...day in and day out is that by the time someone comes up with that really well-done, time-worthy crossover between two unlikely properties, you've
already seen a dozen other attempts at it already and have no enthusiasm for another one.

Never mind me. I'm sick and propped up in front of the computer and grumpy.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

...is inspiring. And not helping my altitis AT ALL!

OK, my latest short story is to introduce my newest toon. Here you go:

SOLAR GAIN

It's not easy being a hero. It's even worse when you used to be a villain.
So here I stood in Atlas Park registering my change in status. I had never actually lived here. Dad had
turned me in before he took possession of the house here in town. I had no memories to haunt me. Oh, except for
the time I robbed the bank. Twice. I just wouldn't go there to deposit anything.

The lady who was serving me at the registration desk took a good look at me. I wasn't recognizable as
myself; I had made sure of that. Gorgeous Glenda and Luscious Linda hadn't asked why I needed an exo-robotic suit.
They didn't care. Of course, that being said, they'd probably sold the information three times over before I left their
building.

"Registering as a hero?"

"Yes." My simple answer didn't faze her.
She was a pro.

"Have you had your powers assessed to determine their origin and
archetype?"

"Yes. Mutation. Fire
Blaster."

She typed into her computer, barely looking up until the next question. "And what name will you
be going by?"

"Solar Gain." Still typing. I hadn't said enough for her to be
typing this madly. This had to be a ploy.

"Alright. Your primary contact here in City Hall will be Antonio Nash.
He's down around the corner and down the steps. Or you're welcome to street sweep. The Hellions and
Vahzilock are trying to encroach on us normal people." She looked up long enough to give me a small smile.
"You can join a Supergroup if you wish, though it is not mandatory. Several of them are looking for heroes to fill their
ranks."

"Crossroads."

"Oh, The Legendary Beta Team. Good choice. I'll send them a message
saying you'd like to join them. Now, do you need a place to stay?"

It slipped out, I swear it did. "Are you inviting me over?"

She gave me an amused look. "I'll take that as a yes you do need
lodging, at least temporary. We've had an increase in hero registration recently so a lot of our regular housing is full
up. We do have a few apartments available in Dark Astoria."

"Dark Astoria." She nodded, her face showing no real emotion, just typical
pleasantness. "Isn't that a hazard zone?"

"Yes well, a villain of your-" She stopped mid-sentence, her face going red in
embarrassment.

I swore silently to myself. "Fingerprints?" Though I wondered how
they could have gotten them, I had never removed my gloves.

"Voice print actually."

"Damn." I took a deep breath. "How much to keep it
quiet?"

She regained a bit more of her composure. "I don't accept bribes
sir. Rest assured that your information will be kept confidential and your identity is only listed as Solar Gain."
She paused a moment, then continued. "Here is your communication device. Navigation info and maps
are preloaded. It also works as a cell phone, PDA, compass medical transporters and a few other things. It should
integrate in well with your suit armour. If not, I know Serge in Steel Canyon would be glad to make alterations.
Do you have any questions sir?"

"No."

"Good luck sir. Welcome to Paragon City."



I stood on the steps of City Hall and looked at my map. "Dark
Astoria. Son of a -" I stopped speaking when I saw the small short, child like figure come up the stairs
next to me.

"Say it out loud man, it'll make you feel better." The 'child' had a deep
baritone, a derby hat, cigar and tiny wings. He passed by and went into City Hall.



Felspar, aka Matthew Mac Hine, sat in the Crossroads office and stared at hi computer
screen. Fae Wree Tale was the titular head of Crossroads, but Fae didn't do paperwork. She tried, but her
attention span wasn't long enough. He snorted as he remembered the first and only time Fae had gone to an All Leaders
meeting. It had been disastrous to say the least.

Fae had sat through the introductions without any problems. She's gotten
antsy after that and started buzzing up and down the rows offering everyone licorice and telling every cat girl there that she knew a cat with really great
boots. There had been a lot of cat girls. Even when certain signature heroes - who shall remain nameless to
preserve their reputations - had tried to take control of the situation; Fae had eluded them all. She had stealthed up and zoomed to the
far side of the room blowing raspberries, bring in her phantom army for an impromptu dance party. It had not gone well.
Ever since that day, he had been getting the invitations - and everyone but Fae thought it was a much better idea.

