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Blaze Dragon posted:Kazuma hits puberty hard in those six months for some reason, I mean, compare him both pre- and post-timeskip: E: New page reached.
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Jul 11, 2017 21:09
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 And we are back, having finally joined our two big halves into one overwhelming force of destruction (except those ZAFT nerds, but whatever). Since I kept the Rescue Route, we have a very tight race for first place: Ichitaka’s magnetism kept him just one kill ahead of Kenji and (I’ll never get used to this) Quatre, who are tied.  All of my money went straight to upgrading the Frontier folks (who came in empty – only Alto got a pip in weapons). Meanwhile, Daiya got his promised EN save, while Alto chugged three of the Gunfights I’ve been saving since he’s our first major range-oriented protag. Kouichi, meanwhile, took one of my Predicts to, majorly, boost his Accuracy (though dodging a bit more reliably is always nice).  And coming back from a route split begets the age-old tradition of rebuilding a big chunk of your squads. At the very least it doesn’t take nearly as long as it did in Z1 or the Alphas: Jeeg/Kyo Ichitaka/Miu Reiji/Quatre Iczer-1/Puria Kouji/Yagyuu Tetsuya/Canaria Ozma/Luca Alto/Michel Zechs/Noin Daiya/Yanma Shizuru/Anna Dick/Klan Combattler/Deceive Voltes/Mira Yamashita/Tetsuya Kouji I can’t believe it actually took me this wrong to realize what a waste it was to leave Canaria hanging out with Klan – she’s a perfect fit for Tetsuya. Then again, I WAS just setting whatever in anticipation to having to redraw stuff when we got back together. Kouji still needs flight, so it’d be either Puria or Yagyuu and the former’s mobility bonus would’ve kinda been wasted on him. If the stars align, we’ll see the Mazinger pop a Double Image! And I figured, since we have plenty of room, that Dick and Klan can work well enough to hold a squad of their own. On we go.  The Quarter and Daiku Maryu have just arrived at JUDA, Ishigami bidding them a warm welcome. Jeffrey had already heard plenty about the man and even Garis mentioned the prez to be a very capable man. They do him much honor, though there’s a lot of intel to be exchanged regarding the status quo abroad. Cathy warns that we need to decide what to do carefully, lest it turn the entire world against us; Jeffrey also agrees, remembering that the SMS was placed in LOTUS as a way to minimize the UN’s distrust towards the Frontier. If we make the wrong move, it’ll only mean trouble for the fleet (and the PLANTs, even). Ishigami concurs, though he is appalled that people would fight one another with all that’s going on. People are so very shortsighted. But, regardless, Yui has just established a line to the ships’ databases, so they’ll start their meeting.  And, as usual, we get to hear about whatever happened in the path we didn’t take. Considering we saw it all, I’ll skip most of it but I can point out particularly amusing bits. Mind, at the end of it all, Emi comes in after Daiya – Naoto is here looking for him. Expected, considering Daiya didn’t have time to talk to him before rushing to space.
 Daiya quickly apologizes to his friend, who came over to JUDA right after some NEX folks said he’d returned. Still, he wants to hear all about Daiya’s trip to space. Well, getting to see their blue world from up there was something else, that’s for sure. And since he’s here, Daiya figures Naoto could also tag along while he gives everyone a tour of the Daiku Maryu. He doesn’t see any harm in it, so the kid’s very up for it.  Ichitaka and Kouichi are blown away that they get to be in THE Daiku Maryu – high five! Becoming CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE was the best thing ever. As Shizuna sighs at the two fanboys, Daiya tells them to keep some of that enthusiasm for the rest of the tour since this is just the hangar! There’s still the kitchen, the bridge, Sakon and Lulu’s rooms and more. Dick suggests we skip Sakon’s place as, science-obsessed as he is, the guy can’t be bothered with anything else. The room’s a dump, really, and Daiya figures Sakon could potentially starve himself to death if the rest of the crew didn’t keep an eye on him. Nagisa dashes in right then, running uncharacteristically late after waiting to see if Iczer-1 and Anna would tag along (they couldn’t). Michel immediately does a double take at the sight of her – Nagisa? Alto figures he’s trying out one of his playboy routines on a LOTUS girl: “Seriously, what would the Nyan-Nyan waitress be doing… *looks at Nagisa*… here?” Daijiro couldn’t tell them apart, that’s for sure, and the girl’s getting a bit uneasy over the people staring at her. Michel apologizes and asks if she could tell them her name - she does, though immediately warns him not to get any funny ideas. She’s not giving him her phone number! Still, it’s clear that Nagisa Kanou isn’t the Nagisa Kasumi they know – not that Kenichi expected otherwise – but, even so, they look tremendously alike. “It doesn’t seem like we’re dealing with a ‘Highly Probable Being’,” Emi ponders to herself.  Still, everyone’s here now, so Daiya calls them to keep going… or, he would, if Shizuka didn’t walk up to ask him to help carrying some Zolmanium. But he’s gotta show the others around! If he’s got that much free time on his hands, then it’s all the more reason why he should help with this. Rosa offers to take over the tour while he gets to work – she offers a quick apology to us, but says things are rather hectic with the resupply operations going on.  Elsewhere, Naoto’s managed to get himself lost aboard the ship. He soon runs into Yanma’s crew, who tag him as the kid Daiya always spoke so much about. And if he needs a guide, they’ll do it! Naoto doesn’t get a chance to say anything. Cut to a bit later, Yanma explains that they’re always at Puria’s beck and call, what with her being the “older sister” around here, and they’ve always wanted a new baby brother of their own. So, Haccho commands, Naoto is to address them all as “bro”! Whuh? Ayup, starting right this instant, Naoto is now part of their trio! … But how can it be a trio if there’d be four of them? What, that’s not right? What should they call it, then? Buby has no idea. Hey, they’ve been walking around for a while now and Daiya’s group is still nowhere in sight. Which is why they are GUIDING him, Haccho protests. Before Naoto grows a hernia, Sakon walks over and says Rosa was looking for the kid over thattaway. The kid thanks him and tells his bros that they’ll have to conclude their own tour another time – he runs off. Buby’s surprised he really called them his “bros”. He’s a good kid, Sakon assesses, which is why the three men should do their best not to mess with him much.  And Naoto can’t find his way, reaching a dead end. He does hear some voices nearby, though, so maybe they can help. And he finds Alice having a talk with Rongo – seems like something’s wrong with him, and she’s rather appalled Franklin didn’t notice it. Rongo says the guy isn’t at fault, since the Daiku Maryu doesn’t give everyone check-ups every day; to say nothing of the fact that he deliberately avoided going to the doc. Still, his injury is quite grave (back when the ship first came to this world)... But Rongo says he’s the ONLY one who can turn the Daiku Maryu’s rudder. If he’s bedridden, the ship’ll be grounded and he presumes Alice, a subpilot, knows where he’s coming from. She does, but being in charge of the team’s health care makes looking the other way quite difficult for her. Naoto walks in right then, and Rongo immediately pulls him closer and asks him not to tell anyone what he heard. Consider this a promise between men, as Rongo can’t stop right now.  And now we jump straight to Neo Tokyo 3, where the PA’s declaring a state of emergency – all phone lines are down. Seems to Shinji that this meeting isn’t happening, wondering what his dad could be thinking by calling him over this suddenly. He turns around, thinking he’d seen a girl nearby – there’s no one. Never mind that, though, as the entire area starts shaking. An earthquake?!   : Don’t let the Angel take another step! Stop it, whatever it takes! : Yes, sir! Engaging! : We’ve a confirmed hit! : …: No, we don’t! It didn’t do anything!*Pweeeoop!*  *Sachiel keeps moving eastward.*  : WAAAH!!  : Sorry I’m late! Get in the car! (Misato): Huh?!: Hurry!*Misato starts driving away.* : Keep firing! We can’t let him through! : …: Why the hell is nothing working?! The Armas’ weapons can’t do anything against that thing?!  : D-drat you… my men…! You’re not getting away with this! I, Igarashi Shinobu, will end you if it’s the last thing I do…!*Beep, beep!*  : That’s enough, Igarashi. Pull back immediately – we’re deploying an N² mine.: What?! But then the town’ll—: The civilians have already evacuated due to the state of emergency. Your group is all that remains.: C-Copy that! : An N² mine?! They’re using something like that?! : The SDF is desperate, trying to save face. You need to evac that area right now! (Makoto): Understood. Hold on, Shinji!    : What’s it look like, Igarashi? How’s the Angel?: It took that N² mine right on the chin. No way it— : …: What the… hell?!: What’s going on, Igarashi?!: …Target remains. We’ve some damage confirmed, but it’s only a matter of time ‘till it recovers…!: I-It can’t be…! By NERV HQ…  : Urgh, our ace in the hole was… drat that monstrosity! : Not wholly unexpected for a conventional piece of weaponry. Still, a N² mine only barely managed to immobilize the 4th Angel… Its regenerative abilities are enormous. (Fuyutsuki) : They are self-sufficient, near-perfect life forms. It shouldn’t come as a surprise. (Gendou): The ones who consumed the Fruit of Life…: Hm. And they’d destroy us, the ones who consumed the Fruit of Knowledge.: This is hardly the moment for the SDF to be butting heads with us. It’s a disaster out there. : …: Commander, we’ve an urgent message from the government!: What do they want?: They’ve transferred control of this operation to Gendou Ikari, commander of NERV!: Whaat?!: … : NERV?: Right. We’ve a private paramilitary organization operating under the UN’s supervision. : And my dad works here, right?: Hmhmm. Do you know what he does?: All I heard was that it’s something important – something that keeps mankind safe.: (“Keeps mankind safe”… So dad is kind of like Kouichi, when he protected me? …No, I doubt it…): Are we going to see him?: We are, yes. I’m taking you to NERV HQ, our hidden base.: Well, this operation is now in your hands. Show me what you can do.: Roger that.: None of our weapons did any lasting damage against the target, Ikari. Do you seriously think you stand a better chance of winning?: Winning this is precisely what NERV is for.: Hmph…: … Fuyutsuki, take care of things here.: A family reunion, three years later?: Hm… Ishigami’s a bit worried if mankind can beat an enemy that shrugged off an N² mine, but Lady Une says we MUST beat it or it’ll be the end of everything: “And I’d wager it was for that reason why our predecessors actively studied the parallel world’s tech,” she adds. Victory or bust is the name of the game, and with command of the operation transferred to NERV, Une wants us to move to help ASAP.  Back at NERV, Shinji figures his dad will want him to do something – he wouldn’t have sent that letter if there wasn’t anything. Misato sees that the boy’s got some issues with his father, same as her, really. As the elevator door opens, an annoyed Ritsuko Akagi is waiting: they’re twelve minutes late and time’s running short. As Misato apologizes, Ritsuko introduces herself to Shinji as the head of Project E’s first science division, and beckons them both to follow.   : There’s something I want to show you, Shinji. : A-Ah!: Our “Ultimate All-Purpose Humanoid Decisive Weapon”… The Evangelion Unit #01, an artificial human created by man.: It is the humanity’s ultimate weapon.: Is my dad also involved with this?: I am.: !!: It’s been a while.: Dad…: Hm… Deploy it.: “Deploy”? But the #00 is still on lockdown… Wait, you’re not talking about the #01, are you?: We’re out of options. And Shinji?: Yes?: You’ll be piloting it.: Huh…?: …: Dad… why did you call me here?: That should be obvious.: You’re telling me to use this to fight that thing I saw?: I am.: No, I’m not doing it! Why do you even care after all this time? I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me!: I called you precisely because now you’re needed.: And why do you need me?: Because no one else can do this.: … I can’t do it either. How do you expect me to pilot something I’ve never seen or heard of before?!: We’ll tell you how.: But… No, no way! I’m not a pilot – I can’t do this!: You need to get aboard right now. If you won’t pilot… then leave!*BOOM!* : It’s found us.: Shinji, we’re out of time.: Get in…!: No… I know I came all the way here… But I just can’t do any of this!: And why did you come here, Shinji? You can’t run away now - not from your father… and, most of all, not from yourself. : I know that! But you’re asking the impossible!: …Fuyutsuki, call Rei. : Can we use her for this?: She’s not dead yet.: … Very well.*Call ends.* : Rei…*Beep!*  : Yes?: We can’t go with the spare. You’ll be deploying once more.: Yes, sir…*Beep.* : Switch the #01’s core unit with the L-00 type and reboot it! : Roger that. Cancelling current operation; preparing to reboot. (Maya): (I knew it… No one actually needs me…)*Door opens.*  : Hrgh…! Haah, haah…: (Huh, someone’s hurt? A girl? Why is she…)*BOOM… and Rei drops to the ground.* : Aargh!: Are you alright?!: Haah… urgh…: (She’s bleeding…! Are… are they actually having her pilot that thing… because I won’t?!): (I… I can’t run away. I can’t run away. I can’t run away. I can’t run away…!): Okay, fine! I’ll do it! I’ll pilot! : Flooding Entry Plug. Establishing second contact, linking interface… No abnormalities in the A10 neural connection. Charging LCL – everything is nominal.: Fixate all thought configurations around Japanese. Primary contact is also nominal.: Opening communications channel. Checklist: all clear up to #1405. Synaptic synchronization rate: 41.3%. : Without even a plug suit? Very impressive.: All harmonics are looking nominal. No abnormalities. : Then we are ready!: Prepare to launch!! Mission 11 – Prelude to Battle  I normally don’t care all that much for this BGM, but this arrangement is pretty decent! : … Do we proceed, commander?: Of course. There’ll be no future for any of us if the Angel isn’t destroyed.: Are you sure about this, Ikari?: Hm…: Everything ready, Shinji?: Yes!: Final safety device, release! Evangelion #01, lift off! : Shinji, try and focus on walking for the moment.: (Walk…)*The #01 takes a step forward.* : (Walk…!)*Again… and Sachiel moves straight for him!* : The Angel’s closing in on the #01!: Aah—!      : Uwaaaah!!: Calm down, Shinji!: How are the EVA’s defense systems?: Unresponsive!: The Field isn’t deploying!: It’s not working?!: Shinji!*Beep!* : We’ve various signals on high speed approach to the battle zone! : That’s… LOTUS!: What now, Ikari?: Let them do as they want… We’ve to verify the distortion. : Is it true, Reiji? Is Shinji really piloting that Evangelion thing?! : It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but it is very likely.*Beep!*  : That’s… We’re being hailed by NERV! : Put them through!: This is Misato Katsuragi of NERV’s operational division speaking. Please respond, LOTUS.: Captain Lulu of the Daiku Maryu. We’ve already been briefed on the situation: how superficial attacks won’t hurt the Angel, how it can regenerate itself… and how it must be defeated, lest it trigger the Third Impact and destroy all of mankind.: (Ishigami’s told them, I see…): That’s correct. We’ve deployed our Evangelion #01 to fight, but it’s the pilot’s first battle, so he’s having difficulties. So I propose that we all engage the target in tandem - please assist us, LOTUS!: Our mission is to maintain peace in the Earth Sphere, so I see no reason to refuse.: Alright, then we’re good! Shinji, we’ve some friendlies here to back you up! Work with them and destroy the Angel!: Doesn’t that mean that I don’t need to fight anymore, then…?: No, an Angel can only be beaten by an EVA. It won’t go down otherwise. : You chose to do this, no? Then keep with it ‘til the end.: …Alright…: (He’s always looking to others for direction… I guess that’s fruit of the environment he was left in.) : That enormous monster is called an Angel, yes? The mere sight of it tells how strange a being it is.: All Angels have a powerful barrier called A.T. Field, so we can’t let this battle drag on or it’ll wear us down. Engage it with caution! : Pshaw! If we’re dealing with a barrier, that calls for my Mach Drills! I’ll handle the timing, Kyo, Tsubaki! : Hold on… This isn’t the same as the Dai Kaengu from before. Be very careful, Kenji. : (I can feel something close to a magical barrier, but the fundament behind it is clearly different… What is that A.T. Field…?) : Sorry, Naoto, we had to drag you along into this. : Don’t worry about it. This is a big deal for humanity, right? Makes sense you had to scramble in a hurry.: Shinji, I’m coming to bail you out! That’s how I’ll atone for the mess I did! : I’ve got your back, Kouichi! : Keep an eye on the Plasma Drive level, Anna. I know having to match each other’s pace isn’t easy, but we’ll have to make do. : Aye, aye! I’ll work twice as hard to cover for Goh! : …: (I… I have to do this. I can’t… run away…!)
