Mt-Maigetsu: Issue No 7
This month's banners by MapleRose
CONTENTS
Wassup in this issue?
A/ i/The 2007 Minitokyo:
All the exciting stuff in summary! :D
A/ ii/Ask a Mod Mai-chan's Mail bag!
All your questions have been answered :3
B/ The Adventures of Popular-chan
PoPuLaR-chan... what have you done? :(
C/ Anime Spotlight
High school brawls with a delinquent wannabe who owns a super hard case... brings tears to the eyes o_o
D/ Play that Funky Music!
Can you say fangirl?
E/ Tip of the month
Textures: how to get them right (?)
F/ Get to Know Your MT Staff!
Who's new on the staff? Me? Not you! You? No, MapleRose!
G/ Featured Member
Vectors, anyone? ;)
H/ Featured Group
Arguing is futile XD
I/ Staff Picks
Great art that you should look at.
J/ Competitions and Projects
Are you missing out on the fun? Join in :D
K/ Group Ads
Looking for a new group to join, or to make new friends?
L/ Have your say!
Mai-chan wub wub wubbbles PMs <3
M/ The Usual Stuff
The enlightening links to Minitokyo Zen-dom...
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A/ i/RECENTLY IN MINITOKYO...
This section was brought to you by NAME XD unless specified otherwise :3
***THE MT MAINEN: CAST YOUR VOTE... NOW!
Keep your eyes for the MINITOKYO MAIGETSU SPECIAL #2!
You can vote for all your favourites and least favourites for 2007 - and the results will be out next issue! :D
Remember, keep your eyes peeled!
***MINITOKYO WINTRY WONDERLAND
Written by kuroimisa
Did you ignore the Special notif from Mai-chan? X-0
Well, in case if you missed out on it, here it is again!
Mt-Maigetsu: Special No 1 WINTRY WONDERLAND 07-08
From the poll we're expecting about 30 entries. Mai-chan has received a grand total of 5 so far, which is excellent because there's still a month to get your entries in! :D
Have you also been forgetting Mai-chan's userpage?
Well, all the entries are linked up on her page. So, the sooner you send in your entry, the sooner your link will be up there. Check it out regularly, guys! This means you get uber cool entries (you won't miss them!) and for the entrants, you will get good exposure :3 Don't let this make you rush your entry, though. Mai-chan loves to advertise, but she loves good art too ;)
Is your entry not here?
Make sure you have sent Mai-chan the PM (subject: WINTRY WL) with your entry url! If it's not there within 2-3 days, be
sure to PM again @__@!
DOUJINSHI
WALLPAPER
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***MT YEAR IN REVIEW 2007
Written by MapleRose
Wow, 2007 is over... A lot has happened on MT over the past year, to refresh your memory, here are some of the happenings and changes on MT, how many do you remember?
- Creation of the Monochrome scan category: Look at all the beautiful monochrome scans in the gallery!
- Abstract art purge: The Abstract Art gallery is no more...
- Group purge: Duplicate groups and inactive groups have been purged to keep things organized and centralized
- Addition of 3 new mods: fireflywishes, Chloe-chan, and MapleRose
- Addition of 2 new elite members: gaara-no-shukaku and kayurachan
- Retirement of Revan and candy-chan
- And best of all: Mai-chan was born! <33
Some approximate statistics for the year 2007 **
Total number of members registered: 139200
Active members registered: 3800
Groups created : 54
Reviews submitted: 140
Total number of art and scan submissions: 31380
Number of highlighted works: 660
- highlighted walls: 58
- highlighted doujinshi: 46
- highlighted vectors: 11
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Wow, what a year! Hope 2008 is even better!
** numbers are just approximations, actual numbers may vary
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A/ ii/MAI-CHAN'S MAILBAG
Quote: RE: EDIT/ UPDATE OPTIONS ON GALLERY ITEMS
When will they be back? What can I do in the meantime?
Rest assured that the options WILL be back and we are trying to contact the administrator(s) to fix it ASAP.
For the mean time, if you have anything you would like to EDIT in your description, simply report it or contact a
moderator who can edit it.
