My Little Pony XCVII: Cheerilee's Lonely Hearts Club

[Spamotron]

Spoiler: EQG Overpowered short

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Interesting limitation on the geodes power. The more the magic is used the stronger it gets. Eventually becoming uncontrollable and manifesting at random. At which point the girls need to stop using magic at all to allow it to dissipate. Against a crisis they need to use magic against but can't overcome quickly the girls are in danger of becoming a bigger threat themselves than whatever it is they're trying to stop.

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: Previously on Aotrs-Com 2

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Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21Part 22
Part 23

Bleakbane Plays: Aotrs-Com 2: Part 24

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Jubilee returned from her training. Bleakbane headed out with Meli to do a quick bit of looting.

As they weren't really short of anything, Hopereaver decided to build another radio tower, because why not?

There was another retaliation raid. This time, Jubilee lead out Spike, War Droid Alpha, Zecora, Lyra and Shining.

Operation Storm Slap was a go!

The mission was difficult, if mostly just trying to not lose too many civilians. However, thanks to War Droid Alpha, Spike's Icarus armour, and his bond with Jubilee, they managed to just kill all of the aliens before it got truly nasty. Jubilee, however, took a nasty hit herself.

11/13 civilians saved, which wasn't bad.

(And got the achievement!)



War Droid Alpha was promoted to Paladin and gained Hunter Protocol (33% chance of making an overwatch shot when revealing an enemy pod).



Lyra and Shining went to train their bond some more.

A quick trip to the Black Market found nothing but fairly useless reloaders and stocks.

Bleakbane returned. Spike and Meli went out to gets some more AP.

Bleakbane decided NOW was the time to deal with that last alien monster.

The team consisted of himself, Derpy, Trixie, Scootaloo, Elena and Pinkie Pie; working on the basis of "melee to death," plus Elena's Banish and free attacks from Pinkie Pie. Bleakbane also made sure to equip the frost bombs for good measure.

Operation Faceless Shadow was a go!

The Berserker queen was... actually trivially easy. Derpy spotted it. She Trixie and Scootaloo started to move in - the former pair on overwatch. Bleakbane stepped up, triggering it. It charged forwards, being poisoned by Derpy. Bleakbane went on overwatch - it reacted forwards, getting shot again by both him and Trixie and set on fire. Derpy's Bladestorm sliced another great whack out of it. It then used its physical attacks to stun Derpy and disorientate Trixie... But it was also in line of fire of Elena... With Banish and a full set of seven ammo.

There wasn't much left after that.

The rest of the mission proceeded as expected, the only fly in the ointment a viper choosing to shoot Trixie rather than melee Derpy that was practically next to it. (Showing some intelligence after all).

The mission thus ended with Trixie and Derpy with a couple of scrapes, but a couple of day's rest would fix that.

Elena got an extra supply of double-chocolate ice-cream (she was - not very secretly - a bit of a chocoholic) for dealing the killing blow. He was so pleased, he also let learn Blood Trail (+61 damage if the target had already been hit that turn) and Target Definition (once spotted by the reaper, a target never becomes hidden).



Tygan got cracking on the autopsy.

Apparently, the Avatar Project couldn't get lower than 1...

Once Tygan had finished, Bleakbane tried the RAGE armour on, and decided he looked terrible. Instead, he gave it to Trixie (who was wearing a WAR suit anyway) on the basis that out of the rangers, she was also the last one without any special gear.

Bleakbane took a moment to consider that he was just about the only one without any special gear now, but shrugged.

There REALLY wasn't a pressing hurry to do anything now, so Bleakbane elected to go and scan for more loot.

Bleakbane ruminated on what to do with all the cores now. He considered making another War Droid... But felt it probably was a bit pointless at this stage. Instead, he had Stab and Jubilee equip the two spare War Suits, and decided to embark on a process of equipping more-or-less everyone with WAR suits and Blaster Launchers as cores allowed.

The next guerrilla operation was to - finally! - stop that intel boost. (Hell, at this point two block on the Avatar Project just meant that would be a REASON to knobble the last two facilities!) The time, it was another raid on an ADVENT train.

Jubilee headed out with Luna, Zecora, Sweetie, Apple Bloom and War Droid Alpha. The latter swapped its superior stock for a superior autoloader (and the sooner they could get it an expanded magazine of some sort, the better!)

Operation Gilded Dance was a go!

The squad very deftly wiped through ADVENT and their reinforcements without a scratch.



Spike and Meli returned - and Pinkie and Sunset went out for more resistance orders (but mostly for a +10 to Pinkie's dodge).

The new month started. This time, ADVENT were trying now to start on infiltrating faceless everywhere.

Orders-wise, Bleakbane elected to remove the one which reduced battle madness to one round (it wasn't like anyone seemed to struggle with that anyway) and juggle a bit too fit in the orders which increased the effects of PCS.

(Okay, the Avatar Project CAN be dropped to zero, at least by sabotage! I seriously considered dropping that order, actually...!)

Pinkie and sunset got back. Bleakbane headed out for a combat intelligence boost.

Hopereaver made a quick trip to the Black Market, and this time, they had some good stuff on offer (including a superior expanded magazine that went straight to War Droid Alpha).

Hopereaver had just headed to South America to build a new radio (because again, she might as well...) when the council called a mission in - VIP capture.

Hopereaver set out with Stab, Trixie, Elena, Bonbon and Meli. Trixie upgraded her repeater to an advanced version. Meli and Bonbon upgraded their weapons with some of the better available upgrades, including advanced hair triggers and superior scopes.

Operation Hell Beast was a go!

Thanks to a handy squad blitz hack (giving everyone a free use of run and gun), Hopereaver executed a flawless mission. She even - for the first time - used the ability of her wraith armour to run to, punch out, and carry of the VIP.



(It always makes me laugh, with ADVENT talking about "simulated combat," considering how many buildings get blown up and set on fire...!)

Meli was promoted to Sergeant.



She learned Suppression.

Bleakbane returned, then sent Jubilee and Meli out for more AP.

Training centre time! Bleakbane learned Chain Shot (two shots at -15 Aim). Spike learned both Guardian and Serial (for all of 1 AP from the shared pool).

Time to investigate that other black site, Bleakbane figured. (He made sure to pack an extra case to recover any more vials or liquid human. For... Research.)

He assembled Derpy, Fleur and the CMC. Fleur replaced her stock with a repeater. Scootaloo replaced hers with a laser sight. AB replaced her stock with an advanced hair trigger.

Operation Knife Saga was a go!

(Not only was the game being a right little [female canine], it finally decided to lock-up completely and lock the screen, so there was no way to shut it down (as it was ignoring windows menu close, and it wouldn't task-switch to let me shut it down via Task Manager. In the end, I had to do a reboot, which shut it off, and then cancelled the reboot when it asked to shut other running programs down.)

