Carol

by on May 13, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Carol and her sisters flew with the Black Sheep during the Fall of Japan and decided to stick with them after. Free Japanese resources were limited at the time, and they’d known each other long enough that they were family. So they adopted American names and the rest is history. Technology and military rules changed over the centuries, and she accepted numerous pilots over the years so she could continue to fly the very best fighters. She and her sisters still fly the modern Black Sheep fighters, but Carol sent one of her shards to join us Cowboys after the first Battles of Earth and Alpha Centauri. Others came in the years to follow, but she was the first of her particular branch of the cybernetic families I had the pleasure to work with. And yes. She was always a pleasure to work with.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Ready! Set! Race!

by on May 12, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art

Chad and Julie decided to race each other in the real world using their favorite vehicles.

Chad likes his souped up muscle car because he can stuff all his very best friends inside when he wants to.

Julie likes her motorcycle because she doesn’t have to worry about becoming road pizza if she has an accident. There are advantages to being a cyber.

Jasmine is officiating as an unbiased observer, and making certain all the watchers are far enough back to remain safe.

“Ready! Set! Race!”

High rez version available on Patreon

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Edwin Case

by on May 11, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Edwin Case grew up in Yuma, Arizona, where his natural size and years of weight lifting made him a proficient football star. He would go to college at Arizona State on a football scholarship, and became a first round pick in the National Football League after he graduated. He excelled and earned the League MPV award in his first year. But standard medical tests in the off-season detected signs that he was becoming Ageless. He was released from his contract, of course, and all of his NFL records were expunged from the books. He returned home to Yuma, a broken and bitter man, and began to spend far too much time in the local bars. After one particularly long night of drinking, he got into a disagreement with a squad of local Marines. He put all but one of them in the hospital, destroyed an impressive amount of property, and the judge gave him two choices. Jail time, or military service. He walked into Yuma Spacebase the next day.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Carol

by on May 10, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Carol is one of the oldest fighter cybers I know. Of course, she’s not really a proper fighter cyber by today’s standards. She was born in Old Japan before the Second Great Depression. They were a leader in robotics and artificial intelligences back then, and Carol was one of their most advanced automated fighter drones. She fought next to the American Black Sheep attack squadron when the Chinese attacked Japan. Her headquarters was overrun, and the Black Sheep absorbed her and her sisters as they sought to slow the Chinese advance. In the end, Carol and the Black Sheep escorted the last evacuation fleet out of Fallen Japan. The one taking the new Empress Aiko to freedom in Los Angeles. Yeah. She’s one of them. The last defenders of Old Japan.

High rez version available for free on Patreon

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Star Trek: Horizon

by on May 9, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I recently watched Star Trek: Horizon.

For those who don’t know, it is a fan film based on Star Trek. Set between the Enterprise TV series and the original series, it concerns the Romulan Wars as the NX class ships are doing their thing. The star of the show is the starship (hehehe) Discovery, NX-04. And it concerns the old Temporal Cold War story of Enterprise. It does it in a good way.

Overall, I would say that the acting went from poor to really good. About what you’d expect in a fan film. The special effects were…amazing. Seriously. I could have done with a bit less lens flare, but that’s stylistic. And the new Star Trek movies are making it cool. Ish. In general though, the effects are at least equal to most movies I’ve seen. And the story is a good story. Very good fit for Star Trek.

The biggest thing I feel after watching Horizon is…regret. Horizon is good. Very good. We have so many Star Trek fans who are wanting to make movies and in the past they’ve chosen to make them about Star Trek. There are so many Star Trek fan films out there, going all the way back to the 60s and 70s. Star Trek makes people want to make new stories for it. It’s a world many of us want to live in, and so we make movies or write stories so we can do that. But now, that is going away. And that is why I feel regret.

Unless the companies who currently own Star Trek chose to change their minds and make more reasonable guidelines for fan films, we will never see the like of Horizon again. A true story with beginning, middle, and end. A full narrative that I was able to sit down and enjoy. A movie. But all these budding Star Trek fans who want to tell stories won’t be doing that anymore. They’ll be making their own stuff, and Star Trek fandom will be all the poorer for it.

But all of that said…if you like Star Trek, give Horizon a shot. I loved it. I think you’ll like it too.

Star Trek: Horizon

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