War of the Forums

[mr_pikachu]

CEB: Everybody loves Smiley Town! Hehe! Yeah, Martin's motives seem a little odd, I suppose. What's going through that ancient, decrepit brain of his?


Shonta: Ha, I can understand that sentiment! Ada's definitely got a steel will to put up with this kind of torture. Perhaps this is how some of those Wii "accidents" really happened...


Sike: That's some rigorous training, huh? It should serve as a lesson to everyone not to eat pizza right before bed. *munches pepperonis*

Shuppet Master's obviously got talent, or DS wouldn't be trusting him with this task. But I suppose MoP probably has some tight security measures, too.

Remind me never to attempt an excavation of your room.

See? The will's one final joke! You've gotta love it! And I'm glad you appreciate the scanlines. Still not sure how far I'm going to take that, particularly when people aren't using the outdated VHS format. We'll see.

Rage is fun!

I assume you know that every joke has to have a punchline, right?


Mikachu: Um... wow. That's... holy cow. You really took a lot of notes, didn't you? Thanks! I'm proud to have inspired such dedication! ^_^

Pardon me, though, for not commenting on the contents of the list itself. For one thing, I would just be rehashing everything that you've covered in your analysis. And for another... that thing's long!

Really, you don't need to apologize for the analysis here. I like the fact that you're thinking about it! It's kinda cool.


Blade: Aw, c'mon. Mikachu can analyze it if he so chooses! I've done similar things for other fics in the past, even if they weren't quite as extensive and even if I didn't post them. So I can't blame the guy for trying to get a better handle on the situation. WotF is complicated!

Oh, and giving 23 decimal places would have been impressive... if the number had been 99.99999999999999999999999%. Or even a different digit in place of the last one or two 9's. But when it starts with 94%, the thing just doesn't seem all that big mathematically.

(Math-whacked!)


T-Tar Master: Whoa, how's it going, man? Good to have you back here! I'm sure you have your reasons for being away, but don't worry about it. This fic is about reading and having a good time, after all!

I do appreciate the compliment. To be honest, while I've admittedly worked really hard planning this whole project, it still amazes me when people give compliments like that. But thank you very much. Kind words like that make the hours crafting pages a lot easier to bear. ^_^

Interesting questions, actually... if I've been asked them before, it's been long enough that they're worth a second iteration. So let's see...

Honestly, I started this project mostly as a thing on my own, just messing around. The first page, as I mentioned long ago, is completely unedited from the original. I had been toying with the idea for awhile, thinking back to a short-lived skit Andrew (then OzAndrew, I believe) had going in Miscellaneous. And since I had the programs to make it work, I decided to give it a shot. Before I knew it, I'd designed somewhere around a dozen pages in a single day, with the plotline unfolding itself before me beyond anything I'd initially envisioned. All I did was take that plotline and work with it, and take the initiative to post. That's all there is to it, I guess. In any case, it's been really fun, and I'm going to be rather depressed when it finally reaches the end.

(Bit of trivia: When I initially started, I had planned for each character to only have one image that never changed. That's why even on #2, Ada's and Gavin's characters have the same expressions throughout. I deviated from that plan in #3, and I've never looked back.)

I've answered the second question in various forms before, but I'm not sure I've ever given a complete explanation. For starters, I have a program called Paint Shop Pro which came with an accessory program, Animation Shop. I use the latter for most of my WotF work, mostly because I prefer its system of cutting, pasting, cropping, resizing, adding text, and so forth. Also, I took some files from a free download of Comic Book Creator to use for the page with 6 frames as well as the speech and thought bubbles.

One of the hardest parts of the job is searching for images to use. Once I've established a character's "identity," or anime alter-ego, every page containing that character has to use the same identity. With certain characters this is easy; I've never had a problem finding pictures of Ichigo Kurosaki (Blademaster), for instance. Sasshi Imamiya (Mega Horny) is significantly harder. The most frustrating thing is when you find an image that has a perfect expression, setting, etc. but its too small or the image quality is horrendous. Sometimes I can work with images; for instance, while each frame is 404 x 300 pixels, I can usually stretch 400 x 300 pictures to 404 x 303 without getting too much distortion. Working with a 200 x 200 image, though, would be pretty much out of the question except in special circumstances. And if an image is extremely blocky, there's really nothing I can do. The one thing I make sure to do is to save any picture I use; that way, I don't have to scour the net again each time I want to reuse it.

