All in all, my life isn't that entertaining right now. You? Christmas was very low key. I got to see my niece for the first tiem though, ewhich was great. And I stayed in for New Years, but at least this time I was awake tfor it. She's newly arrived, I take it. She's almost 5 months My own children are far too old now. My daughter is twelve next week but one. That's the age of my students. I had to go to the parents evening yesterday to meet Rhiannon's teachers. They all look around 12 years old too. Her teachers? Yes. Well, all except the science teacher, who was 180. he was one of only two teachers who didn't give her a top grade for effort. I asked him why and he said she was coasting. What did your daughter say? She'd got the highest marks in the year for science, however, so that speaks well of her abilities. *** Messenger8046 (~Applet@3983AC80122D3.chatzone.de) has joined. Good evening. Howdy Hello Hey shrike Whats happening? The pupils here are graded seperately for ability and effort Discussing school I'm explaining about going to a parent's evening at school. ah It's not a very interesting story. Well, I'll be lurking here for a while. I'm switching between here and writing the first part of my story. The other subject my daughter didn't get a top mark for effort on was "food technology". The one you talked about on the board? Jolly good. Proceed. Yes Food technology? Is that like cooking? make is specially good, because Josh has just set the "final story" bar pretty high. Yes, but cokkery is apparently a non-PC word now. lol. I'll try my best the first chapter is mostly set-up Here in the US we call it Family and Consumer Science Looking forward to reading it Anyway, I can understand why Rhiannon didn't really feel she wanted to make an effort in it. Anyway, she basically got the UK equivalent of straight A's academically, so if she doesn't want to put any more effort in I'm pretty much okay with that. Fair enough. So, onto writing out Messenger. Who's the big baddie? Ah well, onto other plot consultations then. KS, have you p,ans for Epitome meeting the Eminence? plans Not off the top of my head. Jolly good. I'll find a way to work that in then, all the while retaining the Eminence's secret ID For once there's a top-level conspiracy out there intending to do some good. Good. I really don't even know what side Epitome would take in the whole 1066 thing. I figure him to be old-style Republican, looking to minimise big government in citizens' lives on something like this. If he's against gun control he's against SR1066. Sorry... I was away. There's a couple big baddies. Makes sense. I'm just curious to see how what kind of sides there are going to be in the story. But the biggest one is himself. Me too. But it seems to have provoked a fair bit of consideration and correspondence already. Messy: Isn't that always the case? This time I'm speaking very literally. Are you going to deal with the kid who became Messenger for a while? *** AIH (~Applet@2DB3807A1E9841.chatzone.de) has joined. No. Unfortunately, he's not in it. Hello. So he's fodder for whoever wants him Hello Howdy Noted. Hello. I tried 'An Interested Historian', but apparently that was an error. I've deliberately not raised the SR1066 debate on the board yet because I'm trying to pace response. Fair enough. Your work has been very excellent and original. Have you posted before under a different name? *** killer_shrike has left.( Need a chat for your website? www.chatzone.de ) Yes. Well, your comprehensive knowledge of the Parodyverse did suggest that. *** killer_shrike (~Applet@E74535D39ECBF4.chatzone.de) has joined. Welcome back. Sorry Would you prefer to remain anunymous for the time being, or should we keep probing? I also have an ability to scan through your Who's Who very quickly when I get stuck too. So has AIH revealed his true identity yet, if he indeed has one? I very badly need to update that, if only I had the time. You missed hearing that AIH has posted before under a different name. I do have a "true" identity, though it's something of a "dead duck" at the moment. I know! After my Parody Comics history, I shall post a story that should reveal my true ID. You used to be Dead-Duck Man! My best guess was that you were Niobe. Avenger of dead ducks everywhere! Well, the stuff s/he is writing now is tremendously good. I am excellent at deciphering teh clues! :-P I do want to apologize for using your real name without asking for permission, however. It' It's not a problem. my main problem with that name is that it's also the name of an SF writer and a screenplayer writer. Hence every time I submit work editors get very excited until they work out I'm not him. There was an Ian Watson involved in "Farscape", as I recall. How about using Ioaldaboth Winkleweald, instead? :) Ok im off for a bit to eat. My story should be done late tonight Jolly good. Proceed. Enjoy your meal *** Messenger8046 has left.