The same applies for deleting and renaming items :)
Sorry for the inconvenience! We're going to try our best ^_^'
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B/ THE ADVENTURES OF POPULAR-CHAN
What Not to Do in MT
Disclaimer: This was written purely for entertainment purposes, no offense is intended in any way. This is a work of fiction; any resemblance to real actual persons, places, or events is purely coincidental. Thanks to BotFreya for all her help ^__~
Part VII: M-M-Muted?!
After school the next day, you decided to log on to MT to check if you've become the most popular member on MT yet. You're delighted to see that your friendlist count has gone up to 36 now, and your credit count is actually positive. And look at that, lots of people have posted in your guestbook. You read some of the messages, and one said "sure popular-chan, I'll be your friend!"
Hmm, you should probably thank her for adding you to her friendlist, you know, as a gesture of friendship. And to let the community know how many friends you have. So you whip up "Thanks for being my friend, teehee! ^___^", and go through your files to find this giant banner you found on LiveJournal to tack at the end.
You drop by your new friend's page to post the message, but you can't find the little box to type in. Instead of where the box would be, there's a message that says: "You are a muted member therefore you cannot post."
What?! What does that mean?
Where's the box, and why can't you post?! It must be a bug. Argh, why must all these annoying bugs happen to you? Other people obviously can post in guestbooks, since one message in your friend's guestbook was dated a few minutes ago.
Hmm, maybe someone in one of your groups knows what's going on, or might even have a similar problem. You go to one, and to your annoyance, you can't find the box there either! In its place is that same stupid message.
Fine, you'll just make a bug report.
You hop on to the forums, reading to start a thread. But another thread topic caught your eye, so you decide to take a detour and put in your two cents there.
What?! Where's the box?! You look all over the page, but cannot find it. At the bottom of the thread was a message that said "You cannot reply because you are muted."
"Muted"? What does that mean? It was in that other message as well.... Ahh, your Internet connection must really hate you, it's creating all these bugs!
You quickly go into the Bug Reports forum to start a thread. But wait, you can't find the button for creating new threads either. It was there a few days ago....
You start to panick a little. What's going on?! Why can't you post anything?
Okay, calm down, you tell yourself. It's probably something with your Internet, maybe your dad was doing some upgrades or something. It'll go away tomorrow, right?
Taking a deep breath, you decide to go on a downloading spree. Those always made you feel better.
To your horror, when you reach to the scan you want to download, underneath the thumbnail was a line that read: "You cannot download gallery items because you are either restricted or muted."
There's that "muted" thing again! Um, maybe you should look into that. But before you do that, you click on the thumbnail anyway, curious as to what it would do. Hey cool, it's loading! Your excitement soon feel away however, when you realise that instead of the pretty scan you were expecting, a giant picture with the words "pwn3d" in red on a black background filled your computer screen.
Your mouth fell open. Swallowing, you press the back button on your browser, and was horrified to discover that your Free Downloading Quota went down by 1.
This, this... this can't be happening! It was all working fine yesterday!
You decide to browse around the thread on the forums, hoping to find an answer; maybe someone else is experiencing the same thing. You come across one of your previous posts, and are shocked to see your name crossed out. Um, this isn't right; something is definitely wrong...
You go back to your page, and decide to finish reading all the posts in your guestbook; might as well...
Hey, wait, what happened to the reviews you wrote? They were there on your page yesterday. Maybe you didn't post them correctly? Good thing you saved your reviews. You go to submit the reviews again, but it won't let you!
So you go back to your page, and oh look, a moderator has posted. As you read her message, your heart started to sink.
"Posting in random people's guestbooks and adding them to your friendlist when you don't know them is considered spamming, which is a violation of the policy. This is your second warning, therefore, you're now muted."
You gulped. S-Spamming? But you just wanted to make friends, you were just being friendly!
Now what are you going to do? You can't post anything or download anything... maybe, maybe tomorrow, they'll change their mind and realize they've made a mistake, right?
To be continued...
Article written by MapleRose
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C/ ANIME SPOTLIGHT
Remember, you can suggest a new anime, and one of the moderators here at MiniTokyo will watch the first episode and give you their honest review of it.
