The Star Ocean Universe

Ask the Star Ocean Character - Bacchus D-79

Welcome back, my fellow Star Ocean friends and fans! Today, our guest on the sixth installation of Ask the Star Ocean Character is Bacchus D-79 of the Morphus and crew member on The Calnus. Hello, Bacchus!

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Note for dreamwidth, livejournal, and facebook friends, I go by Dragonfly Moonlight on fanfiction.net for posting and reviewing fan fiction, including the Ask the Star Ocean Character segments. I have a poll up in regards to the Star Ocean fan event. Please take the time to find me there and and vote! Thanks!

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Dream Houses, Part Six - Bacchus D-79

If Bacchus and his wife could settle on an actual planet, instead of living in an apartment complex on En II, I think it's something they both would do and in a heartbeat. It would be a very small house, maybe big enough for them to raise a few children (no more than three), and to grow a variety of plants and raise animals. Not so much as like a farm but more like a retreat. This patch of land would be an observatory for Bacchus, who I can see would love to have such a place just for the sake of science alone. Yes, he does the mining in the game, but that's with his cyborg form and not his . . . squishy form.

The house itself would be a simple affair and follow a rather logical pattern, as it were. Two stories, at the most, with a place for Bacchus to conduct his observations and his research as well as a lab where he could analyze the data he collects. I don't think he'd do anything super ostentatious, like Reimi, Sophia, and Deputy Director Shimada. Rather, I see him more on the same level as Maria and Meracle - something simple and functional and where his wife could feel happy and at home.

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Character Facts

Bacchus's last name is actually Dexley.
His date of birth is May 5, and his Earth astrological sign is Taurus.
His wife's name is Freesia.

Japanese Voice Actor: Hiroki Yasumoto
English Voice Actor: Travis Willingham

Item Creation Stats:
Smithery  7
Cooking -8
Alchemy  2
Artistry    -2
Engineering 10
Crafting  3
Sense -8

Considered the galactic champion of runic chess until Edge beats him (and yes, I'm saying runic chess) and likes to ponder about things on the commode.

Bacchus's other areas of specialty include robotics (increased chance of gaining an item from robotic enemies) and mining.

There is no toy for Bacchus.

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Character Study - Bacchus D-79

Name: Bacchus D-79
Real Name: Bacchus Dexley
Age: 32
Height: 7'0" (as a cyborg - chances are, he's just as tall as a squishy Morphus)
Weight: 516 lbs
Eye color: blue
Hair color: unknown
Weapon: mounted arm cannon
Field of study: medical science
Favorite food: Unknown

Quote: As a humble scientist, I would like nothing more than to answer your questions.

From the game manual: ( Read more... )
First of all, I must commend Travis Willingham for sounding so much like Robert Wagner with Bacchus. Until I visited both imdb.com and the Star Ocean wikia site, I would have sworn up and down that it was Robert Wagner. Kudos to him

Now, for the dissection of Bacchus.

It's quite clear from the moment Bacchus appears to rescue Edge, Reimi, Faize, and Lymle that he is quite the unique Star Ocean character because he is that cyborg. No other character is a complete cyborg like Bacchus (even Precis from Star Ocean 2 isn't a cyborg). He wears this stoic expression on his face and has a no-nonsense attitude about him, which lends a great deal of credibility to his strong sense of justice characterization from the manual, the strategy guide, and in-game dictionary. The only downfall to this is that he looks more like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story than anything original.

The Buzz Lightyear comparison aside, Bacchus is actually a fun character to observe. He's like an older yet more mature and wiser version of Faize, and he can be easily flustered. Speaking with Welch shortly after escaping the Cardianon mothership's suicidal warp into unknown space. As most The Last Hope players know by this point, when you head into item creation with Bacchus for the first time, Welch appears with cardboard costumes of a French maid and a surfer girl/little sister, and it does something to Bacchus. He is rendered shocked and speechless. Someone at the Star Ocean wikia said disturbed by what she was doing, but I don't see it, personally. I think the French maid and surfer girl/little sister outfits were unlike anything he had ever seen before and therefore just couldn't process it properly.

Unfortunately, the optical camouflage isn't something that we get to see right away. We do see it on the alternate Earth but not until Edge is trying to rescue Reimi from the military base. For being a very smart guy, it's actually a dumb maneuver to not pull out the optical camouflage sooner, but it was how the game needed to flow so . . .

