Paragon City's Tourist Traps

For Kal

2010-01-25T21:46:00.000-05:00

Wedding pictures.

2009-12-22T23:40:00.000-05:00

The Chapel. Grim in the center, Jack on the side. Kal is seated diagonally across from Grim, next to him is Zap Dragon (Zach). Behind them in the gray suit is Red Komodo (Mark).

Jack and Raina taking their vows. Ashley is next to Raina, And Stefan the angel hovers between them.

After the ceremony.

The reception.

Grim in his tux. Rawr.

Merry Christmas, with our mutant tree.

Two weeks...

2009-12-16T16:39:00.002-05:00

Temporal Assault, Rusty, Raina, and Jack.

Raina and Jack in the training room, Grim in the center. They'd had a fight. The training room has since been moved to make room for the mutant Christmas tree.

Kal confronting Stefan, with Grim quietly in the background. Jack stands aside, and Raina watches.

Grim and Ryder, waiting for a mission to start in IP. Grim's got fancy duds now. They might be gaudy, but I like 'em.

Grim and Ryder again, discussing the whole idea of what love really is. Bad idea with a satyr.

Emptying the camera

2009-11-25T23:28:00.000-05:00

Brandon and Womby-as-professor. Brandon likes it.

This is Grim and Mindstryker, going after a Nemesis soldier. Nemis are one of my favorite groups, because I like their uniforms and the steampunk look about them.

This is a team portrait at ready. Raina, Grim (50 Grim in Roman armor) Grim's angry spirit (the red splotch), Mystic's Shadow, and Kalius.

This is a red banner during the zombie attacks. They are pretty cool up close.
"Michelle" - Grim's female form.

Grim and Kalius. Grim is the buff one, the one I play. Kalius is built to be a speed fighter. He's actually adorable up close.

This is dinner at the base one evening. Yes, they eat better than I do.

Luther Waldemar, the SS officer. He's based on a novel I wrote, and this is the closest I can get to him.

Safe Havens base

2009-11-06T18:18:00.000-05:00

I give great thanks and kudos to Rusted Man, who deserves more than words for all the work he put into the Safe Havens base.

This is the foyer of Safe Havens. Note the half-open door.

The Attic, which is above...

The TV room.

Take a right from the TV room and you end up here, in the training area.

This is my favorite room of the base thus far: The library. A bibliophile such as myself drools over this.

Grim's magic room, though anybody can use it. I like it because it's simple.

The Grotto, which leads off the TV room. This is the hot tub, with a fountain.

The bar, located in the Grotto.

Off the Grotto are the teleporters.

This is the brig. It's no longer in use. Behind bars is Jen, talking to her is Jack, Rusty is sitting on the counter and Raina is leaning on it.

Gallery, week of 6/1

2008-06-09T18:42:00.004-04:00

Sonic Butterfly, awaiting a PuG.

Esonia and Sonic, thwarting a bank robbery.

Powerhouse Jack on a sewer team.

Grim in the Kings Row Wentworth's.

Powerhouse on another PuG with Siberian .

More Jack pictures:

Jack vs. Clamor

3 psi's and a wizard. From top: Vagabond Wizard, Cub-Reporter, Lunatrix, Neverminder.

The fashion show from Twilight's Son's task force.

The security.

A reporter, along with Cub. Possible competition here.

Team Trenchcoat. From right: Neverminder, Cub-Reporter, Vagabond Wizard, Lunatrix.

Unloading the camera

2008-05-25T22:31:00.003-04:00

Pretty much from recent to past...

Cimerora's fort. Not sure what this leads to, but there's level 50 soldiers patrolling the ramparts. Keen Fortress is in the foreground.

Lady Providence doing the backstroke in the diving pool that was alluded to on the forums and by Hero 1 recently.

Doing the breaststroke.

This isn't a good picture, but it was the end of one of the battles. Jez is on the left, Blood Crucible is in his Zorro costume on the rightish.

Mase caught up in Ghost Widow's soul-sucking tentacles of doom, from the Doomed STF.

One of many piles of bodies from the same STF.
Mustering up before the STF. Aestas, Frosty, Masonry.

Same mustering up, Frosty hasn't arrived yet. Aestas is asking Star for help, while Masonry looks on.

Now, one of the crazy things that the ice armor does, is take Bladeless' Red Wisp and change it into a cross. I'm not sure if it does the same thing to fae, drones, or oscillators.

It also turns one of the Arachnos drones into a Kendroid. (Fyre said that from the back, it looks like Kenny.)
Firefeuer, my teenage fire scrapper.

Kill and Lady Jane during test.

Gently Caress planting a haymaker on Manticore, while Suicidal Bombardier coaxes his acid mortar for MORE ACID and Blindly Caress (the girl with the wings) keeps the brute healed.

My newest Splasher screen for villain load-ups.

I12 Tourist Pix

2008-05-12T10:32:00.006-04:00

Just some shots of Cimerora.

Inside one of the tunnels.

The job here is to save Lost from Rikti. But if you do that, the Lost will still attack you. Ingrates.

Some shots of improvements that I particularly like: notice the "Redeem Slot - 5 left" on the bottom "create character" - I have 5 slots as a 4 year vet. If you click on the dollar sign in the right-hand lower corner, it pops up the store to buy more slots.

Obviously a new command that's going to be coming up "ClearSpam."
This is good: I won't have to sit and tweak all my chat/key mapping setting each and every time I create a new toon. I have to remember to hit the red circle at the top of the window instead of "cancel changes" - it made a mess of things.

More fun things with the mouse, and "disable camera shake" so when the Khelds go "BOOM" it won't shake the camera.

Kill saving the Lost. Then the Lost would attack the citizens, and probably you if you were low enough level.

Kill and Lady Jane vs. Demon. She almost died until I realized this version of Kill had a "heal other" though why, I have no idea.

After you get into Cimerora, you're faced with these bad boys:

Men in skirts are back.

Some of the architecture.

And check out the map!

