I guess I just had some high expectations for this new batch of
starters. This goes to show us that reality has nothing to do
with our hopes and dreams. Instead of gems, we get... a bumper
crop of... uh... er, stories, or whatever these were supposed
to be. Were the anime/manga/video game series that inspired
these works the seeds planted into the consciousness of the
so-called "universal mind", or did the weeds of pretentiousness
choke their fertile growth?
Enough metaphors, it's time for the actual pain.
NOTE: This mood of this review was based on Yuusuke's style
when he reviewed the 3rd Impact improfic starter sweeps. I'll
try to be more fair while remaining honest in my opinions.
There will be some spoilers, not enough to be a summary, but
enough to give readers an idea of the story being reviewed.
NOTE2: The rating system goes as follows --
*** I will sign up for this. Ph3@r me.
** I would read this, but I don't think I can write for it.
* I ran screaming into the darkness after reading this.
The Impro4ever Starters:
Final Fantasy: Cataclysm
by Rainier
Review: Gah. Remember, formatting is your friend. I could
give this starter a chance... if it wasn't for the fact that
it's set in post-FF8. It's not that I hate the game (I
enjoyed the story, actually), but isn't the storyline all
OVER?!? The only possible post-FF8 fanfics I could conceive
would be one detailing the "Reconstruction" of society after
the climatic battle, or the further adventures of Seifer's
group. As a more "generic" FF fanfic, the idea behind the
starter would actually work. As it is...
Rating: *
Gaia Restored: An Escaflowne Continuation
by Lirazel
Review: Unlike the majority of Improfanfic readers/writers,
I've seen both the TV series and the movie. I've also read
a lot of Escaflowne fanfics. This is exactly like them, with
a new protagonist that reeks of self-insertion. Thankfully,
she's not one of the more annoying SIs, and this is one
fanfic that I might follow on if it was continued, impro or
not.
Rating: **
Bishounen Samurai Rurouni Kenshin
by Lawrence Chu
Review: ...I have no words to describe this. Actually, I
do. It's a Jubei-chan/Rurouni Kenshin fusion. Yeah, that's
it. It's not a rewrite of Kenshin 2000, really. And, horribly
enough, the premise, shaky though it may be, actually works.
An entertaining read, but I won't write for this, though.
Rating: **
Tenchi Miyou: Family Values
by Chris Kerr
Review: Grr... first off, it's Tenchi MUYO! Get it right,
Dammit! So I'm a Tenchi fanboy... Well, some of the ideas
here were pretty much interesting. We've already read
fanfics dealing with incest, dementia, vampirism, mass
homicide, and pedophilia... Why not have a fanfic about
political intrigue and Machavellism? I'd definitely read
this if it was continued, AND massively tone down Jiro,
the "not-an-avatar-but-just-as-annoying" new character.
Rating: **
Pokemon Tang
by Scott Jamison
Review: Isn't this a rewrite of Pokemon Platinum? Sorry, but
even if Pokefics are possible impro material, I personally
won't be reading them, this included, much less write for them.
Rating: *
Chrono Destruction
by Luna Hinomura
Review: Wasn't this in 3rd Impact? Geez, didn't the author
get the idea already? Seriously, this has potential, but not
as an impro. I recommend this be continued as a solo effort
if the author really wanted to see this concluded. And one
last thing -- Chrono TALKS! Heh.
Rating: *
Suikoden: Distant Shores
by Todd Harper & Kristen Smirnov
Review: This is good. VERY good. Heck, it has to be, since
it took two "big-name" authors to write it. This starter
covered all the necessary bases. The characters are detailed
to a fault, and broad in depth. The starting plotline, while
basic, is quite sufficient as a jump-off point for a starter.
Unfortunately, it's so good I can't write for it. It's not
that my recommendations count, after all, but I'm pretty sure
a lot of other writers will be intimidated by the SHEER size
and detail of this world. Yes, there is such a thing as too
good for Impro.
Rating: **
Ranma 1/2: Apotheosis
by Jeremy Fogelman
Review: I don't have any complaints against this story. Hey,
the story deals with surrealism, and it works for me, the
irritating new character aside. Just one question, though --
Does the author have any idea what "Apotheosis" means? And
if I want a Ranma 1/2 impro, I'd read Lack of Common Sensei.
Rating: *
Secret of Mana: Mana Moon
by Kid Katakana
Review: Not ANOTHER badly-formatted starter... Gah. This
one is particularly worse, since the author concentrated on
too much descriptions that I lost track of the plot. Great
characterizations, though -- if this was an RP prelude.
Rating: *
Yggdrasil Matrix
by Shachihoko
Review: "What is the Matrix?" Talk about a total head-spinner.
A good fanfic and a passable impro starter, this one bears
watching closely. This story is not the One, however.
Rating: **
Ginzuishou
by Eternal Lost Lurker
Review: You know, I must've read a hundred SM fanfics with a
set-up exactly like this one. Okay, I'm not a big SM fan, and
I have a specific loathing for a certain pink haired cotton
head twinky, but this is besides bias. There's too many
noticeable similarities to SMR to give this an original spin.
If ever this is continued, I can already forsee future parts
echoing actual SMR episodes. A couple of questions to ponder
on -- Isn't there a law somewhere in the SM Universe stating
that the world will end if Usagi's family learns of her
alter-ego? And what was Sailor Pluto doing while all this is
going on?
Rating: **
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Gundam's Ghost
by Gaijin Dan Mastriani
Review:
Rating: **
digital experiments lain
by Scott Johnson
Review: I like this. I like this VERY much. I'm not familiar
with Digimon, but I can debate lain continuity/philosophy for
hours if need be. It's just the sort of thing I'd go for. del
is actually a simplified fusion of serial experiments lain and
Digimon, which for me could actually work. I'm very sure no
one else is going to touch this even with a ten foot long pole,
but I want in. I want in the Wired.
Rating: ***
Sailor Moon T
by Bryan Feir
Review: This is rather... curious. It's still SM, but the
overall feel of the starter is really different. I don't know
how to type the experience down into words, but I do know this
has potential. It's flexible in some areas, so future authors
can work on that... However, other areas are very heavy-handed,
like the getting rid of Sailor Pluto plot point that's pretty
much contrived. This, sad to say, is the starter's biggest
weakness. Not to mention the author notes that's over two pages
long. I'm not saying long notes are bad, but notes that could
be better off as part of the actual body of the story is a no-no
for me.
Rating: **
Violent Crimes
by Brian Stricklin
Review: Another very good starter, by yet another "big-name"
author. I only wish there'd be more impros written like this.
As for this Dominion starter (which is more like a parallel
universe version of Dominion: No More Noise), I'm sorry to say
this is not the Shirow work I could go for. Orion is more my
speed.
Rating: **
Chrono Stream
by NightGuard
Review: This is another interesting take on the Chrono universe.
Unlike the other Chrono starter, this one actually has a more
cohesive plot. At least we don't get a stock villain/ess this
time. Of course that all remains to be seen if ever this gets
picked as an impro. And another thing -- Chrono TALKS!
Rating: **
Tangent: Slayers
by Scott Schimmel
Review: Ahh, tangents. I've once written several, actually
(and which I promptly lost in a hard drive crash, dammit).
Seeing it as an impro could work, but most likely be comedy
or chibi. As a serious impro, I'm not so sure the concept is
sound, especially since serious impro demands a more strict
adherance to canon. The other reason why this tangent of
Slayers won't go so well is the fact that there's already
a finished impro with the same idea -- Slayers Virtual. I'm
not saying it won't, but...
Rating: **
Conclusions:
17 starters. That's barely half of the last sweeps (40+ starters)
or any of the past sweeps (Second Coming had about 20 starters,
while the first impro sweeps had almost twice that). This is
probably saying something, but I have no idea what it could be.
Okay, admittedly the technical quality has improved by leaps and
bounds for each succeeding sweeps, but does that mean that we
can sacrifice more ideas just because they were too "far out",
or weird, or disturbing, or controversial?
