Mr_Grey

Logged in... Not sure how much longer it'll last...

*goes to feed the hamsters*

Why is this my fricking job?

Happy birthday, Nomme.

I'm sure you and Kid have the birthday cake-eating strategy almost down to a science by now...

Waiter: "So, is everything... Where's the food I just delivered? And why is this other patron on the ground?"

Kid: *dabbing mouth with a napkin* "Him? He's Veng bait. As for how quickly we ate, well, we're just that good..."

Happy birthday, Hyper. Congratulations on making it through another year.

I think I'll be sending Brother Mauthe on a vacation to Champion.

Not sure about others, though. The only other characters I could send away would be my Ryats, but I like having them here.

Good to see that after a rough start we were still willing to stick it out.

See you all next time.

Happy birthday.

Happy birthday, guys. We miss you!

*looks at his own hands, arms, feet, legs and torso.*

Hm...

*feels face*

Not quite sure, yet...

*pinches nose*

Ow!

Okay... I'm about 95% sure that I'm still here...

I had to go to a wedding Saturday. Sorry I wasn't available.

Happy birthday, Green Machine. Hopefully, we'll see you again soon.

I saw the original at random. I was too young to appreciate what I was seeing, and was a little miffed by the "digitizing" moment (it reminded me of Saturday morning cartoons, when the hero is telling the obviously insane criminal that he's going to stop him and starts to walk away slowly while not noticing the criminal drawing a weapon to stop him...). Still, the rest was fun to watch.

*huggles Zekkers*

Sorry, Kat. Over here in Protector, PvP is nearly a no man's land.

We've had too many painful arguments about it to want to get involved.

Whoever from Protector that is interested in PvP has probably already contacted you. If nobody has, then I'm sorry.

I know we've still got PvPers, I know they're still quite passionate about it, but if they haven't already contacted you, they either don't come here to the forums or they don't have interest in the PvPEC. If it's the two latter categories, then I apologize on behalf of Protector.

I wish you the best of luck in the future.

I hardly say anything about myself on my Facebook/MySpace (Hell, I barely check MySpace).

Even still, if somebody were to plug my name into Google, they find some OTHER guy with my name who's WAY younger and not in the same state.

Frankly, I'm actually SURPRISED there's another guy with my first and last name combination out there. Still, I'll go ahead and be happy that he takes the brunt of the investigations.

I believe that failure is up to the individual to define.

True, you can set your heart and resources to something and see no profit from it. Hell, I do that all the time with my writing.

Am I successful? No. Am I failing? I don't believe so. I'm learning from what I do.

A hero has the same issue to deal with. Stopping a bank robbery is one thing. Stopping the robbers from taking and/or murdering hostages is another.

The hero shouldn't beat himself up for the decisions made by criminals, however.

In a piece of fiction I wrote on another site, I had a robber threaten one of my vigilantes. The robber held a gun to a hostage's head and threatened to kill her. My vigilante's response was to say "Then I won't have any reason not to kill you."

Was this proper? Was this appropriate? My vigilante in question is the type who actually HATES killing. He prefers to subdue opponents with as little harm as possible.

Still, he had to end the situation, bring these criminals to justice and keep people from being hurt. The best way to do that was to look like he was willing to execute the criminals on-site. If they'd called his bluff, he didn't know what he'd do, but it likely wouldn't have been pleasant.

So... What's his failing? He was able to stop the criminals, save the hostages, but he obviously terrified the civilians at the same time. Should he be beating himself up because he didn't live up to the ideals of the hero?

If he had been a cape-wearing "icon," this behavior would have been seen as wrong. What alternative would the icon hero have had, though? His only option would have been to let the robbers go, likely with their hostage(s) and possibly with loot. It would have been a "no-win" scenario.

I'm of a philosophy that a hero is what they do, not what they stand for. If you're obsessing over what the public thinks of you, you're not going to do your job. You're not going to be able to make everybody happy, so stop worrying about it.

Now, say the icon hero winds up losing the hostage anyway. The robber goes ahead and slaughters the hostage, just to prove he's serious. Should the hero feel regret? My argument is that he shouldn't. No hero should feel guilty for the decisions and actions of the criminal. The criminal is obviously deranged and amoral. The criminal is living with complete disregard for the consequences, and is oblivious to the fact that he's still going to suffer consequences for the things he's done. The hero can't be everywhere, the hero can't save everybody.

Learn from the experience and move on, Superman. It's okay to be sad, but don't let the media tear you down. They don't know what you're going through. They don't have any frame of reference to understand the situation. They're just celebrities and journalists who are all too often on the receiving end of the evil you prevent and forget too quickly what you've done to help them.

Group Name: The Penumbra Organization

Server: Protector

Theme: Doing dark deeds for profit and political clout.

Webpage: None currently

Contacts: @Mr Grey

Usual Activities: Right now, recruitment.

Working out the issues with roleplaying on Redside. Since Villains tend to be a selfish lot, it's hard to come up with decent reasons for a group of disparate evil-doers to work together.

Background: Started as an attempt to make an opposite to Teamsters. On to something of a slow start at the moment.

Admission Requirements: Be a roleplayer, be into roleplaying, and don't have too many qualms about committing felony after felony... For PROFIT! Not to mention helping the leader to slowly try to destroy the world...

I love the clouds at the edge of a thunderstorm... They're always so twisted and gnarled, a promise of the violence to come.

There's a peculiar beauty to them at that point.

I'm saying this because I just got done playing a game of hockey through a thunderstorm. It was so crazy and visceral...

We've been far too dour lately.

This one's not going to be like the other Say Something nice threads... Those get to a point where you have posters posting every other time to get as many people as possible patting them on the back... Granted, they're dishing out pats on other people's backs as well, but you get to a point where you want to say something about someone else, and that guy (sometimes me) has snatched up the complement for the friend you wanted to uplift.

So...

Since I feel there's been far too much negativity lately, let's start focusing on the positives.

Protector, I love ya. You're my home-away-from-home, even when I'm home. I come here to unwind and get away from stress in my life, and you provide ample decompression. You provide everything I'm looking for in my adventures: good friends, fun events, and great conversations.

For future posters, just come here to say something nice. About anyone or anything. This is supposed to be a thread of good vibes and expressions of joy and happiness, and there's no need to restrict any of them.

Folks, before we all start going nuts, let's take a deep breath and let this backhanded insult go.

-----------------Edit------------------------

good suggestion, but this is Protector! It won't be let go!

*sigh*

It was worth a shot...

I missed out on the last one, but I'd like to give this a shot.

I can provide a Thugs/Traps Mastermind, a Brute, a Bane Spider or a Night Widow.

Contact me at @Mr Grey if interested.

You asked my Ice Tanker for help in that one, Stale, and I'm sorry I couldn't go along. I was just so wiped by the end of the Psyche TF...

Plus, a friend was offering to take me out to dinner at the time, and I couldn't say no.

If I'm around, I'll provide help.