A stunning view. Once this goes live, I'm taking another picture of this and using it for my splash screen.

Some legionnaires.

A boat, with Atticus (one of those who has part of Cimerora's story to tell).

Kill vs. a female Centurion. Kill a hundred of them, get yourself a badge. And they roar.

Emptying the camera

2008-05-04T09:47:00.002-04:00

Grim during a pause after a battle. In the background, Keen Falcon, Blood Crucible, Louie (dark servant), and Jez Cavell.

Two knives and Aestas II during one of their last moments together. Homage to Blood Crucible for the costume design.

Blood Crucible at the end of a battle with Tsoo. I'm guessing I was playing Sonic Butterfly with this, or that Keen Fortress was playing.

Two Knives (Idaho) in a strange contortion.

Aestas and Two Knives again.

StarWyng telling Frosty how she would have liked him to be her mate.

Janusae with a group vs. Sky Raiders. Her favorite enemies, by the way, are Freakshow. Costume homage to Pill.

2008-04-06T21:28:00.003-04:00

Rikti fight!
Mechman cometh TF. HeroWill, Spider Wolf, Grim, Aestas, Jez.

Showdown

2008-03-31T20:11:00.001-04:00

2008-03-30T14:26:00.002-04:00

good, evil, in between

2008-03-02T22:07:00.003-05:00

This is Engele (in mud, you don't see the bottom of her feet) the angelic android. Trust me, hardly any RP happens. She's in The Justice Guard Reserves.

Benakasar, contemplating his next move.

Cub reporter regarding the Val the Dwarf's redcap, while a Peacebringer looks on.

In the layer cake of doom! Keen Havoc - oh, no, Keen Falcon - and A. Sylvanie.

Gallery before bed

2008-02-25T00:12:00.002-05:00

The new Ariel and Idaho - afire.

Team Altitis and poor, dead, Jack.

Sunfallen during a Rikti invasion.

Pill, casually talking to Mase. Twist agrees with her. Hell has frozen over. Film at 11.

Carnage!

Answers and Doubt

2008-02-21T08:20:00.003-05:00

2008-02-18T17:08:00.002-05:00

(Music: Holst, Mars - Bringer of War.)

2008-02-17T23:05:00.002-05:00

Weekend plus...

2008-02-17T21:56:00.004-05:00

I've been a little lax. I have this, and possibly two comics to put up.

Lady Providence joined 'troller Vagz and Callie for some missions at the RWZ.

Hopefully, this will be an opening scene in a comic, though I'm looking for something to write about in the logs. I don't want to put words in other people's character's mouths - I was never comfortable doing that. Callie, Vagz and his one surviving fire imp.

Idaho and Ariel, as she now appears as a cadaver. He tries to ignore that she's a cadaver, that it's all his fault she's become this. His patience is wearing thin, however...

Grim and YJ. Yellowjakket is a great character (Wirraway/StarWyng makes great characters in general), someone who's bitter and not very happy. They're doing the Pocket D Valentine's missions.

Okay, I admit it. Seeing a half-nekkid Rusty brightens my day. Let's move on.

Prov and a HVAS.

Just a nice picture, with Bionick running behind her.

Taunted

2008-02-17T20:57:00.002-05:00

Weekend gallery

2008-02-11T03:39:00.000-05:00

Timetripper and Bionick. Trip might be about a couple of years older than Nick. To avoid his telling his story, she told him that Grim did a write-up on him. Nick can only imagine.

Lady Providence is back on Virtue. I bit the bullet and brought her back. Now all my slots are full on Kill Favored's account.

Rise of the Pheonix (sp - hey, it's 4 am). I love, love, LOVE the animation. Too bad he has to die to use it.

Versus Mary in the Katie Hannon TF.

A screen shot of a temple - Keen Fortress is heading down.

Ghost Ariel and Mender Idaho, just after she's dead.

Over at Pocket D, just before his confrontation with Masonry.

Grim during a mayhem versus a fire hydrant.

Another Nick and Trip moment.

2008-02-05T21:37:00.000-05:00

Masonry and Manticore. Oh, he wants to kick Manticore's ass...

Versus Mako. This is misleading, as we went after Ghost Widow first. I wanted to get pictures of the land sharks.

More pictures of the land sharks. I'm not sure what damage they do, but poor Blaze got a lot of it.

Mase, Sister Psyche, and I think Vagz caught in Ghost Widow's Immobilize twisting and turning... thing. Really pretty. Then WHOOMP, and Mase would be half-dead and stunned.

More immobilization. Still pretty. Back Alley Brawler lasted for a good long while. When we had the team wipe, Swan was the only one who survived.

Grimaulkin redside. (Grimmaulkin is a slight misspell. Grimmalkin wouldn't have been.) As soon as some villain gets enough money, he'll get his wings back. I took the idea that he's a summoner. He gets these bags of bones with runes that he enchants. He tosses out a bone, utters a spell, and summons a silent zombie. Yes, silent (I silenced the pets on my end). I, personally, can't stand the looks of them.

Eye candy

2008-02-03T14:59:00.001-05:00

Grim "before the shit hit the fan". They were helping Sapphire Knight and ended up in "Orange Bagel" (thank you, Vagz, for that nickname). I'm assuming as trainees, they'd come here a few times for lessons and work. Whenever he passes through Louie, he assumes the "glamour" of what he looked like when he was human. A few times, Louie was in doorways so he had no choice. Then Sapphire mentioned more than once how handsome he was. So he intentionally started walking through.

With Knight who's completing one of those "jump up, slam down" punches that I think have the best animation and sound.

Close-up of Idaho as Mender Idaho. Don't know how long I'll go with this story idea. Idaho knows some of his future, not all of it, and only in a general sense. He knows about the Emerald Flight crew and their wanting to get back home. He knows they will, but not how. He doesn't know what'll happen to him, Ariel, Grim, or anyone else he's close to. Once he is close to someone, he's not allowed to know any more details about them.