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 01:32 on Jul 13, 2017 |
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Jul 11, 2017 21:15
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 Destroy everything, don’t lose a ship, Shinji or Kouichi; not too difficult, though Sachiel’s a pretty tough costumer. Don’t try to engage him right now as your guys haven’t the morale for it – instead, send everyone northward. Shinji, meanwhile, should just hold the line and defend.  Evangelion Unit #01 (Shinji Ikari) Pilot Skills: Sync Rate – increases accuracy, evasion and A.T. Field strength the higher it gets. Sword Cut Shoot Down Prevail L2 Support Attack L1 Support Defense L2 Attack Combo L1 Spirit Commands: Alert Strike Mech Features: Sword Gun A.T. Field – blocks all damage under 3000, increased by sync rate Umbilical Cable – If connected to a ship or a special type of building, recovers all EN at the start of a turn, but can only move up to 10 squares away from where it’s connected. If unconnected, the unit will lose 1/3 of its total EN per turn, with it being treated as shot down if EN reaches 0. Berserk Squad Bonus: Mobility +5, Accuracy +5, Land terrain rating = A The EVA-01’s pretty dang good, as you might expect. Not so much right now, but it’ll get there as the game goes on. The Umbilical Cable might seem limiting, but it’s still a full EN recharge, we’ve pretty bulky ships around and 10 squares is plenty of distance; the A.T. Field itself always makes the EVA a nightmare for mooks, though you can only reach its traditional 4000 damage block if your sync rate is over 96% (baseline is 3000 at 50%, 3100 at 51-55%, increasing by 100 every extra 5%). Do note, however, that all weapons used by an EVA or Angels will outright bypass A.T. Fields, so don’t rely on it when facing the guys. Finally, while this isn’t important now, remember that the EVA-01 has a B rank in space, so you’ll absolutely want to pair him up with someone that fixes that. As for that Berserk skill… suffice to say that you really don’t want the EVA-01 getting shot down. Small tangent: the Sync Rate itself works kind of like the Factor skill, in that it starts at a set value on deployment and changes as the battle goes on. The deployment value’s calculated by the formula % = pilot baseline + (lvl/10). Shinji’s baseline is 50. You get +1% for every shot that hits an enemy or every attack you dodge/block with A.T. Field, +2% for shooting an enemy down, -1% for taking damage and -2% for missing. Finally, the Sync Rate’s effect on your accuracy and evasion works on the formula % = (sync rate – 20)/4. That is to say, if your rate dips under 20%, your numbers will actually go down, so watch it.  Sachiel, the Fourth Angel ”Mech” Features: A.T. Field (Strong) – blocks any damage below 4000 30% HP and EN regen No surprises, really; just a hard-hitting, big blob of HP with a barrier that all but requires your folks to have decent morale to pop it. Its range goes up to 1-6, so you’ll want to keep your distance a bit to draw it over to you. Shinji absolutely can’t take this thing on by himself, and with it being capable of bypassing his A.T. Field, you’ll want to keep a very close eye on him. At the very least Sachiel follows the standard AI guidelines and will focus on the beefiest unit nearby, so Shinji’ll stop being a priority once we get close.  So let’s poke the bear a bit while the rest of our crew moves upwards.  : Take a look, Shinji! I’m a real CHAMPION OF JUSTICE now!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD3FzBDzxAY  : No damage! Something like a physical wall blocked the attack!: Anything we can do, Kyo?!: I believe the barrier has a fixed limit to what it can block. If we can generate a greater force than that, we should be able to pierce it.: The EVA’s also capable of neutralizing the A.T. Field too.: Misato!: Shush, the situation’s too bad for you to rant about keeping secrets. That might be important, sure, but letting the Third Impact happen would be a lot worse.  : Psyche yourselves up, people! Break through the Angel’s barrier and drop him straight into the afterlife! : You got it, Goh! Enemy Phase!  Lot of damage on a defending ship, but it beats the thing tearing Shinji a new one.  Player Phase!   : AHA! I’ve found you, Jeeg!: The Jama Kingdom! You starting up trouble outside of Kyushu again…?!: You may have beaten Ikima and Mimashi, but your fun ends here! Now that I, Amaso, have taken to the field, you…: Err… What in blazes are you fighting?: An Angel, and we’re real busy with it, so we ain’t got time to play with you!: Silence! Her Majesty would be livid if I returned empty-handed!: (Especially since I went out without her permission…): Urgh, if you care that much, then get over here! I’ll make this quick!And here’s our delivery of morale! Now we just ignore Sachiel, clear things out, and then converge back on it.  Even with little upgrades, the Valkyries are still VERY hard to hit – especially inside Ozma’s command aura.     Daiya and Kenichi take these. Hyouma and Shizuna wrap up the nearby Ozma’s targets.  Right nearby, after Reiji starts it off, Iczer-1’s team takes a pair.        The annoying thing is that the Boya Kaengus have juuust enough HP to avoid being oneshotted by our weaker attacks. Kenji and Kouichi take these. Enemy Phase!  You cheeky sumbitch – she was almost outside your range!  While Hyouma and Shizuna each take, respectively, two and one kills, Reiji gets harassed by Amaso and random goons.      At least the one goes down. Nearby, Kouichi takes a Boya Kaengu, while Tetsuya and Canaria tear up two whole squads. Player Phase!  Alright, she’s outside of Sachiel’s range. Remind me prioritize giving Lulu some levels because she’s a great supporter – come level 24, she’ll learn Bless and that’ll be REALLY nice (I’m not using Sayaka, so only Quatre has it right now).     Dead.  You’d think Shizuru being the main pilot would result in the Godannar get locked out some of its attacks, but you’d be wrong. The thing still has all of its attacks!  : Our overall force can’t be dragged down because of me… I’ve to do this right, not just for myself, but for Goh! I’m the official pilot right now!   And it still hurts a lot.  The Boya Kaengus are thinning out, so Ozma and co lead the offensive against the Haniwas next. They all go down in two decent hits, so it doesn’t take long at all to clear this out – only watch out for Sachiel’s big hits and Amaso’s Dai Kaengu sapping away your SP. With that in mind, let’s speed things up a little.      : Jeez! You brought out a ton of Haniwa Phantoms with you, huh?: Victory will be mine, whatever the cost! And then I’ll be richly rewarded!: The hell do I care about your reward? We’re not going down for bunk like that!             If you wanna have Shinji go long, you’re gonna have to unplug the EVA. Just make sure you’ve a ship nearby to plug him back in before the third turn (move him adjacent to it, and select the Connect command). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwvOc3Y2a9U With pretty much everything dead, we move our sights to Amaso.   : Their leader must be very confident in himself to stand at the brow of his own warship…! : That might be a trick. Keep an eye out, Kenichi!      : Curses, this isn’t good… Then I’ll at least use all this chaos to sink the Daiku Maryu! Go, Boya Kaengus!  : Captain, the Jama Kingdom’s engaging us at close range!: No, it’s a kamikaze attack! Evade and counterattack, Rongo! : U-Ur…gh…!   : AAH!!: What happened, Rongo?! You evaded far too slowly!: Hmm, it’s sturdier than I expected. But what if we went straight for your damaged bits now?! : The Daiku Maryu’s at risk! Airborne teams engage and destroy the enemy attack pods!: While our bigger units focus on immobilizing the Angel!: Daiku Maryu, full speed retreat! : A-Aye, aye…: Rongo…?*Door opens.* : Rongo! ... Listen, he’s hurt too badly to do this!: What?!: Rongo’s…?!: B-Boy…!: Was it after our arrival at the surface…? Let me see it!  : It’s pretty bad…!  : Destroy Platoon, cover the Daiku Maryu!  : WAAHAHAHA! Nice try, but you missed one! : The Boya Kaengu’s Suicide Run! Now that story sounds like a blast!*The mook starts moving in.* : LULU!: …Urk!  : The rudder… it moved! I could move it…!: Naoto… you…: Rongo…: Boy... When you’ve got your hands around that rudder, you’re the Daiku Maryu itself! Take this… And get your Flame burning red hot! : O-Okay!: Rongo, are you alright?!: Yeah… I’m hanging by. It’s not me flying the Daiku Maryu around, though – that’s that Naoto kid!: Naoto?! You can’t! This is too dangerous for you!: Sorry, but I’ve already made up my mind. I broke my promise to Rongo, so this is the least I can do…! : Troops, support the Daiku Maryu and eradicate the remaining enemy!: (That boy’s about my age and even he’s trying so hard… I… I have to do something…!) : Jeeg! Today is the day I’ll destroy you and take your Bronze Bell!: Goddamn, shut up! If I got a coin every time you guys said that, I’d be a millionaire by now!-- : The Big Shooter! Jeeg’s power’ll be cut in half if you’re gone!: But you won’t have your way that easy. I’ll be keeping both the Earth and the Bronze Bell from your clutches!     : Listen here, you! If we don’t take out that Angel, all of Earth’ll go down the drain, so quit bugging us!: Will that mean the annihilation of humans? Then I do not care! Even if you survive through this, we’d simply kill you all!--  : You ready, girls? Let’s get in there and turn his guts into Swiss cheese!  : Yeah! : Roger that, Captain!: Bring in as many of you mosquitos as you’d like, you’re not grounding me! GWAHAHAHA!     : I got a big score to settle over what your buddy did at Misaki. You’re not him, but I’m not picky – come get your due!: I like your guts, kid. And I’ll like it even more after I’ve squished it to mush!       : How’s your analysis going, Alice?: This is the same model of ship we fought before, with some minimal discrepancies. : I see no problems at all with us engaging via the same tactics!: You think I’m the same as those two? Well, don’t! You’re about to get an eyeful of just how glorious I am!      : This guy, I swear… He couldn’t have picked a worse time to start this!: I must destroy Jeeg this time or Her Majesty’s going to be so angry with me! : Oof, poor guy… Guess it’s not easy being a mid-level worker even in good ol’ Evil Corp!: Hrrrrm! I haven’t sunk so low that I need to be pitied by the enemy!   : Bring us straight to starboard! If the rudder starts pushing, you push it right back the opposite way!: A-Aye, aye!: We are in your hands, Naoto!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqSBU9GsJ78 Considering what I said about having to get Lulu up some levels, I’ll be having her take Amaso out. Might as well show off hers and Puria’s combined attack while at it!  Aaay, a bigger command aura! Rosa also learns Spirit. Other folks did have lines for Amaso, mind: : I’ve never seen you before. Let’s have a little game, you and me!: Shinji, you don’t need to fight anything but the Angels.: I know, but I can’t just ignore them either…!--  : Too bad, guy – I’m an old hand at getting in ships’ faces. You’re going down!: Gaah, blast this noisy fly…! I’m going to stomp you into paste!- : Mimashi told me about you! Said you were as weak as you’re tiny!: But not anymore… So long as I’ve Nagisa by my side, I will not be beaten! Amaso’s pretty mad at himself for this screw-up, though not as much as Himika. Deploying with a bunch of Boya Kaengus and Haniwas without her say-so is a major offense. Himika orders him to return NOW – he’s to be punished with extreme prejudice. Amaso stammers for a bit, before complying; inwardly, though, he hopes he can get her to kick him some. Regardless, that’s him off our hair. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 21:29 on Jul 11, 2017 |
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Jul 11, 2017 21:17
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    : I-Incredible… They pierced the A.T. Field!: Shows that it wasn’t luck that’s helped them defend Earth all this time…: …Iczer-1 solo: : It’ll be very difficult to defeat this one without the Iczer Robo… Nagisa, prepare to deploy. : Got it. Be careful out there, Iczer-1!Iczer Robo: : This planet is home to so much life, and I will not see it destroyed! Even if it costs me my life, we will prevail!  : Let’s go, Iczer-1! I’m sure we can beat that thing together!     : This isn’t like the Vajra, but… is it another living weapon?   : Take this guy out, or the world ends… I’ve no idea what’s going on, but I’m not gonna let this freak run amuck!    : So what you got a barrier! That thing’s gonna be cracked open like a walnut when I’m done!   : My guess is that red ball’s its weak spot. And while I dunno if we can pop its barrier, we’ve got nothing to lose taking a swing there!: I feel the same! Let’s go and make this Decisive Battle a brief one!   Ichitaka: “Time to give Shinji a hand with his mission!” : First I get it to start walking…! Then… attack…!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQxEbdPRckM  : Ken!: I know. We’ll pour our energy all in one spot and tear down its barrier!    : Hyouma, I can’t even begin to analyze this one!: Tch, so this is an Angel…? I think we’re strong enough to take him, but it’s still gonna be a tough cookie…!       : This monster’s got a totally different aura to it than the Demonic and Iron Beasts… What… What am I feeling…?: … No, I can’t let it get to me! My flame’s telling me to take it out right now!      : S-Say what?! It’s regenning everything!: We really need to destroy the core or the Angel’ll just keep going…! : Shinji, target the core. You are the only one who can both neutralize the A.T. Field and attack at the same time. : But that’s…! You’re asking me to do what everyone in LOTUS couldn’t…?!: Hold your horses! I’ll handle this! : This stupid kid… : There he goes again…: Shinji, that’s you in there, right?: Huh… Kouichi?! What’re you doing here?!: Eeh… a bunch of stuff happened, you know. But that’s not important. Listen, when you were getting transferred, I totally ignored you, right? Do you think you could forgive me for that?: Ah…: I’ll go and find a way through this for you. Then you won’t need to do any of this scary business. That OK with you, NERV?: B-But that’s—: No… I’ll do it…: Shinji, you…: I am scared… and I don’t really understand what’s going on. But my dad… he said that…! : YAAAAH!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOOnVpmheWY They made it a special animation!  : Shinji!!: Life support has gone critical!: Report!: The sync graph has reversed, pulse is flowing backwards!: Cut the connection!: We can’t! It’s rejecting our signal!: What about Shinji?!: No response on the monitors – status unknown! : The #01’s gone silent! (Shigeru): Misato?!: It’s over… Abort the mission! Prioritize the pilot’s safety! Force-eject the Entry Plug!: Also not working! Nothing’s responding to our commands!: What did you say?!   : UWOOOOOOO!!: He’s alright?!: The EVA’s reactivating… but that should be impossible!: Oh, no…: It’s gone berserk…?!: UWOOOOOOO!!: … Victory is ours.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVuysznzwF0  : Angel… confirmed destroyed…: Wh-What the hell… He just wrecked the thing…!: The way it’s moving… it’s like a wild animal…: (Evangelion… Seems it still holds plenty of secrets.): The EVA-01 has ceased all activity!: Recover it and rescue the pilot immediately! : Radar and sensors are clear. That’s the end of that.: Angels, huh… We got briefed so fast, I’ve about a truckload of stuff I don’t get about those.: Not just them. The sudden transformation that Evangelion went through… an actual Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.  : We’ve plenty of questions that need answering now, that’s for sure.*Beep!*  : Then how about we go and get you some answers for those?: Do we head towards NERV, then?: You don’t mind, do you, commander?: … It’s fine. LtCol. Katsuragi, I leave this matter in your hands.: Yes, sir.: You know they’ll be less than happy if you bring them into the Geofront, Ikari.: No matter. They’ll have no cause for complaints if there aren’t any major deviations from the script.  : I don’t know this ceiling… Where am I? When did I get on this bed…?*Door opens!* : Oh, you’re up!: Huh…: Whew, that God… For a sec there I thought we had another one go in a coma.: K-Kouichi… Ichitaka… What are you two doing here?: “What”, he asks… Didn’t we fight together not too long ago? Or did you forget?: Ah… you’re right… I was piloting the EVA.: Fate is a very strange thing, indeed. I sure didn’t expect that two of your friends were with LOTUS. : I was just as surprised when I found out about it all.: And… there was that Angel...! What happened to it?: Um, you kicked its rear end? What, you don’t remember that too?: I don’t, no… I passed out before I even knew what was going on…: (Passed out? It couldn’t have been some system controlling the pilot, right…?): Well, if you can’t remember, that’s probably for the best. Having memories of the time you went crazy is the sort of stuff that haunts you forever – trust me. : We’re still investigating why the EVA acted on its own after you lost consciousness. That being said, before it all went down, you were fighting very well for someone with no prior experience. : …: Hm? What’s up?: … I remember something. When the Angel attacked me, I thought I’d died… I don’t want to go through anything like that again.: Shinji…: (Of course he’s scared… we got him aboard the EVA and straight into live combat without really explaining the situation... But we’ll still need him to fight what’s to come…): Think you can stand up, Shinji?: Huh? Y-Yeah…: Then come with me and your friends for a bit, please. The SEELE fellas aren’t really differentiated from each other here, so I can’t tell you who is speaking…  : The 4th Angel attacked and was eliminated, the Third Child has been acquired and the EVA-01 was rolled out… LOTUS’ activities and their influence over the Third aside, things are mostly proceeding according to plan.: Though the tremendous cost of repairing the #01 was beyond our expectations. : A rather small concern when faced with the suspended Unit #00. : Slight imperfections are acceptable if it’ll be ready to engage the 5th Angel when it emerges. : You needn’t worry. Now that the #01 has been assigned to active duty, the #02 and its assigned pilot are undergoing tests in Germany. : Make sure that the construction of the #03 and the others also proceed as planned.: It is your mission to see that NERV and the EVAs are put to proper use. We hope you will not disappoint.: Indeed. Eliminating the Angels is but a single part of our covenant with Lilith.: The Human Instrumentality Project… Our ultimate goal is to see it brought to fruition.: Understood. May everything proceed in accordance to SEELE’s script… : “Mostly according to plan”, indeed.: The general outline is still the same, but there is a 13th variable not depicted in the Dead Sea Scrolls. : So a deft touch is required. What do you have in mind?: I’ll be assigning the EVA-01 to LOTUS. I find it unlikely that their actions will align with SEELE’s will in any way. : More so than the Alliance or the old OZ, certainly. But what about the schedule?: It does not matter. The script may have been devised from the information sent to us, but it is being distorted. If we cannot confirm the reason why, then… : What do you think? It’s a pretty nice view, no?: It is.: That’s our town, Neo Tokyo 3. And you kept it safe.: I… kept it safe…?: You did, Shinji. This beautiful landscape is only here because you fought for it.: But even if I wasn’t around, LOTUS was still here, no? I’m sure you would’ve figured out a way to win eventually…: Still, it is what it is. Your memories might still be a bit fuzzy, but it was you who beat the Angel.: And you bailed me out there, too. If you hadn’t stopped me, I reckon I would’ve had a real bad time. : So thanks, Shinji.: Huh…?: Please, Shinji. Help us and keep this town safe… keep the entire world safe, even. The EVA needs you.  Back to Gendou’s office, Fuyutsuki’s explained to Lady Une that while the Evangelions were said to have been made to fight the Darius, they were actually to fight the Angels all along. The Darius appearance, around the time of the Second Impact, made for a good excuse for all the cash being moved around. Une wonders if this was actual reason why the old UN supported the development of the Dancouga and the mass-fielding of Armas, but Fuyutsuki figures at least that Igor Concern – or, better put, F.S. himself – doesn’t share this objective. As proof, Gendou points out that the Dancouga was nowhere to be seen in the battle with the Angel. But we don’t have the full picture of all that’s going on, mind. With the Katou Organization having already been active by the time the Second Impact hit, the reconstruction that followed it resulted in technology from “the other side” spreading across the entire world. As a result, we saw the development of various new weapons: far more durable and powerful MSs, the Dancouga and its mission to prolong conflicts, etc. All of that’s very much in accordance to Logos’ desires, Gendou says, but there are likely other forces at work behind all that – forces we haven’t been able to ID. Une’s a bit surprised that the guy knows about Logos, but lets it be and asks them to explain what the Angels are. Furthermore, why are they assigning the EVA-01 to LOTUS? Gendou says that the Angels need to be defeated or there’ll be no future for anyone – it’s all there in the report he gave her. As for her second question, the eradication of the Angels is NERV’s mission and they’ve all seen that LOTUS is capable of standing up to the things. Assigning it to work with us simply seemed like the best way to increase their odds of success.  ”But don’t you think the suspended EVA-00 alone won’t be enough to defend NERV HQ?” Une asks. Gendou stops short for a split second – is she aware of Dogma and its secret? She knows only a few things, after an independent investigation of the Preventers. Then she should understand that there’s more to this than what she sees, and Gendou says he’s only doing what he deems best face it all. He sees no problems with sending out the #01, and, plus, he’ll also be assigning the #00 to us after it’s reactivated. Of course, Une’s a bit iffy with taking the bot after it went ballistic. She wants to make sure that the #01 can be worked with, and Ritsuko’s on hand to help with that. While the events of the last battle are still under investigation by NERV, she explains that there’s always a non-zero risk of the Evangelion running berserk due to its inherent characteristics. But if it puts such a heavy burden on the pilot that he can snap and lose control, couldn’t they have made the EVA a drone mech like a Mobile Doll, Lady Une wonders. Unfortunately, Gendou explains, someone needs to be aboard for the EVA to generate its A.T. Field, which is in itself necessary to neutralize the Angels’ and allow engagements up close. Ritsuko also adds that since we don’t know what kind of abilities any Angel might hold, the A.T. Field is the bare minimum defense the EVA has against them. Une sees that it all comes down to NERV’s mission to defeat the Angels. Fine, she accepts the EVA-01 and Gendou’s son into the team. As the call ends, Fuyutsuki’s amazed by the Preventers’ intel-gathering capabilities. Or maybe there’s a mole in NERV? Still, Gendou knows she’s not an enemy, so it matters not what she does. Plus, he already imagines it’s “him” who’s feeding her intel.  Aaay, welcome to the job, Shinji and Misato (Ishigami’s got poppers, even)! Kouichi’s so very happy to have his buddy back, Shinji explaining to Shizuna how they went to the same school. Of course, Naoto’s also being celebrated today as the 48th crewmember of the Daiku Maryu – he’ll be taking over as the ship’s pilot until Rongo’s back to full. The kid’s stammering a whole lot, annoying Puria. Say it like a man! HE’LL BE WORKING AS THE DAIKU MARYU’S HELMSMAN! GOOD TO BE HERE! Better. Daiya’s a bit sad his friend ended up getting dragged into this, but is also glad to have him on board. Ozma’s watching on as we add more kids to the team, and Zechs suggests that he could always train them to alleviate his concerns. Ozma’s figures it wouldn’t do for a newcomer like him to try and drill the others, but Alice says he needn’t worry about standing on ceremony with this group.  Case in point, Misato’s happily introducing “her baby” to everyone. Shinji’s still a bit shy, but Kouji tells him to come on over – Quatre figures we’ll all be great friends. Naoto himself is already a fan, amazed at how much rear end Shinji kicked in the last fight – Shinji’s his role model now (that alone gets a smile out the kid). Shizuru herself likes the new additions – Shinji and Naoto are so cute, it’d make anyone want to protect them. Did she give up on the older men of the team, Shizuka quips? The age gap might be a problem, mind. No, she didn’t mean it like that. Regardless, Shizuka didn’t come here to have a laugh; she just wanted to check up on Shizuru, what with her having to learn how to work the Godannar, training Anna and whatnot. What, who does she think she’s talking to? This is nothing to Shizuru! Now, with how big LOTUS has been getting, Ishigami thought there’d be a lot of people around who wouldn’t know each other. So, he had an idea for something of an icebreaker: we’ll have a biiig welcome party, and, as a little game, everyone’ll showcase their secret talents! The whole event’s tonight, with Yui helping set it all up. Alice doesn’t quite know how to make sense of the weird turn things took, and Ichitaka wonders if he could go with some card or magic tricks…  Turns out JUDA’s got a whole shopping center within the building as a way to allow company employees to find whatever they might need without having to go all the way into town, Miu and Yamashita explain. And Ichitaka sees that they’ve got stores of pretty much everything, from regular groceries to luxury items. That makes this the perfect place for folks to find stuff with which to showcase their skills:
  : Okay, let’s kick off our welcome party for the newcomers to our LOTUS family! And I’d like to begin with a toast to everyone’s health and LOTUS success… Cheers!: Cheers!: *Chug, chug, chug*… Haaaah! Whoo! Now this is living!: M-Misato…: Now how about we start with our talent show?: Guess I’ll go first, then! I can recite all the stations in the Tokaido railway by heart! Tokyo, Shinbashi, Shinagawa, Kawasaki… : All the stations prior to the Second Impact…? It takes quite the expert to pick that.: We’re up next! Let’s rock! : OK! Hello, there! I’m Izuna!: And I’m Shizuna! We’re twins, but we don’t really go outta our way to look so much alike, see…: Still, every day someone comes over asking “Are you the boy? Is Izuna the girl?”: Yep, yep.: I guess it’s ‘cause I’m loudmouthed, always frowning and walking all awkward-like… No wonder folks think I’m a guy…: Yep, yep.: You’re not supposed to agree with me, stupid! Flying Drop Kiiiick!*Bash! : Ooow…!: Daaaah! Jumping! Piledriver! *Craaash!* : Gaack! : Wh-What are they doing…? : I think they decided to mix up Manzai with wrestling for something of a comedy brawl? : Well, it’s something only someone with a Factor’s healing abilities could do…: Carrying on, we’ve Rachel Calvin versus Kosuke Kita! The genius girl versus the brilliant boy! : I’m winning this one, Kosuke!: I say the same! : We’ll be asking questions from the grad school world championship quizzes of the past ten years. First question: who is known for the discovery of superc—: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes!: Correct! Second question: what diagram plots the absolute magnitude of sta—: The Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram!: Correct!: Not bad, Kosuke.: You, too. But this competition’s just getting started!: They’re not even listening to the whole question before answering…: I’ve the sinking feeling they’ve memorized all questions ever given in those tests. : What the Christ…: Let’s keep going with sweet Emi Kizaki’s magic show! And assisting her will be our very promising rookie, Kouichi Hayase! : Good luck, Emi, Kouichi!: Yup, leave it to me! : Good evening, everyone! For my trick today, I’ll be sawing Kouichi in half! : Ooh, the old sawed body trick…? Impressive! : When did she get her hands on a prop that big…?: No! As you can see, I am not using any props at all! : W-Wait a sec, Emi! Aren’t you really gonna cut me in half if you go with that?!: Don’t worry. I saw this show on TV and, much to my surprise, the severed body was as good as new when they put the box back together. : N-No, that was a trick! Emi, stop!: Dang, Kouichi’s really selling it!: I’m not acting! SOMEONE HELP MEEEEEE!!Some time later… : How’re things, Shinji? You settling in with the whole LOTUS ambiance?: I am, yes. Everyone’s looking like they’re enjoying themselves, too…: Though I was a bit surprised that you guys have parties like this.: You thought we were messing with you?: … Kind of…: Listen, our work here doesn’t really allow for any screw-ups. We’re expected to succeed, and if we don’t, the whole world’ll give us crap for it…: Most folks would probably say this isn’t worth the hassle. But, still, no one else could pull it off – only we can.: … I’m quoting Mr. Ishigami here, but I think it shows what we are, and why breaks like this are needed. : Here you are, Shinji. Having fun?: Ah— I am.: Hmm, yes, you’re sounding a lot more relaxed. Come on, then! Let’s go party, party, paaartyyy!: Guess you gotta, Shinji. I’ll see you around.: (Misato… and LOTUS… They’re actually good people…): (Ok, maybe I went a bit too crazy there… Still, a big party like this is totally where people’d get like that. Y'know, being transparent and all.)*Off they go.* : Now that I think about it… I don’t see Reiji anywhere. Where is he?: What’s up, Yamashita?: Wah! … Oh, it’s you, Alto. Don’t sneak up on people like that. (Alto and Reiji have the same VA): I wasn’t sneaking – you weren’t paying attention. If it was Reiji— : Do you need something, Yamashita?: Ah, Reiji! Where have you been? We got this whole party going on, and you ditch us like that?: We've just received a message from Kiriyama Heavy Industries - an invitation for the unraveling of their newest prototype. : Kiriyama…? It’s a new Arma, then?: … I think so. The CEO, Eiji Kiriyama, was very vocal of how it’d “change the course of history”. : Aah?: I should go and report this to Mr. Ishigami. Try not to take things too far tonight.: Y-Yes, sir!: (… If Eiji’s on the move, then…)
Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Jul 12, 2017 |
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Jul 11, 2017 21:17
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Very nice (and long) update. The screencaps from linebarrels really help to sell Emi's bit. Evangelion in L suffers because they have to try really hard to keep its plot on rails ("Only an Eva can defeat an Angel") but Evangelion has a lot of love poured into its spritework and animations. I can't bring myself to think of its addition as a negative. The good outshines the bad for me.