When I reloaded, weirdly, it HAD autosaved at the end of the turn it crashed, apparently before it finished the animations or something. Bloody Archons - they so cause so many glitches.

And you know what game, you can FRACK OFF with magically moving to spot Derpy EVERY single freaking enemy move.)

Despite all the things working against them, Bleakbane and company persevered, getting a body - or something - from the ADVENT Forge, where they appeared to be making All Of The Things. (In typical fashion, it was mostly blown open and on fire by the time they'd left.) Pausing only to butcher the hapless reinforcements, they extracted with their prize in tow.



What is in the ADVENT stasis suit?

Is it another random unfortunate VR game player? A clone of Bleakbane? Adam West (rest his soul)? *gasp* A certain Frenchman thought to have been mercifully blown up long ago?

Tune tomorrow and found out!

Same prat time, same prat channel!

*1960s Batman theme plays*

Edit: Just watcxhed the first episode of Blue Planet II (the latest David Attenborough series). As per usual, equal parts amazing, fascinating and wonderous. Watchin' killer wahles straight club herrings with their tails was just stunning. (Yes, it WOULD be that bit that caught my attention most....!) As usual, though I think the only thing about a primarily aqautic subject is its so often very hard to judge scale. Like with the first one, without a context or reference point, your brain just automatically assumes "fish are small" and the you get told that thing you're looking at is a metre long. And it takes a moment to get your head wrapped around it.

[Deadly]

Did someone say humanized ponies?!

Best humanized ponies, ever. I'm not kidding. All six are totally spot on.

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[Pilum]

The new shorts have been fun little snippets, in my opinion.

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Nothing earth-shattering, though I can't shake the feeling that "Overpowered" feels like it's laying a trail of breadcrumbs, and "Finals" was a bit weak, but they're all watchable. "Star Crossed" was a bit cliched but then aren't all rom-coms? although...

Spoiler: Minor hints at Rudeness and a blatant spoiler for "Star Crossed" within...

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Spoiler: Seriously, if you've not seen "Star Crossed" do not open this one

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Oh come on people, don't just draw yet more boringly predictable R34 drek, or produce 'nude' versions of the scenes. In 'Star Crossed', for instance, you've been given a PERFECT feed line, and no-one's taken the bait! When Flutters says "I got something special for your big night", that's your cue to 'shop in a box of condoms instead of the bugs! Ye gods, if you must work 'blue' at least have a bit of wit and humour about it...

Sorry.

I'll be keeping an eye out for any more, leaked or no; they've been pleasant little pools of niceness in an otherwise cruddy week. Nothing major, just really grindy...

[DigoDragon]

The shorts were okay. A nice distraction for a few minutes, but nothing more.


This art makes me dizzy.

Spoiler

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And finally, Trixie Trixie Trixie.

[Pi Pie]

Spoiler: Equestia Girl Shorts Reactions

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Overall, it was a nice set of shorts. However, I would prefer a full movie or full length episodes rather than just the shorts.
EG5 Q17 The finals countdown. It's nice to see the SciTwi already knows the lesson about properly teaching people. It's also good in general for the show to emphasize the point of education.
EG5 Q18 A fine line. Good thing that Pinkie Sense works on pre-ordering games.Also yay for being able to play multiplayer with your friends with only one copy of a game in the same location.
EG5 Q19 Overpowered. Very interesting short with a lot of potential implications for the Equestria Girls universe. This serves to limit Rainbow Dash's speed and Applejack's strength unless they want to risk driving Sunset Shimmer insane from hearing the voices or causing Pinkie Pie to explode.
EG5 Q20 School of rock. This one didn't work well for me. Maud works great as a straight character but needs a silly character to play off of. Just having Maud is kind of boring.
EG5 Q21 Star crossed. I liked this one as just a sweet episode. I think that Tara's Strong voice acting really shines. And yes, when Fluttershy gives the smile to Twilight and says she has something special for the date, I was thinking of condoms.
EG5 Q22 Pinkie sitting. I'm not a fan of the kid's voice. However, seeing Pinkie tired at the end hugging Gummie gave off some extreme dawwws.
EG5 Q23 Queen of clubs. This one was an obvious set up as soon as it was proposed, but it was still fun to see.

[Aotrs Commander]

Must try and remember to watch all the shorts; not sure I'm up to date...

Spoiler: Previously on Aotrs-Com 2

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Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21Part 22
Part 23
Part 24

Bleakbane Plays: Aotrs-Com 2: Part 25

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The Avenger started to scan for more loot. Before either the last covert ops could be finished or the stasis suit be opened, there was another VIP to neutralise!

Hopereaver set out with Stab, Mox, DT, Lyra and Shining. Mox replaced his stock with a hair trigger.

Operation Damned Justice was a go!

The mission started well.

(After a lot of repositioning, because the game is really BAD at conveying line of sight...)

The first pod was taken out entirely by overwatch fire. However, a problem arose when the Sectopod stomped up to the vehicle where the VIP was cowering. Killing it would have killed him too. So the squad was forced to hunker down for a round, hoping the Sectopod would attack the hacked Heavy MEC and move. Sadly, it was able to fire, move and fire again, and Shining took a hit. But that meant it was now free to be dispatched.

The squad paused long enough to ambush the reinforcements, before making it to the evac point; Mox had already grabbed the VIP and made it out.



Shining Armor was promoted to colonel. He grabbed rupture. Despite the hit, he would only be out for three days.

Mox and Diamond Tiara went to train their bonds.

Jubilee and Meli returned. Bleakbane sent out Sunset and Pinkie to get some loot (and more importantly, shunt Sunset's aim that bit higher.)

The stasis suit... Appeared to contain nothing more than a prototype stage, probably the Elders trying to make bodies they weren't dying.

Bleakbane was almost disappointed...

Sunset and Pinkie got back. To Bleakbane's irritation, Scootaloo (who he really wanted to send on a supply mission to improve her mobility) was still too tired, so Sunset and Pinkie went to boost Sunset's instead.

The guerrilla operation to prevent AVENT deploying faceless was a surgical strike. As most of the top teams were tired or otherwise engaged, it fell to Jubilee, Spike and Trixie.

Operation Cursed Shriek was a go!

The trio needed to destroy a psionic transmitter before it was safely shut down.

With the three veterans on the job, it didn't take long at all.



The recovered cores went on more WAR armour and Blaster Launchers.

And we will call it there.

Shorter session today, since I want to watch the second part of Blue Planet II and tomorrow, the front room is being emptied of guff because the man is coming to do the walls and such.



Edit: Blue Planet II: Again... Woah.