One thing I like about CoH's universe is they leave it open enough for people to put in their own ideas of things. If you want Oz to do this, then it will...

Brotherly love

2008-02-03T01:58:00.002-05:00

Pix, as threatened.

2008-01-31T19:53:00.001-05:00

Could be any Mu Striker, now that I think about it...

Aeon with drum-machine gloves. Dialogue (c) NCSoft, etc, etc, etc.

Versus Arbiter Sands. This was while I still panicked and had Mase in granite armor. Eventually I relaxed.

Cutaway of Sands bitching about how he wanted to relax and this is what he gets for it.

Wretch's killing blow.

The entryway to Aeon Corp, where we go after the AV's.

Another AV in the post Recluse Atlas.

Same thing.

This is where the costume contests are held.

In Grandville, versus Black Scorpion and Mako. Mako's on speed. I lost him a few times.

Mako. I think.

Silver Mantis.

After the last tower's taken down, and before I get teleported to...

The ledge fight!

It was going to be a nice part of the comic, but...

Versus Scirocco.

Idaho at work in Ouroboros.

Rules, Part 1

2008-01-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

Worries

2008-01-29T16:33:00.000-05:00

Hungry souls

2008-01-28T20:01:00.001-05:00

Slapping monkeys

2008-01-26T21:03:00.001-05:00

too much noise

2008-01-25T23:41:00.001-05:00

2008-01-25T23:13:00.001-05:00

2008-01-23T23:27:00.001-05:00

Courtesy of icanhascheezburger.com (lolcatz).

Butch taking out a wingless chicken on ice.

I really tried to get pics - thank God I'm an MM because I did nothing but move the camera around during this final battle. Butch versus Bat'zul, with Evangeline. I tried to get the robots, but they were behind even me.
The last picture of Idy and Ariel together.

Gallery.

2008-01-20T22:34:00.002-05:00

I honestly have not been taking too many pictures. Not for want for trying - I've been playing really hard. A lot of the teams I've been on have me playing reds and purples, so I don't have time to watch for neat pix. I had hoped to take pictures for Comic Book Creator because I do have a story in mind between Grimaulkin, Suicidal Wombat and maybe Dysio if I can. The problem is doing the proper set up.

Butcher, getting into the Luddite protests. Yes, I thought this was very amusing...

Sapphire Knight's Santa costume. I thought this was adorable! Too bad I didn't get this in the chalet.

Watch out for flying witches. This is Sinner's Saint - who has one of the best bio's I've read, but, unfortunately, doesn't RP; and Idaho (kneeling) going after a Maven.

Grim, Bear, and evil

2007-12-31T20:37:00.001-05:00

Grimaulkin and Bionick. Grim's in casual clothes. Actually, I was making a superhero costume for him, and then hit exit, and realized I didn't like it. When I went to put him in casual, I ran out of money. So I put casual bottoms on him and kept the superhero top. I actually like it. I might throw a T-shirt on him - yeah, that's my usual casual dress on most of my guys. I don't want him to have Sonic's Leather-and-Wings look. This is before Grim kissed Nick on the forehead and Nick almost punched him.

In the foreground is George (known on the circuit as Furious George), Rusty's Rikti monkey over in the monkey pit. Rusty is in the couch sleeping off another alcoholic haze. In the far background is Frosty, kneeling on the floor (should have put a chair, but that was actually pretty poignant) and Star on the counter (though I put BEDS THERE! Sigh.) Listening to that conversation was like listening to someone talk on the phone. I wish I knew...

After Grim scares them - he falls asleep.

Grim calls the tentacles "The Fingers of my Demoness" with accent on the 'ess' whenever he says the word. Wait'll you see what he'll call the Dark Servant.

His demoness got a little sick and tired of his making so much fun of his "gifts" from her, so she gave him a new one: a new form. Since he's so desperate to find a mate, let them see what she'd like him to be...

Team Evil, version... 3.0? 4.0? This one looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, and actually reminds me of the RP game In Nomine. Vagz plays Butcher of the Pit - the big demon running head on - and Fyre plays Evangeline - the white angel in the background. Both of them are kind of "keeping score" on how many souls belong to who. Behind the wings is Li Hwan, who - go see Keen's blog for that one. I play Maladroit, who's amnesiac, totally empty, not an innocent like Idaho, but has no morals, no values, no opinions, is a total blank mind. And he doesn't care.

He's a dual blade stalker, and this is assassin's strike. The two blades go in the middle and twist out, like he's butterflying the guy wide open. Sweet. :D

Ah ha!

2007-12-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

I took this picture after E said, "KEEN!" and all the player could do was grin.

Elfbolt, the little girl off on the left, pointing. Paragon Kid and I forget the he4l0rz name.

Elfbolt, taunting, with a bubbler behind.

Holiday pix - and others

2007-12-24T00:59:00.001-05:00

Christmas in Croatoa... again. This time it's Rosie vs. big bad Frostlings. We were worried that ice vs. ice = squat. Nah - we wasted them just like everything else.

Happy holidays. Rosie's thrilled.

Okay, Christmas show's over. Back to regularly scheduled programing. ;)

Mase and Stronghold talking at the Chalet. The moon/planet rise in the background was so pretty, I had to get a picture of it. Neither of them look like they're ready to give an inch of ground.

The girl with the red hair is Kill Favored. She'll probably end up on Virtue. And, no, those are not her adoring fans behind her.

Tark, Raven, and Butterfly, after a BNY (Baby New Year not "bunny" as I kept reading for about two days) mission.

"You don't need those!" Elfbolt vs. an Outcast.

Rosie again vs. Castillo. New costume, "supermodel" version. She's lost physical weight but she's still high density. And she hates men. It was the first time I actually went through the Faultline arc with my own mission. Yes, I'm enraptured with Enforcer.

Ja!

2007-12-20T15:02:00.001-05:00

Idaho. Blond. Swoon.

Yeah, Keen, I still like the Justice set. So shoot me.

