Newest Eyrie

[Black Aeronaut]

Kaname Chidori Sterling.

*Goes absolutely ape-shit with glee.*

[RomanFanboy]

DSM Panic 2.5 and 3 up. Haven't read them yet, but I enjoy EPU much, and am a big FMP buff. I thought 1 and 2 were great. I nearly joined the EPU forum to say so, and I've been refreshing fairly constantly waiting for the update, so, that is as big an recommendation as I can give.
Edit: Read the new stories, and think they are excellent.
Edit again for excerpts from a bigger piece that I cut down on account of lack of time.
Edited yet again because date issues appear resolved.
Has anyone else put together the home area of Sagara's firm with Maia's description, current location and project, and the Lensman's physical description and assignment, and come out with some of Sagara's canon known associates?

[Proginoskes]

*looks at RomanFanboy's post count*

Welcome to the fora, RF!

[s3yang]

In other news, Phil's got a new mini-story series running on the forums starring one Kaname Chidori Sterling.

With Mai-Hime cameos no less.

[RomanFanboy]

Anyway, new mini-story. This isn't DSM Panic, but it is related, and should be welcome to those who have been rereading chunks of UF to make sure they weren't missing anything in DSM panic.

There has been updates of supporting documentation for DSM Panic in the featured documents section.

For DSM Panic, I think the 'Oh, it has cast from FMP and Mai-Hime with powers and personalities intact or improved' severely understates the potential. Consider the usual m.o. of the EPU creative team, the creator comments that Mai-Hime's festival hasn't been imported, and that UF:FI does not have the USSR or any significantly close cognate. I am excited and glad to see a plausible FMP fic that can have a happy ending. I also like that the Mai-Hime cast may have a less tragic middle. I may be a Cold War fan, and enjoy the Cold War aspects of FMP, including understanding the MITHRIL/Amalgam conflict as another of the many USA/USSR proxy wars, but I have trouble seeing how the main couple can have anything but a bleak future without resetting the timeline to normal back in, IIRC, 1984. Not so in DSM Panic.

[RomanFanboy]

Awesome. DSM panic 4 up.

[RomanFanboy]

I think it is excellent. Will reread much more later.

[ECSNorway]

*collapses in ROFL land*

Spoiler

"The visual aids we had planned on were somewhat... smaller scale."

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[OpMegs]

I find myself of two minds regarding this piece.

On the one hand, it's genuinely entertaining and I'm laughing at the jokes, references, and what have you all over the place.

On the other, I'm kind of waiting for the get up and go to get up and go. The FMP overhaul here is fairly obvious, but given I'm rewatching FMP on my household's anime night at the moment, what this appears to be missing is really a mention of the overall plot. Thus far we have....crazy but well-meaning mercenary guy is guarding Kaname...but no idea why. The lack of an outside context makes me continue waiting for the respective "other shoe" to drop that makes Sousuke's presence necessary.

Then again, having hit equilibrium with Sousuke, it's entirely likely that the next chapter will be a school trip of some kind that is derailed by terrorists.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

[ECSNorway]

That would be my expectation as well. This is the bit that turned me off about the first couple of eps of FMP, the crazy school hijinx with Sosuke ludicrously overreacting to stuff (blowing up the shoe locker, for example).

The Eyrie crew have managed to handle that a lot better, IMO, and kept things on a bit more even keel.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[RomanFanboy]

I concur on the funny.  I prefer FMP's Drama to its comedy.  (I found parts of Fumofu
difficult to handle, and skipped some of it.)  I found that comedy and drama were well
integrated in this last story, to the point that laughter overcame my rage at the people
who were holding an obnoxiously loud conversation that had been hampering my ability to
read the story.  
My favorite bit is

Spoiler

an outstandingly accurate and reliable main gun, though the
power train can be temperamental if not meticulously maintained

and

Spoiler

"OH DAMN AND BLAST," Clarkson not-really-replied, and May rolled his eyes,
wondering how his colleague had managed to disable one of the galaxy's most reliable
autocannons.

where

Spoiler

Clarkson screws up a soldier resistant gun, while
May doesn't have problems at all with the delicate power train.

As far as mission five goes, four (Feb 2) seems pretty clear that there won't be any
breaks from classes until sanity week, which seems the best bet for class trips.  
Checking against the academic calender suggests that they won't skip covering
valentine's day, thus suggesting no class trips until after the next mission.  Of
course, now I realise that I don't know anything about highschool trips, to what degree
classes interfere, or how flexible people are. 