From in-game dictionary and strategy guide: ( Read more... )
We learn much about Bacchus almost right from get go with few exceptions. For some things, private actions need to be triggered (like learning about Freesia). Bacchus, for the most part, is a Morphus of very few words. I agree with the straitlaced and doggedly logical parts. Generally unsociable? No. He may not be like Meracle, Lymle, and Reimi when it comes to being bouncy, happy, and running up to someone they're happy to see, but, if he's approached, he socializes. He talks. Playing the game of runic chess with Edge (and then Reimi) proves that to me.

Bacchus is what we would call a nerd. He is a thinker. He likes to pontificate on problems that maybe no one else would ever consider, and he likes to have the answers.

As I said earlier, Bacchus is like a wiser, older, and more mature version of Faize. He's fourteen years older than the young Eldarian and thus has seen much. His experiences make it marginally easier for him to accept tragedy and that some things can happen when logic dictates that it shouldn't happen. Refer back to the game with Tamiel's attempt at resurrecting Asmodeus for this one. Never once did Bacchus agree with Faize on how impossible it was to resurrect a demon or a fiend, and Faize didn't believe it to be possible.

Bacchus isn't exactly closed off to viewing events through the eyes of others. He quite enjoys Edge's enthusiasm for space exploration, even though the Morphus, as he explains it to Edge, have already taken that first monumental step into space, long before he was ever born.

From the in-game dictionary: ( Read more... )
Yes, Freesia's actions baffle Bacchus, who is a more the kind of guy to use logic to solve his problems rather than listen to his heart at times. He's afraid that, with all of the tinkering and modification that he's done to himself in his pursuit of destroying the Grigori, he's tinkered away his heart and thus is losing pieces of himself, but this little insecurity of his proves that it isn't happening. He's a very smart man. I'm sure that's what drew Freesia to him in the first place.

And the fact that he does suffer bouts of depression over his wife isn't surprising for me. To me, that says he misses her, that he thinks about her as much as he tries to unravel complex and simple problems, and he wants nothing more than to return home and be with her. In this, I liken him to any military service member who spends the holidays on tours in other countries, walking the walls and taking the risks so that their fellow countrymen and the citizens of the country they're in can sleep better at night and just be safe. Of course, when it comes to his wife throughout the game, he's a bit of a coward and doesn't reach out to her at all. That I can chalk up to as insecurity. He's afraid that he's losing her yet she baffles him with her stubbornness to stay in their marriage.

I actually believe that Bacchus and Freesia balance each other out quite nicely. Of course, we only see Freesia for a few moments so it's really hard to say what kind of a woman she really is, but we know that she loves Bacchus and she truly does miss him. (Gain Bacchus's ending for that.)

There is actually a lot of wiggle room when it comes to exploring Bacchus's character. What led him to become a medical scientist in the first place? What was it about Roak and the stone sickness that drew him there in the first place (and thus ended up turning him into a cyborg)? What does he actually look like? Why did he accept the mission to eliminate the Grigori? Was it because logic dictated that he do so? Was he told by EX that it was his duty? The reasons, the possibilities are endless.

Halloween Reminder

Less than a week away from Halloween. Still seeking the following from fellow Star Ocean fans:

Photos - carved pumpkins, cosplay done for Halloween
Halloween art
Halloween fanfic

All Star Ocean games welcome. Submissions must be no higher than PG13 in rating. Implied sexual content is okay but nothing explicit. Chaptered fiction will be accepted on the basis that it's complete. Fiction submissions must include the following:

Title
World
Rating
Pairing (if applicable)
Warnings
Disclaimers on the established characters
Claimers on OCs
Summary
Author's Notes (if applicable)

Submissions should be emailed to me at luthersfayt@gmail.com

Thanks!

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Ask the Star Ocean Character - Deputy Director Shimada, Bacchus D-79, and Peppita Rosetti

Three more reminders for Ask the Star Ocean Character. Taking questions for the following three characters: Deputy Director Shimada, Bacchus D-79, and Peppita Rosetti. Limit three questions per character per person (meaning three questions for Deputy Director Shimada, three for Bacchus, and three for Peppita). No profanity, no vulgarity, or I won't use the questions, and let me know if you wish to remain anonymous or if there's a user name you'd like for me to use. Questions can be submitted to me via PM, comments, or email.