Mase and Twist sharing a passive moment at the chalet.

Mase's beating. Temple of the waters

2007-12-17T23:44:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't get any pictures of Mase getting the crap beat out of him, but this illustrates how he felt:

The first mission had these neat runes in the floor. Just wanted a picture of them.

In the Temple of the Waters is the Eye of the Leviathan. Not so bad huh? Look at all the waterspouts. Actually kinda neat. This is a really pretty map. don't worry about the coralax...

This is the crew, setting up. Fyre at the bottom, Havoc at the left and his ninjas. I didn't play Nasrin very well (was she a bitch or not? I'm not really sure.) The figure with his arm held out is Will giving force fields.

This is after the Eye is awakened. I don't think Naz can get it in her pocket. And the thing was, it blinked! I'm still trying to think in my head what the rest of the Leviathan looks like.

Splash screen

2007-12-11T07:35:00.001-05:00

I had to take these pictures from the STF, and now they're used as my villain and hero splash screens respectively, thanks to CoH Splasher.

2007-12-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

Wretch dead. Do I feel bad for him? Nah.

Somewhere in this mess is Scirocco. Mase is easy to spot. Scirocco's around him...

Recluse vs. Mase, the rest of the team in the background taking down a pylon. Or web thing.

Working on the second-to-the-last pylon. It was then I noticed the blood on his claws...

Twist tempting Masonry.

Aw, how cute!

2007-12-06T16:09:00.001-05:00

We got three complements just by standing around KR together. If they ever have a contest, we're entering it.

Before additional details above were added; Idaho and Aestes in battle.

This picture is on my desktop. To me it's absolutely beautiful, mostly because of how the light is diffused around the two of them. I'm ignoring that those are hydras. Even though Idaho is standing higher than Pill, she's regarding him with this look of almost playful disdain.

Caught on Camera

2007-11-27T11:55:00.001-05:00

The bribery pix. Caught in the Icon fitting room, two half-naked superheroes playing dressup with togas. Kitty was smart and had shorts and shoes. Idaho, however, listened to one of the male tailors. Customers complained over the sudden lack of help and Serge had to go find out what was going on...

2007-11-26T00:50:00.000-05:00

The ghost and the angel: Mase and Star. Mase moved to an island closer to the port for Star to get to. Mase is dead. DEAD. DEAD.

Doesn't this look so idyllic? If you don't mind the fact that it's a time traveler from the future and the "fairy" is a swearing, smoking, drinking biker dude, yeah, it could be.

Rosie versus Sky Raiders. The helmets? Say it with me: EWWWW.

Rosie as an Arachnos Widow. On ice.

On the right Keen's newest eye candy for me: Keen Justice. I gotta make more va-va-va-voom girls for him. The ugly thing is Azure Badger. He didn't make the cut in the marathon session. neither did Grey Blades, though the name stays.

My contribution to the eye candy department: Idaho's new duds. Swoon.

Marathon! And Idaho

2007-11-24T07:16:00.001-05:00

One of the things I began was the Marathon, and it started Thursday. All my toons, 20 and below, would get played 1 hour - more if on a team after that 1 hour. After that hour, if they survived and I liked them, they stayed.

This is Pyrofox with Lighthammer (Freeze Out's alt) He RP's sometimes. Pyrofox is Chryofox's sister. Pyro is a very angry lady right now because she saw on TV that her boyfriend Inhuman Weapon get blown to bits by a Bone Daddy. She hates men, heroes, people in general.
Idaho meeting Fyre (with Star protecting him) and Pill and Will talking. (Almost lost my soda over that when Fyre said it.) They're safely in Pocket D.
Idaho didn't need that specific part of his human anatomy. Together on a team, Star and a tank are really good.

Ges' first thought on entering Grandville: "The Fuhrer would have loved this."

Havoc (I'm sorry, I cannot get "Fashion Ninja" out of my mind) Fyre, and Will and Ges. I was trying really hard to keep quiet, and to try and not to be totally not caring (because that's how Ges would be. "He's Toten. We work now.").

I took this chaotic picture mostly because of the way the light hit the crescent moon on Ges' stealth uniform. It was very cool.

Pocket D and Mase's end

2007-11-20T21:31:00.002-05:00

Mase and Frosty, OOC, but this makes such a nice picture.

Idaho talking with Karen Taylor (left, in green) and Jeannie (Coz, in white). On the truck above, watching Idaho rather intently, is Havoc in his true form.

Havoc again, Idaho a little closer and asking what's going on, Jin, the demon, and Karen in the background a little.

Havoc and StarWyng in flight at the D, Idaho on fire below.

Mase the headstone. Frosty, Will, Fyre.

2007-11-15T22:18:00.000-05:00

Pyrafoxx, alien navigator on the Sapphire Night (deleted for reasons of room)

Sonic Butterfly, an unofficial bouncer at Las Sombras nightclub (affiliated with Safe Havens). Fuck with him, g'head.

Lodestar awaiting StarWyng's return from trance mode. Lodestar's not comfortable with the stoneware.

2007-11-05T20:22:00.000-05:00

In homage to lol catz:

Hm... maybe I'll start a trend.

Sunfallen and her ninja ghosts.

Oh hai! Iz gotz on tezt -

2007-11-03T12:42:00.000-04:00

Vagz, Fyre and Keen headed over to Test last night, but I had problems before getting on there. It made my graphics card go very screwy, even after shutting down, so I was loathe to go over there. This morning, since my computer guys are open until noontime, I thought I'd try it.

Worked like a charm. So here's Raspiere (means "rapier shaped leaves"). I've always liked rapier/dagger fighting, and tried it while in the SCA. (Can't do it because of the wrist movements.)

Engarde!

Besides, last night, Freeze asked Rosie to go out with him.

And now for something completely different - lolcats

2007-10-28T22:12:00.000-04:00

It's all Vagz's and Fyre's fault. They introduced me to this website nicknamed lolcats. I have two cats and a dog, so fun cat pictures are possible in my house. The fun thing is, of course, the captions. These captions are written in something a little easier to understand than l33tsp33k, so I can get most of them. But if you figure it's a whole other language, it's a lot more fun (and easier) to deal with.

