Its been nearly two years since the Business of War first started in official capacity. In what has become the most polarizing event this niche community has ever experienced, mistakes were made, tactical errors revealed, and misjudgements were committed, and yes, some of them by myself.

Since the political chaos of December 2007, I've kept mostly to myself about what has happened since then, only stepping into random fights to, if anything, settle things down. Now, since all of those small fights seem to have subsided, and I have a more level head, but still a fairly clear memory, I think now is the best time to write down my memoirs on what was supposed to be the community's shining moment, which only become our Hindenburg; a horrendous and collossal disaster that simulataniously yeilded our best and worst selves.

Now, I want to share, as well as I can, what had happened, in my own words.


Origin

An event such as the War wasn't a new concept to the community. I'm sure that others long before my time had dreamt of pulling together such an event, but due to, y'know, sanity, they stopped short of attempting it in earnest.

My earliest inklings of this idea came from Gary Martin, in late summer of 2006- weeks before the accident that robbed us of him. In a rather short AIM conversation between the two of us, Gary expressed a desire to pull everyone together for a "huge event", though at the time he had no idea what it could possible be, or how to organize it. I thought it'd be a cool idea, but I ultimately dismissed it as unrealistic, due to the complete size of such an effort. Gary was never short on ideas, you see, and this was but one we talked about but never really explored fully.

It would be a few months after Gary's passing that I revisited the idea and pitched it to the Mechs, whom I had recently joined after the Sinister Six disbanded.

There was significance to the timing of this idea, though. At the time when I revisited the idea, we were only a few months removed from the so-called "Nyne Era"- a time when all of the major Megaman sites, including the S6 and Mechanical Maniacs, were hosted under a single server, run by a relative stranger to the MMC- a guy named Nyne, who was a behind-the-scenes man at Planet Megaman. What at first sounded like a completely awesome deal fell apart within a year, and ultimately, everyone turned on Nyne for one reason or another. This led to the formerly huge Planet Megaman Community splintering for the final time. This meant the S6 and Mechs needed a new home, so I moved quickly to secure server space so we could finally be free of everybody else's will. This deal is still maintained to this day.

However, after the split, traffic to the team sites began to wane, and thusly, fresh faces were slow to come around to our neck of the digital woods. Six months after Gary's death and the dissolving of the Nyne Era, things had grown stagnant. Gary's death took an emotional toll on everybody who knew him, and with the closing of the Sinister Six in official capacity, morale across the board was at an all-time low.


WANTED's Role

It was in this atmosphere that the Business of War's overall story was crafted. Instead of uniting everyone through a unified effort, I theorized that a competitive effort would be far more useful. At the same time, I was writing a Mechanical Maniacs story called "Wanted", which eventually become the lead-in for War. During the planning stages of Wanted, I eventually worked out the blow-by-blow model for War, including the Stage system, and the random player idea. All of these ideas were presented to the Mechs in private, and they contributed to their fleshing out, pointing out errors and what not as it evolved.

Wanted started its public unveiling in Spring of 2007, and a new chapter was to be released twice a week until the end of summer. This began the crunch to work out all of War's little bugs, in addition to writing Wanted's story, which wasn't even fully worked out at the time of the first posting. The result was a VERY busy summer, but a very fulfilling one.

Wanted had a great effect on the community. After months of a quiet, tomb-like lull on the forum, people began exploring their own creative sides once again. It seemed as though Wanted was at least partly responsible for this, and I was very happy, seeing as this was a little preview of the reaction War was to ellicit.


Gathering Forces and Organization

At the same time, I also began seeking out teams to draft into the new Scissor Army for the War arc. This was a bit trickier than you might expect, since I didn't want to spoil anything for the participants, but I still had to convince them to go along with my plan. I was specifically seeking out teams that were either on the verge of death/hiatus, or were lost souls who weren't sure what to do within themselves at the time.

Ironically, Wanted made this job harder, as it seemed as though the creative energies jolted many of the teams back into action. I got my first break with the Ascendant Androids, who were about to go into official hiatus. Somehow, in my roundabout way, I convinced Vulcan to keep the team on the active list until War began. I also remember that during the summer somebody had pointed out the technically dead status of the team, and I had to defend their solvency publically. If the AA had disbanded just before War, the Scissor Army wouldn't have been nearly as monstrous a threat as I had imagined.

I also managed to convince Hunter Chameleon to lend his team, the Seven Mercs, to the cause. With these two teams in place, the SA was shaping up nicely.

Around this time, I also fleshed out the factions system, which was divided into the SA, Cossack, Wily, the Robot Police Force, and Light, which was intended to be a neutral haven for anybody who didn't want to participate in the War.

What I had really wanted to do with this system was to get individuals, and not whole teams, to pick their allegiences. The idea was to provide writers with a convenient way to flesh out their characters in a scenario not of their design, which usually leads to more flexible thinking.

The Mechs, having knowledge of what was to come, had been mulling over their own choices for months, and exemplified what I had hoped to see. Unfortunately, alot of people intended to stick with their teams, though this thankfully was broken up early on in the War.

In retrospect, I definately shouldn't have expected to see the same level of planning and foresight I saw with the Mechs because they had much more time to get ready than anyone else, whom only had a few days to get ready once the War began.


How It Was Structured

With the War's opening scenario written and presented soon after Wanted was completed, I was free to present the final workings of the War itself, and how it was to function. I remain pretty proud of the ingenious system that was developed, but I do admit that there were same flaws, some of which were fixed and some were not.

The War was to be divided into 8 (or so) Stages, with a number of Scenarios dividing each Stage. The Scenarios' participants were to be randomly selected in the most low-tech way imaginable- by cutting up strips of paper, writing the names of people/teams down on them, and drawing them out of a hat. It was extremely crude, but it did its part until Gauntlet created a random Scenario Generator, which greatly streamlined the ordeal. In addition to this, the locale for each Scenario was already pre-determined, and its participants were expected to stay within that area until it was resolved.

Contrary to what some people may think, I never manipulated the contents of the Scenarios, as I was far more interested in seeing what people would come up with in a completely randomized setting. If I were to manipulate the Scenarios in any way, some of the fun, for me, would have been lost. Afterall, I intended to have alot of fun with this thing as well.

Each Scenario had its own private forum to work out their ideas, which was password protected. This system was a pain in the ass to work with on my end, but I felt it afforded the most secure way to work it out while keeping everything "in house". Like the Scenario selection, I also never peeked inside of these forums, feeling I'd only be spoiling things for myself while accomplishing nothing. On the arre occassions I was asked to step into a Scenario for some problem solving, I tried to not spoil anything for myself.

