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 Star Ranger4 |
#41 | |||
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Posts: 1316 06/19/09 00:00 Adrift in Space |
I can only think of one thing here... That I fell on the floor laughing over "Well, thats Funny..." AND over the fact that the Ra's has a chess
set with his face on it. Just so totaly..... Hairdo, you know?
Wonder what other deamons are going to pop up in these Details... cant wait till you get a chance to tell us, Chris. Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
NO QUARTER!!! -- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children |
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Chris Dee |
#42 | |||
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Posts: 795 06/19/09 09:15 |
Letomo, "1800 years ago" means just that, around 200 A.D. There is no obsidian anything in the history I am using. Atlantis as an underwater
nation was born (as near as any Atlantis scientific research can tell) around 3000 BC in surface terms, and the Atlantean Renaissance occurred about 2,000
years ago or, Eddie Izzard puts it, "Right around the BC/AD changeover".
*waves to StarRanger* Selina is pleased that somebody else sees the funny without coaxing. 
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Letomo |
#43 | |||
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Posts: 23 06/20/09 04:02 |
So, the whole Obsidian Age thing didn't happen in your timeline? While it had several issues, it did establish why Plastic Man was accepted into the League
[a truly Immortal person]. It also gave Dick the chance to Lead for the first time, in a way that put him central stage to the world. Setting him up as a true
heir to the Batmantle.
Though, I can follow your reasoning. It makes your Atlantis a much more reasonable one. If I recall right, the folks at DC were trying to combine the stuf from Arion with Arthur's Atlantis. |
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BenRG |
Re.: Chapter 4 - Well That's Funny | #44 | ||
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Posts: 304 06/20/09 11:11 |
Okay, sorry for the late arrival. My broadband connection decided to spazz out last night and I was having to deal with a connection rate slower
than my old dial-up. It took a lot longer than usual to do stuff and I felt that midnight was probably the wrong time to read and appreciate the new chapter.
Firstly, nice work on the quick background on the Kingdom of Atlantis. For those of us who are not Aquaman fans and have not had the opportunity to read many editions of the Post over recent years, it is a useful get-up-to-speed on the locations that I increasingly suspect will be of some importance as this story proceeds. Ouch... those Deep Denizens sound really nasty. Reminiscent of the Covenant in the Halo stories or the aliens in the Doom novelisations (or even the Krikkitmen in the third Hitchhikers Guide book). The very nature of their enemy is an obscenity in their world-view and thus there can be no peace because the very existence of the enemy is intolerable to them. Can you say "holy war" ladies and gentlemen? The 'Atlantis Chronicle' sounds a bit like a Victorian-era British 'historio-mythology' called 'This Island Story'. Yes, elements of Atlantis's real history, development and culture but also a hugely idealised view of the past that tends to turn successful times and leaders into near-gods and tries to find historical justification for the retrospective condemnation of history's villains. And, yes, also confusing history with myth and making the myth the justification of real and current social and political attitudes. "Well... that's funny." Bruce's old Professor was right. There was never, ever a phrase that either promised so much benefit or warned of so much agony to come. :-O Y'know... I have to agree with Vulko about the sheer utter weirdness of our so-called globalised civilisation. I think that any alien race that came along would avoid attacking Earth... hell, I think they'd quarantine the whole system... just out of fear that our particular brand of craziness might be contagious. :-D Well, things are getting interesting. It seems that Arthur has learnt something. Simultaneously, Bruce and Selina may or may not have found a lead. What is interesting is that both have an environmental theme, something that we know to be a fixation of of Ra's's. You drop it off there, Chris, and I think it was the right thing to do. We are thus left waiting for the next chapter and answers to exactly what Arthur may have found and whether or not it relates to Bruce and Selina's lead. This is an involving story that slowly draws you further and further in. The real triumph here is the currently separate threads - the fortune teller's deception, the new DEMON plan and the events near Fiji - and you are left wondering how they might fit together at the end. Oh, and I've said it before but I'll say it again. I love Valerina. One of these days, she is going to be Arthur's prime minister and she won't take any nonsense from him. I wonder if he's ready for that? 