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Jul 12, 2017 00:35
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Brunom1 posted:
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Jul 12, 2017 03:29
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You know, for some reason I was convinced that Naoto was going to be a traitor or tragic villain or something. Becoming a bandanna wearing helmsman is probably better though.
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Jul 12, 2017 03:37
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 : Listen, we either cut back on the mysterious lighting, or outsourced our EVA storage. And I spent too much cash on these shades to not make full use of them. : It'll be fine. Now, child, grab this progressive knife and raise it to the heavens.  : Then proclaim with all your heart and soul: RISE, EVAAAAAAAAAA!
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Jul 12, 2017 03:45
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Brunom1 posted:
Did Mister Shouty really be sausages?
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Jul 12, 2017 04:09
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No Fuji-series ship going down as red shirt it is? Quite wasted opportunity not to put Fuji-2 as a carrier for Armas, I say.
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Jul 12, 2017 13:32
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 We’re back, and our top aces aren’t looking too different: Ichitaka’s got a small lead, though Kenji and Quatre and trailing right behind.  On the upgrades’ side of things, I’m still playing catch-up with the SMS crew. At the very least the main units now have a pip in their weapons.  For squads, all the Linebarrel mechs and the EVA-01 are event deployments, so we shift a couple thing around. Ichitaka and Quatre team up, while Tetsuya Kouji gets stuck with Jun (it seemed appropriate). Everything else is the same: Jeeg/Kyo Ichitaka/Quatre Iczer-1/Puria Kouji/Yagyuu Tetsuya/Canaria Ozma/Luca Alto/Michel Zechs/Noin Daiya/Yanma Shizuru/Anna Dick/Klan Combattler/Deceive Voltes/Mira Tetsuya Kouji/Jun Off we go.  We open up in the Quarter, where Alice just checked Sheryl’s old room and found it so very dusty. Michel says they haven’t really had time to clean up since the girl left, but Alice isn’t having it: this must be cleaned! The maid side of her AI’s flaring up, Quatre sees, and she wants to get started straight away. And, no, she needs no assistance! Well, alright, but Michel asks that she let us know if Sheryl forgot anything around here. “OK! Now, let’s see… Disorderliness level, confirmed. Room, IDed… Engaging!” Alice proclaims and gets to work. Seems to Michel and Quatre that all the combat exposure is having an effect on her maid AI.  Later, by the dorms, Ichitaka’s running for his and Kouichi’s first return to school in a while. As the two rush out, Quatre will also be tagging along – not only did the paperwork for his “transfer” not get processed yet, Emi’ll also be attending the Misaki Middle School now. So, he’ll be following as her bodyguard. It’ll be her first time going to school in this world, but Quatre’s certain she just needs to do as she did when getting together with LOTUS and she’ll get along with everyone quick. Shinji, however, won’t be coming with; he’s already moved to another school and, more importantly, he’ll be undergoing pilot training today. On that subject, Misato comes over to pick him up. With him gone, Rachel confesses to be a bit worried about Shinji: while no one expects folks be 100% adapted to this from the get-go, something still seems off with him. Like he keeps this wall around himself. Her train of thought’s interrupted when Alice arrives – she’s finished, and is so happy that she got to do some real cleaning after so long. That said, she DID find something in Sheryl’s room and is looking for Michel to hand it over. He’s likely at JUDA’s mall, Rachel figures, since he mentioned going shopping with the SMS crew.  And, indeed, they’ve just finished, though Ippei grumbles it would’ve been way faster if Megumi didn’t insist on browsing around some fancy stores. She was just looking, though, so shush: they still wrapped things up in time. And Klan suggests he accept the fact that some girls like window-shopping. Michel has a laugh at Ippei getting schooled by her, though shifts his sights to Alto: what’s he doing on his phone? Just some pre-briefing stuff. Hmhmm… and here Michel was, so sure that he was trying to get in touch with Ranka. Alto grunts that the girl’s too busy with her work to be easily reached on her cell. Why not send her an e-mail or something, then? Or would the content be too risqué? Something he wouldn’t want the army’s censors to see? As Alto denies it loudly, Alice finally catches up to them. She has something she wants to give Michel (hint, hint). Klan’s mind immediately runs wild, and she demands an explanation – what exactly would he be “taking” of Alice’s?! Calm down; it’s just about her cleaning the Quarter’s rooms. Klan breathes a sigh of relief, and hurries out along with Alto and the others. Now, Alice found something that she figured belongs to either Sheryl or Grace: a medicine capsule. Luca had told them that the girl was taking some meds, though the brand, “Witch Craft”, isn’t anything Michel’s seen at the Frontier. From Alice’s professional opinion, the med looks rather strong to be commonplace stuff – maybe it’s a Macross Galaxy brand? Michel takes it and will see if he can’t run an analysis to see what it is. Alice appreciates it as, while it may be strange for an android to say this, she has a bad feeling about it.      : Stealth disengaged. We finally have a lead on them. : Yeah…!: The island ahead might be a vanguard base for the professor’s kidnappers. And even if it isn’t, we should find some sort of clue in there. Let’s get going.: (I’d call it a win if we could at least figure our why they took gramps…) : There’re plenty of them.: And it makes no difference for the two of us.: Right, no one can stand up to us and the Straybird... Engaging. : We’ll deal with the remaining ones next.*Beep, beep!* : Hold on. I’m detecting something… : … A new model?: Still, nothing to make us falter. : Hmhmm. : Oh, now this is nice. The Imperial has just been completed and its debut battle is against him? Excellent. : Take a look, Prof. Grife: you’ve front-row seats to the battle between your grandson and the unit your genius helped perfect. : … : Your Excellency, do you wish us to continue analyzing his brainwaves…?: I believe we can skip that for today. This is such a special little show… we should let the Professor have the full experience, no?: …: We’ll start with the new one, then. Here we go.: Roger…! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWrv1AfcS4g  *Yuu gets tossed waaaay back.*  : Wh… What…?!: It read us like an open book…?!: Not just… That unit outguns us by a whole lot…!: That’s harmonie préétablie at work. There was no other way for this to end. : Can you hear me, little Yuu?: …! You’re my grandfather’s kidnapper…?: It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Please refer to me as “Mr. President”, if you would.: Why did you take him…?: I’m afraid that’s not for you to know. See, this bout just now proved that you two don’t amount to new “Potential”. : Hmm… but if you still want answers, I more than welcome you to grow stronger and try again. Of course, do note that depending on your actions, you may as well consider the Professor’s life to be forfeit.: Stop being cryptic and get to the point… What do you want…?!: That’s all for you to think very hard and figure out. : What will you do, then? Where, exactly, is the “Potential” that could save dear Prof. Grife, I wonder…?: Urk…! : Your Excellency, regarding the Imperial’s mass-production…: We’ve run plenty of tests, and the results are quite excellent. I say you may go ahead with it. And now… On the way to school, our folks run into a startled Risako – where have Kouichi and Ichitaka been? They haven’t come to school since Yajima’s funeral! Quatre tries getting her to calm down, but she was also worried about his absence. What happened? …And what about this girl that’s with them, the one who was shacked up with Kouichi?! As Emi stutters a bit, and Risako lets out a deep sigh. The three of them vanish from school, and, when next she sees them, they’re bringing along Kouichi’s girl… she’s feeling SO left out, and now even Quatre’s taking part in it! P-Please, she’s got it all wrong—  ”Heey there, Risako! Lookin’ pretty cute today!” this guy yells and walks over… and, yo, this new girl’s pretty cute too. She a friend of hers? Risako stomps that she doesn’t know the girl and tells him to ask Kouichi. And she runs off then and there. Oh, well! “Hey, there, miss! Mind telling me your name?” Emi Kizaki, and he is? “The guy with C- grades, A+ moves, and a master’s degree in love: Makoto Domyoji, at your service.” Now, Kouichi hasn’t been around of late, but he was kicking all sorts of rear end before, no? Domyoji’s heard how, from one day to the next, Kouichi got strong as all hell, and he couldn’t help but wonder: how strong exactly? Crazy strong. Stronger than him? drat straight – wanna see for himself? Absolutely. Kouichi asks Emi, Ichitaka and Quatre to hang back a bit (and not to help, in the latter’s case). Quatre’s not too keen on this, but it’ll be fine: Kouichi’ll just do enough to give this guy an idea of the extent of his strength. Kouichi moves to punch him, and he’s pretty fast... NOT! Domyoji dodges, counters and knocks the kid to the ground. “It can’t be…! Kouichi’s a Factor…!” Emi gapes quietly, as Domyoji tells him to get back up – wasn’t he supposed to be strong? As Kouichi tries and fails to connect a hit, Ichitaka turns to Quatre and asks what the hell. How’s he getting beat this badly? Well, Quatre’ll concede that Kouichi’s strength and speed are superhuman, but the way he attacks is… Kouichi gets knocked on his rear end again, and Ichitaka understands: Kouichi’s approach is all brute-force, and it’s blowing up in his face. Indeed, that makes him very easy to read, though Quatre’s still very impressed with the ease Domyoji manages to counter him.  Domyoji does concede that Kouichi’s pretty strong and quick, but he’s got no idea how to fight right. What a letdown. “In that case…” Kouichi grunts,” I’ll show you my real power! Come! LINEBARREL!” Yes, he went there. The mech materializes right in the street, and Domyoji’s jaw hits the ground – he told him he was crazy strong! Someone who’s less-than impressed, however, is Emi: what is he thinking, calling the Linebarrel smack-dab in the middle of town?! Erm… he wasn’t really thinking there. There’s one other thing, though:  : Yooo…! This is so awesome, Kouichi! : Ah?: This is that mech that’s been all over the news, right? The one who’s been protecting the whole world from terrorists…?: And you’re the big-time hero piloting the thing? For real?!: …: I know that face – I’m right, right? Wow, I had you all wrong. I… no, wait, we are gonna be your support crew!: “We”…? You don’t mean—: Yeah, I do: me, Emi, you and the transfer student here – Quatre, right?: (Me?!): (And me too…?!): Listen, I really wanna help. I consider it my responsibility as someone who knows what’s what now!: Domyoji… You say that, but I get the feeling you actually want in just to have some fun. : Not “some”! A whole LOT of fun!: Hah… Alright, sounds good! You’re in, Domyoji!: Nice! You can count on me, Kouichi!: (Wh-What just happened?! They were at each other’s throats a second ago, and now they’re friends just like that?!): We’ll do whatever we can to help you out… We are the Hayase Corps!: Well, hey, that actually sounds like fun! I’m in!: And, of course, I’ll be the Corps’ glorious leader!: Alright, then come along with me! P.E.’s up first, and we’re gonna tear it all up down there!: Hell, yeah!: Hold it right there, Kouichi!: Huh?: What about the Linebarrel? You’re the only one who can move it, and none of that explains what possessed you to call it here in the first place!: O-Oh, I forgot about that…: You… You’re positively despicable! Cut to Kiriyama Heavy Industries, the boss himself is counting the enemy forces gunning for Earth – the Cthulhu, Darius, Jama Kingdom, Mimetic Beasts and the Katou Organization – and how humanity had to lay the duty of facing all those on LOTUS’ shoulders. He’d like to take this opportunity to thank our present representatives for our work. But while he and his company do not doubt our capacity, it is simple fact that we cannot be everywhere at once – what would happen if the enemies attacked across the entire world? We couldn’t handle all that. And while the platoons of Armas that all nations deployed to face the Darius have been rather successful in their purpose, those are NOT strong enough to face the leaders of the Katou Organization or the Angels! Ritsuko, also present, sniffs that he was the one who incited army to send Armas after the Angel, and wonders if it was to help him advocate the necessity of his prototype. Talk about shameless profiteering. Regardless, even GREATER strength is necessary both to lift us from this dire situation and to protect the lives of the SDF soldiers on the field. It is with that ardent wish in his heart that he now unveils his new model – fruit of a wholly new design philosophy: the HFX-19 “Jinrai”! Yamashita seems impressed, while Reiji watches in silence, and Kiriyama proclaims that he’s set up a mock battle with the current Arma models the SDF uses as a means to showcase their capacity. We’ll see just how HUGE the difference is between them. And, indeed, the things tear the old Armas apart. Ishigami and Yotsuya see that Kiriyama's boasts are well founded.  Meanwhile, back at JUDA, Shinji’s running the simulator and wants Misato to up the difficulty a bit. Well, aren’t we eager today? Not really: “But I think this is what Kouichi and Ichitaka would do,” he says. Fair enough, and Misato won’t say no, as the sooner they can get Shinji acclimatized to the EVA, the better. As he goes on, Noin ponders the new kid: there are a lot of unknowns surrounding him. Tetsuya (Tsurugi) agrees, noting how he’s only been into combat once, and how, when he beat the Angel, he’d lost consciousness. Misato adds that piloting an EVA involves an extremely particular process. With that, she’d like to ask that the two drill instructors wait a bit before taking Shinji under their wing. Noin is very fine with that, as she couldn’t come up with a training regimen for someone who’s yet to grasp the basics. Inwardly, though, Misato’s ill at ease: the abruptness of how the Third Child was chosen, the Angel’s attack happening around the same time – almost as if in sync – and the order to transfer the #01 to LOTUS despite the fact that another Angel’ll come soon… So much feels out of place here. While Shinji, in the sim, recites “Target in the center, pull the switch”, another thing Misato didn’t expect is that he came up to her and willingly said he would pilot the EVA. Let’s just hope things will continue to go as smoothly.  