The invites had gone out a while ago. Music, food, dancing... it was a party, for no apparent reason other than to throw a party. When the night arrived, it
had begun slowly, but more and more people were steadily trickling in, and by the end of the first hour it had transformed from a friendly gathering to a
full-blown friendly riot. Eva sipped at her punch and watched with a curious grin as several men of the Legendary were dragged, pushed, and otherwise cajoled
into seats in front of the makeshift stage by their respective dance partners. The rest of the crowd formed a respectful half-circle and waited expectantly as
the last notes of the music died away to be replaced by ominous silence.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" boomed Mag Flashlight's voice. "We're going to shift gears a bit here and invite a few of the lovely ladies of
the Legendary to the stage. Gamma Emission! Emerald Blast! Bella Fuego! Space Mage! Come on up!"

There was movement on the darkened stage as the men in the chairs suddenly put two and two together. Terrence and Morgan and Marcus just barely had time to
share panicked glances before the house lights dropped and the music started.

It was a fast, driving beat, with a piano line over the top, and only a few beats before a pencil spot leapt out and nailed the women on the stage. All four
of them began to move forward, slowly, their very presence pressing the men back in their seats.

"Where have all the good men gone, and where are all the gods?" Space sang in a clear, slightly tremulous voice.

"Where's the street-wise Hercules to fight the rising odds?" Gamma and Emerald put in.

"Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed?" Bella added with a hint of fire in her eyes.

"Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need!" they all sang at once. "I need a hero! I'm holding on for a hero 'til
the end of the night... he's gotta be strong and he's gotta be fast and he's gotta be fresh from the fight!"

"... help...." Terrence whimpered as the women stepped off the stage and slowly approached the chairs, still singing along with the fast-paced hit
from the 80's. A part of Terrence's junk-drawer mind identified it as the Bonnie Tyler cut.

"It's every man for himself," Marcus declared in an undertone, making as if to rise, only to be stopped by Space Mage, who reached out with one
hand, placed a finger against his chest, and pushed him effortlessly back down into his chair.

At the back of the room Eva was doubled over in laughter, watching the spectacle. So was half the crowd, truth be told. She glanced over at the sound booth,
where Mag Flashlight worked the mixer board, giant headphones perched on his head while his cigar bobbed in time to the music. Beside him, wearing the same
model of headphone (which looked even MORE ludicrous on her) was Katy Kaboom, working the light board. Mag looked up and caught Eva's eye, and winked.
She drifted over as the song continued. The women were now draping themselves on the poor, tortured souls in the chairs, as the lyrics reached the line
"... Through the wind and the chill and the rain, and the storm and the flood, I can feel his approach like a fire in my blood!"

"What can I do for ya, boss lady?" Mag asked with a grin. Katy waved 'hello' but kept her eyes on her work, though her face showed she was
trying hard not to burst out laughing. "Got a song in mind for your set?"

Eva blinked. "Um, no, not really. What IS all this?"

Mag stepped out of the booth and took Eva by the shoulders, gently turning her to face the stage as the last notes of the song died out and the crowd roared
its approval.

"This, boss," he began quietly, then reached up and flicked his mic on. His voice boomed out of the PA system as Katy recognized her cue and flipped
a large red switch on her panel. "THIS IS THE LEGENDARY KARAOKE DANCE PARTY!"

Above the stage a rippling series of pops sounded as tiny explosive charges went off in quick succession, spewing confetti and streamers into the air and
letting a concealing cloth fall, to reveal a sign drawn in laser light that read "TANNING INVITATIONAL". Mag frowned at it momentarily and raised an
eyebrow at Katy.

"Oops," Katy said, and tapped keys. The sign melted and re-formed: "LEGENDARY KARAOKE DANCE PARTY"

"That's better," Mag muttered. He keyed the mic again. "DJ Mag is in the house! Who's next on the hit parade?"

Boomtown recently got an i13 related interview. Mostly stuff we've heard before, but I thought this portion might be interesting to certain folks:

Quote: Boomtown: The PVP changes in the next issue have received enormous attention and (not unexpectedly) massive criticism from the PVP community. How do
you deal with that sort of "feedback" from a developer viewpoint and possibly even from being a COH fan yourself?




Matt Miller: Issue 13 started off having all sorts of new features tied around PvP, simply because it was a system that we had not put as much attention
towards in the past. When we began to play these new systems, the feedback we got was that none of them were any fun. This was really disappointing, since
they looked good in design. When we drilled down to exactly why they were not fun, we came to the sobering realization that the lack of fun wasn't the
new systems' fault, it was PvP as a whole that was limiting. Certain powersets dominated. Certain ATs were impossible to beat. Certain tactics were fun,
but only for the person employing them. For everyone else these tactics bordered on "frustrating", "annoying", and a plethora of other
words that are antonyms for "fun".