Fish with transparents skulls so they can look upwards. Fish with legs. Fish - at the bottom of the Marianas Trench. An eel literally tying itself in knots in toxic shock - because it spent too long diving into a lake - a LAKE - of brine at the bottom of the ocean.

I was in gobsmacked silence. I think Fluttershy would have some sort of quiet excited siezure.

[Pilum]

Indeed she would...

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Going back to one of my posts a few days ago, noticed a funny thing looking at the Christmas (already? sigh) aisles. All the beauty/bath set pony stuff is invariably Pinkie, Twilight and RD. Almost exclusively. Not a hint of Rarity, most surprisingly. Not even Flutters, who I would have expected on the grounds of having quite a ‘girly’ head, if you get me. I suppose the various sales figures and perhaps opinion polling of the primary demographic has spoken; cheerfulness and awesomeness are more sellable than fashion and pretty hair.

[Aotrs Commander]

Indeed she would...

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Going back to one of my posts a few days ago, noticed a funny thing looking at the Christmas (already? sigh) aisles. All the beauty/bath set pony stuff is invariably Pinkie, Twilight and RD. Almost exclusively. Not a hint of Rarity, most surprisingly. Not even Flutters, who I would have expected on the grounds of having quite a ‘girly’ head, if you get me. I suppose the various sales figures and perhaps opinion polling of the primary demographic has spoken; cheerfulness and awesomeness are more sellable than fashion and pretty hair.

Cynically, I would say more likely a case of Pink, Protagonist/The Leader and The Tomboy being considered as the most marketable by the faceless execs basing their decisions on "focus-testing" and other people in The Business who make their living telling businesses to tell people what it is they want...

I might be wrong, of course, but given how the business operates seemingly everywhere, I find it hard to believe that one aspect of a company like Hasbro would be the exception, not the rule.

[b_jonas]

Going back to one of my posts a few days ago, noticed a funny thing looking at the Christmas (already? sigh) aisles. All the beauty/bath set pony stuff is invariably Pinkie, Twilight and RD. Almost exclusively. Not a hint of Rarity, most surprisingly. Not even Flutters, who I would have expected on the grounds of having quite a ‘girly’ head, if you get me. I suppose the various sales figures and perhaps opinion polling of the primary demographic has spoken; cheerfulness and awesomeness are more sellable than fashion and pretty hair.

Yes, very often products are advertised by Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, but I've seen exceptions. I've been taking photos of some MLP products in shops out of curiosity. I have here a photo of some box with a haircomb for humans and some other stuff I can't identify from the photo, perhaps a nail file. This one has drawings of Pinkie Pie and a Rainbow Dash on the cover of the box, but you can just about see the comb inside, and that one clearly shows Fluttershy's head with her nice hair. That photo is from the summer, but I don't think Christmas has changed the selection of MLP branded products.

Update: Sorry, above is wrong. That one is apparently not a beauty product. It's a lunch box with a human-sized with Fluttershy's head drawn on the spoon and fork.

Cynically, I would say more likely a case of Pink, Protagonist/The Leader and The Tomboy being considered as the most marketable by the faceless execs basing their decisions on "focus-testing" and other people in The Business who make their living telling businesses to tell people what it is they want...

Haha, yes. I don't see much of those practices, but from the little I do know about, that rings true.

[Pi Pie]

I notice that no one is lamenting the lack of Applejack themed products.



What? It's possible that they could make apple scented shampoo.

[Aotrs Commander]

I notice that no one is lamenting the lack of Applejack themed products.



What? It's possible that they could make apple scented shampoo.

95% of the time, they don't even bother with the hat, anyway.


Now. That said - at one of the local pubs we go when we take Nanny out on a Thursday had those little machine doofers that you put a quid in and get a toy. They've got a pony on in at the moment, and looking at the ones my sister bought for Pestbag and Botty-Pain; honestly, they ain't bad quality. Twilight with wings, AJ with hat - all Mane Six. If it wasn't random, I'd be tempted myself.



You'll have to cope with no Aotrs-Com today, since Mum and me went to see Thor (since we weren't sure if it'd still be on when she got back from their two-week holiday they go on Friday).

I thought it was excellent and hilarious.

Also... I saw the trailer for the Last Jedi... And it did nothing for me.

Just think about that for a second.

Something with Starship Battles In It got a resounding "meh" from me¹. ME! How can you DO that?



¹I thought the Jumaji movie looked slightly more fun.

[t209]

¹I thought the Jumaji movie looked slightly more fun.

I think they actually should make CRPG out of it. I mean it's right there but they wasted on good ol' notions on video games and "hip and cool" If you mean by new version.
I mean like Baldur's Gate, Pillars of Eternity, and Tides of Numenera.

[Forum Explorer]

New Two Best Sisters Play.

[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: Previously on Aotrs-Com 2

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Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25

Bleakbane Plays: Aotrs-Com 2: Part 26

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Another radio relay went up, killing more time. The Avatar Project Dark Event happened, bringing the counter to... two.

The month ended. This time, ADVENT were working on reducing the time until the next retaliation strike, and trying to set-up capture operations on covert ops. Sunset returned almost immediately, and Bleakbane went out for combat intelligence training.

As Hopereaver set up another radio tower, Bleakbane returned - now rightfully a Savant - and too Holo-targeting and Kill zone.

Bleakbane sent Meli and Bonbon off to form a bond.

And then he decided it was time to hit the Codex brain co-ordinates.

He set out with Derpy, Scootaloo, Fleur, Sweetie and Apple Bloom. Sweetie upgraded her rifle to a superior expanded magazine and Apple Bloom upgraded to a superior lase sight and took Sweetie's old advanced expanded mag. Derpy was allowed to learn Implacable and Rapid Fire out of the common pool (since it was quite full!)

Operation Perilous Stallion (and they didn't bring Shining...!) was a go!

The team moved up carefully - and promptly ran into chryssalids. However, between Derpy and Scootaloo (and Blaster Launchers), they, the hapless trio of soldiers and the surprise Gatekeeper were easily dispatched. And what they were guarding - a psionic gate - was recovered.



Apple Bloom was promoted to Major (on the basis of a good solid Blaster Launcher hit).



She took both Ever Vigilant and Guardian (with her AP) and then went to bond-train with Sweetie.

The Shadow chamber needed to be upgraded to work on the psionic gate, so that was done and research in it started.

Bonbon and Meli returned, bonded and all ready to go!



Bradford got another slap from Hopereaver and Stab, since he commented on "propaganda never looked so pretty," which after his comment on their bond poster, they found even more offensive than the first time.

Bleakbane sent Fleur (with the reward of a promotion) and Scoots out for more AP.

Shen and Tygan experimented with the gate, sending Shen's Rover through - not terribly successfully, but Stab was pretty sure it was fixable. Apparently, an organic component was also needed for this one.