Spoiler

  That said, comparing the
Japanese Christmas with the American Valentine's suggests they may repurpose the
christmas cruise liner episode (in the storytelling not the TV sense) for the next
mission.

As for the issue of the threat, well the latest chapter made me think that the Red force
could 1) Send in something that will set off Sagara, due to looking like a threat. 2)
Wait for Sterling to show up to shout him down. 3)  Detonate the nuke concealed in the
threat.  The main problems with this are that a nuke might not be enough to take out
Sterling, and that the hypothetical Red force might have an intent more along the line
of canon's 'abduct, torture, mind-rape'.
We don't yet actually know that there is a Red force in DSM.  In canon, we knew from the
start that they existed because of the girl that they'd kidnapped and hurt badly that
the Blue force recovers.  We also knew something about Sosuke and the Blue force by this
point also.  In DSM panic, for all we know, some rich fellow hired Sosuke for some crazy
and ultimately harmless purpose.  I honestly think there aren't many choices they could
make in terms of opposition or lack thereof that could harm the story without grafting
the USSR onto UF:FI.
An alternative model based on a theory of mine that I hinted at before, that

Spoiler

while Mao and Weber have been inserted elsewhere in the EPU, Maia looks a
little like Mao, and Buck's description could match that of Weber, so it might make
sense for them to be undercover as associates of Sagara's.  (As in, Buck and Maia's
cover IDs have become associates with Sagara, not that they are using Mao and Weber.)  
If so, if both are undercover in the Corp Sector in the Rhodos group, and the job is
ending soon, there might be a reason to protect K.C. Sterling that would compromise the
mission to follow up on any other way.

  This of course raises the possibility
that

Spoiler

Sagara has been assigned to protect Sterling, because Buck and Maia want
him clear of whatever is going down.  So, K. C. Sterling may be actually meant to
protect and watch over Sagara, and not vice versa.

Additional notions which have spoilers for both DSM panic and FMP.

Spoiler

"... he was raised by wolves,"
I note that this cannot be the proper explanation.  After all, Romulus was also raised
by wolves, and he turned out fine.  (Of course, this forces me to add 'Sosuke is really
a son of Mars, and mothered by a wolf' to my list of plot bunnies.)

Canon's Sosuke's problem is the

Spoiler

Soviet child assassin program he went through,
followed by spending more time in a military camp run by his first target under the
guardianship of a Soviet national who may not have been trying to get him to socialize
normally, and then following the same soviet national into another black operation.  In
short, raised by Soviets.  The joke is that it isn't 'why is he so messed up' it is 'Why
isn't he as bad off as Hansel and Gretal?'  The other set of jokes is that the Helmadj
or whatever are probably Pathan cognates, so shouldn't Sosuke have acculturated to
Man-Love Thursdays and Pathan standards of gender relations?

Spoiler

Sosuke raised a hand and rubbed the top of his head. "That actually hurt," he
said in a tone of mild surprise.

I'm begining to think that not only is Sterling scarier than canon Kaname, but the same
process has been applied to Sagara.  I wouldn't have thought that he would need it, but
this line suggests pain insensitivity to me, which suggests that he has weird things
going on with him biologically.  Combine with the canon 'child assassin program' stuff
and all of the weird stuff the EPU has going on...

Spoiler

Lindsey snorted unsympathetically. "Come on, you're lovin' this," she chided
her friend. "Normal girls run the risk of getting abusive boyfriends. Not Kaname
Sterling! That crap is bush-league. You get crazy mercenaries."

Or maybe Sterling is the abusive girlfriend?

RomanFanboy, Wall of Text that walks like a fool.

[mephron]

All I'm going to say about Sosuke's mission is to let you guys think about people who might be problematic towards people at or around DSM who have red as a significant color of uniform or hair.

Also, we have a hilarious bit to show up at Parents' Weekend involving a lovely young girl and her feuding parents.

Also, for those that remember the post-DoI story "Battery Park", Gryph and I were chatting and it kind of mutated now into a trilogy.  The second part, Liberty Island, is at http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum- ... 4/106.html for your reading pleasure.

(Part 3 is 3/4s done.)Brazil has decided you're cute.

[RomanFanboy]

Eyrie updates the short stories again, but the New York series, not the FMP.

As for villains, Miria would fit the criteria, technically, and her creating a terrorist organization for the purpose of mildly messing with her family would be the funniest option.