PvP as a whole needed to be fixed. We'd let the current system get into a state where only a small handful of our players actually used it. If we were
really going to invest in these new PvP systems, we needed to get the current PvP game to be accepted and used by more than just that handful of players.
Floyd "Castle" Grubb and his team poured over datamines, made a whole slew of changes to the way powers behaved, and even went so far as to
pre-tackle sticky issues like many-on-one ganking.




As a player of CoH I am excited to see what my Dominator will bring to the table in PvP after Issue 13 goes live. The playtests have been nothing but fun
here in the office, and I hope that the efforts of Castle and his crew can be tried out by people who have been turned off by PvP in the past. I urge
everyone who found PvP in CoH to be frustrating and un-fun to come back and check it out in Issue 13.

There's a thread over on the SJGames Forums titled "2000 MORE Things I Am No Longer Allowed To Do In An RPG"

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=340]This is one of the posts in it.

So, exactly what's wrong with any of those things?

Quote:910: I cannot have a hero who has enough health to survive being hit by a tank.

Quote:916: "For what we do here today...Generations will place us on pedistals, they wil love us and cherish us as the heroes we wish we could be...They will remember...no...They will do more than remember, they will never forget!", "When we die, In Flanders Fields we shall lie with the heroes of another war...", "Let us sell our tomorrows to buy the world a future" or any War poems are not appropriate Battle Cries.

Quote:921: Demonically posessed Ex-WW1 Soldiers are never a Valid Concept in a High Fantasy Alternate history WW2 campaign and the GM will never let me play one again.

Quote:923: Even if we're losing the battle, using a meta-magic artifact to produce a mass area effect version of the true ressurection spell in the middle of flanders fields to ruesserect every person within 30 miles to return and battle one last time is not something the GM wants us to do.

No, this is not the plot of an anime.

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

Epsilon

Princess 1? Not as catchy a title.

ANN: AIC Agrees to Live-Action

Bubblegum Crisis Proposal

Hey, it worked for Sailor Moon...

Edit: I see OpMegs scooped me, but the completely uninformative subject

line he(?) used disguised that fact. Ah, well.
--
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

Stumbled across this on another forum:

AIC agrees to liscense
Live Action BGC

As if this weren't interesting enough, there was an update blurb with the following info added later:

Quote:

AIC's press release indicates that it is working on new animated Bubblegum Crisis plans. It is also planning to sell the live-action film remake rights for its other titles and jointly produce new animated
projects for them.

Well, I'd been threatening to post the ultimate goal I planned to work towards with Sachie, right?

Here she is.

Villain Plan by Mids' Villain Designer 1.4006

http://www.cohplanner.com/

Sachie-RP: Level 50 Natural Brute

Primary Power Set: Super Strength

Secondary Power Set: Willpower

Power Pool: Fitness

Power Pool: Leaping

Power Pool: Fighting

Power Pool: Concealment

Ancillary Pool: Mu Mastery

Villain Profile:

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

Level 1: Jab

(A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(11) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(25) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(43) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

Level 1: High Pain Tolerance

(A) Resist Damage IO: Level 50

(3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50

(3) Resist Damage IO: Level 50

(5) Healing IO: Level 50

(5) Healing IO: Level 50

(7) Healing IO: Level 50

Level 2: Punch

(A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(13) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(15) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(40) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

Level 4: Haymaker

(A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(7) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(15) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(37) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(40) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

Level 6: Swift

(A) Run Speed IO: Level 50

Level 8: Knockout Blow

(A) Hecatomb - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(9) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(9) Hecatomb - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(34) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(39) Hecatomb - Damage: Level 50

(40) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 10: Indomitable Will

(A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

(11) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 12: Combat Jumping

(A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50

(13) Luck of the Gambler - Defense: Level 50

(37) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50

Level 14: Super Jump

(A) Jumping IO: Level 50

Level 16: Health

(A) Healing IO: Level 50

(17) Numina's Convalescence - Heal: Level 50

(17) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery: Level 50

Level 18: Rage

(A) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - Recharge/Endurance: Level 50

(19) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge/Endurance: Level 50

(19) Gaussian's Synchronized Fire-Control - To Hit Buff/Recharge: Level 50

Level 20: Quick Recovery

(A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(21) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50

(21) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50

Level 22: Stamina

(A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(23) Performance Shifter - EndMod: Level 50