Time to autopsy that ADVENT suit!

"Well," Bleakbane said, watching the purple ghost-thing float out of the suit. "That's not typical."

To Bleakbane's lack of surprise, the thing was a fusion of elder and human DNA - the elders were clearly trying to replace their dying bodies with new ones.

Well, a stop would be put to that, before long!

But first - it was time for Trixie to go and lead a team to destroy the next Avatar Project facility. She went out with Elena, Luna, Zecora, Bonbon and Meli. After a bit of juggling with modules and PCSes, the squad was ready.

Operation Death Mask was a go!

Bonbon took a nasty hit from a triggered Sectopod.

(Apparently, Tactical Analysis doesn't apply to them...)

The rest of the mission was neatly completed, however.



Meli was promoted to Lieutenant and took Heavy Ordinance.

Bonbon also would need trauma therapy to avoid excessive reloading, as soon as she was free.


And we will call it there again for tonight. (We're approaching the end game, and I want to tackle that pretty fresh!)

[DigoDragon]

New Two Best Sisters Play.

I like the little Punch Out scenes added in to the game. XD


Comphy Recliner

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[Topaz]

Pony RPG News! The Bestiary for the official Tails of Equestria RPG is releasing - information and a preview here.

[Pi Pie]

I'm going to a gaming convention tomorrow.

While there, I am hoping to run my first LARP which is based on the Salem witch trials.

Spoiler: Gaming

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Spoiler: Convention

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[Aotrs Commander]

Spoiler: Previously on Aotrs-Com 2

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Part 01
Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26

And here it is, folks, the conclusion you've (not) been waiting for...!

Bleakbane Plays: Aotrs-Com 2: The Finale

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Scoots and Fleur returned, bringing more AP. Fleur was promoted to colonel and picked up both Saturation and Rupture (with a little from the shared pool).

Meanwhile, the Avenger looked for loot as they killed time as the autopsy completed. Pinkie and Sunset went to gather Intel (and boost Pinkie's dodge).

Another VIP needed rescuing. Jubilee headed out with Spike, Luna, Zecora, Lyra and Shining. Spike slapped a superior scope into his rifle and they were ready to leave.

Operation Wolf Tooth was a go!

The mission proceeded very well. There were three Archons and panic ensued at the sight of Spike's armour. No less than four of ADVENT's unit fell under hacked or dominated control (Luna got lucky with a Void Rift) and once the enemy had been eliminated, the erstwhile allies were mopped up before the squad left.



Pinkie and Sunset returned, and Sweetie and Apple Bloom undertook a supply operation - mostly so Sweetie would qualify for a promotion.

Tygan and Shen called Bleakbane, Hopereaver, Derpy and Bradford to the shadow chamber. Tygan and Shen explained that in order to get through the portal, they would need to create an Avatar body... But that it would need to be psionically controlled. But the trauma would kill a human.

"Well," Bleakbane said. "Good thing I'm not human, then, innit?"

"Are you sure about..." Bradford began, and stopped, remembering who he was talking to, and seeing the manic gleam in Bleakbane's eyeglows.

"Boss," Hopereaver said. "Do you think you'll be able to multitask controlling the Avatar body and yourself, like I know you're going to want to do?"

Bleakbane's ringing maniacal laughter was her only response.

Derpy just chewed a muffin thoughtfully.

They had just barely reached the command centre when a call came in from Senator Not-Bailey. ADVENT were really rather miffed. They were planning to process the entire human race fairly soon.

"Oh, yes, how terrible," Bleakbane said.

But the councillor had found a way to get into the ADVENT broadcasting tower as they made their big speech.

Then the door behind the councillor burst open, and ADVENT troopers burst in.

Really, it was one of those situations where the screen probably should have gone all black or something, but Hopereaver had already opened a Gate. Before either the bridge crew, Bradford, Tygan, Shen the councillor or the surprised enemy could even manage a "what the f-" Bleakbane had shot both enemy with his blaster launcher, and Derpy had shot the councillor with her grapple and yanked him back through the Gate, which Hopereaver closed.

"Wha-?" said Bradford.

"Guh?" explained Tygan.

"The hell!" Shen managed.

"Buh!" Shego piped up from the corner, where the toddler was playing with an unconcerned Jubilee and Spike.

The councillor, quite put out with the grappling hook through his shoulder, glared a bit at the cheerfully smiling Derpy.

"Seriously, Ow," said Councillor Not-Bailey in his awesome voice. "That really freaking hurts! I had my big sacrifice and everything all ready, and now you ruined it."

"Oh hush," Bleakbane said. "Someone find him a poorly-lighted room with a desk or something once you've patched him up, we all know he's gonna what to do the congratulations thing again in a bit..."

"In the meantime, we get to ruin that Speaker dude's day summat rotten!"

Hopereaver checked her pistol.

"Are we going now?"

"Pfft! Of course not!" Bleakbane snorted. "Sweetie and AB aren't back yet, and the supply drop's in a couple of days anyway!"

"But-" Shen started "What about all the people who might die in the and I just remembered who I'm talking to, never mind, I'll go make some more tune-ups and stuff."

So, two days later, Sweetie returned and was promoted to colonel. She picked up Fan fire and also was allowed to use some of the shared AP to get Ever Vigilant. And then Bleakbane sent them out again to get some resistance orders for Apple Bloom's promotion.

The month ticked over.

"Aw, c'mon!" Bleakbane said. "Say it!"

"No!" Councillor Not-Bailey snapped from his bed in the infirmary. "You shot me with a grappling hook! You have not exceeded my expectations this month!"

"Dangit!"

Next day, Apple Bloom was promoted to Colonel and took Capacitor discharge.

Hilarious though it might have been to delay to promote Meli to colonel as well, Bleakbane sighed and figured he probably ought to save the world or something...

After, y'know, one last trip to the Black Market.

Trixie replaced her superior stock with a superior hair-trigger. Jubilee generously suggested they swap Trixie's repeater for her advanced repeater.

The mission allowed Bleakbane use leverage some Intel to get squad-wide individual concealment, an extra use of run-and-gun for everyone, a +15 Aim and +58% crit chance and barely touch half the supply.

The first phase of the final mission - the infiltration - would be undertaken by Jubilee, Spike and Mox, seen off by the entire squad.

"Hey Jubilee?" Sweetie said as they were about to head out. "I saw you give Trixie your advanced repeater. So I thought you should take mine, since you'll probably need it!"

"Thanks, dude," Jubilee said, fist-bumping Sweetie in thanks. "You're the best!" she turned to Shogo, currently being held by Shining Armour. "Now you be good little dude," she said, repeating the gesture to the giggling baby. "Mommy's gotta go save the world again."