Our group’s just returned from class, and Kouichi’s getting accosted by Rachel. What kind of idiot is he to summon the Linebarrel just because he lost a fight?! And she was in the middle of servicing the thing, too! Kouichi apologizes, though Shizuna has revised her opinion on his stupidity – for the worse. Quatre chalks it up to the kid not liking to lose, and while Goh says that’s a good thing, he still ought to use his head a bit more. Kouichi apologizes more. Goh’s one to talk, Anna quips, reminding how often he goes ballistic if he’s backed against a wall when fighting… granted, now he can’t fight AT ALL. Foot in her mouth, Anna says she’s sorry and silently kicks herself for not thinking before saying stuff, especially when she knows how much Goh’s hurting. Worse, the guy’s also silently drawing the conclusion that Anna wants Goh, the pilot. When Miu asks, Quatre explains that while Emi came back with us, Yui called her up to work on some combat data. Rachel very much likes Emi’s work: it’s fast and it’s reliable, so it helps the mechanics keep our units perfectly tuned.  The door then opens: “Excuse me, I’d like to speak with Kouichi Hayase of LOTUS,” says Hisataka Katou (!) himself. As everyone flips out over the enemy boss turning around, he also introduces his comrades Masaki Sugawara and Wufei Chang, which he figures will make for quite the emotional reunion for Quatre. As the Wing boys glare at each other, Kouichi demands to know what their enemy is doing here. Can he imagine the reason why, Katou wonders. How the hell could he make sense of whatever’s going on in their heads?! Well, that’s not good at all, thinks Katou, as the power of imagination is at the root of life itself. Imagination allows one to predict outcomes, to figure out what is or isn’t within your capacity, to plan for the future. “Those who lack that capacity are no different from livestock in a pen.” Kouichi and Ichitaka yell out a “what are you on about” in unison, and Katou tells them to imagine. Indeed, only with imagination will one be able to survive the coming era. Quatre turns to Wufei and asks if he shares in this guy’s vision – is that why he joined his Organization? Wufei says his views are the same they’ve ever been… this is a struggle for JUSTICE, and, moreover, he has not capitulated to the Katou Organization. What does he mean by that, Goh interjects, as the boss himself named him a comrade. “Hmph… I’ve nothing to say to a man who won’t fight,” Wufei sniffs, and Anna quickly gets in his face. Who the hell does he think Goh is?! Wufei tells her to shush, though, as this isn’t the time or place for her man to speak his mind. If she’s a pilot, she should understand what that place is. Back to Kouichi, he still doesn’t know what Katou’s here for. Did he sneak in just to make this insane speech? “No, I’m here for the Linebarrel, he says levelly. “Time and again we’ve tried to capture the Linebarrel. However, in the meantime, you have been developing as a Factor capable of unleashing its abilities… Which is why, as a sign of respect, I have come here to meet with you in person.”  Katou signals Masaki to give him “that”, bringing out a suitcase. A bomb?! Katou tells Shizuna that it is nothing so boorish – just a simple gift. The case is filled with Castella cakes! Oh, but would Kouichi and the others worry about eating something presented by the enemy? That’s fine, he’s more than willing to take a bite of one – it’s pretty good! Psh, like hell Kouichi’s scared of anything! He grabs one to eat… “Hrk! Aah, it’s spicy! Is… Is this curry flavored?!” Anna also takes a bite and, indeed, they’re all curry flavored. Not exactly what Kouichi imagined, is it? While its outward appearance is of sweet pastry, the contents aren’t limited to what we see. The moment one forgets to imagine, the world grinds to a halt. Kouichi ought to be more observant, more inquisitive, and more contemplative. And Katou shall provide him with the information he needs: “imagine, with your very own brain, what the future will look like.” What the hell is wrong with these guys? What are they after?! “To conquer the world,” Katou immediately answers. Now pay attention: all of the Machinas, Linebarrel included, in the hands of JUDA or the Katou Organization, as well as the tech used to restore this planet’s dead oceans following the Second Impact, are all byproducts of Over Technology that simply does not exist in this word. So where did it all come from? From a world in a different time and dimension. Our two worlds lie adjacent to one another, amid a recurring cycle of death and rebirth, each holding a unique history and never meant to interact. It is what we perceive as dark matter, and Katou and his peers call it the “Highly Probable World”. The high what now? Ichitaka can’t even wrap his head around the name. Regardless, the Machinas were sent here from that other world with the purpose of invading and, ultimately, subjugating it. As a matter of fact, the Katou Organization is meant to be the vanguard of that invading force – Katou himself having come to this world to lead the effort. That is to say, from our point of view, Katou is a visitor from a different dimension.  Kouichi turns to Izuna and Shizuna – did they know about all this? They all did, and were expecting Ishigami to tell him about it before long. Katou wants to make one thing clear, though: HE is the only member of the Organization that came from the Highly Probable World. All others are from this side, who simply share in his ideals. Shizuna sniffs that he likely tricked them into tagging along, prompting Wufei to scoff at her “woman’s rationalization”. “What’chu say, fivehead?! You wanna say that to my face and see what happens?!” CARRYING ON, Katou notes that with the might of his world, conquering this one would’ve been an absolute walk in the park… but there are a few special circumstances, certain steps that need to be taken. What does he mean? “If you want to know more, then I ask that you join the Katou Organization.” Shizuna asks if the guy’s trying to scout them, but no – his organization only needs Kouichi and the Linebarrel. Before any answer can be given, Rachel has a question for him first: what is the Linebarrel? It is clearly different from the other Machinas, in its D-S.O.I.L., its performance, abilities – everything. Of course it is: unlike the other Machinas, which are simply weapons of invasion, the Linebarrel was designed to be special from even the planning stage. Indeed, it was designed and constructed by a scientist known far and wide as a true genius: Amagatsu Kizaki. Wait, “Kizaki”? Indeed, Emi, who came to this world with the Linebarrel, is his daughter. In other words, she’s also a denizen of the Highly Probable World. That info hits everyone hard, and Kouichi has to ask: is she with Katou and his goons? No, quite the contrary: Amagatsu opposed them, and Emi took up his dying wish and came here. Katou does wonder if someone being from the other world is all it takes for us to question their bona fides. What do we think about the Frontier Fleet, then? Because they’re ALSO all from the same world as Katuo… isn’t that right, Luca?  Luca steps out of hiding, and asks Katou to clarify as he only got here halfway through the conversation. Hmm, Katou expected him and the Frontier’s brass to have already realized that they all share the same origin – was he wrong? Or maybe keeping the sorry state of their homeworld under wraps is how things work on the Fleet? Luca tries playing it cool, asking if he needs to answer that, but Katou quickly sees that he doesn’t really know what’s up. So he’ll give him a snippet of information to munch on: his group started taking action after the Frontier Fleed had already left Earth. When Masaki pokes him, though, he figures that’s all he’ll say. That’s good, because Kouichi’s already satisfied with the knowledge that Emi and the Frontier folks aren’t the enemy. Moreover, he would never join an invader from another world – he’ll destroy Katou and his Organization as a CHAMPION OF JUSTICE! Katou has a laugh at that: what exactly is justice to someone like Kouichi? “Shut your mouth! You killed Yajima, so what makes you think you’ve the right to speak of justice?!” Kouichi snaps, and him using the “J” word annoys Wufei. “Are you implying that you have that right, then?” One way or another, Katou says this is good enough for today – they will be seeing each other eventually, though. What, does he think he can just walk away from this? Absolutely.  Masaki gets on the phone and says that the commander is heading back. Right then, a ton of Armas emerge all around the place to cover the guy’s exit – when did all these manage to get here?! Wufei says our vigilance was shoddy (even we could pull a stunt like this), but what Shizuna doesn’t understand is why none of the alarms were set off. “Kouichi Hayase, if you wish to know the actual meaning of justice, then you’ll come to the Katou Organization,” Katou says and takes off. As Kouichi fumes, Goh confesses that he never imagined the enemy boss would come to JUDA in person – seems to Rachel that the power of their imagination is a whole lot higher than ours, then. Still, Luca says that the silver-lining is we managed to attain some critical information and wonders if the Frontier government might know stuff about the Katou Organization’s background that we don’t. More importantly, says Ichitaka, if folks managed to come to this world from the Highly Probable one, then it’s likely there’s a way for Luca and co. to find their way back. That’s a matter for another time, mind, as Kouichi wants to chase after Katou right the hell now!  The group that went to Kiriyama have just returned, and imagine Yamashita’s shock when he saw Katou Armas leaving the area. Reiji asks what they were here for, Miu and Goh telling him how Katou himself came to try and recruit Kouichi (Reiji goes silent upon hearing that). Regardless, Luca wants to report all we heard to Jeffrey, Lulu and Ishigami, and Ichitaka asks him to note the glaring security cock-up that happened here. We need to figure out how they managed to slip in without anyone noticing. Reiji says he’ll go over it later, but, right now, he wants everyone ready to deploy. Why the rush? Noin ponders that there might’ve been more to this “visit” than what we saw, and, right on cue, Yui sounds the alarm: the Katou Organization is attacking an Alliance base at Vladivostok. Ishigami notes that the troops that left here were headed that way too. While we don’t know what they’re after, it’s possible both groups will join up there, so we need to head on over as well. Izuna raises the point that the Alliance is kind of hostile to us, but Ishigami counters with the fact that our mission is to defend peace throughout the entire world. So even if the Alliance is the one being attacked, we have to prioritize pushing the Katou Organization back. Fair enough. And I think that’s quite enough for today. Oof! The rest of the mission should be up in a couple of days. See you then! Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Jul 21, 2017 |
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Jul 13, 2017 22:27
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I love the novelty of a villain just dropping by to explain his evil plots. It lead to the annoying trope of him getting away Scott Free because of ~master planning~ but whatever, at least he put on a good show. Also Wufei is still as big a dirtbag as ever, I see. Was this the last SRW to feature Wing?
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Jul 13, 2017 22:52
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HitTheTargets posted:I love the novelty of a villain just dropping by to explain his evil plots. It lead to the annoying trope of him getting away Scott Free because of ~master planning~ but whatever, at least he put on a good show. Linebarrels of Iron is surprisingly chill about the interactions between both sides. The manga at least, I'm not sure if the anime follows that beyond this scene considering how nothing Katou said here has any place in the manga beyond the existence of Kizaki Amagatsu. And no, it wasn't. L came out on 2010, Z2 came out on April 2011, just to give one example of a later game with Wing in it.
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Jul 13, 2017 23:08
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Ah, Domyoji. Like with Soubi, a couple of details regarding him have been rearranged for the anime. The biggest is that by this point in the manga, he's already been an unofficial member of JUDA for a while. He also plays a big role in recruiting Soubi in the manga by mostly being the voice of reason and helping Soubi to come to terms with being a Factor. So naturally the anime waits until after the point in the manga where Domyoji played a significant role in the plot to introduce him.
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Jul 14, 2017 03:54
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That whole bit about  IMAGINATION was so dumb, it almost loops around to being awesome.Almost.
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Jul 14, 2017 04:07
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Alacron posted:That whole bit about That's the entire manga. It's much more amazing than it sounds.
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Jul 14, 2017 04:47
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Alacron posted:That whole bit about Clearly his true goal is to find someone with the imagination to come up with names less terrible than "Highly Probably World" 
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Jul 14, 2017 08:45
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Alacron posted:That whole bit about Reason everyone in the Katou Organization is so crazy is because the guy has Imagine blasting throughout Shangri-La 24/7. It's getting Wufei especially on edge. Section Z posted:Clearly his true goal is to find someone with the imagination to come up with names less terrible than "Highly Probably World" The Quite Likely World.
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Jul 14, 2017 11:27
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If you're gonna have your villain stop by to have a friendly chat, you might as well have him be a fucker.