If you want to suggest an anime for a moderator to watch then PM the details to Mai-Chan. Just give the name of the anime, and include a couple of reasons why you think we should review it (is it funny, beautiful, gritty?). Simple enough, ne!
This month we're going a bit backwards with kuroimisa introducing a rather old but relatively unknown anime. It's super funny!
Kyou kara ore
wa! (from this day on)
Drawn by Hiroyuki Nishimori, Produced by Studio Pierrot, 1992
High school delinquents, the first signs of fluoro pink on guys, crazy hairstyles, references to Saiyuki (Journey to the West) and a lot of kicking and punching with extreme humour? Kyou kara ore wa!
The anime series was based on the manga "Kyou kara ore wa!" (no secret :P).
Mitsuhashi Takashi moves to a new town: Chiba, (most well known for their airport :P) and decides that he wants to stand out from the crowd. He decides that the best way of doing this is to get a really blonde hair cut (literally!) so he steals-er-takes money from his mum's wallet and goes to the barber. When he arrives, he finds himself deciding between 2 salons next to each other.
He bump into another youth (Mitsuhashi thinks he looks like an otaku) outside the shops, and sneering at each other they go into separate salons. On their way out they find that they have completely different hair cuts - Mitsuhashi with his blonde hair-do, and the mysterious youth extreme spikes! Mitsuhashi later on finds out that the youth is "Itou", also a transfer student at his high school, trying to stand out from the crowd, giving the anime its name of "From this day on!"
Well like all high school anime, there's always the anti-hero Imai (who falls in love with the cute girl but ultimately fails - in his process of chasing her we are faced with a whole bunch of horrible serenades and a lot of bruises - just a hint of advice you do NOT want this guy working at your local convenience store...), the anti-hero's sidekick, the tomboy Riko (the short girl who has a thing for Mitsuhashi), her martial arts partner, Itou's girlfriend Kyoko (who happens to be dropdead gorgeous, irking Mitsuhashi since he's single - PS: he has tried many times to sabotage the Kyoko-Itou relationship X-P), and lots and lots of bad fashion wearing villains (pink, anyone?).
There's a lot of kicking, punching, lemons (yes, lemons) and fighting around (and whacking with Mitsuhashi's surprisingly hard suitcase), so it's not quite suitable for young children. But everything is done is so much good humour it doesn't even matter.
It's an incredibly funny series of events - Itou's little scooter getting smashed (and trust me the timing cannot get any better as it eventually explodes...!), Mitsuhashi finding a job to pay Itou for a new scooter (which kind of fails) and even a pair of identical twins by the name of Igarashi. I am not joking when I say that Mitsuhashi tried to give them identical injuries... but that failed too :x
The two protagonists are different which adds to the flavour of the series. Of course, they both can fight well (and claim to be invincible together), but Itou is probably the favourite amongst most of the viewers because of his honest personality. Mitsuhashi however, is not all about honesty - he does anything in order to win his fights - and he's the one who makes the whole thing so animated.
Finally, music. The music reminds me of the kind of "solitary cowboy" kind of feel for a really exaggerated emotional scene (coming to grips with Mitsuhashi's unexpected "kindness") to the very pretty "he's in love" kind of music. It's well chosen for the extremely dramatic scenes and plot.
The end song is RIDICULOUSLY RIDICULOUS. And by this, I mean it has the weirdest tune and weirdest combination of lyrics. But it just adds to the stomach-aching-inducing-laughter nature of the series.
Criticisms? The last episode sort of turned down a bit, which to be fair didn't really do all that much to the 10 episode series. Also, the animation looks a bit inconsistent and out of proportion at times, but it's only something minor.
The good things to counter to criticisms? All the episodes are so enjoyable and they don't drag on considering the length of the manga. Not to mention their chibi scenes are too cute >_< The dialogue is witty and the characters are very well thought out (come on... a nosy dog XD!).
Will I recommend it? Definitely! Just to see Mitsuhashi trick his archrival into getting onto the wrong train... later making him end up somewhere near Hokkaido instead of Tokyo. It's too hilarious!
The series is in its original dubbing, Japanese. There are several episodes on Youtube you might want to check out but
they are unsubbed. It's not too hard to understand what's going on, but it's best to have some knowledge of Japanese.