Spike ticked Shogo under the chin (causing him to giggle "nuh, 'Pike!", and stepped up, clasping Jubilee’s arm in the time-honoured gesture of friendship before slipping his helmet on.

Mox took his helmet and solemnly addressed the child. "I give you my word your mother will return safely, Shogo Lee."

Shogo giggled, before reaching out and leaning his head forward in a child's "bye-bye" hug.

"M'x!" the child announced, proud of his cleverness, to general coos from the assembled squad.

Mox's stride broke, and no-one mentioned how his eyes might have been just a touch watery as he slipped his helmet on (the old softie). Diamond tiara stepped up and gave him a quick hug.

"Make sure you come back too!" She said in no uncertain terms.

"Yes, ma'am!" Mox replied, with amused, easy camaraderie they duo had developed.

Bleakbane nodded sharply and saluted.

"It's been an honour and a privilege, Jubilation, Spike, Mox. Go kick their sorry arses!"

Operation Shadow King was a go!

The trio moved forward. The first enemies they spotted were an Archon and a Sectoid on the roof of a building. Jubilee took care of them with a Blaster Launcher and a single shot. Her scan indicated a Sectoid and a Spectre on the same roof, a little further away.

Mox moved into position and chucked his grenade, dropping the Sectiod down and nearly killing it. The Spectre charged in, but Spike damaged it and Jubilee polished it off. The sectoid ran to hide and Mox dispatched it.

They moved forwards, and spotted another Sectoid and an Andromedon - which triggered a reaction shot from Jubilee, heavily damaging it. Mox killed the former and then finished off the latter. Before the husk could even get started, Jubilee - who'd neatly got Bluescreen rounds - tore it apart.

The final trio, an Archon and two Spectres, were on top of another building. It looked like it was going to be hard to get them. Mox grappled up to a nearby building to see if he could get a better angle. And this provided the chance.

"Ah, who wants to live forever!" Spike Icarus-jumped up to the spot Mox had seen. He was spotted as he landed, but his pistol jumped into his hand and he shot the first spectre. Before it could even finish recoiling, Spike serial activated. He put a round smartly into each of the Spectres one after the other, then obliterated the Archon with Fan Fire.

(Gotta love that 149% chance of a crit...!)

"Nice, dude!" Jubilee yelled from below.

"Got eyes on the console,," Spike yelled, dropping into the building.

"Cover me, guys," Jubilee yelled. She dashed in and Shego Two floated over the console hacking it effortlessly.

(Hilariously, this gave Jubilee another +20 to her Hacking skill...!)



Bleakbane and the squad watched with popcorn as the ADVENT speaker rattled on and on about how great ADVENT was, blissfully unaware of all the horrible images being shown behind him. (Bleakbane, because he WAS still evil, had thrown into the mix some of those naughty, traumatising images the Chosen had sent Hopereaver and company (though not Hunter Mordenna), followed by a silent puppet show with the corpses of Neylor and Warlock Mordenna...)

"Ooh, nasty," Bleakbane said with no attempt at regret as the crowd promptly lynched the Speaker... And it might have been the images making them a bit more crazy than usual, but the things they did to the corpse were really quite inappropriate.



"Right," said Bleakbane. "Let's finish this!" He grabbed his mini gun, eyeglows blazing in a mad grin.

Derpy, who had just learned Covering fire in the Training Room, swallowed her last pre-battle muffin and grabbed her katanas. Hopping up besides Bleakbane, she checked Arashi.

Hopereaver high-fived Stab as they jumped up behind them.

Trixie and Elena, the latter smirking openly, the other smirking as she put on her mask, tapped their guns together and joined the group on the platform.

The entire crew squad, plus Shen, Tygan, Bradford, Councillor Not-Bailey and - of course - Shogo were in attendance.

Bleakbane saluted smartly.

"See you on the other side, ladies, gentlemen and Jarmin."

"Good luck, commander," Bradford said returning the salute.

"I don't need luck, I have a blaster launcher!" Bleakbane replied with absolute confidence.

"Should that worry me?" Bradford mumbled, as he stepped back.

"Yes. Yes, it should.



"Now," the necromancer's eyeglows brightened. "Let's show the elders what the combination of technology, biology, psionics AND magic can do!"

Shen and Tygan exchanged glances, set activated the portal.

Bleakbane reached up and tapped his helmet. Beneath it, his metal skull was surmounted by a small crown (that was not, despite what Diamond Tiara and Derpy emphatically asserted, NOT a tiara, and he did not look "pretty with it on" Derpy). The crown was part psionic transmitter, part necromantic channel and part device. It linked directly into Bleakbane's helmet using modified Aotrs technology. And it was designed to channel Aotrs magic.

Bleakbane cast Master Undead True. The eerie purple light of psionics shone out from inside the visor, as the crown translated the spell into something else... Which then jumped through the transmission to the Avatar.

In a single sudden motion, the Avatar leaped off the table, and cocked its head to one side in a gesture of pure Bleakbane.

A manic laugh echoed from two voices in unison. One mind, commanding two bodies.

Inside the helmet too quiet for anyone else to hear, nor transmitted to the Avatar Bleakbane whispered: "And this is how the universe falls..."

"Now," he said allowed, the Avatar's voice echoing behind his words. "It is time to show the Elders that, for all their power, they are as NOTHING compared to mine!"

"And save the world!" Derpy added.

"Yes. Also that."

Bleakbane strode into the portal down a corridor of salutes, with the Avatar trailing like a shadow.

They arrived in the Elder's sanctum.

The squad moved forwards carefully. There was no rush.

This proved to be right. Trixie and Elena, concealed, detected two Codexes and an Andromedon.

The hapless trio walked forwards. The first warning they got was one of the Codexes exploding and Stab's rifle obliterated it. Bleakbane tore the Andromedon apart with combined fire from his Avatar and his own rifle. Stab shot the other Codex out in one hit, and Bleakbane destroyed the Andromedon husk, again with his Avatar as support.

The next challenge was a sextuplet of Chrysalids around a Gatekeeper. Elena snuck around the back - spotting a quartet of Vipers while she was at it - and used Remote Detonation to trigger them, taking out two. Bleakbane stomped forwards, using Saturation fire to kill two more. Hopereaver killed two more with Serial and put a fan fire onto the damaged Gatekeeper. Stab hopped forward and finished it off.

Derpy moved up, as the vipers slithered on patrol.

As the squad move forwards, Elena spotted no le4ss than four Mutons and two Andromedons in a pack not far from the Vipers.

The vipers spotted Stab as they moved forwards. She deftly picked off two from overwatch and Derpy a third (and sent the forth into a panic). Sadly, the other pod noticed what was going on and moved to help.

