#Blue Origin first stage landing failure

[talkoftitusville]

FAA Requiring Mishap Investigation For Blue Origin Stage 1 Landing Failure

As expected, the FAA is requiring an investigation into Blue Origin’s New Glenn’s first stage failure during its descent towards an attempted landing in the Atlantic Ocean: While it is unlikely that any property or persons were placed in danger by the failure event, this is a normal requirement for any launch failure by a commercial launch provider that is not operating under a NASA or DoD…

[vaelerius]

i read and re-read an article by Jessie Burton on writing when i need help;

When I talk to readers about my books, they often ask me how I actually do the writing. It’s never an easy question for me to answer, because it’s a very elusive process and I’d quite like to keep it that way. I don’t look too closely at my unconscious, I leave it be and wait for it to make offerings which I take and run with. Writing is not scientific; you simply have to get the words on the page. You don’t need acres of hours every day – sometimes it’s more effective (and healthier) to write for only thirty minutes. But you do have to keep writing. And then you have to edit, cut, re-write. And do it all again. And again.

Writing happens in an absence; physically you are at your desk, but mentally you are elsewhere, for days and months on end. If you put the hours in, then you will truly understand how solitary a job it is. I often say that writing is an exercise in failure. This is not meant to be as negative as it sounds; I just mean that what you see in your mind’s eye is very unlikely to come out identically on the page. Perfection does not exist and accepting that will set you free. And you may be pleasantly surprised! My original idea might have fizzled, but there will be something in the work I’ve done to take me forward.

When you read these pointers, please bear in mind that everyone works differently. When it comes to finishing your novel, there is no template you can follow except the patterns of your own mind. All novel plans are an illusion. Rules are there to be broken. Follow your gut.

1. There will always be someone better than you

I find this comforting. It’s liberating. You just keep doing what you’re doing, and let everybody else get on with their business. Because somewhere, someone is looking at you in awe.

2. Don’t fixate on ritual

There’s a romance about writing that just won’t go away. We have to drink fresh coffee in our turrets, we have to write at dusk to the sound of a trilling blackbird, in a kimono. I wrote The Miniaturist at any hour of the day, in offices, on the train, in theatre dressing rooms. I wrote The Muse looking like someone had just dragged me backwards through a bush, and I mainly ate crisps. If you wait for a room of your own, you’re going to be waiting a long time. Some people need silence, some people need noise. I just needed the words on the page.

3. Write what you want

Do not write for the market and do not underestimate the power of personal passion.

4. First draft blues

Here’s the paradox: you will not be able to truly write your book unless you have written your book. GET. IT. OUT. YOUR. HEAD. Everything will probably change later – that’s fine. At this stage, accept deep imperfection. If it’s a mess, so what? If the characters aren’t behaving themselves, big deal. If the layering and nuance isn’t there, why would it be? You’ve only written it once. You are only human, you simply cannot monitor your pace, your tone, your fifty-five characters, your imagery, your themes, your atmosphere in the first go. All this will come in subsequent drafts. So be kind to yourself in these early days. But don’t stop. Do not stop.

5. NO. DON’T STOP.

6. Read it out loud

I did this five times with The Muse – exhausting, but helpful. The brain, when you read silently, often corrects things for you. It’s only when you hear the rhythm of your sentences aloud, does your choice of words fall, or clear the hurdle. Muddy images, unintentionally repetitious adjectives, things that just don’t *land*…the list goes on.

7. Accept when something isn’t working

There will be other solutions. If your car was stuck against a brick wall, would you keep revving it in the same direction?

8. You’re going to be rejected

Back up your passion with this acceptance: Not everyone is going to like it, some people are going to truly loathe it, and no one will care how hard you’ve worked. But one day, someone will give you some help, or a chance. And you’ll be ready by then to take it.

9. Ask yourself, ‘why am I doing this?’

It’ll help keep you focused. For me, writing my first novel was an act of hope. I wanted something in my life to change. I wanted to write, and I wanted to be published. I wanted to see if I could make it work. But now I know that it was the act of writing, not being published, that saved me.

10. And finally:

Writing is a leap of faith. But how wonderful that the person you’re putting faith in is yourself.

How fucking annoying is it when you feel so restless with creative energy but you can’t decide what to do with it and when you finally try to create something it comes out shit so you just give up and sit there being all creatively annoyed and jittery.

[usafphantom2]

Two more Su-57s are seen during delivery to the Russian Air Force

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 02/08/22 - 12:00 pm in Military

Two new Su-57 built in 2021 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation factory (KnAAZ, a subsidiary of the Sukhoi Company PJSC) with the red numbers "02" and "52" during an intermediate landing at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport. (Photo: NSKPlanes)

Two new Su-57 built in 2021 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur aviation factory (KnAAZ, a subsidiary of the Sukhoi Company PJSC) with the red numbers "02" and "52" during an intermediate landing at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo Airport. (Photo: NSKPlanes)

Novosibirsk aviation observers photographed two new fifth-generation Su-57 fighters, which made an intermediate landing at Novosibirsk Tolmachevo airport on February 3, 2022, while they were transferred to their bases in the European part of Russia.

Judging by the photographs of NSKPlanes personnel, the two Su-57 jets manufactured by Sukhoi have the red numbers "02" and "52".The Su-57 aircraft with tail number "02 red" bears the emblem of the 929th State Flight Test Center in honor of V.P. Chkalov of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in Akhtubinsk (Astrakhan Region) and apparently is intended for this unit. Remember that the first serial Su-57 fighter (T-50S-2 aircraft, serial number 51002) produced by KnAAZ received at the end of January 2021 by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation received the number "01" (originally blue), and, according to known data, was also transferred to the 929th GLITs in Akhtubinsk.

The second Su-57 aircraft, now photographed in Novosibirsk, has the number "52 red" and had previously appeared in a KnAAZ promotional video, but with the tail number "52" in blue. Interestingly, this aircraft in Novosibirsk carries the registration number RF-81775 on its keels. Previously, this registration number RF-81775 was briefly used during deployment in Syria in early 2018 in the last and tenth flight prototype of PAK FA - the T-50-11 aircraft with tail number "511".

It can be assumed that the new Su-57 with tail number "52 red" can enter the 4th Order of Lenin of the center for military testing and personnel training of the VKS in honor of VP Chkalov of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation at Lipetsk airfield.

At the end of 2021, KnAAZ delivered two Su-57 fighters in series to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, which corresponded to Sukhoi's planned task. These two Su-57 aircraft transferred to the Russian Aerospace Forces presumably have serial numbers 52201 (T-50S-3) and 52202 (T-50S-4), and are the third and fourth serial production Su-57 built by KnAAZ.

In August 2018, at the International Technical-Military Forum "Army-2018", the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the PJSC "Company" Sukhoi "signed a contract for the supply to the Armed Forces of the first two fifth-generation Su-57 series fighters with "first stage" engines (product 117) in 2018-2020. In June 2019, at the Army-2019 International Technical-Military Forum, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and the Sukhoi Company PJSC signed a contract for the supply of a total of 76 fifth generation Su-57 series fighters to the Armed Forces (including the first two aircraft contractors from 2018). The term of the contract is 2027.

The first standard Su-57 aircraft, built in KnAAZ, made its first flight in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in early December 2019 and was planned to be transferred to the Ministry of Defense on December 27, but on December 24, 2019, in the final phase of factory tests, it fell as a result of an accident, presumably due to a failure in the aircraft's control system

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several air events and operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has works published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. He uses Canon equipment during his photographic work around the world of aviation

Cavok Brasil - Digital Tchê Web Creation

[getawarrant]

Yeah, it's definitely a different approach to rocket R&D from the standard. Just look at Blue Origin as an example of what's more in line with doing things a more traditional way. They started in 2000, two years before SpaceX, and have just started doing launches in the last 10 years. In 2015 they had the first launch and landing of the New Shepard, then 6 years later, in 2021, the New Shepard had its first crewed mission. Then this year, they had the New Glenn launch for the first time and reach orbit.

Blue Origin has made a point of doing all the R&D on the ground before ever launching a rocket. So you never see them with spectacular failures of test vehicles, but it takes so much longer before they even put one vehicle up. So while Blue Origin's products are, as of now, extremely reliable, with 10 space tourism launches on the New Shepard as of Feb 25th, their products are not cheap and take a long time to come about.

Looking it up, I can only find 7 actual mission failures of one sort or another, of SpaceX rockets. The first 3 launches of Falcon 1 in 2006 and 2008 (remember, SpaceX was started in 2002), then two Falcon 9 in-flight failures in 2015, and a pre-flight failure when a rocket exploded during a propellant fill op in 2016. The 7th failure did not result in loss of a rocket, but just loss of payload after deployment- a LOX leak lead to the disintegration of an engine during a planned second burn of the second stage, preventing the payload (Starlink satellites) from reaching the target orbit. All other 'rocket failures' by SpaceX have been during testing when they are testing new things and in some cases, testing to see if a change will cause a failure as they would expect. According to Wikipedia, as of today, April 4th, 2025, "rockets from the Falcon 9 family have been launched 470 times, with 467 full mission successes, three failures, and one partial failure." The pre-flight failure is included in the three failures.

[47-shades-of-hitman]

In Your Likeness | Chapter 5 - A sliver of humanity

“Hey, you down for a run?”

Agent 47 looked up from the folder Diana had given him and saw you standing on the threshold, hands on your hips. Your hair had been tightly tucked behind your ears and instead of your usual Assassin’s attire, you now wore a somewhat more casual fit.

“Why not.” he said, standing up and putting away the documents.

You hummed and plopped down on one of the available chairs.

“Well then, I’ll wait here for a bit until you’re ready to go.”

He frowned. “Wait for what?”

“For you to put on your training gear, or something more breathable.” you said.

After a moment of silence you turned to him.

“You aren’t going to tell me that your plan was to… To run in that suit?”

“What’s wrong with that?”

“Well, a lot actually.” you explained, “People will stare. Besides, it’s very hot outside.”

“I function just right in this no matter the heat.”

You arose from your seat and crossed your arms, opposing him. “It looks ridiculous. A man sprinting in a suit like that through ancient Jerusalem. Tell you what, we’ll take an alternative route instead.”

Agent 47 wasn’t sure what you meant – “Alternative route?”

Instead of answering, you turned on your heel and left the room, the hitman soon following. He easily caught up to you and in silence, you left the Brotherhood’s quarters.

Despite the scorching heat, you broke out into a slight jog to warm up.

“Do you do parkour?” you quizzed upon approaching a wall.

“Excuse me?”

You flung yourself onto it, grabbing ridges and bricks that were sticking out, climbing up with practised ease. In about six seconds, you stood on top of a two-story building, peering over the edge to see what was taking him so long.

“I’m not sure if I…”

You pointed at the drainpipe on the side of the wall, shrugging. “Just use that. You’ll learn.”

47 climbed up and dusted down his slacks right after. “Heavily reliant on scaling buildings, aren’t you?”

You chuckled dryly. 

“The Assassins have been doing that since the beginning of the Brotherhood. If anything, it’s one of our most important skills. It’s a fantastic way to go from A to B unseen, and way quicker at that. I don’t carry them on me at this moment, but on one of my bracers I do have a grappling hook which I can use to my advantage.”

Walking over the flat rooftops, you hopped from one house to the other, staying out of sight from balconies and cameras.

“The beginning of the Brotherhood,” Agent 47 repeated. “How far back does it date? Golden Age? Middle Ages?”

A laugh fell from your lips and you jumped down a ledge before propelling yourself up a higher wall, gripping the edge. After hoisting yourself up, you turned back to help 47 out, but he managed just fine on his own.

“No, 47. The Brotherhood of Assassin originates in ancient Egypt.”

“Egypt?”

“In the time of Cleopatra. The Hidden Ones were the first ones, but no one knows who they really were. Eventually, it grew out into a Brotherhood for people carrying out assassinations and protecting our employers. Long story short: through the ages, we spread all over the world. Greece, Italy, America, France, England… You name it.”

47 let out a sound of surprise, since he had never known that it dated so far back.

“Our cause was to fight for peace above all things. Protect the people who needed us to do so. Working in the dark to serve the light. Our motto –  nothing is true, everything is permitted .”

You halted and looked out over the Wailing Wall, folding your hands on your back. Taking in the sight of Jews gathering to pray brought a sense of serenity.

“We fight for peace in freedom. And in that, we differ from our enemies, the Templars, or their more public name nowadays, Abstergo Industries . Once founded in the early thousands, set on claiming back the Holy Land under a veil of Catholicism, but under the surface, a whole lot less to do with whatever peace the church preaches. The Order of the Knights Templar once believed that peace could only be gained through oppression of lesser people and dictatorship.”

You shuddered even though the weather was far from cold – thoroughly appalled by the idea of them.

“And eventually, it became an institute of rich men seeking to become more wealthy and powerful. And then came the Pieces of Eden. Of course they already existed, but the more modern war about them, I mean.”

For a moment, you looked over at 47 to see if he was still listening. His eyes were as blue as the sky and made your heart skip a beat. Every time you saw that colour you remembered that they were the bluest shade you had ever seen.

Deciding to proceed walking, you stepped away, 47 in tow.

“I promise I won’t bore you for any longer.” you said, “If I’m talking too much, just say the word.”

“Well,” 47 began, “I was the one who asked you to teach me about the Brotherhood of Assassins, did I not?”

Your lips quirked upward and you exhaled. “I suppose. Tell me about you first, it would only be fair.”

“If you insist.” he said, “At the moment, I work for the ICA. It’s an organization handling contracts given by clients. I’m their hitman for particularly difficult jobs.”

“Like seeking out a secret organization created by both of our enemies.”

“Correct. As you know, I’m genetically made to be the best assassin one can create, with a very low failure rate.”

You hopped down a few roofs and reached a lower wall, where you jumped off, landing on the cobble street. Your conversation hadn’t made you able to do some parkouring through the town, anyway.

“Since you told your story quite quickly, I shall make mine short, too. I killed Ort-Meyer, who created me through his experiments, wanted to leave the world of killing by living with a priest, but eventually, he got kidnapped and I was pulled back into the trade. After all, I barely know how to do anything else.”

A large grin spread over your face as you two walked down the street, pushing past a few tourists in the process. “A priest? Never expected you of all people to take interest in such things.”

“I tended to the garden.” 47 explained, unsure why he was telling you this – after all, he barely knew you and whatever he was telling could be used against him, for he couldn’t be seen as weak.

But your eyes were kind and glimmered in amusement as you looked at him.

“Look at you, the one purely created to take lives, tends and cares for it.”

47’s gut twisted in confusion at the lack of humour in your voice. Where he had expected you to mock him for it, you were inexplicably accepting. “I suppose.” he mused.

“And here we are.” you added. “This way.”

You guided him outside of the ancient city and went uphill for a while, the Mount of Olives at your right hand.

“The Pieces of Eden, then.” 47 reminded you.

“Oh, yes.” you breathed, “The Pieces of Eden grant the holder great power over others. The Templars want those artefacts for themselves, so the Creed countered by making it their duty to do all to prevent that. And if we know where those artefacts are, we can keep an eye on them, take them to hide them away and most importantly, avoid conflict.”

“Avoid conflict? That clashes with our current mission.”

“Well, if it  can  be avoided. We’re not afraid to fight for it. Peace through freedom, I mean. Sometimes force is needed, and so it shall be done.” you concluded, shrugging a little.

