Jason D.

Well, looks like I'm now working nights on the weekdays (until 11:00). So I'm abstaining from the voting.

Immigration finally caught him.

Alright, serious talk. It is now 3:00 AM, with this event starting in like 6 hours. I see nothing regarding pool times. Challonge JUST got finished with adding all the pool brackets. And honestly, I don't even care who's in my brackets. I need to know WHAT TIME THEY START. The SCR Facebook page got updated about five hours ago with pool times for just AE and MvC3. Good for them. And for some reason testyourmight and tekkenzaibatsu have threads that say what time their pools are for their respective games (though the Tekken one looks very out-of-date.) I see SoulCalibur V will have stream time Friday at 11:00 AM, so I guess some pool will occur around that time. But will they start earlier? Will all pools be run the same day? Who knows! And the big elephant in this room, Persona 4 Arena, doesn't even have that much. No listed stream time, no listed pool times. So, I guess I'm showing up Friday at 9:00 AM. Might have to wait around all day. Might be dead tired by the time I actually need to start playing. Seriously, I love all you guys at LevelUp and all, but this information is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. It would be nice if it exists. Also, on a side note: Friday at 9:00 AM? You do realize people work that day, right? And getting anywhere by 9:00 AM means going straight through rush hour traffic? And to Irvine, a city that's not really close to anybody, or has efficient freeways nearby. I'm going to have to wake up at 6:00, I guess. Hopefully that's enough time to make it! Again, I love you guys, and I understand if the tournament needs to be three days long, but 9:00 AM on a weekday is not cool. Also, this Monday, the 21st, is actually MLK Day, so... that would've been excellent for a third day, no?

While I can't really make excuses for the general fanservice in the series, I wonder if you're aware that Relius also "rapes" many of the male members of the cast too. In fact, I remember way back when a video of Relius's astral was first shown, and all the "rape dungeon" jokes started. Which was done against Ragna, by the way. Anyway, his Astral Heat actually IS him performing experiments on the opponent. As mad scientists are wont to do. It's just that many of the restrained opponents look like they're in some kinky bondage situation, so they keep running with the gag.

I just want to bump this, because it's apparently happening tomorrow. Everybody should be here (unless you hate fun.) This venue is awesome, and the tournament sounds great too. Just remember to bring shopping money, or else you will be sad.

Once we make a final list of changes, make sure this one goes under the "buffs" section.

Oh hey, I should probably contribute something here. So when I first learned Naoto I made a pretty simple guide on how to go into an SMP loop from any random hit into Mudoon. Originally inspired by strategies from Ginseng, and then I refined it into a numerical system. I would like to share with you all. First off, handy pastebin form! http://pastebin.com/qxBUKW4T Direct copy-paste version: Jason SMP notes: Omit the last 2A whenever possible. Never do it period if you did a 2A earlier. Horrible proration. Watch the number on the combo counter right after the wallstick. Works for all combos with a 5C before the Mudoon. If 5C was not used, mentally add 1 to the counter. If it is "7"+, super easy. D trap, 236A~B~D, go. If it is "6", easy mode. D trap, 236A~B~D, 2B, 5C, go. If it is "5", D trap, 2AB, 236A~B~D, 2B, 5C, go. If it is "4", D trap, 2AB, 236A~B~D, 2A, 2B, 5C, go. If it is "3", D trap, 5AA, 236A~B~D, 2A, 2B, 5C, go. The combo counter will actually be the same number as the number of SMP moves you've already used. Therefore, the lower the number, the more SMP stuff you still need to do before the loop. Simple notes: If it is 5 or less, sweep first. It it's 4, add the 2A. If less than that, do the long one. Exceptions: More than 1 j.A More than 1 j.B More than 1 2A Already comboed 5A, 2A, 5A or 2A, 5A, 2A. - Never do the above anyway. Used a 2B already - This might come up. I don't know many good setups for it. Started with 3[C] - Subtract 2 from the counter. (I do 3[C], 5B, 5C, 2C, Mudoon. "5") Started with 5DD - Just do hard mode combo. Any bullets - Just do hard mode combo. (Omit the B shot though. Bullets were already used.) Bullets into 5DD - Do a "4". One above the hard mode combo. Or just do the hard one. Whatever. AoA into corner (5B, 5C, Mudoon...) - Do a "6". Easy mode. Throw - Do a "4". EX Double Fang hit. - Subtract 1 from the counter. Do a "3" if you did a raw one straight into super. Show-off. D trap - Whole other combo: 5C, IAD, j.A, j.C, 5C, 214A, C shots, Mudoon, C trap, 5AA (while the trap hits), 5C, 236B x n. End quote. Simply put, for any new players, that's a very handy way to SMP off of any random combo, if you have 50 meter. While these combos aren't optimal, they are extremely easy, and they do damage that is almost the same as other versions. They also will always work on all characters. I'm looking at you, Teddie. Though this doesn't include my later discoveries on how to SMP off things like air throws, and OMBs, and such, but I'm sure that info is elsewhere in this thread. I highly recommend this for any beginning Naoto players, or simply anyone who's sick of dropping C trap into 236A, or 2[C] dash forward. Edit: Dustloop messes up my formatting. Pastebin version looks better.