Derpy shot down one Muton, and Hopereaver a second. Trixie, seeing now as a good opportunity, landed a Blaster on the group. It caught both Andromedons and killed one of the mutons. Elena finished the third off from Shadow.

Bleakbane, grumbling, rushed towards the fun, setting up a Kill Zone... Which proved to be totally pointless, since Stab shot and killed the Andromedons with Overwatch. The last Muton moved and foolishly took a shot at Derpy, but she was untouchable.

Still griping, Bleakbane ran forward and killed the panicked viper. He had his Avatar shoot the first husk, allowing Hopereaver to finish it. Stab deftly made short work of the second husk, and Derpy rushed up and sliced the last muton in two.

The squad moved up carefully. Derpy and Trixie re-concealed. Elena, running ahead, located two Berserkers as they next threat.

As the squad re-convened and reloaded (and waited for Bleakbane to catch up), Elena spotted a second patrol, consisting of two Sectopods and a Heavy MEC. So she dropped and detonated a homing mine on the trio.

As everyone waited, Elena snuck a bit more forward, and found that the trio was a quartet (there was another Heavy MEC). And, on top of that, there were four more ADVENT MECs near the berserkers.

Everyone moved forwards and went on overwatch. The first Sectopod ran past Stab and took one hit and a glancing blow. The second lumbered towards the group, and Hopereaver and Bleakbane put it down between them.

Stab popped around a corner and destroyed the first sectopod, finally alerting (through their damage) the berserkers.

Elena dropped her second homing mine on the quartet of MECs and detonated it, killing one.

Bleakbane charged forward and opened up with Saturation, catching both the damaged Heavy MECs that had run over from the first Sectopod's location and the new quartet and deftly tore apart four of the five targets, laughing manically.

One berserker charged around towards Stab - only to be deftly mind controlled by Bleakbane's Avatar. Its partner died as Bleakbane tore it to pieces. Hopereaver put the controlled berserker down with three rapid fan-fire shots.

Stab moved towards the last foe - the Heavy MEC. It stopped her coming, and broke into a run... Right across a delighted Bleakbane's line of fire.

They moved into the next area. Tygan noted that the facility was under water (Bleakbane suppressed a shudder).

And then the Elders rather lost their excrement, summoning an Avatar - perhaps more than one.

The first one appeared with two Archons. Bleakbane had his avatar drop a Void Rift on them. The Elder Avatar made the mistake of teleporting near Stab - who shot it with her hair trigger - and then near Derpy, who took it clean out.

The Archons charged forward, and promptly died to Stab's overwatch and Derpy's bladestorm.

A trio of Mutons had appeared on the left, where the squad was clustered, and a trio of sectoids on the left (gamely covered by Stab).

Bleakbane weakened two of them with a grenade, and Derpy just missed the third with Arishi, so Hopereaver ran forward and put a pistol shot through each muton skull with her Face Off.

The second Avatar appeared, with a pair of muton and a pair of berserkers.

The sectoids scuttled forward, one falling immediately prey to Stab.

Derpy moved forwards to locate the Avatar, and the rest of the squad started to follow.

Unfortunately, Derpy missed the Sectoid she shot at, and apparently despite Stab's best efforts, she couldn't see them and one tried mind controlling Derpy. She shook it off, but panicked and ran even further forwards.

The Elder avatar stepped forwards, going onto overwatch. That, however, proved to be a fatal mistake. Elena was flanking it, and she couldn't have asked for a better target for Banish. It never even saw what killed it.

Two down.

Stab dropped a Blaster on one of the Mutons and one of Sectoids, killing the latter. Hopereaver, quite far away, managed to miss her sectoid target. Bleakbane shot it down and, heartened, Derpy shook off her panic and mowed down the wounded Muton, before charging up to the next one.

Trixie yelled for Elena to get to some better cover.

The third Avatar arrived, in tow two more Mutons and two more berserkers. The original two Berserkers charged Derpy and both were heavily wounded by her blades. The hapless Muton next to her, on the other hand, was neatly bisected as it tried to move.

Stab bolted across to Bleakbane, pausing only to gun one of the berserkers down. Derpy killed the other effortlessly.

Elena cloaked and moved to try and get a bead on the last avatar. She spotted a Muton, so took it out with Sting.

Hopereaver grappled up to a platform and she could she the Avatar and its three remaining guards. She used serial to kill the first the Muton and then Lightning Hands and her rifle to kill the berserker. And waited, because it w3as not her place to deal with the last avatar.

Trixie sprinted across with Reapers. The berserker saw her coming and panicked, which meant she sliced in half as it tried to flee - and then she landed a blow on the avatar.

It teleported.

It appeared next to Bleakbane.

Bleakbane could have shot it down with Chain fire there and then.

But no. This had to be done... Right.

Bleakbane's Avatar, not far away, blasted with a null lance.

The last Elder Avatar teleported once more. It stumbled as it appeared next to the portal and turned around.

Its line of sight followed all the way to a single figure in crimson armour, standing up from behind the cover it had been hiding behind. The right hand was holding a skull helmet, allowing the Elder Avatar to look directly into the red, glowing eye sockets of a naked metal skull.

Its left arm was extended.

A small green ball of light suddenly, gracefully, floated down in front of its faceplate.

It hung there for a frozen moment.

Bleakbane head cocked very slightly to one side in a gesture of smug satisfaction and faux-pity.

The Elder Avatar emitted a single-syllable word in its language, the glow of the Blaster reflecting off the visor.

And then it disappeared in a brilliant blast of fire.



The fortress started shaking.

"Without the Elders, the whole place is becoming unstable!" Shen yelled.

"Commander, get everyone out there fast!" Bradford said unnecessarily. Elena - who had been just outside the blast radius and had a ringside seat to the final Avatar's demise - went through immediately on Bleakbane's signal.

But as the rest of the squad reached the portal.. It closed.

"I hope you have a back-up plan!" Bradford snapped to a worried Shen.

"I-" Shen started, when without preamble, a whit point of light appeared next to the portal, expanding to a large door-sized rectangle of white light, from which roiling colours spilled.

Derpy, Hopereaver, Stab and Trixie sauntered out unruffled.

"Oh, right, they can do that," Bradford said.

Bleakbane rolled his eyes. The last vestiges of the Ethereal Elders were trying very hard to control his Avatar, pushing with all of their might... And because it was under the control of a Lich... Absolutely nothing happened. After watching the fruitlessly struggle for a bit, he entirely unnecessarily snapped his fingers.

The Avatar abruptly dropped stone dead as its life-force - held at bare minimum by the necromantic magic - abrupt was drained away.