Most of the entries were by "old-timers", so-called "big-named"
authors and veterans in the improvisational fanfiction writing
scene. Ultimately, most of the ideas that were presented in
the starters were rehashed and "tried and true", none of the
new twist that ground-breaking works contain. It can be argued
that since the starters are based on existing works of fiction,
so the stories for improvisational fanfiction should contain
some familiar elements from the original source material.
Am I the only one to notice the paradox in that last statement?
Speaking of paradoxes...
A recent MB post has a phrase that really rubbed me the wrong
way. To sum up, Impro is said to be about collaboration,
where the authors get together with the other writers for
guidance so that the story gets written the way it should go.
...To repeat myself, am I the only one to notice the paradox
in that last statement?
Or am I just reading the word Impro wrong? Does impro stand
for improvisation, or does the term refer to Impro with a
capital I, which means that it is a wholly separate entity
from the dictionary term? Not to knock proofreaders, but
whatever happened to the meaning of the word SUGGESTION?
And now, the final rating:
Average: 60%
Passing: 65%
Remarks: Needs Improvement. It's a relief, actually, since
if there's room for more improvement, that means we'll definitely
see a real winner in the next sweeps... sooner or later.
MaRaMaLa's Wish List of Fanfiction Series, Improvisational
or Otherwise, that The Fat Dragon Scribe would Like To See:
05) Alternate EVA fanfic
...Stop screaming, you dolts. I'm not referring to all those
hordes of annoying new Children already out there, and I'm not
asking for a rewrite of End of Evangelion (as much as I would
like it to be rewritten, at least to make the whole point of
the film much more clearer to shallow viewers). I want to see
stories about the Jet-Alone Project, or Kensuke's quest to
become an EVA pilot, or how they ultimately resolve the Touji
question. Or, even better, something like EVA-R, but from the
very beginning by replacing all or most of the main cast with
new characters with as much depth and appeal as the canon ones.
And I'm not referring to the 21-year-old-body in a
14-year-old-girl syndrome.
04) A well-written Pokemon fanfic with an actual direction
...Which I'm pretty sure will happen, sooner or later.
03) A King of Fighters Fanfic
The first non-Ranma fanfic I've read was "The Color Purple"
by the celebrated Susan "Psycho Shonen" Ching. I'm not
asking for a sequel, but a decent fanfic. And when I say
decent, I don't mean the endless stream of chop-socky
Do-gooder cliches we've been force-fed with recently, but
actual existentialist angst and redemption/damnation, like
that in the little-promoted impro High Stakes. Isn't that
too hard to ask, or do I have to stick to doujins?
02) A Super Robot Wars Fanfic
Actually, I am currently writing one, I just don't have the
inspiration nor the inclination to wrap it up and send it
out to the sweeps. Aw, c'mon! What's so hard about writing
SRW? It's basically Ultra with giant robots, or WWF with
the whole friggin' planet as your ring.
Waitaminute, this was the plot of G-Gundam. Nevermind...
And finally...
01) An SF/Cyberpunk Fanfic
Futuristic, preferrably in the Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Battle
Angel/Gunm, or even Iria/Zeiram vein. Unlike the naysayers
out there, I'm sure this could work, we just haven't read
the right fanfic starter yet.
That concludes my rants and raves in the form of reviews on
the Impro4ever Starter sweepstakes. All of these are entirely
MY own opinions. If you have something to say about it, write
your own review.
Enjoy.
-Siggy, the Surreal Author
http://hello.to/maramala
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 8:39 AM from IP address 203.87.130.14
Personally, I thought that the way 2f-sama stated the rules for this sweeps may have had significant bearing on the style, quantity, and quality of the works we ended up with in the end, here. Not that I'm saying that they were all "bad", in fact, I liked a few of them enough to sign up (Violent Crimes and Gundam's Ghost; I am forever a fanboy. I also like the Suikoden fanfic, but I feel I would be unable to keep up with the same kind of quality displayed by the starter, and this is a really long aside, so I'll move on.)
2f's statement that these starters must be based on existing works may have directed some people to attempt at cleaving to the feel of that original work, without particularly attempting to stretch out and experiment. I got that sort of impression, though (as you can clearly see from the starters posted) I didn't write anything for it. I'm more of a chibi-writer myself (not to say that I'm super deformed; I just like writing for chibi-fanfics. I've written a part for Castlevania 1970: Disco of Evil from Improfanfic, and shall soon be writing another (READ IT!!!), and I will write a part for Reforming Evil Can Be Tricky from Indie Madnesse ([*READ*] [*IT*] [*NOW*], OR BIG PAGE BEAR BREAK WILL BREAK [*_YOU_*]!!!), and I had a blast doing it.)
I also share Signus's opinion that an SF anime fanfic could work, if done properly. For one, I'd enjoy writing and reading a good Iria: Zeiram Project fanfic. ^_^
This is Medius, Permanent Fanboy, signing off.
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 10:09 AM from IP address 12.75.155.65
AND YOU MENTIONED IT!! AND, TO ALL APPEARANCES, YOU [LIKED] IT!!! I LOVE YOU, MAN!!! pT_Tq
HAOHMARU: FOOLISH SUB-LEGENDARY REPTILE! CAPS ARE FOR [LEGENDARY] PEOPLE!
Man, I'm so...so happy...;_;
...Anyway, I didn't have anything to say about the sweeps, really. I haven't even read any of 'em, nor will I (tho' the lain one sounds supremely cool; I like that series a lot, but I'm just not interested in Impro anymore :P). I am a bastard. :/
Anyway, back to work and work and work...:(
Ex Animo
The Black Wyvern of Armorica.
...I have a Christmas present in the works for Ching-sensei-sama...but I'm afraid that if I ask her for a mailing address, she'll think I'm stalking her for REAL! T_T {weep!}
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 11:53 AM from IP address 12.77.133.190
Suikoden starter!!! Yaaaaaay!!! Yknow, for a little while, I was afraid it wasn't that good, and I was only liking it because it was Suikoden... I'm glad to see it really is good.
The other one I really liked out of the bunch was the Dominion starter. Bout time someone cared about that series.
And when I read the lain starter, I could only think one thing: "Damn, it's too bad there's no chance BWA could write for this." I'd try convincing you to read it, but it'd just lead to frustration at not being able to sign up.
Then again, since even BWA's upcoming uberrant on Mage's Spheres has me in fear, maybe it's a good thing. BTW, Bwah, I'm nearly done with checking over your points list.
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 2:25 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
Letter of Assorted Stuff, Containing Some Stuff :)
by
Regarding the Spheres thing...
...Mein Gott, you guys are actually looking forward to that? o.o; It's not so much an uberrant, I suppose, as it is just a mass clarification of points regarding Spheres and how they're used and how the understanding of them functions... "Ranting," as I perceive it, is more an emotionally-charged thing; what I'm eventually going to do will be more of an educated dissent. ^_^ And I'll write it up soon, don't worry--just need to pin down some junk on my end before I get a bit more free time...XP
Regarding the past life, Streith-san, I did indeed get the mail and have the info filed away for further detailed dissection. As a general comment at this point, I'd probably say something like, "Ara? That was bad enough to cause all those Echoes and Strangeness and stuff?" It's a good thing you wrote before I started setting my ideas down--I was working on something several times worse...;)
Mastriani-san, give me until about the end of the weekend to get time to go over your requested page in enough detail to give a yes/no. Apologies on this, but those three pieces of art still aren't done and if I can get just ONE done now, then I would feel a whole lot better about maybe slacking on the last of them. ^^;;;
'Vid-sama, did you really mean what you said about professional comic artists drawing slower than me?? @_@ I thought the only thing that would be slower would be a pencil stuck in an advancing glacier... Don't those guys get paid by the page? And aren't they supposed to release one issue a month (which, I'm guessing, must be about 30 pages...)? How do these people FEED themselves?? o_O
Anyway, on to the main part of this...^^; Because of all the suggestions and nice statements and such, I actually DID go to IFanfic for the sole purpose of reading [del] (and nothing else :)). So I decided to review it...