Enjoy the kittehs.

I thought "blinker" for a signal was a Rhode Island thing. Maybe that's why I was laughing so hard.

Okay, totally lost it on the above one.

The above is my wallpaper.

This one has a story: I work for a pharmaceutical company, and I happened to tell select people in the office about the site and this was the first picture everyone saw. It's up in almost everyone's cubie.

Another one that had me absolutely rolling, mostly because of the misspelling of Inquisition.

2007-10-28T19:01:00.000-04:00

Eyes in the dark...

New beefcake. Hello, Idaho.

Idaho completing an upswing--and missing.

Idaho completing an upswing...and not missing.

Provo: Hey, ladies, come back! It's only a little rain...of fire...

Emerald Flight (Hawkes and Janusae) and Cosmic Vulcan. Yes, the name fits.

The Sleeties. In spandex! From left: Freeze Out, Crystal Hail, Khyro, Sleetsquall and Sleety Bob.

gallery

2007-10-24T00:09:00.001-04:00

Team Evil v1. From left: Mr. Kaen, Provo, Snow Blaise, and EREBOS.

Mase outside of the PP asylum.

Quellan from Team Evil beta. The red coat, I never got to explain, is because red hides blood better than black.

Team Evil beta on fire.

2007-10-18T00:06:00.002-04:00

Not much to report here. Pill and Idaho had dinner - Pill had promised Idaho dinner once, and we played it out. It was great fun. Idaho asked her point blank what it was that made women like him. She said two reasons: the first that he cares about people and the second is that he's innocent. "Giant, gentle heart," she calls it.

I think in this story, instead of Mase creating his own agony, Duncan will be caught in a maelstrom.

For some reason the Paladin's picture won't come up. Well, enjoy this one anyway.

The two ladies of Team Ice. Crystal Hail's on the left, Khryo (Rosie)'s on the right. Rosie's starting to lose weight but gain density.

2007-10-14T22:08:00.001-04:00

I think this would make a good comic book cover, something where Idaho is in repose. At some point I have to take a picture of both of them and compare Idaho and Mase, because at first glance they are the same.
Mirror Rusty (Dark Rusty) and Hope's Fury (Fear's Victory's) mirror. We had a blast playing these two - Fear was totally evil, using Rusty's addictions against him. "You did not seduce the Captain," she says right off the bat, and Rusty's already backpedaling. She has plenty of drugs to keep him compliant. And he flirts with *anything*.

2007-10-13T03:30:00.000-04:00

Maphole!
Well, not according to the strict definition: a maphole is a way to skip levels in a game. Depending on where you turned the camera, you'd either see the corridor or this blackness. It looks like bonfires on a hill.

Pyrafox setting fire.

Pyrafox and Lt. Thompson vs. Council. Lt. Thompson can't find his uniform.

Mase in the pit, Daisuke above. They're talking to Red about whether Red should give up himself and go nova to save the world. Long story. Five hours.

2007-10-10T22:29:00.002-04:00

Opening with the Death Picture - that's Idaho on the ground, Outcast on top of him. I think. Hex Raven is beating up the Outcast. This proves that Raven didn't step on Idaho. Being as she wears heals, Idaho told her that if he had holes in his back, that meant she stepped on him.

Lt. Michael (I want to say Hunter) Thompson and Pyrafox, version 4. First it was Pyrofox (see below). Thompson had the same build. Went ice, named him Polarfox (which is a really good name, imho). Didn't look right. Found the Monstrous Chest and Monstrous Gloves. Polarfox again. Didn't like ice, just not in the mood for that build. Went back to Pyro, but realized I say it in my head "Pyrafox." I think I'm done. No. I'm done.

For lack of a better name, Dark Rusty. So piratey!

Idaho on plasma fire, Hex Raven beating more things, and a Council going flying. Serves 'em right for them kicking Idaho all over the map with their knockbacks! The best one was when he got knocked back twice at the same time, once over the railing and once into the ceiling of the floor below. I wish I recorded it. It was priceless.

Violet Fate and Sonic Butterfly look over at the small pile of skulls with the candle in it. Violet's words were, "That is just too much" or something to that effect. Butterfly shrugs, figuring it's all fake anyway.

Wirraway, with the house fallen down on her. Okay, so you had to be there.

Mally Able, "feeling like Saturn".

Guess what team this is.

Idaho, with Operative Pill. I have no idea how Red does it, but he can make old characters look if not sexy, at least interesting. Pill flirts constantly with Idaho, who's oblivious to half of it. If she came right out and asked, he might. Embarrassedly.

2007-10-06T20:22:00.001-04:00

Burr warns Ghost Widow. Scary.

~~Derek~~ Derick Darklight, Hex Raven and Idaho (in his first costume). Changed at Keen's request, pointing out that Idaho's original wore that kind of costume.

Man afire!

Idaho and Keen Fortress, a different version of Stronghold.

Pen invisible with the temporary fire-sword power. Street Raven got a kick out of this saying it looked like the sword floated on air.

Rusty the engineer, with Pyrofox the navigator. Pyro's one of them aliens, you know, but this one's repudiated his alien heritage and doesn't want to hear about being a victim, or to have special days set aside for "his" holidays. As far as he's concerned, he'd like to be as human as possible, thank you very much. And with Rusty as a mentor..?

2007-09-30T23:00:00.001-04:00

Idaho versus Skulls. Operative Pill, a Native American huntress, using an old fashioned bow and arrow, is assisting (though she's off camera). Idaho and Pill are great with each other. As Pill said, "He knows too little, she knows too much."

Task Force Photon - yes, Posi's TF. Seven hours. Two levels.

In order to talk to the professor, Rosie's so short she had to stand on a chair.