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Game Talk, Part Six - Seventy Years Before Till the End of Time

I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this particular segment isn't about anything official from Square Enix or tri-Ace. Last I heard, there are no other Star Ocean games currently in the designing or production phases. This is merely what I'd like to see in more games in the future - wishful thinking at its best. Please don't ask me when such games will be released. Chances are, we will probably never see such games . . . not unless we start a petition going on what we'd like to see in future Star Ocean games. This is just a "for your information". It will also be vague so readers can infer their own ideas into what I'm suggesting. Thanks.

This would be a more difficult game to pull off, in my opinion. If I'm recalling correctly for Till the End of Time, the last "major" event to hit the universe was when the Twelve Wise Men set out to destroy the universe. At least, that's the summary given at Star Ocean wikia and in the strategy guide and game manual for Till the End of Time.

However, I think it could be pulled off if done correctly. The Last Hope was the universal threat never told. The same idea could apply to events taking place seventy-years before Till the End of Time and it could demonstrate whether or not changes should be made to the UP3. The pact has been in place for over seven hundred years. I personally wonder if any changes at all have been made to it or if it's been left in its original form since its inception.

A game like this would definitely give people new planets to explore, which is something Star Ocean fans adore. I know I mentioned it before, returns to Aeos and Lemuris, and, if not utilized in another game concept, the returns could happen here. I'd also like to see a break away from some of the usual cast of fighters. A swordsman is definitely in order - what would Star Ocean be without a swordsman in the group? - but a variety of swordsmen, i.e. ranger or ninja, etc . . ., would be interesting. Summoners would be a nice addition to the symbologists category. (We have Lymle in The Last Hope, but she has only one creature at her disposal.) Thieves and bards would be nice to have in the cast of playable cast. A change in how skills are learned would be unique, I like the Crystarium in Final Fantasy XIII as a new way to attain new skills and cross skill sets. That's just something in my mind, though.

While I didn't mention it in some of my other Game Talks, I'd like to see longer game play and more in-depth look at the characters. I don't like to have completed nearly 100% of my game in under thirty hours. It isn't challenging for me. I realize I'm probably one of a few people who are like that, but, as much as I love Till the End of Time and The Last Hope, a lot of my play time is from me running around, filling side quests (The Last Hope), leveling up my characters, and spending time in the optional dungeons. I don't mind new enemies appearing in the optional dungeons after defeating the game, but I don't think the challenges presented in them should be limited to those areas.

Of course, in the optional, post-game dungeons, fighting Gabriel Celesta and the Ethereal Queen are musts for the games I've mentioned in this little series of mine. I can't imagine post-game dungeons without them. Seeing Lenneth would be fun, too . . .

And that's this week's game talk. I'll try to carry it up to a total of thirteen games, to put it on par with the Final Fantasy series. We'll see what I can come up with in the process.

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Halloween and Halloween-like Holidays on Underdeveloped Planets

Halloween has been around on Earth for many centuries. It hasn't always been referred to as Halloween. When the customs surrounding the holiday began, it was referred to as All Hallow's Eve or Samhain. To this day, it's believed that, at the end of October/beginning of November, the veil between the spirit world and world of the living is at its thinnest. The souls of the dead can cross over to visit loved ones.

It isn't too far of a stretch to believe that, on an underdeveloped planet such as Elicoor II and Roak, a holiday similar to Halloween would exist. Belief in the supernatural and paranormal, especially on planets where symbology is common and used for military and healing applications, would be more than abundant among the population and respected. Even as the use of technology increases and more about the natural world is learned, it would still be hard for someone to denounce the customs that surround the Halloween-like holiday.

What such holidays would be called, I'm not entirely sure. One, it depends on the language of the culture in question and the planet as to what the holiday's name would be. How and when the holiday is observed also plays a factor as well as the beliefs surrounding what the supernatural and paranormal creatures that visit would do with the living. It could be similar to Halloween, All Hallow's Eve, or Samhain, or it could be something completely different. For this, it comes down to what the fan wants to do.

As for customs for the holiday in question, I believe there would be customs similar to carving gourds and wearing costumes in order to "confuse" the spirits of the dead and demons. That's something I feel would be universal, that fear of being snatched away in the night by some dark, evil creature . . .

It would be interesting to see how these holidays would compare, collide, mix, match, and clash with traditions we have on Earth.