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Jul 14, 2017 12:10
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 Mission 12 – After-School Visitor   : We ran slightly late. The operation’s already proceeding as planned, I see. : This is where the first Sphere’ll be set, right?: That’s right.  : Want me to take out the rest of the trash, then?: … No, I’ll handle them.   : Hah, that’s the Glain-Neidr for you…: I’ll begin setting the Sphere. Take care of LOTUS when they show up.: Copy that… Come on over whenever you’d like, LOTUS...  : (Indeed, come, Quatre. If you say your struggle’ll save Earth, that is!)  : There they are! …Aah? Wait, it’s the Dancouga? : No surprises there. We can leave that one to the R-Daigun.: He’s right. We’ve no need to waste our resources dealing with it. : Seems we weren’t quick enough – they’ve the whole area under control. : And they brought a real big one along for the ride too. : Is it a new type of Arma…? : No time for questions now. Let’s try and wrap this up quick, before that pain-in-the-rear end turns up! Noooo, don’t do that! Send the Dancouga far, FAR away because you don’t wanna goad the Katou guys to attacking en masse – especially the new guys. The Dancouga can’t handle that kind of attention without Iron Wall, and, more importantly, you want them to hang back as much as can be. So insert two turns of me moving far, far away : first turn, only a handful of Armas start moving in; second turn, the rest of the smaller Armas (but not the named guys).  Player Phase!  : It’s—!: Yeah, there it is, alright – the R-Daigun!: Everywhere we go, it’s there… These run-ins of ours are trying my patience.: If you ask me, my patience wore out ages ago. So now we’re gonna wreck it along with the Katous, and get ourselves some answers!  : You talk a lot for someone who doesn’t understand the point of this battle… : Ah… It disappeared!: drat it, where is it…?!: I can’t get a bead on its location! It’s using some powerful jamming device!: Sure this is alright, Masaki? We’re also running blind here.: Yes, it’s fine. It’ll be over quickly.: “Quickly”? Now that’s a shame… The Dancouga finally awoke to justice, and I was so looking forward to making it slooowly savor how powerless it actually is.  : !! Behind us?! : Gaah!: Urk! I’ll handle this!: No, I’ll do it!: Not the time for bickering, if you can’t tell!: All of you, shut up!: And how’re you also getting angry going to help, Aoi? Calm down!: If being calm won battles, I would’ve become a frigging Zen master already! If we don’t do something, it’ll—!: You’re already panicking over something like this? What a joke.: …!     : AAAH!: Victory is mine. And, with it, the Earth will be saved… : We… We lost to the R-Daigun?: That’s…: Goddamn it! : Oi, it didn’t even finish ‘em off! : It won’t wield its blade against a foe which has lost the will to fight. The R-Daigun also trails the path of the samurai. (That’s where you’re wrong. Were that the case, it wouldn’t explain why it held back against them all the times they fought). : Well, the jamming’s gone. Get that Sphere set up already so we can go home, Masaki.: I still need more time to finish things. Carry on guarding the area. : And the Dancouga?: I need only set the Sphere – if that succeeds, everything else is a nonissue. Deal with it as you would.: “The Earth will be saved”…? How’s us losing going to save…? : I can’t… Everything’s… foggy……. : Are all friendly units already gone?!: And we got all the bosses hanging around again…: Shows how important this op must be to the Katou Organization.*Looks at the Dancouga.* : Is that the Dancouga?! It’s busted all over!: This is LOTUS speaking. Come in, Team D.*…* : Megumi, check for signs of life! : Already did, and they’re fine – just passed out, by the looks of it.: drat these Katous!: You shouldn’t jump to conclusions, Ichitaka Nagumo. It wasn’t us who attacked the Dancouga.: Huh?: This transmission… There, it came from that Arma!*Looks at the Glain-Neidr* : A-Are you serious…? There’s an Arma that stupid huge?! It’s bigger than the Gaiking, for crying out loud!: That’s no Arma… It’s a Machina, like ours!: What about that other new guy? Same with him?: The Talisman…! I heard the Katou Organization found and won over its Factor before JUDA could get to him!: You make it sound so bad… I simply realized that true justice lies in the future Cmdr. Katou’s guiding us to. : It’s truly regrettable that a man of your caliber wound up taking his side.: You say that because you don’t know how many times I was betrayed by your vaunted justice. I don’t regret any of my choices.: (I see… The reason for his distaste of justice and ideals is easy to grasp, once it is brought into the light.): It’s been a long time, Ishigami.: Masaki…: Eh? “Long time”?: I’ve picked up the torch you left behind. Now I lead the 1st Unit. : So you do… And since the Glain-Neidr’s out on the field, I presume Katou’s finally getting serious about things?: I suppose so. Do you think yourself capable of stopping our plan?: I don’t know what said plan is, but I’ll see that it goes nowhere with the full might of LOTUS.: Then it’s time to put our cards on the table.: Hey, prez… You wanna explain what that talk was about?: Save the chit-chat for later and focus on the mission – we’ve no time to waste now.  : Captain, I’m detecting an anomaly coming from the giant Machina. It’s generating some sort of dimensional distortion!: This may not give us anything, but try running an analysis! Lt. Angeloni’s report did say that their technology shouldn’t be too different from ours. *Boooweeeeep!* : … This is… Captain! It’ll only be a few minutes before space-time around that Machina is made permanently distorted!: What?! How long exactly?!: I can’t tell you for sure…!: Meaning we need to take that guy out ASAP or something really bad’s gonna happen? : And we don’t even know what the time to beat is? Well, isn’t that fun…!: Troops, focus all your fire on the Glain-Neidr! : Um… Shouldn’t I have deployed too?: Sorry, Shinji, but I want to wait and see how things are looking for a bit.: …Understood. : (I knew it… Misato doesn’t trust me either, even after I showed her that I was willing.): Change of plans, then. Yamashita, you’ll provide covering fire with your artillery strikes and gather intel from the battlefield with your Reflector Cores. Hayase and I will lead the charge against the Glain-Neidr; Kujo, you watch my six.: Yes, sir…!: The remaining troops will engage the defenders and the Glain-Neidr when possible. We cannot afford to concern ourselves with the Dancouga, understood, Nagumo?: Is that the only way right now…?!: Forward, then! Open fire! Mission Objective: Shoot down the Glain-Neidr Mission Failure: Any battleship, Reiji, Yamashita, Miu shot down, or if the Dancouga Nova is EVER attacked. So, yeah, ignore what Reiji said because you absolutely need to care about the Dancouga – if even a single enemy decides to take a shot at it, you lose. No, it makes no difference if you heal up the bot to full (I know from experience). One attack = game over. You can’t afford to be careful here: rush, rush, rush all your guys as close to the enemies as possible to try and give them other stuff to target (they like going after Reiji since he has more HP). At the first turn, you’ll only have a few guys get in place, so you’re at the mercy of the AI playing ball and going after your guys. After that, everyone should be in place and all you need to do is form a nice wall to block the enemy’s advance. And, if you’re curious, it makes no difference where Aoi was before the event: the R-Daigun’s attack will always knock her back to the same spot on the map. The first two rounds are the worst because while the Katou bosses aren’t too beefy, they all have command auras – so you’ll be staring at some decent %s. Once they start going down, though, things become a lot simpler. Masaki won’t move from his spot until turn 8 hits (no, you don’t lose since the even’tll happen anyway), so you’ll have to make the trek across the entire map. Now, a quick look at the new stuff the Katou Organization has brought to the table today:  Jack Smith Pilot Skills: Sword Cut Predict Commander L1 Prevail L4 Support Attack L1 Support Defense L2 Attack Combo L1 Salute this man, glorious Iczer-4! Jack is exactly what he looks like: just some guy, on foot, with a katana. While his stats aren’t as massive as Iczer-2, he’s still quite the fearsome “pilot”… That said, his single attack right now isn’t too powerful. Worse, it’s range is 1-3, so he’s easily sniped. Prevail L4 aside, he’s not too tough to bring down – just make sure you pack some hit % boosts, because that Predict + SS size combo (plus the likelihood he’ll be in someone else’s Command Aura) will make him rather difficult to hit otherwise.  Talisman (Soubi Nakajima) Pilot Skills: Factor Commander L1 Prevail L3 Support Attack L1 Attack Combo L1 The first of the Katou Organization’s Factors we have to face, Soubi doesn’t bring much we haven’t faced yet. As a pilot, he’s about on par with his peers, but with a slight edge on defense. The Talisman itself is a mix of ranged attacks and debuffs (mobility down), and is a bit bulkier than Sawatari and co., but still nothing we can’t handle. Just remember that he’ll regen some due to being a Factor.  Glain-Neidr (Masaki Sugawara) Pilot Skills: Factor Commander L1 Prevail L3 Support Attack L1 Attack Combo L1 Mech Features: Nullifies Beam Attacks And now we have Masaki, piloting the mother of all RB-79 Balls. Masaki is, BY FAR, the bigger threat here as you might expect. His stats are a whole lot higher than all the other Katou midbosses, and the Glain-Neidr is tough (though not as much as Sachiel). On the offense side of things, Masaki’s can either blast you with lasers or blast an entire area with lasers. Not very creative but the single target version will hurt if it connects, while the MAPW carries a +30 accuracy modifier and hits everything in a 5x5 area around the Glain-Neidr. Not fun. Only a handful of your guys can outsnipe him, so you’ll likely need to take a few hits on approach – just make sure you don’t get in his MAPW range before you’re going for the kill, and make sure you don’t use Beam weapons. Now, before we get going, keep the following in mind:  Secret Alert! Do at least one of the following:
Akurasu doesn’t mention the second option, but I checked two JP wikis and they both had that one noted, so I’m pointing it out. Granted, the first option is so much simpler and there’s absolutely no reason why you need to rush Masaki down, so I’ll be going with that one.  So, like I mentioned before, send everyone forward as far as they can go and right in the enemy’s face.      Miu finishes that one off.  And do keep in mind that, as ordered, Yamashita cannot be moved off that spot. He can still attack if stuff get in range, mind.  Enemy Phase!  The vanguard midbosses are moving in. : I am Soubi Nakajima, captain of the Katou Organization’s 2nd Unit! I’ve no personal beef with you, just so we're clear – this is all for the world that’s to come…!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPIONWogfPo He and Miu drop another two mooks that attack, while Kouichi slaps another pair away. Player Phase!  OK, so now we need to bash ourselves against the incoming tide and push it back – get rid of all the nearby mooks and get that wall of units set to prevent anyone from going after the Dancouga.  Oh, and here’s Shizuru and Anna’s combined attack. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1yplbML66M What, no DK? Guess it’s only for when Goh gets back in the thing.  Spreading out, Kouji and Alto’s groups claim the mooks Reiji and Kouichi previously weakened.  And the AI always likes to go for Ichitaka, so let’s bring him right up front.     Once you take out any of the named guys, get the Katou units under 11 or turn 8 rolls over…   : Hrm?! An ambush… They’re stealth?!*The four new Armas vanish.* : S-Stealth Armas? How the…! : I see how it is… These appear to be the same types as the one who showed up by JUDA HQ. : Meaning it won’t be easy to find them…!  : …!: They’re so fast…!: And they’re ignoring the Painkiller, going straight for the Vardant?! : Destroy the enemy from the top-down, starting with the leading units… A textbook approach, but an effective one.: RAAAARGH! Get away from Reiji!: Y-Yamashita?!*Yamashita dashes towards the new enemies.* : Don’t leave your post, Yamashita!: I… I should have noticed those units…! I was the one gathering intel – it’s my fault you’re in this situation…!: Yamashita, hold on! That’s—: GODDAMN IT!  : Uwaah!: …You imbecile! : R-Reiji…!: Why did you not listen to my orders?: B-But, Reiji, you…!: …  : R-Rei… ji…?: Now you’ll have to stay put. At least you can still serve as a turret.: I-I…! : … : H-Hey, I know Machinas are tough and all, but isn’t it still dangerous to leave him immobile?!: The mission remains the same. : Shinji?! : I should be able to keep him safe with the EVA’s A.T. Field… right, Misato?: In theory, I guess that’s right, but…: … Then I’m going in!*Shinji tags in with Yamashita, and the Stealth Armas blip back to Masaki’s side.* : (Wanting to wait and see backfired on me…): LtCol. Katsuragi?: I’ll talk to him later. I guess I’ll see how he does, and then decide what do to.: Understood.: Shinji, I already mentioned this during practice, but the EVA has a very limited energy supply to operate with the Umbilical Cable unplugged. : Remember that you can plug it back in if you’re next to any allied ship. And while you have several power supply buildings available when fighting in Neo Tokyo 3, you’ll have to make do without today.: …: (Is he listening?): Will Shinji and Yamashita be alright…? And we can’t lose Shinji either. That’s fine since the A.T. Field’ll hold well enough, but that is not the case with the Hind-Kind! He's at 10 HP and, if attacked, Shinji'll only be able to support defend him if the mooks decide to focus fire - if not, he's gone! In other words, heal Yamashita to full and carry on. It’s not an auto-game over if he gets attacked, but he IS still at 10 HP.  Shinji can’t move, either, but he’s got a new weapon for extra range – we’ll see it in a bit.       And Yamashita takes the kill, despite his gimped morale.  Jeeg and Voltes each nab a kill, Gaiking moving to further close our wall.       Boosh!  And here we have it. Soubi’s the only unit who can attack the Dancouga and, as far as I can tell, the midboss AI won’t go after it if there’s anything nearby. Next turn we’ll tear through them. Enemy Phase!  And I may have overestimated the Valkyrie’s mobility… or underestimated the boost the Katous get from each other’s command auras.         Ow. At least they’ve Prevail…  For instance, Jack gets a 50% chance to hit against Iczer-1, which I don’t think I’ve seen happen before!  Catch-all convo first: : LOTUS… Is a foe capable of satisfying me within your ranks…?And for Iczer-1: : I have heard that one of LOTUS’ collaborators came from space, and is a renowned swordswoman…: I understand now… You’ve modified your whole body – that is how you’ve gained this strength. : Indeed. And I now challenge you to see whose is superior…: As you wish. To arms!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJ0qQb47Yd8 And, by the by, if you wish to DISHONOR THE SAMURAI SPIRIT, you can still summon the Iczer Robo to this: : It is truly a shame… I’d hoped to cross blades with a swordswoman like you in the flesh.: Sure about this, Iczer-1? That guy’s looking like he really wants to fight you.: Well, I suppose dueling with him wouldn’t be an issue if you'll allow it.: That man… He strikes me as someone who fights and lives solely by the sword.I won’t be summoning it before Jack’s gone, though – that’d be absolutely disgraceful.  The other midbosses all lose a decent chunk of HP next. And the AI also follows the plan, Ichitaka and Quatre claiming 3 mooks.  Down south, Combattler and Shizuna are also big targets.       Two kills for them. Player Phase! And with a solid wall in place, most mooks wrecked or destroyed, all we have is spread and kill. Prioritizing a few midbosses will make things simpler as you deprive others from the command auras. A decent bunch of our guys now know Luck, so you ought to prioritize them getting the midboss kills (unless someone really needs the exp). Quatre’s my only Bless cast still, and he’s saving it for Masaki. Forward! : Much is said about your skill with the blade. We duel!: His physical ability is beyond superhuman… I accept. Come.  : Huh… No way! Is that a man?: Is that all the power of your imagination amounts to? I’d expected you to be somewhat different since you’re part of LOTUS, but it seems I was mistaken. What a pity!  : Th-The hell? Am I going crazy, or is that a guy?!: My strength far exceeds that of a Machina! Prepare to meet your end!: Yo, are you serious? The Katou Organization has their own Iczer-1?!           : There’s nothing to be gained by staying here further… That said, I shall at least bring the blue Machina’s head back with me.*Jack rushes the Vardant down!* : He’s after Reiji?! Oh, no, you don’t!  : What…! He parried them?!: Throwing daggers… A fine prize, these. I trust you’ll allow me to borrow them for a bit.: …!! Kujo, pull back!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3WojUkXfW8  : That wound… So that’s why you’ve such extraordinary physical ability. : … : Your body itself is an Arma… : Allow me to introduce myself properly: I am Jack Smith, captain of the Katou Organization’s 6th Unit… And you are?: Reiji Moritsugu, Head of JUDA’s Special Forces and assigned to LOTUS.: Reiji Moritsugu… I hope we’ll have a chance to duel again someday. Farewell! : The guy might look like a regular person, but he sure as hell gave us a lot more trouble than one. Talk about a tough fight. : You should try and fight a Zentradi with that attitude and see if it lasts, Alto.     Heey, Izuna learned Attune from that.  Dmitri can’t keep on going, and is forced to back off. Daiya’s rather miffed that despite how important this whole thing seems to the Katous, we still have no idea what they’re actually trying to do. But Sakon tells him to chill, as it’s his and the other eggheads’ job to figure it out.         That’s too much punishment for Sawatari’s Arma to take – time to head back. And he better stay gone, roars Kenji.     And that’s all Yulianne can enjoy for today, “unfortunately”. If anything, Misato’s impressed with how skilled they are at making their escape – shows that they’re really pros. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Sep 28, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 00:16