That's not a CP question! Haha, I kid. I do remember it was always mentioned as 100 years though, correct? But I don't know any exact dates. Someone help her out, yo.

Ragna is indeed in the story, and I imagine story fans would be happy getting facts straight about him. Edit: Though you are right about the first part. Advice I've given that I still need to take, ironically. "Chill out and let it go."

Thanks! I liked my post from today afternoon even better, but apparently you can't see it anymore. But it was basically just to mention that I have presented my evidence, and to remind and encourage people to present any counter-evidence.

Yeah, I remember this stuff too from back in the day, but I never remember hearing any confirmation of it. And then this always seems to come up whenever people mention him being part-vampire. Someone says "Actually, she only bit him the first time", and then a lot of other people go "Really? I didn't know that", which gets concluded with "Yeah, I heard it somewhere from some guy and I think it's in some Japanese thing I've never read." I'm mostly just curious for an exact line since I want to know if random old posts about it like the above actually are legit, or it's just a Japanese reading error. The poster himself isn't even sure, and as mentioned before her story does say things like "My first and last sin" and "the only one", so it could be quite easy for someone to have misread such a line. And... I'm mostly going to ignore the strangely overly defensive poster. I don't know what else to tell you. The story specifically and blatantly says "she bit him". If you want to add a conditional statement to this, then that's on you. "She bit him (but only during the first time loop.)" "She bit him (but it was actually his evil twin, Angar)." "She bit him (but then she woke up from this horrible nightmare. It was all a dream!)." Honesty, I don't care. But you seem hell-bent on believing what you want to believe, so have fun with that. I'd personally go with the evil twin one, though. It's funnier. And may I remind you, you still haven't addressed the issue of her short story (which specifically says that it is NOT the first time loop, as well as him having a red eye BEFORE ever touching the Grimoire), in which she says she is going to suck his blood, asks if that's okay with him, and then thinks about it in a way that indicates that it's about to happen. While the scene does fade to black during the gory details, I find it hard to believe that she suddenly stopped, they both decided to play a rousing game of Patty-Cake, and then he started feeling better. Chances are the next moment was the exact thing that was mentioned previously by the story. And... wow, I shouldn't have Googled this. Damn my curiosity. So hey, Harmless Kitten, it seems that YOU are SPECIFICALLY the one who started that rumor that she only bit him once, approximately two years ago. Amazing. I love you, internet! References: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?7278-BlazBlue-Setting-Material-Collection-Information/page59 http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?7278-BlazBlue-Setting-Material-Collection-Information/page76 And a quick link to Rachel's story, for the lazy. Translated by a very capable man: http://www.dustloop.com/forums/showthread.php?9788-Blazblue-Short-stories&p=727323&viewfull=1#post727323 Some highlights: From page 59, our new buddy p-kun did indeed talk a lot about that scene, as well as everything in general, but apparently he was indeed having a hard time reading it all properly, and even admitted such. For just one example, he states this: "Rachel drew magic circle at the beginning. The magic circle glowed in blue and then consumed Ragna or sth. But Ragna's condition actually worsened after that. And then a few hours later, Ragna woke up by himself" If you read the currently translated story, he's missing a big part in the middle. Such as the entire part that mentions biting. Slightly lower on page 59, here's Harmless Kitten: "Rachel talks about biting Ragna in her arcade. Although she does imply that it only happened once ("The day I sunk my fangs into an innocent, helpless human. The day I had no choice but to act as the vampire I am. My first and last…sweet, sweet sin…"), so yeah, that would be the first loop." So Harmless Kitten claims that it WAS because of an interpretation of the poem in arcade mode, as analyzed previously, and not from somewhere in the Material Collection that stated this interpretation as fact. On page 76, here's Black Onslaught: "It's confirmed Rachel bit Ragna to save his life after his arm was hacked off, and he was y'know bleeding out and dying on the ground. Since she did this in the original timeline, I assume it carries over in the other ones due to her " acting as an Observer to the Boundary." So that is his definite impression of the short story (for what that's worth.) That she is "confirmed" to bite him. Only he's wrong about one thing, it wasn't the first loop. My previous post explains why this story isn't the first time loop. But the story does indeed give the impression to the reader that she bites him. In a non-first-time-loop scenario. Slightly lower on page 76, from Harmless Kitten: "Rachel never bites Ragna in her short story though. I think--think, don't quote me on this--she draws a magic circle around him, it glows blue, sometime later Ragna....sort of wakes up, but not really, only his right (now red) eye open." Incorrect, of course. In fact, that sounds like the same lacking story that p-kun had as he was trying to understand the text. Next paragraph of the same post: "But....I'm not sure anymore. The whole vampirism issue is, iirc, never talked about aside from Rachel's CT arcade ending, and that's only "oh yeah once I bit a boy with jade eyes. Felt good, man." You are correct, that is the only place it's mentioned in-game. I really only highlight this because it makes me question your reading comprehension skills... So yeah, after a little more research, this entire thing about only one time loop seems to stem first from p-kun's poor Japanese from when he tried to read the short story, and then got expounded by Harmless Kitten's own confusion about her CT Arcade Mode text mentioning phrases like "only" and "first and last sin." And now give this rumor two years, and even his own uncertainty has started to convince itself into a hard fact. And finally... wow. Let me step back a second. Is this for real? Did I REALLY just uncover the exact origin point of a rumor? ...Is that even possible? I love you so much, internet! But yeah, that's the "evidence" thus far of Rachel only biting in one time loop. All hearsay and misunderstandings. It's just as accurate as saying "She bit him every time and the vampire fluids healed his body, but then it later flowed out of him." (Totally possible, by the way!) But if anyone has the book and wants to give us a line that supports this, then seriously, PLEASE do. Because for now, I'm chalking up this theory as a giant "NOPE". It says she bit him, and in a non-first-time-loop. Therefore, that happened. If you want to argue otherwise, please provide evidence and references. I care not for filling in the perceived blanks. But if you insist, seriously, go with Rachel playing Patty-Cake with his evil twin brother. It's funnier.