As far as the hijacking incident goes, Cardassia would seem a good fit, given that Cardassia/Bajor could work as cognates for North Korea/Japan, even if the Cardassians seem much better off. However, I don't know of any red Cardassians. I think there are Bajorans who wear red.

Omega Red and Xavier's?

[RomanFanboy]

Whelp, they've also put up a mini about the origin of a certain character, not that the basic idea of the origin of said wasn't fairly obvious when mention showed up in the FMP supplemental material. (The one character must be derived from another, and the other has some known issues that preclude normal methods.) That said, I haven't the knowledge of the fictional source to predict the specifics, so now we know for sure.

The reason I'm fairly sure Char isn't going to show up is that UF canon had those events happen much earlier in the timeline.

[RomanFanboy]

New mini.  Eyrie's usual quality.  On the negative side, it is not a FMP.  On the positive side, no Nazis.

[s3yang]

There's another new Mini. Pretty awesome. Though nothing to do with the other recent Minis.
http://www.eyrie-producti...24&viewmode=threaded

[ECSNorway]

Yeah, that was pretty awesome.

Spoiler

This above Hulk's pay grade.

--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[Wiregeek]

how do they manage to put freaking weapons grade "d'awww" in a story that is centered around _hulk smash!?_.

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

[Ebony]

how do they manage to put freaking weapons grade "d'awww" in a story that is centered around _hulk smash!?_.

those Eyrie folks are just amazing..

Because the Hulk is one of the original Woobies. To say nothing of Bruce Banner being Marvel's Whipping Boy (a position that he shares with Reed Richards and used to share with Tony Stark). Neither the Hulk nor Banner have had anything resembling a happy ending for any period longer than about six months.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[Acyl]

Because the Hulk is one of the original Woobies. To say nothing of Bruce Banner being Marvel's Whipping Boy (a position that he shares with Reed Richards and used to share with Tony Stark). Neither the Hulk nor Banner have had anything resembling a happy ending for any period longer than about six months.

'No happy ending' is kinda par for the course for mainstream comic book characters. The continuing nature of the medium means even the happiest married superhero is gonna have some sort of curveball in their life eventually. There can't be a happy ending when stuff keeps happening.
And the superhero genre is rooted in constant retellings and reboots of the characters. Even if the 'prime' version of the superhero has a happily-ever-after, you can be damn sure there's gonna be another comic, movie, cartoon...where they're back to square one.
This is especially true for the Hulk, since the core narrative theme is a tragic one. Banner always struggles and fails to come to terms with the raging beast within. And the Hulk? The Hulk is angry and lashing out at the world. So Banner can never accept the Hulk, and the Hulk can never be at peace.
The Eyrie folks, as fanfiction writers, are not under such constraints. And as such the latest story is satisfying. It's pleasing because it's everything a canon Hulk story cannot afford to be.
-- Acyl

[Black Aeronaut]

I think that what makes Eyrie so successful at this is that rather than have to rely on internal struggles of individual characters for good stories (although this is not to say that it isn't present - it's just used solely as good character development) they instead rely on the latest Big Bads imported from other works of fiction to drive the continuing plot onwards. There is no shortage of Alien Space Bats in Eyrie-verse simply because for every Hero they've imported (or outright converted from the Other Side - Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker anyone?) there is an appropriately proportional amount of Villains imported as well. Best of all, the villains all range from the vaguest of antiheroes to the most vile and evil of Chaotic Evil.

[Logan Darklighter]

I agree with all of the above (especially the "how did we get so much D'AWWW in a story with so much SMASH" bit). 

I just have one small thing to add: 

For the first time in his life, Robert Bruce Banner embraced that sensation with all his heart.
They're all yours, big guy, he thought.
Thank you, Banner, the Hulk's voice replied. Hulk going to enjoy this.
...
...
/* Quiet Riot
"Bang Your Head (Metal Health)"
Metal Health (1983) */

Oh!

HELL!! 

YEAH!!!

Also: 

"This above Hulk's pay grade," he muttered

... that was PERFECT. XD

[Star Ranger4]

Anyone have a contact for Gryphon that doesnt go through Rei (the EPU server)? Cause I've been getting DNS errors for the past 2-3 days now. Kinda worried there might be a problem there but I personally dont have any way to contact him that doesnt involve the EPU site...
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[nocarename]

News from away!TL;DR Snowstorm ate the DNS, steps have been taken but this will only stop this from happening again, not fix them now.

[Star Ranger4]

*facepalm* Oh. Didnt even occur to me that it mighta been something like that.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children