“And you, what is your story?” 47 quizzed as the pair of you halted on top of the Mount of Olives. You were slightly out of breath because of the heat, holding your hand above your brow to shield yourself from the sunlight. The golden Dome of the Rock stood shining brightly.

“I’m (Y/n) (L/n), thirty-five years old, Master Assassin of Jerusalem’s Brotherhood. Nothing that you don’t know of.”

Agent 47 huffed. “That’s not what I meant.”

“Why the interest?” you softly quizzed. “It’s not that it matters.”

“You said you wanted to become acquainted.”

You smirked, folding your hands on your back, closing your eyes to enjoy the light of the sun on your cheeks.

“I was born into the Brotherhood, like my father and his father’s father. Needless to say, we have a long history in the Creed. Not the most prominent or anything, but quite famous. My father’s side of the family consisted of ruthless Assassins, living for their trade. My father fell in love with a young female Assassin and married her – my mother. They had my brother, Joseph, and me. All was well and my parents were loved by the Brotherhood, but one day, my father died while on duty.”

Your voice faltered upon ending your sentence, and you looked at your boots for a moment, exhaling deeply. “I never really got to know the man who he was behind the blade. He trained us, and everything I know, I know from him. In hindsight, he was more a mentor than a father. I respect him greatly, but I never felt like I was his daughter. I suppose it’s a bit strange… Well, not for you. In theory, you killed the man who put you onto this Earth.”

Agent 47 hummed, breathing in the scorching air.

“And your mother?”

“She’s in Thailand, in a retirement home set up by Assassins. There she can live her final days in peace, try to forget about the passing of her husband and her son, but with her later stage of Alzheimer’s, I’m not sure where her emotions are at the moment.”

Gesturing to the side, you told Agent 47 to head down the street.

“What happened to Joseph?”

You halted in your tracks, a few tourists that had been walking behind you nearly bumping into you, muttering something angry in what you recognized to be Spanish –  Perdona , you murmured, shaking your head before resuming your walk, albeit at a quicker pace now.

“I don’t like to talk about it.” you said, “Maybe another time. I’ve already told a lot about myself. Enough for now. We should get to actually working out, now.”

Breaking out into a jog, you started running down the street, passing by tourists every now and then.

“Do you often run?” 47’s voice was unusually steady given that you were dashing forward at quite a pace.

“As often as I can. Keeps me fit.”

He hummed in agreement. “Can’t argue with that.”

You went running through a few streets before speaking again – “Mind if I spice this up a bit?”

Before 47 could respond, however, you were already scaling a high wall on your left, pushing yourself up with practised ease. He spotted a drainpipe and sighed in acceptance, soon following you up the roof.

When he finally vaulted onto it, he saw that you were already a few buildings away, leaping from one with so much as the bat of an eye.

“Are you seeing this?” he asked, then realizing that Diana couldn’t hear him – after all, he wasn’t on a mission and thus he didn’t carry his trackers – and he knew that pursuing you wouldn’t bring him anywhere. Another thing he recognized was that he lacked an important skill he hadn’t realised he didn’t have, until now. You leapt further and further away, gracefully so, as if you were dancing.

Where he mostly blended into the crowd, hiding in plain sight, you were away in the blink of an eye, gone with the wind.

You looked over your shoulder, seeing him just stand on the roof where you had left him. He was watching you with an odd posture, as if he wasn’t sure what to make of your antics.

Smirking, you shook your head, resuming your trip back to the headquarters. Bouncing to the edge, you peered down the side of the roof to see if it was all still clear, and upon seeing that the bushes were still soft and plump enough to fall upon, you spread your arms, diving off.

Agent 47 felt his stomach churn in shock, his breath hitching as he watched you jump. As if snapped out of a trance, he darted to the end as quickly as he could, immediately figuring out the importance of scaling and parkour in the speed at which he was currently going.

He came to a halt at the edge and leaned over it to find you standing with your arms crossed, raising an eyebrow at him.

“I thought you…”

“Hm…” you replied. “Come on, let’s get back to the headquarters.”

47 slid down a drainpipe and walked up to you.

“That was… Impressive.” 47 stated as you resumed your trip back to the base.

“Thank you.” you mused, “That dive was a  Leap of Faith. Took a long time to master.”

“I can imagine.”

You turned your face away, smiling in amusement.

Even though it was tiny, a bond was starting to form.

These months were going to become interesting, you figured.

[farelian]

Galactic Quarrels: Lift-Off

There it is, standing atop of a launch platform in the grassy plains of the Sahara, the first intergalactic spacecraft of the UTF. The Green Sahara project is one of humanity’s most ambitious project they have ever pulled off, turning the desolate desert into a green, vibrant with life, forests, and fertile soil. 

Drawn on the side of its hull is the UTF Flag, and under it, painted with bold white text is “TFS Ambition” Besides the construction of the domes, this, is humanity’s greatest achievement in history.

A white hunk of metal pointed at the sky, ready to spearhead humanity into a new era of intergalactic exploration. Engineering and land crew scattered across the field and landing platform, dwarfed by the massive starship and its open cargo ramp revealing it’s dark cargo hold as vehicles drive up and down the ramp transporting the necessary components and rations the crew needed for their journey.

In its center, is the Hyperdrive, the pride of human inventions. The hyperdrive can open a subspace tunnel to its destination and travel through it almost instantaneously, well, that’s what it’s expected to do. With no prototype testing, everyone was certain that the ship is just a massive metal death trap, even the High Marshall of the UTF is doubting the hyperdrive’s hypothesized capabilities.

This entire event can be humanity’s proudest moments, or humanity’s most embarrassing, and catastrophic technological failure in centuries. The crowd formed a few kilometers away from the launch site is in the thousands and the assembled stage for the highest-ranking crew members stood strong under the heat of the African sun. UTF, UNE, and ROF representatives sat in their VIP seats on the front, while senior officers and the chosen crew sat behind them.

The UTA government is a Representative Democracy with militaristic influence. Each human government in its borders must choose officials to become representatives at UTF meetings, these meetings will be sent up to the National Council where a group of twenty UTF council members will converse with the representatives. The decisions in these meetings will then be sent up to the Marshalls, this group of nine people will answer to the High Marshall.

Every citizen has the right to vote, with each Marshal and the High Marshall having a service term of twenty years where a national election will take place on every human world to vote for the next High Marshall and his/her Marshalls.

Marshall Oprinchuk Nil Vladislavovich walked up to the stage wearing his ceremonial uniform that consists of a military black suit, the UTA Emblem on his upper left breast and a red and black with three white stripes armband on his left arm. He proudly stood in front of the audience and VIPs, other marshalls and part of the national council are here. He looked down at his wrist, a holographic projection of the script he has to read for the speech.

The blonde-haired man with blue eyes took a deep breath, as his hands hold the lectern. “Ladies and Gentlemen, in this glorious, and joyful day, we are gathered here to witness the launch of humanity’s first-ever intergalactic starships, the TFS Ambition. Years of technological innovations and development lead us straight to this moment, where humanity will finally achieve its dreams of sailing across the black sea we call space, the final frontier.”

Vlad paused and looked at the crowd, all silent, filled with patriotism and pride of humanity. “The ship and her crew will embark on a journey, like none other. They will explore the great unknown as the first pioneers of intergalactic travel. They will explore distant stars, explore countless systems for the greatness of humanity and uncover the mysteries of the universe.” Several flashes of cameras taking pictures and live footage of the speech broadcasted across Sol.

Broadcasted all over the world, every restaurant, every mall, every pub and homes, everyone is watching. “These men and women will spearhead us to a new age, of exploration and technological wonders. On their journey, they will face many dangers previously unknown to us, but they will fight through it with courage and bravery,” Vlad leaned forward on the lectern, closer to the mic. “The time has come, the time where the universe meets humanity with all of its might, the time where humanity ascends into the intergalactic stage

I wish the crew of the TFS Ambition good luck, bring humanity into a golden age of technological ascendancy, and prosperity. Thank you” Applause erupts from the crowd, and howling of the excited civilian filled the staging grounds. Vlad walked off the stage and the applause drags on. Taking a seat back on the VIP section, he let out a sigh of relief. The young Marshall’s heart, no older than 28 years old, was beating in fear of messing up the speech.

He received a nudge on the hip from his side, he looked over to see Marshall Jane Honner, the more experienced and prideful Marshall, smiling at him. “You did good kid”

As the applause ends, another man walked up to the stage. Wearing a green army uniform similar to the Marshal’s uniforms in design. The man wearing it is a hardened-veteran, white-bleached hair and a scar-filled face, General Wolf Stone. Walking to the lectern, he holds the edges with his hands as he looked on to the crowd. He breathes in, then started. “I am honored to be able to speak in front of everyone this glorious and prideful day. Since the days of War Amongst Friends, the UTF has evolved into this state of cultural prosperity and endless economic growth, and I am happy to see this development.” 

The young General, only recently promoted, is seen as a war hero. He fought and kill like other soldiers in the war, but he saves hundreds of civilian lives in the process, regardless of origin. His most popular act of bravery is the defense of Kohl Union Hospital in Western Europe, the hospital was used as a field hospital for Martian and Pro-Dissolve armies, housing wounded troops and civilians with much martian staff. When the Pro-Earth armies marched on, ignoring the order to fall back, he fought with his unit against the onslaught of Pro-Earth troops, supporting the evacuation of the hospital, instead of the initial plans of abandoning them to their fates.

“The war left people devastated, families separated, cities ruined, and humanity shattered. So I am very pleased that we set our differences aside and form the UTF, and I am proud to become a part of this government.” Wolf looked on to his wife on the far back, smiling with tears, beside her is the smiling seven-year-old Michael Stone. “But humanity managed to rebuild itself, families reunited, and we united under one banner once more.”

“The Grand Army of the UTF will stand side by side with the United Space Corp on this journey, and I wish you all good luck” The applause that followed is not as grand as the previous one, but still ear-deafening nonetheless. Trumpets roared in ceremonial anthem as UTFJets flew overhead creating the UTF flag in the blue sky.

Next on the agenda is singing the UTF anthem, everyone stood up from their seats, while the previously crowded civilians formed symmetrical lines that stretched across the field. Palm to their chest above their hearts, as they sang the anthem. A choir of instruments and their magnificent beautiful sounds filled the staging ground once more, instruments playing as the people sang the lyrics in perfect sync, filled with pride and determination.

Five minutes passed and everyone returned to their seats, The stage’s back curtain was drawn back to reveal the magnificent TFS Ambition in all of its glory. It’s launch thruster spewing cold white smoke, eager and ready to launch. “With the end of this ceremony, without any further interruptions or delays, all remaining crew of the TFS Ambition shall board the vessel,” The female announcer said over the speakers.

The crew for the ceremony stood from their seats and made way to their vehicles, and drove off to the launching platform. The crowd watched in anticipation, the Marshalls and Council Members watched on with pride in their seats. The three massive television screens turned on to show footage of the busy bridge, a camera outside the vessel, and the camera crew keeping an angle on the beauty.

The last of the vehicles parked as the crew hastily entered the spacecraft with the ground crew clear of the launch site. The massive ramp slowly closes with its hydraulics, and with a hiss, the cargo hold is sealed shut. The captain of TFS Ambition already gave a speech earlier at the start of the ceremony, entered the bridge as she sat on the captain seat. “Run diagnostics on all systems, check and double-check the engines and cargo hold”

“All systems optimal, engines are heated up and ready to fire” The Engineering officer reported.

“all cargo and containers have been strapped down and secured for launch Captain,” The logistical head said over comms.

“Check and double-check the reactor coolant, run second diagnostics of every system”

“Coolant is at optimal levels, and all systems re-checked, no anomalies”

The Captain grinned, taking a prideful stance on the captain seat as she looked onwards out the bridge’s windows. “Olympus this is TFS Ambition, all systems checked and we are ready to launch” She contacted the orbital station.

The comms buzzed. “Copy that Ambition, you may launch when ready, good luck out there” 

“release platform stabilizers, initiate first burnout sequence”

The ship roared into life as the engines activate sending a small rumble across the ship, the long stabilizers attached to the ship broke off. “Systems are good, hyperdrive secured”

“Initiate second burnout sequence” A larger rumbling occurred on the ship as the engines are tested for any problems for launch. 

“All systems green, ready to launch on your command Captain”

The Captain leaned forward in her seat, looking out the window at the blue sky. “Let's meet aliens, engage thruster launch in 5...”The bridge crew, logistics, engineering, medical, and maintenance crew strapped themselves down in their seats. “four... three” The Captain leaned back on the chair strapping herself in also. “Two... one... fire!”

Thrown and pushed back onto their seats, the thrusters fired at full capacity launching the spacecraft into the air and up at the sky. “Lift-off achieved!” everywhere on human worlds, Mars, Luna, Earth, those stationed on the research station above Jupiter, all cheered wildly, happiness and adrenaline flowing through their bodies.

The crew itself was happy that the ship didn’t explode on the launch, but could only smile as the Gs hit them like a truck. They passed the clouds as they began burning through the atmosphere, and a few seconds later, they are in space and the weight was now, non-existent. “Turn off the engines!” The crew was about to cheer before a commanding bark from the captain silenced them. “Don’t celebrate yet, getting out of the atmosphere is easy, the real challenge is will the Hyperdrive work? Or will we be turned into goo”

Aimed at Alpha Centauri, the ship crew run diagnostics once more. Navigations checked and verified their transit route. “Engage hyperdrive” The crew tensed up as the Hyperdrive activates, a rhythmic  “Beat” spreads across the ship slowly going faster, and faster until it’s beating so fast that it's just a single note.

“Warp in 3... 2... 1... warp” In an instant, the crew felt nauseous as the space in front of them opened up into a tunnel, and without skipping a beat, the ship goes barreling through it in speeds humans have never experienced before. And just like that, the ship was gone.

Attempts on contacting the ship and its crew after the warp was unsuccessful, only static and an empty video feed. Only for the day after, the crew hailed back, and everyone screamed in joy.

The Grand Marshall smiled out from her private estates in the city of New Falklands, a floating city on the southern Atlantic Ocean, the rousing and ear-piercing cheering and screaming from the television, and from the streets and buildings below filled her ears.

“We did it”

[blackkudos]

Teddy Pendergrass

Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass (March 26, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American singer. Born in Kingstree South Carolina he was raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he initially rose to musical fame as the lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. After leaving the group over monetary disputes in 1976, Pendergrass launched a successful solo career under the Philadelphia International label, releasing five consecutive platinum albums, then a record for an African-American R&B artist. Pendergrass's career was suspended after a March 1982 car crash that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Pendergrass continued his successful solo career until announcing his retirement in 2007. Pendergrass died from respiratory failure in January 2010.

Early life

He was born Theodore DeReese Pendergrass on Sunday, March 26, 1950, in Kingstree. He was the only child of Jesse and Ida Geraldine (née Epps) Pendergrass. When he was still very young, his father left the family; Jesse was stabbed to death on June 13, 1962. Pendergrass grew up in Philadelphia and often sang at church. He dreamt of being a pastor and got his wish when, at 10, he was ordained a minister (according to author Robert Ewell Greene). Pendergrass also took up drums during this time and was a junior deacon of his church.