First point--too damn SHORT. I agree with the statements made that this starter just wasn't long enough to really set up anything. Then again, it could just be me speaking (the person who wrote 35 pages for its starter and STILL considered it barely enough for a set-up :P), but I think that two or so people have already backed me up on this. Judging from the way this ended, it looks like we're just in for thirty chapters of Lain In Wonderland. o_O Not much was pulled together for the purpose of giving this piece a specific aim in life, so to speak. I could easily see the first few authors kind of muddling along, poking the limp plot here and there, until somebody came along and kicked the sucka into shape and actually gave it some CONTINUITY (for, this being a crossover, it technically lacks a continuity of its own).
Let's see...in general, I found the author's writing style to be pleasantly functional. This is not a bad thing--rather, any descriptions and such were presented in the most precise fashion possible, meaning that there were minimum words for maximum punch. The rather plain style of the narration allowed the action to get itself across to the reader without confusing them with too much lyrical razzle-dazzle (and I'm often guilty of too much flash myself, so I give the appreciative thumbs-up to this guy :)).
However, one thing that kind of put me off, as far as the Lain sections went (and I can really only comment on the Lain stuff, since my ignorance of Digimon will be made rapidly apparant ^^;), was the lack of tightly-woven symbolism... This, as I saw it during my multiple Lain marathons, was a near-essential component of the series, contributing hugely to the extremely surreal feel of the landscape and the story in general. True, at its heart, -Lain- is a shoujo story, but much more exists besides the everyday lives of Lain and her buddies going to school, griping over school, going home, going back to school... Those events were merely a framework to hold the environmental symbolism that pertained to the meat of the story--Lain's discovery of the Wired and her place in it, and what she chose to do with her power over it. I remember the shadows that swam with digital effects or were purple-black spotted with bright red (the dead pass into the Wired, which reflects the real world as a shadow reflects the caster). Lain has a somewhat normal life, yes, but more was made of her hallucinations in the classroom than her actual experiences... Streets full of people suddenly disappearing, the mechanical voice that spoke in her head--even at the beginning of the series, when things were relatively normal, there was still a large amount of environmental surrealism that set up all the stranger stuff that came later. The non-symbolic take in the starter was almost disappointing because of its lack of this key component of -Lain-...
Hm, other things... If I remember correctly, Chisa stated that the DigiWorld (or whatever you'd call it) was the compilation of all the idealized dreams of humanity, and would therefore be thought of as Paradise, Eden, Heaven, etc. (Yes, the statement was that the land was God--this is the same thing, I suppose, if you're of the belief that sees God and Creation as being the exact same entity. ;)) Without any more detail than was given here, though, it seems to fall a bit flat in my mind, because I'm currently unable to rationalize that... Every human has their own perception of the ideal world. An untainted wilderness of perfection, though, would probably not be all that there is, especially in the modern world. People often see success as perfection, so why isn't Heaven a nice, clean metropolis where everyone works at a job that they love while getting paid huge amounts of cash for it? What about the depraved underdogs, who dream about death and pain? This might rationally lead to the conclusion that the spider-creature seen upon entry into the DigiWorld was a manifestation of the darker kinds of human ideals. But if the DigiWorld is God, then why is God schizophrenic? It's many things crushed together into a single world that, by its very nature, cannot have much by way of stability and order (ambition/compassion, technology/wilderness, destruction/creation, etc.). If God is the apotheosis of order, then how could It truly have become a world such as this? Or have all the "happy" ideals been picked out from among the others, and created only this pure wilderness area, without any contamination by other ideals? And if that's the case, then how is the statement that this world is built on ALL human ideals TRUE?
...Like I said, I can't figure this out. Details are wanting, and if you leave fundamental stuff like this to future authors, then everyone is going to end up nastily confused...:P
Now, I'll admit to being hamstrung by my ignorance of Digimon, so my lack of understanding regarding how those things work and their level of intelligence and who gets to use them or whatever will be left out of this rant--I've only seen one ep of the show, back when I was stranded in a Firestone for four hours waiting for somebody to fix my blown tire. ^^ However, I gotta make one statement--"Navimon"?? And he was doing so good with the naming up until then! ;_; But now, all of a sudden, here is Lain's kiddie-Navi transformed into a walking, talking, smack-laying plastic beastie. >_< I GUESS that if you look at it the right way, then it could very well be symbolic, but since the narration makes use of no hidden symbolism (unless it's hidden so well that nobody can find it o_O), then it seems like this was arbitrary... Admittably, this could be an interesting contrast if the original plotline of -Lain- was followed to the point where Lain's got that beyond-uber-mainframe stuffed into her room. Then having Navimon to remind her of her innocent beginnings would be an intriguing thing to have around. Right now, though, it's kinda goofy. :P
Hm... Changing subjects, I wanted to note a neat thing that I saw... Evidently, the author is either less gullible than I am, or he's read the prose version of -Lain- (probably the latter, methinks). I was going to get the book, but...I have no knowledge of Japanese besides the fanboy stuff that everyone uses. ^^;; However, I know that the term "Navi" was never explained to be a shortened form of "Knowledge Navigator" in the anime--that term fits, though, and I think that it's interesting to find out what it means. ^_^ Also, in the Pioneer subtitling, the names of Lain's buddies were actually set down as "Arisu" and "Juri"...but now that I think of it after reading [del], they really ARE Japanified versions of "Alice" and "Julie"! Man, what's with Pioneer? They take the time to translate "Nicholasu D. Urufudu" into "Nicholas D. Wolfwood," but they leave the -Lain-ites in mispronounced form? Are their translators on crack?
...Anyway, never mind. Just thought I'd mention that my eyes were finally opened. ^^
In conclusion, I may say that this review isn't nearly as surgical as it could have been--I have some other little nitpicks, but I didn't feel like posting 'em here. ;P The possibility of me writing for this is...dim, but not impossible. Because I prefer to hold all the cards before I start rewiring junk left and right (and you KNOW that that's what would happen if I did this--it always does ;)), I would have to do mad tons of Digimon research so that I would be very deeply In The Know and would therefore be able to interestingly combine Lain and the Digis without fudging one of the two continuities. Another thing that's making me a bit leery about signing up for this is that, as I mentioned, -Lain- is fundamentally shoujo...and I don't do that too well. ^^;; The lack of possible action and violence is not good for my health--if it's not there already, I may add some in by knee-jerk reflex, and that might be a bad thing (at least for this story). ^^;; Sure, I can toss mad symbolism around all day long, but the plot has to go SOMEWHERE in my seg, and the plot is shoujo. Oh, the tragedy. T_T Finally, the last thing keeping me away is the lack of...stuff in general. :P Before I can consolidate ragged fragments of continuity, there has to be some fragments there in the first place. And these fragments are very small. Although I'd say that, ordinarily, the size of the piece is directly proportional to the degree in which the setting needs some clearing-up, this would require some concentrated effort in order to get directions for these people, set up motivations for possible villain-types, dictate how the Wired and the real world are set up in relation to the DigiWorld (directly, that is, not just in the murky sense that the DigiWorld is idealized and is not part of the Wired and depends on human dreams to survive...I think), and other such things that would get rid of the little question marks and set the protags free to do their thing in a well-defined reality. :P My estimate is that if the first queue was made up of mature, forward-thinking individuals who had good knowledge of both of the contributing continuities, then they could all work together to create something that would function well for the rest of the series. This has to happen ASAP after the piece begins, because we ARE working with the rather disparate pair of -Serial Experiements Lain- and Digimon. If this odd combination doesn't get itself a good, solid shared continuity quickly, then it won't work out and the story will begin to die slowly. Just my opinion.
Anyway, I think that I've run out of time, dammit... Yuu-kun, hear from me later tonight by my time, alright? Today had a full schedule and I kinda blew it by writing something this huge...^^;; Gomen...
Ex Animo
The Black Wyvern of Armorica.
...drawing...drawing...drawing...