BenRG's Rating: 8/10 ~*~*~*~
They call me BenRG But... I don't know why... ~*~*~*~ |
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ichigenka.gothampm |
#45 | |||
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Posts: 265 06/21/09 20:04 |
ok my only question... how does Aquaman swim so fast! Seriously, Atlantis is in the Atlantic Ocean but he frequents Sub Diego... yeah fast swimming.
Hmm... so Tim's research, the Deep Dewlers, and Ra's plan all converge... hmm wonder if that means Bruce and Seline will drop in for a visit at the conference. |
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stephensmat2 |
#46 | |||
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Posts: 1180 06/26/09 07:09 |
I like that the one time Bruce can't find a chess metaphor with Ra's, is when there's an actually chess set involved.
I was hoping to find something in the fact that Ra's face is on the black king. Black king - Dark Knight - Batman working for Ra's, etc, but the whole '200 years ago' thing precluded that. I can see Ra's viewing himself as the Chessmaster Strategist, but given that the King is the most powerless piece, I'm surprised he put his face on it. Everybody's looking for the connections between Ra's plan and the Underwater movements, but try to remember something: Tapping the readouts and saying 'Hmm, that's funny' is how you get the breakthroughs in the big mysteries too. It's always the confusing detail. |
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Chris Dee |
#47 | |||
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Posts: 795 07/07/09 13:03 |
Just when you thought the heat had got to him and he'd retired to some Demon summer palace, he's back...
Chapter 5: Midgame Enjoy.
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Jarissa Paxton |
#48 | |||
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Posts: 547 07/07/09 16:59 |
All I've got to say right now is that I got to:
and now I've got to clean crumbs from a peanut butter sandwich out of my keyboard. He wouldn't! ... Oh, God, he did. {facepalm} Hairdo, you've sunk to a new level of dumb. |
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Janshi |
#49 | |||
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Posts: 17 07/07/09 17:47 |
There are so many things to say, but... Tim is a-dorkable. Seriously, I could do with just a series revolving around the misadventures of Tim and Cass. The
funny between those two pretty much make the subplot of the series, ever since 'Blue'. Of all the sub-plots that have come and gone within Cat-Tales
theirs is without a doubt the most entertaining, followed closely behind by Jean-Paul/Azrael, JP and Huntress, and....I am having a hard time
remembering...Bartholomew and Raven. I'm pretty sure it's Bartholomew. This is not to say that your main narrative thread is off. I'm always
entertained, and I am actually quite excited this time around to see how Ra's tries to take over Atlantis. And there's never a wrong time to have
Arthur - I miss him. Cats and Bat's dialogues is entertaining, but rather than being a highlight it is the base from which everything else springs
from. Bat/Cat angst/banter/sexy time is a given. The subplots are the spice that keeps the freshness alive. This is all a long-winded way to say I love the
subplots, and that I implore you to keep Tim, Cass, and the rest alive and kicking for the forseeable Cat-Tales future. They just make my heart go fuzzy.
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BenRG |
Re.: Chapter 5 - Midgame | #50 | ||
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Posts: 304 07/09/09 10:17 |
Ooh! Now things are really hotting up!
This is something of an unusual chapter. The juxtaposition of Ubu's introspection with Selina's own internal monologue was interesting. As well as contrasting two such completely different minds, we are, at last, shown explicitly that the two threads of this story are beginning to come together. There is no surprise in learning that the Hairdo is planning to take over Atlantis eventually. As Earth's most technically advanced culture and master of one of the most important strategic resources on Earth, it is, in retrospect, a very obvious primary target. Nice job, Chris in how you describe events as they affect Selina in this chapter. The reader is both reassured about her safety and left puzzled as to exactly what has happened to her. I liked Selina's 'villain perspective' review of some of the stuff going on at the conference and found her analysis of Ra's' likely plan quite brilliant. What is more, it seems that it is likely that she is close to the truth. The exact details remain unclear but, for some reason, Ra's is moving his operations to the bottom of the ocean. Finally... Ooh! A cliffie! Evil, evil Chris.