He attended Thomas Edison High School for Boys in North Philadelphia. He sang with the Edison Mastersingers. He dropped out in the 11th grade to enter the music business, recording his first song, "Angel With Muddy Feet". The recording, however, was not a commercial success. Pendergrass played drums for several local Philadelphia bands, eventually becoming the drummer of The Cadillacs. In 1970, he was spotted by the Blue Notes' founder, Harold Melvin (1939–1997), who convinced Pendergrass to play drums in the group. However, during a performance, Pendergrass began singing along, and Melvin, impressed by his vocals, made him the lead singer. Before Pendergrass joined the group, the Blue Notes had struggled to find success. That all changed when they landed a recording deal with Philadelphia International Records in 1971, thus beginning Pendergrass's successful collaboration with label founders Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff.

Early career

Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes: 1970–1975

In 1972, Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes released their first single, a slow, solemn ballad entitled "I Miss You". The song was originally written for The Dells, but the group passed on it. Noting how Pendergrass sounded like Dells lead singer Marvin Junior, Kenny Gamble decided to build the song with Pendergrass, who was only 21 at the time of the recording. Pendergrass sings much of the song in a raspy baritone voice that would become his trademark. The song also featured Blue Notes member Lloyd Parks singing falsetto in the background and spotlighted Harold Melvin adding in a rap near the end of the song as Pendergrass kept singing, feigning tears. The song, one of Gamble and Huff's most creative productions, became a major rhythm and blues hit and put the Blue Notes on the map. The group's follow-up single, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," brought the group to the mainstream with the song reaching the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100, while also reaching number one on the soul no. 1 singles chart. Like "I Miss You" before it, the song was originally intended for a different artist, fellow Philadelphian native Patti LaBelle and her group Labelle but the group could not record it due to scheduling conflicts. Pendergrass and LaBelle developed a close friendship that would last until Pendergrass's death.

The group rode to fame with several more releases over the years including "The Love I Lost", a song that predated the upcoming disco music scene, the ballad "Hope That We Can Be Together Soon," and socially conscious singles "Wake Up Everybody" and "Bad Luck". One of the group's notable singles was their original version of the Philly soul classic "Don't Leave Me This Way," which turned into a disco smash when Motown artist Thelma Houston released her version in 1976. By 1975, Pendergrass and Harold Melvin were at odds, mainly over financial issues and personality conflicts. Despite the fact that Pendergrass sang most of the group's songs, Melvin was controlling the group's finances. At one point, Pendergrass wanted the group to be renamed "Teddy Pendergrass and the Blue Notes" because fans kept mistaking him for Melvin. Pendergrass left the group in 1975, and the Blue Notes struggled with his replacements. They eventually left Philadelphia International and toiled in relative obscurity, until Melvin's death in 1997. As of 2014, a version of the group still tours the old school circuit, performing as Harold Melvin's Blue Notes.

Solo career

Early solo success

In 1977, Pendergrass released his self-titled album, which went platinum on the strength of the disco hit "I Don't Love You Anymore". Its follow-up single, "The Whole Town's Laughing at Me", became a top 20 R&B hit. Although not released as singles, the uptempo album tracks "You Can't Hide From Yourself" and "The More I Get, The More I Want", as well as the ballad "And If I Had" were also hits. The debut album was quickly followed by Life Is a Song Worth Singing, in 1978. That album was even more successful with its singles "Only You" and the classic million selling number 1 R&B hit "Close the Door." The latter song firmly established Pendergrass as the top male sex symbol in music. The album's popularity was furthered by the disco hit "Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose", the ballad "It Don't Hurt Now", and the mid-tempo classic "When Somebody Loves You Back". That double platinum number-one R&B triumph was followed up in 1979 by two successes, the albums Teddy (which stayed at number 1 on the Billboard R&B chart for 8 weeks and was named the 2nd biggest R&B album of the year), and the live release Live Coast to Coast. Hits off Teddy included the classics "Come Go With Me," the legendary erotic ballad "Turn Off the Lights," and the uptempo album cut "Do Me." With his sex appeal at an all-time high after his 1979 tour, Pendergrass took a more mellow approach on his 1980 album TP. It included the classic number two R&B hit "Love TKO," the Stephanie Mills duet version of "Feel The Fire" and the Ashford & Simpson composition "Is It Still Good to You". Between 1977 and 1981, Pendergrass landed four consecutive platinum albums, which was a then record-setting number for a rhythm and blues artist.

Pendergrass's popularity became massive at the end of 1978. With sold-out audiences packing his shows, his manager – the renowned Shep Gordon, who was known for his innovative approaches to publicizing his artists – soon noticed that a huge number of his audience consisted of women of all races. Gordon devised a plan for Pendergrass's next tour to play to just female audiences, starting a trend that continues today called "women-only concerts." With four platinum albums and two gold albums, Pendergrass was on his way to being what the media called "the black Elvis," not only in terms of his crossover popularity but also due to him buying a mansion akin to Elvis's Graceland, located just outside his hometown of Philadelphia. By early 1982, Pendergrass was perhaps the leading R&B male artist of his day, equaling the popularity of Marvin Gaye, and surpassing Barry White and all others in the R&B field. In 1980, the Isley Brothers released "Don't Say Goodnight (It's Time for Love)" to compete with Pendergrass' "Turn Off the Lights," which sensed Pendergrass's influence on the quiet storm format of black music.

Car crash

On March 18, 1982, in the East Falls section of Philadelphia on Lincoln Drive near Rittenhouse Street, Pendergrass was involved in a car crash. He lost control of his Rolls-Royce Silver Spirit – the car hit a guard rail, crossed into the oncoming lane, and hit two trees. Pendergrass and his passenger, Tenika Watson, a nightclub performer with whom Pendergrass was not previously acquainted, were trapped in the wreckage for 45 minutes. While Watson walked away from the collision with minor injuries, Pendergrass suffered a spinal cord injury, leaving him a paraplegic, paralyzed from the chest down.

Later solo career

Pendergrass got well-wishes from thousands of his fans during his recovery. In August 1982, Philadelphia International released This One's for You, which failed to chart successfully, as did 1983's Heaven Only Knows. Both albums included material Pendergrass had recorded before the crash. The albums completed his contract with Philadelphia International. By the time Pendergrass decided to return to the studio to work on new music he had struggled to find a recording deal. Eventually signing a contract with Asylum Records and completing physical therapy, he released Love Language in 1984. The album included the pop ballad "Hold Me," featuring a then-unknown Whitney Houston. It reached No. 38 on the Billboard album chart and was certified Gold by the RIAA.

On July 13, 1985, Pendergrass made an emotional return to the stage at the historic Live Aid concert in Philadelphia in front of a live audience of over 99,000 and an estimated 1.5 billion television viewers. It was the 35-year-old's first live performance following his 1982 crash. Pendergrass tearfully thanked the audience for keeping him in their well-wishes and then performed the Diana Ross classic "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)." In 1988, Pendergrass scored his first R&B number-one hit in nearly a decade when the song "Joy," from his album of the same name, was released. A video of the song enjoyed heavy rotation on BET. It was also his final Hot 100 charted single, peaking at number 77. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA that same year. Also, Pendergrass's voice was heard on the jingles of a then local Philadelphia radio station, WSNI-FM. Pendergrass kept recording through the 1990s. One of the singer's last hits was the hip-hop leaning "Believe in Love," released in 1994. In 1996, he starred alongside Stephanie Mills in the touring production of the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box with God. In 1998, Pendergrass released his autobiography entitled Truly Blessed.

Pendergrass did a concert at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles, California, on February 14, 2002, entitled "The Power of Love". The concert became the album From Teddy, With Love, which was released on the Razor & Tie record label later that year. It was his second (after Live! Coast to Coast) and final live album. Clips of the concert, in particular his performance of his comeback song "Joy" can still be seen on YouTube. In his later years, Pendergrass's "Wake Up Everybody" has been covered by a diverse range of acts from Simply Red to Patti LaBelle and was chosen as a rallying cry during the 2004 Presidential campaign by Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds to mobilize voters. In addition, Little Brother, Kanye West, Cam'ron, Twista, Ghostface, Tyrese Gibson, 9th Wonder, DMX and DJ Green Lantern have utilized his works.

In 2006, Pendergrass announced his retirement from the music business. In 2007, he briefly returned to performing to participate in Teddy 25: A Celebration of Life, Hope & Possibilities, a 25th anniversary awards ceremony that marked Pendergrass's crash, but also raised money for his charity, The Teddy Pendergrass Alliance, and honored those who helped Pendergrass since his crash.

Personal life and death

Pendergrass had three children, Tisha, LaDonna, and Theodore Jr.

In June 1987, he married a former Philadanco dancer named Karen Still, who had also danced in his shows. They divorced in 2002.

Pendergrass published his autobiography, Truly Blessed, with Patricia Romanowski in 1998.

In the spring of 2006 Pendergrass met Joan Williams. He proposed to her after four months, and they married in a private ceremony officiated by his Pastor Alyn Waller of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church on Easter Sunday, March 23, 2008. A formal wedding was celebrated at The Ocean Cliff Resort in Newport, Rhode Island, on September 6, 2008. As members of Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church, Joan Pendergrass set up The Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church Youth Fund in the name of Pendergrass to provide assistance and a center for Philadelphia's inner city youth.

On June 5, 2009, Pendergrass underwent successful surgery for colon cancer and returned home to recover. A few weeks later he returned to the hospital with respiratory issues. After seven months, he died of respiratory failure on January 13, 2010 with his wife Joan by his side, at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. He was 59. His body was interred at the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.

There are plans to make a feature film biopic of Pendergrass's life, and Tyrese Gibson is set to star as the late singer.

In 2019, BBC Films made a documentary on Pendergrass's life called "If You Don't Know Me." It was released February 8 on Showtime.

Discography

Teddy Pendergrass (1977)

Life Is a Song Worth Singing (1978)

Teddy (1979)

TP (1980)

It's Time for Love (1981)

This One's for You (1982)

Heaven Only Knows (1983)

Love Language (1984)

Workin' It Back (1985)

Joy (1988)

Truly Blessed (1991)

A Little More Magic (1993)

You and I (1997)

Grammy Award nominations

Pendergrass has received five Grammy Award nominations.

Other awards

Pendergrass received several nominations for the American Music Awards between 1979 and 1981 for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist, Favorite Soul/R&B Album, and Favorite Disco Artist. He won the AMA for Favorite Soul/R&B Male Artist in 1979, tied with singer Lou Rawls.

[aion-rsa]

How Double Dragon’s Abobo Became a Beat em up Legend

https://ift.tt/2F8DPGk

In the late ’80s, video games started featuring over-the-top, meaty musclemen. Metro City had Mike Haggar, a shirtless former wrestler who became mayor and decided that being “tough on crime” meant ridding the streets of criminals with his bare hands, his girlfriend’s psycho boyfriend, and a ninja in Nikes. Circus strongman Karnov scoured the world for adventure and treasure, fighting all kinds of mythical monsters. Bald Bull was trying to dominate both the boxing ring and the arm-wrestling circuit. Gutsman was a jacked construction robot who was later rebuilt as a 40-foot-tall tank centaur.

And then there was Abobo, the gigantic antagonist from Double Dragon. He wasn’t THE antagonist. Hell, in the first game, you fight him within the first two minutes. Despite his low-level status, he’s still far more fondly remembered than the main Double Dragon bad guys like Willy and the Shadow Master. There’s just always been something about this random brute that’s made him special.

Abobo’s journey begins in the original Double Dragon, Technos’ 1987 arcade hit. The game’s story is very simple. A dystopian, lawless, post-nuclear war version of New York City has been overrun by a gang called the Black Warriors or Shadow Warriors or Black Shadow Warriors. (They kind of workshop that name from game to game.) Billy and Jimmy Lee are two martial arts brothers whose mutual friend Marian is captured by gang members. Off they go to lay out everyone in that gang with their bare fists and occasional barrel/whip/knife/baseball bat.

While the cannon fodder is mostly made up of normal-sized guys, out walks Abobo, who makes his entrance by punching his way through a brick wall. From the moment he appears on screen, it’s clear Abobo is meant to stand apart from the rest. He has longer reach, takes more hits, can’t be thrown, and is able to throw Billy and Jimmy like ragdolls. The only guy more dangerous than Abobo is Willy, the final boss, who brings a machine gun to a fist fight.

Weirdly, Abobo has various forms in the game. His initial form is as a bald, pale guy with a mustache. Soon after, we fight Jick, an Abobo clone who closely resembles Mr. T. Later, we face off against an Incredible Hulk version of Abobo. This is post-nuclear war, so I suppose this tracks.

But it was NES port that really delivered the ultimate form of Abobo, whose appearance was seriously altered for the 8-bit console. With orange-brown skin, Abobo is still bigger than everyone else, but also looks inhuman. He has a giant, bald head almost the size of his bulky torso, and a black arch on his face that is apparently a mustache merged with a frown! While the NES version had its own quasi-fighting game mode with everyone redrawn with a bigger and better sprite, Abobo looked exactly the same. You just can’t mess with perfection!

Abobo sort-of-but-not-really appeared in the sequel, 1988’s Double Dragon II: The Revenge. In a game filled with giant enemies, there was a guy named Bolo who looked exactly like Abobo, but with long, black hair. Actually, in retrospect, he looks a lot like Danny Trejo.

Huh.

Abobo sat out of the next few Double Dragon games, as the Lee brothers busied themselves fighting mummies and chubby clowns. But he returned in a very unexpected crossover: 1993’s Battletoads/Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team. The game featured a bizarre team-up between the Dark Queen from Battletoads and the Shadow Warriors. As Double Dragon didn’t have too many memorable boss characters that could stack up to the likes of a giant rat in a singlet, they went with what they could get.

As with the other bosses in the crossover gamer, Abobo was depicted as an absolute giant compared to the Lee Brothers and the Toads. He was also very generic-looking, appearing as a shirtless, bald guy with no ‘stache. Due to the sci-fi nature of the crossover, his storyline ended with him getting booted off a spaceship and sent spiraling through space itself.

1993 also gave us the Double Dragon animated series. Somehow, this thing ran for two seasons (26 episodes) and Abobo was there from the beginning. The first episode was a weird Saturday morning-style retelling of the NES game’s plot, down to Billy Lee having to fight his “evil” brother at the end. Abobo acted as a henchman, alongside a very colorful take on Willy.

In the cartoon, Abobo was a bald muscleman with blue skin, meaning he has the same mysterious complexion situation as Captain N’s King Hippo. Abobo was also strangely competent on the show, all things considered, although the only fighting he ever did was throw oil drums at Billy and miss every single time. He spent more of his time annoyed at Willy, who was depicted as a psychotic cowboy with a laser gun — one-half Yosemite Sam and one-half the Interrupter from Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

The second episode introduced the Shadow Master, who immediately showed disgust at his underlings’ failure by magically bonding Willy to a giant mural of punished souls. Abobo tried to run for it, but succumbed to the same fate. The two would remain in that mural for the rest of the series.

While there was a fighting game released based off of the Double Dragon cartoon, Abobo wasn’t part of the roster. It was just as well. Double Dragon V: The Shadow Falls was a really bad game and Abobo had bigger things on the horizon.

Abobo was about to go Hollywood!