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Birthday Reminders

October 27 (assigned by me) - Stephen D. Kenny
October 30 (assigned by me) - Albel Nox
November 5 (official) - Myuria Tionysus

Accepting fan art, fanfiction, and poetry for these characters. Please submit everything to me by midnight the previous nights via email: luthersfayt@gmail.com

And that's all for this Thursday. Until tomorrow . . .

Today's going to be a short entry since the next Ask the Star Ocean character segments won't be ready until November 2.

Explaining the Concept of Halloween

I think it can be agreed upon that all cultures have myths, folklores, holidays and traditions that surround such events. Oral story-telling has kept alive many traditions from the ancient worlds of Rome, Greece, Egypt, Celt, and Norse worlds. As more people learned how to write, the traditions were kept alive in the form of books. As long as we have those written texts available to us in case we wonder how come such traditions exist.

In the Star Ocean universe, most of the books no longer exist. Because they no longer exist, the characters may not completely understand why some holidays and traditions are still celebrated. They'll know what they're told by their parents, who will know what they were told by their parents. How many will know the reasons for the celebration of Halloween, or Samhain, would remain to be seen. This is, so everyone knows, is speculation on my part because we don't get to see holiday celebrations in the games, and we're left to write and draw our own fan works. Also, I don't know how many people in real life know why we have the Halloween traditions that we do. If you don't know but want to, please send me a PM, and I'll be happy to talk to you about it.

Anyway, this brings me to Edge and Reimi trying to describe the holiday of Halloween to Faize and Lymle and everyone else in their crew. How does one explain why humans dress up on Halloween? How does one explain why people give out treats? I imagine the conversation would be awkward at first, depending on how many of the people are recruited. Faize, Myuria, and Bacchus, I can see asking the hard questions of "Why" and "When" and "how come". Lymle and Meracle would be more interested in wanting to get the treats. (Who can blame them, really?) As for Sarah . . . she is the tricky one. Out of the entire recruitable cast, I think she would actually be the one to know because it might sound like something similar to a holiday on Roak. Lymle might actually get why, too, and I say that because they're both from underdeveloped planets. The notion of spirits walking with the living wouldn't be too farfetched to them.

This, of course, goes without saying when it comes to encountering cultures that are different from our own. The ones I see having the most difficulty in explaining the traditions and concepts behind Halloween are, of course, The Last Hope cast. However, Ronyx J. Kenny and his son Claude would have troubles explaining it to alien races, depending on how advanced the civilization is compared to the likes of Roak and Expel. The only one who might not have any troubles at all would be Fayt, from Till the End of Time, and that's because I feel he could ask Blair the same questions Bacchus, Myuria, and Faize would ask Edge and Reimi.

Ah, the joys of Halloween! :)

That's all for today. I'll be back on Saturday with more! Thanks for reading and have a wonderful weekend!

I apologize for that. I've had a lot on my mind lately, most of it centering on writing original material, some health issues, and searching for work. I don't like being limited to talking about two games for Star Ocean when there are four major games and one side game (Blue Sphere for the Gameboy). Oddly enough, for me to be able to talk about the first two games (and possibly Blue Sphere), to start on the cosplay, ball-joined doll, and crafts I want to do, collect the merchandise and doujinshi . . .  all of this requires money, of which I have very little right now.

So some updates on me:

1 - I'm obviously still broke so that takes YoumaCon out of the picture for me this year and possibly Anime Apocalypse in December. Anime Apocalypse is going to be on a "maybe" list - it depends on what happens between now and the first of December in terms of a cash flow. I really do want to get back into the convention circuits so I can meet new people and catch up with friends. However, the lack of cash coming in is hindering that, and there are some other things taking priority over heading out to conventions. That could be changing soon. I received a phone call for a job interview today so I'm crossing my fingers!

2 - Health status: I'm still alive, still relatively healthy. I just now have to watch my caffeine intake and take a water pill due to my blood pressure running on the high side. I really should start taking my healthy living cues from Fayt. He's such a healthy, albeit fictional character. I think we could learn a thing or two from some of our favorite characters . . .

3 - There has been some tragedy in my family. I'm not going into details about it. Just know it was a sad time for one of my family members, and it's the kind of thing I don't ever wish on anyone.