The War itself was to be told through these Scenarios, written by its participants. Everyone was encouraged to write to the best of their abilities, and to avoid "mailing it in". This was, afterall, supposed to be the crowning achievement for our community...

Each Stage lasted roughly a month, and as such anticipation would keep building until it was time to submit your Scenario. Well, that was the idea at least.


What to Expect

In the days leading to the first Stage, I began bracing myself for the multitude of issues I was bound to encounter. I was well aware that not everything would go smoothly, and I'd no doubt have to step in and solve problems, sometimes while making a few enemies in the process.

I was fully expecting that some people might use this as a way to further their own egos, instead of their ideas. While this did happen, it didn't really become a problem until a few Stages into the event.

I was also worried that people would simply treat it as an epilogue-fest, where random jokes and humor would be used instead of real substance. While I tried to make clear long before that the old epilogue model wasn't going to fit in here, I was apprehensive about everybody making such a change. Amazingly, though, everyone seemed to adapt relatively well, with some not only making it work, but somehow blending the best attributes of ep writing with what War was all about.

Early on, though, I did find myself playing mother on a number of occassions, settling various stupid disputes about really insignificant stuff. That took ALOT of restraint to not annihilate the childish types that complained about all of this minor stuff.

And then there were a few people that attempted to work completely around the very basic and easy rules of the game, either in an attempt to be different, or to try and test me. One person in particular, whom I will not name, had quite literally dozens of questions for me right off the bat, and continued to have probably close to a hundred by the end of the second Stage. Each question was designed to get around the last answer I presented, and it never seemed to fucking end. This was the kind of thing that really ebbed at my patience, as opposed to the easily settled minor shit.

There were also the typical team issues, like settling creative disputes, hounding vanished participants (a personal pet-peev of mine), and correcting factual errors or just plain bad writing. I was prepared for all of this, but I underestimated how much of it I'd have to deal with. I eventually had to give up on settling every minor dispute and answering every question for the sake of taking care of actual business. If I had continued to serve everyone's issues, the whole thing would have crashed by Stage 3.

Speaking of Stage 3...


The Critical Error

Stage Three, which occurred in November, was a turning point in the War. I was already getting weary and I knew it. I had to implement new ideas in order to keep things even. The most prominent was the inclusion of the Scrap Collection idea for the Cossack Faction, which had a huge number of members and was growing increasingly strong far too fast. If things were to stay interesting until Stage 8, I'd have to slow the pace down, and the scrap system was intended to do just that. I actually had to make sure the SA wasn't made to look overwhelmed so quickly, otherwise if the main badguy force was rendered insufficient, the whole War would have fizzled out in an unspectacular fashion.

Unfortunately, it probably drew alot of ire that I only barely caught wind of, and fueled a growing anger against me and my non-question-answering ways.

My main concern, though, was what I perceived to be evidence of some people "mailing it in", as I feared would happen. The War was still fairly young at this Stage, and I was growing disheartened that people were either losing focus on the bigger picture, or were just turning in lousy performances, which cheapened the feel of the whole event.

I grew so concerned that I decided to do one of the dumbest things I could have done, and that was to attempt to get people to take the event itself far more seriously. I completely underestimated the growing discord that was against me, and began spreading rumors that I intended to "take over" the entire community through the War itself.

Now, understand me here; the other thing I underestimated was the power I had, or rather, the power people THOUGHT I had. I never intended to actually take over the epilogue universe, nor did I think people would actually take what was supposed to be a rumor seriously. I never thought I had such pull. Now, I knew I had a significant amount of respect in the community, which I'd occassionally take for granted, and I do purposely emit an "untouchable" aura in order to deal with less drama and bullshit, but what was beyond me was the fact that people actually gave me, unknowingly, the apparent power to take over a storyline that had been going on since the early years of the team community.

My lack of foresight, combined with the growing rage against the War storyline and myself, eventually grew into the perfect storm.

It was a collosal error in judgement. One that I couldn't possibly have foreseen.

I don't think I'd be too out of line to claim that my attempt to rally the troops eventually destroyed the community as we knew it. Well, more on that later.

In any case, with the fake rumor taking far more root than I anticipated, and the storyline simultaneously going far too well for the SA, I probably wasn't looking too good at this point. If anything, I must have appeared to be the perfect villain, the guy you just couldn't help but hate. Ironic, considering that just a year prior to this I had fought against Nyne and this sort of thing just like everybody else, only Nyne didn't purposely spread false rumors about destroying and rebuilding the creative side of the community as he saw fit. In most people's eyes, my "crime" was far worse, and I was about to hear about it...


The December Incident

To this day, I can't remember who tipped me off about what was going on. Not that it'd matter, because I'd keep their identity a secret either way, but the fact is that a few days into December I was aware of what was about to happen, and once that happened, things moved VERY quickly.

In a matter of hours, the War went from chugging along to a complete stop, just like the entire community. A little less than half the forum had gotten together to denounce myself, the Mechs, and the War itself, and move their operation to a new forum altogether. The War had suddenly become the reason for a bloody coup where I and the Mechs were proclaimed as paranoid controlling dictators, obsessed with maintaining our place at the top of the heap while oppressing the little guy.

Its actually really hard to type that nowadays without cracking a smile, or perhaps even chuckling, but at the time, I was ripshit pissed, as was everybody accussed of the crime.

Now, though, I can accept what had happened, even if I think it was laughable and ultimately meaningless. I can also trace back the roots of the insurrection to a single man.

There was a time where Rebel and I got along pretty well. Hell, the guy was even nice enough to host my fledgling little site on his Tripod server, though nowadays that whole deal seems really odd, considering Tripod was A) FREE, and B) Had a severe limit on space as it was. Still, it was a nice gesture to a guy just starting out in the community.

For whatever reason, though, we drifted apart. Apparently, during this time where we simply didn't talk to each other much, Rebel began to see me in a much dimmer light, and established ill will towards me without ever talking about it. While I did change from the bright-eyed newbie into a slightly jaded "oldbie" rather quickly, I'm still pretty much the same guy I always was. I just don't make myself as accessible as I used to.