In 1994, Imperial Entertainment Group released the Double Dragon movie, a total cheesefest that couldn’t make back its $8 million budget. But Robert Patrick’s scenery-chewing main villain made the movie almost watchable. The story takes place in a version of Los Angeles that’s a cross between The Warriors and No Man’s Land from the Batman comics. Billy and Jimmy are teens who get roped into a plot that involves two dragon-shaped necklaces that form an all-power medallion when put together.

Initially, Nils Allen Stewart plays the gang leader Bo Abobo. As head of the Mohawk Gang, he’s there to act all intimidating in a goofy ’90s bully sort of way, but he really doesn’t actually do much. He takes part in a car chase and teases a fight scene, but nothing happens.

Then, the villain Koga Shuko transforms him into a literal steroid freak with some experimental machine. From there on out, Abobo is played by Henry Kingi in a bloated, rubber suit. Despite being a muscle golem at this point, Abobo STILL doesn’t actually fight anyone and is instead kidnapped by Power Corps.

Abobo eventually sees what he looks like in the mirror. Broken over what he’s been transformed into, he turns on Koga and…still doesn’t fight anyone. He just gives Power Corps some advice to help turn the tide against the bad guys. At the end of the movie, he asks the Lee Brothers if they could be buddies and recklessly drives their car.

Yeah, it’s…almost something. Not the awfulness of Super Mario Bros, but not the good-for-the-time quality of Mortal Kombat. It’s also not quite as fun-bad as the Street Fighter movie, but it does share one major similarity to it.

Much like Street Fighter, the Double Dragon movie had its own fighting game spinoff. Rather than a one-on-one fighter featuring digitized actors (which was the original idea until it wasn’t deemed viable for the deadline), Technos put together a Neo Geo animated fighter that isn’t so well-known these days due to how run-of-the-mill it was. It looked like your average SNK fighting game, with no real identity of its own. The game was released for arcade, Neo Geo CD, and PlayStation.

The 1995 fighting game was loosely based on the movie’s plot and featured some FMV clips. Showing up from the movie are Billy Lee, Jimmy Lee, Marian, Shuko, and Abobo. The rest of the roster is made up of original characters, though Technos did redesign Burnov, the Big Van Vader-looking boss character from Double Dragon II: The Revenge. Abobo more closely resembles his initial, more human-looking form from the movie, complete with mohawk, although he’s cartoonishly big in the game. Fortunately, he occasionally transforms into his blobby, tumor-like mutant form during certain moves and winposes.

His ending in the game features him eating a lot of meat at a restaurant, demanding to eat meat so rough that it’ll make his teeth bleed. Heh. And Roger Ebert said video games aren’t art.

Read more

Games

Double Dragon and Kunio-kun: Retro Bundle Coming Soon

By Rob Leane

Games

Double Dragon 4: Story & Multiplayer Modes Detailed

By Matthew Byrd

After the inexplicable crossover, animated series, failed movie, and fighting game tie-ins, Double Dragon as a franchise was finally spent. As the arcade scene died down in the late ’90s, the side-scrolling beat ‘em up disappeared for a time, and it would be a little while before nostalgia for it would kick in.

Fortunately, there was still some juice left in the fighting game genre, and in 2002 the Neo Geo had just enough time left before SNK’s hardware line was discontinued. The company Evoga developed what was, for a time, meant to be a Double Dragon fighting game, but ultimately the team wasn’t able to secure the rights and was forced to make the game with a knockoff cast of characters. The result was Rage of the Dragons, a tag-team fighting game featuring Billy Lewis, Jimmy Lewis, and Abubo…

Abubo does not have a tag partner and is instead a mid-boss so powerful that it takes two opponents to stop him. He’s depicted as a low-level mob boss with a ponytail, sunglasses, pink tank top, and overly-long, muscular arms. It’s a decent enough redesign of the original, but…Abubo? That’s the best they could come up with?

As for the official Double Dragon, it made its comeback a year later. Double Dragon Advance for the Game Boy Advance took the original arcade version, updated the graphics just enough, added more stages, enemies, and attacks, turning this installment into a souped-up take on the classic. This of course meant the return of the real Abobo!

2012 would be a banner year for the musclebound henchman. Since 2002, I-Mockery’s Roger Barr had been trying to develop an Abobo-based fangame, and in early 2012, the free-to-play masterpiece Abobo’s Big Adventure was released to the public and we were better for it.

Using 8-bit graphics, the game follows Abobo as he searches for his kidnapped son Aboboy. Each level is based on a different NES title and features a dizzying amount of Easter eggs. There’s a Double Dragon level, underwater Super Mario Bros. level, Urban Champ, Legend of Zelda, Balloon Fight, Pro Wrestling, Mega Man, Contra, and finally Punch-Out. The game is an absolute blast, especially for anyone who grew up with the NES and features such whacked out moments as:

Abobo mating with the mermaid from Goonies 2, which gives him a forcefield powerup made up of Abobo/mermaid hybrid babies, one of which begs for death!

An Abobo vs. Amazon wrestling match that includes the summoning of Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, Roddy Piper, and Undertaker assists in the form of Pro Wrestling sprites.

Taking on Krang’s giant robot body with Kirby in the abdominal area.

An incredibly long and over-the-top ending that gets extremely and laughably violent. If you’ve ever wanted to see a muscular child drink blood from the Shredder’s dismembered arm, this game is for you!

In terms of OFFICIAL nostalgia, 2012 also saw the release of Double Dragon Neon for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 (and later PC). Using 3D graphics, the game was a modern update of Double Dragon’s playstyle while playing up the 1980s aesthetic. It was a lot more ridiculous than the original series. In fact, it’s more in line with the Battletoads crossover since this game also lets you launch Abobo into the deep recesses of outer space to die.

This game also gave us the first – and, as of this writing, only – polygon Abobo. This time a towering, hunched over brute with lots of spiked armbands. All that AND the mustache!

But of those two 2012 releases, Abobo’s Big Adventure is surprisingly the better game in terms of its portrayal of the big man, as it solidified his status as nostalgic beat em up icon.

In 2017, Arc System Works put together Double Dragon IV for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Rather than emulate the arcade original’s aesthetic, the game took its art style from the NES games. That meant the return of the classic NES Abobo as not only a recurring enemy but an unlockable playable character. Double Dragon IV actually lets you play through the story mode as various enemy characters, but honestly, who else would you pick in that situation? Well, maybe Burnov.

Sadly, playing as Abobo in Double Dragon IV leads to a non-ending. I know you can’t improve on “Abobo punches Little Mac’s head off so hard it transcends time and space,” but at least TRY!

Around the same time, another game tried to play up Abobo’s ironic/iconic status. River City Ransom: Underground was released for the PC in early 2017. The River City Ransom series has always had ties to Double Dragon, but this high school brawler goes the extra mile by putting Abobo on a big pedestal. First off, he’s the school principal. If you attack any of your teachers, you’re sent to Principal Abobo’s office to suffer a serious slap on the wrist, shoulder, jaw, spine, etc. Sometimes he’ll even enter classrooms by punching holes through the brick walls, all while shirtless and talking like the Hulk.

Even better than that? Abobo’s not only the school principal but the Mayor of River City! No wonder everyone’s always kicking the shit out of each other! God bless Mayor Mike Haggar for being a true trendsetter.

The Double Dragon/River City connection only grew stronger when 2019 brought the absolutely must-play River City Girls. As the story goes, River City Ransom heroes Kunio and Riki have been kidnapped, so their badass girlfriends Misako and Kyoko go on a violent rampage to save them. Early in the game, while Misako and Kyoko fighting in a classroom, there’s a projector playing a short film about a boy learning about puberty.

It just so happens that the kid in the video is being taught by Abobo, who thanks puberty for his monstrous size and strength. This, my friends, is foreshadowing, as Abobo shows up later in the game as a boss.

Misako and Kyoko confront Abobo about their missing boyfriends, and Abobo admits that he isn’t sure whether or not he kidnapped them since he kidnaps a LOT of people. They throw down and we’re treated to the most powerful take on Abobo yet, considering the length of his life bar. Once defeated, Abobo admits that he has nothing to do with the missing boyfriends, but gives the heroes a lead by talking about his side job as security for an upcoming concert.

In 2020, Arc System Works released a collection for PS4 and Switch called Double Dragon & Kunio-Kun Retro Brawler Bundle. It collects 18 8-bit games, including the three NES Double Dragon games, River City Ransom, and all the old spinoffs from the River City Ransom universe. And who’s on the cover?

Yes, despite technically being in one game out of 18, and not even being the final boss of any of them, Abobo gets a major spot on the cover of this huge collection among the games’ hero characters. Finally, the world understands that Abobo is a star. Now we just need Abobo to appear in Guilty Gear Strive and then we’ll really be cooking.

The post How Double Dragon’s Abobo Became a Beat em up Legend appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2Gl5jJ9

[paellaplease]

Firebird | Chap.1

pairing: Revali/Original Female Character genre/warnings: adventure, romance, slow-burn. graphic descriptions of pain. later depictions of self-injury. scarring. burning. swearing. canon-typical violence chapter word-count: 2,847

author note: Props to revali’s VA for bringing such an interesting and compelling character to life, especially with the limited screen-time etc. I knew I wanted to write about him the moment he rocked up and started talking.

Hope y’all enjoy the ride. 

Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7

Chapter 1: Dagger and Arrow

If there was anything she was completely positive about, it was that death wasn’t painless and enchanting hurt even worse. 

*

She had felt death before.

It was a white, hot pain. Racing through her veins and making her muscles stiffen and squeeze as if she’d been struck by lightning instead of stabbed by a sword. Sometimes in her dreams it starts in the tips of her fingers, others it begins as a heavy weight on her chest. 

All times it hurts and it lingers. Swirling in her abdomen, making her feel sick as she briefly registers that her head was spinning, and the world felt very, very far away. Slowly, the edges of her vision would creep in. The commotion and screaming around her fading away till it was nothing but dull chatter.

Eventually, there would be silence and darkness. The pain ended just about then.

Yes, she’d felt death before. Or at least the worst parts of it. However now, standing in the middle of the Akkala Forge and staring at the lone dagger that sat on its pedestal in the centre of the black marble table…

She realised that on days like these, enchanting sometimes felt worse than dying.

The task was simple enough. The same she was given each month after weeks spent in study and preparation, training both her mind and body before her mentor deemed her ready to perform the procedure. 

Enchant the blade, make it work.

Gently, she exhaled a long, tired breath, glancing at the rune in disdain. There it was, marring the surface of her hand like it always did. An ancient pattern carved deep into her skin like a raised scar. The shape that looked almost like an eye at its middle seemed to stare back at her. What are you waiting for? It seemed to say. 

The rune had been there for as long as she could remember. It was the one thing she had left of her past, and also the main thing that reminded her of what her purpose was right now. 

Every attempt she’d made on enchanting a weapon had ended in failure, some more spectacularly terrible than the last. However today, on the eve of her twenty-fourth birthday, she was determined. She’d studied even harder this year, dedicating much of her free time to observing the smiths, and the rest to visualising the procedure. Today was the day she was to complete what was set out for her.

Gritting her teeth, she focused on the target and fanned her palm open.

The weather in the forge immediately shifted, transitioning from a stagnant cold, to a thick blanket of humidity. It was stifling, heavy in the same way the air would feel in the moments before a storm. 

The energy lying dormant in her veins ignited like a spark, low pitched and buzzing, singing loud and clear in her ears.

Bracing herself, a familiar burning sensation raced from her outstretched palm to the rest of her body, making her bite her lip as she focused on not calling out from how much it hurt.

The feeling worsened with every minute, the magical energy in her left hand pulsing to the beat of her racing heart. Carefully, she bent her ring finger inward, watching the rune illuminate in a blazing flash of blue light.

In an instant, jets of fire crawled up from the edges of the rune and into her five fingers, casting an eerie, orange glow on her pained face and making the air smell of charcoal. She pushed the fire further, the pain in turn worsening and making her head spin. 

Lines of fire raced out from her fingertips, wrapping themselves around the hilt of the dagger first and embedding themselves into the detail. The silver metal, now hot and red, began to melt and warp as the fire travelled up, searing a blazing trail into the metal of the knife.

Then came the worst part. Grimacing in anticipation, she grabbed the blade. 

The first time she had attempted the sealing stage, she had passed out in the workshop. It was the middle of winter then, five years ago. 

(She woke up the next day to the sterile chill of the village infirmary, sore as hell and smelling like a campfire.)

With time, she eventually learned to look past the spots that formed in her vision, fighting through the dull ache in her body and willing herself to stay awake. However, even with years of practice, her body wasn’t fully immune to the procedure’s effects.

She eventually discovered that at her level, her enchanting had a time limit:

Five minutes.

One. She closed her eyes and focused deeply on the blade, imagining the fire as she coaxed it to slither its way into the molecular structure of the dagger, willing it to wrap itself around the rapidly vibrating atoms like a snake in a birds nest. 

Two. With a shaking hand, she lifted the mallet she held in her other palm high into the sky, aligning it with the red star she had painted on the ceiling as a guide. Exhaling a gust of air, warm as oven smoke, she brought the mallet down, letting go of the blade in the same instant. 

Three. The black stone table she worked on shook lightly from the force. In contrast, the dagger she had just struck went immediately still. Steam began to lift from it, small flames licking its edges and casting the room in shadows. 

Four. She felt her focus waver, clutching her hand and falling to her knees-

Not yet! Not done yet! 

A bead of sweat dripped from her forehead, seeming to evaporate before it hit the ground below. 

Five. She dropped the mallet, shakily rising to her feet and swiping the thick cream coloured cloth at the edge of the table, quickly wrapping the burning blade in the material and extinguishing the rising flames.

Release! She ordered it, and the fire and burning in her veins were no more.

For a while, she stood there panting, clutching her shoulder as residual phantom pains echoed in her left hand. 

Swallowing her nausea, her right hand lifted the dagger to the dusty light filtering from the forge’s window. She marvelled at how heavy it suddenly felt, the metal, whilst still hot, laying cold in her hands as if never kissed by flame in the first place. 

She had done it. Her first successful attempt amongst so many. 

“Congratulations, Maiya.”

Maiya jumped, quickly whipping around to face the person standing behind her, still clutching the dagger. 

It was a tall woman, almost seven feet in height. She was wrapped in a dark cloak with light blue intricate designs laced into its sleeves and hood. Her bright, silver locks stood out amongst the darkness, cropped short and slicked back, her wrinkled face clear of distractions just as she likes it.

Seeing who it was, Maiya’s face broke out in a large grin. “Teacher! How long were you standing there for? I did it! I finally did it!”

If she wasn’t paying attention, she wouldn’t have caught the brief, small smile that flashed across her mentor’s face before it was replaced by her ever customary frown.

“I was here for long enough. You did well, my dear.“ 

Her mentor took a step forward, reaching out for the dagger with a black gloved hand. She peeled back the cloth slowly, revealing the enchanted blade underneath.

It was red. Bright red. With orange light glowing and racing its way from the hilt to the sharpened tip, embedding itself into the dagger’s swirling detail and setting the dimly lit room alight. 

"It’s time you find a master for this dagger.”

Maiya opened her mouth, questions bubbling to the surface as her mentor continued. 

“Rito Village, in the upper north western corner of Hyrule, is where you will go.”

“But why-”

“The land is filled to the brim with monsters made of ice and snow. The people there will benefit greatly from a warrior skilled in handling an enchanted blade of fire, no?”