2007-09-27T05:46:00.001-04:00

Masonry receiving new orders from Agent Richardson. Richardson's a real prick. Masonry knows this but knows he can't do anything about it. Yet. Masonry has new orders: Not to "communicate" with or about Red. His last orders were to watch him, to make sure he didn't go nova on people, and then to take him out if he did. Now, according to Richardson, Red's over in the Rogue Isles "offering himself to Recluse" and since Mase's "organization" can't keep hold of him, the FBSA will. The FBSA will make damn sure Red stays among Paragon - no matter what.

2007-09-26T05:20:00.001-04:00

Just showing the amount of detail in the game. This is a group of magazines on the table in the hospital.

Blackmail picture! Will as a Freak. I loved the Mohawk.

Renga-ko versus Buckshot.

2007-09-23T21:47:00.001-04:00

Okay, a few pictures, then I need sleep.

Flying Skuls!

Ice slick stacks. And no one can keep their feet. And our controller does the same exact thing I do with Lady Providence and Earthquake: holds the enemy. Lady P hits Earthquake - which does the same thing as Ice Slick, knocks them over - then Fossilize. Whoops. (I also learned the lesson of do not, DO NOT, put ANY knockback enhancements in Earthquake - I slotted three of them, and knocked the enemies clear out of the zone.) Other bloopers: Rosie taunts the frozen enemies. Bob slips on the Ice Slick: He did. Honest. I wish I had a movie.

Rosie in the Crystal Cave

Ice Slick (and Quicksand, and I think one of the fire powers) wraps up the sides of things. I never used to see it until I got my new graphics card. I also never saw shell casings.

Crystal healed Rosie and the shell casings got caught up and threw themselves all over Rosie. My kid was on the floor laughing. Some stayed suspended in air and that made him laugh even more.

The Dope Show

Burrzerk and his "Dope Tree" (thanks for Bank as Dunethorn for that image). Burrzerk is relaxing, in that I don't have a story for him, his costume's cool and I have no need or want to change it, and the animations that work with him are awesome in both style and sound. Seeing green knives come at a target and hit with a satisfying "snickt" is great. So is watching roots come up with some kind of nasty gurgling sound.

I should do a post on sounds in CoX.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, was our last mission:

2007-09-23T08:13:00.000-04:00

To be honest, I didn't have much time or inclination to take pictures over the past couple of days.

Master Masonry (who will be changed to Red Diesel - basically same toon, different characters) as Red went to Grandville with Karen Taylor, one of Red's alts. I need to be faster on the uptake with pets, because they each had their own individual personality - which was different than Red's base personality.

Anyway, I had been to Grandville in passing. It's called Lagville because of the intense graphics, and I know why. I thought St. Martial's Gaza temple was intense; this place was amazing. First, there was voice to go with the short that loops - it was impressive, honestly.

Pen knows of Recluse but didn't know about this. He stood watching this loop for a while, and he and Dunk decided that they would go after any of Recluse's men, anywhere. Recluse would bring Nazi Germany back, and Pen didn't want to see his adoptive home become a showcase for jackbooted soldiers marching down Atlas Park. Recluse is different than the Council because they actually have backing.

Panzernacht!

This is as close to feldgrau as I could get without having it look totally gray. I am thinking this is Pen's "formal" uniform, the one he wore when portraying the Ubermensch for pictures and PR. The steampunk one is a working uniform, and the Black Dwarf is what he used to go into battle.

2007-09-21T00:13:00.001-04:00

I FINALLY got the mission where I get to wear the Arachnos disguise. I thought if I didn't use it I could milk it - no. An hour in game whether you use it or not.

Mo and Will as Arachnos (I wish they had that shiny metallic costume available for the girls). I commented "Two Arachnos and a ghost" hearing "Two tables and a microphone." Humor me.

A picture of the amazing detail (and Mo) - look at the back of the monitor. it has an Arachnos symbol.

More scenery. The inside of the sub base below Faultline.

More detail. It's reflecting the light from the top and distorting it in the water. I swear, these guys are amazing.

BOOM! The sub blows up.

For the heck of it, Pen tried to teleport the sub. It flickered, but didn't move. "Too 'eavy," Mo says. Will, Mo, and Pen.

2007-09-20T00:15:00.001-04:00

Yarr! Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Bomber couldn't get the cap because, well, he's blind. And he can't get the pants or the boots off, so he threw on some extra chains and he's a pirate slave. Sorta. The helmet throws it off. Hey, he tried.

From left: Cackle, Carnivale, Jayne Doe, Sapphire-Night, Bomber. Sapphire was much amused at the silly human costume party.

2007-09-17T22:24:00.001-04:00

Ice & I were talking about re-rolling the Arcticans on Virtue. Kill would be too flirty, and I really don't want to start up another "relationship" toon (hell froze over last night, didn't you get the memo?). So here's Icenight, Frost Guardian's temporary XO.

WillMoPen in Faultline. Mo is without her glamour. Pen just called her "cute". Tomorrow he'll wake up thinking he's a toad. Maybe.

Feeling sick. Bed.

2007-09-16T21:38:00.001-04:00

Keen makes pleasant eye candy. But then again, so do I. Both of us are into the face-mask costume part. Mine happens to be with the "mysterious duster guy".

Trickster Black (to be rerolled elsewhere as Trickster Jack sans tattoos) and Keen Spark.

Masonry and Hisagi - talking. Hisagi is still upset that Mase is sleeping with his brother. Not because Daisuke's gay - that's not the issue. What is the issue: it's Mase that's sleeping with him. Hisagi doesn't understand what Daisuke sees in Masonry. Hisagi (and Havoc) think that Masonry's evil. "Because I do bad things doesn't make me evil," Masonry says.

He tells Hisagi that he's taking up martial arts and shows him the sword - what he didn't tell him was that his wife Elysia is his sensei at the moment.

Coming soon to a toy store near you, the new action figure of Arctic Stronghold. The first 1,000 registered get a free Total Stronghold Arsenal, send in proof of purchase and $3.95 for shipping.

