Today, I have discover that in February 2008, ADV decided to cease publication of one of my favorite magazines, Newtype USA. It replaced it with something
slightly different called PiQ which expanded their coverage of Anime, Manga, and other Japanese goodness to include the American equivilant. As expected, the
reception was luke-warm and PiQ itself is no longer in publication.

So, that said, can anyone recomend a good publication that covers Anime, Manga, and other Japanese goodness? It'd be easier for me to keep track living
here in Japan, except I can't read Japanese.

This...needs some explaining.

I was working on the Hero Sandwich picture, getting increasingly frustrated with redrawing Terry's arm. I think it works now, actually - but at
the time I was like, BUGGER THIS, I need to stop and draw something else.

Earlier today, MicroShade talked to me about drawin' his VEATs. I met him in a well-lit area of my choice, and got screencaps.

Now...for a while, I've been thinking that with a sufficiently good screenshot, I can dispense with about half my usual work process. I don't
need references. I can just blow the screenshots up and sketch over them. Granted, this would demand a final image of higher detail level, but given
I'm not penciling as much, that's not a problem.

The thing is...I'd need really really good screenshots. So to do this, I'd probably need to specifically screencap someone else's character - with
the detail settings I want, in approximately the pose I require. Not the exact perfect pose - I mean, there's only so much emotes can do
- but close enough. Should be possible, right?

So as of this afternoon, I had suitable screenshots banked. So I thought...eh, what the heck, worth a go as a break from the main work, right?

Yeah...well...ideas, y'know, they...get out of hand.

Lady Spiders - WIP



Original screenshot's there for comparison. As you can see from the partially coloured Bane Spider (Arachnia Tormentia), it's not a direct imitation of
the screenshot...but you can see where the basic figure work comes from. I obviously took the screenshot as a guide for the main body and basic angle...then
winged it for the arms, mace, hair, and so on.

This is probably cheating, but the dudes who do the Ultimates for Marvel use a similar technique with photographs, so pardon if I don't feel
guilty. =P

Thoughts? Is this good? Bad? Ugly? Cheapass? What do you think?

EDIT: I should note that the screencap I did is zoomed it; the final image will be full-body for the two and partial body for a third figure, unless I change
my plans.
-- Acyl

John McCain chooses Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running mate.

--The Twisted One

Some have expressed an interest from time to time in the texture and sound mods I've mentioned that I've made to my City of Heroes client. Well I
finally got around to compressing the entire thing and uploading it.

Here ya go.

http://tinyurl.com/5qu2pm

This is a rather large file. 77mb zipped.

Some of the things it contains:

-- The Latest version of the map upgrades from Vidiotmaps.com.

-- Sound mods for Pocket D. replacing the music in there.

-- Sound mods for the Openings of City of Heroes/City of Villains

--Sound mods that remove some of the annoying hums of powers (superspeed and a couple of the more annoying forcefields)

--Sound mods for female "jumping grunts". (If you're curious what I replaced them with - some sound files of Helena from DOA2 I had access to)

--"Classical Art" replacements for all the generic art you see in bases and mission maps. You'll see LOTS of interesting stuff, including the
Mona Lisa!

--Some costume mods ((WARNING. One of these is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. It changes the "Eden" and "Bikini 3" patterns so that you can make a
"nude" toon. Included for completeness sake, and because I KNOW Jackie Frost wants it. ^_^)) Check out the Emblem mods, there's a Superman and
Batman symbol in there! Plus a good "United Nations Laurel".

Also - if you want to do your own mods for the opening screenshots and music (and the music for Pocket D), I REALLY recommend the following program:

City of Heroes Splasher

Check it out.

Here you go Discord, hope the lighting on these is ok.


-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

So, what initally started out as a joke trailer caused by my muse being altogether overactive, this idea has mutated into a full plot.

A plot whose cast is limited by my exposure to the greater Legendary and Infamous, though.

So basically, I'm putting out an open "Casting Call" to any members of either group. The final battle will be cameo heavy, and(especially in the
Infamous) other parts may have characters mixed in as they dovetail into the plot.

What I'm looking for are "pocket summaries". Example from one of my characters:

Quote:

Inyme W'tin




Rikti infiltrator from the Restructurist faction, Inyme's been looking to avenge the attack on her people(and her mother's death) all her life. But
as she spends more time with her teammates and humanity in general, she's been having doubts about her purpose. Or maybe it's her growing
relationship with fellow teammate, Purrfect Archer.




- Generally taciturn, heavily concerned with personal secrecy


- Cut off from Rikti mindnet, resulting in extreme loneliness, but paranoia regarding other telepaths keeps her holding most that could alleviate it at
arm's length.


- Primary friendships are with Alice, though she's not exactly unfriendly to others. Just distant.


- Extremely paranoid around other telepaths that could unmask her.


- Has a considerable grudge against Positron given his Nemesis Automaton duplicate was responsible for her mother's death

I just started a thread over on the SJGames forums about lyrics to quote in a

Superior's writeup, providing some examples. (Yes, of course I included Joni Mitchell's Woodstock as a song for Novalis... but I also included

Avenue Q's We Are All a Little Bit Racist as a song for Malphas. And I decided to give The Doors' Light My Fire to Gabriel.)

Any other ideas, from folks who don't have accounts over on that forum? (I trust folks who do have accounts over there will post directly to that

thread...)

Edit: How in the world did I miss including Run With Us as a song for Janus in the original post? I must be getting forgetful in my middle

age...

(Re-edit: Why the expleted-deleted is Yuku adding extra line-breaks and whitespace to this post, and why can't I get rid of it, no matter what I

try? Aargh...)
--
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

Wire:

Here is the build I am currently using for Emet. This gives the Level at which I took each power, then the number of slots I have in it (at level 50) and the
Enhancements in it. All Enhancements are level 50, and all non-set Enhancement listed is assumed a generic IO

Archetype: Tanker

Primary: Stone Armor

Secondary: Super Strength

+---------------------------------------------+

01 => Jab- 3: Recharge, Mocking Beratement: Taunt/Recharge, Mocking Beratement: Recharge

01 => Rock Armor- 2: Luck of the Gambler End.Red./Recharge Luck of the Gambler Defense/Recharge

02 => Punch- 4: End.Red., (2)Accuracy, Recharge

04 => Haymaker- 4: End.Red., (2)Accuracy, Recharge

06 => Mud Pots- 6: (3) End.Red., Armageddon: Chance for Fire Damage, Scirocco's Dervish: Chance for Lethal Damage, Scirocco's Dervish:
Damage/End.Red.

08 => Rooted- 5: Heal, Numina's Convalescence: Heal, Numina's Convalescence: Heal/End.Red., Numina's Convalescence: Heal/Recharge, Numina's
Convalescence: End.Red./Recharge

10 => Recall Friend- 2 Jaunt: End.Red./Range, Jaunt: Range

12 => Stone Skin- 4: Resist, Impervium Armor: +Psionic Resistance, Aegis: Resist, Aegis: Psionic/Status Resistance

14 => Teleport- Time&Space Manipulation: End.Red Time&Space Manipulation: Range

16 => Swift- 3: (3)Run Speed

18 => Health- 6: (3)Heal, Numina's Convalesence: +Regeneration/Recovery, Numina's Convalesence: Heal, Numina's Convalesence: Heal/Recharge

20 => Stamina- 4: (3) End.Mod. Performance Shifter: Chance for +Endurance

22 => Brimstone Armor- 2: (2)Resist

24 => Crystal Armor- 2: Luck of the Gambler: +7.5% Recharge, Luck of the Gambler: Defense/Recharge

26 => Taunt- 3: Perfect Zinger: Taunt, Perfect Zinger: Taunt/Recharge, Perfect Zinger: Chance for Psionic Damage

28 => Rage- 6: (3)Recharge, (3)To-Hit Buff

30 => Knockout Blow- 6: Hecatomb: Damage, Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge, Hecatomb: Damage/Recharge/Accuracy, Hecatomb: Recharge/Accuracy, Hecatomb:
Damage/Endurance

32 => Granite Armor- 6: (3)Defense, (3)Resist

35 => Earth's Embrace- 5: (3)Heal, (2)Recharge

38 => Foot Stomp- 6: (2)End.Red., (2)Accuracy, Recharge, Damage

41 => Hurl- 4: Devistation: Damage/End.Red. Devistation: Damage/Recharge, Apocalypse: Recharge/Accuracy, Apocalypse: Damage

44 => Minerals- 4: (3)Defense, End.Red.

47 => Stone Prison- 1: Recharge

49 => Fossilize- 1: Recharge
---

The Master said: "It is all in vain! I have never yet seen a man who can perceive his own faults and bring the charge home against himself."

>Analects: Book V, Chaper XXVI

How did you Soft Cap S/L?

Quote:The approach I took was Combat Jumping, Tough with a Steadfast
Protection unique, Weave, Maneuvers and all defense from my secondary.
Then I just slotted everything up with SOs, and poof, soft cap. I was
too lazy to try to put together any sets. Working on that now that I'm
50.

http://www.agdinteractive.com/homepage/homepage.html

Quest for Glory II - for windows!

this is going on my flash drive tonight..
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies