"The Last True Evil" is, of course, the Russian spy's codename...his mother wasn't that cruel :p Springfield-Wesson has been his accepted surname, though his christian moniker remains a KGB secret to date...

Ford is a family moniker, as you've probably noticed from my recent character developmentish posts. Of all of them, Ford is the only one who uses his surname in general use. His first name he doesnt like to use. rather embarassing he thinks. But he is named such for a reason, which all will find out very soon.

oh and guys if you wouldnt mind leaving the whole Ford and 1888 thing alone for now that would be really cool. there are a few things i'd like to discuss with Geb and Highemp before i continue on with this idear of mine but i really like my line of thinking here. i know it wont be a stretch for you to not write about it since i've been the only one for a while to even mention it. but i thought i'd ask anyway.

and now to e-mail Geb.

*Is happy that someone is taking up the whole 1888 thing...*

As for Krig -- that's his real name. Krig the Viking. Y'know, since he hails from roughly AD 1000, before they had last names and all...

SAJN wishes to express his desire for more NeSi.

SAJN: Please spam like you did here anytime you want.

Krig also wishes to express his desire for more NeSi. >.>

Concerning NeSi: I know I've been a hinderance as of late, and to be honest, I don't know if my contribution is worth such delays. Unlike writing, the drawing process takes a lot more effort on my part it seems, and school is something I can't put to the side at this time (I'll admit school isn't the only factor, but it's the most legitimate one).

Krig: If you feel you still need a visual conceptualist per strip, I would suggest that we put out a search for someone with a good track record, but otherwise, I would like to suggest that I do what I can best with simply a text script.

Text sounds good. The roughs are good for convenience, but I can make do without 'em.

I could offer my aid in scriptwriting if I were to, you know, be online more. Or if I "looked back at the old stuff". Then again, I could go and attempt the first successful manual JATO using only myself, a rocket, and flapping my arms really hard.

Any help from anybody is of course appreciated, but I talked to Krig about it and it should be fine now. There's still likely to be a filler next Wednesday, but I'm doing what I can.

Uh, Krig? I was really hoping that the heroes would have LEFT Samus' ship back on Mars, it not being theirs and all in more ways than one, and look for a ship of their own. Especially with a Tony that might have been able to join along, and I was hoping CoolMatty would cue in on sending the shipment of Cinnabuns to Earth as part of his character's heavenly mission stated at the beginning of NeSquared...

But mostly I was hoping to STOP USING COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. It's one thing to parody, it's another to pull from Star Wars and Metroid and the like and claim it is ultimately a part of NeS...

See, this is why you will never get NeS published and make millions! MWHAHAHHAHA *evil laugh*

Sadly, it is one of two of the major reasons...

The other, of course, being that the material that is legitimate is contributed by many, many, many writers, and trying to track them all down to give them proper compensation would be quite difficult, to say the least.

/me needs to be in a funnier mood... :/

Huh. Guess I shoulda went with my original idea, which was to have the Heroes arrive at Samus's ship, only to find it gone, Samus having escaped. Too bad I deleted what I had of that version. I was distracted with the co-incidence of Samus being a bounty hunter, and the Demonrock being a bounty-hunter hangout.

I suppose it's salvageable. Samus doesn't need to stick around beyond the next post, and our Heroes can deal with all these angered bounty hunters somehow. Meanwhile, the cinnabuns and Tony can have some sort of adventure resulting in them coming in contact.

I was also concerned with keeping the situation dynamic. It'd be easy to let them get stuck on Mars for too long, and forget about the whole Losien thing. Anyway, the damage has been done. We'll see what happens. It's not like the cinnabuns or Tony have been written out of the story altogether.

Also, regarding the copywrited characters, I think that's covered under parody laws. In a worst-case scenario, we'd have to rename our beloved bounty hunter "Sammy Orion" or something.

Jah, you're right, things will work out. Sorry 'bout being grumpy.

Now to figure out how to sell out to the man so NeS can rake in the money for me. Er, and the rest of you too >_>

'Parody laws are contentious. Even if you win a court case, it can cost a lot of money. That's why professionals like Weird Al Yankovic get permission before they publish a song. Like other areas of copyright law, non-profit parody is treated very differently from for-profit parody. It also covers copyright, but does not cover trademarks, so a "parody" of a corporate trademark could very well wind you up in court.'

Hmm. This is most distressing news, SAJN.

Or rather, it would be distressing if we had a hope in hell of ever publishing this monstrosity...

Oh, and, s'alright Geb. I knew you didn't really mean to be mean.

