I made this poll almost a year ago.

https://strawpoll.com/polls/DwyoqvBPNgA

I think it was after I drew that sketch of Ferrous Frog and Deputy Starr. I've drawn and written FF with a lot of different characters that could conceivably be potential romantic interests. I did the poll to gauge opinion. I'm also posting it here because not everyone goes on the Colmaton Discord server.


The choices:

Polarstern: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/25749979/
Deputy Starr (belongs to TRAIN) : https://www.furaffinity.net/view/16276863/
Pushback: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34443503/
Chromatic: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34620623
Officer Dawn Lynn (belongs to  lobopunk93) : https://www.furaffinity.net/view/29377130/
Other (specify)

Been a real gut punch, I won't lie.

I could always count on him for scientific advice for my stories. I'll miss that and his wit.

Just today, I was thinking of ideas involving his characters, including a costume design. Ideas I'll never get to share with him now.

I have several stories in the works with his characters. At first, I was feeling unsure about finishing them, but others have convinced me that finishing these stories is the best way I can honor his memory.

You will be missed, my friend.

I haven't done a "Story Behind The Story" in a while, so I've decided to start again. We'll look at "Not Her Mother's Voltage Vixen," the story where the next chapter of Kayla Bowles' life began.


SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE STORY! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!
















































When I wrote "He Had It Coming," I had no idea how popular Kayla would become. After  psion wrote his own stories with Kayla, I knew I had to get moving on the next chapter. Initially, I had her get freed at the end of "A Colmaton Christmas Story," but I found writing that story took too long. Thus, I decided this story would be about Kayla's release from the Lakeshore Institute and what she would do with her life. The opening scene took cues from the "Harley's Holiday" episode of Batman: The Animated Series, with a pinch of Shrek 2 and a dash of the Avatar: The Last Airbender episode "Siege of the North." Back when  sketchredtiger was still part of the group, he had created characters who would have had ties to Kayla's past. They would have left her a large amount of cash and a note in Chinese. When he left the group before I could finish the story, I pared it down to a large amount of money left by a mystery benefactor. The press conference scene and Yolanda Mason's statement took inspiration from The Dark Knight Returns. The scene in Timothy Bordick's penthouse came from a comment  Titan_Dragon01 left on  mojorover's posting of "He Had It Coming." When finding Kayla a place to live, I chose the Sanford Arms, which had appeared in stories before. Then,  train fleshed out the scene by adding Linda Dean. Then, I needed to establish that Kayla would have difficulty adjusting to life outside the Lakeshore Institute: getting a job, Preceptor harassing her, etc. The radio call-in scene was taken from Hancock.


For her training, I took a cue from  mojorover's story "Enter the Zodiac." Bureau of Superheroes agents would act as her trainers. At first, I just planned to have Combat train Kayla on the side. Then, I decided that the Bureau would train her, even if she didn't become a full-fledged agent. I kept Gatling Goat teaching basic firearms training. Combat would teach self-defense, and Phantom Frog would teach strategy. Before I had started writing the story, I had decided on Kayla becoming a bounty hunter. I was partly inspired after reading about the late Domino Harvey, daughter of actor Laurence Harvey and a fashion model who later became a bounty hunter. X-Men: First Class inspired a scene I added later with Mystic Cat teaching Kayla how to better use her powers. Also, I imagined Kayla and MC developing a bond based on having questionable reputations in common. Many scenes during and after Kayla's time at the BoS academy came from doodles. I took various scenes from movies and television shows to create the part of Kayla visiting her mother's grave. Then  train added Dynasty getting reamed out for telling Kayla about Operation Chaos. At the time, I thought he wrote Morningstar, Dyno-Donkey and Ranger as kind of harsh to her, so I had Dyno-Donkey express a modicum of sympathy. The party scene near the end was another scene  train fleshed out by adding several heroines as well as much of the dialogue. The revelation involving Zumbeaux the Hunter had been brewing since BossHoss finished writing "Moving Target." I could have probably ended the story there, but I felt I had to do something bigger. Thus, I wrote the final scene with Dr. Cyberclaw vowing to destroy Voltage Vixen.



And that's the story behind "Not Her Mother's Voltage Vixen."

RIP Kevin Conroy.

Forty-seven years of life.

Was Chris out of line? If he knew Jada had alopecia, yes. No one will blame Will for wanting to defend his queen.

However, there's a time, place and fashion to deal with that. Will chose the wrong time, the wrong place, and the wrong fashion.

You do not smack fire out of someone on live TV in front of an audience. Handle that backstage.

Defend your queen, but do it with class.

RIP Mr. Tibbs:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertain.....?ocid=msedgntp

Screenshotted from his FB page:

https://twitter.com/BittrScrptReadr.....2Fthecarrier.net%2Fforums%2Ftopic%2Fgeorge-perez%2F

That's how old I am as of today.

https://www.thewrap.com/biz-markie-.....rs-dies-at-57/

https://www.cbr.com/fox-controversy.....ptain-america/

I'd like for Tom Cotton, Dean Cain, and everyone else on Fox News criticizing Marvel to explain how a character named Captain America isn't inherently political.

Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Cap as a response to the Nazi Party. The cover of his first comic book appearance has him punching Hitler.

I repeat. Punching. HITLER!!!

James Baldwin once said, “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”

Loving someone or something doesn't mean always sugarcoating things. Sometimes, it means telling hard truths.

And the hard truth is, this country does not always, has not always lived up to the principles it professes to stand for. If you want something or someone you love to do better, you let them know.

Linc Hayes on Mod Squad.

Prince's father in Purple Rain

Kalinga in I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka

Mr. Simms in Tales from the Hood

Bub Hewlett in Hoodlum

Too many more to list here.

Brother loaned me an old laptop to use, so I'm kinda good for now.

So, I haven't been able to access Google Docs or Discord (my cellphone won't allow me to download either). I'm going to have to get a new one, but I don't yet have the money. Starting a new job so hopefully I'll be able to afford one soon.

Last night, I was on my computer and it just shut off. Tried to turn it back on but it wouldn't go all the way back on. Might need a new fan or it might be time to get a new computer altogether.

AKA Easter

Hope yours is a good one.

May this be a better year than the one we just left behind

First, my doctor calls me this morning to give me some lab results and tells me I have diabetes.

But that’s not even the hardest thing I had to hear today.

I just found out that my nephew Brett committed suicide. He had just turned 20 in March.

Decided that, in the future, the Wúxíngjiàn will be referred to as the Invisible Sword. Part of the reason is that, nowadays, when I run Invisible Sword through an online Chinese translator, it comes up different. Besides, I look at it like the Hand and the Foot.They're referred to by the English translations of their names.Same group, same name (technically), just saying it differently.

Finally got around to doing a "Story Behind The Story" for 2020.


Year's almost over and I'm just now getting to the first
"Story Behind The Story" of 2020. This go-around, we look at
"Class Struggle", the first story depicting Combat as a teacher.


SPOILERS AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE STORY! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!


















































































I knew, after introducing the idea of Combat serving as a martial arts
instructor at the Colmaton base in "He Had It Coming" and
"Rumble in Colmaton", I'd have to do a story about Combat as a teacher.
So, I went about getting students.  MojoRover offered up the bulk
of the class, with  bosshoss1 offering up Computer Mouse. They also
gave suggestions as to how each character would do in Combat's class
(performance in class, attitude, etc.), which I would use in a later
scene when Combat gives Dyno-Donkey and Ranger his progress report. The
original title of the story was "Sifu Combat". Then, I figured not
everyone knew what "sifu" meant, so I changed the title to "Class
Struggle", sort of a play on the phrase. That's also the reason his
students address him as "sensei" in future stories.

The whole shtick about Mystic Cat assuming Combat was gay because
he turned her down was actually inspired in part by a sermon I'd
heard on a Women's Day at a church I was attending. Ironically enough,
I originally considered having Combat be one of Mystic Cat's numerous
past flings. If I'd kept that bit of backstory, she'd probably know for
certain he wasn't gay. I cribbed Joseph's three rules from the "Sins of
the Father" episode of The New Batman Adventures. Going by
established lore, Mystic Cat and Doe Dynamo would obviously be disruptive.
Reginald being the oldest in the class, it made sense for him to be the
sort of peacekeeper in the class.


I also decided this would be the actual first story to explicitly state
that Combat had witnessed his parents' murder as a boy. I'd only had
him have a brief flashback in the opening of "Rumble in Colmaton". Mystic
Cat quipping about a bully kicking sand in his face was a reference to
the old "The Insult That Made A Man Out of Mac" Charles Atlas ad they
printed in comic books back in the day.  bosshoss1 had e-mailed me
with some insight regarding Computer Mouse, which helped me to write the
impromptu sparring session between she and Combat which convinced her not
to quit the class.

This was also the first story where I mention Shinkansen. I hadn't yet
quite decided on a species for him, but I did determine that he was
smitten with Doe Dynamo after the video of the Taco Shack incident went
viral. For those who don't know what the Taco Shack incident is, it was
an event depicted in the old Furry Supers RP group, in which Doe Dynamo
was in a Taco Shack when her leotard started riding up, exposing her
backside, which was captured on video and went viral. Also, I figured
Combat would try to curb Doe Dynamo's attentions as they were teacher
and student. Also, constantly writing her flirting with him would get
real old real fast.

I do admit that I might have misinterpreted Techrat's feelings for
Computer Mouse somewhat, thinking that he was still a kid with a crush,
as opposed to now seeing her as a big sister. On the other hand, it could
easily be interpreted as him thinking she's cool.


The scene with Mystic Cat and Combat disguised as a ninja was inspired
by an old Marvel back-up story entitled "Pale Reflection", which
starred the Prowler. Prowler placed too much faith in his gadgets, just
like MC placed too much faith in her powers. The scene even ended like
how that story ended: with the teacher forcing the student to refer to
them by title.

Joseph making Fiona and Patricia spar at the end of the story was just
a fun little idea to sort of bring things full circle as I'd had Patricia
mocking Fiona about her past occupation.



And that is the story behind "Class Struggle".