Freeze Out and Rosie. Talking with him OOC with another toon, I found out a little more about him. He's trying; he still slips, but, then, so do I. He said he likes the smart girls. He's in AZ. That's a...$300 plane trip. Hm, doable...

Rosie and Team Ice, right after taking down some CoT's.

2007-09-16T00:10:00.000-04:00

WilMoPen with guest Street Raven.

Trickster Black, newest alt.

Quan-lin, Pretty-girl zombie master.

2007-09-15T08:58:00.001-04:00

Rosie at the ready. I changed her costume just a tad - I put a shirt on underneath the other shirt and made her physique a little smaller, so she's not Ms. Uber Hips (when she ran, it clipped the hips and made her look like she had blocks in her thighs). She's still short, wears jeans and workboots. Spandex? Nah, never - you know that's not going to happen.

The obligatory death picture. Sleety Bob, Sleetsquall, and Crystal Hail versus some Hellions. Rosie herds really well - too well, as this attests. When she walked into this mission, she started herding and headed down a hallway, Ken said, "Uh, Rosie..?" And she's going along until she hits a Damned - at red. Oops.

This is my favorite room for herding, by the way - after seeing Frosty go at this, I wanted to. Oh, I got the whole room. Oranges and reds. Oops again.

That was fun.

Dunk victorious. Kind of like someone standing on vanquished enemies. Trying to get him to communicate without sound is difficult. He nods by kicking forward a little - hopefully everyone can figure that out.

Renga-ko "Big Brick". Story forthcoming - I tried him as a martial arts scrapper but he looked silly during the ending move of most of the attacks. Katana looks much better. His belt color will change as he goes up in level.

2007-09-09T22:21:00.000-04:00

The Hellion Cabaret! Coming to a warehouse near you!

The obligatory death picture. Poor Sonic, and the funny thing is, the wings flap pitifully.

Just a really nice skyline picture of Faultline/Overbrook.

Okay, this is probably what I looked like in 1983, but a little more Rubenesque. I do remember wearing baseball shirts, and I do remember work boots. The baggy pants are there to make her look heavy. She's already at near-max physique. Her super-hero name is Khryo (which I thought was not a bad mangling of the word "Cryo" - I realized after typing "Krio" people would say "KREE-oh."). Her name's Rosie Santos, my mom's first name and my aunt's last name.

Team 4.0, Weekend engagements only. Rosie regarding Beepy/Beepers/Twiggy/Twiki/Bitters. His owner, Ken (Sleetsquall) and Crystal Hail look on. The gladiator was Omega Maximus who flirted with Rosie. Not that Rosie minded at all. Off-camera is Sleety Bob, the other team member. Notion joined with Hi-Pressure, and he created a girl with leg warmers. I forgot about those! I should have gotten a picture, it was great.

More to come tomorrow, bed for now.

2007-09-08T23:14:00.001-04:00

Sometimes Blogger will let me put things up in the right order. Sometimes...This is StarWyng, StarBlood and Sonic Butterfly (yes, there was a sale on "S"'s over in the character creator. Wyng was exemped, Sonic was handling it all right. Wyng couldn't take the graphics of the sonic shields so she had to go without. One, two deaths?

This is Team 3.x.y (maybe even 4.) in Faultline. We need a catchy name, like Frigid Sleety One-Dog Night Snowstorms. Anyway, it consists of Captain Peterson (Piett), Mo the Fae (not fairy), and Penitency, with Sapphire Knight as guest star. We didn't rp much, I thought (though he called Pen "Super Geezer" and that seems to have resonated...) but we still had a great time.

Boom! My favorite mission of the Faultline arc, to stop Nocturne and destroy her submarine. Pen watching the boom.

Team post rescuing the arbiter (beyond the drones) and Fusionette. From left: Sapphire, Catpain, Arbiter, 2 drones, Mo, Pen, Fusionette.

Hey, they let old people into the PPD all the time!

StarWyng watching Pen warily. Pen could care less, thinking Peacebringers are mostly holier-than-though.

2007-09-08T00:46:00.001-04:00

Old pix:

The problem with these is the auras. I've stopped giving many of my toons such blatantly bright auras because of this.

The whole Dominatrix crew cracks me up. I'm not sure what happened - if Mase came down and slammed this guy, but I can picture him grabbing the man by the foot and swinging him around over his head like a bolo. He's wearing what I call his Jack Kirby suit.

I have this titled "Post-Angst" but, hey, that could mean anytime.

Recent pix.

This ain't the Sims. If it was...

Mase hugging Frosty from behind. Use your imagination. But this is actually a nice picture of the two of them.

Frosty talks to Mase. Frosty is a gentle character that a girl really wishes existed. He reminds me of an old friend of mine, who I really loved to pieces, but . . .oh well. When Frosty speaks, even though he's supposed to have a Japanese accent, I hear my old friend's voice.

2007-09-07T01:00:00.001-04:00

This was a quick and dirty picture. I set my options to "free mouse" so that way if the character is turned around, he can at times face the camera. I'm not thrilled with this picture because you can't see his eyes.

Rusty versus Council.

Mase against Carnies. This is WAYYY before 50 (note the white hair)

Waiting on an ambush. (or maybe a TF?) Don't know the other characters but in the foreground is Star, Mase, Frosty.

My vision of Ben in the Isles. Psy-psy dominator. Wow.

Pix from the past couple of days.

2007-09-05T23:56:00.000-04:00

Mo and Pen, in the Hollows. Pen doesn't really look 86. The reason I picked that age is because my aunt is still going at 86. However, last year was the first year that she had to stop driving.

Setting up the boys for death. The Captain is surrounded by his men (see the green glow in the upper sorta left? That's him calling for reinforcements. Keen is upgrading his men.

Havoc's new costume. I think Fyre called him the "fashionably evil ninja overlord" or something like that. Keen is amazingly detailed with his costumes.

Waiting. We do a lot of that in this game. Sonic waits with his random "PuG".

