Thursday, March 26, 2015

Currently in legal consultations with TV Tropes

This blog post is an update concerning how All The Tropes has made mention we have attempted to maintain cordial relations with TV Tropes and possibly work out some legal issues that have concerned us about their copyright situation, specifically their use of a CC BY NC SA license changed without prior notice or consent by the community from CC BY SA and the irrevocable surrender of contributions of contributors to TV Tropes, which is in contravention to Creative Commons (specifically the SA clause).

We were on the verge of pursuing legal action due to negotiations stalling badly with what appeared to be mounting indifference and bad faith on their end, but to our relief, Drew Schoentrup has agreed to formally discuss our concerns with his own legal counsel and has amended their current policy to address part of our copyright concerns, an act we feel is a bit belated but we still appreciate, and assuming he continues to show such continued good faith and address matters in the most honorable, legal and ethical manner possible, we do solemnly hope any further attempt at legal action of our own can be put in abeyance and that while we may be "rivals", I do solemnly hope it will be in the friendly sense.

The part of our concerns that has been handled so far is as follows, taken from the Administrivia/WelcomeToTVTropes page, as modified by drewski, aka Drew Schoentrup.

Before:

The super-quick, can't be bothered to read anything else version:
* Everything you contribute to the site belongs to us, unless it wasn't yours to begin with.
* Except for Fair Use, you can't copy any of the site's content unless you obey [[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ the Creative Commons license]] or get special permission.

The slightly longer, still not lawyer-speak version:

By contributing content to this site (including but not limited to the wiki, forums, reviews, liveblog, and YKTTW areas), whether text or images, you grant TV Tropes irrevocable ownership of said content, with all rights surrendered, except:

* Where third-party content (in particular, images) is contributed that is governed by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_use Fair Use]]. For more information, see Administrivia/AboutImagesAndCopyright.
* Where we display published, copyrighted content in compliance with its license, and/or enter into a specific, written agreement with the licensor. Example: the EvilOverlordList, ''WebVideo/EchoChamber''. Users of our site must get permission from the staff to do this.
* Where a person contributes content that they do not have the rights to -- most often, copy-pasting from Wikipedia or other third party. If we are notified that an article contains plagiarized or copyrighted content that is not governed by Fair Use, we will remove that content and potentially take action against the user who added it.

We are not required to attribute content you contribute to you, nor do you retain ownership of anything you contribute. Anything you contribute may be deleted, modified, or used commercially by us without notification or consent, to the extent permitted by applicable laws. For that reason, we strongly recommend that you do not post material on our site, whether in text or image form, that you wish to receive publication credit for in the future.

For more details about the Creative Commons license, which controls what you may do with the content that's already on the site, see the link earlier in this section or at the bottom of every wiki article. 


The much better version:

'''Your Content'''

TV Tropes does not claim ownership to your copyrighted content or information you submit to us (“user content”).  Instead, by submitting user content to TV Tropes, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to use, copy, reproduce, process, adapt, modify, publish, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your user content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes, and to authorize others to do so.

You agree that you have the right to submit anything you post, and that your user content does not violate the copyright, trademark, trade secret or any other personal or proprietary right of any other party.

We are not required to attribute content you contribute to you.  Anything you contribute may be deleted, modified, or used commercially by us without notification or consent, to the extent permitted by applicable laws. For that reason, we strongly recommend that you do not post material on our site for the first time, whether in text or image form, that you wish to receive publication credit for in the future.

'''Our Content'''

TV Tropes contains graphics, text, photographs, images, video, audio, software, code, website compilation, website "look and feel," and advertisements supplied by us or our licensors, which we call "TV Tropes Content."  TV Tropes Content is protected by intellectual property laws including copyright and other property rights of the United States and foreign countries.

We grant you the right to access the TV Tropes content in the manner described in this agreement.

Except for Fair Use, you can't copy any of the site's content unless you obey [[http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ this Creative Commons license]] or get special permission.  For more details about the Creative Commons license, which controls what you may do with the content that's already on the site, see the link earlier in this section or at the bottom of every wiki article.


As you can see, Drew has clarified the position we at ATT has stated all along: No, you do not surrender your reuse rights to TV Tropes, and their attempt to force such action was not legal or ethical, and we applaud Drew for amending their rules to respect intellectual property law.

We still hope the other half of our concerns will be handled in due course, and, like in this case, we further welcome any effort on Drew's part that doesn't involve lawyers (we don't want a bloody legal battle anymore than he does) to resolve these concerns honorably, and while the CC licensing issue may take more legal work to resolve, we remain confident we can hopefully resolve this as swiftly and ethically as time and legal restraints permit.

Cross Ange Episode 24

We begin Episode 24 with Jill versus Salia, and as Salia is like 'why the hell are here?", Jill drops the bomb "didn't he tell you? I was his former lover." Salia immediately reverts to denial mode over this one, and Jill tells Ange to head on while she  keeps Salia entertained. Ange does that, and Jill and Salia start formally dueling.

Cue intro credits.

We resume learning the space time convergence is at 83%, and as the Aurora crew are fending off more of Embryo's goons, Riza is a bit surprised as Momoka is walking around the bridge, handing out snacks to everyone (but is grateful), and we also find out things are getting worse on the DRAGON side as well.

Embryo is all "their resistance is pointless", and as he and Tusk continue to have a cockfight over Ange, Hilda and Rosalie are managing, if only barely, to maintain parity with Chris, and Rosalie is still "Chris must die for Marika's sake".