...on the upside, though, my commercial art classes started at the beginning of this week, and I've already learned so many new things about Photoshop that I may become a Badass Photoshop Beastie in a very short time. ^_^ This class R00LZ. XD
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 1:00 PM from IP address 12.77.178.116
I mean, 30 pages A MONTH in the US compared to-- what?--- sometimes 48 in A WEEK in Japan!! Of course, I've heard AWFUL stories from mangaka about all-nighters, deadlines, lack of social life, and so on, so I'm not really sure that's something I'd like to tackle now (/me shivers at bad memories of he and Fei churning out 8 pages of JAKADO on a last minute deadline... and I had to memorize shakespeare to boot ^^;;;) Thus, I am quite contented with the few sketches I churn out every once in a while :B
Of course, then you have ppl like Kazuki Hagiwara (of BASTARD!! fame), who turns out 9 pages every... what, 6 months or so? ^^;;;
but I also tend to write a lot more than I draw nowadays, probably one of the reasons my passions for becoming a HARDCORE MANGA ARTIST#^@%*^%%%($%)*&@*&*!@# has sorta dwindled ^^;
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 4:31 PM from IP address 172.141.134.151
Martin Wagner ('Hepcats') once took five months to get a REPRINT issue ready... and he was only redoing the cover!
Shannon Wheeler, one of my influences (http://www.tmcm.com) does one issue of Too Much Coffee Man a year... at most. He once calculated that he puts 480 hours of work into each issue of a comic that takes 20 minutes to read. AND he once took OVER TWO YEARS to get an issue done... and SKIPPED the two issues that were supposed to go in between so that uninformed people would think he was on schedule...
I'm pathetically lazy, and I don't even know how someone can work that slowly...
[rushes back to working on chibi starter]
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 15, 2000, 3:29 PM from IP address 209.233.191.101
"Mastriani-san, give me until about the end of the weekend to get time to go over your requested page in enough detail to give a yes/no. Apologies on this, but those three pieces of art still aren't done and if I can get just ONE done now, then I would feel a whole lot better about maybe slacking on the last of them. ^^;;;"
S'cool. As long as I know you are going to do it, I can wait until you have the time to do it. I was just worried you'd missed the link when I'd pointed it out before, and figured I was just taking my time with the character.
Feel like a treasure game on a rainy day.
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 4:32 PM from IP address 206.15.151.203
Regarding the past life, Streith-san, I did indeed get the mail and have the info filed away for further detailed dissection. As a general comment at this point, I'd probably say something like, "Ara? That was bad enough to cause all those Echoes and Strangeness and stuff?" It's a good thing you wrote before I started setting my ideas down--I was working on something several times worse...;)
Sweet merciful crap. You don't consider an action that supposedly taint your Avatar for ETERNITY to be enough? I mean, honestly. He's supposed to be at least outwardly normal, not a spiritual plague bearer with a stench that alerts every supernatural in a five-mile radius.
I'd really like to know what ideas you had... >_<
Oh, and in case it wasn't clear... he only got Throwback because of his past life. His Echoes are a flaw caused by suffering a miscast attack of unknown design, and utilise his Resonance. As for Strangeness, I have no idea where THAT comes from...
Posted on Dec 15, 2000, 5:33 AM from IP address 193.10.185.3
...that they had to do anime-based fics instead of original stories like they're known for... but yare yare. I have little time to read them, tho I might put some time aside for the recommended ones... hmm.
I'm looking forward to BWA's Sphere rant. I'm also looking forward to getting some feedback on that past-life description I wrote for Scrap, since I have YET to hear from our most honourable ST about it? Just a brief comment? Please? Did it even arrive? O_o
And in other news... I'm planning to turn Edwin female. Serves the evil ratbastard mage right... hehehe. Deary me, I must be tired. ^_^;;
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 5:46 PM from IP address 193.10.185.3
"I deem this rant worthy of 'Yuu-status' bitchin'." :D
by Yuuuuu
Truthfully, I was going to write one, but several things really threw a wrench in my plans. The primary one was finals, which are thankfully over ^^; But that screwed my head up quite lots to the point where I couldn't read a line without delving on the economic development of India o-O The second... well, when I read those things, I always start from the top down. Maybe I should have done it the other way around, because halfway through... whatever story it was after that kenshin one, I just couldn't stand it any more. They were so... awful ^^; And third, as you all know, I DESPISE 99.9% of "Fanfics" anyways, mainly for the reasons Signus mentioned near the end of his rant.
btw, I am deeply honored that somebody actually used my bitching and whining as a model example ;B
interlude
BWA: "You never call, you never write!" sob
okay, I haven't done that much either ^^;;; do you still have email? did you ever get the stuff I sent you? Am I being annoying??? amIamIamI?!?!?! (sorry, just got back from an 8 hour work day ^^;)
drop me a line you punk before I reconsider the gift I was going to send you on the coffee table and start sending you the stuff we give nemuren! >D
btw, I loved your new stuffs (Dr. Pepper, where's the sequal with his long lost twin, Mr. Pibb??? :B) end interlude ^^
So what have I been doing? (since it's pretty damn obvious I've done nothing since... november, for GMCA ^^;;;) I drew... this!!!
It's too bad it's such an awful scan... really, it looks better in my sketchbook. ^^;;; It was a small fun thing that I'll probably never finish (as many things do stir in my book ^^;), but maybe it'll inspire me for future things in drawing GMCA stuffs. (BWA: they're characters from my revision of "Ah Ee Deul." Yesh, it shall return ^_^)
dum dum dum~
sorry, I'm high off no finals and the new Robert Jordan book, it's been ages since I've read something I WANTED to read rather than had to ^^;;;
Yuu, Mushroom Head~
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 7:16 PM from IP address 38.28.75.199
by Medius, who may make sense at least *ONCE* in a li
One thing I have to say is that...YOU KICK ASS, YUU! I've only started reading TOTL and Psycho Shonen, so I feel like a fanboyish geek again for this...
OMG...was that actually a coherent remark? O_O BTW, I wanna read _The Color Purple_, but I'm far to lazy to look for it myself...would anybody be kind enough to point it out to me? Thanks...
Posted on Dec 13, 2000, 2:28 PM from IP address 12.75.149.33
Why is GG two stars? Say something, man. Nobody's reviewinging it. ;_;
And I want to see G Gundam. Big robots. Kung Fu. Yelling out of attacks. It's like the show was made for me. Devil Gundam looks goofy, though. I suppose it's not as bad as Endless Waltz Deathscythe Hell's elf boots and Heavyarms Has Been Holding Its Breath.
Feel like a treasure game on a rainy day.
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 5:02 PM from IP address 206.15.151.122
I TOTALLY FORGOT--(clicks CAPS LOCK)--*AHEM* to cut and paste my review of your part. ^^;;;
To be honest, I don't have the clout I used to (read: friend with 'net access I abuse regularly skipped outta town, the bastard :p), so I'm stuck with logging into an Internet "Cafe" (read: Game Center >_<) to maintain my online status. So when I ran out of access time I just clicked on the send button without checking it over first.
Anyway, here you go...
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Gundam's Ghost
by Gaijin Dan Mastriani
Review: ...Wow. It's Gundam Wing -- The Next Generation.
This starter is fun. Not fun in the technical or even the
fanboyish sense, but fun in the "What If?" flavor. I can
already forsee two directions this. One will be standard
impro, where the succeeding parts would actually mirror
classical TV episodes, although not necessarily Gundam
Wing's, or even canonical Gundam Universe. The other
direction will go the way of the totally experimental;
future parts will deal more with the pilots' (note that
this does not mean the protagonists; even Mr. Redshirt in
the Leo 3 Mass Produced Model can get their 10k worth of
fame) inner struggles against a society gone decadent with
peace, suddenly thrown back into the nightmare that the
world tried to forget. Unfortunately, the first option is
more likely to happen rather than the second, which I would
definitely sign up for. And one last thing... I am now
cringing at the possible naming system future authors will
ultimately adopt for the MS and new characters.
Rating: **
And on last words, about G-Gundam:
...Geez. You want to watch a show with; "Tequila Gundam"? A plot that starts out as Mecha Street Fighter then changes gears into Arcana by the next season? Nobel "Sailor Moon" Gundam?
