Techbot Alpha

Oh, wow, as if AE wasn't broke enough as it was >_<

For a mission that should be a whole heap of fun, with 'you' giggling like a maniac while being a one-shot-KO god-cannon...to have it so utterly broken, despite having been identified in such throughout all of Beta is seriously damn lame.

I'm not running it until they fix the ability to use AoEs without crashing, because the AoEs are part of the whole damn point and fun!

Then the way to deal with it is to ask for the Devs to fix it so that everyone wins. When there is a readily available and obvious option that can please everyone, I see no reason to be thinking in absolutes.

Which is not what people voted for.
They should have either;
1) Re-made the Option 1 skin to fit on more resolutions
OR
2) Let people pick which banner they wanted, including past ones.

Rather than slapping TrollFace Penny on everything.
Yes, it's a minor thing. I might even be petty for daring to have an opinion on it. And, frankly, I don't much care. Different strokes, different folks, etc.

I can't, apparently. In fact, doing that blocks everything...EXCEPT the bloody image.
Waffles' sakes. This is why forcing change on stuff like this is a really bloody BAD idea, guys!

Oh. Bloody marvellous. Nice to see that this matters not one smegging bit.

How do I turn off the forum banner, please? Because I HATE that picture. I voted for #1 because it didn't look so ruddy awful.
While we're at it, how do I get the older loading screens back? Because they didn't suck either.

If you're going to force us to have too look at something despite feedback, at least make an option where we DON'T have to look at it And yes, I am kinda pissed, because asking and then not delivering is worse than doing nothing in my opinion.

Human Smog, The Column of Samantha Christophe.

(Published in the Paragon Times and on its own online page)

Opinionated. It’s not actually the same as Arrogant, something that people seem to forget quite often. In fact, it’s an inescapable fact of day to day life. Everyone is opinionated. Everyone, after all, has an opinion, the free will and, admittedly variable, brain power to form their own opinions on people, events and occurrences.
It was therefore interesting to hear the word being used to describe a Heroine…by herself. Arrogance, as she rightly identified, is where you consider yourself to be above something or someone. That Heroine? Ellie Stoneberg, aka Tiger White.

I’m opinionated too. I’m of the opinion that a large proportion, no, scratch that, all readers just had thoughts come up as soon as I mentioned that name. I’m also of the opinion that a large number of people were rather ungenerous with said thoughts.
And, frankly, why not? Why not, indeed, when Mrs Stoneberg is blunt, an apparent attention-grabber, party animal and shameless flirt? And, only recently, she got dead drunk and lost a fight to an extra-dimensional ambassador. Topped only by her vicious explosion in a public area that killed and injured many.

Vicious is another interesting word, one that journalists and tabloid spin-doctors throw around like it will win them brownie-points with the fickle Gods of the rumour mill. Do you know what it takes to be vicious? It takes pre-meditation. A game of football or soccer can be vicious, if one team is clearly prepared while the other isn’t. A bill can seem vicious, when it feels like the person you owe is squeezing you for every buck you own.

It’s hard to picture ‘vicious’ when you confront someone with news of something they should have prior knowledge of, and there face is a picture from the book of excreting brick-like-objects. It’s also interesting how, before you’ve even said anything, they wrinkle their nose at your G&T before you’ve even said howdy-doo, and it’s only later that you learn the ‘drunk’ Mrs Stoneberg was reported of reeking of gin. Something reeks here, and it’s not the alcohol.

I’m no flawless judge of character, I’ll be the first to admit that. A string of ex’s certainly seems to back that up (Johnny Jameson, wherever you are, you still owe me ten bucks you tight-wad) But there are some things you just can’t lie about. And either Ellie Stoneberg is good enough to storm Hollywood and Broadway, or she was genuinely shocked and horrified to see the news of todays explosion. If you’ll pardon one woman’s opinion, based on research and todays interview, I think there are singing parrots on the Internet with more acting talent than Mrs Stoneberg.

So, how does that bring closure and commiseration to the bereaved families after the event today? It doesn’t. People want someone to blame, someone to point fingers at and to call for their blood. Human nature has been the same for hundreds of years, and it often doesn’t seem to bother that the Truth may or may not have to come in a bit later. And, admittedly, Mrs Stoneberg has no real evidence that she was not, in fact, where she appeared to be at the time. Not unless someone does a very thorough search of any and all CCTV cameras in the city. During the drunken incident she was, according to her, at home with her wife. During the explosion at the restaurant? Home alone, barring one pet kitten. Anyone could tell you that’s hardly a solid ground for denial.

Which is why, if people use their brains for a moment, is why it all seems too damn convenient. Given a personality that would be generously called ‘outgoing’, while others would settle for ‘blunt’? It doesn’t take a genius to guess that Stoneberg, in her role as Tiger White, has more than a few enemies among the meta-powered community. It doesn’t even take that much of a stretch of reasoning; Stoneberg runs a self-made, successful business. There are more than a few cutthroat companies out there who would just love to acquire something like that, or put it out of business. There is a reason Hollywood makes this kind of story so damn often, because it’s not like they’re short on source material…
And cloning and possible doubles? This is beyond old news, people. If I even have to mention Praetoria, you’ve clearly been hiding under a rock for a number of years, and would probably be better off there. Never mind the penchant the non-powered and meta-powered villains of the Rogue Isles for messing with science that make Frankenstein and Jekyll look like six year old kids messing around with ‘My First Explodey Chemistry Set’.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not calling for any ‘Get out of Jail Free’ cards. In fact, if you did think that, kindly slap yourself and save me the trouble. But, on the other hand, pointing fingers without any damn investigation and proof, when we are more than well aware of the possibility of doubles and clones actually existing? That’s not any better. And it’s certainly not the Truth.
Do you want to know a simple Truth from Aunty Sam? The citizens of Paragon are lousy, fair weather friends. There are people who bleat and cry for ‘Self sustainability’ and less ‘reliance’ on metas, as if the likes of the Rogue Isles will somehow stop being a problem. Even I struggle to understand the logic there. But who is it, when the walls falls and the shrieking void or the freaky aliens come calling, that we turn to without a second thought? Who has it been at the forefront of every major defence of people, country and planet time and time again?
The Super Heroes.
You want to know another Truth? There are people out there today, maybe even some people reading this, who wouldn’t be here following the Second Rikti War. When Galaxy City ([Insert Deity] rest it’s memory) was attacked, there was a heroine in Gemini Park who saved a lot of lives. She didn’t manage to save all of them, sure. But even Hollywood manages to remember sometimes that you can’t always save everyone. She did her best, and saved who she could. Who is she?
I’ve already said her name plenty of times.

Before today, I didn’t know her from Eve. I wouldn’t say I know her too well even after having talked to her, given it was only an interview, one I’m glad I managed to get in before the so-called ‘Mainstream’ media managed to run its arrogant pages (Yes, that word again). But I know that, even if she is a part alien, part cat young woman with a lot more money that me and no need for body armour during parts of her day, she’s still as human as me at the end of it all. Still fallible, still emotional, still entitled to the same damn respect that I’d expect as a human being (or a sentient person, for all you PC types…)
Some of the outspoken act like Heroes demand constant respect and adoration from the masses, which is bull-hokey in and of itself. And maybe we don’t owe them ‘everything’ or anything like that. We Humans are tenacious little stains, after all.

But we do owe them one thing.
And that’s the damn Truth.

..I always thought the lists were fun. Some were better than others, but all fun