So, there came a day when Rebel asked me to do him a favor. Unaware of his growing doubts about me, I still wanted to help him. He asked if I could host his C:IA on the same server as the Mechs sometime in 2007. Unfortunately I declined, knowing that the way the server was set up he'd have access to the Mechanical Maniacs private files, which weren't mine to freely give access to. While I felt bad about being unable to help him out the way he helped me out years earlier, the circumstances were significantly different, and I simply couldn't. When I told him so, and he pointed out how I was letting him down, I got the first hint that he thought less of me at that point, but I let it be.

What I should have done, though, was worked things out to a more agreeable solution. That, or I should have at least trusted my instincts and worked to solve whatever differences were growing between he and I. Instead, I let our friendship settle back into the cold silence we had been engaged in before he approached me, which no doubt did tremendous damage.

Its funny, looking back at it. When you boil it down to its two purest elements...The two people most responsible for what had happened in December, you don't end up with Gauntlet and Ben, or Starnik, or Shadowstrike. It boils down to a cold war between myself and Rebel, one that I barely realized I was a part of until it exploded on December 12th, 2007.

The weirdest part is that I see this whole thing as running exactly parallel with the main story behind MGS4. Yeah, I may be a little Metal Gear mad these days, but the scenarios are eerily similar. Both of us tried to interpret our deceased respected peer's will as we thought Gary'd want it, whereas Zero and Big Boss wanted to realize The Boss's will in their own completely different ways. War was my "Outer Heaven", and Rebel's MMU is his "Patriots", and to this day, our own personal cold war continues, wordlessly, perhaps until we both drift off from this community altogether.

Did Rebel really hate me? Or, did he fear me?

I don't think it was either, actually. I think he was sick and tired of constantly being overshadowed by the attention my work got, even though I was newer to the community than he. No, it wasn't fair that he was cast aside, but I don't think that justifies his actions at all. I can tell you want I think about him as of now, though.

Its doubtful we'll ever be friends again, and I know I won't ever pursue such a thing, just as I doubt he'd do the same. I can tell you that my hatred for him is gone. I feel a tremendous sense of pity, and longing for what could have been. It is too late for those old dreams though. We've both grown up, independant of one another. I understand what he did...But I'll never be able to agree with it.

I now know that the two of our wills, opposing one another, ultimately accelerated the death of the community. I say accelerated, because I believe that it was dying, with or without the War, and that War was simultaneously the best and the worst thing that ever happened to the team scene, causing some of its brightest moments just before killing it.


The War Trudges On

After MMU was formally established, I was so dispondant that I felt I needed to leave the community, at least for a little while. That "little while" lasted almost half a year, causing me to miss the rest of the War, save for a short return in order to participate in the completion of the ending.

In my absense, Gauntlet took over operational control of the War, doing an even better job than anybody could have reasonably expected, given the circumstances. That didn't stop him from repeatedly asking me to return, but by this time, I had no heart for it. At that point, in my hands, the War would never have been as complete as it was.

While the Business of War continued on, the growing cold war between the MMU and the Undernet was brewing, though, thankfully, it never grew to a head. Still, there was a fair amount of anger on both sides, everybody accusing each other of selling out or betraying Gary's ideals and all sorts of retarded shit. It eventually calmed down with a little help from the big players involved, which was a good thing, because an all-out REAL war between our two forums wouldn't have benefitted anybody. It simply would have splintered us further than we are today.

The BoW finally ended in the Spring of 2008, more than half a year after it started. Around this time was when the war of the forums (that never was) settled down into what we have today. There are few members of either forum that declare specific allegience to one over another, save for the obvious members.

What's certain is that the entire team community has sufferred tremendously. For all intensive purposes, its dead, all save for the most hardiest of teams. I certainly don't envy the smaller teams in today's climate, as they face even worse conditions than there were before the War began- ironic, considering that War was intended to do the opposite and bring in more fresh faces to participate in future Wars.


The Sequel That Never Was

What few people knew was that before the December Incident, I was planning on:

1) Learning from the War and fixing the weak points in the system.
2) Making a follow up session to the War.
3) Establishing an annual "War" if the sequel were as popular as the first.

Well, the first point is a no-brainer, and I was already implementing small fixes as we went along, but what about the other two points?

Well, depending on how well the War went, I wanted to make it into a yearly deal, on a less drastic, shorter scale. If the War had gone along as I had hoped, and I had fixed all of the bugs, the War's system could have been implemented very easily into new stories, which could have ushered in a renessaince era of the team community. Instead, it wound up nearly finishing it off. Ironic, no?

The follow up to War, which most likely would have hit around September of 2008, was going to be centered on a story primarily featuring the Stardroids. I had been keeping on eye on the Stardroid team at the time, recognizing that they were close to the verge of death. Had they died, I would have moved in on the spot and reserved it for the story.

The story would have been called "System", and would have involved the Stardroids working as drones for a mysterious being from far off space, which was going to use them to invade the Earth. The teams would then have moved into the solar system and travelled to the other planets to investigate the matter, eventually revealing that the Stardroids have been reduced to virus-like creatures, infecting team members and turning them into new drones.

System would have been more horror-themed, with a bigger focus on story development, rather than the War's epic battles. I would have given instructions to certain Scenarios to divulge bits and pieces of the story, instead of acting as the sole narrator. It could've possibly worked out better than the War's extremely complex story line, and set the stage for all future Events.

Instead, the lessons for War have not been lost, but rather the entire War model has been adapted for the currently still-born Project ANEW. Every few weeks, I add bits and pieces to the ANEW story and model, but at the rate I'm going, it may be months, possibly years before I unveil it, if ever.


The Community, Post-War and Beyond

So, finally, two years after War first struck, we're still lost as to what to do, apparently. At one time, I had hoped to accomplish what I had originally set out to do with War with Project ANEW, but my plans these days are far less ambitious. Should ANEW ever see action, it won't be for the purpose of revolution, but to get back to our roots. To have fun here.

I'm sure other people have their own ideas and plans for revitalizing the community, but to them, all I can say is "good luck". I now believe that the days of huge ass events are all left behind in the past, the War marking the last, great effort. It may also be the grave marker for the team scene itself, as by the looks of it the concept has all but run out of steam.

The Mechs get by because Gauntlet continues to run the site as he always has, with the other Mechs adding when we can. We've also become friends outside of the Mechs, forming a bond that goes beyond this forum, teams, or websites. Teams may die off one day, but its hard to see the Mechs dying with them. We'll adapt.

However, I can look across the pond and not see the same going on in MMU. I can only shake my head in sadness at what has been done with the supposed freedom that was won in December of 2007. While the Undernet suffers from very serious lulls and content drought, it still manages to see more activity than the MMU.