And last but not the least -- "SHINING FINGER!!!"
...O_O I'm still trying to forget that.
Ah, well... Enjoy.
-Sig
Posted on Dec 13, 2000, 8:00 AM from IP address 202.134.245.137
>And last but not the least -- "SHINING FINGER!!!"
I like this kinda stuff. I think it's funny. ^_^;; I have an SD Shining Gundam for MUGEN that does a whole little FMV thing when it does its super. I think it's hilarious. And kind of cool.
"King of Hearto! Hissatsu...Shining Fingaaa!"
And, Hell, Tequila Gundam can't be worse than Nether Gundam. Hey, look! It turns into a windmill! snicker
Feel like a treasure game on a rainy day.
Posted on Dec 13, 2000, 7:55 PM from IP address 206.15.151.183
I thought that the Devil Gundam was pretty cool-looking.
by Medius, still on a fanboy rush
Now, some of the others, however...particularly the Grand Gundam and Grand Master Gundam. Most of the Death series also look silly, but I suppose that was the entire point of the series.
And now that I've started talking about Gundam, I'm going to stop myself before I start ranting.
Did that make sense to anyone but me?
Posted on Dec 13, 2000, 2:31 PM from IP address 12.75.149.33
>And finally...
>01) An SF/Cyberpunk Fanfic
>Futuristic, preferrably in the Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Battle
>Angel/Gunm, or even Iria/Zeiram vein. Unlike the naysayers
>out there, I'm sure this could work, we just haven't read
>the right fanfic starter yet.
I tried to do this, twice, but one was ruled "not Anime enough" and the other was... well, when I read it comparred to the rest of the starters in ... 3i? ... even I couldn't give it a single vote. Not because I thought it was bad, but because it honestly wssn't as good. I think IU had it titled something along the lines of "The Sun and the Stars" if that helps anyone to remember... and I don't recall ever seeing a review of it, though that's only to be expected not reading the IF messagebord I suppose. If anyone knows where a handy one is (preferably that has more useful comments than "... Eh. Not Worthy") I'd be thankful for a link.
CD
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 6:42 AM from IP address 209.198.114.251
>Futuristic, preferrably in the Cowboy Bebop, Trigun,
>Battle Angel/Gunm, or even Iria/Zeiram vein. Unlike >the naysayers out there, I'm sure this could work, we >just haven't read the right fanfic starter yet.
Three and a half times, in fact.
One of them (an Iria altverse, sorta) was stunningly bad. Two of them, both in the original Sweeps, just garnered yawns.
The half, is, of course, as yet unfinished.
I'll provide copies to anyone with an interest in ancient history.
Blessed be.
Nathan Baxter
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 4:21 PM from IP address 63.148.81.173
I've finally finished my frickin Basic Military Training. Just graduated yesterday after a 24 km road march-which means I'lll be off my feet for today and more writing time(assuming I can drag myself away from my new Dreamcast *blissfull smile*).
Jonatan, I just checked my Theglobe account... I've still got the last update you sent me, but if you could mail me the latest just to be sure? Anybody else got any bits or pieces of mine lying around? Ifso, could you just mail it to my account and I'll sort it out from there.
Oh, and Chao, IMHO your scene beats my original hands down... I'll see if I can't rewrite some of the later ones though...
Posted on Dec 8, 2000, 6:59 PM from IP address 165.21.83.154
Think you (or someone else involved in the fight) could send me a updated copy of it? My files are out of date.
Oh, and good luck getting better from the march. I walked 5 miles a few days back, and my legs took three days to get back to full functionality. But then again, after training, you're probably in a hell of a lot better shape than I am... ^^
Posted on Dec 9, 2000, 1:34 PM from IP address 64.12.103.47
I've done 10 mile and 20 mile hikes(half of this one waring an external frame back pack filled to the limit of the wieght I could safely carry) through woods, in mud, hard concrete paths on hot summer days, in some cases "blazing" new trails, and I all ways recovered by the next day. I doubt you've been in Boy Scouts (and if you were then you never took the hicking merit badge), so one upping is a bit uncalled for but still...
Posted on Dec 10, 2000, 12:17 AM from IP address 209.245.200.222
One: Don't call me Chucky. While not _quite_ on the level of Wanderer and his Hated Nickname, it is not a Good Thing To Do. Never, and I mean [NEVER], call me Chucky again. Capiche, Mario? I can put up with Ayanami, and whatever else cute nicknames any of you can make up, but call me Chucky, and I will find you, take you to a proper hight, and throw you out a window.
Two: I was in the cub scouts when I was very young, but most of the people I knew in it were assholes. If I could go back to when I was little, I wouldn't again do it if you payed me. Not to mention that many of the badge requirements involved serving a church, something I am still loath to do, I never got very far.
Three: I can't walk far. I have shitty endurance. And if that makes me a wuss, than I'd be more than happy for you to come up here so I can bench press you.
Posted on Dec 10, 2000, 6:29 AM from IP address 205.188.196.38
1) I had no idea that calling you that would bother you, I won't do it again. (BTW does this include being called Chuck or Charlie?)
2) Well, damn, wish that you had had a better experience in cub scouts, understandably that had left such a bad taste in your mouth that you probably never wanted to go into Boy Scouts, which, depending on the troop, could have been better (in most cases) or worse. I was picked on by people who were never in scouts for being in it...these guys probably wouldn't have known how to survive in the least if they got lost in the woods.
3) That I have no doubt that you could bench me, I didn't mean to offend you. My natural walking pace (it's more like a power walking pace for most) has given a bit better endurance than most people I know, so that's the only thing, physically I can brag about. My upper body isn't very stong, so in way I'm a wuss as well.
So to sum up, I'm sorry if your feeling got hurt, thanks for letting me know this.
Posted on Dec 10, 2000, 11:09 PM from IP address 209.245.204.79
1: Yeah, it does apply to Charlie and Chuck. I'm not sure where my aversion to nicknames that are a variation on my real name started, but it is there. (Its probably from my grandmother never knowing my real name, so she had to use a nickname. Hell, even my Christmas presents from her had 'Buddy' on it... -_-)
2: Nod While I never liked the cub scouts that much, I never understood making fun of boy scouts. "Hmm... here we are, in a town in the middle of freaking nowhere, where a good fourth of the entire place is forest that one could potentially cut damn good amounts of time off of any trip. Here's a person who knows what he's doing. Let's make fun of him." Nope, never made much sense.
3: Good to know we got that settled. Yeah, my legs are pretty weak. But I never really worked on them when I was in the weight room. I spent the majority of the time in there benching and doing military presses. (This is mostly as a result of my schoolbag weighing well over fourty five pounds, and me having to walk around campus for a good fourty minutes a day going between classes. I really don't wanna have back problems by the time I'm out of Pinkerton) I should note that the five mile walk was with the 45+ backpack when I missed the bus and my car was broken down, so that may make me a bit less wussy. ^^)
Posted on Dec 11, 2000, 12:10 AM from IP address 152.163.201.209
I spent several years with the Scouts. It was a lot of fun, even though our group was affiliated with a religious order (the Missionaries, to be exact). My greatest peeve with it was that every year, we'd get more and more brats who refused to work when we had to, who spoiled and broke stuff, and showed next to no spirit at all during walks and trips. ("No, I'm not going to carry your pack! You should have gotten a proper rucksack instead of that sport bag!")
For a while, we had a small cadre of punks who were there just to trade and compare hockey cards... which wouldn't have been too bad had they not been disturbing others with it.
I left a few years later when it wasn't any fun anymore. >_<
Posted on Dec 11, 2000, 7:49 AM from IP address 193.10.185.3
Who needs scouts? I spent three months of second grade in Brownies and hated it with an unequaled vengeance. It had absolutely NOTHING to do with wilderness survival; it was all public relations and cookie sales. I started hanging around the woods and sleeping in trees early on because it was fun.