(23) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End: Level 50

Level 24: Fast Healing

(A) Healing IO: Level 50

(25) Miracle - Heal: Level 40

(46) Miracle - +Recovery: Level 40

Level 26: Rise to the Challenge

(A) Harmonized Healing - Heal/Endurance: Level 30

(27) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance: Level 30

(27) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance: Level 30

(39) Miracle - Heal/Endurance: Level 30

Level 28: Mind Over Body

(A) Titanium Coating - Endurance: Level 50

(29) Titanium Coating - Resistance: Level 50

(29) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance: Level 50

(39) Titanium Coating - Resistance/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

Level 30: Heightened Senses

(A) Red Fortune - Defense: Level 50

(31) Red Fortune - Endurance: Level 50

(31) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance: Level 50

(31) Red Fortune - Defense/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(37) Luck of the Gambler - Recharge Speed: Level 50

Level 32: Foot Stomp

(A) Armageddon - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(33) Armageddon - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(33) Armageddon - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(34) Armageddon - Damage: Level 50

(34) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

Level 35: Kick

(A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(36) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge: Level 50

(36) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(36) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage: Level 50

Level 38: Grant Invisibility

(A) Defense Buff IO: Level 50

Level 41: Mu Lightning

(A) Apocalypse - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(42) Apocalypse - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(42) Apocalypse - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(43) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(43) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

Level 44: Ball Lightning

(A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(45) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(45) Ragnarok - Damage/Endurance: Level 50

(45) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(46) Ragnarok - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge: Level 50

(46) Ragnarok - Damage/Recharge: Level 50

Level 47: Electrifying Fences

(A) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(48) Endurance Modification IO: Level 50

(48) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Endurance: Level 50

(48) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Recharge: Level 50

(50) Gravitational Anchor - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge: Level 50

(50) Gravitational Anchor - Immobilize/Recharge: Level 50

Level 49: Invisibility

(A) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

(50) Endurance Reduction IO: Level 50

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

Level 1: Brawl

(A) Empty

Level 1: Sprint

(A) Empty

Level 2: Rest

(A) Empty

Level 1: Fury

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

Set Bonus Totals:

18% DamageBuff(Smashing)

18% DamageBuff(Lethal)

18% DamageBuff(Fire)

18% DamageBuff(Cold)

18% DamageBuff(Energy)

18% DamageBuff(Negative)

18% DamageBuff(Toxic)

18% DamageBuff(Psionic)

35% Enhancement(RechargeTime)

60% Enhancement(Accuracy)

15% FlySpeed

185.5 HP (12.4%) HitPoints

15% JumpHeight

15% JumpSpeed

MezResist(Held) 3.3%

MezResist(Immobilize) 15.4%

MezResist(Sleep) 2.2%

MezResist(Stun) 2.2%

18.5% (0.31 End/sec) Recovery

38% (2.38 HP/sec) Regeneration

11.3% Resistance(Fire)

11.3% Resistance(Cold)

15% RunSpeed

| Copy & Paste this data into Mids' Hero Designer to view the build |
|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
<<< Damaged by Crapatalk >>>
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

I did want to finish this off in one issue, but I added some ninjas, and wrote some epilogs... One more should do it.

The two genin are making their second appearance, they appeared in a previous issue as part of a Infamous panel, and they are back. They don't have
names as of yet (Fox, your call). Lady Nogitsune has many genin to serve her needs, some are more capable than others... These two are on the low side of the
ninja competence scale...

I was heading towards a comic that I could call safe for work, then I threw a pin-up at the end. An illustration from one of the Legendary stories I wrote
some years ago.

So much for being safe for work.

The whole comic can be dowloaded from

http://www.whatsupdark.com/3.html

(the handsome boy on the whatsupdark logo is none other than Bolo (His registered name - And Now they must prove themselves worthy to remain among us -
Bolo!)

Who is in effective charge of the Infamous group? Or perhaps, who among the ranks would have the resources, clout, and chutzpah to portray being in charge and
pull it off successfully?

I can see Nogitsune, for one; possibly Mother Meyai (sp?) as well. Who else? I don't _know_ that many of the Infamous; it's making it hard to get a
handle on someone.

I'm strongly leaning towards Nogi at this point, but I'm open for ideas -- and for all I know, Nogi may have some reasons why she _wouldn't_ strike
against the Legendary.

(Working on a story, need a villainous foil.)

--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs

My mother's gotten a new computer (Vista, if you're curious), and I'm setting up her anti-virus, spam, and adware protections. Is the firewall that
comes with Vista good enough to sit alone, or should I download and install another one?

Steve Mann