We cut back to Jill who is matching Salia blow for blow and telling her having a Ragnamail and a fancy title doesn't make her as badass as she thinks, and as Salia is still spouting shit about how Embryo gave her everything, Jill (who knows better) is tearing down Salia's delusions with the truth about him being a self interested rapist with hax powers, and even though Salia knows this intellectually, denial mode hasn't broken yet.

We then cut back to Tusk and Embryo cockfighting, and as Embryo is trying to piss Tusk off with how he hasn't been exposed to Ange charms, Tusk manages to piss Embryo off by basically confirming "I hit that, you wannabe stalker", and as Embryo start realizing Tusk is fucking serious, this makes Embryo pissed as hell, and it's pretty fucking obvious Embryo has some serious Jafar lusting after Jasmine level delusion concerning Ange, and as Tusk keeps confirming Embryo got beat to the punch concerning Ange's virginity and that he (Tusk) is not going to be scared of a narcissistic pretty boy rapist, the last remaining shreds of Embryo's cool go out the window.

Meanwhile, Sala has finally made it to where Aura is, but quickly discovers he's got one hell of a force field between them, and meanwhile, the AUrora team is getting worn down by the neverending reinforcements, and the force field breaks as the grappler bombs take out Engine One, causing the Aurora to lose altitude. As the hit the water, most primary systems go down, including the particle field and the anti-air guns. Jasmine is pissed and tells Mei to expedite any repairs she can.

Meanwhile, Mary (one of the Aurora team) almost bites it, but Ersha pops out in a Paramail to provide support. Meanwhile, Ange has finally rendezvoused with Sala, chides her for wasting time dealing with Embryo's automated goons, and Sala has Ange take over, saying she's gonna fire her Space Time Convergence Cannon at 70% power) to shatter the force field around Aura. Ange tells her do it, and as Sala starts singing, Embryo starts realizing what she's doing.

Meanwhile, Salia is spewing her resentments to Jill, and Salia basically tells Alektra she just wanted to be special dammit, and she didn't care how. Meanwhile,the DRAGON side of things is in Mass OH CRAP mode, until Sala humming a few bars can be heard.

Cue intermission.

As we resume,  the convergence is at 91%, and even though Mei and her engineering team are working their asses off and Maggy (with Momoka) are patching up wounded just as fast, the Aurora defense team is getting exhausted, and Ersha decides to buy everyone else time by using herself as bait, and as the discs maul her Paramail, Vivian freaks out, but a DRAGON shows up from the other side to destroy the discs, giving Vivian time to bail Ersha out. More DRAGON pop out and surround the Aurora, and that's when the High Priestess sends a transmission to the Norma, offering the DRAGONs as reinforcements, and the DRAGONs immediately start owning the shit out of the grappler discs (and I agree with Vivian, it is "BADASS!") and provide lift to the ship with their own talons.

Meanwhile, Tusk is telling Embryo the tides have shifted, and that's when Embryo reveals his next trick.

Basically, teleporting all of his hired goons (Chris, Salia, etc) into the DRAGON hordes as a distraction to save his own ass.

Tusk is fucking horrified at Embryo's callousness as half of the no namers on the team (well, Tania and Erma, but they aren't plot important) bite it, but Embryo doesn't give a fuck. Meanwhile, Jill uses this event to punch through the denial and tells Salia "he pulled this shit on me too, don't let him fuck you over as badly as he did me". Chris too is realizing she was just a pawn as well, and this causes her a massive mental break as she just firing at everything in maddened grief. Hilda tries to talk sense into Chris to snap her out of it, and since Chris is bitching too much to listen, Hilda grapples her, rips off the cockpit cover, and her and Rosalie start bitching at her for being so fucking whiny, and Rosalie basically goes 'fuck it", jumps from her Paramail and pulls Chris out of her own seat, and as Chris is all "why would you do that", Rosalie kisses her as they fall as says they die together as she confesses her love to the still disbelieving Chris, and as they continue to fall, Rosalie rattles off some intimate TMI and begs Chris to trust her again, and Hilda breaks their fall by crashing her own Paramail at the drop point, and as Chris finally gets over herself, Rosalie forgives her for shooting down Marika and says they'll buy a grave to commemorate her, and after Hilda steals one of Rosalie's "Stock Romantic Speech.txt" lines, Chris just starts crying as Rosalie holds her.

Around the same time, Sala fires.

Moments later, Aura is finally free.

Everyone save Embryo is all 0_0 at the sight, and Jill catches up with him and says 'admit it, win or lose, you're just going to leave this world to rot, right?", and then her tiny remaining fragments of feeling for the guy come to the fore and she begs him to take her with him, and he finally fills in the final remaining pieces of how it all started.

Basically, she was jelly over how the guy who would be Tusk's father hooked up with Tusk's mom, she was butthurt, so he took advantage of her from day one, no genuine love on his end was meant by that.

Embryo then tries to goad her into killing his ass, but she's smart enough to know it wouldn't work, and she reveal she hid a mini cryo cannon in her cyber arm, which she freezes him into place with, and just as she radios the Aurora to let them know (she planned this in advance), Embryo reveals his failsafe (his Ragnamail can serve as a backup body in a pinch), and as he lasers her side then melts his human form, Embryo tells her, "fuck you bitch, I have no need for my sloppy seconds anymore" as he files off.

Meanwhile, the space time converge is still ongoing (despite Aura being liberated), and that's when Embryo reveals he anticipated this:

Basically, he just used Aura's energy as a detonator/catalyst, with the resulting instability causing a self sustaining geometrically increasing chain reaction that would do the rest. In short, Aura was merely the plutonium trigger in his multistage universe fusion bomb, with the second stage doing all the work even without Aura's intervention.

