Look what just arrived in the mail.  It was sent priority mail, which means I think everyone else should be receiving theirs soon as well.  (being in California means it arrived here first, I believe)

Keep an eye on your mailboxes.

Hey, this is just a friendly reminder that any issues over the use of the word “cadet” have been resolved; there are no active, card-carrying cadets that have any problem with new fans or fans who couldn’t buy a package who use that word.  Every single person that I know and have talked to is on the “yeah, everyone is a cadet,” side, which means there is no longer an argument.  So, that never needs to be addressed again. (well, maybe once they sell packages again)

Also I would like to point out that any “drama” or “fighting” that people have perceived over the last couple days was over the issue of piracy.  With the addition of The Super Show to the free version of Hulu, it brought up a discussion of all the legal ways to view the show, and all of the ways that other fans would be willing to help people work around obstacles to legal viewing - such as assisting in the overseas shipping of a dvd, etc.  Most of the conflict was people saying “The MCBC specifically asked people not to pirate the show,” and just a few responding “that doesn’t apply to me.”

So, to recap: there is not and no longer will be any drama over the use of the word cadet, and the loud and passionate posts were about piracy.  Stay rad, stay legal, and get psyched for season 2.

aussied:

milesconstantine:

I’m half paying attention to all this piracy dispute with The Aquabats Super Show. But here’s my opinion on the topic:
I think it’s wrong to illegally download Super Show. Well, pretty much anything, but for the sake of this post, I’ll stick to just Super Show.

Now I understand that some people in other countries don’t have the ability to watch the episodes legitimately. But I also am aware that there are ways to do it.
The main reason I am all for paying for the episodes is that the Super Show is not a show with a big budget and a wide audience that could enjoy more of it; it is a small niche show with fans who want nothing more than to have more episodes. But when only half the fans are getting the episodes in a legitimate way, only half the amount of fans are counted by the network as the “audience”. And if the audience is too small, it doesn’t make sense for them to keep putting out episodes.

As a dependent of a musician, pirating bothers me because when you pirate something, you take away chance of royalties from the artists, which not only affects them, but also their families.

Now lets be honest, I’ve downloaded things before. But I make an effort to buy what I’ve downloaded the first chance I get.
And I’m not in the party that believes buying merch makes up for illegally downloading the show, because you’re paying for a product that’s already had the costs figured out. You can’t just throw in an extra product(the show) and expect the price to stay the same.

At the Comic-Con show last year, the Commander said that because of people illegally downloading the show, there might not be any more seasons. And true, they got a second season; but just barely.

I’m going to end it with this:
If you’ve illegally downloaded the show, please buy it the first chance you get. Or at least watch it on one of the official streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu). Let the network know how much you love the show.

And if you don’t agree with me, ok.

My opinions and a helpful Q&A

I will add to this by saying that last year I didn’t have The Hub (I still don’t) and my iTunes literally would not work to let me buy the episodes legally. HOWEVER, my friend graciously bought all of the episodes on her iTunes and my pals and I had watch parties together. After the school year was up I did watch one episode via a stream, then went over to a friend’s house to watch the finale because he DOES have The Hub.

I will admit that I got a torrent of the first ten episodes, but that was because back then that was all that was the only way I could watch the episodes.

THE DIFFERENCE IS

Once the content was out on a platform that I could access, I stopped watching my illegal files and instead directed all of my viewership to those outlets. I got my computer fixed specifically so I could buy the episodes I loved so much on iTunes. I care so much about the show and the band and their success that the second I was able to pay them back for the show, I did. When the show came on Netflix, that was the only way I watched the episodes. That’s now the only way that I show the episodes to my friends. I’m aware that not everyone has Netflix. That’s what Hulu is for. The episodes are free on there, and the band still gets money because of the ads that the site runs.

You guys can also buy the DVD when it comes out. I sure as heck did. Pre-order it now for goodness sake. It comes signed AND with extra features! How cool is that?!

—-Q & A’s—-

“But I’m young and my parents won’t let me buy stuff on the internet.”

