Solo Tremaine

[COLOR=#503F86]I've been in and out of surgery more ties than I can remember for operations on my leg to have a cyst (hole as opposed to lump) operated on. I have a series of very faint circular scars and one three or four-inch long scar at the top of my left leg. They don't bother me much- it's not like I ever moon anyone to show them off. Another one is on my right knee- when I was seven I was on holiday in Cornwall at a little village of holiday cottages with a communal playground. There was a family with quadruplets staying near us and one day they all decided it would be fun to blow sand in my face. It stung like crazy, I couldn't see and I fell onto some sharp stones which created a nice nick in my leg. A fair amount of sand got in there. Since I've grown so much it's moved round to the side of my leg, but it's still fairly visible. I have a timy lump on my left thumb where I dug my fingernails into my skin so hard I almost pulled a chunk off. I hate bullies. The last one is on my right hand, in the lower-left corner on the base of the palm. I don't remember getting it, but aparrently I fell on some broken glass when I was two. And those are my scars. I've had plenty of bruises with more interesting stories, but thankfully bruises don't last so long.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I thought Tiffany Grant's voice made Asuke a more likeable character. If she'd said things in a more feminine way it might have come off as rather more pathologically nasty rather than a rather thin front for her real feelings. But that's my view. Anyway, the live-action Eva idea does intruige me. I'm interested to see what WETA will do to the plot and how some of the more complex points will get put across. I wish they hadn't changed the names though- they were fine as they were, but never mind. I could probably get used to it, given time. I'd always considered getting a full complement of Eva DVDs but never actually managed to convince myself that it'd be worth it. If the full series of Resurrection or Restarted were to be released dubbed then I would definately get it, but that's marketers for you >.> anime DVDs aren't given the attention they deserve.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Guys, I understand that you're grateful but posts that short shouldn't be allowed to clutter the threads up. If you really want to thank someone for the advice, PM them. I'm not saying 'don't be grateful', I'm just saying to mind the quality of the posts. Anyway Snodin- even though Waboku doesn't say that it can only be activated during the Battle Phase, its effect reads thus: "Any damage inflicted by an opponent's monster is decreased to 0 during the turn this card is activated." It doesn't specify whether it's Effect or Battle Damage, but it does specifically say 'monster'. Hence, it can't be chained against Magic or Trap cards as they aren't correct targets of Waboku's effect. I had a friend who tried chaining it against Magic Cylinder, but since the attack was from their own monster anyway it wouldn't have worked. Not least because MC negates the attack in the first place.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]"And this just in- Super Squirrel melts dog's face!" Heh, at least it's something.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Waboku can only be activated against Battle Damage from a monster during the Battle Phase, not from a Magic or Trap card. That's what Barrel Behind the Door is for. At least, that's how I've always interpreted it.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][b][u]General Awards[/b][/u] [b]Overall Member of the Year:[/b][size=1] James[/size] [b]Male Otaku of the Year:[/b] [size=1] Charles[/size] [b]Female Otaku of the Year:[/b] [size=1] Sara[/size] [b]Staff Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1] Charles[/size] [b]Funniest Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1] wrist-cutter, Charles[/size] [b]Most Opinionated Otaku of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Poison Tongue[/size] [b]Most Likely to Be Here in Two Years:[/b] [size=1]Adam[/size] [b]Best Newbie:[/b] [size=1]Dagger IX1[/size] [b]Best Oldie:[/b] [size=1]Shy[/size] [b]Most Likely to Become a Staff Member:[/b] [size=1]Dagger IX1[/size] [b]Most Improved Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Vicky[/size] [b]Favorite Banned Member:[/b] [size=1]Taylor Hewitt[/size] [b]Thread of the Year:[/b] [size=1]The ?Deal With This Member? Thread[/size] [b]Silliest Thread of the Year:[/b] [size=1]I?am?lone[/size] [b][u]Random Awards[/b][/u] [b]Avatar Award (Best Avatars Overall):[/b] [size=1]Charles[/size] [b]Signature Award (Best Signatures Overall):[/b] [size=1]Sara [not that I'm biased or anything, heh][/size] [strike][b]Best Location (Best Specific Location):[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b]Best Otaku Couple:[/b] [size=1]Queen Asuka/Piromunkie[/size] [b]Best Looking Otaku:[/b] [size=1]Babygirl[/size] [b]Otaku Clique of the