And if I got Poison Oak, it was my own stupid fault. ^_^
Posted on Dec 11, 2000, 11:16 PM from IP address 209.156.114.215
They allow any gender and, if the focus of it is this, do out doors stuff.
Everyone is my family considers Girls Scouts a joke(ruffing it is staying in cabins with no electricity)...Which reminds me, I've heard that Scouts isn't separated by gender in other countries, is that true?
Posted on Dec 11, 2000, 11:33 PM from IP address 209.244.116.103
The only remotly good thing that BSA instituted was the Order of the Arrow...all the other scouting stuff that was created/caused by the BSA is just stupid, not allowing females to be members except if they are leaders of a troop, cub scouts is ok but is there any real need for the separation between the two?
Posted on Dec 12, 2000, 9:36 AM from IP address 209.245.193.203
Having always been the one the rest of the hoodlums in brown and red picked on, I left after the weekend the fights escalted to wooden-branch "swords" and the scoutmaster got steamed at me for cutting down a sapling (camping on his 50 acres, not a park or something) for a quarterstaff so as not to get the shit kicked out of me by team-up. If I'd been as twisty then as I am now I'd have let them and sued the murderous little bastards.
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 6:48 AM from IP address 209.198.114.251
Well if you were getting grief from both other boys and the Scout Master then you should have gone to another troop. I'm not sure how much it would have helped. 'Course you were given a bad first impression, so leaving is understandable.
Posted on Dec 14, 2000, 7:36 PM from IP address 209.245.206.95
And now, it's time for another Good Idea... Bad Idea.
by ClassicDorgn
(As requested in one of the IFR messageboard segs...)
To demonstrate today, we've brought MimeDrogn back from the dead again. Say hi to the people, MD!
[wave wave]
Now, as you can see, having a nice big drink is a Good Idea.
[MD takes a good swig out of a bottle in the Blue Gecko, while dancing in a companionable fashion with Capt. Indigo]
Having a nice big drink of Keori's soju is a Bad Idea.
[Keori whacks MD over the head with a pool cue, and the whitefaced aardjin drops like a bag of dice. She catches the original bottle before it falls and wipes the neck off before swigging, doing something vaguely dancelike... or possibly just staggering a little]
Getting Keori a drink to apologise is a Good Idea!
[MD weakly gets up, and waves at one of the waitresses, who comes by with a glass of something as she finishes the bottles]
Getting her Vulcan Spring Water, imported from the Star Trek universe, is a Bad Idea.
[An offended looking Keori spits out the water, and pulls a bottle of something strong enough to strip paint. She takes a mouthful, then holds up a lighter and spits it out at MimeDrogn, who catches fire and runs in circles wavcing his hands and with his mouth open as if screaming... but still making no sound]
This has been another Good Idea... Bad idea.
[A now completely black MimeDrogn falls to his knees in exhaustion, and an 8ft cue ball falls on him]
No offense, Keori, I hope?
-CD
Posted on Dec 9, 2000, 9:14 PM from IP address 209.251.78.188
...Also, the more I read up on the occult (specifically Qabalah, predictably enough), the more I come to understand and appreciate FFVII. There were nine PC characters altogether, right? Including Sephiroth (an MC because of his status as a villain), that brings the MC count up to ten, which means something very clearly. If I get to analyzing it all, maybe I can kick out a report on it someday...:)
However, the fact that FFVII includes sticky wads of occult symbolism still doesn't help the fact that they kind of neglected the character development...:/ With the added insight that I have now, my perception has moved from "FFVII has bad character development, which could be fixed by an enterprising person with a lot of imagination" to "FFVII may very well have been made for the sole purpose of getting a bunch of occult stuff into the FF worlds, meaning that it was built like Evangelion, but without any character focus. Damn, how sad." :P Depends. It may very well redeem itself.
Anyway, all that I really wanted to say was summed up in the title. There wasn't any real reason for you to read this...I just felt like gibbering hopelessly. ^_^
Ex Animo
The Black Wyvern of Armorica.
...who took a break from gift arts to do all the editing and such that resulted in this update. Now I have to bust my @$$ twice as hard to make up for it. Oh well...^^
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 8:02 PM from IP address 12.77.177.123
Now that there's a complete version (by you) of Fate Game 2, should I get to work compiling our two versions into one?
People having to read that unbelievably long chapter twice is a Bad Thing, and right now I have TIME TO DO THIS, so I'll need to know soon... I hope you actually, yknow, answer this message, because the more time I have, the better.
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 5, 2000, 1:59 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
Peeeeeopleee... oO;;; I'm busy doing skads of gift art that I need to have DONE before Christmas! That's why I'm declaring myself to be Inactive Until Further Notice... I work at the pace of a half-dead snail on downers--and that's when I'm doing really well for the day. ^^;; I apologize for it all, but...:P
(/me exits Ultimate Whiny Mode.)
Regarding the various versions of FG2...the one that I just put up on my site is basically just polished up a bit--the spelling/grammar errors were fixed, some awkward sentences were reworked, the graphics were added, the [bracketed] spaces where the NIL parts were supposed to go are gone now, etc. Really, the only thing that's new is my official pts. list and the endnotes... I put it up as just a display of my work, basically--as I disclaimed in the notes, the parts about Project Underfiend are still inaccurate, just because that's the way they were originally...^^;;
I've seen the version of the chapter that has all of your stuff in it, and which has the corrected Underfiend info and such... (At least, I saw it previously, when it was posted on the FGML and all that--I haven't checked to see if they managed to figure out all the HTML stuff and get that second link working yet...:P) Truthfully, I don't see much of a point in going back and splicing everything together again--there's no real reason to (unless you're really hurtin' for those supakewl DPrimus site graphics ^_^).
The version that you originally altered is probably alright for the purposes--the only thing that I could think of would be to make a Really Truly Official (Honest!) Version, which would have the complete notes from both of us and finalized pts. claims tacked onto the end. :P If that was what you were thinking of, then go to it...:)
Also, there's no real reason for there to be two Ch.2 links on the Fate Game site...my stuff is technically still all there in your version of the piece, and now those who want to jolt their systems with the pure Wyvern stuff can read the original sections on my site. This might prevent the problem of some people reading the chapter twice (more like one and a half times :P).
Is that all good? o.o
Ex Animo
The Black Wyvern of Armorica.
...working on the same friggin' piece of art for the past week and a half, dammitall. >_<
PS!: You were right! The total really IS 138pts for the section!! :D ...Too bad that there's that rule about not ever getting more than 100pts per seg. ;_;
PPS: FYI, I'm going to split my site's doc into two parts for easy editing action. I tried to change a couple things yesterday and Spree's server threw up an error when I tried to save it all. XP XP
Posted on Dec 6, 2000, 4:00 PM from IP address 12.77.136.249
The version that you originally altered is probably alright for the purposes--the only thing that I could think of would be to make a Really Truly Official (Honest!) Version, which would have the complete notes from both of us and finalized pts. claims tacked onto the end. :P If that was what you were thinking of, then go to it...:)
Well, if you didn't actually change anything in that final version (I still have had no time to read it), then I think we could just do final versions of the author's notes, and that could just be added to the version that's already up on the page... and the title could be changed to 'It's Finally Done, No Thanks To Us.'
And I think the pts list should just be posted on the Latest Tweaking page, not in the story segs...
Also, there's no real reason for there to be two Ch.2 links on the Fate Game site...
Just have to remember to tell Lady Chaos that...
Is that all good? o.o
Fine by me. Keeps me from having to do, yknow, more work.
You were right! The total really IS 138pts for the section!! ...Too bad that there's that rule about not ever getting more than 100pts per seg. ;_;
The hell!?!? There is?? I thought you were only allowed 100 pts from OCRs, and PTB clauses had no limits... They coulda said something about that when my points list was posted on the ML...
BTW, once that little (-_-;;;) sudden complication is cleared up, I'll go over your points list to see if you missed anything... from what I remember, you had a couple of things that I'm sure are over the 'two readers must get the ref' limit listed as esoterics anyway...