( Need a chat for your website? www.chatzone.de ) The only published work I have apart from business-related stuff was all written as a ghost-writer for others, so I'm contractually obliged not to claim credit for it. So Shrike, how long is "Strong Suit" going to run? And what will the status of the Epitome/Hallie relationship be thereafter? I have been keeping an eye on all of your stories, and must admit to enjoying the Parody Christmas round robin also. 3-4 more chapters, I think. I'm actually stalling because when I get to the Vegas part I want to have some good bits on the city I really only threw together a chapter because I'd promised Al. As for the relationship: it will be over. Which will make most people happy. It's a great story and I wouldn't want to rush it, but then again I intend to use Katarina in the next Untold Tales arc, so the relationship stuff is relevant. Especially Nixon. Nixon doesn't approve of Hallie? I don't think he would approve of any relations. Nixon was a bit of a fuddy duddy, yes. The next xhapter should clear the decks for whatever you have planned, Ian, and that should be up by Sunday. I'll need to check with Sarah over a couple of plot twists, but I'm already planning the way Epitome gets motivated re SR1066. So is Sarah goign to become a mod? I don't know. She promised, but she's a bit concerned that it might upset Jason. In what way? She feels he's a bit reluctant, and maybe feels having an active mod threatens his role. Why? She notes that on two or three occasions he's kind of fudged agreeing to contact her with instructions on how to proceed. So she doesn't want to push things. That's odd. What's the point of having modders if they're not active? The other two are supposed to be, but they were carried over from the previous board. Ah. And what has happened to GoldenEyed And Fin Fang Foom? We;ve never really had or needed an active moderator, except for one particular occasion, and then the moderator WAS the problem. Zemo. I remember. Before my time. Do you want the gory history, Shrike, or do you know it? He wrote a story about Dancer and impersonated her, right? Finny and G-Eyed still show up occasionally, and perhaps kurk, but its a long time since they regularly participated. So it is alleged. It is slightly worrying that 2 main contributors are soon to leave the board, however. Indeed, although I've known about Josh's intentions for over a year now. he'd have gone before this if he hadn't taken a year out a while back. I remember he mentioned in the summer/fall that he would be heading back home and moving on. Ah. Is there any change in Messenger? Or is he quitting too? He mentioned just a few minutes ago in this chat room that he was posting the first part of his swansong tonight. My view is that communities like this have a lifespan, and its best to just get the most out of them while they're there. I'm going all out with a couple of Untold tales arcs that'll probably take us to summertime, and then we'll see what happens. Hmm. Perhaps a recruiting drive? If things have died down they'll make a good bit of closure for my participation. If things are still buzzing there'll be more we can do. It's hard to recruit people to so established a group with such a huge level of established shared continuity. That's not to say don't try, but I'm not holding my breath for success. For now I'm satisfied with the small active membership but all pumping out good quality stuff. Suddenly I feel like saying "I remember the good old days" :) The standard of actual participation has never been better, qualitywide. qualitywise The PV's in its folden maturity, just before it starts going downhill. golden Well, after I get a couple more permissions from people, I hope to have the second part of the silver age up by mid-week. My typing seems to be particularly off tonight, I worry some time that its become too incestuous, and we either need new people to shake things up or old people to come back Permissions *shudder* Well, I know Scott was particularly sensitive about my using his name in connection with Amazing Guy, I just wanted to be clear on a couple of things before I went on. The close ties define the character of nthe place. I'd prefer to be the best we can be and hope mthat attracts like-minded people than try and pander for casual participation. Scott's a bit phobic about internet stalkers targeting his family. A year or more back he decided to eliminate all identifiable information from his works. Yes. I changed his identity, but just wanted some information on the rest of the Amazing Bunch. I believe their names have been changed to protect the innocent. Yes, but they're not listed on the un-updated Who's Who. :) Indeed. I really need to address that Who's Who sometime. And Shrike's fot his work cut out for him too. got Me? *looks