Alternatively, you can find the whole 10 episodes in Cantonese dubbing (which I have!); the dubbing is pretty good and
the translations are pretty accurate.
Note: screencaps were taken off Google images
The end theme song on Youtube (starts after about 30
seconds or so)
AnimeNewsNetwork
entry
Article written by kuroimisa
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D/ PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC!
Blurry Eyes, Driver's High, the Fourth Avenue Cafe - what do these have in common? Firstly, they are highly addictive. Next, they are all anime themesongs. Third? Well, they're all by popular Japanese rock band, L'Arc~en~Ciel!
L'Arc~en~Ciel (from now on, known as Laruku) has released their latest and long awaited album, KISS on the 22nd November 2007.
KISS by L'Arc~en~Ciel
Thanks bromithia for
the album cover!
Laruku is arguably one of the most loved and most popular bands in Japan and one of the better known ones internationally. The secret to their success? Well, I could say it's because they have Hyde (:P), but their music is always catchy, consistent and *thinks of another word starting with C* crazy at times?
KISS consists of 12 tracks, the album opening with energetic songs, "SEVENTH HEAVEN" and "Pretty Girl". Then the album transitions into what I call Ken's electric guitar from "fate" and Tetsu's bass from "In the air" in "MY HEART DRAWS A DREAM". This is a song I classify as nostalgic rock, where the lyrics are just as pretty as the song *_* This 'nostalgic rock' continues into "sunadokei" (the sands of time/ the hourglass).
(Uh oh, here's the messy part - these guys are so versatile!)
The pace picks up again with "spiral", back to 'nostalgic' with "ALONE EN LA VIDA" (this has got to be one of those tunes you'll find familiar, but it's because it's so complete in its composition!), quick again with "DAYBREAK'S BELL" (Gundam, anyone?), 'nostalgic' with "Umibe" (by the beach), quick with "THE BLACK ROSE", to a catchy "Link -KISS MIX-" (I love it when orchestral pieces and Laruku are together!), 'nostalgic' with "Yuki no ashiato" (the footprints in the snow: not as sad as "anemone", but still makes the cut :'(), and ending with the catchy "HURRY XMAS", capturing the jazzy and exciting prospect of Christmas as a romantic time of the year.
To sum up the analysis of the album, there are mainly 3 types of songs: rock (and really rock), what I called 'nostalgic rock' meaning that the songs are pretty and possibly tear jerking when you match the music with its lyrics :'(, and catchy rock - a mix of genres (pop/rock, jazz/rock).
Overall, this is a great album that will not disappoint. The songs are well composed and complete (as in, highly
refined) and Hyde's (Hyde <3) vocals do not disappoint either. The variety in this album is very nicely mixed.
Possibly the rock is a bit darker than "SMILE" (2004 album), but it's still very great stuff.
...Now, I need some tissues for the softer songs... T_T
If you're headed for Japan during this Christmas and possibly new year, you may want to consider snatching up concert
tickets for their KISS OF THEATRE concert. They are touring the country! Tickets
were on sale at 1 December... maybe sold out by now, but still worth a try >_<
If you ask me, I am very interested in sitting at the Premium Super Seat ... *giggles* right in the middle
of the crowd :D
LINKS
OFFICIAL LARUKU SITE
Article written by kuroimisa
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E/ TIP OF THE MONTH
This month we will be looking at patterns, and how to cover up that grain you don't feel like cleaning up. :p Click below to be enlightened!
Tip created by bromithia
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F/ GET TO KNOW YOUR MT STAFF!
This month we get to know our newest addition to the MT Staff, MapleRose! *wild applause*
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fireflywishes (F): What was your reaction when you were asked to become a Mod?
MapleRose (M):Very honoured
F: Did you have any reservations/doubts about accepting Modship?
M: Um, not really. Well, I guess when I was asked, it was before my exams and I
thought I might not have enough time, but it turned out that I was okay through my exams.
F: Well, we're very glad that you accepted. :)
F: So, what has been the biggest challenge for you since becoming a Mod?