"You... have doomed everything!" the ethereals gasped as they floated as the fortress began to seriously overload. "The ones that come for us will destroy you all"

Bleakbane laughed. The sound rang high and mocking, and echoed. The ethereals felt themselves slipping away into oblivion... Only to stop. Arrested in the ether by a force they could not comprehend. And then the world swam back into focus and they beheld Bleakbane's hand held out in a grasping motion. And it finally dawned on them that they'd been running from the wrong enemy.

"When they come..." Bleakbane hissed triumphantly... "When they come, the things that you tried to escape, the things you are so afraid of?

"They will learn the true meaning of fear."

He hurled the Elder's souls into death, and turned and entered the Gate, just as the fortress exploded dramatically behind him.



"Yeah, alright, that probably wasn't the best idea," Bleakbane admitted. His voice was slightly muffled, on account of him being imbedded front-of-skull-first several inches into the wall far side of the Gate. "But," he continued, managing to raise one finger, while Derpy and Hopereaver were trying to pry him out with crowbars. "It looked bloody impressive, you've got to admit that."



Some time later, to celebrate the defeat of ADVENT, a huge crowd had gathered in front of a stage with an enormous screen to pay homage to their heroes.

Bradford, in full formal uniform, addressed the crowd.

"Ladies and gentleman, it is my great honour to introduce to you the heroes of Aotrs-com!"

As each soldier was announced and came up on stage to receive their accolades, the screen showed split-screen montage of their individual adventures, with them interacting at the base, doing silly things and looking at or smiling into the camera like it was a really good intro to a TV series or something.


Colonel-Commander-Commodore "Archlich" Bleakbane: 33 missions, 113 kills (Darkwalker Gur-Il Mordenna, Final Avatar)

Colonel Amalyar "Zero" Hopereaver: 27 missions, 102 kills (Warlock Jax-il Mordenna)

Colonel Derpy "Muffins" Hooves: 29 missions, 97 kills (Voidwitch Dhar-Rai Neylor, Second Avatar)

Colonel Stab "Cyberlich" Voidslay: 24 missions, 53 kills

Colonel Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee: 33 missions, 50 kills

Colonel Spike "Gentledrake" The Dragon: 20 missions, 42 kills (Archon King)

Colonel Sunset "Boom Boom" Shimmer: 20 missions, 70 kills

Colonel Pinkie "Party Pony" Pie: 18 missions, 71 kills

Colonel Fleur "Checkmate" Dis Le: 16 missions, 17 kills

Colonel Trixie "The Great" Lulumoon: 26 missions, 87 kills

Colonel Elena "Outrider" Dragunova: 25 missions, 71 kills (Berserker Queen, Third Avatar)

Colonel Pratal "Mox" Mox: 24 missions, 79 kills (Viper King)

Colonel Scootaloo "Awesome" Something: 18 missions, 61 kills

Colonel Sweetie "Dictionary" Belle: 14 missions, 54 kills

Colonel Apple Bloom "Overdrive" Apple: 9 missions, 16 kills

Colonel Shining "Shield" Armour: 8 missions, 19 kills

Colonel Lyra "Witchy" Heartstrings: 8 missions, 14 kills

Colonel Diamond "Prophet" Tiara: 13 missions, 33 kills

Colonel Sweetie "Bonbon" Drops: 3 missions, 5 kills

Magus Luna "Nightmare" Invictus: 16 missions, 20 kills

Magus Zecora "Mystic" Zebra: 15 missions, 16 kills

Paladin War Droid "Enrager" Alpha: 12 missions, 28 kills

Lieutenant Meli "Pyro" Cliffseeker: 4 missions, 8 kills

Corporal Jarmin Kuld: 3 missions, 7 kills (First Avatar)

Corporal Rameses Menes: 1 mission, 1 kill



They all gathered on stage before the adoring crowds for one collective bow.

Bradford leaned in quietly to Bleakbane.

"You've done an amazing job once again, commander; you've saved the world twice now. What do you plan to do next?"

"Weeeeeeell..."



"In hindsight," Bradford said to Tygan, Volk, Betos, Discord and Councillor Not-Bailey, as their chain-gang carried another load of stone to build the giant monument of Bleakbane posed hands-on-hips and throwing his head back in laughter, "we really should have seen this coming."



Stats:

Missions Won: 76

Missions Lost: 0

Flawless Missions: 30

Aliens killed: 1177

Soldiers lost: 0

Successful hit percentage: 89%

Average turns left on mission timers: 4.17

Chosen Killed: 3

Days to kill first Chosen: 122

Kills by faction Heroes: 160

Global Ability Points earned: 5771

Covert Actions Completed: 89

Number of Level 3 soldiers bonds: 6

Number of breakthroughs: 20

Soldiers who saw action: 53

Days to first colonel: 150

Total days wounded: 222

Promotions earned: 117

Number of colonels: 19

Psionic Soldiers trained: 2

Number of Magi: 2

Hack rewards earned: 56

Robots hacked: 29

Number of scientists: 11

Number of engineers: 13

Days to magnetic weapons: 104

Days to beam weapons: 176

Days to plated armour: 44

Days to powered armour: 239

Days to alien encryption: 150

Radio relays built: 12

Alien facilities destroyed: 6

Supplies collected from supply depots: 12828

Supplies earned from black market: 252

Intel collected: 2712

Intel paid to black market: 855

Spoiler: Final Thoughts

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Well. I think you have probably gathered by the frequency of my posting that I REALLY enjoyed X-Com 2 War of the Chosen, and I think I was right to wait until the expansion was out. There are not many games that will have me play 136 hours almost without a day missing (though yes, some of that time is also the write-up as I went). I was just starting to flag this past week, with the entire goals done bat the last bit of the story missions, which is not bad going, not at all.

It was enormous fun. The posters were something I'd never have thought about, but were ridiculously fun.

Once again, I struggled with sniping; in the end, I used the sharpshooters as pretty much gunslingers half the time. I never seemed to be able to get into a high spot where they could actually get line of effect.

The specialists were alright, but became GREAT once they got Ever Vigilant and Guardian, especially with Covering Fire. Despite at first thinking it sounded a bit meh, I thank my stars I got so many of the latter on the other characters as well! Stab and Jubilee really came into their own with overwatch.

That said, I wasted the points on Jubilee's medical skills. Aside from the very early game, I never used any of them.

I think I was most disappointed by Kill Zone. I never once managed to get it to work, despite several characters using it.

The Reapers, Skirmishers and Templars got some getting used to. Mox was most obviously useful, but it wasn't until the end when I got how Elena worked that she became a real benefit (and even then, that was partly after watching a video on it). DT was okay, but I never really got the hang of templars (though to be fair, asking Captain Horder to make best use of an opportunity cost-character is not going get you very far!)

I was disappointed that Mox's battlelord was never as useful as I would have liked - I only used about once, I think.