Spoiler
Okay, we know Selina is all right because this section is narrated in first person in past tense. However, I do wonder why she has been kidnapped. My
guess is that the target might be Dr. Meadows and that Ms. Laperm, as one of the Detective's minions, was a bonus.
A guess? Ra's is actually going for the 'fake Methane Hydrate' plan or something like it. I can see the attraction too: The profits would be enormous and, more importantly, far more polluting than advertised. I can see Ra's (who has an apocalypse fixation) wanting to use the environmental movement against itself to hasten the coming of the disaster that he is convinced will give him the supreme power that is his right. The whole game with the Chess Set was a feint to get Bruce out of Gotham for a while (likely to punch in Paquena's face - dupe, not pseudonym). The gathering of supplies and directing of attention to the island of Bugio was another part of the same feint, creating a rather unsubtle intelligence footprint that, when combined with the face on the Black King, should send Bruce racing to the Indian Ocean whilst Ra's is engaged in his devilry in the mid-Atlantic. Dr. Meadows' knowledge is probably needed to perfect the pretense that the pig poop gas is actually Methane Hydrate. Mr. Drake and Ms. Laperm are surplus to requirements but will doubtless be useful to help remind the good doctor that, irrespective of whether she is willing to die for her principles, she would be the last to do so and that innocents would suffer for her unwillingness to obey the DEMON Head long before she suffered the slightest injury. In some ways, Ra's is quite predictable, isn't he? Naturally as nothing but impedimenta, Ra's (who would be able to identify them immediately) would not deign to honour the hostages with his presence, focusing his attention entirely on his primary objective. Unfortunately, they are not quite what the DEMON minions were expecting... were they?
It should be very, very interesting to see how all this works out. BenRG's Rating: 8.5/10 P.S.: Heh. Poor Tim. That's all I can honestly say: "Poor Tim." I've got a feeling that is what Cass will say too (whilst trying not to laugh or make it obvious that she is trying not to laugh). FWIW, kid, you're just going through what every other boy (whether or not he wore a mask) went through. Quoth the Robin And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all you need to know about this situation from Tim's POV. :D ~*~*~*~
They call me BenRG But... I don't know why... ~*~*~*~ |
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stephensmat2 |
#51 | |||
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Posts: 1180 07/10/09 03:50 |
Quote:
Then he gave the helpful mnemonic that it was Drake like the duck, so it was like "Chuck the duck" except Chuck is from Charles and his name wasn't Charles. It was Tim. Which rhymes with swim, and ducks do that, so, y'know… EndQuote Oh, so that's him in the next room. I thought I was the only one. So, we finally see the Batman section of the misdirection game. Same tactic. Keep Arthur running back and forth so he won't have time to compare notes, keep the Dark Knight running after Selina. Batman with Fish. The kidnapping was good timing, depending on where Selina wakes up. If Batman goes charging to the newly set-up Demon Campus in the desert, it would be a good time for Ra's to be underwater. If, on the other hand, Batman follows the Cat-trail, he'll call Arthur, and it would be a very bad time for the Demon team to be in a submarine. On an unrelated note, I agree with Selina. The 'Focus of a Crimefighter'. She was wearing the Cat-Suit right? I don't think however, that Batman's problem was he was in Bat-Mode, his problem was that he had a much higher opinion of Tim. Let's compare: Batman = Crime = Selina = How Hard Do You Want It To Get? Robin = Teenager = Shiva = Success = Bulletproof. Tim, the teenage boy has a better track record with the 'Focus of the Crimefighter' than the Dark Knight himself |
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Chris Dee |
#52 | |||
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Posts: 795 07/10/09 09:08 |
Hi gang! Good to hear from everyone. And nice to see Tim's situation is getting him more sympathy than snark.
Janshi, "a-dorkable" is the mot juste. Love it. Click of a new word added to my vocabulary. And stephensmat, I think you're onto something with Batman's POV and an aspect of the flaw in his (and everyone else's but Tim's) thinking. I knew a magician who at 14 had this oh-so-suave routine, with the tux and the silks, and the Fred & Ginger dance moves with the girl. It was fantablous - because he was 14. It was precocious. It was a kick. It popped. At 17, it was too dorkish for words. It just DID NOT WORK - I mean, at all. It was PAINFUL to watch. He was back a few years later in these bright yellow Robin Williams overalls, new act, new personality. And he pretty much spent his early 20s finding what worked for him, who he was exactly. Take out the magic act, we all do the same thing. Ben, very shrewd observation on Selina and Ubu. You couldn't get more diverse points of view on either side of the tale, and as they come together seen through those 2 pairs of eyes, well like the title says, Devil, er, Hairdo, er, Demon's in the details. And yes, Atlantis is almost too tempting for Ra's, given the amount of water on this pebble and it's importance to all the land-based. Talia can consider herself lucky, because you know if the old man got this seabee in his bonnet a few years ago, she'd be expected to get some scuba gear and throw herself at Arthur. There is still one assumption floating around, here and at FFnet, that I'm not going to correct. The story will clear it up in its own way  but I'm
letting you know that some of you are assuming facts not in evidence. *sits back and watches the wheels turn* 
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Star Ranger4 |
#53 | |||
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Posts: 1316 07/13/09 14:45 Adrift in Space |
I just love the fact that Tim was able to rescue himself along the way... Even if it does blow up in the end its still nice to see him get to win a small
victory along the way.
Now it might be just me however, but Selina might have been THE target because of her cover as a WF suit, in fact, I personally have the impression that it was only she who got darted/kidnapped, not Tim and Dr Meadows. She did mention that she'd gone on ahead of them for the one outing, to the Planitarium at Robinson Park. However, despite it being a Daemon story, I was rather expecting that Ivy might have made herself part of the mix, since you had all these science types coming to Robinson, one of her 'preferred' retreats. And bio fuels are all about killing plants to fuel nasty polluting cars and the like... Though one might assume that B, as B, might have mentioned it to Selina if Pammy were loose and might decide to crash that part of the conference. Just like he'd might have mentioned if Scarecrow was out and might be comming after some of the guests because of their Hudson U association. So, In a way, I have to take my hat off to you as far as storyline feints as well, in the chess game of writer vs reader. You certainly faked me out well. BTW, how does Ubu actually *KNOW* that there's no underwater Lazuri pits... Seems like a very Hairdo thing to do to keep at least one pit up his sleeve that no one else knows about... Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
NO QUARTER!!! -- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children |
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Chris Dee |
#54 | |||
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Posts: 795 07/23/09 09:17 |
New Chapter Day! Try and keep your feet dry, everybody, it's Chapter 6: Fishy Back.
--Chris Dee
Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Superpowers corrupts - superbly. --Identity Element |
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Kessie.gothampm |
#55 | |||
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Posts: 177 07/23/09 12:18 PuddyCat Detective (PCD) |
Ah, so Tim is destined to be a Trekker (not a Trekkie). Delighted to see a chapter to start my vacation.
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Star Ranger4 |
#56 | |||
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Posts: 1316 07/23/09 13:47 Adrift in Space |
Heh. About the only quibble I can think of is that Tim should be more familiar with the newer uniforms, after they put Command division in Red and Security and
other 'expendables' in gold...