At that, Maiya’s mouth ran dry of complaints, her words evaporating in the heat of the workshop’s air. It was no use arguing with her mentor at this point. But a lingering thought still hovered in her mind like a dark cloud.

“The land is quite far, teacher,” she whispered, looking everywhere but the woman in front of her. She braced for a sharp reprimand for her obvious sign of childish weakness, and was surprised when none came.

“I understand, child. However, I believe it’s time that you venture beyond the borders of this town and see for yourself the riches and diversity of the world around you." 

Her piercing grey eyes seemed to cut into Maiya’s darker ones, distant and glassy. Seeing something she couldn’t.

"An evil is building, my dear. And we must be ready. You learn nothing if you allow fear to dictate your freedom.”

Maiya dropped her gaze to her hands. The rune, ugly and deep, cut through the tan skin on the surface of her left. It stood out, angry and red, contrasting greatly with the smooth, unmarked skin of her right. 

“What of my other element, Teacher? The one that I will carve into my right hand when I am ready?”

“It is ice, is it not?”

Maiya nodded.

“We will begin preparations once you return.” Her wrinkled face twitched into a smirk. “Perhaps the environment will give you some ideas.”

With that, her mentor put both hands on her student’s shoulders, steering her away from the stone bench and leading her to the exit.

“You will be fine, Maiya. Now prepare, I will arrange a space for you in the next merchant trip to the region. Pack warm, you leave in three days.”

———————

Thud. The arrow embedded itself into the center of the target. Thud, thud, thud! Three more, dead centre again, each piercing through the previous arrows with deadly accuracy. 

Thud! Another, still in the centre of the target but slightly askew by a millimeter.

Revali frowned, wiping his brow and nocking another arrow onto his bow. Not good enough.

The forest outskirts a few hours from Rito Village was not his usual training spot. The wind was still fair, and the targets numerous (with hundreds of trees to choose from), but it still didn’t pack the same challenge, the same dramatic drop, the same chilling and powerful air of his beloved Flight Range in the Hebra Mountains. 

However, today marked the culmination of months of training for several of their new aerial recruits, and said Flight Range was therefore currently swamped by excitable Rito’s raring to get a few targets in before the sun set on the horizon. 

And as much as he would love to provide them with a generous demonstration on the highest level one can reach as a skilled archer such as himself, he didn’t believe he had the patience to deal with any novices today.

So…the forests will have to do.

Thud! The arrow went, embedding itself again in the middle of the target and cutting through the three previous others with a bit more force than usual.

The blue-feathered Rito reached into his quiver, picking out and nocking three arrows in one fluid motion. The world around him sharpened, then blurred. Three painted trees for three arrows, his vision hyper fixating on the first, second, then the third.

One breath, another. Now. 

The first arrow sang through the forest, embedding itself into a target hanging from a tree to his left. The second, whizzed past a bit further, passing through the leaves and piercing the hidden bullseye that he had placed underneath the foliage.

The third arrow travelled the furthest. Revali aimed to hit one of the more difficult targets he had planted several meters away. The tree was an ancient oak with leaves mostly orange, swaying lightly in the chill autumn breeze. 

Revali’s gaze sharpened. The arrow dipped and flew, dancing with the movement of the wind, quickly approaching the woman with dark hair that had just stepped in the way.

Wait.

What?

“Watch out!”

It all unfolded instantly. The Rito, in shock, slinging his bow over his shoulder and sprinting towards her, stopping to shield his eyes from the flash of a bright blue light. The woman, in a bizarre twist of luck and fate, hearing his voice and turning at the last minute, the arrow missing her head by an inch and cutting a diagonal line through her long, braided hair.

Silence reigned through the forest for a second. Then:

“WHAT THE FU-”

“YOU NEARLY KILL-”

The Rito stepped forward, pointing an accusing wing at the stranger. “Don’t you dare voice a stupid accusation such as that, I had no intentions of harming you.” He narrowed his eyes, suddenly feeling suspicious. It was rare to see Hylians frequenting this side of the woods, especially with the recent increase of monster activity and abundance of natural predators hiding in the thickets. 

Furthermore, although he doubted her involvement with the troublesome Yiga Clan, whose members have often been known to terrorize the odd lone traveler, he didn’t want to take any chances. “What are you doing wandering the middle of the Tabantha wild? The next Hylian-managed town is more than an hour away.”

He was surprised at the fury in her tone as she tilted her head up to snarl at him. “First of all, birdie, this forest is open to the public. No one owns these trees.” He opened his mouth to bite out a seething retort, but she stepped forward, pushing a finger underneath his beak to snap it shut. He spluttered. 

“Second of all, I’m taking a shortcut. I’ve been travelling west for three bloody weeks and it has been absolute hell. I’m sleep deprived, hungry, and tired. And I’m in a hurry! So unless you know anything about a place called ree-too Village, I’ll be on my way." 

Revali glared. At least that clears a few things up. Were all Hylians this demanding and foolish, or was it just the ones Valoo above was adamant in acquainting him with?

He pushed away the offending finger and rolled his eyes.

"Firstly it’s pronounced ree-toe. Secondly,” he said, mocking her manner of speech, “No. I don’t know anything about the village of which I was hatched and spent most of my life and waking hours. Whatever led you to such a ridiculous notion?”

He raised an eyebrow, watching- bemused, as a dust of pink crept its way onto the haggard woman’s cheeks. It was adorable, really. If only he wasn’t so pissed.

He took her silence as his cue to continue. 

“I wasn’t hatched yesterday. You’re obviously lost. However, to avoid you waltzing into another unsuspecting warrior’s weapon range, I suggest that you continue eastwards that way." 

His bow gleamed in the afternoon sunlight as he used it to point towards a structure which towered and peaked over the top of the trees. "See that stone pillar over there? That’s Valoo’s Spire, follow it and you will eventually reach the shore of Lake Totori. You will meet the Great Hylian Highway once again, and if you manage to follow it this time, the bridge to the village will be made apparent to you.”

He smirked, crossing his wings and tilting his head. Amusingly, she was about a head shorter than him, and she had to lift her dark eyes to the sky to glare at him. “Got all that? Because if not, good luck as I am not the type to repeat myself to idiots who ignore my knowledgeable advice.”

“Alright thanks, whatever,” she sighed, grabbing an elastic from her pocket and pulling her now asymmetrical hair into a haphazard ponytail. She turned “Try not to kill anyone with that bow, Fly Boy,” she called over her shoulder. 

A few strands of uneven, dark hair came free as she walked away. He couldn’t help it. “A very creative haircut, Strange Hylian!”

“Oh shut up!” A shrill yell replied, echoing from the other end of the forest and scaring several birds from their perches. 

He squawked out a sharp laugh at that.

A few seconds passed and she was finally out of his line of vision. Revali of the Rito was happily alone once again. 

“What an unusual and infuriating woman,” he muttered. He had been distracted and decided that now was a good time as any to take a few minutes to collect his discarded arrows and reset his targets.

Revali trudged towards the oak tree where the troublesome arrow was embedded, feeling slightly amused at the trail of shorn dark hair a few steps away.

He reached out towards the arrow, eyes widening in surprise as he stepped closer.

The once brown wood of the arrow shaft was an ashy, crumbling black. The bird feathers of its fletching emitted an unpleasant sulphurous odour, and the metal of its arrowhead was warped and melted like silver molten clay.

It was completely burnt. 

A strong wind blew through the trees, rustling through his feathers as he took a careful step back.

How odd.

[nika-the-hunter]

The House of Mist [Ch.6]

Abandoned Industrial Sector, Pacific Northwest

+24 Days

Unfortunately, Nicole’s hunt for viable building materials and decor had turned up nothing that she could actually use. They had found more than one warehouse full of old building materials, however the issue changed into how they were going to transport the resources they found. The Ghost mentioned that if she located some sort of Jump Ship, he would be able to store items there, but she had no idea where to find something like that. Her Ghost however, had some ideas.

Nicole hoisted a plate of sheet metal and tied it to her back with a pair of salvaged straps. There were a lot of those around the area. If she was only going to be able to take one piece, it would have been the one made of the lightest material.

“Alright, which way now?” She glanced down to her helmet's internal clock. They probably had five or six hours of sunlight left.

“If my memory serves, I once saw a ship that had collided with a building across those tracks just south of us,” her Ghost chimed.

Nicole turned and started off in that direction. She could see the berm that the railroad tracks rested on top of in the distance less than a kilometer away; however she did not see any sign of a ship. “What makes you think that it still works?”

The Ghost chirped in her ear. “Well... we Ghosts are actually very good at bringing the dead back to life.”

“I would think that a ship is much more complicated than a person”

“Not entirely, in the past I’ve peeked into the inner workings of that crashed ship, and it looked far simpler than you were.”  

“If you say so, Ghost.” Nicole rolled her eyes. She crossed the tracks and saw the tail of the craft sitting in the wall of a nearby building. Old, torn tarps fluttered in the wind and were secured to the fuselage as some sort of makeshift camp; the former residents were long gone, judging by how ruined the camp was. Walking closer, her Ghost emerged from her back and flew towards the old aircraft. She stepped around a pile of bones that were buried in the dirt. The Ghost stopped momentarily near another pile of bones. “So why didn't you bring any of these back, not that I’m not grateful for the second chance.”

“Well, they didn’t have the spark that you had,” he replied. “Some were close, but I was confident that I would find the right one.”

“Hmm...” Nicole carefully stepped over a single rib cage. It was grim, but they had been dead for a very long time. “Any idea who they use to be?”

“They were soldiers, that’s all I was able to figure out; but let’s let the dead rest, and see about getting this ship running.”

One of the ship’s wings had broken off at one point, and come to rest against a toppled train car. Nicole pointed over to it. “Well isn’t that something we’re going to need? I don’t think that you can fix that.”

“Oh nonsense,” The Ghost flew into the craft’s troop bay and vanished from sight. His voice now came from her helmet again. “With all that glimmer we found, I could just make a new wing.”

Nicole shook her head, and took a cautious step back as a shimmer of light pulsed across the hull of the spacecraft. The vessel began to shake and the engine whined to some stage of life. Bits and pieces of building crumbled and bounced across the hull. “Okay, I'm really impressed.” She said

An engine activated and the vessel lifted, leveling out in the ruins. “It’s working!” The Ghost shouted. Despite the lack of a wing on the right side, the ship appeared to be functioning just fine. At Least that was what Nicole thought.

“Wait... what are those... oh... OH... oh no.” The engine burped and the entire thing shook. Her Ghost appeared out of the bay and rocketed passed her shoulder, appearing just as a blur to Nicole.

“What’s wro-” The ship dropped, falling nearly a meter back into the crash site. She did not get a chance to see it actually land before there was just a white light and a sudden bone shattering pain that engulfed her entire body. It was over in an instant.

The flames burned for hours.

Once the fires had died down enough to traverse the crater, the small Ghost ventured forth. There were bits of... well everything scattered everywhere. Hopefully he would find a large enough piece to restore his Guardian from. If not, he would just use his internal reserves, though that was supposed to be more time consuming. The craft had been fully armed when it had been shot down during the Collapse; the rigging that held the munitions to the craft had degraded over the centuries and his attempts to restore the craft only furthered the failure.

The Ghost’s eye found what it was looking for; her upper torso had been shielded by the piece of metal she had been carrying around. The light swirled forth from the machine, restoring the Guardian’s body from nothing.

Nicole took a sharp breath and looked around at the burning world around her. It had been mere seconds as far as she could tell, but everything had changed. The sun was gone, long passed beyond the curve of the Earth, and everything was ablaze. Her Ghost looked down at her, shining into her eyes with his light. She looked up at him, and blocked the light with her hand. “What the hell happened?”

He twitched slightly and turned off his light. “Well... I sort of blew you up.”

She pulled herself up off the ground and found her assault rifle still attached to her back. “What do you mean, you blew me up?”

“There were bombs... and they were volatile... and they exploded.” He chirped in an uneasy tone, “I would have warned you, but you need me to rez you.”

Nicole stuck her head and shook her helmet enough to scratch an itch on her head. “At least you can do that right...”

“Oh what-ever, you’re alive Guardian.” The Ghost swooped in and bonked her on the helmet.

Nicole laughed a bit. He was right there, she was alive and the ship was not. She climbed out of the crater and back to street level. The building and tracks she had been near were now completely gone; bits of metal rail were sticking out of a building face like arrows not too far behind her. It had been one hell of an explosion. “Well my metal plate is gone now, what do we do, just head back home empty handed?”

“Sorry, looks like we will,” he replied.

“Damn...” Nicole stretched and pushed at her chest armor which seemed to be back to its original tightness. “This stuff sucks.”  She sighed and started back towards the highway. “It seems really weak too.”

“Well it was made out of the barebones materials I had on me.” He replied.

“Any of that metal that we found good for armor?” Nicole asked.

“It did not seem like it, that was all light decorative metal. It doesn't have the strength for armor.” He orbited her head like he usually does when trying to work out a solution. “I also do not have the necessary engrams, or blueprints, for a better armor set.... though I might be able to restore and edit some of that old armor by the...ship... never mind.”

Nicole glanced back at the crater. “Yeeeaaahhh... no... Nothing survived that.”

Something dropped down from a roof not too far ahead of her and skittered across the street. Nicole caught a glimpse of what looked like a Fallen running on all six appendages, or at least four. The figure stopped in an alley shrouded in darkness. Four glowing blue eyes blinked at her.

Nicole raised her left hand, and gave a little wave at the eyes, while her right moved to the grip of her sidearm. She was a bit unsure whether or not they were friendly. “Hello?” She called out in Fallen. It was one of the first words Rykis had made sure she got right.

The Fallen emerged from the shadows, and Nicole actually recognized them. Well, recognized the armor, she hardly ever saw any without their masks. It was Jasix, the other Fallen that met with Rykis regularly. She could speak english well as far as Nicole could tell. “Guardian, Guardian, Guardian, what kind of mess have you created here?” Jasix looked towards the burning buildings behind Nicole.

Nicole coughed and pointed over at her Ghost, floating just beside her. “He did it.”

“I was just trying to restore an old ship for my Guardian here.” the Ghost said, blinking at her.

Jasix shook her head and rubbed her forehead with one of her hands. “Why, we have a very.... skilled...” She seemed to work through her words slowly, making sure she was using the right ones correctly. With what little Fallen Nicole knew, she did the same. “Skilled mechanic here at Mist. Should have gone there. She could help with your armor issue too!”

“How long have you been listening in?” Nicole was curious.

“Turned up after the explosion, Rykis was wondering where you went.” Jasix replied. “There should be transport passing soon if you want to go to Tansis tonight?”

“Transport... Tansis?” the word sounded familiar, but Nicole was just not sure.

Jasix nodded and waved for Nicole to follow. “There is a... train, I think, passing here. And Tansis is Mechanic and armorer.”

“Ah...” Nicole went to follow the Vandal, as she led her towards another set of tracks she had passed earlier in the day. “Sure, take me there.”  

“Yes, yes, this way.” Jasix found a spot nearby the tracks and pulled something off her back. It was a small tripod with a flashing light. She placed it down and aimed the light up north. She then climbed up the side of a building and perched on the roof with her rifle out.

Stepping back, Nicole was not expecting Jasix’s sudden movement. “Uh, is everything okay?” She called.

Jasix scanned the area around them. “Yes, yes, though others may have been alerted by the boom.”