Once I have each image, I have to tweak them so that they fit on the page. I obviously don't find 404 x 300 pictures on a regular basis, so I use a combination of cropping and compressing to get the part of the image I seek in the right size in the panel. This can sometimes be problematic; there have been times where other characters from the anime creep into the borders of the picture, so I have to use very creative means of blocking them or taking the attention away from their presence. But this part really isn't very hard, once you get used to it. And compression doesn't really cause distortion (as long as you do it in one step), unlike expansion. I use a similar technique to get the right size of word bubbles, although that's much more of a trial-and-error process since I don't know beforehand exactly how big the text is. But once I've gotten that worked out, I paste the bubbles over the page image.

Now, I always start a page with a pretty clear idea of what's going to be said and what's going to happen, so scripting isn't hard. Sometimes I plan all the lines before getting a single image; this can be important if the dialogue is complicated or has important information. Other times, I just work from an outline in my head. But I still have to position the bubbles in a way so that the order is clear and they minimize interference with the pictures below, and I have to carefully put each sentence or phrase in the exact spot where it needs to be in the word bubble. If I resort to bolding or italicizing a single word, that takes a lot of extra time, as I have to manually delete the original word after I've already pasted it and then place the edited version in precisely the same spot.

Then I add a title, and voila! I'm done!

...Not. Unfortunately, there's one more step that's my own fault. Because I started WotF with .gif images, I made the decision to continue that standard. Unfortunately, I've yet to have a page that could be saved as a .gif as is. You see, .gif files are limited to a maximum of 256 colors per image. So when I save a page, I have to first optimize it (reduce it to an acceptable number of colors). Different optimization methods give different results, and I've learned which ones to try and which ones simply never work. Aside from saving collected images in their original format, this is the only use I have for Paint Shop Pro in the design process. I copy and paste the page from Animation Shop into Paint Shop Pro. Since PSP only has one optimization method for .gif files (it doesn't give you options), I do that one first and save the file. Then I go back to Animation Shop and try each of the decent optimizations, comparing each result to the saved file. If one is better, I save over the PSP file. If the PSP one is best, I go with that.

There have been a few occasions where the image quality was degraded so badly no matter which optimization I tried that I reworked part of the page. Extreme problems are rare, but they usually happen when one panel uses colors that are wildly different from those in the other panel. In such cases I change the offending panel to try to eliminate that severe contrast.

So... that about covers it, I think. Hope I didn't forget anything, and that my explanation helps you understand the process! I'll try to keep the quality going strong, so please keep reading!


Ada: Hey, I'm cruel! Maybe that really is all there is to it... doesn't it seem like something Martin would do?


Okay, so there's no page here. I have it done, rest assured; it's been done for awhile. But unfortunately, we had a severe ice storm here over the weekend, and I spent most of the time without a usable net connection. (When the power goes out about every 15 minutes, you don't try to use the computer.) It's back on now, but either we're on some temporary system that won't allow us to upload files, or Imageshack's just being cruel to me. So... yeah. I'll get it posted as soon as things start working again!


...The really sad thing is that this post is probably longer than most of my usual fanfic chapters.

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

It's back on now, but either we're on some temporary system that won't allow us to upload files, or Imageshack's just being cruel to me. So... yeah. I'll get it posted as soon as things start working again!


...The really sad thing is that this post is probably longer than most of my usual fanfic chapters.

Imageshack is a problem. I sometimes have to try 5 times before I get it work.

And I think I have posted over 100 replies that are longer than the chapters in my fic...

EDIT: OK, I am not sure about that...

EDIT2: And I'm glad to see you're okay.

[Lady Vulpix]

Conspiracy theories aside, the animals should be happy.

Poor Ada. She just can't win.