Year:[/b] [size=1]OtakuBoards Yaoi/Shounen-Ai Club[/size] [b]Best MyOtaku:[/b] [size=1]James[/size] [b][u]Otaku Writers[/b][/u] [b]Poet Laureate:[/b] [size=1]KarmaofChaos[/size] [strike][b]Writer of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size] [b]Orginal Story of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b]Role-Player of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Arcadia[/size] [strike][b]Brawler of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b]RPG of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Kill Adam[/size] [b][u]Social Otakus[/b][/u] [b]Otaku Social Member:[/b] [size=1]Japan_86[/size] [b]Entertainment Otaku:[/b] [size=1]Semjaza Azazel[/size] [b][u]Otaku Anime[/b][/u] [b]Otaku of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Dagger IX1[/size] [b].hack//SIGN Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1]AzureWolf[/size] [b]Dragonball Guru of the Year:[/b] [size=1]J17[/size] [b]Digipeep of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Ben[/size] [b]Gundam Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Domon[/size] [b]Yu-Gi-Oh Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Deathbug[/size] [b]Least Disappointing Yu Yu Hakusho Member:[/b] [size=1]Dagger IX1[/size] [b][u]Otaku Gamers[/b][/u] [b]Otaku Gamer of the Year:[/b] [size=1]Charles[/size] [b]Nintendo ?Mario? Award:[/b] [size=1]Shinmaru[/size] [strike][b]Sony Award:[/b] [size=1][/size] [b]X-Box Award:[/b] [size=1][/size] [b]PC Gamer of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b][u]Otaku Artists[/b][/u] [strike][b]Best Graphic Designer (Banners, wallpapers, etc.):[/b] [size=1][/size] [b]Best "Traditional" Artist (Drawings, paintings, etc.):[/b] [size=1][/size] [b]Best Spriter:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b][u]Series Otaku[/b][/u] [b]Series Otaku Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size] [strike][b]Square/Enix Member of the Year:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike] [b]PokéPlaque (Pokemon):[/b] [size=1]Lady Katana[/size] [strike][b]The Triforce Award:[/b] [size=1][/size][/strike][/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]It would help if you described what it was you actually wanted filling in with in regards to those episodes. There are episode guides in numerous places around the net- the most definitive one would be at [url=http://www.tvtome.com]TVTome.com[/url]. Your post quality leaves a fair emount to be desired, I must say. Try and give your posts more substance next time. I suggest you read the Rules in the OtakuBoards Information Center. As it happens, Yugi probably gets so many cards and never runs out because it's a) not written to happen, and b) it would be too complicated for the animators to have to constantly check how many cards Yugi actually has left in his Deck throughout the Duel and draw in each individual one. I don't think any decent, long-lasting discussion can come from this, so I'm closing it.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[COLOR=#503F86]It's the amount that's edited from the individual episodes. Later on during the Battle City, Blimp and Tower arcs, details of Marik's rather unsavoury past come to light. And rather than [spoiler]just sending his dad's mind to the Shadow Realm (as in the US version), in the Japanese version Marik actually kills his father using a blade that extends from the Millennium Rod.[/spoiler] It's just changes like that made to keep censors happy that can cheapen the viewing for older viewers who like a hint of darkness in their helping of anime. I know I'd prefer to have kept those bits in the US dub, but never mind.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I wouldn't say "don't have a themed Deck", just be cautious of people who can exploit weaknesses. Themed Decks can be very good if you get them with exactly the right support cards. As it stands, there aren't any cards that render whole Decks useless as such. Even cards like DDVD only affect cards on the field and in player's hands. Attributes don't really matter too much if you're just going for a Beatdown; if you have a specific element or attribute Deck then you need to be a little more picky, but there's not really a huge harm in having one central focus. It's generally recommended for heavily competetive play.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]But if you watch things like Spriggan, the eyes are really quite small compared to those in most animes. I like the big bright colourful eyes. I know they're not really realistic, but they look very nice anyway. It did strike me as a little odd that few look traditionally Japanese, but it's come to be a fundamental element of the characters now. They do help convey a lot of emotion, as has already been said. I think the colour of the eyes also tends to denote a certain kind of personality *shrugs* Maybe it's just coincidence that Ryoko of Nadesico and Rika of Digimon Tamers both have green eyes and start off had having fiery temperaments.