Embryo then kidnaps Ange (minus her clothes, ring, and Vilkiss), and the space time converge hits 97%.

Cue end credits.

Next episode has a lot of fighting in space, a lot of banter about how it's the finale, and Embryo pissed the hell off.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

Cross Ange Episode 23

As we begin Episode 23, Embryo is playing armchair general with a strategy map while his amazon brigade watch on, and outside we can see his world merging scheme is still in progress, on both sides, and the DRAGON side is understandably pissing blood as they look at what appears to be impending doom. The now depowered Humanity 2.0 is also at the brink of full blown panic mode, and hell, who can blame them?

We also get confirmation the Dawn Pillar will be ground zero of the world merge.

On the Aurora, as Sala confirms the bade news for everyone, Rosalie asks if Hilda is still waiting for Ange, to which Hilda is like "what's the point if were screwed before she gets here", and just as they are about to depart, they get a call from an incoming Ange.

Cue opening credits.

We resume with Ange and the Aurora crew saying hi again, and Maggy recognizes the machine piloted by the late Vanessa (Tusk's mom, called the Arquebus), and we also find out Emma has finally chosen to side with the Libertus side since it's obvious they have the only chance in hell to prevent two worlds from going tits up. We also get confirmation Ersha's surrender was completely voluntary and peaceful and Sala confirms to Ange their official alliance. We also get a nice scene where Ange officially lets Riza know "we're cool now, all that past stuff is water under the bridge, k?"

Ange gets the surprise Hilda is the boss now, and after a cut to Jill, where Ange is like "I know, Embryo raped you, he's an asshole that deserves to be killed dead, and I figured out his regeneration trick, now I need to know how to kill his ass for good", and we basically find out Embryo has pulled cute trick of sci-fi BS I'm going to pause to explain.

Basically, his physical form is real, but it's merely a projection of his "real" body, which is deliberately tuned to be a little out of sync with the corporeal universe, existing in a twilight state between dimensions, which is why when ever he regenerates, he's basically replacing his dead projection with a living one from his "real" location, and since the Vilkiss can dimension jump, Ange is the only one with a chance to find his real form and ice his ass, especially since she's the only one who has mastered using the Vilkiss to it's fullest potential, which only explains why Embryo is so desperate to control Ange, because she controls the one Ragna-Mail he created that has the greatest chance of permanently killing him.

After learning this, Jill basically says "I'm out of this since I handed over command to Hilda", and to this Ange gets in her face, calls her out on how she fucked over people with her Captain Ahab bullshit, and when Jill is like 'whatever", Ange bitch slaps her, tells her it was SALIA who let her go, Salia fucking miserable under Embryo, and if Jill has the slightest shred of conscience, she will give a flying fuck about someone who used to idolize everything she (Jill) stood for, if only to spare Salia the pain Embryo caused her.

As they leave an extremely butthurt Alektra Maria von Lowenhertz, Hilda remarks on how scary Ange can be, and Ange ironically mentions she was just making Jill realize her responsibility (how ironic, Jill did this a dozen or so episodes back to Ange), and Hilda comment Ange is a born leader and tries to pass off the reins to Ange.

Ange realizes this is just a cover for someone thing else, and when Ange gets in her personal space and demands Hilda just spit it out, it's obvious what Hilda really wants to say are a certain three little words, which she finally manages to spit out in a roundabout way.

AND THAT'S WHEN ANGE WILLINGLY SUCKS FACE WITH HER!

(Yeah, I bolded that, because holy shit, they finally inserted a lesbian moment with some major plot relevance and meaning without turning it into lame cheesecake)

And, as the scene ends, it becomes obvious while Ange might be all hearts with Tusk, doesn't mean she's opposed to an OT3.

We then cut back to a serious where the DRAGON world is seriously shitting itself as the dimension merge is sucking in DRAGONs left and right, and the High Priestess is ordering everyone to haul ass away from the merge as far as possible. Meanwhile, the now Normafied Humanity 2.0 is pissed the nobility are saving themselves (we get confirmation Misty is still around) as Embryo is all smug about how things are going according to plan , and he tells his groupies to protect Aura until it's done.

We cut back to the Aurora, where Tusk is remarking in the old language (technically incorrectly, more like the languages of the pre-apocalypse DRAGON Earth, plural) Aura and Aurora both mean "light", according to Sala, and after a some sweet nothings, Ange is a little tired of Tusk being so damn selfless and wants to return the devotion somehow. He's like "okay, mind giving me a good luck charm", which results in a hilarious bit of him looking away, her doing some fancy contortions, and him getting his "good luck charm".

Basically, she handed him her panties, which she demands he not lose, look at, or pull out of his pants, and as she runs off embarrassed, it finally dawns on him what's in his pocket and he decides to be a gentleman and honor her wishes as the intermission starts.

After the intermission, we cut back to Aurora going into battle mode upon sight of Embryo's forces, and Ange [after a brief scene where Ersha becomes a bridge bunny on Jasmine's insistence] (as the Grand Marshal of the Libertus Alliance) tells everyone they are going to the Dawn Pillar to kick ass and take names, and this is OPERATION: LAST LIBERTUS!

