

The LGBT community came to the support over the weekend at the extremely successful GaymerX in San Francisco, raising $850 of the project’s goal. “We are so thankful for the support received this weekend at the convention,” said JD, line artist and co-creator. “We’re lucky to be in a time where there are fundraising tools like Kickstarter to support small business. This will be a huge leg up for our comic and if we can make it to $17,000, we’ll be able to bring our readers another fun product.”

The comic, Mahou Shounen FIGHT! (translated: Magical Boy FIGHT!) is a tongue-in-cheek but loving homage to the ‘magical girl’ genre of Japanese comics (think Sailor Moon) united with a personal mission. Dusty and JD together have written a comic full of characters with whom queer and genderqueer readers can identify, wrapped up in a fun, genre story appropriate for young teens.

“When we were queer kids, this is the comic we wanted to read, that we wanted to see ourselves in. And we also believe that now is a better time than ever to embrace and promote this idea that comics starring LGBT+ characters don’t have to be niche. Anyone can enjoy them regardless of personal identity,” says Dusty, colorist and typesetter. In addition to representing and embracing a wide range of sexual identities and gender expression, Mahou Shounen FIGHT! makes a conscious effort to reflect real world diversity in terms of nationality, ethnicity and culture.

“While a lot could go wrong by combining both the silly and comedic parody genre, with the serious and heartwarming “there was none of this when I was younger, so I’m making it” level of diversity, everything seems to fit together like clockwork,” writes Harry Bentley of Sexy + Geeky. “The funny moments all work and the serious moments can be pretty bone-chilling.”

The Mahou Shounen FIGHT! Kickstarter will end August 16 10:00 PM PST and the book, volume 1 titled “Wake Up” will ship to readers in Spring 2014.

For more info about Mahou Shounen FIGHT! or its Kickstarter contact Kim Smith kim@scuttlebuttink.com

About the Comic

Protagonist Mike Smith desperately wants a normal life. Unfortunately for him, his destiny is to become a magical soldier and to intervene in the impending war between the spirit realms of the earth and sea. Along for the ride is the manifestation of the season of Summer, attached to him like a ghostly shadow. Even worse, no one told Mike that the job involved wearing a gaudy cowboy costume. And hot pink boots.

Things grow ever more interesting as Mike gets to know the rest of his seasonally-themed super squad. Raji is an aspiring model and drag star who fiercely embraces his role as team leader. His second in command is Oliver, a brilliant fashionista, and they're joined by Yuki, a shy young gay boy and closet thespian. And that's to say nothing of their drill-sergeant PE teacher faculty adviser or the scar-faced kitten who acts as both their Cute Animal Mascot and PowerPoint Projector.


Links

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/877397368/mahou-shounen-fight-volume-1-wake-up
http://www.mahoushounenfight.com
http://gaymerconnect.com/

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