Hi, everyone! jumpluff here, filling in for Setsuna temporarily to present to you all 2013's first issue of The Smog~ 2012 ended on a powerful note for us, with ToastPlusOne's gorgeous renovation of the index and an end-of-year issue that was absolutely bursting at the seams, but this issue is no disappointment either, with plenty of articles focusing on a variety of different metagames, and, as always, lots of beautiful art! And while 2012 might have been a great year, 2013 is bright with promise too: we're looking at
the release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf the release of Fire Emblem: Awakening the advent of a brand new generation (already, Nintendo...?! making me feel my age...) of Pokémon, and all the excitement, discovery, and magic that accompanies it. In fact, we'll be taking this adventure together, what with the worldwide release; uninitiated and clueless, we'll have to rely on each other to figure everything out, and that's awesome. As news and hype trickle in ahead of
Pokémon X & Y Versions, we'll be sure to keep you updated, with all kinds of perspectives, speculations, insight, and information on the upcoming generation, as well as the community's activities surrounding it!
This is our first issue trying out our spiffy new
Article (and Artists) Approvals subforum, and so far we think it's worked out rather well! We welcome new contributors at The Smog, and if you've got an idea for something you'd like to write or are interested in contributing art to our articles, please stop by and apply at your leisure. It's not hard to make your first contribution, and we're a friendly and helpful team that takes pride in everyone's work.
Also, voting for the annual Smog Awards is now open, so make sure to get your votes in as soon as possible! Remember that you don't have to vote for every single category, so you have no excuse not to!
I really hope you enjoy this issue. We've worked very hard on it, as always, and your constructive feedback means a lot to us, as does your continued readership and support. I hope we can rely on it throughout 2013, and thank you for sticking with us so far! Let's make this a wonderful year together, Smogon~ Try new things, explore parts of the community you've never participated in, make new friends, start new projects, contribute to new places, adopt new ideas, and get ready for X&Y!