“Do we really need to worry about the Devils this far west?” Nicole asked.

“Likely, no. But never know; they came all the way from the other landmass to bother us, it seems like a very small jump to come a bit farther west,” Jasix replied.

“True, I hope they’re not going to respond though, I don’t have anything to really help against that.” Nicole glanced down at the rifle in her hands. It had served her well in her first and only real engagement, but it seemed to lack power.

Jasix looked down as well. “Maybe we’ll get you something better there too.”

Nicole nodded and smiled under her helmet. That would make her feel better about being out in the middle of nowhere; maybe she could go out even further on her own in the future. Over the sound of the raging fires, she could hear a deep rumbling sound coming from the metal tracks near the platform.

She glanced down the rail and into the darkness. Other than the occasional streetlight or other intact lighting system, there was nothing she could see approaching their position.

Nicole glanced up at Jasix and the Fallen held up a set of binoculars to her four glowing eyes. “Here they come.” She looked down at Nicole with a nod.

“I don't see anything though.”

But that was when she spotted a dull red cluster of lights, further down the track. The rumble grew louder and louder; sounding deeper, but very similar to the tank from weeks ago. It was still barely discernible from the darkness when the sound suddenly changed in tone, winding down rapidly. The machine slowly glided across the rails into view.

She had seen plenty of rusted out trains while walking outside the ruins of Bellevue, but this one was not a normal train. The base of it had been one at some point in time, but the Fallen had attached the front end of one of their Spider tanks over the original engine compartment. Armored plates covered the train's cab, and a multitude of sensors had been affixed to the rooftop. It was pulling flatbed cars, too many for her to count in the dark. There was one box car directly behind the engine.

The train came to a stop just passed the light Jasix had placed, the door to the boxcar slid open and a group of Vandals spilled out in a loose formation. They swept the area, making sure it was a safe place to stop. Jasix jumped down from her rooftop and approached one of the Vandals; they spoke quickly and quietly, Jasix gestured to Nicole and the Vandal nodded.

“Come aboard, human.” The Vandal said, waving to Nicole. “We must be on our way.”

It surprised Nicole that the Vandal spoke better english that Jasix, but she hopped aboard anyway. The boxcar had seats attached all around the walls, but only a few of them were occupied. Nicole took an open seat next to Jasix as the train lurched back into motion. It rapidly began to pick up speed and head further south.

Nicole’s Ghost appeared at her side and blinked at the surroundings. “I have to say, these Fallen have done wonders getting old human technology working again.”

“Right? I think this will save me a lot of time getting around the area in the future.”

“You should ask about how far it goes,” he said.

Jasix leaned over and poked the Ghost, turning him towards her with a single finger. “I can answer that, Little Machine. Rail runs all through Mist land, we have some that is starting to head further south, but it still being restored.”

“Hmm, interesting... Can you answer a few more questions?” He asked, sort of hovering towards Jasix. “How did you combine the spider walker and the engine?”

Nicole watched her Ghost and Jasix float away towards the forward door and out of the car, leaving her with seven other Fallen sitting on the wall. On one hand, Nicole was glad her Ghost was talking to the Fallen on his own, but on the other, he just floated away without saying anything. She frowned but remained seated.

The train rumbled south for nearly half an hour. They did not make any more stops after she had come aboard. Jasix and her Ghost had been gone the entire time; Nicole was starting to think that maybe they had left her on the train; in a joking manner of course.

Nicole suddenly felt the tug of deceleration as Jasix and her Ghost returned from the engine and she took her seat. “Enjoy your time alone?” She asked the little machine as it came to her side.

“Only now that I have you to come back to, Guardian, yes.” He replied. That made her smile a bit, and she opened her palm for her Ghost to land. He settled down and vanished into a flash of particles, going somewhere in her armor. “Looks like we are arriving, let’s see what Tansis has to offer.” As the train came to a stop, one of the Vandals opened the sliding door and Nicole hopped out of the train car. Jasix lead the way off the platform and towards a group of buildings that were outlined by a cluster of flickering lights. A Fallen Captain stepped out from a doorway, ducking on their way out. He walked over to Nicole and Jasix, greeting them in the Fallen language. Nicole’s rough understanding of the language let her pick up some of the conversation. “What can we help you with, Vandal Jasix?” the Captain asked. Jasix bowed her head, “We are here to see Baroness Tansis to provide armor for the Guardian.” “Hmm, that would be a problem right now. Tansis is asleep, she and her crew have been hard at work bringing our reserve vehicles online,” the Captain motioned for them to follow him. “I will let her know you visited in the morning. We can provide accommodations, follow.”

Nicole glanced across the runway; the formerly uninterrupted concrete apron was broken up by centuries of cracks and plant growth. Large clumps of grass dotted the area, only dimly illuminated by the flickering light poles that dotted the area. She could see the outlines of aircraft resting at odd angles; surely they were long gone in terms of operational status.

The Fallen lead her into a short structure with small windows. The old lettering over the doorway denoted the building as one of the bases barracks buildings. There were the spotted tarps that the Fallen liked to use scattered all over the building, covering holes and broken windows. This seemed to be one of the only non-hangar buildings in the area that was still relatively intact.

She walked in and could hear the chattering of unseen Fallen elsewhere in the building. There were strange rounded chairs around the first room with similarly styled platforms that she interpreted as beds nearby.

Their escort spoke and Jasix translated for Nicole. ��There is an open room for you just down this hall. He says that you can pick any bed, the room is not in use right now.”

“Oh, thank you,” Nicole replied, using her limited understanding of their language.

“You speak Eliksni?” He asked, cocking his head to the side.

“Just a little,” she shook her head and returned to English for Jasix to translate. “Not enough to hold a good conversation yet.”

“Ah, I understand,” he replied and said something else that she did not know the words for.

“He says that the kitchen has a working... war... um... Ah, water pump and food in the store room. It’s upstairs.” Jasix nodded in an affirming motion.

The Vandal gave a small sudden nod and left the two of them in the hallway.

“I will be going as well, Guardian. The day is just beginning for me.” Jasix adjusted the strap of her rifle and drew a hood over the top of her head. “Tansis knows your language better than I; just let her know what you need.”

“How will I tell who she is?”

“She stands out from others here. Just ask for her. Have a good rest, and may the Great Machine bless you.” And she just jumped out of an open window, disappearing into the night.

“Well that was an interesting exit,” her Ghost piped up from her helmet speakers.

“There was a door, just down the hall.”

“Fallen, what can you do, huh?”

Nicole walked to the end of the hall and into the open room and glanced around. There were plenty of the Fallen styled beds with folded fabric sitting on them. She removed her helmet and took in the air, and found it surprising that the smell of mildew that she had become accustomed to in her tower was absent. Picking a blanket off a bed, she brought it to her face and smelled it. It was fresh, clean; there was some sweet scent there that Nicole could not place.

Her Ghost appeared in the air around her and took a look around the room. He flew through a door in the back, and she could see the light of his eye flashing about in there. “It looks like their shower room should work. You should take one while you’re here.”

Nicole nodded; she had never taken a shower or heard the word used before, yet she understood what it was. It had been a few weeks since she had been brought back, so it was probably a good idea.

She unclasped her thin armored chest plate and stripped down out of the padded bodysuit. There was not a smell, which was something she was surprised by. Though it made sense, her Ghost had rezzed her less than twelve hours ago. That probably refreshed her. Nicole would still take the shower; this was probably her only chance with working water.

The floor was cold, but clean; it looked like it had been cleaned recently. She turned a pair of knobs and there was a groaning sound from the walls. After a few moments, water sputtered from an overhead nozzle. Nicole stepped beneath the flow and let the hot water rain down upon her. It was really a great feeling, like sitting on the tank in the snow. She was calm and relaxed again.

Her Ghost flew into the shower room. “Don’t forget to use soap.”

“What soap?”

“I think that might be some.” The Ghost flew towards a canister on a shelf.

Nicole grabbed the canister and twisted the lid off, and then took a scoop of the paste. It was gritty and slick, almost like it had tiny bits of stone. It was all she had, so she used the soap. Once she was finished, she turned off the water and glanced around the room.  “So... what do I use to dry off?”

“Oh... I don’t know.”  Her Ghost scanned the space. “That appears to be an issue.”

It seemed that there were no towels in the shower room or in her view back out in the bunk room. She resorted to just shaking the water off of her skin and stealing a blanket from one of the empty beds. The blanket was rough, but acted well enough as a substitute towel. “Next time, we make sure I have one before.” “Sure thing, I’ll mark that down for later.” the Ghost blinked. Nicole rolled her eyes and sat down into her chosen bed; it was much more comfortable than her old flat mattress in her tower, perhaps she could get one in the future. That was something to talk to Rykis about when she got back.

It felt weird to be out of her armor, nothing except for the blanket to protect her. She felt vulnerable, and of course, naked. She had slept in that armored bodysuit for the last three weeks, it was all she knew. But the comfort she felt and the warmth of an actual blanket; that far outweighed any concern she had.

Nicole slept so well, she did not hear the rustling in the room that morning.

[thedcdunce]

Alfred Pennyworth

“We soldier on undaunted, you and I, Master Bruce. And if I may say so, sir... I couldn't beg, borrow or steal a finerway to live my life.” - Alfred Pennyworth

Gender: Male

Height: 6′ 0″

Weight: 160 lbs (73 kg)

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black/ Balding

Abilities:

Acting

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)

Leadership

Medicine

Military Protocol

Mimicry

Stick Fighting

Tactical Analysis

Universe: New Earth

Base of Operations: 

Wayne Manor

Batcave

Gotham City

Parents:

Slade Wilson; father

Lili Worth; mother

Citizenship: British

Marital Status: Single

Occupation:

Butler

Caretaker

Actor

Field Medic

Government Agent

Education: College educated

First Appearance: Detective Comics #567 (October, 1986)

Last Appearance: Batman #713 (October, 2011)

Abilities

Acting

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Advanced)

Leadership

Medicine: A former field medic, Alfred is capable of performing minor surgery and stitching wounds for the members of the Batman Family.

Military Protocol

Mimicry

Stick Fighting

Tactical Analysis

Origin

Alfred Pennyworth is the British butler and valet to the Wayne Family. He took up the role of legal guardian of Bruce Wayne after the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. 

Born under the name of Alfred Beagle, he grew up in England and joined the army once he became of age. He served in various conflicts all over the world, gaining skill as a field medic. After retiring from the army he became an actor, and later a teacher for the MI5, instructing its agents in subterfuge through the use of stagecraft. During this time Alfred received a special mission, loaning his services to the MI7. After this mission ended, Alfred was forced to retire from service, adopt a new identity and move to the United States of America. Alfred legally changed his last name to Pennyworth and started working as a butler for the Wayne Family, carrying over the family tradition, per his father's dying wish.

After several months, Alfred voices the desire to return home to continue acting. However, these plans are forgotten when young Master Wayne returns home from school early after being bullied. Alfred teaches Bruce how to defeat the bully strategically rather than using brute force. Armed with Alfred's tutelage, young Bruce manages to take care of his bully problem. Alfred stays on as the family butler at Bruce's request.

After the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne, Alfred was named Bruce's legal guardian, however, social services combated the will thinking that Bruce should not be raised by a servant. However, Bruce managed to remain in Alfred's care by, despite his young age, bribing the social service agent into allowing Alfred to raise him.

Alfred raises young Bruce Wayne together with Dr. Leslie Thompkins a close friend and colleague of Thomas Wayne. Later, Bruce decided to travel abroad and Alfred stayed at Wayne Manor and begins a short lived romance with Dr. Leslie Tompkins.

Batman and Robin

Alfred remained as the sole guardian of Wayne Manor until the eventual return of Bruce Wayne, after many years of study and training. It is on his return that he supports Bruce's plan to take back Gotham City from the criminals and helps him as best he can. Alfred tends to Bruce's wounds after his first outing, but only after Bruce discovers a bat in the study that inspires him to don a costume to strike fear into criminals. When Lieutenant Gordon and his wife pay a visit to Wayne Manor while doing some investigation about the "Batman", Alfred helps Bruce disguise himself as a self-absorbed playboy millionaire and thus escaped suspicion of Bruce's "involvement" in Batman's attacks against the city mob.

After a successful first year, Alfred became the most trusted ally of the Batman, often providing everything to make the Dark Knight's quest easier. In the same was as Alfred as a father figure for Bruce, who he considered as his own son, he also played an important role in the inclusion of Dick Grayson as Bruce Wayne's ward and his smooth transition to become Robin, the Boy Wonder. However, in an effort to rectify past mistakes made with Bruce, Alfred tried his best to be a friend to Dick, more than he ever was for Bruce. As a result of this conscious effort, Alfred kept tabs on Tony Zucco, the man who killed Dick's parents and he would always plea the parole board to keep the criminal locked in prison once he was captured by Batman and Robin. Alfred did this for eleven years, keeping the truth from Dick and Bruce, but in the last year, his efforts were in vain and Zucco was released. Although Alfred considered this a deep personal failure, all unfinished business between Zucco, Dick and Bruce were promptly solved.

Enter Tim Drake

Alfred remained the most trusted ally of Batman and Robin, even after Dick Grayson's separation from the team after six years and during Jason Todd's time as The Boy Wonder until his death at the hands of the Joker. However, Alfred played a vital role in the introduction of Tim Drake into the Batman's life. When Dick Grayson brought Tim to Wayne Manor, Alfred was shocked to learn that Tim had deduced everything about Batman and Robin. When Dick joined Batman as Nightwing and fell for a deadly trap prepared by Two-Face, Alfred allowed Tim to wear the Robin costume and he took the youngster to Batman's location, where the two of them confronted the crook. Their initial confrontation allowed Batman and Nightwing to capture Two-Face shortly afterwards. After a succesful mission, Alfred convinced Bruce to allow Tim to become the new Robin. However, this also meant that Alfred was in charge of the initial stages of Tim's training before he could start training with Batman.

Sword of Azrael

Certain day, Bruce started investigating the case of a crime related to Carleton Lehah and apparently an avenging angel. Alfred traveled along with Bruce to Switzerland, where their helicopter was attacked by Lehah. Alfred and Bruce survived the attack and landed on the mountains, where they were attacked again, this time by the figure known as Azrael. Batman fought them away and he found a shelter to stay along with Alfred. Following their investigation, then went to a hospital where they confronted Lehah, who attacked Alfred and kidnapped Bruce. Alfred was later taken hostage by Azrael and his men, but he convinced them to work together to stop Lehah and rescue Bruce. They tracked down the villain back to America, where they rescued Bruce, but failed to capture Lehah. After this, Azrael, whose real identity was Jean-Paul Valley, joined Bruce to be trained as a vigilante.

Knightfall

Back in Gotham, Alfred noticed that Bruce wasn't the same after the moral defeat when Black Mask escaped from the law. Alfred's concern showed, specially after Batman's encounter with The General and also when he found Batman asleep on the batcave's staircase. During this trying times, Alfred was always present to tend Batman and Robin's wounds and he also tried to keep Dr. Kinsolving unaware of Bruce's strenuous activities.

Despite Bruce's intent on self-destroy, Alfred would keep reminding him about his affairs as Bruce Wayne. Alfred became aware of Bruce's decision to shut out Tim while he was working on a case against Two-Face, and he decided that Batman most certainly would need help. Alfred and Robin went looking for Two-Face and they saved Batman's life by doing so.