SPARKs are great fun, if not hugely super-powerful but dang if they weren't a huge improvement over the drones in the original. (Though I can imagine without the buff War of the Chosen gave them, they'd be a bit rubbish.)

The psionics were okay. They were useful, but I didn't find them so great I missed not having them around.

Rangers were AMAZING, and the only reason Derpy wasn't the top character was because I made a conscious effort to get Bleakbane to be it! Derpy, Trixie and Scoots went well beyond with their performance. I almost wished Bleakbane had been a ranger!

Still, he did very well, despite a start where he spent more time supporting than killing himself. (But what a comeback at the eleventh hour! I even beat his last game's kill count by one!)

The Blaster Launcher is so much better than all the other heavy weapons, it's not even funny. (Another time, I will likely just make (reload) them instead of anything else; the only reason I did, really, was for the achievement!)

The music of this game was excellent, and I've found myself youtubing it while doing actual CAD work and it frequently runs in my head, which is always a sign that it has caught my attention.

There was something else I wanted to say, but it's so late and I'm damned if I can remember what it was...!



So in conclusion, Rocket Launcher/10, will play again and will definitely play the sequel... After the sequel's expansion comes out, true to form.

So expect that in a few year's time, assuming we're still here...!

[Metahuman1]

So, I've got this going on, and it dawned on me,



This is the thread full of people whom might be willing and able to help.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...adin-and-Mount

OP in the thread more or less explains it.

[Aotrs Commander]

Oh good, the thread isn't totally dead; I was beginning to wonder if that bit with Shogo had killed everyone with diabetes or soemthing....

[zimmerwald1915]

Oh good, the thread isn't totally dead; I was beginning to wonder if that bit with Shogo had killed everyone with diabetes or soemthing....

Confuse not silence with absence. I can only speak for myself, but I just have nothing to say most of the time. Comes of being dull.

[DigoDragon]

Nah, I'm around. I just been busy with the usual life things; job, art job, writing, cooking, cleaning, raising a daughter,talkin' 'bout ponies, etc.

Some weekends I have time and I spend it with friends over lunch.

Spoiler

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[Manga Shoggoth]

Well, the Season 6 DVD came through my letterbox this morning. The film is on pre-order (December, hopefully). All I need now is the latest Girl Genius graphic novel and I'm away.

Of course, if it exists, there's pony of it:

• Pure Genius
• The boys
• The Girls
• Der Stallionz

[ziddersroofurry]

I notice that no one is lamenting the lack of Applejack themed products.

I only just managed to pick up a used Applejack 15" Build-a-Bear plush via Ebay. It was so frustrating to find out (from BaB's official Facebook) they weren't planning on making Applejack available anymore. She's slowly going up in price on most auction sites. I'm lucky the one I bid on had an easily fixable busted stitch as i'm pretty sure that's why they were selling her so cheap.

I was hoping they'd continue carrying all the ponies so I could pick up alternates to reduce wear & tear. As it is I'm torn-i'm a cuddler yet that wears plushies out meaning within five or six years (or less) I'll need to retire them. :(

[Pendulous]

Oh good, the thread isn't totally dead; I was beginning to wonder if that bit with Shogo had killed everyone with diabetes or soemthing....

I've been posting less and less. I watched the season finale, but skipped a few episodes before it. Pretty severe depression, couple with working retail at this time of year, and a current hobby of doing nothing with my free time but watching anime. Does not make for much pony to talk about.

There isn't much crossover I could find for the show I'm currently obsessed with, unfortunately, this is the most relevant https://sagegami.deviantart.com/art/K-ON-MLP-450650615

[b_jonas]

I'm still rewatching episodes from S6, because I know those much less than the episodes from the earlier seasons. I don't comment on them much, because I don't really find anything notable that we didn't already mention in the past ponythreads. I've already rewatched a lot of them while S7 was going on. I've watched S6 E15 "28 pranks later", in which Pinkie organizes a scary prank for Rainbow Dash; E10 "Applejack's day off" in which the adorable Rainbow Dash tries to keep up her tough pony image when Applejack meets her in the spa and sees her in Tank slippers; E17 "Dungeons & Discords" in which Rainbow Dash fixes her tough guy cred by joining guy's night; E12 "Spice up your life" in which Rarity again uses her fashion designer fame to influence public opinion, just like she did in S1 E21; E3 "The gift of Maud Pie" in which Rarity uses her charisma for intimidating one pony just like in S5 E15. Today I watched E14 "The cart before the ponies" in which Diamond Tiara builds a cart with the help of her butler Randolph, and rides the cart with the tiara over her helmet; E18 "Buckball season" in which Applejack and Rainbow Dash ruin the fun for two other ponies again approximately the same was as in E14, but this time Applejack figures it out more quickly, also Snails was there instead of Snips this time; E16 "The times they are a changeling" in which Spike risks all his social credit on moving the untenable situation with the changeling scare forward.

Of these, S6 E16 and E17 have become much better on the rewatch than my impression when it came out, because these were two episodes (E16 and E17) that have finally treated Spike as a proper hero spending effort on fixing tough situations. He's deserved that treatment for a long time after always playing second fiddle. AOTRS, you were right.

There's still a lot I'll have to rewatch, including the terrible E11.

[Pi Pie]

I just finished a gaming convention including running my very first LARP. It took a lot of time to get all of the props ready including 2 boxes of library books. Now I just have to get everything reset for the next game in a few months, and I will be done.

My next major project is writing a My Little Pony / Warhammer 40K crossover RPG using the Toon system. The two series can work surprisingly well especially if you interpret the show in an especially dark manner. For example, a case could be made that unicorns in My Little Pony need to be regulated like psykers in Warhammer 40K because of their potential to use world ending magic.

[Aotrs Commander]

I've been posting less and less. I watched the season finale, but skipped a few episodes before it. Pretty severe depression, couple with working retail at this time of year, and a current hobby of doing nothing with my free time but watching anime. Does not make for much pony to talk about.

Ouch. All I can really say is that I hope things improve for you.


(And, on the other hand, these days I only talk pony, like 50% of the time here anyway...)

Speaking of:



So, I started playing Ashes of the Singularity today. Very much in the Supreme Commander (one, i.e. the one that was pants) mould. 'Taint bad. Feels more like starships with bases in a lot of ways, since everything's frigates, cruisers and dreadnoughts.

One thing I've found about the youtube era is it can be quitie difficult tpo find a FAQ or walkthrough these days. If I get stuck, I don't want to watch a damn video, I just want some strategy advise. Watching someone else play it defeats half the point...

[DigoDragon]

Of course, if it exists, there's pony of it:

• Der Stallionz

Oh good, they have their hats. So it isn't a bad plan then. XD

Spoiler: The Great and Powerful Vertigo

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Spoiler: Lil' Day Breaker!

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