...mainly because ya told me so before I read the thread. But still...

So, I don't mean to sound like I know anything about law, but I still like to pretend that since our work here is an "Epic Parody of Popular Culture", the entire thing falls under Fair Use.

What is "Fair Use" people may ask? Well, I decided to go ahead and do a little research so that you won't.

"Fair use is a copyright principle based on the belief that the public is entitled to freely use portions of copyrighted materials forpurposes of commentary and criticism. For example, if you wish to criticize a novelist, you should have the freedom to quote a portion of the novelist's work without asking permission. Absent this freedom, copyright owners could stifle any negative comments about their work."

"The only guidance is provided by a set of fair use factors outlined in the copyright law. These factors are weighed in each case to determine whether a use qualifies as a fair use. For example, one important factor is whether your use will deprive the copyright owner of income."

Now, really, are we depriving Nintendo of income because Samus Aran and her spaceship show up for a few paragraphs? Or is Disney/Tolkein going to pull a loss because we managed to parody both of them at the same time? Will our slanderous comments cause Microsoft to file for bankruptcy?

If anything, we're paying homage to the facets of popular culture that has helped to raise the past 2-3 generations. And I'd be more worried about "The World vs. NeS" in court than individual cases, because as far as I'm concerned, everything we've touched is a part of our society. Now I'll sit back and wait for the FOX camera crews to show up outside my room for "World's Least Dangerous Police Actions."

(PS: A good Fair Use resource http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/index.html )

Yay for fair-use! Yay for Antestarr!

...I guess. Sorta.

Hey, quick questions about this NeS malarkey:

To put it simply, i can't really be fussed reading all 40,000 posts and i don't have much of a clue about how these characters act and how they have progressed, yet I have the urge to post on the thread.

My only problem is that i'm slightly scared to introduce my own character and make some plotlines, as I am gripped in the fear that everyone will jump on me and tell me i'm ruining the story and don't have a clue whats going on!

It is a very interesting concept and i'd enjoy to take part... so I guess i'd just like to know if you have any pointers for how I could insert myself into the story?

My initial thoughts were to simply introduce my character through some random means in a aspect of the plot I create myself and somehow allow him to tag along with the rest of the crew, but I don't know how exactly to do this or if folks would approve of myself joining this long going thread at such a late time.

Any pointers on this would be great, as it seems like quite a fun thing to do, I especially like the idea of a constantly moving plot that is never particuarly set in stone thanks to all the different input, cheers for your time, hopefully I can get a lovely reply.

Please don't think you're the first person to breeze in here and say "too lazy to read it but where do I join", Stafford In answering: just insert yourself into it, as you said. Write something about your character wandering in from a plot hole, that always works...he can hang around in the background for a few scenes, and once he's got the gravity of the situation he can become more of a major player. It's that simple..



In unrelated news, I got very drunk last night and decided not to give up on my fledgling ISB projects, TLTE's Studio For People Who Can't Write...Good and Genesis. This will mean I am actively participating in 4 Massassi interactive stories, making me the whore of this ISB. Pay me.

Read the last page or two at least, and you should get a pretty good idea of what's going on. I've been thinking of doing something of a "recap" post lately, just to keep everybody up to speed.

But yeah, I would highly recommend reading all of the NeS, if only for the entertainment value. We've had some comedic bloody genius here and there in the past however many years it's been...

Also, I have a giant text file summarizing the actions of each character in NeS², if you're interested. It's a pretty big read, and probably not as interesting as reading the actual thing, but it's at least quicker than reading six or more pages of story...

Mr. Stafford:

I would just start reading from the beginning of NeS2. You'll get a good feel for the characters, and you won't miss much in terms of current storyline.

When I joined, back on page 47, I just read a page or two back, got a feel for the characters, then just introduced my own. Generally it is a good idea to just have him be walking around, and let one of us integrate him into the plot. Then you are all set to go!

Bwahahahahaha!

He said "ruin the story".

As far as I can recall, most of our cast died by the end of NeS and yet somehow we still haven't "ruined the story".

Kinda funny if you think about it... it's a world where anything's possible, yet ruining the story isn't. Unless you personally go to each writer, suck out our brains, and sell them on the black market for Bluefin Tuna.

Actually, Bluefin Tuna are quite capable writers.

No, see, the Bluefin Tuna aren't replacement writers... they're to eat. Brains just aren't that appetizing, despite what the space aliens tell you.

Welcome to NeS, Mr. Stafford, glad to see a new face :).