I do not feel victorious when I see that. I don't feel anything like "I showed them!" when I see that place go lifeless for days on end. Likewise, I don't feel proud at all when I check on random team sites, only to see extremely sparse updates, with extremely little content to show for it. It feels like a major part of what made this forum, this community, great has passed on.

In retrospect, though, I think the team concept was dying before War was ever introduced. When Gary died, I think that's when the concept did as well. Sure, there was a great effort afterwards to keep going, but that sort of thing should be expected when such an event occurs. Truth is, Gary's death signaled the end of life on the forums as we knew it- it has NEVER been the same since then.

When we came to the very difficult decision to disband the S6, I knew, in some way, we were pretty much ending an era. It was a very sad feeling, and still is. I'd like to think that my efforts with War...my Outer Heaven, as I now look at it...would've kept Gary's dream going. It very well could have.

But, instead it wound up killing it, just as Rebel's attempts to keep Gary's will going with the MMU haven't fared so well, either.

I'm sure the two of us could argue endlessly over who's interpretation of Gary's will was the "right" one, but ultimately, we both failed to keep it going, so whatever our points are they're null and void. And while our goals were the same, our ways of accomplishing that one goal were so radically different from each other, that getting past that alone would take more effort than its worth.

I think now, its really time to start moving forward if we're ever going to do so. I think the era of teams has had its time, but that has ended. I think its time to do something completely new, and move forward. I had hoped to do that with ANEW and its radical concepts, but maybe, there's somebody out there capable of taking the reigns.

I'd love to see the community get back on its feet. However, I'd want to see it use new concepts, instead of just doing the same thing over and over again. Good for some video games, like Megaman, but not good for writing. We hit a limit quite some time ago and ignored it.

But, if you're going to do something, do it for yourself. Don't do it for me, or for Rebel, or for G, or Ben, or anyone else. Don't even do it for Gary. Let the man rest now.

If you're going to do something, do it for yourself. That's the only way we'd move on.

And that's it.

Amen with that last part, Rich.

I rarely ever give much consideration to the December Incident anymore, thankfully. I took a frustrated remark too personally, and being in a selfish and spiteful mood, I just blew up at you and Gauntlet. At least, I learned a valuable lesson over the year or so I had to contemplate over my actions. I managed to move on from the "Team" universe to pursue my education and other interests. I just wish it wasn't on such acrimonious terms.

As for Gary's memory, with some money saved up from late 2007 and early 2008, I made a trip to Grapevine, TX to hang out with fellow S6er Erik. We went to the Hooters were he, Gary, and Ken used to go to as well as the mall that housed the AMC theatre that the ol' Iceman worked at until 2002-03. Such a pity that I couldn't go while Gary was alive, but at least it helped me come to terms with my loss.

Anyway, that's all I have to say about it.

The biggest flaw with War (on our side) was that it went on for too long. I'd say that's about it. Had it ended in Stage 4, well ... the problems would have been nipped in the bud.

Yeah, there's no "rahh rahh" of triumph from me when I see most of the teams I supported over the years dead. "Active" status on a list or no, dead's dead.

I'd agree that War/TU or no, the team scene was going down. The collective will was ... and still is, gone. Some sites persist though. Ironically, the War probably gave teams an artificially long life span since we forced people not to change members or die like flies so things could stay stable enough to write a story.

Of course, unlike Rich I still manage to run rather hot about the whole thing. It takes a lot, but once something gets under my skin it tends to stay. I can't see myself working with or supporting teams in general as I did in the past.

I find it interesting that my perpetual boredum has brought me back to the Undernet to see this, especially after the death of the Cosmic Gladiators and Copy Crisis, along with my removal from the Seven Mercenaries, a series of events that, to this day, still rattle the very depths of my soul when I think about them. But that's a story for another day.

Buisness of War, in my eyes, was a time for me to shine, to show off what i could really do and try to impress some of the big-wig names and even work with them. In Stage 2 or 3, whichever one had the Mercs and the Mechs(at least the ones on the RPD) in the same scenario, i was estatic. I got to work with the bunch that inspired me to try and join the Megaman Team community. Of course, for me, that's pretty much where it all started to go down hill.

Not sure if anyone save myself really remembers this, but I was the only person in the War to manage to LEAVE the Scissor Army. This was because, at the time when the Mercs were drafted, i was out of town and arrived home on the day Hunter broke the news to the team on the Undernet, but did not see it until the next morning because of how late it was and the fact i wanted some sleep before i collapsed. I felt large amounts of rage about this, mainly because I never liked playing the bad guy. Ever. It just didn't suit me. I mean sure, I like random destruction, but not out-right evil.

I talked with Gauntlet and Rich about it sparcely from what i can remember, sence I was more interested in my fight with Hardman. I actually recall myself writing out how i thought events would play out(most notably expecting to have at least 1 Shadowblade from Gauntlet getting lodged in Hyper Storm's skull, something i recall still having a sketch of somewhere in my bedroom) and getting bummed when they didn't happen. Of course, while i did manage to get out of the SA, my ideas for what to do with Hyper Storm were quickly shot down by some cold, hard logic from Gauntlet, who pointed out it wasn't about the character i was using for the position of Hyper Storm, but rather Hyper Storm himself.

Sadly, about a stage or two after the Mercs VS Mechs scenario, real life got in the way because i had been shirking my schoolwork and i was put on no-computer lockdown for several months. At that point, my idea to expand on a "Tortured Soul"-type character plotline got its head cut of by General Cutman himself. Hyper Storm basicly became a near-empty being, one of the few things i remember doing before the big finale-type Stage for all the teams was having him yell angrily at Saturn after getting his arm lopped off and leaving. On the CG side of the war, things hadn't been going much better. There was far too much squabbling between myself and Mega Man N(now known as REX) while Winterman and Stardust had trouble keeping the massive rage storms in check. We sadly lost our Neptune around this time because he pretty much forgot we exsisted.

When the Finale Stage came, the CG and 7M were pitted against each other because it made sence. Also because I was shared between both teams and Stardust had held the Hyper Storm position before i did. It was as close to my best moment of the war as was possible, I managed to churn out a compitent, albet short, battle sequence with Mars and Hyper Storm squaring off, resulting in the "Attitude adjuster" that was installed in Hyper Storm once he was forcably dragged back to the SA by the rest of the Mercs because i had pretty much abandoned him by that point in the war getting busted and the 'real' HS getting back in control in time to storm the bridge of the Marauder and take down Captain Quint with aid from The Fatal Five(Arch-foes of the Mercs), the RPD, and the CG. it was as good of anything as i could have hoped for at that point.