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 6, 2000, 5:39 PM from IP address 209.233.191.107
... nor have I been kidnapped by aliens, been recruited for a top-secret government project, or whisked away to an island paradise(if anyone wants to rectify the last one on the other hand...). It's been an... eventful few weeks since I last posted or wrote.(Chao, Jonatan, Nate, yes, that does mean that I'm no closer in finishing the fight... more on that later).
Still, I've actually managed to survive most of the basic training, and after this week, should hopefully get posted to someplace a little less hectic...
Oh, and a slightly more depressing piece of news... I seem to have lost ALL of my GMCA-related files after some bad incidents with my PC and my backup disk. Still, all the big stuff like the latest versions of my profiles were already mailed off... but this does mean I've lost my last additions to my part of the Round 1 matchup(sorry Nate, Chao, Jon), along with some smaller pieces(like my snippets between C-Charles & Reader... unless you've got copys, Chao?). Nothing that won't keep me from continuing though.
This is really just to reassure you guys that I'm NOT planning on dropping out of the GMCA any time soon, and to hope that you'll all be patient with my schedule, so I'll be in touch... hopefully sooner than later.
Luck To You
Reader in Invisble Fanfics
'Plagirism is the first rule of scholarship'
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 1:25 AM from IP address 165.21.83.154
Aiiiigh! I just found something I *wrote down* several months ago, and still forgot about til now. Hell, even though it's totally pointless now, since I've got it, I'll post it.
It was originally a response to something about the Aberrations' plan... BWA wrote a little scene with the Wyvern informing the Master that the stuff they had set up in the Core had been wrecked. The thing I forgot was the return letter:
Dear Ms Of Armorica (sorry, Judgement suggested that, and I couldn't resist),
It's not a problem. Considering that some of the places we had to set up in redefine 'hostile environment,' all equipment we provide includes the best self-repair systems that physics-defying science can make. According to our extensive testing, even wiping one of those things out of existence isn't enough to render it totally useless.
Of course, you're still welcome to try.
Sincerely,
The Master
J. DeMonaco
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 2, 2000, 4:08 PM from IP address 209.233.231.38
I have to wonder how impressive their physics-defying nature is... is it enough to still be reporting on the empty space that the Gaurdians left behind? What if I hit one of their remotes with a Chronos Crusher, that doesn't merely erase the target from existance, but from continuity, meaning that anything not capable of breaking the 4th wall will have no memory/records/etc. of its ever having existed, even down to its raw materials never having been used (or if I'm being really thourough about it, possibly going back far enough that they never formed in the right way to be used to make it). Needless to say, this takes one hell of a lot of defiance. Then again, so did Sailor Pluto. (One of those heartless manipulative "The future is damn well written and I'm the Editor" Plutos from the various darker SM fanfics.)
-CD
Posted on Dec 2, 2000, 7:10 PM from IP address 209.113.253.14
>I have to wonder how impressive their physics-defying nature is... is it enough to still be reporting on the empty space that the Gaurdians left behind?
Not that important, considering that anything having to do with the Core in GMCA has been pretty much retconned.
> What if I hit one of their remotes with a Chronos Crusher, that doesn't merely erase the target from existance, but from continuity, meaning that anything not capable of breaking the 4th wall will have no memory/records/etc. of its ever having existed, even down to its raw materials never having been used (or if I'm being really thourough about it, possibly going back far enough that they never formed in the right way to be used to make it). Needless to say, this takes one hell of a lot of defiance.
Hmmm. I'd say Drogn's powers are a bigger deux ex machina than Tiktok's. Of course, it's not too likely that this will be important either... Drogn's not exactly cautious or calcuating, yknow. What are the odds of his thinking that he'd have to do something about it? What are the odds of his thinking?
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 3:52 PM from IP address 209.233.191.102
As you know, there exists some bonus/limited edition CDs of the game to be bought, that allows you to get certain cool items from Icewind Dale and Torment. Unfortunately, those editions are expensive, and hard to find. Shame, that.
However, what few people know is... you don't NEED these special editions to get these features; the items exist in the game, and the special CD just 'unlocks' them.
And you can easily unlock them yourself, just by adding a few files to the override directory. Works like a dream.
I have these files.
Any takers, dear friends? ^_^
Posted on Dec 1, 2000, 3:29 PM from IP address 193.10.185.3
/rant
One main point, really...if it's one of the most popular premade Dungeons and Dragons game worlds, then, theoretically, how can it be the "Forgotten Realms"? By now, everyone who's heard of D&D will have learned of the Forgotten Realms. There's a HUGE series of novels and all the computer games. How can it be forgotten if nobody has forgotten it? BAAAAAHHHH!!!! WTF!?!?!?!? HOW!? HOW, DAMNIT, HOW!?!?!?!?!!?
/endrant
Okay. Deep breaths.
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 2:40 PM from IP address 12.75.151.55
Because that's when the world of Faerun officially gets converted to 3ed. And, dammit, I want more games that take place on Krynn. And when/where can I find Greyhawk 2000? I've been reading too much of the only two issues of dragon magazine haven't I?
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 5:21 PM from IP address 209.245.199.195
(probably won't, but still...) and I just wanted to ask for suggestions on one thing...
how would you solve the problem of the main characters being so much more powerful than the rest of the world? The only explanation I've been able to think of is the same one FF8 used, and I don't want to just copy that...
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 1, 2000, 3:13 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
The main characters had all recieved a lifetime of intensive training, which was actually meant to prepare them to fight people who actually were superhumanly powerful.
Most of the time, the only reason everybody in the world except them is an ordinary wimp is because... they're not main characters. Makes no sense...
And I do remember that one of the charas in FF8 didn't have that training... but she was the weakest character, so it still makes sense.
And yes, this explanation even covers the other militaries in the world: the Galbadian and Esthar soldiers are several times tougher than normal people... but still no match for someone with Garden training. And GFs. And there is even a reason why Laguna's group is as strong as they are, but it's a spoiler.
-NeoVid
Posted on Dec 3, 2000, 2:56 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
Today,at work, I was bored so I started wondering how my characters could be converted so they fit in Heroes III. Please note that not all of these aren't possible because some specialties don't exist.
Name: Cyrus VanGuard
Class: Knight
Race: Male Human
Special: Griffins(Use Edric as base Character)
Starting Skills(Level 1): Basic Offense, Basic Fire Magic
And as soon as the holiday started, I realized I left all of the papers I write my notes on at the library, and it's been thrown away by now! Boy, good thing I already sent my Fate Game points list to Lady Chaos.
What are you thankful for? I was thankful for the fact that places give away free food this week, so I got to eat five times in four days. Oh *yeah.* I suppose I'll just go along with the sentiment of one of the other guys at the tribal house, who was selling those shirts again: "Thank you for taking our land, giving us your diseases, killing us in the name of God, and celebrating this day!"
And what do you want for Christmas? I'd like a fundamental restructuring of society!
-NeoVid Not bitter at all.
Posted on Nov 25, 2000, 12:13 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
Unlike yourself, we don't have a way to separate the celebration of the forming of our nation and the celebration of stealing land from the indigenous peoples. Every year, same day.
And they have the nerve to play both a collection of short films, PLUS the countdown of the top 100 non-commercial radio songs of the past year on that day...
Kyo
-----
"Your furniture is spotless, but your mind's a total mess."
Posted on Nov 25, 2000, 2:51 PM from IP address 134.148.24.16
They're on the same day in the States, too, it's just that some people call it 'Indiginous People's Day' if they're politically correct, or 'Unthanksgiving/Thankstaking Day' or 'DAMMIT' if they're Indians.
It was fun, as usual. You ever had native american food? Ever heard of native american food? It's greasy as hell, and it's amazingly good.
And there was an interesting speech from Floyd, the Mohawk Indians' Version of Keith Richards:
"We don't like Christmas either. The one Christmas card I got from another Indian guy had Santa tied up with his clothes stolen, the reindeer were skinned and hung up to dry, the sleigh was hacked up into firewood, and the tree was still in the ground and looking real smug about it."