And... the Announcement.

2007-09-05T23:44:00.001-04:00

So here I am paging through my albums. I don't remember if I posted these anywhere.

Masonry in Faultline. We can date this right around March, because he's got the Safe Havens logo on.

Puff-Mase. Good God this was an ugly costume. Went back to tech-sleek, and honestly that costume is the best one on him. When E was able to use it for his character, I had it on for a while, then changed it. My favorite is the Justice set, though.

Ice and I had been talking about other members of the Emerald Flight crew, and he kept saying that Emerald needed an "XO" which I think means Executive Officer. Beats me what exactly that does, but he seems to think it's someone who's the captain's adviser. Well, I made this. He lasted all of two days. I don't remember the power set.

This was an idea I toyed around with in case Mase actually did get capital punishment. It's his Ghost, come for atonement. He was a fire/axe tank. I didn't care much for the constant "whoosh" sound of the fire, and the animation for the axe is slooowww.

2007-09-03T04:48:00.000-04:00

Obligatory dead picture

Bring 'em home, boys, and that's what they did. This was the "Spread the News" mission, where you needed to save or shut down some generators. When we showed up on the map, two generators were already down.

Not bad, kid.

After the ambush after the Tyrant rescue.

Dah WINNAH!

Screenie of Futura Force victorious - again.

Same thing, more sedate.

Take THAT!

Mase slamming Tryant upside the head.

2007-09-01T22:24:00.001-04:00

Mase in his underwear in the workshop.

Sonic Butterfly came in and I switched screens to look at Mase. Swoon. Okay, moving on.

The AARP insurance doesn't cover this.

Two geezers, Sapphire Knight and Penitency. I did with him what I had done with Bomber, got another costume set for the helmet-off. He's not that bad looking. actually.

Pentinency in action.

"Hi, everyone! Miss you all, weather's been great here in the War Zone, not too many Rikti to speak of but many pylons. Very quiet to sleep at night. See you soon! Love, Nate."

Victory: Assured!

The Honoree. Fangs. Claws. Chains. Tattered Union Jack. We've defeated him every time. Jack is disturbed whenever he does.

I'm set for the wedding.

Got enough for the Vanguard belt. Codpiece! What he's wearing are all the pieces I want. The boots are awful. I'll have to check out the hips, but keen said they're ugly.

Snow, Nerva, Shooting

2007-08-30T01:10:00.000-04:00

Oh the weather inside is frightful...

Fethshael in a cave, with freezing rain. Detail! You can see the pellets, and hear the hail. (Well, you can't. But I could.)

And to draw your attention to the left side of the gallery...

Redside team, Brigantia, a freak, George, Carnivale, Sapphire Night in the back, and Bomber. Dead freaks behind.

DON'T JUMP! But he's suicidal? Let him.

Bomber taking off the helmet. Behind him Brigantia contemplating how to break into the Officer's club, with Carnivale sitting on top of the pole, and Cackle floating near her.

2007-08-28T01:17:00.000-04:00

YOU SHALL NOT PASS!

This is a running joke. Whenever we see this bridge in the Rikti map, someone will invariably say, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" imitating Gandalf from Lord of the Rings. This is Rusty's moment.

People look like ants from way up here.

Mase, Kit, and Scott awaiting the rest of the team to hit a portal.

Watch me dance on this stage full of blood.

Post Infernal. Again, detail is amazing; in the lower left of the raised altar is a saw and I believe a skull. There are skulls on two of the corners. And blood. Lots. Of. Blood. Mase paused and passed a hand over the edge of the altar, thinking of when he himself ran at the altar the last time they faced Infernal - which started a slight downward spiral of remembering the old, old good old days.

Mother Mayhem's asylum.

I would do the Silver Mantis TF just to look at this cool map.

What's behind curtain number one, Bob?

You're in an asylum. You are SO in an asylum. What they needed, I just realized, is restraints on the beds. Or stirrups scattered around. You guys have no idea what I'm talking about, but girls, yeah, we girls know what it means, and it scares us. Big time.

Resting. Uh huh.

Obligatory death picture, but one of Mother Mayhem's "children" You can even see rust lines on the oxygen tanks. Somebody else who likes blood everywhere. Do they send these devs to watch Hellboy or something before writing the code for this?

Mase regarding an empty bed. Note the blood pack on the floor. Should have gotten pictures of the physician tools on the tray.

Another small room, but this one looked a little better set-up than the other ones. Beds in the hallways, around corners, just when you're coming out of the elevator...

Madman with a camera

2007-08-27T00:59:00.001-04:00

Thorn Isle. This place is just muckin' weird. But beautiful.

Keen Havoc getting testy with his ninjas. I never realized he was so skinny. Still nice eye candy, though.

Eule, the youngest Nazi in the Jagerverbande.

Mase talking to Havoc in the D. This will probably be the last time they talk amicably. Havoc, Mase, and the demon Jin.

Two brothers, Metacomet (Phil Greene) on the left, Mase on the right. Mase is jealous of his brother and shows it really loudly. Metacomet is jealous of Mase, too, but has no idea of Mase's story, he only sees the results.

Rusty and Kit with the prototype. Raven destroyed some of it so they're going to fix it.

Sonic Butterfly and Hope's Fury. Whenever our players get together, death usually results.

Rusty with, hopefully, his new car.

Opening salvo

2007-08-27T00:46:00.000-04:00

I have a HUGE photo album of things in Paragon City, of the City of Heroes game. The game itself is absolutely stunning visually. I have pictures of sunsets and moonrises, buildings, rooms, people. The detail is amazing. Shell casings on the floor. Programs open on computers. Necklaces for sale at the jewelry store.

I was putting these on my blog, but realized that some people read these at work, and the pictures might clog the viewing (at least it does where I work, when I have to sneak online). Since my blog is there for me to spout off ((VBG)), I figured I'd move the pictures here. This way you can look at them at your leisure. Plus I can discuss stuff with them.

Okay, so here goes the first set...