[Orange_Flaaffy]

Being a newbie I don't really know any of these characters as forum posters quite yet...
It is very interesting storyline though ...The only thing that throws me off is the changing backgrounds since you are using screencaps...

[mr_pikachu]

Mikachu: See, the odd thing is, it usually doesn't cause me problems. But now I actually think the problem was my net connection, because I later tried uploading other files to other sites (and even to an E-mail). None of them worked.

And once again, I'm thankful for your interest along with that of every other reader here. It's really amazing to me.

Thanks for the concern and well-wishes, by the way. My college campus looks more like hell frozen over than a winter wonderland.


Gabi: Yes, Martin's an animal lover. We all have a soft spot. ^_^

And Ada jumped from a rubbish message to a slap in the face. Maybe his replacement will be a little more agreeable, hm?


Orange: Hey! Welcome to TPM, Fanfic, and WotF! It's good to have you in our band of readers.

...Wait a minute. You just joined the forum, and you've already read all 139 pages (plus covers and extras)? Um... wow. You're fast. Er, thanks!

I'm glad you like it so far. And yes, the backgrounds are as much of a pain as the clothes (which I've tried to synchronize lately). If I had any artistic talent whatsoever, I'd draw things myself so they'd be the way I want them. Unfortunately, I can barely write my own name in a decipherable manner, much less draw anything better than a stick figure. So I have to stick to what I do best. ^_^;;

Again, thanks for reading. I hope to continue seeing you around here in the future!


Hey, guess what? WotF goes on!

#140: A top secret, mod-only file that Ada didn't know existed. That begs the question, do any of the remaining mods know about it?

And what could these "weapons" be? Machine guns? Rocket launchers? Holy hand grenades? For that matter, why would the file be named "GM"?

If Brian hasn't heard of this, he'll probably be pretty upset when he hears that there was a file even he couldn't find... if he's not more concerned about his precious book, that is.

[Orange_Flaaffy]

Well, as far as being fast at reading comics I have been a comic book fan since I was fourteen . The 1980's X-Men comics were nothing if not storyline heavy
Somehow this plot twist reminds me of the .Hack games

[Lady Vulpix]

...And why do you ask all those questions yourself?

[mistysakura]

Genetically modified canola, of course. Watch it take over the world! But why didn't dh pass it on when he was alive? I mean, it's just passed down from generation to generation, not necessarily only to the most senior surviving mod or something like that. Or mybe that is the case. Does then that mean Ada can't tell anyone about this almighty power? Ooh corruption..

[Blademaster]

(analyzes TPM's fanfic history)

(does a search for GM)

(adds another RP here to give the illusion he's doing something relevant)

Hmmm... I can fine two possible results for 'GM,' but one is unlikely at the very best... The other sounds downright impossible. I'm stumped.

Unless mr_pikachu is just screwing with us again and making us THINK this is important/hidden data. He probably thought it up himself in 20 seconds. Trick bastid.

[Mew Trainer Rose]

Well, the acronym GM always reminds me of Game Master, the generic term for Dungeon Masters/Storytellers/anyone else who runs an RPG. I'm not quite sure what that would have to do with modding the Fanfiction forum, though.

[Dark Sage]

You know, this is likely why Martin's will had two hours of nonsensical rambling before it got anywhere. The message at the end was so important, he had to make sure that the only ones who would listen long enough to hear it were the ones who were meant to get the message, such as Ada.

Martin, you're a genius.

But I have no idea what GM means. I assume it's something that the surviving mods are going to need... Very soon. The reference to Game Master is a point. Perhaps this has something to do with the RPG forum?

[Sike Saner]

These "weapons" certainly interest me... o.o

As for the meaning of "GM", I've no clue whatsoever. ^^;

[mr_pikachu]

Orange: Hehe, excellent! I was more of a Sonic fan myself, although lately I've dabbled much more in manga. So I definitely get storyline-heavy plots.

And I happen to be a big fan of the .hack series. As long as it doesn't resemble the "twist" at the end of the .hack//TWILIGHT manga, I'm happy.


Gabi: For fun!


Ada: Evil canola! Get away! *screams*

Rituals can be quite scary. Oftentimes we do things well after their original purposes have passed, just because we are used to it. And we don't even question such habits! Just look at Weasel Stomping Day! As for who's allowed to know now... heh.