(We also see Jill deciding maybe she should attempt to regrow her metaphorical balls)

Embryo has his naval forces launch a torpedo barrage, but Jasmine heads it off with a counterattack to null this. As the Aurora blows ballast and surfaces, Jasmine decides to return the favor and Embryo is mildly impressed as his flotilla of ships turn into fireballs. The Aurora then switches from submarines to airship mode, deploying a force field as they prepare to charge the Dawn Pillar, a fact Embryo notes with amusement, deploying his next trick (the exploding grappling bombs used in Episode 14). The Libertus alliance takes off with a "bitch please" and lays waste to the opposition, with Ange leading the charge, which Embryo reacts to with a 0_0, but quickly recovers his composure, turns to Salia and Chris and says it's time they sortied too.

As the Aurora is about to fire it's cryo cannon  at the Dawn Pillar, Embryo shows up with his dark purple Ragna-Mail with his goon squad in a defensive ring around the pillar, and he starts humming a few ivories as a "oh hell no" to the Libertus forces. Ange figures this out pretty damn quick and Jasmine adjusts to deal with the assault, and Ange tanks the blast with a counterblast as Embryo cooks off his opening salvo.

This clears the way for Jasmine to fire the cryo cannon and Ersha to aim, and they score a direct hit, causing the Dawn Pillar to start crumbling down. Everyone at ground zero gets hosed like the population at the base of the Solar Elevator would have been in Gundam 00 S2, but the attack exposes the main entryway to Aura. The Libertus forces (led by Ange) waste no time closing in.

Embryo is finally a little worried, and calls out his trump cards. Sala's aide de camps tell her to go on ahead, and as Hilda and Rosalie attempt to do likewise, they run into Chris. Meanwhile, Embryo runs into Ange and Tusk, and as Embryo drops creepy pick up lines, Tusk decides to keep him busy as Ange hauls ass for Aura with Sala, to which Embryo is a little butthurt his rival isn't dead as Tusk is channeling so much Mu La Flaga it a little ridiculous. Ange is of course waylaid by Salia, and as the Aurora defense team is starting to get worn down by the relentless assault, Mei almost dies Char's Counterattack Astonaige Mendoza style.

That is, until Jill in piloting suit knocks her away from the blast, then tells Maggy and Mei she finally decided to quit being a pussy and do her part, and as she tells Jasmine to open the hatch to let her sortie (using Ersha's repatriated Ragna Mail and ring), Maggy tells her she hasn't forgiven her but that if she gets back she'll consider it, and finally using her birth name, Alektra decides to kick ass, makes the flying grapple bombs her bitch and flies off to fuck up Embryo, to which Vivian is all 0_0 in awe over.

Meanwhile, as Salia is keeping Ange busy to the latter's annoyance, we cut back to palace where Sylvia is finally realizing the point of being important is that people expect you to do shit, and as Ange gets plowed into the nearby wall by Salia, she is, hilariously enough, asked for help by the very common people who once spit on her for being Norma. Her response is to shoot the first faggot she says no too (who tries to shoot her) in the head, and as Sylvia pisses herself (literally) and tries the blame game, she gets a warning shot from Ange who reveals she knows Sylvia was fully healed the whole time, she was just too fucking lazy to try, and when Sylvia does more whining, she gets another warning shot as Ange seriously wants to ice her ass for being such a spoiled, useless sack of shit, and when Sylvia finally gets a clue Ange really would shoot her, she decides to *gasp* haul ass with her feet, to which Ange is like "good, you grew up a little". Sylvia pauses after a few steps, realizing what she just did then turns back to the leaving Ange who tells her this will be their last meeting, and this finally makes Sylvia realize just how much of a titanic bitch she's been.

Meanwhile, as Salia is like "Good, you're finally back", and tries to resume putting a blade through Ange, that when Alektra cuts in, and as the ending credits start, Jill regains a lot of her likeability as she disses the fuck out of Salia and ready to school the hell out of her.

Next episode preview has more Rosalie and Hilda versus Chris and Jill versus Salia, interspersed with hilarious banter by Vivian being all spastic over Ersha's return, Ersha trying to read out the preview, and her doing more wrestling stuff out of frustration and immediately apologizing to Vivian for it.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Cross Ange Episode 22

We begin Episode 22 some time after Episode 21, and Salia is getting spanked (!) by Embryo while he continues working on his plan to fuse the worlds together. However, his plan apparently isn't completer without Ange/the Vilkiss, and as he slaps Salia's ass again, it's obvious he figured out Salia is really jelly of Ange and thus Ange's escape had to have had some assistance from Salia due to her being jelly. And when Salia asks why the hell Ange is so important when he's already got her (who is willing to serve him despite knowing his true nature), he flat out admits to her what we all knew at this point.

He's a man whore who likes controlling women who will throw them under a bus if he has no use for them.

And, as the opening credits begin, he basically tells her to prove her loyalty, and even though she salutes, she's definitely wavering.

After the intro, we cut to the Aurora where Mei is ordering the techies to fix up the Paramails, while Riza (who is covered by a sheet on a gurney looking like hell) is spilling Embryo's plan in full to Hilda and Sala's teams.

The Ragnamails (including the Vilkiss) act as power regulators for Aura, the energy source, and Embryo plans to use them to control the energy flux created for the world merger. Riza craps out at this point and Maggy insists she needs bed rest. Afterwards, Sala immediately proposes a formal alliance with Hilda (remember, Jill willingly stepped down and appointed her), and given the Ryushinki (the Ragna Mail according to the DRAGONs) had a tough time as have the Norma, she advocates they join forces. Hilda immediately cedes to the logic of the situation, but on the condition Ange is back when they sortie.