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnRCdhnCChc Oh, and here’s Shinji’s better weapon right now: a big ‘ol gatling gun. It even gets a dynamic kill! : The Vardant… this’ll be a tough enemy to fight. Still, I can’t just let you through here.: That’s fine. I’ll just make you back off.  : Factor of the Painkiller… I need you to die for the world that’s to come.: I’m also fighting for the world… and that’s why I won’t stop! Ever!: Then, come! I’ll make you sing some beautiful tunes!  : Our main target’s that chubby Machina, meaning we ain’t got time for any others!: But it’d be really dangerous to ignore the Talisman because of that!: You’ve an idea of how dangerous I am, I see. Now let me give you some pain to match that!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGqek2Q4iOM And here’s Soubi’s best attack. : So now I’ve to fight the famous Linebarrel, huh? Your regenerative abilities seem pretty high… but I wonder how long that’ll last you.: The Linebarrel isn’t your run-of-the-mill Machina, guy! You’re about to get an eyeful of the power of JUSTICE!: Justice this, justice that… You know, you’re starting to turn my stomach!      Kouichi: “Why the hell are you helping out these creeps from another dimension?!” : Ho-hum, I wanted to mess you guys up, and now I’m the one who got messed up…: Oh, well. I guess I’ll just wait for my next shot with bated breath. : Soubi Nakajima and his Talisman… We’ll be fighting him again, it seems. : What is the Katou Organization up to, Wufei?! I don’t mean to deny your justice, but there’s absolutely no point to this battle!: You’ll know if it really is pointless or not in due time. Now fight me!: Wufei!: That’s enough of your yammering, Quatre!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnFFBWavsDc Quatre: “Wufei… I guess we need to fight after all.” Wufei: “If you can’t grasp the point of the battle I wage, then your peace is bound to crumble to dust, Quatre!” : LOTUS! The Spheres being set and Katou’s actions overall are essential to the world at large! I’ve looked into his eyes… and I am fully convinced of it! : Huh? Wufei… What did you mean by that?: “Spheres”… Maybe those are related to the dimensional distortion the Katou Organization’s causing?: (I’m also convinced of something, Wufei. That you’re, once again, fighting for the sake of the world…)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGMBcfEkNr8 By the by, while clearing out the Stealth S Armas, I took the time to show off ANOTHER Gaikign combined attack. This is the new one he got with Puria when she switched to the Superior Stinger! After those guys are done, it takes a few more turns to get all the way across the map to reach Masaki. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6wJKnL6vUg And while that’s happening, the guy decided to take a potshot at Kouji. Right after this, turn 8 rolls around:  : It’s...! Space-time is settling in its distorted state!  : Huh? What’s that black orb thing…?: drat, we were too late!: Our mission is complete. All troops, withdraw. : Belay that. I think you’re slightly confused, Masaki. The order now is: “Stay put and carry on fighting.”: But Commander…: We can’t leave the Dancouga at large. And with the R-Daigun gone, we must take it upon ourselves to dispose of it.: But, of course, exercise a modicum of restraint. I’m in no way interested in losing any of my precious captains.: … Copy that. : Hm… He still wants to fight?: Better for us, then. More of them we wreck now, the easier time we’ll have down the road!: Troops, continue your offensive while still taking care to protect the Dancouga!: Don’t get in our way, Reiji Moritsugu. That’d be what’s best for the world.: … I cannot do that. Rather, I’m putting a stop to you!    : I’ll also do my part against you!: Painkiller, a point-defense model of Machina… Your M.O. with it is inefficient.   : Hey, fatso! I’m coming to pull the plug on whatever the crap you’re doing to space-time!: And if you don’t stop, there’ll be some awful images coming into your mind!: Go right ahead – if you can, that is.    : I’ve no idea what you people are up to, but I’m putting a stop to that distortion!: … The Linebarrel. Kouichi Hayase.: (I though he was just an average boy… but the Commander assessed him as having “exceeded his imagination”. What convinced him of that?)    Masaki counterattacking: “That’s quite the inept Factor you chose, Linebarrel.” Jerk! I just forgot that the big Executor blast still counts as a Beam attack!  Speaking of, Goh points out the Beam immunity – gotta use weapons that aren’t that. Moreover, he sees that the thing can attack over a wide area, so we can’t stay clustered up. Game, I’m starting to think you don’t trust me. Kill!      : We lost more than our original estimates, but the objective was still met. Retreating. : What’s the situation, Monica?: No signs of any hostile. The battle’s over.: So… Did we win?: I wonder… They did manage to get that weird thing in place. You could well chalk this up as a loss.: Still, we just need to trash the thing and it’ll be all good, no?: I seriously doubt that. The Katou Organization wouldn’t have left it here if it could be so easily destroyed.: Rachel, can you put together a research team to investigate this orb… the Sphere, I think the called it. : Yep, they’re already headed your way!: Then let’s take in the Dancouga and wrap this up fast. Hanging around an Earth Alliance base could come back to haunt us later. : Woops, I don’t think sooo! : Wha— They had another stealth Arma around?! : How do you do, LOTUS? The name’s Riku Ousei, captain of the Katou Organization’s 8th Unit. I came here to test the power of your imagination.: And seeing how confused you’re looking, I’m guessing none of you could imagine my plan.: Riku Ousei, you said? What are you going to with the Dancouga?: Imagine, why don’t you? Or maybe I’ll just tell you, since you’ll see it in a few seconds: the Dancouga is about to get sprayed all over the countryside by my Yaoyorozu’s Shinkahia orbs!: And you think we’ll just let you do that?!: Naoto!: Aye, aye! Piercing Zolmanium Bullets, fire! : Heheheheheheh…: What the— It didn’t even scratch him!: You guys really don’t have any imagination at all. The thing that exploded there was the Yaoyorozu’s special armor – I imagined you’d try something, so I came prepared.: ‘Course, it won’t hold forever and then I’d be in trouble… So how about I go and pop the Dancouga in a real pretty explosion right now? Buh-byyyeeeee! : Wuh?!: It’s you whose imagination is lacking.: Who said that?! Show yourself! : You’re… The R-Daigun?! But why? Weren’t we on the same side?!: Why don’t you go and imagine the why? : Wh-Wuaaaaaaah!  : What just happened?!: That red bot from before showed up and saved the Dancouga… At least that’s what it looked like. : I don’t understand…: Shinji, you guys OK over there?: Y-Yes. We managed…: …: Yamashita, I’ll come speak with you later.: Reiji, Yamashita’s… Wait, hold on! You’re injured! Was it when that guy, Jack, attacked…?: It’s no problem – I was born without a sense of pain, you see. Small injuries won’t stop me from doing my work.: We’re heading back to JUDA. Recover the Dancouga, Evangelion and Hind-Kind ASAP.And here are the convos we didn’t get – Yamashita didn’t get a chance for any of his, since they only show up before the event: : Hey, Horns, you’ve gone a bit on the straight and narrow, haven’t ya?: drat straight! I’m not the same man I was before!: Heh, ain’t that something. Then get here and let’s see how much fun this new you’ll be!-- : Linebarrel… I’d previously held back due to my orders, but no more!: I’ve finally figured out how I really should be using my powers. No way in hell I’m getting dropped now! Bring it!-- : Hey, there, Linebarrel boy… I’m here to play again.: Sorry, but I’m in a hurry. This is gonna have to be the last time we fight!-- : The way you fight bugs me like no one’s business, Vardant!: … A calm and precise analysis of the situation is necessary to accomplish one’s mission. Becoming emotional is the way of failure.: Drop the act, guy! I can tell you’re just like me!-- : Reiji Moritsugu… Your swordsmanship is said to be the best in LOTUS. Show it to me!: Fine. Let it carve into your mind, along with the horror you’ll feel!-- : Oh, dear, Reiji… Are you going to fight me?: … Of course I am. Come on!: Do go easy on me, hunk…-- : An artillery Machina… Meaning you can’t really do anything if I close the distance, right? What if I just don’t sit still, even? : I can’t leave this spot…! Reiji told me not to!-- : Whaa?! A man? But… my sensors are picking up an Arma…: You cannot free your mind of bewilderment… Then die!-- : Time passes, and your slow rear end is always lumbering around. I’ll make this quick!: Close-range battles might not be my thing, but I’m another proud member of our Special Forces! I’m winning this!-- : Start shooting, boy. Do you think you can hit me?: Getting a kick out of me, eh…? You better take me seriously, or you won’t live to regret it!-- : The Machina with the Reflector Cores… I’ll be ending you, and stopping your data collection!: Not happening! What you’ll be doing is getting a taste of the Hind’s full powe!-- : Gather intel from the battlefield and provide artillery support… That’s the job Reiji personally assigned me, and I will see it done perfectly!-- : You won’t be conquering any of the world while we’re still around!: You’ve got poise, girl, I’ll give ya that. But you still ain’t messing with our Op!-- : Imagine, oh, powerless one. Imagine your suffering and defeat at my hands!: I won’t be beaten, and I won’t surrender! Here we go, Painkiller!-- : Hmm… Reiji had someone cover him? Now that’s rare.: Do you know him…?: We’ve at least known each other for longer than you have, girl.-- : Wh-What’s up with you fighting us on foot, pops? That’s some bad joke right there!: Your confusion is understandable, but I will still spare you no quarter!-- : That’s the captain of the 4th Unit, sis!: I know, I know! Blast him with the Nerve Crack and we’ll sort ‘im out later!: Your illusions ain’t gonna mean jack if the cords can’t touch me! Get over here!-- : I can’t let them get any closer to the Glain-Neidr!: Too bad for you, we’re real stubborn – you’re not stopping us!: We’ll be bringing an end to your operation!-- : And what could a non-combat Machina do to me? Could you at least make for a little bit of fun, I wonder?: You’re really gonna be sorry ya underestimated us! Izuna, show granny a big, ol’ nightmare!: Got it! Here goes! At JUDA, just as Ishigami was calling the Dragon’s Hive to inquire about the red Dancouga, he received a message from Tanaka’s boss transferring the Dancouga Nova to LOTUS. Quite the surprise. Tanaka does apologize for the suddenness of it all, but the transfer should’ve occurred a long time ago – things took longer than expected because of the bosses, see. Ishigami isn’t mad in the slightest, considering how often Team D already helped us on their own, but the timing of it all is at least curious. Tanaka can’t well answer that, what with him not being in on the take. Either way, Ru (the shrink) will also be headed our way soon, and Tanaka needs to get going – he’s got another call. Ishigami did notice something odd in this conversation: Une said Tanaka answered to F.S…. but he just mentioned having “bosses”. Who’s the other one?  By the infirmary, it’s up to Alice to tend to the Dancouga folks, much to Aoi’s pain. Still, she’s got to get it all patched up quickly. At least the silver lining, thinks Kurara, is that no one got hurt too badly. Still, they made it through only by the skin or their teeth and it was a complete loss – Johnny and Sakuya aren’t happy. Since this is a rare chance to speak to them outside of battle, Goh would like to ask why exactly they’re fighting in the first place – none of us know much about the Dancouga or its mission. Well, as luck would have it, Aoi says they don’t know either. They just get orders on what to do, and even their handler gets those from the top. Then, Miu asks, they wouldn’t know why the Dancouga suddenly started going all champion of justice, instead of just prolonging conflict like before. Johnny says they wondered that shift themselves, but haven’t gotten any answers yet. And speaking of sudden changes, Ishigami calls in to relay the news of their transfer to LOTUS. It happened out of the blue, sure, but Ishigami points out that he and Lady Une had been trying to make this happen for a while now. Kurara sees no issue, considering they’d already been ordered to fight with us several times before, but Aoi’s still annoyed that the boss (as always) made this call without caring anything for what they want. They’ll just have to make do with that as part of their mission as CHAMPIONS OF JUSTICE, Ishigami shrugs.  Fine, Aoi’ll go along with it so long as stuff’s exciting! “Exciting”? Pretty much, yeah: all of Team D look back on the lives they lead before being scouted/kidnapped to be the Dancouga’s pilots and think this job is WAY more exciting than what they did. Well, they’re a lot more blasé about things than Alto expected. Why does he think that? Kurara needs only take a look at the hot blooded Tetsuya (Tsurugi) and Hyouma glaring over to see why. They are kind of breaking the mold, huh? Well, Aoi’s “sorry” to have dashed their expectations and, on that matter, the loss to the R-Daigun isn’t hitting her particularly hard. They’re still annoyed, mind, but not broken over it. Goh’s not feeling that “I WON’T LOSE NEXT TIME!” vibe coming from them, but Aoi assures him it’s not like that. Like she said, she’s excited for another round with the R-Daigun. Now, she turns to Alice and asks if they’re free to go. Well, she’s patched them up enough, so it should be fine… In that case, Emi beckons them to come with – she’ll show them to their rooms. With them gone, Shizuru ponders their uninterested attitude. Kouji’s not about to complain about molds being broken, but it still a bit weird to him.  Reiji, meanwhile, is taking Yamashita to task, asking why he left his post. He was worried about Reiji, yes, but the guy himself doesn’t remember ever assigning him to support him – that was Miu’s job. Plus, it was his actions that led to Shinji violating his own orders to help him. Surely Yamashita can see that. Speaking of Shinji, while Misato’ll say that he did a good job fighting today, she also can’t praise him much for it. Things turned out fine in the end, yes, but that doesn’t justify what he did – were that the case, Yamashita wouldn’t be in this situation either. Shinji’s looking rather sullen now, but Ichitaka tells him to keep his chin up – he did good. The boy’s determined to keep working at it, at least. That’s all Reiji had to say (Yamashita’s really bummed out), but Kouichi isn’t letting it end like that: “What’s so bad about folks worrying for their friends”?! It hampers the execution of their mission, that’s what. Kouichi isn’t taking that answer, but he’s interrupted when Tsubaki runs in. She tells him and Ichitaka to stop fawning over the Dancouga and come help her buy another batch of sushi for Ishigami... Oh, Reiji and Misato are here too? Yes, but they’ve already said what they needed, so Misato sends them off. And, hey, Shinji considers himself a proper man, right? Then he should go and help Tsubaki carry the groceries as well. Alright, he’ll try, and, when asked by Ichitaka, Yamashita slowly says he’s good to help.  Mishima has just gotten back to Cathy regarding some stuff she asked him to look into. Both Brera and the Galaxy Fleet are tagged as confidential, and he didn’t have clearance to look into them – he’s “very sorry” he couldn’t be of help. And what about the info we discovered about the Katou Organization being the vanguard of an invasion from their own world? Mishima professes to have been very surprised by the revelation that it is possible to make a controlled jump from one world to another. That’s given them a glimmer of hope and Prof. Kentarou’s looking into it. But that’s not what Cathy was asking about, of course. What she wants to know is why there isn’t any information on the Frontier’s databases about Katou’s parent organization being from their Earth? Because it’s top secret, obviously – in truth, even Mishima isn’t fully aware of the situation. What he does know for sure is that, at some point after the Frontier set sail, their Earth came under attack from an unknown force and the conflict drew to a stalemate. And what did he do when he found out about that? Well, the Frontier’s government obviously got in touch with the New United Nations Government, but the guys simply ordered them to keep going about their business – it would’ve been dangerous to stir things up further. Only a very small number of people, including Pres. Howard, have been able to contact Earth after that, and even then they don’t get decent responses. Do note that, with contact with the Earth government effectively cut off, the approval of the use of Reactive Weapons was left at the discretion of the fleets’ highest authority.  Regardless, that’s all she wanted to ask Mishima about, and he has another appointment to take care of. “I apologize for how abrupt this was, Leon,” Cathy nods, but he just hopes that was enough to alleviate our concerns as we need to keep up our good work on the front lines. With the call over, two things bother Cathy: one, he didn’t correct her for calling him by his first name while on official business (as he usually does), and, two, he was clearly lying to her face regarding Brera. Mishima’s not his normal self, clearly – he seems anxious, excited. And while Cathy doesn’t know what he’s hiding, she’ll do what she can to find out.  