4 - Writing progress is questionable. It depends on the story. That could change, depending on how the job interview for tomorrow goes. Yes. I am crossing my fingers that this pans out for me. The heavens above know I could use something to keep myself going. (Not working sucks. I realize I'm looking at a minimum wage job, but I don't care. Work is work.)

Beyond that, not much is new. I have no other reasons for not updating this journal regularly.

So onward with the entry! 

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Writing Conversation - What Would Everyone Dress Up as For Halloween? Part One

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday of Halloween, I'll be writing a four-part series on what I think the humans of the Star Ocean universe would dress up as to go trick-or-treating. Some of it will be guesswork, since I still haven't played First Departure and Second Story/Second Evolution, but I will pose the question to Kojika, who has played the games. If you have thoughts, please feel free to leave me a comment on what you think and why.

First of all, I'd like to say that, on the subject of Halloween, it is a holiday I think would survive in a post-apocalyptic world. It's something that, by this point in time, people will have celebrated for at least a century and more than a few decades. It would bring about a sense of normalcy after such a great deal of catastrophic destruction. Whether people would remember why the holiday is celebrated is another subject entirely.

To start, I'll be writing in the series' timeline chronological order, not in publishing chronological order. (This gives me something to actually start with since I'm familiar with the characters of The Last Hope.)

Halloween would be, in the future, like it is now - a fun time of the year that signifies change and is one of the few times where it's socially acceptable to dress up as something else. (Conventions are excluded because not all people believe it's okay to dress up for such a thing. I know a couple of people who are like that. Only the dedicated dress up year-round.) It would also be the one time of the year where people could forget about their troubles.

Since they grew up together, it isn't hard to imagine Crowe, Edge, and Reimi along with her brother trick-or-treating as a group. What would be interesting to see is if they would be coordinated in their costumes. Would Reimi insist upon a theme or would they be random? I can't see Crowe and Edge (mostly Edge) always agreeing to be what Reimi wants them to be for Halloween.

And just what do I think Reimi would want to dress up as for Halloween? A couple of costumes come to mind. If any of the Disney movies are still available, I can see Reimi wanting to be one of the many princesses, from Snow White to Ariel, from Aurora to Belle, and everyone else who she would see as beautiful, strong, independent, and pure. (Remember fellow fans, she thinks she's a monster because she knows what she is.) If not a Disney princess, then a fairy tale princess of some kind. Anything that would make her feel beautiful about herself, albeit if only temporarily.

Heading down the non-princess route, there are also the bride, bridesmaid, flower girl, housewife, chef, and maybe a delicate fairy or a ballerina. Reimi is quite the girl - feminine, pink, frilly, cute - and, as I said before, it would come down to her wanting to feel beautiful about herself. Costumes at Halloween would reflect that.

Between Edge and Crowe, I feel like Crowe would be the one more likely to accommodate Reimi in her requests for themed trick-or-treating. In my mind, it would depend on how soon he knows about being a Seed of Hope and if he knows. That's the one thing, for me, that remains up in the air, only because Crowe remained as an NPC throughout the whole game. I'm leaning towards "yes" because he's got such an excellent poker face, but it'll be unclear  and up to the player in that regard. However, I think he'd only accommodate Reimi so far based upon what he knows. Crowe is very much a leader-type character, and it would most definitely reflect in his Halloween costumes. With dreams of heading into space, that, too, would play a factor in the kinds of costumes Crowe (and Edge). Crowe definitely sees himself as some kind of a hero, but he's also quite modest about it.

Both Edge and Crowe would be Reimi's knights in the times they accommodate her for themed Halloween costumes. I can also imagine both of them dressing up as ninjas, samurai, archeologists, adventurers, pirates (what little boy doesn't want to be a pirate for Halloween? What little girl, for that matter, too?), and any kind of modern military soldier (including rank). There might be some of the cutesy stuff in there because of their parents - pumpkins, ghosts . . . typical Halloween fare - but, of the two, I think the only one who would want to dress up as something "evil", for the fun of it, would be Crowe. He's got vampire written all over him!

So what would our intrepid heroes and heroine receive as Halloween treats? Companies like Hershey's, Nestle', M&M/Mars, and Brach's are no longer in business. What would people hand out for the youngsters out and about on Halloween night? Well, if the building in Antarctica survives (it contains the seeds for all fruits and vegetables as well as herbs, grasses, and the like), I can see people giving out fruits like apples, oranges, bananas, pears, and plums. There would also be homemade caramel corn, popcorn, popcorn balls in a variety of flavors, cookies, cupcakes, and homemade candies.