-NeoVid
Posted on Nov 25, 2000, 3:08 PM from IP address 209.233.231.38
Actually, I left befroe there'd been a descision, but,
by CD
I'll email Yun tonight. Chaobino knows anyway, if I'd been trampled by a herd of stampeding wildebeests over the the course of my Thanksgiving vacation. Or something.
-CD
Posted on Nov 25, 2000, 6:47 PM from IP address 209.113.253.14
I have about one and a half weeks to decide whether I want to continue as a member of the GMCA. After that, I'm leaving to my limited web connection and a job. A couple of rather large emotional burdens just turned up, so I'm not sure if I'll continue (even though what I did here was fairly... small).
If I stay on, my writing will be frequent, just that I won't be able to contribute on the day to day basis.
If I don't... well... I'm of no consequence anyway.
I'll keep you all posted.
Oh, Medius, this will affect the ACR too.
Kyo
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Can't buy what I want because it's free
Can't be what you want because I'm...
Posted on Nov 22, 2000, 6:08 PM from IP address 134.148.24.16
Two dead bodies lay in a pool surrounded by shards of glass. Their killer is laying on a couch near them asleep. Who are the dead bodies and how did they die?
Posted on Nov 13, 2000, 9:40 PM from IP address 209.244.117.194
Owner and fish is pretty obvious... well, not THAT obvious. Something else jumped straight out at me from this one that isn't obscure if you think about it.
Cat that has knocked over a glass vase. Contents were two flowers.
Hooray for modified "Marc Anthony & Cleopatra" logic puzzles.
Here's one:
I cannot see
I cannot wave
I am not a man
And yet I shave
And I doubt anyone will guess it straight up.
Kyo
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twofivefour
Posted on Nov 14, 2000, 8:17 PM from IP address 134.148.24.16
...if it were a serious question.
In fact, it's the setup for a rather poor joke by a group called the Doug Anthony All Stars. The answer is...
A blind cripple woman with a hairy back!
And yes, that got answered with groans when they did it. They were known for their inappropriate humour.
Kyo
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twofivefour
Posted on Nov 15, 2000, 1:57 PM from IP address 134.148.24.16
I suck at them. But I still like these bloody obvious ones, like...
A driver was shot by a gunman outside the car, but all the doors and windows were closed and locked, and there were no holes in the car. How'd that happen?
-NeoVid
Posted on Nov 15, 2000, 2:53 PM from IP address 209.233.231.40
A driver was shot by a gunman outside the car, but all the doors and windows were closed and locked, and there were no holes in the car. How'd that happen?
The car was a convertible(SP)...
Posted on Nov 15, 2000, 8:07 PM from IP address 164.124.250.232
To put it briefly: Live A Live: The GMCA Chapters.
To expound on it: Chapters dealing with each character (or multiple characters) that take place at some point before or after the GMCA. I'll use mine as an example.
Majin Chapter: Dead Man's Run
Type: Semi-standard Scenario
PCs:Cyrus "The Majin" VanGuard, Sasha VanGuard, Rachel Arco, Douglas Mare, Maxwell VanGuard, Aaron Tarvon.
Plot: Long before Cyrus was know as the Majin he was exposed to the harsher realities of the Prime. When his father goes missing, he and his twin sister travel on their sky runners to the last place he had been seen: the deadliest sky running course known, the Grand Canyon(aka Dead Man's Run). Once there, they meet up with three other sleepers who intend to take on the run. And there the adventure begins.
Posted on Nov 15, 2000, 9:58 PM from IP address 64.152.242.86
I'm not very familiar with Live a Live aside from the name and concept, but I'll try my shot at this... It contains spoliers, and all that, hence the spoiler-free space at the bottom of this.
N
O
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
H
E
R
E
But there are below...
Charles Boucher Story: Brave New World
Type: Adventure-like
PCs: Charles Boucher, Misa Boucher, The Elder, Jessica Boucher, Zachary Seigfried.
Plot: After the first tournament, and after the fall of PemDas, a new world was created, a home for the new species of posthumans. However, no world can possibly be complete, no kingdom real, without subjects. With that in mind, the posthumans, along with Zachary, return to the earth they left behind to search for the rare humans mentally strong enough to transcend their mortal bodies and become posthuman.
Posted on Nov 16, 2000, 12:28 PM from IP address 152.163.197.71
...even though I've never heard of the game... I'll model this after (\/) and Chao's entries
BTW I plan on writing this up as an omake ^_^
KOREAN STREET POSSE CHAPTER: The Road to Songt'an
TYPE: Comic Relief Puzzle Quest...
PCs: Yun Ch'òlsu, Noe Chònggu, Ch'oe Nabi, I Suroe.
PLOT: Just before the tournament Yun Ch'ò recieves a mental message telling him to go from Pusan to Songt'an. The Posse travel to the small city through several "Planes Trains and Automobiles" type scenarios including a driver who suffers a heart attack in the middle of nowhere, a busful of Japanese tourists, I Suroe holding a map upside down, and a bunch of obnoxious Americans.
Posted on Nov 20, 2000, 12:10 PM from IP address 203.248.220.119
"'Evil' spelled backwards is 'live'! And we all want to do that!"
by
Dan's Chapter: The Fifth Ring
Type: Fairly linear quest, with focus on character building
PCs: Gaijin Dan Mastriani, Andrew LaForge, Justin Waller.
Plot: Disappointed by his performance in the first tournament, Dan decides to set out on a training voyage. Just like his hero, Ryu! With his cousins, Andrew and Justin, flanking him, he sets out to travel the world and challenge strong fighters. Musashi said that the Void Spirit is the path to becoming invincible, but can Dan abandon his passionate heart and think only of victory? Should he? And, more importantly, what of the fearsome Orochi Power that he has made himself susceptable to though his own foolishness? Can he control it, or will it destroy all three?
Feel like a treasure game on a rainy day.
Posted on Nov 21, 2000, 7:44 PM from IP address 209.206.60.139
so these three little things I wanted to say had to wait til now...
___________
I think it's a good thing the voting isn't still going on, because with that bandaid Bush has on his face, I know there'd be an ad that states: "Bush cursed with boils! God supports Gore! (paid for by the We're Doomed For Not Voting Gore committee)
Also, two versions of a scene I thought of...
Reporter: It's a tie! Introducing the President, Al W Bore!
Reporter: It's a tie! We'll have to do the election over! American people: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
-NeoVid
"Then he gets rid of all career politicians and replaces them with the homeless."
Posted on Nov 12, 2000, 1:41 PM from IP address 209.233.191.2
I came up with this idea at work: what about GMCA folks doing those celeb. Sci-Fi Channel commercials? I've come up with one already for Sasha and Cyrus VanGuard...here goes:
[Opening shot: SASHA and CYRUS stand facing each other in a baren wasteland. They silently draw their swords and get in to their respective battle stances. They charge toward each other and start their sword dual, their faces, expretionless masks. The fighting contiues until CYRUS cuts off SASHA's left(sword) arm, which has wires sticking out of the stump that are sparking. SASHA stomps her foot, again no vocal sounds have been made to this point, and the shoulder armor plates flip up to reveil two sets of missile lounchers. The missiles are fired at CYRUS as "his" face flips up and the real CYRUS bails out of his mecha self. The missiles impact the mecha and all of them go air born. As CYRUS touches down dramatically, the missiles and mecha crash down in the background resulting in a giant explosion. SASHA hops down from her mech.]
SASHA: [useing her natural(Scotish) accent] Boo, little brother.
[SASHA starts cracking up as CYRUS rolls his head and eyes. Cut to navy blue screen with the following in sky blue letters:
"I am sci-fi."
-Sasha and Cyrus VanGuard]
SASHA and CYRUS (V.O.): [in a sort of "Don't argue with what I am saying you silly sod." kind of way] We are sci-fi.
Posted on Nov 6, 2000, 11:43 PM from IP address 209.245.203.251
As a general comment at this point, I'd probably say something like, "Ara? That was bad enough to cause all those Echoes and Strangeness and stuff?" It's a good thing you wrote before I started setting my ideas down--I was working on something several times worse...;)