Blade: *cackles Hillary Clinton-style* It would seem that I've come up with a fun little code. If you're so skeptical of your own answers, I highly doubt you've figured it out. Hee!

I did think of it in about 20 seconds, actually... but it's not meaningless, either.


MTR: Game Master, huh? The secret weapon is the Millennium Puzzle!


DS: So you figured it out! Yes, embedded secret messages are only useful if the right person discovers them. And the only way to ensure that with a VHS is to deter anyone who doesn't have to sit through it!

As for the meaning of GM... it's important.


Sike: I think you'll find the definition of "weapon" even more interesting.

And I don't blame you for being stumped. The code's intentionally vague, after all.


Will the next page lead you closer to the truth?

#141: Becca's finally free! But what are the aliens going to do about it?

More importantly, why is Weasel Overlord in a bunny suit?

[classy_cat18]

More importantly, why is Weasel Overlord in a bunny suit?

After what I've seen her write in RPG, I'm not so confused about that.

This is getting interesting, but I feel like I need to give myself a recap of what's happened so far. *flips through previous pages*

[Orange_Flaaffy]

She must get back troubles O.o
I always wished Mario had a comic like Sonic did

[Gavin Luper]

OK, this is one of those cases where I think I've read a page, then I haven't. Then I was like, "#141 ... what?"

^_^

#139: "Natural deaths are so pointless." That's rather a cool quote from Martin, kind of makes his character seem like a real - warrior - or something. My sympathies to Ada ... sitting through two hours of old man rambling would be boring.

#140: A secret file? A secret weapon? A tradition through the ages of fanfic modness? OOOOOH. Heh, I like it. Plus, the referencing to the mods of fanfic past was cool. Was it the motivation behind that trivia question a while back? I have my suspicions. As for GM, I don't really have a clue. I was trying to think of old member names, and I can't come up with anything even close, save for Gene Child Mewtwo or whatever that was ... which would need a 'C' anyway. Anyway, awesome revelations here. "Use this power wisely." Nice ominous note to end this section on.

#141: Back to Saff and Weasel. So they have monitoring satellites over Fanfic. How inconsiderate of our privacy and crap. Still, does this mean they're going to swoop in and retrieve Becca? Will this ignite further military conflict? Can't wait to find out man.

As always, you're doing a really expert job with this fic, especially in utilising suspense and manipulating the format of a webcomic to work for you. Good job.

By the way, we Fanfic mods DO have a secret file. Ada and I were waiting for the right time to tell you and Faiz about it, but it seems you worked it out anyway.

... I'm so lame.

[Dark-San]

Academic work abducted me away for two months from the forums. After a long time, I had clean forgotten about Brian's work to make room for business marketing theories. It is until just an hour when I re- stumbled upon this topic, did I really noticed how much fun I had miss out on.

The last time I read all I remembered was the part where Becca almost tored out Mega Horny's guts but it did not happen unbelievably. That was somewhere along Book 1. Two months, later two more books popped out and I had to spend an hour and a half to read off what I had been missing.

Firstly most of the fanfic regulars had been mentioned already. So in anyway, who is that fellow with the thick eyebrows? Also on the second mysterious character (Blood +'s Saya), who took out Jay, who is she too? And also the third unknown character (Kenshin), who is he as well? Next time make it simple, have a general character guide fixed onto the first post of the topic and I and the rest of the TPMers could browse it at one go easily. >.<;

And also I love the little squabble that happen in #120 Crossfire. Weasel and Roy quarreling and Roy's character portrayal as Shin- chan is just priceless. I love Box two of #120 when Kirst just scolded Roy as being immature and Roy, instead of being embarrassed like a typical person, boasted about his maturity. Even to the point of wanting to flash out his erm...erm... to Kalah. >.<;

Yuppers and I also read the latest chapter as well. Dude, Martin's room looks amateurish compared to the mess of my room. But then Martin has a VCR at this modern era! Woah, that's really ancient! Also what the hell is a GM? Not even I know of it...