When the Riddler took over a TV show, Alfred took Robin to the place in the Bat-van and his assistance was essential in the capture of the madman, while Batman was trying to rescue Mayor Krol from Joker and Scarecrow. A few hours later, Tim went home and Alfred stayed alone at Wayne Manor, where he was knocked unconscious by Bane. By the time Alfred recovered, he noticed Batman was being destroyed by Bane and with all his strength, he managed to crawl out of Wayne Manor and walked to the Drake Manor, looking for Tim's help.

A few moments later, Alfred, Tim and Jean-Paul Valley rescued Batman from the streets. They pretended to be medical staff from Mercy Hospital and they took Bruce to the batcave, where Alfred did his best with the medical equipment available, but despite his efforts, Alfred knew that Bruce's back had been broken and he would be paralyzed for life. In order to give Bruce the proper medical treatment without exposing his identity, Alfred arranged for Dr. Kinsolving to come to Wayne Manor to look over Bruce. Alfred and Tim wrecked one of Bruce's cars to convince Dr. Kinsolving that Bruce had been in a car crash and he also acquired top medical equipment for Shondra to work at Wayne Manor without having to leave. A few nights later, Alfred helped Bruce after Dr. Kinsolving and Jack Drake were kidnapped and together, they started their quest to locate them, with their first destination being the island of Santa Prisca.

Resignation

Alfred and Bruce continued their quest to find Shondra and Jack Drake and after a failed rescue attempt at Santa Prisca, Alfred traveled with Bruce to his home land of England, where they tracked down Shondra and Jack with help from The Hood.

After rescuing Jack Drake, Alfred tagged along with Bruce on his search for Shondra, but they soon returned to Gotham, where doctors told Bruce to lay off. Alfred tried to get Bruce to rest, but Bruce was determined to track down Shondra and Asp, forcing Alfred to present his resignation as he wouldn't stand watching Bruce kill himself. As his last act, Alfred went to Wayne Manor to retrieve his stuff, clean the house and ask Jean-Paul to help Bruce if he could. After this, Alfred moved away from Gotham City and out of Bruce's life.

Months later, Dick Grayson tracked Alfred down to London, where he managed to convince him to return to America.

No Man's Land

His resourcefulness came to the fore during the time when Gotham was declared "No Man's Land". Batman was missing for weeks, leaving Alfred alone to watch the city. He used his skills as an actor, storyteller, medic, and spy to survive and collect information on the recently destroyed society. Alfred even used hand-to-hand combat in a rare on-panel fight sequence between him and a pair of slavers that ended with his rescue by a just-returned Batman.

War Games

After a whole year, the city was part of the country again and many changes came with it. Tim Drake stopped being Robin and Batman allowed Stephanie Brown to become the next Robin; a decision that Alfred opposed. When Stephanie was fired from the role, the greatest gang war broke out in Gotham and Tim was forced to return to his role as Robin. Alfred was responsible for giving him back his suit and welcomed him back to the Bat Family. located Nightwing after he was shot on the leg and took him to the mobile batcave. Alfred healed Nightwing and after the procedure was finished, Alfred forced Nightwing to stay in bed and prevented him from going out to battle. When the whole war was over, Alfred shared a glass of wine with Bruce and Dick, remembering past events.

Shortly after, Alfred delivered a videotape of a broadcast by Arturo Rodriguez to Bruce. The mystery behind the videotape caused Bruce to learn that someone was responsible for Stephanie's death and Alfred helped Bruce record a conversation among thugs on a night club in order to learn more about it and filtered the information for Batman. Alfred witnessed along with Bruce how the events of the War Games were solved by Bruce himself and he was glad to put it all behind.

Under the Hood

After a few days, Alfred was contacted by Lucius Fox, who was looking for Bruce. Alfred did his best to diverge Fox's attention as Bruce was extremely busy working as Batman. However, Fox went to Wayne Manor and Alfred was forced to call Bruce to talk with Fox. After the bad news about Wayne Enterprises, Alfred kept an optimistic mind, saying that Bruce won't feel the need for more gadgets and equipment than he already had. Shortly after, Bruce learned that Jason Todd was alive and became the criminal Red Hood. Alfred offered to remove Jason's Robin suit from the display case in the batcave, but Bruce wanted to keep it.

Alfred assisted Bruce on his quest to discover what happened to Jason Todd after his death and together they examined the gravesite and the coffin where Jason was buried. Alfred was concerned for Bruce's well-being and after long days of non-stop work, they discovered that there was never a body inside that coffin.

Later, Alfred received a package from Jason, delivered to Wayne Manor. Alfred took the package to the batcave and examined it thoroughly. He discovered a lock of green hair inside and an address as well. Alfred informed Batman about this and Batman asked him to run a DNA test on the green hair.

Batman R.I.P.

When Hush reappeared, he had performed a plastic surgery on his face to look identical to Bruce Wayne. With his new face, he tried to trick Alfred to let him into the Batcave, but Alfred had been warned by the real Bruce about Hush's plan and when the impostor broke into Wayne Manor, Alfred fought the villain with remarkable fighting skills for one so frail and old versus one so young. However, Hush managed to stab Alfred in the shoulder and was about to kill the faithful butler when Batman arrived. As the fight continued in the Batcave, Alfred activated the robotic T-Rex and distracted Hush long enough for Robin and Nightwing to arrive. After Hush was defeated, Alfred stitched Bruce's wounds.

Some time later, Bruce started dating Jezebel Jet and even revealed his secret to her. Tim Drake asked Alfred about Bruce's well-being and Alfred replied that it would be futile for normal people try to understand Bruce's mind. After this, Tim asked him about the DNA test between Bruce and Damian, but Alfred refused to tell him, just like he was indicated by Bruce.

A few days later, Alfred was washing the Batmobile and later he tried to heal some of Bruce's battle wounds, despite Bruce's reluctance. Bruce told Alfred about a new mysterious group called Black Glove and in order to learn more, he sent Alfred to watch and old movie by the same name. When Alfred returned home, he found the Batcave in flames and most of it, destroyed. He was soon ambushed by Le Bossu and his gargoyles, who beat Alfred to a pulp. Bruised and beaten, Alfred was held hostage by Doctor Hurt in the batcave and witnessed how the Club of Villains and the Black Glove used Batman's secret lair as their base of operations. As their hostage, Alfred endured Hurt's attacks and Scorpiana's torture methods. Shortly after, Alfred was rescued by Damian Wayne, who took Alfred out of the burning Batcave on the batmobile and they rushed towards Arkham to aid Batman, pushing an ambulance off a bridge, much to Alfred's dismay. After Batman's final disappearance, Alfred returned to the Batcave, where he found Batgirl making a list of heroes to create a team similar to the Outsiders, but with the intention of replacing Batman. Alfred suggested that the list consisted only of people seeking redemption for past actions much like Batgirl and he also suggested that she should let Nightwing be part of her plan, but ultimately she refused.

Shortly after, Alfred spotted Nightwing gliding towards Wayne Manor and he met the young hero at the Batcave, where he landed, seriously injured. Alfred performed surgery on Nightwing and removed two bullets from his shoulder, having learned the right procedure by watching Discovery Channel. Alfred dosed Nightwing, allowing him to recover and after Nightwing left the cave, Alfred analyzed the bullets and found traces of Scarecrow's Fear Toxin, leaving him no option but to inform Dick.

Alfred was present when Dick jumped from the stratosphere to Earth and witnessed the extraordinary feat along with Tim Drake. Shortly after, Alfred traveled to Japan to take care of some of Bruce's unfinished business. While in Japan, Alfred was contacted by Nightwing asking for leads on the latest case and Alfred gave him the required information.

A few days later, Alfred returned and having no one else to call, he summoned Nightwing to Gotham after Two-Face's reappearance. After the first failed attempt of capturing the villains, Alfred comforted Nightwing and told him to learn from his mistakes, just like Batman did in the beginning. When Nightwing finally decided to return to Gotham, Alfred picked him from the train station and took him home, where together with the help of Tim, they rebuilt the Batcave and agreed to continue with their mission in memory of Bruce.

Outsiders

After Batman's death, Alfred set up a new Outsiders team, in an effort to fill Batman's shoes with their combined efforts.

Alfred was concerned about Gotham's situation without Batman and he urged Nightwing to pick up the mantle of the bat and follow his mentor's steps by becoming the Batman, but Nightwing refused. Moments later, when Nightwing returned to the cave with an injured Damian, Alfred healed them both and encouraged Dick to finally become Batman. After Nightwing went to stop Jason Todd, Alfred allowed Damian to join the battle by sending him with Squire. When Dick came out victorious, Alfred, still at his service, witnessed how Grayson took the mantle of the bat and became Batman.

Some time later, Alfred learned that Vicki Vale was trying to prove a connection between Batman and Bruce Wayne. Alfred used Thomas Elliot, to impersonate Bruce and try to eliminate her suspicions. However, Vicki wasn't convinced and she went to Wayne Manor, where she revealed to Alfred that she had one of Batman's tracers to prove it all. Alfred used his acting skills to take the device away from her and avoided confirming her theory.

After Bruce Wayne's official comeback, Alfred joined Bruce on a worldwide travel to set up the Batman Incorporated organization.

Fun Facts

Alfred and Bruce started collecting first edition books after the murder of the Waynes and they kept doing it for the remaining of their time together.

He is the only member of the Batman Family that is allowed by Bruce Wayne to own a firearm.

Dick Grayson has referred to Alfred as his "best friend" on multiple occasions.

Alfred has admitted to having been drunk twice in his life; before he left England for America, and the night he left Gotham City.

[righthererightzao]

Zaoka Reviews: Rayman

Platform: PSX Release Date: September 1995 Developed By: UbiSoft Published By:  UbiSoft Screenshot Source: https://raymanpc.com/wiki/en/Main_Page

Hey folks, I thought I’d try something a bit new with my blog, alongside my usual content of screenshots, RP write-ups and Asks, and so I’m starting a little review series on the side where I’ll be looking at games both old and new (or in between in the case of the recent remakes that have been coming out!). Figured I’d start with one of my favourites! It’s safe to say that Rayman on the Sony Playstation holds a very special place in my heart, it’s one of the first games I owned on the console next to Crash Bandicoot, and it’s one of the few games next to Final Fantasy IX, Aliens Versus Predator 2 and Alien: Isolation (We’ll get to those soon) that I could happily play each year and not get bored of it. Mind you, it is hard to be bored of something when over time you find yourself being slowly consumed by a fury that knows no bound threatening to rend the controller you hold in your very hands in two when it reaches critical mass! We’ll save that for later though!

 When we start of the game we’re given an animated cut-scene in which we are greeted by one of the side characters known as “The Magician” who fills us in on the backstory. We’re told how everything is hunky dory in the world of Rayman thanks to something known as The Great Protoon which keeps everything in balance. Alas this peace is not to last as the main villain of the game, Mr Dark up and steels the Protoon causing a bunch of small folks called the Electoons to scatter across the corners of the world where they are kidnapped by Mr Dark’s minions, and more distressingly, we’re never told what became of the Neutoon. Declaring the need for a hero, we’re then introduced to the titular character as he lazes on a hammock and giving us a casual thumb up!

With our mission clear we can start the game and find ourselves being drawn in by the visuals of the game. The levels are beautifully designed, with each stage baring all kinds of neat little details, such as the dancing flowers and the little mushrooms that pile on top of each other (only to fall down shortly after) in the forest of dreams. Not only that, there is the music, which I think is one of the best parts of the game itself. The music is unforgettable, with a wide range of tones from upbeat and adventurous tunes in the earlier stages which slowly becomes more sombre as you near the end of your adventure, and then there’s the track used in the “Chase” segments of certain levels that used to cause a younger me to panic as soon as I heard the crash of the gong that heralded the impending that was slowly drawing nearer. Then we get to the final stage, the candy chateau, ready for our final showdown with Mr. Dark, and clown music happens.

Moving onto the game play, Rayman is a 2D side scrolling platformer where you traverse a wide variety of levels rescuing tiny little critters called Electoons from captivity while combating a host of freakish enemies under the employ of Mr. Dark, the games main antagonist. When you start off you only have the ability to walk at a brisk pace, jump, climb and make silly faces to scare away these lanky green safari hunter looking dudes. As you progress through the game you are given new abilities by Betilla the Fairy, ranging from a punching attack to launch your enemies into orbit or clear obstacles, to a sprint ability.

As well as rescuing Electoons, you find 1up trophies that grant an extra life and these little blue sparkling gems called ‘Tings’ which each play a musical tune when you pick them up, making it all the more satisfying to pick them up in rapid succession in order to play out their own little melody. Not only that, but collecting 100 tings grants you an extra life, and if you have a certain amount of tings when going through a level you can pay the Magician to take you to a bonus level where you can earn an extra life upon completion.

Alongside various types of enemies, the levels also contain a boat load of hazards to avoid, many of which can result in instant death in the form of rivers (both good old fashioned H20 and in Picture city, Ink), bottomless pits and spike traps. Not only that but walking over certain parts of a level can trigger a “surprise” often signalled by a small twinkling sound. These surprises can be beneficial as a 1up trophy or an Electoon cage. Most of the time it’s a bunch of dudes about to ruin your day.

Raymans movements are also a bit on the slow side, and jumping can be a little bit floaty, with some instances requiring some precision jumping from the player when it comes to how fast some of the platforms can move over the aforementioned instant death traps. Not only that, but is Rayman is hurt by anything he yelps and is pushed back a space which can make any platform over an instant death pit a soul crushing experience when you accidentally clip an enemy, or an environmental hazard only for Rayman to go plummeting to his death. This experience isn’t helped by the track that plays upon any death, which can only be described as the loosing horn from hell and they would have achieved a similar effect by recording Michel Ancel screaming“Y’DONE MESSED UP SON”.

With that I move onto the next point and this tends to be the largest criticism of the game, the difficulty curve, ye gods, the difficulty curve. The difficulty curve can only be summed up thus; The first zone in the game ‘The Dream Forest’ moves at relatively decent pace, with the difficulty increasing steadily but always in a fair way as the game tests the skills you’ve picked up so far, leading you to the first boss of the game, Moskito. Once beaten, you get the ability to swing and also grab faraway objects like 1up trophies from a distance and that allows you to replay the previous levels to get any of the missing Electoons, completing the zone with each level bearing a giant purple smiley face. You feel good! You’re making progress, you’re going to move onto a whole new zone now! Then Band Land happens, and the difficulty curve decides it want’s to explore neighbouring star systems and takes you along for the ride. 

With the introduction of slippery slopes and the “surprise” ambushes the game suddenly turns into an obstacle course of outlandish proportions, and can feel unfair at times as it begins to feel more like going through trial and error than anything else, and as both health and the number of continues are limited, this can make each subsequent death all the more frustrating. On top of that the Electoons become increasingly harder to find and every missed Electoon cage means you have to replay the stage til you get all of them otherwise you won’t be able to complete the game, as the final level is gated off until you get every single Electoon Cage. I actually have vivid memories of playing this as a kid and there was one Electoon cage that I just could not find and it almost drove me to tears, and then... I found the cage!... Completely by accident! only to die on my last life and my very last continue. To say I was upset was an understatement, as at the time we couldn’t afford a memory card and had to save my progress through writing down passwords on a diary, said passwords only registering 100% completion on any given level.. so if you miss an Electoon on one level, as soon as you continue via password you have to get every. Single. Electoon cage in that level all over again.