Something i now realise i didn't mention is the December Incident. I remember very little about it except that i was somewhat caught in the middile. I frequently talked with people on both sides, and stories were conflicting with each other. At one point i had heard the Mechs(sans Rich) were nervous around Gauntlet for some reason or another. That concerned me, but looking back at it now, it was more likely they were opting for the smart thing of staying out of the storm. Even after the Decemeber Incident seemed to blow over enough for the war to be finished, I noticed something just didn't seem right about the teams. It's like the very thing that made the teams interesting had died. That really disheartened me, seeing as how i had read the Mechs epilouges for a long time(often re-reading them for lack of anything better to do) and was finnaly apart of a team myself(after SEVERAL horrible failures at making my own team) but was still new enough to the team scene itself that I felt cheated of missing out on the good times everyone around me was talking about. And the December Incident lingered for far longer at MMU then it did the Undernet from what little i can remember. I think it even played apart in a later incident at MMU, but that is yet another story for another day.

In truth, i probably shouldn't be speaking my mind about any of this for how poor my memory is, the fact it's 2:15am where i live at the time of writing, and how unknowledgable i am about the whole ordeal because of how absorbed in what i wanted to do i was at the time. But here it is anyways. Buisness of War may not have been the crowning moment it was supposed to be, but it was still the last fun thing i recall experiencing in the Team Community. After that, it all went downhill.

But that's enough out of me, i've rattled on about this long enough and if i think about it for much longer i'm going to either get depressed or start thinking that this entire post makes absolutely no sence in exsisting because of how impossibly inactive i am here.

Actually, I also left the Scissor Army during the War, however in my case I was scripted to both be put into the Scissor Army at the start of the war and to leave it towards the end when the gang was put back together.

Honestly during BoW I had a pretty good time since for the most part, I was only in the project as an author and occasional idea man, and when it came to ideas they usually revolved around my main players Geminiman and Artilleryman. And so when the December incident rolled around, which basically happened the moment I had my back turned from the scene which was when I was visiting my girlfriend at the time, I was more in a "Um, so what's going to happen now?" mood. Since asides from writing, I was very detached to the community which is kinda sad. I mean even now I'm one of the more inactive members of the team. It did disappoint me quite a bit actually, since I was actually having a lot of fun doing all this writing and then when the incident struck a hiatus in the story I felt kinda gutted that an incident that I felt was pretty stupid at the time seemed to stop everything in its tracks.

Anyways, if I went all the way back to the beginning one of the things determined when the project started was where most of the Maniacs were going to be positioned in the War, due to unresolved plot issues which were created in Wanted, Rich had already planned for Geminiman to be an evil puppet of Mesmerman, personally I wouldn't have gone with the idea if I was given a choice in allegiance as I had always liked portraying Geminiman as a heroic character, but let's face it, Heroic Geminiman was a very boring Mary Sue. So as I thought of ways to work with the evil, I came up with the crazed obsessive stalker which I felt not only gave him motivation, but some depth as well.

I had the story of Geminiman plotted out throughout the entire war. Key moments had to occur for him and they were all going to be fulfilled. Sadly there was one moment that I didn't plan out... what to do after Geminiman became good again. At the end game I had hit a massive writer's block because asides from his redeeming battle.against his evil half, I had nothing and in addition to that, the sheer amount of time I had been writing had taken a toll on me as well and I had basically lost my drive during the last stage.

To me, BoW had a lot of potential and despite drama it was quite the experience for me and I enjoyed it for the most part. Sadly it did fall short in one of the desired goals of the project but I honestly think we should be proud of the end result.

Yeah, the whole Hyperstorm thing was a knot for everyone involved from the get-go. I wish there was some way to have handled it better, but ... I think it could only have done so if you were there from the beginning and simply said a big "no" to the SA in time.

Can't really say much about the rumors about the Mechs feeling uncomfortable around me. We had disagreements, but we're all friends and had met each other in RL. War did not touch that.

Edit: You definately wrote some of yer best stuff during War, Len.

if , persay, the BOW Started up again, I think instead of making it so long..
perhaps doing it threw out Seasons would work?
I know I'm new(still) and all, but I would like to see what my team can do under that BOW thing.

I'd like to see it start up again, but, now that we know what needs fixing, and such, we could fix it for a second time around, yes?

Like I said before , I'd like to see it start up again:D
but..then again,that's just my vote.

There's a few ideas we tossed around. Mags wanted to make it longer, but more relaxed. To give everyone more time to mull over decicions and talk about things. My idea was to make it short, but sweet. A burst of creative energy followed by a break. Your idea is closer to Mag's.

It's impossible, though. Long story short: I don't trust a few key people and a few key people don't trust me. That's enough to spoil the whole thing right there.

Anybody trying to set up a new War-type thing would find themselves confronted by a similar mistrust. I don't think it's a workable idea for MM Teams. It was a worthy idea and worth pursuing, but I don't think it can be done effectively.

And also some aren't open to compromise. And, in a massive collaboration, compromising is key.

Well, lesson learned.

Yeah, the era of all the teams getting along merrily and socializin in a single place is long gone, as are community-wide events like the War.

Unless, of course, one were to realize that what we have here, in the Undernet, is a different kind of community. We've already been attempting to distance ourselves from the traditional team universe anyways. So, maybe...

I have an idea.

Despite all the accidents and bumps that occured, I am glad (and proud) to have taken part in the War.

Ever since I read on RotSA, I was a big fan of the Scissor Army, to the point I wrote up a something setting the Mercs in that universe. When Mags proposed me to join the new SA, you can't imagine how glad I was.

The War allowed me to flesh out the whole "Captain Quint" thing, a guy I love to use here and there (as some may attest). Also, it lifted the Fatal Five and Henry from "generic bad guys" and "background bystander" to something more - and the Mercs know I love writing 'em.
Also, I met up and wrote with wonderful people, that I couldn't have truly known otherwise. People like Mags himself, Vulcan, Regulus, Sparks ... a few of which are now my teammates, and partners in various crimes.
Oh, and I may have been the only non-Maniac who got to write the General AND Mesmerman. Always leaves a good impression.

For the whole Hyper Storm thing, you may also blame my "you leave the SA dead or feet first" stubborness. But hey, I got my revenge, and Magnus got his revenge on it, so it's fine in the end.