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I like all of the series there, but I doubt I'd call any apart from Gundam true Mecha animes. Well, I know they all have Mechs in them, but Gundam's the only one that seems to be solely focussed around them. Evangelion for me wasn't about the robots, neither were RahXephon or Nadesico. But I'm probably just being really picky- sci-fi/mech is where they fall into really. Most of the series I have seen or own involve mechs or ships fairly heavily. Outlaw Star to a degree, Macross Plus, Ghost in the Shell, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040... Miyazaki's me only real source of non-sci-fi anime, heh. But anyway, although out of the four listed Nadesico's my favourite (although I didn't like the last episode as much as others; it was a bit of a let-down for me), they are all really decent shows. Evangelion was just mind-bogglingly complex in plot and character relations: worthy of its acclaim although not always pleasant to watch. RahXephon's new to me- I've not seen the entire series but the characters in it are great so far, and I love the design of the RahXephon machine itself. I'm still waiting on more UK DVD releases to get a better idea of it. [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Dagger IX1[/i] [b]Anyway, I have a question for all of you mecha buffs out there. I've only seen a few episodes of the older Gundam series, and I don't really understand their appeal. I don't even like GW all that much--certain aspects of the show bored me half to death.[/b][/QUOTE] GW took me ages to get into, mostly because I never managed to see any two consecutive episodes for ages, and it takes a very long time for anything background-wise to become clear. I'm still not entirely sure of the alignments of OZ, Treize and whatever and I used to see it every day. If you miss one it can be incredibly hard to understand what's going on in the next. Some aspects I still find rather boring, and the slow dub dialogue doesn't help much (although it's not nearly as bad as Cardcaptors). I really liked Endless Waltz, though. The designs of the Gundams were revamped to look more stylish; it's a pity those models couldn't have been in the series more. The ideology and theories behind all of the series I really like- fighting, life, war and the debate behind it all I find really interesting to listen to and in all of these programs the characters convey the emotions in it all well. But anyway, back to Nadesico. I just like the comedy, I guess. When I first saw it I didn't realise it was supposed to be a comedy and I hated it, especially as Evangelion had just been broadcast half an hour beforehand. My favourite episode would have to be 'The Meadows We Once Ran Across', because the character's repressed personality traits take over and the scenes are all in the wrong order. Piecing it together was interesting, heh.[/COLOR] EDIT: Whoops, I thought one of the choices was RahXephon instead of Gasaraki ^_^; I've never seen Gasaraki, so I've no idea what it's like. I didn't like the trailers, though. Animes that are too realistic don't appeal to me that much.

[COLOR=#503F86]Out of all of Miyazaki's films I've seen Castle in the Sky, Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away; I'd like to see the rest at some point. Howl's Moving Castle is no exception, heh. Although I am beginning to see a general theme in his films- castles, forces of nature and young heroes. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing though. I was surprised that he'd chosen a Diana Wynne-Jones novel, too. Although if ever an adaptation of a book was going to be done, I'm sure he'd be able to create it in as fantastic a style as his usual films. Granted, I've not actually read the book so I've nothing to compare it to, but I can't say I'm looking forward to this any less as a result. My real concern only lies with the eventual dubbing into English- the more recent Castle in the Sky dub done by Disney, although still watchable, left me rather cold in terms of all the needless comedy lines that were added in. I understand Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke were really decent dubs and that Castle in the Sky was probably only re-done by Disney for the DVD release, but it does worry me that the translation into English might be somewhat butchered. But that wouldn't be Miyazaki's fault.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Zera the Mant wasn't a Machine- it's a Demon/Fiend monster. So that's another one, I guess. But Ben can take it if that's all there are. I'm no good at thinking of questions, heh.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Trace shook his head, observing the readouts on the tiny communicator screen. Damn Fred for getting him involved in this. He never said anything about Ban Pirates. This was definately going to mean higher pay. He looked to Lex, who wore a grave expression on his face while trying to support Kaia. Her leg had been injured by the blast and was bleeding fairly heavily. Trace gave her a quick look of concern and then turned back to the comms device. "We need to find Senrai."