[darktyranitar]

Ah, so that is indeed Saffire. Heheh.

Ya know, I actually bothered to check what GM can means. The result are as followed:

GM is most commonly seen as an abbreviation for:

General Motors Corporation, an American automobile manufacturing company
Genetically modified, (a living thing) having its DNA intentionally changed for a particular outcome
Metacentric height, characteristic of a ship primarily determining its stability in the water.

In astronomy,
the product GM is the standard gravitational parameter.

GM is also an abbreviation for:
George Michael, British singer
Gary Moore, an Irish guitarist
The Republic of The Gambia, a country in Africa (ISO 3166 diagram)
Grandmaster (chess) or International Grandmaster, a chess ranking
Grand Marquis, a Ford Mercury automobile marque
General Mills, a food manufacturing company
General manager of an organisation, including sporting teams
Game Maker, a computer game developing program
Gamemaster or Game Master, in play-by-mail games and role-playing games
Gamemaster (board game series), a series of board games created by Milton Bradley
GamesMaster (magazine), a video game publication in the UK
Garry's Mod, a modification for the computer game Half Life 2
The General MIDI standard specification
Göttinger Miszellen, a German scientific journal on Egyptology
Gold medal. In the UK rifle shooting community, a person who has won Her Majesty the Queen's Prize at Bisley, Surrey may subsequently put the letters GM ('gold medal') after his/her name
Goppert-Mayer unit, the unit used for measure of two-photon cross-section, equal to 10-50 cm4 s
Grammatical modality, the mode in which the grammar of a sentence is constructed
Gross margin, profit as a percentage of sales price
The RGM-79 GM mobile suit and its successors in the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam
GM1, a Ganglioside important in brain biochemistry
A Unified Soil Classification System symbol for silty gravel
Good Morning.

Gm may mean:
gigametre, an SI unit of length equal to 109 (1,000,000,000) metres.

gm may mean:
An historical (now erroneous) abbreviation for gram (the correct symbol is g).

Choose what you desire. Though this GM may not be the one in the list >>;;. Trick bastid indeed, Blade.

On an unrelated note, when you mentioned holy hand grenade, I was thinking of the game 'Worm'. Is there any other holy hand grenade that I do not know of?

Erks, boobs

[Mikachu Yukitatsu]

Yet one thing about the storm. mr_pikachu, what's ironic is that right now we think Finland has too little snow...

But, perhaps I should summarize the latest pages:

#140 The video goes on and on and Martin reveals a secret file called GM.

#141 We see Weasel Overlord has found out that Becca has been released.

On an unrelated note, when you mentioned holy hand grenade, I was thinking of the game 'Worm'. Is there any other holy hand grenade that I do not know of?

Isn't it 'Worms'?

[darktyranitar]

Ah yes... indeed it was 'Worms'. Mm, I miss that game.

Oh yeah, and speaking of Becca... I wonder what her spaceship really looks like? We only hear of the spaceship being mentioned, IIRC...

[Mew Trainer Rose]

On an unrelated note, when you mentioned holy hand grenade, I was thinking of the game 'Worm'. Is there any other holy hand grenade that I do not know of?

The Holy Hand Grenade was originally from the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[mr_pikachu]

Shonta: Hehe. Experience really gives you a better view of things, huh?

Sorry it's so long, but... well, six panels is a small space in which to tell a story. ^_^;;


Orange: ...Back troubles?

You clearly haven't read these comics.


Gavin: Heh, I liked that quote, too. Gives a bit of retroactive substance and meaning to his death... hopefully. As for Ada's plight, well, somebody's gotta do it.

Yay for secrets! *chuckles* I'm glad you liked the references; that may not be the only time those mods are mentioned. But actually, it had nothing to do with the question. The timing was quite coincidental, actually. GM... um... will not be revealed at this time. Sorry!

Yes, the extraction is about to begin. But at what cost?

I hope this continues to be as effective as you say it has been. And as for the secret file, I've known about it for years. Now, my secret file may hold a couple of surprises for you...

Lameness is cool.