• Then take your allowance and go to Best Buy/Wal-Mart/FYE/anywhere and buy the DVD there. If your parents won’t take you, surely you have at least one friend that will, or would be willing to pick it up for you if you paid them the cost of the DVD.
• Kindly ask an internet friend to purchase it for you and send it to you. You can pay them through the mail.
• Go to the store, buy an iTunes gift card, and use it on iTunes to buy the season. No credit card required, so your parents don’t need to know you bought it.
• Ask for it for a birthday/graduation/holiday gift

“I don’t have money.”

• Then get a job. It’s not hard, even if you’re young/underage. Mow the lawn, babysit someone’s kids for a night, ask your folks if you can do extra things around the house for some extra cash, hold off on three drinks at Starbucks (that’s the price of the DVD), don’t buy that thing at Hot Topic you wanted, squirrel away your milk money, walk the neighbor’s dog, get a job of some kind. It could even be as simple as picking up hedge apples from your neighbor’s lawn or pulling weeds. If you really truly care about and want to support The Aquabats so they will keep making episodes, you will find that to drive you passed any excuse you might have.

“I live in another country, I can’t get the episodes on Hulu/Netflix/other because of that.”

• Then buy the DVD. The Australian version is on eBay. That should work on European DVD players? (Don’t quote me on that, I don’t know how international DVD players work.) The American DVD release is soon. It might be expensive to ship, but again, if you honestly wanna support the Bats then you’ll find a way around that. And if you absolutely CANNOT buy the DVD then you at least better agree that when the DVD IS available in your country that you’ll purchase it.
• If you don’t wanna purchase the DVD yourself/they don’t ship to your country, you can always get a middleman to buy it and then ship it to you. I’m sure plenty of us would be willing to do so just to help out the band we all love so much. We all did it with the Toddland merch, we can freakin’ do it with a DVD as well.
• My brother says that there is such a thing as a proxy that lets you access American content on Hulu from other countries. Do your research and maybe that can help you watch it “legally” (more legally that stealing it)
• Apparently it is also possible to get stuff through iTunes in other countries, even if you have to jump through some hoops to do it. That’s how The Ninjkabat watched the show when he was in Japan. And at that, he got it in HD! On his computer! To watch whenever! Legally! You might ask him for more information on purchasing through iTunes whilst in another country.

“I don’t care what you say. I still can’t/am unwilling to pay for the show because -insert reason here.-“

• Alright, then you haveabsolutely no rightto complain when/if the show gets cancelled due to lack of viewership. You might love the heck out of the show and the band, but like it or not, in the end it’s the money that talks and helps shows get renewed. If you don’t watch it legally, the people at The Hub don’t know you exist, therefore it hurts The Bats and the show. The hits on those websites and the DVD sales are what counts for them, not posts on tumblr or tweets. Not only do those numbers help drive us towards getting more episodes, they also help determine if there’s a big enough viewership/demand for toys to be produced in the future. So think on that one.

This isn’t meant to be accusatory towards anyone. I know that in the end what unites us is that we all love The Aquabats! I feel bad that not everyone has access to it. I’m just asking that please please please. When you do have access to it PLEASE take advantage of it. What I have a problem with is when people have the option of buying the DVD and claim to be such big fans, but won’t financially support the people they love. “I already have the whole season for free. Why should I pay for it?” That is not okay.

Maybe you can’t buy it at the moment; I understand. But when you DO have the financial means, please do. (I promise you, at some point in your life you WILL have $20 to just spend freely.) It would mean a ton to The Bats and to all of us fans. We all love the band, we all love the show, we all want them to succeed and continue on.

I remember last July when The Commander said at the SDCC concert that illegally downloading the episodes was really hurting the show. It was positively heartbreaking. They worked so hard to get to where they are now. I remember everyone feeling terrible when he, The MCBC, said that himself. Like Miles said, they got a season 2, but just barely. It’s a half season, and how people get the episodes this time around probably will determine where the show goes from here. Can you handle the responsibility? Choose wisely.

This last post does a very good job of giving a solution to all the arguments I keep hearing when people advocate pirating.

I know that it’s hard sometimes, but we’re all super smart people, and you have a base of people willing to go out of their way to help you enjoy it legally.  Take advantage of that support.

The Aquabats! Super Show! is on Netflix and Hulu Plus, as we are all aware.

But it’s also on Free Hulu, where you support the show with ad revenue.