As for the non-human characters, if they were to visit Earth, they wouldn't need to dress up for Halloween because everyone would think they were already in costume. The discussion for how Edge and Reimi would explain the concept of Halloween will be another entry.

Kinds of costumes and treats are definitely open to discussion. Feel free to leave me a comment on what you think.

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Writing Fanfiction Tip #7 - Write in a Logical Order And Use Logic

I recently wrote a review on a story where certain events didn't follow in a logical order. In the story, a new parent, a recently divorced dad, has moved, with his two-year-old son, to a new town. While the dad is trying to cook Ragu and pasta, the son goes outside to play, and he finds a kitten. Like a two-year-old, the boy takes the kitten back into the house, and the dad wonders where his son found the critter. This, naturally, leads to the dad asking the boy where the kitten was found and to the discovery of a dead mother cat with the rest of the litter still alive. Concerned over the kittens, the dad takes them to a local vet to find out what he needs to do in order to keep them alive. Cue the dad heading home, finishing dinner, giving his son a bath, putting the child to bed, and then heading to the pet store with the two-year-old left home alone.

This isn't a logical procession in events. Everything is okay until the dad returns home, finishes preparing dinner, and gives his child a bath so he can go to bed. It's after the child is in bed that he realizes he needs supplies for the cats in his care. Of course, my biggest problem with the procession of events is the fact a two-year-old is left unattended for at least twenty minutes as the parent rushes to the pet store with one of the kittens in tow. For someone who is a parent or who has helped to take care of young children, this is a major no-no and likely to offend and anger the person reading. It's also going to have the reader scratching his/her head, saying, "This doesn't make sense. No parent would leave a two-year-old, even sleeping, home alone. Too much can go wrong in a short amount of time". It doesn't matter if a person can be scatter-brained at times. People in real life have those moments, but I can speak with authority that a "new" parent or a single parent isn't going to leave any child under the age of 12 home alone.

And that's something a writer, any writer, must always be aware of whenever starting a story. What kind of a logical order will events take place? In the story I reviewed, for me, the logical order of events, after the trip to the vet, the dad should have gone to the pet store to get the necessary supplies, with his son in tow, after the trip to the vet or at least take his sleeping son with him when he left to get the supplies. What this tells me, as a reader and as someone who's lived with a two-year-old, that the writer of the story doesn't know what she's talking about when it comes to children and the various things that can go wrong if a parent takes his eyes off his son for a scant minute. (Note: a two-year-old can drown in a bucket of water only a quarter filled in under two minutes.)

Now, it might seem mundane and more than a little nitpicky on a logical procession of events, especially over something as simple as heading to the store. Sometimes authors will try to do something that will create a conflict or add to a conflict, but it comes at the wrong point in the story or it isn't exactly true to how a person in a similar, real life situation might behave.

Here are two examples.

Character A is an experienced bank robber and is planning his next heist. Like anyone who's attempting or has attempted the same thing, he doesn't want to get caught, and he takes the necessary precautions he's always taken before. The character in question isn't going to walk into the bank, guns ablazing and then remember to put the mask on his face to conceal his identity in the middle of the crime. Yes, doing such a thing would create a problem for him, but it would be more interesting if he happened to walk into the bank for some other reason than robbery and be caught in the middle of another robbery.

Character B is a firefighter and needs to check her equipment to be sure it's functioning properly. She isn't going to gear up, run into a place that's on fire, and then stop to ask herself if she's got enough oxygen in her tank onceshe's entered a burning building.

If you've never been in a particular situation before but want to write about it, start asking questions. If you're writing about a man who's married, a parent, but is going through a divorce, ask someone who's gone through a divorce what it was like. If you're curious about police procedures, ask your local cops or utilize a search engine. Fanfiction is something that's free for anyone who has internet access to read. If you're not getting it right, you're going to lose a reader and end up with the kind of review that I left for the author of the story with the dad and the son and the new acquisition of kittens - not a very nice one.

It's just something to think about when you start writing.