My only regret ? Well, after Stage Five, (when the War went private), I displayed an absolute lack of communications with my teammates on the Mercs' whereabouts. I'm still paying for my ego, I feel.

That aside (well, and a few more things), it's only fond memories.

Amnesia? Subliminal message brain-washing? Skrulls?

I have to agree with Rich in the assessment that BoW was the best and worst the community had to offer. BoW helped me recognize my abilities as a writer, and gave me an opportunity to examine my truly abhorrent qualities as a writer. I have a bad habit of trying to force my way, and meeting my argumentative equal in Gauntlet helped me realize I can be pretty hard to work with sometimes. I also got to work with some really great people, particularly Hunter, whom I believe might possibly be my French Skrull at times. I consider the amount of ideas and creative resources exchanged in BoW one of the best achievements of the event.

And yes, Gauntlet, Blizzardman isn't a ninja.

Readin' through the recounting of events was kind of weird; it feels like it happened only a few months ago, but time has a way of slipping by you. I do remember freshly the day it all broke out, and I had to work overtime trying to put out fires. I hope I played some part in the fact that a "forum war" never broke out between the two sides, as I've always maintained that the rift between the Undernet and the MMU was entirely pointless. Then again, I rarely get mad at anything, and when I do get mad, I tend to let it go just as easily.

I actually enjoyed the idea of the War, and would have (still would, actually) jumped at the opportunity to write with the community every year (If you'd have me, that is. I know I tended to go a bit more humorous). I have been drifting in and out of the community for awhile now, and I think such an event and the excitement that came with it might have helped anchor me to it. Then again, this last year was my first year of law school, which any law student can tell you is a literal Hell on Earth. One thing is for sure; my absence has REALLY hurt the Warriors. Naoshi has been doing a hell of a job in my absence, but while ideas keep getting batted around between members, there's just no energy to do anything. I think most of it stems from the fact that the Warriors is a side-project for me, while for people like Gauntlet the Maniacs are their main thing.

Anyways, it's too bad there's still hard feelings between certain members. I still think Gauntlet is an awesome and funny guy, and I still think Rebel is an awesome and funny guy.

As far as Rebel (and some others) go it's just ... smart to have a rift there. Even without emotions playing into it, it'd be really illogical and ... well, stupid for me not to have as much distance as I possibly can between what I do here at MM3 / the S6 / AXE and TU.

The rift I have between me and Rebel (and some others) extends to their projects, including TU. The rift between TU extends, by definition and by it's design, to the Team Scene as a whole. It kinda sucks for everyone, but it was impossible to avoid with the way TU was made and with how the Team Scene works.

Of course emotions do play their part and I still kinda run hot with the TU stuff.

Wanna know what's really ironic about what has happened and where we're going?

I gaffed when people took my "threat" seriously; that I wanted to remake the epilogue-verse in my image. My rumor idea blew up horrendously in my face, and helped create the lull we're all in now.

However, from that very failure, the basis of Project ANEW was born. After the MMU exodus and the subsequent wilting of the team scene, I actually began to seriously explore the idea of what my ideal "teamiverse" would look like, which eventually gave rise to ANEW's origins. At its core, ANEW's very name refers to an attempt to redefine everything. To get a fresh new start, and hopefully move this entire forum in a better direction.

Now that I'm investing more and more of my time into ANEW again, I once again have the confidence that I can motivate everyone here, and completely surpass the "old days" by discarding the old team logic and stereotypes, and instead reinventing it all from scratch.

Because let's face it. Tradition has its place, but right now, we're at a point where traditions are holding us back more than they're keeping us going.

In the two years since War, there has been so little activity within the team ranks that the War may as well have been a sendoff of the "old community", so where's our new community? What we have at this very moment doesn't resemble a community very much anymore, at least compared to what we once had. I don't want to settle for a cheap imitation of the good ol' days. I want something fresh, new, and worth my time. I want to stop bitching about what I've lost and start looking forward to all we have to gain. I think ANEW can do that.

People are going to scoff at the idea of supplimenting, or even replacing, such an honored tradition here, especially when Gary's legacy commands so much respect in direct relation to those traditions. Let them. I'll honor him like I did when he was still around by keeping new ideas coming. Other people can honor him however they like, but people are invited to join me and ANEW while doing so.

I'm making it my mission to get this place going again, to attract new attention, as well as old faces, and to encourage a brand new era of creativity. This, I've decided, is my new "Outer Heaven" ideal, and I'll be working to reach that goal feverishly until I reach it. And I'm doing it because I want to, above any other reason.

And so, I begin.

Well, I hope Anew can re-new everyone's lagging energy. That would be very nice.

Since nobody's "team continuity" is at stake, maybe it can succeed where War failed. As an added bonus people won't have to ghost for non-participating team members, nor will anyone have to contend with unwieldy numbers in scenarios.

My perspectives...

December DRAAAAAAMA

Ugh. This is a subject I'd rather not revisit, but... eh. Let's get it out of the way before I move on to anything else. I will be perfectly honest and say that I supported the break off at first, but looking back... I miss the old community at the MM3. I really do. Let me also state that I didn't approve of Shadow's anger-fueled propaganda, or Rebel's mistakes... but I just want this whole thing behind me, and everybody else. After all, this was a tremendous source of depression for me, once things were said and done.

I then took on the "neutral" stance - which is to say, I just wanted everybody to get along. Just like that, the community was a wreck, and so was my emotional state... even though it is for different reasons, I can sympathize with Gauntlet for being hurt over the whole thing. I really can. While he is mad at the TU (frankly, I can't blame him), I was upset because of the hostilities on either side. It was either RICH IS A JERK or REBEL IS A JERK... come on, we never gain anything out of conflict.

It's no secret that I am pals with Rebel. But that doesn't mean I can't be friends with the people here, right...? I should confess. Because of this, I have felt very insecure here, in fear of what people would think of me. A backstabber? A mole? Just by associating, I continue to worry if I am hated or untrusted here.

I don't want to come off that way. You don't have to be like, SUPER BEST FRIENDS FOREVER with me or anything... I just want to know if I am welcome here or not. I have kept my presence here low key for months, all due to this paranoia. In fact, I'm deeply concerned for the possible repercussions of this post, like if it will make me look like a beggar for sympathy, or what... I just want to speak my mind, and hopefully become a contributing member of this forum once again. I don't want to regret making this post.


But enough of this self doubt. Is the community still alive? Hard to say...

I know I've said to some people over AIM that very little remains of it, if anything, and it remains on life support. If anything, there are teams, but little to no community. What always bothered me is that teams get little to no feedback, I mean, some of us work pretty hard on these little side projects...