So, now there is no excuse whatsoever at all even moreso than before to stream the show or download it illegally.  Pirating the show is the one act that will tarnish my opinion of you, because there is a free version.

I’d better not see any streaming of season 2, either.

nintendonut1:

theundercoveraquacadet:

There’s a new Aquabats game on the Hub’s website in case you need something to do from now until June.

-cupcaketrumpeteer

Woah! Excellent find! You guys can play Attack Of The Moon Munchies Here!

WHOA I NEED TO PLAY THIS WHEN I GET HOME HHHNNNN

It’s super fun.  Get on it.  Play it multiple times a day.  That’ll help the bats.

I mean, it’s just pacman, but still fun.

Happy one year premier-i-versary to The Aquabats! Super Show!

I know we all can’t wait for the new season to start rolling out.

So, I found a guy that’s put a couple episodes of TA!SS! up on youtube.  I’m sure that he doesn’t realize how much that hurts the band and destroys the chances of future episodes, so I don’t want anyone to be mean.  But what I would like is for people to leave polite comments on the episodes letting him know how harmful his actions are.

To recap:

• be nice
• let him know that putting it up on youtube is bad
• be nice, especially if he takes them down

We’ve done such a good job with previous art thieves and pirates; let’s do it again so that people watch the episodes through legal means and The Hub continues to order more episodes.

The link is the title.  Click there.

Look, a very alternate cut of Doing Science.

I’m glad they thought to re-do the verse part.  But this rough cut is definitely 100% Aquabatty.

Awesome Lad sent me the files for those button designs that he did the other day.

So, I pressed him up a few real-style wearable ones.  Now I just have to send them back to him.

I had a crazy real Aquabats dream that I need to write down before it leaves my mind.

So, basically they were filming a season finale.  For some reason I don’t really remember from before the dream, I had somehow joined The Aquabats.  I don’t remember why, but I was definitely given a number 5 on the back of my uniform (Ricky was 6), and the bats had way cool shimmery uniforms with purple capes for this finale.

One of the weirdest things is that the plot was definitely like a real Aquabats episode, with only a couple wtf moments in it.  The basic plot was that while enjoying a sunny day at the beach, a crab comes and steals Ricky’s watch.  They follow the crab back to a small brown furry guy who is controlling a bunch of crabs and beat him up.  They go along the coastal highway, battling a string of different monsters until they come to a warehouse on the beach.  They enter and look around, only to stealthily happen upon two evil doctors that are turning people into monsters with radioactive goo, which is the source of all the monsters they’ve battled through.  Once the Aquabats confront the evil ones they throw together a monster that ends up looking like an 8-foot tall Li’l Bat.  At this point I woke up, but I feel like I knew the script called for them to defeat the monster and take the monster makers to jail.

So, there was the basic story, but there were a bunch of little things that made it crazy.  For example, I only realized when they entered the warehouse that they were shooting an episode, because they were shooting it live and they went to a commercial at that point.  Before that I had felt like it was just a normal Aquabats adventure.  But once I realized that they were shooting an episode, I felt guilty because I joined them a little late (as they were beating up the brown furry guy) and had brought my own uniform that didn’t match the special shimmery ones and that had a number 2 on the back.  So from then on, I tried not to show my back to the camera, but the rest of the Bats didn’t seem worried.  Another weirdness was that after they beat up the brown furry guy, as they were headed off to fight the string of monsters, there was something like a parade to see them off.  There were a bunch of people waving and music playing, and we all had these rings that were made out of New Years poppers that we shot upward before setting off.

Also, I distinctly remember one of the monsters we saw in the warehouse was Muno, which is why I felt like it was a season finale:  the appearance of so many classic Aquabats characters felt like all the fan-service from the first season finale.  Also, while we were at commercial, Eaglebones told me that the final boss would be the Lil’ Bat, and I told him that I was already aware of that even though I didn’t see the script.  It felt like I had read it on the forums or something.  I remember there was something else that involved Jimmy, but I’ve been awake so long already that I’m forgetting it.  Crap.  Oh well.  I just remember feeling a little star struck the whole time, but only a little.

So, there you go.  That’s my dream.  Good to know that I dream good scripts.