http://www.lightinthebox.com/Revolution ... 57050.html]Get Utena's jacket (and a white skirt because they apparently misunderstood the petticoats) here.
And once you're wearing it, http://www.wikihow.com/Act-Like-Utena-Tenjou]learn how to act like her.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/02/06/ ... g-in-2011/]Neil Gaiman confirms that he has written an upcoming Dr. Who episode.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Grr.  Okay, let's try this again and see if it disappears from the post a second time.
http://www.craphound.com/images/2912576 ... natomy.jpg]X-Ray image of a Star Wars AT-AT walker.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Gonna light it up and shoot it out the gate with one of the BEST!!!! ADS!!!! EVER~!!!! SHOWN!!!! in the Superbowl.
And it doesn't have a single explosion. A single scantily clad, devastatingly attractive young person. It doesn't even have a rock and roll soundtrack.

Gentlemen, Behold! The Google 'Parisian Love' ad.
THIS is marketing. Even my blackened hate-lump twitched a single drop of the milk of human kindness, watching this.

"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

(Yes, this should probably be in the MA sub-forum, but the poster's neat enough I felt people'd want to see it even if they don't really use MA)
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

spoted in Talos Wents. 


no bio unfortunetly.

(Thought up while fleshing out the http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Yomiko_Readman]Yomiko Readman page. If I say any more, the explanation will be longer than the "story"...)

The Jason stepped out of his meeting with Noah to discover Ms. Inagawa playing with one of his forcefield gadgets. Since she hadn't asked permission, that made him a bit upset; besides, he had to leave right away to take part in yet another meeting that afternoon. "Hey! Yuu! Get off of my cloud!"
--
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

Foxboy Wrote:Well we DO have some talent... it's just distracted constantly.

*Fox attempts to write*

*Fox's dad bellows*

Fox: *Pam Dawber impression* Really, Mork, what earth concept are you misunderstanding THIS week?

So... we've got at least 6-8 inches here (that's 15-20 cm for metric-only types) and it's still coming down last I looked.  The plows have just gone by on our street, building that wall of snow blocks and ice at the end of the driveway that I hate so much.  In a couple hours I'm going to have to go out and dig through it all.  Yuck.
How's everyone else doing?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Well. Maybe you may have heard of the shenanigans over in Champions Online. Maybe you haven't.
In a nutshell - they released the game in what most people consider to have been a "non-complete" status, to use the polite term. And have essentially done squat with it except do half-assed bug fixes since then. People (including me) have been holding out hope that there would be more actual content released. And hoping that the game (which, at it's core, is a good system) would be supported at least as well as Cryptic did with City of Heroes.
Well it hasn't worked out like that.
The "big announcement" that Cryptic PR people made was the announcement of a few features like "flashback" systems (hmmm... that sounds familiar), a difficulty slider (even more familiar) some new costume pieces, and "Vibora Bay" a new city zone (on the coast of Florida) that would cover content from level 37-40.
But it's paid content.
That's it.
That's all there is.
No raise of the level cap to 50. No "full zones" for free.
For perspective, in the same time-frame of City of Heroes opening to 5-6 months in, there were 3 free updates that added 10 new zones, capes, multiple costume slots, costume tailoring, 4-5 new enemy groups. graphics upgrades, renovation and addition of new maps for missions, and oodles of new costume pieces. All for free.
My god, how the mighty have fallen.
Overall opinion, despite Cryptic's claims to the contrary, is that CO has been left fallow and most of the development team was reassigned to Star Trek Online. Leaving CO as the "red-headed step child".
Here are some primers. Amazingly enough, there's been little actual "Flaming" going on at the forums. Most people are posting well thought out responses. Even the "see you later, I'm out of here" posts are polite. But the exodus is relentless.
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99469
The first post in the above thread is probably the quickest overall look at what has happened, but the following threads show other perspectives and opinions as well.
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=98554
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=98958
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99007

I THANK GOD I didn't buy a lifetime subscription. And those of you who might be thinking of buying one for Star Trek Online, you'd better look DAMN LONG AND HARD at what Cryptic did here before even CONSIDERING giving them ONE RED CENT.
When you have hardcore Cryptic Defenders like this leaving the game -
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99636
When the company rep (Daeke) who made the announcement of Vibora Bay being paid content is canned (apparently) for mentioning the part about Vibora being paid content early (and thank GOD he did) -
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99488
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99523
When even the people who organized the Wiki are asking "what's the point of logging on anymore?"
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99525
When lifetime subscribers are saying they feel like they got FUCKED without even being taken out for dinner.
http://forums.champions-online.com/show ... hp?t=99687
I'd say it's time to start the betting pool for when the servers will be shut down.
I've already canceled my subscription. I may check back in another 6 months and see what there is to see.
This is not in any way a shadenfraude moment. I'm genuinely sorry to see this happen. I liked lots of things about CO. I think the game itself would have loads of potential even now in the hands of a developer that gave a shit about it.
I've been a Champions fanboy since being introduced to the 4th edition version of the Pen and Paper game in
1992. I have close to 97% of all paper products they've produced since
that time. If I gathered all the Champions books I own in one place and
stacked them, I think they'd easily go from floor to ceiling and then
some.

I have NEVER seen a company FUBAR an IP like this so badly before.
NEVER. And I worry that the fallout will hurt Hero Games in the
process.

This is a game that has SO MUCH potential. The lore is incredibly deep
(more so if you know the background from the books, like I do).

And it's being left to ROT because of corporate bean counters. To say
that I'm incensed would be to say that Hiroshima was a pretty big
explosion.