And do you, or anyone else, have the line in which is said? Translated or otherwise? And... ugh. I don't really want to respond to the next post, but oh well, here goes. Just note that your own personal theory and interpretation is fine and all, but in most cases taking things at face value tends to be far more accurate. Facts: There is an official story written, in which it was declared that it was not the first time loop. Rachel asks a dying Ragna if it's alright if she sucks his blood, and says that it will stop his bleeding. Then she feels bad thinking about it, and her cheeks flush red. I see the latter as quite reminiscent of when a girl is about to "kiss" a boy that she secretly likes. (For reference: Every shojo manga ever.) Fade to black. Some time passes. Ragna is now doing slightly better, HIS EYE HAS JUST TURNED RED, and he wanders over and touches the Azure. And becomes Super Ragna. Now yes, perhaps right after she says that, Rachel was like "Oh wait, you know what? Nevermind!", and then hands him a Senzu Bean. But either way, he got a red eye from what Rachel did to him, long before he ever touched the Grimoire. I'm also curious why you're not sure where people "got the half-vampire thing" from. Aside from the story mentioned above, and his general appearance, there's also the text at the very beginning of the first game where she blatantly states that she bit him. As quoted recently by someone else, and then myself about five posts ago. So yes, people get this impression because the game said that it happened. Pretty simple. You yourself even seem to be aware of an unused dialogue line, that myself and most others are probably not even aware of, that also confirms this. So his character WAS created with this backstory in mind, eh? Anyway, while it wouldn't be surprising for a work of fiction to get retconned, I'm still curious if anyone can provide any text that states that this is the case. Because so far from everything I've read and played, the game has been screaming "She bit him!" pretty loudly. In case you're still wondering why EVERYBODY gets this impression, even people who don't hack into unused sound files. And again, I just want a quote, not a creative personal interpretation. I was done with those ever since the endless debates about how FF7's ending really meant that humanity was destroyed. (Teehee, I wonder if those people enjoyed the sequels?) Eh, and since I'm here, to answer Blade's question, Bloodedge the Time-Warped goes blind in his right eye since that's where the Azure's power is concentrated. Even after Rachel bites him, or casts Hoimi on him or whatever, he's still in pretty bad shape. Possibly still critical. He then touches the Azure, and get healed up, grows a right arm, and so on. So when this power is taken away, since it's mostly focused on his right side, that side gets messed up.