His computer beeped an incoming email in and he took a quick look. Someone by the name of Solar Gain
was asking for membership. He sent an invitation and went back to his paperwork - looking over the files of the newest recruit Avon Ti
(pronounced Ah-Von Tee). Born into a family of Tsoo, but she had turned to the hero side. She was classified as a
Kinetic Defender. He looked up when a knock came at the door.

A man stood there. He was of average height, average build.
He was wearing some sort of powered exo-suit in black with yellow highlights. No, the black wasn't just suit, it looked like
little solar panels. Wow, that was impressive. Felspar stood and said, "You must be Solar Gain. Welcome to Crossroads. I'm Felspar." He went to extend his hand but the man removed his
helmet instead.



I stood on top of the Atlas Statue and surveyed the city - my new old home- as the sun rose behind me. There comes a time in every
villains life when he has to make a choice - to be truly evil or to turn to the side of "Good". I made my choice. I was once the villain Mace Mac Hine. Now I am the hero Solar Gain.

--Sam
"I'm full of tinier men!"

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Uncontact ... o9KjNvaA8F

My very irreverent first reaction was: Are they actually trying to shoot down a helicopter with bows and arrows?!

But on second thought, it must be very terrifying to have this alien machine floating over your heads when you've never seen -any- machine... And well,
it's not like they have guns. o_o

I was expecting a sweet romantic comedy or just plain romance. Then I read the description and I was expecting a fun, uplifting martial arts movie. Because
when I read "Zen has to fight her way to raise funds for her mother's treatments," I was expecting perhaps bouts in some sort of fight arena not
... mafia like, although I probably should have due to the first part of the description. Then I watched the movie and realized it was the most sick (in a good
way), insane martial arts choreography that I've ever seen.

http://www.crunchyroll.com/group/CRSeri ... te_-_Movie

The scary thing is the actress that does the main fighting does not have a stunt double. After the credits, there are some cool scenes of making the movie.
Wait. Did I say cool? Well, they're cool but just from the standpoint of, uh, safety of the stunt men, realism doesn't require -actually- falling off
of a four story building and hitting various ledges. That's what movie magic and air bags to catch the stunt men are for.

After I see this sort of movie, I think Black Lagoon could happen in live action ... if the actresses/actors were Thai fighters.

I was listening to a song by some friends and it occured to me that it might be good for the occasional jailbreak. ;-)

Lyrics for "Break Me Out"

By The Rescues

my empty room

crowded too soon

look for the fire escape

picture myself

running like hell

making my get away

the walls are caving in with no warning

this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it

i'm running out of air

break me out tonight i wanna see the

sun rising anywhere but here

come with me

this could be

the only chance we get, we gotta take it

don't do it now we'll never make it

lose this crowd

break me out

we'll stare at our feet

sneak down the street

some kind of secret race

they'll carry on

won't notice we're gone

so easily replaced

the walls are caving in with no warning

this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it

i'm running out of air

break me out tonight i wanna see the

sun rising anywhere but here

come with me

this could be

the only chance we get, we gotta take it

don't do it now we'll never make it

lose this crowd

break me out

the walls are caving in with no warning

this ship is sinking i gotta swim for it

i got a feeling we're better off anyway

i don't care what they say

break me out tonight i wanna see the

sun rising anywhere but here

come with me

this could be

the only chance we get, we gotta take it

don't do it now we'll never make it

lose this crowd

break me out

It's on iTunes.

Setting: Rescuing Fusionette in Faultline with a somewhat underleveled group held together mostly by SK and exemping Terr down to fit into the group(Thanks for that again, btw). Legendary channel's discussing doing the Manticore TF afterwards, and we're just bogging down in a horde of what to me(at lvl 15) are almost entirely red with purple bosses. Terrence decides to speed things up a little by not holding back.
Please note the timestamps.

Quote:05-31-2008 19:39:42 [Team] Terrence Knight: Oki'm done playing around, I have other buisness to attend to than play with these hobos
05-31-2008 19:39:50 [Team] Dance Sabre: fair enough
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Slammer
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Gunner
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Slicer
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Headman Blaster
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Buckshot
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Slugger
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Buckshot
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Scrounger Brawler
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Headman Swordsman
05-31-2008 19:39:55 Terrence Knight has defeated Aberrant Eremite
05-31-2008 19:40:01 [Team] Swift Sabre: ( HAH! )
05-31-2008 19:40:04 [Team] Dance Sabre: ... holy CRAP
05-31-2008 19:40:07 [Team] Silicon Sabre: Ouch.
05-31-2008 19:40:07 [Team] Psyche Sabre: Whoo
05-31-2008 19:40:11 [Team] Princess Leanne: lol
05-31-2008 19:40:14 Terrence Knight has defeated Aberrant Rector
05-31-2008 19:40:19 [Team] Swift Sabre: Ummm... Meep?
05-31-2008 19:40:23 [Team] Dance Sabre: ... Is he single?
05-31-2008 19:40:30 [Team] Terrence Knight: Nope
05-31-2008 19:40:31 [Team] Psyche Sabre: I don't care.
05-31-2008 19:40:37 [Team] Dance Sabre: darn
05-31-2008 19:40:40 [Team] Terrence Knight: Uhmm..
05-31-2008 19:40:44 [Team] Terrence Knight: *sweatdrops*

Since the question has come up... Here's a few notes, offered as a starting point for discussion. Feedback and dissenting opinions are not only welcome, they're encouraged.


Occasionally a Fenspace writer may wonder whether something in a story violates the boundaries of what the Fenspace Collective have agreed is good for the setting or welcome in the current scheme of things, even if it's within The Rules. These guidelines may help writers in this predicament.

The easiest case is when the story element is grounded in real life and agrees with the Genre Directive. If the story element is something that makes things better or easier for people (that means everybody, not just your favourite character) and it's a cautious extrapolation of real-life technology, then go ahead and introduce it. Nobody's going to raise an eyebrow at a DVD that holds two terabyes of data, since that's a reasonable extrapolation of current technology as adapted by handwavium. (However, some things simply aren't available for lack of raw materials. It's been established that one of the First Fen grabbed all the easily-available fissionable materials in Fenspace before most folks made it Up, for example.)

If the story element is grounded in real life, but doesn't agree with the Genre Directive, there's a problem. This isn't necessarily a story-breaker, but it requires a lot of work and the agrement and support of the Fenspace Collective to pull off successfully. An example of how to do this is Cobalt Greywalker's Paving the road to Hell - it's a dark, almost dystopian, story, but it serves as the beginning of a story arc describing the "redemption" of the story's lead character. An example of how not to do this is murmur the fallen's FTL Newsfeed #235 - it's equally dark, but in its original form it didn't give any way for the characters to come back into the light. Paving the road to Hell and its sequels make up one of the better story arcs in the Fenspace setting, while FTL Newsfeed #235 is barely mentioned by the Collective even after its substantial re-write. (It may be important that Cobalt Greywalker was willing to listen to criticism about his story and work with the other writers to make the story fit into the setting, while murmur the fallen was not.)

Now we get into the trickier cases.

Does the story element exist to make one character as good as (or better than) other Fenspace characters in their own field of expertise? This can work, but is very tricky to pull off, and it's best if you don't trump the other character's specialization. For example, the Soviet Air Force (introduced by Mal Fnord and company nearly at Fenspace's Day 1) is very good at space exploration. That didn't stop Rob Kelk from later introducing Project Artemis, another group that's very good at space exploration but in a noticeably different way. However, Rob got Mal's help in defining Project Artemis before the group was fully introduced into Fenspace, and both writers have been part of the Fenspace Collective for a long time.

If the story element ignores established continuity, then it would be best to re-write the story to remove or revise the element. There's plenty of Fenspace history and social dynamics still unwritten; there's no reason to ignore what little has been defined. Especially since the timeline is available on the FenWiki.

...there must be more cases, but it's past my bedtime...fill in the blanks and continue the list, please, folks...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I smell next years
hit anime!

-----------------

Epsilon

But they already did Bleach...

Big Buck Bunny, available from http://www.bigbuckbunny.org/

I enjoyed it, but then, I like animated shorts.

(Edit: Link code was broken, fixed it. -- Bob)
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll