Black Wolf Corps is a love letter to the Shinsengumi, to the Mecha genre, and to the pure unadulterated awesome of swordfight series like Rurouni Kenshin
(/highlyrecommended) and Peace Maker (also recommended). I haven't written any actual -fiction- in ages, so bear with me while I try to find my voice
again.

A brief translation guide - Jinzouningen: Cyborg/Robot [here, it refers to the Mecha themselves]. Okita Sanshiro is the name of the grandfather of Okita Soji -
the captain of the 1st squad of the Shinsengumi. Saito Hajime is the name of the third captain - Katsura Saito is not not descended from Hajime, but he is
named after the legendary captain, whose 'left-handed thrust' was his specialty.

Modern Samurai Legend: Black Wolf Corps

The year is 2012. Developments in the arms race yield the discovery of force-shield technology by English scientist Michael
Rosenkrantz. The Rosenkrantz Defense Barrier becomes the European Alliance's secret weapon.

To counter the European Alliance and prepare for war, Japan creates ten massive war
machines, the Jinzouningen. Armed with microfilament barrier-breaking weapons, the jinzouningen are stationed around Tokyo City, and given to the ten
highest-scoring pilots. Now, the world watches, anticipation and fear growing as war's dark shadow threatens to engulf the future. The only hope lies in
the ten Jinzouningen and their supporting vehicles...in the Black Wolf
Corps!

Katsura Saito was late.

It wasn't really his fault - traffic was horrible
at this time of day, the trains were overcrowded, and his apartment was about an hour away on foot - but he doubted the commander would be lenient over that
fact. Especially on the first day of reserve duty.

As he skidded around the corner, Saito flipped up his
phone. If he hurried, he'd get there in five minutes, and maybe the commander wouldn't notice his error.

Of course, in his haste, he neglected to look around
the corner first. The woman threw up her hands as they collided, and Saito's eyes widened as his phone slipped out of his hand and his feet from the
ground.

"Ow ow ow ow ow!" He muttered, rubbing his
forehead. "Watch where you're going!"

"I could say the same to you, idiot!" The
woman countered, sticking her tongue out as she picked herself up off the ground. She brushed her deep black ponytail over her shoulder and stuck out her
tongue again as he got up. "It's rude to run into people, you know!"

What a stupid thing to say, Saito thought as his hand clenched around his phone. "Then you're rude,
too!"

"You were the one
running!"

"So were you!"

Saito flipped his phone back up. The delay had already
cost him a whole minute; he scrambled to his feet. "I don't have time for this!" He shouted as he dodged around the woman. He heard her shriek of
'moron!' - among other things - as he ran for dear job, boots clunking against the ground.

"Katsura Saito, reporting for duty!" Saito
saluted as he ran through the doors of the Black Wolf Corps' barracks. The receptionist looked up at him, barely catching a glimpse of his ID card and the
distinctive widow's peak of his face as he passed.

"Have a nice...day..." She managed - a bit
too late. The turnstyle bypassed with a leap and a flash of his card, Saito was already halfway down the hall.

"The Black Wolf Corps is the largest defensive
army in Japan. Organized by the government, Black Wolf Corps' one and only duty is the defense of the capitol."

Saito ducked into the lecture, taking his place in the
back row. Crossing his fingers as he slid his ID card back into his pocket, he closed his eyes, praying the Commander hadn't
noticed.

"Captain Katsura Saito." The clear, crisp
voice of the Commander rang out in the hall, and all eyes turned to stare at the latecomer captain. "How good of you to arrive so
punctually."

"Just...doing my job, sir?" Saito replied,
breaking into a sheepish grin and hoping against hope that it was convincing enough to fool the commander and distract from the sweat on his
brow.

"Next time, Captain Katsura, you should leave
earlier. Traffic is terrible." The commander stepped forward, and the ranks opened for him in unison. A visually imposing man, Commander Hijito's tall
form was punctuated by his slim, stern, and altogether sharp face, and Saito involuntarily swallowed as the clean-cut man reached him. Hijito tilted forward
just a bit, narrowing his eyes to slits.

"I'll...I'll remember that, Commander,
sir." Saito finally managed. "Five minutes earlier."

"Ten." Hijito replied, "I want you here
five minutes ahead of schedule every day this week, Captain Katsura."

"Sir, yes sir!" Saito snapped, clicking his
heels together and saluting. "I will make certain to arrive five minutes ahead of schedule every day this week, sir!"

"Very good." Hijito turned and headed back
up the ranks, taking his place at the head of the lecture. Saito's sigh was barely noticeable as the ranks closed once again, and he mopped some of the
sweat off his brow. Narrowly escaping discharge wasn't something he hoped to be doing again.

Saito filed out of the lecture as Commander Hijito
dismissed the group.

"I've never seen anybody actually
sweat staring down the commander!" Someone said from behind him. He whirled to meet the source of the voice, and found himself staring at a
soldier who could only be called a boy. Maybe eighteen, a slim face framed by long hair, and a cheery smile that nearly threw Saito
completely off-guard, the boy reached around and patted Saito on the back. "C'mon, keep walking - if you stand around like that, you'll get in the
way, and then you'll wind up talking to the Commander again."

"You make it sound like a punishment." Saito
said after a moment, taking the boy's advice and heading down the hallway before the rest of the units left.

"You made it look like a punishment," the
boy replied, still far too cheery and chipper for his own good. "I'm Sanshiro."

"Katsura Saito," Saito answered, holding out
his hand. Sanshiro shook it briskly.

"So I heard," he noted, "So you're
a captain, too? Which unit are you in?"

Saito dug out his ID card, turning it over. There,
under his name and beside his slim-featured face (a poor picture of it, too - it always turned out that way), was his rank.

"Third," he responded, "Wait,
too?"

"You didn't read your briefing packets, did
you?" Sanshiro inquired, looking up at Saito. Saito shook his head.

"No, I didn't have time this morning. They
let a kid into the military at such a high rank?"

"I'm Kensen Sanshiro, Captain of the First Unit. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice...to meet you too..." Saito
managed.

"Hey...you wanna see 'em?" Sanshiro
asked after a moment, flicking his eyes down an adjacent hall. Saito turned his head to follow Sanshiro's gaze.

The huge double-doors marked 'Hangar' met his
eyes, and Saito stopped in his tracks. Sanshiro glanced up at him before turning and heading towards the doors.

"Guess that's a yes!" He
chirped.

"Hey, wait a minute! Won't we get in trouble
with-"

"The commander?" Sanshiro intercepted,
"I doubt it. We're going to be piloting these things, after all. It'll be nice to get a look at them, right?"

"I guess," Saito conceded. Truth be told, he
was anxious to see the real jinzouningen for himself, and Sanshiro didn't seem to be worried about any consequences anyway. Besides, if they got in
trouble, they'd be able to stand together, and better together than alone. He turned and headed down after Sanshiro, meeting him as the double-doors
opened.

There they were. Ten massive black machines, massive
metal men awaiting their fleshy counterparts to join them in battle. Each one was detailed with a blue shoulder-shield, over which a black wolf insignia was
proudly emblazoned, and each of the jinzouningen stood bearing these crests with the dignity befitting Japan's great weapons. Saito's eyes roamed over
the machines, taking in each detail, each facet of their armor, each weak point of their joints, each partially-concealed weapon.

"They're pretty cool, aren't they?"
Sanshiro's voice brought him crashing back into himself. "Which one is yours?"

Saito looked over the machines once more before
pointing at the third from the left. The barrier-breaker weapon gleamed just beneath its arm, ready to fall from its hidden sheath into the left hand - his
best hand. Just under the wolf-crest was painted '03' in brilliant white, but even without it, he'd noticed the signs. It was ready for him.
Sanshiki - his jinzouningen - Katsura Saito's!

Hey, Sweno, if you have a handy moment, I was wondering if I could get a look at Clank's build? Screenshots of the enhancement tray screen are really all I
need as I'm looking primarily at power choice. Since Fox's redside farm seems to be getting off the ground, Largo may end up being one of my first
characters built with an eye towards long term, rather than short term, effectiveness in his powers. And while I have a basic image of what he's gonna end
up like, Clank's build is so similar to what I'm looking at doing(only major exceptions I can see are possibly going Scirocco instead of Scorpion for
P3), that I figure it'd help my long term planning.

No rush on this, as Largo has a long, hard slog to 50 and his destined confrontation with Terrence.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Grant Morrison's concepts for
Japanese superteams in Final Crisis

I....I'm not even Japanese and *I'm* offended by these.

That said, the supergenius genki girl who made a freaking warsuit with power-hammers in her spare time to go fight evildoers is actually quite charming. I can
only conclude that Morrisson stumbled onto an actual Japanese hero concept by pure accident.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

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