And that's when Embryo seizes control of Emma (remember, Mana user, so she can be put under his thrall). The Norma flip out, by Sala points out Emma's merely being used as a puppet, and after Sala tells Embryo he's a pathetic jilted bitch and that they'll have his head on a plate soon enough, Sala uses the DRAGON ability to cause people to flip out via their voices to shatter Embryo's hold on Emma.

Before I go on, it finally makes sense why this works. DRAGONs and Mana users were created from similar origins, only the DRAGONs are a mutated offspring of Dracunium radiation, and the Mana users were a more structured version of the same, but they are different enough they repel each other.

To use a Fallout example, DRAGONs are the Fallout 3 Super Mutants, created from an imperfect batch of the Forced Evolution Virus (and while far more sane and pretty looking, still prone to feral tendencies), whereas the Mana users are more like the Fallout 1/2/New Vegas Super Mutants (that batch of FEV allowed most of them to retain or even gain intelligence and gave them more upsides than downsides), but the DRAGONs voices act as a nullifying agent against Mana power, which makes sense, as it's a warped aspect of the same process Mana users use to use Mana. This also works on Norma to a degree since they were created in the same way as the Mana humans, they just lacked the ability to process Mana as an inherent trait (solved by giving them an external tuning agent like those Dracunium rings used by Ange and other Ragna Mail users).

Anyway, Sala tells Hilda they either needs to rescue Ange, or she'll eventually find her way to safety, and Hilda is a bit surprised/jealous to hear Sala refer to Ange as a friend.

We cut back to a pissed off Embryo hanging up the phone (still pissed about Sala ending the call abruptly), and Ersha walks in with a basket of the clothes from those kids who died, and when she asks him to use his magic hax to bring them back to life, he immediately pisses away any good will he built with Ersha by telling her no, on the grounds they will be irrelevant to his long term goals, and while he tries to mend fences somewhat by telling her she'll be Mom to Humanity 3.0, he basically underestimated Ersha's motherly instinct when she understandably flips the fuck out and begs him to bring back the children anyway (remember, she literally was their mother figure on Arzenal, so they are pretty important to her).

Embryo responds to this in the shittiest way possible, by Jedi choke holding her, admonishing her for lack of intellect, then tell her to GTFO.

....way to go, jackass, now you have TWO formerly loyal subordinates whose reasons to help you are about nil now.

Back on the Aurora, Rosalie and Hilda are having a fight over Ange versus the world in danger in importance, and when Hilda points out Ange IS their trump card and without her they are screwed at best (instead of losing her shit, glad to see Hilda had matured as a character), Rosalie insists she's willing yo go as far as killing Chris (despite her feelings for her), citing how Chris killed Marika as the reason, but this is revealed to be tough talk for her being emotionally tore up over having to make that decision, and Hilda decides to be nice and give her a shoulder to cry on. We then cut to Jasmine and Jill in Jill's office, with Jasmine delivering the cold facts of how Chris took down Marika and how Embryo's troops are top class opponents, which leads to Jill asking what her point is.

And that's when Jasmine delivers a What The Hell, Hero to Jill, citing that had they (Jill especially) been nicer to Salia, she wouldn't have defected, which leaves Jill with a butthurt look on her face as Jasmine leaves.

We cut back to Ersha, digging graves for the kids in the rain while realizing Embryo is full of shit. We then cut to Ange finally landing back on Tusk's island, which segues into some painful recollection moments about him and Momoka, leaving Ange to sit in Tusk's home, crying her eyes out.

We cut back to Jill, realizing Jasmine had a point, then we cut to Salia, who is still trying to cling to the idea of proving herself to Embryo if she Murders the Hypotenuse (Ange) while she slices into one of her own Magical Girl outfits with her combat knife.

Cue intermission.

We resume in the Aurora informary, where Emma is getting the news flash she's been bullshitted since day one by Embryo and his goons, and as Emma comes to the realization she's damn lucky to be on the Norma team, shit hits the fan.

Every Mana user on the planet (Emma included) suddenly loses that power, and we cut to Cross Ange's SEELE ripoffs, where we learn this is just a prelude to the world fusion and Humanity 3.0, and as they make plans to save their own asses when that happens, Embryo pulls the same stunt Paptimus Scirroco did in Zeta Gundam when he double dealt the Titans for his own gain, and tells his ex-conspirators he's making them the sacrificial lambs for the now terrified world he's about to terminate and rebirth.

To say they took this badly would be an understatement.

We cut to Sylvia, who now is no better than a Norma, and as she flips out over being powerless in more than one way, we then cut to Ersha and Chris, with Chris informing her they'll sortie soon, and Ersha making it pretty clear she feels zero reason to do shit for Embryo anymore, figuring out Embryo used them to manipulate her, and this causes her to feel like a shallow whore (a bit harsh on herself, but good thing she woke up), and after confirming Chris still hasn't figured out how duped she was, Ersha's mind is made up.

We cut back to Ange, who is lying down in Tusk's bed, obviously feverish. As she tries to get some water, she collapses, causing a diary to fall from a shelf. As she reads it, it turns out Tusk has some pretty melancholy memoirs, until he gets to the part where Ange entered his life, which ended his feelings he would die alone, and we find out Tusk is quite the romantic about Ange (though he freely admits she violent and prone to not listening to him), even calling her "light shining in from the outside world".

(Just pausing for a minute to say that is an incredibly romantic thing to say about someone, excuse me, I think I have something in my eye.......)

As he finishes with telling his late parents he found the love of his life, Ange is obviously stunned beyond description, and this triggers another flood of tears as she doesn't want to be alone, wanting Tusk and Momoka back in her life, and the sadness gets so great she quickly verifies a bullet is left in her gun, then points it under her own chin.

As she tries to find the will to pull the trigger, she flashes back to the point where Tusk begged her to live on for him, drops the gun, and just lies there, continuing to cry. Cut to some time latter, watching the setting sun, she muses how pathetic it was she couldn't even kill herself and how pretty the sun is, cueing more flashback to Tusk's more romantic moments and her blatantly admitting she lvoed him so much she never wanted him to die for her.

And that when he pops up behind her, hugs her, and thanks her for those words. After she gets up and gets a good look at him, she slaps him, thinking he's dead (shock is a hellavu drug folks), and as Tusk is like "I'm alive, srsly", Ange is so "I have to make sure" she strips his shirt off him, disrobes herself, as we get a tasteful pan shot of the shot with the two in silhouette, the romantic music plays as Tusk and Ange finally lose their virgin status.

Meanwhile, we cut to the Aurora, where Ersha is inbound, a white bra on her Ragnamail (since she didn't have a white flag available), and she willingly surrenders. We cut back to Ange and Tusk, the essentials tastefully censors as they stare up at the sky, and Ange admits she tried to off herself and that she read his journal, and as the sun rises, Ange admits she likes the world, screwed up as it is, that Embryo is full of shit with trying to destroy/remake it, and her and Tusk exchange enough sap to make several bottles of maple syrup, with Ange citing they need to protect the world to make Momoka's sacrifice mean something.

And that's when Tusk's face goes into OH CRAP mode, then we cut to his house, where a VERY MUCH ALIVE Momoka has already made a meal for them, and when Ange is like "How did not die", and Momoka reveals she stashed a frying pan under her uniform, which took the shot Embryo fired at her (presumably using her Mana powers to prevent her death by falling while she still had those powers), and Ange and Tusk learn she can't use Mana anymore.

Cue the sappy stuff ending abruptly as the world starts to shit itself from Embryo beginning the world merger, with the sky starting to warp all around them. We then cut to Rusk bring Ange to one of his backup hangars where he stashed his mom's Paramail, and Ange summons the Vilkiss with her ring.

And then we have the end credits.

The post credits preview has Ange bitching at Tusk about how managed to survive the explosion (apparently, he stashed a flameproof suit on himself and magically changed into it, with her pissed at the lame ass plot twist), and as Tusk is trying to not dig himself deeper (too late), we also see scenes of the Aurora and the Norma-DRAGON alliance flying in formation enroute to kick Embryo's ass. 






Thursday, March 5, 2015

Cross Ange Episode 21

Episode 21 starts off with some drama, as Tusk advocates to the preparing Paramail fighters aboard the Aurora to launch a head on invasion of the Misurugi Empire, citing how with Embryo running things their air defense suck. Hilda (as official leader) says her and Rosalie will take point and draw off Salia's team. Vivian will look for Ange using her nose (literally, being a DRAGON, that's shockingly effective), and Tusk is charged with being Ange's escort/defender.

After a little bit of jitters from the rookie pilots, the Aurora blows it's ballast and surfaces, and the opening credits rolls after Hilda orders her troops to sortie.

Once we get back, we cut back to where Ange is still in 0_0 mode over Sala and her crew showing up to bail her out. Sala affectionate trolls Ange in welcome and tells her to fall back and let her handle this and Ange takes her up on that. After, Sala Team vs. Salia team start kickign each other ass.

This is happening within spitting distance of where Sylvia is wathcing from a palance window, and she shits her wheelchaired panties at the thought she might get killed in the crossfire, calling for Embryo to save her. Meanwhile, as the still battered and fucked up Riza is staggering outside (relieved to see her boss Sala is there), Hilda's team is shocked the party started without them, and Vivian then sniffs Ange on the wind. Meanwhile, as Tusk is told of the change in plans, Hilda's team attempts to rendevous with Ange.

That is, if Chris doesn't take Ange out sniper style.

Vivian warns her last minute and the Vilkiss tanks the hit with a barrier, but the blast craps out her engine, and as Ange tries to glide down as smooth as possible, Chris heads in for the kill.Hilda is not amused and decides to take Chris on, and as they lock blades, all of Chris earlier resentments come out and she reveals she took a few level in bloodthirsty asshole. Vivian and Rosalie are all 0_0 over this, but Hilda's like "try it, bitch".

Meanwhile, Hilda directs Tusk to find Ange since her hands are full, and we cut to Momoka giving Ange CPR since they hit the water and Ange got a lungful or two. Ange wakes up to see the Vilkiss capsizing, but decides getting to the Aurora is the wiser thing to worry about (besides, she can always summon the Vilkiss to her via her ring). Meanwhile, as the battle lands a few hits on the palace grounds, all the kids Ersha was watching are in obvious fear.

We cut back to Ange being left to rest in an alley while Momoka goes to procure a car, and that;s when Embryo reveals he has the creepy talent to hijack anyone who uses Mana as a meatpuppet (makes logical sense) and uses the body of little kid to tell her to "come home". Ange is very creeped out by this and tells Momoka to get her out of there stat. Meanwhile Tusk manages to find where the Vilkiss capsized, sees Ange's ribbon, and assume the worst for a second until he notices the path leading away from the water.

We then cut to Rosalie wanting to know why Chris wants them dead, and Chris repeat the bit about being abandoned. Rosalie tells her truthfully they couldn't have helped her at the time, and Chris takes that as an excuse. We then have her open the cockpit and she holds up her pigtail, cueing a flashback that shows she had two before she had to give one up to fit a hair tie since there was only one., and it seems Chris was too cowardly back then to protest, and ever since that little incident, Chris has always nurtured a secret feeling like she was always drawing the short straw in life due to everyone else (nevermind the fact her self esteem was in the toilet because she never grew a spine), and her raison d'etre for joining Embryo is basically a slightly modified version of Reccoa Londe's reason for joining Scirocco in Zeta Gundam, and we get a cutscene where we find out Embryo revived her as he planted thoughts to use her insecurities as a springboard to induce her to defect to his side. As Chris goes back to stabby stabby kill kill mode, the rookies who were standing by panic and the leader (Marika) jumps the gun and decides they need to help despite their orders.

We cut to Momoka driving Ange away, freaking out at the thought Embryo body jacked someone, and that's when Embryo body jacks Momoka herself (she is a Mana user, natch), and as Momoka's neck twists at a disturbing angle with a dead look in her eyes, a Mana power comm scene pops up with Embryo's face on it as he reiterates his creepy science based magic power. Ange punche the screen and breaks Embryo's connection, just in time for Momoka to barely avoid having the windshield impacted into her face. As they hit a traffic light and crash, Ange drags Momoka out of the vehicle to safety, and Embyro does his own twist on The Walking Dead as he body jacks a crowd of people to chase Ange down. Ange is creeped the fuck out as she takes the only avenue of escape as the intermission rolls.

We resume with Sala's team just barely managing parity with Embryo's forces, and Sala realizing they need to fall back for now. She tells Riza she'll not give a shit about how she wound up leading anyone into an ambush earlier (granted, she was tortured into doing that) if Riza's willing to atone. Riza is about to fly off to do just that, until Sylvia fires a warning shot from her wheelchair and tells Riza to head back to the dungeon or have Embyro's wrath brought down on her. Riza speaks for us all when she muses how pathetic and fucked up Sylvia is and leaves her with the bombshell Julio killed their father (not Ange, and Sylvia would have very little reason to doubt this, since Riza was very close to Julio and giving him orders, as Sylvia well knows) as she flies off.

The others are about to give chase, but Ersha stays their hand.

And then she looks over to see all those kids she cared for dead again.

We cut back to Ange trying to escape more of Embryo's zombies, ignoring the truth in EMbryo's statement Momoka is walking radar for him as she punches a guy out and her and Momoka keep running. As the finally get to the roof of the building they escaped to, that's when the punchline hits.

Embryo is waiting in trollface mode, and he threatens to torture her again.

Thankfully, Tusk perforates Embryo full of holes and puts a stop to that shit, and Tusk telsl Ange to take his Paramail while he sticks behind to take advantage of the fact Embryo can't die by beating the fuck out of him repeatedly, and as Embryo is like "you're on", Tusk gets the jump on him with a flashbang and shanks him in the back. Of course, Embryo regenerates, but Tusk prepared for this and impales Embryo's hand with his grappling hook pistol, which actually manages to impress Embryo. We cut briefly to Hilda's team being barely able to manage parity with Chris as Tusk reports Ange is safe, and as Embryo manages to get the upper hand again, Hilda orders a retreat with Ange to the Aurora. Chris goes to pursue, but Marika shows up to run interference, only for Chris to kill her.

And that's when Rosalie gets fucking mad. Sala shows up to prevent the bloodbath from escalating, and Chris decides to retreat.

Meanwhile, Embryo and Tusk are continuing to duel, with Embryo finally realizing Tusk was just trying to buy time, so Embryo caps himself in the head so he can regenerate again. We cut to Ange, and sure enough, Embryo seized control of her again, and Ange realizes Embryo is on the rooftop below her, trollface on, and to prevent a crash she lands.

Embryo is in 'you're cute when you're angry, but it's starting to annoy me mode", and as Tusk pops back up to to tell Embryo to fuck off, Embryo sics Momoka on Tusk like the cowardly bitch he is and tells Ange screaming for Momoka to stop is useless since he made Momoka, and Ange is like "fuck that" and yells for Momoka to wake up.

Not only does this work, it works so well Momoka breaks free, tells Tusk to take care of Ange, turns the blade Embryo gave her to kill Tusk on Embryo, ignores a chest wound from the gun he fires at her, activates Mana power DESPITE EMBRYO'S MASTERY OVER IT, and shanks the bastard as she commands a vehicle to crash over the roof to take Embryo down with her, choosing to die along with him instead of allow herself to be turned against Ange again.

As Momoka disappear in a fiery explosion, Ange is......yeah, saying she's upset is an understatement, and as Tusk tries to bring the distraught Ange to his paramail, he gets shot by Embryo for his trouble, whose nice guy mask has cracked significantly as he's surprised one of his own creations gave him the ultimate middle finger.

Meanwhile, Tusk handcuffs Ange to his paramail, sets it to autocruise, hands back the necklace she gave him with promises to return to her side, then as a fuck you to watching Embryo exchanges some tongue with her in parting.

Embryo's nice guy mask comes completely off as he shoots Tusk in the chest for that one, but Tusk reveals his final fuck you in response.

Cue a massive explosion right in Embryo's face.

As the end credits roll, Ange is staring at this in horror as she flies away, and as the thought of life minus Momoka and Tusk sinks in, her cries of grief echo as the end credits roll.

The post credits have a discussion about Tusk and Momoka's apparent deaths by the other cast members, another meeting of the SEELE ripoffs, Salia and the others reeling from the events of the preceding episode, and Ange in heartbroken mode.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

I tried to warn them, I really did

Recently, someone I was associated with called Inquistor Sasha (who I met on RationalWiki) seemed to have been doxxed on Encyclopedia Dramatica, and, to be honest, I'm not exactly heartbroken over it.