[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]"Damn it to Ha Des' lair! Where am I going?" The Mystical Knight looked around him; all he could see was endless desert, sparsely populated by dark red rocks, obstacles to the shifting sands of the Konami deserts. He walked ahead a few paces, then stopped. His neck felt warm. It hardly seemed surprising, seeing as he was in the desert. But this was different. He reached a claw under his metal armour and scratched his fur. The turquoise metal was beginning to heat up. He looked down and saw a small red spot appear in the centre of his chest. Suddenly, a beam of light shot into the distance and disappeared into the sand clouds. "Oh right, that way," he muttered. Maybe the Gravekeepers were paying more attention to him than he first thought.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Sorry, I'm afraid we can't support this kind of thread here. While collecting Yu-Gi-Oh cards does involve a lot of trading, we have no way of guaranteeing that people will be genuine and fair with their trades. It would be evry easy for someone to take advantage of the system and say they'd trade a Relinquished for Buster Blader but only send a worthless common instead. There would be no way of reclaiming any losses, and legally there'd be nothing we could do. It's probably best to find sites with trading specifically in mind, and use an Escrow-type system to make sure trades are genuine. Don't take this as anything personal against you- I know you're probably genuine in your cause, but if I allowed it to happen I'd be to blame if anything went wrong. Thread closed.[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[COLOR=#503F86]Considering this was a favourites thread it's lasted for quite a while, but then for a while it was actually getting decent posts. I'm going to close it now, because I fear any further discussion will bring the quality down to worse levels. Thread closed.[/COLOR]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Marcus_Beuford [/i] [B]And a good card to use is Non Spellcasting Area. All face up monsters are not effected by Magic/Spell cards unless they are Effect Monsters. [/B][/QUOTE] [COLOR=#503F86]Don't forget, that means you can't use Equip Spell cards on them either. And since there are less non-effect to effect monsters used in competetive duelling there's not a huge amount of use for this unless you can pull off a combo with it. But you can't even use it in combo with Skill Drain, because they're still Effect monsters, regardless of whether the effect is activated or not. But anyway, trying to run that many monsters in one tournament Deck will be tricky if you're going for real competetive play. Casually you can have whatever you want, but in a tournament you might be hard pressed to get Valkyrion out in time. But a theme doesn't necessarily have to be purely monsters- you can have beatdown, defensive or hand control themes too, by altering the monsters you have. You've a mix of defensive and offensive; it's more effective to choose one or the other. The monsters in there I total up to needing 12 Tributes in all, too; that is a huge lot. See if you can cut the Thunder Dragons and the Labyrinth Walls. Millennium Shield is beter for a defense. Inuyasha7271, I'd suggest swapping Dark Magician for another Summoned Skull or a Jinzo- 2500 ATK for two Tributes and no effect is pretty average. Even with a Buster Blader you get a decent chance of having an ATK boost with your opponent's Deck, plus 100 extra ATK to start with. If you want a Dark/Light Deck, swap the two Harpies Brothers for Dark Blades or the Fied with 1900 ATK (I can't remember it's name...). Silver Fang and Beaver Warrior aren't great cards either- I'd put in something that'd give you a useful effect or a higher ATK, like Breaker. You don't have that many targets for your Lightning Blade or Electro Whip either- United We Stand/Axe of Despair are much more useful.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]Trace snorted indignantly at the grin on Rao's face. He always hated negotiations. It was tempting to punch him just for making the 'girlfriend' remark, but that thing fighting Senrai could do serious damage. Bioandroids weren't common, especially not ones trained for unarmed combat. This could mean something big. He kept the rifle pressed against Rao's head and looked to his ship. It'd better not get damaged. They still had their job to- Suddenly, a thought struck his mind. "Colt, you there?" he said quickly. [i]"Yes, Trace."