Oh hey, there's a thread here. And now that someone brings it up, I've been wondering about Ragna's eye coloring for a long time now. Specifically, people on this site who insist that Rachel only bit Ragna ONCE, in ONE time loop. What, exactly, is the source for this? As mentioned last page, there's this text in-game: "With eyes like jade, she stares at me. Those eyes remind me of my sins... ...of a far, distant past. The boy whose blood I drank...the only one... The day I sunk my fangs into an innocent, helpless human. The day I had no choice but to act as the vampire I am. My first and last... ...sweet, sweet sin..." It mentions "the only one", however this seems to very obviously be referring to Ragna himself, and not her only biting him once. At the end, she states "My first and last .... sin." However, this "sin" could be her referring to when she stooped down to her vampire nature, and not the actual bite itself. She already feels morally defeated ever since she first did this. Doesn't mean she cares if she has to keep doing it. Also, do note that at the top she says "Those eyes remind me of my sins". Sins. Plural. So there IS more than one sin she committed? In direct contrast to her statement of absolute finality at the end? And thirdly, much less importantly, she also mentions "The day I..." a couple times. And once again it just sounds like she's just reminiscing about that first day when she had to debase herself, and not saying that there was only one day when it happened. And not to mention "the day" could simply be her speaking chronologically about the current timeline, or even not, since it always would happen on "the SAME day" in every time loop anyway. Whatever. Anyway, so the only other thing I know of that mentions Rachel biting Ragna is the one short story, which can be found somewhere around this site if anyone wants to looks it up. But if I may sum up, it very specifically mentions that she was going to bite him, and that right after this bite is exactly when his eye turned red. Though obviously people would argue that this story is a story of the very first time loop where she had to bite him, and not the other time loops where he lived because ???????????. I also find it very important to note that this story does not seem to indicate that this is the very first time Rachel has ever seen the dying Ragna. In fact, she seems quite jaded to the situation. For instance, she's not panicking in the least, as one might expect from someone who had to pull a desperate act because she couldn't think of this secondary other way of saving him. She's just standing around calmly, mocking him, and even teleporting around his grievously messed up body that could expire at any time. Oh yeah, and there's this little gem near the top of the short story: "Rachel waited in still silence. For their first meeting. That was a day in the life of Rachel. A day in the life of a girl who experienced endless rewindings of time." And after that line she gathers Nago and Gii, and teleports off to the church to save Ragna. But yeah, that line especially is indicating that this story is NOT the first time loop. Eh, and also, perhaps this isn't worth mentioning, but Rachel does have red eyes. And while red eyes aren't exactly unheard of in anime works, BlazBlue does seem to be showing that it is the eye color of choice for vampires. And Ragna does have one normal-colored eye, and one eye that's the same red as Rachel's. Symbolism much? Anyway, so yeah, I've always been under the impression that Ragna was bitten by Rachel and is some sort of half-vampire, as based on the above sources and the game itself. Though every now and then I see a story thread on this site where people say that he was only bit during one time loop. To which I again ask, what are YOUR sources for this theory of it only happening once?

Aye, I'm going to bring my stuff, just in case. Never hurts. Also, I am totally down for JoJo's!

Oh shit, THE StayFree!? Well now I'm gonna go too!

But they don't do Guilty. The citizens demand more Guilty Gear.

Uh... just to warn you guys, Super Arcade had already announced a huge P4A tournament on Sunday. So this one might end up with a very sad turnout. And I'm pretty sure that practically all BB players have also picked up P4A. Also, I don't think you can do a CS Extend tourney on the arcade cabinet at FFA. Last I checked they only had CS1 in that machine, so you'll need a console version. Unless they did get a CSEX cab at some point. (which would make it the only one in SoCal.) In which case: holy shit!

World Heroes Perfect.

Dance in the Vampire's Butt.

I may or may not be running this joke into the ground now.

I second Wallice's idea. Formerly Guymam's. A day 1 tournament would just be silly if no one's really had practice. James would just win everything decisively, and everyone else will struggle to remember what buttons to press. Personally, I'd be consistently showing off half a Naoto combo, and throwing out random IKs and internally laughing as every one of them hits.

Even better: If you would've beat me in Loser's, then Dogura would've dodged you during your next match.

Hey SoCal, so I'm looking for people to carpool with for this "Evo" thing I've been hearing about. If you're interested, just write something, or PM me, or any other method of contact that you have available. Um... let's see, what else. I have money and will definitely pay for my share. I live in the city of doesn't matter, because I'm willing to drive out and meet up at practically anywhere. Oh, and I can drive up/come back on pretty much any day, so long as it's not in the middle of the weekend events.

Full Skullgirls results, straight off the top of my head: 1) RayzyrByrn 2) Alpha 3) Numakie 4) Cow 5) ShinATProof other 5) Garry 7) Plectrum P.S.: To ElixirDaath: BB has been known to cure cancer.

I am totally in for this. Sign me up, gals. Info: Jason D. Los Angeles, CA.