In fact, while I'm not exactly jumping for joy over that fact, it seems Sasha had a history of attracting attention for starting drama, and I tried so hard to warn her not to do stupid stuff that would get the wrong corners of the internet or law enforcement to look her way, and while she seemed to be listening, she apparently was surrounded by a bunch of frankly toxic people who refused to show any such discretion and basically ensured folks like ED would give her the magnifying glass.

I've read the articles in question, and while I cannot speak to their accuracy, the evidence linking her supposed IRL identity to her e-identity seems pretty damning, and since I recently lost contact with her and most of the sites she ran dropped off the radar, I can only assume she went to ground and salted the earth in her tracks to lay low.

I was mentioned as a massive moralfag (guilty as charged, have always been one) who kept trying to keep her out of trouble, and I even tried to get her to focus her positive skills (she is good with MediaWiki scripting) towards a constructive goal, but to my sorrow, it seems she couldn't make a clean break from the toxic drama in her apparent past, so I'm not really surprised she's going into "DELETE FUCKING EVERYTHING" mode, to use a rather apt ED term.

On a personal note, I have no hatred for her. The company she kept was another story, as I frankly saw them as a bunch of hair trigger idiots who were too willing to get into pointless e-drama, but I still mostly face palmed at their lack of common sense and good judgment instead of showing them actual hatred. If anything, I tried to get her to focus on doing what I do: not making an ass of myself and trying to use what meager technical skill I have to help others, but unfortunately, paranoia about e-enemies, doxxing, and a need for countermeasures dominated our association, even though I was trying to convince her of their idiocy from the outset (when she ran into trouble on RW, I tried to mostly convince her to leave peacefully as I planned to), her foolish associates just had to keep egging that foolishness on, and when I got wind they still had plans on using this to dox/defame RationalWiki, I decided to turn that information over to RationalWiki staff, as I want no part of that nonsense.

In conclusion, if Sasha can lie low for awhile, not get into further trouble, make a final break with the drama in her past,  and do something constructive with the rest of her life, more power to her.

However, if she falls right back into the patterns I described above, I refuse to hate her, and I believe she's intrinsically a good person, but I wish no part of that, as I just don't want drama nor to help others cause more.

P.S. - I'm adding a footnote to this for Sasha personally: If I ever get the slightest inkling you or your batshit insane friends are going to do this again, I will personally turn you in. I'm not going to go out of my way to hunt you down on the internet, but I'm afraid our association has to end, as I have no desire to go down with you.

And if anything, I'm truly hurt by you. I tried to give you a position on Orain where you could help people and I tried to help the useful, aboveboard projects you started prosper, but you had to fuck it up by associating with the wrong crowd and doing things that were illegal, and I'm angry after all the hard work I expended in trusting you to do the right thing, you kept going back to the same madness over and over again, and you have worn down all remaining shreds of trust I was ever willing to invest in you.

Please don't speak to me again.

Sunday, March 1, 2015

In case it's not clear, I do want cordial relations with TV Tropes

It was recently brought to my attention by TV Tropes staff someone was spamming links to All The Tropes Wikia branch to TV Tropes, apparently as some spiteful attempt at revenge for being banned (the account doing this was ban evading).

I want to make this clear: I and the staff of All The Tropes condemn such actions, and anyone who does so does such action without our support or sanction. Below is exactly WHY we condemn that:

1. TV Tropes Staff have made it clear they want to deny ATT any backlinks on their site, and while I personally find that regrettable if relevant (I submitted a fairly neutral works page on our Wikia branch which was deleted and locked) and since they made it clear they don't want to give us any press to prevent loss of membership or advertisement revenue (which I find eminently understandable), I and ATT Staff expect anyone affiliated with All The Tropes to respect their wishes.

2. TV Tropes IS NOT OUR SITE. In fact, I have no say there except as a someone with an account there, and I mostly have that account to keep in touch with their staff so we can cooperate in dealing with mutual issues such as vandals and other assholes. Since it's their site, I will abide by their rules, and while I don't agree with all of them, I am obligated to respect them, and anyone that does acts in contravention of their rules has zero support from me or anyone else and I would assist TVT staff in dealing with the offending parties if need be.

3. I founded All The Tropes as an alternative. The 8chan to their 4chan, if you will. That does not mean anyone should try to ruin their clubhouse while having fun at ours. It simply means we're another place to trope, nothing more.

4. If ANYONE has a legitimate issue with TV Tropes, such as copyright violation, privacy concerns, reporting illegal actions by other members, etc, that should be handled via legitimate legal channels. Any other actions, such as doxxing, harrassment, phishing, trolling, vandalism, and so on is utterly without support or sanction by ATT, and we will cooperate with TV Tropes and law enforcement, if need be, to make sure such matters are dealt with appropriately.

5. Finally, if you don't like TV Tropes or were banned from there for any reason, accept that maturely and move on with your life. Even if you come to ATT, don't use us as a staging point to cause TV Tropes drama, as I will personally bring down the hammer for doing so. You want to trope on our site, fine, but LEAVE TV TROPES ALONE.

They don't need your BS, and I don't want to have my site used as your springboard for starting any, and if I get wind of it, I will personally throw your ass out if you don't cut that shit out.

Gamergate 2 is on, and I want no part of it

 This will not be a long post, but I just want to make clear, as someone who was involved in the first go-round of Gamergate, I want no part...