around innocently* Fortunately you provided effectively Who's Who entires in many of your footnotes, so much of your work is just collating those. Here's a controversial question: G-Eyed the poster isn't around much now, and he hasn't posted a story for 3 years... Or I could just put: Illusionous, Mysterio rip-off, etc He's a mutate, and all mutates have just been de-powered. Do I establish Bry has lost his powers for now too? Hasn't he lost his powers before? With a gun of some sort? I'd say no. First, it takes away from Josh's sacrifice, I think On the contrary, he used such a gun to depower De brown Streak. Ah. That's right. What takes away from Josh's sacrifice? Second, I'd rather see story space spent on active posters' creations, So are you arguing for or against benching G-Eyed? It's not exactly the most heroic way for GEYed to go out. Without seeming too harsh, against. Wait, no. For. I'm consfused I noticed. Heh. AIH? Where do you stand on G-Eyed's powers? I could play it either way. G-Eyed's hardly a standard mutate. If he's not playing an active role in Untold at the moment, I say leave it. There's little use in referencing a loss like that without dedicating lots of space to it. Yes. What AIH said. On the other hand, in the coming months I'll need to explain what every active character is doing during SR1066 and then in the war. And to do justice to his character, I don't think it can be a throwaway thing. I have the same problem with Finny and DK. neither of their characters would just sit around mildly doing nothing. To make matters worse, I quite like all three characters so I miss having them available to use more often. And they might find it objectionable to "mess" with their characters to change their status? While I suppose that's true, I'd rather see how the active creations deal with the crisis. But that's just personal preference. He just wants to see more of himself in the story ;) Indeed. But it's so long since either posted about them or repsonded to anything anyone else posted about them I don't know how to proceed. Recent e-mails to both have gone unreplied to. AIH: you know it. :) Strangely, I do get some feedback from Lisa via Vizh. I say use them if you like. It's your story, after all. I try to target the active posters where possible, but there's a nagging storyteller inside me that keeps whispering "No way would Finny not be [fill in the blank]" It's like if SUperman suddenly stopped turning up for major world disasters with no explanation. In other words, I don't want to injure the characters by excluding them without proper reasons either. I can see the headlines now: "Superman on Strike! Demands better wages...and arch nemesi!" I adopted a general rule of thumb a while back that after a year of poster silence I'd consider sidelining their characters somehow. Maybe a background role would be best for them. What's the status of the Abandoned Legion? The Abandoned Legion vanished without explanation during the Technopolis War. After being unrepresented by posters for more than a year. Maybe there's your answer. There should be a place where characters can be put in storage, effectively. The difference is that Finny and DK in particular are long-time posters and were once at the very heart of this board. It's a big thing to push them aside, and I don't want the posters to feel trashed. Are there still present on the comicboards? I'm okay with finding ways of retiring people. Troia became Queen of the Amazons. Ziles returned from exile. Exile went off with Valeria to her dimension. Well, if you're emailing them and they're not replying, that would seem to me they're not too concerned. But maybe I'm too harsh. dull thud's in hiding from ZOXXON. Pegasus died. Avatar went off to rule another dimensions too. Where'd dull thud go? IRL, I mean. Zemo and the Scourge all got retconned by the Hood, and so did the Enemy of the World/grim Reaper and Pearson's Porter. There was a legal claim from ZOXXON that Cressida wasbuilt on their proprietary biotech, and therefore their property. Rather than face a legal case, thud and Cressie decided to go underground. Ooh. Good one. Lisa could theorewtically summons them back, but she refuses to do so. The real dull thud did pop up on the board late last summer, I think *** AnimeJason (~Applet@D15EB8C5F4885.chatzone.de) has joined. Good evening, Jason. Hello AnimeJason. I'm too late again aren't I? Hello I keep hoping thuddy will return, because i still have some thud storiues I'd like to do. He was a good character. So what did I miss so far? Wallowing in nostalgia :) I'm asking about how legitimate it is for me to sideline absent posters characters. In particular, whether I should establish that mutate G-Eyed was affected by the events of DBS' finale story and lost his powers too. Maybe he was out of range? Could be. It's a purely practical decision. I'm trying