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Halloween

I'm looking for Halloween photos, artwork, fanfiction, and fan poetry for display. Photos can be of Star Ocean carved pumpkins, figures with Halloween decorations, and the like. Cosplay is definitely welcome. The only requirements are the works must be themed for Halloween and must be related to Star Ocean (obviously). Fanfiction should be limited to one-shots and vignettes, but I will accept multi-chaptered stories so long as they're complete. They can be submitted to me at luthersfayt@gmail.com and I'll accept submissions until October 30th.

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Doujinshi Call Out

Looking for doujinshi titles. Pairings doesn't matter. Rating doesn't matter. I'm trying to compile a list of all Star Ocean doujinshi. Any and all help is appreciated. You can PM me, leave me a comment, or email me what you've got.

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Convention Talk - Creating Your Cosplay

Finally! The long-awaited topic of how to create your cosplay is finally here! I know. It took me long enough, didn't it?

First of all and foremost, to start with, the most obvious thing to do if you're going to create your own cosplay is pick your character. The type of character you choose, from what I've been able to discern from others, will determine the the type and costs of materials you'll need in order to create the costume. Are you choosing Sophia? Albel? Nel? Reimi? Claude? Crowe? Arumat? Bacchus?

Once you've answered that question (and, chances are, you already know this in advance), then you can answer the question of what kinds of materials do I need to buy or will I need to buy? Will I need to find a sewing pattern? Naturally, if you're going to be sewing, you'll need fabric and thread to match the color. Other materials include vinyl (or leather, though it was recommended to me to avoid leather), plastic canvas, craft foam, paint, paint brushes, sewing needles, yarn, knitting needles or a knitting loom, embroidery thread, and maybe an empty two-liter bottle. This last item is completely dependent upon which character you intend to cosplay, and everything listed is just for the outfits of the characters. If you plan on creating the weapons to go with your cosplay, you'll definitely need additional materials, i.e. wood, sand paper, maybe cardboard, and additional paint, perhaps even craft foam and plastic canvas. (Wood and cardboard are tricky to work with because, once you screw up, you have to buy more and start from scratch.)

Please remember to take caution when you're buying the materials to craft your cosplay. The overall idea is to make something that you can wear more than once and maybe outside of conventions, too. When it comes to materials, you get what you pay for in terms of quality, and I'm not talking about the vinyl or the plastic canvas. I'm talking about the fabric and thread used to create the base of the outfit. Keep an eye out for sales at your local fabrics store. Yes, for many Americans, it's cheaper to go to Wal-Mart than to some place that actually sells a larger (and decidedly more expensive) selection of fabric, but your local fabric stores do have sales. They do also offer up coupons and additional percentages off. Be smart about buying your materials. Go for quality but get it as cheaply as you can, when you can. If you plan on creating more than just one cosplay, it isn't a bad idea to stock up on materials

Now there are some things you may not or just won't be able to make. For example, let's say you're creating Albel Nox (once again). You've bought the wig and the right kind of foot wear, have the materials to sew his outfit, it's done, but you don't have the materials for his gauntlet (nor the time, the money, or maybe even the know-how to fashion them before the convention). How do you come up with that one crucial element that separates Albel from the rest of the Star Ocean gang?

You can start by checking your local boutiques for arm-length gloves either white or violet. If you can find a white pair that covers as much of your arm as needed, you can find the right color dye so that it looks appropriate. And don't forget that, for Albel and Sophia, thigh-length stockings are in order, too. Kojika, for her Claude cosplay, found moon shoes to fit her for an appropriate look.

All of this, of course, is only necessary if you plan making your own cosplay for your next convention and is what I've learned in talking with the experienced cosplayers I know (whom I'm also very proud to call my friends). If you're buying the materials so someone else can create the costume for you, talk to that person and find out what they need and how much of it so they can do just that for you. If you plan on heading to one of the many cosplay costume sights on the web, then the best advice I can give to you is to do your research on customer satisfaction. How well did the company craft the cosplay for others? Would the customers recommend the site again? Remember, it's your money that you're spending, and I guarantee that you'll have a ball at your next convention.

Next convention talk . . . to be determined.

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Ask the Star Ocean Character Call Out, Triple the Fun: Deputy Director Shimada, Bacchus D-79, and Peppita Rosetti

Taking questions for the following characters: Deputy Director Shimada, Bacchus D-79, and Peppita Rosetti. Questions can be submitted via PM, comment or email. The only rules are a limit of three questions per character, keep it clean and "polite", and the questions must be submitted by PM, comment, or email. I'll be taking questions until midnight of October 31, 2012.