And yes, most teams are inactive these days. Rebel's X2 team, REX's X5 team and my Star Force team are probably the only truly active ones at this point (not counting MM3 and EXE3)... while I haven't updated mine in two months, I can assure you I've nonetheless been hard at work on new content... that only 5 people will view. YAY! =D

At least I'm enjoying it with my friends. I think behind closed doors, teams are still alive and kicking. I mean, it's the brainstorming with your friends that really matters, right?


Business of War

Aiiiiiiie. This whole thing... let's just say I have mixed feelings. As far as the positives of BoW go... I met new people, learned about their characters, and above all, improved as a writer. There were some pretty good stories, too! The first few stages were pretty fun, and I enjoyed working with the Mechs and everyone else... but yeah, it goes without saying the event was not without its flaws.

As mentioned, it was too long; and yes, it felt like a chore as it moved onwards... I remember stage 4, and all the writing I did for it... as the deadline approached, I began to panic when I was away from my computer. Thankfully, Maks was a real lifesaver in this instance, tying the whole thing together in the end like that. Such a big help. ^_^

As for the team I was on in the War... yeah... I felt like I was the only one on top of things until Seadragon had to take over. Shadowstrike, the team leader, felt that he was forced to participate. Seadragon enjoyed the event, yet we had little to no contact with him at the time, so we had no idea of knowing when and if he would contribute. Darksage made minimal additions; I don't think he was into the event, but don't quote me on that. Metabad almost contributed, but he didn't as he felt others kept beating him to the punch. So... I felt as if I was the one driving force of the DM. Everybody else was either absent or on another faction. I wasn't really involved in the first two scenarios, but in the two that followed? The stress was getting to me... =/

Looking back, I really don't like the writing I myself did for the war. I have improved since then, and yes, BoW was a necessary step to have me recognized as a writer, but... I dunno. I actually got sick writing one scene where Turboman had to... eat Freezeman's finger. I was suggested to write something disturbing, and I delivered... only to regret it. I LITERALLY got sick - as in, I had to get up after posting that, go to the bathroom, and... yeah. Didn't help that Turbo himself didn't like the part either... heh.

Most of my writing felt... forced. Others liked my contributions, and I greatly appreciated that, and it encouraged me to go on, though. Scenario 4 was probably my "best" work, as it felt the least forced (and strangling that stupid politician in the story was FUN XD).

...Then came Stage 5. At that time, my inspiration had burned out, and I felt like I'd be writing on my own... especially since the characters we were paired with were NPCs... coincidentally enough, that's around the time the DRAAAAAAAAMA occurred. When I wasn't invited back into BoW, again, I had very mixed feelings. Bear in mind this is my feelings on BoW, not the drama itself - On one hand, I was relieved to have the pressure lifted from having to write for a whole team of seven people, but on the other... I felt excluded. Deep down, I really did want to finish what I started.

When the event was over and I finally got to read Scenario 5... I was very disappointed. First of all, I am listed as an author when I only wrote like the first few paragraphs. After reading that thing, I wanted my name removed - and I still do. So if anybody would so kindly please...? ^^;

But yeah, that story... ugh. It was such a rush job, and it was handled so poorly. I have no problem with the team being offed, but... the way it was handled left much to be desired. I think he should have waited on the deaths until we were at a more practical point. I remember Lennon and I talking about how the team REALLY should have been killed off, in fact. But the way it was written, it just screamed, "hey, they aren't here to write themselves, so I may as well off 'em now! Nevermind the fact that Avi was doing most of the writing for the rest of the team the past two scenarios!" I mean no offense to the team member who wrote this story, but I feel it's only the right thing for me to be honest...


Perhaps the BIGGEST problem with BoW was, well... the fact that the event and the epilogue universe shared the same continuity.

BoW's detractors stated that the event was steering the happy-go-lucky continuity in the wrong direction, but... looking back, I think it hurt BoW itself more than it did the ongoing epilogues. For example, when obscure epilogue references were brought up into the more serious storytelling of BoW... honestly, I think that made a lot of the stories inaccessible to people who weren't there for the teams. This included Hyperstorm being small and skinny. And a DRAGON. With a sword. (sorry Magnus. =p) I also recall many things with the Comrades, and with the Tech Tyrants - which was unusual, seeing as how their site was long gone.

But yeah, since BoW and the epilogues were so different... I think the two of them should have been established in two separate, ongoing continuities.


I can't say I disliked BoW. It had some great moments, and it was a good stepping stone for me to start writing other things.





So... yeah. I'm sorry if I made anybody uncomfortable with this post - I know I made myself uncomfortable, haha! I just want to move on, and remain friendly with both sides of the shattered community. Please understand. ^_^

I'm not sure why my feelings are "propoganda" while everyone else just has "feelings" and "reasons" and "posts".

I don't have any problem with you at all. You didn't do anything wrong.

Rebel, however, aimed at Rich with a machinegun and hit me in the process of gunning for Rich. I doubt he even knows what he did to anger me so.

...haha, I'm sorry, I meant ShadowSTRIKE, not ShadowMAN. ^^;
I was talking about his post on the DM forum that made you guys look bad.

Ahhh, I see. Well ... glad to hear it. Sorry for misunderstanding.

It does really unnerve me when I read people calling my feelings "propoganda" and made "just to make other people look bad". I read that in other places ocassionally and get the impression that I'm seen as some sort of android or something.

Well, one thing ANEW does differently than War is not be in the same continuity. I don't agree that it being in the same epiverse was all that bad (considering people could just shrug off it's effects afterwards, for the most part) and because I had so many supplamentary things on the site, but it's true that some people had MAJOR issues with it. Well ... lesson learned with that too, I suppose.

You're a good guy, Gauntlet. Those two years have flew by, eh? I do remember otheri ssues as well.. like the great conclict that happened on DA with a user that I will not mention. I been neutral on the whole stance since it started.

I don't mean to be disrespectful towards anyone, but here's how I see things:

The "community" I remember fondly was one I was a part of since 2001. I went away and a flood of new people came to the community, which, for all intents and purposes should be a good thing for it. But it was kinds appalling for me to see so much had changed (Gary’s death above anything else), so I lurked for about half a year.

When I came finally back, I didn't know 80% of the people involved (Rich included). And when half of that people started acting like adolescent rogues (which most of them are, no offense) over a brilliant and creativity-inspiring project, it really made me lose hope on the “new” people.