up pretty much the last thread of a G-Eyed plot right now with the Observing Eye thing. I guess if characters have to be sidelined we can always replace them with new ones Availabiliuty of enough characters to tell stories with is NOT the problem! And how come no one got my Diana Ross comment? Although i do want to encourage Hatty to create a second character we can feature sometimes. Motown is not my forte, I'm afraid. because it was obscure? Of course it's obscure! But it's funny. Did she wear purple socks? I'm going to have to up the points awarded to whoever guesses it. All the other major posters have supporting cast I can emphasise sometimes for a change of pace, as with Alcheman or the Wooster Twins or Shrike for KS. Vizh has a cast of thousands. Shep has Kerry. jason has Liu XI etc. Or L!, because he has a huge cast Hatman doesn't have anybody really. It must be a Canadian thing I think CSFB! has to have the award for most massive cast, although he rarely uses them. Anyhow, I need to find a way of introducing or having Jay introduce a B-hero he can identify with. Unless he doesn't conceive of it, he may not think that it's truly his. That's the problem. I'll need to discuss it with him sometime. That's what inspiration is for Luckily, I have completely bypassed inspiration. Everytime I get stuck, I consult my research :) Research? I think your stuff is the most inspired the board has seen in awhile. Times, dates, that sort of thing. I try to avoid consultation now, after so many gory experiences with it, but sometimes my conscience gets the better of me. Jay should make a villain. The board needs more vilains I don't think the poster could identify with a villain. I'm not even sure he could identify with a rogue. He does have Zdenka now For now. At least until she dies horribly Zdenka zdonked? That's a shame. She won't die horribly util I get the scene with her and Sorceress out there. Which is still two story arcs off. Don't word it like that around CSFB! Kirk has sent me a number of very lengthy and detailed e-mails with plot suggestions for every one of his characters during SR1066. It's a shame Hatty's going, that's a great idea for a hero. It made the Christmas parody easy. Wait. Hatman's going? Where's hatty going? Am I supposed to send you lengthy and detailed emails too? It's purely voluntary. ...It sounded like he was going? ...eh? I'll be consulting on SR 1066 after UT#250 next week, but much of that can be done on the board where everyone can ship in. All the talk of a second character, I assumed you were trying to keep him at the board. DBS is going. messenger's writing his character out but hasn't been an active poster for years now. I don't know that Jay's going anywhere. Ah. No, I just know that in the coming Untold Tales plotlines, where many people's wider casts will get some playtime, Hatman will be at a disadvantage having only one hero to appear. I also desperately want to get poster ManMan back posting, so I have an excuse to play up his character. Oh. *slaps forehead* I must have been eating leftover Christmas food at the time. I sent him an e-mail too, but no reply. HI miss ManMan too. "I" not "HI" It's really time for Knifey to join the LL, but we can't do that without the poster. Who are the next possible LL candidates? *shakes things up a bit* I'm not really sure. We'll probably be in summer before the line-up change really happens, and by then the membership may be kind of self-selecting. We'll need to decide on issues of leadership and so on though. As there may only be 4 posters :) Indeed. My tip for next member: Citizen Z. Her or Silicon Sally. Oh btw, a note for those of you who are here: I have World Class stuff to post, and it's quite a departure from what World Class has been before. Sally's personality comes a bit too close to Lisa territory, and her abilities are overhsadowed by the Shoggoth's. Jolly good. proceed. But I could have fun with a secret villain bitching her way round the Lair Mansion. To give a short preview: Keiko will start to lose everything she cares about. Ad it picks up on that early-PV vibe when Zemo's secret HQ was in the mansion;s attic. Did you say Zemo's secret HQ was in the mansion's attic?? And it allows her to Macbeth her way towards leading the team. IW: I have sent you an e-mail, BTW. Indeed. There's a link from the Where's Where to the original mansion plans that shows it. Like Dr Druid? I only ask because Liu Xi recently remodeled the attic into a private hideaway. I assume the Zemos won't be happy AIH: Noted. I'm not even sure the HQ was ever discovered. It might still be there in a little pocket dimension for all we know. Zemo moved to his castle and was eventually retconned. Beth may not even be aware of it. Sounds like a good Liu Xi / Citizen Z subplot if we ever go that way. *** Visionary (~Applet@C50288311033.chatzone.de) has joined. Well, folks. I need to head out. A pleasure talking to you all. Good evening. Aw... Bye. Nice chatting with you Mike. I would note that often in mansions there isn't just one attic. It's usually segmented, so Liu Xi has no doubt only remodeled a portion of it. The Lair Mansion is basically U-shaped, so there are at least three atticks and one tower rising above them. *Puts a tag on Visionary, jumps out of the ring* I would have been here earlier, but the chat notice went up right after I decided to go watch my DVD of Arrested Development *** killer_shrike has left.