Despite all that, though I never felt like the game was impossible, with each failure I just pushed myself to do better, I wanted to see what new places it would take me to, go up against the new challenges they presented to me, and ultimately it all paid off. I finally got through to the Candy Chateau, and while the fight with Mr. Dark wasn’t what I’d hoped it was for all the effort I had to go through, seeing the end credits with the little “Where are they now” style pictures going by made it worth it. To this day I still think Rayman on the PSX is a great game, despite it’s flaws. Even with Raymans ponderous movement speed, there’s an oddly satisfying flow to the game, and it was really cool seeing how Michel Ancel would then go on to build upon and improved how each level flowed in Rayman: Origins and Rayman: Legends.

I had lost my copy of the game a while ago, but thankfully the game is up on the PS Store under PSOne-Classics going for £3.99 and can be played on the PSP and the PS Vita!

Thanks for reading folks! Hope this will be helpful in some way and folks enjoy it! Is this something you think I should continue doing? Are there any games you’d like me take a look at in future, or maybe share your own thoughts on the game itself, please let me know! Til next time, have fun n’ take care!

[eagle-eyez]

Seeking to upstage Jeff Bezos as the first rocket company owner to go to space, Richard Branson, the British billionaire who founded a galaxy of Virgin companies, announced Thursday night that he would be a member of the crew on the next test flight of the Virgin Galactic space plane.

That flight is scheduled to take off July 11 from Spaceport America in New Mexico.

“The team was ready, so they asked Richard if he was ready to go,” said Aleanna Crane, vice president of communications for Virgin Galactic. “It’s a big day. It’s a very exciting day.”

Branson will be in a position to claim bragging rights in a growing business of spaceflight for private citizens. Companies including Virgin Galactic and Bezos’ Blue Origin are competing to launch paying passengers on suborbital and orbital trips in the coming years. Although the first trips will be expensive, the expectation is that ticket prices will come down over time as the market grows.

Branson founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 to provide short space tourist flights to the edge of space, and he has long said he will be a passenger on the first commercial flight. But development of the SpaceShipTwo — a winged rocket that flies to an altitude of more than 50 miles — has taken years longer than Branson expected. The setbacks included the crash of the first SpaceShipTwo plane, VSS Enterprise, in October 2014 during a test flight, which killed one of the two pilots.

When we return from space, I will announce something very exciting to give more people the chance to become an astronaut. Because space belongs to us all. So watch this space… https://t.co/x0ksfnuEQ3 #Unity22 pic.twitter.com/caW3M3WEHG

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 2, 2021

In 2019, Virgin Galactic became a publicly-traded company, although Branson’s Virgin Group remains the largest shareholder, with a 24 percent share.

The most recent powered test flight, in May, was the first that the company conducted from New Mexico. Previously, development and testing of the spacecraft had occurred in Mojave, California.

Crane said that the last flight had been so flawless that the team had decided to test the cabin experience. “Who better to test the full cabin experience than Richard Branson?” she said. “He is flying as a mission specialist, and he has a role like the rest of the crew.”

The craft will carry three other Virgin Galactic employees in the cabin seats in addition to the two pilots up front.

“It’s one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all,” Branson said in a statement. “It’s another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality.”

The company plans to broadcast the flight beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern time on July 11. The SpaceShipTwo rocket, named Unity, will be carried under an airplane named White Knight Two to an altitude of 50,000 feet before being dropped. Unity’s engine will then ignite, taking it up to higher than 50 miles.

At the top of the arc, passengers will float for about four minutes before the space plane reenters the atmosphere and glides to a runway landing.

I’ve always been a dreamer. My mum taught me to never give up and to reach for the stars. On July 11, it’s time to turn that dream into a reality aboard the next @VirginGalactic spaceflight https://t.co/x0ksfnuEQ3 #Unity22 pic.twitter.com/GWskcMSXyA

— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) July 1, 2021

If all goes as planned, Branson will make his flight nine days before Bezos, the founder of Amazon, straps into the New Shepard capsule built by his rocket company, Blue Origin. New Shepard has flown to the edge of space 15 times but has yet to carry any people. It is fully automated, without pilots.

Billionaires like Branson, Bezos and Elon Musk are the vanguard in a new age of commercial spaceflight, accompanied by verbal jousting — sometimes playful, sometimes belittling — about whose company is better.

On Wednesday, during an appearance on CNBC, Branson was asked if he was trying to beat Bezos to space. “Jeff who?” Branson replied with a straight face before laughing. The remark echoed one Musk had once made in a BBC interview.

Even if Branson launches first, Bezos could still argue that he went to space and Branson did not. SpaceShipTwo does not quite reach the 62-mile altitude most often considered the edge of outer space, while New Shepard passes above that height, also known as the Karman line.

“We wish him a great and safe flight, but they’re not flying above the Karman line and it’s a very different experience,” Bob Smith, Blue Origin’s chief executive, said in an emailed statement.

However, the US Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration put the boundary lower, at 50 miles. The FAA granted astronaut wings to Virgin Galactic crew members who had flown on earlier test flights.

Musk’s SpaceX builds rockets that are much larger than those flown by Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. While SpaceX is gearing up to fly private citizens on trips to orbit, including a flight scheduled for September, Musk has not yet announced when he might make a trip himself. But Blue Origin and SpaceX are in competition for federal contracts for projects including the launching of Department of Defense satellites and building a lander to take NASA astronauts back to the surface of the moon.

So far, Musk and SpaceX have triumphed over Blue Origin. After NASA chose only SpaceX to build a lunar lander, Blue Origin protested the award with the federal Government Accountability Office. In a tweet after the protest was announced, Musk made a remark that played off the fact that Blue Origin had not yet achieved orbit with any of its rockets.

In the past couple of days, Musk has gotten into a back-and-forth Twitter skirmish with Tory Bruno, the chief executive of United Launch Alliance, one of his more traditional aerospace competitors. Musk said rockets made by ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, were too expensive and would be a failure without government contracts.

He also joked to Bruno that SpaceX could provide some engines to ULA for its new Vulcan rocket. Blue Origin engines are to propel the first stage of Vulcan, whose maiden launch is scheduled for next year.

Earlier Thursday, Blue Origin announced that Wally Funk, a pioneering test pilot, would fly on the inaugural crewed New Shepard flight. Funk, 82, was among the “Mercury 13” women who in the 1960s successfully passed a privately financed demonstration showing that women could also meet NASA’s criteria for astronauts. She will join Bezos; his younger brother, Mark; and an as yet unidentified person who paid more than $28 million in an auction to win a seat on the flight.

Kenneth Chang c.2021 The New York Times Company

source https://www.firstpost.com/tech/science/richard-branson-will-be-launching-into-space-along-with-virgin-galactic-crew-on-11-july-test-flight-9773061.html

[robinknightfmp]

Different companies rocket’s

The 3 main companies I am going to look at for designing rockets ships are:

Space x (https://www.spacex.com/)

NASA (https://www.nasa.gov/)

Blue origin (https://www.blueorigin.com/)

This is because they are the 3 main companies that are doing the most amount of work right now and it is easier to find information and pictures about them.

Company 1: Space X

Space X is an American aerospace manufacturer founded by Elon Musk in may 2002, their main goal to reduce the cost of transportation to other planetary bodies such as Mars. one of their major ways of reducing costs is having their rockets having the ability to land once they have taken of, this saves money because they don't have to use new parts and reconstruct the rocket.

Video of a space x rocket landing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEr9cPpuAx8&ab_channel=TheVerge

Space X have created a several rockets that are somewhat different from one another, the falcon 9 is a reusable, 2 stage rocket that is designed for safe transport of good and people, it was the worlds first orbital, reusable rocket and has done a total of 107 launches and 67 landings with 50 of them being reflown. 

The falcon heavy is the most powerful operational rocket in the world, it gets its name from the large number of rocket engines and its ability to hold 64 metric tonnes worth of stuff, they have 3 total launches with 7 landings and 4 of them being reflown

Company 2: NASA NASA stands for “ National Aeronautics and Space Administration “ and is one of the most popular and recognizable companies in the world, NASA is known for sending the first man to the moon in 1969, NASA’s latest mission was sending the perseverance rover to Mars in February of 2021, this is one of the greatest moments in history as it is the most modern rover to be sent to Mars with technology capable of collecting rocks and storing them for future use for scientists, they are doing this because it will help scientists know if there was minimal life on mars.

One of the most popular rockets create was the Saturn V rocket, Manufactured by Boeing and used by NASA, it was a 3 stage heavy-lift rocket used from 1967 and 1973, It has been launched a total of 13 times and has had a 100% success rate of safely storing cargo such  as people and various payloads. the Saturn V uses one main liquid fuel thruster and 2 smaller thrusters for its other stages.

The ATLAS V rocket is the most recent rocket to be launched as it was the rocket that took perseverance too mars, The Atlas V rocket was manufactured by the United Launch Alliance which is an American spacecraft launch service, they are known for partnering with NASA. The Atlas V rocket has 2 main stages, the first stage is powered by one liquid fuel engine and then the second stage is powered by 2 solid fuel engines.

Company 3: Blue Origin

Blue Origin is an American, Privately owned aerospace manufacturer founded by Jeff Bezos In 2000, Blue Origins main mission is to build civilisations on other planets as well reducing the cost for launching rockets, Blue Origin’s goal is similar to space x’s where they want to reduce their cost by having their rockets land once they have taken off. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YOL89kY8Og&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=BlueOrigin

New Glenn is a heavy-lift  reusable rocket designed by Blue origin, it was designed in 2021 with the intention of being able to be reused in the future, it will be a 2 staged rocket, it’s first stage is powered by 7 BE-4 engines designed by Blue Origin, Blue Origin intend to launch new Glenn for the first time in 2022 although it has already been delayed several times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSftIaLhQzE&ab_channel=BlueOrigin

Blue Origin have created a rocket called “New Shepard”, their intent for this rocket is to create a commercial system for space travel, they are doing this by selling tickets for space tourism, like the New Glenn, it is manufactured by Blue Origin and has been launched a total of 14 times with only one failure. it was first flown in 2015 and is still in use as it was last launched in February 2021

New Shepard is powered b

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89gBER7l2t0&feature=emb_title&ab_channel=BlueOrigin

What I have learned from this research:

From this research I have found out the plans of various space companies such as Space x and Blue Origin and how they plan to do them. I have also learned what they do for various situations, for example, I discovered that if they are lifting heavy cargo then they will use solid fuel rockets on the side  as they are great for getting out of the atmosphere. 

How this research helps me with my project:

This research helps me with my project because it gives me a better idea on what is going on in space and gives me more ideas for what I could turn a project in to, for example, if I were to make a rocket building game, I now know when to use solid fuel boosters etc

[sciencespies]

Landspace closes in on orbital launch with liquid methane rocket

https://sciencespies.com/space/landspace-closes-in-on-orbital-launch-with-liquid-methane-rocket/

Landspace closes in on orbital launch with liquid methane rocket

HELSINKI — Chinese private firm Landspace is working towards a potential first orbital launch attempt with a methane-fueled launch vehicle later this year. 

Landspace completed assembly of the four Tianque-12 liquid methane-liquid oxygen engines which power the first stage of the Zhuque-2 rocket in early February.

This was preceded by a payload fairing separation test and a series of 400-second hotfire tests of the 80-metric-ton thrust engines in late January.

The 49.5-meter-tall, two-stage Zhuque-2 could be the first methane-fueled rocket to launch for orbit. Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan—both powered by the former’s BE-4 staged-combustion methalox engines—are also aiming for debut launches in 2021.

Zhuque-2 is powered by less complex yet less efficient gas generator engines. The launcher will be capable of delivering a 4,000-kilogram payload capacity to a 200-kilometer LEO. Alternatively ZQ-2 can loft 2,000 kilograms to 500-kilometer SSO, according to Landspace.

A target date for the launch attempt has not been revealed by Landspace but is expected during 2021.

The first launch will be expendable, but Landspace is working on technologies including pintle injectors in order to develop a variant thrust version of the Tianque-12 to allow vertical takeoff, vertical landing and thus recover and recycle first stages.

Zhuque-2 could also be the first launch attempt with a liquid propellant rocket developed by a Chinese commercial launch provider, a notable step in complexity and capabilities.

All of the five orbital launch attempts so far by Chinese firms Landspace, OneSpace, iSpace (2) and Galactic Energy have been solid rockets, with three failures. 

Competitor iSpace is developing its own reusable Hyperbola-2 methalox launcher, while engine manufacturers Jiuzhou Yunjian and Aerospace Propulsion are developing liquid methane engines for the market.

New launch complex for methalox rockets

China is understood to be constructing a new launch complex in the vicinity of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, one of four national launch sites, in order to facilitate launch of new methalox launch vehicles. 

Jiuquan currently only handles launches of older, hypergolic Long March rockets and solid rockets, necessitating a new comlex.

Limited details of the complex were laid out in a paper abstract to be presented at the virtual International Astronautical Congress in 2020. The site will provide access to low Earth orbit and Sun-synchronous orbit and have an initial launch capacity of at least 12 times per year. 

Range safety, air traffic, the natural and cultural environment and other factors were considered in location selection for the launch complex. 

Imagery accessed through the Planet Labs Inc. media program indicates ongoing construction near Jiuquan. New facilities are also likely being built to support launches of new solid Kuaizhou rockets.

A new complex for methalox launchers at Jiuquan? Satellite imagery indicating construction activities in the vicinty of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center from H2 2020 to early 2021. Credit: Planet Labs Inc. pic.twitter.com/wk4zRIrzUA

— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) February 19, 2021

The China National Space Administration stated in 2018 that the construction of an open and shared commercial space launch site was being explored (Chinese). The move follows a range of policies designed to facilitate and support China’s emerging commercial space sector.

China is additionally constructing a new spaceport in Haiyang City on the coast of Shandong province to boost orbital launch capacity. The spaceport will facilitate sea launches of Long March 11 and commercial Jielong rockets as well as development of rockets, satellites and related applications.

Commercial space takeoff in China

Chinese commercial space companies have been established since 2014, following a government policy decision, referred to as ‘Document 60’, to open portions of the space sector to private capital. 

China’s commercial space sector has been supported by the military-civilian fusion national strategy, allowing production of sensitive, dual-use technologies to take place in the private sector. Overall objectives include integrating civilian and defense sectors to enhance innovation and the development of emerging capabilities, especially those not suited to development by giant state-owned enterprises (SOEs). 

Many of the companies have been founded by former employees of SOEs, especially the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) and the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (CASIC), as well as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

While firms are raising funds—Landspace raised $175 million in a funding round last September—the nature of and distance of the commercial and private companies from these SOEs is somewhat blurred. There are also entities such as China Rocket, Expace and CAS Space which are direct spinoffs from the above respective SOEs.

Further specific policies supporting and guiding the commercial space sector have also been issued. Meanwhile the China’s National Development and Reform Commission’s (NDRC) decision in April to add ‘satellite internet’ to a list of “new infrastructures” sparked a flurry of funding activity in the weeks following. 

Local governments are also seeking to attract new space industry players for the potential gains from cross-fertilization innovation and spinoff technologies. 

#Space