[/i] "Pass a hacker line through the android girl. Search her databanks for anything of note." he commanded, keeping Rao held firmly against the wall. Rao's eyes flinched slightly. "Look, we don't want any trouble..." Rao urged, slightly more forcefully this time. Trace gave him a cold glare. "You're not making the choices any more, pal. Initiate hacking lock." Rao's confident smile faded. He grabbed Trace's arm in an effort to loosen the Gauros' grip. Above them, the Midnight Wing began to emit a low whirring noise. A metal ring slid into position and a laser sight beamed onto the ground. The red dot floolwed Sata's movements, trying to keep a decent lock on her position. "You don't actually think that'll work, do you? She's just-" "I know what she is!" Trace barked. "Unless you give me a straight answer I'll set my hacking system on her and pull the information out by force." A piece of concrete flew low over their heads and crashed into the ground nearby, showering them with dust. "If you're not quick she'll be torn apart by Senrai." Trace yelled over the battle crashes and the Ctarl-Ctarl's ferocious howls. The laser sight was moving closer to Sata each second, anticipating her movements. "Your choice."[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1]Heh, I should learn to read posts. My first thought when I saw the Sakura picture was 'Gosh, that looks like Sakura from CCS!'... Then I found out it was actually her. I'm glad I re-read the post before commenting.[/SIZE] Anyway, she's really nice ^_^ You captured (mmm, smell that pun) her essence really well, and I love the way you've drawn her hair. The fish are really nice. My sister has hundreds of fish-themed objects in her flat in Bristol, heh- every year we buy her something fishy for her, heh. They're nice and stylistic, yours. Eh, I'm not sure if this was intentional but I like it anyway: the orange one on the far right at the bottom looks as if it's actually being viewed from out of the water- the way the body's drawn looks almost like it's under a water ripple. It's probably not meant to be seen like that, but I think it's a nice touch ^_^ *looks over rest of art* Ah, Gejinka Biyomon. I gained a severe dislike for this type of fanart when I saw a badly drawn female Flamedramon thing, but I actually really like this picture of yours. I r converted, heh. I'd pretty much be repeating myself if I went over all the other pictures in detail. They're all very good though. Nice stuff ^_^[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]Okay, I'm closing this now. It's moved past the original discussion and has moved into spam. Please don't diverge from the thread topic in future. Anyway, the discussion of favourites characters without intelligent comment isn't even considered viable in a thread on its own, let alone one started on a different subject...[/COLOR][/SIZE][/b]

[COLOR=#503F86]I really like this story, Mitch. I can identify with many aspects of the things that Dan did- I think most children probably did something like that. I like stories/thoughts that reflect on changes anyway. Writing it in the present tense works well- tends to put a more artistic/dramatic style to a piece, and it works nicely with one that's meant to have a depth to it. There's also the "Dan doesn't know- he's just being silly again" - it's odd hearing it from a third-person point of view because it's normally something we only hear coming from ourselves, so I guess that makes the character easier to identify with. Like I said, there was a minor technical thing I noticed- autumn isn't a month. It's a season, heh. But that's only a grammar thing really. Nicely done.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]You'd probably need to go to a specific Yu-Gi-Oh site for duelling clans. OtakuBoards isn't that specialised. We've never really had clans as long as I've been here; I gather there were some before that, but the tended to get out of hand. Duelling doesn't really work in messageboard threads anyway- in the past they've always been spammy and produced low-quality posts. If you want to start a clan/group/gathering, you can advertise it in your signature.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86][SIZE=1][b]I'm moving this thread into the Otaku Lounge- Duel Masters, despite being a TCG, is not Yu-Gi-Oh, so shouldn't really be in the Yu-Gi-Oh forum. I understand it's been released to rival its success, but...[/SIZE][/b] I can't say I'll be buying into it, personally. It's made by Wizards of the Coast in very much the same style as Magic: The Gathering, a game I could never really get to like. I much prefer Yu-Gi-Oh's style and ease of use. I'm picky about my card games.[/COLOR]

[COLOR=#503F86]I really didn't like the End of Evangelion. It's hard to say why, but I guess I'm just a sucker for [spoiler]a happy ending, which in my mind EoE couldn't be farther from. Even a sad ending would have been alright, but this was just... disturbing.[/spoiler] As an artistic piece on its own it's amazing; just not my favourite type of viewing. The end of Episode 26 left me with a much better feeling, but I guess that's not really what the thread's about so I won't go into it. I'm not an Eva-aholic anyway, my arguments wouldn't stand up to much ^_^;[/COLOR]