( Need a chat for your website? www.chatzone.de ) Of course. Since her hideaway also serves as an observatory I'd guess it's probably in the tower. You know how it is. So Liu Xi is living rent free in the attic? There is already an established (but seldom used) observatory in the attics, so she'd probably use that, Yes, but before that she was living rent-free in one of the rooms. The actuall towers has a big bell in it and it's structurally unsound. Actually she doesn't live in the attic. It's sort of her office/study. It's right over Vizh's office, I believe. Shoddy workmanship. We really need to work out some updated floor plans. Excellent Christmas chapter, by the way. Why bother? The mansion will just reorganize itself anyway. :) I'm in the process of writing my own now. Vizh, did you get the Diana Ross joke? The Wiz? Jason, there's a message from SC on the board. He wants to get in touch with you re renting webspace. 5 points to Griffindor! I'll check it in a moment Wohoo! On both accounts, I suppose. BTW, everyone should update their version of Windows... Microsoft released an important security patch today. Vizh, how do you feel on the question of mutate G-Eyed losing his powers after DBS#50? I didn't even realize he was a mutate. He established it himself, back in his series. I don't have to update anything. :) Personally, I'm for it. But only if he okays it. But I think there's a case for him being a special exception too. It could go either way. Are you on an Apple? Powerbook Nice. I'm in a tidying=up mood just now, so I'm gunning for inactive characters. I think it'd be an interesting way to go. Or to let him fade off until the poster was interested in returning. Ian believes the end of the board is nigh... Yes, see... I just caught on. Well, he gets a decent outing un UT#250. It better not be. I need entertainment. :( Oh, and I just figured out the "an interested historian" abbreviation. And the software I designed is really cool It's not nigh until I've done at least two more arcs. Yes. I tried the full name but it said "error". Besides, if there's no PVB then no one would read World Class No one would return the bunnies to live. I'm not ringing the bell of doom. I just said we should make the most of the next few months because we're running at a very high quality for now. Burning twice as brightly you say? We've vulnerable on poster numbers but the stories have never been better. Indeed. So enjoy the ride. Ok, since we all enjoy torturing Vizh, I'm going to ask the question of the moment again: Who do you think the next LL membership candidates will be? I already answered that. What were the right answers then? Like we're going to tell you if you show up late. I think Jason was hoping for your opinions, anyhow. Ian didn't answer, he tried to weasel out of the question. :) Well, it's not like I'm going to write an LL story. I'm way too self centered. And the weasel is a noble beast. I named two characters i'd love to have join the LL, but noted that they depended on poster permission. Well, my last vote burned out his powers and blew up my girlfriend, so I'm a little gunshy on picking another. Everything depends on poster permission. I meant that since you brought up the topic of shuffling the roster, who would you see as being added? Or possibly added, at least I can reveal that as of UT#151 one of the associate members joins the field team to replace DBS; and it's probably not hard to figure out who. Okay, my picks are Citizen V and... um... I think you have to treat the line up a little like a comic company, in that the popular characters get picked. Citizen Z, that is. Yes, naturally. Lisa? Al! Mostly I'm interested in seeing if a lot of people have the same prospects in mind Al joins the field team. He needs to be put in mortal danger more often. And just haven't said anything because they're waiting for Ian to choose in an Untold Tales. :) Boy, that banter really is getting out of hand, isn't it? It's winter. Hatred keeps the blood warm. I don't know what his excuse is. What banter? Jason is a little oblivous. In the reply threads, Al seems to be trying to push Vizh towards homicide. Can Marty Feinberg join the LL? I wouldn't want to spoil anything... It's a known fact that only one person can push Vizh toward homicide He's probably a little old.