I took the liberties of having Mr. Stafford with the group in the HHH, as the Journey to Jupiter cast is pretty booked. If you really don't wish to be, you can have him be elsewhere and infer that he used the Thingy^2 to take him there (which is in the HHH). Basically, I figured the group there needed some attention, and Mr. Stafford would pose good conflicts interacting with Mimiru to say the least. I've talked to CoolMatty about it -- he agrees it has some potential. Just remember that Mimiru's love interest is in CM (you can find character sheet links, active characters and locations and such on the first post of the workshop thread).

As for the dark secret, leave that to Ford and I -- one of us will write out the pertinant flashback soon, but the creepy complex is chock-full of nasty science/magic-gone-wrong experiments ala Half-Life, any of them there to side-track the group and cause trouble, interest, whatever. There's already a sort of transport device down there (Forum Wayrail I believe) and a mind-sucking machine (which triggered the cast into NeS' dreamstate -- the last storyarc). Have fun with it

Obviously, if there's any questions, comments, etc. speak up -- I'll do my best to help.

I think we need to do something else. What if - and I know this is a new one - we decided to do a non-fantasty/sci-fi story? Not even a conventional action plot. A drama, or a comedy, with real people in it. Would anyone else be interested in stretching themselves to that?

I think the current storyarc(s) need to finish off in their usual fantastical-sci-fi-actiony way. At least the HHH one needs the fantastical/sci-fi part. Makes completing the flashbacks difficult again otherwise.

Now afterwards, I'd love to take a stab at straight drama/comedy with at least some of the NeS characters. Though this will definately require some form of solid storyarc idea going into it, I would think...

I'm tired of storyarcs. I think we should just have another "the gang hangs out in the HHoH and does funny stuff" thing. At most, set up some interesting situations and just see what happens. NeS has always been funniest when it's just wandering aimlessly.

But yes, this is a great idea. We just need to finish the current story-arcs first.

(This is Geb, btw -- just too lazy to log out of Sem's computer.)



Another?

And I've found most writers seem to prefer reactive writing as oppose to active, but please prove me wrong

I'm not talking about the NeS. Anything tied up with the franchise carries certain expectations of it, as well as of us the writers. I'm talking about wiping the slate clean here, starting as if *gasp* there wasn't an NeS in the background...

*Le Gaspe!* A comedy that is not NeS? How can this be? My mind bends to think of it!

Actually, I wouldn't mind such a thing. It'd have to be a comedy, though. I don't have the energy right now for a serious drama.

I wouldn't really know where to start with such a thing, though. I've thought more than once about trying to write such a non-speculative-fiction comedy, but never have any good premeses (premesises? premiseses?). What are some good prem... um... story ideas?

If you wish to start something a-new, by all means, go for it. I have difficulty with a lot of "straight" fiction, however, and tend to bend the rules and such, a problem I would guess that some of the other regulars here have as well, so keep that in mind when you start it up

Just wishing to point out a few minor things in my last post that centered around Gebiyl - EeP:

• Yes, I know a lot of the wording is awkward. There was a lot of actual stuff I wanted in it, and I was taking a lot of time as it was to get it posted. Hopefully it makes enough sense that you can read past it.
• Yes, Mayaal's decision not to reveal the body of Gebiyl in the 'real world' is a cop-out on my part. I figured it'd be best to leave it open to make it more convinient when Gebiyl does finally wake up or whatever.
• Yes, I do envision Gebohq as a standard videogame protagonist (especially the "old school" variety -- adversion to swimming, relatively high mobility and low constitution, etc.) and, in turn, Gebiyl more specifically as a "speed runner." If you're not familiar, just search for video game speed runs, and see the craziness.
• No, "A Cherry Orchard" was not just a random play I pulled out of my butt If you've talked to TLTE (and are familiar with the themes in the play), you should understand its significance, as well as pick up a lot of forehadowing.

If there's any other comments, questions, etc. you have on it, please tell me, as I think of this post as relatively important for NeS as a whole.

Just an aside for anyone who writes for CM at this time:

Since CM does not have the Staff of Tourni (EeP took it back in the dreamstate), he cannot perform the Phoenix Gale spell. It's up to whoever writes the post if you want to make him cast it, then go OH ****! As he realizes it doesn't work, or have him simply know it doesn't. Whatever works.

Not directly NeS-related, but might be enlightening/fun for you all:

The Grand List Of Console Role Playing Game Clichés
http://project-apollo.net/text/rpg.html

And Happy Easter all

So... was Tracer's post an early April Fool's post?

Maybe in his attempt to post again "legit" he missed a few important details...?

/me is confused as to what to do...

dont forget, massassi's own Flirbnic helped to write it!