Dark: Haha, I figured it was something like that! Didn't want to be one of those people who goes, "Hey, are you still reading my fic?" though. That would be childish. And it's perfectly understandable that life sometimes gets in the way of TPM, even if it is highly aggravating.

You spent an hour and a half reading? Dang, man. Thanks for the support despite unfortunate circumstances!

I, um... need to update that character guide. And I will soon, once... something happens. Really want to hold off until then, for a wide variety of reasons.

It's fun to see aliens fight! Hehe, yeah, I love characters like that. They make mood shifts so much easier... but I'm at a loss regarding the definition of an "erm." To what body part does that correspond, hm?

How is it that people have rooms worse than Martin's desk disaster? Is that even possible? Lazy slobs! The whole lot of you! *sticks out tongue*

...And on that note, it's good to have you back, Dark.


Faiz: Revelations are fun.

As for "GM"... um... er...

*bursts out laughing* Okay, I didn't expect to have so much fun with this. Yes, our secret weapon is a slew of chess geeks! Fear us!

*hums the little-known Chess Nuts Roasting on an Open Fire*

You want to see the spaceship? Well... maybe I'll grant your wish. Or maybe I'll just leave it to your imagination. Excuse me as I toss a coin.


Mikachu: Well, right now a lot of people in my area are joking around, saying "Where's that global warming they promised us?" and such. Heh. Guess everything's a matter of perspective.

And yes, it is Worms. Although that wasn't where I got the reference.


MTR: Bingo! Someone knows her pop culture.


What happens when divergent interests collide?

#142: Invisible mode has its uses, but it also has its detriments.

Don't you just hate communication length limitations?

[Dark Sage]

Whoa, Saff is going to handle this personally?

Well, I guess it's not that big a deal, considering that the Fanfic mods have done the same whenever a crisis strikes. But you'd think they'd be wary after the treatment that Becca and B4 have recieved.

Watch yourself, Saff.

[mistysakura]

Ryan? What's Ryan to do with this? Is Ryan Kenshin? Hehe the annoyances of word limits indeed. But what's with the "permission to speak"? Surely Chris has already spoken; besides, when would Saffire say no? Eh, I guess if she's in enemy fire or something.

[Blademaster]

#141: Whoa... o.O Weas looks like a hooker. Or a Playmate.[/rawr]

#142: Ryan = Roy, I'm assuming. OK, so WotF's most mutated participant is... what? Launching an all-out offensive against Fanfic without permission? Posting pics of Weasel Over-whored on Youtube? Starting an RPG uprising a la Dark Sage?

TELL ME, DAMN YOU!!!!!! TELL ME NOW!!!!!!!

[darktyranitar]

Hm, since this Chris refers to Saff as 'ma'am', then that must means that this is Chris 2.0/1 then.

And IIRC, Last Exile is Ryan too. Hm... Last Exile as Kenshin? Interesting.

[Orange_Flaaffy]

Orange: ...Back troubles?

You clearly haven't read these comics.

From having a big chest . I know about that * has a hurting back at the moment*

Mario comic !
I use to have a Super Mario Bros. 3 coloring book..I miss it so much . I have never seen one on ebay yet

[Crystalmaster Mike]

Orange: ...Back troubles?

You clearly haven't read these comics.

Gack! Did you intentionally do that the day I decide to catch up on all the Ctrl-Alt-Del webcomics so I could concentrate on other things?? (Took me around two, three hours, too...)

Well, anyway:

#139: Just when you think he's coming to a point here... You know, if it had been any other member, he would have been flamed for ranting. Of course, considering it is a post-mortal rant...

#140: GM, huh? I was thinking Green Pikachu, but... Green Miltank, then?
Hmm, the passing down for generations sparks memories of the Avatar Cycle... Gah, that's just because I want to know how that show will end! *tries to metalbend his keyboard* *fails* *sobs* *considers trying to plasticbend it instead...*

#141: The irritating beauty of the manga femmes fatales! ... Oh yeah, and the fact TML (another boo- I mean cutie!) finally made a *bleep* on their radar...