Fortunately, I’ve met good people among them, so I know that at least some of them are worth my time and respect. But I fully agree with Rich and everyone who says that the days of a real team community were probably ending already by the time of Gary’s death.

Anyway, renewal and new beginnings seem to be the right medicine for this particular illness. So I’m all for it! In fact, if I wasn’t the king of procrastination I think I’d be having some of that by now… *sigh*

Cheers on your new hopes for project ANEW Rich. Anything the Mechs do will always be my one and only window to the community I fondly remember.

Well, even though it’s a good month old, I feel the need to point out that there’ll never be a forum war between Undernet and TU. I mean, in regards to Rebel….

He used the memory of my best pal against me, talked trash about me and my guys wherever he could, used a stupid fight with my old friend Ben to sour things with him and the rest of my friends almost to the point where he couldn‘t be friends with them again … all so that he could steal my old Megaman United forum idea. He really stopped at nothing.

And the team scene was with him, for the most part. Present company notwithstanding. Some people don’t see past the “good idea” of TU’s.

It kills me that, not only did he steal the name and the concept, but he even stole the same type of forum I had. Out of all the dozens out there Rebel just had to twist the knife just that little extra bit. To really hammer his point in. He does it while chanting "Gary" ... he still does. And the guy wasn’t even trying to make it so personal against me. Which is hilarious because, some of the things he resorted to was deeply personal. He doesn’t understand because he only thinks of Gary, Ben, and I as internet “celebrities” … not as people who are friends. Rebel doesn’t understand how personal he made it. He just doesn’t get it.

Even without emotion, just going by pure logic …. I can’t have anything to do with him. When someone’s willing to go to such depths to get at you; to get what you have, you’d best steer clear. Even if you’re not mad at them, you never get near them. After this, I trust nothing he says, nothing he does. He didn’t talk to me during TU’s formation, so dialogue now is equally meaningless. He's already done his worst. After that the Team Scene is just … fruits of a poisonous tree. Hell, most people are on three teams, so … just think about that. If you have a real, real problem with someone … well, that’s it for you. You or them. The team scene is a house of cards. That’s why drama hits it so bad. One of the reasons.

Very few people really see the chaos that would have erupted if I had elected to fight (continue with the status quo) instead of cutting my losses and making it very clear that I was gone. A certain guy who shall remain nameless was very angry that I wouldn’t unify with TU. He didn’t get why that was impossible. Why, even unemotionally, it just wouldn’t work. He didn't see that there'd be no peacefull community here if I did that.

For me, lessons are important. Furthermore, accepting when you are wrong, and adapting to it, is also very important.

Rebel showed me a lesson with the Team Scene. It was a hard lesson, but an important one. The team scene just isn’t what I thought it was. For years I maintained that it was. Wrong. The idea is not even that great … it has a deep flaw in it. Fighting over it is meaningless. For years I tried to keep it alive as it was (which was proven wrong) when the answer was actually to adapt and let it go. Unfortunately, that answer means a loss of activity, which was immediately gonna happen after the whole incident.

I know this is an old topic, but I can't help but put my two cents on this whole issue.

The Drama of December

Now everyone here knows that I'm good friends with Shadowstrike and somewhat on friendly terms with Rebel (I really don't know him that well). I remember having a convo with Shadowstrike on MSN and he complained about how the Mechs were running the site. To me, that was a red flag so my first thought was to tell either Rich or Gauntlet that 'Hey, someone on the site is unhappy about the way you run the site. Can you at least talk to him?'

When I told Rich, he went totally apeshit. He was calling Shadowstrike and Rebel 'traitors' and put a grinding halt on BoW. This, in my mind, was the start of the downfall of the Teams as we know it. I've seen some stretches of time where teams are quiet, but this had to be the longest stretch I've seen in years. People have moved on to other interests and things to do, like me and making MUGEN videos on YouTube, but that's another story.

When Rich decided to reboot BoW, this put me in quite the pickle: Do I continue writing for my team in BoW or do I stay at MMU and risk seeing the team being ghost written for the remainder of the event? With that on my plate, I trudged on writing creating a rather haphazard Scenario that Avi helped with, but had her name taken off for some reason I never knew nor bothered to figure out. I am not happy to do what I did with that stage, but it was either to ghost write everyone else into the story or attempt a solo story for Junkman.

Business of War

The whole idea of this event was, to me, a great idea. The grand scheme was to unite everyone and create a well crafted story that not only showcased the writing skills of everyone on the site, but it would create a grand saga of a world falling into Chaos by a manical General hellbent on world domination.

Orignally, I wanted Junkman to turn on Drastic Measures and join with General Cutman because Junkman was fed up with the lackluster leadership of Turboman and the general hatred the team received. This could create a situation where Junkman could face his former team mates and show no mercy on them. But, that never came to fruition.

I wouldn't mind seeing another story of this magitude again in the future, but with the rift created by the war between Rebel and Rich and the near death of the team scene, that might end up being a foolish dream that may never be seen again. I loved working with the people here. Hell, I never gave Gauntlet thanks for helping me out while he worked with the team on 'Predator'. IcyRose was a great help on the opening stage of the War. Naop was also huge in the final stage as well. These people were pouring their hearts and souls into this creation and in the end, it came out in decent, but not great, shape.

Well, in fairness to Rich, it was more than just some behind-the-scenes grumbling. Shadowstrike and Rebel really were huge traitors considering how much Rich helped them out. Shadowstrike didn't even change his avatar from the Turbo design Rich made for him and Rebel ... and all that happened because Rebel was jealous of Rich personally.

And there was no talking to us over it either. Rebel just decided it's be a great idea to steal my old MMU idea and call it his own. Still burns me up. You'd think he'd have the decency to call it something else.

BTW: it was I who decided to reboot BoW. Rich was so disgusted he walked off. However, I couldn't let my epilogues - and the stories of my supporters - just end like that so I held it all in just long enough to see things through.

Oh, my bad. I knew it was one of you two that restarted BoW, but I assumed it was Rich because this was his creation.

Meh, the memories of two years ago are so hard to remember, yet hard to forget.

It might surprise people to know just how annoyed I was at how the team scene had gotten for years before BoW and TU even happened. But I gotta say that TU really was the straw that broke this camel's back. (More like large pillar, but...)

While there's still tons and tons of teams (with mostly the same content) I can't say that the community they make is something I want to support anymore. I don't forget so quickly.

Unless Rich objects (and if he does he can delete this post and pretend it never existed), I'm just gonna close this thread.