M: Deciding on whether the wallpaper is ripped or not, because a lot of times
people don't sign their work or don't put enough description, and I don't want to wrongly delete someone's
work.
F: What is your favorite thing about being a Mod?
M: Being able to highlight art that deserves more love ^^
F: As both a wallpaper artist and a doujinshi artist, what inspires your work?
(oops, forgot vectors as well... ^_^')
M: For doujinshi, I draw a lot of fanart, so I guess it would be the anime series
and the characters that I love. For wallpaper and other original art, I get inspiration from lots of places, including
other people's work, scans, nature, just about anything and everything. Like when I try to fall asleep, I think of
random things, and think, hey, I could do this!
F: Are there any artists/studios whose work you admire?
M: I love RGB's chibis and the way they colour things. (Note: RGB is actually a pseudonym for Tomofumi Ogasawara who draws a lot for Gundam SEED) I admire Green
Glass and Clamp's attention to detail. I also love Kunie Kanbara's art because I love the style, and it inspires me to
wall. Finally, I have to say Natsuki Takaya (mangaka of Fruits Basket) since I seem to take after her art style a
lot.
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F: It's that time again... for random rapidfire questions!
M: Yay!
F: Who would be your anime boyfriend?
M: Mwu La Flaga from Gundam SEED >__< ... I'm still obsessed ...
F: Describe yourself in a single sentence.
M: um.... that's hard XD
F: Lol, okay... how about in 5 words?
M: Anime-obsessed artist-wannabe... oh wait, that's 4... add a "the" at
the front XD
F: If you could go back in time to any place in history, where would you go and
why?
M: I would say.... Tudor England, because I like reading about the history and
stuff. But then it might be inconvenient as well ^^;... like no toilets or TV or Internet XD
F: What is something that you've always wanted to do, but haven't gotten the
chance to yet?
M: I made a list of all my art ideas, and it's really long, and I haven't had a
chance to follow those ideas yet.
F: What are the top 5 songs playing on your music player lately?
M: Hoshi no Tobira (Gundam SEED Stargazer ending), Born (Chevalier D'eon
opening), Lilium (Elfin Lied opening), Akatsuki no Kuruma (Gundam SEED insert), Euforia (Aria the Natural opening). I
like anime songs as you can see XD
F: And finally, do you have any final words for the readers before we end the
interview?
M: Please sign your work and put a proper description; oh, and please submit game
walls into "Anime wallpaper" as well...It makes my life a whole lots easier >__< Oh! And don't do what
Popular-chan is doing! XD
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That concludes this month's "Get to Know Your MT Staff!" Remember, if you have a Mod that you'd like to know more about, or would like to submit a question you'd like me to ask a Mod, send it to me (fireflywishes) via PM.
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G/ FEATURED MEMBER
The Minitokyo staff would like to recognize entity1660 as MTM's Featured Member for January 2008 because of her excellent skill in vectoring as well as her high quality artworks.
More than a year ago, Entity started first at MT as a regular waller but upon seeing lots of vectors in the gallery, she moved to a new phase as a vector artist. She used to draw original characters but stopped when she discovered that vectoring is much more interesting. Although she used to believe that vectoring is a copyright infringement, she thinks that it is also about skill, as well as the virtue of patience.
When she's not vectoring, Entity loves to play video games, customize her MT userpage, watch anime or manga, and also attend college three days a week. She often disguises her age by wearing kiddy accessories like Hello Kitty or cute T-shirts because most people think she look younger than her actual age!
Article written by gaara-no-shukaku
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H/ FEATURED GROUP
Quote by EternalParadoxThe members of the Moderators group are among the most active members on MT. They work tirelessly to serve the community. These members should all be recognized for their hard work.
EternalParadox is my saviour, hence he is super right <3
The group Moderators have been conducting contests in the past, such as the Minitokyo Idol, Minitokyo Mascot contest and now the Wintry Wonderland. They have also been processing reports (giving *tinkle*tinkle*! to the good kids and skipping the bad kids X-P) and doing their best to keep the place nice and tidy :D
I think the group deserves to be recognised because they've been working so hard ;-; I feel like I really am loved <3 And of course to you guys, Minitokyo!