And Quatre’s just finished reporting on what Wufei’s up to. He doesn’t think he’s turned traitor, rather, he’s hoping the guy’s infiltrated Katou’s group like Trowa and the Alliance. Une would like to believe that too, but we’ll just have to see. With that, she asks Ishigami to gather up everyone as she has something to tell us.  And so he does. What’s it all about? Well, Une has some bad news for us: it’s not circulating in the media just yet, but intel’s just came in that Relena’s been missing for a while. Last anyone heard of her, she was going to lodge a formal protest with the Alliance for their attempted nuclear strike on the PLANTs. Does she have any suspects, Kyo asks, and Une says it’s very likely the Alliance is behind it, though they haven’t any solid leads to move on anyone yet. Still, Zechs already sees Djibril’s hand behind it all. Next up, regarding the “Sphere” the Katou Organization set up in the previous battle, Sakon relates that the research team we sent over reported that the space inside the thing is wholly closed off to the outside – there’s no way to interact with it. And while Rachel mentions that they could confirm that there’s some object inside it, they don’t know what it is. Sakon hypothesizes that that Sphere could be kind of like a Death Cross Point to the Katou Organization’s main force, something that’ll enable them all to come to this world? Well, Maki says these could be the “certain steps” that Katou mentioned – they set up a surveillance system to watch the thing around the clock, just to be safe. Not knowing what’s up with that thing makes it twice as ominous to Ichitaka.  Only one last subject to touch on: Ishigami would like to explain his relation with the Katou Organization. Tetsuya himself wanted to inquire on that, and Kouji asks if what Masaki said about succeeding him as the captain of the 1st Unit was true. Ishigami knows that we’re likely asking ourselves if he used to be one of Katou’s men – would we like to know the truth? Very much so, as Dick wants to clarify whether he’s a traitor to the Katou Organization or to us; and while Goh understands that secrets are par for the course at the top of big groups, this is something that needs to be clarified. Fair enough, so here’s the truth: Ishigami used to be one of the top officials of the Katou Organization, and all the Machinas JUDA currently has (barring the Linebarrel) were stolen by him when he left their fold. Nagisa’s appalled that their boss turned out to be one of the bad guys, but Izuna asks her and a dumbstruck Kouichi to hold on. He’s not with them anymore, which is why he helped Lady Une with LOTUS and all, right? Ishigami begs out forgiveness. He didn’t want to keep it a secret for so long, but this isn’t something easy for him to speak of – back then, he seriously believed that Katou would bring peace to the world. “Oh, how young and foolish I was!” Ishigami howls, and no one knows what to say to his over-the-top melodrama. Still! Ishigami says that even if mistakes were made, anyone can take their remorse to heart and start over! Kouichi protests that he can’t handwave all that away just like that, and Shizuru agrees: he can’t just act so nonchalant when he could’ve come clean about it all this time.  Tetsuya (Tsurugi) isn’t also 100% convinced by Ishigami’s story, though he says we’re all free to gun him down if he ever turns traitor. There’s no need to be so distrustful! Lady Une says she can vouch for him… though she admits one could easily take her, a former OZ operative, of being in cahoots with him. Daiya does raise the point that the Daiku Maryu’s Captain Garis used to work for the Darius Army; Iczer-1 herself is also a traitor to the Cthulhu people. And Johnny also figures we can’t give Ishigami too much crap for being nonchalant, since that’s pretty much how he always is. Ishigami bawls that everyone’s so mean – hasn’t he been working so hard to help them all become good friends? All of his pranks were especially planned, out of LOVE, for that! “Hey, your parties are fine and all, but I’m gonna pass on the pranks!” Ichitaka objects. Fine, no need to let this revelation change what’s been working just fine. Kenji at least is glad that folks eased up, as he couldn’t handle everyone being on edge… mind, Mido figures he could still stand to actually be a bit more serious about things. Blah, why do stuff always end up biting him in the rear end? Maybe it wouldn’t be like that if he changed his ways, Tsubaki says.  Finally, Ritsuko calls in right then to let us know that they’ve finished repairing the EVA-00 – Ishigami likes, as it’ll make for another boost to our forces. Moreover, she tells Misato that Rei’s all healed up and ready to fight, so she’ll be coming over as well. That’s great news, especially considering how hurt the girl was last she saw her. Ishigami’ll set up transport for Neo Tokyo 3 tomorrow to pick them up, some supplies and to finalize Shinji’s transfer to the new school. Misato thanks him, and is anxious to see Shinji make new friends there.  Cut to Shangri-La, Masaki’s congratulating everyone on the good work today successfully setting up the first Sphere. Sure, but Sawatari knows this means they’ll be working to get more of the things placed throughout the world. Yulianne asks if he can’t explain to them what the Spheres’ are being set up for, but Masaki just goes silent. She and Wufei ask why the silent treatment. Is this above their paygrade, maybe? Sawatari himself is also curious as to what Masaki and Katou are up to. Furthermore, Dmitri and Soubi point out that all of them are here in this Organization because they’re endorsed Katou’s cause as their own; surely it’s not asking much that they also be in on the take, right? Being somewhat mysterious about things is good as it leaves some room for their imagination to run wild, Yulianne concedes, but the incessant secrecy can lead to misjudgments like Riku’s. And as a result, they lost the Yaoyorozu. Masaki assures them that Katou will explain everything when the time is right – he couldn’t take that away from the commander. Sawatari and Yulianne sniff at being given the run-around, so Masaki concedes to telling them something: the Spheres will set the future of this world in the proper path. So be at ease and know that Katou’s ideals will not betray them!  : Soubi Nakajima… I see now the reason for your contempt towards justice...: I also saw something today: you ranting about your own justice again. : But the Commander is leading us to “true justice”, no? Will your personal justice take you down the same path as it, I wonder?: I don’t know if it’ll be the same… but I am fighting in the name of true justice. : Well, don’t worry – I won’t dismiss your dear justice. We’re comrades, after all.: Hmph… Me, comrade of a man who’s forsaken the illusion he called justice? Don’t be ridiculous.: Excuse me…?: Does your brain still work? Then use it and ponder the essence of yours and Katou Hisataka’s justice…!*Wufei leaves.* : … Cut to Katou’s office, he’s apologizing to Riku for not having imagined what he was going to do. Riku takes the blame upon himself for going against his orders and deploying without permission – all because he deigned to imagine what Katou himself wanted. Katou says his imagination isn’t to blame, though Riku will have to work with a regular Arma for the time being. That’s fine, and the guy leaves to try and improve his imagination.  Katou gets called on the phone by, strangely enough, a woman named Vladimir. She called to explain the R-Daigun’s intervention – she didn’t want it to happen, but there was no other way. See, while Vladimir would have liked to have finished the Dancouga off then and there, “he” wouldn’t have been too happy about it. Regardless, she says her plans are already 80% complete, so they’ll be laying low for a bit. That’s fine, and Katou asks her to wish the pilot a good vacation. Vladimir doubts the girl will actually rest, what with how busy she is. True enough, Katou laughs.  Finally, at the Dragon’s Hive, Tanaka ponders how the Dancouga will be facing even harder battles now, but F.S. says they MUST grow stronger and stronger if they’re to prevail against “them”. “If they do not ascend as high as they must,” F.S.’s hidden friend mulls, “it will mean the end for everything.” Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 04:46 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 00:17
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Brunom1 posted:
Your list is broken here. Brunom1 posted:
I'm guessing this is meant to be the other Tetsuya, considering the "Dannar" there. Also, you keep calling that guy piloting the Talisman "Soubi Nakajima". That can't be Soubi, even if that's the Talisman, his personality and alliance are totally opposite to how they should be. I suggest we call him "Notbi" for the time being. And forever. In less "gently caress the anime" things, a bit of a question: you keep calling Moritsugu by his first name, as well as having Yamashita and the others do the same. This is not how it goes in the manga, where only one recurring character actually calls him Reiji, and he's Moritsugu at any other time. The game itself seems to call him by his last name as well, as if my very low knowledge of Japanese isn't failing me, the first kanji of his name (at least in-battle) is "mori". Is that an actual change in the anime in comparison to the manga, or is it something you went with for some reason?
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Jul 16, 2017 01:08
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Blaze Dragon posted:Your list is broken here. Eerr, it's just one of those things. The west doesn't really do the whole "call someone surname-san as a show of respect". Thus, I just run it as the first name since this is how folks would speak like over here (and to avoid confusion). Plus, I'll always be referencing characters by their first name anyway. Usually the only exception I make is when it fits the character's personality (like Reiji), or Evangelion since I'd probably be lynched by the fandom if I had Rei and Shinji refer to each other by their first name.
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Jul 16, 2017 01:16
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If you thought Jack Smith fighting people with only a katana was crazy enough, the manga version of his duel with Vardant goes a little differently. For starters, he manages to punch Vardant in the face....  And hit hard enough to knock Vardant over:  (Oh, and Shinobu is a member of JUDA in the manga, not a member of the JSDF like in the anime, by the way) But probably the biggest change is that since Painkiller and Miu do not exist yet in the manga, Jack goes for the more badass option for his finishing move: use one of Vardant's swords!    He still loses as we saw above, though.
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Jul 16, 2017 02:22
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AradoBalanga posted:If you thought Jack Smith fighting people with only a katana was crazy enough, the manga version of his duel with Vardant goes a little differently. So, what I'm seeing here is that Jack Smith is pretty much the coolest guy in Linebarrels?
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Jul 16, 2017 02:29
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Jack Smith looks like he walked right out MGR: Revengeance and I absolutely love it  They're really going all in on this IMAGINTATION thing aren't they? Was that a thing in the manga, or was it another invention of the anime?
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Jul 16, 2017 02:44
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Brunom1 posted:So, what I'm seeing here is that Jack Smith is pretty much the coolest guy in Linebarrels? In a world where everyone fights using giant robots, he is the robot. Coupled with him having actually a pretty reasonable personality unlike some of his peers (Sawatari, Ousei), it makes him extremely likable. So yeah, he's basically the coolest guy in Linebarrels. Alacron posted:They're really going all in on this IMAGINTATION thing aren't they? Was that a thing in the manga, or was it another invention of the anime? That and what a CHAMPION OF JUSTICE is are basically the two main points of the manga. And for all it's...not working here, it becomes far more tolerable and interesting once it's actually explained in the manga. That said, this is based on the anime, so I'm not sure what to expect.
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Jul 16, 2017 03:00
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Linebarrels is ridiculous but its brand of absurdity seems to be tailor-made for SRW. The mention of "Spheres" as a thing they can use to travel between dimensions makes me think that we can add "No Linebarrels" to the list of series Z3 could've included and done something interesting with but didn't.
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Jul 16, 2017 05:51
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GimmickMan posted:Linebarrels is ridiculous but its brand of absurdity seems to be tailor-made for SRW. The mention of "Spheres" as a thing they can use to travel between dimensions makes me think that we can add "No Linebarrels" to the list of series Z3 could've included and done something interesting with but didn't. Next episode, in Z3: Katou hires Ru Riruri as his shrink to help deal with his stress over some black-clad jerk keeps stealing his Spheres. Turns out she's Ime in disguise, and is also stealing his Spheres. Master plan is delayed indefinitely. Blaze Dragon posted:In a world where everyone fights using giant robots, he is the robot. Coupled with him having actually a pretty reasonable personality unlike some of his peers (Sawatari, Ousei), it makes him extremely likable. So yeah, he's basically the coolest guy in Linebarrels. Waiting on a game where Jack, Master Asia, Domon, Alberto the Shockwave, Rom, Raiden and Sam can hang out. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 14:29
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Kouichi must awaken the ORION OF JUSTICE to defeat the Imaginative Big Dipper.
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Jul 16, 2017 14:43
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I always appreciate a little more Revengeance in my life.
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Jul 16, 2017 19:51
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Brunom1 posted:
Vladimir's name is spelled weirdly, isn't it? The first character doesn't have the dakuten that turns U into VU, so it would actually be more like Uladimir, or Wladimir.
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Jul 16, 2017 21:45
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Montegoraon posted:Vladimir's name is spelled weirdly, isn't it? The first character doesn't have the dakuten that turns U into VU, so it would actually be more like Uladimir, or Wladimir. Not quite, ウラジミール IS Vladimir's most common spelling in kana (though there are a small handful of links with ブ instead). Edit: Although, taking a quick look at things, there's a spelling variation which is Wladimir, but that's really one of those tomato/tomahto things. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 21:58 on Jul 16, 2017 |
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Jul 16, 2017 21:53
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Got a new mission coming and, as usual, it's pretty big. Considering how long this page is running, I'm afraid I'll have to request that 7+ posts be deployed. Sorry, but this one alone already took a long time to load, so I'd rather not add another 186 pictures to it! 
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Jul 18, 2017 22:31
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I'm helping!
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Jul 18, 2017 23:08
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It might be weird to shift gears after 3 LPs (plus change), but I actually liked how the last mission was split. Missions are pretty long in this game, and a lot of times I'll be reading an intro to a mission and wanting to comment on a particular line or scene, only to forget about it by the time I get to the end. And even if you don't want to do that, then this post is still one more towards a new page
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Jul 18, 2017 23:08
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Linebarrels: Manga good, anime bad. Read manga. Please.
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Jul 18, 2017 23:11
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Alacron posted:It might be weird to shift gears after 3 LPs (plus change), but I actually liked how the last mission was split. Missions are pretty long in this game, and a lot of times I'll be reading an intro to a mission and wanting to comment on a particular line or scene, only to forget about it by the time I get to the end. Aye, I'll be posting like half today and the rest tomorrow to make it easier to follow. vvv Edit: Sorry, I worded that poorly - I meant it as you say. Brunom1 fucked around with this message at 23:22 on Jul 18, 2017 |
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Jul 18, 2017 23:17
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It's not necessarily that it's hard to follow, more that I think it promotes discussion.
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Jul 18, 2017 23:19
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You mean I have to take Introduction to Super Robots again!? I thought my credits from MXU carried over!
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Jul 18, 2017 23:24
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