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
NO QUARTER!!! -- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children |
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BenRG |
Re.: Chapter 6 - Fishy Back | #57 | ||
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Posts: 304 07/24/09 10:38 |
Okay, sorry for the late reveiw. I've been having all sorts of stuff happen to me, but I won't bore you with the details
as they are... well, boring. :S
Anyway, onto the story. I don't know if it is a good thing or a bad thing that, even while drugged and disoriented, Selina can get out of manacles and make like a shadow. She and Bruce... well, they are more alike than I think either of them are willing to admit. Now, at last, Ra's's plans are revealed. It is essentially as I suspected although with an interesting new wrinkle. I suspect that Arthur will want to deal most firmly with this matter. Whether Ra's has funded a real eco-friendly fuel project or if it is just a cover for a more nefarious plot is, when you think about it, essentially irrelevant given the means Ra's is using to recruit R&D staff. I do hope that seeing Ra's 'demonstration' will help Selina work out why he is dangerous - Jack dangerous, not Bane dangerous. A guy who will toss away an underling's life like that? You can't be sure that he would stop at anything. Poor Tim! I do think he needs to bop Dick on the head for putting the 'Trekkie' thing in his head. He isn't ever going to be able to stop thinking in Star Trek terms now, is he? CASSIE: Thanks Tim! Like Klingon battle armour. Not sure of gap in centre of chest though! Tim? Tim, why drooling? Overall, I have the feeling that things are quickly going to get very interesting. The way I see it, things can go one of two ways: 1) Some or all the scientists get mutated and end up working for Arthur and spreading their breakthroughs to the surface via WayneCorp; 2) Only the scientist that Tim is interested in gets mutated and, of course, she mentions to Tim that it was a shame because she likes him. Curse you fates! Curse YOOOUUU!!!". Either way, I suspect that Ra's will end up as the DEMON Fish Head until his research boys can come up with an antidode. XD BenRG's Rating: 8.5/10 ~*~*~*~
They call me BenRG But... I don't know why... ~*~*~*~ |
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Random Equinox |
#58 | |||
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Posts: 289 07/26/09 17:27 |
I also enjoyed seeing Selina get herself free and stumble around sightseeing while still drugged up. Guess it goes to show what happens when you do something
so often you don't need to think about it.
As for Ra's plans... Ra's often strikes me as the kind of villain who fails because he had a brilliant plan that was executed poorly or a poor plan that was otherwise executed brilliantly. This scheme... if it was a means to an end, I'd say it was definitely the latter. As a means to a means to an end, one that's more about setting the stage for the Big Scheme... it might be a bit of both. It's not that bad a plan and shows a certain amount of foresight. And the choice of prison is pretty clever. Since this story's got a Trek vibe to it, it reminds me of the Rura Penthe prison in Star Trek 6 or the asteroid prison in the DS9 episode "In Purgatory's Shadow". In both cases, a major feature to keep prisoners in was that the deterring nature of the surrounding environment made any escape a suicide attempt. Ra's, however, adds a twist with this mutation, which forces escapees to replace one prison (Ra's little "science camp") with another (the world's oceans). As for Tim's discovery of his "inner Trekker/Trekkie"... well, I'm thoroughly amused and delighted. I don't know whether this will be limited for the duration of this Cat-Tales or will become a new recurring theme in the development of his character. Either way, I intend to enjoy the ride while it lasts. I also found the collaboration between the scientists in creating a cover for Tim oddly reassuring. Modern scientific research does adhere to the ideals of openness and collaboration, but is prone to partisanship and cutthroat competitiveness (mainly so one group can get their research published before their competitors, thus claiming authorship, bragging rights, and a claim to further funding). It's nice to see these scientists, who are likely rivals in their fields, put aside their differences in the face of something much more important. Can't wait to see what's next! |
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Star Ranger4 |
#59 | |||
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Posts: 1316 07/26/09 20:19 Adrift in Space |
You know.... There is one thing that Gypsy doesnt know.
I dont know about you, but it certainly seems to me that Ra's has already been laboring under Murphy's curse since before he even met 'The Detective'.... Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
NO QUARTER!!! -- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children |
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SteelBlaidd |
To be expected | #60 | ||
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Posts: 65 08/10/09 09:01 |
Except that Red Shirt is a geek term of art and it is Tim's
recognition of the use thereof that Confirms his Trekkieness. Given that he started his career as a cape with a a successful Incrediboy maneuver, this is a looooong time coming.
"If ever you find yor self looking down the wong end of an arrow. Hope that it's an evil man. a good man will kill you with hardly a word."
- Sam Vimes |
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