Article written by Mai-chan <3
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I/ STAFF PICKS
Summer by cremia: " Awesome details, each petal of the flowers and each
blade of grass has been created with care. Plus, the little girl is just so cute!" chosen by MapleRose
Blue Forest by tAtEkAnE: " Simplicity = win! Irresistable bright colors and
well-drawn girl makes this original piece eyecatchingly sweet. The quintessential winter/holidays wall!" chosen by flyindreams
The Flower Falls by Dark-Origins: " This is a really nice interpretation of
the scan. It's relaxing on the eye which makes this a really neat and pretty desktop wallpaper. " chosen by kuroimisa
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J/ COMPETITIONS AND PROJECTS
(in alphabetical order)
Anime Alphabet Project
Project for Paint-o-Rama: The Anime Alphabet project is still going
on. Make painted wallpapers from series/artists/studios that begin from letters of the English alphabet (as categorized
by MT) and have the entries of the project featured on the group page in rainbowy colours.
Announcement thread: Anime Alphabet
Poetry Contest
Poetry-Corner is hosting a poetry contest, the
theme is emotions or feelings, and every piece needs to somehow incorporate that in. How the author chooses to do that
is completely up to them, as is the form and style of poetry they use. Deadline is December 31st. Any MT member can participate. Entries will be voted on after the dealine by any who
participated. There is no prize other than sharing your work and knowing others liked it.
Announcement thread: Contest Details
The Minimalist Inspiration Project
Simple-ism's project, with minimalism as the theme.
The challenge is to bring life to a wallpaper with less while expressing a clear strong concept - in other words, what
you think minimalist simple-ism should be. Anyone can enter.
Announcement: Full Guidelines (offsite)
UA's the "ONE" Challenge
Project for TheUnderappreciated: There are 4
categories available: one colour, one technique, one color+ technique, one shape. Simply create a wallpaper focusing on
just the one element. There is no deadline- project ends when there are at least 5 entries per category.
Announcement thread: UA: The "ONE" Challenge.
Vexel Revolution Project
Vectory is hosting its first project. The aim of the
project is to change the perceptions on vexels and to put it at a higher level than before; and also to provide info and
tutorials on vexels and vector arts. This project is open to non-members as well, and for the time being, the project is
on-going and has no set deadline.
Announcement thread: Explanation of 'vexel' and other guidelines
Remember if you don't tell us it's on, we can't tell everyone else. ;)
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K/ GROUP ADS
A great place for sharing the same love for vectoring in walling <3
Love your dose
of fanfiction? Let the imagination and creative juices flow. Or even if you just like reading, it's worth a visit!
- A place for fans
of the Rozen Maiden dolls!
- The base for fans of Galaxy Angel!
- Where fans Shinshi
Doumei Cross gather!
- A place
for Kira Yamato fans ^^
- For fans of Sola ^^
- Kamichama Karin love <3
-
Can't live without the pen-tool!
- Painting is IN!
Gundam 00 Devil is a group for those who love the new series released by sunrise and
discuss each episode with other members.
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L/ HAVE YOUR SAY!
Want to see your group advertised, we now request you send in your group as well as a short summary of it's purpose or current highlights. This will of course become far more useful that an icon alone. Also if you feel there is a group or a member worthy of nomination in the MTM again please PM it. Questions, comments, whatever, simply PM the MTM with the subject MYVOICE.
Remember the MTM is determined by you! ^^
Below are banners: featured member, featured group, a MTM writer and I <3 MTM banner (free for use by everyone).
Feel free to use these banners anywhere you want- signature, group page, userpage or even personal blog/ site! Please
click them to get the hosting link.
Looking forward to your company next month (and keep sending me PMs T.T)
From botchii, with love
Call me Mai-chan <3
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M/ THE USUAL STUFF
All
about the Mt-Maigetsu: requests, ads and features --> To know how to advertise and nominate your group or member
you would like to see on the MTM!
The Policy --> A must read!
The Userguide
--> For day to day living!
Forum
guidelines --> Keeping it clean!
Common problems and
their solutions --> Got you covered!
Visit HeadQuarters for more juicy goodness or contact your nearest friendly moderator.
Links compiled by LittleJonny100