#142: Why people insist on following the protocol, even when time is of the essence, is beyond me! Well, at least in this case. Probably, if I was a chunky, rusty piece of scrap metal, I would think twice to upset the winged guardian, particularly because her Final Smash would ouch me so... *has seen too much Super Smash Bros. material lately, both of the new and previous game*

[Lady Vulpix]

I still can't view page 141!

I only know one Ryan on this forum.

[Dark-San]

Two in fact, Gabi.

Roy is one of those Ryans and the other being my fellow OA mod, Last Exile. Anyway it couldn't have been Roy since he was the Shin- chan to begin with, Blade!

But I still do not get the idea of Ryan as Kenshin. What is the link anyway? I am betting my money on another member instead of Last Exile. Also why on earth is Chris reporting to Saffire? Shouldn't it be the other way round? And why is Chris is in Robot mode?

[Weasel Overlord]

Hahaha, bunny-me! And yeah, as soon as you said "GM" I went straight to D&D. (Although personally, I've always called them DMs, as in Dungeon Masters. But there ya go.)

I've just managed to catch up; the story gets more and more intriguing! Is the new "Ryan" character Roy or Last Exile?! Hm hm hm. And what is he gonna be doing?! Bah! Suspense! And knowing you, Brian, we won't get an answer for YONKS!! >_<

[Lady Vulpix]

Oh... I sea Weasel now! ^_^

I wonder why #141 didn't show earlier.

[Gavin Luper]

Aaaand - ACTION! Looks like things are about to get interesting. So, these guys have invisible mode, eh? How cowardly of them! Fight out in the open, I say! Hehe. Anyway, typical that the communication should be cut off just as Chris tries to relay the important information. Where would we be without suspense in this fic, after all? And I'm assuming he was referring to Roy, though again, I wouldn't be surprised if it was some kind of elaborate curveball and Chris was actually talking about LE.

[Sike Saner]

#141: That image in the fourth panel... XD
#142: ...Ryan is what? RYAN IS WHAT?!

On a semi-random note, my brain has decided for the time being that "GM" must surely stand for "gelatin mold". O.o;;;

[mr_pikachu]

DS: It is a risk, yes. But considering that they've been trying to recover TML for over 100 pages, maybe the aliens think it's worth the risk. Still, Saffire had better watch her back...


Ada: What does Ryan have to do with this? Who is Ryan, anyway? And this "Chris" is a robot... maybe it has to follow its programming. This is what happens when bureaucracy goes too far!


Blade: So, which description is the one that's turning you on?

Ryan = Roy? But... Roy = Roy. And when have I shown him with Mr. Roboto, anyway? *is confused*

*mutes Blademaster*


Faiz: Really? It could just as easily be a different Chris. Watarimono, maybe?

Last Exile as Kenshin? Interesting theory. But that's a bit of a character clash, don't you think?


Orange: Oh. Those back troubles. *blushes slightly*

Hehe, coloring books. I was more of a puzzle fan, myself, but I can appreciate some good art outside the lines. ^_^


Mike: Of course! It's all part of my secret, elaborate plan!

Life after death is more fun than you think, especially when you spend it tormenting people for entertainment.

Green Miltank? I wouldn't want to drink the milk from that thing. And I should really watch Avatar more often... haven't caught so much as a dozen episodes, all in all. *feels ashamed*

Hooray for femme fatales! Why is it than anime girls always look so much cooler than their male counterparts...?

I saw a writing contest awhile back where entrants had to create the worst possible first sentence of a novel. The winning entry was a space captain's command. It was about page long and concluded with "or we will self-destruct in two seconds."


Gabi: Glad you finally found #141. If that ever happens again, visit my alternate download page. A permanent link is in the first post of this thread.


Dark: It would seem that the Karrde is eliminated from contention. Then again, maybe I'm pulling a fast one on you...

Why is Chris a robot who reports to Saffire? Possibly for the same reason that "Saffire" is not always referenced as "Saffire Persian."


Weasel: Hippity-hop straight to a natural 20, huh?

Who could "Ryan" be? And what's his devious plan? More importantly, how long will it be before you have the answers?


Kristian: More interesting, huh? Let's hope so. Maybe we have some stealth techniques, too... Suspense is very fun, especially when it invites several dozen theories. Curveballs would be my specialty were it not for spitballs.


Sike: Yes, that's from the DearS opening theme. Good stuff, huh? There may be more to see...

Ryan is what? Really? But... what's a what?


Good news, everyone! Now that I'm done with the extraordinarily long series of generic forms I've been completing for over a month, WotF might return to its normal state of daily activity!*

*not a guarantee

#143: The security hack is at last complete! Let's see what they discover...

This time around, the title is based on a popular tech support company.

[Lady Vulpix]

So... You're surrounded by hackers.

[Crystalmaster Mike]

... and the only thing DS seems to be thinking in Panel 4 is "Why are you saying those words to me?" Lol. Suppose Shuppet Master and Brian could have a private conversation, should they ever so want to, without having to speak privately at any time... But that's what you get for specializing at... anything, really, but specifically anything ICT related.
"SM: Sir, we have a cyclic redundancy check error in the virtual machine's matrix properties file! Our MAC address may have been compromized! - DS: God, man, speak English!" Heheh.

*eyes start to twitch* Must... resist... urge... to stop... doing... anything... before... finishing... the 7th... Harry Potter... novel.... *comes around* Whew, so yeah, I got it for Christmas this year, and now I've once again experienced the incomprehensible nature of time: Though you may be up to stressing all over the place over - school - work, your parents give you one good book and two hours can pass like a snap of the fingers.

[Blademaster]

(unmutes self and punches mr_pikach in the face)

Roy's real name is Ryan, Dinguskhan. Everyone at TPM and their mother knows that.

Nice addition of snow in the first panel of this latest comic, BTW. Merry Christmas, WoTF!

(more eggnog)

[mistysakura]

Hey, I stopped everything for Deathly Hallows... I swear it's part of the experience. Yay to the return of non-mod characters -- it's always good to see what the dark (?) side are up to. So I gather fireguardian has officially joined the rebellion against the mods. This should be interesting. he relationship between the MoP side and the Dark Sage side of the rebellion could get a bit strained if MoP ever found out they were spied on... Are they even fighting for the same thing in the end?

Merry Christmas (okay, Boxing Day, whatever.)

[mr_pikachu]

Gabi: Everyone's out to get us! The walls have eyes, I tell you!


Mike: It does seem rather unnecessary, doesn't it? Yeah, Pika and SM could probably get some time on the line at any given moment. But considering that they have no need to want to talk with each other, I can't see them setting up anything elaborate just to chat about 1337 hacker nonsense.

As for myself, I've finally started reading Deathly Hallows. In the last week I've cobbled together maybe six hours of reading time from the moments of solitude I get. As of now I'm about halfway through the book. Time flies remarkably quickly when you're reading...


Blade: Hey, give me back my universal remote! *clubs with Martin's prehistoric computer*

Perhaps I'm not quite as foolish as I look. That's not saying much, considering that I appear to be a total buffoon. And I probably come pretty close... but still!

Thanks for the comment on the snow addition. Now go back to getting yourself festively drunk, Blade. *hands him someone else's car keys*


Ada: See, I usually read these books in the span of a day. Unfortunately, getting that much free time at once is basically impossible lately. Instead I get five minutes here, three minutes there...

Yes, the rebels are becoming a little more active. It's odd, though, how DS seems to know MoP and yet feels compelled to spy on him. And you bring up a good question; what are their goals, anyway?


Happy holidays from WotF! Santa sees you when you're sleeping, but Shuppet Master can watch you at any time.

#144: The melting appliance is actually based on a true story. My grandmother's oven recently started falling apart to the point that further use may have become dangerous. Apparently the tech guy said that the original screws weren't long enough... as he was installing replacements of the same size.

You may not have noticed, but the second panel is actually from Chobits. Hey, anime kitchens are hard to find, okay?

I didn't really like breaking the last sentence into two bubbles, but the length of what Shuppet Master needed to say gave me little choice. Oh well. At least it's comprehensible.

If you haven't read Dr. Seuss' famous chronicle of unusual food... words cannot describe how ashamed you should be. And if you have read it, try some turtle soup.